by Pete Thorsen
I continued loading and wished him luck. Then I finished loading and left my house quite possibly forever.
Chapter Seven
Bill
When I saw a station open I stopped at the gas station that must have had a generator because it was open and had the now normal sign that said cash only. Again the gas was more than double what it was before this event. There were two armed men standing in front of the station that were very obvious guards. I gave the attendant inside three hundred dollar bills before he would turn on my pump.
I filled the truck with gas and filled three five gallon cans I had also. When I was done filling everything with gas I went back inside to get my change. Looking around I saw they had a lot of food and drinks in the little store. I thought this may well be the last chance to ever buy anything so I started stacking stuff up by the counter and the guy started adding everything up. I bought as much as I thought I had room for in the truck and though it took a lot of my remaining cash I didn’t care.
I had to spend some time fitting it all into my truck and was ready to pull out when I heard the woman scream. It was none of my business but I would not call myself a man if I just ignored it and drove away. So I grabbed a rifle out of my pickup and walked around the corner of the building toward the scream. A man had a woman down on the ground about twenty five yards away and was tearing at her clothes with obvious intentions.
She was a quite a fighter and was doing everything she could to get away but she was maybe a hundred pounds and he was at least two hundred. She reached up and seriously scratched his face on the side I could see towards me and the blood immediately started pouring out of the scratches on his face. I could see this enraged him and he brought his fist up to end the fight.
I did not hesitate and swung my rifle up and fired before he completed his swing. The shot was true and the man collapsed on top of the woman. She pushed him off enough to wiggle out as I walked up. That was when I saw that he was a policeman! The woman wasted no time with a thank you and took off running. I checked the cop to see if he was dead. My rifle bullet had struck him in the arm pit and had traveled from there into his chest. I saw no exit wound. Only now I did I see his police cruiser sitting nearby.
Police or not his intentions were crystal clear and I did not regret pulling the trigger. I searched his body and took his vest (which would not have stopped the rifle bullet anyway even though I had shot through the arm hole missing the vest itself). I also got his gun belt with all the stuff on it so now I had an automatic pistol like I originally wanted.
A more thorough search found a hide out gun in an ankle holster also which I took also along with that little holster. I carried this stuff to my truck and threw it in the cab and drove over near the cruiser.
I then stripped the shotgun from the front and all the gear from the trunk using his keys (which included an AR15) and quite a bunch of other stuff that I would go through later. Right now I thought it best to leave the area where I had just shot a cop.
It was heavy load leaving Phoenix because I had filled most everything I had with water to take with. And let me tell you that water is heavy but in the desert water is life.
My house had a couple of fifty two gallon water heaters (I had off-peak water heating) that I had drained. Plus the several cases of water and other drinks I had bought added up to quite a lot of weight. I also had a big supply of canned goods that added even more weight. Traffic was very light on the roads and this was a good thing because I was still a little shook up from shooting that cop. It really is a totally different world now. The rest of my exit from Phoenix was uneventful.
I had a spot near the Verde River picked out to set up camp and I had camped there before. Being near the water would be way better than a dry camp even though I did have all of that water with me. This way I could use my stored water just for drinking and use the river water for washing. I knew at some point I would need to drink the river water and was prepared to filter it and boil it before I drank any. I was not looking forward to drinking the river water.
From past experience I knew even filtered and boiled surface water may be made completely safe to drink but it could still taste like pond water. I had a bunch of easily cooked foods with and I picked this spot because I knew there would be a fair amount of game located close to the water supply. In the desert there are always more critters around where there is water.
These first couple days I am just getting re-acquainted with this area because it has been a couple years or so since I have been here. Sure enough I have seen quite a few rabbits here, both Jacks and Cottontails. There are also some quail running around here. In a couple of wide spots in the river I have seen ducks also so I can vary my diet a little.
Normally you have to shoot ducks with a shotgun because it is a federal law but here and now laws don’t matter any so I can just use a 22 rifle to shoot them in the head. It will be way quieter than a shotgun and you don’t have to worry about biting down on some lead shot when you are eating them. I’ll do the same with the quail and use just the 22.
Today I had to shoot two more guys again. I had been hunting for my supper so I just had my 22 rifle but it was sufficient to do the job. I came back to camp carrying a dead rabbit and saw two guys going through my stuff. I snuck up close and shot the first guy in the head and then put three shots into the torso of the second guy before he could draw his pistol. I was pretty proud of my shooting.
The head shot guy was very dead and the other would soon be but I shot him in the head to put him out of his misery. They had an older Ford Explorer they were driving that was parked nearby. What idiots. They were both armed and there were several more guns in their vehicle. But they weren’t watching or nothing. They obviously thought the stuff was abandoned or more likely just didn’t think at all.
I stripped the bodies of everything I thought I might ever use and tied a rope to their feet and to the hitch on their rig and drove back up the road about three miles before I dumped the bodies. The buzzards and coyotes will make short work of them.
