ASCENSION: THE SYSTEMIC SERIES (11 page)

“Not many people coming in for their six-month checkups anymore,” he shook his said sadly.  “Mostly tooth extractions these days.”

As we chatted, he explained that some sort of power struggle was currently taking place in Miami.  As he’d heard it, an outside group of mercenary sorts had come to the area and were currently vying for power.  He said they’d come in with armored vehicles and bands of armed men and were pretty much laying down the law.  Myron explained that these people had told him and the other vendors that they were going to have to pay a “security fee” each week and had given them a list of the goods and associated quantities with which they could pay.  Myron said he wasn’t happy about the demands upon his already meager supplies, but he agreed that if these people actually provided the security they were promising, he was willing to give it a shot.  He said he’d had problems with theft and robberies recently, and he felt that a little peace of mind was worth paying for these days. 

After we were done chatting, we ended up trading Myron a bottle of aspirin, some heavy-duty pain killers, a dozen rounds of .22 ammunition, four shotgun shells, and two of the four remaining ounces of silver that I’d held onto in exchange for a box of assorted fruit that contained pineapples, oranges, lemons, as well as a couple coconuts.  We also got four gallons of fresh drinking water and talked Myron into throwing a bag of dried fish into the deal. 

“So where you headed?” he asked as we finalized our transaction and exchanged our goods. 

“For the coast,” I told him.

“Be careful,” he said.  “The guys that swept through here not long ago are headed east towards the ocean from what I understand.  They seem like the sort to shoot first and ask questions later, so if you run into them, stay out of their way.  I would advise doing your traveling at night if all possible…although then you have to watch out for robbers and cutthroats.”

“Great,” Will frowned.  “Sounds like we’re screwed either way.”

“Just keep your guard up and be ready to duck into the shadows if you see someone coming.  Best at this point just to try to stay out of the way until all this mess shakes itself out.  There are a lot of people around here who want someone to lay down the law and put some order to the chaos that’s been going on.  But some are happy with the way things are.  And
those
people are willing to fight to keep it that way.”

“Thanks for the advice,” I shook his hand.  “We aren’t looking for any trouble.  We’ve had more than our fair share.”

“Haven’t we all,” nodded Myron grimly.

By the way,” I said as I picked up the box of fruit and fish, and grabbed a gallon container of water, “you have any insulin?”

“Insulin?”
Myron shook his head. “No.  Don’t see many medical supplies like that through here,” he said.  He held up the aspirin bottle we’d traded, “Mostly stuff like this…aspirin, vitamins, cold medicine, sometimes some penis pills, occasionally some antibiotics, but rarely anything like insulin…sorry.”

“Thanks anyway,” I said.  “Thought I’d try.  You know of anywhere they might have that kind of stuff?”

He thought for a minute, “Might try downtown.  That’s where the main market is.  Lot of the specialty goods show up there.”

“Thanks again,” I said as we headed back to rejoin the rest of the group.

“My pleasure,” Myron waved as we left.  “Come back any time!”

We sheltered for the rest of the night in the little ranch-style home.  We ate fruit, dried fish, and tried to rehydrate while at the same time conserving some of our water supply for the remainder of the trip.  We only had a few more miles until we reached downtown, but with all the fighting that was supposedly going on, we didn’t have any idea of just how long it would take us to make it there. 

We heard gunfire and caught the sounds of distant explosions later that afternoon.  It kept up throughout the evening and as we tried to sleep that night as the fighting wore on in the Miami area.  Will, dad, and I shared the night watch.

The next morning, we took a vote as how best to proceed.  We wanted to get moving again, but we also didn’t want to get caught up in the fighting taking place around the city.

The group as a whole decided to shelter in place until the fighting died down.  We could afford to wait a little while, and we all admitted that we needed the rest.  The area around us seemed relatively calm for the moment; therefore, we hunkered down in the little home for almost two weeks.  We bartered the few remaining excess supplies we had to Myron at the nearby market for meager amounts of food and water, and continued to gather information about what was going on in the rest of the city until it sounded as though the fighting had diminished – or at least moved on to places far enough away – for us to safely proceed.

We waited until night to depart on what we hoped would be the last stint of the Miami leg of our trip.  Not only did we want to avoid any residual fighting that might still be going on along our route, but the night brought with it cooler temperatures.  The problem was, at night the bugs were worse, and by the time we actually made it to the shores of Biscayne Bay, we looked like a group of the walking dead.  And while we may have appeared to be wandering zombies,
we
were the ones being eaten alive by Florida’s creepy-crawlies.  Therefore, we didn’t spend much time looking for shelter once we’d reached the coast.  We worked our way out to Miami Beach, found an old apartment building, and quickly settled down in hopes of soon being on our way out of Miami and on to a place where we could finally enjoy safety, security, solitude, and some peace and quiet.

CHAPTER 9

While Jake might not have gotten it, Ava realized just what handing over control to their generals truly meant.  It meant that, in all likelihood, eventually one or more of them would grow too big for his britches and make some sort of power play.  It could take a year, two years, maybe longer, but one day, one of these men would most likely become weary of hefting what he felt was a heavy load for someone else.  And even though Jake and Ava had provided them with situations in which they could rule their own little fiefdoms until they handed over power to one of their family members or just grew old and retired to live out their days on Miami’s sun-baked beaches, it wouldn’t be enough.  They’d grow greedy or power hungry and either try to pull in several or even all of the other generals to assist them in their move, or maybe just go it alone.

