PREPPER’S CRUCIBLE – VOLUME FIVE
BOBBY ANDREWS
TEXT COPYRIGHT 2016
BOBBY ANDREWS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events or places is coincidental.
SYNOPSIS OF PREPPERS’S CRUCIBLE – VOLUME FOUR
Sherriff Bear and Cory successfully track, and kill or capture, the last of the escaped convicts. After careful trip planning, Cory and Ben leave the ranch for Phoenix to find and bring back Ben’s sons and Cory’s sister. Using the Black Canyon Trail, they reach Phoenix, only to find that Ben’s sons have left their house.
Meanwhile, Prescott runs out of food supplies and again begins a descent into chaos. Don organizes hunting parties to continue to find food for the town. The volume ends with Don being shot as he is leaving the barn at the ranch.
CHAPTER ONE
Bud and Cory studied the Phoenix city map on the kitchen table, with a flashlight providing illumination. They were under a poncho draped over them to conceal the light from anyone outside the house. Cory said, “we turn south out of the neighborhood, then turn on to Tatum Road. That goes through Paradise Valley, and Rachael’s condo is just south of there.”
“That’s a pretty populated area, and a main road,” Ben replied, his voice doubtful.
“It is. However, those are mostly older horse properties, and there’s a system of alleys behind those houses that runs north and south. They used those alleys for garbage collection in the old days. We can use them to stay off the main roads as much as we can.”
“Doesn’t look like there’s much between here and Bell Road,” Ben said, tracing his forefinger over the top portion of the map.
“There isn’t,” Cory responded. “We should have it easy getting to there, and then we have about a mile of being on Tatum Road before we enter the alley system. That’s going to be the most dangerous part.”
“We could try the canals.”
“Remember how Bud said the canals were attracting bad guys because of the people camping there, for the water, being easy targets?”
“That was a few weeks ago,” Ben pointed out.
“I know, I know,” Cory answered, sighing once. “Don was right. There are just too many unknowns to this whole deal, but we have to make the plan with what we know. I know the canals might be fine now, but if it’s the only source of water, then people are still going to have to go there. Where you find defenseless people, you usually find the bad people. So, I know this plan might be as bad as the canals, but it seems to be the best alternative we can come up with for now.” Both men studied the map again, taking turns tracing the route to make sure both knew it, in case they were somehow separated.
“Will we wear the night vision goggles?” Ben asked as he finished studying the map.
“We will, until we get to Tatum Road, then you need to take yours off and keep an eye out for company. The NVGs are great for some things, but they reduce your vision to a very small area right in front of you, and you have no peripheral vision at all. Another thing is that any intense light source could temporarily blind me, so if you see a fire burning or something like that, you need to tell me so I can either avoid looking at it or take the NVGs off.
“How do those things work?”
“I don’t really know all the technical side of it. It has to do with the device accelerating electrons that are emitted by faint light sources, but I can tell you what I do know.”
“Okay.”
After taking a moment to organize his thoughts, Cory said, “one of the most confusing things about night vision is what to call the stuff. There are two types: the image intensifier tube devices and the infrared devices. An image intensifier is an optical device that takes available light and intensifies it. They can work from the light generated by the stars and the moon. The latest systems can even work in pitch darkness because there is always some ambient light.” Cory paused a moment, then added, “infrared systems measure the difference in heat, and produce images based on the temperature difference between the object and its environment. Thermal night vision isn’t optical at all. It’s more like using a kind of thermometer that measures heat differences.”
“What kind is ours?”
“Intensifiers.”
“Is one better than the other?”
“Well, both intensifiers and thermal have drawbacks. Intensifiers can blind you with too much light, like I was saying earlier. And, they can't see through smoke, fog, or heavy rain. Thermal can see through that stuff, but can’t see through windows and windshield glass. Thermal can’t produce an image sharp enough to help you make decisions. It can show you someone is there, but not with enough detail to really see what he’s doing.”
“I’m going to start calling you Mr. Wizard,” Ben said, chuckling softly. He should have known better than to get into a discussion of equipment with Cory, who dearly loved his gear. He picked up one of the NVGs and examined it carefully. “How much do these things cost?”
“A good Generation 2+ monocular system will probably run you $2,000. That’s what these are. If you need a Gen 3 monocular, you are probably looking at $4,000. I’ve seen some new ones that combine infrared with the intensifier that run over $10,000.”
Ben whistled softly. “That’s crazy.”
“The military and law enforcement were snatching them up so fast that the prices went through the roof last year, and now you’re lucky if you can find one at all.” Cory picked up the other set of NVGs and turned it on, after adjusting the straps and placing it on his head. “Put yours on.”
“Okay, now what?”
“Flip the switch at the right side.”
“Why is everything green?”
“The best resolution is in the green and black spectrum,” Cory replied. “They sell black and white, too. Some people say the black and white is easier on the eyes, but I prefer the clarity of these.”
“Yeah, I can see pretty well,” Ben replied, after looking around the room for a moment.
