by N. C. Reed
He clearly didn’t like the idea, but with a deep sigh he relaxed. Pete stifled a sigh of his own as Billy stood down. Then he went back to watching.
“We already lost two people when the blizzard hit,” the surly man who wanted to ‘take’ noted. “There’s no sense in waitin’ around until we lose more. They’ve got what we need, at least to get through the winter. I say we take’em now, and then we’re set for the winter.”
“So long as we stay, I agree,” ‘notebook’ nodded. “I’m tired o’ livin’ in the woods, or abandoned houses, and scrapin’ by. This is a good set-up. We get rid of them, and we take over ourselves. Live comfortable.”
“We have to keep moving,” Leader said firmly. “We can lay up a little while, but we got work to do. You all know that.”
“We can’t get work done in bitter weather,” Notebook objected. “They got to understand that. All of us ain’t sittin’ comfortable somewhere for the winter. We need a place to rest up.”
The leader watched his men, and women, debate their ideas for a few minutes. Finally he held up a hand.
“That’s enough!” he said forcefully, and all talk came to a halt.
“We take’em,” he announced. “We do it now. Today. Everyone get their gear and. . . .”
“Time to make this go away,” Pete whispered raising his rifle. “I’ll take the leader, and Surly. You take the two watchers. After that, targets of opportunity. On three?” Billy nodded, sighting his rifle.
“One. . .two. . .three!”
The two rifles cracked as one, and Leader and Notebook fell. Before anyone could react, both fired again, Surly and the other watcher hitting the ground. After that, things got interesting.
One man jumped to his feet, sending rifle rounds wildly into the woods. A single round from Pete’s rifle stopped him.
The two women were shrieking loudly, and one drew her pistol, looking around wildly as she screamed in rage. The other one tried to grab a shotgun leaning against a log nearby. Billy didn’t hesitate, cutting her down. Pete hesitated no more than a second before shooting the woman with the handgun. She had been the one arguing for the group to just ask for help.
Tough.
The two remaining men managed to get behind a pair of downed trees. These two had figured out which direction the shots were coming from, and started to fire back. Their shots weren’t near Billy or Pete, but they were working their way down.
Billy took the left one, watching carefully until he had the shot he wanted. The man raised his head every time he took a shot, then ducked back quickly. But he got into a rhythm, and he didn’t change his position. Billy waited patiently, and on the fifth shot, fired once. The round took the man in the forehead.
Pete’s target was more careful, but Pete was just as patient as Billy was. This man was changing his position after every two shots. His mistake was doing that after every two shots. The shooter still wasn’t certain where his attackers were, and should have remained hidden and silent, waiting for a shot. Instead, he was sending rounds into the woods at random, and hoping for luck.
His luck ran out.
Pete had let the man shoot and scoot three times. Satisfied that his target was locked into his two shots and move pattern, Pete waited for the first shot from his new position. When it came, Pete simply sighted in on the spot, and waited.
Sure enough, the man exposed himself again to take the second shot before moving. Pete was already squeezing the trigger when his target appeared, and a single rifle shot put him down forever.
The two men waited for ten minutes, perfectly still, watching the campsite. After ten minutes of no movement, they began to cautiously make their way down the hill, and into the camp.
*****
It had been a clean sweep. Those not killed immediately, had died in the interim. Neither Billy nor Pete wasted any emotion on the pack of killers.
Pete began rummaging through their belongings, looking for information on where the group had come from. Billy began methodically stripping the bodies of weapons, ammunition, anything that might someday be of use to them. All of the group had been well armed. In fact, looking through their gear, Billy realized that all of the group’s gear was good stuff. But there wasn’t much food. Just some MREs and a few bags of beans and rice that looked like it had been rescued from the rat population.
“This bunch was pretty well heeled,” he noted to Pete, who nodded.
