Dark Days Rough Roads

by Matthew D. Mark

  Haliday asked David to get the Tahoe hooked up to his trailer. David couldn’t figure out why Haliday wanted it in front of Kayla’s bedroom window, but figured he was just tired when he had asked or maybe it was closer for loading. He had the biggest trailer out of the group. He had a 7X16 dual axle, with extra height and a ramp door. “Put it right at the walkway with the ramp on the cement. That will make it easier to load.”

  David looked at him and told him there wasn’t much and they could have it loaded up in 10 minutes. “I don’t think so David. Just do me a favor and do it please.” David and Kevin went outside and got it hooked up and moved. They then backed the Cherokee up to the garage door, but didn’t open it or connect the other trailer yet. They just wanted it ready.

  David said “Ok guys; get the stuff in the garage into the trailer.” “No, no, no,” Haliday interjected. “There’s a specific loading plan I have in mind. This way everything will fit.”

  Bev said, “Roger, in case you forgot you don’t have much to load.”

  “Ya, that’s what you think?” They all looked at him.

  “Listen up, this is the drill. Linda, Kayla, you guys will stand guard on the trailer and in front of the house and door. One on each side, make sure you can see each other and up and down the street and around the sides of the house. Mom and Sarah you do the same thing, but in back.” He gave them each a plastic whistle he had bought at a novelty store for two bucks a dozen. “Whistle if ya need us.

  “Dad, I want you up in the front of the trailer to direct the load. No heavy lifting, just observe and instruct. I don’t have an AED and we can’t deal with heart problems.” Rich had stents put in years back and had suffered a heart attack then. “The rest of you will form a bucket brigade, and I mean that literally.” David and Kevin came back in. He stationed them between the front door and just inside Kayla’s bedroom. Sarah’s daughter just stood and watched.

  Haliday walked over to Kayla’s closet. It wasn’t big, it was just a typical wall closet that spanned the width of the wall and was about two feet deep. He knelt down off to one side, moved a bunch of various items and grabbed the edge of the carpet and pulled up hard. Under the carpet there was a small hatch about 24X32 inches. He had cut a small finger hole in it and managed to pull it up. He reached down and hit a switch and it lit up.

  David was there in the room with him. “What the hell is all that going on down there?”

  Roger just looked at him and smiled. “Well, put all your eggs in one basket and you’re screwed if you trip on your way to the market. I planned on possibly tripping, so I built this. It took time to do it without anyone knowing, but when it was done it worked like a charm.”

  Haliday’s house sat on a Michigan basement. It was only a little more than six feet deep and looked more like a crawl space from the road. But it was all concrete floor and cinder block walls. In the back of the house was a large half door to access it. You opened that door and took a couple small steps down and you were there. The furnace, hot water heater, well pump, sump pump and water softener were down there.

  When you looked around you saw a square basement. Cinder block walls, waterproofed, with one inch foam insulation glued to the walls. It was solid all the way around. You could peel off the foam and scrape the waterproofing, but you still had cinderblock. No big deal. Why the builder had never gone another two blocks to make it a full basement though, he never figured out. Haliday was the second owner and didn’t know why it was never done, except maybe the water table was too high.

  Haliday’s house however had a unique shape. When you approached it there was an attached garage on the left that jutted out, Kayla’s bedroom on the right that jutted out, and the walkway to the porch which was in the middle. Kind of a “U” shape. There was no crawl space under the garage for obvious reasons, but there was under Kayla’s room.

  He had started in her room by cutting in the hatch access and reinforcing the joists. Then he would bring cinder blocks and mortar through the garage and down the hatch where he sectioned off the area under her bedroom. After going in the main section and applying the waterproofing and insulation along with a few small touches, it looked completely natural.

  The hatch being in the closet was in a space no one walked on so it would not have that flexing give that most floor hatches had. Being a typical high school girl, no one wanted to go near the closet anyway. Too much teenage girl stuff lying around. Haliday didn’t like going near it. He never cleaned it because it reminded him of Kayla, and he would glance in there when he was missing her.

