John shifted the truck into neutral, traded places with Kristen and drove back into the garage while the others stayed on guard duty.
“The good news is that we should be able to jump start the next trucks off the Ford and save our backs and legs.”
They each took a truck and checked all fluids and poured a couple of gallons of gas in each one. The F100 was still running and the amp gauge said the battery was fully charged.
Billy hooked the jumper cables to the 1950 Chevy and it started immediately. They went on to start a 1955 Chevy panel van and a 1949 F1 Ford. All were left idling to charge up the batteries. Tom returned and they poured equal amounts of gas in each truck.
John said, “We will have to start a team to gather gas from those abandoned vehicles until we can find a hand pump at a hardware store.”
Billy responded, “I have a better idea. I can go to an auto parts store and get an electric fuel pump and use it to pump gas much faster.”
“Billy, you are in charge of gas collection until you get someone trained.”
“Yes sir.”
“Well done team, let’s lock up and go home and get ready to pack. We need to drop off three of the trucks and bring back enough men to guard our new home and hopefully get more vehicles running.”
They drove on the service road for I-90 and were only on the road for a few minutes when several men jumped out from behind a car and waived for them to stop. John saw that they were armed and warned everyone to stay behind cover.
“What do you want?”
“We want two of your trucks and you to teach us how to make them run.”
“We’ll teach you how to make an old car run, but you’re not getting any of our trucks.”
A shot was fired from behind the closest stalled car with the bullet shattering the windshield on the lead truck. John shouldered his MP15 and quickly killed the four men standing in the open before the rest of his team got a shot off.
John ran over to the stalled car and shot two more gang members and shot at three more running off in the distance. He dropped two of the three and walked over to the one still alive.
“Where are you staying?”
The man laughed at John and said, “I’m not telling you anything. Our leader will eat you for breakfast and fuck all of your women.”
John poked his index finger into the wound in the guy’s leg and pushed hard. The man begged him to stop.
“Son of a bitch, stop. I’ll tell you what you want.”
“Where are you staying?”
“On the north side of town at the college.”
“How many armed men and what type of weapons?”
“About 25 and we have some rifles like yours, but mainly hunting rifles and shotguns.”
“Does the leader know about us?”
“No, we were out raiding a warehouse a few blocks away and heard the trucks fire up.”
John pulled his knife, cut the man’s throat and said, “Thanks.”
The others were shocked by this brutality.
John noticed and said, “He would kill our men and rape our women if he stayed alive. We take out the trash every time we get a chance.”
The drive back to the camp was brief and their friends were cheering as they drove the trucks up to Jerry’s house.
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Chapter 12
Highway 35 North
Texas
2022
“Levi, this is Ramla, the Americans are under attack by these Chosen People. Do you want us to assist them?”
“Ramla, stand down unless they are going to be overrun.”
“Will comply.”
“Ramla, we want to make sure these are the good guys before we introduce ourselves. Continue following them until Albuquerque and then Zion Two will take over from there.”
“Aaron, this group appears to be the real deal from the ISA. I want to place two operatives into the group heading north immediately and send ten more from several drop points to infiltrate Mobile, Pensacola and Port Arthur. I know they're our friends, but the USA was our friend and their president started this whole disaster.”
“Mosha, it’s not that we don’t trust them, it’s that we can’t trust anyone until we get our country established. We seem to be spending most of our effort killing drug gangs based out of Mexico and South America. I do agree with your plan. Execute it ASAP. We need to know if ISA will use its power to protect us. I never thought they would intentionally harm us.”
“I am sending Ziva and Amit. They will be saved by the ISA and join their ranks.”
“Good choice. Who would suspect such angels of being spies?”
***
“Amit, hit me and I will hit you back. We need to look like we were beaten and bruised. Mori, get us some worn and dirty clothes.”
Amit slugged Ziva and the fight was on for about ten minutes. The punched, hit and scratched each other until they were bleeding and Ziva’s left eye was swelling shut.
“We need to convince them we escaped from a drug gang and they saved us. Men will be easy to convince, but these people are like us and have quite a few women warriors so make sure that you fool them also.”
They only took knives and a handgun each to the chopper and were flown to Denton, Texas to try to make contact with the convoy.
***
Scott’s plan was to take Highway 635 around the top of Dallas to US 77, head up to Denton and take Highway 35 north to Oklahoma. Half of Dallas was under the control of a local drug lord and as much as Scott wanted to go in and kick him out of Dallas, he had to remember that his mission was to find the missing President. They didn’t encounter any major issues, however someone took several shots at the convoy as they exited 635 and headed north on 77. No one was injured and they kept rolling on towards Denton.
