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Post by pbbrown0 on Aug 28, 2017 23:56:29 GMT -6
Please, Sir. May I have some MOAR ?
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Post by udwe on Dec 11, 2017 8:22:47 GMT -6
Like ^ he said. Great story!
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Post by solo on Jan 3, 2018 11:38:30 GMT -6
Sorry I haven't posted here lately... This one is finished and I will be posting bits daily.
Chapter 9: The day before…..
“Taxi approved. Hold short of the runway.” The voice chirped over her headset.
“Keesler Ground, Air Force JSF20327, copy, hold short of Runway 3.” Gina replied. She did a final check scan of her instruments and her head’s up display.
In just a moment, clearance for takeoff came, “JSF20327, Cleared for Takeoff, Runway 3. Contact Tower at 120.75. Good Day.”
“Copy, Cleared for takeoff, JSF20327, Contact Tower at 120.75. Thank you, good day.” Gina hit the toggle to pulled up the second stored frequency as she taxied onto Runway 3. “Keesler Tower, this JSF20327 with KILO, cleared for takeoff with request.”
“JSF20327, Keesler Tower. Go with request.”
Gina smiled. “Kessler Tower, JSF20327, Request Max Thrust Takeoff and departure to the north west.”
“JSF20327, Kessler Tower, Max Thrust Takeoff approved. Cleared for northwest departure. Contact Gulfport Departure on 124.6 after takeoff. “Keesler Tower, JSF20327, contact Gulfport Departure on 124.6 after departure. Thank you!”
She went ahead and toggled the third setting because during the max takeoff, she didn’t want to be messing with her communication selectors. She pushed the throttles all the way forward and keeping an eye on her torque, she released the breaks. Before she could take a couple of breaths the aircraft jumped off the runway and she pulled gently back on the stick and began her HICK maneuver.
When she cleared 10,000 feet she called out to Gulfport Departure, “Gulfport Departure, JSF20327 at One Zero Thousand for Two Four Thousand at Max Thrust and Northwest departure from Keesler.”
“JSF 20327, Gulfport Departure, Copy on Max Thrust. I have you now at One Five Thousand. Set Transponder to 4245.”
“Gulfport Departure, JSF 20327, Transponder at 4245.”
There was no response. A loud burst of static then the radio went dead. Her engines also cut out and her stick became very heavy. Her helmet mounted display went blank as did all of her glass cockpit components. She still had an old gyro and analog altitude device that she kept in the map case… She didn’t exactly trust this technology, yet. She saw that her altitude was about 21,000 feet and then she noticed that she couldn’t see the gyro that well.
The needle was still moving clockwise so she knew she was still going up. A thought went through her mind as she started to fade. If her systems were all gone at the same time then her Onboard Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) wasn’t working either which means she wasn’t getting oxygen, and she was getting very hypoxic. She reached for the “Green Apple” just as she passed out which gave her emergency oxygen. Somewhere between then and the ground, she revived enough to pulled the ejection bar…..
The next day…..
It turned out that Gina was suffering more from dehydration than from the affects of any concussion. She did have some bruising that showed she may have hit her head, hard and the fact that she passed out could have been for any number of reasons. The fact that she doesn’t remember the parachute ride down points to the fact that she may have punched out at a higher altitude than she thought and for what ever reason, her supplemental oxygen may have worked only good enough to keep her alive, but not enough to revive her.
Whatever the reason was, Dr. Broadmore was careful with a conservative treatment plan that called for a few days of bedrest. He knew her type though, if he got the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow morning he would consider that a victory.
“Ethan, it was sure good to see you today. What brought you into Purvis today?” Dr. Broadmore asked.
“Do I call you Doc or Tim? Seems like yesterday we were cruising Cloverleaf Mall.” Ethan chuckled.
“Yeah, that is true. Then you had to move. That was a bummer. I think our team had a real chance at state that fall. We did okay, but could not get out of the South State Playoffs. Magee was always tough back then.”
“Yes they sure were. Hey not to change the subject or anything. But it is almost four in the afternoon. Has your electricity been off all day?”
Tim Broadmore thought a moment. “Yes it has. Since last night really. Not a problem since I live above here. Quiet on the roads too.”
“Tim, look, I don’t want to worry you too much, but listen, why don’t you come out and stay at my aunts place for a few days until we find out what is going on.”
“You think it is that bad?” Tim asked.
“Yes, I am thinking EMP bad. When people catch on, it will get very bad around here. The local Grocery Store only carries about three days of food and as far as I can see, the trucks will not be running anymore anytime soon, so no restock. And no card readers are working without electricity. So no credit cards and no EFT.”
“Crap! That will not be good. Let me think on it. With all the meds here, I think I need to stay.”
“I don’t think that is wise. How many crackheads are around? Maybe not many here, but folks from Hattiesburg, Laurel, the Gulf Coast. They may get to us sooner rather than later.” Ethan said. “Well, just think on it. You are welcomed anytime.”
“Thanks Ethan, I will.”
The door opened and two men walked into the outer lobby. “Doc! I need your help!”
“Well, duty calls.” With that the Tim Broadmore got up and walked out into the lobby. “What is the problem?”
“Well the problem is that I can’t get my script fill with the electricity out and I need you to give me some of your samples.” One of the men said.
Listening from the back, Ethan eased to where he could see the next room and was dismayed to see one of the men, average height but very skinny with a sawed off shotgun point right at Tim. He turned and motioned to Gina to not move or make a sound and eased his Glock out of his belt holster.
“Mark. I don’t have any samples for what you are looking for. Please put your weapon away. You don’t want me to let your aunt know about this.” Tim said.
“Huh, what about patient confidentiality.” Ethan chuckled to himself on this one. The one not holding the shotgun had a career in comedy, if he wasn’t so darn serious about that statement.
“Okay, Mark last chance to just walk out of here.” Tim said.
“I don’t think so. I also will need the keys to that truck with Wisconsin tags out there. The hood is warm so it was just driven.” Marc said.
“Mark,” Tim said with a sigh like he was talking to a five-year-old. “It is late June. In South Mississippi. Everything feels warm.” And before Mark could blink and eye, he was on his back looking up into the shotgun he was just holding.
“Ah Ah Ah!” Ethan said and he squared his sights on the other man who had begun to reach into his belt.
“Sean, take Mark and just go. If I catch you in here again, it won’t end well.” Tim said.
The two men scrambled to get out.
“So where’d you learn that move?” Ethan asked.
“Krav Maga. Been doing it for stress relief the last twelve years or so.” “Dude, can you teach me? That was awesome!”
“Sure thing. And maybe sooner rather than later. Let me go gather some things. I think I will come on out.”
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Post by solo on Jan 4, 2018 12:11:04 GMT -6
Chapter 11: The small convoy, with Dr. Broadmore in tow, crested the hill just before approaching the driveway turn in. Immediately, Ethan cursed his haste and not implementing operational security sooner, especially when traveling through soon to be hostile country. You never knew what would was on the other side of the hill.
In this case, awaiting the crew at the bottom of the hill was a Sheriff’s cruiser. The lights were one and they were standing looking up the driveway toward the house. One of the men had binoculars. They slowed to a stop and the men took notice of them. “Stay here.” Ethan said out loud and stepped out. “Can I help you, deputies?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah, is that your rig up there in the barn?” One of the men asked.
“Yes it is.” Ethan waited.
“Well, we got reports of looters goin’ around with the power being off. Who are you and what right have you to back a trailer up to the Logan’s home?” The deputy closest to him bellowed a little louder than was necessary. Without extraneous noise from traffic, Airplanes or even that annoying hum from the powerlines that ran through the property, it was extremely loud.
Ethan noticed the skinnier deputy who was on the other side of the car begin to bring his shotgun up to port arms. “Hold on there a minute. This homestead belongs to my family. Mrs. Logan was my aunt and my cousin Marc is away right now.”
“Yeah, so we are supposed to take your word? We know that this place is set up pretty good. There are fruit and nut trees everywhere.” The skinny deputy said.
“How would you know that?” Ethan asked. “Hold up. Put that barrel down and keep your hands where I can see them.
“Who do you think you are? We are the law here.” The chubbier one said. He reached for the holster and began to pull the service revolver. A red dot appeared on his shirt in the middle of his chest. He stopped immediately. “Whoa, no need for that.”
Ethan knew what had happened. Doc Broadmore had an old M1 Carbine that was spot on from 500 yards. For fun, he had put a red dot scope on it. He was using it now putting the beam right on the chubby officer.
“Gentleman. Even if you are that, I know personally every Sheriff, deputy and their families from the surrounding five county area.” Doc Broadmore paused. “And I do not count you in amongst them. You look a lot like the Parkwell clan up from Talowah.”
Broadmore had been spot on and the younger, skinnier man pulled his shotgun up and fired before he could get it leveled and aimed. Ethan and the other deputy were the only two out in the open and they both took a bit of the birdshot, though the deputy took the brunt. He dropped like a rock and began moaning. Ethan had time to register the slight pain to his left arm before the skinny deputies head exploded in a fine red mist that seemed to slowly settle on the squad car. The deputy that was wounded began to scream, before Ethan planted a boot into the side of his head.
He heard retching behind him as Julie had taken in the attack and defense and was now on the side of the road purging her stomach. Ethan signaled his thanks to Chad, who had fired the fatal shot from his hideout and then walked to the car. He thought that the men had looked funny in their uniforms, but realized it was because they didn’t really fit them. He had also noted the gelatinous blood dripping from the back bumper.
Know what he would find but knowing he had to check, he took the key ring out of the ignition and walked to the trunk. He popped it open and immediately had to hack the bile that hit the back of his throat. Laying there in the trunk were the two deputies. They were nude and had been fairly tortured before ultimately being hacked to death. Ethan pulled himself together and walked back to Doc Broadmore. “That escalated quickly.” Ethan told him.
“Yeah, you think?” Broadmore said. “Who are they?”
“The Parkwell family is river trash that were very good at propogating and getting into no good. Seven out of every ten crimes, breakins, robberies, auto theft, were probably done by these hoods.”
“We you can add murder to their rap. The deputies never had a chance.” Ethan said.
“What are you going to do with these?” Julie asked.
“Let’s get Gina inside. Doc while you are settling in, stay here and watch over things. Chad and I will take the squad car to the Sheriff’s office and report this.
“You sure about this?” Broadmore asked.
Ethan looked back at the trunk. “Yes. It needs to be done. Civilization will be crazy soon enough. May as well keep it as long as possible.”
“You remember where the office is? By the courthouse?”
“Yes, I’ll find it.”
