Prepper's Apocalypse | Book 1 | Prepper's Apocalypse

by Newman, AJ

  Tom pulled the door to him, hoping it wouldn’t squeak. “Jack, I’m glad to see you made it okay.”

  “Damn you, Tom. You scared the dog crap out of me. Why are we meeting here?”

  Tom didn’t answer. “June, I’m glad you’re safe, and I see you brought some friendly faces. Good to see James and Alice.”

  They all shook hands, then Jack said, “Surely, this isn’t our new home?”

  “No, it’s north of our ranch. We used this place to meet just in case they followed you.” Tom watched to see how Jack reacted. His grandpa had drilled into him to only trust what you can verify during an apocalypse.

  “We snuck out while I was supposed to be on guard duty. It’ll be another two hours …”

  Gunfire split the night from the direction they’d all come from. Tom ducked along with the others. Then he noticed the gunfire was a long way off. “That shooting is back at the ranch. Jackie, please take them up to our hideout while Rick and I check out the ranch and see who’s fighting who?”

  This time the hike was mostly uphill, and they were already tired from the previous walk. The gunfire continued, and there were two explosions. One made a massive fireball up into the air that Tom could see. “Crap! That had to be our fuel tank or the propane tank. The small explosion might have been one of the propane tanks for the grill.”

  Tom picked up the pace, and they made the two-mile uphill trek in half the time it took them to go down to the meeting place. They came to the last clearing by the ranch and saw flames licking the sky above. The ranch house was fully engulfed in fire, and men were rounding up the horses and cattle in the corral by the barn. They loaded them into a cattle trailer pulled by an antique semi.

  Tom’s head shook side to side, and his fists were clenched. “I’ll find every one of them and kill them for doing this.”

  Rick carefully patted Tom on the back. “I’ll help you kill the sorry bastards for burning down your family home. I recognized a couple of the men who could be seen by the firelight. That big one who left on the motorcycle is Jock, the leader. The one who left with him is Skinny Pete. He’s Jock’s enforcer. He’s a ruthless murderer.”

  Tom’s mood changed, and he had a wicked grin. Rick asked, “Tom, why are you grinning like a shit eating dog?”

  “Oh, no reason. Was I grinning?”

  Something moved beside the barn, and then Duke limped out in the open and could be seen in the light of the fire. “Duke has been injured.”

  Tom held the Beagle while Rick checked the pup’s wound. Rick saw the gash on Duke’s back. “A bullet grazed him. This dog is almost as lucky as you are.”

  Tom tended to Duke’s wounds and laid him on a pile of hay. They continued to watch the house burn.

  Tom watched his home burn to the ground for a while after the gang members had left. It didn’t take long for the top story to crash down into the first floor as the smoke rolled and flames licked the sky. The structure slowly melted downward until the two massive chimneys fell like a tree felled by a lumberjack. Tom winced when he wondered what Grandpa would think.

  Rick checked the area to find any more wounded, but none of the previous intruders was left alive. Several men’s bodies were strewn about the ranch. Tom had seen the attackers load the women and children into a truck and haul them off. “Rick, you know that Jack and James are lucky we found them when we did. They’d be dead, and June and Alice would be prisoners.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. I guess we’ll have to bury the dead later today.”

  Tom replied, “We need to give that some thought. If the gang comes back, they’ll expect to see the rotting bodies.”

  “Crap,” was all Rick could think to say.

  Tom wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew he wanted to move back down to the ranch. “We’ll move back down here and set up our headquarters.”

  Rick’s head shook back and forth. “And sleep in the barn?”

  “No.”

  Rick gazed at the pile of embers and ashes and started to question if Tom was in denial or shock. Before he could ask Tom to explain, Tom pointed up the hill. “Let’s go join the others. I need some food and a short rest before we bring the others down here. Granny B will be pissed when she sees what’s left of her home.”

