Chapter 4: Dawning Threats

Topher went with Matt to the roof to finally relieve Cole from watchman post. The hearty meal slowed the two; they sat lazily upon the roof holding their full stomachs. Topher lit a cigarette while Matt finished his glass of milk.

“Two more hours,” Topher said. “Two more hours ‘till I get to sleep!”

“Lucky bastard!” Matt responded with jokingly aggressive tone.

“Whatever! You have one more than that, so chill out. Like you exerted so much energy anyway; just cooking and keeping shit warm while we’re chasin’ rednecks out the building!” Topher was also joking but there was a serious undertone looming.

“Ha! Let me hit that smoke.”

Topher lazily passed the cigarette to Matt while he leaned back in the lawn chair and looked to the stars. “Where do you think that SBIC is now? Fuck man, it could be right over us. Watching us up here.”

“Dude. That’s a good point. We should use some tents or something and cover us up to look like part of the roof.”

“How will tents protect us from an Ion Cannon blast?”

“They won’t, but they will protect us from being easily identified from the sky.”

“So go grab some. I think I saw some in isle 24.”

“Word, get up and keep a lookout would ya?” Matt said as he tossed the binoculars onto Topher’s stomach.

Topher sat up, rather displeased with the binoculars hitting him and flipped Matt off. Matt returned the finger as he headed down the hatch into the DealCo. Topher then lay flat on his back again; he now looked at the stars through the binoculars. “If the gun fire gets louder I’ll get up,” he said quietly to himself. “’Till then I’m re-fuckin’-laxin’. Word. Damn. It’s been one crazy ass day. So crazy I need another smoke.” Topher lit up another cigarette, still flat in the lawn chair looking at the stars. He stopped talking to himself but head and facial expressions moved and changed as he thought about the day. He became lost in his thoughts, loosing contact with the world around him and his role in it.

Topher moved very little as he watched the stars creep past. Almost a half hour of completely silent star gazing went by until Matt returned with the rest of the group, all noticing the terrible job Topher was doing as watchman.

“You lazy bitch,” Matt said, breaking Topher’s trance.

“Way to keep a lookout, asshole.” Brent said with a joking tone.

“Seriously though,” Cano interjected. “I called everyone up here not only to show you how not to play watchman. But also to introduce Ian’s new radio idea, Ian, take the floor.”

“So I was thinking,” Ian said while holding a plastic bag with a bunch of wires hanging out of it. “Since there is no longer power flowing through the telephone cables and power lines, if we tap into them correctly we could use the two webbed entities as radio antenna. The best part is that both of those lines attach here, to the roof of DealCo! So all we have to do is go over to the connection on the south wall and clamp these jumper cables to it. Then I can attach these instruments to the two ends and hopefully find a signal.”

“So then we could talk to people in other cities?” Eric asked.

“Well maybe,” Ian paused before he responded. “So other cities like, Phoenix, yes. Flagstaff, probably not but we’ll see. I know we can receive; sending is going to be a whole different issue. We aren’t getting anything on the little radio so I figure we might try making it a big one.”

“I used to get Phoenix stations in my car,” Brad said. “Why can’t we now?”

“It’s an after effect of the Ion Cannon,” Cano said. “Though you can’t see it, there is an incredible amount of Ionic Radiation dissipating from the blast site. The increased amount of ‘active’ electrons dispersing over the city distorts and alters all wavelengths. It’s why you can see that purplish blotchy glow on everything within the targeted radius. Vice's SBIC’s leftover glow was more red.”

“Wait so what effect will that have on us?” Brent asked.

“Not much really,” Cano responded. “You could see or hear things if you were in a large cloud of it, like tripping off a hallucinogen. It would take a lot to do that.”

“So if we make a bigger radio,” Ian interjected. “It will boost our chances of an unaffected signal.”

“I love it!” Brad said. “Let’s do it right now!”

“Yes,” Cole stated as he walked toward the hatch. “Ya’ll should get on that. I’m goin’ back to sleep, thanks for waking me up and dragging me up here to tell me that. I don't ever want to be on the roof again.” Cole talked as he rubbed his eyes and walked toward the hatch.

“Poor baby,” Cano remarked laughing at Cole. “Ok Ian, lead the way.”

Everyone followed Ian to the south wall where the huge cables attached to the building. Ian started connecting wires and cables to the lines while everyone watched eager for the outcome. It only took a few minutes for Ian to connect everything.

“Ok,” Ian said. “Cross your fingers.” He turned the small receiver on and began cycling through the channels.

At first only static rang through the little speaker on the handheld set attached to a gigantic antenna. Then a very faint and fuzzy Hispanic station came on. Though a few of them spoke Spanish, the quality of the signal was to low to actually make out more than a word or two.

“Holy shit it works!” Brent said. “What else you got?”

Ian kept cycling, “This could take a while, I’m gonna’ go through AM and FM first, then hit military and weather channels. There’s a lot.”

“That’s cool man,” Brad said. “This is too exciting to miss so I’ll cycle through if you get bored.”

“Yeah man,” Eric said. “Me too, this is way better than sitting inside a dark building.”

Suddenly, as Ian tuned to another frequency, a voice crackled over the radio. “…confirmed the movement of a large enemy force pushing through Nogales and other boarder towns. The few communications from our defenses there are grim at best. The loss of Davis Monthan has halted all hope of quick backup or rescue. There are other forces from places like California and Texas that are attempting to move to their position but they too are held up in conflict,” a man said.

Apparently he was talking to another man because a different male voice began speaking. “The flow of citizens from boarder towns like Nogales, Naco, Douglas, and San Luis to more northern cities has been increasing since September. What effect will this have on the current invasion?”

