THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) (21 page)

Rancho
McDonald

North
of Durango, Colorado

              
It
didn’t take Larry long after his uninvited visitors left before he
realized that one of the four members of his family would have to be awake
standing guard at all times. Larry took the ten PM to six AM shift, with Zach
on guard from six AM to 2 PM and Mary on guard between 2 PM and 10 PM, when
Larry took over. Each was armed with a rifle and a hand gun, along with extra
ammunition. For the first three weeks the McDonald family members were on high
alert, suspecting that their unwanted visitors would soon return. Eventually,
though, with day after day and boring hour after hour shifts with no one seen
approaching their mountain enclave, the adrenalin slowed and caution waned.
Zach was the first to suggest that it was time to ‘stop being so
hyper’. At first, Larry refused to change the guard schedule, but after
hearing Melanie, Zach, and especially Mary,
complain
repeatedly, Larry finally agreed. The family stayed armed, but no longer posted
a guard for eight hour shifts. Larry insisted, though, on sleeping on the
farmhouse’s front porch during the night.

              
Larry’s
front porch sleeping vigil proved to be the family’s undoing. The
unwanted visitors, now joined by a pack of three more similarly hungry and
desperate men, kept their word. They came back to Rancho McDonald when the
McDonald family least expected it. Using long-range binoculars the intruders
watched the McDonald family for three days and nights to insure that they knew
what to expect when they made their move.

              
Larry
kissed his wife goodnight, hugged his daughter and prayed briefly with his son.
He made sure he had his
Glock
, his rifle and extra
ammunition. He unfolded his well-worn sleeping bag and stretched out on the
lawn chair on the front porch. Having worked hard during the day chopping wood
he was soon sleeping soundly. The intruders let him sleep for two hours and
then silently moved across the Rancho’s grounds. Grabbing Larry’s
hands, including his hand near the
Glock
, proved to
be easy, as they were outside his sleeping bag. His rifle and ammo were
snatched at the same time that his hands, mouth and eyes were tightly
duct-taped.

              
The
tallest of the invaders, who had been the outspoken one at the McDonald’s
gate almost a month before, leaned over and spate his words into Larry’s
ear, "I told you,
pal,
that we
would
be back
.
If
you had shared your food with us then, maybe we wouldn’t have to do what
we’re going to do to you now, you
stupid,
selfish
jerk
."

              
Larry
twisted his hands trying to free them from the tightly-bound tape, but to no
avail. He tried to scream so that the family members inside the farmhouse would
hear the ruckus and flee. Once he did so a crashing rifle butt to his temple shut
him down. The invaders quietly moved into the simple farmhouse, easily finding
the three small bedrooms. Zach was given a quick death as his throat was
slashed, his blood soon filling his bed. Melanie was rousted rudely from her
sleep, as her mouth was roughly covered by the hands of the invader assigned to
find and silence her.

              
Whatever
it was that woke Mary, either Larry’s muffled screams, or the creaking
floorboards of the old farmhouse, she awakened just before the door to her room
opened. She reached over to the night table, grabbed her 38 revolver, with
which she was now quite skilled, and started to get out of bed. Just then the
door silently opened. She saw the dim outline of two men coming into her room,
neither of whose shape or height matched that of Zach or Larry. She quickly
stood, holding the revolver in front of her with both hands, while shouting,
"
Stop
….
Don’t
come any further. I’m
armed….
I will shoot
. I will
do…."

              
Both
men pushed through the door going for her gun, but not quick enough to stop
Mary from unloading six rounds, three into each man. They collapsed to the
floor, dead on arrival. What followed was not as favorable, as the next man to
come through the bedroom door, cast his flashlight on his dead comrades, saw
the gun in Mary’s hands and fired two rounds into her chest. Mary was on
her way to heaven, along with her son. The three remaining invaders grabbed
Melanie, rushing her out onto the front porch.

              
They
ripped the duct tape off of Larry’s eyes, excitedly saying, "Pal,
your stupid wife just killed two of my men, but she paid for it.
She’s dead
. Your idiot son is
dead. It’s now just
you
and
this
cute little thing
. You’ve
got
one
choice, pal.
When I pull that tape off your slobbering mouth I only want to hear
where you’ve got the food hidden….and the ammo….and any gold
or silver you’ve got stashed.
If you
don’t
tell us….
everything
….this
girlie here will be our new take along plaything. If you tell us….all of
it….we
might
consider just
killing her. We’d have to
feed
her if we took her along, anyway.
So,
your choice
, pal.
What will it be?"

