The Legacy Series (Book 2): The Ranch [A Legacy of Violence]

by Liscom, Sean

  CHAPTER 14

  Monday, August 14th, 2017

  After the convoy left the ranch and hit the main road, we turned to the south instead of heading toward Elko. After a couple of hours, the lead Hummer made a turn toward the east, toward the mountain. Ray had been quiet after his earlier outburst which was fine with me. It gave me time to think. Although trying to think through the blinding headache that I had was nearly impossible.

  The dirt road we were on took us up and over the small mountain range and we immediately came upon the entrance to an old strip mine. We snaked our way around to the opposite side of the pit. Here I was surprised to see an old airport fuel truck, a couple more Hummers and about 10 men standing guard over it. The convoy stopped and a fuel hose was run out to the first Hummer. Ray stepped out of the rig and went to talk to the guy in charge of the fueling station. He returned a moment later and opened my door.

  “Piss break?” he asked.

  “No, but I really could use some water,” I replied.

  “Go take a piss and I'll have one of my men get you some water.”

  “You gonna have your man hold it for me too? Can't very well take a leak with my hands behind my back,” that comment actually caused him to chuckle a little. He looked at the guy that was in the turret.

  “Sam, move his cuffs to the front and take him behind the truck to take a piss,” he ordered. “Once you have him back in the truck, do the same with her,” he pointed at Melissa. Sam hopped out of the back of the Hummer and undid one of my cuffs. Once my hands were in front of me, he re-cuffed me. I watched him put the key back in his left front pocket. Once I was done, I watched him as he repeated the process with Melissa. Again, the key went into the left front pocket. When she was back in her seat, we were brought two bottles of water.

  We spent a total of thirty minutes at the refueling station before we were underway again. The convoy again turned south when we made it back to the main road. We hadn't been on a paved road nearly the entire time. It was nearly nine that night when we finally made it to highway 50. To my surprise we turned west instead of continuing our southerly route.

  “I thought you were taking us to Las Vegas.” I said over the droning of the tires and engine.

  “Just taking a little detour,” he said over his shoulder. “Besides, if I were you, I'd be in no hurry to get there,” he laughed.

  “Why's that?”

  “Once I collect the bounty on you two, I'm pretty sure that you'll end up in the arena,” he said, turning in his seat this time.

  “Is that so? I've heard the warlord runs some sort of fight club.”

  “Its way more than some “fight club,” he said as

  he made air quotes. “Think Roman arena games and you'll get a little closer to what goes on. Some of the fighters are prisoners of war, like yourselves, others fight for extra food and water and yet others fight just because they like the violence. It's a pretty big deal down there.”

  “What's this warlord call himself?” Melissa asked.

  “Her.....”

  “What?”

  “He is a she and she calls herself Adolpha.”

  “Why'd she put a price on our heads?” I asked.

  “Easy, you guys were getting too strong, too fast. You didn't fit into her plans and now I'm gonna make a shitload of money,” he laughed again.

  “She didn't like the competition, I take it.”

  “You could say that. With you out of the way, it makes easier for me to take the northern half of the state. I just got lucky because everyone else failed to take you out.”

  “What's Vegas like these days?” I continued to question. I figured that since he was willing to talk, I might as well learn what I could.

  “It was a hot hell hole before the EMP and it’s still a hot hell hole. After the EMP hit, the majority of people did one of two things. They either fled the city or they baked to death. The ones that stayed fought over the resources and the place started to look like beautiful downtown Mogadishu. It fell apart, fast. As the story goes, Adolpha ran a group that was based in

  the northern suburbs and she gave no quarter and no

  mercy.”

  He continued. “It didn't take her long to take control of the majority of the city. She used the same tactics that we use. Hit hard, hit fast and kick the shit out of them once you get 'em on the ground. The few remaining factions quickly fell in line. It was either that or die. She played it smart though. She knew that Vegas didn't really produce anything. Sure, they had farms and ranches and whatnot in the outlying areas but without water, it was all useless. That's where the slave labor came in. She figured out that the biggest commodity she had was people. According to her, she had an excess of people. Her goons began rounding up anybody that wasn't really useful and putting them to work. First thing she had to do was clear the streets. Vehicles were clogging every major artery in the city. When that was done, she had to figure out how to get water back to where she needed it. As you know, Vegas had the majority of its water pumped in from the Colorado River, Lake Mead.”

  “While it wasn't practical to get water to the entire city, she had her people concentrate on getting it to a one square block area right in the middle of downtown. The infrastructure was intact and they got lucky because one of the pumping stations at the lake happened to be offline at the time of the EMP. A little handy work, a whole shitload of solar panels and batteries and she had running water again. That

  commodity was almost as valuable as the people she was working to death.”

