Compass Call: Survival & Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 3) (27 page)

Marcus must have nodded for John heard Pete say, “Good. Now, as for hitting the target, you need to learn two important things. The first is having a good sight-picture. The second is trigger control,” said Pete. “Yes, I’ll explain. Put your hand down. The sight-picture is what you see off your target through the weapon sights. You see these two
pieces of metal? This one is called the back sight, and this one the front sight. Here, I drew a few pictures for you to see the difference between a good sight picture, and a bad sight picture . . .”

John was so absorbed in his work that he flinched when the air rifle fired and the first BB pinged loudly against the inside edge of the metal target box. He heard Pete make several corrections to Marcus’ form, and tried to turn back to his work when Pete instructed Marcus to reload. After three more pings, John gave up on the inventory and took a seat behind Marcus to watch the training. The ladies also came out from the kitchen to watch the training, but it was Marissa who showed the most interest in Marcus’ training. After only two shots, Marcus was able to spin the little red targets every time he fired, which greatly impressed his mom.

Pete tried to convince Marissa to shoot the air rifle, but she said she preferred only to watch, “Maybe next time,” she added, as she moved to turn toward the kitchen.

“Give it a try,” challenged Jenna in a friendly manner. “It’s actually quite exhilarating,”

“I don’t know,” replied Marissa.

“Come on, mom. Try it. It’s easy. Watch me. Pick a target for me,” urged Marcus.

“Well, OK. Try to hit the little one in the middle,” she challenged her son.

“Sure. Watch this,” replied Marcus. John noticed he took a little longer to line up his sight and take the shot now that his mom had challenged him. It was obvious Marcus wanted to impress his mom, and show her how easy it was once you knew the basics. John also noticed how Marcus controlled his breathing, and was impressed with how quickly Pete was able to effect such techniques on the young man so quickly.

Finally, after a few long seconds of waiting, the air rifle emitted a loud cough of air, and the BB pinged hard against the metal target as it fell back in the stand.

“Wow, Marcus. That was a very nice shot,” said Marissa. And she did indeed seem impressed with her son’s marksmanship.

“Here, mom. You try it now,” said Marcus, as he got up from the floor and handed the air rifle to his mom. “It’s not scary. It’s doesn’t kick like a real rifle.”

“Kick?” asked Marissa, as she wrinkled her brow.

“The . . . what’s the word? Oh, yeah, recoil! The recoil. This rifle doesn’t have any recoil,” beamed Marcus.

Marissa smiled and said, “OK. I’ll take one shot, but only one. Will you show me how to use it?”

Marcus looked at Pete and Pete nodded with encouragement. Marcus smiled and began to talk his mom through the same steps he just learned from Pete. When she was ready, he told her how to aim and fire the air rifle, and then stepped back and let his mom fire. Her shot pinged against one of the larger spinning disks and everyone clapped.

Marcus actually cheered and added excitedly, “Wow, mom, you’re a natural. It took me three times before I could hit one of those little targets.”

“It was a lucky shot,” said Marissa.

“I don’t think so,” said Pete. “It was well taught, and well executed. Marcus, you’re ready to advance into the next stage of training. As soon as the ash stops blowing we’ll go out back and use the twenty-two,” finished Pete.

“I get to shoot a real gun?” asked Marcus.

“Absolutely. And you’re more than ready. The only difference in shooting a pellet rifle, and a rifle that shoots live ammo, is that you’re more likely to kill someone with real ammo,” said Pete.

“Can a twenty-two kill someone? I thought it wasn’t much more dangerous than an air rifle.”

“Well, you’re wrong there. You can kill a man with a twenty-two, you just need to be closer than the bigger caliber weapons. But the twenty-two is a popular assassins weapon because it’s relatively quiet
and deadly at close range,” replied Pete. Marissa cleared her throat and gave Pete a subtle shake of her head. Pete got the message, and without missing a beat he added, “We’ll spend a little more time on safety and functions, but you’re ready to advance to rimfire ammo. For now, relieve Corbin of his watch so I can work with him a bit.”

“Sure thing, Sergeant Major,” replied Marcus, with a sloppy salute. John chuckled as he watched Marcus literally float up the ladder with excitement at having shot a gun for the first time, and shot it well. He knew the feeling. John fondly remembered the first time he fired a twenty-two. His dad gave him a BB gun when he was five, so by the time he fired the twenty-two it was an easy transition. But he always loved shooting new weapons; there was something exhilarating about the experience. John took Pete’s invitation for Corbin as a sign to get back to work, so he went to the garage where the firing and pinging wouldn’t rattle his concentration.

When he completed the packing list, John realized that he had way more equipment and supplies on the packing list than they should. Eli’s warning kept ringing in his ears, a warning that they would end up walking. That meant a much lighter packing list was in their future, but it was impossible to plan for such a light list when they had vehicles at their disposal. John didn’t know when they would lose the vehicles, but he wanted to maximize the advantage for as long and as far as possible. Finally, he resigned himself to the fact that they would inevitably shed all the excess equipment along the way. But until that time, he was of the mind that it was better to have and not need it, than to need and not have it.

For John, the biggest problem with weight wasn’t the weapons, ammo, or liquids, it was the precious metal. Between the water, fuel and ammo, the gold and silver was the heaviest package in his inventory, and he absolutely loathed the idea of having to carry it on his back. He’d rather carry that weight in ammo, which was a shift for him. But after talking to Pete about the attack on the overpass, John knew ammo was worth more than gold or silver.

Pete told him he only fired six shots from his 7.62, but John knew assessing the ammo usage of a rifle marksman was not the same as someone involved in a close-quarter’s shootout with an AR. He didn’t think to ask, but he suspected Pete’s three Soldier friends fired a lot more than six rounds apiece. And if Pete’s story was accurate, which John knew it was, then he figured his three assault partners fired at least three, thirty-round magazines of ammo apiece. That would come to sixty rounds each, for a total of 180 rounds. That was a lot of ammo by his standard, even though they had a highly successful operation.

