Original Work The Unwelcome Sign

Ah, let the games begin, we have a player(s). I'm thinking the 'toads' are running out of drugs and food; smell a politician (governor) in the filthworks of the enemy…and hungry dogs…did I mention that I'm enjoying every word of the story and anticipation is killing me? Well, there…said!

 

Been reading this all day, think my wife's about to put me to work again.
earl

 

MOST EXCELLENT!!!!!!
earl

 

You are doing just great!!! Keep up the good writing..

 

Accelerating hard out of the exit, I set myself up for the next turn, a decreasing radius right. The meme “late in, fast out, early in, dead out.” came to me unbidden. I put off braking as long as I could, trailing off on the pedal until finally hitting the apex way into the turn.
The Jeep started to understeer on me. An extra blip on the brake pedal got her tracking again, at the cost of some speed and heat on the pads and rotors.
You can only thrash the vehicle for so long before something gives. Heat builds up in the brakes and transmission. If you're lucky, the worst that will happen is increased braking distances, If you're luck doesn't hold, the transmission can give out, leaving you dead on the road. Back on the gas, we came out of the right set up well to enter the upcoming turn, another right, this one an increasing radius like a freeway on-ramp. The turn swept around a hill, so you couldn't see past it. Just what I was looking for.
Coming out of the blind turn, with a straight before us, I pulled the parking brake lever up with my right hand. Hard. Making sure to keep the thumb lock pressed in. It took the overheated rear pads a second to lock up the rear tires. As soon as they did, I turned the wheel hard to the right. The rear end slid out, the Jeep pivoting on the weight of the engine.
We were now facing back the way we came, neatly in the other lane. Brake lever back down, right hand back at 3 o'clock where it belonged, I hit the gas. Lavell had his shorty AR stuck out the window, ready to rake the white sedan as we passed.
Turned around, the right hand curve was now a left, and so I could see the sedan before Lavell could bring his rifle to bear. I wasn't worried about them trying to ram us, we out-massed them substantially. The question was would they open fire on us?
Lavell was going to have his shot in a second. It was hard to see into the other car, windows tinted, then the front passenger window, the one facing us, started rolling down. Lavell didn't have the angle and they were going to get the first shot off.
Expecting to see an arm with a gun coming out, trying not to cringe at the shot I knew would be coming before we could do anything about it. Lavell was starting to climb up in his seat to shoot over the windshield, remembering why we took off the front roof panels in the first place.
It was going to be a close race to see who would get the first shot off. It looked like Lavell might get there first. The sedan's window was now down all the way and I could see inside.
Instead of the gangbanger I was expecting, a woman was in the passenger seat, waving at us frantically. I slapped Lavell's left leg in time to my yelling “NoNoNo!” He got the message and didn't fire, but tracked them with his muzzle as they passed. As they came even with us I saw something that caused me to slam on the brakes and bring the Jeep to a screeching halt, almost pitching Lavell out over the hood. He managed to hang on, and shot me a dirty look as I exited the vehicle and ran toward the sedan, rounding on the driver's side. The driver had the door open and was half out when I got there. I grabbed his arm and dragged him the rest of the way and put him in a bear hug. I let go after a second and stood back, giving the driver a chance to speak. “Whatcha saying, cat?”

 

This story has more twists and cliffs than a St Thomas road!
Who is this mysterious stranger? Who still calls people 'cat'?
Tune in tomorrow to learn the answer to these and more of life's
pressing questions.
Same Zed time, same Zed Channel.

And if you haven't subscribed to my youtube channel yet, pop on over. Watch some vids while you're waiting for the next installment. www.youtube.com/vigunfighter

 

