“I can see you’re just like the rest of ’em down there, only somehow you got lucky and made it out. Don’t know how—you seem—out of your element, which nowadays seems to spell disaster for most people.”
Jared was getting more and more agitated with Barry’s condescending sermon and wished John would hurry up and get back with the others. “How’d you get so lucky? You’re not dead or trapped down in the city, how’d that happen?” Jared flexed.
Barry laughed out loud before answering, “I am not one of the sheep down there dying every single day ’cause of a power outage. I was prepared, I saw this coming, I tried to warn people, and no one listened, and now they’re all dead or will be soon.”
“How did you know this was coming?” Jared asked, concern reflecting in his voice. “I mean, if you knew this was coming, then I think my earlier question about who you worked for is a valid question.”
Barry snorted. “I knew. No one told me. Silicon Valley, along with everyone else in corporate America, was so focused on growing technology and building their empires, they were blinded to any possibility of it all crumbling. The only threats they perceived were government regulations, and they spent billions in lobbying our precious politicians in Washington. They’re all shortsighted, self-serving idiots, every last one of them.”
Jared shook his head slightly. “How—how would you know that?”
Barry threw his hands in the air as he stared into the sky as if seeking some divine guidance in educating this poor ignorant soul standing before him. “Three little fucking pigs, man.”
Jared shrugged. “And?”
“And Silicon Valley was pig number one for sure. Built all that technology on an electrical grid that amounted to straw. When the big bad wolf came knocking a couple of months ago…poof, it’s all gone. To make things worse, those arrogant fucks designed everything they built in a way that the general public couldn’t live without.” Barry grinned impishly. “Including them and every facet of support they relied on.”
Jared nodded his understanding, mulling over what this guy was saying while not particularly liking the pompous manner with which he was delivering his message.
“They built a trillion-dollar house on a foundation of sand, and now we’re all paying the price,” Barry said as John appeared with Shannon and Calvin in tow.
Barry turned and watched as the three approached. All three were armed, but kept their weapons positioned in nonthreatening stances. When the trio arrived at the OP, introductions were made until everyone knew each other’s names. As Jared watched the introductions, he was vaguely aware of a slight personality trait in this new guy Barry.
The man seemed pompous and a bit overbearing, yet he also didn’t seem like he quite meshed with the rest of the group, whom Jared considered normal people. Jared had met and worked with many highly intelligent people in his former life and found many of them were slightly if not highly socially inept when it came to dealing with the majority of their co-workers. Jared had once read an article about people’s IQs and how a person’s IQ could affect their ability to relate to other people of lower IQs. The article was not critical: it was matter-of-fact and informative, and Jared had never forgot reading it.
The article he’d read indicated a person with an IQ above 145 trying to relate with a person of normal IQ, which usually ranged somewhere around 100, could be compared to a normal person attempting to relate to a dog. Sure, they could be companions, but a true peer-to-peer relationship would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. The two people simply wouldn’t view the world in the same way, and their relationship would be hampered by the disparity in IQ points.
Jared studied Barry as he started in on John about the frailty of the electrical grid before the event and tried to quantify his pros versus his cons. After about two seconds, Jared chuckled to himself, realizing they would all have to get to know the man better before any decision could be made about Barry’s value to their little community.
The conversation shifted to Barry’s motorcycle, which Barry moved closer to the OP so the group could inspect the machine. Barry was obviously proud of the fact that he possessed enough awareness to predict the coming event and had prepared for it. From what Jared could tell, the man didn’t seem like he was too shaken up about all the people dying in the city below them. Jared was getting the feeling Barry was the type of man who, if someone disagreed with him, he would insist they were wrong and deserved any tragedy that may befall them.
Jared had been out on the OP for quite some time after burying Bart, so Shannon offered to take over the watch while the menfolk went back to the ranch house and talked about Barry’s immediate plans and how they may or may not mesh with their group’s plans for the future.
Chapter 5
Inside the ranch house, Essie recoiled when Barry walked through the door. Jared strode over to the apprehensive-looking little girl and scooped her into his arms, turning to face the newcomer.
“This is Essie,” he said, like a proud father.
Barry stopped short and stared at the little girl with a look of bewilderment on his face. “You didn’t say there were kids here,” he said accusingly.
“And, Essie, this is Barry. He has a motorcycle outside, if you’d like to see it,” Jared continued, ignoring Barry’s quirky response.
There was a second pause as Barry continued to stare at Essie, who shrank into Jared’s clutches.
John broke the awkward moment by placing his rifle just inside the door, ensuring the weapon was on safe. “Barry, we usually check the long guns here inside the door,” John stated with a
