by David Wilson
One of the boys raised his hand, “Sir, Bobby, Jay, and I are all from the New England area. We would like to head that way if we could?” I looked at Don, who shrugged. “Son, I can only say if that’s what you guys want then that’s what you should do. I know there is nothing in the world that would stop me from heading toward my family and that is where I am heading. I wish you would go with us until everything has a chance to settle down but that’s up to you.” The three looked at each other than back at me, “Sir we need to get to our families, we are afraid if we go west with you guys we won’t be able to get home before the weather turns cold.” “I understand,” I said, “but you need to understand that within a few days people will become desperate and the gear you have on will make you targets. There will be people out there that will kill you for what you have. You need to travel at night or off the roads, stay away from cities even if it takes you out of your way. Can any of you read a compass?” The boy that had been doing all the talking nodded, “Yes Sir, I know the basics.” “Well go grab a couple of the ones you know how to use, one of you other guys run up to the front and grab 3 copies of a road atlas for the New England area. Try and find food along the way but only if you can do it safely. Always, Always filter your water. Set down your packs and take out all that shotgun ammo, except one of you. One of you should keep the shotgun and the other to should go grab a couple AR-15s. I’ll come over and set them up with ACOGs for you. Everyone else take their shotgun and .308 ammo and spread load that. You guys use the extra space to add more Mountain House food.”
Don motioned me off to the side, “Dave do you think this is a good idea?” “Don, if you were in their position what would you do?” I ask. He nodded, “Next item, what do I do with all of these guns? There are going to be lots of people in here real soon and a lot of these guns might end up in the wrong hands.” I shook my head, “Yes some of them will be used by bad people but some of them will end up in good peoples hands allowing them to protect themselves and their families. We don’t have time to worry about who ends up with what. The only other choice we have is to burn the place. But I’m against that as this store alone will allow a bunch of people from freezing to death over the next four or five months. But I won’t stop you if that’s what you want to do.” “No you are right, it just worries me, “ said Don. “Don, guns are just like any other tool, they can be used for good as well as evil. What people do with them is not up to you or me. I think the best thing to do is lock the racks so that the kids running around here can’t just pick them up but the adults will figure out how to get to them. Now lets get a move on its almost 10 o’clock and I want to hit that Wal-Mart or Dicks for bicycles before dark.” Don nodded and we both headed for the gun counter to help get the other boys set up.
After finishing with getting the boys set up to head northeast, I walked back and picked up my pack. Heavy, wow, I was not looking forward to carrying that. Dropping it back on the floor I moved over the ammo shelves and grabbed another couple boxes of 9mm Critical Defense for my Glocks. Returning to the rest of the group I stuffed the boxes into a side pouch on my pack. Unslinging my M4, I laid it on the table. Bending over I picked up my rucksack and shrugged into the arm straps, tightening them as I leaned forward. Straightening I snapped the waist belt and lightly bounced on by toes a couple of times to settle the pack. Picking up my M4, I turned to the group and said, “Well what are you waiting on, let's move.” Everyone stood frozen for a couple seconds than everyone began moving at once. It took just a couple minutes before everyone had their rucks on and their weapons in hand. I turned to the three young men that would be leaving our group and struck out my hand, “Good Luck,” I say as I shook each of their hands. After shaking hands with everyone, Bobby, Jay and Paul shouldered their packs and headed out the loading ramp door. I turned and began going over everyone else’s gear to make sure we were not forgetting anything.
Everyone froze when we heard a shout from outside. Moving over to the service door with the small pane of safety glass, I observed a small crowd of about 12 to 14 men surrounding Bobby, Jay and Paul who were kneeling on the pavement. The three of our guys had their hands in the air. Keying my radio mic, I called, “Paul if you can hear me raise your right hand higher into the air.” Watching out the small window I observed Paul raise his hand higher, keying my radio mic again, “When I tell you to, all of you hit the ground fast.”
