by M. C. Allen
“Give me some paper and something to write with. I’m going to draw you a map to my neighborhood. If things get too bad here, come to this location. There will be people who can help you.” I drew a simple route map for him, showing the major roads and the smaller neighborhood streets. I told him how to find me if he got there.
“Just ask for Mr. Metcalf’s house. Somebody in my neighborhood will know me.” I planned on leaving my doors unlocked. Anyone who showed up was welcome to the house. I was taking everything I needed with me. I just needed to get there before the fires spread too much and people started losing their minds.
It took hours to travel home. It was dark and hard to breathe as the air filled with smoke. I could tell that the area between Dallas and Fort Worth was rapidly becoming engulfed in flames. When the wind picked up, a firestorm grew and destroyed everything up to the banks of the Trinity River.
My key worked in the front door, but the house was empty. Kate was not there. She should have been there by that time. I filled the tubs with water since we still had some pressure. That wasn’t going to last though.
I got my bike from the back porch, got my pistol out of the safe, and headed out with my messenger bag. I needed to find Kate so we could get out of there. Together.
CHAPTER
TWELVE
I never did find her. Her hospital took a direct hit from a regional jet landing at the municipal airport. I never realized that the facility was directly along the landing path for the field. I circled the area, calling her name. There were no emergency services except for other people on bikes or on foot trying to help. Fires raged out of control all over the area.
The houses near the hospital had burned, but most that were left standing were being used as triage centers. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed in the inferno. I went to all of the houses nearby where people had been taken to treat their injuries. I stayed in the area for a week. I combed the rubble, looking for her, looking for confirmation that she was gone.
Too many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. I ran out of water after the second day, and I refilled my bottles from toilet tanks when the water pressure finally gave out. Eventually, I had to go back home and prepare to escape, but I was stuck. I could not move on without knowing for sure.
I met with the neighbors who were still home or were able to make their way back from where their cars had died on the road. The really lucky ones were home when it all went down. I had stayed away too long to salvage much from the refrigerator. I put on an old Czechoslovakian gas mask and gloved up for that job. I saved some things, but it was mostly a spoiled mess. I could have cooked and eaten a lot of that food. The most depressing was the pounds of venison that had turned. I really like venison.
I used duct tape to seal the doors shut and rolled the fridge out the back door and left it on the deck. I used the propane grill to cook my meals. That would not last forever, but I couldn’t carry that bottle and the stainless grill with me. I was well stocked with freeze-dried camping food, rice, and a lot of canned goods. I would normally buy extra food every time I went to the store, so over time, I had amassed a stockpile. Canned chicken and tuna along with beans, vegetables, and canned fruit filled the cabinets in the kitchen under the counter. I wasn’t a rich man, but since I didn’t have children, I had a lot of disposable income. I had stopped collecting guns years ago. I collected food. I was going to stay and keep looking for her, my Kate. Then the kids started showing up.
“Mr. Metcalf?” Kofi was trying to bring me back to the present. I did that sometimes. When people were not actively trying to kill us all, I would go into a trancelike state and just sit there for a bit. I didn’t move. I just stared at the ground with my head down. Sometimes I cried. Not loud and annoying. I just shed some tears for a bit. I didn’t cry as much now. I shook myself a little to get back to the present. At one point or another, we had all done it. The one thing we all had in common was the timing. When we were in danger, we could push it to the side and get our jobs done. The quiet times were when we had the most issues.
“I’m here, Kofi. I was thinking about the time before you, Regina, and Alexsandra showed up on my doorstep.”
“Yeah, we got really lucky that you were still home when we got to you. I don’t know what we would have done if you had already left.” Kofi said this quietly.
“Do you still have the map?”
“I keep it with me always. It’s my good luck charm.”
The hand-drawn route map I had made on the fly standing outside of our school was a piece of standard-ruled paper torn out of a spiral notebook. It wasn’t the original I had penned, but a copy. When the kids were stuck there for hours waiting for their parents to pick them up, they passed the original around and made copies of it.
Kofi told me that when his mom finally made her way to the campus, it was well after the sun had set. All of the staff members had already left, but there were six kids all still waiting. They each had a copy of the map. Kofi was the only one to find me. He had no idea where the other five had gone.
Kofi’s copy was smudged and stained, but it had gotten him to me. That map saved all of us in some way.
“I’ve got to get up and start making plans. How long have I been just sitting here in a daze?” I had lost track of time.
“Since we woke you … a few minutes,” replied Dale.
“I’m going to tell all of you the plans first, then I’m going to find Joseph and enlist his help. I want you all to start working with his security forces directly while I’m gone. Get to know them and how well they move. Offer some suggestions, but don’t be too pushy. Alex, don’t call them stupid and try to kill them, please?” That last part was a joke. Alexsandra wouldn’t say anything to them. Dale might though. “I need to go ‘hunting.’ I need something light and quiet, so Regina can I borrow my pistol and suppressor?”
“What do you mean borrow? It’s yours anyway; I’m just holding it for you. Does that mean I get one of the new M4s?”
