Tomorrow War: Serpent Road (Full- J. L. Bourne (Audiobook)

audible studios presents tomorrow war serpent road the chronicles of max book two written by j.l bourne performed by jay snyder and kevin t collins data recovery director this data was pretty corrupted what is meant is that it should have been considering the circumstances spinning metal disks with metal particles arranged to provide binary if then statements can be fragile when exposed to extreme electromagnetic pulse energy this tech has utilized all recovery algorithms but this may be the final chapter in what is known of max redacted at least currently known most of his original scans transcripts and support data has been defragmented and chronologically sorted based on encoded metadata everything seems to be in order for your review very respectfully redacted lead tech big iron part one shady rest cold alone the hills of newton county arkansas were a remote place before the implosion of civilized society which was why i chose to hole up here now the train still exists as sort of a mobile base of resistance in western arkansas but i'm far from the reach of the locomotives it's not that i don't feel that it's a righteous calling hell i help them bring down the federal government in that area that winter of resistance was harsh killing many of us off by common cold and infection with the spring came organization and purpose after we figured out that we couldn't go past fort smith to the south because of fallout from a reactor meltdown near russellville we ended up going north there the feds had blown out a large bridge just outside of bel vista this effectively limited the mobile command center's travel to about a hundred miles of north and south track it was fall when i decided it was time to leave it had been long dirty months since we neutralized the feds at the prison my cousin jim and i took our gear and said our goodbyes when the train made its stop back in fayetteville we then watched it resume going south to the exclusion zone on its endless back and forth route it was rough to leave rich he said he wasn't ready to ditch his comfy boxcar quite yet i shook his hand firmly before jim and i trekked back to my shelter safely buried in the rocky arkansas ground a half day walk to the east jim and i held up for about a week when we got word from rich via radio free ozarks that a federal hit squad was looking for me rich used verified code words so i knew the threat was real if they found me they'd also kill whomever i was with it was time to go i left jim enough to get him through the winter and loaded up some dry goods water guns and ammo into the back of my derelict toyota pickup that i'd left covered with camo netting since the really hit the fan despite the cold the engine cranked over waking from a long dormancy i let it run and embraced jim one last time promising to see him again soon then crunch through the woods down the trail leading to black oak road jim had buried my shelter back before all this i just hope it won't become his grave the only one besides me who knows the exact whereabouts of the cabin i now inhabit the shady rest has been dead for a while my father used to bring me here in summer back then there was no electricity here no running water besides the river down the hauler if you had to take a number two you did it in the nearby outhouse dad told me i was spoiled to have a magazine rack inside shady rest's outhouse and that it was a fancy structure because it was a two-seater i still laugh thinking about all this luxury dad used to tease me about when compared to his spartan childhood growing up in these mountains umbra notice to all fusion centers target number one in operation haystack max redacted will heretofore be referred to as conductor in all applicable op intel reporting and tippers your compliance with this intelligence directive is mandatory until such time as conductor is apprehended director sends cabin fever for november i left the confines of shady rest early this morning my food stores are running low except the emergency stash in my go bag so i decided to run a trotline the sky continues to spit flurries reminding me of the grim fact that i need to stack a few ricks of firewood i'll go up periscope tonight to listen for chatter rich knows i'm listening at dusk on most days i can get to high ground in time five november three fish on the line i clean them and toss them in the pan pretty fast after scarfing them down i grabbed my axe and fell two medium-sized trees i had an old chainsaw in the side shed but couldn't risk the noise the sun was getting low when i was done hand sawing the trees into lengths that would fit my wood stove i split enough to last me until morning and cooked my last can of train soup exhausted gonna catch some shut eye and take the bolt gun out in the early morning to see if i can't scare up some game short action six november the wind was blowing a cold breeze when i stepped off the cabin porch in the early black of another ozark mountain morning my 300 caliber blackout bolt gun was secured to my pack along with a set of trekking poles i quietly made my way up the mountain opposite the direction of the wind crunching through the frozen grass i concentrated on stalking my way into my hunting grounds i had a deer blind set up there and planned to be in it before the sun came up i fumbled around for my night vision device nvd and positioned it over my right eye the milky way came into green focus when the device powered on calling attention in bright detail to earth's skewed relative rotation the blinds ir signature jumped out from its organic surroundings inside i was half tempted to kick on the small propane heater we'd kept at the cabin for years using it to keep us warm while hunting fuel was very scarce so i resisted the urge to stay warm the easy way i closed all but one of the blinds fabric windows to keep as much heat inside as i could and waited and waited and waited the sun had been up for an hour when i caught my first look at wildlife through the small binoculars i kept hanging around my neck i watched a yearling and a doe quickly traversed the field in front of me i dropped the binos and cranked my rifles optic up to nine times i rested the gun on my crossed trekking poles and began to track the dough as she moved left to right across the blinds opening they both looked pretty skinny so i decided to pass i've been pretty lucky with the river i've heard no shots in the mountains today not like it's a common thing anyway sundown trotline had a fat catfish on it not as lucky as earlier with that trio but it still smells damn good on the fire i split another rick of wood and stacked it neatly on the cabin porch covered in sweat i built a fire inside and then stripped down to nothing and went to the side of the house where i had a hose running from a 55 gallon steel barrel fed by a larger cistern the flat black painted barrel absorbed enough heat to take some of the chill out of the water but my god it was still brutally cold i took a 30 second shower and ran back inside the cabin into the star-like blistering heat of the wood stove time to eat midnight keep hearing something outside even over the wind that's no longer a breeze but now blasting through the valley sounds like a woman screaming big cat the shrieking sound along with the flickering kerosene lantern light from which i write this makes for an unsettling scene the wind is blowing hard enough to shake the thick wooden door on its hinges the two by fours i have bracing the door should hold any potential intruder back but i'm still sleeping with my gun that hasn't changed ever something wild is out there in the dark and something even more menacing searches for me beyond it should have burned my table scraps november 6 notice to all fusion centers the search for conductor continues although we know the day-to-day general location of the supply train where conductor was previously located we can confirm via quadcopter reconnaissance that he has not been operating in the area for some time we cannot risk flying or engaging our larger reaper drones in that area as new intelligence reports suggest that the northwest arkansas irregulars nai have received a shipment of stinger missiles from a group of recently arrived redstone arsenal deserters as our limited reaper fleet is a high density low volume asset they do not meet the commit matrix for employment over stinger threat territories we now have conductors agency contact in custody and have been interrogating this individual for actionable intelligence we will notify the director if any new information comes to light as a result freemason 10 november last night's storm toppled a tree right into my rock chimney knocking off a couple cornerstones i've been using the wood stove anyway but still need to keep up on the repairs as winter sets in don't want a heavy snow to put the roof down on me some midnight in january i've heard the cat outside every night so i haven't been getting much sleep i bet a lot of the meat has been hunted out of the territory since the breakdown of just-in-time shipping that's probably another reason why the cat is hanging out near the cabin i found half a bag of cement in the small storage shed in the back got to go down to the river and get some water for the mix to repair the damage the repairs won't last without fire clay and type s but it'll have to do 11 november the old wooden ladder i was using to repair the rock chimney yesterday is missing a rung this resulted in more than one near mishap 10 feet up on the side of the cabin after a couple hours of cursing up and down the crappy ladder and dropping my makeshift wooden trowel a few times i finally got the missing rocks set back into the side of the chimney i'm no mason like jim but it'll hold i hope jim is holding up okay at black oak time for a radio check 11 november later bagged a deer i was walking up the mountain this morning the same way i always do before a hunt when i saw him limping through the trees the buck wasn't that big but he was enough to fill my cooler i raised my bolt gun glassed him and noticed deep claw marks on his flanks injured i didn't want to spook him so i got low and stalked in circling around to the high ground the wind was not in my favor the buck's ears twitched when he caught my scent one snap of a twig and the deer would run off and probably die anyway i braced the gun against a nearby oak tree and aimed for the heart i slowly squeezed the three-pound trigger the suppressed rifle thumped some base just before the loud thwack of the 208 grain round hitting the deer's flesh the animal ran 10 yards or so before dropping like a sack of potatoes thinking of the marks on his flank i cautiously approached the kill cats like to attack at dawn or dusk when we humans can't see very well right now the sun hadn't been up too long i quickly made sure the buck was dead and really inspected its injuries before starting my expedient field dress they were fairly fresh and not yet infected four deep claw marks gouged through the deer's left flank this was clearly the work of a predator might be a black bear but i doubted it based on the blood curdling sounds i've been hearing at night i felt eyes on me as i removed most of the animals organs tossing the steaming mass into the nearby bushes with the carcass now a good bit lighter i rolled it onto the tarp i was carrying and started dragging it down the mountain it was a brutal freezing trip my cleaning station was set up a hundred yards from the cabin i didn't want the smell of blood and guts near where i slept at night using some cordage i strung the deer up at eye level and moved on to butchering the meat for tonight's stew careful to drop the heart and liver into a ziploc bag i then hoisted the animal high to cool it off the tarp was littered with blood bone flesh and guts i'd need to dispose of that a good distance away from the cabin before going in for the night after a few hours and some struggling i eventually got most of the meat in an old igloo cooler that i kept full of chunks of river ice for this occasion after securely tying the cooler closed i hoisted it high off the ground using a tree branch by midday i'd gotten rid of the carcass and was cooking deer stew with chunks of heart liver and a cup of rice it wasn't a lot of variety but it was calories if the weather stayed cold i could keep the meat frozen maybe stretch it a month or two there was propane in the cabin's tank enough to keep the freezer running but there was no use keeping it active until the meat was at risk of being spoiled i doubted it would warm up in these mountains any time before february after heading back down the hill to get more ice i saw the impressions clearly in the clay of the riverbank mountain lion tracks i gathered chunks of river ice in a canvas rice bag feeling my glock on my hip taking comfort that it was fully loaded with heavy 147 grain nine millimeter rounds midnight candlelight sucks when you're scared and alone i'm laying here on a straw-filled mattress looking at the ceiling i think i can hear something outside trying to get at the cooler full of meat despite it being off the ground but i can't be sure the wind is going at it and there is no window on the backside of the cabin if i wanted to know for sure i'd need to go outside in the snow and see for myself not happening it's not that i'm afraid of predator cats it's that if i get hurt out here i'm a few days from anyone that can help me probably even farther from anyone that would help me pound for pound i'm just not genetically suited to fight something with claws fangs and natural night vision if it's out there and if it happens to get the meat it you earned it kitty but if it keeps pissing me off i'll build a blind and sit up in the trees tomorrow night out of its reach with my own night vision see how it likes a 300 caliber blk round between the eyes death from above yeah it helps to think i can take it out little less scary now when the wind blows especially hard it makes it through the primitive mud seal and causes the candle to flicker a bit temperature is starting to drop down well below hard freeze at night and i might need to start up the fireplace as well as the wood stove to keep things cozy in here more stacking firewood and worse more exposure to the mountain lion by 12 gauges above the fireplace glock under my pillow chambered bolt gun is propped up against my bed and my m4 carbine is hidden securely under the cabin floorboards can't risk losing it bolt gun for four-legged predators m4 for two house arrest i awoke at o 600 to snow flurries and gray skies it was just under 50 degrees inside the cabin according to the small digital thermometer so i stoked the embers and tossed a log on the fire before gearing up to go to the outhouse i regretted the trip because of the cat noises i'd heard last night but doing my business inside the cabin wasn't going to happen can't risk disease or infection i could feel the draft coming through the sides of the door as i pulled the two by four drop boards from the door security brackets hell it worked with castles for hundreds of years it's good enough for my little cabin i opened the door and quickly exited as to not lose the precious warm air being built back up from the fresh log i saw no tracks on the porch or ground in front of the cabin so i drew my pistol and moved to the outhouse as fast as i could rounding the front of the cabin i could see the outhouse 50 feet away with its moon shaped door cut out or what my dad would refer to as one of those luxury features allowing ambient light to accent your sitting experience as i moved swiftly to the structure i glanced over at the cooler full of deer meat it was not as i'd left it small branches and dead leaves covered the now muddy ground in a circle below the meat something large had attempted to use the cooler like a rope swing my pace quickened as i moved to the tiny outhouse slamming the door shut i twisted the small wood privacy mechanism and thought again how dad would talk it up as yet another luxury feature inherent to life in newton county arkansas as i handled my necessaries i could hear timber crack somewhere out there probably from the weight of snow and ice this unnerving sound made me envision impossibly large beasts crashing through the forest looking for someone to eat i pulled my pants back up disinfected my hands and drew my gun again for the transit back to the cabin i worked up the courage and twisted the wooden cog lock and jumped out into the snow yelling just in case the cat was out there waiting for me it wasn't nothing at all in the vicinity with some new found courage i investigated the cooler full of meat claw marks were evident on the outside and some of the cordage was frayed from the beast's sharp claws the muddy ground below the cooler was clear of snow as the cat's activities here last night must have melted it off it had been right outside while i slept i took the day's meat from the cooler and hoisted it a few feet higher off the ground before going back into the cabin to prepare some powdered eggs and venison we're done kitty i refuse to be a prisoner here going hunting tonight as the sun neared the western horizon i laced up my boots and checked my bolt gun pistol and nvd batteries it was going to be another cold night so i ripped open a two pack of hand warmers from my dwindling supply to keep in my pockets the thermometer outside said 12 degrees and the one inside said 55 still painfully obvious that this will eventually force me to build a second fire in the fireplace in addition to the stove but this comfort would come at a painful premium i'll be chopping firewood as soon as better weather blows in that activity will triple my caloric intake needs the cooler will empty faster pushing me back out there where the predators prowl after checking the perimeter around shady rest i pulled the broken wooden ladder out of the shed and climbed up on the cabin roof it was still bone chilling but the roof provided some reprieve from the ground the fire i built in the stove was keeping the wood shingles a few degrees warmer than the outside temp it had stopped snowing and i could see the waning moon as it slowly cut across the sky like a great side my breath clouded the moon's glow as i watched wondering what jim and rich might be up to this evening earlier i checked the rf spectrum for intel but could hear nothing i was in the middle of nowhere and the surrounding hills probably blocked any communications coming in from the outside i pulled my nvd down over my eye and switched it on the green glow of technologically enhanced vision filled my right side reassuring me that man still owned the night i pulled the bolt back on my remington 700 checking for the glint of brass in the moonlight and was comforted to see a round attached to the bolt driving it back home i snugged up against the stone fireplace and waited the cooler remained suspended on the bow now just a little more out of reach than last night it swung slowly with the cadence of the night wind the branch holding the cooler was higher than the roof of the cabin it extended nearly to the edge of the roof where i sat leafless until spring the silver scythe continued to harvest the night as i froze waiting for the ozark demon to show itself it never came i climbed down and hit the rack at about two in the morning waking at 0-600 when my watch alarm began to beep i rose out of bed wearing only my yellow long johns and placed my war belt around my waist in preparation for my trip to newton county's finest toilet facility i pulled the barricade from the door and went outside just like i did the day before and began to make my left turn tracks again without claw marks lion my pace quickened as i rounded the corner the goddamn cooler was gone i took care of my necessaries and made way back to the cabin to gear up and find out what happened to my calories i followed the cat tracks and skid marks up the mountain a few hundred meters until i found the cooler the plastic was shredded in several places on the outside but the whole thing remained secured by three frayed circumferences of paracord the thermometer said 20 degrees when i stepped off the porch so the meat was still good inside as i dragged the cooler halfway down the mountain i heard the scream coming from behind i turned and caught sight of the creature about fifty meters up the trail it looked to be about a hundred and fifty pounds its teeth were the most visible part sabers of white stretching its light brown lips it was clearly pissed about my repossessing the cooler you cat i shouted up the mountain raising my pistol to shoot the cat came at me full sprint and didn't stop until i pulled the trigger the ground in front of the cat exploded as the round hit sending rocks and snow into its face it growled and shot off to the right perpendicular to the mountain trail i wasted no time in opening the cooler grabbing as much meat as i could fit in my thick canvas coat and tying the container back up leaving the cooler i ran back to the cabin loaded with venison hoping the mountain lion wouldn't chew through the cordage and eat the rest of what i'd left behind venison stew is now cooking in the pot on top of the wood stove and the smell is no doubt wafting up the mountain and into the big cat's nostrils taunting it as i write this war i dragged my fingers across a small ash pile near the warm fireplace and painted my face with streaks of black and grey then i unbarred the door once more stepping out into the wild of the ozarks i scurried up the ladder to the cabin roof putting my back once more against the river stone chimney which felt warm to the touch from the fire that burned beneath me before nightfall i went back up the mountain and checking that there was no immediate danger brought the cooler down the trail putting it in a good location to snipe the cat from the cabin roof the white lid reflected brightly through my nvd and the stars shown with diamond intensity in the background beaming easily through the bare but thick tree branches i lay prone on the roof at an odd angle the cabin was an a-frame so there were no real flat spots except over the front door i waited for the predator to show itself to claim the food from the cooler in concentrating on the kill box i allowed myself to relax and drift it off not sure how long i awoke to the loud crack of broken branches and got that camera flash effect in my eyes the one you feel when jolted awake by a loud noise at night i focused on the cooler again but saw nothing i was nearly asleep again when i heard no felt it something caused the cabin to i don't know bump i flipped over onto my back and crept back up against the chimney my nvd wasn't mounted to my rifle at the moment so i pulled my glock and raised it up god damn tritium sights were blowing out my nvd i lowered the glock and waited i was on the front side of the a-frame whatever caused the bump was somewhere on the other side looking up at the crest of the roof i finally saw it its eyes glowed eerily bright through the nvd and the outline of its ears could be seen against the backdrop of the cosmos the big cat was on the roof with me it growled and i brought my glock up and pulled the trigger sending splinters of wood through the air at least one round hit the mountain lion which was now screaming and roaring as it came down my side of the a-frame towards me i tried to hit it again but the cat was rolling down the roof at me i attempted to back up and let it fall off the ledge but it hooked me with one of its paws its murderous claws piercing right through my pants and into my calf muscle i shrieked in agony and nearly shot my own leg as the creature continued to tumble pulling me off the cabin roof with it i fell with the mountain lion trying to maintain control of my weapon as i hit the ground hard knocking the wind clean out of me the pain of my leg and in my stomach briefly stunned me but i knew that the big cat wouldn't care about that it wouldn't give me a moment to compose myself before ripping my face off i shot into the thing twice before my magazine locked back funny i didn't remember shooting that many rounds it still had a hold of my calf and wasn't letting go i reached behind me and pulled out my trusty pig sticker as the injured animal lunged at my neck for the kill in a rare moment of luck the animal drove itself forcefully into the blade the razor sharp steel bowie penetrated the cat's throat all the way to its spinal column in its final moments of life it latched onto my other wrist through my canvas coat nearly breaking it i pulled the blade and stabbed at it until i couldn't move my arm the beast went limp on top of me the fight was over jigsaw there's not even a goddamned aspirin in this cabin my calf hurts like hell my med kit isn't exactly something a doctor would be proud of but at least there was a suture kit a useless snakebite suction cup and some alcohol wipes inside so i guess that's better than bad the first thing i did after dragging myself inside off the icy ground was to boil some water to clean out the cat scratch i poured near scalding water slowly over the three puncture wounds wincing in agony and screaming loud enough to be heard all the way to little rock after i was sure the wound was cleansed i scoured my hands and ripped open an alcohol wipe ready for pain round two of many i began to wipe the wound i screamed again causing myself to bleed even more so i took a hot rag and applied pressure for a few minutes the blood didn't stop so i had to go to my sutures craving a bottle of whiskey to chug i didn't waste any more time starting on the largest of the three cruel homes i nearly passed out as the needle passed through the divide of the small wound channel blood continued to trickle down my leg and onto my white sock i gave each hole three loops and cut and tied everything off as best i could remember from my medical training i again gave my wound a warm sponge no sock bath and sucked air through my teeth when the cold alcohol hit the thread was crisscrossed asymmetrically but hey i didn't go to med school after i made sure my leg was as good as it was going to get for now i pulled my left sleeve up to check the damage there thank god for tough old carhartt jackets my wrist was adorned with blood bruises but i still had full movement and it didn't hurt as bad as my calf so that's a win i hadn't noticed it before but it looks like one of my nine millimeter rounds grazed my boot could have been a hell of a lot worse i mean the fight could have gone the other way and i'd be the one with the 25 degree body temp right now instead of the big cat if i'd shot myself in the foot with my nine i'd probably have died or at the very least lost my foot out here and then died the fact that i'm writing this as the morning sun beams through the cabin windows is something to appreciate although i felt like leroy brown at the end of the song it's truly not every day you go to fisticuffs with an apex predator and survive can't afford to stay in bed i need to get up and move around even if only to hit the outhouse it's mid afternoon i have a pot of stew boiling in the cabin my leg is wrapped up in a bandage but it's burning like hell that either means my body is doing its job or i'm about to come down with a nasty infection my search for crutches is over i spent some time today looking for trees with the right natural angle so i didn't have to sit on the porch with my pocket knife playing backwoods carpenter what i was able to cobble together wasn't comfortable but i could move around with the makeshift crutches without over straining my calf muscle like i probably did when i was out looking for them in the first place my life my whole body is aching now i think it's sort of like the day after a car accident type thing with all the adrenaline you feel fine on the first day but like hammered dog the day after it's night outside and i didn't feel like hobbling down to the river for water mistake you'd be surprised how much snow you have to melt to get a gallon of water i think i spent more calories going back and forth gathering snow than if i just bucked up and went down to the river lazy man load and all it hurts when i squeeze my calf but that's to be expected my wrist is sore but it should heal fine right now my main worry is infection i'm nearly out of alcohol wipes and i only have enough sutures to fix two of the three punctures if i were to somehow rip them open i've got to be careful i might as well be on the surface of mars no one is coming to help me out here i'll check the trotline in the morning woke up this morning early bundled up in a pair of waders and limped down to the river on the crutches the cat's corpse was still frozen stiff on the ground i didn't have the patience or energy to skin it and tan the hide would be pretty badass to wear a mountain lion pelt around up here though anyone i ran across would know i was the real deal wearing something like that i'll get around at some point to drag the thing away and let nature take care of it the trip down the draw to the river took me about 10 minutes with my improvised crutches i was sure not to put too much weight on my calf all i needed was to have that muscle contract and rip open the wounds i toted an empty blue five gallon water jug on my back and dreaded the trip back up the hill down at the riverbank i broke some ice and walked down into the icy waters thankful again for the waiters i'd found inside the cabin when i arrived thanks dad the line had no fish i placed a few small chunks of deer meat on the empty hooks because i had nothing else and waited back to the shore shoving floating ice out of my way as i went the cold felt good on my calf but not so good everywhere else i filled up my water container and strapped it back onto the alice frame on my back for the trip up twenty minutes i was sweating and exhausted when i got back to the cabin i quickly stripped down to my underwear in front of the roaring fire to avoid hypothermia i boiled some water and lightly washed out my wounds using the heat to bring the trapped fluids out once the rest of the boiled water cooled i gulped it down i was down to about four gallons and would need to go again tomorrow to build up my water reserves in case i felt ill from infection and did not have the energy to make another 30 minute round trip direct action november 14th operation haystack director's eyes only our intelligence regarding the trains location on november 13th was accurate we were able to demolish a section of track delaying its transit north and giving us enough time to meet our objective our direct action team boarded the train just after midnight based on small drone reconnaissance rich redacted's boxcar was previously identified by its prominent antenna array and solar panels our team was able to capture rich redacted however one of our men was killed during the assault we are confident that we now have key interrogation assets that will enable us to geo-locate conductor in the coming days director little rock fusion center notice to all fusion centers the apprehended terrorist rich redacted will heretofore be referred to as tourist your compliance with this intelligence directive is mandatory until such time as haystack is deactivated director sends recovery it's been a week since i've written anything in here and a damn rough one at that three nights ago i spent hours shivering in my bed out of split firewood fever raging and teeth chattering if not for the water i'd stockpiled in days prior i'm certain i'd be dead i pounded water for three days straight taking care of my necessaries in a bedside orange five gallon bucket until my fever broke and i was finally able to stand up without passing out i have enough meat left to last me about ten days or so if i don't exert myself but i desperately need something besides a handful of old rice to go along with it i'm down to the bottom of the bag and it's full of weevils the food cooler is stored under the cabin on the north side away from the sun heading out in a few to check on it and get water i'm only one swallow away from dry cabin status my trip to the river was arduous and uneventful but things picked up after i got there i was still using both crutches but felt like i could get down to only one crutch if i let myself heal a little longer and was careful the ice had disappeared down at the river and there was no snow on the ground a warm front must have been through while i was bedridden melting everything before i got sick i was actually pondering whether or not to butcher the mountain lion instead of just dragging it away but it's too late now at least the contents of the cooler are still frozen i just hope i don't get any crazy arkansas weather where it inexplicably rises briefly into the 80s when it should be around 20. back to the interesting part of my trip to the river as i checked the trot line and filled up my water jug i detected the thumping of helicopter rotors somewhere off in the distance i hoppeled fast over to the riverbank and hid behind a row of sapling pines the rotors got louder momentarily before fading off to the point where i couldn't hear them any longer someone's flying around in this area and there aren't too many reasons to do that i doubt the government cares about all the moonshine stills in these parts anymore but they damn sure care about me i'm a wanted man i took the rotor noise as a wake-up call make preparations to repel borders it's been three days since i heard the helicopter even with the injury i've managed to move my pickup truck farther away from the cabin and cover it up pretty well the cabin is set back into the woods and shielded by a thick tree canopy only visible by air from the east the rotor noise came from the west jim and rich's direction but that doesn't really mean anything in other news i'm down to one crutch i chucked the other one into the river grinning as the torturous stick spun in the air and splashed into the icy waters yesterday morning i dug up a handful of worms and took them down to the river with my pole i was able to snag two small fish and had them cleaned cooked and eaten within 30 minutes i didn't even bother to take them back to the cabin i did it right there on the riverbank over a fire circle i'm down to my last bit of venison as the meat is starting to spoil i'm cooking the rest of it in a stew right now which i plan to stretch out over the next several days happy thanksgiving injury update only a slight limp remains this is fortuitous all things considered two nights ago i decided to hunt for game down by the river with my nvd attached to the rifle once again the distinctive thumping of approaching rotors could be heard in the distance i took cover just as the helicopter hovered slowly along the river a couple hundred yards upstream through my unassisted eye there was no indication the helicopter was nearby except for the obvious noise only through the assistance of my nvd could i see the flying machine the pilot's instruments were set for night vision so i could easily spot their glow illuminating the cockpit with ir revealing two pilots i had previously turned off my own nvdir illuminator and concealed it with electrical tape just in case sure enough a giant ir spot beam was slewing along the river as the helicopter slowly hovered in my direction i dipped farther back into the tree line careful to make no sudden movements as the human eye is a big fan of movement and contrast my blood was pumping adrenaline and the slight pain in my calf disappeared just as soon as i saw two people repel from the chopper down into the shallow banks of the river i began to back away and run up the hill to the cabin hoping my leg would hold out back at the cabin i shouldered my go bag and ripped the floor rug aside i was especially interested in the two loose boards there i wedged them out with my knife and pulled my suppressed larue m4 short-barreled rifle sbr out from under the cabin it was still sealed up in its pelican case which itself was loaded with full magazines and an extra bolt carrier assembly i then filled my thermos with hot stew and tossed everything else i could think of into an empty rice sack i was out the door in only three minutes outside i dragged the cooler out from under the cabin and pulled behind me as more adrenaline pushed my injured body up the mountain my kit was beating me about the back and chest as i climbed i hid the cooler 300 meters up the mountain i then moved the nvd from my bolt gun to my m4 behind the red dot in order to provide me night vision combined with 30 rounds of full auto capability if the need should arise i also thought now might be the time to put on my load-bearing vest full of mags and after that slung my sbr across my chest cashing the rest of my kit 20 paces north of the venison cooler inside a hollowed-out oak as i began to finally calm down the pang of pain in my calf returned warning me not to overdo it out here in the darkness i began a slow and deliberate arc back down the mountain to set up observation on my cabin there's no way those helicopter goons wouldn't find it and they more than likely knew where it was already considering where the chopper dropped them was only two guys with guns but i was ready for them spy versus spy morning i was sore from sitting up in a deer stand all night one that was overlooking the cabin up in the hills with a line upside down to its west wall the back there are no windows on that side but good concealment so i took that trade off at about 0 900 i took my last swallow of warm venison stew from my thermos and continued to glass the hollow glint i noticed a brief but distinct flash through my binoculars and saw a masked figure talking on a radio of some sort he was beyond the cabin down the hill aways no not a radio the large antenna boom hanging off the device indicated a satellite phone reaching up with my left hand i made sure the can on the end of my m4 was hand tightened i drew my legs up closer to my chest and sat in the tree using my knees as support for the rifle i kept the red dot trained on his center mass and tracked him as he crept as soon as he was close enough to the cabin's clearing he got on his chest and began to low crawl until he reached the very edge of the cabin's cleared area i hoped my binoculars had better magnification than his i watched him as he pulled his own binos out and began to reconnoiter the cabin i should have brought my boat gun i could have taken this out without his partner even knowing the m4 was loud even with a silencer but it had a higher rate of fire i couldn't risk taking out this guy now as i had no idea where the other one was hiding if it were me i'd be right up here somewhere keeping an eye on my partner he could very well be just a few trees over some time passed the guy watching the cabin never moved from his spot just lay there on his chest with the binos glued to his masked face the problem was that i needed to get out of the deer stand and he was waiting for me to appear so he could pop me in the face with the rifle i saw sitting to his right by noon i couldn't feel my legs besides the pang in my calf the sensation was slowly moving up my body i needed to at least stand up but couldn't my window of