Black Market Merchant

Chapter 16: Leadership

Nathan Dees was struggling. Not long after he became a leader and declared the creation of the East River Militia, many problems kept coming up every day.

The militia troops were a mess. No one knew who would be in charge of the militia, who was higher ranked or what they were actually going to be doing. Nathan had first decided, during the riots, that they would rid the town of the Black Rats. However, the people just wandered the streets looting everywhere they went. Those that didn't know of or understand who this new militia was, had immediately regarded them as just some other gang. Fighting was naturally inevitable.

Nathan also found that the very committee that voted for him was also falling into a total disaster. Some wanted to try and take over the area like the gangsters did, by demanding that the people pay for their protection. While others wanted to help the people by returning what the gangsters had stolen and help rebuild homes and shops. Yet even a few others wanted to call everything off, seeing that this near impossible task was clearly going to fail.

Nathan sat back in his chair, at the head of the table, watching everyone bickering and yelling at each other in the warehouse that had become their meeting place. He had not expected things to go like this. All of the excitement from the riot and his sudden rise to power was gone. The realization of leadership was now settling in.

"Everyone shut up!" Nathan finally snapped. "And sit down, now!"

The angry crowd slowly quieted. Some were still arguing at the far end of the table, but Nathan yelled at them some more until everyone calmed down. Then everyone just stared at him waiting for what he had to say.

"Things cannot go on like this." Nathan said leaning forward with both his hand on the tabletop. "What we need to do first is restore order. Go get everyone that is out there in the streets back here. I feel that they are making matters worse at the moment."

No one moved. It seemed that Nathan still had to deal with the issues of this loosely formed committee first.

"Well, since no one is volunteering to leave and help out, let's disband this committee and start over." Nathan started to say but was immediately interrupted by several people all at once voicing their disagreements. He held up his hands to get them to calm down. After a moment they finally did.

"As I was saying, this committee is too big. Other than my position as leader of the East River Militia, or ERM, we must form a proper chain of command here. So I say we need to vote on a few people here to fill the positions of Vice Leader, Treasure, who's in charge of the militia forces, who keeps track of the meeting and records them; and then anything else that needs taking care of. Everyone here needs to pick some position that they feel qualified to be in and explain why. Then once everyone gets a say, we vote."

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The group murmured amongst themselves for several minutes while Nathan waited nervously. Finally, a tall middle-aged man with a balding shaven head stood up. Nathan recognized him; he was a former member of the old city's council.

"I think what Mr. Dees has said is a very rational concept. This rushed formation of the current committee is useless as it stands. I Henry Flanagan would volunteer to be elected as Vice Leader. I was a former Public Services committee leader here in town. So, I understand the importance of why and what a city needs to function properly." Henry paused for a moment and scanned the room. Then he looked at Nathan, as if saying that Nathan needed to say something to continue the motion.

"Ah, yes. Thank you, Mr. Flanagan. Does anyone wish to put in their own bid for Vice Leader." Nathan said looking about to see if anyone else made a motion, but the room was silent. It wasn't all too surprising though. Mr. Flanagan was an actual government official, while most everyone here were mainly civilians. "Then if no one objects, Mr. Flanagan is now East Rivers new Vice Leader."

Several people clapped around the room, Mr. Flanagan nodded to everyone with a smile, then took his seat. Then over the remainder of the afternoon different positions were filled.

Next to be unanimously voted in to lead the militia forces as the ERM Commander was a retired Match Fighter, by the name of Gillian Taws. He was over fifty years old. However, if it weren't for his pepper colored hair and his extremely well-built physic, he would still look to be in his early thirty's. After being voted on, Gillian announced that he would be going to stop the rioters that were destroying the town.

"Before you go, we need to be able to distinguish you and the militia from ordinary people." Nathan said thoughtfully.

Nathan quickly started scanning around the warehouse floor for anything that might be of use to fix this issue. Then he spotted some crates labeled "Sheets" and had a sudden idea. He got up to come over to check on them while everyone looked on. Nathan pulled out a six-inch pocketknife he always kept in his back pocket, for protection, and pried open the closest crate. Inside was a ton of dark green cloth sheets. Pulling one out he seemed satisfied that his plan might work and then turned towards everyone to explain it.

