Surviving (18 page)

              In a private meeting of the Joint Chiefs with the President and the Secretary of Defense, the President was told that the Military would protect the country against any overreaching by the President. They would help keep the peace, but not go against the public to push a Liberal agenda. The Military leaders were very thankful to John and Gus for the last minute warning since it allowed them to quickly cut their losses and arm the troops in the USA. It also enabled them to prepare for major attacks from a dozen enemy countries. They quickly started bringing all troops home and prepared to nuke their enemies.

• • •

              John, Tom and Gus met for a couple of hours while the others foraged for supplies. They had agreed that their houses in Smyrna were not defensible, however, John’s bunker was. This was the major decision that had to be made. It was 450 miles from Smyrna to Mobile and the roads were packed with stalled cars, desperate people and many other perils. They still decided that they needed the safety of the country and the seclusion and safety that it provided. They needed dependable transportation, fuel and intelligence about what lay ahead on highway 65 to Mobile. Their plan was to obtain vehicles, fuel and supplies for the next week then head to Mobile and make a stand there at the bunker.

              Gus said that he would fly to Mobile and travel as slow as possible along their route so he could scout for potential dangers. He would take the children with him and take as much supplies as possible.

• • •

              The next day Sam was on guard at the front of the house when he noticed a crowd gathering at the end of the street. He called for Tom. They watched the crowd for a while and saw several were drinking and most had guns. Tom went into the house, got the other men and took them into the garage.

              Tom told them, “I may be wrong, but I think those people are about to come down here and try to take our supplies and trucks.”

              Gus said, “TRY.”

              John added, “Let’s go out in force and set up a perimeter about 3 houses down so we shoot on their home ground and not ours. Arm the women and have the kids duck.”

              One guy broke out of the crowd and headed towards Tom’s house; the crowd followed. Gus had the men set up behind cars and a stone fence. He stepped out of the shadows and told them to stop.

              Gus asked, “What are y’all doing out here late at night making all this noise?”

              The lead guy said, “That’s none of your business and get the hell out of my way or I will put you permanently out of my way.”

              Gus leveled a 12 gauge at the guy’s stomach and said, “Look big guy, we don’t want trouble so tell me what you want.”

              The guy said, “We want some of those trucks and food that y’all have been stock piling for the last few days. Give us half and we will let you keep the other half.”

              Gus replied, “Get your ass back home before you get killed.”

              The guy raised his rifle and started to point it at Gus just when Gus shot him in the gut and dived behind a tree. All hell broke loose and these neighbors were no match for Gus and his crew. John shot two before they could take aim; they fell dead in the middle of the street. Tom and his son took out two more and the fight was over. The rest dropped their guns and John made them sit in the street with their fingers locked behind their head. There were five dead, three wounded and six captured. Just when they were putting zip ties on their hands a small group of women came walking slowly towards them with a white flag.

              Several of the women broke down when they saw their husbands and boyfriends dead in the street. One ran over to John and slapped him.

              John pushed the woman away and told her, “Your man got just what he deserved and if any of you try to attack us again you will be shot. Y’all need to get your asses in gear and figure out how to survive because the government will not help you. They may in fact, be your greatest nightmare. Send someone down here to get this trash or we will burn them where they lay.”

              One of the women walked up to John and said, “I am sorry, we tried to talk them out of this, but the ones that came out to fight were mostly drunk and worthless before this mess started.”

              John told her, “I’m sorry that we had to shoot them, but we won’t allow anyone to steal what we worked hard to get.”

              The woman went back and got some men to come and get the bodies and, as they left, she promised that there would be no more trouble. John took her and her husband off to the side and gave them a 15-minute course on survival. He also told them that they would leave some food to help them get started. They thanked him and left.

              They left several men to make sure that there was no further trouble. Then Gus came out from behind a tree holding a hand on his ass and limping.

              John saw him first and asked, “Gus did you get shot in the butt?”

              Gus replied, “Yes. That SOB got a lucky shot off before I killed the SOB.” They took Gus into the kitchen and made him lie down on the table with his ass in the air and pants down. Sally and Sam cleaned the wound and probed for the bullet, but it had gone through just below the skin. They gave him some pain meds and antibiotics and, put a patch on him. John came over, slapped him on the ass and told him to get up and get to work. Gus gave him a good cussing then apologized for 10 minutes to the ladies who were all laughing.

✼

Chapter 20

On The Road to Mobile

Highway 65 Mayhem

May 28, 2020

              They spent several days scrounging for supplies and trucks to carry them in, but knew they had to get on the road before chaos set in across the land.

              Gus, Tom and John met and decided that they had to leave on the 28th. They got everybody together and John said, “We are leaving tomorrow.

              They loaded all day on the 27th, had a hot breakfast and prepared to leave.

