Out of the Ashes

Ben left the young people arguing and debating the merits of his plan and quietly slipped away, Juno at his side. Just north of Chickasha, he connected with highway 81 and took that straight to Kansas. He began meeting more and more people, spending a week in Kansas. He did not want to get too close to Nebraska, for that state had taken several hits and was considered “hot.”

Obviously, Logan's plan to relocate people was not meeting with much success in Kansas. When he asked them about it, they looked at him as if they were conversing with a fool.

“This is the breadbasket, sonny,” a farmer told him. “The government's gotta have grain, and we produce it. No ... I think they'll let us alone. Besides, I said Logan was an idiot when he first started runnin’ off his mouth twenty years ago. I still think he's not pullin’ with both oars.”

At Hays, Ben got on highway 40 and followed that all the way into Colorado. He saw the ruins of Denver and it made him almost sick. It had been one of his favorite cities.

“Damned shame, isn't it?” The voice came at him from his left.

Ben spun, the 9-mm in his hand. Juno had been off taking a pee.

“Whoa!” the man said, holding out his empty hands. “Son, you are quick with that thing. I'm friendly.”

The man wore a pistol on his hip; but it was covered with the leather of a military-type holster. USN on the side of the flap.

Ben holstered his 9-mm. “Navy?”

“I was, for twenty-four years. Captain when the war broke out. Chase is my name. Lamar Chase.”

“Ben Raines.” They shook hands. “What happened to Denver?”

“It didn't take a hit, if that's what you're thinking. Enemy saboteurs hit the base, and hit it hard. For some reason, I don't know why, spite probably, they also placed fire-bombs in the city, in very strategic locations. Gas mains blew. The wind was right. And Denver is no more. I was on leave at the time. Took my wife up into the mountains and sat it out.”

“I have some fond memories of this city. Or what is left of it. I took some training up at Camp Hale.”

The Navy man smiled. “I thought you might be one of those boys. Hell-Hound?”

“That unit never existed, Captain—you know that.”

“Shit!” the Navy man said.

Ben took a closer look at the initials on the leather flap. USNMC. “Doctor?”

“You got it. You look like the survivor type, son. Shoot first and ask questions later.” He motioned to the curb. “Let's sit and talk. Where are you going?”

Ben sat with the doctor and talked.

“Ambitious project. Luck to you. What do you think about our president?”

“I used to fuck his wife.”

Dr. Chase laughed so hard tears streamed from his eyes and he had to rise from the curb, holding his sides. He wiped his eyes and said, “Beautiful. I needed a good laugh. Come on, Ben—have supper with me and my wife. I've got something I'd like to discuss with you—if you're the Raines I think you are.”

“I thought you might be the one I've been hearing about,” the doctor said, patting his wife's hand. It had been a delicious dinner, the conversation sparkling. “So what do you think of my plan, Ben?”

“I'd say you've been sleeping in my mind for the past ten years.”

“Yes,” Chase agreed with a slight nod of his head. “I got part of it from a book of yours. Enjoyed it immensely. Didn't agree with everything you advocated—you got a bit Orwellian in parts—but I went along with about ninety percent of your thoughts.”

“I don't know how much time we have.” Ben toyed with his coffee cup.

“Months,” the Navy man assured him. “I believe.”

Ben glanced at him, questions in his eyes.

“You say you're committed now,” Chase said. “All right, so let's get the ball rolling. I know, from listening to radio broadcasts, you've got about five thousand people working, moving gear, or ready to move gear, into those areas you chose. All right, let's do it.

“Logan? Well ... he wants to be king,” Chase explained. “He's lived for so long, hiding his true feelings, I think the man is a bit unbalanced. I really think Logan started out with good ideas; wanting to do good things for the people. He was an idealist, but so are you, to an extent. But yours is a pragmatic idealism, and I don't mean to sound paradoxical. You are a conservative with a slight liberal twist to the conservatism. Logan grew up hating guns—they frighten him. He hates the military; really hates cops, authority. But he will use them both to gain his own end. With Logan, any good thing he might accomplish will be done in accordance with his interpretation of the law of the land. Whatever it might be at the time. But you, Ben Raines, you've held our laws in contempt for years; you don't give a damn for the prevailing laws of the land. There is a hardness in you that will probably be your downfall—but we don't have to go into that. I can live with it; you're not inflexible.