by Miles Maresh
The next morning as his wife and children stayed in the house Dave started to put the crop-duster parts together. Major Andrews dropped by and said How soon until you can get this in the air? Mike responded “I will need to salvage some engine parts from some of the disabled cars in the areas. It depends how long it takes me to find belts and hoses that will match.” Andrews said “How many people will fit inside the plane? My men have families to be picked up and brought in here. We need more seating in this plane.” “The gall of this man” thought Dave, but aloud he responded. “I can bolt in a couple of seats where the pesticide tanks used to go. It won’t be totally comfortable but if we fly low enough it won’t be too cold.”. “Not enough!” snapped Andrews. I need you to add at least 6 more seats.” Mike realized the man was irrational. There was no way the crop duster would ever get off the ground with 8 passengers even if he could squeeze in enough seats. “I will need a couple of days to do all that” Dave said. In reality Dave could get the plane ready to go in one day.
The next day Dave finished bolting the first 2 extra seats into the plane. Dave had a little aircraft fuel in a tank next to the landing strip. As he fueled the plane up Andrews came racing up on a golf cart. “Why are you fueling that up?” Dave looked at him like he was crazy. “It runs on fuel. If you want me to start bringing people in I will need more. I am going to fly to a nearby field I know where I can get more fuel.” “You can only fly that with permission from me. I will send men with you when you go to get more fuel” Andrews sputtered. That settled it for Dave. It was his land, his plane and his fuel. Andrews was running the community like a dictatorship. He knew he could not let them know he was leaving. Andrews was an idiot but he realized the value of having a working airplane, Dave had no intention of helping any of these men bring in their own families. He decided to talk to neighbors about taking the community back.
While there was not an official curfew Andrew’s men patrolled the Community’s streets at night and stopped people that were out, Gone were the days where children could play outdoors, and families would gather together with neighbors to barbecue and talk in their yards. Dave felt the community could provide the same security as Andrew’s men without the curtailment of individual rights. He could get his family out and head to Mike’s place in Arizona but he didn’t feel right running out on his neighbors who would be stuck here. Dave decided to visit several friends in the community who he thought might be willing to stage an uprising. Dave left the house on foot at dusk and stayed in the shadows hiding whenever he saw some of Andrew’s men on patrol. Mike knocked on the back door of several houses. Most people did not want to even let him in. They did not like what the conditions were like but they were scared of the militia and did not want to put their families at risk.
Dave approached the house of a 50ish former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The man lived his wife, his children were already grown and out of the house. He knew the veteran well, and knew that at one time the man had many weapons and firearms experience. The man let Mike in and locked the door. Dave looked around and saw 5 other neighbors all armed and with serious looks on their faces. He realized he was not the only one who wanted to revolt against the intruders. The veteran Seth Yeager said “We were wondering when you would join us. We are planning to expend with these invaders and take our community back. We could use another gun.” Dave exclaimed “What Tonight? Don’t we need to plan first and get more people involved?” Seth replied “We have been planning this for a while. Tonight is our best chance of getting most of the intruders in one place. They are having a party in the community center. Most of the men will be there and will be drunk. We already have explosives throughout the building set to go off in 2 hours. We need to set snipers outside to shoot people that escape the building. I need another 2 men to find Andrew’s men on patrol and execute them.” “What we are just going to kill them?” Dave asked. With an exasperated look on his face Seth Said “You just got back here. These men have turned our community into a prison camp. They have killed, beat and raped our families and neighbors. There is no police force to protect us and no jails to put these criminals in. They will be dealt with tonight with or without your help. Dave said “Oh I’m in. I just want to make sure I can kill these bastards.”
Dave was assigned as one of the snipers outside the community center. Two of the men went out with silenced rifles to take out guards on patrol. They returned before the explosion and said they had put 4 guards down. They believed the rest were in the building. Seth noticed there were several older children and women in the center as well as the remaining militia. He told the snipers to make no distinction. If they were in the center they were part of the invasion and could not be spared. Dave did not like being told to fire on everyone. But he had a bullet wound in his leg from the last time he was passive and anyone in this building that escaped could harm his family. About 5 minutes before the explosion went off Andrew’s came outside looking angry. He was holding a radio in his hands and Seth realized he was unable to reach his men that had been take out. He headed for his Hummer and Seth grabbed one of the silenced rifles took him out with a head shot. A couple of men heard the pop and came outside to see what was going on. At that instant the explosions went off and incinerated the building and the men that had wandered outside. Seth and his men realized there would be no need for snipers but they had to get the fire out before it spread to the rest of the community.
