Surviving

by A J Newman

  Before they could cross the street, Beth came running out of the house and jumped into John’s arms. They kissed for a minute and Beth said, “I guess we have some explaining to do.”

  Uncle Tom said, “Girl, you got that right.” When they got in the house, Aunt Sally took one look at John and said, “I saw you two kissing. Isn’t he a bit old for you Beth? He is handsome in a rugged sort of way. Well, I guess love is blind.”

  Aunt Sally stopped and thought a minute and said, “Where the hell did you meet him and how did this love happen so fast?”

  Beth replied, “I’ll fill you in on my trip and my new love.”

  She squeezed John’s hand as she talked with Aunt Sally.

  John interrupted and said, “Beth, have y’all noticed that the police have about zero interest in solving Fred’s murder?”

  Uncle Tom said, “You know I expected them to be bothering Beth, what gives?”

  John waved off Tom and took Beth into the kitchen and asked, “Beth do you trust your Uncle with the whole story and before you answer the CIA, FBI and probably Home Land Security are involved. They are making my Team out to be heroes and your group just stays out of it. Y’all are home free no worries.”

  Beth said, “Yes I trust my Uncle Tom and he could come in handy, he is a lot like you and Gus. Can I tell my friends not to worry, they are scared shitless?”

  John replied, “Tell them not to worry about the police, but to keep an eye out for any strangers or someone following them. Tell them this is just me being overprotective.”

  They went back in the living room and John told Tom and Sam to get comfortable.

  Thirty minutes later Tom said, “Holy Crap, That’s one tall tale and if Beth weren’t part of it, I would not believe a word of it. How much danger are we in?”

  John laughed and said, “You jump right in, don’t you?”

  They discussed their backgrounds and compared notes from their stints in the Marines and Army. Tom and Gus could have been twins. Scary thought.

  Sally and Beth had made breakfast while John and Beth alternated on telling about their story. They ate breakfast and got to know each other for about an hour. Tom was retired from a job with a corporate security group. His team had provided training and bodyguards for corporate executives traveling to foreign countries. Sam had just gotten out of the Army and had served two tours in Afghanistan. Sam worked at Nissan, but was going to MTSU and was majoring in Law Enforcement.

  Beth got off the phone with Alice, looked out the bedroom window and saw a van parked across the street. She then stepped out the back door and saw a guy on a bicycle between the houses behind her Uncle’s house. She went into the living room and motioned for John to come to her.

  She grabbed a pen and paper and wrote, “Someone is watching us, van in front and guy in back!”

  John showed the note to Tom. John motioned that he would check out the front and Tom and Sam handle the back.

  John took the pen and paper and wrote, “Capture if possible.”

  He showed Tom his .45, 1911 and the Glock. Tom and Sam both pulled out 1911’s. John gave thumbs up and got Beth’s attention.

  He whispered, “Beth I need you to walk out the front door and go to my Jeep to distract them. I’ll slide out a side window and sneak up on them. When you see us get close to their van, hide behind the Jeep. I love you.”

  • • •

  Brown Suit and another guy were watching when Beth came out the front door and walked towards them. Just as they were getting nervous, she stopped at John’s Jeep and opened the passenger side door. She appeared to be getting something when an arm reached in and hit the guy in the head with a gun.

  Brown Suit heard, “Put your hands in the air or die.”

  A .45 was aimed at his chest. He started to move and he was hit in the back of the head and passed out. John looked across the top of the van and waved the .45 at Beth.

  He said, “This is one heavy assed gun, I hope I didn’t kill the bastard.”

  They moved Brown Suit over and drove the van into the garage, unloaded both guys and took the van out to the street. Tom and Sam came in the back door dragging the other guy. They tied all three up in the garage.

  John called Gus and told him that he needed his help and quickly explained. He told Gus that his gut told him that the shit was going to hit the fan and they needed to make sure everyone was safe until they could get information from these thugs.

