Apocalypse Law 2

by John Grit

  “You have a lot of respect for her, don’t you?” Sam asked.

  Brian broke in. “She saved my ass that time when some convicts were breaking in. Put .22 bullets in them with that rifle she got off the man who shot me in the leg.”

  “Anyway,” Nate said, “I figure you should give us a two-hour head start. When you catch up, I’ll step out into the road so you can see me. You pull off into the woods to give us another head start. Then we do it all over again. We’ll keep doing it that way till we get there.”

  “We’ll have to do the same thing returning,” Deni said.

  Nate nodded. “It’s a pain but it’s worth it. We’re talking about two days there and two days back.”

  “What if someone drives up on me from behind?” Sam asked.

  “We will come running, but if they hit when Deni and I are a mile or two down the road, you’re in trouble. Head into the woods and parallel the road heading for us. That thing can push down and go over all but the largest trees. This isn’t going to be one hundred percent safe no matter how we do it.” Nate looked at the others. "Any questions?”

  Brian said, “Yeah. What if you don’t come back by nightfall the second day? How long are we supposed to wait before looking for you?”

  Nate shook his head. “You don’t. All of you stay here and keep this place guarded.”

  “Bullshit!” Brian nearly yelled. “You’re always doing that. You expect me to do something you would never do.”

  Nate ignored him. “I have to get with Ben and work out a security plan that compensates for the reduced manpower here at the farm while the three of us are gone.”

  “They won’t be getting much work done in the field,” Deni said.

  Nate nodded. “Security will be enough to keep them busy. I don’t think anyone should be in the field at all.” He looked across the table at Brian. “I’m sure you will do your part.”

  Brian looked up at his father. “The cow and chickens will still have to be fed and let out every day.”

  “And that will still be your job,” Nate said. “The cow can stay in the barn, though.”

  “That just means more crap to shovel out of the stall.” Brian got up and headed for the sink with his plate.

  “Tough, ain’t it?” Nate did not smile. Neither did Brian.

  Nate looked at Deni and Sam. “You two pack enough for five days in case something does go wrong. Bring plenty of water.” He grabbed his rifle and started out the door.

  “Where are you going?” Brian asked.

  “To get Ben. There’s no need to man the OP, since no one will be working in the field today or tomorrow.”

  Thirty minutes later, Nate and Ben went into the barn. Brian saw them and grabbed his shotgun.

  Deni put a full canteen in her backpack. “Stay in the house until your father gets back.”

  “They just went into the barn,” Brian yelled over his shoulder as he rushed out the door.

  Brian found them having a serious conversation. They stopped when he came through the wide doorway.

  Nate waved him closer. “We need to have a talk about how to handle security while the three of us are gone.”

  “You want us all to stay in the house as much as possible,” Brian said. “I got that.”

  “Yes. When you take care of the cow and chickens, Ben will be watching. Never leave the house until you have Ben at the window over watching.”

  Brian rolled his eyes. “Right.”

  “While I’m gone, Ben is in charge.”

  Brian started to make a face but caught himself.

  “There is something else.” Nate glanced at the open door. "I do not trust either Carrie or Caroline. I want you to sleep only when Ben is on watch. And then you must sleep where he can watch you while he pulls security.”

  Brian’s forehead wrinkled and eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “Twice now, Caroline has stood over you in the middle of the night while you slept. I don’t know what that’s about, but it could mean trouble. Both of those girls have been through hell, and there’s no telling what their mental condition is. So stay away from them.”

  “Uh, okay,” Brian said. “But if one of them is crazy, what are we going to do?”

  “That problem is for later. While we’re gone, you just be on the watch from danger—both inside the house and out.”

  “Nice.” Brian sighed. “More lost sleep.”

  Ben spoke up. “And don’t worry about me bossing you around. If you do what your father just told you, I won’t need to say a thing. He’s covered the situation well enough.”

