Grid Down Perceptions of Reality

by Bruce Buckshot Hemming

  By darkness, the army of people they had gathered was half a mile from the warlord’s farmstead. They were 50 strong, each with righteous anger seething inside them.

  Joe gathered the people and said, “The plan is simple, and this will be our ambush zone. As they come down this little dip, they won’t be able to see the rope, and we will do the exact same thing we did before. We use bait to race through this area, and then we yank the rope up and slaughter all of them, to the last man.”

  Philip said, “You really think this is going to work twice?”

  Joe responded, “We don’t know what they know and don’t know right now, but they’re very arrogant and I believe we’ve got a good chance. You two scouts sneak down and tie your horses a couple hundred yards from the front gate. Sneak down tried to take out two of the guards and then get to your horses, riding off and leading them back here. Fire about 10 rounds each that should get everyone’s attention.”

  “I know it’s night and you might not be able the see your sights very well. Your job is not to necessarily kill them, if you can hit them, great, but your job is to lure them to us.”

  This time they didn’t have the luxury of positioning vehicles to narrow the roadway, but if the rope was staked off, and held in place by logs, they probably wouldn’t see it until it was too late. There was only one way to find out if they were stupid enough to do it again . . . try it, and hope for the best. He told everybody, “We’ll wait until they hit the rope, and in the darkness and confusion, the guns wouldn’t be very beneficial to them, so we’ll rise up out of the ditch and charge in force. We don’t stop until all of them are dead.”

  Two men snuck up to within about 50 yards of the guardhouse, and each fire 10 rounds, then took off running. No one was hit and the returned fire was not very accurate, so they easily made it back to their horses unscathed. They raced off down the road, but there was no pursuit. They watched they waited - nothing. Joe thought the wounded man must’ve warned them about the ambush, or they were just being extra cautious.

  He found one of his men that of been on the warlord’s property before, and had him explain the layout of the land, and where he believed the troops were. He could send in a small recon crew and set everything they could on fire, or they could try to take it by force, but they were still desperately outgunned. If the mercs were halfway proficient, they wouldn’t stand a chance. They still had 20 trained and fully armed men in fortified positions. He had to think and be smart, not letting his anger and emotions cloud his judgment.

  He pulled Philip aside. “We need to pick the battleground and I’m thinking we should let them come to us. We don’t do anything more tonight, and chances are they will come out in the morning. We just don’t know what they’re going to do, and all we can do is guess. It’s too dangerous for us to try to make a full raid on the homestead, especially in the dark. Everybody’s mad and not thinking clearly, we could get cut to ribbons if we try it. I have an idea that we have enough manpower, and horsepower here, so let’s block up this road and give us a fortified position to fight behind, take away their advantage and make them come to us.”

  Philip agreed and they made up teams of men to make the blockade.

  They used the horses to pull abandoned vehicles to the area, blocking the whole road. They then took logs and filling up the empty spaces between the vehicles, allowing more protection from bullets. They even positioned logs underneath the vehicles and did everything they could to prevent anybody from getting hit.

  Now they waited for daybreak. Joe had most of people sleep and he sent others back for food and water. All they could do is wait. He paced back and forth. He made sure everybody that had military training were armed with an AR-15s and had plenty of ammo.

  Jane touched Joe’s shoulder and said, “You really should get some sleep. Nothing is going to happen until daybreak. You’re tired and not thinking clearly, so go get some sleep.”

  Joe had been running on adrenaline and anger, but knew he needed to be fresh for battle. “You’re right. I think they’re waiting for us to try an attack.”

  He climbed into the back of a truck and crawled into a sleeping bag, worn out from the exhaustion of the day’s events, he fell into a deep sleep.

  Jane woke him up as it was getting light, and they could see something going on. He got up and went to the barricades. Grabbing a cup coffee, he asked Philip, “What’s going on?”

  Philip said that it appeared they were getting ready for something, as there was a lot of movement at their place.

  The millionaire came out riding his prized horse, a thoroughbred that had once raced in the Kentucky Derby. He was carrying a pole with a white flag attached. He rode up to within 50 yards of the barricade and stopped.

  Looking around, he recognized most of the people. He was right; it was just a peasant uprising and not some unknown new force taking control of the area. He breathed a sigh of relief. His mercs would quickly take care of this rabble.

  He looked at the people and said, “My name is Brad Bowerman. You people know me, and know that you’ve had a good thing going here. There have been no raids on your farms since I took control. We have provided you with safety and looked out for you, and this is how you repay me?”

  Joe replied, “No one appointed you king of the land, and these people are done with you robbing their sons and daughters of their youth and innocence. You’re finished taxing and stealing from them because you’re too lazy to do your own work. Might doesn’t make right. We will give you the option to surrender and leave this county, or face the consequences.”

  Brad laughed, “Who are you little man, to demand anything of me?”