opportunity suddenly came inexplicably the man began to crawl backwards retreating into the trees beyond the cabin clearing i waited a full 10 minutes before i carefully started my descent wincing all the way i had to watch where my feet landed on the rungs of the ladder i couldn't feel them at all most of the trip down was upper body when i made it to the ground i had to hold the trunk of the tree to keep from falling i did a few painful squats behind the tree to get the blood flowing again and took a long awaited head call there were two shooters out here and they weren't rookies they were patient or at least one of them was i quietly fell back to my cash location and picked up my bolt gun yeah it was extra weight but i needed to put those 300 caliber blackout subsonics to work on this hit squad or they'd be bringing my corpse back to be put on parade what kind of lay an ambush for other americans i mean what would the job application questionnaire sound like are you willing to extrajudicially kill people yes you're hired welcome to the goon squad back on topic after gathering my bolt gun as well as some power bars and water from my emergency bag i started back towards the cabin m4 at the high ready staying slow and low was the key to not being detected by the most advanced sensor ever created the human eye it was painstaking to move like that but the alternative to a sore back is getting filled in by shooters you've never met i rounded the final bend in the trail as the cabin came into view i set up a shooting point prone piling leaves underneath me so i didn't freeze to death waiting on my targets i lay in wait for an hour until one of the bastards walked out of the woods ten feet in front of me he squinted as his brain told him there was a shape in front of him that was abnormal not organic i raised the rifle he was too close for the optic i had set at nine power so i pointed it in his general direction listen buddy i said in a stern whisper unless you want to die right now you better start talking his response was a little unexpected the man pulled a large tiger-striped fixed blade knife from the small of his back and charged rage filled his eyes as he sprinted to me i pulled the trigger the silenced round cracked from the bolt gun barrel like a microwave popcorn kernel and slammed into the man's rib cage what did he do remarkably he stumbled but kept coming i didn't have time to chamber another round in the bolt gun so i went for the glock as i rose the blaster to fire the man grabbed my hand pulling me fast into his blade i grabbed his wrist and rotated it out and away from his body causing him to lean back over the alternative of losing his knife somehow he caused me to drop my pistol in all the commotion i reached down into the small of my back and pulled out the knife i'd liberated last year from that psychopathic biker our knives were out in front of us as we rounded the fight circle two weapons from more uncivilized times stood between us his dark and subdued mind gleaming stainless one of us wasn't getting off the mountain alive he came at me first in a downward horror movie killer thrust i blocked his initial attack and punched him hard in the ribs where i shot him he winced in agony and grabbed his wound seeing opportunity i rammed the bowie through his mask up into his chin and through the top of his mouth his light stayed on for a good bit i stared him down as he died hoping he remembered my face on the way to hell i then searched for my pistol in the bushes securing it before dragging the corpse off into the woods safer behind the cover of the foliage i wanted to search the body to see if he had anything that would get me out of this storm but first things first inside the dense brush i kept an ear open for his partner the only shot fired was quiet near impossible to triangulate i was confident that it wouldn't bring attention but not too certain either after thirty minutes of hearing only the wind and falling leaves i figured it was okay to get started i ripped the mask from the corpse no one i knew just a face without a name no id big surprise i put his carbine aside and hk 416 unsuppressed he was also carrying an hkusp pistol pretty high quality kit for an innocent helicopter trip and a hike through the mountains this guy was a tier one goon he had a handheld radio tuned to a uhf freak but i sure as hell wouldn't be going out on it i knew how mistakes like that ended up no code book or communications plan on them either again this guy was a professional all the frequencies i wanted to see were in the man's head contained in the biological zero and one switches that began to decay the moment i rammed the knife into his brain i tossed everything useful in the goon's pack slinging it over my shoulder for later god damn it god damn it i need to gather my thoughts why would they do this okay i set up observation in a different spot getting the drop on goon number two who was looking for goon number one except well i took aim through my bolt gun optics and squeezed the trigger the target was about 200 meters from me so the bullet drop was significant nearly 35 inches it was also pretty windy so i missed the head and hit the shoulder the bullet's kinetic force violently spinning the body around the figure let loose with a woman's agonized scream then reached for a blowout kit and began applying pressure to her shoulder with what i thought was most likely a clotting agent max max you you shot me you goddamn bastard she screamed out i knew in my heart who it was the moment i heard her voice my head poked up over the foliage like a prairie dog as i watched the woman hurry to save her own life she still wore the mask you reach for your gun any gun and i waste you are we clear i shouted back she was leaning against a pine tree one hand applying pressure to her shoulder and tried to reach up with the other to show that she wasn't armed i slung my bolt gun and brought my carbine to the ready in front of me as i approached she peeled the ski mask over the top of her head allowing her ponytail to fall on her right shoulder maggie my former black ops teammate out here trying to waste me along with the other goon i put on ice i stared at her for a long moment unwilling to speak gun trained on the center mass that was rising and falling rapidly from blood loss and adrenaline her big blue eyes stared back at me i spoke first why because they have my daughter she was turning pale at this point from blood loss and shock she took a look at the pack i had on my back that formerly belonged to goon number one oh no max did you kill him she asked tears streaming down her face now she's dead my baby is going to die because of you sorry for not being more accommodating i said unsympathetic the way i see it maggie this ends three ways the first is that i kill you right here on this mountain the second is that i let the mountain kill you the third is that i save your traitorous ass and you answer my questions she just sat there against that pine tree defeated and out of options i knew in my heart that if the gun was in the other hand i'd get no such quarter my body would be cooling to outside air temperature right about now i didn't speak for a while letting her chew on what we both knew was inevitable without medical attention in another hour she'd be gone anyway finally she spoke okay max she muttered nearly unconscious i cast her weapons behind a nearby tree and frisked her for concealed knives guns sharp sticks or poison lipstick before fireman carrying her murderous ass and her kit up the mountain back to the cabin sister in arms i put maggie on the cabin table and dumped both of the goon backpacks out on my bed to be clear maggie is blood type b positive i know this because i'm also be positive and wouldn't have even been assigned to maggie in the first place if i wasn't compatible as an added measure of survivability they wanted people like us to be able to give each other blood if the need should arise like now i quickly pulled the direct transfusion kit out of its sealed pack and began prepping maggie to receive my blood the kit was idiot proof and the instructions were printed with pictures on the anticoagulant blood bag i connected the lines and watched my blood stream into maggie's unconscious body at resting heart rate it wouldn't take too long before i'd have to disconnect the line and tape over the holes in our arms i didn't want to give her too much as the blood flowed i tended to her shoulder the 208 grain subsonic bullet didn't tumble but passed clean through easy day i pulled the clotting agent infused bandages off her wound and cleaned it out with a squeeze bottle of saline from the goon packs after verifying that the bleeding had stopped i began to sew her up with her own trauma kit she moaned and jerked a couple times during the procedure but didn't wake up i wasn't sure quite how long it had been but sometime after i finished with her wound i started getting dizzy so i disconnected the transfusion line and let the blood bag continue to pump into her arm her deceased companion had a few packets of electrolyte drink powder in his kit so i mixed up the recommended ratio for 32 ounces and guzzled about a third of it down i was still feeling a little dizzy so i decided to tie maggie securely to the table in case i passed out after about an hour i started feeling a little better but wanted to hedge my bets here i continue to take on fluids and eat from the goon stash of food to get some strength back maggie's color looked somewhat better by now but she was still passed out and breathing deeply i took this time to reorganize my kit taking what i needed from maggie's and her assassin buddies and integrating it into my own she's still asleep as i write this and if she doesn't wake up soon i'm leaving her here 30 november maggie woke up after 12 hours of unconsciousness and asked for water i mixed up another batch of electrolyte and sugar water and brought it up to her dry lips thanks she said in a raspy voice after taking a few gulps listen i know you're shot tired and weak but i don't give a start talking i said no grand tour of the shady rest maggie replied my heart skipped a beat and i felt anger flash across my face only me dad and rich knew the name of the cabin and dad was dead what the did you do to him maggie i barked maggie took a deep breath and began to speak i didn't do a damn thing to him they brought him in and now he's being held at a multi-agency intel fusion center for questioning where is it i said reaching for the map of arkansas that hung on the wall above the table no response fine maybe i'll just do to you what your buddies did to rich to get him to talk i said i dug my thumbs into maggie's shoulder yes i realized what i was doing but this was also the person who trained me she winced and cried out in agony but didn't give up rich's location you know that's not going to work we've both been through the same she said through clenched teeth okay we'll play it that way when does your ride return for extract no reply i resisted the temptation to go any further i wouldn't get anything from her no matter what i did to her physically but her mind might be different maggie if you ever want a chance at seeing your daughter again you'll tell me when that goddamn helicopter comes back 0-1 december night the helo touches down in one hour i'm dressed like goon number one and he's dressed like me only dead i've got maggie zip tied to a tree i plan to cut her loose when i hear rotors she tries anything and she knows i'll blast her and the helo out of the sky without hesitation with any luck we'll fool the pilots into thinking the hit went off without a hitch maggie finally talked she's not a stupid person after all my heart raced as the rotor noise got steadily louder i cut maggie's zip cuff checking for spares in my pocket as i did so i waited for an eternity for the rotor wash to knock leaves and dead branches down on the riverbank it was pitch black outside but i was on my nvd my retinas bathed in the green light of distant stars the tips of the helicopter's rotors glowed forming a flickering violent circle of light above my head i watched maggie as she broke an ir chem light and waved it at the pilots before dropping it onto the rocky riverbank it was too late to whisper threats in her ear she was either going to do what i told her to do or she wasn't her mouth was taped up under the mask and her injury was in a sling giving her only one arm to work with all of her guns and knives were in the bottom of my pack but i let her sling an empty hk 416 over her back for a visual effect the helicopter hovered a little lower i approached first with the goon corpse in a fireman carry the injury from the cat sent a pang up my leg but i didn't dare show it the green glow of artificial eyes were watching as i loaded the corpse into the open helicopter door the co-pilot watched me place the body as i tried not to appear that i was keeping an eye on maggie i then signaled the pilot to hover even lower the ground was uneven so he couldn't set down but he complied and the copter lurched down a foot nearly touching skids to the rocky shore i nodded for maggie to get inside and she did so i jumped in after her feeling the thick zipped cuff in my cargo pocket to ensure it was still there this was about to go down i positioned the corpse between maggie and myself bolted it into the airframe with a d-ring and nonchalantly zip-tied the wrist of the dead man to maggie's good arm i then pointed at her and gave the universal signal of a finger across the throat which in this case meant if you try anything i'm kicking you and the stiff out the door she nodded the co-pilot shoved a green david clark headset between the seats and me i had to think fast i signal to the co-pilot that my ears were shot from gunfire hoping he'd understand the lie i was trying to convey maggie revealed earlier before we left the cabin that the pilots didn't know the stiff he was a contract killer the co-pilot stared at me for a few awkward seconds before nodding and returning to the helicopter controls the helicopter engines increased rpms i could barely make out the wet compass above the cockpit glass we seem to be headed west the digital airspeed indicator read triple digits probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 knots calculating that airspeed i had about an hour until the chopper would be circling to land maggie told me earlier where the makeshift intel fusion center was located where they were keeping rich bentonville arkansas the feds took over the headquarters for what used to be the largest retail chain in the united states and plugged a bunch of industrial generators into the local grid and somehow got some satcom up and other infrastructure up and running the massive complex was a regional hub of operations for what was becoming the new post-collapse government here was the rub i couldn't just sit and wait for this no black helicopter to land on the roof of the fusion center with a zip tied compromised c cia operative traitor and the wrong dead body on board i pulled maggie's nvd off her head effectively blinding her in the darkness i then stuffed the device in the top of my pack and latched it to the airframe things were about to go one of two conceivable ways my heart thumped as i waited for the right time it had been about 40 minutes since we took off but i could see a pinpoint of artificial light getting brighter on the horizon the grid was still down so i had a feeling we were quickly closing the distance to the fusion center i eased up to the space just behind the cockpit and checked the wet compass 272. i tried to direct the approach i tapped the co-pilot on the shoulder and screamed at him over the engine noise turn left two three zero both the co-pilot and pilot cocked their head simultaneously like confused dogs the pilot shook his head and pointed at the light on the horizon he then pointed at his watch hand and gave me the signal of five minutes i tapped the co-pilot on the shoulder again this time putting the tip of my silenced rifle against his temple turn left two three zero i screamed again fighting the noise the co-pilot jumped and reached for something on the right side of his seat not wanting the pilot to crash i waited until i saw the mp5k before pulling the trigger on my rifle blasting the co-pilot through his helmet i noticed the small hole appear through the windscreen in front of the co-pilot at about the same time i saw the blood splatter the helicopter jerked and lurched left pinning me against the side i could see the treetops below getting bigger maggie fell out i thought i was going to die we were moving at over a hundred knots and were probably a couple hundred feet off the ground there would be no surviving that i held on for dear life trying to keep the muzzle of my rifle pointed in the general direction of the cockpit the helicopter leveled out the pilot looked back at me and was met with the same view the co-pilot had moments before two to five now i yelled i could hear very faint screams but dismissed it as the good old ptsd talking the helicopter turned to the left and the wet compass heading bug settled on two two five i hit start on my watch chronometer and waited gun trained on the pilot as the aircraft headed in the general direction of fayetteville i made final preparations i reached forward and took the mp5k from the co-pilot he wouldn't be needing it anymore i grabbed his two spare mags still full of nine millimeter rounds and stuffed everything in my pack faint screams again i leaned outside the helicopter and saw maggie hanging there her hand still attached to the corpse which was also still attached to the helicopter after strapping myself into the airframe i pulled her sorry ass back inside and set her back down in the seat she immediately tried to deck me but forgot her good hand was still attached to the corpse blood trailed down her wrist from where the zip tie had cut into her skin good i caught the pilot looking back anxiously and came to the realization that he was talking on the radio i jumped back to the cockpit communicating to him that he better swing that boom mic off his lips or he'd never leave the aircraft alive he was scared i could smell urine and didn't know if it was him or the dead co-pilot i ordered him to shut down his transponder and all modes and codes as well as his radio takan and all other navigation he quickly and efficiently complied screens went dark and needles died and disappeared the fusion center's artificial light was on the right side of the helicopter and getting smaller i couldn't make out the interstate below too much overcast so i was going completely off air speed and time set her down i commanded the pilot began making engine control cyclic and collective adjustments and we began to slow down and descend now low enough to see some details i noticed that we missed a suitable grass field so i pointed over to a clear spot a few hundred meters away gesturing the pilot to land there he was so terrified by now that he'd probably have set it down in the trees if i hadn't said anything as the helo hovered over the field and began to land i grabbed my loaded down pack and waited just behind the cockpit just as soon as i felt the chopper touched down i hit the cockpit with a three-round burst destroying the radios and navigation equipment sparks flew everywhere and a small electrical fire began to smolder under the dash i pointed my gun at the pilot and gestured for him to take his nvd off shut down the aircraft and get out i followed him with my muzzle making sure he wasn't about to pull an mp5 out of his ass he stepped out of the port side door onto the thick grassy ground and then i told him to run he stood there for a moment probably in shock so i shot the ground at his feet to help him along he took off into the darkness the rotor began to slow to a point where i began to finally hear myself think i watched the pilot through my nvd as he stumbled through the weeds off into the distance satisfied he wouldn't be back anytime soon i then approached maggie okay this is how it's going to play out if i ever see your ass again i'm going to kill you i'm not going to talk i'm not going to reason i'll just pull the trigger and end you do you understand she looked at me and nodded good i'm gonna cut you loose here's a bottle of water the helicopter med kit is on the bulkhead near the cockpit don't follow me remember what i said i cut her ziptie and disappeared into the tree line moving south and west nwa i moved hours through the fields forests and backyards of northwest arkansas it took me a good while to figure out where exactly i was the first thing i did was find a place to recombinate i knew it was a mistake not killing maggie but now we were even she saved my life a while back by telling me to head for the hills and to stack it deep so that was my way of paying her back that's the way i rationalize it anyway my brain was telling me to end her but my heart was telling me to let her live no more of that i came across an old tin roof chicken house that seemed abandoned it was starting to sprinkle and the sky would open up at any moment so i cautiously approached before entering i covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve to weaken the stench the smell was overwhelming i knew what to expect when i found the door and quietly entered the place was a chicken tomb i found a corner with the least amount of dead chickens and started to reorganize my kit as much as i'd have liked to i couldn't carry all the guns captured over the past few days the hk 416 was nice but it was a heavy bastard probably a pound or two more than my silenced direct impingement m4 that i now had strapped to the side of my pack i loosened the drawstring on the top of my pack and reached inside pulling out the co-pilot's mp5k along with two full mags of nine millimeter not including the one in the gun i tugged on the side folding stock allowing it to fold out and snap into place i pulled the bolt back and locked to the rear confirmed that the chamber was empty no way the co-pilot could have gotten the drop on me without one in the hole i performed a quick hk slap sending the bolt home and loading a nine millimeter round into the chamber these old roller lock guns were just badass i placed it on safe folded the stock and slung the single point sling over my chest allowing it to sit just above my hip i'd keep the hk on my body for quick response and the m4 strapped to my pack if i needed to reach out a little farther than the nine millimeter could after reorganizing my pack i made camp in the chicken house getting used to the smell before catching a little shut-eye to the sounds of cold rain hitting the metal roof as i drifted off to sleep i thought about rich and jim and hope to hell they'd be all right the morning sun was beaming through the large fan inlet of the chicken house onto my face when i woke i downed a bottle of water and shoved the empty into a side pocket on my pack all in all i only had six bottles of water and about a dozen energy bars that i'd acquired from maggie and her partner that was enough to get me to black oak to the buried storm shelter i had there hopefully jim hadn't eaten everything well that's not what i was really hoping more than anything who knew if i would find a smoking hole in the ground where one of those drones had dropped a few laser-guided 500 pounders easier to think about jim eating all my food though yeah i'll just go with that i stood up and adjusted my pack straps and headed out the door toward the road i walked slow keeping to cover until i reached it i was probably about 10 miles from the helicopter well within a search area so i knew i had to be careful i also knew that my photo was probably in the possession of every federal law enforcement officer in the region thinking of that made me adjust the brim of my ball cap a little lower once i reached the road i began to feel too exposed i walked on the side and still felt uneasy from the openness so i moved to the ditch eventually deciding to hop back over the barbed wire fence and just stay in the field and follow the road from there it began to cloud up at about mid morning which was a good thing if you worried about drones i certainly did the mp5k hung under my arm just above my belt its weight was comforting as was my m4 car being strapped to my back i thought about this for a moment civilian ownership of firearms was made illegal months before the first hungry civilian that saw the outline of a rifle on my pack would immediately rap me out to the authorities i'd be targeted and they'd be rewarded cursing i pulled the rain cover and concealed my entire pack from view this would make things slower if i needed to go for the m4 but at least the hk would be fast and accessible i decided to put it under my carhartt and go concealed carry with the sub gun too desperate times i pulled my binos up to check the sign up ahead that read elkins10 i'd be there by nightfall if i hurried i still had most of wesley to get through before then i trekked through dense growth alongside the road for miles not hearing an engine it was well past noon and i hadn't eaten my belt was already a couple notches smaller since i was tuned up by that mountain lion my stomach felt as if it was consuming itself i kept moving rounding the bend on the road to elkins i heard voices now in familiar territory i knew that there was a bridge up ahead that was pretty long considering backwoods standards i remembered the bridge from years back but didn't come out this way often and even when i did it was in passing at 50 miles per hour in my truck i decided to cross the road now as the other side had a hill and denser foliage finally around the corner i could see the bridge and the checkpoint that was set up on my side i sat and watched not wanting to get into another goddamn conflict i just wanted safe passage making decisions on an empty stomach was bad so i tore into one of my few remaining energy bars and downed it along with a half bottle of water i pulled my binos and glassed the checkpoint taking note of who was down there how they were armed and with what there was one guy dressed in military fatigues carrying what looked like an m16 i obviously couldn't see the selector switch from that far away but it didn't matter the other three men carried pistols on their hips but one of them also carried a long bow not a compound bow but an honest-to-goodness british style longbow not high-tech or modern but it could still put the hurt on you from farther away than one might imagine the water was high and very cold making expedient crossing on foot without the bridge a no-go i could try to head up or downstream to see if there was another way across but the very presence of the checkpoint told me that these men had the monopoly on river crossing for what was probably miles in both directions i couldn't stay here forever and this bridge stood between elkins and me and elkins was what separated my cousin jim and me in black oak i decided the best course of action was to just ask so i did i tightened my pack straps and headed back down the road i made sure the mp5k was chambered and that the safety was off back on pavement i walked around the bend in clear view of the checkpoint and waved my arms the guy with the m16 screamed for me to freeze so i complied i couldn't hear what the m16 guy was saying to his buddy but it looked like he was sending him to me my heart rate increased steadily as the man approached when he got to within 50 yards he drew his handgun but kept it low i raised my hands but kept them at chest level if this guy was even halfway good with a pistol i'd be dead before i could pull the sub gun from under my coat calculated risk you should have just sniped them from the hill i told myself no you're not a murderer the man stopped at about ten yards state your business stranger he said firmly just one across the bridge my family is somewhere on the other side i responded you armed yeah what else you got in there listen this ain't worth my trouble i'll just find another way across i said to the bridge troll well this is the only way across for 10 miles on either side we ain't shaking people down mister but the feds have been creeping into this territory looking for people we're running low on ammunition pretty soon they'll be able to just walk across the bridge without any thought of us shooting back i hear what you're saying but can we make a deal here or do i need to talk to the guy with the m16 i said no i'm his right hand i can speak for the group what are you offering the best i can do is a half mag of 556 caliber for your boss's rifle in exchange for safe passage i left a little negotiating room just in case they demanded a full mag but if they wanted more or if they tried anything stupid i'd dump everything i had into them and leave them bleeding out as i walked over their bodies to the other side the man looked at me for a long while before replying okay you got yourself a deal put the ammo in your ball cap and approach the checkpoint don't have anything in your hands except the hat with the ammo you got it okay i said flatly i quickly removed the rain cover grabbed a full mag and began thumbing rounds into my ball cap 16 just to leave no doubt i got situated and approached the checkpoint slowly and deliberately keeping the man 10 yards ahead of me i kept the ball cap with the ammo in my left hand just in case i needed to reach for the sub gun as i approached guns left holsters and the boss's m16 was brought up into high ready i stopped hey i mean you no harm an agreement was made with your guy here i just want to cross i said he's right we have a deal the right hand man added the boss signaled for the others to holster their guns but he kept his own rifle high i began to move again at the checkpoint i approached the man with the m16 and said here's your half mag of 556 caliber as agreed now please let me pass the boss man approached slowly and looked me in the eyes his facial expressions immediately revealed recognition he didn't have to say a damn word he looked down into my hat and grabbed the ammunition and then quickly pulled the magazine from his m16 frantically feeding rounds into it he was empty the whole time i walked past him with my hands still open and continued across the bridge walking backwards with my eyes on the m16 he slammed the mag into the gun and racked the bolt back feeding around into the chamber i jogged backwards and pulled the mp5k nearly falling on my ass from the weight of the backpack and the awkwardness of trying to run backwards with it don't try it i screamed the boss man raised his weapon at me as i unfolded the stock on my sub gun i took aim for the diopter side and squeezed the trigger tagging the man in the shoulder my ears rang but i could somehow hear his m16 clank against the concrete at his feet and the thud of his body as he hit the ground screaming in agony i turned and ran across the bridge noticing the road spikes on the other side guess they didn't have enough people to staff both ends of their checkpoint oddly i didn't hear any pistol fire coming at me and i was about to turn to see what was going on when it nearly knocked me off my feet flap was the sound i heard as the arrow hit my pack the impact caused me to stagger for a few steps before i finally realized what happened i kept moving not wanting to find out the firing rate of the man's longbow hundred yards past the other side of the bridge i broke off into the woods 16 rounds of 556 caliber and one round of nine millimeter poorer safe inside the cover of thick arkansas pines and oaks i dropped my pack to see what happened the arrow impacted fairly hard hitting the stock and buffer tube of my m4 aside from some cosmetic damage to the polymer stock and a small dent in the aluminum buffer tube all was good the gun was still functional but i had a nice hole in my rain cover i didn't kill anyone today and i made it across the bridge without shooting all my ammo in hindsight i think i should have smoked them from the hilltop but luck was on my side for the time being after sorting out the arrow situation i referenced my compass and kept moving through the thick foliage and thorns common in these parts after an hour or so i had an opening in the dense growth and spilled out onto what i was pretty sure was highway 16 the road was clear going in both directions giving me time to make the choice do i go west past pete's junction to shaftner's corner in order to get home or east through elkins and sulfur city west put me closer to fayetteville than i'd like but east was a bit farther reluctantly i tightened my pack straps and moved east in the direction of elkins a place i knew well ten years ago highway 16 was dotted with vast fields farms and the occasional home that butted right up to the road built in the days that horses pulled carriages it was close to sunset when i came upon elkins high school on my right the place looked as if it had been shut down for years grass grew tall up between the cracks and the sidewalk and three startled deer jumped and sprinted away from me past the entrance to the hangar-shaped gymnasium there was no sign of anyone on the campus and i needed a place to bed down for the night i followed the direction the deer sprinted through the overgrown courtyard that once bustled with students moving back and forth between buildings the school looked like a large hotel from here with the doors to the classrooms facing me from both sides i saw one of the whitetails jump a low chain link fence up ahead so i kept moving in that general direction with half the row of classroom doors behind me i closed the distance to get to the field ahead i could now see the goal posts and scoreboard being overtaken by mold and other signs of neglect shattering glass behind me caused me to die for the dirt i concentrated listening for any other signs of movement i heard more rustling around coming from inside one of the classrooms i just passed i parted the grass in front of me providing a better view of the doors i sat there watching waiting until a bear cub came stumbling out of one of the open classroom doors i froze in terror realizing that i only had the hk 9 millimeter readily accessible and that my m4 would cost me time and noise to retrieve i slowly reached for the hk and gripped it tightly as another cub stepped out of the classroom and into the muddy courtyard apparently all those stories about bears sleeping the whole winter are i froze staying to gauge the wind direction from the way the tall reeds of grass was swaying the classroom doorway darkened halfway just before mama bear came walking out just as soon as she stepped into the courtyard she craned her massive head upward and began to sniff she tensed swiveling her head from side to side scanning her surroundings she looked right at me for a moment prompting immediate flashbacks of wrestling the mountain lion i didn't move a follicle and just averted my eyes away from hers she growled i was about to get up and start sprinting for my life just before i saw her swat one of her cubs on its hind end prompting it to get back inside the classroom the second cub followed its sibling and mama bear followed them both back inside maybe it was the deer smell that woke them up or maybe it was me either way i decided to take the long way around on my way back to the gymnasium there was nowhere to run or climb in this little kill box the bears called home i crawled for 50 feet or so before i had the balls to get up and crouched to the field where the deer escaped the field was in pretty bad shape only the bleachers goal posts and scoreboards signified that football used to be played here the derelict scoreboard indicated that the elks were losing 13 to 21 i walked around the perimeter and under the bleachers finding nothing that i could use as the sun dipped below the trees i pulled out my nvd and climbed to the top of the bleachers with the mp5k still slung across my chest i fished the m4 out of my bag checking the silencer to make sure it was still securely attached i waited the cold aluminum sapped the heat from my body and i began to shiver i sat on my pack for a while and just kept my eyes trained on the football field through the nvd after about an hour i could see the eyes of a rabbit moving through the grass i brought my m4 up and adjusted the red dot to the lowest setting the green dot hovered over the rabbit's head i took a deep breath and exhaled squeezing the trigger the round thumped from my suppressed carbine and the supersonic crack of the 556 caliber bullet followed the rabbit spun before hitting the ground i rushed down the bleachers trying not to fall as my legs were frozen and numb jumping the bottom handrail i landed in the grass and ran to the rabbit hoping it was dead the pain in my leg was barely present just enough to remind me of the traumatic hand to paw about with the mountain lion as i approached the rabbit i could see that the shot was a clean kill and i was thankful that i didn't have to take a deer instead it would have been pretty damn wasteful as i'd have to leave most of it here i'd have probably dragged it near mama bear's den but still the rabbit made more sense and i was lucky to have it i took it by the ears grabbed my kid and headed back to the gym again taking the long way around as i had no desire to confront an arkansas black bear at night protecting her cubs i cautiously approached the elkins high school gymnasium there was no sign of anyone around me but i could see a faint flickering of light far across the road opposite the high school on the elementary school side it couldn't be brighter than a candle and was invisible to the night adjusted naked eye i checked my light discipline to make sure i didn't have a flashlight on anywhere and crossed the gravel walkway to the front of the gym the doors were chained shut and the glass was still intact even though it looked like someone tried to work it over with a baseball bat at the glass panel just to the right of the door i had three padlock shims in my pack so i fished around for those for a few minutes until i found them work the lock i whispered to myself hoping that twin doberman pinchers wouldn't appear out of nowhere i must have been getting rusty because the huge brass lock that held the chains around the door handles wasn't going to give in for me tonight defeated i shoved the shims back into my pack and looked for another way inside i walked around the parking lot side of the gym keeping an eye on the flickering light in the window of the elementary school 300 yards away across the street i reached the back of the gym and navigated through a maze of old school bus tires and dilapidated gym equipment approaching the back door i turned the knob locked so again i reached into my pack for the lock pick set i'd long ago replaced some of the raking tools with modified hacksaw blades very few original picks remained after a few minutes of raking the lock i got frustrated and tried a couple of bump keys and was finally able to gain entry glad the lock was older than i was as the newer ones could not be bumped i slowly entered listening for any signs of life human or otherwise a twig snapped somewhere inside causing