Dark Days (Book 1): The Collapse

by Davis, James

  Chapter 12

  Jeff sprinted down the hill waving his arms and screaming like a banshee to get Dub’s attention,

  “Dad! Over here!” Dub spotted him and turned his wheel toward Jeff. Moments later he was climbing down from the tractor and shoving his hand into Clay and Hank’s.

  “So I heard you boys ran into some trouble already.” Dub said as they shook hands.

  “Yeah. A small group of dumbasses tried to overrun us and take the bunker, but we killed most of them. One guy got a lucky grenade down in the bunker, which destroyed the place and damn near killed us all. We barely made it to the back when the grenade went off.” Hank said. Dub shook his head and climbed back up on the tractor.

  “Let's get this party wagon on the road before any more of those jackasses show up expecting round two.” Randy said as him and Jeff helped Clay up into the trailer.

  “I put some five gallon buckets in there for y'all to sit on for the ride back. It's gonna be a bumpy ass ride too, so y’all best hold onto your titties!” Dub said as he winked at Ashley and Karen.

  “You damn perverted old bastard!” Clay's voice sounded from the trailer.

  “That's one!” Dub said as he pointed two fingers at his own eyes then pointed them at Clay.

  “One what? You old fart!” Clay said with a chuckle.

  “Alright, that's two!” Dub replied as he stared right at Clay with a wicked grin on his face. Clay saw the evil grin and gulped loudly.

  “He's gonna smack the shit out of me when I'm not expecting it isn't he?” The group in the trailer erupted into laughter when they saw the worried look on Clay's face as understanding finally dawned on him.

  “Don't worry, you'll get used to it.” Jeff said, still laughing.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, I just want to remind everyone to keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times and to keep your damn comments about driving to yourselves. Enjoy the ride.” Dub said loud enough for everyone to hear over the engine noise. With that they were off to their new home for the time being. Sure they had lost everything, guns, ammo, food, and the bunker but somehow they knew it would all work out. Plus Clay and Hank were very interested to see what Dub had done to the two monster trucks.

  They were moving through the woods at a snail's pace, Sarge and Bella trotting along side of them when they came up on a road. Dub stopped the tractor fifty yards back from the road and shut off the engine. He climbed off the tractor and told Randy and Jeff to go check out the road.

  "Make sure it's safe for us to cross. Don't need anyone following us back to the house." Dub said, pulling a pack of Redman out of his pocket and shoving a copious amount into his mouth. Before the two brothers could start walking to the road, Hank said, holding up a hand.

  "Quiet everyone, I think I hear something." No one moved a muscle as they all listened intently to the sounds of the forest. Birds chirped and squirrels rustled around in the leaves

  "I don't hea…" Hank shushed them again, "just listen." he said in a whisper.

  Sure enough off in the distance they could hear engines rumbling toward them. It wasn't just one or two either, it sounded like a damn convoy of big trucks coming toward them. They all looked at each other, confusion painted on all of their faces.

  "What the hell is that?" Karen said as she and the rest of the group climbed out of the trailer. Sarge and Bella were both standing side by side letting out low menacing growls as they watched the road intently. Just then a convoy of large military vehicles raced by, not slowing down at all. There were fourteen trucks in all. The three middle trucks were packed full of men, women, and children. None of them looked happy to be there. The people all wore the same expression, one of fear, pain, and hunger. The group watched as the convoy of trucks went by.

  "We should follow them." Jeff said, looking at his dad.

  “No, we shouldn't, we have a man that was shot and several others that were in a bunker when a grenade exploded. They all need medical attention. That can wait." Dub said with finality in his tone.

  "I'm following them. If there is a FEMA camp right in our backyard I want to know about it." Chris said as he shouldered his pack and checked his weapons.

  "Alright, Chris, you go, here take this radio, it's already set to our channel for today. We switch channels everyday so keep that in mind just in case you don't make it back tonight." Dub said handing him a handheld radio. Jeff pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Chris.

