The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning

by Ira Tabankin

  Jason looks at Len thinking about what he said, “Len, you might be on to something there. Let’s do a census of our people, we need to figure out what they have and need before we decide where or when to go. When our two groups combined, we lost track of the condition of everyone. I think we should spend the next few days checking on everyone. Everyone is resting, they have enough to eat and clean water to drink. Everyone is going to shower, they’ll be in a much better frame of mind after a couple of days rest and having enough to eat.”

  Robert says, “Guys, we came from Nashville, there’s nothing there. When we left, the city was in shambles, most of it was burning out of control.”

  Jeff, a leader of the northern group, says, “I think we should pack up all the food and water everyone can carry and head south towards Mobile. Being along the coast where’s it’s much warmer is going to do everyone a lot of good.”

  Jason replies, “Jeff that means we’ll have to make our way around the three major cities, Nashville, Huntsville, and Birmingham. I think Huntsville might be OK, the military had a large presence in Huntsville, and they may have been able to hold control of the city. Birmingham, on the other hand, could be a real mess. I wouldn’t want to go there in normal times. The city was famous for race issues and riots before things got crazy.”

  Jeff asks, “Can we reach Mobile without going through Birmingham?”

  “There’s a highway that goes around the city, however, I think it’s going to be a fight anywhere near the city.”

  Jeff asks, “Is there anywhere between Huntsville and Birmingham we can find a place to stay?”

  Robert says, “Maybe we can find a place to stay in Huntsville or near the river like in Decatur. The last time I was in Decatur, there were many farms.”

  Jeff says, “I like being next to a major river. It could provide us water for farms and transportation like our ancestors did. Based on the distance between here and Huntsville I think we’re going to need sufficient food to keep us going for at least thirty days.”

  Robert says, “I agree. There are three bikes in the garage, why don’t we send three scouts south to check the conditions.”

  Everyone nods their agreement to Robert’s idea.

  @@@@@

  Tony is sitting across from John in the security shelter, “John, we know our neighbors have been overrun, do we know anything else?”

  “Unfortunately, we don’t. We don’t have any cameras with a field of view that far. All we know is when I called, someone else answered.”

  “We need information to have some idea of what we’re up against.”

  “Tony, I have one out of the box idea, it’s a little dangerous, but it’s the only way I can think of without putting any of our people at risk.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “We send one of our drones over their farms.”

  “Can we do that?”

  “I think we can. If we lose one, we’ll be down to only seven. Our camera wouldn’t be able to transmit to us, but the camera will record on an SD card, which we’ll review when the drone returns.”

  Tony looks concerned, “John, so if something happens to the drone, not only are we out the drone, but also the camera and the SD card.”

  “Tony, you see the problem. We only have a limited number of cameras, drones, and SD memory cards.”

  “I can’t believe we missed stocking drones and cameras.”

  “Yes, we blew that one. I don’t think it occurred to you or Jay cameras or drones were a high priority item. You were focused on stocking food, weapons, computers, medications and farming equipment. You guys did better than I thought possible. We have enough food that if we had to move to the shelter and live off of our supplies we could do so for a few years. I’m amazed you two pulled it off.”

  “What we didn’t think through was the need for information.”

  “Why should you? Neither of you had the experience to protect a facility. I used to have to design security for fire bases in hostile areas. The Indians were always looking for ways to get to the good guys. They surprised me with the number of ways they thought of to get to the good guys. We needed information, such as how many people we’re facing, how’re they’re armed and how they’re treating the farms they conquered.”

  Tony looks at John and back to the monitors, he’s very concerned about the group sitting less than a mile away. Tony’s thinking to himself, I knew we should have either purchased that land or found a way to bring them under our umbrella. They didn’t think they were in danger, they lowered their defense, it got them killed. “John, since I can’t think of any other way to get information, you have my support. I do, however, have one suggestion.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “I suggest you paint the drone. Currently, they’re dark gray and black for night operations. If we’re going to perform a daylight mission, I suggest we repaint it so it doesn’t stick out against the sky if they look up.”

  “Damn it, great point, I forgot all about that. I’ll get right on it.”

  At 5:30 PM with the sun setting John and Todd launched the drone. Tony, Fred with his arm still in a sling and I crammed into the security shelter with John. We tracked the drone, we watch it cross our front boundary when our RF signal strength falls off cutting the live video stream off. John says, “That’s the end of our live video until it returns.”

  Fred asks, “John if you can’t see how do you control the drone?”

  John smiles responding, “Who said anything about flying it? We programmed a course into it and let it go. We sent it to GPS points we know from visiting the farms. We instructed the drone to fly to the first GPS location, fly four increasing circles, then move to the second GPS location and repeat the circles. It should repeat to the third and fourth GPS waypoints before it returns home.”

  I ask, “John, why only four GPS locations?”

  “Jay, it’s really five, we have to enter our location since we can’t fly it in the normal manner. The drone will only store five locations.”

