A long Lonely Road

Book Three

Texas and Home

By TJ Reeder

Copyrighted 10- 10-2012

By now yawl know I don’t do the road warrior thing. I just don’t have it in me to write that way. I try for humor and  some of what I feel would be most likely to happen in a real TEOTWAWKI event. But this time I somehow drifted off into an area that I really haven’t been and in truth I wanted to get out of it asap and I did. I hope it don’t turn anybody off to my writing because I didn’t plan it and don’t plan for it to happen again as it just ain’t my thing nor are Zombies . I read Zombie books but I just ain’t interested in writing it.

And yea I really don’t have a clue where a story is going when I start, and I’m usually very surprised where it ends.

I didn’t use my disclaimer as to my lack of good writing skills because by now you know it. But I did go through this 4 times and used spell and grammar check 3 times so I tried.

A Long lonely Road

Book 3

                                 Texas and Home

I will tell yawl for free. Getting shot in the ass is a great big pain in the ..well.. the ASS! And listening to the comments about it would get somebody shot but they took away all my guns. I hate em all!!

Especially Sandy my so called friend / woman. She’s among the worse. She thinks slapping me on the ass and saying stuff like “ IF ya lose more weight yer ass wouldn’t be sticking up like a Shoot me here target!!”.

Today the Doc said I could most likely hit the road anytime and the sooner the better. I got with Willy Bean who hit me with a new idea. He felt the new Hunter group should head for Texas with us.

His theory was that we could get organized there with any new recruits and train everybody together. I admitted it was an outstanding idea if everybody was ready to load up and roll by next morning.

Willy laughed and said hell Boss we got ready while you babied yer ass!. See what I mean ?

No respect and no gun to shoot him with.

We spent several days getting loaded up with all the gear the group had gathered up and once again we were on the road but this time we were a rolling Combat Team, A hunter Pack. Well ok that’s a stretch but we were together.

Shortly we passed the place where I had turned off to make our stand and Sandy asked if I wanted to visit it. I ignored her and just kept driving while she laughed.

And shortly we passed the turn off into Clovis with no trouble and then we hit the Texas state line! 

And a solid barricade made up of semi trailers laid on their sides and earth pushed half way up what had been the top.

Cut into the former top were firing ports with lot of gun barrels pointed at us as we slowed to a stop about a hundred yards from the barricade. I eased out of the truck while Sandy did the same and we just stood waiting.

The funny thing was we saw no signs of any fighting anywhere around the place which seemed comforting or not. Maybe they were just neater then most.

We stood looking for a bit then a man stepped around the box trailer on the left and looked us over then said “ Johnny Walker? “ I nodded and said “Yep” He looked at the convoy behind us and said “ They peaceful”?

Again I nodded and said “Yep”

He smiled and said “well yer buddy Rick said you was a talkative one”

I felt relief course thru me because I knew if he had talked to Rick then I had a feeling Mom and the rest of the Homestead was ok.

He walked on out and stuck a big paw out at me and said

“ I’m Bear Jackson” He was bigger then the average bear by a whole lot and it sure wasn’t fat.

I shook his hand and introduced Sandy who’s hand simply disappeared into his.

She looked down at it and said “If you break even one tiny bone in my hand I will shoot you dead!

He busted out with the biggest roar I ever heard and said “With what little lady?”

She just smiled that sweet smile and looked down at his crotch.

When he looked down her Gold Cup was pointed right at his pride and joy!

Now he really bellowed out with laughter!! And very gently let her hand go.

Bear Jackson was a man who could laugh while Apaches pealed his hide off one strip at a time. He was just a great big good ol boy born and bred in Texas.

He wasn’t dumb by a mile but he liked to put on the Ol Red neck act but Sandy had got his attention for sure.

Well we was in Texas and sitting with the local home guard commander Harry Brown who brought us up to date about things in Texas.

He said” The day the lights went out the Caca really hit the rotators in the cities” Houston was burning in less then an hour while the gangs fought over the neighborhoods and the spoils.

Then it was just open season on everybody who wasn’t a Mexican or in some areas a Black or a Red Neck White.

“It was just open season on anybody they didn’t like or know and even then it didn’t seem to matter. Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin held out longer because the Governor brought in the National Guard” He said.

But the Guard and Cops were out numbered and by now even the decent folks were shooting anybody who was a stranger he added. After the first week the cities were raging infernos and no fire fighters, no water and that was that.

The People in the gated communities were next to go and it wasn’t pretty. Most thought their silly gate and the minimum wage guard with pepper spray was gonna keep them safe.

The mobs over run even the few who had guns and it was a massacre. Women and girls raped non stop till they died or were killed. Men tortured and in some cases burned alive.

It was like mass hatred had overtaken the cities which in a way it had.

“Finally” he said “ The folks in the more rural areas just barricaded the bridges and wait for them and shot them dead. Piling bodies up like hills before the raging fools turned and ran.

The good folk then went after them and ran them down and killed all they could catch.

“How about the good folks who weren’t a part of the mobs” I asked?

“Weren’t none “he replied.

“Every body in the mobs were a part of it and them as wasn’t was already dead.”

I knew what I had seen but none of it was like this. I had traveled about a thousand miles and never came close to a major city.

We were all quiet for a while but I had questions and needed answers.

I asked him if Texas was stable at this time? He said “ yea more or less simply because the whole damn state was armed to the teeth and most rural folks have the ability to feed them selves”

He said that as the scum floated to the top it was dealt with. And most of them were working real hard to become gardeners and being helpful.

He smiled and said “nothing brings about a conversion in attitude like seeing yer buddies swinging from trees“.

I told him what my plans were and he thought I was crazy to go back out into the mess looking for trouble.

I asked him how many times he looked at the remains of an entire family murdered for whatever they had on them? That got his attention real fast!

He said “ My god! You mean that’s going on out there?

I just looked at him and said “that and worse!” I guess these folks hadn’t seen a lot of the crap I had seen

We took our leave and headed home with our convoy of  trucks full of armed people and pulling supply trailers .We must have looked pretty tough. Folks just waved and smiled.

Of course with the Nations Flags waving on a lot of vehicles plus the Lone Star Flag of Texas ( And of course the Stars and bars of the Confederate States of America) most folks saw us as some part of the state Guard which was fine.

Sandy told me that we needed to stop for the night about 30 miles from home and I was surprised and said so. She said

“ I’m going to be meeting your family and I won’t do it looking like GI Jane Rambo!”

Being the kind and considerate ( Smart and chicken shit)  Man that I am I agreed that we all needed to clean up so we pulled over by a creek and everybody spent the rest of the day washing the trucks and their bodies and clothing.

Come morning when Sandy and I came out of the camper there in formation stood our “Army” at attention. all 97 of them.

Somebody had spent some time working with these folks because they looked damn sharp! All were in some form of BDU’s and a mixed lot it was but all looked clean and in good shape. Their weapons were a mixed bag but I would bet my last breath they were all clean and loaded.

I was lost for a moment then taking a page from Willies playbook I snapped to and marched over to him where he saluted like a pro and I returned it.

He then asked if I would care to inspect the troop. Which I did. Looking each person in the eye and thanking them for their service.

I marched back to the front while Willy took his place at the front and I said “ At Ease”! in my best Marine parade ground voice.

I looked them over slowly wondering what you say to people like these who were willing to put it all on the line for no pay, no glory and most likely a lonely grave by some back road.

Finely I said” Words of thanks don’t work well in a case like this. We are embarking soon on a journey of no less importance then out fathers and grand fathers did in WW2 where they fought and so many died in far away places.

We are not a trained Military unit but we are each and every one of us a volunteer no less so then the Marines I fought beside long ago in another war on distant shores.

But! This time the war is here on our shores in our cities and towns. The enemy we will meet is “US” our own people. But people who shown their inability to live as decent people. People who have chosen to rob, rape, murder and torture their fellow man.

We will stop them once and for all. No lawyers to cut deals. No suspended sentences. We will in the words of my old Recon team “ Find em, Fix em and Fuck em!

And at that they roared like real Marines! OooohRahhhh!!! And I felt my buttons popping and a shiver run up my spine! And the next roar my voice was as loud and then Sandy was beside me adding her war cry!

We were one! We were a Unit! We were Warriors!

After it quieted down I told them that the military stuff was great in garrison but all saluting and such was a good way to get me and the other officers killed so please don’t salute!

I nodded at Willy who yelled “Attention!!” and my Band of brothers snapped to and when Willy yelled “ Dismissed!! And they gave their battle cry “OOOOH Rhaaa!!

After that we loaded up and headed out and by God we looked good!! Pride was flowing off like glitter and you could feel it.

There was no yelling or cat calls when we passed people. Everybody was being professional and looking the part.

I saw this in the Marines long ago but it came only after men had worked, trained and fought together for a while. Somehow we had it already.

We rolled into the small town near to where my people and our homestead were. As we got closer I was filled with dread at what I might find.

We turned onto the narrow farm to market road that lead to the turn in between two bridges. And the gate I had hung with a lot of sweat and work being so out of shape and over a hundred pounds heavier then now.

The gate was closed and there was a well placed bunker just to the right and almost out of sight. I stopped the truck and got out and stood in the open.

Nobody or thing moved then Molly bailed out and took off under the gate and up the road towards my little cabin which I could hardly see for the huge garden growing tall.

At last a vehicle could be heard coming and there was my good friend Rick our neighbor. He bailed out and said “bout time!”

We met at the gate and shook hands and pounded each others shoulders ! I knew he would be there caring for everybody.

In moments the gate was open and the convoy started coming thru. Rick was wide eyed as they rolled thru. After the last on was in the gate was closed and locked and a heavy cable was raised and locked.

It would slow down a gate crasher because they couldn’t gain speed what with having to turn so sharp into the gate.

I looked at the bunker as we walked up the drive and then went over to it and still had trouble really seeing it. Rick called out a password and out popped a young man in full  face paint. It took a moment to realize it was his youngest son Jim.

I shook my head as he disappeared back into the bunker. Rick said there was a sound powered phone inside and that it was mostly an advanced warning post with a bug out route down into the creek and back to the main defenses.

We walked on while he told me all about how things were going for them.

He said my Mom was doing pretty good for her age but that like everybody her meds were gone and no hope of finding more but that the women had gotten into advanced herb gardening and were growing all manner of stuff that was helping mom and a lot of other people.

I had been on the road so long and 10 minutes after getting back I felt like I never left. We headed to moms house and he left me to check on where my troops were gonna be billeted. Tents in the trees of course.

I stepped inside the door to my Mothers home and she was napping in her chair so I eased down on the old couch and just relaxed. After a bit she opened her eyes and looked at me and asked me if I was going to the store that she needed some things.

I said sure mom I’ll be going in later and she nodded back off. I eased up and out the door and headed to see to the troops.

My cabin was sitting just as I left it so I opened the door and saw it was just the same.

Dusty and the bed unmade. I had to laugh.

But the two old Mauser rifles and the sawed off 12 ga double barrel on the wooden pegs were dust free and lubed against the humidity. I took the shotgun down and sure nuff it was still loaded with # 1 buck. It was good to be home.

I found the troops scattered in the woods between Ricks fish ponds in the trees setting up tents. The trucks were scattered among the trees too.

My new truck and trailer was parked where I always parked my trailer before I took my last road trip. It now set with the truck in a park in Montana.

Sandy was in the camper waiting for me with a shy look on her face so I took her hand and we walked around the place meeting all the people I knew and a lot I didn’t.

Rick’s wife Chris was happy to meet Sandy and took her off to see girly stuff. I looked for Willy and Rick and asked to be filled in on what all had happened while I was gone.

He said that surprisingly not much, that the main problems were the cities and the trouble makers who headed out into the rural areas got their asses handed to them. And the local bad guys had met the same fate. Folks were just not taking shit anymore.