“It's good to see you man, but let's get out of here. Follow me” I turned and ran back to the Jeep, buckling up while I waited for them to get turned around so I could proceed.
We got to the turn off without seeing anyone and dropped down off the main road. We came around the sharp turn before the upper road block slowly, so as to not panic the observation post and give them plenty of chance to identify us.
“We should have some sort of signal so they know we are friendlies” Juice gave voice to my thoughts.
“We already sort of do.” I mentioned the scratching the head with the left hand sign and how it could also be used as a duress code by using the wrong hand to scratch.
“We need to get the word out so everyone on the security detail knows about it.
Lavell added, “We should change it regularly, maybe add a question and response”
“Makes sense. Add it to the list of all the other stuff I'm not getting done.” They all chuckled at my weak humor.
We threaded our way slowly through the chicane and past, the sedan following us. We made our initial stop at Dupont's house. Getting out, we stretched muscles tight from the tension and bracing our bodies through the turns. Juice walked over to the driver and gave him a heartfelt hug. “Meen see yah in donkey yeahs, meh sohn!”
Juice slipped into the local dialect, big grin on his face. “Whatcha sayin'?”
“Yah mi boi, I cool, I cool.”
“Ok you two clowns, speak English” I grinned at the pair of them, sharing the joy of reunion with them.
Dupont came out of his house and walked over to see what was going on.
“It's a great day everyone! I'd like to introduce my good friend Lyle and his girlfriend Jennifer.” I named people to Lyle as they shook hands. It was smiles all around until we got to Lavell. Lyle started to reach out to shake but stopped when his eyes fell on the rifle.
“Where'd you get that?” he asked in an accusatory manner. Before Lavell could answer, I did for him.
“That rifle is one of the reasons I'm so glad to see you.”
“How so, brother?” me taking over the answering of the question seemed to calm him.
Just a couple of hours ago we were attacked by some gangbangers. Bloods out of Kerwin Terrace. We dealt with them. They had two of these and a UMP and some plate carriers. We figured they were from SRT and we were really worried that something happened to you.”
Lyle's look got clouded again. “I had hoped they had secured the armory better than that. Do you know what happened?”
“No man, I was hoping you did. Hey listen, I know you have lots of questions, and so do we. Let's get you settled and we can talk more this evening.
“Lavell, we'll be back up in an hour or so, we still have that cook out we promised the people. Thanks for your help. Your people did really well.”
“Thanks Zed, I'll let them know.”
Before I could turn around to leave Dupont interrupted. “Zed, what about the guns and ammo? My sons and I brought it all here.”
I paused for a moment to think. “Load them all up in the Jeep for now. Stan and I have the only secure storage right now. I'd like to set up a ready armory here, but we need to figure out where that'll be and then get it ready.”
With so many hands it only took one trip from the house to the Jeep to move the gear. We waved our goodbyes and headed further down hill. I stopped in front of the lower chicane and caught the eye of the person in the observation post on the hillside. He recognized me and waved me through.
The afternoon's normal work disrupted by the attack, everyone seemed to be hanging around at Jacob's house. We parked up and went inside. Sadie caught sight of Lyle and Jennifer and ran and gave them both great big hugs. She was friends with both of them, and seeing a couple of people she knew from before was obviously a great relief and comfort to her.
She started to drag Jennifer off to one side so they could talk.
“Listen up!” I waited for the hubbub to die down and had everyone's attention. “I promised our people at the upper neighborhood that we would all eat together this evening.”
“Remember we have the party scheduled for this Saturday. Is that still on?” Fiona asked.
“Yes ma'am, it is. I don't want tonight to be a big deal, just a shared meal. Something that we can throw together fairly quickly. Cool?” I looked at Fiona and Sadie and the rest of them and they all nodded their heads. “Great. Can we be ready to leave in half an hour?”
“To leave? Sure” Sadie said thoughtfully. “We just have to add a bit to what we were going to make for dinner anyway. We'll take care of it. Go and get out of our way, you're holding up progress.”
Dinner went well, giving people a chance to unwind, socialize, and bond. The food was simple, burgers and dogs donated by Stan and Sandy, who were having trouble keeping the restaurant food frozen, fresh vegetables from the Mr. Charles' garden and potatoes from the abandoned plot.
Jacob and Leslie volunteered to take a couple of plates down to Mr. Charles, who still wasn't up to this sort of activity. I guess I hadn't realized how starved Jacob was for company his age. I noted a wistful look on Fiona's face as the two of them took off, empathizing with her, wondering how Leslie being here would effect my relationship with Jacob.
I'd grown used to having him near, suddenly mindful of how I had come to depend on him. Guess I'd see how that played out in the days to come.
Lavell, Dupont, Lyle, Stan, Juice, and myself found a quiet spot in the yard where we sat in a circle, digesting our dinners. We had brought Juice and Lyle up to date on the events of the day, and I'd caught them up on what the community had been doing to get ready for what we thought would be coming.
That thread was winding down and I was about to change the topic, wanting to hear what Juice and Lyle had been up to, and what they knew about what was going on.
Before I could, a woman approached shyly, afraid to enter what seemed to be a closed conversation. I met her eye and bid her approach. She nodded to herself, took and obvious breath and came up to me.
“Mr. Zed, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to interrupt, but I can't wait anymore. I've been waiting for the right time and it just never comes. I don't want to bother you, I know you're busy and you don't have time for my problems, and I've tried to talk to other people and get help but that hasn't...”
“Easy Miss,” I interrupted her nervous rambling. I'm a bottom line kind of guy who has trouble listening to long winded roundabout explanations under the best of circumstances. Now I probably had less patience than normal. I forced a smile on my face and told her to sit.
“So tell me what's the problem?” I almost asked her what she wanted me to do about it, but held back at the last second. I thought it might come across as rude, and worse, that she might actually tell me.
“It' my dad, he's run out of his medication.” she held out an empty bottle. I had no choice but to take it from her. “It's for his heart. I don't know how long he can go without it. He's not doing well now.”
I held up the medicine bottle. “Can I hang on to this?”
“Yes. I guess so. So you can do something? You can get medicine for my father?”
“I don't know. I will try though. Do you think your father can hold out another day or two?”
“I think so. I'm making him take it easy, trying to stay calm.”
“I'll see what I can do. Where can I find you?”
“I know her family” Dupont was clearly worried.
“We'll do what we can for you, Miss.”
She thanked us and left.
“I hadn't even considered medications being an issue.” Stan said.
“Because you're young and healthy. I've been waiting for this. At least in the back of my head. I've been meaning to address it, but every time I start to talk about it, something more important comes up.”
“There are probably more people that either have already run out of their meds, or will soon. I know that young lady's father. Good man. How many more like him out there?”
Lavell looked at me. “You said you'd been meaning to address it. How?”
“You all know Johnson's Pharmacy?”
“It was looted before we could get there. We took some rounds while the looters escaped, but it was too late.” Lyle looked at me, then the ground. I knew he was upset and not being able to stop that, and all the other things that had happened. Lyle was like that.
“Yeah, well, they didn't get everything.” That got their attention. “Sadie and I got there early, just as the first looters arrived. We chased them off and took out all the meds and a lot of other stuff that we thought would be useful.”
“You mean you have all that medication?” Dupont's mood changed to ebullient. I hated to bring him down.
“No. We don't have it. It wasn't ours.”
Juice figured it out. “You took it to old man Johnson, didn't you?”
“Yup. And I've been worried about him, just like I've been worried about you two. Now that you're here, we can think about getting him. I think his wife and him would be safer here.”
“And their medicines.”
“And their medicines. So. Who's up for a road trip?”

 

Great stuff.

 

Lets get that road trip on…and make it real; like all the rest!

 

Plans laid, we spent the rest of the evening unloading Juice's truck. For the time being we put their stuff in the unfinished part of the house that Dr. Shoemacher was staying in.
It was a bit rough on the inside, but the exterior work was complete and it was tight and secure against the elements. A bit of work and it would be livable.

Five o'clock came early. It took me a long time to drop off to sleep, worrying about our trip to the Johnson's. Sleep did finally come, but it was fitful, full of worry and doubt, and it seemed that I had barely got any rest.
I forced myself upright and got my feet on the floor, head hurting with one of those 'you haven't had enough rest' headaches. A quick, cool shower knocked back the biggest cobwebs and I hoped the ibuprofen would take care of the rest in a few minutes.

