Righteous Gathering: Book 1 of the Righteous Survival EMP Saga

by Timothy Van Sickel

  "Lay your weapons down, and raise your hands." The other black man states firmly, he has a 30.06 pointed squarely at Herc's chest. Herc lays down his weapons, and steps aside. He doesn't like this at all. He is almost completely defenseless.

  The two from the roadblock jog up, and check over the scene. "Shit, Frank. You got this handled," the younger one says to the black man.

  Frank looks at him and nods, "Doin' my job." The 30.06 still held steady at Herc's chest.

  "You ain't part of them raider druggie folk, huh?" the older man asks Herc.

  "I ain't no druggie, sir, I'm just trying to move my family out of the bad spots. Our house got burned down in Moxham, and my momma and brother got killed. I killed those bastards, but we heard they was comin back after us, so we left. We won’t be no trouble, we’re just lookin' for a safe place to sleep."

  The man looks him over, looks into Herc's clear determined eyes, sees his hard strong muscles, and knows he is looking at a good man, not a druggie. He looks to Frankie, who nods and lowers his gun. Frankie steps forward and gives Herc a bro hug. He whispers in his ear "Welcome, friend. You'll be safe here."

  Herc quickly gathers his firearms, and motions his family forward. They pass thru the roadblock, and are greeted warmly by several women who seem to be in charge of refugees. They are directed down the hill, to the small village of Benson. The large Methodist church there has a kitchen set up for those in need. Herc and his family get a warm meal. They sit down next to a woman they learn is trying to get home to Central City. A man passing by hears of her predicament. He says that they are looking to run a convoy through to Hooversville in the morning. There have been ambushes on the road to Hooversville, so they are going to send a group through armed and ready. A few others need to go that way, and they want to keep that road open despite the troubles that have been going on. He has heard of ambushes and shootouts on that road the day before.

  Herc volunteers to ride as an armed guard on the convoy if he can take his family with him. His boss has a farmstead outside Central City. He knows he and his family will be welcome there, until he can figure out what to do. He has worked for Mark Mays since Mark first started his business. He knows Mark will help him and his family.

  His offer to help guard a run to Hooversville is taken into consideration. Herc and his family are offered sleeping quarters on cots in the church, along with several dozen other refugees.

  Chapter 26 Home Again, September 13, 2018

  I am relieved of a great burden as we drive down the old lane to the farmstead. There is no smoke rising or any other signs that renegades have been about. As we come in sight of the old farmhouse porch, I see Rusty and Jodie standing alertly, firearms in hand. Janie is talking into a wireless mic. Great! Ken found some of the other goodies in the Faraday cage and has them up and working.

  Janie waves happily, as little Sarah appears from behind the porch pillar, and shyly waves, too. We drive on back to the old barn and park. Becca comes running from the house, and bear hugs me, almost knocking me over. She kisses me deeply.

  "Whoa! Wow, I'll take short trips away more often if I get a reception like that every time I come home!" I say, as she steps back to look me over. "Nothing happened, babe, no bullet wounds, we're both okay."

  "You! If I didn't love you so much, I could slap you!" She hugs me again, then steps back. "You got stuff you never told me about. These wireless mics, with the control station, the extra cameras, and cable. No wonder you kept saying 'money was tight.’" She looks at, me a bit pissed, but then she smiles. She looks up with arms spread wide. "Thank you, God, for bringing this man into my life." She looks back at me warmly, and we embrace. "Now, tell me what's going on in town, and I'll tell you what we got done around here." She takes my hand, and we head back to the front porch of the new house. I send Larson off to have Ken, Britt and Jodie meet us there.

  I tell them all briefly about our morning. There is some shock as to how things have turned chaotic in the countryside with the renegades running wild. I point out how rapidly things can deteriorate, when bad people know there will be no consequences for their actions. If people have no moral compass to guide them, and no threat of retaliation for their actions, then their worst characteristics can come forth.

  Becca points out that God did answer our prayers.The lights did come back on; at the church. Two of the bad guys turned themselves in, willing to provide information. And a truckload of food was being delivered to town in the form of a herd of cattle. "God has not left us, he is watching over those who know him." As usual, my wife is right, prayers are being answered.