He said the gardens had been very successful and they had plenty to eat. That the lack of power had been an issue but they had bartered for a few generators that used diesel so they could run them for a few hours a day and keep the freezers at temp and charge any batteries needing it.

He said that all in all it was going good. People were working well together doing whatever they could do best. He said people were going to bed at dark and up at sunup just like the old days.

Everybody was getting in better shape, losing weight and seemed healthy as compared to the past. No fast foods and mostly fresh veggies. Plenty of eggs since the teenagers after a hard safety course had been armed with 22 rifles and were keeping the chicken flocks safe just as I saw back in Idaho at the mine compound.

The goats Sheri had were producing plenty of milk since she was home to handle them. Rick had traded some ammo for a milk cow and calf and Sheri was milking her and making butter. All in all things were good.

No TV. No Football. No commercials for products nobody really needed. 

All in all it was going even better then I had hoped.

Willy, Rick and I sat on the dock by his pond and I laid out the battle plan for the coming months. He said I was too old for that shit and I agreed with him but I was gonna do it anyway.

He said he did understand it since he had seen some shit in the early days of the troubles.

I looked at him who I knew wouldn’t kill anything unless it just had to be and I could see that he had been to the wars himself. I didn’t ask and he never offered.

I was sad that he had to do that but we had talked about it and both knew he would do whatever had to be done.

If there was a nail sticking up he would hammer it down. He was just a get it done kinda guy. Just exactly what the combined homesteads needed.

He asked when we would be rolling out and I said 2 weeks max that there was a lot of shit that needed burning and a lot of good people who were dying right now and I couldn’t live with not dealing with them ASAP.

I gathered up Sandy and headed off to find Sheri and she was at the barn of course. I just walked up and wrapped her up in my arms and held her a long time.

Then she pushed me away and went to Sandy and gave her one of those hugs that only this woman could give. Then she said you poor thing stuck with him for months on end. And off they went leaving me standing in goat and chicken shit.

My butt hurt and I was grumpy so I did what I do best I went to the trailer and took a nap. When I woke up I went looking for my woman and found her with Sheri and Chris in the communal outdoor kitchen laughing and having a good time.

I walked right thru and grabbed a hand full of cookies and escaped with only one nasty wooden spoon crack across my arm. It was aimed at my head but thru great physical abilities and sure footedness and a lot of other bullshit I made my get away amid a lot of bad words.

I gave Molly a cookie and Moms Bitie mutts each half of one. They still looked like Hyenas crossed with something mean. all 8 pounds of them.

There were picnic tables scattered among the trees around the kitchen and soon they were crowded with people eating in shifts but all were fed and as dark came we all drifted off to our beds.

Sandy and I spent the night in my cabin and while comfortable it seemed like a motel room after the camper. Strange what we can adapt to.

The next two weeks we worked on training and conditioning in the woods around the homestead. It was easy to see that we weren’t a trained military unit. But I could see real improvement.

We were really lucky that several of the younger guys had spent time in the Middle East and had some urban combat time and were able to teach what they had learned.

This would be a life saver down the road we had yet to travel.

There are a million and one things to think about when involved in a military campaign and they were piling up.

Transport we had pretty well fixed. We had to work up

supplies to feed our army. A rolling mess hall and shelters for everybody when in a camp.

Medics we had since we had several trained EMT’s as well as two real Doctors and even a Vet who decided to stay here since his skills were more needed there then with us.

Sandy came up with the idea of using the horse trailer as a rolling MASH unit so it was washed and scrubbed and washed again and bleached until the Doc’s declared it clean then we built in what they deemed to be needed for their use.

Sandy admitted that her idea had a selfish point in that it meant we would have out rolling bed room with us! I loves me a smart woman!

Plus with the holding tanks and water heater the docs would have clean hot water to work with. We talked about adding some steel plating to the sides of the trailer but decided to wait and see how it worked out. The thought being that the med crew wouldn’t be close to the fighting.

We were going to have to scrounge for food and fuel while we rolled but we had the ability to pump fuel from the buried tanks in gas stations. We had mechanics. we had a tire repair crew and a rolling tire shop.

The list grew and grew and some stuff we just had to adapt a wait and see if it could be found as we went.

Ammo was going to be an issue there was no doubt but we did use up some on Ricks range so everybody could show their ability and to work with the ones who needed it.

We took the best shooters and armed them with scoped rifles and made them designated marksmen. At this point I dug into my shed and broke out my stash.

I had several rifles that hadn’t gone to Montana with me. And a goodly supply of ammo all in 223 and X39 for the AK’s and I was able to supply 45 ACP to the troops who carried one.

I also broke out all the loading supplies and had people who knew how to use the loading equipment to start loading every empty case we had bullets for. I had always been a pack rat and a prepper and this was where my strong points were.

I waited for somebody to show up to ask for the packet of stuff we picked up in Idaho but nobody did and I would forever wonder what the hell that intriguing mess was all about. There had to be something to it all but I figured somebody had died leaving a gap in the chain of who knew what or when or where.

I was bothered a bit about it all since I had expected to be contacted by somebody about whatever it was. But I just filed it away as one more mystery in the whole damn mess.

One thing that did happen that I really had not expected was people started showing up in one’s and twos looking for us. Seems word got out about what we were planning and a lot of folks wanted to be a part of it all.

All showed up ready to go with their own weapons and gear. I was kinda blown away by it all but Willy said he had expected it since he had been talking it up everywhere he could.

Now we just had to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. But for the most part they all seemed to be what we were looking for. Some were just too young and thought it was a grand adventure. Willy put them on mess duty and shortly they packed up and went home.

The rest were put thru some tests of abilities to separate shooters from fixers. We gained a couple of real diesel mechanics!

And another EMT and two nurses who said they could stitch wounds and shoot and proved it. The nurses were both women and both in their mid 30’s and both had seen some bad shit and lost family members and felt doing this beat the other choices they had.

Being a woman alone in these times was not an easy nor safe thing to be. Both had used their weapons and were ready to do so again.

I had no rules against drinking after the days work was done but getting drunk was not tolerated at all and the point was made clear that there was no second chances. Get out of control and you would be left where we were to walk to wherever you wanted to go.

Smoking had all but disappeared since the event and most folks were fine with that. Willy said there were no smokers in the troop which I found to be great since I knew the smell of tobacco carried a long ways. It had gotten folks killed before in combat.

We had acquired a fuel tanker and got it running and added it to the motor pool, now we just had to fill it! Which might take a while.

All our vehicles were diesel which helped a lot. We even had a two ton truck with two big diesel generator/ welders mounted on the bed along with a big fuel tank.

It arrived one day along with two brothers who said they could weld two pieces of water together if we wanted them to which we all took as pure Texas talk!( think BS ) But them ol boys could damn sure weld!

Time was coming to head out and while I loved being here I wanted to get this road show on it’s way.

So one morning in mid summer I hugged Sheri and Mom and told them I loved them and saddled up and we rolled out.

Buck and the crew were watching us leave but didn’t seem to give a shit. Selfish bastards. But Sandy said she had talked to them before we left and explained that we were coming back and for them to help where they could.

I looked at her and had the thought she had maybe been around Miz Sheri too long. They would be out in the moon light dancing naked if I didn’t watch it. Damn Hippy Witches .

Leaving home again so soon after all we had gone thru to get here was a hard thing. Leaving Mom again was hard as well and Miz Sheri the anchor of our home hearth.

But I know Mom is safe and fed and warm, as are the entire group of good people who are there working together to provide a safe haven for all.

But for me after seeing the things I saw coming home and knowing that there are children out there being murdered, raped and in some cases eaten not to mention the women and young girls who are being treated like brood stock. Bought and sold for some sick son of a bitch’s pleasure.

I could not sleep safe at night knowing what is going on outside the safe zones created by a few people who for the most part are good and capable folks but who do not have the little thing that some of us have the thing that sets aside from the rest.

I can’t walk on water nor fly but I can splash and flap my arms, I can also shoot dead some sack of shit who is doing the things I just mentioned and I can hang his ass if he surrenders. And I will.

We are not god nor are we the actual legal law as far as it exists these days. But we are fairly good and fairly decent people who have the ability to go in harms way if need be to stop the filth who would do these things.

Some men plow and grow and bring forth good things from the earth. Some of us weed the scum from the land and bury them so they can be of some use to the earth such as feeding the worms.

I would rather die doing these things then grow old in the safety of our family community. I’m not brave nor some kind of Rambo. I’m just a man who see’s a job he can do and will do it willingly.

And I’m blessed to have a good woman who walks at my side and friends like Willy who walked on my other side and the 150+ who will follow us into who knows what.

And that’s enough of that philosophic bullshit and now as the one buzzard said to the other “ Patients my ass, I’m gonna kill something !

We Headed right back on the route we used coming home and didn’t slow down for anything except at roadblocks to ask questions of the folks holding out and getting by.

In Texas the big cities were smoldering burned out ruins and nobody was going in or getting out. Except the folks who could sneak out thru the gangs and those were few and far between these days.

The good folks were just waiting the scum out knowing they would have to make a run for it sooner or later. And it was gonna be a turkey shoot.

We made the run close to the state line easy and laid over there for the night. It was a long day and we were all tired and ready for some hot food and rest.

The repair crews were getting some work done by flood lights and generators.

Some vehicles had broken down but we had complete repair shops on wheels and people who could fix most anything.

After a quiet night we were on our way and hit Clovis NM by noon. This time we didn’t by pass it but pulled in and talked to the folks there. We were after information about anybody in the area that might need a visit from us.

It seemed they had done some house cleaning themselves since my last almost visit and solved their own problems. So with a wave we were off and planned to hit Santa Rosa for the night.

After getting there and meeting the folks there we were visited by some people who had lived several miles out of town and who had been run out of their homes by some biker trash who came in shooting.

Two men and a woman were killed before they run them off so the survivors packed up and headed into town much like the settlers did when the Apache of old would raid outlying ranches. I told Willy to send out a scout group and to take along a couple of these folks to show the way.

They took off around 2100 that night and it was only 20 miles out so I figured they would be back by 0100. But it was closer to 0300 before I heard them come in so I rolled out of bed and headed to the group.

Willy was waiting and said things were ok and they had gotten enough information to lay our raid. So I went back to bed.

After breakfast I met with Willy and got the Big picture which was not much. He said the raiders numbered around 20 tops mostly men with a few women who seemed to be there willingly

They had no obvious security and looked to just be hanging out and living off the spoils of the raid and in Willies opinion were going to just move on to the next soft target.

This looked to be the perfect target for our virgins to pop their cherries with. We decided that we would let one of the platoon leaders scout it over again and plan how he would use his troops to take the place.

Willy and I would oversee the hit but the Platoon leader would be running the show. The scout team and the PL headed out along with the squad leaders for the assault platoon.

They were back in 3 hours and after meeting with his entire platoon of 24 shooters he came to us with his plan which was pretty simple. It was mostly just what Sandy and I did with the Navaho, If it works why change.

A morning ambush when they came out in response to something that got their attention. I figured it worked for us there was no reason it wouldn’t here.

Around midnight we rolled out. Sandy, Me and Willy would be in an over watch position to observe. I would observe thru my rifle scope. As would Willy.

It was almost as boring to watch as to write about.

About 30 minutes after it was light enough to see to shoot one of the Raiders old trucks simply started burning. No boom. Just flames.

It still took several minutes for the fools to become aware and then it looked like ants boiling out of the ranch house. Most didn’t even have weapons with them.

Fish in a barrel was my thought when the platoon opened fire. None made it back to the house. A body count showed several were missing. A few men and all the women.

The door opened and a woman walked outside with her hands raised. I saw one of the troopers start to move forward but his squad leader stopped him. He dropped just as a rifle fired from the window upstairs.

