by A. American
Aid will begin to be distributed as soon as possible. We will focus first on population centers where the resources can reach the most affected people with the limited resources we have. We will reach out to rural areas as more resources become available, but you must be patient. This will take time, but help is coming. If we all work together, we can overcome this, but we must set aside our differences to do so.
There is no more right or left, Democrat or Republican. We are Americans, all of us. And to get through this, we must work together. In the spirit of working together, please turn in all the aforementioned contraband. Whenever you do, you will be given relief supplies. We hope this makes it easier to turn in these items. If you know of anyone who is refusing to turn in contraband, simply notify the authorities, and upon the successful recovery of the contraband you will be rewarded with additional supplies.
Again, we must set aside our differences and work together to get through this. As Americans, we have come together in the past, and we must do so now. If everyone does their part, we will come out of this stronger than ever before. Thank you for your time. And please, follow these instructions.
After this part of the broadcast, another voice came on to give locations of FEMA shelters and aid locations. All of the places listed were major cities. From the sound of things, they were far more worried about the large urban centers than they were the rural country. Was it because they were worried about losing control of those areas, or because they knew those areas were going to go along with the program? Folks in rural areas are not going to be nearly as open to surrendering what they have, especially now considering the situation we’re in.
“You have got to be kidding me. Surrender your food and guns? They are out of their fucking minds,” Danny said.
“You know, I heard from someone who has a little inside info that they wanted to fundamentally change the country. I guess this is their play. Did you notice there was no ‘God bless us’ in there anywhere?” I replied.
“Yes, I did. What are we going to do? We can’t give away our food. They didn’t list a place we could get to for more. We could go to Orlando, but they would take the Suburban,” Mel said.
Mel looked at Bobbie, wide-eyed. “We aren’t giving anything up,” Bobbie said.
“We don’t have much now. How do they expect us to survive?” Danny said.
“They don’t. I think it’s part of the plan—to eliminate those of us that are prepared,” I said.
We sat and talked for a little longer, tossing around different ideas and different scenarios. Then I told them I needed to go make a call. I wanted to see if I could reach Sarge and the guys.
“Can’t you just do it here?” Mel asked.
“No, it’s too dangerous. If we transmit from here, then our location can be identified, and that’s a bad thing,” I said.
“Where are you going?” Danny asked.
“Out into the forest, at least five miles from here. I’ll take the Suburban to make this a quick trip,” I replied.
“I don’t want you to leave. Things are getting a little scary. There are more and more strangers around lately,” Mel said.
“I know, babe, but I have to do this. I’ll be all right. Believe me, after what I went through to get home, this is a cakewalk,” I told her.
“I’ll go with you,” Danny said. That caused Bobbie to look over at him wide-eyed.
“What?”
“I’m not going to let him go out alone. No one leaves here alone anymore, remember?” Danny said.
Her mouth curled into a frown, and she shook her head but didn’t say anything else. I went inside and got my AR and then out to the shop for my vest and some more ammo. It felt so good to open those ammo cans and see all that ammo. I spent a few minutes loading some and stuffing them into the vest. The vest already had everything else on it. Back in the house, I tucked the XD into its holster and put two spare mags in their pouches. I pulled the NVGs out and put them in a day pack, along with some water and an FAK. I carried all this out to the truck and then went back and got the radio and its batteries.
Danny had his AR with him and his Glock. We climbed into the truck and headed out. We paused at the roadblock for a minute; two different guys were there now. We stopped for a minute to talk; I told them that we were leaving and that we would be back shortly. I turned out onto 19 and headed north.
“Where we going?” Danny asked.
“I figure out off 445, near the parking area for the motorcycle trail,” I replied.
“Cool.”
Danny sat back with his AR on his lap, keeping an eye on his side of the road. The sun was starting to go down, the light fading. The air was mild out, not cold but far from warm; it was a nice ride. As we passed through Shockley Heights, there were a few people out. One of the properties right on the side of the road had a group gathered there around a bonfire. We drew looks from all of them as we went by, heads craning over shoulders to look at us.
“Watch ’em. If any of them try to follow us, let me know,” I said to Danny.
“Already on it,” he said as he shifted in his seat to look back over his shoulder.
We made it to the parking area without incident. I pulled in and over toward the restroom. That was the only place with any trees. After stopping, we got out and took a minute to check the area to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. The place was empty, so I took out the antenna and slick line and, after a couple of attempts, got it up into a tall pine. After connecting the wire to the radio, I turned it on and pulled the notebook out of my pocket. It took a few minutes to figure out what frequency to be on. After figuring it out, I tuned the radio.
There was a voice I instantly recognized. After a moment, there was a break, so I keyed the mic.
“Driver, is that you? This is Walker.”
Danny looked over at me. “Walker?”
“I’ll explain later,” I said.
“Hey, Morg, I mean Walker. Good to hear from you. Where are you?” Thad asked.
“I made it. How about you?”
“I made it too. Been worried about you,” Thad replied.
