Dark Days Rough Roads (36 page)

Last but
not least, fresh batteries for the radios, three for each of them. David handed
them each a cup of hot coffee. Blake looked at it and said “What the hell, I’ll
drink it, not a coffee fan though.”

Kayla
said, “I added sugar and French vanilla creamer to yours, Blake, so it tastes
better.”

Haliday
said, “Gee, thanks for looking out for me.”

Kayla
said, “Dad, I made yours the same way.”

David
brought over a couple of five gallon gas cans and topped off their tanks and
cans. Roger asked, “You hearing anything about troops or feds.”

“Nothing Dad,
people are complaining about being left out to dry. They say they see activity
at bases, but not much and nothing off base.”

“Ok,
thank you sweetie. Keep listening for anything important. Here’s a list of what
to do and when to do it.” Another quick hug and it was goodbye.

They all
took off. David and Kayla went back to the house and Haliday and Blake down the
road and into a small farm by some round hay bales. Haliday wished he had the
map memorized. He actually did, except for the areas where they could easily
hide. It was mid-morning and they needed a place to go study the map and come
up with some plans. “Screw it,” he said, “this is today’s plan.”

They
headed out and went east back to the old school. They hid the bikes and walked
inside. Haliday took a bunch of rags and soaked them with a little gas. He laid
a bunch of debris around the area as well. Blake went into the house and did
the same thing. Both used the cigarette ignition with paper clip, lit them and
left. So much for the house and old schoolhouse. It was another screw you to
the Militia.

Next up
was a visit to a familiar face. They went back to try and connect with the guy
who had been out hunting. Haliday stayed out in the woods while Blake snuck out
to the street and just walked up the guy’s house. He had changed real quickly,
and had on blue jean pants and a grey hoodie pulled up. Normal kid off the
street. He walked up and knocked on the door.

The guy came
to the door and said, “Can I help you?”

Blake
lowered his hoodie and said, “It’s me from the woods; I need to talk to you.”
The guy opened the door right away and let Blake in.

“What’s
going on?” the guy asked. “We need some help. We can help you guys, but we need
some help too.”

The guy
said, “Sure, no problem. Where’s your dad?”

“Oh, he’s
not my dad; he’s my friend’s dad. He’s out in the wood line.”

“Well,
ok, but go tell him I’ll open the back door of the pole barn, you can hide your
bikes there. Then we can talk.”

Blake
said, “Ok, wait until seven though so it’s dark.” Blake went back to meet
Haliday.

Seven
came around and they pushed the bikes through the dirt field and into the back
of the pole barn. Haliday went back out and fluffed up the foliage and dragged
the rows of the field they used to bring the bikes in. He walked back into the
pole barn. “My name is Rob, we weren’t formally introduced.”

“I’m
Roger and that’s Blake, can you turn the flashlight off please?”

“Oh sure,
sorry,” Rob said.

Haliday
asked, “Anywhere in here we can turn on a light and not be seen from the
outside?”

Rob said,
“I have a small room I keep things locked up in over in the corner. Let’s go
over there.” They made their way over there and went inside. Haliday turned on
a small led lamp with red lights.

“Rob,
thank you very much. Listen, I’m not going to beat around the bush, we can help
you, but we are doing so because it will help us too. You game?”

“Yes I am.
Let’s hear what you have.”

Roger
said, “First things first. What’s the latest you’ve heard?”

Rob
pretty much told him what Haliday already knew, but with a different twist. The
militia made them out to be terrorists killing people in cold blood for no
reason at all. They were going to come in and take over the community, robbing
people, raping women and stuff like that. Haliday chuckled at that and asked,
“What do the other people think?”

Rob
answered, “They don’t know what to think. Some believe them, but a bunch know
what the militia is really doing. The rest are just kind of here. They don’t
seem to care.”

“Rob, I
won’t lie to you. Here’s how everything went down.” Haliday told him exactly
what happened, minus a few small details in order to avoid looking like
cold-blooded killers. He wasn’t sure Rob would understand the justification to
kill. “Now, Rob, if you are still ok, this is what we have planned.” He covered
a few details and looked at Rob.

Rob said,
“That sounds fairly dangerous.”

“Well
Rob, it does, but with safety in numbers it’ll be ok.” Rob then thought for a
moment and agreed.

They
would take the night off and use the whole day tomorrow to prepare. Right now
they imagined the militia was running around again completely upset because
they torched the house and the old school. These were areas they knew the
militia was checking. They really just wanted to let them know they were still
in the area.

The radio
was abuzz with the school and house burning. They didn’t quite send as many
patrols as they thought they would, but that was ok. They heard a transmission
on the radio. “Hey, is anybody there? Anybody out there?”

The
militia responded. “This is the Bad Axe Minute Men. You are on a frequency
designated for militia operations. Cease your radio traffic and stay off this
frequency.”

“Hey man,
listen, we need some help, there’s a bunch of guys on motorcycles who have been
causing trouble around here. The police are long gone and we don’t know what to
do.”

The
militia asked them, “Where are you guys located?”

“We’re
south of Sandusky; they just firebombed a store and then torched a car too. Can
you guys help?”

“That’s a
negative. You are not located in our control district.”

“Come on
man, help us out.”

“Negative,
now please clear this frequency, try and contact the government on the civil defense
frequency. Do not take the law into your own hands. Let the authorities for
your area do it. Locate another frequency.” They went back to their own
transmissions. Haliday expected them to change frequencies next shift change.
He would have to remember to tell Mike “Good job.” The militia might now be
thinking they were heading back south after causing trouble up north. The
school and house and now the Sandusky area pointed that way.

