by Jeremy Lock
Chapter 16
Jason setup the BBQ and grilled up some vinegar BBQ chicken for everyone. Although it was barely above freezing the comradry of working together along with a couple adult beverages made for an enjoyable meal. After dinner Jason called for a meeting in the dining room. He could tell the long hours of manual labor were tiring everyone out.
“Ok everyone, I know we’ve all been working pretty long hours and were all tired but there are a few things I would like to discuss. #1- From this point forward I’d like everyone to be fully tactically prepared. Your magazines will all be loaded; all guns will remain loaded with safety’s on. Tactical vests will be loaded and ready to go. Everyone carries their handgun at all times and if you’re going further then the Workshop you should have a long gun as well. If you leave the property you will be full tactical, no exceptions. That means Tactical Vests with trauma plates will be required. Any questions?” Jason asked.
Jeff thought it was funny that Jason’s “discussion” was really just orders but he trusted Jason’s instincts and it was his house plus Jeff totally agreed with him. No one else had anything to say so Jason continued.
“Ok, the next thing we need to do is set a 24 hour watch. I think 3 shifts of 8 hours will work best. I’m thinking Jeff and Mark take watch together, Jessica and Allie and then I’ll take watch by myself. Partnering up keeps each other awake plus Allie and Mark need to learn the system and procedures. After the meeting we will all do a quick refresher on the system since we haven’t looked at it in a while. Does anyone want to add anything?” Jason asked.
“I don’t want to take watch.” Allie said.
“We all have to take watch Allie, nobody wants to, but we are all going to have a lot of jobs we don’t like. That what things are going to be like for a while.” Jason said matter-of-factly.
“I hate this!” Allie screamed. “I just want things to be like normal!” she added as she ran to her room slamming the door.
“Ok, I’m going to take the shift tonight starting at 10pm. Jessica, would you prefer the 6a-2p shift of 2p to 10p, tomorrow?” Jason asked.
“I think the 2- 10 is probably best, that will give me a chance to talk to Allie a bit, she still needs to adjust.” Jessica replied.
“We all still need to adjust” Jason added with a chuckle.
“Jeff does that work with you?” Jason asked.
“Yeah that’s fine but I’m concerned about a few other things.” Jeff said.
“What’s on your mind?” Jason asked.
“Two things mainly: First, we are going to need to get some hunting time in soon, deer won’t be moving like this for the rest of the winter and we need at least 4 deer to get through and since were going quiet that means getting the bows out. With only 2 of us as hunters and everyone pulling security shifts it’s going to be very difficult. Second, we need to get more gasoline. Our contingency plan is to bug out to Wyoming but we don’t have any stored gas and you weren’t able to get that diesel truck before all this so were going to have to head out and start syphoning cars or we will have no backup plan if we get over run.” Jeff said, he had more on his mind but these 2 felt were most important.
“I can hunt.” Mark meekly piped in.
“I know you’ve hunted, but we can’t shotgun hunt, it will bring too much attention are way, we can only bow hunt. Learning how to shoot a compound bow accurately is something that takes years of practice.” Jason added.
Mark jumped up and ran upstairs, almost mirroring allies trip, without the yelling.
“Well, he’s more sensitive than I expected” Jason said shocked.
A moment later mark came running down the stairs with an object in his hand. “I’m pretty sure this will work” Mark said placing the compound crossbow on the table. He had 4 bolts in its quiver all set up with rage mechanical broad heads.
“Ok so we have 3 hunters” Jeff added with a chuckle.
“So we do, after tomorrow if one of us (pointing to Jeff, Mark and himself) isn’t on watch in the early morning or just before dark we will be in a tree stand unless something more pressing is going on.” Jason added.
They nodded and Jason continued. “As far as the gas goes, you are right and we are going to need around 100 gallons to get both our cars out of dodge. That means filling two 55 gallon drums at least. We will have to make some plans, but I need everyone competent on security so that a couple of us can skip to make a fuel run. Plus remember that there are a lot of other chores that have to be done every day on top of watch duty. I’m going to work on a shift schedule and chore schedule for everyone to work off of tonight.” Jason said.