The Woman tried to run back inside but never made it. The shooter at the window was hit and dropped his rifle outside where it slid off the porch roof and clattered to the earth.

I have to say I was surprised when I heard shooting in the house. It sounded like shotgun fire and ended pretty quick. Shortly a voice called out a password and Jackson yelled out to safe all weapons and muzzle up.

The door opened and out walked one of our people followed by 3 prisoners and 4 more of our people. I looked at Willy who smiled and said hey you said to let Jackson work it out and he did!

After the all clear was called we headed down to the house and met Johnson and his team. I shook his hand and said well done!! He smiled real big and pointed to his people and They ripped out a war cry!

The prisoners were a sorry lot. All were wounded and 2 were women. The house team said all had been armed and were shooting.

Willy took me off to the side and asked what we were going to do with the prisoners. I had no desire to hang them and decided we would turn them over to the folks in town where they could be tried.

I think Willy was relieved as I was. That they all deserved hanging was a forgone conclusion but I felt the locals should be the ones to deal with it since in fact they hadn’t done anything about dealing with them after they raided and killed some locals.

We arrived back in town at our camp spot and were met by the local town leaders and handed the prisoners over to them and told them to deal with them.

I was interested in seeing how they handled it so after we had cleaned our gear and had a late breakfast we headed to the courthouse and were in time to see the three being cut down from a big tree on the courthouse lawn.

I looked at Willy and he said well they don’t screw around do they? With that we headed back to our camp and started loading up.

The town leaders showed up and told us to stop at the local fuel depot and fill our vehicles. I was rather surprised at the offer but we accepted willingly.

We had picked up some locals who were tired of sitting on their asses and asked to join us. Willy told them what gear to bring along and in an hour they were all back so we had added 6 new shooters who would train as we rolled.

They were scattered out among the squads and told after they had learned our ways they could rejoin and form their own squad if they desired. We felt this was the best way to train them.

My goal was still to clean out Albuquerque but it was also a big nut to crack since before the event it had almost a million people.

I knew after the EMP hit that all the major cities had riots and outright wars in the streets and I had to assume a good portion of the place had burned and the people I was after might make up a small part of the few people left there.

After thinking it over I decided we would be smarter to slow down and ease into the whole thing. There was plenty of trash to be hauled and a lot more experience to be gained before we risked our people.

Willy smiled and said good thinking Boss! He too admitted he had been worried about the same issues. We headed in to talk to the town leaders and Sheriff. We met with them and asked what they had heard about any towns or areas having raider troubles.

The Sheriff said he knew the folks in Roswell had been having some problems but wasn’t sure just what it was but some folks who had stopped off had said things were real bad there.

We thanked him and set our new path for Roswell NM which was only a couple of hours away “if” you had a vehicle that would run.

We set out for Roswell taking it slow with scout teams out in front and checking out the country on both sides of the highway where there was connecting  roads.

The whole countryside was empty. Burned out houses and others just empty. It was damned spooky. How had so many people just disappeared? And why?

This was a rural area and folks had livestock of some kind and the ability to grow food. Why leave? We assumed most had moved into the many small towns scattered all around.

After getting a late start we decided to stop overnight at a roadside rest stop and circle the wagons so to speak. After making sure the place was empty we got our evening meal out of the way and put out the fires.

I ordered no lights and no guards outside the perimeter of the vehicles. Something had me spooked and I wasn’t alone in that. I guess the emptiness was getting to everybody else to because people were staying close.

I also told Willy to make sure the guards were working in 2 person teams. Whatever it was bothering us was strong enough to really get my attention.

The night passed quietly but I was very restless. I got up a few times to check the guards and see how things were for myself. All the guards said they felt like they were being watched or that at least somebody or something was out there.

I noticed Willy was doing the same thing I was and finely about an hour before daylight I told him to very quietly wake the camp and have everybody move into a firing position. But no noise. No rifle bolts slamming shut.

By the time the first hint of light showed over the mountains we were waiting like an old covered wagon train awaiting a raid by the Indians. And with the coming of full day light whatever it was disappeared. The feeling of being watched was gone.

I know we all wanted to laugh at our silliness but nobody did because we all knew that it was real and that there had been something or somebody out there in the dark.

It’s hard to explain to some folks who have never walked the razors edge but sometimes even us modern people are surprised to find we still have the same instincts that had our cave dwelling ancestors building up the fire in the cave

mouth and the men waiting with their spears.

There is truly a thing in all of us that says “ Hey!! The meat eater is on the prowl” be aware!

Most of my life I’ve lived with a gun close by. I’ve slept most of my life with one close to hand. Hell I’ve even slept with one in my hand. And never once have I felt silly for doing so.

I was once asked why I did that and all I could think to say was “ What if in the middle of the night I woke up and needed a gun and all I had was my dick in my hand”? She wasn’t impressed nor did she laugh. It was a short romance.

When it comes to the women in my life I’ve always said “ I want a woman to walk at my side, not behind me. I want one that understands why I won’t sit with my back to a door. And approves.”

I have no use for a woman who freaks out. I want mine to either be at my side shooting and if she ain’t shooting she’s  reloading. I want a friend, buddy, soul mate and companion. Not a servant. I can cook for myself, do my own laundry. I don’t need a woman for those things.

I want somebody who can change a magazine in quick time, hit what she shoots at and look hot in camo. But mostly one who can look at a beautiful sunset and know I’m looking too and have no need to ruin the moment talking about it.

I have that woman right now in Sandy. That and much more. In fact I find myself looking for a flaw because nobody should be perfect. She knows what I’m thinking sometimes before I do. She can often finish my sentences which could be an issue in anybody else but not her.

I have no idea why I got off on this. It’s so not Macho or Manly. Yea right. Macho and Manly don’t get laid as often as understanding and gentleness and a willingness to show a softer side. Anyway fuck it, I know what I like and I have it, nuff said.

After we had our coffee and something in our bellies I took Willy and a squad of shooters and we did a perimeter patrol looking for whatever it was or at least sign of it. One of the scouts found a place where somebody had laid under some bushes and would have had a clear view of our camp.

I eased down beside the spot for a look and felt my neck hairs raising.

For a moment I was almost panicked by it but settled down and just looked and used all my senses.

And sure enough it came thru. A smell, Not body odor. Something older. Something primal almost. Like an animal but it wasn’t. It was human or at least somebody who had once been human.

I could almost feel it and see it in my mind. Evil but something more. Intelligent would be the word. An Intelligent animal?

Or a Intelligent human who had become an animal. And there it was. I knew it and I knew what it was. I had the same feeling at the road block where we had seen the charred remains of people in the fire.

They weren’t burning just burning them they were cooking them!!

I stood and said lets go we have a lot work ahead of us. Now I was wishing for some tracking dogs but wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which gets full first.

I knew what we would find in Roswell with no doubt but I had no idea if it was going to be bad or terrible. We rolled out and dropped the hammer on it.

We rolled in less then an hour later and hit a barricade right off but at least they didn’t open fire. Probably because we were damn near an army and looked it.

We stopped and I walked right up to the truck that blocked the entrance to the town and looked at the man holding the rifle on me. I finely said well since you didn’t shoot me I guess we can talk?

He said to hang on and he would get his commander up here. He arrived shortly in an old truck with a few more people and after we talked a bit he said he knew who we were and we were welcome.

We rolled in and set up camp in the main square of the courthouse. I asked for an immediate meeting with the leaders of the town.

We met with them in our camp and I didn’t screw around for a moment. I asked what was going on and when did it start?

The Sheriff was an old guy who had been sheriff so long nobody used his name he was just “Sheriff” He said all they knew was that folks would just disappear.

They might be out working the gardens and then they were gone.

The latest was an entire family who lived on the very edge of the town who just weren’t there one morning.

The Sheriff said he investigated but there was nothing to see. No blood. No nothing, they were just gone. Took nothing with them.

I took him and Willy off to the side and said Sheriff tell us what you felt, sensed. He looked at me and I saw fear in his eyes. I said go on Sheriff I felt the same this earlier this morning!

He was startled by that and started talking. And it was the same thing I felt and the smelled. He said he never mentioned it because it would scare the shit outta the whole town.

He said he looked for sign but found nothing but some scuffed foot prints that looked like somebody had brushed out most of them. He said there was a smell that scared him really bad but he didn’t know why.

I knew why but wasn’t going to enlighten him or he would panic and spread the word causing a riot. I needed time to think and I really need to see some good area maps and maybe a chance to talk to some of the old timers who knew the area.

The Sheriff said maps they had and old timers too and he would take care of it. We settled into our camp for the night and then I had a brain storm we weren’t  really a long way from Navaho country and our old buddy Charley.

I called Willy over and told him I wanted to get back to the Shiprock country and why. He liked it and said he would go and take a squad with him. I had wanted to go myself but Sandy nudged me and just looked at me.

I said ok Willy take two trucks and plenty of fuel and go loaded for bear and don’t stop out there anyplace just keep rolling. He said he damn sure wasn’t going to stop for anything. He said I’m spooked too Boss.

They rolled out within an hour and were high balling it when they left our sight. I told the Platoon leaders to assign  a larger then usual guard force and for them to remain inside the truck perimeters.

I have to admit I missed old Molly, She was a damn good guard but she was getting too old for this work but I was damn sure gonna be locating some dogs.

I couldn’t believe this shit was happening in my country nor that it had come on so fast. There was no need for it that I could see.

I had read many SHTF type books over the years and a few of them touched on this issue and one series was full of it and the author had made it a major part of his books.

I had kinda smiled when reading those books but I sure as shit wasn’t smiling now. I was pretty well scared and pissed and several other emotions that I hadn’t got hold of yet.

One thing for sure we were gonna track these “things” to their lair and kill them all. Every last one of them. I remembered in that book series where the good guys had tried to help the children but they were beyond help and proved it every chance they got.

No, as hard and distasteful as it was going to be we would kill every last one we could find. What I was worried about also was it seemed to be spreading. Right now I only knew of it here in New Mexico but now I wondered if it was out there more then we could even imagine.

Back on the good old days the trip from here to Shiprock  was about a 6 hour drive. I had no idea how long it would take Willy to make the trip and return and I was bouncing off the walls.

So much so I was getting on Sandy’s nerves so she said we needed to take the troops out on a conditioning march just to get the kinks out. So we did. Everybody was loaded for bear and we did about a 10 mile loop around the town.

In a small canyon we found a sickening sight, A fire pit with a child’s clothing and small bones scattered around. It looked like an old site to me but what did I know.

The tracks were pretty well wind blown out but I knew a good tracker could work it out.

We backed off and left it as it was because I hoped after Willy returned this would be starting point in our search.

We were a jumpy bunch heading back so Sandy and I brought up the rear and I think we spent more time walking backwards then forward.

When we crossed the last hill dropping into town I grabbed Sandy and dropped out of the file and rolled behind a bush then after several minutes we eased up to the crest behind some bushes.

We watched for an hour but saw no sign we were being followed. But it sure felt like it. I wondered if this was how the old timers lived back in the days of the Apache? It was wearing on the nerves that was for damn sure.

We were up early the next morning because I was on a mission. Sandy and I went to visit the Sheriff and found lady luck was smiling on us! There was a guy who lived a few miles outside town that raised Dogs and trained them for Police work.

Times were bad and just keeping them fed was a drain on him. We headed to his place right then and there. When we pulled into his road we could hear the dogs letting the world know somebody was coming.

We pulled in and got out with their hands away from their weapons. After a bit the door opened a bit and a mans voice asked what they wanted. Which I explained in a few short sentences.

The man who stepped outside was not big but he had that something that only a drunk or a fool or both would mess with. He was clean and dressed in worn jeans and lace up boots and a 1911 in a holster on his right hip and a double mag holder on the left.

I knew right off he was gonna be a good guy to have around because I could see the base of his magazines had numbers on them just like mine! This man was a shooter that was for sure.

