by Bobby Akart
“Should we get in the car and go after them?” asked Beau.
“Son, we wouldn’t make it a hundred yards. I believe everyone in town is locked in that jail or hiding under their house. If we drove anywhere, they’d probably shoot first and ask questions later. We need to regroup at the house and try to raise Colton and Alex on the radio. I’m sure they’ll help us get Jimbo and Clay back.”
Chapter 12
Evening, November 23
Hardin County Airfield
Savannah
Stubby leaned over the folding table and studied the aerial maps unfurled by Gunther. He quickly got his bearings and identified Shiloh Ranch, which was split in half by Lick’s Creek. There just wasn’t an area flat enough to land these airplanes. The ground was undulating and trees dotted the landscape, providing the cows a place to cool off.
He then focused his attention on the area surrounding Childer’s Hill. Colton and Jake should be making arrangements to bug-out to the Wolvens’ at this point, so landing farther south and west made sense.
“There!” he exclaimed, pointing to a large green space on the map. “This is Johnson’s Sod Farm, which is about four miles southeast of the Wolven Place. They supply turf grass to golf courses all over the area. The ground will be solid and flat. Heck, you could land a 747 there.”
“Sehr gut,” said Horst, pleased with the choice. “We’ll fly out early tomorrow morning just as the sun begins to rise.”
Stubby continued to analyze the aerial photograph. “It’s likely that FEMA has set up a roadblock here, to our southwest. Can we start out flying toward the east and make a wide circle over the dam?”
“Ja,” replied Horst. “The route you have chosen will only take up a quarter of our fuel capacity. We can return, if necessary, or travel elsewhere.”
“The FEMA soldiers might hear us initially, but they won’t be able to place us anywhere near Shiloh or Childer’s,” added Alex.
Stubby nodded. He glanced again at the proximity of the Pickwick Dam to their flight path. Thus far, the troops stationed on the dam by the Army Corps of Engineers had shown no interest in venturing out into the countryside. Jake and Colton had estimated a dozen men encamped on the structure, blocking traffic and monitoring the dam’s functionality.
“Horst and I will prepare the planes,” said Gunther. “We need you to bring us any gear that will be traveling with us. The Spartan is a three-seater that can handle more weight. There is a scale in the hangar for our calculations. If there is too much, we cannot risk being unable to take off.”
“I understand,” said Stubby. “Alex, we’ll take care of weighing the essentials and then hiding the rest around Clayton’s. For now, we’ll leave their food supply behind. We can either pick it up later or use it in case we have to mount another operation from here. Having a weapons and food cache on this side of the river sounds like a pretty good idea.”
Horst and Gunther, who wore matching blue jean overalls, practically skipped through the doors into the hangar. If the brothers were wearing white gloves and matching hats, one might think their names were Mario and Luigi.
Alex retrieved the two-way radio from her backpack and sat behind the desk in the front office. Periodically throughout the last twenty-four hours, she scanned the channels, listening for chatter from the Tiger Tails. She never picked up a single communication, which caused her to worry about Beau.
“Let’s start at the top, shall we?” Alex mumbled to herself. Normally, she’d start with channel 1 and then work her way up. Subconsciously, she’d become discouraged midway through the channel cycle and moved through the bottom half of the spectrum too quickly.
After several minutes, her heart leapt out of her chest. “Tiger Tails, red right. Tiger Tails, red right. Return. Red right return.”
“Stubby, I’ve got the right channel,” shouted an excited Alex. “What should I say?”
He rolled up the maps and tied a rubber band around them. Stubby twirled them like a baton through his fingers as he joined Alex in the office.
“Say something that either Beau or Coach Carey would recognize so that there’s no doubt it’s you,” suggested Stubby.
“Tiger Tails, Tiger Tails, QB1. First Date. QB1. First Date. Over.”
There were several seconds of silence, which seemed like an eternity to Alex. Did they not hear her? Should she repeat it?