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Post by forthteller on Jan 5, 2018 17:40:45 GMT -6
Here is a short story... I like to explore PAW events in unique situations. Here is one.... Ethan Mason stepped up to the plate. With a light tap to his right cleat with his wooden 30 inch Louisville Slugger he dislodged the lightly caked on clay that stuck during his last big swing. He had just barely fowled that one of down the left field line. “Just a tad early on that one.” He briefly made eye contact with the pitcher, who he had known his whole life. They had grown up together in the Milwaukee suburbs and came up through the community little league program. And now, Ethan was wearing his familiar number 27, in Brewer blue while his best friend sported his number 3 in St. Louis Cardinals red. During any down times, they were the best of friends. Each being single, they hung out together, went hunting and camping together in the few months they each had off during the winter. Ethan knew his friend well enough that he would never see a pitch like that again for not only this his second at bat of the game for probably for the rest of the game as well. The game was tight, 1-0 Brewers lead in the fourth inning, with the courtesy of the one run coming off Ethan’s bat in the bottom of the second inning. His sizable friend, Chad Demings, who shot up to around six foot, six inches tall and a rather firm two hundred fifty pounds, had left a curve ball hanging over the sweet spot of the plate. In all fairness, the pitch was perfect, but Ethan had a way with turning great pitches into runs for his team. First off, he was fairly compact at five foot ten. His stance was also compact witch presented a smallish strike zone. His stance was set up in such a way as to maximize his power when he basically uncoiled. His hand eye coordination was off the charts as he could immediately catch the rotation of any pitch almost before it would leave the pitchers hand. Indeed, he was the next big opportunity to hit above .400 for the season as he was sitting at .402 in late August. In that briefest of eye contact with Chad, Ethan knew… He just knew what was coming. That was almost home run number two in as many at bats and that would not do. Chad was about to send one way to the inside of the right handed hitter. Chad took his sign, without change. It would be a fastball. Everyone in the stadium knew it. He had a nasty tail on it that he could control at will. He set up and went into his full wind-up as there was no one on the bases. Actually he hadn’t let anyone on the bases the whole game. He had only given up one hit and it had hurt the worst. Kicking his right leg up, his pivot leg being a lefty, he pushed his right foot toward the ground. At the plate, Ethan brace as he tracked the hand in as it reach its set point before coming forward. Already tracking where that would be, he knew that Chad was dropping his shoulder and flattening out his pitch, not quite a submarine release, but just as efficient. Chad could do that. He had three pitches that he could release from any angle. And only Ethan knew him well enough to know what was coming. He sensed rather than saw the right foot come down and the hand on its way to the release point. But at the moment Chad’s foot impacted the ground, the lights of the stadium completely went dark, plunging the field into complete darkness. And almost a fraction of a second later, Ethan felt a horse kick his left shoulder deep and close to the shoulder blade. Chad had continued on with his motion and released the bean ball and plunked Ethan in the back. Fortunately for Ethan, Chad did manage to take something off the ball before he threw it and for that Ethan was thankful. “Dude, you okay?” Chad should into the oddly quiet darkness toward the plate as he clearly heard the impact. “Yeah, I guess I deserved that one somehow?” Ethan chunked back at him. “I guess your boss forgot to pay his bills again?” Chad chuckled and started to head toward the plate. As he moved forward, the crowd began to murmur. Just a little at first, but it grew in crescendo. “What do you make of this?” Having only receive a glancing hit, Ethan was able to raise up and take a look around. “I don’t know. There is no light at all. You’d think folks would pull out their Iphones by now.” “Check out the sounds, beyond the crowd.” Chad intoned. “Yeah, you’re right. There is none.” “STAY WHERE YOU ARE.” The Umpire behind the plate yelled out. “The authorities are working to restore the power.” Ethan stepped back and looked toward where the umpire’s voice came from and quietly said, “You’ve heard from them already?” “No, but it’s obvious that someone has to be working the problem. We don’t need you guys getting hurt wondering around in the dark and ruining your earning potential with a senseless injury.” The umpire said. Chad found this funny, “Good one! We are all porcelain lined and lace bound.” Ethan grinned at this though the other two couldn’t see. He did know that the catcher had already wondered off toward the dugout. Ethan could tell that he was green around the gills from the first pitch. Probably too much preparation the night before. “Wonder where the ushers are with their flashlights?” Chad asked. “Chad, I am getting a bad vibe about all of this. Come with me.” Chad followed Ethan closely toward the Milwaukee dugout and toward the door toward the clubhouse. Just before they reached the first step, the Emergency lighting around the field and stadium came on. “About time the generator kicked in.” They heard the Umpire say somewhere behind them. The lights near the top of the stadium were the brightest but they only provided a very dim glow compared to the usual playing lights. And as this was an older stadium, a number of the lights were pointed straight up into the air looking like signal lights from an airport. Ethan was looking at these beams when something caught his attention. At the same time a whining noise was growing in a Doppler type effect, louder and louder. To his horror, he realize about five second before impact a large commercial aircraft, probably a 757 or 767 in a flat spin with now external lights screaming toward the stadium. In almost slow motion, the plane descended into the left field stands, almost the exact location where his foul ball had landed. He knew that whoever caught the ball had caught their last souvenir, ever. The plane took one final slow motion spin before hitting the stands, instantly sending a mushrooming fireball that soon engulfed the entire outfield and spread out to grab the rest of the stadium. Ethan pushed Chad into the tunnel and slammed the heavy door closed. “Come on!” He shouted and ran. They made it to the clubhouse before the reverberations from the impact reached them. Instantly the room was full of dust. Ethan grabbed two hand towels and gave one to Chad. They both put them over their mouth before heading toward the exit. As the clubhouse was positioned behind home plate deep in the stadium, it was the furthest from the impact and this greatly increased their chances of getting out. When they came out of the stadium, bits of foam and fabric where raining down onto the street. Everywhere they looked, cars were stall out on the thoroughfare, stopped where they stopped rolling when engines died. People were mulling about, not really sure what to do. “Follow me!” Ethan shouted to Chad. They made their way to the player’s parking lot and Ethan found his truck. His team mates often teased him for driving this ancient four wheel drive pickup when he could have easily afforded so much more. They both jumped in and Ethan said a quick prayer before he turned the ignition. The truck roared to life. He quickly exited the lot and with a little effort he was able to weave around people and knowing to stay off the interstate he was heading north out of the city. They began to see the houses start to spread out after about 20 minutes. They had seen no other cars. “What was that? Why did we leave so quickly?” “Chad. Listen carefully. Something bad has happened and what happens next will be permanent.” “What exactly has happened?” “I don’t know, honestly. But what I do know is that for now and for the next little while, motion means life.” He looked over at Chad. “To stand still, even for a moment means death. There was a lot of death at the stadium. To stay there would have meant our death.”
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Post by forthteller on Jan 5, 2018 17:42:22 GMT -6
Here is a short story... I like to explore PAW events in unique situations. Here is one.... Ethan Mason stepped up to the plate. With a light tap to his right cleat with his wooden 30 inch Louisville Slugger he dislodged the lightly caked on clay that stuck during his last big swing. He had just barely fowled that one of down the left field line. “Just a tad early on that one.” He briefly made eye contact with the pitcher, who he had known his whole life. They had grown up together in the Milwaukee suburbs and came up through the community little league program. And now, Ethan was wearing his familiar number 27, in Brewer blue while his best friend sported his number 3 in St. Louis Cardinals red. During any down times, they were the best of friends. Each being single, they hung out together, went hunting and camping together in the few months they each had off during the winter. Ethan knew his friend well enough that he would never see a pitch like that again for not only this his second at bat of the game for probably for the rest of the game as well. The game was tight, 1-0 Brewers lead in the fourth inning, with the courtesy of the one run coming off Ethan’s bat in the bottom of the second inning. His sizable friend, Chad Demings, who shot up to around six foot, six inches tall and a rather firm two hundred fifty pounds, had left a curve ball hanging over the sweet spot of the plate. In all fairness, the pitch was perfect, but Ethan had a way with turning great pitches into runs for his team. First off, he was fairly compact at five foot ten. His stance was also compact witch presented a smallish strike zone. His stance was set up in such a way as to maximize his power when he basically uncoiled. His hand eye coordination was off the charts as he could immediately catch the rotation of any pitch almost before it would leave the pitchers hand. Indeed, he was the next big opportunity to hit above .400 for the season as he was sitting at .402 in late August. In that briefest of eye contact with Chad, Ethan knew… He just knew what was coming. That was almost home run number two in as many at bats and that would not do. Chad was about to send one way to the inside of the right handed hitter. Chad took his sign, without change. It would be a fastball. Everyone in the stadium knew it. He had a nasty tail on it that he could control at will. He set up and went into his full wind-up as there was no one on the bases. Actually he hadn’t let anyone on the bases the whole game. He had only given up one hit and it had hurt the worst. Kicking his right leg up, his pivot leg being a lefty, he pushed his right foot toward the ground. At the plate, Ethan brace as he tracked the hand in as it reach its set point before coming forward. Already tracking where that would be, he knew that Chad was dropping his shoulder and flattening out his pitch, not quite a submarine release, but just as efficient. Chad could do that. He had three pitches that he could release from any angle. And only Ethan knew him well enough to know what was coming. He sensed rather than saw the right foot come down and the hand on its way to the release point. But at the moment Chad’s foot impacted the ground, the lights of the stadium completely went dark, plunging the field into complete darkness. And almost a fraction of a second later, Ethan felt a horse kick his left shoulder deep and close to the shoulder blade. Chad had continued on with his motion and released the bean ball and plunked Ethan in the back. Fortunately for Ethan, Chad did manage to take something off the ball before he threw it and for that Ethan was thankful. “Dude, you okay?” Chad should into the oddly quiet darkness toward the plate as he clearly heard the impact. “Yeah, I guess I deserved that one somehow?” Ethan chunked back at him. “I guess your boss forgot to pay his bills again?” Chad chuckled and started to head toward the plate. As he moved forward, the crowd began to murmur. Just a little at first, but it grew in crescendo. “What do you make of this?” Having only receive a glancing hit, Ethan was able to raise up and take a look around. “I don’t know. There is no light at all. You’d think folks would pull out their Iphones by now.” “Check out the sounds, beyond the crowd.” Chad intoned. “Yeah, you’re right. There is none.” “STAY WHERE YOU ARE.” The Umpire behind the plate yelled out. “The authorities are working to restore the power.” Ethan stepped back and looked toward where the umpire’s voice came from and quietly said, “You’ve heard from them already?” “No, but it’s obvious that someone has to be working the problem. We don’t need you guys getting hurt wondering around in the dark and ruining your earning potential with a senseless injury.” The umpire said. Chad found this funny, “Good one! We are all porcelain lined and lace bound.” Ethan grinned at this though the other two couldn’t see. He did know that the catcher had already wondered off toward the dugout. Ethan could tell that he was green around the gills from the first pitch. Probably too much preparation the night before. “Wonder where the ushers are with their flashlights?” Chad asked. “Chad, I am getting a bad vibe about all of this. Come with me.” Chad followed Ethan closely toward the Milwaukee dugout and toward the door toward the clubhouse. Just before they reached the first step, the Emergency lighting around the field and stadium came on. “About time the generator kicked in.” They heard the Umpire say somewhere behind them. The lights near the top of the stadium were the brightest but they only provided a very dim glow compared to the usual playing lights. And as this was an older stadium, a number of the lights were pointed straight up into the air looking like signal lights from an airport. Ethan was looking at these beams when something caught his attention. At the same time a whining noise was growing in a Doppler type effect, louder and louder. To his horror, he realize about five second before impact a large commercial aircraft, probably a 757 or 767 in a flat spin with now external lights screaming toward the stadium. In almost slow motion, the plane descended into the left field stands, almost the exact location where his foul ball had landed. He knew that whoever caught the ball had caught their last souvenir, ever. The plane took one final slow motion spin before hitting the stands, instantly sending a mushrooming fireball that soon engulfed the entire outfield and spread out to grab the rest of the stadium. Ethan pushed Chad into the tunnel and slammed the heavy door closed. “Come on!” He shouted and ran. They made it to the clubhouse before the reverberations from the impact reached them. Instantly the room was full of dust. Ethan grabbed two hand towels and gave one to Chad. They both put them over their mouth before heading toward the exit. As the clubhouse was positioned behind home plate deep in the stadium, it was the furthest from the impact and this greatly increased their chances of getting out. When they came out of the stadium, bits of foam and fabric where raining down onto the street. Everywhere they looked, cars were stall out on the thoroughfare, stopped where they stopped rolling when engines died. People were mulling about, not really sure what to do. “Follow me!” Ethan shouted to Chad. They made their way to the player’s parking lot and Ethan found his truck. His team mates often teased him for driving this ancient four wheel drive pickup when he could have easily afforded so much more. They both jumped in and Ethan said a quick prayer before he turned the ignition. The truck roared to life. He quickly exited the lot and with a little effort he was able to weave around people and knowing to stay off the interstate he was heading north out of the city. They began to see the houses start to spread out after about 20 minutes. They had seen no other cars. “What was that? Why did we leave so quickly?” “Chad. Listen carefully. Something bad has happened and what happens next will be permanent.” “What exactly has happened?” “I don’t know, honestly. But what I do know is that for now and for the next little while, motion means life.” He looked over at Chad. “To stand still, even for a moment means death. There was a lot of death at the stadium. To stay there would have meant our death.”
