by K. S. Black
“This place is making me sick.” Hayley turned her back to the trenches and cradled the puppy next to her face.
In silence, they trudged back to the camp to find anything that would provide some explanation. They came to a large tent that had been set up as a headquarters and stepped inside.
“Cooper, take a look at this map.” The map was tacked to a makeshift bulletin board. “See the four road blocks?” Kevin pointed them out and pointed to the access road between the two parts of the split highway that went through the Grapevine area.
“It looks like they were funneling people to the camp.”
“That’s exactly what it looks like.” Kevin unpinned the map and folded it so that it only showed the section that they needed to view and put it in his back pocket.
“Daddy, why is this happening? The tone in Hayley’s voice made her question sound like a plea for help.
“I’m not sure, sweetheart.” He put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. “Let’s get out of here.”
They walked back to the Humvee with Kevin limping behind them.
* * *
Kevin studied the map he had taken from the camp. “It’ll be trial an error getting out of here. We need to get to CA-138 at Lancaster Road. According to this, we won’t have to worry about any road blocks along that stretch, but looks like there’re two to the south, just north of Santa Clarita.”
Soon after getting onto Lancaster Road, Kevin directed Cooper to take an unmarked road in order to steer clear of any patrols in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale and most importantly, Edwards Air Force Base. From what they heard on the radios earlier, that area was teaming with activity.
Traveling in silence through a myriad of back roads, they continued to see abandoned cars dotting the roads but in smaller numbers than before. When they got back on Lancaster Road, Kevin pointed to a small group of bodies lying next to three cars on the side of the road. “This is worse than a nightmare.”
Cooper slowed the Humvee. They passed the bodies but didn’t stop.
“Do you think they were executed?” Kevin asked.
“I do. I didn’t tell you everything that happened to us before we met you.”
“You knew this was going on? And you didn’t say anything? Shit. That was a big fucking detail to leave out. Had I known it looked like this out here, I would’ve stayed back at the cabin and taken my chances.”
“Wait a second before you get all bent out of shape. We didn’t see anything on this scale. But what I saw was awful. More than awful. I should have told you.” Cooper stared out the windshield. “We watched a civilian convoy get pulled over by Homeland Security—at least that’s who they wanted everyone to think that they were. It was stupid of me to think that I witnessed an isolated event. The people they forced out of the vehicles looked like families—men, women and children—and I watched them get executed. The soldiers in black uniforms spotted us, and we made a run for it. A few hours later, we were talking to you on the radio.”
“I feel like I’m going crazy.” Kevin ran his hand through his beard.
“We’re not the crazy ones.”
* * *
They drove for three more hours until they crossed over I-15. Dark circles ringed Kevin’s eyes. He yawned quietly and checked the time on a watch he pulled from his pocket. “The sun’s gonna be up soon. I have a friend who has a cabin in Twin Peaks near Lake Arrowhead. It’s not too far. We can crash there until it’s time to get on the road again.”
CHAPTER 12
May 8 –Twin Peaks - four miles west of Lake Arrowhead, CA
Two hours later, Cooper turned the Humvee onto a hidden driveway that wound its way through a lushly wooded property. “I better take a look around first. How much further?”
“About fifty yards.”
“You two stay. Hayley, if Kevin tries anything, shoot him.”
“Dad!”
“I think he’s serious.” Kevin pushed his back against the seat.
* * *
Cooper parked on the gravel driveway in front of a stately, two story log home on the crest of a hill and stepped out of the Humvee. “Who’s this friend?”
“Someone I know from the biz. Yeah, it’s a pretty nice place. Used to be a family vacation home, but the family never comes here anymore, so my friend let us use it to expand our operations to a more isolated locale.”
Cooper told Hayley to keep her eyes open and stay in the vehicle while he and Kevin checked the inside of the cabin. He handed Kevin a mask.
“We all need to err on the side of caution. Masks and latex gloves are on if we go anywhere that we haven’t sprayed down first. We need to get in the habit of treating every new place we enter as potentially contaminated,” Cooper said.
With the cabin cleared, they carried in supplies. Cooper handed Hayley a can of disinfectant spray and said, “You’re in charge of spraying all the surfaces downstairs.” He handed Kevin another can. “You can help Hayley. I’ll spray everything upstairs. Then we can take off our masks.”
After helping to disinfect the cabin, Cooper went back to the Humvee to retrieve his gun cleaning kit. An unpleasant odor was blowing in from the east; it was faint but not a good sign. After he brought the gun cleaning kit inside and set it on the kitchen counter, he told Kevin about the odor and both men stepped outside.
“What does it smell like to you.”
“It smells kind of like burnt hotdogs again, but there’s something else too.”
“That’s what I thought. Decomp. We need to keep our eyes open. Speaking of keeping our eyes open, I noticed an antenna array hidden in the trees on the backside of the cabin. Does that mean your friend has a ham radio?”
“Yep. I’ll show you where it is.”
Kevin led Cooper to a room lined with shelves packed from top to bottom with hundreds of books. In the corner, near the window was a large desk with a HF/VHF/UHF ham radio station with all the latest equipment, as well as a CB radio, a couple of police scanners and two laptops.
