Dark Days Rough Roads (57 page)

He called
Haliday on the radio. “I punctured the tank after I fired some tear gas over
there, I was about to launch some flares when I saw two white flags. They want
to surrender. What do you think?”

Haliday
said, “Let them.” Haliday called out a ceasefire. It took about 15 minutes but
eventually all of the firing stopped.

Haliday
called over to Mike. “How far away from them are you?” he asked.

Mike
said, “About 50 or 60 yards. What do you want me to do?”

Haliday
asked him, “Can you hear them. Can you talk to them?”

“Hold
on,” Mike said, “I’ll check.” Mike yelled over to the deuce. “Can you hear me?”

Someone
answered back, “Ya, we can hear you. We want to surrender.”

Mike told
Haliday and asked him what to do next. Haliday told him to repeat what he was
saying. Mike did just that. “You are fully surrounded with snipers and gunmen.
Do as you are told and no harm will come to you. If you fire we will fire back
on everyone. Do you understand?” The reply was yes.

Mike
continued. “Driver, get out first and walk to the rear of the truck. Keep your
hands held high.” The driver got out and did as he was told. “Gunner, you’re
next.” The gunner complied as well. “Now open the tailgate of the truck.” The
driver and gunner opened the tailgate. Inside was a mix of dead, wounded, and
men who had given up on the fight.

Haliday
told Mark, Blake, Alan, Randy and Kevin to keep their weapons trained on them.
Mike spoke again. “One by one exit the back of the truck. You must remove
everyone including the dead and injured. We want you 50 feet from the back of
the truck.” The militia carried out the orders.

Haliday
and Chuck moved in from behind slowly with rifles ready. They approached the
deuce and checked the cab with a mirror, then moved toward the back and checked
the bed, which was empty except for some weapons and gear. Haliday took over
from here. “I want all of you not injured to move forward 10 yards and stop.”

The men
moved forward and Haliday called Blake and Mike over. Haliday told them to
check the dead and injured for any weapons of any type. “Take everything off
them.” After they did this, they tossed everything in the back of the deuce.
Haliday told the other men to spread out 10 feet, lay down, cross their legs,
and place their hands on the backs of their heads.

Each one
was searched and all of their gear was removed from them. Haliday had them all
bound up. He called and asked if any of the nurses or doctors was available.
One of the doctors came by and had another man with him. “Who’s that?” Haliday
asked.

The
doctor answered, “He’s from the fire department. He’s a paramedic.”

Haliday
told them both thank you. “Can you take a look and let me know how the rest
are?”

“Sure
thing,” they said. They did a quick triage of the men.

Sixteen
militia members had assaulted them. Five were still alive, seven were dead and four
wounded. The doctor said that of the wounded, two more would die within hours.
The other two were taken to the makeshift hospital under guard. Haliday asked
the militia who was in charge. One of the men said he was.

Haliday
walked over to him, “It’s time to end this thing now. You have women and
children in there. You have women and children waiting for you guys out there,
and many of them are not going to see their family members alive again. If we
continue, it’s going to be a lot more. You ready to help end this?”

The man
looked around at his fellow militia, the dead on the ground and the two dying
men. “Yes, let’s end it.”

Haliday
called Blake over to him. Blake walked up and they stepped aside. Haliday
looked at him, “Who’s idea was that?”

Blake
hesitated a bit. “Well, we heard how things were going and we got our stuff
ready, we headed this way and hung out about halfway between here and the
house. When I heard you call in the deuce I told them we needed to go now and
we all headed this way.”

Haliday
said, “Good job kid. You saved a lot of lives here. That made all the
difference.”

They
walked over to the militia men and Haliday called a few guys in to transport
the prisoners. He looked over the leader and said, “Pick one more man to
negotiate and then call in to the compound and tell them to send out two
people. They’ll be safe, and if it doesn’t work out I’ll return them.” He cut
the man’s hands loose and looked around. “Brad, you stay with me.” He then
called in and spoke to the HQ.

Haliday
listened to the conversation. “You guys in there don’t understand. These people
just handed us our asses. We have 5 out 16 of us left, you hear that? Five of
us. Our wives and kids aren’t coming anywhere near this place. Hell, if they
are smart they left already. You understand what’s happening out here? Do you
guys understand what will happen in there?”

The man
continued, “Listen, they control the south end of the compound and that includes
the food. You can’t get anyone in or out of the main gate because they have
that under their control as well. It’s just a matter of time before they
continue to march forward and then push everyone into the HQ building, where
they’ll probably burn it down. Negotiating a ceasefire is the best we can get.”

The HQ
replied to him. “They can bring their group in and we can talk in here.”
Haliday looked at the guy and shook his head no.

The man
spoke, “Listen, you’re safer out here and they ain’t buying that come inside
BS.”

“All right,
we’re coming out, give us about five minutes.” Haliday put everyone on high
alert and they watched as two guys made their way out of the admin building.

They
walked up and looked Haliday up and down. Haliday looked at them and said, “You
guys want a date or what? I don’t have time for bullshit here. You guys have
caused me enough grief to last a lifetime.” Rob looked at them. He knew one of
the guys, but wasn’t sure about the other. Haliday said, “This is Brad, Chuck
and Rob; they will negotiate along with me.”

One man
looked at him; “You’re an outsider. What gives you the right?”

Haliday
answered, “Listen shithead. I’m not going to explain it. If you’d rather we
continue to reduce your ranks, we can end the conversation now and go right
back at it. Now you can talk nice or you can go in there and explain to
everyone why they are going to die. So this is what will happen.”

