Elaine, Grink, and Mitch were present to send us off. After a round of handshakes and hugs, Robert and Simone lined up next to each other, ready to leave. Elaine and I were slightly off to the side saying a private goodbye.
“Take care of yourself out there Ben, please come back to me.” A tear dropped from Elaine’s eye.
“I will. Before you know it, I’ll be back with my supplies, and we will plan for the winter, I promise.”
Elaine kissed me on the lips, “Now go, before I change my mind!” She retreated to Grink’s side and looked at us with sadness in her eyes.
We all rode out of town on U.S. 12, headed for Wisconsin 26. As we left the barricade, Robert said, “On to Whitewater and home!”
He was clearly excited to be on his way again, Simone looked similarly pumped to be back on the road toward home. We settled into a relatively fast pace, about 12 MPH with our loaded bikes. I estimated that we would reach Whitewater by nightfall barring any unforeseen circumstances. I hoped that we would be unmolested as we traveled, but I could feel Mr. Murphy creeping alongside us as we rode.
Chapter 19
Elaine watched her new found lover leave the confines of the town with a sinking heart. She was very worried that she would never see Ben again, but a spark of hope remained that he would return. As her friends became smaller, she said to herself, “Now back to being Police Chief of this berg.”
She made her way to her office and summoned Grink. He arrived a few minutes later, “You wanted to see me ma’am?
“Yes. Grink, I need a second in command, and I want you to fill that position. You’re the best man on this department,t and I need a man like you to act as my liaison with the other town departments as well as the rest of the staff. What do you think?
Grink, whose full name was Virgil Xerxes Grinker was taken by surprise by the offer. He was just doing his duty over the past few days; he wasn’t special, nor did he think he was leader material. He was just an ordinary small town cop.
“Why me? Ben is coming back; he would be a great right hand man. Even Simone would be better than me; they both have big city experience.”
Elaine cut him off, “But you know everyone in town Virgil, and the town residents know you. They will be much more willing to abide by any decisions you make as my second in command. I need an answer now Grink, we must get some structure established.
Grink knew he was on the spot, but he didn’t want to disappoint his boss, “Well ma’am, I’ll do it. But when Ben comes back, please consider him, I think he would be better at it.
“Noted. Your new title is Colonel, and you’re responsible for the good order and discipline for the remaining officers and militia we will be building in the immediate future. For now, I want you to gather the names of 100 able-bodied men to form the backbone of the militia.”
“I’ll get on it right away ma’am.” He got up to leave. His shoulders heavy with new responsibilities.
“One last thing Grink, could you find Cook and send him up to me? We need to talk about our guests downstairs.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Grink left the office and went to the lower level of the building to the cells. He found Cook behind his desk reviewing the prior evening’s cellblock checks. Grink thought Cook was a good man. He took his duties seriously and took very good care of any prisoners they had. He was polite but firm and was a perfect fit for head jailor.
“Hey Cook, the Chief wants to see you about our guests.”
“Ok, let me get Kessel to take over.” He went into the other room to get John Kessel, the newest hire to the department.
Grink rolled his eyes; he didn’t like Kessel. He was from Beloit, Wisconsin, and never adjusted to small town policing. He was rude to just about everybody and often acted in a capricious manner when it came to dealing with problems, favoring emotion based decisions over rule based ones. He got written up a few times for his actions and banished to the assistant jailor’s position because of his behavior on the street. So far, he has behaved himself, but Grink knew that it wouldn’t last.
Kessel came out of his office, “Hey Grinker, Cook sent me out here to look after our prisoners while he went to kiss the feet of the mistress.”
Grinker whirled to face Kessel, “Look Officer; that’s Chief Krusk to you! If I had my way, I’d fire you for that comment. Now do your job and take care of our prisoners!”
Grinker left the basement angry at himself for letting Kessel get under his skin like that. Once he got outside he cooled down a bit and threw himself into the task that the Chief gave him, gathering a Militia to protect the town.
