Beloved Son
Caleb walked out of the American National Socialist headquarters nicknamed "Eagle's Nest by the neo-Nazis who had started building this mountaintop fort before the ZA. He looked around at the neatly trimmed hedges, the houses set on manicure lawns, and the cheerful people who waved at him as they went by. It looked like a peaceful happy place, but Caleb knew the truth. It wasn't a Garden of Eden; it was Hell.
Caleb was not a neo-Nazi; he had been captured two years ago on his way to his grandparent's house up in the mountains. He had just turned fourteen that spring when the ZA happened, a tall thin boy still growing like a weed with blond hair and blue eyes. His family's truck had run out of gas and he had gotten out to start walking when two men had stopped. They weren't infected and they seemed to be just helpful. They had gasoline to spare but he needed to go with them. They couldn't leave him out here while they went after it. He sat in the back of their car and the trip seemed longer than they had said. He knew he was in trouble when they went through a guard house and up a steep hill. They passed through a gate at the top and he saw the headquarters building straight ahead with its Nazi flag. Caleb felt his heart sink; he knew that he had traded one nightmare for another. He had not left this mountaintop for two years; he had been kept safe from the outside world but Caleb was ready to do almost anything to leave this place.
He had started out living here in the slave barracks but within six months he was "adopted" by a family who wanted a blond blue-eyed son. They had patiently indoctrinated him in the belief system of the neo-Nazi movement. Caleb knew it was a total load of bull shit. The science was a mockery; their historical truths were fabricated stories to justify their actions. He pretended to listen and did not argue with them. He wanted out of here and not sent back to the slave barracks full time.
Caleb had fourteen years living in a happy home in which science and history were subjects of serious discussion almost every day. His parents had been doctors working in hospitals in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had lived in a nice suburban neighborhood and wanted to be a surgeon like his dad when he grew up. Caleb was a gifted athlete and a brilliant student; he seemed to be born on third base.
Seventeen years earlier
Melody Neal had just graduated with honors from Duke University and finished a summer internship at a local hospital when she and her friends decided to take a beach vacation before they headed off to medical school. Melody was expecting medical to be tough academically and she wanted a chance to relax and to do something crazy before she started the long grind of medical school, an internship, and residency. Melody was serious and cautious by nature but she wanted one fling and this vacation was going to be it.
She and her friends abused alcohol and hit some bars. She met someone totally different from the studious nerds that she usually dated. He was handsome, kind of crude, but really funny. Long story short, Melody Neal had a short passionate affair with a soldier just back from Afghanistan. By the end of the week it was over, her soldier was also a drug user and went through women like toilet paper.
Melody started medical school in late August thinking that she would shut that chapter in her life and never open it again. She thought that her nausea was caused by stress from medical school, but it turned out that she had left the beach with something more than the faintest of tans; she was pregnant and there was no guesswork in determining the father.
Melody did not want to have an abortion though it would make everything simpler. She decided to give the baby up for adoption and continue medical school. Her parents were supportive and she continued with her first year of medical school with determination.
Her life was further complicated by the fact that she was attracted to David Hakim, a first year medical student that was part of her study group. His family had fled Iran before the Revolution to escape anti-Semitism. David Hakim was the fourth son in the family to go to medical school. His family had been doctors in Iran for as long as anyone could remember.
Melody told everyone in her study group that she was pregnant but she wanted to stay in school. David had not yet worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date and he spent two weeks brooding over her news. He started the third week by telling Melody that he wanted to be her friend and invited her to dinner at his apartment. He cooked a nice meal and they talked for hours. David went through every stage of her pregnancy with her, held her head as she vomited, went to doctor visits with her, cried with her at the ultrasound, and they spent all their extra time together. He was her lover and her friend and he promised to be that until he died of old age. Everyone in medical school assumed that David was the baby's father and she did not try to change that story. David proposed marriage and she accepted. David's family accepted her well enough and her parents liked David. David Hakim was listed as the father of Melody Neal Hakim's baby boy, Caleb.
