Prepper's Apocalypse | Book 1 | Prepper's Apocalypse

by Newman, AJ

  “How many men are in your group?”

  The man thought a bit too long, and Tom stepped on the man’s crotch and ground his foot. The man screamed and tried to get up. Tom stomped harder, causing the man to cease movement. The big criminal had passed out. Tom looked over at Brenda, standing alone with her hands tied behind her back. “I’ll free you now while he’s passed out.”

  Tom retrieved his knife from the dead man and cut Brenda loose. She stayed motionless, transfixed on the thug. “Tom, he’s moving.”

  Tom stomped on the man’s hand just as he wrapped his fingers around the pistol. Again, the man screamed in pain. “Where are the rest of your friends?”

  “They’re waiting for us in Ashland or Medford. I don’t know which one. Jock said he’d stop at the one with the most liquor and women.”

  Tom saw Brenda move toward him but was surprised when her foot hit the man on the bridge of his nose. Blood spurted out, red froth appeared for a few seconds, and then the man was motionless. Tom thought quickly. “Brenda, we’re done with him. If you turn your back, I’ll dispatch him so he won’t hurt anyone else.”

  Brenda wrapped her arms around Tom for support as she swooned. “That’s the first time I killed anyone,” she said before vomiting.

  Tom wiped her mouth and gave her a drink before checking her foot. He didn’t find any breaks and then helped her clean up before taking the men’s weapons. Brenda took a step but winced in pain. Tom handed her his flashlight and picked her up. She wrapped an arm around his neck, and he walked as fast as he could back to their camp.

  Tom saw some lights ahead and yelled, “It’s Brenda and me! We ran into trouble, but we’re both okay now!”

  Granny B shined a light on them, and everyone gasped at the blood on Tom’s legs and Brenda’s foot. Granny B smiled at Tom and asked, “What in tarnation have you two been up to? Did something bite you on your legs?”

  Tom chuckled. “Brenda decided to use a creep’s head for a football and hurt her foot. I’m afraid most of his blood sprayed my legs. I’ll set her down on that log by the fire. Granny, please check her foot while we break camp and get the heck away from here before anyone comes to find out who was screaming.”

  Tom stooped to set Brenda on the log, and she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Granny B, Tom saved my life. You have a real hero for a grandson.”

  Everyone had a puzzled look on their faces. Sam asked, “Well, are you going to tell us what happened and whose blood is covering both of you?”

  *

  Chapter 15

  Emigrant Lake - Southeast of Ashland, Oregon

  “If you killed both of the kidnappers, then how did Brenda’s foot get so bloody?”

  Brenda held her hand up to silence Tom. “Tom is the perfect gentleman and didn’t want anyone to know that I killed the SOB. He was encouraging the man to talk, and anger had overcome me, so I kicked him. I just wanted it to hurt. Tom told me later, my kick drove his nose bone into his brain.”

  Granny B applied a poultice made from the inner bark's scrapings from a willow tree and applied it to Brenda’s foot. She finished wrapping the foot and then gave Brenda a wad of the bark shavings to chew on to reduce the pain and swelling. She looked up at the others. “I guess we need to scout the Ashland area. Since we didn’t find a vehicle that would run, Tom said he would take Bill and Betty through the city. I know it’s not much, but it’ll help some.”

  Tom shook his head. “I can take them up to Talent tonight on the back roads and make it back here before sunrise. I’ve run those roads at night with Grandpa many times to avoid drawing attention to our supply runs.”

  Granny B didn’t like the idea but knew that if Tom was to be their leader, she had to step out of the way. “I guess it can’t be any more dangerous than walking through the city or around it. Be careful. You need to leave now or wait until tomorrow night.”

  Tom wanted to get to the ranch as fast as possible and didn’t want to wait another day. “We have time to make it if we don’t run into trouble. If we do, we’ll hide and avoid a fight.”

  Sam tapped Tom on the shoulder. “You’ll need someone manning the night vision scope for the ride back. I’ll go so Jackie can help guard our camp.”