When Ava told Jake this one evening as they lay beneath the soft silk sheets of their master-suite’s oversized king bed after a ferocious, lust-filled sex romp, he told her she was crazy.  Jake thought in terms of weeks, and more often in terms of just days or even hours; therefore, to be considering what would happen in a year or two seemed ridiculous and unnecessarily long-term to him.

“I might not even be alive
tomorrow
.  Why should I worry about what’s going to happen next year?” he asked her incredulously.

“Because, if and when next year rolls around, and you
haven’t
thought about it, and you find yourself staring down the barrel of a gun held by someone you
thought
you could trust, you’ll find out exactly why you
should
have thought about it,” she warned.

“Okay,” Jake gave in.  “So what are we supposed to do about it?”

“We rotate staff,” she said.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Jake frowned at her, rolling over and lighting two cigarettes, one of which had handed to Ava.

Ava was tiring somewhat of having to explain every little detail of their operation to the organization’s “leader” each time she made a decision.

“It means that we keep our generals on their toes by not allowing them to build too much loyalty among the men under their direct control,” she told Jake.  “We don’t want their neighborhoods becoming unorganized because we’re constantly moving their teams around, but we also don’t want them getting
so
organized that they can begin plotting against us.”

“So how do we do that?” Jake shook his head, still not getting it. 

“Here’s what I was thinking,” Ava said.  It was actually what she’d already decided to do, but she had to put it to Jake in these terms so that he could mull the idea, make it his own, and then convince himself that it was his and that he should take credit for it.  “We rotate half of each general’s men to another general every month.  The following month, we rotate the other half in a cyclical rotation throughout the year.  In this way, they continue to utilize the same labor pool, but the generals don’t become so familiar with the men – and vice versa – on a regular basis that they begin to build their own little armies that maintain loyalties solely to them.”

Jake nodded, sucking on his cigarette, thinking.

“It’s not a perfect plan,” Ava said.  “I don’t think there
is
a perfect plan, but if it doesn’t completely eliminate the chance of a coup, it at least significantly decreases the chances of such an event by inhibiting the processes involved in getting something like that organized.  It also increases the likelihood of a leak among the men should something start to take shape, which would allow us to quash any potential uprising before it takes shape.”

Jake nodded again, “I like it,” he said.  “Let me sleep on it,” he crushed out his cigarette in an ash tray atop the nightstand and then rolled over on top of Ava for another round.

Ava knew that when Jake said he liked something, he’d already made up his mind to go with her idea and make it his own.  This pleased her just enough to make his presence atop her again bearable.

* * *

Jake and Ava found that their organization rapidly settled in and expanded into its role of controlling Miami.  The vast majority of the area residents willingly accepted their leadership and even seemed to like having some structure put to their incredibly difficult and dangerous post-flu lives.  It was as though they had been waiting for someone to come along and put a little clarity to a world where the road ahead was anything but clear. 

Jake and Ava also discovered that the resource situation in Miami was far better than it had been in Atlanta.  They seized entire tanker trucks full of gasoline and even a cargo ship full of the oil. 

The sex trade was also good in Miami, but the sex trade was good everywhere.  What Jake and Ava found most changed from their Atlanta experience was the state of the food supply.  The food trade in the area was fantastic due to local farmers.  A large portion of the remaining population in the area had undertaken agricultural roles due to their ability to grow a variety of foods throughout the year in Miami’s tropical climate.  There was an abundant supply of fresh fruit, vegetables, and of course, seafood.

Better yet, people appeared to be quite open to Jake and Ava’s idea for a currency with which to transact their trade.  There’d been a lot of confusion and disagreement about how to handle barter-style commerce in which one side was offering a good or service as payment for which the other side had no need.  And there was constant paranoia about how to keep the variety of currencies being used secure from theft, which posed an ever-present threat.

Therefore, as Jake and Ava’s “Banks for Bullets” program was introduced to the area’s population, it caught on like wildfire.  It was their first big initiative as the rulers of Miami and it cemented their place as leaders who could add structure and security to a city that was lacking the rules necessary to regulate the human beast. 

With entire warehouses full of ammunition, Jake and Ava controlled the treasury from which they could release funds into or withdraw currency out of their local economy.  And since they had jurisdiction over almost everything that was coming into the city or leaving its confines, more such currency flowing into or escaping – without their permission of course – was next to impossible. Therefore, they could control the purchase power of their currency as needed.

Having the banks there for the populace to safely stash their little hoards made the people feel more secure.  Meanwhile, knowing that they had the power to confiscate these funds if they ever deemed it necessary, made Jake and Ava feel more secure as well. 

Things were shaping up just as Ava had envisioned; and as long as there was a bottle of booze and people to worship him close by, Jake was happy too…kind of.

* * *

The bottle missed her head by a foot – maybe less – and smashed against the penthouse wall, dowsing her with tequila. 

“I’m not going to tolerate this sort of insolence!” Jake yelled.

“Insolence” was a big word for Jake, and Ava wondered where he’d picked it up.

“This is
your
fault!  You should have squashed those bugs down in Little Havana when you had the chance.  This is what I get for leaving it up to a woman!” he growled at her as he paced like a caged animal around the penthouse living room.  He angrily swatted a small lamp off a nearby table and watched as it smashed on the floor.  “It’s your fault, and I expect you to fix it!  I’ve got other shit to deal with, so clean it the fuck up!”

Jake stormed out of the penthouse to continue raging elsewhere.  Ava was sure he’d probably just wander downstairs and drown his sorrows in another bottle of tequila.  Jake’s drinking had always been at what one might consider a “professional” level, but lately he had achieved a true expertise in the art of getting wasted.