Dark Days Rough Roads

by Matthew D. Mark

  Rob said, “I can’t thank you enough for all of this.” A few of the other guys were there as well and thanked them. They were all huddling around the burn barrel.

  “If I could give you guy's any advice, this is what I would do.”

  Roger was just about to give them a little advice when one of the other men pointed and said, “I think we have company.”

  A four wheeler from the compound was pulling out and headed their way. It had a large white flag waving from it. They stopped out in the street just a short ways from the feed store. They yelled out, “We want to talk to whoever is in charge.”

  Haliday and Blake both stepped back and took aim. Haliday was scanning the area, he had that feeling. “Step back Rob.” Rob stepped back too.

  There were three of them out there. “Can we speak to who’s in charge?” someone yelled.

  One of Rob’s friends said, “Hell, I’ll go.”

  Haliday said, “No, don’t go out there,” but the guy did anyway. “Rob, who is that guy?”

  “His name is Jim, he always wants to be in charge and run things. If it’s our fantasy football league or anything else not important, we just let him. He’s kind of like Mr. Haney from Green Acres, always has a money-making scam going on, the next big business, that sort of thing.”

  Haliday looked around and backed up some more. “Back up guys, back up.” Most backed up, but a few just stood there. A couple of guys went over by the dumpster and grabbed some rifles they had hidden. Haliday had specifically told them not to bring weapons to this rally. Jim talked to them for a bit, then returned.

  “Hey Rob, one of them is Ernie, you know, the deputy.”

  “Ya, I know him, he always hassles my boys about the scooter.”

  “Well listen here, they wanted to know who the leader was and I told them I was it. Told them I designated you to talk for us when we were at the gate. They want to make a truce. They said if we disband, they won’t do anything to us.”

  “Bullshit,” Rob said. “I don’t trust them.”

  Jim spoke again; “They also wanted to know who these two were.” He pointed at Haliday and Blake. “I told them they were my cousin and nephew from the suburbs.”

  Haliday spoke next. “Listen Jim, I’m not sure you fully understand what’s happening here.”

  Jim pointed at Roger. “Hey, you ain’t from around here, I know these people.”

  Roger replied, “Oh you do, So you knew what they were prepping for and everything?”

  “Well, no, but they are mostly good people,” Jim said.

  “Look Jim, I’m telling you this is bad shit going down.”

  Jim wouldn’t listen to reality. He told Roger, “You don’t know that. I think it’s a good deal. We might be able to get something else out of it too.”

  Another guy piped in. “Jim, I think this guy is legit. I mean he’s gotta be Special Forces or something, look at the shit he’s pulled.”

  “No, I’m not, nor would I portray myself to be. I’m just a guy who took advantage of all the training I ever could. Practiced and honed those skills, read everything I could. Knowledge is key. Operators are a different breed, I know a few. I wish we had some right about now. I’m just a dirty fighter.”

  Haliday spoke to the group. “Look, these guys are just buying time. They will come after everyone here. They won’t stop. I guarantee they will not give up that food and supply stockpile without a fight. You all heard the stories of what they’re doing.”

  Jim spoke, “Oh bullshit, I got this handled.” Jim walked back out to meet them. A couple more people told him not to. Haliday looked around; he motioned for Blake and Rob to back up a bit more.

  Jim said, “Ernie, they don’t trust you. But I think we can cut a deal here. Look, we’ll all go home, but we gotta have something that shows good faith. Why don’t you give us all some food to get by until we work out a deal on issuing the supplies.” Ernie told him the supplies would be sold or traded, not just given out.

  “Look Ernie. I have to agree with these guys, you can’t take this stuff and then sell it back to us, that ain’t right. Now if that’s going to be your final offer, then we can’t accept that, you understand right?”

  Ernie said, “I understand, but you don’t Jim. That’s not the way it works now. We don’t bargain with terrorists either.”

  “Ernie, we’re not terrorists, just people from the community like you. You guys are acting like the terrorists here.”