Turning to everyone, “Everyone drop your packs now, Don and Ben, go grab us all shotguns, Ben grab the Mossberg 930 for me and bring some extra buckshot rounds. Jeff, you and Mat get back inside and keep an eye on the front and back entrances, this might be some type of diversion to get inside the store. If anyone breaks in, don’t hesitate to shoot the Tannerite if there is more than just a couple of them attempting to get in. Wait until they are inside and grouped together near one of the targets before shooting.” Mat and Jeff took off back inside the store just as the other two came back in with the shotguns. Taking the 930 from Ben and grabbing a handful of 2 3/4 inch double 00 buck from the box Ben offered I quickly explained what we were going to do. “Ok, here how this is going to go down. I will go out the door first, they will want to talk, but we are going to take these guys down fast, I will take the leader out with my first shot, Ben you will be right behind me moving to my left, you begin taking the guys to the leaders left working your way back to the center, I will work to the right. Don you will come out to my right and begin shooting the guys beginning on the right working your way in to the center. Any questions?” Seeing nods all around, “Ok this is going to happen fast, don’t freeze up, don’t think, just from the look of them we are facing a local gang. Be careful not to shoot our guys laying on the ground.”
I ran back over to the window and called out, “So what do you guys want?” Watching the crowd, a young man maybe 19 or 20 years of age, with a Spanish accent called back, “We want all of you out of the store, I promise you can leave unharmed, just leave all your weapons inside and walk away.” Motioning to the rest of my guys, we lined up on the exit door, giving them a look I said, “Are you ready?” Again nods from the pale faces. Keying my mic, I said, ”Paul hit the deck!” and I jerked open the door and took two quick strides forward, pushing off the shotgun safety as I stepped forward. The semi-auto Mossberg 930 was made for 3-gun matches and held nine rounds of 00 buckshot. Pulling the stock into my shoulder I squeezed off my first round at the young gang leader, the blast catching the man in the chest and head from about 25 feet. The nine .33 caliber pellets dropped the gang leader like he had be pole axed. Moving my aim to the man standing to the former gang leader’s left the man stood frozen with a look of horror on his face. My second round catching him before he could even begin to raise the pistol he had in his hand. By the time I had focused on my third target and pulled the trigger, my mind registered the third blast was much louder than my first and second shots had been. Moving my sight picture to my fourth target a large man armed with a rifle or shotgun was just raising the weapon to his shoulder when my round removed most of his head. Continuing to swing to my right I observed no more targets and quickly scanned back to my left. All of the gang members were down, most of them not moving but a couple of them were calling out for help. Reaching up and keying my mic, “Reload, everyone keep your eyes open, Don watch behind us, Ben watch the front corner of the store, “I said as I shoved fresh rounds into my shotgun.
Keying my mic, “Paul are you guys ok.” Watching I saw Paul raise his head and reach over to Jay, all three of them immediately got to their feet and headed back to the loading dock. “Everyone back inside, Ben you cover me from here.” I moved down the stairs as everyone but Ben moved back into the storage area. Walking over to the two wounded gang members I didn’t speak to either of them. One of the wounded gang members began cussing me in Spanish as I drew my Glock and silenced the gang banger by putting a single 9mm round into each of the men’s heads. Quickly checking the others I found no more living gang members. Just
as I turned to head back to loading dock I heard and felt a huge explosion from inside the store. Breaking into a run, I motioned Ben inside and I quickly followed him inside and secured the loading dock door.
As I ran for the main store area, I heard a fusillade of rifle shots. Slowing down long enough to exchange my shotgun for my M4, I turned to the group of young men following me. “Guys, go back to your rifles for this, as we move into the main store, keep below the gun counter. Don, take those three,” pointing towards Paul, Jay, and Bobby, “Ben you are with me, when I call you on the radio, pop up and take down anyone that is not one of us. Leading the group we moved to the short hallway between the loading docks and the main store, I turned to group and motioned for them to stay low with my hand. Staying low myself I moved to the opening into the store, I motioned Don to take his guys along the gun counter to the left and motioned for Ben to follow me to the right. We moved to about the half way to the front before I motioned Ben to stay and I continued to move to the end of the counter. Glancing down the counter I saw that Don had his guys spread out towards the back of the store.