I got dressed carefully, the level II a vest over a t-shirt, but under a polo. Tucking the polo in to my pants helped keep the vest under control. I threaded the left and right holsters, mag carriers, and the sheath for my bowie, onto my belt and made sure that the vest didn't interfere with accessing any of the gear.
I didn't enjoy wearing the vest, it's hot and constricting and gets in the way. In the tropics where it is in the mid 80s for both the temperature and the humidity, can quickly overheat.
Plate carriers are even worse. A good one will weight more than ten pounds and is big and bulky. Not something you want to do your gardening.

But it's a trade off. Being bullet resistant is nice, especially when the medical facilities aren't up to their normal levels. And considering how many gunfights I'd been in already, I was burning up my luck at a fast pace.

I could have grabbed one of the Rock River shorty AR s, but stuck with my normal M4. I actually like the 16” barrel when working around vehicles as I find I don't have to be quite as concerned about sight offset when I can stick the muzzle past the part of the vehicle I'm using as cover.

Rifle and pack went into the Jeep on the seat next to me and I drove the short distance to Dr. Shoemacher's house. Juice and Lyle where outside by the truck waiting on me. I was glad to see Lyle had all his gear from SRT and he was kitted up like he was out to serve a high risk warrant.

I pulled up next to them and rolled down the window. “Good to go?”
“Let's do it” Juice got in his truck.
“Yessi mi boi” Lyle hammed up the local lingo as he took shotgun in the truck.

They followed me up the road to the upper chicane where we met Lavell. He looked official in his camo fatigues and one of the plate carriers we recovered yesterday.
I pulled up so the passenger door was next to him. He opened in and put his pack on the floor and climbed in after it.
Wending our way through the chicane, I passed my ham radio to Lavell. “We're 'alpha',” I nodded at the following truck, “they're 'bravo' and Jacob's house is 'Hotel'.”
“Got it.” He keyed the mike. “This is Alpha, how you copy Bravo?”
“Bravo copies five by, Alpha.”
He keyed it again, “How copy Hotel?”
“We've got good copy Alpha.” Wilford and Daniels had promised to take turns monitoring the radio at Jacob's house while we were gone. Sadie, Jacob, Leslie, and Denise were designated as a reserve/reaction team in case we needed them. If we could contact them. The terrain made line of sight communications difficult.

Wil and Daniels had rigged a J-pole antenna that they made out of some 300 ohm flat ribbon cable they scavenged from somewhere, and that would help some.

We approached the main road and paused, Juice maintaining some separation between us.
“Ask Wil about the hexicopter.”
Lavell brought the radio up to his mouth. “Hotel, this is Alpha, anything from the eye in the sky?”
“Looking at it now. The road's clear as far as we can take it, Alpha.”
“Roger that. Thanks Hotel, Alpha out.”

I snugged up the lap portion of my seat belt, took a deep breath and pulled out onto the road, Juice following my lead and we headed towards the Johnson's.

 

Lets roll, let her rip…we be going on a road trip!

 

Can't wait for the next chapter. Great read.

 

I've been saving up for a while. Here's the whole road trip.

 

