In the following weeks as we moved into another hot, dry summer, we established regular runs into the Central Valley to both barter trade and make cash transactions, depending on the commodity involved. Some of our village people traveled there to work on the farms and learn more about growing in the LA area from the farmers they worked for.

       Soon, more farms and communities got involved and a network of support stretched all the way to Stockton. However, fuel oil was difficult to find from the stores in underground tanks at the city stops and storage depots. More and more, only electric vehicles run by the sun or by batteries charged by the sun and wind had to do the job.

       There was no other choice, because all of the refineries in the state weren't working and pipelines no longer carried fuel oil throughout the state. We trucked fuel oil from LA for a while, but stopped knowing that we would have to conserve what we had for machines we had that would only run on fuel oil to help reopen city services.

       While there were many solar panels and wiring available, batteries were at a premium because a year of sitting without being charged damaged them. That was one of the first manufacturing plants we reopened in LA. The former Sure-Fire battery company had engaged in recycling batteries prior to the pandemic, but was shut down.

        We engaged a couple of chemists who had joined the village to see if we could get the company restarted. At first, only producing a few batteries from recycled batteries that we'd salvage from throughout the city. Gradually, working day and night, the chemists got that production going again and we were able to ship batteries and solar panels, along with complete solar and wind power units to the Valley.

       There were problems. Having inexperienced people working with hazardous materials caused some health problems. Worst of all, we had batteries explode or catch fire. When that happened, people were burned and equipment sometimes completely destroyed.

        Although there was an overabundance of vehicles that we could use and reuse, there was no immediate way of manufacturing new ones, just using all the ones we had and getting them back on the road. Once back on the road, maintaining them for as long as we could–especially the electric ones. Although we had warehouses full of them, I could see time having an effect on our tires and eventually having them all go bad from oxygen deterioration. A tire plant somewhere in California would have to start up again. The Council put our chemists to work on that problem, too.

       We established regular flights to Lake Mead, Lake Havasu City, some of the Indian communities, and Palm Springs. People in the mountains, camps and homesteads would come to these places on a regular schedule to trade and/or buy supplies that we would bring from lists that they emailed if they had an Internet connection to the SatGrid, established by 2037 to eliminate all the need for ground-based, cable-based Internet connection run by AI for the foreseeable future with solar power in orbit. We were very grateful for that. But there were those who still gave us handwritten lists to bring on the next supply run.

       The problem with Barstow remained. At a meeting of the Council we decided to attempt to contact the military for help with the problem. After sending several emails, we received an email from Vice Admiral William Wortham telling us they would help us with gunships out of Camp Pendleton when we were ready for the help.

       It took several emails with General Colin Parker at Pendleton before the details were worked out. The plan was to use two of those stealth helicopter gunships to force the cartel members to surrender in Barstow. We were to call them when we got close with a contingent of armored vehicles. The idea was not to destroy the city in order to rout out the bad guys. I hoped it would go that way. In our previous experience they always fought back viciously to their death.

       We sent a convoy of armored trucks and two police buses to carry any prisoners back to LA that we might apprehend. First, we had to clear the mass of vehicles that hindered our progress just getting to Barstow. It took about a week sending bulldozers, graders, tow trucks and others, to both clear the 15 of slides and deal with the abandoned vehicles. Moving them to places where we might later reclaim them, while opening the road for truck travel in the future.

       Our aerial photographs had shown a major truckstop checkpoint on the 15 about a mile before Barstow where all of the stalled vehicles jammed up trying to enter the city started. That mile into the city was clear, but in control of whoever was in control of the city. With no traffic, that checkpoint had been long abandoned after serving its initial purpose–a roadblock to rob, kill or enslave those trying to come through the city on the 15.

       So, we planned on clearing the road to about 5 miles away even though the gangs could probably hear the work going on at that distance. And then, when we made the final push, we would have trucks with the ability to push any vehicles in our way out of the way quickly as we proceeded to the outskirts of Barstow.

       But, as our crews came within about 7 miles, they drew fire. Their security detail had to move in and killed all of the three gang members and destroyed their pickup with a rocket. The security detail then moved on two more pickups coming from town and killed all of the gang members there with a couple of rockets, followed by cleaning up and coming to a stop just out of assault rifle firing range from the scattering of buildings entering town.

