Wit, Mike, and Red all took up positions just in case part of this group returned. We had no idea where these guys were based at or even if it was close or not. I guessed it wasn’t that close as when we had heard the ATVs and dirt bikes in the past; they always seemed to drive out of earshot.
I looked down at Blake’s covered body and put my hand on his back, “Sorry, Blake….. Damn it, why didn’t you move closer to us during all of this?”
I knew the answer, and I didn’t blame him. Who would want to leave their home? Blake had a very nice setup as his house was big, his land was perfect, and he had his cattle. It is just so isolated though.
“If it wasn’t for you buddy, no telling what would have happened up at Raymore when Kim needed to be saved.”
Then it hit me. It had only been a couple of months since all this started. It seemed so long ago.
“How could it only be a couple of months? A little over two months and Carmen is dead and now Blake. Who’s next?”
I leaned back against the wall of the house, leaving my hand on Blake’s back and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I heard the jeep pulling up to the house.
Kim came running up to me asking, “Are you alright?”
I stood up and pointed at Blake. Tears came to her eyes, even though Mo had already told her but seeing his covered body made it hit home with her.
“So you haven’t brought them out yet?”
I shook my head, “No and I know they have to be scared to death, but I just didn’t want to face them with this.”
“I know. I don’t look forward to it either, but I think it was probably good you had us come down. Come on, let’s go get them.”
We walked to the barn, and when I opened the door, I yelled out, “Jacob. It’s Vince. Where are you at?”
We could hear voices coming from the stack of hay, and suddenly one of the bales was pushed out and out came Jacob followed by his mom and two sisters.
The second Laura stood up, she looked around, and then in a fearful voice asked, “Where’s Blake?”
Kim started approaching her and Laura knew immediately and started crying.
“NO! NO!” she yelled.
Kim put out her arms to hug her, but as Laura reached out, she collapsed down to her knees in uncontrollable crying. Kim got down on her knees and pulled Laura in. Jacob and Katlin both started crying as well but Joanna didn’t understand.
“What’s wrong mommy? She looked at Brandy and asked, “Where’s my daddy?” and then she started crying.
As Brandy was walking over to the kids, I had to turn around and walk outside. I’ve had soldiers under me fall before, and to a certain extent, I learned to live with that. But this, I couldn’t get used to. Soldiers spouses and even Law Enforcement spouses all had to keep in the back of their mind that one day they could be advised that their husband or wife had been killed and that was too much for me even to handle. But this was so much worse.
Mo came walking up and didn’t say a word. He knew what I was feeling, and I know he felt the same. After a moment, we started talking about how we were going to have to move them to the farm, and before I knew it, Laura came running out of the barn saying that she had to see Blake. She ran by us, and I caught up to her and grabbed her and told her she didn’t want to see him this way.
“Don’t tell me that Vince, I have to see him. I need to see my husband.” Then through more tears, she said, “Please Vince, take me to him.”
I looked at her for a moment and then agreed and I put my arm around her.
“He’s on the porch.”
As we walked up to the house, she was acting as though she was preparing herself but as soon as we walked around the corner of the house and she saw his covered body, she yelled “NOOOO!” and ran up to him and laid across his body crying uncontrollably.
Chapter Twenty-One
The night we returned from Blake being killed, I immediately went in and grabbed Brian by the collar. I had full intentions of doing whatever it took to get any information that he knew about his crew, but he convinced me that he was only with them to survive and that both he and his girlfriend didn’t really want to be with them and didn’t approve of what they did. He kept repeating that all he did was hunt for everyone and then promised he would tell us everything we needed to know and even the location of where they were all staying, which happened to be about 10 miles to the east.
“Alright, tell me everything about this Adam Pauley,” I demanded.
“I’ll tell you whatever you want. I’ll even help you guys if you help me get my girlfriend out of there.”
“You’re going to tell us everything you know and without making any demands. Trust me!”
“I didn’t mean it that way. Yes, I’ll tell you. I’m just trying to get across to you that neither one of us are loyal to them in any way. We would’ve left a long time ago if we knew of a place to go. The only other place was her mom’s house, but they all know where it is. What do you want to know about him?”
“I hear he was a Marine, is that true?”
Brian scoffed, “No. Trust me if he would’ve been a Marine he would’ve been bragging about that. All the son of a bitch does is brag. He said he was involved with some private militia group years earlier in Arkansas and how they would train all of the time for the future revolution of some type. By what he said, the group got raided by ATF while he was out of town, so he never got busted. To be honest, I think he’s one of those white supremacist nutjobs and some kind of Nazi as he has a tattoo of a swastika on his chest.”
Mo spoke up and asked, “And you decided to work for him?”
“No, it didn’t happen that way. It was a good month before he’d even talk to most of us. Then after some time, he started telling his stories, and I just happen to see his tattoo when he was changing shirts because he got all wet in a rainstorm. Once, Jana, that’s my girlfriend's name, and I heard his stories and then started seeing what he expected all of us to do, we decided to get out of there, but we knew we had to sneak away at the right time or they would come after us.”
