by David Nees
The large man just stood in front of them, looking down. Jason was unsure if he should get up or remain seated. He didn’t want to do anything that could be interpreted as aggressive.
“You look like army.” The man said to Jason. Turning to Clayton he said, “You look country…no, more like mountain, hillbilly. Where’re you two from?”
“Back east,” Jason answered.
“Back east where?” the man asked.
“North Carolina,” Clayton said.
The man turned to him. “North Carolina, where?” He spoke more pointedly this time.
“Linville Falls,” Clayton said.
“Where the hell is that?”
“North of Hillsboro, up towards Johnson City.”
“That so, and how about you?” he asked turning back to Jason.
“Hidden Valley. It’s north of Hillsboro as well.”
“You ain’t in the army? You look like it and that rifle is army issue for sure.”
“Was in the army. Bought this one after getting out.”
“Where the hell did you get an AK47?” he asked Clayton.
“From a man that tried to kill me,” came the reply.
The man finally seemed satisfied with the explanations. Jason was happy to not be pinned down about Hillsboro. He didn’t want anyone to make that connection.
“I assume you’re Mr. Garrett?” Jason asked looking up at the man still towering over them.
“Ain’t no Mister. Call me Bubba.” He pulled a chair away from the table, turned it around, and sat down in it, his arms over the back, holding the coffee cup. “Now what you want to know, mystery travelers?”
“Well, we’re getting closer to Knoxville and we’ve heard about this Chairman, so we’d like to know what the situation is. Should we be expecting trouble?”
“Not unless you’re looking for it. The Chairman has organized the city, got electricity going, started a currency.” He swept one arm around the room. “That’s why this can exist. We still take some barter, but I couldn’t run a bar and strip club without currency. I get paid in gold, I can buy supplies, pay people. It’s how I make a living…and employ others to make a living. People are beginning to do better. When they do, things get better for me.”
Just then a group of six females shuffled into the lobby and sat down at the far end of the bar. They were dressed in a mix of jeans and sweat shirts, bath robes or house coats. None of them looked very old. Jason was shocked to see a couple of them that appeared to be in their teens.
“Them girls,” Bubba continued. Jason realized he had noticed his glance over to the girls. “I give ‘em a place to work, place to sleep. It’s safe and they get to earn a living.”
“Some of them look pretty young,” Jason said.
“At least they ain’t starving out on the streets.”
“They all come here looking for a job?” Clayton asked.
Bubba gave him a long look, seeming to measure him. “How I recruit and hire ain’t none of your business.” His voice held a hint of danger.
“Back to this Chairman,” Jason said. He still wanted more information. “He won’t make any trouble for us as we pass through?”
“He’s too busy to be worried about you two. Got big plans for the area. ‘Course his militia may want to talk to you about coming to work for them. I could use a couple of men like you, for security. You interested?”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Well the militia may have a serious interest in you. If you don’t want that, you best go well south of town and avoid any patrols.”
“He taken over much of the territory?” Clayton asked.
“More and more. Seems like all the cities are doing it. Nashville and Memphis. I even heard about Hillsboro, ‘course you’d know more about that.” He stopped to look at both men. “So what’s going on in Hillsboro?”
“Don’t really know. We ain’t from there,” Clayton said.
“Well, the word is they’re pretty well off since eliminating Joe Stansky’s gang. The Chairman doesn’t like to hear about that. Makes him nervous I think.” Bubba grinned. He stood up. I got things to do. You want to hang around, you got to buy something, food, booze, a girl. Can’t sit around for free.” He turned away and shouted over to another man who had come in while they were talking. “Mack, show these men to the door if they ain’t ordering.”
With that Bubba disappeared into the kitchen. The girls at the end of the bar now looked over at the two as Mack approached. Mack was obviously the bouncer, tight shirt, big muscles and a large pistol strapped to his side. He stopped out of reach and crossed his arms.
“You want to order now, or you want to leave?”
“We’ll be going. Tell Cookie thanks for the coffee,” Jason said. The two men picked up their packs and rifles and walked to the door with Mack following.
Chapter 15
___________________________________
J ason and Clayton aimed northwest from the motel, heading straight for Knoxville. They skirted the highest ridges but kept to the forests. They would avoid Seymour, southeast of the city, not wanting to further announce their presence.
“You figure that guy’ll pass the word about us?” Clayton asked.
“I expect he will. I don’t think he bought our stories about not having anything to do with Hillsboro. We need to not be seen from here on out.”
Clayton nodded. Both men were in fast hiking mode, wanting to cover the ground quickly in case the militia was alerted to their presence. The hours passed with little talk as they concentrated on their pace. The packs weighed heavily. To Jason it reminded him of the training hikes during Basic. Only now he was older. Still he kept at the pace, huffing like a steam engine, but not slowing down.
