by David Wilson
The next thing I knew I was startled awake by a small pine cove hitting the netting of my hammock. Looking around I saw a small red light about 5 feet away pointing into my face. “I’m awake,” I said. Jeff’s voice came out of the dark as the light disappeared. “I didn’t know how to wake you and figured it was best to toss something at you first,” Jeff said. “No problem,” I replied, “Rest assured that if I ever shoot you it won’t be by accident.” Jeff laughed and in a low voice, “Ben and I were talking, if you could, can you work with us on some of our shooting skills. Both Ben and I have hunted for years, but neither of us knew what to do today and we would like to know how to handle situations like yesterday if it happens again.” “Jeff, we can all work on how we need to react to different situations. It is really not about the actual shooting we need to work on, it is how to react to a given situation without having to think about it. Yesterday those idiots wanted to talk when in fact it was time for action, not talk. There might be situations where we might have to buy time with talking but most of the time if the situation calls for action, than execute the action with brutal force and speed. Yes, being able to hit your target when you do shoot is important but training yourself to react to where it is muscle memory takes time. But we can work on it.” I said. Sitting up I unzipped my netting and swung my legs out of the hammock. Reaching down I grabbed my boots and shook both of them out. Always best to make sure no creepy crawlers took up resident in your boots. Pulling them on, I laced up my boots and stuck my Glock back into its leg rig and slid my jacket back on. Shrugging into my ammo vest I was ready for a new day. Slinging on my M4, I headed down towards the water to get and clean the catfish. Looking back at Jeff I said, “Go ahead and built a fire in the same place we used the stove last night, I will need a good bank of coals to cook the catfish we caught last night.” Jeff nodded and headed out to start the fire.
Stopping by the slit trench, I quickly relieved myself and kicked some dirt into the trench. Morning routine done, I headed down to the water and began removing the YoYo fishing reel from the tree. Stowing the reel in a pocket after cleaning off the hook, I found the catfish was still alive and kicking where I had left him. Carrying the fish over to a fairly large downed tree I brushed off the tree truck and laid the fish on the log. Not really trying to be quiet, I noticed Mat sticking his head out of his sleeping bag in the early morning light. I called, “Morning sunshine, time to get your happy ass out of bed and get moving. Once you're up, get up and help Jeff with the fire and get some water on the stove for coffee. I’ll have this fish ready in a couple minutes to throw on the fire. Oh, and wake up sleeping beauty over there while you're at it.” I could hear him grumbling that it was too cold and he needed just five more minutes of sleep. “Get your ass out of that sleeping bag or I’m going to drag you down to the water and roll you in,” I said, “Now get your big boy panties on and get up.” I could hear him talking to Jeff but could not make out what they were talking about. I made a mental note to break out my Walker Hunters ear plugs before we got on the road today. Even wearing just one it really increased a persons ability to hear things way before you normally could. I did hear Jeff call out to Mat asking him if he wanted a cup of coffee. Mat replied with, “Hell yes, thanks.” Glancing back over my shoulder I saw Jeff appear near Mat’s sleeping bag and Mat holding out his cup to Jeff. Jeff took the cup and disappeared back into the trees, appearing a few seconds later with Mat’s cup, but he stopped short of Mat’s sleeping bag by about 15 feet and set the cup on a rock. Mat called out, “Hey man, hand me my cup!” Jeff just laughed and told him to get up and get it himself. Mat climbed out of his bag slowly and pulled on his boots. Standing he shivered as he only had on a t-shirt and running shorts. Walking quickly over to his cup, he began cussing Ben when he picked it up. “You asshole,” he yelled, as I could hear both Ben and Jeff laughing now. Ben yelled back, “Get your butt dressed and help me gather some firewood and we can make some coffee.”
