by David Wilson
Don approached sheepishly, “Sorry about that, I was so excited that Mat had gotten here that I didn’t think about how it would look to you when the boys came in.” “No problem this time, but in the future always let me know what is going on,” I said rather more harshly than I meant to, so I added in a softer tone, “Really just communicate next time, every stranger outside is potentially an enemy who will not hesitate to kill you or Mat, or any of his friends.” “Got it,” said Don, “this is my grandson, Mat, Mat this is Talon.” Good to meet you, Sir,” said the young man and offered his hand. I shook his hand as I met his eyes. He didn’t attempt to overpower me or play any games; just a good firm handshake and he met and held my gaze. I thought at the time, he would do. I can work with this kid.
After our introductions, Don began peppering Mat with questions about his trip up from the University of Maryland. I stopped him and said, “Hang on lets get with the whole group and get organized a little before we debrief Mat. It’s going to take us a little longer to get out of here with all of these guys, so we need to get organized pretty fast.” We all walked over to the group and Mat introduced everyone. There were a total of six of the boys counting Mat. All of them were sophomores and juniors and all were members of the Maryland Lacrosse team. After Mat introduced everyone I stepped forward, “Guys, I’m glad everyone made it up here ok, but we don’t have much time to sit around and talk about what has happened, but I will try and answer all your question but right this minute we don’t have the time. What I do need to know right now is which of you have any firearms training. I’m not talking about whether you have fired a gun before, but who has actually experience in handling a gun?” Two of the boys raised their hands along with Mat. I pointed at the first boy, who Mat had introduced as Ben. Ben was about 5’9” and had a solid build. He said, “I have been hunting with my father since I was 10 years old. I killed my first deer when I was twelve and every year we go turkey and duck hunting.” “Ok Ben, I want you to take Don’s radio, grab one of the shotguns over at the counter along with one of the loaded bandoliers and go watch the front of the store. Find a place where you can see everything but that allows you to not be seen by anyone messing around outside. Do not shoot unless someone is breaking into the store. Do you understand?” I instructed. He nodded and moved over to Don to take his radio. As he walked away I called after him, “Ben, all of those shotguns are loaded and have one in the chamber.” Ben turned towards me and waved, acknowledging what I had said.
I pointed to the second boy who had dark hair and was about 6 feet tall. He stood when I pointed at him. The first thing I noticed about this boy was his green eyes and the very serious expression on his face. “Sir, I’m Jeff from Tennessee. I grew up hunting rabbits, squirrels, and deer. Mostly with a rifle but I know my way around a shotgun also.” I nodded, “Go grab one of the shotguns, they are all loaded with one in the chamber, and a bandolier. Get a camp chair and go sit by the back hall door so you can see the loading dock area. We will get you a radio but for now just give us a yell if you see or hear anything.” Jeff nodded and head back to the counter area. Turning to the rest of the group, I said, “The rest of you get something to eat and make sure you fix enough for Ben and Jeff. When you it fixed let me know and I will take it to them. Stay in this area and don’t roam around.”
Motioning to Don and Mat, I headed over to the hand held radio’s area. After Don and Mat caught up with me, I handed them each a couple of packages of the same kind of radios that Don and I had picked earlier. “Guys pull those out and get batteries into them and I will go get the headsets put together. Mat can fill us in on his trip while we are doing this,” I said as I began cutting open the plastic packing from the radio headsets. Mat turned towards his grandfather and said, “Grandpa its crazy out there, I didn’t think we were going to make it. People are losing their minds. A couple of us were at our dorm when the lights went out so we decided to head over to Ben’s apartment, which is on the end of the campus. Most people had gone home over the long weekend and were not back yet. All of the other guys from the lacrosse team that had not gone home for the long weekend were hanging out at Ben’s apartment. His girlfriend had flown home for the weekend. We were all getting ready to leave, as Ben had to leave to the airport to pick up his girlfriend. Her plane was the last flight of the night and was scheduled to land at BWI at 1245 AM. The power went out at 1230 AM, about 10 or 15 seconds after the lights went out the transformer on the pole down the street exploded. It scared the crap out of us. We had no idea what was going on. None of our phones were working, they all just went blank. The explosion from the transformer started a fire and before we knew it we were stranded because our cars would not start and we didn’t want to go back inside because no police or fire trucks showed up. We tried to help out with garden hoses but there was almost no water pressure, after the second house caught on fire one of the older guys sent us to go house to house to get people out.” His words came out with a rush and flood of emotion and as he talked he became more and more upset. I held up my hand, “It’s ok, you guys did everything you could. On top of that you were able to get yourself and your friends out of there and safely here, so just take a deep breath.”