Kessel smiled at Grinker’s retreating form….it was so easy to piss people off around here. The best part is that they couldn’t do anything to him about it. They way he had it figured, they needed cops in town so they wouldn’t just fire somebody for bending a few rules or upsetting the cool kids upstairs. He went into the cellblock to check on his prisoners, the bitch and the black Napoleon. He looked in the first cell, the one that contained the black guy. He was sitting with his back against the wall glaring out the small window of the cell door. Kessel glared back and then gave him the finger. That solicited a muffled “Fuck you” from the cell. He then went to the woman’s cell and unlocked the door. He loved entering the cell and intimidating the woman for fun. He entered the cell and stood over Mary, “Hi bitch, how’s it going for you today?”
Mary glared at Kessel, “About as good as it’s going to get fuck head, how about for you?”
Kessel smiled a sick smile, “Well, you know, a little of this and a little of that, but at least I’m not getting hung within the week!”
Mary had tolerated the treatment handed out by Kessel because she had no choice, but could take no more. She had made a thin but strong garrote out of a thin piece of cloth while she was rotting away in the cell, and if this prick gave her the chance, she was going to use it.
Kessel continued his hostile banter, “Well bitch; I would love to sit here and chat all day about how we’re going to execute you, but I have bigger fish to fry, ta ta!” He turned his back on her, as he did every day.
Mary sprung up and looped the cord around Kessel’s neck and tightened it with all her strength. Kessel didn’t realize anything was amiss until he felt the cord dig into his flesh across his Adam’s apple.
Kessel could only let out a high-pitched bleat as the cord dug in and strangled the life from him. He tried to elbow Mary and shake her off, but her position behind his back prevented it from happening. Kessel began to lose consciousness and toppled to his hands and knees. Mary poured it on and tightened the cord further, landing on Kessel’s back. Kessel’s struggles began to weaken and finally ended. Mary kept the cord tight for another 30 seconds to ensure that her tormentor was indeed dead, and then left her cell and freed Delquan.
They wasted no time. Mary locked Kessel in her cell and closed the door to Delquan’s as not to alert their captors of their escape and fled out of the walk out basement door and into the surrounding neighborhood to hide and plan their escape from town. They ran like the devil himself was after them and found a vacant house with a “For Sale” sign in front of it. Delquan kicked the back basement door in, and they entered the residence. The house was still furnished but gave off an unoccupied vibe. They retreated to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, exhausted from their escape.
Mary looked at Delquan and his wounds, “Oh, my poor man….what have they done to you?”
Delquan had healed up to the point where he could sufficiently move his mouth to speak, “I was shot in the battle and captured……unfortunately, the army is destroyed, and we are the only ones left my love.”
Mary began to weep, “Then it’s over! The cops are going to find us and kill us in this little podunk town. We’re fucking doomed!”
Delquan slapped Mary hard, “We still have a chance bitch! All we got to do is hide until the sun goes down and then get the fuck out of dodge! Let’s look around here
and gather some supplies, and then rest for a bit. It will take them a long time to find us if they have to go house to house.”
Mary was breathing hard, “Ok Delquan, whatever you say. I’ll fix the door in the basement and search down there for some backpacks or something. You look upstairs and gather food and medical stuff and some new clothes. Hopefully, our luck will hold out, and we can get out of this hellhole!”
Mary made her way into the basement. She looked over the door they kicked in and found very little damage. She tried to close it and surprisingly, it latched shut. She locked it and then began to search the basement in a methodical manner. The amount of stuff the average person had constantly amazed her. There was a treasure trove of camping equipment in the basement. She found backpacks, a tent, some sleeping bags and a pile of lightweight backpacking stuff. She found a compact stove, cups and plates, matches, candles, and a lantern. She found a small shovel and the stakes for the tent as well. She set aside the supplies and continued her search. In the far corner of the basement, she found a large stand up safe with a combination lock. Curiosity took hold of her, and she began to search the immediate area for the combination. She didn’t have to look far, scrawled on the right upper corner of the safe were the numbers 10-36-10-52. She fiddled with the combination lock, turning the dial in accordance with the numbers on the safe. She grabbed the handle and pulled, and the safe opened. Inside the safe were a large selection of handguns and rifles with a supply of ammunition for each stacked neatly on the floor of the safe. Mary could barely contain her glee…..Delquan would be so pleased! She scurried up the stairs to let her man know of her find.