              Gus, Bill, Sally and several of the women loaded the children into the DC3 and got ready to fly to Mobile. The others left about a half hour after Gus took off so that he could radio back about any issues along the road to Highway 65 and the first part of 65. He was in pain and tried to sit on the cheek that wasn’t shot, but had to shift from time to time and winced in pain at every move. He did not want to take too many pain meds while flying. Not a perfect plan, but at least Gus could report in to John any major road blocks or bridges out.

              The plane was loaded with supplies and a bunch of kids. Gus had all of the adults armed with binoculars and M 16s and trained them how to spot trouble on the ground and in the air. Since the plane’s modern electronics had been fried by the EMP blasts, Gus was actually following the roads as if he were driving a car. This matched the route that the convoy had to travel so Gus flew as slow as the bird would go and stay in the air. He kept the plane high enough that the average idiot wouldn’t take a shot at the plane, but low enough for the spotters to see what was happening on the highway.

              Gus loped along until just before the Tennessee/ Alabama border, then shoved it into wide open to get on down to Mobile. They had not seen anything that worried Gus and he thought that he could get back in the air soon enough to survey the next leg before the team got there.

• • •

              Gus and the spotters were flying above the clouds and did not see the helicopter or Humvees parked below the bridge on 65 South between Huntsville and Decatur. There were five Humvees and three Black SUVs hiding below the overpass. They had blocked the road and were turning people back. They told them to go home and that the government would take care of them. A few resisted and were shot where they stood.

              The men manning the roadblock heard the plane fly over and alerted their commander.

              The Captain asked, “Sir, I thought that only government planes would be airborne after the attack, could this be a foreign power exploring our defenses?”

              The Leader replied, “While I can’t be certain, I would guess the plane is from one of our military branches.”

              The Captain replied, “But Sir we called them on every frequency available to no avail!”

              The leader was not concerned and told everyone to get back to their duties. He had never been in the military and was not thinking about threats; this would be his downfall one day.

              The leader of this DHS Team was surprised that his fellow Southerners were so resistant to his authority, but told his team that they only had to execute a few and the rest would fall in line. He was on a tour of his new area of responsibility and had to visit Ft Rucker, the Redstone Arsenal and several major National Guard Commands to make sure that he had their support in keeping the peace and helping his people through this crisis.

              The President had personally met with the fifty DHS Commanders who had been chosen to govern each one of the states. He told them that they were his “Field Marshalls” and would represent their respective state until the Federal government could sort out the traitors from those friendly to the Government. Their only mandate was to bring law and order to the chaos and root out those who opposed the President’s will. He told them that they only had one year to have their operations ready to support his newest program.

              Deke Jones was 55 years old and had been a lifelong liberal politician with major connections in DC. He was a black man from a poor family who always tried to prove that he was as good as his other schoolmates. He had been a star running back at Auburn and helped New England win several Super Bowls. He was the darling of Hollywood, had been in several forgettable movies and was married to super liberal movie star Jane Joplin. He was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama and would soon make that city the new capital of Alabama.

              Each of the “Field Marshalls” had been given a minimum of one thousand DHS agents, ten helicopters, one hundred armored vehicles and enough weapons and ammo to start a small war. They all wore black fatigues and boots topped off with black body amour. Most were a mixture of long-term law enforcement officers and raw recruits hurried into service 90 days ago. Their main attribute was loyalty to superiors and not asking too many questions.

              Deke had opened his combination DHS and FEMA office in Mobile a year ago. It was off Airport Boulevard about halfway between the airport and Big Creek Lake. It was located at an older manufacturing complex. His office occupied the original front offices for the aircraft company that had occupied the buildings for over 30 years.

              There were three buildings with over 1,500,000 sq.ft. of total space and had double fences around the 120 acre compound. The place looked like a prison due to the razor ribbon wire on top of both fences and the guard shacks at all entrances. The city had been told that this major complex would be used to protect the Homeland and focus efforts to help when disasters struck the southeast. The Mayor and many distinguished citizens attended the big ribbon cutting ceremony when the place opened up for business nine months ago. Local citizens asked what would be stored in the large empty warehouses. They were told emergency equipment, food and first aid supplies for disasters.

              With this cover story, no one cared about the numerous train cars being unloaded day after day. The armored cars, Humvees, weapons, ammunitions and food filled the largest building. All of the buildings were rebuilt from the inside with no changes apparent from the outside. Each was reinforced to withstand hurricanes or earthquakes and several bomb shelters were constructed over 100 feet below ground level. All buildings had large underground water, gas and diesel storage tanks. All had the interior walls lined with steel and all doors and windows had metal coverings. Several large diesel generators were installed that could supply electricity for a medium sized town.

              There were living quarters for over 2,000 people when necessary in the hardened buildings, but construction had been started on three five-story apartment buildings at the back of the lot that could house an army.

