by Steven Bird
“That sounds good to me,” replied Luke.
“Let’s start at sun-up. I had a good nap today. I’ll stand watch for a while. You two go get some sleep. The stress around here has been a lot for everyone to have to deal with lately.”
“I can stay up with you.”
“No, Luke. I insist. Seriously. After that ride, I’m all pumped up, anyway. Just get yourself some sleep, and at sun up, we’ll get on with it. I’ll catch up on sleep again when I get home tomorrow evening.”
“Thanks, man,” replied Luke as he put his arm around Rachel and led her down the hall.
“Goodnight, Evan,” Rachel said.
“Goodnight to you, too, ma’am,” replied Evan as he tipped his hat.
~~~~
Early the next morning as the sun came up, Evan looked out across the property and saw a horse appear out of the tree line with Daryl in the saddle, rifle in hand. Holding the rifle up to ensure he was noticed by Evan, Daryl waved it back and forth over his head.
Evan stepped out onto the porch and waved him on in. As Daryl reached the porch, Evan stepped off and took the reins, tying the horse to the railing. “Good morning, Mr. Moses. What brings you out here?”
“The same thing that brought you, I guess. I was checking on Linda yesterday evening when we heard Judith’s frantic transmission about an attack.”
“Checking in on Linda yesterday, huh?” Evan said with a crooked smile. “Seems she’s been well looked after lately.”
“Hey, now,” Daryl said. “Linda is a real lady. There’s no funny business going on there.”
“I was just trying to ruffle your feathers. Relax,” Evan replied with a chuckle. “Besides, I think she’s a fine woman and you two would make a fine couple.”
Changing the subject, Daryl asked what had happened; Evan explained everything in detail, including catching him up on the day’s cleanup plan. Daryl offered to stand watch over the ladies at the main house while Evan and Luke were in the back pasture working on the cleanup project, and Evan graciously accepted.
Once everyone in the house was awake, they all shared a home-cooked breakfast prepared by Judith, and the men got down to work.
As the day progressed, one by one, each of the neighboring homesteads sent a representative by to check on Mildred, Haley, and the Hoskins family, as well as to offer their help and support. The outpouring of kindness and devotion to Mildred was heartwarming and indicative of her ongoing benefit to the community.
Back in the far corner of the back pasture, Evan toiled away on the old excavator, digging a large hole to dispose of the remains. His hole finally being of suitable size, he lifted the boom and positioned himself behind a pile of cow remains that Luke had piled with the old tractor and rake. He then lowered the small push blade on the front of the excavator and pushed the cow parts into the hole. Flies were already swarming, making the job even less enjoyable than it already was. As he watched the remains tumble and flop into the hole, Evan pulled his shirt up over his nose and pulled his hat down tight to reduce the constant swatting at flies required to keep his sanity. Before backing the excavator up, he looked over to see where Luke was, and noticed him talking to Lloyd Smith. Well, well. Look who’s here, Evan thought as he shut down the excavator and climbed down to join them.
Evan began walking toward Luke and Lloyd; they stopped their conversation as Lloyd waved and said, “Long time, no see, Evan! We were so glad to hear you made it back. Like I was just telling Lucas here, we are praying every day for Nate and Ed’s safe return.”
“Yes,” Evan replied. “We’re glad to be home, but we won’t be whole again until they make it back. Every day I hope and pray to hear something of them—anything at all to give us a place to look. I feel so helpless just sitting and waiting.”
“Yeah, that’s how we all felt, waiting for all of you guys to get back,” answered Lloyd. “So, back to the reason I came by. We’re so sorry to see what happened to Mildred’s herd. If there is anything at all we can do to help, just let us know. What do you make of all this?”
“Take away a man’s ability to feed himself and you’ve got a subject,” Evan replied. “I’m sure it’s part of their bigger plan to roust the troublemakers out of the hills. For now, we just have to work on a plan to get our families to safety if the need arises. This just proves we aren’t safe from them in our own homes. A man’s home may be his castle, but these days, your castle only protects you from the elements and the common criminal.”
Lloyd nodded in agreement. “So I was talking to Daryl the other day, and he mentioned the potential bug-out locations that you guys were talking about. I really like his choices, especially the old mine. I went up there yesterday evening. I hiked around until I found the entrance. It’s hard to see with all the trees and brush that’s grown up around it over the past hundred years. I ventured inside for a bit—as far as I could without having any sort of real light with me—and I think it’s ideal. Charlie and I are gonna get together and start positioning some provisions in there. We’ve got some excess canned goods and stored water we can place inside for now. We’ve got to make room for this year’s garden harvest, anyway.”
“Glad to hear you’re getting a head start on that. Especially considering all of this,” Evan replied, happy with the project already becoming a community venture.
“And don’t worry, we’ll be very careful to not leave tracks and we’ll make sure we’re not being observed. In addition to food though, I think we need to place some weapons and ammunition inside. Whenever we have to bug out, we may not be in a position to take what we need for any sort of sustained event. We have to assume our homes may be destroyed or, at a minimum, emptied out in our absence.”