Wil's intel was good, and we ran the short jaunt to the Johnson's with no problem. It was eerily quiet and we didn't see a single person. Not on the road, nor in anyone's yard. I wasn't sure if I should be glad there wasn't anyone around, or worried.
As we neared the Johnson's we saw our first evidence of a problem. Two houses were obviously attacked and looted. I got more and more anxious for the Johnson's welfare.I let out some of the breath I didn't know I was holding when I saw that their house seemed intact.
We pulled in to the Johnson's driveway and slowly drove up to the house. My window was down so they could see who it was, although they should recognize the vehicle, I didn't want to cause any undue alarm. Everything seemed Ok, nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary.
We pulled to a stop, motors still running.
“Tell Bravo to sit easy and keep an eye out.” While Lavell relayed the message I got out slowly and stood behind my open door.
“Hello the house!”I waited a long ten seconds.
“Hello! It's Zed”A couple of moments later the side door opened. I reoriented to the new position, thinking they were pretty cagey customers. Mr. Johnson exited, his ancient S&W five screw .32-20 in his hand at his side. As he approached, the door was filled by Mrs. Johnson with an equally old 12 gauge side by side.
“That you Zed? Good to see you! We've been worried about you.”
“And Sadie and I have been worrying about you. Everything OK around here?”
“Well, maybe not so much. Why don't y'all come on in and sit. The Mrs. just put on some coffee.”Mr. Johnson had closed the distance and we shook hands warmly and then exchanged a hug. I motioned for the others to get out and I made introductions all around.
He invited us all in, but Lavell agreed to sit outside and keep watch. I couldn't make it inside without receiving a hearty hug and a kiss on both cheeks from Mrs. Johnson.
“How's Sadie keeping? Why isn't she here? Is she alright? You better be treating her right!”
“You know both me and Sadie better than that.”
“I do, I do.” She smiled and winked. “She's fine and send her regards. It was a bit of a fight to get her to sit home and let me come without her.”“I can just imagine. Did you have to tie her up?”“No. That was last night. And it was handcuffs.”
“Oh you! Behave!” She pretended to be offended, but couldn't keep the smile from first her mouth, and then crinkling her eyes. Sitting around the kitchen table, mugs of coffee in front of us, things seemed almost normal. Except for all the gear we were wearing. “So what brings you by, Zed? I don't expect this is purely a social call”
“No, sir, it's not. I don't know how things have been around here, but we've had several attacks in our neighborhood already.”
“Anybody hurt, dear?” The concern was obvious in Mrs. Johnson's voice. “Yes ma'am. We lost a family and a man that was trying to protect them. Got there too late to save him, but we did save his children. We put some more defensive measures before the second attack and none of us got hurt in that one.”
“What about the bad guys?”
“Not a single one got away.”
“Good.” she said simply, patting my hand in a motherly approving way that seemed incongruous considering we were talking about killing people. Mr. Johnson took over. “We've had some trouble here.”“We noticed the houses that had been hit. Did you know them?”
“Yes, son, we did. I'm too old to dig graves and I'm too old to see children murdered.”
“And that wasn't the worst of it.” She finished for him. “We had a car full of men nosing around here yesterday evening, but Ma chased them off with both barrels of the scattergun.”
“They'll be back.”
“So I expect.”
“That's why we're here. We'd like to invite you to come and stay with us. We are well on our way to making the neighborhood defensible, and will keep working on that. We've got food covered on a couple of levels, from good stores to growing more. And we have a doctor and a couple nurses that have set up a small clinic.”
“I don't know if I could leave my home. We've been here for almost four decades.”
“We don't really have much choice, Ma. You know as well as I do that those fellows will be back. If not them, then some others.”“I know Pa, I know.” She looked at me. “We wouldn't want to be a burden.”I couldn't suppress a snort. “How long have we know each other? You expect me to believe you'd ever be a burden?”
“Did you just snort at me?”
“Well woman, when you say silly things, what do think my reaction would be?”
That earned me a pointy elbow in the ribs. I made a mental note to not sit so close to her again. “Look. You can't hold out here by yourselves. Even if you don't have to worry about attacks, there is all the other day to day stuff that is just too much for two people to do by themselves. And you heard me say we have a doctor. He could sure use your help. I'm hoping that when things settle down, that people will come to us for medical care. I'm figuring you'll pull your own weight, not be a burden.”
I quickly scooted my chair sideways and grinned when the second elbow missed. “So what do you say?”
They exchanged looks. They'd been together long enough that they didn't need to speak. “Seeing as you brought two vehicles and one of them is a truck, I reckon you mean for us to move now?”
“I know it's short warning, but yes sir.”
“Well be best be about it, huh Pa?”
The radio that Juice had set on the table came alive, “Zed, a car stopped on the road just within sight.”I hit the push to talk switch twice as I stood up, letting Juice pick up his radio.
“Stay here, and stay down. We'll handle it.” With that, we were out the door.
I stood to the side of the window and peeked out, careful not to move the curtains. There was the car, just sitting on the road, just within sight, about a hundred and fifty yards away. The SUV had come around the curve and stopped when it could see the Johnson's house. “Juice, Lyle, go out the back and circle around until you parallel them. I don't need to tell you to stay out of sight. Call me when you have eye on.”
They left without a word, nothing needing to be said. Their lips were pressed together tight enough I'm not sure they could have gotten a word out if they wanted to. I went out the side door, crouching and ran up to Lavell.
“Watcha got?”
Lavell lowered the compact binoculars, “Yellow Explorer, four up, black males, no visible weapons, no movement since they stopped.”
“Think they've seen you?”
“No, but they can't help but see the two extra vehicles.”
“You think it's the same guys as yesterday? Otherwise they wouldn't know how many cars there are.”
Lavell turned his attention back to the vehicle, bringing the binos back up to his eyes.
“It's what makes most sense. Simplest answer.”
“Occam's razor.”
“Yes sir.”“I tend to agree. I guess we just..”“
I've got movement. Rear doors both sides open. Two out, heading into the bush. Both have long guns, AR s.”
I grabbed the radio from the pouch on Lavell's vest while he kept eyes on. “Bravo, this is Alpha. Yellow SUV, four occupants, black males, armed with long guns. Two just exited the vehicle and entered the bush in your area. Copy?”I received two clicks on the radio that told me two things; they got my transmission, and that the bad guys were close enough that they couldn't talk.
“Take them if you can” I put the radio down and told Lavell, “Put rounds in the car as soon as you hear shooting.”
Binos got dropped on their strap and his rifle came up, over stone wall we were using for cover. Mine followed right behind. I'd barely got a check weld, with the windshield appearing in my aimpoint.
A few seconds later we heard a flurry of shots from the bush not too far from the SUV. As soon as we heard the first round Lavell and I opened up, putting our rounds as low as we could through the windshield. We managed to put a half a mag each into the car with no discernable effect.
Then it started to move backwards erratically. We kept up our fire but they managed to pull back around the corner out of sight.
Lavell was doing a tactical reload, the partial mag going down the front of his shirt. I followed suit, grabbing a spare out of my carrier like I was going for a beer can. I brought it together with the mag in the rifle, forming an 'ell' shape. Trigger finger hit the release. Partial pulled out, rotate wrist ninety degrees and new mag inserted and then tugged on. My mag went into my left cargo pocket. The firing in the bush stopped before ours had. I hoped that was a good sign. “Radio”Lavell handed it to me. “Bravo, this is Alpha, status?”
“Two down, but we heard more movement to our two o'clock. It stopped when we opened fire, but I think there are more people in the bush.”
“Hunker down. We'll move up. What's your 20?”
There was a pause then Juice came back, “Can you see the big mahogany tree from there?”
I looked for a moment then located the tiny leafed tree top standing above the surrounding canopy.
“Got it”
“We're at the base, suggest you come in from the right. I think they'll stay off the road, and if they try to flank us, that's the way they'll come.”
“Understood Bravo. ETA two mikes”
The radio clicked twice in response, which concerned me. Bravo needed to be quiet again. We took off at a jog, covering the first seventy five yards quickly before slowing down and then stopping for a second to listen, slow the resperation, and shift into a lower gear.
I nodded to Lavell and he moved forward at a crouch, covering fifteen yards and stopping by a tree. I moved past him about the same distance and stopped. Taking a knee behind a tamarind tree I listened again.
We'd angled away from the mahogany and I located it about fifty yards away to my ten o'clock. I could see most of the tree, but brush obstructed the view of the base, so I couldn't see Lyle or Juice. I waved Lavell to join me.
I opened my mouth and cupped my right hand to my ear, while Lavell scanned slowly. He was using the zone method and was taking his time. I started picking up low sounds moving from one to twelve. A snapped twig, the click of one piece of gear hitting another.
It seemed that they had an idea of where Bravo was and were heading that way. We were in a good position to rake them from the flank, but we needed to be careful of friendly fire. I looked at the radio and Lavell handed it to me.
“50 yards out at your three. You have inbound estimate 50 yards at your twelve. We are moving to your two.”
Two clicks. I nodded the direction I wanted Lavell to take and he was off, hunkered way over, rifle at a barely compressed ready. Mine was in my shoulder, muzzle just below my sight line as I covered for his move. I was just standing when firing broke out from Bravo's position. It was returned by first one, then four guns.
The volume of fire from the bad guys was much higher than Bravo's deliberate shooting. The rounds tearing through the trees spoke of panicked unaimed return fire. While it wasn't directed at us, Lavell and I nonetheless moved nearly bent double.
Each step took us further from their intended impact zone. Bravo was doing a great job of keeping them fixed, allowing us to complete our flanking maneuver. There was a pause from the gang's shooting as they changed out empty mags for fresh ones.
They were probably all empty at the same time, and we probably could have exploited that, but neither Lavell or I were in a rush. Our distances in our leaps was down to just a few yards. It was Lavell's turn to move when he stiffened and stopped. His left hand came off his carbine and down to his side where I could see it. First he made a fist, then extended five fingers. Making a fist again he looked to his ten and extended one finger. He moved his head to his twelve and extended a second finger and looked to his one and extended the rest.
He looked at me and I nodded. Bravo's one shot every two seconds hadn't let up, and now the gangbangers were reloaded and started shooting again. I didn't want to flank any further, worrying I'd put us in Bravo's field of fire, so I just moved up slowly until I could see the man at ten o'clock.
I looked at Lavel and held up three fingers. He nodded and I brought my rifle on target. I nodded once, twice, and on the third one, put my cheek on my stock and stroked the trigger twice.
The gangbanger jerked as he was hit, but I didn't know how badly. I heard Lavell fire twice and then a second time. I looked in that direction, not seeing what he was shooting at. My peripheral vision caught motion and I started swing my rifle back around to the gangbanger that I'd shot. He got to his knees and was trying to get his rifle on me. It seemed like it was taking forever to drag my own muzzle around so I could put more rounds in him.
I wasn't sure who would win the race when his head became distorted, changing shape for a moment as a spray of red and grey mist erupted from it. He hung suspended for a brief moment then toppled over backwards. “ssssszipssssszipssssszip” rounds tore through the underbrush just over my head. The last three gangbangers were directing wild fire in our direction. All four of us returned the fire as carefully as possible, but none of us really had good targets.
After less than a minute the fire slackened, then stopped. We stayed where we were, listening, looking, while hands programed by multiple repetitions, reloaded rifles. “Bravo, this is Alpha. You two OK?”
“Yes, we're fine.”“
Stay there, we'll link up.”
Lavell and I slowly rose and moved quietly over to the mahogany tree. Before any of us could say anything, we heard a shot from the direction of the road, several car doors slamming then a car start and take off quickly. “I'd guess that means they didn't want to stay for supper” Juice, ever the cut up. “Yeah, sounds like they left. For good, or to get reinforcements?” Lavell wondered
“Either way, we need to move. Let's check these guys and get the Johnsons loaded. We moved to the first two gangbangers, the ones Lavell saw exiting the first car. They were both dead. We quickly stripped the bodies of weapons and armor. Lyle was grim when he saw more equipment from his unit.
We worked our way towards the road and path the bad guys took and found the next two guys. One was alive but seemingly paralyzed. I didn't have a chance to say anything before Lyle put a round in his face. Coming out on the road we found the yellow SUV, one gang member not too far away. He had several chest wounds, but it was the head shot that did the dead. Mercy, or OpSec?
Probably the later.
He didn't have any weapons and the car had been hastily stripped. Just as well as we were already burdened by four sets of gear. We trudged up the road towards the Johnson's, taking turns walking backwards to check our six.

