Crashed: The Death Of The Dollar (16 page)

“No, mom, nobody's following us.”

Jessica yelled out to Mike, who immediately rushed as best he could once he knew he didn't have to watch the road.

“Oh my God!” Mike yelled, as he too started crying.

“
Come on, baby, we've got to get everyone out and taken care of. Mike, get yourself together,” Jessica said to both Taylor and Mike.

The three of them began pulling everyone out of the tattered Suburban, trying to figure out who was hurt, and how severely. Taylor used some broken glass to cut her robe for bandages. Jason just sat on the ground in shock. They could tell he hadn't been hit, but couldn't get him to help. Brad had been shot in his left shoulder, and was up using his right arm to help hold a piece of cloth on Anna's leg.

As she finished getting the last wound's cleaned and bandaged, Jessica began to break down, sobbing and crying uncontrollably. Stacy, her best friend for fifteen years, was dead. Taylor, crying just as hard, crawled across the ground to cuddle up with the body of the woman who'd taken her in and raised her.

Brad and Amy had the most minor wounds and were trying to keep an eye on everyone else. Steve and Jacob's bodies were lying beside Stacy's outside. Amy had been hit in her thigh and cut up badly by the broken glass. Anna was shot in the stomach and both legs. Stephanie had a hole in her upper right chest. And Brad's left shoulder wound tore down his arm, exiting near his tricep.

Mike sat near Brad and Amy, stone-faced and emotionless.

“
Daddy, we shot back. I shot two of them. We tried, Daddy,” Brad said as he started to cry.

Mike glanced over at Amy, his dead-looking eyes scaring her some. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded.

“There was a road block in Newcastle as we were coming back from Modena. They were taking people out of their cars, taking everything, and making people kneel on the roadside. Stacy decided to run around the barricades and they just started shooting,” Amy said. She was in too much shock and pain to cry.

“
There were four of them, Daddy. I shot two of them. I shot them. But I couldn't hit the other two,” Brad said, feeling like he should have been able to save everyone.

“
Son, you did perfect.”

“
I shot the two. And the others got in their truck to chase us. Steve's Grandpa was behind us on the road and he rammed his truck into them for us.”

Brad, Taylor and Jessica eventually cried themselves to sleep that night. Mike was able to get Jason inside. He seemed to be coming out of his shock, but was still showing no emotion and wasn't talking. Mike thanked him for taking over and getting everyone back, telling him he saved the lives of those who were still living. Mike and Amy never slept, and never spoke. They both stayed up all night watching over the the injured kids.

The next morning Taylor was still sitting in what was left of her shredded robe. Amy hadn't moved in hours. Everyone else was asleep when they woke up in fear to the loud boom of a gun shot. A second loud shot followed quickly, prompting Brad and Jessica to both grab guns sitting near them.

“
It's Mike,” Taylor told them. “He got up and went out with the new guns.”

Jessica stood staring out the window in the direction of their gun range.

“What's he doing?” Jason asked, speaking his first words since yelling for help.

Taylor and Jessica both answered him. “He's getting ready to fight back.”

He took his time practicing, spending nearly two hours to fire off  twenty rounds. He was dreading returning home, knowing he needed to get his tractor out to dig a hole to bury the bodies. As bad as he wanted to, he didn't have the time, nor materials, readily available to build them caskets.

Mike dug out a hole opposite his road from the house, eight feet deep, ten feet long, and six feet wide. Jason helped him to carefully lay the bodies out, with Stacy lying between Steve and Jacob. Amy used Mike's crutches to come out, with Taylor and Jessica at her side. All three women were fighting their tears, and starting to feel the rage that Mike felt. Brad was staying inside with the other injured children so he could call out for help if one of them needed it.

Jason took the lead as they all stood around staring down in the hole at the murdered remains of their loved ones. He began talking about his fond memories of each, following the example of what they had done at Scott's house just days ago. Jessica started to go next, but again broke down crying, falling to the dirt underneath her feet.

Taylor knelt down to try to comfort her when Jessica very abruptly stopped crying. Mike watched from across the hole as Jessica's emotions seemed to just disappear. Her tears stopped and she reached down, firmly pressing her hand against her lower abdomen.

“Oh, no,” Amy said, knowing exactly what was happening.

Mike hurried around the hole to them asking “What's wrong?”

“We've got to get her inside. The baby is coming,” Amy told him.