  Ernie walked away for a minute and talked on his radio. He came back. “Jim, the only deal is you guys go home and don’t pull stunts like this again. You’re the leader right?”

  “I sure am, but we can’t take that offer.”

  Haliday saw Ernie shift positions and Haliday yelled, “Everyone down!”

  Jim never stood a chance as a bullet ripped through his chest. Haliday and everyone else took cover. Haliday tried to fire at the group, but too many of the guys ran between him and the four wheeler. A couple of the guys fired at the militia group and the militia fired back. Another man spun around and dropped his weapon as a round pierced his shoulder.

  Haliday started yelling, “Get back. Get back!” The militia had lured some of these guys out into the street and into the direct line of fire for their own sniper. Ernie had merely confirmed the order and then set up Jim for the shot. Jim had confirmed he was the leader and they figured an eye for an eye was in order, even though their commander was just injured.

  The militia ducked down behind their four wheeler. They would raise their rifles and fire some shots toward the crowd. Once in a while they hit another man in the back who was trying to run. Haliday finally had a clear field of fire and started firing back at the militia group. The rest of Rob’s friends who had been supporting Rob had managed to all get clear of the sniper.

  Haliday counted three armed men plus Blake and himself. They hadn’t hit any of the militia yet. There were quite a few rounds fired from the militia, but only one or two men fired back in response. Two had bolt action hunting rifles and one had a Ruger Mini-14. “Save your ammo,” Haliday yelled.

  He crawled over to Blake; Rob was lying next to him. “Rob, take my rifle. I’m going to signal to Blake when I want you guys to fire.” Haliday crawled over to his bike in the truck well. He grabbed his M24 and went around to the back of the building. He climbed a metal ladder that was attached to the building and hoisted himself up on the roof.

  He moved slowly toward the peak of the roof. It was a metal roof and it was cold. He reached the peak and loaded his rifle. He quickly scanned the compound. “Where are you damn it.” Haliday couldn’t find him. He searched some more and up on the roof of the admin building he spotted a bunch of sand bags.

  He looked over at the gate and saw them opening it. One of the deuces pulled out slowly. They had armored this thing up with plate steel on one side and on the cab area, but he couldn’t see any gun ports or anything. The deuce pulled up behind the four wheeler and nudged it a bit. The militia got alongside of the deuce, which started to back up slowly.

  It was about halfway back to the airport now. Haliday watched. Damn good idea. Just roll up, use it as a shield and roll back home. He told Blake to hold fire. One of the guys ran out toward the four wheeler and jumped in. He started to drive it toward the feed store when he was hit by the militia fire. It just rolled over toward the feed store. The man had been hit just below the base of the neck between his shoulders.

  “Fire, Blake, fire.” Everyone started firing toward the deuce. Haliday aimed at the center of the sandbags and fired a round. He fired again and still nothing. He fired two more shots and nothing. He looked through the scope. All he saw was the side of a shoe and a white Nike swoosh. He aimed at the swoosh and fired one last round. He scrambled down the roof and to the ladder.

  He climbed down wondering whether or not he hit the guy. He didn’t know it, but the first four shots were wasted. The fifth shot was the only one that hit its mark. Whoever it was t
hat was up there sniping them would only need to buy one shoe from now on. The whole lower half of his foot had exploded inside of his shoe. Haliday was surprised the guy didn’t have boots on. Seeing the swoosh was pure luck.

  Haliday called Blake and everyone over. He told one guy to watch the main street and another to watch the back street. “How many Rob?”

  Rob said, “Two dead and three wounded.”

  “You get the guy?”

  “I have no idea. Rob, you think you can get that four wheeler?”

  “Are you crazy?” Rob asked.

  “Rob, it’s out of the kill zone for that sniper now. The rest of us will lay down suppressing fire toward the deuce, the admin building and the rooftop where the sniper was. You guys need that thing. You really do.”

  Rob looked at him questionably. “You sure it’ll be ok?”

