Revenge in the Homeland (17 page)

Beth whispered, “We are friendly and won’t let them hurt you. How many are there?”

"Ma'am, this is a mean bunch and they will kill him and make you a slave if they see you.”

“How many?”

“Just those two.”

John asked, “Are there any more bad guys close enough to hear gunshots?”

“They are a couple of miles that way. These guys have been shooting for an hour. A couple more won’t draw attention.”

John took aim and dropped one while Beth killed the other. The old man walked over to the larger of the two, kicked him in the side and stomped his face in with several kicks.

“That SOB won’t bother my granddaughter or me again. Hey, we can’t stay around here for long. The others will come by tomorrow morning and kill us when they find out that we killed their friends.”

“Where are they based and how many are there?”

“They all live in Enfield and forage around the countryside taking what and who they want. They are a bunch of ex-convicts and are bad to the bone. There is about thirty of them and they have captured a dozen young women they use for their pleasure. We were trying to kill a deer when they found us this morning. We have a cabin about five miles southwest of here and are having to cover a lot of ground trying to find game. We’d heard about these guys, but had never run into them until this morning.”

“How many are in your group?

“Just us, my wife and her parents were killed by a bunch of thugs just after the lights went out. We keep a low profile and hide from strangers. Now tell us about yourselves. We don’t know you are any better than those guys.”

“Do y’all hear any outside news? Do you know about the new country, the ISA?”

“We haven’t heard anything since the TV stopped working. We know quite a bit about the area and that’s all.”

“That’s good, we need your help. I’ll give you a brief update on what’s going on in the rest of the world. The USA was nuked by a group made up of rogue government thugs, Islamic terrorists and narco terrorists. The USA has broken up into three countries, the old USA, The PSA and the ISA. The USA is governed by the thugs that attacked their own country. The PSA is made up of the west coast states and the ISA is made up of a group of the southern states. Most of the military defected and joined the ISA. We are citizens of the ISA. We were visiting California and on our way back to Mobile when our plane crashed.”

“We have seen a few planes from time to time and wondered who was in them. Do y’all have electricity, TV and running water? What happened to the radical Muslim terrorists?”

“We have electricity and running water in several cities, but not in the countryside yet. The Navy is helping us get power plants and water treatment facilities back in operation. The ISA is quickly ridding it of the criminals, biker gangs and racist groups. We are managing the country as the founding fathers intended it to be run. Everybody works, everybody pays taxes and everybody serves in the military when needed. We take care of the sick and disabled, but have no sympathy for fakes scamming the system. If you like what you hear, we would like you to join the ISA. Oh, and we nuked most of the radical Islamic strongholds. Iran is a glassy field along with 50-60 other mideast locations. The peaceful Muslims are now able to beat back the radicals.”

“I was in the Navy for 10 years and if the Navy is with you I am too, but we are staying here. I was chief petty officer on several ships over the years. We could use some help fighting off the thugs and some seeds and stuff. Would it be possible for the military to help get rid of the thugs and biker gangs? This is home and we are staying here.”

The ISA plans to ask the people of this area to join, but it was scheduled for next spring. Perhaps we can start an outpost to help you out and get our message to the people. Do you know anyone with a ham radio so we can get help? We have several injured people and no food.”

“Sorry, I don’t know of any, but there could be some over in Cody. As lonely as this place is in the winter, there should be hundreds of them.”

The young lady spoke up, “Sorry, we are forgetting our manners. This is my papaw, Eric Shelton and I’m Billy Shelton. We only have enough food for ourselves, but can feed you until we can teach you how to hunt and fish. I was in my last year of nursing school and I’d be glad to help treat your injuries.”

“Thanks. This is my wife, Beth Harris, and I’m John Harris. We know how to survive in the woods and can hunt and fish. We do need some help with where are the best places to hunt and is there a lake nearby. Before we leave this place, is there any food or supplies in the house that we can use?”

“Yes, and I need to get my dog," Billy replied. "She is all that I have and Callie is a good rabbit dog. We need to get out of this wind and snow. I’m freezing.”

Eric stared at John and said, “John Harris sounds familiar. Did you have a TV show or something?”

“Yes, I had a radio show on surviving.”

“Damn, I listened to you every week. More during the long winters. We have all of your books. We are honored to have you with us.”

“Thank you. Now I guess that we had better  prepare to get out of here. Beth, you and Billy search them and get their guns while Eric and I search the house.”

John gave Eric one of the men’s rifles and went into the house. The sound of a barking dog was coming from one of the rooms and when Eric opened the door, a small Shih Tzu came running out and jumped in Eric’s arms. They searched the place and found a couple more guns and several boxes of canned meat and soup. The women joined them and Eric started a fire in the fireplace to warm them up a bit after being in the snow all day.

“John, what do you do in the ISA, I mean what is your job? You sound like a walking advertisement for them.”

