Society’s Collapse:  The Bug Out.

Book I

Jeremy Lock

Copyright 2013

The persons, places and characters as well as all the circumstances actions of any characters in the book are completely fictional.  Any resemblance to any real life situations, places or people are merely coincidental.

Prelude

The man pulled through the gates of the military base.  So it begins. He thought to himself as he parked the large 18 wheeler into the depot.  He had prepared for this day for years and this was a critical step.  He would be greatly rewarded for his part in this.  He was not a patsy like the others involved.  He knew the plan through and through.  This was a critical part of the master plan and therefore could only be given to someone who was trusted.  To think that just a few days before the plan had almost been discovered.

He had gotten the call in the early hours of the morning.  A man would be leaving the base in a gray Dodge Ram pick-up truck.  He was to follow the man, kill him and make it look like an accident and then make sure that any evidence the man had was destroyed.  Sure enough the man had left the base and he had followed him.  He already knew how he was going to kill him.  The winding roads through the Appalachian Mountains were too tempting to resist.  A simple car accident.  He would crash the man’s car, make sure he was dead and then find the evidence.  As the man started through the winding hills he pulled up close behind and at the proper moment he leapt forward, hitting the truck on the back driver’s side.  As expected the truck fishtailed, struck the guard rail and rolled down the embankment.  The man stopped and jumped out of his car.  He watched the pick-up stop its final roll at the base of the hill nearly 80’ below.  He scrambled down the hill and got to the truck.  The man inside appeared dead, a major wound to his face and forehead, covering him in blood.  He tried to open the truck’s door but it was stuck so he went to the opposite side.  As he tried that door he heard the sirens in the distance.  How did they find out so soon?  He asked himself.  He quickly looked through the car for anything that could be evidence but found nothing.  Deciding that the man was dead, and if anyone were to figure out what was going on it would be too late, he ran back to his vehicle and left before the authorities arrived.  He would tell his bosses the problem was solved and they had nothing to worry about.  He couldn’t tell them that he wasn’t sure.

As he walked out of Fort Drum on his two-day pass he felt amazing.  He never thought they would actually go through with it.  Tonight was the beginning of a revolution to take back his country from these greedy capitalist pigs.  They would found a country that was truly of the people and for the people.

Chapter 1

Jason got in his truck after his double shift at the county jail.  It was 7am and he had been up for nearly 24 hours, but he just started his 2 weeks’ vacation in the prime of deer season and he was excited.  He turned on his radio to an all-news AM station and headed to the Dunkin Donuts for a coffee to drink on his ride home.  News was as expected, it was two weeks after the election and the incumbent was fighting the results of the election.  Even with the complete biased reporting in the media and the unprecedented voter fraud, the Democrat had soundly been beaten by the conservative Republican candidate.  But as expected came the challenges to the election totals in 4 states: Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  All 4 went red and all were being protested.  So far Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had recounted and the results remained the same.  If either Florida or Ohio were lost the Democrats were toast.  Jason smiled at the thought.  Finally America had woken up. Jason had truly thought that America’s economy would have collapsed long before now and had been prepping for 3 years.  He knew the only thing holding the economy together were a few stop gap measures and an influx of newly printed money but maybe there was a chance to get it all fixed again.  Jason turned up the radio when the news grabbed his attention.

"Reports say Ohio is to announce the finally tally of the recount at 8a eastern time, unconfirmed reports say that the original tally will be upheld.  This means..."  Jason smiled even bigger.

He hadn't been this happy in a long time, he had watched his beloved country inch closer and closer to socialism year after year but it seemed maybe the country finally had enough.  "Breaking news" the radio brought him back to reality.

"We have reports of major explosions at multiple military bases around the country.  Unconfirmed reports say there have been massive explosions in the general area of the bases.  We will await confirmation of these reports and will give u up to the minute updates."

Jason's heart was in his throat.  A major domestic terrorist attack was something they hadn't faced since 9/11. Jason has responded to that horrific tragedy as an EMT and even though he had never made it to ground zero, the event had stuck with him to this day.  The idea of another attack on US soil that could not only kill thousands, but it could tip the fragile economy into free-fall scared Jason greatly. Jason brought himself back to reality just before he missed his turn off the highway.  He turned on his blinker and prepared to turn when his car died.  His radio cut off as well as the engine.  He coasted his vehicle to the side of the road and stopped right before his turn when he heard a squealing tires followed by a loud crash.  Jason looked at the oncoming lane of traffic, it was rush hour and the nonstop flow of traffic was no longer there.  Jason looked again in the early morning darkness, no the cars were there, but none had lights on.

The cars were stopped and 3 had crashed into each other about 100' up the road.  Jason got out of his car and rushed to the accident to check for injuries. Jason had been both a paid and volunteer EMT for over 15 years and carried a medical bag in his car at all times.  He approached the first car and looked towards the driver’s seat.  He saw a woman in her 40's sitting in her car playing with her cellphone.  Jason knocked on the window, startling her.  She saw the Sheriff’s Department uniform and calmed down and try to roll down the power windows but they didn’t respond.

Jason opened the door "Are you ok Ma’am?"

"Yes, but my cellphone isn't working.  My car just shut off! What is going on?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have to check on the other cars, just stay calm." Jason said and headed to the next car.

The next cars damage was worse, both front and rear.  Jason grabbed the driver’s door handle and opened it.  He found a young man holding his forehead with some blood dripping down his face.

“Are you Ok?” Jason asked.

The man looked up.  “Yeah I think so, just hit my head.”

Jason handed the man some gauze.  “Hold pressure on it, it doesn’t look bad, I have to check on the other car.” Jason said.

Jason headed to the last car.  He pulled his cellphone from his pocket but found that it was off.  He tried to turn it on but it wouldn’t respond.  Jason reached the final car to find an attractive woman in her 20’s who appeared to be unhurt frantically trying to turn on her cellphone.

“Ma’am” Jason said.

“My stupid phone won’t turn on!  I have an important meeting and this asshole just stops in the road, now my car is ruined!” she screamed hysterically.

“Ma’am you need to relax, are you injured?”

“Arrest him!” she pointed to the man in the car in front of her, who had gotten out of the car.

“What?” Jason asked confused.

“I want him arrested!  He just stopped and now my car is ruined!  I want him arrested, now!”  She screamed.

“Ma’am, no one is getting arrested, it was an accident, and I just want to make sure you’re not hurt.”  Jason said.

“I’m fine!  He can’t just stop like that!  He didn’t even have brake lights, and my car turned off so I couldn’t even stop right!”  She was starting to calm down.

“Ma’am, everyone’s car turned off, and no one’s cellphone works, it wasn’t anyone’s fault” Jason said noticing that every car in the area was off and a small crowd was gathering, looking to him for answers.

Jason had a clue what was going on but hadn’t taken the time to gather his thoughts yet.

Jason knew he couldn’t reason with these people, he had figured out what the problem most likely was, they were going to have to figure it out for themselves.  He was tired and wanted to get home, he knew his wife would flip when she woke up and nothing would work and he knew sooner or later the two-legged animal would be out in force.

“Folks! There is a gas station about a half mile back up the road; if you go there they may have more information.  I am going to walk home now; I suggest you gather anything that is important from your car and head on home.  Food and water are the most important.” Jason said as he turned and headed back to his car.

He knew most of these people were screwed if it really was an EMP or an Electro-magnetic pulse.  People were no longer self-reliant.  The years of 24 hour grocery stores and malls had provided everything people needed for generations.  A few outdoorsmen and the even fewer “preppers” around might have a better chance, but in about a week people would be out in force taking from the less capable and the collapse of civilized society would begin.  Jason went back to his truck.  It was a 2010 Chevy Silverado, completely computer operated.

“What a waste” he thought as he started going thru his vehicle.  He grabbed his police duty bag an added the 2 bottles of water from his cup holder, in his console he pulled out a high lumen led flashlight, his other badge and his back-up/ off duty pistol, a small Sig Sauer p290rs 9mm.  The gun was a great off duty; it fired the 9mm +p hollow point round that had nearly as much punch as his .45 caliber hollow points in his duty gun, a Glock 21.  He looked through the rest of his vehicle and figured nothing else was really worth taking.  His medical bag had backpack straps so he put that on, then shouldered his duty bag and started his 5 mile walk home.  He looked back to the rest of the other stranded motorists, some had started walking, but most were just standing in circle talking.  He quietly wished them the best and continued his long walk.

Chapter 2

Almost 2 hours later Jason walked up to his secluded driveway.  He and his wife, Jessica, had built the house three years before on a secluded 15 acre lot which was bordered on 3 sides by state forest.  The economy was in a slump so he had gotten the land for a steal and had gotten a great price to have the house built as well.  Jason walked up the logging road driveway, it was a short rise before his property went downhill and the house was completely secluded from the small road they lived on.  Jason walked around the gate which was just out of sight from the road and headed down the winding drive through the woods to his house.  He looked at his beautiful home and smiled.  It was a modest 2 story log cabin style home with 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms.  It was everything he had ever wanted, especially the large detached garaged.  It was an oversized 6 car garage that housed his workshop, car repair garage and his “man cave”.  Jason was in full out “prepper mode” when he had designed the house.  On both sides of the second story there were balconies which allowed a near unobstructed view of all approaches to the house, on the roof sat a modest solar power array, he couldn’t afford the cost of a full on solar system to power the entire house, but his solar power could light a single 12 volt led in each room, his water pump and had enough juice to run one or 2 appliances at a time.  Part of the reason he couldn’t swing a full on solar array was the reasonably large in ground pool that Jessica had insisted on.  Jason walked to the front door and unlocked the deadbolt and headed inside.  The house was strangely quiet.  No hum of the refrigerator, no TV on, near complete silence.

“Jay” Jason heard nearly immediately.  It was Allie, Jason’s 13 year old step daughter.

“Yeah” Jason replied.

“The power is out and my phone won’t turn on” she said.

“I know, hang on, and let me wake up your mother and I’ll let you both know what’s going on.”  Jason walked upstairs to the master bedroom and opened the door.

Jessica was still in bed sleeping peacefully.  Jessica worked nights as a RN in the local emergency room and was able to sleep an incredible amount of time.  Jason walked up and gave her a kiss.  She started to rouse with a smile

“Morning” she said sleepily.

“Morning gorgeous” Jason said.

“Something has happened and I need to talk to you, the power is out too so I’m going to turn on the generator.” Jason said.

This seemed to wake Jessica up a bit.  “The powers out?” she asked looking for clarification.

“Yeah, so only the LED light, I’m going to make sure the pilot light is on for the hot water and then I’ll start some coffee, I need some too.”

“Ok” Jessica said starting to get out of bed.

Jason went to the basement with his flashlight and went into the mechanical room.  He checked the pilot light and it was still on, next he checked the charging and inverter systems for the solar power.  The charging unit was dead but it looked like the inverter system still worked.  Jason walked back upstairs and started the coffee pot.

“Your mother will be down shortly, I’ll be back in when she is down to talk to you guys.” Jason said to Allie who was trying to turn on the TV.  She didn’t even acknowledge his existence.

Jason walked out to the detached garage; on the left side was the generator shack.  He had a modest 10,000 watt diesel generator and a 100 gallon storage tank next to it which also ran his small farm tractor.  Jason tried hitting the power start button but nothing happened.  He checked and replaced several fuses and then went to the pull start.  He set the choke properly and gave a few good pulls, the generator purred to life.  Jason wiped the non-existent sweat off his face and gave a sigh of relief.  He was never sure if the generator would survive an EMP or a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection), both scenarios Jason knew and understood fairly well, but none of which he had ever expected.  Jason thought his country would be brought down by an economic collapse, the thought of terrorism had crossed his mind and so he had taken several steps in order to prepare for EMP, radioactive fallout and biological attack but they were never his main concern.  At least he could use the generator for a little while until he could fix the charging unit for the solar system.  He hoped the solar panels were ok.  He had a decent grasp on electrical systems.  His grandfather had taught him quite a bit over the years.  As an electrical engineer, who had worked for the military for a number of years after his army service, his grandfather had opened his own burglar alarm company long before Jason was born.  Jason had spent summers working in the shop where they built the systems from the circuits on up.  Jason’s grandfather had sold the company about 10 years before and retired for the last 8 years of his life.  2 years ago he had passed away peacefully in his sleep and 3 months later Jason’s grandmother had joined him in heaven, in the same peaceful manner.  6 months later Jason’s parents both retired, sold their lake front home, and bought a vacant 150 acre farm in Wyoming. His father, Bob, was an avid hunter and his mother, Judy, was a full out prepper.  His dad didn’t quite buy into the prepping, but he was able to buy all the guns, ammo and hunting products he wanted and got to have his dream retirement property become a reality.  His Mother loved gardening, horses, and living as much off the land as possible.  Jason would have loved to relocate with them but his job kept him in rural northern New Jersey.  It was too close to the city if the shit really hit the fan, but he made the best of it.  Worst case, if things got too bad, he would try to bug out to Wyoming and join his parents, but he would try to “bug in” through the worst of the trouble here at home.  Jason walked back into the house and started checking things out.  He found that most of the appliances upstairs were dead.  The brand new refrigerator was shot, but the stove and oven seemed to work, they ran off the large propane tank located at the rear of the house.  The TV’s and radios were also toast.  In the basement he found the old chest freezer still working but the surge protector it had been plugged into had fried.  It seemed the older appliance was built to last, 25 years and still kicking, it just wasn’t all that energy efficient.

Jason looked at the wall next to the freezer, to anyone else it just looked like a pine-paneled wall just like the rest of the basement, but closer inspection, which was difficult in the dimly lit basement, would reveal the nearly invisible hidden door.  He pushed a small area of the wall in and the door popped out.  He swung the door open and looked at the large steel door.  He pulled out his keys and found the right one.  Only 2 other people had keys to this door or even knew it existed, Jessica and his best friend Jeff.  He opened the door and using his flashlight, entered the room.  Once inside he turned on a few LED lights which were battery powered, and looked around.  This was his “Bunker/ Armory.”  It was constructed with at least 8 inches of reinforced concrete, walls, floor and ceiling and the outside was completely encased in ½” steel plate which was fully welded to create a seamless steel cage.  The door was solid steel with six 1” pins that connected to the steel plating.  The plan was to have the bunker not only protect against radioactive fallout but it was also sealed to keep out biological and chemical agents and in theory would act as a faraday cage, he hoped, which would protect his electronics.  The room was 20’ x 30’ with 6 bunk beds, a large shelving unit full of food, another large shelf full of differing electronic equipment, and a large closet which was the armory.  The room had its own ventilation system that would operate off the solar system, but it was not connected until it was needed in order to maintain the integrity of the faraday cage.  Jason grabbed a laptop and multiband portable radio and headed back upstairs.  He plugged in both the radio and laptop and turned them on.  Miraculously they both worked, which pleased Jason greatly.  The laptop was probably the most sensitive electronic he had in the bunker, and if it still worked then everything should be ok.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down trying to find some news on the radio.  He knew that the internet would be down and the laptop would be useless, for the moment.  He checked through the AM and FM bands and found nothing on the air.  Jessica came downstairs freshly showered and grabbed herself a cup of coffee and sat down next to Jason.

“So, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Get Allie in here so I can explain to her as well.” Jason answered still fiddling with the radio.

Jessica had a concerned look on her face, it must be serious she thought as she walked into the living room to get Allie.  When the both returned and sat down Jason started explaining his morning.

After finishing the story he said “As I’m sure you both noticed, nothing electronic is working. Cellphones, TV, the fridge are all down.  This radio and laptop were down in the bunker and protected from the pulse.  The freezer in the basement still works so we should be able to keep that food good for a little while.”

“What bunker?” Allie asked confused.

Jason explained the room, the faraday cage and what was in it.

“How come I didn’t know it was there?” Allie asked.  She seemed upset that she had been left out.

“We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want you to worry” Jason said.  He also didn’t trust her to keep quiet about it but he didn’t say that.

“Is this why we have all the food down in the pantry?” she asked.

“Yes, we keep all that food in case something bad like this was to happen.” Jason said.

“How did you know something was going to happen?”  She asked.

“I didn’t ‘know’ this was going to happen, but I suspected that something bad might happen and wanted to protect you and your mother.” Jason said.

Jessica had always thought Jason was crazy with his prepper ideas until about 6 months before they had built the house.  He sat down with her one night and had a stack of papers in front of him.  After about 4 hours of her telling him he was crazy she finally started to understand where he was coming from.  It wasn’t too difficult to understand his concerns after looking at it objectively.  National debt was skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate; unemployment was through the roof, inflation was worse than anytime other than the great depression.  Then Jason showed her what the government had been doing to prevent the collapse: Printing more and more money, playing with interest rates, and record numbers on food stamps.  The depression would have hit years before and probably corrected itself had the government had left it alone, but the politicians were looking out for themselves and not the people.  They wanted the power and the governments reach had never been so long.  A full 49% of the US population was now receiving Government assistance and now every politician catered to them.  The average taxpayer was too busy with their daily life to notice and the main stream media and its biased reporting never let them know there was a real problem. Eventually the bottom was going to fallout and it would make the great depression look like a small bump in the road.  “And that’s when it will really get bad” Jason had thought but never shared.  The Government would step in to “fix everything” and the constitution would be gone, along with all the freedoms it afforded.

“So when will the cellphones work again?” Allie asked.

“Years” Jason answered.

She just stared at him for a moment her mouth open. “Seriously?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“What?!  No way! You’re lying!” Allie screamed running to her room.

“Well, that went well” Jason said.

“She will come around. I’ll go talk to her in a bit.” Jessica said drinking her coffee.

Jessica had a very good idea what was going to happen to their country and knew it would be several years before society would rebuild and they would be very trying years.  But she also knew that they would have it easier than most.

“So was it a nuke or a CME?” she asked.

“I’m assuming it was a nuke, probably high altitude” Jason said and also explained the news reports about the military base explosions, the emotion in his voice was obvious.

“They didn’t say what bases?” she asked.

“No, it was only 5 minutes before the EMP so there were few details” he replied.

“So what do we do now?” she asked.

“Well, I think you should freeze a few gallons of water so we can keep the fridge up here cool until we use up the food.  In the meantime I need to get some sleep, I suspect Jeff will be here by this evening and we can really get started.”  Jason said.

Jeff was Jason’s best friend and fellow prepper.  He was a paramedic working in the inner city of Newark whom Jason met 10 years before when Jeff had joined the local Volunteer ambulance company.  Jeff was placed on Jason’s crew for Jason to train and they soon became inseparable.  They both were into hunting, guns and the outdoors and soon found themselves spending a large amount of time together.  Jeff rented an apartment about 15 miles away and commuted the near hour long commute to Newark three or so days a week working 12 hour shifts.  Thankfully he worked the overnight shift so traffic was never an issue in his commute, and since his shift ended at 6am Jeff should have had plenty of time to get home before the blast, he was probably still asleep.  Jason headed towards bed and Jessica started filling up water bottles.

Chapter 3

Jeff was not having a good morning.  His night had gone well enough; it was busy, but it was always busy. Around midnight he had gotten a call from the Departments Assistant Chief asking him to stay at work until 10am, there was a call out and they couldn’t get anyone to come in till then.  Jeff jumped at the overtime, he was trying to save up enough money to buy a house and his single life and hobbies put a strain on his bank account. That’s where the good had ended.  At 6am his regular partner went home and he was stuck with Lashonda.  Lashonda was a 26 year old black woman who was born and raised in Newark and thought she was god’s gift to the EMS services.  Jeff had worked with her a few times but had made sure to avoid working with her as much as possible.  It was her way and that was it.  She decided where they were eating, who was doing what on each call and what was listened to on the radio, which drove Jeff crazy the most.  Jeff enjoyed rock and country music and could tolerate some rap music, but Lashonda only listened to the most gangster rap, which couldn’t even be played on the radio, so she brought it in on her IPod.  It was just terrible, so Jeff had gotten into the habit of turning on his country music any chance he had while Lashonda was treating a patient in the back of the ambulance, which pissed her off to no end.  It was entertaining to Jeff until he found out the Lashonda had gone to the Chief in an attempt to get him into trouble.  He had gotten a call from the Chief, who was also a close personal friend of his families thankfully, who informed him what Lashonda had attempted and told Jeff to watch his back.  That was 4 months ago and Jeff had successfully avoided her until this morning.  Jeff was in no mood to deal with her shit and told her as much and said that if she tried to put her rap music on he would personally smash the radio to bits.  So they rode in silence with the icy mood clearly apparent in the air.

They had just finished their 3 job and were about a mile from the hospital, on their way to their 4 job, when the pulse had hit.  Lashonda sat there trying to restart the ambulance which wouldn’t respond, no matter how many times she turned the ignition.  Jeff tried his radio and found it was dead along with his cellphone.  When he saw all the other dead cars on the road he knew what had happened.  He tried to explain what an EMP was to Lashonda but she had no interest in anything he had to say.  He grabbed his bag and walked back to the station leaving Lashonda turning the ignition.  He knew he had to get out of the city as fast as possible; things would start to go bad in the city first and then it would spread.  Jeff got back to his car and popped the trunk. He reached under the driver’s seat and grabbed his small Glock 26 pistol which he had strapped under the seat.  He had been carjacked a couple years before and wasn’t about to have it happen again.  He put the gun in his waistband and then went to the trunk.  There he pulled out his “bug out bag.” It was just a backpack with a small supply of food, water and ammunition along with a small tarp, some warm clothes and a fire striker.  He kept it in his car for an event like this where he would have to walk the nearly 50 miles home.  It was a prospect he did not look forward to.  He knew he would have better luck getting out of the city at night but that was many hours from now and in the meantime the city would soon turn into a war zone.  He grabbed his gear and prepared to get out of the city.

Looking up Jeff saw a young man looking at him from about 25 yds. away.  The kid could only be 12 or 13 years old but he was wearing the gang colors of the 187 street Blood Set.  Jeff was on high alert; he reached behind his back and gripped his pistol.  He began walking down the street towards the kid, looking for any movement.  The kid had his hands in his enormous hoodie sweatshirt and was sitting on a mountain bike.  As Jeff approached he noticed the kid beginning to pull something out of his pocket. Seeing this Jeff smoothly drew his Glock in front of him and screamed “freeze” while positioning himself behind a mailbox taking cover.  The kid’s gun had hung up in his sweatshirt and when seeing Jeff’s muzzle pointed at him knew he was beat.  The kid quickly put his hands up and the small automatic fell out of his pocket to the sidewalk.  Jeff stood up with his gun still trained on the kid.

“Kick the gun away” Jeff Ordered.

The kid complied and Jeff noticed tears in the kid’s eyes.  Jeff reached down and grabbed the small pistol placing it in his pocket.

“Get off the bike,” Jeff ordered and the kid complied.

Jeff then ordered the kid to put his hands up on the building wall where Jeff quickly searched him for other weapons, as he had practiced with Jason a hundred times.  The kid was full on crying at this point and Jeff almost felt bad.  This kid was born into a bad situation and not many were able to crawl themselves out of it.  The kid was probably raised by a single mother who worked 2 jobs just to keep food on the table and was therefore never home.  The kid probably had no idea who his father was and therefore spent much of his free time on the streets looking to find the missing thing in his life, attention.  And he had found it in the street gang.  They offered him friendship, importance and most importantly money and power.  The social welfare programs, while seemingly for the greater good, only prolonged the endless poverty and suppression of the overwhelmingly minority inhabitants of the inner city.  Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life was a well-known proverb and yet the government just kept giving out the fish, so very few learned how to earn for themselves.

“What’s your name?” Jeff asked.

Between the tears the boy answered “Akhim.”

“Alright Akhim, here’s the deal.  You are going to give me the gun and the bike and in exchange I will give you this car.”  Pointing to his 2008 Subaru Impreza.  “The car isn’t running but I need to get home now and don’t have time to play with it, deal?” Jeff asked.

“Yeah, deal” the boy said between sobs.

Jeff knew it wasn’t a fair trade, as the car was never going to run again, but he figured the bike was most likely stolen and it would allow him to get to Jason’s in a day or two instead of 3 or 4.

“Ok, get out of here boy!” Jeff yelled handing the kid the keys.

The boy ran down the road as fast as his legs would take him.  Jeff got on the mountain bike and started pedaling to the closest exit of the city.  He knew he needed to head North West to get home but that would mean he would have to ride through East Orange which was probably as dangerous as Newark if not worse.  He decided to head north and go through the towns of Bloomfield and into Montclair where he would be much safer.  Then he could start moving more westward.  His plan was to stay on as many county and local roads as possible.  The highways would be packed with stranded motorists who would be getting more and more desperate as time went on.  He pedaled hard down 1 street toward the highway, this was dangerous, but time was more dangerous than population in his estimation.  He pedaled as hard as he could down the road weaving through the stalled cars and perplexed motorists who barely noticed him.  Occasionally he strayed onto the sidewalk which earned him a few shouts and colorful hand gestures from the normal pedestrians but so far he hadn’t run into much trouble.  He knew there would be more people the closer he got to the intersection with the major highway so he remained vigilant.  He wished that he had been driving his jeep when this all hit.  He had a 1979 cj5 jeep which he and Jason had completely rebuilt a few years before.  It had a 6 inch suspension lift and big mud tires that could go anywhere and it was also nearly EMP proof.  No computer to operate the engine.  Just a few fuses to change and he would have been on his way, but the big v8 was very bad on gas and with gas over $5 a gallon he stuck with the Subaru or his motorcycle most days.  As Jeff approached the intersection with the highway he was on high alert.  There were tons of people here, all out of their cars talking.  Most of them were just people trying to get to work, but you never knew.  He coasted through the intersection with his Glock in his front right coat pocket so it would be easily accessible. He made it through the intersection with barely an errant look in his direction and began to relax.  He was almost out of Newark and that much closer to safety.  He turned off 1 street onto Park Avenue and took the park trails towards Bloomfield Avenue.

As he approached Bloomfield Ave his radar went off.  There in front of him was a group of 8 young men, all Hispanic, wearing MS-13 gang colors.  He knew he was in trouble; MS-13 was the most violent gang in the country and feared even by much larger gangs like the Bloods and Crips.  He hadn’t traveled this park often and didn’t know that this park was MS-13 tagged territory.  When he was about 50 yards away he slowed to a stop, the gang members saw him and were talking to each other in Spanish.  Jeff looked around and didn’t see any real option to get around.  Both sides of the trail were heavily wooded and didn’t open up until he would be in range of the gang bangers.  His Glock carried 10 rounds in the magazine plus one in the chamber and he had 2 extra magazines in his left pocket.  That was 31 rounds.  He quickly looked at the small automatic, it was a cheap .380 caliber but appeared to be in reasonable condition and it appeared to have 7 rounds.  Jason looked back at the group; they were still there, walking towards him, hands in their pockets.  He knew he couldn’t ride around them and riding through them was suicide, but he had decent cover here and assumed that like most gang bangers, they couldn’t shoot so he had that to his advantage.  He took cover behind a large oak and waited for them to come into range.  At 25 yards on the range he could shoot a 4” group with 25 rounds.  He figured he would let the guys get to about 35 yards and then take one down and hopefully the rest would run.

Using the oak for support he came up to one knee, leaned his arm against the tree pushing both hands out in front of him in a traditional weaver stance, aimed at the biggest of the gang members and fired.  The round struck home and the rest of the gang members ran for cover pulling out their weapons.  The man he had hit was lying in the middle of the trail holding his right leg and cursing in Spanish.  Jeff had already retreated behind the tree and observed the men.  Jeff tried to hear what the man was yelling but a volley of fire from the bad guys gave him a good idea what he was saying.  Thankfully for Jeff none of the guys even hit the tree he was hiding behind.  After a lull in the fire Jeff peered around the tree again and saw another man trying to help the big gang banger up.  One of the others must have seen Jeff because a shout preceded another volley of fire his way.  He took cover again and waited.  During the next lull he came up ready.  He brought his gun up ready to fire and when the two men were in his sights he fired 2 rounds hitting the helping man twice in the chest and both men fell.  Another volley of fire caused Jeff to scamper back behind the tree, which one round actually struck this time.  The big man began yelling again but this time there were no rounds following his commands.  Jeff had about enough of the big man’s voice and figured without their leader the rest would run and hide.  Jeff popped out from behind the tree firing, he fired 3 rounds, one hit the man in the abdomen and one hit him in the neck.

Jeff tripped as he tried to get back behind the tree and fell to the ground hard, knocking the wind out of himself as a multiple bullets flew over his head.  When he hit the ground he lost his grip on the Glock and it bounced out of his reach.  He tried to get up but a sharp pain in his ribs brought him back.  He tried to catch his breath and look for threats.  He slowed his breathing down and tried to ignore the pain in his ribs as he sat himself up.  He looked down where the 2 fallen men still lay on the path.  He saw two of the other men looking in his direction as they slowly moved towards their boss.  Jeff pulled the small .380 out of his pocket and aimed it towards the threat.  He knew his chances of hitting anyone with this gun at range would be pure luck but he didn’t want to look defenseless.  The first man reached his boss and his fellow gang banger, he yelled something to the others and the remaining 6 men began to retreat.  Jeff made sure he saw all 6 men leave before he relaxed a little and put the .380 back in his pocket.  He slid himself back around the tree and that’s when the shakes took hold.  He had been able to control his adrenaline through the fight due to his countless hours of shooting and training but now it all hit him in a rush.  His hands shook so violently he was unable to pick up his Glock from the ground. He just sat there and tried to control his breathing until the shakes had passed.

It felt like he sat there for hours, replaying the shoot out over and over in his mind.  After the 5 minutes had passed he was able to pick up his Glock, change the magazine and get himself to his feet.  His ribs on his right side hurt, but his breathing was ok so long as he didn’t breathe really deep.  He knew he had most likely just bruised his ribs, worst case possibly fractured one.  He removed his shirt and saw a small bruise already starting to form.  He reached into his bug out bag and grabbed the first aid kit.  Inside he found an ace bandage which he tightly wrapped around the injury, securing it with medical tape.  He also grabbed a couple ibuprofens and took them with a few sips of water.  He put his undershirt back on and then his jacket.  He packed everything else into his bag and walked his bike up to the two bodies.  Death hadn’t bothered him much he just analyzed the scene like he was at work.  The first man had 2 bullet holes in his lungs; the other man had most likely died from the shot to the abdomen which appeared to have severed his aorta.  He quickly searched them both for weapons and was rewarded with a snub nose .38 revolver on one man and a nickel plated Kimber 1911.  Clearly the big boss got all the nice toys.  There were also 8 extra rounds for the .38 and 2 full clips for the .45.  In addition he found several small baggies of a tannish substance which he knew was heroin.  He threw the heroin in his medical bag, not for personal use, but for its medicinal value.  Heroin was very similar to morphine or oxycodone and if dosed properly would be excellent for pain management.  Jeff left the bodies where they lie and got back onto the bike.

Within 5 minutes he was turning onto Bloomfield Avenue and heading uphill.  He had to slow down to barely a crawl as his breathing was really starting to hurt.  He knew it was uphill from here all the way into Montclair and didn’t turn downward until the Town of Verona.  It was going to take forever.  Within a few minutes he had to walk the bike uphill.  He was leaning towards the fractured ribs at this point.  After an hour and a half he finally made it the 5 miles to Verona where he could coast downhill for almost another 5 miles.  He had been riding for about 5 minutes, when in the distance he heard a very familiar, yet recently absent noise.  There was a car running, but it was sitting in the middle of the road with a crowd of people around it.  Jeff picked up his speed to see what was going on.

Chapter 4

The car was an old 1968 Ford Mustang and its engine was purring and its horn beeping.  Clearly the car wanted to be driving but the people were preventing it.  The small crowd of people was growing by the minute and the people seemed angry, some were yelling for the driver to get out of the car but others were only asking for a ride.  As Jeff approached someone had pulled a tire iron out of his broken down car and started smashing it into the classic car’s hood.  Jeff yelled into the crowd for them to stop but everyone ignored him, they were in a frenzy.  The man with the tire iron smashed in the driver’s side window and Jeff decided enough was enough.  He drew his Glock and fired 2 rounds into the air.  Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in Jeff’s direction.  The gun barrel came down and pointed directly at the man with the tire iron.  Several people had decided enough was enough and they were clearing out.

Jeff yelled as loud as he could muster “The next person to touch that car is getting a bullet!”

“He won’t give us a ride!” someone yelled.

“I wouldn’t give you a ride either; you’re all acting like animals!  Now get out of here before you really piss me off!” Jeff yelled his gun still clearly visible.

The crowd took the hint.  A few straggled around but once they realized that everyone else was gone they too turned and left.  Jeff rode up to the driver’s door and saw a man in his early 50’s holding his head and a teenage girl crying in the passenger seat.

“Sir, are you all right?” Jeff asked.

The man looked up at Jason with fear in his eyes.  He had a 3 inch laceration over his right eye that was bleeding pretty heavily.

“Let me take a look at that” Jason said putting his medical bag down.

“Who are you?” the man asked tentatively.

“My name is Jeff, I’m a paramedic.” Jeff said as he pulled some gauze out of his bag and applied pressure to the cut.

“Are you the one who got all the people to leave?”  the man asked.

“Yeah, it was no trouble, people are going to be acting pretty crazy for a while I’m afraid.”  Jeff replied.

“What happened?” the man asked.

“Well that’s a long story, let’s check on your girl there and I’ll try to explain it to you.  What’s your name by the way?”  Jeff said.

“I’m Richard Southard, but call me Rich, this is my daughter Julie.” Rich said.

“Pleased to meet both of you” Jeff said.

“Your head should be ok, it could use stitching but it will heal either way.  I don’t have anything to stitch you with and going to a hospital would be crazy.” Jeff said.

“What the hell happened anyways?” Rich asked.

“Well first we should get your car off the road before people come back.” Jeff said.

“Yeah, you’re right. Where are you heading?” Rich asked.

“North, up by the state border” Jeff answered.  He didn’t want to give an exact location since he really didn’t know these people.

“Well were heading to upstate NY, my parents have a farm up there and we were going up to visit for the weekend anyways, we’ll give you a ride.” Rich said.

“That would be great!  Can you fit my bike?” Jeff asked.

“We can stuff it in the trunk, the lid won’t close but I can tie it down.” Rich said.

They loaded the bike and headed off following Jeff’s directions to keep them off the major roads.  During the ride Jeff explained about the EMP and his events leading up to finding them.  After Jeff finished his story Rich just sat there in silence for a minute.

“How does something like this happen?” Rich finally asked.

“That’s a question a lot of people will be asking in the next few weeks.” Jeff replied.

“I don’t think anyone has that answer yet.”

As they neared the NY/NJ border Jeff told Rich that he was close to his destination and he could ride from here.  Rich offered to drive him right to where he was going but Jeff declined.  Rich pulled the mustang into a closed gas station and helped Jeff remove his bike.

“Do you have any cash on you?” Jeff asked.  Rich kind of looked at him funny and pulled out a small wad of cash.

“Like $200, why?” Rich replied.

Jeff reached into his pocket and pulled out a larger wad of cash.  “Here’s $500, Just take it, I’m prepared and you and your daughter aren’t.”  Jeff said handing Rich the money.

Jeff then grabbed his bag and pulled out the .38 revolver and the .380 pistol. Handing them to Rich he said “Don’t be afraid to use them, people are going to get really crazy soon.  If you go west on 84 for a couple miles there are several large shopping centers, get water, food, any seeds you can get and ammunition for those guns also grab a hand pump or syphon so you can funnel gas from the cars on the side of the road.” Jeff said.

Rich just stood there looking at the cash and the guns.

“Have you ever shot a gun before?” Jeff asked.

“No, I’ve never believed in guns.” Rich said.

“Well sir, you aren’t in the same country you were in yesterday, people will take from those who can’t or won’t protect themselves.” Jeff said.

Jeff then gave Rich and Julie a quick overview on how the guns operate, how to clean them and basic shooting instruction.  He then repeated his instructions about the shopping and they said their goodbyes and Jeff was back riding again, in 20 minutes he was riding up Jason’s driveway, it was almost 2 pm.

Chapter 5

The knock on the door made Jessica jump.  She grabbed her pistol, a Smith and Wesson 6906 9mm, and carefully approached the door as Jason had taught her.  She carefully peered through the side window and saw Jeff standing there.  She instantly relaxed and opened the door.

“You scared the shit out of me!” Jessica said.

“I see that” Jeff replied looking at the pistol in her hand.

“Sorry.” She replied.

“Is Jason home?” he asked.

“Yeah, he’s sleeping, he didn’t get home till after 9 this morning and he wanted to sleep until you got here this evening, did you get here ok?  I didn’t hear the jeep.” Jessica said.

Jeff explained his trip from Newark from beginning to end.

“Well it sounds like you got lucky; let me check on your ribs.” Jessica said sitting Jeff at the dining room table.

After looking over the injury Jessica decided it was only badly bruised and rewrapped the injured ribs.  She went down to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen vegetables and brought them to Jeff.

“Go up to your room and get some sleep, I’ll wake you up for dinner and we can discuss what to do next.” Jessica said.

Jeff spent so much time at the house that he had his own room.  He would have just moved in but having the freedom of his apartment worked better for his single lifestyle plus he didn’t want to intrude on Jason and Jessica’s life, although he knew they would never complain.  He fell asleep almost instantly.

At 600pm Jessica woke the boys up for dinner.  She had cooked a large portion of steak and frozen vegetables which had been down in the freezer.  Jason grabbed himself a coffee and Jeff grabbed a Pepsi as they sat to eat.

“How much meat is still in the freezer?” Jason asked.

“Enough for a week of chicken and beef, were going to need more fairly soon unless you want to be eating the freeze dried stuff.” Jessica replied.

“We will have to get some hunting in soon then, I don’t want to run the generator for too long but the solar system can’t handle the big freezer.” Jason said.

“I guess we need to start making a list of things to do” Jeff Interjected.

“I was thinking the same thing” Jason said.

“I think our first priority is making sure we are armed and ready to go, clean the guns, load up extra mags etc...” Jeff said.

“I agree, we can work on that tonight, I think we have a few days or so before the locals start getting restless and a week maybe before we start seeing the big city rush starting this way.” Jason said.

“Jessica, what do we need, if anything, in the way of food?” Jeff asked.

They had broken down their prepping into different groups after they had bought the house and were able to really start storing.  Jessica was in charge of food and hygiene products, Jason was in charge of vehicles, electrical and farming equipment, Jeff was in charge of medical supplies.  They had a 4 member at one point, Sean; he had been in charge of weapons.  Sean was the best shot with a rifle out of the entire group and had been a passionate prepper.   But just over 4 years ago he had gotten married to the “love of his life” and two weeks after found her in bed with another man.  Sean had lost it; he nearly beat the man to death with his bare hands.  Sean had been arrested and was looking at serious time, but Jason thankfully knew the prosecutor and had worked out a deal.  In exchange for no jail time Sean would go to an inpatient anger management program and then would join the Marine Corp.  Sean wasn’t the same person anymore; he was cold and pretty distant.  Jason and Jeff both wrote Sean regularly and tried to talk on the phone.  Occasionally Sean would write or call back.

Sean had already done 2 tours of duty in some rat infested Middle East 3 world country and had just written Jeff and Jason telling them he was reenlisting after his 4 year enlistment was up.  They got that news last month and were both disappointed.  Sean had been a good friend to both of them and now they could really use him.   Since then Jason and Jeff both kept an eye on the weapons end of things.

“We are in pretty good shape food wise, but we could use more soap, laundry detergent, and hygiene stuff.” Jessica replied.

“Ok. Jeff, how are we looking on ammo?” Jason asked.

“We have 2000 rounds of 9mm, 5000 rounds of 5.56mm, 1000 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm and about 400 rounds of .45acp here, now if we can get back to my place I can add 1000 of 5.56mm, 500 of 9mm and another 1000 of 7.62x51mm, so I guess we mostly need .45acp.” Jeff replied.

This surprised Jason, the only .45acp caliber gun was his Glock 21 duty weapon which he only had because it was required for work.  They had attempted to keep their arsenal to only the most common ammunition types and to keep the weapons as common as possible.

“Well I don’t plan on carrying the .45 very often.” Jason said dubiously.

Jeff reached into his bag and pulled out the Kimber 1911 he had gotten of the dead gang banger.

“I thought I might carry this around.” Jeff said with a stupid grin on his face.

Jeff explained how he got the gun while Jason looked it over.

“Well it looks nice, but we had a plan for this situation, we all have our tactical load outs.” Jason said.

Each member of the team had purchased nearly identical weapons for their “Tactical load outs” as they called them.  They all carried a 9mm Glock 19 as their sidearm and each had an AR style carbine all of which could interchange magazines.  Additionally each had a Remington 870 12 gauge shot gun and all had an optional weapon which would be chambered in either 5.56mm or 7.62x51mm.  Jeff carried a Remington 700 sniper rifle chambered in 7.62x51mm which he had gotten as a gift from his uncle, a retired LAPD SWAT sniper.  Jason carried an M1A semi auto chambered in 7.62x51mm.  Jessica had a scoped mini 14 which she could accurately shoot out to over 500 yds.  The only exception was the weapons Allie was supposed to carry.  They had a Glock 26 for her along with a Hi-point 9mm carbine (which used the same magazine as the Glock 19) and she had a 20 gauge Remington 870 shotgun.  Allie used to enjoy shooting all the time until a couple years ago when friends, boys and the internet became far more important.  Currently she was in her room listening to old CD’s of music on the laptop that Jason had brought from the bunker.

“Well as far as my end of things goes, I think we’re in good shape.” Jason said concluding the gear check.

They discussed their priorities for the next 30 minutes and came up with an immediate plan.  Tonight they would clean and load magazines and then make sure Jason’s 1995 Suburban was up and running, then Jason and Jeff would drive out to Jeff’s house and load up his equipment and come back with Jeff’s Jeep.  In the morning they would begin setting security up at the farm.  Jason had a number of wireless cameras that he could setup around the house and at the road which they could observe from the laptop.  Then they would begin to set up motion detectors around the perimeter of the house about 500 yds. away from the buildings.  This would get them early warning in case someone tried to sneak up on them and would allow everyone to rest instead of having to keep a security watch up 24/7.

Jason knew they were short on people.  He wanted to try to recruit a few more people in the area but had yet to find people of the right mindset that could be trusted.  Most normal people thought preppers were crazy antigovernment nut jobs, and most preppers, in his experience, were just that.  He had yet to find someone with a good balance.  When they had Sean the numbers were better.  8 hour watches were tolerable and one person could have the night off. But they didn’t have Sean he was probably in some sandbox thousands of miles away from this disaster.  After cleaning and loading up weapons and magazines, Jeff and Jason went outside to check the truck.  The 1995 Suburban was sitting in the garage where it always was.  Jason kept the battery disconnected as it normally wasn’t used and didn’t want the battery to drain.  After connecting the battery and check and replacing a few fuses the truck started right up.  Jason and Jeff allowed the truck to run a few minutes and then shut it off.

“I think we should wait till morning” Jason said.

“What?” said Jeff.

He was anxious to get his stuff and didn’t have any interest to wait.

“We should wait until tomorrow, I don’t have night vision equipment and the headlights will be a big target, besides no stores will be open at night and we need to think about conserving fuel.  I only have the gas in the truck plus about half a tank in Jessica’s car.  If we need to bug out were going to be in trouble.”  Jason explained.

Jeff wasn’t thrilled but grudgingly agreed to Jason’s reasoning.  Looting probably wouldn’t start for a few days and his weapons and ammo were in a nearly impenetrable safe.  They both headed inside and explained the plan to Jessica.  She was happy with the plan.  They all went to bed hoping to enjoy the last goodnight sleep for quite a while.  None slept well.

Chapter 6

It was time for the 9pm meeting.  The group met secretly in the underground bunker system that they had been in for the past three days.  The bunker system was vast; it spaciously handled the 10 families plus service personnel without feeling cramped in the least.  Every “apartment” contained the highest end finishes, large bedrooms, kitchens and family rooms as well as offices where work could get done safely.  The 10 men in the meeting room now were some of the most powerful men in the country and even the world.  They had gained massive fortunes due to their superior intellect, as well as their unscrupulous business practices.  Generally these men were competitors but 10 years prior they had formed a very odd alliance.  The group didn’t have a name, didn’t have minions in any real sense, nor did they have a true political agenda.  They had one simple aspiration, power.                These men wanted full and complete control of the US government and therefore the world and its resources and they had the money, influence and power to manipulate nearly anything they wanted, particularly together.  They wanted the power, wealth and control while the rest of the people lived with what these men decided what was best.  It was a lofty goal and these men knew it would not be a quick process.  First they began supporting political candidates and in return requiring government contracts and “stimulus” money.  From there they began investing in mainstream media companies and making sure their hand chosen personnel were placed in critical positions.  Bribes were paid and men were placed in high reaching political and judicial positions.  Two of the current Supreme Court justices were loyal, well over 200 congressmen and over 30 senators of both parties were beholden, although they didn’t really know it.  Laws were passed, executive orders written and judicial findings proclaimed that eliminated many of the freedoms and protections of the average US citizen.  But the people didn’t pay any attention.  The news, if any, that they watched was the main stream news outlets that carefully filtered the news for the “sheeple”.  A few saw what was happening but they didn’t know it was a true conspiracy.  The conservative right wing blamed the Democrats and the liberal left wing blamed the Republicans, in truth it was both parties.  Things had gone very smoothly as of yet but the group was prepared for problems.  Long ago they had a developed a plan and this morning it had been implemented.

Nearly 100 environmental extremists, anti-government militia members and extreme anarchists had been recruited secretly and given a job which they had all dreamed of, revolution.  These men were given military identification and a military target.  All were major military installations that were crucial to any major military response.  The men were disguised as soldiers from a transportation unit and each were given a very special load to deliver to their target.  Every detail was thoroughly planned out and made as fool proof as possible.  The men thought they were delivering simple but deadly fertilizer bombs but that was only a cover.  Behind the fertilizer bomb was a sophisticated fuel air explosive that would destroy nearly a ¾ mile radius around the bomb.  The destruction was devastating.  Upon detonation of these explosions they would await the evacuation of the President who would be flown to a secure military bunker in the mid-west.  The men knew the exact evacuation plans as they had influenced them.  When the Presidents plane, Air Force One, reached it cruising altitude of 25000 feet and supposed safety they would then detonate the nuclear warhead high in the atmosphere taking down the highly protected Air Force One and most all electronics in the continental US.

It wasn’t that the President was an enemy.  In truth he was a close ally to these men and had enacted many of the laws and executive orders the men had needed.  In truth the President was a pawn for these men however he thought himself their leader.  After the loss of the election the soon to be former president had lost it.  He demanded that the group do something and keep him in power.  When they had declined the mad man had threatened to expose the plot.  The president had not been seen publicly since that day and all public statements were made by his Chief of Staff; A man being paid very well by “the group”.

During the meeting all elements of the plan and its initial stages were discussed.  Everything was going according to plan.  All but one of the bombs had been properly delivered and detonated so the military would be seriously hampered in any response.  The men adjourned the meeting after an hour and all returned back to their apartments.

Chapter 7

Jason was the first awake.  It had been a fitful night’s sleep and once the sun was shining thru the window he decided to get up.  He stoked the woodstove in the living room and decided to pull out his camping percolator to make coffee instead of using the generator or little power left in the solar batteries.  He went down into the storage room in the basement with his flashlight and quickly found the proper box.  While he let the coffee percolate he went outside to have a cigarette and think about the past day.  Normally he would be reading the news on his smartphone, but today there was no news.  Today was the beginning of a new day in America.  It was a day he had planned for but dreaded.  The day when the house of cards came crashing down.  He hoped he was prepared enough.

