Dark Days Rough Roads (39 page)

They heard
a vehicle coming down the street and watched as the truck pulled up to the main
gate of the airport. After it entered, the gate stayed open but four people
stood there with rifles ready and sweeping the area. Another vehicle came up
less than five minutes later. This continued for about another 30 minutes as
all of their patrols had made it back to the HQ.

Haliday
pulled out his binoculars and looked over at the compound. “Rob, these guys are
bunkering down. There isn’t going to be any chance of getting in there any time
soon. Blake, take some notes.” Blake went and grabbed the notebook out of the
saddle bag and came back.

“I count
five quads, four ‘four’ wheelers, three motorcycles, I see 15 trucks or Jeeps,
about eight golf carts, the two deuce and halves. They must have fixed the
tires on the one. I count over 60 people total. I’ll assume if they have any
younger kids other than the teens, they are shielded inside somewhere. I have
no idea how many prisoners they have if they are even still alive. Hell, I
don’t know how many others may be inside. They hid their numbers rather well.
More recon is what I should have done, this sucks. I’m not sure what the hell
they have total.

“That
means they had a good at least a good 60 to start with if you subtract the 10,
or was it 11 or 12 we killed?”

Rob
looked at him. “You guys took out that many?”

Roger
continued, “I don’t really know. Oh, that reminds me. About a half mile north
along your wood line is going to be a kid tied up. He’s hurt pretty badly, most
likely broken ribs and bruised. You guys do what you want with him. There’s a
quad and some toys in your pole barn. Keep those. You might need them.”

Haliday
called the group, who was waiting with anticipation. They filled him in on the
activity they encountered and he told them he would let them know what was
going on when they got back. They would be coming in very soon. He told Rob
about the militia vehicle. “You might want to see if you can go get it. It’ll
help you as well. He gave Rob a couple of frequencies. Use the kid’s ham, you
can run it off the quad.”

Rob said,
“I can’t thank you enough for all of this.” A few of the other guys were there
as well and thanked them. They were all huddling around the burn barrel.

“If I
could give you guy's any advice, this is what I would do.”

Roger was
just about to give them a little advice when one of the other men pointed and
said, “I think we have company.”

A four
wheeler from the compound was pulling out and headed their way. It had a large
white flag waving from it. They stopped out in the street just a short ways
from the feed store. They yelled out, “We want to talk to whoever is in
charge.”

Haliday
and Blake both stepped back and took aim. Haliday was scanning the area, he had
that feeling. “Step back Rob.” Rob stepped back too.

There
were three of them out there. “Can we speak to who’s in charge?” someone
yelled.

One of
Rob’s friends said, “Hell, I’ll go.”

Haliday
said, “No, don’t go out there,” but the guy did anyway. “Rob, who is that guy?”

“His name
is Jim, he always wants to be in charge and run things. If it’s our fantasy
football league or anything else not important, we just let him. He’s kind of
like Mr. Haney from
Green Acres
, always has a money-making scam going
on, the next big business, that sort of thing.”

Haliday
looked around and backed up some more. “Back up guys, back up.” Most backed up,
but a few just stood there. A couple of guys went over by the dumpster and
grabbed some rifles they had hidden. Haliday had specifically told them not to bring
weapons to this rally. Jim talked to them for a bit, then returned.

“Hey Rob,
one of them is Ernie, you know, the deputy.”

“Ya, I
know him, he always hassles my boys about the scooter.”

“Well
listen here, they wanted to know who the leader was and I told them I was it.
Told them I designated you to talk for us when we were at the gate. They want
to make a truce. They said if we disband, they won’t do anything to us.”

“Bullshit,”
Rob said. “I don’t trust them.”

Jim spoke
again; “They also wanted to know who these two were.” He pointed at Haliday and
Blake. “I told them they were my cousin and nephew from the suburbs.”

Haliday
spoke next. “Listen Jim, I’m not sure you fully understand what’s happening
here.”

