Desert Heat

by T J Reeder

  Beth took my arm and said, “Let’s go John, nothing here is worth the lives of any of our people.” I felt bad but at the same time I knew she was right.

  We headed back up and found the security guys and chopper as we left it, I sent the girls out on the first run over their objections but for once they minded me but I knew I was going to have to mend fences later.

  We all returned safely and the war went on, the rats were still running in the thousands and as soon as we had enough in a bottleneck we fried them, when we got a bunch in range we shelled them.

  For 50 years the gangs had ruled parts of the city and now they were getting pay back for all the misery they had caused.

  I had to close my mind to the innocents caught in this mess and made the decision to stop shelling unless we spotted a large group, as long as they were heading south we let them run and when they ganged up in one spot we nailed them.

  So in a way we were saving a lot of the city and I had a thought I’d try to look at as soon as I could.

  For days we herded the rats with shell fire and fire bombed them when we got a big bunch located.

  After a week of it we stopped. And quiet settled over the city, then we mounted up in our LAV’s and armored vehicles and rolled into the mess.

  When we got shot at we simple dropped the hammer on them, they didn’t learn, but just moved ahead of us in small waves getting larger all the time until Ralph said to stop then he called in fire on them, the guns used Willy Peter and it wasn’t pretty, after that cooled down we started again, spread out over several streets in a crescent we moved forward taking fire and returning it 10 times as heavy and they still gathered in places to wait and Ralph did his thing.

  They still piled up in the bottle necks leading out of the city and the 130 still fried them. I sent heavy teams of shooters around to watch as many roads as they could and the snipers went to work, it wasn’t fun but it was there to be done and we did it.

  I knew we would never get them all the way we were going and finally stopped again.

  In the rear there were people coming out of the rubble, I had them stripped and searched for gang tats, those were taken away. The citizens we took care of, some had settlements amid the ruins, some had armed themselves and using the roof tops of buildings and parks had farmed as best they could, growing enough to stay alive, these were the people we wanted, the fighters, the survivors.

  After tents were set up and portable mess halls were feeding and the medical teams were tending them we started asking questions and listening and soon enough the natural leaders showed up, the ones who had organized the rest into groups, the ones who made treaties with their neighbors, the ones who fought back. And these I wanted.

  After they were cleaned up I met with them, ten men who were the leaders in the area. I told them we could arm them and leave food and water but it was up to them to clear out the remainder of the gangs.

  They were to a person ready to go right then, but their people were in need of time to get back on their feet and food and care was gonna do that. So we planned it out with them while we waited for the people to get their strength back and in the meantime more and more people turned up.

  We stayed there for a week watching for more runners and we found them and a few rounds of shell fire with Ralph spotting took care of them.

  At the end of the week there was around a thousand people who were cleaned up and able to start cleaning up their area, later they were going to start street by street until the city was clean of the outlaws.

  I claimed up on a truck bed and addressed them, I told them that we had other places to go and clear out and that they were on their feet and able to fight back and were armed and had been given basic rifle training.

  I looked right at the leaders and said we will be checking back and if any of you try to become Kings or Warlords we will deal with you just like the gangs. This is your chance to start living. What you do with it is up to you.

  One of the people in front said, “Why can’t you people stay and fight, you’re trained, it’s your job. We need food and water and power we don’t need guns.” I looked at him and said, “If I was in charge of this place you would be in a vehicle getting your cowardly lazy ass hauled into gang land and left for them to eat. So shut the fuck up and get off your ass and go to work!”

  With that we rolled out and headed South, we had a date down the road with the gangs who had stopped running thinking they were safe. They weren’t and won’t be, as they run for the border they will find us on their ass all the way and the border don’t mean shit, never mattered to them so it don’t mean shit to us, killing these dirt bags is all that matters.

  One thing that bothers me is that burning the cities loses so many things we need to help rebuild the nation but I won’t risk my people in house to house fighting to save things that may or may not have already be destroyed by the survivors. I find myself blaming the wanton destruction on the bad elements in society when in truth just the act of trying to survive can and does cause so much damage.