  “Yeah, he’s always thorough when it comes to bossing me,” Brian said. “He doesn’t need any help from you.”

  “Hey,” Nate warned.

  “He doesn’t mean any disrespect,” Ben said, chuckling.

  “That’s right, Mr. Neely; my wrath was directed at him.” Brian smiled at his father. “I will do what you said. But if you don’t come back, I will be pissed.”

  “I’ll be back,” Nate said. “I might be late, but we will all be back here in a few days.”

  The expression on Brian’s face changed. “I wish we didn’t have Caroline and Carrie to deal with on top of everything else. We already had enough problems without two crazies in the house.”

  Nate’s eyebrows knitted. “So I should have just told them to hit the road? Is that what you think?”

  Brian lowered his head. “No. But we should lock them in my bedroom at night.”

  Nate’s voice rose. “I’m ashamed you would say that.”

  “Only when we’re asleep.” Brian’s voice exuded apology. “It won’t hurt them to be locked in my room nights. They could be dangerous. You said that yourself.”

  Nate’s chest deflated with disappointment. “I was hoping you were not serious, that you were just joking like you always are.”

  Brian turned red. “I don’t see where that’s mean. People lock their kids in their room all the time.”

  “You were never locked up,” Nate said. “And if you saw Carrie in that little cage, with no room to move at all, you would not be talking like this. The last thing we need to be doing is adding to their pain.”

  Brian looked insulted. “I didn’t say a thing about hurting them. I would never do that.”

  “I know that you do not realize it,” Nate said, “but it would hurt them. They have not done anything yet to cause us to go that far. Just be careful and do what I said. I really don’t think they will be a problem. Just be careful.”

  “Yeah, careful. Anything else?” Brian looked away. “I didn’t say anything about hurting them.”

  “I know that.” Nate laid his heavy hand on Brian’s shoulder. “But locking them up would destroy their trust in us and may push them into doing exactly what we’re afraid of.”

  “Your father’s right, Brian,” Ben said. “We must show them they can trust us, even though we’re leery of them. They can’t be given any reason to feel like prisoners here.”

  Brian nodded. “Okay. It was just a suggestion. I didn’t mean any harm.”

  “No one is judging you,” Nate said. “I just don’t think you thought it through. Let’s leave that behind and move on to preparing for the trip.”

  “What?” Brian asked.

  “While we’re getting ready to leave, bring in plenty of water for drinking, washing, and flushing the toilet. The safest place for everyone is in the house, so fill every bucket and water container now before we leave.”

  He rolled his eyes and picked up two pails. “You guys are the ones who should be careful.” He headed for the pump.

  Ben looked like he had something on his mind.

  “What is it?” Nate asked.

  “He has a point. I mean maybe we could ask them to stay in the bedroom at night for safety reasons.”

  Nate shrugged his shoulders. “You could ask. That does not mean they will. And what are you going to do if they don’t?”

