“I love you too,” she sighed, snuggling under his arm, her face covered with a contented smile.
“I guess we’d better get the packs loaded and get ready to leave in the morning,” he said.
“Are we using the bug-out plan we talked about last month?”
“I don’t see any reason to change anything.”
“But, we never actually practiced the route like we said we would,” she said, her voice filling with doubt.
“Yeah, that’s true. But, I don’t have a better idea. If something comes up, we are just going to have to adapt and overcome. I know it’s not perfect, but Don knows to come looking for us if we aren’t there in four days. If we change the route he would end up looking in the wrong place.”
“Do you think he would really do that?” Her voice expressed a very real level of concern.
“I know he would. Look, try not to worry about it. At least we have a plan, which gives us a leg up.”
“What if Bud and Mary don’t get here by morning?”
“I guess we wait a day, but I don’t want to think about it. Every day we spend here makes it harder to get to the ranch safely.” He paused for a moment, then added, “the plan was to go together, but if they don’t get here by tomorrow, we may have to rethink things. I don’t want to start up during the evening. We are going mostly cross-country and I don’t want to risk damaging the ATVs by hitting large rocks or anything else we can’t see.”
“Since when have you had a plan actually work?” She giggled and added, “the only plan you ever had work was the one to get me to marry you.”
“That was the best one, no question about it.”
“It only worked because I was involved in it.” They both chuckled, having had that conversation many times before. She was convinced that he needed her gentle supervision with getting anything organized. He found it hard to disagree, and mostly went along with it.
“Let’s go ahead and load our packs. I want to see how much gear and other stuff we can take. The priority is weapons and ammunition, then the rest of the stuff we will have to discuss.”
They walked into the kitchen and Ann looked at the pile on the floor and said, “will all that fit in the ATV?”
“Bud and I did a dry run once. We didn’t get all this in, but we did get most of it. I am thinking of rigging up that box frame that I made last year for the rear seat and hanging gear from the frame. That might be stuff like bags of food and such. I just have to anchor the frame to the floor of the back seat and it should hold.”
“Aren’t you worried about it falling off the ATV and getting lost?”
“We will be traveling mostly during the day and if Bud and Mary are in the trail vehicle, they would see it fall off. Remember, we are going pretty much uphill the whole way, fully loaded, and we are not going to be going very fast.”
“Okay,” she sighed, “Let’s sort through all this stuff.”
The ATV sat parked behind the house, shielded from his neighbors’ view by a small shed. They loaded the weapons and ammunition bricks first and found that, with careful loading, they had quite a bit of room to spare and decided to forget attaching the frame. They added two sleeping bags, spare clothing, night vision gear, and their assault packs. It was tight but they got it all in the ATV, and then unloaded it again, leaving it next to the patio door for easier reloading. It was a safe neighborhood, but Ed was not about to take a chance on losing their gear.
It was time for dinner, so Ann pulled out all the fresh food in the fridge and they gorged on steaks from the grill, fresh vegetables, and the last of a bag of frozen shrimp that they found half thawed in the freezer.
After dinner, Ed looked out the front door to see what was going on in the neighborhood. Frank had apparently decided there would be no grocery run, as he hadn’t come back to see if Ann made it home so they could get the ride from Ed. The street outside was empty, but every so often a neighbor would come out and look up and down the street, probably hoping to see something: power company trucks or perhaps police cars. Clearly, they had not heeded his warning about preparing, as nobody made any effort to organize anything as far as he could tell. They still hoped the government would somehow come to their rescue.
CHAPTER FOUR
Bud was a general contractor and Mary, his wife, was a science teacher at a local high school. They were both in their early thirties and both on second marriages. Neither had children from the first marriage. But, they were working on starting a family after completing three years of a blissful marriage. Both had been understandably gun shy about kids until they felt confident the marriage would last.
Bud started prepping with Ed, and they later met Don at a gun show and immediately hit it off. Although Bud appreciated Ed’s zeal and Don’s prepping efforts at the ranch, he was not quite as hard core as the other two. He believed in prepping, but never truly thought the SWHTF.
“What the hell?” he said as every saw and power tool on the site fell silent. The job was in the last phase before final inspection and his crew was installing the cabinets when everything died.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he said to his install supervisor, Bob.
“Mr. Murphy is alive and well,” Bob replied. He then checked the extension cord outlets and noted a black scorch mark around all the outlets. “Our work here is done for the day,” he concluded.
Bud sighed once and replied, “Okay, wrap up the site, stow the tools in the locker, and tell everyone to go home.” Bud walked to his F-150, got in, and turned the ignition to head home. When nothing happened, he tried again. He then got out of the truck, opened the hood and checked the battery cables, which were tightly connected. When he looked at his cell phone, he knew there had been an EMP.
“Guys,” he shouted to his workers. “Everybody see if your trucks will start.” His workers all looked a bit confused, but dutifully went to their vehicles. None of them would even turn over.
“Why won’t any of them start?” his finish carpenter, Jake, asked.
