Surviving Read online

  Surviving

  Post-Apocalyptic America

  Book I

  The Adventures of John Harris

  A J Newman

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  Copyright © 2013 Anthony J Newman. All rights reserved.

  ISBN 0991233409

  This book is a work of fiction. All events, names, characters and places are the product of the author’s imagination or are used as a fictitious event. The above means that the author made the whole thing up by himself and it is pure imagination.

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  This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife of over thirty years.

  Special thanks to Wes Newman and Kate Dennis for proof reading my work. This is my first attempt at writing a novel and perhaps it won’t be a historically significant read, but my aim was to entertain and get a few points across to the reader. If you like this book you will love the next three in the series, please recommend them to your friends.

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  Books by A. J. Newman

  “The Adventures of John Harris” a post-apocalyptic America series:

  Surviving

  Hell in the Homeland

  Tyranny in the Homeland

  Revenge in the Homeland

  “Grumpy Sam and Sammy” - A murder mystery series:

  Where the Girls are Buried.

  Who killed the Girls?

  These books are available at Amazon:

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HT84V6U

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  “The Adventures of John Harris”

  By

  A J Newman

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  Prologue

  America is in a losing war with drug gangs, the flood of illegal immigrants in to our country and Islamic Terrorists such as ISIS across the world. The terrorists probably have numerous sleeper cells already established in our cities. Two nuclear EMP blasts would send us back to post-apocalyptic dark ages. We are also in decline thanks to the poor stewardship of our elected officials for the past 25 years. My story just takes what our enemies and our government are currently doing to destroy the USA and expands on these misdeeds. The bottom line is we end up with a disaster that is called many different names, some of them are TEOTWAWKI, TSHTF, SHTF, Collapse, End of days, and Armageddon, but the bottom line is that unless you are a prepper and have prepared, your world ends.

  Surviving is the first novel in a series of novels that tell how John Harris leads a group of survivors through the chaos of a country that has fallen apart. Rogue US Government officials and a coalition of Third World Leaders have launched a major nuclear and EMP attack on all of the major powers and killed over 200 million Americans. The EMP blasts have shut the grid down and the lights are out. Food and water are in short supply. Survival is in doubt. There is no electricity and all cars and trucks manufactured for the past 40 years won’t run due to the EMP blasts. The USA is in chaos with criminals and thugs attacking innocent citizens. John and his Team are the countries best bet for survival. They fight the gangs, drug lords and the corrupt Department of Homeland Security to bring stability and safety back to America.

  I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them.

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  Chapter 1

  John Harris

  Mobile, Alabama

  May 20, 2020

  “Good Morning LA. I love the U…S…A”, the host told his morning audience. “How are all of my Prepper Buddies doing this fine day in Lower Alabama?"

  He then added, “The President can kiss my redneck ass. Those bastards got their asses kicked in the midterm elections and they are trying to make your lives miserable! Yeah! I’m John Harris and I hope to have some fun today discussing how to start a fire without matches, lighters or other modern methods. Then we will move on to how to cook a rabbit on an open fire. We will begin with a bow and stick and end with flint and steel.”

  He then introduced his son, Scott, and said, “Scott, tell you how to make and use the bow and drill to make a fire.”

  “How to Survive,” was alone hour program on a local Mobile station that had been in production for three years. It was in syndication and played on 34 other radio stations, mainly in rural western and southern areas. It was very popular with the outdoors group and the “End of the World Preppers.” He just had to speak from the heart about things that he had learned in the Army and a life in the woods and swamps around the Mobile delta. He had a great sense of humor and connected with his guests and loyal audience.

  He had built a small studio in the back of his business so he could start his mornings close to his work. Nothing real fancy, but he would start every morning at 7:00 am with his live show and fill the hour with a combination of survival information and redneck wisdom with a major dash of humor.

  John got his start as the author of several “Prepper Books” dealing with everything from how to survive in the woods to what food to stockpile for TEOTWAWKI. His works so far are:

  Surviving in the Woods

  Surviving in the Big City

  Surviving - Food

  Surviving - Prepping

  Surviving Big Government

  Surviving After Using Your Concealed Carry Weapon

  Surviving our Socialist Government.

  These books gave him the idea that he could actually write a series of novels about how terrorists had plotted against the USA and were trying to take over the entire world. He wrote under the name “Mac Norman” because he really doubted his ability to write and was worried about the response to his thoughts on society. He was currently writing his fourth book in a six book series, he hoped. The books were selling very well on Amazon, but not quite as well in print. However, they were making him a pile of money that had come in very handy.

  While John was very proud of his work, he was concerned that some of his audiences were some wacky SOBs. What bothered him more was that some of his fiction readers thought that he was just as wacky as they were because of his fiction about overthrowing the government! That was the best reason for Mac Norman to exist. Only his close friends knew who Mac really was. He always reminded himself that this shit was just fiction and a way to make some money. While his day job earned him quite a bit of money, his “ex” got half of that for eight more years. His writing and radio show were paying for his toys and paid off most of his bills. Hell, he might be able to retire before he turned 90.