  Her words make my mind wander a bit. We so often overlook how God answers prayers. Our prayers may not be answered in the way we expect, nor in the time we would like. But God always hears our prayers, and he always answers them. But we look at life through blinders, at our day-to-day problems, too focused on the small things to see how He is working in our lives, and in the world; everyday He is working miracles, answering our prayers. So how does that square with the power shutting down. Is that God working miracles? How so? Millions of people are going to die.

  My faith is not shaken at these thoughts. He has provided a path for us, and we will follow that path. We will help all that we can as we walk in our faith. But what of those with no faith? Where will their path lead? And what about those with faith, trapped in a hopeless situation, in the big cities? I pray for them, I cannot help them. I need to concentrate on those I can help.

  My growling stomach turns my thoughts away from deep matters, to the here and now. "Let's get some lunch, and you all can tell me what you got done while I was gone."

  Becca and Janie head into the house to put some lunch together. I fire up a precious smoke, and offer one to Ken. Surprisingly, he takes me up on the offer.

  "So you got the wireless mic system set up, I see. They'll work for up to about a half-mile. What about the cameras, and the control station?" I ask.

  "Well, first I set up the recharging system, and main control station for the wireless mics. That's in your office, or 'command center,' here in the new house. I'd like to figure out how to get a remote station for that up in the old farmhouse. All the electronics you got stored in there! Crap, Mark, did you just put every old computer, laptop and monitor in that cage? I may be able to piece it together." I nod at his question, once the Faraday cage was set up, all old electronics got stacked in there.

  Ken continues. "We got the front porch camera replaced, and two others. We didn't get to the one on the lower field. I just got started on replacing the controller system, and the remote display in the farmhouse. From what I am finding, we should be able to do it all. Running the cable for more cameras will be the hardest part."

  "Can we get two cameras out on the county road, one looking in each direction? That could give us a big edge, if the renegades come scouting."

  "Let me get the main controller up and running first. If that boots up, we can have eight cameras rolling, so two out on the county road shouldn't be a problem if we have the cable to do it." Ken responds.

  I turn and look to Britt. "How's Grace doing?"

  She's looking at the floor. "He's a bit anxious. He wants to be helping." She looks up. "Is this what we have to look forward to? Setting up a fortress, hunkering down, trying to live off the land, collecting duck eggs, picking elderberries? I'm not ready for this!" She pauses a moment, tears forming in her eyes. Her words come fast and passionately. "My family is supposed to share a house with another family, and maybe more? My boy is riding shotgun as you go joy riding through the countryside? This ain't right!" Almost yelling now she continues, "My other boy got a gunshot wound, and we can't take him to the hospital? I watched as my husband had to gun down five men." She starts to weep heavily. We are all silent as she gets up, and hurries into the house. We all understand, we will all deal with this situation differently. Ken gets up and follows her, wiping a tear from his eye. He returns a few minutes later, his face is pa
le, and the stress he is feeling is seen in his stiff movements.

  We sit quietly for a bit, shaken by Britt's honest outburst. Shortly, Janie comes out on the porch with lunch, thick slabs of tomato with goat cheese and basil leaves, a bit of olive oil drizzled over it all, with fresh pepper and salt. "We got lunch!" I look at the plate as a gourmet meal, and dig in. Ken says a short grace, and tentatively begins to nibble at the food before him. Janie steps back, a bit aghast. "You men think that rabbit food is a good lunch?"

  I look up at her, "Janie, the days of pizza, and chicken nuggets are over. You got to eat what is available to eat, and this is mighty fine eatin'! Don't knock it till you try it. And your boys are going to look up to you, as to what to do. If you won't eat it, neither will your boys. Just saying, ya know." I dig into my thick slabs of tomato and basil, not looking back.

  From the corner of my eye I see her slice the tomato, and tentatively take a bite. I see her cut a bigger piece of tomato and swipe it through the olive oil and pepper, stabbing a piece of basil. Shortly she is halfway through the big plate. I turn and smile at her. "I been telling you for years, this is great food! Tonight we get some zucchini with fresh peppers and onions!"

