“You might have to alter your plans, so get things ready. If I call and tell you to get moving, then move out. You need to monitor the radio to keep in touch with what’s going on out there. There will be a lot of exaggeration and panic, but a lot of good info as well. Just pay attention to what happens close to you and give me a SITREP when I call.”
“Got it,” she said.
Dawn flipped back to the other frequency and so did Roger. Bev said, “You guys there?”
Roger said, “Yes, is there a problem?” he asked.
“What were you guys talking about?” she asked. Roger figured her curiosity would be killing her.
“Dawn sometimes doesn’t like to share information, she likes her privacy, and I was making sure she didn’t need to tell me anything.”
“Oh, because I changed frequency as well and didn’t hear anything.”
Roger said, “That’s right, that’s why I gave you guy’s different frequency lists. Security purposes,” he told her. Bev didn’t seem too happy with that.
Dawn and her sister went and finished double-checking the doors and windows while her mom kept watch. They went into the basement and came up with boards loaded with nails. The boards were 1X6’s with three inch nails hammered through. They set these by the windows and doors in case someone managed to get in. Anyone who did make it in would impale themselves. And while it might not stop them, it would surely slow them down.
Dawn went out into the garage and started the generator for a couple of hours. She had a custom muffler made and installed and it extended through the wall of the garage and vented the exhaust outside. They had always lost power 6 or 7 times a year minimum, and they got tired of restocking the refrigerator all the time.
Her neighbors were used to the noise, even though it was fairly quiet. She used this noise as a cover for her next check. She walked over to a 4X4 and tried to start it. It fired right up. Good, she thought. It was a Polaris with a front and back seat, complete with small trailer. Completely stock except the mods to make sure it ran and the tires.
She went back inside and told Diana they had to load up. She heard a knock on the door and everyone looked at each other. She ran upstairs and looked down at the porch where she saw her next door neighbor. She went downstairs to the door, but didn’t open it. “What do you want?” she asked. The neighbor said he heard her generator and asked if he could plug in an extension cord. Dawn said, "Remember the window your son broke playing catch with his friend that you never paid for? Go screw yourself.”
“You bitches,” he replied. He left mumbling under his breath as he walked away.
* * *
Bev was taking a nap and Elizabeth was just sitting there with Sarah. “I want to see Daddy,” she said.
Sarah told her, “Maybe later honey. Daddy might be busy and still trying to make sure he gets here.” Rich was listening in and asked Elizabeth if she wanted to play a game and she said yes. They were playing when she asked him if he thought her grandma had TV. Rich told her he didn’t know. “Can we call her?” she asked.
“Not right now, the phone is broken too.”
“Everything is broken,” she said, “it’s not fun.”
Rich was thinking about Susan, his only daughter, who had moved to Texas a couple years ago. He was wondering how they were doing. He thought of his son Greg in Missouri as well. That was the oldest of all the boys. Alan lived about an hour’s drive away with his family. His other son David lived about half an hour away with his grandson Bobby.
Rich and Bev expected all of their kids in the state to make it here, and Sarah with her husband and another couple nephews who lived here to make it in as well. Up until two weeks ago one the nephews had lived with them, but moved out for what he called “More freedom”. They didn’t know how hard it would be for them to travel without vehicles.
Sarah was just sitting there numb. It had been a full two days now and she was thinking the worst. She could understand maybe half of a day, even a full day, but not two. Her hopes had dwindled and she resigned herself that she could remain hopeful, but had to expect nothing. This was putting her into a state of depression. Bev had woken up and asked her to cook some dinner. Sarah obliged, and Bev thought, good, she would have to keep her busy to help her get through this. Rich and Bev knew enough to know Erik was gone.
There came a loud crashing sound from outside in the backyard. Rich and Bev both grabbed their pistols and Bev peeked out the window quickly. Over by the wood pile, she spotted two people. She had wanted to open the door and shoo them away because she thought they were stealing their wood. She wanted to tell them she would shoot them if they didn’t leave. Rich said, “Wait a minute Ma, that’s Kevin and Randy.” The two nephews ran toward the door and yelled to be let in.
