Firestorm: Walking in the Rain Book 5

by M. C. Allen

  The trip to the metalworking shop was indeed fruitful. Grinders, drill press, normal drill, and a really nice saw were welcome additions to my shed of destruction. Joseph was slightly upset with himself. He had used hacksaws to cut the drill pipe. That had to have sucked. He had three guys sweating their butts off, sawing away when we had perfectly functioning tools here. The bonus find had to be a cutting torch setup on a two-wheeled dolly. It was a heavy mother, but we got help loading it up in Joseph’s truck.

  I stopped everything to screw the protective caps over the valves. It would not be good if the valves were suddenly cut. Imagine a missile blowing through the back of the truck. I’m not an experienced metalworker, but I had heard of things like that going wrong.

  Back in the shed, I placed one of the capped drill pipes in a large vice and drilled a small hole in the center of the cap. I followed up with a larger hole in the same spot. The first hole was the “pilot” and the second hole was what I was going to use to create a thread. There was a card with different types of thread cut into it to match the threading of the little, black powder pistol. I selected the correct tap and added plenty of lubricant before slowly starting the process of turning the sides of the hole into threads. It was tedious and it took time to do it right. I had done it before, but I was no expert.

  The final product would not win any awards, but the action did screw into place and it was secure. I removed the action and started cleaning out the lubricant, using clean rags. I needed to repeat this process for all four of the actions I had in stock. After that, I would use some of the old single-shot shotguns we had set aside when we got better rifles. They would be tricky, and the barrel of the cut-down shotgun would match the threaded hole I would create. By dinner, I had the first four ready to be loaded up and tested. Tammy showed up to fetch me for dinner. I needed to set this right, so I stopped her with a hand on her arm.

  “Tammy, can we talk please?” She looked happy to comply. The shed was hot and she was moving closer toward me.

  “If we hurry, we won’t miss dinner.” Well, she was bouncing back.

  “Slow down, Tammy. Let’s step outside where we can breathe. It’s too hot in here.” Darn straight. She looked ready to jump me.

  “What’s wrong, David? I thought we were friends.”

  “We are friends, but you need to know I’m not really available emotionally right now. I still miss my Kate, and I’ve never accepted that she is dead. It’s not fair to you, but please give me some time.”

  I was also wondering if her actions were a response to her abuse by a woman. I’m not a psychologist, but her hyper sexuality might be a response to that. No matter what, I thought she was going to be angry at me. Surprisingly, she started crying and took me into her arms. What is it about me that makes them cry?

  “I’m so sorry, David. I never even thought about how you were doing. I assumed since you were a guy, that you were ready. I know I kind of jumped in front of Lisa, but I asked around and everyone said that you were not dating anyone.”

  “Well, really, I haven’t seen any place decent enough to bring a date.” I was trying to be funny, but she cut me off.

  “No, you moron, dating as in having sex.”

  Well, that was new. I never thought that when people said “dating” they meant screwing. I said that to Tammy, and she laughed.

  “God, how old are you under that beard? You sound like my granny!” We were able to laugh it off, and we walked into the kitchen as friends. Crisis averted, I hoped.

  That was until Lisa saw us come in. She stared daggers at Tammy. I whispered into Tammy’s ear and she smiled a little sadly but nodded. I left her side and walked straight toward a very livid Lisa.

  I took her right hand with my own and stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her view. She had been so mad that she didn’t even see me walk up to her. Lisa refocused on me just as I wrapped her in a friendly hug. I backed off after a few seconds. I could hear people chuckling and talking about the show. Without television, we were the only entertainment in town.

  “Tammy and I had a talk. She agreed to back off and get to know me better. Don’t be mad at her for trying; she didn’t know you liked me.”

  Lisa stood there with a confused expression on her face. I saw Kofi motion to Alex in the universal sign of “pay up” for a bet placed and won. Without money, I wondered what Alex had lost in the bet. It probably involved guard duty or clothes washing. Regina piped up and had us all grinning.