Just as I was beginning to press the radio mic button a man towards the front doors of the store shouted, “We are going to kill all of you, that was my little brother out back that you assholes killed.” Pressing the mic button, “Guys hold your fire until I tell you to, just everyone stay quiet and let's see if we can sucker these guys out into the open. Mat, are you and Jeff ok?” Mat immediately came back, “We are ok, but we found out that this upper floor will not stop bullets worth a crap.” “Ok, just keep your heads down and keep moving after you fire a couple of shots.” I said into my mic, “Be prepared to pop up and begin shooting the Taninite when I begin firing.” Moving quickly though the hunting section to the boating area I stopped behind a large fishing boat. Taking a quick peek from around the boat I could see that someone had smashed the entrance doors. From what I could see about a dozen men had entered the store and where standing behind a large Hispanic man. Dropping the ACOGs green horseshoe onto the center of the man’s chest I flipped the selector to burst and squeezed the trigger. The three rounds of 5.56 punched into the man’s chest and dropped him into a lifeless heap. The men behind him froze in shock as their leader fell lifeless. Just than two containers of Taninite exploded in one roaring wave of sound, blowing racks of clothes and men in all directions. Moving my M4 as rapidly as I could I took down three more before the shock wore off and the remaining men scrambled out the same way they had come in. Scoping the area I saw at least six bodies laying on the floor. Moving to the front of the boat I had been taking cover behind I stood and listened and watched for a couple of minutes. Seeing no more movement and not hearing anything, I called Mat and ask him if he could see any movement. Mat called back and said that he could not see anyone else inside the store. Telling him and Ben to keep a sharp watch out for any stay behinds, I moved towards the front of the store to make sure it was clear.
Moving cautiously I skirted the boats and moved to the same area I had broken into the store the night before. Using the crates of gasoline generators we had used to block the broken windows as cover I pulled out my bino’s and began to scan the parking lot. It only took me a few seconds to find the group of gang members who had attempted to enter the store. They had re-grouped together behind a pickup truck parked about 100 feet from the front entrance. Grunting with the effort I was able to move the top crate a few inches to the side, however this was enough for me to get the muzzle of my M4 though the broken window. Not wanting to actually shoot anymore of them than I had too, I aimed in on the front tire of the truck they were behind and flipping my selector switch to single shot, squeezed off one single round. The tire exploded with more of a whimper than an explosion but it definitely got the idea across to the remaining gang members. They scattered like a covey of quail. Flipping the selector switch to burst I led a group of four gang members and put two bursts into a car they were heading to for cover. Using the remaining rounds of my magazine I chased the other members of the gang out of sight of my window.
Hoping the actions of the past few minutes would buy us some time, I quickly gathered everyone together over by the rifle counter. Glancing at the three young men in front of me, “You guys do realize we were very lucky just now. Next time that gang will not make the same mistake and will just shoot you on sight. You do understand that?” They all three nodded while at the same time looking scared to death. “Do you still want to head out on your own?” I ask. All three nodded again. I just nodded and told them good luck and to get moving. “I would recommend getting out of the mall area and finding somewhere to hole up until dark. If you want my opinion I would recommend you head for the railroad tracks to the northeast and hole up until dark than follow the railroad tracks north. But whatever you’re going to do, do it now before those guys come back with friends.” They once again said their good-byes and we all headed back to the loading docks area.
