The Peacekeepers. Books 1 - 3.

by Ricky Sides

  Jim winked at Frank and said, “You really should make your son work more often. I think the strain of holding that box is going to give him a hernia, so if you don’t mind, I think we should let him take it inside.”

  Frank’s curiosity was aroused, but he let his son take the box on inside the house. He was about to follow him inside when Jim stopped him with a question. “Are you well now?”

  Frank knew that Jim was referring to his recent bout with the flu that Jim had cured with the penicillin. “Never felt better,” he replied, and then he asked, “Why do you ask?”

  “Because there are nineteen more boxes of food in the truck they are going to need to be taken inside,” he joked.

  “Sure, but what’s going on?”

  “Grab a box and I’ll tell you.”

  As the three men unloaded the truck, Jim explained about the deal that he had made with the trucker. He told Frank about his plans to go to Louisiana to look for his brother. He said he wanted them to have a few things that would help them out until Frank could find some way to support his family in the new environment.

  Shirley cried when she opened the boxes and discovered they were all filled with food. She efficiently stored the food in the cabinets and instructed the men in her family to take the overflow into a large walk in closet two rooms away from the kitchen.

  Jim’s generosity touched Frank. He said, “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

  “It’s my nature, Frank. I love to help people who are worthy of help. Thanks are appreciated, but not necessary.”

  “It’s necessary to me, friend. A month ago, I would have refused charity like this but that was a month ago. During the past month, I’ve seen the world turned upside down. I watched helplessly as my little girl cried herself to sleep because she was hungry and we had no food in the house and my son tried to steal your food.”

  Jim was startled by that revelation and Frank continued, “Oh yes, he told me what he tried to do. He also told me how you covered for him in front of Margaret. I really appreciate that.”

  Jim shrugged and said, “I saw that he was a good kid with a desperate problem. I don’t really see what I did as very great. You see, your son was doing what he thought he had to do. That’s what I did too.”

  “We owe you a lot. If you ever need anything, let me know and I’ll do my best to help you.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Jim said, as he shook the man’s hand.

  ***

  An hour later, Jim was once more on the road that led out of the city. He stopped at a service station on the highway to top off his fuel tanks. The station was barely operating now. The owner had set up hand pumps to pump fuel for the customers. He had even stopped taking money for the fuel. He was keenly aware that once his present supply of fuel was gone, it might be a considerable while before he received another shipment. He had started trading fuel for food, weapons, or anything else that he felt might be in demand in the near future.

  It took thirty minutes of negotiations to arrange a deal and get his fuel. Jim had been forced to give the man ten boxes of food for the fuel. He was furious when he pulled out of the station. “From here on out, I’ll only stop at deserted service stations and get my fuel,” he promised himself.

  As Jim headed down the nearly deserted highway, he thought of Pete and wondered what his mentor was doing.

  Chapter 14

  At that moment, Pete was having a meeting with his two lieutenants and Sergeant Jackson.

  “We’ve got to do something!” Bill Young stated emphatically. Bill had been in Pete’s survival group since he’d formed it. He was one of the lieutenants who had taken it upon himself to act as one of Pete’s personal bodyguards.

  “I know we’ve got to do something,” Pete said calmly. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I care about what’s happening all over this city too.”

  Bill gave Pete an apologetic look and said quietly, “I know you care. I’m sorry if I sounded like I don’t, but I really want to do something soon. The things that are being done to the innocent people up there makes me sick.”

  “I know, that’s why I’ve worked up a plan of action to do something about it. We’ll send out four teams of two men each. These teams will locate survivors and send them to a central gathering place where we’ll arm them with confiscated weapons. You’ll then tell them what they have to do in order to survive. That’s really all that we can do for them.”

  The three men under Pete’s command all looked at their leader as if they were about to argue for further aid, but before they could do so he raised his hands for silence and said, “We have to think about the safety of our own people. If we take all of the survivors into the shelter, we wouldn’t be able to feed everyone. We’d run out of medicine in weeks and water in a month at best. We’d also run the very real risk of drawing too much attention to our organization. We don’t want to give the Marauders any reason to band together against a common foe. For now, the only thing that we can do to help the innocents is the plan I just outlined. I know that this sounds cold to you, but those are the facts as I see them.”

  Pete gave each of the men present a piercing stare and waited for their replies. One by one, the men reluctantly agreed with the plan.

  Pete nodded his head and said, “Select eight of our best men to handle the operation. Make sure they aren’t hot headed or the overly emotional type. They have to be able to witness atrocities and do nothing if the odds are overwhelmingly against them.”

  Pete walked over to his weapons locker and retrieved his pistol and rifle. Turning to his men he said, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back by nine o’clock tonight.”

  “Where are you going, Pete?” asked Sergeant Jackson.

  “To teach a few Marauders that there is a price to pay for their evil ways.”

  “But you said we shouldn’t do that,” stated the third man, who had remained silent during the meeting.

