DISASTER: Too Late to Prep

by Terry McDonald

  “Are you okay?”

  The man stared hard at Max. “Better question is are you okay? He laid into you pretty good with his boot. What the hell happened to your forehead? I saw the sticks on your arm too while you were rolling around on the floor.”

  “Those people who just showed up are what happened to me. Ada, the woman with me, owns this farm. I own the one north of here. The gang raided our places a few days ago and killed our families. They tossed me down a flight of steps. Today we’re going to kill them.”

  “Sounded like a lot of trucks pulled in. Maybe I should take my wife and children and sneak out the back entrance.”

  “I wouldn’t try that. If things go bad, stay hidden and make your get-away at night.”

  The oldest girl pushed past her father and stood in front of where Max was kneeling. “Do you have something to eat, Mister? I’m hungry.”

  Her father pulled the child away. “Go back to your mother Debora.” “Sorry about that. We haven’t eaten in two days. The day before that, we split a can of corn and a can of peas.”

  “Where are you from, Max asked?”

  “Tucker, just outside of Atlanta.”

  “I know where that is. What are your names?”

  “I’m Phillip, my wife Susan, then there’s Courtney and Debora.”

  Max reached through the opening to shake hands. “I’m Max. If things go right, we should be able to get you fed. Children, in a few minutes you’re going to hear a loud noise. If you hear a gunshot, put your hands over you ears and keep them there.”

  Max pushed the bales back into place and slithered to his position beside Ada.

  “How are they?” She asked.

  “Scared, hungry, confused. Just another family on the brink of death.”

  “Not if we can help them. We need people Max. A lot of people. They can be our first recruits.”

  “Are we starting an army?

  “No Max, I’m thinking along the lines of a farm, a cooperative, an armed, self-sufficient corner in hell.”

  Max raised his head to peer over the bag of dog food. “We need to clear the corner first. I swear more people joined with the gang, most of them in uniforms. It looks like at least a hundred and twenty men out there.”

  “I saw the sergeant, I think. You’re right, there’re a lot more men in uniform besides the Captain. I saw him talking to a group of five of them. They went to a truck and got their rifles. Then those five went to talk to some others.”

  Max said, “It won’t be long now. If I don’t make it, you can have all my worldly belongings,” attempting levity to ease the tension he felt.”

  Ada didn’t appreciate his humor. “Jeez. Shut up, Max.”

  Ten, nervous minutes later, they heard the Captain’s voice booming from the megaphone.

  “Sergeant Hicks, get the men in formation.”

  The sergeant began shouting orders. Max and Ada risked a peek. Several uniformed men had Billy Ray in custody. They pulled his hands behind him and used plastic ties for handcuffs.

  Max and Ada lowered their heads and Ada whispered, “The Captain is standing almost in front of the two jug bombs on the porch. He’s going to be shredded.”

  They heard shouting from the gang and risked another look. Billy Ray was being hustled to the porch, resisting his captors. Several uniformed men, armed with rifles were holding another protesting group at bay.

  “Billy Ray’s people are pissed,” Ada said.

  “Yeah, I can tell. The Captain was smart to do it while the men are unarmed and tired.”

  The captain acted as though he didn’t know why the sergeant had Billy Ray brought to the porch under duress.

  Speaking loud enough for the gathered men to hear him without the megaphone, he asked, “What’s the meaning of this Sergeant Hicks? Why is this man in cuffs?”

  “Sir, I placed this man, Billy Ray Dobbs, under arrest for gross insubordination, Sir. He refuses to take orders and he is setting a bad example to the other men. In these dangerous times, we must demand unquestioned loyalty and obedience to command. I have a list of his violations.”

  Sergeant Hicks handed the Captain a sheet of paper that he pretended to study. He folded the paper and put it in his jacket pocket.

  “Billy Ray Simpson, you’re been charged with eighteen instances of insubordination and refusal to take direct orders. Do you have anything to say?”