  Jackie saw the dog in Tom’s arms and rushed to his side. “Poor Duke. What happened to him?”

  “One of the gang members shot him. He’ll be okay.” Jackie placed him on the couch against Granny B’s objection.

  They listened to Tom describing what Rick and he had seen down at the ranch, and everyone except Jackie and Granny B was shocked by the carnage and destruction. Granny B held up her hands to draw attention. “Everything’s okay. My husband planned for this event, and we’ll be fine. Trust me.”

  The other ones new to the group joined Rick in thinking Granny and Tom had slipped a cog or two. Brenda openly questioned why the family wasn’t as upset about losing their home and supplies. “Granny B, you seem almost relieved to hear the men burned the home down but left the barn.”

  Granny B replied, “Of course we’re upset about our home burning, but it’s not the end of the world. Not one of us was injured, and we gained four great people. Now, stop and listen. My husband started us on the path to prepare for this day over thirty years ago. Every year we got better at prepping and spent every extra dime making the ranch self-sustaining and a fortress. Only the surface has been scratched.”

  Jack frowned. “Granny B, I’ve been working for you for over four years. I’ve never seen any extra preparation.”

  Granny B snickered. “Because everything we accomplished since you joined us was done right under your nose with you helping us. You dug several of our ponds and stocked them with fish. You dug the trenches for the shipping containers we buried to hold the extra horse and cattle feed. You planted many fruit trees, and June tended the garden and canned tons of vegetables, berries, and apples. You were prepping and never knew it.”

  Rick was still curious about living accommodations. “But the home burned. Where will we live?”

  “The ranch house was just the tip of the iceberg. We don’t have time, but I’ll show you our new home when we get there. It’s much nicer than this cabin.”

  June slapped her knee. “Jack, I told you several times that we put away a lot more food than we could ever eat. That root cellar is overflowing with home and store-bought canned goods.”

  Rick jumped into the conversation. “But where do we sleep?”

  Jackie replied, “In our beds. Grampa always had a plan B just in case thugs overran the ranch. Our grandpa started burying shipping containers when Tom and I were about ten years old. The entire backyard is one big labyrinth of side-by-side and end-to-end shipping containers. There’s enough room for our entire family. We had two uncles with their families who didn’t make it back from Hawaii. They had seven children between them. We have more than enough bedrooms, a kitchen, three bathrooms, a large living room, and a library, all underground.”

  *

  Chapter 22

  Southern Oregon – The Clark ranch.

  Granny B knew the home had burned, but seeing the heap of smoldering ashes made her sick to her stomach. She gazed at the heap of rubble that had been her home. Granny B grew unsteady, so Tom had to move her to the bench in front of the barn. She watched as small puffs of smoke randomly shot out of the debris. The once nice-looking old two-story home had been reduced to a pile of ashes with a few charred planks sticking out at odd angles.

  The huge propane tank had exploded about fifty feet from the house and had destroyed several of Jackie’s favorite fruit trees. “The house fire didn’t make the tank explode. I’ll bet those asshats shot it and blew it to bits. What a waste of propane.”

  Tom walked toward the barn. “Come on if you want to see your new home.”

  He led them into the barn, and then Tom cursed. “The SOBs found our caches of survival stuff.”

  There were several pi
les of dirt around the holes where the drums were buried. Tom shinned his flashlight down into all three of the drums and found the drums empty. “Now, I know where your friends actually found their new AR15s. How did they do all this searching and digging without you knowing about it?”

  Jack stuttered. “I … uh … they sent us on several scavenging trips into town. They could have searched then.”

  “Did you see them with a map?”

  “Yes, they had a map of the ranch with a lot of markings. What were the markings?”

  Tom shook his head and clenched his fists. “They marked where all of our hidden supplies were buried.”

