Society's Collapse: The Bug Out

by Jeremy Lock

  “26!” she gasped.

  James nodded and turned away to tend to the cooking food.

  “I’m sorry; it’s just that 26 is a lot of people.” Miranda stated.

  “Way too many people.” James replied.

  “How? Why?” she asked with concern.

  “They are very long stories, but I’ve been trapped behind enemy lines twice and had to do what I had to do to survive. Before today they had all been in combat.” James replied.

  “In Iraq, Afghanistan?” Miranda asked.

  “Two weeks in Afghanistan and 11 days in Columbia.” James replied.

  “Columbia?”

  “Yes, can’t talk about that though. Classified stuff and nothing I want to remember.” James replied in an attempt to end the conversation and handed her a can of beans. He winced from the pain of the gunshot wound to his arm. He looked at it and it had only grazed him so he cleaned it and wrapped it without mentioning it to Miranda.

  “What happened to your arm?” she asked with concern.

  “It’s nothing, just a scratch.” James replied.

  “You were shot!” she exclaimed as she examined his bloody shirt.

  “It’s just grazed, I cleaned it and wrapped it best I could, it should be fine.”

  “Let me look at it.”

  “Why?”

  “Cause I have had medical training too and I can actually look at it properly.” She replied testily.

  “Alright, fine.” James replied holding his arm out.

  “Take your shirt off.” She ordered.

  “You take your shirt off.” James replied with a smirk.

  “Are you always this damn stubborn? Take the fucking shirt off.” She ordered, clearly not amused.

  “Ok, Ok!” James said as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He cringed in pain as he pulled his injured arm out of the shirt and sat in the relatively warm cabin topless.

  Miranda looked over his body before zeroing in on the bullet wound. James did not have the typically classical perfect male body but he was attractive. He had a barrel chest with strong arms and well-built shoulders. He had a small gut of a man who ate and drank and enjoyed life but not a lazy man. He was a man who worked hard and who had clearly led a difficult life. A multitude of scars covered both his chest and back. Two holes in his back were clearly those of old bullet wounds, the other were far more difficult to determine their cause.

  James cleared his throat in order to get her attention back to the task at hand.

  “Oh, sorry…” Miranda said as he went back to inspecting the wound.

  “It’s ok, not what you expected?” James said with a chuckle.

  “No… it’s just that… umm…” Miranda rambled.

  “Ha-ha… I’m an old fat man.” James said chuckling.

  “You might be old but you’re certainly not fat!” Miranda added with a joking smirk.

  “Ha! You’re a baby, what do you know?” James added to the playful banter.

  “So about your scars?” Miranda started.

  James took on a serious face and just shook his head.

  “I’m sorry… I just..”

  “It’s ok, maybe another time.”

  Miranda finished cleaning the wound and applied a clean dressing. They went back to eating in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes and then James went over to his bag and handed something to Miranda.

  She took the bottle and looked at the label and then took of the cap and took a drink. She swallowed hard as the whiskey burned down her throat and into her stomach. She handed the bottle back to James who took a much bigger swig and set the bottle between them.

  “Thank you.” Miranda said.

  “No, thank you. The arm feels great.” James replied with a smile.

  “You’re welcome.” Miranda replied returning the smile.

  “I’m going to grab some water and firewood for tonight, I’ll be right back” James said as he stood and headed out the door.

  Miranda leaned back on the cot with the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand as she watched James walk out the door, a big smile plastered across her face. She took another drag from the bottle as she let the strange emotions of the day drain from her body. By the time James returned several minutes later a slight buzz and warm sensation coursed through her body. James pulled up a log and sat across from her. She handed him the bottle and he took another swig and handed it back. The sunset over the river was amazing to watch and Miranda and James drank and chatted about little things for a short while in the light of the one oil lamp James had brought. It had been a long day for both of them and soon they were both yawning. James insisted that Miranda sleep on the one cot while he set up his sleeping bag on the floor. They both went to sleep with thoughts of the other on their minds.