  “I told that bastard I wasn’t one of his soldiers to order around like a dog. If it wasn’t for me, your bunch would’ve never found this place with all the supplies.”

  “That may or may not be true soldier. I said soldier. We are all soldiers here. A military command depends on obedience. I too have noticed your defiance when given directions and direct orders. I find you guilty of the charges Sergeant Hick’s presented to me.

  “Sergeant Hicks. What is your recommendation?”

  “Two weeks confined to a stall in the barn and reduced rations.”

  “You are a kind man, Sergeant…, too kind.” The Captain motioned to the men holding Billy Ray’s arms. “Bend the prisoner over the porch rail.”

  “This is it,” Max whispered, taking aim at the steel bell hung near the front door of King’s house.

  Billy Ray kicked and squirmed, trying to resist, but once bent over the rail, his struggles were ineffective.

  The Captain spoke into the megaphone. “This man is guilty of disobeying direct orders on the battlefield. Make no mistake, men. We are at war, and the world is our battlefield.

  “The penalty is death. Sergeant Hicks. Draw your weapon and carry out the sentence.”

  “Yes sir.” Hicks drew a pistol from the holster at his side, and moved behind Billy Ray. He leaned forward to place the barrel of the pistol against the nape of his neck. The group of Billy Ray’s relatives raised their voices in an angry uproar.

  Max and Ada did not see the round that caused Billy Ray’s brains to splatter the ground below the deck. The instant Hicks fired his pistol they pulled the triggers on their rifles. The bell rang. Rang loud, but nothing happened. No explosion.

  The Captain spun to look at the bell, chunks missing from it. He must have realized what the jugs below it were.

  He shouted, “Oh, shit. Run!”

  Ada recovered from her disbelief at the lack of an explosion and shouted at Max. “Shoot the bathtub.” She pulled her trigger again. The Captain fell to the ground.

  Max shifted his aim and fired two rounds at the tub. Nothing happened. Several of the uniformed men saw where the shooting was coming from and began firing back as they ran to find cover. Bullets hit the wood siding, sending splinters flying as they passed through.”

  “Damn, damn.” Ada screamed, still seeking targets for her AR.”

  Acting without thought, Max fired a round at the milk jugs beneath the useless bell. There was a bright flash. The jugs exploded with a roar and an outpouring of smoke. The concussion set off the other jugs, the ones in the trees and the three under the cast-iron bathtub.

  The concussion from the blasts reached the barn, shaking the structure. Gravel peppered the siding. Max and Ada, instinctively ducked their heads and were not hit, but a huge chunk of the bathtub took out as section of the loft doorframe as it sailed in, making a whistling noise as it passed low over their heads, causing them to scurry further back. Only for a moment though. Ada scrambled back to the opening, searching for and finding targets inside the cloud of rancid smoke.

  A bit slower, Max moved into place in time to shoot an injured man attempting to run to the trucks. His staggering gait slowed him. Max shot the banger between his shoulder blades and searched for new targets. He put a round into the head of a man crawling and then shifted to shoot a man on all fours who was shaking his head, flinging blood from side to side.

  Again Max aimed for the head. The man’s legs twitched as he flopped onto his belly. He sought and found other targets.

  Beside him, Ada was firing constantly. She emptied a magazine and
slammed in a new one.

  Screams of pain filled the area of carnage in front of King’s home. Dead and dismembered men littered the ground. The smoke from the explosions dissipated in the slight breeze. A bullet from Max’s rifle elicited a final cry of agony.

  Ada sat and spoke into the quiet. “Did any of them get away?”

  “I don’t think so. I think we got all of ‘em.”

  Ada allowed her gaze to wander through the loft door, observing the field of death. “We did it Max. We did it.” Her voice expressed triumph, but not joy. “We did it,” she repeated once more before breaking down and crying.

  A rustling sound from behind them startled Max. It was Phillip, the father. He crawled to the edge of the window.

  “Oh Jesus. You killed the gang. All of them it looks like.”

  “No. There’re a few more at my farm guarding the women they captured.”