  Tom saw the look on Granny B’s face. “Great idea, Sam! That would be a big help. Get your pistol and the shotgun. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  Granny B and Brenda scowled as they watched Tom and Sam getting ready to leave.

  The truck bounced along at twenty-two miles an hour on a dozen back roads between Emigrant Lake and Ashland. Tom knew there were houses on the highway and more up in the trees, but they only saw one lantern in a window, and one flashlight come on as they passed in front of a home on one of the roads. They were north of the Ashland Airport on Dead Indian Road, just about to turn onto Majestic Lane when Sam saw the lights behind them. “Tom, someone’s following us about a quarter mile back.”

  Tom looked in the mirror and confirmed the bad news. “We need to hide now. Look for something to hide behind.”

  Betty yelled, “Those buildings on the right! Turn into that drive!” Betty pointed between two large metal buildings.

  Tom steered onto the drive, sped between the buildings, turned back to the right, and stopped the truck behind a large dumpster. “Get out and prepare to fight!”

  Bill and Betty hid behind an overseas shipping container, and Sam and Tom sought cover behind one of the huge dumpsters. A powerful searchlight swept the area. The pickup drove around the corner, and the light shined across the entire area. The occupants must have been satisfied and backed the truck up to go on down Dead Indian Road. Tom used the night vision scope to make sure they hadn’t dropped off any men. He scanned the area twice and didn’t see anything.

  Sam hugged Tom and laid her head on Tom’s shoulder. “I was so scared. When will we get back to normal?”

  Tom placed an arm around her. “If it helps any, I was also scared. My teeth were chattering. Fear is a good thing. It helps us stay alive by making us take the time to think while we hide from what scared us. You’ll grow stronger once we give you proper training, and you gain experience.”

  “What about the other question?”

  Tom took his arm away when he heard Bill and Betty approach. “I wish I knew the answer to that one. I’ve been taught for twenty years that if the grid is fried by an EMP blast, it could take a lifetime for the country to recover. The large transformers that reduce the voltage down and send it to the ones that transmit electricity to our homes are hard to replace. Most electric companies only have one in stock. They have plenty of smaller ones.

  To make matters worse, the large transformers are only manufactured in China and South Korea. I hope the military has secured a large section of the USA and has kept the area safe from the chaos we’re seeing here. That would greatly help get the country moving toward being somewhat normal.”

  Bill walked up. “Looks like they left. Can we head out now?”

  “Yes, I checked the area out with the scope, and it’s clear. Load up!”

  Tom drove along the east side of Highway 5 on a dozen or more paved and dirt roads to work their way to Talent. He stopped on West Valley View Road and then turned around before killing the engine. “You be careful getting to your homes. Daylight is just a few hours from now, so we need to run. Good luck.”

  They shook hands, and Betty hugged them both before they walked off into the night. Tom fired up the old truck and drove away faster than they had driven on the way to Talent. Sam had the scope scanning the road ahead while she chatted away. Tom thought she talked too much, but her voice seemed to soothe his nerves. “We’d better find some gas. The truck says half full, but we’ve driven a lot lately. These old V8s don’t get the best gas mileage. Oh, remind me not to shake hands again.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll explain what happens when you run out of TP later.”

  “Oh. ….Crap.”

&n
bsp; “Yep.”

  “Disgusting!”

  Tom saw some cars parked behind a business and pulled up beside them. “I’ll siphon some gas and let you fill the truck’s tank. It should only take about ten gallons. I’ll only put about three gallons in each of our gas cans, so you can lift them.”

  He slid the tube down the car’s filler neck and sucked on the tube to get the gas to start flowing. Tom wasn’t quick enough moving the tube to the can but only got a tiny taste of the gas. He spit and sputtered, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Sam gave him a water bottle, and he was able to rinse his mouth, but the taste of gasoline was still strong. “Thanks for the water.”

  “Glad to help you. That must taste terrible.”

  “It does, but it beats walking.”

