Surviving

by A J Newman

  Gus said, “John, slow up some, some of these SOB’s may not get off the road and we will crash into them.”

  The scene ahead of them reminded him of several that he had read about the after effects of an EMP blast. There were cars pulled over and a few crashed cars. People were standing beside their cars in the dark. Almost all waved for them to stop.

  They saw a bright flash that lit up the sky a couple of miles ahead and then heard an explosion coming from the same direction, and guessed it was a plane falling out of the sky.

  It only took a couple of minutes to get to the site of the crash and what they saw was something they would never forget. The plane had tried to land on the interstate, but the road had several cars and a semi in their landing path. The plane had hit several cars and the semi and had disintegrated into many small sections and two large ones. They saw several people still strapped in their seats who had been burned beyond recognition. The plane was a 737 and there were hundreds of bodies lying everywhere. They had to drive around the wreckage and bodies, but saw no one alive.

  Gus said, “Guys, say a prayer for all of the poor souls that died tonight.”

  They all said prayers for those poor souls, but all of them also prayed for the ones who had to rebuild this fractured country.

  • • •

  Blue suit was back at home at a fancy restaurant in Virginia when he saw the bright flash coming from DC. He ran to the door just in time to see feel the shock wave and see it blow windows out all around him.

  He told his wife, “The dirty bastard nuked us before we could kill his sorry ass.”

  • • •

  The US President, President Chaves, ex-president Ahamedad and the new dictator of Chile were in Paraguay to have a top-secret meeting to begin discussions on developing a lasting peace for the entire world. They were staying at the country estate of the richest man in South America, Pablo Cortez, who had been pushing for this meeting for years. Their goal was one world government with peace for all and only one military to keep all countries equal. They had met all day and were now guests of Pablo for a rather extravagant dinner. An aide came to Pablo and he quickly excused himself. He took the phone and listened.

  He then said, “Wonderful and send the right hand to me. Did you get the required information? Thanks and you will be rewarded when you finish the job.”

  He then went back to the dinner and said, “I am sorry for leaving my distinguished guests, but one of my children needed advice.” They all laughed and got back to running the world.

  It was only 15 minutes later when the President’s aide came to him and he excused himself.

  He asked, “This is the secure phone?”

  The aide said, “Yes.”

  The President told him to leave. The President answered, “Hello, okay, now when will the event be concluded? Yes, LA and Miami?” The President hung up and went back into the dining room.

  He went over to Ahamedad and whispered, “It’s begun my friend.”

  Just then, several staff members came in to the room yelling for everyone to come to the sitting room to see the TV.

  The President’s aide said, “Mr. President we have to get you to your plane, the USA is under attack.”

  The President followed them to the limo.

  • • •

  John was weaving from side to side of the highway to avoid stalled cars and several people tried to get them to stop. John just ignored them and drove past them as carefully as he could. Gus waved his .45 at several who tried to stop them. They all moved out of the way when confronted. Right before they got to Lebanon, they saw a guy in the middle of the road yelling and waving; he jumped in front of the Jeep and ran them off the road. Gus jumped out of the Jeep, hit him across the face with the .45 and knocked him out. Scott ran up and saw a woman and two kids on the ground all were crying and the woman was pregnant and very much ready to deliver. She told Scott that her contractions were getting closer together. Scott went to his Dad and explained the situation. They had to either deliver the baby or get them to a hospital.

  They loaded the woman up in the Jeep and left Gus and Scott to take care the guy and his children. John drove straight to the hospital in Lebanon. They pulled up in front of the hospital and there was no one to greet them. Tom got out and went in to get someone to take care of the woman and finally found a nurse. She told them that most of the staff went home to be with their families. She told him to bring the woman in and she would do her best. John brought the woman in and left her with the nurse. They drove back to get the others and hoped that the woman and baby survived. They loaded the man and kids up and drove back to the hospital, dropped them off and left.

  Scott said, “A lot of people are not going to survive the next 30 days. Diabetics, people with pace makers, dialysis patients and anyone needing specialized medical care will go first. Starvation will kill millions. Gangs and outlaws will kill the next wave. We will be left with a solid group of survivors at the end.”

  He was met with silence and everyone nodding their heads.

  • • •

  Tom got on the walkie-talkie and got Beth who had a million questions and did not stop talking. She finally calmed down when Tom said that they were all okay and the mission was successful. He asked her how their shopping trip had gone. She replied that they got a lot of questions, but all of the stores had loved their business. Beth added that the gun shop in Hendersonville only wanted to sell two boxes of each type of ammo, but she got the manager and gave him $1,000 and he sold them every 12 gauge, .223, 9mm, .45, .22 and .308 in the store. She had purchased over 10,000 rounds of ammo. Sally had purchased enough food to feed them for a year. Sally grabbed the walkie-talkie and said, “Tom, I bought a bunch of rice and beans.”

  Beth got back on and said, “I bought several hand pumps that will pump gas from storage tanks!”