Delquan was meeting with similar success. He found a large amount of canned food in the pantry off of the kitchen as well as a well-stocked liquor cabinet. He reached in the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Hennessy and drank deeply. He didn’t mind the sting the alcohol brought from his healing mouth and let the lovely liquid pleasure slide down his throat. He found a pharmacy’s of painkillers in the medicine cabinet, including 120 20mg Oxycontin pills as well as some Xanax and a full bottle of Vicodin. He popped an oxy and washed it down with some Hennessy. He collected all of the pills as well as some basic medical supplies and brought them into the bedroom.
Mary re-entered the bedroom, “Delquan, I found guns in the basement! I also found lots of camping stuff!”
“Excellent Mary! Bring the camping stuff up, I’ll go look at the guns.”
They both made their way into the basement. While Mary gathered up the camping equipment, Delquan sauntered over to the guns and looked over the collection. He took the AR-15 out of its cradle and the magazines on the bottom of the vault. He also selected a Ruger Vaquero in .44 Magnum along with a holster. For Mary, he selected a large frame 9mm handgun. He looked at the side and saw the words hi-point stamped on the slide. It was an ungainly pistol, but it would have to do since there was nothing else she could handle. Delquan shut the vault and spun the dial, no reason to give their pursuers a trail to follow, and made his way back up into the bedroom with Mary in tow.
Next, they raided the closets for spare clothing. Mary found some pants and a pair of sturdy hiking boots and a button down shirt to replace her cotton print dress. Delquan found a couple of shirts, and a pair of sneakers to replace the ones that were taken from him during his stay in jail.
After packing the bags and setting them in the corner for quick access in case they needed to escape, Delquan and Mary lay in the bed and slept, waiting for sunset and a chance to escape.
Cook returned from the chief’s office about twenty minutes after Mary and Delquan escaped.
“Kessel!?......Where the fuck are you?” Cook looked around for his lazy counterpart. He usually found him in the can with a skin magazine, but when he didn’t find him there, he began to get concerned. He entered the cellblock and looked in Delquan’s cell. Instead of a large brooding black man, he found nothing. He rushed over to Mary’s cell and found Kessel face down in a pool of blood. Cook yelled to nobody in particular, “The prisoners have escaped!” The 4 on-duty police in the building ran into the cellblock. The chief came down in short order and saw Kessel.
“Ah, shit! Cook, where could they have the gone in such a short time?”
“I think that the headed out the basement door and from there it’s anybody’s guess. If I were running, I wouldn’t do it in the daytime, that flower child and a big black guy would stick out like a sore thumb in town. I would go to ground fast, if I were them.”
“That sounds like a good place to start.” The chief turned to face her troops, “Each of you, pick a point of the compass and search that side of town. Round up five additional men for each group. Search all the vacant houses in town. I want everybody armed. Remember these fugitives have everything to lose if we catch them so they’ll be very dangerous. All right, let’s get to it!”
Elaine sent a runner to find Grink and apprise him of the developing situation, and gather additional men for the search. After giving Grinker his marching orders, she returned to her office and issued radios and had a dispatcher activated to facilitate communication between the groups. She prayed that the escapees get caught before they could cause any more damage. “Dammit Ben, why did you have to leave now!” she thought to herself as she rocked back in her chair.
Chapter 20
We were making good time down U.S. 12. Although there were a few cars stalled and abandoned in the roadway, they were few and far between, giving a would-be ambusher very little cover for an attack. We were riding like a well oiled machine, Robert in the lead, Simone in the middle and me in the rear. We trucked along at about 12 mph, Whitewater coming closer with each pedal revolution. At the intersection of U.S. 12 and Wisconsin 26, there were several cars piled up in what appeared to be a large traffic accident, more than likely caused by the EMP.
