It only took a little over an hour to fly to Billings and John followed Highway 90 over to their old home at the warehouse. He cut the engine a mile from the warehouse and floated over it in silence. As he expected the gang had moved into their old home and were busy fortifying their new home. They were in the process of ringing the building with cars and trucks to form a wall. He drifted out of the area, restarted the engine and got back up to altitude.
John grabbed two of the bombs that he had prepared and gave them to Steve. He had used duct tape to tape nuts and small bolts to ten sticks of dynamite. Each bomb weighed about 20 pounds.
“I’m going to drop a test bomb about a mile away to determine when to drop to hit the target and to get the bastards outside. I’ll tell you when to light the fuses and drop them on those fuckers. We’ll give them a taste of their own medicine.”
He flew towards an empty field with a tractor setting at one end.
“That tractor will be my first target. Wait. Light the fuse. Wait. Now!”
They watched the bomb tumble through the air and hit the ground about a hundred feet before the tractor.
“Damn, a dud.”
The bomb blew up a second later.
“Hell yes! We need to cut about an inch off the fuse.”
Steve cut the fuses and got them ready to drop. John turned the engine off again and waited until he was about ¼ mile from the warehouse to tell Steve to light and drop two bombs. One had a slightly longer fuse than the other one. Jury rigged bombing was a trial and error proposition on a good day. The bombs fell just in front of the warehouse.
“Look at those bastards pouring out of the warehouse," John said just before the first explosion.
The explosion flattened the people in the parking lot. Just as more thugs were running to see what happened, the second explosion tore them to shreds.
“Let’s go in and finish them off. We need the practice.”
John brought the plane in about one hundred feet and let Steve shoot at the remaining thugs. Steve emptied a hundred round magazine and only killed one thug.
"Let me try the front gun on those trucks." He dove the plane towards the other side of the parking lot while he pulled the jury rigged remote trigger. He walked the rounds into the vehicles and one caught on fire and blew up.
By this time, a few of the thugs had regained their senses and were firing on the plane. John dove behind a building and came back up above the skyline hundreds of yards away to make their escape. During the flight back to Cody, they decided that the shoulder fired AR at the passenger seat was much more accurate.
“Steve I hate to break this to you, but I’m taking Beth with me on the flight. She put her foot down and really wants to go with me.”
“You mean she put a boot up your ass.”
“That too, but still the same result.”
“Well the plane is flying okay and these Stearmans are very reliable. I say, go for it.”
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Chapter 19
Flying to Dallas
Kansas
2022
They were testing the plane for the last time before heading out in the morning. It was Beth’s third flight and she loved the feeling and excitement of an open cockpit plane. Since the plane had controls for both the pilot and the passenger, John taught her how to fly the plane. No takeoffs or landings, but he gave her freedom to fly the plane around the area for hours while getting the feel of the controls. He also had her train on firing the MP15 at abandoned cars and trucks on the ground. She could hit most cars with her first bursts. He trained her to fire short bursts to conserve ammo and to walk the rounds into the target. She was much more accurate than Steve or John.
“John, I’m going to buzz the town. They’ll enjoy the view.”
The sight of this plane wandering around their skies excited the people of Cody. It gave them hope that perhaps one day their lives would get back to normal. She took the plane down to treetop level and made two passes over the town. John looked back at her and saw a large grin on her face. She was laughing as she made the last pass.
“John, please land the plane in that field over past the green house.”
“Darling, we need to land at the airport.”
“What did I tell you about 'yes,dear'?"
"Yes dear.”
John landed the plane and taxied to the spot that she pointed to.
Beth climbed out of the plane and threw a blanket down to the ground.
“Beth, we don’t have time for a picnic.”
Beth started tearing her clothes off and was almost naked before John realized what was happening. She helped him remove his pants and knocked him to the ground. She made love to him and then lay in his arms.
“So flying planes is exciting?”
“It got you laid a year before I planned to touch you again.”
“We have to fly more often.”
“No I have to fly so you can unzip your fly.”
“Dirty girl.”
“Your dirty girl. I want to take off and land.”
John looked up, saw a truck tearing down a dirt road towards them and said, “Get dressed. They think we crashed.”
They quickly hid behind the plane and got dressed. Beth threw the blanket into the cockpit and they both appeared to be inspecting the plane when Steve and Tom drove up.
“What happened? Fuel problems?”
“No, John was trying to see how the plane landed on a dirt runway.”
“Yes, sorry. I should have said something.”
Steve saw that Beth had grass in her hair, her blouse was off a button and John’s fly was open and said, “Come on Tom. Let’s let these lovebirds get their plane back in the air.”
They were laughing on the walk back to the truck. John and Beth looked at each other and Beth said, “Your fly is open. They thought that we were up to some hanky-panky.”
“You have grass in your hair and your blouse is off one button. They knew as soon as they walked up. We need to fly more.”
