Benjamin said to the group, “I wonder if the campers think it’s too cold, or if they’re worried about bears.”
He patted his .45 on his hip and said, “I’ve got something for bears.”
“That thing wouldn’t do shit against a bear,” Victoria chimed in.
“Think Walmart sells elephant guns?” Bryce quipped.
They all chuckled and got back to their business.
Bryce led them toward the sleeping bags and said it would be smart to buy extra sleeping bags and a few more tents, just in case Donny and his wife decided to come. Subconsciously, he knew it wouldn’t happen, but the more supplies, the better.
Next, they cruised through the rest of the camping aisle and picked up some extra fishing equipment, lanterns, flashlights, and a few other random things. While it was amazing that they had electricity and plenty of food right now, it may not be that way for long, so Bryce decided to get prepared for anything while they still could.
“The inner Boy Scout is always prepared,” he chuckled to himself.
Lastly, they stopped at the guns and ammunition section of the store. The guns and ammo had been picked through and there wasn’t much left, but that was to be expected. That was one of the first things people bought in a situation like this.
Bryce took a look at the ammo counter, and the 9mm ammunition was nowhere to be seen, but they did have two boxes of .45ACP and three boxes of .380ACP. Bryce purchased all of them. He asked Benjamin if he had a decent knife, and he shook his head, so Bryce picked out a long hunting knife with serrated edges.
With the majority of their shopping done, they stood in the hour-long line to check out. Benjamin offered to pay for everything, and neither Bryce or his wife objected. Medical skills and having deep pockets were two very useful traits Benjamin brought into the group. Besides, they might as well use his money while they still could.
After they finally checked out, they exited the story, loaded up their purchases in the back of the Outlander and headed out of town. As a last thought, Bryce stopped at a small gas station and ran in, where he found two five-gallon gas cans. He had to wait in line quite a while for the slow employees to ring him up and by the time he was back to the vehicle the Outlander was full. Bryce filled up the two gas cans and loaded them into the back of the Outlander, and topped off the SUV’s tank. Since they were thirty minutes away from town, he figured it would be smart to have a little extra fuel.
The journey back to the hatchery was uneventful, which nobody minded at all. When they got to the hatchery, they unloaded some of their gear and left the rest in the back of the vehicle.
Jessica, by now, had seen all their gear, and could tell they didn’t plan on staying short term, but after she had spent a little time with them, she didn’t mind them. She could tell that they meant her no harm and were only going to help protect her. Besides, her friends had left, and none of them had returned yet.
The three of them finally made it into the crew quarters where the in-laws had gotten all settled in and flopped down onto the couches to take a break. It looked like Jessica and Cindy were getting along, and they had all acclimated to the new situation very well, which Bryce was happy about.
He had originally been worried that his wife would not be able to tolerate the exodus from their home, but after the way she reacted in Payson, and the way she had helped out today, he had a renewed faith in his wife’s coping mechanisms.
His son handled the move better than Bryce expected as well. His wife and mother in law had set up a bunch of toys for Trystan to play with, and he sat in front of the fire and played with his trucks. Bryce scooted off the couch to sit on the floor and play with his son for a few minutes, which made Trystan’s face light up as his daddy came to see him. Bryce wondered what Trystan thought about everything that had happened. The poor kid was in a new place, had run around all over the state, plus he had to suffer through the shootout with the armed robbers. The little guy had been through a lot already, and it had been less than a week.
Bryce walked into the kitchen to check on Victoria and she seemed perfectly happy as she prepared some lunch for the group. Jessica and Cindy sat at the table and drank coffee in the middle of a quiet conversation.
“How are you holding up?” he asked his wife, the typical canned response one soldier would ask another in combat. Only this wasn’t combat, and she wasn’t a soldier.
“I’m doing okay. Just trying to keep busy to keep my mind off everything,” she replied.
“Well, just hang in there. Things will get better soon, you’ll see,” he tried to reassure her.
She nodded slowly and gave him a hug.
After a little while, lunch was ready, and everyone sat down to take a load off.
While they ate their food, the guys brought up their adventures through Walmart.
“You ever see the website peopleofwalmart?” Bryce asked the group, “You should have seen the people there today. It was hillbilly hell for sure.”
“It really was a nightmare. People were fighting over water, food, and everything in between.” Benjamin said.
“People are going to revert back to their animal instincts during this Outbreak, and we need to be ready for that.” Bryce told them.
After they finished lunch, Bryce decided that it would be a good idea if they went through their guns and ammo and to make sure everyone knew how to shoot the guns. Victoria knew how to shoot a handgun just fine, because Bryce had taught her that, but she hadn’t learned how to shoot a rifle or shotgun. Benjamin planned to come along to get his mind of everything and try to have a little fun. Greg had been to the range a few times with Bryce, but he couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, and right now he needed better accuracy. Growing up in Chicago, Cindy still has never fired a gun in her life. Greg and Cindy would need the most attention, so Bryce wanted to spend some time with them personally.
