The Free Republic of Texas

2015 AD

By

TJ Reeder

Looking back on it I guess you could say it was a nice day in East Texas. not too hot yet but needing some rain. I expect it will come, always does. the breeze in the tall Pines and big Oaks that make up this part of Texas was welcome. as was the quiet gentle sound of it all.

Life here in the small community of Dog Trot ( named after a style of house built here since the days of the founding of the Republic of Texas) was real nice.

250 people living quietly, nobody rich, nobody starving. The elderly are cared for by everybody if they have no close by family and even if they do.

In other words it’s a real nice place to grow up and to live your life. Of course if you’re into big city lights you have to travel 25 miles or so. (Big city of 15000 folks)

The town while not set up with a mayor and city council nor any of that stuff still has the kind of folks that will work together.

Like getting the fire truck and the ambulance. Folks just chipped in what they could. The Jonas brothers used their small garage to do all the work on rebuilding both units. Damn near from the ground up.

Then some of the boys from the high school auto shop class got permission to do the body work and painting as a class project for grades and the shop teacher was right there making sure no short cuts were taken.

Them kids done a bang up job! Dog trot has the sweetest emergency services equipment for many a mile around and we’re proud of it too and of the folks coming together to get it done.

I guess you’re kinda getting the picture of a nice town filled with good folks who want to live and let live. But not the kind to be run over by anybody.

It was coffee time at the Early Bird café. Meaning just about all day if ya know what I mean.

The front screen door squeaked open and a man walked in out of the sun and stood blinking for a bit. A few of the locals sorta stared, some didn’t. What with him being a stranger to the town.

He sat down and ordered breakfast. Looked around a bit, nodded to the ones looking at him and never said a word cept for his order. He picked up the area paper and read it while eating his breakfast. Left money on the table. nodded again and walked out.

Well there wasn’t nothing too strange about that cept he was the first stranger to come into the café in distant memory what with us being so off the beaten track so to speak.

And now the locals did have something to talk about besides the usual, is it gonna rain, gonna blow, the fire that broke out 2 months ago outside of town and how the town fire truck and crew got out there and put it out. Saving 25 lives. Of course it was a barn and most of the lives was chickens and barn cats and a milk cow. But we was real proud of the fire truck and crew.

Well sir, next day at dead on 7:00 am the door squeaked open and there came the stranger again. He smiled and nodded, fetched the paper and ordered breakfast, same thing as the day before, and the next day and the next for 2 weeks running.

Now the café was getting a lot more business for breakfast cause half the town was coming in to watch to see if this feller came in again, they even left his table open, whole place full and an empty table sitting there, well he would just walk in and smile and nod and Miss Ellie who had stopped asking him what he wanted to eat would bring his breakfast out as soon as he sit down, she had him timed to a tee! Yes sir that ol boy was running like the trains were supposed to.

On the morning of the 15th day the door opened Miss Ellie headed for the empty table and the stranger saw the paper was already on the table, That Miss Ellie was really having fun with this ol boy, the whole room was smiling .

But then the feller stopped before sitting and looked around the room, met every eye in the place, then he smiled as usual but instead of nodding he said in a pleasant fairly deep voice, Good morning, my name is Jody Brown, I just moved into the old Harmond place out a ways. Then he sat down and ate, well we all sat there looking at each other wondering how this could be?

The Harmond place was about a half mile out of town, in a bend of the river, in fact if the river bent any more it would be on an island. It was a really nice place, great big old oaks, and tall pines like all of this area, it had a small but nice old house made from logs cut off the land when it was cleared, big logs too, I’d bet they was 2 ft thick, the place was about 100 acres and everybody for 150 miles around had tried to buy it at one time or the other, Myself included. The place had been empty since Granny Harmond had passed on 2 years before, an outfit from the city 25 miles away kept the brush and weeds cut back and the house closed up good, the Deputy who patrolled this part of the county would check on the locked gate most every night.

Now you can’t see the place from the county road that goes by because of the trees and it being clear at the back of the land on a small hill right above the river, above any possible flood which had never happened due to the lay of the land.

Well after this bomb shell was dropped you could hear a pin drop and it was several minutes before the talk started up again, Now me, being the newest resident at that time, having only been around for 10 years decided that it was time to stop all the wondering going on, so I stood up and walked over to Mr. brown and introduced myself, He stood up and took my offered hand and with a firm grip said he was happy to meet me and invited me to take a sit, I was being looked at by the rest of the folks like I might either be siding with the devil or maybe finding out things they could later on torture out of me.. That was a joke folks… maybe

Miss Ellie brought my coffee to me and winked at me; she’s a beauty and has been for most of her 75 years! Every man in the country at one time or the other had a thing for Miss Ellie, but she had only had eyes for a young feller who went of to some war somewhere and never came back so to speak, she puts flowers on his grave several times a year.

Mr. Brown, or Jody as he said to call him finished his breakfast while I sipped my coffee and waited, when he was done he sat back and looked at me and said, I guess you have some questions huh? Well I’ll tell ya; even the ceiling fan stopped making a sound.

He kinda turned his chair and looking around the room a bit then said, My Mom was Granny Harmonds great niece and when she died she left the place to my mom, who lives in California and has no interest in the place so she signed it over to me when I retired from the service a few months ago, After almost 30 years in the Marines I decided I needed some quiet so I came here looked it over for a few days then  left to get my life in order before coming back to live.

Well folks were starting to chatter amongst themselves and Jody took the moment to have some coffee, when it quieted down he said, I plan to stay here and make this my home, I want and need some peace and quiet in my life and this is as nice and quiet as I’ve seen in 20 years.

He then said he had some plans for the place and would be turning it into a working small self supporting place, which didn’t seem to matter to most anybody as they all were self supporting so to speak.

He then stood up and said he needed to get home and start his plan for the future such as it was going to be… now that right there sounded funny at least to me and a few others but he had nodded and said he was happy to meet us all, and walked out.

Well 2 weeks would go by before Jody came back into the Early Bird and headed towards his table, which already had the paper on it and Miss Ellie walked out of the kitchen with his breakfast, now this was sorta spooky to us regular folks, how is it she had placed his paper there and poured the coffee not 30 seconds before the door opened and had his breakfast ready?? This was, well it was out of the normal of our lives and was unsettling so to speak.

Jody said good morning to the room and settled down, when he was thru eating he looked over at me and sorta moved his head in invite so I took my coffee over and settled down, He quietly asked a lot of questions, about the area, the weather, the crops, the traffic thru the area, a lot of things that while not being strange were a bit out of the normal type questions a person asks.

I answered his questions as best I could and all in all we had a pleasant talk, as he prepared to leave he said he would see me in a few days. And sure nuff 3 days later he came in at 7:00 am said Howdy to the room and settled down to the waiting cup of coffee and smiled at Miss Ellie who was placing his plate before him, he looked over at me and inclined his head for me to join him which I did about 10 seconds before Miss Ellie sat my plate in front of me, and me not having ordered yet. Ever hear that Twilight zone tune? Ever have it just start playing in your head? Well sir mine was playing real loud!

Jody and I ate quietly and finished and was sipping the hot coffee, when he said sorta quietly, Sam ( OH… by the by that’s me, Sam Travis sorry I never said so yet) I’d like for you to come out to my place this late afternoon if you would so we can have a nice quiet talk, are you game? Well I was a bit taken aback but said sure I will, about 5 or so? That was fine and he took his leave.

Well the day was a long one for sure waiting for 5:00 pm to arrive but it did and I headed out there, when I got there the first thing I saw was a new gate, the kind you have to have a number coded into but there was a button so I pushed it and the gate slowly opened, looking around I saw the camera back a ways up on a pole. So I drove on in and after getting thru the shield of timber and brush I passed thru the hay fields and shortly arrived at the house which still looked like it had for almost 100 years, and still as sound, It was of course built on the dog trot styling, I had not been out here for several years but was still in love with the place, it just had / has that something that makes you want to just sit on the porch and rock with a smile on your mug.

Well Jody came out on the wrap around porch which was screened against the bugs and said welcome and come in, after we were settled on the porch in some real nice comfortable chairs the door opened and a small lady in her 20’s or maybe early 30’s came out with a tray of ice tea and glass’s.

I tried to not stare but it’s seldom you see a 5 ft tall Asian woman with tribal tattoos on her face and dressed in a long skirt and a simple top wrapped around her chest and no shoe’s. At least in East Texas! I started to stand up but Jody motioned me to remain sitting, he said something to her in a strange singsong language that made her laugh, he then said her name was, well to me it sounded like “Sing” which Jody said was close enough because it was hard to say if you weren’t raised speaking it.

She smiled a very nice smile at me and with not a whisper of noise was gone, even the screened door didn’t squeak.

I was bound and determined that I would not speak first so the silence drifted on for several minutes, when at last Jody kinda settled into his chair and looking me in the eye said, Sam you more then anybody around here know that some very bad times are coming to America, a lot from our enemies from the middle east and a lot from our country’s enemies in Washington DC.

I mean just like that, boom right on the table! It was the first but not the last time I was surprised by this man who flat had no bullshit in him, he didn’t say it if it wasn’t true, and he never hedged on saying it right out loud for the world to hear and either accept or not.

I sat there and just stared at him for a bunch of heart beats, and he just looked at me right in the eyes with those bright green cat eyes of his and he waited until I finely got my wits about me and not knowing what else to do just nodded yes.

And with that he began talking about things most folks never heard of in their lives, life after some very bad event, how would folks survive? How would they be able to keep from starving? Live without gas to keep warm, to run their farm equipment with, how would it be if there was no lights, no electricity? No freezers? In other words what if here in 2009 it just was suddenly 1809 or 99? How would today’s people survive? More importantly how many would make it?

He talked about the lost skills folks used to have, farming with a mule, a team pulling a wagon, who even knew how to harness such? Who could even make a set of harness? How many women today could sew? Without an electric machine? How many old treadle machines were there around? What if tomorrow you woke up and your car wouldn’t run, nobody’s car would run? The lights were out, and weren’t coming back on?

Well sir, we sat there and he talked and I listened, then he asked me to try to answer the questions, all I could do was shake my head and shrug, and ask why me?

Jody smiled and said Sam, I checked you out, no offence now, but when I decided this was going to be where I made my stand I needed to know something about the local folks, and out side of a few who went off to the service few of these folks have been more then 200 miles from here in their life. Where as you Sam have been out in the world right? And he smiled, well sir he had me there, I didn’t know what he knew but he knew a lot more about me then I knew about him!

I had moved to Dog trot because it was lost in a time warp kind of, I had worked as a police officer after getting out of the Army and one day while driving with my wife and 9 month old baby , a drunk driver ran a red light and when I came out of the coma my wife and son were buried and I was alone, also I now had a leg that would prevent me from staying on as a cop, the drunk was a CEO of a large company driving a company car coming from a company dinner party , Other then getting a lawyer to look over their settlement offer and him making some changes I was now very rich, but also very alone, with no family left at all I just tossed some clothing into a rental car and started driving, after logging about 5 thousand miles on their car the rental company said they thought it was time to turn it as there was no charge for mileage.

So I turned it in caught a cab to town and being rich I bought a used pickup truck, and then kept driving, staying in motels and sometimes camping out, I did this for 2 years then one day I stopped for breakfast in Dog trot at the early Bird and was stared at a bit by the locals because of the long beard and the longer ponytail, but I was clean, and my boots were shined so I guess they thought I might have something going for me, well I stayed in the area for a few months and then made my first attempt to buy the Harmond place, me and half the state!

And I never left, I bought a small house in town and never did much for years, oh every 6 months or so I wonder off for a couple of weeks, sometimes to Vegas, I think most folks have that figured out, and nobody knows a thing bout me except I showed up one day and was polite and quiet and the town dogs didn’t wanna bite me.

So I was accepted, none knew about my family, nor the money just sitting and making more money then I can spend or have any desire to spend. Nobody knew that a good bit of the money collected for the emergency equipment was from me in small donations that went unnoticed.

I had found a place to just live out my life and not be bothered, I liked it, But now I was sitting looking at Jody Brown and hearing him tell me about my life, I should have been mad, or felt something, but I didn’t, in some ways it was nice to have somebody to be open with and not have to hide my wealth or my past.

Jody sat looking at me a bit and looked like he was about to say something but the door opened and Sing said something to Jody who said come on Sam lets put on the feed bag .

Sing jabbered at Jody, he said something back and she fired right back and stomped her bare foot and stormed out of the room, only to return with a plate and some chop sticks and sat down, she smiled at me and threw dagger looks at Jody who was smiling a huge smile while she fumed.

He explained that she was from a tribe of folks who live in the central highlands of an area of South East Asia that everybody wants to claim but none wants to go into the Mountains and try to do it, her people are wild and free and live as they wish and are left alone, but they are not ignorant of the world, Sing and her brother (whom I later found out was called Song, yes I know, but I didn’t name them) were orphans and when Jody

Operated out of their area he came to know them and several years before had sponsored them for immigrating to America. About this time I really got my first good look at Sing who really wasn’t as old as I had thought, must have been the tattoos which really were very beautiful if not a bit distracting at first , fine lined and in an rich emerald green color.

I was also bothered that I suddenly found her to be very beautiful, I forced my eyes away from hers which were still snapping fire at Jody while he talked and she at last laid down her chop sticks and looking me right in the eyes said in perfect private school English, as in England English… I’m sorry Sam that you have to be caught in this little family fight but this Olf has a way of really pissing me off!!!! Well I was floored, and then burst out laughing and then she started laughing while her eyes dared Jody to just try laughing…

Seems that Sing didn’t think she should eat with us because she didn’t wish to intrude in the first dinner with a guest since they had arrived, Jody had insisted and the fight was on, she may have been only 5 ft tall and weighed maybe 90 lbs soaking wet but she was a fire brand.

Jody had not ordered her as one would a hired person, he did so as the elder head of their tribe, which she could no more ignore then she could wash off the tattoos, but she could fight back and she did, I don’t know if it’s possible to cuss in her native language but I’d bet she got it across!

Soon , maybe too soon we were finished and we carried our dish’s to the kitchen against Sings wish’s but the Lord of the Manor had spoken but she wasn’t about to leave it be, I was sure after I left the real fight would start.

After the dishes were done we retreated to the porch again where Sing brought out 3 ice cold beers and sat down with us.

Jody then begins talking about why he had wanted me to come out.

After he informed me of all he knew about me including my money and where it came from, he told me about his and where it came from, 20 years of putting half his pay in the credit union, then he found out his grand father left him a trust fund, he wasn’t even close to where I was but he wasn’t gonna be in the soup lines either, I should have been really pissed again at all this but I wasn’t for some reason, Jody somehow made it seem normal for a stranger to be so aware of my business, but he was so open about his that it just seemed some how…ok.

He cleared up one thing tho, his name was spelled Joe D, seems his dad was Joe D also so everybody took to referring to him as JoeD or…Jody, anyway it worked out the same so no problem and he had gotten tired of correcting folks

When he asked what questions I had it took me a moment to remember what he had said earlier and then to think about it for a moment, I then said well I would say you’re a survivalist? To which he said no I’m not, I am a survivor and a planner and a prepper, meaning I foresee events coming that I can not stop and can not change, all I can do is to prepare for them and at the same time do all I can to help my community to survive thru it all.

He then started talking about things like dirty bombs, EMP events, mass terrorist attacks all over the nation, one really kinda hit home on the former cop in me, what ? He asked would happen , if say two terrorist armed to the teeth and wearing bomb vests were to invade a shopping center say a week before Christmas, on a Sat.? say they have full Auto Ak 47’s and plenty of ammo, what would be the results he asked, all I could do was sit with the thoughts running thru my mind in living color…and when the cops move in they drop the weapons and raise their hands and refuse to lay down and when the cops rush them…BOOM!…it made my supper turn over in there, it was not a good image, then he said now, lets say this happens in every state and every large city in every mall…all on the same day and same hour… many thousands would die and the enemy would lose maybe 500 people.. It was mind boggling.

So many what ifs, so many things that could be done so easy and so damn many enemies, willing to die to hurt us.

After allowing me to think about what he had said Jody asked what I would do in a case of as he put it the Shit hit the fan so to speak.

I thought about it for a bit and said well I guess if I were to be worried about it I’d start making plans to have a place to be safe and the things to live with after it was over.

He then asked me why I had wanted to buy the Harmond place if I were content to sit in town and drink coffee and watch the days go by.

Well he had me there, I had to think about it a bit and Jody just sat and waited quietly along with Sing who had the smallest of smiles on her face .

At last I said something out loud that I had never said, I told them that I had found Dog Trot and had fallen into the way of life I had because after my wife and baby were killed I guess I just wanted to die to be with them but I wasn’t the type to pull my own plug, and so I found a quiet place to sit till I died.

Sing’s face now had a sad cast to it, her smile was gone and her eyes were looking right thru my eyes into my mind or so it felt, Jody was looking at me with the look of a man who had pushed a friend too far, and at that moment I knew that no matter where or what happened I wanted this man to be my friend for the rest of my life, but I wasn’t ready to admit to myself what I felt when I looked at Sing, going to Vegas for a few days to dispel the loneliness and needs was one thing, this was another Pandora’s box that I wasn’t ready to open.

After a bit Jody’s body language changed and he sat forward and said Sam my plan is to build a place of safety here, a place for as many people as can be housed, fed, cared for, people who have skills, in some cases lost skills, people who have the ability to not only do , but to teach others to do, people who can live and work together to stop the slide back into the times of ignorance, back when folks didn’t know to wash their hands before eating, If a man or Woman for that matter can not only shoe a horse but can make the shoe and the nails to hold it on then I want that person to be here, I don’t want a veterinarian to be close, I want the vet to have his home and clinic here, I want this area to not only have an Ambulance, I want it to have a Doctor but I want him to have his clinic right here. The same with all the skills and trades.

These things are going to cost money, a lot of money, more then I have and I’m not poor by any means.

Well I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it did it hit with a thud.

Jody said , I know you wanted to buy what I now call River Bend Ranch, I want you to go home and spend a few days thinking about what I said and what I envision for this place and this area, and if your willing to be involved I will sell you half interest in the Ranch where you can live and work and rebuild your life instead of waiting to die, I doubt your Wife would want that, your young and have your whole life ahead of you so damn it man start living it ! do some good for others with all your money. Dying with a big bank account and not having used it for good would truly piss off  your wife…I sat there and asked myself why I wasn’t mad or even a bit put off, but I also knew he was right.

With that Jody and Sing stood up and he put out his hand and I took it and said I’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow morning, and please Sing, join us? She got a scared look for a second and Jody laughed and said she hasn’t left the place since we got here, she thinks people will stare because of her markings, looking at her I said without thought, they would look regardless because she’s beautiful…and we both blushed… On that note I made my escape running like a beaten dog and never looked back, if I had I would have seen Jody laughing his butt off and Sing with her mouth open.

Back in my hide out I call home I sat and thought and thought some more, then I decided to think about it all over again, and somewhere along about 3 AM I came to the conclusion that Jody was right, I had let several years pass me by and hid from the world and waited to die, and my wife God rest her would have beaten me with the Ugly stick for it, on that note I went to bed.

Morning came too soon but at 7 am I was at what had become Jody’s table I sat with my back to the door which I almost never did, I sat so I could watch the faces of the crowd, and right on time the door opened with all the usual noise of a cat fight and about 20 pair of eye balls popped out and you could have heard smoke hit the floor If anybody had ever had the guts to even think about smoking In Miss Ellie’s domain, I knew right then that Sing had come along, last night she was lovely, when I stood I found myself falling in love! She had on a wrap around shirt that ties in front,  it was the Emerald green as her markings ,with her long shiny black hair down to her waist and tight black jeans and cowboy boots she looked like somebody’s idea of a dream come to life!

It was quiet in the Early Bird, so quiet you could almost hear the old clock ticking and it hadn’t worked for 40 years.

Well sir, Miss Sing walked right up to me and raising up on her toes kissed me gently right on the mouth and I died a little , her smile was so white against the copper color of her skin that it lit up the room.

After seating Sing and shaking hands with Jody we both sat down, me? I was just along for the ride and didn’t care where we were going!

The rest of the room all nodded when Jody said good morning but still nobody seemed to be breathing,

Jody stood and held his hand out where as Sing took it and she stood and turned to the room, Jody said ,this is my adopted daughter Sing, that’s easier then trying to say her birth name which translates to Sings in the morning, She was born high in the mountains of South East Asia where she and her Brother whom we call Song were orphaned by Communist forces because her village worked with us during and after the war ….( My mind screamed AFTER? !!! but I said nothing and I think it slid past the local crowd ) I found them while passing thru the area and brought them out with me, he looked at Sing and smiled, She smiled at the room and then spoke in that upper crust English Accent of hers and said good morning and that she was happy to be here and hoped to make many new friends , then she sat down and here came Miss Ellie with breakfast for 3, mine and Jody’s usual and a smaller serving for Sing who rewarded Miss Ellie with that radiant smile and got one in return!!

We ate in quiet for a while then the conversation picked up again and folks just accepted that this was how it was but the phone lines were going to melt down very soon!

After we finished we walked out together and headed to my place, after putting on a pot of coffee we sat down in the kitchen and Jody and Sing looked around, I was very glad I had cleaned a bit better then my norm!

I asked Jody where he got his information on me and he very openly said he had connections in high places and also that Song whom I hadn’t met was a computer genius compared to none and could hack the White house if needed, I took that as a joke and really believe it was meant to be but Jody nor Sing gave so much as a smile, kinda thing that makes ya go..HUH… So while I digested that Sing jumped up to get coffee and I followed right behind her, she asked where things were and I showed her, after getting our coffee we sat back down and really got to it.

There is something coming at us at high speed Jody opened with, I don’t know what or exactly when but it won’t be more then a year and it will be bad and the loss of life throughout the world will be beyond belief he added.

The plan I have and that is still a work in play is to have an area that can support it’s self, food wise and act as a place to start the long road back to having a country again, he added that he had been working on this idea for most of his time in the Marines, but didn’t have a place in mind.

The Harmond ranch was like a sign from above so to speak, and while he had the basics of a plan and some of the money to implement It he knew he needed more then himself and the kids as he referred to them and so he started the search of the people he thought might be willing to be involved.

When I asked who he had found so far he said Miss Ellie of course, now that surprised the hell out of me! But he then added that Granny Harmond had been related to Miss Ellie who knew his mother from trips to visit when she was a girl, so when he called to introduce himself his mother broke the ice so to speak, then he came out here and had several visits with Ellie telling her the same story he had told me, Miss Ellie had given him my name and told him that I was not only wealthy but honest and a good man to have on your side, which surprised me a bit but then I remembered all the small chit chat I’d had with Ellie over the years, and hadn’t realized how much I had revealed to her, so much for being a fly on the wall !

He settled into his chair more comfortably and said his plan was to build the ranch into more of a place of refuge and a place to grow enough to feed as many as possible, while at the same time working with the folks living both on the ranch and around the country side, to provide plans for further food growing and storage and protection against the low life’s that would come out like roach’s into the light of day.

To educate the children, here now and those to come, to train teachers and mechanics, carpenters, all the trades, so man would not slip back into the caves while losing all that had been built in the past . As he talked I could see clear as a bell what he was talking about, the only place it was dim for me was the why of it, and how it would happen, how he knew so surly it would happen as he said.

I asked that very question and his answer was as straight forward as everything about Joe D. Brown, He said he knew for a fact but could not prove that there were forces within our own government that desired to be Kings and to run the country as a bunch of principalities, That they wanted to be Lords over all they saw within their own boundaries, that alone made me squirm a bit, how could this be? He said that was only a few who were in power, others wanted to have the entire world under their control, One World , One Government, One leader, one Church, “ONE PEOPLE” and all controlled by the central government. No more US of A, no more Germany or France etc. and there were other factions who wanted no government at all, no laws, the strongest will out, the lesser peoples to be serfs, some wanted race wars, religious wars, and in the middle of it all, the little people, the Joe six pack who just wanted a job and a roof over his head and a family.

Could all this really be true I asked and yes was the answer, he said “They” were divided on the how but not the why, except who’s fairytale would be the one?? And this was where the end would come, they would fight among themselves and it would roll over all of us, no country would be spared, none allowed to remain free…except one, this one because somebody, US were going to stop it here in this place by being more ready to fight them then they thought, from this area the people of America as we knew it would go out and stop these wanna be kings and Rulers. Thru it all Jody never raised his voice, his eyes never got wild looking, his ice cold reasoning was clear, somebody was going to destroy our country but we were going to stop them…it might take our lives or our life times and many more but in the end we would be a free land peopled by free men!

I sat there and for the first time in years I wanted to say…I need a drink!

After Jody and Sing left I sat for several hours and let my mind roam and in the late afternoon I got up and headed out to the ranch, As I got out of my truck, Sing greeted me with that 5000 watt smile and took my hand and walked with me to the door, I will say, I would have followed her to the river and jumped in for another of her smiles, Now what in the hell is wrong with me? I’m acting like a moon struck teenager and at a certain level felt like I was betraying the memory of my late wife, but I never felt like this when I went to the big city for R&R, Then it hit me, I was not looking at her as a possible R&R companion, I was looking at her as a Man looks at a Woman he wants to spend a long time with….boy oh boy!!! This is getting deep and I’m lost, now that’s a lot of thinking in a 20 yard walk!!

We went into the porch area and she excused herself as Jody came out the door and offered his hand, we shook and I said I’m in! Just like that I joined Jody’s army; I figured it might be strange but never boring!

After Sing returned with iced tea, and sat down we got to it…

Jody showed me the deed and latest appraisal for the River Bend Ranch and said I propose to sell you 50 % interest In the ranch with only one condition, that we both agree that neither of us will ever sell our share to anybody else and that as co owners we jointly follow the plan to build it into a retreat against whatever may come to disrupt life as we know it, that it’s a haven against the darkness to come.

I looked at the figure I would be putting into the first phase of the plan and said I agree, have the papers drawn up as you like and I’ll sign, Jody said The papers will show only that we are each half owners in the ranch, period, the court house has no need to know what we plan” and I fully agreed with that.

The figure was less then the interest paid on my money in the last 5 years of doing nothing with my life, I had nothing to lose and a lot to gain, and looking at Sing I really hoped there would be more to my future.

It took a Lawyer about an hour to do the deed work and Jody and I to sign the papers and for me to hand him a check. We were now co owners in what we both hoped would be the light in the darkness we both knew was coming full speed.

Jody wanted to stop at the local bank to set up a drawing account for the expenditures that would be going out over time, surprising me a lot he set it up with both Sing and I as co signers on the account, Sing was the book keeper and any 2 of us were required to sign checks, as Jody put it, now if one was on the road looking for equipment we were covered.

The plan as Jody laid it out was many fold. His main idea was that most of the work required would be performed by those who were permanent personal at the ranch, I asked who and where these folks were?

At this point Sing took over and laid it out, it seemed that she had been very active in looking over the grad students who were finishing up in collage this year, Agriculture and Mechanical as well as Veterinarian and Medical Doctors fresh out into the cold world and had used her brothers skills as a Hacker to look at records and other things that would show how they thought.

As she explained, we needed good people but not somebody who was only in it for the money.

She had set up interviews in Tyler TX to look them over and feel them out as to which might be what we wanted, their expense’s were being covered by the LLC that was set up at the same time we signed the papers on the ranch, the idea was to look them over but not give out too much information as to why of it all, just yet.

Jody took back the meeting and explained that the place would have ponds for raising fish, green houses , fruit and nut trees, all the things it already had except in larger quantity, the surplus would be sold to cover some of the expense’s that occurred .

The green house roofs would be built on top of 5 ft walls made from earth bag construction using the sand and red clay from here on the place, after compaction, the walls would be almost 3 ft. thick with wire and concrete stucco on the outside, I asked why these type walls and he said without smiling “Bullet proof “I knew then that he had put more thought to this then I knew and that the days to come were going to be real interesting.

As for the ranch, it was in an almost enclosed horse shoe, the road in passed thru the narrow land bridge so to speak, it was about a quarter mile wide maybe more, the river while not deep in the summer still had a good flow and the course was cut deep around the ranch leaving high banks dropping right down to the water.

We talked about security and Sing asked if it would work to plant brambles on the facing edge of the river bank and then plant blueberry and raspberry’s in from the bank edge back about 10 feet as both an intrusion barrier as well as provide their fruit to the ranch larder, well both of us looked at her and she laughed and admitted she had been reading a lot of survival stories on the net…

I agreed with her on that for sure as I had taken many a walk in the woods around the area, between the brambles and such things and the heavy brush you didn’t get far real fast and you didn’t get there without bleeding a good bit. That project was the first we all voted on and we guys dumped it on Sing’s pretty head, it was her baby.

She also said we needed to think about all the work needing done and if we were going to hire outsiders to do any of it and if so we might want to bring in workers from outside the area as a security thought, this too was passed by the 3 person committee as we started calling ourselves.

Sing said she would start on the bramble wall right away, using a nursery from a city 75 miles away; she would call them the next day.

We also talked about how to close off the front of the ranch between the river bends, while not open by any means it was a way onto the property, we decided to plant the fast growing pine trees the area was known for after clearing out the brush in a 50 yard corridor across the front leaving all the trees already there.

With the ranch entrance being a road that zig zaged into the place, easy but slow access due to the turns, each would act as a choke point to stop intruders if needed, as we all knew it would be.

While Sing was looking to dinner Jody and I took a walk around the ranch house area, there was a nice barn built with the same logs as the house though several years later, a few of the usual out building, some old chicken houses and stock pins, no longer in use and in truth needing replacing, this was another project, what kind of small live stock would work best?

From having been in the area so long I knew a lot of the folks with small acre homesteads had Goats , because they were small, easy to handle, ate less then cattle and goats milk was good right from the goat to the table, no pasteurizing needed but the fat didn’t separate as with cows milk so no butter, So goats we would have and a few young milk cows and a bull to start a small dairy herd with the intent to sell the surplus milk locally “ As pet food only” this brought a laugh from us both.

We wanted a lot of chickens; all free range but in an area fenced to at least slow down the chicken eating critters which the area abounded with.

There was no need to have hogs as Texas had about 5 million wild ones running all over tearing up the country side, in fact they were breeding faster then shooting and trapping could control them so we wouldn’t lack for pork, all we had to do was shoot a few when it was time to fill up the freezers.

While Jody and I both loved Horses we agreed that only a few would be kept on the ranch simply because they ate way more then they were worth if not used all the time, That discussion brought up the idea of farming with horses and mules, another note on the rapid filling note books we both carried. So several of the bigger draft horses and a few riding horses which could be very handy if used enough to pay for their upkeep. More internet time looking for draft animals and harness for them, and the tools to go with them, plows and wagons and all the other things needed for an operating 1875 ranch. IF it came down to that, we had no intention of not having electricity and all the many uses for it, but we would need to create our own, not relay on the power company’s in any way.

I think we were both just starting to see the size of the task before us when Sing clanged to old triangle calling us to dinner, Jody laughed and said she had just been dying to use it for It’s original purpose , and it still worked as well as it had when it was first hung long ago.

Dinner was once more outstanding, I was looking at a big weight problem if I hung around here much, which was the next subject after dinner, over a pair of tall Beam ditch’s Jody brought up the subject of my moving out to the ranch, an involuntary glance at Sing showed she was waiting for my reply as well, after stuttering a bit I said well it would be handy and all but the old house was pretty small, Sing spoke up and said no, in fact there is a very solid well built basement under this place, which surprised the hell outta me! But Jody nodded and said because of the rise in the land ground water wasn’t the problem it usually was around these parts and that Sing had staked out one  of the bedrooms down there so I had my choice of taking one up stairs or the second basement bedroom, well this caused some really wild thoughts to pop up in my head and I took a quick drink and choked on it, if you have never had the pleasure of squirting Jim Beam thru your nose, please let me say….DON”T !!!!! After both of them pounding on my back and laughing so hard they had tears we all settled down again… I was trapped on the back of a run away dilemma , being that close to Sing was a wonderful thought but I sure didn’t want to screw things up, Sing spoke up and said “Dad“? Well! That surprised me to no end, but Jody looked at her and smiled and then looked at me and said, when she wants to get her way she uses the “Dad” thing, the rest of the time I’m just Jody. Sing rolled her eyes and said that is not only so untrue it’s also unkind, then burst out laughing. She then reminded him that the idea was to set up the second upstairs bedroom as a computer/communications room with a bed for Song ( Who still had not made an appearance)  Jody nodded and said well that is settled, your bunking down stairs. I wasn’t sure if I had slid into Heaven or fell into Hell, but whichever I was pleased.

After talking about it we decided that using my town house as a sort of bunk house for the out of town hired help was a very useful idea, mainly because other then the area where they were working they wouldn’t have a reason to see any more of the place, that settled we decided tomorrow we would start the tongues wagging by moving me out of there and onto the Ranch.

We agreed to meet at the usual time for breakfast and get the job done, Jody would bring his truck and a trailer, Sing would bring the ranch Suburban with luck we would get it done In one day, with that I headed out the door with Sing walking with me, at the truck she hugged me and said she would see me for breakfast and then she was gone.

After a night of tossing and turning and fitful dreams which I won’t go into here I did sleep some, after a long hot shower and then a dash of cold water I was awake and while not trotting off to breakfast I was able to walk to the café.

Jody and Sing were already there and Miss Ellie started bringing the food as soon as I sat down after giving a howdy and a nod to all. Me and Jody had our usual , but I sat there completely astounded watching little Sing destroy a small steak, 3 eggs, hash browns and 3 hot cakes and a large glass of milk and hot tea that Miss Ellie made from some tea Sing gave her.

Then the next surprise of the day if not year, Miss Ellie sat down with us and had a cup of coffee and watched that tiny little gal eat a breakfast that most men couldn’t handle, I can’t remember how many times I ever saw Miss Ellie sit down and have coffee with her customers, or as she called us, her “guests“, anyway it was a treat and a sign to the whole country side that Miss Ellie really liked Sing and everybody who wanted to be welcome in the Early Bird ever again had best note it.

I won’t go into the day of moving because moving sucks, big time, but I became embarrassed that after 10 years I really had nothing much to move, the furniture was staying, so out side of my few cloths and such there just wasn’t much, Sing looked sad but Jody said, Sam, time for mourning is over, today you start living again and stuck his hand out for a shake, Sing did better with a hug that beat all the others she had given me.

All loaded and ready to roll in less then 3 hours, and Sing announced she was hungry and the café wasn’t crowded, I just shook my head, she usually ate like a bird , so lunch it was, with Miss Ellie joining us as the place was empty in the hours between breakfast and lunch, after we got our food Jody filled her in on what was going on and had happened so far and what we had planned up to that point, She just sat and listened and then said well you just do your thing and I’ll keep my ear to the ground to see what word gets out and who’s talking out of turn amongst the people you hire, as we were leaving she came over and hugged me and said “ Sam, I’m so happy for you, you’ve been sad far too long and it pleases me to see you smiling again, Now what that was all about I had no idea but as all were smiling I figured it was a good thing whatever it was.

Moving in took even less time then moving out had which was good, moving was a big PITA. After I was settled in we sat on the porch and had ice tea and talked about getting started on the plans we had so far.

Sing said the Nursery people would be here this afternoon to look at the job we had for them and to give us a bid, she had left them with the impression that they were bidding against several other nursery’s even though they weren’t, Sing had done her home work and said this was by far the best outfit in a hundred miles of here so they were getting the job regardless but they had to at least work at getting it.

Jody and I decided that Sing didn’t need us and we were going to drive into Tyler to get set up to start interviewing what we hoped would be the permanent ranch team, also we could look over the equipment dealers for farm equipment for the place, even though we were planning to use animals

For the farming someday we needed equipment to get started.

As we drove in we talked about all the things that could cause a national collapse , from economic melt down to nukes, we talked about it all, we both felt a collapse of the Market and the dollar was more eminent at this moment then a nuclear war.

But we both agreed that whatever might start the breaking of the dam so to speak it was going to be really bad for the people who survived.

We are a nation of free people who live in a society of plenty, anything that cut off the food deliveries to the super markets could cause mass panic, riots and ultimately complete break down of law and order.

The police would be helpless as would the National Guard, all of whom would after seeing it was a lost cause pull out for their own homes and families who needed protecting also.

People would be on their own and as things spiraled out of control many thousands if not millions would die, the elderly and sick, the young, all would fall victim.

