by Jeremy Lock
“Hang on a minute.” Jason said to bill and walked upstairs.
“Mark are you good watching the house for a few minutes, I’m going to run Bill home.” Jason asked.
Mark agreed and Jason went and checked on the girls, who were both laughing and smiling coyly, they were doing ok and were probably talking about boys or God knows what. Jason just shook his head and walked away. He drove Bill home, thanked him profusely for his help, and told him whenever he was ready to bring the Nova on up. Bill agreed and they shook hands and told Jason that he was welcome to anything in the house after they left, including the travel trailer. Jason returned to the house but the surgery was still ongoing. Jason grabbed another coffee and sat on the porch having another cigarette and tried to think of a way to get better antibiotics but he was having trouble concentrating.
Chapter 28
Jason saw the man raising the shotgun up at him but he couldn’t react fast enough. His gun was coming up but his arm wasn’t working right. He got the sight picture and tried to pull the trigger when the big blast from the shotgun hit him point blank. Jason jumped up grasping for his pistol startled to find himself on his own front porch. He blinked a few times and saw the figure standing in front of him wasn’t a man with a shotgun. It was Jessica.
“What’s going on?” he replied groggily.
“You were a sleep; I just wanted to let you know that the surgery is over. It went very well.” Jessica said.
The news woke Jason up. He smiled, grabbed Jessica and gave her a big hug and a kiss. She kissed him back and they both sat back down on the porch.
“Cassidy is in with him now but he’s still unconscious.” Jessica said.
“So Doc did pretty good?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, she’s really good. I wonder how Bill found her.” Jessica replied.
Jason chuckled.
“What?” Jessica asked. And Jason just laughed some more.
“What?” Jessica said again demanding a real response.
“He found her when his horse went into labor and needed an emergency C-Section.” Jason replied.
“You mean she’s a Veterinarian?!” Jessica asked completely shocked.
“Apparently she’s a damn good Veterinarian, and if you asked Jeff I’m sure he could add to her outstanding attributes!” Jason added continuing to laugh.
Jessica joined him and they both went inside. Jeff and Doctor Teddy were inside chatting when they walked in. Jeff was hungry and decided he would make some sandwiches for lunch. Jason was exhausted and decided to go to bed. Jessica and teddy started talking and went outside for some fresh air.
“Quite a place you guys have here.” Teddy observed looking at the property.
“It’s nice, but not as big as you think. Only 15 acres, but were surrounded by state land” Jessica replied.
“You seem very prepared for this disaster” Teddy noted.
“Well I have to thank Jason for that. He ranted on and on about preparing for an economic collapse and I tolerated it for a long time, but then I started seeing the signs too. But we never expected something so dramatic.” Jessica replied.
“So what about the other people here like Jeff?” Teddy asked.
“Jeff and Jason have been best friends for years, Mark just came to us a few days ago along with Cassidy, she came with Sean from Virginia.” Jessica said.
“It’s just crazy how things have changed so quickly” Teddy observed as they sat on the porch.
“Yes it is, but things are going to get way worse” Jessica said.
“How do you mean?” Teddy replied.
“Well the only violence we have seen so far is from the local criminal element. Once people start fleeing the cities they will be desperate and desperate people do desperate things. And then you will have the gangs to deal with. The gangs will strip the cities bare and run all the people out and then will start roaming the countryside terrorizing and looting people like us.” Jessica said.
“How do you know all this?” Teddy asked.
“Research. After Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami that hit South East Asia and other things like civil war in Egypt and Syria along with the economic collapse in Greece and Zimbabwe” Jessica replied.
“Clearly you both took it very seriously.” Teddy replied.
“Most of the research was done by Jason and Jeff before I even bought into it.” Jessica replied.
“So what is the deal with Jeff?” Teddy asked with a smirk.
“What do you mean?” asked Jessica coyly.
“You know what I mean.” She replied with a wink.
“I believe he is single, for the moment at least.” Jessica said with a chuckle as Jeff called them for lunch.
“And he cooks.” Teddy stated as they began walking in.
“You don’t want him to cook, trust me.” she said with a chuckle and they went and ate.
