“FEMA, together with elements of our military, are now traveling to state capitals to coordinate relief and resettlement efforts. They are bringing secure communications equipment to ensure smooth and efficient coordination with the federal government. We will shortly begin deliveries of food and water to all major metropolitan areas.
“However, our recovery depends on you: the American people. For now, I ask that you remain calm and assist your friends and neighbors in need. Share what you have in terms of food and water. Most of all continue to respect the rule of law and obey local law enforcement. We need the best effort of every American to recover from this crisis, and we will. We will recover from this devastating blow. We are a resilient people who have overcome many obstacles. We will return to greatness again, and we will find out who did this to us, and they will be punished.
“I ask each of you to pray for our great nation. We will report to you further as we progress with our efforts to stabilize the situation. Please listen to your radios for further information and updates. We will be broadcasting at the top of the hour, every hour, until further notice.
“Our great nation has survived many trials and challenging situations. However, this crisis presents us with an unprecedented series of problems that must be overcome, one by one, with what will be very limited resources at the outset. We are currently in talks with our European allies to secure ongoing sources of food and medical supplies, as well as additional transportation and communications equipment. That aid will be forthcoming in a matter of weeks. I ask that you all have patience as we work though solutions to the crisis.
“May God bless you and may God Bless the United States of America.”
“Well, there you go,” Ed sighed. “Pretty much the same speech, with the exception of the FEMA stuff, and Europe helping out.”
“It’s happening just like the report I read said it would,” Bud added. “We talked about it during the bug-out up here. This is not looking good.” Bud went on to describe the contents of the study on what would happen in the wake of an EMP attack. He explained that it showed a die-off of more than eighty percent of the population within the first year, mostly due to starvation and violence. It further calculated that the remaining people, in such a weakened state from starvation and lack of medical care, would suffer a second die-off. It would occur when illness from unclean water and contaminated food would take the remaining ten to fifteen percent of the population.
“Well, there is nothing we can do about all those people dying. I just don’t want to end up in some type of resettlement camp,” Ed said.
“Resettlement doesn’t sound good to me,” Cory added. “FEMA-run camps are probably going to turn into nightmares.”
“Probably,” Don allowed. “But, they aren’t going to get here for a long time and I guess when they do, they will ignore people like us who don’t need or want help.”
“Cling to that hope,” Bud scoffed. “The report said that the FEMA camps would end up becoming mandatory for all survivors. So far, it has been one hundred percent accurate.”
“Well, if it comes down to it, we can head to the cave and hunker down until they move on to someplace else,” Don said. “This reminds me, Cory and I need to move some supplies to the cave tomorrow.”
“So, who is on guard duty tonight?” Ben asked.
“Since Ed and Bud are going to be busy tomorrow, how about Kate, Cory, you, and I? Cory and I can go to the cave at sunup, and Ann can take the ops center in the morning.”
“Works for me,” Ben replied.
“Okay,” Don said. “But its full battle-rattle tonight. We all need to get geared up. So we wear our tactical vests with spare magazines, break out the night vision googles, and keep our ARs at our sides until morning.” Don had purchased six UTG tactical vests with Kevlar inserts, and the fact he wanted them to use the body armor told everyone that he was expecting trouble.
As Don studied the faces around him, he saw each of the group wore an expression of concern, with the exception of Cory, who stared back at him with a bland neutral expression. In that moment, Don made his decision. “Cory, if you can take the back of the house, I’ll take the front. Ben can be our reserve. You good with that?”
“Sure. Are we going to be outside?”
“On the porches with the night vision googles. I know the cameras and sensors are working, but I want some redundant systems in place in case something goes wrong. Mr. Murphy seems to be on the job again, so let’s be sharp tonight.”
“Okay.”
“Are we going to batten down the hatches tonight?” Kate asked.
“Yeah. We need to slide the shooting portals into place.” They had earlier installed sandwich plywood mounted on rollers by each of the windows. The shooting positions all had two portals through which they could direct fire from the house with good cover. “Let’s close the blackout curtains and go lights off as soon as we’re set up,” Don added.
As the group broke up, everyone went off to complete their tasks, and soon the house was closed and shuttered, and the portals were in place. As Don and Cory geared up, Ben went to the weapons locker and pulled out the Marlin Camp .45 carbine, saying, “those damn ARs are like toy guns. This has some stopping power.” He sat in a chair next to Kate, who tested each sensor and camera before nodding her approval and sitting back in the chair. Don and Cory took up positions at the front and rear of the house. Both wore night vision goggles and moved back into the shadows of the patios.
As it grew dark, the cicadas began chirping their merry song, and it struck Cory as odd that he was sitting on a dark porch, armed to the teeth, yet still enjoying the sound of the insects chirping. After sundown, a cheerful sky dotted with stars appeared, and Cory could not help but admire the clarity of the sky and the brightness of the stars. It occurred to him that nobody asked about his first wife, or even noted his children were obviously of mixed race. He rarely discussed his first wife, Lily, who died two months after the birth of his daughter. A drunk driver, who ended up doing six months in the county jail, struck her down in a pedestrian crosswalk. He was then released to a rehab center. It was everything Cory could do to not hunt the man down and take his revenge.