  “You want me to lie to you Rob?”

  “Roger, please do.”

  “It’ll be fine Rob. We got ya covered.

  “Everyone make sure you’re loaded up. You three fire on the barricades by the admin building. Blake, you fire on the deuce. I’ll fire on the rooftop where the sniper is. Go on three. One, two, three.” Rob ran over and pushed the guy out of four wheeler while everyone laid down suppressing fire. He got it started and drove it back to the feed store. There was some return fire, but not much. It was only a short 40 foot drive to safety.

  Rob was shaking like crazy. “I never did anything like that before. But like you said, it worked out ok.”

  “Good thing too,” Haliday said, “I was starting to doubt myself.” Rob just looked at him. “I’m kidding, Rob. Calculated risks Rob, we take calculated risks. Now you guys have yourselves a four wheeler.”

  He walked over to the machine and looked around. He opened the little glove box. “A gas card too. You get every gas can you guys have and you get them filled as soon as you can. Fill anything that will hold gas. Oh, from now on make sure you take firearms with you. Travel in pairs at a minimum.”

  He opened up a case and there was an AR inside. He handed it to Rob, “Give this to someone who’s gonna use it.”

  “What about me,” Rob asked.

  “You have one at your house, remember?”

  “Oh ya, the quad too.”

  “Keep this; give the quad to someone else.” He looked down at a metal box mounted in the back.

  He opened it up. It was loaded with 5.56 rounds. There had to be about 2,000 rounds there on stripper clips with some magazines and loaders. Haliday said, “It looks like a lot, but it’s not. Blake and I are going to reload our magazines and you can keep the rest. Again, there’s a several hundred back at your house, Rob.” Haliday and Blake reloaded their magazines.

  Everyone was standing around now. They started to ask a bunch of questions. Haliday stopped them all. “You guys know a doctor around here?”

  They all kind of looked at each other. One guy spoke up, “Ya, my neighbor, but I don’t speak to him, why?”

  “You have three wounded that need attention. Get them loaded in this four wheeler and take them there. He won’t like it, but he’ll help, it’s in their genetic make up. Then hook back up with Rob.”

  They got the injured guys loaded up and the four wheeler took off. Rob said, “What if the patrols get them?”

  “They are all in the compound right now, Rob. I don’t think they are coming back out any time soon. Too many injured and dead to worry about, and we just handed them their asses. We took hits too, but we hit hard with those planes and that track.

  “Is there a place we can go talk?”

  One of the guys spoke up. “We can go to my tooling shop just down the street.”

  “Ok, let’s go.” They left the burn barrel going and went down to the tooling shop. The barrel might lead the militia to believe they were still near the feed store. As they walked by the feed store, Haliday looked the place over. “We’ll grab our bikes and meet you there.”

  The guy unlocked the door; Haliday posted someone near the door to keep an eye out. “Before we start, what’s in the bins and everything over there at the feed store?”

  “Oh, it’s corn, wheat and soy. Same with the trucks in the lot.”

  “Damn, that’s a lot of food. I’m surprised they didn’t take it.”

  “Well, they tried, but no way to move it in bulk. They were trying to find a truck to tow the trailers.”

  Haliday was surprised they hadn’t posted a guard there. “I thought it was a feed store,” he said.

  Rob said, “No, it’s an elevator co-op, too.”

  “Hold on before we continue.” Haliday called the group.

  Kevin came on the radio. “We’re all fine. Uncle Roger, are you guys ok? We got worried. We heard them say they took out the leader and thought it was you. Dawn and Grandma are basket cases. Well, they were. Now that they heard your voice, they are ok, I guess.”

  “Ya, we’re fine. I’m going to cover a few things with these people here. I have to get them organized so they can handle the militia themselves now. Give them some ideas and plans. We’ll be there soon.”

  “Ya, you keep saying that.”

  “Ok, ok, we’ll be there when we get there.”