  "This shows what channel we'll be on during different days of the week. Don't lose it."

  "Thanks guys, I'll call when I get close to their camp." Chris turned and started jogging in the direction the trucks had been heading. Dub climbed back up in his tractor and started the engine, everyone else piled into the trailer, Sarge and Bella were back running along side as they made their way to the forest on the opposite side of the road. Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up to the house they had left only a few weeks prior.

  "Jeff, you take these two on inside to see Winston. Randy put them horses up. I'm gonna show these ladies to the spare rooms so they can get them babies outta that ol' trailer." Dub ordered. Dub didn't seem like the kind of person you would be afraid of but when he spoke, no one dared to argue. Jeff and Hank slipped under each of Clay's arms and supported him as they walked up the steps into the front door.

  They approached a room immediately to the left. Jeff raised his fist and knocked a few times as he yelled through the door

  “Hey Winston, we need some help out here!” The door swung open and a brown haired man stood before them.

  "What's the problem?" he asked.

  "Gunshot to the calf" Jeff replied, pointing at Clay.

  “Lay him over there.” he said waving his arm toward an old hospital bed and rushing off to gather the necessary supplies. They laid Clay down in the bed and stepped back.

  "You're lucky, the bullet went clean through. That would have been a painful experience if I had to dig it out. Anyway, we'll get you stitched up. You'll need to stay off it as much as you can for a while." Winston said as he finished up the examination.

  "How long?" Clay asked, looking slightly alarmed. Winston looked up over his glasses

  "Month, maybe 5 weeks." Clay let out an audible sigh. He hadn't stopped moving for the past few weeks. How could he possibly be off his leg for the next month in the middle of this circus?

  "Consider yourself lucky, this is about as good as it gets, given your circumstances." Winston reminded.

  “Gonna be tough to do, but I guess I don’t have a choice do I, Doc?” Winston shook his head, as he loaded up a syringe of lidocaine to numb the area. “No, sorry. I’m afraid not. If I catch you using that leg I’ll shoot you in the other leg. Now, let’s get you closed up!” he said with a smile.

  Clay and Hank joined Dub on the front porch after Winston had finished patching them up. "Glad to see you boys still alive." he said, as they stepped out of the screen door. "Me too, the good doctor got us up and running again" Clay replied, gesturing to his wounds. Dub let out a hearty laugh.

  "He tell you he was a doctor? If he's a doctor, I'm a damn astronaut. Winston's my brother’s kid, he's a vet tech up in the city. Good boy though."

  "You heard from Chris?" Hank asked. Dub shook his head.

  "Not yet, Randy's taking a shift at the radio, we'll let you know as soon as we do. I got somethin’ to show you boys after supper. Jeff will show you to your families. Get yourselves cleaned up and rest those tired bones. We'll come get you when it's ready."

  "Listen, we can't thank you enough Dub. You've saved our asses yet again." Clay started.

  "Don't you mention it. You just go rest up. Ain't nobody coming in here unless they make it past me," he said, flexing his rather unimpressive bicep.

  "Alright Pop, stop it before you hurt yourself.” Jeff said, barely ducking away from Dub's swat.

  "I'll get ya." Dub muttered, "One more thing, boy." He added
motioning for Clay to come closer. Clay leaned in.

  “Closer,” Dub said, still motioning.

  "What do you want, a kiss?" Clay said almost face to face with the old man. Dub's open hand slammed into the back of Clay’s head almost toppling him.

  "What the fuck was that for?" Clay exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head as he struggled to keep his balance.

  "That was one," Dub said holding up one finger and trying not to laugh. Hank and Jeff spent the next 5 minutes dissolving in fits of uncontrollable laughter. Finally Jeff straightened up.

  "Let's go fellas," he said as he and Hank helped Clay to his feet. They helped him get to the room Ashley and Emma were in and set him down on the bed.

  “How you feeling babe?” Ashley asked as Emma crawled over to her daddy and curled up in his lap. Clay looked at Ashley with a dead serious look on his face.

