As Oz began walking the rough terrain, he realized that he could be heard miles away. If there was a stick in the path, he would step on it making others aware of his position. If there was a pile of leaves in the path, he would kick it.
“Lift your feet, Oz,” he muttered to himself.
For the next couple of hours, he intentionally focused on how he walked ensuring he was as quiet as possible. Though he was more silent, he had much to learn.
About 60 minutes outside of Perry, GA Oz stopped and peered through his binoculars to scout the area ahead. He saw a most bizarre scene. In front of him, about a half mile directly north of his position, he saw a man kneeling with his knees firmly planted on the road. The kneeling man kept looking behind him at a woman and a teenage girl who were crying. The woman had her hands clasped together as if she was praying but Oz could only guess she was pleading for something.
“The life of the kneeling man,” Oz sighed.
Her mouth moved but Oz could not make out the words. He knew there was despair in her words as her facial expressions were one of distress. The woman appeared to be in her early forties while the teenage girl couldn’t be more than fifteen.
“A kneeling man, a woman, a teenage girl, and six dirty, scroungy looking men,” Oz muttered as he assessed the situation.
Oz sat and watched the group for a few more minutes when he saw a rather tall, overweight man pull out a handgun, place it to the head of the man kneeling on the ground, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun rippled throughout the air as Oz saw blood and brain matter scatter all over the road. The kneeling man immediately slumped to the ground.
“What the hell just happened?!” Oz said in anger. “What the hell? What the hell?”
This was truly the first time in Oz’s life he had witnessed anything like this. He felt an anger he had never felt before. He wanted vengeance. He immediately grabbed his Glock and Ruger PC Carbine 9mm and started walking toward the man who pulled the trigger when he quickly realized it would be a suicide mission. He needed to settle down and come up with an action plan. He was sick to his stomach.
As Oz sat down contemplating what had just happened, he thought he could hear the woman and child crying. He probably did hear the cries and sooner than later he knew he would confront the group. He would free both women and he would risk his life tonight to make that happen. He peered through the binoculars again where he saw the situation go from bad to worse. He saw a middle-aged man grab the teenage girl and push her into a van. He disappeared into the van with her. The rest of the men circled the woman like a pack of hungry wolves around a wounded animal. Oz knew what came next. He knew that she would be raped and possibly killed. Before he could continue his thought, he knew he now heard the screams of the woman.
“The bastards couldn’t even wait,” Oz said silently. He would make his move tonight but could do nothing at this moment other than pray.
It was one hour before dark when Oz began moving silently through the woods. He needed the remaining light to get into position where his plan would be to simply catch them off guard and shoot until they were all dead or he was dead. It was not much of a plan, but Oz had little to no experience in combat. It was the best plan he had given the fact he needed to react quickly.
Oz was now about 200 yards away from the group and had good coverage. Using the binoculars, he saw four members of the group leave together.
“Could this really be happening?” he thought. “They’re separating?”
Two against one was much better odds. Oz’s plan involved using his handgun at close range and he knew when he fired it the four men would hear it and come back to help their friends. It would be too late. Oz would have to quickly grab the woman and girl and head back into the woods for cover and take up a defensive position. He took off his Bug Out Bag and fanny pack and covered them with grass, twigs, and other material on the ground. Given there were only two men left he chose to only take his Glock and leave the rifle. If necessary he would kill the two men at close range. Without reservation or question, he wanted to make sure the women were freed and the two men paid for their sins. Oz felt comfortable that he could safely get within thirty feet of the men and in complete darkness, he could get even closer without being detected.
He began to belly crawl toward the men. It was a slow process, but it enabled Oz the silence he needed and the ability to remain hidden. He quickly peaked up one last time to make sure the four men were not returning. They were not. Oz would wait another hour before he killed the two men. This was insurance that the four men would be at least three to four miles away and would not be able to help their soon-to-be-dead friends.
