When the Power Is Gone: A Powerless World - Book 1 (18 page)

We finished lunch, and the kids were running around playing. Tony was 13, just a couple of years younger than our boys, so he chose to hang out with them, over the younger kids. Aiden and Moira were already fast friends with Tara and Katlyn, so they had a game of tag going. We were watching them run around after each other when we heard a car, one we didn’t recognize. Russ immediately grabbed his rifle from the truck and yelled for everyone to get to our truck and get down. The other men and our boys all pulled out hand guns or rifles, and ducked down beside the truck. Russ was watching down the street through the scope of his rifle. After a moment, in which I realized I was holding my breath, he stood up. He smiled back at us, with a look of relief.

“It’s okay. It’s the wagon, and Bob is right behind them.”

We all stood up, watching them come down the road. The wagon was not quiet, but it was not as loud as our trucks. It looked to be in pristine condition. Thank you, Charlie, wherever you are, for your contribution to the exodus effort. Ryan was driving, with a big grin on his face. He pulled up in front of Russ’ truck.

“It’s running, but there’s not a lot of gas in it. Bob said you guys could help with that.”

Russ nodded and went to the back of the trailer. He came back with two five-gallon gas cans. He handed them to Bill, who had gotten out and met him halfway. He took the cans and went back to the wagon to fill it up. Bob parked behind the wagon and came over.

“Turns out, old Charlie had a key hanging inside the house. Yes, we broke in, but I figured it was better to have a key, than to have to hot wire the thing every time to drive it.”

We grinned at our goofy friend and waited for the Lawton’s to get back over to us. Russ began to describe his plan.

“We can get maybe two more people in Bob’s SUV, if we do some creative arranging, or just leave some stuff here. We can’t put anyone else in our truck, unless they ride in the bed, and even then, they’ll end up with a chicken or rabbit cage in their lap. I think you should be able to fit nine people in the wagon fine, as well as the few belongings you have with you. If we can do that, we can get back on the road and headed out to where we all seem to be going.”

Mike and Bill offered to ride with Bob, and the rest of them worked out who was riding where in the wagon. It sounded like the kids were all going to be in the back, with the supplies they had been able to bring with them. Russ continued.

“I think we should put the wagon between the two rigs to convoy. The rigs are big and heavy and should provide protection for the lighter wagon, should someone try to get to it. So, if everyone is done with lunch and bathroom breaks, I think we should get this show on the road again. I really want to get to the farm well before dark, so we can get everything situated. I also think we should all go to the farm today. We can check with Monroe, Janet’s uncle, and see if he knows the Callens. He’s lived out there a long time, so if they are in the area, he’ll know them. Then we can work out a plan to get you there, if you still want to go.”

Sean looked confused. “Why wouldn’t we still want to go, Russ?”

Russ smiled. “Well, our farm is pretty awesome, and we have room for more people, if any of you want to stay. We know we can’t defend the whole place by ourselvesand would have been out recruiting soon after we got there anyway. Also, you don’t know if the Callens are at their place, not for sure. You don’t know if something might have happened to their place. You saw yourself how quickly a place can go up in flames, and burn to the ground. I hope that hasn’t happened, of course. I just want you to know you have options.”

Sean nodded. “I see what you mean. Thank you for the offer, Russ. We’ll definitely talk everything over, when we get out there, and see what’s what.”

We loaded everyone up, making sure they were situated in the wagon. Brian and Marietta got to be pretty cozy in the SUV, but it didn’t look like they minded. With everyone ready, we headed up the ramp to get back on the highway. The next hour or so should see us getting to the farm, barring any problems. I hoped and prayed there wouldn’t be any.

We got about five miles down the road before we saw anybody. Honestly, I was surprised when we did. There were a lot less cars on the road, especially heading south, away from town. But there they were – four guys, with an old pickup with a camper on it, parked sideways across the road, up against an old van, in a vain attempt to block the southbound lanes of the highway. I say vain attempt, because you could easily take the shoulder on the right and pass their “roadblock”. I looked at Russ, who looked at me, and we both kind of smirked at the set up. To their credit, they were lined up in front of the vehicles, with what appeared to be 12-gauge shotguns at the ready. They could have been a force, but we had them outnumbered, shooter-wise, by about three to one. Russ pulled up to a stop, about 100 feet from them. He pulled out the radio and hailed Bob.

