Going Home (53 page)

Additionally,
we
understand
that
there
are
many
people
in
this
country
that
stored
food,
water,
fuel,
and
other
items.
Martial
law
now
makes
it
illegal
to
hoard
anything.
If
you
have
more
than
three
days
of
food
in
your
possession,
you
must
surrender
it
to
the
appropriate
authority.
Any
fuel
must
be
surrendered.
As
any
functioning
vehicles
must
also
be
surrendered,
no
one
will
have
the
need
for
fuel.
That
fuel
will
be
needed
by
those
agencies
tasked
with
providing
aid.

Anyone
caught
hoarding
will
be
dealt
with
severely.
I
again
repeat,
you
must
surrender
anything
more
than
three
days’
worth.
If
you
cannot
find
either
a
DHS
or
FEMA
representative
to
turn
your
commodities
over
to,
you
may
distribute
them
to
those
in
your
community.
The
last
item
that
is
now
outlawed
under
the
act
of
martial
law
is
firearms.
All
firearms
must
now
be
surrendered
to
DHS
and
FEMA
agencies.
No
one
will
be
allowed
to
be
armed.
This
is
being
done
because
of
the
level
of
violence
in
some
of
our
cities
and
rural
areas.
Anyone
caught
with
a
firearm
will
be
imprisoned.
I
urge
you
to
keep
in
mind
that
while
we
are
under
martial
law,
constitutional
protections
do
not
apply.

If
you
are
caught
with
any
of
the
above-mentioned
contraband,
you
will
be
imprisoned.
Considering
the
situation
we
are
now
under,
imprisonment
takes
on
a
new
definition.
The
days
of
going
to
jail
and
sitting
around
waiting
for
a
court
date
or
going
to
prison
to
serve
out
a
sentence
are
over.
If
you
are
arrested,
you
will
be
placed
into
a
work
camp
where
you
will
earn
your
keep.
There
is
no
such
thing
as
a
free
ride.
The
rest
of
the
country
is
going
to
have
to
work
their
way
out
of
this
situation,
and
so
will
anyone
who
is
arrested.

Anyone
who
refuses
to
surrender
their
firearms,
shoots
at,
or
kills
a
federal
agent
will
be
executed.
No
long
trials,
no
appeals.
There
simply
doesn’t
exist
the
means
to
do
these
things
now.
That
is
why
it
is
of
the
utmost
importance
to
follow
the
direction
given
to
you
by
the
authorities.

Aid
will
begin
to
be
distributed
as
soon
as
possible.
We
will
focus
first
on
population
centers
where
the
resources
can
reach
the
most
affected
people
with
the
limited
resources
we
have.
We
will
reach
out
to
rural
areas
as
more
resources
become
available,
but
you
must
be
patient.
This
will
take
time,
but
help
is
coming.
If
we
all
work
together,
we
can
overcome
this,
but
we
must
set
aside
our
differences
to
do
so.

There
is
no
more
right
or
left,
Democrat
or
Republican.
We
are
Americans,
all
of
us.
And
to
get
through
this,
we
must
work
together.
In
the
spirit
of
working
together,
please
turn
in
all
the
aforementioned
contraband.
Whenever
you
do,
you
will
be
given
relief
supplies.
We
hope
this
makes
it
easier
to
turn
in
these
items.
If
you
know
of
anyone
who
is
refusing
to
turn
in
contraband,
simply
notify
the
authorities,
and
upon
the
successful
recovery
of
the
contraband
you
will
be
rewarded
with
additional
supplies.

Again,
we
must
set
aside
our
differences
and
work
together
to
get
through
this.
As
Americans,
we
have
come
together
in
the
past,
and
we
must
do
so
now.
If
everyone
does
their
part,
we
will
come
out
of
this
stronger
than
ever
before.
Thank
you
for
your
time.
And
please,
follow
these
instructions.

After this part of the broadcast, another voice came on to give locations of FEMA shelters and aid locations. All of the places listed were major cities. From the sound of things, they were far more worried about the large urban centers than they were the rural country. Was it because they were worried about losing control of those areas, or because they knew those areas were going to go along with the program?
Folks in rural areas are not going to be nearly as open to surrendering what they have, especially now considering the situation we’re in.

“You have got to be kidding me. Surrender your food and guns? They are out of their fucking minds,” Danny said.

“You know, I heard from someone who has a little inside info that they wanted to fundamentally change the country. I guess this is their play. Did you notice there was no ‘God bless us’ in there anywhere?” I replied.

“Yes, I did. What are we going to do? We can’t give away our food. They didn’t list a place we could get to for more. We could go to Orlando, but they would take the Suburban,” Mel said.

Mel looked at Bobbie, wide-eyed. “We aren’t giving anything up,” Bobbie said.

“We don’t have much now. How do they expect us to survive?” Danny said.

“They don’t. I think it’s part of the plan—to eliminate those of us that are prepared,” I said.

We sat and talked for a little longer, tossing around different ideas and different scenarios. Then I told them I needed to go make a call. I wanted to see if I could reach Sarge and the guys.

“Can’t you just do it here?” Mel asked.

“No, it’s too dangerous. If we transmit from here, then our location can be identified, and that’s a bad thing,” I said.

“Where are you going?” Danny asked.

“Out into the forest, at least five miles from here. I’ll take the Suburban to make this a quick trip,” I replied.

“I don’t want you to leave. Things are getting a little scary. There are more and more strangers around lately,” Mel said.

“I know, babe, but I have to do this. I’ll be all right. Believe me, after what I went through to get home, this is a cakewalk,” I told her.

“I’ll go with you,” Danny said. That caused Bobbie to look over at him wide-eyed.

“What?”