“Long and short of it is that there has been a power surge that wiped out the electronics on anything that runs on electricity,” Bud replied. “Question now is how do we get home?” He considered going into more detail about EMPs and what they meant, but decided the time would be better spent getting home.
“Bob, see if the Bobcat will start.” Bob disappeared around the corner of the house and they all heard the small diesel engine fire up. Shortly, Bob came around the corner on the skid steer and stopped by Bud.
“Why does this start when nothing else will?”
“I’m not sure.” Bud replied. “Maybe because its diesel or doesn’t have any electronics on it like the pickups. Either way, it’s the only way we are getting home today. I just am not sure how four of us can ride on this thing.”
“Two of us can ride in the bucket,” Bob said. “Maybe one can ride on the back.”
“Let’s give it a shot,” Bud replied, shrugging once.
The trip turned out to be trying for all. They took turns driving and stopped every ten minutes to rotate who sat where. Bob decided to go cross-country, as it was a considerably shorter distance, but the ride was rugged beyond anything any had experienced. Although the scenery was beautiful, nobody said anything but “ouch” or “take it easy.” Everybody managed to fall off the vehicle at least once, and the sight of four men attempting to ride on the skid-steer would have been comical to all but them.
“We are going to come out of here somewhere around Cave Creek Road and Carefree Highway. I am getting off there and walking home. You guys will need to decide what you want to do from there,” Bud explained during one of their stops. He thought of dropping them off and driving all the way home, but that would leave them with another twenty miles to get to their houses, and Bud could not do that to his men. His own walk would be about six miles, and he figured he could do that in about two hours. That would get him home well after dark and he knew he would not reach Ed’s place in
time to leave in the morning, but there was really no choice. He would have to wait for morning to go to Ed’s and start the trip to the ranch, as soon as they were organized.
“The three of us all live within a mile or two of each other, so I will drop them off and take the Bobcat to my place. We can worry about getting it back to the site later,” Bob said.
“Fine,” Bud replied, pretty certain there was not going to be any further work on that house.
They arrived at the intersection as the sun was beginning to set, so Ed’s prediction about his arrival time was about right. The four men parted ways and Bud watched the three of them ride away up the Carefree Highway, dodging stalled vehicles that littered the road. The remainder of the journey took longer than expected, as navigating down side streets with no light is a tricky business. Fortunately, Bud was familiar with the neighborhood and only got lost once. He did pass a few groups of neighbors, gathered in driveways chatting. Most had flashlights but he managed to avoid any conversations by staying in the shadows as he passed.
As he rounded the corner and headed toward his house, he noticed a group of neighbors sitting in lawn chairs on the front yard of Tom Nelly’s house. A cooler sat in front of them and a battery powered camping light provided illumination. Somebody shone a flashlight at him, and then yelled,” hey Bud, you want a beer?” It was Tom, and he was holding up a can of Budweiser. Two other neighbors sat on either side of Tom. They appeared to have been drinking for some time.
“Let me check on Mary and maybe I’ll come back,” Bud said.
“Hell, take one with you,” Tom urged. Bud stopped long enough to take the beer, thanked Tom, and opened the door to his house.
“Thank God you’re home!” Mary ran to him and hugged him so hard he thought he might break. She almost hit his head with the flashlight she was holding as she threw her arms around him.
“Did everything go okay?” She asked.
“The day has pretty much sucked until now,” he replied, stooping to give her a kiss.
“I’ve been sitting here for hours waiting for you. I left the school as soon we lost power. I have been trying not to worry about you.”
“I’m sorry honey, but the site is close to twenty miles away. The only reason I got here today was that Bob managed to get that old Bobcat running and four of us rode the damn thing for fifteen miles. I don’t think my rear end will ever be normal again.”
“How do four large men ride on a Bobcat?”
“Not very well.” He chuckled briefly.
“I bet not. Was it really an EMP?”
“I am pretty sure it was.”
“Bud, I am really scared. What about my parents?”
“There is no way we can get them from Houston to here. I’m sorry Babe, it’s just not possible.” She looked away, concern etched on her face. Bud continued, “I’m scared too. But, remember we’ve been preparing for this for four years. We have food, a safe place to stay, power and water, weapons, and there are enough of us to make us a hard target.”
“So, we are heading to Ed and Ann’s house?”
“Yes, but not until morning.
“Why not go now?”
“Mary, we have got a ton of stuff to get done if we are going to leave early tomorrow and meet up with Ed and Ann. But, first please make me a sandwich or something. I am starving.”
“Sure thing,” she replied. “I love you sweetie. I am so glad you are safe at home.”
“Me too. But, I was more worried about you.”
“I was fine. It’s been quiet here.”
“No troubles coming home?”
“A few people asked me if I knew what happened. I’ll get you that sandwich now.”
“Thanks. I’ll be in the den.” Bud grabbed a flashlight from the table by the door and went into his office. He held the flashlight on the gun safe combination lock, spun the dial, and opened it. Tom had reluctantly bought two Bushmaster AR-15s at the request of Don and Ed. He only had one brick of ammunition for them and two spare magazines. He pulled those items out of the safe, added his Marlin Camp .45 carbine, his Springfield XD .45, and two boxes of ammunition for the pistol.