He introduced him self as Joe Frazier and I said “No Shit!?” and told him my full name and then we both burst out laughing.

We shook hands and he offered us a place to sit on the porch and a cold beer!! Now I really like him. I asked him about his dogs and his face lit up like the sun coming up.

He loved his dogs.

He had security dogs and trackers. His security dogs were Akita and the trackers were his own breed. A mix of Red Bone hound and a Belgian Sheppard Dog called a Malinois used a lot by the customs people back in the day as drug dogs but also as search dogs and most anything else.

After the second beer I asked the question I was dying to ask and that was if he had ever noticed his dogs acting agitated or restless or more noisy then usual.

He looked at me a bit then said “ You know don’t you? You feel them just like me and the dogs do?” I glanced at Sandy and saw Goosebumps on her arms. Hell I think I had some too.

I just nodded and made a come on gesture. He said “To answer your question yes to all the above, and then some”  he said there were nights when he slept out with the dogs with his shotgun because he felt safer and the dogs did too.

I asked if he had seen anything ? He hadn’t but he said he smelled them. And it drove the dogs nuts.

He added that the Akitas were about to tear the pens down trying to get at them.

But he feared for the dogs because he really wasn’t sure what “they” were. He knew they were human but then again did “they know they were human“?

I told him what we were doing. The convoy of hunters and where we were going and why. I told him everything Sandy and I had seen. I told him about the remains of the fire and the child’s clothing among the chewed on bones.

He asked when we were leaving and I explained about Willy and his trip to Shiprock. He smiled and said how is old Charley? Surprising me! Said he used to spend a lot of time over in that area.

I told him about the fight such as it was at the ranch house and all about the weapons the bad guys had. He perked up at the part about the toy Sandy had grabbed and slept with now.

He asked to see it and she was happy to get it. I think since we had found out what we were involved here she hadn’t moved an inch from the gun.

After clearing it she handed it to Joe who showed a very intimate knowledge of the weapon which was a hell of a lot more then I had.

He said “Wait one” and went inside and returned right away with the mate to Sandy’s gun! Now I was really interested in the guy and he knew it.

He said he had worked as a contractor in the “Stan” and when he left he just took everything that wasn’t nailed down. I asked how he got it home and he laughed and said the plane he flew out on was hauling more dope then military hardware and he knew it so the crew just turned a blind eye to his load. And of course he returned the favor.

I finely asked the thing I came for. Would he sell me some of his dogs. He said nope not a one! I was bummed in a flash but Sandy who had remained quiet spoke up and said “But You do wanna come along don’t you“? He laughed and said “you got me!”

And just like that we had a dog man and dogs. A marriage made in hell or maybe going to hell. He said he could be ready in 2 hours if we helped him out. We did, He was.

He had 5 dogs left 3 Akita’s and 2 of his trackers. I asked how his guard dogs would react to our people and he said no problem his dogs worked with anybody as long as the person just let the dog do it’s job.

He did add that the Akitas weren’t real social and not prone to being petted but the scout dogs were friendly and loved attention.

I explained I wanted security while we were shut down for the night and he said no prob. I like this guy.

We had him loaded up in less then two hours. His dogs rode in the back of his old truck in crates and with the second seat removed all his gear went right in. The last thing he had was in his basement so we trooped down stairs and he opened a gun safe and started handing out weapons in cases which took several trips to carry out then the hard work started.

His ammo locker was jammed full so we loaded it into our truck. We were on the road back to town in good order and arrived to find Willy had just returned. He must have burned the wheels off.

I did the intro and Joe and Will did the same laugh thing over names that Joe and I did.

After getting the dogs settled Joe asked Sandy and I to come to my truck where he opened some ammo boxes and showed Sandy they were full of .40 ammo all in nasty assed hollow points.

He opened another box and it was full of magazines he shoved it to Sandy along with the ammo. I think she was in love!

We spent a couple of hours sitting in folding chairs loading mags along with Joe. Willy stopped by and helped and told me Charley and his crew were following as soon as he had done something he said needed to be done.

I was worried about Charley coming alone but Willy laughed and said “Hell boss he has that whole bunch of wild assed shooters you worked with up there. I not only stopped worrying about Charley but most everything else.

I figured with the dogs and the Navaho we had a much better chance then before. I could feel the camp relaxing just knowing the dogs were there.

Joe said he would wait until we were out of town and someplace where the dogs could roam around the camp getting to know who belonged and who didn’t. I had no idea about these kinds of dogs and said so.

We settled in for the night and had a very restful night. About an hour after daybreak Charley and his people rolled in pulling trailers loaded with horses. He came right over to my camp where we talked long and hard.

He told me they had spent the night before out in the open where they built a big fire and waited to see if it would draw any attention. It did but they never saw the watchers and by morning they only found a faint trail they headed right into rough country.

I had to ask so I did, “Were they human?” He said yes but different. How? I asked? He said he thought they were people who had been driven beyond humanity as we know it and had reverted to or moved on to something neither human nor animal.

He said they walked like men and moved like men and from all outward appearance were men. But they would never be “Humans” again.

I asked how he had learned so much about them in such a short time and he told us that they had been around for a long time but had gained many more followers since the lights went out.

He also said that they had learned to leave the “People” alone and to never take one of them again. Charley would only say that many years ago a young girl was  taken and before they could track the takers they had killed her and eaten her.

The People had tracked those who did it and killed them all but one who got away and from that time till now they had stayed away from the people.

But He added they were growing in numbers very fast as more and more joined them and it was time to end them.

I agreed with that and told him about the dogs and that between his people and the dogs we stood a good chance of catching them.

It was time to enlighten the troops and Willy called a formation when everybody was there I climbed up on the tail gate of my truck and just laid it out with no bullshit. I could see several of them were shocked to their core and I wondered if they might be better off staying in this town.

So I said anybody who didn’t feel they could stand what was going to happen could stay in this town and work security with the Sheriff.

And nobody would look down on them because this was much bigger then what they signed on for and to talk it over with their squad mates and their squad leader would let me know.

By noon we had lost 10 people who couldn’t stand the thought of the horror we were going to be fighting. I was very surprised that there were no women staying behind.

Later Sandy explained that to a woman what these things were doing to children was beyond horror and they wanted to be a part of wiping this out to the last one. And if that was a child so be it.

We were rolling out at daylight and from the edge of town on we were at combat readiness. Locked and loaded and ready to bring Doom on anything that moved.

And that’s what we did. We headed West and a bit North because that was where we had found the remains of the child and I wanted the dogs to work it if possible.

Joe took his two tracking dogs down into the gully and let them check it out both dogs hackles were up and both looked ready to fight.

Soon they headed the same direction we were heading but with no roads we were in a bind.

Until Charley rode up on a horse with his people and handed me one of the radios we took off the goon squad we took out.

He smiled and said I’ll bet you are regretting not bringing Buck and his friends aren’t you?

I just shook my head and waved him off on the trail. I did notice Joe got a horse. I was feeling left out of my own party.

We looked over the maps and figured if the trail kept heading in the same direction we would cross it on a county road a couple of miles away.

We headed out and watched the riders becoming small in the distance.

About two hours later we arrived at the place we figured The riders would appear. And sure enough they hit the road about half a mile ahead of us.

After driving up to join them we had a meeting about it. Charley said that the killers had 3 prisoners who were slowing them down but it had been a while back.

I asked Willy if he remembered what the Sheriff had said about a family that disappeared on night. But it was Sandy who answered. She remembered it was a man and wife and a 12 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.

We all just looked at each other until Joe said “ They knew the girl would slow them so they simply ate her. I felt like gagging and I think some did.

I asked Sandy how long back they were taken but she drew a blank on it. Charley said the trail was around a week to 10 days old and was only there because the wind had not been blowing much.

Charley said he could see that the trail ended at the road which meant there was a vehicle waiting to make the pick up.

When I looked at the map I could see that from where we were on Highway 380 we could hook up with I-25 then head for Albuquerque and it really wasn’t all that far.

I ask everybody to toss out their ideas. Willy said he thought the Ghouls were raiding outlying areas because pickings were bad in their area which made sense.

Charley said that it was looking more and more like the “Ghouls”( he nodded at Willy) were more organized then we first thought. And when we found them we were gonna have a fight on our hands.

Joe agreed with Charley that it might be a tough nut to crack but if not us. Who?

Sandy spoke up and said” talk, talk , talk, lets go kill the fuckers!

And that pretty well summed up the meeting. Willy asked

“ Why if they had transport waiting did they stop to kill and eat the little girl?

They all just stood there not wanting to think about it but wondering. Finely Joe said “ She was a treat, a snack or a reward for getting the whole bunch.

And that was the worse thing I could think of.

A snack. Nope, these bastards were going to die or I was.

We decided to roll out and find a secure place to hold up while scouts went out to look things over. We were almost to I-25 before we found a place that would work and again circled the wagons.

I ordered all cooking be done before dark and all fires out and no light or noises after dark. When night came it came fast. Pitch dark like the inside of a deep cave, even the stars seemed to dim. It was spooky.

Joe set the dogs loose and commanded them to their duties which were to patrol the perimeter of the camp but close. I had no idea how he could expect the dogs to understand or obey but he did.

I used the night scope to watch them for a while and they were just outside the vehicle circle heads raised testing the air. They seemed to circle for a while then lay down in a shadow and just watch.

I figured we were in good hand or paws and went to bed. Sandy was already asleep with her MP-5 laying at her side. My little warrior ready for battle. But I wasn’t making light of her, she was ready and would handle her share as well or better then most.

Morning came and Charley and his men went out and checked the area over for a quarter mile out and reported nothing.

We loaded up and rolled out by 0900 and hit I-25 within an hour where we turned toward what was becoming a thorn in our ass that we wanted to see gone.

When we were within 20 miles of the target we pulled over and had a staff meeting to figure out just what we were going to do now that we were here.

Charley said he would send his scouts in along with ours and some radios and they could troll while we stayed ready to drop the hammer.

Joe wanted to go too and take one guard dog and a tracker dog. I walked away and thought about it and said screw it we came to do this so lets do it.

I walked back to the group and said no. We came together and we will go together and where we find a target we will deal with it as a unit. I could see that they liked it.

We formed up with the scout vehicles out front and our heavy unit right behind them.

This was a 5 ton dump truck with a steel box that held 20 shooters all armed with AR’s and AK’s.

Behind them came more trucks with shooters in the back behind sand bags we filled just before we rolled.

The vehicles with the sand bags were in two lines with the unprotected vehicles between the lines. We were learning on the fly but I figured if it didn’t kill us it would make us stronger. What a crock !.

At the first off ramp we hit a roadblock and they didn’t want to talk they just started shooting. The scouts peeled back and let “Big Berth” as the dump truck was called roll in.

The driver was protected by sand bags on the hood and on the headache rack over the cab was more bags with shooters behind them.

The shooters opened up with everything they had and rolled right into the road block and set the enemy running but none made it. Big Bertha rolled right up to the old car used as a block and simply pushed aside.

They rolled forward another 100 yards and stopped. Me and Willy unassed and checked the bodies. All were dead so there was gonna be no intel from them. But we could all smell the stench of them and knew we had found the nest of the beast.

We took time to police up their weapons and anything useable such as ammo and left the ghouls where they lay.

This was our first real view of the city and it wasn’t good. It had burned in the riots and mayhem that followed. The city center was gone it was mostly a hollow shell with the outer fringes still standing.

It looked like the fire was working it’s way outward from the center and just stopped.

We had entered a free fire zone but how were we going to do this with so few people? It was turning into a bigger apple to bite then we thought.

I called a staff meeting and laid it out for them. We could just roll in shooting but sooner or later we were going to get surrounded. We needed artillery!! But that was out.

Sandy said “ Burn them out” and everybody got quiet. Willy finely said” Burn Albuquerque ? Just like that? Just burn it?