Gangs or just people banding together would turn on the weak and take what they wanted, killing any who objected or just because they could, man would revert very fast and as the element that has always remained hidden came out into the light more and more would fall in behind them and become a human plague, feeding on the survivors until they too fell victim to somebody stronger and more vicious or maybe just hungrier.

Our plan was to save as many as we could while storing and guarding the information and works of the ages so that man would not have to fight for hundreds of years of darkness to make his comeback.

At least in this tiny bit of Texas US of A the lights would remain on and the rule of law would stand, Damn but we sounded high handed, but in truth all it really amounted to was a few people willing to put their money where their mouths were, and if nothing ever happened as we believed then we would still have a wonderful home and a place to grow old and no matter what, at the end of the day what more is there to ask for?

Chapter 3

Today we do the first interviews for a MD and tomorrow a Vet. The meetings were to be in a suite in a very nice Hotel, each interview would be done in an hour with a 30 minute break for the three of us, Sing would be the main interviewer while Jody and I would observe and ask a few questions as we came up with something.

Sing had narrowed it down to 3 young Doctors just out into the world, if the one wasn’t in this batch we would look elsewhere.

The first person showed up about 15 minutes late, from a room one floor down, his name was John, after he got over the tribal tattoos on the lovely Sing and had almost raised his lip Sing asked him why he was late and he got defensive right away and said that Doctors as a rule set their schedules and if they were late then it must be for a good reason, enough said!

Sing gave a frosty smile and said well how about your patients time? His reply was that they should know that when they were given an appointment time that it was at the Doctors convenience.

With that Sing stood up and said thank you for coming in John and good luck in your practice, well this took the wind out of John’s sails!! And his face turned red and he jumped up and lurched out the door, so much for that one!

We then spent the time reading the resumes on the other two , at the moment the second one was to be there the knock on the door came, we all smiled and I went and opened the door, this one was a young lady who’s name was Ellen, She looked at Sings face and cocked her head over and looked closely and smiled a nice smile , after the introductions Sing got to it, Ellen told us all about her life in a small town in Oklahoma where her family still lived, then about her academic life which was outstanding , after all the usual questions from Sing, Jody leaned forward and asked Ellen why she didn’t want to set up her practice in her home town, she answered that she would rather deal with strangers to begin with then people she had known all her life, that it was easier to tell somebody they were dying if you hadn’t know them all your life, well I sure could see that.

She also added that she had no intentions of working in a hospital that she wanted to be in a rural area and was going to be the kind of Doctor like her family doctor, one who made house calls and was more interested in his patients then driving a fancy car and playing golf.

So far Ellen was leading the pack, so to speak, I asked her how she felt about the 9/11 attacks, she said that as far as she was concerned the terrorist involved should get the usual fair trial and then be executed , And this with with a fire in her eyes and a quiver in her voice, I asked how she felt about the ones in Gitmo being interrogated harshly, she sat up straight and said she would be willing to go down and use the red hot pliers to remove a few finger nails if it made them talk.

Well I thought, you ask the question you get your answer. I didn’t say it but I was thinking I’d be willing to help her do it.

Jody asked her why she felt so strongly about it, she sat back and looked like the wind had gone out of her sails, and said my boyfriend all thru high school was killed in that war by a road side bomb set by a terrorist who didn’t have the guts to come out and fight and die like a man.

With that I could only nod and sat back to listen to the rest of the interview, Sing asked her is she could stick around for a while in the room we had gotten her, she stood up , smiled and shook hands with us all and left the room, Jody said well do we like her? I did and said so, Sing said she did but wanted to do the 3rd interview as planned before we had a second meeting with Ellen.

The last meeting was a tiny bit better then the first but not by much,, He showed up on time but informed us that his starting salary was going to be 6 figures or no go, we had no problem with somebody being paid what they were worth, but we wanted someone dedicated to the people not to the bank account, after a few easy questions he was sent on his way, don’t call us we’ll call you. In fact it was over so fast he never even noticed Sings tats…no taste on his part!

After talking about Ellen and how we were going to approach her on what we had in mind we called her back to the Suite, As soon as she walked In she pretty much won us all over, she had changed from the business suit and was wearing a pair of jeans with a tank top and very little makeup and had her hair down, she looked at us and laughed right out loud and said “well I figured you better see the real me instead of that blow dried Brooks Brothers wanna be, this is the real me take it or leave it.

Jody led us all to the more comfortable sitting room of the suite where he said, its happy hour someplace in the world and I’m having a drink who will join me? All three of us said me! And he looked in the mini bar and read off what was there, surprising nobody Ellen asked for a beer, we all dittoed that  and settled down to chat.

Sing had left the room for a moment and returned wearing her Black jeans and a tank top and no shoes, Ellen looked and took hers off and curled her feet under her the way only women can do.

Jody sat a moment and waited for Ellen to get nervous, never happened, she made eye contact with him and never blinked or moved, just sat and watched in a relaxed way, he then said with no warning, I think we want you .

Here’s the deal, we are going to open a clinic in a small rural town, we will pay for the whole thing, we will cover all costs, we will pay an honest salary plus all insurance including malpractice, health and furnish you a vehicle plus fuel, for this we expect you to care for the people of the area, house calls are fine depending on the political climate so to speak at the time, we expect to while not make money we wish to not lose money, BUT, we expect the people to be cared for regardless of insurance or not, if they can pay even a small amount on time that’s fine, the motto on the wall will be “TANSTAAFL” when Ellen raised her eyes, he explained..“ There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch “

We feel if a person needs help they should get it, but they will feel better if they pay for it even if it’s a buck a week, and no child will ever not be cared for.

Ellen sat there looking at Jody a bit then at me, last she looked at Sing for a moment and taking a deep breath said, I love your tattoos, where is your tribal home?

First Sing then me and lastly Jody burst out laughing, he got up and grabbed 4 more beers and said ok, we going out to eat or calling room service? the over whelming vote was room service.

While waiting for the food Ellen said well now that we have that out of the way what are you guys really doing? Jody raised an eye brow and said  , what…but Ellen interrupted and said look guys, all was cool until you tossed in the bit about house calls being ok depending on the political climate at the moment, now I’m a doctor , I will care for whoever, wherever, however and whenever they need me, politics be damned so lets get it all out in the open and settled before my food gets here because if I don’t like it I’ll leave on a full tummy.

I sat back and thought “Well Jody, I think you just met your match” Sing thought so to because she leaned over and high fived Ellen , to make the long version short, Jody laid it all out right up front, from his and my first meeting to right this minute, Ellen never interrupted, never frowned, nor looked away from Jody’s eyes, when he was done she started to say something but the food arrived and she and Sing jumped up and let the Waiter in and helped get the table set, we all dug in and soon the conversation was rolling around the table but none was about the subject of the job offer.

After dinner Jody called room service and ordered more beer and a large pot of coffee, we then sat and talked about all of the things Jody had mentioned but in more detail, Ellen was very interested in the how and whys of what we thought was going to happen and the aftermath of whatever event caused it to happen.

That led to a few hours of how, why, etc of the things we thought, believed, to follow the event whatever it was, she asked questions and offered some pretty clear assessments of the global situation as she saw it, to say she was a sharp lady was an understatement, as the evening came to an end Ellen asked if she was still in the running, Jody said no, the running is over, the job is already yours if you want it.

Ellen thought a bit, looked at each of us and said well ok I accept with a few conditions, Jody made the come on motion with his hand, She said, ok I want to pick my nursing staff, and I want a PA, also one thing I think your missing out on , that will be most needed is a small pharmacy, which of course will allow you to stock pile a lot of things you couldn’t get any other way, this one caught us all off guard, we had not even thought of it.

She smiled at our expressions and said, ya kno, I’m not just a pretty face!! Then she said now, for me I want a ¾ ton Suburban diesel  with the back set up as a rolling emergency trauma unit, filled with emergency equipment, if the weather is bad I’d like a driver and if the “political” scene sucks maybe an armed guard?

And last but not least, I want to undergo whatever weapons training the rest of the people get and my truck should be set up with weapons racks with locking ability. Also extra fuel tanks and a winch wouldn’t hurt, oh!!

And communications equipment matched with the ranch, and I’d like the clinic to be built like the green houses, bullet proof and able to survive a Tornado and a fairly far away bomb blast , and hardened against that EMP stuff you talked about..

Jody sat back a bit more and smiling asked if there was more, Ellen smiled and said, well yes, I'd like another beer!

Ellen talked about her back ground which we didn’t tell her we already knew. She had always wanted to be a Doc and in high school had taken advanced courses that would help her down the road, she also took courses at the local JR collage, getting some of the basics out of the way, her mind set was that she  would have to work her way thru collage so therefore anything she could get out of the way right now would leave more time for a part time job while at the State collage.

When she got to State she took a very full class load on the rest of the basics thinking that since she was just out of high school she was still in a study / homework mode and had no intentions of partying away her freshman year which she paid for with scholarships and money she had saved just for this reason, she had asked nothing from her parents who while willing to pay her way thru school also were willing to let their headstrong daughter do it her way.

In her sophomore year her class load eased enough that with her preplanning and extra class’s she  was able to test for and get an EMT license , and a job working an ambulance, she felt that having this kind of experience prior to med school would be worth the lost sleep and it’s weight in gold.

She was very right in that area, the next three years she saw and handled everything from delivering a baby in a speeding ambulance to sealing a sucking chest wound on a gun shot victim and everything in between.

All of which did in fact make med school easier and the extra money helped pay the bills while she studied harder then ever in her life, all in all she was a very extraordinary woman, one who knew her ability’s and her short comings which was one of her reasons for wanting to be more of a country doc, slower pace, better contact with the people around her and most of all a feeling of being a part of the community instead of commuting out of the city as fast as possible to get away from it all.

Her request for a PA was explained when she said she was young, and untested in the real world, and wanted to work with somebody older who had experience and could help her ease into the job, she added that the only thing worse then a bad doctor was one who was not only bad but believed they knew it all.

She also explained that while growing up, her best friends family were members of the LDS church which was rare in the Southern Bible belt, but she learned about preparing for hard times from them, their food storage program was outstanding and while they never spoke of it much outside their own church group, they welcomed Ellen as a second daughter.

Ellen said there was no doom or gloom in that house, but instead a sense of well being due to knowing that whatever might come they could at least feed themselves and some others who might have small children to care for, She was very impressed by this and helped convince her own family that having plenty in the pantry was not only smart but might mean the difference in living or dying.

We sat and listened to her story and all three of us were so very impressed by this young woman who was wise beyond her years, We could see she would be a very important asset to the community and surrounding area, she did ask if things started going really bad would she be allowed to bring her family into the ranch, I looked at Jody and waited to see how the Chairman would handle this, he looked at Sing and I and we were already nodding so his smile told Ellen all was well but his words made it better.

He said, Ellen, we are building a family here , your family is a part of our family, “IF” they chose to be, and if they wish to move down here then I’m sure whatever skills they have can be put to use here. We already knew her parents would fit beautifully .

Her Dad was an Electrician and her mother was a master gardener who grew the most beautiful gardens and while she wasn’t  much into canning, but did feed a lot of people with gifts from her garden , both were talents we would be needing , IF they decided to make a move, Ellen would be talking to them when she left here to get her life ready for the move.

It was late when Ellen left for her room, The three of us sat back with big smiles on our faces and felt we had really hit the jack pot, when I asked Sing how she had made the selections we would interview she laughed and said the very first one she settled on was Ellen and after really straining her thru the net with her brothers PC skills she knew this was the one, so she picked two total butt heads to interview against Ellen, this had Jody and I rolling on the floor, we had been had so bad that it was laugh or cry. Either way had the tears rolling, at this we all said good night and headed for bed, it had been a very interesting day.

We decamped the Hotel right after breakfast in the dining room, Ellen joined us, She was planning to be at the ranch in a couple of weeks to help plan out the clinic and to get to know the area and some of the people.

After she left we loaded up and headed for the ranch, on the way I brought up something that had been in my mind since our after dinner BS session with the four of us, My thought was that we should look at maybe building a kind of a homey strip mall sort of place right at the entrance to the ranch .

With the clinic and the vets area and the small Pharmacy why not add a small grocery store which Dog Trot had not had since the old one burned down 15 years before, the idea being to have the ability to buy wholesale for our own storage and also to sell to our town folks at a better price then driving the 25 miles to the city ( which wasn’t really a city, just a big town) Jody jumped in with an idea of also having fuel pumps with a small cashiers booth, this way we could have fuel at cheaper prices and the storage for it handy to the trucks that bring it in, our goal was to keep the general public as much in the dark about the ranch plan as possible while passing on savings to our local people.

All these things while not really for making a big profit would be able to pay for themselves while also be a much needed source of jobs for the locals who need one.

We all liked the idea of the “Mall” as we were already calling it, and as the land was owned by the ranch we didn‘t have to contend with anybody else opening a business right in the middle of our prepping plans.

We also thought about offering the Jonas brothers a shop building with everything to keep the fleet of ranch vehicles running while making a living with the garage and it would be bigger and more modern then their old shade tree shop with all the goodies to prefab just about anything that we might need down the road.

All these things would take money to start up but would also bring a return down the road which while not our main goal but would fit nicely with the plan overall.

We arrived home and decided to have lunch at Miss Ellie’s, it was a late lunch and she wasn’t too busy to join us and hear all we had gotten done, she was thrilled with the idea of having a doctor in town, even a young one, we told her about the Mall idea and she was all for it as long as we didn’t put in a café, which was good for a laugh because anybody trying to make it in a café here in this town would starve because Miss Ellie had the place locked down tight.

She got on the phone and called the garage and asked the brothers to come over for a cup of coffee and some pie, I swear the phone wasn’t down 2 seconds when those ol boys tore the screen door off the hinges storming in.

Now when both them boys was in the same room it got real small real fast, both were well over 6 ft and both weighed in at about 270 with not enough fat between them to fry an egg, and both were as black as the inside of a black dog as they liked to put it . after they got settled down Miss Ellie brought out a pie, notice I said “a “ pie, not “some” pie, each got a half and while we talked , they ate, it was like watching two big ol hungry wolves going after a sheep, not a nice picture but a true picture.

Miss Ellie had just about raised them boys while their daddy worked, their mother had took off one day 20 odd years before and never come back, but Miss Ellie sure made it up with her love, those two were like her own flesh and she would have fought anything that come at them, not that anybody but a bear might want to try them, one thing for sure they could sure eat pie! Sing just stared with open unabashed admiration at the way them boys handled that pie.

After they were done and settled back with fresh cups of coffee and the last customer had left Ellie sat with us and she explained what we had in mind for them if they chose to make the move to the big new garage, both sat and listened with no interruptions until she was done.

Their names were Peter and Paul being as their daddy was a devout member of the nearby Southern Baptist church, most folks had trouble telling them apart so both were called Jonas, that worked just fine

They never even talked about it both just glanced at the other and then back to Jody and me and nodded yes, the only questions after that were about the shop and what they would have to work with, both were first rate mechanics who could make a better living in the city but were happy to be right here away from the problems of city life.

Jody told them to figure out what they would have if they were building their dream shop, tools, equipment, the works, they said they would get back to us in a couple of days and shaking hands all around they left much more quietly then they had arrived.

I couldn’t believe how fast we were going at this operation and the changes that would be coming that only a few knew about, but with Miss Ellie and the brothers Jonas on board we knew that base was covered.

It was now time to get moving on the building project, this was going to require some expert help in designing just what we wanted so we gave Sing the job of looking for just the right firm to handle the drawings and the work when ready, we wanted small firms who would be grateful for the work and less prone to talk too much as they were coming from a goodly ways away.

Two days later the Brothers came out to the ranch and we sat on the porch with iced tea and they showed us their list, it covered every possible thing that two really good hands on fabricator / mechanics could need or want to build almost anything.

Both looked a bit stressed about the size of the list but we put them at ease by asking if they were sure this was all they needed and what had they left off because of money worries, they fooled us by bringing out a second list which they called the dream list, one thing for sure, this shop would handle everything we could ask of it.

The Garage should have the ability to pay the brothers a better living then they had now, plus the expenses of the business, any profit would be banked for leaner times, but if the lean times ate up more then there was then the ranch would float it until it got back on line.

In the mean time we would have a sound fleet of vehicles that even an EMP couldn’t mess with. Not to mention all the other perks of having your own shop.

Sing had found three firms happy to bid on the entire job after seeing what we wanted. I asked her if one already had the job and the other two were just window dressing which got me a wonderful smile and a glass of water over the head! The girl was fun for sure!

The three of us now had to decide on just what else we needed to look at, vehicles of course, we wanted older rigs that had no or very few computer chips in them, all should be diesel and 4 wheel drive heavy duty crew cab trucks 3/4 ton or bigger, rigged to go anyplace and do whatever needed done to get there.

As we saw it we needed tuff trucks, no citified chick chasers for us. What make we left up to the brothers who said to stick with Fords as the Ford trucks were the biggest sellers therefore  more parts available plus more in the wrecking yards that could be gone thru if the SHTF.

This was being left to the brothers, they would check with us when it was time to start after the building was done.

The next step while we waited for the contractors was to lay out the building projects around the ranch house area, Green houses, bigger barns, and all the out buildings we would need to survive and to keep the live stock alive. It was going to be a big job, and a long one, but fun too in a way!

Things really started moving, like warp speed as ol Capt. Kirk used to say, the contractors showed up three days in a row, all were looking good so we split it up with the biggest one doing the Mall as we called it, the other two were building the ranch stuff, one outfit on the new barns etc and the other doing the green houses.

The Green house bunch had a bit of a problem with the earth bag idea but once it was laid out for them they got with it, Sing had also found a couple who did small “Green” projects, which included a lot of earth bag stuff so she hired them to oversee the work as it went up, we had decided the upper part of the Green Houses would be a sturdy framework of 2x6’s with a heavy duty clear plastic membrane sort of stuff that would resist tearing and most other things but would not shatter and fall on the people working inside, plus if needed it could be patched with good ol Duct tape, how simple is that?

All we had to do was stock plenty of lumber and plastic and we could rebuild the Greenies as often as we had too, nobody asked why we had 5 ft walls of earth bags for the greenies, but we were ready with the “saving the earth” answer, we didn’t think saying they were bullet proof was a good idea!

The stock barns were also earth bag walls but went up to 8 ft, and were sitting on concrete footings, then coated with concrete , sealed and back filled on a slope away from the wall and the roof soffet would hang out 3 feet, the flooring inside would be earth compacted to the hardness of concrete almost, the roofs were heavy duty steel roofing, there was to be a place inside for all the stock if needed as shelter from whatever, all the roofs would have power washer to wash off anything bad that might fall from the sky…. Bad thought… also all the metal roofs were set up for rain water retrieval, and would fill large tanks under the barns, which could provide water to the critters if needed during any kind of problem that might stop the power to the wells, which was unlikely with the 3 big generators being set up in the power house building which would be set up by a different firm after the building crews had left.

Sing keep a running report on the state of the bank account, with my buy in share and the matching money Jody put in we were doing pretty good, but I knew if the need arose I would add more to the pot, what good is a lot of money if you don’t use it? and for ten long years I had not done so, ten years of big investment growth, and it was looking like it was time to think about spending it before it was worthless, so I wasn’t worried about it, in fact I was having fun for the first time in ten years, it was great to have a idea, work with Sing to get the information and then make it happen, I really had been missing a lot, I felt alive for the first time in…well…in years.

One day I asked Jody what his thoughts on security were, he asked if I meant like alarms, No I said, like weapons, lots of them. He also had thought about it but had been too busy to do more then that, so I told him I had an idea, We would build another business within the Mall complex, a gun store, a special gun store, one with a first class gun smith and we could also get in addition to the needed Federal firearms Lic. Any and all licenses needed to allow us to build and buy full auto weapons, along with having the ability to buy wholesale we could stock pile what we wanted right in the business close at hand to the ranch. But not having to allow the to come onto the ranch it’s self by setting up a separate LLC just for that business which would rent space from the Mall LLC which was separate from the ranch, sounds complicated but it wasn’t, Jody and Sing readily agreed and I undertook the task of finding the right people to run that business, and I had just the man in mind.

His name is John Quill; also known as Johnny Quick for his ability to beat all of the other guys during the shoot offs at the police range on weekends.

He was an ex LEO from my former Dept who had gone out on Disability after being shot in the line of duty, he had been the Special operations chief

(He hated the term SWAT Team) trained for everything in the books.

Then walked into an armed robbery while off duty, getting some beer to take home, he got two of them but the third got him, off duty, no vest, lucky to be alive.

After he was put out to pasture he decided since he love guns and anything else that made loud noise he went to school and became a gun smith, he was also a very big time competition shooter in most all the shooting sports.

We had kept a loose contact with each other thru the years, and I knew he was recently divorced from a woman who turned out to be a raving antigun nut who thought it was a passing phase for him and she could cure him.

We had last met up on one of my R&R trips to Vegas, we spent a week there, most of it at the range out side of the city, well the days, and the nights were another subject.

After telling the others about him I called him and set up a meeting just like with the other people, I knew he would go for the set up but we had agreed to not have anybody to the ranch unless they were fully informed with the purpose of the entire plan and had joined.

Jody and I went in to meet John and it went just like I figured, he was up for it right off the bat, when Jody explained just what the whole idea was he was really in, he too had been worried about the state of world affairs.

After hearing the entire plan and my ideas for a shop set up he said, OK, here’s the deal, you build it, stock it, and make it a turn key operation with my input and when it’s done I’ll run it and make it show a profit, and will do so for no pay, he said he too had gotten a settlement and his disability pay was more then he needed.

But he wanted a basement, heavily reinforced with the main gun vaults and his living quarters down there. We both agreed on the spot, he also said he wanted to interview all the people who might be working in the shop, we agreed!

He headed out right then to settle up things where he was and to pack for the move, he would supervise the way the shop was laid out and would live in a camper on the site.

After he was gone Jody said “Man that’s one sharp dude!” I had to agree, he also asked if I had any more like him stashed away, I said I’d think about it, John didn’t know it yet but he was going to be the head of security for the entire place and the training officer, a good move as we would one day find out.

Jody called me the next morning on my cell and asked me to meet him at the mall, when I got there he and Sing were standing off to the side watching the work.

When I walked over he asked if I had anything pressing at the moment, I didn’t and said so, he said I would like you and Sing to head into Dallas to look into some prefab buildings to use as bunk houses, Sing said, we need maybe three,  built into small studio type apartments.

Looking at them both I wondered why it needed both of us to get it done but I sure wasn’t going to object to a road trip with Sing, it was settled that we would leave the next morning and drive the 125 miles and get our rooms near the plant that made the buildings.

Our trip to Dallas we had fun, Sing chattered along , talking about her life in America, her schooling which had been in a private school usually used by people from other countries who’s jobs had brought them to the US for a few years.

Most of  whom wanted their kids to have a better education then they felt was available in the public school system, she said Jody had her and her brother there mainly because it was a boarding school, and the Dean was a former Marine he had served with who took the kids under his wing so to speak.

Also quite frankly Jody didn’t want Sing to be ridiculed over her tribal markings as children were sure to do, whereas the kids who’s parents worked all over the world would be lest inclined to pay much attention to such things having seen many other cultures in their short lives.

I thought it sounded like a lonely life for the two of them but Sing said they were happy and that when at all possible Jody worked out his leave time to coincide with the school breaks, so the three of them had at least some family time.

I was very curious how a single Marine was able to not only adopt two young kids from another country but to bring them to this country and set them up as he had. Sing only said that not only was Jody very resourceful but he also knew some very powerful people in very high places and as he joked, also knew where the bodies were buried, I some how didn’t think Jody was joking, and I for one sure knew how resourceful the man could be!

I’ve never liked Dallas, too big, too fast, and to much noise, but lady luck was in our favor as the place we were dealing with was actually about 20 miles outside the city.

Our Hotel was a very nice new place with everything a person could want without having to leave it, the rooms were awesome, Sing had gotten a suite with 2 bedrooms and sitting room and a bathroom bigger then my bedroom at home with a large hot tub, which gave me some unsettling thoughts but this was business so …

Our appointment was for later in the afternoon which gave us time to clean up and have a very nice lunch out on the pool deck off the dining room. This was my first exposure to being with Sing in an area where people had never seen a woman with markings like hers, It was interesting to watch, the women looked and then looked again, some with a frown, some with their heads cocked over like they were thinking Hmmmmm….the men looked several times, first at the markings, then the woman, then the woman some more, She was by far the most exotic woman I had ever known, there was an air of mystery around her and yet still something of the wild jungles of her homeland, between the markings, the long raven black hair and the fact that she never looked away from anybody who stared , well she was just …perfect!

I had seen her dressed in muddy boots with dirty jeans and sweaty from working with us guys outside, and as now dressed like a world class model dressed as a business woman. I was just happy to sit in the glowing aura that surrounded her.

We arrived for our appointment right on time and were taken right in to the CEO’s office, I liked what I saw right off, Bob was his name, he was wearing lace up boots and a blue work shirt, blue jeans.

When we shook hands, his were the work hard hands of a man who did not sit behind the desk all day. He first looked at Sing, then me, then back at her as all men do, his smile showed that he was very impressed with her looks at least.

After seating us he got right to it, no small talk, he asked how they could help us and wasn’t too surprised when Sing took over the meeting, she laid out her thoughts, what we wanted, how we wanted it done and where we wanted it delivered to and when.

Bob asked us to wait a moment while he picked up a phone and asked somebody to step into the office, a moment later a lady walked in, she too was dressed just about like Bob but looked much nicer in her jeans, he introduced us to his wife Sally who was his office staff and second in command.

This pair was all business, no big fancy desks, nobody sitting around; the people we saw were all moving at a very good pace, work was getting done and no wasted time or motion.

He asked Sing to lay out the project again, Sally took notes and asked questions, the two women had taken charge so Bob and I sat back and watched them work together like they had been doing it for years. In less time then I could have handled it, the whole thing was laid out and agreed on, we would have three buildings, two of which would be more or less dorm rooms, with communal showers and rest rooms, like collage all over again, one for women and one for men.

The third building would be bigger, with small apartments with their own bathrooms and small kitchens, these for the couples as they formed, as they would. After talking a bit the gals came to the conclusion we would need a forth building as a mess hall to feed the permanent personnel since the dorms would have no kitchens so to speak except a microwave and a coffee maker and a sink.

When the ladies had hammered out what was needed and how it was to be laid out we took the tour of the place, people working everywhere in teams.

Bob said they had found that having the same people work together as a team as opposed to mix and match daily that things got done much faster and better because the people knew just who they would be working with, and each others best qualities and since some people were better at one thing maybe then another.

Plus there was a weekly competition between the teams to put out not just the most but the best work, it wasn’t a giant operation but it got big things done and done right the first time.

The job laid out, the quote done, the agreement signed and a promise of delivery within 60 days. Their crews to do the set up work, it was to be a turn key deal.

We parted company with Bob and Sally with the understanding that they would come to the ranch with the first set up crew, to look over the operation.

The evening was now free for us to do as we pleased, we headed back to the Hotel, and agreed to relax and then clean up for dinner, Sing made us a drink and we made small talk for a while then she excused herself and went to her room, I decided to try out the big tub with very hot water for a soak, with a fresh drink I slid into it, it was heaven!

Even after 10 years my leg would get stiff if I sat too long and that’s all I had done all day. The drink forgotten I went right to sleep in the wonderfully hot water, and only woke when Sing was lowering herself down into the water, I could only stare, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, she slid up and laid in my arms with a sigh, and that is all I shall say about that.

Morning came and Sing was still wrapped in my arms, but in the king sized bed in my room, I eased away and headed for the shower where she found me a few minutes later, it’s a good thing that hotels have plenty of hot water.

We ordered breakfast and when it arrived we sat on the small deck hanging on the side of the building about a mile up or so it seemed, we were both quiet but ate with one hand while holding hands.

After the waiter had cleared the mess away we sat with coffee and looked across the distance until I said “And what is Jody going to say about this”

She smiled the big smile and said “I had a talk with him the day before we planned the trip, told him how I felt, his only concern was that neither of us would get hurt, he didn’t know how you would feel what with your wife and baby, I told him not to worry because it would all work out, so he sent both of us to do this deal when I could have handled it alone”

.

She was a very remarkable woman and very astute at least where I was concerned. I asked her where we stood in this, “ I’m not making demands Sam, if you want a little R&R as Dad said you had been into in the past then that’s what we have, if you want more , as I do then I guess we decide right now where we stand”

Talk about having the ball slammed into your court!! I did not even stop to take a breath, I just smiled and said I love you and have from day one, and I’ll leave it up to you if you want to be married to a gimpy old fart like me.

She looked at me a bit and said well, I’ll think about it ok? I said sure, she kinda wrinkled her brows and then smiled and said ok! I accept!! Just like that! I said well what happened to thinking about it? She said I’ve thought about it since day one, I was just tired of waiting for you to make a move so I made it for you!

We didn’t make it back home till the next afternoon, I took her shopping for a ring but she didn’t want a diamond, as she put it, we could buy a matched team of Clydesdales for what I was trying to spend on her, we settled on a nice pair of matching rings that were less then the tax on the one I wanted to buy her, very thrifty lady.

Arriving home I was a bit worried, but Jody came out and looked at us and burst out laughing and said for god’s sake I ain’t grabbing my shotgun!! Got anything to tell me?

Sing said yes we do, the buildings and the set up crew will be here in a month or so. Now it was my turn to laugh, she got him, so all smiling we headed to the porch that had become the boardroom, after we all had a glass of tea we told him everything, well most of it, he was very and truly happy for us both and showed it. He said he could never have asked for a better man for his daughter, but that if I ever called him pop he’d shoot me! While laughing I remembered that line form a movie.

As soon as Sing and I got to the basement we headed to our bedrooms, for me it was to put some of my life behind me before starting a new part of it. I sat for a moment looking at the pictures of my wife and baby and then started packing them away, I knew I couldn’t toss them in the trash but I also couldn’t start to live again with Sing and have them any place out in the open, so I packed them all away, and sealed the box very well, then I wrote out a letter stating that upon my death the box was to be burned unopened, placing the letter in an envelope I tapped it to the lid of the box, it would go into storage. It was very hard to do and left me sad but after a bit I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me and I knew I was doing the right thing.

After going thru everything in my room to make sure there wasn’t anything left that might cause Sing to feel like she had less then all of my attention I headed out to the basement Den/TV room and waited for Sing to come out, when she did I asked her if she wanted to move or should I, since my bed was king size, we decided that would be our room, she asked how I felt about her moving in right now before the wedding was a fact? So I picked her up laughing and carried her across the threshold and tossed her on the bed. She made a come here gesture but I said no way, get your butt up and let’s go see Jody, and we did!

After rounding up Jody we talked about everything concerning the coming construction phase, he said he had a thought while we were gone and that to stop so much talk about what we were doing we were going to put out the word to all the construction types that we were opening a school/home for troubled kids and that caring for livestock and gardening would be a part of the program to help them fit into life better, that would explain the dorm buildings and the third dorm with the bigger rooms were for the large staff that would be required for the operation of the place, Now that was a great cover story!

After talking business we talked about the wedding, I had assumed that Sing would want the usual type with all the trappings but was surprised to find out that things were not to be what I had thought….at all!!

Jody said Song was heading home and would arrive in 3 days, and that the wedding would take place by tribal tradition on the first night of the full moon in all it’s Pagan glory so to speak!

There would be guests but not a lot, Miss Ellie of course and the Jonas Brothers, John Quill, the Head Master from the school where the kids had lived and learned, and many more whom I had never heard of. 

And surprising me a great deal there would be at least two dozen members of Sings clan who had all made it to America, with help I suspected from a man I was coming to admire a great deal.

I told them both I was going to just let them deal with it and I would show up at the proper time and place, which was greeted with laughter and a nudge from Sing who said it was good that I was already becoming properly trained.

We had 2 weeks before the full moon and lots to do, I just leaped head first into the work around the place, on the following Monday the crews that would be building the Mall arrived along with the plans that we had drawn up, the only real change was that after talking to John and hearing how he wanted the gun shop to have a basement we decided to build the entire Mall with basements with heavy steel fire doors between each building and each would have a complete air filtering system …just in case. Each would hold the tons of prep storage we would have stock piled, most of which would rotate into the grocery store as replacement stock, allowing a constant fresh supply of stock for the program.

After talking with the Construction Boss of the crew they got right to it, of course it would be in stages, earth work first, then the concrete work, with the plumbing in place before the floors were poured, never having been involved in this kind of an operation I found it very interesting to watch…for about two hours, then boredom settled in so I went to the café for a cup of coffee and a chat with Ellie.

I believe there was also a piece of pie involved which I had one bite of before the bride to be bounced thru the door all breathless and excited, she sat right down, took my pie and attacked it like she was starved, then asked for seconds !! I constantly found myself amazed that this small lady could and did eat more then Jody and I combined and while doing so helped herself to any choice tidbits we might have that caught her eye,

I could see life with her was going to be very interesting, I wondered if Jody was trying to marry her off or just needed somebody to help feed her!

She and Ellie started jabbering wedding talk so I may as well have been elsewhere, in fact I started to get up, but without missing a word of her conversation Sing said “SIT “. Well hell I might as well be a damn dog for all the respect I was getting, but she was just so damn cute and glowing that I just sat and watched her.

When she had eaten half the pie in the place and drank my coffee and had finished whatever it was she came to say to Ellie she smiled and said ok lets go!

Ellie laughed out loud and I felt like I could feel something getting tight around my neck, in fact I wanted to feel and see if there was a collar there but I’d be damned if I would, outside I asked her what she was doing now, she said she had come to get me because Jody wanted to have a talk about other ideas that needed starting, so off we went, her babbling a mile a minute and me just nodding and smiling like the obedient husband I was about to become, happily I wish to add.

The Wedding was rushing at me like a run away train, with less then a week before the full Moon I wondered how it would all come together.

This morning Jody had come to me and said I needed to give him 200 bucks, cash, it was for the wedding, so I gave it to him and watched him walk away chuckling out loud, I, it would seem was the only one that had no clue to what was going to happen at this little get together, but I refused to worry about it.

I did ask Jody if I needed a suit or whatever, he just gave that infuriating smile and said don’t worry it’s all being taken care of and went on about his business.

The construction crews were working like beaver, with all kinds of digging and earth moving, we had to set up a parking area for the side walk engineers who came to watch the work, it was after all a big doing for little ol Dog Trot TX.

Time was up, the moon would be full in two days or maybe that should be “Nights”, this morning several Vans arrived with Sings Tribal family or Clan whichever it was as nobody was telling me a whole lot, but Sing was floating 3 feet above the earth when she ran out to greet them, I was told I had to remain away as was the custom for the groom.

I did find out that “MY” Clan would be well represented by Miss Ellie, the brothers Jonas and John Quirk along with most of Dog Trot who would of course be there,  it seems one must have a clan or one was a lost spirit.

Well hell that’s what I was told more or less over a few drinks with Jody and John who had arrived with a 5th wheel trailer behind a big truck and who had moved right in and hooked up to the power at the mall site and was hovering over the job site like a mother hen.

Sing and her people had gone into the wooded area behind the house and opened up a clearing a bit bigger, all of course under the watchful eye of a man so old he looked like he might have been on the Ark with Noah.. I kept that one to myself as he seemed to be somebody very important.

All the women were also marked like Sing not exactly but marked with tribal Tattoos, the men who averaged a few inch’s taller then their women were also marked, but in a different pattern and mostly black colors, they had all adapted to life in Texas as all wore blue jeans and work shirts with lace up boots which looked a lot like the jungle boots of the Nam era.

The women went to work using the brush and small saplings removed to enlarge the clearing to build arbors around the area while in the middle of the clearing several men dug a fire pit under the direction of the old guy.

I thought it seemed strange that these men , many of whom had fought for us in that war needed a supervisor to dig a hole, but as I wasn’t allowed to be there I had to watch from afar.

Today is the day! The Moon will be full tonight, I’ve not seen the bride to be for 2 days and little has been said to me, but Jody told me to be in the basement by dark, so I am.

The following I’m writing after the facts of the event…

Jody walked in with a man who could only have been Sings brother, He was about 5’6” which was quite tall for these people, after shaking hands we all sat down to a cold beer and he and Jody explained to me what was going to happen.

First of all, the $200.00 Jody had asked me for went to buy the pigs and other things that the Groom provided for the feast.

Jody also said that as Sings Father, I would be giving him a Water Buffalo and 2 dozen chickens and several baskets of things of value which would be passed out to her Clan women as thanks for raising her in the proper ways of the tribe / Clan, none of this mattered between us, but on the face of it was required for the sake of traditions going back into the ages.