Laughing quietly to myself I turned back to cleaning the catfish. After scoring the fish around the head, tail and backbone I pulled the outer skin off with my Gerber tool. Removing the head and fins, than gutting the fish I moved back down to the waters edge to clean up my tools and to wash off the fish. I got Beth’s attention and ask her to get out my stuff sack marked cooking supplies from my ruck. Once she had, I had her get one of the tin foil cooking bag out, as I was rinsing off the fish with clean water from my canteen. After she had the bag open I dropped the fish into it and washed my hands off. I have always hated having fish slime on my hands. Drying off my hands I took the tin foil bag with the fish and added salt and pepper to the bag. I next took out a small bottle of cooking oil and squeezed a small amount into the bag. Rolling the top of the bag down, I put away all the cooking supplies and walked up the small hill to the camp fire. The fire was going good by this time and the guys also had the Solo stove going heating up water for coffee.
Moving over to the fire, I picked up a stick and gently moved the fire over a few inches leaving some of the glowing coals on the uncovered part. I laid the tin foil bag down on the coals and than pulled the fire back over the top of the bag. “That should be ready in about 15 or 20 minutes,” I declared to the group. Walking over to my ruck I pulled my cup out and a zip lock bag of Starbucks instant individual coffee packets. Going back to the group I opened the bag and pulled one out and passed the bag around the group. Dumping the instant coffee into my cup I poured it about 2/3 full with the hot water from the Solo stove. “You guys eat up, fix one pouch of breakfast food for each of you. While you're at it, please fix me one too, I’m going to take a walk back up to the road for a few minutes and see if there is anyone traveling this early. Everyone stay here and try and keep the noise down. And Mat, please wake up Don if he is not already awake. After you eat go ahead and pack everything up."
Chapter Ten
Taking my coffee I moved slowly back towards the highway. The sun was up enough now that I didn’t need the night vision and stopped by a large tree and removed the device. Swapping the night vision for my ACOG, I stored it in its pouch and dropped it into the pocket of my chest rig. I stood quietly by the large tree and listened for several minutes. I could hear a slight noise coming from camp and a laugh broke the morning silence a couple of times. Not hearing or seeing anything, I moved until I could see the highway. From this vantage point I could see all of the bridge and the road leading south until it crested out of sight. There were several dead cars scattered along the highway, but nothing moved. I leaned against a tree for about 5 minutes watching and listening before turning back to the campsite.
Walking back to the group by the fire, my presence stopped whatever conversation they all were having. Don was seated with his back to a tree and he nodded in my direction as I walked up. Mat handed me a bag of biscuits and gravy. “Thanks,” I said, these just happen to be another of my favorite Mountain House meals. Everyone was looking at me so I started laying out the plans for the day. “Before we leave here today I want everyone to test fire their weapons, both rifle and pistol, and to make sure the scope we have on them are at least sighted in. They should all be close as we did bore sight the long guns,” I began, “We will need to be quick about it and have everything packed and ready to go. No telling who will come looking to see what the hell is going on. I was somewhat surprised no one came to look after the shooting last night. We need to cover some ground today; I would really like to be west of the major built up areas today. Things are going to get really bad, really fast once everyone realizes no one is coming to help. After you finish eating and get cleaned up, get everything packed and ready to go. Any questions?”
Don came over with his coffee and sat down next to me while I dug into the biscuits and gravy, I ask him how his head was doing. “I’m ok, head still hurts a little but mostly just to the touch, but I’m ok.” I nodded, “If it gets worse today, or you start having double vision, please let me know immediately. You could have a s
light concussion and we can deal with that, but if you push it and wreck your bike and get another hard hit it could be trouble. So just let me know and we will take a break. Did you get any sleep last night?” I ask. “Not bad, head was throbbing for a while but the stuff you gave me helped and I was able to sleep most of the night,” Don replied. Patting the older man on the shoulder, I stood and walked over to the trash hole someone had dug. Tossing in my bag I turned and headed over to my hammock. I deflated my pillow and stowed away that and my poncho liner. Quickly I unhooked one end of my hammock and stuffed it into the double ended stuff sack, closed that end and finished stuffing the rest of the hammock into the other end. The entire process took less than a minute. Finishing I turned back to the fire and saw everyone had been watching me. I heard someone mummer, that’s not fair, and I laughed. “Hey, I can’t help it if you guys were not prepared. You all have hammocks with you and tonight I will make sure we stop early enough that you have time to set yours up. I know they are not like mine but they are better than the ground.”