Sandy laughed at his reaction and said “Willy for gods sake this is a fucking hell hole populated by Cannibals. They like roasted meat lets give it to them!.  And besides it’s 75 percent gone as it is so lets just put it out of it’s misery.”

She was right. So we planed that, now we just needed a steady wind so we could get it going. Our entry was from the South side and the wind was from the west so we just backed up and rolled back and hit I-40 and headed west.

When we came to the last off ramp we used the same formation as before and again hit a roadblock. They were not ready for us meaning they had no communications and we just rolled them up like the others.

We killed 6 of them and sent several more running. This time the scouts ran them down and killed them before they made it a block.

I waited until they got back and then in front of the entire troop I ripped them a new ass. I ranted and raved and worked hard to foam at the mouth, I called them the stupidest assholes to ever live. Then reminded them of their fate if they had been captured.. Alive!

And that last part got their attention. Just the thought of being eaten was bad enough but to be alive while being eaten was a horror beyond horror.

I stomped off behind the trailer and started laughing at their faces but I had made the point and now everybody had an image of being eaten alive in their heads and would not be chasing off into an ambush. And would fight like demons.

Sandy and Willy joined me and both looked at me like I was crazy but soon got the drift and then they started laughing.

Charley came behind the trailer and looked at us and shook his head and said “ How did you assholes win the country from us?

Now we were really laughing but soon enough we stopped because it really was a dangerous thing they did.

Down to business. We talked it over and decided to use Diesel and gasoline mixed and we would split into two units and head in opposite directions and get several blocks away and start the fires going and meet back at the roadblock.

We encountered very little in the way of resistance just a random shot from a creep who then ran, usually a short trip. We simply pulled up to a building, kicked in a door and cleared the room and doused it with the fuel mix.

We piled up anything that would burn against the walls and cleared the room then the building. When we were ready to roll several shooters in two trucks went back and started tossing road flares inside the buildings.

By the time we had returned to the meeting place the other team was there and we watched the show. And it was some show. As the first building hit their peak the heat rising sucked in more wind and it turned into a fire storm. And it was spreading like…well like a wild fire. With it burning from the wind edge of the remaining structures it looked like this time the entire place was going up.

We decided to take a frontage road and start more fires all the way back to the first road block. It was a long hot day and we came under a bit of gun fire and had 3 people hit, none bad but it did give the bored medical team something to do.

About mid afternoon Joe and Charley came to me and said maybe we should think about where to be when the rats started jumping the ship. I was embarrassed to say the least.

I asked for their input since both had been in the city many times. Charley said if the ghouls got out and up into the mountains it would be a mess. So we should head to the down wind side of town and set up check points.

And that’s what we did. We covered as many exits as we could and waited. As the fire picked up speed it was a roaring monster unstoppable and eating everything in it’s path.

It took a while and it was getting dark when the rats started coming and we met them with a wall of steel  and while they fought back they just weren’t as motivated as we were.

I was laying on top of the trailer in Sandy’s nest using my bolt gun and it was a shooting gallery. With the fire lighting up the area behind them it really was just shoot, work bolt, set cross hairs, shoot, work bolt. I did it until I was tired of it.

Joe joined me with his rifle and I took a break. He was using a 308 in the AR configuration and was deadly with it. And spent no time working a bolt, I want one. I’ll tell Sandy and she can steal me one. God I’m funny.

Sandy brought us some water and sandwiches and we sat up there watching the show, horror show really. I could only hope there were no good folks trapped in the inferno. But if the ghouls were raiding so far out it seemed there would be no good folks left.

All thru the long night we fought the scumbags who were caught between the fire and us. I knew some were getting away but most weren’t. And we would attempt to hunt down the escapees if at all possible.

I knew one thing for sure these bastards weren’t going to change their ways. So we needed to change their ways for them.

As the dawn broke and we could see better there was at least 200 bodies in front of our position and blood trails everywhere.

I hated the thought but we needed to end this so I called Joe over and asked him if he felt ok about going in with his trackers and a bunch of shooters.

He laughed and said “Man I ain’t had so much fun since my little sister went to shit and the hogs ate her!” 

It was an old joke but I knew somebody was gonna bite and god help me it was a cute but ditzy blond who asked .

“ OH WOW!! Like did the your sister really get eaten by hogs???? “

And Joe as dead pan as a Vegas poker player said” Well yea but she came back coz hogs gotta shit too” Everybody standing around were choked up trying to not laugh but the poor gal just had to say “ WOW was she ok?” that did it.

In the midst of the battlefield with dead creeps lying all over the place and the smell of them and the smells that happen when folks die like this the whole troop just blew it out, some laughed so hard they were on their knees with buddy’s beating them on the back.

Joe just winked at me and patted the confused little blond on the back and said come on honey I’ll introduce you to the dogs.

Sandy smiled her evil smile and said “I bet that ain’t all he introduces her too” and that started more laughing.

Of course it was all the tension and fear bleeding off after the horrors of night combat. But it was time to work so Willy called them all to more or less attention and said

“ Right now, Half on over watch. The rest strip and clean weapons and load your empty mags. Then switch off.

Sandy and I got back up on the trailer and I scanned the area while she cleaned her rifle. She was pissed that the fight never got close enough for the Mp5.

I had to shake my head. Most women and a lot of men would have crapped their pants in the fight but she’s pissed off because she didn’t get to use her new toy.

After everybody had their weapons and gear policed up Joe and his new “ dog handler” came back with the two tracker dogs. He said he would work one and his handler “ Bethany Beth for short” would hold the other back in case we got hit we wouldn’t lose both dogs.

I hated the idea of going into the area to hunt down wounded scum but we needed a few alive to question so it had to be done.

Sandy threw a fit when I told her to stay behind and just Me, Joe, Charley and 4 of his people went in to the smoking mess. Willy understood why he had to stay behind.

The dog was tracking right into the mess and shortly Joe stopped and motioned us forward. Behind some garbage cans we saw feet sticking out and Willy and I eased forward. Willy had his shotgun while I had the 300 blackout.

I cut the pie as the training people called it, meaning I eased around while not exposing myself completely I could see more and more of his legs and finely could see he had bled out but I moved carefully to check.

He was about 30 years old and had gang ink all over his neck and hands. I kicked his boot while aiming at his head and he was limp.

Willy eased behind me and stepped quickly on his hand that held a pistol. After making sure he was dead we rolled him over and even more of the horror came to light. All his teeth were filed to points!

Willy and I looked at each other and just stared until Charley and his guys moved up. Charley squatted down and looked closer then held up the dead hand and opened it. The finger nails were long and filed sharp enough to easily gouge out an eye.

I asked if anybody had looked at any of the others and two of the People went off to look. Both were back in a moment and one nodded. This was just too much. How could humans regress to this so fast?

I must have said it out loud because Charley said. Who says this ain’t been going on a long time? And I remembered his story about the young girl from the People. That wasn’t something I was prepared to think about so we moved on.

In the course of the search we found over 40 more bodies. Some had killed themselves and others had died of wounds while laying in wait for us.

We gathered up all the weapons and using the radio called for some vehicles to come in for pick up. Most were worthless but we would salvage all we could to arm future recruits if they had nothing better.

After a while I decided it was just a waste of time and we called it off. We pulled back and formed up then headed into the streets looking for more. And they found us.

On a street that looked deserted we got hit by fairly heavy firing but Big Bertha was in front and took it like a trooper. The shooters in back opened up with a roar and pinned the ghouls down while some flanked them and rolled them up.

So far we had several wounded. A few were hit hard but no outright KIA’s …yet. But if this kept up we would. We checked the dead and found the usual gang ink but not all had the new tooth job. I guess it was a sign of dedication to the gang or a sign of how tough they were cause getting yer teeth filed down had to hurt.

We decided to just head up wind and start more fires as the only way to avoid a long drawn out urban war. It worked once should work again.

Once the fires were going really well and moved by the wind being sucked into it we simply set up again and waited and again it was like ants rushing out to face something.

This time they could see us better and the incoming was more accurate but ours was more so since we weren’t running for our lives. But we were also under good cover and it wasn’t a fair fight. I told Joe to pick out a couple and knee cap them so we could talk to them.

He did it like the pro he was and I saw 3 in a close area go down with a leg flopping. He even shot them low so as to not hit the Femur causing them to bleed out before we could get to them.

This fight lasted about a hour with many of the Ghouls choosing to attempt a run back thru the fire rather then a bullet. I think I would rather have the bullet.

When the shooting died down I ordered some people to grab 22 rifles and finish the wounded. Joe and I headed down to check on the ones he dropped.

One was dead but we had two to chat with. Charley came with us and after checking for weapons we looked them over.

Both were tattooed freaks with black tear drops below their eyes. It reminded me of the first ones I killed back in Montana.

I still can’t see why anybody would do that to their face and body but I didn’t care and they wouldn’t soon.

Joe squatted down by one and said what’s your name and got spit on and called a name that pissed Joe off so he broke one of the assholes fingers. That got his attention.

Joe said open your mouth and the puke smiled real big showing his sharp pointed teeth. Joe asked him why they were eating people.

He said “ Shit man, catch some young pussy, fuck her a while then eat her! He laughed and said “I mean really eat her” and laughed again.

Joe tried again by asking “yea I got that but why did you people start that shit? And When?” The answer chilled my soul. He said “ Shit man, we always been here! You just never looked.

He laughed again and said “Man you think all them young puss’s ended up in a grave after going missing? Not even man!”

Joe was lost in the hell of it so I asked him who their leader was and he got a wild look on his face and said “ He’s the lord man, the Lord of the Night! He brought the truth to us years ago”

“What truth is that” I asked? But he was fading fast from shock and pain. I nodded at Joe but Charley reached over and slapped him hard in the face causing his eyes to pop open.

He leaned down and said was your great leader a White man? He laughed and said no way man, he was like you! An Indian.

Charley looked sad then casually cut the dirt bags throat. He stood up and walked over to the other one and asked him about the Indian. This one was so out of it with pain he just talked without the street dialect.

He told us the Leader had appeared more then 20 years before and soon had a cult following among the gangs. He spread a story about how man was the Lord over all and Woman was there for man to use for whatever. Sex or food it made no difference. And the younger the better.

We found out the leader and his most trusted followers had left just hours before we came. He took close to a hundred with him and ordered the rest to defend the city.

Then he just died. Gave up I guess. Charley still slit his throat and when Joe asked why bother? Charley said there is a black spirit in these people and it needs to be brought into the sun light to die.

I looked around and saw all of Charles’s people doing the same thing. It seemed to be a waste of time to me but WTF I told Willy to get our people to helping. His reply was “You gotta be shitting me!”

So I walked over to one of the dead Ghouls and slit his throat. Joe did the same.

Soon all the troops were pitching in and some of the women were really getting into it since the word was spreading about these worthless bastards.

When we were done we headed back to the vehicles and rolled out of the place. The map showed a Cochiti lake that looked more like a river to me but WTF it was water so we headed out of town and found our way to it

After securing the area and scouts out we set up a camp in a half circle with the ends anchored at the waters edge.

With lookouts posted in high spots we hit the water. I took off my boots and anything else I didn’t want wet and just sunk under the water. I felt Sandy beside me and surfaced to a hand full of liquid soap and got my head washed then I peeled off my shirt and washed the rest.

Sandy noticed several of the women were heading around a point of land and kissed me and took off for them. I looked and saw the guards above them were women and went back to my own washing.

I think I shall feel dirty all my life after that horror show and the smell will never go. But I also know we will all recognize it from now on.

After we were cleaned up and in dry cloths we cleaned weapons. Usually the bath comes after the cleaning but not this time.

Our cooks were working overtime to get some hot chow going. So I called my “staff” together. Joe, Willy , Charley and Sandy.