  “I should have gotten better drones.”

  “Jay, you wouldn’t have known. I was surprised to see you even had drones.”

  Fred asks, “If I understand what’s going on correctly, we won’t know if the drone operated correctly until it returns. We have no way to control it or see what it’s recording until it returns. If it doesn’t return, we lose a drone, camera, and memory card.”

  John nods, saying, “Fred, you got the key issues correct.”

  Tony asks, “John, how long will the mission take?”

  “Thirty minutes. I hope.”

  “What do you mean, I hope?”

  “I hope it doesn’t crash or get shot down.”

  The drone flies over the two farms without incident, when the clock reaches 27 minutes we run through the tunnels to exit in the field looking for the drone. None of us sees it when it drops out of the sky by our feet. John picks it up saying, “You’re a good little drone, you came home to your papa. Now show us what you saw.”

  We run back to the security shelter with the SD card we removed from the camera and inserted it into a laptop which displayed the images on a large wall screen. The image starts blurry, it quickly clears up. What we see stops us in our tracks, our mouths hang open. We didn’t expect to see rows and rows of tents, sleeping bags, and campfires. John said, “Looking at the tents, I’m going to estimate there are a few thousand people in the camp.”

  Tony replied so softly we had to strain to hear him, “Thousands? My God, it’s worse than I thought. Can we beat them back?”

  John looked at the video before speaking, “Tony, we can slow them down with mines and traps, we can shoot the hell out of them. However, if they keep coming up our driveways, they will overrun us. We don’t have enough people to take them all down. If everyone hits a person with each round in their magazine, which you all know isn’t probable, in fact, it’s not even possible. We have to change magazines after 30, 40 or 6
0 rounds. Which means if I use 40 rounds as an average, times the 30 adults and teens we have trained to fight, then we can hit 1,200 of them before we have to change magazines. That assumes every shot equals a person hit. Let’s also assume we can stop 300 of them with our mines and traps before they reach our trench line. If 3,000 people race up our driveway and lawns, they can reach us before we can take them all down. We’ll be lucky to take 20% of them down. Many of our people are going to be stressed out, they will miss most of their shots, they may hit one person more than once. A single attacker may be struck by more than one shooter. Our people may fumble their reloading or because of the stress, forget to reload. Frankly, we’re screwed. If we had air support we could win, if we had mortars which could reach out and strike them before they can close to us we would have a chance. The distance between the road and the trench is to close. Running people can and will reach us.”

  None of us spoke. We sat in the security shelter staring at the display. Tony and I are sitting in front of John in shock. After a very long and silent three minutes, I break the silence, “John, isn’t there some way we can take more of them down? If we hit them hard enough won’t they retreat?”

  “Jay, you’d be correct if we were an army fighting another army. Usually when an army unit reaches a 30% casualty rate, they lose unit cohesion. A regular army would withdraw and regroup. A mob has nothing to lose. Worse, they’re families, hitting a member of a family will push the other members onward wanting revenge.”

  “John, we have to find some way to stop them, or at least slow them down enough so we can force them back.”

  “Jay, I’ll put my thinking cap on. Let me review our armory. Can we get together tonight at 7?”

  Tony and I nod in agreement. Tony says, “I’ll volunteer Jay’s house for the meeting.”

  @@@@@

  Captain Black was shocked when he and his team landed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The runway was littered with trash, large areas of the terminals were closed due to disrepair. Empty airplanes sat in a parking area of the airport. Captain Black stopped counting when he passed twenty-six parked airplanes. The inside of the terminal reminded the Captain and his First Sergeant of a third world country. Most of the restrooms were out of order, the terminal smelled of urine, feces, vomit and rotting meat. Sergeant Gray looked around, he whispered, “Cap, there must be thousands of homeless living in the terminal. What the hell happened here? We were only gone three months.”

  “Sarge, it’s pretty clear the economy took a dump and took millions down with it. I worry what we’re going to see on our mission.”

  “Sir, that still bothers the men. None are happy about peacekeeping inside America.”

  “Sarge, look around if we don’t do it, who will, Notice the only people flying today are wearing a uniform? Usually, we’re in the minority, today we’re all that can afford to fly because our uncle is paying.”

  “Sir, there has to be a better way than sending SOF to police America.”

  “Sarge, you signed up to be all you can be, now let’s collect our bags and locate our transportation.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The troops found a bus painted in Army green outside waiting for them. The bus took the team to Soldiers Field, which has been taken over by the US Military. Captain Black checked in. He was given food vouchers and directed to the armory to pick up more ammo. Afterward, they were directed to their vehicles, eight LAV (light armored vehicles) and a map of their AO (Area of Operations). Their area was a vertical slice of the country, from Chicago to Mobile. Sergeant Gray said, “Sir, that’s a huge AO, are they crazy?”

  “Sergeant, we’re short of people, heavy on criminals so we’ll do the best we can with what we have.”

