AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2) (9 page)

     “Well, there was a bit of trouble, Scott, but it’s all over now.”

     “What happened?”

     “I was sleeping all peaceful, and I was woke up by voices. I sleep fairly light, you see. Anyway, the voices were coming from the front yard. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I had a suspicion they were up to no good.

     “So I took my 30.06 out the back door and went around the corner of the house to get a good look at them. They had the hood of my car up, and were trying to figure out how to hotwire the son of a bitch.”

     “So, what did you do?”

     “I fired a shot over their heads and told ‘em to get the hell off of my property. Well, they took off lickity split thinking the next round was gonna get one of ‘em in the head. One of ‘em turned around and fired three or four shots on his way out, but he didn’t hit anything.”

     “Do you think they’re still around?”

     “Nope. Me and old Blue followed their scent up to the highway. They headed east from there but were nowhere in sight.”

     “You went after them in the darkness? Don’t you think that was kind of foolish?”

     “Probably, but nobody ever accused me of having any common sense. Anyway, I had the odds on my side. I had a dog and they didn’t. But they were long gone, so nothing else came of it.”

     “You know they’ll come back. Probably with reinforcements. Your car is worth more than gold to them. They won’t give up until they have it.”

     “I know.”

     “Did they do any damage?”

     Tom laughed uproariously, catching Scott totally off guard.

     “They were rank amateurs. Probably couldn’t touch their ass with both hands if you gave ‘em three chances. They tried to hotwire the damn thing, probably going by what they saw some actor do in a movie. They crawled up under the dash and snipped the first two wires they found. Then tried to cross connect ‘em to start the car.”

     “And I’m guessing it didn’t work?”

     Tom laughed again.

     “Hell no. The idiots snipped the wires to my radio and to my turn signals.”

     Now it was Scott’s turn to laugh.

     “How much damage did they do?”

     “Next to none. I don’t ever expect to use the radio or the turn signals again, so I just taped over the cut wires and that was the end of it.”

     “Okay, so that fixed the small problem. The bigger problem is that they’re coming back, and you know it. Only this time they’ll have to shoot you so they can get the keys. And once you’re dead, they’ll not only take your car, but they’ll take Bonnie and Blue too. So what’s your plan to deal with that problem?”

     “Well, my friend, that’s pretty much up to you and the girls.”

     “Meaning what? Are you saying you’re finally going to do what you should have done in the first place and join us?”

     “Well, when you put it that way it makes me sound like I’m a might stubborn.”

     “Only because you are.”

     “I suppose if I argued, it would just prove your point.”

     “Yep.”

     “Okay, then. I give up. I honestly didn’t think the violence would make it this far.”

     “Maybe it was an isolated case. Maybe they won’t be back. But they know you have this car and they know it runs. So my guess is, they’ll keep coming back until they get it. And if they fired back at you, then they don’t mind using force to take it.”

     “Yeah, I guess so. You sure you don’t mind me moving in over there?”

     “Nope. We don’t mind at all. We’ve got a partially finished basement. We can put you in there until the winter time. You’ll have it all to yourself, so when the kids get on your nerves you’ll have someplace quiet to hang out. The only thing is, it gets cold down there in the winter time. So before the weather gets cold, we’ll convert the old Faraday barn into a bachelor pad.”

     “Oh, I don’t want to put you through any trouble.”

     “It’s no trouble. You see, we’ve already bought all the materials. The toilet, sink and shower, all the pvc pipe to connect it to the plumbing system. All the conduit, outlets and wiring we need to power it. Even insulation and sheetrock. It’s all sitting in a big pile in one of the other Butler buildings.”

     Tom gave him a puzzled look.

     “We told Jordan we would use all the materials to make the place for him. So he could feel more like a grownup by having his own place, of sorts. The problem is, when we evacuated, he brought Sara along. And that’s not a problem. We’re all getting to know Sara, and she’s quickly becoming part of the family.

     “The problem is
that Jordan doesn’t see her as a sister. He sees her as a hot chick. And he’s a teenager with raging hormones. So is she, by the way…”

     “Okay, I get the picture. You’re afraid if
Jordan has his own place, that she’ll sneak out at night and they’ll do some things they have no business doing.”

     “Exactly. If they’re in the same house
as us, it’ll be easier to keep track of them.”

     “And you’re sure that Joyce and Linda are okay with me crashing their party?”

     “Shoot. They told me if I didn’t talk you into it they were going to hang me by my ankles and castrate me. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

     Tom winced.

     “No. Wouldn’t wish that on any man. Especially a friend.”

     “Okay, it’s settled. How soon can you move over?”

     “Well, by the end of the day I suppose. I’ll have to make several trips with the Ford to take all of my Walmart stuff over there, and a few furniture items and clothes and such. But what if those bandits come back while I’m moving?”

     “I’ll sit at the end of the road, where it connects with the highway. If I see them crest the hill half a mile away, I’ll call you on the walkie talkie. You’ll have plenty of time to get there to back me up. And I’ll have the boys help you. They can drive two of the Gators and it’ll go a lot faster.”

     “Thank you, Scott.”

     “Don’t mention it, p
artner. That’s what neighbors and friends do for each other. Now why don’t you start loading up. I’ll head down the road to keep watch. And I’ll get the boys out here to help.

     “Have you gotten everything you need from the Walmart trailer?”

