Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

The holes near the back of the house need to be cleaned out and ready as well. These appeared to be old tractor tires used as sand boxes. Those four holes would provide coverage for all four sides of the house. He continued on with a few other tasks to up the security and make it a more formidable structure to defend.

At the top of the house was a large decorative square with a weather vane on top. This was actually a 6X6 fortified hide. One man with a rifle was protected by two rows of wooden beams with 3/16 inch sheet metal sandwiched between them. The roof was sloped, but under the shingles was some ¼ inch. Might not be perfect, but it would work. He called it the crow’s nest.

He looked at everyone. “The militia might have a spotter across the road. You guys didn’t notice?”

“No, not really. Just thought it was a nosy neighbor.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” Nobody gave it much thought but he had. He told them what he thought.

“After watching them peek out through the window, I was turning around when I spotted a whip antenna on the chimney. Not sure how long it’s been there. But with the extra patrols around here it makes sense now. With you guys staying put inside, I don’t blame anyone for missing it; hell, I almost did myself. I’m not sure they heard or saw the bikes come in last night.”

“I’m going to go over there tomorrow with a couple of you and we’ll introduce ourselves. See what they are up to. Plant a little propaganda ourselves. However, we need to prepare for a fight just in case. I would say we have three or four days before that happens. It might not. I might be grasping at straws. But, I doubt it. If they know where to find me, they will come on strong.”

Everyone just kind of looked at each other. Rich asked him, “Are you sure?”

“Ya Dad, I’m sure.” Dinner was served up soon afterwards, but not a lot of people were really hungry. Almost half was put away for later. Normally this would have all been gone. They were good at guessing how much to make so nothing went to waste.

Haliday walked over and grabbed a glass and tossed some ice in it. The idea of not having gas for the generator one day, or a cold fridge really ticked him off. He had a solar array and battery bank, but that would push it even if operating nothing but the fridge and a few lights. He poured himself a couple fingers of Jack Daniels, sat at the desk and listened to the radio and took more notes. He told Mike what was going on, he checked in with Rob, but didn’t say anything to him.

Rob told him he had recruited a few more families. Once word spread, they knew who to believe. There were still doubters, and there were still those believing the militia, but the tide was turning. Not bad for a day’s work. Rob told him they got the truck from the parking lot and put tires on it. He also said they managed to round up some quads and a couple of bikes. They were working on a couple other vehicles, but not sure.

The kicker was Brady’s hunting center. Brady had taken everything and locked it up tight. He had steel bars over his windows and no one was getting in there. His house was attached to the back of the store. He was willing to fork over anything he had which would be of use.

Bows, crossbows, a lot of bolt action rifles but he also had close to 12 semi-autos, AR and AK variants. Years ago he had bought a couple dozen SKS’s and still had almost twenty. They weren’t big sellers in the area. To round it off he had about a dozen shotguns and plenty of ammunition for everything. “Rob, you need to make him your best friend. Talk to you tomorrow.”

Haliday pulled his shift on watch that evening. It was 0200hrs and he stepped outside for a minute. It was colder outside tonight. He had his balaclava folded up into a watch cap configuration and pulled it down. He had told Diana that he’d be back in a few minutes. He walked over to the small outbuilding, which was really just an old hand-built shed maybe 10X12. He checked it out and the single door was secure.

He started to walk over by the pole barn and paused. He bent down to tie his shoe and mumbled aloud. “Damn shoe string, had to break on me now, huh?” He rose to his feet and walked back to the house and went inside. He told Diana they had a guest outside. Whoever it was had tried to hide behind the pole barn. He noticed their cloud of breath in the cold air. He used the shoe string excuse to go back in the house.

He went over to the laundry room and walked inside. Next to the window was a homemade periscope. He had found plans online, but he didn’t like them so he had made his own. He took a six inch PVC pipe and used it. He notched out the top and bottom and then played with mirror angles until he got them set at 45 degrees and glued them in place with gorilla glue. He used it to look out through the window. The person was by the pole barn.

He saw a single figure, small in stature. He wasn’t professional, nor was he very careful about his movements. He watched them try and peek in the pole barn windows, but he had to strain to reach them. He moved off toward the woods. Haliday went to another window and glanced out. Diana asked him if he wanted her to sound the alarm. “No, that’s ok. It’s just one person. The neighbor across the street. I just watched him go back over there.”

He walked over to the radio and flipped frequencies. There it was. He sat there and listened and this is what he had heard: “I couldn’t stay long. Someone came outside but he didn’t see me, I thoughthe would be coming back so I left. I’m sure it’s the people you are looking for. I think I saw some vehicles but I’m sure I saw the motorcycles too.” It was a woman’s voice.

“Ok.” said a man, “Can you try and confirm then let us know.”

“Ok, I’ll go back tonight.”

“Thank you,” the man said.

Haliday wanted to go across the street and slit her throat, but knew better. They needed a little more time to prepare. In the morning he’d go over there and pump her for information. He knew she was married, but couldn’t remember if she was happily married or not. Might have to play spouse against spouse. 0300hrs came and they woke their reliefs and briefed them. “Wake me at 0800hrs,” he said. “I want an early breakfast and a trip across the street.”

After breakfast, Roger put on some jeans, and a polo shirt, and grabbed a regular winter jacket. He took Rich and Kayla with him across the street. Psyops—family was always a good bet in order to humanize a situation. Just the nice neighbors coming over to say hello. He still took his .40 and Kayla and Rich had 9mm’s. They walked up and knocked on the door. He did a quick survey of the property. He kept a hand in his pocket of his jacket with his finger on the trigger guard.

None of their vehicles that he saw seemed to be running. Firewood stacked up in the back, but that was normal out here. Pretty plain and nothing really stood out at all. The only thing was some tire tracks in the driveway that looked within a couple days old and the antenna on the chimney. They walked up on the porch and knocked.

A man came to the door. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, my name is Roger, this is my dad Rich and my daughter Kayla. We have the place across the street.”

“What is it I can help you with Roger?”

“We just wanted to introduce ourselves. We never really met; just waved across the fields once in a while. We’re here for a while and I wanted you to know it was just us.”

The man’s wife came to the door. She looked tired and was dressed, but looked like she slept in her clothes. “Who you talking to honey?” she asked.

“Oh, the folks from across the street,” he said.

She looked them up and down and just said one word. “Hi.”