Jim
pointed at Roger. “Hey, you ain’t from around here, I know these people.”

Roger
replied, “Oh you do, So you knew what they were prepping for and everything?”

“Well,
no, but they are mostly good people,” Jim said.

“Look
Jim, I’m telling you this is bad shit going down.”

Jim
wouldn’t listen to reality. He told Roger, “You don’t know that. I think it’s a
good deal. We might be able to get something else out of it too.”

Another
guy piped in. “Jim, I think this guy is legit. I mean he’s gotta be Special
Forces or something, look at the shit he’s pulled.”

“No, I’m
not, nor would I portray myself to be. I’m just a guy who took advantage of all
the training I ever could. Practiced and honed those skills, read everything I
could. Knowledge is key. Operators are a different breed, I know a few. I wish
we had some right about now. I’m just a dirty fighter.”

Haliday
spoke to the group. “Look, these guys are just buying time. They will come
after everyone here. They won’t stop. I guarantee they will not give up that
food and supply stockpile without a fight. You all heard the stories of what
they’re doing.”

Jim
spoke, “Oh bullshit, I got this handled.” Jim walked back out to meet them. A
couple more people told him not to. Haliday looked around; he motioned for
Blake and Rob to back up a bit more.

Jim said,
“Ernie, they don’t trust you. But I think we can cut a deal here. Look, we’ll
all go home, but we gotta have something that shows good faith. Why don’t you
give us all some food to get by until we work out a deal on issuing the
supplies.” Ernie told him the supplies would be sold or traded, not just given
out.

“Look
Ernie. I have to agree with these guys, you can’t take this stuff and then sell
it back to us, that ain’t right. Now if that’s going to be your final offer,
then we can’t accept that, you understand right?”

Ernie
said, “I understand, but you don’t Jim. That’s not the way it works now. We
don’t bargain with terrorists either.”

“Ernie,
we’re not terrorists, just people from the community like you. You guys are
acting like the terrorists here.”

Ernie
walked away for a minute and talked on his radio. He came back. “Jim, the only
deal is you guys go home and don’t pull stunts like this again. You’re the
leader right?”

“I sure
am, but we can’t take that offer.”

Haliday
saw Ernie shift positions and Haliday yelled, “Everyone down!”

Jim never
stood a chance as a bullet ripped through his chest. Haliday and everyone else
took cover. Haliday tried to fire at the group, but too many of the guys ran
between him and the four wheeler. A couple of the guys fired at the militia
group and the militia fired back. Another man spun around and dropped his
weapon as a round pierced his shoulder.

Haliday
started yelling, “Get back. Get back!” The militia had lured some of these guys
out into the street and into the direct line of fire for their own sniper.
Ernie had merely confirmed the order and then set up Jim for the shot. Jim had
confirmed he was the leader and they figured an eye for an eye was in order,
even though their commander was just injured.

The militia
ducked down behind their four wheeler. They would raise their rifles and fire
some shots toward the crowd. Once in a while they hit another man in the back
who was trying to run. Haliday finally had a clear field of fire and started
firing back at the militia group. The rest of Rob’s friends who had been
supporting Rob had managed to all get clear of the sniper.

Haliday
counted three armed men plus Blake and himself. They hadn’t hit any of the
militia yet. There were quite a few rounds fired from the militia, but only one
or two men fired back in response. Two had bolt action hunting rifles and one
had a Ruger Mini-14. “Save your ammo,” Haliday yelled.

He
crawled over to Blake; Rob was lying next to him. “Rob, take my rifle. I’m
going to signal to Blake when I want you guys to fire.” Haliday crawled over to
his bike in the truck well. He grabbed his M24 and went around to the back of
the building. He climbed a metal ladder that was attached to the building and
hoisted himself up on the roof.

