Grid Down Perceptions of Reality

by Bruce Buckshot Hemming

  “Do we have a plumber in the house?” Joe asked everybody pointed to one man.

  A man stood up. “My name’s Mike and I used to run a plumbing supply and repair business. I believe I have everything to make what you’re talking about.”

  Joe replied. “Great, Mike that’s your main job this week. I’d like everybody to have a gun. You think you have enough supplies to make 10 of them?”

  “I don’t know for sure but I would guess I do.”

  One asked, “What did you mean about bait? How is this going to work?”

  Joe smiled. “Now we know their weakness is young women correct? We have to lure them into a trap on our terms, where we have the total advantage. The best way to do that is to use bait. Have a young female lead them right into our trap. It will be an ambush site, and we'll all be completely hidden. Without breaking our cover, we kill them all.”

  Philip interrupted, shouting, “You’re NOT using my daughter as bait.”

  Joe said, “We have to. It's the only way to make it work. We put her on horseback, and we have her ride right through the ambush site, and as soon as she is out of the way, and completely safe, we start our attack. Talk it over with your family and your daughter. If not, it's going to be so much harder.”

  “Now I must warn you, all this is a fight to the death. This is not playing at war and this is not a game. Once we start this, we have to finish it, there's no backing out. They patrol on horseback correct? We kill them all, take their bodies’ way off into the woods and bury them, kill all of the horses and eat the meat to hide the evidence. That way, the remaining forces have no clue what's going on. You go back to your lives and make it appear as if everything is normal. If we get extremely lucky, we can take out two patrols, leaving only 10 men at the main house. We then form a plan and take them out too. Do you all agree to this?”

  Philip asked, “Okay, but what's in it for you two?”

  “My wife and I would like to be your new sheriffs. Of course we would work on the farm and do whatever we had to do, we'd also do patrols and keep things in line. We could also train anyone who's willing to be trained. That way, we would have a mutual assisting, well established, volunteer Army for any new threats”

  Philip spoke up and said, “I’ll talk to my family and while I can't speak for everybody, I can say for myself, that I will agree to your terms.”

  Joe looked over the room and asked, “What about the rest of you?”

  Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. “Good.” Joe continued, “I know what I want for an ambush spot, and Jacob has offered to take me around and show me the countryside. I don't know how big this area is, and it might take me two or three days to find what I am looking for, but we will move forward with the plan. Unless there is other business, I bid you a good night.” They all left the house and Joe rode back to the camp. Once inside Jane asked him how it went.

  “Fairly well, if we can get set up right, it shouldn't be a problem. Jacob is coming by in the morning, and we’re going to do a recon in the area, finding the perfect ambush spot.”

  She asked, “What would you like me to do while you are gone?”

  “You could spend some time with the women up at the homestead. Find out who has nursing or doctor skills in the area. Find out what they have for antibiotics, bandages, tourniquets, and make up some first-aid kits for the battlefield.”

  The next morning Jacob was there at the crack of dawn, had a cup of coffee and they left. Once Jane was at the homestead, and had hidden her bike, she met with some of the women.

  Jacob asked Joe what he was looking for, hoping to save them some time.

  “Well, first off, the place must be far away from anybody's homestead, and then it should be a trail or real narrow dirt road, preferably something with a hill, where at the bottom we could set up some old cars or trucks on each side of the road, leaving a narrow opening so they have to go single file. We then build blinds on the side of the road and we can have people hidden in the bed of the pickups too. That's where we'll put the guys with the shotguns. I'm thinking it's going to take about 8 to 10 vehicles to do this, and then we set up a rope or cable at the end. This will be yanked up after the bait, excuse me, the young lady, clears the area, just in time to trip the lead horse. That will be the signal for everybody to open fire. We really must take the time to make this first strike perfect. If anyone escapes, it can turn into a long bloody war. Plus, success it will really boost the morale and give us 10 more rifles and ammunition.”

  Jacob thought for a moment and then said, “I have a spot in mind that I think would work perfectly.”

  “Good. Let's check that out first.” They rode off and were about 6 miles away from the homestead. Jacob turned down a dirt road, Joe thought it was a little too wide to his liking, but that soon changed. There was one lone house off to the right. Once past the house it turned into a very narrow, two-track road, and up over a hill, the road went down into a valley with a tiny Creek.

  Right at the creek, there was a lone culvert that was a perfect spot to make a very narrow opening, but it was mostly open hardwoods without enough brush to conceal everybody, like Joe had been hoping for.

  Joe said, “This spot is okay, but I want something with denser brush and more cover on both sides of the road.”

  Jacob was disappointed. He thought this was the perfect location. Okay then, off to the next one.

  They spend the rest of the day looking and looking for the right spot. Finally, a couple hours before dark, they hit it. It was a super narrow road with dense brush on both sides. A real sharp turn and then down a slight hill, right into the ambush zone. This would put them about 10 miles from any of the homesteads.

  Joe was a little concerned that the warlords patrol may know this area, and would be instantly alerted to the changes they planned to make. Philip told him that he had never seen a patrol go down this road, as it was a dead-end at an abandoned house. They would just have to chance it and hope for success.

