The Day America Died Trilogy

by A J Newman

  I raised my arms, and in a few minutes, the tractor came into view.

  “Are those two girls your army?”

  “Don’t sell them short. They’ve held their own in several shootouts.”

  “And beautiful too.”

  This was becoming our routine. We helped get their trucks and tractors running, and they threw a big lunch for us. Brisket, corn on the cob and a fresh garden salad.

  “I’m sorry, but we have to eat and run. We are only a few days from home, and I have a young daughter I need to get home to protect.”

  “We can’t thank you enough for showing us how to get the vehicles running and those tips about checking semi-trailers and warehouse are going to be a big help."

  Geena was driving the tractor with one hand on the wheel and one resting on the 9mm pistol, lying across her lap. Sally was watching our rear while I was watching Geena’s rear. I know that sounds bad on my part, but the tractor seat bounced and jiggled just the right amount to keep my attention. After all, I am still technically a reforming whoremonger and not a totally cured one.

  My thoughts turned to Callie, how I would have to stop chasing women and get back to being a good father. I was actually proud of myself because I hadn’t slept with either of these two gorgeous ladies. I had always asked myself which movie star would I want to be stranded on a desert island with and none would beat out these two. I was daydreaming when I looked over to Sally and knew that I was busted.

  “You do know that I have one of those also and I might add that mine is tighter and better looking than Geena’s. You had your hand all over it the other night. Wasn’t it good enough for you? You dirty old man,” said Sally as she teased me.

  “I resent that remark. I’m not old. Besides, I was watching the road ahead, and you have a dirty mind.”

  “Seriously Zack, I am interested in you and would like to be your woman. Dating is out the window, and it sucks to be a woman alone in this world. You are a great guy, and I think we would be great together. I could help you raise your daughter, and I’d make a great wife.”

  “So I am your choice because I am one of the last men on earth?”

  “No, smart ass. You know what I mean.”

  Geena stopped the tractor, turned around and said, “Sally, you do know I could hear most of what you were saying. My assets are definitely better than yours, and I think Zack has already chosen to be with me even if he did fondle yours last night.”

  “Girls, I have a wonderful girlfriend who rocks her jeans and has my heart.”

  They both chimed in at the same time, “Show her picture to us.”

  “I lost my wallet.”

  They called me a liar at the same time and started hitting me gently. We tussled around for a few minutes until I realized that I was getting excited and jumped out of the wagon and stood there looking at them.

  Geena spoke up, “Zack, assuming you don’t settle down with one of us, could you teach us how to fight and use these guns properly? We both need to learn to hunt and fish also.”

  “I promise Mike, and I will teach you how to do all of those things.”

  “Tell us about Mike. Does he have a non-existent girlfriend also?”

  “No, Mike pretty much sleeps with them until they figure out that he won’t commit and leave him.”

  “So your friend is an asshole.”

  “No quite the contrary. He is a real gentleman and a perfect boyfriend. He just hasn’t met the right woman yet. Just like me, he thought he’d found her, and she shit on him about the same time Joan left me, and we both became gun shy with women.”

  “Tell us more about Mike and any other men in the area. Kentucky sounds better all the time.”

  I spent the next hour telling them about Mike, Joan and myself. I spent half the time cursing Joan and Todd.

  “Mike took a dump in your ex’s boyfriend’s Corvette. How funny. I already like him.”

  Geena added, “I think you still have a thing for your ex. You talk way too much about her. Is she pretty?”

  “The truth is she’s not beautiful like you two. Now she has a fantastic body, but she is the tomboy next door I grew up and fell in love with. We got married right out of high school, had Callie and made a good living. I worked in the electronics repair field, and she is a restaurant manager.”

  “Well, I’m jealous of her.”

  “Ya’ll don’t have to be jealous of her. She’s madly in love with that piece of shit Todd. Look, girls, we need to get back on the road. We are losing a half day’s travel today, and I want to get below Champaign before we camp tonight. We need to cover about 25 miles, and the last five will be on dirt roads and cornfields to get around Champaign. I don’t want to run into that biker gang that is supposed to be operating in the area.”

  Zack jumped in the tractor’s seat and quickly covered the miles until they were a mile outside of Mahomet where he veered off the road and headed south until he turned onto a county road.

  He turned around and told the girls, “I’m heading southeast, and we’re skirting around Champaign. We’ll be on a hundred back roads, but we should be able to keep away from that gang.”

  Geena replied, “We’ll keep our eyes peeled for trouble.”

  We had to stop and cut fences twice, but as I told them we traveled on at least 15 different roads before County Road 1000 crossed Highway 57 just south of the airport.

  “The sun’s going down, and we made it past Champaign; we need to find a place to spend the night. We’ll stay off 57 and backtrack to County Road 800 and go until we find some woods or an abandoned farmhouse.”

  It was twilight, but I didn’t dare turn the lights on, so I drove slowly.

  “Zack, have you noticed the last four farmhouses and barns were burned to the ground.”

  “Yes and that worries me. Let’s keep going until we get another few miles down the road. The map shows Highways 45 and 57 crosses up ahead. That puts us 10 to 12 miles below Champaign. We’ll try the first barn without lights.”