Chapter 29
They checked on Sean every 15 minutes and took his vitals. They were stable but he was starting to run a fever. An hour after the surgery Sean woke up and the Doctor went to him. His fever was getting worse. She gave him a second dose of Augmentin along with some Motrin and a sleeping pill and encouraged him to get some sleep. Cassidy stayed with him without a break for hours on end. She wouldn’t come out and eat and so the doctor approved of food being brought to her. Even so she barely ate; her dedication was shocking for someone who only knew him for barely 3 days. Teddy expressed her concerns about the infection and the decided they would wake Jason up in a few hours and figure out what to do. Jeff gave Allie a break from watch and she and Jessica cooked up some stew on the woodstove, the last venison they had in the freezer. At 5pm Jason was woken up and they all sat down for dinner, except for Cassidy who still wouldn’t leave Sean’s side. Jessica was getting concerned about her but they had other things to discuss at the moment. Over dinner the discussion went back to Sean’s fever and the need for better antibiotics. After they discussed how serious Sean’s fever was getting Jason decided they had to do something immediately. After some discussion they decided their only real option was going to be the Wal-Mart 15 minutes away. Jason knew how to get there by back roads and could get them close by truck without being noticed hopefully. Their other options were to head back towards Newton, a danger they knew too well. This Wal-Mart was in Pennsylvania and would have more options as it was larger and carried guns, ammunition and was a full supermarket. Jason decided they had no time to waste and looked for volunteers to go on the mission, all hands went up.
“Ok, I’m going to pick my team then. No offense to anyone but I need to do what makes the most sense.” Jason said and thought for a moment.
He weighed his options to not only make a successful raid, but to maintain security at the house, take care of Sean, and be able to acquire the proper medications.
“Ok, we can discuss this but I’m pretty firm on my decision. Jeff and I will go.” Jason pronounced.
“You need more than two people.” Jessica replied worried.
“I would prefer to have 3 people but I also need to leave people here to take care of Sean and protect the house.” Jason rebutted.
The discussion went on for several minutes but the decision held.
“Doc, I’d like to ask you to stay until we get back if you could?” Jason asked.
“Why?” Jessica asked. “I can take care of Sean while you’re gone.”
“I know you can, but it’s better if you can take breaks and if something bad would happen it would be good to have her here.” Jason Replied.
“How long would I be here?” Teddy asked.
“Well a lot depends on what we find, but we should be back by morning.” Jason replied.
“That’s fine, but I would like to go home and take care of a couple things and pick up some new clothes.” Teddy replied.
“I can take her while you two get ready.” Jessica replied.
Everyone agreed.
Jessica and
Teddy jumped in the suburban and headed off while Jason and Jeff started gathering gear. Jason took the lead so Jeff would be able to check on Sean. Jessica and Teddy quickly arrived at her small farm and the talked while Jessica helped teddy feed her animals. Teddy had 2 horses, 4 goats and several rabbits outside. Inside were 3 dogs who barked when they arrived.
“I’m a little worried about Cassidy” Jessica told Teddy while they worked.
“So am I, I think she’s been through a lot more then she has told us but I’m not very good dealing with people. That’s why I became a VET. Less socializing.” Teddy chuckled.
“I’m not bad with people and I minored in psychology in college so I know the signs. She has been through a lot; I hope she can keep it together.” Jessica said.
“Maybe the boys should grab some Xanax or something” teddy added.
“Might not be a bad Idea. We should make a list. Jason is pretty good but not as good as Jeff. God forbid something happens to Jeff we need to make sure Jason gets the right stuff.” Jessica said.
“God I hope they are careful, this is a scary time.” Teddy added her concern, particularly for Jeff was obvious.
“You like him, don’t you?” Jessica asked smiling.
“What?” Teddy answered, also smiling.
“You like Jeff, don’t you?” Jessica asked again.
“I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know him that well. He is nice to look at and from what I see he’s a pretty good person.” Teddy answered.
“He’s a great person; he’s just never been one to commit to a relationship for very long although I’ve never seen him speechless around any girl before. He’s definitely interested.” Teddy blushed and turned away.
“I’m no good at relationships, I’ll screw something up. Besides this really isn’t the time.” She finally pronounced.
“I guess we will see, now what do you need to get out of the house?” Jessica asked and the headed inside.
Teddy grabbed a bag and quickly loaded a couple sets of cloths and then went into the closet and pulled out an old rifle and a box of bullets.
“What do you have there?” Jessica asked looking at the rifle.
“It used to be my grandfathers; it’s a lever action 30.30. I use it to keep the coyotes and other predators away from the goats and horses.” Teddy replied as they head back to the truck.