“Not yet. Dale can let you use his old AR. It’s lighter than Kofi’s.” I had built that rifle for Kate. She was petite, so I made it as light as possible for her to carry and operate. It was perfect for a young lady. At one time, it had been Kate’s favorite rifle; it fit her perfectly. Stop thinking about her and stay on task.
“How long will you be gone?” Dale inquired.
“I want this to be a scouting mission only. That will take longer than normal since I don’t know the area up there. I’m going to bring one of our original radios, so I should be able to contact you for about three miles in the woods. The last two I may be out of range. I don’t want anyone listening in, so I won’t be talking unless I see something coming your way. I’m also taking one of their radios and maybe eavesdrop on their conversations.” I knew better than to use their radios to talk to my people. For all I knew, they had a communications truck out there, listening in on all of our radio traffic.
“I’ll leave most of my equipment here with you. I’m mainly taking water and a few of the new rations we scrounged. Use our ‘code book’ to set the passwords each night. When I come back, I’m going to use a simple password: ‘hey, it’s Mr. Metcalf, don’t shoot.’ Make sure Ashley knows it, she almost took me out last night.” They laughed at this. My sick little children.
Finding Joseph was easy. He was overseeing the burial of the “bad guys.” We should have a nice garden here in a few years. The ground would be fertile.
“Sorry I wasn’t here to help you get these guys into the ground,” I began sheepishly.
“Not a problem. We did borrow your little shovel. The kids said not to wake you to ask.”
“Joseph, don’t worry about it. I know where you sleep if I need to get it back.” That got a chuckle from Joseph, and he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. Joseph pointed at the fresh graves and the half-buried bodies.
“How many more do you think they have? Or more importantly, when will they attack again? This w
as pure luck. We can’t constantly survive on that. These four guys you nailed were better fed and had decent muscle tone. They were not starving like the rest of us. I’m worried we may have stirred something up.” He was as worried as I was. Joseph looked like he was dead on his feet, but still he kept going.
“I’m leaving to look into that for us. Can you lend me Angel? I have an idea that may help our communication problem.” Joseph looked at me curiously but waved Angel over. He had taken over filling the hole over the large tangle of bodies while I talked to Joseph. He passed the shovel over to another man who had been using his hands. Angel looked pretty tired too, but his task was not going to be that physical. He could even catch up on his sleep.
“Angel, the two of us are going to leave and go look for the rest of these bandits.” I pointed to the north side of the camp toward where the raiders/cannibals were said to be located. “Your job is to act as a communications relay. We will use the three radios that we already had. Twice a day, I’ll send you updates. All you have to do is then pass that information to Joseph here. I can set our radios to a private channel that will make it harder for someone to listen in, but we will keep the transmissions short just in case.”
We moved back over by my bags, and I started to distribute equipment. Angel was going to bring his newly zeroed M4, his bag with extra food, water, and ammunition. We were both wearing our newly acquired body armor. I didn’t like the black color, so I dragged it through the dirt a bit to add some contrasting colors. Angel saw what I was doing and copied my actions. I had already removed all of the magazines from the pouches.
I was only bringing a suppressed .22 pistol that Regina had carried, along with her little .22 rifle with its own suppressor. I was mostly going to need the scope that was attached to the lightweight rifle to observe enemy movement, but it pays to be prepared. I needed this operation to be silent, and the little .22 rifle could kill a person if you used correct shot placement … and hit them multiple times in the same area.
I filled the pouches with the magazines for that particular model of rifle, and I placed the long-barreled pistol in my slung messenger bag, along with some water bottles and a few packets of food from our raiders. As an afterthought, I asked for a pen or pencil and something to write on. Joseph went back to the picnic area and came back after a few minutes with a small pad and a pencil. I added those items to my bag.
I moved around and jumped a little to find out what was going to rattle or squeak. I fixed the noises with tape from my pack. I needed to tighten the vest considerably to get it to stop moving around so much. By the time I was ready, Angel was still being checked over by my kids. We checked our three radios and confirmed we were on the same frequency. Kofi and Dale shook my hand and wished me luck. Regina gave me a hug. Alex shook her head and looked me in the eye before she spoke.
“Find out what you can, and get back here safe. Don’t do anything stupid or take any unnecessary risks.” Simply put by my kid, don’t go and get yourself killed.
“I don’t intend on even firing my weapon; this is a simple spy operation.”
As we left the camp, and I left my little family behind, I was at peace with my decision. Whatever we found needed to be destroyed before they could take away all that I had left in the world. These guys had at least two more 240B machine guns, and lord only knew what else. I needed to know what we were facing before we had another shootout. I don’t like surprises, and our last fight had way too many for comfort. Ha! Comfort. That was so pre-pulse.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
As expected, the scene at the farmhouse had changed since William had been gone. Several vehicles were parked near the front, and based on their condition, they were operational. Two of them were large older-model trucks that looked like they had diesel engines. The third was an honest-to-goodness military surplus 2.5-ton truck—a deuce and a half, as we called them. Some of those models were multi-fuel. They could run on gasoline or diesel. I think it had a fuel pump that had a lubrication system that allowed it to run on gasoline without screwing it up as long as you added clean motor oil to the tank. Taking it would be nice. The bed was covered with a tarp supported by arching ribs. I couldn’t see in there, but I hoped it was filled with goodies. William had only mentioned the trucks; the deuce was a new mystery.
