by A. American
“We have company on the other side.”
“What is it?” Sarge asked.
“Hard to tell from here. There’s bodies down there with weapons.”
“Well, dispshit, what are they doing?” Sarge barked back.
“Right now, they’re looking at us.”
Sarge pointed up the bridge, “Pull up there, Harris.”
Kevin nodded and started up the bridge. He stopped behind the MRAP and Sarge got out. He banged on the rear door of the of the large truck. “Open up, dammit!”
The rear door opened and Sarge climbed in. The interior was illuminated by red light. “Make a hole!” He shouted as he worked his way up to the front.
Once there, he looked at Mike and said, “Give me your NODs.” Mike handed him the PVS-14. Looking out the windshield, he could see what Mike was talking about. At the bottom of the bridge were a couple of makeshift barricades with armed men around them. They were all looking at the armored truck and talking amongst themselves nervously.
“This thing got a PA on it?” Sarge asked.
Mike picked up a mic and handed it to him. Sarge keyed it and said, “I don’t know what you booger-eaters are thinking. But you better rethink it. We’re coming down this bridge and if any one of you so much as looks at us sideways we’ll smoke all yer asses. Are we clear on that?” There was no reply from the group as they talked and gestured towards the truck. “I said, are we clear on this? I can see your dumbasses down there.” Sarge shouted. “Someone better fucking respond or we’re going to start shooting now!” One of the men stood up and waved at them.
Sarge looked at Ted, “Let me get back to my truck. If you see any of these morons do anything hinky, light their asses up.”
“Roger that, boss.” Ted replied.
Sarge turned and made his way back through the truck and out the rear door. Getting back in the Hummer, he keyed his mic and said, “Roll out.” Then he looked up at Dalton, “Eyes up. You see any fuckery, kill it.”
Dalton swung the turret around as he replied. “With pleasure!”
The MRAP started over the bridge. Sarge had Kevin wait until there was about fifty feet between the two trucks before telling him to go. Dalton was watching the top edge of the bridge intently as the horizon of pavement rose up and then began to fall away, revealing what was on the other side. A quick glance at the MRAP confirmed the gun mounted on top was pointing to the left side of the road. Seeing that, he swung his turret around to cover the right. But he kept an eye on the left side as well.
The men standing at the bottom of the bridge all stepped back as the trucks moved down. They obviously wanted no part of the two trucks and were very careful not to provoke a fight they certainly wouldn’t win.
Dalton however hoped for a fight. As the Hummer made its way past the group, he leaned over and shouted, “Don’t you fookers be here when we come back!” The men looked at one another but made no moves. He watched them through the NVG mounted to the helmet he wore. He switched the IR laser on the SAW on and swung it from man to man, whispering pow, each time the muzzle swept one of them.
“What the hell are you hollering about, Gulliver?” Sarge asked.
Dalton ducked down into the truck. “Told ‘em not to be here when we come back.”
Sarge laughed. “Yeah. I was thinking on the way back we should stop and see what this is about.”
“I say we raid them on the way back. Rape their livestock and pillage their women.” Dalton replied with a smile.
Sarge turned in his seat to look at him. “Would you get that enormous head of yours out of here? Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Dalton saluted and disappeared.
Kevin looked over at Sarge and asked, “What do you think that was about?”
Sarge shrugged. “Only a couple of things it could be. Either they’re just working security for their area or they’re a bunch of bandits looking to bushwhack folks. The former is fine,” Sarge looked over at him and added, “the latter has to be dealt with.”
Kevin nodded in a knowing way, then asked, “How will you know the difference?”
Sarge looked at him and smiled. “We’ll ask.”
Picking up his mic, Sarge said, “When we get to 441, turn right. Take it up to the bypass and turn left.”
“Roger that, boss,” Ted replied.
The two trucks made their way into Summerfield, where they turned north on highway 441 for a short distance before turning back to the west on 484. Kevin drove as Sarge stayed hunch over the atlas.