              
Larry’s
eyes were raging at the invaders on his porch, looking wildly over at Melanie,
as he realized that they were most likely both about to die. His next thought
was why did he think he could hide food and ammo away in the Colorado
mountains
and no one would bother them. His plan
didn’t prove to be a feasible long-term solution in a deteriorating
country he finally realized, only fleeing offshore made sense. But, he knew
those thoughts were way too late. What to do when they ripped the tape off his
mouth? If he refused to talk, to tell them where their stuff was stored, they
would likely shoot Melanie. As bad as that would be, wouldn’t it be worse
for her to be taken by these creeps and raped to death? Will Melanie talk if
they kill me?

              
The
tall invader reached over ripping the tape off of Larry’s lips.
"Talk, stupid.
Where’s your
stuff
?"

              
Larry
studied the piercing eyes of the face now just inches from his. He said nothing
for a few seconds, and then he spat the largest glob of spittle he could come
up with straight into the glaring eyes, at the same time kicking his legs,
which were not bound, straight into the invader’s groin, knocking him
back across the porch and onto the ground. Larry jumped up from his lawn chair,
but he fell forward on the porch as his legs were caught in his sleeping bag.
Larry’s face was now just a few inches from the intruder whom he had just
kicked off the porch to the ground. The tall invader, flat on his back, grabbed
a pistol from his belt, looked in rage at Larry and fired a round into
Larry’s forehead. Just as he fired, Melanie broke free from her captor,
throwing herself onto her father, catching the intruder’s second bullet
fired in anger, ending her young life.

              
Standing
up, the tall intruder motioned to the bodies on the porch, and said to his two
remaining murderers, "
Idiots
….Let’s
get rid of all these bodies….
Then,
we’ll
find the food and ammo. It
can’t
be that hard….Boys, I think we’ve found ourselves a new home.
A new fortress.
Such a deal
."

Colonel
Jim Irwin Elementary School

              
Beau
immediately knew they had a problem….a major problem. With his military
background, Beau had been selected to be responsible for security in their
hideaway. Scott and Gary had taken to calling him ‘
Bolthole
Beau’, which Beau actually liked as a nickname. When Chris and Bobby
didn’t show up in the interior cafeteria room for dinner, everyone
recognized that the boys had to be located. After a quick, but thorough search,
neither
were
to be found in the school building.

              
Beau
convened a meeting of the men, asking the women to calm the children who were
upset about their missing friends and get them to bed. Beau started the meeting
by asking Gary to pray.

              
"Father,
we are in trouble, we know it….We’re asking you to help us find
Bobby and Chris….soon….before they are found by someone who may
have evil plans in mind.
Help us
, we
earnestly pray.
In Christ’s name.
Amen."

              
Beau
commenced the meeting, "Men, Gary just said it. We’re in
real
trouble. The boys must have snuck
out when John was in the ‘john’, so to speak. You’ve heard by
now that two hours ago I sent out Gary and Charlie to comb the woods, which is undoubtedly
where kids their age would go to play. No success. They saw some evidence of
scuffed up leaves at the edge of the parking lot leading into the woods, but,
they combed the woods and saw no boys. They stayed well back from the
sub-division that borders the woods on the north end, about a mile or so from
here."

              
Charlie,
a member of the search party, asked, "Don’t we need to go back out
and
keep looking
? Those kids are too
young to know how to survive outdoors very long, right?"

              
Beau
hesitated, knowing what he was about to say would not likely be taken well.
After examining the palms of his hands, he looked up and said, "Men. This
is how it is. We know there are marauding gangs of men who are looking for
food, ammo and women. If our two little guys are seen out by themselves it
won’t take the bad guys long to figure out that they’re living in a
safe house somewhere. It’s been so long since The Day that they
couldn’t be out and alive on their own."

              
"So,
Beau," Charlie replied, "What are you
saying
? Do we all go out tonight and try to find them or
not?"

              
"OK,
Charlie, you’re the boys’ dad, so you’re
not
going to like what I say, but we have to face the facts. The
facts are that it’s been about five hours now since the boys left.
That’s
fact one
. Fact two is
that even though the wooded area is good sized, it’s not
that
large. The boys should be back here
by now. Fact three is the
tough one
….more
than likely the boys have been grabbed by somebody. Otherwise, they would be
here by now."

              
Charlie,
a catch in his throat, asked, "So, Beau, what are
we
going to do
?"

              
Beau
stood and walked over to Charlie, putting his arm around him, saying gently,
"My brother, we
can’t
go
out tonight and search. We’ve
tried
that. The boys aren’t in the woods, but they are almost surely in
somebody’s custody. Whoever’s got them, they’re interested in
only
one
thing. They will do what
they have to do to get Chris or Bobby to give up our location."

              
"But,
the boys heard you explain why no one can reveal to anyone on the outside where
we are, or we could all die. They heard you pound on that, Beau, they
heard
it."

              
"Charlie,
they also heard me warn the kids, all of them,
not
to go outside the school, but they did it
anyway.
Everybody in the intelligence field knows that a prisoner
will ultimately break.
Everyone breaks
,
is the reality of life. How long do you think it will take a twelve year old,
and how old is Bobby…?

