Jernigan's War (4 page)

Dix slowly made his way up the stairs with the little schnauzers hot on his trail. It was quickly apparent that the place had been ransacked. No one was home, and there was no food. He barricaded the door at the top of the stair so that he could take his time going through the apartment. Using a pair of scissors and some flea spray he found, he tended to the dogs, trimming off all their matted hair and killing the fleas. The gas was still on so Dix lit the burners on the stove for heat and pulled out a candle lantern from his bag, turning off his head lamp to conserve its batteries. The water was out so he drained water from the hot water heater and filled his bottles. He put out a dish for the schnauzers. They found their crates and sacked out. He found their heart worm medicine and flea preventative, gave it to
them and left them alone. It was after midnight and he was very tired. He thought about leaving them and continuing on but he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. Here he was secure, fed and warm. Now was not the time to move on, he needed rest. He blew out the candle and fell asleep on the couch. Other than the dogs hearing something and barking in the middle of the night, all was quiet.

CHAPTER 6

ESCAPE

I
t was mid-morning when he finally woke. His neck was sore from the stitched up wound near the base of his skull. He broke out another MRE and split it with the dogs. There was nothing else in the apartment that he could use at the moment. He took some more water from the hot water heater and bathed and shaved. He washed the pups in the water in the tub before he pulled the plug. He found the dog’s leashes and decided to do something unexpected. He put the bugout bag across his shoulder and made sure his weapons were hidden under his clothes. He put the dogs on their leashes and proceeded to take them for a walk. He wanted to brazenly walk the streets as though he owned them. He held the dogs with his left hand and had his right hand through the slit in his coat next to the pocket. The safety was off and he was holding the pistol grip of his rifle. In one motion he could deploy it and fire. He checked his map and began the three mile walk to the hospital.

The first half mile was uneventful. He came to a barricaded street with several young unkempt men hanging around. He was certain they had been employed as drug running gang
members before the collapse. One of them walked out with a semi-automatic pistol held sideways, “Dude, I don’t know what you are doing here but this is your ......................”

Dix didn’t give him time to finish. In one motion he dropped the leashes he was holding in his left hand, swung the rifle up and starting shooting as he brought it up to eye level. The first shot hit the gang banger just above his knee, the second entered just below his navel and the third hit him in the throat. With both eyes open Dix fired on the next nearest person as soon as the holographic circle covered his body. He didn’t wait to see if his mark was true but instead concentrated on the third thug who almost had his gun up. He fired three shots before the gang banger dropped to the ground. He turned back to the second one but didn’t have to fire again.

Dix called back the pups and proceeded out of the area. All the shooting was sure to arouse their friends and anyone else in the area. He took time to pick up their guns and ammo which he stuffed into his bag of gear. He then ducked between some houses and replaced the partially emptied magazine in his rifle with a fresh one.

Dix realized that he had been very lucky so far. It was probably a reckless move to brazenly walk down the sidewalk with dogs on leashes. But the last thing the gang bangers expected was a silly old man out walking his dogs.

He stopped for a moment in another garden and checked the GPS. He was one mile away from the hospital. If the hospital was still under control of the police and authorities the next problem would be getting past their security perimeter. There was no way on earth they would let him come in armed. He proceeded down the road until he was within sight of another barricade. This one was in front of the hospital. He decided to get within yelling range of the men manning it. He circled around until he was within earshot of the sentries and yelled, “You at the barricade, I need your help.”

A young man yelled back, “You’re out of luck; we don’t leave our cover for any reason. If you want to approach you better be near naked and unarmed or we shoot first.”

Dix assured him, “I have no intention of approaching. I’m looking for Maggie Schoffield and her husband Dr. William Schoffield. I’m Maggie’s father. The last word I got was they were sheltered and working here.”

The guard answered, “They’re here, but as I said, no one gets in or out of here armed.”

“Get my daughter. I’ll wait here.”

While he waited, he broke out some water for him and the dogs and opened his 4th MRE. He was keenly aware of his surroundings but there was no movement or sound from any direction. He split his MRE’s with the pups; the food was really pepping them up. He heard Maggie yell out, “How do I know it’s you, Daddy?”

“I’ve got Hereaux and Bernie, they’ll vouch for me.”

Maggie and Bill came running out with Bill carrying his shotgun. They escorted Dix back to the hospital. With tears running down her face Maggie wanted to know, “What about Mama and Jake?”

Dix reassured her, “When I left them they were just fine, we’ve had to start killing people to stay alive. Are you ready to evacuate?”

“Oh yes! We ran out of hospital food yesterday, there are some MRE’s left and the guards still have ammo but half of them slipped out last night.”

Dix nodded, “Can you gather up some medical supplies, Bill?”

“I’ve already got a pack put together, and I cleaned out the vending machines.”

“How’s your ammo holding out?”

Bill frowned, “We’re down to just what’s in our guns.” Dix opened his pack and pulled out the pistols and ammo he took from the gang bangers. All three were Glock nine millimeters with extra magazines. He handed one each to Maggie and Bill, “Stick these behind your belts.” “How long has the electricity been off? I’m surprised that the city isn’t flooded with the pumps off.”

Maggie filled him in, “The Corp of Engineers had several of the pumps under guard and the emergency generators running. But, they abandoned the city three days ago.”

“What about transportation, Maggie? Where are your vehicles?”

“My Forrester and Bill’s truck are in the parking garage. They’ve both been stripped.”

“Then are there any police or military vehicles?”

“There are a couple of Humvee’s but I don’t think they’ll let us use them.”

