Into the Apocalypse

by William Dunaway

  “Yes, Sir. I will.” Now with more tears in her eyes.

  “I’m sure they won’t be that stupid though.”

  After a minute or so, Jim was just about to take another step when the door opened, and the man was walking next to Jana who had a look of fear on her face. She started to run to her mother once, but the man grabbed her arm. When they approached Jim, Tracy immediately embraced her daughter who returned the embrace and whispered, “They told me that I couldn’t go.”

  At this point, Tracy’s tears turned to anger, and she looked up at the man and yelled, “What do you mean she can’t go?”

  Jim glared at him and then asked in anger, “Is that right? Is that what you told her?”

  “Sir. I didn’t tell her that. The man inside told her to say it. Please sir, as far as I’m concerned if she wants to go, she can go. I’m just following orders.”

  Jim was truly angry now but restrained himself and asked, “What’s your name son?”

  “Rayborn, Tom Rayborn.”

  “Well Tom…., I’m going to follow my orders and evacuate both these ladies. Now, I highly suggest you don’t interfere because all that has to happen before that gunship over my shoulder opens up is for one stupid thing to go down. See, I gave him orders as well. Now, unless you want this to be your last breath, I highly suggest that you tell whoever is giving you orders that you didn’t have a choice.

  “Yes sir, I will.”

  “Oh and one other thing. When we depart, if we have so much as a firecracker thrown at us, there will be nothing left of your compound here. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, sir. I understand.”

  “Now, why don’t you lay that rifle and your handgun down on the ground and then you can walk back in and explain your decision to your boss. I would suggest you tell him that you just saved his life along with the rest of you.”

  Tom stared in fear for a moment and then immediately took his rifle and handgun off and started walking back towards the house.

  “Come on, hurry, let's get to the bird!” Jim commanded.

  Jana and Tracy practically ran to the Blackhawk arm and arm, and Jim gave the sign to prepare for take off. Before he got back to the helicopter, it was already in full acceleration for take-off mode. As soon as Jim jumped in, the two security crewmen ran to the other Blackhawk which was also ready to lift off.

  Jim immediately contacted the Apache and told them to stay in an offensive position until they were off and then told them to light the place up if so much as a BB was shot at any of them. Jim was tempted to light up the place anyway, as he knew he’d be doing everyone a favor but decided that if they departed safely, he would have to restrain himself.

  Jana and Tracy were still hugging when what looked like a crew member said, “Jana!”

  Brian then pulled off the helmet, and Jana saw it was him. She screamed and jumped in his arms and started kissing and hugging him.

  “How, how are you here? I thought you were killed. What is going on? Where have you been?”

  “It’s a long story, but I’ve been staying at the Johnson farm. They took care of me. I’ll tell you everything when we get back.” She continued to hug and kiss him and reached back over and hugged her mom.

  The Apache left without any shots being fired. It may have been a blessing if someone would’ve taken a pot shot, as the response to that shot would have eliminated a big problem. The compound was exactly as described by Brian. The barn and house were sitting in the middle of an open field with the woods around the field at least 250 yards away from all sides of the buildings. Also, apparently, the field had been mowed before the EMP. Approaching the house and barn would be nearly impossible without high casualties.

  Brian also stated that they kept at least two guards in the loft of the barn, which would make it even more difficult to approach. Thank God, Jim came up with this idea, and it worked without anyone getting hurt. Having to rescue her on the ground would’ve almost been suicidal.

  Then again, I knew they weren’t just going to go away. We still had a serious problem, and sooner than later we would be confronted by them again.

  ****

  When Tom walked back into the house, Pauley met him at the door and started screaming, “Why did you let her go? I told you that she was to say she didn’t want to go!”

  Again, in fear, Tom replied, “I know that, and that’s what I told her. But when she got there, she must have told her mom what I said. What was I supposed to do? That soldier told me that if we even threw a firecracker at them that he’d wipe the place out and he meant it.”

