They found Charlie and Billy sitting alone at a picnic table, a small group of people standing awkwardly a short distance away. Nobody else was sitting with them, probably because unlike almost everyone else the standing group, which included at least one person who David recognized as a raider had guns.

  The Raider wouldn’t meet his eyes, David noted as he sat down that one of the others gestured, attracting the attention of the other people who were circulating. A glance confirmed his suspicion; these people too were armed.

  This wasn’t good at all.

  Billy was looking like a cornered animal. He had clearly noticed the people watching them. More interestingly he seemed to know them.

  Sarah picked up on that too sending him a questioning look.

  “Neighborhood watch, they used to harass me and the other street folks if we hung around too much, especially when the kids were home from school. Mornings were OK, they had to go to work just like everyone else…”

  Charlie saw Camila and David sitting down and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. David nodded slightly.

  “Let’s hear what Phil and his friends have to say.”

  Phils voice droned on, he had started by thanking lots of people, all locals who had houses in the safe zone for all their help putting together the feast. He even thanked the raiding party for the ‘much needed food’ and the ‘worthy effort to rescue so many people’.

  That was the prepared segue.

  “Which brings me nicely to the meat of this meeting. We need to be organized and make sure things remain calm and safe until help arrives. To facilitate this a group of us have started organizing different things we all need. Let me introduce them so they can coordinate.”

  He paused then pointed to the Asian woman on his left. “For those who don’t know her this is Dr.” he emphasized the title “Yuki Chen, she is the most qualified medical professional among those who have registered. If you have medical skills, need medical help or have any medicines the group can use please coordinate with her.” She waved tentatively at the gathered people.

  Next, he pointed to a bulky man with a high and tight haircut who had that fit but running to fat appearance some guys get in their late thirties or forties as life catches up to them.

  “Michael Vale, head of the neighborhood watch and a serving police officer. He has volunteered to take on all matters concerning out security. If you have military or law enforcement experience or want to take part in keeping us all safe talk to him. Also let him know if you have any safety concerns.”

  The big man lifted his hand to his brow almost like a sloppy salute and spoke. “You can call me Big Micky, everybody does. Did two tours in Afghanistan and ten years in the police. Happy to have your backs.”

  Phil continued introducing Reverand Thomas Okafor, the dark-skinned man with a dog collar screamed priest and was duly introduced as ‘a fine local pastor’ and given spiritual responsibility.

  Then Sarah Donnelly, the woman in charge of logistics. Pat Kozlov, a middle aged civil engineer who seemed to embrace stereotypes – he had a pocket protector AND a pencil behind his ear. Finally, a woman in her early forties with bright red hair Melissa McCreedy was identified as the representative for families.

  In each case the people’s ties to the local community were emphasized.

  Introductions complete Phil moved to the substance of the meeting.

  “We need organization, this group has been assembled quickly, I know! We picked the best people available and used the information people provided at registration to try to find the most qualified folks. If you think you can help, please approach any of us to discuss after the meeting!”

  Then he went for legitimacy.

  “As many of you realize several of us were in public service before… so this isn’t new territory for us. We need your input! If you see any important roles that are missing from our little council please suggest them. Either in person to any of us, or by adding it as a suggestion at registration. Right now, we are trying to keep people organized until the crisis is past and we can get back to normal. We discussed this and plan to put any major activities before everyone in a regular evening meeting for debate before we do anything that effects everybody!”

  Here he paused and let his words sink in.

  There was a sustained murmur of conversation. David turned to the others, and he saw the same expression on all their faces, well all except Sarah. Surprise. None of them had seen this coming.

  Sarah got the ball rolling. “Cammie you should have noticed even if you were stewing. You helped that woman with unloading and stacking stuff up. I’m not surprised that people want structure. What did the two of you expect haring off to save people – that people would sit around like NPCs while the heroes advance the story?”

  David asked the big question, aware of the men listening. “Is this even a problem? People getting organized and dealing with stuff isn’t exactly bad…”

  Charlie burst in “Of course…” then he stopped and swore. Sarah had kicked him under the table, hard.

  She replied “No, I’m glad people are getting sorted out. There are a thousand people or more here, once everyone we’ve rescued wakes up? That takes a LOT of organizing.”

  Camila spoke in a low voice “As long as it’s not all talk…”

  Having allowed the conversation to go on for some time Phil used his loudspeaker to cut through the chatter.