  He then said, “Gus, you might bring some interrogation tools.”

  Gus said that he would get all their families to the Bug Out location and get his ass to Smyrna ASAP. He would bring Scott and have the others guard the families.

  “Drive safe,” John added.

  Gus laughed and replied, “Drive hell! We’ll be there in a couple of hours. Pick us up at the Smyrna airfield. I’ll call when we are 30 minutes out.”

  Gus called about 3 hours later and told John he was landing the DC3 in 20 minutes. He told John that he had brought some artillery so be prepared to stuff the Jeep full. John took Tom’s truck and drove to the airfield. Scott, Gus and John loaded the truck with several M4s, ammo and his tool bag. John gave him more detail as they drove back to Tom’s house.

  Gus said, “There has to be something that we are missing, there has to be more to this. John, I think that we stepped right in someone else’s sand box just as the game was about to begin and fouled things up.”

  John agreed and said, “Gus I am afraid that you are right. How the hell do we keep our loved ones from being harmed while we get to the bottom of this mess?”

  Gus said, “Well the ones back home are safe. No one knows about the Bug Out Bunker except us and the ones in it. We just need to get Beth and her family safe.”

  They arrived at Tom’s house and unloaded everything while John introduced Beth’s family. Gus asked where the captives were and Tom took him to the garage. All three of the captives were gagged and tied to chairs. Sam was guarding them and had a Bushmaster .223 aimed at Brown Suit's belly. Gus removed the gag from Brown Suit's mouth and told him not to yell.

  Brown suit said, “You are way over your heads and fucking with the wrong people.”

  Gus slapped the crap out of him and then said, “No you are fooling with the wrong Gus.”

  John laughed and said, “Look Brown Suit, we will get what we want out of you and if you are lucky, we will let you live after you tell us what we need to know.”

  Gus began with Brown Suit’s companion and began with water boarding, then took a pipe and hit the soles of his feet while the others watched. Gus took some gas from a can in the garage and poured some on the guy’s crotch. He began screaming and begged Gus to stop. Gus took a cigarette lighter out of his tool bag and started flicking it at the guy.

  The guy said, “I’ll tell you all I know, just stop.” Brown Suit yelled, “We will kill your wife and your kids if you talk.”

  Gus took the guy into a bedroom and the guy told him that he could not talk or his family would die. Gus took the lighter and lit the gas on the guy’s crotch. The guy started talking. Gus put the fire out. The guy said that he was just a security gun for hire and did not know the overall plan of this group. He went on to say that, they were up to something very big, it involved people from several countries, and he had overheard that the world would change in 30 days. Gus asked when he heard that. The guy said 28 days ago.

  Gus filled John in on what he had just learned and they put the next guy through the same routine and got more of the same.

  John said, “Gus, Brown Suit will be tough to crack.”

  Gus said, “No, not at all and here is the plan."

  Gus went into the garage, got a syringe out of the bag and filled it with some blue liquid. He then proceeded to slap and beat Brown Suit up pretty severely. He then asked several questions which Brown Suit ignored.

  Gus then gave him the shot of blue liquid and said, “This will make you talk.”

  • • •


  Brown Suit woke up and pulled against the restraints. He had pissed his pants and had to relieve himself very urgently. The garage was very dark and he couldn’t see anything. He heard someone talking through the door to the house. He tried to scream, but the gag just cut into his mouth. Finally, after an eternity, the door opened and Gus came in with a candle. He was able to look through the open door and saw a Coleman lantern in the kitchen. Then, he saw John come in the room carrying a lantern.

  Gus said, “Well, now are you ready to tell us what you sons of bitches did to our country?"

  Brown Suit replied, “I have to go to the bathroom. What do you mean? How long was I unconscious?"

  Brown Suit looked down and saw he was wearing sweat pants and a tee shirt.

  Gus said, “Here is the bucket, take a dump and then we will talk.”

  Brown Suit said, “Why can’t I use the restroom?”