Almost yelling, I said, “Yeah, right! How’d you get hooked up with him?”
“Jana and I were just leaving her mother’s house when the lights went out, and everything quit working, so we stayed with her mom. After a while, we were running out of food, so I decided to go hunting. I had to walk quite a ways as her mom doesn’t have any woods around her house. I set up a blind overlooking an Alfalfa field where deer would come out to eat. I shot this big buck that was about 250 yards away, and as I got up and started to walk up to it, they came driving up on their dirt bikes, and Pauley started telling me that I was hunting on his property. He acted mad as hell at first, but after I apologized and told him I was just looking for food, he noticed the blind and then how far the deer was and he acted impressed by my shot. After he questioned me a while and found out where I was staying and such, he stated that he was putting a survival group together and that if I agreed to hunt for them, they’d supply food to Jana’s mother. Knowing I had to have a place to hunt, we decided to take him up on it.
At first, we stayed at Jana’s mom’s house, but then after a couple of weeks he told us we had to move to his property, and if we didn’t, he wouldn’t supply food any longer to Jana’s mom, and he wouldn’t make sure that she stayed safe. So Jana and I agreed, but Jana’s mom got to stay at her house.”
“So, he threatens your girlfriend's mother and you just recently figured out you didn’t want to be a part of his group,” Mo asked with skepticism.
“No. At the time, he didn’t make it sound like a threat, even though I realized after a while it was.”
I immediately came back with, “Why is he trying to cut off our food supply? Why is he after us?”
“Because he says you guys killed his cousin.”
Mo and I looked at each other with a puzzled look, and I asked, “ Who the hell was his cousin?”
“I don’t know that. All I
know is he lived in Pine City, and he says you guys killed him when he came down to ask you for food. He said you guys killed a whole bunch of people that were just begging for help.”
Mo and I looked at each other again. Obviously, he was one of those that were involved in the attack.
“That’s not the way it went down. They attacked us, demanding we give them our food.” Mo replied.
“I’m just telling you what he told everyone. I believed it at the time because after everything quit working so many people turned into animals. I have to admit that after seeing the way you guys fixed my leg up, I questioned whether you were the type to kill a bunch of people just for asking for help…. Listen, I can tell you how they have things set up and exactly where they’re at. All I want is to get Jana out of there.”
After thinking for a few moments, I said, “Something doesn’t add up here. I was told he lived just a couple of miles from here, but you say they’re staying at a place about ten miles from here.”
“To my understanding, he did live just a couple of miles from here, but when he started putting the group together, he moved everything to the land that he’s on now because it is big enough for everybody and so defendable. It’s out in the middle of an open field, and there is a big barn in the middle of it. From the road, you can’t see the house, as the house is directly behind the barn. If you drive by it, it just looks like a big barn sitting out in the middle of an open field.”
My head was just pounding.
“Ok, one last question, where did all the automatic weapons come from?”
“He’s a gunsmith, but also sold guns at shows and stuff because before the power went out he used to build a lot himself. He’s got different types of automatic weapons, ammo, and he says he even has some grenades, even though he won’t let anyone see them. He said they were being saved in case the shit ever hit the fan.
That’s another reason we were going to leave. He’s a nut. He says that he likes that everything quit working and that it was the earth’s way of clearing away the excessive population and that mother nature is just watching out for herself.”
Mo and I both felt he was being sincere so I decided that I needed to think about everything he had said and I also needed to hit the sack.
****
It has been a week since Blake was killed. I had finally got some sleep, and even though I still woke with a headache the next day, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had gotten. At the end of the day that Blake was killed, the pain was so bad I had become nauseous. I actually had to stick my finger down my throat, a couple of times, to help me vomit before I felt a little better.
Understandably Laura is still having some real emotional problems with handling Blake’s death. She did decide that he would want to be buried on their farm, even though we had convinced her and the kids to move up with us. So once again, Jake used his tractor to dig his grave, right next to Abel’s, next to their barn.
Even though the kids were still hurting from their dad's murder, like most kids, they were in a lot better shape than their mother was. There is something in children, maybe a gift given to them by God, that allows children to adjust quicker than adults do.
Or maybe, when a couple is put together by God, that couple in some cases become one flesh and losing your spouse is like having a part of your body ripped off of you. I can’t imagine how I’d be if anything ever happened to Kim. I’m afraid I’d completely lose it. Even though my faith believes in the resurrection and I know I would someday see Kim again, the idea of living without her is unimaginable to me, and I know I wouldn’t want to keep living. When you have younger children, though, you have to find a way to carry on.
****
John Ackers, who was the number two tactical shooter for the Gladstone tactical team, his daughter Becky, and Robert Stenson, who was a rookie officer for the police department and John’s roommate, were approaching the farm. Both John and Robert had been invited to the farm in case a “Red Dawn” scenario ever happened.
