about a proposal we have.”
Everyone nodded politely. Carl definitely had their attention with Tom’s last statement.
“And the proposal is?” Kate asked.
“An alliance.”
John smiled. Again the historian in him, picturing kings of the ancient world, riding to a meeting in chariots to discuss water rights, the exchange of daughters, to band their armies together.
“Carl and I have been talking about this for days,” Tom interjected. “It’s ok with me.”
“What’s ok?” Kate asked.
“That we band our towns together for the duration of this crisis.”
“For what purpose?”
“Defense,” Carl said. “We hold the door to the west; you have the one to the east. We cooperate, we survive; we don’t, we are all in the deep dip.” Charlie stood up and pointed to the county map pinned to the wall.
“We have the bottleneck for I-40 and Route 70 in our town on the east side; that’s up just past Exit 66. Just west of Exit 59 there’s another bottleneck where the Swannanoa Mountain range has a spur that comes down. The two highways, the railroad, and the creek are practically side by side over there in Swannanoa. A defendable position only a couple of hundred yards wide. We have the front door; they have the back door.”
“Maybe it’s the other way around,” Carl said, a bit of an edge to his voice. “Remember, we’re closer to Asheville and they’re still trying to force us to take five thousand for my town and five thousand for yours. I’m holding them back and it’s getting ugly real quick. We’ve had half a dozen deaths at the barrier the last two days.”
“From what?” Kellor asked.
“Gunshot, that’s what,” Carl replied sharply. “There’s people that walked down here told they’d find food, we’re telling them there ain’t none, it’s getting bad. I understand it’s chaos on Old 70 and the interstate back towards Asheville.”
“Why in hell didn’t those idiots in the county office just tell people to stay in place?” Charlie snapped bitterly. “They just started this move even when we told them not to.”
“Because they want to survive,” John said, “and the numbers are not adding up.”
“It’ll be a die-off,” Kellor interjected. “A bad one, and Asheville wants it to rest on us, not them. Can’t blame them really.”
“I sure as hell do,” Charlie said coldly.
“Well, if you want to keep them out of your backyard,” Carl said, “then we better get cooperating real quick.”
“A smart move,” John said.
“That sixty head of cattle you folks was talking about. If Asheville comes in here, they’ll be gone in a day, and then what?” He paused and smiled.
“Besides, we’ve counted over a hundred and twenty cattle in our town and three hundred pigs.”
In spite of the horrifying severity of the crisis, John smiled. It truly was like ancient kings negotiating.
Carl looked around the room and all were silent. He had played his trump card and just won with it.
“There’s one other back door,” Carl finally continued, “that’s up by the
Haw Creek Road, but we can seal that off as well. Our numbers, you have about a thousand more people here than we do, not counting all those that already wandered in.”
“Will you share the cattle?” Charlie asked.
Carl hesitated, looked over at his companion.
“You have three pharmacies in your town; we only had one. You open up your medical supplies to us, we’ll consider a transfer of some cattle and pigs.”
“Consider?” Kate asked, and suddenly there was a shrewd look in her eye.
Carl looked at Charlie.
“Ok. We’ll share them out, as needed,” Charlie said. “But it’s full sharing on both sides, medicine, food, weapons, vehicles, manpower.” Charlie looked around the room and John caught his eye. “Governance,” John said.
“Go on.”
“I’m sorry, folks, but I feel like I’m in an old movie, set in medieval or ancient times,” John said. “We’re like two kingdoms here negotiating.”
“Well, I guess that’s the way it’s getting,” Doc Kellor said. “But Swan-nanoa does have an outreach clinic from Memorial Mission. We could use that as a medical center. They had some equipment there for minor surgeries, emergencies, and such. Also three or four doctors in your town, that would give us a total of nine doctors for the community.”
Carl nodded.
“We protected the clinic from Day One. Had the same problem you did with some druggies….” He paused. “We shot them when they were trying to escape.”
John did not ask for any details on that.
“Governance. We can’t be divided off if we agree to work together on this. Everyone is in the same boat. So, what will it be?” Charlie looked at Carl.
“I’ve known you for years, Charlie Fuller. As long as you are not tied into Asheville, I’ll be willing to take orders from you. Damn, I’ll be glad not to have to make some of these decisions.”
Charlie nodded.
“Then Carl sits on this council,” John said.
“Who are you?” Carl asked, looking straight at John.
“He’s a history professor at the college. Ex-military, a colonel with combat experience.”
John looked at Charlie. “Combat experience,” that was stretching it. “He advises us on legal stuff, moral issues, a smart man to have around.”
“So why is he here in this meeting?” Carl asked calmly.
John bristled slightly. How he had evolved into being here, well, it had simply started with his barging in, but now, after but a week, he felt the need to be here, and a purpose.
“He is the one who executed the drug thieves,” Tom said. “Let’s just say he’s our compass. Professor type but ok.”
Carl continued to hold eye contact with John and he wondered if there was going to be trouble.
“My friend Mike Vance here, then I want him on this council, too. We didn’t have a mayor like you, but he was town manager.”
John could see that Vance was someone who did what Carl wanted.
“We’re not a democracy here,” John said, “though I regret to say that. We are under martial law and Charlie Fuller is in charge. We just advise. If we are to work together, it has to be Charlie’s word that is the final say.
“Nice friend you have, Charlie,” Mike said quietly.
“Mike, Carl,” and now it was Tom speaking. “We’ve got to work together, and I agree with John. Either Charlie runs it for all of us or the deal is off.”
The room was filled with silence and Carl finally nodded.
Charlie came around the table and Carl stood up, shaking his hand.
John said nothing. The formal ritual had been played out. The kings had shaken hands and the treaty been made. It was the smart move, though he wondered if all would feel the same a month, six months, from now.
Charlie went back to his chair and sat down.
“With the extra vehicles, I know the answer already, but gas supply?”
“We just drain it out of all the stalled cars on the highway for starters,” Tom said.
“I know that, but should we start rounding that up now?”
“Wouldn’t do that,” Mike interjected. “Gas goes bad over time. You can’t get it out of the gas stations until we rig up some sort of pumps. Inside a car, though, the tank is sealed, it will stay good in there longer than if we pull it out.
“I know; I own a wrecking shop.”
Like him or not, John realized, this man’s knowledge, at this moment, might be more valuable than his