The convoy was about a mile from the 35W and 35E interchange when the lead vehicle signaled back that there was a road block ahead in front of the North Texas Stadium. Scott had his driver take him to the front of the convoy and found them under fire from the top tier of the stadium. Several of the Humvees were firing at the snipers on top of the stadium to no avail.
Scott grabbed the radio mic and said, “This is Alpha One. Apache Six what is your location?”
“Alpha One this is Apache Six. We are five miles north of your location.”
“We have a roadblock and snipers pinning us down. Can you remove them if we paint them for you?”
“Can do.”
“Captain, have your men get the lasers out and paint the roadblock and that damn sniper on top of the stadium.”
“Will do. Will be in range in three minutes.”
The gunship fired three rockets from a thousand yards away and blew the roadblock to tiny pieces. Then it launched three more and took out most of the top tier of the stadium. The convoy moved forward for about a mile when there was a tremendous explosion and the lead Humvee flew into the air and landed back to earth on its side. All inside were killed instantly.
“Alpha One, this is Alpha Two. The SOBs planted an IED beside the road. Lead Humvee is destroyed with all dead.”
Suddenly there were bullets striking every vehicle in the convoy from several directions. Every Humvee returned fire with the 5.56 Twin Saws or twin Ma Deuces. The gunfire stopped as suddenly as it started. Scott had the Apaches scout the area and they didn’t see a living soul. The enemy struck and quickly disappeared.
“Alpha Two this is Alpha One. Get our dead, take the Ma Deuces and any ammo from the damaged Humvee and have Zebra Three search and destroy any surviving thugs.”
“This is Alpha Two. Roger.”
***
Joan was Zebra Three’s squad leader and as usual out front helping search the area around the stadium. They found and shot three surviving gang members in the first hour and started working their way into the stadium when one of her men called for her.
“Joan, we have some civilian women who look pre
tty beat up. I would like to take them back to the convoy and let Doc look at them, but we need you to convince them to go with us. You need to bring a couple of women rangers along.”
“Let me see them first. I want to make sure they aren’t gang members trying something sneaky.”
“These are two young women who are beaten, dirty and don’t look like they would hurt a fly, but they just might kill someone trying to hurt them.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Take me to them.”
“You’re the boss. Let’s go.”
The two young women were huddled in a corner and looked like they had been living in a gutter for years. They were beaten, bruised and smelled like week old garbage. They had been beautiful girls before the gang had abused them. Both had kitchen butcher knives in their hands and were threatening the rangers, who were trying to calm them down.
Joan walked up to them and said, “Ladies, we are the ones who killed the bad guys who held you prisoners. We just want to help you.”
“We don’t know you and just want you to leave us alone. We can take care of ourselves.”
“If that’s what you want, we will leave you alone, but we have a doctor and some food for you. We are heading north and will be stopping for the night. There you can get a hot bath and a change of clothes. After we feed you and ask you about the gang activity in this area, you will be free to leave if you want to. We are looking for people to join our new country, the ISA and you might be interested in that after you hear our leader’s presentation.”
They put down the knives and one spoke up, “I am Ziva and this is Amit. We were captured several months ago and have been treated like slaves. Thanks for killing those assholes and setting us free. We don’t have any place to go or any family. We were visiting the USA on vacation and were driving from LA to Nashville to visit some American friends when the bombs went off. We were west of Dallas and took months to walk there hoping that we would find refuge. The city is in chaos and drug gangs have taken it over. We just want to go back to Israel and see our parents.”
Joan felt a tear well up in her eyes and said, “I’m sorry to tell you, but Israel no longer exists. The UN and Iran exploded several nukes along its border. We retaliated and now Iran no longer exists along with the major Islamic supporters of the UN. The radiation from the nukes fired on Israel and the bombs that wiped out Iran have made the area hot for a thousand years. The Jewish people were fleeing the country and now we have lost contact with them. We assume hundreds of thousands got away in time, but don’t know for sure. We also don’t know where they relocated due to massive loss of satellites from the EMP blasts. I’ve heard that they didn’t want the Islamic terrorists to know where they went and avoided the few satellites that we have in service.”
The two ladies were crying and holding each other for awhile before Joan could get them up and go to the convoy.
“Lieutenant Pope and Sargent Harris come on in and have a seat.”
They saluted and joined Scott in his tent to be debriefed on the stadium mission.
“Sir, the Apache attack and our machine guns killed 27 and we killed 3 during our search. We also found two female hostages and brought them back for medical treatment. They claim to be Israeli citizens. Joan, tell the major about these women.”
Joan passed on what she had learned and added, “If these two can get past their losses, I think that they will make good additions to our team. I believe all Israelis are trained in weapons and most served in their military.”
“Probe them and see what you think. We’ll place them under your wing for now until we decide what to do with them. Dismissed. Joan, can you stay for a minute?”