  With this being done, Haliday had a cache right at the house that was 10X12 and a bit over six foot deep. This was loaded with buckets upon buckets of food and cases of food and other supplies. He never stored water because he backed a small lake and would filter it or filter water from the sump. He was still on well and could power the well pump too.

  He had gone with square buckets to save on space. Round buckets were cheaper, easier to get, but square really saved space and made a big difference. He did have some round ones too, but not too many. He jumped down into the crawl area. He looked around. Everything was still here. This was great news.

  He climbed out and David asked if everything was ok. “Ya, I just need one of the kids down there lifting instead of me. I won’t be able to do it.” He switched places with Blake. “You’re going to earn your keep today, Blake.”

  “I don’t mind Mr. Haliday.” He preferred being called Roger, but wasn’t going to let this kid get too comfortable too quickly.

  “Start with the square ones Blake.” Blake started handing up bucket after bucket which made its way to the trailer. The first row was in, 48 of them fit. Labels read basmati rice, jasmine rice, par boiled rice, lentils, red beans, navy beans, split peas, black beans, barley, sugar, flour, and it went on and on.

  They got four rows in before it became time for the round buckets; there were only two rows of round ones though. Next were cases of #10 cans and boxes of other supplies. Paper products too. Haliday grabbed his shirt and pulled it up on his head and started walking around with toilet paper. “I need TP for my bunghole. I need TP for my bunghole. I am Conrholio.” Nobody else got the Beavis and Butthead imitation though.

  Haliday went into the spare bedroom he used as an office and walked over to the closet. It had a modular closet system in it. He yanked the pole down, grabbed a hold of the sides and pried them loose. Next he removed the back section and revealed some small shelves and more rifles and shotguns hanging in plastic bags coated I oil with desiccant packs in the bags. These were loaded up as well as some ammo that was in there.

  After this was all loaded up, the stuff from the garage went in as well. There was barely enough room for Blake’s Yamaha, but they would make it fit. Roger told them to pull the Tahoe forward, load the bike up and close the trailer. They put Romeo and Max in a cage and put them in the trucks. They heard a whistle. Everyone grabbed a weapon and ran outside. There had been a crowd watching from nearby, but now they started getting really close.

  “Randy, go around back and help. Kevin you watch out front. Blake get that garage door opened up and the rest of you get the drum of gas emptied into the vehicles and into any spare gas cans. Everyone stay calm, but on alert.” Haliday walked out toward the front to see what was going on.

  He made a concerted effort to slap a magazine in his AR180 and jack a round in the chamber. This of course was for effect. He had unloaded it before he went out there just so he could put on a show and let them know he meant business. Besides, everyone else was locked and loaded already. “Get all of the vehicles hitched up and ready to roll,” he hollered.

  As they were checking the vehicles and trailers to make sure they were ready to go, the crowd moved in closer yet. There were quite a few neighbors he recognized, but a lot of people he didn’t. They began demanding that they tell them what they had in the trailers. Haliday shouted out "it’s none of your concern." They kept yelling out that th
ey wanted to know. Haliday slightly raised his rifle; he called the group from the back of the house to the front then and told them to watch the rear and sides from where they were.

  “Go ahead and shoot us. You ain’t got the balls.” Haliday eyeballed the guy who said it and noticed he had a baseball cap on. River Bend Apartments was stitched on the front. Of course, half mile south he had 10 complexes of various sizes. He would take daily walks around the neighborhood all the time scoping out who lived where, who had what, who might be prepared or who might be problems. He figured the apartments would be all trouble.

  “Look man, we’re leaving ok, no problems need to arise. We’re out of here in two minutes.”

  The guy walked up a bit closer to the front of the crowd and said, “Bullshit; we ain’t letting you leave with that shit.” He turned around and took a shotgun from another guy in the crowd. He turned back around. “You look like you got plenty to share.”

