Survivors - A Novel of the Coming Collapse
Page 36
Ian and Blanca spent two days in Brigham City. In three separate transactions they bought forty-one gallons of gas. This cost Ian eleven dollars in junk silver, two hundred rounds of 9mm hollow point ammo, a hammer, a pair of snap ring pliers, and a Fluke brand volt-ohm meter. Ian was troubled by the quality of some of the gasoline, which had not been stabilized. There were paraffin streamers visible in it. So he laboriously took all the gasoline and filtered it though a chamois car polishing cloth into a large drum. He then added a bottle of Gold Eagle brand “104+” octane booster and part of a bottle of alcohol. The alcohol, as he explained to Blanca, would absorb any water in the gasoline. They let the gasoline settle overnight. The morning before they departed, Ian pumped it out of the barrel—again through a filter—and filled their various tanks, bladders, and bottles. They left the last two gallons of the gas behind in the bottom of the drum just in case it was water-contaminated.
The next day of flying brought them to Grangeville, Idaho. Seeing the patchwork of fields on the Camas Prairie reassured Ian. He toggled his mic switch and said: “Ay, mira, conchita. This is big time agricultural country. I don’t think anybody is starving up there.”
The airport sat at the north edge of town. After several inquiries, they were able to barter for just twenty-three gallons of gas. For this, Ian spent their last ten dollars in junk silver and traded another 120 of their 9mm ball cartridges. Again they spent the night in a hangar. Blanca mentioned that their breakfast brought their food supply down to just a couple of days. “You know, Ian, at the rate we are burning through our silver and ammo, we are cutting this little venture pretty close,” she warned.
“I know, I know. We just have to pray hard and trust that The Fongman and Todd are still there.”
The next day there was foggy weather, but the fog looked thin. They climbed into brilliant sunlight and continued north over the Camas Prairie and then over the Clearwater River Valley to Bovill, Idaho, on the eastern fringe of the Palouse Hills.
Approaching Bovill, they saw that the terrain was rolling and mostly wooded. Low on fuel, their planes were now considerably lighter. There was no airport at Bovill, but they were able to land on Highway 8 just west of town. The hamlet was so small that they just taxied up to the junction of Highway 3. Landing so close to town got everyone’s attention. A swarm of children and teenagers ran up to the planes, just after they shut down their engines. In answer to the Doyles’ queries a local woman said that she knew Todd and Mary Gray, said that they were safe and well, and explained how to find their ranch house. A few minutes later she brought the Doyles a road map and a Clearwater National Forest map. On the latter she pinpointed the ranch.
The flight to the ranch took only three minutes. Blanca spotted the Quonset-style barn that was opposite the Grays’ property. As they circled, they could see a woman armed with a rifle in a large fenced garden behind the house.
Ian thumbed the mic switch for his Icom transceiver and said delightedly, “There it is, Blanca! That’s definitely Todd’s house. It’s just the way the Fongman described it.”
Eyeing the trees below, Ian judged that the breeze was light. They circled and sequentially touched down on the gravel county road, with Blanca taking one extra orbit. They taxied until Ian’s Laron was opposite the Grays’ lane and mailbox. As they shut down their engines, Blanca radioed, “I sure hope we’ll be welcome here.”
Ian touched his mic switch and responded, “I trust that we’ll be. We just have to live by faith.”
Acknowledgments
Above all else, it takes faith and friends to survive. I’ve been blessed with a lot of friends, and they have helped to strengthen my faith in Almighty God.
This novel is dedicated to the not-so-fictional Group: Conor, Dave, Hugh, Jeff, Ken, Linda “The Memsahib” (RIP), Mary, Meg, P.K., Roland, and Scott. Keep your powder dry!
My special thanks to my new bride, Avalanche Lily, for her inspiration, encouragement, and diligent editing.
Also, my sincere thanks to the other folks who encouraged me, who contributed technical details, who were used for character sketches, and who helped me substantively in the editing process: Antonio, Azreel, Ben and Angela, Brent F., Chris F., Cope, Daniel C., “The Other Mr. Delta,” the staff of FEUS, Grizzly Guy, Ignacio L., Jerry J. in Afghanistan, Johannes K., Keith K., Dr. Mark L., CW3 J.S., Dave M., Michael H., Dean R., “SNO,” and Terrie.
Thanks to my editor Emily Bestler at Atria Books for her patience and for her eagle eye.
Also my thanks to J.I.R. for his articulate summary on “haves and have-nots,” and to D.S. in Montana, for his valuable input on TBIs.
This novel is about calamitous times. We are reminded:
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
—PROVERBS 1:24–33 (KING JAMES VERSION)
I implore you: Get right with God, and get your Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids together! Our only certain hope is in Christ Jesus.
James Wesley, Rawles
The Rawles Ranch
July 2011
Glossary
?: Ham radio shorthand for “I’m going to repeat what I just said.”
