Cities on Fire

by A J Newman

  “That’s enough gloom and doom. Let’s talk about something fun. That’s what we need around here is something that’s fun.”

  Will just sat there, listened to Maddie, and sulked.

  ✼

  Chapter 13

  Day Six – The Wraith

  The Wraith retrieved the black shirt, pants, hat, and mask from a trash bag under the bed and quickly got dressed. The Wraith strapped on the pistol belt and checked the pistol and knife to make sure they were secure. The sneakers had been white but had been turned black with a marking pen.

  It was cloudy, and with no moon, it was very dark outside. The guard was patrolling the barn behind the house, so it was easy to slip out the front door and use the house to conceal movement from the guard.

  This excursion was to take the Jon boat across the river and scout out the west side. The night was cold, and it was misting rain as the boat glided across the river. The only sounds were the crickets, tree frogs and an occasional owl hooting. The Wraith was careful to keep sound to a minimum as the oar was stroked through the water. The bank of the river came into view, and the Wraith quietly pulled the boat up into the tall grass so it would be hidden from prying eyes.

  Staying inside the tree line made the walk more difficult; however, not being caught was much more important. There were a dozen houses along this side of the river, and there were no lights until a red dot appeared up ahead. Then there were muffled voices. The Wraith inched closer to the conversation until only five yards separated them.

  The voices were clear now, and the conversation was somewhat animated.

  “Dad, can we trust those people across the river?”

  “Son, I don’t know, but I had a good feeling about that Bob Karr. He pitched in and saved those people on the crashed plane.”

  “But we don’t know him. His people could rob us, and then we’d be fighting Karr’s people, O’Berg and the Sheriff. That O’Berg will try to take over this entire area.”

  “I think you are right about that bastard. How he keeps his seat in the senate is beyond me.”

  “Bribes, blackmail, and crooked deals. That’s how.”

  “I wish he’d have stayed in Washington. The sheriff doesn’t have the brains God gave a goose. We could handle that slimy bastard, but both of them will be a handful.”

  Suddenly several lights came on, and they heard, “Hands up. This is the police. Drop those rifles.”

  “You’re on private property.”

  “Screw your private property. You were committing treason by planning to kill the Senator and the sheriff. I have orders to shoot on sight anyone trying to overthrow our government. Kneel down and prepare to meet God or the devil.”

  Two Deputies tied Jim Dickerson’s and his son’s hands behind their backs.

  The other Deputy drew his revolver and said, “Do you have anything to say or perhaps say a prayer before you receive your punishment.”

  Jim said, “Screw you, the Sheriff, and that crooked O’Berg.”

  “Well, that wasn’t n….”

  There was a soft noise off to the side, and a hole appeared in the Deputy’s head; the other two were slow to react, and another hole appeared in a second Deputy’s head followed by two holes in the thirds Deputy’s chest. The first two fell immediately, but the third stood there for a few seconds until there was another pfift sound from the bushes and a bloody hole was made in his head. He fell at Jim’s feet.

  “I’ve got a gun on you so don’t turn around,” a muffled voice behind them said as their bindings were cut.

  The Wraith poked a piece of paper in both men’s pocket and said, “The note says, “The Wraith killed these men.” Throw the bodies in the river, run their vehicle into the river, and forget this happened. Don’t turn around.”

  Jim replied, “But you saved our lives, and we want to thank you.”

  All he heard was silence, so he turned around, and no one was there.

  They tied bags full of rocks to the bodies, shoved them in the river, and then pushed the old car in with them.

  The dark clad figure resembled a Wraith as it darted into the bushes when the patrol vehicle passed by along the fence. Since the lights went out the country was very dark unless there was a full moon. The moon wasn’t full and hid behind a cloudy sky, which made it easy for the shadowy figure to move around the area undetected. The Wraith had made this trip several times. Taking out the trash was only a part time hobby for this vigilante.

  Rumor had it there was a small biker gang that had set up their headquarters northwest of Carthage at the abandoned racetrack. Several young girls had disappeared since they arrived and two men were killed when they refused to give their food to the gang. These men were a blight on society, and the gang would continue to grow in size until they took over the entire area.

  The Wraith hadn’t been this far from home base before; however, the vermin had been dealt with within three miles of the Wraith’s home base. The old car had been stashed yesterday for just this reason, to extend the reach of the person dressed in black with the camo face paint, compound bow and silenced .22 Ruger MKIII.

  The old Pinto was traveling at 25 MPH with its lights off and barely made a sound. It had recently been painted primer black and could not be seen in the dark. It was 1:30 am, no one was out, and only a few dogs barked to split the eerie silence of the night. There was a slight wisp of fog lying close to the ground, and it was getting thicker as the Wraith got closer to the target.

  The Wraith parked the car in a thicket just northwest of Highway 80 and Highway 25 junction. The Wraith stayed in the dark by walking in the tree line along the river. It was a short walk just a Driver and a # 6 Hybrid to the first building. The Wraith missed golf about as much as anything else since the lights went out.