Sing was a valuable “property” for the Family and the village and one that I would be “Buying”, uh huh… this was not a wedding the National org. of Women “ie” feminist movement would be going for!! I would have laughed at the thought but these two were very serious so I respected their words.

I asked when I had to have the water buffalo delivered which did earn a laugh from both, Jody waved it off. The other gifts had been taken care of by my bride to be… in my name of course

Sings brother talked kind of like her as if the Boarding school English class’s didn’t take too good, I also found out he had gone to a couple of very uptown collages, getting degrees In computer science which I had already figured out, when I asked where he lived and worked he laughed and said “I can tell you but“….you guessed it, he did say he lived back east, I was willing to bet it was maybe Virginia?? Somewhere around there…

It was now time for me to dress, which I found out meant undress! Jody handed me a bundle he had brought along and picking up his said come on “son”…Song headed for Sings former room.

The first thing Jody said was Strip! Well two could play this cool guy game so I took off everything down to my jockeys, he smiled and said, all of it Tex,

How often have you heard of the groom being striped by the bride’s father? Fine, I could play this game too, so there I stood in my first suit, watching Jody start striping, he then opened the bundles and took out two white rags…. Then it dawned on me, Loin Cloths!! Now I was really ready to bolt, but watching Jody as he put his on and how it worked I thought ok I can do this.

I didn’t feel stupid, I felt naked!! We then went back into the sitting room where I was greeted by a wild painted Mountain Tribesman from a time gone by, Song had dressed as we had and was applying thin lines of paint to his face and body.

A knock on the door brought 2 middle aged women who were wearing about what we were but also a wrap around the breast.

Jody and I stood still while they went to work with paint on our faces and then upper body’s and down the sides of the legs where the lion cloth left them bare, when they were finished they stood back and looked us over and the one who painted me said in only slightly accented English “ She’s a wonderful woman, please make her happy with many strong sons” after they left I looked in the full sized mirror in the bed room, I would never have known it was me looking back, I saw a white skinned taller version of what I saw when I looked at Song.

Song came in and put a wide head band on me and stepping back looked me over and said “well for a white boy you dress out pretty good!!”

Wonderful my new soon to be brother in Law was a smart ass!!! But we were all laughing.

When I got a closer look at Jody thru the paint I was very surprised to see the same upper body tattoos that song had, while none on the face the rest were the same, I raised an eyebrow and he said it was the only way the tribe would allow the kids to be taken when Jody left, he had to become a member of the clan.

Now I was worried, would I have to have this done too??? Jody saw my look and said no, you don’t have to. But it would please your bride to be… Some reprieve, like she never got anything she wanted including my pie and coffee!

It was time; Song led the way, Jody bringing up the rear, as if I might run for it. We walked out the door into something out of a movie set, there was a big fire burning in the middle of the front yard, there was some quiet drumming sounds coming from the night, the people were all gathered quietly waiting, for me it turned out, all of the locals who had come for the event to be my family and clan, without a word Song and Jody had disappeared and up walked John, dressed just like me!! Followed by two wild eyed African Warriors dressed as Asian Mountain tribesmen, it was the Brothers Jonas!! Now my family and clan… This was really turning into a Hollywierd movie.

With John leading me following and the Zulu kingdom behind me and followed by the locals we walked into the forest down a large new path toward the drumming sounds, I could hear some kind of flute sounding noise also.

We emerged into the clearing lit only by a fire, not a big one like at the house, it lit the clearing leaving the edges in shadow, John had stopped and the crowd behind us had quietly moved into the shadows around half the circle.

Across the way there was a ripple of motion in the darkness and Sing walked out wearing a sarong which I now realized was what the paint ladies were wearing, she too had a wrap around her breast and was painted as I was, the same design as mine. This was a clue I was sure, my heart was pounding so loud the drums were drowned out.

She looked so wild! And so beautiful at the same time. Who would look at her right now and expect to hear perfect English to come from her mouth? She was thousands of miles away from her native Mountains but right here, right now, she had never left them.

A voice sounded from the night in a language I did not understand and with her head held high Sing walked into the full fire light and stopped about 6 feet from the fire.

The voice once again called from the night and I felt a small nudge from behind so I walked forward and stopped the same distance from the fire.

The voice once again called from the night and talked on for a few minutes then when he stopped there was a pause and many voices from the dark area behind Sing made a sound not unlike the days in the army when we all went Hooraa !

He then talked some more and when he paused from behind me came the same sound, somebody had been instructing my Clan it seems, I wanted to laugh with the humor of it thinking about Miss Ellie and the whole bunch of East Texans all going Hooraa in the night and wondered what the staunch Baptists were thinking, if any had come.

The voice sounded again and a mans voice answered and Song walked into the clearing to the right of me stopping as Sing and I had, the voice called out again and another voice answered but I did not understand the word he spoke, and John Quick walked out and stopped, we were now at the four directions, one at each North, South, East and west as near as I could figure.

The voice again called out and when he stopped Song walked to Sing and John walked to me they then led us in opposite directions until I was standing where Sing had been and she was in my former spot, the voice called out again and the people behind me once again sounded out the Hooraa call and it was followed by the same words and voices from the other side of the fire.

Song now came to me and led me to a spot several feet to the side and John led Sing to my side.

Once again the voice called out and Jody walked into the clearing and stopped where Sing had first been, another call and John walked to the place where I had stood.

Then there was quiet, only the breeze in the trees and the moon shadows dancing around the clearing…

The drums stopped and it was so quiet you could hear the night, Then from the shadows walked the old man who was the tribal elder, he walked to Sing and I and stopped and looking into our eyes then said something and taking her hand he placed it in mine, he said some more stuff then separated our hands, he produced a small knife and gently took Sings hand and made a small cut, taking my hand he did the same, then he pressed the hands together and made a long speech, then he looked at Sing and asked her something, she said a word and then the English word yes, he looked at me and said the same speech or I think it was, when he stopped I said the word yes.

He then turned away and looking into the dark across the fire he raised his arms and said a few words and lowered his hands, and waited for something. When he didn’t hear it he turned to us and bowed three times, Sing with a tug at my hand returned the bow with me half a beat behind.

When we straightened up there was a loud yelling sound and everybody rushed into the clearing and congratulated us.

I quietly asked Sing if I got to kiss the bride, she leaned over and said oh yes, later!

I was married!! I never thought it would happen again, but I was as happy as I had ever been, I took a moment to look up at the moon and sent a thought to my wife and son, and I know I could feel their joy that I had come back to life.

What is there to say now, a wedding party is a wedding party, no matter where in the world it is, too much food, too much to drink and too much fun!

We were not allowed to leave as tradition allowed in our society, Oh no, we had to stay until the last bit of pig was eaten, the last drops of booze was drank, and people were staggering off to wherever they would sleep, the locals it turned out had come in cars driven by non drinkers who became the “DD” for the event.

Sing and I were at last allowed to leave and go to our room, the house was empty, thanks to Jody and Song giving us the privacy newly weds seemed to need even when we had been living in ”sin” for weeks.

The night was short, the paint washed off in the shower together, the rest you will have to Imagine.

Well about 3 in the after noon we decided we might live, got up, showered, went back to bed, go up showered again, then my little darlin informed me she was starving so we headed up and out, and I discovered the wedding was still going on, most of the folks who were here last night had either not left or were back, most looked like death warmed over…

Sing stopped dead in her tracks and said Shit!!…So I said SHIT????? What means this bad word from the mouth of my sweet wife? She said “I forgot the naming ceremony!!! Damn!!”

Ah I said, so, when were you going to tell me about this one? She just gave out that 50 K watt smile and still smiling said come on, we have to do this…and walked toward the old man who married us, all her Clan and most of mine were there.

The Old guy started babbling along and shaking some kind of stick with feathers on it, Sing answered him then he talked some more, then looked at me. Well hell, I had no idea what he wanted but nodded and said yes, so he stood there and just looked at me, Sing spoke to him and turned to me and said “ You must now rename me ! BANG, just like that, I looked at her then him then Jody and Song both were standing there nodding, I was stunned, finely Song stepped in and spoke to the old man who looked put out and then nodded and walked away a short distance, Song and Jody joined Sing and me, Song then told me I had to rename Sing, I said hell no, I like her name,

All three tried to talk at once, but it was my lovely bride who said, “Sam my love, you have to give me my married name or we aren’t married” I just stood there and rocked back and forth on my heels and at last said, “Honey is this something you really want?” She said “oh yes Sam, I want my new name from you to me for all time…” Both the guys were nodding, so I asked for a few minutes and took Sing away a ways and said “ok baby, what you want it to be?” She teared up and said “Sam, “YOU” must give it to me, what you want for me to have.”

Well the tears got me and I stood looking down into her beautiful face with the soft green lines on it and said “well, I love your markings, and to me they always seemed like the color of emeralds , but that’s not a good name, so I here by name you…..Jade.

She threw her arms around me and said “oh my love thank you for the beautiful name “then dragged me over to the old man who was starting to get on my nerves a bit, when he saw we were ready he came back and my bride was whispering in my ear the word for Jade in her native tongue, when the old coot asked me again what I assumed was my brides new name I repeated the word she had given me, he looked at me for a bit and I thought he would get pissed off again but instead he smiled real big and shouted out a long bunch of words the last one was all I knew, the native clan members all shouted and started singing, the log that was the drum was being beat to death with gusto, and Jody turned to John and said something to him, he raised his arms and when it was quiet he announced to “MY” clan that the bride was “Jade” and the locals not to be outdone let out some loud Rebel yells and somebody started shooting in the air…and it was done.

Well no, the renaming was done, but now we had to kill and eat another hog which I found out had been done while we were sleeping…the feast started as soon as it was almost dark and lasted until the last person turned out the lights and crawled home.

Getting married is rough enough if it a plain old boring American wedding, being at a wedding of these people who were thousands of miles from their roots well it was a really wonderful thing, And it made them feel like this land was now their home, which I found out it was because they were all moving here in a few days, Jody said we would have much need for them in the times to come and god knows how right he was to be,

Me I didn’t care, I had Sin….er…Jade now and …..well for as long as we have together, I had learned the hard way that it’s all about the right now, here this minute, because in the next minute it could all be gone, so from this moment I would live each and every hour of every day as if it might be the last, with love and joy for the time we have.

By the next day things were getting back to normal, Jade and I cooked breakfast together for Jody and Song, who’s name didn’t change it seems.

After we had eaten we talked about the progress being made on the Mall and the other projects, Jody talked to me about going ahead with earth bagging the green houses but that for the rest of the barns and other buildings he wanted to change the plan to what looked like the old Quonset buildings , half round shells of metal, with earth covering them 3 ft deep and earth berm’s shielding the front and back ends where big heavy doors opened like garage doors only bigger, with room to drive around them and into the barns, I could see where this was going and agreed at once, also the job would be much faster.

I asked about the Clan as we came to call them, Jody said most , not all would be coming to the ranch to live, mostly the older ones who remembered their old way of life and they wanted to live in the forest around the ranch and use native materials to build their homes.

I said hell lets build them houses but Song said this was what they wanted so it looked like we would have a tribe of people living as they had for a thousand years right inside the woods.

I asked about food and he said they would grow gardens as always, and the men would hunt the forest as always, and seeing as they dearly loved their pork and seeing as Texas only had about 4 million hogs running wild and breeding faster then they could be killed it was a win - win for all concerned, but I also had come to know my new father in law and brother in law well enough to know there was more to this then I knew, but I would be told when I needed to know.

So life on the ranch moved along and the work was going fast, I was happy, Jade was happy, what more could a man ask for? Life is good!

A week later I was at the mall just watching the work going on, John asked me to go for coffee so we headed down the road to the Early Bird, there was a goodly bunch in the place and all gave big howdy’s and smiles, John was a regular now and several called out to him and bantered back and forth.

Miss Ellie asked if we’d like Pie with our coffee and of course we did, I also asked her to bring an extra piece and another cup of coffee, she did look at me sorta funny but I was learning real fast, well sir, I was into my second bite when the door flew open and , you got it, the bottomless pit flew thru the door to a loud course of laughter from the locals who were used to this by now, but this time I was ready, her pie and coffee was waiting, she never even slowed down, just kissed me and started eating, I heard the door open and turned to look and when I turned back my pie was going away as fast as hers did, John just sat there and then slid his half a piece of pie over to her, she rewarded him with a smile and dove into it, well half the country side was watching this and seemed to be enjoying it, at last she was done, drank her coffee , finished mine and was looking at Johns when he grabbed it and said MINE!! With a laugh and a kiss she was up and out the door.

John and I sat there silent until he said; you’re out gunned ya know right?  I sighed and nodded at him; he just shook his head and then smiled a big one and said does she have a sister? Now that was scary!! I wasn’t sure about the tribal customs they had but I damn sure couldn’t afford to feed another one like her…

A week later and the concrete was poured at the mall, basements and then the exterior walls, all were 12” thick with narrow windows all around, but using Solar tubes there would be plenty of light, the narrow windows were strange looking to most folks but obvious as hell to some of us, they let in light but also were almost too narrow to let a normal sized person in.

Things were going along as planned and seemed to be ahead of time, with John riding herd on the builders at the mall and the other jobs being as well managed there wasn’t a lot for me to do, so I was very receptive to Jody’s request that Jade and I head back to Dallas and check on the prefabs, I suspected it was really just a chance for Jade and I to have a honey moon and we were packed and rolling within a couple of hours.

While driving to Dallas I got around to asking Jade about the wedding and what all it was about.

She said “ when the Elder spoke the first time it was to introduce both of us to the other Clan people, then when we were moved to the others former side of the fire, and he spoke again and the people responded, he was asking if the clans were willing to accept the person standing in front of them into their clan, Jody acted as my Father giving me permission to go to your clan, John did the same for you, so we each became members of the others clan.

It’s much more then you and I being married, we married each others clan, and the two clans are now joined thru us, does it make sense?”

I guess I could see where that was important, in a harsh area it makes both clans stronger and reduces the chance of a war between clans, she said” yes that’s it, right on the nail head, two become stronger as one.

I had the flash that maybe these “Primitive” people had the jump on the more supposedly civilized folks of the world, She went on to say that when the Elder had spoken out to the night, he was asking the spirits if they had any objections to our union, I said well thank god they didn’t, which got me a smile.

The Name changing thing was because she had become a “Woman” in the eyes of the clans and left her child’s name behind, and as the husband it was up to me to decide what my wife should be called. I kind of liked that idea.

After things had settled down on the third day, Jade and I had our own private ceremony where we placed the rings on each other and made a vow to each other.

All in all my life had changed for the very best the day I met Jody, and I knew that over time we would only become closer friends. I hoped Song and I would have the chance to become more then brother in laws as time passed, he had left quietly on the early morning of the third day, we saw him off with the hopes of seeing him soon.

Jade had gotten us the same room where we had come together as a couple which was very nice and the big tub was just as nice if not better then the first visit, dinner and bedtime. Married is nice!

With the morning we headed out to see Bob and Sally Grant, the place was jumping as usual, Bob was very glad to see us and called Sally to join us, we headed out to the plant where we saw the first of the buildings we had ordered, after walking through it we were very happy we had come here to do our business.

After the tour Sally asked us to join them for lunch and led us thru the building and into another part which turned out to be their home!

It was built just like our buildings and was very well appointed, Sally and Jade went to the kitchen and Bob and I sat out on the deck under some nice shade trees.

He sat for a bit and then asked if we would mind if the first unit was delivered next week as soon as the slab had time to cure and if he and Sally could come along and see just how things were going to go .

I had no problems with it at all but did realize that Bob and Sally were not dummies and it wouldn’t take long for them to start to wonder just what was going on at the ranch, I told him that I’d clear it with Jody but I saw no problems with it except we were strapped for room but that Jades room was now empty, bob smiled and said, yea I noticed the rings! Congratulations! And shook my hand.

Just then Sally and Jade came in loaded with treys of food, after sitting down Sally told Bob they we had gotten married since we had met them, she also said she would have bet we would from the looks Jade had tossed my way, she was surprised at the name change but loved it.

I mentioned to Jade that they wanted to come out for the first building set up, she thought it was a wonderful idea and then said the same thing I had, talk to Jody and get back and they could stay in her former room, I had to smile because it was like she had heard the conversation already…I’d never try to hide a thing from her!

We spent several days in and around the DFW area, went out to dinner with Bob and Sally, who were becoming friends,

Bob and I spent an afternoon shooting sporting clays, I borrowed a gun from him and really had a good time, so much so that I decided to mention the idea of building a nice shooting range in the home area if not right on the ranch, with rifle, handgun and trap and sporting clays, I felt it would make enough to pay for it’s self, couldn’t ask for more then that.

The ladies had fun shopping but I noticed neither really bought much of anything, when asked about It, Sally said, Bob and I have a dream to make enough money thru hard work to buy some land and build us a nice place away from the city and all the bad stuff that comes and will come with it, well that sounded a small alarm in my head, and I saw Jade smiling her small HMMMM smile she gets when a thought was grinding away.

I asked where they had in mind and Bob said” well one of the reasons we want to come over with the crew is so we can look over your area, we both really love the eastern part of the state” Sally spoke up with “yes and Jade and I are going to be great friends and I want to be close enough to be able to visit back and forth once in a while.

I asked her, while looking at Bob what she thought was going to happen in the DFW area that they would want to be elsewhere? He got a look of discomfort and she kind of stuttered a bit, neither seemed to know what to say, so I took the bull by the horns and said well Jade and I believe that there are some very bad times coming and that if a person is smart they will start finding a hole to jump into with plenty of beans and bullets.

The ice as they say broke, in only a few minutes we were all talking at once and the two of them were telling us how they had been working their butts off to get the money to build a hole in the ground and that they were just about there and that the contract from us had about done it for them, not enough to retire but enough to prep a retreat and get a real solid special purpose “BOV” Jade beat me to asking what he meant, so he explained that in some of the survival forums they both read there was a lot of chatter about special built vehicles made to get you out of a bad spot and to safety, I asked if he meant like bullet proof glass etc, he said no not really, it’s an idea but the costs are way to much for the every day people,

They had more in mind a big heavy 4x4 with maybe steel plates inside the doors and other goodies like that, run flat tires, self sealing radiators, glass that was stronger then normal and more shatter proof, none of which I had heard of or thought of, we hashed that over while the girls went off on a mission, when they called us it was to have something to eat, there was several different veggies and meat, and all was very good but different, Sally then told me it was all home canned from their garden and the deer and fish that Bob and she had shot and caught… it was outstanding, I will admit I made a pig of myself, followed only by a little bit by my darling wife, I could tell Sally was still shocked by that girls ability to put away chow! Bob asked me if I had trouble keeping her fed, and she smiled and said oh no, I always manage to get enough , as she stabbed a nice chunk of deer meat off his palate, setting off a roar of laughter around the table, they had watched her helping here self to my food but hadn’t seen her attacking others…

After talking half the night away we headed to the Hotel after telling Bob and Sally we were looking forward to hosting them at the ranch, after a late brunch the next morning we headed home, it had been a great time, we had made some good friends and both felt that after Jody met them there might be a place for them in our plans.

It was closer to two weeks before the slabs were poured for the prefabs, and on the 14th day of our return from Dallas the trucks rolled into the ranch with the Dorms on them.

Bob and Sally led the way in thru the new zig - zag road which was well packed from all the cement trucks running in and out.

We all met together at the slabs where the unloading and rebuilding would take place. The crew didn’t slow down for a minute, there was 3 trucks with 2 men in each, all swarmed over the trucks, one truck had a forklift piggy backed on it, It was very obvious that these men knew what they were doing.

With Bob and Sally in tow we headed to the house for some ice tea, more tea and sandwiches were taken out to the workers, by a member of the new house staff that we had acquired while Jade and I were playing in Dallas.

Jody had hired some of the Clan women who wanted to work outside the village, most were younger women who had been raised in America and while willing to live in their native dwellings wanted to work where there was something more then chasing the chicken for dinner.

The two who took the food out to the workers cause a bit of a stir, although all of them had seen Jade at the factory this was their first real close up look at these tattooed beautiful ladies, they were very interested and Bob commented that he might loose some good workers if they decided to hire out to the ranch, which was an interesting thought.

While the work went on we talked more about what Bob and Sally had in mind in regards to getting out of the city, after we had talked about all the things we thought might happen and things that were in fact going on right now, both here and abroad and some of the things we thought would be needed to counter the troubles we all headed out to get a closer look at the work.

I had never seen a prefab go up and it was really a learning experience, in just a few hours the exterior walls were up and the interior walls were being placed and bolted together and a gun with a cartridge that fired a concrete nail thru the bottom of the wall into the concrete slab, really nailing the walls into place.

My old house was now a bunk house for the work crews that might need to remain over night, bunk beds were installed and TV set and a pair of computers rounded out the entertainment for the guys, with their meals at Miss Ellie’s on the ranch tab. Without thinking I said that the 6 of them couldn’t run up the tab any more then Jade alone could, sore ribs and a promise to be good I decided a body armor vest might be smart, damn girl can hit, but the hug and kiss afterwards made up for it.

After the crew headed into town for the night we all sat on the porch and drank ice tea and talked a bit about how well the work was coming, Then Jody broached the subject again of the coming bad times, Bob and Sally were both well versed in most of the things Jody brought up and showed very good knowledge of the subject.

Jody asked them what they had planed as far as a place and what kind of place for their retreat, It mostly boiled down to what we were doing on a much smaller scale, also it would be a while before they could do it due to business slowing down due to the state of the financial mess the congress had created. But they had decided to go ahead with their plan to look around in this general area for a place.

After dinner and more talk we all settled down for the night with the plan that Jade and I might ride with the Grants in their quest.

It wasn’t to be, as I was awakened by my cell phone with a call from Jody asking me to go with him for an inspection of the work going on to prep the river bank land for the berries and brambles, so I slipped out of bed and got dressed and quietly met him upstairs.

After driving along the road that was being made from the equipment readying the ground and looking it over I asked Jody what we were really doing out here, he laughed and said “ can’t fool you for a minute huh” no answer was needed for that, He drove on a bit then pulled over and turned in the seat  and asked what I really thought of the Grants, I told him I liked them, a lot, that Jade did also, and I hoped we could all stay in touch in the future after the job was done.

Not surprising me for a second, Jody said, what do you think of inviting them to build here and plan to move here as soon as they want? I already liked the idea and said so and that I knew I spoke for Jade as well.

He nodded at that and said well we are having this talk because your wife came to me with the idea but wanted me to bring it up, I raised a brow at that one and he laughed and said “what would you have done had Jade said she wanted this? I said well I’d do it,” and if she wanted that big diamond now after the fact? “I said well hell I’d get it, what’s this all about,” he looked at me and said she’s got your number buddy, she said I should ask you because if she did it you’d say yes because she asked for it, I nodded and said well she’s right ! So then he asked, “You’re all for inviting them in and not because Jade wants it?” Of course I replied, I only regret I didn’t mention it first.

On the way back Jody laid out his idea on it and I agreed to it, when we arrived I was met by a pissed off 5 foot time bomb on a short fuse, first she read me the riot act in her native tongue and when I started laughing switched to English, have you ever heard a person speaking proper English call you a Bosstad? Well it comes out really funny, but never laugh at them, now I had a 100 pounds of jungle cat all over me, who it turned out was crying real tears, so I sat down and held her close and asked what brought this on, she said the honeymoon was over, I was sneaking out of the house at the crack of dawn with her worthless father ( who was leaning on the door with a bemused smile on his mug) which got her going in that native tongue again which got Jody to laughing out loud and now she was really pissed off, I had to hold her back from assaulting him, all in all it was funny, but her poor little heart was breaking or so she said…my thought was “ Sam ol buddy, your being played by a master” so as soon as I said ok baby next time I have to leave early I’ll wake you up and kiss you good goodbye ok? And just like that the tear clouds went away, the smile came out and all was well...uh huh…Stradivarius would have loved this performance, but damn she was cute while she was doing it, so all forgiven we headed into breakfast, Bob and Sally came up and we all sat and ate.

After the meal, and the dish’s were cleared away, Jody sat back, paused as he does while gathering his thoughts and then laid out just what we were doing here and how it came to be, how he and I had become partners in the ranch and our plans for now and the future, what we thought was going to happen, and what we thought we could do to stop it at least in this area.

He then told them that the three of us had talked it over and wanted to invite them to join us at the ranch, the how’s and what’s and how much could be worked out after they decided they were interested, he also asked them if their business could be moved to this area and still be as successful as it was now?

Bob and Sally looked a bit stunned and I smiled because I knew that look having had it myself, they looked at each other and Bob asked Sally what she thought, she looked at Jade who gave a small nod and smile, Sally said I’m all for it, if we can work it out and can afford it, as for moving the business here? I really don’t see why not, in fact a lot of our lumber comes from this area, shipping costs might go down a lot, and we can still go anyplace to set them up, so yea I’m for it !!

Bob sat a moment and said ok, if we can iron out the money part I’ll look at moving here, in fact I believe we could sell the business as it is to the employees and restart here if needed for the income.

So it was decided right then and there and sealed with hand shakes until the papers could be drawn up, we spent the rest of the day really filling them in on our projects and goals for the ranch, Bob was very enthused about the shooting range and gun shop part of the set up, Sally asked a question that set us all back on our heels, What? She asked are you going to do for a school for the kids that live here. Of course she meant when, not if the SHTF and we had never even thought of that, Sally it turned out had a teaching degree that she had tried to use for a few years but just got fed up with the stuff they were teaching and for the things they should have been but weren’t so she quit and joined Bob in their business, but she missed the kids and the work. Seemed to me we had a new schoolmarm, now all we needed was a school house and some kids!!

Bob said if his employees bought the business they would have enough with their savings to retire and really be a part of the ranch, and Bob wanted to be a part of the gun business and maybe run the range part of it.

We took him to meet John and we all headed to the café , after getting our coffee and pie, Ellie brought out 2 more pieces and coffee and slid two more chairs over, Bob asked if we were expecting somebody else, Jody just smiled and I just shook my head, 2 minutes later the door flew open and to loud applause from the other folks in the café, in shot Jade and Sally who crowded in next to us , Jade looked over every piece of pie on the table then took the one her dad was eating and pushed him the one in front of her, Jody said “Damn it girl! I got rid of you so I could have the cherry pie and ice cream while your husband dealt with your spoiled ways!!” her mouth was full so she just smiled around the pie, Sally was happy with the one at her place, John had started eating his pie as fast as he could, while Bob sat watching all this with a look of confusion on his face, when Jade looked up and around, John leaned back and smiled and pushed his empty plate away, Bob not being too slow saw it coming and grabbed his pie off the table, I just pushed the few bites I had left over to her before she hurt somebody.

This was becoming the soap opera of East Texas, I swear folks were driving in from all over to watch this…I guess I should be embarrassed but I wasn’t and just smiled, damn I loved this girl…

She was for sure becoming the Darling of Dog Trot; I expect she could be mayor if she wanted to.

With the days entertainment over the locals headed back to whatever they had to do, Miss Ellie came out to join is and Jade and Sally moved over to join her at another table. Jade taking my coffee with her…so I got up and got the pot and poured for us all, Jade smiling and holding up my former cup…

These mid morning visits to the cafe were becoming a habit and our place to talk about things and could include Ellie, the door blew open and the two black giants pushing and shoving rolled into the place with Ellie shaking a big spoon at them and reminding them of their manners, she looked so funny standing there shaking that spoon at two BIG men who towered over her by almost 2 feet and out weighed her by more then 200 pounds each.

We had forgotten to warn Bob and Sally about the Jonas Brothers, so now we did the introductions, both men removed their hats when shaking Sally’s hand which was lost in their paws, but both smiled big smiles while being gentle…

They pulled the next table closer and sat down; I was waiting for the look from the Grants when Ellie came back with the 2 plates with half a pie each, both dug in with an arm wrapped around the pie while keeping an eye on Jade who was looking over there… Awww life on the funny farm… While the brothers ate Jody and I filled them in on what was going on with Bob and Sally, both men smiled at them and said welcome to the Republic!

That was a new one on me and Jody said that when the SHTF we were going to declare the county a Republic, independent of State and Federal Governments,

I had to raise my eye brows at this, It seems that while we were in Dallas Jody and John had met up with the Brothers Jonas in Miss Ellie’s and were talking about what happens if the Government were to declare Martial Law,

Jody said in “His” opinion that if Martial Law set aside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the people then it did the same for the Government, and that being the case we the people were on our on . So then along comes some Gov. flunky who might decide that the ranch needs to belong to the Government to over see what it produced, and before that happened Jody’s thoughts were to declare the county a Republic and reinstitute our own Constitution and Bill of Rights, declaring ourselves to be a free people living in a free land governed by the rule of law as set forth by our republic.

Well it seems that it started out as a BS thing over burgers and a beer but as they talked it seemed to make a lot of sense.

Free People deciding for themselves what form of government worked best for them, at first I wondered how many beers was consumed during dinner but Miss Ellie was there and agreed with the guys, she said in her years she saw this nation go from the very best to much less then It was, and getting worse daily.

I figured that if things went to pot we were on our own anyway so we could call ourselves whatever we wanted, seemed fair to me. But I wondered how we would defend the new Republic and said so, well these boys had used the week we were gone and had really taken a closer look not only the ranch but the whole county!

Jody said when we were done with dinner this evening we would sit down and he would go over it with us and the Grants.

As planned, after dinner all of us relaxed on the porch along with John who had come to dinner also. After coffee was poured we settled in and Jody started talking about the Free Republic idea, for starters I couldn’t see how it would work unless there had been a complete break down of the entire country, and while we all felt it was coming I wanted to know what the present County Government would be doing while we set up our on Government.

Jody said that first we all had to understand that not if , but when the SHTF the entire country would be pulled into a black hole with only tiny groups of holdouts working to preserve the tools and knowledge to rebuild over many years, maybe as much as a hundred years would pass before a telephone would ring or a street light burn in the night, but with groups like ours that time frame would be moved up to maybe not more then 10 years, at least in our area, and from there it would spread as people worked together to get the job done, BUT ! Before all that could happen there was going to be a time of lawlessness and much bloodshed across the land.

Jody figured that most big city’s would burn down completely within a month as riots and faction fighting took place, looters would waste 100 times more then they used, the Police and National Guard would be helpless and sooner then later would just say screw this and load up all the guns and ammo they could get into their patrol cars and head home to their own families and who could blame them?

Within the city’s, all out race war would break out, all races would be involved, because regardless of what Washington and the talking heads and PC said, the old hates and fears were only out of sight, not gone away. It would only take a white cop shooting a black criminal and that would start it, or a black cop shooting a Latino, regardless of whom or why that would be the start and once it was going it would not end until the cities were destroyed, burned to the ground , The dead would remain unburied, rats and pets gone wild would eat the dead and spread whatever diseases started growing, that would spread, as the hundreds of thousand fleeing the violence and death spread like the fighting, as these army’s of  Refugee / warlords / Self made kings for a day rolled South because it was the only way to go really as the main bridges across the bigger rivers would be clogged with wrecks and  other armed factions determined to keep these hoards out of their area where they were barely hanging on . So with the way west blocked for the most part then South it was, and like a plague of locusts they would strip the land bare in their rush to safety ahead of the death hot on their heels.

Jody painted a picture that I believed none of us had thought of but once the lid was open and Pandora was out of her box it seemed so logical, and I found it hard to believe I had missed it. John looked a bit stunned too as did Bob and Sally.

Funny thing was, Jade didn’t look surprised at all, but then I remembered what all she had seen as a child in her village. That would give anybody a heads up to the future if ever one was needed!

But I asked again how we could assume that the present County Government would just hand us the key to the city so to speak? He said the answer was really simple, We were going to be the biggest target in the eyes of the Gov, IF, we let it get out just what we were doing and why, so if we kept our heads down and let the worst of the trouble burn it’s self out, then we would be in the best position to help rebuild, but only if we didn’t allow ourselves to be rolled over and the ranch wiped out.

He told us that one thing that Song was doing was compiling just about everything there was to know on CD’s and other forms of data storage, He said that if there was time and no problems with Songs superiors then we would have compiled most of man kinds knowledge into one place along with the equipment to gather and use it to rebuild.

I sat thinking about the enormity of that task and it blew me away, I asked how in the world he could do that, the answer was a smile on Jody’s face and the often repeated “If I tell you…etc…”

So Song was using the computers wherever he worked to download  all mans works and accomplishments for the last few hundred years, any further back and we wouldn’t need any of it as we would be throwing rocks and making bows and arrows which we didn’t need a computer to figure out.

So our biggest problem was to hold this place against all comers, bad guys or Government people wanting what we had for whatever the feel good thing of the moment was.

I did find it hard to picture having to fight the Government over some cans of beans, but as Jody said, this problem had nothing to do with the government trying to help everybody they could, it was about control, about breaking the will of the American people to the point they would just give it all up and become grateful to the GOV. for today’s handout.

Cradle to grave nanny state, it was the desire of the few to have all control, all power over the masses, for whatever reason there could be, it boiled down to simply that some wanted to rule everybody but first the people had to be put on their knees and begging for the Government to take over and to hell with freedom.

And right here in this small little corner of Texas were a few who weren’t going to kneel, weren’t going to surrender freedom for a slice of bread, who would not trade their daughters for a bowl of watery soup, and that’s what they wanted, when you have billions upon billions of whatever you want to call dollars, what more can you buy? Where can you go that you’ve not been?

Power, Control, the very reason Government and Religion were created. Not belief in a creator, but the organized mayhem of modern Religion, where one has to have another person to intercede with God on your behalf, when the very Bible they preach out of says they and only they can call out and ask God for forgiveness, no other can do it for you…unless you accept the idea that this person has the power to intercede for you and you must allow him to do your talking for you. This is Control, this is allowing a mortal to have Power over you and Government is no different, some want all Control, all Power, over your very life and if you allow it you’re very Soul.

Jody stopped talking and it was very quiet for a moment until Sally spoke up and asked “Are you against church’s Jody? Against the teachings of the Bible? Jody smiled and said of course not. I just believe that I have the ability to read whichever Holy Book I choose to read, to believe in the Creator in the manner I choose to believe , without a Church or Government telling me How and When to believe.

I don’t need another man to tell me if I’m doing wrong, nor to tell me that I must listen to him explain to me what he believes is what the creator says, thinks, wants.

He added, I believe I am responsible for my own problems, my own sins and it’s up to me to do what I feel I must to make amends with the creator. With that he said ok, enough on religion, if anybody wants to build a church here on the ranch for themselves and others who feel the need to worship in such a place, then by all means lets build a church, and I may even attend once in a while, but be forewarned if I think the person “Spreading the word” is wrong I will say so and we can debate it right then and there until one or both of us is clear on what is being said! I burst out laughing and said let me know when your going to be in church and I will be there cause I love a good debate! And that settled the religion discussion.

So what we were doing was building a place of refuge for as many people as we could, and hopefully people with lots of talents and abilities to start the long march back to the kind of Country we wanted to build, one as our forefathers wanted, one where free men could live in peace but have the means and willingness to fight and if need be, die for that peace.

Sally and Bob were both anxious to return to Dallas to start working on a deal to sell their business, hopefully to some of the employees and get moved to the ranch, before they left we all walked the main area and looked for a nice place for their house, and we found it under some huge Oaks with huge spreading limbs to provide shade …and the need for a new roof if they fell, the Grants laughed at my comment and said it would be worth it to have a home in that spot.

Their plan was to build it like the mall was being built, a heavy duty basement, with heavy thick walls of concrete above ground, narrow windows and earth beamed up as high as the windows, with native stone laid on the exposed walls and a metal roof with water containment guttering into a huge holding tank under the basement floor, Bob said he had worked on a home that had that and he knew how the system worked to divert the first water after a rain to wash the dirty roof as much as possible and then use filters to clean the water for use when needed.

This was the same system we had put into all the Mall units so we were all on the same page, As far as the Mall and Ranch were concerned most of the stuff we had build was as bomb and bullet proof as we could make it, all except the Dorms, but after most of the work was done we would bring in a small contractor to put in metal culverts as tunnels running from the Dorms thru an escape hatch through the slab floors, into a tunnel to the barn shelters, the tunnels themselves were as good a shelter as we could want as they were going to be 12 ft in diameter with a concrete floor to make movement easier with pallet jacks to move supplies around that we would store in them, All of this planning came out of a thick book that Jody had with him all the time, reading and making notes in the back of it.

