Meanwhile……..
Jerry woke from a fitful sleep. He hadn’t heard anything from Roland since he sent him to find Ben and his whore, which was unusual. He had Roland so scared that it was unlikely that he would just go home after his recon without filling him in first. He decided to get up and see if Roland had reported to any of the others. He walked over to the police building from his house, and entered the office of the night watch commander. Jack Benson had his feet up reading the same Swank Jerry was reading. This annoyed Jerry, it was his pornographic magazine, and second that it appeared that Jack was falling down on the job. Jerry grunted loudly and Jack looked over the edge of the magazine, to identify the person that would dare interrupt him. Upon seeing his boss, Jack jumped out of his chair and stood up at attention.
“Jerry, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Really? What’s happening? Did Roland come back to the office and report as to the whereabouts of Ben?”
“No, he didn’t. Do you want me to go over to his house and wake him up?”
“He’s not there. I think our disposable spy got captured or killed by Ben, or perhaps he lit out of town when I wasn’t looking.”
“Do you think that little faggot would do that? He is scared of his own shadow, and he’s absolutely terrified of you and what you will do to his mother if he tries to leave.”
“Maybe he’s desperate enough to try for an escape, we can’t be everywhere. Round up some men and make for the trail leading to the warehouse. We must find Ben and his bitch. It should be relatively easy once the truck goes past the roadblock to locate the building they’re holed up in. In the meantime we watch. Let them load this truck of theirs for us, then we hit them! Remember, I want Ben and his woman alive your men can kill the rest.
“I’ll round up some men and get on it right away.”
“Jack, go with them. I want at least one brain on this project. It’s important we seize the truck in one piece, and even more important we get Ben and his bitch alive, is that clear?”
The look on Jerry’s face was all Jack needed to see. Jerry could barely conceal the rage and hatred on his face when his boss thought of his ex-partner, “Understood Jerry. Let me round those men up.”
Jack retreated from the office and Jerry claimed his seat, picked up the Swank and began to fantasize about what Ben’s woman was going to go through at his hands.
Jack rounded up three of his men from the night patrol and briefed them on what they were going to do. They set off towards the trailhead, a half-mile from the police station. As they entered the woods, one of Jack’s men used a red lens G.I. angled flashlight to navigate in the almost pitch black forest. After an hour’s walk, the group reached the trailhead and settled in for a long wait.
“All right boys, let’s watch for a while. Remember Ben and the black girl are not to be touched, Jerry wants them both alive. Don’t shoot the truck if you can avoid it, Jerry wants it in one piece. Don’t fuck this up, Jerry will have our hides if we do. The small group settled in to wait for their prey to arrive.
On the Road From Waukesha…..
Mitch frowned as he hurtled down Highway Y. He was creeped out by the town of North Prairie on the road to Waukesha. Although it was only two blocks long, the town itself was burned to the ground. He saw no signs of life and was happy to be through it. He wondered what happened to the town, perhaps raiders came to visit, an accident, or maybe some kook burned it down for fun. He saw a couple of bodies in the street and swerved to avoid them. A chilling scene that was now burned into his brain forever.
He didn’t want to give up that second Panhead to Waukesha…but a deal was a deal. They left Waukesha and quickly arrived at the first New Berlin checkpoint. The head guard, a man named Gillespe, welcomed them. Mitch didn’t like the smile or the demeanor of the Gillespe, it appeared he could barely conceal the face that they were walking into a trap. Mitch mused that the soldiers that came with him dressed as civilians would help even the match up a bit. Lieutenant James Bride sat in the passenger seat of the massive wheeled monstrosity affectionately named Truckasauras. It was a 1979 Mack Bobtail. Mitch had found it in a local junkyard and was able to bring it back to life with the help of a few local mechanics. When the engine turned over after years of slumber Mitch smiled widely and began to believe that they might just be able to pull it off. His confidence grew after a successful mission to retrieve his supplies from the store met with success. He had outfitted the truckwith some hillbilly armor and attached a cattle car trailer. All in all, it would fit all of Ben’s gear with some space left over for seating. He bought five additional soldiers for security and three citizens of Cambridge to act as loaders. The soldiers would help load in a pinch, but primarily be responsible for security as loading operations were conducted. As they approached within a half-mile of the National Avenue Bridge Ben told them about, Mitch slowed and then stopped. Lieutenant Bride prepared to move. He carried Mitch’s sniper rifle with him and was responsible for keeping Jerry’s forces pinned down at the checkpoint, while he made for the cache
Lieutenant Bride and his small detachment of men arrived in Cambridge the day after Ben had left. Since his unit had no contact with Central Command, plans had been drafted to put the military to good use maintain order and securing critical sites across the area of operations. The day of the event, his commander, Brigadier General Lucius Marquardt opened the sealed file labled “Contingency Plan: SE WI.” After reviewing the contents he met with his commanders and issued instructions.