  That put a smile on John’s face.

  What Sally didn’t have time to say was that Beth and she had contacted Alice, Bill and several of their friends and family and told them to do the same, but that they had to go to LaVergne and Antioch so there wouldn’t be a bunch of people making a run on the same stores. Sally drove their RV to Sam’s in Murfreesboro and practically wiped out their beans, rice, salt, sugar, spices and canned meat departments. Sally gave $100 each to a bunch of stock boys to motivate them to load the RV up at a record pace. They all made several trips and had to make up a bunch of stories about why they were stocking up on so much food.

  John’s were the only lights on the highway and every time they passed a stalled car, the people tried to get them to stop. They got to the Smyrna exit on Highway 840 when they saw a policeman waving for them to stop and help at a wreck at the top of the ramp. They went off the road to go around him while he frantically waved and shot his service pistol in the air. Gus had his .45 aimed at the cop and was glad that he did not have to kill him. There would be many choices to make in the future and most would be between good and evil, but many were like this one, family over strangers.

  John said, “Gus, in all of the books that I have read on situations like this, the cops or bad guys always try to commandeer any vehicle that will run.”

  Gus replied, “TRY!” He then waved his .45 Colt 1911 and said, “From my cold dead hands.” He added, “That applies to my damn truck also!”

  John asked, “Hey, what about the DC3, will it fly?” Gus thought for a minute and said, “Damn good question. It will fly, but all of the modern avionics are fried. No radio and no GPS. I can use one of the portable short wave radios to communicate with you.”

  • • •

  The Mexican broke into John’s house and placed JoAnne’s head on the mantel. He then went to Gus’ house and left a hand on the kitchen table. He laughed and thought that this would scare the shit out of John and his friends. He would come back in a couple of days and start the campaign of terror ending with all of the SOBs dead. The dumbass had missed them by hours and did not realize
that they would never come back to their houses.

  • • •

  John and Gus’ Bug Out Bunker was about 20 miles northwest of Mobile. John had bought an old farm with 200 acres that had an old, but nice house and a 5-acre lake that was fully stocked. He buried twenty overseas shipping containers in which to live in case of an emergency. There was food and water for 20 people for 18 months as long as they liked rice, beans, fish and what vegetables that could be raised. There was an old house with a well and plenty of garden space. He had planted over a hundred fruit and nut trees to get it ready to survive at least a year without outside help. John paid a local farmer to grow a large vegetable garden and let him sell most of the crop at the farmers market. John and Scott took lessons from the farmer on how to raise a garden and were getting quite proficient.

  There was a dirt landing strip and hanger for John’s old four seat Cessna and the old crop duster just north of the house and John had flown in and out several times. Gus and John used the Cessna for vacations and trips around the southeast, but it would only carry four people and a lot of gear. The plane was from the early 60’s and had all of the original EMP proof equipment plus modern avionics. John made sure that it would be useable after a nuke or solar flare.

  Ann was flitting around the place as if she owned it and that really pissed Robin off a bunch. Robin didn’t hate Ann, but she knew that John was a great guy and Ann should have stayed with him. Hell, Ann had even brought her boy toy to the bunker. Robin had been slow to convert to the Prepper life style, but was now as much into it as Gus and John.

  Scott had called Robin and Steve and had told them to round up family and close friends and get to the Bug Out Bunker before midnight. Robin brought her family and chased down Jim’s girlfriend. Steve called Ann and Scott’s girlfriend, Joan, and told them to get their families to the Bug Out Bunker. The immediate families all arrived, but most of the extended families thought it was crazy. They were told to bring a week’s worth of clothes and all the food, water and weapons that they could load into their cars.

  Gus also told them to bring all of the antique cars that they could find. Steve loaded up his three old hotrods on a car carrier and brought them to the bunker. Several brought their hotrods and old pickups. Only fifteen total people showed up against the thirty that John had expected.

  Ann had tried to find JoAnne, but there was no answer when she called. She even ran by JoAnne’s house, but no one was there. Ann was very worried about her friend and knew that John would not have them bug out to the bunker if things weren’t going to get very bad very quick. While John bored her, she did respect his judgment on prepping for disaster. He had trained her how to shoot, hunt and fish. While she was a city girl, she could handle herself.

  Steve gathered everyone and filled them in on what he knew and what was probably going to happen over the next few days. He started giving work assignments when Ann’s boyfriend, Dan, balked and said that he did not come here to work and was only here to please Ann.

  Steve told him, “You are right you don’t have to work, but if you don’t work you don’t stay. So, decide now if you want to contribute or get the hell back to Mobile.”

  Dan replied, “I will stay as Ann’s guest and no 'Nigger' is going to make me leave.”

  Steve walked over to Ann and said, “Get his sorry ass out of here before I shoot him.”

