The Day America Died Trilogy Read online

  “I remember the scared part. Let’s take a look around.”

  We tracked our steps as we walked to the far end. One hundred and twenty-five paces should be about 400 feet. We performed the same maneuver walking from side to side and arrived at 34 paces for about 100 feet. This would be one big bug out place. We explored the enormous room for over an hour and found it empty except for bones of animals and several animal nests. The raccoons had taken over the place.

  Mike had a good idea and said, “Let’s go back out and look around the area to see if there is anyone nearby.”

  We walked around the place in ever widening circles for two hours and saw no evidence of any other people. We found the missing slab of concrete about 200 feet down the side of the hill. It must have fallen over 20 years ago because it took down every tree in its path when it slid down the hill, and there was already 10 inch thick trees growing back in the path.

  “Let’s take the truck, drive around and see who the closest neighbor is.”

  The first place that we recognized was the old Sim’s place, which had been abandoned for 10 years. There was no one living within five miles of our new bug out place.

  “I say this is exactly what we were looking for. We need to figure out how to move a mountain of supplies in without leaving a trail that can be followed.”

  Mike replied, “We also have to decide who is going to know about the place and can help get it ready. I say we haul a couple of campers up here to save time building a shack in the cave.”

  “I think that is a great idea. Let’s move as much as possible in a short time and vary our drive in to keep from beating down the weeds and brush. The Humvee has a hitch. Let’s load down one of the older campers I stored over at Sam’s old place and take as much as we can in one trip.”

  “Great idea, we’ll find, load down three of the campers over the next week and only make three trips to get most of our supplies and gear over here to our new hideout.”

  “I say we bring Sally and Joan out here on the first trip and ask their opinion about the others. I’ll pull a trailer with the truck, and you take the Humvee and another trailer. They can help us load the supplies. We can take some of the canned goods and dry goods from that last find that we hid away.”

  “I agree, let’s catch them this afternoon after dinner."

  I caught Callie later that day and asked her opinions on several topics, “What do you think about Grant?”

  “He is a piece of crap and a troublemaker. Carrie tells me about how he is always undercutting what we are trying to do, and he is lazy. Paul and I had a discussion, and he agrees that Grant has to go. I was going to tell you about this after dinner this evening.”

  “What about Mary?”

  “Dad, she thinks the sun shines around Grant. Carrie hates living with them and asked if she could move in with us. I know that Mary is a good person, but she is on Grant’s team, not ours.”

  “Now the hard question, what do you think about Paul?”

  “I really like him, and he is my boyfriend. You already knew that didn’t you?”

  “I assumed as much. Are y’all….?

  Callie interrupted me with, “Dad, we are not having sex, well not yet anyway. Paul and I are interested in the same things, and we care for each other a lot.”

  “That's not what I was going to say, but I like your answer.”

  “What do you think about his mom? Can she be trusted?”

  “Yes, she is a very sweet person and becoming a much stronger person. I trust her and Paul.”

  “You are sixteen years old and not so long ago you would have been married, had a bunch of kids and been plowing fields with your husband. Are you grown up enough to be treated like an adult and keep what I tell you in confidence?”

  “I hope you already know the answer to that question. I would do anything to protect you, Mom and our friends.”

  “I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from your lips.”

  “Is Paul mature enough to be trusted and handle a man’s job?”

  “No question in my mind that he can handle everything you throw at him. Have you noticed that he’s not the skinny beanpole like he was several months ago? He has worked his ass off around the farm and put on twenty pounds of muscles. I like the muscles.”

  “Darling, this is touchy, but I think we need to have that sex talk again.”

  “What do you want to know? If it’s not too embarrassing asking your daughter for sex advice, I’ll start with always wear protection until you are in a committed relationship.”

  I broke in and said, “Smart ass. I trust your judgment. Just don’t do anything that can’t be undone.”

  “Is that your way of saying don’t get knocked up.”

  “Damn right it is. I don’t want to have to beat the tar out of Paul.”

  “I don’t know Dad; he’s getting awful strong.”

  I gave her a hug and said, “Well, I feel better.”

  “Me too.”

  ***

  We took Joan and Sally for a ride the next morning to check out a small warehouse complex about 15 miles from the farm out Highway 60 East. Along the way, Joan kept noticing travel trailers sitting in people’s yards or for sale in car lots.

  “Zack, those trailers could come in handy for visitors to the farm.”

  “Yes, they could.”

  What I was really thinking was that they would fit right into our hideout.

  The warehouses were tucked back in the back corner of an industrial complex that had light manufacturing and a few warehouses. The complex was off on a side road and couldn’t be seen from Highway 60. We cautiously drove into the complex keeping vigilant for snipers and trouble in general. We searched each building starting with the ones at the front of the complex. We found several items that would come in handy around the farm, but no food, weapons or ammunition. We entered the next to last building and were disappointed to see that the racks were full of books, CDs, and DVDs.