I handed Mat a bottle of water and he took a couple of long pulls from it. Mat continued, “The first house I went to I could hear someone screaming for help before I could even knock on the door and I found an old lady kneeling down next to her husband yelling for help and repeating his name over and over. Before I could even check for breathing I knew he was dead, she told me later that they had been sitting and watching TV when the lights went out. She said she ask him to get up and get a flashlight but he didn’t answer, so thinking he was asleep she got up and got a flashlight from the bedroom but it wouldn’t work, so she went into the kitchen and got a candle. When she came back she saw him still sitting in his chair and there was blood coming out of his mouth. She figured he was having a heart attack and got him down on the floor and tried CPR. She said every time she pushed down on his chest that blood would come out of his mouth. I finally got her somewhat calmed down and she explained that her husband had just gotten a pace maker earlier this year. I got a blanket off of the sofa to cover him and got her to come outside. About ten minutes later her house caught on fire and burned completely down,” explained Mat. He took a deep breath and continued, “One of the men explained that he thought we must had been hit with an EMP and told us the lights were not coming back on and we should try and get home if we could. As I’m the only one with family in the area near the university I told the group they should come with me. Also Ben wants to go to BWI to get his girlfriend.”
I glanced at Don, then back to Mat and ask, “So what time was her plane scheduled to land?” “Around 12:30, I think he said, maybe 12:45, something like that,” Mat replied. “Mat,” I ask, “do you or any of your guys understand what an EMP is?” “Yes, we all understand basically what it is, why?” Mat ask. “Because this EMP was strong enough to knock every jet airliner out of the sky. I witnessed several crash within just a couple of minutes after the EMP went off. If Ben’s girlfriends airplane was flying at the time of the attack than it more than likely her airplane didn’t make it.” Mat’s eyes got big and said, “We wondered what those large explosions were, we saw several huge fireballs on the horizon, but could not see any lights or hear any noise, just those huge fireballs, we must have seen a dozen or more with the first few minutes after the power went out, but didn’t know what they were.” I nodded, “Think about it, those airliners would have been cruising at around 45 or 50,000 feet when everything went dead. Everything is controlled with computers so at that point they just become a big hunk of metal and fell out of the sky. The chance of Ben’s girlfriend’s airplane making it in an hour early is remote. Not to sound cold but how long has Ben known this girl?” “They have been dating for over three years and just got an apartment together this summer they were planning on getting married when they graduate
d next year,” said Mat. I winced, “Well there is no use trying to talk him out of at least going to the airport and finding his girl. I know if it was my wife or one of my kids I would move heaven or earth to find them and nothing or no one would stop me.”
I turned to Don, “So what’s the plan?” Don turned to Mat, “So are these guys coming with us to the cabin?” Mat shrugged, “Grandpa I don’t know, we didn’t have much of a chance to talk on the way up here.” I broke into the conversation, “Mat take this radio over to Jeff. Its already set on the correct frequency and turned on. Tell him to stay off the radio unless he has something to report. You also take one. Keep it on and with you all of the time. Then get something to eat. Make sure Jeff and Ben get something to eat also. Then we need to get everyone some basic gear put together. Don, I need you to get them started with a pack, sleeping bag, good boots, socks, stuff that will be warm for the coming winter. Make sure they all have water filters, a hundred oz Camel Bak, a couple stainless steel canteens and a Life Straw bottle. Issue each of them 50 buckshot and 50 slugs of 12 gauge. Add a few boxes of .223 and .308 to each, they are young and can handle the weight. Give every other one a camp stove and the others a cook pot. Make sure each has a fire starter, matches, and at least one lighter, more if you can find them. I will be over there to help in just a few minutes. We need to gather all the Mountain House we can carry. Try and get the same gear for each. Any questions?”
