The slaver’s dwindling supplies were beginning to show strains. The gangs that were sent out to find fresh conquests were going back to the main camp with grim and depressing news for Bone Breaker. They needed to do something… and fast. Bone Breaker decided to split his group in half as a reserve, and the plan to attack Fitch was formulated.
Mike Reynolds decided to take a flight to the Pacific Coast. It was the only direction they had not taken into consideration during their planning, so they decided to go to the area for a quick look around. As Mike did a pre-flight on the Cessna 421C, several of the members of Avalon began loading ammunition for the M-60 machine gun, their personal battle rifles and side arms, and a few hand grenades.
Admiral Reynolds, General Stone, Sam Wolchak and Randy Stewart would go on this trip. There was plenty of room in the six-passenger aircraft. With a range of 1,500 miles, the round-trip could be easily accomplished if they didn’t do too much unnecessary sightseeing along the way. Fully prepared for the reconnaissance flight toward the Pacific Coast, the plane was loaded and they were off.
The flight lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. They turned left at the ocean and followed the coastal highway south. It was eerie… nothing could be seen moving anywhere. They maintained an altitude of five hundred feet above the ground so they could get a good ‘Bird’s Eye View.’
On the coastal highway just south of Crescent City, they spotted two groups of men. Some were making their way north on the beach and others were traveling in the same direction on the highway. They all wore military uniforms and Mike wanted to see who they were and where they were going. He flew over both groups waggling his wings and then landed on the highway. All of the Soldiers quickly made their way toward the plane.
Mike, once he was out of the airplane, addressed the Lieutenant (junior grade) Chris Bell, who stood there waiting to hear the Admiral speak. He stood at attention as soon as he saw the stars on the man’s collar.
“At ease, Lieutenant. What are you people doing here and where are you headed?”
“We’re en-route up the coast in the general direction of Crescent City. It’s our understanding that is the main camp of the slavers, sir.”
“I think we first need to sit down and have a long discussion about what is going on and what we’re going to do about it. How many of you are there?”
“My group of Sailors numbers forty-five men. The other group numbers thirty-one men. We’re all heavily armed and we can do a lot of damage, if necessary. We’ve already engaged a number of the slavers and prevailed.”
“Let’s make camp here off to the side of this highway and have a long, in-depth chat. I would suggest that we set up a watch both north and south on the beach and north and south on the highway. I want a roving patrol on our flank inland five hundred yards both north and south.”
“Yes, Sir!”
He shouted orders to his brother Eric. “Sergeant, set the watches and the perimeters.”
“Copy, Sir!”
“Murphy, you set up an M-60 watch down the beach south. Driscoll, you take a gun north. I want one gun on the north of us on the highway and one south on the highway. Set up three more off to our flanks north and one gun on the south to cover overlapping fields of fire.”
The men all moved out to their assigned tasks and others began gathering wood for a bonfire for the night time hours. The Cessna 421 was moved off the highway and secured with tie-downs and wheel chocks. Chris knew they were lucky to have been found by these men. It wasn’t everyday he saw an Admiral, especially in these times.
The sentries were changed at four hour intervals and stories were swapped among the men. Mike told them about Avalon, Fitch and the surrounding area. He told them that The United States of America was still a viable entity and they had a new President and Congress. This was good news for the Soldiers and Sailors, as they did not know what had become of the government.
Sam jumped in occasionally and told a portion of the story. Randy had the opportunity to tell his part. Chris and Eric told theirs. Chris described what happened on the sub once they launched their missiles, and the decision that had them all ditch the sub on the beach further south. Eric told what it was like for him and his spotter at the Mountain Climbing School when the war broke out.
Finally, the Admiral described what they were doing at the present time in terms of informing people wherever they could find them… organizing and training them and setting up protective defenses wherever they were needed most. Into the late hours of the evening, the men talked about the war, the losses most of them suffered with families and friends, and even the Canyon people.
They ate their fill and eventually turned in for the night.
Slasher was having a difficult time adhering to the orders being handed down by Bone Breaker. The big man simply did not understand military decorum or protocol. Slasher understood that he had to have patience and allow certain things to come full circle, but unfortunately Bone Breaker didn’t have patience… nor did he have the foresight to let the plan unfold.
He now wanted to move the spies itinerary ahead a full month. Slasher considered that a disastrous decision. They had to let the women deliver their babies. They had to allow the spies time to immerse themselves into the various groups before springing the trap.
The forays that were being sent out weren’t bringing in any positive results, and now the big stupid goon wanted to mount an attack on the town of Fitch simply out of revenge, though he said it was to take things that were in low supply. Things like food, women and whatever other crazy thing Bone Breaker imagined they absolutely had to have NOW!
These attacks had to be planned and calculated if they were going to be successful. It was that moment Slasher decided he would have to kill Bone Breaker sooner rather than later. The man had no concept of how to direct men or plan an attack. It was always ‘Balls to the Wall’ with him.
