Lone Star Odyssey- First Steps

by David Wilson

  Beth appeared in the door of the building. She grabbed her bike laying beside the door and began pushing it towards us. Ben and I were both glued to our scopes as she walked, I could tell she had been though hell and that she was limping. Ben started to get up and I stopped him, “Let her get behind cover before you help her. Get a poncho liner out of my bike trailer and cover up Jeff before she sees him. The last thing we need right now is for her to be freaking out. After you do that, bring me my zombie ax and that DP-12 with a bandolier of shells over here.” Ben cast me a questioning look and I replied, “We are going to make sure these guys are not on our back trail. Go get that shotgun for me and then help Beth.”

  Turning back to my rifle, I cranked up the zoom again, I had never played with this model of scope before but I knew the basics. This model had the “Camputer” that automatically compensates for bullet drop and also had an illuminated green ranging reticle. It was really overkill for this short of range and I would have to zoom it out again to hit anything as the higher zooms were meant for much longer ranges. I could see a couple guys peeking out the windows attempting to see what was going on. The radio crackled in my ear, “Is Beth ok?” I replied, “Yes Mat, Beth is ok, shook up but ok. Focus on what you're doing and keep your head down.” Ben squatted down next to me and laid the DP-12 and bandolier of shells down and handed me my zombie ax. I waved him away towards Beth, who had reached us and had sat down beside Jeff’s body. I could see she was crying and Ben sat down beside her talking to her.

  Keying the radio, I said, “Ok here is how this is going to go. Don, you and Mat get ready, I’m going to flush these guys out if I can, take them down as they come out.” With that said I dialed down the zoom on my scope and focused on the target canister by the vans. Squeezing the trigger I mentally cussed as I watch my round strike about three inches high. Hey this was only about my fourth or fifth shot with this rifle give me a break. The rifle was sighted in for 200 yards, not the 100 or so yards I was shooting right now. My second shot was on target and a very satisfying explosion took place in front of the ferry building. Using the rest of the magazine I proceeded to place a round into each of the vans engine blocks. Reloading I used another magazine to finish the job on the vans. The big rounds from the .308 were making sure that these vans would never again hit the road. By this time I could tell the guys inside the building were extremely unhappy with me. Two men rushed out the front door and attempted to get inside the second van only to be dropped by Don before they got ten feet from the door. By my math that left six to eight more in the building.

  Getting back on the radio I ask Mat and Don if they could see any propane tanks around the main building. Don came back with a negative, but Mat said he could see one of the big long tanks out back of the main building. I told Mat to shoot up that tank but not to waste more than a magazine on it. About that time Ben came back over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. As I looked at him, he pointed over towards Beth and shrugged his shoulders. I told him to take over here and to shoot anyone that showed in the windows. With that taken care of I slid back and moved over to Beth. She was sitting beside Jeff’s body with her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees, sobbing and rocking back and forth. As I approached I spoke her name. Her head jerked up and I could see she wasn’t tracking well with the wild look in her eyes. She flinched hard when the last exploding target went off when one of Ben’s shots found it. I began speaking softly to her, “Beth, you're safe now.” She looked up at me and said, “It’s all my fault, I didn’t think and now Jeff is dead because of me, its all my fault.” I remained quiet for several seconds thinking over my options. I could try and comfort her or I could be honest and make her deal with the results of her actions. I really didn’t have time to deal with her self-pity party at this moment in time. “Yes, you are correct. This is mostly your fault that Jeff got killed, but we all need for you to get your shit together and help us right now. We have to finish this and get the hell out of here before all this draws everyone within miles to this location,” I said. Beth’s eyes flashed with anger, she had been seeking comfort and assurance that it wasn’t her fault. But I didn’t have the time or inclination to baby her, which just was not going to happen. She needed to deal with it, accept it, and learn from it. New world, new rules, time to grow up.