  John replied, “Because whatever y’all have done has taken out all power and utilities.”

  Brown Suit relieved himself in the bucket with guns pointed at him the whole time. He looked at the clock over the workbench and saw that the date was four days from when he was captured. He had lost four days. What the fuck was the blue stuff that had been shot into his veins and what did he tell them?

  John tied him back to the chair and said, “We don’t need you now. If you have a god, start praying, because when you are done you’re dead. We can’t spare any food for the likes of you.”

  Brown Suit asked, “What happened to my men?” Gus went to the other side of the garage and pulled a tarp back. There were his guys and they were dead.

  Gus said, “Sorry, but we got all the info from you and them and we just can’t feed you.”

  Brown Suit began to panic and said, “You just can’t kill me, I know a lot more. I know which cities were bombed in the second wave. I also know who the contacts in the USA are and some of the Iranians.”

  John looked at Gus and said, “That stuff won’t help us so just kill him now.”

  Gus said, “John, perhaps he can tell us which cities got bombed so we will know if we have to move to avoid radiation.”

  John said, “Okay, talk and we will let you live.” Brown Suit told them all he knew. He just thought that it had happened already. He told them that there were 16 cities that were to be bombed and blamed on right wing Christian groups working with Chechen extremists. With the USA out of the picture, Iran could take over the Middle East. Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba would invade the western USA and divide the southwest into equal shares.

  John said, “That explains the earthquakes and loss of all electronics.”

  Brown Suit went on to say that DC, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, St Louis, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Boston and Seattle were to be sacrificed first. Several bombs were to be air blasts for the EMP effect. He laughed and said that what was funny is that two of the bombs came through Nashville about midnight on the day they captured him they were for the second wave and were for Dallas and Memphis. The other bombs were in place for several days, but the last two had been held up due to a foul up with the Home Land Security Agent who had been paid to let them get through. Two hundred thousand dollars had convinced several HLS agents that they were letting a load of cocaine slip through.

  John asked, “How did you get the bombs through a city like Nashville without being caught?"

  Brown Suit laughed and said, “The bombs were in special trucks that were built to be a travelling museum covering the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The trucks actually had pictures of Atomic Bomb blasts going off on both sides. One of the earthquakes was Memphis going up in flames.”

  Brown Suit went on saying that the two that came through Nashville started out from the port of Baltimore and came down Highway 81 to Highway 40 then the last truck would go on to Arkansas before dropping down to Dallas.

  The combination of drugs and thinking that the bombs had already gone off loosened Brown Suit’s tongue and he just went on and on.

  Gus said, “Enough, we are running out of time.” John replied, “Kill the others and keep this sick bastard.”

  Gus pulled the tarp off the two and shot each in the head with his Ruger MK I. The .22 made some noise, but not enough to be heard outside the garage.

  Brown Suit said, “I thought they were dead.”

  Gus said, “No and it’s still the day we caught you, you dumb ass bastard.”

  Yes, they had set the clocks ahead and fooled the bastard. No one thought it would work, but hell it did.

  ✼

  Chapter 19

  TEOTWAWKI

  (The End Of The World As We Knew It!)

  Smyrna, TN

  May 22, 2020

  John yelled for the others to come to the living room. He told them the cliff notes version and said that they only had 16 hours before the bombs were to be exploded. They discussed calling the police, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, but quickly decided that no one would believe them and the authorities would swarm on them. They already knew that the Department of HLS, FBI and CIA were compromised. Who could they trust? They agreed that Tom would call some contacts in the Marines and Gus would call his Army contacts. They would give them warning about the bombs and get off the cell phones quickly. John and Gus would warn their families and friends in Mobile.

  John said, “We have to stop two trucks from leaving the Nashville area at all cost. They both contain nukes; one is going to Dallas and one to Memphis. They would ruin the whole path from Dallas to Columbus, Ohio. We have 16 hours to plan and execute a hijacking and then get rid of these bombs.”