Mike couldn't tell if his heart had just stopped, or was beating too fast to feel it. Jason rushed over to help him pick her up, only to be pushed away by Jessica. “I can walk. Just help me get up,” she told the two, who were terrified of doing anything slightly wrong.

They got Jessica inside and on the bed while Taylor helped Amy make the walk. Jessica threw off her robe as she laid back on the bed, sending Jason running from the house. Mike did all he could to help make her comfortable. Amy made her way in to the room and sat on a chair Taylor brought in for her.

Mike all but froze up as he sat near Jessica's head, not moving at all during the three-hour labor. He had helped deliver countless animals over the years. Goats, sheep, cattle, dogs and cats. He had even once rescued a baby deer whose doe had died. But this wasn't an animal. This was a human, and it was one he had a part in creating.

When the screaming from Jessica, and loud talking from Taylor and Amy, had all stopped, Mike's house, that had for so many years been his quiet refuge, was filled with the sound of a baby crying. Taylor carefully held up the pale little body for them all to see. “It's a boy!” she announced.

She got up and brought the newborn over for Mike to see. He just stared at his little son, scared and amazed. He'd never seen a baby up close like that. Jessica reached up and took the baby in her arms, cuddling him against her warm body. Mike held the same blank face he'd had since last night. Only now it wasn't blank with rage, but with fear, confusion, and elation.

“
You can touch him, Mike. It's okay,” she told him.

“
No, not yet,” Taylor said. “Go wash all that dirt off your hands first.”

Mike had forgotten to clean his hands of the dirt and dried blood from moving the dead bodies. He looked down at his hands. Some of that was bits of Stacy's dried blood that had rubbed off her body on to him. His beloved Stacy, not able to see or hold this beautiful new member of their family.

Mike walked away, wanting to cry again, but where the others wouldn't see him. Taylor couldn't let him miss these first moments of his son's life and went outside with him. He wrapped his arms around her and wept onto her shoulder for a little while, then told her he'd be in to see the young boy after he finished filling in the new grave. He turned to walk over, and saw that Jason had already done the job for him. Something to occupy his teen-aged mind and keep him out of the house.

Brad was standing in the kitchen when Taylor brought Mike back in. He had spent more than an hour working with only his right arm to fix everyone a salad while they were busy bringing his new little brother into the world. Mike gave him a kiss on the forehead, told him he could come see the baby soon, and thanked him for preparing lunch.

Jessica was emotional when Mike came in. The newborn was nursing for his first time, and she had seen Mike crying through the window.

“She should be here,” Jessica said to him. “It's just not right.”

“
I know. I know,” Mike agreed, as he cracked a slight smile at his new son. He leaned over and gently kissed the boy's hand.

“
What do you think of the name Anthony?” Jessica asked.

“
I was thinking Alexander,” he smiled.

Taylor chimed in, “I think Anthony Alexander is a perfect name.”

The proud new parents nodded. Anthony Alexander Williams it would be.

They sat and soaked in the joy of new life for most of the afternoon before the rage over the loss of life began to creep back in. The three of them were laying there silently watching young Anthony sleep when Jessica whispered “I want you to kill them. I want anyone wearing a uniform, like the ones Stacy's murderers wore, dead.”

Mike and Taylor looked in each others eyes, sharing Jessica's feeling exactly. No more words had to be said.

Chapter 14

Justice & Liberty

The next morning, Taylor and Mike were loading up their little S-10 truck with their new Barrett rifles, a pair of AR-15's, and their 9mm handguns on their hips. Jessica, Amy and Jason had all helped to load up ten extra magazines per gun.

Jessica pulled them both to the side as they were about to leave. “You listen to me. You kill.... you kill every Guardsmen you can find. And then you get back here. You come back here to me alive and well. Am I understood?”

Taylor's eyes were cold, now devoid of any happiness. “No Guardsmen in this area get to wake up tomorrow,” she said

Mike just squeezed Jessica's hand and walked away.

They first headed down to Mesquite, NV, where the Guard station had been setup as a barricade on the west end of town right in the middle of Interstate 15, at the top of the exit at Riverside Rd.

The resistance was closer originally, but had lost a man to a single shot fired from 1,100 yards. They had backed away to a mile east of the station on the Interstate, and had a few men stationed at their own barricade south on Riverside Rd.

Mike and Taylor pulled up behind the men who were posted there in response to his radio threats. As one of the men approached, both quickly got out of the truck. Taylor set up a wind gauge, range finder, and spotting scope almost as quickly as Mike was able to climb into the bed of the truck, and set up the Barrett M107A1 on the roof of the cab.