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Post by forthteller on Jan 5, 2018 17:45:48 GMT -6
Awesome and a little prophetic. You started this in May and in the news, October November speculation is that N. Korea may have an EMP device. Love this.
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Post by solo on Jan 14, 2018 20:37:39 GMT -6
Okay... I am aging. I made a mistake and posted Chapter 11 as Chapter 10.... So here is chapter 10... Sorry to give a prequel here.
Chapter 10
Chad eased behind the pole barn to check on the perimeter fence. The others had left about two hours before and as he sat in the fence row immediately behind the house, he realized he needed to get up and move. The long, adrenalin fueled night was catching up with him. The house wasn’t going anywhere so he decided to check things out.
There wasn’t much fresh game sign being the middle of the day, but game trails abounded. As he got further away from the pole barn, the undergrowth became thicker, though none of it was past his shoulders. Being tall did have some advantages.
Careful of his steps, he came across a limb about the size of his wrist covered with grass in the middle of the particular trail he was on. As he went to step across, the limb moved and curled up into a hissing ball. He jerked his foot back and took a step back. As he looked closer, he saw a small patch of white in the middle and he had to chuckle to himself and said a prayer of thanks.
He was staring down the business end of a Water Moccasin better known as a Cottonmouth. He was familiar with this snake and knew to give it space when seen, but sometimes they do not give any warning. He had known a few people in this area who had gotten sick following a bite from this pit viper, but didn’t know of anyone to actually die from this particular snake.
As he was contemplating the snake, he suddenly remembered that it was an extremely aggressive snake and it had begun to come “after” him. He backed up quickly and gave the snake a wide berth.
Chad wasn’t particularly happy with himself and was realizing that fatigue was causing him to be a bit careless. He shifted the rifle to his right hand as his left elbow had begun to ache and he realized that the night before, he had put in a few innings and didn’t do any of his post game recovery tasks, liking icing for 30 minutes. With a shake of his head, he knew he would be very sore the next couple of days.
He reached the fence line and again here, there was a berm just on the inside of the eight foot, taut fence. Between the berm and fence was an irregular ditch. Grass and thistles had grown in the ditches and upon closer inspection, he realized he was looking at one long continuous black berry patch. They were loaded with immature berries, but it would be a boon when they were ripe.
Looking around, he noticed that here and there, the fruit trees where growing fruit that would be ready in a couple of months. And the pecan trees were all loaded. Wondering what else was growing, He began silently walking again. He had taken no more than a half dozen step when the undergrowth exploded and an unknown creature was on him before he could take the next breath. He felt a sharp pain from his right calf before it registered that there was a ball of grass flying and….. feathers.
With a sudden realization, Chad realized that he was being attacked by a very angry, red and black rooster with very long and sharp spurs. He was able to knock the rooster off of him with the stock of his rifle before the attack was suspended. The rooster strutted around him once, warily watching the rifle before he crowed and disappeared into the undergrowth.
“What in the world?” Chad vocalized to no one. He pulled up his jeans leg and noted that one of the rooster’s spurs had indeed broken the skin. There was luckily little blood, but Chad knew he had to address it sooner rather than later. Infection in this new world could be a bit more serious than previously and Chickens weren’t known as the most fastidious clean creatures. Lord only knows what was on that spur.
He began to head back where he could see the house again to check on it. He had worked around to the eastern side of the house and was working his way from the hollow up the small hill toward the driveway when he heard a car pull up and a door open at the gate. He eased to where he could see the gate but still had adequate cover and concealment. He saw what looked like a police cruiser. But the two men that got out didn’t really look like officers and their uniforms were ill fitting.
“What you think ‘bout this one?” The one that was driving said. Chad didn’t have to worry about hearing them as sound discipline wasn’t at the top of these guys lists.
“Haven’t really seen anyone around in a while…. Look at that. Is that a trailer over by the barn?” The chubbier officer mentioned.
“Yes it is! Someone has come.”
“Well, they will soon regret that, won’t they!”
The two men began looking for any sign anyone was home. Just then they both looked down the road toward Purvis. The sound was unmistakable, there was a vehicle coming.
“Great, what else is going to happen?” Chad thought to himself. He then caught himself. He recognized the sound of Ethan’s truck and he inherently knew that the bozos at the gate were up to no good. He set up and took aim on one of the men. He was ready. But for the life of him, he couldn’t understand what Ethan was doing blazing down the road. His truck popped over the hill above the house then screeched to a halt. Chad thought, “ Ethan must be very exhausted too to not use better OpSec.”
Things quickly came to a head as Ethan finally saw the squad car at the gate and came to a sudden stop. Then he got out of the truck and thing got serious quickly!
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Post by solo on Jan 14, 2018 20:43:33 GMT -6
And here is Chapters 12-14 as well.
Chapter 12:
“So, you pull up here in one of my squad cars with two bodies in the back seat and two of my deputies in the trunk and you being a stranger an all and want me to believe a thing you have to tell me?” The barrel of a man stood at the top of the steps looking down at the two friends standing on the side walk.
“I told you this was a bad idea.” Chad surmised.
“I am not a stranger. I am Mrs. Logan’s nephew, Ethan. I moved away when I was a Junior in High School. This is my friend, Chad.” Ethan tried to explain.
“Never heard of ya’, Boy!” The Sheriff stopped and took out a pack of rolling papers and a tin of tobacco. He took out one paper and carefully put a measure of the tobacco on the paper in a neat line. He rolled it tightly and then lightly ran his tongue on one edge to seal the cigarette. He put one end in his mouth and put away the papers and the tin. He stood looking at the two men before him and said, “Tell me again what happened. You first.” He pointed at Chad. Chad recounted the story and it was just like the one Ethan had told. The Sheriff looked over the cigarette and took out a large flip top lighter. Carefully, he lit the cigarette and taking in a large breath, release a large plume of smoke. “Okay, let’s see what we go. I see that you are carrying. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
The Sheriff, Marc Whitcomb, had barely won election in a special runoff when the previous Sheriff had died in office. He had been a deputy in the department for almost 24 years and though he was probably best suited for the job, he barely made it in. He intended to remain in office for some time to come. He wasn’t about to let this power shortage undermine his law posture.
He looked into the back seat and though he could not make out one of them the other he could and when he saw who it was, he reluctantly realized that he was going to have to believe these two men. Seeing this rabble from Talowah he had to allow that these gentlemen had done him and the county a great favor. Seeing the county deputy uniforms on them sealed the deal. He knew what he was going to find in the trunk and hated that part of it.
Later, after the Medical Examiner came and took charge of the bodies, grumbling about a lack of refrigeration, the Sheriff took a long moment to talk to Ethan and Chad. “What are your plans now?”
“Well, Sir, this is going to last longer than anyone expects. We are staying out at my Aunt and cousin’s place outside of town toward Baxterville.” Ethan said.
“I know of it. Seems like it is prepped pretty well. What do you mean by longer than anyone expects.” Whitcomb asked.
“This was an EMP or a CME flare. The grid and anything attached to it, and anything solid state has been fried. There are no spare parts.” Ethan let that settle in.
Chad picked up. “So no electricity means no way to pump gas or keep cold foods cold. How long do you think it will be before the stores are permanently empty? Three days tops. I read somewhere that due to computer technology and tracking, resupply is monitored closely. This allowed any one store to have enough food on the shelf at any given time to feed 500 people for three days.” Chad said.
“And that any given time was pegged yesterday evening when the lights went out….” The Sheriff said.
“Bingo.” Said Ethan. “What do you think is going to happen when EFT, Credit Cards, Debit Card and any other electronic banking doesn’t happen?”
“Chaos. Societal break down. Or worse.”
“Yes. That will start in the next day or two. The average American has less than $20 cash on the at any one time. This has instantly turned into a barter society and most of the people here in Lamar County haven’t realized it yet. And when they do, it will be bad.” Ethan said. Then they were all quiet.
Chad broke the silence. “What I hate is that soon all the back up generators will be out of gas and there will be no more. All those poor soles on life support or any other life giving aid will die within 24 hours of that happening.”
“Those with pace makers probably already have passed on.” Ethan said.
With that, the Sheriff stood up ramrod stiff and said, “Excuse me.” And he stepped toward another squad car. He jumped in and began to back up. He stopped. “Sorry Gentlemen, I have to go check on my mother. She had a pacemaker!”
“I am so sorry!” Ethan said genuinely sad. He motioned to Chad and the climbed into the truck.
“He isn’t going to like what he finds will he?” Chad asked.
“I figure by tonight a lot of folks will be in the same boat. This is an older agrarian community. It’s about to get real. Go by Myatt’s and let’s stock up while we can.”
They drove over to where Myatt Brothers Grocery used to be and saw that a regional chain had bought them out. They pulled into the parking lot and saw that there were lights on. Figuring that this may be it for food, they each took two baskets and walked in.
“Boys, cash only, our card readers aren’t working.”
“Understood.” Ethan offered then went into the store.
Two hours later, the came out and stowed their cache into the truck. Somberly they got in and headed out. The shelves were already looking bare and though the owner was optimistic, they knew that this was it.
“I hate it, but we are going to have to head out and batten down the hatches. Tomorrow and the next day, the teeter is going to totter and then it will not be good.”
“For sure.” Chad said. The two friends headed home heavyhearted. Fatigue caught them and they were both in bed early that evening. And yet without them willing it or trying to stop it, and oblivious to the chaos it had caused. The sun did indeed come up the next day.
Chapter 13:
Ethan woke with a start. The uneasiness he had been feeling for the last couple of days hit him hard as he scanned the dark trying to figure out what it was that woke him.
They took a much needed day to get settled in. Days one and two were in the books and by now, Ethan was sure that things had begun to get serious in the major cities. Probably even in the smaller ones as well. For the most part it was quite in their small slice of the world. Tim and Julie kept an eye on things with Ethan and then Chad taking the night time shifts.
They got all their materials organized and arranged and began to inventory. Gina insisted on doing this, bed rest be *&*(ed. They were okay with water and the three B’s, Beans, Bullets and Bandaids. But for how long? Ethan fretted over this during his shift. The night before he slowly trekked around the eight acre plot barely noting the defensive upgrades of the place. Two things on his mind all fell under one ongoing thought. He wasn’t in it just to survive; he intended for his band to thrive in this new world. But the two immediate concerns kept gnawing at him…. 1) How to keep someone or a lot of someones from taking what they had already stock piled and 2) how to provide sustainment for the long haul.
