Prepper's Crucible: Volume Five: A Post Apocalyptic Tale

by Bobby Andrews

“Let’s go. I want to get back to looking for my boys.”

  “Are your sons missing?” Frank asked.

  “No, they’re on the way to Prescott and we’re going to take the same route and catch up with them.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll have a cruiser go with you to the check point to make sure they give you the rifles back. Then they’ll escort you back through the checkpoint and to your sister’s place. I’ll let the National Guard units know that you may be passing through their sector, but they will stop you anyway for inspection. After that, you’re on your own again. It’s the best I can do,” Frank said, extending his hand. Both Cory and Ben shook hands with him, and turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Tiffany said. “I want to thank you both one more time.” She kissed Ben on the cheek, then Cory. “Good luck out there.”

  “Thanks,” they replied in unison.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Cory and Ben drove down 44th Street to find Rachael. The town was different once they left the area around the police station. There were fewer vehicles on the streets and they noticed furtive glances from the few people they saw walking around. They pulled up to the condo complex and noted two men armed with rifles guarding the gate. Cory got out of the ATV, leaving his AR on the back seat, and approached the men with his hands held away from his body.

  “State your business,” the taller of the two men demanded, bringing his rifle to the low ready position. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Cory with suspicion.

  “I’m looking for my sister. Her name is Rachael and she lives here. Is she here?”

  “Yeah,” the shorter man replied. “She know you’re looking for her?”

  “No, we just got to town from Prescott.”

  “I’ll get her.” He disappeared into the complex; a minute later, Rachael exploded out a door, pushed through the gate, rushed to where Cory stood, and threw herself into his arms.

  “My God!” she yelled, “you’re alive!” She stepped back, her face beaming with joy, then hugged him again.

  “Last time I checked,” Cory deadpanned, but with a catch in his throat.

  “Come in. I want to introduce you to my friends.” She glanced over Cory’s shoulder, saw Ben in the ATV and added, “is he with you?”

  “That’s Ben. He’s living on the same ranch as me and mine.”

  “Is everyone okay?”

  “We’re all fine. Julie and the kids are safe and healthy. How are you doing?”

  “Better now.” Cory motioned Ben to come over. Ben got out of the ATV, leaving his rifle in the vehicle, and joined them. Cory performed the introductions and Rachael gave Ben a quick hug. Ben glanced at the guard and then the ATV.

  “We can’t leave the ARs in the ATV,” he said.

  “I’ll talk to the guards and you can park inside the fence. You can bring the rifles with you.” She turned to the two men guarding the unit and said, “it’s all right. They’re with me. Go ahead and let them pass.” They opened the gate and Ben walked back to the ATV.

  Cory noticed two things about his sister. The first was she had lost some weight. She had never been overweight, and her physique was much like his. Tall and slender, she had been a track star in high school and it showed. Her facial features were more pronounced and her cheeks less plump. Her blue eyes seemed a bit less luminous to him. The second was that she carried a Springfield 1911 in a holster on her hip.

  “Got over your aversion to firearms?” he noted, a smile playing on his lips.

  “No choice,” she replied. “It was either that or be defenseless.”

  “Things seem pretty quiet around here.”

  “It wasn’t this way until about two weeks ago, when the Guard units moved in and cleared the gangs out of this part of the city. The complex was attacked twice, but we had two police officers who lived here who got us ready for it, so we got through. They rounded up some rifles and pistols from somewhere and gave us some training.” Her face grew contemplative as she apparently thought back to those days. She looked away, her gaze unfocused. Cory waited until she looked back at him.

  “You’ve lost some weight?”

  “Yeah, we had about a month with living on whatever we had here or could scavenge from the neighborhood. Then the FEMA trucks started showing up, so it’s okay now.” Her expression told Cory she was leaving much unsaid, but he decided to drop it for now. She would tell him the whole story once they were safely back at the ranch.

  “What about water?” Cory asked. He had noted her normally blonde hair was a greasy pale brown, and she looked like she hadn’t washed her clothes for some time. Rachael was always fastidious about her appearance.

  “We filtered the pool water until FEMA showed up and got things running again. We have running water here, but not for showers. So every so often, we take turns bathing in what’s left of the pool water. It’s getting pretty dirty now, so we have to find somewhere else to get clean.”

  “I don’t want to rush you or anything, but we came here to take you back to Prescott.” Cory checked to make sure nobody could hear what he was about to say, and then added in a quieter voice, “we’re living on a ranch in Prescott. We have power, running water, and more food that we can eat in two or three years. We have gardens, cattle and chickens, and some very tough people to defend the place. You need to come with us. I can’t guarantee anything, but it’s so much better and safer than here; it’s a no brainer.”

  “I don’t know. These people here are like my family. We’ve been through a lot together. I don’t think I can just leave like I don’t owe them anything.”

  “You know as well as I do that, sooner or later, things are going to stabilize and get back to something resembling normal. Obviously, it’s already started. You have some power and water, and the police and National Guard are taking the city back. The only question is how much danger and suffering you have to go through before that happens. You don’t really have anything more to offer your friends. We’ve turned a corner and the best thing to do is recognize that and come back with me. You’re the only blood family I have left, and I think you need to be with us.” She continued to look doubtful.