They stopped briefly in the early afternoon to eat some dried fruit and meat and drink some water. Then it was back on pace, pushing themselves hard. As they approached Seymour to their west the woods gave way to flat farmland. It was easier going but more exposed. With no way to move unobserved, they finally decided to just walk the back roads as fast as they could. If seen, they hoped people just dismiss them as travelers with a destination and not any threat.
North of Seymour, they gained some forest cover again but that gave out as they approached the suburbs of South Knoxville. These were heavily treed neighborhoods that, like Hillsboro were mostly empty with an occasional house from which a light shone. They easily avoided these and continued to work their way towards the river and the center of the city.
Finally, they saw a major multi-lane highway, which swept over the river in a massive bridge.
Jason consulted his map. “The courthouse complex is on the north side of the river and to the west. We need to get across this highway and work our way in that direction. Bud indicated there are some tall buildings on this side of the river. Good place to reconnoiter.”
The men worked their way slowly north near the parkway until they came to another large road that went over it. The overpass would provide cover for them to cross the parkway to head west. After watching for some time and seeing no activity the two ran across a feeder road, jumped the fence, and dropped into the tall grass.
“We can crawl to the overpass and then use it for cover to cross the highway,” Jason said.
They worked their way through the grass on their bellies. Half an hour later they were at the overpass. It was now dusk which helped. They crept out and slipped under the roadway. Leaning up against one of the support beams, they rested. Again, after listening and watching, they made their way across the north-bound lanes. The few cars that were abandoned helped provide cover. They stopped in the median, watching and listening, before crossing the south-bound lanes. They heard an engine coming from their right, the direction of the river and the massive bridge. It was one of the ones that Joshua said were kept open.
“That’s a diesel engine,” whispered Jason. “Could be a Humvee.”
“Militia,” C
layton replied. “Going on patrol or relieving an outpost. Don’t figure they just drive around. Use too much fuel.”
The men waited another ten minutes after the engine sound crossed over them and faded out of earshot to the south. They then crossed the last lanes. On the west side of the parkway they could now see the lights from a low-rise apartment complex to their left. Jason took out his map.
In the dim light Jason marked their position on the map. “If we can get through these apartment blocks, we’ll reach some woods,” he said. “At least I think they’re woods. There’s no roads shown on the map. It’s just south of the tall buildings near the river, so we can safely approach them through the empty area.”
Clayton nodded. “We got people on our left in those apartment buildings and probably some houses with people in them ahead. Ain’t gonna be easy.”
“We go from house-to-house. The night is to our advantage now.”
The men set out. Someone in the apartment complex to their left must have had a dog that they had kept alive as it began to bark when it got their scent. Both men looked at each other.
“That ain’t good,” Clayton said.
“I doubt anyone’s going to come out looking though. Let’s keep moving. We’ll get out of the dog’s scent range soon.”
They kept up their cautious traverse of the neighborhood. Ahead they caught a gleam of candlelight through a window. They slipped between two dark houses on their right and moved through the backyards. They could see a small, dense patch of woods ahead and to the right. It would shield them from the inhabited house.
Jason pointed it out and Clayton nodded. They made it to the woods. It was getting darker now. Jason rummaged in his pack and pulled out two pair of night vision goggles. These gave them an advantage in the night. With the increased visibility they managed to keep moving forward with little sound.
Coming to the edge of the woods, they saw in front of them another low-rise housing complex, obviously inhabited. They stopped inside the line of trees to study the buildings. It was a U-shaped complex made up of three buildings. The arms of the U ran away from where they were hiding. There was an open parking area in front of the apartments. To the left of the complex were more individual houses with few trees for cover and then a street. To the right were more houses but with a narrow strip of trees, now very much overgrown. That could provide cover for them to get close to the neighborhood street giving them the best chance to cross. Beyond the street were more woods. If they could reach that, they’d get safely past the apartments.
“If they got dogs, they’ll smell us,” Clayton whispered. “Breeze is slight but coming from our right. We’ll be upwind.”
“Gotta go to the right. Other way is too open.”
Clayton nodded. They began to move through the narrow tree line. As they reached the road a dog began to bark furiously back in the complex.
“Let’s go,” Jason said. The two men bolted out into the street.
“Who’s there?” someone shouted. “Hey there,” came another shout. Jason sensed they had been seen.
“Get the others,” another shouted, “there may be bandits.”
When they reached the trees on the other side the two men didn’t stop but crashed through the trees as fast as they could go. The shouts from the complex filled the air. It sounded like some men were coming up the road they had just crossed bringing the dog with them.
“Get over to the other road, we’ll cut them off there!” The shout came from the chasing group.
It was a footrace now. Jason and Clayton ran as fast as they could with their heavy packs. Their rifles were in their hands as they ran. They crossed a school yard and on the other side, Jason pulled up.
“Stop,” he called to Clayton. “If they got a dog, they can just track us.”
“We got to get rid of the dog.”