  Haliday said, “Look, that ain’t going to happen.” Haliday’s next door neighbor Phil was standing outside now watching. Haliday looked over at him and nodded. Phil nodded back. His kids walked out onto the porch and Haliday looked over at them. One of them was sucking on a pouch of peanut butter from an MRE. She was also holding a small doll. She didn’t grasp the lethality of the situation.

  More and more people were demanding that they share. The guy from the apartment complex was the loudest. “We’re going to give you to the count of 10. After that we’re taking it, asshole.” Haliday quickly looked at his group. He then scanned the other group. Most were just standing around empty handed, a bunch had knives and a few had various guns visible.

  Haliday noticed a neighbor across the street standing on his porch. He didn’t really know this neighbor, but had watched him closely over time and knew enough that he too was prepped for SHTF. He was surprised the guy hadn’t taken off himself. His son lived next door and he would catch them late at night unloading stuff into their small pole barn. The guy then went back inside. I don’t blame you, he thought, keep out of it. Remain unseen and unheard. Protect your own stash.

  “You must be deaf or dumb you son of a bitch.”

  Haliday was at his wit’s end. “Ok genius, this is what we are going to do.” He raised his rifle and leveled it at the man’s head. “We are leaving and that’s going to be good enough for everyone here. You understand?”

  “Screw you ya bastard. There are more of us than you.”

  “We’re all armed numb nuts. You aren’t. You’ll lose this one,” he told them.

  Haliday whispered to David and Mike who then got in the vehicles and started them. He told Sarah to get in with Elizabeth and told Bev and Rich to get in as well. “Linda and Kayla, you guys walk up the street a ways. When they get down a few houses move the vehicles out. Watch your backs. Blake, close the garage and lock it. Then go with them and cover the rear.”

  “I told you that ain’t gonna happen.” The group moved a bit closer. Haliday looked at Phil; Phil said, “You’re on your own man, nothing I can do.” Haliday knew Phil had a hunting rifle and plinker, but figured as much. Phil’s wife was standing next to him now. Thanks for the help neighbor. He heard the vehicles shift into drive. The crowd came closer yet, about 30 yards out now.

  Haliday said, “Ok, I’ll tell you how it’s going to work.

  “If you aren’t armed I suggest you step back now. The rest of you, well it’s going to be us against you if you want it that way. I’m going full auto, and so are these guys. You do not have enough firepower to win this. His rifle was full auto capable but he hadn’t finished modifying the others yet. “Now, I’m ready to kill. I already have and I will again. No doubt in my mind I can do it. I prefer not to though. You hear that?”

  “If it’s food you want, my house was cleaned out. Phil there has it all. A good few months worth. He’s got five cases of MRE’s alone. Now he broke into my house while I was gone and stripped it clean of all the food.” He looked at Phil who had turned white as a ghost. He nodded at Phil again with a smirk on his face this time.

  The group had separated a bit as some of the people backed off. The loud mouth said, “How you know that?”

  “Well, the MRE peanut butter could be his, but I doubt it. He doesn’t know how to spell MRE. Now the doll his kid is holding is my daughter’s. It’s a one of a kind custom we had made for her at a doll show years ago.” Phil’s wife called him a bastard. “Look Heather, I’d beat feet away from the house.” She grabbed the kids and ran across the street away from the crowd.

  Phil looked at Roger and pleaded. “Don’t do this Roger; I was just trying to keep my family fed. You can’t do this man.”

  “Look Phil, your best bet is to walk away now. Let them take it when we leave.”

  The loud mouth piped in, “How you know we’re going to let you leave? I keep telling you it ain’t gonna happen. Just more stuff for us.”

  Roger said, “Look guys, you can live or you can listen to this loud mouth. My guess is you want to live. Take what’s in that house, split it up and move on. Don’t die like this man is going to.” Roger still had his rifle leveled at him.

  “I’ve had enough!” the loud mouth yelled at him. 1, 2, and the number 3 came in the form of a three round burst. Roger quickly leveled it at the next guy and barked out orders.