  Max shifted to put his arm around Ada, drawing her close.

  Phillip said, “I have to ask. Is it safe for me to go look for food?”

  “Food’s in the lead truck. We’ll cover for you. Grab two rifles while you’re at it. Hurry. We still need to free the women at my farm.”

  Max waited for him to leave before speaking to Ada. “I’ll cover for Phillip. Go talk to his wife and girls. They must be scared. Fill the mother in on what’s going on.”

  “Thanks for the hug. I’ve got it together now. Keep watching the bodies for movement.” She stood and went to the bales Phillip had pushed aside.

  Max watched Phillip approach the truck. Suddenly one of the men rose to a kneeling position, raising his rifle. Max shot him in the chest before he could get off a shot. Phillip froze and looked back toward the barn.

  “Hurry” Max shouted. Still watching for movement among the bodies, he reloaded his expended spare mags by feel. As soon as he heard Phillip ascending the stairs, he began a methodical process of shooting all the bodies again. Only one of them screamed. Max shot that one three more times. It took another reload to be sure he shot them all. The bag of ammo they’d brought with them was almost empty.

  Human limbs and splintered wood from the house littered the ground, but the huge trees looked to have suffered little damage. There was a gaping hole in the front of King’s house. A big section of the porch was missing. The blast shredded the roof above that section and it sagged from missing support posts. It occurred to Max that the gravel was the main killing source and not the explosions.

  Max called for Phillip to join him. He came, carrying two of the generic MREs with him and a liter bottle of water. Max reached for one of the meals.

  “I know you’re starving. Eat both of these. Let me set one warming for you.” The man watched Max work, copying him as he poured water into the meal heater. Max continued to watch through the loft opening, his eyes darting to his hands only when needed.

  “Let it warm for a minute and then insert the meal packet. It’ll take a few minutes to heat.”

  “Thanks. I’ll show Susan how too—.”

  “Ada will show her. Phillip, can we trust you?”

  “Can you trust me?” Phillip repeated. “Mister, I’m so glad to meet you I’m ready to cry. The man you and her beat to death was going to rape my wife. I know he was. You have no idea what we’ve been through.”

  “I told you my name is Max, not mister. As far as not knowing what you’ve been through, look at me. You’re not blind. Ada’s family was bulldozed into a pit and so was mine.”

  Phillip gazed at Max, seeing his injured forehead anew. “Please Max. I misspoke. I wasn’t trying too—.”

  Again Max interrupted him. “You’re nervous and stressed. Welcome to the club. Have you fired a weapon before?”

  “Yes, at the range and I’ve gone deer hunting a few times.”

  “How about your wife…, Susan, right?”

  “Susan. Yes, she’s fired a pistol the range.”

  “Phillip. Ada and I are leaving in a few minutes. At my farm the gang has captive women they’ve been using. No doubt, a few of the bangers are guarding them. I want you and Susan to remain in the loft and watch for any who might decide to come see what happened here. If any do come, be patient. Eventually they’ll go among the bodies. That’s when you shoot them.”

  Max paused and placed Phil’s meal into the heater. Again, Phillip copied him.

  Max asked him, “Will you do what I ask? Can I trust you not to grab some meals and run off?”

  “Max, at this point I’d almost die for you. Yes, you can trust us. Just make sure it’s them that get killed and not you.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Ada left the family and came to the front of the loft carrying two meals. She sat and began opening one of the packets.

  “I heard you talking. Max, we need to eat before we go. Phillip, your children are eating. They couldn’t wait for the meals to fully warm. You may want to grab a few more before Max and I leave.”

  ***

  Using the last rounds of ammunition in the bag, Max and Ada had a full mag in their rifles and six rounds each in a spare. They used the forest backing their properties to access Max’s farm. The light of day forced them to travel the distance deeper in the trees.

  Ada led the way. After a few minutes, she stopped in a small, brush free space under the canopy of trees.

