Shadows Of Sanity And Survival (Old Preppers Die Hard Book 3) (6 page)

“Well there are plenty of places to hide I guess, but finding a place that can accommodate and support a small force like you’re talking about isn’t going to be easy to find. I see why you’re talking about bringing in folks down here to join our band. I just don’t like the sounds of it and we ain`t exactly hard to find by anyone looking anyway if you know what I mean.’ Charlie said uncomfortably.

“I ain`t none too happy to extend an invite to anybody either, but if it becomes a matter of life and death, then its best that we choose to have this camp manned and ready before a fight comes or have already high tailed it away by ourselves somewhere else. We can’t play hide and seek or bullshit people about our strength and numbers much longer.” Farley said letting the full weight of having to make a decision soon fall on everyone.

“Wasn’t it you Farley that said that for us to leave established resources was to die? The deep cold of winter will be here soon enough, can’t we try to keep them in their fort per se and we ambush their wood cutting and hunting parties etc.?” Charlie asked thinking of old style Indian tactics used on the settlers.

“That’s just it, we don’t know if they are leaving or staying, but in the mean time they are ranging further out stealing and killing and when they meet concentrated resistance they take on a scorched earth policy of atrocities that no one around here can have any hopes of withstanding for very long. Basically from what I know about them is that they move into an area, everyone formally trying to just get by in their homes tries to move out and gets raped and plundered in the process of trying to escape at the crossroads. They got check points and ambushes setup and armed bands ranging around all over this place already. We are lucky they are distracted around town and pillaging the richer sections of the lake and haven’t scouted in this direction yet. Which reminds me that we need to revamp our repel marauders and bug out scenarios. We need to hide gear; food etc. outside the cabins and maintenance shed and keep packs close by just like the guns to be available at a moments notice. We can’t live on edge like this very long or we are going to be shooting at our own shadows and squabbling amongst ourselves over stupid fearful induced shit.” Farley declared spitting on the ground in disgust.

“So what is it that you suggest Farley? I mean you been thinking on it evidently, what do you consider as our best course of action?” Becky asked worriedly.

“Hell I don’t know, that’s why I am talking to you all and looking for some suggestions. I tell you one thing, food’s going to get a lot thinner around here because I can’t run trap line and keep an eye on this place at the same time and I can’t have the boys out foraging or fishing very far because we all need to stick together. We will be continuously getting weaker as apparently our enemies are getting stronger now and now’s the time we must decide what’s best for us to do, be it fight or flight!” Farley said looking over his audience of survivors with great worry about their continued welfare now.

“What Dump Truck do? What he say? You may be tell him and rednecks to move in with us for a little bit?” Miss Feng asked now thinking it wasn’t such a terrible idea after all to bring in the backwoods brethren.

“Oh them boys got their own ideas of playing swamp fox raider and country boy hide and seek and surviving. They would normally probably be best left to their own devices and as you know, they don’t have a clue about this resort place or us living down here all by ourselves yet. As far as they are concerned and a few other folks around here, they all think that this place might be manned by the military in some form or fashion or that it’s an abandoned facility but guarded by regular military. That’s another problem, if folks feel they are in great danger they are going to be expecting or eventually going to be coming around asking for a response from this place if they have the gas to seek assistance or refuge from the military. It won’t be too long till somebody comes a knocking at our door and I don’t think they’ll be put off by just Charlie driving up in his truck in uniform and hollering bullshit at them anymore.” Farley said narrowing his eyes and looking towards the road leading to the gate.

“I see what you mean, Farley. We cannot get all spread out doing chores or camped out at the front gate getting ready for Lord knows what that may or may not come to visit. How about if we all just move into the maintenance shed together for a little while and make plans to evacuate should trouble come our way? If we make the front of the resort look like it’s already been ransacked and there’s nothing left to steal, maybe they won’t bother to come in to camp to far this way.” Charlie said speculating.

“I sort of thought about that, but evacuate to where? We only got the one gate that we can escape from if nobody thinks to man or block it. We can’t get to the lake or boats from there and if we were overtaken we would just have to set out on foot with what we could carry through the woods and we wouldn’t have a hope in hell of lasting very long if we did that. No, the way I see it is that we either man this camp with extra people or create our own armed reactionary force to protect the place, or we just gather up everything we can and get the hell out of here. I for one am not enlisting in any one of these so called militias around here for any long term extended fight or guerilla warfare. Me and Charlie are too old, the boys are too young and you women lack the experience for that kind of do or die existence.” Farley said beginning to lay out just what kind of bad position they were in.

“How many people you talk about Farley? How many you invite here?” Miss Feng said dejectedly.

