Post by warsparrow on Nov 25, 2014 13:48:21 GMT -6
Chapter 1
“This is Dave in the Cave coming to you live and letting you know that Radio Free America is back on the air”
There was a slight pause before some canned music intro came on.
“That’s right folks, after those asshat’s from the Fascist States Military took out our antenna, we had to make a few changes; but rest assured listeners we are back and more powerful than ever”
Canned applause came through the speakers.
“We’ve upgraded our equipment, our Antenna array and of course our awesomeness!”
More canned applause.
“But enough about me, I know all of you good listeners aren’t killing your batteries just to hear me talk about crap; you want the news so here we go”
Trumpet sound bite.
“It looks like the Chinese Expeditionary Force is still in firm control of the San Joaquin valley; having given the Reconquista Army a solid kick in the nads and sent them running back towards Phoenix.”
“Our sources put the casualties on both sides between 1500 and 5000 Dead …..And as this is the Harsh Future you were warned about, Zero wounded and Zero Prisoners”
“In other news our friends in Oz reported a Quote ‘Big friggin’ Earthquake’ the other day, no other info is available”
“The Yosemite Fire is still apparently burning and may continue to up until the snow flies”
A Boo canned track came on.
“A covert team sent to gather data on the radiation levels in Lake Erie found that it was still hot enough to kill anyone dumb enough to try to drink or swim in it; so don’t do that. The abandoned Perry Nuclear Power Plant still seems to be pouring irradiated crap into it and probably will be until the next ice age”
Another Boo.
“Once again the Fascist States of America’s President Pro Temp, for the last 8 years I might add; speaking from the White house… Has demanded that the Western Free States of America cease our Efforts to Secede and Rejoin the Fascist Government in repelling the foreign invaders.. that his predecessor invited here in the first place.”
Another boo track came on.
“ to which President Hanrahan responded by demanding the President Pro Tem End the blockade of the Free states and Hold free elections, we’re still holding our breath on that one”
“Now I have a special guest on today all the way from the Fascist State of Pennsylvania that I’ll talk with as soon as we’re back from a little light entertainment as we check our mighty new transmitter and other stuff; settle a few bugs and fine tune a few toony things to bring you the best and Only Station in the Free Western States.”
A CD kicked in and a guy who’d been dead probably fifty years came on crooning his heart out.
A flurry of activity took place in the converted forty foot common carrier, still sitting on the trailer so that it could be easily moved if the Man in Washington decided it was worth the effort to send an airstrike or drone attack their way.
The Covert attack that had taken down their tower had been the largest strike against the Free Western States to date; besides the blockade of course.
While it had been successful, none of the attackers had survived.
The DJ came out to check the cables, look at a few of the outside gages and make sure his guest hadn’t wandered away.
Not that he could go far with all of the armed guards that were around the station now. That attack had put serious egg on the face of the Free States and President Hanrahan wasn’t about to let it happen again.
His guest just stood there with his rifle slung; waiting to talk. The DJ exchanged a few words with him while kicking the early snow on the ground around and then nodded and reentered the makeshift studio.
As the second song ended the DJ faded it out and came back on the air.
“This is Dave in the Cave on Radio Free America; everything is tuned up, tip top, lubed up and set up for nonstop entertainment”
Canned cheering came on, which was a nice change from the canned applause.
“Now I know I promised an interview with a special guest… But I was just talking to him off air and he mentioned he had no idea what was going on in the world today and had only heard our station twice before and that was briefly.”
“So I thought about how a lot of people in the Fascist States may be being fed Bullshit and may not know what’s going on out there in the bad old world; and with our powerful new; did I mention it was new? Transmitter we can enlighten and enliven them with the truth as well as educate our guest on just what has transpired in the Eight, that’s right; Eight years since he went on the run with his Family.”
“So sit back, hunker down; turn your contraband radios up and learn about the US and the world”
Chapter 2
In truth the Transmitter wasn’t new, it was a cobbled together monstrosity that took up an entire section of the common carrier; with names like Hallicraft, Eico, Archer, National, and a half a dozen others.
Every electronics store, second hand shop and thrift store had been scavenged for the Vacuum tubes, gages, adaptors, and transformers it took to make it run. It was a combination of tried and true old school reliability and modern surface mount integrated circuit technology in a modular form; so that if anything did again happen the parts could be swapped, broken down and hidden or reconfigured as needed.
But the rest of the world didn’t need to know that.
‘When you are weak appear Strong’ Sun Tsu.
