Storm Front

by Thomas A. Watson

  With Nelson sitting up front with Ryan, Michelle and Lucy sat in the back. Turning the buggy around, Ryan took off across the field with Zeus running along beside them. Crossing a cattle guard, “You think that gang is going to hit us soon, don’t you?” Ryan asked steering around rough ground and dodging cows.

  “If they find you they will, but if they find us they will attack, but I think they would avoid us more than you,” Nelson said.

  “You have that many people?” Ryan asked, slowing at a cattle guard at the edge of the field.

  Holding on as the UTV bounced over the cattle guard, “No, we have defenses set up and you don’t attack an entrenched enemy unless you have massive numbers or firepower,” Nelson said as Ryan drove into the trees.

  “Then we need to do that,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah, I’m afraid everyone who doesn’t want to bow down will have to do that,” Nelson sighed.

  Chapter 8

  It was well past dark when Ryan pulled up to the house. No sooner had he stopped before Ryan jumped out, staring at the massive berm that surrounded the house. “That is so cool!” he cried out as everyone came out of the house.

  “Ryan,” Nellie cried out, holding her arms open as she hugged Ryan. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

  “Mr. Nelson said he needed our help,” Ryan said, hugging her back and Nellie turned and saw Lucy getting out.

  “Oh, Lucy baby!” Nellie said, moving over and hugging her too.

  Hugging Nellie tight, “Hi, Ms. Nellie,” Lucy said with a big smile.

  “What’s going on?” Gerald asked, coming over with Devin in his arms.

  Letting Lucy go, Nellie spun around and glared at Gerald. “You hush now. They just got back and supper is on the table,” Nellie snapped. “If it was anything bad, they would’ve already told us.”

  Not saying another word, Gerald turned around and headed back inside. Nelson chuckled but then stopped, seeing Wilma following Gerald inside. Glancing around, he saw Wilma’s kids standing with the other kids. Looking at Nellie, “What are they doing here?” Nelson asked quietly.

  “They came over this afternoon and Gerald was teaching them something called ‘runnin’ and gunnin’,” Nellie said smiling. “I told Wilma she needed to stay and have supper with us.”

  “Oh,” Nelson said as Gavin and Olivia ran up to hug him.

  Picking Olivia up, Nelson moved toward the house as Gavin ran over to the other kids before moving to the house. After showing Ryan and Lucy where to hang their rifles, Nelson put Olivia down. “You have power,” Lucy said in reverence.

  Nelson turned and saw Ryan and Lucy were looking around in wonder. “Ah, yeah and I’m going to work on getting your place set up for power,” he said, putting his AR up and taking off his vest.

  As Nelson moved toward the table, Lucy grabbed his arm. “Do you have hot water?” she asked in a pleading voice.

  “Sure,” Nelson said.

  Letting his arm go, Lucy clasped her hands together. “Can I please take a hot bath?” she begged.

  “You most certainly can,” Nelson chuckled, leaning over and kissing her forehead. Turning to Ryan, Nelson saw a grin on his face. “Ryan, you can too,” Nelson laughed, patting Ryan’s shoulder.

  Moving to the table, Nelson watched Ryan and Lucy move to the bar with the other kids. He chuckled at the boys. Gavin, the twins Alex and Adam, Ronald’s son Mason, and even Wilma’s son Vance were staring at Lucy as she moved next to Wilma’s daughter, Emily.

  Emily was older, but was shorter and smaller than Lucy and it suddenly hit Nelson. Lucy was a real life ‘Ellie May’, just bigger. Emily was pretty and was developing into a pretty woman like her mother. Lucy had thick blonde hair and was developing, but it wasn’t a stretch to see that she was going to be a knockout. A knockout the size of an Amazon.

  “Aren’t you going to sit with the adults?” Gavin asked, looking at Ryan and then stared at Lucy and Nelson bit his tongue, turning away.

  “Paw said we couldn’t sit with the adults till we were seventeen,” Ryan said as Nellie put a plate down for him.

  “How old are you?” Adam asked.

  “Fifteen,” Ryan said, then turned to Nellie. “Thank you, Ms. Nellie.”

  All the kids stared at Ryan and then as one, turned to Lucy. “How old are you?” Emily asked.