They
discussed with Rob what he would have to do. After a couple more hours, they
were done for the night. Rob offered to let them stay in the house, but they
politely declined. They asked him to make sure his wife and boys didn’t leave
the house and that they remain quiet. Rob assured them it would not be a
problem. Rob was about to leave. “Hold on one second, Rob.”

Haliday
looked around the little room. There was a good amount of alcohol in boxes on
shelves, evidently for the store. Haliday told Rob to keep this secret, maybe
even put some in smaller containers to use as trade items down the road. Rob
said he hadn’t thought of that. Haliday himself had purchased liquor and empty
pint bottles for the same reason.

Haliday
went over to his bike. He pulled out four small sized mylar bags and handed
them to Rob. “Boil eight cups of water, empty one packet in and let it simmer
for about 20 to 25 minutes. You’ll have a complete meal for the four of you.
It’s like a cross of red beans and rice and dirty rice.” He handed him a square
of Datrex bars and a baggy full of Tang. “This will feed you guys for four full
days and give you what you need. Save what you have in the house for now.” Rob
protested, but Haliday wouldn’t hear it. Rob thanked them.

After Rob
left, Haliday told Blake that they would stay here the night and rotate sleep
again. “Can’t be too sure we are in safe hands just yet. Peace offering or not,
you never know. We’ll get to work on the toys and plans in the morning. Things
will be busy soon enough.”

Haliday
woke up and looked outside. There was a heavy frost outside. If they didn’t get
this done soon, it would become increasingly more difficult to move around and
not leave tracks. Haliday peeked outside the windows. There weren’t any tracks
around the building in the frost. No one had checked on them last night. Rob had
stayed away like he promised.

They were
busy organizing their gear more efficiently when Rob came in. “You guys can
fire up that wood burner if you want to.”

“No thank
you, two stove pipes from two different buildings might attract attention.
We’ll be fine. You heading out Rob?”

“Ya, I’m
going to use the kid’s scooter to make my rounds.”

“Good
luck, let us know how it goes.”

After Rob
left, they got busy working on their little toys. If it hadn’t been for eBay
and all the chinamarts online, he wouldn’t have acquired the stuff he needed in
bulk. The little alarm clocks were a steal. He bought them by the dozen for
about two bucks a clock. They were perfect little timers. They only needed a
few of these this time around.

Haliday
pulled out the homemade chart of the airport and studied it. He was looking it
over and made some more notes. He looked at the map as well. “Time for a quick
break.” He called the group.

Bev
answered. “We’re all ok, everyone is busy getting ready. We should be all set,
how about you guys?”

“Ya, same
here,” said Roger. “Anything more on the patrols?”

“Hold on
a minute,” she said.

Kevin
came on the radio now. “Uncle Roger, I went out to get some firewood to load up
in the rack. While I was out there, one of the trucks pulled up on the road.
They sat there for a few minutes and then yelled over to me. I asked them what
they wanted and they said they wanted the form. I told them we didn’t have any
form for them─it wasn’t any of their business─and to just leave us
alone. They talked back and forth to each other a few minutes and then left.

“A couple
hours later they came back and had another truck with them. They called out on
a bullhorn, but we didn’t answer. One of the guys started coming up to the
house. Uncle David and Dawn went outside and told him to leave. He put another
letter in the mailbox and told us we had 72 hours to fill it out or they would
come onto the property and see for themselves. They wouldn’t be nice about it
next time. They stopped at the neighbor’s house too.”

“Well, in
72 hours the game will hopefully change. Talk to you guys later.” Haliday
looked out the window and saw a quad coming down the tree line. The quad was
only going about five miles an hour and the rider was looking into the woods as
he rode along. He passed the pole barn without stopping. Haliday went to the
other side and watched the guy continue along. These guys were persistent,
that’s for sure.

It was
late afternoon when they heard Rob on the scooter. Haliday watched him pull up.
It looked comical, almost like a clown in a parade. Seeing this big guy on this
little scooter. Rob went into his house, then came out about 15 minutes later
and came into the pole barn. “Ok, I have some help. I talked to only the guys I
could trust and they talked to a few family members as well. We have about 30
people.”

“That’s
great news. That’s more than I expected.” Rob said they could double that if
they used the older kids. He said he left it up to the others to decide.

Haliday
said, “That’s your decision. The risk is there, but in a sense it’s not. I
can’t put you or your family in any danger. You are volunteers and if that’s
what you decide then I’m with you. Everyone understands the ground rules
right?”

Rob said,
“Yes.”

“Any
other news?”

“A little
bit. They have a couple motorcycles now and a few quads. Some of the militia
are using them to check the woods and property lines. If you are using those
areas, you might be in trouble.”

Roger
said, “Ya, I saw one pass by earlier. That won’t be a problem, they won’t find
anything, we covered our tracks enough.

“Rob, go
inside and spend the evening with your family. We’ll be fine out here. I’ll
talk to you again in the morning.”

“Goodnight
Roger. Goodnight Blake. Again, I can’t thank you guys enough.”

“Rob,
thank us if this works, and don’t downplay your role. It’s just as dangerous
and just as important. Tomorrow night is the big night.” They parted ways for
the evening. Haliday noted that the patrol quad drove by twice more during the
night.

It was
past dinner time when Blake and Haliday ate. They whipped up a package of chili
and ate dinner. They turned the radio on and listened. Just a few more minutes
to wait, then it was time. “This is the St. Clair Tridents trying to raise the
Bad Axe Minute Men, over.” There was no response. “St. Clair Tridents calling
the Bad Axe Minute men, over.”

BAMM
responded. “Who are you?”

“This is
Colonel David Howe from the St. Clair Tridents.”