A year after his release, the guy was killed in a car accident when he ran off the road, again drunk, and struck a power pole. In the months after his wife’s death, Cory became a shut in, going to work, cooking and caring for his children with the help of his sister, and avoiding any kind of social contact. The only person he confided in was his first wife’s brother, a Yavapai Native American named Big Bear. Although his Christian name was Dennis, everyone called him Bear. In the days following the death of Lily, Bear offered his condolences once and never broached the subject of his sister’s death again. His hulking presence around Cory’s house, where he spent all his time before and after work, was oddly reassuring to Cory.
Over a period of three months, they became close friends and often times took care of the children in shifts. Bear was a large man, thick through the chest and brawny. He wore a face that resembled a shovel, with flat features and dark eyes that were close to black. His tribe, consisting of 160 members, was once part of a large Native American nation that consisted of four peoples, all of which resided close to what is now the Prescott area.
After a prolonged fight with the settlers, the tribe suffered a savage slaughter at the hands of the U.S. Army. They decided that further fighting would lead to their extinction, and later became scouts for the U.S. Army detachment that ultimately hunted down Geronimo and other Apache tribe leaders.
What made the Yavapai unique was their very loosely structured tribal hierarchy. There were no chiefs, only informal leaders who others followed based on their skill and courage. They were initially hunter-gatherers, and then later became more agriculturally based as the area was settled. They were first granted twenty-five acres as their reservation, which later grew by another thousand acres. The initial twenty-five acres were prime land in
Prescott. It was the result of a grateful U.S. Army following the capture of Geronimo. The tribe was relatively affluent, as they developed commercial real estate and opened a casino.
A year after Lily’s death, at his sister’s insistence, Cory went on a blind date with Julie, and was immediately smitten. The pain did not go away instantly, but the misery slowly wafted off him like a dark cloud. Within a year they married, and Julie became the only mother his kids knew. They were so young when Lily died that they had almost no memory of her. Bear, Cory, and Julie all worked hard to make her memory remain with the kids by showing them photos and telling stories about her. They also insisted that the children get active in tribal affairs, study the language, and read about the near-extinct tribe.
Around two o’clock in the morning the silence was shattered by a sudden fusillade of gunfire to the west. Both Cory and Don ran into the ops center and found Kate peering nervously at the monitor. Ben stood beside her. “Anything moving out there?” Don asked. Kate shook her head in the negative and continued staring at the screen. Don and Ben went out to the front porch. Cory returned to his post. The gunfire was coming from the direction of Ben’s house.
“That sounds like it’s coming from the Ross place,” Ben said.
“It’s two to three miles away, judging from the sound.”
“That’s about right,” Ben agreed. The gunfire grew in volume and became a single wall of sound.
“Whoever it is, they have some fully automatic AKs with them. That volume of fire can’t be from semi-autos.”
“I’ve never heard anything like it. It sounds like something you would see in a war movie.”
“Yeah, but that’s no movie. Those are real people on the wrong end of that gunfire.” The remainder of the group poured through the door, in various stages of dress, each carrying an AR in hand. Cory and Kate remained where they were.
“Jesus,” Bud said. “What is that?”
“The gang is at the Ross house,” Ben replied. “We gotta do something. They have three kids.”
“Where are Cory’s kids?” Don asked.
“With Julie in the basement,” Mary replied. As she finished speaking, the rate of shots increased again for a short period, and then the night fell silent again.
“We gotta go help the Ross family,” Ben said, his voice filled with urgency. Suddenly, the air was pierced by several shots, and then silence.
“It’s too late, Ben,” Don said. “Those last shots were from a different caliber—probably handguns.” Ben looked crestfallen and looked away.
“There were three kids in that house,” Ben whispered.
“I’m sorry Ben, but there was nothing we could do. It was over before we even heard the gunfire. It sounded like a classic breeching operation. They use the volume of gunfire to keep everyone’s head down while the breeching team gets into position. The defenders can’t hear because of the volume of the gunfire, and they can’t see because they can’t stick their heads up. Once the teams are in place, usually at the back of the house, the gunfire stops so they don’t have a friendly fire incident, and the teams finish the job.” A long silence ensued as the group digested what just happened.
“How did they get automatic weapons?” Bud finally asked.
“No idea,” Don replied. “But, if they were gang members turned convicts, they probably had weapons before the EMP hit, and got them before they started the killing spree.”
“That makes sense.”
“I’m tired of this crap,” Don spat. “We are going to cull that herd ASAP. There’s no other way we can do this. With that kind of firepower, they would overwhelm us and there isn’t much we could do about it.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ed asked.
“I’m working on it.”
“Work fast. They might be coming here soon.”