Melody and David told Caleb the truth as soon as he was old enough to understand. His father had been a soldier and his mother had married David because she loved him. David loved Caleb and he was an excellent father. The family moved through medical school, internships, and residencies. Melody and David had tried to locate the baby's father but he moved from time to time. He had spent time in jail for drug charges. Caleb did not seem terribly interested in finding him but they had finally located him and were planning on calling him during Caleb's summer vacation. He was living in Georgia with his brother working as a mechanic.
Caleb was a wonderful child and they had been surprised to be called into his school because of his fighting with other students when he was seven. Melody and David had sat through an uncomfortable meeting with the school counselor, principal, and Caleb's teacher. The counselor wanted therapy, the principal wanted Caleb to be punished, and the teacher wanted to be somewhere else. They left dispirited and dejected, their perfect son had been in three fights in a week. The teacher walked them to the car and gave another slant on the fights. The school was located in a nice suburban area but there were students attending that school that came from less privileged backgrounds. Some of the haves were picking on some of the have-nots and if that happened around Caleb Hakim he would fight the bullies. The teacher went on to tell them that Caleb was a joy to have in class and he didn't need therapy or punishment. She advised martial arts training; she felt it would teach Caleb self-control and fighting skills. She told them that Caleb was going to defend other children, so he might as well be good at it. They got in the car and David turned to Melody and said, "Let's go with the teacher recommendation".
Caleb loved martial arts and quickly moved up the belts. David and Melody were pleased that the fights at school stopped as word of Caleb's fighting ability got around. Caleb seemed to make friends where ever he went and he excelled in science and history. Caleb went hunting with some of David's friends every year and he loved it. David made sure that Caleb was given excellent training in all sorts of weapons; the Hakim family had fled Iran to escape anti-Semitism and David wanted his son to be able to defend himself no matter what happened.
Caleb was learning how to drive that summer and his family was planning on a trip to Georgia if Caleb's birth father wanted to see him. His parents were both working that day in Charlotte when his mother called. Her voice was too calm, "Caleb, take the keys to the truck and go to your grandparent's house. There is something going on and your dad and I aren't going to be able to leave this hospital. Your only chance is to take the truck and follow the route; you drove it two weeks ago when we visited Mom and Dad in their new house. Take your guns and get out now. Don't stop for anything, and don't wait for us. We aren't coming. I love you and your Dad loves you. Now get the hell out of Dodge". He could hear screams in the background, and he hurried to the gun safe, got his weapons and ammo, and pulled the truck out of the garage. He remembered the route and he ran all the lights on the way. Everything was in chaos, cars and trucks were swerving at him, and from what he could see from the road, people were attacking each other like in some zombie movie. Caleb realized that he was low on gas when he got started; it had been raining the last time that drove the truck and his dad and mom decided to get gas next time they had the truck out.
He kept going through a nightmare of dead and undead things outside the truck that all wanted to kill him. He was in a relatively quiet stretch of road when the truck stopped.
Caleb had been taken to a neo-Nazi compound in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. His name was Caleb Hakim and he had excelled at history. Caleb made the first of a line of decisions aimed at keeping him alive so when the friendly man in the tan uniform asked him his name he answered, "My name is Caleb Dixon" and when they asked him his father's name he gave the name that of the soldier that had fathered him, "Merle Dixon".
Two years in this hell hole had shown him that he had made a good decision. Caleb Hakim would have been sent to the barracks and never gotten out. Caleb Dixon was alive and planning an escape. The first year they had survived on stored food and the concentration was building secure fences and adequate housing. The last year things had gotten worse; the men were searching for survivors and turning them into slave labor. They were attacking communities and taking what they wanted: food, supplies, and captives. They wanted young healthy women to bear children for the "New Master Race". The women were taken; they could either submit willingly or they would be raped.
Something had gone wrong on their last raid; most of the raiders were killed and the rest came back empty-handed. Caleb was hoping that community that was strong enough to defeat them would be strong enough to attack them here. Caleb gave all the news to his friends in the slave barracks. They needed to be ready to fight the Nazis if an attack ever came.
Caleb hung around headquarters to get the scuttlebutt and then passed it through the slave community. It sounded as if the men were planning to attack that community again; they hadn't like having their asses handed to them. Caleb looked at the trees in the community; the leaves were turning and would fall soon. The only cover an approaching enemy had was in those leaves; and they were getting ready to come down.
