The Shelter: Book 1, The Beginning (14 page)

Paul said, “Jay, it’s OK with us if Joe works here a few days versus going to school where he’s not learning anything. We used to homeschool him until the local department of education told us we couldn’t homeschool our children any longer.”

“I’m not aware of any law to that effect. From today on, any of you who want to homeschool your kids can do so. Contact the school so they know, if you get contacted by the department of education, send them to me. With that agreed to, let’s review the role of the trenches. They’re to provide us fighting positions in case of an invasion of our farms. The trench in our driveways is to stop vehicles. It won’t stop an attack by people on foot. We need the trench to go from the front of our homes, circle them and wrap around the back of the houses so we can fight anyone who attacks from the front or rear.”

Rich says, “It’s going to cut right through our fields.”

“Rich, we’ll lose a little yield, but it may save our lives, isn’t that a good trade?”

All nod their agreement.

Paul asks, “What toys did you guys bring home?”

Fred answers, “Military weapons, you won’t believe what we have.”

Unloading the truck, everyone’s eyes are wide in surprise. I tell everyone, “I think we need to arrange some range time to ensure everyone can fire every weapon we have.”

Jill asks, “What about us women?”

“You also. When the time comes, everyone is going to have to fight.”

Rich asks, “We’re also confused how deep to dig the trench, some of us remember you saying five feet. That won’t provide full coverage.”

“Remember, the soil you remove will be made into sandbags which will be placed along the trench. We’ll leave firing ports in the piles of sandbags. I forgot to mention, we’ll need fire extinguishers, lots of them. We also need a few hundred empty glass bottles.”

Paul says, “I guess we’re going to be making Molotov Cocktails.”

“Right you are.”

Paul says, Joe, why don’t you and Matt go to town, buy up all the fire extinguishers you can find.”

“Dad, all of them?”

I reply, yes, all you can find while you’re in town get a few bundles of steel reinforcing rods.”

“Yes sir, we’re going.”

When the kids leave on the shopping trip, Fred looks at me asking, “Jay, why the fire extinguishers? We have fire suppression systems built into our homes and barns.”

“Just in case, call it a plan B.”

Fred says, “I understand. By the way, a friend of ours has a large field we use as a gun range.”

“I’d rather no one know we have fully automatic weapons or even the types of weapons we have.”

“Jay, I’ll check, but I don’t think he’s back from Florida yet.”

“Good, let’s go in tomorrow at sunrise.”

Everyone nods their agreement. We break up, Fred and I unload the weapons into my basement, Paul and Randy start spray painting the ground orange where the trench will be dug. When they’ve encircled our homes, Paul gets in one of the backhoes to begin digging the trench in the front while Randy starts digging the rear trench. I’m worried we’re running out of time. I’m also worried about my kids and their families. As the American economy falls apart, I weekly call my kids begging them to bring their families to our compound. I worry when the shit finally hits the fan it won’t be safe for them to make the trip. I’m worried the longer they delay, the more dangerous it’s going to be for them to make the trip. I’m most concerned with Sammi since her husband Ricky always thought I was so far to the right I made Attila the Hun look moderate. I know he doesn’t want to come here. He most likely thinks he’s going to be safe in the middle of Iowa. My gut says, nowhere is going to be safe when the dam breaks. Sure enough, Sammi confirmed my worst thoughts, they aren’t coming unless they’re driven out of their home. Ricky still has his job, he thinks everything will quickly settle down and turn around when the President increases the welfare payments. I pray they wake up before the violence starts.

With the dollar in free fall, gold and silver’s value increased almost every hour. When the violence started, it didn’t take anyone by surprise. Welfare payments were cut and people couldn’t put food on their family’s tables. Different groups came together to march against the welfare cuts. Hundreds of thousands marched, tens of thousands rioted setting cities and towns on fire. Buses carried the rioters into middle and upper-class communities. Private security companies and police fought the rioters, running gun battles broke out between those trying to protect and those who want to destroy. The battles rage across the country. The violence became so bad, the gun fighting so intense, many first responders refused to enter cities and towns. Police refused to go to work, many are seen as agents of the government who reduced the welfare payments, the police are attacked wherever they were seen. Their homes are burned. Government workers are attacked for the reduction of welfare payments. Many towns repainted their police cars to look like regular cars. Marked police cars come under fire as they drive through neighborhoods.

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Even with two backhoes it takes us three weeks working in two shifts to cut the trenches in a circle around our homes. Filling sandbags with the removed soil goes much slower; in fact, we give up the idea. We decide to push most of the soil into wooden forms that form 45-degree triangles in front of the trenches. I’m hoping the 45-degree angle and the densely packed soil will stop most bullets fired at us. We leave spaces for us to shoot out from the trench. We rigged strong lights on poles that can illuminate the area in front of our front trench which will shine in any attacker’s eyes, hopefully blinding them from us.

We all spent time at an abandoned mine learning how to handle all of our weapons, with the exception of the RPG. I didn’t want to use one of our limited rockets nor did I want the explosion to bring people to see what was going on. We taught the kids how to make Molotov Cocktails, they made 200 of them, most standing ready in wooden cases spread along the inside of the trench. We’ve also placed different types of acid in glass bottles. I’ve asked Paul and Randy to figure out how to make WP weapons. I was able to buy out a chemistry company’s inventory of WP and other chemicals they usually sold to schools. With the economic downturn, schools didn’t have funds to replenish their stocks. We have twenty pounds of it which ought to come as a nasty surprise to anyone attacking us. We store it in glass jars which will break when striking anything or anyone.

