Authors: L. Douglas Hogan
Arnie turned around and opened the squeaky screen door to his house and invited them in. They all entered to the smell of musty old mildew and body odor. It was common in these times to be greeted with these smells. Old houses in particular had leaky ceilings, and Arnie’s family had lived here for generations.
“Grab a seat, gentlemen,” Arnie said as he pulled a chair out from his kitchen table and sat in it. The table was covered in clutter and things that had nothing to do with food.
While everybody in the kitchen was making acquaintances and getting seated, Aaron looked down at the countertop and saw a man’s wallet that was open. In one of the sleeves, he saw a driver’s license with the picture of a man that he didn’t recognize. In the opposing sleeve, he saw a picture of a baby boy. Aaron wanted to ask about it, but he was a man of few words. When Arnie saw Aaron looking at it, he got up from the table, walked over to it, and slapped it shut, putting it in his back pocket.
“My son left his wallet here,” Arnie said to the group. “He left for the FEMA camp in Philadelphia. I told him he needed to stay here, at home with us, but he wouldn’t listen.”
John, sensing that the conversation was headed in another direction, tried to bring everybody back to the subject of the group up the road.
“Sir, if we could talk about this pack of troublemakers up the road.”
Arnie seemed hesitant to talk about the Pack. “I hope you excuse my mess, but I have no need for outdated customs of etiquette or table space. It just collects stuff, now. When I eat, it’s generally outside—fresh-picked vegetables, grubs, and game on the grill—but the growing season’s almost over and I have to store stuff to survive the winter.”
John perceived that Arnie was going to keep babbling. “Mr. Mayor, I understand you have a nuisance down the road?”
“Yeah, they call themselves the Pack, but they haven’t come here, yet.”
“They may if their resources drop out. We need to get through that roadblock and head in that direction.”
“I’m afraid we no longer have the equipment necessary to move those logs. We ran out of fuel months ago.”
“We have a bus that we can use to move enough to get us through. Do you have chains?”
“Yeah, we have some chains around here, somewhere. I can have someone track them down, but I’m afraid you might start more problems than you solve if you head that way. They’re going to know we let people through, and I’m assuming they’ve been counting on our security to keep their east side secure.”
“How many of them are there?” Belt asked.
“A few dozen, I reckon. I haven’t exactly tallied them.”
“Have you seen their camp?” John asked.
“Not since the grid went down.”
John looked at Aaron and said, “Aaron, you traverse through the woods quite well. Do you think you’d be able to sneak through them and bring back a report?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“Great. I’ll need to know their size, what and when they’re doing it, the location of their equipment, people, weapons, etc. See if you can keep tabs on the times they move. I want to know if they have guards and when they change out.”
“Not a problem,” Aaron said. “What kind of a time frame do I have?”
“See if you can watch for twenty-four hours and then report back.” John gave him a pencil and a scratch pad.
“Good luck, boy,” Arnie said.
“I’m gonna need it.” Aaron double-checked his rifle and headed for the woods.
Gideon was deep in thought when he realized his mother and father were still back at the bus. “I’m going to head back to the bus for Mom and Dad.”
“That won’t be necessary, boy. I’ll send a couple guys back out that way to make sure they’re safe.” Arnie stood up and stepped outside for a couple minutes.
When Belt saw that Arnie was outside for a minute, he leaned over the table and said to John, “I don’t like this. Something’s not right here. I keep getting an odd feeling.”
“Yeah, me too, but we need to buy some time to find out more about the Pack.”
Sothern Illinois, southwest Murphysboro
Nathan, Jess, Denny, Ash, Warren and the other twelve members of the Posse had been traveling by horse all morning. They had approached the outskirts of Murphysboro and dismounted. They tied the horses to trees in a valley within the forest, taking precautions to make sure they were out of sight.
Nathan led the seventeen of them to the area where he had heard the loudspeakers before. He noticed the military corpses were no longer hanging from street signs and poles.
“They cut them down,” Nathan whispered. “Guys, this can get bad in a hurry, so check yourselves for op readiness. We don’t need anything dangling from your uniform or making sounds. This is an information-gathering operation only. At no time are we to engage these clowns! We don’t know anything about them. That’s why we’re here.”