“Sounds good to me” said Jeff.
“I have something” Jessica said.
“What’s that?” Jason asked.
“Well, I know we have a small stash of over the counter drugs, some pet store versions of drugs and a few items that Jeff and I have gotten from work, but we really don’t have a significant supply of any good antibiotics and we have almost no pain medication. We are going to need those things if anyone gets seriously hurt or we find sick people who need our help. I think going to the hospital would be crazy but maybe a local pharmacy might be worth raiding what we need. I don’t like the idea of looting but it’s going to be taken by someone and it may as well be the good guys who will help other people with it.” Jessica said with finality.
Jason was quite surprised, he knew Jessica was as brilliant as she was beautiful but he had never seen her work through an issue so thoroughly with tactical thought. He always thought that she tolerated his prepping but didn’t buy into it. She clearly had been paying attention and he was proud of her.
“We will definitely put that on the to-do list.” Was all Jason could say, with a big smile on his face.
“Does anyone have anything else?” Jason asked.
But no one did. After a quick tutorial on the security system everyone, except Jason, headed for bed. He was going to have a long night.
Chapter 17
The dark figure stood in the darkness watching the farm house. He looked to his watch and checked the time, 215am, almost time he thought and then returned his gaze to the house. There were 6 men in the house but only 1 appeared to be awake. He sat on the front porch with what appeared to be a shotgun in one hand and in the other a bottle of whiskey. He had watched the men since early in the afternoon and had followed them here. The bodies of 2 older people, one man and one woman, so the men clearly didn’t own the farm. But he wasn’t interested in the farm, he needed supplies. The man was highly trained but ill prepared for the disaster, but he knew how to fix that and deal with another problem. The man had literally been caught with his pants down, he was in a rest stop bathroom when the pulse hit. There were a few others at the rest stop who were panicked and confused but not this man. He calmly walked to his car and pulled a backpack out of the back, looked thru the car for any other useful items and then broke into a vending machine to load up on food and water and headed out on foot. That had been 3 days ago and now he was out of food and didn’t have a good way of providing more. He knew he could snare but didn’t want to stay any place too long, he had to move north. That when he had found his supply source. He stayed within sight of the highway but far enough away not to be noticed. That’s when he saw the group of men. They were in the midst of ambushing a young family when he had come across them. As he observed the men he saw them take the property from the family and then shoot the submissive husband in the head with a pistol. The 2 young children were boys and were mercifully shot when they wouldn’t stop crying after their father’s death. For the young wife, mercy did not visit her quickly. The 6 men took turns violently raping her multiple times each in the back of an abandoned minivan nearby. She had been gaged so her screams would not disturb any further prospects, which thankfully there were none. Once the men had their fill the young woman was violently sodomized and raped with inanimate objects while then men laughed and joked. The man watched, detach
ed, while the woman bled to death after being sodomized with a tire iron, he could see the blood through his binoculars 300 yds away. None of this was new to him for he had seen what animals many men really were. He had no way to stop the men as he was only armed a Kabar knife. So he waited and watched and then followed when the men had decided it was time to go. The men were easy to follow and clearly were only thugs with no training at all, they were easy targets. The man watched from the shadows and then the darkness while the 6 men drank and joked their way through the night until only 1 man was left. It was clear the man was to be on watch but he spent more time sleeping then watching. The man waited until 3am and then quietly proceeded to the house. The hours of 3 and 4 am were commonly known as “the witching hours”, where the human body just wanted to shut down and it was the best time to act. The man quietly crept behind the now sleeping guard and grabbed his head with his right arm and his upper body with his left and with a powerful, well-practiced, swift movement instantly snapped the man’s neck. He quietly laid the man down and searched his body. The man carried an old double barrel shogun with 4 extra rounds and a small .22 revolver with 9rounds. He pocketed the .22 and cleared the shotgun, leaving it with the dead man for later. One down 6 to go the man thought as he quietly opened the front door with knife in hand. He entered the old house and the smell of rotting food, cigarette smoke and human body odor attacked his senses, he didn’t react. He crept into the living room and saw 2 men sleeping on the couches. The first man made it easy, lying face down clearly passed out on the couch. The man walked up and in one swift motion he pressed the man’s head down into the pillow while with his other hand he shoved the blade of his combat knife into the base of the man’s head firmly and then twisting the blade. The thug’s body when taught and then relaxed permanently as his plug was pulled. Pulling out the knife he walked over to the next man who was lying on his back. The man placed his hand over the man’s mouth firmly and then quickly sliced the man’s throat to the bone. The man’s eyes opened in terror and he attempted to scream but only a gurgle came out of the open throat. The man stared into the dying man’s eyes as the life drained out of him. It took about 2 minutes and then the man went back to searching the house. The ground floor was clear so he started up the old farm house stairs to the second floor. He kept his feet to the inside wall by the stairs to keep the stairs from creaking and worked his way up slowly. He saw 4 doors at the top of the stairs and knew there would be 3 bedrooms and then a bathroom. He opened the first 2 doors and found 2 sleeping men who were quickly and quietly eliminated in the same way as the men down stairs and then quietly entered the 3 bedroom. He knew the man in the room was the ring leader of the group and was about to bring some justice to the young family he saw tortured yesterday on the road. He quietly crept up to the bed where the man was sleeping but was stopped in his tracks. On the floor in the corner of the room a pair of terrified eyes met his and attempted to scream, but the body was gaged and bound and only a small amount of noise came out. The man on the bed started to stir and the dark clad man knew he had to move. The thug turned towards the young bound woman and started yelling.
“Shut the fuck up you little bit…” the man’s shout was cut short by 2 things.
First the sight of the dark clad man moving quickly towards him and then the pommel of the knife striking the man in the temple knocking him unconscious. The girl was still screaming and the man had to think of what to do, he hadn’t planned for this. He went to the girl, who was covered in dried blood and been beaten and abused and tried to calm her down.
“Shhh… I’m not here to hurt you and no one else is going to hurt you” he said.
The girl continued to shriek under her gag and try to pull away from him. He noticed she was naked for the first time and pulled a blanket off the bed to cover her.
“I’m going to help you but I need you to be quiet and I can take that gag off your mouth and untie you.” He said.
The girl stopped her screams but continued to cry and still had that fear in her eyes. He knew that there was no one around to hear her so he undid the gag and then began to untie her. As soon as she was free she pulled herself away from the man and into the corner of the room.
“My name is Sean, what’s your name?” the man said.
The girl was still fearful but quietly stated her name was Cassidy.
“Is this your house Cassidy?” Sean asked with as much friendliness as he could muster. Dealing with women was clearly a major weakness of his and he knew it.
“My grandparents’ house, they raised me after my mom died.” She said timidly.
“Ok, I want you to wait here for a few minutes while I deal with this evil monster and then you can get cleaned up.” Sean said.
The girl only nodded still sitting in the corner hugging her knees. Sean pulled the man from the bed and pulled him over his shoulder. The man was large, much larger then Sean, but Sean handled him with relative ease. Sean carried the unconscious man to the living room and firmly tied him and gagged him in a dining room chair. He then went back upstairs and pulled the man out of the bedroom that he thought was Cassidy’s and brought his lifeless body to the living room. Sean then went up to what had been Cassidy’s grandparents’ room and spoke to Cassidy.
“If you want to go to your room or the bathroom and clean up you can. I’ll be downstairs for a while, get some sleep if you can. I won’t come up here just please don’t leave until we can talk.” Sean said.
“I’m cold.” Cassidy said meekly.
Sean hadn’t noticed but the house was cold, it had plunged below freezing overnight and the men had clearly gotten too drunk to remember to stoke the wood stove.
“I’ll get a fire going” Sean said and headed downstairs leaving a candle in the room for some light for Cassidy.