He went out to feed the chickens while he finished his cigarette.  It was cold this morning and looked to be a perfect morning to bow hunt.  Which is what he and Jeff would have been doing had this been a normal day.  Instead he went back down to the bunker and pulled out his surveillance equipment.  The plan was to set up 4 remote surveillance cameras that ran off 6volt rechargeable batteries which had a small solar panel charger for each.  One went above the front door, one off the back door, one went near the road and the last went off the back of the garage over the open field in the back.  They were all wireless and were capable of 180 degree movement and could zoom to 10x.  Additionally he had several wireless motion sensors and trip wire sensors which all sent wireless data back to the laptop kept in the house.  He had worked with his grandfather to design and make the units and had enough supplies left over to make several more.  The trip wires were to be setup on an interior perimeter about 500 meters away from the house.  The motion sensors would be set in several places which were natural paths through the woods around the property.  Each unit had its own signature and its placement was mapped out.  When they were placed properly the computer would display exactly where the perimeter was breached.  They hoped this would even out the deficit in manpower for watches and patrol.  It wasn’t ideal but he hadn’t found anyone else who showed any interest in prepping whom he trusted.  He had approached both of his neighbors who were both avid hunters but neither had any apparent interest.  A couple guys at work showed some signs but after loaning them a couple books about doomsday topics the both said it was crazy.  So here they were 4 ordinary people who were going to try and survive in a world that was soon to be turned upside down.

Jason went back inside and poured himself a cup of coffee with cream and sugar.  He would enjoy the cream while it lasted, then it was either evaporated milk or powdered milk.  Hopefully he could trade for a cow to milk before that ran out.  Jason knew they would be ok for at least 9 months on the food he had stored; it could be stretched for a year if they had a good hunting season and the garden performed well next spring.   Jason started cooking breakfast, eggs and bacon, and a few minutes later Jeff was on his way down as expected.  When the food was ready he went and woke Jessica and Allie.  It was 8am and neither were thrilled to be awake, but only Allie really complained.  After breakfast showers were taken and the plans for the day were set.  After a few minutes of argument it was decided that everyone would “go tactical” as they had dubbed it.  Everyone would have their weapons in close proximity and would always carry their handguns everywhere outside of the house.

Jason grabbed his tactical vest and belt with his drop holster for his Glock19.  He also placed his SHERIFF emblems on the tactical vest since they would be carrying in public and he didn’t want to frighten people.  He loaned Jeff a SHERIFF T-shirt and his clip on belt badge until they were able to get his equipment.  Jason also loaned him his Remington 870 shotgun.  He would also carry the Glock 26 on his waist and the Kimber in his waistband.  Jason and Jeff would head to Jeff’s apartment first and get his gear, and then they would hit up the gun shop and find an open supermarket hopefully.  Jason went to his safe and pulled out a significant stack of cash.  Jason noticed that Allie seemed different today, she wasn’t the normal defiant teenager, and she seemed scared.

“How’s Allie taking it?” Jason asked Jessica when they were alone.

“She’s scared.  I think the guns coming out made her realize this was actually real.” Jessica said.

“We will be ok here, were pretty well prepared.” Jason tried to reassure Jessica.

“I know, but it’s still scary.  Please be careful out there today, we can’t afford to lose you.” Jessica said clearly nervous.

“I’ll be careful, things aren’t going to be dangerous yet and we have to do this trip.” Jason said.

“I know, just be careful” Jessica said kissing him.

“I love you” Jason said.

“I love you too” Jessica replied.

Jason headed outside to see Jeff and Allie screwing off in the front yard.  Allie was running around laughing.  It was nice to see.  Jeff and Allie always got along very well, almost like siblings without the serious fighting.  They would pick on each other all the time.

“What are you two doing?” Jason yelled with a chuckle.

“He pinched me!” Allie yelled.

“She did it first!” Jeff yelled back.

Jason chuckled.

“Alright, time for us to go, Allie go see what your mom needs done.  I think you guys are going to inventory the food in the storage room.” Jason said.

“Oooo…” Allie said disappointed

“Can’t I come with you?” she continued.

“No, no room in the truck, Jeff has too much junk to bring over here.” Jason said.

Allie look disappointed but didn’t fight the point, she headed inside.

Chapter 8

Jason drove and Jeff rode shotgun.  They kept off the major roads as a precaution.  Knowing how many cars would be disabled on the highway he figured that while most people would have walked to some kind of civilization others may have stayed behind.  He had driven about 10 of the 18 miles to Jeff’s place and had seen several abandoned cars but no people with them, he saw several people in their yards but none looked overly suspiciously at them but they all looked.  These people probably hadn’t seen a moving car in over 24 hours so they all looked.  Jeff lived on the outskirts of the largest town in the county.  With 25,000 residents in just over 3 square miles the town wasn’t packed but it was fairly busy.  Most days the main roads through the town were gripped in heavy traffic.  They approached an intersection with one of the main roads that headed into town.  Jason saw several cars in the intersection and he wasn’t sure if it would be passable.  Jason and Jeff both kept their eyes peeled for people.  After watching the intersection for a moment they were both pretty sure that no one was there so they slowly approached.  Jeff had the shotgun ready but kept it low and out of sight.  As they rolled up to the intersection Jason stopped.  The road was blocked with cars.  The Suburban was just a little too big to sneak through.  Jason and Jeff both got out of the truck to move one of the cars forward.  They only needed to move it 2 or 3 feet and they would have a clear path.  It was a brand new Toyota Prius which still had its temporary tags.  Jason opened the door and hoped that the car still had its keys in it.  He didn’t want to have to break the transmission in order to get the car out of park.

“Damn, no keys” Jason said looking though the car.  Just then they heard a man yelling.

“Hey! Get out of my car!” the man yelled running up to them.

He was dressed in a gray pin striped suit, pink shirt and red tie.  His clothing looked very expensive.  Jason pulled his head out of the car and looked at the man running towards him.  Jeff already had the man in the sights of his shotgun but then had lowered it.  He kept it at the ready but the man did not appear to be armed.  Jason turned towards the man.

“Sir, I’m with the Sheriff’s Dept. and I need to clear this intersection.” Jason said coolly.

“You cannot enter my car without permission or a warrant” the man screamed condescendingly.

“Sir, I’m not trying to steal from you I’m just trying to clear the intersection so traffic can pass.” Jason said.

“Do you have a warrant?” the man said mockingly “Because I didn’t give you permission, so you are breaking and entering right now.”

Jason was getting annoyed.  Jason was not an intimidating presence.  Standing only 5’7” and weighing 180 lbs. most people weren’t intimidated just by looking, particularly when he was dressed in long sleeve clothing.  But Jason was solidly built and more importantly Jason was well trained and an experienced fighter.  He had studied Jujitsu, Muy Tia and general MMA style fighting for several years after starting at the jail.  But Jason didn’t like to get physical.  He knew his mouth and brain were his most valuable resource.  He had a fairly high IQ and a voice that was able to get anyone’s attention when he wanted to.  Jason was trying to stay professional but this asshole was really starting to piss him off.

“Sir, let me make myself clear to you.  I am going to clear this intersection which means moving your car.  Now you can either assist me by giving me your keys or I will do it the hard way and detain you and then take your keys, it’s your choice.” Jason said firmly.

“Detain me?” The man said in a mocking tone.  “On what probable cause?!” the tone was confident and condescending.

“Sir, this is a national emergency and you left your vehicle in a public roadway.  So hand over your keys so I can move your vehicle right now.” Jason replied, he was clearly mad.

“Has a national emergency been declared? No radios work so how do you know! Get your hands off of my car before I sue you and your department and take your job.” The man said with a smirk on his face.

Jason grabbed the man by his arm and threw him over the front of his own car.  He roughly pulled his hands behind his back and placed him in handcuffs.  Jason began searching him for his keys and any weapons as he had done thousands of times.  He placed the keys on the hood of the car and continued to search but came up with nothing but a couple of pens and a wallet.  The man was yelling through the entire search but Jason and Jeff both ignored him.  Jeff got in the Suburban and Jason used the keys to put the Prius in neutral.  Jeff pulled the Suburban’s brush guard to the back bumper of the car while Jason grabbed the man and pulled him away.  Jason waved Jeff forward and he began pushing.  Jason continued to wave even after the Prius struck the car in front and began pushing that car too.  After the car was moved about 5’ Jason waved Jeff back.  The lawyer man was extremely angry and still kept screaming and was almost in tears.  Jason pulled the man to his feet and got in his face.

“Are you going to snap out of it or am I going to have to leave you here handcuffed and crying like a baby?” Jason asked.

“You destroyed my car! I’m going to take your badge!” the man spit.

Jason smacked the man firmly with his open hand across his face.  “Wake up!  There is no more court, there are no more cops.  It’s everyone for themselves and the quicker you get that the better your chances are.  So do you want some advice or do you want to continue to yell and scream like a total idiot?  I’m leaving in one minute so make up your mind.” Jason ordered.

The man was taken aback, clearly his days as a lawyer had made him feel untouchable and was almost never put in his place.  The man just looked shocked and was speechless.

“Go get yourself some food and water and go find someplace to hunker down.  Things are going to get dangerous out here very soon.  If you can get home on foot then do it, if not go find a farm and offer to work for food and shelter.  Life as you have always known it has ended for years.  Now if you aren’t self-sufficient you are going to have to find another way to live.  Grocery stores will no longer be stocked, gas stations will never be refilled and 99% of vehicles will never drive again.” Jason said as he walked back to his truck.

“Give me a ride!” the man yelled looking desperate.

“Not gonna happen.” Jason laughed as he and Jeff got in the truck.

“You destroyed my car, now I demand a ride!” the man spat.

“Why on earth would I give you a ride?  You have been nothing but a conceded selfish prick for our entire conversation.” Jason replied

.  “But you’re a cop, you serve the public, you have to give me a ride!”

“Wake up buddy, there are no cops anymore!  It’s everyone for themselves” Jason replied as he started the big truck and drove away as the man continued to yell.  A minute later Jeff asked

“What are his chances, you think?”

“Not good.  He has no marketable skills most likely and he clearly has not nor will he come to grips with what has happened.” Jason said.

They drove the remaining miles to Jeff’s apartment and headed inside.

“Point me to the guns and ammo while you pack your clothes.  I’ll start loading the truck; I have a feeling that by this evening things may get hairy.” Jason said.

Jeff showed him to the second bedroom where the large gun safe and ammo cans were along with a good deal of food and camping equipment.  Jason grabbed a few cans of ammo and brought them down to the truck.  Jason had been working for over an hour and felt he had made a million trips, but the guns, ammo, food and most of the camping supplies were loaded.  Jeff had packed up his clothing and other items from the rest of the house and had loaded them into his jeep.  Jeff had to replace almost every fuse and get a jump off Jason’s truck to get the jeep started.  The battery was probably ruined but hopefully one of the thousands of batteries sitting in the abandoned vehicles would work.  After 3 hours of hard work everything was loaded into the Suburban or the trailer except for the few items Jeff loaded in the Jeep.

Chapter 9

They left and headed towards a major shopping store in the more business oriented part of town.  Jeff had to stay with his Jeep as he couldn’t turn it off, so he kept guard duty in the parking lot while Jason headed inside with his large wad of cash.  As he got to the front door he saw the manager talking to a small group of angry people.  Jason tried to walk past but the manager stopped him.

“Sir, we have no power so were not open.” The manager said.

“I have a flashlight and cash.” Jason replied showing the man the large stack of money.

“Ok, but I will have to have one of my people go with you.” The manager replied.

“Fine by me.” Jason said as he entered the store.

Jason met the young man who was to escort him around the store, his name was Mark.  He was a 21 year old student at the local community college.  Jason and Mark chatted throughout the store, both pushing carts, which were quickly filled.  Jason went straight to the hygiene products and loaded up with bulk sizes of soap shampoo, feminine hygiene products, razors, toothpaste, and tooth brushes.  Next he hit the pharmacy area and added bandaging supplies, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, large quantities of antibiotic ointment, several extra-large containers of multi-vitamins, foot care products, and several different over the counter medications in large quantities.  They then headed to the gardening section and picked up 2 new axes, a splitting maul, several pairs of work gloves and an incredible amount of organic seeds.  Both carts were now full but Jason wasn’t close to done.  They staged the 2 carts and got 2 more adding 2 large bow saws 2 new chainsaw chains and then headed to the automotive section.  He picked up a case of motor oil, as many containers of gas stabilizer as he could find and grabbed 2 batteries that should fit Jeff’s jeep.  He quickly hit the hunting section and really went nuts.  He grabbed at least 20 different knives most fixed blade sheath knives.  2 compound bows, 6 dozen arrows along with broad heads and other accessories.  In the camping section he grabbed 2 very large tents and several tarps.  He picked up nearly 20 decent quality LED flashlights that all ran on AA batteries and several bulk packages of AA batteries.  They headed back to the front of the store but first Jason hit the food section.  He grabbed 10 large containers of coffee, five 20 lb. bags of rice, about 20 large boxes of different desert mixes including brownies, cakes and cookies.  He grabbed 6 large containers of vegetable and olive oil and 10 large containers of shortening.  He rolled his 4 carts to the front of the store where the manager was waiting.

The man was shocked “How can I ring all this up?” the man asked.

“How much do you think I owe you?” Jason replied.

The man looked over the items and answered “It got to be 2 or 3 thousand dollars” said the manager.

Jason handed over $3500 in $100 bills and told him to keep the change.  Jason wished the store sold ammo but they couldn’t in NJ.  The manager took the cash and Jason headed out of the store with Mark in tow.  They brought all 4 carts out at the same time, it was difficult but it was better than leaving the items unattended.  There were still several people in the parking lot and they were eyeing up Jason as he walked out of the store.  They got to the suburban and started unloading.

“How’s it been out here?” Jason asked Jeff.

“No real problems but the natives are getting restless, if I were the boss here I would grab what I need and get the hell out.  These people will be looting this store soon enough and someone will probably get hurt.” Jeff said.

After they finished loading the truck Jason turned to Mark “Do you remember what I told you?”

“Yeah I got it” Mark replied.

“Ok, don’t wait too long, we will be expecting you.” Jason said as he got in his truck.

During their time in the store Mark started asking Jason questions about what he was doing and what was going on.  The kid had no clue that things were as bad as they were.  Jason then started asking Mark about his family a home situation.  Mark was an only child whose parents had adopted him from the state.  They had both passed a couple of years before and Mark was on his own.  He really didn’t have much but was trying to better himself.  Jason found out that Mark worked 2 jobs plus went to school full time and with a little government assistance he was able to get by.  Mark had worked for a construction company on and off during the summer for years. He was also an avid fisherman and had some gun hunting experience.  The kid was bright but most importantly the kid was a hard worker.  After hearing what Mark had to say Jason had offered him a place at the house.  He would work around the house taking care of the animals and would help with security and occasionally hunt for food.  Jason gave Mark $500 and gave him a list of things to get.  Jason and Jeff would head to the sport shop and pick up a few things and then would come back for Mark if they could.  Mark didn’t know if he would just leave his manager hanging with no help and didn’t want to just leave so the plan was for Mark to pick up some items and buy a mountain bike and ride to the house later in the day.  Jason told him to get the bike, a good sheath knife, a big backpack, a tent and flashlight, some warm good clothes and some food and water.  Mark accepted the cash and went back into to the store and spoke with his manager.  After the short conversation they both agreed it was time to get out of dodge.  The manager allowed Mark to grab whatever he wanted from the store after they locked up the front with the security cage and they would sneak out the back.  Mark had his large pack loaded for bear and got on his mountain bike 2 hours later with his boss and headed in opposite directions.

Chapter 10

Jason and Jeff headed over to the local sport shop where they frequently bought hunting gear and weapons.  They both knew the owner, Bill Walsh, from their frequent trips and because their friend Sean had worked in the store for several years.  As they pulled up to the front of the shop they knew something was wrong.  Three men were at the front door and all appeared to be armed.  Two of the men were attempting to kick the door in while the 3 man provided security.  When Jason and Jeff had pulled into the shop the 3 man had already drawn a bead on their cars but hadn’t fired.  Jeff and Jason quickly angled their vehicles so that the engine blocks of their trucks were between themselves and the armed men.  #3 got the attention of #’s 1 and 2 and now they all faced Jeff and Jason.  Without warning #3 fired his shotgun at Jason’s SUV.  Jason quickly took cover as the rest of the men began firing.  Jason tried to concentrate on the sound of the guns.  He was pretty sure it was 2 shotguns and a pistol.  Jason was only 30yds away and well in range of all the guns.  Jason grabbed up his AR15 and prepared to meet the attack.  He and Jeff had done some tactical work together and had worked on hand signals.  Jason pointed at Jeff and then used his hand to cover his head, he then pointed to himself and walked his fingers as a person running and then pointed to the corner of the store.  Jason pulled up his AR and popped his head up enough to see the men and was immediately met with a barrage of fire.  He ducked back down and set himself.  He was going to sprint full out to the corner of the building and safety.  This would draw the fire away from Jeff and give him an opening, at least he hoped.

Jason counted backwards to himself “3...2...1... “ And he was sprinting for everything he had. The gun fire picked up rapidly as he left his cover.  Jason reached the corner of the building and stopped, trying to catch his breath.  It was a very short run but with the adrenaline pumping through his body it was quite overwhelming.

“Jason!” he heard someone yell.

He went to the corner of the building and peered around.  Jeff was approaching the front of the store with his weapon pointed out in front of him.  Jason brought his gun up and also began walking forwards.  He could see at least one of the men lying in front of the store.  As they approached Jason saw the mass of bodies lying in front of the store.  2 of the men seemed to be alive but not for long.  The damage to the bodies was horrendous.  Jeff explained that he unloaded the shotgun into the 3 men, who had no cover and were all standing together.  The 54 buck shot pellets from the 6 rounds Jeff had fired had ripped the men to shreds.  Jason looked up from the bodies and to Jeff.  He was completely pale.  Jason grabbed out for Jeff just before he fell over.  Jason helped him sit on the curb a few feet away from the men.  Jeff vomited twice and then started to shake.

“It’s alright man; you did what you had to do.  It was us or them” Jason said trying to console his best friend.

“That’s Mr. Anderson” Jeff said barely audibly before vomiting again.

Jason couldn’t place the name for a moment and then it had hit him.  Mr. Anderson was the father of one of the girls Jeff had dated a few years before.  Lisa if Jeff remembered right.  They had dated for 7 or 8 months and Jeff got along well with Mr. Anderson who was a farmer who enjoyed hunting.  If Jeff had only gotten along as well with Lisa it might have worked out.

“It’s not your fault.  He made the decision to try to kill us first.  We were just defending ourselves.” Jason said.

“I know, it’s just fucked up!  Everything is fucked up, why?” Jeff asked rhetorically.

Jason tried to console him but was taken away by a voice.

“Who’s out there?” yelled the voice

“Bill its Jason and Jeff, open the door its safe!” Jason yelled.

“Jason and Jeff who?” yelled the voice.

“Open the damn door Bill, we just killed 3 men out here and we don’t need these games!” Jason yelled back getting annoyed.

“What do you want?” Yelled Bill.

“Well I was going to buy some ammo from you but considering what we just went thru I wouldn’t mind a thank you!” Jason replied.

“You got cash?” Bill yelled.

“Of course I have cash Bill! I always pay cash, now open this god damn door before I kick the fucking thing down and kick your stubborn old ass you son of a bitch!” Jason yelled with pure anger in his voice.

After a moment of silence the door partially opened with a shotgun barrel sticking out.  “Jason, put that gun down on the ground.” Bill ordered.

“Jesus Christ Bill, knock this stupid shit off!  Jeff and I just killed 3 men protecting you and this is how you greet us?!”  Jason screamed while putting his rifle down on the ground.

Bill opened the door the rest of the way and looked down at the 3 dead men on the ground.  He visibly relaxed.

“Sorry about that Jason, I had to be sure.” Bill said, Jason noticed the wound on Bills left arm.

“How’d you get that?” Jason asked.

“That stupid son of a bitch Walter Davey shot me when I refused to take his credit card.  I killed him inside and the others took off, but they decided to come back and just take what they wanted.  I guess they had their shotguns in Shad Andersons truck.  He actually drove it up here. First car I’ve seen in 2 days.”  Bill explained.

“Well things are only going to get worse.  We’re going to belly up at my farm for a few months, just wanted to top off some supplies.” Jason said.

“Well come on in and Ill set you two up, and thanks for the help, probably saved my life.” Bill said walking inside.

Jason went to check on Jeff.  Jeff was better.  He seemed to be pulling himself back together.

“Bill will sell us some ammo, come on inside and we will stock up with what cash I have left.” Jason said.

“Ok” was Jeff’s quiet reply.

The two walked in and saw Walter Davey’s body lying in a pool of his own blood by the far wall.  They walked up to the counter and started talking to Bill.  Jeff noticed the gunshot wound and immediately asked if he wanted it looked at.

“It’s just a scratch, I was lucky, it will be fine.” Bill said.

“Just let me look at it, if it gets infected you’ll be in trouble.” Jeff replied.

“Alright fine, if it makes you feel better.”  Bill said.

“Where’s your first aid kit?” Jeff asked.

Bill pointed and Jeff retrieved it and started inspecting and cleaning the wound.  It was just a graze but pieces of Bill’s flannel shirt were embedded in the wound.

“Bill I gotta scrub this out quick, you’ve got pieces of shirt in it and if I don’t get them out it will get infected.  Antibiotics are going to be real hard to come by soon.”  Jeff said.

Jason noticed that Jeff’s demeanor changed quite a bit while tending to Bill.  Jason figured it was a reminder of the real world.  Sadly, treating gunshot wounds was not unusual for the inner city of modern America.  With Jason’s help it took about 5 minutes to clean, treat and bandage the wound.  After some quick treatment instructions they finally got down to business.

“So what can I get for you boys?”  Bill asked.

“Mainly ammo.  Need some .45 ACP the most.  Could use some 12 gauge, 9mm and .308 as well.” Jason said.

Bill thought for a moment and then began to speak.

“Well I’ve got a deal for you two.  If you two help me load my inventory up so I can get it home I’ll hook you up with some ammo for nothing.” Bill offered.

Jason looked to Jeff, who nodded.  “Alright deal, but were gonna take the guns those 4 had who came after you.” Jason said.

“Ok, I don’t think I’m going to have a shortage on guns anyways.” Bill replied with a chuckle.

It took the 3 of them another 2 hours to load up all the ammo and guns even though they pulled the Anderson pick-up right up to the front door.  While moving the guns and equipment Jason came across a few items he decided to buy and as they finished loading he settled up with Bill.  For $3000 dollars Jason and Jeff left Bill with 1500 rounds of .45 ACP HP, 500 rounds of 12 ga buckshot, 500 12 ga slugs, 1000 rounds of 9mm +P and 500 rounds of match grade .308 Winchester.  The 4 guns they picked up all looked serviceable.  They got a Remington 870 12 ga, a Mossberg 500 12 ga, a Smith and Wesson M&P  9mm and a Remington 700 .308 rifle.  Jason also picked up 6 extra magazines for the M&P, a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 AR 15 and three Gen 2 night vision optics which could clip onto any picattiny rail or be used by hand and as many extra batteries for the NVG’s as bill had.  Jason knew Bill had given him one hell of a deal.  After installing the new battery in Jeff’s Jeep and they hauled their heavy load of gear back to the homestead to wait out the coming storm.

Chapter 11

Michael Werts stood looking in the mirror of the confined space.  Michael hadn’t gone by his given name in about 15 years and it was odd to ever hear it.  “Money Mike” or just “Money” was his name for nearly all of his adult life.  As he looked at himself in the small stainless steel mirror in his jail cell he smiled.  He was 35 years old and in prime physical shape, especially considering his off and on heroin problem and the fact that he had been shot 3 times and stabbed 14 times in 5 separate incidents.  He bore the scars as proudly if not more proudly then his multitude of gang tattoos.  He had never been a real bad kid in his younger days, just a stupid kid doing stupid things and got caught up in an armed robbery without even realizing it, until it was over.  That was his first adult arrest and the judge had hammered him to set an example.  He spent 12 years in prison on a 15 year sentence.  During that time he quickly learned it was kill or be killed in prison and allied himself with others for protection.   This is where he first learned the ins and outs of gang life.  He joined the Neta prison gang as they were the strongest and offered the most protection.  He had to work his way up from the bottom which involved a lot of violence and hard work.  Mike was a gifted athlete as a kid and took to the most common prison activity well, weight lifting.  With nothing much more to do in a day Mike easily spent 6+ hours a day lifting weights and was soon one of the largest men in the prison.  Before prison Mike was 6’3” and a solid 225lbs.  After his 2 year in prison he now weighed in at 260lbs of rock solid muscle.  He became an enforcer quickly and within his first year in prison he had killed his first man.  He had shanked the man in the shower room and never had gotten caught, he had never known why the hit was ordered and didn’t really care.  He didn’t enjoy killing, but it didn’t really bother him either, it was just part of prison life.  Through the years he had raised himself to the position of lieutenant and was in charge of the drug running operation within the prison walls.  It wasn’t hard to pay off a few guards and civilian workers in the prison to look the other way and soon he was bringing in record profits within the prison gang.  After 12 years of his 15 year sentence he was paroled back to the streets.  This is when his gang connections really paid off.  He worked a very lucrative drug running business that brought drugs from the inner city areas of Essex and Passaic counties up to the rural counties of Sussex, Morris and Warren counties of New Jersey and even up into PA and NY.  Heroin was a real problem in these counties and Money could double his money selling them in these rural areas.  2 years ago Money Mike had met a young man who was having a real rough patch and had turned to drugs.  Mike noticed the kid’s potential right away.  The kid was clean cut, from an upstanding family and most of all the kid was a genius.  Mike took him under his wing and got him off the drugs to start.  Next Mike set him up with a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat.  Mike had even given him his street name, at first it was meant to piss the kid off, but it didn’t and eventually it stuck.  Evan “Jew boy” Greenburg was the antithesis of Money Mike.  Standing 5’6” tall and weighing 145lbs Jew boy was not intimidating at all.  Jewboy had an IQ of 150 and had been able to raise Money mikes profits by 25% mainly but keeping the drugs from police seizures.  Jew boy worked out every day with Mike and he was actually fairly strong.  He had gained 20lbs of muscle over the last 2 years with Mike but he was still small.  But no one messed with Jewboy because they knew they would have to deal with Money Mike and no one wanted to be on his bad side.  3 months earlier while breaking down 2 kilos of heroin to be sold on the street Money Mikes “Safe house” was raided by the police and he and Jew boy along with 4 other guys were busted.  It was obvious that he had a rat in his group and had to figure out who it was.  While in jail Money Mike and Jewboy were classified to the same housing unit.  They were eventually housed together and were able to get a lot of work done out on the streets.  Jewboy and Money worked out the timeline and figured out who the rat was and he was soon eliminated.  Jewboy then started filing motions on their behalf trying to get evidence suppressed and the case thrown out.  Jewboy had actually gotten the 2 kilos of heroin thrown out as evidence on a technicality and they were waiting on the Judge to rule on the Prosecutions motion for a continuance when the power had gone out.  Two days without power now in November and the Jail was getting cold.

Chapter 12

Money and Jewboy had worked out a plan after they had figured that the power wasn’t going to come back on, now he was just waiting for the right time.  After watching the Officers habits working without the elevator system and having to use the emergency stairways he knew he had an opening.  He also noticed that the same officers had been on for over 24 hours.  All he had to do was wait for dinner, and the time was closing in.  He didn’t have all the answers he wanted but he had enough.  He knew the radios weren’t working but didn’t know about the phones so he couldn’t act too early.  He waited until the Officer entered the dayroom to let the Officer entering the stairwell with dinner in.  Jewboy was waiting, the clock didn’t work but he knew it was close.  As soon as the Officer entered the dayroom he started banging on the door yelling for help.  Normally the Officer would have waited for backup but he knew no one was coming.  Besides it was Greenburg and Werts and they were never trouble.  Money had learned long ago how to “Jail” as they put it.  Follow the obvious rules, be respectful and be friendly with the cops and they cut you a lot of slack.  Officer Ross had only been at the jail for 9 months and was just getting to really learn the ins and outs.  He approached the cell where Jewboy was yelling and looked in.  Money was on the floor and appeared to be seizing.  Jewboy waited till the Officer went for his keys and then acted.  He kicked the door open right into the Officers face, knocking him to the ground.  They had blocked the lock earlier in the day and the Officer hadn’t noticed.  In a flash Jewboy had his “shank” in his hand and was stabbing Officer Ross in the neck while covering his mouth.  Mike was up next and ran next to the stairwell with the keys.  A few of the other inmates saw what was going on and started yelling but Money silenced them with just a look.  Moments later a knock came from the stairwell and Mike slipped the key in, opening the door.  The second Officer didn’t know what hit him when Money’s hand smashed him in the face, knocking him unconscious instantly.  Mike grabbed the man and dragged him back onto the unit.  Mike had already decided who was going with him and who was playing what roll, and none of them would complain.  Mike wasn’t planning on escape though, that was too easy.  Mike was taking over.  Mike had one of the inmates who closely resembled the unconscious officer take the Officers uniform off and put it on himself.  Then he brought another Inmate down the stairs like the Inmate was having a medical emergency.  Both of these Inmates were from rival gangs and would be given the opportunity to change gangs if they survived this operation.  If they refused Money had clearly told them what the penalty would be.  They were both highly motivated.  The men walked down the stairs into the courtyard.  The Officer standing post at the bottom of the stairs was armed and tensed when he saw the Inmate walking down holding his stomach but once he saw the Officer he relaxed.

“He’s really sick” stated the imposter.

The armed Officer approached.  The Officer looked right but he still felt something was wrong.  Had he slept properly over the last 2 day he may have had a chance but by the time he realized something was wrong they were already on him, stabbing him with their homemade shanks.  He was quickly disarmed and the weapon was brought back to Money as were their instructions.  Money took the Glock 21 and the 2 extra magazines.  The gun felt good in his large hands.  Now was his time to act.  He brought six other men with him to the other floors and had quickly eliminated the other officers in the building.  The male Officers went quickly, but unfortunately the female Officers were not as lucky.  Money gave the 2 female officers in the building to the 6 men he had brought with him.  They were used to the thugs’ satisfaction before they both died.  The female inmates were not abused.  They all agreed to join the gang and after Money had taken his pick of girlfriends he gave the rest to his lieutenants.  If they served them well they would be allowed to enjoy the spoils of their conquest.  The gun safe in the central command center was left open so the men had access to 10 pistols and 2 shotguns along with a large quantity of ammunition.  Money was also told by one of the “trustee inmates” that there was an armory located in the administration area of the building.  Money sent Jewboy and 4 other guys down there to find out.  Money was working his way through the units deciding who would be allowed to join his group and who was to be eliminated.  All sex offenders and snitches were immediately executed.  Members of rival gangs were given a choice, change or die.  They all changed without exception.  He had a trusted group of 6 men who would be his lieutenants and Jewboy would be his #2.  Money worked his way down through the building and found his way into the medical area.  Here he found 2 men sitting against a wall, high as could be, with pills strewn all around them.  The two nurses on duty had both been raped and were dead in the corner.  Money grabbed both men by the throat and lifted them up off their feet.  He was going to kill them right then and there with his bare hands but thought differently.  He threw the men to the ground and had a few men drag them down into the courtyard.  Mike then ordered all the men to the courtyard, he sent the women to the kitchen to see what kind of food there was.  When all the men were present Money made his announcement.  There were 180 men in the courtyard.  Money told Jewboy what he wanted and Jew boy quickly sent one of the men to do it.

Chapter 13

“Men, I’m sure that most of you know me but those that do not can call me Money.  I am going to make each of you a proposal and you can take it or leave it.  Any of you here who wish to leave are free to do so at this time.  My proposal is to take back from society the freedom that they have taken from me.  As many of you may have figured out, there is no law, no cops, and no judges.  It’s everyone for themselves and I plan on being the biggest baddest motherfucker out there.  We will take from the weak what has been taken from us.  If you aren’t interested you can leave now, if you stay understand that I am in charge.  If you don’t like it then kill me and you can be in charge.  I will give you 5 minutes to decide.” He shouted.

He then went and quickly spoke to Jewboy.  He noticed 10 older men who looked like they wanted to leave but were afraid of reprisals.  The first man left without incident and the remaining 9 quickly followed.  They were all old men who were alcoholics and not much of a resource to him anyways.  170 men, the largest force within 50 miles.  Money Mike was going to own this county.  He smiled.  After the 5 minutes were up Money nodded and the two men who were found getting high were strapped to the chain link fence by wrists and ankles.

“Now I want everyone to understand what it means when I say I am in charge.  I will provide what you earn by my good graces.  If you do well you will be treated well.  If you take from me I will make you pay.”  Money pronounced.

Without a word the 2 men’s bellies were sliced open, their entrails hanging out.  Even through the drug induced haze the two men moaned in agony.

“These men took from me and they are now paying for their theft.” Mike continued.

“Now let’s get something to eat and rest up for tonight.  Tomorrow we begin our fun.” Mike headed for the kitchen with his men following.

The night was very good indeed.

Chapter 14

Jeff and Jason arrived home at 2pm.  The day was much longer then they had planned and they had tons of work still to do.  Jessica had met them at the door with a shotgun in hand and both Jessica and Allie were wearing their side arms.  Jason was pleased.  They unloaded both vehicles which took nearly 4 hours and it was nearly dark when they finished.  Jason had nearly forgotten about Mark with the events of the day and when he arrived in the driveway Jessica had forced him to prone out at gunpoint until Jason had intervened.  Mark was quickly introduced to the rest of the group.  Mark was shown to Jeff’s room that they would share, and then was quickly put to work moving gear.  Jessica went inside and cooked up several steaks for dinner which was ready just about the same time they were done unloading all the gear.  They sat down and all ate hungrily.  After dinner Jason and Jeff brought Mark to the basement bunker and was shown around.

“Have a seat” said Jason showing Mark to the couch.

Jeff went into the armory and pulled out some equipment while Jason spoke.

“Mark, I know all of this is a big shock to you, but I want you to understand a few things.  Jeff and I have been preparing for something like this to happen for several years and were quite prepared.  I’m a cop and Jeff is a paramedic and we’ve both done a lot of tactical training.  You are going to get a crash course in weapons training starting tomorrow morning.  Things are going to get dangerous very quickly here and we have to be willing to defend ourselves.  How much experience with guns do you have?” Jason asked.

“Well I’ve hunted deer and birds with a shotgun before but that’s about it.” Mark replied seeming somewhat overwhelmed.

Jeff brought out the weapons and gear and laid it on the table.  Jason picked up the weapons while he explained what each gun was.

“This here is a Remington 870 12 ga shotgun, are you familiar with it?” Mark nodded so Jason continued.

He picked up the next gun.  “This is a Smith and Wesson AR 15; it’s a 5.56 caliber semiautomatic rifle.  It’s almost the same as the military M4 rifle, its accurate out to over 600yds in the right hands.”  Jason picked up the pistol.

“This is a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm pistol.  The rest of us carry Glock’s but I didn’t have an extra so this will have to do.  Additionally I’m going to give you a tactical vest and extra magazines for the guns.  You picked up the camo clothing I told you to get?” Jason asked.

“Yeah I got 3 pairs just like you said.” Mark replied.

“Ok good.  All these are yours.  I’ll give you the shotgun for tonight until we can go over the others in the morning.“ Jason said walking over to a refrigerator.

He pulled out 3 beers and they each took one.

“Tonight you are going to learn how to field strip and clean all 3 of these guns until you can do it in your sleep.  Jeff and I have plans to make but we will be here if you have any questions.” Jason said directing Mark to a workbench with gun cleaning equipment.

“Any questions?” Jason asked.

“Um, I’m sure I have a million questions but I’m not sure what they are at this point” Mark said with a half-smile and headed to the workbench.

Jason and Jeff went over their plans for the next day.  They decided that the 2 of them would split watch duty for tonight until Mark was trained and come first light Jeff would take Mark out back to the range while Jason started setting the camera and motion sensors.  At lunch time Jeff and Mark would take a break and come help Jason.  They knew they needed to start looking at their fuel situation and Jason really needed to fix the charger for the solar system.  They decided that they would work on the solar system as soon as the motion sensors were up and then they would look at syphoning fuel from disabled vehicles the day after if things still seemed to be calm.  Jeff and Jason inventoried their surveillance equipment and then pulled out the communications gear.  Jason had 10 Kenwood vhf radios that would operate on 32 different channels.  Additionally he had 2 mobile radios and a base station radio that they would hook up at the house.  He also pulled out a police band scanner which they turned on and would monitor night and day for communication from the upstairs command post they would be setting up next.  The “Command Post” was actually just a loft area upstairs outside of the bedrooms that had access to the 2 balconies on either side of the house.  They setup the laptop, base station radio, scanner and the multiband radio on a table and brought up a computer office chair.  Watches would be conducted through the camera system and a system to wake up people was setup if the on duty person had a contact.  After a couple hours and a few questions Mark was able to takedown and field clean all the guns quickly and efficiently.  He then was given a magazine for the pistol and rifle and repeatedly changed the magazines; it would be his nightly ritual.

Chapter 15

The next morning the house was woken up at daylight, to the disdain of both Jessica and Allie.  Jason told them they would get used to it; their new schedule would be work from sunrise to sunset.  Jason got up and fed the chickens while the girls started breakfast and coffee.  After a quick breakfast everyone went to their assigned tasks.  Jason headed off with Allie to set the motion sensors and cameras.  Jeff and Mark headed to the range area for gun training.  Jessica stayed inside and setup the radio gear and would do equipment checks with Jason.  By noon all the trip and motion sensors were up and operating properly.  Everyone broke for a quick lunch of the last of the cold cuts in the fridge and then went straight back to work.  After 2 hours all 4 cameras were setup and were working properly.  Jeff and Mark went back to the range and Jason went to repair the solar charger.  Jessica and Allie got out the kerosene hurricane lamps and set them in all the main rooms of the house, they needed to conserve what battery power they could get for the security system.  Jason quickly found that a fuse and several microchips on the printed circuit board were bad and was able to replace them easily.   After hooking the system back up he tested it and everything worked properly.  Jason was thrilled, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to fix it.  With only 2 hours of light left Jason decided he would hook the generator up to the battery bank and recharge the batteries for the night.  While the generator was running Jason decided he would set up his long range antenna array that he had collapsed in pieces in the bunker.  They might need the space in there anyways.  It was a simple system of a multiband antenna which connects to several 8’ lengths of galvanized threaded pipe with 2 heavy duty clamps attached to the side of the house off the northern balcony.  With 6 sections of pipe the antenna rose 30’ over the peak of the house which should give him much better reception particularly with the shortwave radio.  Jason brought the line down and connected it into the command center where it was attached to the multiple radio systems.  Jason decided to try scanning the shortwave radio frequencies since they would travel the farthest.  He was immediately rewarded by a station, however it was in French, which Jason didn’t speak a word of.  He continued his search and found a fuzzy BBC rebroadcast of the news.  It was hard to here but Jason thought he heard the broadcaster say something about a terrorist attack and that Air Force One was down and the president was missing.  The static was so bad that it was barely audible and Jason figured he would retry tonight when the generator was off and the radio signal was stronger.  Jason got the girls and they all went down to the range to join Jeff and Mark.  They all brought their weapons down and Jason figured he would let everyone get some trigger time in, after today the only time guns would be fired would be in self-defense.  Mark turned out to be a pretty competent shooter with the pistol.  Shotgun and rifle fire were pretty teachable to anyone but pistol shooting was far more sensitive and Mark shot pretty well.  He would certainly be able to pass his bi-annual law enforcement range qualifications.  Now the real question was, how would everyone, including himself, handle themselves under fire?  He and Jeff had done ok in their first engagement but Jeff was clearly not 100% mentally afterwards and Jason had yet to actually shoot at a target.  He prayed all their training would work.  They all went back to the house for what Jason knew was going to be the last relaxing evening.  Come tomorrow they would begin treating the world as a dangerous place.

Chapter 16

Jason setup the BBQ and grilled up some vinegar BBQ chicken for everyone.  Although it was barely above freezing the comradry of working together along with a couple adult beverages made for an enjoyable meal.  After dinner Jason called for a meeting in the dining room.  He could tell the long hours of manual labor were tiring everyone out.

“Ok everyone, I know we’ve all been working pretty long hours and were all tired but there are a few things I would like to discuss.  #1- From this point forward I’d like everyone to be fully tactically prepared.  Your magazines will all be loaded; all guns will remain loaded with safety’s on.  Tactical vests will be loaded and ready to go.  Everyone carries their handgun at all times and if you’re going further then the Workshop you should have a long gun as well.  If you leave the property you will be full tactical, no exceptions.  That means Tactical Vests with trauma plates will be required.  Any questions?”  Jason asked.

Jeff thought it was funny that Jason’s “discussion” was really just orders but he trusted Jason’s instincts and it was his house plus Jeff totally agreed with him.  No one else had anything to say so Jason continued.

“Ok, the next thing we need to do is set a 24 hour watch.  I think 3 shifts of 8 hours will work best.  I’m thinking Jeff and Mark take watch together, Jessica and Allie and then I’ll take watch by myself.  Partnering up keeps each other awake plus Allie and Mark need to learn the system and procedures.  After the meeting we will all do a quick refresher on the system since we haven’t looked at it in a while.  Does anyone want to add anything?”  Jason asked.

“I don’t want to take watch.” Allie said.

“We all have to take watch Allie, nobody wants to, but we are all going to have a lot of jobs we don’t like.  That what things are going to be like for a while.” Jason said matter-of-factly.

“I hate this!” Allie screamed.  “I just want things to be like normal!” she added as she ran to her room slamming the door.

“Ok, I’m going to take the shift tonight starting at 10pm.  Jessica, would you prefer the 6a-2p shift of 2p to 10p, tomorrow?”  Jason asked.

“I think the 2- 10 is probably best, that will give me a chance to talk to Allie a bit, she still needs to adjust.” Jessica replied.

“We all still need to adjust” Jason added with a chuckle.

“Jeff does that work with you?” Jason asked.

“Yeah that’s fine but I’m concerned about a few other things.” Jeff said.

“What’s on your mind?” Jason asked.

“Two things mainly: First, we are going to need to get some hunting time in soon, deer won’t be moving like this for the rest of the winter and we need at least 4 deer to get through and since were going quiet that means getting the bows out.  With only 2 of us as hunters and everyone pulling security shifts it’s going to be very difficult.  Second, we need to get more gasoline.  Our contingency plan is to bug out to Wyoming but we don’t have any stored gas and you weren’t able to get that diesel truck before all this so were going to have to head out and start syphoning cars or we will have no backup plan if we get over run.” Jeff said, he had more on his mind but these 2 felt were most important.

“I can hunt.” Mark meekly piped in.

“I know you’ve hunted, but we can’t shotgun hunt, it will bring too much attention are way, we can only bow hunt.  Learning how to shoot a compound bow accurately is something that takes years of practice.” Jason added.

Mark jumped up and ran upstairs, almost mirroring allies trip, without the yelling.

“Well, he’s more sensitive than I expected” Jason said shocked.

A moment later mark came running down the stairs with an object in his hand.  “I’m pretty sure this will work” Mark said placing the compound crossbow on the table.  He had 4 bolts in its quiver all set up with rage mechanical broad heads.

“Ok so we have 3 hunters” Jeff added with a chuckle.

“So we do, after tomorrow if one of us (pointing to Jeff, Mark and himself) isn’t on watch in the early morning or just before dark we will be in a tree stand unless something more pressing is going on.” Jason added.

They nodded and Jason continued.  “As far as the gas goes, you are right and we are going to need around 100 gallons to get both our cars out of dodge.  That means filling two 55 gallon drums at least.  We will have to make some plans, but I need everyone competent on security so that a couple of us can skip to make a fuel run.  Plus remember that there are a lot of other chores that have to be done every day on top of watch duty.  I’m going to work on a shift schedule and chore schedule for everyone to work off of tonight.” Jason said.

“Sounds good to me” said Jeff.

“I have something” Jessica said.

“What’s that?” Jason asked.

“Well, I know we have a small stash of over the counter drugs, some pet store versions of drugs and a few items that Jeff and I have gotten from work, but we really don’t have a significant supply of any good antibiotics and we have almost no pain medication.  We are going to need those things if anyone gets seriously hurt or we find sick people who need our help.  I think going to the hospital would be crazy but maybe a local pharmacy might be worth raiding what we need.  I don’t like the idea of looting but it’s going to be taken by someone and it may as well be the good guys who will help other people with it.” Jessica said with finality.

Jason was quite surprised, he knew Jessica was as brilliant as she was beautiful but he had never seen her work through an issue so thoroughly with tactical thought.  He always thought that she tolerated his prepping but didn’t buy into it.  She clearly had been paying attention and he was proud of her.

“We will definitely put that on the to-do list.” Was all Jason could say, with a big smile on his face.

“Does anyone have anything else?”  Jason asked.

But no one did.  After a quick tutorial on the security system everyone, except Jason, headed for bed.  He was going to have a long night.

Chapter 17

The dark figure stood in the darkness watching the farm house.  He looked to his watch and checked the time, 215am, almost time he thought and then returned his gaze to the house.  There were 6 men in the house but only 1 appeared to be awake.  He sat on the front porch with what appeared to be a shotgun in one hand and in the other a bottle of whiskey.  He had watched the men since early in the afternoon and had followed them here.  The bodies of 2 older people, one man and one woman, so the men clearly didn’t own the farm.  But he wasn’t interested in the farm, he needed supplies.  The man was highly trained but ill prepared for the disaster, but he knew how to fix that and deal with another problem.  The man had literally been caught with his pants down, he was in a rest stop bathroom when the pulse hit.  There were a few others at the rest stop who were panicked and confused but not this man.  He calmly walked to his car and pulled a backpack out of the back, looked thru the car for any other useful items and then broke into a vending machine to load up on food and water and headed out on foot.  That had been 3 days ago and now he was out of food and didn’t have a good way of providing more.  He knew he could snare but didn’t want to stay any place too long, he had to move north.  That when he had found his supply source.  He stayed within sight of the highway but far enough away not to be noticed.  That’s when he saw the group of men.  They were in the midst of ambushing a young family when he had come across them.  As he observed the men he saw them take the property from the family and then shoot the submissive husband in the head with a pistol.  The 2 young children were boys and were mercifully shot when they wouldn’t stop crying after their father’s death.  For the young wife, mercy did not visit her quickly.  The 6 men took turns violently raping her multiple times each in the back of an abandoned minivan nearby.  She had been gaged so her screams would not disturb any further prospects, which thankfully there were none.  Once the men had their fill the young woman was violently sodomized and raped with inanimate objects while then men laughed and joked. The man watched, detached, while the woman bled to death after being sodomized with a tire iron, he could see the blood through his binoculars 300 yds away.  None of this was new to him for he had seen what animals many men really were.  He had no way to stop the men as he was only armed a Kabar knife.  So he waited and watched and then followed when the men had decided it was time to go.  The men were easy to follow and clearly were only thugs with no training at all, they were easy targets.  The man watched from the shadows and then the darkness while the 6 men drank and joked their way through the night until only 1 man was left.  It was clear the man was to be on watch but he spent more time sleeping then watching.  The man waited until 3am and then quietly proceeded to the house.  The hours of 3 and 4 am were commonly known as “the witching hours”, where the human body just wanted to shut down and it was the best time to act. The man quietly crept behind the now sleeping guard and grabbed his head with his right arm and his upper body with his left and with a powerful, well-practiced, swift movement instantly snapped the man’s neck.  He quietly laid the man down and searched his body.  The man carried an old double barrel shogun with 4 extra rounds and a small .22 revolver with 9rounds.  He pocketed the .22 and cleared the shotgun, leaving it with the dead man for later.  One down 6 to go the man thought as he quietly opened the front door with knife in hand.  He entered the old house and the smell of rotting food, cigarette smoke and human body odor attacked his senses, he didn’t react. He crept into the living room and saw 2 men sleeping on the couches.  The first man made it easy, lying face down clearly passed out on the couch.  The man walked up and in one swift motion he pressed the man’s head down into the pillow while with his other hand he shoved the blade of his combat knife into the base of the man’s head firmly and then twisting the blade.  The thug’s body when taught and then relaxed permanently as his plug was pulled.  Pulling out the knife he walked over to the next man who was lying on his back.  The man placed his hand over the man’s mouth firmly and then quickly sliced the man’s throat to the bone.  The man’s eyes opened in terror and he attempted to scream but only a gurgle came out of the open throat.  The man stared into the dying man’s eyes as the life drained out of him.  It took about 2 minutes and then the man went back to searching the house.  The ground floor was clear so he started up the old farm house stairs to the second floor.  He kept his feet to the inside wall by the stairs to keep the stairs from creaking and worked his way up slowly.  He saw 4 doors at the top of the stairs and knew there would be 3 bedrooms and then a bathroom.  He opened the first 2 doors and found 2 sleeping men who were quickly and quietly eliminated in the same way as the men down stairs and then quietly entered the 3 bedroom.   He knew the man in the room was the ring leader of the group and was about to bring some justice to the young family he saw tortured yesterday on the road.  He quietly crept up to the bed where the man was sleeping but was stopped in his tracks.  On the floor in the corner of the room a pair of terrified eyes met his and attempted to scream, but the body was gaged and bound and only a small amount of noise came out. The man on the bed started to stir and the dark clad man knew he had to move.  The thug turned towards the young bound woman and started yelling.

