Fortress Farm - The Pullback

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  By the next day, streams of refugees were pouring into the downtown St. Louis area. With police escorts, there was little trouble with civilians trying to harass the columns. Every cooperative police officer was promised a place for their family in the central hub, so there was no lack of motivation in helping the VIPs get relocated to City Center.

  Construction workers, with their families already safely settled into the 8th tower, worked feverishly, reinforcing entrances to the City Center towers that would house the people deemed worthy of saving from the slowly unfolding crisis.

  With all the police occupied shepherding ARK’s relocation program, the rest of the city and surrounding area descended quickly into anarchy. Before GRAPEVINE went to sleep, everyone in the city had been assigned a specific day to pick up their weekly rations. Tony’s people left just enough food in the city owned distribution centers for the next couple of days to hold off some of the rioting sure to come. But many people showed up trying to get theirs a day early, just like they had in more compliant times. When that didn’t work, they simply waited for others to get their rations and then took it from them.

  The first real violence broke out on day three, when one of the Firms from further out in the suburbs finally got their herd of dependents near the City Center destination. A small mob noticed several groups of well–dressed folks flowing in that direction, and logically decided that there must be something good wherever they were going.

  As the mob continued to harass the Firm’s people, the cops finally became fed up and fired shots in the air. Although St. Louis kept laws on the books restricting personal ownership of firearms, common knowledge was the rougher neighborhoods of the city were armed to the teeth. People who lived and operated there also knew how to use the illegal weapons they possessed.

  At the sound of police gunshots, the mob began to fire back, causing panic in both crowds. In the running gunfight that ensued, one police officer and two members of the Firm’s entourage were killed. No one cared to make an accurate count of how many hungry civilians were hit. ARK Peacekeepers arrived just in time to prevent further violence, driving two old Jeeps commandeered after invitees drove to the secure zone with them. Antiquated technology like those vehicles remained unaffected by Solar Storms or the GRAPEVINE shutdown and allowed Peacekeepers to drive out into the city and retrieve the remaining Firm’s dependents.

  Other than that incident, the mayor and Tony both marveled at how smoothly the plan progressed. By the end of the week, the City Center towers had been secured and streets for a three-block radius were made impassable with old cars and collapsed rubble. Snipers were posted at every entrance to an area now referred to simply as The ARK. Just over 11,000 people safely sat back and waited to see what would befall their city of millions, millions they had once sworn to serve and protect.