“They can park behind it or beside it, as long as they are careful. Grandpa has a lot of junk he was going to send to the scrappers, and it’s an easy way to pop a tire,” I told her, pointing in the gloom.
“You folk have horses?” she asked, nodding to the left where the stalls were.
“No, just storage,” I told her.
Just a sliver of moonlight came in between a crack in the board, but other than that it was almost pitch black in here.
“It was bad,” Linda said, “Thank you for keeping my daughter away from that situation and company.”
“I didn’t keep her—”
“She didn’t fight very hard to be the one who went in to save Curt and Margie, but she’s the one with active duty experience.”
I thought about that for half a second. “Something happen to her… over there?” I knew nothing about her time in the service except that she had handled dogs.
“Yes. Sometimes the nightmares get bad, she wakes Dave and I up. She doesn’t talk about it much, but that’s how she got the scars on her side.”
“Scars?” I asked her.
“I keep forgetting,” she said, touching my shoulder gently. “I always thought you two would date in school. Even though I don’t know you all that well, I feel like I do,” she said, laughing softly, making me wonder what she knew. “She doesn’t talk about it much. She was an MP, sure… but one of the trucks coming back in… one from a vetted local advisor… it was rigged. At first, they thought she was gone, but she’d been knocked out by the blast, her side torn up from shrapnel. Her dog never had a chance. Jessica said he’d started alerting and the driver panicked and detonated too early, never taking out the gate like they planned.”
“Wow,” I said softly.
“There’s more than that, but that was the worst one. When she woke up, she had no memory of the blast at first, and kept asking for Bono.”
“What was her dog's name?” I asked Linda.
“Yes,” Linda said softly, “so thank you for whatever it was you did to keep her from running in to help us. I don’t want her to backslide.”
“Is it… I don’t know much about PTSD,” I admitted, stepping backward and into the moonlit yard, she followed.
“I’m not so sure it’s purely PTSD, but I think some of it is. Also, I don’t think Lance was the one in charge over there. Maybe he thinks he is, but he wasn’t the guy shouting orders. If she would have been there…”
“Somebody, she knows?” I asked her.
“No, but you know how much she loves her fur babies?”
“Not really, but I imagine quite a bit,” I told her.
“We didn’t mention what they were cooking over one of the campfires around her. It…”
Dog? They were eating a dog? I shuddered. Even now, the woods were full of game. Squirrels, deer, hell I’d seen turkeys. Of course, everything was out of season right now, but if people were running around shooting each other, there’d be no opossum sheriffs around checking hunting tags.
“A dog?” I asked her.
“Yes, was roasting it over a spit. People were lined up and pushing and shoving. I guess the whole bit about the just in time system and people only having a few days of food on hand was true.”
“Or the National Guard took it while they were in hiding,” I told her. “They weren’t very thorough.”
“Speaking of that, is there a good spot I can get up high and watch things?”
“Across the street is probably the best, you go up too high you lose sight of us with the surrounding trees. Listen, what really happened and what’s…?”
“Nobody’s filled you in? Not even my daughter?” Linda asked.
In the moonlight, I saw how beautiful she had to have been when she was my age. Despite that, there was something savage lurking beneath the surface. A mother’s instinct?
“No ma’am, they were talking about getting a couple shots of liquor in Curt for pain management.”
I could see her grin. “He liked the good stuff. Have to figure out where he was buying it from.”
I coughed and looked at the ground a second. She hadn’t even told her mom?
“You?” she asked.
“Guilty,” I told her.
“Listen, I’ll give you the quick run-down, but then I have to go. Jimmy will be back with the truck soon, and I need to cover him, but I have a quick question… You are willing to make some in… exchange or barter?” she asked.
“Sure?” I said confused. “Depends on how much you want. I can’t put out all that much at once, but with enough time I can. What proof you need?” I asked her.
“What proof will run a generator or fire up a car?” she asked.
I grinned. “The kind of stuff I make can easily do that.”
“So… what do you want to know?” she asked me, changing the subject again.
“What was happening over there?” I asked her, pointing across the street toward the property.
“It looks like a bunch of people got together and hid there when the guard rolled into town and started rounding people up. A lot of people are looking a bit disheveled, but not too bad overall. The guys who went in for Curt said they were arguing over who got to eat tonight and grumbling about the new guys who came in at the last minute and took things over.”
“They talking about Lance?” I asked her.
“That’s what I’m wondering, but I know that rat fink weasel. Somebody was dressing him down in public, so he made his behemoth stand down and did lots of ass kissing. I’m not sure who it was, but I’m guessing right now, he’s the man in charge.”
“Does anybody recognize him?” I asked her.
“Not that I’m aware of. Some of the people there don’t look like regular townies either. It’s like…”
She shook her head, her words trailing off.
“What?” I asked her.
“Like they were pushed from one area to another. I mean, as far as state parks go, the Crater of Diamonds is about the most well-known thing in this area. It’d make sense if they were trying to bug out that they’d find someplace to go with an RV or camper…”
“So not everyone there is necessarily with Lance or this other group?” I asked her.