  As they rode back, Joe was trying to formulate everything they would have to do to prepare the spot. First, they had to get the vehicles there. There are enough horses around that they could rig up some way to tow the vehicles there. Building brush blinds to hide in shouldn’t be a problem. Last, but most important, practicing and learning to work as a team. He hoped he could pull it off in two weeks.

  At the meeting that night, he laid out the plan. He drew it all out, crudely, on a piece of paper. Now the work begins.

  The next day, using two teams of horses, they started towing vehicles back to the ambush spot. As soon as they had eight vehicles there, they started building the brush blinds along the side of the road. This all took over a week to get prepared. But they had learned to work as a team, as a unit. Now they must practice as a unit.

  Chapter 11

  The Reunion

  “The sweetness of reunion is the joy of heaven.”

  ― Richard Paul Evans

  After they had both scanned the area, Amy slugged Preston in the arm. “What were you thinking of, leaving him here alone?”

  “Calm down. He’s probably out fishing and it's the best time to be out. Maybe he’s looking for bait. Just calm down relax.”

  She marched straight up and into his face. “He had better be all right.”

  “Come on, let's go look for him. I'm sure he's fine. I’m sure he didn't expect us to be back so soon.”

  They split up and started searching along the edge of the lake, one on each side. They were almost to the backside of the lake, where a small stream was flowing out, when Preston spotted Michael.

  Preston called out, “Michael, are you okay?” Michael looked up with a big grin on his face. “Sure I am. I just caught me a nice big 5-pound pike.” Preston motioned for him to come, and said, “Grab your stuff and let's go. Amy is worried sick about you.”

  As Michael picked up his equipment, he said, “You saved her? Is she okay? Is everything all right?”

  P
reston nodded, “Yes, but she's just worried about you right now, so we need to get you back quickly so she can see that you are okay.”

  Michael came running up, with his pole in one hand and a stringer of fish in the other. Preston waited for him to catch up to him. He looked towards the other side, getting Amy’s attention, and pointed back toward camp. When she saw Michael she started running towards camp. “Michael, hand me that stuff and you run back and tell Amy that you're fine, and let her see that nothing's wrong.”

  Michael handed everything to Preston, but had a confused look on his face, and said, “Of course I'm all right. What is she worried about?”

  Preston grinned and said, “Because she knows you were hit in the head, and because women always worry about their children. Now just run.”

  Michael turned to head towards the camp and said, “I'm not a child. I'm almost 13.”

  Laughing, he replied, “Yes, but she's going to worry about you for the rest your life, so just get used to it. Now run over there and tell her everything's fine.”

  “Well of course it's fine.” He said confidently in his young age. “But I do want to make sure she's okay.” And with that, he was off in a flash.

  Preston started walking, looking at the stringer of fish. A couple of bluegills and two nice-looking perch, but they all look dinky compared to the big pike. He smiled about that, and thought that at least they would have a really good breakfast. He walked over and snaps off the pollen on cattail stems. It would make a good substitute to use for breading the fish. When he reached the camp, he had enough pollen to coat each fish.

  Amy was crying and smiling, at the same time, as she was so happy that they were all back together, and nobody was seriously hurt. Preston walked up and said, “Enough of the mushy stuff, let's get cooking breakfast.” Amy looked up, tears streaming down her face, “Oh just shut up Preston.” She saw the stringer of fish and told him to go clean and get them ready for cooking. Michael, pulling back from her embrace, said with an excited voice, “Did you see that monster I caught? We’ll be eating well this morning.”

  Amy hugged him closer, “I saw what you did and the smoker you built. You did a great job. Thank you. You did all of that while injured too and I’m proud of you. You are well on your way to becoming a true warrior.” He was beaming at the praise. He wanted to be just like Joe and Preston.

  Michael had been taught how to collect dried wood. This was wood with no bark and preferably off of a tree that had fallen, and only the bone-dry upper limbs were used. It made a quick and almost perfect fire, with little or no smoke. Preston came back with the cleaned filets. He pulled out the cattail pollen and smiled, “We can even have it breaded.” Amy prepared the food and they quickly ate, enjoying every crumb. After cleaning up, they were all ready for some much needed sleep. Michael took the first watch. They had been lucky that their bikes had been hidden far enough away from camp, that they hadn't been found or stolen. Tonight they would ride like the wind and leave this area once and for all. Preston knew that the men would come looking for them, and they would most likely head straight to the spot where they had kidnapped Amy, knowing the boy they knocked out was there. He was counting on them not coming until the tied up guards had been found, which should give them several hours.

  Both he and Amy needed some sleep, if they were going to ride the bikes hard. As soon as it began getting dark, Michael woke them and they packed the bikes and got ready to leave. That night, they road like the devil himself was chasing them.

  Little did they know that there were four patrols searching for them, each made up of five-men. They didn’t think he would still be back where they had captured the woman, so they had been concentrating on wider grids of the area.