  Tom then took them to a stack of hay bales. Tom pointed at a horseshoe on the wall behind the bales and then lifted the horseshoe and pulled it toward him. They heard a click, and the bales moved slightly. Tom reached out to bales and pulled on an old bent nail, and the wall and bales moved toward him. “See, this is one of the doors into our new home. Now, before we enter, no one besides this group can ever know about our underground bunker.”

  Tom reached into the doorway and flipped a switch. The dark entrance was lit by a soft glow, as were the stairs down into the earth. “Follow me.”

  The steps led them down to a concrete walled landing with a steel door with a combination lock built into the door handle. Tom pushed the buttons and said, “Pie are round. Cornbread are square.”

  The door opened. “The combination is 31415.”

  The room was a combination of root cellar and supply storage pantry. It was approximately eight feet wide by twenty feet long. Wires were running to two large truck batteries and then to a wall switch. Rick said, “This is an overseas shipping container. We all can’t live in here.”

  Jackie laughed. “Yes, it looks like a traditional root cellar with some food, and I might say, not much of that. Look around you. If you found this room, you’d think you’d found some food and look around at the supplies. The worst case is, you might try to live in the room. Now, watch this.”

  Jackie reached under a shelf and then pulled the set of shelves toward her. “See, another hidden doorway. This room is just a redundant security entrance meant to stop intruders before they get to our home.”

  The next room was lit from above by natural light. Rick was amazed. “Where’s the light coming from?”

  “Look up the light tube. It goes up to the roof of the barn. Our living quarters are under the barn so we could install these light tubes to the roof. The barn has a false roof around the real roof to hide the clear plastic bubbles. I thought of that back when I was a kid,” said Tom.

  Tom walked further into the room and waved his hand around, pointing at the cots, tools, and plastic drums. “This is our warehouse and living quarters. The room is made from three forty-foot shipping containers, with most of the sides cut away. Rick, does this meet your approval?”

  “It’ll beat the cabin. I’ll bet it’s cool in the summer and warmish in the winter.”

  Tom snickered, and Jackie and Granny B joined into the laughter. Tom motioned for them to follow him. He moved several empty drums and opened another hidden door. “This is our destination. It’s half under the barn and half in the backyard. Ten of the forty-five-foot containers were buried side by side, with three more small containers used as fake food storage room. They’re really entrances with hidden doors. Take a stroll around, then Jackie will show you to your rooms.”

  Jackie gave them an extensive tour of the underground bunker. The kitchen and dining area were designed to also be the living room and meeting room. It was sixteen feet wide by twenty feet long and spanned two different containers. It had a regular size kitchen with both a gas and wood stove. The three refrigerators were small by usual standards but were camper refrigerators and ran on electricity or propane. Brenda checked under the sink and noticed the plumbing was not different from regular house plumbing. “How do you get rid of gray water?

  Tom started to answer when Sam asked, “Where does poop go? We passed two bathrooms.”

  Tom looked at Granny B. “Let’s show them the view.”

  He walked to the outside wall of the kitchen, where he stopped in front of a wall with two large framed pictures of Oregon forests. He lifted a small picture off to the side of the others and began turning a crank. A four-foot-high by - five-foot-wide section of the wall started to tilt outward and upward. Light flooded the room. “Rick, what do you see?”

  “It’s the cliff behind the house. It must be fifty feet behind the house. We’re looking out over the pasture. That hill to the left is the way up to the cabin. Can’t people see the shutters?”

  Tom was on a roll, explaining the bunker. “No, they can’t unless they’re up close. We planted those trees above the cliff and let the brush grow up on the steep hillside to hide the windows. The shutters are covered in rock to match the cliff wall, and the dark window screens help reduce any light being reflected. We only open them when we know no one is around, and never at night with the lights on. We have several periscopes to check for strangers wandering through.”

  Sam poked him on the arm and asked, “Tom, where do the wastewater and sewage go?”