  “Hey gang, we need to search these books for survival books. You know the type that has what wild plants you can eat field medicine and army books on how to blow things up. Stuff like that. I’m going to bring Callie and Paul over to search through them.”

  Sally replied, “Great idea, we may have food now; but next year is a crap shoot.”

  I waved at everyone to move on to the next building when Joan said that she wanted to go to the back of the building. She saw some light glancing off something shiny.

  “Okay, I’ll watch your back while you see what’s gleaming back there. Let’s don’t take too long. Mike and I have a surprise for you two ladies.”

  We walked on back into the darkness and heard what sounded to be puppies whining and yipping. I turned my flashlight on and saw about twenty eyes looking back at me. There was no growling, but we both drew and raised our handguns.

  “Look, Zack, there is a pack of dogs living in here. They are friendly and well nourished. Oh, shit. Look over there.”

  There was pallet after pallet of dog food, cat food and all types of pet food. The dogs had torn into several bags and were feasting on the spilled food. I walked on further back and hit the jackpot. There were ten long rows of racks that contained people food. There was cereal, can goods, candy, flour, salt, sugar, and rice. I called for Mike and Sally to join us.

  “Zack, this makes it much easier to stock our new place.”

  Joan added, “I can’t wait until we can tell the others. We need to get a bunch of trucks down here today and take this to the farm.”

  “No, we are going to take a small part of it to a hidden location before we tell the others. Joan and Sally, this is not what we really took you out to find. This is pure dumb luck we found what we needed. We were going to take you to our hidden fallback location. We needed you to help us stock it and make it livable just in case the farm is overrun.”

  “You don’t want to share the food?”

  “Yes, but after we have stuck some a
way for an emergency. You two can’t ever tell anyone about our hiding place. We will bring some others into the plan later, but not now.”

  Sally replied, “I think it’s a great idea. Anyway, we found the food and most people these days would keep it all to themselves. You say we just take a small part and share the rest. I’m okay with that.”

  Joan thought for a minute and agreed.

  "Mike, I want to use those travel trailers we saw along the way here to haul the food to the hideout and then to live in if we have to. Joan and I will go back up the highway and bring back the most travel-worthy trailer that we can find. You two start selecting the items that we want to fill the trailer."

  We stopped and looked at several trailers before we found a two-year-old 30-foot camper that looked ready to hit the road. The tires were inflated; the trailer looked dusty but brand new. I quickly hitched it up while Joan kept guard. We were quickly on our way back to the warehouse and arrived in about 15 minutes. I backed the trailer down the aisle with Joan guiding me with the aid of my flashlight. There was a big pile of can goods and other food items ready to be loaded. Mike had used a manual pallet jack to move whole pallets to the end of the aisle where they could be loaded. There also was a pallet made up of toilet paper, soap and feminine hygiene products and another of medical supplies.

  Joan said, “Oh my, Sally, I love you. Where did you find all of this?"

  “At the back of the last row. I threw in some perfume also. The girls back at the farm will be happy when we are able to take some back there. Those Sears catalogs were way too rough for me.”

  I laughed and replied, “Ladies, everyone knows that phone books have much softer paper. Hey look, the medical supplies have everything you need for first aid, there’s even some of the quick clotting powder, WoundSeal.”

  Sally replied, “There is a whole row of everything from first aid kits, bottles of rubbing alcohol to aspirin.”

  We stuffed the trailer with as much as it would safely carry, closed the doors and traveled to the underground water storage tank. Even though I had to weave around some small trees, I was able to drive the Humvee right into the large opening and took the trailer to the back of the cavern.

  “Ladies, let’s unhook the trailer and make at least two more runs today before we head back to the farm. I want to move about a hundred pallets of the food here before we start taking food back to the farm. By my quick count, that still leaves approximately 1300 pallets of food. We can share with Owensville and perhaps keep the Mayor off our backs for a while. That warehouse will be over 100 degrees by summer, so let’s make sure we bring anything that will ruin in the heat. This underground tank will stay in the low 60’s if we block the opening. I’d bring any medical supplies that will ruin in the heat first. We can share them later as needed."

  Sally replied, “Boys, we are going to be traveling on this road a lot to get this food out of here. Someone will notice the traffic and get nosey. Then we’ll have to fight for our own food. What if we call Ally on the radio and tell her to get Lynn, Callie, and Paul to bring two trucks and to meet us on 60 where the other trailers are? Two of us can take the next load on to the hideout while the others wait for the rest of our team. Let’s move as much as we can now.”

  “Damn, you’re right. You and Mike take the next load and Joan, and I will be at that car lot with the blue Northwood camper. You’ll have to call them when you cross over to Highway 54 because the radio won’t reach them from here. Just tell them we need them and the trucks. Nothing else.”

  They dropped us off at the car lot on their way, and Joan and I had an awkward 45 minutes of time to fill.

  Joan caught my attention and said, “Zack, Callie, and Paul are getting too close to suit me. What do you think?”

  “I like Paul, and I think they will be good for each other. Paul is a great boy and a hard worker. Callie has more organization and drive. They will make a great team and will deliver some beautiful grandkids.”