  She scowls at me, "I didn't say I like it, I'm just hungry." With that statement she gobbles down the last of the food on her plate.

  Becca joins us on the porch, clearly stressed. "Britt is not dealing with this well. She won't talk to me, and just sits, staring straight ahead, unresponsive."

  "She'll be okay," states Ken. "I believe you Mays women call it processing. She'll work through it. The main thing is to make sure Grace heals up okay. That's what has her most worried. He should be on antibiotics. The EMT in Hooversville only gave him a few doses, those are gone.

  "We got antibiotics!" exclaims Becca. "There's ampicilin, not more than six months old, in the medicine cabinet. Remember, Mark? From when you had your gums worked on?" She heads back into the house, on a mission to help her daughter feel better, and her grandson get better.

  "Let's put a better perspective on this situation. Ken, Janie, you need to take a walk with me around the property. You know we have been setting the farm up as a safe place for something like this. But as the head of your families here, you need to know what we actually have, what we can do, and what needs to been done." They look at me, and nod, curiosity apparent on their faces. "Janie, go tell Becca I'm taking you on an inventory walk, she'll know what you mean. Let her know to look after the two boys. You can bring Sarah with us. Linc and Kim are working on setting up the main controller for the cameras?" I ask Ken, turning to him.

  "Yep, he's got a good head for that. We looked through all your electronics together. He was as stunned as me at what we found in that 'cage'. I think he sees it as a challenge to get the camera system back up and running."

  Larson has been sitting quietly, finishing his rabbit food plate, and calmly taking in all that has gone on. "Larson, you've had a big day already, go check on your cousins on the front porch, make sure they haven’t started a corn battle or something stupid. Then take some down time. We all need some down time when we can get it."

  "Okay, Pap,” he says easily. "Pap, there's some contrails off to the east, have you noticed them?" He points over the mountain ridge. "They're small, but I been watchin' them."

  We all turn, and look to where he is pointing. Sure enough, two thin contrails, running parallel, off to the east. Silence from us all as we digest this new development.

  "Military planes, running a cap mission," states Ken.

  I watch for a bit longer. "Gotta be. Hallelujah! Someone somewhere got a skycap mission going. Whoever hit us has been hit back, that's for sure, and whatever unit that is, it's still functional, it's put a protective cover over the coast. Something, somewhere is still operational." We all stare a few more moments at the sight, a bit of hope growing inside us all, at the thought that maybe normalcy can be restored.

  I break the silence, "Come on, that air patrol won't help us out here in these mountains, let's go show you two what we got set up here."

  Larson heads off to the old farmhouse as Janie, Ken, and I head in the house. First I show them the arms closet in the hallway of the kitchen with its heavy duty construction and lock. It usually only holds a fraction of what is actually on the premises. It's mostly empty now, these guns now being carried to protect the farmstead.

  Then I take them downstairs to show them the hidden gun closet. It's not too fancy, not some five thousand dollar safe. It’s a closet behind a closet in the basement. The front closet is a standard six foot wide closet with bi-fold doors. It holds your standard hunting gear, coats, pants, boots, vests, etc. If you push all the hunting gear aside, you see a paneled wall. In the upper left hand corner is a lock. You open it with the key hidden under the sink in the basement bath, and the wall opens to show a six foot wide four foot deep gun chest.

  It is mostly your standard western Pennsylvania gun cabinet, three 30.06 scoped rifles, a 273 lever action with iron sights, a double barrel 12 gauge, two 16 gauge pumps, a couple of 22/410 squirrel guns and several pistols of various calibers. There are also drawers full of ammunition, cleaning kits, knives, etc. But there are three gems that Ken quickly notices. Two more AR15's, and a fifty caliber competition-quality long range target rifle.

  "Holy crap, Mark!" exclaims Ken. "You got an arsenal here. That's a Barret fifty cal. You can reach out and touch someone with that!" I notice that his funk from the past events is moving away quickly. I hand him the weapon. He checks to make sure it is clear then runs it through his hands, checking it over in detail.