  Hell look at all the busted in doors and safes Sandy and I are responsible for. Sure we are the good guys but is a busted in door any less busted if it’s done by good guys then bad guys? Hell are we the good guys?

  I gotta stop smoking this shit whatever it is I must be smoking to be thinking like this. I know we are the good guys, and I know the gangs are bad guys, but if we burn a city to the ground to drive them out are we really any better? I remember back long ago in the land of bad things when some news hack asked some grunt if they really had to burn the village they had just taken, the reply was something like “ We had to. To save it” I never actually heard it so hell maybe it was some POS reporter blowing shit.

  I need to have a talk with the command group but first I need to talk to Charley. He will explain more in ten words then a committee meeting will in eight hours.

  We headed East and a bit South on our way out of LA, the idea was to get ahead of any that made it and hammer them again before they can duck out of sight in some place between here and San Diego on their run for the border. But in truth I’m beginning to think this job is just too big for us and it’s not like a city in some rural “red” state where a city might be huge with a hundred K people, here we are talking millions of people who had lived there, where were they? All dead? Hiding out in basements? I was afraid we were going to need to look deeper into this before we did anything else. So, when in doubt, stop, recon, ask questions of whoever we can find.

  So this is what we are gonna do. We will get away from any larger type city, maybe stop in a town so to speak and use the time for vehicle maintenance and other prep work.

  After setting up near a small settlement of around 200 people who were doing a good job of holding things together we had a meeting with their leaders and found they had fought almost weekly battles with the gangs foraging for food but hadn’t had to face the heavy weapons that we had seen. Maybe because they were well off the traveled routes or weren’t big enough to make it worth the losses, who knows? They welcomed us and sold us fruit and veggies which were a welcome change from MRE’s but outside that they had no information for us, they had worked at holding a low profile and who could blame them?

  Ralph was flying daily looking for targets worth expending ammo on, he was spotting small groups heading south but nothing like we got before.

  What we did do was fly out sniper teams well in advance with a mortar team as backup in case they were hit by a large group. They were getting a lot of kills but not enough to make a difference. I was also worried about this flu bug or whatever it was, we had seen no signs of it but I believed it was coming and if so there was nothing to do but back off to our nice hot desert and stop all traffic coming into the area.

  I’ve always doubted myself and my abilities but this was a problem way above my pay grade, what to do? We can’t just go from city to city shelling and burning, first it’s a task too huge for our small group plus we
had accomplished most of what we set out to do, which was to deal with the bad guy from LA.

  I don’t know if he’s dead or like the rat he is was able to slip out a back door leaving his flunkies to keep us busy. We would never know unless he popped up again.

  I called a commanders meeting and laid out all my thoughts and doubts, I asked for help in deciding what was the right thing to do. And bless them they all came thru with the unanimous vote to go home and await developments.

  We were all scared of the thought of a plague spreading across the land and just wanted to get as far away from this place as soon and as fast as we can.

  As soon as the meeting was over I passed the word to be ready to roll come first light. I could tell everybody was feeling the urge to hit the ground running. It was a restless night but come the crack of dawn we were on the road and making a beeline for home.

  I feel in a lot of ways that we did a lot of good but in many way’s I feel it was all just a waste of resources which of course it wasn’t, by wiping out all those gang bangers we have save many times that in innocent lives and that alone was well worth the effort, we had accomplished all this with no KIA’s on our part, wounded? Yes, but those are better then digging another grave on some lonely hill.

  And something I’m not admitting to anybody, I’m tired, tired of fighting and tired of killing and tired of putting other people’s lives in danger, sooner or later if this shit goes on it’s going to cost me somebody dear to me, god forbid it’s one of the girls, Charley, Joe, Willy, on and on, so many chances to lose somebody close and it will break my heart, but for now, I’m just tired and I wanna go home and go up on my no longer secret spot and let the sun bake the tiredness and fear out of me. We stopped for the night and just set up tents and ate MRE’s and called it a night.

  I laid down in our tent alone and felt all the days thoughts still locked in me and making me feel like I would never know peace again.