Being farmers, Fred was able to purchase fifty pounds of TNT to clear tree stumps. We’re using it to make pipe bomb hand grenades. Small, thin pipes are filled with TNT, covered with nails and BBs held onto the pipe with either wax or glue. To light the fuses we bought over 400 electric fire starters. Paul’s wife Flo somewhere found 500 pounds of barbecue charcoal that showed up in her new barn. I figured it would come in handy. I also bought each family a small four seat ATV, which can quickly move between our homes. The ATVs operate in any weather and they’ll save us fuel versus using our cars. Each family member assigned to fighting was given body armor, a helmet, rifle, sidearm and 100 full magazines. Each family has a first aid kit and a FLIR portable thermal sight.

We contacted every company that sold underground shelters. The first five agreed to accept our purchase order and gave us a timeline, only to back out of the contract within 48 hours of when they were due to begin work. One construction company called to offer me what he said is an offer I won’t be able to turn down. He told me his name is Franco, his two sons work with him. He tells me he has experience building storm shelters. I tell him, I’ll listen to his proposal if he comes by in person to discuss the plans and his offer. While Fred and I were away, Paul and Randy placed an order for cows, pigs, chickens and four horses. The animals reinforced our need to expand our barbwire fences which we’ve finally succeeded in stringing along the front of our property along the street.  We cleaned out all of the barbed and razor wire in the Nashville area that the police hadn’t already taken for riot control so we could string it all around our property.

We installed motion activated lights and cameras on poles covering the fence. Each of our driveways has two covered trenches cut into them and we’ve dug hundreds of small holes which we hope will stop people on foot trying to attack us. Many of the holes have hunting traps placed in the bottom of them. Others have boards with large nails sticking up and a foot stepping into a hole will force the nails into any boot or shoe rendering the person unable to continue. The last item on my checklist is an alarm system that alerts all of us to any issues. Each family has different colored flares, I wanted some type of alarm that we can hear anywhere on the farms, an alarm that would also tell us which family was sounding the alarm. We were working on different ideas when we got our first uninvited visitor.

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As the value of the dollar collapses, imported fuel begins to run short. The fracking industry was bankrupt due to the Saudi’s pulling the price of oil down. There is a shortage of investment companies with available capital. The lack of capital further slowed domestic oil production. Specialized manufacturing companies that made the parts for refineries and oil drilling rigs were bankrupt meaning parts are almost impossible to locate. Domestic oil production sank to a forty year low, even oil from the Canadian oil sands dried up since the cost to transport the oil was too high without the Keystone oil pipeline President Obama vetoed.

As oil supplies dried up gas lines similar to the mid-1970s reformed. Many lines stretched three miles from any gas pumps that had fuel. Riots and flash mobs attack any station with fuel, stealing it to resell on the black market for $50.00 a gallon. Mobs hijack trucks carrying supplies. Cross-country truckers decide the risk isn’t worth the reward so they park their trucks at home.  Over a hundred thousand trucks are hijacked, their cargoes are stolen. By the end of June truck transport across the country ceases. Armed military convoys are organized to transport food, cargo and fuel across the country and into the country’s cities. The hungry and angry target the military convoys. People quickly realize the military isn’t traveling with loaded magazines in their weapon. The US Department of Home Land Security thought loaded weapons crossing the country were too dangerous. Mobs quickly attack the military convoys. Thousands of attackers hit the convoys before the military and National Guard get permission to load magazines into their weapons. Hundreds of Guardsmen and Army troops are killed before they receive permission to load and return fire. One convoy disobeys orders, they travel with their weapons loaded and ready for action. When attacked, they fight back. They kill forty people trying to attack their convoy. When the Department of Justice investigates why this one convoy beat off the attackers
they learn the convoy disobeyed direct orders, everyone in the convoy is court-martialed and accused of first-degree murder in civilian courts.

When word of the court-martialing reaches other convoys, many of the Guardsmen disappear in the middle of the night with their weapons.They refuse to be targets for a government that refuses to allow them to protect themselves.

Flash mobs break in and strip food stores before the stores are able to close or bring in armed security to stop the mobs. The shelves of food stores remain empty as their inventories are used up. Without trucks carrying food into cities and towns the food stores, once emptied, remain empty. Prices jump 50% in two weeks. Black markets are the only place many are able to buy food. Once food stores are stripped, flash mobs break into private homes looking for food. Companies with cafeterias are also struck by the flash mobs as thousands push their way into cafeterias. In many cases, large windows are smashed allowing the mobs entry. Those who still have jobs are mugged for their bagged lunches and briefcases. Flash mobs strike the few restaurants still open, forcing many of the restaurants to hire armed private security. Shoot-outs occur at some of the restaurants, twenty customers in different locations are hit in the crossfire. Fears of being caught in the crossfire take their toll as the number of customers going to restaurants drops by 80%. 95% of the country’s restaurants close by the middle of July. Someone said America was nine meals away from anarchy and by mid-July it’s becoming clear, nine may have been too high a number. In the twenty-first century, most people don’t have the skills needed to survive without food deliveries, or know what to do when turning the faucet doesn’t provide clean water. Most don’t know how to live without electric power. The Bible says the meek will inherit the earth, most realize it’s going to be the experienced, strong and those without a conscious who will inherit. The strong will end up fighting among themselves for limited resources until only the strongest or most prepared survive.