Dark Days Rough Roads (50 page)

Mark went
outside and relieved Roger who went inside to check on everyone inside. He
walked over to David who was being worked on by Rich and Bev. Bev had managed
to flush his wound and get everything cleaned out. She even managed to get the
bullet out which had stuck in his bone.

She
packed it and bandaged it. Haliday was thinking he might need to pay that
doctor a visit or at least get the nurse over here as soon as he could. He had
pain killers and antibiotics and some other meds stashed for occasions like
this, but he had limited medical knowledge. He had taken some first responder
training and that was it.

Karen had
put some water on to boil so she could make some hot coffee and cocoa for
everyone and she had started a big pot of stew. She left the meat out so that
Dawn, Diana and she could have some as well. Haliday could hear Diana telling
her to make sure she left it meatless; she was actually a full blown vegan.
They’d add the meat afterwards. Freeze dried beef cooked up fast.

He walked
over to Diana. “How bad is it?” he asked.

Karen
walked over and said, “It went through and broke her collar bone. We got it
cleaned up and she’ll be fine.”

Haliday
reached into his cargo pocket and fished around. He pulled his hand out and
offered it to Diana. “You’re an ass,” she said. He chuckled, took a big bite of
jerky and then blew his breath in her face. “You’re disgusting,” she offered.

He
grabbed a milk crate and put the pot of stew inside. He stuffed some rolls and
plastic spoons and bowls on the side. He carried it outside along with an empty
one and made his rounds dishing out the meal and a couple of words of
encouragement and thanks. He collected the thermoses and took drink orders.
After his rounds, he went back inside and set to filling the orders.

He filled
half the thermoses with coffee and half with hot cocoa. He grabbed an armful of
the blankets which were nice and toasty now and delivered them outside. After making
sure everyone was good to go, he went back over to Mark. “What do you think,
Mark?”

“It’s your
call, Roger. We have about two hours until dawn.”

Roger
told him they would be waiting it out until then. He did have a little thing he
needed to take care of. He went in the house and changed out his gear load. It
was light, just a very few items he would need, and he would only be gone no
more than 30 minutes he hoped. Rich asked him, “Where you going Roger?”

“I’m
going to pay the neighbor a visit.”

After he
walked back outside, he touched base with Mark. Mark looked at him, “Where you
going?”

“I’m
going across the street for some tea and biscuits. I’ll be back very soon. Take
charge here and make sure they don’t shoot me on my way back in.”

Mark
promised, “Won’t happen.” Haliday took off and made his way across the street.

He went
around to the back and made his way to the porch. He stopped and listened. He
didn’t really hear anything. He pulled out a small telescoping mirror and
raised it up and glanced through the window. He didn’t see anything, just a
couple small candles glowing. He slowly reached up and twisted the handle of
the door and it opened.

He
entered the house and moved at a snails pace, his .40 ready. He was in the
large kitchen and slowly went down the hall, checking the rooms as he went. He
found one closed and made a note of it. He made it to the front of the house
and stopped by the living room. He saw two figures, one in a chair, and one on
the couch lying down.

The woman
was on the couch and Lance was sitting in his chair. He had a bottle of whiskey
by him. Haliday looked over at the woman, who was motionless. He watched Lance
for a couple of minutes. Finally Haliday spoke. “Lance, what happened?”

Lance
didn’t turn around. He just spoke, “She’s dead.”

“Who’s
dead, Lance?”

He
pointed to the couch.

“Is that
your daughter, Lance?”

“No,
that’s my wife. I shot her.” He said it with no emotion at all.

“Lance,
you don’t look like you’re tied up in this crap. I mean, it looks like you’ve been
here in that chair all night.” Lance didn’t speak. Haliday moved a bit closer
with his pistol still aimed at the back of Lance’s head. He spotted the picture
in Lance’s hand. It was his daughter’s graduation picture. On the table in
front of Lance was an opened bottle of pills.

Haliday
moved over to the couch and dropped one hand down and confirmed the lady was
dead. On the floor in front of Lance he saw a pistol laying there. He also saw
an empty pill bottle on the floor. Lance looked at him. “She did it Roger, I
told her to mind her business, to tell Nicole to get the hell out of that cult
or whatever the hell it is. She wouldn’t listen. Neither of them would. I
begged them both. My wife thought it was a good idea, broaden Nicole’s
horizons. I didn’t think they would go this far.”

“Lance,
where’s your daughter?”

“She’s in
the bedroom. I put her to sleep in there.” Lance picked up the bottle of pills
from the coffee table and emptied them into his mouth and washed them down with
whiskey. He drank quite a few more swigs after that. “Roger, can you do me a
favor?”

“What’s
that, Lance?”

“Bury my
daughter for me. She deserves it. She didn’t know any better. She was young, in
love and caught up in a fantasy. They left her out there laying on the ground.
My wife almost didn’t seem to care.”

“I don’t
care about my wife, or even me, but you’re a father. You understand. She always
liked the tree house I built her. That would be nice over there. I’m sorry
Roger, I really am.”

Roger
walked up, “I promise Lance, I’ll do that for you.” Haliday slowly retreated
keeping his guard up. He heard the whiskey bottle drop and shatter. He
continued on. He checked the closed room on his way out.

He passed
through the kitchen and looked at the table closely. There were hand drawn maps
of his property and everything surrounding it. He reached down and grabbed them
all. This lady had been spying on them since he bought the place. She had the
aerial photos and drawings of the place before the cabin even went up. The pile
was a good two inches thick.

