by Steven Kagey
After she drank for a few seconds, Brian asked, “What’s your name?”
“Crystal Harris,” she said, and went back to drinking.
“Where are you from?”
“Greensboro.”
After she had enough to drink, she told Brian she was nineteen and had been traveling with her parents back to Greensboro. They had been on vacation in Missouri.
“Where are your parents?”
Crystal stared off into space, tears forming in her eyes. “They’re dead. When our car stopped working on the highway, we camped out near it for the first two days expecting help to come. When no help came and we started running out of food and water, we started walking. A group of men attacked us and shot my mom and dad. I took off running and made it to Crossville.
“When I got here I was directed to a shelter set up in the high school. I lived there for a few days and then this morning, this sheriff goon followed me into the bathroom and tried to rape me. One of the men in black uniforms came in after hearing the commotion and started yelling at the guy. I thought I was saved, but after he stopped yelling, the man in the black uniform told the other guy, ‘if you’re going to do this type of thing, at least take the girl away from here and do it.’ He tied me up and threw me in his trunk.
“I was in there for a couple hours. I could hear him loading things into the car. The next thing I knew was what just happened. You saved me.”
Brian processed what she told him, thinking about all the implications. Then he realized she was still sitting there in her t-shirt and panties. “David, go in the house and find some clothes for her to wear.”
Crystal shook her head. “No! I’d rather be sitting out here buck naked than wear anything belonging to that piece of shit who was trying to rape me.”
Brian stood up and took his plate carrier off, then removed and handed her his own shirt. It would at least cover her for the time being.
He grabbed the body of the dead man and pulled it around the side of the house, then helped Crystal up to sit on the stairs. “David, go get your rifle and keep watch on the property and the road.”
He pulled his radio out and tried calling Sean. He didn’t respond, so he called the house over the HAM and asked them to relay a message to get a hold of him.
While Brian was waiting for Sean and Craig to contact him over the radio, he stepped into the house, inspecting everything that was stacked around the house. In the living room he discovered piles of food, weapons, and clothing. The food was enough to feed his group for a few months. At first he was elated. That soon gave way to anger. How many families would be starving soon because of this thieving scum? How many people had these assholes condemned to death just so they could rest easy? How many more houses were piled high with stolen goods?
When he entered one of the bedrooms, his anger peaked. The ignorance of the men that were sweeping through the county and stealing from everyone became clear. The room was stacked wall to wall, floor to ceiling with brand new widescreen TVs, Blu-ray players, stereo equipment, and other electronic devices, all still in boxes and all absolutely worthless. There was no electricity to run any of it, and the electromagnetic pulse had likely fried the circuits in every single device.
Pissed, Brian stomped out of the house. If this douche bag wasn’t already dead, Brian would have probably shot him.
His radio crackled. It was Sean calling him over the HAM.
“Drop everything and come straight to target location for immediate pickup,” Brian said.
Brian called David over the PNR-500 tactical radio. “Pack up and come to the house.”
He then checked on Crystal. She was sitting with her arms around her knees staring into space.
“David and I are going to be loading stuff up in the car and you need to watch the road and listen for any people or vehicles.” Crystal nodded. “We’re expecting an older blue Ford pickup to arrive.”
Brian and David began stacking food in the car as quickly as they could. They bypassed any of the weapons in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Food and ammo were the main focus of this first trip, and these items would be in short supply soon. Since there was no longer a person in the trunk, they were able to fit more than the man had unloaded.
Brian noticed that David was unusually quiet. As they were passing each other with loads, Brian asked, “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” David replied without making eye contact.
Brian grabbed his arm. “David, I know how you’re feeling right now. That was your first time pulling the trigger with a person in your sights. I can’t promise that you will ever forget it and you’ll probably have nightmares from it. But take comfort in the fact that you saved that young woman’s life. Imagine all the horrible things he was going to do to her. Those thoughts alone should make you angry. Now realize that you prevented every single one of those things from happening.”
“I know, and I’m glad I did it.” He paused to look over at Crystal sitting on the porch. “The only living thing I have ever killed before were deer, and I feel bad about that. I’m able to be okay with it since I eat everything I kill.”
Brian glanced over at the body next to the house. “Well, if it makes you feel better you can eat him too. You can even have my share, I’ll pass.”
David looked up with a disgusted look to find Brian smiling. “Uncle Brian, you just ain’t right sometimes.” He returned a partial smile.
Brian grabbed his shoulders. “Seriously, David. It was a justified shooting. You didn’t take a life; you saved a life.”
***
A short time later Brian thought he heard something on the radio right as Crystal called out, “I hear a vehicle coming!”
David grabbed his rifle and took a position at the door as Brian came out and knelt in front of Crystal to block her from any incoming gunfire.
“Just being safe,” Brian said. “It sounds like Craig’s truck.”