me to involuntarily close the door and lock it behind me i was committed i stepped through some curtains and stage props before climbing a short set of stairs that spilled out onto a small wooden stage i scanned the dark gym through my nvd looking for threats before stepping off the stage onto the basketball court championship banners circled the gymnasium's high walls some ancient some more recent as i followed them around the perimeter i saw the mascot a massive stuffed elk's head it seemed to look majestically down onto the bleachers as if deciding whether or not the fans were worthy enough to watch i didn't like it the eyes appeared black through my nvd and seemed to follow me around the gym i climbed up the steps to the bleachers noting that they were old and made of wood instead of the more modern aluminum design with no signs of anything amiss i did a perimeter sweep of the rest of the gym my final stop was the coach's office i pulled the glass door open and went inside out of the laser-like gaze of the stuffed elk's head i clicked on my flashlight and raised the nvd off my eye the office had been hastily ransacked the small refrigerator door was open the insides gutted of anything useful photos of wives and children hung on the walls above the desks a banner hung behind the desk in the back that read whatever it takes a coat rack in the back concealed another door that led to a staircase i went inside the small landing and followed the wooden steps up rounding the corner at the top of the stairs i came out inside a bonus room type space equipped with desks arranged neatly in rows and a foosball table sitting crooked in the back in front of another door i approached the teacher's desk in the front of the classroom and flipped through the papers i will not talk in study hall without permission this was written hundreds of times over several sheets of paper in different handwritings study hall i checked the door behind the foosball table it was unlocked and led out onto a fire escape that overlooked the courtyard between ground level classrooms the ladder was retracted and secured with the flimsy plastic tamper seal i wouldn't be using it as it led down to the ground and not very far from where mama bear and her cubs were hanging out for the winter as i came back inside i noticed a cooler sitting under the foosball table i prayed for warm beer or maybe some soda but what i found was three full plastic bottles of water with mold growing on the outside a whole lot better than nothing i decided to make camp in the study hall for the night so i unpacked my sleeping bag and made a place to sleep and then brought out my mess kit to prepare tonight's rabbit stew the rabbit didn't have a lot of meat on its bones but it was all i had after lighting a few candles from my pack i dumped the tin of number two pencils out onto the teacher's desk and wiped it out with minimal water i then filled it up halfway and placed it just over my large can of sterno fuel using some old books to hold up the corners i dressed the rabbit quickly and knew that adding the brains and eyeballs to my stew was the best survival option but i wasn't quite there yet i'd save the bugs brains and other disgusting for when my little cabin gut was gone no need to get all reality tv just yet piece by piece i lowered the rabbit meat into the boiling water and then tossed a quarter of peanut butter energy bar into the mix for a little sugar flavoring i watched the bar melt and swirl around in my tiny cauldron and set my watch timer for 20 minutes i have to say that the rabbit stew was superb i ate everything in the tin and drank the energy bar broth trying to ignore the number two pencil seasoning i normally didn't mind sleeping in weird places like this but there was just something unsettling about the upstairs gym classroom and the crazy elk's head i tossed the guts and bones off the fire escape platform into the courtyard below maybe the cubs could find them tomorrow i secured both doors with zip ties and placed some empty soda cans from the trash at the bottom of the stairs should get my attention if someone decided to come to study hall tonight my next move is simple make it to the storm shelter and locate gym i should get there by tomorrow night if i leave early enough and don't run into too much trouble there's one large bridge i'd need to deal with but what are the odds of another bridge checkpoint armed with a longbow sharpshooter right now i need to blow out the candles and try to sleep tomorrow i'll see a lot of miles on foot with too many of them exposed my gear is disorganized right now so i'll set my alarm a little early and take care of it in the morning the full stomach of rabbit stew is starting to make my eyes heavy sulfur city my watch began to beep at about 0 4 30 prompting me to climb out of the warmth of my bag and into the cold folding chair next to the foosball table as the fog began to drift from my mind i heard strange noises coming from outside i grabbed my nvd and stepped out onto the fire escape the two cubs were wrestling over the scraps i tossed down last night the wind was blowing at me from the direction of the animals so i knew that they wouldn't notice me up here mama bear was nowhere to be seen but part of the courtyard was blocked from my view it was biting cold outside so i went back in to layer up and get packed and moving it was just before five when i retraced my steps through the gym to the locked back door and out into the parking lot on the opposite side of the gymnasium from the bear den the faint light i'd seen last night in the window of the elementary school across the road was gone i followed highway 16 south looking for the sulfur city road i'd have frozen if not for the layers and pace i was moving the road was long and relatively straight by arkansas standards with access to woods on both sides i felt safe walking on the actual road until the sun came up here it was dark and quiet with no signs of life not even the chirp of morning birds i was able to make three miles and be nearly upon my turn before it got too light to risk walking out in the open the last half mile was a brutal trek through tall wet grass soaking me from the waist down with morning dew until i broke out onto the sulfur city road i turned west and made it to the outskirts of sulphur city by about noon a barn sat half collapse just off the road so i climbed up into the loft and set up an observation point intending to be here for about an hour before moving into the micro town the loft floor creaked its sounds made me think the whole barn would collapse in on me if i stepped in the wrong spot this was the highest point that overlooked the only intersection and four-way stop within 15 miles i pulled the binoculars from my pack and glassed the area from the crooked loft window the intersection had score marks on the concrete where it looked like a vehicle burned up panning a binos to the right i could see an armored vehicle sitting half inside the front of a home just up the road from the intersection no smoke or movement or sounds were coming from any direction except the dilapidated barn structure i was using after an hour of seeing nothing out of the ordinary i climbed back down out of the barn and moved low to the intersection crossing it carefully and quietly the armored vehicle up ahead appeared to be a mine resistant ambush protected mrap carrier the back end was riddled with armor-piercing dents and punctures and explosive damage one of the tires was bent at an odd angle indicating that this thing wouldn't drive again without depot level repairs as i came around i could see the side of the vehicle ght was all that was visible with the rest obscured by the house it had crashed into hashtag fight this was one of the ghosts mraps belonging to someone crucial to the liberation of the detention center at the university my gut sank and i needed to sit down for a moment without the help of those armored rebel vehicles last winter we'd never have taken the prison jim would still be held there as a political prisoner i leaned up against the back of the m rap and took a few deep breaths trying to suppress the debilitating anger and frustration of the situation i ended up opening the back door on the vehicle and was hit by the smell of a corpse reluctantly i climbed up into the derelict armored vehicle wrapped a bandana around my nose and mouth and leaned my head into the front area of the mrap it was a ghost the body wore the familiar clothing but it was too decomposed to identify i climbed out of the m wrap and onto the roof of the vehicle bee was spray painted in bright letters blinky the bravest of all the ghosts the one never afraid to put his life on the line for freedom of those around him i spent the rest of my daylight hours digging a hero's grave 0-4 december early i spent the night back in the loft of the partially collapsed barn there was enough old hay to make it a little softer but i still had to deal with the cold and the creaking of the old hulk i barely got any sleep as the barn seemed to shudder every time a gust of wind blew down the valley i couldn't build a fire without burning the whole place down so i had to rely on my sleeping bag to fight off the wind that seemed to find its way through the cracks in the barn walls after a cold miserable night i forced myself up on my feet tearing into the last energy bar i still had some water likely enough to reach the river that would be raging down the middle of the valley a few miles on the road past sulfur city after packing up i slipped on my nvd and climbed down the rickety wooden barn ladder to the dirt floor at the bottom i fell for my only companion the mp5k slung across my chest on a single point sling resting on my right hip i paid my last respects at blinky's grave and got moving i made good time and was at the quarter mile straight stretch right at sun up at the last dog leg before the straight stretch i climbed the nearby hill and stopped for a water break while finishing up my second to last bottle of clean water i pulled the binoculars and glassed the road ahead i had a clear view for nearly a half mile across the flat valley to the next hill my heart sank again as i saw another goddamned mrap on its side just before the bridge i couldn't see anything else but the bottom of the vehicle it was a clear morning with no trees between here and the bridge i'd be out in the open for a few minutes before i could cross the bridge but i had no choice i had to see the m rap i had to know if another ghost had been assassinated here it took an hour to go the distance i kept hearing faint sounds of engines in the sky and worried that a hell hellfire would go high order nearby at any moment i feared my government after killing my back and knees by low crawling or crouching the whole way through the tall grass of the adjacent fields i was finally near the overturned armored vehicle i held my breath rounding the wreckage as the top came into view i let out a sigh of relief no markings on top someone besides me had taken out a dhs m wrap i scanned the skies again before examining the overturned hulk small arms fire riddled the entire vehicle on every visible side and a large hole ripped through the front end and pulled out my flashlight and checked the damage the three-inch diameter hole was coated in a green tarnish around the edges all the way through the vehicle into the cab copper someone had been making explosively formed penetrators my design had gotten out there i'd heard it distributed on the pirate stations in between dhs propaganda interruptions before i'd skinned out and headed for the hills of newton county someone hit back blinky i said aloud without even thinking i was so enthralled trying to examine what took down the dhs armor that i didn't notice the huge gap in the bridge just up ahead leaving the resting mrap i carefully stepped out onto the concrete and steel structure that spanned one of the larger branches of the white river and began to piece together what happened here the dhs mrap was probably hauling ass down the quarter mile like i used to do as a teenager the driver likely didn't see the hole in the bridge until it was too late i walked back to the m rap and sure enough faded skid marks on the road where this heavy locked its brakes screeching to a halt right before someone detonated the copper efp into its grill instantly cooking the occupants bad day for whoever was inside i didn't even want to climb up and see what the driver looked like now it wouldn't be pretty leaving the wreck i walked over to the artificial precipice there was a 20-foot gap between me and the rest of the bridge and a lot of rushing water below i backtracked to the wreckage and veered down under the bridge to the riverbank i was only three miles from jim i pulled my radio and was about to key our private channel when i hesitated reminding myself of the technical capabilities of the lawless thugs that were running the country now i switched off the handset pulled the batteries and tossed both inside my pack i couldn't risk the radio turning itself on in my pack in something keying the transmit button as i trekked to my holdout i headed downstream over the rounded rocks that the river had polished over thousands of years long before men like myself walked this area after following the river's path for an hour out of my way i saw a beaver dam up ahead as i approached the loud slaps of beaver tails on the water warned the others to escape some large birds squawked and flapped away into the trees i wasn't desperate enough yet but now i knew where to find them when i got to that point greasy beavers moving closer to the large dam i began to see bright contrasting colors intertwined with the branches and tree limbs that made up the structure it wasn't until i was nearly upon the dam that my brain processed what i had been looking at the dam was clogged with dozens of human corpses in varying stages of decomposition the birds that were scared away from the beaver's warnings began to return and peck away at the rotting flesh i moved closer covering my face all civilians bullet holes some children i dropped my knees and struggled to keep my rage in check staring at the sky wanting so much to line whoever was responsible for this against the wall to give them the justice they deserved i vomited into the river and watched it flow quickly into the dam my eyes were watering and my stomach churned for a long while before i was able to compose myself enough to stand i said a few private words for the people unfortunate enough to have a beaver dam as their final resting place i then kept moving now cognizant of this water source and where it flowed familiar places two hours after the dam i found the path i was searching for across the river the decrepit steel beam bridge spanned the rushing waters up ahead it more resembled an erector set creation than a working structure every piece of its frame was rusted mars red and chunks of its concrete were missing forming holes throughout many years ago after school when this one lane bridge was still in use i would jump off into the deep water and swim the bridge was condemned a long time ago i thought it had already been torn down for razor blades huge berms of dirt and concrete pylons were put in place on both sides to keep vehicles from attempting to cross the abandoned death trap this bridge was long replaced by another but that was two miles farther downstream and could be manned by another checkpoint i'm sure the old girl could handle a couple hundred pounds even if just one more time i approached the archaic structure marveling at its resilience and refusal to collapse the weld markings indicated that the thing was built in 1913 i climbed up onto the structure and stuck to the edge where i could keep a couple hands on the beams aside from a few chunks of concrete falling away beneath my feet and plopping into the rushing waters it held just fine i was across the river in less than 10 seconds and safe on the other side i climbed the steep barrier berm and skirted the concrete pylons and was on the road that used to bring wagons horses and people over the one lane bridge the abandoned road was dirt for another quarter mile up to the new road and then it was washed out by rain and lack of road greater maintenance i jumped the washed out sections and took comfort in the thick canopy of trees that covered my head blocking any view from the skies above it was cold in the shade of the large oaks but i wasn't alone more deer jumped across the road ahead of me their white tails flashing as they vaulted over the three-wire fence on the left side of the path up ahead i could see the light at the end of the tree tunnel and quickened my pace only three more turns in the road until i was on my land again approaching the exit to the old road i could see more concrete pylons and another dirt pile i started jogging to those keeping the mp5k from banging against my side as i went at the dirt pile i took cover and pulled out my binoculars to survey the newer road that ran from north to south in this particular stretch easing up over the berm i was at first startled by what i thought i'd seen dozens of people mostly dressed in white and evenly spaced like they were about to march in a military parade at second glance i realized it wasn't people it was tombstones rising above the grass at a cemetery i'd forgotten about it as you couldn't really see the cemetery when driving by on the new road below my vantage point from up here the monolith stood tall against time and the elements looking at them through my peripheral vision i could make myself see a column of people again satisfied that i was alone i swung my torso and legs over the steep berm two turns left with only a mile to go i half jogged half walked to the next turn in the road leaving the pavement only to give the farmhouses a wide berth so as not to be detected and reported to the dhs by any quizzling traitors looking from their windows now west onto black oak road one turn left i was moving quickly up the hill when i heard an engine i took off my pack and tossed it over the barbed wire fence chasing it over into the adjacent field i lay low as the sound of the engine told me it was at the top of the mountain probably three quarters of a mile away as i lay in wait another sound began to drown out the approaching vehicle electric engines whirred and revved from somewhere i peeked my head up over the top of the tall grass and the small drone's gaze immediately met mine instinctively i slapped open the mp5k stock bringing the weapon up to my cheek and firing at the drone it hovered at first but then began to take evasive maneuvers around hit one of the quadcopter motors sending it spinning hard into a nearby tree the engine on top of the mountain began to rev i had to move i sprinted in the opposite direction of my property as the vehicle sped down the hill to the quadcopter crash site i pulled my m4 off my back along with some magazines before hiding the rest of my kit underneath an old rusting truck that had been sitting at the edge of this field since long before i was born i snuck to the edge of the grassland with a clear view of the road as i caught my first glimpse of the vehicle a black chevy suv with dhs markings on the side along with canine unit stenciled on the rear window two men came jumping out of the suv dressed in body armor short barrelled m4s at the high ready one of them opened the back door and yelled what sounded like a german command into the back seat a large dog jumped out onto the pavement its teeth flashed and it wore a saddlebag as well as some sort of shoes that covered its large paws one of the men gave it a rag to smell and firmly issued another command and the dog immediately put its muzzle to the road in a split second it shot across the road and jumped the fence in the same spot i did a few moments earlier the men took up defensive positions around their no doubt armored suv i've been taught how to evade dogs but i simply didn't have the most important ingredient now time with time and distance evasion can be made possible by not traveling in a straight line but rather a system of u-shaped paths with the goal of eventually crossing streams and other terrain that would make tracking difficult the large dog was only a few hundred yards away on a straight line sniff path to me i could hear it growl as it swiftly navigated through the tall grass and shrubs i ran up the hill looking over my shoulder like a wide receiver the dog broke through the brush 50 yards away and caught sight of me its ears perked as it quickened its pace bearing its large white fangs as it closed the distance i hated to do it but i took the shot hitting the dog in its chest from 50 yards it flipped end over end yelped and then lay still the shot was suppressed but it was an m4 and loud with the silencer just harder to triangulate i looked back one last time to see if the men were in pursuit and noticed something very troubling the dog wasn't there anymore i barely had enough time to take the second shot this time through its head right as it left at me that put its lights out fast painless as the dog laid dead on the ground i verified that it wore body armor which is what must have saved it the first time i truly felt bad for the animal as it was only doing what it was trained to do and didn't know right from wrong unlike the two men that sent it to kill me i worked my way a few yards back to a break in the grass line and got low observing the men one of them was missing and the other remained positioned on the opposite side of the vehicle his rifle atop a bipod on the hood i backed away a little farther from the edge of the grass when i observed the man leaned toward me on the hood putting the rifle up to his shoulder a twig snapped behind me i rolled over onto my back and aimed the gun between my knees as i became aware of an electronic beeping sound the sound seemed to get louder and the frequency higher louder again the frequency constant they shot brutus i heard a voice yell out again this time after a radio was keyed they shot brutus get your ass over here i heard a car door slam and the horn on the suv bark once i decided that on my back was not a good way to die so i quickly got up but not high enough to be noticed by whoever was coming to see brutus the dog bleed out god damn i felt bad about it i waited with my gun leveled in the direction of brutus master as the one from the suv arrived on the scene what the you see tom this is why guns have been outlawed these can't be trusted with a pair of kid scissors let alone a firearm the suv guard said did the drone get facial recognition before it crashed the one called tom asked nearly crying yeah clear view but the guy was wearing a hat and baseball cap it might be him or another lunatic gun nut holding out in these hills we should just firebomb the whole place the suv guard said cory i'm telling you right now i'm going to track this piece of down i'm going to make him suffer for this tom said listen you go back and check on the facial recognition i'll i'll load brutus up you shouldn't have to corey replied the murderous canine lover headed back to the suv leaving me behind with corey a man that had no idea i was a snake in the grass three meters away holding an m4 carbine to his chest no head he like the dog was wearing body armor the moment i was waiting for corey slung the gun across his back and grunted as he put the dog's corpse over his shoulder stop right there and don't move or it's over i commanded corey began to slowly turn to face me i wouldn't i said he froze in his tracks hey corey did you take a note as a federal law enforcement officer before all this happened i asked he didn't respond answer or it's all over yeah he did he said his voice cracking so what was i supposed to do was i supposed to let that dog kill me i said angrily listen drop the gun and you won't be corey said before he was interrupted it's him tom screamed from down the hill at the suv that's right it is me corey turn around look me in the eyes i ordered he turned to face me his face rapidly cycling through hatred fear and rage in two hours this place will be crawling with feds and a lot more dogs we'll find you and i'll shoot you myself count on it corey said i raised my carbine to corey's head in response killing me is a capital crime you piece of cory shouted i can kill you right now for pointing that gun at me you idiot civilians should never have been allowed to own guns in the first place i shot him in the right knee he dropped to his left knee and cried out at the top of his lungs i waited until the dog lover came to his rescue as soon as tom broke the clearing i shot him in the left knee making it hard for either of them to help each other move later twin shrieking whales competed for air time as i took their guns and left them to hug it out in the tall grass i returned to where i hid my pack and pulled it from under the old truck replacing it with the two m4s i reverse confiscated from the two thugs might come in handy i also took the full mags with me they do nicely in my kit i rushed from the cash under the rusted truck and over to the suv that was still running the men continued to cry out from atop the hill so i figured i had some time i pulled on the vehicle doors locked i could tell from the glass that the windows were bullet resistant the thickness of them refracted the view of the inside like an aquarium striking the hood with the butt of my rifle i could tell that and the fenders were armored too the tires were run flat type so unless i wanted to work on this thing with a cutting torch and a sledge i wasn't going to kill it anytime soon i left it running and entered the woods behind the old church final turn i was on the heavily wooded path to my bunker shrouded by shadow of the nearby mountain this area still had snow on the ground nothing had disturbed the path i was on at least not for a few days i did see signs of deer but thankfully nothing else my pace quickened alongside my heart rate as i moved i still had some work to do before i could approach i made wide arcing turns for hundreds of yards in odd directions i knew where the streams were in this area and i made sure to cross them back and forth and travel up and down the streams to evade the dogs that might be coming behind me satisfied i'd done everything i could to slow my pursuers down i started making my final approach to the shelter nothing not even pepper or any other will stop a tracking dog they'd eventually find the shelter if they put enough manpower on the problem i approached from the north reaching the high pond bank where i'd made nightly radio calls to rich in the days when this darkness began i didn't dare turn on my radio now i missed rich and those bastards still had him the high banks of the pond reminded me of a small meteor crater as i walked around its rim to the southern side and down the pond embankment i couldn't see the shelter i rushed over to where we buried it and nearly tripped over the hatch jim had hidden it well he'd planted some indigenous bushes all around the thing and repainted the exhaust pipes and access hatches in a camo pattern that blended in perfectly with the area i knocked on the hatch at first not noticing the large hardened lock attached to it i searched for any sign of gym but it looked as if the place had been abandoned for a while no tracks no sign of food prep or anything the five gallon bucket was empty too i checked the lock again for a note jim had left me one this way before nothing but when i went to flip the lock over and look at the back side i could see something written on the side of the hatch very faint as if scratched with a small pencil i had to get down on the ground and beam it with my flashlight to read it check that was our camping liquor cache behind the old oak tree buried in a cooler not far from here i hid my pack and moved quickly to the spot where we used to camp it wasn't long before i could see the old 55 chevy pickup hoods sitting on the ground next to our fire circle i went behind the tree and moved the rocks and dirt aside revealing the old cooler where our whiskey used to live i was disappointed to see the cooler empty except for a piece of paper and the shelter lock key can't drink paper jim i said loud unfolding the tattered sheet i read the word pneumonia in jim's handwriting i sat there in shock thinking the worst my cousin must have caught pneumonia and died somewhere up here in these hills i began to whimper and sadness overtook me for quite some time i was alone in the woods we grew up in even the sun was making efforts to abandon me in light of the news of jim's demise suddenly i walked back to the shelter with the paper tucked inside my shirt pocket back at the hatch i dropped my knees and opened the lock i slung the hatch open and the smell of charged batteries and stale air hit my face defeated i slithered into the opening like a lethargic snake and scooted down the steps and through the door to the living space i knew that this area would be crawling with feds tonight if not early in the am tomorrow but i didn't care jim was dead what did anything matter i feel ashamed to even write this right now so i'll probably end up ripping the pages out and burning them but i am thinking it i miss everyone goodbye captain caveman 0-200 can't sleep haven't heard any helicopters or vehicle engines places cleared out there are some essentials here case of water half a dozen cans of food a couple boxes of 556 caliber but there were a lot more supplies when i left for newton county i wonder where jim took it all pneumonia i had it once as a matter of fact i was with jim when i caught it we were 12 years old when we finally worked up enough courage to explore the cave at the edge of the property we were scared when we entered with our old incandescent bulb flashlights and roll of kite string we must have gone a mile into the cave that day we ran out of the string we were using to backtrack as we explored i still remember seeing the lantern marks initials of lovers torched into the rock a hundred years ago my parents used to tell me stories about kids getting lost in the cave never to be heard from again they didn't want me in there and had no idea i wasn't listening we somehow lost track of time exploring the vastness of the cave and when we finally made it back to the entrance it was dark outside i started feeling weak just as soon as i was heading back home by the time we got home mom didn't even grill me on our whereabouts or why we were covered in head to toe with clay and bat guano i was that pale mom put me to bed that night with a hundred degree fever i was admitted to the hospital the following night and diagnosed with pneumonia the next morning i spent two days in the hospital with a worried mother beside me the entire time after i was finally well enough to go home the cave was an afterthought she never asked jim or me about it we took this as the okay to go back any time we wanted and did just that jack shelter key pneumonia cave cave jim wasn't telling me he had pneumonia i packed frantically climbing out of my hole in the ground at zero five hundred i hurriedly locked the shelter placing the key in my pocket and trekked southwest in the direction of the old cave again i took a wide arcing path crossing streams and navigating briars in a zigzag to slow anything that might be on my trail as the sun came up over the trees to the east i heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter rotor beating the morning air into submission somewhere off in the distance the power line clearing was the last open area before i disappeared into the woods into the cliff face that concealed the entrance to the cave not many people knew of its existence outside the family one time a college professor had pulled up some ancient records on the cave from the county archives and came for permission to map it but nothing ever came of it all those records had been moved online a long time ago and i doubt anyone would be pursuing any basements for the geological records of this region searching for old caves the helicopter noise faded by the time i was at the cliffs it had been a while since i had been out this way so it took some time to find the right path up the side after going up the wrong cliff face once i finally found the right one and was on the ledge and up the tight path i fished out my head lamp stowed my pack behind a boulder and went over the small hill prior to the entrance someone had covered the entrance with branches making it difficult to discern unless you knew it was there the opening was only about three feet across and two feet high i yelled down into the first chamber jim no response i moved the branches out of the way and crawled sub gun first into the opening my headlamp searing through a darkness that only the cave dweller would comprehend after making it through the first few feet i was inside the large first chamber gemini called it the lobby back in the day oak leaves from the outside covered the clay and rock and the temperature and humidity generally mirrored the outside jim i called out no response i clicked my light off and pulled my nvd down over my eye as i followed the path down to the gateway and the second chamber the crawl space was tight i got down on my chest and began to low crawl through the opening barely fitting i'd gained a few pounds since i was a teenager as i transited the five-meter crawl space the temperature began to climb i used to tease jim when we crawled through the opening making him go first as i growled like a bear from behind and screamed like i was being eaten alive it worked a lot more than it should have finally through the opening i adjusted my nvd and called out again jim this time my voice echoed through the chamber and the response was a chirp of bats the clay was thick in this area i could see no tracks in the clay but did note where something had been dragged i kept moving forward until the chamber opened up to the size of a large living room through my nvd i saw the outline of a partial boot print and clicked on my light the print was scraped over by something as if someone was trying to conceal their tracks i kept moving to the next chamber looking down at my machine gun i thought how foolish it might be to open fire inside the cave jim and i had regularly found evidence of cave-ins within some of the chambers when we explored them years before i turned my light off again observing the local wildlife through night vision device the small bats hung like stalactites on the cavern ceiling covered with what looked like frost and condensation they seemed frozen in time impervious to what went on outside the chambers in which they slept like vampires most people think of bats as huge black flying rats that would suck your blood as you slept that might be true in some parts of the world but these were gray in color only two inches long and not very frightening well unless you were a flying insect that happened to be targeted by bat sonar i rounded the next corner and saw what looked like a small base camp someone was in the sleeping bag a radio and other equipment sat on top of a plastic tote on one side of the sleeping bag a rifle on the other i approached cautiously stepping lightly until i could reach the end of the carbine i grabbed the familiar gun by the silencer and dragged it slowly to me placing it behind me a safe distance from whoever was in the bag jim i yelled the person in the bag screamed for his life and reached for the carbine that wasn't there i didn't recognize him his face was covered in clay and hair it was jim though his mannerisms gave it away hey calm down it's me smacks i flipped on my light and looked at him his eyes were wild feral max you're alive he said yeah cause i'm here i'm alive what the hell is going on jim wiped his eyes and shook his head before quickly taking a sip from his canteen and speaking in a less horse tone i have a lot to tell you cousin none of the good flash operation haystack for bentonville fusion center action neutralization of haystack target number one was a failure agent maggie redacted interrogation continues her account stated that conductor shot both pilots and that conductor informed her that his plans were to leave northwest arkansas she was unknowingly being monitored by thermal biofeedback and her claims of conductor's intended movement indicated a high probability of deception tourist has not proven to be a reliable source of intelligence however we were finally able to locate records pertaining to his background after accessing dna databases that have recently been made available under the war powers act his prints were not present in any database nics iafis or otherwise after running his dna through the redacted database a hit came up under a dod identification number that linked to a sealed personnel file after that file was accessed we learned that tourists worked for nsa from 1995 to 2015 under their elite musketeer program as such he's been trained to resist our interrogation techniques and has been deemed a risk to any and all fusion center operations tourist is being held under war powers act authorization and is currently on hunger strike we will continue to attempt to extract intelligence from him until such time as he expires shoot on site has been ordered for conductor and a substantial reward will be given based on locality need for any civilian that provides information that leads to the kill or capture of haystack target number one this target is the highest threat to the region and must be neutralized by any means necessary redacted sends ascent in the hours after my arrival at jim's camp deep inside the cave he painted a picture of the situation that had unfolded outside our geothermal climate controlled retreat jim escaped the shelter a month ago after radio reports of drones and dogs sweeping the countryside started to come over the airwaves what was left of the federal government didn't stop at enlisting the help of outlaw biker gangs to secure order in the region they started to bring in help from overseas thousands of chinese troops had been observed coming in via boat on the west coast of the united states and hundreds had already made their way this far east possession of firearms was punishable by swift justice from the barrels of provisional government firing squads although limited in scope the electronic communications that were allowed between citizens was heavily monitored any subversive communications were quickly geo-located and met with overwhelming force most of the federal law enforcement officers had resigned their position not wanting any part of the government sanctioned totalitarianism that swept the united states since the grid went dark last year food was heavily rationed and even the anonymous accusation of food hoarding resulted in immediate search and seizure of private property this was the guys in which the provisional government confiscated the guns hoarding food was deemed such a serious crime that if convicted via on the spot police tribunal it would be a felony and result in immediate loss of all constitutional rights especially the right to keep and bear arms stop and frisk something that was once only a big