  “Max, let’s take a break here. I want to fill you in on what Susan told me.”

  He joined her on the ground, sitting cross-legged, facing her. “What’s up?”

  “Phillip and Susan aren’t the only desperate people in our immediate area. They’re part of a group that’s hiding in an abandoned pole-barn a mile south of my family’s place. For the last three days, they’ve been sneaking onto farms taking food from the houses. They emptied Otis’s and my dad’s homes and were checking King’s house when they were caught.”

  “How many people are in their group? Is it a group or gang?”

  “A group. They’re not hurting anyone. She said there are about eighty of them, mostly single men, a few families with children. For the most part, they’re unarmed and they haven’t been doing any raiding. They’ve been scavenging homes laid waste in the area by the bangers, Billy Ray and the Captain.

  “Max, our homes aren’t the only ones they’ve attacked. Susan said there’re at least twenty families they know of within a half days walking distance. The men and children killed, the women taken. With all the trucks the bangers had, there’s no telling how far they’ve roamed or how many people they’ve killed. There could be dozens of women in the barn.”

  Max said, “After we take care of things at my place we can send Phillip to get the rest of his group. Between my supplies and what’s at your place we should be able to feed them for a while.”

  “Yes,” Ada agreed, but farther than that, I want to arm them with the banger’s weapons and help them start a community like I talked about. Planting season’s coming soon. There’s no reason they can’t plan to survive. They won’t be handicapped like we were with too few people to protect each other.”

  “I can see that,” Max said. ‘No reason they can’t expand either. They can plow the fields across the road from our places. Maybe grow some cows—.”

  Ada corrected him. “Raise some cows. You’re still a long way from being a country boy.”

  “You know what I’m saying though.”

  “What we have in supplies will give them a start. Max. I don’t know that it will do them any good. Susan said a man fresh from Atlanta joined up with them yesterday. He said the plague is there. He told Susan and Phillip the gangs in the city have gone kill-crazy and that some of them have started eating people. There’s no more food for the few million still alive.

  “Every bit of news we hear is bad news on top of bad,” Max said.

  “Max, I want to help these people, but once we get them started I want us to load up with as many supplies as we can carry and go deep into the National Forest. Wait out the worst of the dis
aster.”

  “What about Ruben and his gang in Toccoa and others like him? They’re killing all the good people.”

  “We can do raids. Snipe ‘em, but avoid contact with people. I want to survive this. Max, I want you to survive this.”

  “Are you saying you want us to survive, as in us?”

  “Us, unless you know someone else we can trust. I mean completely trust.”

  Max stood, offering his hand. “As of this moment, you’re the only one I want walking with me. As you said, whom else can we trust? Let’s do what we have to do and then concentrate on surviving.

  ***

  At the rear of his farm, they snuck to the tree line and spent several minutes surveying the property. The slope to his home and barn were not as severe as King’s. The house and barn were visible.”

  They saw a man exit the front entrance of the barn and run to Max’s chicken coop. They didn’t see another person there, but it was obvious he spoke to someone hiding inside it. The man then went to a pickup truck and spoke to someone there before returning to the barn.

  “Looks like they prepared an ambush,” Ada said.

  “Yeah, but it was stupid for him to come out like that.”

  “These aren’t military geniuses, Max. They most likely expect any attackers to come driving up the road. I’m willing to bet those two are the only ones outside the barn. If there were others, the banger would’ve talked to them too.”

  “How do you think we should handle this? Max asked. “I’m open to ideas.”

  “Let’s go with your summation, you’ve been right so far. You said the Captain wouldn’t leave many men to guard the women. We have two outside. Let’s figure four more in the barn.”

  Max said, “I wish we had more ammo. We could shoot up the chicken coop and the truck. Wood and sheet metal won’t stop our bullets. That’d put us low on bullets, but we’d eliminate the outside threat easy enough.”

  “Do you have ammo for our rifles in your house? 5.56’s?

  “Yes, there was a lot in a freezer downstairs. The bangers may have found it though.”