Going over to my ruck, I pulled off my chest rig and shoulder harness, I than striped off my fleece and put it away in my ruck. Putting my chest rig back on I next dug around and found a box of 9mm jacketed hollow points and replaced the rounds I had used last night from the magazine in my back pocket. Putting away the box of rounds, I dug out my toothbrush and toothpaste. Making quick work of my dental needs I packed away the brush and toothpaste. My morning routine complete, I tightened down the straps on my ruck and made sure it was secure in my trailer. Seeing Mat over by his bike I ask him to pull out the pack of Shoot-n-See targets I had made him pack. After he found them and passed them to me, I walked off 25 yards and attached two of the targets to a large oak tree, repeating this on two other oaks nearby.
Returning to the fire, I pulled the foil pack from the coals and opened the pouch. Checking to make sure the fish was fully cooked I got everyone to gather round and turned the pouch over to them. Don had already had his fill from the Mountain House meal so he declined the fish and left the four teenagers to deal with the fish. It didn’t take the four long to polish off the catfish, Jeff was still picking small bits out of the pouch when I took the pouch from him and tossed it into the trash pit. Jeff frowned at this but I said, “You will live, get cleaned up and get ready to go.” He smiled and headed down towards the water. I called after him, “Maybe tonight you will set out more than one YoYo reel.” Walking away as Jeff was swearing he would set more reels the next time, I grabbed the shovel and filled in the trash hole. Carrying the shovel back over to my bike trailer I secured it and grabbed the canvas bucket that was in the trailer. Walking down to the water I scooped up a bucket and walked back to the fire. Stopping on the uphill side of the fire I poured the water onto the fire. Catching Ben’s eye I motioned to him to take the bucket and get another bucket of water.
After the fire was out and all of the equipment secured, I had everyone get their bikes lined up in the formation we would be traveling in today. Gathering everyone together I went over what we were going to do, “Ok everyone, now that we are finished up and ready to go, we are going to test fire our weapons and make sure they are sighted in. I want to be out of here in no more than 30 minutes. I do not want to have to explain to anyone why there are two dead bodies over there. We are going to do this by the numbers. Ben and Jeff, go ahead and push your bikes up to the edge of the trees and watch out for anyone traveling on the road, if you see anyone radio me. Once you get up there, let me know if it is clear. Just radio, Clear or if you see anyone just say Stop and the number of people you see. Got it?” Both of them nodded and grabbed their bikes and began pushing them back up towards the road.
“Alright, Don and I will go first than Mat and Beth. Beth you can fire my M4 just to get familiar with it. We will get you one the first chance we have. Ok lets do this. Everyone will aim for the center of their target. Make sure the caps are off your scopes so I can adjust without you having to get up.” I said. Pulling out my bino’s, I laid down, put on my Peltors hearing muffs. Checking to make sure the line was clear, I sighted in with my ACOG and flipped my safety to the fire position. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let half of it out. Gently squeezing the trigger I fired off my first round, followed by a second and third. Flipping my safety on, I picked up my bino’s and check my grouping. All three rounds had struck the target in a one-inch group about 2.5 inches below the bullseye. Seeing this I thought that whomever had sighted this rifle in had done so for about 300 yards. I wanted it sighted in at about 200 yards. Taking my Gerber tools straight screwdriver I moved the elevation up by 4 clicks. Taking sight again I fired off three more rounds and saw my group had moved up by about half an inch. Knowing that was about right I double-checked that my rifle was safe and stood up. Unclipping the sling I motioned Beth to come to me. “Make sure you aim at the center of the target. As you will see my groups are a little lower than the bullseye. At this range that is where the round should be hitting the targets. I can explain more later if you have any questions.” She indicated she didn’t and took the M4 and got down into a prone position.