  “To give you an idea of how we plan to run things we have three items to discuss this evening, all of these came up repeatedly in conversation during the day and were requested topics raised at registration too!”

  Everyone quieted down.

  “First, I’ll hand over to Melissa for a topic a lot of families have raised.”

  The redhead accepted the microphone from Phil then turned to the crowd.

  “Thanks Dear! I’m Melissa, I know some of you and can’t wait to meet the rest. Now today I have heard the same question over and over and over. Well it’s really a few related questions but it all boils down to where will everyone live?”

  She then spent about five minutes talking about, bathrooms, showers, beds and shelter. At the end of it she concluded.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “We have a little time as the August weather is nice and warm and we haven’t seen rain yet but we need to get shelter for our transient population. I hear we have a nice load of tents that we picked up today but not nearly enough! We need to make getting tents for everybody a top priority! We want any group which goes out to make Tents and bedding their number one priority tomorrow!”

  She Paused then asked, “is anyone against the idea of getting everyone under shelter?”

  It was such an obvious trap question that the collective “no” the crowd uttered was clearly audible.

  “Right! I think that is passed by general consent! Top priority for tomorrow is tents and bedding.”

  “I also want to ask anyone who lives in the area to come and speak to me after the meeting. I want to arrange some access to bathrooms for everybody so I’ll be creating a Rota so we can get the lines for the public restroom down!”

  This time there was no request for consent, it was clear this was at the discretion of the residents. Nobody spoke.

  “Well, in that case I think we covered the first item really well. Now I would like to pass along to big Micky to talk to us all about safety, especially for our kids!”

  David had a bad feeling. This handover felt scripted, hell the whole meeting felt scripted. The mention of child safety had his brain racing and he just knew what the next topic would be…

  Micky started right in. “I was one of the people who went on the raid, so I can confirm that there are literal zombies out there. We were able to kill several hundred of them without too much trouble by being organized and having guns. I also haven’t seen a single zombie anywhere near here. I understand the safe zone keeps them out.”

  He paused, David saw it coming. Micky didn’t bury the lead.

  “Since we got back I’ve had the same conversation with a bunch of people, scared people. Suddenly there are loads of gun toting hooligans around. People leaving weapons unattended. So people ask me this; why aren’t we doing a proper job securing all the guns? This is basic. Safety 101 people! We have a lot of kids running around and we have guns being left unsupervised. I had to take an AR-15 away from a kid this tall.” He held his hand up at stomach height.

  “That isn’t acceptable. We have a magical safe zone, plus the watch is patrolling to keep anything bad out and give us good warning. What we need to do is make sure the area inside really is safe, for kids, and for everyone else. We need to establish and armory and ALL guns in the safe zone need to be secured in that armory or behind locked doors! That way IF we need them, we know where they are and we also know that any guns out and about are with a responsible adult keeping everyone safe!”

  “I understand this is an important step, so is anyone opposed to securing the firearms in an armory to ensure this safe zone is actually safe for kids?”

  This time the roar of conversation didn’t show universal agreement. Everyone could see the implications of this. As people started standing up and yelling Micky roared.

  “Quiet! Everyone sit down. We are going to start with the principal, then the details if we agree. So first, stand up if you object to keeping the safe zone safe for kids by controlling guns.”

  David looked around, this was a setup. He didn’t know exactly why or who was behind it but this was the moment when a small group took control. His brain worked furiously as he considered different courses of action and tried to guess what would happen.

  He couldn’t see an easy way to stop this, hell he wasn’t even certain they didn’t have a point. People wanted to feel safe and guns everywhere didn’t accomplish that. Then he kicked himself. He was still thinking like he would have a week ago. Danger was literally everywhere, hell he could use magic now…

  While he was still furiously thinking Carl stood up. He had been sitting on the other side of the gathering and David could see Mark and Katie with him, he was shaking their hands off as he stood up, outrage on his face.

  David noticed that he was also armed, though only with a pair of holstered pistols.

  “Y’all, this is absolute BS. We are facing the end of the world with hordes of literal monsters running around and you think that reducing access to guns is the solution! You ‘big’ Micky. You were out there with us and fought. Saying we are safe because of what you saw makes me think you should go by slow Micky, ‘cus you ain’t got shit for brains.”