  About that time a loud whooshing sound came from the direction of the ferry building. I heard Mat’s excited voice on the ear bud explaining that it was the large propane tank in back of the building on fire. I knew it wouldn’t explode from just shooting it, but had hoped that it would vent enough to do exactly what it was doing. Hopefully it would be hot enough and close enough to the main building to catch it on fire. I told Mat to watch for leakers attempting to get away from the building. More than likely they would try and make it to the river hoping we didn’t have that side covered. I called over to Ben, “Watch for the remaining guys to make a break for it any minute now, the building will be on fire before long. Ben, make it really uncomfortable for them with a couple dozen slugs from the DP-12. Start at one corner and put a round every foot or so at the height of the bottom of the windows. Just walk your fire across the room, start on the second floor than move down to the first floor.” Turning back to Beth, I saw she was still glaring at me, I said, “Beth as I said, Jeff’s death is mostly your fault, but we can’t undo it and we as a group need you to snap out of it and help out. There will be time to mourn his death later. Right now we need to know how many guys were in that group?” Her eyes were still flashing anger but she had stopped crying, “Ten,” she flatly stated. “Are you physically ok?” I ask. “Yes, I’m fine, just some bruises is all,” she spat out, “not that you care.” Turning from her I keyed my mic, “All, we could still have five or six hostiles inside that building.” Turning back to her I said, “Beth, what type of weapons do they have?” “They each have an AK and a pistol mostly, I also saw a couple of bolt action rifles, oh and one shotgun. They said they got those from the guy that lived here, after they had killed him and his wife. It was horrible, they made me sit behind the counter where both of them were lying. The woman was naked and had been beaten really bad. They were bragging that they had all raped her but that she was old and no fun so they beat her to death and that they were going to keep me for entertainment and were going to kill all of you guys and take all of our equipment.”

  “Ok Beth, good, now are you ready for some pay back?” I ask. Beth picked up her rifle and inserted a new magazine, she nodded to me. “Get up there beside Ben and shoot anyone that comes out of that building,” I said. Moving up to Ben, I reached out and took the DP-12 from Ben. Checking to make sure it was fully loaded I walked back to the trailer and pulled out a second bandoleer filled with OO buckshot. Jacking out the rounds from the DP-12, I reloaded with every other round being a slug followed with a round of OO buckshot. Crisscrossing the bandoleers I looked like an actor in an Italian spaghetti western. “Ben, when I radio to you guys I want you to lay down a base of fire into the lower floor of the building. When I tell you to switch I what you to switch your fire to the second floor. You two take turns, one of you fires until you're empty than the next one starts, just keep a steady stream of fire going into the windows. Don’t burn though all your ammo, just a round every couple seconds. Got it?” Both Ben and Beth nodded their understanding. Couching down I moved to the southeast towards Don’s position. Keeping to the trees, out of sight of the building it only took me a few minutes to get to Don’s position.

  Arriving at Don’s position I laid down on the ground about three feet to his left. “Hows it going?” I ask. “All quiet here, don’t think they can stay in there much longer, it looks like the fire is really beginning to take hold,” said Don. Before I could say anything back, what appeared to be a white t-shirt on a mop handle began waving at the front door. I called everyone on the radio and told them to hold their fire. One of the men holding the flag stepped out of the door and yelled, “The building is
on fire and we want to surrender and be turned over to law enforcement.” I yelled back, “Really you have only two choices, stay and burn or drop all of your weapons and come out and lay down on the drive way. Those are your choices. No more talking just decide.” The guy must have just quit his job at NASA, he yelled back, “We want to surrender to the local law enforcement.” Breaking my own word, I yelled back, “Make your choice, step back inside or we will shoot you. The next person we see that doesn’t come out with his hands up we will shoot. Move back inside now!” I followed this up with one slug from the DP-12 into the wall about three feet from the man’s head. The man ducked and ran back inside the building.

