Surviving

by A J Newman

  She looked him in the eyes and said, “Most are good, but some of the boys were rewarded with their choice of the younger girls. A couple of the girls are real bad also.”

  John knew he was taking a chance, but he questioned several other girls and got the same story. One older girl had a very different story about how their parents were starving and desperate. John weeded out the bad ones and told them to head back to the farm. They left. There were twelve children left that John felt good about, nine girls and three boys below five years old.

  John waved for the rest of the group to join them and had the shortest town meeting in history. The bottom line was that he wanted them to accept the children and raise them as their own. All but a few agreed so it was done. John’s rag tag band had more kids. They ranged from thirteen to two years old. The women took over their care and loaded them up and the band of wanderers took off again for Mobile.

  • • •

  Gus was about an hour out of Mobile when he got on the radio and called the compound to let Steve know that they would arrive soon. Steve told him that all was well and that he would check the runway and make sure that it was clear.

  Steve took a pickup, drove the length of the runway and found all was okay. He then started checking the perimeter of the compound to make sure that the fences were intact and that the guards were actually guarding the place. He found all was going as planned until he got to the south side of the compound.

  One of the guards saw him and said, “I was just about to call you on the walkie talkie. There are several guys out there about 250 yards with field glasses looking all over our place."

  Steve aimed his rifle at the guys and looked at them with the nine-power scope. They looked back at him and quickly hid in the brush. Steve had a very bad feeling about this and wished Gus was here. Steve knew he could hold his own in a firefight, but Gus knew Army tactics and how to fight a war.

  Jim was training most of the women and a couple of guys on shooting safety, how to reload their weapons and improving their accuracy. He was using a couple of pellet rifles and .22 pistols to train the newcomers to firearms to save ammo. They were all doing very well. He looked up and saw Steve waving as he drove towards them.

  Steve gathered all of the men that weren’t on guard duty and told them about the situation. He said that he needed five volunteers to go with him to check out this bunch that were watching them. They grabbed AR15s, 9mm Glocks and plenty of ammo and met on the north side of the main house. Steve had them slide into the woods that ran on the west side of the property without being seen and they started working their ways south. It only took about 20 minutes to work their way to about 50 yards from where the strangers had ducked into the woods. Steve and one of the guys crawled another 40 yards towards where the strangers had been when they heard voices.

  One voice said, “Yes they have a lot of guns and when they got here they unloaded a bunch of what looked like food and water.”

  Another replied, “And we will take all of it away from them when we get reinforcements.”

  Steve saw three guys sitting in the edge of the woods and knew what he had to do. He shot four times and got all three. As he rushed up to them, one tried to raise his rifle and Steve shot him and then put a head shot into the others.

  • • •

  Tom was driving and they were about 40 miles north of the Alabama border when the windshield exploded in their face. He swerved off the road and got the truck stopped when several bullets hit the truck. He yelled at Sam to duck when he saw Sam slumped in the seat with blood all over his chest. He pushed Sam down below the metal armor and checked the wound. Sam had been hit in the shoulder. If Tom could get the bleeding stopped, he should be okay. Tom was busy with Sam when a shadow went across the side window. He looked up and saw about ten men charging towards him. They all wore black BDUs and were heavily armed with M4s and side arms. They also had body armor and hand grenades on their chests. He carefully aimed and started dropping them with carefully aimed shots to their legs and groin. Just when he knew that they would over run Sam and him, he saw them dropping like flies and saw bullets hitting them and all around them. He could not hear any gunfire.

  What he couldn’t see was the DC3 circling above him with three men firing their AR15s down on the bad guys from a thousand feet. Their fire was not accurate, but they made up for it with volume. Gus spotted three Humvees and a couple of 5-ton trucks parked behind a stand of trees and motioned to the rest to be ready to fire on them. He circled several times and could not find any signs of life. Gus raised John on the walkie-talkie, directed him to the ambush and told him about the Humvees.

  Gus said, “John, be careful, we killed a bunch of them, but I’ll bet you are heading into an ambush. Watch your ass!”

  John told him, “Thanks and we will watch for ambushes.”

  “I’m glad I circled back before heading on to the Bunker, “Gus said as he banked the plane and headed towards Mobile.

  • • •

  Gus landed the DC 3 without any problems and taxied up to the closest gate to the compound. As he came to a stop, he saw Steve driving up in a pickup with three bodies in the bed. Gus thought that the fun had started down here and would get worse quick. He just hoped that John and the rest would get here before the shit hit the fan.

  Most of the rest of the people at the compound heard Gus circle before landing and came out to meet the plane. He unloaded his passengers and introduced them to the home team. After some hand shaking and proper introductions, the kids went to the house for a good meal while the men met with Gus and Steve. Steve filled all of them in on what he had heard and why he killed the three men.

  Gus agreed with Steve’s action and said, “Well this is about to get as real as it can be. Is there any indication of how many men and weapons they have?”

