Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny (8 page)

When he got back to the gun counter, Daren was returning with more pallets. Nelson left the cart and walked over to Daren. “Come unlock the bay door so I can pull my truck inside,” he said, calling Zeus to follow him outside.

Daren ran up beside him. “Why do you have two radios on your belt?” he asked.

“The other is so my wife can contact me,” Nelson said.

They walked through the store in silence until they reached the employee entrance. “You’re a prepper, aren’t you?” Daren asked.

“No, I just stay prepared,” Nelson lied.

Daren didn’t buy it. “I always thought you were,” he said as they stopped by the door.

Nelson looked at him. “First rule is you don’t tell anyone what you have.”

“Can I come over to your house?” Daren asked.

Nelson shook his head. “You’ve seen how big my house is. I can’t take anymore.”

“I bet you have somewhere you can run to,” Daren said.

“Daren,” Nelson said, getting very serious. “Not saying I do, but if I did, that means there would be others there, and if I showed up with someone who isn’t part of the group, they would be shot, and I would be kicked out. I would be bringing someone who hadn’t helped set it up but would use the resources that had been prepared.”

“That’s tough,” Daren said, shocked.

“Your hunting camp fits all the areas one needs for a retreat, Daren. It’s far from anyone, has water and shelter, and can be defended easily,” Nelson said, and Daren suddenly felt relieved. Nelson looked out the small window but didn’t see anyone. “I’m going outside. Meet me at the bay door,” he said, walking out and putting his hand on his pistol.

He could see a few cars on the road and a mass of people at the grocery store down the road but nothing close. “Zeus in,” he said, hitting the unlock button and opening the door. Zeus jumped up and went to the passenger seat as Nelson climbed in and started the truck.

A police officer came over, and Nelson held up his ID and waved. The cop waved back and went back the front of the store. Feeling like a thousand eyes were on him, Nelson drove to the back of the store and backed up as Daren opened the bay door that was used to bring in the big displays like cars and boats.

As Nelson backed to the middle of the store, Daren shut the bay door and locked it. Nelson climbed out, followed by Zeus. “Want to take a ten-minute break?” he asked Daren.

Daren looked at his watch and saw it was close to noon. “Yeah, just let me grab something to drink, and I’ll back that truck back here,” he said and walked away.

“Hey, make sure you point the front at the bay door so you don’t have to back out with a trailer,” Nelson said, walking over to the checkout in clothing. He grabbed the phone and dialed home.

“Took you long enough to call,” Michelle snapped after the first ring.

“Are you and the kids okay?” he asked.

“We’re fine, but I’ve been worried sick,” she said, and Nelson heard an adult voice in the background.

“Who’s at the house with you?” he asked.

“Nellie. Bernard dropped her off here an hour ago and headed back to the farm. She found out I was watching Ashley’s kids and came to help,” Michelle said with thankfulness.

“What have you heard?” he asked.

“There are riots in New York and L.A., and they are reporting unrest in several other places, but buildings are burning there, and the governors are calling in the National Guard. The banks are closed until further notice, and all the ATMs are out of money,” she said.

“Have you been able to pack?”

“You’re damn right I have.”

“Okay, baby, I need to go. I love you,” he said.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Can’t say, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he smirked.

She groaned. “Please be careful. Nothing has happened in Springfield yet besides protest at some banks. I love you,” she said and hung up.

Hanging the phone up, Nelson walked over to a cooler and grabbed two bottles of water. Seeing a bowl for spare change, he dumped it out and filled it with water then called Zeus over, who started lapping it up. He opened the other bottle and walked to the back where the ATVs and boats were showcased.

On the back wall were several trailers. One was a long, twenty-two-foot able to carry four ATVs and another that was almost as big. Nelson knew which one he was getting as he walked over and looked at the ATVs. He had an electric, off-road buggy and a hybrid buggy, three UTVs along with two four-wheelers. He stopped and looked at the side-by-sides. He saw a new model that ran on diesel like one of his.

He looked it over, saw it had everything, then looked at the price and almost fell down. “I almost paid that much for Michelle’s Suburban,” he complained out loud. They had several thousand gallons of gas at the farm and twice that in diesel, and they had a setup to make biodiesel. “I can justify taking it,” he mumbled and continued to look around.

Finding another side-by-side that ran on diesel, he looked it over as well. It didn’t have all that the other one did but wasn’t lacking for much and wasn’t much cheaper. Looking at the trailer, he started figuring what he could fit on there when he heard Daren walk up.

“Yeah, those damn things are expensive,” he said, looking at the diesel side-by-side.

“I’m taking one,” Nelson said then turned around and headed back to the gun area.

Shocked, Daren ran up and fell in step with him. “How can you justify that?” he asked.

“I’m going to have to move the weapons around and probably bury them,” he said and walked past the counter in the back. He stood looking inside the gun room.

“Shit, then I’m taking one, but I’m taking one of the gas ones. They are much quieter,” Daren said, and Nelson smiled, hoping Daren was starting to understand this stuff in the store would be gone soon from looters.

Nelson started grabbing boxes of what the media called “assault rifles” but were only guns that held lots of bullets. He had taken the assault rifles from the fine gun room, and it took several hours to remove them and move the standard rifles into the gun room.

When they were finished, they walked out and looked at the pallets they had stacked full of guns. On each pallet was a D or an N for whose truck it would go into. Nelson shook his head at all the deer rifles and hunting shotguns Daren had on his; he had turned down most of the others.

“These aren’t full-size pallets, so I think we can get four into the back of each truck,” Daren said, walking to the forklift.

“Go ahead and start,” Nelson said, walking over to a stack of heavy duty plastic bins used to store hunting gear.

“I might scratch your bed up some,” he called out.