I was glad for that because I wouldn’t have thought of a 10th of this stuff, even the smallest of details seemed to be in there, Once he even said we needed to think about boxed puzzles and games to keep small minds occupied, It was worth the sore ribs when I asked if he was thinking of Jade, but I really need to get that body armor vest, but then god knows where she might hit! Maybe just keeping my mouth shut would work…now there was a concept!!

Time was moving fast, the building projects were moving faster then we had figured, Ellie had noticed one of the contractors crewman starting to talk a bit to much about all the goings on here but his boss took him outside and when they came back in the guy never said a word again, this was good

News.

Jody and I decided to speak to him about the tunnels so we picked him up and went to Ellie’s I told her as soon as I walked in the door that if she called my wife and told her we were there I’d…that was as far as I got, she walked in the door and seeing my look said. WHAT? I gave up right then, I don’t know how she does it and I may not want to know, hell her brother probably has access to bugs that placed in my truck would allow her to listen to all my conversations, I didn’t want to know, I was forewarned to always be good.

Ellie and Jade sat together and talked in low voices while we talked to the contractor, Jody told him we had a job that we did not want even one word of to slip out and it would require him and his top two men only and should be done in a week or so, he was very happy to accept the job without knowing more then that for the moment, he would have a few days to go home and get together what equipment would be needed when he was done with his part of the mall work which was maybe a week away, we wanted the work done before the other Dorm buildings were in place as it was easier to do with no building in the way.

Jody took him back to the job to look over some stuff and I joined the two conspirators who were plotting something which would surly mean problems for me no doubt, and sure enough they stopped the low talking as I sat down and went to normal girl stuff, when Jade was done eating the place empty I told her I needed a ride home.

I won’t go into what riding with her was like, she had asked for a Jeep and I let her pick it out, Shiny and as Black as the Jonas brothers with enough chrome to blind the blind, I’m not real sure what model it was but it went too damn fast and she drove like she was at Daytona most of the time, but with roll bars and a upgraded set of seat belts she was as safe as she was going to be. But she was doing much better since I reminded her how I came to be single, which made her cry and promise to do better.

I must admit she had done so, but it was still like driving with a wild person, long hair blowing back, laughing and having just way too much fun.

I guess she was spoiled as Jody said but I had not yet figured out how to say no, hell the Jeep cost less then that foolish ring I was going to buy her so I had no complaint.

In a shade less then 6 months the Ranch was finished for the moment, the Mall was done as was the ranges. With little fan fair the stores were open for business.

The locals had all been there for the whole job and knew as much as any about how and what went into it all, but by some quirk of agreement nobody was telling anybody a thing.

I guess in truth these folks here in the Piney Woods were as close knit as the Clan on the ranch and frankly most of the locals were in fact part of it all and understood that and seemed to feel good about it all.

The Clinic was up and running and Doc Ellen as she was called by all was working her buns off and proving to be worth her weight in gold, she had found and interviewed her own PA and office staff as well as the nurses who really did 80 % of the work.

All were living in the dorms as none were married and were happy with the job and the whole scene, none were aware of what was really going on but they were adapting very well to rural life and as the nurses were all new fresh from school and known to Ellen and not to mention good looking, the guys working on the place were content to hang out after work instead of heading off to get drunk as most youngsters do.

The Vet was a different story, he was a crusty old coot who had decided to get out of Dodge as he put it before he strangled the next over pampered over fed poodle in the door, he also made it plain that if it was a choice between a cow a horse and a poodle, well the poodle could wait and if it died tuff shit!!, Jade really liked him, he brought his own crew with him, most were only a few years younger then he was but all worked together.

,During the so called interview he said that if he ever found a good young person or three who could work and keep quiet he could teach them more in a year then 4 years of vet school…I was sorta impressed, when I mentioned it to Doc Ellen she said he was right, that back in the old days the skilled people had apprentices that they taught all they knew too who then passed it on to their apprentices or sons and that it was the approved way for century’s until somebody decided you must be taught about your trade buy a person who had never done the job but had read about it once or twice, she used the phrase, them as can , do , them as kain’t, teach… I told her that seemed a bit denigrating toward teachers but she wouldn’t back down said it was true and the medical field was full of people like that… she was as hard to argue with as Jade but I could kinda see it too.

The gun shop was up and running and every good ol boy for many a mile around was coming in and spending their money, John had the thought that selling a guy a gun that had little room for profit at near wholesale and he would buy all his other needs there, ammo, slings, scopes, reloading gear etc etc, all items with a lot of wiggle room to offer a good deal and yet still make a decent profit, return customers were to be desired.

Bob had taken over running the ranges and was having a ball, he had the idea of starting a gun club to encourage people to shoot more and at the same time to pick out future possible folks to man a security force down the road a ways, also the more they shot the more they bought!!! And even with a store discount for members it was still turning a profit.

Until the time for a school, Mary was running the grocery store and it was doing very well, prices were on par with the big stores in the city but we also sold case lots with a deeper discount, about wholesale priced, and we now had most of the area prepping and not even knowing it!!!

Our fuel station was doing great because our prices were less then the nearest station 20 miles away, and would remain so, we didn’t “Have” to make a profit, just break even.. Might really piss off a bunch of folks but we figured most had been milking every thin dime out of the folks around here for way too long and it was time they got a break.

All in all the whole plan had taken form and had filled out faster then we had ever believed possible, all in all we had recreated a corner of this county

Into a small bustling community with jobs for the locals who wanted one… wages were good and we had a great medical plan!!…No need to belong to a national health plan, I could see problems in the future with that.

Doc. Ellen saw them too and made the early on decision to not be involved with Medicaid or any other Government controlled plan, if somebody needed care they got it, and paid what they could when they could if they had no insurance , We were also tossing around the idea of forming an LLC insurance company but it was just too much hassle, we did though restrict any care of “outsiders” as strictly emergency based care only, we sure didn’t intend to become a welfare health clinic, as a private unit the clinic could get more done with less cost then it ever could by allowing the state and Federal government’s to run things or be involved in any way.

So far in the short time things were up and running it was working great, in the first month alone all the different units had shown a nice profit and looked to keep doing so.

John and Bob were turning into best of friends, their love for all things involving shooting was a good glue.

Their plan was for Bob to find the best of the young shooters in the newly formed gun club and to integrate them into working in the gun shop which had more traffic then a strip bar, but they wanted only real shooters working there, people who not only could shoot but could help the customers without being condescending, they wanted no Rambo wannabes just people who could not only do it but teach it in a good manner, to me it looked like they had it going.

Mary was having fun with the grocery store and while never complaining wanted to be back teaching, she and Jade spent hours together, Jade was working with Mary just to be busy and be with her first real female friend of her life. I had hopes Mary would have a calming influence on Jade but It seemed to be headed the other way , as on the day they both took off with nary a word and returned hours later with Mary driving a mate to Jades jeep except it was an ivory color.

Bob and I just stood there and never said a word, John looked it all over and said you two are learning, bout damn time, then burst out laughing and got out of there.

I just shook my head and started walking towards the café, a nice hunk of Ellie’s pie would help, Bob caught up and the two wild cats blew past us and got inside before us, inside we found the girls being served and ours was in place so we did as we were supposed to and sat down to eat, Neither of us said a word about the not so matching Jeeps and just for a change had a nice quiet time of it and surprising the hell out of us we got to keep all our pie, this was getting real scary real fast. I didn’t know how to handle it cause it had never happened, but the girls were their normal selves, chattering away and ignoring us, I was scared to move because it would break the spell.

About six months had passed, seeming like either 6 days or 6 years depending on the moment when we got a call from Jim Daniels the Sheriffs Deputy for this end of the county, it came about dark and he said he needed to speak to Jody and I as soon as possible but on the quiet, he was off duty and driving his own truck and we told him to head to the gun shop and act like a customer we would come in the back way and John would get us together.

We were both very curious about this call but there was no sense in talking it to death so we headed for the door when Jade jumped up and grabbed her coat announcing she was coming too, Jody smiled and said “your on your own…son” he’s a laugh a minute, I looked at her and decided that whatever concerned her father and husband concerned her too ( this was very smart fast thinking on my part but ruined the beautiful temper flair she had already to fire off at me) when we got outside I noticed Jody was sitting in the back seat of her jeep with nary a smile on his face, he’s smart too!

We arrived at the narrow trail we used to access the back of the mall area which was unknown to most people and entered thru the grocery store back door and down to the basement then thru the steel doors to the gun shop basement, I felt it was a bit James Bondish but we were trying to avoid trouble for Jim, when we go to the top of the stairs we stopped and tapped a button which caused a small buzzer to vibrate quietly behind the counter, we saw Jim and John laughing and talking while Jim looked over a new handgun, at the sound of the vibrator, he said something to Jim who nodded and John grabbed a box of ammo and headed for the door to the downstairs range, telling one of the guys that they needed to cover for him.

When they opened the door and entered John lead the way down and to the door marking the indoor shooting range for customers to get an opportunity to fire their choice of weapons, nobody had said a word and John motioned us into the sound proof observation room then taking the gun and ammo he headed into the shooters area, where he started slowly shooting rounds like a guy learning a new weapon.

We looked at Jim and he said boys yawl have attracted a lot of attention over at the County Seat, the Commissioners seem to think maybe yawl ain’t paying near enough in tax’s so they asked the Sheriff to try to come up with a way to get into all your business mostly to snoop into just what’s really going on here, but as yawl may not know, the Head Commissioners is the Sheriffs brother and between us, both are as crooked as a dogs hind leg and if they can find a soft spot they will be down on you like stink on a road killed skunk, but of course what they want is a nice piece of what you bringing in.

We thought about it a bit but Jade spoke right up and asked why Jim was telling us? Easy answer was , in a round about way he was kin to Miss Ellie ( no surprise there!) and so he talked to her and she sent him to us to spill the beans and then to resign from his job because no kin of hers was gonna work for then snakes no more.

Jade then asked one of those questions that usually come later in the movie, who else are they screwing? Jim said he only had a rumor or two but he named them, Jade wrote their names down. Then asked if he wanted to come work for us? He said no but thanks a lot, but I grew up wanting to be a Deputy and maybe someday be the head sheriff.

Jody and I had learned that when she was in this mode to let her run with it so said nothing, she found out he had 5 years in the department and was the youngest by 20 years, good ol boy network in action, she asked why he even got hired, Jim turned a bit red and said well they’s all too old to work the streets and saloons at night so they hired me as somebody to send in the door first.

We needed time to digest this and Jody said well if they find out about this I will hire you in a heart to run the ranch security force so old John can sleep in a bit more often, we all looked at poor old John who was just finishing putting the last round thru a hole in the center mass of the target 50 rounds thru a 3” hole at 25 yards with a gun he never shot before, yes poor old John sure needed more sleep.

Jim said he would take the job but wanted a shot at tossing the old fart outta office and then cleaning the place of dead wood, Jade and Jody both got the light in the air over the head look I’ve seen them do so much.

John came back in and he and Jim went back up stairs, we went over to the lounge that John had built for his better customers and getting a hand full of beers sat down at the table, John came back down, and said ok, Jims safe away and it worked smooth I told him in a few days come back and pick up his new gun and thanks for the business.

Jody laid it out as Jim had with Jade adding in a lot more from her notes, John and I sat there red faced and quiet until John said,  I was a cop for over 15  years and never took a penny of payoff,  I did accept a free cup of coffee at one café but the owner was a good friend, he looked at me and I just nodded and said same story, but we were pissed that these scum bags were using a nice honest young cop like a pimp uses women.

We finished those beers and Jody beat Jade to getting more, I looked at her but she was looking down at her notes and then looked around and said, this is good, this is the best break we could hope for, as usual we just stayed quiet and let her get to it in her own sweet way, which turned out to be scary coming from my sweet little wife.

She said well first thing we do is get all their names and pictures then we get those to Song, Jody sat still while I choked on my beer, and without thinking I blurted out the no way in hell were we getting involved in getting them to have accidents…when Jody and John stopped laughing and Jade quiet glaring I said “WHAT!!”

Jody held up his hand and wiggled it at Jade who had to stop glaring at me but did so, she sat a moment and said, look, we knew this County commission was dirty, as well as the Sheriff ( We did? Hell  I didn’t) and this is a perfect way to take over this whole county, clean it up and turn it into just what we need when the SHTF!

More come on hand wiggles from Jody and she was off again, first we get Song into their pockets and bed rooms, all of them including Jim who we will make sure is squeaky clean.

While they are trying to do us, we will be doing them. Jim will be a shoo in for  Sheriff and we can hand pick honest people to run for the other offices, and weed out all the kin folks who have been sucking off the county tit for so long.

Well I sat and listened to this stranger who was taking over my wife’s body, where was the charming, sweet, pie stealing coffee chugging doll that loves me??

Jody sat just watching the show, then looked at me and john,  John shrugged and said hell I go with the kid’s idea on just snuffing the sleeze bags.

Jade chimed in with an agreement to that too, but said well yes , but we can’t, we need their outta work, flat busted , going to jail asses  for all to see and then to see how wonderful the county looks shortly afterwards… I was just lost, I had been here 10 years and didn’t know the whole county court house was a gang of crooks as well as the Sheriffs office.

Jade said she would get Song on it right away and we should have something going on before long so we called it a night, cleaned up the lounge and went home.

Jody said he wanted to head for bed to think and would see us for breakfast, Jade and I headed for bed too, me with a million questions, her with a quiet look on her face, we decide to wait for morning also, sleep came fast.

The next morning as soon as Jade and I came upstairs Jody said lets get breakfast going, I plan to have a meeting this morning, here in the house, Jade started the meal while I set the table then went for the big 35 cup coffee maker, Jody was on the phone calling those he felt needed to be there.

Shortly after the dish’s were washed and put away, the big coffee pot making its last gurgling sounds the others started arriving.

Ellen was the first causing Jade to smile at me ,  who looked at her with not a clue, then John and Bob , Mary would be along in a bit as soon as the store crew showed up.

This group had become the “committee” as it were, Jody believed the more people thinking on a problem the better.

Jody stood up and addressed the group, “As most of you know we had a visitor last night and as soon as Mary gets here I will explain  it better, which was when they heard Mary drive up, she came in and grabbed a cup and sat down .

Jody nodded to John who sat a small tape player on the table and hit play, they all then heard the meeting from last night with Jim the Deputy, even those who were there sat spell bound and listened to the mess unfold, tape done John clicked the player off and Jody looked around the room and said , ok, this could be a problem but I choose to think of it as an opportunity.

He went on to explain that since their long range plan was to change the powers that be in the county with honest people who would work to make this a very safe and well organized place to be anytime , but for sure after an “event”.

He then asked what the group thought about it so far. Ellen said she had no idea, that she had spent so many years buried in books and study’s that she was lucky to know who the president was, which got a laugh.

John with his LEO back ground spoke up next and said that he always believed in hit first and hardest, Jody looked at me , I nodded at John and said “ what he said”, Mary and Jade both remained quiet for the moment.

After waiting a moment Jody said ok, here’s what I spent half the night thinking on, While we know we haven’t broken any laws , the crooked leaders of the county commission seem to think if they are crooked then everybody else is too. So I think just what John said, attack first and hardest, and the way to do that is to start with the records in the courthouse, all the records pertaining to money, all moneys collected as tax’s, from fines, from grants to the  County from the Feds, every dime coming in and going out, from whom to whom , and I bet it will throw a match into a keg of powder.

The way Jody saw it was to hire a big law firm to file freedom of information act papers at the county offices along with a court order preventing any of those records being removed from the building, this had everybody sitting with big smiles on their faces.

Sam asked if they needed to be turned down on seeing the books before filing, Jody said he was going over there the next day to start that ball rolling, whereas John and I both said not alone your not which ended the argument from Jody who agreed they should all three go but in different rigs and to wonder into the courthouse separately.

Then Ellen sorta dropped a small bomb into the mix by asking that if this was a “head em off at the pass “ sorta thing wasn’t Jody doing what he said going to show the Sheriff and the other county rats where the source of their problems was coming from?

This stopped the meeting for a few minutes while Jody looked at her so long the red started creeping up her neck, he then smiled and said damnit Ellen, you’re not just a pretty face  ! bringing out a bigger blush along with laughs from the others , it took me a few more seconds of looking at my wife and Mary to figure out just what was going on, when I looked right at Jade she smiled and made a silent DUH face at me… Jody had not a clue, I almost felt sorry for him…almost..

It was then decided that  they needed an outsider to start it moving but somebody who wasn’t known and yet would be willing to do it , Mary spoke up and said to Bob, Your cousin Bill !

Bob looked at her and grinned big and high fived her then told the others about his Cousin who was a Freelance Journalist who loved muck racking and hated crooked office holders, and who wasn’t scared of anything after three combat tours in Nam and then going back as a Freelancer civilian for another 2 years.

John agreed to head for DFW right away to meet with Bill and let him hear the tape and decided if he wanted in, Jody said he would ride along and talk to a Law Firm he knew of about handling the paper work attack, they left within 30 minutes, Mary and Jade headed to the  store while Ellen headed to the clinic,

John looked at Sam and said come on Sam lets go to the range and burn some powder, you ain’t fired a shot since we opened it.

At the range Sam was surprised to see a lot of cars and trucks parked in the dirt lot and a bunch of guys talking or watching others shooting, After introducing Sam to some folks he didn’t know they headed to the office where John signed them in and the young man behind the  counter asked what they were shooting, John said they would be down on the pistol range shooting steel, after a short drive thru the trees they came to a small clearing with several racks of steel plates and a covered roof and tables for gun bags and gear.

Bob asked Sam what he had brought to shoot and Sam pulled his shirt up and showed a 1911 commander ,Bob was also carrying a 1911 but full sized, they both laughed and taking their bags of gear went to the line and laying out their ammo and ear protectors, They decided to start at the 10 yard line with one holding the timer for the other and writing down the times as they shot, Bob explained that by looking at the run times one can see improvement or lack of it.

Shooting steel plates is a very simple way to practice, the plates are usually  a round plate about 8” in diam. When hit they  fall  back , with six plates to the rack when you were done you pull a rope and it pulled a lever which set up the plates for the next shooter, it was fast and simple, if hit the plate fell, if missed it sat there glaring at you. The shooter faces the rack and when the RO ( range Officer) says “Shooter Ready?”  the shooter nods and the timer button is pushed there are controls for instant beep or delayed beep, delayed prevents the person from knowing when it’s coming.

Bob went first and got all six with 7 shots in under 3 seconds, very good time, Sam was next and when his gun was empty he had fired 8 shots and only 4 plates were down in 10 second, Bob watched Sam as the fire started burning in his eyes and knew he had Sam hooked and now had a shooting Partner.

When they had enough and had picked up the brass for reloading they sat in the shade and had a cold coke, Sam opened with, SHIT !! I’m better then this, and Bob agreed with him but pointed out that Sam had not fired a round in how long, Sam had to think on it and looked at Bob shook his head and said,  almost 5 years and then only at rocks and beer cans in the old gravel pit.

They agreed that this was going to become their morning thing daily, Bob said and how will “Princess Pie Killer” handle it you leaving home every morning alone? Sam said , well I’ll bet the first morning she don’t budge, the  second she will try to keep me In bed and the third she will be here watching and the afternoon of  the third day she will be in the store with John getting geared up to join us, both men laughed and Bob said ya know this is good, I been trying to get Mary out shooting but she isn’t interested, bet she and Jade arrive at the store together.

Chapter 13

Three days later and Jody and Bob were back at the ranch, in the meeting that was called the next morning, they both reported on how it went.

Bob’s cousin Bill after hearing the tape said that he had heard rumors of all this and would be more then happy to go to work on it but he wanted the exclusive on the story and since he would be dealing with very corrupt people including almost the entire Sheriff’s dept. that he would like somebody watching his back. That was easy to work out because he had a friend who was a retired Ranger and who would be happy to follow him around as he was so bored with retirement that he was about to get a job as a door greeter at Wal-Mart !! And he hated people , so that showed how desperate he was.

Jody reported that the Dallas Law Firm was willing to handle the fire works when they hit and would also handle and correlate the information as Bill got it dug up, their fees weren’t small but not as would be normally the case as the founder of the firm was an old line Lawyer who hated crooked cops and politicians and said so loudly at ever chance, he said he might look at replacing the County Attorney just so he could prosecute the bastards !!

The last thing to be decided was to hire a top CPA firm to help Bill wade through the books, that was handled with a call to the Law firm.

Now they only had to sit back and wait for the storm to blow in and that’s just what it did.

In the meantime all the work moved ahead as planned, the berry barriers were planted and growing, the fruit trees were all in and doing well, the gardens were doing very well under the care of the clan women who seemingly could make a rock grow.

The Clan hunters were having a wonderful time filling the freezers and smoke houses with wild pork, Jody had a bit of a problem explaining to them about game laws and about the difference between wild pigs and deer, but It seemed to work out most of the time, not that there wasn’t always fresh venison at the tribal feasts that seemed to occur weekly, Sam said it seemed if a frog croaked or an Owl hooted it was cause to kill and cook half  the critters in the forest, earning him a sore rib or two from his loving bride who could hit with as much passion as she could kiss him which she did right after slugging him, Sam observed that kissing didn’t hurt and bruise!

It was decided that some fish ponds would be a good thing to build so that was started, they figured they could quietly just pipe free flowing water from the river thru  the ponds and out the other side back into the river, not stopping the flow at all, just diverting it.

Jody and Sam decided it was better to ask forgiveness then permission so they just did it. And as time passed it would turn out to be a very good idea.

All in all the ranch was turning into a place that could feed hundreds of people and with rationing, maybe a few thousand.

As the outside gardens produced , the ranch built stands on the roads nearby and the clan women who wanted to live more normal so to speak ran them, the idea was to sell for a profit but less then most did so more folks could afford the produce.

Miss Ellie was drafted to provide the names of folks who were in need due to loss of jobs or sickness, these folks were given all they could use , unless it was a case of just being too damn lazy to work and provide, but there was a thin line there because kids need good food regardless of worthless parents, Miss Ellie handled that too, nobody knew just how but she did it.

The greenhouses were up and ready to run, it was kind of difficult to explain the greenhouse concept to the Clan women but Jade worked it out and soon they were all on the same page, I really never quite figured out why we needed greenhouses as the growing season was most of the year, but I figured if I could have fresh salad all winter then it was worth it.

We also hired some locals to locate and cut Oak trees that were dead or dying, this wood was stored in three sided wood sheds to be dry and ready when needed, not that much wood was needed as winters were very mild, but ya just never know.

It was hard to believe but we were coming up on the first year since we first started this, it seemed like just a few days, but I guess it was because we were all doing what we wanted and enjoyed doing so it was never like having to go to work and punch a time clock, in fact Jody made it a rule that all hands had to make it to the Saturday night whatever feast the Clan was putting on because most were spending too much time at work, that was sure a change in life styles.

On the Sat. night of the one year anniversary we were all spread out in the woods at tables for the dinner when Jody got a call on his cell, he walked  away for a bit then looked at me, Bob, John and nodded toward the path to the house, I told Jade I’d be right back and left.

After we were all together he said Jim Daniels had called him from a pay phone to say that he had been pulled to the far side of the county for no good reason and he thought it might be smart to be on guard against somebody maybe breaking into the business area of the mall.

We loaded into Johns truck and slipped thru the woods without lights, after getting close to the back of the mall we unloaded and entered the back of the gun shop where we settled down to wait, we figured this was the target because if they could find anything illegal in here that was all they would need to worm into our affairs.

As the hours passed it got quieter and quieter, no traffic on the road at all, about 3:00 am we all heard the sounds of a vehicle approaching, standing in the dark we watched an extended cab pickup with at least four people in it slow down and drive by, we could see all the faces looking in our direction as it passed, but within 5 minutes it was back and moving even more slowly, it turned at the end of the mall and went out of sight.

We waited in the dark with our handguns on but also with baseball bats as we wanted prisoners unless they came in armed then it was gonna be bad.

The longest 30 minutes of my life passed before we heard the sound of somebody  picking the lock on the back door which was a good trick as it was the best lock money could buy, and it did take a long time for them to get in, we held back in the shadows and waited, one voice was heard giving orders, he told one to find the gun sale paper works, another to place the gun’s in the rack and case, this seemed strange but then it became clear, the other man was told to go into the basement and look for a hidden vault that was filled with unlicensed full auto weapons.

After that there was just the sounds of people moving in the dark, this crew knew how to move and what to look for, after about an hour the one who went down stairs came up and said he found a vault but of course he couldn’t open it, the leader said don’t worry cause when the stolen guns were found in the cases they would get warrants to get into the entire operation.

Having heard enough Jody hit the lights and the four found themselves looking into four guns pointed at their heads, they froze until Jody said well boys best be getting down on your bellies, the leader started to say something but was stopped by a fist to the gut from one pissed off  John.

After they were all face down and hand cuffed they were searched, all four had Special deputy’s badges, all had driver’s license’s showing  all to be kin to the bad elements of the county Sheriffs dept.

The leader having got his breath back started yelling about how much trouble we were in and how we best let them up as they was the “Law”…

John planted a boot in his butt and told him he wouldn’t make a pimple on a real Lawman’s ass and to shut up before he got peeved.

Jody picked up the house phone and pushed a quick dial number and when it was answered said “ Officer Daniels” this is Jody Brown in Dogtrot, we have had a break in at the gun shop and have four men in custody at this time, we need you to come right now please, he then hung up and called the dispatcher at the Dept of public safety ( Highway patrol) and told them what was happening and that Deputy Daniels was gonna need back up. He then hung up and we settled down to wait, when asked what this was about the leader said he wanted a lawyer and that all of them did.

In about 30 minutes we could hear the sound of cop cars heading our way, the first to arrive was a DPS car with two Patrolmen in it, followed shortly by Jim’s county car, all 3 trooped in together and looked the whole thing over, we had all put our guns away behind the counter and the ball bats were in a closet by the bathrooms.

Jim asked the troopers to search the four while he got his camera from his car, which worked out real fine because when the DPS guys found the Special Deputies credentials they were pissed to say the least.

Jim came back in and upon seeing the creds said he was requesting the DPS guys to call in some of their investigators because this was way too big for him seeing as how these good ol boys were kin to half the County Sheriffs Dept.

The troopers agreed and one went to call it in, Jim started getting our statements and then went down to look at the poker table set up down stairs with money and beer bottles on it, he was smiling when he saw it and shook his head while looking at Jody who just smiled back.

After the State crime scene crew got there and did their thing and the investigators got through with their work, things weren’t looking good for the Sheriff and his Dept.

The four still hadn’t said a word and most likely wouldn’t but as soon as they were gone and the place cleared out we looked at the gun racks and cases and found 2 rifles and a shotgun that didn’t belong there as well as 3 handguns in a case they had really planned to nail us good, we didn’t mention any of this to the DPS guys because we weren’t going to offer anything we didn’t need to, but every thing from the time we arrived at the store was on film, all the talk between the four about hiding the stolen guns was on there and we figured the film might come in handy later.

Jody asked Jim what the fall out was going to be over his being involved in the arrest but he just smiled and said well I figure the Sheriffs gonna fire me in a fit of anger and I’ll file a big law suit five minutes later and file to run against him 6 minutes later coz I need a job! We all laughed and Jody handed him the card for the Law Firm in Dallas and said he would call them about somebody to handle the law suit and they would contact him.

It sure seemed like a good nights work and we all headed back home except for John who lived in the gun shop.

When I got home I expected a full out war from Jade but she and Mary were sitting up with fresh coffee and some pie, we told them what happened and that was that, when I asked why she had not blown a gasket she said because Jody had made a tribal hand sign to her that meant possible danger and to stay back, I couldn’t believe she would obey that but she did, it came from childhood training. I wanted to know some of this hand signing myself!

Morning came and we were on the porch having breakfast when Jim drove into the yard, Jade was up and gone and back with a plate of food by the time he came inside the screened porch, he looked at the food and the three of us and said ya know I could get used to this!

He said he was now unemployed by the county and needed a job and said he had called the law firm first thing and they had already called in a firm to handle his suit and with the report from the DPS and the video from us it would blow the mess sky high.

Jim said well I don’t want any money from the county, things are bad enough as it is with those crooks stealing the place blind, and besides, I figure if I win the suit and refuse to take the money I’m a shoo in for Sheriff !! which got a laugh from us all?

Jody said he thought that with the lame break in and the crooks being Special deputy’s it would make the whole county take over much more simple and that was a good thing! And he proved to be right.

In less then 30 days the full story was out and the books were examined and found to be millions short, and with the IRS and FBI tracking things the hidden bank accounts were located, and locked down, the County commissioners and the Sheriff and his cronies were all in jail with 3 million dollars bond each and all their property had liens placed on it by the IRS, meaning they couldn’t use it for bail and no bail bondsman in the state trusted them to stay put for the trial.

Jim Daniels was elected by land slide in a special election, this all went so fast none of use could believe it, we had been prepared for a battle of months and yet one stupid arrogant old man too long in power and believing he was bullet proof had brought the whole mess down, and most of them were talking as fast as they could to try to cut their charges by helping, so far the prosecutors didn’t feel the need to deal.

The first thing Jim did was ask several of the young guys in the gun club to sign up as special deputies, he trained them on the fly, not all of the older deputies were rotten, most had just kept their mouths shut and waited to retire, Jim offered them places in the new department if they wanted or they could move on. They all accepted his offer gladly and started training the younger guys in the job.

Jim explained that he had an idea he took from a news story from the 80’s about a small county that needed several deputies but couldn’t afford them so the newly elected Sheriff just built a reserve department using a local retired FBI agent as the Capt. And a couple of older retired LEO’s as training officers, when it was done  the county had only one paid full time officer and that was the Sheriff, the rest were local citizens who were willing to put on the uniform and work for their county for free and did so knowing their families were better protected then ever plus the money saved in wages bought a bunch of new patrol rigs and equipment for the troops it was a win -win situation for all concerned and Jim wanted to repeat it here, he said he could train and field enough troopers to cover the whole county 24/7 at great savings.

This turned out to be a very good idea as the volunteers numbered over 150 and after weeding out the ones just not able to handle it there was still 110 men willing to train and work a few shifts a month or when needed at no cost except for their uniforms and equipment.

All this in such a short time, the people were astounded at all the money that was recovered from hidden bank accounts, for the first time there was money to do all the public works programs that needed doing throughout the county, Another by product of the whole mess was finding out which contractors were honest and which were not! Contractors who worked with the old crowd would never work for the county again, things were looking good!

The old screen door squeaked and then squeaked shut announcing the entry of another hungry customer at the Early Bird café.

Around what was now called the “conference table” sat Jody, Jade, Doc Ellen, and of course me , John and Bob and Sally were running late because they were the business folks.

The man who had come in was a stranger to all of us but not for long, he came right to the table and one look told you all you need know, there is always something about Texas Rangers, they just always seem to all be tall and calm and sure of themselves. And this one was no exception to the rule, he removed his Stetson and acknowledged the ladies then looked at each of us in turn, noted how we were sitting and smiled , then said his name was Capt. William Slade , Texas Rangers , he nodded at an empty chair and asked if he might sit a spell, Jody said why sure Mr. Slade ,but the Ranger held up his hand and said “nope son, just call me Bill, my Dad’s Mr. Slade, he then shook hands with all of us and being a polite well brought up gent waited for the ladies to offer their hands first, I kinda liked that about him, most folks today don’t know a lady always offers her hand first if she’s of a mind to shake with a man.

Miss Ellie came over with the coffee pot and poured then said well howdy Bill, long time since you stopped in here, how’s Mr. Bill and your Mother  doing these days? Bill stood up and just stepped over and hugged Ellie and said that was from mom, he then kissed her cheek and said that was from Dad, then he kissed the other cheek and said that’s from me  Miss Ellie, and they are both fine Dad hates retirement, mom loves it and spends all her time dragging him to garage sales and such, he’s not a happy camper he finished with a laugh which Ellie joined in on. She said I can not see that man at a garage sale!

She then told the us that she had known this big galoot since he was still in diapers  and his dad was the Ranger in charge of this part of Texas, after she left to start getting our orders Bill sat back down and looked around the table a bit then singled out Jody and said , Well sir I figure you’re the head dog in this pack so I’ll just address my words to you if you don’t mind, Jody just sat with a little smile and nodded.

The Ranger sat a moment collecting his thoughts then said, I’m here on my own, not as a Ranger at the moment and I don’t want to be here as a Ranger at all, so let’s cut to the chase ok? Jody still smiling, nodded again, Bill looked around the table and said I wasn’t born yesterday, and I do have a bit of a brain regardless of what my wife and Mom say, and after strolling thru the stores that have sprung up here and I must say I really like the gun shop and I like the prices on everything I saw,  I just have to ask, what in the hell are you folks planning for?

Well that little bomb hit the floor like a cow flop, nobody said a word for a bit until Jody spoke up and said well sir, how about you tell me just what you see here that makes you think we have any plans of any kind.

It was Bill’s turn to smile and nod and then he said well lets see, the gas prices at the station are cheaper then any place for 30 miles in any direction if not the whole state, same for the food prices in the store and the gun shop is a shooters dream as far as prices go, I heard enough shooting going on back in the trees to know you built a range back there but you don’t have a sign advertising it, so I must assume it’s private or by invite only, adding all this to the demise of the old political machine in this county and the way things are being handled in the Sheriffs Dept along with County Government I’d have to say it looks like somebody’s built a small Kingdom, benevolent of course , but still a very tightly run Kingdom, am I wrong ?  these were his last words before sitting back and smiling at all of us around the table.

Jody sat smiling and then said well I’d have to say you’re pretty close to the truth.

The Ranger made a come on motion with his hand and Jody thought a moment and said well how about we eat first then we will drive to the ranch and talk sorta in private how’s that sound? Bill nodded and said fine with me and I’m hungry, so we made small talk while the food came and we all ate.

Sitting on the porch and drinking iced tea, Jody told Bill everything there was to tell, he left nothing out and then said come on we will drive around the ranch and look it all over, the three of us loaded into Jade’s Jeep with her driving and me giving her warning looks and she was a complete lady, which scared the crap out of me because I knew there was going to be a price to pay for this, I hoped I could afford it.

Everywhere we went Jody showed, explained, and discussed with Bill what he was looking at, what he didn’t show was the underground storage and other things that were hidden, on the surface it was a very well done “ Green Project” with most everything sustainable for life.

We drove to the ranges and showed Bill everything there and watched several young men and ladies shooting a course of fire set up as a firefight in a small set of buildings, one after the other they ran the course with shotguns and pistols, then in pairs and then as teams of four, all worked hard but safely and looked like a well drilled swat team, Bill just observed a while then asked who these folks were, Jody got the attention of a man acting as range officer and motioned him over, he blew a whistle and said take 5 !!

He trotted over and was introduced to Bill as the Charlie Smith, training officer of the County special deputies , when asked what it was that we were watching he told Bill it was just a normal training day for the kids as he called them, Bill commented that they looked as good as some of the big city swat teams, Charlie said well Bill we prefer “Emergency React Teams”  because they are trained in a lot more then shooting, every one of them spends time with Doc Ellen at her clinic helping with minor injuries, EMT skills, some have even delivered babies as part of their training, of course the ladies giving birth have to agree with it and Doc. Ellen is right there every second, all in all I’d say we have the best trained department just about anyplace, these kids can move from a car wreck to dealing with a drunk to a full out firefight and never blink, all are volunteers, all have real jobs and are here because of a sense of duty to their families and neighbors.

Bill just stood looking at the whole thing, taking it all in and asked how many Special Deputies there was? Charlie looked up a moment and then with a squint said well I believe counting these kids we have about 90 reserves trained and another 30 or 40 waiting to get started but we do lose several who drop out for one reason or another.

Now that got Bills attention and a raised eyebrow but he never said a word, then stuck his hand out for Charlie and said well sir, you’re doing one hell of a job and I wish a lot of other counties would follow suit.

Charlie nodded to him then to Jody and trotted back to his troops, Bill said well is there any more cold tea?

After we were settled down and refreshed a bit Bill looked at all of us and said well I must admit this is much more then I had heard and much more then I even thought it might be, but as I see it your only doing what most folks should be doing to face some real hard times that are coming, maybe sooner then we know.

Jody asked what Bill had heard about us and it seemed that a couple of the men we caught breaking into the gun shop were trying to peddle information about us for reduced sentences and Bill had told his boss that he was heading over here anyway and would look into it, he smiled and said, well I looked into it and saw nothing worth a worry, you folks are all good for the town, the county and as far as I can see the State. He added that he was going to recommend to his boss that maybe the other counties should take time to look at how our county was running and learn something.