  Pauley then hit him across the face, knocking him to the ground, then grabbed his handgun and shot Tom three times in the chest. He looked at everyone “The next time I give any of you an order, you damn well better obey it. They weren’t going to do anything, but even if they did, it doesn’t matter if you die. We’re all going to die. Mother Earth is cleansing herself of the parasite’s known as humans. She’s using us to help her achieve her goal. When we die is up to her. Until that time, if you want to survive, you must obey me, or she’ll strike out at you. This son of a bitch was just a coward and didn’t comply with mother earth’s will.”

  Tom’s best friend, Harold, yelled at the top of his voice and rushed Pauley grabbing him around his neck with his left arm while he started beating him in the face with his right fist.

  While he was hitting him, he yelled, “Why didn’t you go out there yourself? You’re getting us all killed with your fucked up orders! You have everyone taking risks while you hide in the shadows! You’re the coward!”

  Pauley tried fighting back but Harold was much too strong, and his adrenaline was flowing. Finally, Pauley was able to trip Harold, and they both fell to the ground, but Harold ended up on top. He grabbed Pauley by the throat with both hands and started choking him. Pauley tried pulling Harold’s hands off his throat, but he couldn’t break his grip. Finally, when Pauley was just about to blackout, a shot rang out with the bullet hitting Harold in the back of the head, causing him to collapse on top of Pauley.

  Pauley laid there, gasping for air. He was just seconds from dying before Hedge pulled out his gun and shot Harold.

  Right after taking the shot he wondered if it was a mistake to save Pauley. Deep down inside he wished he would have allowed him to die as he felt like he could make a good case to become the new leader.

  ****

  As we were approaching our farm, I could see everyone coming out to greet us. We received waves from the eastern roadblock, and I saw Jake and his family run out of their house as the helicopters approached. Our group was already standing close to the field that the choppers had previously landed in.

  Of course, the Apache did his normal security sweep before we landed. Even though everyone was outside and all looked secure, they made sure they followed procedure. Right before we landed, Jim came over the radio and told the crews that they’d be staying for fifteen minutes only so they needed to say their goodbyes quickly.

  As soon as Mike and I jumped out of the Blackhawk, Kim came running up and threw her arms around me and Brandy did the same to Mike.

  “Are you even going to quit doing things that worry me to death?” Kim asked with a smile.

  “We didn’t do anything but watch from altitude. Jim was the guy you needed to worry about.”

  All the guys came walking up, and Mo asked, “Well, I see it was a success…. any problems?”

  “Not from where we were sitting. Let’s go talk to Jim.”

  As we approached Jim, Tracy and Jana were giving him a hug and telling him how grateful they were.

  Once they got done, Brian shook hands with Jim, “I can’t thank you enough, Jim. If you ever need anything from me, I’ll be there for you. Anything. You don’t know how worried I’ve been about Jana.”

  “I can imagine. You don’t owe me anything. I can see without even meeting him that this Pauley guy is a slimeball.”

  “Well, I mean it.
I owe you big. Thank you again.”

  I walked up, “ Once again, thank you, Jim. I know you realize it, but you saved some of our lives by doing this.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to attack that place on foot, not unless I had a trained company,……I thought there was going to be a problem for a few minutes.”

  “Jim, I don’t know what to say. You put your life on the line for us. I can’t even express the gratitude I’m feeling.”

  Jim smiled, “No problem. Like I said, my concern is keeping Kim safe, and I know she’ll be safer with all of you around her.

  On another note, though, you have a real problem there. By what I could tell by talking to the clown that came out, this Pauley must be a dictator type. You could tell this guy was scared to death of him.”

  Captain Basinger who overheard, laughed and commented, “But apparently not as much as he was scared of Viper.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  We all laughed and then Jim grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the side, “Vince, no kidding. I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but you need to figure out a way to take care of this problem. You’re going to have to figure out a way to hit him on your terms, not his. To be honest, you don’t know how close I was to telling Viper to open up on them. I was ready to wipe out the whole bunch after the ladies were safe.”