The two remaining men sat next to a fire, periodically looking at the captive woman and teenager.
Oz heard one of the men say, “I sure hope they find a place for us to stay. Somewhere that has food. It sucks being in the middle of nowhere.”
His friend responded, “Hell, I don’t need a house. I need more women. The younger the better,” he laughed.
Oz’s blood was boiling. He quickly assessed his situation. It was dark and he knew he could now walk to within ten to fifteen feet of the men. He hoped the other four men were miles away when he stood up with his gun in hand and inched toward the two men. Oz was now within five feet when he pulled the trigger. The man closest to Oz dropped. Oz had put two shots, center mass, into the man.
With only one man remaining Oz shouted, “There will be no more women or children for you!” as he shot the man in the groin.
The man screamed with agony and pain, cupping his hands around his groin area. Oz shot the man two more times. One shot in each thigh. Instinctively, Oz changed his magazine assuring he had seventeen fresh rounds in the Glock. Oz intentionally didn’t fire another shot. He wanted to see the man suffer. This was not the man Oz had become or the morals he believed in but his anger turned to hatred.
Oz turned to the woman and girl who were tied up and scared.
“My name is Oz. I’m here to get you out of here. We need to hurry. I know you’re scared but you have no choice but to trust me. You need to know I’m a husband, father, and man of God. You can’t think right now. You can’t say a word. We need to leave immediately. There are four more men who I imagine are running back to us right now. Shake your head up and down if you’re coming with me. Let’s go.”
“Are you going to kill him?” the older woman said in a faint, desperate voice.
“No. I’m going to let him suffer,” Oz said.
“I want him dead,” she said.
There was no time. Oz handed her his SOG knife. “She deserved this,” he thought.
After all, within the last several hours she’s been through hell and back.
She had seen the guy she was with killed and then she was raped by multiple men; not to mention what may have happened to the teenage girl.
Without thinking, she took the knife and put it to the throat of the already bleeding man.
Before she slit his throat, she yelled, “He was my husband and the father of our daughter!”
She drove the knife across his throat and the man gurgled causing blood to flow onto the ground. She handed the knife back to Oz who cleaned the blade by running it across the dying man’s clothes. He placed the knife back in its sheath and told the woman and girl to follow him.
The three headed back to pick up Oz’s Bug Out Bag, fanny pack, and rifle. They followed Oz who headed deep into the forest. Twenty minutes later, Oz stopped. He needed to get a pulse on the four men. He needed to know if he was being followed. He pulled out his night vision monocular, pulled the lens caps off, and turned the monocular on. He carefully scanned the area focusing on the direction they just left. Though the night vision monocular had no magnification, it gave him the lay of the land. He didn’t see any light emanating from a flashlight and no movement. He then scanned the are
a in front of him. He pulled his map out again and replaced the monocular with his flashlight to which he added a red lens.
He crouched down to take cover and put his finger to his lips, indicating silence, making sure the ladies saw his motion. They shook their heads in acknowledgment. Oz folded up the map and motioned for the girls to follow.
After two hours of walking in unfamiliar woods, Oz quietly whispered, “We’ll make camp here. We can talk but need to keep it to a whisper. I’ll take another look but I’m sure we’re not being followed. If we were, we would have heard something or seen flashlights.”
Oz knew the girls had been through a lot, but he needed more information. He needed to know their names and what their plans were. He really wanted to know what happened and how they ended up in that terrible situation, but it could wait until morning.
Oz took out several emergency water pouches and handed them to the ladies. Within seconds, the water was gone. “I’m out of water for now. When the sun is up, we’ll find more. Here, eat these energy bars. They taste terrible, but they’ll give you the calories you need,” Oz said.