  "That's my brother, John's rifle, 29 inch barrel, semi-automatic, with a ten round clip. I hope he makes it out here. In the mean time, I'll want you to put a few rounds down range with that." Ken sobers up a bit, and agrees to some range firing. These weapons are in addition to what is already being carried, Janie notes. I let them know I am expecting more of my family to show up, if they can get out of Pittsburgh.

  Ken is looking over the drawers of ammunition. "There's more, Ken," I state as he is clearly calculating the ammunition stored here. I lock things up, and lead them to the basement bedroom, where Linc and Kim are staying. I unlock an underbed drawer, and roll it out. "I got as much money tied up in ammunition as I do in firearms." I roll open another drawer, revealing more ammunition and an unopened reloading kit. "John bought this, too. I don’t even know how to use it, but if we need it we got it.'" Janie and Ken are both staring, open mouthed. "There's more." I show them the false back of another closet, and more ammunition. "It may look like a lot, but it isn't. We can hunt and defend the property for a while, but it will run out. And we all need to do some weapons training, and range shooting. I don’t have a full inventory of what we have. Ken, I am hoping you will do that for us, and figure out what we can use for everyone to put a few rounds down range, so all adults, and grown children are comfortable with the weapons." Ken agrees, Janie is still open mouthed, but agrees as well. We decide that the next morning we will have weapons and range training. We can't have people carrying guns that they are not comfortable with, not able to maintain.

  "The rest of the tour won’t be as eye opening, but I think you will find it pleasing," I say as we head out the basement door, and over to the large garden shed. I show them the seed processing and storage area, and the drying racks. I briefly explain how we can replant everything we are growing this year, next spring. I let them know Becca and I have been doing this for several years, and that we can teach them how to do it; which crops to choose for seed stock, and how to harvest, and store the seeds. I show them the book we bought that explains it step by step for almost every crop we grow, from asparagus to zucchini.

  I answer the questions they fire at me as best I can, as we head over to the old barn. There, I show them the secondary root cellar, already half full from this year’s potatoes and onions that we have already harvested. There are also more perishable crops in there too, like squ
ashes, peppers, and a few early cabbages, that will last longer in the cool, dry space. Ken notes the five gallon buckets with ten pound weights sitting on them. Sauerkraut presses, I explain briefly. Janie is not so impressed with the veggies but is happy about the potatoes. She wants to know if we have enough, if we know how to grow more. I answer her bluntly, no, we probably don't have enough potatoes, but yes we can, and will, grow more.

  We pass the indoor portion of the pigpen. Bertha, our sow, is lolling in the shade, waiting for the next scraps to be thrown in for her. Her nine offspring are out roaming their acre of fenced-in land. They have almost grown to full size, close to two hundred pounds each. We would have been taking them in for sale in the next few weeks, keeping one for our own use. Now all will be kept for food, except for a few lucky ones that will be bred. In the next pen, with a smaller range, is Franklin, our stud boar. All our family knows we have been raising pigs for a few years. They all have been recipients of fresh bacon, pork and ham. I let them know we should keep two more sows, and another boar, to increase our pig stock. That means less meat now, but more meat in the future.

  Next up are the larger cattle stalls. All four of our beef cattle are in the pasture, indifferent to the plight of us humans. Four heads will not go far, I tell them, remembering the boys herding the milk cows to town. On the other side of the barn basement is an area previously used for milk cows, now used as excess storage, literally filled with junk. I verbalize a plan to Ken and Janie, that we need to clean out all this junk and trade for milk cows, to start raising both cows and bulls. I task Janie with figuring this out, and tell her that she needs to talk with our neighbor, Thad, about what needs to be done. Our meat and potatoes girl quickly agrees to taking on the task.

  We head up to the main level of the barn. There is a newer tractor, a tracked excavator, a big lawn tractor, and an older tractor sitting up here, along with various farm implements: some I use regularly, some have not been moved in fifty years. I task Ken to see what's running and what's not, to have Linc and Larson, Grace when available, to help.