“Shut the fuck up you little bit…” the man’s shout was cut short by 2 things.

First the sight of the dark clad man moving quickly towards him and then the pommel of the knife striking the man in the temple knocking him unconscious.  The girl was still screaming and the man had to think of what to do, he hadn’t planned for this.  He went to the girl, who was covered in dried blood and been beaten and abused and tried to calm her down.

“Shhh… I’m not here to hurt you and no one else is going to hurt you” he said.

The girl continued to shriek under her gag and try to pull away from him.  He noticed she was naked for the first time and pulled a blanket off the bed to cover her.

“I’m going to help you but I need you to be quiet and I can take that gag off your mouth and untie you.” He said.

The girl stopped her screams but continued to cry and still had that fear in her eyes.  He knew that there was no one around to hear her so he undid the gag and then began to untie her.  As soon as she was free she pulled herself away from the man and into the corner of the room.

“My name is Sean, what’s your name?” the man said.

The girl was still fearful but quietly stated her name was Cassidy.

“Is this your house Cassidy?” Sean asked with as much friendliness as he could muster.  Dealing with women was clearly a major weakness of his and he knew it.

“My grandparents’ house, they raised me after my mom died.” She said timidly.

“Ok, I want you to wait here for a few minutes while I deal with this evil monster and then you can get cleaned up.” Sean said.

The girl only nodded still sitting in the corner hugging her knees.  Sean pulled the man from the bed and pulled him over his shoulder.  The man was large, much larger then Sean, but Sean handled him with relative ease.  Sean carried the unconscious man to the living room and firmly tied him and gagged him in a dining room chair.  He then went back upstairs and pulled the man out of the bedroom that he thought was Cassidy’s and brought his lifeless body to the living room.  Sean then went up to what had been Cassidy’s grandparents’ room and spoke to Cassidy.

“If you want to go to your room or the bathroom and clean up you can.  I’ll be downstairs for a while, get some sleep if you can.  I won’t come up here just please don’t leave until we can talk.” Sean said.

“I’m cold.” Cassidy said meekly.

Sean hadn’t noticed but the house was cold, it had plunged below freezing overnight and the men had clearly gotten too drunk to remember to stoke the wood stove.

“I’ll get a fire going” Sean said and headed downstairs leaving a candle in the room for some light for Cassidy.

Sean went downstairs and got the fire going in the living room and decided that leaving the bodies in the living room probably wasn’t the best arrangement.  Sean dragged the man bound to the chair into a small den on the first floor after thoroughly searching the room for weapons.  He then carried the 5 bodies outside and laid them in the yard after searching the bodies.  Sean heard the shower running upstairs for what had to be 45 minutes and he was tempted to go upstairs and make sure everything was ok, but he then heard the water turn off and the quiet sobs of Cassidy coming from upstairs as she walked into the bedroom.  The house was still pretty cold but the living room was starting to warm up.  Sean started collecting the men’s weapons, ammunition and food supplies and organizing them into piles.  Sean heard the creaking of the stairs and turned to see Cassidy coming downstairs with the candle.  She was dressed in warm clothes and carried a blanket and pillow.

“Are you ok?” Sean asked.

“Yeah, it’s cold upstairs, I’m going to sit by the fire.” Cassidy replied.

“Ok, sleep if you can. No one is going to hurt you.”  Sean said.

“Ever?” Cassidy replied.

“Not while I’m here.” Sean replied no knowing what else to say.  Cassidy walked into the living room and Sean went back to work not knowing what else to do.  Cassidy fell asleep quickly on the floor in front of the fire and other then the occasional whimpers and quiet yelling from apparent nightmares she slept like she hadn’t in days.  Sean went to the kitchen and found a couple glasses which he used to set up noisemakers on the back and front door and slept at the kitchen table for a few hours.  He woke up 4 hours later to a strange sound that he couldn’t place.  He tried to clear his head to identify the source of the noise and then realized what it was.  He walked over to a door and opened it. There he saw the large man tied and gagged in the chair rocking the chair trying to walk it over to the desk. Sean walked to the man and punched him straight in the nose, clearly breaking it with blood flowing freely.  The man tried to scream but only a muffled yell came out.  Sean dragged the chair back to the middle of the room and looked at the man.  The man had rage in his face and it was almost enough to make Sean smile for the first time in years.  Sean grabbed the man by the throat and started to powerfully squeeze, the rage quickly became fear.  Sean then pushed the man in the chair over onto his back and left him floundering.  He then closed the door and went to check on Cassidy who was still sleeping soundly in front of the fire.  Looking at her in the daylight was the first time he had gotten a look at her and he was shocked.  She was a teenager, maybe 17, with mid length red hair, pale skin and freckles, she wasn’t classically pretty but clearly striking and Sean thought she was beautiful.  Sean quietly snuck by her and stoked the fire shaking any thought of Cassidy from his head for a moment.  Women had always been trouble for him and he hadn’t dated anyone since he and his ex-wife had divorced 4 years and a lifetime before, a part of his life that he tried not to revisit.  Sean looked thru the kitchen and found a can of coffee and a percolator. He filled the perk with water and then added a hefty portion of coffee and placed it on the wood stove.  He then went back to look at the gear he had collected last night.  He had a Marlin bolt action .22 rifle an old Remington 30.06 scoped hunting rifle, a pump action 20 ga shotgun, the double barrel 12ga shotgun the .22pistol and a Springfield 1911 pistol.  There was most of a brick of .22lr bullets, a full clip in the 1911. A box of #4 12 gauge shells, 10 rounds of 7 1/2 20 ga, 15 rounds off BB shells for the 20 ga and finally 18 rounds for the 30.06.  Sean wasn’t armed to go to war, but he was much better off than he had been.  There was also a good deal of canned food, dried pasta, rice and several bottle of alcohol.  The men had clearly attacked many other families over the past few days.  Sean looked through the refrigerator and found that nearly everything had already been eaten or had already gone bad. He checked the freezer and found a thawed package of bacon along with some meat and once frozen vegetables.  He was hungry and decided he would cook up some breakfast.  He knew from experience in combat to load up of calories when you can because you never know when your next meal will be.  Sean checked the stove and was happy to see that it was propane and lit quickly.  He pulled out a large frying pan and a sauce pan and started cooking the bacon and a steak in the frying pan and a healthy portion of vegetables in the sauce pan.  The smell of the bacon and steak was very pleasant. Sean had eaten junk food for the past 4 days and hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours.  The aroma brought his hunger forward with a vengeance.  He grabbed the coffee from the wood stove and noticed that Cassidy was waking up.

“Are you hungry?” Sean asked.  Cassidy nodded her head meekly.

“I hope you don’t mind but I cooked up some food and coffee, come eat.” He said and she got up.

Sean started her on some vegetables and bacon as the steak wasn’t totally cooked yet.  She dug in with ferocity surprising Sean.

She noticed him staring and said “I haven’t eaten in 2 days” He poured her some coffee.

“Eat as much as you like, I’ll keep cooking” he said and turned back to the stove.

By the time she was done she had eaten a full bag of vegetables, half the bacon and a full steak.  Sean cooked himself a steak and another bag of vegetables and he sat down to eat.  The both ate with quiet ferocity until both were full. Cassidy poured herself another cup of coffee and sat in front of the woodstove staring at the flames through the front glass.  Sean was lost as to what to do or say.  He was afraid to scare her.  He brought his own cup of coffee to the living room and quietly spoke to her.

“Are you ok?” he asked.  The tears started again and she slightly nodded her head while continuing to stare.

“I’m sorry that this happened to you, but they won’t ever hurt you again.” He said.

She again nodded her head and continued to stare.  Sean didn’t know what to say so he just stood there for a moment.

“How did you find me?” she asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sean gave a quick summary of the day before leaving out the rape and the details of the murders.  He also explained his intentions of why he came into the house and that he had no idea she had been here.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“New Jersey to start, but probably will head up into NY state.  I have property up there, way out in the middle of nowhere.” He said.

“New Jersey?  That’s like 600 miles away!” she replied.

“Yeah, probably more than that cause I’ll need to avoid major cities” Sean said.

“And you’re going to walk?  That’s going to take forever.” She replied.

“Not forever, probably about 6 weeks give or take.” Sean replied.

“You’re crazy.” was all Cassidy could say and went back to looking at the fire.

Chapter 18

Sean brought in more firewood from outside and then went back to sorting and organizing his gear.  He knew he still had at least one problem left to deal with, but his original plan of inflicting as much pain on the animal in the den as possible was up in the air.  Sean figured he would have to see what Cassidy would want and he also had to figure out what to do with her.  He would already have been on the road if Cassidy wasn’t in the picture but he couldn’t just leave her, abandon her, he had to make sure she would be ok.  After about ½ an hour of tinkering around Sean decided it was time to get some answers out of Cassidy.  He again found her in the living room, staring at the fire.

“Cassidy can I ask you a few questions?” Sean asked.  She looked up and blinked a few times bringing herself back to reality.

“Yeah?” she replied nervously.

“Do you have any family around?  Friends you can stay with?” Sean asked.

She just shook her head and started crying.

“No one?  You can’t stay here by yourself.” He said.

“ I only lived here a few years, my parents were killed in a car accident, and then I went away to college last year.  I was only home because Gramma was in the hospital with cancer and I was helping take care of her.” She replied.

“Where were you in school?” Sean asked.

“Florida State, horticulture major” she replied.

“Horticulture?” Sean asked puzzled.

“Pretty much its learning the science of farming, what the plants need, the soil etc..” she replied.

“Oh thats useful living on a farm.” Sean replied.

“Yeah, I planned to take over the farm after school, it’s been in my family for 4 generations.” she replied.

“If you weren’t so close to DC here I would say you would be in good shape but very soon refugees from the city are going to be flooding this area, it’s just not safe.” Sean said.

“How do you know all this?  What do you do?” Cassidy asked.

“Well up until 2 weeks ago I was a sergeant in the Marine Corps but now I don’t really do anything.” Sean replied.

“Did you see combat?” Cassidy asked.

“I did 3 tours in Afghanistan so yes I saw combat” Sean answered but it was clear he didn’t want to elaborate.

“Where were you heading?” Cassidy asked.

“I was heading up to NJ to get some of my stuff and then head up into NY State.  When my dad died he left me 200 acres of hunting land up there. It has a lot of game, a good water source and room to plant a garden.  I was planning on living off the grid.” Sean said.

“Off the grid?” Cassidy asked.

“No telephone, no electricity, no internet… Just me living off the land.” Sean said.

“Were you going to live in a grass hut or something?”  Cassidy asked.

Sean actually laughed for the first time in his memory.  “No, there is a good size camper on the property, two bedrooms a bathroom and shower, all the comforts of home.” Sean answered.

“That doesn’t sound too bad, kind of sounds like you have planned for something like this.” Cassidy observed.

“Actually I have. Before I enlisted a couple of friends and I were serious preppers.  We didn’t plan on an EMP but we thought the economy would collapse so we stored food guns and ammunition preparing to survive, but this is far worse, I never expected to be without my truck, I could be back to safety in NJ in 10 hours with a car now it’s a 6 week walk.” Sean said.

“I heard one of the men who attacked me say that some older cars still run, is that true?”  Cassidy asked.

“Yeah it’s true.  The older vehicles don’t have computers and sensitive electronics that the EMP would short out” Sean replied.

“Gramps has an old Dodge pickup back in the barn, he only used it on the farm so it’s beat up but it’s pretty old” Cassidy said.

“Even if it runs I can’t take it from you, it’s probably one of the most valuable things in the country right now.”  Sean said.

“I’m coming with you.” Cassidy said confidently.

“Cassidy, you don’t even know me, I’m not the person you think I am. I don’t think you will want to go anywhere with me if you knew who I really am.” Sean told her.

“I see you as a man who protects the innocent, you’ve treated me very well and you don’t even know me.  I don’t care what you have done; I know I’ll be safer with you then with anyone else.” Cassidy replied.

“Cassidy, I’m a killer.  I’ve killed so many people that I lost track of how many.  And the worst part is it doesn’t bother me.  There is something wrong with me, Cassidy.  Something very wrong.” Sean said dejected with himself.

“You were a soldier in a war, a war we didn’t start, you did your duty, how is that so wrong?” Cassidy replied.  Sean was getting frustrated.

“Cassidy, I nearly beat a man to death with my bare hands, that’s why I had to join the military. I was almost charged with attempted murder but a friend stepped in and spared me and got me into the Marines.  I don’t think anyone is safe around me.” Sean nearly screamed.

“You can say what you want, but I’m coming with you. I know I’m safe with you and you would never hurt me like those animals did. I know that you will protect me.  I don’t care about your past, I see who you are now and I know you’re not dangerous to me.” Cassidy replied defiantly.

Sean stood there for a minute not knowing what else to do or say.

“Well I guess we have worked to do.” He finally replied.

“Ok, where do we start?’ Cassidy asked.

“Well, the first thing we need to do is figure out what to do with him” Sean said opening the door to the den revealing the tied up animal.

Cassidy almost screamed when she saw the monster that had killed her family and tortured her for days.  But she kept it together.

“What are you going to do with him?” Cassidy asked.

“Well, that’s your decision” Sean replied.

“You mean should we call the police?”  she asked

“There are no police, you know what he has done, you know he is guilty, what should his punishment be?”  Sean told her.

“You mean should we kill him?” Cassidy asked.

“I mean how painfully should we kill him. Clean and quick or painful and slow.”  Sean said coldly.

Cassidy thought for a minute, the thoughts of painful revenge filling her mind.

“Just do it quick” she said. “As a Christian I believe in forgiveness and turning the other cheek, but I also believe in justice and I can’t set him loose to hurt someone else.  If he deserves torture God will make that decision, not me.”

Sean just nodded and pulled the man back up to a seated position.  Sean pulled out his kabar knife and turned to Cassidy.

“You can go upstairs, you don’t have to watch this” Sean stated.

“I think I do, he haunts my dreams and maybe seeing his death will fix my head.”  She said without too much confidence.

Sean didn’t reply, he stepped behind the man and firmly grabbed the head with his left arm.  The man attempted to fight, to scream, to do anything to stop his imminent death, but nothing would stop it.  Sean’s blade entered the base of the man’s skull and he “pulled the plug” as it was known.  It was an instant death.  Cassidy stood there staring in disbelief for a moment.

“Cassidy?” Sean said calmly.

“Yeah.” she finally replied turning towards him.

“He did this to himself, now go upstairs and pack some clothes; we need to leave by tonight, Ill clean up this mess.” Sean said to her calmly.

“Ok” was Cassidy’s reply and she turned and walked upstairs.

Sean carried the dead man out with the others and then headed out to the barn.  Sure enough there was a 1986 Dodge Ram pickup truck there.  Sean climbed in and found the keys in the ignition.  He tried turning the truck over but it didn’t respond.  He popped the hood and checked the battery connections, which were all ok.  Next he checked the fuse box.  He found several blown fuses and many were important.  He switched out unnecessary fuses with more essential ones but he was unable to find a fuse to switch out the bad fuse to the alternator which was essential.  He searched through the barn but couldn’t find anything.  He went back to the house to find Cassidy.  He found her in her room quietly packing clothes into a large duffel bag.

“Is there a workshop or anything around, I need some parts to get the truck started.” Sean said.

“In the basement, Gramps was always down there tinkering with stuff.” Cassidy replied as tears came to her eyes.

Sean didn’t know what to say so he went to the basement.  He pulled out his small flashlight hoping to find a door to let in some daylight. Moments later he found the double metal doors to the outside and opened them up.  The basement was a do-it-yourselfers dream.  He found a full set of wrenches, ratchets, and screwdrivers perfectly aligned in drawers in the big rolling toolbox.  He found all sorts of valuable hand tools all perfectly placed on hooks on a far wall.  There were several boxes of repair items all labeled with its contents.  Sean found a box labeled “Dodge” and pulled it out. He carried outside to get a better look.  He found several replacement parts, even some extra fuses for the truck, but none that could replace the 100 amp blown fuse.  He was growing frustrated but had an idea.  He found a box of home electrical supplies and pulled out a short piece of 12ga wire.  He went to the tool bench and found some wire cutters.  He stripped about 1 1/2inches of wire from the end and then cut the short piece of wire off.  He carefully bent the wire, using another fuse as a template, and made himself a jumper.  If the alternator failed and overcharged the system they would be in trouble but this would allow the trucks alternator to provide them power.  He walked back to the barn and installed the makeshift fuse into the box and then went to try the ignition.  He crossed his fingers and then cranked the engine.  It turned over and over and over but didn’t catch.  He gave the engine a minute and then cranked again pumping the gas.  Just as he was ready to give up the engine finally caught, idling roughly.  He gave the engine gas and the idle leveled out.  He looked at the gas tank gauge; it was exactly at ¼ of a tank.  He knew that would not get them very far. He knew there was an infinite supply of fuel on the road, if it was safe enough to stop and get it.  Sean drove the truck to the back side of the house, being sure to keep it out of sight of the road.  Sean checked his watch and realized it was after 2pm already.  He went inside to check on Cassidy.  He was surprised to find Cassidy gathering up food into plastic bins in the kitchen.

“How much food do we have?” Sean asked her as he walked in.

“3 or 4 days’ worth if were careful.” Cassidy replied.

“Ok, good.  The other thing we can use is any Jewelry, alcohol and guns and ammunition. Those are excellent barter items.  And any medical supplies, hygiene products and cooking implements are worth their weight in gold.” Sean said.

“Ok, I’ll gather up everything I can find.” Cassidy replied.

Sean started loading up the food into the back of the truck and then loaded a number of tools that they may need for their trip and their off the grid home.  He loaded up wrench’s, a good socket set, pliers, vice grips, wire cutters, several different hammers, an axe, a hatchet, several shovels, hoes, a pick axe, pitch forks and several different hand saws.  When he grabbed the metal hacksaw he had an idea.  He ran upstairs and grabbed the 2 shotguns and returned to the basement.  Both guns were long barreled hunting guns and not designed for personal defense.  Using a large vise he first cut the 20 ga shotgun down so the end of the barrel was flush with the end of the magazine chamber.  He de-burred the end of the barrel and then moved on to the double barrel 12ga shotgun.  He decided that he was going to make the shogun as compact as possible.  First he cut the barrels down to only 12” long. Then he cut off the butt stock with a hand cross-cut saw to approximately a pistol grip.  Then using some hand files he smoothed out the handle.  He grabbed the gun and felt that in a close quarter situation it would be ideal.  He loaded a number of hand tools, boxes filled with random boxes of nails, screws and misc. brackets and hinges.  He also grabbed the boxes of automotive parts, household electrical parts and plumbing parts and loaded them in the back of the truck.  Going back upstairs he checked on Cassidy, who had a good size box of hygiene products and a much smaller collection of jewelry.  It was almost 5pm and he wanted to be on the road by dark, hopefully making the 10+ hour drive in the darkness.  He knew a major hurdle was going to be fuel.  The movie style syphoning of sticking a hose down the filler neck wasn’t feasible in today’s modern cars; they all had devices installed to block a hose from getting into the tank.  So the easiest way to get the fuel would be to spike the tank and then catch the fuel.  The problem he had was he only had a small 3 gallon bucket and a 2 gallon gas can to collect the fuel and neither would fit underneath a small car.  Sean had an idea but wasn’t sure it would work.  In the basement he found a short piece of thin walled stainless steel tubing and a piece of garden house.  Test fitting the garden house he found that it snugly fit over the diameter of the steel pipe. Using the vise and the hacksaw again he cut a steep taper to the end of the steel pipe.  He de-burred the end and made sure it was sharp.  Then, using a hose clamp, attached 1 6’ piece of hose to the end of the 18” sharpened pipe.  He wanted to test his device and looked around the shop.  He saw a few metal cans of lacquer thinner on the metal shelves. He moved the cans down to a shelf about 8 inches off the ground.  He stuck one end of the hose into the bucket and then drove the spike into the can.  He watched the hose and waited but only a trickle of the fluid was coming out.  He raised the can up and it didn’t really improve the flow.  He sat there confused for a moment but then noticed the sides of the can were pulled inward. He put the can back on the lower shelf and unscrewed the top of the can and the fluid flowed freely. He smiled, the test was good and so long as he had the can, bucket and a funnel he would be able to fuel up the car.  Now he needed to roughly calculate how much fuel he would need to make the 800 mile trip. He hoped the truck got better gas then he thought. At 12 mpg it would take over 60 gallons of fuel to just get to his storage unit in NJ.  And depending on the fuel tank in the Dodge he might have as little as 5 gallons to start. He looked in the glove box and found the original owner’s manual for the truck in great shape for its age.  After looking he shook his head:  The good news was the truck had the optional 30 gallon tank so he had around 8 gallons in the already.  But the estimated fuel mileage for the truck was 15 mpg.  That meant just over 50 gallons to make it to NJ giving himself 200 miles of leeway to move around major highways and cities.  Sean walked inside and placed his Virginia state map and his US street atlas on the kitchen table and started plotting his route.  Cassidy was back in the living room and quiet.  Sean had no idea what to say to her.  He knew psychologically she was a mess but he had been able to compartmentalize the horrors he had seen in his life but that wasn’t a common trait.  Most people lived in a bubble from the horrors of the world at large and the news stories and movie violence could never prepare the average person for the real thing. Sean focused on plotting his route and alternate routes to get north.  The wave of refugees would start soon, and he needed to get himself and Cassidy to safety.

“How long is this going to last?” Cassidy asked him bringing him a cup of coffee and sitting down.

“How long is what going to last?” Sean asked looking up from his maps.

“People going crazy, the lights off, no food.  How long will this disaster last?” she asked.

“Well that depends on a number of things.  It depends on who attacked us, if they are going to continue to attack, if we are going to respond and with what weapons.  Best case is years.  With the US economy collapsed the world economy is in for a rough ride.  The world will enter a depression and people will take advantage.  Wars will be fought, vendettas will be answered, and there’s no one playing police man anymore.  The gloves will be off all over the world and just like here the strong will take from the weak and when or if we emerge from the darkness the world will be a different place.” Sean replied flatly.

Cassidy just nodded and looked at the table.  “How do you deal with all the stuff you have seen?” she finally asked.

“I don’t really know, I just am able to compartmentalize it and put it away.  I don’t like hurting people and I don’t like seeing evil but I just come to expect it.  When you set your bar of expectations from human beings low enough it’s hard for them to shock you. “Sean answered and again Cassidy nodded.

“I guess we are going to leave soon?”  Cassidy asked.

“After we eat but I need to ask you some questions” Sean stated.

“Ok” Cassidy replied hesitantly.

“Do you know how to shoot?” Sean asked.

“Umm…well I have shot but I didn’t really like it and I don’t think I was very good.” Cassidy replied.

“Well were going to have to stop to get gas a few times on the trip and I’m going to need you to have my back.” Sean walked them out to the truck and pulled out the guns he had.

After explaining what all the guns were and explaining their operation he handed Cassidy the 20 ga shotgun. “This is going to be your primary weapon.  It’s a shotgun so all you have to do is point it at the bad guy and pull the trigger and then pump the handle to load another round.” Sean explained and asked if she had any questions which she didn’t.

“This here is a .22 pistol.  I want you to keep this in your pocket. It’s your back up gun in case you run out of bullets in the shotgun or you lose the shotgun for some reason.  All you do is point and shoot using the sights on top of the gun.” Sean said.

“You see that stump over there?  I want you to shoot it.” Sean said pointing to the stump 15 feet away.

Cassidy raised the gun and pulled the trigger hitting the ground in front and right of the target.  Sean corrected her stance, hand grip and sight picture.  “Now you slowly add pressure to the trigger, don’t squeeze hard, let the bang of the gun startle you a little.” Sean explained.

After a few more rounds Cassidy was hitting the stump consistently.  Sean then showed her how to reload the gun.  Having the ability to defend herself seemed to raise her confidence dramatically and it was visible in her demeanor throughout the evening.  Sean heated up a couple cans of stew on the stove and they sat and ate.

Chapter 19

“Sean, can I ask you something?” Cassidy asked.

“Of course” Sean replied not knowing what to expect.

“What are we going to do with my grandparents?” she asked.  Sean hadn’t even considered them and was now scrambling.

“Um.. I don’t know, what do you want to do?” Sean asked.

“Shouldn’t we bury them, it seems wrong to just leave them outside.” Cassidy said.

“The ground is frozen, I don’t think I could dig a hole deep enough to bury them Cassidy” Sean replied with a touch of sadness.

“I understand, can we cremate them then?  I just can’t leave them to the animals.” She replied with a tear in her eye.

Sean thought about it for a few minutes “I think I can arrange that.  Give me half an hour to get setup and then we can do it, but we will have to leave immediately after. “Sean replied and Cassidy looked him in the eye and almost smiled.

Sean went outside and started building the funeral pyre out of the firewood sitting outside the house.  He built two separate stacks next to each other and then went to the basement.  There was a stack of old newspaper which he used to fill the inside of the pyre. Next he grabbed the cans of lacquer thinner and a couple old painting drop cloths and brought them up. He carefully wrapped the 2 bodies in the drop cloths and placed them atop the pyre.  He then walked inside and found Cassidy and asked if she was ready.  She nodded to Sean. He asked her to give her a few minutes and then come outside.  He ran out and poured the flammable thinner over the 2 bodies, the wood and the newspaper.  Cassidy came out a moment later with a book in her hand.  It was an old family Bible that had clearly been around for many, many years.  Cassidy asked Sean to say some words because she couldn’t do it and Sean agreed.

“Mr. and Mrs. Condit, I didn’t know you but I know your granddaughter here a little and believe you truly must have been amazing people.  You raised her after one tragedy and gave her the fortitude to survive another.  For this I wish I could have met you in a better time and better place.” Sean said not knowing what else to say.  Cassidy opened the bible and began to read a verse that seemed remarkably appropriate for their times.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Sean was not a religious man at all.  His parents were never religious and even though a few guys in the military were Christian he never had any interest. He saw how religion had twisted the minds of his enemy and had no interest in it but the verse sparked his curiosity.  Sean looked at Cassidy, who nodded, and Sean lit the pyre with a lighter. The fire spread quickly and within moments both bodies were fully consumed in fire.  Sean left Cassidy for a moment and double checked the house for anything they may have forgotten and then went to get her.  They had to go.  He found Cassidy staring into the flames and he paused.  He didn’t want to disturb her so he gave her another minute but his brain was screaming that it was time to go.  He approached her and saw the tears flowing down her face.

“It’s time” was all he could say and she nodded.

He touched her arm to get her walking and she embarrassed him. Hugging him tightly she let go, crying from deep in her soul letting it all out. He just held her for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes until the tears stopped.  Then he continued to walk, holding her with one arm carefully escorting her to the passenger door of the truck and helping her in.  She sat grasping the worn Bible in her arms as Sean got into the driver’s seat and started the truck.

“Ready?” he asked and she only nodded.

He put the car in drive and started heading down the driveway.

“Stop!” Cassidy screamed and Sean slid the truck to a stop looking for a threat.

“What’s wrong he asked?” but Cassidy was out the door and running into the house.

Sean yelled to stop her, but she was off.  Sean put the truck in reverse and pulled back up to the house and then ran inside trying to find her.  He entered the house and heard something being drug across the floor.  He followed the noise to the den and found Cassidy leaning over the floor. He saw the desk moved away from the wall.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

Cassidy was pulling up something out of the floor.  “I just remembered that Gramps kept this box in here.” She said pulling out an old metal box roughly the size of an old school lunchbox.

She lifted up to the desk and was surprised by it weight.  “I saw Gramps putting his grandfather’s old pocket watch away in it after telling us a story about him as kids years ago.  We were never allowed to go in his den.” She said opening the box.

Sean turned on his flashlight and peered into the box.  He was quite surprised. Inside was the old pocket watch, an old Colt 1911 pistol, several military medals and a number of old coins.

“Bring the box, we need to leave” Sean said.

Cassidy put the lid back on the box and together they to the truck and began their long journey.

Chapter 20

Jason yawned as he looked at the clock on the computer.  315am. He had been up for nearly 24 hours and he was almost 3 hours away from sleep.  He poured himself another cup of coffee from the thermos and ate another chocolate chip cookie from the package.  He had been thinking about how short on manpower they really were.  With drinking so much coffee had had to use the bathroom nearly every 30 minutes but he couldn’t leave the observation post so he had ended up peeing off the balcony while having a cigarette.  The smoking was going to be an issue too.  He had 2 cartons of smokes left and he was practically chain smoking to stay awake.

“The withdrawal was gonna really suck” he thought, but at least quitting this time would be permanent.  He’d tried to quit more times than he could count but could never stay away.  He ran 3-4 days a week so he didn’t get winded too easily but he knew he had to quit and now he was being forced.  Boredom had set in hours ago and he knew next watch he was going to have to bring a book.  The other crews would be better off having 2 people.  They could take breaks and relieve each other.  He was currently calculating how much gas they would need to bug out to Wyoming.  Almost 2000 miles and each vehicle getting about 15 mpg would mean nearly 300 gallons of gas and 36 hours of straight driving.  His parents ranch was just south of Buffalo Wyoming near Big horn national forest.  300 gallons of fuel was going to be a problem.  He had 3 empty 55 gallon drums but that was half the fuel they would need and he would have to find a way to fill them.  So far though, thankfully, things had been going better than he expected.  They hadn’t had any real problems up here at the farm and he had only heard a few gunshots and those were probably from people hunting illegally.  Maybe they would be able to get through the bad times here at the farm, he just had to get through the winter and they would most likely be fine.  Most of the city refugees would have either found a place to settle of would have died off through the winter.  Besides, they would never be able to load all of the food and other items they had stored for the trip, there was just too much and he didn’t want to leave anything.  What he needed was about 4 more people to help with security and they would be in much better shape.  Maybe he would walk down to the Henderson’s place down the street and talk to Bill.  Bill was a retired NJ state trooper who enjoyed hunting and fishing just like Jason.  They talked here and there but weren’t really friends.  Jason was a private person and didn’t talk to many neighbors.

“What harm could it do?” Jason thought. After a few hours’ sleep he would go down to talk to Bill and at the worst he would have an extra look out down the road.  At 530 am Jason woke up Jeff and Mark.  He wanted them awake when they took watch.  Jeff and Mark went down and made some coffee and ate a granola bar.  Jason showed them the chore schedule they had when they got off duty and they both grumbled.

“Cook dinner and doing the dishes?” Jeff moaned.

“Hey I’ve been up for over 24 hours and I now have to go feed the animals and collect eggs from the chickens.  Tomorrow I’m going to add hauling firewood and cleaning the animal stalls to my list, I’m just too tired and I have stuff I need to do tonight.” Jason added clearly not interested in arguing.  Jason headed outside and Jason and Jeff settled in.

Chapter 21

Money Mike and his crew had a good system working in the town.  The 2 supermarkets were now under their control, but they were already pretty sold out of supplies.  He had men shaking down the residents for “protection money” taking food, jewelry, cash and even sex from some of the female residents. Those that refused were dealt with permanently except for the attractive women.  Those were taken back to Mike.  He now had a prostitution ring working and the cash was flowing in.  He also was selling the booze collected back to his crew which motivated them to get work done.  They had moved out of the Jail and were now taking up residence in several houses in the historic district.  The residents either left voluntarily with the clothes on their back or were cut down.  Originally his men were just out raiding the houses but after an incident he changed the plan.  A group of 4 of his men were gunned down by a father and son team after his men kicked down the front door.  The family had fled when another group had found the dead crew and Mike couldn’t afford to lose too many men.  So that when he started the protection racket.  Some of his men weren’t thrilled that they couldn’t keep all of the spoils of their raids but Mike reminded them that he was the reason they were out of jail and they had sworn an oath to him.  He had only had to kill one man as an example and the men had gotten back in line.  Yesterday afternoon Mike and 4 of his other men had hit a storage unit on the very edge of town.  With a small collection of tools that they had found they were able to open up several of the units and raid the contents.  The problem was the van they had had limited room and it was the only vehicle they had.  They looked for food, weapons and valuables.  By dark last night they had a pretty full load, the best take, a full case of real Russian vodka, and they decided to come back in the morning to continue.  That night the party at Mike’s house was in full swing and most of the case of vodka was consumed in the festivities.  Mike had ordered everyone up at daylight but as the party raged on it didn’t seem likely.

Chapter 22

Sean and Cassidy had gotten extremely lucky on their road trip.  After syphoning 2 pickup trucks to nearly fill the truck they had put several hundred miles behind them.  At around 2am Sean had accidentally gotten them onto a state highway that was 4 lanes across.  Sean had wanted to avoid the highways and stay on back roads but the street atlas he now had to use didn’t show the smallest roads, only the major ones and he was stuck.  He carefully drove down the highway at around 45 miles an hour to conserve fuel and to avoid the cars randomly blocking the road.  He watched out for fires.  He knew ambushers would most likely have fires to keep warm in the November night and the fires should be able to be seen for miles.  The first fire he had seen was a good way off and Sean decided they would cross to the other side of the highway and just drive by.  This was a poor plan and as they approached they had to drive through a volley of gunfire.  Sean put the pedal to the floor and careened through the jumble of disabled cars until the fire was out of sight.  He pulled over and made sure that Cassidy and the truck were ok. They were.  Of the 20+ rounds fired at the truck Sean could only find one bullet hole in the tailgate of the truck.  They had gotten very lucky.  At the next fire Sean decided to get off the highway, head down the local roads in the proper direction and then get back onto the highway, hoping to completely avoid the ambushers.  This is where his luck proved to be with him again.  With the fire nearly a mile distant Sean pulled off the exit ramp and to his surprise found that the entire lane was blocked, by a gasoline delivery truck.  Sean almost yelled in joy.  He and Cassidy got out looking at the truck. It had clearly been pulling off the highway when the pulse hit and had long been abandoned.  Sean tapped the tank and was pretty sure it had fuel in it.  After using his flashlight to go over the truck he figured he could hook one of the trucks hoses up and hoped gravity would do the rest.  Again his luck held out and they were able to fill the truck, the gas can, and the bucket with fuel.  He and Cassidy then searched the other abandoned cars for any containers they could use to fill with gas.  They were able to store an additional 12 gallons in empty gallon water jugs, several 2 liter bottle of soda which they dumped out and even in an old 5 gallon paint can that still had a lid.  They loaded their fuel and were off again.  Sean calculated that they might make it up to NJ before they needed more fuel. Sean knew he had 25 gallons of treated fuel in his storage unit and that would get them north and out of dodge.  Sean continued the slow pace and fire avoidance but it was definitely slowing down their pace.  At sunrise they were still well out in Pennsylvania and had at least 2 hours of driving to get to his storage unit. Sean had taken them well west of Philadelphia, a city he would avoid in normal times, and that put them well off schedule.  Daylight brought with it more danger of ambush and Sean knew he should stop for the night but he was so close and just wanted to get out of dodge.  He pulled over and had Cassidy drive so that he could pull security with the shotgun and the 30.06 rifle at the ready.  Sean was at least now familiar with the area and could give Cassidy directions without needing to check the map.  They continued to use smaller highways and county roads to head to the NJ border. Once they crossed the border Sean knew they had less than 1 hour to go.  As they cruised across rural northern NJ Sean checked their fuel status.  Just less than ¼ of a tank, enough to get him to his storage unit.  As they entered through the Town of Newton Sean was shocked by the desolation.  No one was visible on the streets of the once busy town, only bodies lay out on the streets in front of a number of houses.  As they passed the local hospital smoke was visible coming from multiple sections of the building, it looked as it had been burning for days.  As they approached the town which he had spent the first 22 years of his life Sean directed Cassidy down back roads and around the town center.  The main roads through town entered a square in the town center that was barely passable in normal times, and would be an excellent place for an ambush.  The back roads were small, the disabled cars didn’t help but they were able to push and squeeze their way to the far side of town.  As they passed through the business district and to the edge of town Sean still had not seen a live person, however the dead must have numbered at least 50. They drove into the large storage facility and Sean directed her to the proper unit.  When Sean’s father had died 2 years earlier he had flown back from Afghanistan for the funeral and to deal with the estate.  Sean’s father had done well for himself as a real estate developer and Sean’s sisters were already positioning themselves to get the most they could.  Sean was the Will’s executor and when he went to the probate lawyer he made one thing very clear.  He didn’t want any money.  The only things he had any interest in were the NY hunting property and his father’s gun collection, something they both had a passion for.  The girls were happy and Sean was able to avoid most of the drama.  He set up the storage unit with an automatic payment system.  Inside he placed his father’s Liberty gun safe filled with the guns and cases of ammunition. Additionally he placed his years’ worth of food, hand tools, 25 gallons of treated gas, a beer brewing system and a mass of other camping and other supplies. The 10x20 storage unit was pretty full when he left it.  As they drove into the storage complex Sean’s heart dropped.  Many of the units were visibly opened and looted.  He just prayed that his was still intact, but as he rolled in front of his unit he knew his plans were going to have to change.  The door to his unit was half open with a number of tools, clothing and boxes strewn around the front.  He told Cassidy to stop and just hoped his fuel and guns were still there, but he knew his luck would fail at some point.  He pulled out his sawed off 12 ga and handed the 20 ga to Cassidy.  He opened the door the rest of the way and had sufficient light to see the destruction.  Food gone, fuel gone, every box opened and nearly all essential items gone.  The only positive was his gun safe was still in its spot and still closed.  He walked up and saw damage to the safe though.  Someone had clearly tried very hard to get in and he was thankful that his father had bought such a quality safe.  Sledgehammer and pry bar marks were visible across the front of the safe and Sean hoped the door would still open.  Sean was thankful that he had bolted the safe to the wall or else he knew the safe would be gone although loaded as it was it had to weigh 800 or 900 lbs.  He turned the combination dial and made a wish before turning the unlocking mechanism.  The bolts slid free as if it had left the factory the day before.  Sean breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the most precious things he had left.  To the normal American viewing the gun collection in front of Sean, they would think he was some kind of nut job but Sean and his father had a passion for weapons and the diverse collection was something to behold.  He quickly grabbed 2 guns out of the unit and brought them back to the truck along with a box of ammunition.  Sean quickly loaded the first gun into the back of the truck carefully even though it was in a hardened plastic case he still treated it with the utmost care.  He then told Cassidy to start grabbing guns and loading them into the truck, while he opened the ammo can and pulled out 3 magazines for the other weapon which were loaded with 17 rounds of their 20 round capacity.  He grabbed a handful of loose rounds and loaded them into the open space of the magazines.  Next he loaded the now full magazine into the weapon.  He hefted the gun, pressed the slide release forward and turned on the digital optic.  The FN Scar was chambered in 7.62x51mm and Sean had it loaded with Armor piercing rounds he had acquired overseas. Sean then began loading the many boxes of ammunition into the truck while Cassidy loaded the weapons. Sean made sure to grab the tactical vests, medical bag and bug out bag out of the large safe.  The hair on the back of Sean’s neck stood up and he paused.  Cassidy noticed.

”What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I’m going to take a look. Keep loading the truck, get the pistols.” Sean said as he headed for the door.

Chapter 23

The noise had woken Money from his slumber.  The noise of an old truck would have never given him a second thought but now it was an unusual sound.  He woke up and ordered his men to get up. He wanted that truck.  Having only the old Jail van was hampering his “salvaging” and he now decided he was going to add a truck to his fleet.  Within minutes his men were loaded in the van and heading in the direction Money had heard the sound.  Money thought they had lost the truck as they headed out of town into the rural countryside. As they passed the storage unit they had raided the day before one of his lieutenants, Campbell, saw a truck parked in the storage complex and told Money.  Rather than driving straight into the complex money told the driver to head down the road as if nothing was unusual.  ½ a mile down the road the van pulled into a small convenience store and parked.  Money had a rough plan and instructed the men as they walked back to the storage complex.  Campbell checked that his scoped rifle was loaded and continued to walk with a smile on his face.

Chapter 24

Sean brought the FN up to the ready position and began looking around the complex for anything out of the ordinary.  As he observed he crouched down making himself as small a target as possible and also used the buildings for cover completely on instinct from his years of military service.  Movement to his right caught his attention and he stood to turn and sight in on the movement when a load crack broke the silence.  At the sound of the shot Sean pulled back behind the truck to find cover and start looking for targets.  Cassidy stood, in the open, with a handful of pistols in her arms.  She stood frozen at the loud sound.  Sean told Cassidy to put the guns down and grab her shotgun.  She ran and threw the guns into the bed of the truck and then grabbed the shotgun leaning against the back of the truck.

“Watch the flanks” Sean told her calmly.

“What are flanks?” Cassidy replied with fear in her voice.

“The sides, watch the left and the right sides.  If you see something close shoot at it, if it’s far just tell me what side.” Sean said as he observed the area before him looking for the sniper.

A second shot caused them both to duck as it slammed into the windshield of the truck.

“The gun shoots low.” Sean observed to himself.

Sean got back on his 3x aim point red dot scope and looked out.

“There.” he thought to himself.  A small power transformer sitting on the ground was by far the best cover around for the sniper.  Using the mil-dots in his scope he quickly ranged it at 200yds, a simple shot.  Sean braced himself on the truck and waited for movement.  The man came back around the transformer and set himself in a prone position.  Sean set the red dot at the base of the man’s face and slowly pulled the trigger as he exhaled.  The report of gun was enhanced by the fact that they were partially contained in the storage unit and Cassidy screamed.  Sean watched the pink mist from the back of the man’s head and then began scanning for other targets.

“It’s ok, that was my gun!” Sean screamed knowing that both of their hearing was not 100% any longer.

Cassidy got herself back up and screamed again “Left!”

Sean swiveled his rifle and fired a round at a fleeing subject who was able to get to cover just in time.  Sean reached to his scope and quickly unscrewed the 3x magnifier from his sight and placed it in his pocket.  He was going to need to quickly acquire targets now.  As he scanned to his right he saw movement, put the gun on target and fired 2 rounds.  The man went down but the shots were rebutted by at least 6 rounds of return fire from 3 different directions.  Sean knew they were outgunned and had to get Cassidy out of there before she got hurt.  Without proper backup Sean could easily become outflanked and they would both be dead.

“Cassidy!” Sean yelled.  Cassidy only looked at him with eyes you could drive a truck through.

“Cassidy! We’re going to get out of here, get ready to get in the truck and drive!” Sean yelled.

Cassidy nodded and looked back to the left. Sean waited until he had a shot at the man to the right.

He fired 3 shots and yelled “Go! Go! Go!” as he headed to the passenger door and opened it.

Sean saw the man straight out front raised his gun and fired at the same time as the man fired.  Sean didn’t know if he hit his target and didn’t care.  Cassidy got in the driver’s seat and tried to start the truck.  She was met with gun fire from the left.  Sean stood in the doorway of the truck and fired across the roof of the truck. The man went down but started moving again.  Cassidy got the truck started and Sean pulled himself back into the cab. Cassidy turned right and headed for the exit. A man appeared in front of them with a pistol in his hand.  The man began firing and Cassidy screamed.  Sean slid his left foot over and pressed down on the gas until it was to the floor and steered the vehicle right into the man. Sean and Cassidy watched the man’s face strike on the hood of the car and open up like a watermelon at a Gallagher show.  Cassidy screamed more and Sean continued to steer from the passenger seat and got them out onto the open road.  As they flew away from town Cassidy began to compose herself and took over the driving.

Chapter 25

Mike pulled himself to his feet and looked at his left arm.  The bullet had ripped through his upper arm and exited cleanly.  It hurt badly but it could have been worse.  As he walked out of the complex he found only one of his men left alive with a bullet hole through his right thigh.  Campbell’s head was almost completely gone, Marshalls looked as if he’d been run over and Ski had 2 bullet holes in his chest.  Money began walking towards the truck.  He was angry, angry as he could ever remember.  He knew he wasn’t done, but he knew he needed to get patched up and get more men. Then this mother fucker and his little girl were going to pay.

Chapter 26

Cassidy’s tears were under control now and Sean started to relax but he still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.  As he relaxed the sick feeling became more painful and he looked down.  The blood had spread into a large expanding circle on the left side of the abdomen.  This is when the pain really started.

“Pull over.” he told Cassidy.

“What!?” she said in shock, she was driving as fast as she could to get away from the danger.

“Pull Over.” Sean said weakly and held his side.

Cassidy looked down and saw the blood.  “Oh my god! Your shot!” she screamed.

“I’ll be ok, I just need you to pull over and get my first aid bag out of the back.” Sean said.  The truck came to a screeching halt causing Sean even more pain.  Cassidy ran to the back and came back a moment later with the first aid kit.  Sean had already cut open his shirt and looked at the wound.  The wound was on his left side and low, just above his hip bone. There was a fair chance that no major organs were hit but he needed to get the bleeding under control.  If he were in Afghanistan a Navy Corpsman and a Hospital were only minutes away but here, in his home town, he didn’t have that option.  Sean almost laughed at the irony.  Sean pulled out a package of Quick clot powder and a 5x9 trauma pad.  He sprinkled the Quick Clot into the wound and nearly screamed in pain.

“Fuck… this shit hurts.” he said through his gritted teeth.

“We have to get you to the hospital.” Cassidy said, starting turn the truck around.

“No!” Sean yelled. There’s no one there who can help us and those guys will be after us.” Sean said more calmly.

“You’re gonna die if you don’t get help!” Cassidy yelled.

“I’m going to be fine, just let me think, keep driving this way” Sean said pointing to their original path.

Sean already knew where he had to go.  He didn’t want to impose on them but he didn’t have much choice at this point.  He just hoped they would still be there.  Sean was feeling light headed; he pulled out a piece of paper as a glove box and a pen and started writing.  He hoped he had enough time.

Chapter 27

Jeff and Mark were looking at the rear surveillance camera and Mark was trying to get used to the controls while looking at a nice 8 point buck following a group of 3 doe through the back field.  Jeff wished he was out in his tree stand hunting and hoped he could get out there this afternoon.  His day dream was shattered by a motion alarm being triggered, its annoying beeping sound pulling him back to reality.  He quickly pulled up the motion sensor screen and saw that it was the driveway sensor. He stood and grabbed his Sniper rifle and opened the Balcony door.

“Get on the driveway camera and find out what’s going on” Jeff ordered mark while Jeff took up his sniper position on the balcony.

Before Mark could even get the camera up the roar of a large engine, and the blare of the trucks horn had shattered the silence.  Jeff yelled to Mark.

“Get in a defensive position!” Jeff yelled.

The trucks horn also alerted Jessica and Allie who were eating breakfast and talking downstairs. They both grabbed their rifles and set up position on the first floor, using the large timbers used to construct the house for cover and peering out the windows.  Jason rolled out of bed and was still putting on his pants as he came out of the bedroom with his rifle and tactical vest in hand.

