by Victor Zugg
Five men, all armed with rifles and pistols, stood in the opening. Tiff guessed these were the same men Sam said he saw earlier. Four of the men quickly shouldered their rifles and pointed the barrels at Sam and Tiff, apparently not whom they expected.
The fifth man, the fat man in charge, stepped forward and gazed at Sam. He then took a long gaze up and down at Tiff, making no effort to hide his apparent high regard of Tiff’s slim figure and tight tactical pants. His gaze paused at the pistol holstered on her hip and then slowly returned to Sam.
“How can I help you two?” the man asked.
Sam was right, this guy does sound like a marine drill sergeant.
Sam cleared his throat. “Well, we represent a small group of hungry people looking for food.”
“Where are you from?” the man asked.
“A small town near here,” Sam said.
“Which small town?”
Sam paused for a moment and then glanced at Tiff. “Lenoir City.”
“Sorry,” the man said, “everything in this building has been allocated to the communities between here and Knoxville.”
“Allocated by whom?” Sam asked.
“Several of the towns have formed a militia.”
“Are you in charge?” Tiff asked.
The man eyed Tiff’s body again, slowly, up and down. “Nope, just one of the peons.”
“Sorry, I would have thought you were in charge,” Tiff said. “You seem like an in-charge kind of guy. You sound like a marine.”
“Nope, not a marine,” the man said. “Something better.” The man raised his left shirt sleeve to expose a tattoo—a skull with the letters ‘AB’ below it in blue ink.
Tiff pursed her lips. Shit. Can’t go anywhere these days without running into a gang-banging thug.
“Unless you’re one of us, there’s no food here for you,” the man said.
“We’ll be on our way then,” Sam said, as he took a step back.
The man took another long gaze at Tiff and then nodded as he stepped back inside and pulled the metal door all the way down.
Sam and Tiff turned and marched off to the east, back toward the truck wash. Sam rubbed his entire face with one hand as he walked. He glanced back at the building. “Bloods and crips in Atlanta, and now the aryan brotherhood here in the mountains.”
Tiff glanced back, and with a slight flip of her hand, motioned for Hank and Bill to move out. “Yeah. A few more days into society’s collapse and we may not have gotten away so easily. Especially me.”
“Uh-huh,” Sam said.
***
As Sam and Tiff approached, Martinez removed his foot from the front bumper of the Hummer, took a final drag from a cigarette, and threw the butt to the concrete floor of the wash bay.
The rest of the group came together around Martinez in anticipation of what Sam and Tiff had to say.
“How did it go?” Martinez asked, as Sam and Tiff joined the group.
Sam glanced behind him. “Hank and Bill should be here any moment.”
A few seconds later, Hank and Bill jogged around the corner and entered the wash bay. They stopped next to the group and took deep breaths.
Sam nodded to Hank and Bill and then turned back to Martinez. “The building is controlled by members of the AB. Not friendly and they weren’t in a giving mood.”
Martinez winced and then rubbed the back of his neck. “Not surprising. The group is well represented around here. How many were in the building?”
“I only saw the five armed guys we saw before,” Sam said. “They looked like they knew what they were doing. It was too dark inside the building to see any details.”
Martinez glanced at Tiff.
“Five is all I saw, but we know there are more,” Tiff said.
“Even if we wanted to assault the building, just getting in would be a problem,” Sam said.
“What kind of weapons?” Lance asked.
“Four ARs, semi-auto pistols for each, thirty-round mags, with extra mags in their tactical vests,” Tiff said. “Two of the rifles had magnifying sights.”
Martinez let out a long, slow exhale, rubbed his neck again, and turned back to the Hummer. He stared off in the distances for several seconds while everyone waited for what he had to say. He turned back around and faced Sam and Tiff.
“Their friends will probably be back at some point,” Sam said.
Martinez nodded. “I say we pay a visit to the other distribution center.”
Hank shuffled his feet. “I second that suggestion.” He glanced at Bill, Lance, and Wanda. “The risk is too high.”
“We might consider a night raid with more people if food becomes serious,” Sam said.
“Food is serious now, for some of us,” Wanda said.
Sam nodded.
“Let’s check out the other distribution center before we start planning raids,” Martinez said. He pointed. “We go back down Watt to Hickory Creek. There’s a wooded area on the left, about three-hundred yards short of the building. We can hide the vehicles there and then go in on foot.” Martinez looked at everyone for questions. With no questions, he circled his upraised index finger in the air, signaling everyone to mount up.
Sam, Tiff, Hank, and Martinez hopped in the Hummer. Tiff started the engine, pulled out of the wash bay, and turned south on Watt Road.
Martinez pointed through the windshield. “Half a mile up, on the right.”
Tiff nodded. At the corner of Hickory she turned right.
“Up here on the left,” Martinez said. “I’m surprised there are not more people out and about this time of day.”
“We’re a good distance from any communities,” Sam said.
“Yeah, I guess,” Martinez said.
At the wooded area, Tiff pulled off the road and into the tree line. She came to a stop out of sight from the road and switched the engine off.