“Identify yourselves,” the man called out to them, as the rest of the men and women there started surrounding the small truck, curious about the man and the rifle.

“
Light winds, south, three miles per hour,” Taylor said.

“
I said, identify yourselves,” he repeated himself.

Mike gave the man a hard stare.

“
Please,” the man added.

Taylor continued, “Range is 1,790 yards. There's a fuel tank in the rear to the right. What looks to be a propane tank just to the left behind the tent. Two guardsmen, prone, aiming our direction. Two other guardsmen entered the tent, and one walking around.”

He adjusted his scope based on Taylor's information, then looked around at the group staring at them.

“
Sir,” the man spoke up, wanting to know who he was talking to.

“How many guardsmen are up there?” Mike asked as everyone stared on in awe.

“
Oh my God. Sir, it's you?”

“
I said how many!” Mike demanded.

“
Eight, sir,” a woman spoke up. “There's eight that we know of.”

“Listen up,” Mike said as everyone stood up straight, all eyes focused on him. “Their oppression is over. When I give the order, you are all going to rush that station. You will not leave anyone stationed there alive. Everything there now belongs to you. Use it well to defend the people of Mesquite from any attempt by the Guard to reestablish a base here. Any questions?”

“
Thank you sir!” several people shouted out.

“
Get in your vehicles. Guns ready. When I yell, you go. Reclaim your liberty!”

Mike leaned over and braced himself against the rear of the trucks cab and sighted in on the men out front aimed at them. First on the man on the right. Mike squeezed his trigger, sending the first shot of the organized resistance.

“
About eight inches low, but the ricochet got him,” Taylor called out.

The man on the left immediately jumped up and started backing up.

“You're a bigger target standing up. Thanks dumb ass,” Taylor mumbled as Mike squeezed the trigger again, dropping the man in his tracks.

“
Four just came out of the tent. Two kneeling and firing what appear to be M-16's. Their shots are way short.”

Mike missed his third shot, but quickly eliminated the two men shooting, then took aim on the fuel tank and sent fuel pouring out of it on to the ground. The propane tank was next. Nothing visible happened, but Mike was confident he had hit it. As a guardsmen jumped into a truck parked around back, there was an explosion. Something sparked and set off the propane, followed by the fuel tank.

“Two more guardsmen, running to the left,” Taylor called out.

Mike swung around and fired two rounds. Both missed, but hit close enough to get their attention. The men knelt down with their hands in the air.

“Two rounds left,” Taylor said, setting another magazine on the roof for him.

“
GO!” he screamed. The local resistance fighters slammed on their gas pedals and followed his order.

Mike and Taylor grabbed their stuff, and headed straight for Saint George, UT. The guard station there was setup in the middle of town at Vernon Worthen park. There were two resistance positions: one on Red Hills Parkway, and one at the old airport. Mike headed to the one on Red Hills first.

Arriving there, these fighters seemed better organized. They had the road blocked and guarded. Mike pulled to the barricade and slowed down as a young man raised his gun and ordered them to stop. “Get out of your vehicle,” he demanded.

Mike wasn't moving. The young man called over his shoulder to an older man who appeared to be in charge, then again demanded, “Get out of your vehicle.”

Mike again didn't move.

As the older man approached the young sentry, Taylor recognized him as one of the men who came with Bishop Christensen to pick up livestock from them. She opened her door and got out, yelling to the young man, “Lower your weapon and get out of my way!”

The young man aimed straight for her, and the older man swiftly disarmed him and ordered him to let them through. Taylor walked up along side Mike as he drove. “Thank you,” she said to the older man.

“Yes ma'am. It's an honor to have you two here,” he said

Taylor stared down the younger man who was guarding the barricade, then walked over to a central area.

“
Did I do something wrong, sir?” he asked.

The older man shook his head. “No, you didn't. But now that you've seen them, if you ever point a gun in their direction again I'll shoot you myself.”

“Who is that?” the young man wanted to know.

“
That's Thomas Paine driving the truck,” he answered him as he turned and ran to catch up to Taylor.

“Men, gather 'round!” he yelled.

Mike stayed in his truck. He didn't want to deal with anyone if he could avoid it.

Taylor turned and grabbed her range finder. “1,157 yards. Bad field of view.”

“
Yes ma'am,” the man said. “And an even worse field of view they have of us.”

“
We can't shoot from here,” she said to Mike.

