Hell in the Homeland

by A J Newman

  Bob added, “Same for our ships, planes and tanks. It’s a start.”

  Bob and John kept the main objective, to capture the DHS compound, to themselves, but left the rest out in the open. Bob gave the team a list of priorities and then they started mapping out an action plan for each objective. They worked in the basement room for several days ironing out their plans and making lists of supplies and skills they had to have to be successful. They planned to send scout teams to Mobile to probe the defenses around the compound and make up-to-date maps of that area as their first action. The rest of the group would concentrate on finding able-bodied men and women to arm and join their forces.

  ***

  Deke spent at least two hours per day sorting through the women in the relocation camp. He was the only one who knew the president’s plan and certainly the only one who knew his addition to that plan. The president had ordered each field marshal to weed out the stronger willed men and women from the rest and put them in slave camps to be kept under guard and worked to death. The other weaker ones would not resist and would become the new USA. They would be glad to be fed and taken care of by the government. Deke added his rule to the president’s set of rules. Deke’s rule was that he was going to have sex with every one of the keepers and impregnate everyone that he could. He wanted to be the father of the new state of Alabama.

  Deke had no military training and actually thought that they were beneath him. Once the country was subjugated, he would knock them down a peg or two. This wrongheaded thinking filtered down throughout his team. There were many experienced ex-military men in his army, but most were in lower level positions and the less experienced leaders did not listen to them when they pointed out glaring issues with their defenses and tactics. The only exceptions were the complaints from the major who was in charge of the patrols along the Tennessee border and just north of Mobile. Major Davis was reporting resistance and lost patrols. Major Johnson who was charge of defending the compound was pleading with his superiors to move the troops into the underground bunkers instead of the barracks buildings just inside of the perimeter fences. Deke was not about to hide his army below ground like some scared rabbits. Besides the rogue military and the USA have agreed not to attack each other and no one else has any real firepower. The captain reminded them of the Marines killed in Lebanon in the eighties when Regan sent them in to keep peace.

  Deke didn’t have time for this nonsense about security since he knew that the country was a shambles and the people only had a few ARs and hunting rifles. His men were heavily armed and had heavy machine guns, LAWs and mortars that would decimate any resistance. He was very pleased with their progress in getting the people of Alabama into the relocation and labor camps. There were only about five hundred thousand people left alive in Alabama due to disease, starvation and attacks by gangs and the DHS.

  The president had requested that the field marshal come to the new capital to meet with him in person. The government would send a plane for him and his wife so the trip would be safe and would give them a chance to rub elbows with the leaders of the new country.

  ***

  The captain warned Gus to be careful not to make any changes that would stand out from the air. He also told John and Gus that part of the overall plan could have them moving from the bunker to a more secure location in a few months. Gus gathered his team. They drew up their thoughts about improving the perimeter defense and how to make guard duty a little bit easier. Beth and Sammy volunteered to put a guard schedule together that would be effective and fair. Meg and Steve checked out the top of the barn and house for potential lookout stations.

  George gathered the trucks with the horse trailers and got the team ready to go on a supplies search along Highway 65 North.

  He took time to train the team to know when to hide and play possum and how to keep as low a profile as possible. Robin wanted to bring a Humvee along to protect them. Gus explained that a Humvee would stand out like a sore thumb and draw attention. He knew that their success depended on not being seen while scavenging.

  John caught George that evening and said, “George, keep an eye out for good men with combat experience and other skills that will be helpful when we go to war with the DHS. We will need a small army.”

  He then added, “Bring back all of the Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer that you can find and perhaps we can level the playing field.”

  Gus led his team north the next morning before dawn.

  Chapter 9

  Bad Things Happen to Good People

  South Alabama

  June 22, 2020

  George was hiding under the tandem wheels of a semi along with Sonny and Jill. They were watching a group of people trying to open the back of a trailer that had Kroger decals on the side.

  Sonny told his father, “The dumb asses don’t know what a reefer trailer looks like, do they?”

  George replied, “They probably aren’t the smartest bunch, but let’s watch them for a while.”

  As they watched, a larger group of people walked up to the ones trying to break into the trailer. A tall woman pointed at the reefer unit and broke out laughing at the guy with the crowbar. The entire group broke out laughing and started towards the trailer that George’s team was hiding. George stood up while being careful to maintain cover. He waved at the group and asked, “Can we put the guns down and talk?”

  The woman shouldered her rifle and walked towards George while the others stayed vigilant. She said, “I’d rather talk than shoot anytime.”

  George told his team to keep an eye on these strangers.

  George extended his hand towards the lady and they shook hands. George quickly told her their story and as usual held back some detail. Sally Green was the leader of the group that was composed of three families that had left Montgomery to escape the ongoing turf wars between several gangs. The gangs were fighting for control of what drugs, supplies and water that remained. They were taking women as sex slaves and trying to raid the surrounding towns for arms, drugs and anything they could trade for drugs. Meth making and prescription drug availability had exploded due to the gangs robbing the pharmacies and prescription drug warehouses. They had experienced several harrowing narrow escapes, but were now concentrating on finding supplies and drinking water.

