by Chris Blake
“I have a place in mind at the fish hatchery up by Payson.” Vin tells them.
He explains how it has fresh water, food, and that it would be an ideal environment for them.
“Well we can’t just go barge into this fish hatchery tomorrow exactly, they have got to be running still.” Greg says.
“I’ve thought about that as well, and I am going to take a trip up north tomorrow, to check it out to see if it will pan out. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up that way.” Vintago tells them.
Vin continues to explain his plan and what preparations they should take. That is if they decide to come along. He tells them that he plans to make his recon mission tomorrow, first thing in the morning.
Then, when he gets back from up north, they are going to get everything packed up and ready to go. That way if this virus gets any closer to the valley, they will be ready to get out of here.
They all seem sure that everything has been discussed, and they say their goodbyes to each other. Vin’s parents leave first, and the Robertses stay behind. Greg in particular has warmed up to the idea. He gets a ton of vacation time from his job, and he tries to explain to his wife Cindy how it will be.
“Listen hon, it will be just like camping. We can take a little trip up north and spend some time in the wilderness. It will be good for us.” Greg tells her.
“It’s got to be in the twenties up there at night, this time of the year Greg.” Cindy says.
“Well we will just have to pack warm clothes.” Greg replies.
Cindy just shakes her head and walks away from them. Vintago knows that is where Victoria gets it!
“Listen Vin, if you think this is smart, then I’m with you. I don’t want anything to happen to my baby girl and my grandson.” Greg tells Vin.
“I don’t think we may have much of a choice.” starts Vin, “I won’t sit by and watch my family get thrown into that chaos.”
Vintago tells him to go into town tomorrow to stock up on 9mm ammunition for his Springfield Armory XD and some 7.62x39mm ammo for his Russian SKS. Greg nods his agreement, and they shake hands.
With that, the Robertses decide it is time to head home, and they go out the door.
Victoria is pacing around in the living room, not quite sure what to do. She knows Vin means well, and that he makes smart decisions, but this is all too much for her.
Vintago can see that she is clearly stressed out and walks over to give her a warm hug.
"Listen," he says to her, “I am not going to let anything happen to this family.”
“Your dad is on board with my plan, and your mom will go wherever he goes.” he continues.
She just nods and buries her head in his shoulder.
They get Grayson ready for bed, and Vin goes in his office to make a checklist of his gear. Victoria walks in on him and sees all of the guns and ammo on the ground, and her mouth hangs wide open.
“How much did all of this cost Vintago!” she half yells.
“Don’t worry about that right now, we need this stuff.” he replies calmly.
She shakes her head and leaves him to whatever the hell he is doing. This whole thing is just way too much for her.
Vintago lays out all of the guns and ammunition he purchased. Then he adds what he already has to make a short list.
AK-74 (1080 rounds) with eight 30 round magazines.
Wilson Combat Shotgun (200 rounds)
Taurus 24/7 Pro DS 9mm (500 rounds) with three 17 round magazines.
Taurus 24/7 G2 .45ACP (500 rounds) with two 13 round magazines and one 10 round magazine.
Ruger LCP .380ACP (200 rounds) with three 6 round magazines.
Tactical lights for both Taurus handguns, rifle and shotgun.
4x scope for AK-74
8 inch tactical knife
Vintago finishes up his list and frowns at it. Not exactly an arsenal by any means, but it should be good enough. He is not exactly starting World War III here.
Next, he goes into the garage and checks out all of his camping gear. He sifts through sleeping bags, tents, cooking stoves with propane bottles, pots, pans, and a variety of gear. Everything looks to be in place since the last time he went camping. He throws the fishing gear on top of the pile. That will come in handy at some point that much he knows for sure.
Lastly, he goes back into the house and starts going through the pantry. They have so much shit in the pantry it is hard to tell what would be useful and what would not.
This is when Victoria steps in and says “What the hell are you doing in my pantry!”
Vin replies as he keeps throwing things into the middle of the kitchen, “Trying to get what we need out into the open.”
After an hour in the pantry, he makes another list of food products that would be useful and hands it to Victoria.
"I need you to run to the store tomorrow and get everything on this list," he tells her, “and do your little price matching thing to save us some money if you can.”
“Oh is this all?” she says as she looks at the list and shakes her head.
“Anything you might need or can think of too” he adds.
“How about food for your son!” she scoffs.
“See that’s why I love you” he chuckles, “you think of all the shit I forget!”
He wraps her in another giant bear hug, and she wriggles out of it and runs to the bedroom.
He chases her into the bedroom and tackles her onto the bed. Then, he begins kissing her passionately and things spiral into chaos of another kind.
A while later after they have both showered and gotten ready for bed, he kisses her goodnight and tells her he loves her.
Normally, Vintago is not much of a praying man, but tonight he says a little prayer to himself, “Please watch over me tomorrow as I make this journey north. Please make this journey for nothing and when I return make this situation go away. Amen”
Chapter Four
Recon Mission
January, 2013
In the morning, Vintago packs his new AK-74 rifle in its case and throws it in the backseat of his car, a Toyota Corolla. He decides to get a little bit better gas mileage on the trip since he is only driving up and back. As Vintago gets in the car, he puts his .45 in the cup holder and his 9mm in the glove box. Vin puts the sack lunch that Victoria gave him on the seat next to him, and he is ready to go.