  A few minutes went by when a man called out that they were surrendering and coming out. Six men came out in a single file line. Just as I said they came towards us with their hands up in the air. After about fifty feet I yelled for them to stop, “That is far enough, keep your hands on top of your heads. Do it now, no talking, the first to not comply I will shoot. Do it now!” The group jerked to a halt with their hands on their heads. Keying my radio I ask Ben if he could see anything going on. Ben replied, “The second guy from the right is arguing with the guy next to him about something, he appears to be really upset about something.” Standing up behind a tree I brought the DP-12 into a low ready position, “Ok,” I yelled, “I want you guys to spread out in a straight line, about ten feet apart. Do it now.” I watched as they all exchanged looks and began to spread out. One of the men stepped forward and yelled, “Fuck you, just call the cops and turn us over to them. We know our rights!” The others all jumped when a loud boom came from Ben and Beth’s position by the footbridge. The man who had challenged my order dropped lifeless to the ground with a shot dead center in his chest. “Sorry boys, but I would say that you really pissed our Lady friend off. Now spread out and get down on your knees and cross your ankles, you know the drill. DO IT NOW!” I yelled. All of them spread out a little further and dropped to their knees and crossed their ankles, but the two on the right were taking their time and were keeping their eyes on me.

  Pushing my mic button, “All right everyone, keep a sharp eye on the windows in the building, I think they left someone in there with a rifle to take us out when we come out in the open. I’m going to try and keep dragging this out and see if we can’t spot the guy. If you see someone in that building, do not hesitate, take him under fire. If I enter the building stop shooting into the building. Do not shoot me when I come out.” Moving from the tree I was standing behind I moved to the next tree closer to the group, briefly exposing myself as I moved. Don whispered into his radio, “Dave there was movement in the second floor window, corner window on the right.” Keying my radio twice in rapid secession to acknowledge Don’s transmission I moved to another tree, again briefly exposing myself. I stepped out from around the tree and saw the guy on the right eyes slightly widen as he took in all the hardware I was carrying. My M4 was still hanging from its two point sling and he could see my Glocks in the drop down leg holsters. I walked over and stopped about 15 feet from the guy on the right and brought the DP-12 into the ready position pointed directly at him. “If anyone so much as coughs I and my people will cut you in half, you do understand that don’t you,” I said in a conversational tone.

  From the panic I saw in his eyes I knew they had planned something but he hadn’t known I would be standing this close to him with a double barreled pump shotgun. Continuing to speak to the nervous man I said, “Go ahead and take your hands off your head and slowly remove your coverall.” The man eyes were locked onto the barrels of my shotgun, “I can’t lower my hands” the man said desperately. As he said this, the second man in line screamed, “Coward!” and dropped his hands from his head and went for the pistol that had been taped to the small of his back. The next few moments in time stood still for me, I heard Ben’s .308 begin firing rapidly with the little sharper cracks for Don’s 5.56 even as I began pulling the trigger of the DP-12. As I started to fire I began back stepping and felt the hot breath of a rifle round pass very close to my right cheek. With each back step as my foot hit the ground I fired the shotgun. Aim, squeeze, aim, squeeze, pump, step, aim, squeeze, aim, squeeze, pump. It was over in seconds. I don’t know if any of them even got off a round other than the guy left in the building. The OO buckshot and slugs had accounted for at least four of them with Ben or Beth taking the two that had tried to run for it. Walking over to the first guy, I rolled him over and sure enough he had had a pistol taped to him also. Fucking idiots to the end, what a mess I thought. Keying my mic, “Everyone hold tight, I’m going to check the building real fast than we are getting the hell out of here. Keep me covered but be careful.” Not saying what I was thinking, which was “And don’t shoot me," even though I wanted to.

