Dark Days Rough Roads

by Matthew D. Mark

  Haliday set to work on the distractions. He pulled out four small wind-up clocks and wound them up. He set the times on each so they were all set to the same time. He had ripped off the plastic face covers and attached some metal connectors to the minute and hour hands. These would set off a small igniter which would then light a piece of fuse.

  He packed these into some small containers with gun powder in it that would create a small explosion. Next to these he would place a few bags of various chemicals mixed together, liquid drain cleaner, diesel and Styrofoam pellets which would ignite and stick to surrounding objects. He read this on the internet. These he would place next to some old abandoned buildings or vehicles. He placed another igniter system nearby to ignite the gel. The explosion, mostly just noise, and the accompanying fire would make a great distraction. The gel was to make sure the fire spread rapidly throughout the area.

  These would go off about 15 minutes apart and should draw quite a crowd. They waited until it was nice and dark out. The clouds were covering the moonlight as they passed through the sky now, so Haliday told Blake how important it was to remember where the bikes were. It would, however, help provide better cover for them. They were well camouflaged; Rambo face paint included.

  They took off for their destination. First up was a small sugar beet storage plant. They approached from the side and didn’t see anyone. They went up to a small maintenance shed which they found unlocked. It looked like it hadn’t been used in quite a while. He placed the box on the work bench. They left and followed some train tracks down to a golf course.

  Here he found the storage barn for the golf carts. They were all gone. So were the charging stations and parts for them. Someone had these and his guess was confiscation by the militia. He set up the device and they moved on. They were close to the center of town now and he looked for another target. Haliday heard a vehicle approach and they ducked behind an old trailer. The vehicle passed by, but Haliday couldn’t see inside well enough to make out who it was.

  They waited a few minutes and then they came across a few cars and old tow truck parked in an auto shop. Blake placed a device on the back of the tow truck. He said, “One left, Mr. Haliday.”

  “Call me Roger, ok Blake.”

  “Um, ok Roger.” It sounded odd. They looked down the street, too many candles glowing in windows, which meant too many people down there.

  Haliday looked around. Blake said “look,” and pointed across the street. There outside another repair garage were six golf carts. Haliday said, “Go over there and put it on one of the carts.” Blake looked around and then darted across the street. He had just placed the box on the back of one of the carts when another vehicle approached. Blake ducked down low.

  The vehicle pulled into the lot. They swept the area with a spotlight. Haliday got his rifle ready. Someone jumped out from the vehicle. It looked like an old Blazer. Haliday was praying Blake was well hidden. The guy who jumped out walked up to the door and peered inside. He then walked back to the Blazer and climbed in. They sat there for a minute.

  Haliday kept watch, but reached down and hit a button on his ham and changed frequencies. All he heard was the end of a sentence. “It’s all secured at this time.” He changed the frequency back. The Blazer pulled out of the lot and took off. Haliday told Blake to wait a few minutes.

  “You expect them to come back?”

  “No, I want the aroma to clear out from you crapping your pants.”

  Blake waited just a couple minutes, then bolted back across the street. “No, I didn’t crap my pants, almost, but I didn’t.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here now.” They worked their way back toward the river. Once they got there, they started the trek back to the bikes. It was almost nine now. They took another half an hour to make it back to the bikes.

  They were about 50 yards away when they saw a flashlight. They dropped down low immediately. The light came nearer and nearer and they heard voices.

  “We’re going to be in trouble.”

  “No we’re not, only if they catch us.”

  “It’s way past curfew and plus Mom will be mad.”

  “We had to go, she won’t mind.” They went back and forth.

  “They aren’t the police anyway. I don’t know who put them in charge.”

  “Well they are in charge and whether we like it or not that’s how it is. If they catch us with food they’ll shoot us.”

  “We didn’t steal it, we left a note. It’s our aunt’s house and they aren’t home. I don’t think they would care.” The kids were maybe 14 or 15, and sounded like brothers. They walked right by Blake and Haliday, but didn’t see them.

