A Story For The Times

This is a work in progress and the story will be continued as these "vaccine ambassadors" begin going door to door nationwide. We'll see just how violent this story gets. It will be quite graphic if it does. I have not written fiction since I was in school and it is a great mind exercise to write like this. Lemme know what you all think.

CHAPTER 1

 

Paul and Heather Morris were the classic empty nesters. They lived in their modest house on a few wooded acres about a mile off the state road. The road they lived on was paved and carried very little traffic. On a normal weekday, a dozen or so cars in the early morning of folks that worked out of town. The few cars during the day could be spaced out by a couple of hours each. Then in the evening, the commuters from the morning returning home from work. Late in the evening traffic was next to nothing. On the weekends, cars passed the Morris house on a semi steady basis throughout the day, and even the occasional group of motorcycles venturing up the road just for a nice ride. Paul worked from home as an I.T. consultant and was a first responder with the local volunteer fire department. Heather worked as a veterinary technician at a small practice out of town. Initially, neither one were going to get the jab, but Heather gave in and got the J & J shot so she would have no problem flying out to visit her father. It really knocked her on her ass the day she got it and she recovered. Paul was disappointed with Heather’s decision, but still adamant he was never going to get poked with what he viewed as an experimental medical procedure. They both believed they had COVID in early 2020 but had never gotten tested, and they just got over it. Over the last year, Paul was up close and personal, getting exposed multiple times to COVID positive patients on medical calls, but neither even got a case of the sniffles since he and Heather had been sick.

Paul was wafting in and out of consciousness as he sat in his favorite chair with the TV on. He was tuned to FXX on satellite, watching the movie "The 5th Element" for like the hundredth time, and watching TV always seemed to make him sleepy. The sweat on the bottle of the half-finished beer on the end table ran down to the coaster he had always remembered to use. Every window in the house was open, and Paul was enjoying the warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon with the little breeze now and then. Heather was out of town with her girlfriend at a winery. That was when he heard the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel. He was instantly wide awake now as the alert for his security camera dinged his phone. The driveway was at the other end of the house where the attached garage was, so it was impossible to see approaching vehicles. As he listened, he thought sure he heard more than one vehicle's tires moving on the gravel echoing off the trees. The gun he always carried had been lying on the table next to his beer so he could be more comfortable sitting in his chair. A Smith & Wesson M&P 45 Shield, it was now tucked safely in its holster, the 2 spare mags still in their carrier on his belt. Paul always kept a spare remote for the automatic door opener handy in the kitchen and he grabbed it as he headed towards the door leading to the garage. He waited until he was in position to see but not be seen in the garage before he punched the button to lift the door.

There was more than one vehicle, in fact there were three. The lead one was an unassuming light blue Ford Escape with regular passenger plates. Behind it was a maroon Chevy Malibu with US Government plates, but it was the third vehicle that really raised Paul's hackles... a military Humvee. From the first vehicle exited a man and woman in casual business attire. From the Chevy were two obvious male government types in dark suits complete with the earbud on a little curly cord coming out of their collars. And out of the Humvee came two apparently unarmed U.S. soldiers in camo fatigues. From the dark corner of the garage where Paul stood, he already had his hand on his pistol and had made his target selections in order. He ordered them to stop where they were; that they were uninvited trespassers, and to state their business. They all stopped in their tracks because they still could not see Paul and his voice had an authoritative almost threatening tone to it. "We're from the North Central Health District" the woman called out, "and we'd like to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine with you. Are you Paul Morris?"

Paul had seen the news stories that this was coming, although he didn’t think he would personally experience it so soon. The leaked government procedures for these “vaccine ambassadors” laid out how they were going to proceed, some of the scripts, and to ignore “No Soliciting” signage. In preparation for such a visit, Paul had put up a couple of prominent NO TRESPASSING signs at the bottom of the driveway and on the garage. Heather thought he was overreacting, but Paul knew he would be at a better advantage in kicking these people off his property with proper signs. He chose his response carefully, so as not to confirm his identity from the dark garage interior. “You are all trespassing! Leave this property IMMEDIATELY!” Paul knew they had probably confirmed property ownership from tax records, who resided there, and had photos of both he and Heather before arriving. The woman tried to engage Paul further. “My name is Linda Chalmers and this is my co-worker Steve Glynn. Could you step outside and talk to us?” Paul was having none of it, wanting to maintain OPSEC, PERSEC, and INFOSEC. “You are trespassing! Leave this property immediately, and do not return without a warrant!” he yelled from his concealed vantage point. The G-men and soldiers had maintained their distance staying in the background near their vehicles the entire time without making any type of tactical type moves or potential reaching for weapons. Ms. Chalmers made a hand gesture in the air and everyone returned to their vehicles. As she got in the Escape, she hollered out, “We’ll be back!” One at a time, the vehicles backed down the driveway to the road, and then headed out in the direction of the main state road. Paul closed the garage door only after he made sure they left and kept going out of sight. Being a little shaky and jacked on adrenaline from the encounter, Paul went back in to finish his beer and then grab another.