They had even managed to incorporate a decent shortwave transmitter into the mix, operating just above 15000 Mhz; the former owners weren’t using that spot anymore.
It had taken the entire Free States best Tech wizards seven tireless days, and as many long nights with the help of The Complete Manual of Pirate Radio by Zeke Teflon and not a few old Ham Radio guys to get the more powerful Transmitter up and running right.
The main drawback besides its monstrous size was that it drew monstrous power consumption; they were working on getting the draw down but for now only about 2 hours a day looked to be the limit, with a full day of sunlight to recharge the Nickel Ferrite battery banks.
The Dj was queuing up another canned trumpet sound on the Pyramid mixer when his guest came in; he motioned him to the other seat and turned on the mic just as he sat down.
“Everybody this my special guest for the evening Frank, Frank say hi to the audience”
Frank shrugged out of his parka and set his rifle noisily against a file cabinet, then cleared his throat before talking.
“Hello Audience”
“Anything you want to say to DJ Dave and the listeners before we get down to the history of the world you don’t know?”
Frank leaned forward closer to the mic, trying to get the feel of what was appropriate.
“I do want to clarify that I’m not from Pennsylvania; I just ended up hiding out in the mountains there”
“Ok then; you can tell us all about it when I finish the History lesson” DJ Dave said and cut Franks microphone off.
“Everybody remembers the EMP strike that took out the power grid and depending on what side of the aisle you were on or what part of the country; you heard wild rumors, bald face lies, accusations and all sorts of theories. The truth is we will probably never know with 100% certainty who was responsible”
“We also all remember the aftermath. The looting, the rioting, the starvation, disease and worst that humanity had to offer”
Frank nodded silently.
“We also all know that the President was stuck in Nova Scotia after returning from Vacation in Africa”
Frank shook his head.
“Ok so maybe we don’t. The plane made an emergency landing there after the ElectroMagnetic Pulse damaged his plane in some way”
“What happened to him?” Frank asked.
“What? “ DJ Dave said and turned on Frank’s microphone.
“I asked what happened to him.” Frank repeated.
“That’s a good question Frank” The DJ said and turned Frank’s mic off again.
“ there were all kinds of rumors; some said he tried to motorcade back, Others said they tried to fly the Plane back to one of the still functioning airports, another said that they tried to commandeer another airplane and fly back to Reagan; the only thing we do know is that he has never been seen again. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves”
The Dj stopped to take a drink and Frank did the same.
It was real Coffee.
Real coffee.
After years without caffeine or sugar it was like finding paradise.
“So the Prez apparently made a few international calls and asked for a few favors etc you know the drill. Well our good friends the Russians call him back and say ‘hey it’s pretty late in the season and Alaska’s gunna be in for a world of Butt hurt come winter all cut off like that and such; we can head up there with a few supply ships full of humanitarian aid and some troops for security just to make sure everything is hunky dory”
Frank shook his head “really?”
“Really” the DJ replied not bothering to turn on Frank’s mic.
“So the President says ‘sure why not what could possibly go wrong?’ and the ships were already on they’re way. The first shipment was food and a few troops for Security, the second shipment was some food and some special troops, the third shipment was all troops and a whole lot of Equipment; and just like that the Russians owned the Alaskan Pipeline”
“Where is the military in all this?” Frank asked.
“I’m glad you asked that Frank” The Dj said again not bothering to turn on Frank’s microphone.
“Frank just asked where our Military was; well it was where it shouldn’t have been. In Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Yemen, in Damascus, In Germany, On Okinawa, in A dozen other places people couldn’t care enough about to look up on a map. The sharpest part of the spear was buried halfway around the world.”
“Ok so when the Russians took the pipeline the US mobilized all the west coast Military and sent everything that could float, fly or fire north post haste to deal with that problem”
Frank started to say something but the DJ held up His finger.
“Our Neighbors’ to the south decided no power and no infrastructure meant a gigantic free for all and came in droves.
Whether it was planned that way or just sprung up is a matter of debate, but not for here; the movement morphed into the Reconquista Army. This pseudo military force that claims that if Russia can take back land that the Americans stole from them, then The Mexicans can take back the land too that once belonged to them; they call it New Aztlan. The NA and the Reconquista’s own most of the southwest, a small part of California and a small part of Texas.”
“In another great deed gone astray Israel offered to let the US troops in, even ended up airlifting several thousand out of harm’s way. Not just Troops but diplomats, tourists, expats and dependents ended up being taken in. Something on the order of seventy thousand Americans ended up camped in the Negev Desert”
Frank held up a hand and the Dj turned his mic on.
