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  The land was shaped like an upside down teardrop with the narrow end only 550 yards wide. Bob sent an armed convoy with trucks towing bulldozers and a backhoe down through Carthage to the new land they now called the Little Horseshoe to construct a steel wall similar to the one at the Horseshow. The convoy was shot at a couple of times in the city of Carthage, but no one was wounded, and they killed two thugs.

  The good news was that the owners had already planted their crops. The sad news was that the people attacking the Horseshoe killed them for their supplies and food without even thinking about growing crops. There were 18 empty homes in the Little Horseshoe that only needed the trash removed and a good cleaning to be homes for Bob’s expanding community. Tony Fulkerson, Ned, and several other families moved over to occupy and farm the land.

  Bob had sent several teams out to see if they could find any more pockets of good people banded together to survive among the outlaws and gangs. They brought back a mixed bag of information.

  Many of the gangs had killed each other off in turf wars, but the ones that survived were getting stronger and had to find a steady source of food to survive.This meant small farming communities like theirs were the gang’s main target. There were also groups led by dictators like Senator O’Berg who ruled with an iron fist but kept their people fed, so the folks tolerated the tyranny for the protection supplied.

  There were three more groups that were refreshing islands of good hardworking people in this sea of filth, violence, and starvation. All had the same qualities that made them successful. All had a strong leader who guided his or her community of hardworking people who quickly plowed the ground and planted crops. Bob visited all three and took a few people from the community with him to exchange ideas on survival.

  “Maddie, I want you and Will to join me on a trip to a small community called Pleasant Shade that is northeast of here and is about 12 miles away. Maddie, I want you to work with them to set up a barter and trade program. Remember we have doctors, mechanics, and teachers so we can trade skills as well as goods and rent construction equipment.”

  “I’d be honored to represent the community.”

  “Will, I need both of you to be on the lookout for any type of danger. Not just the obvious thugs. Look for anything that doesn’t pass the smell test.”

  “Like people asking the wrong questions or people afraid to talk in front of their leaders?”

  “You got my drift. Jane and Jo will spread out and talk with as many people as possible. I don’t want to bring the fox into the hen house. Always keep your arms ready and stay alert. Danger can be around every corner.”

  They drove over in Bob’s new old truck that Jo brought back in place of his that was stolen. He pulled a small trailer with a case of canned goods, several jars of honey, and a barrel full of freshly caught catfish to trade.

  A few people tried to stop them on the way, but a wave of a rifle kept them at bay. The trip was uneventful, and they arrived in Pleasant Shade about 10:00 am. There were several clusters of houses, a closed general store, and a church within a small area. Bob drove up to a roadblock by a farmhouse where two men were working on a tractor, stopped, and got out unarmed with his palms up.

  The guards said, “What the hell do you want and what’s your name.”

  “I’m Bob Karr, and I need to talk to someone in charge.”

  “Follow me over to Ted’s house. He’s in charge of the guards.”

  Bob walked as Will followed in the truck over to the men.

  “I’m Bob Karr, and I’m from south of here. We’re out trying to see if any decent people have survived up this way.”

  The men were leery, but walked up to Bob and introduced themselves.

  Bob asked, “Do y’all have any trouble makers around? I see you both have pistols strapped to your hips.”

  “And your people have ARs ready to tear us up if we reach for them.”

  “That’s right. We are very careful around strangers, and you should be too. .We are looking for good communities to trade with and perhaps help each other out in a pinch. We have four small communities in this area that are slowly running the criminals away and want to know if y’all might be a fit for our group. Do you have a leader?”

  “Well, not an elected one, but Alice Jones pretty much runs things. She and her husband were doomsday preppers long before the shit hit the fan and helped us survive this mess. We’ve had our troubles and had to use these guns more than we like. I’ll take you to her if my son and I can get a ride.”

  Will followed the man’s direction down a side street to a dirt road and they went to the end where there was a two-story log home.

  This is Alice and Fred’s place.

  The front door opened and a woman came walking out with an AR pointing at them, and a man came up from behind them with an AR.

  “Drop your guns, or we shoot.”

  “Lady, I’m Bob Karr, and we’re not dropping our weapons. You might get a couple of us, but we have four guns to your two. We don’t want to shoot, but we have killed many thugs and gang members and have gotten good at it so why don’t we both drop our muzzles and start talking about how we can help each other.”

  The man in the back of the truck said, “Alice, lower your rifle. I don’t want to find out who is the best shot sitting in the middle of your targets.”

  Alice and her husband lowered their guns at the same time Bob’s people lowered theirs.

  “As I said, I’m Bob Karr, and we drove over here to see if we can trade with you and perhaps see how we can help each other out. We have doctors, nurses, teachers, bulldozers, and plenty of fish.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “South of Dixon Springs.”

  “Y’all are the ones who cleaned out several biker gangs and massacred hundreds of those walking assholes who keep trying to steal our food. The flow dried up over this way once the word got out that y’all shoot thieves.”

  “I guess that’s us. We brought some things to trade with you.”

