The survivors of World War III were slowly getting organized and prepared for whatever came their way. Over the course of the next two weeks, the groups out and away from everything, and the people from the principal towns in the area, began a concerted effort to better defend themselves with the advisor sent to help them.
They became better armed, thanks to Admiral Reynolds’ efforts and with his influence at the new capital in Chicago, Illinois. Airplanes with crates of armaments, bullets, medical supplies, and explosive begin to land at Fitch.
The men from the Chicago area, and states away from California found hundreds of tractor-trailers and loaded them from various building supply and material centers, abandoned and sitting in areas deserted since the war began. Mobile home dealerships were sought out and their inventory was made available to accommodate the survivors. Motorcycle shops and dealerships were emptied out for use by the townspeople. An all-out effort to arm the populace, and to train them to protect themselves was begun everywhere there were people holed up in small towns and smaller enclaves.
A frantic but methodical building project began, aimed at defending the towns. Construction of protective blockades hit a fever pitch. In two weeks, the defenses were adequate and could be easily expanded. Then training would begin.
Men from Avalon, Fitch, and Bishop who had already undergone extensive training were sent out in groups of three or four to instruct others in tactics, field first aid, shooting techniques, and defensive postures. They were taught how to dig latrines and wells, set up perimeter sentries, and maintain a military-style watch system. California was becoming an armed camp and a self-sustained society of small armies scattered all over the state
The slavers dwindling supplies were beginning to show strain. The gangs that were sent out to find fresh conquest were returning to the main camp with the same story, and it was grim, depressing news for Bone Breaker. They needed to do something, and fast. The biker chieftain decided to split his group into two, one would be a reserve if anything happened. With a reserve in place, the plan to attack Fitch was formulated.
Mike Reynolds decided to take a flight to the Pacific coast. It was the only direction they had not taken into consideration during their planning, so they decided to go to the area for a quick look around. As Mike did a pre-flight on the Cessna 421-C, several of the members of Avalon began loading armor and ammunition; the M-60 machine gun, their personal battle rifles and sidearms, and a few hand grenades.
Admiral Reynolds, General Stone, Sam Wolchak, and Randy Stewart would go on this trip. There was plenty of room in the six-passenger aircraft. With a range of fifteen-hundred miles, the round-trip could be easily accomplished if they didn’t do too much unnecessary sightseeing along the way. Fully prepared for the reconnaissance flight to the Pacific coast, once the plane was loaded, they were off.
The flight lasted forty-five minutes. They turned left at the ocean and followed the Coastal Highway south. It was eerie; nothing could be seen moving anywhere. They maintained an altitude of five-hundred feet above the ground, so they could get a good bird’s eye view.
On the Coastal Highway, just South of Crescent City, they spotted two groups of men. Some were making their way north on the beach and others were traveling in the same direction on the highway. They all wore military uniforms. Mike wanted to see who they were and where they were going. He flew over both groups wagging his wings as he banked left and right a number of times in rapid succession and then landed on the highway well ahead of them. All of the soldiers quickly made their way toward the plane.
Mike, once he was out of the cabin door, waited for the men to get closer. Lieutenant Junior grade Chris Bell stood there waiting to hear the admiral speak. He stood at attention as soon as he saw the stars on the man’s collar. Mike was wearing his khakis.
“At ease Lieutenant, what are you people doing here and where are you headed?”
“We’re in route up the coast in the general direction of Crescent City. It’s our understanding it is the main camp of the slavers, Sir.”
“I think we first need to sit down and have a long discussion about what is going on and what we’re going to do about it. How many of you are there?”
“My group of sailors is forty-five men. The other group numbers thirty-one men. We’re all heavily armed and we can do a bit of damage, if necessary. We’ve already engaged a number of the slavers, and prevailed.”
“Let’s make camp here off to the side of the highway and have a long, in-depth chat. I would suggest that we set up a watch both north and south on the beach and north and south on the highway. I want a roving patrol on our flank in and away from the highway two-hundred yards. Both north and south.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He shouted orders to his brother Eric.
“Sergeant set the watches and the perimeters. You heard the admiral,”
“Murphy, you set up an M-60 watch down the beach south. Driscoll, you take a gun north. I want one gun on the north of us and one south on the highway. Set up three more off to our flanks north and east, and one gun on the south to cover overlapping fields of fire.”
The men all moved out to their assigned task and others began gathering wood for a bonfire for the night time hours. The Cessna 421 was moved off the highway, secured and its wheels chocked. Chris knew they were lucky to have been found by these men. It wasn’t every day he saw an admiral, especially in these times.
The sentries were changed at four-hour intervals and stories were swapped among the men. Mike told them about Avalon, Fitch and the surrounding area. He told them that the United States of America was still a viable entity and they had a new president and Congress. This is good news for the soldiers and sailors, as they didn’t know what had become of the government. Radio communications ceased at the onset of the war.