“They were at that. And they’ve traveled a long way, according to this map.” Pete held up a well-marked map that he’d taken from Leader’s tent. “They started out in Nashville, and apparently walked most of the way here. Took a wandering path. Looks like they’ve drifted from one area to another, stripping each place as they went. I’m curious how they haven’t managed to find enough gas to keep vehicles running.”
“Maybe they just ran out,” Billy suggested. “This is a buncha stuff, Pete. And even with them game carts,” he pointed to where the carts sat abandoned behind the tents, “there ain’t much way they humped all this stuff this whole way.” This time he pointed to the route traced on the map.
“True enough,” Pete conceded. “Take a look at this map, though. Look at all these notations. I think I need to look for a notebook or something.” Pete went back to looking, while Billy went and collected two of the game carts. He didn’t want the MRE’s or other food, but the guns and ammunition were all good quality. So were most of the other gear, including spotting scopes, binoculars, compasses, packs, knives, and everything else. This bunch had made out pretty well scavenging.
One thing that Billy took for himself was a Kimber forty-five like his own. The pistol looked practically brand new, with several mags and an excellent Bianchi holster. He decided he would take the whole outfit. He doubted he’d have the opportunity to secure another Kimber any time soon. Or ever.
The rest he piled into the game carts, using blankets to pad and protect the gear. And conceal it, he admitted.
“Look here, Billy,” Pete called. He was holding a small leather notebook, and a large one as well.
“These guys have been spotting large amounts of supplies. Inventorying them. Why in the hell would they be watching us, and planning to take our stuff, when they’ve got all this already spotted?”
Billy looked at the notations on the map, and had no trouble matching them to notations in the book. As he looked at the places on the map, most of which he knew of, even if he hadn’t been there. There was something nagging at him about these places.
“This book looks like radio codes,” Pete held up the other radio. “Later on, there’s a logbook. I’ve only read the first three pages or so of the log, but it seems these guys were in regular contact with someone.”
“None of’em got a railroad!” Billy exclaimed. Pete looked up at the non sequitur. “What?”
“Ain’t none o’ these towns got a railroad,” Billy repeated, pointing to the map. “Not a one. You say these guys are reportin’ to somebody else. How ‘bout that damn train? Are they gatherin’ intel on what’s available off the tracks, so that bunch on the train can form a convoy, and strip even more stuff from the towns around us?” Pete looked stunned at the idea.
“I. . .I don’t know, Billy,” he said after a minute. “It’s possible, I guess.”
“I’d bet it’s likely,” Billy declared. “Did you find their radio?”
“Not yet,” Pete went back to looking through Leader’s tent. “I’m assuming it would be in here, somewhere. But maybe someone else was the RTO. Radio operator,” he clarified. Billy nodded, not bothering to add the he’d know what Pete had meant.
“Check the other tents,” Pete ordered. “I’ll help. Let’s see can we find a radio here. Wait!” Pete stopped him. “Have you ever seen a sat phone?”
“Not as I know of,” Billy shook his head.
“If you find a weird looking phone with a antenna looks like it’s bent, bring it to me. They might be using a satellite phone instead of a rad
io.”
The two went to work, scouring the campsite for communications equipment.
“Got it!” Pete called out five minutes later. He lugged what appeared to be a sturdy looking brief case out of one of the tents, setting it on the ground. He opened it up revealing a small folding satellite receiver, a metal box with numerous gauges, dials and readout panels attached, and a telephone headset.
“This is a pretty good setup,” Pete noted. “It’s old, compared to modern military hardware, but still a good rig for what they’re using it for. You can hit a satellite with this, and talk to your base from damn near anywhere in the world.”
“Or to a train that’s got one just like it?” Billy asked. Pete looked up at him.
“Yep.”
*****
The two of them spent the next three hours scouring the campsite. Every scrap of paper they found went into a duffle they had appropriated for the purpose. They would go through it all later. Billy had pulled the bodies away from the camp site, and the creek, stacking them like cord-wood. He rummaged around the camp until he found two gallons of kerosene, which he proceeded to pour onto the bodies. Pete looked at him.