     “Yep. Done cleaned her out. At least of the stuff I can use.”

     “Good. Maybe after we get you moved in and settled we can figure out a way to barricade the end of the road. Maybe put a big sign that says trespassers will be shot. Maybe it’ll discourage your friends and others from coming to call.”

     “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

     Once he made sure the highway was clear, Scott called in on the walkie.

     “Joyce or Linda, come in.”

     “Go ahead, honey. How is he?”

     “He’s fine. But I need the boys. Can you put them on two Gators and send them over? I’m going to the end of the county road. I’ll keep watch while they’re over here, but they’ll need to have walkie talkies in case they need to get back to the compound in a hurry.

     “And can you open up the back
Butler building and do some rearranging in it? See if you can make some extra space?”

     “Sure. But what are the boys going to do?”

     “They’re going to help move boxes. Tom’s moving in.”

     Both women smiled.

     But Linda was most happy, and it didn’t escape Joyce’s notice. Linda had taken a shine for Tom Haskins since the day they’d met. And she wanted to spend more time with him.

     Joyce winked and said, “Well congratulations, sweetie. Looks like Santa’s bringing you an early Christmas gift.”

-16-

     Scott called John Castro on the ham radio every few days now, just to stay abreast of the situation. John was the San Antonio police officer he’d talked to about the process for getting some of SAPD’s patrol cars working again.

     That was two months before. They’d become friends of sorts, although they’d never met in person. There weren’t a lot of people John could talk to away from the job, and to him Scott was a reminder that there were still places in the world where people were relatively safe, the environment more or less serene.

     “John, this is Scott, are you on?”

     They’d stopped using the required FCC call signs weeks before, deciding that they were an unnecessary burden.

     “Go ahead, Scott. How are things in Dallas?”

     Scott winced. He’d told John the first time they’d talked that he was calling from
Dallas because he didn’t want to disclose his true location. Now every time John mentioned it, he felt he was living a lie.

     “Things are okay here, my friend. Are they getting any better in
San Antonio?”

     “Well, I don’t know about better. But they appear to have stabilized. We’ve got enough vehicles running now to collect the bodies. They’re burning them in several of the high school parking lots, because people are dying faster than they can be buried. Suicides, mostly. But the crime spree has pretty much stabilized. The bandits have either all been shot by homeowners, or they’ve finally come to the realization that knocking on doors without an invitation is tantamount to a death wish.

     “Either that, or they’ve finally realized that people have no more food to give them.”

     “Is your water still flowing?”

     “Oh, yeah. The water plant got their second generator running, and their last pump has finally been repaired. The water is flowing fine. Too bad the food issue isn’t so easy.”

     “What’s everybody doing about food?”

     “Eating what they can. We’ve got the hospitals reporting cases of poisoning from people eating animal carcasses and poisonous plants. They’ve already looted all the food from the grocery shelves. What’s scary is they’ve looted all of the rat poison and insecticides too. I guess that’s the Plan B for people who don’t have guns, when they get desperate enough. FEMA’s continuing to do what they can, but it’s not enough.”

     “FEMA’s helping? How?”

     “They’ve got five tractor trailers they’ve got running. And they’re showing up every day and going to the various high schools to distribute food packets. One per person, first come first serve, but each one is supposed to have enough calories to keep someone going for three days. I don’t know where they’re getting them, and they won’t tell us. I guess I can’t blame them. If people knew where they were stored they’d probably be overrun. I know secrets are sometimes necessary to protect yourself.”

     “Hey, listen, John, about that. I told you the first time we talked that I was calling in from
Dallas. I lied, and I feel bad about that. It’s just that I didn’t know who you were, and I wanted to protect my family.”

     “Oh, hell, Scott. I know that. I know you’re close to
San Antonio. And I don’t care specifically where. And don’t worry about lying about it. We all do what we have to do to protect our families.”

     “You knew? But how?”

     “It’s a no brainer, really. Why would somebody in Dallas be so anxious to help out the San Antonio Police Department? Why wouldn’t you help out the Dallas police instead? And also, the more we talked, the more obvious it became that you were from here. I mean, you’re familiar with the roads and highways that go through here, you’ve asked about things in certain neighborhoods, and even mentioned certain schools.”

     “I’m sorry I lied.”

     “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal. But I’m glad you came clean. And I promise that I’ll never ask where you are. I’ll just assume that you’re somewhere close by that’s safe. And to be honest with you, my friend, it gives me some comfort that there are still safe places out there. I’m hoping we can make San Antonio safe again sooner than later.”

     “How are you holding up? Not the department. You, and your family?”

     “As well as can be expected. My wife shot at a prowler the other night. She was in hysterics when I came off shift, but I couldn’t find a blood trail so I think she missed the son of a bitch. She’s terrified that he’ll come back, but hopefully he got the message and will stay the hell away. My daughters have started calling her Wonder Woman.”

     “It’s nice that they can find a bit of humor in the situation. Do they have enough to eat?”

     “It’s getting thin, but we’ve been prepping since before the whole Mayan thing in December of 2012. Just like you won’t tell me where you are, and I really don’t want to know anyway by the way… I won’t tell you how much food we’ve got stashed. I will tell you this. My wife Hannah is really struggling with the morality of all this. We don’t have an abundance of food, but we’ve got enough to survive for a while. And she looks out her window and sees people walking down the street, heading out of the city. And they’re starving.