Lt. Bride’s unit was tasked to protect the Matt Kenseth Museum located in Cambridge, Wisconsin. Apparently, thought Lt. Bride, NASCAR was important around these parts, important enough to send a detachment of soldiers to protect the building from looters. Lt. Bride questioned the strategic value of the museum, but he was a soldier, and he would obey the orders from higher command. He was able to liberate a horse-drawn carriage from a local farm along with a draft horse and use it to transport him and his unit’s equipment to their objective. The townspeople welcomed the soldiers with open arms and made every effort to accommodate them. After overhearing the plan to recover more supplies for the town from the wizard known as Mitch, he volunteered his men and equipment. They used the mission to recover Mitch’s supplies as a practice run and now they were going for another large cache held by Mitch’s friend Ben outside of Milwaukee.
His mind snapped back to the job at hand. He exited Truckasauras along with four of his men, Jindal, Kenner, Rousch, and Clark and they made their way up the embankment to the highway bridge. Clark and Rousch pulled security at each end of the bridge, and Jindal and Kenner set up the mortar tube and sighted the roadblock. Bride dialed in the scope of Mitch’s rifle and switched it to infra-red. The white blooms of human beings revealed themselves milling about the roadblock. The distance meter on the high tech scope said that they were 650 meters from the first emplacement.
Bride whispered over his shoulder, “Ready to rock?”
Jindal smiled in the dark, “Ready to wake up the town on your command.”
“Let’s get this party started then.”
The metallic clank of the 60mm mortar falling down the tube as well as the loud “THOOMP” and whistle as the mortar fired and fell towards its target was music to Brides’s ears. The mortar landed right in the middle of the first emplacement, utterly destroying it. Men screamed in pain as the metal fragments shredded them, and the uninjured began to fire in all directions, unsure of where the attack was coming from. A second mortar landed and destroyed the emplacement holding the communications gear as well as the spare weapons and ammunition stored there.
Brides knew it was his turn to get into the fight. He sighted a lone man firing wildly and sent a 750-grain bullet streaking towards him. The man literally exploded from the energy of the bullet, his torso separating from his legs with a gruesome slapping sound.
Jindal and Kenner packed up the mortar tube and ran to the underside of the bridge, soon jo
ined by Rousch. They boarded the truck and Mitch blew through the destroyed roadblock and headed towards the cache. Brides and Clark remained perched on the bridge to deal with anybody who came to the ruined roadblock, as well as deal with any security elements that came to the rescue from the first roadblock. Hopefully, in an hour they would be headed back to Cambridge within the next ninety minutes.
Back at the police station……
The massive booms rocked the dozing Jerry out of his chair. He heard the staccato rattle of rifles as they fired to repel the invading force. He grabbed his rifle and vest and headed out the door. He ran towards the roadblock like the devil himself was chasing him, but due to his poor cardio routine, the run only lasted about 500 yards. He slowed to a fast walk, cursing and hoping that there were still some defenders at the roadblock left alive. The trip from the police station took an agonizing 25 minutes, and upon arrival, he saw several of his men lying on the ground dead from what appeared to be explosions of some type.
Al Jonson limped towards Jerry using a stick as an improvised crutch.