We backed Juice's truck up to the front door and posted Mr. Johnson to keep an eye for any threats, not wanting to spare a strong back from the moving process. It was a very hurried, helter skelter job, with Mrs. Johnson pointing out what we should grab and trying to find containers for their smaller belongings.
The tension mounted with every minute, as my mind went over all the things that could happen. I could tell everyone else felt the same, they went about the work wordlessly with a sense of purpose that spoke of their concerns. We were quickly coming to the end of the hour that I'd mentally set as our time limit.
Mrs. Johnson was slowing down, taking longer and longer to find and pack things for the others to carry. To her credit she was all business and wasn't packing anything unessential. The meds and other items from the pharmacy went first, being the most important. Then all of the things that support a life, clothing, hygene items, and a pretty considerable store of food. I came back in from carrying a load out to the vehicles and went up to Mrs. Johnson.
She was standing in the middle of her bedroom, slowly looking around, finally having a moment to let the tears loose. I stood next to her and wrapped an arm around her.
“Hard to let go, isn't it?”
“It's not the things dear. It's the memories. But I can carry them with me, can't I?”
She looked up at me, a warm smile pushing the tears out of the way. She wiped them away with a handkerchief she pulled from a sleeve. “Well mister, you ready to take us to our new home?”
“Yes ma'am” She took the proffered arm and we walked out the room for the last time.

“How you want to do this?” Lavell was fidgeting, ready to go.
“You and me first, the Johnsons in the middle with Juice and Lyle picking up the tail.”
We'd checked our weapons and reloaded our mags before stuffing them back in their pouches. I walked over to the Johnsons in their mini-van, the Mrs. behind the wheel. They looked comical wearing plate carriers. “Stay close, no more than two car lengths, one if you can manage it. You concentrate on driving and keeping with us. We'll handle the defensive work if needed.”
“I'll do my best Zed.”
“I'll keep in mind that you're back there and make driving decisions that include you, as much as possible. It's a short drive, so it should go OK. If something happens to us, keep going. You'll find a road block a short way into our neighborhood. Approach slowly, stop and identify yourself, they know we came out for you. Find Sadie and let her know what happened.”
“I will dear, I will.”
I gave her a pat on the shoulder and moved the truck. “You know the drill, we've done this before. Use the radio if anything changes.”
“Like the weather?”
I pretended to cuff Juice upside the head and he pretended to dodge the blow. I turned and went back to the Jeep. I collapsed the butt of my M4 and put it next to the transmission tunnel, next to my right leg. Seat belt went on next. Wiggling my butt back as far into the seat as I could, I grabbed the seat belt above the buckle and pulled the lap portion as tight as I could.
I wiggled again and repeated the pull and got a little more out of it.
Lavell gave me a look. “The seat belt isn't about keeping you from going through window, it's about keeping your ass in the seat so you can control the vehicle in performance maneuvers.”
“Works for me, bro.”
“Ready?”He put up a fist which I bumped.
“Let's do this”

