This is week 30 in volume 3 of the Saturday Survival Serial. To learn more about what the Saturday Survival Serial is, click here. To start at week 1, click here.
The last six weeks had been a whirlwind of activity not experienced since before IT happened. The information flowing in and out of the camps was flowing steadily now. The intricate web of supplies and locations of camps for the U. N. was being unveiled more quickly now. Liberty’s Teeth had people everywhere.
The full extent of the horror of details in the United Nation’s plan to “save humanity” was something right out of a movie script. Brainwashing of children, using women for breeding stock, killing any child with deformities, not to mention taking them from their parents at such a young age – it was too much.
Tori at Plymouth, Indiana met a woman who had been crying behind one of the work buildings. She said she was suffering from postpartum depression, having a child five weeks prior. She was told it had died and that she had an infection that required her to have a full hysterectomy.
Tori was shocked, angered, and sad for her all at once. She glanced at the woman’s identification band and saw she had a high clearance. When she asked, Tori learned the women was in Development, specifically agriculture. She was a scientist in her former life, studying plants with multiple degrees in botany, horticulture, and environmental studies.
It wasn’t until later that Tori put two and two together: The woman told her that she had a child before who had down syndrome that had been killed shortly after IT happened. The second child must have also had some deformation and they killed it. Due to her expertise, they chose to sterilize her instead of killing her. They ensured she wouldn’t dirty their gene pool again. The realization had made her physically ill.
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Shannon at Reed City, with her new position overseeing the entire water and sewer systems of this camp, had learned and confirmed some of the worst rumors. She learned that Reed City was a propaganda spot, the location chosen specifically for the high level officials and officers within the U.N. military machine to safely conduct business. The helicopter was making at least two trips a week now, always with new people coming in and out. None traveled into the main town. Instead, supplies were brought out to the building that was heavily secured. Sensor, cameras, and regular patrols of select soldiers now kept the area clear of any unauthorized personnel.
Any ideas of religion, cultural heritage, and the forming of groups was discouraged. Posters had been created and sent out from a printing place somewhere back East. It encouraged people to remember their “part in the restoration of the human species” and to always “consider how their decisions affected humanity.”
Then there were the rules put on relationships, sex, and procreation. Even now, the system to be tested and approved for having a child was being finalized. People couldn’t just have children anymore as they chose. They needed permission. Given the nature of how things were already, it was expected that those who violated the rules were killed, or the child aborted, or the parents sterilized. There were rumors heard about some camps that were more like jails, the people living there treated horribly and literally worked to death. Working on what was anyone’s guess.
Some of the biggest accomplishments in the last few weeks included Liberty’s Teeth taking over a couple U.N. supply distribution facilities and the creation of a way in and out of each camp. They were added upon and soon, routes had been charted in, out, and all around U. N. camps. Called Liberty Trails, people wanting to escape the camps, get information in and out, and move troops now had a safer way. They also provided ways to get key people in when the time was right.
Shannon dreamed of taking one of them out of the hell she was in. The only thing that kept her in place was the ability to get vital information needed by those who wanted to see the thumb of the U.N. on humanity severed. Where she was would do the most good and for that, she stayed.
The attacks on supplies kept the U. N. on their toes but the leaders of Liberty’s Teeth were cunning: they chose locations that weren’t too big, erring on the side of caution and going after smaller distribution stations. Not only were the supplies they looted valuable, the psychological warfare that was being accomplished was just enough to have people talking about it three hundred miles away and more.
Roger overheard a couple soldiers talking about it. He had befriended one of them, slipping the guy little bits of candy or other bits of food on the side. His position as a laborer in the supply area had paid off in spades. He asked the guys about what they’d heard, nodding when expected, feigning outrage at the barbarians living like animals out in the “wastes” as the outside was called by many.
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In the area East of the Mississippi River and North of Kentucky and Virginia, LT members were working on getting bits of supplies out of the U. N. camps in preparation for the battle to come. It was close now, a mere month left before the big day. So far, there was no indication that the U.N. had any idea what was coming. Not even a hint or whisper and there were many ears listening.
Safe houses were well equipped, well used, and well guarded. Plans for homemade munitions were sent out via runners that were chosen for their hardiness and speed. They were to be made out of common items that weren’t of real value now: vases, stuffed animals, old pipes and ‘trash.’ People began making way to the locations they would be joining the fight. Word was sent out that it needed to be done quietly and slowly, with no more than five people to a group.
Though hundreds and thousands were gathering, it was still easy for them to keep spread out.
Those traveling the furthest distances left first. The safe houses kept track of the general idea of where people were and how many were in each location. This information was conveyed back to the powers that be, though the time it took to get information back and forth made for some frustration. The key to the success of eradicating the United Nation’s presence and goals was surprise. Without it, the resources the U.N. had could take out enough of the resistance to squash it for generations to come.