Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

Mandy said, “It looks like you have a place to go.” Dawn said they had been invited to stay at a friend’s, but left it at that.

Dawn and Diana had two horses. One, a Quarter Horse mare named Trixie that was really just ridden for mere pleasure, and a Fjord they called Thor because he was a big solid brute. He was a beefy draft horse and well trained in a wide variety of riding styles, but more importantly able to pull a cart. They’d be using these horses.

They looked around the barn and pastures. The barn had about 18 horses total and they were all out in the pastures right now. They asked Mandy what her plans were. “Well,” she answered, “if I go anywhere I’ll take mine and cut the rest of them loose. They can wander and graze off the grasslands. I’ll throw all the hay out too. That’s the best I can do. Not that I have family nearby or a place to go.”

Dawn asked how much feed she had left. Jerry the barn owner had stocked them up with enough hay for the winter and grain for about 90 days. “What about you, Mandy?”

She said she had about six weeks of stock in the house or maybe a bit more. “I know how to hunt,” she added, “and maybe I’ll see about taking a deer or two to stock up. Freezer in the lodge should stay cold enough with no heat in there this winter.”

Dawn asked Diana and Karen to come with her and talk. When they returned they proposed a deal for Mandy. “You cut the horse rations in half and that will get them to spring, but you have to watch their hay as well. We’ll leave you with another supply of food good for about four months. Nothing special, just basics. Cut it back and you can make it to spring as well. The chickens in the back will help you out with eggs and the goat’s milk is good for you too.”

Mandy asked, "What happens in spring?"

“We can’t tell you. We don’t know. But we’ll check in on you then,” Dawn answered.

Mandy said, “What the hell, why not.” Dawn told her they were going to park by the little lodge house and would get with her before they left. She called Haliday and let him know they had arrived ok.

David had backed the old Cherokee up to the garage and they opened the garage door. He connected the trailer and pulled out of the garage. The neighbors had heard the Cherokee start and it drew a lot of curious onlookers. Quite a few started to gather around. A few started to ask them what they had and where they were going.

Rich, Bev, Sarah, Elizabeth and Bobby came out. They closed the garage door and locked it down. They started to get in but had to figure out the seating arrangements. Elizabeth, Sarah and Bobby were the smallest and had to ride in the very back cargo area. David and Rich up front, Bev, Randy and Kevin in the back seat.

As they were getting ready to leave a few people from the crowd starting getting closer, demanded to know what they had. David told everyone to get in. The crowd had grown to about 35 people now. They had seen the rare vehicle running around here and there, but with this one having a trailer, they figured it had something good in it.

They moved to block the driveway. Some lady yelled that they had to share if they had food. Bev said, “We’re not welfare, we’re not sharing anything.” Randy fired a round into the ground and pointed the shotgun at the crowd. Half ran away and the other half just moved aside. He jumped in and they took off. About 12 miles north to Roger’s house, but a day’s walk for these people.

Sarah asked if they could stop at her trailer to check for Erik. This would add about eight miles onto their trek. Rich said they needed to get to Roger’s house first and then he would send Randy and Kevin to the trailer to check it out. "Can I go too?" she asked.

Rich told her no. “You need to stay with Elizabeth. It’ll take them a half hour─tops to get there and back. That’ll have to do.” He knew Erik would not be there, but couldn’t dash her hopes.

Haliday walked over to the Tahoe with Mike. Linda and Kayla were inside with George and his family finishing breakfast. They only had coffee and oatmeal with brown sugar, but it was nice to sit down and enjoy something hot and fresh. When they finished, they would change into regular clothes and go help Haliday and Mike.

“What’s the plan Roger?”

He told Mike that they were going to strip the magnetic light bar off and toss it in the back. Next they pulled the KLR off. Roger began peeling off the DHS decals on the bike. “Mike, go ahead and slowly start peeling them off the Tahoe. Go slowly and pull it back onto itself so that the vinyl doesn’t tear. Don’t leave pieces on the truck at all. I’ll help you when I’m done with these.”

The Tahoe was stripped now and appeared to be just a plain old Tahoe except for the spotlight. Nothing he could do about that though. Haliday grabbed a bucket from George’s storage shed and filled it with water from a hand pump. He pulled out a stiff wire bristle brush and started washing the KLR down. The white paint started coming off and revealed plain OD green.

Haliday had used a half dozen coats of washable paint and sprayed it on to get a good finish. He had then used a clear coat, which held the paint on until it was brushed off. The decals were last to go on. The bike was OD green originally, but he needed white for the DHS look. They loaded it back on the Tahoe. The truck was now ready to go.

Kayla and Linda helped clean up and then went outside to help, but found them ready to go. “Watch this while we change.” They went back inside and changed. Haliday put on his Best Buy Camo, khaki pants and blue polo shirt. They then went back outside. George walked out as well.

“Well, looks like you are ready to go; I wish you the best of luck,” he said.

“You too George,” he told him.

“Roger, any advice?”

“I have a bunch, but not that much time. Here’s the Readers Digest version.

“Store as much water as you can. Hide as much of your food as you can in case you get raided. Let them take what they want. No sense in shooting anyone if you don’t have to.” There was a contradiction, he thought. “If you do have to shoot, shoot to kill, don’t leave anyone alive. Hunt for food now, eat that first and save your stores for as long as you can. Beef up your security, add traps and stuff.

“I would consider moving everyone into the main trailer there. Otherwise it’s easy to take you out one at a time. Safety in numbers. Privacy is out the door now anyway. Don’t go into town unless you absolutely have to. Bad decision either way, I mean if someone is dying that’s one thing, but otherwise stay away. No hospitals or clinics are open and if they are open they are full of disease.”

“What about FEMA and other help agencies? Won’t they be coming?” George asked

Haliday told him, “It’s been three days. I haven’t heard of any movement to help people at all. Ran into a small group of troops in Indiana that got orders the first day, but even they had been waiting and as far as I know they were still waiting now. I wouldn’t count on much yet George, especially from the government. Hell, we don’t even know what happened exactly.”

That was the thing that really bothered him. Of all of the radio traffic on the ham he had listened to, he didn’t hear anything about the government other than that one original broadcast for troops to report. He hadn’t even heard that again. That was one of the reasons to go back to the civilian version of the Tahoe. Too many people would be looking for government help.

“George, I can’t thank you enough for the hospitality. You have a 22 rifle?”

“I sure do, keep it around for the small varmints.”

Haliday walked to the Tahoe and returned with a brick of 22lr’s. “Here ya go,” he said, “save them for small game. Good hunting and good luck folks.” They climbed in and started to pull away. Haliday quickly stopped, got out, and George asked him what he forgot. A quick whistle and Max came running; he paused to give Haliday the evil eye before jumping into the truck. Then they left.