Plus, with Trystan, they couldn’t leave him by himself, so Cindy stayed behind to watch Trystan and Victoria came first. Jessica decided to tag along to get some practice in with her Colt. They took some extra bottles and other refuse from the trash bins and walked a reasonable distance away from the hatchery. The canyon had a perfect berm, which made a great backstop.
Bryce set up the bottles in the dirt along the backstop. First he brought out all of the handguns that the group had in their possession. Then, Bryce threw out the handguns from the stolen duffel bag. Lastly, he dumped out magazines and ammo for all of the handguns.
The idea was to let everyone shoot each gun a few times to get the feel for each weapon. Everyone went through the motions and tried each handgun to feel the recoil. Bryce refrained from shooting, as he was interested in doing this on his own when everyone else was gone. Benjamin was by far the best handgun shooter, out of the group, with Jessica a close second. Jessica definitely knew how to handle her weapon, which gave Bryce an idea about how he could use her help.
Victoria did exceptionally well with the skills that Bryce had shown her, and Greg for the most part hit around the targets, but after a little help from Bryce he was able to get a few good shots in.
Next, Bryce brought out the rifles, Bryce’s AK-74, Greg’s SKS, and even though it was not a rifle, Bryce pulled out the Wilson Combat 12-gauge. Additionally, he grabbed the AR-15s from the duffel bag that they had acquired.
Bryce laid out all of the rifles and had the others pick which ones they would like to shoot.
Everyone tried out each of the rifles, one after another, and after they had all cycled through the weapons, they decided to divvy up the gear. They all wanted to use the AR-15s, but since they only had three it was decided that they would be used by the group that would leave the compound.
After about an hour and a half of target practice and training, Bryce sent the rest of them off to fetch Cindy and send her up. They only left an AR-15 and a couple handguns for her to try out. Cindy was not the fighting type, and Bryce knew that, but she still needed to know the basi
cs for self-defense.
While Bryce waited, he picked up one of the AR-15s, which immediately reminded him of his military issued M4 carbine. The only thing it lacked was the select fire capabilities, which were sorely missed. He settled the carbine firmly into his shoulder, took his time and gently squeezed the trigger. The recoil was minimal and he was more than used to the feeling of firing a 5.56mm round.
A few more rounds and suddenly he started to get into it, perhaps even a little too much. He popped three bottles at a hundred yards with iron sights and the feeling exhilarated him. He had always been a firearm junkie, which was one of the reasons he had signed up to be in the military. He knew he would get to shoot some awesome guns, and be exposed to even more. For Bryce it was the perfect job. In the end, he decided that he would keep his AK-74 as a backup weapon, but when he headed into town or explored, he would carry the AR-15.
Cindy showed up as he reloaded and he waved her over. He went through all of the safety features, how to handle a gun, and then he let her put in a new magazine. After he felt confident that she would not kill herself or him, he let her try it out.
With her first shot, she was more than a little hesitant and jerked the trigger, which sent the round way off target. After about two more magazines and not much improvement, he let her try the AR-15, and it was the same result: She wasn’t cut out for shooting at all.
Her skillsets lay in other areas, and Bryce knew he had to let her choose her own path. She was very good in the kitchen and could cook just about anything. She was also a great seamstress and she knew a thing or two about gardening. It was clear to Bryce that he would need to play off peoples’ strengths and not try to force them into a role they could never fulfill. It had nothing to do with Cindy being a woman, or anything along those lines. She simply wasn’t cut out to be a shooter.
After Bryce felt like Cindy had learned all she was going to learn, he packed up all of the guns, and they headed back to the crew quarters. By now, it was mid-afternoon and it was already dusk in the canyon. Bryce broke out the cleaning kits and showed anyone interested how to clean their new rifles. Jessica decided not to bother cleaning her Colt, and went straight to the kitchen to prepare for dinner. Greg and Benjamin knew know how to clean their handguns, and Victoria cleaned her Ruger. Nobody knew how to clean the rifles and carbines, so Bryce showed them all how to do that.
By the time all the weapons were cleaned and stowed away, it was time for dinner. The group finished the meal without talking much, tired from the day’s activities. After dinner, they all huddled around the fireplace in the living room.
Bryce reached over and grabbed the remote for the TV and powered it up. After a few minutes of news, he wished he hadn’t.
The news anchor was explained that most major cities in the continental US had been evacuated to more rural areas and some of the evacuation sites even had to be evacuated. They cut to scenes of New York ablaze, and showed how thousands of people had tried to get out of the city across the various bridges.
Next, they showed Los Angeles, where hundreds of looters smashed windows to steal TVs and electronics.
Lastly, they showed Chicago as helicopters circled above what used to be the Sears Tower. The tower leaned over and as the camera panned around, there was a large aircraft lodged into the face of it, but this was no terrorist attack. The reporter claimed that the pilots had inadvertently opened the door, and an infected person killed them on their descent into O'Hare Airport.
Cindy was visibly shaken up by the Chicago scene, and hoped that her mom was okay. Even though her mom lived in the suburbs, this scene was just a little too close to home for Cindy. Both Cindy and Greg were born and raised in Chicago, and they knew quite a few people still there. She hoped that they had made it out safely.
