by A J Newman
“And he’s still alive.”
“Joan stopped me.”
“Damn.”
I looked over at Aaron and Davi and asked, “Can ya’ll stay a few days and help us get rid of these fake FEMA thugs?”
Davi came over, gave Zack a hug and replied, “Of course we will, won’t we Pop?”
“Yes, we’ll help, but we do have to head further south in a few days. It won’t take long after we find their base of operations. I can see another barbeque.”
My new friends and I all laughed while the others wondered what a barbeque had to do with this serious threat.
Geena glared at Davi, but knew that they needed the extra firepower and knew she had to keep her jealousy to herself.
Aaron got everyone’s attention and said, “We need to stop worrying about Anderson and introductions and start acting like a fighting force or those thugs will be throwing us a Barbeque. Team, we need the same operation as before. Davi take Joan, Zack take Geena and Mike take Sally and scout out the roads and farms for five miles in all directions. The locals know you and won’t shoot first and ask questions later. Try not to be seen by the bad guys and bring back information on the gangs. Zack, you know the area; make assignments. Take the extra shortwave radios and give them to your friends and farmers. They can be our outposts. I will stay here and improve our defenses.”
I replied, “We’ll give our friends the weapons Sam took from the dead men and some of the Illinois gang’s weapons, if that’s alright with you?”
“Of course. Get moving before they catch us sitting around rotating thumbs.”
Aaron wasted no time building up their defenses.
“Who knows how to drive the old tractor with the backhoe?”
Greg, Callie and Paul raised their hands.
“Greg, I need you to help me. Callie, go get me a can of spray paint from your dad’s garage. Paul, gas up the tractor and bring it over here and get ready to dig.”
Aaron marked the places to dig with the spray paint and showed Paul the places he wanted the dirt piled.
“Roger and Grant, fetch some shovels and make these piles of dirt into fortifications. We’ll place about ten of these around the perimeter of the house, barn, pole barn and tack room. Lynn, see if there are any bags that can be filled with dirt. Hey, also does Zack have any extra building materials?”
“I’ll check, I think I saw some sandbags in the barn and I know there is a pile of old barn wood in the back of the barn. I’ll get the bags and check on the wood.”
Aaron spent the rest of the day directing the team at a furious pace. Ally, Carrie and Sue kept watch for intruders with Ally in the crow’s nest and Sue on top of the house with Carrie out by the road watching both ways. Her instructions were to radio for help if she saw anyone or any vehicles approaching.
“Callie, does your dad have any strong fishing line and something that will make noise if the line is pulled?”
“Yes he does, dad is a big fisherman and has gobs of tackle. Do you want monofilament, braided or maybe some super strong line?”
“Bring all of it.”
He showed Callie and Greg’s kids how to make warning trip wires and showed Callie how to make some more lethal traps. He told her to mark the traps with reflective tape that faced towards the house. He then warned everyone not to enter the dense woods behind the house because he was going to add several Claymore mines to protect them from an attack from the rear.
They started a little before noon and by 4:00 p.m. they had built six fortifications around the front of the house stretching from the orchard around the house and pole barn over to the garden. Each one was a big pile of dirt shaped like a big “C” with the mouth facing away from the road. The dirt was dug out from around the “C” and piled along it’s perimeter, making a wall 4'-5' high and 5' thick at its base and 2' thick at the top. They were just perfect to use for cover in a gun battle. With these done, Aaron added two more on the front by the road that guarded them from both directions. While they worked on those, Aaron and Greg hauled sandbags and 4x4s up to the crow’s nest to fortify it from attack. Roger and Grant helped finish the crow’s nest while they completed the front two fortifications.
••••
Davi and Joan drove out to Highway 54 and slowly traveled west until they saw a roadblock before the Owensville city limits. Joan waved and one of the men manning the roadblock told Davi to move closer.
“Hello Joan, I thought you’d be stuck in Anderson with all that crap over there. Good to see you.”
“Chuck, this is my friend, Davi. We are out scouting for some thugs that attacked Sam’s place this morning and killed his grandkid.”
"Damn, did they come this way?"
“No, Sam and Greg killed all that attacked them, but we think they are part of a larger group posing as FEMA agents.”
“Now that rings a bell, we’ve heard several reports of roving gangs posing as government officials. Glad we set up these roadblocks early in the game. I’ll let the Sheriff know about the attack on Sam’s place. He may be able to spare a few men in a couple of days.”
Davi looked at Chuck and said, “The bad guys will all be dead in a couple of days and you will miss the fun.”
She turned, walked to the truck and waited for Joan.
“Joan, who is this hot looking friend of yours? She might get ya’ll in trouble talking like that. There are some real mean people out there just wanting to capture pretty young women.”
“Zack says she is worth five men in a gunfight. She’s some kind of Israeli soldier. Besides, you’re married and shouldn’t be scoping out other women.”
“Got divorced a year ago and I’m free to look at pretty women.”
“Goodbye, before you put your foot further in your mouth.”