He was hoping that later this morning, Gina would be able to tell him how long they had for the consumables on hand. Still, this uneasiness was almost electric and he just couldn’t pinpoint it. The sky was lightening in the East and dawn was near. May as well get up.
As he exited the room on the back corner of the house, he was assaulted with the smell of coffee. His mouth began to instantly salivate. “Good morning!” Tim spoke. Ethan looked around the room and smiled, even in the predawn darkness, he was the last to awake.
“How did you make this? The range is electric.” Ethan asked as he took his cup of coffee. With great joy, he was also handed a plate of eggs and bacon.
“Yes it is.” Gina spoke up. Tim’s mouth was full of eggs and Julie, well Julie was still giving him a bit of the cold shoulder. He knew he was going to have to address that sooner rather than later, but he also knew that there were some mighty raw feelings from the last decade or so. Gina continued, “Good news is that we have a wood burning stove on the back patio. The better news is, is this place is rigged with solar power.”
“Really? You’ll have to show me the set up.” Ethan guessed as much, but hadn’t seen it as of yet.
“Well, we are running on battery power right now. We having discovered the control room for deploying the solar array yet.” Tim added.
“Hmm, we’ve been over every square inch of this house. As far as I can tell, there is no basement or anything.”
“Well, Genius, in that case, what about the barn?” Julie had taken this tone with him when she would say anything.
“You’re probably right.” He had taken to just answering evenly. She knew this tone always rubbed him the wrong way, but he wasn’t going to bite, no matter how many buttons she pushed.
For her part, Julie wanted the confrontation. She needed to have it out, to get it all out so he knows, he KNOWS what she felt when he fell off the face of the earth. The betrayal she harbored had grown and eaten at her. He had no clue of the storm that was waiting for him. She just needed him to engage.
Ethan began eating his eggs again and noted the peculiar flavor of the bacon; it reminded his of something he couldn’t put his finger on. Then the flavor of the eggs hit him. They hadn’t bought any. “Hey, these eggs are fresh!”
Gina snickered, “Yes they are. Chad got jumped by a large red rooster our first day here and it didn’t take too long for Julie to realize they there were some free ranging chickens here. Yesterday while you guys were recovering, Tim found the old coop, it is down in the hollow, well hidden and last night when the hens returned to roost, he closed the door. This morning, in the nexting boxes we had eight eggs.”
Ethan asked, “How many chickens?”
“There were only 14. Twelve hens, an old rooster, Chad’s friend, and a young rooster. There were maybe more at one time but the natural predation and the birth rate has probably settled over the interim. I do know there is one broody old hen so over the next few days, we will leave eggs with her. We left two this morning.” Gina said.
“Okay, that means two of the hens didn’t lay. Could be the heat or it could be that they are old. Watch them over the next few days and we will sacrifice the non-layers. Also, let’s leave all the eggs with the brood hen tomorrow and get us a batch of chicks going. This was indeed a wonderful find.”
“What about the bacon?” Ethan asked.
“It was from a jar.” Gina said.
“Canned by your aunt.” Julie added.
“Really? That’s where it reminds me… The old Hungarian bacon you could get in a can. I didn’t even think it could be done non-commercially.” Ethan smiled.
“Yes. And we found a three ring binder with all her canning information, timings, ingredients and all. We just need to find a pork source.” Tim added.
“Indeed! That reminds me. Could you get Chad in here? We need to discuss some things moving forward.”
A little while later, Chad came in and the five of them gathered around the dining room table. Ethan chose this because it did give them a view of the road. Ethan began, “Okay, it looks like we are here for the long haul. Having said that, anyone can leave at any time. We need to discuss our defensive posture; are we going to be overt or covert. And then we need to discuss sustainment.”
Julie looked at Ethan, she was really conflicted. He had just shown right back up and though she hated him, she realized that her true feelings were much deeper. And she loathed herself for this. It also just hit her that she was stuck here. Still she was the first to speak, “I plan to stay and I plan to do my part. I may be the most country here, but that is what we need now. As far as defense, I don’t see it as prudent to make and overt defensive posture. This would only advertise to everyone, including groups larger than us that we have something worth protecting. I think we button up and keep our head down.”
Ethan look lingered on Julie until she reddened slightly and glanced away. “I agree. Anyone else?”
They all nodded agreement. Then Ethan spoke up again. “Okay, but where. Can we defend this?”
Chad began to list the defenses, the fence, the berm and the cameras. “We just don’t know if they are active, if they survived the EMP or where the controls are.”
With that, Julie got up and walked into the attached kitchen and over to the Refrigerator. She reached into the cabinet above it and pressed a hidden button on the inside. The fridge began to slide straight out. And Ethan began to smile, he had noticed the worn area in front of the fridge and now he knew why. With the fridge moved he found himself looking down a ladder well that was under the appliance. He looked at Julie and asked, “You didn’t think you could show us this sooner?”
“It wasn’t my place. Now it seems it is.”
Ethan started for the top of the ladder when Chad said, “Um Ethan? You need to come take a look at this.” Chad had knelt down next to the front window and was looking out at the gate to the driveway.
Ethan came close and then knelt down too. “Oh CRAP!” was the first thing that popped into his mind…….
Chapter 14:
Sitting at the foot of the driveway, outside the eight foot gate sat an MRAP. It was the RG-33 six wheel variant with the CROWS system. It was painted in a woodland scheme with the emblem of the Lamar County Sheriff’s office emblazed on the side. There was what Ethan assumed and hoped was a deputy sitting in the driver’s seat. Behind the MRAP was a large flat bed with a backhoe strapped to it. And behind that, up the hill toward Purvis was two dump trucks full of dirt. The passenger door to the MRAP opened and the Sheriff poked out with an M-4 held muzzle up with a white flag waving. Doc looked at both Chad and Ethan and shrugged. “Well, we better go see what he wants?” Doc voiced as more of a question.
“I’ll go. Julie go with me; Doc you come but stay in the carport. Chad, your overwatch.” Chad slipped out while Ethan grabbed his rifle. He, Broadmore and Julie walked to the carport.
“Ethan, he is really a good guy. I do not know what all this is about.” Broadmore said.
“Well, one way to find out.” Ethan and Julie went down the driveway and stopped about ten yards from the end. Ethan waited for a count to thirty before he spoke. “Sheriff, what is all of this?”
“Mr. Mason, things have gone to crap quicker than we all thought. Downtown Hattiesburg is burning. Near as we can tell New Orleans doesn’t exist anymore. “This is only day three?” Ethan looked at Julie.
“Yes. New Orleans remembered Katrina. They weren’t going to sit around this time.”
Ethan thought for a second. “Do you know what has happened? Was it an EMP and are we under attack? Is that the reason you have an MRAP?”
“Whoa, Son, slow down. Yes I do know what happened. It was a prolonged Solar Flare. It has affected the whole entire world. No one is coming to attack us, we are all in the same boat.”
Try as she could Julie snorted. “A solar flare did all this?”
Ethan answered, “Yes, it’s possible and it’s likely. It explains everything. And it has happened before in 1859.”
“The Carrington Event.” The Sheriff nodded. “Knocked out all the telegraphs between here and the west. This time there was much more to take out and there is know way to replace any of the melted parts. These vehicles are hardened and diesel. And the county got one a couple of years ago from surplus.”
“Surplus? That thing looks brand new.” Ethan commented.
“Basically it is. Look I am on a bit of a schedule. I have a retreat up between here and Columbia on one of the hilltops. Excellent defensible locating. I have released all the deputies to go take care of their families, most of them are come with. I know you guys can take care of yourselves. And we want you all to join us for your own protection.”
“You have a compound? Well stocked and all?” Julie asked.
“Well stocked? Before or after the flares.” Ethan asked.
“Before. We are prepared.”
“Preppers! Survivalist!?” Ethan actually chuckled.
“Not really. Just have always lived by the old ways. We are self sufficient.”
“Well, I think we are set up good here for now. So we will pass.” Ethan said.
“I thought that is what you’d say. Here,” The sheriff tossed over a small satchel. “This is radio. Our external frequencies are listed in the book on the inside as well as some basic codes. Call us if you need us.”
“For free?”
“For free? No, Son, ain’t nothing for free. But this is an easy one. Just keep an eye on this part of the County and let us know what is going on and we will do the same. News these days will be more valuable than gold.” The Sheriff said.
“Okay, we can do that. What about a call schedule?”
“The times we will be listening is listed in the book too. No obligation, but it would be appreciated.” The Sheriff mentioned.
“Okay. Best of luck to you.”
“Listen, Son, if I may say so, your OPSEC is pretty crappy. Everyone can see up the drive and though you have decent defenses, they will not stop a determined foe. You need to maintain light discipline at night, watch your cooking and for God’s sake, get that hauler out sight.” The Sheriff paused. “I have some heavy equipment and dirt here for you. Let us at least make your property a bit less inviting.”
Ethan looked at Julie and she gave a slight nod. An hour and a half later, the crew from the Sheriff’s department built up all the berms and then dug out the ditched behind them deeply. They also dug defensive firing positions at places located through out the property. They also worked on the exterior of the house to make it look a lot more run down and less inviting. The house was hardened already. The shutters were all made of steel and were almost impenetrable when they were locked and closed. The external doors were also steel mounted to open outwards making it almost impossible to batter it in. Still, the “upgrades” the deputies’ made to the house made it less likely to attract attention.
In the end, after the strange convoy left, Ethan began thinking that covert was the way to go and both he and Chad planned to explore the hidden spaces later after the prying eyes had left. He took the satchel that the Sheriff left with him and walked it to the barn. Chad followed him and watched as Ethan looked for then got a small metal box from one of the shelves. He turned and looked at Chad, “Grab that shovel and follow me.”
They walked down the hill about 15 yards and stopped. Ethan took out a contractors’ trash bag and put the satchel into it, then secured it by tying and then doubling up the plastic around the contents. “There that should keep most of the moisture out if any.” He then put the package into the box and locked it. With little effort they had a hole dug to hold the box three feet deep.
After tamping the last of the dirt on the cache, Chad finally asked, “Why’d we do this?”
Ethan sighed, “Why’d you think the Sheriff really do this? And why show up with an MRAP?”
“Because he was in the middle of his bug out?”
“I don’t know. He mentioned how well set up this property was the other day and then shows up with an overt show of strength then “Helps” us set up better? I think he wanted to get a look at what we had, what, who and how."
“I don’t, man, you just being paranoid.”
“Am I?” Ethan looked at Chad. “How would the board of supervisors just let the Sheriff Department go like that without even trying. He is a fairly new Sheriff. How does that happen just three days in? With crap happening just 10 miles north of here? And half of Hattiesburg being in Lamar County? I don’t know, Chad, something just doesn’t smell right.”
Chad just shrugged. He knew Ethan got these feelings. Sometimes they were spot on and sometimes not so much. Yet, Ethan hadn’t missed anything since the lights went out in the stadium. "How does burying the radio help in anyway?"
"I don't know, it felt like the right thing to do. I don't know much about radios but if this one is rigged in such a way to be used as a listening device or a GPS to track us, then there is a problem. It is safe now and we know where in case we need it. Come on. I thing it is time to button up for a little while. Let’s go see what we got underground.”
They trekked back to the barn and put the shovel away and began to close the barn door. Something caught his attention, some sound before the door closed. He opened it again and stepped through and worked his way to the back. There was a 55 gallon barrel he assumed was engine oil shaking on the barn floor. Then it was still……
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Post by udwe on Jan 14, 2018 21:38:20 GMT -6
Damn, a cliff hanger. Please don't let us hang too long...........