We talked the past days thru and all we really had accomplished was to kill a bunch of cannibals and failed to kill them all and the leader got away.

Charley sat quietly so I just asked it. “Charley do you know who this leader guy is?” He sighed and “said yes and no.”

“Yes I’ve heard of him and no I don’t know who he is. But I know where he comes from. It is way down in Mexico.”

“He is said to be a mix of two tribes that have lived in the area for hundreds of years. Some say he is also part Apache but I’ve never heard that spoken by one who might know.”

He added that while the tribes he claimed to be of were really farmers who lived quiet lives if left alone they were strong warriors back in the days of the Black Robes

( Jesuits ) and fought the Spanish Invaders to a stand still several time but lost in the end and mostly faded back into the lost land where none but them could live.

I asked him where he thought this guy would head and he said “ He will not go back to his people they will kill him in ways you don’t want to hear because he brought trouble to them and they hate him more then even the Spaniards”

I asked him if he had ever heard of the guy spreading Cannibalism as part of some religion? He said “ Out side of those people I told you about no never as part of any religion“ but he had heard he was into some black spirit stuff”

I sat for a while lost in the thought of losing this evil bastard but I could no more go charging into Mexico or wherever after him then I could have just ignored him in the first place.

We spent several days on the lake and the good time was only broken by the loss of two of our wounded who the docs could not save.

We buried them on a hill overlooking the lake. Side by side. Facing the morning sun. One was of Charlie’s people and he chose to follow the Peoples way. He asked if he could also do the same for the other man and I said yes please do.

The rest of us stayed back and gave the People their privacy and when it was done we all walked up and made our own personal peace with their spirits.

No headstones were left but we did place rocks on the graves. Charley was fine with that. The women found wild flowers and planed them on the graves.

We rolled out the next day. I guess we all felt the need to leave our brothers in peace. I know I did. We moved down the lake a couple of miles and stopped for the night mostly so I could talk to the Staff.

I stood looking at my trusted staff and friends all. I was tired and feeling the loss of our dead and for once since the day the lights went out I was doubting myself.

Not one to bullshit the troops I finely just said it out loud. Are we doing the right thing? Are we going to make a difference ? Did those men we buried today die in vain?

They all looked at me for a moment then Charley said “ we all stood in that gully looking at those small bones knowing those bastards killed her and ate her right in front of her parents and brother. We also heard that piece of shit admit they were raping the females and one has to assume the males too regardless of age. Can you doubt the mission? Really? “

He then added that his man knew the chances and would not have missed the fight for anything even the chance of losing his life.

The others nodded in agreement and Sandy smiled at me and said “ So buck up ya big pussy!” we all laughed. I do love the mouthy winch!

Joe got up and went to his truck and came back with a bag from which he took a new full bottle of Johnny Walker and with a smile said” I traded for this before we left Roswell because I could tell one day you might need a drink. This is the time.”

He cracked the seal and handed it to me. I took a drink then another and passed it to Sandy who said “ I’m a lady, I don’t drink from a bottle”! I said “Lady my ass! and

handed her a coffee cup and she poured a bit in it and passed the jug.

After it made the rounds Joe walked over and got two more from the truck handed them the troops and said “ Go easy! “

Well we just sat there for a while and finely Willy said “I think we got side tracked by the Gravity of the situation and the horror of doing something about it.

So now is the time to map out our plans for the next objective.”

We all looked at him and he got red in the face and said” yawl know what I mean!” Charley said” Gravity of the situation? Where did you learn to talk like that?”

Which got a chuckle but Willy was right. We needed a new objective and soon while the troops were feeling strong after the battle which for most was the first time in any kind of fight.

Charley said” You know the Ghouls who got away were most likely heading out on the I-40 and I’ll bet if we head that way say to Flagstaff we will find their trail.”

He was right! I knew it the minute he started talking. In the first place it was away from us and he could get lost in the remains of Phoenix and he most likely had contacts there.

I sat for a moment and then said it out loud. They all agreed and Joe pointed out that we could also check in with any survivors along the way as to any trash needing hauling as we went.

We were all charged up about this and ready to go but Sandy said” yanno what we need? We need some bigger guns!

We need something that we can just stand off and pound them and we won’t be as apt to lose people or at least as many.” 

Joe said” Out of the mouth of babies”. Sandy snapped back with “ Babes Joe!! Babes! I’m a babe!” we all looked at her and then laughed.

Joe “said my pardon my lady, yes you are a babe.”

So I asked “Any ideas”? Charley sat a moment and then asked for a map or the state. One was produced and he looked it over.

“Holloman Air force Base” he said. He added “ I have no idea what kind of weapons the Air Force had but we might find something we can use.”

And it was just right down the road a ways! We decided to settle in for the night, put the Akita’s out on watch and all get some sleep.

Joe said nothing was going to get thru the dogs and I believed him.

With the tracking dogs we had 5 good guard dogs watching over us.

And sleep we did. From dark until well after sun up. I didn’t realize just how stressed out we were but we snapped back and the cook crew put together a good meal.

Joe looked dragged out and finely admitted he spent the night sitting with each dog and cat napping.

Sandy the Imp said “ OH !! we thought your age and the young Blond were wearing you out!” that was good for a loud laugh from everybody within hearing.

Spirits were high after the rest and we rolled out in good order. Beth, Joes “ dog handler” was driving his truck and he was sleeping with the seat laid back.

Driving easy we took 5 hours to get there and not knowing what we were going to run into we stopped a mile from the front gates.

Willy took a scout jeep and 3 shooters and with an American flag waving headed down the highway. We waited so long or so it seemed that I was ready to go after him when they returned.

Willy said you’re not gonna believe it but they know who we are and what we did up the road and have been expecting us more or less.

He said the base commander had locked the place down when the EMP hit and prepared for an attack that never came just some raider types who died right there.

I asked how they knew about us and he said “ Well there was something about someplace in Idaho?” Well now I was both worried and curious.

Willy said the commander said we were welcome to bring our people onto the base and stay as long as we wished.

Part of me wanted to head the other way and part was dying to hear what he had to say.

I asked about how many troops they saw and Willy said” Well now there is the rub so to speak” he said “ the gate was well guarded and there was roving patrols but as to people they saw really very few.”

I saw nothing for it but to check it out but asked if his people would mind waiting outside incase we needed help getting out?

He agreed and said maybe we should keep about half the people and back off a bit to a better defensible position.

With that we split up and rolled into the base. The guards looked pretty sharp and had hardened bunkers.

And I know I saw the muzzle of at least one Ma Duce and the big 50 still looked bad assed. There was a jeep waiting for us and we followed it onto the base and to a barracks where we stopped.

The officer who had lead the way offered his hand and said the barracks were for our use and the power was on as well as hot water and laundry facilities.

He then asked me and my staff to please come with him to meet the CO.

I waited a beat as he walked to his car and asked Joe to stay behind and to get everybody to condition Red meaning attack emanate. I don’t trust easy and this was a time to be alert.

After joining the others outside we took one truck to the base HQ which was just a short distance from our people in the barracks.

When we arrived I saw that the building looked like it had been hit with small arms fire and asked the Captain about it but he just said things had been rough.

Inside the first door we found security people, all armed. The Captain said “ You will need to leave your weapons here please.” I just smiled and said “No thanks, We’ll just hang on to them.”

He got a funny look on his face and said “Uh you don’t seem to understand. That was an order not a request”

I smiled sweetly and said “ Obviously you misunderstood my answer as being a request for your permission when in fact it was a simple “NO” and which part did you not understand?

His eyes shifted to the Sgt. of the security detail and before they could move Sandy, Charley and Willy had them covered.

When he turned back to me my 45 was under his nose and I said lets go see your boss.

I thought for a moment he was going to make a move for his weapon but common sense and fear of dying took over so I removed it to stop further temptation.

Sandy had her MP5 so I asked her and Charley to watch the Air fuzz while Willy and I visited with the Commander.

And for their benefit I told them to disarm which they did but they were pissed about it.

Sandy told them to go sit in the corner facing in and to sit crossed legged and then made them scoot so close they couldn’t move fast. Charley was smiling and shaking his head. She is a cracker jack!

The Capt. took us down the hall to a door where he raised his had to knock but I stopped him. I reached around and turned the knob and shoved him thru the door.

He was dead before I heard the shots and Willy and I were spraying the room on full rock and roll. Inside when the smoke cleared we found 4 people in civilian clothing and another in full uniform with 2 stars on it. After making sure all of them were dead We cleared the other rooms off the hallway then returned to the first office. To find Sandy and Charley standing amid a pile of 40 brass and blood.

Charley simply said “they tried it but she’s so damn fast on the trigger with that hose gun I never fired a shot”! Sandy had her suspicions and I knew it because she was screwing the suppressor on her weapon as we left the room.

Now what the hell was going on and what had we gotten into? And right then all hell broke loose back where we left the troops so we bailed out the door and into the truck and headed back to our people.

By the time we got there it was over. Joe had not only had our people on high alert he had moved them out of the building and into different ones and set up a class A ambush and there was close to 50 dead people laying around.

The first thing I noticed was none were in uniform and the smell said it all. I said ok people lets spread out! One grenade would get us all!

And scatter we did and waited, then waited some more and soon we heard more vehicles coming at high speed and within minutes the rest of our people raced up.

My first question was “How in the hell did yawl get past that 50 at the gate“? On of Charlie’s people said something in Navaho and Charley smiled and said “ He says they just drove past it because the two people in the bunker were dead.”

I was pretty well lost at this but I knew we had to secure the area before we got hit by any remaining Ghouls. Because that’s who we were facing here.

The few people in uniform were actually real Air Force troops. But from the looks of it the Commander and a few others had sold out to the bad guys. I had no idea what the hell was going on but was gonna find out.

Joe took 5 people back to the main gate and after clearing the dead troopers out of the place leaving one of the Veterans with them to show them how to aim and fire the .50 then rejoined us.

We took the commanders HQ apart but found nothing to explain what was going on. Willy said he thought maybe the Commander had cut a deal to leave them alone if they left him alone.

That pissed me off because how many people died horrible deaths because of a coward? We figured most of the people stationed here had just left to try to make it home to their families.

So we had a base full of who knows what but we were gonna find that out right now. But first we made a fast search looking for any more Ghouls or others who might be here.

Finding nobody we looked for the logistics records in the HQ building and located the major supply buildings and headed there.

The doors stopped us dead. Now we needed to locate the keys so back to the HQ where we took the place apart before I remembered that the supply officer and staff would have their own building.

When in doubt look in the base phone book. HA! There it was, and off we went. We found it and the office with the keys. Nobody home. So we took all the keys and headed back.

Thanks to the military mind all were marked with a building and door number.

The first warehouse had vehicles in it, brand new vehicles. Clean vehicles. It was a beautiful moment.

Usually the military don’t store vehicles in buildings but I guess the AF had their own ways. But then after thinking and looking around it became obvious this whole huge building was a giant Faraday cage.

For the most part we were looking at everything from passenger cars to military style 18 wheelers. Ok!  Santa came early. On to more important business. We found buildings with food, Medical supplies, clothing, boots you name it was there.

Finely I went back to the phone book and found Armory and the location. DUH! I felt like a fool but nobody noticed so it be good!

Off we went to the big candy store hoping that it wasn’t empty but also how much in the way of small arms did the USAF ever really need? A Marine base would be the worlds biggest weapons candy store but….

After getting to the right building and getting the door open we still didn’t see any weapons.

So we kept looking and finely found a freight elevator and several of us loaded on it Sandy pushed the button and down we went.

We were prepared to shoot as soon as the doors opened. And found…Nothing, but a hallway with other roll up doors.

We found the right keys and opened the first door and found a large room filled with loads of green ammo cans on pallets. Now we were cooking with lard!!..