More had changed besides the additional equipment. There were extra bodies at the farmhouse. I counted eight people in total. Six men and two women. The women were obviously there involuntarily. They were kept shackled when they were led out to relieve themselves at the freshly dug latrine. I guess the toilets all stopped working, because they all at one point used it. That made it easy to count them all. The women both looked hard used, but they appeared to have all of their fingers and toes, so they were not being used as snacks.
William had told me that the farmhouse had a working generator, but I never did see or hear it running. The lights were not on either. The glow from the windows were from candles, based on how the light flickered slightly, and those were quickly put out.
There was only one roving patrol, and it followed a predictable pattern. From my observation point at the edge of the forest, I could report back to Angel twice daily what was going on there. It looked like the cannibals had been overthrown. At least I didn’t see anyone being actively eaten in the open. I really did not want to look in one outbuilding that William had described to me. It was the slaughterhouse. I’ll pass on going in there. The only building that was in use was the farmhouse.
That was being used as the main barracks. Two of the men were always up on the rooftop, manning the belt-fed M240s. So they had one roving sentry, and two up top. That meant they had to stay at 50 percent security at all times. They were keeping four-hour shifts, and they changed it regularly. The roving sentry would go to the back door and be replaced, then the two guys on the roof waited for their relief to climb up the aluminum ladder to switch out with them. They must have functioning watches to keep that up for so long. I needed to get one so I could keep up with the time better. I waited for three days to make sure I had all the information I needed. I took the time to make a mental map of everything. I also made a point to rest and sleep. Once I had their patterns down, I could see they followed the same routines for days, without fail. That kind of sloppiness was either from being lazy, or overconfident.
They had created sandbagged fortifications on the roof of the porch. That had to be heavy and putting a lot of stress in the support beams. It was a wonder they didn’t suffer a collapse. Maybe they were smart and reinforced the porch under their positions? I would be able to find out soon enough. I already had an idea how to take them all out. I called my evening report in to Angel and told him we needed to move before they changed anything up. Tomorrow night was our window of opportunity. Angel said he would pass the word.
I finalized my sketches of the property, with suggested firing positions and estimated distances. I wanted to get this just right, and the timing was critical. I waited until it was dark, and the roving guard was on the other side of the farmhouse, before I broke out of my little nest. I had been there unmoving for days, and my legs didn’t want to work. I brought all of my trash with me. Even the water bottles I had peed in. It was gross, but I didn’t want to leave a smell behind. I didn’t have to do the other a lot since I wasn’t taking in a lot of food. That could wait until I was miles away from the place.
Taking my time, I got to Angel’s spot before first light. It was hard to force myself to move that slowly, but it was the only way to avoid detection. He was asleep when I found him, so I moved away from him a few feet and tossed some pinecones at his head until he moved.
“Angel, it’s me, David, don’t shoot,” I whispered.
“Mom, I don’t want to go to school today. It’s Saturday,” Angel replied.
“Really? It feels more like a Wednesday.” I really had no idea what day it was. It could be September for all I knew. The days all ran together.
>
He yawned and sat up from the bush where I had left him days ago.
“Joseph got the assault team briefed and ready. They should be close. I told them just to follow the creek. You want to go down and meet them?”
“Yes. I’ll find them and bring them back here for one last briefing.” My kids were used to me being away “hunting” for extended periods, but this time they had a decent level of security with Joseph’s people helping out, so they looked refreshed when I got their attention and used my password, “It’s David Metcalf, please don’t shoot me. That goes for you too, Ashley!”
She laughed and shook her head. “I thought you would be impressed I was taking my guard duty seriously. Honestly, I couldn’t even see you in the dark.”
“You did an excellent job. Especially by not shooting me.” I paused and addressed the group before me. “From here we are going to move over to Angel’s position. I have a path figured out that will get us set up and ready to take out these guys all at once.”
Once we met up with Angel, I got the equipment and personnel all sorted out.
“Kofi, Angel, and Alex will come with me. Ashley, Pamela, Jordan, will go with Joseph. Dale and Regina will come with me, but you are going to stop and provide cover for the two teams. Here, I drew a map of the farm.” I pulled out the sketch and described how it should all play out. We were all going to move together to the southern side of the farm. From there, Joseph’s team would move through the forest to the east and establish positions near where I had set up my observation point.
It was far enough back from the house that they had plenty of concealment by low shrubs and trees. I warned them that there was a stand of deciduous trees further back that would telegraph their movement and to avoid it since the sound of crunching leaves traveled in our now quiet environment. Ashley and Pamela both brought their hunting rifles as I had requested. They also had their new M4s, but all of the men had decent body armor. I had a feeling that after today, the ladies would have some armor too.