  Chapter 77

  Jason woke to what had the makings of an interesting day. The group had spoken and he needed to find a way to come up with another trailer to live in. He would have to talk to Sean and Jeff and come up with a plan. Sean knew the area best, but he hadn't spent much time up in the area for many years. The other issue they had to deal with was the horses. As the snow continued to fall Teddy was the first to realize that they would have a very hard time find food for the horses and they didn’t have the equipment needed to harvest the tall grass out in the open pasture. They needed to find a new trailer and they needed to find a source of hay. They didn’t have too many options, they either had to drive towards a town and hope they came across an RV dealer or they could drive and find a farm with some hay. Either way they would be in serious danger. The Jeep and the Suburban would be used for the trip and Jason Jeff and Sean would be the ones going. They had the most experience with weapons, Jeff had good medical training, and three men were a lot less tempting of a target then a group that included an attractive woman. There hadn't been much shooting in the area and what little there was sounded like hunters from far off. The girls were all competent with weapons and would put up a hell of a fight should someone stumble across them. Over morning coffee the three men decided they would start off by looking for a farm with extra hay in the field. Jeff and Sean would lead in the Jeep with Jason following with the Suburban towing the large utility trailer. In the back of Jason's Suburban they loaded several extra guns of odd ammunition sizes as well as a supply of ammunition, some toiletries and a couple bottles of alcohol they could use in trade. They all said their goodbyes and loaded up in their trucks with the Jeep in the lead. They decided to stick to the rural back roads in the area and hoped to stumble onto a farm; they did not want to get too close to a town. It took them a good 10 minutes of driving before they got into an area of farmland which made Jason realize how far away from civilization their homestead really was. As they turned onto the county road they were soon returning to population and finally saw the first house since they left. It was an old homestead set well back off the road but there was no hay in the fields and he couldn’t tell if anyone was home. They continued on and passed several other homesteads none of which looked overly promising. A few people were seen but as they passed they all either picked up weapons or ran inside. Clearly life up here was not completely unaffected by the troubles of the world and that concerned Jason. They passed a large homestead with dozens of hay bales in the fields and things finally started to look up. They were getting closer to town and were going to have to find another road soon, but as they neared the driveway of the farm they noticed something that made them nervous. Three horses lay dead in the field near the road and no other horses were visible. They pulled onto the drive and stopped, Jason wanted to talk about this before they just rode on in. There were so many bad things that could happen. The owners could open fire on them as they rode down the driveway, someone could have killed the owners and taken over the place and they would definitely fire if they saw them coming, or they could be walking into a massacre, a thought that truly revolted Jason. They decided they would drive slowly down the drive until they were in shouting
distance of the home and then hope they could get the owners to come outside and talk. Smoke from the chimney made them think that someone was home, they just hoped that they would be decent people who wouldn’t shoot first. It was a risk they had to take. Jason would leave the trailer towards the end of the driveway in case they needed to make a quick getaway. They rode down the drive slowly, prepared as best they could be for the unexpected. They stopped about 50 yds. away from the house, turned off the trucks and shouted to the house. They were well within rifle range but outside the effective range of a shotgun and most handguns in unskilled hands. As they awaited an answer from the house Jason looked around; No signs of animals in the fields except the dead ones, no footprints in the freshly fallen snow outside the house. Something was definitely wrong here. Jeff continued to yell to the house, but just as Jason tried to stop him a gunshot from the house erupted from the front door. The three of them scrambled for cover pointing there weapons toward the location of the shots.

  “Everyone ok?” Sean asked.

  Everyone nodded in return.

  “Get off my land!” a male voice yelled from the house.

  “Sir! We’re not here to harm you! We were hoping to do some trade!” Jason yelled in return.

  “What do you want?!” the man replied.

  “We need hay for our horses!” Jason replied.

  “What do you have to trade?!” the man continued.

  “Ammunition, alcohol, and a few other things. Let me come up and talk to you!” Jason yelled back to the man.

  “You put all your guns down and your boys’ stay where they are! You walk up here real slow and we can talk!” the man continued.

  Jason looked to Sean and Jeff. The expression on Sean’s face made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled but they really didn’t have much choice. Jason was the best talker and the least imposing person of the group. Sean nodded in agreement and then, with a few hand gestures, told Jason he would try to sneak to the left and try to get a visual to cover him with his sniper rifle. Jason nodded and handed Jeff his weapons as Sean eased his way into some bushes.

  “Ok, I'm coming over! I'm putting, my rifle, pistol and knife down!” Jason yelled. He still had his Kahr 9mm in an ankle holster, but chances were he wouldn’t be able to get to it if something went wrong.

  “Nice and slow boy! I ain’t in no mood for games!” The man yelled from the house.

  Jason walked slowly towards the house, his hands held out to his sides making it clear he was unarmed. As Jason got closer he realized the man was in his 70’s although in excellent shape for his age. He was a man whose life was work. The man ordered him to stop, pull his shirt up and to spin around. Jason complied and the man allowed him to walk closer.

  “My name is Jason Byron.” Jason said as he held his hand out to shake.

  “You can keep your handshake. If you screw with me I will turn your face into a pound of hamburger, boy.” The man replied pointing his gun at Jason’s face.

  “Sir, I'm not screwing with you. I’m a police officer, my friends and I came up here to get away from the city. We have property down the road but we don’t have hay to feed our horse for the winter but we saw you had some. If you’re not interested we can just leave.” Jason said in as steady a voice as he could muster with a shotgun in his face.