“What is going on?!” he yelled to Jeff.

“A truck came barreling up to the house from the road, it must have driven through the gate” Jeff said as he peered through the scope at the truck.

A girl came out of the truck yelling that she needed help.

“Do you recognize her?” Jason asked.

“Nope, could be a trap.” Jeff replied.

“I’ll go take a look.  Mark you take up watch on the perimeter.  If you see anyone move, shoot first ask questions later.” Jason ordered as he went downstairs.

He pulled on his vest as he came down and saw Jessica.

“There’s someone else in the truck, passenger side.” she said.

“Ok, watch my back babe.” He replied.

“Be careful.” was her response.

Jason came out of the house with his rifle raised.  He quickly checked his flanks and after he saw they were clear began approaching the truck.

“Get down on the ground!” he yelled at the girl pointing his rifle at her.

“I need help, please! Help him!” she yelled.

“Get down on the ground or I’ll shoot!” Jason yelled with his boisterous voice.

She looked up, saw the rifle barrel pointed at her and put her hands up.  She lay down on the ground.

“Put your arms out to your sides and cross your legs!” Jason ordered as he approached.

She complied.  Jason quickly looked into the truck and saw the bleeding man in the truck; he didn’t appear to be a threat. He then came from behind the girl and pulled her crossed feet up to her butt and used a knee to hold them there.

“Put your hands behind your back!” he ordered and she complied.

Jason let his rifle fall onto its sling and he pulled a set of flex cuffs off his vest.  He quickly pat searched the girl and found the 22 pistol in her pocket.  He pulled it out and tossed it out of her reach.  He then pulled his pistol and checked the truck.

“Oh fuck!” he thought.

“Jeff, Jessica! Get out here now! It’s safe!” he screamed and went to his old friend.

He quickly checked for a pulse and found one, although it was weak.

“Please help him!” the girl cried as she lay cuffed on the ground.

Jeff and Jessica arrived a moment later and looked. “Oh my god, Sean!” Jessica screamed.

“He’s got a weak rapid pulse.  Mark! Get the medical bag!” Jason screamed.

Jason picked up Sean in a cradle carry and literally ran him into the house.  Jeff took charge with looking at Sean’s wound while Jessica started 2 18 gauge IV’s in each of Sean’s arms and starts 2 bags of Normal Saline solution to boost his blood pressure.  Jeff threw on a pair of sterile gloves out of the trauma bag and started exploring the wound.  Jeff literally stuck his fingers into the wound and started exploring the wound path.  Allie gasped when she saw it.

“Allie, could you go upstairs and watch the security camera?” Jason asked her but Allie just continued to stare at Sean.

“Allie!” Jessica yelled.

Allie looked at her.

”Please go upstairs and watch the cameras.”  Allie didn’t respond but turned around and headed upstairs.

“I’m going to find out what happened.” Jason said as he headed out the front door to the truck.  Cassidy was still lying there, handcuffed and crying.

“What’s your name?” Jason asked as he pulled the girl to a seated position.

“Cassidy” she replied trying to compose herself.

“How do you know Sean?” he asked.

“He saved me in Virginia and was bringing me to someplace safe.” Cassidy replied.

“How did he get shot?” Jason asked.

Cassidy explained how they had left Virginia the night before and how they were trying to get stuff out of the storage unit when the shooting started.  Jason listened to her story and believed her until he heard a rustle in the wood in front of him.  He looked up and began to raise his rifle when he heard someone shouting from the house.  Jason brought the figure into his scope and moved his finger to the trigger when he heard a crack of a gun coming from behind him.  He saw the man in front of him stop running and then put his hands up.  As soon as the man’s face became clear in the scope he knew who it was.

“Hold fire, Hold fire!” he shouted and looked back to the house.

Allie stood on the balcony sighting down her rifle; tears were visible from where he stood.

“Allie its ok, its Mr. Henderson!” he shouted.  Allie visibly relaxed.

“Bill its ok, come on over.” Jason shouted and the man began walking towards them holstering his pistol.

“Jesus Christ, Jason.  What in the Hell is going on here?!” Bill shouted clearly startled.

“Sorry Bill, were all a little on edge here, one of my friends just came in with a bullet in him.” Jason replied.

“Is that what all the ruckus was?  I heard the truck roaring past my place and then the horn beeping and people shouting so I came up here to see if you needed some help.” Bill said.

“I appreciate it Bill, but were ok, we just weren’t expecting him to show up and we didn’t know the girl he was with.  But if you know if there’s a doctor nearby I think we could use him, my buddy is hurt pretty bad.”  Jeff replied.

“Don’t know any Doctors round here.” Bill said walking up and looking at the girl cuffed on the ground.

“I see you also gave her a nice welcome.” Bill added.

“Yeah, well times are a little crazy” Jason said as he helped Cassidy to her feet and cut off the flex cuffs.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t know you.” Jason said.

“Is Sean ok?” she asked.

“I don’t know, why don’t we find out.  All three of them walked into the house.

“What the fuck is going on out there?” Jeff asked as they walked into the house.

Jason saw Mark standing by the door with his gun in hand.

“Well, Bill came over when he heard the commotion and we gave him a real nice greeting” Jason said and Bill snorted.

“Last time I try and go help a neighbor.” he added with a chuckle.

Allie came walking down the stairs with her head hung low. “I’m sorry Mr. Henderson, I thought you were a bad guy.  I didn’t try and hurt you though, I was just trying to scare you, I didn’t hurt you did I?” she asked with tear in her eyes.

“Well you certainly scared the crap out of me little lady. I’m gonna need clean underwear when I get home” he said with a chuckle. “Don’t you worry, I’m ok.” He added.

Allie was crying and Jason went to her.

“You did real good Allie, just like I taught you.  You did perfect.” he said giving her a hug.

“Why don’t you and Mark head upstairs for a little while until we get Sean all patched up, ok?”  Jason said.

“Is he gonna be ok?” Allie asked.

“Your mom and Jeff are the best.  If anyone can patch them up they can, ok?” Jason replied.

“Ok” Allie replied and Mark brought her upstairs.

“How’s he doing” Jason asked Jeff.

“He’s bleeding internally and I don’t think I can stop it. We need a surgeon.  Neither of us have any training in doing this.” Jeff replied.

“Where am I going to find a surgeon?” Jason replied not expecting an answer.

“I think I might know” said Bill. “You have a running truck, right?” he added.

“Yeah my truck works, where are we going?” Jason asked confused.

“Come with me.” he said heading out the front door.

Jason looked at Jeff and Jeff nodded, he had to go.  The jumped in Jason’s Suburban and headed down the road.  Bill gave Jason directions and 2 miles later Bill told Jason to pull into a small farm.

“Doctor Teddy!” Bill yelled and waited for a reply.

The front door opened and Jason was totally shocked.  Jason had expected Dr. Teddy to be an old retired man who would need a wheelchair. When he saw the tall, thin attractive woman in her late 20’s he was completely shocked.

“Dr Teddy, we need your help, we got a man shot and he needs a good doctor.” Bill said.

“I don’t have any equipment here at the farm.” she said.

“I got just about anything you need, within reason.” Jason added.

“Ok, let’s go” Teddy said as they got into the truck.

“So what do we know about the patient.” Teddy asked.

“He’s a 29 yr old male, no pertinent medical history. Shot in the lower left quad of his abdomen, thru and thru, BP was 86/54, pulse 110 and respirations of 24 when I left.  He’s getting a bolus of normal saline.” Jason concluded.

“Are you a paramedic or something?” teddy asked.

“No, I’m just a Jail Guard but I’ve got EMT experience.  My wife is an ER nurse and my friend Jeff is a paramedic, they are with the patient now, his name is Sean.” Jason replied.

“Is he conscious?” she asked.

“Not when I left.” Jason said as they flew down the back roads.

Minutes later they returned to the house and headed inside.  Dr Teddy introduced herself and the look on Jeff’s face was priceless but he quickly recovered.  The doctor quickly began assessing Sean and quickly determined that there was internal bleeding, although slight, from the liver.

“I’m going to have to operate to stop the bleeding.” she stated.

“Ok, what do you need?” Jessica replied.

”A Scalpel, a suture kit, Beda dine, forceps and a clean place to work.  Also were going to need something to knock him out completely and antibiotics.” Teddy stated and Jessica frowned.

“We’re good on the equipment and we can make an OR in the kitchen, but the pain meds and antibiotics are going to be an issue.” she said.

“What do we have to work with?” Teddy asked.

Jessica went to the medical kit and pulled out the drugs they had.

“I have enough Augmentin for a full course but that’s about it.  As far as pain meds I have some tordol, dilaudid and some Percocet and vicodin pills.”  Teddy frowned.

“The augmentin might be good enough but it’s a pretty weak antibiotic, the pain meds aren’t going to be worth much, we may have to hold him down and just take the edge off but that’s not the way I’d like to perform the surgery.  Too easy to cut the wrong thing if he fights us.” Teddy said.

“What about some heroin?” Jeff asked.

The whole room turned and looked at him in shock. Jason was the first to speak up.

“Why the fuck do you have heroin?”  Jason asked.

“I pulled it off the dead gangbangers I had to kill the day of the pulse.” Jeff replied defensively.

Jason analyzed his face for a moment, being the cop he was, and decided Jeff was telling the truth.

“Ok, do you know what kind of dosage would work?” Dr Teddy asked.

“Well, I figure we start with one bag and go from there.  If he reacts to you opening him up we give him a little more. I have narcan in case we screw up and give too much.”  Jeff replied.

“I think it could work, but I’m not really comfortable with it” Jessica added.

“I don’t even know how to cook it other than what I’ve seen on TV, I don’t want to mess this up.” She added.

“I don’t see us having a better option, do you?” Jeff questioned and no one had a response.

“I think that will work.  Jeff I assume you have a good idea how to cook it up?” Dr. Teddy asked.

“I’ve seen enough of it that I’m comfortable trying” Jeff replied.  Dr. Teddy turned to Jessica.

“Ok, I want the OR setup in the kitchen, we will drape it off and the 3 of us will be the only one going in.  We all need to scrub in.  Additionally I want the surgical equipment and the narcan setup and waiting for us on the counter in case something goes wrong.” Teddy stated with finality.

Jessica agreed and Jeff just nodded like a monkey, he was clearly smitten with the young doctor.

“One more thing” the Doc added

“The Augmentin might be ok, but since we are making a makeshift OR I don’t think it’s going to be enough.  If you want your friend to live you might want to come up with a plan to get a stronger antibiotic like Levaquin.”

They all got to work.  Dr Teddy supervised the project but certainly wasn’t hands off.  She scrubbed down the table and the counter top in the kitchen with bleach and water while other equipment was being setup and moved.  Jason brought in some shop lights and was going to set them up but Dr. Teddy made sure they were sterilized before they were allowed into the room.  Once the drapes were setup and Sean was placed on the table no one was let into the OR accept her “surgical team”.  Everything was re-sterilized and they all scrubbed in.  A camping stove and spoon were sterilized and used to cook up the heroin.  Jessica setup the blood pressure cuff on the patient’s right side.  Jeff would monitor Sean’s vitals every 5 minutes during the surgery and Jessica would assist Dr Teddy.  Jeff started cooking the bag of heroin and then drew the drugs up into a syringe.  He handed it to Jessica who assured there were no air bubbles and then looked to the doctor.  Teddy nodded and Jessica pushed the drugs in.  Sean’s unconscious body noticeably relaxed, which they all took as a good sign.  Jeff kept close attention to Sean’s breathing.  Heroin was a respiratory depressant and that would be the first sign of an overdose.  Outside of the OR everyone was just milling around.  Jason went outside to have a cigarette and Bill bummed one off of him.

“Martha is gonna kill me when she smells this on me.” Bill said as he drew a long pull off the cigarette.

“I quit 3 years ago so she would stop pestering me.” He added with a chuckle.

“Well I’m sure I’ll be quitting soon too, I only have 2 cartons left, then its cold turkey” Jason added as he laughed as well.

“So where did you find the doc?” Jason asked Bill.

“You sure you really want to know?” Bill asked.

“Of course I want to know” Jason replied.

“Well, since things are already underway in there I guess I can tell you.” Bill said.

“People aren’t the Doc’s primary patients” he said looking at Jason.

“What do you mean?” Jason asked clearly confused.

“In June when my mare had a complicated foal delivery Dr Teddy came out to the farm and performed a c-section.  She’s very a very gifted surgeon.” Bill added.

“She’s a Veterinarian?!”Jason almost screamed.

“Shhh…” Bill replied.

“No sense getting everyone worked up now.  Don’t worry, she extremely good.”

“Goddamn it Bill. You should have told me.” Jason said angrily.

“You didn’t have any other options.  Don’t worry; your friend is in very good hands.” Bill replied.

“I hope so Bill, I really hope so.” Jason said.

Cassidy spent the first few minutes sitting in the living room waiting and then began pacing, Jason could tell she was worried and decided he needed to do something to calm her down.

“Cassidy” he said softly.  She looked to him.

“They are going to be a while, don’t worry he is in very good hands.  Let’s take a walk.  I need to talk to you about a few things and I can show you around.”  Jason said.

“Ok” Cassidy said quietly getting up.

Jason brought her outside and showed her around the property while they discussed how Jason and Jeff met Sean and their years of prepping together.  Jason didn’t press Cassidy for details of her life. He wanted to distract her from current situation not bring up more bad news.  Next he brought her inside and showed her the surveillance system and introduced her to Allie and Mark officially.  Allie was visibly upset with the events of the day and clearly Cassidy saw it too.  Cassidy was clearly an amazing girl, seeing Allie upset she started talking to her and soon they were off to Allie’s room for “girl talk”.  Jason had volunteered to take over watch of surveillance with Mark.

“I’m gonna go make some coffee.  Are you good here” Jason asked Mark with a yawn.

“I’m good, how much sleep did you get?” Mark asked.

“Not enough, Mark. Not enough” Jason said as he walked downstairs.

He found Bill napping on the living room couch and sat down next to him after starting the coffee.

“You look tired” Bill said opening one eye.

“I look tired?  You’re the one sleeping on the couch!” Jason added with a laugh.

“Yeah well I’m an old man, I’m allowed.” Bill added chuckling.

“Well I’ve gotten 2 hours sleep in over 48 hours.  I don’t know how much longer I can keep it going.” Jason said with a yawn waiting for the coffee.

They both sat there in silence for a moment.

“Bill, you know what going on out their right?” Jason asked.

“Well I was on the force and deployed to the riots in Newark back in the 70’s.  I suspect that will look like a bump in the road.” Bill said.

“It’s probably worse than that already in Newark.” Jason replied.

“Probably” was all Bill could say.

“Why don’t you and your wife come and stay with us?  It’s gonna get dangerous and I could certainly use another competent brain up here.  I could tow your travel trailer up here and you guys would have some privacy.  I could really use more people.” Jason asked.

Bill thought for a moment before replying.  “Jason, I appreciate the offer. I really do.  But my daughter and my grandkids live about an hour west of Philadelphia and I plan on going down to them.  My son in law is a pussy banker and he’s not going to have the stones to protect my baby.  I know it’s crazy and probably a bad idea but I have to do it.” Bill added.

Jason understood and simply nodded.  “I could use your help though Jason.” Bill said.

“What can I do?” Jason asked openly.

“I got the old Nova in the garage running but it’s too small to put all of our stuff we want to take.  I got that small utility trailer for my truck but I don’t have a hitch on the Nova.  You think you could figure out something with that?” Bill asked.

“Doesn’t seem too tough, if you can bring the hitch from your truck up here with the Nova I can probably weld something up.  I don’t think my MIG welder will work but I can always use the torch.” Jason said.

“Hang on a minute.” Jason said to bill and walked upstairs.

“Mark are you good watching the house for a few minutes, I’m going to run Bill home.” Jason asked.

Mark agreed and Jason went and checked on the girls, who were both laughing and smiling coyly, they were doing ok and were probably talking about boys or God knows what. Jason just shook his head and walked away.  He drove Bill home, thanked him profusely for his help, and told him whenever he was ready to bring the Nova on up. Bill agreed and they shook hands and told Jason that he was welcome to anything in the house after they left, including the travel trailer.  Jason returned to the house but the surgery was still ongoing.  Jason grabbed another coffee and sat on the porch having another cigarette and tried to think of a way to get better antibiotics but he was having trouble concentrating.

Chapter 28

Jason saw the man raising the shotgun up at him but he couldn’t react fast enough.  His gun was coming up but his arm wasn’t working right.  He got the sight picture and tried to pull the trigger when the big blast from the shotgun hit him point blank. Jason jumped up grasping for his pistol startled to find himself on his own front porch.  He blinked a few times and saw the figure standing in front of him wasn’t a man with a shotgun. It was Jessica.

“What’s going on?” he replied groggily.

“You were a sleep; I just wanted to let you know that the surgery is over.  It went very well.” Jessica said.

The news woke Jason up.  He smiled, grabbed Jessica and gave her a big hug and a kiss.  She kissed him back and they both sat back down on the porch.

“Cassidy is in with him now but he’s still unconscious.” Jessica said.

“So Doc did pretty good?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, she’s really good.  I wonder how Bill found her.” Jessica replied.

Jason chuckled.

“What?” Jessica asked. And Jason just laughed some more.

“What?” Jessica said again demanding a real response.

“He found her when his horse went into labor and needed an emergency C-Section.” Jason replied.

“You mean she’s a Veterinarian?!” Jessica asked completely shocked.

“Apparently she’s a damn good Veterinarian, and if you asked Jeff I’m sure he could add to her outstanding attributes!” Jason added continuing to laugh.

Jessica joined him and they both went inside.  Jeff and Doctor Teddy were inside chatting when they walked in.  Jeff was hungry and decided he would make some sandwiches for lunch.  Jason was exhausted and decided to go to bed.  Jessica and teddy started talking and went outside for some fresh air.

“Quite a place you guys have here.” Teddy observed looking at the property.

“It’s nice, but not as big as you think.  Only 15 acres, but were surrounded by state land” Jessica replied.

“You seem very prepared for this disaster” Teddy noted.

“Well I have to thank Jason for that. He ranted on and on about preparing for an economic collapse and I tolerated it for a long time, but then I started seeing the signs too. But we never expected something so dramatic.” Jessica replied.

“So what about the other people here like Jeff?” Teddy asked.

“Jeff and Jason have been best friends for years, Mark just came to us a few days ago along with Cassidy, she came with Sean from Virginia.” Jessica said.

“It’s just crazy how things have changed so quickly” Teddy observed as they sat on the porch.

“Yes it is, but things are going to get way worse” Jessica said.

“How do you mean?” Teddy replied.

“Well the only violence we have seen so far is from the local criminal element.  Once people start fleeing the cities they will be desperate and desperate people do desperate things.  And then you will have the gangs to deal with.  The gangs will strip the cities bare and run all the people out and then will start roaming the countryside terrorizing and looting people like us.” Jessica said.

“How do you know all this?” Teddy asked.

“Research.  After Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami that hit South East Asia and other things like civil war in Egypt and Syria along with the economic collapse in Greece and Zimbabwe” Jessica replied.

“Clearly you both took it very seriously.” Teddy replied.

“Most of the research was done by Jason and Jeff before I even bought into it.” Jessica replied.

“So what is the deal with Jeff?” Teddy asked with a smirk.

“What do you mean?” asked Jessica coyly.

“You know what I mean.” She replied with a wink.

“I believe he is single, for the moment at least.” Jessica said with a chuckle as Jeff called them for lunch.

“And he cooks.” Teddy stated as they began walking in.

“You don’t want him to cook, trust me.” she said with a chuckle and they went and ate.

Chapter 29

They checked on Sean every 15 minutes and took his vitals.  They were stable but he was starting to run a fever.  An hour after the surgery Sean woke up and the Doctor went to him.  His fever was getting worse.  She gave him a second dose of Augmentin along with some Motrin and a sleeping pill and encouraged him to get some sleep.  Cassidy stayed with him without a break for hours on end.  She wouldn’t come out and eat and so the doctor approved of food being brought to her.  Even so she barely ate; her dedication was shocking for someone who only knew him for barely 3 days.  Teddy expressed her concerns about the infection and the decided they would wake Jason up in a few hours and figure out what to do.  Jeff gave Allie a break from watch and she and Jessica cooked up some stew on the woodstove, the last venison they had in the freezer.  At 5pm Jason was woken up and they all sat down for dinner, except for Cassidy who still wouldn’t leave Sean’s side.  Jessica was getting concerned about her but they had other things to discuss at the moment.  Over dinner the discussion went back to Sean’s fever and the need for better antibiotics.  After they discussed how serious Sean’s fever was getting Jason decided they had to do something immediately.  After some discussion they decided their only real option was going to be the Wal-Mart 15 minutes away.  Jason knew how to get there by back roads and could get them close by truck without being noticed hopefully.  Their other options were to head back towards Newton, a danger they knew too well.  This Wal-Mart was in Pennsylvania and would have more options as it was larger and carried guns, ammunition and was a full supermarket.  Jason decided they had no time to waste and looked for volunteers to go on the mission, all hands went up.

“Ok, I’m going to pick my team then.  No offense to anyone but I need to do what makes the most sense.” Jason said and thought for a moment.

He weighed his options to not only make a successful raid, but to maintain security at the house, take care of Sean, and be able to acquire the proper medications.

“Ok, we can discuss this but I’m pretty firm on my decision.  Jeff and I will go.”  Jason pronounced.

“You need more than two people.” Jessica replied worried.

“I would prefer to have 3 people but I also need to leave people here to take care of Sean and protect the house.” Jason rebutted.

The discussion went on for several minutes but the decision held.

“Doc, I’d like to ask you to stay until we get back if you could?” Jason asked.

“Why?” Jessica asked. “I can take care of Sean while you’re gone.”

“I know you can, but it’s better if you can take breaks and if something bad would happen it would be good to have her here.”  Jason Replied.

“How long would I be here?” Teddy asked.

“Well a lot depends on what we find, but we should be back by morning.” Jason replied.

“That’s fine, but I would like to go home and take care of a couple things and pick up some new clothes.” Teddy replied.

“I can take her while you two get ready.” Jessica replied.

Everyone agreed.

Jessica and Teddy jumped in the suburban and headed off while Jason and Jeff started gathering gear.  Jason took the lead so Jeff would be able to check on Sean.  Jessica and Teddy quickly arrived at her small farm and the talked while Jessica helped teddy feed her animals.  Teddy had 2 horses, 4 goats and several rabbits outside.  Inside were 3 dogs who barked when they arrived.

“I’m a little worried about Cassidy” Jessica told Teddy while they worked.

“So am I, I think she’s been through a lot more then she has told us but I’m not very good dealing with people. That’s why I became a VET.  Less socializing.” Teddy chuckled.

“I’m not bad with people and I minored in psychology in college so I know the signs.  She has been through a lot; I hope she can keep it together.” Jessica said.

“Maybe the boys should grab some Xanax or something” teddy added.

“Might not be a bad Idea.  We should make a list.  Jason is pretty good but not as good as Jeff.  God forbid something happens to Jeff we need to make sure Jason gets the right stuff.” Jessica said.

“God I hope they are careful, this is a scary time.” Teddy added her concern, particularly for Jeff was obvious.

“You like him, don’t you?” Jessica asked smiling.

“What?” Teddy answered, also smiling.

“You like Jeff, don’t you?” Jessica asked again.

“I don’t know how to answer that.  I don’t know him that well.  He is nice to look at and from what I see he’s a pretty good person.” Teddy answered.

“He’s a great person; he’s just never been one to commit to a relationship for very long although I’ve never seen him speechless around any girl before.  He’s definitely interested.”  Teddy blushed and turned away.

“I’m no good at relationships, I’ll screw something up.  Besides this really isn’t the time.” She finally pronounced.

“I guess we will see, now what do you need to get out of the house?” Jessica asked and the headed inside.

Teddy grabbed a bag and quickly loaded a couple sets of cloths and then went into the closet and pulled out an old rifle and a box of bullets.

“What do you have there?” Jessica asked looking at the rifle.

“It used to be my grandfathers; it’s a lever action 30.30.  I use it to keep the coyotes and other predators away from the goats and horses.” Teddy replied as they head back to the truck.

Chapter 30

When the girls arrived back Jeff and Jason were loaded and ready to go.   They traded out quickly giving goodbyes to each other Jessica embracing Jason and giving him a long kiss Teddy staring deeply in Jeff’s eyes and telling him to be careful. They had little time to lose; Sean’s fever was 104 degrees.  The normal15 minute drive took 25 and they still had a two mile hike in front of them.  They approached cautiously in the setting sunlight and took a position overlooking the large store.  Jason handed Jeff one of the night vision optics which he attached to his 9x scope and observed the store.  Lights were visible and they both had a tight feeling in their gut.  This was going to be more difficult than they had hoped.  Jeff and Jason observed the store for two hours. They only counted three visible men.  They discussed what they had seen and decided to try and enter through a back door quietly if possible and get to the pharmacy.  The headed back to the truck and Jeff exchanged his rifle for his shotgun and checked to make sure it was loaded.  Next he grabbed several extra shotgun rounds, some slugs and some buckshot, and loaded them in different pockets of his tactical vest.  Jason grabbed a small kit and they both quietly approached the rear of the store.  They had a few options, there was a rear door and several roll up style garage doors at the rear of the building.  Additionally on each side of the store were emergency exit doors as required by code.  They decided the doors were the best option and they would try the rear door first.  The roll up doors would be too loud.  Jason approached the rear door and looked at it.  It was a standard push to open fire door with the lock accessible near the latch.  Using a small penlight he inspected the lock.  This was clearly not a regularly used door, at least with a key, due to the amount of surface rust present in the latch.  Jason pulled out his small toolkit and got to work.  He started with a small shot of lubricant into the lock and each of the hinges.  Jason then went to work on the lock itself.  Holding the penlight in his teeth he used the tools in the kit to release the latch.  One tool was slid into the bottom of the latch to hold the mechanism open; the next tool was slid over top and to the back of the lock.  Using opposing pressure the top tool was pressed upward and the teeth of the lock were pushed upward until they set and the next tooth was then set until he had set all the teeth in the lock, then it was only a matter of getting the lock to twist.  He started twisting it in a counter clockwise direction but it didn’t want to move.  He knew he had to be careful, the tools weren’t designed to be under high pressure and he didn’t want to break them.  He next worked the lock back to a clockwise direction and got a little movement.

“Jeff.” Jason said in a quiet whisper.

Jeff came to him still keeping an eye on the perimeter.

“I need you to spray more lubricant in here.” Jason said his voice barely audible with the penlight in his mouth.

Jeff didn’t quite understand but Jason used his eyes to direct Jeff to the lubricant, and Jeff got the idea.  Jeff sprayed a liberal amount of fluid into the lock and then resumed his watch.  Jason worked the lock back and forth until the latch finally unlocked from the door.  Jason looked at Jeff and nodded.  Jason put his tools away and they stacked up by the door.  They both checked their night vision scopes mounted on their guns and then Jason went to the door handle.  He opened the door out ward slowly, looking through the crack with the penlight to check for security devices.  He noticed a number of boxes that leaned against the door; the top box was set to fall if the door was fully opened.  Jason looked and knew he couldn’t get his hand in without the box falling but if he reclosed the door it would relock and he would be starting over.  Jason had Jeff look for something to hold the box up and he returned moments later with a 2’ piece of rebar.  Jeff slid the rebar behind the unmarked box and Jason slowly opened the door.  It appeared to be working perfectly but as Jason opened the door further the heavy box tilted. Jason tried to close the door but not in time.  A loud crash of breaking glass shattered the quiet.  Jeff knew the importance of the medication and made a decision before Jason could react.

“Draw them off, I’m going to hide in here and let things settle. “Jeff said as he jumped the remaining boxes in the doorway.

Jason wanted to protest, he didn’t like leaving his partner alone, but it was too late, he had to go or they would both be caught.  Jason grabbed the first box on top of the pile and waited until he heard the occupants coming his way.  He heard a voice and a door open and he took off running the opposite direction from where he had come.  As he left he heard the door again crash into the broken box of glass.  They had been very smart to set up the warning device.  One of the men came out the door about 75 yds. behind him and began to give chase.  Jason continued to run but the man was not giving up.  Even the voice of another man telling him to give it up was not deterring this man.  Jason decided to give him something to think about.  Holding the large box in one hand Jason drew his pistol and fired 3 rounds in the general direction of the man but purposefully missing him. This guy had done nothing to Jason, and Jason was technically stealing from the man, although Jason doubted that this was the true and rightful owner of the Wal-Mart.  The man got the hint and didn’t even fire the weapon is his arms, which appeared to be a shotgun, he took cover as Jason continued his run and the man finally returned to the store.

Jason was hiding behind a large pallet of boxes in the corner of the store room as he watched the 2 armed men pass and head out the door.  One man had stopped to look at the door and then began yelling at his partner to come back and forget the man.  The gun fire brought a sickening feeling to Jeff’s stomach.  A moment later both men returned into the store room and flipped on a light.  Jeff huddled himself into the darkest recess of the corner and practically held his breath.

“What did he get?” asked one man.

“I dunno, but it seems he really wanted whatever it is.” The other replied.

“You see anyone else?”

“No, just the one guy, let’s get this setup and get back, I’m sure both our families are worried sick.”

“Yeah, were gonna have to get out of here soon, this is going to be a popular place.”

“Yeah, I think I can get that truck running and we have that big trailer, so we can load up on supplies and get the hell out of here.”

“Sounds good to me.” The other replied and they both headed to the front of the store.

Jeff followed them, slowly and cautiously keeping them in his night vision scope.  They went up to the front of the store into a small separated area that had once been a nail salon but was now filled with cots, sleeping bags and candles lit the area.  It had to be at least three families, all with children.  One man continued to watch the front of the store and the two men told him what had happened and they went back to the sleeping area. Jeff slid his way back, away from the sleeping families and towards the pharmacy area.  It wasn’t that far away from them but he hoped he could grab what he needed and get out of dodge quickly.

“How’s it going in there?” Jeff heard in the earpiece to his radio.

Just keyed the mic once and continued his silent movement.

“Everything going according to plan?” Jason asked and again a one click response.

“I'm going to pull the truck about 300’ down the road away from you, when you leave head right and I’ll be there, if you need to bug out I can be there in a hurry.” Jason stated and Jeff clicked once acknowledging the transmission.

Jeff entered the pharmacy and tried using his night vision to view the bottles but it wasn’t working.  He pulled a small penlight out of his medical bag and started viewing the bottles.  They seemed to be arranged by type which was good.   Jeff found the antibiotic section and looked at the bottles.  He found a very large bottle of Levaquin and a bottle of Cipro right next to it. He placed them in his satchel and went to look for some pain medicine.  He found that the strongest medications were locked in a cabinet and it would make way to much noise to break into.  He found a bottle of Dilaudid on a shelf and pocketed that and then looked at the filled prescriptions.  After several minutes of searching he found a prescription for 3 months of Percocet, 180 5mg pills, a month prescription of long acting oxycodone which yielded 60 pills and a 3 month supply of 2.5 mg Xanax.  He figured he better get out before his luck wore out and headed back to the rear of the store where he had come in. He carefully slid the boxes out of the way and then decided to look and see what were in the boxes in the storeroom.  He pulled out his light and started looking at the labels.  There were several boxes of cooking items, clothing, and electronic items galore.  Then he noticed a pallet of items that could be useful.  He thought for a moment, estimating, and then grabbed several of the boxes and set them outside the door.  He had 8 of the boxes set outside and tried to figure out how to carry them.  He pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and wrote a quick note and then carefully closed the door.

To the folks staying here;

I’m sorry we broke into the store and scared you tonight.  We needed antibiotics desperately and we didn’t know if you would help us or not.  I overheard your conversation about leaving last night.  You need to get out of here soon, before the mobs come and take, killing anyone who gets in their way.  Find a vehicle that is carbureted and older (pre-1990).  Check all fuses and ignition system, the EMP will fry electronics.  I would suggest, if you don’t know someone who owns property in the middle of nowhere, to go someplace away from towns and cities, stay off major roads and watch out for ambushes.  Stock upon tents, sleeping bags, food, hygiene products and good winter clothing.  I wish I could help you more.  Good luck on your journey and God Bless.

Jeff.

Jeff took half the boxes and hid them in the high weeds and then brought the other boxes out to the truck after calling Jason on the radio.

“No problems?” Jason asked.

“No, I got what we need plus a few more things.”  Jeff replied.

Jason grabbed the boxes and looked at them while loading them.

“Early Christmas for everybody.” Jeff said and Jason chuckled.

“I have one more load of boxes to grab and were set” Jeff said taking off to the store.

Chapter 31

They returned without incident and they headed back home while dawn was just scratching at the horizon.  When they arrived home Jeff immediately brought the medicine in, looking for Teddy.  To his disappointment he found Jessica keeping watch on Sean.  Apparently the disappointment was visible on his face.

”Don’t worry, its teddy’s turn to take watch in 5 minutes, I’ll go make some breakfast, she’ll be here soon” Jessica said with a chuckle.

Jeff just looked at her sheepishly.  Jessica went to the kitchen and started the coffee and looked at what she could make for breakfast.  She decided instant pancakes were their only easy option for a hot breakfast and took out the griddle.  Jason came in carrying the boxes that he and Jeff had recovered.  She went to him and embraced him, kissing him, her relief for his safety evident.  But the relief soon turned to passion.

“Is it time for bed yet?” Jason asked with a wink.

“Not yet, after breakfast” she said with a sly smile.

Jason finished bringing in the boxes and Jessica came to look at what they got.

“Merry Christmas!” Jason said handing her a box.

She opened the box and pulled out the boots.  She smiled. She tried on the good quality Rocky hunting boots.

“They are a little big” she replied.

“You want the room to wear a double thickness of socks in the cold.   They are waterproof and insulated” Jason stated.

“Thanks!” she replied sincerely.

“Thank Jeff, he grabbed the boots.”  Jason replied.

Jason hefted the largest box “This is what I brought.” Jason stated.

“What’s in it?” Jessica asked.

“I have no idea.” Jason replied in a chuckle telling her how he had grabbed it as a distraction.

“You could have been shot!” she almost screamed.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t, and the plan worked.”  Jason replied defensively.

“I don’t like it, I need you, we all need you” she replied.

“It wasn’t as dangerous as you think, but I’ll be more careful.” Jason replied.

“So what’s in your box?” she asked.

Jason used his Emerson CQ pocket knife to open the box.  The knife had been a gift from Jeff years ago and was one of the highest quality pocket knives available.  The razor sharp blade easily sliced through the packing tape and he opened the box.  Looking at the contents they both chuckled.

“Well, the girls won’t smell bad for a while.” Jessica said laughing.

The box was full of 80 sticks of Degree “for her” deodorant.  Jason just laughed and they both went to cooking breakfast.  Teddy came down stairs several minutes later and grabbed some coffee.

“Jeff is waiting for you, he’s in with Sean.” Jessica said to her.

Without reply she rushed off to Sean’s room.  Jason and Jessica both chuckled while they finished the pancakes.  Jessica and Jason ate quickly and were ready to get some sleep.  Several minutes later, as they were finishing up, Jeff and Teddy came down.

“How’s he doing?” asked Jason.

“He still has a fever, but it’s manageable.  He has some cellulitis around the wound but with the antibiotics He will be just fine.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s up eating by this afternoon.” Teddy replied.

Jason and Jeff then started talking about things that still needed to be done.  Jessica grabbed him by the hand and directed him upstairs.

“We’re going to bed; we can figure that all out later.” She said matter-of-factly.

Jason didn’t argue and they headed off to bed.  After blowing off some tension for several minutes they both had the best sleep they had since the disaster had happened.

Chapter 32

Money Mike was as angry as he could remember.  Generally he lived life analytically and emotionless but today he wanted revenge.  He had lost good men and he and his other man, who had survived the shootout, had both been shot.  Money had taken a round through his shoulder that had luckily missed the bone; his other man was not as lucky and was currently laid up with a bullet in his abdomen.  He would die soon, they didn’t have anyone with any real medical experience and the staff from the local hospital had either fled or been killed.  Money had ordered his men to go house to house and find someone with medical experience and if anyone resisted kill them.  After 2 days of searching only 2 nurses were found, both of whom had no way to help his man and Money had killed them both with his bare hands.  He had not felt rage like this in years.  He sent a scouting party out with a newly acquired vehicle to find out where the bastard that had shot him had gone while he stayed back at his home popping pain medication and drinking heavily.  Jew boy had taken over day to day control of the operations in the town and had tried to get Mike to take an easier approach, but Mike would hear nothing of it and Jew boy knew better then to oppose him.  Jew boy had finally gotten some good news on the second day of the search.  A family had seen the truck turn onto a road 2 days before, so they had a fairly reliable lead.  He hoped the man was telling the truth, the men had raped his 14 year old daughter and killed his wife before he gave the information over, the man was then shot in the face and the girl brought back for the amusement of the men.  Somehow she had gotten access to a piece of bed sheet and hung herself after the first full night of abuse.  With the loss of four of Money’s most trusted lieutenants Jew boy was nervous.  These men leading the patrol were animals and Jew boy didn’t trust them.  With Money in an injured state he was worried the men would make a power grab if Jew boy or Money tried to suppress their violence.  Luckily Money could care less and Jew boy reasoned that was the safest route to go.  He had the men search the road for activity but they hadn’t reported any.  Then the first report of resistance had come.  When Money heard of the resistance he was furious.  Being close to the Pennsylvania and New York border brought him near another gang’s territory and they had fired on his men killing one.  The gold and black colors the men wore made it easy for Money to identify them.  The Latin Kings or The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, as they called themselves, were a real threat to Mike’s power and he decided he would drive them back over the river and he would find the motherfucker who shot him in one hard drive.  He brought all his men, weapons, vehicles and food together and prepared to move out.  He was at war.

Chapter 33

The sounds of heavy gunfire awoke everyone at the house.  Single gunshots here and there had become more regular but this was a battle.  At least 30 rounds had been fired in a matter of seconds and the entire house was now awake, including Sean.  Mark had been on watch and estimated the gunshots were a few miles away and pointed to the North.  Jason knew there was a development up there that had a serious criminal element in it.  Mark also reported seeing a vehicle driving up the road and he believed the same vehicle had driven back down the road several minutes after the gunfire.  Sean discussed their tactical situation from bed, having seen the property and the house years ago, he didn’t know what kind of defenses Jason had added. Jason explained what they had and Sean was fairly impressed.  He wished they had a couple OP’s or observation posts but with the limited manpower they had it would be near impossible to man them anyways.  Sean said the most important thing they could do would be to armor up the balcony areas and the windows.  It was 3pm and they decided they had no time to lose.  Everyone was awake so it was decided Cassidy would stay with Sean, Allie and Teddy would watch the cameras and everyone else would begin armoring up the house.  Jason and Jeff went out to the garage after a sweep of the perimeter with the camera system and the started moving material.  They had a few sheets of ¼” steel plate which would be used to armor the balconies along with sheets of ¾” plywood.  The thickness of the timber constructed house would stop almost any round except maybe a .308 armor piercing round and of course a .50 cal round.  Next they began cutting plywood for the first and second floor windows.  They had enough plywood to triple up all the windows and the balcony defenses which they set with 8” lag bolts into the wood.  4” shooting ports were added to all the windows just in case.  It was after dark once everything was done and everyone was bone tired.  Teddy cooked up dinner.  They were out of fresh meat and they now had to hit their canned goods.  She made a tuna pasta casserole that wasn’t bad and even Sean made it to the dinner table.  He was in pain but it was manageable with some pain medicine and he wanted to be part of the defenses which meant he had to get himself moving.  Teddy had warned him to watch his stitches and he acknowledged her and showed her a scar on the right side of his abdomen.

“Not my first rodeo.” he chuckled explaining his shrapnel wound during combat a couple years before from an IED in Afghanistan.

While they ate they discussed their plans.  Under Sean’s direction ammo cans were brought upstairs to the command post and all the weapons were kept ready.

“Teddy, Your work here is obviously done, but we would like to invite you to stay with us if you would like to.” Jessica offered.

“That would be great but I would like to go back to my house to get some things and to bring my animals here if that’s possible?” she added.

They agreed and decided they would go first thing in the morning.  The other thing they had to do was get everyone setup with proper weapons.  Sean agreed to add his weapons and ammo cache into the group stock so that they could outfit everyone.  They decided that they would do a complete ammo and weapon inventory in the living room while mark took watch.  Jessica brought out a notepad and they started writing a list.

Ammunition:

5.56mm-  7000 rounds

7.62mm- 4000 rounds

.30-06- 1000 rounds

.338 lapua-  1000 rounds

9mm- 5000 rounds

.45 APC- 2000 rounds

12 ga buckshot- 1000 rounds

12 ga slug- 500 rounds

12 ga birdshot- 500 rounds

20 ga buckshot- 500 rounds

20 ga slugs- 100 rounds

20 ga birdshot 250 rounds

Weapons:

Jason-

-        AR15

-        M14

-        Remington 870

-        Glock 19

-        Glock 26

-        Glock 21

Jeff-

-        AR15

-        Remington 700

-        Remington 870

-        Glock 19

-        Glock26

-        Kimber 1911

Jessica-

-        AR15

-        Ruger Mini 14

-        Remington 870

-        Glock19

-        S&W 6906

Allie-

-        HiPoint Carbine

-        Glock 26

-        Remington 870 20 ga

Sean-

-        M4 Carbine

-        Fn SCAR

-        .338 Lapua SniperRifle

-        Glock 19

Teddy-

-        .30-30 Lever action Rifle

-        Glock 26

-        AR 15

Mark

-        AR15

-        Mossberg 500

-        S&W M&P 9mm

Cassidy

-        H&R 20 ga pump shotgun

-        Marlin .22 rifle

-        .22 revolver

-        Berretta Storm Carbine

-        Wilson Combat 1911

Unassigned

-        Cut down 12 ga double barrel

-        M14

-        M1 Garand

-        Gahlil

-        Keltec 9mm carbine

-        Remington 870

-        Benelli Over under 12 ga

-        Colt 1911

-        Remington 770 .30-06

-        Springfield 1911

It was decided that Teddy would get the AR15 and the Glock 26 pistol to add to her load out and Cassidy would carry the Berretta Storm and the Wilson Combat 1911.  The other weapons wound be placed in the armory except for the scoped Remington 700 which would be kept in the Command Center.  One gun not put on the list was Jason’s Rossi interchangeable. It had 3 barrels that could be put on the stock a .410 shotgun, a .22lr rifle and a .243 rifle barrel. This was kept in his bug out bag.  It was decided to place the collapsible Keltec in Sean’s Bug-out bag and the cut down 12 ga in Jeff’s.  Additionally they all placed a handgun in their bags except Allie who could only handle the Glock 26.  Jeff and Jason decided to take the first watch of the evening and then teddy and Jessica would take watch so that Jason and Jessica’s bedroom could be shared.  Cassidy would sleep in Allies room and Mark would sleep on the floor with Sean in Jeff’s room.

Chapter 34

The underground bunker was getting claustrophobic for the men who were used to the finest in life’s luxuries.  But they knew the conditions above ground were not those they wanted to live in, which was exactly their plan.  There was no way they could take over the American government in a feasible time table.  There were too many “gun toting, bible thumping hillbillies” to be able to legislate the national takeover. The first obstacles were the number of privately owned guns in America.  Every poll ever taken showed overwhelming support of the second amendment and no matter how much twisting and mainstreaming of the anti-gun movement would change public opinion.  So the choice was to legislate a gun ban and risk revolt that the military may not be able to put down (if they even chose to) or to let the gun owners kill each other off.  That’s where the beginnings of this plan had been formed.  The military was unreliable and the American people were too attached to their stupid guns.  Their plan was under way and soon they would have the control they needed. They sat in the meeting hall awaiting their first report on the situation.  Moments later the large TV came on and a man in full tactical gear on the screen.  The 4 letters printed across the front of the man’s tactical vest were known well to the American people, but not in the roll they would soon be used.

“Captain Dickson please give us your report.” the man at the head of the table ordered.

“Sir, activities are fully consistent with all of our computer projections.  We have wide spread violence and looting in all major cities.  Without power nearly all police and National Guard units are unable to function and nearly all have left to take care of their own families.  We have significant racial uprising in most cities and the religious groups are also getting in on the action.  Smaller cities and most towns are still having some order but we expect the influx of people leaving the cities and the lack of food supplies will soon overrun any attempt to control the violence.” The captain reported.

“So what is the current timetable on activities?” one man asked receiving a glare from the chairman.

The timelines should have been well known to this man had he paid any attention to the meetings and documentation that they had all been provided.

“Sir, our next step will begin the propaganda part of the plan.  In about a week the Vice President will begin to address the nation through strategically located ham radio operators we will have placed along with those few who may still have operating radios. Progress will be slow and by word of mouth.  After that we will begin further operations…”

The captain was cut off by the chairman.

“Thank you captain, we all know the plan here and you have important work to do.  We will hear from you again in one week.”  The chairman concluded and then abruptly ended the meeting, his agitation clear.

He headed back to his suite.  He needed a drink and maybe figure out how to tie up this loose end.

Chapter 35

Tim sat in the passenger seat of the truck headed north once again.  He closed his eyes and held his AR across his chest.

“How did I end up in this mess?” he thought to himself as he headed north once again on the same small road.

Tim was now a Lieutenant in Money’s crew but it was not the easy job he thought it would be.  He had joined up with Mike at the Jail break, and while he didn’t enjoy the killing and rape like some of the other men did, he certainly didn’t mind the alcohol and drugs that came along with the work.  He was a simple man who just wanted an easy ride.  His criminal career had started at age 16 when, after dropping out of school, was implicated in a strong armed robbery. That brought him 2 years of juvenile probation and a severe argument with his single mother, but he wouldn’t let her control him. She spent all her time away from home so clearly she didn’t care about him.  Being a black teenager in a rural, mostly white, community had at first been difficult, but he learned that he easily fit in with the youthful rebellious teenagers of his generation and soon was no longer living at home.  He continued to drink and drug his way into a couple jail and prison trips but always refused to join a gang.  It just seemed like too much work and he was able to take care of himself physically.  At 6’2” and 225lbs of solid muscle which only grew during times in prison where smoking and weight lifting were the only real activities.  He had never enjoyed violence of any kind but he would defend himself if necessary.  His personality endeared him to most people, including the prison staff, and most of his time was spent in relative safety.  His mother had encouraged him to get a job once and he had, but he quickly learned that government benefits of Welfare and Medicaid paid better than his job stocking shelves, and once he included food stamps, he could live very well with zero effort.  Life was now a full time party of booze and drugs.  Now, however, he was under Money’s heel and the man had come unhinged.  He was completely obsessed with finding the man who had shot him and now that’s all Tim was doing.  But they weren’t just looking; they were under orders to torture and kill anyone who refused to help them.  This was where Tim began to have problems.  Killing and raping their way across the county was not Tim’s idea of fun, but he had already been reprimanded for not allowing a 12 year old girl to be executed and Mike had been clear, he would follow Money’s orders or be killed.  So here he was heading north again with this crew of animals who were already drinking and smoking at 7am laughing about their exploits of the day before.

Chapter 36

7am came early at the house for Jeff and Jason, who only got 5 hours of sleep, before their run to Teddy’s house.  Teddy, Jeff and Jason would go and the rest would stay and protect the house in case of trouble.  By 715 they were on the road in Jason’s truck with cups of coffee in hand.  When they arrived at the house Jeff immediately went inside to load up any useful items while Teddy and Jason hitched up the horse trailer and loaded the horses and goats.  They wanted the trip to be as quick as possible to limit their exposure.  Jeff loaded up boxes of dry goods, canned goods, and hygiene products into the back of the truck along with Teddy’s German shepherd mutt and several bags of dog food.  Jason and Teddy loaded the horses and goats quickly and then focused on the tack and feed for the animals.  The snowfall was early for the area but not unheard of.  It spurred them to load quickly as the snowfall became heavier and heavier.  By the time they headed home there was over an inch of snow on the road.  The danger of the tire tracks crossed Jason’s mind briefly but the amount of snowfall coming down meant they would quickly be covered and by the time Jason began unloading the truck he had completely forgotten about them.