“Stay here and watch the front. Let me know if you hear any motors starting. I'm going to have a chat with Cory.” Don disappeared into the ops center and passed through the house to the back patio. Five minutes later, he returned with Cory and gathered the group in the ops center. “I have a plan to even the odds for us with whoever those scum are at the Ross house. But, it does have some risk. If we are successful, we can make those guys immobile, and then we can start picking them off a little at a time. Wear them down to a manageable number, and then finish them off.” Don’s face was grim as he spoke.
“Ben, can you tell me the layout of the lot and house?”
“Sure it sits on an acre of land.” Ben paused for a moment, and then added, “The house faces north.”
“Is there any high ground or cover within a hundred yards?”
“No,” he replied after thinking for a moment. “It’s further away than that, but not by much. East of the house there’s a tree line on a knoll that sits up maybe a hundred feet over the land around it.”
“Could you make a shot from there if you were deer hunting?”
“Sure, it’s not a hard shot. There is nothing between the tree line and the house.”
“Can you get us there and on that knoll without being seen from the house?”
“Yes,” he replied slowly. “We would have to circle north, and then move through the trees to the knoll.”
“Can you tell me how long the tree line is on the knoll?”
“It’s about two hundred yards across.”
The group waited as Don gathered his thoughts, and then he spoke. “My preliminary plan is to go over there with Cory and Ben, get into the tree line before sunup, and take out their vehicles with the .308s. If we can get a few of them while we’re at it, it’s a bonus. The main thing is to try to get them unable to move around so we know where they are but they don’t know where we are. If we don’t do this, sooner or later they are going to find us. I don’t think we really have a choice. Cory has already agreed to come with me. Ben, are you in?”
“Absolutely. I want that murdering scum dealt with as badly as you do. It’s time to make them pay.”
“Kate, are you okay with this?”
“No, but you do what you need to so that the kids and the rest of us stay safe.” Kate wore a grim, but resigned, expression. Don hugged her close and kissed her lightly.
“I need to go talk to Julie,” Cory said. “She’s still in the basement. Nobody gave the all clear.”
“Anybody have any suggestions to improve the plan?”
“Keep it to no more than three minutes, and then bug out,” Ed said. “If they get those AKs on you, it’s going to get messy fast. I would add that Bud and I should go too, but that’s a non-starter, right?”
“Afraid so. If they get by us, you and the ladies are going to have to defend this place, or give it up and go to the cave. Either way, we can’t all go. Ben is one hell of a shot and knows the layout. Cory is law enforcement and, if we ever have to justify what I am proposing, we need some cover. He would be it. But, I like your suggestion. I want to make sure we don’t get pinned down and that is the best way. It’s a good thought. Thanks.” Ed just nodded back. He looked disappointed, but knew enough to not push the point. A few minutes later, Ben appeared with three scoped .308s, and a box of magazines.
“How many mags do you have there?” Don asked.
“Six twenty round and six ten round.”
“Let’s put a few boxes of ammo in the ATV too. Just in case.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Cory reappeared, nodding his head, and sat on the couch.
“When are we leaving?”
“In an hour. That gives us an hour to get there and get set up.”
“An hour to go two miles?”
“We will be idling the ATV through a tree line at dark. We need to keep it quiet, and it’s best to have a margin of error.”
“What if they already left?”
“I haven’t heard any engines running. But, if they have, we come home. Nothing lost.”
“We’re leaving the house in a weak position if they attack,” Cory poin
ted out.
“So far, they’ve only attacked at night. It’s a calculated risk, but one we have to take.” Ben returned, and they reviewed the plan one last time, with Don stressing the need to fire two mags and get out of the area. Not only would that help ensure they didn’t get accurate return fire, but it would hopefully eliminate the possibility of them being followed back to the ranch.
He then described how to use the back of the knoll to cover their approach and retreat, keeping them out of the line of fire until they reached the cover of the forest north of the property. When he finished, he asked, “anybody have anything to add?” When no one spoke, he added, “let’s do this safe and get out clean.”
Kate walked over, gave Don a hug and said, “don’t be stupid out there. Stick with the plan and come home safe.” Don nodded at her and the three men left the house, got into the ATV, and started their journey to an appointment with the unknown.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Cory drove the ATV into the tree line and Ben, who sat next to him, gave him directions to the Ross house. They had night vision goggles, but Cory removed his, as the ambient light from the stars was enough to allow safe navigation. Don sat in back, reviewing the plan repeatedly looking for flaws, but finding none. Before they arrived, he quietly whispered into his radio, “ops center?”
“Roger.” Kate’s voice sounded in his earbud.
“Going silent. Will call in when we approach the ranch.”
“Good luck and be careful.”
“Out.”
They approached the back of the knoll and parked the ATV as the sun blinked over the horizon. Making their way to the top, they separated, with Ben taking the center, Don the right, and Cory the left. Ben was closest to the ATV, and would begin filling magazines after the fight. Cory and Don would take longer to reach the vehicle, and they would depart as soon as the three men were together at the bottom of the knoll. The sun was rising behind them, giving them a tactical advantage, as the men below would be staring directly at its glare if they looked to where the three shooters now lay prone, partially concealed behind boulders.
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