Their truck had quite a bit of food and useful stuff in it. They had obviously been looting because there was a bunch of jewelry and old coins and other stuff that two guys in the hills would not normally have with them. They also had several guns and quite a bunch of ammunition.
That would certainly be useful. With so many guns now, I after shooting one of their rifles to check if it worked and was sighted in, I wrapped it up and hid it a distance from camp. That way if I was caught out again with just my little 22 I could grab this heavier rifle if someone was in my camp. There were also two and a half cases of bottled water in their truck along with some food. There was no sleeping gear which made me think that they had a camp somewhere close.
It was getting kinda late to start supper but I would not let that rabbit go to waste so I cooked it up in the dark. Tomorrow I decided I would look some for the bad guy’s camp. They might have other stuff I could use.
I should have went a little farther yesterday when I dumped those two bodies because their camp was only about another mile down the road. They had a bunch of stuff there including another pickup. I looked the pickup over good but decided to keep the Explorer. I did siphon some gas out of the pickup to fill the Explorer’s tank. Then I loaded up everything I thought might be useful and with a full load drove back to camp. I did break down the two small tents they had and stowed them in the pickup that I left there.
Inside the pickup cab I left a rifle and a pistol with some ammo for both along with a little food and four bottles of water. Then I drove the pickup behind some brush to try to hide it some. The pickup would just become another emergency location for me containing a few supplies. I also hid the pickup key that I had taken from one of the dead guys in the box of the truck.
They had two folding cots with foam pads on top which would make sleeping much more comfortable for me and I took one of each with me. There was quite a bit of food too along with a
lot of other gear.
One thing that I thought was cool was a crank up radio that did not need batteries; you could just turn the crank some to charge it up. It also had a little solar panel on it for charging and had a built in flashlight. I had been trying to listen to the radio occasionally in my truck but this would be handier. And even if the radio never did work the crank up powered flashlight would be useful. I now had a lot of gear and plenty of food to last awhile.
I have everything I need but boredom is certainly an issue. It has been two weeks since I shot those two guys and I have not seen nor heard anyone since. And not even a plane has flown over. I hike around quite a bit and have some kind of wild meat just about everyday. I also try the radio everyday to see if it is working but so far I have heard nothing but static.
I can not even imagine how bad it must be in Phoenix by now. There would be plenty of water for everyone in the canals that go through the town. They would have to filter and boil the water to make it safe to drink but at least they would have water. But the sewage pumps would not be working so it must be quite a stinking mess by now.
Plus I bet people are getting shot by the hundreds. I am so glad I managed to get out of the city. I wonder how Sid and Val are getting by. I know they are totally set up for a situation like this so they are likely just fine. I’ll see what happens but I might just try to make it up to see them. At where I am now it likely is only thirty or thirty five miles from here to their place. But no hurry, I’m sure they don’t need me but they are likely getting bored too so we could at least be bored together.
Chapter Eight
Bill
I can see that I have to move on from here soon. I’ve been here a couple or three weeks or more now (I don’t keep track of days anymore) and I have to hike a couple miles or more just to see a rabbit, let alone shoot one. I still have a bunch of food on hand and would not have to eat any wild game but the fresh meat always tastes great and gives me something to do. I do catch a fish now and then in the river to eat but this is not the best fishing spot. Plus and I admit, I am getting pretty bored here. I have about given up trying the radio because there is always only static on it.
I think I will leave most of my gear here and take the SUV I acquired out on a little reconnaissance run in the morning.
I got a very early start considering I have no where in mind to go. I just started driving toward the closest town which happens to be Camp Verde. I don’t know yet if I will actually drive into the town because that seems like it would be asking for trouble but it would be nice to try and get some news.
I drove fairly slowly with my eyes wide open for trouble. I was still some distance from the town when I could see something on the road ahead so I stopped and used my binoculars to check it out.
It was an obvious road block done by someone who did not know how to do it. I decided to check it out but not in the vehicle. So I backed up and turned around then drove about a half mile to a turn off that I could see had plenty of hiding spots for the SUV. I parked where it was pretty well hidden and brushed out the truck tracks leading from the asphalt with some brush I cut then shoved the branches back into a bush to hide them.
I took a small daypack with some water and a little food and extra ammo. I decided to carry the AR15 that I had taken from the cop. I had shot all the guns I had acquired to make sure they worked and were sighted in. I made a big loop away from the road and came towards the road block from perpendicular to the road where there was plenty of cover.
Watching through the binoculars while sitting in the shade I could easily see two guys sitting on lawn chairs near the road block. I was quite comfortable and pretty well hidden so with nothing else to do anyway I decided to watch these guys to see if they were bandits (which I thought was likely) or what the scoop was.
