Shelter: Book 2, A Long Days Night (31 page)

“Aren’t you worried about being one man down?”

“Yes, but we’ve got to tell our dad and also try to clear the door.”

“OK, I’m out of here.”

Thirty minutes later Ron returns, “Your father said good job, clear the jam, in payment he’ll tell Lacy about her house.”

Randy smiles, “Better him than me. While you’ve been gone, we’ve cut one section from the trunk and dragged it away from the door, so far no one has been nosey enough to come by. I think we’re going to have to cut two or three more sections off before we can inspect the track. I bet there’s wood jammed into the track which we won't be able to access. It’s most likely been forced in between the door and the track by the wind.”

“Man, I didn’t know the wind could do that.”

“Yeah, seen it before, three years ago we had a twister come by, I saw a nine-inch wood splinter sticking out of the wall of our house.”

“What do we do if after moving the tree the door doesn’t open?”

“Let’s get the tree removed first.”

Two hours later they’ve moved the large trunk away from the door. Mark asks, “How do we tell if the door will open?”

“I have the code, we’ll try it.”

The four exhausted men have cut up and moved the trunk from the door, they’ve used pliers to pull wood from between the door and the wall track. The men working on the door have stripped off their helmets and armored vests due to their weight and the 99% humidity.  Only one man is standing by armed and wearing armor, he’s their sole protector.

Randy and Mark look at the door, Randy says, “I think it’s time to try the door, is the coast clear?”

“Yes, however, I suggest you guys put your armor on before you attempt to open the door. If it works and Jay sees you not wearing your armor, he’s going to kick your ass.”

Randy and Mark laugh while reaching to grab their armored vests.

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Jay yells, “Everyone be quiet. Listen.”

Tony says, “Hell yeah! I hear it, sounds like a chainsaw.”

“Yes, it does. I think there’s someone outside trying to clear whatever jammed the door. I think the twister threw a tree against the door. It’s most likely either dented the door or it jammed part of the door into the side tracks. I hope it’s jammed into the tracks.”

“Isn’t that going to be harder to clear?”

“If the door was dented and won’t lift, we may not be able to repair it. If wood is jammed in the track, they might be able to clear the door enough that the weight of the door will crush the wood allowing the door to open.”

Franco asks, “Jay, do you think they’re our people?”

“Man, I hope so. Either way, when the LED panel shows someone is trying open the door, everyone aim outside the door. If they’re not our people, we’ll be able to cut them down before they can kill us.”

Franco says, “Jay, we’d be killing the people who are saving us.”

“It may come down to them or us. I’d rather have them die versus us.”

“Jay, what do you want to do about these three?”

“We can’t let them go, so we’ll take them with us. Maybe we can help them change sides.”

The young man shakes his head. Jay pulls his gag down, “You want to say something?”

“Yeah, I’m not going to switch sides asshole.”

Pulling back his gag, Jay says, “I’ll deal with you when the door opens.”

They hear a clicking noise, Jay says, “I think they’re ours, they have the code, they’re entering it, look, the LEDs are changing from red to green.”

Tony says, “Jay, one LED is staying red.”

“Yeah, there is a part of a tree stuck in the track. Be happy the splinters didn’t get through the tracks to us, we’d be cut apart from the force of the wind driving the wood.”

Franco asks, “Still want us to be ready to fire when the door goes up?”

“Yes, just to be on the safe side.”

They hear the door straining, one issue is the battery backup motor isn’t as strong as the AC version is. Randy is yelling at the door, “Come on you mother, open. OPEN!”

Slowly the door begins to move up, both sides hear wood breaking, wood that the twister jammed into the door’s track. The door lifts, stalls and moves another couple of inches. Randy lays on the ground, he yells under the door, “Jay are you in there? Are you OK? It’s Randy and Mark.”

Jay responds, “Randy, great to hear your voice. We’re fine, I assume a tree got jammed into the mechanism?”

“Yup, we cut up the tree, I think we’re going to get the door up.”

“It is moving slowly, you may have saved us.”

“It’s moving very slowly.”

“Randy, that’s because the battery backup motor isn’t as strong as the regular motor.”

Randy happily yells, “It’s working, it’s going up, it’s gaining speed!”

The door opens, a very happy Jay and his team smile at their saviors, when the door is completely open, Jay lifts his sidearm and shoots the young man in the back of his head, instantly killing him. The shot surprises everyone, they all jump at the sound of the single shot. Tony looks at Jay, “Well, I guess that just destroyed your entire argument about not killing in cold blood.”

“I gave him a choice, he told us he wasn’t going to change sides. There was no other option, we don’t have a jail. We can’t risk just turning him lose. Turning him loose with his arms tied behind his back would have only killed him slowly. It’s better this way for all of us.”

The two girls are crying from the sound of the shot and the realization that their friend was dead. The youngest cries, “You killed him in cold blood, you’re an animal.”

“I gave him a choice, he chose poorly, I suggest the two of you choose more wisely. Yes, I am an animal. I’ll do whatever I have to to ensure my family lives. Randy, Mark, great job. I don’t know why the inner door doesn’t open, but let’s go around and get inside. Let’s close the door so it’s not hanging open.”

