Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

He searched the kid and pulled off a pistol, a couple of magazines and a knife. “Blake, gather all the rest of his gear, that rifle and everything. Take the quad and run it back to where we came from. I’ll be right there after I finish with this kid.” Blake did as he was told. He put everything in the pole barn and threw an old tarp over it. Haliday swung by and picked him and took him back to his bike.

The kid was sitting up against a tree and was tied to it. He wouldn’t be going anywhere at all. This kid was probably patrolling the wood line and east side of the airport where they would need to be. He looked at the kid. “I’m going to let you sit here and then have someone come get you later. Find Jesus while we’re gone. Find Allah for all I care. But get right with your Maker.”

“You aren’t going to shoot him?”

“No, he can stand trial with the rest of them or they can do whatever they want with him, but I’m not going to do it. I should, but he didn’t fire on us or try, at least not yet. Rules of engagement in a sense, a twisted sense though. I did talk to him for a few minutes though.

“The kid basically told me to screw off. He told me they were the new government in the area and they applied new laws to the area. That’s about all he said. Kept repeating it over and over along with saying how we were going to get what we had coming to us. Not a very smart kid either. No understanding of what the law really is.

“Let’s go, we’ve got to be in place very soon.” They made their way back to the northeast corner of the airport where they had been before. It was completely dark out now. They got busy getting ready. This would be more interesting than just watching what was going on.

The crowd at the airport gate had grown to almost 80 people now. They were still demanding to talk to the militia leader. They were still calling them names and such. Someone dragged over a barrel and lit a fire in it. The militia had called in half of their patrol units and everyone in the airport compound was on alert and ready.

David and everyone had started packing up their gear slowly. They tried talking to the militia, but the responses were short and rude. Randy came from the Tahoe, “Hey Uncle David, the Tahoe has a flat. Can you help me change it?”

“Ya, give me a minute. Mom, Dad, you guys wait in the Cherokee where it’s warm. Dawn, pull it up next to the Tahoe so we can change the tire. I need the jack and lug wrench out of the Cherokee.”

“Randy, can you get under there and get that spare loose?” Randy laid down and worked on the tire. Off in the distance, they heard a series of small explosions. Randy sat up. The militia sent one of the trucks down the street to check it out.

One of the two remaining guys yelled at Randy, “Get the damn tire changed already.” Randy got back under and worked on getting the tire down.

Rich got out of the Cherokee. The militia man asked him, “Where you going?”

“I have to pee. Can’t I go pee?” Rich answered.

The guy told him, “No, you can hold it.”

Rich looked at him, “I can’t hold it. I’m 75 years old.”

“Piss your pants then, old man,” the guy replied. “We ain’t letting you piss all over the place.”

Dawn got out now. “Let the man go the bathroom for God’s sake.”

“Shut up bitch.”

“Don’t call me a bitch.”

The guy lowered his rifle and flipped her off. “Screw you bitch.”

Dawn said, “All he wants to do is go to the bathroom, ok? What if I take a bucket out for him?”

“I don’t give a shit. Like I said, let him piss his pants. Should have put on some Depends, old man.”

Dawn called him an asshole. The guy by their truck called him, “Hey, we got a big problem, we have to go.”

“Rich, as soon as they leave you can go.” The militia man walked up and slapped Dawn.

Rich bent down a bit and said, “Don’t hurt us.” Dawn cowered down and covered her head.

“You start to listen to us from now on you stupid bitch.”

“Leave me alone you bastard.” The other militia man started walking toward them. The guy called Dawn a bitch again and raised his hand to hit her again.

David squeezed the trigger five times, hitting the man three times. Randy fired his shotgun once at the second man, pumped it and then fired again. David walked up and checked the guy; he wasn’t dead, but just lying there. He kicked away his rifle and grabbed his pistol from his belt. Randy yelled over that the second guy was dead. “Uncle Roger was right. Buckshot is good stuff.”

They grabbed all of the gear that they could and tossed it into the vehicles. Randy grabbed a can of compressed air and filled the Tahoe’s tire. He walked over to the militia vehicle and using a knife flattened all four tires. They took whatever was in the truck and put it in their own. They took off as soon as they could. They left the injured man just lying there.

The second truck came speeding down the road and saw them pulling away. They tore into the parking lot to check it out. They had had no idea that David had hidden a rifle and a shotgun up under the truck. The flat tire and Rich’s bathroom plea had been a diversion. Of course, Dawn hadn’t expected to get slapped.

The militia grabbed some first aid supplies and tended to their friend. Once they got him bandaged quickly, they put him in the back of the truck. They grabbed the other man’s body and placed it in the back of the truck as well. They sped off heading toward their compound.

David and company made a few turns, waited, and then headed back to the house. This was all that was expected of them. They made it back and put everything away. They turned the radio on and listened. Everything was boiling over right now and it was chaos at the militia compound.

They had forced the group aside and opened the gate for the patrol truck to enter with the injured man. They rushed him into the admin building, where a nurse from the militia was working on him. At this same time, the crowd outside was yelling that they wanted to talk to the militia leader. They were not leaving until that happened.

One of the militia came out and asked them what they wanted. Rob told him, “We want our food and stuff back. You guys don’t have the right to keep it. You didn’t have the right to take it.” The man from the militia told him to take it easy, disperse the crowd, and then he would get the commander and they could talk.

“What do you mean get the commander, who the hell are you? I know you from somewhere. You work at the sheriff’s office. Is he in charge?”

“The sheriff is the commander. We are under rule of militia law now.” The crowd was yelling at them loudly now. More of the militia came around by the gate. They now had a few guys patrolling up and down the fence line continuously.

Someone ran inside and spoke to the commander. The commander came out and walked behind a barrier. “What do you people want?”

Rob replied, “We want what’s ours. What you took from us, what you stole from the community. That’s what we want.”

The commander responded, “You got it all wrong.”

“Then explain it to us,” yelled Rob.

“We are under militia law now. Everything was commandeered for the good of the community. You’ll be able to buy food and supplies in a couple of days.”

Rob yelled again, “Why the hell should we buy what belonged to us in the first place?”

The commander tried to explain. “Things are different and we need to maintain order. That’s why we are in charge.”

Some in the crowd hollered out, “Who the hell put you in charge?” The commander didn’t answer.

“I was the sheriff and now I am the commander of the militia. We are doing what is best for us. If you listen to us and follow our law you will be fine. Now disperse and go home and wait for notice.”