A long Lonely Road Box Set 3

by T J Reeder

  These were the quarters of the officers; all were still in bed, not sleeping. I was amazed that this was going so well, for us anyway. Not so much for the other guys. The rest of the shooters were in the squad bays where the troops were sleeping. I will admit a part of me was troubled by this; it’s not that we haven’t done this before but it was usually against proven dirt bags. One of the men came and waved us forward to a door that opened to a set of stairs heading down. Charley and I followed Fox down and there we found cells, cells filled with people, beaten people, tortured people, and people waiting for their turn. They were all scared to death by our entry; I looked at Fox and JJ and realized we must look like demons here for their souls.

  Fox looked at me so I stepped forward and quietly said. “My name is John Long Walker. My people and I are here to stop this shit and only ask you to please be quiet and wait a bit longer. I know you want out but it’s not going to be very nice out there and you really are safer here. I will have the doors opened, but please understand that my people will be shooting anybody that’s not painted as we are so please don’t die from foolishness. You will be free in a very short time.

  Charley spoke in a low voice to me and I listened, then nodded. I turned to the cells and said, “Is there anybody here that’s knowledgeable about the leadership people?” One person spoke up. He moved forward to the front of the cell and said, “Until yesterday, I was a member of the staff for one of the Senators, but he took a fancy to my 14 year old daughter. When I objected, I ended up here waiting for my bullet to the brain.” I was shocked, really shocked. I asked if this was a common thing. He said it had started recently, and that the ruling bunch had become more like Roman senators then Americans. See it? Like it? Take it. Regardless. The man said the only thing different was they didn’t have lions to throw him to.

  When his cell was opened, I took him upstairs and let him look in the rooms where the officers were. He smiled and said, “Thank God! There is hope after all.” I sat him down and we pumped him for information as to the best way to get control of all these assholes. He said it was simple; there was a central shelter where they all went when there was a problem. He said when the bells rang in each house they scurried like rats to get to shelter. He said there was a dedicated staff and guards at the shelter at all times and if we took them out we would own them when they came in.

  Fox took him away to really pick his brain, and after an hour came back and said, “OK! We got this place now!” He was smiling. We headed out sticking to the shadows and scattered out. When we came to the shelter area Fox and JJ walked in like they did the other places and calmly shot the two people on duty. The rest of us quietly walked in and Fox directed some on where to go and they did. We waited and soon they returned and gave thumbs up. We now owned the shelter.

  The former prisoner took over then. He went to a locked cabinet, opened it, flipped a switch, then said, “OK, in a very short time they will come running. They will expect to see some uniformed people outside guarding the area. Keep your backs turned and they won’t pay any attention.” Several of the men went out the doors and into the dark just at the edge of the lights. Fox cleaned the paint off and stood by the door to the shelter. JJ did the same, but sat at the desk with a phone in hand. The rest of us faded into the night.

  In moments car lights were speeding toward us and the first of them bailed out in their PJ’s and nightgowns and ran for the doors like scared children. This went on for thirty minutes; Fox was waving people inside and not answering any questions. He was waving a pistol like he was expecting an attack any second and it was working; the fools saw the gun and ran faster.

  At last they were all here that were coming and the big doors were shut. Fox sent people to every house to make sure some hadn’t just blown it off and stayed home. After they were gone he opened the doors and we filed inside and along the walls, I headed for the front of the room. They were looking befuddled and confused, as they should be.

  I took the small stage in the front and was flanked by my ladies who were looking hot still. Guns and knives and good-looking babes with war paint are a turn-on for sure. I looked out over the small sea of faces. I asked the leaders to please come forward and they did, their wives and whomever were then eased back to the back of the room. After that was done I looked at them and felt disgust. These were the people who swore an oath on their honor and then pissed on it. I hated them right then and could have simply shot them.

  After staring at them and allowing them to come to grips that here was somebody wearing paint on his face and not in the black uniform as was the norm, I said, “Well, normally I’d open with ‘Welcome, Gentlemen’ but there isn’t one true Gentleman among the entire bunch of you scum-sucking gobs of pig shit!” And that got them yelling, calling for guards to take me away. I watched them till they quieted down and then said, “My name is John Long Walker and I’m here to remove you assholes from your little power grab.” When they started again I nodded at Sandy who fired a shot at the ceiling and got their attention.

  I told them we had wiped out their little ambush in Springfield and had wiped out their guard company and that as of now they were prisoners and were out of the power business for good. At that one of them shoved forward and said, “You listen to me, you son of a bitch!” and that’s all he got out. Sandy jumped down off the stage and in one stride had hammered his teeth down his throat with her rifle butt and then kicked him in the nuts. When he went down she kicked him a couple of more times and with no effort jumped back on the stage and took her place. She wasn’t even breathing hard. And it was quiet. They were all staring at her with disbelief on their faces. I figured we had them now, and then one shoved thru and was pointing a gun at me and I saw my death in a flash. He never had a chance. He decided to talk instead of shooting and never saw the girls draw; I doubt he heard the shots that killed him. I will admit that he caught me off guard; I was cold meat except for my lovely ladies. And I wanted to sit down for a bit but that was not an option.

