Dark Days Rough Roads

by Matthew D. Mark

  “Hold on Dad.” Roger had Blake tune in to the militia. “Okay go ahead.”

  “You guys are in deep trouble. They are on the hunt for you big time. They know you guys are staying in the spots of woods. It’s not safe anymore. Did you guys really do what they’ve been saying?”

  “Dad, I have no idea. We haven’t heard their claims. They could be full of it. We’re going to find another place to hide. I’ll call you guys later.”

  “Wait a minute Roger, something else. Some guys from the militia snooped around a bit, checked out the place with binoculars. They know someone is here, smoke from the fireplace I guess. They left a letter in the mailbox with yellow caution tape tied around it to get our attention. We went and got it when it was safe.

  “It states who they are and what their mission is. It says that all people in the district they control must abide by the mandates they have in place. It’s a whole list of crap, curfew, travel, all that garbage you said it was. They have a form they want filled out and put back in the mailbox.”

  Roger asked, “What’s the form for? What info do they want?”

  Rich responded. “They want to know the names, ages and sex of everyone staying here. They want to know if we have running vehicles, what kind, how much food and water we have and what kind of guns and ammunition are here. It asks about generators, fire wood…”

  “Stop Dad, I’ve heard enough. When do they want the form back?”

  Rich said, “It’s written down that they will pick it up the day after tomorrow.”

  Roger thought for a moment, then spoke, “Ok, listen up. It’s not that safe outside right now. I’m not sure if they do or not, but assume you have someone watching you. It might be the militia or might be someone else close by that they have watching you. They are probably taking notes on your every move. Do not answer any questions, do not talk to anyone, understand?”

  Rich said, “Yes, anything else?”

  Roger told him, “Ya, as hard as it’s going to be, you need to add a third person to the security watch.”

  He looked over at Blake, who was shaking his head.

  “Not good,” he said.

  Haliday dialed in his radio to the same frequency. “Keep listening Blake.” Haliday pulled out his maps. “Gotta find some place to hide.” He kept looking around and referencing his notes. “Let’s see, ok, got it, this is the best chance we have right now.

  “Let’s go Blake. Time to go to school, the old Freidberger school to be exact. This place is very old, very unoccupied. No one has probably been there for years. It’s as rundown as you can get and we can hide there for now. It was left to rot out and crumble with no money to restore it. We just need to get out of the woods if that’s where they’re looking for us.”

  They would wait it out until it was dark outside. Then they would make the move to the old schoolhouse. In the meantime they ate. Their food was getting very low. They each had an MRE left. Haliday had a couple bags of soup mix and a few other small items. They could get through the night and tomorrow, after that they were going to start to get hungry. He wished he would have taken a .22lr so he could hunt a squirrel or rabbit, but he hadn’t counted on being out this long at all.

  They sat there and listened to the radio. These guys had pretty much pulled out all of the stops. Haliday figured that they had about 12 vehicles on the road and looking for them. If their area was roughly 35X50 miles, that was 1,750 square miles. That was one big area to cover. The only problem was that only about 10 percent was wooded. The rest was flat barren land for the crops. They had to have extra eyes out there as well. They were probably giving food to the people in exchange for them watching the area.

  They were definitely pissed for sure. They wanted them badly. They didn’t have any idea who they were looking for, other than guys on bikes. Even though the description of the bikes varied, they would be gunning for anyone found on one. They had gotten into quite the pickle here. It was only 1800hrs, but already completely dark out.

  “Blake, I hate to say this, but we only have about a mile to go if that and I think it’s going to be in our best interest to push the bikes.” Blake wasn’t happy about that but he agreed. They pushed the bikes along through the woods and across an open field. Haliday worked his way up to the road. He looked around and then worked his way back to Blake.

  “We have a little problem Blake, someone must have bought the land, the school is still there but so is a house. I’m going to go back and check out the house.” He ripped out some long weeds and covered up Blake and the bikes. “Wait here, don’t move at all.” He went back and watched the house for a while. It looked empty. He crossed the road and got a better look. The garage door was slightly open and he peeked inside. Nothing in there.

  He went inside the garage and walked up to the door. He collapsed the stock on his AR and got ready to enter. He noticed the door here had been opened as well. He felt along the jamb and sure enough it had been forced open. He turned his flashlight on and placed his thumb on the activation switch ready to light it up. He slowly opened the door and went inside.

  This was a small mudroom. You came in from the field, took your boots and stuff off here before entering the main house. He entered the main house and listened. He didn’t hear anything at all. He activated his flashlight and swept it around quickly. He had been in the funnel of death. When you stand in the doorway you were at the small end of a funnel. Anyone in the room could concentrate fire to that point easily. It made you feel uneasy.

  This place had been ransacked. Blake called on the radio, and it was hard to hear him, “We have company.” Haliday flipped the light off and ducked into a closet, but left the door half open just like it was. He heard the vehicle pull in. A couple of car doors opened and closed. He noticed the flashlight shine through the windows.

  He heard the doors to the house open and saw the light bouncing around off the walls. He heard the voices talking. “Looks like this place hasn’t been touched since the last time we checked it. Call it in.”