  Cory sighed and continued, “look at you. You’ve lost weight, you’re filthy, this place is still not very safe, and you can’t do anything more than you’ve already done. Let’s just go home and ride out the storm. We can come back when things get better.”

  “Can I have a day to think on it?”

  “No. I have to go with Ben to find his sons.” He nodded at Ben, who wore a grim smile. “They’re somewhere between here and Wickenburg, and Ben risked his life to help me find you. If we’re going to leave, it has to be now.”

  “I have a boyfriend,” she blurted out. “He has to come along, or no deal.” Cory digested the information as he turned away for a moment to think things over.

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s inside treating the wounded and sick.”

  “He’s a nurse?”

  “No, he’s a doctor who worked at a hospital close to here. When it happened, he grabbed what he could from the ER, and we found him wandering around treating wounded people on 44th Street. He’s a good man, Cory. I haven’t known him very long, but I know he’s kind and gentle. And with things the way they are, having a doctor with us isn’t a bad idea.”

  “Why didn’t he stay at the hospital?”

  “The ambulances didn’t work, and he felt he had to go out to where he was needed and do what he could. Three doctors left the hospital with him, and he was the last one alive when we found him.”

  “What the hell?”

  “He was a corpsman in the Marine Corps, so he’s used to being in combat and treating trauma.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Tim.”

  “I definitely want to meet this guy. Can you take me to him?”

  “Sure, he’s in the clubhouse. We set up a treatment center there and he never leaves i
t.”

  “Lead on.” Cory followed Rachael around the pool and into a squat building that sat between the condos. They again found a guard who was holding a riot gun in a casual pose; he eyed Cory suspiciously. Rachael explained who Cory was, and he allowed them to pass into the clubhouse. They walked down a hall into a large room that had been the party room for the complex. Rachael led him to a cot where an extremely tall and burley man lay sleeping. She shook his arm gently and he stirred and then woke up. The room was covered with beds that held sick and injured people, and soft moans could be heard in the stillness.

  “Who the hell is he?” Tim asked as he twisted his body off the cot and stood erect. He towered at least six inches over Cory and stared down at him with a look of distrust.

  “This is my brother, Cory. I’ve told you about him.”

  Tim looked at Rachael and then back at Cory. “Glad to meet you. Rachael told me a lot about you.” He stared at Cory with a startlingly intense gaze, his dark brown eyes growing hard and glinting.

  “What’s with the hard-ass stare?” Cory asked Rachael. “Every person I’ve met today starts off treating me like I’m an enemy or something.”

  “Well, Cory, you don’t look like you used to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You got kinda a hard and mean look about you that you never used to have. I don’t know. It’s like you kinda look dangerous.”

  Cory remembered the suspicion that Frank had exhibited when he met him, and the looks of the guards of the complex. He thought it over for a bit and then said, “I don’t know how to change the way I look, but I can tell you for sure that we’re on the same team. I presume you’re okay with that?”

  He fixed Tim with a glare of his own. Tim stared back at him, seemed to consider his statement, and then turned to Rachael. “Why’s he here?” he asked. Cory took a moment to study them, and they seemed polar opposites to him. She was thin and graceful, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was a large, shambling hulk of a man, with dark hair and eyes that seemed almost black.

  “He wants us to go to Prescott with him. They have a ranch there with running water and electricity and all the food we need to get by for a few years.”

  “What about my patients?” he asked, his lips tightening into a thin line.

  “I haven’t decided to go. I wanted to talk to you first,” Rachael answered, her tone becoming testy.

  “I can’t leave them. You know that.”

  “What about FEMA? We can take them to the hospital those guys set up, and they would probably get better care than you can give them. We are out of everything. We don’t even have fresh bandages left. Tim, you need to let go. We’ve done all we can here. I want to leave and I want you to come with me.”

  “The hospital in Prescott is still operating and we have several doctors there who are still treating patients. They’re using drugs they got from local vets, and they still have power and water. If you want to do some good, what does it matter where you do it? Those people need you as much as these folks do,” Cory said, his tone low and reasonable.

  “I don’t know,” Tim replied.

  Cory had grown tired of the conversation. He knew they were facing a hard deadline to get out of town before dark. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, looked at Rachael and said, “I don’t have the luxury of waiting for you two to work it out. Ben risked his life to help me find you, and we still have to find his kids. I’m stepping outside for five minutes. I’ll need an answer when I come back. I’m a part of a team now, and my own need to get you safe only goes so far. I love you and want you to come with us, but I don’t operate by myself anymore, I have to think of the people I live with. They’re going to be worried sick about how late we’re going to be getting back. And they’ll probably come looking for us before too long. I can’t put them in jeopardy because you two can’t make a simple decision.”

  He turned and walked out of the room and sat in a deck chair by the pool. He regretted his statements, even as he exited the building, but knew there was little choice in the matter. His sister would either convince Tim to come along or not. It was no longer in his hands. He decided to go see how Ben was doing, and passed through the courtyard to where it joined the parking lot. Ben sat in front of the building in the ATV. Cory walked up, leaned on the side of the vehicle, and said, “we need to leave in five minutes.”