“What happened to them DJ Dave?” Frank asked in his best school boy voice.
“They’re still there. Every so often Israeli radio talks about the valiant American forces fighting hand in hand to crush the Palestinian, or Al Queda or Egyptian threat. The Fascist Fed Gov can’t bring them home”
“Can’t?” Frank asked and realized the DJ had left his mic on. Which he quickly corrected.
“Ok won’t. They can barely feed themselves, how are they going to feed seventy thousand extra mouths? Especially pissed off Military mouth’s angry at being left in a desert on the other side of the globe for eight Friggin years?”
“ Now before you even ask, yes we’d love to have them and we’d love to get them here and we could probably feed them until we got all the farms working but we can’t because of America’s other Invaders. The Chinese.”
“The Chinese Expeditionary Force, unlike the Russians who the late President invited. The Chin’s just showed up in dozens of container ships in California. You see without America’s bread basket to help support their people they were going to starve. Never mind that they were buying tons from Africa and New Zealand and Australia, they needed ours too. So they came in their container ships, got out on the docks, formed up smartly and brutalized their way through the Reconquista Army all the way up the San Joaquin Valley. Taking one of the most fertile productive areas in the world according to their triumphant reports in less than a month”
“The President pro Temp Protested to the UN and called on the Chicom to withdraw; to which the they responded that they were simply taking collateral for the billions in Treasury bonds that they had bought; and even accused the US Government of using the EMP as a way of getting out of paying their debts”
“Ok a little business then a small break then back to the history lesson”
“This is for all of our operatives out there….I have black hair; once more….. I have black hair. I’ll let that message make the rounds and be back in a few”
The dead Crooner CD came back on and the DJ got up, Frank got up and followed him.
When they were outside the DJ stopped and pee’d then turned to Frank.
“We actually don’t have operatives like that. This isn’t World War 2 and we’re not the British.”
“Then why do it?” Frank asked.
“Because it creep’s the shit out of the Fed Gov” Dj Dave smiled.
Frank understood. Keep the enemy paranoid and off balance, looking for boogy men in every closet.
“Can I do one?” Frank asked.
“Sure, think up some stupid phrase and I’ll say it when we get back in”
Frank thought as they head back to the Trailer.
Chapter 3
The DJ turned his Mic on after the second set of songs finished.
“Ok since we’ve been offline for a week we’re apparently going to be sending out a lot of notices. This is from Sector 3 to the Guys in the east who wanted confirmation” The DJ smiled over at Frank.
“The Cat has a new umbrella, I repeat… The cat has a new umbrella”
The Dj moved around a little to get comfortable.
“This is Dave in the Cave on Radio Free America; and now back to the History lesson”
“So most of what’s left of our fighting forces ran north to fight the Russki’s, the NA Reconquista’s came up from the south and then The Chinese came From the sea. So the Fed Gov’s Military might is stationed from Northern Cali up through Canada to somewhere just short of Anchorage. So they have Chinese and Mexicans south, Russians North and the Free States East; you’d think they’d be happy For the Americans here; but they want us just as dead as the others; they are Hardcore Fed all the way. Constantly probing our lines; Burning killing or stealing whatever they can. They’re blocking our access to the sea and supplies and equipment not to mention the other Troops that are stuck in the Middle East.”
“We’ve got the Chinese to the West of us, the Russians to the north West of us and the Fascist Fed gov surrounding us.”
“Now You Frank have had dealings with the other deputized Fed Govs troops; not just in PA but also blockading the east of us. Those guys are strictly third rate ex gang banging thugs that get the privilege of lording over the masses in exchange for a mostly free hand in running their area.”
“But it doesn’t end there folks, or as the old Commercials used to say ‘but wait.. There’s more!”
“Not to be left out… Cuba, yes that Cuba that couldn’t keep power on 24 hours a day before the EMP strike; decided they needed to have some of the good old American action too and floated a flotilla up to Miami for some good old fashion invasion and managed to get about a division on land before the US Navy started pounding them. Well Miami burned, A lot of people died and there still is a sizable contingent of ardent commie Cubans running around the Region causing to end of trouble.”
