by Pete Thorsen
I swung the scope over to the rifle wielding man just in time to see his expression as his buddy was dying on his feet. The man started to raise his rifle up to shoot the woman and without thinking I squeezed the trigger on my own rifle. The crosshairs were already on his chest because I had been watching him through the scope and I saw him fly backwards at my shot.
I was shocked at what I had done and without even working the action on my rifle to put in a fresh shell I leaped up and ran all the way back home. After I had threw up first that is. I could not get the image of the man flying backwards out of my mind.
I could not believe I had killed a man. It was not self defense either as the man had no idea I was even around. What was happening down on that highway was none of my business but I had shot and killed a man because of it. Whether he was maybe about to kill another or not is debatable but the only true fact was that he died by my hands.
Though it was supper time by the time I made it home I had no interest in eating and wondered how I would ever sleep that night after what I had done. I paced the floor at my house until quite late and finally I did lay down but my mind would not let me sleep.
I must have fallen asleep though at some point during the night because I woke up in the morning from the sunshine hitting me in the face. It was much later than I usually woke.
I could swear I smelled coffee in the air and then I heard a noise that I thought was from the kitchen. I reached for my pistol that I always placed on the nightstand next to the bed but it was not there. I was sure I had placed it there like always last night but it was possible I forgot because I was so shook up from killing that man that I may not have.
I dressed and the holster on my belt was empty so I knew someone had taken my pistol while I slept. I was still alive so they must not have immediate plans to kill me so I used the bathroom and washed up before heading for the kitchen.
“I pictured you as an early riser.”
This was spoken by the woman sitting comfortably at my kitchen table drinking a cup of likely my own coffee. My pistol was lying on the table near her.
“I couldn’t get to sleep after what I did yesterday. Normally I get up before the sun. Is that my coffee?”
“Yes it is thank you but though I searched all I could find was this instant coffee. You do have plenty of that though.”
“I live alone and found it too much trouble to brew a pot of coffee just for myself. I see you made yourself at home.”
“Yes I did and thanks for breakfast. Sorry I did not wait for you before I ate. You should eat because we have some work to do this morning.”
“Some work to do?”
“Yes my car is wrecked and it barely made it a quarter mile down that county road before it played out. The bandit’s pickup is sitting at the end of your driveway and is almost out of gas. We should get both of them up here before someone finds them. Oh that’s a neat trick with the cattleguard on your driveway by the way.”
“Thank you. Just why should I do anything for you anyway?”
“I’m sorry I should have said something right off. Thank you for saving my life yesterday. I certainly appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. And just why should I help you do anything like move those vehicles?”
“Because they both contain valuable stuff and we need that up here before someone else gets it.”
“I do not think I invited you up here.”
“You need me here. You have a lot of supplies and the trick with the cattleguard might stop some people but you are very poor at security. I’ll stay here with you at least for awhile to get the security situation improved so you can be a little safer. It is the least I can do for you saving my life.”
“Do you always dictate to others like this? I live alone and am perfectly happy with that arraignment. I could help you siphon the gas out of your car into the bandit’s truck and you can be on your way to wherever you were going before this all happened.”
“You just eat your breakfast and let’s get things going. Oh you are welcome to your pistol. It’s still loaded. I found some of the guns you have stashed around but I did not move them. Try to hurry with your breakfast.”
“What makes you think I won’t just shoot you?”
“I found where you were when you shot that guy and followed you home. I saw what that shot cost you and I know you are not going to shoot me. Now get your breakfast so we can get to work. We can talk later.”
“You sure are a bossy one.”
I said that but I did eat a quick bowl of cereal and drink a single cup of coffee. Then it was out the door and into the garage where I found a siphon hose that had a built in squeeze pump on it which I handed to the woman and pointed to an empty gas can which she picked up. Then I took out a tow strap and picked up the long pry bar I had used on the cattleguard. We walked together to the end of the driveway where I removed the angled fence posts and then I got in the passenger side of the pickup after she unlocked the doors.
She drove the couple miles to her car and I got the siphon going and filled the gas can then dumped it into the pickup gas tank. While I was siphoning the gas she had backed the truck up to her car and hooked up the tow strap so it was ready to go.
She just told me to take it slow and got behind the wheel of her car after I had dumped the gas in the pickup. I just shook my head at the gall of the woman and got into the driver’s seat of the truck and pulled her car back to my place.
“If you want to show me where to put the stuff from your spare bedroom I’ll get it moved out so I can move in. Oh my name is Beverly but you can call me Bev.”
I honestly did not know what to think about this woman. She acted just like she owned the place and I was at her beck and call. She was very pretty to look at with her slim and athletic looking body and long light brown hair down to her shoulders.