One of the younger troopers climbed up on top of one stack  got one can and opened it and tossed down a green bandoleer with 223 ammo on stripper clips .

Santa had really come!!

We left several people there to get some pallets loaded on the elevator  using the electric Forklift. Behind every door was another candy store. It just went on and on. It was actually overwhelming.

The last door had a nice sign painted on it. “ Armory, Authorized Personnel Only!” We looked at it for a moment and I said” Well that’s that! Damn it! We ain’t Authorized!

Wally laughed. Sandy and Charley just shook their heads. I don’t get no respect! Out come the keys and “ Open Says Me”!

And we now owned the Kingdom! If it went bang it was here. All crated up and sealed and neatly stacked and all ours!

In this room was enough hardware to help kill every Ghoul and Raider that lived. And we were gonna put it to good use. It also explained what the ghouls were doing here.

But for now we needed to just arm all our people with the same toys and same ammo. That was gonna be a big help. And that’s what we did.

M-16’s by the case were loaded on flatbeds along with hundreds of Magazines. There was enough 9mm handguns for everybody to carry all they wanted plus mags. Shotguns in riot configuration.

We sent several hundred of each up to the surface. We sent cleaning gear up along with anything else we could think of. Then we closed the whole place and headed to the surface where we found everybody busy cleaning their new rifles and pistols. Loading Mags and fitting holsters to web gear belts.

To make a long drool short we spent several days there getting all geared up. Everybody used the range to fam fire their weapons and zero them.

The new BDU’s and other gear made us look like a real military force. Which I saw as a good thing! Only the real bad fools would open fire at sight of us. Most folks would welcome us in hopes we were coming to save them.

We spent days getting vehicles out and serviced and fired up to roll. We found the tanker trucks and the fuel depot and filled them. And after 2 weeks of  can see to can’t see work we were ready to roll out.

Charley had made contact with his people on the communications  gear and soon a bunch of them rolled in. We were leaving people behind to guard the candy store.

Plus I had two big cargo haulers loaded with everything I could think of and sent them along with 4 hummers and two squads to escort the trucks back to Texas to the family homestead.

I had no idea where we were heading or what might be coming at us but I wanted to make sure the family was loaded for bear.

Charley sent truck loads back to his people.

I knew we still had a mission and intended to get moving on it but we needed to help all the people we could reach. We sent loads to Roswell and the other towns we knew were doing the right thing.

As an after thought we loaded all the cargo haulers we could find with an assortment of everything with the plan to pass it out to places where good folks were still struggling to make do.

At last we were ready to roll out in search of bugs to stomp. Be they Raiders or Ghouls or just trash needing hauling we were going after them.

We had rolled in looking like a rabble and rolling out looking like a real military force. We had Hummers with machine guns mounted.

We had a few lowboys with Bradley’s armed with 25 MM chain guns that I knew nothing about but thank God one of the younger troopers had serve in one during the Iraq fight.

So while we hauled them on the lowboys the future crews were getting schooled by the new Armor Officer! We also had three armed with some kind of rocket thing that again I didn’t know shit about.

But our new boy wonder sure did. He was a kid in a candy store. All I wanted to know was if the rockets things would take down buildings and he assured me with a big smile that they “ Sure as shit would” …..Kids.

Well I started this journey in a pretty new Dodge Diesel one ton then an old Ford truck then graduated to a Mule, then to a big Dodge and now to a armored Hummer with my own radioman and a gunner. I had to throw a shit storm to not end up with a driver!!

Sandy just sat back and smiled and wiped her MP5 like it was some kind of bed time toy.

The one thing we did do was bring the big Dodge pulling our portable medical unit. ( Because it had my bed room in the front and I’m too old to sleep on the ground ) I don’t think it fooled anybody but I don’t care.

There was even a rolling shower house!! With water heaters! Damn how things had changed in the military!

Joe commented that the Air Force always had the biggest chunk of the toy money but that this stuff wasn’t usually in the Air Force inventory so it must have just been a depot for supplying troops in just this type of event.

I figured since the Marines were the Red Headed step kids of the military they had probably advanced to getting a foam pad to lay down on and maybe even hot chow once in a while. They got it soft these days! I remember when……. Oh well. 

Now we had a real military force, we had good people training the troops in how to use their new equipment.

One thing kinda hit me after we got all geared out, Had this not happened we were good for maybe another two weeks without finding new supplies.

And where would we have found them? I just knew I/we needed to do this but really never thought out the long term logistics. Man

As I said early on I’m not a real religious man but in the back of my head is a small niggling voice that says

“Hey! Maybe I wanted you to do this ” !!.

So I’m not gonna question how we “just happened” to decide to go to the base, or how we “just happened” to get there just before the Ghouls were about the acquire all the stuff we now have.

All we needed now was a destination and something to kill. So we held the usual staff meeting to decide what and

where. I believe I use these staff meeting as a cover because I’m pretty sure that I’m not a real competent leader and it helps to get others involved.

After talking it over we decided since we had to be the toughest MoFo’s in this part of the country we could split up into 4 groups and move in the same direction on different routes scouting for targets. Or good folks who needed help.

We have comm. gear out the ass!! And fire power so as long as we don’t get to far away from at least one group we should be ok. I made Willy, Charley and one of Charlie’s people into group leaders. Split the troops into four different units.

I let the troops decide how they wanted to split since some wanted to remain together.

But I kept my group as a reserve unit with the heavy firepower with me. I also wanted Joe and the dogs with my group so we would have them ready to roll with the back up group.

Also this way the groups could move faster without the heavy flat beds with the Bradley’s and it would give our training officer time to work with all of them.

So we tagged along behind the center group a mile or so and monitored the radios. And it seemed to be working out well.

Willy’s group hit a small town that was going well. He said maybe 30 people with gardens and some live stock and all were in good health.

After looking them over he offered to trade them some stuff they needed for a load of fresh veggies and eggs. They were well armed but short on ammo for the weapons they had.

We were loaded down with all the weapons we had from before plus ammo so I sent two squads in 3 hummers with a lot of the captured weapons and ammo.

Willy said they had a few former military people so I sent 10 M-16 rifles and a lot of ammo for their main defensive force to train up with.

The other two groups didn’t find anybody and the day was winding down so we met up at a spot where the road system allowed us to.

The cooks fixed a wonderful stew with fresh veggies that really hit the spot. A big plus that Willy didn’t mention was the loves of fresh bread and butter! It was a feast.

The next several days were quiet. We found isolated ranches that were happy to see us and damn happy to get some supplies and some better weapons.

All had been doing well with no trouble but at one place we learned of a place that had been raided and burned out a week or two back.

The tingling started again so we headed right for the place and by mid day we found it. Joe and a scout dog went in with Charley and several of his people. The rest of us acted as over watch.

After about 30 minutes the radio man said all clear and we rolled in. I headed for the scout team where I found Willy and Charley looking at something in the rocks behind the burned ranch house.

I knew before I got there what I would find and I was right. The usual fire pit and pile of bones said it all. Again it was a small person meaning a child.

I was so sick of this shit and wanted to end these things. But we would have to get their leader to ever really stop it since he seemed to be able to recruit with ease.

Charley said the tracks were pretty well wind blown but he saw that there had been two more prisoners and both were small. Meaning kids. Joe said his dog had found the adult remains in the burned out house.

He thought the adults had died fighting the ghouls and the kids were taken alive. I truly believe had the adults known what they were fighting they would have killed the kids themselves to prevent what would happen to them.

Could I do that? Only after having stood over these damn campfires and seeing what the fate of the kids was. Then, yes I could.

All we could do was bury the families remains together and move on. But I could feel the burning rage in the troops and if …no! When we caught up with these bastards it was gonna be real bad for them.

The next few days were a repeat of the ones before. We did find more survivors all had fought raiders. None were aware of the ghouls but then they had driven off the raiders and while they left their dead behind they had stripped the bodies.

We figured these were just raiders and not ghouls because we figured to them meat was meat so they wouldn’t have left their dead. Which made me wonder what the fate of their wounded was. I had an idea and hoped it was right.

We were making pretty good time and had crossed into and back out of Arizona and back again. Just following the roads. And burning a lot of fuel.

We had pumped out a few gas station diesel tanks and filled the tankers so fuel wise we were good. The “motor pool crew” checked it and pronounced it good so that eased my mind.

I figured at lease in this part of the country we were the big dogs but we never let our guard down for a minute. But even the watchful can get surprised. And that’s what happened.

Willy’s scout unit was about a mile out front when it got hit by a force of about 20 people. They yelled for help and backed out of the ambush ( armored Hummers are way cool!) Within minutes the cavalry had arrived and the lead hummers opened up with their machineguns and tore apart the road block and the people behind it.

When the dust settled they rolled in close to check from behind the armor where they found a lot of dead people and a few wounded.

We had caught up with the Ghouls! Or at least some. After making sure of the dead ones we dragged the wounded out in the open to ask a few questions.

Only three were able to talk and the first one told us to go fuck ourselves. Charley looked at him a bit and said something to a few of his people who grabbed the bastard and took him around a rock outcropping soon we smelled  smoke and then we heard the ghoul screaming.

Charley came out and made a come here gesture so I headed that way. I didn’t want to but I’m the place the buck stops so..

What I saw made me decide if Charley ever asked me a question I was gonna talk myself to death. They had put his feet into the fire and that broke the damn.

He answered every question and then some. The big one was where their “Lord” was and how many were with him. The big prize was the word that about 2 miles ahead at an old farm there was two more ghouls holding several prisoners.

Charley rattled off something in his peoples language and they took off cross country on foot. We got all we could from the thing and Charley cut his throat.

We left him gurgling and went back to the other two who started talking as soon as they saw Charley coming. They were good at eating kids but they were weak and not worth hanging. They did confirm the information from the first one.

I looked around and picked out a tree and pointed at it. The troops dragged the scum to it and produced ropes and with no fan fair we hung them. They begged and cried and all the crap you’d expect and pissed their pants but hang they did and it was slow. Too fast for us but slow for them.

We hung a sign on them that said “ Cannibals “ we left them for the vultures figuring it was fair. I think Charley would rather have just staked them out live for the vultures. It was a thought!

We loaded up and headed down the road where we found one of the Scouts on foot trotting back to were we had been. He talked to Charley who gave me a thumbs up and we rolled faster.

At the old farm house we found the scout team standing over two men who were alive and tied up. They took us into the house where we found 5 people. Two women, one man and two boys. All were in bad shape from beatings.

The women were naked and our women took charge of them and the boys.

The man was in better shape then expected and was able to talk. He and his wife and the boys had been taken in a raid two days earlier. The other woman was a stranger and had been picked up before he and his family.

He said she had pretty well gone over the edge after watching the ghouls kill and eat her two kids. He said in another day they would have killed him then his boys.

Sandy came out of the old house and motioned me over. She said “John, the one woman is fine, beat up some but ok. The other one is just gone. Insane is not the word, think past insane. I had no idea what to say or what to do about her. We weren’t equipped to do anything for her.

Sandy said John she would be better off out of her misery. I looked into the eyes that usually glittered with love and mischief but now they were just flat. I nodded and asked how. She said one of the EMT’s would use a morphine injection and she would go peaceful.

It was done. We took her away from the place and in a small valley we laid her to rest. It was a sad service but I have never doubted for a second it was the right thing. What she saw would have killed me.

Before we left the farm we hung the two with all the same begging and asking for mercy. There was none. I thought about asking Charley to deal with them his way but I knew if I couldn’t do it I damn sure would not ask any other person to do it.

We now knew what we needed to know. After leaving his pawns to die while slowing us down the so called “ Lord of the Night” was holding court in a small town just a few miles away from where we were this minute.

Staff meeting. My new battle cry. Out came the maps and after studying them we knew how and what we were going to do. I was sending Willy and Sam Long Walker the other team leader to circle the town a good ways out.