Sean went downstairs and got the fire going in the living room and decided that leaving the bodies in the living room probably wasn’t the best arrangement. Sean dragged the man bound to the chair into a small den on the first floor after thoroughly searching the room for weapons. He then carried the 5 bodies outside and laid them in the yard after searching the bodies. Sean heard the shower running upstairs for what had to be 45 minutes and he was tempted to go upstairs and make sure everything was ok, but he then heard the water turn off and the quiet sobs of Cassidy coming from upstairs as she walked into the bedroom. The house was still pretty cold but the living room was starting to warm up. Sean started collecting the men’s weapons, ammunition and food supplies and organizing them into piles. Sean heard the creaking of the stairs and turned to see Cassidy coming downstairs with the candle. She was dressed in warm clothes and carried a blanket and pillow.
“Are you ok?” Sean asked.
“Yeah, it’s cold upstairs, I’m going to sit by the fire.” Cassidy replied.
“Ok, sleep if you can. No one is going to hurt you.” Sean said.
“Ever?” Cassidy replied.
“Not while I’m here.” Sean replied no knowing what else to say. Cassidy walked into the living room and Sean went back to work not knowing what else to do. Cassidy fell asleep quickly on the floor in front of the fire and other then the occasional whimpers and quiet yelling from apparent nightmares she slept like she hadn’t in days. Sean went to the kitchen and found a couple glasses which he used to set up noisemakers on the back and front door and slept at the kitchen table for a few hours. He woke up 4 hours later to a strange sound that he couldn’t place. He tried to clear his head to identify the source of the noise and then realized what it was. He walked over to a door and opened it. There he saw the large man tied and gagged in the chair rocking the chair trying to walk it over to the desk. Sean walked to the man and punched him straight in the nose, clearly breaking it with blood flowing freely. The man tried to scream but only a muffled yell came out. Sean dragged the chair back to the middle of the room and looked at the man. The man had rage in his face and it was almost enough to make Sean smile for the first time in ye
ars. Sean grabbed the man by the throat and started to powerfully squeeze, the rage quickly became fear. Sean then pushed the man in the chair over onto his back and left him floundering. He then closed the door and went to check on Cassidy who was still sleeping soundly in front of the fire. Looking at her in the daylight was the first time he had gotten a look at her and he was shocked. She was a teenager, maybe 17, with mid length red hair, pale skin and freckles, she wasn’t classically pretty but clearly striking and Sean thought she was beautiful. Sean quietly snuck by her and stoked the fire shaking any thought of Cassidy from his head for a moment. Women had always been trouble for him and he hadn’t dated anyone since he and his ex-wife had divorced 4 years and a lifetime before, a part of his life that he tried not to revisit. Sean looked thru the kitchen and found a can of coffee and a percolator. He filled the perk with water and then added a hefty portion of coffee and placed it on the wood stove. He then went back to look at the gear he had collected last night. He had a Marlin bolt action .22 rifle an old Remington 30.06 scoped hunting rifle, a pump action 20 ga shotgun, the double barrel 12ga shotgun the .22pistol and a Springfield 1911 pistol. There was most of a brick of .22lr bullets, a full clip in the 1911. A box of #4 12 gauge shells, 10 rounds of 7 1/2 20 ga, 15 rounds off BB shells for the 20 ga and finally 18 rounds for the 30.06. Sean wasn’t armed to go to war, but he was much better off than he had been. There was also a good deal of canned food, dried pasta, rice and several bottle of alcohol. The men had clearly attacked many other families over the past few days. Sean looked through the refrigerator and found that nearly everything had already been eaten or had already gone bad. He checked the freezer and found a thawed package of bacon along with some meat and once frozen vegetables. He was hungry and decided he would cook up some breakfast. He knew from experience in combat to load up of calories when you can because you never know when your next meal will be. Sean checked the stove and was happy to see that it was propane and lit quickly. He pulled out a large frying pan and a sauce pan and started cooking the bacon and a steak in the frying pan and a healthy portion of vegetables in the sauce pan. The smell of the bacon and steak was very pleasant. Sean had eaten junk food for the past 4 days and hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours. The aroma brought his hunger forward with a vengeance. He grabbed the coffee from the wood stove and noticed that Cassidy was waking up.