“Too bad there isn’t any power; I’d really like to see if there is anyone out there who has any more information we could use,” Cooper said.
“Got you covered—there’s a genny in the shed out back, and I was getting ready to turn it on.”
He followed Kevin outside to a shed filled with tools and outdoor equipment. Kevin pulled up a rubber mat and pushed down on a section of the floor. A small door sprung open. Inside was a ladder that led to a cellar housing a large military surplus generator and a one hundred-gallon tank filled with diesel. Kevin motioned for him to follow.
“This was my idea. I helped install it,” said Kevin. “I sound proofed the walls, but the exhaust was the hardest. Those pipes connected to the generator go underground all the way to the cabin. Then they go up through the chimney.”
“Why do you all have such a heavy duty generator hidden under the shed?”
“Why do you think?” Kevin frowned. “Emergency backup, in case we lost electricity. That happens quite a bit out here. Plus, we were thinking of going off grid. I learned a few things from your website.”
He wanted to say something but instead he asked, “Can you turn it on?
Kevin flipped a switch on the front of the generator. Without any hesitation it started, smooth but powerful. “I worked on this thing for three weeks. She’s better than new and can generate all the power we need.”
“Are you a mechanic?” Cooper asked.
“Since I was sixteen. I’m certified through some of the top rated automotive trade schools in the country and trained under the best auto mechanics in the world. I even worked the NASCAR circuit for a while, but no one would pay me what I’m worth, so I quit and took up my current vocation. It pays better, and the girls are just as pretty.” His mouth erupted into its signature toothy grin. “But I guess I’m out of a job for now.” They climbed out of the cellar, and Kevin closed the trap door.
Not sure what to think about Kevin’s supposed
NASCAR experience, he listened for the generator. “I’m impressed. You’d never know it was running.”
* * *
The power was still off inside the cabin. He followed Kevin into the radio room. Kevin opened a circuit breaker panel for the generator located on the wall next to the door. The breakers were labeled Radios, Security, House 1, House 2, Shutters, and House All.
Kevin switched on the breakers for Radios, Security, House 1, and House 2.
“Hey Dad, I think the refrigerator just came on, but the lights aren’t working,” Hayley said from the kitchen.
“The radios and surveillance cameras should all be on as well as the essentials in the house. The lights won’t work unless I engage House All. We did this in case there was a black out and we needed to keep the cabin working without drawing any attention to the place. Kevin flipped two breakers labeled House All and Shutters and called out to Hayley. “Are the shutters closing on the windows? Does the TV work?”
She yelled, “The shutters are going down and the television is on.”
“May I?” Cooper asked, pointing to the radios.
“Make yourself at home; I’m going to sit down and see if I can get any news. My leg’s starting to ache again.”
“We need you alert, Kevin. I don’t want you high around Hayley.”
“Look man, I may sell the stuff, but I never touch it anymore. Not even medicinally. Makes me sloppy, and I don’t need that,” he said and hobbled to the living room.
“I’ll take a look at it if you want to make sure there’s no infection.” Kevin was full of surprises.
* * *
Cooper quickly figured out how to get the radios and scanners working. Chatter started coming in from different places. He wrote down the frequencies so he could make contact later. After thirty minutes, he turned the radios off. He didn’t learn anything new and nothing was coming in from the Lake Arrowhead area.
Hayley and Kevin had their eyes glued to the television when he came into the living room. He expected to see static but instead saw images of military vehicles, men in orange racal suits, and hundreds of bodies piled up on flatbed trucks.
“Satellite is working, but it’s spotty. I can’t pick up anything local. That was Mexico City,” Kevin said.
Cooper thought about Noni and Tito. Did they make it out of the city? He needed to say something to Hayley about them later. He was surprised she didn’t mention them. Maybe it would be too much for her to handle.
Kevin flipped to another channel. The satellite was having trouble picking up any California broadcasts. A reporter with Fox 4 news in Dallas was standing outside a hospital with an N-95 mask on. “Medical personnel have been asked to leave the hospital if they’ve tested negative for the virus. They can’t do anything else at this point. The hospital is out of supplies and medicine.” The reporter pointed to the hospital behind him.
“FEMA personnel have arrived to take the bodies and to help those who are infected. I was able to get inside a few minutes ago and saw bodies wrapped in sheets and stacked up against the wall. I’m sure some of the dead include hospital staff. FEMA personnel asked us not to film out of respect for the deceased and their families. We’re going to leave the area shortly.”
“Thank you, Mitchell. Stay safe out there,” a distinguished, middle aged anchor said. “The power outages across the country have made it difficult for the government to get the word out to everyone. We know they’re sending Homeland Security troops to many areas to help evacuate everyone to safe locations.”
“Homeland Security is providing transportation so personal vehicles should stay off the roads. Food, water, and beds will be provided at the evacuation sites. Those who are ill will be treated at FEMA hospital facilities,” said the younger, female co-anchor.