10/22: A semiautomatic .22 rimfire rifle made by Ruger.
1911: See M1911.
73: Ham radio shorthand for “Best regards.” Always used singularly. (Not “73s.”)
88: Ham radio shorthand for “Hugs and kisses.”
9/11: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which took three thousand American lives.
AAA: American Automobile Association.
ABT: Ham radio shorthand for “about.”
ACP: Automatic Colt pistol.
ACU: Army combat uniform. The U.S. Army’s “digital” pattern camouflage uniform that replaced the BDU.
AK: Avtomat Kalashnikov. The gas-operated weapons family invented by Mikhail Timofeyevitch Kalashnikov, a Red Army sergeant. AKs are known for their robustness and were made in huge numbers, so that they are ubiquitous in much of Asia and the Third World. The best of the Kalashnikov variants are the Valmets, which were made in Finland; the Galils, which were made in Israel; and the R4s, which are made in South Africa.
AK-47: The early-generation AK carbine with a milled receiver that shoots the intermediate 7.62 x 39mm cartridge. See also: AKM.
AK-74: The later-generation AK carbine that shoots the 5.45 x 39mm cartridge.
AKM: “Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy,” the later-generation 7.62 x 39 AK with a stamped receiver.
AM: Amplitude modulation.
AO: Area of operations.
AP: Armor-piercing.
APC: Armored personnel carrier.
AR: Automatic rifle. This is the generic term for semiauto variants of the Armalite family of rifles designed by Eugene Stoner (AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, etc.).
AR-7: The .22 LR semiautomatic survival rifle designed by Eugene Stoner. It weighs just two pounds.
AR-10: The 7.62mm NATO predecessor of the M16 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner. Early
AR-10s (mainly Portuguese-, Sudanese-, and Cuban-contract, from the late 1950s and early 1960s) are not to be confused with the present-day semiauto only AR-10 rifles that are more closely interchangeable with parts from the smaller caliber AR-15.
AR-15: The semiauto civilian variants of the U.S. Army M16 rifle.
ASAP: As soon as possible.
ATF: See BATFE.
AUG: See Steyr AUG.
B&E: Breaking and entering.
Ballistic wampum: Ammunition stored for barter purposes. (Term coined by Colonel Jeff Cooper.)
BATFE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a U.S. federal government taxing agency.
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation.
BDU: Battle dress uniform. Also called “camouflage utilities” by the U.S. Marine Corps.
BK: Ham radio shorthand for “Break,” this means “Back to you,” with no need to use call signs.
Black rifle/black gun: Generic terms for a modern battle rifle, typically equipped with a black plastic stock and fore-end, giving these guns an “all-black” appearance. Functionally, however, they are little different from earlier semiauto designs.
BLM: Bureau of Land Management, a U.S. federal government agency that administers public lands.
BMG: Browning machine gun. Usually refers to .50 BMG, the U.S. military’s standard heavy machine-gun cartridge since the early twentieth century. This cartridge is now often used for long-range precision counter-sniper rifles.
BOQ: Bachelor officers quarters.
BP: Blood pressure.
BX: Base exchange.
C-4: Composition 4, a plastic explosive.
CAR-15: See M4.
CAS: Close air support.
CAT: Combat application tourniquet.
CB: Citizens band radio, a VHF broadcasting band. There is no license required for operation in the United States. Some desirable CB transceivers are capable of SSB operation. Originally twenty-three channels, the citizens band was later expanded to forty channels during the golden age of CB, in the 1970s.
CHU: Containerized housing unit. A CONEX retrofitted with a door, window, top vent, power cabling, and air-conditioning unit, as used by servicemen in Iraq. Spoken “Chew.”
CLP: Cleaner, lubricant, protectant. A mil-spec lubricant, sold under the trade name “Break Free CLP.”
CO2: Carbon dioxide.
COD: Collect on delivery; cash on delivery.
CONEX: Continental express, the ubiquitous twenty-, thirty-, and forty-foot-long steel cargo containers used in multiple transportation modes.
COPS: Committee of Public Safety.
CP: Command post.
CPY: Ham radio shorthand for “Copy.”
CRKT: Columbia River Knife & Tool.
CU: Ham radio shorthand for “See you (later).”
CUCV: Commercial utility cargo vehicle. The 1980s-vintage U.S. Army versions of diesel Chevy Blazers and pickups, sold off as surplus in the early 2000s.
DE: Ham radio shorthand for “from.” This is used between call signs.
DF: Direction finding.
DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles.
Drip oil: The light oil or hydrocarbon liquids condensed in a natural gas piping system when the gas is cooled. Also called natural gasoline, condensation gasoline, or simply “drip.” A mixture of gasoline and drip oil can be burned in most gasoline engines without modification. Pure drip oil can be burned in some gasoline engines if the timing is retarded.
E&E: Escape and evasion.