Mat said, “These guys are worn out, shouldn’t we let them get some rest first?” I turned and looked him in the eyes, “Mat, we need to get ready to move before the people start getting here to loot this place. We have to at least get the basics packed up first, we might have to leave here in a hurry or we are going to have to kill a lot of people to keep what we have and I don’t want to have to do that. I know they are tried but its better to be tried than to starve or freeze to death this winter. Lets get everyone moving so we can get these guys bedded down as soon as possible.”
As Don and Mat moved off to begin laying out the gear, I walked over to the group of boys sitting around the camp stove Don had set up. They all turned to me as I walked up. “Good morning,” I said, “My name is Talon. I believe all of you are aware of what has happened to our country. I know you’re all tried but before you can get some rest we have a few things we need to do before you can get some rest. If we all work together we can get everything ready in about an hour and then you can get some rest. Right now isn’t the time for a bunch of questions but I do want you to know what is going on. The reason we need to get packed up is that we might have to abandon this store at anytime. If Don or myself tells you to do something, don’t ask why just do it. We will explain if there is time but things are going to get bad around here and worse as we begin traveling. Sometimes we will not have time to explain everything and life is going to get real interesting from here on out.” The three young men looked up at me with a slightly stunned look. The young man on the right with blond hair asks, “I thought we were going to stay here until the power comes back on?” “No,” I said, “the power is not going to come back on anytime soon, as in years. As soon as people realize that the power is not coming back on and no help is coming from the government than they are all going to head to places that have food and supplies, like here. A few days from now this store won’t even be here. What the looters don’t carry off someone will start a fire and this whole mall will burn to the ground. We do NOT want to be here when that happens.” “So where are we going? I need to get home to Michigan to check on my parents,” said one of the other two boys. All three looked at each other and each of them was nodding in agreement, than they all turned back to me. “I understand that each of you including Ben and Jeff have people you want to get to and you will, but first we have to get supplied and get out of the city. Any large city is going to be a war zone within the next 48 hours. Don and Mat have a cabin in the Blue Ridge. We will make for that and then you can head on from there to your final destination. But we need to stick together until then; there is strength in numbers. But no one is going to force you to do anything. If you want to stay here let me know now so we don’t waste our time. But if you are going with us I need for you to get up off your asses and go find four pairs of heavy boot socks, I would recommend Darn Tough socks, and then put on one pair of the boot socks and find you a good pair of winter hiking boots that fit. Do this as quickly as possible. Here is a radio and headset for each of you. To talk push this button on the side and hold it in while you talk. Release it when you are finished talking. Do NOT talk on the radio unless there is a problem or emergency. Always have your radio on and with you. If I call and tell you to drop whatever you’re doing and get back here, do it without questioning me. Now go and get your socks and boots and get back here as quickly as you can,” I said as I turned away and headed over towards Don and Mat.
Coming up on Don and Mat, I saw they had a good start on laying out the six packs and gear. I bent down and began stuffing sleeping bags into each of the packs. I glanced at Don, “Is your stuff all ready to go?” I ask. Don nodded, “I finished it up while you took a nap and its back there by yours. I do have a question, why the .308 ammo?” “I want to issue Ben and Jeff .308’s. I figure to give Ben that S&W AR-10 .308 and Jeff one of those new DPMS in .308. In fact while you guys finish with the gear, I’ll go over and get both of those set up for them. I want both of them to have both a day scope and a night scope. Mat what do you feel comfortable with?” I ask. “I would prefer as AR like yours but whatever you think is best,” said Mat. I nodded and headed off towards the gun counter.