  Steve replied, “No, they just said the others. I’m no military genius, but the guns they had were hunting rifles and as you can see they are dirty and they had very little ammo on them.”

  “Good observations, Steve, I agree they don’t seem to be well armed and they defiantly aren’t professionals,” Gus added.

  • • •

  Ann was working with the cooks, preparing their supper. She really hated cooking, but knew that the others thought that she was just a spoiled rich bitch and wanted desperately to win them over. She had changed into a tee shirt and shorts with no jewelry or makeup. Ann knew that she needed to fit in and join the team.

  Robin had just walked into the kitchen when several windows were shattered and Brenda fell to the floor with half her brains splattered on the wall. Ann screamed and ran down the hall waking up the men and yelling for the women to turn off the lights and duck. She hid in the bathroom and then noticed blood and gore all over the front of her blouse. She vomited until she dry heaved and then slapped her face and went back to the kitchen.

  Steve looked out a window and saw about 30 men that were shooting at the house as they climbed the fence. He asked himself, “Damn, is this what Custer saw at the Little Big Horn?”

  Ann and Joan grabbed their rifles and started returning fire along with Robin, Nancy and Brenda’s twelve-year-old daughter. The three were making every shot count. Ann wondered how Nora could fight with her mom dead on the floor.

  Gus ordered Steve and several men to go out the front door and circle back to flank the intruders. In a few minutes, Gus saw intruders start dropping one after another and the survivors had dropped to the ground looking for cover. Unfortunately, for them, there was very little cover and all of the ones returning fire were behind cover and well protected. The intruders mainly had handguns and hunting rifles while the home team had AR15s, Bushmaster .223s and a couple of M14s. The attackers were cut to ribbons in a very short while.

  Steve and the men scouted the area and saw what looked like four soldiers dressed in black BDUs and automatic weapons. They ran to a Humvee and high tailed it out of the area. Steve couldn’t imagine the connec
tion. Steve posted guards then directed the other men to take the bodies out beyond the fence and use the backhoe to bury them. They stripped the attackers of any weapons, ammo and any documents that might help explain the attack. They found a lot of pre 1965 silver coins on most every one of the attackers. When they found the attacker’s cars and trucks, they found them loaded with MREs and whiskey bottles.

  Gus posted extra guards and then had a roll call to see how banged up the team was. He was surprised to find that there were only one dead and two with minor wounds from windows being shattered. Their training had paid off. Gus got on the short wave and called for John. He took only a few minutes to fill John in and John told him about the ambush. Gus told him about the guys dressed in black with the Humvee. John reminded him about the Humvees and ambushers also dressed in black that attacked Tom and Sam.

  • • •

  John had hoped that the government would be a force for good, but these were signs that the government was perhaps the enemy of "We the People.”

  ✼

  Chapter 21

  History Lesson

  Present day Smyrna, TN ISA

  Dec 20, 2048

  Josh was so wrapped up in the story that he had not noticed that it was now dark. When the fireworks started exploding overhead he just about fell out of his chair.

  Jenn burst out laughing and said, “You have never been in a firefight, have you?”

  Josh’s face turned red as he replied, “I was in college and grad school during the last Disagreement, my family is well connected and pulled some strings.”

  Jenn replied, “I got a bullet in my thigh and lost three close friends during the last Disagreement. Don’t y’all know that the last war was fought because your government tried to kill our entire Senate with a suicide bomber?”

  Josh countered by reminding her that their President and over a hundred of his advisors had been hunted down and killed before the alleged bomb incident.

  Jenn fired back, “Your crappy President had become an enemy and traitor long before his death, but suspending the constitution and declaring himself to be President for life was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He also killed himself before he was caught. He should have been impeached for numerous reasons, but the liberal media, threats and bribes kept him in office. The PSA tried all of the others, found them guilty of treason and they were executed legally.”

  Josh laughed and said, “You may be right about some of that, but you will never convince the people in the USA, he is still a God to most of them.”

  While John stayed quiet, the look on his face could kill a grizzly bear.

  Josh thought for a minute and said, “You are right, I am here to hear and report the other side of the story about how the USA became three countries.”

  He quickly smiled and added, “But, no stories about John’s sex life will be reported.”

  John and Jenn laughed.

  "Seriously, no one in the North knows about the terror that was perpetrated on the early leaders of the ISA movement; this is great stuff, but is this story stretched a bit?"

  Jenn replied, “Josh, we are down playing the real atrocities because no one will believe the actual events. Murder, terror and mutilation were their tools. Who would have believed that our President would be right in the middle of this plot?”

  Josh continued the interview with, “The people of the USA think you made up the part where the President and Ex-President conspired with the Iranians to bomb our own country and another 12 other countries around the world. They took out most of the world’s electronics in one day. They still think that a group of ultra conservatives committed the atrocities. Do you have any proof?”