“No, I don’t think so. Something else disturbing. I didn’t see any small kids there. Maybe young adults, but no little kids.”
I shivered and the night suddenly seemed a bit darker.
24
The night went really fast for me. I offered my room to Linda and Jessica. Curt and Margie were both asleep on the sofa, Jimmy fell asleep on Grandpa’s chair in the living room, and Carter and Lyle camped out on the porch when they weren’t rotating staying awake and watching the place. I’d found out little more other than, after the propane tank explosion, they fired like they were putting down suppressive fire to push the panicked crowd away from the RVs. Curt and Margie had sat in on planning and discussions with their entire group and just hunkered down until they were helped into the wood line.
They might not have noticed for a long while in the confusion. In the dark, weird things happened.
I did wake up when the truck was pulled into the barn though, that’s because Raider barked and woke me up. I had made myself a spot in the shine room on two bales of straw with an old blanket, and Raider who insisted on laying almost on top of me.
Of course, as soon as I felt my eyes close again, Foghorn was blasting away.
“Go kill that chicken,” I mumbled to Raider.
He took off like a shot, barking and running. I heard somebody mutter something in surprise outside. I got up and stretched before heading out. The truck was something to behold. It barely fit in the barn behind my truck. I made a mental note to put it together again, but the truck in front of me…
“It’s an old troop carrier,” Carter said, poking his head in the barn, noting me looking over the truck. “Easier to go around in and hide with the guard operating in the area. They thought it must
have been one of theirs, and just waved me through when I stashed it. We took a big risk, but it looks like it worked out for the best.”
“It’s diesel,” I said, hearing Foghorn suddenly stop his repeated morning wake up calls.
“Yeah, why?” he asked curiously.
“Linda said something about fuel…”
“Oh, yeah. We had some stores of gas go bad. Contamination. We used it in two of our vehicles after we bugged out and they started running rough.”
“Ahhh, that makes sense. Nothing that some high octane alcohol can’t fix then?”
“You know where we can get some?” he asked me suddenly.
“Oh yeah, remember last night?”
“Sure, that was good… hey…” His face lit up when the realization hit.
“Exactly. Looks like we’ll be doing some trading. So… what’s the plan today?” I asked him.
“We’re going to lay low until dark and then get out of here. A couple of us are going to try to keep an eye on them for a while; they’ll probably hike it home in a couple of days. I’m not sure what we should do with that group until we know more.”
“I know they were shooting each other and torturing the Guthrie’s for information,” I said quickly.
“There’s also ten times our number of people there,” he said, ignoring my tone, “and we don’t know who’s there willingly or not.”
I opened my mouth to say something then closed it as I heard the screen door bang shut and Grandma’s shrill voice screaming for Raider.
“I better go,” I told him.
“Have a good one. Thanks for alerting us,” he said as I squeezed past him.
“Raider,” I called.
It looked like he’d played bowling for chickens and used himself as the ball. There were feathers all over the ground, but I saw no blood and no dead chicken. He heard me and ran over. That was when I saw the devil rooster. He was running on top of the split rail fence that ran on one side of the drive, and his intentions were clear. He was going to sneak up like a ninja on the blissfully unaware dog and flog him like the sneaky defendant of a velociraptor he was. I watched, fascinated. Raider slid to a stop with me as Foghorn launched himself, spikes out.
At the last second, I thought about shouting out a warning, but Raider just took a side step with his front paws, and the chicken went sliding past. He let out a happy bark and his back end bunched up.
“Don’t you dare,” Grandma yelled. “You sicced your dog on my baby again, didn’t you?” Grandma yelled, noise discipline shot.
“Sorry, Grandma, I forgot,” I told her, hoping not to draw her ire too much.
“Sorry my hairy ass,” Grandpa called, amusement in his tone.
“Your ass is so hairy you should have Lucinda braid it for you,” I heard Curt say loudly and then a ton of laughter in the house.
Raider barked once happily.
“Gotta use the bathroom?” I asked him.
He just cocked his head to the side, his ears rotating my way.
“Well, I do. Let’s go and get some breakfast.”
“How did you sleep?” Jessica asked me.
“Pretty good, all things considered,” I told her.
“You looked dead on your feet.”
“Not as much as the rest of them did,” I said and looked over at the couch.
Both Curt and Margie were still sleeping softly. Curt’s ribs had been taped and wrapped. One of my button-up shirts had been donated to the cause, and it was halfway open, showing lots of bruised skin.
“They’ll heal up,” Linda said, digging into her bowl of oatmeal. “You guys grow this?” she asked me.
“This? No. I ordered a ton of steel cut oats from Margie. If I would have known that the lights were going out for a long time, I would have bought more.”
“You didn’t know any better than the rest of us,” Grandpa said. “Remember, we still got that last payment and the papers are useless now.”
“We don’t know that,” Grandma said, bustling around the kitchen, heating more water on the stove for coffee or tea.
“Where we going to spend it? You heard everything I did. The government got all the supplies and people and moved them to a couple areas where they can better feed and care for them.”