I pulled out of the drive way slowly giving everyone, especially the Johnsons a chance to get in position. I brought it up to fifteen which was only slightly slow for the neighborhood street. We came around the corner and saw the yellow SUV and the body of the gangbanger that had been executed by his own people.
Keeping the speed steady we were getting close to the main road when a white four door Blazer started to turn off of it into our road. They stopped when they saw us, a hundred yards away, and thought better of it and used the mouth of the road to turn around and go back the way they had came.
Unfortunately it was the direction we needed to go. I pulled up to the stop sign and waited until everyone was stopped behind me.
“Key the mike for me.”Lavell pulled out the radio and held it near me.
“Bravo, did you see that?”
“Sure did. What do make of it? We couldn't see much from back here.”
“I didn't like it. It was four up. Young black males. Sound familiar?”
“Yup. How do you want to handle it?”
“We don't have much choice. They might have turned tail and run when they saw it was three to one. Let's proceed.”
“Roger that, Bravo out”
I made the left turn, waiting for the other two to get in line and then smoothly accelerating to thirty. We made it about three quarters of a mile, half way home, coming around a right hand turn we could see in the straight just after the turn the same vehicle was pulled across the road in front of us, engine to our right.
The driver was just finishing up and the four occupants were scrambling to get out the far side doors. The front seat passenger was having fun getting his three hundred pounds past the steering wheel.
“Recline your seat and put your arms to your sides!”
Lavell looked over at me about to question, but seeing me putting my seat back changed his mind.
As he got busy with that, I sped up, closing the distance quickly before they could get set up. I lined up the right frame rail of the Jeep with the rear tire of the Blazer.
Fifty feet from the vehicle I stomped the brakes bringing us down to fifteen, then jumped back on the gas. We hit the Blazer at about twenty five miles per hour and the rear end bounced away from us, the vehicle pivoting on the engine. I don't know if any of the gangbangers got out of the way because I had a canon shoot a fabric balloon at my face at a hundred and fifty mph.
It deflated almost instantly and when I could see again I found that we were about fifty yards past the hasty road block.
I stood on the brakes, wheels screaming, ABS juddering the pedal under my foot, and threw it in park before we had come to a complete stop. Right hand came off the gear shift and grabbed the M4, left hand snaked between my chest and the belt, stiff finger tips jabbing the release then going for the door latch.
I scrambled out the door to the ground, pushing the rifle in front of me, frantically looking for bad guys and trying not to cringe at the expected incoming rounds.
Lavell landed on top of me as he followed my escape route. No rounds came, and I got a little bolder, crawling to the rear bumper, while Lavell went to the front of Jeep. I pie'd the rear of the Jeep.
First thing I saw was the the Johnsons had stopped short, right in the kill zone of the broken ambush. They were blocking Bravo, who were getting out of the truck and getting into a support position. Continuing to angle around the rear of the jeep I saw the first body.
He wasn't a threat, the left rear wheel of the Blazer resting on his crushed chest. A little further and I saw another body, laying about ten feet from the Blazer, on his back, motionless, head at an awkward angle. The vehicle started rocking and I could see a mass of flesh flopping and flailing.
I guess Gigundo hadn't made it past the steering wheel before impact. That was three, where was the forth.A flurry of shots broke the rear window by my head. I threw myself back in reaction, scooting on my ass to get back behind the Jeep.
“He's in the bush just past the shoulder!”
Lavell had already figured that out and was putting rounds down. It was returned by another burst, this one way over our heads. I couldn't see, but imagined the gangbanger behind cover and sticking his gun up and firing blind. Lavell knew his business and kept him fixed. It didn't take long.
One rifle shot from a little further along the shoulder announced that Lyle had finished the fight.
“Clear front!”
“Moving!” I yelled
“Covering!” Lavell let me know he had my back.
Rifle butt tucked in shoulder I came back around the rear of the Jeep.
“Insurance!” I put a round into the guy on the pavement to make certain and then moved quickly to the driver's door.

Gygantor was hopeless pinned and weaponless. An AK pistol on the floor beneath him, out of reach of his stubby arms. I threw my rifle out of my way around back and drew my Glock, shoving it in the top of his head with my right hand as I reached with my left to grab the AK.
“Clear!”
Lyle was the first to reach me, followed close by Lavell, Juice was coming around the Blazer when I told him to go back and check on the Johnsons.
“Strip 'em, quick. I'll get the car.”
While Lavell and Lyle gathered weapons from the bad guys, I went through the rear of the Blazer. Moby started moving and I told him to sit still. He was thoroughly cowed. The back of the Blazer was a jumbled mess from the impact. Despite this I could see we'd hit the mother lode. Ammo cans and wooden crates of unknown ordinance filled the rear compartment.
I didn't bother seeing what it was, just started shifting it as fast as I could into the floor of the rear seat of the Jeep. There were also some other items that made me sick to my stomach.

“The Johnsons are OK, what can I do to help?”
“Figure out how we're going to get whaleboy out of the car.”Juice moved to the driver's door and started studying the situation. Lavell and Lyle saw where I was putting stuff and tossed their haul on top of it.
“Well, whataya figure?” I looked at Juice, whose head was tilted so his right ear was on his shoulder.
“Well, I was thinking we can take that tow strap and wrap it around his head and pull him out of there with the Jeep.”
That brought a bout of frenzied thrashing. “Nah man! You can't do that to me!”
“He's right, you can't do that to him.” this calmed him down. “you'd just pull his head off. I figure we use your truck and pull him out by the feet.”
“Hey man, be cool! You can't do this to me.” I ran to the Jeep and came right back and dangled the hot pink Dora the Explorer back pack in his face. “Who did this belong to and what did you do to her?”
Megalon got real quiet. Juice pulled me back and reached in and hit the seat controls, powering it back and reclining the seatback and then reaching under the steering wheel to tilt it up. He moved to the side, by the door, leaving me room to squeeze in and we each grabbed and arm and pulled.
And pulled.
We finally got him out and on the pavement, but not before dislocating his right shoulder. That was the one I was pulling. I guess I don't know my own strength.
He was too big for us to move, so we had him walk over to the and climb in on top of all the gear, laying on his back on top of it. Then we bound his arms and legs.
“What about the rest of them?”
I was looking at the damage to the Jeep from the impact. It was remarkably light. The right side head lamp was smashed and the corner of the bumper pushed in but that was it.
“Put them in the Blazer”
“What about the one underneath?”
“It should still run. Pull forward some.”
We manhandled the grizzly remains into the Blazer the best we could. Juice put the shifter in neutral and we got back in our vehicles.
I reversed the Jeep to get into position and then pulled forward, gently kissing it's rear bumper with my front one. Once contact was made I accelerated as far and as fast as I could, stopping before I went over the side of the road after the Blazer.
Putting it back in reverse I pulled along side the Johnson's mini-van and rolled down my window. Mr. Johnson rolled down his.
“You two OK?” They both looked a little sheepish, but the nodded. “Good. Now, when I say stay with me, I mean stay with me. Capiche?” I winked to take some of the sting out of my harsh words. They got my message.
Both of them.