  “Let me see your badge.” The man replied without lowering the gun.

  Jason pulled out his wallet and tossed it towards then man. The man picked it up while keeping the gun pointed at Jason and looked over the badge an ID.

  “New Jersey, eh?” he asked.

  “Yes Sir, we got up here a few days ago, a friend has property up here.” Jason replied.

  The man lowered the gun and held Jason’s wallet out and then shook Jason’s hand.

  “Bill Walters. Welcome to the neighborhood.” Bill replied.

  “Thank you Mr. Walters.” Jason said as he put his wallet back.

  “Call me Bill.”

  “Ok Bill, do you have and hay available.” Jason asked.

  “Yeah, I got some hay. Don’t need much anymore. Those bastards on the motorcycles took most of my cattle and killed my horses. Ain’t got much use for the hay except for my milking cow in the barn.” Bill replied.

  The pleasantries and talk continued. Jason had Sean and Jeff come up to the house where they were invited in to meet Bill’s wife Helen.

  “So are you all cops?” Bill asked.

  “No, Jeff here is a paramedic and Sean is a retired Marine.” Jason replied for them.

  “A Marine you say?” Bill asked pulling back his left sleeve showing an old globe and anchor tattoo on his forearm.

  Sean showed Bill a similar tattoo located on his left upper arm. They soon got to talking about the service the way soldiers do without touching the subject of combat. After several minutes Bill got back down to business.

  “So how much hay do you need?” He asked.

  “Well we have two horses and four goats to feed. I’m not a farmer so I really don’t know how much they eat. I guess we should have brought the doctor.” Jason replied.

  “Doctor?” Was Bill’s response.

  “One of the people in our group is a veterinarian. She would be the one to ask.” Jason replied.

  “So your group has a cop, a marine, a paramedic, and a veterinarian in it?” Bill asked shocked.

  “Plus a nurse, a horticultural expert and a 13 year old computer whiz.” Jason replied with a smirk.

  “That’s quite a group, where are you guys staying?”

  Jason hesitated a moment. “About 20 min drive from here.” Jason said remaining vague.

  “Well, I got enough hay for you, but you won’t be able to take enough with you in one trip. I suppose you came here to trade. What did you have in mind?” Bill asked.

  “Well, we have a few options; it depends on what you need.”

  “Well guns and ammunition could be good, but what else do you have to offer.” Bill answered.

  “Mostly weapons and ammunition but we do have some hygiene products and alcohol we are willing to part with.” Jason replied.

  Bill went with Jason back to the suburban to look over what they had to offer.

  After some negotiating they ended up trading a .30 06 hunting rifle with 50 rounds, 20 rounds of 12 ga buckshot, a bottle of women’s shampoo and a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey for a winters worth of hay for the animals and an old farm tractor Bill had that he couldn’t get running since the pulse. The tractor came with a bucket, backhoe, cutter and small bailing attachment. In the end both groups were satisfied with the deal and they sat down for a nice dinner together. After dinner they loaded the tractor and 2 bales of hay onto the large utility trailer and headed back home with the intention of returning the next day for a much larger haul of hay. Bill and Helen were invited back to their homestead for a future dinner and if they needed anything, however without a working vehicle that was an unlikely event. When they arrived back home, the girls were all relieved and seemed fairly excited with the prospect of the tractor and the winters worth of hay. They all kicked back around the woodstove in the boys’ trailer until one by one they headed to their respective beds.

  Chapter 78

  James woke with the sunrise, stoked the fire, and headed outside to enjoy the quiet still morning sunlight. He would have enjoyed it more if he had a cup of coffee in hand, but those days were most likely behind him. He reflected on his life at the moment and was amazed what fate had brought him. Living in the middle of nowhere at the end of the civilized world and the most beautiful woman he had ever met landed at his doorstep. Part of him wondered what would go wrong. It’s too good to be true… Was she just using him? He caught himself and told himself to knock it off. Don’t have expectations, just go with it and see what happens. He couldn’t stop thinking of the kiss the day before. It hadn’t been planned, it was done purely on instinct, and it was primal. She had returned the passion, right? He asked himself. James got up and went back inside.
He would drive himself crazy just sitting here thinking. He needed to work to keep his mind distracted. As he returned to the warmth of the cabin he saw Miranda sitting up in the bed holding her head. She looked at James and gave him a smile. A shiver went straight up James back. Her smile was magical, she was so perfect.

  “How did you sleep?” James asked.

  “Not bad but I think I may have drank too much last night. My head is killing me.” She replied.

  James retrieved a packet of ibuprofen from his bag and handed it to her along with a cup of tea from the top of the woodstove.

  “Thanks.” She replied and she took the pills with a sip of the tea.

  He nodded and then checked on the woodstove.