After they were in place to be the blocking force The rest of us were going to hit the place with everything we had right at first full light.

We were going to use the Bradley’s to start shredding the place and drive them out the back door where they would meet The blocking force who would ambush them with every weapon they had and god knows we now had plenty.

At midnight the two units rolled out for their area of responsibility. The rest of us spent the time cleaning weapons and magazines and reloading them. The gun crews on the Bradley’s were as ready as they could be since they knew how but had never really fired the weapons on their iron horses.

We moved to within half a mile quietly and got the Brad’s ready to off load. We weren’t going to start them until just before they went in.

I sent the troops and small weapons sections in on foot to dig in while waiting for the armor to arrive.

All communications were done in a whisper. The troops were as well covered as they could get without making a lot of noise.

At 15 minutes before daybreak the Brad’s fired up in a quiet idle.

The scouts were waiting with flashlights to guide them on line for the run in and others waiting to guide them to their firing positions.

It was time and with as little noise as possible they rolled out. Me and my Hummer team were running in the center of the line abreast and would guide the fight by radio.

Sandy was bound and determined to use the machinegun in the armored turret of the hummer and I sure wasn’t gonna say no. Better she was behind the steel then out running around in a rain of bullets.

As we were in the last few minutes of the run in the forward scouts said they could hear us and that there was activity in the town. So I ordered them to drop the hammer and they launched like a dragster! Damn those things haul ass!!!

We hit the line dead on the money with the scouts waving lights. The tracks squealing as we slammed to a stop and there they were running like a hill of ants.

Sandy opened up with that damn gun before I could yell fire but it didn’t matter. The whole line opened up and those 25’s latterly turned the town into splinters.

The Ghouls were flying apart when they got hit and running behind a car or truck was just a waste of time. The guns just cut thru them like a hot knife and butter.

There was no need to fire off any of the anti tank missiles as they just weren’t needed. As we chewed up the town I don’t think we even got any return fire.

We could see them running. Some made it to vehicles, most of which got chewed up by the gunners.

But from the radio chatter from the scouts outside the town in over watch positions some were making it out.

I could only hope the blocking force could take the leader of this mess alive. I needed to see him and I need to see him die.

We started advancing into the town and met very little resistance as most of the slimy bastards were dead or dying. Some were hiding I’m sure but we had plans for them.

Fire worked wonders before so we did it again. Hey it works! Why change a good thing. Once we got the leading edge of town burning it took off and was eating everything in it’s path.

My troops were still shooting at the runners and we kept the fires going. After an hour we stopped and waited to hear from the blockers.

The call came in pretty fast that they had hit them hard and brought them to a dead stop and were moping up at the moment. I pulled the hummer out of the line and tore out to see what had happened.

We were taking some fire as we roared thru town but it had no effect. About a mile outside town we saw the smoke of the burning vehicles. I slowed down and told the radioman to call that we were coming in.

As we pulled up to the tail end of the ghoul convoy it was a sight to behold. The vehicles were literally shot to pieces.

Some had so many hole in them I had no idea what was holding them together. I commented that the boys had spent ammo as if we had a military base full of it.

Sandy was laughing and having way too much fun standing up on the gun. I looked at the kid who should be the gunner and just shook my head.

He smiled and said hell it was worth it to watch her go completely bat shit crazy! And we all burst out laughing until she popped down and said yawl best not be laughing at me!!

And stop looking at my ass up here! I laughed and the radio kid turned red. I told him if he wasn’t looking I was getting a new comm. man!

It took a while to sift thru the wreckage of the ghoul convoy that tried to get their leader out of Dodge. But sift we did and we found a lot of live ghouls. Some hiding and most wounded.

We dragged them out into the light of day and started looking them over and none looked like the description of the leader of this pack of scum. We then dragged all the bodies out and still didn’t find him. I had the comm. Kid call for Joe and Charley to come up and as an after thought asked Joe to bring the tracking dogs.

When they got there I told them the leader had bailed out someplace between the town and here and to find him. Charley called his people together and off they went.

He could run but he couldn’t hide and we were going to get him that was it. The rest of us finished mopping up the town and it was a dirty job.

The rats were fighting not for their lives but simply to kill all they could before we killed them.

I passed orders that nobody was to enter a building. Instead to simply burn it. I wanted no KIA’s because they got to Ramboish. These filth were not worth even one loss.

We were done before dark and none of the ghouls survived…. For long.

We backed off up wind and set up a defensive position just in case any of them had survived. It was a quiet night except for worrying about the men chasing this ghost that we never saw, but heard so much horror about.

At midnight one of the guards came to the trailer with word that they could hear a lot of gunfire off to the South West. By the time I got there it was over but they had a good fix on it so I told the guards to round up two squads and mount up we were going hunting.

I figured to just ease out of camp in my hummer but when I got into it my radio man was there as well as the gunner and of course Sandy. Who just looked at me with disdain and shook her head.

We headed cross country toward the SW and an hour later we could see a fire ahead so that’s where we went. We found our people around a small gully with bodies scattered all around it. In the bottom was a man about 60 years old standing tall as if he were proud of what he had done.

I went down into the gully filled with rage and when he looked at me with scorn on his face I hit him as hard as I’ve ever hit anybody, He stopped the look. Of course it was hard to look at all with a splattered nose.

This was the source of so much misery and death and horror that I had no idea what to do with him. I could think of nothing painful enough to do to him that would ever even begin to be a pay back.

I was pulling my 45 when Charley came to me and said John, That’s too quick. In the mean time he had stood back up and was smiling at me and said in perfect English “ Ahh the infamous Johnny Walker. It took you long enough to catch me and I enjoyed many tender young children while I waited.

I just looked at him and for the life of me I could think of nothing to say. But Charley did. He said “ John, when I was slow getting to Roswell it was because I was thinking of how to handle this thing. And it came to me. So I sent a team down into his peoples country.

That got the creeps attention and I saw the start of fear. I asked Charley what he had in mind. He said “ His people want him. Alive.”

And now I saw more then fear I saw terror in his eyes but I didn’t understand so Charley explained that his deeds had brought shame and worse on his people. That ever since he started his cult his people had been blamed and persecuted because of it.

They would deal with him in their own way and when those words were spoken he tried to run but caught a rifle butt in the back of his head. I was afraid to ask what they could do that the thought of it scared him like this.

And that’s what we did, we headed south for the border and a meeting with some strange folks. When we found them I had to admit they looked like they were from 200 years ago.

Armed with Bows and  wearing loin cloths they looked like the movie version of Apaches around 1860 or so. I asked Charley how he had managed to find them and get them here so fast. He looked at me like I was crazy and said Smoke talk!!

I said “you gotta be shitting me!” He looked at me like I was an idiot then smiled and said “yea I am!” And him and Joe busted out laughing and joined of course by my crew.

After a long talk with these folks in a language I couldn‘t even begin to describe the so called Lord of Darkness was brought forward and when he saw them he started screaming and fighting. And I swear he was foaming at the mouth.

He was handed over and they just melted away like smoke. We sat there a while and did nothing not even thinking.

A tiredness that left the body boneless came over me and looking around  could see it was hitting us all.

It was over. The monster was going to pay, how I had no idea but to scare him so bad it must be bad. And for that I was happy and I hoped it took him a long time to die.

Charley who was standing there and without turning his head said “ It will”. It took several minutes to sink in and I said “Uh Charley wanna explain that“. He looked at me and said  “No”.

With morning we headed back to the main group and after rejoining we headed for a place on the map where there was a lake. And there was. A state camp ground where we set up and just dropped. Out side of guard duty and cooking we did nothing but swim and sleep for a week.

In that time I had walked with Sandy and thought and walked and thought some more. I laid in the sun and watched clouds and thought some more.

Sandy never asked nor did anybody else. And on the seventh day I asked my staff to call the troops together in the afternoon for a meeting.

An hour before chow call the troops were formed up and waiting. I put on my best clean uniform and shined boots and went out to meet my people.

As I stood on the tailgate of the Dodge as I had many times before I was lost. I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn’t start.

Finely I said everybody sit down, relax and I dropped down onto the tail gate and asked if anybody had anything to drink. Shortly several bottles were being passed around and even the ones I knew didn’t drink were sipping from the bottle.

I cleared my throat and said. “People, Mission accomplished! The monster has been slayed and peace is coming to the land. People are working to not only live but building for the tomorrows nobody thought would ever come again.”

For a bit I was silent then said “ We all know we could spend the rest of our lives just driving and looking and finding bad people who need killing. But they are being thinned out every day by people just like us. People with guns and a dream. A dream of a clean healthy home and a dream of being left alone to just live and love.”

“We all came together to hunt down the worst creature we ever dreamed of in the night. He is or soon will be dying in a manner I don’t think I want to know. Our job is done.”

I then opened the floor or rather ground to anybody with any thoughts. Everybody looked at each other and at last Sandy took a sip from the bottle and said

“ Most of you know how John and I came to be a couple and I’m sure you heard about our trip to Texas first on mule back and then in this very truck. “

“ As for me she said, I miss the mules and my horse and I miss the high country hot springs where we camped and spent hours soaking in the hot water. I miss the beehive oven we built with rocks and mud and the hard flat bread that tasted so good.”

She looked around and said “ I miss living, seeing and feeling the breeze off the snow capped mountains. And if John will take me I want to go home.”

And the dam broke and everybody was talking to each other and I was looking at Sandy and smiling and said “well, do we haul the beasties back in the trailer or ride them from Texas back to Idaho?”

She dropped into my lap and said “lets ride home John” And we did! But that’s a story for another time.

Joe and Beth the blond decided to head back to his place and load up and head over to Navaho country and start breeding, raising and training dogs again.

Willy Bean said well screw it and decided to go with Joe and Beth to at least look over the area. I talked to all three of them about the area around Lake Powell as a great area because of the fishing and the isolated red rock canyons that flooded when the dam was built.

Charley was the usual Charley and was ready to go home, He said this adventure had put ripples in his force field and most of us cracked up.

He did the arms folded stoic Indian thing for a minute and then laughed too, he said “ What? You think you white guys are the only Star Wars fans around?”

He did add quietly that this whole mess had put a mark on his spirit and when he got home he would see a Healer and have the ceremony to cleanse out any bad spirits he may have absorbed.

I asked him if a white man could get it done too and he said sure but your medical insurance won’t cover it so bring a couple of goats. He wasn’t smiling when he said it. Now where could I find some goats.

We talked long into the evening and everybody had something they wanted to do or somewhere to go. Some wanted to look for family and others just to start a new life.

A few days later we headed back the way we came and some peeled off to start their adventures.

We had agreed that all small arms were to remain with them but the armored vehicles like the hummers should be stored at communities like Roswell and others simply to keep them safe and to avoid the wrong people getting their hands on something like that.

The Bradley’s we damn sure didn’t want to be in wrong hands. Charley took two on lowboys back with him as well as some of the Hummers.

A lot of the people decided to go back to the Air Base and set up there since there was everything they needed to rebuild a safe place for people.

At Roswell Sandy and I took leave of Joe and Willy and promised to meet up with them in the spring if all went well. Joe said we best be there because our pup would be waiting to go with us? Pup? Sandy clapped her hands and said “YES!!” I guess she knew about it before me. Which is the usual way of things.

We headed once again to Texas and the homestead that while I loved it I also had a wonder lust in me that needed it’s fix. The homestead was safe. And would be safer with the addition of the goodies I was taking back as well as what we had sent back.

Everybody has their nitch in life and I will admit hoeing corn ain’t mine. Maybe in a few more years when I get “Old”

** Note**

I would love to write another adventure for these two and I may but I have to wait till it’s time and I don’t know when that is until ..well.. Until it’s time.

Thank you and I do hope yawl enjoyed this tale. And weren’t too turned off by the way it went.

TJ