  Jane and Jo mingled with the locals while Bob and Maddie haggled with the leaders about trading. After several lengthy discussions, Bob learned that about the only things they had to trade were gasoline, fish, and goat meat. They had about 50 head of cattle to build up the herd for the future. Bob could see hundreds of goats wandering around in a fenced in an enclosure behind her house.

  “Would you trade some goats for what we have in the back of the truck? I’d like to start breeding goats at our place. We only have about ten cows and a bunch of chickens.”

  “We’ll give you two breeding pairs for what’s in your truck, and we need to trade you for some medical help.”

  “Sounds fair to me on the goats. What kind of medical help do you need?”

  “One of our kids busted his arm, and we have a woman with a bad tooth.”

  “Bring them down to Dixon Springs. Head south on Rome Road, go about a half mile and ask for Bill Karr at our gate. Bill will treat them free this time and then from then on he will charge a reasonable fee. He needs all of the medical supplies that you can scrounge up, so he will always trade services for medical supplies.”

  They exchanged items and loaded the goats into the back of the pickup. They were about to drive away when they heard, “Maddie. Maddie is that you?”

  “Ms. Gregory? Where have you been?”

  The woman ran to Maddie, and they hugged for a minute and cried before they began to talk.

  “Maddie I thought you were dead or carried off by those hooligans. They attacked in the middle of the night the lights went out.”

  “No, I went out of my mind when I saw my mom dead in the bus. I took what money she had and bought some supplies at a sporting goods store and got out of there. I knew the shit would hit the fan when the jocks started drinking. I didn’t want to stay around and find out what they’d do to me.”

  Ms. Gregory heard what Maddie said, hung her head down and cried as she mumbled, “The bastards raped me
. Seventeen-year-old boys that were in my classroom ripped my clothes off and raped me. I wanted to kill them that night. They finally got tired of me and raped several of the students before heading south to Nashville.

  That’s one of the reasons I left in a hurry. Young men drinking at the end of the world can’t bring good things.”

  “What are you doing now?”

  “I’m trying to work my way back to Nashville.”

  “Ms. Gregory, Nashville is a war zone of gangs, drugs, and violence. Why don’t you come and stay with us? We have a small community that is safe, and we are growing crops. You’d have to work like the rest of us, but you’d be safe.”

  Maddie waved at the others to come and meet Ms. Gregory.

  Joan Gregory was 38, had auburn hair, and was five foot six inches tall. She was very attractive and very outgoing. She had been divorced for several years and lived alone with her dog.

  Ms. Gregory this is my husband, Will Karr, his mom Jo Karr, his grandmother Jane and his grandfather Bob Karr. This is my teacher and friend Joan Gregory.

  “Your husband?”

  “Yes. Things have moved at the speed of sound since the lights went out. I’ll give you the long story later. You can stay with Will and me until we find you a long-term home.”

  They all shook hands, and Bob welcomed her to join them at the Horseshoe.

  “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “You won’t because you will earn your keep. We all work together, pull guard duty together and have fun together. We need another good teacher. What did you teach?”

  “Biology and agriculture.”

  “That’s fantastic. We will definitely need your knowledge to sustain our farming efforts.”

  Jane caught Jo’s eye and said, “We need to find a single man for her.”

  Jo replied, “With a body like that, it had better be real soon. The men will be drooling.”

  The trip back to the Horseshoe was uneventful, and Maddie and Joan sat up front with Will so they could get caught up on events during the time since the lights went out. Joan had slowly wandered south avoiding people as much as possible. She wandered into Pleasant Shade hungry and barely alive. She was lucky one of the farm families found her and took her in before their leader could stop them.

  Maddie introduced Joan to the family and promised to introduce her to the others at the first meeting.

  ***

  The meeting was over, and Joan walked up to Greg and said, “Greg Farmer, don’t I know you?”

  “Mam, I believe I would remember you,” he replied and walked away.

  ✼

  Chapter 10

  Day 20 – Rebellion in Wilson County

  The Senator gave a pep talk to his followers in the school gym about 10:00 that night. He told them, “Men and women of Lebanon. You have God and country on your side because your cause is just. The rebels have captured the farms north, south and west of our fair city. They won’t stop until they have all of the farmland around our city and starve us to death. This tyranny must end!”

  Walt and his deputies led the cheering and soon the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. The Senator looked around the room and saw sixty-three loyal warriors who would be going out that night to vanquish the enemy and enable them to obtain food for their people.

  They loaded into the waiting trucks and left to attack their targets. There were ten trucks with six-man teams who would attack the homes of the leaders of the resistance. Walt would lead the attack on Jim Dickerson’s house and had three extra men on his team to assure success. The attacks were scheduled for 1:00 am so they would catch the families sleeping. Each team had been instructed to kill every living being found at the house.

  Jim and Hoss were out in the barn tending to a sick calf when Hoss saw the lights heading their way. The trucks were a mile away, and Jim knew they would soon be under attack. They grabbed their guns, woke up their wives and Hoss’s kids, and sent them down to the river in an ATV without the lights on. Jim radioed Bob and asked Bob to send a team over to protect his family until they could get across the river. Jim and Hoss would lie in wait for the attackers to stall them long enough for their family to reach safety. Jim had a couple of tricks up his sleeves for the SOBs.