  “No, I didn’t say you couldn’t do that,” Pete denied with a shake of his head. “What I said was, that the entire company can’t do it.” The three men looked at him in surprise and saw the broad smile on his face. “I’m about to let the Marauders know that someone in the city is killing them when he catches them molesting the innocent victims. It will do a world of good for the victims' morale and at the same time send a message to the Marauders. Maybe they’ll think twice before seeking other victims when they see a few of their friends get their heads blown off when they commit atrocities.” That said, Pete reached down beside his desk and picked up a heavy bag of ammunition. Without another word, he walked out of the room.

  The three men left in the room all knew that one thing was certain; before they saw their leader again, there would be several dead Marauders in the city. They also knew that he was right about not letting all survivors into their shelter. In the end, that would’ve been a disaster.

  The three men filed out of the room, feeling much better about the plight of the victims than they had before they’d entered. In fact, they were satisfied now because they knew that Pete was out on the hunt, and when Pete hunted, the hunted died. Pete was the best and they all knew it. That was the reason they followed his orders.

  ***

  Pete crawled along the roof of the building. The screams he’d heard had been silenced, but he instinctively knew that he wasn’t too late.

  As Pete approached the edge of the roof, the Marauders came into view. There were three of them. One of the Marauders was in the process of raping a woman. Pete could see the woman’s feeble attempts to defend herself, so he knew she was still alive.

  He raised the rifle to his shoulder and placed his right cheek beside the stock, and then he brought the receptacle of the powerful telescopic sight to within an inch of his eye. Pete considered shooting the man who was raping the woman first, but had to discard that notion because he couldn’t get a clear shot at the man without endangering his victim. He examined the
other two men and decided to shoot the bigger man first. He carefully held his sights on this man then moved the rifle to a position that was directly over the rapist’s head about a foot above the man.

  Three times Pete shifted from the big man to the rapist to make certain that he would be able to shift from the first target to the second, smoothly and efficiently. On the third lineup, he shifted his right elbow one inch forward. He worked the bolt of the Winchester bolt-action rifle and chambered a round. Settling his sights on the first target, he waited for the natural pause in his breathing. As usual, Pete was a bit surprised when the rifle fired the first round of a sniper attack but he worked the bolt smoothly and shifted to his second target with a fluid precision.

  As Pete had anticipated, the rapist was raising his body off the woman. His next shot entered the back of the man’s skull and killed him instantly. He was dead before the bullet exited his forehead.

  Pete considered shooting the remaining Marauder, but decided against it. A live witness would spread the word of the killings and that was an important part of his plan. Therefore, he let the remaining man run away.

  If the Marauders were afraid they might take a bullet to the back of the head while they were molesting the survivors, then some would surely think twice before doing it.

  Pete smiled grimly and left his rooftop perch to go in search of more of the human vermin who preyed on the weak and defenseless.

  He stopped when he reached the ground level. He uttered a single curse word and then went to check on the victim. He walked cautiously around the building and saw the woman trying to dress herself in the tattered remnants of her clothing. Pete walked toward her and got to within a few feet of the woman before she became aware of his presence.

  The woman cowered away from him and whimpered in fear. He crouched down on his heels and speaking gently, he said, “You have no need to fear me, lady. I’m the man who killed these two men. I’m here to help you.”

  The woman looked at him and said, “One got away.”

  Pete didn’t bother to explain his strategy to the woman. He had a lot of work to do before this day was done and time was pressing. Instead, he asked, “Do you see the two guns these guys were carrying?”

  The woman looked at the two semi-auto pistols that the men had carried and said, “Yes.”

  Pete recovered the pistols from the bodies and showed the woman how to operate them. He ignored the fact that she was still sobbing from time to time as he instructed her in the use of the weapons.

  When he was sure the woman knew how to operate the pistols he said, “Find somebody, anybody as long as they are friendly to you. Give them one of your pistols. Stay with them and don’t let this happen to you again.”

  “How can I stop it from happening? There isn’t any law to protect me.”

  “You’re wrong, lady.” He pointed to the pistol that she had in her hand and said, “From now on, that’s the law.”

  Slow realization of the facts dawned on the woman’s face. She grimly nodded her understanding and said, “Thank you, Mister.”

  “Don’t thank me. Pay me back by helping someone else who’s in trouble. Each time you do so; treat them as I treated you. I know it might seem cruel to you, but if you baby them, they probably won’t survive. You see, I treated you the way I did so you wouldn’t go into shock and lose all hope of surviving the breakdown of society.”

  “I think I understand, Mister.”

  “Good. Maybe you’ll make it then.”

  Pete turned to leave but the woman stopped him with one last question. “What’s your name Mister?”

  As Pete turned to face her one last time, she added, “After all, a person should know the name of the man who saved her life.”