They left and went back down Highway 54 until they saw a roadblock before the Dale School. They pulled off behind a stand of trees before they were spotted. Davi handed Joan a pair of field glasses and Joan watched the people manning the roadblock, but didn’t recognize any of them.
"Joan stay here, I’m going to get closer and see if these are part of the FEMA bunch. I’ll be back in an hour or two. Stay hidden.
“Davi, I can handle myself.”
“Joan, sorry, but I don’t know you and I want you to stay safe for Zack and Callie’s sake. I don’t need your help and will actually be safer without you. I have been spying on the enemy for over 10 years and have only been shot twice.”
Joan shut up and let her slink off into the woods; she was gone for over an hour. Joan saw her coming back through the woods and waved.
“Well, what did you see?”
“The fake FEMA thugs have taken over Dale. There are only a handful, but they have the locals terrorized. Let’s get back and report in to dad.”
••••
Mike and Sally checked all of the side roads and farms to the east of Zack’s farm. They stopped at several farms and gave arms, ammunition and a radio to the ones at key positions that guarded key roads. All of the neighbors were armed, but now had some real firepower. They were very thankful, several gave them some canned produce from their farms and one gave them a ham and five pounds of bacon. They drove up to Ralf Green’s farm and noticed there wasn’t anyone in sight. All of the farms before had lookouts that greeted them as they approached.
“Sally we need to be careful. Something’s not right here. Perhaps it’s not a problem, but better safe than sorry. I’ll knock on the door. You stay off the porch and back me up.”
Mike knocked on the door and Ralf’s wife, Greta, opened the door a few inches and said, “Sorry Mike, but we’re all sick and don’t want to pass it on. Tell Zack we appreciate him helping out last week.”
“Not a problem and Zack was glad to help you. Are you sure that there is nothing that we can do to help with this disease?”
“No, but thanks.”
“We’ll drop back by in a couple of days to check on you and your family
.”
Mike calmly walked off the porch, waved for Sally to join him, got into the truck and drove away.
“Sally, don’t look back. There’s someone holding them hostage. I’m driving out of sight and then we’ll sneak back and see if we can help them.”
They drove about a quarter mile down the road, parked in the woods and started towards the farm from the backside. They took turns covering each other as they leap frogged to the barn behind the house. The barn smelled like stale cat piss and gagged Sally. Mike peeked through a gap in the wallboards and saw a man with a wrench working on a large tank on wheels. The punk had a pistol on his hip and a shotgun lying against the tank.
“Sally, these punks are stealing ammonia so they can make Meth. I’m going in, follow right behind me. I don’t want any noise.”
Mike picked up a shovel as he entered and walked up behind the thief, raised the shovel and brought it down on his head. There was a sickening crunch and the man fell dead. Mike tightened the connection to stop the loss of ammonia and turned to see Sally puking her breakfast out on the floor.
“Are you alright?”
“I will be in a minute.”
“I thought you have been in several gun battles and killed several men.”
“I have, but I have never seen a man’s head split wide open and his brains come flying out.”
“Damn, I thought our first date was going along just fine.”
“It is and I’m looking forward to the second one where we cuddle by the fire and tell each other about ourselves."
“Great, I was going to ask if you and Zack are seeing each other.”
“No, I’m afraid that Geena has stolen his heart.”
“That’s quite a feat. Zack got over Joan this year and has been scared of women for several years. Enough chit chat, are you recovered? We have to save that family from a bunch of Meth heads.”
“I’m good, what’s the plan big boy?”
“The plan is that we’re going to sneak up to the windows, see how many enemy are in there and kill them before they kill us. When we know where they are, we’ll enter the house with me in the lead and you backing me up. My guess is there is only one or two punks in the house.”
They used a kid’s playhouse to shield their advance to the back side of the house and slowly peered in each window until Sally waved to Mike.
“There are two of them. One in the living room with five hostages and the other, a young girl, is eating in the kitchen.”
Mike took a quick look and saw that both could be shot from the closest window to them.
“Damn, we have to take them both down at the same time.”
“Wait, the girl is only about 14. We can’t kill her.”
“Is she armed?”
“Yes, she has a pistol on her hip.”
“She will kill you if you get in the way of her getting more Meth.”
“I need you to shoot her through the window when you hear me shoot the asshole in the living room. Count to ten when I move to the living room window and be ready to shoot. Can you do this?”
“Yes, I will. I don’t like this new world.”
“Sorry beautiful, but a girl has to put on her big girl panties and shoot the bad guys, even if they are young women these days.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, that was sweet, but you still have to buy me dinner before you get in these big girl panties.”
“I hope you like a big steak! Let’s roll.”
Mike creeped over to the living room window and found the punk sitting in a recliner chugging a beer. His shotgun was lying across his lap when Mike squeezed the trigger and placed a bullet through his chest. He heard another shot followed by another shot, ran to the front door and burst through into the living room.
Sally heard Mike’s gun bark, but took too long to aim and fire. The bullet caught the girl in the chest as she raised her pistol. The gun fired, glass shattered and Sally hit the ground.