  It only took fifteen minutes to top the tank and fill the two five-gallon cans. They were quickly on their way again. They didn’t see any lights or fires until passing close to a home north of the Ashland airport. They could see a woman in the window looking out at the road. Tom was sure they were heard if not seen. He roared around the turn onto Dead Indian Road when he saw a light behind them in the distance. He sped up and yelled. “We’ve got company behind us. I’m going on up and not turning back toward Emigrant Lake. We don’t want these yahoos to follow us back to our camp. Hang on!”

  The vehicle behind them was a mile back, and from time to time, Tom could see the searchlight shining from side to side looking for something. “It must be the same people who tried to find us earlier. We’re only staying ahead of them because they slow down to search for something. Maybe us.”

  “How will we get back to our camp? This road is heading up into the mountains.”

  Tom had a plan and thought it would work if the ones chasing them kept slowing down to search. “There’s a road about ten miles ahead of us that goes where we want to go. If they speed up and see us, I have a couple of side roads that we might be able to take and throw them off our tails.”

  Sam focused herself on the road ahead and saw the curve ahead sign. “Curve to the right, then back to the left.”

  Tom slowed and made the first turn without issue but ran off on the side on the next. He threw gravel and bumped against the rock wall to his left when he overcorrected. The screech of metal on rock reverberated in the cab. The truck kept moving and negotiated the next three turns without any problems. “You can breathe now,” Tom laughed.

  Sam hit Tom on the shoulder. “You scared the crap out of me back there. I need to change my pants.”

  “Sorry, I should have slowed down. I’ll buy you some new pants. Brown ones.”

  It took a minute for her to get the joke. “Smartass.”

  Tom looked back and saw the truck behind them was much closer. “Darn, there aren’t many places to search along this stretch. I’m taking the next turn off in just a minute. Hold on. There it is! Clayton Road.”

  The entrance to Clayton road was in the middle of a hairpin curve. It could easily be missed if you weren’t familiar with its location. Tom came to a crawl and made the turn before speeding up. “There’s a right-hand curve up the hillside ahead. I’m trying to get on up the hill and turn the engine off until they’re gone.”

  He drove for another few minutes and then went off the road into a stand of trees. He shut the engine off and waited. Sam started to speak. “Shush. We need to listen for them.”

  Sam moved closer to Tom and hugged him when she heard the faint sound of the truck approaching. The engine noise grew louder and then dropped in volume as it passed by them. Sam still clung to Tom, and he didn’t push her away for several minutes. Tom sat still looking out the window at the stars but focused his ears on searching for the truck's sound. “They’re gone. The good news is they didn’t find us. The bad news is we have to drive back to the camp in daylight. Be prepared to fight the minute the sun comes up. Let’s make like a horse turd and hit the dusty trail.”

  “Huh? What the heck?”

  “One of my grandpa’s many sayings. You can let go now.”

  Thirty minutes later, the hills glowed to the east, and then the sun rose enough that Sam didn’t need the scope to help Tom drive. The roads were mostly paved, but all of them were narrow and followed the hills and valleys. They went up and down hills and sometimes around a hill or up a canyon. Sam held on to the armrest and seatback. “This is worse than a darn rollercoaster. At least you are strapped in and have a bar to grab. How do you even have a clue where we are?”

  “I’ve run these hills and dales all my life. I know that to get to our camp, I need to head south and west as much as possible. Hang on, and we’ll get there. This should be Burnt Creek Road. We’ll follow it to the next road that goes east and then hook up with Hyatt Dam Road and take it south to Highway 66.”

  “That means we’ll be south of Emigrant Lake, doesn’t it? Why not take a short cut?”

  “We could stop now and walk down the mountain in a straight line. We’d probably kill ourselves doing it. You have to remember there are miles, and then Oregon miles. These mountains and hills are beautiful, but you have to construct roads around the steepest hills. Don’t worry, we’ll be back at camp in a couple of hours.”

  Tom and Sam were several hours late returning from dropping Betty and Bill off north of Ashland. Jackie said as she walked toward Granny B, “Granny B, I’m worried.”