  I looked at them and said, “OK, here’s how it works. Anybody with a weapon ten seconds from now will be simply be shot.” There were several thuds of guns hitting the floor; my men pushed thru the crowd and gathered them up. Sandy said, “Willard, I see you and if you try to cheat me I’ll hurt you.” He flipped her off. I laughed, my audience didn’t. My troops did because Willard always got something Sandy wanted and made her pay thru the nose for it. He would give it to her, but making her pay made him happy.

  Comedy time over, I said, “You people decided after all the shit the rest of us went thru that you somehow were in charge of us and things were going back to the way they were before. Well, not gonna happen. As of now you are out of the power business, you’re out of office. I’d like to say that you’re going back to your state and to the folks who used to believe in you and believed you were really working for their betterment. But that’s out since while you fuckers played king the rest of the world died. Well, now you’re gonna get a taste of what your people were going thru while you sipped fine wine and ate caviar. You didn’t care that millions were dying out there, starving, freezing, being murdered, their young daughters stolen to be sold as sex toys, which reminds me.” I called for the man we rescued to come forward. He did and I asked him which of the sick bastards had tossed him into prison because he didn’t want his young daughter turned into a sex toy.

  He pointed at one and I said, “He’s yours do as you wish, you earned it.” And with that he leaped into the crowd and commenced to pounding the hell out of one of the men. The others were yelling objections and telling somebody to help the senator. Well, the senator was soon down and looked like he might not make it thru the night. The former staffer turned to the rest and told them what had happened and where he spent the day and most of the night and what his fate was to have been.

  He looked at them and pointed at a couple of others and said, “I know you did the same and I know those girls’ fathers were killed on your o
rders and if I have any say you will hang.” Well, this party was going well. It looked like we might not have as many as we thought to shovel pig shit.

  I told them that if they sat quietly they might live to see the dawn. I looked at their women at the back of the room and they were all well-fed; too well-fed and wearing fine silks to sleep in and they were gonna hate the future in front of them. They were as guilty as the men, any with a spark of decency would have walked out.

  After making sure the only way out was thru the heavy doors, we locked them in and had a meeting. I wasn’t sure just how to deal with this whole mess but I was gonna learn. It was almost morning and I needed coffee. We found the fancy cafeteria and got coffee going, and after checking the larders we cooked a huge breakfast of bacon and sausage with hash browns and eggs and toast. I was starving! The girls ate their weight; I’ve watched it for a long time and still don’t know how they do it.

  Fox and JJ showed up from somewhere. Hell, I didn’t know they were gone but they had scouted the city and said our best bet was to lure their troops out of the city to save these dirt bags and if we were on the ball we might put on a show that would quell their desire to die for the new King.

  He told me what he had in mind and I liked it, so we made it happen. First we put in the call for the C-130 to get on station with the fuel blivets. They called back and said they were already on station. Smart Asses. Next we called the city garrison on their land line and said to roll out the troops we were under attack! We added some gunfire to the background and then we killed the line. We then headed out to the area where Fox figured was the best place to stop them for a bit of a talk. Meantime, Charley was talking to his man in the plane laying out the plan.

  If this worked we were going to save a lot of lives. Blain had gone into the city to his base and was meeting with pilots he knew and trusted who hopefully would listen to him and do what he asked.

  It wasn’t long before the sound of lots of vehicles was heard racing towards us. We planned to stop them in a low spot with high sides; it’s always worked before so why not now. We had some weapons we took from the guard armory, some M-60’s and such. The idea was to stop them and hopefully talk to them and then put on a show.

  When they roared over the hill and down into the low spot, they found the road blocked by several vehicles. When they got stopped and like fools didn’t even take ambush precautions, I knew we were dealing with idiots. Their officers ganged up looking at the road block. I called out to them from behind some trees and asked for a parley under a white flag. They yelled back to come on out. I said, “Well, OK, but you need to know each and every one of you have a set of cross hairs on you and you won’t survive two seconds if there is any shit pulled.” With that I walked out with Charley and Fox.

  They watched us approach, and the ranking officer (a Colonel) asked who we were. I told him we were the people who were holding their leaders and that we didn’t like being set up for murder in Springfield. I could tell in an instant he knew all about the attempt but he tried to bluster a bit. I told him to shut up and that if he was going to lie then we were done talking and could get to the killing part.

  That got his attention; he was looking around while trying to act calm. I told him who I was and saw that he knew that name too. I asked who his commanding officer was and he named some three-star, so I said we should be talking to that man. He laughed and said there was no way the general was going to deal with rabble like us.