“Are you seeing this?”

Bob came back quickly. “Yeah, buddy. We can take them, pretty easy, but I don’t want to take the chance of anyone getting caught by a stray shot, not on our side anyway. What do you want to do?”

Russ replied, “I want us to get out of our vehicles slowly, with whatever weapon is closest, in a show of force. Don’t point anything at them, but make sure they see it. Keep the kids in the cars, ours included. We’ll have Ben and Rusty hold up a long gun, to show them that everyone is armed. Can you let the others know?”

We didn’t have a radio for the wagon, so we would have to go over and let them know what was happening and what the plan was. Bob said he’d take care of it right away. We got out of our truck, with our handguns out, but pointed down. Bob got out of his, and walked up to the wagon to let them know what was going on. I stayed by the door of the truck, Russ moved out to the front of the truck, but stopped there. Kind of marking his territory, without going to the trouble to pee on the tires.

The guys from the roadblock moved forward, covering about a third of the distance between us. They were dirty, with what looked to be chewing tobacco spittle stains on their clothes. I couldn’t see them fully well, but they seemed to be lacking in the teeth area. Their spokesperson kept coming, slowly walking toward us.

“Where y’all headed?” He finished his statement by spitting a stream of tobacco juice to the pavement. Classy. Russ affected the same Southern drawl.

“Oh, ‘bout 10, 20 miles down the road. Got some kin down that way, hopin’ they can put us up.”

The spokesman continued. “What y’all got in them thar trailers?”

Russ waved them off. “Aw, nuthin’ but clothes and beds and stuff. Our kin won’t have anythin’ like that for us.”

“Mind if we take a look? We’re tryin’ to keep this area safe from dangerous folks, and we want to make sure y’all ain’t dangerous.”

Russ raised his pistol and pointed it at the guy. He cleaned up his accent quick. “As a matter of fact, I do mind. What we have is none of your business. Now, move those vehicles out of the road, so we can be on our way, or we’ll move them ourselves.”

The guy stopped in his tracks. His buddies raised their shotguns and pointed them at Russ. At the same time, Bob, Brian, and the rest of the guys stepped out and up beside us with handguns, rifles, and shotguns pointed their way. The men down the road looked at our guys, did the math, and lowered their weapons. The spokesman lowered his as well, but was still trying to keep the upper hand.

“Well, we got to charge you a toll to use this road. What ya gonna pay with?”

Russ smiled at him. “Has something changed in the past couple of weeks? This road is not a toll road. Even if it were, the toll would not be collected by the likes of you. Now, back off, move those vehicles, and leave us to go on our way – before one, or all of you, get hurt.”

The speaker looked confused, like he wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. Were we the first people to challenge them? Sad. He tried to continue down the path he had started.

“Now, look here. Ever body pays the toll. Whatever ya got that’s worth somethin’ will do. Food, guns, ammo, women…”

At the last comment, Janet and I both raised our side arms and leveled them at his head. I took the lead.

“Are you trying to tell me you have been traded women for passage on this road??”

I almost screamed it at him, so no doubt his cohorts heard it as well. I pulled the hammer back on my pistol. He held up his hands.

“NO! NO! No one has traded any women to pass through here. We just want to make sure ever body knows all the options they have. No offense, Ma’am.”

As he tried hard to cover his tracks, I kept my pistol pointed at his head.

“Offense taken. You will get NOTHING from us! Now back the FUCK off!” Oh, I used the F bomb. Yep, I was pissed.

I started toward him, with my gun pointed at his head. Russ intercepted me.

“Easy Babe. I’ve got this.”

Probably a good thing, because I wanted nothing more than to shoot Tobacco Spitter in the face at that moment. Russ placed his hand over the top of my pistol and gently pushed it down toward the ground. I let him. I released the hammer back to the at rest position, but kept it pointed in the shit heel’s general direction.

Russ stepped forward, with his own pistol pointed down, but toward the guy. “Look, I don’t know why you haven’t figured it out yet, but we are not giving you anything. Now, I’m going to tell you one more time to get those vehicles out of the road, or else.”