“I made you two sandwiches, “ Ann said, handing him a plate.
“Thanks. Sit with me while I eat and we can put our heads together and get organized.” He paused to think a moment, and then said, “how are we fixed for food to eat on the trip?”
“We have some cold cuts and bread for sandwiches, some canned tuna and beef stew, and chips.”
“Two days’ worth?”
“At least.”
“Let’s make sandwiches, put them in baggies, and put them in the cooler.”
“We still have some blue ice that is frozen.”
“Perfect. In the cooler it goes.”
“We have two cases of bottled water,” she said.
“We need that too.”
“We also need two changes of clothing. What should I pack?”
“We’ll wear jeans and light shirts. But, once we start climbing, we are going to need heavy shirts. If we have room, some light jackets as well.”
“How about batteries?” she asked.
“Pack as many as we have—all kinds. I’ll get the sleeping bags and camp lights from the garage.”
“Don’t forget the tie downs. We need those too.”
“Got it.”
“Do we have to leave the rest of the food behind? I hate wasting food.” Mary was known for being cheap and making a dime stretch to a dollar.
“I know babe, but we have two years’ worth of food at the ranch and we really have to take the things we’ve discussed. It might take us two, even three days, if anything happens. If we don’t have enough sandwiches, pack the tuna and beef stew. But that’s really all we can take.”
“Are we even sure we should go to Ed and Ann’s? What if they already left? We are going out of our way to get there.”
“They might have left this morning or they may have decided to start up tonight. But, the plan was for us to go together and we have to stick with the plan. If they did leave, he will have left a note telling us where the rally point is along the trail, and we would just have to catch up.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Bud couldn’t sleep that night. The rush to get things ready, the uncertainty of the future, and the challenge they would face in traveling to the ranch all weighed on his mind. He quietly got out of bed without waking Mary and sat in the family room with a dimmed flashlight in one hand. His thoughts went back to how reluctantly he joined Ed in prepping efforts, and he felt sheepish about how shortsighted it was to assume nothing bad could ever happen.
Ed was a different story. From the first time they met, he had talked incessantly about prepping and eventually Bud started to see that he could not just sit around, dumb and happy, presuming that if anything happened, the government would take care of everyone. His conversion really happened during a conversation the three had shortly after they cemented their friendship with Don. They cataloged the potential threats that existed and it was a daunting list. The most likely seemed to be an EMP, or that one of the almost daily state-sponsored attempts to hack and bring down the critical infrastructure might succeed. Or, terrorists might somehow acquire nuclear weapons. A natural disaster was an ever-present threat. They talked about Katrina. Even something that did not bring down the entire country had the potential to be life threatening. A nuclear power plant explosion would devastate a region, and the Palo Verde plant to their south could be a threat.
Bud had begun thinking of prepping no longer as a marginal effort, undertaken mostly by conspiracy theorists and survivalists, but rather as something any prudent person would do to protect themselves and their loved ones. At times, he resented the strain it placed on their finances. But, in the end, Bud found himself thinking of the group as something more than just friendships. They had become something akin to a tribe, or a battle-hardened group of combat veterans forged into something more than a s
hared unit designation.
The group’s formal efforts to commit to the program really did not begin until four years prior, when they had their first formal meeting with Don at his ranch. By that time, the three couples knew each other well. They had stayed in each other’s homes when traveling for shooting competitions or training programs. They shared meals and slowly became close friends.
Don was well ahead of Ed and Bud. He already purchased the ranch and installed the off-grid capacity. What remained, at that time, was to install gardens and greenhouses, buy older farming equipment that did not depend on electronics, and stock spare parts for everything on the ranch. The six spent the following years holding monthly meetings and working almost every weekend at the ranch. As tasks were completed, more sprang up; if not for the meetings, they may have become overwhelmed at what lay before them. The act of sitting down together and confronting the problems as a group served them well.
At the first meeting, they decided that Ann would be in charge of buying and maintaining all medical supplies. Her goal was to be able to handle all medical issues, save surgery, that might arise. Items needed for trauma events such as gunshot wounds and work-related injuries were the focus, but stocking vitamins was also a part of the plan. They knew other prescription drugs were needed, but decided the only way to get them would be to raid a pharmacy when things got chaotic. The exception was antibiotics, which they purchased for the farm animals at half the price of a pharmacy. No prescriptions were needed for the drugs. They were essentially the same drug, although close attention to dosage levels was important to ensure full effectiveness with humans.
Don assumed the role of security chief and oversaw the buying of weapons and ammunition, as well as both motion detectors and infrared cameras that eventually tied to an operations center in Don’s house. They decided to buy a monitor with split-screen capabilities so one person could watch up to eight cameras at once. Don was also to oversee the purchase of all communications devices, including a high-end HAM radio and antenna. All this was to be stored in the barn that the three men later converted to a giant Faraday cage. Every piece of electronics was to have two backups in case repair of broken equipment was impossible.
Prepper's Crucible (Omnibus, Volumes 1-3): A Post Apocalyptic Tale (Preppers Crucible) Page 3