I stopped by and grabbed an armload of shotgun bandoliers. Walking over to the gun counter I looked over the selection of shotguns Don had laid out and loaded. I separated out the Mossberg 500’s and 590’s and a couple of Remington 870 tactical models. Laying a couple of bandoliers by each I then turned to go over to the riflescopes counter. Looking over the selections I picked out two Night force 5-25x56 for the .308 rifles. Carrying the scopes back over to the rifle counter I pulled down the rifles I had selected. As the tools were on the counter I went ahead and mounted the scopes. After getting them mounted I did a quick and rough sighting in with a bore sight. It would not be perfect but would do for now. Returning to the gun counter I looked over the inventory of pistols. I always knew what pistols I would pick out but I was hoping to see something that would inspire me to choose something else for them. You might not realize but I really do prefer 1911's in .45 caliber, but it takes muscle memory to safely operate one of these. After dwelling over the options, I knew that I needed to just get this done and move on. There was enough Sig Sauer's to equip each of the boys, but again, the Sig's needed training and we didn't have the time to do that. Sighing I moved down the counter to the Glock section. Sure enough, as I already knew, there were more than enough Glock 17's for all of them. Sliding open the case I began to remove six of the Glocks. After getting these placed on top of the counter, I ran over to the magazine row and pulled down all of the damn Maryland compliant 10 round Glock magazines they had. Dumping these into a shopping basket I took the magazines over to where the boys were sitting. Dropping the basket off, I said, "Come with me for just a couple seconds, each of you grab one of those shopping baskets." Giving me a puzzled look each of the boys got up and followed me over to one of the ammo shelves. I quickly located the rounds I wanted and begin piling 124-grain jacketed hollow points Federal Premium Law Enforcement rounds into the baskets they were carrying. "Take these back over and begin loading up all the magazines. Each of the magazines should hold 10 rounds. Once you have all the magazines full, give me a call." More than slightly disgusted with only finding 10 round magazines for both the pistols and rifles; this was Maryland or used to be. At least there were enough drop-leg holsters for each of them.
About that time Don and Mat walked over to me. Don took one look at the AR I handed to Mat and held up his hand to stop me from launching into my carefully prepared rant about Mar
yland’s bullshit laws about hi-capacity magazines. He turned and walked into the back. Mat and I exchanged looks and Mat shrugged his shoulders and said, “There is no telling with him.” He was still looking over the rifle I had handed to him, handling it carefully and making sure the muzzle was pointed away from me, he cleared the rifle to make sure it was empty before putting it to his should and looking though the ACOG I had mounted on it. I nodded my approval as he laid the rifle back on the counter and began to examine the Glock 17 I had laid by the rifle. Don came out of the back carrying a tactical vest loaded down with six 30 round P-Mags. “Oh, you are so going to jail for that old man,” I said as I grinned at him. Don grinned back and said to Mat, “Happy Birthday son, I was planning on giving this to you at the cabin, where by the way Mister Smart Ass they are legal.” I grunted and said, “Save it for your lawyer, but I’m glad you did. Mat, get over to the ammo and load all of those magazines with 28 rounds. Use at least 65 grain .223 if you can find them. Do not use any of that Russian crap.” I motioned to the Glock 17, “Are you comfortable with that?” “I’ve fired Grandpa’s Glock 17 quite a bit so I feel pretty confident with it.” “Good, how about any of the others?” I ask. Mat replied, “Ben and Jeff both shoot, I really don’t know about the others, I know most of them have shot sporting clays as we have done that as a team. But as far as a pistol I just don’t know.” “Ok, fair enough, I want you to unload these six shotguns,” motioning to the six shotguns laying on the counter, “Take the bandoliers over to the other three and have them load them up with half buckshot and half slugs. Make sure everyone has at least one box of #4’s in his pack. How are we doing on room in the packs?” “Grandpa and I switched out a couple of the guys to the 5599 Ascent packs as they are big guys, but almost all of us are sitting around 45-50 pounds.” Mat replied.