  John interrupted and said, “Yes we have proof and you will see all of it. It took five years to track all of the traitors down. We found the former President hiding under a house and President Wilton still has a bounty on her head. The trials were conducted by the PSA to take away the perception of bias and all were found guilty. The PSA reopened Alcatraz in 2026 just to store the large volume of traitors and crooks found guilty of treason and high crimes. Several billionaire liberal supporters, the speaker of the house and 13 other ringleaders were hung immediately after the trial. Three thousand others were executed within six months. That piece of shit Ex-President escaped the gallows by taking his own life. I was there. I saw him hanging from an overhead sewer pipe.”

  Josh said, “But why were over fifty media executives and reporters executed?”

  Jenn said, “Because they were on the President’s payroll and manipulated the news to support the President’s and then President Wilton’s reign of terror.”

  Jenn added, “We also gave proof to DHS, CIA and the FBI, but by that time your next Socialist President had purged all who had not drank the Kool-Aid. At least the CIA took it seriously, but after Benghazi and the massacre in Montana, they were gunning for the bastards. We still have the proof, but want to get it out to all of the USA.”

  Josh said, “Oh shit, this is where I come in!”

  Jenn said, “Only if you can be trusted.”

  Josh said, “A small part of the USA believes that John personally nuked the cities and caused the downfall of the USA.”

  Josh laughed and said, “We have our kooks also! It may be difficult to get anyone to believe your proof.”

  Jenn replied, “We only want to get it in front of the people and let them make up their own minds.”

  John left the room, brought back a bottle of Jack Daniels Black Label and poured three drinks over ice. Josh said, “Jack Black, my favorite.”

  THE END of THE BEGINNING

  ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

  Don’t stop! Read Chapter 1 of Book II from the series, The Adventures of John Harris

  “Hell in the Homeland”

  Chapter 1 from "Hell in the Homeland"

  Enjoy!

  ✼

  Chapter 1

  John’s Home

  Nashville, TN ISA

  Dec 16, 2048

  The sun was coming up and a rooster was crowing in the distance. Josh rubbed his eyes and tried to open them. His head was throbbing, his mouth was as dry as a cotton field and he was hungry. He also had to piss like a racehorse. He jumped out of bed, got tangled in the sheet and fell flat on his face. He lifted his head and looked in to the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.

  Jenn said, “Good morning mister graceful. Did you have a good night?”

  Josh looked at her, stammered and asked, “Did we?”

  She kicked him in the side and said, “I should kick your ass, but you’re probably still drunk thanks to Dad.”

  He looked at her and took the vision in. She was wearing a pair of short cutoffs and a halter-top showing her midsection. She had a skull and bones tattoo on her right shoulder and several scars. She was gorgeous and sexy in a rugged sort of way. When she turned to leave, he saw another tattoo peeking below her shorts on the inside of her left leg. It looked like the feet of a cartoon character. The feet were orange and there were a couple of yellow feathers lying by the feet.

  He ran to the bathroom and took a cold shower, but could not take his mind off this beautiful lady warrior. He really wanted to get to know her better, but knew that his job was to get the story, not chase women. He found his clothes and got dressed.

  • • •

  Jenn and John were at the breakfast table and an older version of Jenn was in the kitchen cooking. Josh noticed that there were eight plates on the table, but didn’t see anyone else.

  Jenn saw Josh and said, “Mom this is Josh, Josh Mom. Josh is a reporter for CNG, the Conservative News Group.”

  Beth replied, “So you are one of the good guys. Can you actually report the news without changing the facts to suit your boss’s political needs?”

  Josh said, “Ma'am, I will always tell the truth about a story and make sure the facts speak for themselves. I am also honored to meet you and your family. I know that you have been maligned
by the press and I assure you that only the truth will be reported.”

  Beth asked, “Josh, do you go to church?”

  Josh replied, “Yes Ma’am. My family is Baptist and we attend the Cedar Crest Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. We are not that religious, but we believe in God, hard work and hate abortions. My mom and sister stay in trouble with the local and state authorities picketing abortion clinics. Mom is a high school teacher and Dad owns an auto and truck sales company. They both would be a great fit for the ISA, but won’t leave home. Our family settled in the OH-KY area over 250 years ago. Does your family go to church?”

  John replied, “Every Sunday since I married Beth. We are also Baptists and Beth is the spiritual leader who keeps our family active in the church. Beth, Lindsey and Kristie are Sunday school teachers and Randy is a Deacon.

  “Good morning Mom and Dad,” said a beautiful young black lady as she strolled into the room.

  John looked up and yelled, “Lindsey, get your ass back upstairs and put some clothes on young lady.

  She walked up to John, sat down in his lap and replied; “Now Daddy, I am wearing more than I wear to the beach.”

  She had white halter-top and tiny white shorts that barely covered a rather voluptuous body.

  John gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “We have company and pointed at Josh.”

  She jumped up out of his lap and ran up the stairs just as the front door opened and a bunch of kids came into the house yelling and running all around. John got up and met them as they entered the kitchen. They swarmed him. Their parents, Randy and his wife, shook Josh’s hand and sat down at the breakfast table.