 

Thank you for posting, I was just starting to have withdrawals.Truly enjoy and appreciate your work!

 

Yep, that be a road trip for sure…time to stop wasting resources like metal though…maybe render the fat toad down for lubricating grease for wheels and stuff….btw, great story!

 

Well, it ain't the "Unwelcome Sign", but my article looking at what Eastern Thought has to offer Western Gunfighting is in this quarter's "Deep Water" magazine.

Deep Water Magazine. Inside Martial Arts

You can download a low rez pdf for free, or purchase a print version. It's a beautiful magazine, nicely laid out, with thoughtful articles. Not your typical MA rag.

Starts on page 38

 

The rest of the trip with no more problems and pulled up to Jacob's house.
The 'quick reaction force' met us in the yard. We'd called them on the radio to let them know we were OK and heading home, but we'd saved the news about the fights, not wanting to worry then, nor wanting to take time. Besides, we didn't know who might be listening to the marine channels. There were hugs all around for those that knew the Johnsons or were greeting the returning group, introductions made for those who needed them. Mr. Johnson was looking at the front of his minivan and I followed his line of sight.
A small pool of bright green liquid was forming on the ground. Another fat drop joined the others. “Radiator leaking?” Mr. Johnson gave me the look you might bestow on an idiot child.
“Just a slow leak. I've been meaning to take care of it. I got a couple of those 'radiator stop leaks' but never put them in.”That caught my attention. “Radiator stop leak? You mean like the aluminum powder?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. Why?”I ignored his question in my excitement. “Please tell me you have it with you.”
“Well sure. It's in the back with the tool kit. Will you tell me why?”
“It might be a big help to stop another type of leak.” As I left him wondering what in the hell I was talking about, I was hoping and praying that the cold packs in our first aid kits were the right kind. A cold breeze blew in and made me shiver, despite the thickness of the body armor I was wearing. I looked up in the direction it had come from and saw the dark clouds scudding our way. Juice noticed it too. “Squall coming.”“Yup. We should get a tarp over the stuff in the back of your truck and get inside.”

Too many people jumped in to help and a simple job became complicated. I stepped back to give them room and watched while some struggled to tie simple knots while old hands like Juice secured his section of the tarp with practiced ease. The gust front hit just before we made the porch, drenching us with unbelievable rapidity. Dry towels met us inside and we dried off as best we could.
“I'm glad we took the time to put cover over the observation posts”
I handed my towel back to Sadie“I'm sure the people inside them are glad too. Can't say I'm sorry to see the rain though.”
“Me neither” a familiar voice made me turn my head and I saw Mr. Charles slowly walking out of the clinic room. “Our gardens can use a good soak.”
“You OK to up and about?” I did a poor job of keeping the worry out of my voice.
“The randy old goat's just fine” Fiona gave his bottom a smack that was supposed to be angry but the affection was obvious. “He needs to move around as much as he can. He can't work yet, but he needs to get his up out of that bed.”My flip-flopping opinion of Fiona flopped over to the positive side again. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, Sadie giving her an appraising look. Or maybe that should be re-appraising.“You up for a meeting?”
“Getting shot isn't enough, now you all are going to try to talk me to death? Well good luck with that!” Charles headed to the living room, Fiona in tow, where she made him comfortable in a padded arm chair, going so far as to get his feet propped up and a blanket wrapped around him.
The rest of us gathered round, finding places to sit as best we could. We were pretty well situated and about to start when the front door opened, admitting Lavell and Dupont. The later closed his umbrella and stood it by the door, while the former bent at the waist to facilitate removing his poncho. I stuck out my hand and they shook it in turn. “Still coming down pretty good?”“Yeah, it's coming in waves.”

“I checked both observation posts. Yours down here is fine, but the top one needs a bit of work. Water is collecting in the bottom. We needed it to rain to find the problem. We'll have it dealt with tomorrow.”“Thanks for checking on that Lavell. How are the people holding up?”“They're cold and bored, but they're motivated. This morning's attack made sure of that.”