• • •

              Tom and his son, Sam, led the group out of Smyrna on Highway 24 East. They stayed about a quarter mile ahead of the main group looking for roadblocks and trouble in general. They were driving a pickup that had steel plating welded to the front back and doors for some protection against small arms fire. They stayed in constant contact with John who had Beth, Alice and Bill in the Jeep.

              Everyone in the convoy was armed and stayed vigilant against any attacks. The main column was followed by another pickup guarding the back of the group. The trucks with the supplies were positioned in the middle of the string of vehicles because Gus and John felt these would be the main targets of any bandits.               They immediately began passing people still walking along the highway trying to get home. The group stopped a couple of times to give water and a bit of food to families with small kids, but quickly knew that they would never get home if this continued. They also could not spare food for everyone on the highway. They began driving around these folks and either got cussed or rocks thrown at them. John told everyone to poke a gun out both side windows and the rock throwing would stop.

              They were on HWY 840 about halfway between Interstate 24 and Interstate 65 when they saw a group of rough looking people suddenly come out of the woods and they milled around in the middle of the highway. There were about 40 adults and 60 kids ranging from toddlers to teens. They were all dirty and looked like they had not eaten in a week. The lead vehicle approached them and the group quickly blocked the road.

              Tom slid to a stop and then backed up about a hundred feet when the group charged at them. Tom fired his pistol over their heads and the crowd stopped and then slowly walked towards Tom and Sam. Tom backed up again, but the crowd kept coming at them. Tom shot two rounds into the dirt and they stopped again. This time a single man walked towards them with his hands raised in the air.

              He stopped about ten feet from the pickup and yelled, “You are not getting through here without giving us half of your cars and half of your food and water.”

              Tom replied, “I only see a couple of guns in your group, just how will you take our stuff?”

              The guy replied, “We have Molotov cocktails and will burn your cars to the ground if you try to get through without sharing."

              Tom said, “Okay, let me check with our leader.” Tom drove back to the main group and filled them in.

              John and Tom were discussing backtracking and going around these bandits when Beth said, “I’m guessing that this will happen several more times. If we back track every time we will never get home. Let’s shoot the leader and the rest of the bastards will scatter!”

              John and Tom agreed. The plan was to drive up tell them to get off the roads by 100 yards or die. If they did not move, the leader would be shot. If they still don’t move, keep shooting the adult men until there is no threat.

              Four trucks with ten men drove down to the bandits. They stopped about fifty feet away and John yelled, “Get off this road and get out of sight or we kill you first and then the rest if you don’t get gone.”

              The guy that had walked up and talked the first time shrank back into the crowd and hid.

              An old woman came out of the crowd and said, “I am the leader and I know you gentlemen won’t shoot an unarmed lady.”

              John saw several men light several of the firebombs. He raised his M 16 and shot the lady right between the eyes. He then yelled at the rest, “Your leader is a dead crook who thought she could rob us. Get gone or die.”

              Several of the guys started shooting and tried to hit the trucks with the Molotov cocktails, but they were too far away. John’s team quickly shot nine of the men. Even this did not stop the group. The men and women kept charging the trucks.

              John said, “Shoot all of the adults and any kids that try to harm us.”

              The gunfire was horrible and bodies began piling up. Only a few of the kids tried to throw the firebombs and they were dispatched quickly. Only five adults and most of the kids ran away from the fight and escaped into the woods. They rounded up several of the kids and began questioning them about why their parents had tried to rob them.

              One of the older girls said, “They wanted your trucks and guns, we don’t have any trucks that run and only a few guns.”

John asked, “Did they do this because y’all are hungry?

              The girl said, “No we live on a big farm back in the woods and have plenty of food and water.”

              John said, “We are sorry about your parents.”

              The girl stopped him and said, “Most of us were kidnapped years ago and have been used as farm labor and other bad things."

              She was thirteen and a beautiful blond headed girl beneath the grime and dirt. John took her to the side and asked, “I hate to put you on the spot, but are any of these kids, besides you, worth saving. I mean, are any of them as bad as the adults?”

              She looked him in the eyes and said, “Most are good, but some of the boys were rewarded with their choice of the younger girls. A couple of the girls are real bad also.”

              John knew he was taking a chance, but he questioned several other girls and got the same story. One older girl had a very different story about how their parents were starving and desperate. John weeded out the bad ones and told them to head back to the farm. They left. There were twelve children left that John felt good about, nine girls and three boys below five years old.

              John waved for the rest of the group to join them and had the shortest town meeting in history. The bottom line was that he wanted them to accept the children and raise them as their own. All but a few agreed so it was done. John’s rag tag band had more kids. They ranged from thirteen to two years old. The women took over their care and loaded them up and the band of wanderers took off again for Mobile.

• • •