city phenomenon was now prevalent in all fifty states if a duly sworn officer wanted to he or she could search without warrant or probable cause under the new war powers act habeas corpus had been indefinitely suspended meaning that under any suspicion any agent of the state could detain any citizen for an unlimited time for interrogation basically guantanamo bay rules but now applying to anyone for any reason this is the power under which my friend rich was made to disappear little did the bastards realize that i knew where he was being held jim recounted the transmission he intercepted on the night of 14 november a distress call was sent from the train someone had blown a section of the track forcing the train to stop the same crew cut the power to the rear half of the train and boarded rich's car in the darkness of night they captured him but not without a fight the radio reported that rich had gut shot one of the hit squad thugs that came for him jim said that he'd hurt dogs and engines in the valley below the cave entrance and that he'd been holed up inside with only brief visits to the surface he looked like and needed a shower hell so did i after getting the full intel dump from jim i took advantage of the caves warmth and relative security and made preparations to take a long sleep i tried not to think of all the bad things i was going to enjoy doing as i began to mentally plan rich's rescue zero seven december day of infamy i awoke this morning to the smell of bacon the small fire seemed to vent up into a crack in the top of the cavern as the place wasn't filling the smoke jim passed me an old rag and placed the blistering hot can of bacon in my hand rest is yours cousin he said chewing i sat there enjoying breakfast when he handed me a steaming canteen cup of instant coffee no freaking way man i said i didn't drink that much of it after you left ain't no fun when you're alone said jim i know it was lonely in newton county too i proceeded to tell him the story of what happened to me up in the mountains of me fighting that big cat and playing a game of spy versus spy against maggie and her dumb partner i ended up the story with me hijacking the helicopter that brought me most of the way back to black oak by way of elkins high school a chicken house and a barn loft damn cuz how big was the cat i of course exaggerated a little after breakfast we left jim's kit behind except my mp5 and his m4 and we crawled back through the crawl space i let him go first about halfway through i growled and yanked on his feet and he screamed and crawled with a vengeance i hadn't seen in decades that felt good back in the lobby of the old cave i received a pretty good sock on the arm in retaliation for my old cave prank and we then headed up the walkway through the cave lobby the temperature dropped like a rock as we approached the opening we crawled out of the earth's womb covered with clay and grime and into a cold arkansas morning think we can make it back to the shelter i asked why in the hell would we risk that jim said the solar shower is still hanging in the tree and we could both use one i said jim thought about it for a few moments tugging on his beard all right but we get the hell back here if we hear or see anything right yeah of course i said lying my ass off the sharp pain of bright morning light caused my eyes to water as they adjusted i checked that my own kit was where i left it before taking a few things out for the trip back down the mountain to the buried shelter there was a pretty good overcast developing so that meant no killer drones dropping hate and discontent on us from above i let jim take point as he was more familiar with troop movements in the area than me jim hunted a hell of a lot more than i did during our childhood and his ability to move quietly through the woods was uncanny it was strange seeing him stalk with the m4 i was used to him wielding a gun with a decorated wooden stock not a collapsible made of polymer the sawed-off 12-gauge slung across his back was more jim speed but i'd hate to meet him in the dark woods carrying either blaster after a few minutes we were down the cliffs and at the bank of one of the many small creeks between the cave and the shelter jim held his hand up stopping me in my tracks i instinctively got low when he did after examining the ground for a few seconds he leaned back and whispered dogs how old i whispered back hours maybe i slung my sub gun stock out with a click and made sure i had one in the hole before stepping through the stream in the direction of the shelter jim moved like a specter through the trees his feet deftly avoided the dry leaves and twigs in front of him while mine seemed to find all the sticks and branches that sounded like bubble wrap the ground was cold and wet and the trip seemed to take forever by the time we arrived on site i had mud up to my knees the solar shower was full of water so i let jim go first he definitely needed it more than i did i stood watch atop the banks of the crater pond and listen for anything that didn't sound like someone enjoying their first shower in over a month jim signaled with a low whistle that he was done and i came down the bank jim was dressed by the time i got down the hill i pulled the half dissolved bar of soap from my pack and stripped down jim left me a couple gallons of cold but not freezing water and i was happy to have it i was starting to grow things in places that hadn't seen soap and water in a while shivering i quickly washed not wanting to get into a naked gunfight or have anything bitten off by one of those german attack dogs after putting on my dirty clothes hey at least i was clean before i put them back on i slung the mp5k back over my shoulder and looked around for jim he was nowhere to be found so i started up the trail for a ways i smelled smoke bringing the sub gun up to my cheek i moved forward one foot in front of the other controlling muzzle bounce as i moved i broke out into a small clearing where jim sat around a circle of rocks poking a small fire time for lunch he said that a good idea well we're a quarter mile from the shelter and three miles from the cave and the wind is blowing good enough to spread the smoke also i have this jim said as he removed the cans from his pack soup he pulled three cans out open them and dumped them into the aluminum pan that normally housed his cooking utensils salt container and a small camp stove with fuel he then broke out something really special a can of vienna sausages he dumped them whole into the pan with the soup mixing a lovely potion of near pure sodium infused processed meat and broth as our lunch cooked my stomach crumbled while we waited jim pulled the buck 110 from his pocket and began to shave away at the unruly beard on his face shaving with a pocket knife in the middle of the woods still earned a hardcore for me jim nodded in acknowledgement as i began to recognize the face hidden underneath after he was done he pulled off his belt wrapped it around his legs and began to strap his buck back to a razor's edge your turn he asked now i think i'll wait for the barbershop to open the soup was beginning to boil over the small fire jim had quickly started rich had that skill too i hoped he was okay and i felt a sharp sucker punch of guilt hit my gut i'd been in situations like his before every minute in captivity is worse than a hundred years out here i had to do something i had actionable intel but the longer i waited the higher the chance that they'd move him perhaps somewhere out of my reach they've got rich in bentonville i've got to go get him i said to jim out of the blue while he sipped on the lunch jim didn't say anything for a long while we both finished our meal and jim then stood up heading back to the shelter i pissed on the small fire grabbed jim's pan and scrubbed it in the paramecium rich pond on the way back it's too dangerous to travel that far but i don't think you'll listen to any type of logic jim said drones no they won't fly the big drones here the nai saw to that who nai north west arkansas irregulars raised an eyebrow and offered a look of skepticism before jim cut off what i was about to say don't judge you know a few of those guys ghosts i saw one of them cooked inside his mrap back near sulphur city buried him i said trying not to let my voice crack which one jim asked in shock blinky we both began to gather our things and take the long arcing approach back to the cave how the nai put a stop to the drones i asked as we walked they came across a ton of shoulder-fired missiles took down one of the drones a while back those government bastards learned from their mistakes and began guarding the airfields pretty good after you said you shot that one on the ramp so the timeline matches they were getting pretty bold dropping bombs on nai pretty regularly until the missiles arrived now they'll only fly small drones with no heat signature they know that whatever they put in the sky short of a stealth bomber is fair game to the nai how do i find them jim looked at me and shook his head you don't they're using the cell structure only groups of three with no regular communications aside from passive radio signals and dead drops damn jim you sound like a bona fide spy talking like that from what i hear cuz you're one to talk we spent the last mile and a half in silence as we made our approach to the cave crossing the last small stream jim swung his m4 around fast i instinctively shouldered my submachine gun ready to blast just as soon as i knew what jim was shooting at he squeezed the trigger letting out a suppressed shot that impacted a squirrel near the base of a great oak the tree rat's head flew apart and it spun in the air smacking hard against the trunk jim ran over and began to gut the thing he had it strung up and hanging from his web belt in minutes something different for tonight's stew he said grinning usually don't get too many out forging this time of year we disappeared into the cave slithering deep underground like night things part two kinetics 15 december i've been planning and gathering intel for a week this is what i know after my encounter with the drone and the two feds on my way out here i knew that these woods were pretty thick with opposing forces all looking for a little old me they weren't very good and the animals they were using were mostly hunting dogs i'm sure they treat a few skinny squirrels and maybe found a rabbit or two but based on the men out here searching for me it appeared that the government didn't have the resources to take it so seriously if they did i'd probably be in a cell next to rich and bathed in bright lights right now there was no helicopter or any other air support out here probably because of the threat of the nai's stinger missiles my first order of business before i started my reconnaissance mission was to change my appearance jim informed me that rich said over the radio before he was captured that my photo was on wanted posters all over local bulletin boards spread throughout fayetteville they had the photo on file from my agency common access card i needed something to blur my lines so to speak some new clothes hat and some glasses my old house was blown to bits a long time ago with only the wreck of an mrap and a blackened piece of ground to mark where it once stood so i had to keep moving to the avery's place who were the nearest neighbors and a good clip up the mountain without the threat of reaper rpas orbiting overhead my trip to the avery house wasn't as stressful i left jim behind with instructions to listen to his radio at the bottom of every hour i wouldn't be transmitting unless it was absolutely necessary and he shouldn't transmit for any reason unless he was in serious trouble at the cave jim returned the kid i'd left behind among the zip ties ammo rifles and spare explosively formed penetrators efps was a pistol silencer i'd left him but he'd never got around to using the can was engraved on the side the words filled in with anodizing the small letters indicated that it was manufactured by a company called rugged and i hoped it would be just that it added a little weight to the end of the small nine millimeter machine gun but it was worth the cost i took a different route than the one jim and i used to get to the shelter there was no sign of any living thing out here in these woods not even deer most of them had been hunted nearly to extinction last winter these woods were just too close to fayetteville and every good old boy with a seven millimeter mag rifle took to the forest to harvest game after the hit the van i stalked through the forest trying to sound like jim although we were both a good bit cherokee i think he got the useful genetic skills i broke cover out onto the road just after noon but stayed in the ditch as i walked up the hill to the avery's place the gate had once been locked but someone already worked it over with a chain and truck pulling it open bending the metal gate posts the rust forming where the posts had been forcefully bent indicated that the looting had been a while ago i jumped and down the gate careful not to twist an ankle on the old cattle guard i approached the house low gun to cheek about 20 meters out i stopped and listened for a long while hearing nothing but the winter breeze and the chattering of my own teeth satisfied i approached the front door was cracked the jam splintered from whoever owned the black boot print stamped on the door i pushed with my gloved hand the door creaked the sound seemed to echo throughout the empty house i continued inside closing the door behind me the smell of mold and old books hit me a house that was recently full of life and laughter now was no better than any other dilapidated house rotting in some city on main street usa saloon doors separated the ravaged living room from the kitchen whoever had been here had flipped over couches checking every nook and cranny probably for food even the crumbs in the couch were probably fought over and eaten feverishly i felt like i was in a western as i approached the oak saloon doors i swung them open and immediately changed genres walking into a murder mystery the smell wasn't bad as the body had long ago rotted flat the corpse was a woman at least based on the long hair and clothes but hey these were strange times and i could be wrong the way the clothes were laying there as if purposefully arranged reminded me of the cult classic movie night of the comet except this time there was a mostly rotted human corpse still inside the clothes instead of red dust i walked over the body and knelt down the jeans appeared to be pulled halfway down blood covered the denim holes dotted the white blouse they could have been stab marks or bullet holes i couldn't tell i didn't see any sign of gunfire or empty shell casings laying around so it was a safe bet that the woman was sexually assaulted and then stabbed to death or maybe even stabbed death first god the tongue sticking out of her mouth was odd-shaped but it was probably the decomposition old man avery lived here alone so i took comfort that this wasn't his wife and really hoped it wasn't any kin even though that wouldn't make it any less horrible i searched the kitchen for supplies and big surprise found nothing edible whoever turned over the house had taken everything down to the breath mints i opened the empty oven seeing the crude scrape marks on the bottom either someone used a pry bar to clean it or someone had actually scraped the burnt food from the bottom to eat i said a few words for the dead woman and hope that whoever did this would someday pay for it i headed upstairs every 100 year old board on the steps creaked as i climbed as i reached the landing i saw something that made me tense up again bloody handprints were smeared along the rail as well as the walls all around the landing i brushed the trigger with my finger before pulling it away maintaining discipline until i decided to storm into the guest bath another corpse lay clothed and covered in blood in the dry bathtub it was a little more preserved the leather jacket with motorcycle club patches all over caused my heart to race a little the run-ins i've had since all this went down seemed to go south when i came across people dressed like this the corpse's hands were cupped over its bloody crotch and a look of unholy agony was frozen on what was left of its face jesus i don't think that was a tongue in that woman's mouth in the kitchen below near instant karma though this got what he deserved bleeding out in a bathtub there was some toilet paper left on the dispenser so i took the roll and closed the door behind me what a shitty way to go i was checking the rooms for anything useful when i heard the roar of engines coming down the mountain i raced down the stairs and nearly bolted out the front door when i saw a large convoy roll past before stopping on the side of the road there must have been a dozen or so armored vehicles and i didn't realize what i was seeing at first red stars and a chinese flag adorned the side doors of them i ducked back inside the house when the doors of the vehicles flew open and the soldiers began to spill out onto the road i quickly climbed back up the stairs after reaching inside the top of my pack for my binos i looked out one of the bedroom windows that overlooked the road the first two soldiers i surveilled were carrying ak-47s and appeared to be asian i swept the binos down the convoy line seeing the markings of the chinese military convoy on every vehicle down the line deep inside the sovereign borders of the united states that was the moment i realized that i was no longer inside the united states i was in some lawless facsimile of my great country why were they here what's the real motivation to transport chinese troops thousands of miles to the united states their grid couldn't possibly be up or could it i felt as if i was trapped somewhere between a banana republic dictatorship and germany in the late nineteen thirties while i have some serious reservations on killing americans even scumbag traitors like maggie i wouldn't hesitate to smoke a foreign combatant on u s soil one of the chinese troops gestured to the house took one last puff on his cigarette before tossing it on the ground and started walking in my direction there was no escape i needed to move fast and be out of the house before he got here and that type of movement would be heard outside and then i'd be engaged by 20 pla soldiers with ak-47s i slowly allowed the curtain to close and backed away from the window and into the upstairs hall i quickly scanned for a hiding place until i saw the skinny core dangling from the ceiling i yanked it pulling the ladder down on top of me along with a few chunks of white spray type insulation i kicked the insulation out of sight into the adjacent bathroom and scrambled up the ladder tossing my pack into the attic before pulling the bottom section of the ladder up with me i eased the access closed extinguishing my last bit of useful light up here just as the access door closed i heard the loud kick at the front door and what sounded like chinese commands i leaned over to the attic door felt around and pulled the cord into the darkness with me if these bastards wanted to come up here they'd need to find a step stool i lay in a thick bed of insulation crossways across the frame studs so i wouldn't fall through the ceiling into some chaicom's lap as i lay still concentrating i could hear the house getting tossed below unsure of what they were looking for i waited hand on the grip of my sub gun waiting to open fire through the ceiling into whoever was doing the searching as my eyes adjusted i began to see the subtle outline of the attic vent along the ridge of the roof the silver metallic ductwork appeared when my eyes were acclimated to the gloom one of the soldiers was definitely upstairs now doors slammed and drawers were pulled at least that's what it sounded like from here footfalls stopped somewhere maybe the bathroom maybe right underneath the attic door i heard something scoot across the floor below i began to slowly and quietly roll over the wooden beams farther away from the attic door back into the recesses of the slanting roof until i was far enough away to barely conceal myself behind a small pile of insulation my heart nearly left out of my throat as the attic lit up from the light spilling from the open access door chillingly the ladder creaked as the soldier extended it to the floor i heard it strain as the man climbed i flexed and constricted on my silenced machine gun grip so tightly that my hand was beginning to fall asleep a searing flashlight beam swept through the attic back and forth before suddenly going dark i heard the soldier climb down the ladder and walk down the hallway and down the stairs i got moving rolling back over to the access point as soon as i was certain it was safe i grabbed my pack and climbed down following the soldiers footsteps except this time going through the kitchen and out the side door opposite where the convoy was stopped the door was stuck so i quietly opened the kitchen window and went out that way on the ground again i rounded the corner of the house to get a peek the soldiers were milling about their armored vehicles smoking and talking one of them had surveying tools out and seemed to be working with another man after the last few soldiers returned to the convoy a horn sounded probably signaling that the convoy was about to move and just like that the vehicles were gone as quickly as they arrived when the last one departed my view i moved to the road and watched the green armored reptile meander around to bend before stopping again i checked my six and pulled out my binos the convoy halted more than a mile down the mountain again the soldiers got out and headed for one of the old houses i merely observed timing them on my stopwatch it took them six minutes from the time the convoy stopped until i heard the faint sound of the horn again the convoy disappeared from my sight and the engine noise faded not long after that it had to be pretty damn expensive to get them over here something had to be worth their time from what i could tell the soldiers weren't looking for supplies they were looking for people i headed back to the old avery house but this time kept my ears open i'm not going to lie i was shell-shocked these scribbles are for me and my sanity but if anyone were to read this i can tell you that rest assured seeing chinese troops in a convoy on american soil does something to you besides asking the question as to how this could have happened it does something i can't explain well or convey in such a way that you might understand what i can say is that the emotions i felt were confusion fear and then a metric ton of anger i tried to put the image of the convoy aside and climbed back upstairs the closets were full of clothes that seemed to fit so i went back and forth between bedrooms until i was able to compile what i needed new shoes pants shirt coat glasses and hat the glasses sort of sucked as they were prescription but weak enough so i could tolerate looking through them without going cross-eyed i consciously chose clothing that would blend into the local population in one of the upstairs bedrooms i examined my ensemble in a full-length mirror through the natural light of the bare windows i looked the part minus the machine gun slung across my chest to really project the marxist boot-licking aura i decided to use the scissors i found in a drawer to trim my beard to a careless scruff all i needed was a chase shirt or perhaps some other sort of political statement come to think of it i'm pretty sure i remember seeing a chess shirt on one of the students that was gunned down on the grassy knoll near the football stadium last year he certainly didn't deserve it he was just some poor college kid finding himself and who didn't know any better armed with the right clothing and accessories i departed the avery house back to the cave the cave the cave what was i now still sapien sapiens funny it didn't seem that way here i was killing my fellow s2 with modern day spears and retreating back to a bat-filled cave where my tribe member waited in the wings for my return i was even bringing back loot from another fallen tribe to boost our own survival not much has changed in two hundred thousand years saber-toothed tigers drove armored vehicles and flew drones i trekked back down the mountain and disappeared into the tree line right before the church my gun remained at the ready up until then as i fully expected to see the green chai com convoy boomerang back up the mountain at the most inopportune time but that never happened and my return trip to the cave was uneventful as much as i wanted to maintain my disguise for jim i had to tuck it away inside my pack as to not soil it with the cave clay i couldn't be walking around in the streets looking like i just crawled out of the ground jim breathed a sigh of relief upon my return little part of me in the back of my mind was telling me you weren't coming back max he said he didn't use my name that often he usually called me cousin or boy i knew he must have been worried don't worry about me you know i can take care of myself i said jim smiled slapped me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of deer jerky and a half full bottle of water i debriefed jim on what i'd seen at the avery house especially the mystery of the chinese troop convoy and what i thought of the situation on the ground all right what's the plan jim asked well i need to head into town to gather some intel and see what kind of battle space i'm going to be operating in i haven't been in fayetteville in a good while and i don't know what it's like right now i said yeah i don't know either but based on what i've been hearing on the radio it ain't good i grabbed jim's radio from the cave floor near his sleeping bag and headed back to the crawl space let's have a listen i said we were in the lobby feeling the dramatic drop in temperature right before coming out onto the side of the cliffs that concealed our caves entrance we rock climbed a 10-foot face and bouldered the rest of the way to the top of the mountain eventually finding high ground in a meadow with a pond surrounded by trees a startled deer bolted as soon as we came into the clearing jim slung his gun in front of his face and took a shot faster than i could extend my sub gun stock it was instinct to make my weapon ready when i saw jim move like that i'd never take the shot on a deer with a nine millimeter unless i could pass for the main character on a remake of castaway jim's suppressed shot missed the deer though striking some nearby rocks and ricocheting off into the trees damn that would have been stew till spring jim said at least we know they're still here set up a stand overlooking this pond you'll get them next time we extended the antenna on jim's sony radio and began spinning through the spectrum many of the channels were automated weather reports the fm channels once brimming with music stations were now an rf void of mostly static we continued to slowly adjust the dial and the antenna until we reached something that sounded like news as a reminder curfew remains in effect in washington county until further notice any citizen on the streets after 9 pm will be detained and asked for a valid work permit indicating place of employment and approved working hours in local news the chinese government has graciously provided 85 pallets of food and medicine for the local community do not be alarmed at the presence of chinese military personnel in washington county they are here to assist and provide security and will be patrolling the streets and back roads of washington county to augment our strained federal police force with the emergency ratification of the firearms safety amendment all citizens are reminded that the possession of any semi-automatic firearm is now a federal crime ration rewards will be given to any citizen that provides information regarding private possession of semi-automatic firearms text tip479 and your message to crimes when in doubt send it out what channel do you usually hear the irregulars i asked jim the one you were just on jim responded after a long pause jim broke the silence you're still going after rich aren't you yeah i am clothes hiking boots wool socks jeans from avery house plaid shirt hipster lumberjack from avery house puffy black winter coat from avery house black glasses with lenses popped out from avery house kit fixed blade knife folding knife g19 pistol mp5k sub gun with can 300 rounds of subsonic nine millimeter night vision device flashlight hiking pack mess kit food slash water for three days charcoal jesus handheld transceiver with code book zip ties pick set padlock shims pencil paper before i departed the cave this morning jim and i worked out several calm code words we'd only transmit one word codes only at midnight and only in the event that it was a no emergency we'd say the code word no more than three times before going dark until the following night jim wasn't exactly excited to see me go so i tried to reassure him that i was only headed into town to gather intel and i'd be back in a few days family wasn't something you took for granted anymore we both knew that at the trail head i pulled my knife and looked at my reflection on the stainless steel fleece blade i think i had the look i wanted less operator more defenseless beta male miraculously my bicycle was still serviceable after being hidden in the bushes for so long i ripped it from the clutches of the sticker vines and spun the wheels a bit it was tactical spray painted flat dark earth although rust was now showing here and there the tires were low but okay nevertheless i'd see about getting some air in town the lock was still attached to the frame with the key inside i pocketed the key got on the bike and began to pedal out of the woods finding the ruts of the four-wheeler trail that had been blazed years before my pack was a little lighter than when i made the trip to the cave from newton county i left some of my heavier kit back with jim it wasn't very long before i was on the road proper the mp5k was hidden at the bottom of my pack so i was relying on the concealed glock for personal protection from the types of people that i might encounter on the way to town i pedaled up the mountain until it became a little too straining yeah i could have pushed through it but it was cold and i didn't want to work up a sweat under my new hipster clothes and get a good old case of hypothermia on the way to town i decided to walk the bike up the hill until i heard the sound of an engine instinctively i rolled the bike into a nearby ditch and bailed into the woods as the engine noise grew louder a convoy of three vehicles approached and zoomed by the lead vehicle was a black suv the middle was a van with antennas adorning the roof and the last one was another black suv i knew that jim and i had not been on the radio so i wasn't too worried about the sighting of a second van speeding down the mountain even so i still dug into my pack to make sure my yaesu was powered off and that i wasn't butt dialing the dhs or worse the atf with the amount of guns and ammunition i had on me i'd probably be executed on the spot if i got rolled up on riding dirty like this i broke cover grabbed my bicycle and started peddling i soon passed the old derelict militia building word was that the government tried to torture decades ago when all the members were warning us about these very times as i rode past i could still see the burn marks on the roof a testament to a period before the collapse when level heads vigilantly cautioned and were mocked and persecuted openly for doing so i peddled until i got to the dog leg downhill corner from there i coasted a mile down into the next valley before i had to pedal again i pumped my legs bringing me to another bridge the last before i'd be in city limits and my first contact with strangers since dealing with maggie's crew here were two men with fishing poles as i made my approach i patted the pistol to make sure it was still inside my waistband at 50 yards the men quickly put down their fishing poles and turned to face me their own hands on something inside their coats hey i'm just passing by i yelled out i don't want any trouble okay they didn't answer but kept a concentrated gaze on me i changed lanes opposite theirs and left my hands on the handlebars and just kept on pedaling i have no doubt that they both were armed and i also have no doubt that their guns would have been tossed into the flowing river below at the first sign of the washington county people's commissariat for internal affairs the men turned with me as i passed and were still eyeballing me as i glanced back and still stared even after i crossed the bridge a hundred yards on the other side only when i was nearly to the next corner did they turn and put their lines back into the rushing waters tensions were already running high and i wasn't even to the city limit sign yet as i cruised by the adjacent field i couldn't help but remember the shootout i'd had with the thugs who followed me back to the black oak from town last year things were so hectic then the collapse was just being realized and people were going batshit crazy i still remember the death rattle from one of them there was no sign of the altercation now except the rotting hail bay i'd used for cover i pedaled past and crossed the border line into fayetteville a place i'd not set foot in since i'd received word from rich that i was being hunted with a shoot on site order i didn't necessarily bug out because i feared for my life i left out of fear for everyone else's lives wherever i went whoever was with me or associated with me would end up like rich or worse my aunt and other cousin if i stayed near them for too long jim didn't know it and honestly i didn't even want to admit it to myself but i never intended this to be only a recon mission the longer i stayed with jim at the cave the higher the chances i'd make a mistake and bring the heat down on him my last surviving family member with most of the population either starving under the boot of an out-of-control government or just plain dead i couldn't simply check into a hotel tonight i'd need to think about finding shelter at some point i pedaled past the ruins of southgate noticing the rope that once suspended a grizzly corpse was still swinging there from the power pole the corpse long picked away by the birds and the elements i continued by the gas station just before the tracks a man sat out front on a stolen park bench and waved a bloody machete as if to say hello i pedaled a little faster at the tracks i turned north bouncing up the railroad ties and noticed that the actual tracks up ahead had been removed and were stacked on the ground nearby a government notice was posted on several trees stating that the transportation security administration had suspended all rail commerce until further notice first they stick their hands down your pants without a warrant or probable cause and now they rip your damn railroad tracks out of the ground talk about a slippery slope mission creep and all that thomas jefferson stuff farther and farther up the tracks i went eventually i came to the location where i'd first found the train and met rich feelings of nostalgia washed over me and i felt great sorrow for rich and what he was no doubt enduring as i write this my resolve was boosted by thoughts of him and i pedaled until i reached the mlk rail overpass i pulled out my binoculars and began reckon ordering the area this place was for me the genesis of the resistance from up here i first witnessed the unadulterated corruption of the local tendrils of the united states government college kids were gunned down just up the street on that grassy knoll through my binos i could see wreaths and other items left in commemoration of those lives lost the clacking of hooves sent me ducking i'd listened as the horse-drawn vehicle approached from the east and transited underneath me looking over the tall railing i watched as a hayfield wagon continued west on mlk until it reached some side street in the distance turning left where the old sawmill used to be as i continued my reconnaissance more wagons and foot traffic passed underneath the pedestrians seemed to walk aimlessly west on the road their posture projecting defeat i didn't see one overweight traveler in the hour i observed the road traffic so much for the obese american stereotype i guess that trope disappeared with all the food i knew that the interstate was west from my position so i decided to follow the others that way for a little while to see what else i could find out i put on my glasses and walked my bike down the embankment to the road ice covered the shaded areas below the bridge unmolested by the thousands of cars that pass through here every day before the collapse that wasn't the only sign of drastic population culling that was evident as i observed my surroundings i was used to being in remote rural environments over the past several months i didn't venture into the city unless i had to so the noted difference in the number of people on the streets was obvious fayetteville was a ghost town where was everyone i continued west until reaching a checkpoint near the on-ramp for what i'll always refer to as i-540 there were no feds just what looked like a local county police officer he seemed to be concerned with traffic going on and off the interstate and paid no attention to me i didn't really care about him either but i did notice the hum of a generator powering the gas station near the checkpoint so i went towards that careful not to look directly at the police officer he no doubt had a mug shot of my face burned into his memory as i dismounted a wagon loaded with people exited 540 via the on-ramp this seemed to get the officer's attention as he began to walk over to the vehicle i took this opportunity to go around the side of the station air pump luckily the gas station wasn't cheap and didn't make customers pay for air the station was powered so that meant that the compressor was as well so i quickly filled my bike tires and got back on the road avoiding the checkpoint and the on ramp i pedaled back east and turned down the road where i saw the hay wagon go an hour earlier i needed to use 540 to get to where rich was being incarcerated but didn't want to ruin a good bicycling day by pulling heat on a cop to get there there were other ways i pedaled for about three miles up the road until i thought i'd found where the wagon must have gone there were a few heads of cattle with their mouths crunching on hay that looked like it had recently been put down the sound of jack brakes and revving engines was noticeably absent this close to 540 only the sound of wind and the impact of ice pellets on my hood the cattle didn't pay any much attention to me as i lifted my bike over the fence and infiltrated the steep bank leading to 540 miles of abandoned cars were pulled to the side nearly perpendicular to the road that must have been a herculean tow truck effort i headed north beginning my long trip to bentonville arkansas and the fusion center where rich was being detained without