“What you aim to do?”
“Burn’em,” Billy shrugged. “Don’t want them rottin’ out here, and poisonin’ the water. Or ruinin’ this campsite. Like I said, only decent one around this little area. Might need it sometime.” Pete nodded, understanding.
“I’ll come back ‘fore summer, and get rid o’ what don’t burn up,” Billy went on. “Ain’t no sense in the women folk or none o’ them kid’s gettin’ a look at such as this.”
“Good idea,” Pete nodded. He watched as Billy tossed a burning branch for the campfire onto the pile of bodies. Billy had gathered up a good amount of dead fall and brush, which he had placed under, on, and around the stack. It caught up quickly, and began to burn. Both men sat down up wind of the fire.
“The more I think on it, the more I think you’re right, Billy,” Pete said after a few minutes. “It could be something else, I guess. Maybe a patrol from some MAG outfit, looking for salvage. But the way they spoke so casually about killing us and taking our place makes me wonder.”
“I don’t care who it is,” Billy said flatly. “Anybody aims to take from me and mine better have friends. And a sack lunch.”
“Sack lunch?” Pete looked at him, grinning.
“Gonna be a all day job,” Billy nodded without humor. “Might get hungry ‘fore it’s over.”
Pete was still laughing when the sat phone began to beep.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The two men jumped slightly at the sound. They both turned to look as the case beeped again. They exchanged looks of surprise and confusion, and then shrugged, almost in unison.
“Might as well answer it, I guess,” Pete said, looking back at the phone’s case.
“Might’s well,” Billy nodded. Pete went to the case and hurriedly hooked up the receiver, then picked up the phone.
“Go ahead,” he said gruffly, hoping that his voice wouldn’t sound different enough to cause a reaction.
“Status.” The one word demand was short and sharp.
“Unchanged,” Pete said, replying with the same tone.
“Understood. Out.”Pete waited, but there was nothing more. He replaced the handset, and broke down the antenna.
“Well, that gives us a little more time, maybe,” Pete said thoughtfully.
“Works for me,” Billy nodded. “Only thing worries me is whether or not these idiots told whoever that was where they were campin’.”
“That’s an issue,” Pete acknowledged. “Or what was here, for that matter,” he added after a minute’s thought. He stood.
“I reckon we best be heading back, Billy,” Pete told him. “I think we’re gonna need to share this with the group. At least with George and Terry, and Mister Silvers.”
“Mister Silvers is it?” Billy grinned, and Pete almost blushed.
“Trying to stay on his good side,” Pete admitted. “That don’t come easy to me, either.”
“You treat Michelle right, and be a man, Jerry won’t have no problem with you,” Billy assured his friend. “His bite is as bad as his bark, mind you. But he’s a good fella. And a fair minded man.”
“He seems like a good guy,” Pete nodded.
“He is, or him and daddy wouldn’a been friends,” Billy confirmed. “Trust me on that.” He looked to where the bonfire had finally burned down. Charred bones were clearly visible in the pile, but Billy wasn’t bothered by that. They had gotten off easier than was deserved, to his way of thinking.
“Reckon we can head on back,” he commented. “Don’t think that fire’s goin’ nowhere.” Pete nodded in agreement, and the two men grabbed the carts they’d filled and started for home.
*****
“What are we gonna tell the rest?” Billy asked, as he and Pete neared Billy’s house.
“Huh?” Pete looked at Billy, puzzlement on his face.
“What you aim to tell the rest?” Billy repeated. “About what we found.”
“Uh. . .just figured I’d tell’em the truth,” Pete shrugged, confused.
“Reckon me and you can do somethin’ ‘bout this train, we was to set our minds to it,” Billy told him evenly. “If’n you want, that is.”
“All two of us?” Pete asked with a snort. “That’s good attitude, Billy, but I can’t see how the two of us can stand up to that train.”
“I might know a way,” Billy shrugged. “I wanna take a look at that map again, and that radio book, ‘fore you let it get away from ya. Mind?”