“Thank you,” the woman said. Oz could see that they needed to sleep. He did his best to make them a comfortable bed using leaves, grass, and an emergency blanket. The overnight temperatures wouldn’t be too cold but he recommended they sleep as close to one another as possible to conserve heat. Their eyes were shut and they were sound asleep within minutes of lying down. As tired as Oz was, he needed to stay awake on guard duty. He felt obligated to at least see them through the night.
30
Family Adapting
NICKI CHECKED ON LLOYD, HER FATHER-IN-LAW AND RANDALL’S and Cali’s grandfather. He was still running a temperature and was unable to keep liquids down. His fever had yet to subside and he was dehydrated. She knew he needed fluids and opted for an IV.
She walked outside and over to their shed to get the supplies. She unlocked and opened the overhead door immediately grabbing the manual containing an alphabetical list of their preparations. She looked up ‘IV Kit,’ ‘Sodium Chloride flush,’ and ‘IV bags.’
She went to the appropriate bin and found the supplies she needed. She opened the IV kit to make sure it had all the right components including tubing, a BD® Insyte Autoguard 20 GA needle, a microbe extension set, rubber tourniquet, alcohol wipes, and gloves. The set was complete.
“I need something for nausea and vomiting,” she thought to herself.
She then looked up Zofran, opened the bin, and placed the medication in her pocket. She returned to the house and began the process to give Lloyd intravenous fluids.
Once the IV was going, she gave Lloyd the Zofran through his IV and waited to see how he responded. Several hours later, Lloyd was feeling better and able to keep electrolytes down. Nicki gave him Tylenol for his fever and felt comfortable it would break within the coming hours.
“How’s g-pa doing?” Randall asked Nicki after returning from guard duty.
“He’s turned the corner. He should be up and moving in the next day or two,” she said and continued. “You know Randall, in today’s world, without medical facilities and staff available, your grandpa could have easily died. Compare that to several days ago when he could have simply walked into urgent care, been treated, and went home. Hundreds of thousands will die because of lack of medical care. Compared to the masses, we’re prepared. It’s ironic that we have medical supplies and skills, and yet we have to be selective in who we help.”
Randall replied by saying, “Dad had that difficult discussion with me. Mom, do you think the power will ever come back on? If dad is right, it’s going to get a lot worse. I mean people are going to become hungry and desperate. He always talked about it. He always told me two things. First, never give anybody any of your food or medical supplies no matter how bad the situation. They’ll keep coming back or tell others about your supplies. Soon, you’ll have nothing left. Second, people, even friends, will do whatever they have to do to survive including stealing and killing you for your supplies. Trust no one,” Randall said as if looking for confirmation.
“Randall, I never wanted to believe what your dad thought. Being in the Navy, he saw things none of us ever did; people killing people and people starving. In a way, he was trying to protect us from that by prepping. I started an IV on your grandpa. How many people can do that in their house? By the way, someone should be on guard duty.”
“No worries, mom. Grandma and Benny are watching the front yard from the living room and Cali is watching the back of the house from the kitchen window,” Randall stated.
“So, back to your question, Randall. Of course, I want to believe that things will return back to normal but . . .” Nicki paused and looked down. “I already had to protect myself, you, and Cali; something that life didn’t prepare me for. The reality is that whatever happened to cause the power to go out will only bring out the worst in humankind. It doesn’t matter if the power stays out for two weeks, two years or the lights come on in an hour, our life has been permanently changed. We’re changed because of what we saw and for some of us, what we did. Randall, in the last few days you’ve been forced to grow up quicker than any other time in your life. I’m proud of you.”
“Mom, do you think dad’s okay?” he asked as if trying to change her mind.
Nicki thought before answering and said, “Of all the people in this world, your dad has the best chance to survive and get home. Not to say it won’t be a struggle, because it will, but he’ll make it. I’m very confident he left when the power went out and realized it wasn’t coming back on. He’s a smart one.”
Nicki was hugging Randall when suddenly Benny started frantically barking. Both of them looked out the window waiting to see Frank when out of nowhere a deer and two fawns leaped across the yard.