  “Keep your weapons down. Keep your weapons down. Go, go, go.” The vehicles moved out leaving Roger, Kevin and Randy standing there. “Kevin, you lead. Randy and I are walking backwards. One of the guys in the group brought his shotgun up quickly and fired at Randy, but luckily he missed. Randy returned fire with two rounds and Roger fired a few quick shots as well. The guy dropped to the ground in a heap.

  Roger yelled out again, “Don’t do it. Don’t be brave.” He kept the rifle leveled at the group that was armed and now standing by themselves. There were five left. They started walking backwards, as they did the group of bystanders moved back as well. You could tell they didn’t want any more of the gunplay. “Like I said, the food is in that house. Help yourself, it was mine anyway.” Phil’s kids were crying. Phil was yelling at Roger.

  The armed individuals watched Haliday, but moved toward Phil’s house. Roger and Randy kept moving backwards and they saw a few more people head to Phil’s house. They were about 75 yards away when they reached the trucks. Roger told everyone to get in. He stepped on the side step of the truck and held onto the window frame with one hand. He kept looking back at the mob that was now at Phil’s house. It was like ants on a piece of candy.

  He heard a few shots as well, but didn’t see anyone firing at them. They were probably arguing about who gets what. He saw Phil standing there watching his house being raided from across the street. Phil’s wife and kids were in tears. He smacked on the roof when they hit the end of road and Mike stopped. He switched places with Mike behind the wheel of the Tahoe. He pulled up next to the Cherokee and saw terror on their faces. He said, “Follow me,” and they drove off.”

  Only about two miles away, he pulled off into a large parking lot of a small fabrication shop. He signaled for everyone to get out. They all stood around and he walked up to Randy. He grabbed his shotgun from him.

  “I had to shoot him Uncle Roger I had……”

  Haliday put a finger to his mouth to shut him up. Haliday pumped the shotgun emptying the shells onto the ground. “Pick them up,” he said.

  Randy picked them up and held them out. Haliday grabbed one and looked at it. “Number nine shot, you used number nine shot? You didn’t kill that guy; I doubt you even pissed him off with this crap at that distance. Go find your double aught and load it Dick Cheney. Smaller the number, the better for people,” Haliday said. Randy loaded his shotgun. “David, Kevin, Randy and Blake come here. Basic gun course now.” Thirty minutes later they were back on the road.

  Chapter 15

  Dawn, Diana and Karen were all set to go. They stopped by the main house to drop off a few things and the food for Mandy. They noti
ced a smoker going. She had taken care of that deer pretty quickly. If she wasn’t raped, beaten or killed, she might do pretty ok for herself.

  In all reality this was not a bad place to be though. It was a good distance from a city of any size and since there weren’t a lot people around, there wouldn’t be much scavenging in this area. Just have to hide from roving bands of scum. They’d give her Haliday’s security speech.

  “Thanks again,” Mandy said.

  “Thank you,” they replied. They were horse people and glad the horses would have a fighting chance. “We’ll be back in spring or maybe sooner depending on how things progress after we find out what’s going on and when everything settles down. It’ll get worse before it gets better. People will be very hungry and desperate in the next few weeks.” They gave her the speech. Take care they told her.

  Karen was driving the ranger and they had saddled up the horses to ride. They checked out their map. They were taking as many small roads as they could. This way the horses could use the shoulders of the road and stay off the pavement and they could avoid people. They had two legs of the trip to make. The first leg would take them to a preset cache with a few items and some gas if they needed it and a spot to rest. The next would take them to meet up with Haliday.

  They were on their way and enjoying the slow pace. They were checking out the various farms as they passed them. You would almost think nothing had happened out here. They listened to the ham and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Some of the rural areas were just like this, but then most urban areas, especially the largest cities, had basically crumbled overnight.

  They were hearing stories of widespread looting. People had cleaned out all of the grocery stores within the first three days everywhere. They had heard of people rioting in places like Sam’s Club, Costco and other big box warehouse stores. People were taking everything though. Electronics, clothing, whatever they could get their hands on they took. Most of the stuff was useless, but they guessed people figured it would be an easy fix.