  “Thirteen,” Lucy said proudly and Nellie set her a plate down. “Thank you, Ms. Nellie. I miss your cookin’.”

  Kissing Lucy on the head, “Thank you, dear,” Nellie said, moving to the table.

  After grace, Gerald started feeding Devin. “So, Nelson, care to explain?” Gerald said, spooning food into Devin’s gaping mouth.

  “Found another place hit near Delaware,” Nelson said, picking his fork up and the others turned to him. “They hit them last night and Dallas said they only heard a few shots. It was a gang.”

  Gerald turned away from Devin to look down the table at Nelson. “You have an idea of strength?” Gerald asked.

  “No. Other than two shot up motorcycles left behind,” Nelson said between bites.

  “Guys, that’s pretty systematic. They’ve hit like ten places along Route E, moving from north to south,” Matt said, looking around. “Our radio antenna is only a mile from Route E.”

  “Nobody’s been around our transmission site,” Nancy said. “I have motion detectors and video set up there and it works. I’ve got a hundred pictures of deer and turkeys. Besides, we have microwave transmitters in place now, so every transmission isn’t coming from there.”

  Devin started slapping his high chair, yelling at Gerald. “Oh, sorry, big man,” Gerald said, scooping up some food with the spoon. “Nancy, you have any information on the gangs?”

  “Yes, Gavin caught a transmission from Eminence. We determined it was a gang or someone very hostile to regular people. They were talking via radio to another person on Route 19. Gavin triangulated their positions,” Nancy said.

  At the bar, Lucy leaned over to Gavin. “Why are you microwaving your radios?” she asked quietly.

  A blush crept up on Gavin’s cheeks. “Uh, well,” Gavin stuttered. “We have dishes there that send microwaves out to another dish that’s connected to an antenna. Uncle Gerald and Uncle Matt set up several around the transmitter tower. Microwave transmissions have to be line-of-sight. So, people think we are moving around and talking on the radio.”

  Thinking about that, Lucy nodded. “That’s right sneaky,” she said with a nod. “I like it.”

  At the table, Michelle hid her smile as she looked away from Gavin and grabbed her glass of tea. “Think they are moving along Route 19, Nancy?” Michelle asked, then took a drink of tea.

  Looking over at Michelle, “We flew the drone out today along Route 19,” Nancy said and Nelson cut her off.

  “I had to change out a relay board!” Nelson cried out. They had made a large remote-controlled plane several weeks ago and were working out the bugs.

  “No, Ronald did. Gavin knew where your stuff was,” Nancy said, taking a bite and Gerald sucked in a breath before turning to Nancy.

  Turning away from Nancy, Gerald looked at Nelson. “You heard her. She is responsible not me,” Gerald said.

  “What?” Nelson said. “As long as you treat my tools well and put them back, I don’t care.”

  Relief flooded Gerald as he scooped up more food on the spoon. “I’m glad because I’m not in the mood for another tussle,” he mumbled.

  Wiping her mouth, Michelle glanced at Nancy. “So, did you find anything on your flight?” Michelle asked.

  “Yeah,” Gavin shouted. “You can’t fly higher than two thousand feet or planes start coming.”

  “I told you,” Nancy said, looking over the table at Gavin sitting at the bar.

  “I only flew over three thousand feet one time!” Gavin cried out.

  Putting her fork down while still looking at Gavin, “And I told you not to because what happened?” Nancy said, raising her eyebrows.


  “Jets started showing up,” Gavin said, slumping in his chair.

  Nancy smiled at him, then glanced around the table. “Gavin did really well diving down to treetop level as a Republic F18 headed for the drone. I’m sure he would’ve continued to search, but a fed F16 showed up and they flew up to thirty thousand feet and duked it out. The F16 crashed near Salem after it was shot down,” Nancy told them.

  “The plane isn’t that big,” Gavin said moping.

  “Gavin, that plane has a ten-foot wingspan and weighs several hundred pounds. Radar can track a single bird as small as a sparrow,” Nancy said. “I showed you.”

  As Gavin groaned, Nelson jumped in his chair. “We have radar?!” he shouted in a panic.

  “No, we don’t have a transmitting radar,” Nancy laughed. “But I am using radar transmissions around us so in a way, we do have radar.”