Vin rolls out of the garage, closes it and stops, only for a second to reflect on what he told Victoria before he left.
“Here’s your Ruger, you wear that on your hip until I get back. The shotgun is loaded by the door. All you have to do is pop the safety off and pull the trigger. It pretty much does the rest.” he explains to her.
“Be careful, and don’t answer the door for anyone. Your mom and dad will be over once they get back from buying supplies.”
He backs out of the driveway, spins around, and off he goes. It is about thirty minutes to the first town along his journey heading east.
On the drive, he puts the windows down, throws on some music, and tries to relax. Of course, that is about impossible, but he figures he will try.
The first leg of the journey ends in a hole in the wall town. Vintago stops for gas to make sure he has enough to make it to the hatchery and back to this town where he can fill up again before heading home.
Vintago gets out of the car, and pops open the gas tank door. He slides his credit card on the pump and goes through the motions. While the gas is pumping he walks inside the convenience store to pick up a bottle of soda and a bottle of water.
When Vin walks in the small store, he immediately hears the news blaring in the background. The store attendant and two customers are all glued to the TV.
The TV is tuned into MSNBC, and they are showing footage of San Diego. It looks like half of the city is on fire. There are military helicopters, gunships even, flying above the city. The helicopters are raining fire down upon everything moving in the city. The camera zooms out, and it is cle
ar how far away the news chopper is. They get a wide pan shot of the entire city, and it is not just half the city on fire, it is the entire city. As the camera zooms back in on a different setting, people are running for their lives and being totally cut down by infected people or military munitions. The whole damn city is wrapped up in chaos.
Vintago finds himself trying terribly hard to look away because he has his own quest to achieve. He gets his drinks, and cannot seem to get the store clerk’s attention, so he just leaves five dollars on the counter and walks out.
Seeing such a large city in such chaos lights a fire under Vintago’s ass, because he gets in his car and slightly peels out of the driveway.
The scene on the TV pretty much cements it in Vintago’s mind that he is doing the right thing. It also tells him that his timetables are being pushed forward unexpectedly fast. If cities as large as San Diego can be overrun in less than a day, what would happen in a significant metropolitan area like Phoenix?
Heading up through the canyons with their hairpin turns, Vin is glad he chose to take the Corolla instead of the Outlander. The Corolla is the sport model, and it nicely hugs the corners as he accelerates, pushing the little four cylinder engine to its max.
The trip to Payson normally would take about two hours, but Vin makes it in an hour and a half. Luckily, he did not get pulled over on the way up. With all the guns in the car, it would make an awkward traffic stop for both parties.
Vintago slows down in Payson and starts looking around in the small town. He is doing recon, just like he planned. There are quite a few shops and convenience stores, a Home Depot, a Walmart, various small mom and pop stores, and one decent sized gun shop. Vin likes what he is seeing and continues through the town and back onto the highway which leads further up the mountains and onto the Mogollon Rim, where the fish hatchery is.
Another twenty minutes of driving and Vin reaches the turn off for the fish hatchery. This is also where the campground he stayed at is located. The campground spreads out into a lovely little grassy valley, and the little creek runs through the middle of it.
Vin keeps driving along the road, crossing the creek several times, and starts ascending the windy road to the top of the canyon where the fish hatchery lies. After a short scenic drive, Vin arrives at the parking lot for the fish hatchery.
Vintago gets out of his car, holsters his Taurus .45 on the inside of his waistband, grabs his water bottle, and takes out his iPhone. Vin starts walking up the trail leading from the parking lot to the hatchery and starts taking video of exactly everything, including the surrounding forest, the stream, the holding tanks, and everything. He soon comes up to the large holding pond where they keep the monster trout. These trout are as large, and as hungry as Vin remembered. Some of them are almost two feet long. Vin cannot help but think that they would be good eating if the time arose.
Vin takes a quick tour through the fish tanks. The fish are in all stages of their lives, from little tiny fish, to large fish ready to be released. He takes extra note of the surrounding buildings on the property. There are four buildings, just like Vintago remembered. He takes a peek around at each building and confirms that one is a large warehouse, one is a small visitor center, another is an office building, and lastly, what looks like crew quarters. It would make sense for some of the members to stay on site as the hatchery runs almost all year round. At almost 6,500 feet in elevation and so far off the beaten path, the hatchery must be on a well or water tank. They probably have backup generators to supplement their power grid, as well.
All of this is excellent news for Vintago. He finishes touring the facility because the workers are starting to give him strange looks.
“How interested can he be in this place?” they are probably wondering.
Vin finishes his tour with a quick trip down the creek which runs adjacent to the hatchery. It is just like Vin remembers, it has small patches of grassy flat terrain and covered in vines and bushes. It is far too cold for there to be any berries because there is still snow on the ground up at this elevation.