Rich opened the patio door wall and the two stuffed their bags through the wood planks installed across the opening and then squeezed through themselves. They fell onto the floor of the dining room huffing and puffing, trying to catch their breath. Rich asked them what happened and they raised a finger signaling him to wait a minute. They rested a few minutes and caught their breath. Sarah ran over and asked if they were ok and they nodded yes.
Randy said, “They wanted to kill us.” Kevin said, “No, they just wanted your shotgun.” Randy had purchased a Mossberg 500. He made it all tacti-cool as a birthday present to himself one year. He had it for almost two years, but had never even fired it. He had just a few boxes of ammo for it, maybe 100 rounds total. It was a mix of everything from 00 buck to small game loads because he never really knew what to buy. He wasn’t really the outdoors type or gun nut. But, it was a mossy and it was cool.
Kevin said they were sitting around and decided the power wasn’t coming back on, so they left early this morning to come here. They had a fairly uneventful trip until almost the last half of a mile. They were passing by the grocery store and people were basically stripping it clean. Some guy spotted them and yelled at them to drop their gun. He called them punks and said he wanted it. He called a friend over and they walked toward Kevin and Randy. Kevin and Randy started running and the guy and his friend started chasing them.
They started cutting through the neighborhood and going over the fences and didn’t stop until they got here. Randy said when they went over the fence in the backyard, they forgot about the wood pile. They landed on it, sending it crashing down to the ground. They said they were scared and just ran for their lives. They had no idea what the guys would do to them. They just didn’t want any trouble and didn’t want to get shot with their own gun.
Randy said, "Grandma, you should have seen the grocery store. It was chaos. I think as soon as they opened this morning everyone was getting what they could. Money or not it became a riot and people were fighting each other for anything they could get their hands on. I don’t think anything’s left. They were knocking people down in the parking lot and taking other people’s stuff. People were hurt and bleeding all over the place. A lot of them were running with their arms full to the apartments across the street.”
He asked for some water. Rich said, “Hold on a minute, it’s downstairs.” He brought them up a pitcher filled from the sump pump. He had been getting about 15 gallons a day out of it, but was only filtering a few gallons. He used a rotary pump to drain the rest.
Haliday had installed a separate check valve on the sump pump’s discharge pipe and Rich attached the hose from the rotary pump to that. Now he had found himself some guinea pigs. They drank the whole pitcher down and didn’t complain. Rich guessed it was safe to drink, which was a good thing. Water would be plentiful as long as the ground water kept up at a decent level.
Sarah gave them a big hug, she was happy to see her brothers. Kevin asked where Eric was. The room fell silent. Sarah teared up and said, "I don’t know, I don’t think he’s going to make it here."
"Don’t worry sis," Randy said and hugged her some more. “There’s still hope.” Elizabeth who had been watching said, "I
want hugs too." She ran over and got her share of hugs.
Having these two here would be a great help. It would make bringing things up from the basement a lot easier and pulling security easier as well. Bev went over to the ham and called Roger; she told him what had happened. Roger said, “Ok, you copy Dawn?” She replied yes. Roger said, “Ok everyone, keep up the good work, and talk to you later.” He was relieved there were more people at his folk’s house now. “Dawn,” he said, “A2 again.” She switched frequencies again and waited for Haliday.
Haliday came on the net and said, “Ok. I want you to hold tight right now. When I call you I want you to go ahead with the first plan you have in your notebook. Any questions?” Dawn asked if he had an ETA. Haliday said, “Hell Dawn, I’m not sure we’ll even make it. If we don’t get back in the next 24 hours, the rate this country is falling apart will make it impossible. It’s going to be hard. No doubt about that. Switch back and talk to you later.”