  “The next thing she did was to have her slave labor strip the city. Anything and everything useful was gathered up. I mean everything! They went door to door of every house, corner store, warehouse, and casino, literally no stone was left un-turned. With that move, she controlled everything in the city. In post EMP terms, she was the richest woman in the southern half of the state. She knew it wouldn't last. Even with everything that she had done, it wasn't sustainable.....”

  “That's why the push out of the city. She wants the farms and ranches,” I interrupted.

  “Exactly!”

  “I thought the cartels were the ones making the push.”

  “They are. It's a symbiotic relationship. The cartels can lay claim to the state, she's kinda like the governor. The cartels are sending supplies up from the south and they are using Vegas like one big distribution center. Food and fuel are the biggest commodities that are being stored there right now.”

  “How are they getting the fuel?” Melissa asked.

  “Much like you are, Jill. The government in Texas got really lucky. One of the refineries in Galveston was offline, I mean totally shut down and isolated from the grid when the EMP hit. It was still damaged but it was a rather easy fix. The biggest problem they had was getting power to it. With the grid down, there was no way to get it running. That is until someone had the

  bright idea of parking a nuclear powered aircraft carrier just off the coast. Basically they ran one giant

  extension cord to the refinery. Bingo-bang o they had a working refinery and even limited power to the city.”

  “The refinery in central Mexico was also shut down. While the Mexican Navy doesn't have an aircraft carrier, they had a nuclear powered Russian Icebreaker. A little different but the same if you know what I mean. That's how they are getting clean fuel to move north. Paul always said that it wasn't a coincidence that those refineries were off line. I always told him that he was full of shit.”

  “Who's this Paul guy? You mentioned him earlier,” I asked.

  “Paul Wesson. He was my right hand man for a while. That is until he got all sanctimonious on me. Dumb bastard tried to kill me one night. Ever since he blew his chance it's been a contest to see who could kill who first. That's why we are taking this little detour. I got word that he was setting up an ambush outside of Caliente and I ain't got time to deal with his shit tonight. After I drop you off and collect my gold, I might go back that way. See if
I can get a shot at him,” he said.

  “I still don't understand one thing,” Melissa said.

  “What's that?” Ray asked.

  “How the hell do you fit into all of this?” that earned her a laugh.

  “It's like this, Jill. Adolpha needed someone to run her army and I just happened to have the credentials she was looking for.”

  “Just how big is this army of yours?” she asked.

  “I'm running in the neighborhood of 900 men and women. Most are conscripts but they work just as hard as my regulars,” he said proudly.

  “You use conscripts?” I asked.

  “Why not? They need to eat and feed their families just like everyone else. Adolpha gives her warriors special treatment, it extends to their immediate family. They get extra food rations and they're not forced to work on the labor crews. It's a bit of a win-win for everybody,” he paused and turned to look at the road sign that was coming up.

  “We're going to have to go through Eureka. It'll give you a chance to see, firsthand, what would have happened if you had resisted,” he chuckled and turned to face forward in his seat again. We were about a mile from the town and the breeze must have been just right, I could smell death. The convoy slowed as we passed the wrecked checkpoint on the south side of town.

  Debris and bodies littered the streets. Most of the bodies had already expelled their decomposition gasses in the August heat, others were bloated beyond recognition. From what I had seen on Main Street, it looked as if well over half of the town had burned down. The other half was riddled with bullet holes.

  Some of the structures looked as if they would collapse with a decent wind. The tires of the Hummer crunched as we drove over broken glass and expended shell casings. It looked as if everything had been left untouched since the day they were attacked and

  murdered.

  I saw several rifles just lying in the street, some of the dead townspeople still gripped weapons in their dead, leathery hands. The market that had been set up in the middle of town had rotting produce on the carts and canned goods were scattered out into the street. The town was truly dead, scavengers of the human kind hadn't even been here.

  Melissa and I sat silently, looking out the windows at the devastation. The rage for the man sitting in front of me grew with every passing moment. I started to think about putting my cuffed hands around his neck and using the cuff chain to strangle the life out of him. This had been a peaceful farming community and he destroyed it because they refused to surrender to his will, to the will of this Adolpha woman. I glanced at Melissa, judging by the look on her face, she was thinking the same thing that I was.

  I mouthed the word “No” and in the dim light emanating from the dash, she saw it and understood. As good as it might make me feel to kill Judge, it wouldn't do any good. I needed a shot at him AND Adolpha. As impossible as it might have seemed, I started making plans for our arrival in Vegas.

  CHAPTER 15

  Monday, August 14th 2017

  The ranch.

  Jill and the remaining three members of 3-2 had been held in the security shack since the convoy left with Jason and Melissa. The helicopters had left, headed toward Elko, just after Judge had left. Now there were two tanks, two Stryker’s and two Bradley’s parked in the middle of the parking area. Jill had a rough count of about 50 men that had been left behind.

  They hadn't been mistreated. They had been given water and allowed to use the bathroom, under guard of course. She had been a little surprised that they weren't more heavy handed in their tactics. They were allowed to move around in the front office of the shack so she stood at the window and watched as the men ransacked the ranch. Everything of value was being piled on the grass in front of the medical building, everything.