“Well, let’s get moving.” Cory put on his tactical vest and picked up his AR, after glancing around to see what they were leaving behind. The plan was to leave the second ATV, most of the food and water, and the .308 in the garage. They would enter town on the other ATV, go to the condo, find Rachael, and then return to the boys’ house. Sometime the following day, if things went well, they would start back to Prescott, following the boys’ route through Wickenburg, and find Ben’s sons somewhere along the route they laid out in the note left for Ben in the house.
Only then would they return to the ranch. They both knew that route would take them at least an extra day, but didn’t feel they had a choice. Potentially causing some worry at the ranch was not equal to the urgency of finding the boys and getting them back safe.
“The doors are locked, not that it means anything nowadays; so I guess we’re ready to go,” Cory said.
“I’ll go get the ignition fuse out of the second ATV and open the garage door.”
“Thanks. I’ll stow the rest of the stuff in the second ATV.”
The two men went to the garage, still wearing the NVGs, and Cory loaded the second ATV while Ben raised the garage door. Cory started the primary vehicle, passed by Ben, and stopped. After closing the garage door, Ben settled into his seat and looked around uncomfortably.
“Don’t worry,” Cory whispered. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I can’t see anything except what’s right in front of me,” Ben grum
bled quietly.
“I know. That’s why you need to take the NVGs off when we hit town.”
Cory started moving forward. They passed through the subdivision at an idle, barely moving to keep the noise signature down. After again passing the pile of bodies they saw on their way into the neighborhood, they left the community and increased their speed until they reached the intersection with Tatum Road.
The world around them looked like some green and black-tinted moonscape. Nothing was moving, as far as they could tell, and the silence was absolute. Although the ATV purred along quietly, it seemed almost like a roaring engine in the absence of any other sound. Cory glanced around the entire time they drove down the road, uneasy with the noise and his lack of a wider field of vision. Cory stopped the vehicle, got out and looked in each direction for a long moment, then got back into the ATV.
“You still want me to take the goggles off?” Ben asked.
“Yeah.” Ben removed them with a sigh of relief. Cory turned off the engine and both men listened intently for any noise around them. After a few minutes, they started the engine and began up Tatum Road toward Phoenix.
“Those NVGs are sort of weird,” Ben commented.
“I know. They still are for me. Just keep looking around and let me know if there’s any bright light ahead.”
“You got it.” After a pause Ben asked, “how much farther until we get to the alleys?”
“Around twenty minutes if we keep this pace.” A few moments went by and then Ben tapped Cory on the arm.
“Light up ahead. It’s at your two o’clock.” Cory stopped the ATV, removed his goggles, and squinted at a dim light in the distance.
“Looks like some sort of fire. Why would anyone have a fire going? It must be seventy degrees out.”
“Maybe for the light?”
“Possibly.” Cory allowed the ATV to move forward at idling speed. When they reached the corner, he parked the ATV behind a clump of bushes and whispered, “stay here. I’m going to go see what’s going on.”
“Okay.”
“Keep looking around. I don’t like the looks of this.” Ben nodded and Cory started off at a half-crouch, his AR at the low ready. He moved from stalled car to stalled car, then looked around a fender and caught sight of a group of men. They all wore beards and were carrying various caliber rifles. They stood in a group, passing a bottle of liquor around, and several were clearly drunk, some swaying on their feet.
He squinted hard and saw another group of men on the other side of the intersection. They appeared to be butchering a small animal of some kind. Cory guessed the two groups totaled around forty men, all armed. Between the two groups, cars and pickups had been pushed together to block the intersection. It was clearly a roadblock, and the men were obviously operating it.
Cory moved around to the other side of the car and saw several old vehicles and ATVs pushed to the side of the road. Most had bullet holes in the fenders and windshields. He quietly made his way back to the ATV, climbed in the driver’s seat, and whispered, “we need to detour around this.”
“Let me get another look at the map,” Ben whispered back. He grabbed the poncho from the back seat and his upper half disappeared under it. A faint light showed through the fabric, but it was too weak to be seen more than a few feet away. After a minute, Ben reappeared. “We can go back a block, turn east for two blocks, and then come back to the road six blocks down. That’ll get us around them.”
“Okay,” Cory replied, donning his NVGs again. He did a U-turn and moved the ATV off at an idle. Once off Tatum Road, they quietly made their way through a neighborhood that looked like a combat zone. Partially burned homes stood next to ones that had clearly been vandalized. Many had doors missing and several were bullet-ridden structures with no windows.
When they turned to head south again, they entered a neighborhood where every single light pole had a rotting corpse dangling from the pole. The stench of rotting flesh forced them to pinch their noses shut with a free hand and breathe through their mouths. As they moved farther into the neighborhood, the homes grew larger and finally became estates. Not a single thing moved during the entire passage through the residential area.
“My God,” Ben whispered. “This is Paradise Valley. This area was the richest neighborhood in the state.”
“Money’s not doing them much good now,” Cory replied grimly.
“You suppose those corpses were residents here?” Ben speculated.