  “Harris Body Shops” was the name of John’s auto body and custom paint business. His father, John senior, had started it back in the ’70’s with just the one shop in Mobile, but never had much ambition to expand beyond one shop. John took over the business when his Dad, retired at 65 years old. John senior went by “Buddy.” Buddy and Becky, John’s Mom, moved to Florida and were staying busy at a large retirement village. John was an only child, so there was no fight to see who took charge or any of that kind of nonsense. John did have to fire the shop foreman because he tried to boss John around and that’s something that didn’t sit well with John.

  John’s best friend, Gus McCoy, managed the Mobile shop and JoAnne Henderson was the Office Manager. Gus and John had met in the service and had instantly bonded. John trusted him with his life and would give his life to protect Gus. JoAnne had worked for John’s Dad and they had become quite close over the years. John had heard rumors that JoAnne and his Dad had had a long running affair, but had never seen anything out of the way. However, the week after his Dad retired, JoAnne slipped up behind him after close of business and started massaging his neck and rubbing her rather large breasts on his back. He gracefully got out of that situation and let her know that he was all business.

  John was 46 years old, 5’11" and 210 lbs. He had graying hair and not too ugly. John was in great shape; he had been to the health club for the last two years lift
ing weights and running five miles a day. This kept his mind off his personal life when not at work. He played a lot of golf, hunted and fished a lot more since Ann left him.

  Ann divorced him because she said it was time to move on. They had been high school sweethearts and were madly in love until John became successful and she could afford the damn country clubs and high priced shit. She spent her day taking golf and tennis lessons and John spent too much time at work and with the guys to suit her. John had grease under his nails and she was eating snails and drinking champagne. She left over two years ago and John was just getting over her. There had been no woman in his life since she left. He still had contact with her since she still helped him with the “love scenes” and romantic crap in his books; he never had been too good at that stuff.

  John and Anne only had one child, Scott, who was very close to both of his parents, but had a very tight bond with John. They shared the same passion for the outdoors, guns and prepping. Scott lived with John and worked at the shop.

  Scott and Gus tried to fix him up with friends, but he just wasn't ready. A couple of blind dates to keep them off his back had ended in disaster. John was not a lady’s man like Steve; he just didn't have the confidence or the line of bullshit. Those ladies left thinking he was gay or just plain did not like women.

  He had been in the Army Special Forces for two tours and then worked for the CIA for a couple of years, made enough money to help his Father’s business and quit. He owned four auto body shops and was slowly adding one every year or so. He had them in Jackson, MS, Montgomery and Muscle Shoals, AL and the home shop in Mobile. He was hoping to expand the business to Tennessee in the near future.

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  Chapter 2

  The Team

  Mobile, Alabama

  May 15, 2020

  Steve royally screwed up several trips with numerous calls from his business and his women. He said that he just could not live without his cell phone. He got calls from seven different women in one day during the last trip. The calls were a real nuisance, like fingernails on a damn chalkboard. If AIDS didn’t get him, one of them would for a damn phone call just as you sighted in a 12 pointer. They all cared a lot about Steve, but his little head always did the thinking for him when it came to women. Steve was a loveable character who could charm the pants off a nun. This always got him into trouble because he did not know when to stop; the newest lady and the current one were always either pulling each other’s hair or trying to kill Steve. He had been married three times and had had many ladies before, during and after all of his failed marriages.

  Steve Jones was an attractive 46-year-old “black” guy that stood 5’ 9’’ and weighed 175. He had jet-black hair, a broken nose that gave him character and a snake tattoo on his right forearm. The ladies loved the rascal’s southern charm. They clung to him in droves, he had told many stories about threesomes around the campfire.

  Steve was a Black man; he was not an African American. When hearing the term, “African American,” he replied that he was 100% American. He thought that if you stayed off drugs and worked hard you could do anything you wanted in the USA. While he was not a Republican, he was by no means a Liberal.

  He managed a speed shop that specialized in building hot rods for rich doctors and lawyers. He had built several ’32 high boys and hopped up numerous Mustangs and Corvettes for Mobile’s elite. “Toys for Bad Boys," was the name of his shop. John used him to build engines. He drove a V10 Dodge Ram that had a Viper motor and enough chrome under the hood to see one’s self in. Of course, he picked up the ladies in his red Viper. His business made a great profit, but the cars, ex-wives and girl chasing took all his money. He was broke on a good day.

  Gus looked like a monkey making love to a football on the last trip, trying to watch the tiny assed screen of an iPhone, strapped to his damn wrist while trying to fish. Try to imagine a grown man standing in the middle of a stream casting a fly rod while attempting to watch a baseball game on a wrist mounted iPhone. He fell twice that day, broke his rod and lost the damn phone. They all told him not to make bets on games during the yearly outing. He never listened. Gus never lost a lot of money, but bet almost every day on some type of sporting event. It was as close to an addiction as possible. He would be on his cell phone at night betting on the next day’s games.