  About two miles later, we saw a house with two barns and half dozen silos on the west side of the road. There were no lights, so I stopped the tractor a quarter mile away and walked towards it in the dark to scout for danger.

  ••••

  The bikers were at their post on top of the overpass pulling sentry duty. Their leader had been a private in the Army and had tried to instill some military tactics in his men. They were a sorry lot, but they were well armed and killed anyone who gave them trouble. They also liked to burn people alive in their homes.

  “John, did you hear that noise over there?”

  John had his woman in his lap, and both were naked and stoned.

  “Nah, I didn’t hear anything. Go away until we’re finished.”

  “I thought I heard a tractor putting along out west of us. I’m going to tell Bob.”

  ••••

  Davi and her parents were sitting on the back deck when they heard the sound from across the field.

  “That’s coming from the Stevens farm. They disappeared several days ago.”

  “Dad, should we check it out? It could be that damn gang trying to expand their territory.”

  “Yes, get prepared. Dear, start loading the truck while we check this out. When we come back, we’ll load up and head out in the morning. Come on Davi, let’s do some head hunting.”

  ••••

  “What do you mean you heard a noise? You ran back here because you got scared. You left John out there alone to run and hide.”

  “No Bob, I heard a tractor and thought you might want to have it.”

  Bob shoved the woman off his lap, walked over to the biker and said, “Now you’re thinking. The king of bikers needs a damn tractor.”

  Bob drew back, slugged the man and then kicked him while yelling, “Get this pussy out of my sight. Bones take some men and find my tractor and bring it back to me.”

  ••••

  I took the first and las
t watch as usual. We had closed the barn doors and had a small fire to cook supper. Roasted spam, pork and beans and popcorn for dessert. I climbed the ladder up to the hayloft and took turns looking out at the countryside from both ends of the barn. My two hours passed quickly, and before I could climb down and wake Sally, I heard someone climbing the ladder. Even though I knew it was Sally, I hid behind a bale of hay and waited. Both doors to the hayloft were open, and I could see her in the moonlight. Geena’s beauty took my breath away. Her blonde hair glistened in the moonlight, and she swayed her hips as she walked to my end of the barn. I thought, oh shit, this can’t happen as I watched her walk towards me.”

  “Hey beautiful, what happened to Sally?”

  “She needed a little extra sleep, so I took her place. Do you really think I’m beautiful?”

  “Geena, you take my breath away. It’s not your beauty, but rather all of you. You’re funny, intelligent and have a big heart.”

  We sat down on the bale of hay and Geena put her arm around me and laid her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head. She looked up at me, and our eyes met and locked. I placed my lips on hers and kissed her deeply and often. She slid her hand under my shirt, lifted it over my head and kissed my chest.

  “Zack, I want you.”

  I raised my hand under her shirt and cupped her breast in my hand and then I pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it in the hay. She reached between us, unbuckled my belt and unzipped my pants. I stood up, and my pants fell to the ground. Geena pulled her shorts off and let them fall. Just as she pulled me to her, there was a scream and gunfire from the barn below.

  “Shit, I finally get your clothes off, and we get attacked.”

  “Sorry, get dressed girl.”

  “Rain check?”

  “Rain check!”

  I pulled my pants up, grabbed my shotgun and ran to the ladder. Geena put her shirt over her head and grabbed her pistol. I stopped and looked down before getting on the ladder and saw a man with his hands on Sally’s throat. My pants fell down tripping me. I fell down through the opening, landed on him, knocking him away from Sally. He raised his gun, and Geena shot him from the loft.

  “Sally, are you alright?”

  “Yes, I shot one as he walked in, but this one overpowered me before I could turn and shoot him. Are you all right? That was very brave of you to leap from the hayloft to save me.”

  “Not brave, I tripped.”

  “Why the hell are your pants down?”

  She saw Geena climbing down the ladder wearing only a shirt and panties.

  I saw Geena and said, “Girls, my whole body hurts from the fall.”

  “Damn you Geena. You know I wanted him. Can we share?”

  “No!”

  Just as Sally finished speaking, two men burst through the door in front of us and three came in the back door.

  “Drop those guns, and you live.”

  We dropped our guns, and I knew Geena’s and my fit of passion had allowed these men to get the drop on us.

  They threw us to the floor and tied our hands behind our back with baling twine. I kept thinking we could find a way to escape, but there were five of them, and two kept their guns trained on us at all times.

  “These two came down from the loft. The blonde has hay trapped under her thong, and he has his pants around his feet. Those two were screwing in the loft. Nasty, nasty. You people leaving this woman down here all alone. Some bad guys might come along and rape her. Lucky for her, us good guys came to her rescue.”

  Sally looked over at us and turned red. I could tell she was pissed.

  I looked up at him and said, “Please let us go, we have families depending on us. Keep me and let the girls go.”

  “I have a boss who likes pretty women, and this doomsday event has made him king of this area. You are going to be a slave in our fields, and these two beautiful women get to be Bob’s latest lovers. That is until he tires of them, and then we get them. Not to worry, because they get to join you farming when we get tired of them. Of course, they will be worn out and ugly by then.”

