Grid Down Perceptions of Reality

by Bruce Buckshot Hemming

  Preston volunteered, “Yes, I’m retired Army. What about you?”

  “I did four years as an Army Ranger.” Fred replied.

  It was almost full daylight now. After Preston called Michael and Amy over, introducing them, they rode north together. The cool morning dew sparkled in the sunlight and it looked like it was going to be a great day after all.

  Chapter 12

  The Practice

  A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

  Gen. George S. Patton

  The first day of practice was a real eye-opener. They had set up square bales of hay to the height of a horse, and then put a straw man on top of each one. Each one represented one of the enemy horsemen. When they had all of them set up, they had the targets they needed to practice on. They put two of the straw men on the ground, as if the men were taking cover, having been knocked off their horses by the rope. The idea was simple; the men with axes would take out the two men on the ground. They would be wearing Gillie suits and lying on the ground next to the road. They would jump up, take those two out as quickly as possible, and grab their guns. The two men with shotguns would be hiding under a tarp in the bed of the first pickup, and their job was to make sure nobody escaped to the rear. The men with bows and crossbows were to take out the men in the middle that were left on their horses. Ammo was too precious to waste in practice, but they did come up with a few Red Ryder BB guns to replace Joe and Jane’s rifles, so they could practice shooting the targets.

  Joe said, “This is our first practice, so things are going to go wrong. That’s not a problem and we expect that. We have to find out our flaws and learn from them. Now, does everybody understand what their field of fire is? It's very important that everybody understands this, as we don't want any friendly fire accidents. I’m going to start this by pulling on the rope, yelling, and screaming. When you hear that, do your assigned jobs. Are there questions before we start?” No one responded, so when they were in position, Joe yanked on the rope and started yelling, “Kill them all.” The two guys with axes jumped up and charged their opponents. The guy on the left tripped and fell, dropping his axe, which bounced off into the woods. The other man delivered his blows, and like a good warrior, took one more step and hit the other one.

  The arrows flew all over the place but only one hit a target. The two men with the BB guns managed to hit one, but missed the others completely.

  Out of the ten opponents, only four had been hit. Joe said, “Okay, let's review our actions.” He gathered everybody around. He looked at the man that had tripped and lost his axe, saying, “This is why we practice. Accidents happen and not everything works out the way you plan. So what you have to do now is adapt and overcome. After you lost your weapon, you did nothing. What you should've done was pulled your belt knife and started stabbing.” Joe looked at his partner and said, “You did the correct thing. You took out the first opponent, and then quickly moved on to the second. That's how we all have to be. Don't get in that mindset of, it's not my job.”

  “Okay, you guys with the bows. I think what we need to do is to allow you 30 minutes of practice. At the same time you guys with the BB guns practice coming out from under the tarp and hitting your targets. You should all try to practice at home, as much as possible. We are only going to get one chance at this. Now in real life, you get to keep shooting until all your opponents are down, not just hit, but down and out of the fight for good. You also have to remember, that a battle plan works perfect, until you engage an enemy. So that means that no matter what happens, you just adapt to the new situation and keep fighting, you keep shooting until it's over, or you're dead. Does everybody understand?” Everyone nodded. “Good, then let's get started.”

  Joe spent his time watching the men shoot with their bows and crossbows, and he asked each one, which was their best shooting position, sitting or standing? If it was standing, then they needed to add more brush for them to hide behind. He then walked over to the guys with the shotguns, and said, “Okay, I'm going to show you an old hunting trick. You, with a single shot, let me see it for a second.” Taking the gun, Joe looked it over and said, “This is an H&R and has the barrel release lever right next to your thumb, so what you need to practice is hooking the shells in between the fingers of your left hand, like this, and he demonstrated, now from inside the truck you have to practice this. Don't actually fire, but hit the release button, ejecting the shell, and then take one of the shells and slip it into the chamber, close it and you can shoot again. Just practice that so you can do it in your sleep, and the same goes for you with the double-barreled 12-gauge. It's a little harder for you because you have to get two shells lined up, but with enough practice you should be able to do it in your sleep. This is where I'll teach you what's called muscle memory, which is if you do something thousands of times, in the heat of battle your muscle memory will take over and you'll reload without even thinking about it.”

  The guy looked up confused. “A thousand times?” The other guy looked at him and said, “I think I had it down after hundred.” Joe turned to him and asked, “Have you ever been in the heat of battle?”

  The man answered, “Well, no I haven't. But I've hunted for years.”

  Joe tried to explain, “Well, it's sort of like that, except now your life is on the line and your adrenaline is pumping, with your heart is racing at 900 miles a minute. People are screaming and yelling. People are begging for help. It is chaos at it’s finest. The only way you can function in that environment effectively is if you’ve practiced enough to have muscle memory. In your first combat, you will probably get tunnel vision, only seeing what is directly in front of you. It will just be you and whoever is trying to kill you; the rest of the world will fade away, and so will your hearing. You will feel like you are moving in slow motion and your mind will be screaming at you to shoot faster. It's surreal, and that's why we train and practice. Once this battle starts, the dress rehearsal is over, and there will be no second chances, no do-over, no reset and play the game again. You must take this deadly serious, because everyone’s life is going to be on the line.