  After about another 15 minutes they got up and finished heading back to the bikes. Blake asked if he thought they would really shoot those kids. “I don’t doubt it a bit. I hope they make it home. They have about 20 minutes before the fireworks start.” They sat down and waited. They heard a decent explosion. Now it had started.

  They got up and secured their gear and got on the bikes. They pushed them to the river bank and waited again. The second device exploded and they started the bikes and headed along the river toward town. They put the bikes down and watched the activity. They saw two vehicles near the fires and a third coming down the road.

  The third device detonated and now it looked like the Keystone Kops were in action. These guys didn’t know what to do. They were running around their vehicles and talking into their radios. Haliday couldn’t make sense of what they were saying. Everyone was trying to talk at once.

  They were pointing in every direction and barking orders at each other. The fourth device detonated and two vehicles shot toward there. A fourth truck showed up and went down to the garage where the golf carts were. They tried to use fire extinguishers, but that didn’t help. The ham was blaring away.

  “These pricks blew up the repair garage. The golf carts are all on fire. We can’t put them out. We saw some of them head north. We’re going to send a couple patrols after them.” Haliday was amused. Who the hell saw what, he thought, but then again the moonlight, flames and the dark night made for some great optical illusions. If they thought they saw something, more power to them.

  All of a sudden everyone ran away from the repair shop. In just a matter of about two more minutes, there was a big explosion and flames were everywhere. One of their trucks had caught fire from this explosion as well. Blake and Haliday just looked at each other and wondered what the hell happened. Blake hadn’t noticed the 100 gallon portable tank sitting there.

  “Those sons of bitches blew up a fuel tank. Damn near blew up all of our trucks too. Looks like Jim’s Blazer is toast. We need to find these sons of bitches now. I’ll be damned if they think they’re going to run around in my region and pull this terrorist shit on us. Don’t let me find out people are helping them or I’ll shoot them too.”

  Haliday looked at Blake; they hit the road and took off. Coincidentally they were heading to Port Austin, where the family from the tornado shelter was from. Haliday had a few fond memories of this area. He had taken Kayla camping there a couple times as a small girl, old fashioned tent, hotdogs, sitting around the fire eating smores.

  Another time David, Rich and one of David’s friends and he had chartered a fishing boat and spent the day catching lake trout. The water had been rough, but they insisted on going out and had a great day on the lake. Those were good times. Life was simple then, he thought, and before he knew it they were there.

  They pulled in behind a large billboard. Haliday climbed up to the platform which actually wasn’t very high and pulled out a roll of hundred mile an hour tape. He wished he had spray paint for this but it was never really on his list of preps except for some basic colors of rustoleum to keep at the house. It took him about 15 minutes, but he finished it and it would have to do.

  After climbing down he looked at Blake, “You get the next one.”

  “That hard of a climb, old man?” Haliday figured
it was time to shake him up a bit and keep him focused.

  “No, too easy of a target up there.” Blake’s smirk disappeared instantly. They went down the road about half a mile. Haliday found a stalled out car. Old Chevy station wagon. He was surprised it was still on the road, so he didn’t feel bad about what he was going to do.

  Haliday opened the fuel door. He dropped a model rocket engine down inside about six inches. The igniter was attached to one of his last two alarm clocks, complete with nine volt battery. The alarm would hit, the rocket would shoot down into the tank and another nice little fire would occur. They took off and found another billboard. Blake grabbed the tape and asked Haliday what he wanted him to put up there.

  Haliday chuckled. He was thinking of Red Dawn. “Put ‘Wolverines’ up there,” he said. “That ought to make their day.”

  “Ok,” Blake said; he climbed up and went to work. As soon as he was done, they moved a little ways down the road and found another stalled out vehicle. This one was a conversion van. This thing would burn like a champ with all that plywood and upholstery inside. He opened one of the back doors to make sure the flames reached inside. Haliday rigged this one up too.