  “Let’s check the schoolhouse first.”

  “Forget it, It’ll probably fall on us.” The men left and Haliday just stood there. He heard the vehicle start and then leave.

  “Papa 4 bravo we checked Delta 30 and both were empty. Doesn’t look like anyone has been in there since it was last looted. We’re heading out to Delta 31.” It was just a matter of about three minutes when he heard them again. “Papa 4 bravo we’re out at Delta 31.” He waited. This must be the house next door. Just about an eighth of a mile away. Same routine for the next half hour. They were moving along this main road checking it along the way.

  He switched frequencies again. “Blake you there?” There wasn’t any answer. “Blake you out there?” No answer. Haliday went outside and made his way over to where Blake was. “Why didn’t you answer me?”

  “My radio went dead. I forgot to change the battery.” Haliday only had two batteries for each radio; he put them on a small charger connected to his bike.

  He had connected a small inverter to the battery of his bike and the charger to that. It did a good job, but the past two days had been so busy the batteries were almost shot and needed a good charging. They hadn’t really had the time for that. He called the group and told them they would be off radio for a while. “We’ll check in every two hours for a minute and that’s it. We have to charge the batteries.”

  He swapped the batteries around and both radios were working for now. He turned them off. “We can’t listen in Blake. We need to save the batteries for when we need them. Without starting the bike I can’t charge them. Now let’s get over there and get some sleep.” They rolled the bikes over the road and put them behind the schoolhouse. They covered them up carefully to hide them, but still made the place look untouched. A few handfuls of dirt and garbage helped with that. They went inside, found a decent hiding place and got some rest.

  Chapter 22

  It was early in the morning and they were hu
ngry, so they ate their last MRE. Both of them had gotten quite a bit of rest. Haliday was still fairly sore from the bruise on his abdomen from the airport shooting, not to mention pushing the bike around. He popped open a bottle of Tylenol and popped a couple in his mouth. Blake asked for a couple and he handed him the bottle.

  Blake took the cotton out and looked at Haliday; “I didn’t think they put cotton in these anymore.”

  “They don’t, I do it so the bottle doesn’t rattle,” Haliday said. “Just in case I have it on me, it’s not rattling around. Same with water, your canteen should be full or empty so it doesn’t slosh around. No noise at all if possible. We haven’t quite adhered to that discipline, but we need to start before we get too lax.

  “How are you holding up Blake?”

  “I’m doing ok.”

  “You sure?”

  “Ya. I mean, I got sick while you were sleeping. I was thinking about the shootings and everything.”

  “Normal response Blake, here’s some gum.”

  “That’ll help my stomach?”

  “No, it’ll help your breath. Take two or three sticks. Please.” They both laughed a bit.

  Blake flipped the radio on and called the group. Kayla answered, “Hey Blake, you guys all right?”

  “Ya, we’re fine. I mean everything considered and all I guess. Your dad wants to know what’s going on there.”

  “Ok, we had four patrols drive by last night. One actually sat on the road for almost half an hour. They were watching everything related to the house. We only burned candles and didn’t use the generator at all. We’ve only had my uncle David and Dawn go outside so they would be the only ones seen in case they were watching from somewhere. This way they don’t know how many people are here.”

  “Hey, tell my dad we heard from my uncle Alan and his family. They are all ok and at a friend’s house right now. They can’t make it here any time soon, but they are all ok. They have a radio in the neighborhood that the guy has been letting people use. He said they are going to be good for a few weeks or so.”

  “Your dad heard you Kayla, he’s listening in too.

  “Here he is now.”

  Roger got on the radio, “That was good news, kiddo, anybody else?” He was wondering about his sister and her family in Texas and brother and his family in Missouri.

  “No, that’s it.” He had given them the frequency, but who knows if they still had it or were able to get to a radio.

  “Kayla, how’s the group holding up?”

  She answered, “Everyone is ok. Bobby is ok, and his head looks good. Sarah is just really quiet, kind of in her own world and everyone else is ok. We have been eating limited rations since we are not real active, but everyone is making sure they get a good balance of protein, carbs and vitamins.”

  “Anything on the militia?” he asked next.

  “Well, they still don’t know how many of you there really are, but they are changing the estimate to about four guys on bikes. They don’t believe the trucks are moving with you at all. They pretty much think they are hidden and camped out or do not exist. They still think the plan is to raid their camp with all of the stuff you guys are doing.”

  “Ok, listen; this is what I want you guys to do kiddo. Forget about that form. Don’t bother doing anything with it at all. They might try to come up to the house. Remember; be ready to shoot the bastards at all times. I’m pretty sure they know people are there, just not how many yet. I don’t want to risk bringing the bikes in yet, that would draw a shit storm for sure. But, we need a care package.”

  Blake looked over at Haliday. “A care package?”

  “Ya, Blake, we have to avoid drawing any attention to the group right now. We have to give it a few days to settle down if we can. But, we’ll need a few more things in order to make it. Food for one, few more toys too. Kayla, write this down, then I’ll tell you guys when and where meet us. Couple of you will have to leave the house for about an hour or so.”