ES: Ham radio shorthand for “and.”
FAA: Federal Aviation Administration.
FAL: See FN/FAL.
FB: Ham radio shorthand for “Fine business.” Usually means “That’s great” or “That’s wonderful.”
FBO: Fixed base operator. Typically a small private airport’s refueling facility.
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency, a U.S. federal government agency. The acronym is also jokingly defined as “Foolishly Expecting Meaningful Aid.”
FER: Ham radio shorthand for “for.”
FEUS: Farmington Electric Utility System.
FFL: Federal firearms license.
FLOPS: Flight operations.
FN/FAL: A 7.62mm NATO battle rifle originally made by the Belgian Company Fabrique Nationale (FN), issued to more than fifty countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Now made as semiauto-only “clones” by a variety of makers. See also L1A1.
FOB: Forward operating base.
Fobbit: Derogatory nickname for soldiers who rarely go outside the defensive perimeter of a forward operating base (FOB).
FORSCOM: U.S. Army Forces Command.
Frag: Fragmentation.
FRS: Family Radio Service.
Galil: See AK.
GCA: The Gun Control Act of 1968. The law that first created FFLs and banned interstate transfers of post-1898 firearms except “to or through” FFL holders.
Glock: The popular polymer-framed pistol design by Gaston Glock of Austria. Glocks are a favorite of gun writer Boston T. Party.
GMRS: General Mobile Radio Service, a licensed UHF-FM two-way radio service. See also FRS and MURS.
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time.
Gold Cup: The target version of Colt’s M1911 pistol. It has fully adjustable target sights, a tapered barrel, and a tighter barrel bushing than a standard M1911.
GOOD: Get out of Dodge.
GPS: Global positioning system.
Ham: Slang for amateur radio operator.
HF: High frequency. A radio band used by amateur radio operators.
HI: Ham radio shorthand for “laugh.”
HK or H&K: Heckler und Koch, the German gun maker.
HK91: Heckler und Koch Model 91, the civilian (semiautomatic-only) variant of the 7.62mm NATO G3 rifle.
HOA: Homeowners’ association.
HR: Ham radio shorthand for “here.”
Humvee: High-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, spoken “Humvee.”
HW: Ham radio shorthand for “how.”
IBA: Interceptor body armor.
ID: Identification.
IFV: Infantry fighting vehicle.
IPI: Indigenous populations and institutions.
IV: Intravenous.
K: Ham radio shorthand for “Go ahead.”
Kevlar: The material used in most body army and ballistic helmets. “Kevlar” is also the nickname for the standard U.S. Army helmet.
KJV: King James Version of the Bible.
KL: Ham radio nickname of Kaylee Schmidt.
KN: Ham radio shorthand for “Go ahead” (but only the station that a ham is already conversing with).
L1A1: The British Army version of the FN/FAL, made to inch measurements.
LAW: Light anti-tank weapon.
LC-1: Load-carrying, Type 1 (U.S. Army load-bearing equipment, circa 1970s to 1990s).
LDS: Latter-day Saints, commonly called the Mormons. (Flawed doctrine, great preparedness.)
LF: The aircraft designation for aircraft from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
LP: Liquid propane.
LP/OP: Listening post/observation post.
LRRP: Long-range reconnaissance patrol.
M1A: The civilian (semiauto only) equivalent of the M14 rifle.
M1
Abrams: The United States’ current main battle tank, with a 120mm cannon (“main gun”).
M1 Carbine: The U.S. Army semiauto carbine issued during World War II. Mainly issued to officers and second-echelon troops such as artillerymen for self-defense. Uses “.30 U.S. Carbine,” an intermediate (pistol-class) .30 caliber cartridge. More than six million were manufactured. See also M2 Carbine.
M1 Garand: The U.S. Army’s primary battle rifle of World War II and the Korean conflict. It is semiautomatic, chambered in .30-06, and uses a top-loading, eight-round en bloc clip that ejects after the last round is fired. This rifle is commonly called the Garand, after its inventor. Not to be confused with the U.S. M1 Carbine, another semiauto of the same era, which shoots a much less powerful pistol-class cartridge.
M1A: The civilian (semiauto only) version of the U.S. Army M14 7.62mm NATO rifle.
M1911: The Model 1911 Colt semiauto pistol (and clones thereof), usually chambered in .45 ACP.
M2 Carbine: The selective-fire (fully automatic) version of the U.S. Army semiauto carbine issued during World War II and the Korean conflict.
M4: The U.S. Army–issue 5.56mm NATO selective-fire carbine (a shorter version of the M16, with a 14.5-inch barrel and collapsing stock). Earlier-issue M16 carbine variants had designations such as XM177E2 and CAR-15. Civilian semiauto-only variants often have these same designations or are called “M4geries.”
M4gery: A civilian semiauto-only version of an M4 Carbine with a 16-inch barrel instead of a 14.5-inch barrel.