They flew for another hour and declared the plane ready. John slept in Beth’s bed that night.
***
It was 5:00 a.m. and the sun was just below the horizon. John planned to fly at about 120 mph and make it just north of Denver on the first day. That would be just less than 400 miles and should leave them with about 15 gallons of gas at worse case fuel mileage. A business associate of John’s lived in a fly-in community north of the Denver airport and he was sure that he could find gas there or worse case, in Denver. His friend lands at a common runway and then taxies right to the back of his house and has a small hanger for the plane. There were over fifty houses like that in the community. He knew that every small town from Cody to Dallas had a small airport or runway so he wasn’t worried about trying to land on highways or fields.
“John, here are the two walkie talkies and extra batteries. I also have a longer range walkie talkie that should reach 20 to 30 miles, maybe longer since you will be several thousand feet up. Perhaps you can communicate with the military on the ground if you see them.”
“Thanks, great idea. Well, it’s time for us to go. Since we can’t call you after we get to Dallas, don’t be surprised if a Navy plane shows up and starts landing troops in a few days.”
“That would be a welcome sight."
The Stearman climbed slowly to 5,000 feet as John circled to head southeast. There weren’t any clouds and one could see for miles. Beth tapped John on the shoulder, took over the controls and flew for the first two hours. The plane handled very well and was a pleasure to pilot.
Beth just wished that she knew how to perform aerobatics and thought, “John will teach me how to take off, land and perform some loops and other aerobatics. I will reward him for being a good boy.”
She was daydreaming about being a stunt pilot when she noticed that the clouds were getting thicker and the sun was gone. There was a line of storms west of them all along t
he mountain range.
John noticed and said, “There might be a storm up ahead so we may have to fly around it if it’s small enough. I will head east for awhile and stay out of the rain. Then we will head back west when we get past the rain. I never counted on flying through a storm."
He took the controls and flew for about an hour when he said, “We are about an hour from our first stop and I have to head back into the rain. Put on your poncho and pass mine to me. Place a bag over your MP15. The gear is in rainproof bags so we should be okay.”
No sooner had he finished talking than the rain started hitting her face. The drops stung her face and at 100 mph they hurt a bit. She ducked below the windshield and found the going much less painful. She felt sorry for John, but knew he would bear the pain and get them safely to the ground.
John pointed down to the ground and said, “That’s the Denver airport. We missed our landing strip, but now I know exactly where it is. We will be landing in 10 to 15 minutes.”
“We’d better be landing. This rain is getting worse.”
Visibility was dropping and the rain was getting heavier by the minute when John yelled, “There it is.”
He circled the area as thunder rolled and lightening flashed over them. He took the plane lower, touched down and taxied to his friend’s house. There were no lights on this end of the community so he taxied up the driveway to the hanger, shut the engine off and got out of the plane. Beth followed and stood under a carport while John broke into the hanger by breaking the window on the side door. He went in and soon she saw the hanger door begin to roll up. John walked out and they pushed the plane into the empty hanger.
“There were no lights or smoke and we landed. Well, I hope Al and his family escaped to a safe place.”
Beth toweled off and changed into some dry clothes while he searched the hanger for aviation gas and other supplies. Beth refilled their water bottles and started fixing a cold meal.
John found 30 gallons of gas and a note that said, “We loaded the plane up and headed to Mobile to meet up with my friend, John. If anyone can help us survive this mess, he can.” The note was over a year old.
They searched the house and found nothing that would help their mission so they went back to the hanger. John wanted to be able to guard his only means of transportation even if it meant sleeping in it.
Beth had other ideas and put a big smile on John’s face that night. He would be tired in the morning.
“So. why didn’t we get a plane a year ago?”
“John you were busy killing the bad guys. Flying is an aphrodisiac. Who knew?”
They took turns on watch that night, but the weather was too bad for neither man nor beast to be out in the rain and high winds. John let Beth sleep when he realized that the weather was not breaking and it would be hours before they could take off. She woke up after a very loud thunder clap rattled the building.
“John, what time is it?”
“It’s 9:15 and we are rained in for the day. If anything, the storm is getting worse. We are stuck here and should enjoy ourselves the best we can.”
“Would you brave the rain and see what food you can find? There is an old Coleman camp stove over there and some camping gear. I will try to fix us a good breakfast.”
John pulled his poncho over his head and ventured into the wind and rain in search of a decent meal. He went back into Al’s home and found the pantry well stocked with canned goods, cereals, water and several bottles of Jack Daniels Black Label. Well at least he would enjoy this downtime. He decided to check the homes around Al’s home, more for security than food and found very little in the way of food. Only one home still had a plane, it had a flat tire and there was a puddle of oil under the engine.
He entered the hanger and said, “Well it’s Spam or beef stew. The refrigerators and freezers are fresh out of eggs and steaks.”