“If you girls are done, let’s get down to business,” Sarge’s voice came over the radio.
“Nice to hear you too, old man,” I said into the mic.
“Took you long enough to get there. We have to keep this brief. You guys go through the notebooks we gave you. There are some additional instructions in there. Walker, do you have a PC?” Sarge said.
“I’ll have to check. There is one in the shop that may work,” I said.
“Check it out and see. If it does, there is a thumb drive in your pack; find it. There is a text file in there. Read it and follow the instructions. Did you hear the broadcast?” Sarge asked.
“Yeah, we heard it here,” I said.
“Then you guys know what’s up. Driver didn’t hear it, but we already filled him in. Go back to the top of the radio schedule; we will be monitoring the radios from now on. If you need to, you can contact us at any time. Good luck, guys, and we’ll be in touch. Foxtrot Sierra Mike out.” With that, Sarge was done.
“Be careful. Driver out,” Thad signed off.
“You guys stay safe,” I signed off as well.
“Who all was that?” Danny asked.
“Friends I met on the way. They really helped me out,” I said.
I was taking down the antenna, and Danny was standing watch. As I was putting the radio in the truck, Danny called out, “We got company.”
I looked up and saw three men coming into the parking area; they were walking. Two of them were carrying rifles; one was a scoped bolt gun, and the other was a lever gun with iron sights. I didn’t see a weapon on the third one. As they approached, Danny and I took cover on the far side of the truck and raised our weapons.
“What do you want?” I ca
lled out.
They stopped and looked at one another. “No need to be hostile, friend. We just came to see what you guys were doing. You know a running truck is kinda strange these days,” the one with the lever rifle said.
“We aren’t doing anything, and we’re about to leave,” Danny said.
“Fair enough. Can you give us a ride back up the road?” one of them asked.
“Sorry, but no,” I replied.
“Come on, man, it’s a long walk,” the one with the bolt gun said.
“Not our problem. You walked over here, so you can walk back. I didn’t ask you to come here,” I said.
“Look, you just give us a lift, and everything will be okay,” the one with no rifle said.
I am getting about sick of people doing this shit. They have a damn gun and think they can intimidate people. I can’t for the life of me figure out what they are thinking. They can clearly see our rifles, and what they are carrying doesn’t come close. It was too dark for that scope to be worth a damn. Fed up, I snapped my rifle up and fired two quick rounds into the ground off to the left of them. It scared the shit out of them; they jumped and covered their heads.
Before they could react, I started to yell at them, “Lay down your guns! Now! Lay them down and step away from them, or I will kill you all!”
They quickly dropped their guns and put their hands up. I ordered them to back up and turn around. They complied, and Danny and I approached them with our weapons at the ready. As we got closer, the three started to bitch.
“Dammit, man, we didn’t mean you no harm!” one of them yelled out and started to look over his shoulder.
“Turn around! If any of you so much as sneeze, you’re fucking dead!” I yelled out.
He quickly straightened up but kept up the complaints. “What are you going to do? We just came to see what you guys were doing, is all.”
“With guns, you came out here armed to see what we were doing? Danny, grab the guns,” I said.
Danny carefully approached them and collected the two rifles and then started to back up toward me.
“You can’t take our guns!” one of them protested.
“We’ll leave ’em on the side of the road for you. But I ain’t leaving them here for you. I think you guys are full of shit and didn’t just come here to see what we were doing. You’re lucky to be alive. I think we should kill your asses,” I said. That seemed to stop all the complaints.
We got back to the truck and climbed in, and I started it up. Danny kept them covered the whole time. As we drove out of the parking area, I went around the opposite side from where they were just to keep some distance between us and them. Danny was looking at them through the rear window when they dropped their hands and gave us the finger. They started hollering and raising hell. Danny cleared their weapons; and as we approached Shockley Heights, I stopped the truck, and he stepped out long enough to lean them against a tree on the side of the road. I told them we would leave them on the side of the road for them.
We made it back to the house without any further problems. As we pulled onto the road, the two guys at the roadblock came out from the barricade. We talked for a little, telling them about the radio broadcast and what it said. They were incredulous at the thought of having to give up anything, be it guns or food. The discussion revolved around the fact they were going to bring aid into the cities and not out to the rural areas, but they still wanted those in the country to surrender all our food.
Rick was one of the guys at the roadblock; he was a deputy sheriff and was a good guy to have around. He was into guns and hunting and liked to fish. He was extremely pissed. “I ain’t giving them shit. It’s crazy to force people to do that. And I’ll tell you another thing, our sheriff isn’t going to go along with that shit either!”
“Yeah, I think they are trying to make more people dependent on the government. Have you been to work since all this started?” I asked.
“Maybe so, but people are going to start getting crazy. It’s already starting around here. Some folks in the neighborhood are starting to run out of food. I suspect some of them will try and turn in those that still have some. It’s going to get ugly around here, I’m afraid.