  It was early Tuesday morning when she spotted a convoy of vehicles pulling up to the gate. As they were allowed through, she could see that it was the five-tons and a half a dozen Hummers. The backs of the five-tons were full of people. They came to a stop in front of medical and the people were unloaded and made to stand in lines in front of the building. The area was well

  lit and she could see Mayor Calvert, Sheriff Watson and

  Harold Anders standing in the first row. All together she counted 48 men and women.

  They were all cuffed with heavy duty zip-ties, the kind an electrician might use. There was a man walking down the line cutting the makeshift cuffs off and most of the people rubbed their wrists once the restraints had been removed. Another man was standing in front of them. He was saying something but Jill couldn't make it out. She assumed it was the indoctrination speech. After about 30 minutes of this, they were led to one of the barracks buildings that had already been cleared of valuables. They were escorted inside and a two man guard team was posted at the front and back doors.

  Jill walked back to the desk after the five-tons had been loaded with stuff from the ranch and left. She sat heavily in the chair and let her mind go to work. She really wanted to know what Jason was up to. Why have Melissa impersonate her? He had to know that the leaders of the ranch would be taken, especially since there was a price on their heads. He had told her where they were going but what did he expect her to do about it? The odds of escaping the ranch were nearly zero. Trying to fight her way out had even worse odds.

  Of course she was being held in the only building without underground access. There were weapons down there that she could use to launch a surprise attack, but still, the odds of success were too dismal to

  even think about. The people that had been brought

  from Elko were made up of security forces and Sheriff’s deputies. They could fight but all it would take is one bad guy to make it to the armor parked in the driveway and the fight would be over as quickly as it began. Her thoughts were interrupted when two men came through the door.

  “On your feet,” one of them ordered. All four people in the room stood at once. They were escorted from the shack to the barracks building that everyone else was in and pointed through the open door. “You'll stay here tonight. Tomorrow we will give out work and housing assignments. If there is ANY trouble, we will shoot first and ask questions later. Do you understand?” he asked. Jill and the other three nodded yes immediately. He backed out of the front door and closed it.

  Jill looked into the dining room and she found Jim, Darren and Harold all sitting at the table. She looked back at the members of 3-2 and told them to get some rest. They left and went upstairs, she joined the men at the table.

  Tuesday, August 15th, 2017.

  Southern Nevada.

  With Eureka behind us, we proceeded all the way to Tonopah and took up our southern heading again. I'd driven this highway a few times before the EMP and it was always lonely and desolate. Radio waves even

  had a hard time reaching out here, a lesson I'd learned

  the very first time I drove this road. I'd had to resort to listening to white noise on the stereo of my truck to keep me awake. Needless to say, the following trips I made sure to pack plenty of CD's.

  Thinking back to the days before the EMP was not something I normally let myself do. It could be too depressing. Melissa had nodded off in the other seat and by the way Rays head was bobbing, I was sure that he was asleep too. The moon was in its last quarter so there wasn't much to see out the window. The headache that I'd had earlier in the day had subsided, even if only slightly. I had determined that it had been caused by lack of sleep, dehydration and lack of eating.

  We passed through the town of Beatty, Nevada and continued south on highway 95. The only thing that I had to occupy my time was my thoughts. I thought about Jill, a lot. I was hoping that she could find a way to get away from the ranch. I was also holding out hope that she could find me before whatever fate awaited me in Vegas. I should have been scared but fear was the farthest thing from my mind.

  The convoy began to slow as we approached what could only be described as the one horse town of Amargosa. The driver reached over an
d tapped Ray on the arm to wake him up. This is another one of those places that had been abandoned after the EMP. There was absolutely nothing of redeeming value here.

  “Amargosa?” Ray questioned as he shook the cobwebs of sleep away.

  “Yeah,” the driver answered. Ray sat up straight

  and looked over his shoulder.

  “Gotta piss?” he asked. Melissa, who was wide awake now, and I both nodded in the affirmative. “Good. We're gonna take on fuel and then make the push all the way into Vegas. Should be there just about the time the sun comes up.” he said as the convoy came to a stop in front of the fuel truck that was sitting in the middle of the road. It was a repeat of what we'd seen at the strip mine.

  I was escorted out first and once Melissa had joined me. We were escorted into the long abandoned gas station. This time we had four armed men as our escorts. The stench of urine and feces was enough to make me gag a little when we went through the front door. I stopped, not knowing where to go in the pitch black. The man on my right side switched on the flashlight that he had been carrying and the beam lit up the whole room.

  Much to my surprise, there were six other people already here. All of them had rifles and they were leveled at the six of us. All six had the exposed portions of their skin covered with black face paint and they all wore black or dark colored clothes. Seizing the moment of surprise, a woman stepped forward and spoke barely above a whisper.