It was dark and the trucks were driving blacked out. The drivers and gunners were all wearing NVGs. Kevin studied the road ahead of him, paying attention to the green glow laid out before him. Driving with these is certainly a little demanding. Depth perception is a real challenge. But with attention to detail and a little slower speed, it was easy enough.
The group was passing through the Marion Oaks area of Ocala. It was one of those large pre-planned neighborhoods designed for perceived comfort and convenience. The lots were advertised as wooded, though those woods would have to be cleared to build a house on the small lots. When people came out to view the perspective lots, they would see all these trees and imagine living in the wilderness.
But as the lots around them would be bought up and built on, that wilderness would disappear. And that’s just what happened on the eastern side of the Oaks. It was working its way to the west, but as the economy slowed and the bottom fell out of the housing market, the construction slowed. So now the west end of the project was largely undeveloped. This is the part Sarge would take the trucks through.
Sarge was looking at the map when he suddenly blurted, “Who the hell names these damn roads?”
Without looking over, Kevin muttered, “Huh?”
Sarge looked at him. “Huh? Huh hell! Up ahead, you’re going to take a left onto SW 67th Avenue Road. Avenue road? That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”
“Well,” Kevin said, “an avenue usually runs north-south with a median in the middle. A road has no special designation. It just connects point A to point B.”
Sarge looked at him, his eyebrows coming together. After a moment of silence, Kevin looked over. The green hue the NVG put on him looked appropriate. “What?” He asked.
Sarge smiled. “Thank you for the geography lesson. Now pay attention and don’t miss the damn turn.”
Once on the avenue road, they continued for a short way before Sarge had him turn once again onto a small side street. This took them back onto a small road with few houses on it. Those that were there were mostly mobile homes, something that wouldn’t be allowed in the east end of the development. But while these people may have been poorer in the Before, it was that very lack of resources that made them more resilient in the now. These people back here were probably doing better than those with the manicured lawns and open spaces back east.
The road came to a power line right-of-way. Sarge pointed and told Kevin to turn onto the small dirt two-track just past it. “This will take us straight to the plant. I want to stay off the roads as we approach because they’ll surely be watching them,” Sarge said.
Kevin turned onto the sandy track and asked, “You don’t think they’ll be watching this too?”
“Probably. But we’re not going to just drive up to the damn gate.”
The old man picked up his mic, “Teddy. Keep someone on that thermal camera. These power lines run all the way to the plant. We’re going to follow them for a while. Just keep an eye out for any OPs.”
“Roger that, boss.”
As they moved down the dirt track, the MRAP pushed through the pine trees lining each side, tearing branches and limbs from the trees. The Hummer, being substantially smaller, made it through without incident.
The rain stopped and Dalton pulled his poncho over his head and dropped it into the truck. Putting his helmet back on, he adjusted the NVG and looked back at the big armored truck behind him. There were several pine limbs hanging from
the top of it. Spinning back around, he focused on the road ahead. Though the term road was a bit of a stretch. It was just a sandy trail through the scrub growing under the transmission lines overhead.
The white sand of this part of Florida glowed brightly in the monocular, allowing the men to clearly see the route. But it would be a slow ride towards the plant. The roads would be mush faster, but also much more dangerous.
It wasn’t long before they ran into an obstacle that was a real issue. A narrow but deep creek cut across the right-of-way. Sarge studied it for a moment, then looked back down at his map. “We’re going to have to backtrack to find a way around this,” he said.
Picking up his mic, Sarge told Ted to turn around and find a way around the water. “Roger that,” Ted replied.
They found a trail out from under the power lines. It wound a short way through the woods before coming to Highway 200. This is a major artery for Ocala and not something Sarge wanted to drive on very long. The MRAP pulled out onto the paved road and Sarge told Kevin to go around them and take the lead. 200 paralleled the power lines at this point. Sarge had Kevin take a right on Withlacoochee Trail, which brought them back to the relative safety of the power lines. For the rest of the trip, the only obstacles they encountered were gates, and those were easy to overcome.