  Quickly shoving in rounds to the DP-12 to replace the ones I fired, I checked each of the bodies outside for any signs of life. They were all dead, some more than just dead, the OO buckshot had really done a number on a couple of them. At that range the 12 gauge had blown holes big enough for fist to fit in. Moving on to the building I could feel the heat as I jerked open the front door and did a quick peek around. There were still racks of snacks in the grocery area and several loafs of bread along with some cans of spam. Looking behind the counter I saw the bodies of the owner and his wife just like Beth had described. Laying the DP-12 on the counter I quickly grabbed a stack of plastic shopping bags and began emptying shelves into the bags. As quick as I filled four of the bags I ran over to the door and set them outside. I called Don on the radio, “Get over here and help me. Move these bags back onto the grass,” I said. The store seemed to explore with heat as I saw flames shoot out of the staircase. Sweeping as many cans off the shelf into bags as I could I managed to get three more trips before I grabbed my shotgun and headed out the door for the final time. I hated to leave anything but the second floor could give out at anytime and we had managed to get a lot of it.

  Calling Beth and Ben I told them to get the bikes with the trailers down here ASAP. Pulling Don to the side I ask him to get Mat and find a shovel. We needed to get Jeff buried and get out of here before any of the locals showed up. Don took off around the building to meet up with Mat as Beth and Ben came up to me on the bikes. “Guys we need to get as much of this stuff loaded as we can and do it fast. I would suggest emptying one of the trailers and stacking the bottom full of canned goods. I need to check a few things and I’ll be right back and give you a hand.” Walking down the loading ramp towards the ferry, I examined the bodies of the three men Don had taken down as they attempted to flank us. Two of them were armed with Glock 19’s and each had four magazines. The third man had a shotgun and also had a Glock 17. The shotgun was a Remington 870 set up as a tactical shotgun. I frisked all the bodies and kept all the money and ammo they each had. This bunch must have hit several targets around the District before the EMP hit. A quick look inside one of the vans confirmed there were several dozen computers hard drives and sledge hammers. This had to have been planned for a long time, leaving me to wonder again if the whole nation had been hit or just the east coast. Carrying the weapons back to where Beth and Ben were still packing I dropped them off and headed up to the six that had tried to ambush us. Much as the others, these had the same, Glock 19’s and 17’s. I really hated to leave any weapons but if it came down to extra pistols or food, the food wins. Piling all the pistols together I consolidated all of the fake identification cards and pocket litter from the Iranians in one bag and walked over and stuffed them into my ruck. Digging around in my ruck I found a large freezer Ziploc bag and stuffed it into a cargo pocket. Glancing over at Mat and Don, they were over by a large oak tree working on Jeff’s grave.

  I turned to Jeff’s body and went though all of his pockets for personal items. Taking everything he had I placed all of the items into the Ziploc for safekeeping. Going over to Jeff’s bike I opened his pack and got out his poncho liner and his tent foot print tarp. Spreading out the footpri
nt, I smoothed out his liner on top and then gently rolled Jeff onto the edge of the liner and tarp. Folding his arms across his chest, I wrapped the liner and tarp around him and secured it with 5/50 cord at his ankles, knees, waist, and shoulders, leaving his face uncovered but with enough material left over to cover his face after everyone had a chance to say good-bye. Walking over to Don and Mat I offered to take a turn at the shovel but Mat refused saying he would do it. They were already down about four feet and were just finishing squaring off the corners and edges. From the corner of my eye I could see Ben and Beth were finishing up re-loading the trailer with the supplies and were pushing their bikes up to the second stack of weapons. Turning in their direction I told them to just take one a piece and six magazines as backup weapons. I walked over to them and saw Ben was going over the weapon with Beth. I went ahead and cleared the rest but one and carried them over to Jeff’s grave. Taking the cleared weapons I dropped them in the grave. Carrying the last Glock 19 with one full magazine over to where Jeff laid I gently slid it under his hands. “Just in case,” I said and rewrapped the poncho liner to cover the pistol. I turned to see everyone standing there and all of them had tears in their eyes. Standing I said, “Lets get him moved over next to his grave. Help me lift him.” With Ben, Mat, and Don’s help we lifted Jeff as gently as we could and carried him over next to his grave. Beth followed a short distance behind us, we could all clearly hear her sobbing as she walked.