“And speaking of Florida” DJ Dave shuffled a few papers for effect by the mic “A message from sector 5 and good news too….El Negro Puerco Es Muertes…..El Negro Puerco Es Muertes, The Black Pig is Dead”
“Now let’s turn our eyes north; Canada had their own problems from the EMP Strike; but Americans thought things would be better in the great white north and fled there in droves. It got so bad that the Canadian navy sent ships across the great lakes to US docks and sank everything they could, blocking ports; clogging river inlets and even blasting some of the light houses”
Frank understood now why the cove entrance had been partially blocked by sunken boats.
“Internationally things are a mess. Australia and New Zealand or doing ok; the European Union Folded like a cheap lawn chair. France had to move their Capital first to Marseilles then to Grenoble do to rioting, unrest and bombings. Spain has some Francoesque Dictatorship going; not a lot of news out of there. Greece has hard line National Socialists. Germany closed her borders after being flooded with Refugees and Frances Problems spilling over into it. Russia reabsorbed some of her old satellites”
“The East has its own share of troubles. India is backing Fed Gov in exchange for all the crap we can strip from the Continent and ship to them”
Frank started to say something but was interrupted.
“I know what you’re gunna ask Frank, What kind of crap? Well everything. Copper, Steel, aluminum, working Cars, trucks, Transports. Gold, silver, machinery, Rail cars, you name it. India has stepped up to fill the void left by the Chicom Boycott. They’re factories are working to make whatever Fed Gov Needs; but instead of Mining the ground for the raw materials; their mining America. Tons of refined aluminum, steel, copper; working machinery, lathes, drills, precision instruments. All waiting to be either put to use or melted down into the next shipments bullets or bearings or caskets.”
“Pakistan is in the midst of an ongoing Muslim civil war. North Korea and South Korea are fighting to the death. Oh and Japan; wow after China rolled over Taiwan like a tank over a Kitten Japan dropped to her knees faster than a Phish Festival Groupie.”
“So who’s on our side?” Frank asked.
“Who’s on our side you ask? Well the Free Republic of Texas. They send us oil and foodstuffs from South America in Exchange for lumber, metals and Veggies. Brazil supports us with Fruits and other goods in exchange for goods they can’t get. The western Government of Manitoba and Sascachuan are at least neutral to us and we have traded with them and Even New Aztlan has promised not to attack us.”
“Wow” Frank said.
“Makes hiding out in Pennsylvania for years seems like a vacation” The DJ said.
“I wouldn’t exactly say that” Frank replied.
“Then tell us all about it” The DJ Replied.
Chapter Four.
“I was living in suburb of Cleveland, working in a Factory when the power went out, we managed to hold on for a few days before the fires forced us out. We planned on staying with friends out farther in the country, but by then the major prisons had emptied or the prisoners had broken out and there was raping, robbing, looting and just lawlessness everywhere”
“The friend’s place where I was supposed to go was already burned down when I got there, I have no idea what happened to them and probably never will”
“We decided to try and get to Wayne national forest, which was about a hundred and twenty miles away; there were cabins and camping places we figured we could hole up in for a while, we quickly found that taking main roads was a sure invitation to be robbed, raped or randomly shot as people fled their own personal hellhole cities”
Frank cleared his throat before continuing.
“We finally made it to Wayne, only to find the forest literally crawling with city people who had watched a few episodes of Survivor or some other non reality show and though they could make it on grubs and squirrels; we got out of there as fast as we could”
“What happened there?” The DJ asked.
“A lot of people died, a lot of people starved and a whole lot of people got killed; after a month there wasn’t an animal to be seen; a fish to be caught or a safe place to whole up for the night” we ended up heading south east into the Appalachians; we called that the starving time”
“We managed to spend the first winter in a lean to that backed up to an abandoned coal mine; practically hanging over a cliff and eating a bear that had been hibernating in there”
“Come spring first the forest fire forced us out then the flooding nearly did us in. we lost a lot of our supplies and we were low on ammunition; but things got a little better”
“My wife died in the summer of the second year, we buried her by an apple tree in an abandoned orchard” Frank stopped and blinked away a few tears.
“What from?” the DJ asked.
“Diabetes” Frank Replied. “We were able to keep it under control mostly by regulating what she ate and how much; but by the second year that was impossible to do, you ate what you could or starved”
“It’s not something I want to talk about” Frank said.
“Fair enough let’s skip ahead to how and where you heard about us and how you decided to come here” DJ Dave said.
“Ok that would be later spring of this year that I’ll start with” Frank replied.