Chapter 30
When the girls arrived back Jeff and Jason were loaded and ready to go. They traded out quickly giving goodbyes to each other Jessica embracing Jason and giving him a long kiss Teddy staring deeply in Jeff’s eyes and telling him to be careful. They had little time to lose; Sean’s fever was 104 degrees. The normal15 minute drive took 25 and they still had a two mile hike in front of them. They approached cautiously in the setting sunlight and took a position overlooking the large store. Jason handed Jeff one of the night vision optics which he attached to his 9x scope and observed the store. Lights were visible and they both had a tight feeling in their gut. This was going to be more difficult than they had hoped. Jeff and Jason observed the store for two hours. They only counted three visible men. They discussed what they had seen and decided to try and enter through a back door quietly if possible and get to the pharmacy. The headed back to the truck and Jeff exchanged his rifle for his shotgun and checked to make sure it was loaded. Next he grabbed several extra shotgun rounds, some slugs and some buckshot, and loaded them in different pockets of his tactical vest. Jason grabbed a small kit and they both quietly approached the rear of the store. They had a few options, there was a rear door and several roll up style garage doors at the rear of the building. Additionally on each side of the store were emergency exit doors as required by code. They decided the doors were the best option and they would try the rear door first. The roll up doors would be too loud. Jason approached the rear door and looked at it. It was a standard push to open fire door with the lock accessible near the latch. Using a small penlight he inspected the lock. This was clearly not a regularly used door, at least with a key, due to the amount of surface rust present in the latch. Jason pulled out his small toolkit and got to work. He started with a small shot of lubricant into the lock and each of the hinges. Jason then went to work on the lock itself. Holding the penlight in his teeth he used the tools in the kit to release the latch. One tool was slid into the bottom of the latch to hold the mechanism open; the next tool was slid over top and to the back of the lock. Using opposing pressure the top tool was pressed upward and the teeth of the lock were pushed upward until they set and the next tooth was then set until he had set all the teeth in the lock, then it was only a matter of getting the lock to twist. He started twisting it in a counter clockwise direction but it didn’t want to move. He knew he had to be careful, the tools weren’t designed to be under high pressure and he didn’t want to break them. He next worked the lock back to a clockwise direction and got a little movement.
“Jeff.” Jason said in a quiet whisper.
Jeff came to him still keeping an eye on the perimeter.
“I need you to spray more lubricant in here.” Jason said his voice barely audible with the penlight in his mouth.
Jeff didn’t quite understand but Jason used his eyes to direct Jeff to the lubricant, and Jeff got the idea. Jeff sprayed a liberal amount of fluid into the lock and then resumed his watch. Jason worked the lock back and forth until the latch finally unlocked from the door. Jason looked at Jeff and nodded. Jason put his tools away and they stacked up by the door. They both checked their night vision scopes mounted on their guns and then Jason went to the door handle. He opened the door out ward slowly, looking through the crack with the penlight to check for security devices. He noticed a number of boxes that leaned against the door; the top box was set to fall if the door was fully opened. Jason looked and knew he couldn’t get his hand in without the box falling but if he reclosed the door it would relock and he would be starting over. Jason had Jeff look for something to hold the box up and he returned moments later with a 2’ piece of rebar. Jeff slid the rebar behind the unmarked box and Jason slowly opened the door. It appeared to be working perfectly but as Jason opened the door further the heavy box tilted. Jason tried to close the door but not in time. A loud crash of breaking glass shattered the quiet. Jeff knew the importance of the medication and made a decision before Jason could react.
“Draw them off, I’m going to hide in here and let things settle. “Jeff said as he jumped the remaining boxes in the doorway.
Jason wanted to protest, he didn’t like leaving his partner alone, but it was too late, he had to go or they would both be caught. Jason grabbed the first box on top of the pile and waited until he heard the occupants coming his way. He heard a voice and a door open and he took off running the opposite direction from where he had come. As he left he heard the door again crash into the broken box of glass. They had been very smart to set up the warning device. One of the men came out the door about 75 yds. behind him and began to give chase. Jason continued to run but the man was not giving up. Even the voice of another man telling him to give it up was not deterring this man. Jason decided to give him something to think about. Holding the large box in one hand Jason drew his pistol and fired 3 rounds in the general direction of the man but purposefully missing him. This guy had done nothing to Jason, and Jason was technically stealing from the man, although Jason doubted that this was the true and rightful owner of the Wal-Mart. The man got the hint and didn’t even fire the weapon is his arms, which appeared to be a shotgun, he took cover as Jason continued his run and the man finally returned to the store.
Jason was hiding behind a large pallet of boxes in the corner of the store room as he watched the 2 armed men pass and head out the door. One man had stopped to look at the door and then began yelling at his partner to come back and forget the man. The gun fire brought a sickening feeling to Jeff’s stomach. A moment later both men returned into the store room and flipped on a light. Jeff huddled himself into the darkest
recess of the corner and practically held his breath.
“What did he get?” asked one man.
“I dunno, but it seems he really wanted whatever it is.” The other replied.
“You see anyone else?”
“No, just the one guy, let’s get this setup and get back, I’m sure both our families are worried sick.”
“Yeah, were gonna have to get out of here soon, this is going to be a popular place.”
“Yeah, I think I can get that truck running and we have that big trailer, so we can load up on supplies and get the hell out of here.”
“Sounds good to me.” The other replied and they both headed to the front of the store.
