Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

He whipped back around once more and headed back to the road. He cut through the ditch and bounced up onto the pavement. The Jeep had a tougher time navigating this and Haliday increased the distance between him and the Jeep. He needed this distance. He would have to slow down a bit for a brief few seconds.

He slowed a bit so he could handle the bike with enough control for one hand. He reached down and opened a bag attached to the tank. He managed to open the Velcro top of it exposing the contents. He took a handful and tossed it behind him. He did it once more. Real 007 stuff here, he hoped.

The bag had been filled with what he called star jacks. These resembled the kid’s version of jacks however were made with large spikes that were sharpened to a point on each end. No matter how they landed there would always be a spike pointing upward. Most people called them Caltrops. He learned this trick during the Detroit Newspaper Strike back in the early nineties. This was done to flatten the tires of the replacement workers.

About three dozen of them landed behind him. The Jeep didn’t have time to swerve and ran over where they had landed. It just kept right on following him. Haliday cursed to himself and gunned it again. He looked in his mirror but now saw the Jeep slowing. He noticed one of the front tires going flat. He got at least one tire and that was good enough.

The Jeep came to a stop by the side of the road. The men inside had their own radio and called in to some kind of headquarters. As far as they were concerned, they were the new law around here and somebody just disrespected them. Their group would not tolerate this behavior; they were dictatorial in nature.

He looked around at himself and made sure he wasn’t hit. The only thing he noticed was a small tear in his cargo pocket but that looked like it was from the cornfield. He took a few more roads and got back on route. He was wondering who the hell they were. He was trying to remember who might be in this area.

There was no military or militia as far as he could remember. If they were militia, they were different than the typical TV yahoos and kept themselves under the radar. This could be a problem. If they had a sizable group, they could damper his own group’s efforts. He made note to check this out; he didn’t need any big headaches.

He came up to the dirt road. He spotted the horse tracks and the ranger’s tracks as well. He got off his bike and looked around. “That should do the trick,” he said. He walked over to the side of the road and grabbed a bunch of smaller branches and spread them out. He pulled out some paracord and tied them together and then tied them to the back of his bike.

He keyed his mic and told Dawn he was coming in. He got back on the bike and dragged the branches down the road behind him. While it didn’t completely cover up the tracks, it did do a good job and took away that fresh track look. He would do the same on the way out to try and hide the cache site since they hadn’t needed to dig it up.

He reached the path and paused long enough to cut the branches loose. There was no way he could drag those through this path. It wasn’t quite what he remembered. No wonder they had trouble. The winter months played hell on the trees and tree limbs had dropped, blocking the path a bit more than usual.

He came up on the three of them standing there waiting. They were grouped together, but at least had the brains to make sure they were ready to fire. He would have had them spread out and hidden. It could have been a trap for them. Haliday turned off the bike and dismounted. He walked over and gave Dawn a hug. He said hi to Diana and Karen and said he was glad they were all safe.

“Let’s see what you have here,” he said. He walked around the ranger and trailer and then looked underneath. He got in the driver’s seat and tried to back it up. It went about a foot backwards and that was it. He looked under it again and this time saw that a tree root near the surface had broken and came up and wedged itself between the axle and trailer.

He tried going forward again and still no luck; it wasn’t going to break free. He tried to pull it out but he couldn’t get the leverage to do this either. He laid down on the ground and worked himself under the ranger a bit. “Dawn, can you hand me a saw out of the toolbox.”

“You want a pocket chain or regular saw?”

“Pocket chain.”

Haliday never thought one of these would come in handy. But this awkward position proved its worth. He worked the saw back and forth for about five minutes until the root gave way. He pulled the chunk loose and tossed it aside. “That should do it,” he said. He started the ranger and it moved freely now.

Haliday called them all over. He thought it might not be a bad idea to tell them what happened. He explained the incident with the jeep as best as he could. “We’re going to take a slightly different route back just in case they are still out there. The horses will need to move as quickly as they can without exhausting them.” The realization that this area was now changing too, had hit the three of them like a ton of bricks. Haliday said, “Welcome to the new world disorder.”

As soon as they reached the dirt road, Haliday hooked up his branches. “Listen,” he said, “I’m going down that way about a half mile and then I’ll double back and catch up to you guys. I want to try to throw anyone off the track if I can.” They took off and he did too. He doubled back quickly and caught up.

Haliday heard a low guttural roar like that from a 155mm cannon and looked around. The horses were spooked and reared a bit. There came another roar before Haliday realized this was thunder. Well, the effort hiding the cache was going to go to waste except now it’d be even better as the rain would wash the road clean of the tracks much better than his dragging did.

He signaled them to stop. “You guys have rain gear?” They all nodded. “Ok, put it on, looks like we are going to get hammered.” He grabbed a set out of his saddle bags and put them on. Windy, cold, wet and exposed. This was getting to be all kinds of fun. People out and about would be heading home, but those still out in this weather would have a purpose. It was best to avoid those folks. Dark clouds starting moving in and the wind picked up.

Haliday called David and asked them how they were doing. David said they were just sitting around waiting for them to get there. “Well, with the weather change it’s going to be a while. Make sure everyone gets something to eat and keep some hot liquids on hand. Have everyone dress warmer. I have a feeling tonight is going to be rough.”

Haliday told David they would be staying there the night so to get things set up. “Kayla will help you. If you have any questions let me know. If by chance anyone strange makes it there, they are going to be a high level threat. Treat them as such. Do not take any chances. Nobody belongs there.” David asked him if he wanted him to set up a hide for someone with Haliday’s rifle.

Haliday told him, “No offense, but nobody is to touch that rifle.” He highly doubted anybody could explain mil-dot, MOA, windage, spin drift or anything else they would need to know in order to use it. They wouldn’t even know what rounds to use. He kept three basic loads for it for various conditions. They’d just load what they grabbed, not understanding the differences.

“David, just set up for the night, set a solid watch roster and keep everyone warm and dry. Do not move out, do not send out anybody to recon the area or anything else.”

David answered, “Got it brother.” David went over to Kayla. “I need your help. Your dad says we are staying the night.” Kayla started barking out orders and got everyone moving.