After we got the door closed with the camo in place again, we all walk towards the emergency tunnel, Jay looks over his shoulder at where his house stood, he’s thinking,
at least I won’t have to try to repair it. Lacy’s going to be pissed. I hope the sheriff doesn’t pick this time to show up. I need to get some rest, a hot meal, and a shower before I check my basement and subbasement. Both should be fine. Tornadoes usually strip the building from the ground level, leaving the basement. It’s most likely filled with the debris from the house. If so, that’s fine. No one will be looking in the basement if it’s filled with crap.

Chapter 22

Admiral Zin reviews the most recent report in his hands, he shakes his head wondering how this happened. He looks at his Senior Aide, “What happened?”

“Admiral, they surprised us. Their damn battleship somehow found an additional supply of sabot rounds. We were looking in the direction of the harpoons, we didn’t see the sabot rounds, even if we had seen them, there was nothing we could have done about them. Nothing in our inventory would have taken them down. Each shell was targeted on a different ship. They fired a couple of salvos which arrived at the same time as the harpoons arrived. Each shell destroyed the ship that was struck. No modern ship could stand up to such a weapon. When we thought we’d survived the worst, their cruise missiles arrived. By the time we got the fires under control and regrouped, the surviving ships, their damned battleship was close enough to fire its original shells, which are either 864 or 1,227 kilograms. Admiral, those shells destroyed every ship they struck. Even unguided their fire control computer was good enough to hit us with four out of every five shells they fired. The battleships escorts added their own harpoons to the battle, we’d already used up most of our anti-air missiles, we lost most of our close-in fire control radars in the battle, we stood naked in front of them.”

“How many ships survived?”

“Admiral, we lost the battle.”

“Captain, how many ships did we lose?”

“Sir, we started with three hundred ships of all types, at the end of the battle, eighteen ships turned towards home, they are limping back to port.”

Eighteen out of three hundred?”

“Yes, sir, that’s correct.”

“Our flagship?”

“Sunk.”

“This is the worst defeat in the history of the Chinese Navy. I have to will an appointment to personally inform the President. He will most likely have me shot as soon as I tell him.”

“Sir, could you send him a report?”

“No, honor dictates I personally inform him. It was my plan, I’m the CIC of the Navy, this is all on my shoulders.”

“Aye, sir. Shall I place the call to the President’s chief aide?”

“Please, I’ll take your report and head to his office.”

“Sir, it’s been a pleasure serving under you.”

“Captain, I hope to see you again. Please give my regards to the staff.”

Two hours later the President’s office issued a new military press release thanking Admiral Zin for his years of service and wishing him well in his recovery. What wasn’t stated is it’s impossible to recover from six 5.45 mm bullets fired from a firing squad. The President’s office announced the promotion of Admiral LingPo as the new head of the People’s Army Navy.

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Captain Sarnoff stayed long enough to know there was a huge problem, he didn’t hear any gunfire. By now he should have heard the gunfire from the militias attacking the army. He knew that the militias purchased his weapons which they’ll most likely use against him. He realized he should have known US militias wouldn’t fight the US Army. He’s going to have to move quickly to stay ahead of the Army. His troops wouldn’t stand a chance against tanks and armored vehicles. He studied the map, “Nikita, look at this map, there is a group of farms here, north of Nashville. I think that is going to be our new destination. We should be able to take over a few of the farms and lose ourselves in the countryside.”

“Yes, captain. I will get the men ready to leave.”

Studying the map Sarnoff thinks,
the army will most likely head to Nashville or the Mississippi, we’ll lose them in these farms. Poor Alex is going to be upset we never found his beloved GTO, I will try to find him something he’ll enjoy driving around. Maybe he’ll pick up a nice American girl and settle down.

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It’s hard to accept that my home is gone, there’s only a pile of debris which was our home and all of our belongings. Almost everything we owned is gone. Some would say it’s an act of God. I must have really pissed him off for him to take my home. In a way, it’s better for everyone that my home is gone and theirs are OK. From here it looks like the garage and barn survived, so not all is lost. I want to check the basement, but the sun is going down. I need to first see Lacy, tomorrow we can return to begin sifting through our stuff. I wonder where the rest of the mob went or if they’re still here and in hiding. I’d hate to be digging through our basement to have the mob show up. Many of my friends aren’t ready to go into a pitched battle this soon. Tomorrow I’ll ask Todd and Tony to join me to check my house. Thank God we have the shelter, the kids, Lacy and I may have to live in the shelter until we rebuild. Rebuild? Where the hell are we going to find the building supplies and all the small bits needed to build a house? We’re going to need everything from 2X4s, plumbing, electrical, nails, roofing, windows... I don’t know if it’s possible to rebuild. None of the big box stores are open, banks are closed. I’ll talk with Tony if anyone knows where to locate everything required to build a house it’s going to be him. I think we ought to build the entire house of reinforced concrete, it will be fire and storm proof. We might even be able to make it bullet proof. Didn’t Tony say he owned a cement plant or one of his friends owned it? Lacy won’t like the look of an all concrete house unless we skin it with brick and wood. I’ll start on the plans tomorrow. It feels good to be out of our small cage. What am I going to do with the two young women? I don’t want to kill them, I can’t let them go to tell everyone about us. I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Shit, if I’m going to lock them up, it means I’ll have to let Ricky out. God, I hope he stays away from me and Lacy tonight.