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Post by garethn on Jan 15, 2018 15:53:30 GMT -6
Hurray! Loads to read... and I have a long train journey tomorrow. Thank you.
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Post by solo on Jan 17, 2018 10:32:26 GMT -6
Chapter 15:They trekked back to the barn and put the shovel away and began to close the barn door. Something caught his attention, some sound before the door closed. He opened it again and stepped through and worked his way to the back. There was a 55 gallon barrel he assumed was engine oil shaking on the barn floor. Then it was still……. To his astonishment, the barrel moved smoothly to the side and a hatch below it opened. Gina poked her head up. “Howdy guys! Please put that away.” Ethan was astounded. He put his Glock back into his holster and stared. At least his unconscious protected them. “Come on in, you have to see this. There are some nice digs under here and tunnels connecting the barn and the house.” Chad closed and locked the barn door and both men walked to the hatch. One by one, they climbed down into the tunnel. It was made out of cement storm drain conduit that was tall enough for him to stand up in, snuggle. Chad had to stoop. There were two foot florescent lights every ten yards or so. They were somewhat dim, Ethan suspected that they they were diminished due to being on battery power. Still, it was adequate to see by. After about 100 yards, the tunnel opened up into a series of Conex boxes that had been modified. Doc Broadmore and Julie were waiting there for them. There were four of them laid out two by two. On either side were concrete alcoves that served as the “facilities” complete with plumbed running water, solar heated for showers and the alcove on the other end served as the kitchen and eating facility. On the other end was another tunnel that Ethan assumed ran to the house. Each of the Conex boxes served a different purpose. Two were divided into four bedrooms each with two sets of bunk beds each. One was set up as a great room space. There was a TV/Entertainment area as well as tables set up for games and such. On one end of this box was an enclosed medical exam room. The storage lockers in here were well stocked. This box also opened to the kitchen so there were additional room for eating and storage is needed. The last box, closest to the downhill side of the house had added security and was obviously set up as a command and control center. All security was controlled here as well as the energy supplies. There was a bank of TVs that showed all the different camera angles. He flipped a switch and all the TV flickered and began to display what the cameras around the property were showing. There was a COMS center with controls for a retractable antenna, controls for the solar energy system including deployment of the cells, and flow of the electricity to what ever needed it at the time. Finally, there was a panel that was labeled “Countermeasures”. He would have to explore this later. “Hey, what is that by the front door.” Julie asked looking at one of the TV’s whose camera was focused on the front door. “Looks like a bag, a grocery sack.” Gina said. “Julie, would you mind going and grabbing it? Then let’s meet. I don’t trust those guys that did all the work. Julie left and in short order returned. “I closed down everything and locked them. We are secured.” “Secured?” Chad asked. “Yeah, the inner door is like a bank vault. It is solid!” Julie said. “Like a bomb shelter?” Ethan asked. “I guess. Look at this.” Julie placed the bag down and it was overly full. In it were fresh picked tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and of course, butterbeans. Ethan smiled. “What?” Gina asked. “Neighborly offering from Mr. Landry. Folks like that are all bluster, but they tend to have hearts that are ten sizes too large.” Ethan said. “That is very true. Let’s keep an eye on him too. We know zilch about farming and he could really help.” Chad offered. “Speak for yourself, Yankee!” Julie snarked. “Easy there, girl. I grew up in the mid-West. Big difference.” Julie laughed. “Corn, Milk and Beef country and you don’t know how to farm?” “Milk yes, Corn, sure I saw a lot of it but never messed with it much. Beef, not really. Spent a lot of cold mornings having to warm my hands to keep our two girls from kicking the snot out me.” Chad chuckled. “Well, yeah! I would imagine so, nobody I know likes cold hands. Especially first thing in the morning.” Gina added. “Yeah…. On that note, we need to discuss what we are going to do.” Gina looked at Ethan, “What do you mean?” “Well, we know this is going to go on for quite a while. We have to think about the long term. We also need to discuss the short term as there will soon be unrest and people probably wanting to “borrow” what we have. I don’t mind helping where we can, but we need to make sure we can make it as we stand.” Julie sighed heavily, “I guess I never thought you would be much of a factor in my life and then one day I find out we are now tied together. I guess I will say it. I don’t like it. But, what can I do. You guys are my best option in spite of you Ethan.” “Okay, Julie. Thank you for keeping it honest. It will take some time and a lot of work but I think you will see that genuinely, I am truly sorry. I made a huge mistake. But for now. Let’s take it one day at a time. We have a lot more to worry about.” Julie just nodded once, visibly struggling with her feelings, with her heart. Chad hid a small smile. Gina was sort of embarrassed to see what should have probably been private, being aired in the group. Then it hit her. From here on out, privacy would be at a premium. She looked up to find Ethan looking at her. “What about you? I know Chad’s and the Doc’s view. Are you going to stay?” “Well, it is kind of hard not to. Where could I go now?” She looked at Chad and smiled, “You’re stuck with me.” And shrugged. “Okay so we are all in it. So for the short term, should we just lay low down here or stay up in the house until we need to bug out down here?” Chad spoke up. “This is a great set up and all, but I really don’t want to be stuck down here unless we really have to.” "From what I can tell, there is only one bedroom too." Gina piped up. “I saw that too. And Chad, I am with you about being below here. But there is only five of us. We have to sleep sometime. How can we protect ourselves with so few?” The doc asked. “Well, This room here can be partitioned and the storage room turned into a bedroom. There is a built in bathroom by it. I plan to sleep in the control room. As far as protection and security, technology can only help so much. But we need people power. Do you know a few more who could join us? For safety and for survival?” “Well, how about our eccentric neighbor?” Chad asked. Ethan thought for a moment and then said. “I like having him as a buffer between us and town.” “I can think of a few folks. Honest. Hard working. Let take a trip tomorrow and visit them.” Dr. Broadmore stated. “As long as they have skills. And we need a radio person to understand all of this….” Chapter 16“Hey, Ethan, look over here.” Gina called out. Ethan moved over to where Gina was at the side of the structure on the uphill side. He walked up to Gina and she beamed and stepped to the side. Ethan took a moment to look at the wall before he realized what he was looking at. He began to grin. “What is it?” Julie asked. “It is a tunnel. Probably an escape tunnel.” Ethan said. He stood up and walked through the box to the other side of the shelter. Sure enough, at almost the exact opposite point was another tunnel. “Here is another.” “At least we will not get caught without a way to get out of here if we need too.” Gina offered. “Exactly!” Ethan said. “And to come and go unseen. We need to keep a low profile.” “Hey Ethan, everyone, come see this.” Chad called out. Ethan, Julie and Gina walked into the control room area and found the bank of tv screens on showing different vantage points throughout the property. Chad and Tim were huddled over a binder. “What you got?” Ethan asked. “Look. This is the manual for this place. Complete with instructions for the radios. And for the solar panel array and batteries.” “Solar?” “Yes, pretty impressive. Here, there is a 2500 gallon water tank to collect water from a small spring here on the North Side of the enclosure. On the south side of the house, there was installed a bank of five Monocrystalline solar panels which at peak performance (A nice sunny day) provide about 200 watts of DC power that feed into a bank of four 100 amp/hour lead acid deep cycle batteries via a standard 30 amp controller that keeps the batteries from being overcharged and to protect them from reaching an undercharged status. Finally from the batteries to the subterranean dwelling, there is a power inverter to convert the DC to AC in order to run the house hold appliances and accouterments. While this set up will never power a refrigerator, it will keep the few lights on when they are needed as well and run a few of the power tools that Marc needs from time to time.” Chad smiled. “What does all that mean?” Gina asked. “Catch this! This entire system is flexible; the Monocrytalline panels are themselves flexible and can be moved easily inside or out. And with the batteries and other components buried, it leaves a zero footprint except when in use, which was most of the time.” “Still doesn’t answer my question. What is all this?” Gina asked. “What is our main survival concern?” Ethan asked. “Power?” Gina offered. “No, power is a nice to have and we have a very nice to have system.” Chad answered. “We can live only three days max without water. That is in a normal temperature environment. And Mississippi is anything but.” Tim said. “Ah, We have a ready supply of water.” Gina smiled. “No.” Gina looked purplexed. “No? ” “Come on guys. Stop being jerks. Gina, we have a continuous ‘SUPPLY’ of water, which is a huge game changer.” Julie answered, complete with air quotes. “Ah. I see. So with this we have water, stored food, capability to grow food, chickens, and power.” Gina said. “There is also a large septic tank downhill and we have a full surveillance and communications system.” Chad said. Gina got quiet then. “Don’t you think we need to share this?” Ethan looked at her carefully and said, “We will help where we can. But we have to take care of our own first. And as we determined a bit ago you are very much a part of our own.” Gina just sat there deep in thought. Julie looked hard at Ethan and turned and walked out the room and exited the shelter. Ethan followed her with his eyes then looked at Chad who just shook his head slightly. “Just let her go work it out man.” “What did I do?” Ethan asked. Tim smiled. He had seen this. “Probably too much water under the bridge to move on to her being a big part of your inner circle…. At least this soon.” The crew headed up stairs and settled in for the night. The next day, Ethan and Chad were moving all their stores down into the dwelling and stacking them in the corner. Gina was cataloguing everything and Julie was putting things into organized piles. Ethan just wheeled a stack of bins down the tunnel on his hand truck and was turning to leave when Tim poked his head out of the control room. “Ethan…. We have a situation.” Ethan took a deep breath and wiped his face with his sleeve. Though the underground dwelling was relatively cool, he was still sweating from the hard work. He walked to the door and poked his head in. “What you got?” Looking at the bank of cameras, the view of the gate was pulled up and sitting there on the screen was a rather heavy-set man leaning against a car. He had a small Iphone taking photos up the driveway. “Oh man.” Ethan said and then turned and grabbed his AR and moved toward the side tunnel. It was a five-foot tunnel so he had to bend over a bit. He reached the end and pushed the counter balance door open. From the outside, there was a thicket that made it impossible to see anyone come or go from the tunnel. He reached the gate unobserved just as the large man pulled a large set of bolt cutters out of his car and began to cut the Master Lock that secured the gate. Without exposing himself, Ethan called out, “Something I can help you with?” Ethan wished he could have reconned a bit better or even gotten Chad to follow him. “Stupid!” He called to himself. The man paused and looked around. “Where are you?” “Close enough.” Ethan responded. “My man has you in his sights.” “Well then, roll the dice.” Ethan growled. The man looked around. He still couldn’t see where Ethan was. “You know, I caught you breaking into my property. In these unsafe times, that could get someone hurt. I think you need to pack yourself back into your fancy car and go back to where you came from.” The man turned beet read from his neck up to the top of his head. If it wasn’t such a serious matter, Ethan would have lost it. “Do you know who I am?” “No. And as of four days ago, it doesn’t really matter. You need to go now.” “I am the Mayor of Purvis!” “Good for you. This isn’t Purvis.” Ethan intoned matter of factly. “The city limits is about a mile away to the east. I suggest you find it and stay there.” “No, All this area around Purvis belongs to Purvis. We are going around collecting resources so we can make sure everyone has enough.” “Hmm. So what in mine is yours.” “That’s right. No, rather it’s the City’s.” The man insisted. “Doesn’t look like you like to share too much.” Ethan observed. “What do you mean by that?!” “If the word fits, wear it. I am all for sharing, you first.” “Why, I tell you we will have what you have. You mark my words.” The man blustered. “Number one: I don’t have anything to share. Number two: What I have will not be shared with you. And number three. This is your warning. If I see you again, It will not go well for you. Take your “Man” and go! Now!” At that moment a shot rang out and a yelp came from behind the car. A man, equally portly stood up and dropped a revolver, his hand bleeding. The mayor ran over to him and grabbed him and helped him into the car. In short order, he got in behind the wheel and peeled out down the road. Ethan looked up toward the house from one of the fight positions the Sheriff’s men had dug, Julie stood up and looked at Ethan. “I missed. I was aiming at you.” With that she smiled and turned toward the house. Ethan smiled and then looked at the line of sight. He was standing exactly between Julie and the man she shot…….