John looked at Beth and said, “I work for the Secretary of Defense and was out in California helping the PSA get their military up to speed. The USA and the UN attacked us while we were out there and we think our plane crash has something to do with that attack.”

“Can you help us start an army up here to get rid of these scumbag criminals?”

"Yes. In fact, we will try to prepare you as much as possible until we are rescued and I will send a team up here to secure your area and train the people around you to protect themselves. Would you take on a leadership role until the ISA can convince the people to join us?”

“I’d be glad to. We only have a few deer rifles and are low on ammunition. The thugs raided all of the police stations and sporting goods stores and took all of the ARs and other weapons.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll equip and train you. Now we need to figure out what to do for the next couple of days. Our friends are expecting us back at the plane and the snow is piling up out there. We need to head back to them and then can we come to your place to rest up and figure out a long range plan?”

“Yes you will be welcome. We have a large house and a couple of fireplaces. I’ll draw you a map and give you directions. Our place is about four miles southeast of here and about eight miles southeast of your plane. Come over and join us while you mend. I have maps and can help point you in the right direction on finding a radio and help.”

It was 1:30 when Beth and John started walking back to the plane. They each had several cans of meat and soup in their backpacks and two gallons of water hanging from a rope around their shoulders. The snow was a foot deep and the weather had turned worse. It was a full white out blizzard. They trudged through the snow thinking about their hungry friends back at the plane.

“Beth, we won’t get lost because there is a steep gully on our left. We need to check every now and then to make sure we are on the road and next to the gully or we will walk in circles.”

They fell down from time to time checking for the gully and John’s shoulder hurt like hell from falling on it when it was his turn to walk to the left until he found the gully.

“I think I know how Helen Keller felt. We can’t see a thing and I am freezing. How much further do you think it is?”

“I’ve been counting our paces and I think that we have covered eight to nine miles. The plane is just ahead of us.”

“How will we know when to stop? What if we turned down a side gully that branches off the one we have been following?”

“Good questions, but darling we would have to have really bad luck to have that happen.”

Beth laughed and said, “So good luck is being in a plane crash and walking lost in a blizzard? I don’t want any fucking bad luck.”

“Potty mouth. You have been after me for years to stop dropping the F-bomb and here you are cussing like a sailor.”

“I know you are kidding, but now is not the time or place.”

John shut up.

***

Janet and Steve covered all openings with seat cushions, towels and anything they could poke in a hole. They had a small fire built on a piece of the wing which warmed the interior enough to make it bearable.”

“Steve, I just had a terrible thought. How will they find the plane in this whiteout? They could walk right past us without knowing it. What can we do?”

They brainstormed for a minute and Steve said, “We can stretch a rope across the road so they will know when to stop. We tie it down inside the cabin and hang some cans on it so we know someone is out there.”

Janet went to their Bug Out bags and took all of the para cord that she could find.

“Here is over two hundred feet of para cord. I need to tie it to something about waist high in several places. I think that I will run it out past the road just in case they are not able to stay on the road.”

“Sounds like a plan; I wish that I could help you.”

“Me too, but it is what it is. I’m also going to place a row of suitcases across the road just in case the line falls down in the night. I’ll check as often as possible, but don’t want them to miss us. I guess we should be prepared to fight if the bad guys find us.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact knock twice wait and then knock three times before you enter each time.”

Janet took the para cord and three suitcases and went out into the cold. She lined the suitcases and other debris across the road and made snowmen to hang the rope on. She stopped several times to warm up, but completed the task in a couple of hours.

“You built how many snowmen?

“Fifteen or so. Just the snowmen should get their attention.”

✼✼✼✼✼✼

✼

Chapter 21

John was getting worried because he had already counted more than enough steps to have them back at the plane. It was getting darker so it must be around 5:00 and would be totally dark in a few minutes. The visibility was so low and the wind so noisy that he and Beth held hands so as not be separated.

Beth leaned over and asked, “Are we there yet? I have to pee and can’t wait.”

“No dear, but we are very close. I’ll try to block the wind while you do your thing.”

He was standing by Beth when he turned and saw a shadowy figure.

He drew his gun and yelled, “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”

The man didn’t move. Beth was finished so they both took a couple of steps and saw a snowman holding a piece of snow covered rope. John saw several other shapes to the left and right of the snowman.

“Bless their hearts; they placed a roadblock to help us find the plane. Let’s go right and follow the rope to our friends.”

The cans clinked together and the rattle scared the crap out of Janet who had dozed off. The wind had created a steady jingle, but this was a violent shaking of the cord.

“Grab your rifle and be prepared. We have to be ready in case it’s not our friends.”

Steve was behind some seats and Janet hid in the cockpit with her rifle aimed at the door. The door opened a crack and a white handkerchief tied to the barrel of a rifle poked into the door.

