Chapter Thirty-Six
Ridge Manor, Florida
Josh stared at his sister. His long-lost sister that he had feared meeting so much. Now that he was standing in front of her, it wasn't as terrifying as he had believed it to be. Maybe the circumstances had changed his perspective. There were other things to worry about right now.
"Josh," Joanna said and came closer to him. "You've got to help us."
Josh swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke, "What's going on?"
"This guy is crazy. Mad as a bat. I’m telling you. He’s kept us trapped in there telling us some wacko story of how he's protecting us from the Chinese, pah. Of all the paranoid stories I’ve heard, that has to…never mind. I was so scared. I know you're probably mad at me for leaving back then, but Josh, you've got to get us out of here. He's got a gun and everything."
"Well, he is the sheriff," Josh said, then shook his head. "And you're damn right I am mad at you. Not a word for ten years? Really, Joanna? No phone call? No text saying, Hey, I know I’ve been gone for awhile, but I’m okay, I’m alive, no need to worry? Not even a darn postcard, Joanna? To let me know you're alive? I have to hear everything from Jack's mother? And all of a sudden, you're back in town and you don't even look me up?"
"Josh…there is a madman behind us with a gun who has kept me trapped in there. Could we do this later?"
Josh looked at her. "I find that very hard to believe. I'll have you know that Wayne is actually a really good guy, Joanna. Looks to me like he was just protecting you."
"What?"
"He was protecting you."
"Has this entire town gone raving mad? Am I on Candid Camera or something?" Joanna said, breathing heavily.
Josh scoffed.
Joanna stared at him, scrutinizing him, like being mad was something you could tell by looking at his skin. Then she burst into laughter. Not a happy laugh because she was amused, more like someone who just figured something out.
She pointed her finger at him. "You're in on this too."
"In on what, exactly?"
"This…this entire scam. You two are working together, aren't you?"
Josh grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Joanna. You've got to listen to us. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true, Joanna. Heck, I still find it hard to believe but I have seen it with my own eyes. What Wayne has told you is true. The Chinese are here. They're everywhere downtown."
Joanna still looked at him with skepticism. "Chinese?"
"It's no joke," Wayne said as he walked out of the house.
"Stay back," Joanna said, holding out the crowbar as if it was any match for Wayne's gun.
Wayne stopped.
"I am not messing with you, Joanna."
"He's not," Josh said. "The soldiers are marching through town, chanting in freakin' Mandarin; you just can't see them all the way out here. But there are thousands of them. Literally. They’ve blocked all the ways out of town."
"And you're not just saying this because you're angry with me?" Joanna said.
Josh sighed. "I don't have time to be. Right now, we have bigger issues. As a matter of fact, I am here because of Wayne. He’s needed downtown. We all are. They want us to meet by City Hall to listen to some kind of announcement."
Part Three
Now what?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Paradise Island, Bahamas
"Follow me, Boss Lady, come, come."
Shortcut Mike, or M&M, was whispering in the darkness. Heart pounding in her throat, Martha tried to keep up with him, Carl following close after them.
They had snuck out of the resort right after sunset, going through the sliding doors leading to the terrace where they could sneak onto a small path leading to the beach. They had been trapped in their room for three days, the front door heavily guarded by soldiers. No one had given them food and they’d had to live off the chips and snacks Martha always brought with her, just in case. Usually, Carl would complain about her bringing too much and tease her, asking her if she expected them to have to go through a nuclear war, but not this time. The snacks were what had saved them. That, and the water from the water-cooler that was already installed in the room when they arrived. Martha couldn't for the life of her understand how anyone else trapped in the resort could have survived and why these irresponsible Chinese soldiers didn't provide any food or drinks for them.
There was no power and their phones hadn't been working for days either. That was the first thing Martha had tried once she recovered from the blow to her head the soldier had given her. To call Josh. But none of the phones were working anymore. Not even the Wi-Fi or the TV. They hadn't been able to contact the outside world and wondered if they even knew that the Bahamas apparently had been taken over by the Chinese.
They were Chinese, weren't they? They could be North Korean.
She had discussed it with Carl. But then they had seen a flag out of the window of their room one day as the soldiers marched with the red flag outside, and that had settled it.
"Hurry up, Boss Lady and Boss Lady's Man," Shortcut Mike whispered. "We must hurry to not be seen."
Martha couldn't see his face anymore, but followed the sound of his voice. Mike had come to their hotel room. He had suddenly just shown up on their porch, knocking at the sliding doors, scaring them like crazy, waving at them to let him in. He had told them he had a boat, that he knew someone who could get them back to the States, but they had to come now and leave everything behind. He had added that last part when Martha had started to pack.
"You must come now, Boss Lady," he had said.
"But…but my…"
Carl had shaken his head and Martha knew he was right. They had to leave it all behind, grab nothing but their passports and wallets. So, they did. Finally, Martha had grabbed her favorite dress in her hand. The one with the flowers that made her look less fat. The one Carl loved her in. She didn't want to lose it.
