Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

“One more important detail is they act like it’s martial law. They are acting like they are the combination military and police for the area. They mentioned catching some looters and taking them somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where. I missed what they said. It might have been the police department. Either way, they think they control the whole area and it sounds like they just might be doing that.”

“How do you know they are the Bad Axe Minute Men?”

“I heard them call to another group in Bay City. Well, the other group didn’t answer. I think they forgot to change frequencies when transmitting. I heard them say Bad Axe Minute Men calling Bay City Minute Men, then it went dead. They must have changed frequencies then.”

“Good job sweetie. That helps tremendously. The unfortunate thing is we are on the edge of their patrol areas and then we’ll be within a good 10 to 15 miles away from their HQ when we move to the house. I don’t know exactly what they are trying to do, but if it’s run the Thumb Area we have problems. If they’ll leave us alone then that’s much better.”

“What about trying to strike a deal with them Dad.”

“I thought about that. I’m thinking we might make the next leg of the trip tomorrow and then go from there. I wish I knew more about these guys, but they kept a low profile and I had no idea they were out here. Not like I can do any research now.”

“Wait a minute Dad, call Mike. Mr. Bill might know something; he’s more of a local here.”

Haliday was impressed. He hadn’t thought of that. “Ok kiddo, go for it. Tell him to change frequencies though. If they are scanning frequencies I don’t want them to hear anything about us.”

Kayla got a hold of Mike and asked him how things were. Mike told her Bill and Linda’s son and daughter in-law made it in. That was good news. She asked if Mr. Bill was around and if she could talk to him. “He’s napping right now is it important?” Kayla said to go wake him; it was about the militia with a wanted poster out for Dad.

A few minutes later Bill came on the radio. Kayla asked him if he knew anything about the BAMM. There was a pause before Bill answered. “I actually know one of the guys who is a member. I assume that’s the group he belongs to. He tried to recruit me a while back. He mentioned Bad Axe but not the name BAMM specifically. He did not say much at all really. Just that he belonged to a group that would run the community if something major ever happened.”

“Do you know what their mission is?”

“If it’s the same group I’m thinking of, then they are out there to keep law and order. But here’s the catch. While they are not quite government friendly, they are not quite people friendly either. I don’t think they want people other than themselves enforcing any law and order or carrying firearms. The police might be a different story, but not sure.

“They might actually be a part of them, not many other cops in the area. Most were county sheriffs and a couple state troopers, that’s all. The sheriff up there is a real ass and he’s involved with them somehow. He has a real attitude and acts like his crap smells like roses.”

“Anything else?” Kayla asked.

“Ya, they don’t take too kindly to outsiders. People who don’t live here, and have not lived here for a while, they really don’t care for. I think they mean to take over the area and run it as their own small state. If that’s the case you guys might have issues depending on where you’re going.”

Kayla said, “Thank you sir.”

“No problem, take care, your mom says hugs and kisses,” Bill replied.

Kayla looked around. Everyone except Kevin and Blake, who were on watch, was sitting there listening in. “How’s this change things?” Bev asked.

“Well, we have a couple choices here. I’m not sure any of them will be acceptable to these people if they have that attitude. Here are the options we have so far.

“One, I can make arrangements to meet with them, see what they are up to, and if we can go about our business. They might see us as a threat and say no and then tighten their security and look for us to try to move in. They may even want payment or outright take what we want and kick us out. Could get ugly.”

“Two, we can try to sneak in, take hold on our land, and then let them approach us when they discover us. We can feel them out then, show them we are just there to mind our own business and see how that works out; but we could end up defending ourselves. The Michigan Alamo. Same results, it could be bad.”

“Third, we could hunker down somewhere, go on the hunt and try to shake up their ranks. But we’re talking about guerrilla warfare. We are talking about a long, drawn out campaign with some pretty good chances of losing some of the ranks here. I’m not really advising this. So far they just tried to kill me if that’s what it was, not really show they are a threat to all of us. I probably appeared to be a threat to them.”

“Fourth, I could go it alone, take out whomever I can for a while and see how that works out. There’s enough stuff here to get you through for quite some time. Then we could move onto our land. Or you could head back to Bill and Linda’s. The longer we wait to get there, the better the odds are they might find something and we lose it all. This would really piss them off.”

They all sat around talking about it for a while. Some different ideas were thrown out, but not much really made sense. It really came down to one thing. How could they get all their people to the house and stay there as long as possible with the least amount of trouble. That would be one hell of a trick.

They set up another 10X10 and joined the two together. They put the heater in the middle. It was still close quarters, but better than nothing. Everyone had their own little area and was warm. With any luck, it wouldn’t be like this much longer. They would be at the land and in the house.

There were fourteen of them in the group. Only twelve were able to pull watch. Elizabeth and Bobby were too young. Kayla had figured out a schedule. Two on at a time would be ok. Hour and a half shifts would help keep them awake, although the cool weather would do that too. They had set up some traps like Haliday instructed.

Haliday had them set up some booby trap simulators to alert the group if people got too close. Those were purchased from a surplus store. He also had them set up what he called trigger hooks. They were 3X3 foot square fish line nets with fish hooks scattered around them. These were placed face high. Once they snagged anything, any attempt to take them off snagged even more. Clothing, hair or skin. Man’s natural reaction to brush something away allowed them to work. The barbed hooks dug in deep.

It was an uneventful night; however a few of them did not sleep. They tossed and turned trying to figure out how to reach the house, what to expect the next couple days, what had happened the past few days, but mostly what was happening to family members. They didn’t have any idea what was happening to any of them. Being together tonight reminded them that there were those who were missing.

Morning came as usual. Everyone got up and started warming up around the heater. Bev put some pots of water on for oatmeal and coffee, hot cocoa for the kids. They packed up any non-essential items and ate breakfast when it was done. Haliday called a quick meeting. “Time to vote,” he said. The rumbling started immediately. No one wanted to decide. They deferred the decision to Haliday.

“Ok, this is what we are going to do,” he said. “Like it or not, since there was no decision, it’s my ball game. We are going to pack everything up. I’ll be on one bike and Blake on his. We’ll be riding along well in front of the ranger, with the horses behind it followed by the trucks. If we spot trouble we’ll hit the sides of the road and take cover. The rest of you will be expected to do the same.