“The kids and I became nomads; we would set traps, spend a few days harvesting secret gardens we planted all along the ridges and move on. We avoided people, towns and any buildings we saw, especially after the disarmament order came down; any people we saw that were armed were one of three groups, outlaws, poachers or Federal militia, and all three groups had no problems shooting first and asking no questions; and all three were basically murdering rapists with guns” Frank looked uncomfortable for a second.
“After the third year, I don’t think I saw a single deer, so I hid my firearms and the ones I procured all over and only brought them out to hunt game when we were really desperate for food. In the mean time the oldest carried a Bow with homemade arrows and I carried a .357 revolver with .38 reloads in it and 1 speed loader with .357 hollow points; that way I could drop it fast if we came upon a Fed patrol, they had orders to shoot armed men on site”
“And the armed women?” DJ Dave asked.
“You can guess what they did to them before they killed them. Eight to ten men then a bullet to the head, or one to the gut if she didn’t cooperate.”
“Was it really that bad?” DJ Dave asked.
“Worse. The only way we stayed safe was living like animals and avoiding everyone; and anyone seeking us out was for one reason only.” Frank said.
“Tell the listeners” The DJ said.
Chapter five
The past
Late Spring
The small smugglers fire popped and flickered in the early evening; the firelight lit up the small clearing and the blankets were arranged around it. A tiny lean to was also erected close to the drop off to the river bank, in case escape was the order of the day. The three men watched to make sure the man and two young Girls were asleep, then they planned to sneak up, kill the father then rape the two girls until morning; then when they were done eating their food and raping the youngsters, they would drown them in the river and head back to town to get their revenge.
“I ain’t believe they kicked us out” the one swore again as they watched.
“Yeah, that whore was askin’ for it; an her husband just got in the way; he shoulda known he was gunna git kilt” the obvious leader said. “It a two day walk to get back there an we need food”
The first one approached the biggest blanket and raised a sledge hammer he carried for a killing blow. No use in damaging his rifle stock or ruining some useable blankets if he didn’t have too. The hammer came down with conviction, but there wasn’t a head there to crush. Before he could let the others know though and arrow appeared in his side just below his armpit.
He fell forward dead on the blankets.
The second man realized they had fallen into an ambush and was already raising his rifle when Frank came sweeping out of the woods with his machete already on the upswing. It took the man’s arm off above the elbow and he continued past, turning and burying it solidly in the third mans neck. Chopping someone’s head off wasn’t nearly as easy as television had made it look. Fortunately though, these weren’t fictitious zombies and a sharp machete through the carotid was more than enough to kill him.
The man with no arm was still moving as if in shock, when His older daughter emerged from the woods still carrying her bow.
“Help me Bitch!” he yelled.
She shouldered her bow and drew out an Indian style hatchet smiling.
He realized she was going to kill him and clamping his good hand around the stump of his arm he ran, he knew the father was one way, the younger daughter was the other, and the Cute blond was behind him, so he ran the only way he had, toward the river.
She was faster than him though and as he neared the ice clogged river, she put her boot into his backside and he flew off the bank into the freezing water.
They watched silently as he tried desperately to both swim one handed while clamping off the bleeding on the other and also try and grab at a an ice floe big enough to support his mass.
Neither worked and he slipped from view.
“To bad, he might have had more bullets on him” Sarah said as the turned to stripping the dead and searching their things.
Frank mulled over what the men had talked about as they watched and waited to spring their trap. Maybe this was a town that could be trusted, maybe they could finally settle in one place.
He talked it over with the girls and they agreed to at least go and scope out the town before making any descisions.
Frank sent the girls down to the river to wash the dead man blood from his blankets while he searchewd the bodies and dumped them off in the woods away from the camp. Fresh blood would attract the big cats and bears that were about in abundance in the early spring foraging for food.
He got a cheap .22 revolver with four bullets in it, the bolt action .270, the sledge hammer, two decent knives and a fiberglass handled hatchet, these men had no food and no water bottles or any other type of gear so he figured that they must have a camp not far that they would have to track back to in the morning.
They’re jackets were old and ratty and smelled but with his blanket needing to dry he bundled up in them anyway.
He also took one of the man’s pants so that Sarah could have an extra pair to wear because she needed them. She would have to wash those too before they were wearable though.
Frank felt bad for the girls, this was not the life he had envisioned for them; this wasn’t the life he envisioned for anyone. But here he was and so were they, they were still alive and had survived more than their fair share of travails and hardships and were growing up strong, if thin.
In the morning hopefully they would find some useful things in the dead men’s camp and things would begin to look even better.