“As for work, I haven’t been in. Some of the brass came around and basically told us to stay around home and see to things, to watch the areas we live in.”
“Hey, Morgan, can I bring a battery by and charge it? It’s the deep cycle out of my boat. I have a small inverter that I use for a few things,” Rick said.
“Yeah, man, absolutely; bring it by, and I gather, then, from what you said you are the law around here,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess so. Not that there has been anything to worry about yet.”
With that, we left and headed for the house. The whole time we were there talking, Pat sat there on her bike, listening to everything that was said. Pulling up to the house, the girls came out, all of them. They met us on the porch, where we talked about what was going on. We left out the part about the guys at the parking area. Mel and Bobbie suggested we fix dinner and eat together. Having the solar system, small as it was, was a godsend. It kept the fridge going and ran the well; one was a necessity, and the other was a luxury.
Mel went to the freezer and pulled out the last pack of steaks. There were four sirloins in the package. We also pulled a pack of hot dogs out for the kids; they’re weird and don’t like steak. Who doesn’t like steak? Out in the yard, Danny and I picked up a bunch of wood, stuff that fell out of the oaks, and started a fire in the Weber. In short order, we had steaks grilling.
It was a kind of celebratory cookout, me finally making it home; and the fact that they were here, we decided to splurge a bit. If you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t be able to tell any difference in things, except for the fact that instead of an apron, I was wearing an AR. The girls whipped up some garlic mashed potatoes and some canned veggies. That, along with some sweet tea, made for a pretty damn good dinner. There was enough for everyone, and we all had all we could eat.
We sat around after dinner, just chatting. I was sitting there, looking around the room. Mel, my girls, and Danny and Bobbie—these were the people that I was close to. If only my mom and dad were here, then things would be ideal. I’d have to figure out what to do about them. But sitting here, this was as close to perfect as I could imagine right now. The girls were playing a board game and begging to watch a movie, but we said no. We all just wanted to sit and talk. They gave up on the movie and joined in on the talk; it was a truly pleasant evening. Danny said he had to be on the roadblock at four in the morning, and they were going to take off.
We walked them out, and they climbed onto the four-wheeler and headed home. Mel and I sat down on the porch; it was nice out, a little cool but not cold enough to need a fire in the fireplace inside. So we sat on the porch, not even talking, just sitting there and holding hands. I was thinking back over everything that had happened. How long had it been? I needed to look at a calendar to see. But for now, I was happy. After so long, I felt safe to be sitting at home. Sure there was a lot we would have to deal with, but for now, all I could think about was the woman beside me and the three girls inside. I put my arm around Mel; she looked over, and I told her I loved her.
“I love you too. You okay?” she replied.
I looked over to her and smiled. “I couldn’t possibly be any better.”
Glossary
CME: Coronal mass ejection. This phenomenon refers to an ejection of plasma from the sun that sends varying degrees of highly charged particles into space directly toward Earth. Depending on the position of the event in relation to Earth, the effects can vary and can mimic an EMP in many ways.
COM: Center of mass. Used when referring to combat shooting, aiming for the center of the largest portion of the visible target.
EDC bag: Everyday carry bag. Sometimes people refer t
o this as a man purse. It holds items such as handguns, lights, knives, and other assorted small gears.
EMP: Electromagnetic pulse. There is a lot of information out there on this phenomenon, but it boils down to a pulse wave emitted by the detonation of a nuclear device.
ENO: Eagles Nest Outfitters. A manufacturer of quality hammocks, bug nets, and tarps.
Esbit stove: This is a small folding stove made from stamped steel. The better models are made from stainless steel and have welded connections. They use the compressed fuel tabs sold in many forms.
ESEE knives: ESEE is part of Randall’s Adventure Training and has been designing knives since 1997. They come with a lifetime “no questions asked” warranty.
fire steel: Fire steel is an alloy of various metals. It issues a mass of very hot sparks when struck with a piece of steel. A new fire steel has a layer of oxidation on it that must be removed prior to use; otherwise, the results will be very unsatisfactory.
GP-L4 radio: This is a compact ten-band radio with AM, FM, and shortwave bands. In addition, it has a small LED light. The radio is distributed by Countycomm.com.
Grilliput: Grilliput is a compact stainless steel grill designed to disassemble and store in two long tubes used for the supports of the grilling area. This is a great little grill, with a price. It weighs just under one and a quarter pounds. Its compact size makes it perfect for field cooking, with a pot on it or by direct grilling.
IWB: In the waistband, this refers to holsters that fit inside the waistband of your pants and clip to the outside. These holsters are designed for concealed carry, and most manufacturers make them for specific models.
Leatherman Surge: The Surge is one of the two largest tools in the Leatherman line; it contains twenty-one tools.
Maxpedition Devildog: Maxpedition was established in 1988 and is a manufacturer of military-grade nylon gear. Their equipment is constructed with top-quality materials, 1000 Denier nylon, YKK zippers, and Duraflex buckles. They manufacture a full line of packs, pouches, and sheaths.