Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

He made it through the gate and to the back of the admin building where more members helped unload the injured. One of the townspeople on top of the roof was going to fire but after seeing the wounded people he just let them be. He couldn’t find it in himself to shoot any of them. He would seek out another target.

The last vehicle in line had seen all of the activity and locked up their brakes and hit reverse. The vehicle was going almost 45 miles an hour backwards. A few people tossed some of the caltrops into the road. One of the rear tires blew out and the vehicle careened backwards into a party store. People moved toward the store and then took cover. The militia inside the vehicle got out and took cover behind the vehicle inside the store.

One of the men ran to the back door and tried to open it. It had been padlocked from the outside from one of their own group during the seizure of all the supplies in town. He went back and told the woman with him that the only way out was through the front of the store. They didn’t know whether to fight or surrender.

One man yelled to them. “Who are you guys? What are your names?” The militia couple did not answer. They didn’t know if it would do them any good. They thought if they could get out of there and no one knew who they were, they could deny being involved. They talked about it for a few minutes and made their decision.

“Listen out there,” they said. “We want to surrender. We’ll come out and surrender, please don’t shoot.” Brad was with this group. He didn’t honestly know what to do. He called Rob and asked him about taking prisoners. Rob had no idea either.

Rob called him back, “Hey Brad, take them down the street to the police department and lock them up. Take all their gear though.”

Brad yelled in to the store. “Come on out, hands raised, no weapons or we’ll shoot.” The couple came out slowly with their hands in the air. Brad made them lay down on the ground and a couple of others searched the couple. Brad was looking at them. “I know you guys. Jerry, what the hell are you guys doing?” Jerry just looked at him. Brad asked him again but still no answer.

“Jerry, I can’t believe you got involved in all of this. Then you went and attacked that guy and his family. How could you do that?” Jerry and his wife just laid there. “Get them up and let’s go,” Brad said. “Put their asses in the police department and in the jail.” They walked them down to the police department which was empty. They placed them in a cell with the blankets they had in their truck and locked it.

Brad walked over to Jerry. “Man, I thought I knew you, Jerry. I had no idea you could do this.”

“Do what?” Jerry asked, “Try and survive. Try to live through this shit?”

“No,” said Brad, “turn on your community, steal from them, kill innocent people.”

“Don’t pretend you would do anything different Brad.”

“I did Jerry, I’m doing what’s right,” he said. Brad walked away and called Rob.

Rob told Brad that two vehicles were still out there. He wasn’t sure how many people were in them. A Jeep and a Bronco. Everyone was looking out for them. Rob thought the ambush was going to end it all, but the lack of training and the speed at which they had to prepare had made it hard to control the inbound militia convoy.

Rob called a few guys together and they met at the police station. Brad was there as well. Let’s set up shop here. I don’t think the police will be back any time soon. We can watch the prisoners then too. Let’s see about getting a duty roster together and see about heating the place somehow. Brad said he would handle it. Rob went back to help try in tracking down the remaining two vehicles.

When Rob had returned another man came up to him. “Hey Rob, we found the Bronco. It was empty, and it had two flats. Looks like whoever was in it made a run for it.” Rob told him to let the guys watching the airport know to be on alert in case the people tried to sneak in there. No telling what they would try in order to get back into the compound.

As morning was approaching nothing else had happened. They never found the Jeep or the people inside. Everyone was tired and Rob and Brad sat down and wrote down some notes. They would post four people here around the clock for now. Everyone would take turns. He went through the militia gear they had captured and distributed it. They would be getting the vehicles repaired and use those as well. Rob called Haliday on the radio.

“Roger, how did you make out over there?”

“Hi Rob, we did all right. We have some injured, nothing major, but we’ll need that nurse or preferably a doctor if you have one. I’m surprised we didn’t lose anyone. We came close, that’s for sure. Our neighbor across the road is no longer with us. Weird circumstances, I’ll have to tell you about it later. How about you guys?”

“We lost a couple, some injuries here too, but that was expected. We have a couple of prisoners but we aren’t going to turn them over, not sure what we’re going to do with them. We injured a few and killed a few, but they managed to get into the compound for the most part. We picked up some vehicles and guns too. I’ll give you a call later today. I have a bunch of questions for ya.”

“Ok, Rob, talk to you later.” Haliday had a feeling that it wasn’t over yet.

Haliday walked over to Mark. “Mark, I want you to go in the house and get some sleep for a few hours. One of us will have to be up at all times for a little while here. I don’t expect any trouble any time soon, but we can’t stop now. We need to see it through until we know for sure we’re good to go.” Mark went inside and went to sleep next to Lisa.

After a few hours of sleep, Mark got up and grabbed some coffee. He checked on everyone in the house before he went outside. Haliday was still out there keeping an eye on things and making the rounds. Mark approached him. “What do you think, Roger?”

“Let’s pull everyone off except for the security detail. One in the crow’s nest and two outside. Everyone else needs sleep, rotate them through.”

Mark took over and Haliday went in to get some sleep. Mark started getting everyone inside and everything in order. He extended his patrol to cover as much of the surrounding area as he dared. He was amazed at what he saw. The militia bodies left in place, blood sprayed all over the place. It wasn’t that he had never experienced this before, it was the fact that it was here on U.S. soil, Americans against Americans.

Haliday woke up, grabbed his gear, grabbed a coffee and went outside. Mark was standing there. “Good thing it’s quiet,” Mark said.

“Ya, that’s for sure,” Roger replied. “You take a look around at all Mark?”

Mark said, “I sure did, let’s take a ride, I’ll show you.” They climbed into the ranger and took off. An hour later they pulled up by the house. Haliday was sickened much like Mark was and for the same reason.

They walked back in the house. Breakfast was being cooked. It smelled good. Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, oatmeal and hash browns. Orange juice, coffee, tea, cocoa and it was a hell of a meal. There was plenty to go around and everyone ate more than they had in weeks. It was well deserved. Dinner would be a feast as well.

“Ok everyone,” Roger said. “I need three volunteers. Kevin, Randy, Blake, let’s go” said Roger. “Everyone grab your gear, everyone in the ranger.” They all went across the street to the neighbors. Haliday cleared the house and then went and cleared the barn. There was an older Kubota in there. He went over and luckily it started. He drove it out and over to the back of the yard. There was the tree with the tree house. Dull faded pink paint peeling off.