Mike cut the rope from Ralf’s hands and left him the knife to cut the ropes from his family. He rushed into the kitchen and saw the girl lying dead on the floor. He turned to the broken window and could only see Sally’s feet. She was down. He ran out the kitchen door and ran around the side to see Sally lying there face down.
For a second he thought that she was dead until he heard, “That fucking bitch shot me. I’m going to kill her sorry ass again. Let me at the stringy haired bitch.”
Sally pushed herself off the ground and sat upright. She had several cuts, scrapes on her head and forearms. Blood was streaming down her face from a cut on her head. Mike kneeled down and cleaned the glass from her head and shoulders then applied pressure to the wound where a bullet grazed her upper left arm, He pulled her against him and kissed her forehead.
“Darling, we have to find a safer place to date. The people here are not hospitable.”
“I’d prefer a nice restaurant with wine by a fireplace afterwards, but it is what it is. Hey I forgot. Is the girl dead?”
“Yes, she can’t hurt anyone else. You are lucky that she had an old .32 caliber pistol without much power.”
“Can I shoot her again?”
“If it makes you feel better.”
“Damn, I froze for a second and she tried to kill me. That poor sweet young girl became a killer because of that crappy drug.”
Mike picked her up into his arms and carried her into the house where Greta could treat her wounds.
••••
Geena and I cut over to Highway 142 heading to the Ford Parkway. There wasn’t an onramp there, but a Humvee can pretty much make its own road. We stopped and gave out arms, ammo and a radio to several neighbors I knew along the way. All were friendly and thankful I had made it home safely.
“Honey, can we make it official and move in together? Your daughter is safe and you promised to give us a chance when you felt that she was safe.”
“I am falling in love with you and yes we can move forward. I want to formally introduce you to Callie before she sees us in bed together.”
“Darn it will be nice to sleep in a bed again.”
“You can have my room to yourself for a couple of days until Callie gets to know you.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“She will, don’t worry. Hey that’s the Ford overpass; let’s go cross country to the highway.”
I steered the vehicle across the shallow ditch and stopped before hitting the fence guarding the highway from deer and other animals. I jumped out to see what I needed to do to get through the barrier. I heard Geena close her door and come up behind me as I started cutting the chain link fence. I was going to tease her about my ex-wife living under the same roof, but thought better of it before I opened my mouth. Just as I cut the last strand all hell broke loose with bullets slamming into the Humvee and the dirt all around me. I looked for Geena and heard her scream; I turned and saw her fall to the ground with a red spot on her chest. I grabbed her up and threw her into the vehicle as I felt a kick in my back and a burning pain. The Humvee windows were cracking with bullet marks and the vehicle was being pounded by gunfire. I turned the wheel as hard as I could and took off fast and headed the vehicle for the farm. I held pressure on the wound as we bumped down the road.
“Geena, talk to me.”
“Zack, I love you. Take care of Callie and Sally.”
“Damn it. Don’t talk that way. We’ll get you home and put a Band-Aid on that nick and you’ll be good as new.”
••••
Mike and Sally drove back to the farm with Sally’s head on Mike’s shoulder the whole way. She kept pressure on her wound as Mike drove.
“Mike will it always be this way in our new world; people killing over drugs and food? I thought people pull together in times of a crisis.”
“Sorry Sally, but we have a class of people in the country that have been living off welfare for generations and a drug culture with millions of addicts. Most of them will either die off on t
heir own or get shot trying to kill innocent people."
They arrived at the farm ahead of Davi and Joan and both filled the rest in on their adventures while Joan and Ally tended to Sally’s wounds.
Sally told them, “So far I’ve had bullets bouncing off my arm and my legs and I’m lucky to be alive. I don’t like being a soldier. I like malls and flirting with men. Damn this post apocalyptic America.”
She had finished talking when they heard a vehicle honking and saw a Humvee blasting up the driveway.
“That’s Zack and Geena coming back. This can’t be good.”
••••
Geena had passed out and didn’t respond. I drove as fast as I could and made it to the farm in 15 minutes. I honked the horn as I got close to the house, ran around to the passenger side and carried Geena into the living room and placed her on the couch.
“Geena hold on baby.”
“Joan, please help her.”
Joan pushed me away, checked her pulse and hung her head down.
“Zack, I’m sorry, but it’s too late. She was shot beside the heart and there was no way to save her. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m going to kill every fucking one of those bastards. Grab your guns. Let’s go,” I yelled before I passed out.
I woke up the next day with my shoulder bandaged and held Geena’s hand for an hour before they buried her in the little plot with my aunt and uncle. Mike and Roger carried me to the gravesite, where I stayed for hours. I cried like a baby all day long and felt ashamed to be such a baby in front of my daughter.
“Dad, go ahead and cry. I didn’t know her, but if you loved her she must have been a great lady.”
I already missed Geena and wondered how many more of us would end up in that graveyard.
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Chapter 19