  Just before light, they started to pull off the road, when Preston looked up on a hill that was about a mile away, in the predawn light, he could make out what he thought was five shadowy figures on horses. He told Amy and Michael to follow him and they quickly went up a small hill and laid down. He told them to be ready to shoot it out, in case they had been seen. Within five minutes, the men were even with them, having stayed on the road. They stopped right in front of them. They heard one say, "We’re never going to find them. This is fruitless and we're just wasting time and energy. Do you know how many side and dirt roads that they could have easily escaped on? And where do we patrol - on the main roads, like they'd be stupid enough to ever use these again.”

  Another man spoke, “You need to just shut up. You’re not in charge, I am. The boss says this is what we patrol, and that's our job. If you don't like it, you're free to leave.”

  The first man said, “I'm just offering suggestions. I think we would be far better off on dirt roads and searching there, instead of looking on the main road, that’s all I'm saying.”

  “Well lucky for us, you're not in charge. Come on let's move out.” They rode off into the dreary predawn light. Preston breathed a sigh of relief. At least with only five of them, they would have at least had a fighting chance. Amy whispered, “What should we do?”

  Preston thought for a minute and then said, “We should stay right here and get some sleep. We will stay with our plan to travel at night. Get some sleep and I'll take the first watch.” Michael whispered, “Wake me up next. I'll take the second watch and let Amy sleep.”

  “Okay, both of you get some sleep. They didn’t bother to make a camp and just laid in the grass to sleep. Thanks to Michael, they had dried fish to eat. That would give them enough food for today and tomorrow. They knew that they had to use that to their advantage, and cover as much ground as they can. Preston checked the map. Thirty miles, maybe 35 and they would be at the camp.

  That night as they walked their bikes down to the road, they heard a yell in the distance. “There they are!” The sound of charging horses clacking on the pavement echoed across the valley. Preston whipped around quickly and told Michael and Amy to follow him. They ran up the hill and laying their bikes down, turning the rifles back towards the road. The bright moonlight had given them up.

  “Listen to me. Don't shoot until they are almost on top of us. We can't afford to be wasting any ammo. Shoot the horses, they are bigger targets and it will put the men down on the ground.” But before the men reached them, out of no where, ten rifles opened up; with flashlights turned on the approaching horsemen, someone was yelling for them to open fire and kill them all. Three were shot off of their horses and the other two turned around and retreated.

  A voice off in the distance called out, “Are you three friendlies? Preston thought, “What in the heck is going on?” He yelled out, “Who wants to know?” The answer was, “The Wisconsin voluntary militia. We knew they were looking for somebody, but we had no idea what was going on.” Preston whispered to the others to stay here and he would go find out what the heck's going on. He stood and walked over to meet a big man on the side of the road. He was giving out orders for his men to go collect the three horses and weapons. Preston walked up, extended his hand saying, “Thank you for your help.”

  “No. I should be the one thanking you. You set them up perfectly to bring them right into our trap.” He was a large man and even in the dark, he looked to be a little taller and about 20 pounds heavier than Preston. He grabbed Preston’s hand with a firm honest grip and shook it. “The name's Fred and you are?”

  “I’m Preston, and darn glad to meet you.”

  “Well Preston, I’m glad to meet you too. Now, what’s your story, and what can you tell us about these guys?”

  We were traveling to our camp in the north, and these guys kidnapped my wife. They travel with two wagons and 20-armed men on horses. They travel to homesteads and barter sex with the women they have kidnapped, for food and trade items. I managed to follow them to their compound and broke her out, freeing her that first night. That was night before last, and now they have come looking for us.

  Fred asked, “Did you kill any of theirs? What kind of weapons do they have?” and “W
here is their base of operation?”

  Preston responded, “No, I didn't kill any, but I knocked two of them out. They have an assortment of different weapons. I didn’t get a real good look, but I thought they were mostly AR-15s, or AR-15 platforms. The homestead is about 15 miles north of here. It’s a large white farm house with a barn and some out buildings, surrounded by barbed wire and well guarded.”

  “Good and thank you for the information. So where are you heading now?”

  “We are going to the Three Bear hunting lodge.”

  “The one up by Little Creek?”

  “That would be the one. Is it still open?”

  “As far as I know, it is.”

  “Why are you coming up here? Did you have trouble back at your place?”

  Preston began telling the story, “Yes. We were overrun by a group of fanatics that call themselves, The Rainbow Warriors. They are a bunch of nut cases and are killing anyone that refuses to believe what they believe. They have two 105 artillery cannons and blew our farm to pieces, killing my friends. We think we are all that’s left of our group. If any of the others survived, they know to meet us at the lodge, so that’s why we are on the road. After I get my family set up and secure, I’d like to join forces so we can take these nut cases out once and for all.”

  “You sound like our kind of man. Come on, we’ll escort you through the area and get you to the camp.”

  “That would be great, but don’t you have to finish your mission?”

  Fred smiled and with a raised eyebrow, said, “Mission, you must be ex-military? Well, our mission was accomplished. It was to stop those that were chasing you, and if you are good people, we are to help you get through the area. I was also to grab Intel on what we’re up against, which we have now.”