The End of America

by Pete Thorsen

  She started to protest me staying and her going but I said this is now a military operation and I fully knew what to do and would take no chances that could not only put my own life at risk but the lives of the three people that meant the most to me.

  After she left to head home I moved to catch up with the men and watch them until the time Ann and I agreed on which was dark. The road they were on would take them to the vacant house and I guessed they would stay there tonight.

  Ann

  Bill better keep his word and come home tonight. I can hardly stand to walk away from him when he is in danger. But I know we have to warn Sid and Val and the two of us would be no match for this group. It certainly makes sense to watch the men and see where they make camp for the night.

  Just because splitting up makes perfect sense does not mean I have to like it at all. I want to run back home but Bill said to take it slow and be very careful because the last thing we would want to do is lead bad guys back to the house. Or be captured so they could use the hostage to get the others to give up.

  So I am going slow and careful and watching all around like Bill taught me, stopping behind a tree or other cover to watch to see if I am being followed before moving on again. Finally I am back!

  “Sid and Val we have trouble!”

  “Where is Bill?” Is he alright?” What going on?”

  “Stop and just listen. Bill is fine, he sent me back here to report to you. We saw five men on the road. They all are very well armed and Bill said to tell you he thinks they are deserters or at least ex-military.

  He is going to follow them to see where they set-up camp for the night and then he will come back. He said we should plan on attacking them in the morning and we should get ready here to do just that.”

  “Just because they are well armed does not mean we should just attack them without warning. They might be just simple refugees from the city and totally innocent.”

  “There is a young girl with them also. Her hands are tied behind her back and she has a rope tied around her neck that they are using to lead her like a dog.

  And let me tell you she does not look like she will last much longer or that she even wants to last any longer. They are animals. I’ve seen their kind before and they can only be killed to stop them.”

  “Sorry I should not have spouted off without getting the full report. Anything else?”

  “They are heading towards the vacant house we got the food from. Bill is pretty sure they will stay there tonight. They each have a cart or wagon with supplies. They each are carrying what Bill thinks is a M16 rifle but you can see at least one long gun sticking up in each cart also. Once he is sure where they are staying the night Bill will come here and we can then make plans about what to do.”

  “We all knew this would happen at some point. We have been safe here for a long time now. It looks like now we will have to fight to be safe. All we can do is wait for Bill to come back and report.

  He is right about hitting them in the morning. It will be five to four but we will have the element of surprise and hopefully we can come out of this unscathed but we should get together what trauma supplies we can come up with and have ready to take with us.

  We have plenty of guns and ammunition but I think this fight will not last very long one way or the other. We’ll make a medical pack right now. Then we have to eat whether we want to or not. We will all have to be in top form tomorrow morning, we will only have one chance to get this right.”

  I went through the medical supplies that Bill and I had brought with but I could hardly concentrate I was so worried about Bill. I just never realized how deeply I had fallen for him until now. Now I am a wreck worrying about him. When I heard someone walk in my room it was Val. She did not say a thing at first she just came over and when she hugged me I started crying.

  “Bill will be fine. He knows to be careful. He’ll be back soon. I know Sid has complete trust in Bill.”

  “I just never realized how I felt about him. How did you know?”

  “Honey, Sid and I have known for a long time. Just because you and Bill could not see it, we knew.”

  “Do you think he has any feelings for me?”

  “I am surprised he can even eat he is so plumb full of love for you girl. Sid and I wondered when you two would come to your senses.

  It is sad that has to be now but we can not pick the time when these things happen they just happen when they do. Now you have to pull yourself together and wash up before Bill shows up. You have a very bright future ahead of you with a very good man.

  And I can tell you that is best thing that can ever happen to a girl. Sid and I love each other more everyday even after all this time. Now you have that to look forward to also. I couldn’t be happier for you and Bill. Now get cleaned up and we will eat some supper and if he is lucky we will save some for Bill.”

  Bill

  I forgot just how dark it gets here in the woods and I am happy to finally see the house. I had just set my rifle in the rack near the door and taken off my daypack when Ann came running and actually leaped into my arms. I was so surprised that I almost dropped her.

  She was laughing and crying at the same time and trying to kiss me. I hope she always greets me this way because right now I can think of nothing that I would like more than that.

  There are Sid and Val and what are they grinning about so much. We are facing the biggest threat so far since we got here and everyone has gone crazy. We have to make some plans and then try to catch a couple hours of rest so we can be ready for what we have to do in the morning and all these guys are acting crazy.

  “If everyone can stop acting crazy we got some things to talk about and work to do.”

  “Wash up and come in the kitchen. Your supper is still warm. We’ll talk while you eat.”