Cautiously I pop open the exit door by the loading docks. Easing it open I look and listen for a few seconds than slide out the door as Ben came into the doorway. I motion him to wait there and moved down the short flight of stairs off of the loading docks. Not seeing or hearing anything I move to the corner of the loading docks so I can see the far larger mall parking lot. Still seeing nothing, I keyed my radio and told the others to move out. We crossed the parking lot heading to the northwest towards the Hampton Inn. Moving as quickly as we could, we moved into the wooden area next to the hotel. I pointed at the three that were leaving us and then pointed in the direction of the railroad tracks. Having already said their good-byes they took off for the railroad tracks as if they were on fire. After their departure, it only took us about five minutes to reach the treelike bordering Highway 100. I raised my fist over my shoulder, signaling the others to stop in place. Looking back over my shoulder, I see that everyone had stopped in place and taken a knee. I made a mental note to go over hand and arm signals and radio procedures with everyone tonight when we stopped. Getting everyone’s attention I pointed to where I wanted each of the group and then motioned Don to come over to me. I keyed the radio mic and let them all know that we would be here for only a couple minutes and to make any adjustments they needed to. I said to Don, “I want to watch the highway for a few minutes to see if anyone is out and about. If not I’m thinking we should get on the highway and move to that Dick’s Sporting Goods store you told me about as fast as we can. What do you think?” Don nodded, “Ok with me, at my age I’m all for taking the easiest route we can.” We settled down to watch the road in front of us, after a few minutes of observing nothing we picked up our gear and moved onto the shoulder of Highway 100 heading west.
Chapter Eight
After walking at a slow but steady pace for about 45 minutes, I walked off the road to the edge of the tree line. As we formed a small 360-degree perimeter, I ask, “How is everyone doing? Make sure you drink some water and take a piss if you need to. From now on when we are on the radio, I will be one, Ben two, Jeff three, Mat four, and Don five. That way we each know who is saying what. So if I call for a radio check, go in order, two roger, three roger and so on. Got it?” I get nods all around. “I figure we have covered a couple of miles. We should be coming up on Highway 1 soon and right after that, I-95. If we don’t see groups of people we will stay on the shoulder and pass straight though the big interchange. In the near future we won’t be able to do that as the overpasses will become choke points and will be too dangerous to cross. It will always be tempting to take the easiest route but think about it, where do deer hunters set up and wait for deer. At the intersection of deer trails. The same will go for the riffraff, they will set up on the interchanges to increase their odds of seeing all the travelers and then rob them.”
After everyone had a chance to relieve himself and to drink some water, we took back to the road-heading west. Crossing over Highway 1 and then I-95, we stopped again. Mat asked, “Where is everyone?” Don replied,
“I think everyone is waiting for the government to do something. Most people, even if they know it was an EMP are just hunkering down and waiting for the government to come fix everything.” I agreed and said, “They will wait until the food and water is gone,” I pointed to the south; “see that water tower over there. That is how the system works, pumps fill the large tank and the weight of the water is what creates the pressure that pushes it into the homes. Once that tank runs dry there will be no more running water. Oh, there is water there for those that know how to get it, but most people don’t. Just like most will not think of draining their hot water heaters. Each of those holds 40 or 50 gallons of clean water. That and most people will let their frozen food go bad instead of eating it first.” “But,” Mat injected, “Won’t the government help once they get the military and FEMA back up and running?” Don and I exchanged looks and I continued, “Not likely, most if not all of the military will have their hands full just taking care of their own. FEMA is made up of a small full time staff, but most are part time or volunteers that only come together in the event of a natural disaster. We are just lucky there are not nuclear facilities in this area. Most of them will be entering critical meltdown once the fuel for the back up generators runs out and the cooling pumps stop pumping the water to cool them. Some might, just might shut down safely, but some will not and once they go into meltdown it will create a deadly situation for anyone local. Our government has known for a long time how susceptible our power grid was and they did very little to fix it. I would say by tonight people will be beginning to get tried of waiting for help and almost all of the local grocery stores will be looted. We want to be out of the built up areas by tonight. If we can get some bikes at Dick’s we should be able to make pretty good time tomorrow and at least get to Harpers Ferry by tomorrow night. Once we get to Dick’s, Don and I will keep watch, as you guys are much more familiar with the bikes we need. Just get the best ones you can get the fastest. Be sure and get some tools and tire patches, chains, air pumps, and whatever else we might need to keep the bikes up and running. If there are any people at the store when we get there just follow my lead. Ben, you will be responsible for covering our rear if we are in the open, Jeff you concentrate on anyone carrying any type of long range weapon, such as a hunting rifle with a scope, the rest of us will handle anyone close to us. If the shooting starts do not hesitate, anyone with a gun pointed at us is the enemy. A kid with a .22 can kill you just as dead as an adult with a 12-gauge shotgun. Got it?”