“Boss,” Denny said, “can we split into two teams for more visual?”
“Yeah, but use extreme caution. Stay within contact distance at all times and rally up here at thirteen hundred hours.”
“Roger that,” Denny said, grabbing the seven closest men to him, which included Warren, Blake, Jack, Freddy, Andy, Byron, and Ian. They scooted off the ridgeline and went around the berm they were lying on and disappeared in the forest.
Nathan took Jess, Ash, Max, Jordan, Gil, Steve, Morgan, and Adam.
“We’re going to maintain visual from here,” Nathan said.
“I didn’t leave this way on my last visit,” Jess whispered. “I ended up on that side of town before I turned due west and headed for the tracks.”
“Man, I wish you would have caught a glimpse of the guy that runs this place,” Nathan said.
Jess nodded to him and then went back to watching.
There wasn’t that much activity. They could hear an occasional gunshot in the distance, but it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. The buildings in the town had a way of muffling every sound in it.
Denny and his group were within the perimeter of the town itself. He knew that if Nathan found out he was this close, he would object. He was using caution as he led the men through the yards and along the fence lines. At one point, Denny had a good view of a major roadway that ran north and south. He saw what appeared to be an empty house. Denny figured the house would provide both cover and concealment while providing an excellent view of the roadway.
“This is where we’re going to set up, guys,” Denny said, pointing to the house.
“Do you think it’s clear?” Blake asked.
“It looks clear,” Jack added.
“Just sit here a mike and listen for sounds,” Denny said.
After a few minutes, the men lined up on Denny as he approached the back deck. They walked up the stairs as a unit, and Denny softly grabbed the back-door handle. He pulled it open with one hand and kept his rifle trained ahead of him with the other.
They snuck into the two-story house and all was quiet. Denny, Warren, Blake, and Jack cleared the downstairs area while Freddy, Andy, Byron, and Ian went upstairs.
Denny and the guys that were downstairs started to unload their gear and prop everything against the wall. That’s when they heard men walking clumsily down the stairs.
Denny and the guys turned to look at the staircase and saw them walking backwards. He noticed their attention was on something up the stairs that was scaring them. Denny grabbed his rifle and pointed it the stairs. He didn’t want to shoot unless he absolutely had to. Shooting off his rifle now would spark an incident that would compromise the entire mission.
There was a man walking down the stairs that had the others at gunpoint. He was leading them backwards down the stairs.
“Easy,” Denny said. “We’re not here to cause any problems.”
“Who are you, and why are you in my home?” the stranger asked.
Denny was an awful liar and wasn’t sure if honesty was the best idea at this point, but didn’t want to instigate any further problems. “My name is Denny, and these are my friends,” he answered. He was hoping to avoid answering the second part of the question.
“Why are you in my home?” the man asked again.
“We’re looking for supplies, sir,” Jack said to the stranger.
Denny was glad he answered that way. At least it was believable.
“I don’t recognize any of you. Where are you from?”
“We’re from an area west of here,” Denny answered. “We didn’t mean to intrude. We’ll be on our way.”
“Don’t be grabbing for that bag, mister,” the stranger said with a serious and commanding voice.
“Sir—” Jack started to say something, but was interrupted by the stranger.
“Where, exactly, are you from?” the stranger demanded.
Denny didn’t want to reveal the location of their camp for fear of another raid, but felt he didn’t have any other cards to play at this point. “In all honesty, we’re not looking for supplies. We were attacked by a group of people from this area, and now we’re here to gather as much information as we can about the group.”
“How many of you are out there?” the stranger asked.
Denny could tell that this man wasn’t aware of any raids that had already happened, but might be interested in future raids. He could tell by the questions that were being asked that the man was definitely interested in their operation outside of Murphysboro.
“Thousands,” Jack said, hoping to still the man’s mind of any future attacks.