  Haliday gathered the guys around. “This shop have any welding tools?”

  Andy the shop owner answered. “Ya, we have plenty of tanks and torches. It’ll be old school, but we can manage.”

  “You have sheet metal at all?”

  “Nothing more than ¼ inch.”

  “What about the other shops in the area, there’s a bunch of them I noticed.”

  “I’m sure we have quite a bit if we put it together,” the shop owner said.

  Roger looked at him, “That’s good to know.

  “Anyway, you guys have seen first hand how the militia here is operating right? So you all know first hand along with the rest that those people are not here for the good of the community. You need to spread the word.”

  “How do we do that?” someone asked.

  “Word of mouth, use markers and write on their bulletins, whatever you can think of,” Rob told him.

  “Use the ham, search for others, pass the word about who they are and what they are about. Let them know you do not recognize their authority. Make sure they understand that. Make sure you tell them you are now in charge.” Rob looked concerned. “Not like your pal Jim did, I mean the community is in charge.”

  “I told you guys already you need to be teamed up when you are out. I also told you that you need to be armed. That means everyone who can fire a weapon. Power in numbers. Carry as much ammo as you can. Avoid firefights, shoot and run to get the hell out of there. You get out of there as fast as possible. They’ll win a straight up firefight.”

  “The gas stations are important. You need to lock them all down and let them know what’s going on. That gas is a precious commodity. You might want to think about treating as much of it as you can. Any stabilizer you can find you should use. Don’t let them get that either. If you place a car over the tank access and take the wheels off, it’s hard to move it that way.”

  “Save any canned food for last. Eat what’s fresh first. Use that grain. Hit up the library and check for cookbooks. Same with auto repair manuals, electrical repair, hell, anything you think you might need. Conserve your wood, burn it for warmth, not comfort. There’s a difference. Only burn enough to keep the edge off the cold. Use clothing and blankets to keep warm.”

  “Think about teaming up in households. It’ll help save wood and the safety factor is worth it alone. Make sure the houses are secured; keep doors locked, windows secured, all that good stuff. I can’t tell you enough how important it is. Remember safety and security at all times and in all locations.”

  “If you guys plan to hunt, try to keep it reasonable. I mean, don’t hunt to eat meat every day. You can overhunt. If you all go out and hunt everything in sight, within a few weeks it’ll be impossible to find game. Ration control is your fr
iend. You’ll be surprised at how little you need to eat. Keep a balance of protein and carbs though. Think about crops next year. That’s all you guys do around here is farm and fish, right?”

  “I could go on and on, but it would take weeks. What I will do is teach you some of the tricks I used here and some new ones as well. You have to think guerilla warfare. If you can’t work it out with them and you go on the offensive, you need to go primal on them. You’ve seen how well it works.”

  Haliday walked out to his bike and brought in a star jack. “These are also known as caltrops. I’ll leave this one with you. If you are being followed by bad guys, you toss a few dozen of these behind you and they’ll flatten tires. Make as many as you can. Keep them on every vehicle you use.

  “Everyone here knows what stop sticks are, right? The cops use them. Well, here’s a poor mans version. You take plate steel and cut it in strips. The longer the better. Six inches wide. Use a torch and cut some very sharp V’s into the middle. Three inches on each side. Bend those up and sharpen the edges and point. Hide them under leaves, loose dirt, lay them down as needed, you get the idea.”

  “Don’t try to up armor your vehicles, the weight will kill them. But you can double up this plate steel and make some firing portals. If you build a plate that’s 30 inches wide and 18 inches tall, with a slot cut in it, when you are laying down prone behind it, it’ll provide cover. Except from snipers who take the high ground. But they can’t be moved easily because of the weight, so be careful how you use them.”

  “You can take some peppers, grind them down, mix in some boiling water and let it cool. Add oil along with a touch of gas and use it in balloons, squirt guns, water extinguishers or whatever will spray and spread it. Improvised pepper spray. The stores around here might have some they usually sold for key chains.”