  There were two guards posted. One was up by the entrance and the other on the south end of the complex. The one up by the road rested in the ditch bleeding out from a gash on his throat. The other guard was fast asleep or drunk, but the Wraith didn’t care because he would soon join the other one in Hell. The Wraith had recently introduced over a dozen of the worst scum the world has to the Devil. Thanks to this effort, the area around Dixon Springs and the Horse Shoe were much more secure for the hard working survivors.

  The man was snoring loudly, his shotgun hung from his neck by a piece of paracord, and he stank of beer. The Wraith slid the shotgun around behind him and twisted the gun around until the cord cut into the man’s neck. He woke to find himself choking to death. He waved both arms and twisted to find the person strangling him. In a final desperate lunge, he grabbed the Wraith’s shirt, and flipped the body over his head and slammed the Wraith to the ground.

  Just as he thought he would be able to untangle the paracord from around his neck, the Wraith beckoned him to lean over to the dark figure. He did. The Wraiths free hand thrust upward to jab a knife into the man’s eye piercing his brain. His agony was over, but the Wraith still had work to do.

  The Wraith popped the left shoulder back in place by pushing against the building’s wall and went about the business of removing trash from the Earth.

  The first building only had supplies and water stored. The next one held over twenty women and their kids. All were slaves owned by the biker gang and were used and abused by the gang members. Most were being stockpiled for trade later to other evil like-minded people.

  The Wraith allowed these people to sleep and moved on to the last building, which was the new home of the gang. The inside of the building held the concession stands and offices for the racetrack. Each office held one of the higher ranking officers of the gang and his current woman. The Wraith chose the nicest office first and slipped into the office without a sound. There were two young girls in the bed but were chained to the footboard of the bed. The man in the bed was naked and smelled like piss and stale beer. The Wraith placed one razor sharp knife on the man’s throat and another against his genitals.

  For an instant, th
eir eyes locked, and the Wraith said, “Die you son of a bitch.”

  Then the dark figure cut his throat and neutered him at the same time. He died knowing his manhood had been sliced from his body.

  The Wraith was lucky, as thug after thug was offered up to God or the Devil. The Wraith thought that if a mistake were made, God would sort it out in the afterlife. Only one teen girl woke up to see the Wraith slit her rapist’s throat, and she thanked the Wraith. The Wraith fished a set of keys out of the man’s pants pocket, unlocked the girl’s chains, gave her the keys, and told her to unlock the others after the Wraith left.

  The girl replied, “But the men will kill me.”

  “Darling, they will all be in Hell when I leave. Tell everyone the Wraith killed these men and freed you.”

  Six offices now held six dead gang bangers, and there were 12 more that needed to die. The Wraith had the guard’s shotgun in one hand and the silenced Ruger in the other. The pistol made a popping sound ten times before the Wraith changed magazines to shoot the remaining two criminals. Drunks were easy to shoot as they lay passed out.

  The dark clad figure chose a long white wall on the outside of the building and wrote THE WRAITH KILLED THESE CRIMINALS in capital letters with a can of black spray paint.

  The Wraith then told the girl to help the others escape and suggested they head over to Carthage. The girl asked for the Wraith’s name and if she could see the Wraith’s face, but the Wraith just turned and left.

  The Wraith had to avoid people walking on the road for the first time in her numerous excursions. Many of them were families heading south out of the larger Kentucky cities. They were tired, hungry, and desperate. They would be killing for food in a day or two. Several tried to stop her, but the Wraith avoided them by running off the road. The Wraith made it back to the car’s hiding spot, and the Wraith crept back to the home base without being detected or missed for that matter.

  It had been a busy night and a long one for the Wraith. Two attacks on opposite sides of the Horseshoe and dozens of criminals taken out of play. The Wraith was exhausted but very happy.

  Bob woke up when the bed rocked and said, “Jane are you okay? It’s almost daylight. Can’t you sleep?”

  “Sorry, I was having trouble sleeping and went to the outhouse. The stars are beautiful outside, and I had to stop and gaze at them for a while. Men always fall asleep after sex. It made me wide awake.”

  “Come on back to bed, and we can have an encore.”

  Jane was exhausted later that morning as she and Bob came out of his room and walked to the kitchen together. Will saw them try to sneak out of Bob’s room, waved at his Grandparents, and gave them thumbs up. Maddie caught the wave, saw them, and gave thumbs up sign.

  Jane walked into the kitchen and said, “I want you to meet my family. Family this is my new boyfriend, Bob. We have moved in together and don’t need any harassment from any of you.”

  Jo exclaimed, “I knew this would happen if we didn’t supervise you two. Mom, are you pregnant?”

  Maddie and Will began laughing, and Will said, “Papaw don’t knock her up.”

  “Screw you.”

  “Okay, cut it out. Bob has had the hots for me for years. I finally succumbed to his charm. We don’t plan on having any children but could change our minds.”

  Jane said, “Jake go fetch a couple of bottles of water from the back porch. Mom, now that Jake is gone, you two need to move to the room at the far end of the house. We couldn’t sleep for all of the unholy noise going on for hours.”

  Bob gave her the finger and said, “Too bad there’s no noise coming from your room.”