Sam jumped in occasionally and told a portion of the story. Randy had the opportunity to tell his part. Chris and Eric told theirs. Chris described what happened to them and the sub. Once they launched their missiles the decision was made that had them traveling up and down the coast of California, Washington, and Oregon, and then up to Alaska before coming back down to where they ditched the sub. They had dropped a number of sailors off along the way, thinking the United States no longer existed.
“Radio communications had ceased weeks prior to this decision being made. The captain of the sub committed suicide, the loss of his wife and children was more than he could bear, and he decided to join them. The officers and men had a conference once we got here and what’s left of us is what you see. We abandoned the sub about a hundred miles south of here.”
Eric told the story about him being at the mountain climbing school when the war broke out, the desertions, the trek to Fort Lewis and the decision that was made to send him and his troopers down the coast toward San Francisco while the others went to the coast of Washington and the other group to Seattle. How they were supposed to be in radio contact with the other two groups, but they never called after the split up.
“We ran into a number of bikers recently and had to deal with them.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, sir, we had a few firefights, we rescued those women over there, and then we executed the outlaws.”
Mike sat there looking at this young Marine, didn’t say a word for a long moment, he just stared at those immediately in front of him. Then he said,
“You boys did what you had to do; well done. Later, when were all at Avalon or Fitch, I would appreciate a written report. We need to maintain protocol.”
Finally, the admiral described what they were doing at the present time in terms of informing people wherever they could find them. Organizing and training them and setting up protective defenses wherever they were needed most.
Into the late hours of the evening, the men talked about the war, the losses most of them suffered with families and friends, and even the canyon people. They ate their fill and eventually turned in for the night.<
br />
◆◆◆
Slasher was having a difficult time adhering to the orders being handed down by Bone Breaker. The big man simply did not understand military decorum or etiquette. Slasher understood that he had to have patience and allow certain things to come full circle, but unfortunately Bone Breaker didn’t have patience; nor did he have the foresight to allow the plan to unfold.
He now wanted to move the spies’ itinerary ahead by a month. Slasher considered that a disastrous decision. They had to let the women deliver their babies. They had to allow the spies time to immerse themselves into the various towns before springing the trap.
The forays that were being sent out weren’t bringing in any positive results, and now the big stupid goon wanted to mount an attack on the town of Fitch simply out of revenge, though he said it was to take things that were in low supply. Things like food, women, and whatever other crazy things Bone Breaker imagined they absolutely had to have, NOW!
These attacks had to be planned and calculated if they were going to be successful. It was at that moment Slasher decided, he would have to kill Bone Breaker sooner rather than later. The man had no concept of how to direct men and plan an attack. It was always balls to the wall with him. No planning, no vision for the future.
Too many of their own, were going to die if this attack on Fitch went forward. They had already wasted six-hundred men in that futile effort. Slasher had to come up with something better and more appropriate in order to have any hope of being successful. Every time a slaver scout came back to the main camp, the stories were the same. The townspeople were dug in and a frontal attack was simply not possible. Dooly was the last to return to camp.
“I’m telling you Slasher, dos people got it togedder! Someone is teachin’ ’em how to defend demselves and dey is doin’ a good job. A bird couldn’t get past der defenses.”
He was right, of course. They were going about this wrong they needed to get behind the town’s defenses and come on from the rear. A handful of people could get the job done. That night, unknown to Bone Breaker, Slasher, Dooly, and a few others worked out a plan.
They would attack Susanville. The plan was to sneak a dozen heavily armed men into the town under the cover of darkness and take out the guards at one of the main entrances. A hundred bikers would be ready to move up and attack at a moment’s notice. As much as it pained him, he briefed Bone Breaker to get his permission to carry the plan forward. It wasn’t worth pissing the big guy off just yet. Fortunately, the plan was approved, and they moved out the next morning, three hours prior to dawn.
The men moved up toward the outlying limits of the town and began to work their way toward the east, well away from the main road block. In a few hours they swung back toward the north and converged straight toward the fifteen men patrolling near the truck blocking the entry to the town. The fight that ensued was quick.
Caught by surprise, the sentries lost their position in short order.
Three men were seen running away toward the townspeople, and the attackers got busy making an easy entry into the town by removing a tractor-trailer that was parked across the road. Once the main obstacle was removed, one of the slavers shot a flare into the air and one-hundred motorcycles headed toward the town in a booming roar.
The noise from the motorcycles was tremendous and the ground shook as they thundered into Susanville. The men broke into groups of six and went door-to-door at every house and business crushing those doors that were barricaded or locked.
In half an hour, the townsmen, women and children were gathered at the local school grounds and surrounded by the slavers. Twenty or more women were being raped in front of everyone, and anyone who made any effort to protest was shot on the spot. Gang members were going from house to house. They stacked food, weapons and ammunition in front of the houses for collection later.
Chain-link fencing and barbed wire was brought over to the playing field and the townspeople were forced to erect a fence. Lights that lit up the school’s playing field were connected to a large diesel generator as a temporary light source. In a few days, the people would be loaded into trucks and sent north to the slavers main camp.