  Sally pointed to George’s M4 and asked, “How did you get the military style weapons?”

  George replied, “We found them lying on the ground after someone ambushed a bunch of those DHS thugs.”

  She laughed and said, “Pardon me if I think that sounds a bit suspicious since I was a homicide detective for fifteen years. We actually thought that you might be in league with the DHS.”

  George replied, “I’m afraid that the DHS is enemy number one for most American people.”

  Sally agreed and added, “We feel the same way. We have seen several instances where the DHS has shot innocent people who would not go to the camp in Mobile. We could not help those people because we were outnumbered and as you see we only have a few pistols and some hunting rifles. We need some assault weapons like you have.”

  George turned and called the others in his group to come into the meeting. Everyone but Sonny walked out in the open to the group. He stayed behind just in case things went south.

  George asked Sally to sit and talk with him for a while to see what common interests they have.

  Sally said, “We don’t have much time since we need to keep scrounging for food.”

  George waved and Sonny walked into the group packing a SAW and smiling at everyone.

  Sally said, “So, you don’t trust us.”

  George said, “I didn’t and until you tell your guys over behind that truck to come on over, I still won’t.”

  Sally waved at her men and they joined the main group.

  George said, “Forget looking for food today, we have more than enough and can quickly show you how to improve your search methods.”

  George had his team bring their vehicle
s and make camp. They feasted on Spam, rice and beans then turned to forming a mutual alliance.

  There were 23 men and 39 women in Sally’s group. All, but five, had some experience with guns and could be quickly trained to fight. George gave them twenty M4s, sixteen 9mm Glock pistols and one hundred rounds for each. He then had Sonny give them a pair of bolt cutters to speed up breaking into the trailers. He told them that Sonny would stay with them a couple of days to give them some military training and to help them find a base of operations. He told them that their base was only about thirty miles away and that they were looking for people to join in the resistance to the DHS while out on their supplies scrounging trips. Sally’s group was amazed that George had so many running vehicles and asked if he could help them get a couple running. George told Sonny to help them find a couple of old trucks and help them get running, but had to be back at the bunker in three days.

  Sonny took one of the men and headed out to the nearest town in one of the trucks. They came back in two hours with a 1973 F250 towing a trailer. Sonny explained that he just got lucky; however, he explained to the group that there were hundreds of antique project vehicles all over the country. He gave them a short course on old technology concerning carburetors, points in distributors and setting gaps on spark plugs. He cautioned to not get shot acquiring them.

  George gave Sally a walkie-talkie and spare batteries. He then told her how to check in without staying on long enough to be traced. He told her how to give short coded words to say all is well or there is trouble. George demonstrated, “G1/30N/AG.”

  A voice came back over the radio, “J1/AG.”

  George said, “I told him where I am and all is good. He told me who he is and all is good. You are now officially part of John Harris’ army and your call sign is S2."

  Sally asked, “Who is John Harris and how did he get to be our leader?”

  Gus said, “How many ex CIA special forces badass MFs do you have in your team? Actually, John leads about a hundred men, women and children. We both forecast this crap would happen and have been preparing for it for years.”

  Gus waved for everyone to come over to him. When they settled down he said, “Do any of you listen to the radio program, “How to Survive”, hosted by John Harris?”

  Several said they did and the information from the show has been helping them survive.

  Gus turned to Sally and said, “That radio host is our fearless leader.”

  George told Sally that they needed her team to find more people to join the cause and to contact him if any wanted to join them at the compound. He cautioned her to watch for DHS spies and gang members just trying to harm them. Sally told him that several of her group would like to go back with him. They were two young couples with very young kids and a newborn baby.

  ***

  Shaniqua saw the two people first and waived for the others to drop and hide.

  “Look they have assault rifles. We have to take the rifles and find out if there are more. Let’s ambush them and try not to kill them so we can see if they know where we can get more AKs.”

  She turned and looked at her rag tag team and knew that most had never been in a fight much less than a gunfight in their whole lives. When TSHTF, she killed her pimp, took his guns and joined this small biker gang. She killed the leader in his sleep and took over the gang.

  “Marcus and Dashawn, y’all go down the fence line and wait until you hear me shoot before opening up on them. Shoot to wound.”

  Shaniqua saw her guys slipping down the fence line when one tripped, fell and dropped his rifle. The gun fired and she saw one of the two intruders drop to the ground. She and the others began shooting at the remaining man.

  ***

  Sammy and Robin were walking the perimeter fence on the west side of the bunker compound when they came under intense fire originating from nearby woods. They dropped to the ground and Sammy scanned the woods to determine where the shots had come from. He noticed that Robin was lying face down in the grass and not moving. He shook her and she did not respond. He rolled her over and saw a bullet hole in her head. She was dead. His partner was lying there dead, with a big hole in her head. He got mad and then enraged. He knew that nothing would bring his partner back, but he would make the bastards pay.