       The road clearing crew made a hasty retreat and we planned to make our assault of Barstow the next day, leaving LA at 6 am to be in place by noon. At 1200 military time, we called for assistance and two of the stealth gunships appeared overhead and swooped down on the city with loudspeakers blaring… Both in Spanish and in English… "Surrender to the authorities waiting outside your city immediately or we will destroy the city and you in it!" With earth-shattering affect by demonstration.

       To show their firepower, both fired rockets into nearby open desert with tremendous explosions and plumes of fire that encompassed about half of the entire city in a single blast. The sound and fury was overwhelming and earthshaking. Scared even our people waiting to move in. I was one of them.

       Soon, pickup trucks carrying men, women and children came out onto the highway with their hands up. Except for innocent women and children, the total gang and cartel members left amounted to only 12. We put the 17 women and children in one of the buses. And those, including two women with tattoos and other indications they were hard-core gang members, in the other bus under heavy guard.

       As we entered the city, we caught fire from two snipers. One of our amateur soldiers exposed himself enough for the sniper to shoot him in the shoulder.

       To our amazement, along with the emaciated cartel leaders, townspeople, about 30 of them of all ages, came out and hugged us as their conquering saviors. They had been kept as servants by the cartel to serve them by scavenging up and down the highways, bringing them gasoline, food, money and whatever else they could find in cars and campgrounds just for the privilege of keeping them alive to go out again in the hot sun for another day of life.

       We gave those few survivors of that terrible ordeal of over a year all that we had of our food and medicine and promised them that trucks would be coming through with lots of supplies very soon.

       We told the townspeople now that Barstow was cleared the 15, 40 and other highways and roads would be opened soon. They needed to open the major truck stop right outside of town again to serve those trucks coming and going.

       A thorough search was done using the townspeople to help and the city was declared clear of arms and ammunition. We gave some of them to the survivors for their protection and all of the wealth that the cartel had stored in their quarters. We had captured all of the bad guys. But we didn't want to take them back to the Village where they could cause problems.

       After the successful mission was over, I got in contact with General Parker by telephone. "General Parker, thanks to your gunships, the cartel members and gang members surrendered with very little resistance and we put them down. However, we have an even dozen of the leaders in custody as well as their 17 women and children that we really don't want to bring back to Los Angeles where they may become a problem in the future."

       Parker answered. "We understand. We've got that problem all over the country. We will take them off your hands at LAX when you get there. After we interrogate them here in Camp Pendleton, we will try and deal with the worst here. The rest, we will take to Mexico where we have an agreement to deliver them to authorities or to, in the case of any proven innocent women and children, to the surviving Mexican communities of their choice."

       "We will let you know when we have arrived at LAX. We greatly appreciate your taking these people off our hands. We want our village to be free of people with past alliances that may cause danger to our citizens still trying to recover."

       "If any of those young citizens of yours wants to join the proud, the brave, the Marines, I would appreciate it if you let them know we are taking recruits."

       "Okay, fair enough. I will announce that to everyone at our next village meeting."

       When I hung up, I breathed a sigh of relief along with the others listening in on the conversation.

       "That's one problem we won't have to deal with." The others shook their heads in agreement.

       As promised, when our buses arrived at LAX, large transport helicopters arrived and separated the innocent from the clearly tattooed into different ships and they took off with us hopeful of never seeing them again.

       Our road clearing crew was on the road again the next day and truck convoys soon followed. Eventually, reaching Las Vegas and Lake Mead, down the highways leading to settlements along the Colorado River and back to Palm Springs, into Pasadena where a roadway was cleared all the way to the port.

       We were ready, if possible to receive container ships from other parts of the world again. Quite an accomplishment in only a year and a few months. But we were faced with new challenges. One of those was people who had homesteading for the year but had given up and hitched rides on the supply trucks back to sign into the village and become citizens of a city like they originally despised and left.

       With newcomers, we were growing, but with newcomers, we had new troubles.

Copyright 2024 © Ronald W. Hull

4/1/24