  Thank goodness Val seems like she might not be as crazy as the rest after all. Ann finally let go of me so I can go wash up before I eat.

  Coming back into the kitchen and smelling supper makes me remember just how hungry I really am. But I have got to report first.

  “The group of guys are staying in the vacant house just like I expected. The girl they had with them is now dead. When they got to the house she just dropped to the ground like she did not want to go on. The guy holding the rope around her neck tried to use that to pull her up.

  The girl never resisted at all and made no move to do anything. This apparently infuriated the man and he jerked the rope way too hard. The girl never moved again. The other four guys were pretty mad and for a minute I thought there would be a gun battle between them.

  Unfortunately the one who is the leader calmed them down and they just left the girl lying in the yard and went inside the house.

  After some time I snuck up to the house and listened for awhile to them talking. The water heater in the house was full and they used that to fill all their water containers. They were mad about the girl and mad that there was nothing worthwhile in the house to eat.

  They did find the bottle of vodka that we had left there and I would guess that it is empty by now. I did not stay close very long but carefully got out of there and came home. It is likely they will come by here tomorrow so we have to hit them at the house when they are leaving in the morning.”

  “We all agree that we hit them tomorrow morning. We got a medical pack put together and our guns are always ready.”

  “We have to use head shots or aim for the legs because I think they all wear body armor. I don’t know if they have rifle plates or not but we can not take the chance so we aim for the head or legs.”

  “We will have to wait until they are far enough away from the house in the morning so they can not run back inside and use it for cover.”

  “These guys will definitely fight so we have to try to cut as many as possible of them down with the first salvo. No warning, no talking, just shoot to kill at the same time. If we can take out four of them right away there is a small chance the fifth guy will g
ive up.

  That would be the best case scenario but realistically we will take out two or at the most three and the others will immediately return fire. Even wounded they will likely continue to fight. When we start to shoot we do not stop shooting until me or Sid calls for a cease fire. Even if all of them are on the ground we all continue to fire until you hear the call to cease fire.

  If we lose this fight you girls will not want to be taken alive. By killing these guys here and now we will be saving an untold number of lives. If you would have seen that poor girl you would want to set fire to the house tonight. She looked to be maybe sixteen at the most. Her face showed that she had lost all hope and she only saw misery in her future. It was all I could do not to shoot them all myself.”

  “We will get over there in the morning before light. We all will be dressed in camo and Bill and I will pick the spots for everyone. Everyone will have to be dressed warm because we might be lying still for some time before those guys get up and get moving in the morning. Once we are in our spots there can be no movement and no noise.

  These guys might be animals but we have to assume they are good soldiers and that they are sharp. We wait after they are out of the house and they start moving with their equipment before we open up. As soon as one of us shoots we all shoot. Aim for the guy that correlates to your position, if you are on the left you aim for the one on the left.

  Better to aim for the legs because they are a bigger target and it can be just as effective. Bill and I will try for head shots for our first shot. We will be using rifles so if you need to then go ahead and shoot for the torso. They will get a good wallop even with body armor and the bullet may go right through because most armor is only made to stop pistol rounds.

  When you get into position lay out a couple loaded magazines so you can get them easily without trouble when the shooting starts. We will try to pick spots for you that offer cover and concealment both.”

  “We will go over everything in the morning again until we all know what to do without a second thought. Everyone will have a rifle and a pistol just like when we are on patrol. The rifle is obviously your major weapon. The pistol is for an emergency only. The whole fight will last only a couple minutes or less but it will seem longer at the time.”

  We talked and talked and each picked out their guns and made sure they had some loaded magazines ready. The two ladies were told to make three positive hits on their targets before shifting to a new target. Finally I said we have to try to rest for a couple hours. I don’t know if the others got any sleep or not but I slept just fine until Sid came woke me up to get ready.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sid

  I don’t think Val got any sleep but I got some at least before the alarm went off. It was pitch dark out of course. After everyone was up and dressed we met in the kitchen and tried to get the girls to eat. Bill and I ate the same as always. The girls had some of our camo on over their regular clothes.

  It was not very cold out which was a good thing because it is hard to lie still when you are freezing to death. I cautioned the ladies that the critical time is when the first guys come outside. We had to be very careful to not be spotted.

  Surprise was our main weapon and if we lost that we could easily lose the war. I made sure everyone was all done going to the bathroom before we left. We each had a flashlight but were told not to use them.

  Bill led and I brought up the rear. We made the two miles without problems and Bill had picked out spots for everyone yesterday while it was still light and he had been watching the house. Everyone got into position and then all we had to do was wait.