  “Does that mean you and Lisa are dating now?”

  “Dang girl, that was just a friendly hug. I was married to the same woman for over twenty years. Give me time to get used to the whole ‘dating’ thing again.”

  The onlookers hooted and slapped the tables. There were a lot more people than I recalled. Did we pick up new people today? I left Lisa standing there blushing and went to get my metal cup filled. At least Lisa wasn’t about to start a fight during dinner. I had already done that once.

  Barbara was not at the pot. Instead, I found Melanie ladling out dinner. Barbara was passing out corn bread. “When did we get corn bread?” I was shocked.

  Barbara filled in the blanks for me. “We have corn growing out there, so I worked out a way to dry it and grind it here. Let’s just say it’s labor intensive right now. We could use a water wheel and some nice stones. Know anywhere that has that?”

  “Yes, down near Waco there’s a heritage village with an operational mill, but the water was pumped in instead of being set beside a river.”

  Barbara thought for a second. “You going down there anytime soon?”

  I had to smile and shake my head. “Those people were set up with a herd of animals and a blacksmith on site. They even made their own cheese. They are probably all dead by now. They didn’t keep it secret and shared with everyone who came out. Plus, they were too close to a major population center.” Too bad, they were good people for a doomsday cult.

  I found a vacated seat and ate my dinner in peace. It sure beat sitting in the dirt under a tree. We cleaned our own dishes and I told Melanie to come to the barn when she was done in here. She smiled. She looked scrubbed and a lot healthier. Her hair was trimmed and a brush had been applied for good measure. She was a pretty girl, but it would take time for her to get her weight back to normal.

  Melanie, like millions of other people would suffer from food insecurity for years after this if they lived that long. Great. Eating disorders and the apocalypse. I should write a book about eating healthy on the starvation diet. Hollywood actresses would buy it.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SIX

  The waiting was driving me nuts. I found myself with too much time on my hands once I had completed my devices and had them all in place. That process had taken almost a week, and for that entire time, I was a nervous wreck. What if the devices didn’t work? Joseph loaded one of our test devices up and we went back to the original campground where the cars were still sitting in a circle around the old bonfire. He pointed to the biggest truck there and grinned.

  “We stripped everything useful out of all of them, so we might as well see what your little firecracker will do.” I got the shovel out of the bed of the truck and started digging. As I worked, Joseph carried the device over. It was smaller than the others but built on the same principle.

  “I need to determine how to angle the muzzle and still be able to fire it with the lanyard. I don’t want to set it off by accident with me kneeling over it.”

  Joseph offered some suggestions, and we eventually came up with the steps to emplace the homemade explosive. Joseph took the shovel and gave me a break. I started fiddling with the wire we would use to activate it. None of the fancy spy movies ever told me how to make an electronic detonator when an EMP wipes out most unshielded electronics, so I improvised.

  “David, how do we keep the action from getting damp if we leave it in the ground?”

  I scratched my head and came up with a simple idea. “Why not
drill a hole in the end of an ammunition can and place the actual firing mechanism inside, and when you screw it into the end of the drill pipe, it all gets tightened up together. We may find some plumber’s putty in one of the houses to seal the large hole in the ammo can, and we can make a tiny hole for the lanyard on the other end that we also seal with the putty. That stuff stays flexible for a few days and should keep out moisture. The ammo can has a sealed lid that we can close when we get it in the ground and everything is ready to blow.”

  I would have to test that idea next. For now, we needed to see if this would actually do damage. Joseph stopped digging and wrestled the pipe into place, checking the angle. He pointed to the engine block.

  “Do you think this one can punch through the side of the truck?”

  I could tell he was skeptical. I was nervous too. “This is our first attempt. If it doesn’t work, we can go back and work on the mixture and try again. The charge in the pipe is a small one compared with what we will use for real. That looks like you have it pointed in the right area. Let’s cover the pipe with dirt but keep the action clear.”