  “No kidding. You’re wearing the soles off your shoes pacing around the camp. Your brother can take care of himself. They’ll be back soon.”

  Brenda was also worried. “Granny B, it’s daylight, and someone might have spotted them and attacked. Can’t we go look for them?”

  “And then we’d be traveling in broad daylight on foot. We’d be nice targets for anyone along the way. Those thugs wouldn’t have much need for an old broad like me, but you young ones would catch their fancy. Do you need to ask what your fate would be?”

  Brenda said, “That’s why I want Tom back safely in camp. I feel safer when he’s around.”

  “There’s our camp, but I don’t see anyone,” Sam said.

  Tom cut the engine several yards from the camp and drew his pistol. “Don’t worry yet. They’re probably hiding in the brush with their guns pointed at us, right …”

  “Hands up, brother! Why the hell are you so late? Granny B and Brenda were worried to death.”

  Tom hugged his sister and Brenda. Then Granny B joined in the group hug. “We had to shake a tail. A bunch in a pickup heard us drive by on the way up and kept searching for us. I don’t know if they saw us on Dead Indian, but they fell in behind us, so I found a place to hole up until they were long gone. Then we drove on down the mountain. Anywho, we’re safely back.”

  *

  Chapter 16

  Southern Oregon near Ashland

  After supper, Tom asked for the last shift for guard duty so he could get some rest. He’d been up for a day and a half, and driving at night had exhausted him. He fell asleep and didn’t wake up until early evening. “Why didn’t someone wake me up?”

  “Sam and you were worn out from your drive. We decided to cover for both of you so you’d be rested today,” Granny B replied.

  Tom cleared his thoughts and remembered a task that he hadn’t completed. “I have to sneak up to Ashland and see what’s going on before we head over to the ranch. I’ll need Jackie to go with me.”

  Granny B’s brow was furrowed, and her lips twitched. “Is it necessary to scout Ashland before going home? We’re all tired and need to rest in the comfort of our home.”

  “I don’t like it any more than the rest of you, but Ashland is the closest city, and we’ll eventually need supplies and communication with some of the citizens. I’d like to know as much as I can now, instead of finding out later at the wrong end of a gun.”

  Granny B huffed. “I guess you’re right. Can you do it in one day, so we can get home as soon as possible?”

  Tom smiled and gave his grandma a hug. “A day and a half, no m
ore.”

  “Okay, but please be careful.”

  Jackie scanned the city from the top of a semi-trailer using the night vision scope. “You know, I never thought about how flat Ashland is for being stuck in the middle of a bunch of mountains.”

  “It has a lot of character on the west side of town, but yes, most of the town is flat when compared to our ranch. Take a break, and let me take over. I haven’t heard any gunfire for several hours, and it appears all but a hearty few are in bed. That cluster of lights in the center of town worries me. They must be guards.”

  “What would they be guarding, and why?”

  “We’re too far away to tell. I think we’ll see more come daylight, but I don’t want to spend too much time up here after sun up. Getting caught would ruin our day.” Tom chuckled.

  Tom took the time to scan all around them to make sure no one was slipping up on them. He only saw a few dogs and a man and woman walking into town. They appeared to be on a stroll without care, which made Tom feel nervous. Most of the fires that had racked the city a couple of weeks ago had burned out and left the town pockmarked with piles of charcoal and singed bricks. Tom guessed over a third of the city had been burned during the first few days of the chaos. He thought, What made those two feel safe? This is the apocalypse, and people are supposed to be hiding in basements and scrounging for food. What gives?

  The sun crept higher in the sky, and they saw more people by the minute. There weren’t as many as before, but more than a hundred were leaving their homes and walking toward the town center. Most carried empty gallon milk jugs. Tom and Jackie waited long enough to see many people come back weighted down with full jugs and bundles or bags. “Could those be jugs of water and food?”

  “Sis, I think that’s all they could be. I wonder what they’re trading for the food and water. We need to move to a less open spot. I want to sneak closer to downtown, but I think it’s too chancy. Let’s look around the neighborhoods and find someone to talk with.”