Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

They were definitely pissed for sure. They wanted them badly. They didn’t have any idea who they were looking for, other than guys on bikes. Even though the description of the bikes varied, they would be gunning for anyone found on one. They had gotten into quite the pickle here. It was only 1800hrs, but already completely dark out.

“Blake, I hate to say this, but we only have about a mile to go if that and I think it’s going to be in our best interest to push the bikes.” Blake wasn’t happy about that but he agreed. They pushed the bikes along through the woods and across an open field. Haliday worked his way up to the road. He looked around and then worked his way back to Blake.

“We have a little problem Blake, someone must have bought the land, the school is still there but so is a house. I’m going to go back and check out the house.” He ripped out some long weeds and covered up Blake and the bikes. “Wait here, don’t move at all.” He went back and watched the house for a while. It looked empty. He crossed the road and got a better look. The garage door was slightly open and he peeked inside. Nothing in there.

He went inside the garage and walked up to the door. He collapsed the stock on his AR and got ready to enter. He noticed the door here had been opened as well. He felt along the jamb and sure enough it had been forced open. He turned his flashlight on and placed his thumb on the activation switch ready to light it up. He slowly opened the door and went inside.

This was a small mudroom. You came in from the field, took your boots and stuff off here before entering the main house. He entered the main house and listened. He didn’t hear anything at all. He activated his flashlight and swept it around quickly. He had been in the funnel of death. When you stand in the doorway you were at the small end of a funnel. Anyone in the room could concentrate fire to that point easily. It made you feel uneasy.

This place had been ransacked. Blake called on the radio, and it was hard to hear him, “We have company.” Haliday flipped the light off and ducked into a closet, but left the door half open just like it was. He heard the vehicle pull in. A couple of car doors opened and closed. He noticed the flashlight shine through the windows.

He heard the doors to the house open and saw the light bouncing around off the walls. He heard the voices talking. “Looks like this place hasn’t been touched since the last time we checked it. Call it in.”

“Let’s check the schoolhouse first.”

“Forget it, It’ll probably fall on us.” The men left and Haliday just stood there. He heard the vehicle start and then leave.

“Papa 4 bravo we checked Delta 30 and both were empty. Doesn’t look like anyone has been in there since it was last looted. We’re heading out to Delta 31.” It was just a matter of about three minutes when he heard them again. “Papa 4 bravo we’re out at Delta 31.” He waited. This must be the house next door. Just about an eighth of a mile away. Same routine for the next half hour. They were moving along this main road checking it along the way.

He switched frequencies again. “Blake you there?” There wasn’t any answer. “Blake you out there?” No answer. Haliday went outside and made his way over to where Blake was. “Why didn’t you answer me?”

“My radio went dead. I forgot to change the battery.” Haliday only had two batteries for each radio; he put them on a small charger connected to his bike.

He had connected a small inverter to the battery of his bike and the charger to that. It did a good job, but the past two days had been so busy the batteries were almost shot and needed a good charging. They hadn’t really had the time for that. He called the group and told them they would be off radio for a while. “We’ll check in every two hours for a minute and that’s it. We have to charge the batteries.”

He swapped the batteries around and both radios were working for now. He turned them off. “We can’t listen in Blake. We need to save the batteries for when we need them. Without starting the bike I can’t charge them. Now let’s get over there and get some sleep.” They rolled the bikes over the road and put them behind the schoolhouse. They covered them up carefully to hide them, but still made the place look untouched. A few handfuls of dirt and garbage helped with that. They went inside, found a decent hiding place and got some rest.

It was early in the morning and they were hungry, so they ate their last MRE. Both of them had gotten quite a bit of rest. Haliday was still fairly sore from the bruise on his abdomen from the airport shooting, not to mention pushing the bike around. He popped open a bottle of Tylenol and popped a couple in his mouth. Blake asked for a couple and he handed him the bottle.

Blake took the cotton out and looked at Haliday; “I didn’t think they put cotton in these anymore.”

“They don’t, I do it so the bottle doesn’t rattle,” Haliday said. “Just in case I have it on me, it’s not rattling around. Same with water, your canteen should be full or empty so it doesn’t slosh around. No noise at all if possible. We haven’t quite adhered to that discipline, but we need to start before we get too lax.

“How are you holding up Blake?”

“I’m doing ok.”

“You sure?”

“Ya. I mean, I got sick while you were sleeping. I was thinking about the shootings and everything.”

“Normal response Blake, here’s some gum.”

“That’ll help my stomach?”

“No, it’ll help your breath. Take two or three sticks. Please.” They both laughed a bit.

Blake flipped the radio on and called the group. Kayla answered, “Hey Blake, you guys all right?”

“Ya, we’re fine. I mean everything considered and all I guess. Your dad wants to know what’s going on there.”

“Ok, we had four patrols drive by last night. One actually sat on the road for almost half an hour. They were watching everything related to the house. We only burned candles and didn’t use the generator at all. We’ve only had my uncle David and Dawn go outside so they would be the only ones seen in case they were watching from somewhere. This way they don’t know how many people are here.”

“Hey, tell my dad we heard from my uncle Alan and his family. They are all ok and at a friend’s house right now. They can’t make it here any time soon, but they are all ok. They have a radio in the neighborhood that the guy has been letting people use. He said they are going to be good for a few weeks or so.”

“Your dad heard you Kayla, he’s listening in too.

“Here he is now.”

Roger got on the radio, “That was good news, kiddo, anybody else?” He was wondering about his sister and her family in Texas and brother and his family in Missouri.

“No, that’s it.” He had given them the frequency, but who knows if they still had it or were able to get to a radio.

“Kayla, how’s the group holding up?”

She answered, “Everyone is ok. Bobby is ok, and his head looks good. Sarah is just really quiet, kind of in her own world and everyone else is ok. We have been eating limited rations since we are not real active, but everyone is making sure they get a good balance of protein, carbs and vitamins.”

“Anything on the militia?” he asked next.

“Well, they still don’t know how many of you there really are, but they are changing the estimate to about four guys on bikes. They don’t believe the trucks are moving with you at all. They pretty much think they are hidden and camped out or do not exist. They still think the plan is to raid their camp with all of the stuff you guys are doing.”

“Ok, listen; this is what I want you guys to do kiddo. Forget about that form. Don’t bother doing anything with it at all. They might try to come up to the house. Remember; be ready to shoot the bastards at all times. I’m pretty sure they know people are there, just not how many yet. I don’t want to risk bringing the bikes in yet, that would draw a shit storm for sure. But, we need a care package.”