  Gus McCoy was born old. While he was only 49, he had always been the one to keep a cool head and them out of trouble over the years. He had been in the Special Forces, one tough fellow who could break a man in half if pushed, but would not hurt a flea. He had served in Iraq (the second one) and had won the Medal of Honor for holding off over a hundred enemy insurgents single-handed while his wounded friends were picked up by a chopper. He took three rounds in his arm and legs, but fought on until all could be extracted. He must have looked like John Wayne holding that SAW and mowing down jihadists as fast as they charged his position.

  Gus was 6’ 1” and 225 lbs. of pure muscle and short-cropped gray hair. Around the shop, he was called the “Grouch.” He liked to debate on almost any topic, but loved politics and hated Liberals and Democrats. Scott would wind him up tighter than a tick by talking about the “Socialist” grand liberal ideas or government policy turned sour. It was good-natured, but you could always see Gus’ ears turn red when Scott got to him and Scott always got to him.

  He and Robin have been married for 24 years; they have three daughters and five grandkids. Robin was the love of his life and she could never understand Steve’s womanizing or John’s divorce. He is a devoted father and grandfather. His girls were not outdoors types and the grandkids ranged from three to ten years old or he would be trying to take the three boys on the trip. He was trying to raise them “right” as he put it; they would be true outdoors people. John hoped that Gus was right, but their dads were real wusses and roughing it was beer instead of cocktails.

  John had known Gus for over 10 years; he is John’s best friend and he loved him like a brother. He manages John’s Mobile body shop and is the best in the business. John and Gus met in a bar in Italy while on R&R; they both were working on a black ops mission in the Middle East. A friend had said the wrong thing to the wrong guy and the fight just broke out when Gus stepped in and ended it. He quickly kicked, punched and tossed all five of the bad guys out on their asses. John bought him a drink and they were friends ever since.

  Scott’s talking drives the rest of them to distraction. It really isn’t talking; it is his damn singing along with the music coming from an IPOD. No country, no western, no Carrie or Miranda, not even good old rock and roll. Just heavy metal, yelling and screaming! What a pile of crap! They finally got him to use headphones on the last trip so that they would not hear the god-awful crap, but then he just started singing louder along with the music.

  This is Scott’s good side; he goes downhill from there. He’s going to school to become a politician. Yes, a degree in political science and then a Masters. They all told him, “Damn, boy get a real job fixing things with your hands, building engines, repairing cars like a real man. Get your hands dirty kind of stuff.” John had said many times, “What a waste of time, a damn politician.” He took after his mom, not John; John always made his living with sweat and hard work.

  Scott got a late start on college because he joined the Army when he turned 18. He said he did it to find himself and that it had not hurt him any. He was right, the Army made a man out of him. He grew up and started taking life much more seriously, except for his taste in music.

  He was in an Armored Cav unit stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. He had a ball operating the Bradley Fighting Vehicles and playing war games. He learned a great deal about small arms and reconnaissance during his short stay in the military.

  When he got back to Mobile, after his hitch in the Army, his best friend Jim introduced him to Joan, who was a friend of Jim’s girlfriend. Joan was a cute little black haired beauty who was quiet and very low key. She was 5’4” and only weigh
ed about 110 lbs. soaking wet. They looked like Mutt and Jeff together, but they made a great pair. What they say about opposites being attracted to each other must be true. They were getting serious and probably would get married after he graduated.

  Scott Harris was a good-looking boy of 26 years. He stood 6’0”, weighed 190 pounds and had brown hair and blue eyes. He had real promise too; he had built his own car from scratch. It was a ’65 Mustang and he still has it and drives it every day. Damn, a 15 year old who could build his own car that was damn impressive. Too bad, he wanted to be a damn politician! Yeah, Gus and John taught him and kept him after it when he got tired or disgusted. They were very proud of him and had plans for him to manage one of John’s shops, but no, he wants to be a damned politician. Gus and John are still proud of him and now after the Trip they respect him as a man.

  Jim is a real pain in the ass and is Scott’s best friend. He works at John’s original Mobile shop prepping cars for painting; he’s quite good at it actually. Jim Payne is the worst pain in the ass of all the guys; he snores like a foghorn. No one can sleep. The asshole can be heard for miles. They damn near broke his ribs on the last trip trying to wake him up. Fish jump out of the water when he cuts lose, paint flies off the walls. He’s awful loud. Gus shoved a sock in his mouth and nearly got killed on the last trip. Jim jumped up and nearly beat the crap out of Gus and John before they were able to wake him up. No one would have thought the kid was that strong, Gus is one mean assed bastard and John is no slouch. It turned out Jim was a Black belt and one mean mother when he gets riled up. Hell, they knew that he played around with all that Jap slapping stuff, but he got a hell of a lot better at it than they had ever thought.