“There’s no need to lie to me,” the man said to Jack. “I’m not interested in taking from you. It’s just that we’ve been told that there’s a deadly virus out there, ravaging lives, and the only way to stay safe is to stay within city limits and not to let anybody in. I’m supposed to report you immediately.”
“We’re here and we’re not sick,” Denny said. “Vehicle loads of men called the Southside Raiders have hit us and killed and injured our people, and stolen from us.”
“I believe you.”
The stranger lowered his gun and said, “My name is Rory Price. There’s men here doing unspeakable things. They’ve lied to us, telling us that we can’t leave because of a deadly virus that’s sweeping through the land. They’ve been killing American and UN soldiers that come through here, hanging their bodies from street signs. Tell me, how bad is it out there?”
“It’s bad, but manageable,” Denny said. “We have a large community and just made an alliance with some Marines. The Mississippi River is secured for several miles along Route 3.”
“Is it free? Liberty, I mean, can my family enjoy freedom there?”
“As free as we can get it for what we’re going through, sir,” Denny said.
Rory was a church pastor before the Flip. He had been a pastor for seventeen years in Murphysboro. Like everybody else in the area, where he lived, he had been groomed and manipulated by Cade Walker. What the pastor had told them was the truth; they had been led to believe that there was a massive viral pandemic plaguing the outside world and that the only way to remain alive was to stay within the confines of the area Cade controlled.
The pastor had no reason not to believe him. He knew Cade was an evil man, but saw safety in his home, where he, his wife, and two daughters could live.
As far as guns and gun violence go, Pastor Price had a system of belief. He was fluent in his Bible and a very patriotic American. He believed in liberty, both spiritually and in that which the Constitution granted. He believed that spiritual liberty was purchased through the blood of Christ, and American liberty was purchased through the blood of patriots and tyrants, both of them being absolutely necessary to freedom. That being said, he did not view killing as murder when it was done out of valor or virtue. Israel was brought to a land that “floweth with milk and honey,” yet it had to be cleansed of evil.
“I was taking a nap when you boys came in. I must have forgotten to lock the back door. I don’t have much food, but what I have, you’re welcome to it,” he offered.
“We’re good. Thank you,” Denny said. “Maybe you can help us by telling us more about the leader of this place?”
“He’s hardly a leader. He’s a dictator and a very dangerous man. I avoid him at all costs. I go out only when I absolutely have to.”
“What’s his name? Where does he live?”
“His name is Cade Walker, and I don’t know where he lives. I don’t bother with such trivialities. I understand it’s important to you, but to me, that’s dangerous information.”
“I understand,” Denny said. “Do you mind if we sit here and watch that road for a while? We might be able to find something of importance that way.”
“No. I don’t mind at all. I haven’t had any visitors in quite some time.”
“Thank you. We plan on being out of your hair in twenty-four hours; is that kosher?”
“That’s perfectly fine. Just remember, I have children, and, oh, by the way, I almost forgot to introduce my wife.”
Pastor Price went to the base of the stairs and called out, “Hey, Chris, we have company. It’s okay to come down.”
Pastor Price’s wife’s name was Christina. People called her Chris for short. She came down the stairs with her two daughters, Sydni and Jessie. When Denny saw them, he tried to hide his rifle behind his back. The other men saw Denny and mimicked his attempt at trying to be discreet around the lady and children.
“Oh, it’s okay,” the pastor said. “They grew up around firearms.”
The men pulled their rifles back around and slung them over their shoulders. Denny went and began his watch out of the window. He took a pencil and writing tablet from his backpack to take notes on.
“We’re going to run this in shifts, guys, so figure out your order. We’re going to be here all night. I’ll take two shifts,” Denny said.
Cade figured his plan had gone wrong. He knew that Mark should have reported back to him by now. His most trusted man and best friend was sent after Thomas with very specific orders. Mark wasn’t one to mess things up when he was given a task. Cade now assumed he was dead and was growing in frustration as the hours ticked by.
“Donald!” Cade called out.
Donald was another member of Cade’s entourage. He wasn’t as trustworthy as Mark, but if there was an assignment to be had, Donald was eager to be recognized. Donald heard Cade’s call from the other room and shouted, “Coming.”