Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

The man said, “You don’t understand survival dickhead. It’s all about surviving.” Haliday saw blood dripping from both his hands. This was the radio operator.

“Maybe I don’t understand survival according the definition you and the other assholes in your group think it means, but I do understand freedom.” The man fumbled to get his pistol reloaded. As the man started raising his pistol Haliday pointed his .40 at him and fired twice into the mans chest and once into his head. The man fell backwards unto the dock.

Haliday turned around and saw Blake standing there with his rifle pointed at the man’s body. Haliday walked past him, “He’s dead Blake, trust me. Darwin there, Mr. survival of the fittest is no longer fit.” He patted him on the shoulder and said “Come on, let’s go. We have work to do. We aren’t out of the woods yet.”

Haliday walked over to the deuce. He climbed up in the cab and started looking around. He picked up a small book and flipped through it. Frequencies and codes were all written down along with what looked like a duty roster assigned to the people based on the day of the week. He tucked it in his jacket. Two rifles were cradled inside.

“Blake, go crank that wheel and get that boat out of the water a couple of feet just to keep it out of the ice when the lake freezes. I don’t know if those folks will ever get here, but if they do at least the boat should be ok.” He saw a few bullet holes in the hull, but everything was above the water level. If they did get here, then they could deal with it.

Haliday was still looking through the cab. They had some basics in here, just a couple days’ worth of MRE’s, water and ammo. Nothing else he could see of value. He was thinking about whether or not to take the deuce. Spoils of war or theft? Could be looked upon either way. He would think about this one. He got out of the cab and walked around to the back. There was a box up there that was locked.

He climbed up into the back of the truck. He yelled over to Blake, “Check those two bodies for keys. If they don’t have any, see if you can reach the bodies in the water and check them. If not, don’t worry about it.” Blake started to check the bodies. Haliday went to stand up when he heard the first shot. He practically felt the heat of the round.

He dropped down in the back of the deuce. He hadn’t heard the Jeep pull in, but saw it as he dropped. He looked around and saw the bed was up armored, but he didn’t know to what extent. He saw the sides of the bed slightly bubble when rounds hit. He was laying there unable to move. The side rails barely covered him. He heard shouts from the Jeep.

“Put your hands up. Put your hands up and stay where you are.” Haliday wasn’t going to do it. No way in hell was he going out this easy. “Put your hands up and stand up now.” Haliday laid there longer.

“Go screw your cousins you redneck bastards.”

There came a ripple of gunfire along the bed of the truck. He heard a loud hiss; they had gotten one of the tires. They seemed to care less about their own deuce.

“Gary, Rick, you guys ok? John, Andy, where you guys at? Can you hear us?”

Haliday answered. “I think they’re hiding somewhere dick sucking just like you guys are known for. I saw the billboard that said so.” That brought about a hellacious lead storm. Haliday was covering his ears; they were ringing like mad from all of the noise. He had a splitting headache now. The foam earplug wasn’t working that well in the one ear; he had the earpiece for the radio in the other.

He keyed his radio. He whispered, “Blake, you out there.”

“Ya, I’m hiding behind one of the boats.”

“Can you see them?”

“Not really, as soon as I heard them fire I hid behind one of the boats on the racks. I didn’t hear them drive up.”

“Can you find some better cover?”

“Not really, not without being seen.”

“Look around again and see, maybe a quick run for a few feet or something.”

“Look, you need to raise your hands and then get up. We are not going to warn you again.”

“You guys have an arrest warrant?”

“We don’t need one smart-ass. We’re operating under the authority of the Bad Axe Minute Men.”

“Is that a division of the 4H or something? Never heard of them. You guys hold goat milking contests and stuff?”

“I’ve had enough of this asshole.” One of the guys opened fire and emptied his magazine at the deuce.

“Hey, I want to really thank you for providing me with some great cover here. Your buddies could have used something like this about 10 minutes ago.”

“That’s it, you prick.” The guy reloaded his rifle and started toward the deuce.

He got about 10 steps away from the Jeep when Blake opened up on him. He tumbled forward and as he lay there his body bounced around on the gravel as Blake emptied the whole thirty round magazine into him. The other guy fired at Blake’s position then stopped. Magazine change or something.

“Looks like we have us a little problem here Mr. Minute man. You are now outgunned.” Haliday whispered again, “Blake are you all right?”

“Ya, I ran behind another boat when you pissed the guy off earlier. This one gave me a better view and I thought it would be safer. It has two engines, and I’m kind of protected by it. I can’t see the other guy though. He’s hiding on the other side of the Jeep.”

“Ok look, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give him the option to get the hell out of here. If he takes it, let him go.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes I am, chances are they called this in and have more help coming. We gotta get the hell out of here.”

“Ok, if you say so. Sounds a little crazy to me but that seems to be your style.”

“Look, we want to make a deal. We can let you go if you leave now. We’ll leave the truck here along with anything else that’s yours. You probably have about five minutes or less before our group comes riding in to help us out. You got that? You leave now and we won’t have a problem,” Haliday said. Haliday was now listening to the militia freq.

“We won’t be there for about 10 minutes or so, you copy.”

“Ya, I copy, I’m gonna get the hell out of here and meet up with you guys. Maybe we can ambush them when they come out.”

“Ok, any idea on the rest of the guys?”

“No idea, but Ron is down for sure. I think the rest are too. I’m getting the hell out of here.

“Ok, I’m leaving. I’m getting in the Jeep and taking off.” The guy got in the Jeep, started it and backed up then headed toward the entrance which was about 150 yards away. Haliday got down from the truck and started running through the woods. He had some gravel parking area and woods to run through.

He had sprinted about 40 yards through the trees and came out behind the Jeep. The Jeep was moving down the road now at about 50 mph. Haliday emptied a clip into the back and quick changed magazines and emptied another one at it. The Jeep swerved side to side then ran into the ditch, came back up onto the pavement, and rolled a few times. The driver had been ejected and the Jeep rolled right over him.

Haliday ran back through the woods shouting at Blake, “get your bike, get moving, don’t worry about taking anything.” Haliday got on his bike and rode up next to the deuce. He put a couple of rounds into the other tires to flatten them. He shifted into gear and met Blake at the entrance.

As they pulled out of the exit, they heard the vehicles coming down the road. They were barely less than a half mile away. Haliday took off with Blake behind him. The approaching vehicles were coming up fast. One stopped momentarily by the rolled Jeep and another took the shoulder of the road to go around it. They kept heading straight after them.