Haliday was just about to tell everyone he was going to check back in a couple hours when he looked down the road and noticed something different. “That wasn’t there when I came through earlier,” he said to himself. He brought the truck to a stop. Mike asked him what the problem was. Haliday handed him a pair of binoculars.
Mike looked down the road and said, “Oh shit.” There were four humvees sitting there with about eight men as far as he could tell.
Haliday said, “This could be real bad. Give me a hand Mike.” He got out of the truck, Mike followed and they walked around to the back. “Help me unload this thing.” They unloaded the KLR and Haliday opened the hatch and searched for some gear.
“They gotta be wondering what we’re up to right now Mike. Right now we’re not too far from Danville. I’m not sure, but my guess is it’s a National Guard unit, most likely the 38th MP CO. Not sure what their mission is right now, but I’m about to find out. You keep that ham tuned in and you listen to me. If you hear me say ‘aww shit, you got us fellas,’ you get the hell out of here as fast as you can. I’ll try to buy you some time if I can, but don’t expect much. There’s maps in the binder, find an alternate route. Right now they have us spotted and if we outright take off, someone is going to follow.
“Here’s my plan, let’s hope it works,” and he told Mike what he was going to do. He put a helmet on, placed an AR15 instead of his old Armalite 180 into the sheath on the bike, buckled on an equipment belt with thigh holster and mag pouches and a tactical vest loaded with more gear, but more importantly a handheld ham. “I’m Gecko45,” he laughed. The notorious mall ninja known across the internet for his ability to save the shoppers and keep the peace while dressed like an entire swat team. He attached an earpiece and push-to-talk mic to his vest and the ham. He started the bike and rode toward the road block.
Haliday slowed the bike down as he approached the roadblock. He looked at the stenciling on the vehicles and the lights mounted under the windshield. “38th MP CO.” He turned the bike off and one of the MP’s approached him. Haliday noticed this guy didn’t actually have a unit patch on his right shoulder, that meant no combat assignment. He quickly glanced around and there was about a fifty-fifty split. The two on the humvees’ guns were combat proven. A MK19, automatic grenade launcher and a M240 G/B machine gun. Both not weapons to mess with but only the 240 could reach the Tahoe.
The MP was an E3, PFC, private first class. He approached Haliday and asked him for ID. Haliday reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a black nylon ID holder. It was dirty, looked well used and the vinyl window was fogged over. The ID inside was visible, but it would be hard to identify any detail without taking it out because of the fogged over window. Haliday actually stitched the opening closed a bit to make it harder just in case. The PFC looked at it and handed it back to him. You can do wonders using a laser printer, and hobbyist sand paper can wear the clear vinyl down nicely to make it look worn.
Haliday said, “Private, who’s in charge here?”
The PFC said, “Specialist Benson is sir.”
“Haliday said, "I’m prior Army and was an NCO and worked for a living, please don’t call me sir." The PFC waved the specialist over.
“This here is DHS officer Haliday. What brings you around here Mr. Haliday?”
Haliday answered back, “What are you guys up to? You have a checkpoint out here close to nowhere? In my day we would have said we were getting the big green weenie.”
The PFC looked at the specialist and said, "He’s prior service." The specialist just looked him over.
Haliday said, “Easy guys,” reached in his pocket and pulled out a large decorative coin. One side had the department of army seal and the other side had the crossed pistols of the Military Police. He handed it to the specialist. The specialist looked it over and handed it back to Haliday. It was a challenge coin.
“Any other day Mr. Haliday and I’d be buying you a beer.”
“Call me Roger,” Haliday said.
“Ok Roger, but back to business, what brings you around these parts and who is down there in the truck?”
“That, Specialist, is my partner with a special couple of folks that Governor Anders asked us to bring back from the University of Illinois for some of his staff members. As you can guess, it’s rough traveling out there and I am not taking any chances of running into rogue groups or militias of any kind. If you’ve been listening to anything on the com net, you know why. I’m guessing that’s why you guys are out here correct? Unless by chance; I’m in the middle of a well-executed ambush.” Flattery can get you a lot he hoped. Throwing the governors name around helped too.