  We tamped down the loose dirt over the repurposed drill pipe but kept the open muzzle clear. I hoped to reuse this complete device for further testing, but it might just blow all to pieces the first time we set it off.

  Surprisingly, it worked. The pieces of steel reinforcement—or rebar—we had cut up and placed in the barrel like darts had blown into the side of the truck and made a mess of the engine compartment. The truck rocked on the suspension, and the force of the blast blew out the driver’s side window. The device survived. I didn’t trust it for anything but as a testing item. The steel of the pipe had to be stressed almost to the point of rupture from the explosion.

  We dug it up and I checked the brass triggering mechanism. It unscrewed from the pipe and looked to be in perfect working order for the next test. It might not survive a full load of homemade explosive, but thankfully, we had enough pipe to make for a nice fireworks display. I smiled at Joseph.

  “Now we just need to scale the charge up to the point where the blast will not only shoot the load of rebar into the target, but the pipe explosion should flip a heavily armored vehicle onto its side.” Joseph nodded at that and helped me get everything back in the truck.

  “You are working on different types of devices, I noticed. Do you think we can pull this off?”

  I thought for a second before answering Joseph. “If I can’t stop the attack that is coming, pull everyone out and head to the roadblock. Either I make it, or I don’t. Don’t let them get my kids.”

  As we started driving back to the big house, he outlined his ideas for the escape plan. There was one piece Joseph was missing. He didn’t know the destination. I swore him to secrecy and told him where we would go if we had to make a run for it.

  “I have a friend that had a working farm before the lights went out. We met through the state shooting competitions a few years back, down near Austin. He is a former Marine and had a working plan to survive just about anything that could go wrong. That was where we were going when we met in the woods. I was supposed to be there within a few days of a major disaster, but I stayed in Arlington and tried to find Kate. If he’s still there, he will have people around him like me, with training and the will to fight. I know where the farm is located on a map, but I’ve been afraid to put it in writing in case I get taken. You have to get them to Ripley and find Sam Messner. He is a good man, and he will know what to do if we show up at his doorstep. We just need to make sure we can contribute to the common defense or he may just run us all off.”

  There. At least someone else knew my secret, and if it all went to shit, Joseph could lead them to safety.

  “David, you act like you are not going to make it. You have to be there to introduce all of us. Plus, your kids need a father. They would be lost without you.”

  “You will have to step up for me if I don’t make it. They trust you, Joseph.”

  “They may trust me, but they love you, David. Now enough of this talk. We need to get our little party planned, and you live to make plans. So tell me, when do you think they will get here?”

  Two weeks later, we were still waiting. I figured they would have been here by now. We went on night patrols out into the area, looking for signs. We used this time to get everyone familiarized with their new weapons and trained in simple tactics. The number of decayed bodies along the roads were increasing as water and food ran out. We were sitting pretty compared to the death around our little enclave.

  Our little patch of struggling corn was the only field not completely dead and lifeless, and we had to flush starving people out of the patch daily. Doris wanted us to wait until the absolute last minute to harvest the ears of corn. Every day in the sun allowed the kernels to gain just a little more mass. I finally called it and started the harvesting process. We could not be out there picking corn and fighting a raging battle. On all of our patrols, we saw no sign of the mysterious raiders.

  I used the time to help train the newcomers. Melanie was excellent at moving in the woods and finding edible food. She brought a bag with her on patrol and filled it with items for Barbara. Her shooting skills needed some refining, and she had never learned how to shoot and move to cover since she had been all on her own and avoided contact. Pam and Ashley had a group of ladies that they were in charge of training. I joked with Pam about creating an Amazon Squad, but she drew the line at having a breast amputated for the added archery benefit. Wow, somebody else who got my jokes!