The vehicle got closer, and when the radios were finally within range they heard Sean calling. Brian radioed back telling him to come up to the house.
Chapter 27
While Sean and Craig were observing the guardsman’s family, discussing his rationale for going along with the weapon and food confiscation and whether they should go in and take back their food from this family, Brenda called over the HAM radio.
“Whiskey-1, you need to contact Sierra-1 immediately.”
They had to go back to the truck to get reception, and Sean made contact with Brian.
After hearing Brian’s call to drop everything and come to the house where he was, Sean and Craig were worried about what would cause a rush. This was after all supposed to be a reconnaissance mission only. Craig was worried about David too, though he didn’t mention it to Sean. Sean trusted his kids with Brian and Craig did too, but this was a different world they now lived in now. Life and death decisions were becoming a daily occurrence.
Craig was driving so fast it was taking all Sean could do to stay in his seat, and he was white-knuckling the door handle the entire time.
Sean was trying to reach them over the tactical radios. Finally, Brian answered and calmly told them to pull up to the house and back up next to the car. They entered the driveway, not knowing what to expect or what the situation was. They saw Brian crouched down on the porch with his weapon raised, and then David stepped out onto the porch and the men gave a sigh of relief. They quickly parked and jumped out, eager to find out what happened.
Sean saw Brian walking towards them with a smile and said, “This is the second time you couldn’t wait for the rest of the team, huh?”
“Hey now,” Brian chuckled, “the meth house was your idea.”
Noticing the young, attractive girl sitting on the porch in her panties wearing Brian’s uniform shirt Sean lowered his voice and asked, “Why is there a half-naked girl on the porch?”
Brian thumbed over his shoulder towards the dead body wearing a sheriff’s deputy shirt. “That piece
of shit kidnapped her from the FEMA camp for his own personal plaything. The worst part is that a DHS agent told him to do it. He has a nice little stockpile in the house. We need to hurry and get the truck loaded in case this guy is not living here alone.
“David and I have already been moving food and ammo out to the car. There’s more, and a ton of guns in there. I think he’s been skimming off the top from every house they raided.”
“I don’t recognize him from the ones that came to our place,” Sean said. “I wonder how many fake deputies they have.”
“How many people did the jail hold?” Brian asked. “There’s your answer.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“We’ll talk later. We need to hurry and get this stuff loaded.” Brian showed them the inside of the house and the priority piles he had identified. They were blown away at the amount of items in the house. When Brian showed them the room of electronic trash, they experienced the same anger that he had.
Brian escorted Crystal to the front seat of Craig’s truck so she could be more comfortable. He explained to her what they were doing and said they were going to take her to get checked out by the doctor at their place. When he told her that these men acting as the government had come to their house and stole all their food and they were simply getting it back, she was relieved. For a while, she’d thought she had simply changed hands from one criminal to another.
While clearing supplies from the house, Craig discovered a few packs of their own food among the items; he could tell from the Mylar pouches and Brian’s handwriting. The only thing he could deduce was that this guy was stealing from the FEMA camp, or they had been divvying up the supplies out to everyone in the raiding parties. They found an entire duffle bag full of jewelry, boxes of gold and silver coins, and many other items of value that the president never said anything about seizing.
They decided to load it all up and prevent the next person that stumbled across this house from benefiting from the stolen wares, planning to consult with Sheriff Perry on what to do with the stuff. They began piling the weapons in the back of the truck. There were about fifty different long guns, a mix of tactical and sporting type rifles and shotguns. They also found a box of handguns, most still in their holsters as they were when confiscated. The truck soon filled up. They’d have to make another trip if they wanted to get everything.
Brian had packed the car so full there was only room for the driver.
“Brian, why don’t you drive the car,” Sean suggested. “Craig, David, and I will ride in the truck.”
“What about Crystal?” Craig asked.
“She can sit on David’s lap since he’s the smallest,” Sean said.
David’s pulse raced, his hormones surged, and he felt lightheaded at the thought of Crystal sitting on his lap.
Brian looked at David and said, “Please don’t take offense to this.” Then he said to Sean, “Do you really think it’s appropriate to have an attractive young lady wearing nothing but her panties sitting on a man’s lap? I think that will be a very awkward ride for both of them.”
Sean glanced at David and saw his face flush beet red, and it dawned on him.
“It would be better to have someone stay behind and keep watch,” Brian said. “That way we can return and not have to deal with walking into the unknown again.”
“I’ll stay here,” Craig volunteered.
“No,” Brian said, “Sean should do it.”
Craig gave him a questioning look, and Brian made a pistol shooting action with his hand and then pointed at David over to the dead body. Craig understood that Brian was saying that David had shot the man; he thought that Brian had taken the shot. Two emotions flooded over Craig; remorse that his own son had been put into a situation where he had to take a man’s life and fatherly pride that he son was actually able to take that shot to save an innocent life.
“Uncle Brian,” David said, “can you go in the truck with me and Crystal?”