  “I know you said that just to piss me off; I hate you.”

  “Then it will be easy for you to move on and date Chuck.”

  She ranted and raved for the rest of the time until they arrived. I ignored her, and that really pissed her off.

  The others showed up in a little over an hour, and I greeted them, “We’ll explain in a short while. Just help us hook up the trailers.”

  “Well, hi to you too.”

  “Hurry, we don’t have much time left.”

  We hitched up the trailers, took them to the warehouse and backed them into the racks by the food. They were in awe of the row after row of food. Callie immediately wanted a puppy, and I told her she could have her pick after we got the food to a safe location.

  Lynn heard me and asked, “Aren’t we taking the food to the farm?”

  “Most of it will go to the farm, but we are taking about a tenth of it to our fallback location. Mike and I have found a place for us to retreat to if the farm ever gets too dangerous to live there. We went looking for food today to stock it and hit the jackpot. We are afraid that someone will notice us coming and going and try to take it away. That’s why we are in a hurry and why we will leave guards here at the warehouse while we take these loads and three more. The place isn’t far, and we can stock our place and get ready to take more to the farm and distribute the rest to our friends."

  We loaded the two trailers and had them on their way in just over half an hour. Everyone was exhausted, but I told them to rest on the way to the fallback position. I stayed with Ally and Paul to guard the warehouse. I wanted to see how Paul reacted around me after I told him that I knew about him and Callie.

  Paul broke the ice by saying, “Mr. Johnson, I know Callie told you that we are dating. Do you have any concerns?”

  “Son, I have a million concerns, but not about you two. Both of you are smart, hardworking and good people. Just don’t tell her anything that you don’t mean.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Paul, I’ve taken you under my wing, so to speak and have tried to teach you some skills that should come in handy. I want to continue the mentoring process.”

  “I’d really like that Mr. Johnson.”

  “Let’s start with you calling me Zack. You are a man now, and I will treat you like one as long as you act like one.”

  "Thanks, Zack, I’m not sure that Joan likes me.”

  “First, you’d better call her Mrs. Johnson until she says otherwise if you want to stay on her good side. She won’t like any boy who is dating Callie until she gets to know him. Take it slow in front of her and be yourself. She’ll warm up to you.”

  Paul went into the warehouse to find the puppies, which left me alone with his mom.

  Ally couldn’t hold it in any longer and laughed, “I’m sorry, but you are afraid of Joan, aren’t you?”

  “No, but you know all too well that a pissed off mother-in-law is not going to be a good start for the boy. He should be afraid of her until I get her used to the idea that Callie is growing up.”

  We delivered the next three loads to the hideout, and Mike stopped the team a couple of times to borrow some cargo trailers. Then we started working on loading some cargo trailers to take to the farm. We used the radios to let our other farmers know about our find and soon there were 14 trailers being loaded. We worked on loading and unloading trailers into the wee morning. I asked Ally to take a short drive into Owensville with me and radioed ahead for Bert to meet me at the roadblock on Highway 60 East.

  “Bert, we found a lot of food and want to share it with you. What you do with it is up to you. We have already taken enough to make sure that your families are taken care of and stockpiled enough to take care of all of your deputies and their families until our crops come in. I figure the rest should go to Owensville.”

  “Thanks, we have plenty of grain thanks to your idea about checking the railcars and trucks but are running out of other food. Something stinks in Owensville. My men are hearing rumors that the Ma
yor is getting food from Anderson and keeping it for her friends. If this gets out, there will be riots.”

  “Bert, I take back what I said about giving you the food.”

  “What?”

  “Let us farmers hand out the food directly to the citizens.”

  “Great, I don’t want the Mayor to get her grubby hands on the food.”

  ***

  "Callie, I want you Paul, Carrie, and Susie to search through the books to find any survival books, medical books and anything that you think will be useful for our survival. Then look for how to fix stuff books and then finally books to educate our children. Assume that there won’t be another book published in the next 25 years."

  “Dad, do you really think it will take that long to get the country back on its feet?”

  “I don’t have an answer, so I’m assuming worst case. I want to always be positive and hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We will use the books to develop experts who can train others. Guns are powerful, but knowledge is the most powerful thing a person can have.”

  “Dad, I’m bringing two of the puppies with us. They are Labs and will make good guard dogs.”

  “Well they might be good hunting dogs, and I guess they will bark if a stranger comes along. Make sure that you have most of the dog and cat food brought to the farm.”

  “Okay.”

  They sorted books for five days and found a treasure of books on everything from what wild plants to eat to how to an Army field manual on how to make deadly improvised weapons and medical books. Callie also brought 50 boxes of CDs and DVDs with movies and how to films.

  “Dad, we found Peterson’s - Edible Wild Plants, Alton’s - The Ultimate Survival Guide and Canterbury’s - Bush Craft 101. There are many more books on survival, weapons and food preparation.”

  “Great start for our library, but what are you going to do with the DVDs?”