As he was about to leave Jade came back on to the porch and said dinner was ready and Bill was welcome to stay, he seemed a bit shocked but said he would be honored to stay, I had also noticed that he never once in the whole day looked shocked at Jades tat’s nor did he mention them which I found refreshing as did Jade.

Dinner was served on the back porch which was covered of  course as were most porch’s in this part of Texas unless you liked bugs with your food, the meal was served by 2 of Jades girl friends who wanted to be more modern and were paid for their time, Bill did look at them and their tat’s but still never said anything, the meal was Wild pork, fresh yams and assorted veggies from our gardens which were attended by the tribal women who besides the gardens growing out in the open had many more small gardens growing back in the woods in small clearings, I assumed because that’s how they always did it.

After the last of the food was eaten and the girls were clearing away the dishes Bill spoke up and said thank you, but it was in the clans native tongue which cause the girls to almost drop the dish’s and to make a reply then trot off giggling.

This got raised eyebrows all around the table, Bill just smiled and said ya know, I may be a Texas hick and untraveled compared to some , but we do have several small groups of your people scattered around Texas, brought in after the war and many since then, and some of the boys are involved in gang stuff so we do have dealings with the communities which for the most part are very willing to help us control these young lads, and a feller can get further if he at least tries to learn a few polite words, Jade smiled at him and said something but Bill said he had no idea what she said, that he was lucky to say thank you and hello before getting down to business.

Jody , Jade and I walked Bill to his car where he stood a moment and then said, I’d like to come back if you don’t mind, again on my own time, and bring my Mom and Dad to see Miss Ellie, and with that he headed out leaving us all wondering just what Ranger Bill had in mind, I was sure we would fine out soon enough but we did all agree that we liked him and if Miss Ellie said he was ok then that was good nuff for us!

Time seems to speed up when your really busy and we had been running our butts off for over a year now, all the things we set out to do were done or getting done, we were so very lucky in that we had the money to do what we did, we would never have got it done if we had been trying to hold down a job and care for our family’s, we still had a long list of things we wanted to do but nothing that would cause us to fail if they didn’t get done, which wasn’t really true as John pointed out during our weekly meeting, he told us that while we were really set for most anything we were not ready as far as fighting off a hoard of MZBG’s which covered anybody who might think what we had was theirs for the taking, human or otherwise.

Doc. Ellen who had become a close member of our family and looked to become even closer , even if she had to put Jody under and marry him while he was sleeping, Jody wasn’t blind to it all but seemed to have a hang up on the age difference thing, the rest of us knew she was going to win , Jody just hadn’t figured it out yet, I digress, anyway, Doc Ellen said come on girls they are getting the gun thing going, see the flared nostrils and the swollen necks?? Laughing they all loaded up and went to Miss Ellie’s for pie which made it much quieter but not so good smelling !

Jody asked John and Bob what they had in mind as to an armory, John said they had talked it over and had decided that we could build a really big one if we stuck to “simple” and nothing was more simple then the AK 47, made for illiterate peasants it was about the best battle rifle for the kind of area we were in here on the ranch and in this entire part of the state, close range and not inclined to give out when it got a bit dirty, also ammo was running less then 223.

Bob spoke up and said that if we kept to one battle rifle and one type handgun and shotgun it would make everything more user friendly and that besides the AK they wanted the men at least armed with 1911’s  in 45 acp of course ,but those could be fitted to the user, small hands could use the stock grip ok, big hands could opt for the wide body units with hi-cap magazines, again ammo would be standard that way, as for the shotguns, the best for our needs if it came down to real combat fighting the 870 was the best choice, not to put down other brands but the 870 was the most common. Nothing fancy, just extended mags and a good front hanging assault type sling, slug sights would be a thought but would add to the overall cost and really weren’t needed for the normal use of a short barreled shotgun, 12 ga. of course

By sticking to this plan we could use the KISS principal to the max, Jody asked about full auto, both the men shook their heads no, to hard to train folks to stay off the trigger and burns up way more ammo then the hit to miss ratio could handle, BUT! John said, I believe we should have something for use on the vehicles and in bunkers around the ranch for defense if needed, gun crews could be trained. I asked about the cost of these belt fed machine guns and John said he was working on a deal that would work since he had gotten the FFL multi class licenses which would cover all bases for the project, after talking about it a bit more Jody and I gave them the go ahead which made them act like two little boys let loose in a candy store!

After they left me and Jody sat and drank ice tea and just talked about nothing much, but I could tell he had something on his mind and waited for it to come out, I had a small inkling I knew what it was but just waited, finally he cleared his throat and opened and shut his mouth several times taking a few deep breaths until I couldn’t stand it and blurted out, Jody damnit! Just ask her, she may get tired of waiting!

Well sir his face turned red and he choked on a drink of ice tea then settled down and after a bit said you think she will say yes? And how did you know what I was thinking?

I laughed at him and said well for one thing you been acting like I did around Jade and Sally said Bob wasn’t any better , so hell yes we all know, including the Doc, so quit being a wuss and get with it, we could be outta time soon and you don’t want to be all fumble footed when the SHTF, that snapped his head up and he nodded, about that time the girls drove up and he got that deer in the head lights look all men get at this time, as the gals trooped in and flopped down the room smelled much better and all three of them looked at me then Jody then back at me, I just shrugged , at last Jody took a deep breath and blurted out to Ellen “Do ya wanna get married”  well we all burst out laughing except Ellen who said is that it, the best you can do, of course she had a sparkle in her eye.

Jody looked in a panic and jumped up and took off out the door, well now we were really wondering, but he ran to his truck and was dumping the glove box and then ran back in the door banging shut behind him.

Here he said shoving a small dusty black box at her, Sally having had enough took it from him, cleaned it off and handed it back and said now open it and take it out and show her the pretty you got there, Jody just sat down and took the box and opened it and said Ellen this isn’t the way I planned it nor the way I wanted it to be but will you marry me?

He opened the box and took out a beautiful ring, nothing too over the hill but very nice! Ellen looked at the ring and started crying and jumped into his lap and said yes, yes, yes, against his chest. And that was how the most….well not romantic, nor boring, but I guess the most entertaining engagement we had ever seen  took place on the porch of the ranch.

After that and after the ring was on Ellen’s finger the ladies kicked us out and said don’t come home till dark! As we walked out Jody said can they do that? Do what says I? You know, just kick us out like this, I looked at him a moment and said welcome to the real world you poor fool!

Then being men and having important stuff to do we went to the range and shot till dark, joined by Bob and John who laughed at my version of the story, which made Jody laugh and all was well after that.

John said to Bob well ya know it’s not every day a man gets to order an arsenal and get engaged all on that same day.

Dinner was a great time, the ladies really put on a feed, the chatter about the coming wedding never stopped and then they all started casting eyes at John who said not only no but hell no!!

Of course right then one of the ladies from the clan walked in with some dish’s and Johns head swiveled like it was not attached to his neck, the ladies all smiled and us guys just shook our heads, poor John was doomed and never heard the shot!

About a month after Jody and Ellen agreed to tie the knot the place was buzzing with activity, the women of course took over all the details, Ellen said she wanted to be married just like Jade had been, clan style, except changing her name wasn’t an option due to her Medical licenses, Jody said it wasn’t a problem that it was really between the husband and wife, it had been very important to Jade so it was done.

On the day of the wedding Jim Daniels drove in with his family, we hadn’t seen much of him since he became Sheriff, him being very busy cleaning up a 40 year old mess, but it was coming on real well and the county folks really liked him and took to calling the big reserve dept. the County National Guard, which was good for a laugh but had people in the state house looking a bit funny.

A lot of the neighboring counties were taking a very close look at their elected officials and checking the books, nothing on the scale of our county had been found yet but we all felt there would be some younger Sheriff’s winning elections in the next election cycle.

Jim said he had been approached by several of the men running for office about the size of his reserve force; he really didn’t have much of an answer for them because he couldn’t really talk about the ranch.

After a few minutes of thinking Jody said “well Jim, how about you pick out those you really trust and who you think have the best chance to win in the fall and set up a meeting and some of us will come in and have a talk with them all, Jim thought that was a great idea and said he would get right to it as soon as the weekend wedding was over.

All the folks who needed places to sleep for the next three nights were put up in the dorms which were all set up for the future ranch workers who would be living here when the SHTF.

Jim and his family were using a 2 bed room appt in the married dorm, his wife Joan had never been to the ranch so she looked around a bit, noticing a lot but not commenting then asked where the ladies were and we pointed her towards the back of the house where she found Jade and Mary, Jade said later that Joan looked at her tats and said nice!! My husband would kill me but I like it!!! She was adopted into the circle right then and there, poor Jim didn’t have a clue how his life had just turned.

I was a bit unsure how Ellen’s parents and siblings were going to handle this wedding, they seemed like real nice folks but a bit unsure around the clan folks, her dad would of course stand with her, I was just hoping it went well.

With the coming of dark and the full moon the drums began to beat and we followed the ancient way of the clan, almost all of the guests had been here before and knew what was expected and those who hadn’t were told what to do.

I was amazed at the things I saw that I had no memory of from my wedding to Jade, I stood with Jody and even though I had be there done that I still was unsure of my place but in the end it all worked out and the acceptance by the two clans of the other it was done, the old shaman seemed happy so we all took that as a sign.

Ellen’s dad had really stood up well, her mom seemed a bit shook by what must seem to be a Pagan wedding but when told that in the morning there would be a very small private “ proper” wedding she seemed ok with it all.

The feasting started and it really did howl!! I swear there were hundreds of people there, many I had never seen but all were vouched for by people we did know and passed thru the gate by a hard eyed bunch of men who looked like they should be packing rifles but weren’t, of course there was several sitting close and all had handguns out of sight. All were from Jim’s reserve department and were being paid by Jody who argued it out with Jim, and of course won, it did relieve the local crew to be able to come to the wedding .

All were also given a chit for 50% off anything in the store except guns and a years free membership to the range, which John said was cool because they would all become customers in the gun shop, John was a peddler in a past life I’m sure.

One surprise had come several hours before the wedding was to start, Miss Ellie called and said Bill Slade the Ranger had called and asked if he and his wife could come to the wedding, she called Jody who got the number and called Bill back and said please come and that had he known where to reach him he would have called himself.

Bill and his wife were both well received by us and made to feel very welcome, they were given quarters in the dorm where Jim and his wife were staying, all in all it was a good turn out and wedding, watching the goings on between some of the clan girls and the local boys who worked for the ranch businesses, I predicted a few more weddings down the road.

After the short “regular” wedding in the morning the party went on as had mine and Jades, it was a three day affair, but the third day was mostly sleeping off the nights before.

After most of the guests left the committee asked Bill and Jim to stop in before they left, while the ladies took a tour of all the gardens and other points of interest.

After we were all settled, Jody asked Jim how his training was going for the new reserve deputies; Jim said he was very pleased and that he was also sitting in on a lot of the classes to refresh some things that had got pushed down by the old sheriff.

He was real pleased with the Law classes which were being taught by one of the lawyers from Jody’s Dallas connection, what he didn’t know was that Jody had hired one of their young Lawyers to volunteer to teach the classes.

What was even more funny was that after the first few weeks the young man said he no longer needed to be paid because he was really enjoying teaching the men, and as a side note, he had asked to become a reserve himself even though it meant a long drive over to work when he could, being single he had the time and was also looking at the county attorneys job down the road as the man who had stepped into the open seat was retired and wanted to get back to golf and fishing, so it looked like the county would soon have a badge wearing ,gun toting county attorney! How sweet was this?

Bill just sat and listened and smiled a bit and then dropped his bomb, he said it seem that the Rangers were thinking about setting up an office in that part of the state and had been looking for the few men to man it, And Bill had put his name into the hat and looked like a shoo-in for the job along with 2 others who he had kinda nudged into following his lead, this caused me to raise my brows, but I noticed Jody seemed to not be surprised a bit.

Bill said since he and his wife couldn’t have kids it was just the two of them and when they sold their home in Dallas they would be looking for a place to build here in this area, I took a bit longer to get the picture then I should have but it was now clear! Jody looked smug!

We were keeping a close watch on the world events but not even as close as Song was, he kept us updated on the real events not the crap the hair sprayed talking heads on the boob tube were babbling about.

There was troubling events all over the world, some very troubling, like the fact that Israel had had it with the Palestinian bombers and were planning on showing them what a real all out Jihad looked like, they seemed to think it might wake up the survivors and if not then they would truly end it once and for all along with most of the Muslim world, this was very scary news because not one media outlet anywhere had this story, our government was working overtime to try to head it off, but the last attack had been the last straw for Israel, the PLO had used RPG’s on 3 school buses killing over 150 school kids only days before and not a peep out of the worlds media, this seemed impossible but was the truth or Song would not have told us.

Africa was going thru it’s annual mass murder of tribal factions, every tin pot dictator with a dozen gunmen under him was declaring himself king.

China and Russia were being very quiet, which was scary in its own right.

The troops in the Middle East were getting stretched thinner and thinner, so much so that sooner or later some unit was going to do a Custer and then the chit would truly hit the rotator.

We just kept prepping, the dorms were filling up as more and more people were brought in, all had some kind of skill that was going to be needed.

Live stock was bought for breeding on a small scale for now, but we had the means to expand it when needed, we could only shelter a limited number of animals so we picked well with the help of the Vet crew.

Horses were a problem because they eat so much more then a cow and unless on a true working ranch were not used enough to be worth the effort, but we had a small herd of mares with a good stock of supplies for Artificial insemination which was better then having to feed and deal with several stud horses, we had both saddle and work breeds, on thing Doc insisted on was storing the means of breeding our own Mule teams.

We now had a saddle maker set up in a small shop in the mall, one who could also build harnesses for the work stock, he had a very good supply of hides and the equipment for doing all the work along with his two sons who were learning the trade, the local ranchers were keeping him busy so he was a happy camper.

It seemed to be a never ending task to keep up with all the things needed for this end of the world project but we were working on it, It’s like a woman sending her hubby to the store with a list, knowing he will come back with everything but what was on the list, now make the list big enough to supply a large population through a few years of really hard times, now, would you send the men to shop? That’s why we guys made two lists, one for the girls to deal with and one for us guys to deal with. Simple huh?

When they asked us guys why in an end of the world situation did we feel the need to stock up on a box car load of beer, our answer?

Well babes, why the box car of hair spray, ya know, sleeping alone ain’t so hard to do, it just getting used to sleeping on the floor that sucks!

We did turn the ladies loose on the food stores and hygiene products to keep us all clean and healthy while we worked on the protection issues.

When we guys got together to discuses Johns plan to buy out half the weapons production of a COM block country he said that he was having trouble getting the quality he wanted and that most of the stuff being imported today was crap.

Jody said he would look into it and left the room to make a call or two, John and I went on putting an ammo order together, he wanted only Wolf Poly coated ammo because the US made stuff was just too high priced and the other stuff on the market was suspect as to age and quality.

He was trying to get a discount on a Simi load to start which were about 40 pallets with a hundred thousand rounds per pallet! That was 4 million rounds!!! But his plan was to have enough to barter or to arm an army if need be. The problem was finding that much in one spot, Jody came back in as we were discussing the need for that much ammo, he said he was good with it and that he had something going on some top of the line Russian AK’s from the best factory the Russians had in their glory days…

I looked at him and he smiled at me, I had a feeling where the call had gone and who was “handling it for us” but I kept quiet on it, he did ask John if 5000AK’s would be enough? Causing John to choke, it seemed like a lot to me too but I had a feeling it would come through without a hitch, he also said he had mentioned ammo too so that was taken care of.

John said while Jody was at it he should have located some belt fed squad weapons and some 50 ma deuces, Jody said he was working on that too…John just handed Jody his long shopping list and said here Boss you handle it.

Over the next few weeks trucks were pulling in daily with loads of goods the ladies were ordering, they were filling up the basements of the mall and more was being moved by the ranch crews to the shelters and tunnels.

All of us in the committee got together and walked thru every stash and checked it for any holes in the inventory, we found none, the ladies were on the ball.

They had everything from A to Z and by the ton! Heirloom seeds by the thousands all sealed in tins, I doubt there was a thing they had forgotten, I could only hope us guys had done as well….

That evening Sally said “We are gonna look pretty silly with all this stuff if nothing ever happens ain’t we? “We all laughed until Bob said well remember Y2K? Sally said yea why? Bob said well ya know Y3K is coming! Sally tossed a pillow at him and the laughter was good and relaxing, I guess it showed how uptight we had all got to be in the past year and several months since we started the project.

The amount of money spent was awesome but at the same time all the businesses we had started were showing a decent profit and were helping pay for the prep goods so it wasn’t all bad, and what would I have been doing with it if Jody hadn’t come along? Not a damn thing, just waiting to die; now I had so much to live for.

At the latest committee meeting Jody said he thought we should build a hidden bunker in the woods where the ever vigilant hunters of the clan would keep a watch on it. the big problem being how to keep things quiet about it, we brainstormed it a while until Bob suggested we look at hiring the guy who did the tunnels from the dorms to the barns, he was already aware that we were prepping for something and had proven he could keep his mouth shut .

Jody called him and he showed up the next day, very happy for work, he said things were getting real bad out there which got a conversation going about other projects on the place, Harry said that if there was enough he would buy a used concrete truck and run it back and forth to the nearby plant and handle the pour himself, closing another door to the public about the ranch, we gave him the nod and he said he’d get back in a few days, in the mean time he had his foreman bring out his backhoe to start the dig.

We walked over the area looking for a way thru the trees that wouldn’t leave big foot prints to the job site and not require dropping trees, the site was accessed from the big pathway into the village area but turned off before it,

Harry’s foreman showed up with the hoe and we watched him move it into the area with not a ripple, after deciding how big we needed it he set to work, from the house back porch we could hardly hear the machine working which was another plus.

When the ladies saw the size of the hole they couldn’t believe we needed anything that big but they hadn’t seen the weapons orders! Also Jody wanted a place big enough for the entire clan to evac to if needed.

Harry showed up a few days later with a big grin on his face, he had found a small mom and pop company who wanted to retire and had two trucks plus a remote batch plant for out of town jobs, the price was right and after looking some more he had found other work for the equipment to help close the gaps in his business, We offered to help front the purchase but Harry said no thanks he had it all done! We love it when a plan comes together.

Harry brought in just one more man to help straw boss the job and the ranch crew pitched in learning as they went, in only two weeks from first dig they had poured the footings and slab all in one pour, the slab looked thick enough to hold up a fleet of tanks! In another week the walls were formed and were ready to pour, Harry had hauled in all the rock and mix needed and the pour was started, the entire ranch came to watch it, the people of the clan were there but most were out of sight if you didn’t know where and how to look, wonderful people and not somebody to trifle with.

As a side note I mentioned to Jody one day that our forest friends seemed to be growing in numbers far beyond any birth rate increases, Jody laughed and said he had been waiting to see if anybody would notice or comment, I told him that I hadn’t until the wedding when the strange beauty walked through the room stopping John in mid denial of wanting a woman in his life, seems the word was out to the rest of the clans in our area that maybe it was time to join together on the ranch as the bad times were coming …..Again.

I asked how many new ones had come in and Jody said he had no idea but Jade said close to a hundred! That made my jaw drop, how could we gain that many people and not know it, Jade laughed and ask me how many of the clan did I see day to day, I had to think a bit and said well, the ones who chose to work out in public and live in the dorms for the most part… She said well then why would you notice more unless there was a gathering?  Jody and Ellen’s wedding took place at night by moon and fire light as had all clan weddings for god knows how long ,so that was why I had not noticed the extra people, but building a house under the earth was just too much for the clan so they all came to watch.

Then it was time to pour the roof on the bunker and that took a lot of work just getting the support beams set and the steel laid in over the plywood which was covered with diesel to make it easier to remove from inside when the roof was set up.

That pour was a big one and took all day and a few hours of night, but It was done and would in a few weeks of curing be ready to be covered over, the main entry door was thru a tunnel from the nearest building and another that opened in the Shamans hut and hidden under the dirt floor but removing a couple of feet of earth and there it was.

About 2 weeks after the pour Harry and his crew started covering the roof slab, using a small dozer they very gently pushed the dirt and used compactors to beat it down tight, with a constant check on the inside it was soon done and the dozer ran back and forth it to further compact it, then the top soil was re-laid and the next day the clan ladies decided it was a great garden spot and soon there would be corn and other things growing over the bunker.

Now we waited for the supplies that would be stored there.

In the mean time the new County Government was working hard to make this a wonderful place to live, with friendly words of advice large community gardens were being planted on vacant lots in the towns and cared for by all who wished to help, the equipment was provided by the county as was the operators, the thought being that all our taxes paid for the stuff so why not let all the people benefit from it, it was truly amazing to see the people of the county come together on the projects being built. Thanks to the money recovered from the hidden accounts of the former crooks there was money for plenty of projects, and with a tiny bit of help from donations for some things, like our donation of all the seeds for the gardens, heirloom of course and several people had been informed about saving seeds, there seemed to be a lot more peppers then we had thought in the area and it wasn’t hard to get them up to speed on sharing their ideas with others.

We also ordered a Simi full of jars and lids for canning, along with a large number of large All American canners, these were sold at cost to those who wanted their own, the rest were to be used in the community canning centers that the prepper ladies were opening up all over the county, folks that had never gardened for whatever reason were coming out in droves to learn, We were really blown away with it all, but so very happy with it.

One project we helped push thru with the county was the need for community “Storm shelters” ( it helps when you have open minds on the commission ) so those projects were in the works, some folks wondered why they were so big and why they had bathrooms and water to them, but were told that by getting civil defense money ( which we didn't touch!! keeping that camel's nose out of the tent) it was required, and when they were built each was going to have large storage rooms to be opened by only a few very trusted people, all members of Jim’s SO dept. and most were going to be built  to house about 100 people without being crushed, only a small trusted few knew that later, by the light of the moon the supplies for those sheltering would be placed in the inner vaults and that there would be weapons and ammo as well as a small medical area in the vault room… we knew we couldn’t protect everybody from a nuke, but from MZBG’s? Or an out of control central government? We hoped so…

It has been hard to plan for the future of the folks here in our little corner of the world without spilling the whole sack of beans, a lot of them would most likely have screamed to the heavens at the idea of it all but we were of the mind set that should have been used on the enviroterrorist, “shut up and sit down, were they going to be required to head for the shelters? Were they going to be required to fight the MZBG’s in the trenches? Nope they can just be Zombie food.

One of the biggest helps we had was dear ol Miss Ellie, she was known by folks from all the surrounding towns and counties and she spread the prepping idea like it was the holy word. And her many friends knew her well enough to know if she was worried they best be and those old gals really got on the butts of their grown kids and grand kids, it seemed every school that had a home ec classes now had even boys signing up. There was a very not so quiet revival going on in not just this county but parts of the surrounding counties as well.

Jody said that one day we would have to come out of the shadows a tiny bit and start talking some about what we saw coming but he wasn’t sure how to do it without drawing too much attention from Washington and the State house that was the last thing we wanted or needed.

But in the mean time we just kept doing what we could and putting open minded people out there to talk up the whole prepping idea. Jim’s entire dept. was involved in the movement, they talked to their friends and advised them that it might be wise to maybe forgo the newest toy of the moment in favor of a new generator or a spare set of new tires for their vehicles, and why buy a new truck when the old one was paid for, common sense being spread like peanut butter, smooth…..

We did avoid trying to get many teachers involved unless they were already of a mind set, too many today were to the left of center and we didn’t need that fight.

But the head of the school board was involved thru the reserve dept and he set about a way to give extra credits for things that were above the usual home ec classes, things like working in a school garden project with the food going to the needy and elderly in the area, the same with raising a calf or rabbits to be made into food for these folks.

It was kinda like a small working peace corps thing with no government involvement, and it was working smooth as glass, the LEO’s all noticed a drop in youth problems, also there was a very popular Police cadet program where the high school students could ride along a few times then decide if they wanted to join the cadets which was a training program that helped a lot of kids find a place to hang out with their peers instead of on the streets, extra credits were given for that also.

We at the ranch could not believe the changes in such a short time, and a lot of it was brought on by Jim’s midnight visit to us which got the ball rolling.

Most of this wasn’t even in our plan, it happened because when the people had the chance to pull control of their local government from the hands of the crooks they really went to work with it, to bad it couldn’t be done on a national or even State level, but we were just glad it happened here because we now had a much better chance of rebuilding when the time came.

At the ranch things were slowing down to a nice pace, we had come so far in a short time, Jody and Ellen took time for their honeymoon, Jade and I spent a lot of time walking the whole place and even camped out a few nights, also we did a lot of shooting, she had really taken to it like she does everything else, full bore..

She wanted to pick out her own hand guns (yes with an “S”) and picked a Colt commander in 45 acp for her main gun and a Ruger LCP for her carry gun, the long heavy trigger on the little LCP bothered her a bit but she came to grips with it just as she did with the Commander grip, John did put thinner grip panels on for her and that helped, she was getting better and better with it.

It was a nice quiet week but we were happy to see the newly weds roll in, Ellen had fit in like an extra pea in a pod; she was very good for Jody too.

Toward the middle of fall we got a call from Miss Ellie asking Jody and I to come to the café after the usual coffee clutchers were gone, we arrived at 10:00 to find the place empty except for Miss Ellie and an old gentleman I had never seen before, He stood up kind of slowly but stood straight and his hand shake was firm, Ellie introduced him to us as Ely Stone, who it turned out owned about 300 acres next to our place, After we were settled and had our coffee and some pie , Ely got right to it, saying he wanted to sell us his place ! He said he was 90 years old and was born on the place and had never left except for the War years, his wife was dead as was all his kin folks, and they had never had any kids so it was time to do something before the state got involved. He was aware of what we were doing in the area and had even seen some of the clan hunters in the forest near his property line but they never came on his land and waved when they saw him, nice folks he said, bit strange and wild looking but nice and polite.

We had thought about that place in the past few months but didn’t have a clue it might be for sale or even who owned it and after 10 years in the town I should have known.., Jody said well I think Sam will agree with me that we want your place so you name your price and if we can afford it we will close the deal with a shake how’s that?

Ely smiled and said well sir I think that’s a good way to do business, as to the price, well I want you to take me into your plans and let me and Ellie have a place in your fort when the time comes.

He then explained that he had been asking Ellie to marry him for 25 years since after his wife died, Ely had gone off to the same war Ellie’s intended had got killed in and they were best of friends, so when he came home and married his sweetheart the three of them had stayed life long friends,

Ellie spoke up and said as yawl know I never married after Ben didn’t make it home and I think it’s time to share my life with somebody and Ely is my best and oldest friend, so we intend to get hitched and live here in the café till things go to hell as yawl seem to think it will.

Ely spoke up again and said, boys I have nobody to leave the place to and in truth the old house is gonna fall down one day, but the hay fields are prime and the woods have a lot of game, and there’s still a bunch of cattle in there, wild as can be but they are still good to eat! So yawl take care of us when we get too old to do for ourselves and it’s yours, I have the deed and we can head to the county to sign it over.

Jody smiled and shook his head and said well Ely, you drive a hard bargain but I guess we can handle it.

Hands were shook, hugs for Miss Ellie and they agreed to head over to get the paper work done right then and get back in time to meet the girls for lunch because when they heard the wedding news it was gonna be a wild time!

When they got to the County offices they were surprised to find that Jim had moved his office to the Court house. When asked, he said he felt that folks would be more apt to stop in a visit there then in the “cop shop” he had an older lady as a secretary and “Guardian of the gate” to keep the traffic down, Jim said it was working real well because folks were stopping by with information. Some of which was very useful and was helping resolve several ongoing cases, nothing big but the small stuff that kept the Sheriffs Dept busy.

We didn’t stay long with him as we had to get the land business done and get Ely home; he said he didn’t want to miss the 4:00 farm report.

After the deed transfer was done we did have lunch with Jim and headed home, Ely talking about all the changes he had seen in his long life and Jody filled him in on the Ranch things that Miss Ellie hadn’t told him about.

He surprised both men by saying he wanted to do some handgun shooting as he used to be real good, and also that he’d love to work in the gun store to be around the young guns as he called them, we thought that was a wonderful idea, he would be busy and feel useful and god knows he had more information about farming and related issues in his head then any of us.

We stopped by the “Gun Shop” as the sign informed the world and introduced Ely to John who was delighted to have him, and when John learned of the up and coming wedding he was really happy for the two oldest members of our extended families.

John said he needed to speak with us later so we returned Ely to the care of his bride to be and headed back to the shop, John said he had been thinking about the idea of having the Jonas brothers look at rebuilding a few heavy duty diesel trucks and “up armor” them for “later” as he put it, his idea was to make them like patrol rigs that could take hits from most anything that would be in the hands of BG’s.

It sounded like a good idea to me and Jody so the three of us went to see the brothers who were really happy in their new garage which they had designed as their dream place, they had several high school boys working as apprentices which was really going well as all of them were also in Auto Shop class in school and were getting extra credits for their work here plus earning wages and as a added bonus were allowed to use the shop to work on their own vehicles on the weekends.

It was decided to buy some older Ford diesel one ton trucks with dual wheels and then rebuild them from the ground up John drew out a sketch of what he had in mind which looked more like a military patrol rig which got us to thinking about military surplus, which led to the internet which led to Government auctions, where we discovered just what we needed could be bid on, the biggest problem was finding a small lot of what we wanted to work with, John said he would handle the research on that end, in the mean time we decided to go ahead with the Ford project as it was being called because we felt having a fleet of big work trucks that wouldn’t be effected by an EMP would be very smart and we could use them every day on the place because they wouldn’t look like military rigs, but would still be lightly armored in understated ways.

After acquiring Ely’s land we had a meeting with the Clan leaders and told them they could now spread out into that area and the new comers could have room to expand their living areas, the hunters were delighted with the addition although most had been on the land already in their own patrols but none had hunted it and the game was getting thin on the ranch, this made everybody happy and we left them working on their new found wealth…

I told Jody that things were coming together way to easy and fast and the other shoe had to drop sooner or later but he just smiled that Jody smile and said Sam, everything is moving into place in it’s own time and way, all we do is provide the path and get out of the way.

I had to admit that was true, in truth he and I had nothing to do but make new ideas and needs a reality.

We had a very unexpected but much welcome visitor this week, Song dropped in out of the blue surprising even Jody, after all the hand shaking and back slapping and the girls off planning a feast for the whole ranch we guys settled down on the porch with ice tea and some conversation.

Song said things were getting even worse then last report and he decided to take some time off and come see us in person to report on it.

He said the Dollar was getting ready to take a major hit due to a under the table deal cooked up between the Chinese and OPEC, their plan was to switch to the Euro and dump their dollars before they did also they would sell the treasury bills they were holding taking a loss didn’t bother them at all, mostly it was a plan designed to cripple the dollar and cause as much damage to the US as possible, Songs advice was to convert all our dollars to gold and silver and real metals not paper certificates .

After talking it over Jody and I agreed that we could convert most of our assets but would need to keep a goodly bit of cash in accounts to handle the expenses we would have on a day to day basis, but then we decided to convert that cash to gold certificates which were growing at a good rate with the value of metals moving as it was.

One phone call to our brokers and bankers did the job but of course they tried their best to talk us out of it or to at least just convert it all into stock market numbers in a computer, but in the end they did as told, then asked how the metals were to be bought, after more talk with Song we told them we wanted small denominations of coins for the most part, American and Canadian, and a goodly amount of junk silver coins.

We were told to expect a private security delivery in a couple of weeks. When we figured out the volume we had to buy several large gun safes to store it all in and we put them in the new big bunker near the clan village, who better to guard it all?

Song also told us there was a delivery coming that would require payment in gold at the time of the delivery and he would be here for that. Both of us had an idea what this was about but we never spoke about it aloud.

The day the Gold arrived it was in a non descript truck that had rental markings on it, but when it was backed into place behind the mall which was as close as we wanted the delivery crew to get to the ranch it was very obvious it was an armored unit after the doors were opened there was a crew of 5 all heavily armed men involved in security for the shipment, and with Jody and John and Bob and myself it still took us almost an hour to unload the crates into the back of the gun shop, the crates were sealed and after checking it all out Jody and I signed for it and the truck and crew left.

Now using the store help we loaded it in 3 pick ups and headed for the bunker where we stacked the boxes and the store crew left except for John and Bob who helped open and inventory the contents, I can attest that gold fever is a real, very real thing, we all just stood stunned looking at the first box we opened, we then decided that if the count was off so be it and just loaded the rest of the boxes into the safes. It was very heavy tiring work! But we felt maybe we had done a smart thing and had no regrets and what the hell we could  always just load a sack into a car and drive  to the bank and convert it to cash, well we thought we could, gold once gotten is not all that easy to handle, it seems you have to go though a metals broker who buys and sells actual metals and issues a check from their bank which can then be cashed or taken as cashiers checks which was fine with us as we weren’t planning to do any converting very soon if ever, we still had enough to handle the ranch business and the mall businesses were making a profit so we were fine for now.

In the last days of fall we got a call from a man who only said he had a shipment for us and that it was C.O.D. were we prepared to accept it?

We said we would meet him at the gun shop and headed that way with a sack of gold coins, the truck was parked behind the shop with John and Bob standing with the driver, he had a bill of lading that showed a truck load or “Crates of farm equipment” the price alone was enough to raise any eyebrows but the required payment in Gold was even more so.

We took the driver into the store and counted out the required amount based on the day’s spot price for Gold. After he counted it we tossed in another $1000.00 in coins with the advice to disremember where he delivered the load. He smiled big and said what load?   We took him over to my old house where he could bunk down while we unloaded the truck, after driving it back to the bunker it took the four of us and 10 of the clans men 4 hours to unload it and get it stored. After taking the truck back and parking it at the  house we headed home to bed but come morning all four of us and the ladies went to the bunker and started looking over the shipment, there was more 7.62x39 ammo then we could count and crate after crate of new   AK-47’s from the 60’s and 70’s…

Five of the crates were marked with red X’s and looked different; opening them produced even a yelp out of me! Inside was 5 good old American made M-60 belt fed machine guns!!! I had not seen one since my Army days and had only fired one once in training, these baby’s were the cat’s ass! Somebody someplace was missing some goodies! I looked at Song who was smiling like a cat with a mouse.

When I asked about them Song replied with a smile… and we all said “If I tell ya I gotta kill ya!” and laughed, so there sitting on the floor was 25 brand new US Military 7.62 x 51 Machine guns and enough belted ammo to fight a large war and nobody was talking… we closed the crate and lugged them away and out of sight for now..

We opened a crate of the AK-47’s and they looked brand new, still in protective grease like they had just left the factory, there was a lot of cleaning here to do…

Jody said we would clean enough to arm everybody who lived on the ranch and worked in the shops, after that the rest would stay protected until we needed to issue them.

After closing the bunker heavy blast door we headed for the house and breakfast, While the girls were fixing it I asked Jody where this stuff had come from, he just shook his head and shrugged, Song smiled

Jody and I along with Jade, Sally, Bob and John was now the Committee; Ellen was offered a seat but was just too busy to take the time. We held meeting every Friday evening to discuss the week and plan for the coming week. Most of the place was doing just fine with the people who were in charge; mostly Jody and I were the ones to deal with expenditures above the day to day dealings the store managers handled, which left us free time to wonder what we were forgetting.

On this Friday we got a call from the Gun Shop that Ranger Bill was there and wanted to come in to the ranch proper, Jody told the young man on the phone that Bill had full permission to come and go as he wished and to pass the word.

Shortly Bill and Joan drove in where we greeted them in the front parking area, Ellen and Jade came out and took over Joan and disappeared, Bill joined the rest of us on the porch and shortly the ladies brought out some snacks and a bucket of iced beer then sat down with us, we made small talk for a while then Bill cleared his throat and said Boy’s we got our place sold, did real well on it too, and we need a home, got any ideas?

Jody smiled and said Bill, Joan; you’re as welcome here as can be, if you want to build here fine, if you want to just take an apartment in the married dorm for a while or for as long as you want that’s fine too, whatever we can do for you we will.

Bill said well Jody we kinda figured you’d say that and we thank you but right now I think my job might be a problem at least until I retire, it could be misconstrued.