Once they passed Central Ridge Park, they had to find their way through an RV park. A four-board fence blocked the way, forcing them to reroute through the rows of abandoned RVs. Dalton eyed each of the now-empty recreational vehicles as they passed by. It brought him back to a time in his single days when he lived in one on top of a mountain in north Georgia. It didn’t have electricity or running water, but it was one of the happiest times of his life.
Not this though. He shook his head at the sight of these things sitting so close to one another. The spaces were just wide enough to fit the trailer sitting on the slab. Hell, if he stood between them and stretched his arms out he could probably touch either side. This was horrible. But it was empty now.
A short time later, they came to the last way point before the plant. Sarge stopped the trucks and called in to the ranch. Picking up his mic, he said, “Stumpknocker is at the Magic Kingdom.”
Jess was lying on the sofa in Danny’s living room. The radio call woke her up and she walked over to the Green Monster and sat down. She listened for a moment and Sarge repeated his call. She smiled and keyed the mic, “Roger that. Watch out for Mickey Mouse.”
Hearing Jess’s voice, the old man smiled to himself. He keyed the mic one more time and replied, “Will do, Cinderella.”
Smiling a little harder, Jess laid the mic down and returned to the sofa. Closing her eyes, she dreamt of Disney World.
Dropping his mic, Sarge said, “We’re going to sit here for a bit and watch this road. We need to move to the south from here.” He opened a folder and took out an aerial photo of the plant and oriented it. “The reactor is on the south side. I want to get out into the woods over there and approach on foot.”
Kevin didn’t reply. He simply nodded his head.
Sarge reached back and yanked on Dalton’s pants leg. “Hey, Gulliver. Get out there and take a look at that road. See if there’s any commie assholes out there.”
Dalton dropped back into the truck and climbed out through the door with his carbine in his hand. Sarge called the guys in the MRAP and told them what was going on. Ted acknowledged him and Mike hopped out to go with Dalton. The two men moved silently towards the road lying before them. It was Highway 19, which ran north to south between them and the power plant. The trucks were stopped a couple hundred yards from the road in a stand of trees that split the right-of-way. Dalton and Mike made their way through this same stand to a vantage point where they could watch the road.
Taking up a spot inside the tree line where they would overwatch, the two men went prone on the wet ground. Mike grumbled, “This is bullshit!” He spat in a whisper. “Lying in the fucking water!”
Dalton snorted. “Says the guy that rode here inside the truck.”
The two men scanned the road for a while. Before Mike asked, “You seen anything?”
“Nothing,” Dalton replied.
“I say we give it another fifteen minutes. If we don’t see anything, I say we move.” Mike said.
“Roger,” Dalton replied.
They continued to watch, scanning the length of the road before them with the NVGs mounted on their helmets. This was boring and tedious, but most definitely necessary. They were about to call it when, in a low whisper, Mike said, “Contact at ten o’clock.”
Dalton looked over. He couldn’t see a person but could see a small light that looked much larger through the intensifier. “What do you think that is? Cigarette?”
“Uh huh.” Mike replied. “It’s moving.”
“Looks like he’s on the shoulder of the road.”
They watched the small light move out onto the road. It wasn’t thirty meters from them when it stopped. Now they could see the man as well. He carried a Kalashnikov rifle, slung over his shoulder. He stood in the middle of the road and unzipped his trousers and proceeded to urinate.
“Well, that takes balls,” Mike said.
“Obviously, he’s been here a while and is comfortable. That’s in our favor.” Dalton replied.
“Notice he’s wearing a set of NODs. We need to be careful with these guys.”
“Agreed,” Dalton said. “Let’s watch him and see where he goes.”