  Haliday gave her a complete list of resupply items. He would be swapping out his AR for one with a 37mm launcher attached to it. He’d also be picking up his M24 Remmy. Some more rounds, food of course, and a couple of other things along with some fresh under clothing. They’d make the exchange and then get back to business.

  It would be easier to just head in and try and hold the fort, but with the plane or planes bound to take flight eventually, the tracked vehicle and the way they were running the area like they owned it all, he couldn’t let things happen like that. They would have to even out the odds a bit more. Not just for them, but this community as well.

  If they got a tighter grip on the whole community even more than they had now, this whole area would be a wasteland. They had too much invested in their house and land to have to move. If they did try and move again who knows what would happen. It was just getting worse out there day by day. Haliday wondered how he got tied up in this mess.

  As they were sitting there they heard a vehicle pull in by the house and stop. They heard a couple of voices. Militia again. They waited and listened. Same old cursory check but this one didn’t last long. He heard one guy say it was a waste checking a house located right off the road. “Better safe than sorry,” the other man replied. They checked quickly and then drove off.

  After about 15 minutes Haliday looked at his watch, called the group and asked them if they were ready. The Cherokee from the group was heading out. They would wait about another 15 minutes and then leave themselves. It was a long wait. They dug the bikes out and headed to the meeting place.

  As they pulled up, they saw the Cherokee off to the side of the road. They saw Kayla and David out there pacing back and forth. The signal was that if there was a trap, they would just be standing still next to the car. They pulled up by the Cherokee and got off the bikes. A quick round of hugs and some frantic hand off of the resupply equipment. They didn’t want to be seen. This spot was blocked by trees and no one could see them unless they were on the road and close by.

  Last but not least, fresh batteries for the radios, three for each of them. David handed them each a cup of hot coffee. Blake looked at it and said “What the hell, I’ll drink it, not a coffee fan though.”

  Kayla said, “I added sugar and French vanilla creamer to yours, Blake, so it tastes better.”

  Haliday said, “Gee, thanks for looking out for me.”

  Kayla said, “Dad, I made yours the same way.”

  David brought over a couple of five gallon gas cans and topped off their tanks and cans. Roger asked, “You hearing anything about troops or feds.”

  “Nothing Dad, people are complaining about being left out to dry. They say they see activity at bases, but not much and nothing off base.”

  “Ok, thank you sweetie. Keep listening for anything important. Here’s a list of what to do and when to do it.” Another quick hug and it was goodbye.

  They all took off. David and Kayla went back to the house and Haliday and Blake down the road and into a small farm by some round hay bales. Haliday wished he had the map memorized. He actually did, except for the areas where they could easily hide. It was mid-morning and they needed a place to go study the map and come up with some plans. “Screw it,” he said, “this is today’s plan.”

  They headed out and went east back to the old school. They hid the bikes and walked inside. Haliday took a bunch of rags and soaked them with a little gas. He laid a bunch of debris around the area as well. Blake went into the house and did the same thing. Both used the cigarette ignition with paper clip, lit them and left. So much for the house and old schoolhouse. It was another screw you to the Militia.

  Next up was a visit to a familiar face. They went back to try and connect with the guy who had been out hunting. Haliday stayed out in the woods while Blake snuck out to the street and just walked up the guy’s house. He had changed real quickly, and had on blue jean pants and a grey hoodie pulled up. Normal kid off the street. He walked up and knocked on the door.

/>   The guy came to the door and said, “Can I help you?”

  Blake lowered his hoodie and said, “It’s me from the woods; I need to talk to you.” The guy opened the door right away and let Blake in.

  “What’s going on?” the guy asked. “We need some help. We can help you guys, but we need some help too.”

  The guy said, “Sure, no problem. Where’s your dad?”

  “Oh, he’s not my dad; he’s my friend’s dad. He’s out in the wood line.”

  “Well, ok, but go tell him I’ll open the back door of the pole barn, you can hide your bikes there. Then we can talk.”

  Blake said, “Ok, wait until seven though so it’s dark.” Blake went back to meet Haliday.

  Seven came around and they pushed the bikes through the dirt field and into the back of the pole barn. Haliday went back out and fluffed up the foliage and dragged the rows of the field they used to bring the bikes in. He walked back into the pole barn. “My name is Rob, we weren’t formally introduced.”

  “I’m Roger and that’s Blake, can you turn the flashlight off please?”

  “Oh sure, sorry,” Rob said.

  Haliday asked, “Anywhere in here we can turn on a light and not be seen from the outside?”

  Rob said, “I have a small room I keep things locked up in over in the corner. Let’s go over there.” They made their way over there and went inside. Haliday turned on a small led lamp with red lights.

  “Rob, thank you very much. Listen, I’m not going to beat around the bush, we can help you, but we are doing so because it will help us too. You game?”

  “Yes I am. Let’s hear what you have.”

  Roger said, “First things first. What’s the latest you’ve heard?”

  Rob pretty much told him what Haliday already knew, but with a different twist. The militia made them out to be terrorists killing people in cold blood for no reason at all. They were going to come in and take over the community, robbing people, raping women and stuff like that. Haliday chuckled at that and asked, “What do the other people think?”