Dark Days Rough Roads (26 page)

“Ya,
they’ll make it.”

“Ok good,
let’s go.”

Diana
asked him what would happen if one of those patrols found them.

“People
would die. Who, I don’t know, but people would die.”

He
grabbed some hundred mile an hour tape and covered all of the lights on the
bike and ranger. He didn’t want anyone spotting the lights, it was late
afternoon, the sky dark, rain coming down and they would easily see the lights.
They got moving again.

He
flipped the radio over to the frequency Kayla had given him and he listened for
a while. He started taking mental notes on what he heard. There was actually
quite a bit of chatter. He was glad Kayla was taking notes. This was going to be
a big problem he had not expected.

He
thought of contacting them to sort it out, but that was a stupid idea as well.
They would know he definitely had their frequency and they would most likely
change it. He needed as much intel on these guys as he could get. Five days and
militias were out hunting already. Probably more like staking out their
kingdoms.

After a
couple more hours of slow moving, he called Kayla and told them they were
coming in. They got themselves situated and went into the small tent to warm
up. Bev gave them some coffee, hot cocoa and offered them some soup as well,
which they gladly accepted. Kayla came in, “Ok Dad, here’s what we have.”

Kayla had
taken meticulous notes on everything she heard. She started with manpower.
“They have four patrols out in designated areas with an additional patrol that
seems to be a quick response unit that can back up any of the other patrols. It
sounds like that unit stays at or close to their headquarters. I would say two
people per patrol.” That was 10 right there.

“They
pulled a shift change at 1800hrs. When they did this though, they only had two
patrols out and one for response for the night. They mentioned seeing each
other in the morning, so it looks like 12 hours shifts. So that gives them
another six people. I assume one at HQ to coordinate or answer the radio. We
have a definite 18 people on security patrols.

“Now,
they said something about camp watch and I couldn’t quite make that out, but it
sounded like static posts to watch their HQ or their compound. Maybe a
watchtower or who knows what. I didn’t catch this during the day, so not sure.
But it’s safe to say they have at least 22 to 24 people and most likely more.

“I didn’t
catch anything about where the HQ or compound was though, I didn’t expect to. I
didn’t catch how many people were currently not on patrol or watch duty. No way
to really calculate their total numbers because there was no telling if wives,
girlfriends or kids were involved. I did hear some people in the background
once in a while. Someone was giving out chores to be completed. If I had to
guess Dad, you have 40 to 50 people total and that’s minimum.

“Now
here’s where it gets interesting. They call in checks once in a while, but not
sure what they are checking or who they are checking. They use code numbers for
that. A21 checked and secured. B13 checked and secured, like that. Could be
other family, could be caches, could be a lot of things.

“One more
important detail is they act like it’s martial law. They are acting like they are
the combination military and police for the area. They mentioned catching some
looters and taking them somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where. I missed
what they said. It might have been the police department. Either way, they
think they control the whole area and it sounds like they just might be doing
that.”

“How do
you know they are the Bad Axe Minute Men?”

“I heard
them call to another group in Bay City. Well, the other group didn’t answer. I
think they forgot to change frequencies when transmitting. I heard them say Bad
Axe Minute Men calling Bay City Minute Men, then it went dead. They must have
changed frequencies then.”

“Good job
sweetie. That helps tremendously. The unfortunate thing is we are on the edge
of their patrol areas and then we’ll be within a good 10 to 15 miles away from
their HQ when we move to the house. I don’t know exactly what they are trying
to do, but if it’s run the Thumb Area we have problems. If they’ll leave us
alone then that’s much better.”

“What
about trying to strike a deal with them Dad.”

“I
thought about that. I’m thinking we might make the next leg of the trip
tomorrow and then go from there. I wish I knew more about these guys, but they
kept a low profile and I had no idea they were out here. Not like I can do any
research now.”

“Wait a
minute Dad, call Mike. Mr. Bill might know something; he’s more of a local
here.”

Haliday
was impressed. He hadn’t thought of that. “Ok kiddo, go for it. Tell him to
change frequencies though. If they are scanning frequencies I don’t want them
to hear anything about us.”

Kayla got
a hold of Mike and asked him how things were. Mike told her Bill and Linda’s
son and daughter in-law made it in. That was good news. She asked if Mr. Bill
was around and if she could talk to him. “He’s napping right now is it
important?” Kayla said to go wake him; it was about the militia with a wanted
poster out for Dad.

A few
minutes later Bill came on the radio. Kayla asked him if he knew anything about
the BAMM. There was a pause before Bill answered. “I actually know one of the
guys who is a member. I assume that’s the group he belongs to. He tried to
recruit me a while back. He mentioned Bad Axe but not the name BAMM
specifically. He did not say much at all really. Just that he belonged to a
group that would run the community if something major ever happened.”

“Do you
know what their mission is?”

“If it’s
the same group I’m thinking of, then they are out there to keep law and order.
But here’s the catch. While they are not quite government friendly, they are
not quite people friendly either. I don’t think they want people other than
themselves enforcing any law and order or carrying firearms. The police might
be a different story, but not sure.

“They
might actually be a part of them, not many other cops in the area. Most were
county sheriffs and a couple state troopers, that’s all. The sheriff up there
is a real ass and he’s involved with them somehow. He has a real attitude and
acts like his crap smells like roses.”

“Anything
else?” Kayla asked.

“Ya, they
don’t take too kindly to outsiders. People who don’t live here, and have not
lived here for a while, they really don’t care for. I think they mean to take
over the area and run it as their own small state. If that’s the case you guys
might have issues depending on where you’re going.”