John knew the average round expenditure during wartime numbered somewhere in the tens of thousands per confirmed enemy KIA, but they clearly didn’t have the luxury of such wasteful expenditures given the change. Now that ammo plants weren’t operating, every bullet fired was one less available for good or evil. He figured it would only be a matter of time before all but a few people had any ammo at all. Until that time, John had no intention of being the first to run out. He knew the importance of ammo conservation better than anyone, but the problem was instilling that same awareness with the rest of the company.

He wondered if everyone would end up fighting with swords, bows and spears again before everything settled down, and he briefly regretted not acquiring more functional primitive weapons before the disaster. He had knives for everyone, good knives, fixed blade combat knives, but nothing more like the sword he gave to Paul. So until the world found itself reinventing medieval warfare, John would prepare his company for every possible armed engagement between home and their final destination, and he would accomplish it with threat avoidance, and the careful conservation of their limited supply of ammunition.

Weapons were an altogether different matter. He was much more confident with them because he carefully planned and maintained his collection within a few distinct military-type calibers, those being
12ga, 9mm, and 5.56. But he also had weapons in the .45 and 7.62 calibers, which were also used by the military, but not as heavily with individual weapons outside of special operations. As for breaking down the ammo, he already decided to give Pete all his 7.62, and Paul all his shotgun ammo. The 5.56 and 9mm ammo would remain his to control.

John studied the packing list one last time before folding it up and sticking it in his pocket. He entered the house and passed into the mudroom to look out the side door window. While in the garage, he noticed the wind had stopped rattling the garage door, and wanted to see if the weather had eased up a bit. With the curtain pulled aside in one hand, John leaned close to the glass to inspect the storm. The ash had thinned significantly, and the trees and bushes were no longer dancing with the force of the wind.

Visibility was almost back to normal, which meant the meeting was most likely going to happen. John checked his pistol, and then stepped outside to find Paul and Adam. They had been out in the blowing dust since breakfast, and he wondered how they were holding up. John passed around the front of the house and saw the two of them sitting on the front steps. He waved up at Corbin and Marcus, but he could barely see them through the alcove window, it definitely needed to go. He decided to ask Pete to take it out when he was at his meeting with Tony.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?”

“Good dad. We’ve had a few people come for water, but not many,” said Adam.

“I’m thinking it will pick up now that the ash has stopped blowing so hard. It was really moving for a while there,” said Paul.

“I appreciate you guys sticking it out. Are you ready for a break?” asked John. They both nodded and stood. “Ok, stand fast and I’ll send relief.”

John returned to the house through the side door, and he found Pete sitting in the alcove with Corbin and Marcus. “You guys busy?”
Corbin looked down and said, “We’ve been practicing target acqu . . . acq . . .”

“Acquisition?” asked John.

“Yeah, that’s the word. We’ve been practicing putting our sights on moving targets, like the people walking by, or coming for water,” finished Corbin.

“I hope you’re not scaring anybody,”

“No sir, Pete’s watching us real close,” replied Corbin.

Pete turned to John and asked, “Is everything OK?”

“Yeah. I was wondering if you’d do two things for me. The first is spell Paul on water detail for a while. The second is remove the alcove window.”

“Do you want me to remove, remove it, or break it out?” asked Pete. “Your call . . . whatever works best for the purpose.”

“No problem, John. I’ll take care of it.”

“Let’s go, Corbin. We have water to protect,” said Pete.

“What about me, Sergeant Major?” asked Marcus.

“I want you to stay up here with the air rifle. Keep a look out until you’re relieved. Can you handle that?” asked Pete, looking the young man sternly in the eyes.

“Yes, Sergeant Major,” replied Marcus, as he took up a position at the firing port.

While Pete and Corbin climbed down the ladder, John said, “It’s OK to use the front door again. The weather is better. I want to modify the alcove first, and then I’ll relieve you with Marcus . . . say, in about an hour.”

“Works for me,” said Pete. “What do you have planned for the alcove?”

“Something to get rid of the blind spot under it,” answered John.

John added more fuel to the generator. He hated using it up, but he needed a reliable power source while he worked on his alcove modification. With a drill, saws-all, and a few other tools in hand, he returned
to the house to find Paul and Adam talking to Marcus. John offered a greeting and began handing the tools up to Marcus.

“What’cha working on, dad?” asked Adam.

“I’m gonna cut a hole in the alcove floor, one that can be opened from above so we can see or shoot at anyone standing on either side of the front of the door,” said John.

“Can I help?”

“Absolutely,” said John. And then turning to Paul he asked, “How’d water detail go?”

“I was surprised anyone would come during the ash storm, but three people came. More came after the ash settled down.”

“How many altogether?” asked John.

“Let me count the coupons,” replied Paul, as he fished the slips of paper out of his pocket.

“So all of them had coupons?” asked John, surprised.

“All but one guy, but I gave him water anyway. I hope you’re alright with that,” said Paul, sheepishly.

“Absolutely. I trust your judgment,” replied John. He wasn’t fine with it, but didn’t want to beat Paul up over it, so he supported him. For John it was more about preventing chaos, something he wanted to avoid around his house. He hoped the coupons would prevent a mad dash on his water, and if word got out that a coupon wasn’t necessary, then many more people would come knocking. John sighed and waited for Paul to count the coupons.

“Eight. Nine counting the guy without a coupon,” replied Paul. “Do you want them?”

“Sure. I’ll take them to the meeting with me.” As Paul began to walk away, John asked, “Do you have anything on the demographics, like their sex and age?”