Dumbass decides to get lippy. “Or else what? Ya gonna just shoot us, right here, on the road, out in the open?”

Russ brought his pistol up and pointed it at the redneck’s head. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. So, you need to ask yourself – is this really worth dying for? I have no qualms about leaving your rotting corpse right here in the middle of the road and driving over it. What’ll it be?”

I guess the idiot finally figured out we were serious, because he held both hands up and started backing toward his buddies. “Uh, sure, no problem, we’ll get the road opened up right real quick for ya. Sorry for any inconvenience we might have caused.”

He kept walking backwards keeping us in his line of sight, until he got to the vehicles. He said something we couldn’t hear to them, and two of them jumped in and started them up, then backed them off the center of the road. Russ spoke to us over his shoulder.

“Anne, you drive our truck through. I’ll walk beside on the driver’s side, and we’ll have Mike man the other side. Pete can drive the wagon, and we’ll have Bill and Ryan walk beside that. Janet will drive their SUV, with Bob and Brian walking that one. I want eyes on these assholes at all times, as each vehicle gets through, and for at least a hundred yards past them, before we load up again. I’ll stop when we are all through and I think we’re far enough to be clear.”

We all headed for our appointed places and got the cars going. I had the lead and drove slowly toward the now cleared section of road. As we passed, the men were giving us dirty looks – one flipped me off. Really, dude? We have armed men everywhere and you want to cop an attitude? I just shook my head, flipped him off in response, and laughed.

We got past them, and once Janet got their rig through, the dirt bags closed up their “roadblock” again. Bob had walked the length of his rig, so that he was behind it when Janet finally cleared the cars. He walked backward, keeping them in his sight the whole time. The spokesman looked like he was going to follow us, but Bob brought his own shotgun up and pointed it at him.

“Stop right there, fella. You’ve managed to live through this so far, don’t screw up now. We’ll be on our way now, unless you want to get stupid here at the end.” The idiot stopped, started to raise his shotgun, but by then Brian and the Lawton brothers were back there with Bob. He pointed his gun back to the ground. Good boy.

Russ saw the interaction from the right side, so he motioned me to keep going. We ended up a good quarter of a mile from them before we stopped – way out of shotgun range. By then, all the guys walking were grouped up behind Bob’s trailer, still keeping an eye on the rednecks, who looked to still be eyeballing us, but seemed to be losing interest.

Russ met up with the guys after we stopped. He looked at Bob. “We good? Do we need to go back and get any points across?”

Bob shook his head. “Nah, I think they got the message. Let’s get to the farm. We are literally like 10 minutes away!”

He was bouncing around like a pinball, and the guys all laughed at his actions.

“Okay, buddy, let’s get to the farm.” Russ turned and headed back to our rig.

We were almost there. I was excited too – we all were. We just had to get about two more miles down the highway, then another five back to the farm. I could almost taste Millie’s biscuits and gravy already.
 

We didn’t run into any trouble on the rest of the trip down the highway. There were a few abandoned cars, but none that stopped us from getting through. Once we got off the highway onto the road that would take us out to the farm, things changed. This was a two-lane road, and not very wide. Not a half mile down the road there was a big dually pickup sitting in our lane, which had hit a mid-sized SUV in the other lane. Great. Now what? There wasn’t room to go around on either side. Russ pulled up to a stop, and the rest of our caravan did the same. We got out to inspect the scene. Mike, the trucker, walked up to the pickup and looked in.

“Well, the good news is the keys are still here.”

Rusty looked at his dad with a confused look. “Why is that good news, Dad? It won’t run, right? If it did, whoever owns it wouldn’t have left it, would they?”

              Russ nodded. “That’s right, son, but even though it won’t run, the key engages or disengages the mechanical aspects of the transmission. So even though we can’t start it, we can put it in neutral, so we can push it out of the way.”

Mike had opened the door and climbed in to do just that. From the cab, he could see into the SUV. There was blood on the seat. He turned to us and motioned Russ to come over.

“You might want to keep the kids back. I’m not sure what happened, but it looks like they might have been close to passing each other when this went down, and the SUV swerved a bit into this truck. I see blood in the front seat.”