The entire community banded together to put the fire out with only swimming pool water and bucket brigades they lost several buildings and houses but eventually got it under control. Some of Andrew’s men had families that were not at the community center. Seth, who been made de facto leader told them they could have clemency as long as they did no actions against the area. Several were still in shock over the fact that many family members were dead. Some of them refused to cooperate and Dave and 2 of the men marched them outside. As they released them outside the cleared zone past the gate. Dave noticed many more crowds of people wandering through the foothills. He went in and told Seth that they needed to man the guard posts. They did, but day by day the crowds grew and people realized that people were leaving Los Angeles in droves and they would not be able to keep them out for long. Several residents had cabins in more isolated locations and many residents were leaving before being overrun
That night Dave called Mike on the Satellite phone. He had passed the sat phone off as a useless cell phone and the “military” had not confiscated it. “Mike, this is Dave calling” Mike responded “Dave it’s good to hear from you. Is everything all right” Mike was afraid Dave was in some trouble if he was calling Dave responded “I have some bad news. I lost the mustang to a mob of people. I walked the rest of the way home. My family is fine but the whole community was being terrorized by a group of men that moved in. We got rid of them but mobs of people from Los Angeles are moving into this area and will probably overrun my community soon. I have another crop duster here and will be able to fly out in a day or so.” Mike said “Don’t worry about the car. Your family is more important and I am glad they are all right. I agree you need to come here. We can really use your help preparing and defending this place. I know a landing strip in the desert where we can hide your other plane. From there is only a short drive to my cabin in the mountains. Call me on the sat phone when you land and I will come down to get you.” Dave and Mike worked out the location of the strip on their topographical maps and Dave was convinced he would have no trouble locating it even without GPS.
Chapter Seventeen
Mike made several hunting trips in the next few days. He took a different one of his children with him at least once. His son was already an excellent hunter. Mike also wanted his daughters to be comfortable with hunting. They had hunted before but Mike wanted them now to know how to skin and butcher large animals. Because this had been a hunting cabin Mike already had some blinds set up next to small watering hole that deer frequented. There were als
o bears and mountain lions in the forest so he wanted his children to become aware of the dangers. Back at the cabin Emily and Mike showed the children how to salt the meat so it could be preserved without refrigeration. They built a small smokehouse next to the house. While it was cold outside they could also use the smokehouse to preserve the meat. Mike and Trevor had made several more nighttime trips back to their Phoenix house. Mike now had his solar panels set up to provide enough power for lights and a water heater. With winter coming and the sun at an angle Mike also set up his windmills to add additional power. This enabled then to also charge the e-readers and tablets. Appliances were a thing of the past and they adapted to the new reality.
On his last trip into town. Mike took his 2 daughters with him. They were both going stir crazy in the cabin and just wanted to see what things looked like. He warned his girls that they would need to be armed and ready to shoot. It had been 3 months since the EMP and anyone left in town had to either have a food supply or be taking it from those who did. Mike’s old neighborhood was apparently entirely deserted as everyone had either left on foot, or had died inside their houses. Mike did not want to check especially with his daughters next to him. He knew from his prepping research that if this was nationwide over 90% of the nation’s population would die within the first year. The rate in big cities would be even higher and as they traversed the area the signs were evident. Every store had been completely ransacked by looters. Whole neighborhoods were on fire. With no fire department to put them out they were stopped only by sparse rain, and the desert landscaping common in the Phoenix area. Cheryl asked “Where are all the people?” Mike replied “Either left the area, are hiding or didn’t make it.” Both girls were silent as they thought of all of their classmates and friends they would never see again. Sydney eventually said “I’ve seen enough let’s get supplies from the house and go back home. Mike was glad to hear his children refer to the cabin as home because now it really was.
As they headed home up the Interstate Mike noticed a long line of military trucks heading into town. One pulled to Mike’s side of the road. Mike was nervous. He didn’t think they would take his vehicle because they had their own. But he didn’t want them to find out where he lived. The soldier driving asked for ID. Mike pulled out his driver’s license. The soldier looked at it and said “It says you live in Phoenix. Why are you leaving?” Mike responded “Electricity’s out, no food, no clean water, huge fires, gang violence take your pick” “Point taken” the soldier agreed. “Do you have a place to go?” “Yes” Mike replied simply. The soldier realized he wasn’t going to elaborate. Instead the soldier said “You need to be far enough away from major cities to avoid nuclear strikes and fallout. Our enemies are threatening to use nuclear weapons while they see America is suffering.” “Isn’t this EMP worldwide” asked Mike. The soldier responded. “It is, but countries in the Eastern Hemisphere were not hit as hard. Extremists have their hands on nuclear weapons and are blaming the U.S. for the solar flare.” Mike said “that’s insane.” The soldier sadly replied “So is this but we are told to clear this city.” As they headed apart Mike felt horrified to learn of impending nuclear strikes but also very proud of the military still doing their duty in the face of further calamity.
