EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME (27 page)

George tallied everything as people brought him lists of salvaged stuff. All of the food, guns, ammunition, and some other items were moved underground before the attack, but much was lost in the buildings, especially personal effects. Most of us just had the clothes on our backs now.

The captured invaders were questioned and then executed by firing squad. It was harsh, but necessary.

Temporary bathing and washing stations were set up. The windmill that pumped the water remained undamaged and, once a few bullet holes in the water tank were patched, we had a tank full of water again. The most sorely missed items were the blankets.

The second attack came on the fifth night. They swarmed over our crude ramparts. Our sentries did not see them coming. The night was moonless and cloudy so the starlight was not bright enough to see by. I ran into the ranch yard with an A4 carbine, crouched behind a barrier, and started firing at muzzle flashes. In just a few minutes I was grappling with two of the attackers who came upon me unseen. I managed to knock one out and stab the other one with my bowie knife.

I retreated to the barn door, and fought beside two newcomers. We were losing. Many of our people were down. Then someone threw a flare into the ranch yard. The flare blinded our attackers, who were wearing night vision goggles. Quickly three more flares were tossed into the ranch yard. Before the attackers could remove their night vision goggles, the battle turned the other way. Now that we had something to shoot at, the attackers were falling under our fire. I emptied one magazine and started on another. Soon all the attackers we could see were dead or wounded. The gunfire subsided and all we heard was the moaning and screams of the wounded and dying.

I looked for Julie. She was in the barn, and other than one close call, she was fine. "Where is Yeti?" I asked as we held each other.

"Yeti is the one who saved the day," Vern said as he appeared beside us. "He realized that our attackers were using night vision goggles and threw the flares from the roof of the barn to blind the attackers."

"He is one smart fellow," George said. "We all owe him our lives tonight." He put his hand on Vern's shoulder. "Just like we owe our lives to you for destroying the intruders' vehicles in the last attack. Vern."

"It really wasn't a big deal," Vern said.

Soon our casualties were gathered into a makeshift first aid area and those who knew how were tending to them.

We suffered 14 wounded and eight dead in the attack. Two of the wounded would probably not make it. One of the newcomers was found dead, a twelve-year-old boy—Darrell. There were seven dead attackers around him. He killed them all with a handgun before he was killed. His empty pistol lay at his feet.

We were down to 30 people, and two of those would most likely pass before morning. A couple of men were badly wounded, but should survive. Others were walking wounded.

Since the first sniper attack, we had 20 dead, and by morning that would most likely be 22. That was almost half of our people dead in a matter of a few weeks.

We posted several sentries; each equipped with night vision goggles taken from our attackers, while everyone else met in the barn. George gathered everyone in front of him and began speaking.

"I am sorry that we have lost so many people, sorrier that I could ever find words to say. In the time since most of you joined us at the Double H, I have come to know and like you. You are all good people and some damn good fighters."

"After much thought, I have come to a conclusion: No matter how much effort we spend on defenses here at the ranch, I don't think we will be able to defend it without horrible losses."

"Now, all of you know that Wayne, Julie, Yeti, and Dave are planning on taking an expedition to Indiana in about a month. I propose that we all go along and look for a safer place to settle. I think we are all family now and should stay together, but of course everyone is free to do as he or she wishes."

"No one has to decide right now. I urge all of you to do what you think is best for you. My family has been on this ranch for 142 years, and, as much as I want to leave the Double H to my daughter, it is time to leave."

"There is safety in numbers and there is, at least in times like these, I think, safety in mobility. Here on the ranch, we are a sitting target. Rather than rebuild, we should build the best and safest caravan we can."

"In a few days, I will ask Wayne to tell us more about his plans and what might be awaiting us in Indiana."

There was much discussion in the crowd. I was surprised by George's decision. I assumed he would rebuild the ranch and stay.

I was devastated by the losses we took in the attacks. I was also petrified at the thought of being responsible for all of these people. What if I made a mistake?

Dave tugged at my hand, "You can do it Wayne." I think he saw the look on my face and read my mind.

"I don't know Dave. I don't know if I am up to it?"

"Of course you are Wayne, and you will have help. Don't forget that."

"Yeah Dad, you can do this. These people will follow you anywhere." Yeti laid his arm across my shoulders.

Julie came over from where she had been talking to several of the women. I think she sensed my doubts too. "Wayne, we can't predict the future. We just have to do the best we can. That is all anyone can ask."

At the next meeting I told everyone of my plans, about how I wanted to establish a peaceful trading company so we could gain protected passage across lands controlled by the coming feudal warlords, much like the one we had recently defeated, though not identified. I also said that, in order to be peaceful, we had to be better armed than any group we might encounter. We had a start on that with the cannon, night vision goggles—as long as the batteries lasted anyway, and the armament we had gathered.