Now they were sneaking along the trail leading to the beach, where Shortcut Mike had told them his friend was waiting, hoping and praying that no soldiers would hear them.
"Down here, Boss Lady," Mike said and opened the gate to the beach entrance. "Watch your step."
Mike held her hand as Martha stepped out on the stairs and started to climb down. As she was halfway there, she turned and looked up at Carl, who was going as fast as he could, despite his bad hip. She reached out her hand and helped him the last few steps down.
Shortcut Mike came up behind them and pointed towards the ocean. The moon provided a little more light down here, which made it easier for them to see, but also easier to be seen.
"Down there. He's right down there," Mike said and pointed at what looked like a small fishing boat. Martha gulped when she saw how small it was. Were they supposed to travel across the Atlantic in that thing?
"It's small but fast," Shortcut Mike said as if he had read her mind. "Only three hours and then you'll be back in your country. Come. Come. Hurry. Run this last part. Run really fast, Boss Lady and Boss Lady's Man."
Lifting up her dress and holding her shoes in her hand, Martha followed Mike into the sand. She ran with everything she had, all the strength she could muster across the heavy sand, sinking in deeper and deeper with every step, and soon she was losing her breath.
"Hurry, Boss Lady, hurry."
"I…I…can't…run anymore," she panted. "I…can't…" She stopped and then looked back at Carl, who, to her terror, had stopped halfway and stood bent forward, withered in pain.
"Carl," she said.
And that was when she heard voices coming from the top of the stairs. Loud voices yelling.
"Carl!" She turned towards Shortcut Mike, who was almost at the ocean. "Mike. Carl can't run."
"Hurry, hurry," Mike said.
"It's his hip," Martha said.
"There is no time," Mike said, while the yelling got louder and there were now stomping boots on the wooden stairs leading down to the beach.
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Mike approached her and grabbed her hand. "You must come now."
Martha looked back at Carl and then pulled her arm away. "No! I am not leaving my husband here."
Martha turned around and rushed towards Carl, while the soldiers approached in the distance, stomping loudly on the wooden stairs. Martha fought the heavy sand, ran to Carl, picked him up on her shoulder, and started to run back towards the ocean.
There was a shot fired and Mike yelled, "Hurry. Hurry!"
Martha grunted and growled, but managed to carry Carl all the way to the ocean where Mike helped her get him into the boat before she jumped in herself. Mike smiled, his pearly white teeth glistening.
"You're the boss," he said. "You sure are the Boss Lady. Juan here will take you to Florida. He's from Puerto Rico."
The boat backed up. Mike waved at them from the water. "You're not coming, Mike?" Martha yelled.
"No, Boss Lady. I have ten kids. Can't just take off and leave, now can I? My wife would kill me."
"But they might kill you!"
She looked at him with helpless wonder. Shots were being fired behind him, echoing off the tall palm trees along the shoreline.
"Then I will have taken my last shortcut, now won't I?"
Mike laughed and Martha thought she detected fear in his laughter, but she could be wrong. Still, she waved as the boat backed up and Mike grew smaller and smaller.
The sound of several shots being fired on the beach startled Martha and caused her to cry out. As the boat rushed away from the shore towards the deep darkness ahead, she prayed that Mike really had found a shortcut to Heaven.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ridge Manor, Florida
As twilight faded into night, they had finally gathered everyone in town. The moonlight lit up their angry faces, but even the anger couldn't fully hide their worry and anxiety. All had the same question they needed to have answered:
Now what? What is going to happen next?
Some had even brought signs and banners and were shouting protests. Mary looked at all of them. Major General Li Xiaoyan was standing with her officers and what felt like a thousand soldiers behind her, but probably was a lot fewer. All had the same stern look on their faces that seemed almost inhuman.
"Should I…?" she asked Li Xiaoyan.
"Yes, yes, begin," she answered. In a brief second, she stuck her tongue out as she spoke.
"All right," Mary said and looked at the people in front of her.
She spotted Wayne in the crowd and their eyes met briefly, causing her guilt to flare up once again. There was a constant small still voice in her head - awfully similar to that of Sheriff Wayne's - that whispered over and over again:
You could have prevented this, Mary. If you had only listened. If only you would have listened to me.
"Everyone, please listen up," she continued through the nagging sensation, cutting off the protests. "As you know, this town is now under the control of the Chinese."
When she said the word, Major General Li Xiaoyan repeated it and looked at her officers, who also nodded their heads, repeating it to each other really fast.
"Chinese, Chinese, yes, yes, Chinese, Chinese."
Mary focused on her citizens and what the Chinese had told her to say, had ordered her to say.
"As far as I have been told, the entire country has been taken over. Now, their leader, Major General Li Xiaoyan is in charge and she has told me to let you know that they want you to go back to your normal lives. They want you to go about your daily affairs, go to work, and so on, but…" Mary sighed. All eyes were on her, expectant, waiting for what came after that but.
"But you can't leave the town."
An angry murmur spread as she said the last part.
"How am I supposed to do my work if I can't leave town?" Josh Pattison yelled. "My biggest client lives in Orlando. And where is my wife? Some soldiers took my wife and I need to know where she is, is she alive?"