I was less than fifty yards from them and it would be easy shots if I was so inclined to shoot them. They each had pistols and I could see rifles leaning up near them. We all just sat and waited. After maybe an hour or so we all heard a car approaching. The guys got up and grabbed their rifles and got behind the road block which consisted of two pickups parked crossway on the road. It turned out to be a smaller car that had dark windows so I could not see inside from my angle.
The other guys could likely see through the car’s windshield to see how many were in the car. The car stopped back a ways then came forward slowly and it looked like it would just drive around the road block which shouldn’t be hard in this spot. When it got closer one of the guys walked out brandishing his rifle and the car stopped again.
The guy yelled “You must pay a toll to use this road if you want to pass.”
I saw the window go down in the car and a male head stuck out to say something but he never got a chance as the other bandit shot him in the head with his rifle. The obviously dead guy stayed slumped in the car with his bloody head still sticking out the window. The bandit who had not shot walked toward the car and pointing his rifle ordered whoever was inside to shut the car off and get out with their hands up.
Nothing happened for awhile and then he yelled the same thing again. After a bit the passenger door opened slowly and a woman stepped out.
She did not have her hands up but she had her head hanging down and it looked like she might be crying. The guy told her to step in front of the car and had his rifle pointing at her.
She slowly complied and he took a quick look into the car before waving to his buddy who then stepped out and started walking towards the two. When the guys got close together I could see them looking the woman over and they were saying something but I couldn’t hear. I could see they both had big smiles on their faces and I could easily guess what they were saying and what would be happening soon.
I saw no point in waiting anymore and the woman was not in the line of fire so I lined up on the head of one and shot then swiftly swung and shot the second one who only had time to turn slightly toward me.
I watched and waited a bit to see if there was any movement from the two before I stood up and walked toward the road. When I got close I started talking slow and calm.
“I won’t hurt you ma’am. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them from shooting your friend but it took me by surprise when they shot him.”
She said nothing but I could see she was watching my every movement. I walked over to the second man I shot and gave the body a good kick to see if he was dead. He apparently was and the other was obviously dead. I took a quick look into the car to see if it was empty and almost got killed.
The woman moved very quickly and drew a knife and was poised to throw it into me before I swung my rifle towards her with my finger on the trigger. Neither of us did anything for a couple seconds.
“Ma’am it looks like you are mighty handy with that knife and I don’t want to hurt you. I think if you wanted me dead I would have that knife sticking in me already. I can just back away and you can go about your business. Or we can lower our weapons and I’ll help you bury your friend if you want. I want nothing from you and mean you no harm.”
She just stared at me for a little bit.
“Lower your rifle.”
“We need an element of trust between us if this is going to work out. I am going to back away from you and when I get back a ways I’ll lower my rifle. Is that acceptable?”
She just nodded her head so I backed down the road with my eyes and rifle pointed at her. When I thought I was far enough to negate most of the threat of her knife I slung the rifle to my shoulder with its sling. It would be fairly slow for me to bring the rifle to bear quickly now and my pistol was in my holster and would also be fairly slow to draw. Now it was up to her.
She lowered her throwing arm and sheathed the knife then walked over to check on her friend in the car. He was very obviously dead. She touched him briefly then walked over and gave the one who had shot her friend a very respectable kick. Then she turned to me.
“Thank you for killing these vermin. I am not sure I could h
ave killed them both.”
“You are welcome. Can I approach?”
“Yes. You could have easily shot me too. Or just wounded me if you had other plans.”
“Oh I hadn’t thought of that.”
With that she snapped her head towards me but must have seen that it was a weak joke and just nodded again.
I walked past her and looked into the two pickups. One of them had a small shovel in the back and a tarp and I returned with both items.
“I thought I would wrap him in this tarp first. You can pick a spot and we can dig a grave for him.”
“Thank you.”
She took the shovel from me and walked off the road a ways while I laid the tarp down and manhandled the body of her friend onto it and then wrapped him up. I managed to do so without getting full of blood. Then I barely could carry the heavy load over to where she had started digging a grave. After setting the wrapped body down I let her dig for a bit and I started gathering some rocks to cover the grave when we were done.
Then we took turns digging the hard ground until she said it was enough even though it was not very deep at all. That ground was hard and she was obviously a practical young woman. We lowered the body in and covered him up then placed a lot of rocks on top. One of the times she was digging I had walked back to the two pickups and grabbed us each a bottle of water from the case I had seen when I got the shovel.
When we were all done I walked over and stripped the guns and other useful items from the two dead guys and dragged them off to the ditch along the road. Then I offered her the pistols.
“I’m not familiar with guns. But it looks like I should learn to be.”
“I can teach you some and then you can practice with them. You will want a pistol and a rifle. Let’s go through the pickups and see what else these guys had.”
We dug through the stuff in the trucks and we found a bunch of ammo and couple more guns. I selected a rifle and a pistol for the woman that had plenty of ammo and I then spent some time showing her how to be safe first then some about shooting.