The entire process took longer than I wanted but we finally got everyone sighted in and to my surprise Beth turned out to be a fairly decent shot and was not afraid at all of the M4 even if it was her first time firing one. After Don, Mat, and Beth had fired, I sent them up to take Ben and Jeff’s position. While they were pushing their bikes up the hill I fired one magazine out of each of my Glocks and fine-tuned my RMR’s. After finishing up I had everyone reload their magazines and we all headed up the hill. With everyone gathered by the cable, I pushed up the cable and everyone pushed their bikes back up onto the road. After checking the highway with my bino’s and not seeing anyone in sight, we got mounted up and checked our gear. I conducted a radio check and we headed out.
Highway 29 ran into Highway 200 about four miles south of where we had stopped for the night. Other than a few cars and semi trucks stalled on the road we saw no people until we neared the intersection of 29 and 200. Don called on the radio, “Talon we have a situation here,” Don and Mat were about 300 meters to our front and had stopped about a 1/4 mile from the intersection. “There is a mob of people at a store just off the East side of the road ahead,” Don radioed. I pushed my transmit button, “Are they blocking the way we want to go?” “No, I don’t think so but we have seen several people crossing the interstate going or coming from the store. From where we are we can see a bunch of people in the parking lot,” Don stated. Punching my radio again, “Hold fast we will come up and we will go though as a group,” I said. I turned to everyone, “Ok we will all close up with Don and Mat. Once we are all together, I will take the lead, followed by Ben and Jeff, than Mat and Beth, with Don right behind Mat and Beth. If there is any trouble do NOT stop, keep going, I will handle any problems. If I have to stop, keep going and make the turn on Highway 200, go for about one mile and stop if it is safe, if it is not safe go another mile. I will catch up. Wait for thirty minutes, if I’m not there by then, than I won’t be coming, so stick to the plan and go on.”
Pulling up to Don and Mat, I nodded at them, “All right, everyone stays together, again keep going no matter what happens. Do not stop if I do, just keep going.” I pull out my bino’s and take a quick scan of the area. From our position I can see several people standing by the guardrail on the west side of the road. As I watch a couple, looked to be in their 30’s, make a run from over the guard rail from the east. The group by the guardrail on the west chased after them. I realize what is going on and quickly put away my bino’s. “Lets go, let's get up to about 25 mph and go right by these guys, let me get out about 50 yards in front. Again NO ONE stops but me,” I growled. Checking for everyone’s head nod, I pushed off and began pedaling hard. It only took me less than two minutes and I got to the gang standing in the road over the bodies of the couple I had seen in my bino’s. A glance at the bodies told me I was too late to do anything for them. Two of
the four were gathering up the groceries lying scattered on the pavement. At the sound of my brakes, they all turned towards me. I looked and saw many of the items scattered around were diapers and baby formula.
All four of the young men were armed with aluminum baseball bats and all were around 16 to 18 years old. I had stopped about 20 feet away and as they turned to me they saw the oncoming other bicycles. One of the oldest of the group began to move as if to block the road but stopped when he saw my M4 come up to a ready position. “Morning Gentlemen, just what the fuck do you think you're doing?” I ask in a causal tone. The biggest of the four, about 5’10” and had the stocky build of a high school football player respond, “We are keeping people from stealing all of our grocery’s. My Dad told us to stop anyone that was taking stuff from the stores. If its any of your business.” The other three were watching the kid doing the talking and kept looking from him to me, or I should say my M4. The talker turned to the other kids and motioned for them to block the road. They started to move but stopped again when I said stop. The leader of the group barked, “Fuck you man, nobody tells us what to do!” I could hear the bikes getting closer behind me, “All of you down on the pavement NOW!” I shouted. Two of the gang began to get down but the leader of the group took another step towards the center of the pavement. Bringing the rifle up I placed the green horseshoe reticle on the gang leaders lower leg and triggered off one round. At that close range the 5.56 65 grain bullet punched straight though the would be toughs leg. Moving my rifle to the other standing gang member, he had better sense and quickly moved to the ground.