"Let's use these sheets to help solve the issue. We can cut them up into small strips and tie them around our arms to help identify ourselves. Eventually we can make new bands and sew on the ERM letters to look more official." Nathan said while cutting a part off and tying it around his own left arm. Nathan knew he had to take the initiative to get the others on board. Fortunately, no one objected to this simple and easy to implement idea.

"Sounds good to me." Gillian said coming over to Nathan and getting a strip of the sheet to tie around his arm. "Anyone here not looking to get a spot on the committee, but still wants to help, come get a sheet and follow me so we can stop the looting quickly."

Roughly twenty people, of whom were mainly standing away from the table, joined up with Gillian's proposal. They too tied the green sheets around their arms. After they all had left, Nathan continued forming the committee.

Jill Smithy was voted to be the Treasurer. She was a former bank finance manager. She was an aging lady with pail blond hair and thick stature. She seemed to be rather quick witted and no one questioned whether or not she could fit the role. She also put in her motion to volunteer quite adamantly, which Nathan admired as he was not very economically minded.

Joshua Zimmerman was voted to be the head of the Judiciary committee. He was also a former judge in the town. Fortunately for the ERM he had been unwilling to leave when the town was destroyed years ago. This was simply because his family had been living there for decades. Mr. Zimmerman had said he still had all the law books in his private library at home, so starting over wouldn't be too difficult.

The last notable position to be filled was the Head of Records. The position wasn't normally all too important, but since the town had no power to keep track of who owned what on a computer, it now had to be done the old-fashioned way. By using just paper and ink. The lady that finally volunteered for the unwanted position was Nelly Havens. She had been a University teacher at Texas A&M before she had moved here, to only to get trapped by the town's destruction during the last bombings.

Everyone else filled other minor roles to assist the higher positions, like secretaries or work assistants. Those that were not voted for or voluntarily chose to work, were in total about forty people. Nathan asked that those remaining go help Gillian with the rioters or if not just to leave for the time being. About ten decided to go to Gillian while the rest left.

After everything had been settled Nathan decided to start the next issue of importance: finances.

"Now we need to figure out how we are going to pay for all this. I think that after the rioters have been stopped, we need to figure out who owns what. This way we can go a search every house, store or building to determine what we can sell, use or make to earn a profit. Until then, all our positions will be voluntary with no pay." Nathan explained and some of the people murmured to each other. He ignored them and continued. "This won't be permanent. I understand we all need to support our family's and lives, but this is all we can do for now. Once we figure out what we have, only than we can sell stuff to merchants in the south and get some money or goods flowing in our budding economy."

Treasurer Jill voiced her agreement, "I can agree with this for now. As we have no budget, we can only start from scratch. Starting up a trade route will definitely be a step in the right direction."

"Thank you, Mrs. Smithy." Nathan said nodding in her direction.

"Now as for the Black Rats we have captured so far, Mr. Zimmerman, I hope you can try them as soon as possible. I trust you will take into account that we have no jail or means to keep them fed at the moment. So, you'll need to be a bit harsh in judgement for now. Eventually we can return to the ways things ought to go in a proper court." Nathan said though he was unsure if the lawyer would be willing to bend the rules a bit.

"I will see what I can do. However, the top leaders of the gang I won't tolerate. You can rest assured they will be punished severely." Mr. Zimmerman said resolutely. "All that they have done to us is irreversible and condemnable."

"That's good to hear." Nathan said felling slightly relieved. Then he noticed that the sun light in the room was beginning to dim and they had no candles or fire to continue the meeting. "I think this is as far as we can go for today." Nathan announced rising up from his chair. "We can meet back here tomorrow to finish the rest of the committee's formation. Please get home safe."

The people all got up in agreement, it had been a long afternoon. The town at night definitely was not a safe place for anyone to be in. Another set of issues to deal with at another time. Everyone had left so far except for Nathan and Vice Leader Henry Flanagan.

Mr. Flanagan turned to Nathan and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You surprised me today." He said with a sharp smile. "I didn't expect someone so young to do so well at handling everything like you did. But if you ever feel like you can't handle the situation, I can always be there to help."

Nathan smiled and replied, "Thank you. I will keep that in mind. I will always try my best."

"Good man." Flanagan said patting him heavily on the shoulder before turning to leave.

Watching him go out the door, Nathan felt slightly uneasy. "I know what Mr. Flanagan said was alright, but it was how he said it that made me feel like he would rather lead than follow me. I best keep my wits about me." Nathan thought to himself.