  I chuckled with a little guilt, “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but there was a part of me wishing they would’ve taken a pot shot at one of us. It sure would’ve eliminated the problem.”

  “I know. I felt the same way.”

  Jim then turned back to the group, and he told the story of what happened, and it was funny as Jim described in detail every facial expression the guy had during their discussion.

  Kim finally spoke up and asked, “Jim, why don’t you guys come up and get something to eat and drink. We have a lot of leftovers.”

  “Kim, we’d love to, but we have to get back to Whiteman. Trust me though; if we have the opportunity, we’ll hopefully be back. But as I stated, we’re on standby. We could go on alert at any time.”

  All of us went around and thanked all the crew members. Kim told them all they were always welcome.

  When I was shaking hands with Jonas and Raymond, his pilot, I yelled over at Jim, “Hey, Jim. You asked us in the past if we needed anything. Why don’t you just leave these two and their ship here with us? You could call them a detached unit.”

  Jim laughed, “Yeah, I’m sure the General wouldn’t miss them, and the thing is, those two would probably go along with it.”

  “Hell yes, Sir. If we get fed like we did today, plus the scenery is sure a lot better here than on base.” Raymond said while looking at the ladies.

  “The problem is, you guys would never want to come back.”

  Everyone laughed and then Jim yelled out, “Mount up!” and gave the sign to fire up the birds. The crews jumped in their ships and fired up the turbines and blades.

  As our group was walking away, Kim and I walked over to Jim and with gratitude, I said, “Thanks again, Jim. I can’t say enough to thank you.”

  Kim gave Jim a hug, and she added, “You be careful.”

  “Always! Now, listen you two. It could be a long time before we see you guys again. I want you to understand that. Even if the orders are delayed, I’m sure we’ll be busy prepping for when they’re issued. Probably, a lot of runs between Whiteman and Leavenworth. If we go on alert…… Well, Vince, you know how it works.” I nodded yes. He continued.” You guys be careful and Vince, remember what I said, you need to take care of that, but make sure you do it on your terms, not his.”

  I then shook Jim’s hand one more time, and Kim gave him another hug, and Jim put on his communication helmet. Quickly, Jonas and Raymond took off in the Apache to do a security sweep and then the Blackhawks soon lifted off. We all waved as they departed.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  When we all walked inside, both Tracy and Jana were in shock. Between being rescued by the Army and then walking into a place that had electricity and running water, it was overwhelming to them.

  Tracy, Jana’s mother, looked to be around 40 and you could tell in normal times she was a very attractive woman, but it was obvious that she hadn’t been eating well lately.

  Kim immediately gave her an Ensure Nutritional Drink and both Brandy and Wit advised her to drink it slowly. Then Kim warmed up some soup, and there was already some tortillas made up.

  Jana was in decent shape. You could tell she’d been eating on a regular basis. She was 19 and had medium length brown hair. The main thing that she needed was a bath.

  It was a reminder to all of us how blessed we were and how the vast majority of the population that was left was probably in worse shape than they were.

  Kim asked me to turn on the hot water heater, which I did. By the time both of them had eaten, and we answered their many questions about how we had what we had and how we were connected to Jim and the crews, the water was hot, and they both took a long hot bath.

  We had decided to make room for them in the house for the night, but I knew that very soon, we were going to have to question the heck out of Jana. I knew she could give us a lot of insight on Pauley and his bunch, but I didn’t want to overwhelm her too quickly. I wanted both to feel safe and welcome and give them time to adjust to what was almost like a new world to them. Tonight, we’d let them talk about what they wanted to share without being questioned too much.

  Wit and Brandy already made plans to give them a complete medical exam the next day, but by what they could see, the priority was to slowly get Tracy back to eating on a regular basis.