I told them that the size of our caravan would most likely grow as other good men and women joined us until we were a force to be reckoned with. I also told them that there were no guarantees. I did not know what would happen on the journey, or what we would encounter. We might all survive, some of us might die, or all of us might die.

In the end, everyone decided to go.

Wayne

We spent the next month preparing for caravan. Three more expeditions raided stranded truck trailers for trade goods and supplies we might need. There were no casualties, although there were a couple of skirmishes. Soon we had six freight wagons full of trade goods.

Two of the more mechanically inclined, and our engineer, were looking over the captured truck and our Humvee. The Humvee was lightened as much as possible without limiting it's basic defensibility, and rigged so it could be drawn by a team of six horses to save fuel for when it was needed. The truck was tested on diesel, and ran fine. It we would drive, probably in the lead.

We collected fuel from the stranded 18-wheelers until we had the truck completely loaded with fuel drums. While we didn't have nearly enough fuel to reach our destination, we thought we could find more along the way. We would use the truck to pull the cannon, at least until we ran out of fuel for the truck, or ammunition for the cannon.

Julie

I am heart-broken over the damage to the ranch, but I am glad that Dad and everyone else are going with us. I have good friends among the newcomer women, and I have Wayne—at least until we reach Indiana.

I hope this journey won’t be as physically difficult as the trip Wayne and I made to the ranch. I hope it will be better. I see Wayne sitting in a chair in front of the barn. Dave is beside him and they are deep in conversation. Yeti is talking to Larry. Dad is talking to Dan. There is much animation among our tribe, for that is what we are becoming, and the mood is high, even though we mourn our losses.

For me, the trip seems like a new beginning. I am no longer the same spinster worker-bee I was. I am now married, although some day I want a wedding ceremony. I am a lot tougher than I was before. We are all much tougher than before.

There are deep friendships among those in our company. I like it. I feel at home with these people, perhaps because we have been through so much together. It is so nice to know that other people are here to help. That is a feeling I never had in the work world among the office back-stabbers and cutthroats. I am surprised to realize I am happy.

Yet we are in the middle of a war. There is no other way to describe it. It is kill or be killed far too often. It is like someone opened the zoo doors and let all of the monsters out. Were these people, and I use the term loosely, like that before the EMP? Was it our system of law that held them in check? Did the loss of laws change something in otherwise normal people and turn them into monsters?

Yeti thinks these monsters will all be killed off soon enough because now good people can see them for what they really are. He calls it the Great Cleansing. I hope he is right. I want children with Wayne and I don't want to raise them in a world gone mad. I can do without electricity, but I want peace.

Wayne

George said we will take all of the cattle with us so he and his hands, and a few others, rounded up the cattle and pastured them near ranch headquarters. Taking all the cattle with us makes sense. They will be food for us, and trade goods as well. Since we will not be moving at more than a walk anyway, the cattle should do fine. We soon had well over eight hundred head pastured nearby. I noticed the brands were not all Double H, but I said nothing.

In addition to the freight wagons, we have three smaller farm wagons, a buckboard, and an old, but sound, chuck wagon. George did a fine job of trading with neighboring ranchers for some of the things we needed. The three smaller farm wagons will carry our personal gear and any of the wounded that cannot walk when we leave.

Our military men and Yeti worked on defenses for our caravan. They did a better job than I ever could have done.

We set up a committee to prioritize the trade goods we should take. The best trade goods were the lightest items that most people did not have on hand before the EMP. These include needles, matches, cloth, medical supplies, corrective lens glasses of any prescription, some foods that keep well and are light in weight, such as noodles, pasta, and rice, and common condiments such as salt and pepper, etc. One expedition to raid stranded 18-wheelers found an entire pallet of binoculars. These were loaded into one of the freight wagons.

We are taking every horse George has, and every horse and mule we could trade for. By the time the caravan was assembled we had over fifty horses, including 30 draft horses, and six mules. George wanted still more and said we would trade for more as we traveled. We also had every saddle we could lay our hands on piled high in one of the wagons, as well as every piece of horse tack that could be found.

And tools; we brought mechanics tools, axes, saws, hammers, planes, files, chisels, splitting wedges, sledge hammers, and every old wagon-making and repair tool we could find. One of the wagons was loaded with all of the remaining horse feed and covered with a tarp. We also have tobacco, cigarettes, hard liquor, over the counter medications, knives, and a few herbs and spices, etc. for trade goods.

Our goal is to use advance riders to find out what trade goods the people ahead need and want. These same riders will also gather the security intel we will need to travel safely across the land and choose defensible locations for our trade fairs. They will be our best riders and be on our fastest horses.