The plan worked, and the slavers only lost seven men. Slasher was pleased with himself. He knew it was possible, and now that he proved it could work, they would replicate attacks in other areas. Especially those heavily fortified towns. Once this tactic was carried out and everyone saw it worked, their confidence soared. They could implement this same plan, and take over the other, larger towns as well.
In another week and a half, the convoy, loaded with newly acquired slaves, food, medicine, fuel and weapons was on its way north. Overall, the attack was a tremendous success and would ensure the replenishment of supplies the bikers sorely needed. The success of the attack reinforced Slasher’s ego. He knew he was superior to Bone Breaker who, in Slasher’s totally biased opinion, was incompetent; a man with little imagination. He was so full of himself right now, Bone Breaker was getting all the glory for the accomplishments of others; that was going to change.
“God I’m gonna love killin’ that bastard!”
Slasher would have to pull off a few more successful missions, claim the popularity from the others and the leadership would be undisputed by any of them. After all, he was one of the warriors out there getting shot at and taking all the risk. He was doing all the planning and leading the raids. The whole time, Bone Breaker was in his small cabin with some skinny woman, eating like a pig, and taking all the credit. The others would finally realize who was doing the hard work and popular opinion would prevail, and eventually allow him, the Slasher, to come out on top. A few more successful missions had to take place, but then the leadership of this ragtag army of outlaws, these murderers and thugs, would be his to lead. Then Slasher would be king!
Chapter 18
Getting Battle Ready
The community training was aggressive, and it yielded positive results. The townspeople were trained in firebomb manufacturing and in constructing improvised explosives from household ingredients. Booby-trap construction and placement were taught to anyone above the age of fourteen.
Folks learned to make firearms from ordinary pipes and other fittings much like the mass production techniques used by the North Vietnamese people did many years ago. Many of the weapons were for single-shot usage but were very effective in stopping someone.
Weapons from days gone by, such as crossbows and their bolts were designed and manufactured alongside shotgun shells. The shells were manufactured with the carbide drill bits inserted inside lead balls surrounded by a sabot. This enabled the ball to be fired from a shotgun and it enabled them to penetrate deep within a motor in order to disable it. Small harassing weapons were also built, such as slingshots and blow guns, that launched a small needle-like wire through the barrel using a small paper or plastic funnel shaped piece on the other end. Coated with poison or human excrements, the dart itself wasn’t that lethal but the infection in the wound it produced was.
Fishhooks were fastened to a length of fishing line that in some cases had more than a hundred fishhooks secured in place on it and waited in the center of a well-traveled path, nearly invisible until a passerby became snared in the trap. A terrible consequence if the person was running. Tripwires were set to fire a small explosive charge located underground in a pipe stuffed with nuts, bolts, broken glass, rusty nails, and gravel. Most of these improvised triggers were simply mouse traps that would snap shut on an initiator. Many of the weapons were one-time use, but effective for warning anyone within hearing range that their perimeter was breached. Other basic warnings were installed. A small cord was attached to tin cans with a few pieces of gravel inside them to make a rattling noise when they were jostled by a trespasser. These served as silent sentries.
Various types of punji stakes were buried underground to snare the hapless person on foot. Sharpened pieces of sheet metal were either screwed or welded together that looked like a child
’s toy Jack and were scattered on the roads to puncture tires. Quarter-inch cable was stretched across roadways, neck high, to take out several motorcycles in one fell swoop. Other types of punji stake traps were spring-loaded to impale and hopefully kill anyone struck by them. In some cases, bear traps were set in places and were secured to heavy objects to prevent the victim from escape.
Messengers were outfitted with mountain bikes to travel from one end of town to the other quickly, without having to utilize gas. A rudimentary written code that could not be readily deciphered was adopted for sending important messages. A series of towers were constructed and secured with heavy objects buried in the ground at their bases, such as old junk cars or fifty-five-gallon drums filled with gravel or cement. The townspeople built the defensive barriers rapidly and in the spirit of camaraderie akin to an old-fashioned barn raising, when neighbors pitched in to help each other in times of need or crisis.
Basic hand-to-hand combat was practiced, and children, women and elderly people were soon able to dominate a large person with the proper wrist lock, or by grabbing and pulling apart fingers. Seldom could an attacker handle the pain. One of these motions caused the recipient near instant immobilization. A kick to the shin would put a grown man down and a boot stomp to the neck or to the solar plexus was all it took most times to end something quickly that could have been fatal to the defender.
Other moves were designed to completely stop an attacker on the spot, a few fingers jammed into the eyes of an attacker with enough force to drive the fingers into the brain. Defensive actions took hold throughout the small communities from Redding to Yuba City down to Placerville. People worked continuously to secure their territory and protect their people. They soon became a fortified fighting force to be reckoned with.
Avalon- The Construction Page 17