“Roger, First Date. Status? Over,” asked a voice that sounded like Coach Carey.
“Clean break. Headed home. You?” replied Alex.
“QB1 and I are safe. Two of our brothers are in custody. Transported with many others northbound. Need assist. Over.”
“Stand by,” replied Alex. She turned to Stubby, who frowned.
“I thought FEMA intended to round people up,” started Stubby. “They must have transported them to Jackson. Do you know who the two brothers are?”
Alex rubbed her face and fought back tears. She was glad Beau was safe, but the Bennetts were not. Returning to Savannah briefly crossed her mind, but she blocked it out.
“He’s referring to Jimbo and Clay. They’ve been taken to the FEMA camp!”
Stubby saw that Alex was distressed and he squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll get them back, but first things first. Tell them to meet us at Croft Dairies on Sunday noon. Can you do that in code?”
Alex nodded and keyed the microphone. “Roger that. We’ll be milking the cows after church on Sunday. Beware of the keepers of the south.”
“Roger. Tiger Tails out.”
Alex tossed the radio on the desk. “Stubby, I should’ve shot Ma between the eyes. It would’ve been so easy because I was really mad.”
“You don’t think I haven’t second-guessed my decision? I could have killed Junior and left him in the Hornet’s Nest to rot away. We can’t dwell on it anymore. Let’s fight one fire at a time and then we’ll tackle the Durhams later. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Chapter 13
Dawn, November 24
Hardin County Airfield
Savannah
Most of the weapons and ammunition were able to be loaded onto the two biplanes. Stubby was provided some mechanic’s overalls and goggles to make the ride a little more pleasurable. Alex was given a sheepskin-lined, B-3 leather bomber jacket with a scarf. Along with the pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses she’d found while foraging Thursday night, Alex resembled Kelly McGillis in Top Gun.
The two vintage aircraft did not enjoy the modern conveniences of starter motors. Alex watched the Splinter brothers go through their final checklists and then Horst, along with Stubby, got settled into the lead aircraft.
Gunther took his position in front of the single propeller and grabbed it with both arms. He stretched up on his toes as high as he could and, with a quick pull downward, gave the propeller a spin. The thought of standing that close to a moving airplane propeller gave Alex the heebie-jeebies. She immediately visualized how Indiana Jones killed his assailant in the Raiders of The Lost Ark movie. Propeller blades were a brutal way to die.
But both pilot and roper were old hands at this. The Spartan fired up and leveled off at a steady idle. Gunther quickly settled himself into the cockpit in front of Alex and gave her a quick smile. Alex was nervous about the prospect of flying around in an airplane that was nearly a century old, but she embraced the experience as one more adventure in the apocalypse.
The engine fired immediately and they were ready to pull out of the hangar. The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon as they taxied onto the runway. The temperature was around forty degrees, and in the open-air cockpit, the wind chill would be below freezing.
“Today, we fly!” shouted Gunther as he followed his brother down the runway and into the sky.
The first thing that Alex realized was that she couldn’t see very much. Looking straight ahead, she mainly saw the face of the wooden instrument panel. A glass windscreen approximately six inches tall shielded Gunther, but clear sky was the exte
nt of Alex’s visibility.
Gunther muscled the center stick and turned the plane toward the south. This gave Alex her first view of the horizon. She instinctively gripped the seat with both hands as the feeling of falling out of the open-air cockpit grasped her psyche for a moment. Then Gunther completed the turn and leveled out toward the south.
The rising sun hit Alex’s face and immediately warmed her body. She began to relax and enjoy the ride. Flying in the open air like this was surreal. She took in the scenery as the clear skies provided her many miles of visibility. Up here, she thought, the world seemed too beautiful and peaceful. Only God should have a view like this.
