“And here I thought that building it in the middle of nowhere would ensure some degree of security.” Carpenter sighed and regarded the dead men. “We’ll see more like these, and perhaps worse. But we can’t let them prevail. If we must fight for our right to exist, so be it. But let’s not do it haphazardly. Just as our country had its army and navy and marines, we must do something similar.”
Soren broke his silence. “Excuse me for saying so, sir, but you make it sound as if the United States no longer exists.” .
“It very well might not. And call me Kurt, please.”
“What was that about doing something similar?” Slayne prompted.
Carpenter gazed solemnly out across the compound. “What we need, gentlemen, is a fighting force of our very own. Men and women pledged to keep intruders like these at bay.” He smiled. “What we need are our very own warriors.”
Sowing Seeds
Sunday dawned cloudy and chilly. Before anyone ventured outdoors, Patrick Slayne donned a hazmat suit and conducted his routine morning tests. The previous evening, he had huddled with Carpenter and Deepak Kapur and worked out how they would go about installing remote sensors on the walls. The sensors would be linked to the computers and relay radiation readings as well as the data from bio and chem sniffers.
When Slayne deemed it safe, Carpenter gave the word and everyone emerged from the six bunkers and converged on a grassy area between B Block and the moat. Carpenter encouraged them to bring food and drink and to relax and enjoy themselves, but there was an air of tension. He mentioned it to Diana Trevor, who said it was perfectly normal, given the uncertainties they faced.
Carpenter intended to set some of those uncertainties to rest. It was a few minutes before ten when he came out of C Block and stood under a maple tree, the leaves of which were turning brown earlier than they should. The buzz of conversation stopped. He smiled, then began what he believed to be the most important speech of his life.
“Good morning, brothers and sisters. For that is what we are, you know. We are all of us brothers and sisters in adversity. The greatest adversity the human race has known in modern history.
“We’re nor just a collection of strangers culled from all walks of life and thrown together to sink or swim as the whims of fate decide. We share a common bond, a common goal, a common need. The bond is that of survival, the goal is to continue to survive, the need is for us to continually adapt to whatever challenges our drastically changed world throws at us.”
Carpenter stopped and gazed at every one of their upturned faces. “I would like to cement that bond. I would like for each of you to start thinking of those around you not as strangers but as your family.” He waited for snickers or objections, but there were none.
“The Family,” he repeated. “I have been calling us that for some time now. Look at the person next to you and you will see why. We are all in this together. We are all a family in adversity.
So from this day on, that is how we will refer to ourselves. The Family.
“A great writer once wrote a book about three Musketeers.
You might have heard of it or seen any of the many movies made. There is a line from that book and from those movies that applies to us, as well. One for all, and all for one. It sums up all that we are. A Family, one for all and all for one.”
Carpenter gestured to encompass the Blocks, the moat, and the high wall. “Look around you. If we’re a Family, what does that make our compound? From now on we will call it our Home. Start to think of it as that. Say it in your head. Get used to the idea. We are the Family and we live in the Home.”
Someone spoke up. “That’s all well and good, but what if we don’t like some of our brothers or sisters?”
“What’s unusual about that? Every Family has conflict. They work around it as we’ll work around it. The important thing to keep in mind is that we can work anything our if we put our minds to it.”
Carpenter waited so they could absorb all that he had said so far. Then he went on to the next phase. “Think of it. We have lived through the end of the world. All that we knew is gone. We are starting over, literally, and I would like to do some things differently from how they were done before.”
“You’re our leader,” a woman declared.
“By default, yes. If you want to bestow that title on me, I accept it. But only under the condition that each of you accepts a title of your own.”
“What do you mean?” This question came from a man on the far side.
“One of the problems that led to the hell we have lived through was the belief by some that they had the right to lord over everyone else. That they could decide what was right and wrong and how we should live our lives—or lose them, if need be—to keep them in power. Power mongers, they were, and they set themselves up above the rest of us.
“There will be none of that here. We are all equals. No one—and I emphasize this—no one has the right to set himself or herself above the rest of us. To prevent that, to keep anyone from