  Ignoring Joe, he looked at everyone else and said, “The rest you have a choice, you can tell this newcomer to get out of our county, and then all will be forgiven. You will turn over the rifles that you stole from my men, and then things will go back to normal. If you choose to ignore me, and stay with this rabble,” pointing to Joe, “then I’ll be forced to teach you a very vicious lesson. My men, who will have no problem whatsoever robbing, raping, and pillaging your little homesteads, outgun you. If you truly want this lesson to be taught to you, they will be more than willing to do it. Now for the last time, leave your weapons here and return to your homesteads and all will be forgiven.”

  Joe was feeling the tension and knew some of them might be willing to give up, laughed loudly, saying, “Hey Mr. Silver spoon brat, if you haven’t noticed, you are 10 men short. We aim to clean you out. We will kill your mercenaries to the last man, including you. This is YOUR last chance to surrender, disband your mercs and leave this county forever.”

  Brad laughed back at him saying, “You, and your rabble of farmers with pitchforks, are going to take on my highly trained mercs? I’ve given you my terms and you will regret this very day if you do not disband right now.” With that, he turned around and rode off.

  Everyone surrounded Joe, asking what they should do. Someone said, “He did say all will be forgiven and we can all go back to how it had been. Maybe we should take him up on his offer?” Another said, “No, we should stand and fight. We need this to end now.”

  Joe looked at everybody with a frown on his face. “I told you from the beginning this was not a game. Once we started, we had to finish. Do you honestly believe that all will be forgiven? Once he disarms you, he will, and trust me on this, make you regret you ever stood up to him. He will break you down until you have no hope left. Is that the world you want to leave for your sons and daughters? You are no different than slaves working on a plantation. The master works your sons to death in the fields and uses your daughters as whores. If that’s the way you wish to live, then we will leave right now.”

  Philip and Jacob spoke up first; “We stand with you Joe - to the end.” Several others shouted in agreement.

  “If you all feel that way, I want everybody to get back in their positions. I believe that he’s going to try and attack. He thinks his highly trained
mercs can take all of us out.”

  Everybody returned to their positions and waited. They didn’t have long to wait. Eight of the communities daughters, ages 15 to 18, all stripped naked, were marched out with a merc standing behind each one, pointing the muzzle of their rifle against the back of their heads. Behind them were 12-armed men on horses. They marched the girls towards the barricade. The girls were shaking in fear and crying, with tears streaming down their faces.

  Joe and the crowd were almost in shock and it felt like a punch in the stomach. Everybody was looking at Joe and asking what they should do.

  Joe raised his voice and said, “I told you that freedom isn’t free and it comes at the price of blood. There are your friends and daughters, so you must decide for yourselves. If we flee, they will cut us to ribbons. This is our chance to end this once and for all. If you agree to do it, we have to concentrate our firepower on the mercs behind the women. We do not stop until every one of them is dead.”

  There was hesitation in the crowd and Philip said, with a rage seething from his voice, “One of them is my daughter Mary, and I say we fight and end this once today right now.” Others agreed and Joe sent a message to the men that were hidden in the forest with their bows and crossbows.

  Once they got into range, their job was to first shoot the mercs behind the women, and then concentrate their firepower on the men on horseback, shooting the horses out from under them. Joe was aware that only seventeen of the men had been trained and experienced combat before, but hoped that anger and adrenaline would help the others contend with what was about to happen. . It was going to be a bloody tragedy no matter what they did now. There was no way to save all the girls. He shared a look of understanding with Jane. She also knew what was about to happen.

  “Nobody fires until I fire the first shot. Let them get close and think they have the advantage.”

  Once the mercs had marched the girls to within 100 yards of the barricade, one of the girls started pleading and begging. “Please daddy, drop your guns and go home. He will forgive you. Don’t let them kill me.”

  Joe whispered to Jane, “Once the shooting starts, you take your 22-250 and make a head shot on Brad. No matter what happens that arrogant SOB will never see the light of day again.”

  Jane replied, “My pleasure.”

  The closer they got, the more intense the pleading from the girls became. They were shaking in fear and it was heart wrenching.

  Joe picked the biggest mean looking merc standing behind one of the innocent girls. He shot him in the head and the battle had begun. There was no turning back now. Everyone else opened up, but before all the mercs were killed, two of the girls were shot in the back of the head. Some of the girls, when they realized no one was behind them, ran for the barricades, while the others just stood in shock, screaming in fear.

  Jane dropped the man that had caused all of this, with her first shot. He had a look of amazement on his face, as his eyes glazed over and he fell from his horse. The millionaire didn’t look so big and mighty now.

  She looked for new targets. Two more of the young innocent girls were shot down by the mercs on the horses. She fired and dropped one of them, and then the arrows started flying out of the woods. Men charged forward with axes, spears, and pitchforks. Everyone opened up on the enemy and the blood, screams, and panic made it a true battlefield.

  Four girls reach safety and were pushed down behind the barricades.

  Five of the remaining mercs broke off and turned tail, running back towards the farm. The rest of them had been cut to ribbons. Joe calmly walked up, pulled a pistol from one of the dead mercs hand, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson, and then calmly and methodically walked to each merc and put a bullet in their heads.

  Joe gathered the men and said, “It’s time to finish this. We take Brad’s homestead now. We can’t allow any of these animals to survive.”