  Ben blew out a lung f
ull of air. “I’ll tell my wife and daughter what’s going on and remind them to keep an eye on those two.”

  ~~~~

  Nate tied a five-gallon fuel can to the Caterpillar.

  Deni walked up, her backpack on and AR-15 in hand. “There’s plenty of diesel in the tank. Those things don’t get much mileage, but you don’t need the extra fuel for this trip.”

  “You go heavy on ammo?” Nate asked. He glanced up at her while working.

  “Six extra mags.”

  “Get another six or eight,” Nate said, “and put them in my duffel bag by the door. I’ll throw it behind the seat. That way we won’t have to carry it.”

  Deni gave him a quizzical look. “Okay.”

  Nate answered the unspoken question. “No. I don’t know anything you don’t.”

  “Just in case, huh?”

  “That’s it.” Nate finished. They walked into the house.

  The shortwave radio was on. A woman talked about problems with hungry people showing up and demanding food she could not spare. She was alone and afraid. Everyone but her son had died in the plague. Then her son had been killed in a gunfight a week ago. She lost her voice in a fit of crying. The signal faded.

  Brian came down the hall and into the living room with four boxes of 30/30 rounds. He handed them to Sam for his lever-action carbine. Before Sam could thank him, Brian said, “That sounded like Mrs. Benton.”

  “Yes, it did,” Nate said. “You turn the radio on?”

  “I…thought we should try to learn what’s going on before you guys left,” Brian answered.

  “Good idea. I should have thought of that.” Nate glanced at Deni as she walked by.

  Deni opened Nate’s duffel bag on the floor by the front door. She hesitated. Inside were a dozen magazines for his M14. After putting hers in, she zipped the bag closed and stood.

  Nate put his backpack on. “We’re already running late. Get your packs and let’s go.”

  Sam and Deni were following him out the door when a man’s voice came in over the radio.

  “Anyone hearing my voice, take notice: A gang of killers just burned a wide swath through the little town of Cold Springs. They are now heading north. These bastards are ruthless, and there are hundreds of them. To stand against them is suicide. All you can do is stay out of their path. Whatever you have in your home is not worth dying for. Run and hide.”

  Another ham operator broke in. “Who the hell are you to tell us to leave our homes?” The man seemed as scared as he was angry. “We’ll starve if we lose everything. I went into town early on in this crisis and found all the stores looted and warehouses of food taken over by gangs who would shoot you if you got too close. I worked for a grocery store chain and thought I could go to the warehouse and get supplies. My manager said he would let us take what we needed if the plague reached our town and it came to that.

  "Well, it was under armed guard. A gang of thugs had taken over the warehouse. My manager and four employees had been shot dead and were hanging from light poles as a warning the same would happen to anyone who went against them. One of those bastards offered to trade a bag of rice for my fifteen-year-old daughter. I got the hell out of there and never went back into town. The point is we are close to starving as it is. We can’t afford to just leave everything to looters.”

  The first voice came back. “My name is Frank Pogue. I was a captain with the Levee County Sheriff’s Department before the plague. This is not an order. I am simply warning everyone that they cannot fight these people. There are too many, and they are well organized. If you fight them, you will die. It’s that simple.”

  The second voice answered. “If I let them take what little I have my family will starve.”

  The deputy’s voice faded and sounded like someone talking with a lung full of helium, but was still clear enough to understand. “I’m sorry, but they will rape and murder your family if they come to your home. Flee into the woods and hide until they have passed through your area.”

  “Can you tell us where they are now?” The second voice came in much clearer, telling Nate he was probably much closer than the deputy was. “I’m hoping we have time to bury what food we have back in the woods.”

  “They left Cold Springs yesterday morning,” the deputy said, “mostly in pickups and on motorcycles. How fast they travel would depend on how often they stop to rob, rape, and murder. There is nothing between you and them. No law enforcement agency survived the plague. You are on your own, and you cannot stand against them. Get out of their way and hide.”

  Nate clicked the radio off. “A change of plans. Brian, let the cow out in the pasture and fill the water tank. Put feed and water in the chicken coop. Ben, have your family pack what they can carry long distance. Get ready to lock the place up and leave.”

  Ben stood there looking confused. “What?”

  “He’s in his bossy mode, Mr. Neely, I wouldn’t argue,” Brian said. He looked up at his father. “You want me to take them to Mel’s bunker, don’t you?”