I brought them in to the living room and started the meeting.
“Ok guys, I wanted to go over some things and get some input from all of you and give you a chance to bring up whatever you want.” I looked them all over and they were all interested, and I was getting good reads from the body language.“I think you can see the importance of the defensive work, both the structures and the training.”
That was met with nods all around. “It worked well today against a small, unprepared enemy.
We dealt with them without any casualties.”
“Other than them” Fiona threw out.
“Other than them.” I agreed unapologetically, not sure why she had made that point.
“We have more work to do on both of those, defensive structures and training. I've talked some with Lavell and Dupont about this and we have some ideas. I think another week's worth of work will have us in pretty good shape.”“May I say something?” Mr. Johnson looked at the others, then me, for permission. I nodded and he started. “First off, I want to thank you for coming to get us. Your sense of timing is impeccable.”“You know you're welcome, we were glad to do it. And we're glad to have you here, safe.”“I know I just got here and don't know much of what's going on, but it seems to me that you're working like a fire-team leader, when you need to be acting like a field grade colonel.”
I raised an eyebrow in question, and he continued. “You're thinking small and reactive. You are thinking in terms of a squad or a platoon, when, from what I can see, you have more like a company strength depending on your leadership.”
I was thinking about how much he had observed and analyzed in the very short time he'd been here. He continued, interrupting my thoughts.“You need to get ahead of the curve here and start thinking bigger.”
Sadie was having none of it. “I love you dearly, but you're right, you haven't been here. Zed's been working his butt off trying to save the whole community! And that, I might add, includes you and your store!”
“Whoa, Sadie, I meant no disrepect, just making an observation.”
“Easy Sweetie. He's right, although I was hoping to talk to him in private about it.”I shot Mr. Johnson a look and he bowed his head and raised his hands in surrender.“My appologies, I guess I jumped the gun.”“That's fine, no harm done. What you said is true. Sadie and I miscalculated pretty badly when we were planning and now we're playing catch up.”
“You were planning for this?” Fiona interjected. “You're looking at me like my name is Bert Gummer. We DO live in hurricane alley and a very active fault zone. Just a matter of time before something happened. Living through a couple of major hurricanes, and being without power for three months, and seeing how people acted with no law enforcement, Sadie decided we would do what we could to prepare.”
Fiona's expression changed and she nodded more to herself, than to me. I looked around at everyone.
“But, unfortunately, Mr. Johnson is right. Because I miscalculated,”
“How exactly did you miscalculate?” Fiona interupting again. She seemed genuinely interested.

“Sadie and I planned for just ourselves. We didn't think we would be working with the whole neighborhood.”
Sadie nodded in agreement. “We would have done some things differently. Stored more of some items.”
“And I would have put more thought into the dynamics of situation.”“Like how to deal with people like Carol?” One guess where that comment came from. “Yes ma'am, that got out of hand and obviously could have been handled better.”“I agree, you could have handled it better, but in the end, she did bring it on herself.”Sadie and I both shot Fiona surprised looks. “Well, um, yeah..so I'd like to talk with all of you about what we need to do to get ahead. Lavell, Dupont, I'm going to go over the defensive aspects with you and put you two on that. I'm thinking putting the defensive works in your hands Dupont and have Lavell take over the training. You two good with that?”

“We've been talking and have some ideas we want to go over with you.”
“Cool. Can it wait til first thing in the morning?”“
Sure.”
“Wil, Daniels, how's our eye in the sky project going? It worked pretty well for us this morning”
“Well, we can do the patrols like we did this morning, a few times a day, if you think it makes sense.”
“Why wouldn't it?”
“Well, we're only watching a few minutes out of the whole day. We can easily miss stuff.”
“Is it hurting the equipment?”“No, not really, as long as we don't crash. The batteries have a lifespan, but I don't think we need to worry about that.”“Ok, I get what you're saying about missing stuff and will address that in a minute, but I think the practice is good. I'd like you to train up a couple of other operators and this is a good opportunity for that. I'd also like you to figure out how to use it tactically.”

“For information, or as a weapon?”
“I hadn't really thought of it as a weapon. Information right now, keeping command informed on enemy placement and movement. Give me a report on weaponizing the hexicopter when you figure out how to do that. But its intel value is off more importance to me.”
Mr. Johnson said we are 'reactive' and he's right. Because we don't know what's going on. We haven't had a chance to debrief Juice and Lyle, and they may have some useful information for us. I also want to go talk to the Frenchies soon to see what they know.”
“Yeah de mon, deh Frenchi dem ah hook up t'deh coconut telegraph, check?”
Lyle swatted Juice. “Boi! Meeno why I duz puh up wid dis melee'”

“If you two clowns are done...”“
He started it, making fun of my culture and heritage!” Lyle tried to look put out, but no one was buying it. When he saw that, he tried harder, which, with nothing more being said, led to twitching mouth corners, dissolving into smiles and Lyle putting more effort at appearing aggrieved, soon everyone was holding their sides, aching with laughter.
The size of the reaction was more a result of tired, anxious people on the edge, needing a release, than the actual humor of the moment.
I let it go, realizing we needed it. “Ok, so I'd like to go visit the Frenchies tomorrow. We need to figure out who's going to go, and if we drive or walk. Thoughts?”
We hashed out the details for what would turn out to be our first foot patrol. It would take us longer to get there and back, and we wouldn't be able to carry as much, but we needed to start being careful of gas, and there were a couple of advantages to being on foot. It was only about three or four miles away, and walking would allow us to see more of what was going on, maybe talk to people along the way, and because we were going slowly, we might be able to see or hear trouble ahead of time.
Lyle, Juice, Leslie, Jacob, Sadie and I made up the patrol members. Fiona surprised us, yet again, by volunteering to go. That out of the way, talk turned to food. Sadie gave us a report on the crops. The potatoes had all been harvested, most of it stored, but a goodly portion distributed amongst those that had helped in the garden. The Three Sisters program was in progress and seemed to be Ok.
There had been a little bit of predation, and several ideas on how to deal with that were thrown out and discussed. Sadie assured Mr. Charles that his garden was in good shape and Dr. Shoemacher told him that if he was careful, and someone drove him, he could go visit it tomorrow for a short while.
“Has anyone seen or talked to Johns?” I looked around, but no one had an answer. “I'm curious as to how he's decided to handle all the food.”
“One of us should go talk to him about it. Would you like me to go?”
I thought about it a moment. “Have you even met him yet, Denise?”
“No. Do you think that matters?”“I've met him a few times, at homeowners' meetings and at the restaurants.” Sandy said. “We could go together.”
“That makes sense. I think you and Denise would make a fine delegation. Ok, good. Now, what else am I missing? What else do you want to go over?”
“I don't know about you, but I'm dying to hear what Juice and Lyle can tell us about what's going on.” Stan leaned forward in his chair, his eager body language mirroring his words. We all looked back and forth between them, waiting to see who would go first. Of course the clowns weren't done yet and played the suspense as far as they could. Lyle relented first.
“I knew it was bad when the zone commander told us to take what we wanted from the armory and to go home and not bother showing up for work.”

 

Chemestry 101…it's coming, light the fuse!

 

Thank you Zen. I was having withdrawals.