  “I don’t know if you were aware of this, but my body is magic. I’m fine.” he said, as he tried to hide a grin.

  “I’ll show you magic!” Ashley said as she slapped Clay playfully on his leg. Clay gritted his teeth and let out a low growl,

  “What in the hell was that for?” he asked as he took in a deep breath trying to slow the throbbing pain in his wounded calf.

  "Oh my god, Clay I am so sorry! I forgot all about your leg. Are you ok?”

  “Yeah I’ll be fine, just try not to do that again please,” he said, still gritting his teeth from the pain. Hank walked in with Karen and Toby,

  “You guys ready for dinner?” Hank asked.

  “Yeah, after I get cleaned up we’ll be down.” Hank nodded and left the room. 20 minutes later Ashley was getting Hank to help her get Clay to the dining room table. They all sat down and gawked as Dub and Jeff brought steaks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and baked beans out to the table.

  “Where in the world did you get steaks?” Clay and Hank exclaimed at the same time. Dub chuckled as he placed the platter of steaks down.

  “I told you I’ve been preparing for this for a long time. I have enough food stored for us all to eat like kings for at least five years.” Now Ashley and Karen were gawking.

  “Five years? Are you serious?” Karen asked.

  “Sure am. I’ll show you ladies my rations later.” Dub replied. They dished out plates and everyone dug in, not coming back up for air till the meal was almost finished. Dub finished his last bite of steak, gulped down his sweet tea and wiped his mouth with a dishtowel. He stood and patted his stomach.

  “Well, are y’all about ready to go see my masterpiece?”

  “They already finished?” Clay asked.

  “Yeah, you’ve only had those for a couple of weeks now.” Hank replied.

  “Well, it’s not completely finished yet, but it is damn close. I only had materials to build the one for now, come on, I’ll show you.” Dub said, walking to the back door. Moments later they were all standing in front of what could only be described as Mad Max on steroids. Dub had removed the fiberglass bodies and welded an all steel 1950 Chevrolet Short Bus to the frame. He had fabricated steel plates to serve as armor and welded them to the sides of the bus. There were gun ports cut into the spots where windows had once been. The windshield had been removed and long steel plates were welded across it from top to bottom giving the driver thin gaps to see through. Two large holes were cut into the roof, one in front, and one in back.

  They were currently attaching some kind of bracket/swivel system across each hole. The bus looked like a damn monster tank. Only bits of its former color could be spotted here and there, but for the most part it was just a steel, gray color. The front end had what looked to be an oversized cattle catcher that was only a few inches off the ground and it ran up to the bottom of the grill.

  "Where the hell did you get that thing?" Clay said, pointing at it.

  "That was all Randy and Jeff there." Dub responded, nodding his head towards Jeff.

  "We were following the train tracks into town the other day and came up on this abandoned train. We figured there might be a railcar full of produce or something but all we ended up finding was a damn tanker full of methanol. Thought it was just a useless find till you came rolling in with those big ass trucks." Jeff said.

  "I had them go fill up some more of those fifty gallon drums. We can go back and get more anytime we need it." Dub said.

  “So why did you cut holes in the top?” Hank asked.

  “Well, that is the cherry on top.” Dub said grinning from ear to ear. Jeff walked over to two long wooden boxes and flipped the tops off exposing not one but two Browning .50 cal mounted machine guns.

  “Holy shit! Where in the hell did you get those?” Clay and Hank exclaimed at the same time, causing Dub to start chuckling.

  “Yeah, I figured you two would get a kick out of those.” Just then Randy came running up.

  “I need you guys in here. I just got Chris on the line, and it’s not good.”

  Chapter 13

  Chris had been running down the road for about an hour when he spotted a mountain bike in the ditch. It was in surprisingly good condition to be abandoned in a ditch on the side of the road like it was. He hopped on the bike and took off down the road making way better time than he had been. He didn’t know exactly where the convoy was headed, but he was fairly certain it would be somewhere in the immediate vicinity.