Chapter 37

Tim noticed the tire tracks first and the driver began to hit the brakes, but Tim ordered him to continue, no use in letting anyone who may be watching know they were on to them.  He had the driver pull up the road half a mile and then they back tracked on foot.  He entered the woods down the road from the property and headed up the small rise.  The snow was the only reason he noticed the trip wire between the 2 trees and decided he would reconnoiter the rest by himself, ordering his men to stay put and stay quiet.  The noise of a dog barking broke through the snow filled silence and Tim froze.  Next he heard a female voice yelling at the dog to be quiet and the dog complied.  Tim got a good look at the house and the property from the rise and that’s when he noticed the infamous pick-up truck that he had searched high and low for, for days on end.  Tim slowly worked his way back to his men and walked all the way back to the truck before speaking with them.  He ordered 2 of the men to head back to Mike while he and the other man would keep watch.  There was some debate about the 4 of them attacking the house on their own but Tim quickly and efficiently continued with his plan despite being called a “pussy” and a “faggot” multiple times, along with a few racial slurs, but Tim didn’t back down.  The snow would slow them down but Tim would keep an eye on the place until he received orders from Money.

Chapter 38

Exhaustion was definitely taking its hold of Jason and he thought Jeff was feeling it too. They were both working long hours of broken sleep and had already dealt with many stressful situations. They were burning both ends of the candle and would need some down time soon.  They worked hard unloading the animals and supplies and were completed by 11 am.  Jason decided he was going to bed, he asked Jessica to make sure the other chores got done and headed upstairs. Jeff was 5 minutes behind him and they both slept almost instantly.  Sean was out of bed today and sat down to learn the security system along side Cassidy.  Teddy took care of the animals and got her dog settled in the house.  Allie taught Sean and Cassidy the computer while Mark and Jessica put away the other supplies and worked on making some lunch.  Mark decided that in the afternoon he would head out to do a little hunting with his crossbow. They needed more fresh meat and the fresh snow would make tracking the deer very easy.  At 230 pm Mark carefully made his way out of the house and quietly slipped into the woods with his crossbow.  He brought his pistol with him but that was it.  Any extra weapons would just make noise.  The boys were woken up for dinner at 5 pm and they ate some beef stew and some instant macaroni and cheese.  Sean was able to get up and down the stairs with relative ease and brought his dinner upstairs to keep watch while everyone else got to sit down for dinner and relax a bit.

Chapter 39

Tim was getting antsy.  It had been hours since he had sent his men back for Money and he hadn’t seen anyone come out of the house since just after he had arrived.  Those he had seen were wearing full body armor and were heavily armed but they seemed to be staying inside.  He got word from Money at 4pm and went about a mile down the road to meet him, leaving a man to continue observing.  Tim reported what he had seen and drew Money a crude map of the property.  Money wanted this guy very badly, that was clear, as he wanted to attack immediately.  Almost anybody would know that was a foolish idea, these were people who were clearly prepared; surely they would have someone observing the area.  After a few minutes of reasoning Money agreed to wait until sundown but that was it.  He had brought 35 armed men with him in 4 vehicles so along with Tim and the other man with him a total of 37 men would try to take the house with 4-5 occupants.  It should be a cake walk.

Chapter 40

The sun had gone down 10 minutes earlier and the target in his scope was just sitting there and waiting like an open invitation.  The dusk was prime time for this and there was plenty of light in his scope.  He exhaled slowly, as he had done many times before, and carefully squeezed the trigger allowing it to scare him just a little.  The weapon was incredibly quiet and his shot hit home perfectly.  Mark watched the deer run 10 yds. and then lay down.  It was a perfect double lung shot and the 2” opening of the broad head had quickly and painlessly bled out the 6 point buck.  It was no record buck but it would certainly put a good deal of meat on the table.  Mark found his crossbow bolt in the grass of the field and found it was still in perfect shape so he put it back in his quiver and then went to the deer.  After quick field dressing he would drag it back to the workshop and show off his handy work.  The loud report of the rifle nearly caused him to soil his pants.  The multitude of shots in response nearly gave him a heart attack.

Chapter 41

Sean had thought he had seen movement on the camera by the front entrance and was trying to track it down for the past several minutes but to no avail.  Maybe it had just been a bird or something flying by he thought as he returned back to the other screens.  His timing had been pure luck.  Four armed men were clearly visible sneaking across the property to hide behind the workshop.  Sean grabbed his rifle and yelled for Jason the instant he saw the men.  Sean brought his scope up and had to think for half a second.  He had not fired his rifle under 300yds in a long while and he had to think of the ballistics of his .338 lapua round.  He held his scope to the center of the first man’s chest and fired.  The round hit the man in the jaw and nearly decapitated him.  Sean worked the smooth bolt of the custom-built sniper rifle while Jason and Jeff asked him for a report.

“Four men…” Sean started but was cut off by a hail of gunfire, Sean dropped to cover before getting off his second shot at the shocked, brain covered, men remaining.

“More then four men” Sean restated as he kept his head down as the shots continued to pour in.

Jason and Jeff both brought up their rifles and blindly returned fire rapidly pulling the trigger 5 times each, just to give the enemy something to think about.  Several seconds passed before the gunfire slowed.  Now was Jason’s time to step up.  He wasn’t the best shooter, he wasn’t the best tactician but he was the best leader.  He had learned years before that in a major emergency everything turns to chaos, great leaders are able to quickly and efficiently organize the chaos and Jason was very good at it.

“Sean stay here, Jeff goes to the other side” Jason said and then ran downstairs.

“Jessica secure the door, I need everyone upstairs now!  Where’s Mark?” Jason asked.

“He was out hunting!” Jessica replied running upstairs with rifle in hand.

“Jessica, you’re with Jeff, Cassidy with Sean, Teddy your job is keeping everyone supplied with ammo. Allie you’re on the cameras, any questions?” Jason asked and there were none.

Allie was by far the fastest user of the camera and they had trained her in how to call out targets, everyone was now on a portable radio.  Jeff and Sean continued to fire and the girls joined him.  Jason would help whoever needed it and would coordinate things the best he could.  Jason first went to Sean’s side and assisted him with cover fire and instructing Cassidy with what she needed do.  For someone with limited experience she seemed to be handling the combat environment pretty well.  Jason came up and fired several rounds over the balcony in an attempt to draw fire and give Sean a target.  He fired and received at least 10 rounds in return; this was not working out as he had planned.  There had to be over 30 guns firing back at them, Sean didn’t need any targets, he needed help taking out targets.  Sean continued to work his bolt and with each shot a target would go down.  Cassidy also fired and although she wasn’t hitting targets with every shot she did keep several heads down.  Jason went back inside and checked on the other side.  There weren’t as many men on this side of the house but they were well dug in and Jeff was having a hard time finding shots, neither he nor Jessica had expended a full magazine.  Allie continued to call out targets but there were too many for Sean to handle.  Jason exchanged his AR for his M1A and went to join the fight.  Provided the targets were within 300 yds Jason was perfectly capable of taking the shot, his skill was quick target acquisition and close quarter combat, sniper firing was not his forte.  Sean was on the left side of the balcony so Jason went right.  He peered thru the ACOG scope looking for a target, the light was low and he had a hard time sighting, even with the quality optic.  He pulled the night vision scope out of his tactical vest and clipped it to the picatinny rail in front of his scope.  The darkness that the enemy wished to use to their advantage would now be there downfall.  The kick of the 7.62x51mm round slightly surprised him as did the mist of bodily fluid that flew in the air behind his target.

Chapter 42

Mike was losing it.  Not one thing was going to plan, not one fucking thing.  His men were supposed to sneak up to the house and break in quietly.  Then a group of 10 of his men, armed with shotguns, would go in to the house guns blazing and kill anyone inside. He also set up a perimeter so that if anyone escaped they too would be taken down, no prisoners.  But his men weren’t even in place before the first shot had blown the head clear off his Lieutenant’s body who was leading the entry team.  Now it was a free for all.  He had no way to communicate with all his men and they were just blindly firing at the house and being taken out one by one with highly accurate fire.  He needed to regroup and take control.  He had one more card to play and sent his largest man back to the vehicles to retrieve the surprise.  When he returned with the large item Money gave him his orders and sent him on his way.

Chapter 43

Sean and Cassidy continued taking down targets.  Sean had switched to his FN Scar as there were just too many targets and the extra firepower and extra distance wasn’t necessary.  He needed more rounds heading down range as quickly as possible.  Jason went back to check on Jessica and Jeff who had taken out 2 targets, one each, and believed they had 5 other targets but none were sticking their heads up or firing.  Sean’s yells for help got Jason moving back to the other side.  Jason came out onto the balcony and quickly acquired multiple targets trying to rush the house.  His M1A barked as did Sean’s FN and Cassidy’s AR and then the unthinkable happened and Sean new instantly that they were in trouble.  The steady staccato of a M60 machine gun ripped through the night air and the rounds tore through the defensive steel and plywood that had protected them all so far.  All three went down for cover but only two came up.

Chapter 44

Mark was trying to come up with a plan.  It was only about 10 minutes after the gun fire had started but it felt like an eternity.  He had scouted out the route back to the house but he was behind enemy lines and he was sure the house was locked up secure and he would never make it in without getting shot to pieces.  He was only armed with a pistol with one extra magazine, a crossbow with 4 bolts and a sheath knife.  He felt the best thing he could do would be to just sit tight.  That was until he heard the machine gun fire followed by screams coming from the house.  Before he even knew it his feet were under him and he was moving.  The machine gun fire came from his left and he quietly moved around and behind the big gun which was easy to see with the 3 foot muzzle flashes shining like a beacon in the night.  When he was within 30 yds of the ear shattering noise he brought up his crossbow and tried to find the target.  It was too dark for the inexpensive scope on the crossbow, only the muzzle flash was visible.  He was behind the gunner and figured he had to try something.  He tried to estimate where the gunners body would be, aligned his crossbow and fired the bolt.  The bellowing scream from his target told Mark he had struck home and he quietly moved away from the area.

Chapter 45

The gunfire seamed as it would never end and Jason knew he had been hit with at least one round, maybe more.  He was terrified.  When the gunfire stopped he wasted no time.  He felt the impact to his right lower leg when it had happened; it stung like a million beestings, now all he wanted was to get inside where he would have the additional 10 inches of protection from the thick walls.  He began to pull himself up when he saw Cassidy laying on the ground with a small pool of blood under her head.  She appeared dead but Jason didn’t care, with his adrenaline pumping he got on his feet and grabbed Cassidy by the arms and pulled her inside.  Sean was stirring as well and covered their retreat.  Jessica and Teddy met them almost the instant the entered the house and immediately checked on Cassidy.

“Is she alive?” Jason asked as he reloaded his rifle.

“She’s breathing and has a pulse” Teddy replied looking over her body.

Jason got up and started to head back out.

“Where are you going?” Jessica screamed, terror on her face.

“Sean needs help!” Jason shouted.

“Your hurt!” was Jessica’s loud reply.

“I’m fine!” Jason replied.

“Look at your leg!” Jessica shouted at the top of her lungs.

Jason looked down and what he saw completely shocked him. Expecting to have a bullet hole in his calf he was shocked to see the nearly foot long piece of plywood completely penetrating his calf through to the other side.  That’s when the pain and shock took hold.  He felt light headed and nauseous and started sweating profusely.  Jessica ran to him as he took 2 very wobbly steps and sat down in a chair.  That’s when he noticed the utter lack of gunfire and relative silence of the evening.  Jessica grabbed him and made sure he was ok.

“I’m ok” Jason replied to her frantic questions.

“Go help with Cassidy. I’m fine, just in a little shock.” Jason continued.

“Are you sure?” Jessica asked with absolute concern on her face.

“I’m good.” Jason said kissing her.

The relief on her face was obvious as she returned to check on Cassidy.  Jason pulled out his combat knife and cut away the bottom of his pants to look at the wound.  There were actually several large splinters in his calf, but no bullet hole, he couldn’t imagine how he hadn’t been hit.  The report of Sean’s sniper rifle brought him back to reality and he hobbled himself back out to the balcony against the protests of Jessica.

“What you got?” Jason asked bringing his weapon up to survey the area.

“Nothing right now, put another one down.  I think they are realizing we have night vision and they are way outclassed.  How is Cassidy?” he asked with clear fear for her in his voice.

“Jessica and the Doc are looking at her now, she’s alive is all I know.” Jason replied.

Sean’s response was a nod as he returned to survey the ground in front of him looking for movement.

Chapter 46

Money was as angry as he had ever been. Not 5 minutes before he had literally beaten one of his own men to death for refusing to charge the house.  The man was right and Money knew it, but he didn’t care.  He wanted these motherfuckers dead and he wanted them dead right now.

“Tim! Get over here!” he bellowed.

Tim shook his head and cursed under his breath before he headed over.  Jew boy was there and they appeared to be putting together a plan, but the look on Jew boys face told him it was a lost cause.  Jew boy laid out the plan, it was a little more clever than the night before, and took advantage of the dusk.  They would move two teams up the flanks; one would be a distraction while the other team moved up to set the house on fire. He had 10 gallons of gasoline ready to go.  Tim’s job would be to lead the distraction force and draw their fire.  He knew this was absolute suicide, they clearly had a well-trained shooter in the house, but Tim knew what had happened to the man who just refused the last order given by Money; he knew he had a better chance making the fatal charge.

Chapter 47

The exhaustion was completely overwhelming as was the pain in his leg.  Jason sat in the chair with heavy eyes.  Less than 30 minutes of combat and he was already exhausted. How could men go to war?  How could this happen to this great country?  How could people turn into complete animals? These questions along with the pain in his calf were the only things keeping Jason awake.  Cassidy was unconscious, not shot, but had been knocked off her feet and struck her head against the wall, she should be ok.  Sean amazingly had not been shot and continued to keep watch with his night vision scoped sniper rifle.  Jeff watched his side as well although he hadn’t seen much action on his side of the house.  They had located Mark out in the back field behind enemy lines, he knew where the cameras were and got himself into view, he was waiting behind a large pine tree.  Teddy and Jessica tended Cassidy and then finally stitched up Jason’s leg.  He refused pain medication saying he needed to stay alert, but the pain of removing the large splinters and then stitches was clear on his face.  Jessica and Teddy were both equally amazed that he didn’t cry out.  Jason conferred with Jeff and Sean and they decided that the enemy was probably going to wait until morning so they should get some people rest.  Sean tried to protest as he was able to spend days without sleep during combat as had been forced on him both in Recon school and behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, but Teddy made it clear that he was wounded and he needed more rest than anyone else.  They would let two people rest and the other 4 would stay on watch and then they would rotate every couple hours. Jason and Sean were volunteered to go first as they were wounded.  They didn’t protest.  Jeff took up post on Sean’s balcony and Jessica took over on Jeff’s balcony.  Teddy took over on the surveillance and Allie went between the three to keep them company.  Everyone was amazed at how well Allie handled the combat; she was a girl who was 13 and scared of a dark room, but performed incredibly well under dire circumstances.  The 2 hours felt like moments to Jason and Sean and they were soon back on watch observing the blackness of the dark night.  The night went by in perfect stillness until the edges of the sun were visible on the eastern skyline.  Then a booming staccato ripped through the stillness with such power that the occupants of the house could feel the entire structure vibrating.  They all hit the ground, the only one to say anything with Sean.  “We’re fucked!”

Chapter 48

At the appointed time Money gave the order to Tim to have his men move in one minute.  Tim knew he was screwed but what could he do.  Defiance was death and Tim planned to live, and live away from Money’s insanity.  He just needed to wait for his moment.  Tim eyed the watch and as the clock ticked passed the minute he gave the order and his men began moving but he hesitated.  His gut told him something was wrong.  He looked back to Money who glared back at him, the message clear "move or I’ll kill u myself."  Tim began moving when the air around him churned like a deep bass drum, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, it entirely overwhelmed his senses.  He watched the men in front of him get blown to pieces.  It was his time to move.  He got to his feet and looked back to Money who had complete shock on his face.  He and Jew boy stared forward at the unknown force blowing his men limb from limb.  It was Tim’s chance.  He pulled out his short barreled .357 revolver and ran back, clearly retreating, and ran passed Money and Jew boy. He paused for a moment, fired 2 quick rounds, and then continued running into the hundreds of square miles of forest before him.  He smiled he was free.

Chapter 49

Jason and the other residents of the house looked on in utter shock as the men in the woods were cut to pieces.  No one could understand what was happening.  As they looked on the noise stopped and a new noise took its place.  Jeff Jason and Sean all shouldered their weapons and targeted the large vehicle rolling up their driveway until they recognized what it was.  The military Humvee came to a stop with the large .50 caliber machine gun pointed in their direction. A second followed and covered the area where the attackers had once been. Jason and the others all lowered their weapons, a sense of relief filled them, and then the man got out of the vehicle and the sense of relief was gone, filled with dread, compete dread.

Chapter 50

Jason was the first to realize something was wrong but Sean wasn’t far behind.  The man’s movement and the visible tattoos immediately gave away the fact this man was not military and once the man turned to face Jason immediately recognized him.  A second man joined him at the truck and awaited a meeting.

"I know this guy, we might be ok.  Jeff and Sean, you guys keep an eye on the 50's I’m gonna go talk to him." Jason said while heading downstairs.

He left his AR inside but kept his pistol.  As he headed out the door Jason saw the man’s recognition. “So now the game begins.” Jason thought.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw mark who had his crossbow up and aimed at the man he was meeting.

"Officer Byron" the tattooed man said with a nod in greeting.

"Royal" Jason replied nodding in return.

Marcus “Royal” Royce was a man he had known over his many years at the jail.  He was respectful Inmate but he was also a known Latin King.  The tattoos gave that away instantly, particularly the large crown on his neck.

"I see you had a little trouble here." Royal stated.

"We were doing ok." Jason replied.

"I can see that." Royce said as he looked around.

"So where'd you get the hardware?" Jason asked.

"Well, funny thing, the guard unit in Port Jervis was ordered up to the army base the other day before the attacks and they got blown up.  Deeds here…" pointing to the man next to him "…is a guard Sergeant and luckily he wasn’t on, but he could get us in to the armory."

Jason was truly scared now, “they have an entire guard armory” he thought.

"So what’s your plan?" Jason asked bluntly.

"That’s why I like you Byron, you don’t bullshit, you’re a straight shooter." Royal said chuckling.  "It’s pretty simple, its survival of the fittest and I plan on being the fittest.  If people can help me I’ll allow them to stay, for a price, or they will leave one way or another." he concluded.

"So you’re taking over?" Jason asked.

"Consider me and my boys the new sheriff and government, trust me I’m not the animal Money was, I’m firm but fair, but I am in charge now." Royal stated.

"Ok, so what does this mean for us?" Jason asked.

"Well I’ll be honest, I can’t have you in my territory, you’re a cop and my boys can’t respect that.  But you’ve always done me right and treated me with respect. Plus you took care of Money and a lot of his boys so I’ll make you a deal.  You have 48 hours to leave and you will be left alone, but in 48 hours I’ll be back and your house will be mine one way or another.  I have enough men and fire power to take out your group and bring that house crashing down so don’t be stupid." Royce said as he got back in the Hummer.

"Byron, be gone in 48 hours." Royce said as he drove away.

Jason headed back in waving to Mark to follow.  Everyone wanted to know what was said and what was going on.  Jason checked on Cassidy who was now awake and got everyone downstairs where they could sit and discuss the situation.  Everyone was included, the surveillance was left abandoned.  Considering the firepower that had ripped through the area over the last 12 hours no one would be coming near and this was an extremely important discussion.  Jason relayed the information from Royce along with his deadline.  Everyone started talking at the same time.  Jason got everyone quiet and then took charge.

"Sean, what are our chances of fighting these guys?" Jason asked.

"Honestly about zero, especially if you want to keep the house." Sean said matter-of-factly.

"Alright, so I guess we go.  The problem is fuel.  We have enough to fill each truck with one tank but that’s about it.  We will need to get a lot more to make it to Wyoming." Jason said clearly pained to make the decision.

"Why Wyoming?" asked Cassidy.

"My parents have a large ranch out there and we’re welcome there.  I don’t know where else we could go." Jason said.

Cassidy looked at Sean and Sean nodded back to her.

"Sean has property in upstate NY." Cassidy stated.

"How much property and where?" Jason asked shocked.

"About 200 acres about an hour east of Lake Ontario.  It’s in the middle of nowhere surrounded by state land." Sean said.

"How far away is it?" Jessica asked.

"Normally about 4 or 5 hours, but with the abandoned cars it will probably take a couple days." Sean replied.

"Does it have water, farm land and game on it?" Jason asked thinking this might work.

"It has a year round stream and a decent size pond and swamp area.  It has some fields on it and some scrub apple trees.  It may have been farmed years ago but there is no evidence of it other then the open fields.  The problem is shelter.  It has an older double-wide trailer on it but it can’t hold all of us.  And winter is rough up there, a lot of lake effect snow.  We will be way behind the 8 ball.  We will need tons of firewood and some kind of shelter to make it through." Sean said.

"This may work.  Bill told me we can have his travel trailer if we need it and we have the wall tent in the basement plus the artic stove for it.  If we take the woodstove from our bedroom we can have 3 shelters almost instantly ready with some work.  With only 48 hours we have a ton of work to do so we best get to it.  Sean, can you and Cassidy check weapons outside and gather up the weapons and ammo that make the most sense?" Jason asked and Sean nodded.

"Jessica, can you and Mark start loading up food and keeping an inventory of what we have? I’m not sure we can take everything." Jason asked and Jessica agreed.

"Teddy and Allie, I’d like you two to come up with a way to move as many of the animals as possible to take with us." Jason stated.

"Bringing them is easy but where will we keep them?  Without shelter they won’t last the winter." Teddy replied.

"Think about it, Jeff and I are going to get Bill’s trailer and then start disassembling the solar system." Jason said.  They all got to work.

Chapter 51

The men had just left their daily meeting and the chairman was very pleased the reports were just as he had hoped.  All domestic policing forces had been over run, all National Guard units that had not been at local military bases had disbanded and the international situation was even better.  Japan and Russia were both at war with China, Iran had exchanged nuclear weapons with Israel, India and Pakistan had also exchanged nuclear weapons.  The European nations were at war with a Russian supported middle east.  Australia and New Zealand had been struck by a Chinese EMP and were dealing with an invasion force from China.  The entire world was destabilized and the men in this underground bunker and their allies overseas were very pleased indeed.  By toppling the one true superpower that could intervene around the world everyone had made their move and in the end these men would be the ones left in power.  Things were going exactly to plan.  Now to wait for the great citizens of America to kill each other off to such an extent that the group could seize control and begin rebuilding the country starting with its government and a new constitution.  In 6 months the world would be a brand new place and he would be its ruler.

Chapter 52

Jason was very somber as he brought Bill’s travel trailer up the driveway and looked at his home.  He had spent his whole life dreaming of this home and he finally had it, but a disaster that he had foreseen had taken it from him.  How could he lose all this?  All the planning and supplies, all the money and research gone, all gone.  He was nearly in tears as he parked the trailer.  There was no time to feel sad though.  He and his people had more work to do then they could handle and had had to get his game face on.  Sean and Cassidy were piling up weapons and ammunition near the front door, Jessica and mark were loading up essential food into the utility trailer and Allie and Teddy were setting up a cage to carry the chickens. Jason saw Sean and Cassidy carrying the large M60 machine gun back to the house.

“We gonna bring that with us?” Jason asked.

“Hell yeah.  It may waste ammo but it’s certainly an intimidator. It’s worth bringing with us.”  Sean replied.

Jason nodded and headed inside to see Jessica and Mark.

“I think we should load the food into Bill’s travel trailer, it will be protected by the weather in there and we can load the utility trailer up with tools and other supplies.” Jason said to them.

Jessica looked to him with sadness.

Jason embraced her.  He gave her a kiss and looked into her eyes.  “We will be ok.” he said.

“I don’t want to leave.” she replied with a tear rolling down her beautiful face.

“I don’t either, but we have no choice.  We will be ok and who knows, maybe one day we can come back here.”  Jason replied confidently as much for himself as for Jessica.

She held onto him and buried her face in his chest and cried for a moment.  He held her there comforting her until she was done and headed back to work.

“Don’t forget the seed supplies.” Jason said as he headed out.

“Already loaded.” Jessica said and he went to work.

Jason and Jeff disassembled the radio, security and solar systems and loaded them into the back of the suburban.  The solar system had 12 deep cycle batteries but Jason only brought 6 of them due to the limited space.  He also loaded up all the spare radios, motion sensors and other important electrical components into the truck.  He was moving as quickly as he could but he was getting tired and his leg really hurt.

Sean and Cassidy had gathered up several weapons into 2 piles.  One pile contained all the weapons and ammo that were chambered in the same caliber as those they were using, the other pile was the weapons and ammo that were chambered for different rounds.  There wasn’t too much ammunition for any of the guns but there were several very nice weapons.  In the keep pile were two .308 hunting rifles, two Ar 15’s, another Ruger Mini-14, four 12 gauge shotguns, four quality 9mm pistols and three .45 pistols.  They also found a Berretta Storm 9mm carbine rifle.  Sean also returned with the crossbow bolt that Mark had used to kill the m60 machine gunner.  He hadn’t told anyone about that incident and he was congratulated by everyone.  He had shot the man in the lower back and had pierced his spleen.  It had not been a quick kill.

In early afternoon Jessica and Mark went off into the woods and returned with the Buck that Mark had shot the night before.  They quickly skinned the animal and started butchering.  They were only going to take the easy meat, which was not their normal routine, but time was limited.  Mark started a large roaring fire in the fire pit outside and cooked up both back-straps over the fire.  It would let those outside warm themselves and it was the easiest way to quickly cook up the meat. Everyone gathered for a quick bite to eat and then headed back to work.  They knew time was their enemy at the moment.

Jason hooked up the horse trailer to Sean’s pick-up and the Utility Trailer to Jeff’s Jeep after siphoning the rest of the fuel from Jessica’s SUV into the vehicles. Sean and Cassidy brought the extra weapons they found into the house.  The guns they didn’t want to bring were brought down into the bunker and locked away, hopefully to never be found by whoever took up residence in the house after they left.  Jason moved on to loading up tools from the workshop into the utility trailer.  He loaded bow saws, axes, hatchets, hoes, shovels, pick-axes, and a post-hole digger.  Then he moved to his woodworking tools, which he had a good collection of.  The sun was setting as he finished loading up what he wanted to bring.  For dinner they cooked up loads of venison, canned vegetables, and potatoes.  They had a fair amount of food they couldn’t bring so they decided to eat like kings.  They also indulged on all the wine and beer that they wanted; although Jason cautioned them not to drink too much as they all had loads of work to do tomorrow.  And then for the last time they slept in real beds and for Jessica and Jason they made love for what was most likely the last time in their own bed.

Chapter 53

Tim had been walking all day and now he was tired, hungry and cold.  The wilderness was not something he’d ever experienced much of but he initially enjoyed the freedom and silence that came with it.  As his day continued on he realized there was a dark side to go along with the intense beauty.  Hours earlier he had walked into a swamp which was covered with snow and was now soaked from the knees down. The water was freezing but as the day continued on his entire body began to shiver even though it was in the 40’s in the sunlight.  Then in the afternoon a light rain started and he was soon completely soaked but trudged on hoping to find civilization once again.  As darkness approached, he was freezing and had to find some kind of shelter.  He found a fallen tree near a rock ledge which mostly blocked the freezing wind and he gathered wood to start a fire.  He had a lighter in his pocket and tried to light some leaves on fire but they were all too wet and none would take the flame.  He was now shivering and getting desperate, he tried and tried over and over again but he couldn’t find anything in the woods that would burn.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a good wad of cash that he had gathered during his exploits with Money.  He hesitated mentally having a difficult time coming to grips with burning his stash of money.  He finally decided that it wouldn’t be worth anything to him dead and pulled off 2 $50 bills, the smallest he had, and set them alight.  He tried to get some twigs burning but the money burned out before the twigs caught.  Desperation finally fully made up his mind and he crumpled up the rest of his stash of money and lit it.  The twigs caught and he built up his fire.  Within a few minutes he had a roaring fire and went out to gather firewood and maybe some food.  After several armloads of firewood Tim noticed the rain had stopped but now a light snow was falling through the twilight.  He went back out with the intention of shooting himself a squirrel for dinner; they were everywhere and seemed like an easy target.  It turned out that shooting a large woodland rat with a snub nose pistol was not an easy prospect but on his 4 round he had gotten lucky and brought his squirrel back to his fire.  He stoked the fire in order to give himself enough light to work with and began the process of cleaning his kill.  The damage the .357 magnum bullet had done was quite impressive and nearly 1/3 of the edible flesh was destroyed. Tim pulled out his small pocket knife and went to work trying to skin the animal.  As he cut and pulled the skin away from the meat he gagged several times and nearly threw up.  “This is fucking gross.” he thought as he pushed himself through the disgusting process.  After he got the skin off he knew he had to pull out the guts.  The warm, slimy, stinking guts he pulled out did make him vomit.  After he recovered he set what was left of the squirrel over the fire and took the skin and guts and threw them off into the woods.  He sat trying to get warm beside the fire and reloaded his pistol with his last 6 rounds.  As he waited the snow came down harder and the wind picked up chilling him yet again.  He piled the fire high in order to take away his chill and finally felt warm, but he noticed that most of his firewood was gone and he had a long night ahead of him.  He grabbed a burning stick and headed off into the woods, using it as a torch.  After about 60 ft his “torch” went out and he cursed under his breath.  It was pitch black and the only thing he could see was his fire.  He started heading back slowly but he was again freezing cold.  As he picked up his pace he tripped over a log and fell face first into the snow covered ground.

“Fuck me!” he yelled aloud and pulled himself to his feet.

He brushed the snow from his face but it was slimy and smelled terrible.

“Motherfucker!!” he screamed as he attempted to wipe the squirrel guts off his face.

“My fucking luck.” He grumbled as he returned to his fire and found his squirrel on fire.

He quickly pulled it out and sat with a thump against the fallen tree.  He started to eat the half burned half raw squirrel as he thought about his day.  “It could be worse.” he thought as he finished the small animal and finally felt warm enough to try and sleep.  He stoked the fire and nodded off.  He awoke with a start but not knowing why.  His fire was out and the darkness was pitch black.  He heard a grunt in the woods that he couldn’t identify and sat himself back up.  He was cold again.  He looked around nervously but he couldn’t see anything.  He heard a loud crack from in front of him along with a deep growl.  He was scared. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his pistol.  He pointed out in front of him sweeping quickly back and forth nervously, his hands shaking.  The crunching grew louder, whatever it was coming closer and his fear increased exponentially.  He heart was beating so fast he thought his chest was going to explode and suddenly the overwhelming need to run away came over him.  He stood and an extremely loud crunch came from right in front of him.  He fired his gun and kept firing until all 6 rounds had been fired and his gun clicked on an empty chamber.  His fear broken he felt victorious, the adrenaline rush better than any high he had ever had before.  But his victory was short lived as he was knocked clear off his feet and rolled 3 to 4 times before coming to rest on the snow covered ground.  An overwhelming, gut wrenching growl came from the animal and his brain finally clicked.  “A bear” his mind said and before he even thought about it he was on his feet running headlong through the black forest as fast as his feet could take him.  And then with a thud everything went black.

Chapter 57

As the sun rose Jason sat on his balcony with Jessica wrapped in a blanket as they peered out over their property.  They drank their coffee in silence as they looked at what may be for the last sunrise they would see over the property they had spent their entire lives working for.  Misty eyed they both headed inside to start a long day of packing; they would be on the road by dark, heading to an unknown world and future.

Chapter 58

James awoke in a daze.  He looked around his surroundings with confusion. The white walls, drop ceiling and small TV on the wall were completely foreign to him.  As the rest of his senses came back he was filled with even more confusion.  The smells of smoke and death nearly complete silence, ravenous hunger and thirst and a headache of all headaches just made the entire situation that much more confusing and disconcerting.  He sat up in the bed and noticed the plastic tube stuck into his right forearm which he quickly pulled out.

"I must be in a hospital." he muttered to himself as he noticed the completely impractical hospital gown he was wearing.

He got himself to his feet but he was dizzy.

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked himself but didn’t have an answer.

"Hello!" he yelled but he didn’t hear anything.

He looked out the window of his room but a heavy fog made it futile.

"Hello?! Anybody?!" he yelled again.

He saw the open door to the bathroom and headed in to find water.  He turned on the sink and a trickle of water came out.  He cupped it in his hands and drank for several minutes until his ravenous thirst was satiated.  He looked into the mirror and found the reason for his massive headache. A large gash across his forehead from his hairline to just across right eye had been stitched up and was starting to heal.

"What the fuck did I do to myself?" he asked the man in the mirror.

He was feeling better now that he was hydrated and was thinking more clearly.  Something was wrong and he needed to get safe.  He looked through the closet in his room and found a bag containing his clothes.  He found underwear, socks, pants, boots and a light jacket.  He got dressed but realized his pants had been cut from the cuffs up to his knees.  "It must have been a car accident." he thought to himself.  He knew he was quite the fashion statement but he also had a strong sense that something was very wrong and he needed to get safe.  He learned long ago to trust his instincts.  He opened the door to his room and entered a different world.  Smoke wafted through the hallway and the smell of the smoke and of death was pungent in the confined space.  He knew for sure he was in a hospital and knew he had to get out.  He walked down the hall and found a closed door to his right.  He needed food and better clothes and decided to take a look.  The instant he opened the door he immediately regretted it.  The stench was overwhelming in the confined space and the source was readily apparent.  The two unrecognizable bloated bodies in the two beds had been dead for several days.  James wretched and was sure he would have vomited had he had anything in his stomach.  He closed the door and headed down the hall and found the nurses’ station, here he could start his search for resources.  Looking through the drawers he was rewarded by a snickers candy bar which he immediately tore into. It may have been the most delicious thing he had ever placed in his mouth.  He found a second candy bar and a full 20 oz bottle of water.  He ate the second candy bar and sucked down the bottle of water.  Next on his list was clothing.  He looked for a locker room or something similar where staff would have clothing.  As he walked he found something else that might be even more important, the medication room.  He found the door locked but quickly dealt with that by breaking off the handle of the door and disassembled the latch with a set of forceps he found at the nurses’ station.  He found some Motrin and took two 600mg tablets to deal with this awful headache.  Again he listened to his instincts and gathered himself some essential supplies.  He grabbed 4 saline drip bags and several iv's and also grabbed a package of Cipro, several packages of Motrin, some pain medication, several packages of gauze, 2 suture kits and a large package of antibiotic ointment.  He placed them all in an empty gauze box and continued on his search.  The smoke seemed to be heavier and he decided t fill his water bottle and try to find his way out.  Without lit exit signs and limited daylight navigating was fairly difficult but he was able to use a small penlight to assist and found the stairwell.  He moved his way slowly down the dark smoky stairwell to the bottom floor.  He checked the door with the back of his hand before he opened it, He didn’t know where the fire was but he knew he didn’t want to walk straight into it.  The door felt cool so he slowly opened it.  The smell down here was even worse than upstairs, which he didn’t believe was possible.  As he walked through the darkened hallway he saw light ahead and knew he had to get out, the smoke and smell of death was overwhelming causing his eyes to tear and caused him to gag every few minutes.  He saw daylight ahead and quickly moved towards it.  As he entered the light filled room he quickly realized that something far more than just a hospital emergency was going on.  The room was the emergency room and it was filled with dead rotting bodies.  James moved quickly out through the broken glass doors into what he had thought was fog and now realized was smoke from massive fires.  A light rain was falling which was clearly why the fires were not continuing their march through the town.  James looked out across the landscape in horror.  He didn’t know where he was but wherever it was it was not the town it had been.  Fires had gutted nearly every structure within his sight and the wafting smoke told him it extended for beyond his sight.  He tried to gather his bearings and determine what time it was but that was nearly impossible.  The heavy smoke and not knowing where he was made finding his direction difficult but the glow on the horizon made his options pretty clear.  It was either sunrise or nearly sunset and since he had daylight over the last few hours he figured the sun must be going down and he needed to find someplace safe to stay for the night.  He walked down the street between the abandoned cars looking for a solid structure.  He had already tried to start several cars and they were all completely dead and there were several bodies around him on the street and many had been shot.  “Were we invaded?” he thought to himself as he continued walking down this road filled with shops, many of which had been burned out.  He saw down the street to his left was a large building that showed some sign of fire but appeared mainly intact so he headed towards it.  He hadn’t really noticed before but it was cold, fucking cold.  Just wearing his waterproof jacket with nothing underneath certainly wasn’t cutting it.  He was cold, hungry, and hurt over nearly every square inch of his body.  He quickened his pace.  He arrived at the front of the half collapsed store and realized that there was no front door left.  He worked his way around to the rear of the store and found a locked door and a roll up garage door.  The garage was locked as well but he figured he would have better luck with it then the steel door.  After a few minutes of looking he found a piece of rebar and a long 2x4.  He slid the rebar under the door and made enough room to get the 2x4 under the door although it was no longer straight when he was done.  He worked the 2x4 in and pried up until he could get the 2x4 in longwise.  Then he started really putting his weight into it until the metal slide locks finally gave way.  He was then able to get enough room to roll under the door and into the large storage room.  Bringing the piece of rebar with him, he rolled into the dark room. After a moment looking around he pulled out the penlight, slid the door closed and used the rebar to re-secure it.  There was still a smell of smoke but it was definitely more subdued.  It was also dryer and with no wind, much warmer.  James quickly moved to the front of the store where he might have some daylight in which to work with.  He found the door to the main store and opened it and was greeted with pitch blackness.  Using his penlight he quickly looked around and determined he was in a major outdoor store.  His spirits rose with that knowledge.  He had been in hundreds of these stores and had a good idea where many items would be.  He headed to where the camping section would be and was rewarded with a display of propane lanterns.  He located several propane tanks and attached one to a display unit, checked the mantel and then turned on the gas and lit it up.  He adjusted the gas to its brightest setting and took in his surroundings.  The store had certainly seen better days but was still full of supplies.  He found a light sleeping bag and several inflatable sleeping bags and set up a nice bed for himself.  He was cold but also hungry.  He looked up and down the aisles and found a few dehydrated backpacking meals.  He moved them to his sleeping area and then went on a search for water. He went towards the front of the store, near the registers, where he often found water but the entire front of the store had collapsed.  His next best option was to try the bathroom or an employee break room.  He went back to the camping section and found several water bottles and grabbed two large ones and then looked for the bathroom sign.  He tried the faucet and was able to collect about 1/2 a bottle before the flow stopped.  It would be enough to eat and drink before bed at least.  He setup a small propane camp stove and cooked up 2 large packages of beef stroganoff and dug in.  He finished his water, stripped off his wet clothing and climbed into the sleeping bag.  Sleep found him quickly.

He awoke an unknown amount of time later and was again hungry. He again fired up the lantern and decided he needed to start gathering supplies.  First on his list was water.  He went to the employee break room and was rewarded with a large vending machine which he opened with a chair.  There were 15 bottles of water and several other sodas.  He found a cola and drank deeply hoping the caffeine would help take away part of his headache.  He brought several water bottles back and found a couple dehydrated egg breakfasts which he quickly heated and ate.  Next he went to the clothing section and found socks, underwear, long johns and camouflage outers in his size which he threw on and warmed up nicely.  He looked and found a good LED flashlight and the batteries for it.  He tested it and it worked.  The flashlight would help speed up his search.  Next he wanted portable radio to try to get some news about what was going on.  He found several but none would work even with new batteries. He was getting the feeling that something bad, and something widespread had happened.  He felt he knew what it was but his brain wouldn’t let him remember.  He knew someone had told him something but he couldn’t remember who or what. He now had clothes and decided to see what was going on in the outside world.  He opened the steel fire door and used a brick to keep the door propped open.  He walked onto the main street and started walking looking at the damaged, burned out stores.  He was sipping a bottle of water when he saw movement to his right.  He saw a young man enter what appeared to be a deli through a busted out front window.  He walked in that direction and arrived just as the man reappeared.  The man saw him and started running away.

“Hey, Wait!” James yelled and he chased behind the man.

The man turned into an alley 20 yds in front of James and disappeared from sight.  He turned the corner and looked around.  The man was nowhere to be seen. Either the man was able to sprint at the speed of an Olympian or the man was hiding.  James bet on hiding.

“You can come out.  I’m not here to hurt you.  I just woke in the hospital and just need some information.” James said hoping for a response but there was none.

“I have water to trade for information.” James added.

The man appeared from a pile of debris and approached him.

”Let me see the water.” the man said.

He was young, probably in his late teens, and dirty.  James pulled out the nearly full bottle of water and held it out so the boy could see.

“Pass it over.” The boy said nearly salivating at the sight of the water bottle.

“Information first.” James replied.

“How do I know you’re not gonna bail when I tell you what you want to know?” The boy said.

“How about I leave it in-between us on the ground and when were done ill step away and it’s all yours.” James replied.

“Ok, what you want to know?” the boy asked.

“Who are you?” James asked.

“You can call me “T” the boy said.

“Ok, T.  What happened?” James asked.

“What part?” T replied.

“Start from the beginning.” James replied.

“Well, first someone set off a bomb at the army base down the road, woke me right out of my sleep.  Then the lights and power all went out, all the cars, cellphones, everything.  Then the fire came.  The army base started a fire in the woods and none of the fire trucks worked so no one could stop it.  Everyone went nuts running out of town stealin food an guns and water all running to get outa town.  Shit was crazy man.” T replied.

“You stayed?” James asked.

“Hell yeah, those people left lots of shit behind.  I gotta place to live now, and lots of nice shit.  Just hard to find water.” T stated.

“You lived on the streets before?” James asked.

“Not anymore, now I gotta whole town.” He said raising his arms and pointing around.

“So where did everyone go?” James asked.

“They all headed to Watertown just west of here.” T replied.

“What town is this?” James asked

“Were in Carthage, NY” he replied.

“So what else is around here?”

“To the North is Canada, South and East is all forest and West, after Watertown, is Lake Ontario.” T stated getting antsy.

“Did anyone go anywhere other than Watertown?” James asked.

“Where else would you go? Dude you got too many quest…” T cut himself short and the deep rumble of motorcycles could be heard in the distance.

“You better go and hide, the Angels will kill you if they find you.” T said as he ran to his water bottle and then took off into the depths of the burned out town.

James moved as quickly as he could back to the alley by the sporting goods store and safety.  He listened to the rumble get closer and closer to the town and he took cover behind a pile of fallen block from the front of the store and watched the bikers ride in.  There were 8 of them, the typical beard wearing, beer bellied outlaw biker type.  They rode freely through the main street in town with weapons clearly visible.  Handguns, shotguns and semi-automatic rifle were proudly displayed without a care.  James ducked low as the men rode within 20 feet of him and passed the sporting goods shop and then slowing a few hundred feet down the road and parked their bikes.  The men spoke briefly then split into two groups, and one headed in his direction.  James booked it back around the back of the building and through the propped fire door, securing it behind him.  He hid in the darkened storage area between pallets of boxes.  He waited until he heard the bikes start but that hadn't happened. Obviously the men were looking for supplies and a large sporting goods store would probably be a prime location.  He felt a knot build in his stomach as the thought registered and he realized he was completely unarmed and in the dark.  Moments later it happened.  The men were there and trying to get in.

“This is the only way in?” one asked.

“Yeah, the whole fucking front of the store caved in, hopefully someone left the damn door open, it’s cold out here.” Replied another.

The men pulled on the emergency door for a moment and then moved on to the rolling garage door.  They weren’t trying very hard yet, just using there muscle to try and force the doors.  They gave up a moment later and James prayed they would just leave.

“Boom!!” came the report from a gun along with a clang on the emergency door.  James nearly soiled his pants as he cringed by the deafening report of the gun.  Once his ears recovered he heard cursing from outside.

“Don’t fucking shoot it again you asshole! You fucking shot me!” Yelled one man.

“I didn’t fucking shoot you, you idiot! It bounced of the fuckin door!” said a man.

“Well it still hit me! It’s not worth our fucking time; we’ll come back with a truck and pull the door down next time.  Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Said another man with finality and soon James heard the rumble of the bikes leaving town.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then decided to get to work.  He needed to gear up and get out of dodge before the men came back.  He went to the camping section and lit up several propane lanterns and set them across the rear of the store.  Using his flashlight he went back to the gun section but was quickly disappointed.  Empty.  Not a gun, not a bullet nothing.  The guns must have been raided when the town evacuated, they weren’t all stupid, although they missed the most important stuff.  He found himself a large backpack to fill with gear and a smaller one to carry day to day.  He found the knife section and found himself a good quality sheath knife and a multi-tool style pocket knife.  He grabbed an extra of each and a sharpening stone and threw them into the pack.  He strapped his sleeping bag and pad to the bottom of the pack and threw in the water bottles.  He found a high quality cooking set along with utensils and added that along with a magnesium bar and a metal match.  Several sections of para-cord went in next and he grabbed nearly 1000’.  A pack saw, small hatchet, extra set of clothing and three extra layers of under clothing went in as well.  He grabbed a backpacking hammock and several tarps. There were no tents left in the store.  After several more stops he went to the archery section.  This section was still fairly full and James was very pleased.  He looked for a crossbow first, the easiest bow to shoot and simple to sight in, however there were none.  James had hunted with bows for years as a child and young adult but it had been a while.  He knew the fundamentals, knew how to sight in and tune the bow and also knew how long it took.  He pulled down a Diamond Fugitive made by Bowtech.  It was a quality brand, although not overly expensive, but it was fast, light and had short axle to axle length which was important when walking through thick brush.  He went to the arrow section and found dozens of packs of carbon arrows and grabbed a pre-cut, fletched set and went to work.  Setting up the propane stove he melted the glue onto the inserts and set them into the end of the arrow and cooling them in a small cup of water.  Within 10 minutes he had a dozen arrows ready to go.  He then added target points to the end of 3 and set up a block target in the store.  First he used a bow square to tune the bow and then shot a few arrows from 10 yds continuing to tune by seeing how the arrows hit the target.  After 20 minutes the arrows were flying true and he could start sighting the bow in.  He started at 20 yds setting his top pin.  The first was the toughest as you had to compensate for up and down as well as left and right.  After 10 minutes of shooting he took a break.  His arm was tired and he was getting sloppy.  James went and made some more food and ate while relaxing.  After a couple hours he was back shooting and had completed sighting in his bow out to 50 yds.  He then went and found properly weighted fixed broad heads to attach to the end of his arrows and assembled them carefully.  The broad heads took the small diameter arrow and added razorblades to the point which made for a far more effective and humane kill.  He shot several of these at 30 yds to make sure they flew the same as the target points, which they did.  The quiver attached to the bow would hold 6 arrows, which he loaded with broad head equipped arrows.  He loaded an addition dozen arrows into his backpack along with extra broad heads and replacement blades into the backpack.  He was almost ready to survive out in the wild, a few more important items and life would be easy.