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Post by rep1270 on Jan 17, 2018 13:17:15 GMT -6
Great story. Thank you. I was going to add more but I can't think of anything to add but Thanks again. Ralph
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Post by 9idrr on Jan 17, 2018 17:53:57 GMT -6
So, are we up to maybe 10% of the story yet? If not, that's okay by me. Thanks.
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Post by headlesshorseman on Jan 17, 2018 18:02:18 GMT -6
Julie seems like a nice young lady. Thank you for the MOAR.
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Post by solo on Jan 22, 2018 10:07:58 GMT -6
Chapter 17
The last two weeks had been a whirlwind. The foot traffic by the place did not really get going until the middle of the last week. Maintaining any amount of watchfulness over the property was really wearing on the five residents. Ethan had set up a rotating watch teams of two people every six hours. The people were staggered three hours so that one team would not get completely complacent. For instance, Ethan would stand a full six hours while Chad would be finishing his last three. Three hours into his, someone else would relieve Chad to begin their six hour shift. Then Ethan would relieved three hours into that person’s shift. This was not optimum and generally gave everyone a 12 hour shift, broken up, every 24 hours. Of course this did not include the chore list which was long for everyone. Sleep was a premium and Ethan knew this wasn’t sustainable.
As it was only a video watch, it wasn’t to taxing, but by the second week, temperaments were beginning to get tested. And the fact that about every other day or so Julie and Ethan would be forced to spend three hours together. In close confines. By themselves.
Even so, Julie was all businesslike though she was still very miffed from the life changing slight from all those years before. Ethan knew it would take a lot of time for them to even reach the friend stage, even though he had to admit that the ending of the world has worked wonders for getting them at least under the same roof.
“Okay, Friend, time to go get a couple of hours.” Chad stated as he stood up.
“Go ahead, Julie will be here in a couple.” Ethan said, not really sure if he welcomed this or dreaded it.
“I am here. You can go.” Julie said as she entered and strode to the two person desk that contained the controls for their little kingdom.
“Well, then, I stand relieved. I think I am going to go out and take a look around before I turn in for a couple of hours.” Chad turned to leave. Then in attempt to cut the tension that had suddenly blossomed in the room. “That is if I can leave you two alone.”
Julie just sighed. Chad chuckled and walked out. Ethan wisely kept quiet.
In a couple of minutes, he found Chad on one of the screens and followed him as he made a round around the property. He had gone out the tunnel leading to the uphill side of the complex.
After 20 minutes of watching this, Julie finally spoke up. “You know I am not trying to punish you.”
It was an ice breaker. It was unexpected but it was a start. “I know.” Ethan replied.
“I just can’t go through this again. You hurt me bad. You know that and I know that. Then there was nothing through all those years.”
“Yes. I did. There is nothing I can say that will erase that. Just know this, I made a really dumb set of choices that altered both of our lives. Then when I came to my senses, it was too late. You were married.” Ethan said, barely above a whisper.
“So it is my fault then?”
“No, it is all mine.”
She stared at him for a full minute, not saying anything. “There was a time you ruled my life, willingly I allowed it. Just so you know, that time has passed. There will not be a round two for us. I don’t care if we are the last two people left on this Earth.”
Ethan caught her gaze and could not tell if those words reached her eyes or not. Then he smiled a little…
“Don’t….” She said.
“I can’t help it. You know that two people left on the earth thing is closer than you think.”
“Smartass! You don’t change at all do you!? I mean what I say!”
He caught her gaze again. She was searching for something. Neither one knew what it was. “Jules, I am still in love with you. I never stopped. I was stupid, but I am still in love.”
Julie gasped, her eyes grew big. In a huff, she shot up out of the seat and before he could react, she slapped him across the face with enough force that he saw stars. “You have no right to just pop back into my life and say that too me. Who the hell do you think you are? You think those words have meaning to me now? After all this time. You make me sick…” Her voice faded as she sat back down and began to cry into her hands.
Ethan knew enough to let this run it’s course before saying or doing anything.
Just then a voice from behind him said, “Everything okay in here?” Gina had poked her head in.
“Yes, for now.”
“Well then who is Chad talking to?”
Ethan looked up to see Chad at the gate talking to a rough looking man and a small group of women. Most had a tough look to them like they may have been a guess of the state, involuntarily. From the looks of things, the confrontation wasn’t going to well. “Gina, spot me here, I am going up to take a look.”
“I am going too, I could use the air.”
Ethan didn’t argue with Julie as they both donned their improvised web gear and grabbed their AK’s. They went up into the house and immediately went down the drive, one on each side. Their rifles were carried at low ready and they were both scanning up and down the road for any other trouble. They arrived as the man decided to bring his sidearm up into action.
“Oh so you have the cavalry.” The man Chad was talking to voiced when he saw the two coming down the driveway.
“Yeah, just to handle the likes of you.” Chad retorted.
“Listen here, Big Man! You think you can Lord over me?” Even though there was a group of people with him, the loud mouth was only thinking about himself.
“Lord? No. But I don’t owe you anything.” Chad looked at him.
“Please, Mister. Anything will help.” A young lady cut a cross look at the lout of a man and then pleaded for herself and the rest of the group.
The lout turned to the lady and pushed her back. He then took the butt of his rifle and raised it to strike her. By this time Ethan had reached the gate and what he saw made him sick. This lout had about seven young ladies and they didn’t look like they had much to them. If he were honest, he would guess they were all street professionals and he was their pimp. Hearing the man and seeing what he was about to do was all he needed. He yelled to get the mans attention, “Hey!”
The man stopped in mid swing and looked back around to find himself looking down the barrel of a Glock 19. He then looked passed the barrel to the man that was holding it. They stared eye to eye and the Lout had a moment’s recognition before he knew nothing no more.
The report took everyone but the lout and Ethan by surprise. Ethan wasn’t going to let this man go on terrorizing people and he was a threat to his community. The Lout knew that this was it and now it was. Before the body hit the ground the lady he was about to hit took a vicious kick to his head hoping that he felt it before he slipped into nothingness. The kick caught the man on the nose and opened a sizable gash that still bled awfully as the heart finished its last few cycles before stopping for good.
Ethan looked down at the Man and then looked at the ladies. “Anyone want to join him?” The ladies as one all took off down the road toward Purvis. Except one. The lady who kicked the man.
“I wasn’t with them. They forced me to come.”
“Who were they?” Chad asked.
“Vermin. The lot of them.” She said then kicked him again.
“Did they hurt you?” Julie said.
“No, not yet. I just met them this morning and thought traveling in a group would be better than alone. I was wrong.”
“Do you want to come in?” Julie asked. Ethan’s head shot around and he glared had her. She glared back.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“What is your name?” Chad asked.
“Does it really matter?”
“Just trying to be civil, Ma’am.” Chad said then opened the gate. Ethan came out and the lady came in. Julie took her up to the house.
Ethan grabbed the man’s arms and dragged him to the other side of the road. “I will go get the shovel.”
Ethan then went to the barn and hoped like heck, Julie didn’t take this lady down to the shelter. It was going to be hard enough to get her to move on. If he could get Julie to allow it…..
Chapter 18:
Ethan entered the house and went to the second level in the split level. He entered the kitchen that opened up in the family. The new girl was sitting in the recliner scarfing down a couple of granola bars. Literally. She just tore the package and was eating them together at the same time. She followed this almost simultaneously with copious gulps of water.
Julie saw him come in and fixed him with a look. She nodded slightly. He walked back through the kitchen and Julie followed him. “It isn’t good.” She said.
Ethan looked to make sure they couldn’t be heard in the other room. “Has she told you any thing?”
“Nothing yet. She has almost polished off a box of bars though. And I know what you are thinking, she will not know about the shelter.”
Ethan was more relieved than he cared to admit. “Thanks, OPSEC and all.”
Julie smirked, “And you’re the poster child for OPSEC.”
They turned and walked back into the room. Ethan approached the young lady. He guessed her to be early twenties. “Are you okay now? Can you tell me about the group?”
“I don’t know anything about them. I just joined up with them this morning and then we came here. They said we could get supplies here.” The Girl said. “Looks like they were right. She looked longingly at the now empty box.”
This didn’t make Ethan happy. He shared a look with Julie. She was equally displeased. If one person thought they were well prepared, what’s to stop others. Ethan suspected that fat waste of a Mayor.
The girl perked up and started to look apprehensive. “What if the rest come to look for him?”
“What others?”
“The people of the town. It is bad there.”
“It is bad everywhere.” Gina said.
“Not here. You guys are set. You should be sharing.” The girl whined.
“We decide when and with whom we share. Truth be told, we have enough for the folks here and that is it.” Ethan said.
“But….”
Julie cut her off. “Look how about you go in the back and rest a bit.” She nodded at Gina who helped the girl up. They stopped at the bathroom so the girl could use the facilities and get cleaned up a bit. Then she helped her to the back where she could lie down a bit.”
When Gina came back she looked at the rest. “I don’t like it. We don’t know who she is. She knows how many we are. She knows some of what we have. She knows our set up. And we don’t know what is going on around us.”
Ethan sighed. “Chad, you and Tim take a loop around our property, don’t engage anyone. Check on Mr. Landry. He hasn’t left us any gifts in a couple of days. When you get back, I think it is time to take a trip to Purvis to see what is going on. If those girls talked when they got back into town there might be trouble brewing.”
Julie screwed up her face, “We are seeing the end of the world. How much more trouble can there be?”
About 20 minutes later, Chad broke squelch on this hand held one time. Ethan scooped up his radio and broke squelch once in return. Chad followed this breaking long with three short breaks, a pause then two short breaks with a long break, a third pause then a long break with two short breaks. A final pause then short and long breaks alternating to signal the end of the message. Ethan wrote quickly and then looked up at Julie. He had written the word “BUD” on the page. “What is it?” Julie asked.
“That was Mr. Landry’s first name.” Ethan broke squelch with two shorts bracketing a long break. “Received Ok”
“Let’s go. Gina, watch our guest. I don’t like this at all.”
Ethan and Julie left the house through the Carport and took the somewhat easy trek up the hillside to Mr. Landry’s house that was about two football fields away. When he got there, he and Julie got down and he clucked like a turkey hen. Chad stood up and waved them in.
“What you got?”
“That I don’t know. The door was ajar and the first room is tossed. We decided to call.” Chad whispered. Ethan sighed, “Okay. Let’s go in and clear the house. Remember what dad taught us?”
“Yeah, slice the pie.”
“Slice the pie?” Julie mused. “You guys didn’t get out much did you?”