“
No ma'am. This was our best spot to be able to monitor them without their new sharpshooters killing us.”

“
Tell me everything,” she demanded.

The other fighters were all whispering to themselves, wondering who this beautiful young woman was that their Commander was so gleefully taking orders from.

When the Commander was done updating Taylor on the status of the guard station, she returned to the truck and told Mike they would need to go over to the old airport.

The Commander ran to his truck, yelling at his men “Escort that little old truck to Hurricane Mesa, and guard them with your life!”

As they approached the old airport, the Commander honked and yelled at the sentries, and they swiftly removed their barricade. Mike and the others drove through without an issue and they gathered in a gravel overlook past the Rocco Inn.

Taylor again jumped out of the truck and headed to the edge with her range finder. “1,570 yards. Still a bad field of view, but better. No matter how we do this, there's a lot of innocent property and life between us and them.”

“Commander, who is this?” a man called out as Mike got out of his truck.

“
Men, women. This is General and Mrs. Thomas Paine. They're in charge, and we will follow their orders.”

Taylor and Mike just looked at each other. If not so determined and focused on killing guardsmen, they would have laughed at the assumption that they were husband and wife.

Some gathered around saluted, and some went to whispering. No one knew what to think. The tall, bulky man with his long hair and beard was not what they had imagined. Especially not with a woman that looked like Taylor.

Mike paid no attention to anyone there. He looked through the spotting scope at their target. “Who here can give me the most information about the Guard station from this point of view?”

A young woman stepped forward “I believe that would be me, sir.”

“How old are you?” Taylor asked her.

“
I'm seventeen ma'am.”

“
This is my daughter,” The commander said of the young woman. “She's got an eidetic memory, and I put her over here because it doesn't seem their shooters can hit us over here.”

“
So, what?” Taylor asked. “That means you never forget anything?”

“
Something like that.”

“Talk,” Mike commanded, holding a map of the station Bishop Christensen had given him.

“
Sir, our men who are out training right now to learn to shoot that far have this spot in mind,” she said, pointing to a tent nearly center of the park. “That's their galley, and all but a few of them are in there every meal time. This corner is the ideal place to hit. There's a moderate sized propane tank there. The problem is, from up here, there's tree cover slightly blocking that corner. But from the ground level, they've put up reinforced concrete barriers around it.”

“
How long until they gather to eat?”

“
We've got about forty-five minutes until they should have lunch. They're fairly consistent with that schedule, but two or three times per week they eat at different times, and we never know when that's going to happen.”

Mike gave her a nod and walked over to Taylor standing by the edge of the cliff to look through the spotting scope again.

“
Listen up!” he yelled to the group standing around him. “We're going to go on the assumption that they're eating on schedule today. You will stay here with us,” he pointed to the young lady, “while the rest of you are going to get yourselves positioned within two to four blocks of the park.”

Mike turned to the commander as he continued. “I assume you've got radios to communicate during this attack?”

“The only thing that everyone has are CB radios. They try to monitor us, so we rotate channels regularly,” he replied.

“
What did you use last?”

“
Channel 28 sir,” his daughter replied.

“
Okay, everyone tune to 13 then.”

“
Sir, if I may.”

Mike nodded to the young lady.

“Two things sir. Most importantly, the reason we haven't already tried to rush them is their traps. They've blocked off all except the east side of 300 South for at least four blocks and have motion sensor-activated explosives set up all over the place. There's more of us than them, but we can't get in,” she said.

“
Okay, what else?” Mike asked

“
Well sir, there's a room in the motel over there that you can get a better shot from. You still can't see the side of the tent you need to, but I believe the view of the tent overall is better.”

“
What's your name?”

“
Amanda Matheson, sir.”

Mike stood silent for a moment to think, when Taylor spoke up. “Can you rig up one of these vehicles to drive unmanned. Tie up the steering wheel and put a block on the gas pedal maybe?” she asked the Commander.

“
I see what you're getting at,” he replied. “I'm sure we can come up with something. Hell, I'll drive it through myself to set off those bombs and clear a path if I have to.”

“Good enough,” Mike interrupted, taking back over. “Miss Matheson here will be the voice you're listening for. Any order she gives stands. If she says go, we will immediately open fire on their galley tent. Hopefully I'll hit the propane tank and it will blow up. You will rush the station and leave no one there alive.” Mike hesitated for a moment. “For any of you who live through this, everything in that station you are to claim for your group and use to defend against any other Guard returning here. Load up and move out!”