He had survived in worse places, far worse than the mountains of upstate NY.  Sure it would be cold and there would be snow but it certainly wasn’t the jungles of Columbia or the desert of Afghanistan.  The thought of those places still brought chills to his body and a knot to his stomach.  This wouldn’t be survival; this was just living off the grid.  Hell it might even be enjoyable getting away from people for a while.  The mindless masses walking around without a care in the world not knowing or understanding the depths that some men had gone to protect them from evil around the world.  James had spent many years with the military and seen many terrible things and it always bothered him when he came back to the States and saw the everyday people walking around without a thought for the men and women dying overseas for their freedom.  Then these same people would go and vote away their freedom to support some feel good candidate who talked a good game.  And then there was no longer a work ethic.  People didn’t have the drive to provide for themselves and their families.  Social programs were there and people lived well. They had food, homes and even cellphones all provided by “the government.”  People didn’t know of didn’t care that they were taking money away from those who worked hard and were successful and gave them to slugs of society or the lazy.  Sure some of these people truly needed assistance but 47% of the population receiving government benefits and even fewer paying taxes was out of control.  The country was willingly voting itself into socialism because “it was the right thing to do.”  When had it become ok to be on government assistance?  When had that social stigma to be embarrassed to be on food stamps gone away?  What happened to the society that he had grown up in?  His country was going down the shitter before this mess anyways, so now it had just been helped along.  The people who had been carefree citizens of the greatest country in the world were now cold, hungry and alone fighting off each other for the basics of life’s necessities.  Now the horrors of war would come to all these people, and most of them would not survive.

One more trip though the store to look for a few more items, a couple hours sleep, and then he would find himself an isolated area away from people and hold up for as long as it takes.  He grabbed himself a camp shower, several packs of long burning candles, several bottles of water purification tablets and good map of the area, topped off his first aid items and added a sewing kit.  He walked through the archery section one last time and looked up at a simple item hanging on the rack.  There were several similar items but this one he had missed before.  It was a 3 piece collapsible long bow. His compound bow would be great for a long time but eventually it would break down or he would break all of his arrows.  He couldn’t make arrows for the compound bow, wooden arrows would explode under the tremendous power it generated, but the long bow would last forever. He could make strings for it, build arrows for it, it would be true long term survival.  He loaded it in his pack along with a dozen aluminum shaft arrows for it and broad heads.  They also had several packs of metal broad heads that could be glued to a wooden arrow.  He loaded them up as well as arrow fletching and decided he was done.  He packed up his remaining food and water, strapped his heavy parka to the back of his pack and hefted it.  It was heavy, damn heavy.  He had carried worse in his day and decided he would get used to it, there was nothing in the pack he really wanted to part with.

He opened the emergency door and looked into the darkness; it had to be the middle of the night.  He didn’t have a watch, had no need for a watch and didn’t really care.  He checked the immediate area outside the door with his flashlight, which he had several sets of extra batteries for, and after determining it was clear he stepped out into the darkness securing the emergency door behind him.  He walked across the alleyway and sat behind a dumpster closing his eyes and waiting.  He needed his night vision to work as best as possible and needed his eyes to adjust.  As he sat there he thought of a story his instructor had told them way back in SERE training, a story he still told his students.  He and his classmates had been in the front leaning rest position (upward pushup position) for at least 30 minutes with their fully loaded gear packs on and their arms were all getting shaky and his instructor asked them the strangest question.

“Why did pirates wear eye patches?” the instructor screamed in one man’s face.

Several other men actually chuckled at the question but the man who was being asked just looked at the instructor without an answer.

“Why did pirates wear eye patches?!” the man bellowed again to the next man in line.

“Sir! To look tough, sir!” the man yelled back with half a chuckle.

“Ready! Exercise!” the Instructor yelled and the class began pushing out 4 count pushups.

“Do any of you fucking morons know why pirates wore eye patches?!” the instructor bellowed as the men pushed.

“I guess none of you really do have a fucking clue!  You are the biggest waste of fucking time I have ever had in my 12 years of instructing!” The instructor continued.

“We’ll let me spell it out for you little ladies!  They didn’t wear eye patches to look tough, they didn’t wear them cause they lost an eye.  These pirates were brilliant, way fucking smarter then you useless wastes of DNA!  They wore them to protect their night vision!”  The instructor bellowed as the ever weakening trainees pushed on in silence.

“They knew that they would have to fight above and below decks when they fought their enemies so the smart ones wore an eye patch.  They would have one eye they worked well above deck but they could move the eye patch and have an eye ready to see in the darkness below decks!  These men were brilliant!  You fucking ladies aren’t even worthy of such information, but some cock-sucking officer believes you ladies are the best we have to work with!  A sad fucking day for this country if you ask me!”  the instructor bellowed.

The memories brought James back to happier time in his life, when the world still looked whole and he felt he could make a difference.  James smiled as he hefted the heavy pack and trudged on, he was actually looking forward to getting out in the bush and away from the troubles of the world.

He marched through the town keeping a low profile and listening to the strange silence of a dead city. He was heading north; he wanted to see Fort Drum for himself.  He knew he was heading there for a reason, he had some kind of information he needed to pass along but he couldn’t remember a damn thing.  He walked on thinking of his old friend, Maj. Walter Jacobs, of the 10 Mountain Division from a very bad time not so many years ago.  It was early in the war in Afghanistan and James was stationed with the Air Force Para-rescue.  CWO James Mathison, a crew chief and rescue specialist had spent many of his past years before the war working with the 160 Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) as a rescue specialist for special operations around the world.  Now he was stationed in Afghanistan working true Search and Rescue Operations for downed aircraft and stranded units, not an uncommon occurrence due to the extreme altitude of the harsh mountains.  Once an Air Force Security Forces Sniper, James had moved into Para-Rescue as they were some of the toughest and craziest soldiers in all of the Armed Forces.  Not nearly as acclaimed or well-known as the Navy Seals or Army Delta Force but the Para-Rescue soldiers were Elite Special Forces Soldiers who many times went out to save their brother Special Forces soldiers.  It was August 2003 in the Hindu-Kush when James’ unit was sent in to pick up a platoon of men from the 10 Mountain division who were under attack with wounded.  Their transport came in and picked up their wounded and most of the men, however 3 men were left behind and were now in deep shit.  James’ Blackhawk circled the area and James had taken out 3 enemy soldiers with sniper fire before they made their landing approach.  Two more passes and no movement and James gave the all clear.  As they neared the ground movement to his left drew his attention and he brought his weapon on target, but not before the smoke trail of an RPG-7 rocket filled his scope.  It was fired from only 60 yds. away and even with his calls to evade the Blackhawk was struck in the main rotor, blowing a blade completely off.  The bird was still 15 feet off the ground when it was hit and James was thrown out into the rocky floor below.  The rest of his crew did not survive the fiery crash.  James had multiple lacerations and was pretty banged up but was able to make contact with the three 10 Mountain Soldiers.  Within minutes they were again in a firefight and the lost all forms of communication.  The group spent the next three weeks moving its way down the mountains, trying to survive without food and water and trying to avoid enemy contact.  In the end they were eventually rescued having killed 68 Taliban soldiers between them however two men had been lost.  CWO James Mathison and 1 LT Walter Jacobs were the only survivors.  They had a tight bond even after James had left the service and still spoke often.  James needed to check on his old friend.

James trudged through the burned out town the weight of his pack causing pain to shoot through his lower back.  Pain is just weakness leaving the body. He told himself over and over, just has his instructors had told him throughout his military career.  He knew they were right, he needed to build up his strength again, he was not in the physical shape he once was.  He walked through the flickering small fires left burning throughout the town when I sign caused something to stir in him.  After 10 minutes he was back on the road, his pack several pounds heavier yet himself feeling more comfortable with his situation.  As the night drew on he found himself out of the town and walking through burned out farmsteads and into the smoldering forest.  He would walk through the night and by daylight he would have more answers.

Chapter 59

The sun had set several hours before as Jason, Jeff and Sean turned the keys forward on their vehicles.  It was a difficult moment for Jason most of all.  To leave the comfort of his home, all his provisions, his whole life was immensely difficult.  But his family and friends were still alive, and for that he was overwhelmingly grateful.  He and his family would face whatever came their way together and they were stronger now than they ever had been before.  They had been tested and proved to be more then capable but circumstances beyond anyone’s imagination had caused them to leave their home in search of safety in the rural mountains of upstate NY if they could get there safely.

Sean would take the lead in his pickup with Cassidy as the passenger, towing the horse trailer loaded down with horses, tack, feed and the chickens.  Jeff would follow in his Jeep along with Teddy and the dog, towing the utility trailer which was heavily loaded with tools, weapons and building supplies.  Jason, Jessica, Allie and Mark were all in the Suburban towing the travel trailer filled with their food supply.  Every vehicle was loaded for bear and they all hoped the old vehicles would hold up under the strain.  They were driving at night, without headlights, using their Night vision optics to keep them on the road but it was a slow laborious process avoiding the abandoned cars, moving around multiple accidents and watching out for ambushes.  Thankfully the weather had turned cold so there would not be many people out overnight in the sub-freezing temperatures.  They had over 250 miles to drive, trying to avoid major towns and cities and they would only be traveling at night.  They made it 85 miles the first night, completely without incident, and found an empty parking lot just out of view of the road where they pulled off and decided to sleep, in watches, for they day.

Chapter 60

As the sun rose, James sat on a small ridge over what was left of Fort Drum.  He peered over the crater that covered the entire base and James wondered if it had been a Nuclear weapon that had taken out the base. James drank deeply as his emotions overtook him and he began to cry.  He had lost everyone he had ever been close to now.  The Major was the last man he could be close to.  The last man he had been in combat with, a man he shared so much with, and now he was gone.  He thanked himself for making the stop he had as he drank again from the bottle of Makers Mark.  He knew this routine well, drink until the pain went away and he could sleep for a while, and then it was back to the bottle to get through the day.  Right now he didn’t care what lay ahead.  He would drink until he couldn’t drink anymore and he would pass out right here overlooking the gravesite of his last friend, his only friend.

James awoke with the afternoon sun shining in his eye aggravating his already pounding head.  He rolled over, squinting his eyes away from the light and rolled to a sitting position.  He grabbed his water battle and chugged the entire bottle down in less than a minute while taking two 600 mg ibuprofen.   He then relieved his bladder and decided he would eat before moving on.  He pulled out his maps as he heated up some of his waning food supply and looked for a place to go.  He wanted a place by himself, no neighbors, no problems, just himself living off the land doing as he pleased without the emotional attachment to anyone.  As he looked at his map he took a swig of his whiskey to clear his head.  It wasn’t hard to find the spot.  20 miles due south were thousands of square miles of state park land.  He had his plan.  Walk south until everything felt right, until he knew he was in the right spot.  Then he would setup camp and live in the middle of nowhere, off the land, without others, worrying only about himself.  As he ate he decided he would stay the night and then set out in the morning.  He was in the wilderness with little chance of seeing anyone else and he would be able to move much more quickly during the day.  He had about 2 hours of sunlight left and decided he would make camp here.  Nothing too fancy, just a quick shelter to keep out the wind and trap some of the heat reflected by the fire.  He had grabbed a few tarps from the sport shop along with some para-cord.  He used the smallest tarp, an 8 x 8 ft, and quickly strung it between two trees in a simple lean to style.  He then took his hatchet and quickly gathered a number of spruce bows and lined the bottom of his shelter and leaned a layer against the tarp as insulation.  With the plentiful rocks he built a fire ring and a heat reflector to force more heat into his shelter.  Within 90 minutes he was sitting in his sleeping bag in his shelter watching the sunset with his bottle trying to hold back tears.  “Not too much tonight.” He told himself, putting away the bottle.  He needed a clear head tomorrow if he was going to move out.  As he tried to sleep questions filled his mind.  Why was he here?  What had happened to the base?  Why had he been in the hospital?  Fitful sleep found him slowly long after the sun had set.

Chapter 61

At sunset they were back on the road, everyone was looking forward to the prospect of getting to their destination.  The insecurity and discomfort of living in a car was already getting to them.  They had all discussed the option of pushing through into the daylight in the morning and just get where they needed to be.  They figured that if things went well they could make it by late afternoon tomorrow and they would be much safer.  Sean didn’t like the idea and from his military experience and his experiences early on during his drive north from Virginia his advice was not taken lightly.  They had finally decided that they would discuss it around sunrise and make a decision.  They were all in radio contact so the conversation would not require stopping.  The crawling pace of the trip was certainly draining.  If they were on a highway and traveling at speed they would have arrived the day before and would be settling into their new home, but they still had at least 16 hours of driving to go and they were all sick of it.

Chapter 62

James awoke with a clearer head than the day before but he had not slept well.  A dream haunted him throughout the night.  The image of his friend dressed in battle fatigues and the man’s voice, but they were disjointed.

“I need you to come see me.” Said the man in the dream.

”But I’m here.” James replied.

“It’s important; I need to see you immediately. It involves national security.” Said the Major.

“Major, I’m right here!” James pleaded.

“I know it’s a long flight but I have no one else to turn to James, please.” Said the figure in his dream.

The dream continued this way until James was screaming and the Majors body exploded.  James awoke covered in sweat, his heart pounding looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings trying to place where he was.  The long fingers of sunlight were creeping through the latent wisps of smoke as the sun began to rise.  James couldn’t watch the dream again, he just couldn’t take it.  He started breaking down camp to move out for the day.  He looked at his map and decided to head through the outskirts of Watertown and see what was happening there.  He would need supplies at some point in the future and the intelligence would be important.  He repacked his tarp and other supplies and covered all sign of his camp and began to walk southward.

Chapter 63

Another uneventful night of driving made for a tough decision in the morning.  They had started driving on rural back roads and started making much better time.  They had covered nearly 150 miles overnight and the property was temptingly close.  2 hours tops and they would be there.  The choice to keep going was unanimous but he was vehemently against it.  He got tired of fighting over the radio and pulled his truck to a stop.  He tenderly got out of the truck, his gunshot wound clearly still painful, but he never complained.  They all stood outside around the Jeep to hash it out.  Sean’s point was extremely valid.  They still had to travel through one of three towns or cities: Syracuse, Utica or the Town of Oneida which lay in between.  They had no other options; no roads went around without heading many miles out of the way.  At night they would have the advantage of stealth, but during the day they would be extremely tempting targets.  Cassidy backed Sean out of loyalty but she seemed tired of driving as well. Jason decided he would referee the debate and refused to state an opinion but in truth he hoped those who wanted to continue on won out.  He was sick of driving and sick of the truck.  They had driven over 200 miles without any problems not even the sign of a problem.  In the end a vote was called for.  Jason abstained from the vote and the result was 5 to 2 to keep going.  Sean was not pleased and let everyone know it.  He also said that he wouldn’t allow Cassidy to ride with him and be in greater danger because we couldn’t be patient and had made such an immature decision.  Mark volunteered to take her place in the passenger seat of the pick-up and soon they were again heading north.  Jason had a lingering sense of guilt about the decision and almost had made an executive decision to stay after the vote but he told himself it was just Sean’s rebuke and they would be fine.  Cassidy rode in the back of the suburban in complete silence, she refused to even make eye contact with anyone, she just stared out the window.  Jason hoped that once they made it to safety all would be forgiven and forgotten and everything would return back to normal.

Chapter 64

James moved more cautiously as he approached the town.  The sound of gunfire in the distance announced its proximity and James had a pretty good idea what he would find.  It was the same everywhere.  When the structure of law and order was removed the power vacuum was always filled. Usually it was the biggest, most powerful person or group or a number of groups who would battle for it.  In either case the citizens of the area would be the ones to pay.  James plotted his course to go to a peak of a hill about 2 miles away from the town.  There he would have a good view of the town but have little risk of being spotted.  As he got in position he barely noticed the incredible view of the small town placed between the wilderness and rolling hills with Lake Ontario behind it in the distance.  To the casual traveler the view would be breath taking, but James was not in the mood.  He was on a mission and his mission was to gather information about the town.  Using his binoculars he looked into the center of town and began sweeping his glass through the streets.  There were several stores that could be very valuable but they were mostly in the center of town, which would make them difficult to scavenge stealthily.  Several localized fires and their remnants were still visible around the town as well as several bodies that lay dead in the street.  A handful of people moved cautiously on the streets but very few.  The rumble of motorcycles got James’ attention and he quickly centered his binoculars on the group of bikes riding into town from the direction of Lake Ontario.  James noticed that the people in the street heard the bikes as well and they quickly scampered for cover.  James counted 12 bikes carrying the tattooed men and their scavenged or stolen loot and followed them to what appeared to have been a fine restaurant at one time.  The bikes parked, joining several other bikes.  James counted over 30 bikes in the lot but the lot was partially obstructed so it could have been more.  James had seen enough.  No security in the streets but a large presence of the “Angels” as the man in the last town called them.  James pulled out his map and decided he would travel through several old farms that lay on the outskirts of the town and he could make the woods at the beginning of the forest by nightfall.

Chapter 65

Sean crept down the main road into the Town of Oneida slowly, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.  It was the only road heading south, out of the town, and would be a prime spot to set up an ambush.  The road was cut into the side of a hill with a guardrail on the left and a hill on the right, the road was the only way to get through.  Jason was seeing it too and he wanted to speed up but Sean wouldn’t listen.  He was the only man who had been in combat and Jason had to trust his tactical expertise but his thought was they would be a harder target if they were moving quickly.  Sean came to a near stop as they rounded a bend in the road.  Two vehicles smashed into the guardrail on the left side of the road leaving only one lane to get passed.  It looked suspicious and Sean wanted to get a good look.  From 30 yds. away Sean observed the area for movement but didn’t see anything.  He slowly started forward again keeping a close eye on the area and ordering Mark to watch the hillside for movement.  At 10 yds from the accident it happened in the blink of an eye.  A small car came barreling down the hillside blocking off the only lane of travel left.  At nearly the same instant the gunfire started.  All the vehicles were hauling trailers; there was no way they would be able to turn around without getting shot to pieces.

“Fuck!  It’s and ambush!” Sean yelled into his radio as he hunkered down, keeping the engine block between the gunmen and himself.

“Contact right!” yelled another voice as the gunfire increased.

Sean knew he had to move.  He looked up to Mark and made eye contact.  He grabbed the door handle and popped it open.  With his FN in hand he exited the truck putting heavy fire into the vehicles in front of him.  Using his own cover fire he made his way to the guardrail and worked his way over it.  Jeff had pulled Teddy over the driver’s side seats and they were using the heavy tires as cover while Jeff used his shotgun to fire into the woods above him.  Jason got lucky.  He was about 20 yds. behind Jeff’s jeep when the gunfire started.  He stopped his truck and got everyone out.  He setup Jessica, Allie and Cassidy up behind the truck and had them pouring fire into the woods.  Jason worked his way up the hill with his AR in hand; he was going to flank the enemy.  Jeff and Teddy got caught in the open.  Teddy was not performing well under fire as it was but now they were taking fire from the front and the left where the ambush had started.  Sean and Mark were nowhere to be seen. He had to get out of the kill zone.  He knew enough military tactics to know he was up shit’s creak right now and if they didn’t move soon they were both in serious trouble.

“Teddy!” Jeff yelled without response.  Teddy sat huddled against the tire of the truck, gun on her lap, her head down and was crying.

“Teddy!” Jeff yelled again as he grabbed her by the arm.

“What??” She said, coming back to earth.

“We have to move! Run to the guardrail, I’ll cover you!” Jeff yelled. Teddy looked bewildered but nodded her head.

Jeff started firing and Teddy ran taking cover over the side of the guard rail.  Jeff reloaded and emptied his rifle again and then he ran.  Fire coming from his right as he ran had at first frightened him but then he realized that it was Sean providing him covering fire.  Jeff looked to Sean and Sean nodded and then disappeared into the brush.

Jason crept through the brush quietly, using the sounds of gunfire to track in on his targets.  He approached the first group, there were three men armed with hunting rifles and shotguns.  They were all grouped together behind a fallen log aiming down towards his wife.  Jason didn’t hesitate. He quickly and expertly fired three rounds into the torso of each of the men and then approached; kicking away their weapons and moving on.  As he approached the next group of two men he noticed that there was almost no more gun fire.  He noticed the two men here were talking and no longer firing and it appeared they were looking to retreat.  Jason pulled up his rifle and ordered the two men to put down their weapons and place their hands on their heads.  Jason marched them down the hill and out on the roadway.  The gunfire had completely stopped.  His two prisoners were pleading for their lives but Jason wasn’t listening, he wanted to be sure that his friends were all ok.  He saw Jessica, Allie and Jeff and felt a world better.  Next he saw Sean hoping over the barricade and reloading his pistol.

“Cover these two while I search them.” Jason said to Sean.  Sean held the two men at gunpoint and Jason prepared to search them.  Sean fired two rounds, one in each of their heads, and holstered his pistol.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Jason exclaimed.

Sean walked up to Jason and punched him in the side of the head knocking him to the ground.  Sean the pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Jason.  He grabbed Jason be the shirt and pulled him up forcing him to walk towards his pickup.  Everyone looked on in shock, not knowing what to do.  Sean pushed Jason up to the passenger window of the pick-up.  Jason almost vomited seeing the mangled corpse of what had been Mark.

“This is your fucking fault!” Sean screamed as he turned Jason around and pushed him against the truck and yelling in his face.

“You are supposed to be a leader!  You knew this was a fucking stupid and dangerous idea but you were too fucking lazy to make the right decision!  This is not a fucking democracy!  There are no judges there are no more jails, you’re not a COP anymore!  You are the leader of this group, start acting like it!  You have to make hard and unpopular decisions that you know are the best!” Sean screamed his face almost purple with rage.

“Come here!” Sean screamed pulling Jason towards the guard rail.

“This is what those “prisoners” were doing!” Sean yelled pointing at least a dozen bodies of men, women and children thrown over the edge of the cliff like garbage.

“So don’t ask me what the fuck I’m doing.  What the fuck are you doing? Are you going to go build a jail for these animals or are you going to set these monsters lose to kill me innocent people!?” Sean asked.

Jason just stood there in shock.

“Fucking answer me!” Sean screamed looking like he was ready to punch Jason again.

“I…I don’t know…” Jason muttered completely shaken.

“What?!” Sean screamed in his face.

“I don’t know!” Jason screamed in frustration.

“Wrong answer!  You are the leader!  You always have the answer even when you don’t!  You will make the right decision, the hard decision!  I think you have learned a lesson today on leadership; sadly it didn’t need to come at such a price.  Now buck the fuck up and become the leader, make the decisions.”  Sean said as he walked away up into the woods and out of sight.

Jason sat down next to the shot up pick-up and put his face in his hands.  Jessica ran up to check on him while the rest of the group just stared off dumbfounded.

“Are you ok?”  Jessica asked with concern as she embarrassed.

Jason only nodded his head as he tried to gather himself.

“I can’t believe he did that, he’s lost it.” Jessica said.

“No, he’s right.  I fucked this up and this is my fault.  So now Mark is dead because I refused to make a call I knew I should have. I could have gotten us all killed.” Jason replied.

“We all decided to do this.  It’s all of our faults, not yours.  You didn’t even vote.”  Jessica said trying to comfort him.

“No.  It is my fault.  Everyone looks to me to lead and I haven’t done a very good job.  But that’s going to change.” Jason stood up and brushed himself off.  His head was pounding but it was a good reminder of his absolute failure.

“Jeff, keep watch out front.  Jessica, keep watch in back.  I’m going to get us ready to leave again.”  Jason said as he moved to the pick-up truck.  He had a very upsetting job to handle.

Chapter 66

James was walking through the woods keeping in the wood line around the edge of the farms.  The last thing he wanted was human contact right now.  He wished he could be in the big forest already.  He allowed his mind to wander as he thought about how he wanted to live.  He had studied primitive survival in the past but it was something he’d never practiced.  The idea of living completely off the land seemed ideal, almost perfect, but he knew it would be a lot of hard work.  But the work would keep his mind off of his demons.  He was also shocked at the thought that he really had no personal property that he was missing.  He had sold his house 3 years before and spent all of his time on the road, staying in hotels as he taught around the country.  He had been able to bank a fair amount of money but he had no reason to settle down.  So he flew or drove from area to area teaching an art that had saved his life twice, survival.  He mainly taught wilderness survival to search and rescue teams across the country as well as to military and private military contractors.  An ear piercing scream brought him back to reality. He immediately took cover behind a tree and brought his bow up.  He was passing through the woods about 20 yds from the field of a small farm. The farm house was about 60 yds away.  James was sure the scream had come from the house.  He froze.  He was in no position to go play superhero and really had little interest.  His heart wanted him to run in and save the “damsel in distress” but his brain told him that it didn’t matter.  He had to worry about himself now.  As he hid in the woods behind the tree watching the house the situation changed.  Another scream and a slamming door preceded the scene.  A woman, breasts exposed, clothing torn, her face swollen and bleeding ran through the back field with a large man in pursuit.  The sound of the shot made him jump even though he expected it and he watched the woman go down.  James turned his head away in disgust.  The man laughed out loud when the woman fell and James felt rage building inside him.

“No, this is not my problem.  She’s already dead and there is nothing I can do.  I need to worry about me now.” He told himself.

He looked back at the field again and he was no longer fighting himself. The man was now on top of the fallen woman, violently raping her, her moving arm and the gurgling scream of the woman had made his decision.  He dropped his pack and moved to get out of the man’s line of sight.  As he reached the edge of the wood line he took a knee, making himself as stable as possible.  He drew the bow back, forcing his way through the peak weight and settled in.  He viewed through the peep sight in the string and quickly found the glowing fiber optic pin from the bow sight.  He settled the pin and released half his breath as he carefully squeezed the trigger mechanism on the release.  The arrow flew at over 300 feet per second and struck its target with incredible force.  Cutting through skin, bone, blood vessels, more bone and skin, it exited through the body continuing its path before landing in the overgrown field.   James pulled another arrow out of his quiver and nocked it to his string.  Then he was up and moving, watching his target and his periphery for movement as he approached.  The man was lying on his back holding his chest and gasping for breath.  James moved quickly and searched the man, pulling the revolver from his holster as well as a large sheath knife.  Satisfied the man was unarmed he approached the woman.  She was also lying on her back gasping for breath, her tattered clothes barely covering any of her body.  She lay almost naked except for the blood which poured out of her chest freely covering her torso.  James held her hand, knowing there was nothing more he could do, and awaited her last breath.  He didn’t have to wait long. After her final breath James closed her eyes and covered up her body the best he could with her tattered clothes.  Then he went to the man.  He pled for help with his eyes as he could not catch enough breath to speak as the arrow had passed though both of the man’s lungs.  James just stared down at the man as his lungs filled with blood and his chest cavity with air and almost enjoyed the man’s suffering as he watched his last few minutes of life.  Soon it was over and James had a decision to make.  It was getting late in the afternoon and although he would make the wilderness by dark he would have little daylight left to set up a shelter.  His other choice would be to check out the house.  He would be risking running into other assholes but he was armed with a .357 revolver and about 15 rounds of ammunition after searching the dead man’s pocket.  The gun could use a good cleaning but appeared fully operable.  He decided he would clear the house, see what if any supplies he could find, and then get some sleep and head out in the morning.  He went through the house and found nothing except for another body, a middle age man, probably the husband of the woman dead in the field.  James was just thankful that they didn’t have any kids.  James dragged the man’s body outside next to his wife and then retrieved his pack and headed inside as the sun was beginning to set.  James noticed the Harley Davidson motorcycle outside the house and decided he would check that out before he lost all light.  In the saddle bags he found a full box of .357 ammunition, a large wad of cash, and several gold necklaces, rings and other jewelry.  He took the bullets and left the rest.  He didn’t plan to live with guns in his fantasy but they would be extremely useful for self-defense.  He headed back inside to see what else he could find.  He knew that scavengers would be through the house soon and decided that anything useful he found would either be brought with him or hidden in the woods outback so that he could come back for it.  The idea of primitive survival was sexy but some of the more modern comforts would be nice.  He found several canned goods, some pasta, rice and other shelf stable foods and put them all in a plastic crate he had found.  It wasn’t a ton and they wouldn’t last forever, except maybe the canned goods, but until he got settled he wouldn’t starve.  He also found some good rugged blankets and an army style cot and set those aside.  In the master bedroom closet he really scored big. He had almost missed it but after finding the sealed ammunition case he looked harder and found the rifle.  It was a Mosin Nagont Model M38 rifle.  It was by far the least expensive battle rifle available on the market.  Millions had been made by the Russians, Chinese and other countries and the rifle saw service from the late 1800’s through WWII.  The gun was accurate and easy to maintain and designed to be used by the average citizen, so easy to handle.  In addition to the rifle were several boxes of 7.62x54 ammunition in 5 round stripper clips and a sealed case of ammunition for the gun.  James checked the action on the gun and worked the bolt several times as well as testing the trigger.  The gun was in excellent shape for its age.  He loaded the weapon to its 5 round capacity and headed back down to the living room.  He felt weird sleeping in a dead person’s bed and decided to sleep on the couch, which also had the advantage of being next to the fire place.

Chapter 67

Jason had carefully pulled Mark’s body from the front of the truck and placed him in a bed sheet.  He carefully wrapped his body and gingerly placed him in the back of the travel trailer.  Next he cleaned the glass and blood out of the front of the truck and then pulled out the M-60 machine gun.  Using a set of ratchet straps he mounted it on the roof of the pick-up.  It would make someone think twice before stopping them again.  He checked out the front of the pick-up and noticed a bullet hole in the radiator.  They had 25 miles to go and it would have to hold up, he had no way to repair it here on the side of the road.  He topped off the radiators water as well as the reservoir and then moved onto the jeep.  The Jeep had lost its passenger window as well as a tire.  He put the spare on the jeep and cleaned up some glass.  Sean had returned a short time before with the weapons and ammunition from the men in the woods and they were loaded in the back of the pickup.  Jason used the winch on the Jeep in order to move one of the cars from the road block so they could get passed.  They had come too far and lost too much to turn back now.  They would drive balls to the wall through the town and God help anybody who tried to stop them.  Sean would drive the pick-up with Jason on the M-60, Jeff and Teddy in the Jeep and Jessica, Cassidy and Allie in the Suburban.  No words were exchanged, they had all changed, one of their own had been taken and they all felt responsible.  They wouldn’t let it happen again.

They tore through the small town without an issue; no one was seen, no more barricades, no more bandits, not a live human seen although several bodies littered the sidewalks.  Within minutes they were back on the rural roads with their destination only minutes away.  After a few turns they were pulling onto an overgrown logging road and onto their new home.  It took nearly 15 minutes to drive to the clearing where the old travel trailer sat near a small still running stream.  They wasted no time.  They had a ton of work to do and they had lost a lot of daylight at the ambush.  There was about 4 inches of snow on the ground already and it was still November.  Lake effect snow in the region would make for a very long and very cold winter.  This close to Lake Ontario the night time temperatures would dip well below zero.  They had to get their shelters up and woodstoves running soon or they would be spending another night in their vehicles, a prospect no one looked forward too.  Sean walked into the woods a short way and after a few minutes found the rock he was looking for under the snow and moved it, locating the hidden key for the pad lock on the old trailer.  He started up the woodstove in the trailer with wood that had been kept inside so they would have an escape from the cold.  Teddy and Allie were tasked with maintaining the fire and cooking up some food while the rest of the group got the rest of the camp settled.  Jason pulled the New Travel trailer perpendicular to Sean’s and parked it.  They set the feet on the trailer and blocked the wheel and were able to get the trailer leveled within 15 minutes.  Next they unpacked the Wall tent and started setting it up.  After clearing an area between the two trailers they began assembling the frame.  Jessica was familiar with the wall tent and was placed in charge of its assembly.  Jason was going to set up the small wood stove that had once sat in his bedroom in his new home.  The most physically demanding part was carrying the 200 lb cast iron stove from the utility trailer and into the camper.  Sean ended up helping him get it up into the camper and into place.  Now the difficult part was to retrofit the chimney from the piping he had taken from the house and get it set up in the camper without power tools.  Jason decided to run the pipe out the sidewall of the camper and then up, it was a more complicated installation but making a perfect hole and sealing it watertight would be difficult.  In the side of the camper would be less important than having a leaking roof around the chimney in the ceiling.  Jason went back out to the utility trailer and pulled out his hand tools.  He grabbed a hammer and chisel and a special hacksaw blade with a handle.  The tool was usually used to cut PVC piping but he would be able to use it like a reciprocating saw.  It would be a slow process but it would work.  Three hours later, as the sun was setting Jason had finally set the last piece of chimney and lit the first fire in his new home.  He was exhausted as he left the trailer to get something to eat.  The wall tent was up with the artic woodstove already pumping out heat.  He went to Sean’s trailer and grabbed himself some chicken and rice stew and grabbed himself a seat. The mood around camp was somber.  The sleeping arrangements were something they still had to figure out. Both trailers had a single bedroom and an area that would be able to make into a second bed.  For tonight at least they would all sleep in the trailers, they had yet to unpack the cots for the wall tent so Sean and Jeff would sleep in his trailer in the converted dining area while Teddy and Cassidy shared the bedroom.  Jason and Jessica would sleep in their bedroom while Allie slept in the other bed.  While there seemed to be relationships starting with Jeff and Teddy and Sean and Cassidy, they weren’t at that state yet.  Cassidy still had trust issues and probably always would, and Sean himself didn’t think he could handle a relationship after what he had gone through in his last one.  Teddy and Jeff didn’t have the baggage that the other two had but it seemed they were keeping their relationship plutonic so that Sean and Cassidy would feel comfortable.

Jason went out to the wall tent and joined the rest of the group.  They were sitting down talking quietly amongst themselves.  They all were quiet when Jason walked in which made Jason very uncomfortable.

“I guess we all need to have a talk.” Jason said as he sat on a plastic bin filled with some kind of supplies. Everyone focused on him and Jason had never felt such pressure.

“I just wanted to tell everyone that I am sorry.  Like Sean said, I am the leader here, I guess.  I don’t know if it’s a job I want, actually I'm pretty sure I don’t want it, but I have it so I need to do it properly.  Mark’s death is on my hands and no one else’s.  From here on out, until you all decide differently at least, I will make what I feel to be the best decisions for us.  I will take in everyone’s opinions and then will make what decision that I feel is best.  Clearly there are 7 of us here and we all have our own opinions.  I cannot make everyone happy all of the time, I have to look out for what is best for the entire group, but I hope that my decisions are not held against me personally.  Above all we are a family.  Some of you I have been friends with for years and some of you are new but you are all my family now.  We have gone from a position of strength and full preparation but now have been thrown to the wild.  We still have supplies but life will be much harder up here.  We all need to work hard and work together in order to survive up here but I know we can do it and do it well.”  Jason got up without another word and headed back to his trailer.  Mentally and physically he was exhausted and tomorrow would be even harder.

Chapter 68

James was up with the sun and quickly loaded up what supplies he had gathered.  A number of items were taken out to the woods where he wrapped them in a tarp and hid them behind a fallen log.  He strapped his bow to his pack and carried the rifle as he headed out.  He kept the small river to his right within view as he entered the wilderness area.  A good supply of water would be essential for his permanent shelter so keeping close to the river was important.  It would also provide him with a source of food for much of the year.  This river was a tributary of the Salmon River, which during Salmon spawning season would literally be filled with fish.  A cold North Western wind blew in off Lake Ontario and the feel of snow was in the air as James slowly walked through the wilderness.  He walked until he was hungry and then settled down using his pack to shield the wind.  He pulled out a can of stew and opened it and then set it on his propane backpack stove.  The stew heated quickly and within a few minutes he was eating. He ate quickly and then headed out again.  He walked through the day and checked over several places where he could make camp.  Several looked good but they didn’t feel right.  He kept moving making good time.  He had covered almost 15 miles during the day and the weight of his pack wasn’t bothering him as much.  He noticed the sun getting low in the sky and the clouds moving in, snow was coming tonight and he had to hunker down.  He walked for another 30 minutes looking for a good sheltered spot to settle when something caught his eye.  He was on a small ridge looking down over the river when he saw a small clearing near a pond.  In the wood line there appeared to be a structure.  It was an old cabin that had seen better days.  He moved quickly to the cabin to check it out.  It had obviously had not been lived in for many many years.  As he approached he noticed that half the roof had caved in and one corner of the wall had been struck by a fallen tree knocking several of the logs lose.  James walked through the open/ fallen off door and into the cabin.  The dirt floor was strewn with empty beer cans and empty liquor bottles that all seemed quite old.  Clearly at some point after the government had bought the land some kids had found this place and used it to party but it appeared that it had been forgotten about many years before.  The inside of the cabin was at least protected from the wind and the cabin appeared to be repairable.  It would be a lot of work, particularly with only his hand tools, but he figured in a few weeks he would have a weatherproof shelter for the worst of the winter.  The best news was the old woodstove.  It had to be nearly 100 years old but while rusty still appeared to be solid.  The old chimney pipe had long since rusted out and almost no trace of it was left.  Everything about this cabin felt right.  He had good access to water, the cabin was hidden in the woods, and the clearing out front could be used to grow his own food if he got himself some tools and seeds.  James hadn't felt this good in quite a while.  He set his pack down in the corner of the cabin and decided to throw up his tarp over the good section of the roof of the cabin to keep out most of the snow.  The section that was broken down would let the smoke out so he could keep a fire going inside the cabin for now.  James went to work gathering pine boughs to insulate him from the ground and then gathered enough firewood to spend the night; he was in for several very busy days and decided to get some rest his rifle lying beside him.

Chapter 69

Sunrise meant time for work.  Jason was up before the sun and had started a pot of coffee and he laid out a plan of work for the group.  Most important would be gathering firewood.  He had a couple axes and saws that they could use to gather the firewood and hopefully they could use the jeep and trailer to get to the trees.  Additionally they had to come up with shelter for the animals, unload the food, tools and weapons and find a place to store them.  They would also need to get hunting soon.  There was too much to do and too little time.  The snow had come in overnight and there was 6 inches of new snow on the ground.  Jason was out gathering tools when Sean came outside to join him.

“Hey.” Sean said blowing the steam on his coffee.

“Hey.” Jason replied as he pulled out the large bow saw from the trailer and sat it next to the other tools they would need.

“How’s the head?” Sean asked with near levity.

“Just fine, you hit like a girl.” Jason said with a chuckle.

Sean patted him on the shoulder and helped him gather up the tools.

“By the way, next time I’m an asshole could you just talk to me, I'm not a big fan of having a gun stuck in my face.” Jason added.

“Deal.” Was Sean’s response.

Jason and Sean walked out into the woods looking for standing dead trees.  They were harder to find this time of the year but they were able to find a group of 4 of them within a short distance of each other.  The problem would be getting the Jeep down with the trailer.  They decided they would drop the trees and then try to use the winch on the jeep to pull them up to where they could load them up in the trailer.  They were about 300 yds into the woods and were walking back when Sean tapped on Jason’s arm and pointed.  Three doe were visible down into a small valley near the river.

“Good to see them, hope there’s a lot more up here.” Jason said.

“There’s a lot of deer and bear up here, we should definitely try to get a few deer soon before the snow is too deep to move out here.” Sean said.

“When we come back I’ll make sure we have a bow with us.  I’m tempted to use the gun, knowing were this far out in the middle of nowhere but I’m not comfortable with it yet.” Jason said.

“We’re probably safe but better safe than sorry.  We’re not desperate for food yet.” Sean added as they started walking back up to the trailers.

As they made it back to the trailers everyone else was waking up.  Jason had a plan for the day but he had to deal with something else first.  Once everyone was up he gathered them in an area about 100 yds behind the trailers.  It was a small clearing on a bluff that overlooked the small valley.  Everyone headed up and found a grave site already dug with Marks wrapped body placed inside.  Clearly Jason hadn't really slept at all.  Few words were said, but many tears were shed as then remembered their friend.  After 15 minutes Jason had everyone say there final goodbyes and began covering the body.  When Jason arrived back in camp he got everyone to work.  The boys would be cutting down the trees and hauling the wood.  The girls would be unloading the trailer first and then packing away all the food and tools into the trucks and trailers, keeping them out of the weather as much as possible.

Chapter 70

James woke up with renewed vigor.  He was cold but he hadn't felt this good in a long time.  He had his plan.  He had sat up cold for half the night trying to warm himself by the fire and had made a decision.  He needed to get a chimney up and get the cabin repaired as soon as possible.  The chimney was first though.  He couldn’t have a fire if he enclosed the roof with a chimney, so that was number one.  He looked at his map and had 3 options.  He could head back up to Watertown and raid the hardware store at night, he could head over to Lowville, which he had no information about, or he could head back to the burned out town of Carthage and see what supplies he could get.  They were all a solid one day walk away.  He decided he would try Lowville, he needed to check it out eventually and if it was no good he could loop north to Carthage and relative safety, although there was no guarantee he would find the hardware store standing he did figure he could find a chimney from one of the many abandoned homes.  He stored a significant amount of his supplies he carried in one of his tarps and buried it outside the cabin and moved out.  He moved with a spring in his step, the prospect of his new home and the lightened pack made him move with renewed vigor.  He had a few cans of food and the last of his dehydrated rations with him, he would need to try and find a place to resupply.  He was only an hour into his trip and decided he would change his direction.  He had some food and other supplies stashed behind the house on the way to Watertown and decided he would just head there.  He knew there was a biker gang presence in the town but they weren’t well organized and he should be able to get in and back out under the cover of darkness without too much trouble.

Chapter 71

The winch worked well pulling the trees out of the woods and soon they were hauling the 4 trees back up to the house.  They were limbed out and cut into 8 to 10 foot lengths and then loaded into the trailer.  The Jeep thankfully handled the snow well and by lunch time they were logging the trees into 18” lengths and then they were split into usable chunks.  The boys rotated positions as they grew tired.  One used the bow saw, another would split and the final would stack the wood up between the two trailers.  The girls worked just as hard as the boys and also had a warm meal ready for the boys when they all needed a break.  They met in the wall tent to eat but soon conversation turned to the animals.  The girls had an idea but Jason wasn’t so sure.  They wanted to keep the horses and the chickens in the large wall tent that they were currently sitting in.  They would move it to the leeward side of the clearing somewhat away from the trailers and it would keep them out of the wind during the cold nights.  During the day they would let them graze in the open field that still had grasses higher than the snow and they would supplement their diet with the feed that they brought up.  Eventually they would have to build something better but for now it was the best they could do.  Jason wasn’t in love with the idea.  The two trailers would be tight confines for the 7 of them to live but the girls thought they would be fine.  The boys didn’t think it was the best idea but they also knew it wasn’t worth the fight so they agreed.  The girls said they would handle the move and true to their word, after lunch they relocated the tent, cleared the ground, and even brought in several loads of the long grass to use as insulation.  They also moved the artic stove into the tent in order to melt the remaining snow and dry out the grass.  Allie and Cassidy both worked very hard, in Allie’s case, harder than anyone had ever seen her work.  She really wanted to learn to ride a horse and was ecstatic when Teddy told her she would teach her in the spring.  The girls finished up and got the horses settled in the tent and then went and helped the boys move firewood.  By the time the sun was setting they were all exhausted but happy with the accomplishments that they had completed.  They ate a quick meal of dehydrated stew and were all in bed as the sun fell behind the horizon.

Chapter 72

As the sun set James was looking over the Town of Watertown from the same hillside he had looked at from the first time.  He had checked on his small supple cache on the way in and found everything in order.  Now he was making his plan to move into the town.  For the most part the town was silent with the exception of the restaurant where he had seen the large congregation of bikers.  There he saw a huge bonfire in the parking lot with a large number of men and women drinking.  There were also women there who appeared to be there against their will but James wasn’t in a position to do anything and it just wasn’t his problem.  James worked his way into town slowly as the sun sank behind the horizon and in the twilight hours he moved himself into the town.  He had plotted his path into the town in order to stay as far away from the bikers as possible.  It appeared the men were happy enough just drinking themselves into oblivion and he hoped they would remain where they were.  The large home improvement store was located about ½ a mile away from the restaurant and the random gunfire coming from that direction was unnerving.  As he passed through the town he didn’t see any of the citizens in the streets and even the glow of candles in the windows was very rare.  He made it to the store quickly and was somewhat hopeful when he saw the front windows of the store broken out.  It meant he would be able to get in and out of the store quickly, but it also meant the store had been looted and he hoped he would be able to get the supplies he needed.  He walked slowly through the broken glass in the front of the store and made sure he was well away from the front doors before he turned on his flashlight.  Thankfully these chain stores were all set up similarly and he headed towards the area where he thought the chimney supplies would be.  After a few failed attempts he found the proper aisle and was happy to find several lengths of the pipe he needed.  Using a shopping cart he loaded up 4 3’ lengths of the double wall piping as well as a heat shield and cap for the chimney.  He was going straight through the roof so it wouldn’t be too difficult.  He also wanted to grab some tools and nails to finish up his cabin.  Again the primitive living idea was great but some creature comforts would be great.  He walked down the aisle with the nails and grabbed a box of 8d nails and a large box of 10d nails.  Then he went to the tool aisle and searched around.  He grabbed a quality hammer, a crowbar, several hand wood chisels and a hand plane and draw knife.  A measuring tape a good crosscut saw, a large bow saw and a good axe filled his cart and his list.  Now he had to figure out a way to get the stuff home.  He looked in the seasonal area and found himself a stack of plastic sleds, they would work perfectly.  He pulled one off the top and then had another idea.  He found a large plastic garbage can and a few short pieces of gutter and downspout sections and loaded all of his supplies into the garbage can and then loaded that onto the sled.  In addition he grabbed several cans of spray lubricant and 2 quarts of light motor oil.  After loading everything up he decided he had a little more room and grabbed 2 large rolls of roofing material and a large box of roofing nails.  After securing everything he decided to get out while the going was good and get back to the still empty farm house for a few hours of sleep.  As he approached the front of the store voices caught his attention and he hid himself behind a large pallet of snow melt pellets.  The voices were of two men and a woman, and the woman was clearly not a willing companion who had put up quite a fight considering the bloody nose and busted lip of one of the men.  He peered over the top of the pallet to see what was transpiring in front of him.  There were two bikers dragging a bound and gagged woman through the street towards the restaurant.

“Fuck…” he muttered to himself.

He didn’t need this.  His heart was telling him to do something but his brain said no, it wasn’t his problem.  But his heart was winning.  He could do this without raising the alarm and he knew it.  He wished he had his bow but he had left it at the farm house.  He had his rifle but he didn’t want to make any noise unless it was the absolute last resort.  That left his knife.

He let the men pass him by about 20 yds. and then silently moved through the snow.  The gagged woman was making enough noise to cover any sound he made as she put up quite a fight; he just hoped the men didn’t look back for a few seconds.  As he approached the first man, rifle in his left hand and his knife in his right, everything was going smoothly.  The challenge was to take down both men without letting one get off a shot.  As he prepared for his drive to kill the first man the woman stumbled at exactly the worst time.  James had just enough time to re-plan his attack hastily and used his rifle to knock the first man out.  He struck the man on his left temple and the man went down.  James then lunged over the woman and tackled the other man while he dropped his rifle, keeping his knife in his right hand.  The biker made a poor decision and it cost him his life.  The biker immediately went for his gun in his waistband when he saw the attacker and didn’t give up on it once he was tackled.  James drove the knife through the man’s neck and upwards into his brain stem.  His death was instantaneous.  James rolled off the man in time to see the first man get up and start running away.  Obviously the strike had only stunned the man and not knocked him out.  James didn’t have much of a choice now.  He pulled his rifle out of the snow as the man ran down the empty road holding the side of his head.  James brought the gun up, relaxed himself and let out a short breath.  He centered the open sights on the center of the man’s back and gently squeezed the trigger.  The rifle roared with the report of the heavy round and James watched the man go down.  He watched the man for just a moment with his rifle up, ready to fire another shot.  The man didn’t move, so now James had to move.  James went back to the bound woman and uncut her gag.  The woman was still in fear and after James cut her bound arms free she immediately covered her half exposed body.  She was beaten, bloody but also quite beautiful.  James didn’t have time to coddle her.

“We have to move, now!  There are a lot more of them and they will come investigate.” James said as he moved back towards the Home Improvement store.

He ran into the broken window and grabbed his sled, pulling it out into the snow.  He was glad to see the woman moving towards him ready to leave.  James didn’t waste time and began moving quickly away from the scene of the fight.  After a few blocks he was near the edge of the town and getting into the more rural areas.  He slowed down and waited for the woman to catch up and then kept a more reasonable pace once they hit the tree line.  He noticed how underdressed the woman was and that she had no shoes on.  He pulled off his heavy coat and handed it to her.