  Nate nodded. “The keys are in the safe.” He looked around the room at the others. “Take what you can, but don’t load yourselves down so much you can’t move fast. We have thirty minutes to haul stuff into the woods and hide it. I’ll take care of my reloading supplies and the ammo. Brian, get the extra guns. We’ll haul some of our canned goods into the woods, too. Make sure you get the wheat we have in five-gallon buckets.”

  “Why only thirty minutes?” Ben asked.

  “It’s not arbitrary.” Nate was already stacking Mason jars of canned vegetables from kitchen shelves in a cardboard box Martha had taken out of a closet. “We will never get everything, even if we worked at it for days, and we don’t have days. But thirty minutes will give us time to save some of what’s most important.” He headed out the door with a box of canned food. Martha was right behind him with a box full of Mason jars. Deni followed with another box.

  Sam had been in the barn. He came out carrying two five-gallon cans of diesel. When he saw the others heading into the woods, he followed.

  By the time they came back, some with empty boxes, Brian had the extra guns and some of the ammo they had had in the house piled on the porch. Most of their ammunition was buried in PVC pipe a quarter mile from the house, and near the river valley, just before the land dropped off into wetlands. What ammunition they had in the house was only a small fraction of their total ammunition supplies, but they did not want to leave it to be used against them. There were also boxes of food ready to be packed into the woods, sitting by several five-gallon buckets of wheat.

  Sam grabbed two buckets and headed into the woods again.

  “That’s about all we’re going to be able to save,” Nate said. “Brian, get the tarp out of the barn.” The others were already leaving with boxes of food they'd picked up off the porch. Nate yelled at them. “Take a different route this time, and don’t walk single file. Try not to leave a beaten path in the woods they can follow.”

  They spread out. Deni led them into the woods.

  Nate went into his bedroom and loaded a box with gunpowder and primers. He did not get all the powder or any of the bullets and cases. There just was not time to save it all. He also had to leave the loading press and other ammunition-loading tools.

  After carrying his overloaded box to the porch, Nate went into the kitchen and grabbed the grain mill so they would have something to grind wheat into flour.

  Brian dragged the heavy canvas tarp out of the barn and up to the porch.

  “I’ll carry that,” Nate said. “It’s too heavy for you.”

  Brian stood there catching his breath. “It’s heavy all right.”

  Nate noticed Brian did not have his shotgun. “Get your shotgun. Sling it on your back out of the way, if you have to, but never leave it. Always have it with you.”

  Brian started past him to go into the house.

  Nate reached out and stopped him. “If there’s anything you really do not want to leave
behind to be stolen or destroyed, you better get it now and put it in your pack. Then take care of the livestock.”

  Inside, Brian grabbed two photos off the fireplace mantel. One was a photo of the entire family, including three of his grandparents, taken when he was five. The other was a photo of Nate and him holding up a thirty-five pound catfish Brian had caught when he was seven. He wrapped them in a spare T-shirt and put them in his backpack.

  When Brian set his pack on the porch so he could get it later, Nate spoke. “We still have each other, Brian.”

  “It will never be the same.” Brian’s eyes were dry.

  “I’m glad you chose the photos.” Nate held him. “You will make memories with your own family someday.” He let him go and stepped back. “Now I need your help. Get everyone to Mel’s bunker.”

  Brian’s jaw set, and he suddenly appeared more mature. “I’ll get them there. You be careful. If they come up on you on that road, Sam’s going to be in trouble.”

  “That’s our worries,” Nate said. “Yours is to get these people to that bunker.”

  “I will.” Movement caught Brian’s attention.

  Caroline and Carrie stood silently just inside the door, their faces white.

  Caroline said, “Don’t let them take us again. Finish us first.”

  Nate turned to her. “Both of you just do what Ben and Brian say and you’ll be safe. Once you’re in that bunker, they can’t touch you. They will never find that place anyway.”

  “There’s a couple military surplus backpacks in my room,” Brian said. “I’ll get them so you two can load up with items you want to take with you.” Brian ran past them into the house and down the hall.

  Nate checked how they were dressed. “Get into the best walking shoes you have. Wear thick socks to help prevent blisters. The trip’s going to be hard on you two with all your injuries, but you have to walk the whole way. Don’t load your packs too heavy.”

  Caroline took both the packs from Brian when he came back. “I’ll help Carrie get ready,” she said. “We can make it. We just won’t be breaking any speed records.”