Gunther banked slightly to the left and then corrected back to the right. This maneuver enabled him to fly side by side with his brother. Alex waved to Stubby, who was only a hundred yards away. He didn’t wave back, simply shaking his head. Alex chuckled as she realized Stubby was none too happy about this plane trip.
As they passed to the east of Pickwick Dam, Alex noticed that the soldiers were no longer patrolling the top. In fact, there were only two vehicles, one on each end of the facility, with a couple of guards assigned to each. This was a big change from what her dad had seen.
Another thing she noticed was the incredibly high water levels. During the heavy rains several weeks ago, the water rose rapidly on the banks of Shiloh Ranch. Lick Creek had flooded and Stubby became concerned about the safety of the cows. The dam was not overflowing per se, but the water was lapping up against the top of the spillway.
Gunther turned them toward the right, giving Alex an up-close-and-personal view of the water. The devastating flooding had taken its toll on South Hardin County. Mobile homes and vehicles were stacked into piles on the north bank of the Tennessee River. Erosion had toppled large trees, exposing their roots. The river had persistently carved its way into the landscape. Alex craned her neck to view the Tennessee as it wound its way from the east. She wondered just how powerful it might become if the rain swelled it beyond Pickwick Dam’s control.
They continued westerly now and then Gunther once again performed a series of maneuvers to follow his brother. The population was sparse in the area where they were flying. From the maps they’d studied, Alex immediately recognized Johnson’s Sod Farm when they glided past it to their right.
“My brother wants to do a flyby,” shouted Gunther.
“By what?” asked Alex, but in a voice that Gunther couldn’t hear.
The plane began to circle a hill next to a creek. Several people ran out of a house and shielded their eyes as they looked up at the spectacle of two antique airplanes flying overhead. That was when Alex recognized her parents below. She began waving wildly and smiling. She shouted to the group below, who had no hope of hearing her. Alex realized how glad she was to see her parents.
After doing a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree loop around Childer’s Hill, the biplanes began their descent toward Johnson’s Sod Farm. Gunther reduced the speed to what seemed like a crawl. Alex saw a tab located on the wing flutter as the needle dropped from ninety to eighty miles per hour. She sat up in her seat and looked to see if the plane had a speedometer. She stared back at the device on the wing. It read fifty miles per hour. This is the speedometer?
Alex tried to look forward to watch their landing. Once again, only blue skies were within her field of vision. Then she noticed that Gunther, who was shorter than she, couldn’t see either. Alex gripped the seat with both sweaty palms. How does he see to land?
Gunther then stretched up out of his seat and looked over the side of the airplane. He continued to steer with one hand as he dangled his left arm over the side, craning his neck to look at the ground.
The mile-per-hour needle fell into the red zone. Alex looked over the side too. She could see the ground. The gap between flying and landing was closing. The plane slowed and then the wheels touched down.
Hop—hop—hop.
Gunther gently touched the wheels to the turf a couple of times before pulling back on the throttle. It was a smooth, successful landing, allowing Alex to loosen her death grip on the seat.
As he taxied to a stop next to his brother, Gunther turned around and faced Alex with a grin that showed all the wrinkles of age.
“Sehr gut, ja?” he asked.
“Ja!” exclaimed Alex, who immediately burst into uncontrollable, sense-of-relief laughter. “Ja! Ja! Ja! Sehr gut!”
Chapter 14
Afternoon, November 24
Main House
Shiloh Ranch
Madison comforted Emily as she cried quietly on the front porch overlooking the cows grazing on the hay being dispersed by the ranch hands. Emily did her best to be excited for Stubby and Alex’s return, but the lack of news about Chase immediately set her mind to considering the worst-case scenarios.
She had argued with Jake that morning about the decision to leave Chase behind. Jake did his best to remind her that if Chase had been caught by the FEMA soldiers, they would have been as well. Chase was a resilient young man, he’d reminded her, and therefore would find a way to survive until he returned home. If need be, he promised, they’d mount a rescue to bring him back to Shiloh Ranch.