“That’s why I have a spray-on liner,” he called back, carrying several bins over to the ammo aisles. He started filling them with the ammo he needed. He was on his sixth box when Daren came over.

“Got four in barely,” he said, watching Nelson. “You’re seriously going to take ammo as well?”

“You heard Harry; we have to secure as much as we can,” he said, putting the lid on a full box and then grabbed another and went to work filling it.

Daren watched for just a minute then ran to grab some plastic storage boxes as the two stockmen came over to report the museum was stuffed in the vault. Nelson immediately put them to work helping them. They were hesitant since it seemed like Nelson and Daren were stealing, but Nelson explained what they were doing. When they heard how long the store was going to be closed, they seemed a little worried but pitched in.

Nelson sent one over to the reloading aisle and told him what to pack and went back to work with the other one, packing ammo on the shelves in bins. Hearing a flatbed cart roll by, Nelson looked up and saw Daren with the cart stacked high with survival food. “He’s understanding,” he mumbled.

Nelson told the two stockmen to grab some carts and start stacking the bins on as he headed to the back of the store. He found a trailer dolly, went over to the long trailer, pulled it over to his truck, and locked it on his bumper. Then, he pulled the other trailer over to the truck Daren was taking. He smiled, seeing Daren had already put the hitch on. After connecting the trailer, he took the dolly back and went to the key box and pulled both keys for the diesels and started both.

He drove the best one over and onto his trailer then went back for the other one. Getting out, he smiled at all the room left on the trailer. Hearing another motor crank up, he watched Daren drive by and load up the side-by-side he chose.

Grabbing some straps, Nelson locked down both the side-by-sides and headed over to see the two stockmen had finished loading half a dozen flatbed carts. “Hope you two know which is mine and which is Daren’s,” he said, and one walked over, wiping his sweaty face.

“Yes, sir. We put an N or D on them like you did the pallets,” he said, and Nelson looked down at his name tag.

“Keith, where did you two park?” he asked.

“Our car is broke down, so we rode our bikes in.”

Nelson looked at the back of the store. “If I let you two take one of those quad seats, will you take care of it and when this ends bring it back?” he asked, and Keith’s eyes got wide with joy.

“Yes, sir,” he said, grinning.

“We are just holding this for the company to keep it away from looters, and they will come here,” Nelson told him.

“I understand, sir,” Keith said.

“You two do much outdoors?”

“Oh yes, sir,” Keith told him. “We fish and camp all the time. We are from Oklahoma and took this summer job hoping to get picked up full time.”

“You hunt?”

“Yes, sir, but we live in an apartment, and they don’t allow firearms,” Keith said.

Looking at the young face staring at him, Nelson sighed. “Keith, you two need to get home, and if home isn’t in the sticks, you need to get there.”

Shocked hearing that, the smile fell off his face. “We both live on farms next to each other,” he said in a quiet voice.

“Then you need to get there sooner rather than later. When this blows over, you can come back, but I think it’s going to be a while. If I’m wrong, your jobs will be here waiting,” Nelson said.

Keith looked around. “This was our dream to work here,” he mumbled.

“You need bigger dreams now since you filled that one,” Nelson smiled.

Thinking about that, Keith smiled. “Hey, you’re right.”

“Let’s get the rest of this loaded up,” Nelson said as his radio went off.

“This is officer Netter out front. I have an officer Wolfe here asking for Nelson Jackson.”

Nelson grabbed his radio. “Officer Netter, this is Nelson Jackson, the district manager. Let Officer Wolfe in please,” Nelson called back. “Keith, I’m going to see what he wants. Can you two help Daren till I get back and tell him to get the pallets of ammo off the floor and out of the shipping bay?”

“Yes, sir,” Keith said and took off running to his friend.

With Zeus following, Nelson trotted to the front of the store and found Matt walking back. He could see by Matt’s face he was tired. “Hey, Matt,” Nelson called out, and Matt headed toward him. Nelson stopped and pulled a bottle of water from a cooler and handed it over.

“Thank you,” Matt said and drained the bottle.

“How is it out there?” Nelson asked.

Shaking his head, Matt sighed. “Man, I’m glad I’m a cop in Springfield and not St. Louis. We only have a small trouble population, but they are making some trouble.”

“Any real problems yet?”

“Two banks are on fire, and someone shot a Homeland agent north of town,” Matt said.

“Gunfire already?” Nelson asked, shocked.

“Yeah, we have an ATF agent and several Homeland boys going to gun stores, making sure they are closed. They found one open and arrested the owner and his family then took everything in the store. We are sure the shooter is a relative,” Matt said.

“Serves the asshole right taking the family’s stuff,” Nelson said, leading Matt to his office.

“Yeah, but he was just following orders,” Matt said.

Nelson stopped and grabbed Matt’s arm. “You and every officer serving swore to uphold the Constitution. That action was going against it. The order to not sell is illegal, and you know it; we aren’t even going to talk about taking the money.”

“Yeah, but it still sucks seeing a fellow officer shot,” Matt moaned as Nelson headed down the hallway.

Looking over his shoulder, Nelson said, “Matt, there may come a time when you have to kill one.”

“I know, but I don’t have to like it,” he said as Nelson stopped at his secretary’s desk.

Nelson opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a cash box. “No, you don’t have to like it, but you better not hesitate to do it, or you’ll die,” he said, pulling out his keys and opening the box.

“Holy shit,” Matt said, looking at the stacks of money.

“Petty cash,” Nelson said, grabbing it.

Hearing that, Matt started coughing. “Just how much ‘petty’ cash?” he finally croaked out.

“We usually keep five grand, but I think Mildred had extra here. When we go out, the company reimburses us in cash if it’s under five hundred dollars. If it’s more, they send a check,” Nelson said, putting the empty box back.