  “What about your sister?”

  “She’ll come or she won’t. Either way, we need to leave.”

  “That doesn’t work for me,” Ben replied. “We came to get them all, not just my boys. We stick around until you convince her, and then we leave.”

  “She won’t come with us without her boyfriend, and he doesn’t want to come with us.”

  “What’s his problem?”

  “He’s a doctor and has patients here. He doesn’t want to leave them. The whole thing is stupid. They have no supplies. What in the hell can he do for anyone? They don’t even have fresh bandages.” Cory was clearly frustrated beyond description, and paced back and forth as he spoke.

  “Let me talk to him.” Ben got out of the ATV with a groan and walked with Cory back to the entrance of the clubhouse. Cory nodded at the guard and then at Ben, and Ben walked through the entrance and back to the makeshift hospital. Cory followed.

  “That’s him,” Cory said as Ben walked through the entrance. Tim stood with Rachael; they were engaged in what looked like a fairly heated conversation.

  “Name’s Ben,” he said, offering his hand as he finished crossing the room. He stood as tall as Tim, but was a smaller man across the shoulders.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Tim said politely.

  “So, what do we have to do to get you to come with us?” Ben asked.

  “I don’t know that there’s anything you can do.”

  “You want to keep Rachael alive until this is over?”

  “Of course,” Tim replied.

  Ben looked around the room, then asked, “you have any painkillers left? Any antibiotics?”

  “No.”

  “So, you just cure people by laying hands on them like Jesus used to do?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then come with us. You have a better chance of her still being around a year from now than you do staying here. Besides, anyone here who is going to die will do so whether you’re here or not. You might want to be around when this is over to marry Rachael and have a normal life.” He paused for a moment. A look of grief crossed his face before he continued. “I lost my wife a few years back, but at least I had her for a long time before she passed. You might want to think about at least having a shot at it. I’m no genius, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. But what you’re doing is gonna haunt you for the rest of your life if anything happens to her.” Ben patted his shoulder gently, then added, “you might want to get together whatever you want to take with you and meet us at the ATV out front. We really have to get north of the city limits before sundown or it’s going to get interesting.”

  Ben started toward the door, paused, and turned around to again face Tim. “There’s a difference between doing what’s right and doing what feels right to you because you get all stubborn and lose your sense of reason. Do you really want to do what’s right here? Not just for you, but for Rachael too?”

  “Of course.”

  “Cory told me you’re a former Marine corpsman?”

  “That’s true.”

  “Both my boys are former Marines. They don’t have medical degrees, but they’re not stupid.” With that, Ben left, with Cory trailing behind him. They walked to the ATV and sat. Ben wore a Cheshire cat smile and leaned back against the seat. “They’ll be here shortly,” he added.

  By the time Tim and Rachael arrived, both Ben and Cory were snoozing in their seats. They had slept very little in the previous two days, and sleep overtook them. When Cory felt the ATV slant to the passenger’s side, he woke with a snort and looked into the back seat, where Tim and R
achael sat. Tim was clearly not happy, and Rachael looked like she had been sucking on lemons. Ben awoke with a start and looked in the back seat.

  “Ben, you and Tim have to get on opposite sides of the ATV,” Cory said after yawning. “Get Rachael up front in the passenger seat.”

  “All right,” Ben replied, stretching and getting out the ATV. He and Rachael traded seats, Ben handed Tim an AR and said, “you got the driver’s side for cover fire.” Ben noticed he was now wearing a pistol in a Blackhawk SERPA holster.

  “We going to war?” Tim asked.

  “Something like that, unless we get lucky.” Ben yawned again and settled in the seat, resting his rifle barrel on the side of the ATV.

  “How do you want to do this, Ben?” Cory asked.

  “Dunno. Get to Central, head north, and haul ass as fast as we can, I guess. I don’t see any other way. If the bad guys are out there, all we can do is hope to outrun them.”

  “The National Guard will have roadblocks up.”

  “We gotta stop for them, but Frank said he would radio ahead and let them know we’re coming. We should be fine at the intersections they block, but I don’t want to hang around there, either.”

  “You good, Rachael?” Cory asked.

  “I guess. I just hope we’re doing the right thing.”

  “We are.” Cory glanced over his shoulder and saw Tim inspecting the AR carefully, and sighed with relief. He may be a doctor, but he’s still a Marine. “Give Tim some spare magazines,” Cory said. Ben handed two mags to Tim from his vest and then replaced his empties from the ammo can.

  “We ready?” Cory asked, glancing around the vehicle and then over to Ben.

  “Yep. Just head down 44th Street until we get to Central, then turn north. When we pass Bell Road, we need to head west to get back to the boys’ house and get the other ATV.”

  They pulled out of the condo parking lot. Both guards waved to them as they passed, and they headed down the service road until they arrived at the intersection of 44th and Central.

  “We have to get by the Guard to even begin to head north,” Cory said as he saw the first checkpoint. They stopped. One guardsman asked their names as he looked them over, then waved them through after another guardsman had examined a clipboard and nodded.