Better for Everyone

Chapter 6: Coding Chaos

Owsley County Kentucky, Contested Appalachia.

The earliest settlers of Appalachia left their graves unmarked lest Indians find, disinter and desecrate the bodies. This was important since the deceased body would need to be whole when the last judgement came.

As the threat of Indians diminished under the guns, plows and unrelenting flow of Scotch-Irish settlers, the dead were buried with simple wood crosses. There was rarely an epitaph because few people knew how to read. As time passed, the wood gave way to flagstone, which was abundant in the mountains. Commercially produced stonecut headstones were still a rarity in these parts - nobody had the money or the desire to lug a piece of marble into the foothills when more than likely a perfectly good rock was nearby. So that's how Rhonda Lewis's grave was marked - with a simple piece of sandstone and a pair of initials that Travis had carved himself.

Travis stood above the grave with a bouquet of sisyrinchium flowers he had picked on his way there. His wife's grave was at the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the valley below. Travis didn't come here much. He stopped by to drop off flowers on birthdays and their anniversary and once every month or so to keep the grass around the grave trimmed.

She had been dead for nearly 5 years now. None of the diabetics had survived the first year. Travis prided himself on being independent. He had built his house and grown his own food, but he couldn't synthesize insulin. But he believed in heaven and he knew that he was going to spend eternity with his wife, so what was a couple more years of waiting? Maybe the next few days would speed things along to the conclusion?

Travis laid the flowers down next to the headstone. He turned around. Captain Moore and Lieutenant Orr stood a respectful distance away.

"When I die," Travis said. "You boys bury me right here next to my wife."

The special forces soldiers said nothing, but their faces betrayed a look of resignation. Their outcomes didn't look too good either.

Travis picked up his rifle. He walked past the soldiers, down the hill, and into the forest. The soldiers followed. Travis reached the bottom after a five minute walk. About 30 men from Owsley County were collected at the base of the hill. All of them carried backpacks that burst at the seams with food and ammunition - each pack weighed at least 50 pounds and was topped off with one homemade rocket for each man. The ambush site on Interstate 75 was a few days walk away with that load and not that far from the lake where they hid Captain Moore's Aerolift just a few weeks before.

Travis hefted his rucksack onto his body. Captain Moore lifted on his pack. Lieutenant Orr threw on his backpack and added his medical bag to the weight.

Travis scanned each of his men. It was a much larger force than the one that had attacked the convoy a few weeks before. They had the luxury of time to prepare, so more men had turned out for this one. Elmer McCue was there, minus one arm. Butchie stood there with his gigantic machine gun, ammo belts crisscrossing his chest like Rambo if Rambo had been half-starved and smoking a joint. John Abner cradled his hunting rifle like it was a child. Travis's brother-in-law, Cole MacIntosh, had finally shown up to join the fight after sitting out the ambush of the truck convoy a few weeks back. Wendell Robinson, the last remaining Robinson boy stood ready with a backpack and most likely some methamphetamine too. Ben Baker was the only one of them on horseback. He would ride forward and scout the ambush site. Most of the remaining militiamen were teenagers - men who had grown up hard. They didn't look scared, but Travis knew that would change.

Travis spoke.

"You'ns all know why we're here. That there captain done said something big's going on a west a here. And when the government men find out about it, they gonna send every tank they got up I-75. Well, we ain't gonna let that happen. The captain says might-could this the beginning of the end. Well, I don't recon it is or it ain't. But there's killing needs to be done and I'm a fixin to do it. Some a you'ns ain't never killed nobody before. You'ns gonna' find out it's easier than you think. If any you'ns got second thoughts, you free to go. I ain't gonna hold it against no man if you back out now. But if you come, you better bring all your hate with you, cause by-God you gonna need it."