  And of course along comes my own personal “joint” to relax me with her calm warm touch, Beth, the best addition we could have ever brought into our family. I somehow think she was sent more then found if that makes sense.

  She settled in beside me and never said a word just took me in her arms and held me close, and I woke up to the promise of a sunny beautiful day.

  The girls were still sleeping so I headed out looking for coffee and found it then headed for a small hill to greet the day and was soon joined by Charley who never intrudes with his presence, we just sat and watched the day together.

  When our coffee was done he made the quiet cough he does to signal he’s wants to speak, when I didn’t say anything he said, “Your spirit is better today, you were tormented for several days and I’m glad you made the right decision to abandon the chase and go home. It was time, we need to be there to settle in and prepare for what comes.

  When I didn’t comment he went on, he said, “Old Woman” said it was time to come home because we need to close down access to our home land.

  She says the People are coming from all over to be away from the coming troubles.

  He sat a while and I thought about asking how he had talked to her but maybe I wasn’t ready for the answer. I was looking at him when he smiled and I knew who was coming.

  Beth arrived with more coffee and the usual affect her presence has on us all. We thanked her and she turned to leave but I stopped her and patted the ground beside me, we sat in the quiet of the new day knowing shortly it would be broken by the arrival of “them” and yes here they come both carrying a lot of stuff, they brought more coffee in a carafe and some homemade granola bars that we make in the canyon which are so much better then the old crap we used to buy. The girls were on their best behavior and were quiet, one leaning on me the other on Beth, is there a better way to face the day?

  We made it to the place where the Texas folks would split off to head home in around a week, a few breakdowns, a few flats but no gun fights!

  We all said goodbye and waved as The Texas Militia left us, once again driving their trucks pulling their guns along with the Rangers, we watched them roll away and I missed them already.

  I wondered how they would explain the two missing guns, I looked at the girls and sighed while they had the good graces to not say a word, I looked at the low boy with two canvas covered loads and crate after crate of 105 rounds all chained down.

  Finally, Sandy (as usual) said, “Daddy, they followed us home, can we keep them please?” Followed by May adding, “Can we daddy? Pretty please.”

  Hell even Charley busted out laughing out loud, in fact everybody was laughing, they do this shit so well. The icing was Beth tossing in a, “Please daddy!! We will be really good and you won’t regret it.”

  I looked at Charley who said, “You are so easy even for a white man.”

  I did the hand whirl and yelled “Forwardddddd” and the Boos and air horns wiped the rest out.

  Home, we are almost home.

  TJ

  I hope this one lives up to the series, I got lost in it a bit, I had to stop and think about what it would take to bring control to a city the size of LA and the surrounding area and I believe it would take an entire Marine Division to do the job. And I realized I had set too huge of a task for John and his group and had to weasel out somehow. I don’t function in cities and I can’t write about functioning in cities. For the last fifty years I’ve lived in either the desert or the high country, never a lot of people, so I have trouble writing about what it would be like fighting a war in a huge city, hell a small village is bad enough. So please forgive me for bailing out of the chase for the never seen bad guy, but he may well show up again.

  I know I get lose in the antics of the girls but that’s ok because they are so much fun and I’m glad they brought Beth into the family, we needed an adult in the house.

  Take a few minutes to think about a SHTF issue, if it happened right now, what will you do? Have food put away? At least enough to last six months? Remember it don’t take an EMP, a tornado can undo your life in a heart beat, the crash of the dollar and our economy can put us all in extreme danger, hungry people with kids to feed will become as bad as the MZBH ( Mutant Zombie Bikers from Hell) of most PAW books.

  I’ve had good friends when asked if they are prepping say no, we will just come to your place, and sadly, they meant it.

  So think about it, there is so much you can do to keep your family safe or as safe as it will be for anybody.

  I try to put some of my thoughts in these books but I think I fail at it. Others can do it so much better.

  TJ

  PS…And yes, book 9 will be coming along in a bit, I have some interesting developments I’ve not thought out but I think it will be a good one.