  He looked at her and smiled. “That was a difficult one. The pipes run underground to a huge septic tank below the cliff. Hiding two pipes was a major task. We incinerate all garbage at night when no one can see the smoke. All tin cans are saved and used for various projects. We have a bank of solar heaters on top of the barn made from copper tubing and cans. We use the cans to help collect the energy from the sun and transfer it to the antifreeze in the copper tubing, which is then pumped down here.”

  Granny B stepped into the middle of the group. “Jackie will show you to your rooms, so you can check them out. You’ll find plenty of towels, washrags, and bedding supplies. We have some clothes stored, but we might have to scavenge for more. Enjoy your new home.”

  Sam was cold from being in the bunker’s rather cool air. She checked the drawers in her and Lucy’s room and found two hoodies. They looked at the bunk beds, and Lucy called dibs on the top bunk. They left their room and stepped into the shared bathroom. There was the expected toilet, sink, and shower, along with a mirror above a small counter. “Well, at least we have a place to put on our makeup.”

  Sam washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. “I’ve lost a few pounds and look like a ghost without my makeup.”

  “Mom, you’re beautiful. I hope I take after you when I grow up.”

  Sam held her daughter in her arms, and tears flowed freely. “Mom, why are you crying?”

  “Because, for the first time in years, I feel we’re safe.”

  Sam and Lucy walked to the door, where Tom had disappeared, and knocked. Tom came to the door and ushered them into his room. Sam took a deep breath. “You’re room is so big and well furnished.”

  Tom stuttered as his face flushed in embarrassment. “I uh … we uh … well, these rooms are our bedrooms. We never slept in the house. Cameras and warning devices were in the house and around it, so we would be warned if anyone got close to the house. Then we could run upstairs and greet any visitors. We never had unplanned visitors. Grandpa was a stickler on security. We’ll fetch our electronic security devices from our locker tomorrow and replace the ones fried by the EMPs.”

  Sam giggled and walked on into Tom’s room. “This is too big for just one person.”

  Tom got the veiled meaning. “My wife died a couple of years ago. I guess I should move to a regular room.”

  Sam knew she’d stepped in it, so she said, “No, you’re our leader, and this was your home long before we showed up knocking on your door. Keep your room, and don’t be embarrassed.”

  Tom saw Lucy out off to the side and turned to see her playing with a small pinball machine. “It’s an old toy built before electricity was commonly used in the USA. You can play with it if you want.”

  “Thanks, I’ve been bored.”

  Tom smiled. “You’ll be assigned
some chores that’ll take part of your day. We have some rabbit cages and baby goats that will need tending. Do you like rabbits and goats?”

  Lucy looked at him, then her mom. “I’ve never had any animals. Her boyfriend didn’t like animals. I’d like to look at them when you can take me.”

  Sam changed the subject. “Where do we get water? Is there a well?”

  “There’s a well, but most of the time, we use the water from the creek up the hillside. We built a small pond to make a reservoir and placed a screened pickup pipe a couple of feet off the bottom. We use that water to flush the toilets straight from the creek. Still, the water for drinking flows through a series of filters into several large containers in one of the shipping containers. We treat the filtered water with a small amount of bleach to make it safe to drink. We stored several cases of pool shock and use it to mix up bleach. Then we mix just enough of the stock bleach into the already filtered water to disinfect the water.”

  “I guess you thought of everything.” Sam looked up into Tom’s eyes.

  “No. Grampa never figured we’d have so many pretty women down here in the bunker.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  Tom thought. Crap, I’m flirting with her. How do I get my stupid ass out of this? Tom moved to the door. “We need to make a couple of trips up to the cabin to bring back everyone’s belongings. I’ll see you later.”

  “Tom, take the trailer from the barn back to the cabin, so you’ll only have to make one trip. If you can, drive down the hill heading east and approach the ranch from Corral Creek Road, so no one cuts your trail and follows you back here.” Granny B was so used to giving orders that it was second nature. She looked at Tom, grinning at her. “You already planned to do that, didn’t you?”