  They finished practicing and called it a night. While Jacob was riding back with Joe, he asked, “So, are we ready?”

  “No, not even close, but I expected mistakes because they are going to happen. But, what we have to do is make sure everybody’s covered. Do we have anybody that has experience throwing axes?”

  “Yes. I think we do. I never even thought of that. The only problem it’s a young boy of only 14.”

  “I’d like to meet him tomorrow. He may be too young to take into battle, but maybe he could teach a few of the men how to throw. I’ll tell you this, if everybody keeps practicing and we keep working as a team, we’ll be ready to take them on next week.”

  Jacob, smiled, let the fun begin.

  How is Mike coming on them slam shotguns?

  When I talked to him earlier he said he had all the pipes but wanted your help to make sure he is doing everything right.

  Okay then that will be my project for tomorrow.

  Chapter 13

  The Hunting Camp

  Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. Every story has an end, but in life every end is just a new beginning.

  Unknown

  Just before dark, Preston, Amy, Michael, and their escorts reached the hunting camp. Along the driveway, Preston stopped, leaned down and picked up a small rock, turning it upside down, he moved a cover and retrieved the key to the camp.

  Fred said, “So, you do belong here.”

  Preston laughed; “I sure as heck wouldn't travel that many miles if I didn't.” And they all entered the camp. There was nothing special about it, just a small 16’ x 24’ hunting lodge. When Preston unlocked and opened the door, they all went inside. The musty smell from being closed up so long was immediately noticeable.

  Fred looked around and then said, “Well, good deal. I'll leave you folks to it. When you're ready,
come down for a visit. We're 10 miles east of here, just past the Little Creek turn off.”

  Preston smiled and shook his hand, “Thank you for helping us make it here.”

  “No problem. We’re glad to be of assistance. See you in a week or so.” With that, Fred mounted his horse and the volunteer militia rode off.

  Preston turned around and went back inside. Amy was busy opening up all the windows. She told Michael to go cut kindling and get a fire going. She turned to Preston and said, “Don't just stand there, make yourself useful.”

  Preston laughed, “Can't a guy just sit down and relax, enjoying a few minutes of peace?”

  “Not until you help clean this place up and we get it aired out.” He looked around and noticed there was a thin layer of dust on every flat surface.

  This was his favorite hunting camp and it had a shallow well, with a hand driven old-style hand pump, which fed directly into the sink. He walked over and started pumping it. Nobody had been here for a while, and he hoped the leather seals were not worn out and cracked. He had never repaired a pump before, but he would have to figure it out if he couldn't get the water going.

  He used some water from his canteen to prime it, and about a minute later the pump pressure changed, and he could feel the water starting to flow out. Amy had just walked in and saw the rusty, dirty water coming out. She exclaimed, “Oh my God. That is so disgusting. We are not going to drink that? Are we?”

  “Relax. It's just rust from the pipe and will clear out within a minute.” Preston explained, and then said, “The water is super good here. You'll really like it.”

  Amy wrinkled her nose, “Not if it looks like that, I won’t.”

  Preston ignoring her and just kept pumping. Soon the water was coming out crystal-clear. He grabbed a glass and filled it up, handed it to her and said, “Would you like to try it now?”

  She wrinkled her nose again and said, “Nope. You’re the taste tester. You try it.”

  With that, he drank the whole glass down. He pretended to be choking and said in a raspy voice, “Oh my God. It's poison,” while making a terrible face, and then he started laughing.

  Amy said, “That’s so not funny. Now quit clowning around and get to work.” She smacked his arm. “Come on, I want to eat dinner and go to bed already.”

  As soon had the place was dusted and swept out, Preston cleaned the ashes from the wood stove and started a fire with the wood Michael had brought in. Before long, the entire cabin room took on a soft, warm glow from the fire. Amy began cooking some Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix, adding bottled water, as she was still unsure of the pump water.

  After dinner, Michael asked who was taking the first watch.

  Amy looked over to Preston. Preston said, “I think we should just bring the bikes in here and close the place up. The windows have solid wooden shutters, with metal on the outside to prevent bears from breaking in. We have a solid industrial-strength metal door on the front. I say we all get some much-needed sleep and not worry about watches tonight.”

  Preston was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Now, what did they have to do to survive the brutal winter that's coming? They had one heck of a lot of firewood to cut, and without the luxury of a chainsaw, or a truck to haul it; it was going be a heck of a lot real work to collect it.

  The next morning over breakfast, they talked about what needed to be done to get ready for winter. Amy got up and walked over to the kitchen cupboards and started opening them up. She looked over at Preston and said, “Best I can figure, we have maybe two weeks worth of food. So tell me again, why did bring us here?”

  Preston chuckled and said, “Oh ye have little faith. We have a root cellar below us, with enough food for four guys to survive 12 months. Mind you, it's nothing special; rice, beans, oatmeal, wheat berries, honey, sugar, and you guessed it - a 50-pound bag of green coffee beans,” laughing out loud, “and, with a little luck, we can get deer, and maybe even a bear for meat. We can fish and gather from the old orchards and farms in the area. We might, if we are really lucky, stretch it out to two years.”