habeas corpus the sun was getting low and so was the temperature but i wasn't tired i pulled my nvd from my kit and attached it to my helmet i looked pretty shady wearing a night vision monocular mounted to a helmet so i wouldn't be sporting this look during the day i strapped the nvd and helmet to my pack and kept going until it was dark enough to go night vision capable i saw no one on the northbound side of the road after night fell but some horse-drawn traffic moved in the opposite direction progress was slow when i hit the outskirts of fayetteville the roads had not been cleared of derelict vehicles and the ice began to re-freeze making cycling a hazardous activity i needed to find a place to hold up through my nvd i could see a large bright rectangle about a mile off the interstate on the right i took the next exit and followed the off ramp down below the interstate grade turning right onto an empty road i looked back over my shoulder at the interstate above the ir light on my nvd reflected from the dozen or so abandoned cars pedaling up a small hill i turned left at the large but dark neon sign that read one one two drive in the large white projector screen stood tall and sterile in the distance only when i got closer could i see the small imperfections and tears in the screen dozens of posts rose up through the gravel dunes once streaming sounds of drama horror and sci-fi into the car radios next to them i hid my bicycle behind the large screen and walked back to the center of the sound post forest for a moment i closed my eyes and imagined all the cars sitting here windows fogging up in some smoke wafting out from others i imagine the children playing on the monkey bars next to the screen and the teeny sounds of movies coming from the speakers mounted to the poles or from the radios in the cars themselves tuned to the proper driving frequency my pack was getting heavy as i approached the concession and projector building the door was secure but i made short work of it with the bnd tools i keep handy inside my pack it's a lot easier when you aren't worried about making noise or being seen i was alone out here did i know for sure no but the feeling you get when you know eyes are watching you was not here not in this place i entered through the steel door and locked it behind me before i began to explore keeping my nvd on for the moment i looked for anything useful the place was mostly intact but there was nothing of any significant value remaining unless you count the bank of popcorn machines and the candy wrappers all over the floor empty five gallon water jugs littered the ground near the cash register it looked as if someone had holed up here for some time i guess until they ran out of candy and water checking all the accesses i climbed the stairs that led to the projector room strangely at least to me this door was the most secure one in the whole place it wasn't locked but if it had been i'd never have gotten in without a blow torch and an angle grinder i swung the steel door open and stepped inside the sound of movement caused me to draw my glock something hit my face and i nearly emptied a mag inside the room before i realized it was a bird that had been using the room as a nest it swiftly flew out of the projector opening and was lost to the night i raised the nvd and switched on my torch illuminating the whole room in a burst of warm light there were film reels sorted neatly on racks against the wall to my left none of the movies were new probably because everything had been digital for a few years now there were some classics among the collection many of which i recognized it was getting close to midnight so i set up camp in the projector room after securing the door only birds and ex-spies allowed at midnight i tuned my radio to our preset freak and listened to the atmospherics play their random music on the radio the pops and static yielded no discernible signal that i could tell i waited until five minutes after midnight then gave up and switched off the radio to conserve the battery i unlocked the projector's mount and swung it parallel to the opening peering out i didn't think about the bright led light that spilled through the opening and on to the large screen in the distance the sound posts cast an eerie shadow like columns and rows of skinny shadow soldiers all obediently marching to the screen ahead irregular warfare i awoke to strange noises at around three in the morning for a split second i actually believe that i was back at the cabin in newton county that feeling quickly went away as i reached for my helmet and nbd bringing it down bathing the dark room in a green glow over my right eye shaking off the desire to just go back to sleep i crept up to the projector opening which i forgot to close before racking out peering through my heart just about stopped there were half a dozen armed men on horseback all wearing nvds staring up at me come out or we'll light your ass up a voice yelled out from horseback be captured or die not much of a choice i quietly chambered my sub gun and for a moment considered opening fire through the projector opening maybe they'd bring me to rich i thought i'm coming out the front i yelled down i quickly stowed my gun on top of my pack and hid that in the ceiling above the square foam tiles unarmed i slowly went down the stairs rounding the corner to the concession area i met one of the men a bearded guy face to face don't move he commanded i stood there waiting to get shot but it didn't happen turn around and pull up your coat i complied showing the man that i wasn't armed okay come out the boss is waiting on you the bearded man said matter-of-factly he signaled for me to walk in front of him and i reluctantly did what was told the steel door had been unlocked and now stood halfway open i stepped through and out into the open area in front of the building where'd you get that said a different voice where'd i get what i responded well you got it might as well use it put your nvd down so you can see who you're talking to the man said his suggestion accompanied by some chuckles i've forgotten to stow my helmet in nvd with the rest of my kit i swung the device down over my eye again and scanned from left to right blinded a little by all the ir light blasting from their guns and other kit they were running ir lasers bright ass ir flashlights and other things i didn't recognize so where'd you get that i won't ask again he said work i got it from work before all this happened i said vague is oftentimes true what kind of work did you do before i worked for the state department well that was mostly a lie but hey the truth was complicated turn on the lights the voice commanded my nvd instantly whited out as the men switched on their visible lights beaming me with everything from maglites to 500 lumen tactical lights i was blind someone behind me took off my helmet gasps and a few what the could be heard amongst the horsemen my god it's him the voice said the trip took two hours on horseback the leader called himself mars i don't know if it was his real name and i didn't care too much while i was bouncing around on the horse trying not to fall off with a black hood over my head mars told me that the hood was for my own protection and that it was best i not know where their nai cell was located i didn't really give a damn where the nai hung their hat and didn't want much from them i just wanted to find rich along the way mars revealed how the patrol had found me your ir discipline isn't very good you know one of our scouts saw you pedaling down interstate on nods he followed on horseback and watched you light up the drive-in screen a few too many times he called in reinforcements and we showed up we knew you weren't provisional government no vehicle hiding in an abandoned drive-in this is how we get most of our recruits by the way they're hiding out on the run after having survived a year without a supermarket being stocked only survivors and government thugs are out here now the loud sounds of hooves continued to thump on grass clack on pavement and sometimes splash through streams i had no idea where i was i just knew that the horses weren't galloping full out i wasn't tied up or zip cuffed i suspect that we made about 15 miles we'd been climbing a particularly steep hill when the sounds of the horse's footfall stopped you can take his hood off i heard mars say someone pulled the hood from my head and seated my helmet back down in its place i readjusted my nvd bathing the crest of the hill in green a series of ir lights began to flash from the trees just ahead after a few moments mars returned the signal with one of his own again only visible in the ir spectrum after a confirmation flash returned from the tree line the horses began to move ahead once more we entered the forest and came to a vast rock overhang where i could smell some camp smoke and some type of tea dismount mars said we all got off our horses and a group of young boys took the reins and tied them off to nearby trees the men led me inside the vast overhang of rock and i felt the trickle of water hit my back as i transitioned from trees to rock over my head please sit mars gestured pointing to the nearby rock circle that surrounded a large fire the blaze heated the wall cliff reflecting warmth all around the rock circle i scanned the surroundings noticing the guards they carried m4s and faced outward into the darkness from where any threat might come mars stood upon a large boulder like a great statue and spoke nai we found the man responsible for the university prison break among other very serious crimes a series of mocking boos were issued from the crowd i could see mars smile as he continued max welcome to the mountain complex and the current nai capital cell a chance started with a low whisper and eventually became loud enough that i could hear it clearly long live the republic long live the republic may the traders pay the price mars quelled the noise so as to not allow it to crescendo into a pep rally what brings you back from the mountains he asked i was taken aback that he had even a clue as to my whereabouts over the past few months before i could respond he began to explain we've been monitoring transmissions even decrypting some of the ones that they think are protected there was a hit out on you a few months back which is no doubt why you went dark now you're back in the area and i'd like to know why i stood and approached mars and his boulder and the crowd around the fire got quiet accentuating the silence of the forest around us i'm looking for a friend i said to mars and basically everyone else in the camp at that old drive-in mars asked jokingly no he's currently against the bentonville intelligence fusion center i said mars's demeanor went from jovial to sirius in a split second he jumped from the boulder hitting the ground flat-footed and sharply asked me to follow him away from the fire and deeper under the overhang safely out of earshot from the fire circle mars spoke rapidly listen this isn't like the university that place was the temporary holding facility for political dissidence bentonville is the final solution the provisional government changed our constitution under emergency powers with martial law in effect everywhere they'll shoot curfew violators on site within 10 miles of the complex they've made the center in bentonville like the green zone get it yeah i get it but my friend rich is inside and he'd come for me so i'm coming for him i said leaving no room for negotiation your max they'll put your head on a god damn pike in front of that complex you know this yeah but if we leave our guys in there what does that say about who we are you talked about our constitution before or was it just that talk mars was on the ropes so i did what you do in that situation how many of your people are in bentonville i said knowing the answer before i even asked too many so when all those people around that fire realize that you're just talking and that if they end up in that complex they're in a black hole no one is coming for them k.o okay now you've got my attention mars said look why don't you stay for the night we can talk more after you get some sleep sun's coming up soon the nai doesn't move during the day too dangerous since you asked me about my kit before i have one more question where did you get all your guns night vision and horses i said from scumbags that didn't need them anymore 18 december i awoke to sideways ice pellets hitting me in the face and to the faint smell of cooking meat i climbed out of my bag and onto a freezing moss-covered boulder to slip on my boots i quickly rolled my bag up and stuffed it back inside my pack and then headed for the main fire circle as two boys dropped large logs onto the hot coals the area near the fire and the overhang face was easily 20 degrees warmer than where i had slept mars was picking his teeth with a little twig when i approached good afternoon max what say you and i head out on a little hunt horses are saddled up follow me i followed mars down a twisting trail consisting of a few switchbacks before getting to the nai's makeshift horse enclosure the ice pellet barrage began to lighten up you can take molly she can handle a big guy like you mars said handing me the reins we set off to the west down an old camp trail deep into unfamiliar woods the trees and the terrain still felt like arkansas but it seemed that we might be closer to the oklahoma border i didn't bother to ask and i didn't really care we rode for a good bit until we came upon another cliff that overlooked a river valley the bend in the valley below looked familiar perhaps i fished there as a child with my dad or maybe skinny dipped with a teenage girlfriend at some point in the past we usually don't ride during the day but i needed to get away from the camp for a while said mars listen max we're into the idea about pushing the feds back across the mississippi but half my people aren't trained what's your play well like i told you my friend is being held in bentonville and i'm going to get him that's about it i said how do you think you'll get inside the perimeter just walk through the control point i could hear the frustration in his voice as he tried to reconcile what he thought might be pure disregard for my own life i don't know exactly how i'm getting inside but i do know that i will get in either as a prisoner an infiltrator or corpse well we do have some captured equipment i think you might be familiar with a few of our engineers were able to patch up the ultralight from the liberation of the camp at the university you you have my aircraft i asked in disbelief mars went on to explain how his mission in the early days was to acquire as much equipment as he could from the provisional government by any means necessary this included salvage so yeah it's got some carbon fiber patch tape and some extra wire and wing material but it works got any parachutes i asked yeah we've got a stack of those wow paratroopers dropped in from a c-130 a while back they were deserters two of them that were from arkansas stayed on with us irregulars and the rest kept moving west on foot to where they were from the c-130 pilot agreed to do only three drops before he'd need the rest of his fuel to get back to his hometown he was a deserter too i suppose none of those boys wanted a hand in all this pilot made his three drops in three different parts of the country and headed for home he probably sat the herc down on an empty cornfield somewhere damn well max let's hunt i'll introduce you to one of our paratroopers when we get back mars and i then sat quietly prone atop a thin roll-out ground mattress on the rock that overlooked the valley his 762 caliber ar had some serious glass on it and could probably hit a drinking deer a quarter mile away my little nine millimeter sub gun would be lucky to hit a rabbit at 50 meters so i spotted for mars and ran security as he glassed the riverbank below he grumbled about how these woods were picked clean and that it'd be a generation before they'd be full of deer again eventually we packed up and started the rocky narrow trail back to the camp after returning to camp i reorganized my kit and went looking for mars the sun was getting low and the activity was starting to pick up here it was obvious that these guys were the nocturnal type and for good reason when going up against a superior force it's best to lean on the advantage of darkness especially when you have a night vision capability as robust as these guys do mars was talking to some of his people as i approached the fire he glanced over and saw me and waved me over as he continued to speak after giving his perimeter orders he told me he had someone he wanted me to meet savannah get over here mars said over the hum of activity a woman about five foot nine parted the group and stepped out in front of the fire alongside mars she appeared to be about 25 and her features were stunning her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her golden skin reflected the fire light the woman stood there stoically when mars introduced me savannah this is i know who he is i've seen the posters sir max savannah was one of the paratroopers that fell from the sky a while back so save the angel jokes about her fallen from heaven because well she did and she's heard all of them savannah wore a camouflage uniform in what looked like a multi-cam pattern she had a fair baron sikes dagger on her hip in a kydex sheath and an hk handgun beside it a remington 700 was slung across her back attached to a buckskin sling her eyes were calculating and she seemed to size me up right there in front of the fire in that second i was either worthy to hear her words or i wasn't you did good last year even if half the reports were i responded with only a nod i already met my quota of trusting alpha female warriors this decade no matter how hot they were i listened to savannah give mars a sit rep of the local area watching her eyes remain locked onto mars as he responded with new orders her body language and demeanor seemed to indicate that she'd follow mars but the moment she stopped believing in him she'd skin him for a raincoat and take over she glanced over at me a few times and i didn't dare look away i just returned her stare with my own fighting back the dry eyes brought on by the blazing fire once her orders were given she left without a word in the direction of the dying light i'd hoped i'd get to see savannah again at some point but i knew i couldn't count on it in a world like this i thought this was the best time to tell mars my plans to leave after sunset max wait i've got a deal for you mars said after realizing that i was serious give it two more days before you leave it'll give us more time to formulate a better plan i can't afford to lose those days i don't know what condition my friend is in i said yeah i understand that but if you leave on foot it's a 20 mile hike through enemy territory it'll take you longer listen stay we'll give you molly two days from now and then you can leave you can make those 20 miles on her a hell of a lot faster than on foot the fire licked the large blackened boulders that imprisoned it and the heat blasted the right side of my face to near boiling as the left side froze like the dark side of the moon i stared at the fire as i weighed both options i went with the free horse one good that's good i'm about to go out on patrol savannah will be there want to tag along mars teased i saw how you were staring her down pretty ballsy i've seen that go bad real quick yeah i'll go it'll give me more time to get to know molly she's the only girl in this camp i think i can trust i said firing back at mars mars gave a huge belly laugh and slapped me on the back with the force of a grizzly bear before heading off into the darkness to where the horses were stapled it was a bitterly cold night and getting worse as our small patrol headed down the mountain into the deep valley one of the patrol's horses pulled a small jerry-rigged trailer behind it i hung back with mars and kept my eyes peeled for any sign of threats i could clearly see our own milky way galaxy in all its glory with its hundred thousand-year-old light somehow reaching through space and time to this little blue planet the clouds from my breathing intermittently blocked my sight picture through the nvd we began to level off at the valley floor and i started to hear water rushing over unseen rocks through the trees to my left i watched the patrol communicate via hand signals molly seemed to stop without prompting when the other horses did it was obvious that my new horse had already been trained on a patrol or two mars began to let the group open some distance between us i noticed the large rectangular container latched onto the side of his saddle but didn't say anything we hung back away so i took the opportunity to whisper who usually takes molly dicky mars responded quietly where is he dead raiders got him during recon after another two hours of riding the patrol set up shop inside an old barn at a two-way highway intersection its dilapidated condition reminded me of the barn i slept in on my way to find jim old hay covered the dirt floor of the barn the horses sniffed and snorted but didn't try to eat any the patrol whispered in a circle in the center of the barn as i stood near mars they're on foot from here on out can't risk losing the horses mars said on foot why the hell would they patrol that way i asked they ain't patrolling anymore there's supposed to be a supply truck moving through this area tonight got a tip from a reliable ci on the inside we're taking it that's why i'm here the supply truck is due around midnight we'll be ready what do you want me to do i asked we'll hang back and let savannah's team do what they do unless you want in on the action i didn't respond and waited for the team circle to break up we're ready said savannah roger that execute mars commanded i watched two men pull explosives from saddlebags along with a familiar weapon i'd use last year a drum shaped explosively formed penetrator the concave circle of the hammered copper projectile plate shimmered in my nvd i still remember rich sending the plans out last year over hf radio so that people could build their own and take down armor it appeared that it worked teach a man to fish the assaulters pulled down their masks and readied their guns and stepped through the barn doors into the darkness owning the night i followed mars behind them the team set up a kill box at the intersection i watched one of the assaulters construct a tripod from sticks and 100 mph tape before placing the efp on top he then proceeded to wire it up and take his position behind a massive dead oak tree 50 yards behind the explosive opposite its intended blast cone i wasn't part of the assault team mars and i stood back a ways on the crest of a rolling hill overlooking the action it was two hours till midnight and the waiting game would begin i extended the side folding stock on my mp5k and screwed on the silencer my reload mag was taped to the mag inside the gun using a dead nvd battery as a spacer sixty rounds of food for my roller lock sub gun to eat through i checked my selector switch making sure i had it in single shot instead of burst or auto the gun could empty a full 30 round mag in about three seconds we waited and waited and waited finally at about an hour till midnight i saw something coming through the brush in front of mars and me a skinny winter rabbit i pulled the hk up to my shoulder and put the rabbit on top of the front sight depressing the trigger i sent the animal tumbling i ran over to the small creature with my fixed blade already out to make sure it didn't suffer i did a partial field dress and tied the rabbit off on the outside of my pack my bloody hands were stained and frozen against the cold metal of my sub gun but at least i had some meat for stew later worth it through all the action with the rabbit mars said nothing and aside from some ir light sweeping in my direction there was no other reaction from the assaulters below midnight came and went and at about zero zero fifteen i caught an ir flash below mars quickly responded and the rest of the team didn't move at zero zero thirty things got interesting a motorcycle engine revved and got louder coming from the east i began to see a bright beam of light coming down the hill but i couldn't see the light with my unassisted eye the rider was using night vision like everyone else as the engine noise increased i could see real headlights appear on the hill behind the rider the rider was a scout for the supply truck and if the rider was using nvd technology they could see us if we didn't secure any ir sources of light mars yelled out down the hill and the small light sources went dark just as the scout buzzed around the corner before the intersection i broke off from the group nodding to mars he acknowledged right back leaving my pack behind i sprinted down the hill to the west and took position behind an abandoned tractor that lay flipped over on the side of the road the motorcycle would be on the intersection at any moment a minute or so ahead of the supply truck as the motorcycle approached i stepped out of cover with my sub gun bearing down on the biker the man skidded sideways simultaneously pulling assad off from the leather scabbard attached to his bike i instinctively switched the gun from single to three round burst and squeezed the trigger the silencer did what it was designed to do and so did the heavy subsonic nine millimeter rounds all three shots impacted the rider sending the bike to the asphalt skidding and arcing sparks in circles like fireworks the bike sailed off into the ditch with a loud crash the supply truck was at the intersection when i saw the bright flash instantly i cupped my ears and got flat on the ground just before the sound and concussion wave hit bits of talcum fine dust launched up into the air and slowly settled the biker corpse remained still as i expected but i waited some time for him to bleed out gunfire erupted from the assaulters and the sounds of steel core ammo punching through thin metal were eerie to listen to in the darkness i caught a glimpse of a couple tracer shots coming from somewhere and hoped it was ours while the others were busy i flipped over the biker removed his nvd and looked at his blank lifeless face i really shouldn't have you only get so many times to do that before you're lifeless yourself i closed the poor bastard's eyes and scavenged what kid i deemed useful i didn't bother checking the outlaw saddlebags for reasons too messed up to go into here kind of funny this guy working for the government two years ago he would have been on their watch list now i'm on their kill list when a couple of years ago i was on their hire list just like afghanistan iran iraq and syria just wait a regime or two to find a friend where once there was only the enemy the nvds that the biker wore were scratched up but still worked fine i snagged his radio and turned it up as i walked back to the intersection where the assaulters were pulling cargo milwaukee let loose a split second modem noise and screeched a frantic message this is supply run echo tail cargo under attack send support now a hotel talent one six with two hours to bingo state your posit over oh here we go i said aloud as our coordinates were being sent over the radio the pilot's voice held a heavy asian accent i began to run to the assault team waving my ir light and trying to get their attention what's the problem savannah asked somewhat annoyed out of breath i began to explain to her what i heard on the radio and how we'd likely have air support on top of our position soon roger that get your ass up that hill and tell mars savannah barked as she and the others began to rapidly load the horse cart i hoofed it up the hill to tell mars what i'd heard okay mars responded okay that's it a helicopter pilot with a gau on nvds will really up our nightmares i snapped mars got up off the ground and calmly walked over to his horse i heard the sounds of buckles and straps being loosened before mars appeared from behind the animal grunting as he carried the large rectangular container i'd noticed before he slowly flipped open the buckles on the container and opened the clamshell lid revealing a stinger anti-aircraft missile mars configured the weapon efficiently stopping just shy of inserting the battery coolant unit he'd been saving that portion of the weapon configuration for aircraft targeting and engagement he then sat there atop the stinger container chewing on some deer jerky okay then how many of those do you have i asked a lot more than enough to make these think twice every time they send air support we don't go on patrol without stingers i immediately felt better about our odds i watched from our vantage point as the assault team loaded the cart full and sent the horse away after ten minutes or so the cart would return empty they must be offloading the supplies and hiding them for later recovery while the team stacked the second load i could hear an engine but this time it wasn't a motorcycle or a helicopter mars gave a quick ir flash sequence and the team below began to scatter like cockroaches hit the tree line now mars screamed i grabbed my kid and rode molly fast galloping to the adjacent wooded area farther up the hill i knew jet noise well enough two low hot engines should be an easy enough target for the stinger to lock onto i made sure i wasn't leaking any ir light and stared up at the sky looking to find what i knew was no doubt up there the flanker came into view breaking from the cover of tall trees and banking sharply out over the field i held the radio up to my ear echo talon remain clear going hot the accented voice said firmly the flanker let loose a half second burst from its gun but it was too late i could see the stinger's rocket light as the warhead began to break the sound barrier twice over the missile hit the empire of the aircraft shooting shrapnel into the fuselage avionics engines and human flesh numerous loud backfire sounds were heard just before a large explosion and then an even larger one as the plane hit the earth with massive amounts of highly flammable jet fuel remaining with the air threat neutralized i dug my heels into molly sending her shooting down the hill to where i'd left mars as i approached the site i could see the marks in the earth where the flanker rounds had impacted and plowed the ground with several deep gouges the oak tree nearby had holes blown out big enough to put a fist inside i searched for mars galloping back and forth until my eyes picked up some movement farther down the hill as i approached i recognized the outline and clothing it was mars stumbling cussing and waving an empty stinger canister around like a battle axe you okay mars i yelled down at him he turned to face me although everything was green through the nvd his face was covered in something darker blood i jumped off the horse and ran over to him checking his limbs first aircraft guns had a way of knocking off body parts with all his limbs intact i began to examine his head i don't know how anyone could be so lucky but it appears that one of the aircraft's rounds had nicked him there you are one lucky bastard you got hit in the head with a i said just before mars hit the ground unconscious i quickly removed the med kit from my pack and began applying first aid scalp cuts always bled pretty badly and his was no different i broke out a pack of clotting agent and applied it to mars head with some pressure wrapping it over with a bandage i elevated his torso until the rest of the team began to trickle in from the hills what happened to him savannah asked he got hit with one of those rounds just grazed he'll be okay as long as the concussion isn't too bad i said can we move him she asked i don't think we have a choice unless you guys brought more ammo and stingers after the bleeding stopped we strapped mars onto his horse and tied it off to another making way back to the camp was whatever that was in that truck worth it i asked savannah yeah you could say that zero four hundred we got mars back to camp about an hour ago the doctor in the group informed savannah that it was a concussion and too early to tell how bad it might be mars would be on light duty for at least a week and knowing what kind of guy he is i doubted he'd be very happy to hear that he's passed out on some painkillers but i'd be feeling pretty shitty too if i just got shot by a burst from a jet fighter gun and lived to tell about it the sun is coming up soon i've set up a cold camp away from the fire circle after watching that flanker go to work i don't want to sleep anywhere near a heat or light signature when i wake up i'm going to see about getting some intel perhaps some maps of the best routes to bentonville after operating with these guys i will say one thing they're not afraid to get it on blue yonder a road with savannah this afternoon she woke me up with a kick to my sleeping bag i nearly drew down on her until i realized with a freezing start where i was frozen pellets of ice covered my bag and peppered my hair after shaking those off i slowly crawled out of my cocoon wincing with the aches and pains of running gunning and sleeping on the ground for extended periods savannah saw my face and said getting old sucks huh it's not the ears it's the mileage i said quoting one of the classics after shaking off my bag and stuffing it damp back inside my pack savannah shoved a thermos into my face drink up instant coffee we don't have sugar i twisted the lid open on the thermos and sipped enjoying the heat the coffee not so much i watched the steam rise from the thermos swirling into the cold air savannah said nothing for a few minutes she seemed to be fixated on something in the distance something i could not see or hear we better get moving good cloud cover she said go on where before the mission mars said that you might want your hang glider back she said you mean the ultralight whatever get up get your horse we ride in five i kept the thermos grabbed my kid and headed for the fire circle to warm up a minute or two before heading out into the snow storm that was maturing overhead the large flakes fell covering the trails and other areas leaving the ground under the large cliff overhang clear of snow the fire circle raged blasting heat like a furnace in all directions melting any snow that fell within five feet of its perimeter i soaked in the warmth and checked my watch it was just after thirteen hundred and the sun that was concealed behind the snow clouds had only about three hours before it went away i was about to take my last sip of bad coffee and get on my horse when i heard the children begin to sing i remembered some of them from when i first arrived at the nai camp it was soft at first but they soon began to gather around the circle and sing christmas songs they had a pretty good jingle bells going before they forgot the words and went on to rudolph and beyond i smiled for the first time in a long time and hope that these children would one day get the country that i and others enjoyed at their age i turned to see who was tapping my shoulder and was met with savannah's impatient glare she nodded in the direction of molly who was already saddled up and ready thanks i told her before jumping on the horse and following her down the trail one more day she said pacing beside me as we journeyed farther down the trail until she pushed her horse ahead until you leave that's right i said we rode neither speaking to the other until we reached a waterfall and she commanded her horse up the steep trail obscured by leaves branches and snow i pushed molly to follow and she obeyed bringing me swiftly up the hill and beside another cliff face we passed some cow ponds and meadows and reached a large fence that blocked off the path of a power transmission line savannah dismounted and approached the fence with slow caution even though it was still snowing pretty heavily i could see a hundred yards in both directions up and down the transmission line clearing i noticed burn marks on the power transformers that hung high on two of the nearby poles after cutting through the fence with her master key bolt cutters we crossed into the woods and eventually reached an nai cash hidden under some radar netting this is where we kept the stuff we salvaged from the university prison we got it just before the fed sent reinforcements to the area underneath the brown tarp i recognize the wheels of my flying machine i disconnected the bungee and pulled off the tarp the machine looked to be repaired with fiberglass wrap holding the frame together since the frame was the battery i could see where the nai engineers connected severed circuits from where the frame snapped upon impact my dried blood remained splattered on the wing but some decent patch jobs covered up most of the bullet holes and small tears from the crash and after i checked the battery sequence and noted it at fifty percent charge opening the fuel reservoir i shined my light inside seeing about a quarter tank of fuel remaining does it still fly i asked savannah yeah our engineers tested it they flew it here but it won't hold the same charge it used to something about the battery cells being damaged i began to calculate all options did i take the chance on riding molly 20 miles north through countless checkpoints and hoped that luck remained on my side or should i attempt to take this old dragonfly under the cover of darkness and hope it didn't crash or fall apart at a thousand foot altitude if hungry raiders didn't kill my horse for food and murder me whatever was left of the government would shoot on site there was also that foreign troop and air support problem we spent some time organizing the cash and gassing up the ultralight savannah lashed some of the items from the cash onto her horse and i did the same can you get her back for me i asked handing savannah molly's reigns yeah i figured that's what you'd want the weather is pretty bad might want to wait until it clears up i'll head back at nightfall i made a quick camp digging a shallow hole for a small fire to stay warm until sundown savannah remained until an hour after dark before she handed me a black hood you'll need to fly with this on you know for your own protection i'll be damned the woman was no stick in the mud she actually possessed a sense of humor we both laughed and she wished me good luck on the flight back giving me tips on where best to land near the camp i shook her hand and joined the warmth of it and told her that i'd probably beat her back we shared a silent gaze before she released my hand and spoke don't count on it after savannah left i pulled the ultralight out from under the camo net and out to the transmission line clearing snow and ice covered the ground on my take off strip and the left main gear tire was a little low but not enough to cause any significant problems i placed the tarp back over the plane and went back to the netting to wait on the visibility to get better i then stoked the small stealth fire i'd made adding more dead twigs the warmth was welcome as the temperature plummeted to about 20 degrees according to the solar powered smart watch i