Vintago himself is getting a little too cold for his berries. He makes a hasty retreat back to his car and starts the trip back home. The trip was not for nothing as he gained some valuable intel and decided that this was the right place. He also learned how many cars can be parked safely in the parking lot, how large the property was how hard it would be to protect, and also where the good spots in Payson are for pillaging if it comes to that.
Vin starts the trip back home with a little music and cracks open his Mountain Dew. When Vin reaches the highway, his iPhone starts blowing up. Victoria is calling.
“Jesus, why are not you answering!” she screams.
“I was up at the hatchery, there must not be very good cell reception. What’s up?” he asks.
“I’ve been watching the news, and it’s getting out of control.” she tells him.
“What do you mean it’s getting out of control?” he asks her.
“They are already seeing infected patients all over the country!” she begins.
She then continues telling the story. It started in Los Angeles, and they are saying it hopped to other cities when people got on planes to get the hell out of California. There have been reports of infected in Dallas, Albuquerque, Seattle, and Portland. Several planes travelling to New York, Chicago, Orlando, and Atlanta also made emergency landings because their entire cabin had been overrun with infected. Most of the flights had landed with the pilots safe behind their terrorist proof doors. Unfortunately, some of the flights did not make it as the pilots opened the doors for the banging fists. Two planes were confirmed to be down, killing everyone and everything onboard.
Victoria takes a breath, steadies herself, and drops the massive bomb, “Vin, they are in Phoenix too.”
This sets Vin’s senses on fire. The virus had spread to within fifty miles of his family, and he was over a hundred miles away in the fucking mountains!
Vin tells Victoria in a raging fury, “Babe you need to tell everyone who is leaving to get their shit together and get to our fucking house. We are leaving as soon as I get back.”
She thinks about that for a minute, and then says “You’re still at least an hour and a half away.”
“Don’t worry about that, get all the winter clothes packed you can find, and tell everyone to do the same. When you’re, done with clothes start packing food. I will handle everything else when I get there.” he tells her.
“Victoria, I love you, please lock the doors and stay inside until I get there.”
Chapter Five
Exodus
January, 2013
Vin hangs up the phone, sets it in its dock, and stomps on the gas pedal. He watches his speed increase significantly quicker than he anticipated. When the needle rushes past one hundred, and a turn is rapidly approaching, he backs it off to a sharp ninety miles an hour. The tires squelch as he banks just a little too hard into the turn. As soon as he is past the turn, he drops the pedal to the floor again and accelerates past one hundred and twenty miles an hour.
Vin continues driving like a madman for another hour, slowing only to pass through Payson and the other two small towns. After he passes the last town, he pushes the pedal to the floor and gets the little four banger all the way to one hundred and thirty miles per hour before he finally chickens out and lets up a bit. No point dying on the home stretch.
Vintago just about power slides into the driveway and opens the garage door only to find Victoria packing the Outlander full of food and water.
“Thank God” he mumbles to himself.
She gives him a kiss when he gets out of the car, and then immediately gives him a disapproving frown.
“How fast were you driving to make it back here so quickly?” she asks.
“I did the speed limit...” he replies to his wife, then to himself “times two.”
She just looks at him with that “you’re so full of shit” face she is so good at makin
g.
Vin takes a peek into the back of the Outlander and finds it surprisingly well packed. All those years of grocery getting in the mommy wagon have trained her for a day like today. The entire cargo area of the vehicle is packed with food, water, luggage, and who knows what else. The seats are lined with clothes, blankets, and personal items. Normally, Vintago would argue this waste of space, but then again this is not normal anymore. He is not going to let her pack the Outlander with whatever she deems necessary. She is going to drive that vehicle with Gray in his car seat. Next to him on the seat is a bunch of his toys, and shit that Vin would not deem necessary, like his pack and play for instance.
“Why are you bringing that thing?” Vin asks his wife.
“What else is he going to sleep in?” she replies coldly.
Vintago just mumbles under his breath and shakes his head, “Should have just left her to do it on her own like he originally thought.”
Vin goes inside and starts packing up the ammo and guns. Vin puts all of these items in the backseat of the Corolla. Then he loads all their camping gear in the trunk. Most everything is compact and fits nicely in the trunk. He takes his rifle and places it in the front seat and unzips the case holding it, just in case he needs it.
Vin takes a quick second to clear out their safe into his backpack so that they have all of their vital documents, cash, jewelry, and family heirlooms. Not that, most of it will matter soon anyway, but who knows. They take a quick look at the inventory in their cars, take a second look at what’s left in the house, and they both nod in agreement.
Lastly, they load up Gray, the two dogs and start the vehicles. Vin steps inside the house one more time to do a quick check, and arms the alarm on the house. At least, it will give him peace of mind. Not that, the police will come to save anything, but maybe it will scare off any potential looters.
They get in their cars and make the short drive down the street to the Robertses house. Vin gets out taking a look at what they have managed to squeeze into their two vehicles. It looks like Greg’s car is full of useful foodstuffs, water, munitions, and clothing in every nook or cranny. On the other hand, Cindy’s car is full of what Vin would consider certain bullshit. She has packed all sorts of “As seen on TV” crap, useless nick knacks, and a variety of equally useless items. To each their own Vin figures, they do not have time to repack a vehicle.