“Too bad, well Spam is one of your favorites. It looks like Spam, very stale bread, and some cheese from Cody for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
They ate and lounged around until John got bored.
“I think the plane is safe, let’s go scouting. This place looks like everything was okay and they just walked away from a great location.”
“I’m game. The rain has slacked off a bit and I’m bored also.”
They grabbed their rifles and walked towards the middle of the community. Every house told the same story. Everything looked just as if the people left to go on vacation. The only tipoff they were gone were the weeds and tall grass in the yards. They got to the last house on the left of the street and saw there were several bullet holes in the windows and the door was broken off its hinges. They raised their rifles and John cautiously walked into the house. It was obvious that there had been a struggle and gunfire. Beth went into the master bath and soon yelled for John.
“Look on the mirror.”
There was a message scrawled with soap. It read, “The Department of Homeland Security loaded everyone up and took them to a relocation camp. We won’t go and they are shooting at us. Joe is shooting back and we hope they will leave.”
There were four skeletons in the house that appeared to be two adults and two children. Three skulls had holes in them.
“John, they executed the wife and two kids.”
“Let's get out of here.”
They continued their search of the community and found several other houses where the owners had been killed. They found plenty of gas and food, so they were ready when the weather broke. John made a mental note that this would make a perfect place to relocate some of the country's people. Great housing and they could raise cattle and do some farming.
They went to bed with it raining and it was raining the next day. John let Beth sleep until 7:00 and woke her up to the smell of beef stew simmering on the Coleman stove.
“Damn John, I may never eat beef stew or Spam again. Not unless I’m really very hungry.”
“The thunder and lightning are gone, but there is a steady rain. I want to head east and try to fly out of this rain. I think we should head towards Wichita and then down to Oklahoma City and on to Dallas. We will land well before dark to ensure a safe landing.”
“You know best. Flying in rain is not as much fun as flying in sunny weather.”
He started to say, “No shit Sherlock,” and bit his tongue. Then he remembered 'yes dear.'
“Yes dear, it certainly isn’t. I’m glad you enjoy flying and I will keep this plane just for you.”
“Don’t expect me to jump your bones every time we fly.”
“Damn the bad luck.”
She laughed as she loaded up their gear and John filled the gas tanks.
They flew due east and John stayed low enough they could follow Highway 70 towards Highway 35 where they would head south along 35 to Wichita. The cloud cover was very low and the rain continued the entire journey to the Wichita area. John couldn’t find a suitable landing strip until they flew down to Ponca City. The Wichita airport was on fire and they saw an ongoing battle between two large groups, neither of which appeared to be ISA troops.
The Ponca City Airport and the area around it appeared to be deserted, so they landed and taxied south to a small hanger. Beth covered John with her rifle while he opened the hanger, only to find it already housed three planes. John pushed a small Piper Cub out and they both pushed the Stearman into the hanger. John took first watch while Beth dried herself, changed clothes and started fixing another cold meal. John explored the hanger and aircraft and found them to be in great shape and ready to fly. The hanger was spotless and just like the houses, it looked like the people had just left on vacation. The rain was down to just a drizzle so after eating John went out to explore the area. He searched all of the buildings at the airport and again all were neat and orderly just as though everyone went home after work for the day and didn’t come back.
John walked up to the hanger and heard several voices. Beth was laughing.
“You are
just too funny. Is your husband always cracking jokes?”
“Yes, he thinks life shouldn’t be so serious.”
John knocked on the frame of the door and entered the hanger saying, “Lucy, I’m home.”
“John, come on over here and meet our new friends.”
There was a well dressed man and woman with three kids standing by Beth. The adults and the tallest kid had rifles slung over their shoulders.
“John, this is Eric, his wife Sandra and their children.”
John walked up and shook their hands.
“I’m glad to see some friendly faces. There appears to be a war going on north of here.”
“That’s why we came to investigate when we saw you land. Those gangs have been fighting for six months and I hope they keep killing each other and leave good folks alone.”
“What is there to fight over around here? There is plenty of land for everyone.”
“They’re fighting over a factory that manufactured pain killers. It appears that some idiots still want the drugs. If that factory blew up they would go away and leave us alone.”
John smiled at Beth and said, “Here’s my map show me where the factory is located. We want to avoid that place.”
The guy showed him that the factory was on the northeast side of town and pinpointed its location. John made some notes on the map and put it back in his pocket.
“Have ya’ll heard about the new country, the ISA?”
“Yes we have and we can’t wait for them to get up here and help get rid of these criminals and thugs. Rumor has it that they have a large group heading north out of Dallas and we hope they come through this area. My buddy down in Stillwater says a convoy rolled into the old Tinker Air Force Base last week and set up camp.”
“My God, I hope it’s them. We are trying to get back to the ISA. Our plane crashed up in Wyoming early this winter and we just now got this plane to fly.”
Apocalypse in the Homeland: The Adventures of John Harris Page 15