“We reported to the armory, but not many of us made it there,” Benson said. “We were told to wait for orders and haven’t gotten them yet. Well, the town manager asked us to help out until they could get a volunteer force together. We only have two groups out here and we secured the two county road entrances into the city. The rest is just farmlands. We have a few more guys making reliefs at the checkpoints. We’ll stay until we get orders or the town manager gets some guys together.”
Haliday said, “That’s a smart move for Mr. Watts.”
Benson looked at him. “You know Watts?”
“No, not personally, but since I’ve been assigned to Indiana the past couple of years, it’s been my job to get to know the leaders of cities where there’s assets like the Danville armory and his name is easy to remember, Watts as in electricity.”
“Makes sense to me,” Benson said. Another side note he made and used; he updated the info constantly.
Haliday asked if it was ok to move on and asked Benson if there was anything else he needed. “Just your name on the log sheet if you don’t mind,” he answered.
“Sure thing Specialist Benson.” He wrote his info down and handed the clipboard back to him.
“Anything else?”
“Sir, do you know what happened by chance?”
Haliday remarked, “I wish I knew. All I do know is an EMP or something took out most of everything. I’m surprised your vehicles are running. We don’t know who, we don’t know why, all we know is it’s FUBAR. I got my orders through the radio and was assigned to the governor’s contingency. I wish I knew. I honestly do.
“Can I expect the same thing going through the other side,” Haliday asked?
“I’ll call them and tell them you will be coming through.”
Haliday said, “Thank you. If you don’t mind, specialist, I’ll wait here for my partner to drive through, not that I don’t trust you, but better safe than sorry. I gotta get those people home.” The specialist ordered the humvees’ to open the roadway and Haliday called Mike and told him to bring the Tahoe through. “Quickly Mike, go 45 to 50 mph.”
Haliday started the bike and waited. The Tahoe came through and with the dark-tinted windows and speed, it was hard to discern who was inside. Just a few figures is all it looked like. Haliday took off behind the Tahoe. He waved goodbye and then sped ahead of the Tahoe. He sign
aled Mike to follow him. They slowed a bit and worked their way through town. They approached the second roadblock, and as soon as they started the approach, the humvees’ moved aside and waved them through.
They drove for about 15 minutes and then Haliday pulled over and stopped. Mike pulled over as well. Haliday got off the bike and took the gear off. He was sweating like crazy. Mike said, “You’re not that hot are you?”
“Mike, go in that toolbox and get me a Phillips head.” Mike just looked at him and then went and got the screwdriver. “You got a screw loose?” he quipped.
Haliday said, “Worse than that, I have two on tight.” He walked to the back of the bike and unscrewed the Michigan license plate. He told Mike to put it in the toolbox.
Mike said, “Wow, that was pure luck.”
“No, it was stupidity, it almost got me killed on the way here and I should have fixed it then. I can explain not having a plate on it, but too hard to explain why it’s a civilian plate.” He then grabbed some dirt and kept tossing it on the bare spot where the plate had been. Mike asked him how he got a government plate for the Tahoe. “Well Mike, recruiters are all over the place and all it took was a minute to unscrew it with an electric screwdriver. Right now there’s no LEIN machines or MDC’s to run plates, so I’m not worried about it showing up stolen. I kept it hidden until now.”
He told everyone to grab a drink of water and stretch. After about 15 minutes of checking for anything else he might have missed, they loaded up the bike. Max yapped and they let him out to pee. Everyone loaded back into the truck and they started off again. “Hey, Mike, flip that binder open. I can’t afford any more military checkpoints, time to change the route. I’m not sure I could do that again and get away with it.” They were just west of Indianapolis, a major city with plenty of problems.
Chapter 10
Dark Days Rough Roads dd-1 Page 10