“Probably. If the neighborhood were that rich, this is where the bad guys would come first. I doubt they showed much pity.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” They slowed down as they approached a home that emitted a soft glow from the back of the house. It was a large, two-story structure that must have been 10,000 square feet in size.
“If they’re not afraid to show light, I’m guessing they’re not the kind of folks we want to have an encounter with,” Cory said. He increased the speed of the ATV slightly, and a few minutes later they were back on Tatum Road, again heading south.
They drove by burned-out commercial buildings and passed through an area that had bodies scattered on every street corner. A stray dog crossed the road in front of them and they swerved to avoid hitting it. The dog trotted off as though they were not even present and disappeared into a neighborhood that bordered the street. As they passed a burned-out gas station, two shots rang out, and Cory felt the impact from the slugs on the ATV. Gunning the motor he said, “don’t return fire. The muzzle flashes will help them aim.” Another shot rang out, whizzing over the ATV as Cory rounded a corner and continued at high speed for another minute. He slowed down and heard an engine start behind them.
“They’re following us,” Ben said, his voice tight.
“We need to find some cover somewhere. We can’t make this much noise. We need to take care of these guys fast and move on before the whole town shows up.”
“There’s a low wall just ahead on the right.” Cory turned the corner and parked the ATV behind a clump of bushes. Grabbing his AR, he removed the NVGs, snatched spare mags from the back seat, and ran to the wall. Ben joined him. They both rested the rifles on the wall and waited.
An old pickup soon appeared, with several armed men in the truck bed. It rolled to a stop around fifty feet from where Cory and Ben crouched. One of the men turned on a flashlight and began searching the area. They had enough light, from the headlights on the pickup and the flashlight, to see Ben and Cory once they looked in their direction. Knowing there was no choice, Cory nodded to Ben and both men opened fire. Two of the men went down in the first volley. Both Cory and Ben continued to fire until two more men went down; but the remainder began returning fire. Both men ducked as slugs hit the wall to the right of their position. Cory did a quick mental count and decided there were still three shooters. From the rate of fire, he concluded they were using bolt-action rifles. “We have superior fire power,” he said, speaking from the side of his mouth. “Get a fresh mag and let’s put down enough suppressing fire to make them think things over.”
“Got it,” Ben responded, changing magazines as he spoke. He placed the barrel of his rifle on top of the wall. “Say the word.”
“Fire.” Both men opened up on the remaining bad guys. Cory slowed his rate of fire so that both men would not run dry on ammo at the same time. When Ben ran out of bullets, Cory continued to fire while Ben grabbed another magazine from the pile that lay between them.
“Loading,” Cory said, dropping the mag from his AR and shoving a fresh one into the rifle before again leveling his weapon on the pickup and slamming slugs into the truck bed, where the remaining men hid.
“Loading,” Ben said calmly when his mag was empty. He dropped down, grabbed another magazine, and resumed fire. The return fire slowed and then stopped.
“We got their attention,” Cory whispered. Both men still maintained their position behind the wall. “It’s their move.”
“We know where you are,�
�� a voice from behind the pickup said.
“We’re where we want to be. You’re not,” Cory yelled back. “You want to leave here alive, you pick up your dead, load them up, and leave. Otherwise we kill you all.” Cory could hear a whispered discussion between the other guys and added, “the offer is good for the next thirty seconds, then we open up on you again until you’re all dead.”
“Slow down,” came the reply. “We’re talking on it.”
“Make it fast. We have to get moving.”
“How’d you want to do it?”
“Throw your weapons in the back of the truck, pick up your dead and wounded, and leave.”
“What’s to stop you from shooting us?”
“My word,” Cory replied. “I’ve got nothing against you, except I think you’re stupid.”
“We didn’t know you were armed.”
“Well, now you do. You want to die here or move on down the road?” A long pause ensued, so Cory quietly said, “let’s open up on them again for another mag or two and see if they can make up their minds.”
“Say the word.”
“Fire.” Both men stood and emptied their mags into the pickup.
“Okay, stop! We’ve had enough!” the voice shouted. “We’re coming out and doing what you told us to do.”
“That works,” Cory replied. “Just do it fast.” He heard the squelch of a radio, and in the distance, an engine fired up. “They just called in reinforcements,” he said to Ben. “We’re out of time. I have to flank them and take them out so we can get out of here.” Ben stared at Cory. “Lay down covering fire while I flank them. Do it now.”
Ben rose and started firing rounds into the pickup with a methodical rate of fire, and Cory moved to the left, using stalled cars for cover, until he reached a point where he could see the bad guys hunkered down behind the pickup. Aiming carefully, he put two rounds into each of the three men’s backs and watched them spin to the ground. The last one to go down managed to get a shot off, but it went wide and impacted into a building behind Cory. He waited a minute, but none of the downed men moved. After another minute, Cory went back to the position behind the wall with the same caution he used on the approach; the two men moved back to the ATV, got in, and started back on their way. They both heard the engine of the new vehicle, and slowed to an idle again.
Prepper's Crucible: Volume Five: A Post Apocalyptic Tale Page 1