I could detect just the slightest bit of a foreign accent I think on occasion when she was speaking but there was no doubt about her being American as my western ears could easily tell from her speech that she was from the eastern United States.
But to think she could just move in to my house without even asking is certainly bizarre to say the least especially with the way the world was right now in total turmoil. Maybe she had some kind of brain disorder or something. She had her pistol back in the holster on her hip and appeared to be used to it riding there. She was impossible to understand.
“Let me show you where you can put that stuff. My name is Art.”
I must be as crazy as this woman. I had no intention of letting her stay here so why did I just say that to her? I then found myself showing her where to move the stuff and then I went out and walked back to the end of the driveway where I used the long pry bar that I had left lying there to set up all the fence posts again the way I had them in the cattleguard. As I again walked up to the house carrying the heavy bar I could see her transferring her stuff from her car into the house. I went to the pickup to see what it contained.
Chapter Ten
The stuff in the back of the pickup was obviously just loot that the guys had stolen from other houses. There was a big bunch of food (likely the most valuable commodity in the country about now) along with some guns and a pile of ammunition.
That was the bulk of the things in back with some odds and ends of other things that the men had guessed might now be or become valuable. There was even a pile of animal traps they had taken from someone along with a few backpacks, a couple of tents, several twenty pound propane cylinders (like for a gas grill), and a bunch of other items.
Inside the cab were some more food and a few more guns with ammunition and a cloth bag that I found contained quite a bunch of cash, some of what appeared to be gold jewelry (which I knew nothing about) and a pile of coins.
At first I was surprised they would take coins but then I could see many were gold coins and the rest I assumed were all silver. There were a lot of them. Just that one bag had to be worth many thousands
of dollars, or at least it had been before society had broken down anyway.
I was just wondering what to do with all the stuff in truck when my new ‘roommate’ came out.
“So what did we get in the truck?”
“Guns, ammo, food, and cash. I don’t know what to do with it.”
“We can put it away later.”
“I meant to get it back to the rightful owners.”
“We are the rightful owners now. There is no way to know where they got this stuff and anyone they got it from is very likely dead now. That is unfortunate but that is just the way it is. Things are not like they once were in case you had not noticed. People are getting killed out there everyday and there is no police anymore so it is just everyone for themselves.”
“There are no police?”
“No, any that are still alive are just trying to protect their own families. At some point maybe the Army will show up if the President declares Martial Law but I have seen no military yet. I don’t really even know if we have a government anymore at this point. Don’t you watch the news?”
“It was too depressing and so I just stopped watching it.”
“Well it is true about it being depressing and I think all the TV stations are now off the air anyway. There was a radio station still active that I was listening to yesterday though but only just the one station that I found. Information is valuable and you should always try to get as much as you can. I saw a military uniform that looked pretty recent that wasn’t yours was it?”
“Yes it was mine.”
“I am a little surprised after how you reacted after shooting yesterday.”
“I was a good shot in the Army and I liked shooting but I never actually had to shoot at anyone luckily.”
“Well you saved my bacon yesterday. I should have waited to attack until those two men were close together instead of how I did it. It worked out OK but only because you were around. I just could not let that idiot touch me. I was just preparing to throw my knife at the other one when your shot took him. Good shot by the way.”
“I guess I’m glad I saved you if I really did. I did not know for sure if you had a knife but a saw a silver flash when the man attacked you and I saw the result.”
“I dragged the bodies out of sight of the highway and put what they had of value in my car before getting it off the highway as far as it would go.
Then I found your stand and followed you back here before going back to get the truck. I checked out your place and even had time to get a little sleep before getting up for breakfast and waiting for you to wake up.”
“You certainly had a busy night. Why didn’t you just kill me in my sleep? You certainly had the opportunity.”
“Hey you had just saved my life! Plus I would not kill an innocent.”
“You think I’m an innocent?”
“I saw how you reacted after shooting that guy so I knew you were an innocent.”
“How did you get in the house? I’m sure I had it locked up.”
“Yes the doors were locked with those old cheap half wore out locks that a child could bypass. As we get time we will get this place much more secure. I think it’s about time for supper and I missed lunch. What are you going to make me for supper?”
“Don’t the women always do the cooking?”
“Cooking is not a talent that I ever endeavored to master. I can open a can and heat it up with the best of them though.”
“I am rather hungry myself. I’ll see if I can find something for the both of us.”
I did go in and throw a simple supper together that would be enough for the both of us.
“This is really good. I may just keep you around after all.”
“That’s nice. Especially considering this is my house and all. So just how long are you planning to stay here anyway?”
“You’re not trying to throw me out in the cold already? I just got moved in.”