“Don’t shoot. It’s John and Beth and we are freezing.”

“Come on in out of the cold. Did you find our rope?”

“We walked right into one of your snow monsters and it scared the shit out of us. Great idea and you may have just saved our lives.”

They spent the next hour filling Steve and Janet in on their trip and events of the day.

“Cody, Wyoming! I knew that we were off course, but never thought that we were this far north. Oh, shit! No one would think to search this far off course. We are on our own.”

“Steve, that’s what I’m thinking. They might figure out the decoy plane, but would have no way to figure out where we are. We have to act as if our rescue is in our own hands.”

***

“Gus, I wanted to call you personally. I’ll send a report later, but the Admiral has some spies here in San Diego. There are too many odd occurrences and events leading up to the attack and the disappearance of Dad’s plane. They knew exactly where the underground bunker and Dad’s plane were located. The security guard’s helicopter had engine trouble and an identical Gulfstream IV took off at the same time as Dad’s plane. Surveillance shows both to have the same identification number. This was planned well in advance and took quite a bit of skill to accomplish.”

“Good job Scott. What can I do to help?”

“Have the Admirals intelligence group check the satellite photos for this area and see if they can get a course for the other plane. I’ll bet my life that our guys were on the plane. I’ll also bet that it didn’t get to its planned destination.”

“Why do you think it went down?”

“Because there hasn’t been any ransom request or victory dance. If the USA captured or killed Dad, the USA president would be having an orgasm and shouting aloud about his success in capturing the criminal. I think the plane went down during a struggle to recapture the plane. Not the best of scenarios, but Dad could have survived and be waiting for us to go get him, if we knew where he is located.”

“I agree. It’s some guesswork, but it’s all we have at the minute. The Admiral already has them looking at the first plane. I’ll have them start chasing down the other.”

“I’ll see if I can catch a few moles. My next call is to the Admiral to get him to double the security at the base and help catch these bastards.”

***

Joe and Imelda never got a chance to leave the house due to the blizzard. They had a big stack of firewood, water and enough food for a month.

“I don’t think we should venture out in this blinding snowstorm. We’d just get lost and freeze to death. We’ll wait it out and try to head back to the plane tomorrow as planned.”

They closed off all of the rooms except the living room, which had the fireplace to conserve firewood. The room was warm and this could have been just a normal winter day in the country. Imelda found some chocolate mix and made some hot chocolate to drink. She even put some rock hard marshmallows on top just as her mother did when she was a young girl.

“Joe, I hope the others are warm and well fed as we are, but I keep feeling guilty about the fireplace and food.”

“John has probably killed a grizzly bear and they are eating bear steaks around a campfire. Don’t worry about them.”

Normally the area around Cody only gets a few inches of snow each year; however, this was one of those hundred year events. It snowed for three days leaving three feet of snow on the ground and 10 foot snowdrifts. Joe struggled just to get to the firewood and back to the house. He had strung para cord from the house to the pile of wood to make sure that he wouldn’t get lost. They found some board games and played checkers and scrabble for two days until the storm subsided.

Joe woke up by the fire with Imelda a few feet away and noticed that the side window looked like someone was shining a light on the accumulated snow. He got up and opened the front door to an avalanche of snow and a solid wall of snow blocking the door.

“Damn Imelda, we are snowed in. I’m checking the back door.”

They ran to the back door and found the snow only four feet deep against the door. Joe went into the attached garage, found a small shovel and quickly cleared the door. They walked outside into a winter wonderland. The sky was clear, there was a strong breeze and the sun glared down on them. The thermometer on the back porch said 20 degrees.

“This is beautiful. Snow has covered everything. I’d love to play in it and make a snowman. We never see snow in Mobile. I guess that we had better pack up and hit the road. They are probably thinking we are lost.”

“Yep, let’s get our gear and hike back to the plane. We might just have to stay here for a while; it sure beats that damn plane.”

They each loaded their backpack with canned food and took a couple gallons of water in old milk jugs they found in the pantry. Then they walked out to where the road was supposed to be and just saw a vast white plain in front of them. Joe pulled out his field glasses and noticed a ridge running in the direction of the plane.

“See that ridge. I believe it’s the edge of the road and is the drop off to the gully. They walked out to it and then walked beside it for about a half mile when Joe saw something sticking up out of the snow.

“Joe, it’s a mile marker. We can check our progress with the mile markers.”

They weren’t moving very fast because the snow was two to three feet deep, so each step was a struggle. Each mile was taking a little over an hour due to the deep snow. The walk was very tiring and they each fell down several times per mile walked.

“We only traveled about seven miles from the plane to the house and at this rate we should get there about four o’clock. We don’t want to go much past that or it will be dark and difficult to find the plane. Let’s pick up the pace now while we are fresh.”