Josh was standing next to his sister, Joanna, who Mary hadn't seen in ten years and, if it hadn't been for the circumstances that were even more absurd, she would have considered it to be very bizarre, maybe even unbelievable.
"I…I don't know, Josh," Mary said. "A few of our beloved citizens have lost their lives. We all know about Mrs. Kilcommons, but I have also received word that Brandy Williams and her son Pete Williams have been killed. I was told they tried to fight the soldiers as they crossed their yard. Brandy pulled a gun and so they…killed them. But they haven't mentioned anything about prisoners. At least not so far."
The crowd went quiet for a few seconds, while they all thought about Mrs. Kilcommons, then about Brandy and Pete, and finally about Irene, but no one spoke. Not until the proper amount of time had passed and they believed it was all right to get back to thinking about themselves again.
"How am I supposed to get supplies?" Barney from the hardware store asked. "I can't sell things if I don't get supplies."
"How am I supposed to get food for my diner?" Miss Trudy asked. "And how am I supposed to cook when we have no power?"
Mary shrugged. She had no idea how to answer these things. "We'll have to do with what we have here, okay? At least for now. Try to cook over an open fire, maybe? Barbeque? We all love a good burger from the grill, right?"
"The freezers aren't working. How will I keep my groceries fresh?"
Mary sighed. "No one says this will last forever. Maybe they'll open the town's border later on. Maybe they'll turn on the power again soon."
Major General Li Xiaoyan made a shrill sound from where she was standing and Mary looked at her. For a split second, she thought she saw something strange in Major General Li Xiaoyan's eyes but shook the thought.
"What is really important, according to our new leaders here, is that they want everything to go back to normal, as normal as we can, given the circumstances, but they also want you to report to them or me if you see anything out of the ordinary."
"Like what?" Tim yelled.
"Yeah, like what?" Nick yelled.
Mary sighed. The instructions had been very vague when given to her. Just for them to report anything extraordinary. Just like her citizens were now doing, she had asked the very same question.
"Like what?"
"Anything," had been the answer. And then Major General Li Xiaoyan had repeated it again and again, and soon her officers were repeating it over and over again, shaking and tilting their heads to the side, reminding Mary of a flock of pigeons.
"Anything, anything, anything, anything."
"Just anything," Mary now repeated and rubbed her forehead. "Anything, all right?"
"They just want us to report on one another," Doug yelled and the crowd chimed in, agreeing with him. "Darn communists. I ain't no snitch, I tell ya' that much. I ain't none of their comrades."
"Me either," someone chimed in.
"Yeah. I ain't snitching on no one either."
"Darn commies, coming here, telling us to snitch."
"Fascists."
"Please," Mary said, trying to calm them down as the murmuring grew louder. She looked at Major General Li Xiaoyan's face to make sure she wasn't getting upset. She didn't want anyone else to be killed. That was Mary's top priority right now. To keep her citizens alive through this. But, to her surprise, the major general didn't seem to mind the offensive things that people yelled. She hardly reacted to any of them and so it continued for a while.
"Dog-eaters, comin' here, telling us what to do…"
"Dim Sum."
"Are they gonna make us have only one child? 'Cause that ain't happening," a woman yelled. "I ain't killing no babies."
"I ain't eating with no chopsticks either; this is America."
"Or riding bikes everywhere."
"Noodle-nigg…"
"All right, that's enough!" Mary cut through the murmuring.
They went quiet. Mary sighed.
"Please. Please, just do as they tell you to. We all know what happened to
Mrs. Kilcommons. I don't want that to happen to any of you. I don't want to lose any more of this town's children, you hear me? Hand over your weapons; weapons are not allowed in the People's Republic of China. Report any unusual activity and serve the Chinese. They are in charge now. We are now officially a part of the People's Republic of China. Now, please, all of you, just go home, go back to your houses. There'll be no gatherings, no one meeting and talking. Everyone goes home and there is a curfew that starts at seven o'clock every night from now on. Please make sure to be home by then and stay out of trouble. Tomorrow, this town will return to its old self, or at least the best version of it we can muster under these circumstances, okay?"
The crowd murmured some more, someone called Mary a traitor, another complained that there wasn’t any TV or Internet, so what were they supposed to be doing? But, eventually, they all left, one after another. And they were alive.
Mary drew in a deep breath, relieved that she had been able to have this meeting without anyone getting hurt or even shot. Now she turned and looked at Major General Li Xiaoyan, and once again, she was certain she saw something in the woman's eye that seemed off. Thinking she was just very tired, Mary started to walk back towards her car. Soldiers were still everywhere, on all the street corners and, as Mary drove past them on her way home, she wondered where they were all going to sleep, but then decided that it wasn't her problem.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ridge Manor, Florida
Joanna was very quiet in the car. As a matter of fact, she hadn't spoken at all since Josh had taken her, Ellie Mae, and Wayne downtown and she had seen the green-uniformed soldiers with her own eyes. The shock had been too overwhelming.