Anthony Newman - American Survivor

“Mathem, an older Bronco drove up to the mall below us and took several batteries from cars.”

“Did you capture the Bronco?”

“No, he moved too fast, and we couldn’t sneak up on him before he left. The good news is that Said didn’t see him come or go, so that means he is held up a few miles from town up in those hills.”

“Good news. Thanks, and keep an eye out for him. We need more vehicles if we want to ever get out of here and head back to Portland. Make sure you catch him on the next trip by placing a couple of men up that side road. They can block the road after he goes into town, and then they can shoot the bastard as he goes back to his hideout. Just don’t damage the Bronco. Allahu Akbar.”

Joe spent the rest of the day installing the batteries, but it was too late for them to charge because the sun was down below the tree line. He looked up and said, “Crap, there will only be about three hours of sunshine on the solar cells now and maybe six during the summer. I’ll bet the trees have grown a bunch since Grandpa added the solar cells.”

No one answered, so he nosed the Bronco into the bank of batteries, hooked up his jumper cables, and ran the engine to give the batteries a good charge. As the truck charged the batteries, he thought he would look around the cabin for another gas can so he could bring back extra fuel. Then he could keep the batteries charged until the sun shined on them longer as spring approached. He also pondered the wisdom of topping out a few of the trees before next winter to gain more charging time from the solar cells.

Cobie and Cloe took turns listening to the walkie-talkie and radio to get news about the apocalypse. Cobie wanted to know if there were many people nearby. They heard several families on the walkie-talkie who were very careful not to give their location. Cobie felt they were no danger to Cloe and herself. Then a bit later that day Cloe ran down to the stream where Cobie was trying to catch fish and said, “Mom listen to this conversation.”

Cobie listened and was very upset as she heard the men’s plan to stop a Bronco, shoot the owner, and steal his truck. What really scared her was that they mentioned the Bronco went up the same road that would take them to the ridge above their cabin.

“Thanks for manning the radio and don’t worry too much about the conversation because those men are miles from here,” Cobie told her daughter.

“But Mom, they mentioned Dead Indian Road and the second turn to the right. We live off that road. If those guys come looking for Bronco man they could find us. We need to hide the Jeep better,” the young girl, pleaded.

Joe turned the radio on at 6:50 pm and waited for VWPACRAT to broadcast and was rewarded at 7:11 with, “This is the VWPACKRAT coming from beautiful downtown none of your damned business. If you are the bad guys, don’t even think I will give any information concerning my where a bouts. I have friends I stay in touch with over my ham radio and will pass on what they know about their areas. First from JW in Tacoma. He reports most of the city has been burned and most of the people left town when the food ran out. Now all he sees is one gang trying to kill another.

BS In Eugene reports the city has finally been locked down by the good guys and there was a purge of gang members, skinheads, and other undesirables. They lost 90 percent of their people so far from murders and people fleeing into the countryside to try their hand at living off the land. There is peace, but they are praying they can survive until crops can be harvested.

“KW in Medford reports that the prison inmates have taken over the city and executed the mayor and all policemen. The convicts have reached out to the jailbirds in Ashland, but the Ashland asshats don’t want to play nice with the criminals in Medford and want to keep the city to themselves.

Folks, I can’t say enough that you shouldn’t go into the cities because they are a cesspool of gangs fighting gangs. The Blacks are fighting the Whites, and the Latinos are fighting everyone. Hunker down and stay in your spider holes until these thugs kill each other off. Now I’ll cover how to catch, clean, and cook Opossum.”

Joe sat there at the kitchen table with tears welling in his eyes as soon as VWPACKRAT mentioned the conditions in Eugene because he knew his Aunt was probably dead by now. He had tried to keep his mind off his family and felt apprehension because he didn’t know what was happening back in Murfreesboro with his parents. Joe knew his dad could take care of himself in the woods but they lived in a large suburb of Nashville and the situation there was probably just as bad as these other places. He resigned himself to never seeing his parents or friends in Murfreesboro ever again.

These thoughts made him very angry and feel very vulnerable out in the woods alone. He started making plans to better camouflage and improve his defenses. He fetched several survival manuals containing booby traps and defensive measures, and a copy of the US Army Improvised Munitions Handbook. He thumbed through them and wasn’t pleased with what he saw on how to install defensive measures, booby traps, and killing the enemy before they killed you. He kept searching and found a prepper’s book that had large snare traps, trip wires for killing or giving warning of intruders, and deadfalls. He made notes and then went to sleep.

All though it wasn’t the new week yet he needed to hear from his Grandma, so he opened the first weekly letter even though he had more than two dozen of the others to still read. The letter read:

Dear Joe:

I hope this message finds you again at the cabin and in good health. I know your woman isn’t with you because this letter is actually the last one written. I rewrote it a day after I heard about her whoring around with your buddy. They didn’t deserve to die that way, but Karma can be a bitch.

Joe this might sound mean, but that woman was a conniving social climbing bitch, and I’m glad she is out of your life. You deserve better.

You won’t find a new love here in the woods so venture out every now and then to the cities to meet a few people. Living alone might be desirable now but trust me living without a loved one in your life is a lonely existence.

Buy more food, guns, and ammunition

Joe thought he should have read half of these letters the day he got them and he would be much better prepared.

The next morning he finished a can of Spam and read several of the daily letters so he wouldn’t forget them. He was three letters ahead of schedule and read:

Dear Joe:

I know you very well, and you are probably a week ahead on reading these letters. I’m not there to keep you from peeking ahead, but please read them as I asked. I think you still need me in your life and I also think I can teach you a thing or two from the grave.

Joe answered, “But Grandma, I miss you and like to hear from you. I’m alone out here, and I don’t like alone as much as I thought I would.”

Joe’s mind heard, “Suck it up buttercup.”

Joe finished breakfast and took inventory of his supplies and searched for items he could use to install his security system. He started off placing rattle cans around the perimeter of the cabin to warn him of anyone's approach. The cans hung from paracord that had been tied from tree to tree, and the cans contained a few pebbles that would rattle when the line was tripped. He also placed several cans on the paracord that were like bells with large bolts and nuts hanging down like clappers in a bell. Joe then constructed a dozen large snares using large saplings bend in half with paracord nooses stacked out on the ground with a peg in a notch that kept the sapling from springing upward until the peg was disturbed. The trap wouldn’t kill anyone but would yank their feet out from under them and might break their ankles. They might also catch some medium size game.