The lieutenant left and Scott drew his wife close and kissed her. They embraced for a few minutes; then Scott got back to business.
“Keep those women away from anything sensitive and test them until you trust them or shoot them. If they pass, you can add them to your squad. Love you, now get back to your squad.”
“What no loving tonight? I’m over ready myself.”
“Sorry, but I have a late night with my staff. Tomorrow will have to do.”
She punched him and said, “The honeymoon is over.”
***
Ziva and Amit received a brief inspection by the doctor and were assigned to ride in Joan’s Humvee. They took pleasure in watching the rangers gag on their smell. They had taken great pains to wallow in rotten vegetables and garbage before being found. Ziva thought this might delay the inevitable flirting from the male Rangers. They pulled off the road and drove into a stand of trees by a small stream. Joan made sure that their bath water was ready in record time and personally burned their clothes. When they were done bathing Joan took their clothes into the make shift shower, left and allowed them to dress in private.
Joan saw them come out of the shower and said, “Now the doc wants to give you a more thorough examination.”
“Because we smell better now?”
“Ya’ll were pretty rank when we picked you up. Didn’t the gang members let you clean up at all?”
“Yes, we were allowed to bath regularly. We hid in a dumpster to get away from them when we saw the explosions. We weren’t smelling like roses, but we were clean.”
Ziva looked down and had tears in her eyes as she said, “The gang wanted us clean when they passed us from man to man.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through such horror. Our ongoing mission is to wipe this scum off the face of the earth. Have you heard of the Chosen People?”
They both said no.
“Well they are a bunch of racists who eliminate everyone except white people. Watch out for them if you leave us. Jews would not be welcome in their camps. I guess that ya’ll received the usual military training in Israel?”
“We both had the basic training all civilians receive, but neither of us served in the military.”
“If you join us, you will learn to fight and help protect the ISA. We treat men and women the same as far as combat roles. Every person 12 and above is trained to fight and kill if necessary.”
Joan caught Scott after supper and told him that she still wanted to observe them; she thought that they might make good additions to her team.
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Chapter 13
Home Sweet Home
Billings, Montana
2022
“You cut that man’s throat and didn’t blink an eye or shed a tear, yet you are so gentle and kind to me.”
“Darling, that guy would kill us in a heartbeat and not think a thing about it. It’s easy for me to keep my private life separate from my survival life. I want the same things everyone does, a loving wife, food and shelter. Try to fuck with those and my bad side will appear.”
“I’m staying on your good side.”
“Let’s finish packing and get side by side for the rest of the night.”
***
“Jerry, I can’t tell you how shocked I was when Jim pulled his knife out and cut that man’s throat. Blood was squirting from his neck while Jim calmly wiped his blade on the man’s shirt like he’d done this a hundred times and it was old hat to him.”
“I told you this man was just what we needed. He can train our team, kill our enemies and then have an unfortunate accident. Our people will want him to be their leader before too long so be ready when it’s time for his accident. We will pray over his grave and hail him as a true hero.”
“Can I have Kristen when he dies?”
“Only if you stay out of his way until the time comes when we don’t need him anymore.”
***
The next day came way too early for John. He woke up at 3:30 a.m. with Beth curled up against his back. He checked the time and cursed when he realized that they had to get up in 30 minutes to prepare for moving their camp to the warehouse. He lay there thinking about the move, then suddenly played back the last few minutes in his mind. He thought Beth was curled up against h
is back. Who the hell was Beth? Damn, maybe it was on old girlfriend or ex-wife, but then who was Ann? He sure as hell didn’t want to call Kristen Beth. That would get his balls cut off. He lay there until the alarm went off trying to picture Beth’s face, whoever the hell she was.
Kristen woke up and got on top of him and made love to him as she did every morning. They finished and lay there for a few minutes before getting up and dressing.
“Kristen, have we had sex every morning since we met?”
“No, we started when you moved in with me. Are you getting tired of making love every morning?"
“Hell no, I love it and hope I can keep up with you.”
She responded, “I do all of the work and you get the benefit.”
He pinched her and they got dressed and ready to move.
Kristen boxed up all of their possessions while John loaded them into the truck. They had the truck about half full and drove over to Tom’s house and helped him and his wife pack up and load their belongings into the truck. They had a boy that was eight years old and a small dog so the cab would be crowded. John and Tom decided to move the boxes around and ride in the back with their rifles ready in case the bad guys tried to attack.
“Tom, let’s drive over to Jerry’s and get this circus on the road to our new home. Kristen, let’s go!”
Kristen stuck her arm out the window, gave John the finger and yelled, “Okay Mr. Bossy.”
Tom’s wife looked over at Kristen and said, “You two act as though you’ve been together for years. Is Jim a good man?”
Apocalypse in the Homeland: The Adventures of John Harris Page 9