  He went over to his bike and opened a saddle bag. He reached in and pulled out a small bag and walked around and tossed the contents on the ground. This was all done to add to the illusion. Keep up the appearance of more than two guys doing this. “Now it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  They followed the shoreline road along the east side of the thumb. Just past a little town called White Rock they went into a wooded area. There hadn’t been anyone up this far that they had seen and they were hoping most of the militia was over by Oliver and checking out that area.

  Haliday was beyond tired. He’d eat and get some rest. “You hungry Blake?”

  “Ya, I am but I have um, uh, well Mr. Haliday, I have to uh, well, I can’t go and I need to.”

  “Oh the poop pipe is plugged?”

  “Uh, ya.”

  Haliday dug into his pack and tossed Blake some constipation medicine. “It’s the MRE’s. Take that and you’ll be set to go, no pun intended. I’m going to take the first rest break; you keep watch and wake me in two hours. Blake, hope everything comes out ok.” Haliday cracked himself up.

  Blake woke up Haliday and they switched places. Haliday called the group on the radio. “We’re doing ok and ready to get the hell out of here later on. We’re going to stay here until we know you guys made it ok. Once you’re there we’ll make our way over there as soon as we can. Move out at 0630, that’s when it should be the safest for you guys. Get Diana and Dawn out earlier on the horses, but tell them to be careful.”

  Rich came on, “Ok, we’ll keep you updated.”

  “No, don’t call unless you run into some serious trouble or when you make it there. This is the point when we need to make sure it runs like clockwork. We have the last little surprises to set and that will give you all the time you need to get there. Anything else going on?”

  “Well, your ‘band of terrorists’ has really shaken them up. They don’t seem to have the people to double up patrols, or don’t want to, and have been arguing about using their camp sentries to assist in finding you. But they think it’s a trick so you can invade their camp.

  “As far as we can tell, they are concentrating most of their efforts on their camp and the northern areas where you’ve been busy. I think half are assigned to security and the rest run the camp. It’s too hard to really tell what their logistics are. They are pretty organized though.”

  “That’s good news for you guys. Tell everyone we’re fine. Wish you guys the best of luck.” Haliday heated himself up an MRE and after he ate made sure he took some fiber pills himself. Those things really do a number on you, that’s for sure. He didn’t eat the cheese spread, that usually hit him for days. He tossed it back in his saddle bag.

  It was 0630 right on the nose. The first car caught fire and the flames overtook the entire car. It was fully ablaze in about 10 minutes. Haliday was listening to the militia freq. but didn’t hear any response yet. About another 10 minutes went by when he heard a patrol call in that they saw smoke and were going to check it out. It was about this time that the second fire started. The conversion van went up a lot more quickly.

  “Papa 2 to HQ we have two fires going on. We need help over here. These bastards are at it again. They gotta be close. Send us help.”

  “HQ to Papa 2, we have units on the way. We’re sending Papa 1 and Papa 4 to your location. Papa 3, we need you to head north and cover Papa 2’s area. We have the response units moving into that area and the camp on alert.”

  The whole northeast portion of the thumb was crawling with militia now. When they reached the conversion van, they heard more chatter.

  “HQ we think they have four or more guys running around here. We found all kinds of MRE garbage on the ground. They might have stayed somewhere around here last night. They must be close, everyone check the marinas and the parks.”

  Blake was up now and listening to the radio as well.

  “We heading out now?”

  “No, we have to stay in this area to make sure the group gets in safely. Just in case we need to keep the militia in the area.” Haliday was listening to the ham some more. These guys were seriously pissed off at them. The next transmission almost made Haliday piss his pants.

  “Papa 2 to HQ, those bastards wrote graffiti on a billboard.”

  “What does it say?”

  “One says ‘wolverines’. Those smart-asses.”

  “What do you mean one?”

  “There’s another one too. Papa 4 saw it.”