Russ stepped back and walked over to the SUV. He looked in the window on the passenger side. There was definitely blood, and the windshield was smashed. Looked like someone hit it with their head. There was not a body though, so apparently they were able to walk out of here. Head wounds bleed profusely, and a lot of the time look worse than they are, because of that.

With no signs of a body, Russ went around to the driver’s side. No keys in this one. You bust your head on the windshield and think to take your keys when you leave? Russ kind of snickered at that. He stood back up and looked our way.

              “Well, the bad news is, this one does not have keys. This one is going to be a bitch to move, and we’re going to have to move it first. Good thing we have all these folks with us.”

Mike was still looking the situation over. “Russ, your truck is a hoss. If you drop your trailer, I’m betting you can push that SUV out of the way, with our help, even if it is in gear. What do you think?”

Russ looked at the vehicles, then his truck. “Well, there’s a reason I put that push bar on the front. Let’s give it a try.”

Russ went back to the trailer hitch and dropped the trailer. He pulled up to the front corner he could reach on the SUV and rolled up until the truck was against it. He put it in park, got out, and went around to look and see what was needed to get it moved. The rest of the guys were standing by, awaiting instructions.

“I think if I push slow but firm and you guys find a spot somewhere along the sides you can grab and help, this might work. Let’s see what happens. Everybody be careful though – we can’t afford for anyone to get run over, or cut, or anything like that.”

All the men lined up on both sides of the SUV as Russ got back in his truck. He started it up, put it in gear, and gave it some gas. The engine revved, and at first we didn’t think it was going to work, but the SUV slowly started moving. It was still putting a strain on our truck, but we had to do it. There was only one road to the farm, and this was it.

The guys pushed on the sides until Russ had gotten the front free from the dually, then some of them moved to the hood and pushed from there. Much better leverage, and the SUV picked up a bit of speed – well, a few more inches per minute anyway. After about 10 minutes, the SUV was off the side of the road in the ditch. Sorry missing SUV owner, but not running in the ditch off the road is no worse than not running in the middle of the road, for you anyway. Since Russ was already unhooked from the trailer, they used our truck to push the dually off the road as well. Much faster and easier when you could take it out of gear and actually steer it. That one went in the ditch on the other side of the road.

Russ took the opportunity to run down the road and around the corner, to see if there were any other obstacles ahead. He was back in just a couple of minutes.

“Looks like we’ve got a clear shot for at least the next mile. A couple of cars, but they are off to the side, so we can shoot down the middle of the road. Let’s get going.”

****

We got the trailer hooked back up and headed out. I wondered what had happened to the people in those vehicles. They both had local tags, so hopefully they hadn’t been too far from home and were able to get back. Back to what, though? Had they planned for something like this? Did they have supplies? Two weeks ago I would have seen a scene like this and just wondered if they had survived the crash, especially the SUV driver. Now, the crash was almost an afterthought. Strange how your perspective changes to match the reality of your world.

We went two more miles before the road was blocked again, but this time it was just a small car that seemed to have died and drifted to the middle of the road. Russ stopped and got out to have a look.

He no sooner got to the car than a man and woman popped up from the other side, both with guns. The man had what looked like a .357 revolver, and she was sporting a shotgun. They pointed the guns at Russ, who stopped in his tracks. I stifled a scream. He closed his eyes, and tipped his head down, while raising his hands in the air. I knew what he was thinking:
dumb move, Russ. You know better. You should have looked around before you got out.
We were so close to the farm, less than two miles, so I could understand the excitement and the rush to get there making him be less cautious.

The man spoke first. “We’ll be taking that rig you got there, mister. Have your family get out real slow, and step away. No reason for anyone to die here, over a truck and trailer. We don’t want to hurt anyone; we just need whatever you got in there.”

Russ looked at the man. “Buddy, I could be hauling trash in that trailer for all you know. How do you know you ‘need’ it? Besides that, has it completely escaped your notice that there are two more vehicles behind mine, all full of people with guns pointed at you both as we speak? Did you have a plan for dealing with all of us, or did you think you could just pick us off one by one, and not get yourselves killed? Because you should know, everyone you see holding a gun can shoot, and can shoot well. You start shooting, you will die. Is that what you want?”