Everyone urged Bryce to change the channel to a local news station to see what was going on in Phoenix. He changed the channel to one of the local stations, and the scene was similar to what they had just seen.
The highways were jam-packed with abandoned cars as people had chosen to walk, most likely because it was faster than waiting it out, or because their cars ran out of gas. In one shot, a military convoy smashed through the vehicles and headed away from the city. This struck the group as odd; and they wondered why the military would leave the city, when they were supposed to stay and regain control.
Another minute went by which showed various scenes of carnage and chaos, and then their questions were answered.
Another Emergency Alert took over the screen and said:
“Emergency Alert: Please be advised at 12:00 hours Eastern Standard Time tomorrow, the United States Government will detonate tactical nuclear warheads above the following cities in an effort to stop the spread of illness. Please stand by for a list of targeted cities and safe zones located in your region. Please proceed to the nearest safe zone before 12:00 hours.”
With that, the message repeated three more times and then cut to a screen, which showed a list of cities.
“Target cities in Arizona include Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert, Goodyear, Glendale...” the list went on and on, and covered all of the significant cities in the metropolitan area.
“Safe Zones in Arizona include; Show Low, Flagstaff, Safford, Kingman, and Blythe.”
Five cities, in the entire state, were the only places that would be protected by the military, and they were going to cram upward of six million people into them?
“There’s absolutely no fucking way!” Bryce yelled out. “How are they going to fit everyone in those cities? Hell, half of them are not even cities. They’re towns!”
“They don’t plan to fit everyone, Bryce, the whole point is to reduce the population and weed out as much of the infection as they can,” Benjamin replied.
“Then they are committing mass murder!” Cindy said out loud.
Benjamin simply nodded his head and said nothing. Benjamin knew that they were going to practice Civil War medicine. They would hack off the limbs and pray to God that it saved the rest. It sounded like a great idea in practice, but if you chopped off enough limbs, you ended up killing the patient anyway.
It probably sounded like a good idea from a bunker somewhere, but in the real world it wouldn’t work. Even if they managed to knock the population centers out of commission, there would still be plenty of infected people in rural towns and smaller cities to finish taking everyone out.
Sadly, Benjamin knew now what this virus had in store. It would not just come and go. It wasn’t a seasonal flu, or the common cold. This virus was a plague, in every sense of the word, and it was a very realistic possibility that the human race was on the brink of demise. It was hard for Benjamin to fathom that the entire human race could now face extinction, much like so many species that humans had eradicated. The only difference was that humans knew what was coming, and everyone would have to fight for their lives.
This latest measure by the government also told Benjamin that the United States government had made the decision to let their people fend for themselves. This nuclear reaction was a last ditch effort, an effort that in Benjamin’s opinion would not work. Millions of people would be left alone to fend for themselves, against all odds.
Benjamin placed a lot of faith in his son and this place that he had found, but ultimately he was unsure if it would be enough to survive this plague. Benjamin knew, deep down, that this was not just a virus outbreak; this was a last stand, it was a trial for humans to come together or die individually, because the only way anyone was going to survive this apocalypse was to band together, and rebuild civilization one brick at a time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hatchery Compound, Mogollon Rim, Arizona
When the transmission ended, everyone was completely shell-shocked and they all decided it was time to wind down for the night. They all tried to comprehend the notion that the government was willing to commit mass genocide, even if there was only a glimmer of hope to stop the vir
us from spreading.
Bryce knew the problem with their nuclear plan was simple: What if other countries nuked their major cities as well as the United States? He wondered what would happen to the planet. What would happen when all these nuclear warheads went off? Even if they were low-yield nukes, there had to be a large amount of fallout. Could the planet contain that many nuclear blasts without suffering from nuclear winter?
Bryce was in the middle of his bedtime routine when he thought about all of the repercussions of the nuclear solution the government had planned. He began to worry about his location, and if the nukes detonated in the valley might affect them at the hatchery. He wasn’t sure if they were far enough off the grid to be safe from the radiation.
Bryce ran over to the room where Jessica slept and knocked on the door, but the door was unlatched and swung open. Jessica spun around to see who had opened her door, and as she spun around, Bryce’s eyes opened wide and his mouth hung open. She stood in the center of the room completely naked. He just stared at her for more than a second, as his brain recorded her nude figure. Her bare breasts, slender waist, and long slender legs were engrained in his mind. Then, after a few awkward seconds, he caught himself; he stepped out of the room, and shut the door.
“Sorry!” he said through the door.
A few moments went by and she opened the door with a towel wrapped around her torso, even though it still exposed her cleavage.
“What’s up?” she asked coolly.
“I uh... forgot what was I coming here for,” he stammered, at a loss for words.
She looked at him with a wicked grin. Awkward silence filled the room as his brain rebooted, and his logic came back online.
“Oh, right, can you get one of the computers in the office building online for me. I need to do some research,” he told her.
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