“Hell no,” Pete shook his head. “Wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have it. Which reminds me, we need to get a patrol started. Horseback’ll do, I think, but we need to make at least two circuits a day around the entire area, and have some on listening post duty through the night. Maybe even making some checks.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Billy nodded. “Need an alarm o’ some kind, too. Maybe where anybody in any house can trip it off. Add in some lights at each house that’d come on when the alarm went off. I don’t know. Some kinda way for an alert to sound.”
“Good idea,” Pete agreed. “Let me think on that. We might could set up a switchboard type deal, where the alarm triggers a light at the post. Hmmm.” Pete went quiet, lost in thought. Finally, he snapped his fingers.
“We need to talk to Howie. And we need to go to Cedar Bend, maybe. I got an idea.”
*****
“Yeah, I can do that,” Howie nodded. “We can use wireless stuff to send the alarm, and it’ll sound off in the alert shack. No problem.”
“Without phones, we need a way to make sure we can round everyone up,” Pete reminded him. “Radio is okay, but it might not wake a man up from a sound sleep. And we might need everyone awake, even if they aren’t needed. Especially if we were being attacked.”
“Hmm,” Howie mused, rubbing his chin. “Let me think on that. Meanwhile, let’s look at what we’d need for the alarms. If we can find the parts and pieces, we can actually wire the windows and doors to alarm when someone breaks in, you know. Let’s start looking at how many places we’re talking about, and how many windows.”
*****
“Okay, I think we’ve got a good count,” Howie said finally. “A local alarm is no problem, provided we can scrounge the components. And even if we can’t, I can probably make something that will work.”
“Rigging a system that will alarm remotely presents other challenges, but they’re not insurmountable. Just. . .difficult. The main problems are power, and transmission. Well, supply is a problem, if we can’t find what we’re looking for.”
“We got a lot of stuff like that at the Lowe’s in Columbia,” Pete mentioned. “Alarms, cameras, stuff like that. Maybe that will help.”
“Great!” Howie enthused. “We really need a Radio Shack, or some other radio supply, too. We’ll need wire, for one thing. And we’ll need something to r
elay transmissions from the cameras and motion detectors to the alert shack.”
“Well, there was a Radio Shack, I think,” Pete sighed. “But we didn’t go there.”
“Any chance the Train people didn’t hit it?” Howie asked.
“Ain’t no way o’ knowin’, ‘cept to go look,” Billy replied. “I’m game.”
“Me too,” Pete agreed. “You want to go?” he asked Howie.
“I sure do!” Howie smiled. “I’d love to get out, even for a day!”
“Well, I guess we’ll take a road trip,” Billy nodded.
*****
Rhonda was not amused.
“You said you was gonna stay around here!” she protested, when Billy informed her of the trip.
“Come with me,” Billy said quietly, though firmly. Taking her by the arm, he led her out the back door, and over to his small ‘shack’. Inside were the weapons and other equipment he and Pete had taken from the group that had been scouting the farms.
“See all this?” he demanded. “This here is what we took from nine people this mornin’. People who were gettin’ ready to come over that ridge behind the Clifton place, kill us all, and take ever thing we own.” Rhonda’s face lost the rigidity of anger.
“What. . .I mean, where are they, now?” she asked.
“Dead,” Billy told her flatly. “And the bodies burnt plumb up,” he added. “This here ain’t no game, Rhonda. Them people meant to do us harm. And they was workin’ for somebody else. Somebody that might just know right where we are, right here this very minute.”
“I can’t help what other people do, you know,” he went on. “This here wasn’t somethin’ I knowed about when I said all that. And it can’t wait. We got to have some better security around here, or we gonna wake up dead one mornin’.”
“Howie says he can do that, but he needs stuff. ‘Lectric stuff. Don’t get me started on what all, on account o’ I don’t rightly know. All I know is, he says we need it. So we got to go get it. And that means we have to go and get it. It ain’t gonna come to us.”