They quickly found that the harder they tried the more they fell down. They gravitated to a slow walk and found they were covering more ground by not falling down so much.

At noon they stopped just long to take a drink and get some crackers out to eat while they walked. This perked them up and they continued their journey to the plane.

“Joe, you said that you don’t have a girl friend?”

“No, but Gus’ wife is trying to fix me up with his middle daughter. We haven’t seen each other yet due to this trip. I haven’t had time for a girlfriend.  Why are you asking?”

“One of the girls back in Mobile asked me about you and I thought I’d check for her. We never saw you with anyone so…..”

“Damn, you thought I was gay?”

“Well, with two to three girls for every guy, it did make us wonder. Not that being gay is bad, just not boyfriend material.”

“You can tell your friend that I am not gay and will be looking for someone. I guess I just got caught up in surviving.”

“What does she look like?”

“She’s rather attractive. About 5’ 2”, blue eyes honey blond hair and 110 pounds. She’s in training to join the Rangers.”

They passed the time talking about things in general and before they knew it, they saw a line of tall lumps in the middle of what passed for the road ahead. They stretched about 150 feet and there was a snow covered rope stretching from end to end.

“Joe, look to the left. Is that the tail of the plane?”

“I believe it is. We beat sundown by an hour. Hurray, we are home.”

They slid down the embankment to the plane and Joe saw the line going in the plane at the top of the door.

“I’d better ring the doorbell before we get shot.”

He pulled the cord and in a few minutes, the door opened slowly.

“Hey Steve, it’s Imelda and Joe. We’re back!”

John came out to greet them and then ushered them into the plane to warm up. They began swapping stories and after a couple of hours, Imelda and Joe turned in for the night. They were exhausted. John didn’t wake them for a turn at guard duty and Beth, Janet and he covered for them so they could get some rest.

Beth and Janet took the first hours of guard duty and woke John up at two o’clock to see another couple of inches of snow on the ground. He wanted to leave before sun up to give them as much daylight as possible for their trip. He found part of the wing and made a sled to carry Steve. He braided some of the para cord together and made a pull rope.

Joe joined him and said, “John, how long will it take to get to this friend’s house? It took Imelda and me six hours to cover seven miles and we weren’t towing Steve and a lot of gear.”

“I figure it will take about 12 hours if we stay after it the whole time. I plan to take plenty of blankets to make some tents if we have to spend the night on the trail. Hell, I can make an igloo with all this snow and we will be toasty warm. Go wake the others. I want to leave before dawn.”

He made a smaller sled to transport their food, blankets and supplies. They loaded up and got ready to leave.

“I’m not going to kid you; this will be a rough trip. My compass says that we head out in that direction and we are cutting across country. We’ll have to cross gullies and dry creek beds. Eric told me there were no cliffs or ponds to watch for, but we need to keep watching in all directions for danger. We will stand out like a sore thumb against all of that white snow. Those thugs might come looking for the ones who killed their friends and took their hostages. We will be leaving a trail that a blind man can follow. Let’s move out.”

They only got about a hundred yards before they had almost dumped Steve. They found they couldn’t pull the sled behind one person. The sled was falling into the void left as their bodies plowed through the snow. John quickly rigged up a harness that allowed two people to pull the sleds and keep them in the middle in fresh snow.

“That is a big improvement. I thought we’d kill poor Steve before we got halfway there. Now if we just had a couple of snowmobiles, we could zip over there in an hour or so.”

“Keep dreaming. Everyone stay sharp and watch for danger. We’ll rotate up the one walker with the draft horses every hour. I have the .22 handy so if you spot any rabbits, I’ll try to kill a couple for supper.”

They stopped and rested at lunch for about twenty minutes while they ate some cold potted meat and crackers. They could see clearly for about a mile and nothing moved except the occasional rabbit and quite a few birds. John shot at three rabbits and got two of them just after lunch.

“John, there is some movement in those bushes over there. I don’t think it’s people, but it could be dogs or wolves.”

“Everyone keep your eyes peeled. We don’t need to be attacked by a pack of dogs or wolves. The rabbit blood may be attracting them.”

John pitched one of the rabbits behind them and when they got 50 yards away, a bunch of large dogs came out of the brush and tore into the rabbit. A fight broke out and they could hear the growls and barking.

“That’s a nasty bunch and they could attack us just as easy.

John stopped and shot three of the largest dogs and they started a feeding frenzy on their own pack members.

“Let’s make tracks while they feed. They won’t bother us for several hours, but there could be a bunch of wild dogs out here. Their masters are either dead or couldn’t feed them so they got loose and banded together. I don’t want to become dog food. Move out!”

They lost sight of the dogs and made good time until John stopped and said. It is 2:00 and we are only halfway there. I think we need to stop and prepare to spend the night in this area. We can head out early in the morning and have a safe trip. I don’t want to be stumbling in the dark when these dogs attack.”