  Dan charged Steve and grabbed his left arm. Steve turned and kicked Dan in the nuts and hit him on the chin with his pistol. Dan started to charge Steve again when Robin fired a shot in to the ground at Dan’s feet.

  She yelled, “I will shoot you if you don’t get the fuck out of here now. Get in your car and go.”

  Dan begged Ann to go with him, but she told him that he was a lazy coward and that he was lucky that Steve hadn’t killed him on the spot. Dan left and was never seen again.

  Ann apologized for Dan’s behavior and went in the house ashamed about the whole situation.

  Robin came in and said, “Ann, no one is mad at you. Yes, Dan is a racist jerk, but you set him straight and sent him packing. That’s what counts.”

  Ann said, “Robin, I never heard you cuss before.”

  Robin hugged Ann and said, “The SOB pissed me off. Steve is a good friend and the color of his skin makes no difference.”

  Ann thanked her and rejoined the team.

  Steve got the entire team together and told them that they only had a few days before outsiders would try to take their food and water. He went on to say that, he was starting around the clock guards and training for every one on how to shoot and when to shoot.

  Jim replied, “Steve I can help with training on hand to hand fighting and shooting.”

  • • •

  They arrived at Tom’s house and immediately had to explain to the neighbors how they had a vehicle that would run. Tom handled that and had to get a little rough with a couple of guys that wanted to take it and flee.

  John went to the Jeep, got one of the short wave radios out of their metal box and called for Steve at the Bunker. He gave the designated call sign repeatedly for about 30 minutes when he heard Steve’s voice.

  “Hey, Buddy how are you and the folks doing up north? We are all fine down here. I rounded them all up and we circled the wagons at the fort. We could not find JoAnne, but everyone else made it.”

  John replied, “There is a lot of chaos, but we are all fine and may be visiting you in a week or so.”

  Steve replied, “Good, watch your ass on the road. There may be bad guys. We are hearing gun fire towards town and can see several large fires on that horizon.”

  John signed off and felt relieved.

  • • •

  By 7:00 a.m., all of the friends and relatives of the group from the immediate area had arrived. Most had to walk, but a few had older trucks or cars and drove to Tom’s house. There were 18 adults and 21 children counting John, Gus and Scott. These were all good people who should get along and help each other survive.

  After everyone had a great breakfast Gus gathered all of the adults and said, “We have several decisions to make and have to set a plan to survive the next 90 days and then a longer term plan for the next year.”

  They all listened.

  Gus said, “Don’t every one speak at once.” He then laughed.

  Tom replied, “Gus, John, you and I have the experience to lead this group. Most of our family does not know what has just happened, much less how to survive it.”

  Gus backed up and spent about 15 minutes explaining what happened and what was likely to happen. He told them how sane people would try to kill them for a loaf of bread. They all listened and started to ask a thousand questions.

  John stood up and said, “There are several questions that have to be answered now! They are:

  Where are we going to get food and water?

  How are we going to protect ourselves?

  What will we do for medical care?

  Where can we protect ourselves with the least

  losses?

  How will we heat our houses?

  How do we handle sewage?

  How do we handle looters, general bad guys and

  the people who will try to take our food?"

  Again, they all listened and suddenly broke out in numerous discussions.

  Alice said, “Won’t the government come to help us? We can just stay in our houses and wait on them, can’t we?”

  Gus replied, “The government has its hands full with the big cities and probably guarding against foreign invaders. They won’t be much help to small cities and the open country. I hate to scare people, but the government may cause more harm to us than help.”

  Beth caught John off to the side and said, “John, these guys are great people, but you and Tom need to take charge and tell us what to do. They will either go with your plans and live or take their chances.”

  John agreed. John got Tom off to the side and told him about his discussion with Beth. They bo
th agreed to take charge and let the chips fall where they may.

  Tom banged a spoon on a pot to get their attention and said, “John, Gus and I are going to take over the leadership of this group. We have all been through very bad situations and know what has to be done. If you agree, stay here; if not, you are free to leave."

  One of Tom’s neighbors, Will, spoke up and said that this was a democracy and everyone had a say in what they were going to do.

  John told the group, “Yes, you all can do whatever you want, but the people who stay in this house when I am done speaking will follow orders or be removed from the group."

  Will said, “That’s not fair, we should all have a say in how the group is lead and how we do things.”

  John heard several tell him to go. John said, “Those that agree stay, those that do not agree please leave now.”

  Will started to argue again, but Tom grabbed him by the arm and shoved him out the door. Gus and Tom watched him and his family walk down the street telling all that would listen about how, “Those assholes had plenty of food, but wanted everything for themselves.”

  Tom got the group back together and said, “We will be asking for your input on all plans, but we will make the final decisions. I need everyone except John, Gus, and I to go out into the town and get more supplies and we need a couple of trucks in case we have to haul ass. Older diesel powered trucks may still run. Scott and Sam will coordinate the efforts. Bill, I need you to see if you can get some kind of tanker or tank in a trailer so we can stockpile some gas.”