“We urge everyone receiving this broadcast to stay indoors until it’s time for you to evacuate. Homeland Security will escort you to safety. Do not attempt to stay in your homes during the evacuation. Not only will you be putting your life or the lives of your family at risk, you may be putting the lives of the brave men and women who are doing their jobs in danger, too. Tara, this is still so unbelievable.”
“I know, Derek. This is devastating. The U.S. death toll is estimated in the millions. International news has been sketchy at best. We don’t have any official numbers yet. But we’re assuming the same thing is happening everywhere.”
“They’re lying about Homeland Security and FEMA. Maybe they’ve been duped, too,” Kevin said.
“Somebody is lying to us. I knew something was coming. But I never thought it would happen like this. It’s one thing to talk about all these possibilities, but it’s something else to see it played out.”
“The soldiers are panicking right now because of the virus and the terrorist attacks. Once everything settles down, we’ll put everything back together and things will go back to the way they were. We just have to stay alive long enough.”
“I don’t want to be right. But my gut is telling me that we’re fucked.” Cooper looked over at Hayley. Worry creased his forehead. He had a theory about what might be going on but doubted Kevin would buy into it—not yet anyway.
“Everything seems pretty bad now. But this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, man.”
They continued to talk but stopped to listen to information they hadn’t heard before. “There’s evidence that the massacre in Tampico Mexico of eighty-two members of the Gulf Cartel was tied to the Iranians . . . five Islamic extremist operatives found dead of Rapture virus in five different cities across the US . . . an Iranian woman who collapsed at San Francisco International airport died a day later from what scientists believe is a type of weaponized rabies. She had traces of the Rapture virus on her hands and face . . . news blackouts in large areas of the country . . . rumors of anarchy are rampant as the death count from illness and injuries climbs daily . . . reports coming in that large areas in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are on fire.”
“Creating a pandemic is the quickest and most effective way to get rid of billions of people without killing them yourself,” Cooper said.
“Maybe you’re right, but why? Who the fuck is behind it?”
“Whoever they are, they’re behind it all—the pandemic, the bombs, and the evacuations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Homeland Security or whoever this group is that’s hiding behind the government banner is killing everyone who doesn’t meet a certain profile.”
“Profiling? Like the Nazis and ISIS?”
“Yes but not by race or religion. My guess is that they plan to exterminate people who don’t fill a specific need. Everything that’s going on in the U.S. must be going on all around the world. There are people who have money and the power to make anything happen.”
“This is blowing my mind. I need to go do something else for a little while. Hayley, do you want to help me make some dinner?” Kevin reached his hand up to Hayley. She had to use both of hers to pull him off the couch.
Cooper sat for a while longer only half listening to the news before he went out to the Humvee and turned on the military scanner. After a few minutes of nothing but static, he turned it off and searched under the seat for his bottle of scotch.
* * *
“If there’re any guns and ammo in the house, we should take them. “Do you know any places around here to look for ammo? I think we should try and gather up as much as we can find, as well as anything else that we think we can use. The situation is a lot worse than I thought it would be. After what we saw, I don’t think we can ever have enough. I’d like to take the radios and head out tomorrow night.” Cooper said.
“That soon? I was hoping we could crash here for a couple of days. Maybe things out there might calm down.”
“Don’t kid yourself. It’s only going to get worse. We’re not going to be safe here much longer. That smell is from decomposing bodies, and I can guarantee that people are still out there—scared, armed, and looking for supplies
. Homeland Security is the least of our worries. Plus, with the wind kicking up, we could get trapped in a fire with all this forest around us.
“Okay, okay. I got it—we need to leave,” Kevin said.
“We should both take turns keeping watch tonight.”
“Dude, why do you think we have all this security around here? If we secure the house, no one is getting in without us knowing it.”
“You’re probably right. And I’m too tired to argue.”
CHAPTER 13
May 9 – Twin Peaks, four miles west of Lake Arrowhead
After the most restful night’s sleep he had in almost a week, Cooper headed to the bathroom to clean up. The hot water beat down on his tired muscles. He enjoyed it while he could, knowing that simple pleasures were going to become luxuries.
He dried himself off and opened the duffle bag he had brought in the night before and laid the contents on the bed. After stepping back and examining the gear, self-doubt started to plague him. Did he watch too many sci-fi movies as a kid?
Most of the items he had made himself from the best materials he could find. After months of research, lots of trial and error, and thousands of dollars, he created a state of the art body armor suit that could stop most small caliber bullets as well as shrapnel. It was also a smart suit that stored data. It could send and receive information via the internet or radio and monitor his heart rate and respiration. An adapter was sewn into the suit so he could connect to dead drops.
He paid a programmer acquaintance who was also a former hacker to convert six smartphones into programmable minicomputers. When plugged into the suit, the mini-computer would stay charged by the simple act of walking or moving. Cooper only had one minicomputer with him, and it was secured inside the suit. The rest were hidden in Tucson—two in his prepper cache back at his house and the other three sealed away in the bunker.
With the latest innovations in Kevlar, titanium, carbon fiber, and ballistic nylon, his one piece, sleeveless suit and its matching jacket looked like a cross between dirt bike racing gear and the latest in military protective armor.