Kayla
said, “Thank you sir.”

“No
problem, take care, your mom says hugs and kisses,” Bill replied.

Kayla
looked around. Everyone except Kevin and Blake, who were on watch, was sitting
there listening in. “How’s this change things?” Bev asked.

“Well, we
have a couple choices here. I’m not sure any of them will be acceptable to
these people if they have that attitude. Here are the options we have so far.

“One, I
can make arrangements to meet with them, see what they are up to, and if we can
go about our business. They might see us as a threat and say no and then
tighten their security and look for us to try to move in. They may even want
payment or outright take what we want and kick us out. Could get ugly.”

“Two, we
can try to sneak in, take hold on our land, and then let them approach us when
they discover us. We can feel them out then, show them we are just there to
mind our own business and see how that works out; but we could end up defending
ourselves. The Michigan Alamo. Same results, it could be bad.”

“Third,
we could hunker down somewhere, go on the hunt and try to shake up their ranks.
But we’re talking about guerrilla warfare. We are talking about a long, drawn
out campaign with some pretty good chances of losing some of the ranks here.
I’m not really advising this. So far they just tried to kill me if that’s what
it was, not really show they are a threat to all of us. I probably appeared to
be a threat to them.”

“Fourth,
I could go it alone, take out whomever I can for a while and see how that works
out. There’s enough stuff here to get you through for quite some time. Then we
could move onto our land. Or you could head back to Bill and Linda’s. The
longer we wait to get there, the better the odds are they might find something
and we lose it all. This would really piss them off.”

They all
sat around talking about it for a while. Some different ideas were thrown out,
but not much really made sense. It really came down to one thing. How could
they get all their people to the house and stay there as long as possible with
the least amount of trouble. That would be one hell of a trick.

They set
up another 10X10 and joined the two together. They put the heater in the
middle. It was still close quarters, but better than nothing. Everyone had
their own little area and was warm. With any luck, it wouldn’t be like this
much longer. They would be at the land and in the house.

There
were fourteen of them in the group. Only twelve were able to pull watch.
Elizabeth and Bobby were too young. Kayla had figured out a schedule. Two on at
a time would be ok. Hour and a half shifts would help keep them awake, although
the cool weather would do that too. They had set up some traps like Haliday
instructed.

Haliday
had them set up some booby trap simulators to alert the group if people got too
close. Those were purchased from a surplus store. He also had them set up what
he called trigger hooks. They were 3X3 foot square fish line nets with fish
hooks scattered around them. These were placed face high. Once they snagged
anything, any attempt to take them off snagged even more. Clothing, hair or
skin. Man’s natural reaction to brush something away allowed them to work. The
barbed hooks dug in deep.

It was an
uneventful night; however a few of them did not sleep. They tossed and turned
trying to figure out how to reach the house, what to expect the next couple
days, what had happened the past few days, but mostly what was happening to
family members. They didn’t have any idea what was happening to any of them.
Being together tonight reminded them that there were those who were missing.

Morning
came as usual. Everyone got up and started warming up around the heater. Bev
put some pots of water on for oatmeal and coffee, hot cocoa for the kids. They
packed up any non-essential items and ate breakfast when it was done. Haliday
called a quick meeting. “Time to vote,” he said. The rumbling started
immediately. No one wanted to decide. They deferred the decision to Haliday.

“Ok, this
is what we are going to do,” he said. “Like it or not, since there was no
decision, it’s my ball game. We are going to pack everything up. I’ll be on one
bike and Blake on his. We’ll be riding along well in front of the ranger, with
the horses behind it followed by the trucks. If we spot trouble we’ll hit the
sides of the road and take cover. The rest of you will be expected to do the
same.

The
ranger will go left, horses will go right, Cherokee left as well and Tahoe to
the right. That will even things out on both sides of the road. We’ll work out
vehicle assignments. Do not bunch together, stay within earshot of each other
and keep your eyes open to all sides and front and rear. If we have to fire,
make sure you do not cross fire and do not fire up by us. You will have to watch
my signals.” Haliday covered some brief hand signals.

“I’ve
altered the route a bit, but it will take us two days if everything goes
smoothly. Make sure the vehicles are gassed up. We’ll stop once for lunch and
that’s all. When we stop for dinner, we’ll also make camp for the night. I’m
not going to try to contact the militia at all. We are going to try to sneak in
there.

“If we
encounter a problem I’ll raise them on the radio and set something up as far as
a meeting goes. I have a couple ideas of how to do that. In the meantime, let’s
get ready to move out. Blake, get your bike and bring it here. We have a quick
modification to make.” Blake rolled his bike over to where Haliday was.

Haliday
took a long pipe that had an elbow on the end and held it up against the fork
of Blake’s bike. He used a few heavy round clamps and secured it in place.
Haliday walked over to his bike and slipped a similar pipe into a sleeve he
already had attached to the fork, and used a big cotter pin to secure it in
place.

“What’s
that for?” Blake asked.

“It’s so
we can keep our heads on. If these guys are looking for me on a bike, there’s
no telling whether or not they set up any traps. The most common is a wire
strung between trees or poles. It catches you at neck level and it’s all over.
The pipe will catch the wire. I doubt it’ll snap the wire, but the pressure
will knock the bike down and you with it. Much better alternative.

“Here’s a
multi-tool.”

“What
for?”

“To clip
the wire Blake. Just in case, that’s all, got it? We don’t need wire getting
caught in any wheels or anything.” Blake didn’t like this idea, but he was the
most experienced rider next to Haliday. “Blake, get your head in the game,
listen to me and you’ll do fine.”