Too many of their own were going to die if this attack on Fitch went forward. They had already wasted six hundred men in that futile effort. Slasher had to come up with something better and more appropriate in order to have any hope of being successful.
Every time a slaver scout came back to the main camp, the stories were the same… the townspeople were dug-in and a frontal attack was simply not possible. Dooley was the last to return to camp. “I’m tellin’ ya Slasher, dos people got it together! Someone is teachin’ ‘em how to defend themselves and they is doin’ a good job. A bird couldn’t get past they defenses.” He was right of course.
They were going about this wrong. They needed to get behind the town’s defenses and come in from the rear. A handful of people could get the job done. That night, unknown to Bone Breaker, Slasher, Dooley and a few others worked out a plan.
They would attack Susanville. The plan was to sneak a dozen heavily armed men into the town under the cover of darkness and take out the guards on one of the main entrances. A hundred bikers would be ready to move up and attack at a moment’s notice. As much as it pained him, he briefed Bone Breaker to get his permission to carry the plan forward. It wasn’t worth pissing the big guy off just yet. Fortunately, the plan was approved and they moved out the next morning three hours prior to dawn.
The men moved up toward the outlying limits of the town and began to work their way toward the east, well away from the main road blockade. In a few hours, they swung back toward the north and converged toward the fifteen men patrolling the obstacle guarding the town. The fight that ensued was quick. Caught by surprise, the sentries lost their position in short order.
Three men were seen running away toward the townspeople, and the attackers got busy making an easy entry into the town by removing a tractor trailer that was parked across the road. Once that main obstacle was removed, one of the slavers shot a flare into the air and the one hundred motorcycles headed toward the town.
The noise from the motorcycles was tremendous and the ground shook as they flooded into Susanville. The men broke into groups of s
ix and went door-to-door at every house and business, crashing those doors that were barricaded or locked.
In half an hour, the town’s men, women and children were gathered at the local school grounds and surrounded by the slavers. Twenty or more women were being raped in front of everyone, and anyone who made any effort to protest was shot on the spot. Men were going from house to house, and they stacked food, weapons and ammunition in front of the houses for collection later.
Chain link fencing and barbed wire was brought over to the playing field and the townspeople were forced to erect a fence. Lights that lit up the school’s playing field were connected to a large diesel generator as a temporary light source. In a few days, the people would be loaded into trucks and sent north to the slaver’s main camp.
The plan worked and the slavers only lost seven men. Slasher was pleased with himself. He knew it was possible, and now that he proved it could work, they would replicate attacks in other areas. Once the spies were able to implement their plans, and the slavers were able to take over, the other larger towns would go down as well.
In another week and a half, the convoy loaded with newly acquired slaves, food, medicine, fuel and weapons was on its way north. Overall, the attack was a tremendous success and would ensure the replenishment of supplies that the bikers sorely needed. The success of the attack reinforced Slasher’s ego. He knew he was superior to Bone Breaker who, in Slasher’s totally biased opinion, was incompetent and a man with little imagination. Right now Bone Breaker was getting all the glory for the accomplishments of others. That was going to change.
Slasher would have to pull off a few more successful missions to swing the popularity to him. After all, he was one of the warriors out there getting shot at and taking all the risks. He was doing all the planning and leading the raids. The whole time Bone Breaker was in his small cabin with some skinny woman, eating like a pig and taking all the credit. The others would finally realize who was doing the hard work and popular opinion would eventually allow him, Slasher, to come out on top. A few more successful missions would clinch the leadership of this rag tag army of outlaws, thieves and murderers.
Then, Slasher would be KING!
Chapter 16
Move to Action
THE COMMUNITY TRAINING was aggressive and it yielded positive results. The townspeople were trained in firebomb manufacturing and constructing improvised explosives from household ingredients. Booby trap construction and placement were taught to anyone above the age of fourteen.
Folks learned to make firearms from ordinary pipes and other fittings much like the mass production techniques used by the North Vietnamese Army many years ago. Many of the weapons were one-shot arms, but they were very effective in stopping someone.
Weapons from days gone by, such as crossbows and their bolts were designed and manufactured alongside shotgun shells. The shells were manufactured with a carbide drill bit inserted inside a lead ball surrounded by a sabot. This enabled the ball to penetrate deep into a motor in order to disable it. Small harassing weapons were also built, such as slingshots and blowguns, that launched a small needle-like wire arrow with a small paper or plastic funnel on the other end.
Fishhooks were fastened to a length of fishing line. In some cases more than a hundred fishhooks waited in the center of a well-traveled path, nearly invisible until a passerby became snared in the trap. Trip wires were set to fire a small explosive charge located underground in a pipe stuffed with nuts, bolts, broken glass, rusty nails and gravel. Many of the weapons were one-time use, but effective in warning anyone within hearing range that their perimeter was breached. Other basic warnings were installed. A small cord was attached to tin cans with a few pieces of gravel inside them to make a rattling noise when they were jostled by a trespasser. These served as ‘Silent Sentries.’