  He went on, “There's also a .22 single-shot rifle with 5,000 rounds of ammo. A thousand rounds of .223, and 200 rounds of .22-250. We also have a gillnet and other fishing supplies. And, if I recall correctly, solar battery chargers with nickel-hydrate batteries and flashlights. There's enough kerosene to feed the lamps for a year. We have the really good Aladdin lamps, which are equivalent to a 60-Watt light bulb.”

  Preston added, “My main concern is getting all of the firewood we’ll need.”

  “Just like last year at the farm.” Michael said, “Well at least we have plenty of practice doing it.”

  Above the door going outside, was a decorative saw with a painting on it. “My first job,” pointing up to the saw, “Is to get that sharpened.”

  Amy asked, “Before you get started, could you bring me up a bucket of wheat berries? Do we have hard red winter wheat? Oh, and did you guys put any of the white wheat away? You know the kind to make white flour with?”

  Preston thought for a moment, “I think so. Why? Are you going to start grinding flour right away?” Amy replied, “Yes, that too, but I was thinking that I would do some sprouts right away. We need the extra vitamins and nutrition that sprouts will give us.”

  Preston chuckled, “Oh great, you’re one of those. They taste horrible, well maybe not horrible, they are just bland.”

  Amy said, “It doesn't matter what they taste like, we have to eat them to stay healthy. I’ll mix them in with other food so you won't have to eat them all by themselves, you big baby.” Michael asks, “So, what do they taste like?”

  Preston said, “On a good day, they taste like cardboard,” laughing, “and on a bad day, you don't want to know.”

  Amy said, “Would you just knock it off and get to work all ready?”

  Preston looked at Michael and said, “The general has spoken. I want you to start scouting for dead downed trees around the camp, and that means don't go traipsing all over the place. I want you to do about a 100-yard circle around the camp, and carry your rifle.”

  Preston hauled the wheat buckets up from the root cellar for Amy, and they all got to work. The cabin was small, with one lone bedroom and a couch in the living room that pulled out into a bed. No bathroom, but the wood stove had a water heating jacket on it. There was a shower stall where you could fill up a bucket of hot water and wash yourself off. Not the best but beat the heck out of not having hot water for a shower. After all, it was just a hunting camp. And there was an outhouse, which gets mighty cold in the winter.

  At least they had shelter and a good fighting chance. Thank God they had been smart enough to buy their food insurance and store their supplies ahead of time. They were definitely worth their weight in gold now.

  After the first week, they had not seen one person. Preston thought that was very unusual, but they were far off the beaten trail. He calculated how long it was going to take him to get in at least six full cords of firewood. He was thinking about six weeks.

  As for foraging for foods, the good news was that there was a clear-cut area a couple of miles away, and it was loaded with blackberries, plus he knew a good blueberry spot too, and in the spring, they could make maple syrup. He hoped they'd be able to get enough from the land to survive, and carve a life out for them here.

  One day, when they were cutting firewood, three cows with two calves walked through the area. Preston and Michael tried to corral them, but these cows had turned feral and were quite wild. They easily outran them and crashed off into the woods.

  Michael and Preston were panting and sweating. Preston said, “Well, I hope they are around just before winter sets in, as we could shoot one of the younger ones and put up a winter supply of meat. Michael asked, “How in the world are we going to catch them?”

  Preston laughed, “I think a bullet to the head would do it. Can’t run off when you're dead. Don't you think?”

  Michael laughed
saying, “That just doesn't seem right.”

  “Right or not, I’m sure those T-bones will taste mighty good come January. But they are feral now, and there's no way we’ll be able to catch them. It sure would be nice to get a milk cow though, but I don’t think there's enough grass in the area to support them, let alone to feed them all summer, and then have enough put up to feed them all winter.” But it was a good pipedream.

  Michael was licking his lips and said, “Fresh milk would be so good right about now.”

  “Yes it would, but we have work to do so let's leave the daydreams behind and start cutting more firewood.”

  That evening, as they were approaching the camp, they saw Fred talking to Amy on the front porch. Preston was pushing the wheelbarrow full of cut wood, and Michael was carrying the saw and axe.

  As they approached, Fred said, “Why are you doing it the hard way? We have a regular woodcutting crew. Wagons with horses to haul out the large trees, and we have a whole team of people that are experts at doing it. If we help you with that, it would mean you would have to pay back by working on everybody else's place.”

  Preston was sweating and stopped, looked up and said, “You have what? Oh my God. That sounds like a dream come true. Yes, we all have to learn to work together as a community to survive.”

  Changing the subject, Fred asked them, “How you folks doing on food?”

  “Amy said we're good for at least a year.”

  Michael was petting the muzzle of Fred’s horse, and said, “Can I ride the horses when they're here?”

  Fred, laughing, “I'm sure you can. You folks need to come down tomorrow and see what we have set up, and how everything's working for us. We have a pretty good co-op system. For instance, if you want milk and cheese, then you work the field with the hand sickle, cutting hay for the cows to survive the winter. If you want fresh eggs, then you work in the wheat or corn fields.”