I pumped my brakes and said, “Slow down everybody, stop in 20 feet!”
My friends started to slow down and pull to the side of the road. We lined up our bikes and dismounted, closely examining the scene. I un-slung my rifle…something wasn’t right. I whispered to Simone and Robert, “Be careful, my Spidey sense is tingling.” To emphasize my point I clicked off the safety of my rifle, my compatriots followed my example. We approached the pileup in a skirmish line. I motioned my friends to come down the left side of the wreck so we could get a flanking view of the carnage. As I passed a burned out hulk of a station wagon, I heard a voice yell from the tree line alongside the road “GET ‘EM!”
Six men and women in their 20’s boiled out of the woods armed with axes, machetes, and one shotgun and attempted to flank us. Simone and Robert took cover behind a burned up station wagon and aimed their rifles at the approaching mob. Unfortunately, I found myself exposed to the attackers.
I aimed my rifle and shouted, “Stay back!”
Three of the group went for Robert and Simone and the other three, including the man armed with the shotgun headed for me with murder in his eye. I was not going to let the guy with the shotgun get a round off, so I began firing, sending hot lead in the direction of the attackers. My first shots struck the man with the shotgun, killing him instantly. He fell to the ground in an ungainly heap, with the shotgun pinned under his body. Simone began firing and took out two of her three attackers in quick succession. Robert hesitated, and was bowled over by the final attacker. Robert and the man struggled on the ground over Robert’s weapon. Robert was pinned to the ground by the attacker while he spit and cursed at Robert and attempted to wrest the rifle from Robert’s grip. Simone placed the barrel of her rifle against the man’s temple and pulled the trigger. The man’s head exploded like a blood-filled pumpkin, and his body toppled off of a stunned Robert. The two other attackers facing me seemed frozen in place about ten feet from me, unsure of what to do.
I decided to take the initiative. I shouldered my rifle, pointed it directly at them and yelled, “Drop your weapons, or you’ll die where you stand!” The two at
tackers, one man and one woman dropped their weapons and put their hands in the air.
“Now drop to your knees and put your hands on your head!” They complied and looked at me fearfully.
“Simone, grab some zip ties from my bag and bring them over here, they’re in the top pocket of my bike bag!”
Simone scrambled back to my bike, removed some zip ties, and raced back to me.
“Now go over and secure their hands. If any of you try to resist, I’ll shoot you!”
Simone expertly zip tied their wrists and pushed them forward, each person making an “Oof” sound as they hit the ground.
“Now, go help Robert up, we got some prisoners to talk to.” Simone helped Robert from the ground, and they made their way over to my side.
I slung my rifle and walked to the prisoners. The female prisoner wailed, “Don’t kill us!”
We picked up the prisoners and marched them to the center of the road, sitting them on the double yellow line where we could cover the entire area.
I unholstered my pistol and pointed it at them, “Ok kids, time for a little Q and A. Why did you attack us?”
The woman began to answer, but the man stopped her with, “Shut up bitch, don't tell them anything!”
I walked over to the man and backhanded him hard across the face with the carbon fiber knuckles of my full-fingered gloves, drawing a line of blood from his lips, “Shut your fucking mouth asshole!” The prisoner fell face first into the pavement, emitting a yowl of pain.
I then face the woman, “You were saying ma’am?”
The woman swallowed and continued, “We were on our way to Alpine Valley when our car stopped. We got to the side of the road just as these other cars started hitting each other. A couple of people died in their burning cars. We began to get scared after no help arrived, and people began to wander off to go look for help. We had nowhere to go, so we decided to stay by the road and wait for help in case it showed up. We figured something big happened and that the Red Cross or FEMA would eventually show up and rescue us. After a few days, our food ran out and Jimmy, the guy you killed, started robbing people who passed by. It was working good until you guys showed up.”
Lights out in America's Dairyland: An EMP Adventure Page 16