wore on the outside of my jacket i monitored the air pressure every so often looking for indicators of weather change i nodded off and woke up after midnight the small fire had gone out and i was shivering even through all the layers i wore to fight off the arkansas winter chill i gathered my belongings and made way to the power line airport i pulled the tarp from the machine and stowed it under the weight of a large rock behind a tree the ground had a few inches of frozen ice and snow on top but it shouldn't have made a difference to the large balloon tires on the ultralight they were designed for landing and taking off on the sand dunes of syria after all after folding out the wings and checking all the repair sections via flashlight i put on my helmet and clicked my nvd over my eye energizing the system the glass instruments came to life sensing the darkness they auto adjusted brightness so that they could be read clearly via the optic i was wearing the aircraft was configured so i hit the electric starter on the motor after a few attempts the engine spun to life puffing out black smoke before the auto choke adjusted the mixture and the engine began to rapidly build rpms even at idle the carbon fiber propeller began to nudge the aircraft forward i stowed my pack on the airframe and got in the pilot seat harrowing memories of nearly freezing to death while flying this thing over fayetteville last year returned as soon as i began to buckle my harness i hit the throttles putting them halfway from firewall and the aircraft began to roll faster gaining speed down the transmission line clearing hill i increased the throttles even more until i could feel the mains taking long skips on the snow covered ground at a good rotate speed i pulled the light aircraft up and banged right into the darkness just missing the overhead lines a good thing to remember i retraced my path back to the cliffs using my nvd to pick out the light from the fire before i got too close i kicked the propulsion over to electric to both monitor how much the damaged batteries could take and also to make a quiet landing so as not to attract any undesirables to the cliff operating base i picked a hillside with a gentle grade and sat the aircraft down in much the way i took off gently skipping until my speed was slow enough to let gravity pull me down and let the brakes do the rest i skidded to a stop and secured the power to the avionics just before my instruments went dark i saw the frame battery level holding at forty five percent not too shabby after folding the wings back i slowly pulled the aircraft to the tree line and concealed it enough to make it until tomorrow designed for stealth it would be difficult to pick it out on radar or ir camera the repairs made to the wing material and battery were probably not ir tested but those only covered about 10 percent of the aircraft i took my kid and made way in the direction of the fire circle that must have been about a half mile away from what i saw in the air as i approached the hair on the back of my neck began to stand up getting closer i could see not just one fire but several the fire circle that once stood as the heartbeat to the camp lay strewn in ruins i dared not venture closer i pulled back to observe it didn't take long i could hear gunshots and other sounds of skirmish being muffled by the snow and dense trees surrounding the camp i saw movement through the trees pushing me to close the distance visibility wasn't great but i managed to get near enough to see a line of three soldiers taking cover behind a fallen tree they didn't lay down suppressive fire only taking shots after carefully aiming at a target i could not see i didn't bother unfolding my sub gun stock as i crept closer one of the soldiers said something i recognized that it was chinese but that's about it it wasn't my language at about 15 yards i leveled my suppressed gun on the most active rifleman and put his lights out the other two reacted with expected panic i took their lives before they could swing their ak-47s around to chop me in half i liberated the best ak of the three as well as all the magazines the soldiers had my suppressed nine millimeter sub gun had its place but that 762 by 39 ak punch was a league of its own i flashed my ir light in the same pattern i saw mars flash his waiting a few moments before my challenge signal was returned with a valid reply after a few tense minutes savannah appeared from the darkness covered in blood through her gasps she began to recount what had happened at the camp upon her return on horseback the whole camp was under siege by chinese shock troops a vicious fight ensued between the nai and the chinese with both sides taking heavy losses savannah stayed back and set up a sniper's hide picking off as many soldiers as she could with everyone killed or captured she waited until the chinese troops departed the camp before returning as she looked for survivors three chinese soldiers the ones i took out appeared and began shooting at her her nvd enabled her to sink back into the edge of camp without being killed she was engaging those troops when i outflanked them mars i asked i don't know i doubt he made it she responded sadly we searched the entire camp for survivors the only signs that anyone might have made it were the groups of fresh boot tracks leading down the hill away from the camp after covering the dead and scavenging for supplies we fell back to the ultralight with our horses savannah pointed out key areas on my map where the nai kept supplies any camp survivors would probably rendezvous at one of the caches she was the only nai soldier that knew the locations of all the weapons and supply caches the nai had in the area i picked a rally point 10 miles to the north of our position we only had two hours of daylight left i could make it well before sun up in the ultralight but she couldn't not in this weather and with the potential for troops to be lurking around every boulder and tree the ultralight would be too heavy to pull very far and too loud to fly it was a good thing we had two horsepower with us we dragged the aircraft deeper into the woods and covered it with more foliage it wouldn't be safe to remain this close to the now defunct camp so we mounted up and headed into the valley as the horses took us away from the camp i looked behind observing the smoke rising up through my nvd and the tracks we were making behind us we'll lead them right to us i said gesturing at the horse tracks behind us savannah said nothing she just pulled the reins and led her horse to the left to the tree line where the snow wasn't as heavy i followed after trailing her course i couldn't really make out the tracks behind us very well and the snow was still falling i followed her for a mile before she let her horse out of the clearing and deeper into the woods she stopped the horse near a creek and got off she pulled some branches off a small fire pit and began to break them up and stack them inside soon a small fire was crackling and popping warming up the area i pulled out my mess kit and scooped a pan of water from the near freezing creek and placed it on the rocks near the small fire as it began to boil i poured two pouches of instant coffee inside and sloshed it around offering savannah a cup she didn't answer i enrolled my sleeping bag and set up my bed before heading out into the woods to gather firewood you always need three times as much as you think after provisioning up for the rest of the fleeting morning i crawled inside my pack with my boots still on not very comfortable right now savannah is still up and i can see the first subtle signs of mourning to the east i hope this fire is small enough not to be noticed from above but something told me savannah wasn't worried she has a long rectangular container strapped to her horse just like mars we've discovered more data using the latest digital forensic techniques on the archives we've recovered by taking quarter angstrom imagery of recovered hdd storage media we are able to feed the damaged drives into quantum state analyzers reconstructing the data by brute force the first documented foreign attack on united states soil occurred at the cliff overhang nai camp on the early morning of december 20th 2023 records indicate that the provisional government located the camp by lacing intercepted supplies with micro rfid tags the space-based systems active at that time were able to track the stolen supplies in real time enabling the geolocation of the nai cell and subsequent attack this attack acted as a jump start to a larger resistance movement based on the post-attack propaganda we've analyzed we've only extracted about seven percent of possible data from the hardware we recovered at the sites of interest very respectfully redacted lead tech big iron 20 december noon savannah was still awake when i woke up staring at the fire she had fed the thing all night keeping us warm it was nice not having to rise and handle that for once it wasn't until mid morning that she spoke take me with you to bentonville she said finally breaking her stare with the fire i can't i said flatly i can handle myself you bastard she said near tears it's not about that you're too fat i said in a rare moment of bold gallows humor what she looked for something to throw at me wait wait relax the ultralight only has a 275 pound payload i weigh 200 pounds and i need 50 pounds of gear you're about 100 pounds too heavy i said smiling she returned my smile and then began to cry reaching out i embraced her pulling her clothes i wasn't very good at this sort of thing but it felt like the right thing to do she wept heavily and deeply for a long time before pulling away looking at me with her red teary eyes you're not going to be able to land that thing near where they're holding your friend said savannah definitely not inside the perimeter where you need to be if you land outside you'll be shot on site trying to infiltrate i expressed to her that i had to try to get my friend out of there and that if i died doing that well it would be better than living with the rest of my life and regret she nodded like she understood but i still think she thought i was crazy 2300 after breaking camp at sundown savannah brought me to another cache i took some fuel and other things that could come in handy before we both headed back to where the ultralight was stored it was about 1900 when we got close enough to see the lights there was movement in the darkness of the campsite i told savannah to hang back with the horses while i checked it out and she reluctantly agreed if i start that engine you go back to where we camped and wait for me i told her i crunched through the top layer of frozen snow trying not to make too much noise as i began to climb the grade to the ultralight i could see the darker area where i'd concealed the plane with natural camouflage eventually i made it to the plane undetected and began pulling the branches off the top and brushing the snow from the wing fabric as i tugged and pulled the aircraft out of the edge of the trees i could hear voices echoing from the camp the chinese my legs strained and my muscles burned as i pulled the aircraft out into the clearing i was unfolding the ultralight wings when a soldier walked into the clearing and looked right at me the ak was slung across my back making the mp5k the fastest draw i brought the gun up and pulled down hard on the selector not knowing what position it ended up landing in i squeezed the trigger spraying a burst of nine millimeter at the soldier as he was leveling his ak at least one round hit him causing him to scream out in pain i watched him as i worked unfolding the wing and placing the lock pins in place through my nvd i saw his ak come up off the snow so i hit him with another burst stopping his movement cold my rounds were suppressed but his screams from the first machine gun burst were not i put my kid in the plane and strapped in before engaging the startup sequence the engine turned over on the first attempt i could see flashlights beaming through the woods in my direction and some dark figures spilling out into the opening behind me i went to firewall on the gas mixture jerking the aircraft forward and down the hill i pulled back the controls waiting for enough speed to pick up my nose wheel and found it at about 40 knots not long after my main wheels came off the snow and i was airborne once more it didn't register at the time but i was being shot at from the ground nothing that i could see hit the aircraft but i could hear the distinct sound of automatic ak fire below looking over my shoulder bright muzzle flashes peppered the darkness as the ak spit rounds at me it was all about the holdover and i'm glad those soldiers didn't seem to understand that i flew only about 20 minutes before starting my corkscrew descent to the valley floor landing was uneventful and i again strained my legs to pull the aircraft into cover waiting on savannah to show i didn't stay at the rally point camp choosing to set up an observation post 100 yards up the hill so that i could look down from above and make sure she didn't arrive with company she showed up at about 2200 with both horses we are not sleeping tonight we plan tomorrow night i fly fusion center the past 24 hours went by in a flash we relocated camp farther away near another nai cash and planned for most of our time savannah expressed to me that she'd hoped we'd run into a few of the cliff camp survivors here before we'd arrived the children we didn't talk about them but we both had grave concerns after heavily gearing up i began making calculations on exactly what i'd be bringing with me on the flight north into the occupied zone of arkansas i took my glock mp5k and ak-47 along with spare mags for all i also brought a few other things that might be needed savannah had a bag full of ir firefly markers if she wanted to mark something for me all she needed to do was connect a 9-volt battery to the ir firefly and drop it on the ground the number of fireflies on the ground meant different things the small devices would strobe for a couple of days before dying she left several hours ago to gather intel i'm taking off soon i left under the light of a mostly full moon hours after savannah speeding north high enough not to be detected from the ground i flew slowly at near stall speed conserving fuel the landscape below could easily be some rural mountainscape somewhere until the lunar light bounced from abandoned buildings hit my nvd just right up ahead i noticed an ir flash and a large pavilion covered with a bright tent structure came into view off the nose it had to be the amp the firefly signal was strobing west of the amp in the center of a large field i temporarily kicked over to electric motor killing the loud internal combustion engine the quiet brushless electric motor allowed me to hear the rush of the propeller through the cold dense air behind me looking at my display i began to see the battery countdown percentages at the rate of about one percent every 30 seconds i had about 20 minutes on battery reserves before the electrics couldn't sustain altitude good to know i orbited overhead the signal for two minutes losing five percent when i saw a second firefly turn on near the first the signal worked out with savannah meant that it was now safe to land when i dropped two thousand feet in altitude i could finally make the outline of two horses in the field below standing near the ir fireflies after one more orbit overhead i brought the aircraft down in the field and cut the engine as i flared hit the ground and came rolling to a stop about a hundred yards from the horses twisting the five-point buckle i stepped out of the aircraft to savannah's dark silhouette that thing was ghost quiet when you landed she said she helped me pull the aircraft out of plain view and handed me the gas can that was strapped to molly on the trip north i filled the aircraft's fuel reservoir then handed savannah the empty plastic jug as i tossed over the plane some camo netting scavenged from the last nai cash i contacted a friend savannah said as we began to walk away from the aircraft to gather the horses who someone that's heard of you he'll be here in an hour how'd you contact him dead drop chalk mark nai has allies and our allies know our marks radio communications are completely compromised sneaker net is the only way to exchange information without being exploited and targeted there's a huge signal intercept vacuum cleaner apparatus still operating despite the grid being down and the gdp being reduced to zero the bastards just couldn't let go of their precious total surveillance state we set up a camp under a canopy of trees and began constructing the small stealthy fire that rich taught me how to build using my small latrine shovel i laboriously dug an eight inch hole in the ground crushing through frozen earth and pulling rocks savannah gathered the small kindling and some inch thick branches i used the last few drops of gasoline in the can to quickly start the fire we built a small lean to over the top so the flame couldn't be observed from overhead we warmed up and cooked some dehydrated food over the meaker fire finishing up i was about to get up and find a tree when i heard the rumble of a diesel engine approaching from the road that ran east and west adjacent the field we were in i began to sprint to the edge of the field as savannah yelled out it's probably nai max i don't operate on probably i shouted back hoping she'd follow me to concealment she didn't i stayed there at the field's edge with my ak pointed at the road ready for the source of the engine noise to come into view it was very odd seeing savannah standing out there in the open with her arms crossed waiting on the vehicle to arrive i felt as if i needed to do something but she was her own person there were no headlights as the vehicle came into view the foliage that lined the fence that followed the road covered everything but the top half of the vehicle mrap a gunner man the crew served machine gun atop the machine scanning it back and forth until savannah picked up one of the fireflies and held it high the gunner reacted slewing his machine gun to savannah it was at that moment i thought the last surviving member of the cliff camp cell of the nai was about to be chewed to pieces that was until the mrap lurched farther forward into a break in the fence foliage i could see the white spray-painted letters as they appeared through the chain link fence hashtag fight we were being visited by a ghost i crept from cover moving slowly to the mrap seeing the hashtag fight painted on the side calmed my nerves somewhat but anyone could be inside that thing and the gunner on top could easily handle anything short of an efp something i was short on at the moment my ak rounds would just chip the paint and windows of the beast i watched savannah fearlessly approach the fence i couldn't help but ponder on whether or not that cavalier attitude among the nai was what led to the fall of their cliff cell at the hands of the chinese security forces now i shouldn't think that way more than likely it's my own guilt talking savannah scaled the fence and approached the driver's side door i heard the gunner greet her from up top at the same time a man stepped out of the vehicle and walked around to the back i recognized the gate from before inky the former marine and oef vet he walked with a distinct limp from taking shrapnel somewhere in rc east back in the day i dropped my gun allowing it to hang on its sling as i ran to the fence and began to climb inky i shouted for getting to whisper he stopped in his tracks and just stood there for a moment before spinning around max holy you're alive where the hell have you been man after embracing him and telling him how happy i was to see him i told inky that out in the open on the road wasn't the best place to catch up he agreed opening the rear door and gesturing me and savannah inside it was warm in the vehicle inviting i could see the gunner's torso as he turned left to right scanning the area for any threats inky secured the aft door and climbed up into the rig we executed a turn and the m rap began to travel back the way it had come for a few miles until turning onto a dirt road and through a rusted gate sitting a jar which was probably used to keep trespassers from hunting out here after rolling through the gate the m wraps brakes squeaked the giant to a stop i saw inky click a garage door opener and the old gate behind us began to slowly close covered in vines and weeds it looked as if no one had been through in some time the mrap moved ahead as the metal gate met in the middle i moved up closer to the front asking inky how he kept the wrong kind of people out of where we were headed we keep wireless sensors under the ground on this road and some pre-staged explosives anyone but us comes down and they get smoked and cleaned up by the people that are no doubt watching us from the edge of the road right now we've got enough firepower to defend this place from ground assault hell eventually will have enough to go on a limited offensive after another mile the m rap pulled under another canopy of trees into a large area covered by familiar surplus camo netting placed there to fool any overhead sensors that might be watching as soon as the big diesel engine shut down i swung the aft door open stepping back out into the cold feeling a harsh icy slap to my face crates of stinger missiles fuel and other interesting and useful items were neatly stacked forming a sort of garage bay around the large armored vehicle 55-gallon drums of diesel fuel were placed dozens of drums deep behind crates of ammunition a makeshift sign carved into a pallet hung over the supplies little redstone i took a visual inventory of all the supplies hoping that this wasn't all the n a i had one 500 pound bomb and all this was gone via secondaries i'd probably think about spreading this stuff out a little better if i were the supply guy after a few moments inky gestured me to follow and i did so back into the woods down a small deer path and into the side of a hill another damn cave i thought as i ducked into the hole behind inky as i began to take in my surroundings i realized that it was really a man-made dugout structure that more resembled a mine or one of those drug tunnels you'd see on the news at night coming from mexico into the us two by four studs framed the tunnel keeping the earth at bay all around us led lights were strung overhead providing just enough light so you didn't run into the person in front of you inky turned left left right and then i lost track until we parted some canvas curtains and entered what looked like a very expedient command center computers maps and even a small library adorned the 800 square foot space a large planning table made from plywood and more two by fours sat in the center surrounded by people pouring over plans and even copying things down from headphones connected to what looked like ham radios one of those signal interceptors tore off a piece of paper from her notepad and handed it to someone who looked like a supervisor drone cited over 540 springdale she called out passing the intel over to someone else who'd left the room with it inky used that example to expound on the function of this small but effective command center this node was capable of reception only as transmitting here would soon bring down the full force of the provisional government and their henchmen if there was a piece of actionable intelligence collected it would be sent by a horseback courier to a transmit post where a designated field radio man would send the intel via low power signal relay to one of many hidden high-powered transmitters the radio man was trained in guerrilla warfare as the job was hazardous to say the least this network of radio men reported that every week they'd lose a hidden high-powered transmitter to provisional government second strike forces but they still managed to place enough in the field to offset the losses so far signal intercept to transmit was averaging about an hour because the horseback courier had to locate their radio man somewhere out in the enemy controlled areas the notes that the courier carried were in code only known by the original interceptor and the radio man meaning if they were captured any messages they had on hand would be unreadable even by the courier this was how to communicate under hostile government surveillance encrypted handwritten notes and digital radio dead drops the government owned any and all cellular and data networks as they were hardwired into the towers they powered and brought online as another security measure the radio men carried dice so that random high-powered transmitter choices could be made in the field when a transmission order was made only the field radio man would know the tower to use based on the random role of the dice also any government second operator would need to be on the right channel during the right few seconds to intercept the code worded communications meant for the receiving nai sounds even then the near unlimited power of the intelligence apparatus was still able to find and fix our people sometimes this is why this station's radio men were trained in the arts of guerrilla combat inky has a few special operators on the team that defected from various bases eventually making their way back to their home state of arkansas these pipettors had no problems training the radio men on how to strike back hard if they were intercepted and attacked each radio man carried an m4 and 200 rounds with a medium range optic and some that operated in particularly hostile environments carried stingers on horseback you can't stop the signal i asked about the chinese troops i'd seen i needed answers oh you mean the un troops think he responded un troops i thought to myself shaking my head seeing the confused look on my face inky went on to explain that the currency and subsequent economic collapse of the united states disintegrated our national and domestic security apparatus aircraft carriers were docked and scuttled when the good faith and confidence in the american dollar was lost when military credit lines started declining jet fuel procurement and canal passages were canceled stranding our navy in every sea worldwide whole army divisions were left to fend for themselves and find their own way home squadron after squadron of air force jets were abandoned in the desert left there to erode in the winds as no one could afford to fly them america could no longer pay for the endless wars for which it continued to engage until the very end we persisted with the deadly economic russian roulette attempt to jumpstart systematic poor economic performance through outrageous keynesian war spending with echoes of soviet fleets left abandoned after moscow's collapse our unpaid military was forced to follow in communist footsteps but what happened to our military in the beginning was nothing like the gutting of our domestic security police officers were off the force in droves replaced by the worst of the worst federal law enforcement officers those loyal to the state and seeing anything that stood in its way as a barrier to progress the good local and federal police resigned most of them joining their local resistance leaving only statists behind to man the helm of domestic security formerly disgruntled tsa agents were promoted to positions of power within the new federal police force fpf and given the authority to stop travelers on any road or thoroughfare in the united states for any reason papers please i thought the new war powers act passed by a quizling traitor provisional government gave the fpf the powers of a judge during times of crisis meaning that they could kill on the spot for what the state deemed as egregious violations of enacted national emergency laws laws such as the banning of all semi-auto firearms and some curfew violations especially those inside prohibited areas the list of executable offenses was too long to summarize this was where the united nations came into play angst fueled from decades of american exceptionalism opened the gates to outside intervention the provisional government in a bid to leverage power from our debt status called upon china for help with domestic security actually promising land as payment for past debts as in u.s soil being reliant on technological infrastructure urban china was hit just as hard as the rest of the world when the grid was attacked but their massive rural farmscape and mining infrastructure allowed them to revert back to pre-industrial supply lines faster than most first world countries their place behind us in industrial development actually help them weather the storm faster than the technologically crippled united states with supply lines running back and forth with russia china was able to trade raw materials for military hardware it turns out that starving russians preferred food and diesel over their own fleet of idle naval troop transports intel from expats overseas via ham radio reported that in the months after the initial collapse chinese shipyards were buzzing with activity returning former russian troop transports to conditions of readiness for a trans-pacific voyage the united states possessed 30 trillion in debt when i left for syria last year yes most of it was owned by the american people but a huge chunk of that money was owed to the people's republic of china a country that in past decades had constructed islands and claimed hundreds of miles of territorial waters above and beyond law of the sea convention constraints a country whose thousand-year plan was to extend their empire east to guam and eventually to the west coast of the united states the cyber attack that brought down the world seemed to accelerate that plan as there were already quite a number of chinese security personnel in the major population centers of the united states it was rumored that self-sufficient ranches out west rich in oil natural gas and cattle had already been seized for debt payment a move endorsed by the current government representing united states interests millions of acres have already been signed over in lieu of the promise of order from the chinese there have also been reports of tiananmen square style enforcement inky had managed to become the resistance intelligence hub in this region his communications apparatus sucked up information like a dyson sifting through it daily and forming accurate and actionable intelligence he'd managed to tell me more about what had transpired since i escaped to newton county than anyone else i'd encountered since meeting the nai after going into a lot of detail on this underground rebel base and its function inky brought me over to the table we sat down and his first words were i know they have rich and that's probably why you're here i nodded and began to tell the details of what had happened since i disappeared melting into the hills of newton county and how i came about the information of rich's subsequent incarceration inky knew rich rich me and the ghosts were the goddamn resistance before it grew to what it was today there was no one else in those early dark days of chaos and confusion inky could see the rage and pain in my eyes as i told him the information that maggie had revealed to me slapping me on the shoulder inky said fear not the building they're using is well known we recover the schematics from county paper records and we have people here that used to work there they know the layout of the floor where they're keeping rich the only issue is getting inside the building perimeter fence once you do that security is a lot more manageable inky called one of his adjutants over asking for the x retail giant hq blueprints he scurried off returning in less than a minute with ten scrolls of paper tucked inside cardboard tubes if you can get inside the perimeter we can get you to rich with these the former marine set with confidence i can get inside but x fill with an injured sixty something year old man is a different matter altogether i said max have faith i'm sending for three people we have nearby that used to work there before the government nationalized it they know things that we can't see in these blueprints but please tell me how the hell you intend on getting inside the wire i told inky precisely what i was going to do he just laughed and called me a crazy bastard 12-hour planning session my life i never thought all the joint planning courses i'd slogged through would ever be of any use until today well there's still a load of but there was something to be said about the techniques one used to strategize a complex paramilitary operation i started off as a one-man mission going in to get rich alone and unafraid no afraid that has changed yes i'm still going in alone but i've also gained the advantage of power cyber and explosive support inky wanted rich out of that place just as bad as i did and his actions verified that in spades twelve minutes i took off just before midnight flying into a slightly waning moon using the full tank i had i pushed the engine to max safe rpm as the small craft began to climb high into the dark arkansas sky after function checking the trim settings on the aircraft i was more confident that my plan might actually work at least the first part of it as the aircraft approached ten thousand feet i twisted the valve on the oxygen bottle i'd brought with me and placed the clear plastic mask over my mouth and nose the aircraft continued its climb the snow-covered landscape below looked as if it could be a scene taken from the skies of some siberian forest i decided to turn the aircraft 180 degrees to give me more time to hit my target altitude the aircraft's battery charge held steady at 52 percent as it trickle charged from the small alternator being spun by the gas engine as i ascended i began to shiver from the extreme cold my wrist altimeter read 20 000 feet as i leveled off and kept flying north an instrument had been retrofitted to the aircraft before the mission which allowed me to fly over the fusion center by following a needle pointing to a transmitter placed just outside the security zone that led inside i needed to be five hundred meters north of the beacon to be on top of the facility at twenty thousand using mental math calculations i estimate that i had about fifteen minutes before go time i placed the o2 sensor on my freezing index finger to make sure i was getting air from the green bottle i was sharing the seat with satisfied with an upper 90s percentile on o2 saturation i set a timer for two minutes so that i could check my readings again i knew it would be cold at that altitude but i didn't expect it to be 10 below zero cold i flew with my knees for a bit letting my hands defrost until the o2 reading reminder went off again i repeated this cycle of cold torture what seemed like dozens of times but it could only have really been about seven based on the countdown to the facility in front of me on the ipad multifunction display running the ultra light aircraft systems my face was completely numb when i cut the internal combustion replacing propulsion with the battery the cold must have had a negative effect on the battery's performance as the charge percentages began to plummet by the second the beacon needle swung 180 degrees and i started another chronograph i'd need to be out of the aircraft in 45 seconds my kit was pre-staged i attached the heavy pack via carabiners and straps and set the trim controls on the ultra light in a very slight climb ten seconds to go i strapped my long gun across my chest unbuckled my harness and clutched the o2 bottle like it was my own life when the timer began to blink wildly i rolled out of the seat over the safety bars and down down down into the frigid air below i began to flail trying to angle my legs to stabilize my tumble unfortunately i'd forgotten since training that i really needed my arms to do that reluctantly i shuffled the small o2 bottle over to one arm and began to stabilize at about twelve hundred feet i regained control of my body at ten thousand feet i removed the o2 mask and began to scan the fast approaching earth as well as my altimeter as it spun like a ceiling fan the winds were light and variable on the flight up so i decided to pull the chute a little early at nine thousand feet unfortunately after i did that the chute yanked so hard that i dropped the o2 bottle sending it shooting down to the ground below the mask and o2 line fluttering behind it like a drogue chute i wasn't yet low enough to make out any details besides the massive fusion center building so i didn't know where the metal bottle would land i released my pack on a 12 foot strap so that it would hit the ground a second before i did with new found mobility i began to work the risers on the chute flying to the target as i descended there was a helicopter on the roof but through my nvd i could see no ir signature or signs of pre-flight activity as the building got bigger i began to wonder where my trusty ultralight might end up when the battery ran out i made final course adjustments on the parachute risers steering myself to an area of the roof a good distance behind the kilo pad so that i could quickly land and stow my shoot the lack of any searchlights or activity below indicated that my o2 bottle hadn't drawn much attention when it shot into the ground at a couple hundred knots so far so good the building approached at breakneck a few seconds before a hard touchdown i flared the chute significantly slowing my descent my pack hit first and began to drag when i landed just in front of it thankfully i didn't break anything as soon as i hit i deflected the impact energy rolling from my feet to my knees to my buttocks and up my back the first thing i thought of was the chute i frantically reached for the risers and began to pull the large silk half sphere down to me crumpling it up making it smaller so the breeze wouldn't catch it and pull me over the side of the building as soon as i got the chute to low vis i released my coke fittings and wrapped the chute around one of the many roof vents tying it off with the risers it was time to go to work i made weapons ready and adjusted my nvd giving a knock to my front exopie platif for nothing more than extra peace of mind i moved forward to the roof access door position 25 meters ahead with no movement or lights on the roof that i could see i was beginning to feel confident at the monolith like roof access structure i checked my watch 12 minutes to go i planned for six minutes of extra time not twelve i had no clue as to how i'd made up those extra minutes maybe i flew too fast or i didn't calculate my drop speed correctly after my shoot opened it didn't matter i knew at the moment that all i needed to do was survive on the roof for 12 more minutes i stood there hunched over in the shadows of the small access structure calculating my plan and working out possible contingencies to things that hadn't happened yet i had five minutes remaining when the roof access door went flying open spilling bright light into my face whiting out my optics the steel door behind the two unsuspecting men closed behind them with a thunk as it did i brought up my sub gun instinctively