With her heart beating fast Nicki whispered, “I’ll never get used to this.”
31
New Friends—New Introductions
THE NEXT MORNING THE LADIES WOKE UP TO A POUCH OF Mountain House eggs and bacon. While they slept, Oz found several plastic water bottles which he filled at a nearby pond. He filtered and then boiled the water over his portable camp stove, poured the hot water into the pouches and waited five minutes before waking them up. They were hungry and ate the eggs and bacon within minutes.
“I don’t even like eggs, but these are incredible,” the teenage girl said with excitement.
“My name is Naomi Brennan and this is my daughter Cheyanne,” the woman stated.
“My name is Oz McTatey,” Oz said
“They, those terrible men, killed my husband. His name was Johannes. When our car quit, we just stayed there. We thought for sure someone would come and help. The man who killed my husband and his brother, I think, pretended to want to help us. They told us that they had food and water, so we walked with them to their camp. When we got there four others appeared. The men immediately separated us and pushed Johannes to his knees. They were questioning him about where we lived and how much food we had. They didn’t believe him when he said nothing. They told him that at least he had a beautiful wife; not to mention a gorgeous daughter. That’s when I saw Johannes’s face turn red. He was getting ready to do something when the tall, fat guy shot him in the head. And then, what they did to me—Wait, Cheyanne. What did they do to you? Did he? Did he?”
Cheyanne interrupted with tears in her eyes, “No, mom. He only touched me. He said he was going to have dinner first and I would be his dessert. Oz killed them before anything happened”
“Thank God. I don’t know what I would have done if, if something would have happened,” Naomi stated and then continued. “I have no emotions right now. I can’t even cry. I’m numb.”
Oz needed to distract Naomi and asked, “What are your plans now?”
“I have no idea. I don’t even know where we are,” Naomi stated.
Oz replied
, “I was just trying to put distance between us and them last night. According to the map, we’re on the west side of highway 341 and about two hours south of Fort Valley. Fort Valley is on my way to Griffin which is a waypoint as I head to Kentucky.”
Naomi was shocked when she stated, “You’re walking to Kentucky? Are you crazy? Five days into whatever happened to the United States and people are already crazy. You know you probably won’t make it?”
Oz interrupted, “I will make it. I will return home to my family.”
Naomi made eye contact with Oz and said, “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry. I meant it would be a difficult and treacherous path.” She touched his shoulder and continued, “We’re from San Diego, California. We were visiting family in Florida and on our way home when whatever happened, happened. So where are we headed? I have no idea now.”
Before she could continue her body began shaking and she started crying hysterically. Oz could barely hear her say “They took my husband. They killed my husband. Now Cheyanne is the only family I have, and they almost took her away from me. He’s gone. My Johannes is gone.”
Cheyanne, also in tears, grabbed her mother and embraced her in a passionate hug. Oz didn’t know how to handle the situation. He quickly looked around to make sure no one could hear what was happening. He was worried that the crying mother and daughter would give their position away.
As compassionately as he could, Oz told them, “Ladies, I know you’re in pain and you don’t understand why what happened to your family happened. I get it but I need you to be quiet. I don’t want to end up in the same position we were in yesterday. This is going to sound bad but there will be a time to grieve but it’s not now.”
The ladies looked at Oz with red eyes but understood what he said. While he had their attention Oz made a quick, on the spot decision and that decision was they had to travel with him. Though he couldn’t guarantee their safety, he would try. He trusted them though it went against everything he taught his family. They were simply an innocent mother and daughter. He knew Nicki would welcome them into their house; if they made it. Oz committed to helping others along his journey, if possible, but he would not be inviting others to his house. He didn’t have food or supplies for additional people beyond his family, but he had personally witnessed what Naomi and Cheyanne went through. He had a personal bond with the girls.
The E.M.P. Chronicles (Book 1): 458 Miles & 24 Days Page 15