After the incident with Jerome Jackson, John had planned on returning Becky from his summer visitation with her to his ex-wife that lived in Minnesota. Before they left, the EMP occurred. They realized it was unsafe to stay in the Gladstone area so when they discovered that older cars were still working, they decided to walk to Moberly, Missouri where his 1965 Mustang Convertible was stored at his father’s house. He stored it there because his mother left it to him when she died three years earlier, and he didn’t want to take the chance of any damage that could occur during everyday driving.
Even though his father was presently visiting a friend in Arizona, he had been giving the engine a complete overhaul when he departed for Arizona.
Upon arrival, John and Robert immediately started assembling the engine, having to use auto repair manuals that his father had, as neither one of them would classify themselves as mechanics.
It had taken them weeks to get the car running, but they were starting to run out of food and finally made the decision to make the attempt of the trip here.
John thought about running to his apartment in Kansas City to get some additional equipment but realizing it wasn’t safe, they decided against it.
They had waited long enough that most of the foot traffic was off the interstates, but as they approached Kansas City, that changed. Much of what they had seen reminded them of zombie movies where the walking dead were drifting down the highway.
There were still flumes of smoke coming out of Kansas City, and they knew that most of the people who were still in the cities weren’t going to be friendly. A running vehicle would definitely be a target for whatever gangs or groups.
They finally decided to drive back roads well to the east of the metropolitan area. Most of their route was down country roads and driving through very small towns. Twice, shots were taken at them so they learned quickly to drive through any towns as fast as they could. At one location they barely escaped as at the city limits, roadblocks were set up, but it wasn’t by the police. It was a group of thugs trying to steal whatever travelers had with them. If it wasn’t for John’s MP5 and using it on full auto, they wouldn’t have made it out.
John had all three of his duty weapons with him, including his Glock. Being Mark 2 or the number two tactical shooter for Gladstone, he had a .308 sniper rifle issued to him, but since they rarely needed a second tactical shooter, he was also on the entry team for the tactical unit. For that, he was issued a Heckler & Koch MP5 9mm Sub Machine Gun.
As they approached Pine City from the north, they finally felt like they could relax. As by what John could remember, they were only about a mile and a half from the farm. They were driving south on M Highway, and as they finally drove around the final curve before Pine City, they had to come to a sudden stop as there was a roadblock about a quarter mile away.
“No, not another one,” Robert said with apprehension.
They watched, what looked like two guards taking a defensive position, but they weren’t acting aggressively like the hostile roadblock that they had run into earlier on the trip.
“It looks like they’re just guarding the town,” John stated, as he turned to see that Becky was laying down asleep in the seat.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know but the longer we sit here, the more nervous they’re going to get.”
“Why don’t we put up a white flag? You know, tie something on the radio antenna.”
John laughed, “You know, that might just work. But be ready, just in case.”
John jumped out of the car and reached into the trunk and pulled out a white shirt and tied it on the antenna and got back into the car.
“Ok, here we go.”
Robert nervously said, “Make sure and drive slow but be ready to get the hell out of here if we need to.”
As they slowly drove forward, they spotted a third older man step out very reluctantly as though he was going to greet them, but the two riflemen had their sights right on
them.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Robert asked.
“No, but I wouldn’t think he’d step out like that if they were up to no good.”
About twenty yards from the roadblock, the older man raised his hand indicating for John to stop, which he did.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t go through here. The roads blocked off on both ends.” The man yelled but not in a threatening way.
“We’re on our way to the Johnson farm. We were invited.” John yelled out the window.
“What’s your name and whose all in the car?”
“My name’s Ackers, John Ackers. This is Robert Stenson, and I have my daughter in the back seat.”
The man thought for a moment, then instructed, “Hold on,” and he took a two-way radio from his side and started saying something.
“Well, at least we’re not being shot at,” Robert commented.
“You know, they may be calling the farm. Knowing Johnson’s dad, he’d be the kind to get all of this set up. I hope that’s what it is anyway.”
The man got off the radio, “Hang on a bit; we are waiting for instructions.”
****
Brandy asked to talk to me and told me how sorry she was for arguing with me, but I told her not to worry about it, that I was just hurting and under stress. I told her she did need to learn that when anything is going down, just to follow orders but besides that, I apologized to her and told her I could be a real asshole sometimes. She told me that she was trying to learn as fast as she could and now she knows how nurses at M.A.S.H. units used to feel. I told her everything was good and then we gave each other a hug.
Suddenly, a voice came over the radio. “Base, this is Pine City One, we have a couple of guys at the north roadblock stating they were invited here by you guys.”
Mike got on the radio and asked, “What're their names?”
“John Ackers and Robert Stenson. They have a little girl with them also.”
Mike got a big smile, “Let them through. Send them on down.”
Into the Apocalypse Page 32