The Blue Ridge Resistance (7 page)

Charlie Blanchard replied, “We were wondering about that. What happened?”

Pastor Wallace paused for a moment and then said, “We had a group of migrant men find out we were sheltering women here. They snuck into the church in the middle of the night and abducted two young girls. The girls weren’t found until a few days later. They had both been raped repeatedly and severely beaten. One of the girls—God rest her soul—died of her injuries before we found them. The other survived and has recovered, but is now pregnant and carrying the child of one of the rapists. We vowed to never let that happen again. Some of the members of the congregation were upset initially about my decision to protect our guests with firearms, saying that we must trust in God. I explained to them, it’s like the joke about the man of faith during a flood.”

“What joke is that?” Jason asked.

“It goes like this,” said the Pastor as he began to tell the story. “Heavy rains were coming down and there was a flood warning. The authorities sent a truck out to the man’s house to tell him a flood was coming and that he needed to evacuate. He refused and said that God would save him. The flood then came, and the man was on his roof trying to stay out of the rapidly rising waters when a boat came to rescue him. He told them no, that God would save him. He prayed and prayed, but the waters continued to rise and the man was now standing on his chimney, with water up to his neck, when a helicopter came to rescue him. He refused help from the helicopter and said that he had faith that God would save him. Soon after, he drowned, and being a good Christian, he went to Heaven. At his first opportunity, he asked God why he did not help him. He explained to God that he had tremendous faith that he would be saved by God, but was left to drown. God looked at the man and said, ‘I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you want?’”

The men couldn’t help but chuckle at Pastor Wallace’s joke. Pastor Wallace said, “You see, sometimes you have to take the blinders off and realize that God has already provided you with what you need. And these good men here, who are willing to help us protect the church, may be just what he intended us to have. If I’m wrong, then I’ll have some explaining to do when I meet him, but until then, I vow to never let a young woman under my care to go through such a thing again.”

Chapter 11: Keeping Watch

Back at the Homefront, Daryl and Griff had just finished going over their plans for how they planned on handling their patrols while the others where away, when Griff’s wife, Judy, came around the corner and said, “Oh, there you are. Dinner is ready. Are you staying for dinner, Daryl?”

“No, ma’am. I need to be heading back before dark, although that is a tempting offer,” he replied, wishing he were able to accept.

With a look of disappointment on her face, she said, “That’s too bad. Well, I’ll run and make you a to-go basket. You’re not leaving empty-handed,” she said in an insistent tone.

“Yes, ma’am. I’d love that,” he replied with a smile.

Judy hurried back to the kitchen and started getting a meal together for him to take home, while he and Griff continued wrapping up their conversation. “So we’re gonna get started tomorrow, right?” Griff verified with Daryl.

“Yep, how about we meet at the Thomas farm at nine in the morning, then we will hit Charlie’s and Jimmy’s places and check in on their families together as we do our loop?” suggested Daryl. “You can just ride your bike over there, and we’ll get Mildred to lend you a horse for the next day or so until the guys get back.”

Griff nodded in agreement and said, “That’ll work.”

Just then, Judy came out of the kitchen with a basket of food for Daryl, with Molly and Peggy in tow. As Judy handed Daryl his basket, Molly said, “If you are just trying to avoid traveling in the dark, you are more than welcome to stay here.”

Daryl took the basket with a smile, and said, “I really appreciate the hospitality, ma’am, but I’ve got to tend to my animals and stuff before tomorrow, as I imagine Griff and I will be out for most of the day.”

“Well, okay then, travel safe,” Molly replied.

He then said goodbye to everyone, including the kids, and climbed back onto his horse for the ride back. As they all waved goodbye, Judy said, “We’ve gotta find that man a good woman.” 

Peggy replied, “Don’t look at me; I’m taken.”

“Oh really?” said Judy with her hands on her hips, giving her the eye.

“Yeah, I don’t see a ring on that finger,” added Molly.

“Okay, that’s my cue to leave,” Griff said with a chuckle as he went inside. 

In a stern voice, Judy then asked, “You’d better fess up about how things are going with you and Nate, or we’re gonna put it in Daryl’s head that you’re available.”

“Oh, stop it,” Peggy said while blushing. “He’s too old for me. Besides, things are going quite well with Nate. I have a feeling he’s up to something. That’s why I am so nervous about the trip they’re on. I just have this horrible feeling that the one good man to come along for me and Zack is going to be taken away from me, like it’s all just a big tease. It’s dangerous out there, and I just want him to come back to me and never leave again,” she said as her eyes welled up with tears.

Molly gave her a big hug while Judy patted her on the back and said, “Oh, stop putting bad thoughts in your own head. Just remember what the guys have been through already. They can make it through anything this screwed up world throws at them.”

“God, I hope so,” Peggy replied, wiping away the tears. 

“Let’s go see what Sarah is working on for dinner,” Judy said to change the subject.