  Later, except for those of us that had duty, we were sitting in the living room taking it easy and listening to the shortwave. Red, of course, was down at Jake’s filling him in on the story and continued to get news on the ham radio.

  Tracy came into the living room looking very refreshed. She glanced around with amazement at the environment we had created, and of course, all of the ladies made sure that she felt welcome.

  After talking with them for several minutes, she walked in, “Mr. Johnson, I know I’ve said this over and over again, but I can’t thank your group enough for rescuing us. There were so many days that I thought I was going to die. The only thing that kept me going was my daughter,” and then she broke into tears.

  “Well, it’s not me that you need to thank, Jim…, the Colonel, is the one that came up with that idea. We planned on a rescue but to be honest, if it wasn’t for Jim and his crew, it would’ve been even more dangerous and no telling what would’ve happened when it came to going after Jana. It was also Brian here that made part of it possible. Oh and by the way, please call me Vince.”

  She smiled, “Well, to all of you, thank you so much.” She then looked around again with amazement on her face, “How are you guys so well set up? I mean, I just can’t believe you have electricity and running water to take a hot bath. That was so wonderful. How did you do all of this?”

  “It was just years of preparation. We stored up a lot of food, and we’re blessed with a lot of good friends and neighbors. It took everyone to bring it all together. All these people you see sitting here makes it all work. They’re the ones that deserve the credit.”

  Brandy spoke up, “Don’t be so humble Vince. You and Kim saved all of our lives. If you didn’t have the foresight that you did, no telling what would’ve happened to all of us.”

  “How did you know all of this was going to happen?” Tracy asked.

  “Well, we didn’t. I knew the way things were going in the world, sooner than later the lid was going to blow off, but to be honest, I started buying supplies and stuff, more or less, as a hobby. Once I had to retire due to medical reasons, it gave me something to do.”

  Mia laughed, “Vince, you make it sound like you were building model planes or something.”

  “Well, building up the supplies was one thing but without you guys being
here, who knows if we would still have it. Yes, the food and supplies is a blessing, but the real blessing came when all you guys showed up when you did. I’ll always say that all of you were a literal Godsend.”

  Jana then walked in from taking her bath, “My gosh, I can’t remember the last time I was clean. I didn’t want to get out of the tub.”

  Tracy smiled, “Yes, it was wonderful, wasn’t it?”

  “Heaven! We lived like animals over at that creature's place. He treated all of us like slave labor. I’ll be honest with all of you; it was close to the point that I think Pauley was about ready to rape me.”

  Brian spoke up with anger, “What? Oh, I’m going to kill the son of a bitch! Did he touch you?”

  “No.” She then started to tear up and continued, “When we thought you were dead, he pretty much left me alone. I don’t know if he was giving me time to get over you or not but this last week or so, he was starting to make a lot of provocative comments, and I constantly caught him staring at me. Whenever I would notice it, I’d make sure I was in a group. Not that it would’ve made a difference if he would’ve made up his mind but in his sick, twisted mind, he thought all the girls would start throwing themselves at him, and a couple of them did.”

  “Jana, we’ll talk about it more tomorrow but how many are left over there?” I asked.

  She thought for a moment as she acted as though she was counting in her head, “21. There were 28, counting Brian and me but several didn’t come back from raids. Everyone assumed they were killed and Pauley kept insisting they were killed by you guys. Mr. Johnson, Pauley is obsessed with your group. He’s constantly making plans and trying to figure out a way to wipe all of you out. He says you guys killed two of his relatives.”

  Brian asked, “Two? I know what he said about his cousin. Who else? The only other person I know about is his brother, but he was there when I left.”

  “Yeah, Bob. He died a couple of weeks ago. He went out on what they called a supply run, which since then I’ve figured out was really a raid. Anyway, he came back with a terrible dog bite to his throat. Whatever dog attacked him almost tore it out and he ended up dying from it.”