Ethan walked to the front door and Chad quietly explained while Ethan unconsciously demonstrated. He could see a room with a kitchen off to the right and a long hall leading toward the back of the house. He knew there were a set of stairs, because it was a two story house. He hadn’t noticed any of the curtains moving so he really didn’t know if anyone was up there. He waved the other two over. “Julie, come in after us and located the stairs, watch it and keep the front door in view. Don’t go up yet. You” He pointed at Chad. ”clear the Kitchen and the front/back porch. I will take the hall and the rooms in the back. Then we will meet back with Julie and tackle the upstairs. If anything is here, it will most likely be upstairs. Tim, provide overwatch, don’t let us be surprised and trapped in this house.”
Chad entered first and cleared to the right, Ethan was right behind clearing to the left. Chad moved off toward the kitchen while Julie followed Ethan as far as to the landing of the stairs. After clearing the first floor, Ethan was feeling pretty good. The only room messed up was the family room and there was no awful smell. He took the stairs first with Chad in tow. Julie watched the front while the boys worked the second floor. Chad and Ethan worked efficiently and cleared all but the last room on the west side of the house. When they entered the room Chad gasped and Ethan just dropped his hand holding his Glock and stared. They both could not believe what they saw….
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Post by gipsy on Jan 22, 2018 13:20:35 GMT -6
Bad cliff
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Post by headlesshorseman on Jan 22, 2018 14:54:49 GMT -6
Thanks for the MOAR. There is nothing like Cliff entering the room to help keep me wondering.
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Post by texican on Jan 23, 2018 16:21:17 GMT -6
Solo,
Moar would gladly be devoured by the Moar Hounds if you are so inclined....
Texican....
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Post by guntoteninfadel on Jan 25, 2018 3:55:40 GMT -6
OH the cliffs!
Thanks!
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Post by solo on Jan 25, 2018 8:25:57 GMT -6
Chapter 19:
The door opened into a small room that was filled with equipment. At the far end the window was open and back from that window about six feet was a platform of sorts that had a spotting scope and sand bag like supports. It was obvious that this was being used as an observation post that could very quickly become a snipers nest. The platform was set into the room, making it difficult to see from outside. The window was pointed directly at their carport.
Ethan looked along the right side of the wall and there was a fold up picknic table full of radio equipment. Though no sound came out he could see one of the orange dials and the needle was flicking over to the right. “Julie, go let Tim know what is going on and watch our six.”
She turned and left and Ethan then notice a small hand held parabolic microphone. It was attached to a set of Bose headphones. He picked them up and put them on and then pointed the microphone out the window. He hear the birds louder, and the squirrels cracking open pinecones to get at the tasty pine nuts.
“Mr. Landry?” Chad whispered.
Ethan shrugged and kept listening to the sounds that the microphone picked up. “This doesn’t feel right. Someone was keeping a close eye on us.”
Chad climbed behind the spotting scope and sighed somewhat in relief. “You can’t see our secret tunnels. With any luck, they don’t know about the shelter. Look at this.”
Chad handed Ethan a piece of graft paper that had their property marked down accurately and indeed there was no markings indicating that anyone knew their shelter. Still, the paper was very meticulous about their fighting positions the Sheriff and his men had put in and about their fruit tree locations. Lot of things made Ethan feel uneasy. Down the cord from the headphones was a switch with a volume control. He reached down and toggle it and the source switched to a broadcast. Ethan turned and looked at the radios and saw that it matched the flicking needle. Whoever watched could monitor the radios and listen to their conversation as well. He toggle back and forth before leaving it in the eavesdropping mode. He heard a scrape or something right outside the house. Then he switched back to the radio. And heard a broadcast. “Package has been secured. Now we will see how high and mighty they are.”
The blood turned to ice at the back of Ethan’s neck and he shot out of the room flinging the phones behind him. Chad was startled but recovered and followed. When he finally caught up with Ethan, he was in time to hear, “NO!” He moved around Ethan and found Tim laying in a pool of blood outside the front door. Next to Tim was another pool of blood, though somewhat smaller. But there was no Julie. “Whoever these B*$^rds are got her! They are going to pay!”
They heard an engine a little ways down the road start up. Ethan looked at Tim briefly and saw that he was coming around. The blood wasn’t all his so maybe the attackers were hamstrung. Ethan took off running to the house and then to the barn, while Chad started tending to Tim. He then heard a small motor starting followed by a motorcycle roaring past.
Chad helped Tim to his feet and checked him over. There was a lump on his head and guessed he would at the least have a bad headache; at worst, a concussion. “Let’s get you to Gina.”
“Where’s Ethan going?” Tim croaked.
“After Julie.”
“Without backup?”
“Yeah, I feel bad for whoever has her.” Chad tried to keep it light. But he was really worried.
Meanwhile, Ethan had grabbed the closest bike he could. It was a Suzuki dirt bike and while it had its uses, it was loud and he couldn’t carry much on it. He zoomed down the road toward Purvis and came across where something about the size of a Ford F150 or so came out of the woods to his right and entered the road toward Purvis.
It wasn’t much longer, as Ethan followed the trail that he came upon the outer limits of the small hamlet called a city only because of it’s central location in the county making it the county seat. It’s population hovered around 3200 people in the best of times, and Ethan had often wondered it this counted the cows and the chickens too. The road he was on ended on Shelby Speights Drive right next to the First Baptist Church. He turned right and soon reached the railroad crossings.
If the situation weren’t so dire he would have had fond memories of the full service gas station across the street from the church and many mornings trying to get to school with a train blocking the way.
He noticed at the last minute that the dirt on his side of the tracks was disturbed as the truck had obviously turned down the service road. Ethan stopped the bike and dismounted. Leaving it somewhat hidden headed off down the little trail. Just around the bend he saw a black pickup that was stopped and the back right door was open. He cautiously eased up to it and looked in the back. No one was in it, but Ethan could feel the heat coming off of it. Then he heard a grunt and a loud voice yell, “STOP!”
Without thinking Ethan shot into the bushes and burst out the other side into a sort of clearing. He saw two hulks of men holding Julie who was writhing with everything she had, down on the ground, and one standing above her. He was jerking the belt off his pants on working on unbuttoning them. Julie’s shirt had been torn open exposing her breasts and her pants had been ripped open. Ethan reached for his Glock, then realized that he didn’t have it anymore. It must have come loose in the bramble. As the man that was standing up began to lower himself Ethan took a running start and hit him like a middle linebacker hitting a wide receiver on a crossing route. He lit him up, knocking him away from Julie.
Ethan sprang up to face the other two men as they jumped up to deal with this new threat. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that Julie was quite capable of defending herself in one on one situations and swung her foot out catching one of the men on the side of the knee. The resulting crack was satisfying. The last remaining thug held up his hands and tried the pleading route before he had his legs swept. He hit the ground hard and before he knew it, Julie executed two quick moves quickly wrapping her knew around the thug’s neck. She crushed his windpipe before he knew he was done for. Ethan turned to the man he had initially knocked off of Julie and with a vicious kick, dispatched him with a crushed windpipe. He turned in time to get knocked down. He quickly put his guard up but then realized it was Julie had had tackled him. She wrapped him in a bear hug then finally let loose the tears. It took a few minutes to get it all out; she finally leaned up then leaned over and threw up, the adrenaline finally spent. Then she looked back at him with a dirty, tear streaked face.
“Thank you! You came for me!”
“Yes, I could not.” Ethan whispered.
Her face contorted and she stood up, the mental battle going on inside of her, neither side gaining purchase. Then she noticed the one attacker she had disable looking at her. She reached over and grabbed a limb the size of squaw wood and raised it up to dispatch the last attacker.
“Wait. Just for a moment. We need to question him.” Ethan got up and took off his shirt and put it around Julie to cover up the torn parts of her clothing.
About an hour after Ethan had left for her they arrived back at the house. Ethan helped her in, and in the effort noticed that she let him. Gina gasped and ran to Julie. They took her to the back to get cleaned up.
“What happened man? The last thing I remember is waking up on the ground…” Tim asked.
“Three men. No worries for us now. They didn’t know anything about the set up up the hill.” Ethan said in a tire monotone.
“How do you know?” Chad asked.
“They were thugs who saw an opportunity to kidnap and rape a lady. They just happened to be out that way looting.” Ethan said.
“Did they tell you this?”
“Yes. Took some effort, but they don’t have any worries about effort anymore.” Ethan said.
Chad, quiet until now looked back up and said, "What about the radio broadcast you heard? 'We secured the Package.'?"
Ethan sat and was thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe they were lying, but my gut tells me no. These two packages were separate... at the same time."
Gina came out of the washroom, “She wants you.”
Ethan sighed and walked down the hall. Chad watched him go and then looked at Tim. “Whatever happened is going to leave a bit of a mark on both of them.”
Tim just nodded.
“Bad thing is, I have a feeling that this is going to be the least of our problems in the coming days and weeks. We still don’t know who was watching us….” Chad said.
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Post by gipsy on Jan 25, 2018 14:42:49 GMT -6
Cliff has sprung up here too. Might be a pandemic
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Post by pbbrown0 on Jan 26, 2018 12:57:51 GMT -6
One good Cliff deserves another. Thanks, Solo. Great story. Great writing.
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Post by solo on Jan 29, 2018 8:57:53 GMT -6
Chapter 20:
“How did Purvis look?” Tim asked.
Ethan came back from the room in the back. He had taken a shower and was feeling somewhat better. “We only made it as far as the railroad tracks. But it was empty. No one is about.”
Chad walked in and put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “Was it a desolate, no one left empty? Or was it a circle your wagon type of empty?”
“We need to scout about there. Let’s worry about the house next door first and try to find Mr. Landry. Let’s do that tomorrow morning. Until we get a look we will not know.” Ethan said.
“You didn’t see anyone? At all?” The girl that the gang took in asked. Ethan looked at her, realized that he still didn’t know her name. He saw Julie enter behind her. She had a look in her eye.
“We didn’t exactly have much opportunity to tour and take in the sights, Dear!” She said with a steely low voice. The girl visibly flinched. Feeling the tension, she quickly clammed up.
Ethan, noticing this, looked at Chad before speaking. “Yes, it wasn’t tulips. But we do need to figure out what is going on. Are you sure you don’t know anything?”
The girl looked at Chad then Ethan before speaking. “I came in from Columbia. It is deserted because the food ran out and then folks got hungry. Then people started sharing or dying. In some cases both. That is why I left. I don’t know anything about Purvis.”
“And where exactly did you meet those people?” Gina asked.
“The Purvis-Columbia Road. There is a cross road with that road right up there,” She pointed to the side of the house facing the west, “We came down that road to here.” She replied.
“Hold on… Before we go any further. What is your name?” Ethan asked.
The girl looked at him pensively then finally with slumped shoulders, sighed and said, “Sophie Spencer.”
At this there was a slightly sharp intake of breath, followed by a heavy sigh from Tim, then a simple statement. “Mayor Spencer’s your father…..”
“Yes.”
“Wait, now, wait a crappin’ minute! You are that tub of Lard’s daughter? And you are just now telling us that?” Ethan exploded.
“And if you are the mayor or of Purvis’ daughter, why were you coming in from Columbia?” Julie grabbed her.
“My mom and dad are divorced. I haven’t seen mom since the lights went out. I was coming to see him. It was my last option.” She started shaking then the waterworks started.
Julie huffed and shook her head. “Don’t start that crap now! Your FATHER tried to take everything we had and threatened us if we didn’t fork it over.”
“I don’t get it.” Chad said. “You look nothing like him.”
“Please, I didn’t want to see him now. My mother divorced him to get me away from him! Okay?!” Sophie let it rip. “That man is a monster! You have no idea who he is and how connected he is. It probably would have gone better for you to just hand everything over!” She took a deep breath then in a lower voice. “No it wouldn’t have. He would have squeezed you dry then make you work for him to get it back. Slavery.”
