Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

Another time David, Rich and one of David’s friends and he had chartered a fishing boat and spent the day catching lake trout. The water had been rough, but they insisted on going out and had a great day on the lake. Those were good times. Life was simple then, he thought, and before he knew it they were there.

They pulled in behind a large billboard. Haliday climbed up to the platform which actually wasn’t very high and pulled out a roll of hundred mile an hour tape. He wished he had spray paint for this but it was never really on his list of preps except for some basic colors of rustoleum to keep at the house. It took him about 15 minutes, but he finished it and it would have to do.

After climbing down he looked at Blake, “You get the next one.”

“That hard of a climb, old man?” Haliday figured it was time to shake him up a bit and keep him focused.

“No, too easy of a target up there.” Blake’s smirk disappeared instantly. They went down the road about half a mile. Haliday found a stalled out car. Old Chevy station wagon. He was surprised it was still on the road, so he didn’t feel bad about what he was going to do.

Haliday opened the fuel door. He dropped a model rocket engine down inside about six inches. The igniter was attached to one of his last two alarm clocks, complete with nine volt battery. The alarm would hit, the rocket would shoot down into the tank and another nice little fire would occur. They took off and found another billboard. Blake grabbed the tape and asked Haliday what he wanted him to put up there.

Haliday chuckled. He was thinking of Red Dawn . “Put ‘Wolverines’ up there,” he said. “That ought to make their day.”

“Ok,” Blake said; he climbed up and went to work. As soon as he was done, they moved a little ways down the road and found another stalled out vehicle. This one was a conversion van. This thing would burn like a champ with all that plywood and upholstery inside. He opened one of the back doors to make sure the flames reached inside. Haliday rigged this one up too.

He went over to his bike and opened a saddle bag. He reached in and pulled out a small bag and walked around and tossed the contents on the ground. This was all done to add to the illusion. Keep up the appearance of more than two guys doing this. “Now it’s time to get the hell out of Dodge.”

They followed the shoreline road along the east side of the thumb. Just past a little town called White Rock they went into a wooded area. There hadn’t been anyone up this far that they had seen and they were hoping most of the militia was over by Oliver and checking out that area.

Haliday was beyond tired. He’d eat and get some rest. “You hungry Blake?”

“Ya, I am but I have um, uh, well Mr. Haliday, I have to uh, well, I can’t go and I need to.”

“Oh the poop pipe is plugged?”

“Uh, ya.”

Haliday dug into his pack and tossed Blake some constipation medicine. “It’s the MRE’s. Take that and you’ll be set to go, no pun intended. I’m going to take the first rest break; you keep watch and wake me in two hours. Blake, hope everything comes out ok.” Haliday cracked himself up.

Blake woke up Haliday and they switched places. Haliday called the group on the radio. “We’re doing ok and ready to get the hell out of here later on. We’re going to stay here until we know you guys made it ok. Once you’re there we’ll make our way over there as soon as we can. Move out at 0630, that’s when it should be the safest for you guys. Get Diana and Dawn out earlier on the horses, but tell them to be careful.”

Rich came on, “Ok, we’ll keep you updated.”

“No, don’t call unless you run into some serious trouble or when you make it there. This is the point when we need to make sure it runs like clockwork. We have the last little surprises to set and that will give you all the time you need to get there. Anything else going on?”

“Well, your ‘band of terrorists’ has really shaken them up. They don’t seem to have the people to double up patrols, or don’t want to, and have been arguing about using their camp sentries to assist in finding you. But they think it’s a trick so you can invade their camp.

“As far as we can tell, they are concentrating most of their efforts on their camp and the northern areas where you’ve been busy. I think half are assigned to security and the rest run the camp. It’s too hard to really tell what their logistics are. They are pretty organized though.”

“That’s good news for you guys. Tell everyone we’re fine. Wish you guys the best of luck.” Haliday heated himself up an MRE and after he ate made sure he took some fiber pills himself. Those things really do a number on you, that’s for sure. He didn’t eat the cheese spread, that usually hit him for days. He tossed it back in his saddle bag.

It was 0630 right on the nose. The first car caught fire and the flames overtook the entire car. It was fully ablaze in about 10 minutes. Haliday was listening to the militia freq. but didn’t hear any response yet. About another 10 minutes went by when he heard a patrol call in that they saw smoke and were going to check it out. It was about this time that the second fire started. The conversion van went up a lot more quickly.

“Papa 2 to HQ we have two fires going on. We need help over here. These bastards are at it again. They gotta be close. Send us help.”

“HQ to Papa 2, we have units on the way. We’re sending Papa 1 and Papa 4 to your location. Papa 3, we need you to head north and cover Papa 2’s area. We have the response units moving into that area and the camp on alert.”

The whole northeast portion of the thumb was crawling with militia now. When they reached the conversion van, they heard more chatter.

“HQ we think they have four or more guys running around here. We found all kinds of MRE garbage on the ground. They might have stayed somewhere around here last night. They must be close, everyone check the marinas and the parks.”

Blake was up now and listening to the radio as well.

“We heading out now?”

“No, we have to stay in this area to make sure the group gets in safely. Just in case we need to keep the militia in the area.” Haliday was listening to the ham some more. These guys were seriously pissed off at them. The next transmission almost made Haliday piss his pants.

“Papa 2 to HQ, those bastards wrote graffiti on a billboard.”

“What does it say?”

“One says ‘wolverines’. Those smart-asses.”

“What do you mean one?”

“There’s another one too. Papa 4 saw it.”

“Well, what’s it say?”

“It says ‘BAMM sucks dick’.”

“Tear that shit down. You hear me. Tear me that shit down now! I will not have the people of my community think I’m a dick sucker.”

Haliday was almost in tears. This must be their commandant, oh fearless leader with a Napoleon complex or something. But, those words he said, “his community?” This guy was on a power trip and this early in the game that was dangerous. This guy would get out of control and if someone didn’t put him in check, there was no telling what would happen around here. It would affect Haliday’s group and the house.

Haliday and Blake waited at their camp. The next transmission alarmed them.

“Papa 2 to HQ, we got ’em , we got ’em, we have their location. We found fresh tracks and we are moving in on them.” Haliday looked at Blake and grabbed his rifle. He dropped down prone behind his bike and pulled out some extra mags. Blake dropped down too. He piled up his mags next to him.

“Papa 2 to HQ, we have Papa 1 and 4 with us along with response unit 1. We are moving in slowly. We are about 100 yards out copy.”