Anthony Newman: American Survivor

They put their coats on, grabbed their rifles, and went outside. The sun felt good on their faces and warmed the morning up to moderate spring temperature. The day would warm up to the low fifties by midafternoon. They walked over to the Bunny Ranch where Cloe had a large rabbit in her lap. It was an expectant mother rabbit, and Cloe was petting and talking to it.

“Honey, what would you think about moving into Joe’s cabin? It’s much larger and has several advantages over this one?” Cobie asked.

“Cloe looked at her mom, and Joe then looked at her rabbit pen and said, “I like the idea, but we have to move my rabbits and the rabbit pen.”

Joe replied, “I’ll build you another pen before we move and if you’re okay with it, we’ll leave a few rabbits for the neighbors.”

“That works for me,” Cloe said as she rose to her feet and hugged Joe.

“Put the rabbit away, and we’ll join the others so Joe can tell them about his trip. Get your rifle, and we’ll head out,” Cobie said.

Joe opened the passenger side door and brought out two AR-15s and six extra loaded magazines. He also retrieved two tactical vests that had a holster for their Glocks. The vests had numerous pockets for the rifle and pistol magazines. He handed them to the girls and said, “Please take these. This will give you much more firepower. I’ll give the Mini 14 to Dan along with some of the other weapons. I want my wo… err…you two gals to be prepared to fight if necessary.”

Both weapons were Springfield M&P15s with tactical stocks, red dot sights, and a one-point sling. Joe demonstrated how to load, aim, and fire the rifles and then showed them how to load the magazines.

“Joe, I thought all electronics got fried by those EMP bombs,” Cloe said.

“These were stored in metal foil bags inside of fully enclosed metal boxes. They were shielded from the EMP waves. The four power sights take a bit of getting used to but are perfect for up close and medium range targets,” Joe replied.

Joe gave them an AR, a 9mm pistol, and spare loaded mags, while he took the M4 and 9mm Beretta. The extra weapons would go to Dan and his crew. He slung a bag filled with additional boxes of .223 rounds over his shoulder, and they left to visit the neighbors.

Joe saw Butch first and waved at the boy as they approached the neighbor’s cabin. Butch ran up to meet them with his shotgun cradled in his arms. He stopped beside Cloe and said, “Hello Cloe. Are you going to be here for a while? I have guard duty for the next hour and don’t want to miss you.”

Cobie replied, “Don’t worry Butch. We’ll be here for a couple of hours. Cloe, why don’t you hand us the extra guns and keep Butch company while we visit with the others.”

“Mom, I’d like that. Butch and I are planning how to breed hybrid rabbits and get more meat from them,” Cloe said.

They walked away with Joe laughing and Cobie punching him in the side.

Joe said, “I’ll bet your heart skipped a beat when she said, “Butch and I are planning how to breed.” If she had stopped at the word breed, you would have shot the poor boy.”

“Joe, that wasn’t funny. I don’t want her growing up too fast, even though I know she has to. I don’t want to think about her in that way,” Cobie said.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not what you think. It’s what those two think, and that boy is sweet on Cloe,” Joe said, and then added, “I’m sorry. That was probably the type of comment that gets me in trouble.”

Cobie pulled Joe close to her and kissed him on the lips before she said, “I was kidding you, but we do need to watch them.

Joe saw Jane and Dan approaching and knew the kiss was Cobie marking her territory in front of the competition. He replied, “Darling, I will always watch over Cloe and you. I’ll try not to stifle you, but I won’t let anyone hurt you. You can kiss me anytime.”

“Hey, Dan! Hey Jane! I brought Joe down for a visit, and we are bearing gifts,” Cobie said as she handed Jane a rifle and the pistol.

“It’s great to see you Joe and thanks for the gifts. Let’s sit out on the porch in the sun and enjoy this spring weather,” Dan said.

Jane walked up to Joe, gave him a hug, and then went into the house to get some more chairs. She watched Cobie sit down close to Joe. That was all Jane needed to know about her chances with Joe. She had the kids bring all the kitchen chairs out to the porch, and they sat there listening to Joe tell them about his adventures.

Joe gave them the same high-level overview of his exploits that he gave Cobie and Cloe that morning. He then whispered to Dan that he should send the kids away and they waited until the kids were out of range. The kids left the porch, and Joe told them his story in detail. They were amazed that he was able to help so many people and return home safely.

Ginny was shocked that Joe had to kill several men even though they were trying to harm him. She said, “It’s a shame that we can’t put those men in prisons instead of having to kill them.”

Joe didn’t know how to answer that absurd statement, so he kept quiet and listened.

“Dan, Joe, and I discussed this situation this morning. We all need you and Joe to teach us what you know about weapons and tactics to help us protect our people. We must eliminate threats before they attack us. Ginny, Jane, we also need to train all of the children how to protect themselves and how to fight if attacked. We are no different than the people who settled the old west. They were under constant threat of attack by the Indians, and we will have similar threats,” Cobie said with a conviction in her voice.”

Ginny started crying and sobbed as she said, “I can’t let my babies shoot people and get shot at.”

Dan held her and gave Cobie a thumbs up sign. Jane stood up to stretch and said, “My boys and I will be ready for training when you guys are ready to train us.”

Joe said, “I’ll help where I can, but I think Dan has much more knowledge than I do. Dan?”

“Joe, I can teach them a lot about weapons, proper shooting techniques, and how to defend themselves in hand to hand fights, but you will have to teach all of us how to kill people. I was on the force 11 years and never shot anyone. I know I can if I have to save my wife and kids but never have had to go that far,” Dan said.

Joe answered, “The best thing we can do is to stay to ourselves in these woods and not draw outside attention to ourselves. I took several of my Grandpa’s books with me to read last month and learned that most people will die off in the first three to six months. The problem is that the criminals were already organized into gangs. They might survive by preying on the good people who don’t have guns and don’t know how to fight. We must avoid contact as much as possible until we can defend ourselves.

Cloe was very impressed with the electric lights at Joe’s cabin. She was familiar with solar power but had never seen it in use before. Cobie was floored by the running water, and the propane fired water heater.

“Joe does the water heater work,” Cobie asked.

“Yes, I tested it once, but I use the wood stove to heat my water. We can use it to heat bath water but not every time we heat water, or we’ll run out of propane,” Joe said.

Joe loaded the old truck with as much of Cobie and Cloe’s possessions as he could. He wanted to make a few trips to his cabin as possible to avoid making ruts on the forest floor. The ruts could lead outsiders to the cabin. Joe made three trips and took a different route each time. In a few weeks, the grass would be green and grow waist high hiding the tracks.

On the third day, they moved the last of their loads and told the neighbors, they were done with the cabin. Jane had expressed her intention to relocate to the old cabin. This would make more room for Dan’s family but would still keep them close together for mutual defense.