Craig wanted to be able to speak with his son to make sure he was alright. He hadn’t seen any outward signs of trauma except that David was unusually quiet, which he’d simply attributed to the situation and everyone being busy loading the vehicles. Still, he reluctantly agreed to drive the car.
While Brian and David loaded in the truck, he asked, “David, can you sit in the middle so Crystal can sit by the door?” He was trying to put himself in her shoes and felt she would be more comfortable by the door where she had an exit and would not feel trapped.
Sean took the sniper rifle and walked over to where Brian had been observing the house from.
On the way back to the homestead Brian was stopping at the blind corners and running forward to check everything out before they proceeded.
“David, be ready to drive if I find trouble.”
When he returned to the truck David was in the driver’s seat, and Crystal had moved to the middle. She motioned for him to get in the passenger seat.
“Thank you for letting me have the door,” Crystal said, “but I feel safe with you and know it would better for you to be able to get out quickly and defend us if we run into trouble.”
When they got close to the house, Brian radioed ahead and told the LP/OP that they were coming in, that a brown car being driven by Craig was behind them, and that they needed the medical team to meet them outside. Once they were in sight of the house a smile spread across Brian’s face.
“Crystal, squeeze the handle on that garden sprayer on the floorboard.”
Though confused, she did as she was asked and a cloud of smoke blanketed the area behind them. Brian was laughing. “Craig needs to experience his gadget in action.”
They pulled into the driveway, and a few minutes later Craig did too.
“That scared the shit out of me,” Craig said when he got out. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Everyone was smiling, even Crystal.
“Damn, that works good,” Craig laughed.
The rest of the group was outside to meet them. Hearing them ask for the medical team had gotten everyone worried, and seeing them playing around with the smoke screen confused them even more.
Doc was there to meet them, and Brian was pleased to see Lillian was there as well. He motioned for them to come over and introduced Crystal to them. Lillian stepped forward and took charge. She had worked more sexual assault cases than she cared to count and recognized this as one immediately.
“Evelyn, can you get some clothes out of the totes in the basement for Crystal?” Brian then asked for everyone else to help unload all the supplies out of the vehicles, that Sean was waiting for them and they needed to make another trip.
Upon discovering the mass amount of food there were cries of joy and relief.
Evelyn came walking out carrying Brian’s uniform shirt that Crystal had given back after she was given the spare clothes. “So, I sent you out to get us food, and you bring back a half-naked woman instead?” she joked.
Brian grinned. “I got us food too.” He waved his arm towards the load in the truck.
“Where did you go to get it? The strip club?”
“I wish!” he said. They laughed, and Evelyn embraced him. She looked at all the food being brought out of the vehicles. “I think this will help put us through winter. There’s still more left to bring.”
The group quickly had the vehicles unloaded and Brian, Craig, and David were about to head back out. Brian went in to check on Crystal before they left and found everyone fawning over her. They had fixed food and were piling it in front of her.
“Looks like you’re in good hands,” Brian said.
Everyone was still talking to her and around her. She mouthed “Thank you,” back to him.
The three men drove the vehicles back with Brian driving the car this time so Craig could check on his son’s mental state. They packed both vehicles and made another trip without any issues. They returned for a final trip and were able to get the remaining items in the truck an
d decided to hide the car in the woods far away from the homestead. If the man they shot had any friends, they did not want to take a chance of them seeing his car at their house.
On the final drive back to the house, David rode in the back, and Brian was finally able to speak with Sean and Craig. They had wanted to talk to him as well concerning what they saw at the guardsman’s house they had been watching.
Brian nodded. “Yes, I suspect that all the replacement deputies are actually criminals. DHS probably appointed them straight from the jail.”
Seeing that one of them was part of a meth lab, and this last one was a rapist, they suspected that the rest were going to be equally shady. The men drove the rest of the way home in silence.
What exactly is the DHS’s goal that they would allow criminals to go around and raid people’s homes? Brian thought. Why would our own government do this to us?
Chapter 28
Saturday, September 28th
8 Days Since the Power Went Out
Brian woke up invigorated. He was ready to raid the next house occupied by one of the fake deputies. Knowing that they were getting compensation for what was stolen from them along with getting a criminal element purged from their area justified the danger in going to an unknown location and forcibly removing any occupants. They were curious if the next fake deputy would prove to be a released convict as well.
Brian passed by the dining room to check on the radios and was surprised to find Brenda and Crystal in there working together and giggling. It made sense that Brenda and Crystal would become friends since they were the closest females in age.
“Hello, ladies,” Brian said. “Crystal, how are you doing?”
“I had the first decent night’s sleep since this whole thing started,” she said. “Thank you again.”
After breakfast, the team sat down to go over what had happened the previous day. Brian and David critiqued their own actions during and after the raid so they could learn from their mistakes. The group decided to continue training as a team.