  Rabble? I’ve been called every name in the book but never rabble. I didn’t know if I should be proud or insulted. Fox spoke up and said, “Well Colonel. Do you have the authority to surrender all your forces?” That set him back on his heels. He was sputtering and finally shouted something about having us shot and then he waved his arm and his officers started reaching for their weapons. One shot rang out and the Colonel dropped dead. They all froze, so I said to drop them and they did as if they were red-hot. I said, “Move back” and they did, leaving their weapons laying on the ground.

  These people weren’t very well-trained or very warlike. I was confused. I asked Fox to find their radio rig and to call for their General to come out. He did and came back and said the person on the other end of the radio didn’t believe him, so he took the next highest officer to tell them what was going on. After that was done we told the officers to order their troops to dismount and walk on into the low area without weapons. By now they were starting to understand that things were changing.

  When all of them were present and seated I gave them a quick rundown as to who we were, where we came from, what we had done and what we were going to do. When asked if the Government leaders were going to be killed, I said, “Oh no” and told them exactly what the future looked like for those folks.

  The officers looked shocked while the troops were smiling at the thought of ‘Senator Lardass’ shoveling pig shit for a bowl of soup. I sent the order for some food and drink to be brought up and it was already on its way. When it arrived, the troops looked surprised that anybody would think of them. After the tables were set up my troops came in a couple at a time, got theirs and left. When they were done I told the prisoners to get some. Their officers jumped up and headed for the front of the line but stopped when I called out to them. I said, “Gentlemen, a true officer never eats until his men have been fed and he always eats what the troops eat.” Well, that was a new concept to these people, but none of them objected. After the troops were done I nodded to them, and after them Fox and JJ went with me bringing up the rear. When I got there, I asked the servers if they had eaten and of course they had, so I took some chow and sat on the ground with the prisoners and chatted with them. Their officers were off to one side and it was clear had never thought of eating with the lower types.

  That told me they were not regular military officers from before the EMP. I know Marine officers ate after the troops and ate the same food. In the officers’ mess it might be served on regular dishes instead of metal trays but it was the same food. And they didn’t go to the head of the line unless they were on duty such as guard duty. I was pretty sure the Army had the same system or I hoped so.

  I talked to these youngsters about what life was like and had been out West. They, for the most part, had had it pretty easy due to the military presence because of the political hacks. I told them that millions had died because of the EMP and millions from the aftermath of it, and some of what we had been doing and the fights we had. One of the Sergeants asked if we had heard about what happened in Las Vegas. I asked him what he had heard and it wasn’t even close to the truth; it sounded like we killed and ate everybody in the city. He was shocked when I told him we were the ones who burned it and I told them what happened and why and what followed, meaning LA and the firebombing of the gang-bangers running for the border. I could see they were shocked and impressed.

  Finally we got an answer from their headquarters saying that we were welcome to come there to talk but that the general wasn’t coming out to us. I said, “OK, tell him to look to the east of the city in a few minutes.” I told them to watch the hills to the east of the city. I gave the word, Fox called the C-130 and we moved everybody up out of the hole to better seating. After a while we heard the distant sound of a large airplane and finally somebody spotted the C-130 way the hell up there. From where we were we never saw the drop until the chutes opened, and every eye was glued to the ‘whatever it was’. I was just praying it would work.

  And it did! About 500 feet above the ground there was a loud boom and a flash like a small nuke went off and the concussion hit even us and we were a good ways away. The fire ball looked like the doors of hell had opened. Soon nothing was left where the blast hit but burning timber and it really looked bad. I looked at the stunned prisoners and said, “Well boys, do y’all want to be in Richmond if we have to do this like Las Vegas?” None did, and several actually said, “Please sir, don’t do this.”

  The communications man came running up and said
the General was on his way to meet with us and asked us to meet him half way. I told his people to get loaded up, turned around and to lead off. In minutes we were rolling. When we got to the half way point I ordered them to stop and stay in their vehicles. I took our people out of sight to await the big dog.

  I’ll give it to this general; he came alone and drove himself. Balls for sure. I liked that. He drove right up to his people and met with the officers while waiting for me. I left the trees alone and walked to him. He was brave but not in the mood to be cordial. He didn’t offer to shake hands and just glared at me. So I just stared back and waited him out. He finally asked just what the hell I thought I was doing. Now I’ve always loved it when folks have asked me ‘what I thought I was doing’. I said, “Well, General. I ain’t thinking anything, I know exactly what I’m doing.” I left it at that and again waited him out. He wasn’t used to being treated this way and it showed with the eyes getting all squinty and his lips white and thinned out. I thought he might grab for his pistol but common sense and fear of dying won out.

  He got a grip and said, “Well sir, you called this meeting so what do you want?” I said, “Well, I want you to surrender for starters.” Ahh, now we were back to squinty and compressed and his hand was twitching. All signs of a man about to have a lead-induced heart attack. I decided I’d tortured him enough so I asked quietly, “Did you really think you could take over the entire continent with a few green troops and a few choppers? Did you think murdering a few community leaders would make everybody cave in? Were you really that stupid?” I expected to have to shoot the silly bastard, but he simply deflated like a balloon with a hole in it.