  He sent two men on horses to collect the other horses. He wanted some of his men on horseback. He ordered the other men, that didn’t have firearms, to pick up the weapons and ammunition.

  They marched forward like a mob. In a lot of ways they were an uncontrolled mob. After almost one year of being controlled and told what to do, they wouldn’t take it anymore. After all the abuses they had suffered, it was payback time.

  They surged forward through the gates, looking for targets, but found none. They saw the five remaining mercs hightailing it out the back and across the field. The crowd surged forward and charged towards them. Several men on horseback chased after the mercs. Joe had lost control of them, but knew they needed this, so didn’t try to stop them. They were now a mob, hell bent on revenge. They stormed the merc barracks, grabbing any useful gear and then set it ablaze.

  Joe had to stop them from burning down the main mansion. There was food, ammunition, medical supplies, and much-needed items for all them. He could not allow it to all be burned to the ground.

  One of the fathers, filled with rage and anger, marched straight up to Joe and said, “It wasn’t your daughter who just died, it was mine and I’m going to burn this evil place right to the ground.”

  Joe stood taller than the man and looked him in the eye, “After we remove everything that’s useful, you can burn it to the ground, but not until the then. Do you understand?”

  The man threw down his gun and took a swing at Joe. Joe back stepped, but the blow still connected to his jaw, hitting with a glancing blow. He knew the man was emotionally out of his mind and he didn’t want to hurt him. He dropped his rifle and ducked down, giving him his best uppercut. He heard the solid slam of the bottom jaw smashing in to the top jaw. The man fell back, surprised at how quickly Joe had recovered. Joe stepped in again and with one more blow to the nose, knocked the man to the ground. Blood spurted out, and he yelled at Joe, “You have no right.”

  The others had surrounded them, like a high school fight. Joe looked at Philip and Jacob saying, “Take your man for a walk and let him cool off, and then take him to his daughter’s body so he can show her proper respect.”

  He turned to the others and said, “The rest of you men find a wagon. We need to load up the supplies and split them with everybody who fought.” He had managed to defuse the situation.

  The barracks was ablaze, and the flames dance in the sky as pieces of ash floated in the air. The men were calming down and started to think rationally again. He heard the man he had hit wailing in the background, “She was my only daughter. She was my Princess and now she’s dead because of him. I should’ve killed him.”

  As Joe walked into the house, he was amazed at the marble floor and double half rounded staircase leading upstairs. He started checking rooms and finally found what he was looking for - the Armory. The only problem was, it was a large thick metal door. This appeared to be the entrance into a room. It was one of those old-style metal doors, with a combination lock and a big silver metal handle on front that turned to unlock the door.

  He pulled on the door, hoping it would still be unlocked, but was quickly disappointed to learn that it was still locked. It was going to be a challenge to get into the armory.

  Chapter 17

  The Gasifier

  Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

  The next morning, as they were eating breakfast, they heard the patrol riding into their yard. Preston glanced out and recognized the men. He stepped out onto the porch and asked, “How can I help you guys?”

  Scott said, “The guys with the wagon are going to collect your winter firewood, while you and I are going to go meet Brett Wiserman, the electrical engineer. You two are going to come up with a solution to get the gas generators working for all of us. That is if you don’t mind.”

  Overhearing Scott’s comments, Amy stepped out on the porch and said, “You guys are wonderful thank you.” She gave Preston a little push and said, “Don’t just stand there Preston, get ready and go get us some electricity.”

  Preston turned t
o her with a smile and said, “You know what, you are starting a sound like a nagging wife, and were not even married yet. If you keep this up girl, never mind.”

  Amy had a hurt look on her face, but soon smiled and both of them laughed.

  He turned back to Scott and said, “All right guys, hang on a second and let me get my stuff, and then we can go meet Brett.”

  He opened the door and called out to Michael. “Can you help these men collect the firewood, and show him where and how we want it stacked around the cabin?”

  Scott and Preston headed for Brett’s place. Scott said, “You know, everybody’s talking about you, and can’t wait to get electricity again.”

  Preston wrinkled his brow and said, “I wish you hadn’t told everybody. I only saw it on TV show and I’m not sure I can build it. There still a big learning curve to getting this just right, and working.”

  Scott replied, “Sure, but you’ll figure it out. We all have faith in you.”

  They rode for a couple hours and finally pulled up to Brett’s house. It was a nice looking single level ranch-style house.

  Scott said, “I should warn you, Brett is little different. He’s one of those guys with a super high IQ, and sometimes has trouble communicating with people. I hope you can work with him.”

  Preston smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

  They walked up and knocked on the door. A heavyset man answered, opening the door he simply stared at them. He had glasses and was balding. At first glance, he reminded Preston of the professor from Back to the Future, but heavier.

  Preston was waiting for him to say, “Marty we only have to get 1.21 gigawatts,” or something along those lines.

  Scott introduced Preston to him. Preston smiled and stuck his hand out, in the customary fashion. Brett just stared at him, evidently not accustomed to greeting people, or maybe he was germaphobic.