  He rode steady for around thirty minutes, pumping his legs like he was in a marathon. Sweat dripped from his face as he pushed himself to catch up with the convoy. Chris leaned the bike to the left, taking a sharp curve at speed when he spotted the rear of the convoy. Squeezing the brakes and bringing the bike to a stop he quickly pushed the bike off the road and into the edge of the forest. It was time to go to work. He crept through the forest toward the front of the convoy, stopping often to watch and listen to his surroundings. The convoy was stopped at the main gate and the driver was out chatting with several armed guards that stood watch at the gate.

  “Take them over to the decontamination tent, the commander doesn’t want anyone near the general population until they’ve been thoroughly cleaned. After they are in the staging area he doesn’t care how dirty the “cattle” get before they get sent off to the work camps.” The guard chuckled, curling his first two fingers on each hand as he said the word cattle. The driver returned the laugh and replied.

  “Alright, we’ll get it done before we head back out for another load.” Chris watched as the driver climbed back in the lead truck and pulled forward through the gate.

  Something is definitely off about this place. Chris thought to himself as he reached for his radio. It was an encrypted radio so Chris wasn’t too worried about anyone picking up their signal.

  “Base, come in base, can you get the old man on the line?” Chris said in a low voice.

  “Copy that Shadow Walker, hold tight till he gets down here. Over.” The voice replied. Chris snickered at the radio handle he had just been given. No doubt Clay’s doing. A couple of minutes later Dub’s gravely voice sounded through the small speaker on the radio.

  “Old man here, go ahead.”

  “Base, these guys have set up shop at the elementary school a few miles down the road. There are armed guards at the front gates, and I overheard the driver of the lead truck in the convoy talking to one of the gate guards about taking the people they have to a decontamination tent. Base, they were calling these people cattle and laughing about it. Apparently the people get sent off to work camps from here. We have to help these people.” Chris said, squeezing the radio hard enough to make his hand hurt.

  “Alright Shadow Walker, come on back to the camp. I’ll get everyone rounded up so we can figure out what to do next. Be safe out there. Base out.”

  Chris sighed, he was getting mad at himself. He knew he couldn’t take on every soldier at this base, but it still rankled him knowing that he was having to leave all the defenseless people here until he got back with help. Chris eased his way back out the way he came in unt
il he reached the bike. It would be a much faster trip back with wheels. He got on the bike and took off. He pumped his legs harder and harder, hoping the pain would take his mind off the fact that he had to leave those people behind. Chris made it back to the farm about an hour later. Sweat poured from his body as he stood at the front steps gasping for air. It felt good. The hard ride had purged his body of all negative thoughts and feelings.

  *****

  Raina burst through her apartment door, collapsing on the floor. She ran the entire way back, scared out of her mind that she was about to be killed. Her thoughts went back to Joe and Theo, causing tears to well up in her eyes. She lay there sobbing realizing that her brother was really gone. She had no one at all now. No family, no friends, no boyfriend, she was completely alone. Her tears ran down her cheek forming a puddle on the floor. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep, the traumatic day’s events zapping the energy from her body.

  Several hours later Raina woke just as the sun sank below the horizon, bringing an end to a horrible day. She sat up and looked around, confused as to why she was laying there on the floor. Her body ached from sleeping on the hard surface for so long. Her joints popped loudly causing her to groan as she got to her feet. She made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a jug of water from the table. Turning the jug up, she drank deeply for several seconds before setting it down with a gasp and wiping her mouth and chin with her shirt.

  After she drank half the water she started looking for food. She was famished from the long run home. She thought about everything that happened and started to weep again for her brother and Theo. Theo was starting to grow on her. They had spent hours and hours together as Theo took care of her every need while she was still hurt. He had even kissed her once while they were talking. Oddly enough she didn’t try to kill him for it. She enjoyed it. But that would never happen again, thanks to those bastards at that bunker. She was going to make them pay for stealing the only two people she cared for.