“Boss, we got hit by something big! We were just watching the road and BOOM! The first bunker exploded, then the other one did! Then, that truck you were talking about came through the roadblock. We fired a few rounds at it, but it’s armored.”
Jerry cringed at the report, “Tell me something I don’t know smart guy!” He thought to himself.
“Al, go get some additional men and shore up this roadblock as best as you can. If we can’t stop them at the warehouse, we’ll get another chance here, got it? I’ll stay here and hold the fort!”
“You got it Jerry!”
“Good man, now snap to it!”
At the truck…..
Mitch picked up the three soldiers and sped through the roadblock and to the cache. He figured that if Ben had set up the supplies as planned, they would be out of the cache in less than 30 minutes and back on the road. He followed the directions given to him by Ben and arrived at a large garage door a few minutes later. He backed the truck up, and the garage door opened to accommodate the truck. Mitch saw Ben in his side mirror and laughed loudly. Mitch shut the truck down and exited, meeting Ben halfway along the trailer. Mitch grabbed Ben in a bear hug and exclaimed, “Ben! It’s great to see you!
“Same here old timer! I got the stuff laid out like you asked, let’s get this shit loaded!”
“You got it! I’ll stay in the cab and keep the motor running so we can split!”
“Good deal!”
Simone and Roland were in the trailer while the soldiers and the citizens formed a human chain to move the gear. I was amazed at the smoothness of the loading process; it looked like there was a conveyer belt moving the stuff to the truck. The movers grunted at the heavier loads, but for the most part, it went smoothly. I took the place of one of the soldiers in the chain.
“Hey, go cover Mitch. I’d like to have at least one gun out there!”
“You got it!” The soldier hefted his weapon and disappeared outside to provide cover to Mitch.
After about 30 minutes of heavy lifting, we were almost finished with the loading process. I estimated that we had about five minutes more and then it would be goodbye New Berlin!
The chatter of an AR-15 broke my reverie. We were under attack!
“Keep loading!” I shouted to the workers in the chain and grabbed my rifle and ran to reinforce Mitch and the soldier. As I exited the warehouse, I could see the soldier taking cover behind a boulder returning fire towards the tree line where Roland pointed out Jerry’s ambush spot. I saw Mitch crouched behind another boulder pulling the pin of a hand grenade. Bullets skipped all around him in the gravel. I took cover behind the corner of the building and let loose with my rifle. The ferocity of the attack slackened for a moment, and then picked up as they found my muzzle flash and concentrated their fire on my position. I tried to move from my covered position, but the attackers had me pinned down. If I moved, I would be shot to pieces in seconds.
As I crouched in my covered hiding place, I heard a massive “BOOM” and then two more explosions of similar volume. I took a peek and saw that Mitch and the soldier threw some grenades, obliterating the attacking force. I dashed from cover and made my way to Mitch.
“Well, enough of this party, let’s get the fuck out of here!” We all got up and made a beeline for the truck. I got in the cab with Mitch, and everyone else loaded up into the back and sat among the rows of supplies.
Mitch cranked the starter, and the truck roared to life. He jammed the gearshift into first, and we were moving. We slowly built speed up as we crested the hill and quickly came into the sight of the roadblock. There were several people milling about the destroyed area.
I spotted Jerry directing the crowd to action. When he heard the engine of the truck, he turned and began firing on us. I heard the ineffective handgun rounds ricochet off the improvised armor plate. I pointed at my old nemesis and said to Mitch, “Run that fucker down!”
Mitch nodded and pressed down on the gas pedal and pulled the air horn, which emitted a loud foghorn-like noise. Jerry stood stock still bathed in the headlights, the look of hatred and defeat etched on his face. The truck didn’t even slow down as my former partner was ground into red jelly by the speeding tires of Truckasauras. Clark and Bride dropped two additional mortars on the roadblock for effect before dashing down the hill for pickup. The two mortars obliterated the roadblock as well as the reinforcing personnel manning it. I secretly hoped that the town would now rise up against the remainder of Jerry’s thugs and re-take the town, but for the moment that was their problem.
