From: Forwards - Chapter 4
A few kilometers away from the camp you could hear the sounds of chopping axes, saws, and falling trees. It was mid-March and the forest was luckily accessible enough to venture out, because they needed new building material to finish the new lodge. The loggers made sure they didn’t cut down too many trees in one particular area and selected trunks that were not too thick. Since every trunk had to be debarked, processed and later, removed by hand. The fact that the Construction Team needed new material to build with, was a perfect opportunity to bring the three men from the Safehouse along with them to help. Samuel, Ezra, and Tucker had each been given a different task by Mike, spread out across the forest and nothing out of the ordinary happened so far. This way, they were able to closely observe the behavior of all three men and at the same time, have some conversations with them to deepen their relationship. While Samuel and Ezra were working together with Mike and Joe, Jackson was moving around some logs with Tucker, to a location where they wouldn’t be in the way of the other workers. Jackson was determined to combine the work with the third stage of their plan because this was a perfect occasion to gain more trust towards each other.
‘So tell me, Tucker,’ Jackson asked, while they lifted a log together. ‘What did you grow on your farm?
‘Eh…, did some wheat, peas, and beans. Had some bees too at the end of the field.’ Tucker answered. ‘Worked pretty well actually.’
‘And did you get by? I mean, could you support your family that way? Jackson wanted to know. But he already knew the answer.
‘Hell no,’ Tucker replied. ‘They taxed the hell out of us, and after the droughts, they promised federal support but it never came.’
‘Sorry to hear that, Tucker, but did your local politicians try to help people like yourselves in any way? Jackson asked. They walked back together to get another log.
‘Yeah, we got lots of support,’ Tucker answered. ‘Especially from our governor. He told us to go and join rallies of that guy who was in office back then. Because he was fighting against the left-wing politicians who wanted to take us all out of business with their climate change ideas. They were closing the mines too, trying to put us all out of a job.’ Tucker felt comfortable around Jackson, so he didn’t hold back and shared his opinions with him. ‘And after that,’ he continued: ‘Those virus believers closed down the entire country. Couldn’t even walk around freely in my own damn village. They were crazy thinking we were going to listen to that. It tore down the whole economy. I remember there was a group of volunteers in a village further down the main road, who set up a food bank and help center. But the organizers were all leftists. Never set another foot in that village again.’ When they turned around to walk back to get another log, Jackson had to get rid of some stress because of Tucker's analysis of the past, and he was annoyed because of his short-sightedness. But he realized it was because of a pure lack of knowledge. Jackson took off his gloves, walked over to his backpack, took out two water bottles and gave one to Tucker. Together they drank some water in silence. Tucker had been observing Jackson who had given him no reply to everything he told him, so he suddenly asked:
‘You don’t agree with me on that, do you?
‘Oh, it’s not important that I don’t agree with you, Tucker,’ Jackson answered. ‘I’m interested in how you have experienced the past few years. How did it work out for you and your family after that? Tucker went silent for a few moments but then he answered:
‘Well, we lost my parents, cause they got sick. Couldn’t even get them to the hospital because they were overcrowded. After that, our Mayor told us we would get help, especially financially after we lost the crops. But we never got anything. And then we lost my oldest.’ Jackson was shocked because he had no idea that Millie and Tucker had another child.
‘Your oldest? Jackson asked. ‘You mean you had another child? ‘Yes,’ Tucker answered, and he sat down on one of the logs. ‘My boy was nineteen when he died. That was the only time I doubted if we perhaps should have gotten the vaccine. But because we didn’t know exactly what he died from, we didn’t.’
‘I’m so sorry for your loss, Tucker,’ Jackson reacted sincerily. ‘I don’t know what to say.’ Actually, Jackson could think of a million things to say about how blind the family apparently had been, but he also knew it was very important not to judge him. Tucker nodded and said nothing because he was having a hard time with his emotions. After a while Jackson said:
‘I think you did a very good job in dealing with all of that and still managed to take your family out of there safely, Tucker.’
‘Yeah, thanks,’ Tucker replied. Jackson laid his hand on Tucker's shoulders and said:
‘I want to tell you a story.’ He started to share his story about what he did before he founded the Settlement in all honesty, because he thought this was a good moment for it. First, he told Tucker about his military past and his deployments, which Tucker showed great respect for. Then he told him about his activities after his retirement as a veteran. His online channels, and how he tried to reach people to show them how a lot of policies in his, and other countries, weren’t beneficial for the people living there at all. He told Tucker about his fights against racism, inequality and poverty, pointing out where he thought it went wrong in supporting them. How he tried to give insights about the dangers of the virus. He also told Tucker about living in Canada together with his wife and children, how Charlotte got sick and how she died a few years ago.
‘I’m sorry about your wife too, Jackson,’ Tucker reacted a little shocked. ‘But what about Alex then, where did she come from? He asked. So Jackson also told him her story. How she came to this Settlement all the way from Europe because she had followed his online channel, in reaction to his message that people were invited to join it. He also told Tucker about her military past as a sniper, how she had struggled with PTSD, and how they fell in love while he was trying to help her to deal with it. Tucker shook his head while looking over at Alex who was standing about fifty meters away from them. She was leaning against a tree with her rifle over her shoulder.
‘You mean that little skinny woman right over there did all of that on her own? Tucker asked in disbelief.
‘Yeah, well, there’s even more, but maybe I’ll tell you later,’ Jackson replied. He looked over at Alex himself, who didn’t let herself get distracted from guarding the area, while keeping an eye on Ezra and Samuel at the same time.
‘My point,’ Jackson said. ‘Is that I am amazed that people are here and agreed to join this Settlement based on trust, and this is how it worked out for them. When I hear you talking about your life and the people that you trusted, it just raises these questions with me about the people you trusted in good faith. Because…, what I have seen from you so far, Tucker, is that I think you are a smart man. When you look back at it now, how did it work out for you and your family after the pandemic, trusting and relying on the people you had high hopes for? What happened when you followed their advice? Jackson let one of his famous silences do its work, and he pretended to use the time Tucker needed to think about his question, by almost drinking his whole water bottle empty and taking his time to do so.
‘I don’t know,’ Tucker finally said. But he looked at Jackson while he put on his gloves again. ‘Maybe they just didn’t care, or maybe they just didn’t have the knowledge to solve our problems. All I know is that they at least warned us about the dangers of losing our freedom, our weapons, and our traditions.’
‘Really? Jackson asked, while he stood up to go to work again. ‘Or,’ he continued. ‘Did they just want you and your loved ones to believe that, because they wanted to keep ruling over you and remain in power themselves? Jackson walked away from Tucker after that, knowing he took a big risk in framing his point like that. But it was the only way to drop one of the first seeds into Tucker's mind, that would give him something to think about. At the end of the path Jackson turned around and yelled at Tucker with a smile:
‘Come on, Tucker. Don’t sit around all the time. Look at your brothers, they are working their asses off.’ He pointed at Samuel and Ezra who were debarking a tree together with Joe. The men started to shout semi-angry remarks at Tucker who got up quickly and raised his arm to wave their commentary away. When he walked over to Jackson he didn’t say anything, but he produced a little smile on his face and started lifting the next log.