  My little family stayed busy. But I could feel the tension rising in them all. Even Regina was just ready to fight it out rather than wait. Joseph was in charge of loading the vehicles and getting them in position. When the time came, the rear guard would hold long enough for the rest to escape out the back way and head to the roadblock. I would be there in the rear with the Hummer and the .50, trying to hold the line. Joseph had been working on the old trail we would use to get out, without having to use the road. That would be a mess of twisted metal and fire if everything went to plan.

  Then, without preamble, they came. We could hear the rumble of heavy engines coming from the north. We headed to our positions and waited for the show. I turned on the radio we had scavenged from the raiders and started chattering along, hoping the enemy was monitoring the airwaves.

  “Is there anyone out there? Please tell me you are coming to help! We have been hiding here for weeks, trying to get in contact with our command structure. The hostiles are located at the end of the road. They are almost out of food and are desperate.” I was spewing out a fast high-pitched rattle that made me sound scared. They might buy it. The radio answered in a few seconds, so now I know they were listening in all along.

  “Who is this?”

  “Jessup Taylor. I was here when they attacked, and I barely made it out alive. Since then, I’ve laid low and tried to monitor their movements.” I had gotten to know Jessup well, so I was playing his character to draw them in. “I can hear your vehicles, so I’m sure the people here can too. They are getting ready to ambush you down the road by the dried up pond. They have some rifles and shotguns, but nothing heavy. They got the 240s from the house, but they burned through all of the ammo early on.”

  “Where exactly are they now?”

  “Like I said, at the very end of the road—there’s a curve in the road where they set up an ambush weeks ago. It worked then, so I guess they’re trying to do it again. They have a sentry at the very entrance of the road with one of the 240s, but it’s just for show. They even tried putting trees across the road, but that didn’t do much. I’ll provide you with intelligence as you get closer. Thank God you showed up. I’ve been out of food for days now.”

  “Get to a good position and keep in contact. We will roll them up and be done in about an hour.”

  The radio went silent. Joseph had run over and listened to my side of the conversation. He smiled and chuckled.

  “
Oh, that’s just evil. David, take over the battle; I’m getting the trucks all into position and ready to pull out.”

  “Send the firebugs out to the creek and have them get the fire ready. I want the west side buttoned up and ready before I start the party. Who’s on guard at the end of the road?”

  “Jordan and Angel are, with the truck.”

  “Tell them to haul tail at the first sign of the enemy. Don’t even bother shooting. They think our guns are empty. Pull out the spotter now as well. I don’t think these jokers are going to bother with a probe. Their arrogance will get them killed.”

  Joseph nodded and took off in his truck. We were not going to transmit anything for our enemy to hear. I wanted to suck them in and burn them all.

  “Kofi, you need to get the Remington into position. Don’t bother with the subsonic ammunition; it’s going to be loud and confusing. Dale, you are the Hummer operator. Back it into the fighting position. Alex, keep your head down until I start the party. When I set off the first roadside bomb, I want you to start chewing up any gunners on top of their vehicles, followed by the drivers. Regina, provide security for the Hummer. We may get leakers after a few minutes. Don’t let them get to Alex. Dale, keep the engine running and be ready to haul tail if it gets too hot.”

  Dale was a little pale when he asked, “How will I know if it’s too hot?”

  “Well, if they don’t stop for the first explosion, Regina will jump in the Hummer and scream at you to run like hell. If I can button them up in the kill zone, we might be able to take them all out. Right now, we play it by ear. I have one of our radios, so I can make the call to leave.”

  Lisa, Danielle, and several members of the “Amazon Squad” took off with fuel cans and crossed the road heading west. The firebugs would spread the mix of gasoline, diesel, and used motor oil in the brush and trees west of the kill zone. They would light the conflagration with the first explosion. This was a simple ambush with a lot of moving parts. Our timing was simple. When I blew them up, they were to do their job. The fire was to keep our “guest” from trying to flee to the western area. We didn’t have anyone out there to stop them. The fire would do that for us.