Jade spoke up and said you know Mr. Ely’s place isn’t even as bad as he said it was and with a bit of work it could be a very nice place also it would put friends on that side of the property. Damn she was cute when she got all business like but I wisely kept my mouth shut on that. But she did have a good idea, so with several hours of good light left we headed over there, I had only driven past the place one time when Jody and I took a tour with Ely, and we didn’t go in the house, it was still filled with his life so to speak but Jade and Sally had ask him if they could go see it and he said honey it’s yours do as you wish and that he would get some boys to help move his stuff to the dump pretty soon.

We got there and Jade had the key and opened the place up and I was very surprised, it was much nicer then he had let on and after an hour of looking Bill and Joan said it would be perfect for them if Ely wanted to sell it, Jody said well I’ll bet you can get a good deal on it if you want to buy it, but why not lease it long term and use your sale money to fix it up the way you want it?

After we returned home we sat on the porch and talked about the place, Joan loved it as it was built in the early 1900’s and was stone with a fairly new metal roof. Bill asked how to get in touch with the owner and Jody said well let me talk to him and see what he will do, get some rest here tonight and I’ll go see him in the morning. Bill and Joan agreed and we settled down to a fun night of just relaxing.

In the morning Jody took Bill and Joan to the café to meet Ellie and Ely where it was explained who owned the place and how it came to be.

Jody said he was will to deed the house and as much land as Bill and Joan wanted back to Ely who could sell it to them for an agreed on price, leaving the ranch out of it and no conflict of interest. All agreed and a price was settled on that was agreeable by all and Ely said he would finance it! For 10 % down and $500.00 a month until both he and Ellie were dead. Then he could leave it in his will to whoever he wished right?

All agreed that it was a smoking deal for Bill and Joan so it was done with a hand shake and a check for 10 % down, and the deed papers would be drawn up that week, Ely said he and Ellie would go through the place and see what they wanted , the rest was the new owners to keep or dump, Joan said Ely there are some very beautiful old antiques in that house and he laughed and said well Missy me an Ellie are  antiques so I guess we don’t need more.

That deal was done and handled to everybody’s satisfaction and we all headed home to the ranch, Bill and Joan were very happy and so were we, the far side of our place was now covered by a Ranger and patrolled by the clan which made Bill very happy because it was very alone out there and when he was gone at night he worried, after meeting several of the Clan’s hunters who were moving into a new village complex near to the house and two of the girls had already asked to work in the house which Joan thought would be ok, she said she wasn’t used to having hired help and was told she still didn’t , that all the expenses of the ranch operation was paid for by the LLC so therefore the young ladies pay was paid by the ranch which cause Bill to shake his head, he said I have got to be careful about things like that, if audited I need to show I paid fair wages to them, so that’s how it was done. The girls didn’t care as long as they got paid!!  It takes money to buy pigs for a girl’s dowry.

That’s a joke son…

One thing we didn’t tell anybody but the committee and a few of the clan about the hidden bunker and its contents, that was our surprise and if and when we had to break out that stuff there wouldn’t be anybody to care.

For the most part we had done all we could to off set the end of days as we saw it and of the most part just settled down to living our lives.

We had about 20 young folks living in the dorms, most worked in the stores and the rest taking care of the ranch chores, the green houses were mostly setting ready to be put into use as the gardens cared for by the clan women were giving us more then we could use or can, so we built a road side open sided shed by the road at the mall and the Clan girls who wanted to work outside the village  were in charge of handling the gathering, cleaning and selling of the produce, they got half the money and the rest went to the village for anything they wanted or needed that we didn’t have or produce, I never had any idea what they might need because anything they wanted the ranch provided on request. But if it made them happy then so be it. And we had a very happy place on the ranch, nobody killed themselves working to hard and yet one could stay busy doing something.

Ellen had her clinic, Jade spent a few hours a day with the village women just being one of the clan, Sally had the store but had asked about setting up classes for the clan children, that was a good idea so she spent a few hours in the afternoon being a teacher to a class of the most well behaved kids ever seen, all wanted to learn, all wanted to be there and all were fast learners.

I guess not having stupid video games to stare at all day had its points, they spend the mornings learning about being a productive member of the clan and the afternoons learning to fit in with the rest of us. Even the youngest  boys were taken into the woods to learn to hunt with their small crossbows made by  their fathers, the local Squirrel  population was taking a beating but the clan loved squirrel fixed any way they could so the ladies were happy, the fathers were proud of their sons, it still  made me smile to see a 5 year old boy slip out of the woods with his small crossbow and a  bunch of whatever got in front of the arrows, anything was ok for the big stew pot in the village fire pit until one of the youngsters came in with a skunk, he was sent to the river with a bar of  soap and his prize to bury, from that day on all the boys knew about skunks.

Some evenings we sat in the village at the central fire and listened to the old men talk about being in their native mountains, Jade and Jody translated for Ellen and me.

I knew I would never understand the language but Jade had taken to talking to me in it and as strange as it seemed I was getting some of it so maybe some day.

The stories were fun for the most part, sometimes they talked of the times when the bad men came to the mountains and the fights and the clansmen lost in the battles, but also how the bad men would run away because it’s hard to fight a spirit in the forest, and because a cross bow bolt makes no sound and nobody could tell where to shoot so they sprayed the whole forest before running away, in time the men were all armed with AK’s taken from the dead.

But they still used the cross bows to fight with, they were saving the guns and ammo for the day when they would need to fight a bigger bunch of the bad men as they called the Viets, all viets were the enemy, North, South or in between, to them anybody not of the hill tribes was the enemy, which at times caused a lot of trouble since they would shoot the ARVN troops as fast as a VC.. And laugh all the way home!!

All in all we had a very good life even knowing one day it would change, and we all knew one day it would change.

At midnight of Dec /Jan 2010 as America and most of the rest of the world, celebrated the New Year, on the Border between Mexico and the U.S. border town Chocó Az. a convoy of vehicles, some painted as Mexican Military rolled across the border and right thru the small border crossing check point, the two US Customs officers on duty didn’t know it, they had been dead for 10 minutes, next to run afoul of these intruders was a  car with 2 couples of teenagers who chose that time to drive to the border because one of the Girls dad was on duty and she wanted to wish him a happy new year, she was too late, for both of them, the young man driving the car never saw the oncoming truck as it’s lights were out and it was moving fast, with only a few seconds he did swerve and was only clipped by the heavy bumper of  the truck but it was enough to flip the car, the truck just kept going as did the five behind it, the last vehicle was a large 4x4 SUV, it pulled over and 2  men jumped out running to the car, all of the kids were hurt and crying in pain which lasted only a few more seconds as the 2 men shot each in the head, then ran to their vehicle where the driver waited , then hit the gas, in moments there was only quiet in the desert again.

The convoy moved fast on down the road then into the small town, where the entire police force was sitting in their car, complaining about missing the party’s going on, both were very surprised to hear then see 6 big trucks followed by a black Suburban race past them.

Charley Cain grabbed the mike to call the county Sheriff’s dispatcher as Ben Hardy hit the gas and the red lights, Charley had just got the message across to the Dispatcher when they saw the Suburban stop in the road with no break lights, as Ben hit the brakes the two men in the road opened fire with AK-47’s on full auto and chopped the car to bits, neither Officer knew what hit them. One of the shooters ran to the now smoking car and tossed in an object that within seconds burst into white hot fire, another 10 seconds and the car was a raging inferno.

Eight Americans were now dead in the opening 20 minutes of the opening stages of a whole new border war and almost nobody knew anything about it, except for a now wide awake dispatcher who was calling her patrol car and getting no answer.

She then called the Border Patrol station in the next town 10 miles up the road, by the time she explained what her Deputy had told her the convoy was almost to the BP station, as it passed the Suburban pulled over and this time 4 men got out and opened fire on the building blowing out all the windows, one of the shooters ran forward and tossed two grenades in a window followed by another Thermite grenade, they then loaded up and took off..

Shortly the trucks found and turned onto a dirt road and followed it for several  miles where the lead driver turned off into a deserted ranch yard, there the men parked the trucks in and behind an old barn and waited a few minutes, soon another vehicle pulled into the yard and 4 men got out of it, one of them carried a large case and handed it to one of the men from the suburban , not a word was exchanged, all the Mexican men got into the SUV and it rolled away at a quick pace, as the dust settled more vehicles could be heard heading to the old ranch, soon 2 SUV’s pulled in and several men got out.

They were pointed to the barn and in moments the trucks rolled out and following one SUV and followed by the other the new convoy headed out.

The first crew wasn’t done yet, they headed toward another town sitting on another crossing , as they pulled into town they could see the activity around the local police dept. where officers were piling out of the building ready to roll out, as the SUV pass the station it slowed and from the passengers side windows came a massive burst of full auto fire taking down all the men in the street, then the fire was aimed into the building windows with a repeat of the earlier attack and the Thermite blew with the same results as before, except this time people were still alive inside, for a short time.

Rolling out of town the SUV headed for the border crossing where it was met with a blast of gun fire from the Customs guards and a two man border Patrol unit that had just checked in, the SUV rolled to a stop short of the border and a very hot fire fight followed for the next 5minutes.

Just when they thought they had won the Border guards heard an oncoming vehicle from the Mexican side, it was a Jeep with paint and markings of the Mexican Army on it, and it had a belt fed machinegun mounted in the back which to the horror of the Americans opened fire on them!

It was over in seconds, the SUV survivors ran for the Jeep and it roared away, leaving 3 dead Mexicans and 3 dead Americans, one of the Border Patrolmen had his vest on and had been hit hard by sub gun fire just before the big gun on the jeep raked his area, had he been on his feet he would have died along with the other 3 men.

In the days after it was found that some of the dead were in fact members of the Mexican Army, this did not go over well with the locals who swore there would be blood for blood revenge for the murders of their friends and family members.

It wasn’t  long in coming, 4 days later a patrol of Mexican troops in an open truck were ambushed when they crossed a few feet into the US, leaving 6 dead, and now the Mexican Army was vowing to get their revenge.

Soon there was an all out war between the Americans on one side and the Mexicans on the other, the drug gangs and other groups were ready and happy to fight the hated “Gringos” and the Americans were just as ready to spill “Greaser blood”, soon even with the border Patrol doing it’s best the two sides were shooting at each other from across the line, what started out as an apparent drug deal had turned into a war.

The fighting soon spread all along the border and right into the border cities, East LA was in flames with the gang bangers shooting at any white person they saw, but soon it was apparent to the bangers that what they thought to be cowardly whites were in fact not cowards, the bangers were finding out that what they took as cowardly conduct was just the outer coating of what Americans took as being civilized , but as the Japanese  and Germans learned, Americans are truly the sleeping dragon of myth. soon the more militant whites were taking the war right into the barrios, the police weren’t able to stop it and the National Guard while looking like they were working at stopping it were in fact perfectly willing to see it happen after a lot of the Mexican Americans in the guard turned their weapons on the white guardsmen, they too joined in the battle.

It was sweeping the entire border region, as the drug lords and Mexican military armed the ones who wanted to “Take back what was stolen”.

Most of America sat glued to their TV’s watching the all out war that was raging on the nightly news, but not all were watching, many were loading up their cars and trucks and heading for the fighting as American men always have for the most part.

The fighting was moving into the other states that had large Mexican populations, the cause was usually local bangers deciding they wanted in on the excitement, and meeting up with perfectly willing Anglos who were very happy to get it on with them.

What nobody knew was that none of it had to do with drugs and the trucks didn’t hold drugs, they held 80 men who could almost pass as Mexicans but who were Jihad’s, all trained to use the many weapons and explosives they carried with them, the drug lords were getting a huge payday for their part and the side benefit of seeing their brothers taking the fight to the hated Americans, they did not care what the ragheads were going to do, it wasn’t their problem.

During the days fighting was raging on the border the terrorist were spreading out all over the country preparing to bring the “Jihad” to the Great Satan.

We were, like everybody in the country watching the news and wondering if this was the starting acts of the worst to come. Jody had been in touch with Song and was told that it would be very wise to stick close to the ranch and to avoid the obvious places that might be a target.

We had in turn passed the information on to Jim who had heard nothing not on TV and it had been quiet in this part of Texas. We told him as soon as we had more info we would let him know and he promised to do the same.

Bill dropped in and told us what he knew and that it was suspected that the trucks involved in the initial crossing may have had people not drugs as cargo, but nobody knew for sure. But that if it got worse he would like for Joan to come over to the main ranch as he was going to be working the border.

Song contacted us from a pay phone and told us that it was suspected that the drug lords had smuggled in terrorist, when asked how we would know he said well when the first car bomb goes off.

After the attacks on the school buses in Israel things were very quiet over there, so quiet that most of the world saw it as the lull before the storm, but the stupid fanatics thought they had put the hated Jews in their place and had them hiding in fear, it never ceases to amaze me at how stupid those bastards really are, they thought that by blowing up 3 school buses they would bring fear to the hearts of the Israelis? God they were stupid.

In Feb while the world watched the US and Mexico embroiled in what amounted to a war, the Israelis just watched and listened and waited, they knew that sooner of later the fools who planned the attack would have to come out of hiding and dance around singing about how brave they were when killing children, and they did, at a huge rally the leaders of the faction who planed and executed the attack came out to accept the praise of their people.

The Israelis waited until the wild eyed fanatical leaders were up on the back of a truck and then sent in 5 cruise missiles, when the smoke cleared there was nothing left of a 4 square block in the heart of Beirut, and the entire leadership of the faction was gone along with several thousand of their supporters, there was complete silence across the land, never had this happened, never had the Jews retaliated like this. Never had they showed so many disregards for the non combatants, never…

Now they had and now they were prepared to carry the fight to everybody in the Middle East who wanted Israel dead. And they were there by the thousands, the tens of thousands, Millions…

In the hours after the attack, the entire leadership of the Israeli Government stood together and listened when their leader informed the Moslem world that from this day forward anybody calling for  the destruction of Israel would be met with force, anybody.

That the time for talking was over that all Israel wanted was to live in peace but it was willing to die for that peace and willing to wipe out all of Islam to do it.

And of course the very next day the evil looking old man in Iran stood in the open and demanded to a crowd of many thousands that Israel die! That a jihad was now declared and all of Islam would fight !And the crowd went wild cheering and waving signs, and in the 5 minutes he had  left on the earth the crazy old mad man waved and smiled.

They never heard the cruise missiles coming nor did they know when they went off, it was over so fast that once again only silence was heard, then the crying and screaming started, they had been warned; they only had to just agree that the Israeli people had a right to live but they couldn’t do it.

The US state department was going crazy trying to kiss everybody’s ass in the Middle East; they didn’t notice that there was a lot less ass to kiss.

When the Sec. of state issued a long and scathing call for the Israelis to stand down the Israelis closed their embassy and left after leaving a letter telling the US to shut the hell up, they were tired of bleeding while Americans danced with the devil for oil and that Americans needed to wake up before it was too late when it came to dealing with the Moslem world.

The letter was also sent to every large news outlet where it was of course picked apart by the so called “Experts” who knew less then most people.

For two weeks there was an unearthly quiet in the Middle East, then Iran declared war on Israel and launched missiles of their own, none made it to within 50 miles of the border of Israel, all of the ones fired from Israel made it to their targets wiping out almost the entire infrastructure of the country. No lights, no water, no leaders. All gone in the space of an hour.

Israel never said a word, just kept on living, But their borders were closed so tight that a mouse could not make it through, the Israelis military rounded up every Moslem living in the country and after checking them they were told it was their choice, they could stay if they could live in peace, or if not they could leave, taking all their property. Very few left and then only the hot headed young men all vowing to return. The ones who stayed were issued an ID card that they were required to carry at all times.

Everybody knew the time was coming when the Moslem world would attack, and most of the world knew that if it came to it Israel would go out in a ball of fire that once and for all would solve the Arab / Israel problem.

The whole world was holding its breath waiting for the bright glow of the nukes over the Middle East; everybody knew it would happen just not when.

Three weeks after the outbreak in the Middle East, a car bomb went off in a Jewish neighborhood in the suburbs of New York, it was parked in front of a large restaurant where several hundred people were holding a traditional Jewish wedding.

The blast took down the entire building, the charge was in a van with sand bags inside to direct the blast, in front of the charge was boxes of nails, the first responders were on film throwing up after going into the shell of the building, but the worst was yet to come, 45 minutes after the blast, a car driven by a dark skinned man crashed through the barriers and when in the middle of the emergency workers it too blew up. The whole thing caught on film by a camera crew in an overhead news chopper which also got hit with wreckage from the blast and was lucky enough to make a controlled crash in the next street over. Nobody was injured in that crash.

America watched in horror as the results of the blast stayed on the news channels , all in all over 500 people died in the blast, only a few were pulled from the building, the emergency workers caught in the second attack were more lucky because the blast went up more then out but  many died, many more wounded.

The war Jody had talked about had come to America, and the people were showing themselves to be truly sheeple, calls from all sides for gun control, yet not a shot had been fired except in the border wars flaring up almost daily someplace at or near the border, The fools in Congress were all red faced and seeing who could come up with the most restrictive new laws, as if we had attacked ourselves.

Things had quieted down in the weeks after the bombings but  we knew it  was far from over, and on a nice Saturday morning two men walked into a large mall and opened fire with AK’s after throwing grenades down on the second level, it was shooting fish in a barrel, then they started walking fast thru the building shooting with great control, one firing while the other reloaded, At last their luck ran out when three men who had their CCW weapons with them took the men under fire, the two gunmen were both killed and one of the brave citizens.

The first thing the cops did when they got there was to cuff the two men who had stopped the killing, the crowd that gathered almost lynched the cops who were saved by their supervisor who arrived in time to effect the release of the two men, but he wouldn’t return their weapons saying they needed them to compare bullets recovered from the scene, one of the men said on camera that the only place they would find his bullets was in the dead men.

Once again the sheeple of the Brady bunch bleated about how guns caused the massacre, while ignoring the fact that it was three armed citizens who saved the day, not the police.

It was determined that the shooters were from the Middle East as were their weapons. The media clowns were babbling a mile a minute trying to out freak each other and the people sat glued to their boob tubes believing these fools knew any more then they did!

At last a tape was delivered to the media, the speaker claimed that his group of brave freedom fighters only wanted peace and the destruction of Israel of course and were prepared to keep killing Americans until we came to our senses and stopped supporting Israel, all in the name of God of course.

A week later a Van stopped in the street in front of an elementary school and 3 men using 3 RPG’s fired a total of 15 rockets into the school and then calmly drove off.

This time the people doing the yelling weren’t the sheeple, it was the silent majority, calling for a Jihad of our own and the President went on TV and said as soon as he knew who to shoot he’d damn well shoot the S.O.B.’s but this didn’t help much.

And across  the land the American people were looking more and more at the Moslem communities that has sprung up around the country, resentment was high because these people came here to be free but had never tried to become a part of the country, instead they brought their country with them and refused to even learn the language .

Jody and I sat watching the latest news and just shook our heads in disbelief as our so called leaders just mouthed their own party line, none willing to speak up on their own, no guts in the whole damn bunch.

A week later the newest leader in Iran ordered the launching of over a  hundred missiles at Israel, some got through the anti missile screens and as it turned out they were packing gas, as thousands across Israel were choking to death the sky’s lit up over Teheran and a big piece of the country was turned to glass.

Pandora’s box was opened and the lid would never be closed again, every Moslem country in the middle east opened fire with whatever they had, none of which was much, Israel did not use nukes against those countries that did not use WMD’s but their cruise missiles were pin point and the Capitals of most of the middle east were history.

World markets started crashing as a result of the wars in the Middle East; the dollar crashed and took down the entire economy over night, the same in all of Europe.

The President was on TV begging the American people to please be calm and give his plans a chance. But that was wasted breath, the riots started when it became clear that there was going to be no checks in the mail, for anybody, the usual suspects decided that it was time to riot and burn and it started.

Every major city reported fires burning out of control, firemen and cops being shot at when they tried to get thru the riot areas, soon it was clear that nothing was going to save the areas that were burning, so the fire fighters pulled back and set up lines to fight the oncoming fires, the rioters were now running ahead of the fires and starting new ones, it was madness, and of course the booze from all the stores they were looted didn‘t help.

When the two lines came together somebody from the rioters groups started shooting at the cops, who fired back, soon the dead and wounded were piled up in rows and yet they came on, shooting as they came, many were using full auto AK’s and it became clear the riots were planned and the killing was meant to make things even worse.

Somebody had armed the rioters with weapons not openly available on the streets regardless of what the fools in DC thought; the police were outgunned in some areas and suffered for it.

Across the entire nation as this was going on, hundreds of thousands of people were getting out while they could, Martial law was declared and the National Guard was called out, a lot of them were engaged in quelling the war on the southern border.

We could only watch it for now as it spread, and one thing was clear it was coming our way, winter in the East was harsh and as the rioters got better organized they would realize they had to head south to stay alive.

We called a meeting of the entire ranch crew, when it started Jody got up one the tail gate of a truck and began to speak.

I looked around at all the faces of the people who had gathered here for just this time, most were young people in their early 20’s that came here to work on green life styles and to give back something, which is a nice thought but not always possible, all were scared and confused.

Jody spoke the plain truth about how the ranch came to be, what the plan was and why we felt it was needed, and that it now looked like everything we had planned for was at the door or coming fast, he explained his thoughts of keeping this area from falling back to the dark ages and how we were going to do it, he talked for almost an hour, then he asked for questions.

At first nobody spoke then when one young lady started they all took to shouting, Jody just stood there not moving not saying a word, and they slowly became quiet, he then looked at the girl who spoke first and calling her by name asked her to repeat her question.

She asked if her parents would be welcome to live here if they wanted to, Jody never blinked, he just said ok, everybody listen up, and this applies to all of you. If you have family who wish to shelter here there are requirements to be met, first what are their life skills? What are they trained to do? If they have no skills and aren’t able to do the work we will all have to do to stay alive then no they will not be allowed in, I’m sorry but that’s the way it has to be.

The outbreak of voices trying to argue went on for several minutes while Jody just stood there and waited. When it died down he looked around and said folks, this is not a democracy, it a dictatorship, I’m the dictator, so is Sam, and so is all the members of the committee, but I’m the last word. So, a question was asked and an answer was given, if the answer goes against the grain then any who wish to can leave now, today, let me know and your pay will be in cash with a bonus for your time and good works, but understand this, the world outside of this area is going crazy, thousands are dying, more will follow, and once you leave you will not be allowed back in, this is in the interest of safety for the whole group.

It is our belief that the entire world will collapse as far as civilization goes, but here in this spot those who remain will keep the light of hope burning and we have the means to not only survive but to flourish and bring aid to those close to us and in time we will move out across the country side bringing that light of hope to all who wish to see it, and we will kill all those who wish to turn it off.

What you see happening right now will only get worse, in time it will spread to every corner of the country and globe, I know how you feel about your family’s, but if they can’t contribute to the general good then we just have no room for them.

This place did not just happen over night nor did it just spring into being with help from the Government, it happened because Sam and I and a few others had a dream and we put our hearts and souls and fortunes into it. We will not allow the light of freedom and liberty and civilization die.

Now it’s up to you, come to me one at a time with a written list of who you want to bring in and what they can bring to improve the place and we will discuss it, but I mean only your immediate family, mother, father, sisters and brothers that’s it unless you have an uncle or aunt who has a really needed skill.

With that he walked away leaving them all talking at once, it was going to be interesting to see how it went. In the mean time we had other things to do, the mall was closed to only locals, and that included the fuel pumps, pre placed logs were pulled from behind the mall  and placed around the front , each connected to the next by heavy chains, each log was big, too big for a vehicle to cross over and then rebar spikes were hammered into the logs pointing outward, then a man with a power grinder put sharp points on them. It would slow down most anything.

The call had gone out to all the store employees and they were told to head for the ranch and the mall, we had a lot of work to do and damn little time to do it, after they started rolling in and parking in back they were put to work.

All the windows and doors were boarded over with one inch plywood with narrow slits in it, and then sand bags were placed against the walls inside up to chest high, all were pre-filled and on pallets ready to be brought out just for this purpose.

In 4 hours time the mall was as secure as we could make it and that was pretty good, any attackers had no place to shelter except behind their own vehicles, and then would be flanked from the ends by people who were going to be using armored trucks to do  so.

As soon as the Mall secured John and Sally told the employees that it was time to head home and load up everything they wanted to keep and bring it to the ranch, the dorms were now open and they could start moving in.

After they left John and Bob settled down out front to answer questions from the locals who were starting to arrive in panic for last minute items they needed, when told the Mall was closed there was some grumbling but nobody was rowdy or loud, most understood and moved on to other places, some seemed to want to hang around but were asked to move on.

Soon Sheriffs cars were racing past with lights on headed to something, the scanners proved to be invaluable, it seemed that people were pouring out of the city’s and the Sheriff had decided to stop all traffic into the county except for residents or family members who were identified by residents and who were willing to take them in, road blocks were set up at places where traffic could be detoured around the county, nobody was coming in.

The folks in the county now understood why they had a Sheriff’s reserve dept with over 100 trained officers, and no body was complaining…yet.

The news was all bad and getting worse if that were possible, the rioting in the major Texas city’s was as bad or worse then anyplace else, all were burning, looting was rampant, old scores were being settled between the inner city gangs, all the gangs were based on race, and soon the gang wars spilled over into the public and from there turned into all out race wars, people were fighting anybody not of their skin color, those who tried to stop it were killed, once started it wasn’t going to stop until only one side was left, and as they fought the city’s burned down around them, many waited too long to run and were trapped,  still fighting as they were swept up in flames.

The news stations still on the air were getting fewer by the hour, the last we heard was that there had been an all out attack on the White House and the other seats of power in Washington DC, from out of no where terrorist armed with heavy weapons attacked, firing RPG rockets at the buildings as fast as they could reload, in less then 5 minutes the entire Government complex was burning, the Secret Service fought hard but were never really prepared to take on this kind of attack.

A Marine one chopper was seen landing and people who looked like the president and his staff ran to it and as soon as they were in it lifted off, and 

As it banked away it was hit by a ground to air missile, it exploded on contact and fell to the ground burning, no survivors, everybody watching this was stunned, how could it happen?

The seat of power of the once greatest country in the world lay in burning ruin, the leadership dead or scattered to the winds of fate.

Not all bad in and of it’s self, they had brought us to this point with their selfish ways, their willingness to be bought and their unwillingness to follow the Constitution as written by men far smarter and honorable then themselves, They had sold the nation out and had now paid the price or would in time.

Nobody could pin down the exact time that the United States died, it just  burned away almost over night, once started it didn’t go on for weeks or months, it was mostly no more then a week, most people didn’t understand that it happened but it did.

Shortly after the collapse started and all eyes were turned inward nobody noticed the old freighters that were sailing 200 miles off both coasts, and very few were aware that these ships carried the newest versions of the older Scud missiles, in all 4 were fired about 200 miles above the US, all four carried nuke war heads that exploded causing an EMP.

Most of the country was blacked out; here and there some things still worked but for the most part the people still surviving were doing so with no power and almost nothing in the way of transportation.

All the people on the ranch could do was settle in and wait for the outcome; it would be weeks before anybody really knew anything. Jim Daniels came by in one of the vehicles that the Jonas brothers had worked on, they were working on all the Sheriff’s Dept. cars and trucks, just having the parts and the ability made it an easier job then it seemed, the way all the buildings on the ranch had been built made them  EMP proof.

It had been policy that all ranch vehicles when not in use would be parked in the protected garages, thank god for pre planning and the money to make it happen.

As it stood now our county was locked down to outside access, getting in was possible but not easy, all bridges into the county were closed, all roads with no bridges had been closed at the county line with manned barricades of deputies and trusted volunteers, Jim had been very busy and had got more done then we had thought, things in this county were going almost too well.

People that were allowed into the county told horror stories almost beyond belief , just the collapse of civilization was bad enough but it was even worse then we had thought, huge gangs were forming behind the worst kind of leaders, nobody was safe, rape and murder were the rule of the day, the outlaws had taken over the  food centers and after only a week were taking females in trade for food and booze and drugs, slavery was one of the new forms of currency, in one week  we had ceased to be  a nation of law, it was now the law of the gun and the strongest.

I believe we were all feeling guilty sitting in our area, almost untouched by the collapse of civilization yet we knew that when the last hand was played then and only then would we be able to begin the job of rebuilding.

As for the ranch it was buzzing with activity, all the gardens were producing, the green houses were now being worked mostly as herb gardens, both food and medicinal, Ellen and her clinic crew were learning all they could about natural healing and were still treating people that could get to the clinic, nobody was turned away and nobody was charged for the treatment.

When word came about somebody needing help and couldn’t make it to the clinic Ellen and a nurse would travel in one of  the armored trucks with a driver and two security people and a chase car just in case, we could not afford to lose Ellen or any of the medical staff.

A month  after the collapse Jody and I along with John and Bob took several security people and armored trucks and made a patrol of the  county along with Jim and 10 of his men, we spent 3 days covering every drivable inch of the county, talking to the people we handed out heirloom seeds and pamphlets made up covering as much survival stuff as we felt the people could absorb, the prep work done in the months before the fall was now paying off, people were digging in and doing all they could to stay alive and just knowing there was a force standing between them and the death outside their small world gave them hope.

It’s been strange here on the Ranch and even in this county, it’s like nothing happened, there is no hunger as everybody has gardens and with the growing season here in this area there really is almost no need for the green houses we built, although in what passes for winter here it is nice having fresh veggies we need with plenty to share with the elderly and shut ins who can’t do for themselves. Most folks seem to take it all in stride, yes most everybody lost family and friends but right here it was so much better.

Oh we do have problems with the gangs, and after training our own version of a home guard and an armed reaction force we have sent out patrols into the areas outside the county, after a few brushes with our patrols the bad guys wisely moved on.

Surprisingly until you get close to the major city areas it seems very peaceful, the rural folks here in Texas just hunkered down and let the worst of it blow over, we found some places burned out with the remains of both good and bad. Most of these rural folks not only have weapons they know how to use them.

Lots of family groups pulled together and formed communes taking in those they could and were doing very well and for the most part seemed happy with the new way of life.

Ellen and her clinic crew helped the doctors in the county to form small clinics like hers and set up classes to teach as many paramedics as possible, some of the Doctors had a bit of a problem with the word “free” care until they realized that life outside our county was not good and that to remain here had a price.

The Sheriffs dept. had the foresight to lock down all the service stations and grocery stores when the trouble started, large generators were found to keep the freezers working , that food along with everything else in those stores was helping greatly in keeping the people fed and clothed.

The restaurants, school cafeterias became mess halls for most people’s meals.

Many people have trouble understanding that things have changed so much in the last months, but any who don’t like the rules here are free to leave, the only rule is they are not allowed to take children under the age of consent with them, the county leaders said if they wanted to go look for a better place fine, but they were not going to endanger children, 98 % of those who did leave were back at the road blocks within a day, three at the most with a new understanding of life, the ones who survived to come back that is.

But now after 6 months we are really ready to venture forth to see what’s left out there, with the ranch working so well and everybody knowing their job Jody and I decided we would take a small heavily armed convoy and head west.

We were both informed by the ladies that they were going along and that was it. Ellen got her crew lined out and had the Jonas brother’s armor up 2 ambulances and 2 SUVs for the medical unit plus a truck loaded down with medical supplies that we had plenty of plus plenty of herbs and pamphlets on what to use for what.

Our communication equipment was all set up by the geek squads that had formed within the county to handle the stuff that most of us know nothing about, and it was they themselves who came up with their name.

We had been monitoring the air waves and there was a lot of chatter as people got back on the air, information was being passed from all over and as bad as it was it wasn’t near as bad as it could have been, America like the rest of the world had changed over night but good folks were out there working hard to stay alive and the bad folks were working just as hard to take from the weak.

Our group would be made up of the people from the ranch security force, all trained by John and Bob and almost all of them had also worked as Special Deputies for the Sheriffs Dept. all were as close to combat trained as they could be without ever having been in the military.

We were heavy on fire power and all the trucks had been plated to at least stop the type of rounds that most people would have, anything bigger then 30-06 and we would have problems, the Jonas brothers had built weapons mounts for all the trucks so each had an M 60 mounted in it with 360 degree fire capability

We also had three heavy duty 2 ½ ton trucks more heavily armored with 3 60’s mounted along with gunners and loaders there would be one in front, in back and one in the middle they would be able to put out a great deal of heat on anybody stupid enough to take us on.

When we were at last ready to roll we had the lead big truck, followed by a one ton quad cab with a team of four shooters followed by the command truck with Jody, myself and Jade and Ellen who refused to ride in the armored ambulance. The rest of the convoy fitted in where they felt best.

At dawn 7 months from the day the end came we rolled out, the entire ranch turned out to see us off, several of the younger men from the clan had joined the security force as scouts who could move through the forest like shadows, they had moved out several hours ahead of the main convoy.

They could check out an area, if needed they would pull over and some would move into the forest on both sides of the road, shortly we would know who or what was waiting for us.

As a special “weapon” each vehicle had with it a man from the village who was the comm. man, so now all radio transmissions were in a language very few could understand, this brain storm we owed to my lovely wife who brought it up just days before we rolled. She said she read about the Navaho talkers of WW2 fame…go figger…

One of the things we had stocked up on was Camo BDU’s, and Jody being an old Marine grunt had a thing for the old Nam era Tiger Striped BDU’s, so here we were a large (by today’s standard) convoy of armored trucks filled with people armed with Russian weapons, dressed in Viet Nam Camos and using small brown men as talkers who looked like they belonged in a movie. I figured we were going to scare the hell out of anybody who met up with us.

The first few hours we made pretty good time as the roads weren’t blocked with cars that stopped when the EMP hit, as we got further out we saw more and more signs of fighting with shot up cars, some burned some not, some with remains in them, the wild hogs and other things had gotten to them where they could.

We decided that we would see more signs of life if we got away from the major highways and used the secondary road systems.

We also decided to avoid the bigger city’s and towns when possible, we knew we could learn more from the people living out in the country side then folks who hid out in the wreckage of the city’s.

We were 75 miles out when  we made our first contact, the scout car pulled over and radioed that they were checking out a spot that didn’t look right, with in 30 minutes we heard rifle fire coming from the front, every thing in us wanted to race forward but we didn’t, we would wait for the scouts to make contact, we could tell from the sounds of the fire fight that our guys were winning the fire power battle, soon the all clear came and we rolled ahead, what we found was a choke point made to look like an accident involving several cars, most people  would slow down, look it over, get out to see how to get thru it and “ BAM!” ambush, and it had worked from the looks of several shallow graves in the woods,  the scouts had flanked the ambushers and after seeing what they had in mind for us they simply cut them down, there was 5 man and 4 women laying dead where they fell, all  looked well fed and were all wearing many rings and watch’s, sure signs of murderers and robbers, well no more, we collected everything usable from their bodies and camp and clearing the road we moved on.

I half expected to hear some remarks from the medical staff about the shoot first ask questions later rule the scouts had used but after finding children’s stuff in the camp with no kids it was clear these people were all bad.

The day ended at a roadside park with a pitcher pump and good water so we set up camp , early dinner and with guards out we all hit the tents early, morning came after a quiet night, but as we were eating breakfast one of the guards radioed that some people were headed our way on foot, when they got close to the outer ring of guards they stopped and called out asking if they could come in to the camp, it was 2 men and a woman , all were dirty and ragged and half starved, after searching them and finding no weapons they were brought in to the edge of the camp and told to sit on the ground .

Jody told the cooks to bring food and coffee, the three looked like they had heard God speak, the woman started crying and one of the men put his arm around her and talked to her in a low voice causing her to sit up and calm down, as they were eating they told us they had been living on a small abandoned farm several miles down the road, there had been 4 couples with no kids, they were all people who were traveling when the EMP hit, stranded so far from anyplace they had drifted together and moved into the old farm house, they said it looked like whoever had lived there had either been away and couldn’t make it back or had simply run for it, using what they had to work with they had stayed alive for several months until  the day before when a group of vehicles had roared down the road and the men in them shooting at anybody they saw, these three were behind the house and near the woods working a small garden patch and had no choice but to hide in the woods, they said the shooting ended real quick and they heard the other 3 women screaming with a lot of loud laughter going on, with no weapons nor fighting skills they had no choice but to leave.

Jody asked few questions and asked if they were willing to show us where the farm was, they all said yes, Jody put one of the men with the scouts and sent them ahead, 5 minutes later we pulled out, moving slow and as quiet as possible we followed the scouts, after about 2 hours we got the call that they had the place under observation and it looked to be about 10 to 20 people all armed with  a mixed bunch of weapons, the only women in sight had been ID’d by the man with them as his friends.