Various types of punji stakes were buried underground to snare a hapless person on foot. Sharpened pieces of sheet metal were either screwed or welded together that looked like a child’s toy ‘Jack’ and scattered on the roads to puncture tires. Quarter-inch cable was stretched across a roadway, neck high, to take out several motorcyclists in one fell swoop. Other types of punji stake traps were spring-loaded to impale and hopefully kill anyone struck by them. In some cases, bear traps were set and the chains that secured them were fastened to heavy objects to prevent escape.
Messengers were outfitted with mountain bikes to travel from one end of town to the other quickly. A rudimentary written code that could not be readily deciphered was adopted for sending important messages. A series of towers was erected and secured with heavy objects buried in the ground such as an old junk car or a fifty-five gallon drum filled with gravel or cement. The townspeople built the defensive barriers rapidly and in the spirit of camaraderie akin to the old fashioned ‘Barn Raising,’ as neighbors had helped each other in times of need.
Basic hand-to-hand combat was practiced and children, women and elderly people were soon able to dominate a larger person with the proper wrist lock, or by grabbing and pulling apart fingers. Few could handle the pain one of these motions caused the recipient. A kick to the shins could put a grown man down and a stomp to the neck or the solar plexus was all it took most times to end something that could have been fatal to the defender.
Other moves were designed to completely stop an attacker on the spot, a few fingers jammed into the eyes of an attacker with enough force to drive the fingers into the brain. Defensive actions took hold throughout the small communities from Redding to Yuba City down to Placerville. People worked continuously to secure their territory and protect their people, and they soon became a fortified fighting force to be reckoned with.
They established a train-the-trainer program to ensure all community members were prepared to take on various responsibilities. Everyone had multiple skills and the important jobs were overlapped by several members in order to prevent a casualty from affecting the security of the entire population. For example, one person was given rudimentary flight instruction and that person would then teach another and so on and so on.
Mike oversaw the building and training curriculum and felt satisfied the towns were gaining results that would prove to be invaluable later. None of the town folk knew when another attack would occur, but they were certain it was inevitable. He was satisfied that if these people were attacked, they would be able to defend themselves. Repeated practice instilled the needed confidence that they could defend themselves. They were living in unpredictable times and now they had been taught how to expect the unexpected, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
At last count from reports coming to Fitch and Avalon, more than a thousand people from scattered groups were training and hardening their communities, resulting in a sizable army that could yield positive results in another confrontation. The smallest group was about ten individuals ranging up to more than a hundred in some areas. Even the elderly were put to work sewing or sorting out a variety of components for easier assembly. The citizens were preparing themselves for war, and they were doing a good job.
Slasher planned another attack on a small community called Nugget Town. The small group numbered about seventy people and was located north of Yuba City. It was locally known for having been the site where gold had been discovered, yielding a singularly large gold nugget from the side of a hill in 1889.
The old prospector who found the large natural treasure was promptly murdered for it. The murderer was hanged for the crime and the local Sheriff became the recipient of the gold. How that happened was lost in time. The Sheriff became a wealthy man overnight and later served in the State Senate.
Five motorcyclists were on the outskirts of Nugget Town watching the townspeople fortify their defenses in anticipation of an attack. A former small-time politician and lawyer who had previously specialized in getting the guilty off before the war, saw the slavers watching. He circled around the outskirts of town and made his way to the bikers, unseen by anyone.
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p; As he approached the men, he made his presence known. He had a plan to make their coming attack easier and less of a struggle… for a small price, of course. He only wanted two things. The first was to be in charge of the community once the attack was completed, and the second was to have a certain woman for himself. The bikers came to an agreement and the man set up a time and place to allow access for the bikers to assemble and attack.
Just before dark, he crept back up to the rendezvous area and found the outlaw gang waiting for him. He directed Slasher in a hushed voice. “Push your bikes and follow me. I’ll show you where the defenses have not been completed. There are only six men guarding that place. Take them out and the town is yours.”
Slasher barked out orders to the man on his left, “Pass the word to the rest of the boys. We’ll follow this man and enter the town over there. Be quiet. Make any noise and it’ll be your ass. We can take this town easily.”
He then turned to the man, “Double cross us and you’ll be the first to die when the shooting starts.”
He pointed off into the distance where the sky was becoming dark, still colored with beautiful reds and pinks that splashed against the dark blue sky. The breeze was barely a whisper. Slasher signaled and they all began to push their motorcycles toward the man who led them into the town. The six sentries were killed quickly with cold-blooded efficiency, and their bodies were dragged off into bushes near a cluster of trees. From here the slavers were led by the turncoat lawyer to a large dark building.
“About twenty people are in there,” he whispered. “Take ‘em out, and you’ll have half your job done.”
Slasher and ten of his men entered the building and went from bunk to bunk overpowering men while they slept. Ten minutes later, the captives were bound and gagged, or killed. Three bikers were left to guard the captives and the others left the building.
Avalon: Beyond the Retreat (The Avalon Series Book 2) Page 14