“Damn good idea, Lloyd,” replied Evan. “I’ve got some extra weapons and ammunition I can easily contribute to the cache. As you said, I no longer see my own home as a safe place to store everything. A squirrel can put away all the nuts in the world, but they’ll do him no good if he’s run out of his tree.”
“If you want,” Lloyd offered, “I can come by and pick a load up from you tomorrow, if you’re gonna be around. I know you’ve got a lot going on with comms and stuff. Not to mention the fact that you and Griff are both banged up.”
“That would be great, Lloyd. Thank you so much. Let us know when you’re coming, and we’ll treat you to a nice lamb chop while you’re there. We don’t get company very often these days. You know, with the economy and all.”
The two shared a laugh as Lloyd said, “Will do, Evan. Will do.”
Chapter Thirty-One: The Escalating Threat
Over the next several days, the residents of the homesteads began to prepare for a potential bug out from their homes. Lloyd made good on his offer to transport Evan’s weapons and ammunition to the old mine, while the residents of the homefront relocated their livestock to aid in hiding them from the overhead surveillance that led to the destruction of Mildred’s herd.
Utilizing their existing materials, they took down hundreds of feet of metal woven-wire field fence and relocated it deep into the woods under the canopy provided by the treetops above. Although there was lots of vegetation in the animals’ new temporary home, there simply wasn’t enough grass forage to maintain the sheep for long. With that in mind, they supplemented by leaving several five-by-six foot round hay bales that they had produced from their own land the previous year in various places in the animals’ new enclosure.
With Mildred’s entire cattle herd having been decimated, all of the residents of the confederacy of homesteads knew it was critical that every animal survive what may come in their near future, in order to see them through the next winter. Evan was concerned about the threat of predators in the animals’ new and out-of-the-way environment, but considered losses to predators acceptable in comparison to losses from an aerial slaughter.
While those with animals were getting them prepared the best they could, the other homesteaders contributed by stocking and preparing
the mine with provisions, should an extended stay become necessary. Some had more to give than others did, but everyone contributed. Though they stood as individuals in their daily lives, in crisis, they stood as one.
~~~~
As the late afternoon sun shone down through the trees, Evan looked at his sheep. “Well, ladies, and you, too, Rambo,” he added, referring to their breeding ram, “you all be careful tonight. I’m sorry we won’t be around to lend a hand if the coyotes come. Take care.” He said this as if they could understand him.
As he turned to walk out of the woods toward the house, his handheld radio transmitted, “Ev... you there?”
“Yep. Go,” he replied.
“The dogs are loose.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said in reply. The dogs are loose, huh? That can’t be good, he thought, referring to Jason’s choice of words. Although “turn the dogs loose” was used to signal those at the house to set up the guard and go into lockdown, he knew that was the case. Clearly, Jason had a threat to mention that he couldn’t talk about over the air.
Evan picked up his pace and hurried back to the house. As he stepped out into the pasture with the house off in the distance, he saw Jason heading his way.
“It must be bad if you couldn’t wait for me,” Evan said, anxious to hear the news.
“Yeah. It is. Q passed on some disturbing info. He said their sources have confirmed that the UN troops are moving in a convoy on Highway 70 in the direction of Hot Springs and then on to Del Rio. They expect a house-to-house sweep. They’ve already hit a few of the other small towns along the way.”
“What do you mean—hit?”
“Door kickers. They’ve gone from house to house confiscating all weapons and taking some men into custody. They seem to have a list of people associated with the militias, but all weapons and ammunition are to be taken.”
“What’s the plan? With Q and the Blue Ridge Militia, that is.”
“There’s an all-hands-on-deck meeting at midnight tonight.”
“Where?”
“He gave me the digits. I’ve still got to plot it out.”
“Hmmm,” Evan said with his hands on his hips, staring at the ground. “So what are you thinking?”
“We need to go. You and I can borrow a couple of Mildred’s horses to make it easier on you in your condition.”
“Ah, man. I’m really starting to feel okay. The infection is gone and the wound is healing up just fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“No offense, but I’ve heard that before,” Jason said with his crooked smile.
“Either way, yes, let’s borrow some horses. As a matter of fact, I think we should go get them fairly soon. We can make our rounds through the homesteads this evening, giving them the heads up in person. Especially knowing they’re headed this way, we need to stay off of our radios as much as possible. I seriously doubt they would head out on a roundup without advanced signals intelligence in the area.”
“Agreed,” Jason replied. “Well, let’s get on with it.”
~~~~
After explaining the situation to their families and the others at the Homefront, Evan and Jason paid a surprise visit to the Thomas farm. Mildred graciously accommodated their request and fitted them out with two horses and saddles for their journey throughout the homesteads and on toward Del Rio for their meeting.
They visited the Blanchard and Smith homes, then made their way to Linda Cox’s place to brief her on the situation. As they approached her home, they stopped to scan the area from a safe distance with their binoculars.
“Well, surprise, surprise,” Jason said, scanning the area.
“What?” asked Evan impatiently.
“Looks like Daryl is paying her a visit as well.”
“Well, good,” Evan replied. “They’re both wonderful people and alone. They’d make a beautiful couple.”