After talking it over with the scouts it was decided that they could flank them and hit them from behind with some heavy fire power driving them right into our waiting arms, we were hopeful that the two women could escape in the confusion or at least hit the ground.

We moved slowly forward until we were met by one of the scouts who just seemed to appear from nowhere, he guided us into a good spot to park most of the vehicles out of sight, we moved two of the armored pickups forward and Jody placed them so they would have the best possible field of fire when the BG’s rolled into the trap.

Only eight of us were doing the ambush the rest of our force was guarding the convoy and providing rear guard security.

10 minutes after we were in place and after Jody had explained to us again that slow aimed fire was better then wildly spraying the area we heard the scouts open up, it sounded nothing like the movies, it was just a lot of popping sounds followed by the roaring of loud vehicles racing at us, the first few were allowed to pass and then were hit by the 60's which did sound like a movie, we had all fired them on the range but this was different because our adrenalin was pumping, also the sounds of cars and trucks crashing into trees and each other was very loud, then the second truck mounted 60 joined in, as the survivors came tumbling out they were cut down ,

Jody’s rules worked great, no more then 150 rounds were fired by our guys and none of the BG’s got off a shot, 5 of them tossed their weapons away and surrendered , we stayed in place while the BG’s laid down with their fingers laced behind their heads, two of our guys went forward, one armed with a shotgun the other with a pistol, the pistol man searched them while holding the gun to the BG’s head, after he was sure there was no more weapons he moved on, all had some form of a weapon on them from handguns to knives.

The scouts at the house called in all clear and that both the women had reacted great by falling flat at the first shot, all the BG’s that weren’t with us were dead, none had gotten away, the house and grounds had been searched  and the women were then allowed to help check out the grounds.

After we had searched the dead and their vehicles and again took everything of use we loaded the prisoners and rolled to the farm house. From the count we had of the dead and alive and what the women and the three who escaped told us we had got them all.

Before Jody called the rest of the unit to come forward he walked over to the five survivors and said do any of you scum bags have anything to say? All demanded a lawyer and then shut up, our crew all laughed at this causing the BG’s to look a bit white lipped.

Jody went to the two ladies who we had saved and asked what they wanted to do, one just cried, the other looked at Jody and said can I borrow your pistol? He asked her if she was sure, she said Oh yes I’m very sure because all of them raped us and one of them killed our friend while he was raping her.

Jody handed her his 1911 and asked her if she knew how to use it, she just smiled and walked over to the five who were sitting on the ground, she looked at them and said to the first one, do you remember me, he just said again I want a lawyer, she shot him in the head, then asked the next one who tried to crawl away, she shot him in the back of the head, she repeated it two more times then came to the last one and said I remember you  , you slimy bastard , I watched you rape my friend and while you did it you cut her throat .

He just sat there shaking, but she didn’t shoot him in the head…well that ain’t entirely right, she shot him in the little head, several times while he screamed and tried to get away while spraying blood all over the area...

She then walked to Jody and said nice gun, very nice trigger, did you do the work? Jody just looked at her then busted out laughing and said ya know I think your going to fit in real well with us if you want to leave here.

She said oh yea I want to leave, you guys are going to be doing a lot of house cleaning and I want to get in on that.

Deciding that he didn’t want to deal with anybody complaining about allowing the BG’s to be executed without a trial he had the bodies piled with the rest in the old house and had one of the empty trucks stop and load the bodies we had left behind, they were also added to the house, after the weapons and everything they BG’s had that could be of use was loaded up the house was lit off with several gallons of fuel from the collection of cars they had been driving when they raided the place.

We rolled away as it burned, after a bit Ellen asked Jody if there were any survivors among the BG’s, he looked over at her and smiled a gentle smile and said no honey none survived.

The people we had rescued from the farm were being treated in the ambulances as we moved out; all were given something to help them sleep while we rolled thru an empty countryside.

When we stopped for the night we pulled off the road into an abandoned home beside the road, the scouts gave it the all clear, the place was trashed and looked as if human pigs had been living in it , none of us would stay inside and we pitched out tents under the trees and settled down to sleep .

With the number of men we had nobody had to do more then two hours of guard duty, Jody and I pulled the last watch. The cook crew had their kitchen set up from dinner and turned out a really good breakfast of ham steaks and hotcakes slathered with butter and hot syrup, the people we had rescued couldn’t believe the food and the cooks really poured it to them, the real coffee was something they really couldn’t believe and real sugar and real cream. It was a real wake up for us who had lived thru the worst of it all on the ranch where life never changed for us; it did make us more aware of how blessed we were.

Jody and I had a talk with the 5 people we had saved and all but the one who handled a 45 so well wanted to go back to the county area and be absorbed into life there, the shooter as the guys were calling her who’s name was Kate said she was going with us and if Jody wouldn’t allow it she would find some useable guns salvaged from the BG’s we had so far eliminated and go it alone in one of the BG’s vehicles.

Jody said she was welcome to go with us and had one of the ladies dig out a clean pair of BDU’s for her, with her red hair and green eyes and cleaned up she was going to be a force to be reckoned with, she was taken in tow by the weapons team and while we drove she drilled with her new AK and 45 acp. Not that she needed much with that!

Ellen had talked to her the night before and this morning and said she seemed very well adjusted after her ordeal; Jody just smiled and said good honey, I’m glad to hear that.

The other four were loaded into a truck with another rig for security and headed back where they would be met by a force from the ranch that would transport them on to the county where Jim had somebody waiting to take them on in to start getting them into the group.

We rolled on for the next two days stopping at places with people who didn’t offer battle to our force, we talked to them and gave them a radio to contact our big base tower on  the Sheriffs department building, we also offered them any weapons they might need from the pile we had taken, several of them were short on both weapons and ammo, we gave them what they needed and rolled on after telling them that shortly they would be seeing patrols moving thru the area in rigs like ours and dressed as we were who would contact them on the radio and for gods sake don’t fire on them !

So far we had only made it about 150 or so miles from home because of having to remove trees from the road and in one case finding a way around a blown out bridge which we never did find out who did it or why.

Another day and 50 miles further on and the radio crackled , the lead scout team reported smoke ahead and were rolling slower, 10 minutes later they said they were on a low hill looking into a pretty valley with green fields of hay, big gardens and lots of people moving around, they also were looking at a large bunker about 500 yards away, they put up a white flag and waited until we had rolled to within a few hundred yards, we drove the command rig up to the scouts and got out, in that time a signal had sounded and all the people had disappeared, many running to other smaller bunkers, all was now quiet in the valley .

Jody asked for a scout to ride down with him and got into the scout rig, one of the scouts jumped in with him and white flag flying drove to within 50 yards of the bunker where he stopped and stepped out into the open, this had Ellen very upset but that was Jody, not one to ask somebody to do what he wouldn’t

He raised his hands and walked forward to within a few feet of the bunker and stopped, soon a man came from behind it and walked up to Jody, after a few minutes and a hand shake Jody turned and waved us forward.

Rolling into the yard area of the big old house was a bit disquieting as nobody was in sight except the man from the bunker who had ridden in with the scout unit.

After he climbed out, the front door of the house opened and a tall grey headed man walked out and wearing an old Stetson and worn boots with a gun belt on, all he needed was spurs to look like it was another century.

He stepped off the porch and looked at Jody then at all of us and our vehicles and said welcome to Dry Gulch Ranch I’m Willis Duncan and this is my ranch and shook hands with Jody. He then invited the command group up on the porch while the rest of our people set up a defensive area around the vehicles, Willis watched our people and nodded and said well you folks are for sure not military but you sure act like it.

Jody told him who we were and where we were from and what we were doing, he left nothing important out just what we had done and planned to do.

Willis said his family had 10 sections here on the ranch and had been here since the first white folks came into the area, his family had fought Indians, Mexicans, Yankees , Rustlers , and Horse Thieves for over 150 years ,right here on this land, he pointed off to a nearby hill which was covered with head stones and said that’s my family and our people who lived and died here and when things went to hell we just stayed on because nobody is going to run us off this land, and we still live just like we always have so when the lights went off it was no great loss to us, but then he smile real big and said , Well of course we do have a big generator and about 10 thousand gallons of diesel to run it and 2 trucks we use when needed, but almost all the work on the place is done on horse back, always was, always will be.

Willis and Jody worked out a system using radios to allow contact with the Willis place being the out post for this area, and that a call for help would bring us as fast as possible, Willis said he was all for the idea of a free Texas and had no desire to see the old order come back to power in Washington DC.

We also asked what he could do with a hundred AK 47’s and a thousand rounds for each, that got his attention and he admitted that they were low on ammo for the weapons they did have and would love us forever if we could do that, Jody got on the radio and instructed the base where we were and the GPS locations and said to bring an “Able” load to this location, an able load was the name of the load we promised Willis, with which he would arm any of the people in his area that fit into the overall plan, we also left him some commo gear to pass out to the smaller groups.

We spent the night there and everybody got a real good nights sleep with only a few people on duty and who took the whole night in return for getting to sleep in the ambulance during the day while we moved on which had a working AC to help the wounded if we got any. Jade said maybe we should try that deal. I didn’t smile!

The next day we rolled out at day break and on the advice of Willis we cut across his ranch to another road, cutting off a lot of extra miles, he told us about another working farm that had taken in a lot of folks when the balloon went up, that would be our next stop, if they were friendly we could set them up with a comm. set and have another outpost.

Our idea was to just work outward from the ranch and county and set up these outposts who could call for help if needed and to warn of raiders if such happened to be spotted.

We figured that in time , with us recruiting more people and training them and arming them we could build up a not so  small army to patrol the entire state and Once the BG’s were all dead life could settle down and folks could get on with life , free of worry.

We did find small groups here and there that were just existing, some wanted to join us but some just wanted to be left alone and didn’t want to be a part of the outpost system, but the funny hold over from the nanny state we had left behind, was that while not wishing to be a part of cleaning out the trash and rebuilding they all wanted us to send supplies and medical help and just about everything you could thing of.

Jody took great pleasure in telling them that if they weren’t willing to work with us, we sure as hell weren’t going to feed or protect them, all were left standing with their mouths open, some folks just never learn.

We had gone as far West as we wanted for now, so we turned North and headed toward the Oklahoma state line, we started to find more small settlements some with only a few people some with 50 or more, some wanted to know if we were the government come to help them, Most were doing pretty well on their own, the most over ridding thing we were hearing was that a majority of these folks just flat did not want the old Government intruding in their lives.

To these Jody explained the idea of a building a free and sovereign place filled with free citizens living inside whatever the new boundaries became, that was added because Jody had no thoughts of stopping at the old state lines, and he said freedom needed big room to stretch in.

We had all been wondering why there seemed to be such a drop in population and we started to find out from folks further north, seems that a mysterious bug had swept through the country side and it was fast at killing it’s victims but also had a very short life of it’s own, if not passed on right away to the next victim it died with the last infected person, here in the less crowded heart land when folks went to ground they allowed nobody into their area and made no contact so it didn’t spread like it did in the more populated areas of the country, we got this bit of information from the log books of a hospital in a small town, the medical staff had worked hard to quell the bug but didn’t make it, the last doctor alive had written a paper on the bug and how it worked.

He said that in the beginning the town leaders were taking in anybody who came along in the belief they were doing the Lords work, before they could wake up to the fact it maybe wasn’t a good thing it was too late, they had let death in.

Ellen and her staff after reading the journal went thru all the records they could find and said it seemed that when the last person died that was it for here in this place, this scared the hell out of us at first but all these people had been dead since almost the beginning of the collapse which was good for us if not them as the bug died with them….we hoped… it was decided we would get out of the town and find a place to hold up while we waited to see if any of us got sick, we could not chance taking it home or into any other place where people had built a safe haven.

We found a small out of the way state park with a clear water spring fed lake and the usual pitcher pump after the scouts gave it the all clear we moved into it and set up our camp for more then a night, the scout teams patrolled out from camp for a mile in all directions, after giving the all clear they set out electronic safe guards  200 yards all around the area, these were from our storage supplies, just another small well needed item on a long list of stuff nice to have when the shtf.

With these out nothing bigger then a small dog was getting near our camp without us knowing and who or what would have no idea they had advertised their presents.

We got our cooking done and eating over before dark and settled in for the night, no fires and no talking above a whisper was the rule for now at least, morning came with no alarms being sounded and with first light the scouts moved out on foot quietly into the forest around us, this was where the Clan hunters were worth their weight in gold, nothing could move in the bramble infested woods like they could, after two hours they started coming in, two different teams had scored on deer with their cross bows so fresh meat was a welcome addition to our usual freeze dried rations.

Several of the team took fishing tackle to the lake and soon found the place crawling with very hungry fish, bass and crappie seemed to fly out of the water begging to be next on the lines.

After putting out some trot lines they all came back to camp for bathing suits as the water was clear and not too cold, with armed guards surrounding the small lake we all took to the water and after playing got out the soap and secretly hoping we were getting any bugs that we might have picked up in the town which was rather silly because as fast as it seemed to move we would have been showing signs by now, but the human mind will do what it thinks best for the body.

We spent three nights in the little park and never saw a soul and the alarms never beeped even for deer coming to water and I have no idea how it can tell a deer from a man I guess a deer moves much different then a man …the geeks would have the answer.

We saddled up on the forth morning and scouts out a half hour ahead we rolled, so very glad and relieved that none of us were sick, I believe if one person had caught a sniffle from the swimming we would all have just died from fright.

We turned back to the East and meandered more or less towards home, we did find another small town with about 75 people living pretty well as it had been so isolated before it all went down that they were pretty self sufficient and had big gardens and green houses for the short winter, their security was good as they saw us long before the scouts saw them, and were waiting for us, it seemed they had a working short wave and had heard talk of us and our purpose and when we arrived they were more then ready to join the outpost plan.

Their “Mayor” was rather large ladies who had a smile and laugh as big as she was, but the big old colt 45 on her waist didn’t look like it was for decoration.

She was waiting at the edge of town with her advisers and welcomed us in and they already had a big dinner waiting in the small school cafeteria where almost all the town and our crew could fit less the guards of course, we feasted on pot roast, pork roast, new potatoes and creamed peas, fried okra and black eyed peas and all the sweet tea in glasses with ice that we could drink!!! Then after sitting a while talking out came the pies and cakes and home made ice cream.

Jody leaned over and said we best watch it or we will lose half our troops to this place!! And it was easy to see these folks ate this well all the time, none was thin or unhealthy looking but they welcomed Ellen to set up and check over any who needed to be seen, even the kids were as healthy as could be, Ellen said it could only be due to hard work, clean air, plenty of sun shine and a quiet life.

Whatever it was , these folks had it and in time maybe it could spread to the rest of the country, the next morning we set them up with better weapons and ammo and any thing they might need which was very little, they were the best prepared group we had encountered except maybe the Willis ranch, after a great breakfast we rolled out and decided to head home at the best pace we could maintain, we were ready to have a quiet spell in our own beds among our own people, Jody and I had spent the entire trip talking and planning on how to keep spreading the word and the offers of help and felt we had come up with a good plan which we would get moving on shortly, but for now, home was calling.

Our arrival back home was cause for a clan feast, all their men had returned from battle in good health, I thought this was a great idea, and these folks know how to throw a party.

This time it was not the 3 day wedding bash it was just a one day and night fling but a really good time was had by all, Jade dressed in her native clothing and looked so wild and beautiful it was hard to not just grab her and run for the tree line

The old Shaman / Elder made a long winded speech which caused a lot of drum beating and bamboo whacking, Jade and Jody translated for Ellen and I, it was more or less a welcome home boys and good killing of the hated “cong”…this raised an eye brow so Jody said all bad guys were Cong, I guess if you been fighting most of your life all enemy’s become the same in your eyes, all in all it was a great party and the people were happy because nobody so got so much as a scratch.

After being home a week and enjoying the peace and quiet of not bouncing in the stiff trucks Jody set up a meeting with Jim, Jody and I drove over there with a security team in 3 trucks.

The meeting was at the county building in the big conference room with Jim and his chief deputy and the three commissioners sitting in, Jody got right to it with a report of what our scout trip found and about the outpost’s we were setting up and arming .

One of the commissioners got all upset and started going off about how we had no right to go off and do any such thing and that this county was… (And here he screwed up. Bad )  he used the word “Ruled” in place of administered by the commission , Jody set back and asked him to enlighten us on how the people should be governed and the silly fool started spouting off about how the people needed to be controlled and kept in place and that we needed do something about all the guns people had that it was bad news waiting to happen and that the county had not had any problems , so it also wasn’t necessary to have such a large body of para military armed cops running around in their gas guzzling trucks and that most should be put to work doing stuff for the people.

We all sat there looking at this idiot for what seemed forever but was not more then 30 seconds before Jody looked at the other members of the county board who after looking at the fool nodded to Jim who nodded to one of his men who asked the man to please leave the room, the man went completely crazy, screaming and demanding the “cop” be arrested for treason, he kept screaming and fighting the deputy who was being very calm and then he just fell over dead, the poor deputy jumped back and got wide eyed and said “I didn’t do it” !!

The medics were called and he was taken to the hospital where it was determined he had a tumor in his brain, we all went from anger to pity, but it also showed that anybody these days could get the idea they were King.

We went on with the meeting and Jody’s point was that we were going to mount a large long range patrol, we would be heavily armed and would be taking all the 18 wheelers we could get up and running along with a tanker truck of diesel, this would be a recon toward the bigger city’s with the purpose of gaining information and salvaging anything we could use for the outpost plan.

I sat back watching as Jody talked and could see the change in the faces of the commission when it dawned on them that he wasn’t asking permission but was informing them of what was going to be done, when one asked him that if he had already decided to do what he wanted , when he wanted , what was their place in the picture, Jody looked at them and said your place is right where it’s always been or should have been, and that’s taking care of your citizens and making sure things run smoothly, the place of true leaders is not to rule , but to serve .

But most politicians seem to lose sight of that shortly after gaining office, this didn’t seem to set well with them but they had no idea of what they could do about it, one looked at the Sheriff and said Jim you’re the elected sheriff in this county how do you feel being left out of Mr. Browns plans?

Jim smiled and said well Charley, Jody has always been in charge ever since things went to hell, he’s the reason this county didn’t have the problems everywhere else did, he’s the one who helped train the force of men who allow you to sleep at night in peace, he’s the one who made sure there was clinics set up to help people with medical problems, He and Sam are the ones who spent a large fortune stocking up on many tons of things they knew would be needed. Bought and paid for by them with no help from the county or the commission.

The vehicles we use daily to maintain a better way of life then 90 % of the survivors out there were repaired in his shops or with the help of his crew of top notch mechanics, so I guess I have to ask you a question now.

What have you done for the people of the county? What gardens have you watered and hoed, what food have you helped cook and serve in the mess halls, how much food have you delivered to the elderly and those unable to get out and about? In fact, what have you guys done besides sit here in this building and hold meetings that solve nothing and build nothing?

Jim then smiled and said gents I work with Jody and Sam to keep the people safe, when not on duty you should have notice that my men are serving food or cutting wood or any of the other tasks needed to keep “our” people alive, all of whom are working their asses off 7 days a week from first light to no light. With that he sat back and just looked at them, that was the most I ever heard Jim say before and since.

The two men looked at us then each other and then back at us then both looked sheepish and finally one cleared his throat and said, thank you Jim for reminding us just what our real job is or should have been, from now on speaking for me and I think Charley, we will be found out moving thru the county checking up on the people and Jim if you’d allow it perhaps we could do so with your regular patrols? Jim smiled and said Walter my guys would be happy to take you along, just as soon as you get thru the weapons training course and learn some EMT skills, it’s an on going program so it won’t have to be done in one jump but the weapons training will have to be done before you can ride along, both men looked a bit worried but Jim said, hey not to worry, shootings fun!

Two weeks after the meeting in town the patrol was about ready for the big trip, when one of the radio watch girls called Jody, saying there was a call on the big radio for him, we took off for the comm. shack and when Jody said he was ready to receive I heard a voice speaking something I didn’t understand at first, then I realized he was speaking in the clan language, it had to be Song!!!

And it was, he said he was an hour out and would be landing at the county airport and could use some help and transport, Jody spoke back to him and signed off and we bounded out the door with Jody calling Jade over the walkie, he told her to meet us right now at the truck in front of the house, she was there when we got there and bless her heart she had her AK and her battle harness on and blood in her eyes, he told her what was going on and she burst into tears, I knew Jody and she had been worried about Song but it never showed like the joy I was seeing now.

We jumped into the truck with me calling a security crew at the entrance to the ranch to get moving as we hit the highway there was a truck with 4 men in it on the road in lead and one tailgating us, we really moved, Jody called Jim and told him to meet us at the airport that our air force was landing shortly!

We got there and made a quick run down the runway to make sure there wasn’t anything that might be a problem for the landing.

We had been working on the air craft located at the small airport getting them ready to use and with the Jonas brothers mechanic crews along with the one mechanic from the airport they had several small planes ready to fly, all we seemed to be lacking was more pilots, most of the craft had been owned by people who parked them at our airport simply because it was not as crowded as the ones near the city’s and much cheaper, so far none of the owners had showed up.

About 20 minutes after we arrived we heard the sound of the plane and a few minutes later we spotted it and what a shock! It was huge and looked way too big to be landing here but the head mechanic said it was a C130 and was made for STOL meaning short takeoff and landing. I was worried it was just too damn big but the pilot greased her right in like it was a piper cub and stopped with plenty of runway left.

After turning he taxied it up to the largest hanger (which was way too small for the giant craft) and went thru the shut down procedure, Jade was bouncing like a rubber ball until the props stopped and the ramp lowered and Song trotted out, Jade hit like a tackle heading for the quarterback and almost knocked him down, both were laughing, then they headed over to us when Jody hugged his son and spoke into his ears both men showed the love they had for the other, it was a very happy scene, then Song came to me and hugged me and said he was so happy to see me and Jade.

We then headed to the plane just in time to greet the people coming off of it, several men and women and several children , one of the ladies held a small baby, all looked tired and half starved but healthy, Jade offered to take the baby with a big smile ..This put me on guard!

The woman and the baby were the Pilots family, all the others were people who were trapped at the airport they had flown from , Song asked Jody if all but the pilot could be moved to the ranch right away and the rest of us could start unloading the plane, Jody called the head of the security group over and explained the needs and told them to contact the ranch for some cargo movers and some help, the passengers and the security detail left and we went into the plane, it seemed huge to me as I had never seen a C 130 except in pictures, and it was in fact huge!! And full!

The pilot said it was over loaded but that his craft could forgive all but the most stupid things, like landing in a mortar attack.

We didn’t ask what was crated up nor was any information offered but it all looked heavy and well packed.

An hour later the crew and trucks showed up and we went to work using a propane powered fork lift and lots of elbow grease we got the trucks loaded and headed for the ranch, the plane would just have to sit right where it was but Jim would have it guarded and the plane mechanic lived there also and had two big mean nasty people eaters running around inside the fence at night.

That evening we had a family reunion at the house after getting the new people settled in, all were so happy to be out of the east and it’s problems, they all ate a good meal, and went to their quarters and went to bed ,  for some the first restful nights sleep since the trouble started.

We set aside the evening for just our family and would hear Songs report the next day, Song did spend some time in the village and agreed to a feast in his honor but not until the full moon giving him time to get settled.

After breakfast John, Bob and Mary came in to hear Songs story with the four of us.

He began about the time the Presidential chopper was shot down, he didn’t know who all was aboard it but the word was that it was the president and his advisers, nobody knew where the VP was but it was believed he and most of the members of congress were killed in the rocket attacks that took place the day of the EMP attack.

Song was at work trying to get the rest of the data he was mining down on disks when that took place, where he worked was almost as secure as a max security prison with a large guard force, the place was almost empty except for the guards and maybe 100 people still trying to do their jobs while Washington burned, all they could do was just batten down and wait for it to blow up or blow over.

The building had been built to house a lot of people in event of a surprise nuke attack so there was living quarters and food mostly the emergency type food but it was plentiful as the stocks had been meant for a lot more people then there was there, they were secure and had back up power from EMP proofed generators and with the guard force on hand, although many decided to try to make it home.

Song kept busy mining the stuff he thought might be useful down the road, he also used the time to look in areas that held information above his pay grade, that was where he found out about the hidden underground supply warehouse complete with it’s own C130, all he had to do was find a pilot when the coast was clear to make a run for it, they laid low for months and had no trouble with the looters because entry to the building was all but impossible, they watched the area around them burning to the ground and people fighting and dying all on the hidden security cameras outside.

After several months Song told some of the others he was making a run for it and thought he could make it home to Texas if anybody wanted to try it they were welcome to come along, only two wanted to attempt it, they helped him load a 2.5 ton truck with the boxes of disks he was taking along with some weapons from the security section and enough food for a week and they following the route Song had laid out based on the least populated part of the former area.

They had no problems for the first several miles until they ran into a barricade with people behind it who just opened fire on them, Song stopped and hit reverse so fast the shooters missed most of their shots but one of the people with him was hit in the chest and while they were racing away he died, that was the worst thing that happened and after finding another route they made it out of the city and into the open country, they took time to bury their fellow traveler who they really didn’t even know making it even more sad.

After three days of driving and dodging bullets and people hell bent on trying to take the truck and it’s contents, Song made it to the area where the hidden warehouse was at the local airport but it took several hours to find it even knowing where it was , and then more time to find the doors into it, having the combination was a big help once it was found, they got the big doors open and drove the truck into what was a large hanger bay, filled with the C130 as well as trucks and mountains of crates.

Now all he had to do was find a pilot which turned out to be easy compared to getting to the place at all.

After getting settled Song left his fellow traveler and went out to explore the airfield, armed with an M-16 and a combat harness with extra magazines he slowly and carefully checked out the field.

Song may have been in the civilized world since he was a kid but his jungle instincts told him he was being watched, after looking over all the buildings he decided the flight terminal was the source of the watchers, he got as close as he could and decided on the direct approach , he yelled out that he was armed but not looking for a fight, a mans voice called back asking what he wanted, he said he would feel better talking face to face and taking a deep breath he stepped out into the open and laid down his rifle, the man called for him to walk forward and stop when told to, he did so and stopped when told, he could see several rifle barrels pointed at him from windows that were broken out and from the bullet marks on the concrete building these folks had been under attack before.

The speaker stepped out of the door and moved slowly up to Song, and told him to turn around and pull his jacket up, after doing so the man said ok come on in but no fast moves, Song stepped into what had been the waiting area for the small airport and saw several people still watching outside instead of looking at him, he was impressed with that as it showed good discipline and or training.

The man asked his name and some ID which he produced after looking at it the man relaxed a bit and said lets sit.

The man introduced himself as Able Grant and said he had been a Air Force pilot until the collapse, Song could not help busting out laughing and couldn’t stop with tears running down his face, at last he got it under control and said well Able I came here looking for a pilot, want a job ?

Grant looked at him and said well if there was a plane here that hadn’t been wrecked by the mobs we would be long gone, Song looked at him for a bit and said where would you go if you could have?

Able thought a moment and said well we were thinking South and west away from the big population areas and try to find an area with a small airport or an abandoned ranch with a strip and just try to set up a place to stay alive.

When asked if he had thought about East Texas, Able said well of course, good climate and long growing seasons so yes that was one of the thoughts, Song asked how many of them there was and was told 15 adults and 5 small children and 3 older teens and a new baby which was his and his wife’s who was here also.

Song asked what aircraft Able was certified for and was told anything up to and including C-130’s which made Song laugh again, Able was starting to wonder if this guy was a bit off but Song said well if we can get a plane for you to fly how long for you and your bunch to be ready to go? Able replied, if I say the word we are out of here in 5 minutes, Song said well lets go cause I have a plane big enough for all of us, Able’s eyes got big but the he got a look on his face and said well you show me and two of my people the plane and then we will decide if your for real or trying to pull something.

The walk back to the hidden hanger took 20 minutes and Able said we checked all of these old warehouses, nothing of use in any of them, but Song just kept walking and entered the open door to one of the empty buildings, he walked to the back and up to an empty shelf unit which he slid to the side and hit a set of numbered buttons and shortly the wall began to move up reveling a huge opening and a beautiful C-130.

Able just stared and then started laughing and then started to cry with relief that they could all really get away from this place of death.

The other men left at a run to get the others while Able looked over the big bird, he walked around it touching the skin like a long lost lover, he looked at Song and said how? Song said well lets just say I worked for an outfit that had the resources to hide most anything from almost anybody, Able said uh huh, kinda like the old Air America Company? Song just smiled.

Song went into the back living area and woke up his traveling partner and introduced him to their new pilot, the poor guy looked at Song like he was a saint.

As soon as the rest of the group was there they closed the place up tight and Song showed them where the kitchen and food supplies were located as all of them looked a bit thin, in the mean time Able was checking out the plane and reported that it was in new condition having been rebuilt before being parked all that was required was to get the fuel in her and other small things like that and she should be ready to turn over and if that went well they could leave in the morning.

And that is just what happened, no freaking out, no last minute engine failures, and no problems at all. After looking at the crates stored in the building they loaded what amounted to everything required to keep the bird flying for a long time, also several crates of m-16 rifles and ammo and some other crates that were left closed for the moment, there was more MRE’s then they could take so they went thru the entire place and took some of everything, after getting the towing vehicle started they towed the bird out of the hanger thru the giant empty warehouse then when they had everything they wanted and had replaced everything that needed to be put back they shut the doors and returned it to a big empty space.

After doing whatever a pilot needs to do to fire up a big aircraft and it was running Able had Song sit in the copilots seat while they taxied to the runways and 5 minutes later they were in the air, Song showed Able where they were going and he set the mysterious knobs and things that Song had no idea what was what and they were on their way.

After Song had finished his story Jody filled him in on the outpost idea and the plans to get it rolling, Songs said well lets go out to the barn and I’ll show you some things you’re going to like!!  In the barn with help from some of the scouts and security force we dug out the crates Song had brought on the C130, after opening one of them we all just stood looking at the contents.

At last one of the Security guys said a quiet long drawn out

“Holy Shit!!…somebody else said “oh yea“!!… we were looking at a crate with a complete 308 mini gun with all the hardware for mounting it on a chopper or a vehicle, then we looked at the other crates and counted them, we had enough of these things to arm every vehicle we had and some left over to use as defensive weapons in the outposts if need be.

Song then looked around the stacks of crates and said “Here” drag one of these out, 2 of the big guys grabbed it and grunted a bit, it was opened and Jody was the first to laugh out loud!! And turned to Song and they high fived each other, Jody said boys this is the grand daddy of them all, the wonderful Browning MA duce…50 cal of doom and destruction waiting to happen!! Jody was in love and a good thing Doc wasn’t there she might have smacked him…

Song then made Jody’s day by telling us that the warehouse where these came from held so much stuff like this it was hard to believe with all the parts and ammo to run for many years, thank God for paranoid Spooks!!…

Jody turned to his comm. man and said get the brothers up here now, and it was done, within a few minutes the roar of the brothers big truck could be heard coming…fast .

Jody listened a bit and said I should have known better then to say “Now” and I hope they have good breaks, they did!! And in a cloud of dust slid to a stop and both big men rolled out of their truck dubbed the “War Wagon” and as usual pushing and shoving each other thru the door slid to a stop and looked at the open crates, one said OH YEA!! The other said UH HUH!!

We gonna like this job, ceptin we gets one of each fo de the War Wagon! As pay ya know? Jody smiled and said well I guess Miss Ellie could hear about you two butchering the Kings English with your Amos and Andy routine , both looked at him and one said, you wouldn’t do that coz we be telling Doc and she be dealin wif you….at this point everybody was laughing , one of the brothers leaned over and picked up the big 50 with not even a strain and said I really want this boss ,  I really do…

The deal was done, they got one of each for their rig and would mount the others on whatever Jody wanted done…but theirs was first, sorta a learning thing they said… Jody just shook his head and said ok, get to work, with that their truck was loaded and they were gone. I watched them drive away and then asked Jody how long it would take them to realize they had no belts of ammo to play with, he smiled and said well bout 30 seconds after they have them rigged up.

We held a meeting that afternoon with the patrol leaders and scout team leaders, we told them about the new enhancements to the patrol rigs which brought big smiles, he then outlined a plan to load up a couple of the fast low profile patrol scout cars, sort of a dune buggy but more , with some light armor and now with mini-guns, and the teams to handle them and a work team and we were going to return to the hidden depot where the plane was stored and we were going to empty the entire warehouse and anything else we could find, if need be the plane would make as many trips as needed, the ground team could stay behind and secure the area so as to avoid an ambush later.

While this was going on the rest of the troops would be gearing up their equipment for the long range patrol to last as much as a month or more, the needed equipment would be checked and rechecked and loaded out , some of the non scout rigs would pull trailers loaded with more supplies.

This was to be a big push into the unknown and we would be hauling supplies to set up settlements as we found them.. We were on the move. And on the hunt , there was still a lot of bad people out there living off the good hard working folks, and we were gonna turn out their lights once and for all.

After talking to the Pilot of the “ Big Bird “ we decided that three of the scout bugs would work better and 10 extra security troops as ground defense with the bugs as mobile rover patrols, and a dozen or so more to help load the bird, with the fork lift that would be a lot easier then by hand. The trip was planned out and would take a day to get there and set up, then as long as it took to load the first load out, refuel from the big underground tanks then the plane would return to base leaving the troops there on the ground to secure the area.

Song was going as the detail commander, all the others would be made up of volunteers which meant the entire unit, so Jody told them to settle it between squad leaders…peacefully, so they played high card out until it was settled, then the work started, the three bugs had to be set up with the guns which meant the Brothers would need to convinced to do the Bugs first which wasn’t a problem, all they wanted was a nice load of belted ammo, and both smiled big at Jody while he just shook his head, gotcha they both said , and it was done, it took less time then we had thought possible, but the Brothers had a shop that could build a mini gun from scratch if they had the right metal and what they didn’t know about it somebody would, such was the talent that had come together in our group.

I can not say I was sad to be left out of the trip back east, Jody looked like he wanted to go but being a good leader he knew he could not just run off at every whim, also he wanted to be there to make sure the unit was ready for the big push as it was being called. And that he was for sure going on as was I, we hadn’t had the fight we knew was coming with the ladies.. yet…but we knew it would come .

Doc had a good argument that we might need her skills a lot more then she was needed at the base, and I expected to get no more from Jade then her biggest smile, which meant that fight was lost , so I planned on her being with us and planned on how to keep her out of trouble, funny thing it turned out that while I was busy she had taken to hanging out with Doc and had become a very handy aid to the doc and her med crew that were going, so in the heat of battle she would be with the med team , life can be good…maybe.

The Big Bird detail took off on a clear morning with full tanks and all the crews and vehicles, we saw them off and then went on about our business, before we left the airport the head of the Air Force as he called himself with a smile , called us over to his shop where we found two twin eng. planes painted in a camo pattern like our patrol units and both had a mini gun mounted on it , he was very proud of his Air Force and only wanted to find some bombs to mount, Jody and I worried about him because he was just a tad bit crazy, which as Jody put it wasn’t all bad, but needed to be controlled and focused, best in another direction from yours… but he could make a plane sit up and beg that was for sure, he could build it, fly it and mostly land them…

I had moments when he was in the air that I was sure he was flying with one hand and turning the pages in “ Flying for Idiots” with the other, but he kept the clean side up and the dirty side down as he put it, his usual answer to any question was “Whatever”… I quit asking things, Jody did it just to pull his chain, thinking about him racing thru the sky’s with a mini gun was a sobering thought, I told Jody one day we should paint bright red X’s on our vehicles for safety reasons , he said yea lets give him something to aim at…I decided I’d try to find a helmet and a flak jacket but thought of the laughs the “kids” would have and decided to just hope and maybe pray.

We spent a few days working our butts off and then the call came that Big Bird  was coming in so we raced for the strip and watched her settle down like a fat goose and roll out, then she taxied to the barn as it was called, we had told the truck crews to head out and they arrived at the same time.

Song was the first off the craft and said they had a radio problem and needed the med crew as they had some wounded. That call went out fast and it was only a few moments before we heard the sound of the ambulance coming from town, we ran aboard and found 3 people laying on stretchers, all had been attended by the medics that went on all Opps but all looked to need more then band aids .

We got them loaded on the ambulance and headed for the hospital, Song said he would tell us about it later , so we set to work unloading the cargo and trucking it to the ranch, some also went to the county Jail for Jim to use when needed to arm and help train his home guard .