  “Bones, let’s get a taste of these girls before we take them to Bob.”

  He stooped down over Geena and ran his hand up her leg before she kicked him in the shin and knocked him on the floor.

  “Dumbass, you know Bob will cut your nuts off if you touch them before he gets tired of them. You get his leftovers. Get them up and let’s get back to camp. Girl, you kick me in the balls, and I’ll cut your foot off. You don’t need no stinking foot to please Bob.”

  They made us get off the floor and loaded us into the wagon while one of the thugs started the tractor.

  Suddenly there were two explosions that blinded everyone and gunfire from all directions. I looked over the edge of the wagon, but could barely see anything.

  I heard a man yell, “Davi, they're escaping!” Shoot the bastards!”

  Then a woman with a rifle came around the tractor shooting the escaping thugs. The leader was stooped down below me and was drawing a bead on her back. I reached over, placed my bound hands around his neck and pulled him upwards. He dropped the gun and was kicking and trying to scream as I choked the life out of his sorry body. He stopped struggling and hung limply from my hands.

  “Zack, you can let him fall, he’s dead,” Geena said as she put her arms around me.

  The woman walked over to the wagon and said, “Thanks for saving my life. He had the drop on me.”

  “No, but thanks for saving our lives! We were about to be their slaves. We can’t thank you enough.”

  “Well gather your gear and let’s get out of here before they return. Hell, please put some clothes on. These men actually caught you with your pants down.”

  Davi noticed that Geena and I were down to our underwear, but Sally was fully dressed. She shook her head and went to join the other man while we dressed and got our stuff together. Geena and I went back into the hayloft, and I took Geena by the waist, pulled her to me and kissed her one more time.

  “Later?”

  “Later!”

  I tried to start the tractor, but it was dead. I checked the engine and saw tray rounds had hit the battery and distributor during the battle. It was down for the count. We grabbed our backpacks and loaded them with all of the food we could carry and followed our rescuers for about a hundred yards to a Jeep.

  “Pile in we only have a short drive. You can sit on his lap. It looks like you two are already quite friendly.”

  Geena sat on my lap, and Sally elbowed me on my wounded side. I groaned but kept my mouth shut. The fall from the hayloft nearly killed me, and I hurt from head to toe.

  “I’m Aaron, and this is my daughter Davi. We live just down this road. We heard the gunfire and came to see who was fighting. Who are you and what happened?”

  We introduced ourselves and told him about the bikers capturing us.

  “We are heading south to get back to our families and had covered several hundred miles using the tractor. I found the girls up in Iowa, and we have fought and shot several thugs along the way. All of us have been shot and survived. I screwed up and failed at my sentry post. That’s why they were able to sneak up on us.”

  “These days, you screw up, and you die. We are taking you to our house where my wife is loading up our other vehicle, and then we are heading south. We were leaving tomorrow, but this gang will be after us when those men don’t return. That’s a bad bunch. Drugs, slaves, and debauchery are their calling card. We’re getting out of here, and you can come with us if you want.”

  I replied, “We’re heading to western Kentucky. Where are you going?”

  “We are heading towards Alabama through Nashville. We hope to link up with friends and head down to Mobile. We want to get away from the north since there is no power to heat our home. I can stand the heat, but freezing in the winter is not my cup of tea.”

  “Great, you’ll want to travel the back roads, and you have
a direct shot at Nashville by cutting across Indiana and crossing the Ohio at Murphy, Indiana or Owensville, Kentucky. My home is actually below Nashville, but I have a farm outside of Owensville.”

  “I had already planned my route through Murphy. We can help each other until we part there. We need to count on each other so you can’t get caught with your pants down again.”

  His daughter, Davi, snickered while I tried to find words.

  “Sir, that won’t happen again.”

  ✪✪✪

  Chapter 11 - Mike to the Rescue, Again!

  St Charles, Kentucky

  Paul tapped on the glass until Joan told Mike to pull off the road.

  “My sister has to use the bathroom. Can I take her over behind that tree?”

  “Of course, I have to pee myself. Paul and Callie, watch the road while the rest of us take care of business then it’s your turn.”

  Paul’s mother never moved and was still dazed with glazed over eyes.

  “Mike, I don’t think that woman is going to make it.”

  “I was wondering myself. We don’t need another person to take care of, but I can’t put these kids out to fend for their selves.”

  “Brother, you always had a big heart.”

  “Come on we’re burning daylight. Let’s get to the farm before dark.”

  Paul replied, “Sir, I thought you were taking us home to Dale.”

  “We only have about three hours of daylight left. We can let your mom rest and then take you home tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  Mike started the truck, pulled back onto the road and saw two men on horseback coming towards them. He picked up speed and prepared to blow by them when they turned sideways and blocked the road.

  Mike told Callie, “Hon, hide your gun, but be ready to use it. These might be the bad men.”

  He pulled up and saw that they had police uniforms on and had their hands on the 9mms strapped to their hips.