  Slapping Nelson’s arm, “I was talking,” Michelle said. “So, Nancy, back to the question, what did you see on your flight?”

  “We found more people and Winona has almost been burnt to the ground, but along Route 19 we didn’t see any groups,” Nancy said. “The boys and I are going to send the drones back out tonight. We’ll send out the quad to do a one-mile loop around us and send the big one to do a five-mile loop.”

  “Can you start with Dallas’ farm?” Nelson asked and Nancy nodded. “Find out anything else that might help?”

  “Oh, yes. Nevada and Alaska joined the Republic today. Washington State has been taken from the feds and fighting has broken out in Colorado. The fighting in Washington State was almost entirely civilians from there, Idaho, and Montana. The US military forces there aren’t supplemented by UN troops like they are on the east coast. Most UN forces in the west are in California, trying to get a hand on the chaos. The Republic is putting UN troop strength in Cali at a quarter of a million and they still can’t stop the massive riots. The death toll from disease alone in southern Cali is in the tens of millions. Pictures on the web show massive body burns and the smoke can be seen for miles,” Nancy said, grabbing her glass.

  As she took a drink to wet her throat, Nelson leaned over the table. “Okay, that’s good, but what about around us? Any word from Mountain View or more troops in the area?” Nelson asked.

  Putting her glass down, “Yes, people from Mountain View are still talking about the ‘Republic saviors’ who rode into town,” Nancy grinned. “But about troops, none have showed up and if they do, they won’t take Mountain View unless they come in strength. We flew over it today and they have been working on defenses. Unless they have air power, the feds won’t take Mountain View without massive losses. On the radio, Adam caught talk about a group north of Mountain View shooting ten bikers on the road. Seems they’ve heard of them and just shoot anyone on a motorcycle.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Nelson grabbed his fork. “Gerald, how do we deal with these gangs?” Nelson asked, taking a bite.

  “Trap their asses,” Gerald said, shoveling more food into Devin.

  Nodding, Nelson continued to eat and the others started talking about mundane issues and the atmosphere relaxed significantly. When he was done, Nelson leaned over to kiss Michelle on the cheek as he got up. Putting his plate in the sink, Nelson looked at Ryan and Lucy talking to the kids.

  “Ryan, Lucy, Gavin will show you to the cabin. Ryan, you will sleep in Gavin’s room and Lucy, you will stay in Olivia’s,” Nelson said.

  “Nelson, we have three more empty bedrooms,” Bernard said, leaning back in his chair.

  “Hey,” Nelson snapped, grabbing his vest. “I promised Sean I would watch over them. He’s a might big for me to risk letting them stay here. They might sprain an ankle on the stairs. At the cabin, I can have Michelle operate.”

  “Oh, hush. Sean is a good boy,” Nellie said. “I never spanked him but Scott? That boy was a wild one.”

  “What did Uncle Scott do?” Lucy cried out with excitement.

  Nellie looked over at Lucy with a smile. “Maybe another day,” Nellie chuckled as Nelson walked out.

  Walking off the deck, Nelson heard the back door open and glanced back to see Gerald followed by Matt and Bernard. Stopping on the ground, Nelson turned to the three. “Yes?” he said.

  “What are you doing?” Gerald asked, brushing the food off his clothes that Devin got on him.

  “Getting some supplies for Dallas and his family,” Nelson said.

  “We’ve done that,” Gerald said. “More than anyone else as a matter of fact.”

  “Hey, we need them to survive this,” Nelson said, lowering his tone.

  Holding up his hands, “Nelson, we need to give out more to others,” Gerald said.

  “You do realize that one family has over fifty fighters, right?” Nelson said and Gerald just blinked at him. “You have Dallas and Kathleen, plus their seven kids and spouses. That’s sixteen, right there. I counted today and had Ryan and Lucy give me the ages of the kids. In all, I counted thirty-nine and I found out I’d missed some. Cara, the youngest of the bunch, has the fewest kids at four and her oldest is eleven. Scott’s oldest son is married with two kids. We help them, we have a fighting force.”

  Gerald’s jaw fell open. “That sounds about right. I know Tony has like seven kids and Sean has five, not sure on the others,” Bernard said nodding. “Sorry, but that is just too many for me to remember. When the kids would come over, I would have to run to Nellie to get their name sometimes.”