  Micky’s face flushed at the insult, before he could respond there was an audible click and another voice came from the speakers. Phil was standing again, holding a second microphone.

  “Well Sir, you clearly have something to say, and that’s most welcome even if the hostile tone isn’t. Let me explain how we are going to do this as an actual debate appears to be taking place. I’ve got this microphone to make sure that everyone can be heard. So if you’ll just hold your hands up I’ll bring it to you so you can say your piece.”

  “I should also mention that we want to keep this polite and respectful so we will cut you off if you can’t be civil and keep your comments suitable for the kids in the audience. I’ll also remind you that we are looking to agree on the principal that we want a safe area for kids, then hammering out the details.”

  “Now, who wants to speak on the proposal for child safety!”

  Carl’s hand shot into the air, as did several others mostly seated near the front, including a few David actually recognized as raiders.

  Phil seemed unsurprised and moved towards a woman holding a toddler on her knee. Just before handing her the microphone he spoke one more time.

  “Please state your name and registered occupation for the record.”

  The woman seemed like she also expected this and came straight back with “Charlene, I’m a working mum registered with the Logistics group and assigned to cooking. You all just enjoyed my doctored potato salad!”

  She then went on to speak against guns being carried around because of the danger to her son. Phil thanked her for her service.

  Phil repeated the process, another person in favor, they shared their registration and objections he made a point of thanking them for their support of the community.

  Then he got to someone who wanted to say that it wasn’t safe and they actually felt safer with armed people around. David smiled. It was another of the raiders. They apparently hadn’t registered and were not thanked…

  Phil then waved his hand and with a click the microphone switched again.

  Big Micky had calmed down and was ready to speak after the objection. “I just have to clarify a few points…”

  He then emphasized that the Safe Zone created by the Herald was magic, that the Watch, as he put it was actively patrolling to ensure it was physically safe, and that IF people would only agree the details were more properly discussed when the community was aligned on the general topic.

  By this time Carl had clearly had enough and was heckling loud enough that he was becoming disruptive. When the next person selected to speak announced their affiliation with the children’s support group led by Melissa everybody heard his ‘sotto voce’ comment.

  “Sounds like baby needs their mommy to protect them, hope she’s got a gun!”

  Phil had clearly been waiting for this as he waved his hand, which seemed to be the signal to switch microphones.

  Big Mike was back “Sir, you are out of order. Wait your turn and let others speak. We will not tolerate intimidation of community members.”

  Carl took the bait. “The hell I’ll sit down. This is America and I have a right to carry arms. I’m not going to let some jumped up busybody tell me how I’m going to protect myself when the world is literally ending.”

  David really didn’t like the smirk on Mike’s face. “Sir, you are out of order. Wait your turn like everyone else or we will remove you from the meeting.”

  “The Hell you will! I’ll sit, stand or speak where the damned hell I want to and there ain’t nothing you are going to do about it slow Mike.” Carl was pissed, and David found himself nodding along.

  “Watchmen, please remove that man. He is being abusive and disrupting the community meeting.”

  Mike had been waiting for this and so had his men. There were several of them standing near Carl and they approached him now, led by a bulky young man who bore a striking resemblance to Mike.

  “Come along Sir, we don’t want any trouble. Let’s leave these folks to have a civil conversation while you go and cool off.”

  Carl shook the man off angrily, then turned to the crowd.

  “Is this really what you want? Well, I’m going! I’ll be taking those guns you dislike so much with me and anyone with a lick of sense will be coming with me. Decide whatever the fuck you like. You ain’t enforcing it on me!”

  With that he turned to storm off. His move was so sudden the men standing near him were momentarily surprised. Belatedly they moved to follow him and sensing them closing in Carl whirled on them.

  “You got your meeting to attend. Only reason to follow me is to do me harm. So come on, if you want a piece of me.” His hands had dropped to his waist, close to his pistols.

  This had gone far enough. David, Camila, Charlie, Sarah and a dozen others, most of them raiders, were on their feet.

  Mark was trying to get up but someone from the watch was standing behind him stopping him. Katie had someone behind her too.

  More people were on their feet, shouting.

  David heard an audible click. A gun cocking. Then a quiet voice from behind them “Sit down you four. We wouldn’t want to ruin these people’s day by shooting you in front of them.”

  David’s brain went into overdrive.