“Emily,” Madison whispered in her friend’s ear, “they want us to come back inside. Some decisions have to be made and they’ll involve Chase. Are you okay to talk?”
Emily nodded her head and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “This world is horrible,” she said to Madison. “He’s my son, Madison. I love him like nothing else in the world. When Jake was away all the time, it was just me and Chase, you know?”
“Yes, honey, I do,” replied Madison. “We’re gonna find Chase and bring him home safe.”
“I feel like something’s wrong,” continued Emily. “He’s been hurt or worse. I just know.”
Madison wiped the tears off Emily’s face and kneeled on the deck in front of her. “Emily, Alex has this saying. Whenever one of us is thinking negatively, she uses a golf analogy that goes don’t hook it in the rough.”
Emily laughed. “Golf?”
“Yeah, it’s actually brilliant when you think about it. Alex explains it this way. When you’re standing on the tee, awaiting your turn to tee off, if you stare at that rough down the left side of the fairway, worrying about hitting a bad shot that might land you in trouble, invariably you will. The more you think about hooking into the rough, the more likely it is that you will.”
Emily thought for a moment and then added, “The more you dwell on the negative, the more likely it is that the negative will come about.”
“That’s exactly right, Emily,” added Madison. “Now, I prefer to pray and put it in God’s hands and the energy He provides us, but Alex also has a way of thinking that makes sense.”
Emily took Madison’s hands and rose out of the chair. She gave her friend a hug and whispered thank you in her ear. The two walked into the house, arm in arm, with a new sense of purpose.
*****
Stubby conducted the meeting and laid out the State of the Union, as he called it. Based upon his conversations with Colton and Javy, they could have the most valuable supplies moved out of Shiloh Ranch and down to Childer’s Hill in two days. The Mennonites were already packed and ready to go, and Javy’s men were gathering up all of the supplies in their buried survival caches around the ranch.
Once everyone arrived at Childer’s Hill, it would be an inconvenience for everyone for a few days while they got settled. Without hesitation, they were on board to invite the Splinter brothers into the group. Despite their age, the Germans had a tenacity about them that would help the group in the event they had to fight again.
“I know there’s a lot of uncertainty concerning FEMA’s intentions,” started Stubby. “All I needed to hear was the name Roland Durham and that’s when I knew a confrontation was inevitable.”
“They’ll definitely come to the ranch,” said Colton. “Now, whether they’ll act professionally or in the mold of Ju
nior is anyone’s guess. But I, for one, am glad that we bugged-out to Childer’s Hill. We’ll be closer together and the terrain makes it more defendable if it comes to that.”
Stubby nodded and pulled out a map of West Tennessee, which included Jackson. “Okay, here’s the next order of business. We’ve learned that the Bennett brothers, the adopted sons of Coach Carey, are in FEMA custody. They’ve been transferred to Jackson at one of three FEMA camps. We need to help Coach Carey find them and remove them from the camp.”
Emily stood and voiced her opinion. “Shouldn’t we be finding my son too?”
“Emily, we will find Chase, but we don’t know where to start,” replied Stubby. “The Bennett boys may have some information for us, but besides that, Coach Carey and the Tiger Tails will be preoccupied with retrieving them from Jackson. Without Carey’s help, we’ll never find Chase, much less rescue him from custody, if that’s where he is.”
Emily fell back onto the couch and slumped next to Madison.
Madison whispered to her, “Don’t hook it in the rough, honey. Trust the guys. They’ve got this.”
“Based upon conversations I had with people during Thanksgiving, it appears that FEMA has established three different facilities,” said Stubby, who turned the map on the coffee table so everyone could see.
He continued. “The first one, where Junior and Ma were delivered that day, is located at the Jackson County Fairgrounds. From what Colton and Alex observed, this appears to be an administrative facility as well as a vehicle and supply depot. There were no tents or temporary housing.”