  “Well, what’s it say?”

  “It says ‘BAMM sucks dick’.”

  “Tear that shit down. You hear me. Tear me that shit down now! I will not have the people of my community think I’m a dick sucker.”

  Haliday was almost in tears. This must be their commandant, oh fearless leader with a Napoleon complex or something. But, those words he said, “his community?” This guy was on a power trip and this early in the game that was dangerous. This guy would get out of control and if someone didn’t put him in check, there was no telling what would happen around here. It would affect Haliday’s group and the house.

  Haliday and Blake waited at their camp. The next transmission alarmed them.

  “Papa 2 to HQ, we got 'em , we got 'em, we have their location. We found fresh tracks and we are moving in on them.” Haliday looked at Blake and grabbed his rifle. He dropped down prone behind his bike and pulled out some extra mags. Blake dropped down too. He piled up his mags next to him.

  “Papa 2 to HQ, we have Papa 1 and 4 with us along with response unit 1. We are moving in slowly. We are about 100 yards out copy.”

  “HQ to Papa 2 we copy. Proceed with caution. Repeat, proceed with caution. If possible keep one alive for interrogation, you copy?”

  “Papa 2 copies, we are now 75 yards out.” Haliday looked at Blake, he pointed to the selector level to make sure he had it on fire. “We are now 50 yards out.” Haliday and Blake scanned the woods for movement.

  “Papa 2 to HQ, we have two in custody. We will be bringing them in to HQ.”

  “HQ copies, good job guys, any casualties?”

  “That’s a negative, we didn’t even have to fire, we overwhelmed them, shouted commands and they just gave up. We have one motorcycle we will be bringing back and two hostiles.

  “We have one male and one female.” Haliday looked at Blake and Blake looked back at him.

  “What the hell are they talking about?” Haliday low crawled over to Blake.

  “Listen, they nabbed someone else and must think they are part of our group. I have no idea who they are or where they were.

  “I’m not sure who it was or what they were doing, but they are in for a rude awakening.”

  Blake asked him what he thought would happen to them.

  “I don’t know. I really don’t. I
’m sure they’ll be beaten and interrogated and after that who knows. These guys are dumb enough to think whoever they caught are part of our group. Hopefully they figure out the truth and let them go.”

  This wasn’t sitting that good with Haliday. These people were out there minding their own business and got caught up in the trouble he created. They were probably just trying to get the hell out of here or get to their own location. They could have a cabin nearby, a boat, or who knows what. He was determined to find out though.

  “Blake, I want you to head out and go meet the group at the house.” He looked at the time. “It’s almost eight now and you should get there about the same time they do. I have to go find out what’s going on with these guys and what they are doing with the couple they grabbed. After that I’ll head there myself. You just be careful and head straight there.”

  “Mr. Haliday, uh, I mean Roger, I’d rather stick it out with you. You might need some help and I would rather do that than leave you out here alone. Isn’t that the way it works, never leave a man behind.”

  “Ya, that’s it Blake, but I’d rather you get going and help out at the house.”

  “Roger, I can’t do that. I’d be starving in another couple of weeks or so if it wasn’t for you. I’ll stay.”

  “Good enough, thank you Blake.”

  Haliday looked at him and said, “We need to get some more sleep.” They spent a little more time camouflaging their area and setting up a couple booby trap simulators. Blake laid down a piece of plastic and then a wool blanket folded over. He laid out his sleeping bag on top of that and climbed in. Haliday boiled some hot water and made hot cocoa. He flipped back and forth from his freq. to the militia freq.

  He flipped back to his freq. and heard the call from Kayla. “Go ahead kiddo.”

  “How you guys doing?”

  “We’re fine, just resting, but we have some minor problems to handle.”

  “Ok, well we got here. We all made it just fine. We have the trucks and trailers parked in the pole barn. The horses are in the stalls. We got into the house and everything is ok. What do you want us to do?”