He moved
slowly toward the peak of the roof. It was a metal roof and it was cold. He
reached the peak and loaded his rifle. He quickly scanned the compound. “Where
are you damn it.” Haliday couldn’t find him. He searched some more and up on
the roof of the admin building he spotted a bunch of sand bags.

He looked
over at the gate and saw them opening it. One of the deuces pulled out slowly.
They had armored this thing up with plate steel on one side and on the cab
area, but he couldn’t see any gun ports or anything. The deuce pulled up behind
the four wheeler and nudged it a bit. The militia got alongside of the deuce,
which started to back up slowly.

It was
about halfway back to the airport now. Haliday watched. Damn good idea. Just
roll up, use it as a shield and roll back home. He told Blake to hold fire. One
of the guys ran out toward the four wheeler and jumped in. He started to drive
it toward the feed store when he was hit by the militia fire. It just rolled
over toward the feed store. The man had been hit just below the base of the
neck between his shoulders.

“Fire,
Blake, fire.” Everyone started firing toward the deuce. Haliday aimed at the
center of the sandbags and fired a round. He fired again and still nothing. He
fired two more shots and nothing. He looked through the scope. All he saw was
the side of a shoe and a white Nike swoosh. He aimed at the swoosh and fired
one last round. He scrambled down the roof and to the ladder.

He
climbed down wondering whether or not he hit the guy. He didn’t know it, but the
first four shots were wasted. The fifth shot was the only one that hit its
mark. Whoever it was that was up there sniping them would only need to buy one
shoe from now on. The whole lower half of his foot had exploded inside of his
shoe. Haliday was surprised the guy didn’t have boots on. Seeing the swoosh was
pure luck.

Haliday
called Blake and everyone over. He told one guy to watch the main street and
another to watch the back street. “How many Rob?”

Rob said,
“Two dead and three wounded.”

“You get
the guy?”

“I have
no idea. Rob, you think you can get that four wheeler?”

“Are you
crazy?” Rob asked.

“Rob,
it’s out of the kill zone for that sniper now. The rest of us will lay down
suppressing fire toward the deuce, the admin building and the rooftop where the
sniper was. You guys need that thing. You really do.”

Rob
looked at him questionably. “You sure it’ll be ok?”

“You want
me to lie to you Rob?”

“Roger,
please do.”

“It’ll be
fine Rob. We got ya covered.

“Everyone
make sure you’re loaded up. You three fire on the barricades by the admin
building. Blake, you fire on the deuce. I’ll fire on the rooftop where the
sniper is. Go on three. One, two, three.” Rob ran over and pushed the guy out
of four wheeler while everyone laid down suppressing fire. He got it started
and drove it back to the feed store. There was some return fire, but not much.
It was only a short 40 foot drive to safety.

Rob was
shaking like crazy. “I never did anything like that before. But like you said,
it worked out ok.”

“Good thing
too,” Haliday said, “I was starting to doubt myself.” Rob just looked at him.
“I’m kidding, Rob. Calculated risks Rob, we take calculated risks. Now you guys
have yourselves a four wheeler.”

He walked
over to the machine and looked around. He opened the little glove box. “A gas
card too. You get every gas can you guys have and you get them filled as soon
as you can. Fill anything that will hold gas. Oh, from now on make sure you
take firearms with you. Travel in pairs at a minimum.”

He opened
up a case and there was an AR inside. He handed it to Rob, “Give this to
someone who’s gonna use it.”

“What
about me,” Rob asked.

“You have
one at your house, remember?”

“Oh ya,
the quad too.”

“Keep
this; give the quad to someone else.” He looked down at a metal box mounted in
the back.

He opened
it up. It was loaded with 5.56 rounds. There had to be about 2,000 rounds there
on stripper clips with some magazines and loaders. Haliday said, “It looks like
a lot, but it’s not. Blake and I are going to reload our magazines and you can
keep the rest. Again, there’s a several hundred back at your house, Rob.”
Haliday and Blake reloaded their magazines.