firing its center mass four pops from my suppressed nine millimeter rang out in quick succession punching through the chest cavities of both men sending them stumbling out of breath to the asphalt roof where they died in short order they were armed and would have wasted me if given the chance if you worked in this building you were a traitor in my book at least that's what i kept telling myself the two men were dressed like maggie and the goon that tried to smoke me back at my father's cabin the same clothes i now wore they had sidearms but i was already covered in that department i dragged them into the moon shadow and away from the door as i did so a pack of cigarettes and a lighter fell from a dead hand they were only coming outside for a cigarette break it's all about timing i guess everything is three minutes left until go time that was when i remembered why i needed the extra minutes i needed to work the lock that had just closed behind the guards quickly i tried to bump it first rake it second and with only a minute remaining i had to go og and pick the individual tumblers my watch gave a single beep when the time came and went the lock wasn't letting me in at one minute past go time things got really quiet telling me that inky's people had held up their end of the deal the generators that powered the building were down inky and his people had induced a massive charge into the local microgrid frying the generators from a power line that ran outside the wire to a security checkpoint two miles away that they'd likely just hit inky assessed that he could keep the power down for thirty minutes i began to sweat as my fingers became numb from trying to get through the roof door lock i was about to give up when the last tumbler was pushed into place calling me to tortion the cylinder over and free the internal mechanisms that were keeping me from my objective i brought my gun up and opened the door the fact that no light spilled from the door frame brought a sinister grin to my face the power was down and i seriously doubted that many people inside the building had nvds or were near enough to them that it mattered how many times did i have them on me in the halls of the intelligence community never i had a series of cards encased in a clear plastic sleeve that i wore on my left forearm simplified and miniaturized building schematics i knew where the holding cells were located moles that worked as contractors on the inside told the nai where they were paid to install the bars and reinforced holding units i had 200 rounds of subsonic nine millimeter my tri lug can checked tight on my mp5k giving me the confidence to go kinetic at will in the halls of the fusion center as i descended the stairs into the bowels of the building i checked my schematics and headed for the nearest elevator shaft using the small titanium pry bar i jumped with i forced the elevator door open revealing you guessed it an elevator cursing i left the door open and headed for the stairwell i had about another 10 minutes before the nai rained down mortars on my position i had to hurry i hit the door open seeing movement at the bottom of the stairs raising my gun i began to descend red emergency lighting cast the shadow of someone approaching as soon as the guard rounded the corner i blasted but not before he let loose around from his pistol hitting me in the chest hard i doubled over feeling the skin behind my bulletproof armor plates it hurt like hell but there was no blood i spent the next couple of minutes recovering on the stairs hoping that the guard was a fluke and that i still possess the element of surprise after catching my breath and fighting through the pain of being shot i kept moving forward down the stairs and around the landing to the floor below at the door i opened it slowly creeping onto the next floor confusion abounded battery-powered emergency lighting was removed from the wall people on the floor were using them to move around i tried to act like i belonged and kept going the clothing i wore seemed to be familiar to some and so they went past me without even really acknowledging that i was there until someone in a suit and tie began to question me what's going on do you know anything the man in the fancy clothing asked sir it looks like it's only a power disruption should be cleared up in a few minutes i responded trying to put him at ease so that perhaps he might do the same for the rest of the people on this floor they were all bad guys as far as i was concerned but i only had so many rounds and my objective was rich the suit scurried away wearing a bewildered look i'd let these compartmentalized traitors live for now at the elevator door i waited for a group of workers to pass before i put the crowbar to the door again this time i knew it'd be clear as the elevator car was one floor above the door budged open about two feet and i climbed through gripping the greased cables for my descent to the basement with only ten floors to go the trip only took a minute i was of course covered in thick cable grease but i wasn't in this mother for a fashion show at the bottom of the shaft i took off my gloves tossing the spent rags to the grease covered floor the door to the basement level was about hip height giving me perfect leverage on the center of the closed door in a few seconds i had the elevator door open just enough for me to squeeze through into the detention area of the fusion center there was no movement in the hallways but i did hear voices at the end of the hall i honed in on those and started moving gun up to my cheek rounding the corner i heard two confused guards asking one another what they thought the problem might be and when it might be fixed i immediately shot one of them in the head sending him to the ground putting the other guard in a state of terror he raised his hands up begging me not to shoot him rich redacted take me to his cell right the now i demanded ye yes okay the man said turning slowly and walking down the hall with his hands up he went to the end of the hall and made a left where i was forced to shoot two more guards this only reinforced the resolve of the guard under my control to do exactly what i told him at the door marked 3c the man gestured to the nameplate that displayed only one single word tourist it's him i've done what you asked please open it open it now the man reached for a key ring on his belt as i touched the end of my silencer to his chest nervously he flipped the rings around in the red emergency lighting until he found the one he was looking for inserting it into the lock as soon as i heard the lock disengage on the cell door i squeezed the trigger sending a 147 grain round into his chest his body hitting the tile floor with a thud the door sat there partially open i stepped forward and opened it the rest of the way revealing a semi-dark room with a chair in the middle emergency lights in the cell flickered revealing someone balled up in a fetal position in the corner of the room i placed my gun unsafe and brought it up pointing it to the body on the floor just because the traitor i'd killed said this was rich didn't mean it was true i sidestepped the chair noticing the thick leather straps on the empty jugs of water that sat arranged in rose next to it they'd been waterboarding him my blood pressure shot up thinking of how painful and frightening that must have been for rich i reached the body and nudged it with my foot rich it's me it's max i said quietly to the motionless body on the floor at the sound of my voice the body stirred throwing off an old wool blanket the man lying on the cold floor was definitely rich but a much more gaunt version instead of the hobo santa claus i was used to seeing i found a bin laden look alike rich looked up at me but i realized that he couldn't see me the power was still cut rich was squinting at me trying to make me out through the dim red light max is it really you he asked reaching for my hand in the darkness i offered mine gripping his hand tightly before responding yeah i'm here to get you out of here take this i pulled a squeeze package of caffeine infused energy gel and gave it to rich he down the whole package in just a few seconds got any more i gave him another without saying a word and told him to get on his feet things are about to get sporty you get my meaning rich nodded and asked for a weapon i quickly recovered the ak-47 from across my back and handed it over to him along with an extra mag rich stuffed the extra down his scrub pant waistband and donned his paper slippers i'm ready to move let's roll he said checking the condition of his comp block weapon where'd you get this chinese soldier he didn't need it anymore i responded with a chuckle thought so feels chinese with that we stepped out into the open i told rich to let me take the shots as i was running the silencer if i needed help i'd yell out and hit the deck he'd need to spray the out of whatever was in front of him just don't shoot lower than knee level okay i said we turned right out of his cell and headed for the stairwell as i passed the cell marked redacted i heard a familiar voice i know those were gunshots what the hell is going on out there maggie so it looked like getting into bed with these came back to bite her wonder what she did to piss them off i hesitated for a moment before taking the keys from the dead guard's hand sliding the viewport over i took a look inside and was instantly met with maggie's bruised and beaten face obvious even through the green optics of my nvd in the flickering emergency lights for a moment i thought back to when i'd first met her deep inside a strange building that also happened to be an unacknowledged classified direct action support facility she just stood there in her dirty scrubs her arms hanging down at her sides as if standing at the position of attention step back i said through the viewport max saying nothing i began to cycle through the keys to open the door i've heard her screams max rich whispered over my shoulder they've hurt her pretty bad over the past few weeks the power flickered on for a second before cutting out again it was time to move the lock relented on the third key i opened the door telling maggie to come out i don't owe you a goddamn thing i said to her coldly as i kept moving to the stairwell access i have no idea why i chose to let her go before going in i broke the nearby glass pane and pulled down hard on the switch marked fire all hell broke loose as klaxons and emergency strobes began to fire causing confusion and disorientation hopefully enough to get us to the first floor and outside rich moved slow a side effect of sleep and calorie deprivation i was really happy to find him vertical and mobile but at his current weight which i estimated to be about 160 pounds carrying him was doable we hit the stairs and were met by people in normal civilian clothing they weren't armed hurry go back upstairs there's a fire raging in the holding areas i yelled hoping i got the terminology correct enough it seemed to work as the civilians turned around and began to run back up to the first floor i followed them up through the access door to the floor i heard someone say why aren't the sprinklers on and someone else respond with something about the lack of water pressure this played to our favor as panic and fear began to spread hurry it's spreading it's all over the basement i screamed trying to use a different voice than the one i'd used on the civilians in the stairwell that was it another voice of authority that i didn't recognize began to give instructions everyone follow me to the exit there is nothing here worth saving just grab your phones and follow me cell phone flashlights began to wave back and forth resembling digital lighthouses inside my nvd there were enough of them on the floor that i raised my optic up and stepped back to the shadows waiting for the floor to clear as the workers began to leave the floor for the fire exit i filed behind them the lights flickered once more this time staying on for nearly five seconds luckily no one noticed the prisoners i had with me during the brief moment the lights were on i moved with a little more speed as i looked over my shoulder gesturing rich to catch up when the lights went out again maggie was following behind rich i didn't know where she thought she was going but it was a pretty bold move ignoring her for the moment i reached the door that led to the outside and stepped through blending in with all the evacuees in the darkness i grabbed rich's clothing keeping him concealed by the moon shadow behind me one of the evacuees started to ask a question but i cut her off telling her that i'd received a radio call about restoring the power and that i'd answer all her questions when i got back she nodded an acceptance and rich and i made for the backside of the building towards the space of fence between two tall guard towers the tower on our left was empty or at least no one was standing up in it the one on the right had a guard but he seemed focused on outside threats not inside with careful deliberation i pulled my handheld radio and quickly removed the tape that prevented the power source from contacting to it depressing the transmit button i said fire in the hole two minutes i headed toward the tower to the right knowing that if i got close enough i'd be in its blind spot and could do what i needed to do i pulled the small master keys strapped to my pack and began to cut the fence wires an explosion hit the building somewhere behind me the blast wave nearly blew the nvd off my head the nai mortars were beginning to fly as soon as i'd finished cutting a three by three section from the fence i sent rich through knowing that the guard's attention would by now be shifted 180 degrees toward the building after rich was on the other side i looked back one more time a dark figure moved toward me from a dozen yards away gaining the attention of the tower guard god damn it maggie halt the guard commanded i stepped out away from the base of the tower and took aim at the guard i squeezed the trigger as another mortar detonated the man doubled over and fell from the tower slamming to the ground with a thud moving quickly through the opening i'd cut i took the lead and checked my wrist compass before moving south and west dissolving into the winter landscape as if i was never there as i move farther away my nvd lit up with a new light source power had been restored at the fusion center illuminating the ongoing nai motor strike in vivid incandescent color i adjusted my speed to go faster until rich began to lag behind letting up a little to allow his beaten and tired body some reprieve i noticed maggie's shadowy figure pacing us from the distance i decided to address this once and for all as i approached i caught a flash of steel instantly bringing my gun up to meet her she was carrying an m4 carbine and wore combat boots with her prisoner garb from the guard i asked yeah she responded kill me or let me come with you i only want one thing just one and what's that payback for what they did to my child what they did to me maggie replied through clenched teeth knowing that she could have killed me at any time from the fence line until now i just turned away and began to trek southwest once again maggie followed not because i told her that she could but because she knew that she should rich was in poor shape and shaking with exposure and hunger by the time we arrived at the rally point 10 miles away as we approached i heard the massive diesel engine from inky's mrap fire up the familiar ir challenge signal was sent from the crew served operator on the machine gun on top and i responded in kind using the signal of the day as briefed rich was back in the fight but so was maggie to what end i didn't know or comprehend i placed a canvas sack over her head as soon as she entered the mrap and we were on our way arkansas underground i ripped the hood from maggie's head after getting her back to the camp she was checked head to toe for any electronic surveillance devices on the way in for someone as strong as she was for all of her training i was slightly perplexed as to why she wouldn't stop crying after a series of questions she finally let go and told me what i needed to know when she was repatriated by the provisional government after i left her at the helicopter she was interrogated heavily they didn't believe the story she told them and promptly arrested her on charges of abetting a known terrorist the interrogation turned extreme then they brought maggie's daughter into the chamber and went to work on her maggie finally gave in and admitted to providing false information as to my whereabouts to her interrogators do i believe her yes the interrogators accidentally killed maggie's daughter on a water board right in front of her days before i showed up to extract rich she was only twelve for people that think torture doesn't work they're wrong it definitely works but once you do it you're a piece of garbage forever if there's a god he's coming for all the torturers murderers and belligerents and the ones that give them orders and the only thing worse than garden variety torture is hurting a child and that's a line i'll never cross the same line that will make maggie forever question her notions of reality inky reports that the fusion center has been heavily damaged and that it'll take them a good while to get back up online the word has been dispatched to the radio men and should soon be in the hands of every n a asl rich gorged on food the rest of the morning after our return and is now sleeping somewhere in the tunnels below maggie sat wrapped in a blanket near a small fire drinking coffee and soaking her feet in some warm water i'm not done with these tyrants through my own mistakes in syria i tipped the first domino that eventually caused this entire collapse i'm going to spend the rest of my life fighting to somehow right these wrongs any way that i can i awoke to bustling activity in the passage underground near where i slept sliding my curtain open my bare feet touched earth and i felt like some caveman about to pick up his spear and go to work hunting and gathering in the saber-tooth tiger dense hills of arkansas instead of a spear i reached for my machine gun a cold harsh german tool of war that hasn't failed me yet rich was still sawing logs in a bed that was dug into the earth waist high like some ancient grave one might find underneath some church in europe stepping groggily out into the passageway with my boots in my hand i shuffled to the war room atop a line of wooden pallets that meandered through the tunnel to the lights up ahead inky sat at the table scanning over charts passing what appeared to be important notes to the radio men bound couriers near and far hey max we really shook things up the system is requesting more u n troops to augment the security forces in northwest arkansas that ain't necessarily a good thing inky slid photographs over in front of me three grainy black and white photos that looked as if they were normandy invasion archive pictures depicted dozens of large ships sitting in a harbor a giant star could be seen on the superstructure of the closest vessel in the photo what am i looking at inky i asked the harbor at 32nd street naval base san diego yesterday inky responded how did you get these from california in a day i asked incredulous we have a digital network set up with the coasts it's not even close to 56k speed but we can receive low resolution images via digital shortwave radio network from our radio man out there bottom line is that the troop transports from china keeps showing up dumping military personnel on our shores inky analyzes the intel just like he did when i first showed up the more troops that arrived on the coast the harder our job would be to take the country back and restore our own brand of order the influx of you and peacekeepers isn't our only problem as i write this most of the military deserted leaving for their families when all of this went down the rest left their posts when they stopped getting paid and fed electing to strike out alone and survive with whatever military hardware they could bring with them some of them were a threat in the uncontrolled areas some of them might be a friend to the nai and some of them may not the whole country was torn in hundreds of pieces shards and factions all vying for survival by any means necessary savannah walked into the operations center brightening the room and skimmed the table's intel for a few moments before speaking good work out there i hope the old man was worth it she said anyone they take from us is worth it i said flatly what about the woman who was with you she's not allowed in here we've got a couple guards posted on the surface keeping an eye on her i'll talk to her i said make it soon we don't like her here savannah said on her way out 23 december noon after enduring savannah's concerns about maggie i thought it a good idea to check in on her to see what she was up to or maybe how big her testicle necklace was getting from all the guards she'd killed i approached her fire cautiously waving the guards away so that i could speak in private she looked better today her face less swollen and her eyes less bloodshot maybe it was my imagination but i could see the burning desire for revenge swirling in the dark circles of her eyes i didn't say anything letting her adjust to my presence the fire popped and cracked got me food was the first thing maggie said to me i ripped off a layer of beef jerky from my cargo pocket and handed it to her chewing the jerky she asked they took my gun i'd like that back we're going to need it what do you mean we maggie we means a collective group two or more persons in this case the latter she said there's a small chance we can fix this mess turn off what we turned on they sent me after you to kill you but that wasn't my plan and down the rabbit hole i went i had to send the guards away twice while listening to maggie's story which is what i'm going to call it for now maggie explained that the virus we hardwired into the syrian telecom network could be neutralized if we could get back to alexandria back to delmae glass the secure storage facility there would have a duplicate telecom interface unit against orders she had two constructed one went to syria and one was hidden away in a vault under del may why the hell didn't you just go back there and wire it up yourself i asked because i need the six-digit code you entered in syria i only have one of the codes i need the other one to control the worm and tell it to die the weapon which is what the thing is was designed so that no single person could let it out max taking a deep breath i nodded in acknowledgment when i asked how we could reverse the grid collapse by attaching the hardwire to a box inside a powerless grid she revealed that we'd need to activate the box in an urban area that still had power to allow the kill switch to spread as nearby communities brought their grids online the command signal would spread just as it had to bring down the grid before after letting maggie's story sink in a bit i came to the realization that i had no choice stay here and fight endless waves of chinese invaders was an option but not a logical one bringing down the virtual barrier that seemed to handicap all computer networks and controls seemed like a better goal than playing guerrilla warrior in the hills of arkansas for the rest of my life both choices would probably lead to an early death but at least i had a shot at turning the country's course in a better direction than the one it was on now i had to ask her why didn't you tell me at the cabin after i shot you because you wouldn't have believed me then and also i needed you captured to save my my daughter i could have gotten the codes from you under the water board maybe saved her and then used them to bring the grit back up she began to bawl her words became barely discernible seeing the way they killed her the fear in her eyes i couldn't do that to you to anyone but those worthless demon bastards looks like i'll be working with maggie again christmas eve i entered the operations center enjoying the decorations that adorn the radios chart table and other areas of the room a small plastic tree with battery-powered led lights sat in the center of the table blinking last night i'd revealed to inky some of the details that maggie told me about the device she'd cached in alexandria and how we might be able to eventually reverse the weapons effect it would have been too complicated to explain my involvement in this mess although the nai followed a generally noble cause i mostly trusted no one and that's kept me alive throughout all this i approached the table and sat down next to inky grabbing a cookie from the tray in front of me it didn't taste too bad as it was made from grain harvested locally and probably hand milled as i chewed on the ultimate all-natural certified non-gmo christmas cookie inky scooted his chair and closer to the table and began to whisper i could barely hear him under the chirping of the radios and the bustle of the operation center i have a plan max follow me we can't talk here i can't even trust my own people with this information we then went through the intricate passageways of what i'd recently been calling shire base eventually we reached the entry control point and past guards carrying 12-gauge shotguns to keep the riffraff out as we exited into the bright sunlight three runners with slung messenger bags ran past me from the tunnel they mounted nearby horses and all went different directions to find their radio men this way inky said picking up pace at the main stable we got our horses molly snorted with happiness at the sight of me i thought that was pretty cool and i gave her nose a good rub to let her know i appreciated it we saddled up and were gone within a few minutes we got two miles in a direction i'd never gone not stopping until we reached a waterfall rocks smoothed by thousands of years of pr water rushing over their surface was forming the water as it fell abating the splash with olympic diver efficiency inky dismounted so i did the same and followed him up to the edge of the water he began to scan our surroundings as if to check if anyone had followed us here this made me nervous as it was something i'd probably do right before i killed inky uneasy i put my palm over my sub gun feeling its curves and mentally preparing to draw and shoot it with the stock still folded inky began to speak okay there will be a summit in just over a month in washington dc in attendance will be the president the entire cabinet the director of the department of homeland security the attorney general and creditor heads of state we've received the intel on what they're planning and it's not good inky reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a printout from one of the digital ham radio images he'd received from resistance agents embedded in dc the image depicted a map of the united states broken up into several sectors within these sectors other flags were represented i could see dozens of chinese and indian flags spread out just off the coast in the oil-rich fields of the gulf of mexico they're slicing us up and giving us away max we talked at great length i questioned the vetting of his sources and contacts on the inside and he responded with what i needed to hear he'd been receiving intel from his contacts in dc for some time now eventually the intelligence provided panned out and was verified this intel would be no different the meeting being held in dc next month was like the one held after world war ii that decided the fate of germany in that post-war era after going over the summit guest list dates and times i asked the obvious question so what are we going to do about a summit being held a month from now over a thousand miles away inky stood there and looked at me in the eyes for a long while deciding whether or not he should speak max the nai wants you to execute a terrorist attack on the summit inky said you want me to do what i responded in disbelief the nai had cracked government communications methods inky wouldn't tell me how or from whom the encryption keys were given but did reveal a few details the source is someone you've heard of seen on the news before all this maybe he said the plan would be to head east to a weapons cache location where some explosives and other nasties were stored recover them and continue to dc in time for fireworks at the summit so you want me to dig up some c4 take it a thousand miles to dc and use it on the president and the cabinet i said nearly floored at the prospect of this ever since last year i've been deemed an enemy of the state a domestic terrorist but at my heart i still have some respect left for the office for what it stands for and for what it means to be elected by the people i've shot a few unlucky men in the face since all this began but most of them deserved it what inky was talking about here was pure gorilla rebellion against elected civilian leadership i wasn't sure how i could start to reconcile an action of that magnitude the president ordered the shredding of the constitution and suspension of habeas corpus that's high treason and flies in the face of liberty millions are dead max a lot of them at the barrels of government guns everyone that will be at the summit is implicated culpable listen max you don't have to do this but if you want to really make a difference in the world for future generations now is your chance i sat there for a moment listening to the water and the snorts of horses before answering i could in no way really agree to this right now killing an elected sitting president went against everything i stood for the accusations inky laid out were compelling but i needed time to make a decision like this there was still a modicum of respect for the office remaining at least to me i'll go east i said changing my future forever inky nodded retrieved a telescoping fishing pole from his saddle and started negotiating the uneven terrain that led up to the flowing water extending the fishing pole he reached behind the waterfall retrieving a rice bag he quickly opened the bag and pulled out something wrapped in plastic placing the item in his back pocket he returned the bag to its hiding spot behind the waterfall back down the hill he took the item from his pocket and handed it to me glancing at the paper through the clear plastic bag i could clearly make out coordinates what else is behind that waterfall more cash locations many more he responded flatly let's go back and pick your team i stopped walking prompting inky to do the same he looked at me quizzically i already have my partner picked out i said without hesitation rich he needs a month of food and water before i'd even take him a mile on horseback i'm not talking about rich man i'm talking about maggie the nai doesn't trust her hanging around and i don't either but i know what she's capable of and i can keep an eye on her it's a gamble but some tells me she'd be an asset more than a liability inky shook his head he could tell that my mind was made up but he obviously didn't agree with my decision going a thousand miles on horseback was going to be rough as it stood but going with half a dozen people i'd never operated beside would be even worse i'd love to take rich but inky was right he was too weak to go much of anywhere at the moment and we were on a timeline one month until the summit one month to decide part three eastward on person helmet mounted nvd electronic ear pro with coms integration soft body armor plates med kit human and horse filtered drinking straw encrypted have quick radio 300 caliber blk m4 select fire sbr with silencer with torch with one to four times glass with four mags integrally silenced 22 caliber lr pistol with hollow sight with five mags in slash on molly saddle bags 500 rounds of sub and super 300 caliber blk two bricks of cci standard velocity 22 caliber lr four grenades two small efps stinger missile food stores water container with filter and pump hygiene human and horse sleeping bag with cortex cover concealment netting christmas i enjoyed a meal of mostly canned goods complemented with venison and other local wildlife washed down with one of the local micro brews some ex frat boy conjured up for the rest of us the beer was damn better than i thought it would be the only gifts i saw given were from the adults to the children and the gifts i saw would have been tossed over shoulders like new socks or underwear on christmas morning a few years ago instead stockings filled with fruit and candy brought huge smiles to young faces ones even bigger than if they'd opened up a box containing the latest gaming system or vr headset our situation our waking lives were horrible and nearly unbearable but there were moments like this moments of pure happiness and thankfulness that reminded me that we're not all demons like me as christmas dinner came to a close i thanked inky for the shires hospitality and said my goodbyes to savannah who in her typical fashion said only don't die out there inky and rich were standing nearby i reached to shake inky's hand and was instead presented with a parting christmas gift portable shortwave radio with long wire morse key contact and freak schedule and code book eat the first and third sheet if you think you're about to be compromised they're the ones with perforations in case you're in the dark when the time comes good luck and godspeed i thanked inky for the trust and hospitality and told him that i'd be in touch when i was near the first objective saying goodbye to rich suck the most i'd been to hell and back to save him and it was worth every chance it took to get him back we'd been through a lot together and it was like leaving a close uncle rich reassured me that he'd be just a morse click away if need be his parting instructions were explicit avoid transmitting shortwave more than one message per stop with minimum of 20 miles between transmissions shortwave was difficult to geo-locate but too many transmissions in the same area wasn't a best practice for comsec per sec or keeping your brain inside your skull sick i laughed at the former nsa spooks joke before giving him a man hug and saying my throat lumped goodbye by the time i see you again you'll have gained a hundred pounds merry christmas rich i said trying to laugh back any water-based signs of sadness maggie saddled up molly it's only a matter of time before i screw those names up and was waiting for me at the edge of the shire control point which led down the road to a derelict-looking electronic gate that would be triggered open by a hidden overwatch sniper once we got close enough mounting molly i could hear the children singing christmas songs the sounds drifting from the tunnels and out into the winter night and cutting through the dense air like angels voices maggie's horse elvis snorted in short protest about his new master thumping his front hooves on the ground the sound of singing got louder as the carolers emerged from the tunnel entrance holding candles the guards tried to quiet the children but couldn't the music was a good send-off into the cold winter evening maggie didn't say anything as the horses walked down the heavily rutted dirt drive to the fence as we approached i heard the creek of metal as the battery-powered gate motor slowly cranked the exit open the highway to hell was in front of us i was the only one with the map to the explosives maggie knew that we're stopping by an nai cash and also about the summit but not the exact date as we moved farther and farther east i would assess her loyalty and go from there it was going to be a long trip the final brief i'd received from inky was tucked inside my saddlebags it wasn't too sensitive just several pages of useful information like friends and foes strongholds and who might be sympathetic to the nia's overall cause there were a few militia organizations from here to the east coast not all of them redneck survivalists that cable tv used to demonize via creative editing to drive ratings before all of this some of the so-called militias were composed of police military farmers and some other groups that unfortunately delved into the fanatic realm of racists of all colors and creeds the most sobering aspect of the report was the estimated casualty rate at this point 85 percent of the population of the united states was either dead or dying all due to the grid going down i didn't want to fathom what the rest of the world might look like i had to really try not to think about that too long how many millions of children had maggie and i inadvertently at least for me killed it took jedi concentration not to let this get to the core of my mind and cause me to walk down a self-destructive path the only thing that drove me forward in the saddle was the possibility of somehow at least in some way making things whole again maggie and i were a huge part of why things were the way they were i'm not going to lie or gloss over the fact that i've pondered suicide at the thought of what i've inadvertently caused what would it solve i'd be getting off too easy the option in some dark way is still on the table in the back of my mind but i want to try to reverse this even if only in some small way recovery from losing millions of people to famine civil war disease and other atrocities was going to take at least a century and would forever be a horrific chapter in the history books eclipsing the dark ages and the genocide of world war two many times over with the population being down to mid eighteen hundreds levels we've potentially traveled days without seeing a living soul if we stuck to the areas outside federal control the feds simply didn't have the resources to even get close to controlling the rural dark zones that span the hundreds of miles between the urban centers i knew which cities were provisional government strongholds and fully intended to avoid all of them until i reached alexandria where the surveillance grid remained alive and well and the hearts of the worm we had unleashed last year still digitally beating thousands of once automated processes the worm had strange effects the feds had to be careful where and how they brought digital cellular networks back online if the newly established network brushed even briefly with a mistakenly powered infected node the new network would have to be wiped and the infected node quarantined before the network could be re-imaged and brought online some of the intelligence i'd read outlined examples of the worm jumping networks via infrared ports into devices that were not rf wireless capable devices once thought to be dumb would start showing the effects of the worm generator control panels smart meters vehicles and other devices that the government was utilizing in the urban centers were getting infected and shut down the only technology that could be utilized had to be truly dumb with no programmable interface or anything that could come into contact with the worm the nsa really engineered some lethal zeros and ones after initially reading this i found myself mentally going over my equipment list looking for anything that might be vulnerable to the digital hunter killer that buzzed invisibly around every