The man in the road finished his business and zipped up. He took a minute to light another smoke, without trying to conceal it, before turning and heading back the way he’d come. As he moved away from them, Dalton motioned to Mike that he wanted to follow him. They paralleled him on their side of the road to the edge of the stand of trees. Here, they stopped and watched. It was too risky to head out into the open ground under the power lines.
The man disappeared into the woods on the southwest corner. Mike and Dalton watched for a while longer and were able to see at least one other person. Mike tapped Dalton and motioned for the two of them to pull back from the road. Mike led the way and Dalton followed. Once they were far enough away from the two potential hostiles, Mike started to talk.
“We need to find a way around them to the south. We need more distance between us and them.”
“Agreed.” Dalton said. “We’re going to have to backtrack a bit. Leaving the trucks here and going in on foot is a bad idea too.”
“Yeah. I’ve got a feeling they probably patrol this. We need to didi mao from here.”
When they got back to the trucks, the old man was standing off to the side of the truck in the woods. As they came up, he asked, “What’s the word?”
“We saw a couple of guys out there on the southwest corner.” Mike said. “We’re going to have to backtrack a bit and put some space between us and them.”
“That’s not good,” Sarge replied as he rubbed his chin.
“True. But they are also real comfortable here. One of them walked out to the middle of the road while smoking to take a piss. Then stood there and lit another one without trying to conceal it.” Dalton said.
Sarge nodded. “Alright. That’s some good news then. If these commie assholes think they’ve got this place locked down, then we can use that to our advantage. Let’s mount up and find a way around them.”
It took about an hour of driving around, checking the numerous roads in the area. The did manage to find a road nearly a mile from where the power lines crossed the highway where they had crossed over, putting them on the same side as the plant. Through a little more trial and error, they made their way west while trying to keep that mile between them and the plant.
While the Crystal River plant did indeed have a nuclear reactor, it also had coal-burning steam boiler units. The reactor had been shut down, but the steam units were running the day the balloon went up. Coal was brought in by barge through a canal cut out to the Gulf of Mexico. It was piled up and fe
d into the plant through a series of conveyors. And it just happens that this coal pile sits to the south of the reactor across the canal.
After finding a place to leave the trucks, Sarge, Dalton, Mike, Ted and Doc set out on foot. The Guardsmen would stay behind to provide security. The five men ended up lying on the top of the coal pile where they had an unobstructed view of the reactor. It was still dark as they took up positions in the pile. Doc and Mike stayed about thirty yards from the others to provide security. Sarge, Ted and Dalton crawled up to the edge of the pile and looked out at the plant for the first time.
“That’s an awful lot of light down there,” Ted said.
CHAPTER 4
Jamie and Ian showed up early in the morning to relieve me and Thad. I told them what we heard on the radio about the possibility of a nuke being used on the Chinese fleet. The consensus was, at least it’s not on the east coast. Sadly, that was where we were. Better them than us.
“California is a beautiful state. Be a shame to lose it,” Ian said.
“Yeah, but it’s full of fruits and nuts. And I’m not talking about the valley either. That place was always screwed up. The laws they passed. Taxes were just stupid. Why one of the most beautiful parts of the country got that screwed up is beyond me,” I said.
“It ain’t going to matter none now,” Thad added. Looking at me, he said, “You ready to go? I’m tired.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Thad and I left and I dropped him at his place and headed for the house. I was tired and could still get a few hours sleep before the sun came up. At the house, I stepped over the dogs lying on the porch and went in. The rain had cooled the night enough that I didn’t feel gross, so I was going to skip a shower, until I pulled my shirt off. The smudge fire had done its job and I could smell the smoke in my clothes. A quick shower, then to bed.
After taking a very short shower, I slipped on shorts and a t-shirt and made a pass through the house, checking on everyone. Little Bit and Lee Ann were sound asleep. Checking on Taylor, she’d fallen asleep reading, and the book was sitting on her chest. I picked it up and set it on her nightstand. She rolled over, but didn’t wake. I smiled and left her room.