“Good question. Dump and the boys would make about ten and the zombie preppers we say, figure make another ten and that’s a reasonable amount of skirmishers but what you have to keep in mind is all these folks need to be fed too and I just can’t see us taking on another thirty or forty people with the dwindling resources and game around here to make this camp anything other than kind of like a starving Valley Forge like affair this winter. Ya’ll got to realize that every gun in this county has already been out hunting for weeks now and the game is depleted and spooked and hiding just as deep in the thickets as they can get. That doesn’t take into account all these roving bands of marauders that have passed through here already or may have stayed around the perimeter in vacant houses either. Logistics says we can’t support having a roving army next to us trying to live off the land themselves and us too with no means of outside support except what we can glean off of Mother Nature. Now I’m going to bitch at you for a minute and I’ve told ya’ll many times regardless of what you thought that I’ve been out digging around houses that are empty or that folks died in. I have been out often making our mark around here so there’s very little left of interest or support for anyone coming through the area. However, that doesn’t matter because there is plenty of vacant shelter and if folks have supplies elsewhere they can move in if they want for short periods of time while they try ranging further. We got to think about where that army up the road might be going next or if they plan on over wintering. They are not fools. They know they are going to have to hunker down somewhere before it gets too cold to travel or their gas supplies run out. They got all those chicken sheds that they are eating off of right now and most likely will try if they can to keep it running fulltime to feed their troops. Technically speaking they may never leave if they can find the grain to keep them running and I am sure there is big full tanks of propane on that farm. That and they got access  to any cattle or hogs that may still be around or that they may have managed to accumulate and force the farmers or families that were raising them to keep on working. I have no idea what the National Guard or Army is up to at the moment, but I say they have enough other things to take care of and bigger bands of militias, armies and bands of scavengers to worry about and will just allow this bunch to wreak havoc around here.” Farley said knowing that the hope of the cavalry arriving just in time needed to be quickly forgotten.

“So I’ll ask you again, Farley, what is it that you yourself want to do? What are your thoughts?” Becky asked.

“I’m still considering all of the options, but what I want to do is pack up the boats and get ready to leave at a moment’s notice. But on the other hand, I’m sort of scared that if we do load up the boats someone might come around wanting to steal all our stuff. We can attempt to hide them and camouflage them in the creek slue and guard them, but we don’t have enough people. If we got some of the other lake dwellers to do the same with us that would require us showing our hand of what we got and that is something I have dang sure have a big problem with. If I had the answer, I would tell you all, but I just don’t know at the moment.” Farley declared.

That last statement of Farley’s worried everybody because Farley always seemed to have had some kind of answers or ideas to discuss and for him to say he didn’t have an answer made the group go silent.

“The only suggestion I have is that we have a parlay with everybody and get their input and see just what kind of manpower and cooperation we can expect before we make any kind of decision. Now we are far from the only ones faced with these types of decisions and for lack of a better plan, I’m going to introduce folks to the concept of the “Three Man Militia”. That methodology would give everyone something to consider and organize around from big to small groups and then it will be much easier to band them into some kind of fighting force once they have accepted this concept.

“What’s a three man militia?” Charlie asked.

“Well it’s a concept that Mike Mah introduced to the prepper community a while back that was his take on overcoming societal collapse which I’ll explain later to you. I on the other hand, want to bring in some of my military background of the seven man Special Forces units back that are constructed to drop behind enemy lines and get the civilian populace in back of them to overcome dictators and state aggression. The problem with that concept is that we were heavily dependent on being able to supply arms, ammunition and medical aid to our hopefully would be civilian or village supporters. Winning hearts and minds is all about supply lines, doing the same without resources requires a bit of rethink for me. But a recognized force of professional soldiers that can bring aid and hope to an embattled populace will do the job if it can inspire the confidence needed for such a situation. Li This task is something that only normally can be achieved off of reputation and successes for previously overcoming the enemy in the field. We all know from our history books about partisan bands that were successful in overcoming the Germans in WWII and in other wars of attrition. If I do decide to undertake such an adventure, I need to find our trusted few that have the skills and resolve to see it to its end and organize them in such a way as to gain the respect of other such groups. This idea has a major fatal flaw though, as the partisans always depended on the aid and donated food of civilian factions supportive of their cause. With retributions and lack of any kind of common infrastructure these commando like tactics are doomed to failure because you cannot be trying to engage the enemy and foraging for food at the same time, so I’m in a quandary here. If our actions cause havoc and mayhem on those attempting to seek a more servile and sheeple way of living, then they too become our enemies and will trade their freedoms and morals for what appears to them to be a margin of security.” Farley said his mind whirling in confusion that under the dire circumstances they found themselves in, that the whole world now seemed their enemy or possible Judas or betrayer.

“I sort of need me a library for inspiration and reference to refer to out here. During the French and Indian wars and if we look back through our past history lessons and the formation of Roger Rangers and other such outfits, they all based their successes off of living off the land and coordinating people that were in the same life threatening conditions as they were to take needed supplies off opposition forces and depend on nothing more than themselves. I tell you now, that’s takes a special breed of people and it’s not for everyone. It’s kind of like joining the Green Beret and as the song goes ‘One hundred men will try today, only three will make the Green Beret.” Now quiet down for a minute and quit volunteering we can do that just because you have been lucky enough to trap or snare a squirrel or catch more fish from what I have told you, the ones that won the Green Beanie were already soldiers mentally conditioned to even try out for such an elite force. Ya’ll are sheltered here in many ways and I’ve attempted to keep you remaining so, but I’m going to tell you a little story about just what darkness is outside this resorts gate. Not long ago I was walking down the highway and I saw a band of scarecrows shuffling along with no end in sight and I hid in the woods and watched as I let them pass. While I was watching, one man fell out of the column and sat down on the side of the road and the others after what looked like a brief conversation to me, rummaged around in his pack and took some stuff and just left him there. After they had passed, I went by to talk to the man. He was unarmed except for the knife he had and he looked well… “Skeletal” is about the only word I can use for him. He looked like one of those starving people you see in the old pictures of when the Allied forces finally took over some of the Nazi concentration camps towards the end of the war. His appearance was heart rending to me and his so called fellow survivors that I cursed in my mind for leaving him, did indeed have some mercy on him and left him with water and a knife but they didn’t leave no food or other useable items.