He looked
at the notes and had figured just as much. She had started from the moment the
group set foot on the property. She had the days and times written down and
everything that happened, everything they did. She had it marked when he and
Blake had returned as well. Every move they made. It was like a journal though:
I saw, I noticed, I think. Poor Lance was mere labor around here it seemed
like. Never knew what was coming.

He walked
back toward his house slowly and solemnly. Nothing he could have done would
have prevented this. She had his number from the beginning and even if he would
have shot her on day one, the militia knew everything already. He would return
tomorrow and bury them as promised. He reached the house. “What happened over
there?” Bev asked. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t
do anything. It was done already,” he said.

*****

The
militia convoy was on its way back. Rob and Brad had everyone in position. The
plan was put together rather quickly, but since they had learned from Haliday
that conventional fighting was not an option and guerilla warfare was the only
option, that’s what they decided to do.

As word
had spread over the past couple of days about the militia getting whittled
away, the townspeople managed to get a few more people to join the cause. This
was their fight and their fight for their own survival. Nobody would be riding
in like the cavalry and saving the day. Any chance they would have of surviving
started with this fight and those involved in the community had to do it.

The
militia convoy was coming through the small town now. They were tired, worn,
had taken severe losses and wanted to get back to the airport. Thirty one
people had left the compound and nine were now dead and six injured. Three of
the injured would most likely die within the next couple of days. This didn’t
include the observer, who had been Haliday’s neighbor.

In order
to take the wounded back, they had left behind two of the quads. The Jeep was
left in the ditch as well. They were certain Haliday’s group would certainly
take them as their own. The Jeep was the biggest loss as far as the vehicles
were concerned. The guy who owned it had about 50 grand worth of work done to
it. Lift kit, run flat tire system, radio, extra roll bars, snorkel kit and
more. Haliday had seen it and said it looked like a JC Whitney catalog
exploded.

The
convoy was getting ready to make a right hand turn down a small street full of
houses that would lead them to the main gate of the airport. The lead vehicle
made the turn and got about 200 feet down the road when four people on each
side of the road pushed some vehicles down the driveways of the houses where
they had been waiting.

The
vehicles rolled down the drives and met in the street blocking the access. The
militia vehicle had hit the brakes as soon as they saw them move. The convoy
only had about 50 feet between the vehicles and three more had made the turn.
They were all trying to back up now. The man on the lone motorcycle went across
the lawns and made a run for the airport’s main gate and made it.

The
militia called the airport for help but were told negative. They couldn’t put
any more members in danger right now. The vehicles started to split up. They
moved in different directions. They could cut through the surrounding
neighborhood and eventually get to the airport provided they didn’t run into
too many problems.

One of
the pickup trucks that had not made the right hand turn shot straight ahead
instead. Only 150 feet down the road, they ran over two of the stop sticks the
townspeople had made and the tires went flat immediately. The truck tried to
keep moving but the shredded tires and rims on the road made it hard.

They
stopped the truck and both occupants jumped out. They started running south.
The airport was about a quarter of a mile away and they would try to get there
on foot. They crossed through some yards and then into an open area with homes
on both sides, and continued moving. They were hesitant and sensed an ambush.

No sooner
had they turned to look for cover when eight of the townspeople started firing
on them. The townspeople had unleashed a volley of over 100 shots fired. The
men had never stood a chance as the rounds hit them and they fell lifeless to
the ground. The townspeople moved in and took the weapons and ammo from the
men.

The deuce
had been second in line. After it had backed up, it moved forward again quickly
and rammed the two vehicles. It barely made it through them and it continued toward
the gate. All of their injured were in the back. The driver did not hesitate;
he just kept right on going. If the vehicles used to block the road hadn’t been
in neutral, it would have been a different story.

He made
it through the gate and to the back of the admin building where more members
helped unload the injured. One of the townspeople on top of the roof was going
to fire but after seeing the wounded people he just let them be. He couldn’t
find it in himself to shoot any of them. He would seek out another target.

The last
vehicle in line had seen all of the activity and locked up their brakes and hit
reverse. The vehicle was going almost 45 miles an hour backwards. A few people
tossed some of the caltrops into the road. One of the rear tires blew out and
the vehicle careened backwards into a party store. People moved toward the
store and then took cover. The militia inside the vehicle got out and took
cover behind the vehicle inside the store.

One of
the men ran to the back door and tried to open it. It had been padlocked from
the outside from one of their own group during the seizure of all the supplies
in town. He went back and told the woman with him that the only way out was
through the front of the store. They didn’t know whether to fight or surrender.

One man
yelled to them. “Who are you guys? What are your names?” The militia couple did
not answer. They didn’t know if it would do them any good. They thought if they
could get out of there and no one knew who they were, they could deny being
involved. They talked about it for a few minutes and made their decision.

“Listen
out there,” they said. “We want to surrender. We’ll come out and surrender,
please don’t shoot.” Brad was with this group. He didn’t honestly know what to
do. He called Rob and asked him about taking prisoners. Rob had no idea either.

Rob
called him back, “Hey Brad, take them down the street to the police department
and lock them up. Take all their gear though.”

Brad
yelled in to the store. “Come on out, hands raised, no weapons or we’ll shoot.”
The couple came out slowly with their hands in the air. Brad made them lay down
on the ground and a couple of others searched the couple. Brad was looking at
them. “I know you guys. Jerry, what the hell are you guys doing?” Jerry just
looked at him. Brad asked him again but still no answer.

“Jerry, I
can’t believe you got involved in all of this. Then you went and attacked that
guy and his family. How could you do that?” Jerry and his wife just laid there.
“Get them up and let’s go,” Brad said. “Put their asses in the police
department and in the jail.” They walked them down to the police department
which was empty. They placed them in a cell with the blankets they had in their
truck and locked it.