              
"He’s
ten."

              
"Alright,
he’s just ten years old. How long will it take to get the boys to talk?
They’re
scared
. They know they
messed up. Whoever grabbed them knows by now that they have been living in this
school. We’ve been made. If we all go out tonight looking, again, for
them, then that would leave our safe house with little to no security. The
women and children would then be by themselves. We
can’t do that
, guys. We have to assume the worst and get
ready for an assault any time….
any
time
. In fact, we need to get the women and kids into the secure room,
without any further delay. If we get hit tonight it will most likely be in the
early morning hours, but, like I said, it could happen
any
time….Are we in agreement
?....
Any
dissenters?....Charlie, I know this is
hard
,
but do you understand why we need to hunker down and get ready?"

              
Charlie,
his head bowed, a large tear running down his right cheek, murmured, "I
guess….
I don’t like
it
….but….we don’t have
a choice….do we?"

              
"No,
Charlie,
we don’t
…..Okay,
men, let’s get the women and children safe, get all of your guns and ammo
and we’ll meet at the entry door. The boys will have told the bad guys
that the utility room door is our entry point
The
bad
guys will do their best to breach it.
Let’s
get ready."

Colonel
Jim Irwin Elementary School

              
Shortly
after moving into the Colonel Irwin School as their safe house the 87 occupants
jointly decided that they would secure one interior room, with no windows, as
the ‘panic room’ for the women and children to hide should they be
discovered at the school. Though it was small, the best room in the school
turned out to be the windowless sports equipment storage room off of the gym,
used by the school to store basketballs and other sporting equipment. Once the
room was chosen, the contents were stacked along the walls of the gym. The
second part of the plan was to open a second entry to the room through lockers
out in the hall on a wall adjoining the storage room. Two adjoining lockers
were chosen. The concrete blocks in the wall behind the lockers were carefully
removed, allowing the women and children seeking security to enter the room
through the chosen lockers.

              
The
removed blocks were then mortared into the space occupied by the original entry
door off of the gym, using the closest substance that the men could devise to
look like concrete. They located some old paint cans in the utility room,
matched the paint in the gym and painted the wall, effectively covering the
only previously visible entry door to the storage room, now re-named as the
panic room.

              
Hannah’s
prime responsibility in the hideaway was to gather all of the women and all of
the children younger than fourteen. Whenever Beau decided that the women and
children were to go to safety in the panic room, Hannah was to corral everyone
through the locker door entrance to the secure room. She counted off each
person as they squeezed through the lockers and into the room, "Twenty
women, eight female teens and twenty-eight boys and girls. Though I really wish
it were thirty. Chris and Bobby,
where
are you
, my dear boys?"

              
Beau
positioned his small
citizens
army in the hall outside
the utility room, which was the only un-barricaded entry to the school, and
half a school away from the panic room. His defense force consisted of the
twenty married men and nine male teens. Strategically Beau concluded that they
should not be inside the utility room, as any invading force would likely blow
the door with explosives, killing or injuring the defenders in the room.
Instead, they had pre-positioned teachers’ heavy desks in the hallway,
behind which they would be able to pick off anyone coming through the door into
the hall from the utility room.

              
The
men had three large flashlights which were only to be used during the armed
defense of the school, carefully preserving their precious batteries.
Beau’s plan was to temporarily blind anyone coming through the utility
room door and into the hall, lighting up the invaders to facilitate their
shooting. They placed their sleeping bags and bedrolls behind the desks,
planning to sleep in their defensive positions for the night.

              
Two
men stood guard closest to the door, staying awake so they could sound the air
horn should an attack commence on the school. The night wore on with nothing
untoward happening. Two o’clock came and went. At three AM Beau awakened
and walked the hall, checking on his men, many sleeping fitfully. Just as Beau
went back to his position, hoping to catch some sleep, he heard a noise, not a
very loud noise, coming from the other side of the school building, the front entrance
area.

              
Since
Beau was fully awake now, he decided to walk down his hall, turn at the cross
hall, then walk the long hall to the main entrance to the school to see if he
could determine the source of the noise. He used a small penlight to illuminate
his path. Just as Beau turned to go down the long
hall
a deafening crashing sound came roaring down the hall. Beau fell to the floor,
his rifle at the ready. What he saw turned his stomach to acid. A large, heavy
truck, what appeared to be a dump truck, crashed through the locked front
doors, smashing glass and metal in all directions, then shoving to the side the
school desks stacked in front of the doors. The truck shifted gears and
accelerated down the hall, heading straight for Beau, who was caught in the
truck’s headlights. As Beau jumped up to run back towards his men he
thought he saw several tattooed men in the back of the truck now careening down
the hall, all armed.