“Thank you” she said through chattering teeth.

“We gotta keep moving, 10 more minutes and I’ll get you out of the snow and warmed up.” James said as he lugged the sled through the continuing snow.  At least it would cover their tracks pretty quickly.  He just hoped it would be quick enough.

10 minutes later James pulled up to the now empty farm house and held up his hand.  He hadn't been here since the night before and while chances were slim that someone would be there he didn’t want to take chances.

“Wait here.” James said quietly as he pulled out the revolver and headed inside.  The woman waited in the freezing cold for a few minutes until James returned and waived her inside.  She sat on the couch trying to warm up her badly beaten bleeding feet.  James got a fire started in the fireplace and encouraged the woman to sit next to the fire.  James retrieved a blanket from the master bedroom and brought it down to the woman who was quietly sitting in front of the fire.  In the firelight James determined that she was actually a bit younger than he had originally judge and she was likely in her mid-20’s.  James gave her space and moved himself into the kitchen watching the front door to the house with his rifle in hand.  He wished he had taken the time to check the dead men for weapons but he knew that was stupid.  He couldn’t risk taking that time.  He had made the right decision, no matter what his brain was currently telling him.  After about an hour he went and checked on the woman and found her asleep curled up in front of the fire.  He covered her with the blanket and set a pillow under her head and went back to the kitchen.  He would try to catch a couple hours sleep, but having this woman to deal with was going to delay his plans.  He found it interesting that he was always in such a rush and ordered himself to relax.  He had no schedule and no appointments, he could move at his own pace.

Chapter 73

Jason was the first to awaken in camp and his sore body reminded him that he wasn’t in his 20’s anymore.  He slowly got up and stretched trying to loosen up his sore back and then got the coffee pot going.  He stoked the wood stove and realized the wood pile was already getting small.  They had so much work to do, and instead of being prepared, they were now behind but at least they were alive.  He poured himself a cup of coffee and stepped out into the snow filled wilderness.  They would probably be able to log and split the remaining trees by the end of the day, that would give them about 2-3 cords of wood.  Only half of what they would need, but they would be ahead of the game for a while.  They could use fresh meat as well but he didn’t know the land very well. He would talk to Sean and see what he thought, it was his land.  For now they had enough to get by but this was a good time to take deer and bear was still a possibility, if they could do it right they would be able to keep a good supply on hand and hopefully smoke some for the future.  He got to the wood pile left from the day before and started splitting some of the wood while periodically taking sips of his coffee.  Within 10 minutes Jeff and Sean joined him and they were back to work.  One would cut the logs, one would split and the other would stack.  They would rotate every 30 minutes or so and soon had a good rhythm going.  While they worked they discussed several things including the meat situation.  Sean said he would go out later in the afternoon to scout.  They also decided they needed a corral for the horses but that would be difficult to get done without other supplies.  The big wish list item was cabins though. The cabins would provide more security and would give them a little more privacy. They were all brought back to the reality of their situation when Teddy came out and told them breakfast was ready.  The boys cleaned up the best they could and headed inside for food and a coffee refill.  After a breakfast of dehydrated scrambled eggs and corned beef hash and another cup of coffee everybody went to their tasks.  The boys returned to the firewood while the girls continued to inventory food and other supplies and found places to store them.  It was demanding work for everyone and by lunch time everyone was ready for a break.  The guys were making lunch while the girls talked as girls do.  Privacy was hard to come by, so while the boys cooked in the one trailer the girls talked in the other.  Jason was the only one with any cooking ability out of the group, having worked for a caterer for a while, and he decided to make something special or at least as special as he could with his meager options.  He decided that spaghetti with a mushroom cream sauce was his best option.  He added some canned chicken into the sauce for a little protein and double checked the seasoning before he was done.  The boys actually set the table as nicely as they could in the trailer and then Jeff went to retrieve the girls.  Everyone dug in with gusto as they hadn't eaten much more then dehydrated food for several days.  Everyone ate their fill and then some but then they found it difficult to find the motivation to get up and get back to work.  They missed relaxing.  While the hard work was strangely rewarding they all missed sitting in front of the TV for a few hours after a long day of work.  Jason decided that while Sean was out hunting he and Jeff would setup the solar panel system and if they were successful they would watch one of the DVD’s they had on the laptop.  With this as motivation they all went back to work with a fire lit under their ass.  As the day wrapped to a close it was good news all around.  A gun shot in the area startled everyone and Jeff took watch on top of the trailer while he helped Jason with the solar power.  30 minutes later, as Jason was completing his final tests of the solar system, Sean came out of the woods dragging a good size Doe from the woods.  As a group they skinned and butchered the deer quickly, giving Jason the back straps to cook for dinner.  The rest of the meat was wrapped in plastic bags and surrounded by snow and then hung from a high limb.  Bears were probably now hibernating but no one was sure so they aired on the side of caution.  Jason cooked the back straps in a skillet along with some canned vegetables and some instant potatoes.  After the meat was cooked he added some more oil flour and created a rue.  Then he added some bullion and water in order to create gravy.  It wasn’t his best work, but with his limited options he was pretty happy. He set out the meal and then had everyone come inside.  He had one more surprise for everyone and as they sat Jason turned on the lights to the trailer.  Everyone cheered seeing the power and for the first time in a while they all shared a laugh.  Inexplicably Sean left the dinner without a word and headed back to his trailer.  Everyone was confused and were sharing glances with each other when Sean burst back in with a bottle of Jack Daniels Blue Label whiskey.  They ate, they drank, they laughed as they watched The Hangover and for just a little while life was totally normal.

Chapter 74

James awoke to a crashing sound and quickly had his gun in hand as he went to investigate.  He walked into the living room and found the girl trying to put another log on the fire while holding a blanket around her with her other hand.  She saw him enter the room and looked, seeing the gun a moment of fear came across her face.  James was awestruck by her beauty and barely remembered to lower the gun, but after a moment he realized and put the gun away.  James had a way of turning women off very quickly and he had no idea what this woman had been through so he decided he had to be very careful with what he said. He would normally speak his mind with anyone and everyone, he wasn’t there to impress anyone, he had learned through his divorce that no matter how hard you try to please a woman, if you weren’t perfect you couldn’t make them happy.  But this was different, this girl had probably just gone through hell and something told him to take care of her.

“I’ll get that.” James said as he approached the fireplace and added the log.

“Thanks.” The girl replied as she sat back down in front of the fire.

“No problem.” James said.

“I mean thank you for everything, you saved my life last night.”  She said

“You seem to have put up quite a fight yourself.  Those two looked like they went a few rounds with Mike Tyson.” James said.

She looked at him with a devilish grin.  “I had the first one almost unconscious when the other one hit me over the head.  It dazed me enough that he was able to tape my hands, but when I came too again I made sure he would be having any kids for a while.” She said with a laugh.

James just looked at her.  She was beaten and bruised.  Dirty and unkempt, but absolutely gorgeous.  He didn’t know what it was, he had been around many beautiful women but there was a draw to this one.  He had never felt it with such intensity.  He had loved his wife but that was different, this was a much more intense feeling.  This woman wasn’t just a pretty face, she was strong both physically and mentally.  She had been attacked and nearly raped and killed only the night before and she was here laughing about the fight she had put up.

“Hello…” the woman said looking at him.

“Huh?”  James said being shaken back to reality.

“I asked you what your name was.” She asked apparently for the second time.

“Ummm… James..” he said feeling nervous.

“Well James, I’m Miranda.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She added shaking his hand.

“Miranda… That’s a beautiful name.”  James said

“Thank you.” she replied looking deep into his eyes.

“Are you hungry?”  James asked.

“Starved.” Miranda replied.

“Let me see what I can find to eat.” James said as he headed back to the kitchen.

James started going through his pack that he had left at the house the night before looking through his meager food supply.  He didn’t have too much to offer but he wasn’t picky and figured Miranda wouldn’t be either.  He settled on some pasta and a canned meat sauce that he had scavenged from the house on his previous visit.  He then had an idea.  He pulled out his flashlight and went down into the basement of the house.  He found what he was looking for and checked a couple of things and then returned upstairs.  He headed through the living room and into the bathroom.  He quickly checked and smiled then returned to the living room.

“Would you like a shower while I cook up some food?” He asked with a grin.

Miranda’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.  “A shower?!” was her reply.

“There’s hot water, but I don’t know how long the water pressure will hold up.” James replied.

Miranda got to her feet and nearly ran to the bathroom.

“There are probably some clothes that will fit you in the bedroom.” James yelled after her with a chuckle, and then went to cooking up their meal.

15 minutes later, the food was ready and James was still waiting on Miranda.  He had gone down towards the bathroom and yelled to her that food was ready.

“Just a minute.” Was the response.

That had now been 10 minutes ago and James was wondering how long the food would stay warm and then she came out.  James stood by the kitchen table, mouth open, like a teenager seeing his first naked female.  He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.  Miranda was wearing a blue tank top and a pair of black stretch yoga pants with her wet hair down.  She was perfect.  She was not a pencil thin girl that had become so popular due to advertising and the movies, but she certainly wasn’t heavy in the least.  She had all the curves in all the right places and her outfit clearly showed every one.  Her gorgeous brown eyes and beautiful face marred only by the bruising and swelling from the assault she had faced the night before.  James noticed the laceration over her right eye and that brought him back to reality a little bit.

“Wow, you look amazing.” James said slightly embarrassed.

“Ha, I look like I got hit with a baseball bat.” She said slightly touching the area where her face had been cut open.

“Let me take a look at that.”  James said as he sat her down and then pulled up a chair next to her.

She sat and allowed James to look at the cut.

“You need a couple stitches.”  James said after prodding the wound gently and then got up and went to his pack.

“Are you a Doctor?” she asked with some trepidation.

“Ha, no… but I was a medic at one time in my life.  I’m no plastic surgeon but I’m sure I can still stitch.”  He replied.

“Where were you a medic?” Miranda asked.

“The Air Force.” James replied.

“You’re a wing wiper?”  Miranda replied with a chuckle.

“I was.” James replied with a laugh.  “Did you serve?” he added.

“Army Guard.  MP unit.” Miranda replied.

James nodded and pulled out his first aid kit.

“This may hurt, I’m sorry but I don’t have any anesthetic.”  James said.

Miranda nodded and then continued the conversation.

“You a pilot?” she asked with a grimace as James probed her cut once again.

“Search and rescue.” James replied as he pulled out the suture material and began threading it.

“The Air Force has a Search and Rescue unit?”  she asked.

“Yep” James said as he prepared to put in the first stitch.

“Why have I never heard of them?”  Miranda asked through gritted teeth.

“It’s called Para-rescue.” James said as he tied off the first stitch.

“I’ve heard of them, they are like Special Forces, right?” she asked with tears building on her eyelids.

“I guess they are” James said as he started the next stitch.

“Fuck me!” she almost yelled through gritted teeth.

“But I barely know you.” said James without thinking, but immediately regretted it.

Miranda looked at him with a cold dark stare, her brown eyes boring through James’s skull, but soon the look softened and she began to laugh. James also started to laugh as he tied off the final stitch and the two sat at the table and laughed for several more minutes. After they both stopped they sat in silence for a moment.

“Well, it’s not my worst work” James said while looking at the cut.

“I'm sure it’s fine” She said running her finger over the wound.

“Hungry?” James asked.

“Hell yeah.” She replied.

James placed an ample serving of the pasta and sauce on a plate and handed it to her.

“It’s not gourmet, but its food.” James said as he plated some of the food for himself.

They both ate hungrily and without a word until all the food was gone.

“You need a shower.” Miranda said with complete seriousness.

“I’m… I’m… sorry…” James said totally embarrassed.

Miranda started laughing again.

“I’m just kidding!” she said smacking him in the shoulder.

“But, you do need a shower.” She said again with a laugh.

“Alright, alright… I get the hint.” James said getting up and heading to the bathroom.

The water pressure was light, but the water was hot.  It was an amazing experience.  He scrubbed down twice to get all the grime off of himself.  It took him 10 minutes before he was satisfied, he didn’t want to get out but he knew the water couldn’t last forever. He got out and looked at himself in the mirror.  He was a hot mess.  His hair was as long as he could remember and the full beard drove him crazy.  He found a razor in the medicine cabinet along with some shaving cream and decided he would shave.  It took forever and was not comfortable at all, but he finally finished and looked in the mirror.  He felt much better.  He went to the bedroom and looked for suitable clothes from the previous owner’s dresser.  They were a little big, but not too bad.  He threw on a pair of Jeans, a t-shirt and a brown Carhart sweatshirt.  He also found a decent pair of boots and put them on.  After he changed he went back out to the living room and found Miranda sitting back in front of the fire.  When she saw him coming she looked up and gave him a whistle.

“You clean up well.” She said

“Thanks” James replied blushing.

“So is this your house?” Miranda asked.

“No, it belonged to a young couple.  I was too late to help them.” James replied.

“That’s sad.  The world has gone crazy.” Miranda added solemnly.

“The world has always been crazy; someone just pulled the curtains back.” James replied.

Miranda gave him a funny look but decided not to push the issue.

“So what do you do for a living now?”  Miranda asked.

“I teach survival courses for the military and some private companies, how about you?”  James replied.

“I am, or was a Police Officer in New Jersey.” She replied.

“New Jersey? You’re a bit far from home.” He said.

“I came up to deal with my grandmother’s estate when all this happened and I was stuck here.” She replied.

“Well that’s just unlucky.” James said.

“Do you live up here?”  Asked Miranda.

“No, it’s really a long story. But in short, I woke up in an abandoned hospital about 10 miles west of here about a week ago.  I came through here about 4 days ago and tried to save the young woman who lived here, but was too late.  After that I found myself an old abandoned cabin deep in the forest that would be nearly impossible for anyone to find.  I came here to get supplies and was about ready to leave when you showed up.  You know the rest of that story.” James told her.

“Why were you in the hospital?” Miranda asked.

“I really have no idea; I don’t know why I am up here at all actually.  That part of my memory hasn’t come back yet.” James replied.

“I take it your cabin doesn’t have a shower?” Miranda asked with a chuckle.

“No, at least not yet.  It doesn’t even have a proper roof right now” James replied with a laugh.

“I prefer my cabins with roofs.” Miranda said.

“So where can I bring you up here?  Your grandmother’s close, or maybe a friend?”  James asked.

“They burned my grandmother’s house and I don’t know anyone up here.  I have nowhere to go.”  Miranda replied with a little sadness.

“I’m sorry.  I don’t know anyone up here either.  I don’t know what the best idea is.”  James replied.

“I heard about this cabin in the woods with no shower and no roof, it sounds nice”. Miranda said with a disarming smile.

“Ha Ha! You barely know me, it’s a very small cabin!”  James replied.

“Well, I know you don’t plan on raping me, because you could have done that already. So far you seem like a decent guy and a cabin in the woods sounds a lot better than being in the town right now.”  Miranda replied.

James hadn't expected this and he had to take a minute to gather his thoughts.  The idea of actually staying with this girl certainly appealed to his primal instincts but it totally violated his pledge to live off the grid away from others.  He decided that if she drove him crazy he would find her someplace else to live.  He couldn’t live with just dropping her off in the middle of the meltdown of society. They sat and discussed their plans for the evening and decided they would try and gather what extra clothes they could and then they would sleep.  They would be leaving at dark and they had a full day of hiking ahead of them, then the work would really begin.

Chapter 75

The sun rose and it shone brightly into the window of the trailer.  Jason used his arms trying to block the light from his eyes.  His head pounded as he propped himself up on his arms.  He sat forward letting his feet hang off the end of the bed and began rubbing his temples.  The night before had been a nice release, he was almost able to escape the realities of the world around them.  But this morning as the crushing hangover throbbed in his head, the rest of the needs and problems came flowing back into his head.  They needed more space to live, more space to store things, someplace to hide with more security.  He needed to think and the best way he could do that would be to get to work.  He pulled on his boots and his coat and headed out to the wood pile and started splitting wood.  As he worked he let his mind wander.  He needed a cabin, a cave, something that they could live in or store things in.  They could build a cabin, it would be weeks of hard work, maybe months, but it was doable.  But they didn’t have months, he needed something soon.  With the number of weapons and food supplies around they would be ripe targets for anyone trying to sneak onto the property for a peak.  He decided to talk to the rest of the group about it over breakfast.  He went inside and started the coffee and some hot water for oatmeal as he continued to think.  Once everything was ready he went to wake up everyone for their breakfast.  They were all hurting as least as much as he was so it wasn’t a quick process, but eventually he got everyone up and together.

“So, I’ve been thinking and I think we need more space and a place to store these guns and food supplies, if not we will become a target if anyone sees anything.”  Jason said.

“Who’s going to see anything?  We’re in the middle of nowhere.” Jeff said between bites of his food.

“I don’t think we’re that alone out here, there are towns within 20 miles and people from those towns will be out to loot, scavenge and escape from the towns at some point.  The cities will go first, but people will leave there and head to towns, then the towns will become unstable and violence will ensue.  Eventually it ends up in the rural and remote areas like here.” Jason replied.

“What are you thinking?” Sean said.

“Maybe you know of some caves or something on the property, maybe an old root cellar?  I don’t know.  I’d love to build a cabin with a basement but without heavy equipment it would take months and the ground will freeze solid here soon.”  Jason replied.

“There are some small caves up the ridge, but nothing you could live in.  I have been in them as a kid but they were hard to get into when I was little and they aren’t very big once you get inside.”  Sean said.

“They may work for storing are weapons then, but we still need more space for living.  Do you think we can build a cabin before the heavy snows and cold blow in?” Jason asked.

“No way.  The wood needs to dry before you build a cabin and you don’t want to use the dead wood.  We could cut some trees for the spring but not right now.”  Sean replied.

“Why don’t we find another trailer?” Teddy asked.

“Too Dangerous.”  Jason said blowing her off.

“Why is it too dangerous?  I think it’s the best idea I have heard yet.” Jessica replied angrily.

“We don’t know what’s going on out there.  I don’t think we should be venturing out there right now.  If we can hunker down for the next 3 or 4 months a lot of the violence will be over between the winter cold and the gangs killing each other off.”  Jason replied.

“Ok, then here’s what I think.  Until the living arrangements are better, the girls will stay here in the new trailer and you boys can live in the old trailer.  That way privacy isn't an issue anymore.”  Jessica replied coldly.

This did not appeal to the guys at all, but it appeared that the women were fully supporting Jessica’s stand and they weren’t going to back down.  Until the living arrangements were fixed no one would be having any fun.  The boys went back to the firewood pile and hoped they could come up with a solution.

Chapter 76

As night fell Miranda and James prepared to move out.  They had loaded almost everything on the sled and were ready to head out.  The day time temperature had risen into the 40’s and a good deal of the snow had melted, but there was enough to use the sled but there wouldn’t be for long.  They moved quickly to get out of town before daylight it would take about 8 hours to hike to the cabin and they would use the darkness to cover their movement. They hoped that it would either snow again or the snow would melt to cover the path of their escape.  They moved in silence for 3 hours and then took a quick break to eat a little and warm their hands by the fire.  As they warmed the chatted idly about mostly nothing until Miranda brought up a sensitive subject.

“So did you see combat while you were in?” She asked.

James only nodded in reply.

“Where?”

“Iraq, Afghanistan, and a few places we should have never been.” James replied flatly.

“You mean like black ops kind of stuff?”  Miranda asked

“Sort of, but I can’t talk about it.”  James said trying to avoid the subject.

“So why did you leave the Air force? She asked.

“Well, that is a long and complicated story.  I had a rough time dealing with some stuff and lost everything.  I lost my wife and my kids, my house, everything I had.  I decided I needed a change so when I had the chance to get out I took it and traveled a lot.  I was lost, I guess I’m still lost.” He said.

As they started walking again they continued to talk.

“What happened?”  Miranda asked with true concern.

James walked for a moment in silence.  He had never spoken to anyone about what had happened.  The deep dark spiral that had turned his life inside out and upside down.  He had never ever wanted to talk about it before, but today was different.  He had a feeling, a sensation that he could trust this woman.  He had never trusted a woman after his wife and thought he never would.  Be here he was, he barely knew her but he felt like opening up.  But his brain still tore at him, repressing the feelings of pain and misery that lay just below the surface.  He wasn’t quite ready for this.

“I really don’t want to talk about it.  Let’s just say I lost it all and it’s been a rough time for me.”  James said hesitantly.

Miranda got the hint.  “So how much further is it?”  She asked.

“4 or 5 more hours.  We should get there around sunrise.”  He replied.

They continued to walk, but now in silence.  James and Miranda both in deep thought.  She was no stranger to the mental anguish but James’s was different, deeper, he really was lost. But maybe she was meant to help him find his way.  The thought warmed her as she walked through the cold darkness.

As the sun began to rise James picked up his pace.  He wanted to get to work.  The cold was coming and it was going to be a very cold winter here in the Adirondacks.  Within an hour they had arrived at the small cabin and James immediately got to work.  His first job was running the chimney pipe for the old woodstove up through the damaged roof, then it was time to repair the roof the best he could.  He knew he wasn’t going to be able to insulate the roof properly without another supply run, but the woodstove was a large one and should be able to keep the cabin warm with enough firewood.  Miranda helped him where she could.  She lugged chimney pipe, roofing materials and the heavy timbers for the roof without complaint.  They worked in near silence, only speaking when necessary and soon fell into a rhythm.  James took a break for a few minutes around noon while he was on the roof.  The sun felt wonderful and warm and he enjoyed the rays shining down on his face as he lay back.  Then out of nowhere he got a strange sensation.  He immediately knew what the sensation meant and jumped off the roof to find Miranda.  He found Miranda inside the cabin cleaning up all the debris off the floor.  He quickly went inside.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I think someone is coming.” He said handing her the rifle. “It’s a bolt action, chambers 5 rounds, if you need more they are in here.” He said handing her the satchel of ammo.  He took the .357 revolver and grabbed his bow and headed for the cabin door.

“Where are you going?” Miranda asked with concern.

“I’m going to go east and intercept them before they get here.  If it’s only a couple they won’t even get close but if they get within 40yds of the cabin take them out.  No one can be left or more will come back.”  He said coldly.

“How do you know they aren’t friendly? Miranda asked.

“They are tracking our trail from yesterday, I killed one of their men yesterday and they will kill us.”  James replied as he quickly left the cabin and moved to the east.

James moved nearly silently through the snow covered woods.  The snow made it simple for him to move both quickly and silently but he would be more visible if he was spotted by one of the attackers.  The hillside he was moving up was covered with rocky outcrops and James decided he would use one of them to set his trap.  His bow would allow him to kill silently and he hoped he could pick them off one at a time before they got near the cabin.  He set himself up behind a large bolder clearly left centuries ago when glaciers had covered the area.  As he waited for his prey he tried to relax himself by slowly controlling his breathing.  The adrenaline pumping through his body caused his breathing to accelerate and from there his body to shake.  He needed that under control.  He closed his eyes and let the sounds of the forest fill his senses.  The flapping of wings and squawking of squirrels told him his prey was getting close.  He opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light reflecting off the snow.  Using his peripheral vision he looked for movement focusing on anything that caught his attention.  A swaying branch, a running squirrel, a flying bird, a walking man.  His eyes found his target and locked on it.  He was a big man, bald with a heavy beard, tattoos up his neck carrying a shotgun.  The man was reckless, barely looking at his feet and making incredible noise considering the blanket of snow cushioning every step.  As he watched a second and third man followed the lead man through the forest on a direct path to their cabin.  It was clear what their intent was, his instincts had proved him right once again.  As he watched the three became four and then five.  He waited for the group to get by before he would start his attack.  Five were more than he bargained for.  Two or three would be doable but there would be gunfire involved.  As the 5 man passed him James made sure there was no one else following. With that done he drew back his bow and took aim through the peep sight.  Aligning the fiber optic pin at the base of the man’s skull and pulled the trigger on the mechanical release. The arrow flew true striking the man exactly at the point of aim.  The man dropped instantly without a noise other than the weight of his body crunching in the snow.  He immediately pulled his next arrow from the bow mounted quiver and set it in the rest and then clipped the nock to the string.  Within seconds the bow was again drawn back and aim was taken.  This time James aimed at the center of the man’s upper back.  The man was nearly 30 yds. away and he wanted to make sure he had a kill shot.  As he watched the arrow hit its mark James was on the move.  He nocked his 3 arrow while he quickly moved through the forest trying to cut the distance between himself and the 3 lead men.  A guttural moan from the 2 shot man helped James catch the men, but now they were alerted that something was wrong.  James counted on the fact that the men would come and check on their comrade and he took up a position to take a shot.  He watched the three men come together but only one went back to check on the others.  The other two kept a lookout for trouble.  They too had instincts but theirs were not as honed as his, they had not had to run and hide and survive where everything that moved was an enemy, not once but twice in their lives.  James watched the man as he approached his fallen partner who was now dead.  The arrow had passed through the man’s lungs causing massive hemorrhaging.  James was 15 yds away and ready, as soon as the man stopped to check his friend James let the arrow fly, striking the enemy directly in his left ear and lodging in his brain.  The other 2 men saw this and looked for their attacker, weapons raised and ready to fire.  They were nearly 50 yds. away and near the maximum effective range of the bow.  James drew the bow back and aimed at the head of one of the 2 remaining enemy.  His bow was only sighted into 40yds and he had to allow for the arrow to drop.  He released the arrow and watched its flight and then its impact into the man’s abdomen.  His partner quickly brought up his rifle and fired in the direction the arrow had come from.  James took cover as the rounds were close enough that the man might just get lucky.  Squatting behind a large pine tree he waited for the firing to stop.  James drew his bow back and as the firing stopped, turned to fire his last remaining arrow.  He watched the man running as fast as he could away from James, and towards Miranda.  Panic overtook James rational thought and he fired his last arrow which fell just feet short of striking the running man.  James dropped the bow and started on a full out sprint as he drew the small .357 revolver.  As he ran recklessly through the woods a flash of light and searing pain shot through his left arm.  He turned on instinct, and fired a single round into the head of the wounded man who had just fired at him.  Without slowing he sprinted towards the last man without thought or hesitation.  He had to protect her, it came from deep inside him and overrode every bit of training and instinct he had ever been taught.  The report of another gunshot spurred him even faster, as he approached the cabin his fear was almost overwhelming him.  He had his gun up in his right hand as he looked for danger.  As his eyes swept toward the cabin he saw the body lying just outside the door.  He was back to running to check in a near panic but as he approached he finally realized the body was a man, not a woman.  He slowed as he approached keeping his weapon pointed at the man, he bent down and checked the man’s pulse and found none.  Half the man’s head was gone had James taken the second to look, but he franticly looked around for Miranda.  He looked into the open cabin door but it was empty.  As he turned to look around the area he found her, rifle raised, taking cover behind a fallen tree.  Recognition in her eye, she stood and lowered the rifle.  James ran to her, quickly looked her over for injury and then embraced her tightly.  Then he pulled himself back, looked into her eyes and then kissed her passionately.  She returned the kiss and then they stood there holding each other for a long moment as the adrenaline slowly wore off.  Then almost on cue the shakes began and Miranda became weak in the knees.  James helped her sit on the fallen log and then he sat next to her.  He knew this was coming and had prepared himself.  James controlled his breathing and told Miranda to do the same.  After the shaking subsided James knew that lethargy would come next.  He could push himself through, he had done it before.  He helped Miranda back into the cabin and had her lay down and he went to deal with the bodies.  He started with the body next to the cabin.  First he gathered the man’s weapons and ammunition.  A Colt 1911 pistol with two full clips and a M1 Garand fully loaded.  He also found a backpack which had a full box of .45 acp and ten 10 round stripper clips for the Garand.  The pack also contained a coat, several cans of food, 2 bottles of water, a half full bottle of Jim Beam whiskey and several packs of cigarettes.  James kept the items in the backpack and then pulled the body to the river’s edge before moving to the next body.  By the time he was done he had a .308 hunting rifle, a mini 14 .223 rifle, an M4 sized AR15 and a Mossberg 500 12 ga shotgun.  He had 40 rounds for the .308, 200 rounds of .223 ammunition and 31 rounds of 12 ga shotgun shells 6 buckshot and a box of #5 birdshot.  He also found a quality sheath knife and 2 pocket knives, a tent, 2 sleeping bags along with several more cans of food and bottles of water.  He had 12 packs of different cigarettes 2 more bottles of whiskey and a bottle of vodka.  He rounded up the items and brought everything into the cabin.  Miranda woke when he came in and James handed her the AR15.

“I assume you’re familiar with this gun?” James asked with a smile.

She grabbed the gun, ejected the magazine and cleared the action in one smooth move and inspected the weapon.  “It’s dirty” she replied.

“It’s yours, so I guess you should clean it.” James said as he pulled out two cans of pork and beans and set them on the woodstove.

“I’ve never killed anyone before.” Miranda said her voice shaky.

“He would have killed you if you hadn't killed him.” James replied.

“I know. I’m not sorry I did it. How can you be so calm?” She asked.

“I’m not calm, I just knew what to expect.  I already know that these men will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.” James replied coldly.

“How many people have you killed?” she asked.

The real total he didn’t know, but he knew how many he had been close enough to see their eyes before he had killed them.  They visited him almost every night.

“With the 4 I killed today, 26.” He replied.

“26!” she gasped.

James nodded and turned away to tend to the cooking food.

“I’m sorry; it’s just that 26 is a lot of people.” Miranda stated.

“Way too many people.” James replied.

“How? Why?” she asked with concern.

“They are very long stories, but I’ve been trapped behind enemy lines twice and had to do what I had to do to survive.  Before today they had all been in combat.” James replied.

“In Iraq, Afghanistan?”  Miranda asked.

“Two weeks in Afghanistan and 11 days in Columbia.” James replied.

“Columbia?”

“Yes, can’t talk about that though.  Classified stuff and nothing I want to remember.” James replied in an attempt to end the conversation and handed her a can of beans.  He winced from the pain of the gunshot wound to his arm.  He looked at it and it had only grazed him so he cleaned it and wrapped it without mentioning it to Miranda.

“What happened to your arm?” she asked with concern.

“It’s nothing, just a scratch.” James replied.

“You were shot!” she exclaimed as she examined his bloody shirt.

“It’s just grazed, I cleaned it and wrapped it best I could, it should be fine.”

“Let me look at it.”

“Why?”

“Cause I have had medical training too and I can actually look at it properly.” She replied testily.

“Alright, fine.” James replied holding his arm out.

“Take your shirt off.” She ordered.

“You take your shirt off.”  James replied with a smirk.

“Are you always this damn stubborn?  Take the fucking shirt off.” She ordered, clearly not amused.

“Ok, Ok!” James said as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He cringed in pain as he pulled his injured arm out of the shirt and sat in the relatively warm cabin topless.

Miranda looked over his body before zeroing in on the bullet wound.  James did not have the typically classical perfect male body but he was attractive.  He had a barrel chest with strong arms and well-built shoulders.  He had a small gut of a man who ate and drank and enjoyed life but not a lazy man.  He was a man who worked hard and who had clearly led a difficult life.  A multitude of scars covered both his chest and back.  Two holes in his back were clearly those of old bullet wounds, the other were far more difficult to determine their cause.

James cleared his throat in order to get her attention back to the task at hand.

“Oh, sorry…” Miranda said as he went back to inspecting the wound.

“It’s ok, not what you expected?” James said with a chuckle.

“No… it’s just that… umm…” Miranda rambled.

“Ha-ha… I’m an old fat man.” James said chuckling.

“You might be old but you’re certainly not fat!”  Miranda added with a joking smirk.

“Ha!  You’re a baby, what do you know?” James added to the playful banter.

“So about your scars?” Miranda started.

James took on a serious face and just shook his head.

“I’m sorry… I just..”

“It’s ok, maybe another time.”

Miranda finished cleaning the wound and applied a clean dressing.  They went back to eating in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes and then James went over to his bag and handed something to Miranda.

She took the bottle and looked at the label and then took of the cap and took a drink.  She swallowed hard as the whiskey burned down her throat and into her stomach.  She handed the bottle back to James who took a much bigger swig and set the bottle between them.

“Thank you.” Miranda said.

“No, thank you.  The arm feels great.” James replied with a smile.

“You’re welcome.” Miranda replied returning the smile.

“I’m going to grab some water and firewood for tonight, I’ll be right back” James said as he stood and headed out the door.

Miranda leaned back on the cot with the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand as she watched James walk out the door, a big smile plastered across her face.  She took another drag from the bottle as she let the strange emotions of the day drain from her body.  By the time James returned several minutes later a slight buzz and warm sensation coursed through her body.  James pulled up a log and sat across from her.  She handed him the bottle and he took another swig and handed it back.  The sunset over the river was amazing to watch and Miranda and James drank and chatted about little things for a short while in the light of the one oil lamp James had brought.  It had been a long day for both of them and soon they were both yawning.  James insisted that Miranda sleep on the one cot while he set up his sleeping bag on the floor.  They both went to sleep with thoughts of the other on their minds.

Chapter 77

Jason woke to what had the makings of an interesting day.  The group had spoken and he needed to find a way to come up with another trailer to live in.  He would have to talk to Sean and Jeff and come up with a plan.  Sean knew the area best, but he hadn't spent much time up in the area for many years.  The other issue they had to deal with was the horses.  As the snow continued to fall Teddy was the first to realize that they would have a very hard time find food for the horses and they didn’t have the equipment needed to harvest the tall grass out in the open pasture.  They needed to find a new trailer and they needed to find a source of hay.  They didn’t have too many options, they either had to drive towards a town and hope they came across an RV dealer or they could drive and find a farm with some hay.  Either way they would be in serious danger.  The Jeep and the Suburban would be used for the trip and Jason Jeff and Sean would be the ones going.  They had the most experience with weapons, Jeff had good medical training, and three men were a lot less tempting of a target then a group that included an attractive woman.  There hadn't been much shooting in the area and what little there was sounded like hunters from far off.  The girls were all competent with weapons and would put up a hell of a fight should someone stumble across them.  Over morning coffee the three men decided they would start off by looking for a farm with extra hay in the field.  Jeff and Sean would lead in the Jeep with Jason following with the Suburban towing the large utility trailer.  In the back of Jason's Suburban they loaded several extra guns of odd ammunition sizes as well as a supply of ammunition, some toiletries and a couple bottles of alcohol they could use in trade.  They all said their goodbyes and loaded up in their trucks with the Jeep in the lead. They decided to stick to the rural back roads in the area and hoped to stumble onto a farm; they did not want to get too close to a town.  It took them a good 10 minutes of driving before they got into an area of farmland which made Jason realize how far away from civilization their homestead really was.  As they turned onto the county road they were soon returning to population and finally saw the first house since they left.  It was an old homestead set well back off the road but there was no hay in the fields and he couldn’t tell if anyone was home.  They continued on and passed several other homesteads none of which looked overly promising.  A few people were seen but as they passed they all either picked up weapons or ran inside.  Clearly life up here was not completely unaffected by the troubles of the world and that concerned Jason.  They passed a large homestead with dozens of hay bales in the fields and things finally started to look up. They were getting closer to town and were going to have to find another road soon, but as they neared the driveway of the farm they noticed something that made them nervous.  Three horses lay dead in the field near the road and no other horses were visible.  They pulled onto the drive and stopped, Jason wanted to talk about this before they just rode on in.  There were so many bad things that could happen.  The owners could open fire on them as they rode down the driveway, someone could have killed the owners and taken over the place and they would definitely fire if they saw them coming, or they could be walking into a massacre, a thought that truly revolted Jason.  They decided they would drive slowly down the drive until they were in shouting distance of the home and then hope they could get the owners to come outside and talk.  Smoke from the chimney made them think that someone was home, they just hoped that they would be decent people who wouldn’t shoot first.  It was a risk they had to take.  Jason would leave the trailer towards the end of the driveway in case they needed to make a quick getaway.  They rode down the drive slowly, prepared as best they could be for the unexpected.  They stopped about 50 yds. away from the house, turned off the trucks and shouted to the house.  They were well within rifle range but outside the effective range of a shotgun and most handguns in unskilled hands.  As they awaited an answer from the house Jason looked around; No signs of animals in the fields except the dead ones, no footprints in the freshly fallen snow outside the house.  Something was definitely wrong here.  Jeff continued to yell to the house, but just as Jason tried to stop him a gunshot from the house erupted from the front door.  The three of them scrambled for cover pointing there weapons toward the location of the shots.

“Everyone ok?” Sean asked.

Everyone nodded in return.

“Get off my land!” a male voice yelled from the house.

“Sir! We’re not here to harm you! We were hoping to do some trade!”  Jason yelled in return.

“What do you want?!” the man replied.

“We need hay for our horses!”  Jason replied.

“What do you have to trade?!” the man continued.

“Ammunition, alcohol, and a few other things.  Let me come up and talk to you!”  Jason yelled back to the man.

“You put all your guns down and your boys’ stay where they are!  You walk up here real slow and we can talk!” the man continued.

Jason looked to Sean and Jeff.  The expression on Sean’s face made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled but they really didn’t have much choice. Jason was the best talker and the least imposing person of the group.  Sean nodded in agreement and then, with a few hand gestures, told Jason he would try to sneak to the left and try to get a visual to cover him with his sniper rifle.  Jason nodded and handed Jeff his weapons as Sean eased his way into some bushes.

“Ok, I'm coming over!  I'm putting, my rifle, pistol and knife down!”  Jason yelled.  He still had his Kahr 9mm in an ankle holster, but chances were he wouldn’t be able to get to it if something went wrong.

“Nice and slow boy!  I ain’t in no mood for games!”  The man yelled from the house.

Jason walked slowly towards the house, his hands held out to his sides making it clear he was unarmed.  As Jason got closer he realized the man was in his 70’s although in excellent shape for his age.  He was a man whose life was work.  The man ordered him to stop, pull his shirt up and to spin around.  Jason complied and the man allowed him to walk closer.

“My name is Jason Byron.” Jason said as he held his hand out to shake.

“You can keep your handshake.  If you screw with me I will turn your face into a pound of hamburger, boy.” The man replied pointing his gun at Jason’s face.

“Sir, I'm not screwing with you.  I’m a police officer, my friends and I came up here to get away from the city.  We have property down the road but we don’t have hay to feed our horse for the winter but we saw you had some. If you’re not interested we can just leave.”  Jason said in as steady a voice as he could muster with a shotgun in his face.

“Let me see your badge.”  The man replied without lowering the gun.

Jason pulled out his wallet and tossed it towards then man.  The man picked it up while keeping the gun pointed at Jason and looked over the badge an ID.

“New Jersey, eh?”  he asked.

“Yes Sir, we got up here a few days ago, a friend has property up here.”  Jason replied.

The man lowered the gun and held Jason’s wallet out and then shook Jason’s hand.

“Bill Walters.  Welcome to the neighborhood.”  Bill replied.

“Thank you Mr. Walters.”  Jason said as he put his wallet back.

“Call me Bill.”

“Ok Bill, do you have and hay available.”  Jason asked.

“Yeah, I got some hay.  Don’t need much anymore.  Those bastards on the motorcycles took most of my cattle and killed my horses.  Ain’t got much use for the hay except for my milking cow in the barn.”  Bill replied.

The pleasantries and talk continued.  Jason had Sean and Jeff come up to the house where they were invited in to meet Bill’s wife Helen.

“So are you all cops?”  Bill asked.

“No, Jeff here is a paramedic and Sean is a retired Marine.”  Jason replied for them.

“A Marine you say?”  Bill asked pulling back his left sleeve showing an old globe and anchor tattoo on his forearm.

Sean showed Bill a similar tattoo located on his left upper arm.  They soon got to talking about the service the way soldiers do without touching the subject of combat. After several minutes Bill got back down to business.

“So how much hay do you need?” He asked.

“Well we have two horses and four goats to feed.  I’m not a farmer so I really don’t know how much they eat.  I guess we should have brought the doctor.” Jason replied.

“Doctor?”  Was Bill’s response.

“One of the people in our group is a veterinarian.  She would be the one to ask.”  Jason replied.

“So your group has a cop, a marine, a paramedic, and a veterinarian in it?” Bill asked shocked.

“Plus a nurse, a horticultural expert and a 13 year old computer whiz.” Jason replied with a smirk.

“That’s quite a group, where are you guys staying?”

Jason hesitated a moment.  “About 20 min drive from here.” Jason said remaining vague.

“Well, I got enough hay for you, but you won’t be able to take enough with you in one trip.  I suppose you came here to trade.  What did you have in mind?”  Bill asked.

“Well, we have a few options; it depends on what you need.”

“Well guns and ammunition could be good, but what else do you have to offer.”  Bill answered.

“Mostly weapons and ammunition but we do have some hygiene products and alcohol we are willing to part with.” Jason replied.

Bill went with Jason back to the suburban to look over what they had to offer.

After some negotiating they ended up trading a .30 06 hunting rifle with 50 rounds, 20 rounds of 12 ga buckshot, a bottle of women’s shampoo and a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey for a winters worth of hay for the animals and an old farm tractor Bill had that he couldn’t get running since the pulse.  The tractor came with a bucket, backhoe, cutter and small bailing attachment.  In the end both groups were satisfied with the deal and they sat down for a nice dinner together.  After dinner they loaded the tractor and 2 bales of hay onto the large utility trailer and headed back home with the intention of returning the next day for a much larger haul of hay.  Bill and Helen were invited back to their homestead for a future dinner and if they needed anything, however without a working vehicle that was an unlikely event.  When they arrived back home, the girls were all relieved and seemed fairly excited with the prospect of the tractor and the winters worth of hay.  They all kicked back around the woodstove in the boys’ trailer until one by one they headed to their respective beds.

Chapter 78

James woke with the sunrise, stoked the fire, and headed outside to enjoy the quiet still morning sunlight.  He would have enjoyed it more if he had a cup of coffee in hand, but those days were most likely behind him.  He reflected on his life at the moment and was amazed what fate had brought him.  Living in the middle of nowhere at the end of the civilized world and the most beautiful woman he had ever met landed at his doorstep.  Part of him wondered what would go wrong.  It’s too good to be true… Was she just using him?  He caught himself and told himself to knock it off.  Don’t have expectations, just go with it and see what happens.  He couldn’t stop thinking of the kiss the day before.  It hadn’t been planned, it was done purely on instinct, and it was primal.  She had returned the passion, right? He asked himself.  James got up and went back inside.  He would drive himself crazy just sitting here thinking.  He needed to work to keep his mind distracted.  As he returned to the warmth of the cabin he saw Miranda sitting up in the bed holding her head.  She looked at James and gave him a smile.  A shiver went straight up James back.  Her smile was magical, she was so perfect.

“How did you sleep?”  James asked.

“Not bad but I think I may have drank too much last night.  My head is killing me.” She replied.

James retrieved a packet of ibuprofen from his bag and handed it to her along with a cup of tea from the top of the woodstove.

“Thanks.” She replied and she took the pills with a sip of the tea.

He nodded and then checked on the woodstove.

“Where did you get this tea, it’s amazing.” She continued.

“It was in a backpacking meal I had a while back. I’m not really a tea guy but I figured you would enjoy it.”  He replied.

“It’s wonderful, thank you.”  She replied as she watched him work.

“Not a problem, but that’s the only one I had.  Maybe I can come up with some more, or maybe some coffee.” He continued.

“Coffee would be amazing.” Miranda replied with a smile.

“I guess we will have to plan a trip, but first I have to get some real food for us.  Venison would be wonderful right now.” James replied.

“I’ve never eaten venison, but right now anything sounds good.” Miranda replied with her amazing smile.

Seeing the smile sent a shiver through James and he quickly turned away before he allowed Miranda to see his childish smile.  He felt like a teenager with his first crush.  He had to get a hold of himself.

“I’ll head out in a little while.  I’ll heat up some food and gather some more firewood before I head out.”  He said looking through his pack for what food he had left.  He pulled out a can of stew and showed it to Miranda looking for approval.

“Sure, I’m starving.” She replied with another smile.

As James turned away he thought he heard a slight giggle from Miranda but wasn’t sure.

Chapter 79

Jason awoke with the sun and stretched.  He was adjusting to the early mornings and the hard work and was pretty sure he had already lost a few of the frustrating extra pounds he always had fought off.  He started the coffee, stoked the woodstove and carried in a large armful of wood for the fire.  As he awaited his morning coffee from the percolator he walked outside and lit up a cigarette and enjoyed the sunrise.  He had cut his smoking back to around 4 cigarettes a day and while part of him wanted to just quit, another part of him still enjoyed the very unhealthy vice.

Jason grabbed a cup of black coffee, something he was still adjusting to, and headed out to look at the tractor they had gotten the previous day.  He grabbed some tools and electrical parts and began diagnosing the tractors issues.  It was an old tractor, which was good, and it was very well maintained.  He started with the ignition system and had been working for about half an hour when Sean came out with his own cup of coffee.

“Morning.” Sean said as he approached.

“Good morning.” Jason replied pulling his head out from under the tractor.

“Need a hand?” Sean asked.

“Ummm… if you want.  Right now I’m just poking around.” Jason replied.

“Well I was thinking Jeff and I would get some hunting in.  We need the meat.” Sean continued.

“That sounds like a good idea. I can keep an eye on things here.  What time do you want to drive back to the Walters place for the load of hay?”

“Maybe after lunch?  Let’s see how the hunt goes.  We need food more than the animals do.”

“Alright. Good luck.”  Jason said.

“You too.” Sean said pointing towards the tractor.

“I’ll need it.” Jason replied with a chuckle.

Sean walked back to the trailer and then came out with Jeff a few minutes later, rifles in hand.  Jason watched them walk into the woods and then continued with the tractor.

Chapter 80

James quietly walked through the woods following a clear deer trail in the snow.  The snow was a few days old and there were several sets of tracks, but this set was pretty fresh.  He was able to move relatively quickly in the snow and still stay quiet.  He moved down river several hundred yards but the deer tracks crossed to the other side.  James did not want to wade through the ice cold water but found a large tree fallen across the river and was able to get across while staying dry.  He picked up the trail again which moved up and into the next valley.  He climbed the ridge and at the crest he pulled out his binoculars to get a better look into the valley.

The earsplitting sound in the near silently wilderness caused James to startle and the roll for cover.  He quickly replaced the binoculars with a Remington 700 .308 hunting rifle with a 9x scope.  As he edged back up to the ridge again he looked and quickly observed 2 men moving down the opposite ridge down into the valley.  He looked to the bottom of the valley and saw where the men were heading.  Two deer lay dead at the bottom.  The men must have timed their shots precisely and appeared to have easily put the deer down at a range of around 300 yds.  Not the hardest shot, but a certainly not the skill set of your average hunter.

James watched as the two men dressed and quartered the deer and then hung the meat off a large branch which they carried on each end over their shoulder.  As they headed up the opposite ridge James worked his way down.  He was only a couple miles away from his cabin, and these people were too close for his comfort.  He moved slowly, keeping behind cover until the men crested the ridge.  After that he picked up his pace to try and watch the men from the next ridge.  He set up his perch and watched the men from over 600 yds. away as they entered their camp. It wasn’t a house; there were two travel trailers and a large tent set up along with a few vehicles.  James watched the men and tried to get a count on the group.  Two men and four women the best he could figure, they were all armed and they all kept quite busy.  One appeared to be working on a vehicle while the rest spent their time between the animals, the venison and the firewood.  It appeared that it was two couples and maybe two teenage girls.  James got the impression that they seemed like a peaceful group just trying to get by just like him.  Maybe they would even be useful. They appeared well trained and fairly well prepared.  Maybe they even had some coffee to trade for.  The thought perked James up a bit.  Coffee and Tea for Miranda.  That would make her happy.

James thought process was broken by a completely unwelcome sound.  The cocking of a 1911 pistol was a sound he was all too familiar with.  James let the rifle go and placed his hands out to his sides.