Mike and his daughters told Emily and Trevor what the soldiers had told them. The family had always assumed that after several years the United States and the world would recover albeit with a much lower population. If extremist groups started a nuclear war the recovery might never happen. He was just glad he had moved the family to the cabin sooner that he had originally planned. The distance from Phoenix to the Bradshaws was almost 100 miles and Mike knew from his prepper experience that they should be protected from the actual explosion. The radioactivity exposure would depend on which way the wind was blowing right after the mushroom cloud was seen. The cellar of the cabin was solid concrete on all sides and should be sufficient if radioactivity was heading in their direction. Just to be on the safe side Mike outfitted the cellar with provisions for a couple of weeks. The radioactivity would not last long but he wanted to stay there until he was sure it was safe outside He did have a Geiger counter and a couple of lightweight hazmat suits. He hoped the soldier had been wrong. If cooler heads prevailed or the U.S. was able to stop the missiles from hitting, society could be preserved.
Chapter Eighteen
Dave needed to find fuel for his plane. Before leaving his house he had pored over maps of the route to Mike’s place in Arizona. He knew of several smaller strips that usually had fuel. Many were run by friends of Dave since this was his home area where he did most of his work. He always kept a siphon pump in every plane so he could get fuel even if the power was out which was probably going to be the case. Dave set down at a regional airstrip in Bishop, California that was owned by a friend. He was concerned that the bump he felt when he took off from his house had damaged his landing gear. The tire was damaged and was leaking air but Dave landed safely and always kept extra tires and a portable compressor in his plane. He set out to make the repair and Diane and his kids scouted the terminal to make sure they were alone and to see if there was any food to be found. The terminal area seemed deserted and Mike wondered if his friend had left the area to find refuge someplace else. He knew his friend wouldn’t mind so he attached his siphon to the underground fuel tanks of the facility. To avoid having to refuel again Dave had strapped extra fuel containers to the side of the plane. He would still need to stop to siphon the fuel into his main tanks but at least they would not need more fuel. When Dave finished he wrote a note to his friend telling him how much fuel he took and his satellite phone number to arrange for payment.
When Dave was ready to leave his family had not returned from the small terminal and he wondered where they were. He didn’t want to leave his plane unguarded so he pulled it into a hanger and shut the rolling door. He entered the terminal and found his family just about to leave with some food they had found in a broken vending machine. They sat down to eat the food in the deserted terminal when a huge flash illuminated the whole building. Dave told his family to avert their eyes and the family huddled on the floor. When the glare subsided Dave looked out the window and saw a mushroom cloud looming over Los Angeles in the distance. Dave realized the shock wave would hit them within seconds and he took his family away from the windows into a deserted passageway with concrete on all sides. They assumed crash positions and the shock wave of wind and heat hit them about 5 seconds later. The passageway seemed safe enough and Dave told his family to stay there. He hoped his plane was alright, but it was probably good that they were not flying when the nuclear blast hit. Dave also realized that Bakersfield and his entire home area was within the zone of destruction.
Dave’s 12 year old son Robert said “Was that a nuclear bomb?” 10 year old Ruth added shakily “Are we going to die?” Dave said “It was a bomb but it looked like it hit Los Angeles. We are far enough away to avoid the initial blast but the fallout will head whatever direction to wind is blowing.” Dave didn’t want to tell his young children that it was most likely their house and their entire neighborhood was destroyed. As a pilot Dave knew the Santa Ana wind patterns would take the radiation south, away from their position, but he said “We need to get back in the air and get more distance between us and the fallout.” Dave also wondered if more cities had been hit. They were going to skirt south of Las Vegas and Mike’s cabin in Arizona was fairly close to Phoenix. The hanger had suffered from exterior damage from the wind but Dave realized it was fortunate he had gotten the plane inside first. Other buildings in the area had suffered catastrophic damage but the plane fired up and the runway was clear, Dave took off and headed west as the mushroom cloud continued to dissipate over Los Angeles.
When they stopped to top off the fuel tanks in Parker, Arizona. Dave found a small landing strip that was very isolated with no buildings. Because he had put extra fuel in auxiliary tanks Dave just had to siphon gas into the main tank. Dav
e took out the satellite phone and called Mike. “Mike, we are in Parker, got out of LA just before the bomb went off. Has Phoenix been hit?” Mike, astonished replied “Nuclear bomb in LA? The military told me extremist groups had obtained weapons and are threatening us. No mushroom cloud over Phoenix yet. Dave said “I have the visual coordinates for the landing strip in the desert. I should be there in 2 hours. Can you pick us up? Mike replied “Absolutely. I am sorry about your house. I assume it was in the blast zone Tell your wife and kids we can’t wait for them to join us.” Dave looked toward his children and said “They know what nuclear weapons are but don’t realize their house was probably destroyed. I want to keep that from them for a while.” “Understood” Mike replied realizing that Dave’s children were somewhat younger than his own. Dave pulled his wife aside and told her “Mike has been in contact with the military. They say it is extremist groups and not foreign governments. Phoenix has not been hit. Hopefully the extremists don’t have enough bombs to hit many more cities.”