“You are a very strange woman. I certainly do not remember ever inviting you to stay here.”
“I know you are just shy. That’s why I just kinda helped you along with the invitation to have me stay. Don’t worry I know what’s best for you.”
I just shook my head at her.
“So from the looks of that stand you have by the highway and trail from there leading to your house, you must have been spending considerable time up there.”
“I have been keeping an eye out for trouble for awhile now. Those two guys that attacked you had come up here and I ran them off a while back.”
“You have many things to learn. That trail from your stand is plain as day. You should have been using a slightly different route to and from it everyday.
The way things are now, when you encounter people like those two men you should not just ‘run them off’. You kill them so they do not have a chance to kill you later when your back is turned. It also prevents them from killing any innocents. By killing the bad ones you are likely saving many other lives, just like you did for me.”
“I do not want to kill anyone.”
“I am not blood thirsty and hope I never have to kill anyone ever again. But with the way things are now we will very likely both have to kill again. Like or not.”
“Do you really think things will get worse? I would think we are at the bottom and things should start getting better soon.”
“Yes things will get worse but you might be mostly shielded from the worst of it way out here. Soon I expect the electric power will shut down and that will lead to the deaths of most of the population of the United States. No one will have any water without the electric power. You do know that those solar panels will do you no good if the grid goes down, right?”
“Wrong. I paid to have switching equipment installed so I could switch the solar panels to feed just this house when the grid is down.”
“Maybe you are smarter than you look. With those panels working you will still have running water here.”
“It will only work during the day but that should be enough. Besides the well pump I wanted it to run the refrigerator and the freezer.”
“That is a good plan. Maybe I will just hang around here for awhile.”
I did not know what to say to that and just sat and looked at her.
Chapter Eleven
The next day we both went through the stuff in the bandit’s pickup and put it all away. I siphoned the rest of the gas from her car and dumped it into the pickup fuel tank also. We moved her wrecked car out of the way and she showed me where we should park everything but only after walking around some and checking different angles.
“What are you doing?”
“We want to park this stuff so it can not be used as cover by anyone who tries to attack the house but so that we still have good access to it if we need to evacuate in a hurry.”
“You expect someone to come out here and attack my house?”
“If they did attack wouldn’t you want everything in your favor?”
“Just tell me what to do. I see your point. It is just like any other preparations; you get stuff ready even if you hope you never need it.”
“You’re catching on.”
After that we walked around the place and she checked out all the buildings and we even walked some distance from the buildings. As we walked around after looking in all the buildings she explained some of things we would be doing to increase security. As she explained I realized when she had looked in the buildings one of the things she was doing was taking an inventory of available tools and supplies.
Things like barb wire and fence posts and even some old discarded sheets of paneling would be used. She pointed out where many native plants and trees had been allowed to grow up unchecked and now should be cut down to give us a more unimpeded field-of-fire if shooting started. Also it made sense for fire control if a wild fire came through here; a very real possibility if people were all out cooking over open fires.
Over the next couple weeks we both worked hard everyda
y and all day long. We cut down all that vegetation and dragged it well away from the buildings. When that was done we strung barb wire (most of it rusted old stuff) all about the place but only a few inches off the ground so anyone walking up would have to move slowly to keep from tripping and it would be near impossible not to trip on it at night.
We pounded in steel fence posts at angles just back from the fence line that ran along the county road. The simple barb wire fence was made to hold cattle and would not stop anyone from driving through the shallow ditch and across the fields up towards the house. The angled posts would stop most any vehicle that tried to run over them coming from the road.
A little closer to the buildings we dug a trench across the driveway as a last way to stop a vehicle that made it that far. After we had the trench dug we put the old sheets of paneling over the trench and covered it with a thin layer of dirt. We wet down the dirt on top and to get it to stick to the panels so it would not blow away (the dirt here has a lot of clay in it). When it was dry we spread just a little more loose dirt on top so it looked more natural.
While we were working and even though both of us always carried a handgun Bev also made sure she had a rifle within easy reach wherever she was working and strongly urged me to do the same. I did just to stop her from riding me about it.
I made a few simple signs that just said ‘keep out’ and put them on my fence along the county road. I had a feeling that anyone who came up to the place while Bev was here might not get a chance to explain why they were ‘visiting’. The signs I made were plain enough and anyone should know enough to stay away when they saw them. If they came anyway after reading those signs I was no longer responsible for their safety.
When we finished those projects I thought we were all done but Bev had other things she wanted done for our protection. She was pleased with my house because it was old time construction using large solid clay blocks very similar to adobe. It was almost bullet-proof and she approved. The roof was metal (except for all those solar panels) so both the roof and the walls were pretty fire proof also.