  “Yes, sir. Sir, I have a list of known HAM operators in our AO, plus a list of known radio intercepts. I guess this means people are alive in these areas.”

  “Sarge, we don’t have enough people to spread out while moving south in a line. I think we’ll split the team into two squads, half will head south on Interstate 55, the other half will head south on Interstate 65, we’ll meet back up In New Orleans.”

  “Sir, split the team? We only have a few LAVs.”

  “We’re getting reinforced with two hundred National Guard troops. You command the west group down Interstate 55, I’ll take the other half south on Interstate 65. I’ll meet you in the ‘Big Easy.’”

  “Yes, sir.”

  @@@@@

  At 7:00, John joins Tony and me in my kitchen over a cold beer. “John, did you come up with any new ideas?”

  “Does pray count?”

  Tony smiles, shaking his head no. I laugh saying, “I really hope you have a better backup plan than pray. Mind you, I do believe in God, but pray?”

  “Happen to know where we can find another few hundred heavily armed people?”

  Both Tony and I shake our heads no.

  “Either we need bodies or we need to mine the hell out of the entrances. The problem with mines is they are one-time use. I think it’s time for Todd to show you some of the toys he’s been playing with.”

  “Huh?”

  “Jay, your son-in-law, designed and built a catapult.”

  “I plan on firing large Molotov Cocktails at our uninvited guests.”

  Tony is surprised, asking, “Will it really work?”

  “Oh yes, it will toss cocktails from behind the trench across the road.”

  “How come I didn’t know about this? He’s my son-in-law.”

  “I suggest you ask him.”

  “I will, when will you test it?”

  “Already have. It works like a charm. I wish we had more of them.”

  “Can we make more of them in the time we have left?”

  “Jay, since we don’t know how much time we have, I’d say we should try.”

  “I’ll get a hold of Todd right now, maybe he can get a team together to start building another tonight.”

  “If he can, it will help.”

  “I suggest we keep every adult and teen who can fire an assault rifle on the front line. I’d like to arm everyone with either an M4 or M16.”

  “John, I thought you didn’t like full auto rifles.”

  “Usually I don’t, right now we can and will use every force multiplier we have.”

  Tony and I nod to each other. “We agree.”

  Todd walks by, I yell, “Todd, please join us.”

  “Hey, Dad, Tony, John, what’s up?”

  “We heard you built a catapult.”

  “Yes, it’s kind of cool. Tosses a rock across the road from the back yard.”

  “Can you make another or two?”

  “Sure, since we have the plans, they’re not too hard. I can have the parts ready to assemble by midday. The CNC machine is already programmed, all I have to do is feed it wood.”

  Tony says, “Don’t let us delay you. Great job, grab your construction team and get it going. We may need to use them in combat sooner than later.”

  Todd leaves to start the CNC machine making another catapult.

  Tony, John and I continue discussing plans until 11:00 PM when we call it a night.

  @@@@@

  The People's Liberation Army, Navy (PLAN or PLA Navy) had never been in a real battle. Fleet Admiral Zin wanted to drill his various ships before he faced the mighty US Navy in battle. He issued orders for China’s three fleets to meet in the South China Sea off the coast of the port at Haikou. The Liaoning, China’s only carrier which can carry 33 fixed-wing warplanes was the queen of the Chinese fleet. Admiral Zin ordered his submarines and cruisers to mock attack the Liaoning and in four battles, the Liaoning lost two mock attacks and won two of them. Admiral Zin informed the Premier he needed three additional months to prepare China’s three fleets to enter battle against the US Seventh Fleet, which is being reinforced with the US Navy’s Third and Fourth Fleets. Admiral Zin told the Chairman, “Sir, we’re going to be facing six of America’s Nimitz-
class nuclear carriers, each capable of carrying more than twice the number of planes as the Liaoning.”

  “Admiral, the Americans have been asking for a delay in paying us back, I’ll agree to give them a short delay so you can have a little more time to prepare.”

  “Thank you sir.”

  Three months of practicing mock attacks have given Admiral Zin more confidence. He called his captains together for a meeting. Admiral Zin had an ace up his sleeve, one he doubted the US Navy knew about. He addressed the captains of his ships, “Captains, we have been practicing for three months. In that time, 75% of the time we have failed to take out the Liaoning. If you can’t sink the Liaoning, how are you going to handle one of the American CVNs? Each is 100,000 tons, each carries 75 warplanes. Submarine commanders, you are supposed to be able to sneak up on the carrier, penetrate her screen and hit her with a full broadside of torpedoes. In the previous six encounters, only three out of thirty of you have made it inside the Liaoning’s screen. Two of you ran into each other at 100 meters, you caused enough damage that your two boats will miss the encounter.” Admiral Zin asks the two commanding officers to join him on the stage when they join him he draws his sidearm shooting both captains dead. “Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Don’t let the people down. Learn how to command your ships in battle, our time is running short. The Premier has given us only three more weeks before we are to head towards Hawaii. The next commanding officer who fails will join these two as shark bait.”