The two pickups pulled up behind the Hummer and everyone, armed with their weapons and ammo, joined Martinez as he stepped out. Martinez lifted his rifle from the floor of the Hummer.
“If I had to guess, I’d say the AB has this building occupied as well,” Bill said.
“Yeah, but maybe with fewer people and guns,” Lance said.
Martinez nodded. “It would make sense that the gangs would concentrate on one building, the biggest one, before moving to the next.”
“We’ll see,” Sam said. “From what I saw driving in, it looks like we can work our way through these woods almost to the building.”
“Exactly,” Martinez said, as he stepped off to the west, keeping well inside the tree line.
Everyone fell into patrol formation behind him.
After scrambling through a hundred yards of hills, gullies, and thick brush, Martinez veered toward the tree line and Hickory Creek Road. Soon he stopped behind a large oak tree and took a knee. Everyone bunched up on his position and squatted.
Sam joined Martinez at the tree and they both surveyed the area across the road.
Sam moved to a small bush, closer to the tree line, for a better look. The large warehouse type building sat cater-corner across the road, with the east wall almost even with the group’s position. There were several tractor-trailers and a couple of cars in the large parking lot. All six loading docks had trucks backed up to the overhang doors. All the doors were shut.
Sam caught some movement off to the left. Three men stepped out of a pedestrian door in the middle of the building and hopped into an old Chevy sedan. Sam heard the engine turn over, catch, and then the car pulled out of the parking lot. The car, with the three men, passed directly in front of Sam’s position. Sam checked in all directions, but saw no other people or activity.
Sam scooted back to the oak tree, knelt next to Martinez, and turned to face the rest of the group. “Everybody see that?”
Several people nodded as Martinez continued looking at the building.
“We should be able to walk right in that door,” Tiff said. “Anyone in there
will think it is one of their men coming back.”
Martinez turned to face the group. “I don’t know—we don’t know what will be waiting for us in there.”
“Go in for bear,” Tiff said. “We won’t be able to feed ourselves without taking some risks from time to time.”
“I think she’s right,” Sam said. “Whoever is in there, they have three fewer people at the moment.”
“Move fast and hard,” Bill said. “But we need to go now.”
Everyone stared at Martinez. He stared back, rubbing his neck.
“The risk is probably much less here at this building,” Sam said. “We can’t sit here and watch it forever. I agree with Bill, move fast, hard, and do it now.”
Martinez turned and took a long survey of the building and surrounding area. “No shooting unless shot at.”
Everyone nodded.
Martinez pointed at Juan. “I want you back at the vehicles.”
“You might need me in the building,” Juan said.
“No argument, go,” Martinez said, as he pointed in the direction of the trucks.
Juan, with his face hung low, stood up and began walking back through the woods.
Bill stood up, followed by the rest of the group. Martinez turned toward the building and took off in a low trot, followed by the others. Sam, Tiff, and Bill shouldered their rifles and swept the areas to their front and flanks while they ran.
Bill was the first one to the door. He flattened himself to the wall next to the door knob, glanced back at the others, and then reached for the knob. “Immediately spread out as soon as you are through the doorway,” Bill said. He turned the knob, slung the door open, and rushed in, followed by Sam and Tiff.
CHAPTER 4
Darkness and several degrees cooler was Sam’s first impression. Just inside the door he went to his right and took cover behind a stack of shipping pallets. Tiff slid to a stop next to Sam. The others poured through the opening and immediately spread out in different directions.
Sam used his magnified sight to survey the darkness. He was able to better penetrate the recesses as his eyes adjusted.
“Anything?” Tiff asked.
Sam continued to sweep the barrel back and forth as he peered through the sight. “Nothing.”
“We need more light,” Tiff said.
She popped up and ran into the darkness to Sam’s right.
Sam heard a metal clang and the sound of an overhead door being raised. The interior illuminated slightly. Sam glanced to his right and saw Tiff in front of the closest cargo door. The trailer backed into the loading dock blocked a lot of the light, but the amount that penetrated helped light the area.
Tiff then ran to the next overhead door and raised it, allowing more light into the room.
Sam heard overhead doors being raised to his left. He glanced in that direction and saw Bill and Lance running from door to door.
Within a couple of minutes, all six overhead doors on the south side of the building were up. With the amount of light increased substantially, Sam again swept the barrel of his rifle back and forth as he peered through the magnified sight.
Tiff ran up next to him. “Anything?”
“I see absolutely nothing.”
Tiff looked over his shoulder. “No people?”
“No nothing,” Sam said. “The building is empty.”
Sam stood up from his crouch and spotted Martinez off to his left. Sam walked the few yards to join him. “Empty.”
“It would appear,” Martinez said, as he stood up from behind a stack of collapsed and bound cardboard boxes.
Hank and Bill came walking over and joined Martinez and Sam.
“We should check the area, and also the trucks,” Hank said.
“Two-man teams,” Martinez said. “Let’s check the entire area.”
Hank and Bill nodded and then Hank walked toward Tiff while Bill walked toward Lance and Wanda.
“Let’s have a look in one of these trucks,” Sam said, as he stepped toward the nearest overhead door. “Must be a modern company, all these trucks have roll-up doors.”