  Jim attached the wires to the fuses for the dynamite bombs at the preset positions and backed off to their hiding spot while the bastards snuck up to their house. Everyone had placed covers over their pillows so the intruders would think they caught the family asleep. When the bastards were all in the house, Jim would spring the first trap.

  Hoss pointed to the black shape sneaking up the back steps about the same time Jim saw the flashlight come on in the family room. All of the bedrooms were upstairs, so Jim gave them a minute and got ready to push the first switch. There were gunshots and flashes coming from the house when Jim flipped the switch that set off ten sticks of dynamite in the house. There was a massive explosion that threw pieces of the house hundreds of feet into the air, and then a giant ball of flames as the house caught on fire.

  Jim then saw a pickup turn its lights on and surge toward the burning house. He waited until it was close to one of the preset bombs and flipped the second switch. The truck flipped end over end as it exploded when the gas tank ruptured. Two men covered in flames ran across the lawn and dropped as they died. Another truck turned its lights on, but this truck headed back to town at full speed.

  Jim and Hoss jumped into an ATV and headed to the river where they were met by Bob and six on his team including Jane and Will.

  “Bob the bastards tried to kill us in our sleep; I guess they had several hit squads out tonight. Can I use your radio to contact my team?”

  Bob handed him a walkie-talkie and said, “Come on over to our home for the night. We’ll get a plan to take out that damn Senator in the morning.”

  Only one of Jim’s men answered, and his farm was under attack, so the call was short.

  “Bob, if you’ll loan me an ATV or a pickup, Hoss, and I will round up all of our group and start an attack on Lebanon tonight. Those bastards won’t stop at killing the leaders.”

  “Wait a minute. Don’t you think that the Senator and Walt will think you and your family were killed in the explosion? That will give you time to plan an attack instead of reacting.”

  “Well, I guess you are right. Let’s go to your place.”

  They didn’t see or hear Walt’s spy in the bushes by the river. Nor did Bob ever expect one of his most loyal people to be a spy for the Senator.

  ***

  Senator, we eliminated all but one of the leaders and their family. Dickerson’s place exploded during the attack. Our entire team died with him and his family; however, the important thing is that we killed everyone in the house.

  Walt, this calls for a toast to the success of our community and the annexation of the eastern section over to the river.

  The door burst open, and a man walked in and said, “Dickerson and his family are safely at Karr’s place. Their guards heard you coming, and they left for the river while Hoss and Jim stayed to set off explosive charges to kill the hit squad. They are regrouping tomorrow and coming after you two with a large army.”

  “Thanks. Do they suspect you?”

  “No, the idiots have me on several committees aimed at killing you and making their community safe.

  “We will send a squad over to kill all of the Karr and Dickerson families. Walt, get your team’s ass in gear and attack them before dawn. You get back over there and divert the guards from this side of the Horseshoe or kill them. Stay away from Karr’s house.

  It was now 2:30 and Walt scrambled to get his team plus several boats over to the river. The boats were waiting; they loaded their gear into the vessels and began rowing to the other side.

  “I need you to move over to the wall. We just received word that an attack is planned against us tonight.”

  “I can’t leave this section unguarded, “Izzy said as he saw his friend shoot him i
n the gut with the silenced pistol.

  Izzy lay bleeding and said, “Why?”

  “Because the Senator has plans for the Horseshoe.”

  Izzy died knowing that one of his friends was a traitor.”

  The path was now open for the hit squad to attack the Karr house.

  ***

  “Maddie, wake up,” Will said as he gently shook her shoulder.

  Her eyes opened, and Will planted a kiss on her lips, and then said, “Let’s go skinny dipping down at the rock bluff.”

  “I’m in. Let’s go and get wet. Grab your gear.”

  They were barely dressed when Will heard Max growl and a man scream. Will and Maddie looked outside and saw men swarming around the back of the house. Will turned his flashlight on and shined the light on them. They turned and started shooting at the trailer.

  Maddie and Will returned fire on the men, and they scrambled for cover as Will and Maddie both shot and killed one each. Several were already in the house, and there were flashes of light along with the sound of intense gunfire in every room of the house.

  Bob and Jane had been on the back deck a few minutes before the attackers arrived and heard them approach the house. Bob woke the others up and told them to prepare for an attack.

  Joan came running from her room, and Maddie knocked her down to the floor as bullets ripped through the trailer. Maddie shot one attacker in the head ending his sorry life. Will wounded two more, and the fight was over at the back of the house. They ran into the kitchen and shot two men in the back before the men knew someone was behind them. Suddenly the shooting was over. There was silence for a minute, followed by screams and crying. Jo was holding Jake’s lifeless body on the floor, and Jim Dickerson’s wife was crying as she and her daughter in law held on to Hoss’ bullet-riddled body. One of Jim’s granddaughters was also killed in the battle. There were seven dead men in the house, and six outside that had attempted to kill both families.