We, of course, took all of the guns and ammunition we had. I wasn't sure yet if we should use any guns or ammunition for trade along our route, since guns and ammunition could be used against us. Time and experience will tell.

I spoke with everyone individually and asked them if they had relatives along our route that they wanted to check on. Many did. We planned our route so as many people as possible could check on their relatives. I was hoping many would be alive, and I hoped that at least some of them would join us if we could offer them more than they had.

We elected a council to assist the Trader (me), and advise him. The council consists of six people. Larry, our military tactics guy, Louisa our head cook, Yeti, our resident genius, Dan, one of the original cowboys who knew cattle and horses and was our lead scout and best tracker, Charlie, our mechanical engineer, and George as our generalist.

I called a general meeting and laid out the ground rules. They were few:

1) No fighting among ourselves. I would settle all disputes as fairly as I could. Fighting would be reason to be kicked out of the caravan.

2) Anyone caught aiding an enemy would be hung, if found guilty by the Trader and the Council.

3) All trading decisions and routes taken would be my responsibility.

Only three rules, but I was sure, sooner or later, all would be broken. It is the way of men, and women, to break rules at times. I had broken more than a few rules myself.

On March 15th, we assembled the caravan for departure. It took all day. The next day we harnessed the horses once more and checked over the caravan. Everyone made lists of needed items, or materials. The next two days were spent finding or making as many of these items as possible.

On Today, March 19th we assembled the caravan once more. Soon we will roll out. The first day we will cover only a short distance and leave plenty of time for everyone to learn their duties and the routine of the road. It will also be a check on our equipment and maybe shake out any problems.

I stood before everyone as they assembled before me, except the duty sentries of course.

"Today we begin," I said. "I see before me 27 members of my family, because you are all family to me. Our goal is not to get rich, because without money, that option is not available anymore. Our goal is to find a place where each person here can have as safe and secure a life as possible. So you might say our goal is survival, and it is. But it is more than that. We are among the first groups after the EMP to deliberately set out to better people's lives, rather than try to take their goods and lives from them as many of late have attempted to do to us."

"We have a hard journey before us. We do not know what it will bring or what our fate will be. Heck, in spite of our intentions, we don't even know where we will wind up. But we do know that we travel in the best of company."

My speech, although not very professional, aroused a few exuberant cries. I looked over the faces before me. Some were excited, some seemed apprehensive, and some seemed still beaten down by their recent experiences. But all seemed ready to go. We rolled out at 10:00 AM.

I sat on the seat of the first freight wagon beside Julie. The truck took the lead. I did not need to choose the path. Our head scout, Dan, did that. I suspected he and I would often confer over the route we were to take in the days, weeks, months, and maybe years to come, but it was simpler to just let the chief scout lead the way for now. The outriders were taking their positions and ranging farther afield as we traveled.

Julie laid her hand on my thigh as I drove the four-horse team. Before the End of the World, I had never ridden a horse, let alone driven a horse-drawn wagon, nor had I ever pictured myself doing so. For that matter, I never thought I would ever have to kill anyone, or that I might be good at it. I most certainly never thought I would have two wives.

Many things after the End of the World were simpler now. If someone tried to kill you, you did your best to kill him before he could kill you. No rules, no laws, and no recriminations.

The right skills were everything in life now. No longer was there a stock market or commodities market. There were no more politicians. There were no more bankers, or lawyers, or deliverymen, or truck drivers (not many anyway). Much of life before the EMP had vanished in an instant, yet I hoped that, sooner or later, a better way to live would evolve.

Julie pressed against me as we rolled along. She was happy and I was happy she was with me. I was also happy that I was on my way to see Lucy and Ben, as well as Cap and Mary. I was confused about what I would say to Lucy about Julie, but I had manned up enough to just do it when the time came and suffer the consequences.

I don't think I was the same man who flew into New Mexico not very many months ago. I was stronger, much tougher, and carried no excess weight. I was much more decisive, and I had confidence that I need bow to no man.

Yet I valued people now more than before. Cell phones, iPads, computers, television, and other electronic devices served only to separate us from other people. I had only a few true friends before, but now I had many: Yeti, Julie, George, Dave, and Max, who I lost, and many of the others. For the first time in my life I knew what it was like to be strongly connected to a group of people.

I had taken on a great responsibility on this journey, one that, at first, I had not understood. At first I just wanted to get home to Lucy and Ben and I thought there would be safety in numbers—no more, no less. Now I knew I had become a leader, and a leader must always put his followers first. That responsibility would take me, and those who traveled with me, on paths we could not yet know. It would take us into adventures and terrors we could not imagine. All of which would help us to grow into a tighter tribe, or family, if we survived, and I intended for us, all of us, to survive.

The End

Look for EMP: Caravan—the next book in the series, coming soon