  The sun was well into the sky before there was any movement from the house. One guy came out and just looked around. I don’t think he suspected anything; he was just out for the fresh air and waiting for the others to get ready. This was the very worst time for us. If he spotted any of us now we were in for a bad fight with them shooting from the cover of the house and they could exit the back of the house and flank us while a couple kept us busy in the front.

  In the next few minutes the rest gradually came out and the carts were all loaded and tied down ready for travel. Without fanfare they each grabbed their carts and made to leave. I was lined up on the bad guy’s head and had some pressure on the trigger waiting to hear Bill’s shot.

  Our agreement was he would shoot first and that would signal the rest of us. Bill shot and mine was a split second after with both girls shooting almost as fast as me. I swung on the odd man and fired just as he was going down with likely Bill’s bullet.

  Then I put a bullet into each of the five bodies same as Bill was doing. I yelled cease fire twice. I am sure the bad guys never got a shot off but I was happy to see the two girls rise and then Bill. We came out intact. It was a very good day.

  Bill

  I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I saw Ann get up and I let my breath out. I was so worried about her. I had made her wear the body armor I had taken from the cop I had shot. The next thing I knew I was hugging Ann and then I looked over to see Sid holding Val like he would never let her go. Now I could finally understand how he felt.

  When I could get free from Ann I made a quick check on the five guys even though I knew they were dead. Both Sid and I had agreed to put extra lead into every body after we thought they were all dead. Sid and I pulled four carts over to the ladies who had not approached the dead guys.

  We all grabbed a cart and pulled them back to our place then with the girls’ safe inside Sid and I returned to the scene of the fight. We rifled the bodies for useful items and then dragged the bodies well into the woods. In the garage we grabbed a pick axe and a shovel and picked a spot to bury the young girl.

  When we were done Sid just said ‘may she rest in peace’. We put the tools back in the garage and loaded the guns and other gear onto the remaining cart and went back home.

  That afternoon we went through the contents of the carts. The guns were military select-fire as I had suspected. There were four M16’s and three of the M4 carbines. There were also a couple of bolt action rifles with scopes along with five M9 pistols and ammunition for all the guns.

  We now had five sets of body armor with plates. There was a bunch of gold jewelry and gold and silver coins plus quite a pile of cash. Even a few silver bars. There was some more food and some liquor. Clothes and some camping gear.

  We threw very little away other than some of the clothes. Most of the clothes and bedding we just washed and added to our stuff. The gold, silver, and cash we just kept together and the guns were mostly put away. Even the carts we thought we might end up using. When we piled all the jewelry together Sid had said “I wonder if any of these rings would fit Ann?”

  “I don’t think she’s much into jewelry.”

  “You are incredibly stupid at times.”

  I didn’t understand, was I supposed to know if Ann liked jewelry? But whatever, we all got through the day alive and healthy that was main thing. The next week things were back to a more normal setting.

  The following week instead of going on patrol I told Sid that I thought I would hike down to the highway and camp back in the woods. I wanted to watch the highway for at least one solid day to see what traffic there was, if any. I figured fuel must be about non-existent or the army deserters we met up with would have been driving instead of walking.

  I thought and Sid agreed that any jets we saw flying were likely to be military ones so the military was operational anyway. Plus those deserters had to come from somewhere. So when the weather looked good I packed gear for a few days and left for the highway.

  It was not all that far being only ten or twelve miles and I could have walked there and back in a good day but I wanted to watch the highway for at least a full day. I had no intention of being spotted or making contact with anyone. Just a soft observation recon with no contact other than a visual.

  The walk there went smooth and I found a nice concealed camp site about a
half mile from the highway. Close enough so I might be able hear noisy traffic from camp at night and I could easily move up and lie in concealment to watch the highway during the day.

  To anyone who has never done this it is very boring. It is like guard duty where after five minutes you have seen all that you are will likely see your whole shift and then you just sit and wait for something or nothing to happen.

  The first half day that I watched I saw no people on the highway. The next day nothing happened until in the afternoon when I heard and then saw a convoy of Army vehicles heading south. There were many units and they had three tankers with them.

  No tracked vehicles but some armored rigs. I just stayed still and watched them go past. I watched the rest of that day and some the following morning but saw no other movement on the highway. The walk home went without a hiccup and that evening over supper I told everyone about what I had seen.

  “What do you think it means that the Army is here?”

  “I don’t know that it means much of anything. There are obviously many Army bases in the nation and I would think it reasonable that they would go out on patrols after the event we had.”

  “I agree with Bill, it likely doesn’t mean too much. The Army can not offer the population any real relief of any kind other than maybe shoot any bad guys that they happen to come in contact with.”

  “Wouldn’t they bring food and supplies to everyone?”

  “They do not have food and supplies for three hundred million citizens. Or even enough for the fifty million that are maybe still alive.”