  They started planning when suddenly Sally spoke up, “I don’t think you want to attack them in Nashville, I watched 24 on TV and I just know the bombs will explode when you attack the trucks.”

  Tom said, “I really don’t think that could happen if we quickly kill the driver and guards.

  Beth said, “But, John, we can’t take the chance!” The men discussed this for a while and finally agreed that it was not worth the chance. They had to plan an attack that would yield the least possible loss of life and keep Nashville free of radiation and fallout.

  Tom said, “John, you and Gus plan the attack while we all load up the weapons and head out 40 East to catch the trucks as far from Nashville as possible. About half way to Knoxville is our best bet. Sam and I will search the map for the best place to attack the trucks that will yield the best case for survival.”

  They took John’s Jeep, Tom’s pickup and Brown Suit’s car. Gus and John rode in the Jeep, Scott in Brown Suit’s car and Sam and Tom in Tom’s pickup which was loaded to the gills with weapons and ammo. They stayed in touch with Tom’s cell phones in case the bad guys were monitoring John and Gus’s phones.

  They were just past Lebanon when Scott had the best idea of his life. He called Sally and said, “Please put the speaker on. Ladies, y’all need to go to as many different stores as possible and buy food water and ammunition. If this shit is true, we will need to survive for about six months before we can grow our own food. Max out the credit cards. Call close family members and tell them to do the same. Don’t argue, just tell them and hang up. Call while driving to the stores. Get back home and hunker down. Phones won’t work. Tom says that there are two walkie-talkies in an old ammo can in the garage. Don’t get them out until after the lights won’t come on. We will be on channel 8."

  He then called his Mom, Gus’s wife, his girlfriend and a couple of friends in Mobile. He thought that he should do more, but that was the best he could do on short notice. He told his Dad and got a verbal pat on the back.

  • • •

  The driver of the lead truck said, “Jimmy, I have never been paid so well just to deliver a rolling museum to Dallas.”

  Jimmy thought the driver was a dumbass and got tired of the idle chatter. He was being paid more to make sure the driver got the truck to Dallas on time. He was sanctioned to kill the driver if he got in t
he way of delivering the truck to Dallas on time.

  He replied, “Don’t you ever shut up?”

  The driver said, “Sorry if I am bothering you, but it gets lonely on the road. Hey, there’s a truck stop up ahead, we need fuel and I need to take a piss and get something to eat.”

  The truck stop was halfway between Crossville and Lenoir City. Scott was in the lead about a mile ahead of the rest when he saw the truck stop. He called John and told him that he was going to make a drive through and make sure they weren’t behind the building.

  In a couple of minutes, Scott called and said, “Bingo, Dad, they both just pulled in and are sitting out on the left side, there is one guy in the cab of each one."

  John replied, “We will be there in a minute."

  They pulled up beside Scott and Gus said, “We will kill the guards then get the two out of the restaurant and kill them. Then we will take the trucks on Highway 70 and stash them in the first barn we see. Scott, in five minutes go in the restaurant and get the others to come to their trucks. We will take care of the guards.”

  Gus and John each took one of the trucks. They crawled under the trucks until they got where they could climb up on the cab and see the guards. They shot one round into the guards' heads, got behind the wheel and got ready to haul ass. Scott and the two drivers came out of the restaurant walking very fast towards the trucks. Sam and Tom jumped out and shot both of them.

  Gus and John headed out of the truck stop towards Highway 70; the others took the Jeep and pickup and followed. In about 20 minutes, they saw a big old barn off by itself; they drove both trucks in and closed the doors. They only had about 50 minutes before the first wave of bombs was to go off. They loaded as much artillery that would fit in a Jeep with five guys. John got back on 40 west and hauled ass. He was passing a string of cars going 90 mph when the cars lights went out and the cars slowed to a stop. They saw a bright light over the horizon and in a few seconds heard a deep rumble.