Edgewater Mall along the coast had all the charm and originality of any other shopping mall in the states. That is to say, none. Surrounded by a sea of parking spaces and lost in an ocean of SUV's and soccer moms there was nothing to differentiate this mall from the identical ones elsewhere.

As news was breaking of the problems in the North and Senator Donovan's announcement that he was mobilizing the State Guard as a "safety measure" to protect the people most folks continued on with life as if nothing new was happening. They pressed on with their routines and self absorbed lives. As such the mall was running as busy as normal with only minor disruptions. Most people didn't notice the greatly increased LEO presence as they focused on buying their next useless item.

One person who did see the news on a TV screen in a local electronics store and notice the troops moving through the area from Camp Shelby was Christy Miller. She also knew something was wrong when helicopter and aircraft traffic increased significantly throughout the morning. By that afternoon she was trying to make a call back to John. The first call went through but he didn't answer. All subsequent calls were blocked.

Now she had a decision to make. Get in her car and drive home or go to those rally points John had always told her about. Being a good country girl Christy was no wilting flower. She could cook and shoot and loved to camp. She had mostly accepted John's direction when it came to "being prepared" as she agreed with it. At times she thought he could be a little paranoid but she also appreciated that he cared enough about her and Ava to protect them.

Her instincts were to get in the car and make tracks back to the house but then she saw the confusing news reports about "accidents" and "highway closures" on the TV at the restaurant where they ate lunch. She was glad Ava was blissfully unaware but her suspicions were sent into overdrive when a local sheriff deputy being interviewed on TV said the highway was closed "for a while...just for the protection of people in the area". He also muttered something about how cell service was "overloaded" and wouldn't work. It was at that moment she decided to go to one of the rally points John had told her about. Something just wasn't right.

Her next problem was determining which one to go to. She reasoned that because she was to the east side of the stretch of cities she should go to the east one. She prayed she was making the right decision.

****

As she slipped into the back table of the bookstore cafe she could see Edgewater Mall across the street. She ordered a soda and ice cream for Ava and sat down to wait. She figured that between eating at the cafe, window shopping for books and sitting through a couple kids plays in the childrens area she could kill several hours without sticking out and while remaining fairly public. It was exactly as John had intended.

After the icecream came she looked at the waitress. "You know, I'm hungry too. Why don't you bring me a sandwich and a coffee. Just surprise me with something". The waitress was older and used to such requests. "No problem hun" and she twirled off. Christy sat back and decided to relax as best she could.

***********

What Christy noticed as she ate her meal was the increasing leo presence across the street. It seemed like more and more police officers and guys who looked like police officers were moving into the area. As she downed some really good bacon sandwiches with some coffee the thought crossed her mind that maybe it was some sort of security procedure.

What Christy didn't know was that Senator Donovan had ordered the local sheriff to seal off the mall and have everyone searched on the way out. The people would be questioned and any weapons would be removed and would all be done under the guise of safety. People who were on a list of names would be asked to accompany the officers to a special area for some questioning. That "questioning" would be performed by some of Donovan's contractors, and it would be performed far away from the mall.

It was all a trial run as Donovan wanted to see what he could get away with. He figured worst case it would be a major disturbance and he'd play it off as a one time stunt pulled by an overzealous local Sheriff. If it went the way he thought it would go people would unwittingly approve the idea of random checks and searches and at the same time he'd get rid of some potential problems and start a crack down on firearms. His bet was that this end of the state was so far away from the problems up North that people would just accept the "safety" changes without a fuss.

What neither Christy or John Miller knew was that both of their names were on Donovan's list thanks to their friend Sheriff Ketch.