“We’ll see about that,” Dix said, “Who’s in charge now?”

“There is a scared Army Sergeant, who has lost touch with his command, and lost most of his men.”

“Take me to him,” Dix said as he walked deeper into the hospital.

They walked down a long hall to the lobby where the Sergeant had a command post set up. Sand bags lined the glass walls and created a funnel where any foot traffic was channeled just one way in and out. From the look of the dark circles under his eyes he hadn’t had any sleep and he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dix looked at him, “Son, it looks like you’ve caught hell! Where do you stand?”

The young Sergeant grimaced, “We’ve discharged or buried all the patients, I’ve been out of touch with my commanders for two weeks, my men are deserting, and we will be overrun at any time, because they think we have food.”

“What do your men want to do?”

“They want to get home to their families while they still have a little food and ammo.”

Dix told him what he had learned from the short wave: that they were looking at a total societal collapse. What was happening in New Orleans was the same thing that had been happening all over the world.

“Where’s your home, son?”

Pulling out a picture, the sergeant showed it to Dix, “My wife and kids are at my Dad’s ranch in West Texas.”

“Then to get home you’re going to have to cross the river and travel cross country. If you can get us back to the Fly, I have a boat with a diesel engine. I can take you upriver as far as Natchez, but I am going to need some more fuel.”

“Will a hundred gallons do it?”

“Sure, but we’re going to need a Humvee to get back to the boat.”

“I have two men who’ll want to go with me, and two of my guys still have family in the city and want to make a run with them down into Cajun country.”

Dix told the sergeant, “Round everyone up and let’s hit the road. Can I load up a couple of empty magazines of .223/5.56?”

“Help yourself, there are some ammo cans behind the desk.” Dix reloaded his magazines while the others were getting saddled up.

The plan was set, both humvees were loaded with guns, MRE’s, ammo, and fuel cans. The two humvees headed out together and when they reached the levee, they waved off the one heading south and continued up and over the levee and down to the barges on the other side. Dix stripped off his gear and fished out his life vest and ran upstream. He yelled back, “Start unloading the fuel. Two men need to get on top of the levee and stand guard.”

The catamaran was right where he left it, and undisturbed. He cranked the engine, hauled in the anchor and backed it out into the current. He bumped it into forward gear and nosed it up on the bank where they were waiting with the fuel. They emptied five of the cans of diesel into the fuel tanks. They then siphoned the remaining fuel in the hummer into the empty cans and relieved the Humvee of its battery. The two men standing guard on the levee started shooting just as they loaded the last cans of ammo and fuel. They ran down the levee and jumped on the boat just as Dix backed it out into the current, kicked it wide open, and maneuvered over to the far side of the river. They watched from the boat as attackers ran down to the hummer. The soldiers laid down suppressing fire forcing the men to take refuge behind the Humvee. They were soon out of range of the attackers so they ceased firing and got busy reloading their empty rifle magazines from the ammo cans on board.

The river at New Orleans is almost a mile wide. The catamaran seemed small in the huge river but its engine ran flawlessly as it made its way up the river. Dix cut the throttle back to conserve fuel. The pups made themselves at home. Hereaux found an empty compartment to sack out in, while Bernie was all over the deck looking at everything. As they approached the first of several bridges they were careful to watch for snipers. There were people on the bridges, but they passed under without incident. Once a boat started out from shore, but they backed off
when one of the soldiers put a bullet through the bow. They ran the boat until dark and tied up to some willows in a cut off of the river. The sarge gave his orders, “We’ll sleep in shifts; I want two people awake at all times, no lights, no noise.” They cracked open a case of MRE’s and each had a meal. Dix once again split his with the pups. His pot belly was getting smaller. He knew that it would come in handy one day.

The next morning Dix fired up the engine and headed back upstream. The GPS showed their slow progress. It took them three days to reach Natchez, MS. Dix dropped the soldiers off on the Vidalia, Louisiana, side of the river. He told them to travel to Wildsville, LA, to the home of his uncle, Jack Watts. “You will have to tell him that I sent you, he has a house and barn, you may luck up and even get a meal, good luck guys, I’ll see you when this is over.” Dix handed each of the men a box of .22 bullets and a handful of loose pre 1964 silver dimes. “This is the only currency people will consider. The dimes are worth about $50.00 each in the recent currency so don’t let someone get them for near nothing.”

Dix wasted no time in turning the catamaran downstream. He kept the throttle a little above idle and let the current carry them. It should only take them half the time it took fighting the current upstream. Two more nights and one short gunfight later, they were back in the gulf and under sail. He still had over half the fuel, ten cans of 5.56/.223 ammo and two cans of 9mm ammo. They spent one last night anchored about two miles from Ship Island. Bill pulled Dix’s stitches from his head wound and declared him healed. The next morning they pulled up the anchor and sailed over to the entrance of the bay. They lowered the mast, cranked the little diesel and motored through the bay into the canal leading to Gulfport Lake. He radioed the house and Jake answered, “We thought we had lost you! We’ve had to fight off attackers two days in a row.” “Was anyone hurt?”

Jake laughed, “Just the bad guys.”

“We’ll do it the same way I left, bring your truck. I’ve got Maggie, Bill and the pups.”

When Jake arrived around 2 am, Dix cranked the little diesel and idled over to the ramp where they unloaded everything. “We’ll put it back in the boat house where we found it.” He ran the catamaran over to the house and backed it in. The fuel tank was almost empty so he didn’t bother to try and drain it. Dix took out the batteries and his lowrance and closed the doors. They were home in no time, none the worse for wear.

CHAPTER 7