“No Ma’am, Honey! We are free and we aim to stay that way.” Ethan stood up and walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. “Here. Take this. As long as you are a guest in our house, you will be treated as a guest. As a guest you WILL respect our house rules and will earn your keep.”
With some hope, Sophie looked up. “You mean I can stay?”
Julie shot her head around at the question, “You mean she can stay?”
Ethan looked at both of them and said. “For now. You are a guest. Not a resident. And tomorrow morning, though you left out the fact that you know Purvis quite well as your dad has been the mayor, you will be going with us. And we will be watching you.”
“Hey, I know Purvis too.” Tim said.
“Yes you do. And you are the only one among us that can treat a bullet hole, mend a fracture or bowel resection. I don’t aim to see that change.” Ethan intoned. “Gina, I’d like you to stay and keep an eye on things with Tim. Julie you too. Chad, Sophie and I…..”
Julie interrupted, “No way hotshot! I am going too.”
“You need a day or two, Hon.” Gina said.
“The heck I do. I have decided what I needed to do from the get go. This won’t change now! And just what are you grinning at?”
Ethan smiled, “The old Julie.”
For just a moment the old façade cracked and a small smile found her lips. But then just as quickly, it passed. “So it is settled?”
“Yes. You will go. Gina, would you take Sophie out to the barn and get her set up for our trip? We need her in subdued colors and with a backpack to carry some supplies in. They are in the third hay bay when you walk in.” The two ladies began to walk out. “Just a minute, Gina. She will catch up with you.” Ethan caught Gina. “Under no circumstances are you to show her the Shelter! Okay?”
“Got it.”
When they had left, Ethan asked the rest of the group. “So what about the perch? And Mr. Landry.”
Chad smiled. I put one of our teddy bear cameras in the room. We are monitoring it from downstairs. We just have to make sure we are careful about getting to the command room.”
“So we will be watching the watchers?” Julie asked.
“Exactly. And maybe we can get info on Mr. Landry too.” Chad said.
Chapter 21:
“You’ve changed.” Julie simply said. Ethan and Julie had come down to the command room to continue planning their adventure for in the morning. They came in under the guise of doing a patrol around the perimeter and coming in from one of the side tunnels.
“Have I?” Ethan smiled. He slowly cycled through the cameras; leaning back in his chair with his feet on the consol. Julie was seated next to him. She smiled at him; Ethan was not sure if it was the question or the fact that he had his feet up that amused her. As was his bent, he simply waited to see what came next.
“Did you really mean all that mush?” Julie was looking, peering for any deception.
Ethan was quiet for a while. Then simply said, “Yes.”
They both sat still for a while. Then Ethan added, “I will show you. I am not going to just tell you.”
Julie leaned over and put her head on his shoulder lightly. “You already have.”
“I am sorry to put you though things like I did. I was young and dumb.” Ethan mumbled.
Julie pulled her head back as if realizing what she just did. And then changed the subject, “Do you think anyone else will come here?”
“Do you mean family?” Ethan asked.
“Yes. And friends.”
“Friends, I don’t know. This was pretty much been out of the wheelhouse of anyone I knew before I left. The only family I have is my cousin. He actually owns the deed to this property, but I haven’t heard from him in many moons.” Ethan began.
Julie asked, “Is he still in the Navy?”
“Yeah, last I heard he was doing very well. He was a diver or something like that. Only really saw him around family reunions growing up. He seemed very solid though. Quiet, kept to himself, but friendly.” Ethan paused and looked around. “Looking at what he has done here, it looks like he had the same preparedness bent.” He stopped on one camera view and leaned in slightly. He smiled at the Doe trailing her yearling that just came into view. It kept looking over it’s shoulder, up in the same direction that Gina and Sophie were working in the pole barn.
“How about you?” He broke the silence.
“There isn’t anyone. My folks died a few years back and Jerry’s…” She stopped. It just came out of her. “That seems so long ago. Jerry’s parents never bothered to get along with us. They felt I was just using Jerry as a get along because of you.” She pointedly stared at him. “And because we had no children. They blamed that on me too and I guess in a way it was on me. I didn’t want children. Don’t get me wrong, in my own way, I loved Jerry. He gave me a good life, provided for me. I just didn’t want to go that route. So besides that, no one.”
“Well we saw Martin at the Tractor Supply Co. before I came to your house. He was protective of you, didn’t want me to come see you. But I couldn’t stay away.”
“Well guys, how’s it going down here?” Tim joined them by sneaking away. “I wish I was going tomorrow.”
“Is there anyone you would like us to check on while we are there.” Julie asked.
“I wonder about my brother and his wife. He seemed to have taken a bad turn after mom passed away.” Tim said.
“Give me his address.” Ethan slid a Post-it note stack across the desk to him.
Tim began shaking his head. “You can’t go there. They were living in my mother’s house over behind the school.”
“So, it is no problem.” Ethan
Tim looked at him funny and just shook his head, “You’re serious aren’t you.”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Come on, you know that house is in the Quarter.” Tim said.
“Really, there is still such a thing all this time later? You don’t live there.” Ethan said.
Tim smiled and said, “Yes, but after all those years of segregation and such, the older folks did not want to desegregate and your people weren’t all that open and receptive to the idea either.”
“We then I guess we people just didn’t get it then. What is to keep me from going to check on this house in a neighborhood?”
“Because the hood may not be so welcoming. That is why I would like to come with you.”
“Tim, your skill makes you very valuable to us. I would prefer not to risk it if possible.” Ethan said. “I will still check on your brother.”
“I don’t like it. Or you going there, but I would appreciate it. Just come in through the school side.”
With that, Tim left and was joined by Chad. And they planned the rest of the evening. And then each turned in early as they planned to begin looking around way before light…
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Post by solo on Feb 1, 2018 13:34:00 GMT -6
Chapter 22 7 July 2017
At 2 AM the next morning, Chad, Ethan, Sophie and Julie began their trek to Purvis. They decided that they would stay off the road as much as possible because there may be folks watching it, or camping nearby. They also slipped out the bedroom windows on the west side of the house trying to keep any unwanted observations, from Mr. Landrum's house to a minimum. Ethan would have loved to use the tunnels, but, they indeed had Sophie with them.
For a July morning, it was surprisingly on the chilly side weather wise. But then again, anything less than the sweltering heat of a South Mississippi summer day would be chilly. The moonless clear night and the absence of light pollution greatly enhanced the starlight that shown through.
They were all dressed in subdued clothing in earth tones. Chad, Ethan and Julie each carried AR-15s with four extra magazines, Glock 17 or 19s as their hand backups and in their black backpacks, they carried two canteens of water, two MREs and a poncho and liner in case they had to bivouac somewhere overnight. Julie carried the med pack while Chad carried the water purifier, extra cordage, a few surprises of the flash-bang variety should they need to disappear in a hurry.
Ethan and Chad also each carried a hand held spotter’s scope so they could recon before entering any area. They decided against night vision for this trip and the bright starry night helped them make their way.
The “City” of Purvis is really small. The town is roughly laid out in an “H” pattern north-south with a main road called Shelby Speight road running down the middle. The railroad splits the town in the middle of the “H” closer to the West leg of the H. On the Western side of the tracks the Main Street heads off to the north past the Courthouse. This is where the town originated and then grew eastward across the tracks. There was a couple of neighborhoods on both insides of the H and on the eastern side of Hwy 11, which was the right side of the H. Mitchell Avenue parallel Shelby Speights Drive and was where the Elementary School was. School Street provided the eastern boundry to the school and led to the middle and high schools.
Ethan planned to visit the Courthouse first. The sheriff’s office and Jail is right behind it. So they crossed over the road in front of their house and cut through the wooded area from the Purvis-Baxterville Road to the Purvis-Columbia road, coming out near a small subdivision where the Purvis-Columbia road turned into Mulberry Street inside the city limits. Going through this subdivision at night was very subdued. It was a wooded area with about 20 houses but that night it was a burned out mess. Nothing but charred slabs where the houses used to stand and the trees were all cooked as well. Ethan figured it must have been the heat from the natural gas feeds that would char living trees so bad.
It was a short trek to the north side of the Courthouse and they were there by 3:30am. Only thing was, the building was severely damaged and could not support anyone in its condition. Unnerving to Ethan and the group was that there was no sign of life anywhere. They sat and watched the place and the surrounding area until a little after 4:00am.
When the sky started to lighten a little with the early July false dawn, the four huddled together and Ethan whispered to Sophie, “Where would they go if they couldn’t work here?”
Sophie considered, “Probably City Hall, with the police chief. That would be my guess.”
“Yes, that is what I was thinking.” Ethan fell silent and looked at Sophie as she looked out. She was very young and though he didn’t trust her, he felt like she wasn’t deceiving him now. And now that he thought on it, she has done nothing but be supportive and helpful. So maybe her story was true.
“City Hall was over by the bank, right?” He asked and Sophie quickly replied, “Yes.”
“When I was here, there wasn’t much to it and it was in the same building as the police station?”
“Yes.” Was all she said.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Instead of going to the City Hall, Ethan led the group across the road and they got on the train tracks and walked to the south till they get to the south of Shelby Speights drive. They continue as a slow but deliberate pace until they reach Center Street. From there, they wend their way through the neighborhoods until they are at a little house on Simon Steet. Chad looked at Ethan and raised an eyebrow.
The neighborhoods they had just come through was still intact, and if there were anyone at home, they were probably still asleep. Now at a little before 5:00am, they sat and watched the house for a few moments before Ethan stepped up to the front porch and reached to tap lightly.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” A voice from the deep darkness of the porch, low and growly, punctuated the tension.
“You’re brother, Tim sent me to check on you.”
“Pfft!” The voice stated.
“Seriously, He is staying with us at the Logan place outside of Purvis. He told me to tell you that Theresa May doesn’t have much to say.” Even Ethan felt silly saying it.
The voice was quiet. Then, “But does she say which way?”
“Only when it’s time to play.”
“Tell your friends to get up here quickly.” The voice soon had a body as it rose from the corner and went to the front door. Ethan motioned for the rest to join him.
When they got inside, the door was closed and lamp on the small table in the middle of a modest kitchen was lit. Ethan noticed all the blacked out curtains.
“You seem to be doing well. My name’s Ethan.” Ethan held out his hand.
“I know who you are. I am a Brewers’ Fan and you are a hometown hero, though you didn’t graduate from here. Tim spoke highly of you.” The boy paused. “I am doing better than most. When you are poor, you don’t really notice when life brings everyone back down to your level.” He said this without malice but with the gravity of truth.
“Yes, when you live honestly and diligently and focus on self-sufficiency, then something like this is no different than any other day.” Ethan surmised. Ethan then introduced everyone. “Name’s Brian,” He said.
Ethan then asked. “How is your family?”
As soon as he asked, the door leading off the Kitchen opened slightly and a voice whispered, “I hear voices outside.”
Brian quickly got up and snuffed out the light. It was still in the predawn stage so the house was really dark inside. He went to the front window and peeked out. He then moved to the side of the room and looked out that window. Still not seeing anything, he went back to the bedroom to see if he could hear anything. As soon as he reached the window the house shook as if it was hit with something extremely heavy. He ran out of the bedroom as the first shot rang out from beyond the front door. “This way! Now!” He hissed at Ethan and the others and then turned to run as the shooting intensified. Then the first explosion sent the house to shaking….
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