  “We have more guns than we know what to do with, but I’m giving them night vision, radios, and tactical gear. If the group says no, I’ll give them some from my own stock,” Nelson said.

  “I’m with Nelson on this,” Matt said. “Hell, just seeing that picture of their family blows my mind. With them, we can pick and choose with more vigilance who we help.”

  “I’m with Nelson as well,” Bernard said.

  Snapping his mouth closed and shaking his head rapidly for a second, “Holy shit,” Gerald gasped. Looking at the three, “Well hell, I knew they were a big family, but damn,” Gerald sighed. “Hell yeah, we are helping them more. What do we need?”

  “I have a list, but I wanted to talk to Bernard before I brought something up,” Nelson said.

  Looking from Matt to Gerald, “Is it that private?” Bernard asked.

  “No,” Nelson said, taking a breath. “Bernard, what do you think about getting Sean to move over here?”

  Bernard laughed, “Son, we may want that, but he won’t leave the family farm.”

  “Bernard, that house has five bedrooms, but is holding over twenty people. Sean and Tony just came home from North Dakota from working in the oil field,” Nelson said.

  Nodding, “Yeah, they were up there for like two years and were going to buy trailers like Scott, Jacob, Grant, and Amber did and put them on the land,” Bernard said.

  “Right, and Cara was living in Ohio with her husband until this started and came home,” Nelson said. “Bernard, they don’t have the food stores for that many people. Hell, I’m scared to know what they eat in one meal. They are hunting game every day for food.”

  “Taking seven mouths from them won’t help them that much,” Gerald said.

  “Bullshit,” Nelson snapped. “We help them and we get seven fighters. Lucy is Sean’s youngest at thirteen and I’m willing to put her up against grown men. It will also let them know that we are in this together.”

  “If he comes here, it’s for the long haul,” Matt said.

  “Yes, but I’m not even going to propose it to the group unless Bernard thinks it will work,” Nelson said, looking at Bernard.

  Tilting his head to the side as he thought, “To be honest, we could do it, but that would be all the people we could take until we get more cabins built. With three bedrooms left, one for Sean and Dianna, one for Lucy and Kim, and one for Cody and Blake. I would like Ryan to stay with Alex and Adam. Cody is seventeen and Blake is eighteen. I think they need a room together. Kim is sixteen, I think, but
she and Lucy get along really well.”

  “So, Mason and Ariel still sleep in the room with Ronald?” Matt asked and Bernard nodded.

  “So, you like the idea?” Nelson asked Bernard.

  “Yes, but I don’t think he will move,” Bernard said and Nelson turned to Gerald.

  “Nelson, thinking about it, hell, I’ll move in the house and they can sleep in my cabin,” Gerald said. “My God, we would have the manpower to farm, guard, run the operation room, and patrol.”

  Nodding, “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Nelson said, turning to Matt.

  “I’m willing to give them more shit if Sean moves over,” Matt said firmly.

  Turning back to Bernard, “Bernard, will that garden they have carry them all through the winter?” Nelson asked.

  Shaking his head, “No, they don’t have power to freeze some of it and I know they don’t have that many jars and neither do we, to store what they need,” Bernard said.

  “I want to propose that we give them two of our spare turbine setups. They have a stream that can provide power,” Nelson said. “I want to do that even if Sean doesn’t move. We need them healthy.”

  “I’m for that,” Bernard said nodding and then looked at Matt and Gerald, who both nodded. “Nelson, even with power and if Sean moves over, they will still be hard-pressed to survive the winter. That garden was only twenty acres, and I know how much they eat. That’s why Dallas raises cattle; to feed the family.”

  “What if we give them four tons of food?” Nelson asked and everyone gasped. “What? The stuff we took from the checkpoint and didn’t give Hank is just sitting back there in a semi-trailer.”

  “That would get them through the winter and leave a little left over,” Bernard said.

  “Nelson, that was our reserve food,” Gerald said, then sighed when he saw what Nelson was getting at. “You’re right, we need them.”

  The back door opened and Gavin walked out. “Oh, Dad,” he said, stopping on the deck. “I was coming to see if it was okay to show Ryan and Lucy the gym.”