Mostly it looked like the same type of stuff we had already seen so we got it put away and headed for the house, the airport crew would check out the bird and get it ready to return the next day.

After we got some food in us and a cold beer we sat out on the porch and Song gave a report.

They had landed at the end of the strip and unloaded the “Bugs” who took off and made a fast recon of the entire place, looking for trouble so to speak, nothing showed so they taxied to the warehouse and towed the plane inside and shut the doors, a small watch team stayed out under cover, the ones inside started loading the plane with the stuff Song pointed out, With the pilot acting as the Load Master, making sure the weight was balanced right and tied down properly.

The load was in and they were settling down for the night when the out post team called in that there was movement all around them then they heard a mini gun open up and then the roar of a lot of guns, the security teams hit the doors running and the other two Bugs roared out the bay doors, the fight was short and hot for a bit then it settled down to a few scattered shots as the enemy withdrew into the night.

When they got everybody located they found 3 people with fairly bad wounds, the corpsmen took care of them as well as possible and it was decided they could wait for morning to take off , heading out into the dark had no appeal for any of the plane crew, with morning the scout teams headed out and found about 10 body’s and a lot of blood trails leading toward the end of the air port, they followed and at the end of the area they found some more dead, some had been shot in the head, no live enemies were found they followed for a ways but Song called them to return to base for now.

As near as Song could figure it was a sort of a local War Lord which seemed to be popping up which was to be expected. They set the defense force to preparing for a fight after they took off, but had no doubts they could handle anything coming their way, especially since Song had dug out some special toys from the weapons room of the depot, grenade launchers which had the instructions with them and the ammo, obviously prepared for non trained people to use with a minimum of training, those alone would end a battle fast against an un armored enemy, but the need to haul ass back was pushing hard.

At first light the crew headed back to the air port where they found the Big Bird sitting with all engines warmed up and ready to go, Jody had also detailed 2 more Bug teams to go along with the idea of putting the War Lord out of business, he left that up to Song as unit commander on the ground.

After the C 130 was up and out of sight everybody headed back to the ranch to get work and work we did, every person not needed for security or some other critical job was put to work doing something to get the big patrol ready to roll as soon as possible, the Jonas brothers had their shop working 24 hours a day, anybody who couldn’t weld could paint the camo on the rigs as fast as they rolled out the doors.

We were taking plenty of the bugs, not all would be fitted with the big guns but would be instead fast lightly armored advanced scout rigs and flankers due to their ability to run anyplace on or off road, flank security was deemed as important as any and would prove so a great deal in the future…

The heavy Military vehicles we had bought as surplus were becoming worth their weight in gold, big, tough and dependable they were the real work horses of the mobile force.

Three days later the call came that Big Bird was coming in so we headed out with the heavy haulers and were waiting when she slid in smooth as silk, after shutting down and dropping the back ramp Able trotted out and around the plane and stood looking up at the wing, sure enough there was several bullet holes in it, but apparently nothing vital was hit, but it would be checked out before going out again.

Able said he had no idea where the shooting came from just that he heard the hits, how I would never know because the plane was so loud, but then I ain’t the pilot who has to keep it up in the air…

The unloading went as smooth as usual and Able said he thought maybe two more loads would do it, he also said a lot of survivors had been found and that Song was arming them and passing out food and other equipment with the thought that the local wanna be war lords were headed for a short rope and a long drop, the locals were happy to stay there as long as they could end the problem once and for all.

When the plane was leaving Song and the security force were heading out to help end the problem and it looked to be a short fight…

With that they all headed home to the ranch and Able to see his family and enjoy a couple of days off while the plane was checked from front to back…

The work on the patrol vehicles was about done, a few of the duce and a half’s were up armored more then any of the other rigs and mounted with a pair of 50’s and a pair of mini guns, these were our “Tanks “and would lead the charge into any problem calling for more then the bugs and 1 ton units.. They were gonna ruin somebody’s day that was for sure…

The next 2 weeks saw the last of the cargo flights and the full security unit returned in one trip... less one bug and it’s mini gun , when Jody raised an eyebrow Song told him he left it with a large group of good people who would put it to good use and that the clean up was going very well back there, he had checked out another smaller storage depot and was able to outfit a small army of folks who were pissed off and going to finish off the trash and good riddance !

After several weeks of non stop work Jody called a halt and declared a feast which the Clan took over and really laid it on, this one started with the rise of the first full moon and didn’t stop until the last of the full phase… After it was over it turned out there was going to be a lot of weddings when we all got back, about half the security force was marrying into the clan which had a lot more girls then marriage aged young men .. Maybe that was what all the feasting was for, I asked Jade but she just laughed and dragged me off to bed.

It was now time to roll out, all the packing was done, all the training was done, and the vehicles were as ready as they could be, this time the brothers Jonas were going along with their big rolling fort arguing that if anything broke they would be able to fix it… Jody didn’t have the heart to tell them no but Miss Ellie took both by the ear and told them that Jody was the boss period and that if one of them got killed she would go to their grave , dig them up and kick their ass!

It was scary to see those two big men twisting their hats in their hands like small boys caught in the apple tree next door…

So on a bright clear morning we rolled out 20 very heavily armed vehicles, two rolling field hospitals two fuel tankers , and a dozen bugs zipping back and forth like knats around a water Buffalo.. We would have air cover with one of the smaller planes able to land on about any flat surface to refuel. All told we had 100 well trained armed troopers and a 30 man scout unit in front and all around us… at that moment we were the biggest best armed and trained army in the entire country, or so we hoped!

We had decided that to cover the most area the spotter plane would scout ahead and radio to the bug scouts when they saw anything to check out, the bugs were running in groups of three and ranging out on back roads, all pretty much headed in the same direction, the idea being that when a place was spotted the nearest bug team would ease in and check it out, if it was bad then several units would head there to assist in doing what needed doing.

If it was decent folks working to stay alive then they would be given printed information about our purpose and invited to be a part of the outpost program, or left to their own devices their call…

The main convoy would remain on the interstate highway and ease along keeping pace with the scout units, we didn’t start looking until we had past the area we had been thru before, we did have radio contact with the folks we had met before, all were doing fine and said they were willing to take in willing workers if any wished to move there for security.

Two days out we were at the edge of our first trip and really went on alert, with the scout bugs out in force and the Bird Dog up and looking for whatever was out there in front of us.

We didn’t have long to wait the bird dog spotted a settlement just a few miles ahead and south of our location, as he vectored in the closest bugs the main convoy eased forward.

Within an hour the scout bugs were on the horn with the information that this was a good group so we rolled towards their location, one thing about Texas, it had more farm and county roads then one can believe, within an hour we too arrived to find a very nice well laid out farmstead being worked by about 50 people of all races and colors which was a very pleasant surprise after what the nation had been thru.

Our approach in the very warlike vehicles did put these folks on edge for a bit but that changed quickly enough , They were made up of a the remains of a small farming community that was even smaller then Dog Trot if that was possible .

In meeting with their leaders we found them to be well informed of their area and surprisingly they had little or no trouble mostly because they were so off the beaten path and because everybody knew everybody.

They had all pulled together, pooled their resources and hunkered down; they had the sense to close down the roads into their area and in general keep out the problems.

They were as well armed as most folks in Texas, had several veterans and were using their abilities to stay alive and prosper if that word could apply which it did seem to, after our visit with the leaders our medical unit offered to look at anybody needing medical care such as we could provide, most were in very good health, the sickly having died off when their meds ran out. There were a few problems for the dental crew but they were glad for the practice.

They were happy where they were and while very happy for some better weapons and communications equipment and were happy to be a part of the outpost concept and after Jody explained the Free Republic of Texas plan were all for that too, after spending the night there we were up and rolling again with the bird dog who had landed on a flat grass area fired up and hit the blue.

We were very pleased with the results so far but knew there would be many bad days as well.

Later that day one of the scout teams hit a road block and took fire for whoever was manning it, the bug spun around and bailed out of there and made contact with the bird who flew over the area and spotted a farm house with signs of life around it but no signs that people were working at surviving, as he flew over several people opened fire on him but failed to even scratch the paint.

The other scouts headed into the area and formed blocking forces on the road effectively bottling up whoever these unfriendly folks were, the Clan scouts bailed out and took to the woods and soon were chattering in their language, they were looking at about 20 to 25 what appeared to be outlaws hold up in an old house, with some old beater vehicles parked all around, other then firing on us they really hadn’t earned a full out introduction to who we were.. Yet.

Unfortunately for them one of the clan found a body dump with what appeared to be a family of 5, all killed in the last few days, that changed thing for these folks, but we would still attempt to talk to them before deciding how to deal with them.

Leaving the main convoy to follow slowly Jody and I  along with several truck loads of troops headed towards the area, of course Doc and some of her med crew and Jade were right in the middle of it but Jody and I had come to the agreement that while they were our wives they were also well trained members of the combat teams and they would not stand for being pampered because they were married to the two leaders, this saved an on going war which we would lose regardless, but keeping them bottled up in the armored ambulance seemed to be working for the moment.

After we arrived the word was given to the clan scouts to see if they could take out the road blockers… quietly, this was simple, a bug eased forward until it was spotted and while the fools all watched the bug they all felt an AK muzzle at the back of their heads, all three dropped their weapons and were on their bellies by the time we got there.

The bird was still flying over the old farm house and the fools were still popping a few rounds off at him, but the results were that they were all looking up at him and nobody wondered about the road blockers.

They were as sorry a looking bunch as could be found, one look at the faces of the scouts all of whom now had a long very sharp blade in their hands and these people started talking fast…

Two were typical biker trash, the other was a boy of about 15 , we separated them and questioned them from a list, all asked the same questions, after comparing their answers we were able to piece together a fairly good idea of what and who they were, none of it good, the boy was the son of one of the women in the bunch and seemed like he was tolerated more then accepted since his mother was shacked up with the leader, after checking we found his weapon had not been fired at the scouts so he was asked for more information, mostly he was there because of his Mom who was there because it was easier to sleep with the boss man then it was to scrabble for a living .

He told us the gang had been together since the war started and at times was bigger or smaller depending on how many they lost in taking over the next place they came up on. They avoided any place that looked well defended  , when asked how they gained entry to the smaller places he said his mom and a couple of the other women would drive up in an old car and ask for help when the folks there gathered around to talk to them the gang would hit them from hiding. He said also it was a standing order to not shoot the younger women.

I could see Jody’s jaw working while he listened, any sympathy we might have had for the young man was dispelled when he was asked why they did these things, he replied with the answer that “Hey we gotta live too and it’s a dog eat dog world, the strong will win  the weak are just cattle to be used. Sadly he seemed to believe this and saw nothing wrong with it…

Jody at last said well enough of this and got up and walked away , he said something to the clan scouts who nodded and he headed back to his rig, fortunately the ambulance was parked around a curve , soon there was several quiet popping sounds as the scouts used silenced 22’s to clean up this part of the mess.

After the body’s were removed from sight we rolled on up a ways and Jody called the Bird dog and told him to make a gun run over the place and see what it stirred up , this was the first real gun run for the bird dog but we all knew what it could do , shortly we heard the plane then the fools shooting at it for sport, then came the ripping sound of the mini gun , followed  by the sound of vehicles starting up and heading right at us , before we ever saw them they were hit by the scout bug with the M-60 mounted on it and the clansmen in the woods finished the job when the BG’s bailed out to run for it. It was over fast and we moved in to the farm house, there was a few holding up in the old barn but a few rounds from a 50 brought them on the run with hands up…

It never ceased to amaze me that these bastards who raped and murdered would start hollering for a lawyer the minute they were flushed out into the light of day.

Jody had the scout who found the family’s bodies lead us to the spot, he called for the med crew to come up, when Doc Ellen and Jade and the med crew saw the Mother and Father laying there with their three young kids that solved the problem of how we handled this kind of trash in the future.

Jody had 3 shovels brought up and ordered the bastards to start digging and when a grave big enough for the family was done the remains were gently placed in it and then covered up by several of our people.

After heading back to the barn and a rough question and answering session and we knew all we were going to get, Jody ordered them hanged, they were still screaming about their lawyers and their rights when they finely stopped dancing at the end of the rope, the rest of the trash was piled into the barn and it was burned.. Doc Ellen watched the flames and turning away said “Good riddance to bad trash”… thus summing up the feeling of the entire group.

It was hard for decent folks to imagine or understand how fast and badly so many people had slipped back to a time where there were no moral guidelines , how could it be that people who wouldn't steal a candy bar one day could resort to killing innocent people and selling young girls the next ? It’s very easy to blame the big city gangs but while there was many thousands in the bigger cities that couldn't account for the non gang members going rogue.

We just figured that there was a very large part of the population that while having surface morals really couldn't wait to let the beast out… and unfortunately it seems women and girls were their target… but while we couldn't save the ones who were already victims we could do out best to stop the ones we found… and find them we were.

We had decided it was best for now to avoid any of the larger and smaller cities. Rural towns seemed to be the place where things were held in check and we hoped that would continue to be the way of it… but we knew one day we would have to take care of the city issues once and for all. But for the moment we were just taking them as we found them…

After the last shoot out ...if it could be called that , we decided to head due West ...more or less , we passed South of Dallas and East of Waco  we were seeing lots of signs of the horrors of the aftermath of the collapse , after being out 10 days the Bird Dog spotted a small town starting to burn.. It was several miles due West and a bit south of our line of travel… the pilot flew over the place and radioed that there was a hell of a fire fight going on and the defenders were out numbered by what looked like the usual trash we had cleaned up to date..

Jody told him to back off and observe for a ways out and we dropped the hammer...so to speak… between the bad roads and the heavily loaded vehicles we weren't moving all that fast... Jody and I both decided to jump into a couple of bugs and take a fast react team into the area... after consulting the maps and laying out a route we called the B Dog and told him to fly back our way over the road we would be using..

In just a few minutes we heard then saw him , he said the way was clear as far as he could tell , he was told to fly ahead of us as slow as he could and as low as he thought safe.. He laughed and asked why he was trolling for? Jody told him Sharks! We all had a small laugh but knew he was hanging his ass out doing this… our hopes were that the BG's wouldn't have ambushes out .

After a low slow pass Birddog called back and said he saw nothing but wasn't gonna say it was safe! Jody sent one of the fast Bugs up the road to play bait with a Gun Bug a short ways behind them... the Bait Bug called back excited saying they had blown thru a small ambush so fast that the BG's had to run out behind them to shoot. Meaning they ran right in front of the Gun Bug...bad Juju on them! They then reported that 4 BG's had been put down and the road was open we dropped the hammer and soon were within half a mile of the battle… the Birddog had flown  back over the battle and reported the defenders were holding their own for the moment and that nobody seemed to have spotted him..

We decided to ease in and have the scouts go in and grab a warm body to "talk" to... it took the Clan scouts just a few minutes to locate a spotter on a small hill watching the fight thru binocs .. He was alone with a cheap radio like one might buy at any outdoor store. Shortly he was wrapped up and back with us… he was the usual trashy looking weasel but was smart enough to know asking for a lawyer wasn't gonna do him any good, after a few minutes we knew his bunch was about 40 shooters and were freelance slavers and after scouting the small town they figured they could take it and take the females.. and any goods they had , except this bunch were more like wolves then sheep and the slavers were not doing well but they had a lot of ammo , their plan to burn the folks out had ended when the wind came up from the wrong way for their plans .

About then the scouts on the up wind side called in and said they had just took out 3 BG's with fire bombs trying to get in close enough to toss them.. After calling in more scouts who were observing and having them point out the lay of the land we drove up a lot closer on the road into the town, Jody sent the gun bugs off with a scout bug each to get into a good spot with a clear field of fire…

Jody and I unassed the bugs and eased up to the observation spot the scouts had taken the spotter... the scene below was laid out right in front of us and the BG's were in sight from behind so Jody called in the snipers with their suppressed weapons, things went well until one of the BG's saw his buddies head explode out the front and knew they were under fire from behind... by then they were down to maybe 25 shooters who unwisely opened fire on the hillside where we were.. Jody simply said NOW in Clan speak and the "Saws" started running… it was over in a few seconds with about half the BG's tossing their weapons aside and raising their arms .

Things work out better when you have all the big sticks , once again we had nobody hit , one of our guys took a tumble down a wash and split his head open which hurt far less then the crap he was getting from his buddy's .. He was hauled back to the Doc's who were pleased to have something to do… and happy to not have any real work.

After the shooting stopped and we had the attention of the townies we sent two scouts in to talk to them… one was the lady we rescued who was now known as "Shooter" , we figured a woman even one dressed in tiger stripes would be more apt to be welcomed then a small Asian armed with an AK... Kate with her red hair and well tailored tiger stripes was really easy on the eyes and made contact with folks pretty easy.

After Kate had checked things out she called for the Medical team who rushed up and bailing out went to work on the town folks who were wounded, they well lead by an older man who knew what he was doing or the town would have fallen to the slavers, as it was they had suffered 3 dead and 5 wounded all of whom were going to make it if Doc and her bunch had anything to say about it.

Jody and I sat down with the old fellow who turned out the have spent 25 years in the army Rangers and knew which pile his crap was in. so to speak. His name was Harvey ( Harv) Williams , Harv said the town was mostly occupied by the folks who lived there before the war and was mostly a farm and ranch supply town , at the peak it had 350 people in town , when the world went out of control he just assumed control and people knowing his back ground followed his lead , and he just did what he had done all his life , as with most of the other places we had visited he had the roads closed and had everybody with a weapon to show up , women and kids too .. then he set about preparing the town to survive , with trusted men on guard duty at the road blocks the rest of the town were set to starting gardens and building fighting positions  that were interlocked .

It seemed to us that for the most part the small towns had held it together because of the community ties of a small town. There had to be something to this, but since we hadn't moved on any place bigger then a few hundred and small farms and ranches we really couldn't say but we needed to discuss it for sure.

But for now we had some scup bags to talk to, the slavers who had given up were being held separate so we could get all the information and cross reference it, by this method we could pretty much figure out what was what, as usual we let the Clan scouts scare the crap out of them and they all talked like their lives depended on it.. We learned that this slavery thing was a big deal and also who was buying the slaves and best of all. Where they were!

The next problem was that this nut was a big one and to crack it we needed more people and some heavy fire power and a plan, which we couldn't develop sitting here on our asses… So we needed to do a major recon on this dickweeds if we were going to save the folks being held and crush this bunch for good...

After we had all the information these mutts had we turned them over to the town folks , Short trial , long drop , short rope ... We chose to just leave it to them and we didn't even watch , instead we went to work with the maps , and talked over a plan for getting more information.. As much as it chapped mine and Jody's asses we just couldn't go on this recon  , so Jody called over 3 of the older Clan scouts who had worked with him some in the Central Highlands , It amazed me how many people he got out of there and who had stayed in contact ..

Jody laid out the plan to these men who would lead 3 separate scout units again as much as we both wanted to go along we had to forego it. It seems that there is a base of scum bags near Waco who took over a small town and turned it into a slave camp where the men were worked to produce food and the women were used as it pleased the scum bags, the kids were held until they had enough then sold to god alone who knew and for what although we all feared we knew..

Jody and I and the wives sat around our camp talking to the team leaders when Jody laid out the thoughts that were troubling him, it boiled down to the fact that while we had been killing off a few assholes we weren't doing anything about the bigger problems which was the root of the problem the main headquarters of the various gangs, it was like trying to wipe all the fire ants in Texas by burning out one mound which in and of it's self didn't work either..

Jody said he felt we needed to follow the 3 F's of Marine logic , Find em , Fix em and then Fuck em!... I think that translates to locate them find their main HQ then wipe them out… but some how his version seems more fun… but depending on how big a place they have and how many  guns not to mention how many innocents were in the line of fire would dictate just how big a force we would need..

One thing we have is massive fire power, but we don't have any artillery, but Jody is working on that??? I was wondering how we would handle cannons when we were trained in rifle work… Jody just smiled and said he was working one that too…

At this point we were kind of dead in the water so using the maps we located a state park a days ride away and bid good by to the folks in the little town who were now armed very well and ready for bear. We made the park easily enough and found a pleasant little place with a lake and the usual outhouses and camp spots after pulling in the scouts headed out for a recon which meant we would have deer and pig for dinner…

After reporting all quiet around the area for a couple of miles and bringing back the usual fresh meat the scouts set out the defenses around the camp , pretty much nothing was going to move thru the area without us knowing..

While waiting for the pig to roast we all headed for the lake and enjoyed a good swim and washing, the ladies were happy to get their hair clean after days of sweat and grime and smoky fires… dinner was great and relaxing was so welcome, we all went to bed early and for once got full nights sleep while the guard force stayed alert then took the day to rest.. It was a bit of heaven!

For the rest of the week we did nothing but sleep and eat and play in the water and fish! Pig and deer are great but once in a while something else is good too… a fish fry was the ticket… and another good thing was the fact we were able to spread out and have privacy with a central place to gather if we wanted to visit... Jade and I enjoyed that very much…

Five days later the radio watch reported the Scout teams were heading back and within an hour were in camp… Jody told them to hit the lake and relax and report in a few hours.

He was a damn good leader... always thinking of the troops… not that I knew much about that but I know good things when I see them. Plus hearing the comments from the others…

After having a meeting with the scout leaders Jody called a general meeting and after everybody quieted down he laid it out for us… The main bunch or rather "This" bunch was right where the captured slavers said they were and were doing just as stated… the men were working in the big gardens and the women were cooking and taking care of the main camp… the slaves were herded into pens at night with guard towers set around them they slept on the ground as best they could most were pretty bad off from lack of food and care... the men and women were kept separate , the women seemed to get a bit more food and had shelter from weather by way of shed roofs , they slept on the ground but had a blanket... the kids were kept in what looked like a school gym and the Slavers used the class rooms for their quarters .

There was a big diesel generator that provided light and water for the school, the cafeteria was the mess haul the slaves were fed twice a day at sun up and sun down and the attitude of the slavers seemed to be that if a slave died oh well… more could be bought almost any time.. The scouts said that the younger women and older girls were held in the school for use by the assholes... the younger girls were apparently not used as they were worth more to whoever bought them…

While I was personally appalled by this whole mess Jody said he had seen the same thing played out any place where the governing systems collapsed… that when money became worthless then humans became property to the warlords and there always had been a market for young girls. Even before the SHTF for the whole world… Jody said there had been a secret report out that showed a very large number of the young girls and boys who went missing were grabbed and sold into the white slavery market… As a former cop I could imagine they type of people who would buy kids for use in such ways...

According to the report it looked like there were upwards of 150 to 200 ass hats hold up in the town.. They were well armed but seemed to be light on full auto which we were heavy in. with our entire force present excluding the Medical staff we were out numbered 2 to 3 to one but with surprise and fire power we knew we could take these people but the big problem was doing it without getting the hostages killed

Jody decided he needed to take a personal look at the place so we mounted up in several scout bugs with 3 gun bugs and headed out ( without mentioning where we were going to the wives which would cost later) .

It seemed like only minutes passed before we were flagged down by the stay behind scouts who waved us into a secure area to lay up the vehicles . After all were hidden under camo netting we gathered and got briefed by the scouts who stayed behind , nothing had changed it seemed nobody knew we were on the hunt so we moved out to the over view spot .

After a walk of a mile or so we came to a small hill that was being used as our observation spot and there it was all laid out just like the scouts had drawn it . Gardens growing, men hoeing under the guns of mounted horsemen like some throwback to the old southern chain gangs except these men were too beat down to run anyplace , chains weren’t needed .

Most looked to starved to work but the guards with their quirts made sure all were working. We watched them lashing out seemingly for no reason without fail the blows drove the man to the ground.

We laid on that hill for several hours and come to realize that these folks had been the big dogs so long they had become complacent and this was going to be their undoing. For the most part the ones not on guard duty just laid around drank and fought each other over who knows what.

Every once in a while one would go over to the women’s quarters and drag out a woman to one of several shacks that seemed to be used as cribs for using the women..

It was a long day laying in the weeds with the bugs and I wondered how the Clan scouts did it but then most had been born to it, the younger ones who were born here seemed to have inherited it from their parents. Most of us doze off while others watched.

Then right around mid afternoon we got a break none of us had expected any way, shape or form . Four of the slavers got geared up and went to the women’s quarters and brought out 10 women and headed for the gate leading out and into the wooded area where the women started gathering wood .

The break came in that two of the women were obviously clan  women !!  The scouts were vibrating with anger. Jody whispered to two of the team leaders who without a sound gathered their men and like smoke just were gone .

Jody said they would make contact with the women and learn all they could about the camp and we waited. About 3 hours after the women had been herded into the woods they came out hauling heavy loads which were taken inside the compound and stacked near a large fire pit .

The guards were so lax they never noticed they were one woman short , soon the scouts were back with the woman who was talking a mile a minute to the head scout .

Jody translated and the story came out, the woman and several of the people were heading to the Ranch and were ambushed by slavers who sold themto these people, the women’s husbands were killed outright , their teenaged daughters were in the school held with the other young girls , their boys were there too.

She said there was around 100 girls and boys being held in the school…unless some had been sold lately but she hadn’t heard of any..

We moved back to the hidden bugs and talked it over and decided that we needed to move tonight, also that we would try to do it quietly as much as we could..

I told Jody I was going in with the team who were tasked with sentry removal in the towers , he agreed but was going to slip thru the wire after we took out the sentries , the plan was to try to reach the young people first , the men and women outside would be covered by the largest group of our people acting as over watch , after the towers were knocked out it should be a lot easier….now if Murphy stayed out of it..

At midnight the watch changed in the towers so we waited until 0300 for them to get sleepy before we did our thing.. We were using two people with 22 pistols with sub sonic rounds to remove the tower watchers..

The tower I was going in on turned out to be a piece of cake, the two creeps were standing leaning over the edge of the wall smoking , and just a couple of seconds after they ruined their night vision with the cigarette lighter they both found out the smoking is detrimental to ones health.. On shot each from the base of the tower and they simply slipped down out of sight.

The other three hit teams went about their business quietly , we found out later that in two of the target towers the BG’s were sound asleep after smoking a big joint.. The Clansman who went up the stairs simply shot them both from the stairs..

The last town was just as easy as the guards were sitting down sharing a bottle , neither noticed that death came to call.. It was way too easy, and brought back the reason out people were so well trained and also had a good reason to be on top of their game , almost all had families depending on them..

Thru my night vision I watched dark forms slipping thru the wire with not a sound , Jody’s entire team was made up of clansmen and them ol boys could walk on water with nary a ripple. They made their way to the school gym door and slipped in, the captive clans woman had said they were guarded by only a couple of people who stayed outside the actual gym .

In the meantime the gate was opened after being sprayed liberally with oil , the waiting troops eased inside and spread out , moving among the prisoners , hopefully none would yell out , not that these asshats would notice iot as most were drunk by now and passed out.

The clanswoman had eased among the women and quietly spread the word to remain flat on the ground , the Men seemed to be so tired and starved that nothing should of a boot in the ribs would wake them.

At last after a nail biting long time Jody’s voice  in a whisper said all clear in my ear, this was our signal to start moving in on  the barracks and the shacks where the women were used , again the suppressed cans did their job, there was some noise when one of the sleeping slavers woke up and started to yell while jumping out of bed but died with a 22 round to the head and a sharp bolt to the chest , when he fell he knocked over a night stand with a bottle on it , which seemed to echo all over the compound but apparently wasn’t an uncommon sound in this place.

Jody said all the kids were under cover in a safe place from stray bullets and that we could open the ball when we wanted. I for one was very ready, when everybody had been alerted several shadows ran quietly to the barracks windows and tossed several grenades  inside and ran back, hitting the dirt just as all hell broke loose , the kicker was the White Phosphorus grenades tossed in with the frags , when they went off it turned the whole building into an inferno .

Then the screaming started with people flying out the windows and doors only to be hit with withering fire from our people , several tried to surrender but we were past that so they died as well.

While we tore apart the main barracks Jody and a few of his crew hit the leaders place. Within moments they came out dragging a screaming naked man who was cussing a blue streak until one of the clan popped him in the back of the head with a rifle butt.

As per the plan everybody laid back in the shadows watching the buildings burn, any survivors who might come out shooting would be hard pressed to find a target. None came out.

Day break came and we policed up the area collecting weapons and anything unburned that had use, not one of the entire gang had survived but the head of the snake, and he was going to be some talking very soon .

I having never been in the military could not believe we had just taken out a much larger force with so few people and not one scratch to our team!!  But Jody had said from the first that good preplanning and stealth and not playing fair beat the hell out of some asshole screaming “CHARGE!!” and everybody running into a wall of bullets.. He was right!.

I did wonder when our luck would run out but really we did have a wonderful group of fighters and had some of the best scouts in the world in the Clansmen , they could sniff out an ambush better then a team of bloodhounds, they just seemed to feel in vibrating in the air.

Jody had told me you could lay near a trail on the blackest night and hear a file of troops moving quietly thru and just from the smell you would know who they were .

He said VC smelled of fish and rotten cabbage, that the South Viets smell like a French whorehouse because they all slathered sweet smelling perfume type crap on like water and Americans smelled like cigarettes and on the cherry’s after shave or deodorant.

I thought about that and quietly vowed to forgo any of those give a ways..  I’d hate to get killed because I didn’t wanna offend my squadies with BO.. What a stupid way to get killed.

After calling up the rest of the force we set about dealing as best we could with the freed people who were shocked to find they were free, they were a pretty sorry sight but for the most part some good food and rest would go a long ways in getting them back on their feet.

It made it all worth while seeing the fathers reunited with their wives and children , but the sadness of the ones who had lost their fathers or mothers made it come home again how good we had it while the world spun out of control.

I couldn’t speak for anybody else but I made a vow right there that I was going to rid the country of the kind of bastards who would do this to fellow humans , If it took the rest of my life I was going to work at it .

A few hours later the main unit rolled in and two really pissed off ladies bailed out of their truck with fire shooting out of their eyes but before either could say a word they saw the many sick, hurting people and stopped right there and Doc started shouting orders to the Med crew and anybody else she could grab, within an hour there was triage going on and the Med crew was ass deep in the mess of abused humanity , I felt we had dodged the bullet for a while but there was going to be hell to pay later.

What surprised both Jody and I was that later Doc and jade took us aside and Doc who was usually a gentle person said right out. Jody and you too Sam , you two do what you have to do to end this shit once and for all ! Kill every son of a bitch whose involved in Slavery wherever you find them and we don’t care if they are women or kids, if they traffic in humans kill them.

Jade just nodded thru the whole speech, both women were really pissed , Jade asked what we were going to do to the Head scum bag “ After” he talked ?

Jody said well since he led the group who captured and abused the Clans people they want him. Doc looked at Jade who smiled a very hard smile and said good!! And we may watch!

Hell even I didn’t want to watch that but I never doubted for a second the girls meant it, I guess they heard some bad shit while tending to the women and kids. We left it at that , the girls went back to work and we went to see the head snake.

The strange thing was the leader of this faction of road kill turned out to be a very well educated person, a former teacher! When asked why he did what he did he just smiled and said well , we men now rule the world and the rest are just property to be used.

And he never looked even a tiny bit ashamed of his actions , I couldn’t understand how somebody could change like that, but Jody said the guy had probably always fantasized about doing just what he did but was held in check by the laws or society and with the break down he just crawled out of his false shell and let his true self slither about.. But his slithering days were going to end soon and not in a pleasant way .

Jody had a meeting with the elder of the clansmen on this patrol and explained just what all we wanted to know and that after the bastard talked they could have him. And that was that, they took him a ways away and after 2 days came back and said he didn’t die well , that was it except for the information they got.

After the former prisoners were cared for and several busses were brought in from the county school bus garage for transport everybody loaded up and headed home.

The new people were delivered to the area clinics for most and to the hospital for some, all were in one way or another in bad shape but generally nothing a week or two of good food and rest wouldn’t handle, a lot of the women would need special care for a while, the kids seemed to bounce back rather quick as young folks will do.

After this patrol and raid we sat down with the committee and looked at the way things went and what we had learned, mostly we knew we had been very lucky and that wasn’t going to always be the way of it .

We all agreed we needed to reassess the way we were going about the job of rebuilding the area and the future . Jody with all his many years of experience knew more about the future fight to save what could be saved.

After a few weeks of brain storming it was decided that we would put together heavy patrols, made up of all volunteers , their vehicles would be armored and heavily armed , we ”  also had some “ Artillery” in the form of 81 mm mortars from the stash Song had located with more such finds in the future .

The training of the bigger patrol personnel would include training in the use of the “Artillery” .When they rolled out every person in a unit would be cross trained in every capacity from communications to Mortar men ( or women) until they could function as one entity .   

This followed the training of the Special Forces and was proven to work , and it would work even better for our people simply because they would not be restrained by a higher command far removed from the battle.

It was decided that the patrols would move in such a manner that none would be more then an hour or so from help, they would be moving in a wave so to speak , clearing a pate across a wide front, making contact with other survivors, gathering intel about groups of bad guys , who would be dealt with but as many teams as needed.

We also had to address the issue of collateral damage which was a chicken shit way of saying that when stomping a nest of vipers there would be some folks killed or wounded who were innocent , none of us liked this thought but we agreed we could not risk the lives of trained fighters to save a person mixed in with the enemy, sad but a fact of life.

We had kind of operated in a hap hazard manner all along as to patrols and had been very lucky, now there was a plan of action that would in the long run clean out all but the major cities which would be left to whomever was in them as long as they didn’t become a problem to the security forces moving thru the area .

The overall plan was to take back as much of Texas as was possible , then we would move out into other states around Texas, where we would offer help in getting back on their feet, all would be told of the Free republic being built and given the chance to join us, if they did we would give all the aid we could, if not then we would leave them to their own devices .

The idea of freedom is that people are just that “  Free” to live in any manner they wished as long as it wasn’t interfering with other folks . It was kind of like the old saying, you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink , well some folks just can not wrap their mind around true freedom , the freedom to work, grow, live. Some folks just want to be handed everything . Life was going to get even harder for them.

This task would not be finished in our life times but it would get done eventually . We also decided that in the future that Jody and I would not go out with the patrols but would be building up our new “ Heavy Regimental Combat Team” a term Jody said was an old military unit of organization that usually had every this needed to wage war on a smaller scale, from Jeeps to real Artillery and air assets .

This would be the hammer when a heavy patrol hit something they couldn’t handle , by clearing airports as they went there would be places to land the C130 we had and the ones we were finding .

An air mobile RCT ..who would have thought back when we were talking about welding steel plates on trucks and calling them tanks?

The job was going to be huge and would take years but what the hell we had nothing better to do !

And so the new plan was put into action , the work started , and with luck in 6 months time the real battle to rebuild the nation would start , one small town at a time, one farm at a time .

And all because a stranger walked into an old country café with a plan .

It’s now been 2 years since the day we met to reorganize the plan , we did continue on and we did save a lot of folks and killed a few, for the most part the good folks had risen to the top like cream and the outlaws were killed off about as fast as they stuck their heads up..

Using the resources of the ranch and the treasure trove of information that Song had gathered we were able to locate and use the stuff hidden away for that reason.

The free Republic of Texas is growing as word spreads, good people are drifting in, and the bad seeds weed themselves out pretty fast usually without a trial.

Jade is now pregnant with our second child , I have a beautiful daughter who in a few years will follow her mothers foot steps in getting her tattoos , I’m not sure how that’s gonna work but then nobody asked me , I did submit to getting tats like Jody’s .

Ellen gave birth to a Son who is the spitting image of Jody with Ellen’s

Eyes .The Clan keeps growing, seems the word went out to a lot of them who had simply went into the forests of East Texas when the troubles started and in the ways of their people seemed to know where to find others.

The old state lines of Texas have disappeared and now the Free Republic of Texas is spreading all across the neighboring former states, the thought seems to be that borders are a bad concept and freedom is a living breathing entity… I expect one day it will come to be called the Free Republic of America.

We have a long way to go as does the rest of the world, but the air is clear and clean, no smog anyplace, and mother earth seems to be slowly reclaiming her rightful place in a very short time…

What the future brings we don’t know, we just know that here in the wonderful little gathering of old buildings called Dog Trot Texas, it’s a wonderful day and the pie in Miss Ellie’s is still the best damn thing for a hundred miles around . As it always was, the screen door still squeaks and as I sit here with my coffee and pie I can hear the sound of a Jeep being driven in a nice quiet manner with my lovely wife and daughter, coming to steal daddy’s pie…

Life is good in Dog trot… Free republic of Texas.