Haliday
continued, “First, each and every one of you will surrender. You will all be
placed into custody until these guys here decide who to try and who to release.
They will hold the trials in a public venue with an impartial jury. The
sentences they give out will be final. No appeals. There were some serious
crimes committed here. That’s not negotiable.”

“Second,
any and all food here will remain in the townspeoples custody and that will be
distributed according to how they see fit. There is a community here and
everyone will come together and share resources. You guys will be included. You
will not be leaving with what you think is yours; too many people paid the
price for it already. That’s not negotiable.”

“Third,
your firearms will be seized along with all ammunition. Your homes will be
searched.. These firearms will not be returned until they see fit to return
them to you. This prevents you guys from banding together and playing warlords
again. That’s not negotiable.”

“Fourth,
you guys are responsible for any women and children from your group who are now
left on their own. You’ll take them in and you’ll take care of them. I don’t
mean servitude, I mean as part of your family. We will be checking on them.
That’s not negotiable.”

“Fifth,
you will provide burial for each and every person that has died here. You will
dig their graves, you will bury them with respect and it will be done with the
utmost dignity. You will do so at the sheriff’s house. That’s not negotiable.
You have any questions?”

“I do,”
one of the militia said as he moved forward a bit. “What exactly do we get to
negotiate?”

Haliday
smiled at him. “Your life. That’s what you get to negotiate. You take the terms
and live or you roll the dice and see what comes out of it that way. You look
smart enough to understand that. I’ll give you guys a few minutes to talk.”

Haliday
and his group backed off a bit. There was some arguing going on for a minute,
then three of the militia members walked over. “Ok, we accept.”

Haliday
pointed over at the fourth man. “What about him, is he going to be trouble?”

One
answered, “No he shouldn’t be.”

Haliday
said, “Ok, he stays then.” He pointed; “You and you go back in and tell them
what’s happening. Call me when you’re ready. We’ll walk you through the
process.”

Haliday
moved away and talked to Chuck, Brad and Rob. “You guys good with that I
assume?”

Rob said,
“Ya, how do we try them though.”

Chuck
spoke up, “I’ll help with that.”

“That’s
good,” Haliday said. “You’ll also need to set up some form of government rule
to keep things civil.” The radio crackled. “They’re ready,” Haliday said.

Haliday
started with the fighting positions. He would empty one and bring the people
in. He emptied the second and then had Rob’s guys move into the first.
Eventually all of the positions were manned by Rob’s group. He had the people
come out of the admin building two at a time and bring the injured with them.

Everyone
was outside now and disarmed. Haliday had them all bound and ready for
transport. He’d be sending them to the county jail just down from the police
department and would use locks and chains on the cells. They would be the
community’s problem now. An hour later they were all in cells.

Haliday
walked over to the building where they had kept the prisoners. They entered it
and found almost a dozen people inside. They were all still alive, but some
were badly beaten and they were hungry and thirsty. They tended to these people
and moved them to safety. Haliday asked them who was captured in the woods with
the motorcycle and a couple raised their hands. “You guys can leave when you
want, we’ll get you to your boat when you’re ready.”

They went
through each of the buildings and made sure each was empty and that they had
all of the firearms and ammunition gathered up. This was all placed in the
admin building. They made sure nothing that could be used as a weapon was left
in the buildings at all, especially in the buildings used for housing.

Haliday
rounded up all of his people and they stood around and talked for a bit. He
told Rob to make sure the people in the jail got food and water and had
blankets so they would be warm enough. “Get their work detail busy and get the
bodies handled right away. Use the chain gang format.”

Rob
looked at Roger, “Why the sheriff’s house?”

Roger
told him that if the sheriff ever saw freedom again, he would need a reminder
every day.

“Rob, keep
this area under heavy security at all times, and move everything to a secure
location as soon as you can.” Haliday looked around. What a hell of a couple
weeks this had been. “Rob, good luck, we’ll be in touch.” They shook hands and
parted ways. Haliday and Mark took the rest of the guys and they all headed
home.

They
arrived back at the house. They all passed on dinner and opted for showers and
fresh clothes instead. Afterwards they settled for soup. They were sitting
around in silence. Kayla had security set up for the night. It would be Rich,
Bev, Karen, Sarah, Dawn, Diana, David and herself taking turns tonight. They
let the guys sleep through the night.

It had
been three days since the last assault on the airport. Roger sat at the table
drinking his coffee and eating his breakfast burrito. Both Max, the mutant dog
and Romeo, the cat, were eyeing his plate. “I don’t think so, animals,” he
said. Romeo had his own food and Max was given scraps and leftovers to eat. The
byproduct of that, however, was mutant dog farts which Max seemed to enjoy
sharing with Roger.

Blake was
sitting next to him, and Alan was across the table with Kevin. Mark was sitting
in a chair next to Lisa who was doing much better now. In a couple more days,
she would be ok and as long as Haliday was certain no infection or issues would
arise, he would let them head back with Mike and Linda to Mark’s parents’ farm.
They all reflected on the past couple of weeks.

Kayla
walked over and sat down as well. “Hey Dad,” she said, “how much more of this
we gonna have to deal with?”

He looked
at her, “I hope none, but we still don’t know what the hell is going on in this
country. I’d really like to know what the hell the government is doing about
this, and what the hell even happened. I think the immediate threat is over for
now. I don’t suspect we’ll get a lot of activity during the winter. Not too
sure many plow trucks are working these days, so it’ll be hard to get around.”

He
continued on with his thoughts. “We’ll have to get a good grip on the inventory
of everything we have. One thing in particular will be to hide as much of the
food as possible now that people think we are loaded down with stocks of
everything. That will be easy enough though. We’ll cover the doorways downstairs
with the paneling covers to hide them again. We can move some to the other
caches, and set up some more alarms out there.” This would all be done within
the next week.