“I think it’s rabbit,” Molly said with a smile as they took Peggy back inside.

~~~~

Early the next morning, Daryl and Griff met at Mildred’s as planned. Daryl had arrived early, which was his norm. Griff parked his bike and joined Daryl and Luke, who were sitting on the porch enjoying a cup of hot morning tea, catching each other up on the goings on as each of them saw it. As Griff walked up the steps to the porch, Mildred came outside with a hot cup of tea for him, and said, “Here you go, Mike.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, thankful for the luxury of tea. 

“The coffee is all gone so I hope tea will do,” she added. “Hopefully the boys will find us some during their travels.”

“Yes, ma’am, that would be nice,” he said as he took a sip of her delicious homemade herbal tea.

She then turned and went back inside as Daryl asked, “How was your ride in?”

“Uneventful, which means great these days,” replied Griff.

Daryl then said, “Luke, here, has you a horse saddled up and ready to go.”

“Great, I’ve got to warn you though, I’m not the best horseman,” said Griff as he took a sip of tea.

“Well, consider it a training day then,” Daryl said with a chuckle. “If this world doesn’t get itself back together soon, we may all be reverting back to horsemen just to get around. Cars won’t run without a civilized and functional society to supply them.”

“Speaking of that,” Griff said. “Have you guys ever heard of or seen a wood gasifier?”

“I’ve heard of them, but not anything specific,” Daryl replied.

“A what?” asked Luke with a confused look.

“A wood gasifier,” Griff replied. “Also known as a wood gas generator. I used to be an admin on a prepper-minded Facebook page before the world took a dump and I posted a few articles I stumbled across on the subject. It’s something that’s actually been around for a long time. After World War II, in many places where fuel rations were scarce, some people, especially in Europe, built them and added them to their existing vehicles in order to run their cars on wood.”

“On wood? As in burning wood?” asked Luke.

“Yep, as in burning wood. I thought about it on the way over here, pedaling my butt off just to get around. It works by converting wood or charcoal into wood gas. Syngas they call it. Syngas consists of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and other gases. After syngas is cooled and filtered in the gasifier, you can run a regular internal combustion engine on the stuff. All you really need is some random scrap metal parts and some welding skills,” explained Griff.

Luke then replied, “Between everyone around here, we should have all the stuff necessary to make one, or two, or three of those things. We should give it a shot one of these days.”

“When the others get back, let’s see what we can come up with. I can’t believe I haven’t thought about building one until this morning,” replied Griff.

“Well, I guess we had better get going,” said Daryl as he stood up and stretched. “Being waited on and given luxuries like hot tea will spoil me and make me soft if I don’t get up and moving soon.”

Luke chuckled and said, “Mildred will wait on you hand and foot, but in return you’ve gotta work your butt off to earn your keep.”

“As it should be,” Daryl said with a nod. 

Daryl and Griff went around back to the barn where their saddled horses awaited. Daryl hopped right up onto his trusty steed, while Griff took a more cautious and contemplated approach. After a moment getting acclimated to the feel of a horse again, Griff said, “Okay, I guess I’m ready.”

With a nudge to the horses’ sides, they were off. The first stop on their loop was Jason and Sarah’s new homestead. The two approached cautiously from a distance as they had seen signs that people had been in the area on the way over. There was a discarded plastic water bottle on the side of the road that Daryl was certain was not there on his way through that morning. Griff dismounted and tied his horse to a small tree. He then crept around the fence line, which was overgrown with kudzu vines and other foliage, in order to get up close to take a look. Once he was confident nothing looked out of place, he motioned for Daryl to approach as he continued towards the home. He entered the home from the back door, and as Daryl arrived at the front of the house, he opened the front door from the inside and called it clear. Daryl then took a quick ride around the property’s perimeter, as the final sweep, before moving on.

As Daryl completed his perimeter lap, he arrived back at the front porch where Griff was waiting and said, “Looks good to me.”

“Excellent. I was thinking about starting a smoldering fire in the fireplace to make it look like someone is home, but with my luck, the place would burn down while I was gone.”

Daryl grinned and said, “I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the one to tell Jason I’d burned his new home down on accident.”

“Same here. I guess we’ll just have to take our chances with the passersby,” said Griff as he turned to walk back to his horse.

Once mounted back up, he and Daryl continued their rounds, stopping by Griff’s new homestead, and then on to Linda Cox’s place. While observing Linda’s home from a distance, they saw smoke coming from the chimney. “That’s a good sign,” said Griff as they continued closer.

“Yep, a dirt bag that stopped by to rob the place probably wouldn’t be taking the time to get all cozy,” added Daryl.

As they continued towards the driveway, Daryl stopped his horse and said, “Look, another plastic bottle.”

“Where in the world are people getting bottled water these days?” Griff remarked. “I thought stuff like that got used up or hoarded up during the beginning stages of the collapse, with the poisoned water supplies and all.”

Daryl pivoted his horse towards Griff and replied, “Yes, well, either they looted someone who was well prepared, or they were using refuse bottles to carry water during their trek through these parts.”

“Let’s get on up to Linda’s,” Griff replied quickly, as he was getting nervous about bands of unknowns traveling so close to a single woman’s home.

They approached her house with caution but with a quickened pace, compared to the others. As they approached her driveway, they saw movement around the side of the house as Linda opened the front door. Griff clutched his AR-15 and began to pull it up to the fire position, as he heard the loud, angry bray of Linda’s donkey, Jack, as he ran towards them, slowing his pace once he recognized Daryl. 

Daryl laughed at Griff’s reaction and said, “He’s a guard donkey, not an attack donkey. Relax there sergeant. He probably won’t bite you.”

Griff lowered his weapon as Jack, the donkey, trotted up to Daryl and began to sniff him and his horse, followed by the demand to be scratched behind the ears. Daryl and Griff then proceeded slowly to Linda’s home with Jack trotting along behind. 

“Sorry about that, guys,” Linda said. “I let Jack have the run of the place now that my dogs are gone. He’s a territorial fellow, so he makes for a great early warning system. He’s hell on the coyotes that come after my chickens, too. They’ve learned not to mess with him. He will chase them down and stomp the life out of them.”

“I had no idea donkeys were good guard animals,” replied Griff.

“Oh, they’re great,” added Daryl. “You don’t have to feed’em like a dog, either, since they eat the grass.”

“Well, you two tie up your horses and come on in,” Linda said as she pointed to her porch railing that she herself used for a hitching post. I just heated up some soup beans and cornbread on the wood stove. You need to take a break and eat.”

Daryl just looked at Griff and said, “Oh heck, yes.”