The first man responded slightly smugly, “It doubled in September, and it started when word spread of the Koreans alliance with the Drug Cartel. As they started moving north through Mexico, American citizens moved north as well.”

“Yes, they have been doing it for a while and it increases and decreases depending on events. Maybe I miss-phrased my question, how will that movement effect the war, or will it?”

“Gotcha. One effect would be a decrease in deaths. Less people in harms way the better. Another issue is that American citizens, especially in the ‘Old West’, love their weapons and second amendment rights. There are thousands of people out there who have been arming themselves since the beginning of this thing. In places like Nogales, these people are helping the Coast Guard, National Guard, Homeland Security and Boarder Patrol hold the city. In places like Tucson, where riots and anarchy have broken out, this could be very negative. A repeat of the mentality witnessed during the aftermath of Katrina.”

“Are you referencing citizens shooting at rescue helicopters?”

“More or less.”

“What do you mean more or less? Those reports were without evidence and rejected right?”

“That’s because no one shot at rescuers. During the chaos different malicious groups sprouted up taking control of areas in the city. Air traffic was halted for a brief time as the military tried removing these forces and with helicopters that were shot at. This was filtered, poorly, through military word of mouth to the media.”

“So it’s the mentality that you are focusing on anyway and not events. What causes this mentality?”

“Trauma, stress, delusion, fear and confusion along with other things that could separate people from their perception of reality. The destruction of Davis Monthan with the Ion cannon is best example I can give you. If you saw the blast or not doesn’t effect much more than memory and maybe therefore trauma levels, the aftermath is a blatant representation of an overwhelming force. That force, when high enough and believe me this situation is, will propel individuals into an ‘I’m ok, everyone else isn’t ok’, or ‘criminal’ mindsets setting a stage for the rise of militias. Especially with the removal of peace keeping forces. They will literally take the law into their own hands. Group oppositions will form and power struggles will ensue.”

“So civil war?”

“Exactly. Fighting over resources and territory. If it hasn’t started there already, it will soon. Mark my words.”

“So how will that effect military efforts?”

“Tucson is already in jeopardy. It has and is close to a major freeway intersections that are very valuable to both sides of this war. With forces bombarding the west coast and the taking of the freeway, northbound ground units will be able to flank our forces in California. The elimination of Davis Monthan has drastically altered this war and its effect will be felt world wide.”

“Wow! Unfortunately it is almost eight o’clock meaning time is up. Look’s like we’re going to end on a low note today. Once again that was military analyst, Dr. Edward Logan. Thanks again for joining us Dr. Logan…”

“My pleasure.”

“Coming up next is The Protectorate, government operated nationwide radio. They will be covering relevant information on war time situational strategies including supply lists, storage information, survival tips and up to date enemy movement. Until tomorrow, I’m Jim Moss on, The Frontlines.”

Lame music poured poorly out the small speaker as Ian turned the volume down.

“It’s awesome,” Ian spoke first. “It’s awesome that the radio works, it sucks that that’s the news we get.”

“What were you expecting?” Brent asked.

“Yea,” Matt said. “I’m just stoked to know what’s going on. Crazies in town, enemies closing in. Good thing we got that fifty cal.”

“Fuckin’ A,” Brad said as he high fived Eric who had gotten it for the group.

“So if forces are rolling on Nogalas and other boarder towns hard and we can’t defend them, it’s not gonna’ be long ‘till they get here.” Eric said. “Meanwhile everyone in town is going to leave or kill each other? Fuck. That’s just going to leave us, a few survivors and an enemy army in what once was Tucson, Arizona. Us verses them.”

“Ha!” Topher laughed out loud. “That’s that ‘criminal’ mentality that guy said we would have. Wow, we are doing just what he said. Isolating ourselves, armed to the teeth, trusting no one.”

“Wow, you’re right,” Cano said. “But I feel we have good reason for it and our goal is not to hurt anyone.”

“Right,” Ian agreed. “We are just keeping out of it for now. To do that, some times you have to scare people off so they don’t bring you into it. And with those forces coming up from Mexico, I’m glad we are armed to the teeth and hidden.”

“We need to watch the freeway more,” Brad said.

“I’ve watched the freeway enough,” Topher said. “I’m hitting the sack. Night.” As he walked toward the hatch the others kept talking.

“Night man,” Brent stated. “With this radio now, I’m down to spend way more time up here”

“Agreed,” Matt said. “To bad Cole’s missin’ this.”

“That’s funny,” Cano laughed. “We’ll I think watchman shifts are pretty much over. I mean we should definitely still have them round the clock but there really isn’t much to do inside so I think we will be up here most of the time, at least I will.”

“For sure,” Brad said. “If there’s an enemy force coming, I want to see it first.”

“Speaking of,” Matt said. “I think we should build a cover on the roof. Like a few tents or something. So aircraft don’t look down and see a bunch of people with guns on a roof.”

“Good call,” Cano said. “I got a great idea! Come with me!” He then ran to the hatch and went down it as Matt followed.

While Cano made trips up and down the hatch with supplies and tools. Everyone else remained on the roof, listening to the radio while they surveyed through rifle scopes and binoculars while they helped Cano and Matt build a tent structure covering most of the roof but short enough not to be seen from the ground.. Hours past as sleeping shifts were exchanged and just as the Dr. Logan predicted, the anarchy only increased through the long hours of the night. Fires raged and gunfire echoed, always drawing closer and closer to the DealCo.

Chapter 3: Social Tsunami - Chapter 5: Bigger Fish