  “Pete Damroyal,” he said and nodded as if to say, “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” He turned away then and left the woman standing where she was. He hoped she’d make it. He deeply regretted that they couldn’t take survivors into their shelter but to do so was to endanger his own group. How could he bring in survivors and forbid the rest of the group from doing the same? The answer was he couldn’t.

  Pete would never see that woman again, but his meeting with the woman would have a profound impact on the woman’s life for years to come. She’d survive. Indeed, she would do more than survive. She did as Pete had instructed her. It started small but in three months, she had a small army of people who followed her. These people banded together and fought off all attackers so furiously that the Marauders learned to give them a wide berth. It was healthier that way.

  As for Pete, he went home tired that night, but there were ten less Marauders in the city. There were also six victims who were mad as hell, and were determined that they’d never be any man’s victim again.

  Pete’s band of survivalists did their jobs well. In two days, they had a band of three hundred people grouped together for their mutual protection. In a week, their numbers had swelled to one thousand. By that time, Pete had ordered the teams back into the retreat. “We’ve done enough for that group,” he explained. “They can take care of their own problems now.” Then Pete issued other orders. “From now on I want three teams deployed around this section of the city. Kill any Marauders who come to this area to commit their atrocities. You’ll carry this out by using sniper tactics.”

  Pete knew quite well how effective such tactics could be. In the past week, he’d killed dozens of Marauders who had been killing, raping, and torturing the innocent survivors. He looked at the men assembled before him and said, “If you view killing Marauders as murder, you have the wrong attitude. This is just the most efficient way to go about the job.”

  Pete surveyed his men and saw no pity for the Marauders on their faces. “I need six volunteers for the job,” he said speaking softly.

  Immediately hands shot up in the formation. Pete was glad to see that every member of his command volunteered for the job. It was a fact he noted with pride. He turned to Bill Young and said, “Lieutenant Young, I want you to select the men that you need from the volunteers. Get the best shooters that you can, and in two hours send them to my office for a briefing.”

  “Yes, Sir,” replied the lieutenant and he turned to face the men.

  As Pete walked away, he could hear his orders being carried out. He was proud of the fact that the men were so disciplined.

  Chapter 15

  Jim drove down the highway as carefully as he could. His journey had barely begun, but he’d already been forced to make several detours. The last such detour had put him on this deserted country road.

  Jim carefully threaded his way through the maze of cracks and potholes that the earthquakes had left in the surface of the road. He stifled a yawn and shook his head in an effort to remain awake. Five minutes later, he was yawning again. Sighing, he admitted to himself that he was too exhausted to stay on the road much longer. He had been driving all day, and that unaccustomed activity had taken a toll on him mentally and physically. His body was telling him that it was time to rest.

  Glancing at the sign beside the road, he saw that he was now entering York city limits. He leaned back in the seat and drove steadily on into the city. A short while later he pulled his truck to a stop beside an old motel. He took the precaution of taking along his pistol as he climbed out of the cab of the truck. He didn’t want to be caught with his guard down, so he was being careful.

  He tried to go into the office but the door was locked. Looking through the window, he noted that there was no one inside and from all appearances, there had not been for quite some time. Apparently, the motel had been abandoned. Shrugging his shoulders, he went back to his truck and drove it to the front of one of the rooms.

  Removing the AK-47 assault rifle from the mounting rack, he left the truck once more and walked to the door of the room that he had selected. Turning to face his truck, he nodded in satisfaction. It would be visible from the road. Glancing at the side of the truck, he noted the big red letters that spelled
out his name. He painted it on both sides of the trailer.

  With all of the detours he’d been forced to make the past two days, he was sure it would be almost impossible for him to run across his brother on the road. Nevertheless, the act of putting his name on the sides of the truck had made him feel a bit better. At least he knew he was doing everything he could to ensure that if he ran across his brother, then Tim would at least have the opportunity to spot his name and follow the truck.

  Turning to the door, he discovered that it was locked. That came as no surprise to him. He picked the lock and entered the room. Inside, he found that the room was neat with the bed made and complimentary coffee packets had been left out on the table in the room.

  Walking over to the bed, he tested the firmness and sighed in contentment. The mattress was not too hard and not too soft. He was looking forward to several hours sack time.

  He tossed the small bag of food on the bed and turned to look out the small bay window at his truck parked outside. The truck had a double sleeper and he could have slept in it, yet he found himself reluctant to do so. Something was nagging him about sleeping in the truck. He had an odd premonition that he shouldn’t do that and it bothered him. Setting that concern aside, he turned away from the truck and headed into the bathroom. Checking the water, he was not surprised to discover that it wasn’t working.

  Returning to the room, he sat down in a chair beside the bed and settled for a simple meal of cold beef stew and crackers. The last thing he did before going to sleep was lay his pistol beside him. He let his right hand rest on the pistol grip and glanced at the watch on his left arm. It was 7:00 P.M. Within a matter of moments, he was fast asleep and soon the dreams came.

  Jim saw the road and all the horrors he’d seen as he’d driven the Peterbuilt from Athens to his present location.