“I’m not going to let him go out alone. No one leaves here alone anymore, remember?” Danny said.

Her mouth curled into a frown, and she shook her head but didn’t say anything else. I went inside and got my AR and then out to the shop for my vest and some more ammo. It felt so good to open those ammo cans and see all that ammo. I spent a few minutes loading some and stuffing them into the vest. The vest already had everything else on it. Back in the house, I tucked the XD into its holster and put two spare mags in their pouches. I pulled the NVGs out and put them in a day pack, along with some water and an FAK. I carried all this out to the truck and then went back and got the radio and its batteries.

Danny had his AR with him and his Glock. We climbed into the truck and headed out. We paused at the roadblock for a minute; two different guys were there now. We stopped for a minute to talk; I told them that we were leaving and that we would be back shortly. I turned out onto 19 and headed north.

“Where we going?” Danny asked.

“I figure out off 445, near the parking area for the motorcycle trail,” I replied.

“Cool.”

Danny sat back with his AR on his lap, keeping an eye on his side of the road. The sun was starting to go down, the light fading. The air was mild out, not cold but far from warm; it was a nice ride. As we passed through Shockley Heights, there were a few people out. One of the properties right on the side of the road had a group gathered there around a bonfire. We drew looks from all of them as we went by, heads craning over shoulders to look at us.

“Watch ’em. If any of them try to follow us, let me know,” I said to Danny.

“Already on it,” he said as he shifted in his seat to look back over his shoulder.

We made it to the parking area without incident. I pulled in and over toward the restroom. That was the only place with any trees. After stopping, we got out and took a minute to check the area to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. The place was empty, so I took out the antenna and slick line and, after a couple of attempts, got it up into a tall pine. After connecting the wire to the radio, I turned it on and pulled the notebook out of my pocket. It took a few minutes to figure out what frequency to be on. After figuring it out, I tuned the radio.

There was a voice I instantly recognized. After a moment, there was a break, so I keyed the mic.

“Driver, is that you? This is Walker.”

Danny looked over at me. “Walker?”

“I’ll explain later,” I said.

“Hey, Morg, I mean Walker. Good to hear from you. Where are you?” Thad asked.

“I made it. How about you?”

“I made it too. Been worried about you,” Thad replied.

“If you girls are done, let’s get down to business,” Sarge’s voice came over the radio.

“Nice to hear you too, old man,” I said into the mic.

“Took you long enough to get there. We have to keep this brief. You guys go through the notebooks we gave you. There are some additional instructions in there. Walker, do you have a PC?” Sarge said.

“I’ll have to check. There is one in the shop that may work,” I said.

“Check it out and see. If it does, there is a thumb drive in your pack; find it. There is a text file in there. Read it and follow the instructions. Did you hear the broadcast?” Sarge asked.

“Yeah, we heard it here,” I said.

“Then you guys know what’s up. Driver didn’t hear it, but we already filled him in. Go back to the top of the radio schedule; we will be monitoring the radios from now on. If you need to, you can contact us at any time. Good luck, guys, and we’ll be in touch. Foxtrot Sierra Mike out.” With that, Sarge was done.

“Be careful. Driver out,” Thad signed off.

“You guys stay safe,” I signed off as well.

“Who all was that?” Danny asked.

“Friends I met on the way. They really helped me out,” I said.

I was taking down the antenna, and Danny was standing watch. As I was putting the radio in the truck, Danny called out, “We got company.”

I looked up and saw three men coming into the parking area; they were walking. Two of them were carrying rifles; one was a scoped bolt gun, and the other was a lever gun with iron sights. I didn’t see a weapon on the third one. As they approached, Danny and I took cover on the far side of the truck and raised our weapons.

“What do you want?” I called out.

They stopped and looked at one another. “No need to be hostile, friend. We just came to see what you guys were doing. You know a running truck is kinda strange these days,” the one with the lever rifle said.

“We aren’t doing anything, and we’re about to leave,” Danny said.

“Fair enough. Can you give us a ride back up the road?” one of them asked.

“Sorry, but no,” I replied.

“Come on, man, it’s a long walk,” the one with the bolt gun said.

“Not our problem. You walked over here, so you can walk back. I didn’t ask you to come here,” I said.

“Look, you just give us a lift, and everything will be okay,” the one with no rifle said.

I am getting about sick of people doing this shit. They have a damn gun and think they can intimidate people. I can’t for the life of me figure out what they are thinking. They can clearly see our rifles, and what they are carrying doesn’t come close.
It was too dark for that scope to be worth a damn. Fed up, I snapped my rifle up and fired two quick rounds into the ground off to the left of them. It scared the shit out of them; they jumped and covered their heads.

Before they could react, I started to yell at them, “Lay down your guns! Now! Lay them down and step away from them, or I will kill you all!”

They quickly dropped their guns and put their hands up. I ordered them to back up and turn around. They complied, and Danny and I approached them with our weapons at the ready. As we got closer, the three started to bitch.

“Dammit, man, we didn’t mean you no harm!” one of them yelled out and started to look over his shoulder.

“Turn around! If any of you so much as sneeze, you’re fucking dead!” I yelled out.

He quickly straightened up but kept up the complaints. “What are you going to do? We just came to see what you guys were doing, is all.”

“With guns, you came out here armed to see what we were doing? Danny, grab the guns,” I said.

Danny carefully approached them and collected the two rifles and then started to back up toward me.

“You can’t take our guns!” one of them protested.

“We’ll leave ’em on the side of the road for you. But I ain’t leaving them here for you. I think you guys are full of shit and didn’t just come here to see what we were doing. You’re lucky to be alive. I think we should kill your asses,” I said. That seemed to stop all the complaints.