“Absolutely. It’s only funny because of how socially awkward Daryl is anytime someone jokes or asks him about it.”
“I hate to crash their party, but we’re running low on time. Let’s get to it,” Evan said as he nudged his horse forward.
Jason grinned and followed along.
As they approached the house, Linda’s donkey, Jack, immediately began his dreadfully loud he-haw as if to sound the alarm. Evan pulled back on the reins of his horse, bringing him to a stop, and motioned for Jason to stop as well.
“Daryl’s liable to want to shoot us just for interrupting. Let’s not give him an excuse. Let’s wait till he waves us in,” said Evan as Jason rode up alongside him and came to a stop.
“That, sir, would be the prudent course of action,” replied Jason.
After a moment of patiently waiting, Evan and Jason saw Daryl step out onto Linda’s front porch. He waved to them to proceed, making it known that they were recognized.
“I hope this doesn’t get too awkward. We don’t get much social drama around here these days.”
“Well, at least he doesn’t have to worry about us making a social media post about it. His personal life is safe with us.”
With that, the two shared a chuckle and continued toward the house. Arriving at Linda’s front porch, Evan and Jason dismounted as Daryl anxiously rushed out to meet them and help them tie up their horses. “Good evening, gents. I was just stopping by for a few to see how Linda was doing. It’s not safe around here for a woman to live alone these days, you know.”
“Yes, Daryl; that’s mighty neighborly of you,” Evan replied. “I’m sure she appreciates it.”
“So what brings you fellas out here?” Daryl asked. “I’m glad to see you, but these days it half worries me to get a visitor.”
“We know what you mean. No news is good news these days,” replied Evan. “I’ll let Jason explain.”
“Do you mind if we head inside? We would like to explain this to Linda as well,” asked Jason.
“Oh, yes, of course. Where are my manners? Come on in, fellas,” Daryl replied, fumbling over himself as if he was nervous or embarrassed. Evan and Jason shared a smile and followed him onto the porch and into the house.
“Evan, Jason, it’s so nice to see you,” Linda said as she gave each one of them a hug.
“Likewise, ma’am,” Evan replied while taking off his hat.
“Oh, don’t say ‘ma’am.’ You’re starting to make me feel old,” she replied, swatting her hand in the air at Evan.
“‘Ma’am’ has nothing to do with age; it’s simply a gentleman showing respect to a lady.”
Daryl looked at Evan and shook his head. “Don’t waste your time, Evan. I’ve explained that till I’m blue in the face. Just save yourself the trouble and call her Linda.”
Evan chuckled and said with a smile, “Anything the lady wants.”
“So, anyway,” Linda said, giving Daryl an awkward look, “what brings you two by this late in the evening?”
Jason spoke up. “You know how I’ve been keeping in touch with the militia about the goings on in the area via a secure radio network, right?”
“Yes. Daryl explained the gist of it to me.”
“Well, we received some troubling news this evening that a UN convoy is on its way to Hot Springs. So far, their intentions have been to sweep entire neighborhoods, going door to door, confiscating weapons and ammunition, as well as arresting some individuals on sight, as if they have reason to believe they are involved with one of the area militias. The Blue Ridge Militia has reason to believe they are planning to make their way toward the Del Rio area after Hot Springs.”
Daryl and Linda shared a look of concern. “Oh, my goodness,” she said. “So what is going to happen here?”
“Evan and I are going to ride to a rally point later tonight to meet up with the local militia guys to get more information. Regardless of what they say, we can assume that things are going to change around here, and soon. No longer can we consider ourselves safely off the beaten path and living on our own terms. The extent of that, we have yet to fin
d out, but we may as well start getting our minds wrapped fully around our contingency plans.”
“I’ll go with you,” Daryl said. “Is it only you two going?”
“That’s what we had planned, so far. We didn’t want to take too much manpower away from the homesteads just for the meeting.”
“That leaves plenty. I’m going,” Daryl said forcefully.
“Roger that,” Jason replied. “Grab your stuff and you can make the last few rounds with us; we’ll head out from there. We’ve still got to find the place, so we planned on getting on the road fairly soon after we let everyone know to be prepared for what’s coming our way.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out if you guys want to be getting your horses,” Daryl said, as if he was trying to get a moment alone with Linda before they left.
“Roger that. We’ll see you out front,” Jason replied.
Evan and Jason both nodded goodbye to Linda and stepped out onto the porch and into the front yard. As they started untying their horses, Evan quietly said, “That’s a couple if I’ve ever seen one.”
“I know,” chuckled Jason. “Did you see the iron stare he got when he said he was going?”
“Yep. That was a little obvious,” Evan replied.
“Okay, guys, let’s get going,” Daryl said, stepping out onto the porch, rifle in hand.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Rally Point
As Evan, Jason, and Daryl rode through the darkness of the cloudy night—occasionally getting a break in the sky for the moonlight to shine through—they stopped periodically for Jason to check his map and his coordinates. Q had transmitted the location to him in code, and he deciphered it the best he could with the information he had. He was, however, unsure if he had gotten it right.
“Guys, I hope I’m not leading us on a wild goose chase, causing us to miss the meeting.”