Martinez knelt down to the handle on the first trailer. “And this one has a padlock,” he said, as he handled the lock.
Sam trotted past the remaining five trucks. “They’re all locked.”
Martinez stood up and turned to the interior of the building. “If anyone finds a bolt cutter, we need it here,” he said in a loud voice. Martinez then joined Sam, and they checked each padlock.
Bill joined Sam and Martinez at the last bay. “The place is empty,” Bill said.
Sam slapped the roll-up door on the trailer. “I wonder if they were just using the place for truck storage.”
“We’ll know as soon as we get one of these trucks open,” Martinez said. “We need a bolt cutter or a crowbar.”
Wanda came running up with a hammer in her hand. “I found a universal tool.” She handed the hammer to Martinez.
“Should work,” Martinez said, as he turned and swung the hammer at the padlock.
It took several strikes but the lock finally sprung open. Martinez reached down, removed the lock, and swung the door latch open. He then pulled up on the trailer door.
Sam, Martinez, Bill, and Wanda stared into the trailer’s interior at pallet after pallet of paper towels and toilet paper.
Sam stepped into the trailer and slid his hand over one of the boxes. “Can’t eat it, but useful just the same.”
“I’m guessing the gangs emptied this warehouse,” Bill said. “They’ll be back for what’s in the trucks eventually, probably after they finish with the other distribution center.”
“Maybe,” Martinez said. “Let’s check the rest of these trailers.” He walked off to the next bay, pounded the hammer several times, and then lifted the trailer door.
Sam stepped into the trailer and examined the pallets. “Looks like cleaning stuff, laundry soap and such. And two whole pallets of bleach.”
Martinez, Sam, Bill, and Wanda moved to the next bay where they were joined by Tiff, Lance, and Hank. Martinez swung the hammer and then raised the trailer door.
Wanda stepped into the trailer and examined the various pallets. “Looks like baby formula, diapers, all baby stuff.”
“Anything to eat?” Lance asked.
“You can drink the formula,” Wanda replied.
Lance made a sour expression with his face and shook his head.
Tiff turned toward the open pedestrian door. “One of us should keep watch,” she said, as she started walking.
Martinez nodded and then moved to the next truck and went through the same routine.
Everyone stared for several long seconds into an almost empty truck. Sam walked into the truck to the very front and looked into three large cardboard boxes.
“Anything?” Martinez asked.
“Nope, empty,” Sam said, as he turned to exit the truck.
Martinez and the rest of the group marched to the next truck. Martinez swung the hammer. The door rolled up and everyone peered inside.
Bill pulled a pocket knife from his pocket, stepped into the trailer, and sliced through the plastic wrapped around the first pallet. He reached into the hole and pulled out a bottle. “Anyone thirsty?” he said, as he twisted the cap and took a long drink of water.
The rest of the group stepped inside, grabbed a bottle, and drank. Sam took an extra bottle for Tiff.
“One more truck,” Martinez said, as he turned and left the trailer.
He pounded the hammer and lifted the door.
The group bunched around him and peered inside.
Wanda and Lance stepped forward. “Finally,” Wanda said, as she clambered up on the first pallet and peered to the front of the trailer. “Lots and lots of cereal. Looks like General Mills made a delivery.”
Bill turned toward the group. “Given what was probably in the warehouse, this stuff was low priority.”
“But they left it in the trailers, secured,” Sam s
aid. “They’ll be back for it.”
Martinez nodded. “Well, I guess we can load up on the cereal.”
Bill started walking toward the door. “We need to bring the trucks up.”
“We’ll start moving boxes to the door,” Sam said. “Ask Tiff to bring the Hummer.”
***
Sam stood back to admire the work that had been done. Every square inch of cargo space in the two pickups and the Hummer was filled with boxes of baby food, cereal, toilet paper, and a few cases of bottled water. Sam let out a slow exhale as the rest of the group, including Juan, gathered to admire the work.
“Let’s load up and head out,” Martinez said.
Everyone started moving toward the vehicles except Sam. He stood there gazing at the vehicles lost in thought.
Martinez took a few steps, glanced back at Sam, and stopped. “What?”
Everyone stopped and looked back at Sam.
Sam shuffled his feet, rubbed the full length of his face with one hand, and then looked up at the group. “Here’s the deal. Two things, really. One, both towns are going to starve this winter without more food.”
“And two?” Martinez asked.
“I know where there’s probably a whole warehouse full of food,” Sam said.
Martinez looked around at the rest of the group and then back to Sam. “We don’t know that it is still full of food. And, according to you, the place is heavily guarded.”
“True,” Sam said, “but I don’t think we have a choice.”
Hank cleared his throat. “I’m not anxious to die in a fire fight.”
Bill stepped forward. “No one is. But like the man said, we’ll starve this winter.”
“I think we can minimize the risk,” Sam said. “If we do it right, no one has to die, now or later.”
“We’re listening,” Martinez said.
“We send the three vehicles back with just the drivers. They unload and return with as many able bodied volunteers as possible.”
“And then we assault the warehouse?” Martinez asked.
Hank shook his head. “We’ll take casualties that way.”