As we pulled out of New Berlin, a cheer rose from the trailer portion of the truck. After a quick stop at the bridge to pick up our security element, we made a beeline for Waukesha. As we passed the first roadblock into New Berlin, I noticed a few bodies line up neatly along the roadside. It looked like Bride and Clark decided to plow the road for us while the loading process happened.
Upon arrival at Waukesha, Jeff escorted us through town on his brand new Panhead. Eagle let us through with a minimum of fuss after getting their supply allotment, leaving Palmyra as our fueling and rest stop. As Mitch supervised the fueling of the truck, Vilos and his son appeared. Afte enduring a bear hug that nearly squeezed the life out of me from Vilos, he presented us with four cases of his Pith Helmet IPA as a reward for a job well done.
Viols beamed at me, “Ben, good to have you back! I’m happy you pulled it off!
“Thanks Vilos, we couldn’t have done it without your help! Did you get the supplies we promised?”
“Sure did! We have it all stored up. For the first time, I can look at winter feel like we have a excellent chance of making it as a community. Mitch has agreed to come back to town and help us with getting some vehicles back in working order. So far we have a few candidates, but I’ll leave it up to Mitch to decide which ones are worth it when he returns.”
Mitch came up to us, “We’re ready to go Ben. I know somebody that wants to see you ASAP in Cambridge, so let’s get going.”
Vilos grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously, “Come back and see us soon Ben, thanks so much for your help!”
“I’ll do that Vilos, until then, goodbye!”
We boarded the truck and made the hour long drive back to Cambridge in silence. The adrenalin had now totally worn off, and a bone tired feeling began to creep into everybody. When we saw the outer roadblock loom in the distance, Mitch activated the horn, and the barricade moved aside. We passed the roadblock and heard the cheers of the guards. We had made it home with enough supplies to give us a good chance to make it through winter. Beyond that, I was unsure, but I knew that in this part of the world, towns were standing up again and making pacts with one another for mutual aid and protection. I hoped that by spring, most of our region would have some larger compact binding all of the towns together, but that was going to take greater minds to engineer that than mine. I was happy to be back in my new home
with a new life ahead of me.
As we pulled up in front of the Police station, a large crowd had gathered to meet us. When Mitch killed the engine, a loud cheer rose up from the crowd. Elaine pushed her way through the crowd and leapt into my arms, smothering my face with kisses. Grinker was not too far behind her, and he swept Simone up in a bear hug and kissed her deeply. She nuzzled into the big police officer.
“Simone, what have you been hiding from me girl?”
“I didn’t want anyone to know, but when I saw this big hunk of a man for the first time, I about melted!”
Elaine turned my head towards her, “Hey, remember me Ben!” She kissed me hard and whispered in my ear “Let’s go home, I need to welcome you back properly!”
“Yes Ma’am!” I walked away from the crowd holding my lover’s hand, knowing that although we had a hard winter ahead of us, I knew deep down that the foundation was laid down for the town’s survival. For the first time in my life, I had hope in my heart that we as a people would pull through and take the lessons we learned from this tragedy and create a place worthy of our children. The pulse gave us a second chance to get it right, and I was determined to make my home a land where our children could live in peace.
THE END?
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
I was right about Winter. It was hard, but the town managed to weather it thanks to the additional supplies we had acquired. Most people had a hard time adjusting to living like pioneers. Things that were taken for granted like central heating and refrigeration were gone, making winter in Wisconsin a lot less pleasant. We lost some members of the town to disease and other infirmities that modern medicine would have addressed with little difficulty, but for the most part, we came through in decent shape. About 90 days after The Event, as we began to call it, we stopped seeing roving bands of raiders and refugees. The lack of food and shelter greatly weakened these poor souls and led to a massive die off of humanity the world over. Mitch estimated that the world population was now under a billion people, and those remaining billion had lots of challenges to face. I thought that if they were strong and lucky, they were the progenitors of a new type of mankind. Hopefully, Mankind 2.0 would never forget the lessons that this event taught them, and made them better than us.
Lights out in America's Dairyland: An EMP Adventure Page 23