“Stand up.” Said the voice.

James complied and turned to face the unknown man.

“Turn around, face away and put your hands on your head.” The man ordered.

James complied and the man used his free hand to grab James hands and the he pushed him against a tree keeping James off balance.  The man then started searching James and pulled out the .357 revolver and James’ knife.  James waited for the man to make a mistake, but one never came.  The guy had to be a cop or something.  James thought.  The man then stepped back out of James reach and withdrew his gun again.  He then ordered James to turn around and face him. James recognized the man.

“What are you doing here?”  Asked the man.

“I followed you and your partner after you shot the 2 deer.  I live just over the river and didn’t think anyone lived this close to me.”  James replied.

“What’s your name?”

“James.”

“Well James, do you live by yourself?”

“No, I live with a woman.”

“Is she your wife?”

“No, I met her during this mess and helped her out.”

“Is she there by her own choice?”

“Of course.”

The next thing James knew, he was in an arm bar being pressed face first into the tree.  James tried to counter the move but the man had very good training and James stopped resisting when the barrel of the man’s gun was pressed against his head.

‘Tell me the truth.”  The man hissed.

James stared at the gun and that is when he noticed it.  The very bottom of the Force Recon tattoo.  The skull in the crosshairs of a rifle.

“I am telling the truth, Marine.” James said in as steady a voice as he could muster.

The man just stared at him.

“Your tattoo, not the first one I’ve seen.”  James replied.

The man looked down at his arm and then back at the man, indecision in his eyes.

“Kabul?  Hindu Kush?  Fallujah? “ James asked the man.

“What do you know?” was the man’s reply.

“Air Force Para Rescue. I was stationed and ran op’s in all 3, plus a few others. I pulled a few of you guys out of the shit over there.”  James replied, figuring comradary and honesty were his best option.

“Unit designation?”

“I was attached to the 160 SOAR.  Special OP’s rescue.”  James replied.

The man let go of James arm and turned him around but kept him at gun point.

‘Special op’s commander 2008 in Fallujah?”

James had to think for a moment.

“Col. “Bull” Watson. Army Delta Force.” James replied with near certainty.

“Did you know him?”

“Not well.  Ran a few operations with his men but never really talked to the man.  From what I understand he’s was a real hard ass.”

“He was an asshole, but a good commander.”

“Scout Sniper?”  James asked.

The man nodded.

“Can I put my hands down now?” James asked.

“Yeah, but don’t do anything stupid.”

The two men talked for a while longer.  The man finally relaxed and introduced himself as Sean.  They talked a little about their situation and preparedness.  Sean explained their journey from New Jersey and James told his story about waking up in the hospital and how he met Miranda.  Sean invited James back to meet the group and have some lunch, and James agreed but only a quick bite.  He really wanted to get back and check on Miranda.

James was introduced to the group and after a quick bowl of soup and some talk about trade James headed back home to get Miranda and to return for dinner and some trading.  James loaded up the cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey that he had gotten off the group had attacked them a couple days earlier.  Miranda seemed excited at the prospect of seeing new people and to have some female friends to talk to.  Once James assured her that they were good people she could barely contain the excitement and wanted to leave immediately.  As soon as James was packed they both grabbed their weapons and headed out.

Chapter 81

James and Miranda squeezed in around the already crowded table as they sat down for dinner.  The bottle of whiskey was their contribution as their food supply was desperately short.  The dinner was venison with canned mixed vegetables and homemade biscuits and everyone ate hungrily, especially Miranda who ate like a person twice her size. James watched in amazement. It was amazing that everything she did James found to be gorgeous and attractive.  James couldn’t ever remember feeling like this before.  Everyone also partook in the whiskey, except for Allie.  There was a lot of story swapping and laughter and once the meal was finished they got down to a little trading. James pulled out the cigarettes and traded all 12 packs for a box of tea and an extra-large can of coffee.   Everyone was pretty happy with the trade.  Jason was the only steady smoker of the group, but Sean and Jeff also enjoyed an occasional cigar but the cigarettes were a fair substitute.  The men went outside with a glass of whiskey and they all smoked while they discussed recent events and future plans, while the girls talked inside.

James and Miranda left a short time later and made the hike through the moonlight.  As they returned back to the cabin they were both very tired.  Miranda went to bed while James stoked the fire in preparation for the night.  He looked over and Miranda and smiled to himself.  She was so beautiful while she slept.  The thought brought him back to his old life.  He poured himself another drink of whiskey and quietly watched Miranda peacefully sleeping as his thoughts went back to his wife and children.  He looked at Miranda again to be sure she was asleep and then pulled a picture out of his pocket.  His wife and two children were in the picture and as James stared at the photo the tears started.   Three months after returning to the States after his last deployment his wife and children were killed in a terrible car accident.  James had been having a hard time dealing with the loss of his crew and he and his wife had separated.  James had been drinking too much and she didn’t want it around the kids.  James found out two days later when a police officer found him passed out in his vehicle and took him to the hospital.  It had been more than James could take and he had attempted suicide twice, but couldn’t go through with it.  Eventually the local hospital made an inquiry to the VA and they in turn looked at his military record and contacted Maj. Jacobs. The Major pulled some strings and was able to keep James out of a mental hospital and got him into and exclusive rehab and psychological facility reserved for only the very most elite.  James spent 60 days there and was able to get sober, answer the questions the way the shrinks wanted to hear them answered, and was able to get released.  Maj. Jacobs had also gotten him a few government contracts to teach survival training for smaller units in order to keep James busy and his mind occupied.  This picture was all he had left of his family.  He had gotten rid of everything else hoping he would be able to move on and forget them.  James was actually shocked for a moment.  This was the first time he had really thought of his family since he had woken up in the hospital.  He felt like she was telling him it was ok and he was able to move on with his life now.  He looked up at Miranda peacefully sleeping and sighed.  His eyes welled up again and he really started to cry.  He looked to the photograph again.  “I love you” he said with a whisper and set the photograph down and whipped his eyes.  He never noticed Miranda awake and looking at the picture.

Chapter 82

It was another early morning for Jason and the rest of his group.  The physical demands of collecting, boiling and bottling water, splitting and hauling firewood, working on the tractor and other small projects kept everyone pretty busy throughout the day.  Jason spent the morning attempting to patch the holes in the pick-ups radiator so they would be able to load up a few more bales of hay back to the compound.  Sean, Teddy and Jeff would be heading out in a few hours to visit the Walters and bring back as much hay as they were able to load for the animals.  They were also bringing over some venison and a couple hygiene products that they could spare.  The Watson’s were good people and they were going to have a difficult time surviving the winter without any help now that nearly all their animals had be taken and/or killed by the bikers.  Being that they were in their 60’s the topic of inviting them to come stay with the group had been discussed but quickly abandoned since they didn’t have enough housing for themselves at the time.  Jason filled the radiator and reservoir up with water and started the pickup.  He checked the radiator several times for leaks as the truck idled and after 5 minutes he was satisfied.  He didn’t want to waste too much gas just letting the truck run or they would be forced to try and collect more, which could be dangerous.  He hooked up the trailer and had everything ready for the group to head out.  Hugs were exchanged and everyone was told to be careful.  Sean and Cassidy even kissed before they parted ways and everyone was happy to see them both moving on from their tragedies and finding happiness.  After they left Jason decided he was going to hook up the shortwave/ ham radio and after dinner they would try to find some music or news to listen to.  He also thought about setting up the security system but that thought was again left behind.  He just had so much to do and they truly were in the middle of nowhere.

Chapter 82

James woke up before daylight and headed out with his bow with hopes to return with some venison.  He left a short note for Miranda before he headed out so she wouldn’t worry.  He felt like he had an extra spring in his step as he walked through the near silent forest and headed to a rock outcrop he had seen on an earlier trip and looked to be a good place to hunt.  The area overlooked the edge of the small pond area near the cabin and he had seen deer frequent the area in the past.  He set an extra coat on the rock outcrop to insulate himself from the cold and started to get comfortable for the next few hours of sitting perfectly still.  It wasn’t very comfortable but within a couple minutes he figured it was as good as it would get.  The wind was blowing into his face, which was good for hunting but it certainly bit at his exposed skin and he just hoped he didn’t have to be out here too long.  Before the thought had even left his mind James saw movement to his right and moving towards the pond.  James slowed all his movements as he turned his head to get a look.  Deer have an amazing ability to see movement along with an amazing sense of smell.  It was a group of 8 deer, all doe (female) and they were moving slowly as the bit at branches and twigs to get what little sustenance was left during the harsh winter months.  James eyed the group and found what looked to be the largest and therefore most likely the oldest deer of the group.  While it would have the strongest gamey flavor it would also provide the most meat and was the most intelligent choice to maintain the integrity of the herd.  James took controlled breaths and waited for the deer to pass.  He wanted the deer either completely broadside or slightly turned away from him as it would provide the largest target area for the vital areas of the deer and therefore result in the most ethical and painless kill for the deer.  As the deer passed James breathed deeply and drew back the compound bow.  With the bow back he viewed through the peep sight and momentarily recalled the last thing to be in his bow sight had been a man and not an animal.  He pushed the thought back, slowly exhaled and then released the trigger of the mechanical release.  James watched the moment in near slow motion as the arrow struck the deer just behind her front shoulder blade and penetrated completely through the deer and into the snow behind.  The group of deer then burst into a sprint as James watched.  As the deer passed around another rock outcropping and out of view James took a deep breath and relaxed.  No matter how many times he had done this in his life, he still got the slight adrenaline rush, followed by the slight disappointment of killing such a beautiful creature.  But the meat was a necessity and the thought that the deer had lived freely and he had killed it cleanly made him feel better.  He resisted the desire to immediately track the deer.  Even though it had been a clean kill he had been taught be his father many years before to wait at least 30 minutes before tracking the deer.  In the case of a less than perfect hit the deer would become tired and lie down and hopefully die as peacefully as possible.  To track the deer too early could spook it would cause the deer to run, which was not a good thing.  First it would extend the suffering of the deer, second it made tracking more difficult and losing the animal more likely and finally it would make the meat much tougher a gamier by dumping adrenaline into the blood stream.  James packed up his gear and retrieved his arrow which he cleaned in the snow and placed back in his bow mounted quiver.  James had estimated he had waited at least 20 minutes and decided he would slowly begin to track the deer.  With the snow on the ground tracking was a matter of just looking ahead.  The amount of blood was a good sign that the kill was clean and as he passed the outcropping he came upon the dead deer.  It had run less than 50 yds. which meant its death had truly taken a matter of a couple seconds.  James took the time to quickly clean the innards of the deer keeping the heart and liver to be eaten.  Then he used a short length of rope which he wrapped around the deer’s neck and front legs and began dragging the deer back to the cabin.  When he arrived back at the cabin he hung the deer from a high branch and began to skin the deer.  After that was completed he laid the skin out hair side down in the sun and also left the deer to hang after pulling it high up into the tree out of the reach of any predators.  Allowing the deer to hang for at least a day would help tenderize the meat.  Before hanging the deer he removed the ribcages with a handsaw which he then cut down and placed in his stewpot.  He would boil the bones and small scraps of meat, add the heart and liver chopped up and a can of mixed vegetables to make a stew.  It would be a fairly bland stew but it would be filling and nutritious.  After adding the ribs and covering with water he added a small amount of spices from a small backpacking spice holder, he covered the pot and left it to cook for the day.  It was now a couple hours after sunrise and he was surprised to find Miranda still sleeping.  He heated water for coffee or some tea and then went and woke Miranda.  Her eyes were bloodshot and it looked as if she had not slept well.

“Are you ok?  You look like you’re sick.” James asked with concern.

“Yeah, I’m not feeling so well.” She replied without much conviction.

“I’m sorry.  I’m heating up some water.  Would you like some coffee or tea?”

“Tea thanks.”  Miranda replied as she lay back down.

James was surprised at how cold she had been to him but figured she must really not feel well; although she had shown no signs of being sick the day before.  He returned with her tea, which she took without response, and he made himself a cup of coffee.

“I shot a deer this morning, so we will have some fresh stew tonight.”  James said.

“That’s good.”  Was the meek reply.

“I’m going to butcher up the deer tomorrow, but we are going to have to smoke some of it and I’m thinking about trading some of it with Sean and Jason for some vegetables.  I also think we should try to find some fishing tackle and see if there are fish in the pond here.  It will be a nice change.”

“Ok” was her reply.

James got the impression that she was angry about something, but had no clue what that could be.

“Are you mad at me or something?”  James asked

“No” was her reply.

“Then what’s wrong?”  James asked.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”  Miranda replied.

James was now frustrated and confused.  He was a man who spoke his mind and liked things clear and concise, attacking problems headlong. People who stewed on their problems and kept them in drove him crazy.  James decided to give her space and figure out whatever was bothering her.  He headed outside to cut and split more firewood and take out a little stress at the same time.

Chapter 83

Sean, Jeff and Teddy left after lunch in the pickup.  The single bench seat was tight, especially with everyone as armed as they were but it was only a 15 minute drive and they would tolerate it.  They brought some venison to share with the Walters along with some hygiene products and hoped that the Walters might have something else they might be interested in trading.

They pulled down the long driveway of the farm and looked for signs of trouble.  Nothing seemed out of place so they slowly crawled down the drive until they reached the house.  Sean killed the engine and all three exited the truck with Sean hailing the house.  A moment later Bill and Helen came to the porch and greeting were exchanged and Teddy was introduced to the Walters.  After a few handshakes and hugs they all got to work.  Helen went to cooking up the venison they had been given.  Teddy and Bill went to the barn where Teddy gave the milking cow a physical.  Sean and Jeff headed out to the field and started rolling the large hay bales to the trailer.  They pulled the trailer as close as they could and slowly but surely they were able to get them loaded.  After about an hour Bill and Teddy joined the boys and gave them a hand.  They were able to load the bales side by side in the trailer and they would be able to squeeze 6 on the trailer.  Getting two more in the pickup bed was possible but was going to take a lot more effort.

They decided to take a break and warm up in the house for a while.  They were all cold and a warm drink sounded great at the moment.  Inside they all enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with fresh milk.  It was a luxury they hadn't enjoyed since they had left NJ several days before and they all savored it.  After they were all warm Jeff decided it was time to get back outside to work.  No one wanted to, but the work needed to be done so they could get home before dark.  As they headed back out onto the porch Sean froze.  Everyone turned to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jeff.

Sean held his hand up silently asking for them to wait.

Jeff looked at him with a confused stare but then he heard it too.

“Motorcycles.”  Jeff pronounced.

“Get inside!”  Bill nearly shouted clearly agitated.

“What do they want?”  asked Jeff.

“Whatever they can steal.  These bastards stole my cows and killed my horses.  I have almost nothing left.”  Bill said the anger in his voice clear.

Sean quickly directed everyone to windows in order to cover the driveway.  Helen and Teddy hid in the kitchen, which provided the most cover of any room and they could easily move into the basement if it became necessary.  Teddy was an amazing Doctor and a great person, but under fire was not where she shined.  Most of the group guessed that she could not make the jump from saving lives to taking them and no one blamed her.  She had her Glock 26 with her and Helen had the home 12 ga shotgun.  Bill took Teddy’s AR15.  He had used an M16 during his time in the Marine Corp and used it in combat in Vietnam.  Sean and Jeff also carried their AR-15’s and they all had ten 30 round magazines.  Sean’s FN SCAR was still in the pick-up and he kicked himself for not having it.  The extra firepower would have been nice.  Sean watched 8 bikers pull onto the driveway and slowly head in their direction.  Jeff was surprised to see the bikes out on the snow covered road, but without any other running vehicles he figured they had to learn had to ride in it or walk.  Sean processed the scene.  8 bikers, all clearly armed, clearly looking to steal and probably kill anyone who got in their way.  He wondered how many women they had raped.  He mind stopped there.  After rescuing Cassidy and seeing the fear and terror she had endured and was still coping with, his mind was steeled.  He wouldn’t wait and see what these men wanted, he wouldn’t wait until they shot first; he was going to kill these men without warning.  There was no one to report them to, no police, no judge, and no prisons.  It was now good men against evil men.  Sean thought about the tattoo on his right shoulder.  It was one of his favorite sayings and was the reason he was able to justify his actions that he had done overseas fighting for his country.  All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.  The quote was attributed to Edmund Burke although that was somewhat disputed.  Sean didn’t care about the originality of the quote, its message was clear, and now it meant more than ever.

Sean sighted in on the closest biker, around 100 yds. away, and pulled the trigger on his rifle.  The shot startled both Bill and Jeff. They had not expected Sean to just start firing without any aggressive action from the gang.  Sean fired a second shot and dropped another biker before they got into action.  The bikers abandoned their motorcycles and looked for cover.  There was a ditch on either side of the driveway and it gave the bikers reasonable cover as they began to return fire back at the house.  The bikers were armed with mainly pistols and sawed off shotguns and at this range the weapons were not very effective.  Sean methodically fired his rifle only when a clear shot was available.  Jeff and Bill both fired slightly more freely and missed a few times before a successful shot was made.  After only a few minutes of fighting the bikers were already attempting to retreat.  This was the moment Sean was waiting for.  As they stood and attempted to flee Sean took them down one by one with accurately placed headshots.  Five minutes after the firing started it was all over.  Sean ordered Jeff to keep an over watch while he went to check the bodies.  Jeff watched Sean approach the first body, lying in the driveway, with a clearly fatal bullet hole in his forehead.  This was the first man Sean had fired on and the man had not even drawn a weapon.  Sean kicked the man over onto his back and then began searching him.  A moment later Sean pulled out a handgun which he immediately checked for operation and then dropped the clip to assure there was ammunition.  Sean then reloaded the clip, drew the slide back and released it forward charging the weapon.  Sean then slung his AR-15 across his back and used the newly acquired pistol to check the rest of the bodies.  Jeff watched in shock as Sean methodically fired a single round into the head of any man who already did not have an apparent fatal head wound.  Four rounds later Sean collected weapons from the men and came back to the farmhouse.  Jeff went to the porch and met him.

“What the fuck are you doing out there?”  Jeff asked Sean with a look of horror on his face.

‘What do you mean?” asked Sean coldly.

“You just started shooting these men!  They hadn't done anything yet!”  Jeff shrieked.

“So what?  Do I have to wait until someone else dies before we can start shooting?!  You knew as well as I did, that these guys were coming here to at least steal from the Walters.  They’ve done it before.  Why should they have to tolerate that?!  They got what was coming to them.  They made a choice to be evil and act like animals.  I am not going to sit around and wait for someone else to die in order to protect a group of animals that have probably killed dozens of people.  It’s not going to happen!”  Sean retorted.

“But you can’t just start shooting people!  What makes us any better than them?!”  Jeff screamed.

“Are you fucking serious?!  What makes us better than them?!  How many women have you raped?!  How many people have you stolen from at the point of a gun?!  This is no longer the civilized world of a couple weeks ago Jeff!  This is the fucking wild west!  There is no law!  Its good vs. evil and we all have a gun!  We just did this whole community a favor!”  Sean spat back.

All Jeff could do is shake his head.  He couldn’t just start killing people.

“You really don’t fucking get it!  How many people have to die before you wake up!  Animals like these are the ones that killed Mark!  He was our friend and they killed him for no other reason but to steal from us!  And you don’t even want to know what they did to Cassidy!  That girl wakes up every night crying and screaming over what animals like these men did!  I’m not going to give men like that a moment longer on this world to hurt anyone else.  You know as well as I do that these men were coming here to steal from these poor defenseless people!  Wake up Jeff!  There are no cops, courts and jails to punish these men.  Its men like you and me who are all that is left to protect the innocent!”  Sean said and stared back at Jeff.

Jeff just stood there looking at his feet.  He knew Sean was right, but it wasn’t that easy of a jump for him to make.  He’d seen what men like these could do during his time working in the City but there were always cops and a judicial system to deal with these animals.  It was a big jump to take the law into your own hands and deliver justice and Sean was saying.  But then again he had killed people.  He had killed the gang bangers who tried to mug him.  He had killed the men at the gun shop who had tried to kill him.  He had also killed several men when the house in NJ was stormed.  Killing was becoming far more common and far less difficult for him to deal with.  Maybe that was scaring him.  He had killed at least two of the men here today and it hadn't bothered him a bit.  It was getting too easy to kill someone and move on, that’s what truly bothered him.

“Alright, we need to get out of here though.  Someone is going to come back and check on these guys when they don’t come back.  Let’s gather what we can, get the Walters packed and get out of here.”  Jeff stated.

“I’ll check out the bikers and deal with the bikes and bodies.  Go inside and get the Walters ready to go.”  Sean said as he headed back to the driveway.

Sean gathered all the useful items from the bikers’ bodies and placed everything in a box.  Sean used the pickup to haul the bodies out of the driveway and back behind the barn.  Next he drained the fuel from all the bikes and put most of it into the pickup.  He saved a few gallons which he used to burn the bodies of the bikers which he immediately lit on fire.  Next he pushed the bikes into the barn and covered them all with a large tarp.  It wouldn’t hide them if someone was really looking but hopefully it would buy them some time.  Sean next unloaded two of the bales of hay from the trailer and hooked it back up to the trailer and pulled up to the barn.  He hopped out of the truck and headed inside.  He needed Bill’s help.  He found Bill in the living room looking at old family photos.

“Bill.” Sean stated.

“You know my family has had the farm for four generations.” Bill stated as he looked at the old black and white picture.  “It’s hard to just pick up and leave.”

“I understand, but they will come back, and they will be out for revenge.” Sean replied.

“I know.  It’s the right move, it just not easy. Can you make me a promise?”

“What’s that Bill?”

If something happens to me an Helen will you take care of my farm?”

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, but yeah we will keep an eye on it.”

“Just knowing that makes me feel better.” Bill stated with some relief.

“I hear ya.  Can you help me load the cow up on the trailer?” Sean asked.

“Yeah.”  Bill said as he put down the photo and headed outside.

They loaded up the cow and used a couple old boards to raise the sides of the trailer to keep the cow in.  They all headed back inside and loaded up the pickup with the most essential items first; food, hygiene products, weapons and jewelry.  They limited the sentimental items to one box, that’s all they had room for.  With everything loaded they started heading back just before sundown.  Sean had considered burning down the barn to hide the bikes and any other evidence but it was close to the house and Sean held out hope that the Walter’s would be able to return one day.

Chapter 84

James spent the day setting up a smoke house just outside the cabin.  It was pretty much a teepee that had made using straight sticks tied together at the top.  He used a few more sticks to create a place to hang the meat while it smoked.  He found a hickory tree and cut it into short lengths which he split to the size of kindling and then soaked in a bucket of water.  Using one of the tarps he wrapped the entire smoke house with the exception of a small area on top where the smoke could escape and an area where new wood could be added and oxygen could be let in at the bottom.  Satisfied he spent the rest of his day splitting firewood and tending the stew he started earlier.  Miranda still ignored him and it appeared that he had spent a lot of time crying.  He had attempted to approach her about it a few more times but every time he was blown off.  He was just about sick and tired of it.  He knew there was something between them, it was clear to someone even as ignorant to relationships as him.  He had absolutely no clue what had changed.  He was ready to move on, to open up to her and at the exact same time she completely shut down.  He was so frustrated he wanted to scream, but he didn’t.  He decided that it was a sign.  Maybe it wasn’t his time to move on, maybe he was destined to live the rest of his life alone.  He had come to grips with it once before and he could do so again.  He just wished she had never reopened the terrible cut once again.  They went to bed in silence and so turned another chapter in this new and crazy world.

Chapter 85

Miranda lay in bed quietly crying to herself.  She had never been so hurt in all her life.  How could he not tell her he had a family?  She let herself fall for him and then to find this… and he hid it from her, which was even worse.  And he clearly loved the woman; he told the picture that he loved her.  How could she have not seen it?  Was it all a ploy?  The kiss they had shared was the most amazing and most passionate she had ever experienced.  How could he fake that?  How could she have been so stupid?  Maybe she could go live with the other group.  She couldn’t stay here, not with him.  She spent nearly the entire night awake with the thoughts running through her head over and over and over.  She finally couldn’t lie in bed anymore and got up.  She went outside and watched the sun slowly rise and lighten the dark forest.  It was absolutely beautiful and the day seemed to be perfect. How could that be when she felt so awful?  She was pulled back to reality by the sound of the cabin door closing.  A sense of dread consumed her.  James walked up and handed her a cup of coffee.

“Thanks.” She said coldly.

“Could we please talk about what’s going on?”  James pleaded.

She wanted to scream.  She wanted to slap him and call him the bastard that he was, but she couldn’t.  She got up, coffee in hand and headed back into the cabin closing the door behind her.

James sighed as he sat down on a log.  What the fuck was going on?  He couldn’t take this much longer.  He decided to get to work and keep his mind off of the situation as much as possible.  He knew how his brain worked. If he sat here his brain would churn and churn until he couldn’t keep it inside anymore.  Then he would blow up and say something stupid, something hurtful and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

James went to work butchering the deer and then cutting a good portion of the deer into thin strips that he could smoke.  He started a fire outside until he had a good set of coals and then moved them into the makeshift smoke house.  Next he pulled a healthy stack of the hickory out of the bucket they were soaking in and set them onto the hot coals.  He kept enough coals outside to keep a fire going and built that back up.  It would keep him warm while he tended the smoker and he would have to keep adding hot coals into the smokehouse fire.  Finally he added as many strips of venison onto the hangers making sure there was enough room between them to allow the smoke to circulate all around them.  He wrapped up the tarp around the fire and let the smoker do its thing.  With the remaining meat, he kept a couple roasts to trade with Sean’s group and the rest he hung outside off the roof of the cabin.  He took one of the back straps of the deer and brought it inside to cook up.  He threw the meat on the stove and immediately headed back outside.  He was angry and decided they needed some space.  He couldn’t believe how she was treating him.  He had treated her with nothing but kindness and she repaid him by treating him like absolute crap for no reason.  He adjusted the opening on the bottom of the smoker to allow a little more air it and let the fire burn a little hotter.  Then he began loading up the gear he would need for the trip to the next valley.  Once the meat was cooked he split the piece in half and gave one half to Miranda and kept the other half for himself.

“If you’re coming with me we need to leave in 30 minutes.” James said.

“Ok and thank you.”  She said as she took the food from him.

“I don’t know what I did to piss you off but I’m sorry. “

She just looked back at him with anger in her eyes.

You know what, fuck it; I can’t deal with this bullshit anymore. James told himself.

“I don’t get it.  I have treated you with nothing but respect since I met you.  I’ve given you a place to live; I’ve given you food to eat.  Hell I saved you from those animals in case you forgot how we met!  I don’t deserve to be treated like a piece of shit; I’ve done nothing to deserve this shit.”  James said forcefully, his frustration apparent.

How about the fact that you have a family, you son of a bitch!”  she replied letting her anger to the surface.

‘What the fuck are you talking about?!”  James replied.

“I saw the picture, James!  The picture of your wife and kids that you hide in your pocket!  I saw it the other night!  You know you played me pretty damn well.  I thought I had fallen in love with you and then I come to find out it was all bullshit!  You have a wife, you have kids, what was I going to be?  Just a play thing?  Some slut to entertain you until you got home?!” Miranda screamed.

James sat on the cot holding his head in his hands.  Miranda stood looking over him like a beaten opponent in a boxing match.

“My family is dead.” James replied in a quiet muffled voice.

“What?” Miranda replied, not quite hearing, not quite believing what she had heard.

“My family is dead!” James nearly shouted as he stood, tears freely flowing down his face.  “My wife and my two children are dead!  They were killed in a car accident three years ago!”

Miranda just stood there in shock trying to come up with the words to say but nothing came to her.  She stood there helpless and James stared at her, his face wet with tears and anger in his eyes.

“I…. I….” Miranda started.

James didn’t want to hear another damn word and stormed out of the cabin and off into the woods.

Miranda sat down on the cot and broke down.  All of the emotion from the past day came out.  How could she have ruined something so perfect by being so selfish?  Why couldn’t she have just asked him about the picture?  He was never going to forgive her.  How could she have been so stupid?  As she sat there and cried all she could do was ask the questions to herself over and over.

James stormed out of the cabin and he was angry, as angry as he could ever remember being.  How dare she stick her nose into his personal business?  Why couldn’t she just ask him?  Didn’t he deserve damn respect of her talking to him before jumping to conclusions?  Maybe she wasn’t who he had thought she was.  The woman that he thought he loved would never be this insensitive.  He made up his mind.  He headed back to the cabin.  He would pack all her stuff up and he would leave her up at Sean’s.  He would ask Sean to help her out, find her a place to stay, but he couldn’t live with her.  How could he live with someone who had so little trust in him?

Chapter 86

Jason awoke a little later then he had expected.  The addition of the Walters definitely complicated the sleeping arrangements and reinforced the fact that they had to find something else for housing.  He found the coffee already made and poured himself a cup.  It would really suck when we run out of coffee. He thought.  He walked outside and found everyone already at work.  Sean and Bill had gotten the cow settled in the small corral area the night before but it was very tight so today they were expanding the space as best they could.  Allie and Teddy were feeding and checking on the animals.  Jessica and Cassidy were hauling firewood up to the trailers.  And he learned that Jeff had gotten up early to set some snares and to do some hunting.  He was going to try and snare some rabbit and squirrel to add some variety to their diet.  Jason went back inside and finished setting up the ham radio. The day before he had gotten the antenna set up high on the ridge above them.  Within an hour he had the radio on and was scanning through the channels.  He came across something, listened for a moment and then headed outside.  He had everyone squeeze into the small trailer to listen to the radio announcement.

This is the Vice-president of the United States.  It is with great sorrow that I address you.  We have suffered the greatest terror attack in the history of the world.  We have been attacked by a foreign enemy who has struck a great blow to our mighty nation.  From what we understand a nuclear device has been detonated high in the atmosphere above the mid-west which created a devastating electro-magnetic pulse that has covered the entirety of North America.  We believe that the device was a collaboration between Iran and North Korea and was designed to destabilize our country.  I can confirm that the President was in flight back to Washington DC when the device was detonated and that Air Force One has crashed.  We cannot confirm that the President is dead, however he has not been heard from since the time of the attack.  In accordance with the 25th amendment I as vice-president shall discharge the duties of the Commander-in-chief until such time as the condition of the President can be determined.  I ask every citizen to remain calm in the face of this emergency.  This is a time to take care of each other, to protect your neighbor and your fellow man.  This country has been through hardships before and what makes our country so great is that our people will stand together and confront these problems with resolve and unity.  I can assure you that the government is doing everything in its power to resolve the problems created by this attack and we hope to return back to a normal way of life in short order.  I have already ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to move resources into most cities across the country and they should be arriving soon.  I ask that everyone comply with their requirements as it is for the greater good.  In addition I have called upon all federal law enforcement agencies and the US military to assist FEMA in any way that they can.  I also request that all governors’ across this great country instruct their state and local law enforcement agencies to assist their local FEMA units where they can.  This is a time for all Americans to come together.  As we pull ourselves out of the ashes we shall become more resolute and a better country because of it.  God bless each and every one of you and God bless America!

The group sat in silence for several minutes.  When the message began to replay Jason turned it off.  There was really nothing in the message that they already didn’t know. They learned that it was Iran and North Korea who had attacked them and that FEMA was deploying to the cities, that’s about it.

“Well that was pretty useless.” Sean noted to the rest of the group.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jason agreed.

“At least we know there is some kind of government left.  Maybe there is a chance that things can be kept under control.”  Jeff said on a positive note.

“You really think that?”  asked Sean.

“No, I know they can’t control the entire country.  Just thinking positive.”  Jeff replied.

“Well, let’s get back to work.  We can check the radio again later, maybe there will be more information.” Jason stated.

Chapter 87

James returned back to the cabin after a 15 minute walk to cool off.  He was still mad but better than he had been before.  As he approached the cabin he could hear Miranda crying inside.  Just like almost every other man in the world, seeing a woman cry made you want to fix the problem.  It was made especially difficult with Miranda because he did love her.  On the other hand, he was still angry.  She clearly didn’t trust him and he didn’t deserve that.  He had treated her like a perfect gentleman, he had been nothing but kind to her.  With one misunderstanding she had pushed him away without explanation, without communication.  She had treated him like crap completely out of the blue.  That’s what bothered James the most.  He needed to be able to talk to her and her to talk to him.  Here was a prime example of why it was so important.  He headed inside to face her and to hold his ground, even though he wanted to give in.

“We need to get going.” James said as he walked in.

Miranda sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.  She got up and got ready to leave.

James pulled out the Remington 700 hunting rifle and handed Miranda her AR15.  They each always carried a handgun on them but the long guns had a much better range and could be used to hunt if the opportunity arose.

Within five minutes they were walking together towards Jason and Sean’s.

“You know I am so sorry, right?”  Miranda asked him.

“I know.”  James replied.

“Can you forgive me?”  Miranda asked.

“I… I don’t know.” James replied.

“Ok” Miranda replied as she held back tears.

“You don’t get it do you?  It’s not that you’re upset; it’s not what you said.  It’s how you did it.  I have treated you like gold from the moment I met you.  I’ve given you everything that I can.  I am not a perfect man, in fact I’m far from it, but I’ve always treated you well.  I’ve never been good with women, I’ve never understood them.  When my family died part of me died with them and for that reason I have never let anyone get that close to me since.  Until I met you.  When you saw me looking at that picture it was me asking her for permission to move on with my life.  It was not an easy decision for me to make, but I made it.  I went to bed that night and woke up to a completely different person.  You pushed me away, you wouldn’t talk to me, and you treated me like crap.  I can see why you would be concerned with what you saw, but why couldn’t you just talk to me?  What did I do to deserve that?  Did I ever give you a reason not to trust me?  If you don’t trust me and you can’t talk to me then I don’t think I can do this.”  James said, letting it all out.

“You are a good man, and I care about you too.  I don’t know why I pushed you away like I did.  I guess I didn’t want to get hurt.  All I can say is I’m sorry.  I don’t understand myself so I don’t expect you to understand me.  But I am sorry and I hope you can forgive me.”  Miranda replied solemnly.

“I will always care about you, and I will never purposefully hurt you.  I can’t say what the future will hold for us, but I will always care.  This is not easy for me.  I am attracted to you like no one I’ve ever been attracted to before.  There is nothing more that I want in this world then to be with you, to make love to you.  It has been a very long time since I’ve been with a woman and I fantasize about it every night.  But I can’t just forget what happened and I don’t know if we can ever make this work with this between us.  I want it to like nothing I've ever wanted before but I just don’t know.  Ever since that kiss I have wanted nothing more than to kiss you again, to feel your body, your skin against my skin, all the passion, but it’s just so complicated now.” James said.

Miranda started to reply but James cut her off.

“There is no easy answer.  I need some time to figure everything out.  Whatever happens between us please know that I never mean to hurt you.  I am a broken man, I’ve felt too much hurt and I need to protect myself from it.  If we are meant to be together it will happen.  I believe that, but we’re almost there and I don’t think either of us wants to walk into their place looking like a disaster.  We will be ok no matter what happens, so don’t be upset.”  James stated and gave her a hug.

He wanted to kiss her, he wanted nothing more than to forgive her, kiss her, and make love to her right here and now, but he couldn’t and he knew it was a stupid decision but they continued walking on.

Chapter 88

As James and Miranda crested the ridge and came into view of Jason and Sean’s camp they both waved.  With everyone outside it wasn’t long before they were spotted and the waves were quickly returned.  Jason and Jessica walked out to greet them both.  They met the two about 50 yds. from camp and started walking in with them.

“What brings you two up this way so soon?”  Jason asked.

“Well, I was hoping to trade some meat here for some canned vegetables.  I'm pretty much out and we’re going to be very short on vitamins without vegetables.”  James replied.

“I’m pretty sure we can work something out.  We are pretty well stocked on vegetables and it would save us some time from hunting.”  Jason replied.

“We may also be able to get you some fish, although I don’t have any tackle, maybe we could trade something for that if you have any?”  James asked.

“We’ve got fishing stuff.  We can make something work.”  Jason replied.

“That’s awes….” James words were cut short by an earsplitting gunshot.

In an instant a normal day became complete chaos.  James watched Jason fall to the ground and immediately went into action.  He pushed Jessica and Miranda toward cover, knocking them both to the ground in the process.  He drug them both behind the tractor and to cover.  Jessica tried to pull away and get back to Jason but James wouldn’t let her.

“There’s nothing you can do for him!”  James yelled to her having already noting the blood on his forehead.  It was a headshot and they were dealing with a sniper.

“But he needs help!”  Jessica screamed.

“Yes he does, but there is a sniper out there, you will be a sitting duck!  Let’s make things safe and then you can go help him!”  James screamed.  Giving her some hope would at least keep her alive.

Two shots and a big blast registered in James’ mind before he was knocked to the ground.  It felt like someone hit him with a baseball bat in his left shoulder.  He rolled around and saw one man face down in front of him and a second man punching Miranda in the face, knocking her unconscious.  James pulled the .357 revolver and shot the man in the face.  He looked at his arm.  It was a mess of blood and ripped clothing.  He could move it but it hurt a lot.  He looked at the first dead man, the sawed off shotgun answered his confusion.  James just hoped it was bird shot.  Another volley of shots brought him back to reality.

Sean had been working at the woodpile when the gun fire started.  He saw Jason go down and knew it had to be a sniper.  He got Cassidy, Teddy, Helen and Bill behind the woodpile and to reasonable cover.  Sean had to get an angle on the sniper.  He knew how devastating they could be.  He tried to quickly and quietly move into the woods.  He was able to get around 40 yds. away and found some cover.  A rapid number of shots made him look back to the woodpile.  There was a large group of men all moving towards the woodpile, a few had fallen from shots from the group but there were too many of them.  He pulled up his rifle and started firing at the men.  A scream brought his eye up from the scope.  Another group of men had come from the side and behind cover and were trying to drag Teddy and Cassidy away.  Teddy appeared to be unconscious but Cassidy was certainly not.  She was screaming, kicking and flailing her body around trying to break free from the man.  Sean fired the last shot from his rifle, striking the man, and then dropped it to the ground.  He began running towards Cassidy to get her to safety but she was quickly grabbed again by another man.  Sean was running as fast as he could.  He drew his Glock pistol and tried to line up a shot but the large man dragging Cassidy used her as a shield.  He fired and shot down another man in the area before he reached Cassidy and the thug.  Sean ran full out and at the last minute leapt over Cassidy, wrapping his arm around the big man’s throat and pulling him off balance and to the ground.  He hung on to the man’s throat and wrapped his legs around the man’s big barrel chest.  The man fell and landed on Sean, knocking the wind out of him.  Sean held on as the man fought squeezing harder and harder with his arm and his legs.  As the big man struggled he breathed harder and harder and Sean was able to slowly squeeze his chest tighter and tighter.  He heard Cassidy scream and he looked to her.  She was fighting off another man.  Distracted by this, the big man was able to strike Sean in the face with the back of his head, breaking Sean’s hold.  Sean was now being held by the big man around the throat.  He still had the gun in his hand and pointed at the man who was attacking Cassidy.  His vision was getting fuzzy from the lack of oxygen.  As he tried to aim the man holding him started punching him in the kidney area.  The pain was incredible but Sean put it all out of his mind.  He fired twice and the man dragging Cassidy fired once.  Sean was ready to pass out.  He tried and succeeded to get a small breath.  Sean drove his elbow back and under the big man’s ribs over and over.  As the man’s grip loosened Sean grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it from his neck.  He stepped under the arm, locking it out, Sean then delivered a crushing kick to the man’s knee dropping him to the ground.  Sean got behind the man and put the man in a choke hold.  He held on with everything that he had.  As he sat struggling with the slowly dying man Sean noticed a blood covered knife lying in the snow next to him.  The snow was covered in blood.  As the large man collapsed face forward onto the snow so did Sean.  He reached to his back where the man had punched him.  His hand came back cover in blood.  Sean looked out to find Cassidy, he saw her about 10 feet away lying in the snow.  He drug himself to her hoping to find her just unconscious, he could hide her with his body before he bled out, he just had to get to her.

James was now in a fight for his life.  There were just too many of them and he was running out of ammunition.  His pistol was empty and he had 1 round left in his hunting rifle.  Jessica and Miranda were still in the fight but they were both wounded.  James fired his last round out of his rifle and then tried to reload his pistol.  With his cold hands and adrenaline pumping it was not easy to hand load each round.  He dropped several rounds and tried to pull them out of the snow.  Distracted, he was grabbed from behind by a pair of powerful arms.  He tried to pull away but the arms were strong.  He looked down at the enormous, dirty tattooed arms and tried to come up with a plan.  Before he could think of anything he was pulled off his feet and thrown to the ground.  James rolled with the throw, gaining space, in order to defend himself.  He looked at his opponent and winced.  The man was at least 6’5” and 300 lbs of rock solid muscle.  He had a bald head, long beard and was covered in tattoos.  The man wore jeans, a t-shirt and his leather bikers’ vest in the subfreezing weather.  James was completely outclassed.  He stood only 5’8” and just under 200lbs.  The looked at him and smiled, goading him into the fight.  James had trained in MMA style fighting and knew he had to approach this fight very carefully.  If this man got a solid hit to his head or trapped with of his arms James was done.  The man walked towards him slowly and then rushed in making his move, a right handed haymaker straight for James head.  James moved forward, towards the blow and ducked, cutting under the arm and throwing his own blow into the big man’s kidney.  He turned and again created space, trying to stay out of the big man’s reach.   The man came again and tried to throw a jab at James nose, which James easily blocked. James continued to dance around waiting for an opening.  This time the man faked a jab with his right and then tried to throw a left handed uppercut.  James read the move, dodged the strike and grabbed the man’s left hand by the wrist.  Using the man’s momentum, he turned the wrist, locking it into and arm bar and then drove the big man to the ground.  As he fell James moved with him and ended up on the man’s back, arm fully locked out.  James used all the strength he had and tried to either dislocate the man’s shoulder or break the arm at the elbow.  But the man was just too strong for James to control.  He bucked James off his back and rolled, unlocking his arm.  James tried to pull his arm away and create space again, but he waited a fraction of a second too long.  The big man grabbed his arm and pulled him in.  With his other hand he threw a punch straight at James face.  James used the turtle move he had learned long ago and just tried to absorb the blow the best he could.  The blow struck the top of his head, near he barely healed scar on his forehead, and glanced off.  James saw stars as the blow hit and had a moment of dizziness.  A scream snapped him back to reality.  He looked to see a group of men on top of Jessica and Miranda and his mind instantly cleared.  Another rush of adrenaline flowed through his body.  James threw a kick to the man’s right knee, which buckled from the sideways blow breaking it at the joint.  As the man buckled to his knees James moved forward and struck the man straight in the face with a knee strike delivering every ounce of power he could.  The strike drove the big man’s nose back into his brain, killing him instantly.  James was up in an instant, running to Miranda and Jessica who were being dragged away by several men.  James grabbed a dropped rifle and brought it up, aiming towards the group.  As the rifle came up James saw the barrel of a large caliber hand gun pointing directly at him.  In the exact same instant the man’s head was blown apart followed by a brilliant flash from the gun muzzle.  The round struck James high up in his already wounded shoulder, knocking him back and off his feet.  As he fell he struck a rock with his head and everything went blank.

Sean pulled himself up to Cassidy.  He noticed the snow around her was red and soaked in blood.  He lifted himself up and saw the bullet wound in her abdomen and his tears welled up.  He pulled himself next to her and looked into her eyes.  As their eyes met she smiled through tear filled eyes, the pain instantly relieved.  Sean smiled back at her.  He held her hand and pulled himself tight against her.

“It’s ok.” He whispered to her.

She smiled and squeezed his hand tighter.

“I love you.” She said in a barely audible voice.

“I love you too. Now and forever.  It’s time to go to sleep now.”  He replied.

They lay there together.  Hand in hand, smiling until death took them, together forever.

Chapter 89

Jeff had heard the shots and immediately headed back to the compound.  He had been nearly half a mile away and moving through the snow covered hills was not an easy process.  As he crested the hilltop the scene in front of him was devastating, the trailers were on fire and bodies were everywhere.  He found a perch and pulled up his sniper rifle.  As he viewed through the scope the only people he could find from his group was Jessica and the two from the other camp.  James and Miranda he thought.  James was in a hand to hand fight with a massive man while Jessica and Miranda were being drug away be several other men.  He tried to get a clear shot at the kidnappers but he couldn’t risk shooting the women and the men were quickly moving into cover.  He then turned the rifle back to the large man fighting James.  The big man was now on his knees and Jeff watched first hand as James knee struck put the man down for good.  Jeff looked for another target as James sped after the women.  Movement caught Jeff’s eye and he centered the crosshairs of the rifle on a man who had James at gun point.  He slowly pulled the trigger and watched in horror as his round struck home an instant too late.  The man fired and James went down.  Jeff surveyed the rest of the area quickly and took out two more targets before there was nothing left to see.  Jeff then ran towards the compound.  No one was getting up.  Jeff thought the worst as he ran into the camp and first went to where he saw James.  James had been shot at least twice in the right shoulder and was unconscious but alive.  He checked for a radial pulse and found it to be strong. Jeff ripped a piece of shirt off of James’ shirt and pressed it into the wound. He then went to find the others.  Jason was nearby, lying in the snow.  Jeff saw the wound to his head and nearly gasped.  He checked for a pulse and found one, it was strong, and his breathing was ok.  Jeff cleaned off the head wound and found that the round had glanced off his head.  There could be serious brain trauma still but at least Jason was alive.  There wasn’t much more he could do.  Jeff next ran up near the trailers where several bodies lay.  Most were bikers and Jeff pulled any weapons away and left them, they were not getting any care from him.  He found the Walters in the midst of several other bodies by the woodpile.  They were both clearly dead, with gun shots to the forehead, as if they had been executed.  He started yelling.  Calling out for Teddy, Jessica, Sean and Cassidy but got no response.  He kept looking around the camp but didn’t see anyone else.  He ran into the now burning trailer.  He needed medical supplies to treat James and Jason and maybe he could put the fire out.  He entered the old trailer first and found that the rear section was totally engulfed in flames.  He started grabbing what supplies he could and threw them out the door to safety but he was quickly overwhelmed by the smoke.  He next ran into the other trailer.  The bedroom area was on fire and was putting out a good deal of smoke.  Jeff went back out and opened a compartment.  He had remembered seeing the fire extinguisher here while putting away supplies before.  He pulled it out and ran back inside.  Using the extinguisher he put the fire out in the bedroom quickly and then headed back out, the smoke was too much.  He left the trailer, grabbed the medical bag he had thrown from the other trailer and went back to Jason and James.  As he ran he found Sean and Cassidy.  They lay together, hand in hand, their wounds and death apparent.  Jeff fell to his knees and cried as he looked over his friends.  He sat there for a moment, surveying the scene and became resolute.  He would have his revenge.

Chapter 90

It was several hours later when James finally awoke.  He was lying on a couch in what had once been a luxury travel trailer.  The burn marks and horrid smell of burning plastic still hung in the air.  He tried to get up but the pain in his shoulder stopped him.  Jeff came over to him.

“You need to rest for a while.”  Jeff said calmly.

“What happened?”  James asked.

Jeff told him what he had seen and surmised from the scene.

“We have to get the girls!”  James nearly screamed.

“We will but you need to get your strength back.”  Jeff replied flatly.

“I’m fine.”  James replied.

“No you’re not.  You and Jason have both been shot.  You will heal and when will go get them, and we will kill every last one of those bastards.” Jeff replied, a look of pure anger in his eyes.

Thank you for reading this book.  This is my first attempt at writing a book and your feedback both positive and negative is very much wanted.  Please leave comments in the section provided by amazon or any other publishing site this book was purchased.  Book #2 is in the works but as this is a part time hobby I cannot give a definite date of completion.  I truly hope you enjoyed reading this book and will look for the second book in the series when it become available.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Prelude

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90