  Missy replied, “You know Will, Maddie, and I are in the room.”

  Bob laughed and said, “Jane my dear, it might be time for us to move another trailer into the yard. The kids are grown and need a place of their own.

  Izzy waved for Bob to come over to the gate and said, “That was Ralph from over toward Carthage. He lives close to the Race Track. He told me that someone killed a whole biker gang that was terrorizing the area. Said most were killed in their sleep. He also said that there are reports that a dozen other outlaws have been killed this week. The only common thing tying the killings together is that they are on the other side of the river from the Horseshoe. Criminals are being killed all around us.”

  “Well, that’s good news. Isn’t it.”

  “Yes, but everyone thinks we are doing the killing, and a couple of gangs have threatened to wipe us out.”

  “That’s not good. We don’t want attention drawn to this place.”

  Greg walked into the conversation and said, “It’s impossible for us to stay below the radar. Bob, there are three dump trucks, two backhoes and two bulldozers working from dawn to dusk building our wall. Hell, just pounding the steel beams into the ground can be heard for miles.

  There isn’t any noise to hide our operation since the lights went out. No highway noise, no radios, iPods, or anything else. Hell one of our guards told me last night that several groups have spies watching us from the other side of the river. These are just curious people, but they talk to others, and soon everyone knows what we’re doing.”

  “It’s worse than I thought; I was a fool to think we could stay below the radar. People are beginning to starve, and many of the walkers are getting more adamant that we have food and we have to share it with them. We’re going to end up with a massacre at the front gate if they try to rush us.

  Those damn city people even think they can eat the corn they see planted closer to town. They trampled Jones’ farm trying to find ears of corn on ten-inch tall stalks. I’m doubling the guard, and we’ll build some tall guard towers and plate them with steel. If we can’t avoid being noticed, we’ll go the other way and scare the hell out of these desperate people. Perhaps they’ll see our fortifications and go on down south to easier pickings.

  Damn, we are ahead of any possible timeline for surviving this apocalypse, but the outlaws and thugs are just a step behind us. All the fiction I read on the Apocalypse says that it takes weeks for the thugs to run rampant.”

  Greg answered, “My guess is that most wardens at prisons let their prisoners loose on the world instead of letting them slowly starve to death. Most were already part of gangs and gangs are organized. With the government, military and local law enforcement falling apart there is no one to confront the bastards.”

  Bob and Jack checked on the progress on the wall that morning at lunchtime and saw Will and Maddie eating lunch in the shade of a tree.

  Bob, I think that girl will make a fine wife for Will. She is a hard worker and knows how to handle herself in a scrap. Hell, she’s probably the best long distance shooter that we have in our group.”

  “I really like her too. She is funny and very smart besides being beautiful. Will told me that she only wants him as a friend and she wants an older man. Will is a very smart and strong man. I hope Maddie realizes that before too long.”

  “Hell, a hundred years ago people would think Will is a grown man, and Maddie is an old maid at seventeen. Parents would be begging their son to find a decent young lady and settle down after he was 15 or so.”

  “I’m afraid that we are backing up 150 years in society and technology. Unfortunately, medical science is heading backward also. People will die from a rotten tooth or even a minor wound.”

  They saw Jane drive up and Bob said, “I should have told you, Jane and I have moved in together. I guess we’ll get married soon.”

  “Hello, Jack did Bob tell you that we’ve moved in together? I hope to make him an honest man one day.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Hey, while I have you two together, I’d like to take a scavenging party across the river and hit some of the abandoned shops across the river from Carthage. We need some women’s and girl’s clothes, hygiene products and lots of toilet paper. I’ll take Maddie, Will and a couple of the men for security. We’ll row across, gather as much as possibl
e, and get back home quickly. We’ll naturally look for other items on our list, but focus on the target items.”

  “Sounds good. When do you plan to go?”

  “I’d like to be at the strip mall at sun up. Most people are sleeping in these days except our little community. I’d like to get there, find the stuff, and be back before too many people are up and stirring around. We’ll take a radio along and adjust the plan as needed.”

  “Okay, I’ll get two volunteers and have them at Bob’s house at 4:00 am.”

  Bob replied, “I’ll be one of the volunteers.”

  Jane stopped to let Will know that the scavenging trip was on for in the morning and then headed over to the guard shack to help instruct the new guards.

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  Chapter 14

  Day Seven – We’re From the Government…

  Coyotes howling woke Maddie up a little after midnight scaring her, so she tiptoed down to Will’s room. Will was sound asleep when she lifted the covers and slid into bed with him. He was lying on his back without a shirt on; she gently laid her head on Will’s bare chest and fell asleep secure in his arms.

  Will woke up about 2:00 am and was pleasantly surprised that Maddie was in his arms with her head on his chest. He could feel her warm breath on his chest and hugged her tight. He rubbed her back with his right hand under her t-shirt and knew this was the one for him. He knew that he had to keep her safe at all cost and that making her happy was his major goal in life. He prayed that she would eventually feel the same way about him. He continued rubbing her back after he felt her waking up.

  “Damn you feel good against me. Keep rubbing my back; it feels so good.”