“More like keeping them in one spot so they can control the populace,” Linda said, getting up and grabbing a coffee cup from Grandma.
“What about the farmers, the engineers, the people trying to fix the grid?” I asked them.
“We heard on the radio that they are going to focus on the cities first. It sounds like they have been stacking people up,” Jessica said.
I cursed softly. “With the infrastructure down, how they going to handle all the utility needs?”
“This is the government… they probably trucked in a ton of military generators to kick start things. From some of the HAM radio people we’ve heard from, families from out of the area are being moved in with others. People are not happy.”
“What about food? They ain’t growing anything in the city,” Grandma asked.
Jess turned to answer, but Curt walked in silently. “We might have a problem,” he said softly, then opened the door.
I could hear the sound of a running motor. It was coming in from the direct route from town. I could tell from the direction and how the noise seemed to get quieter then louder as it went up and down the hills.
“Expecting anybody?” Linda asked the room, putting her coffee down and picking up her pack.
She began putting it on, and I got up as well, walking to the door. “No,” I said softly.
I heard Jessica speak into the radio behind her, so I walked into my bedroom and opened the closet. I’d taken my guns out of the wall hiding spot and had them stored in there. I stuffed a handful of shells in my pockets and went back. As I was passing through the kitchen, everyone but Linda had emptied out of the house.
She was putting an ear piece in. “Stick close to me, everyone else is getting ready for an ambush if needed.”
“I’m going to sit out on the porch,” I said, looking at Grandpa and Grandma. “love you two. Grandpa, keep Raider inside for this would you?”
“I don’t need your fool dog to protect me,” Grandpa huffed.
“Not you, him. Keep him from getting shot up if things go south.”
He relaxed a bit and nodded, even though I’d just told one whopper of a lie. If something terrible was coming, Raider would bark his fool head off, and they could head out the door in the laundry room near where the coop had been pushed up by the house.
“You be careful, Grandson.”
“Yes, sir,” I said and went out on the porch. Linda hesitated then closed the door softly. I heard the window behind me slide open further.
“You tell me if it’s not a friendly,” she said quietly.
“We don’t even know if they’re coming here,” I said, noting that what I was hearing seemed to split up a bit.
Not split up, but it was hard to describe. I realized that I didn't just hear one engine, but multiple. I took my seat and laid the shotgun across my lap.
“Raider, you keep quiet. You’re going to be my secret weapon.”
I heard a loud chuff near the window behind me. I kicked my feet up on the railing, holding the shotgun tight. After a few more seconds I could pick out two different sounds. One louder but higher pitched, the other one sounding like a truck. My feet hit the ground when I heard gunfire. I stood up and pumped the shotgun halfway open and saw I had a slug in the chamber. I moved to stand behind the corner post. Not so much to work as a bullet stop, it wouldn’t, but to break up my profile a bit. I held the shotgun at the low and ready. I heard more gunshots and a horn blaring.
“Lyle says a Suburban is being chased by two ATVs,” Linda said from behind me loudly.
I heard Grandpa telling her exactly what kind of Suburban Les had, and somewhere near the driveway somebody fired. That was when the cloud of dust and dirt caught
up with a swerving Suburban that turned hard into our driveway, its rear wheels sliding behind it on the gravel. For a second I thought he was going to lose control, but he straightened out again as another gun was fired from what I assumed was Linda’s men or Jessica.
“Three ATVs,” Linda yelled. “One is down. All are armed.”
Les came toward the house at full tilt. I had a moment where I thought he was going to hit the house at the better of forty or fifty miles an hour, but he braked hard and shot past us, still slowing, toward the back of the property after passing the barn.
“Here they come,” somebody yelled from the barn.
My vision narrowed, and my heart seemed to slow down. From here to the end of the driveway was about seventy-five yards. A shot I could do with my iron sights. I thumbed the safety off and raised the shotgun. I heard another boom from somebody firing, then a rattle of small arms fire. I realized I was holding my breath and let it out slowly. I saw an ATV come into sight, a rifle across the front rack, the rider wearing a black helmet. He hesitated a second before turning down the driveway, barely slowing. He didn’t have the problem Les had and made his turn sharply. I let out another breath, led the shot and fired as he accelerated.
I wasn’t the only one firing, but my shot had been aimed at his chin, planning on the drop. If he went too fast, it would hit him in the head. If he slowed or moved, I hoped to hit him in the chest. There was an explosion of red mist, and he was thrown off the ATV like he’d been mule kicked. The ATV, now riderless, turned to the side and started toppling, hitting the deck I was sitting at. I wasn’t watching that directly, just peripherally, and pumped another round in searching. I heard a long string of shots. An eternity of time seemed to pass.
I realized I was holding my breath again and behind me, Raider was barking. My arms started to shake a little bit. That tremor, once noticed, seemed to snap me out of it. I walked around the porch to the four wheeler with the shotgun still shouldered. I pulled on the handle and realized it was much too heavy to do it one handed. I saw the key and knelt down and turned it and hit the kill switch just in case. It turned off, and suddenly I could hear again.
Blackout: Still Surviving Page 20