As Russ was delivering this speech, all the guys from the wagon and Bob’s SUV stepped out with handguns, shotguns, and rifles, all pointed at the couple. I had already gotten out with my pistol aimed at the missus. Either they just weren’t paying attention to what was behind us (maybe they didn’t expect to see that many vehicles that still ran together), or they were so desperate they didn’t care.

Just when we thought Russ was going to talk them down, the man fired a shot from his revolver. He was pointed in Russ’s direction, but downward, so the bullet went to Russ’s right side and hit the road. It didn’t matter though. Once he fired, the rest of us opened up. They were down in a matter of seconds. It was a complete reflex. They had guns pointed at my husband, at me, at my son, and I did not hesitate for a second once I heard the shot. Neither did Bob, or most of the guys. We had no way of knowing if he intended to shoot, and we did not have the luxury of time to find out.

Russ held up his hand and yelled, “CEASE FIRE! THEY’RE DOWN!!”

He walked over, pistol drawn, and moved to the other side of the now bullet riddled car. The man and woman were lying on the ground, in a large pool of their combined blood. Russ closed his eyes, placed his head in his hands, and stood like that for a minute.

I didn’t know what to do. Should I go to him, console him? It wasn’t his fault – he was trying to keep anything like this from happening. The man probably shot by accident, which is why we were all ingrained to keep our finger off the trigger until we were ready to actually shoot. There was no way to know what his intentions were. Taking the time to try to talk after a shot was fired is a good way to get dead. I had tears running down my cheeks, and I didn’t even realize it. We had killed two people. Two desperate, dumb people, but two people none the less. Did they have kids they had left hidden somewhere, who were now orphans? Lord, I hoped not. As I was debating with myself whether to go to him or wait for him to come back, Mike walked over to him. Strange, since he was so new to our group. He went up to Russ, laid a hand on his shoulder, and spoke softly to him, though I was close enough to hear what he said.

“When I was in Iraq, one of the first skirmishes I was involved in was a woman and a child, set up on the side of the road with what appeared to be a disabled car. We stopped to help, and as soon as we opened the doors to the hummer to check on them, they blew up themselves, the car, and two of our team. I knew they had brought it on themselves, and I knew they had tried to kill us, but it didn’t stop me from having nightmares about it for months after. It was the first time I saw a dead body, and I don’t think you ever forget that. You did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong. They did this. I know you’re feeling a little bit of everything right now, but we really need to get going, in case they were with anyone else, and someone heard our gunshots. We don’t need to even take time to bury them. We need to move them and the car off the road and get out of here. I can deal with the bodies, if you want me to.”

Russ didn’t say anything, but nodded in agreement with Mike. Mike proceeded to drag the man’s body to the side of the road. We were all in shock over what had happened, and seeing Mike dragging bodies that had been speaking to us just minutes before was a very surreal moment for me. He dragged the woman next and placed her beside the man.

“Do we have a tarp, or a sheet to spare? Something we can at least cover the bodies with?”

Mike’s question was directed at the group, but I took the lead. “Let me get a sheet from our gear.”

I went back to our trailer and grabbed the first sheet I found. In TEOTWAWKI, who cares if the sheets match?

I handed the sheet to Mike, and in the process couldn’t help but see the bodies. I don’t know what I expected to feel, but I instantly teared up again. So stupid. If you had just kept your finger off the trigger, this wouldn’t have happened. Why didn’t you try asking for help, before resorting to this behavior? Is this the world now? Nobody even tries to work things out? Or had the world gotten to this point in just a week, while we were still at home planning our exodus? Why did man always go to taking from others by force, before they even tried to make it on their own? Or had they tried and not been able to live? Not everyone knew how to hunt and clean game if they did happen to get something. Most people had no idea how many edible plants grow wild. Honestly, until a few years ago, neither did I. Even now, I was reliant on books to refer to so I would know what we could safely forage if needed. Things that our ancestors knew from experience we had lost because we didn’t need to know it anymore. Look at us now.

Mike covered the bodies, and the guys got together and pushed the car out of the way. Mike went to Russ.

“Are you okay to drive?”

Russ gave him a small smile. “We are spitting distance from the farm. Yes, I can make it.”

He headed back toward our truck, and motioned to the group.

“Load up gang. We are almost there. Let’s go see the farm.”