“I don’t like doing that.” Jason thought for a moment. “Maybe we can talk to them. We aren’t a threat.”
“Doubt it’ll help.”
“Let me try anyway,” Jason responded.
Jason slipped off his backpack. He cupped his hands to his face and shouted to their pursuers, “I don’t want to shoot your dog. Put a leash on him.” He waited a moment. “We’re not interested in you. We’re just passing through. Stop chasing us.”
“Get the dog!” Someone shouted.
“I doubt you can shoot the dog,” another yelled out.
“Don’t. I’m a trained sniper. We don’t want trouble so stop now and we’ll be on our way.”
“How do we know that? How do we know you won’t sneak back later?”
“Did we come at your apartments or did we just walk past them? Don’t be stupid. We’re not interested in you.”
Jason and Clayton could hear murmuring amongst the men across the school yard. The dog was barking but seemed to be under control.
“Shut Max up,” someone shouted.
“Let me turn him loose. They’re bluffing. They can’t hit Max, he’s too fast.”
“Did you hear? Someone else said, “he’s a trained sniper.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Jason decided to take a chance. He lay down with his M110 resting on his backpack, aimed at the open yard. Siting through the scope with his goggles wasn’t ideal, but it would work. He shouted at the men. “Hey, throw out a fist sized rock out on the ground.”
The corner of the building was about fifty yards away across a blacktop playground surface. There was a hesitation and then a rock came flying out to roll onto the pavement. Before it stopped Jason squeezed off a round and the rock shattered.
“Not bluffing,” he shouted.
“Damn,” someone said.
“We got a deal? You go back to your apartments and we go on our way?”
While the men were discussing what to do, Jason stood up and he and Clayton slipped quietly away. Once across the next street they began to run again. This time they went to their left, away from the buildings they were heading towards. They were aiming for a large empty space on the map that they now could see was a dense wood, maybe five or more acres in size.
“We can’t go straight to the buildings. If they follow with the dog, they just track us to the buildings and we be sitting in a trap.”
When they were deeper into the wood, Jason stopped and pulled out his map. He held a small flashlight with his fingers over the lens to block most of the light. “Let’s cross the woods and check out what’s on this road. If it’s industrial at all, maybe we can find some chemicals to cover our scent.”
Clayton looked at him. “How we do that?”
“Bleach, or some other strong chemical. Put it on our shoes and spread it over our trail. It could put off a dog.”
“Better’n nothing.”
They started west again, away from the housing complex.
Chapter 16
___________________________________
A t the far side of the woods was a secondary road with businesses running along it. One of them looked like it had been a repair shop.
“Let’s check there,” Jason pointed to the building. There may be some chemicals inside.”
The door was ajar, indicating the shop had probably been looted for anything of value. It was pitch dark inside. They slipped on their goggles and the impenetrable darkness was partially relieved in a dim green light.
“Look around in the corners where a jug may have been overlooked. Almost anything other than paint might work,” Jason said.
After ten minutes of rummaging around with Jason growing increasingly uneasy, worried about possible pursuit, Clayton came over with a plastic jug of solvent used to clean auto parts. It was old and had partially broken down and lost some of its volatility.
“Might work,” Jason said.
He soaked a rag in the chemical and laid it on the floor.
“Hope it don’t melt your boots,” Clayton said as Jason stepped on the rag.
“Now you,” he said aft
er finishing. “Boots seem okay.”
After treating their boots, the two exited the building and headed up the road towards the river and their observation position.
The building they had chosen was unfinished. The construction had been caught by the EMP event and abandoned. It was a seven-story apartment building overlooking the Tennessee River with a view to the City-County building and courthouse on the opposite bank. They made their way carefully to the roof in the dark.
“This would be a great place to snipe from,” Jason remarked when they had settled in on the rooftop.
“Only if you didn’t want to live long,” Clayton said.
Jason looked at him.
“If anyone pinpointed you, they’d be here in a heartbeat and you’d be trapped.”
“You’re right…if they pinpointed me. The idea would be to take my shot, maybe take out the Chairman, and then get the hell out before anyone figured out where the shot came from. This wouldn’t be a position to try to hold.”
Jason used his night vision goggles to observe the City-County building through his scope. He could see well enough to identify guards at the door. After watching for two hours he observed a change in guard.
“They just changed the guard. I’ll keep watching to time the shifts.”
“I can help,” Clayton responded, “With the spotting scope.”
Between the two of them, they watched for the next four hours. After learning the timing of the shifts, they put their gear away. They wrapped their ground cloths around them to ward off the night chill and dew and settled down to try to get some sleep.
The next day the two men watched the activity across the river, Jason through his rifle scope and Clayton using the spotting scope. Men were coming and going at the City-County building. Some wore a type of uniform similar to the National Guard. Jason thought they might have been taken from an armory and modified. Others were dressed as civilians but had a distinct armband, probably indicating they were in the militia.