  Sammy jumped the fence, crawled on his belly until he got to some bushes, stood up and started shooting at the attackers. He killed four in less than a minute. He dropped and crawled to a log and peered over it just in time to see some guys escaping on motorcycles. He took careful aim and shot one of the bastards off his bike. He shot several times and dropped two more. He then opened up on full auto and sprayed the rest with .223s. He was mad because he did not get them all, but he was sure he wounded some of the ones escaping.

  With extreme caution, Sammy moved towards the downed bikers and finally stood over the closest two bodies. The first was obviously dead and the other had a wound in his back. Sammy shot him in his head and finished him off. He bent over to roll the third body over to see the biker’s face when the biker suddenly kicked him on the shin and tried to escape. He grabbed the biker’s jacket just as the biker got up to run and pulled him back with all of his strength. He then started beating the hell out of the biker who only put up token resistance. Sammy had noticed that the biker was a small man, but expected more fight from the bastard.

  Sammy kicked the guy in the side and told him, “Roll over or be shot in the back.”

  To his surprise, a rather attractive young woman rolled over and gave him the finger. Sammy made her stand up, tied her hands behind her and then frisked her for weapons.

  “Get your hands off my tits, you fucking pervert. I’ll kill your sorry ass when I get lose. I’ll kill your whole family.”

  He searched her bike then checked the tire tracks to determine how many bikers had participated in the ambush. He counted seven for sure and maybe another. He picked up their brass and found 30.06, 30.30 and some .357 shell casings which told him that they were armed with a couple of hunting rifles and pistols. Not much firepower considering what guns must have been in most gun shops.

  Sammy got her to her feet and then herded her back to the bunker. Beth and Gus came running to the sound of gunfire and met Sammy at the perimeter fence. He asked Beth to guard the prisoner while he talked with Gus.

  Sammy told Gus that Robin had been shot by a motorcycle gang and was dead. Gus immediately grabbed the prisoner and started beating her senseless. Beth and Sammy pulled him off and Beth told him that he could kill her later, but they needed to interrogate her before he could kill her. Gus calmed down, and then kicked her in the mouth as her turned to go to Robin. Gus carried Robin back to the bunker, placed her on the porch and sat with her for several hours.

  Sammy took the prisoner to the barn, tied her to a chair and left her with a guard to watch her. Beth rounded up the group and filled them in on the attack and Robin’s death. She then asked if anyone had interrogated a prisoner before. Gus walked up and told them that he was an expert at getting people to talk.

  John replied, “Gus, we need her to talk, then die, not die before she talks.

  Gus said, “I will kill the bitch after I get what we need from her and not a second before she talks.”

  Gus then ran everyone out of the barn except for John, Beth and Sammy. Gus gave a list of items to Beth and Sammy to fetch and began to prepare for the interrogation. They came back with all of the items that Gus had requested. Gus then took out a knife, cut her clothes off and piled them on the floor. He leaned her chair back until her head was slightly lower than her body and placed a towel over her face. He then picked up a bucket and slowly poured water on the towel, which made her start coughing and spitting. After about ten minutes, he raised her back up and took the towel of her face. She spit a stream of water in his face and laughed at him.

  She said, “Everyone knows that you can’t drown from being water boarded, you dumb prick!”

  Gus lowered her back down
and poured water on her for twenty minutes with the same results.

  Gus took Beth and Sammy outside and said, “Look, I hate the bitch and can easily shoot her, but I never tortured a woman before, I don’t think I can cut her fingers off or burn the soles of her feet.”

  Beth said, “Give me a few minutes and I will come back with something that will work.”

  John took Bob and Gus off to the side and said, “We have been so busy surviving that we have not thought about how to handle a prisoner or conducting trials for criminals. I would have easily shot her dead during a battle. Now that we captured her, can we execute her? I don’t think we can release her to keep killing.”

  Bob replied, “We must avoid taking prisoners unless we need info from them, then execute them.” Gus, John and Bob agreed.

  Beth went to the house and gathered Ann, Shirley and Alice to help her figure out what to do.

  Beth said, “We need to get this degenerate bitch to talk and Gus can’t torture her like he would do for a man. What would scare the shit out of you and make you spill the beans?”

  Several came up with ideas that were just too soft to make her talk, and then Shirley walked over to her and whispered in her ear.

  Shirley ended with, “That was the nightmare I had as a child growing up in the ghetto in Atlanta.”

  Beth replied, “That is horrible and might just work.”

  Beth headed back to the barn, but stopped and asked several of the boys to go find a live rat.

  Beth told Ann and Shirley to force the prisoner to lie naked on the floor of the barn and staked her down with her legs and arms spread out. Beth tied a string around the rat’s neck, placed it on the woman’s chest and let it walk around her body. The prisoner was visibly upset, but acted as if nothing was happening. Beth continued to walk the rat around on top of the woman’s body. She started yelling about her rights and that this was inhumane, then broke down and cried between fits of yelling. Beth led the rat down between the prisoner’s legs and that broke her.