powered infected device in the world even the watch i wore on my wrist had the capability to receive rf time updates from transmitting sites which hopefully remained down or somehow uninfected disturbing beyond belief we rode for an hour until we finally reached the last observation post controlled by the shire the guard flashed ir and gestured a friendly way from his hidden spot and then just like leaving earth's orbit we were in the chaotic byproduct of a grid down world the ice and snow wasn't falling but the cutting wind forced us to go slower than the horses wanted to as we made our path east we had springdale to cross through and then we take one of the lesser traveled roads that skirted huntsville before huntsville we'd need to make a stop to pick up the nai explosives cash reports suggested that we'd see few people on the road between there and the eastern border of arkansas and i was just fine with that molly was loaded down heavy with dehydrated food maybe enough to last a month if we stayed on horseback and let the animals burn the calories could be a tough prospect if we couldn't find enough grazing for the horses along the way midnight came and went and the road just came maggie's horse elvis was eyeballing a nearby pond and began to snort and pull in the direction of the water we took a horse break and i drank deeply from my canteen and immediately broke some of the edge ice to filter and replace best stay in the habit to keep the canteens full i saw lights and in a flash we were on horseback galloping to a nearby line of trees an old pickup truck with only the parking lights illuminated stuttered past the field and kept going we made it through springdale without incident the city collapsed a year ago its population mostly gone springdale was in an unfortunate position it was a forgotten city stuck between the federally controlled bentonville and the civil war stricken fayetteville although we didn't go right through the middle of the city we saw no lights flickering in the windows as we skirted along the outside of what was once a beautiful southern town with the only passenger train depot in the area with springdale behind us the road narrowed and the first mountains guarding the distance between here and eastern arkansas stood like dark sentinels up ahead we'd be back in newton county in another night or two at about three in the morning we rode past something that caught my eye i wouldn't have noticed it but i saw the ir reflection from my nvd coming from the edge of a field at first i thought it was a sign or maybe a tractor reflector but after riding in a bit closer i could see the very top of a large rv positioned behind shrubbery about three or four hundred yards across a field off the road the fence was damaged and large black skid marks were clearly rubbed into the road pointing to the downed fence i cautiously approached and maggie followed when close enough i dismounted and handed the reins to maggie and moved in for some recon the door was open on the side telling me that the rv was probably abandoned no one would sleep with the door open in this weather upon closer inspection i saw that the rear tires were flat and noticed a series of bullet holes all across the back end penetrating the spare tire and at least 10 other places i knocked on the side of the rv and called out with no answer at the door i opened it a bit more and took a look inside expecting to see bodies although i saw a fair amount of dried blood there were no corpses or people inside slumbering the rv was just another story told via visual cues skid marks damaged fence bullet holes blood whoever was inside this thing didn't make it probably a victim of the raiders or bikers i'd seen dominating the roads in the beginning i whistled to maggie that it was clear and continued my inspection of the inside if only out of morbid curiosity anything useful was gone from the rv from hand soap to food and water there was a roll of duct tape sitting on the counter which was a pretty good find considering i didn't bring any the place was a mess but the bullet holes were only in the walls not the roof of the rv meaning we could at least stay dry until tomorrow night when we'd head out again i've decided to only move at night until we get deeper into rural arkansas turning i saw maggie standing silently in the doorway she hadn't said ten words since we departed the shire i suppose i can understand why i'm not going to push it and to be honest i'm not sure i care yeah she'd been through a lot and seen her whole life ripped from her she's not the only one though and she knowingly had a hand in all this can't forgive or forget so easily in some ways i hate her i was naive in syria i trusted the agency and all it stood for i stepped aside and maggie walked in rolled out her bag on the bed in the far corner and crawled inside i guess you're not taking the first watch i asked no response i checked on the horses and grabbed my compressed sleeping bag tossing it inside the rv onto the other bed the trees covered all but the top third of the rv from view of the two-lane road without nvds i'd never have seen the rv at night and i doubted it was much easier to see during the day unless you were looking and noticed the road and fence with the inside of the abandoned rv secured i surveilled the immediate area making sure that we weren't right next door to another fusion center or rival road gang satisfied we were truly remote i went back to the rv checking the outside cargo areas within the first compartment i found a wake board and a bunch of folding chairs not helpful the next compartment contained the rv's generator and my god it had fuel inside i messed around with it for 20 minutes before i got it to turn over and start loud static boom from the rv and i heard maggie russell out of her bag to turn it off lights were on inside i rushed around to the door and saw maggie in the cab of the rv frantically flipping switches to get the static to stop i reached past her and turned off the cv radio killing the static overhead i could feel the cool air coming from the air conditioner i selected the heating mode and the cold air turned much warmer which was the reason i'd powered on the generator in the first place i took the roll of duct tape and went outside placing strips over the bullet holes to catch all the light that spilled from them i then went up the road to see if i could see or hear the rv if i concentrated i could barely make out a hum but the way the hill was situated it was difficult to tell where the noise was coming from satisfied i made way back down the hill through the field to the rv elvis met me about halfway so i decided to ride the rest of the way back i hid my kit in the woods as i didn't want the explosives coordinates compromised and headed back to the rv for some sleep yeah we should probably have kept one of us awake but i was too damn tired the small generator ran out of gas at about 0-700 which was fine as the sun was already peeking over the tops of the trees the heater had kept the interior of the rv warm until it stopped working in a way i was happy as the noise was gone and there'd be little chance of anyone wandering around on the nearby road to find us sleeping out here after getting used to the lack of generator humming i fell back asleep and woke up a little afternoon grabbing my rifle i stepped outside into another damn snow storm watered a nearby bush and went looking for molly and elvis i found them standing close to each other next to a tree so i decided to build a fire i dragged several downed branches into a pile and dipped an old rag down into the generator tank to soak up the last ounces of fuel that couldn't make it into the carburetor after breaking my kindling and arranging everything i started the fire in a flash burning through the small stuff and using that energy to ignite the larger pieces of fallen branches that i'd piled up the horses moved over to the fire and began to snort and swish their tails in approval i could have sworn i saw elvis smile but i think he was just positioning himself to nip my tricep the snow was coming down pretty good but i had a four leg drive vehicle that didn't care too much about snow and dice so i wasn't too worried about it rounding the corner of the rv i caught a glimpse of movement in the tree above a squirrel jumped from branch to branch probably on its way home inside one of the trees i quickly ran back into the rv grabbed my ruger 22 caliber lr pistol and checked the can for tightness before i barreled outside again i raised the gun up simultaneously twisting the red dot switch to the on position i took a shot but pulled it knocking off a chunk of branch the tree rat was occupying the second suppressed shot hit the animal in the side of its chest dropping it from the high branch with a tragically soft thud on the snow-covered ground i ran over with my knife and quickly made sure the creature wasn't suffering before i immediately began to feel dressed the small animal it wasn't a lot but the meat would complement a small handful of dried food water and bouillon cubes to make a pretty damn good stew my mouth watered as i sliced every good bit of meat from the animal tossing it in one of the pots that remained unscavenged inside the rv i emptied my canteen into the pot along with some snow i'd scooped from the ground i mixed in some dehydrated noodles and two bouillon cubes and covered the food placing it in the fire eventually bringing it to a nice boil i allowed it to boil multiple times dropping in handfuls of snow before it began to boil over i repeated this for ten minutes until i was sure that whatever nasty diseases that squirrel might be carrying were dead dead dead satisfied i wasn't going to die from a parasite i sipped some of the stew it was damn good considering our current situation i didn't need to shake maggie to wake her up all i had to do was bring the food inside the rv and wait 30 seconds as soon as the smell hit her nostrils her eyes sprung open and locked onto the steaming pot of squirrel stew after eating our fill we looked over the maps deciding the best way east eventually agreeing on 412 due to the lack of traffic and general activity we'd seen on the road since we'd stopped at the rv secretly i steered us on this road so that i could make a pickup at the easternmost boundary of the nia's border i remained torn conflicted on what i'd be doing with the explosives i bagged another squirrel after a few hours of hunting tomorrow's meal with only a few hours until dark it was time for a nap had to stay frosty night fell and maggie and i continued east she was quiet too quiet i still thought i might have been a little crazy for letting her have a gun and allowing myself to sleep within her proximity but i had an inexplicable feeling about her the leverage that controlled her before made her crazy she'd have killed me and then worn my skin if it meant saving her child and i couldn't blame her i couldn't pretend to know what that was like to have kids you'd die for but with that leverage now gone forever she was transformed i was just her guide east to a place where she could let loose the rage buried inside just below the surface of her failing sanity hours went by and we stopped just outside of huntsville arkansas at a sawmill marked on the nai map i was given by inky the mill had the unfortunate name love logs inc and was massive in scope covering at least five acres it looked as if it had been in operation before the economy collapsed based on the condition of the equipment and the piles of good lumber still sitting banded up in stacks beside the mills green chain the cash was hidden here after passing through several hands from the defunct government arsenal it used to call home the exact location wasn't marked that information was given in secrecy to me by inky's nai head of intelligence all in all they'd revealed that the nai controlled at least half a dozen well-stocked explosive caches stolen from government custody when the hit the fan and the guards all went home to keep their own families from being raped and murdered by the bands of thugs roaming the cities and countryside maggie wait here and watch the horses you hear shots meet me here i said pointing to a cafe downtown i'd circled earlier before we'd left the rv two green dots nodded up and down indicating that she acknowledged it was nice not having her question what i was about to do i dismounted and brought my suppressed carbine to the high ready before moving deeper into the sawmill mammoth piles of sawdust and scrap lumber were spaced evenly under machinery designed to turn hundred-year-old living organisms into homes furniture and paper i moved to the pile that sat underneath a great red piece of equipment with the words red easy stenciled on a steel beam 10 feet across grabbing a scrap 2x4 i began to search confident that maggie would watch my back as i did so the pile was larger than a two-story house but my instructions were clear find the black toolbox and dig underneath i scraped my silencer over the pile of sawdust and debris until i heard the loud clank of metal two-thirds from the top of the inverted cone where a large rusted blade sat like a sentinel in the darkness waiting to cut more trees to shape to boost our gdp through production of what people used to demand before government intervention had its way via the naive actions of one agent who shall remain nameless as i began to dig into the sawdust i heard the far-off sounds of barking and howling at first i thought it was coyotes but i'd spent many a night in newton county and that wasn't it i needed to hurry it up here found it unearthing the toolbox i opened it up a simple handwritten note sat inside with a few words written in black ink remember waco ruby ridge fayetteville i took the note and put it in my vest pocket before tossing the toolbox to the base of the sawdust pile the barking and howling was louder and closer now i heard the sounds of small bells and chains being dragged across concrete just before the piston sounds of suppressed gunfire and horses crying out maggie was engaging whatever they were molly ran past the dirt pile with something chasing her i drew down on it and took a shot hitting it in the gut it was a dog once domesticated the dog struggled to yelp as i ran down off the pile to put it out of its misery spooked molly kept running into the mill making scared horse noises i pulled my sidearm and put a 22 caliber round into the wild dog's skull even as i pulled the trigger i felt sorry for the thing it had to do what it needed to survive but so did i forgetting molly for the moment i ran back to where i'd left maggie and elvis maggie was dismounted her gun held high as she kept circling around elvis in a protective posture her green electric eyes and black gun made her look sinister and lethal which she absolutely was i knew from experience any injuries her green eyes swung back and forth horizontally i went back into the mill to look for molly as she was kind of a big deal if i wanted to reach the east coast before i was eligible for social security i went back into the mills underneath the metal building that housed some of the planer machinery and other rain sensitive and expensive equipment looking at the steel beams above i saw white pin pricks of light bats hanging by their feet most of them didn't even bother to look back at me but some of them did craning their heads to follow me as i searched for my trusty steed i found her huffing and puffing next to the pallet making machine i approached the scared animal slowly and carefully with my open hands out calling her name in a soothing voice this seemed to calm her a bit which enabled me to get a hand on her nose rubbing her face until she relaxed that's a good girl i said to her adjusting her saddle and guiding her out of the sawmill outside i regrouped with maggie who was still gone up watching for more wild dogs she'd stacked a few up on the ground near where we were one of them wearing a short chain attached to its dirty leather collar sad these animals had no chance without their master but still somehow survived only to be ended here now they'd have eaten us and our horses if we hadn't fought back having said that i wasn't very impressed with molly's response to nearby gunfire i filed that little factoid away before returning to the x on the nai map to finish my digging going deeper i finally came to a plastic case wrapped in a thick contractor quality trash bag tugging i managed to get the case out from under the damp sawdust and down the side of the mound i took the instructions from their protective plastic in my cargo pocket and pulled the case out of the trash bag the case itself was pelican style weighing about thirty pounds mostly explosives with some debt cord it would need to ride on elvis as molly was already tapped out with all my kit and a stinger missile i estimated maggie weighed a hundred pounds less than me if my ability to guess such things was still accurate clicking open the clasps on the composite case i raised the lid revealing neat stacks of plastic wrapped white cake-like explosives i pushed the dense explosives aside taking inventory of the other items in the box i closed the clam shell on the explosives and placed a thick zip tie through the metal tabs where a padlock should go i didn't want the case flying open if we had to haul ass but i was pretty sure the explosives would be just fine being transported a thousand miles on horseback over mountainous and unforgiving terrain i returned to maggie with the black case strapping it to her horse nicely counterbalancing the weight that hung from the other side elvis was a brute and probably wouldn't even notice the extra 30 pounds there was still a lot of night left and i didn't want to spend it in the creepy bat infested wild dog hunting ground that was this old sawmill we mounted up got back on the road and kept moving east until we reached the small one intersection empty town of osage we took sanctuary for the night a good distance away from 412 in an abandoned home although maggie wasn't talking neither of us were used to the chilling silence we'd experienced ever since leaving nai territory i just wanted to hear another human talk for a while and i wished i'd brought something to listen to a book on tape perhaps anything to get my mind off the crushing quiet i'd even settle for killer dogs something the winter cold even silenced the bug symphony that could be heard outside in these parts during the warmer months the very walls of the abandoned home we found ourselves in seemed to close in with the tragic memories of those who lived here when society collapsed from the empty cupboards to the half-eaten leather belt i found all told the same story famine desperation and death bullet holes riddled the front and back doors possibly indicating coordinated and simultaneous forced entry a stuffed bear lay on the floor with scattered crayons and a shattered jewelry box some poor children had to watch their parents get torn apart by machine gun fire or worse into the dog patch dog patch usa more silence maggie was still sleeping when i woke up to the side of my own breath the house was stone cold we'd slept most of the day i tossed a couple of logs into the fireplace to bring the temperature out of the teens and knock the chill off after she woke we climbed back on the horses for our long trek east by my calculations we'd be reaching our next stop marble falls a couple hours before sunup the population was less than a thousand before all this i doubt it's even single digits now counting the possums even though we were on nvds and sticking to the two-lane paved road the grade was punishing we both either leaned forward in the saddle going uphill or leaned back hoping that our horses would not lose footing sending us down craggy cliffs or hollers after navigating a switch back up the mountain and back down again the ground began to level out some but this was arkansas unforgiving and gray most of the winter the night seemed to last forever with no sign of fading stars i kept playing a game every hour or so trying to guess the time to see how close i was to my digital watch still maggie said nothing we pulled over to give the horses a water break and i noticed a sign heavily grown over with leafless vines and moss if it had been summer the sign would have been a near invisible rectangle-shaped green mass as it was the paint and letters were heavily faded from days seasons and years gone by dog patch usa trout fishing rides shows a spark of memory passed through some long dormant synapse in my mind dog patch had i been here as a child either way the time i'd most recently guessed was oh 438 when i checked it it was closer to oh 450 and i could see a hint of light on the eastern horizon fighting back the night and pushing back the cloudy darkness after the horses drank their fill and grazed a few minutes on snow buried grass we mounted up and followed the dog patch usa sign turning at the next right as indicated on the ancient billboard we carefully went around the rusted and chained barricade meant to keep cars from coming to park after hours judging by the condition of the parking lot it looked like we'd missed our chance to do that by a few decades we trotted over to the office marked tickets and tram where i dismounted handing maggie the reigns don't let her go this time i don't care how many rabid dogs show up i said half jokingly to maggie trying to get a rise out of her anything at this point i was growing more than a little weary of talking to myself and playing the guess the time game i'll admit she grabbed the reigns without so much as a nod and i turned to face the decrepit and abandoned ticket office and tram station apparently we'd stumbled onto an ancient arkansas theme park nestled in these hills i still felt that there was something familiar about it maybe an old picture i'd seen of my mother holding me as a child here perhaps all the memories that were resurfacing seemed to be of photos not of my own memories of this place i saw the cloudy image of a picture in my mind but couldn't quite pull it out of the chemical switches located somewhere beyond a million turns of worm-like tissue the ticket office was clear inside and stood shortly beside a set of tracks that led steeply down the mountain to more structures below a rusting blue passenger tram sat fused to the ground via hundreds of vines i got back on molly and gestured for maggie and elvis to follow we proceeded slowly past the abandoned tram car and down the track to the theme park itself it was almost getting to the point that i didn't need an nvd to see careful to avoid the half buried rails and railroad ties i followed the tracks and a lone black cable that ran between both sets the tracks terminated at the bottom of the hill at the uphills sister tram station where another twin tram car sat gripped by the vine tendrils of mother nature a padlock lay shattered on the ground next to the metal door behind a turnstile that counted visitors to the park we rode the horses around the side of the station and jumped over a downed section of three log fence before spilling out onto the cracked and uneven pavement moving out into a more open area i saw two indiana jones killer sized boulders sitting side by side in the tall overgrowth i approached out of curiosity discovering the park's first quirky display and bringing back the memory my mind had been searching for ever since we arrived here at dog patch two large rocks in the shape of a face their lips puckered as if about to kiss each other it was hard to tell rock gender but one appeared to be a girl the memory was now clear but not of me being here it was from my mother's photo albums she was holding me as a child in front of these kissing rocks people were smiling and laughing all around her i remember the photo well it was a sunny day and my mother was squinting as she held me posing for the camera she looked happy in the photo perhaps that's why i always remembered it i don't think i ever recalled her that happy in the years before her untimely death this was that place in the photo i put my back to the kissing rocks the abandoned park was at the halfway stage of nature's reclamation this was what the rest of the country might look like in 30 years thick vines overtaking and topping buildings cracking concrete and starting the process of removing all evidence that man broke ground here long before i was born my mind wandered clicking and replacing images in my head like my uncle's old 3d viewer he showed me when i was young i began to see scenes of fayetteville in my head overtaken by nature like dog patch through extreme neglect a gentle touch on my shoulder got my attention maggie swung her nvd up and made eye contact gesturing up ahead beyond the overgrown foliage to a tall structure made up mostly of stairs it reminded me of some twisted emerald city spire that glimmered in the distance across a field of thorns maggie led with elvis and i followed behind to the structure as we approached it became obvious that we were looking at an ancient water toboggan slide of some type the sun was probably fully up somewhere behind the clouds and mountains but it was still dark enough to break cover and risk the ascent we both dismounted and tied our horses off to a nearby post and began to summit the several flights of stairs leading to the top of the ancient theme park ride the structure was in horrible disrepair as the heaviest i went first if the damp boards held me it would hold maggie's bird-like frame i threw my carbine over my back so that i'd have both hands to stop my fall through the boards to the flight below although they were old and covered in moss and mildew and they creaked the steps held it only took a few minutes to get to the top fighting brutal sticker bushes along the first flight at the top we had a commanding view of the park a large lake stood between most of the park and the back road highway beyond i could see a couple of cars abandoned on the highway through the trees but no movement although we were at the highest point in the park we were still in a valley the mountains towered all around us enclosing us in this rotting time capsule a place that society had abandoned and forgotten years ago i scanned the area with my binoculars seeing no signs of recent human activity we're not making camp here i said to maggie before starting my way down the tower would give us a clear view of our surroundings but it would be cold and there was only one way down at the bottom of the stairs i made for a set of small railroad tracks and followed them to a dam the miniature dam was also in extreme disrepair and the reservoir it held back was littered with branches and other debris a waterfall fell over the face of it feeding a stream that supplied the lake i followed the tracks to a span of bridge that overlooked the waterfall a cracking sound sent my carbine to the high ready searching the tree line like radar scanning for a confirmed target continuing forward i heard the splash of hooves as maggie rode across the stream leading molly across by the reins we needed to take the saddles off the horses and give them a break soon or risk having issues we rounded a bend and discovered the train that seemed to belong to these tracks it was a small model replica of an old steam engine pulling several passenger cars behind it most of the cars were full of debris from where animals had made nests and were probably run off rinse repeat approaching the caboose train i nearly shot a static display coiled around a nearby tree a large fiberglass python replica was poised to strike dog patch train passengers we passed the broken down locomotive and continued on what was very likely a train loop around the theme park eventually we came to a small cabin that sat right off the tracks it was no bigger than a one-car garage and had moonshine jugs sitting on the front porch adorned with xxx rounding out the hillbilly stereotype were hanging deerskins in rocking chairs on the front porch i bet that the theme park actors used to have fun with the passengers as they rode on by the old cabin i approached the small wrap-around porch and stepped up onto its old planks before shoving the front door i didn't notice the large tarnished brass lock attached to a rusted metal clasp until i was up close i went back to molly's bags and pulled out my small master key with two quick snips the brass lock fell to the damp wooden porch giving us access to a place long abandoned the roof was still intact but leaking in a few places three chairs and a table sat positioned in the center of the cabin and an air conditioner was in the window to the back not visible to train passengers on the middle of the table was a small cb radio probably used to communicate with the train conductor so that the actors knew when to come outside to start their show jugs of water lined a wall and cans of bug spray and first aid kit were on the shelves at the back wall along with a small propane camp heater with three small green propane tanks i also noticed a binder on the shelf so i pulled it off and gave it a look train 10 seconds out leave cabin in character ma look paw it's more of them city folk paw quick junior grab your gun them look like bandits junior rushes inside for his rifle the binder went on to outline four different scripts so that the train passengers might have variety if they rode the train more than once it was pretty cool to read the scripts and imagine what it might be like to go back in time to this park's heyday we rolled out our sleeping bags and made preparations to bed down for the day the water in the cabin jugs was still clear and drinkable having been sheltered in the containers away from sunlight i poured some into my mess kit pan and boiled up some dinner maggie supplied some of her dried food to supplement mine food might eventually be an issue but not today having a heck of a day dogs it was the damn dogs again they tracked us to the cabin just as the sun was about to sit we heard the horses act up so i went outside i could see the headlights beaming through the trees coming from somewhere down the tracks beyond the small locomotive maggie had already packed her kit but mine was still in disarray i shoved my in my pack and the rest in molly's bags i put on my helmet and put my m4 at the ready and began to follow the tracks clockwise just as we'd done from the entrance to the park the dogs were yelping and barking from somewhere behind us and motorcycle engines were revving bringing back some memories from last year i'd rather not have dredged to the surface eventually the tracks turned right and seemed to meander back in the direction of the park i hope that the oil and other residue from the train's countless trips might throw off our scent i mean they'd likely track me to the cabin because i was on foot from the waterfall but they'd lose the scent there and hopefully not find us as we made our loop back to the tram station we galloped faster seemingly outpacing the dogs as their noises became quieter muffled by the thick branches and evergreens that split the trails between our pursuers and us nearly rounding the next bend i jumped off molly passing the reins over to my silent partner i gave her the signal to disappear into the woods and i stalked forward to the tram station under the cover of the nearby tree line at the tram i saw about a half a dozen men standing next to their motorcycles these weren't your average harley cruisers they'd been retrofitted with additional external fuel tanks rifle scabbards and knobby tires for gripping back roads and god forsaken places like dog patch usa these men weren't just standing around bullshitting they were paying attention to their surroundings i heard the loud beep from one of their handheld radios and watched one of them who must have been six and a half feet tall approaching his motorcycle to take the call i couldn't hear what he'd said but he swung his leg over his bike and started the engine sending the growl of his tuned up and modified harley echoing back and forth between the hills temporarily drowning out the sounds of the dogs that were no doubt sniffing up the tracks behind me the biker turned toward me and i got low into the cold and snow frosted grass what i saw attached to his bike made my blood turn cold a human head was attached to the bike's handlebars with baling wire its mouth looked to be wired open in a grotesque grimace and a knife was stuck straight down into its skull the biker only came my direction long enough to give himself room to turn around he zoomed past the tram station into the park and down into the creek bed where maggie had led the horses earlier this morning following the bike until it disappeared just as the sun disappeared behind the mountain i noticed movement on the tower we'd explored the sound of dogs grew louder and the motorcycle engine revved again probably speeding down the tracks to the cabin we'd spent the day sleeping in i felt the heavy lump in my cargo pocket reassured by its presence the other three grenades were in molly's saddlebags most problems can be solved with grenades i was certain i brought my nvd down and gave the ir signal to maggie exfiltrate i brought my gun to the high ready and got within a good throwing distance of the five bikers that were guarding the tram station or the only clear trail back up the mountain to the road looking over maggie walked out of cover and began going up the hill adjacent to the tram clearing just as i figured i heard one of the five bikers break the chatter listen someone said silencing the group i instinctively pulled the pin i don't remember if i intended to but my hands seemed to work autonomously i waited live grenade in hand gripping the spoon firmly i saw the flash of a weapons light begin to search the clearing when my body again began to act without me telling it to i reached back and lobbed the grenade hard listening as the spoon hit the gravel a few seconds later the grenade hit the ground at the bikers feet with a thud this time i had to force my legs to move force my eyes not to watch the carnage that was about to be the rest of their lives my m4 began to beat my back mercilessly as i pumped my legs past the tram station and up the hill a loud crack signified the grenade's underwhelming detonation shrapnel tore through flesh and motorcycles some of it hitting the metal tram station structure beside me and the screams ensued grenades only kill everyone instantly in movies in real life there are soul shuddering screams and howls of pain and agony i learned to tune those out my privilege of being a normal human being long gone never to return i ran faster opening the distance between the twisted hunter killers and myself i grabbed the m4 from my beaten back and turned on my ir laser i hope the bikers didn't have nvd capability as i began to lasso with the sky above me with the bright ir laser beam a few seconds passed before i saw maggie's ir lasso response i adjusted course to her position and kept running i needed to be on mali right now riding fast away from the savagery that would no doubt be pursuing us in a short time my lungs felt as if they would burst as i summoned the hill atop the tram track looking back over my shoulder through my nvd i could see beams of motorcycle lights flash wildly in the valley below nearly puking i forced myself back into a trot in the direction of maggie's ir signal my legs burned and my back was bruised for my gun i should have put on my body armor when i woke up body armor that was currently in one of molly's saddlebags up ahead i saw maggie emerge from the trees leading the horses onto the weather damaged two-lane road we gotta move i said dramatically in a low whisper we began to push the horses harder down the mountain road away from the old theme park and deeper into the dark mountains that guarded the way to the mississippi river leaving the revving motorcycle engines behind for the time being we carefully negotiated sections of washed out road hoping that they'd slow any pursuing bikers down i used every opportunity to tie off a section of rope in order for them to abandon vehicles put them in neutral and pull them across the road to further complicate any night motorcycle riders i didn't have time to do it more than once but i removed the oil drain plug from one of the vehicles and covered a section of road with oil just in front of a turn hoping it would make one of the bastards lay down their bike we rode for three hours before stopping to let the horses rest and drink at a spring that trickled from a cliff face next to the road maggie was calm and cool not seeming to care about the level of hate and murder that was following after about 20 minutes of sitting still i began to hear the familiar sound of motorcycle noise bouncing between cliff faces and mountainsides like pinballs jesus they weren't giving up we rode through the mountain pass for another hour before we finally stopped to make a stand the noises were louder and our pursuers were gaining on us if we kept riding they just run us down like dogs and put our heads on their handlebars as ornaments i don't even ask myself why people became like this anymore i already know we're goddamned animals all of us if we miss more than a few meals we become the road we become the people that ride all night to kill another human being for whatever they're carrying or even the very meat on their bones we chose to stop near a low water bridge letting our horses cross stepping through the three inches of icy flowing water to the other side the bikers would be funneled here unable to fan out to avoid any ambush maggie and i pulled out our encrypted radios out of our packs and connected them to our helmet slash electronic ear pro combo i'd set up one efp at the crossing just out of view aimed down the middle of the low water pass i'd run the wire safely into the tree line behind the business end of the efp maggie would set up shop about a couple hundred meters up the road setting up a pincer attack on the approaching bikers she'd tie up the horses keeping the explosives payload safe along with our crucial supplies i'd lay in wait to detonate the efp after maggie gave me the advanced warning post kaboom we'd pick off the survivors separating our targets via ir laser designation so we wouldn't be working the same target at the same time deadly efficiency just like we were taught by the very government we were now trying to fight we waited until the stars began to fade listening to motorcycle engines get louder and then softer as the bikers negotiated the countless turns peaks and valleys on their way to our position the first lights flashed through a band up ahead simultaneous to maggie's transmission strength one moving fast probably a scout maggie said wow it was so weird hearing her finally speak she'd been dead quiet up until this point in the trip maybe this was the juice she needed i watched the lone biker accelerate until just before the bridge where he'd slowed down before pushing through the shallow flowing water the biker rode a large enduro motorcycle with saddlebags and extra gas cans on the other side of the creek he cranked the gas and shot off down the road until his engine faded out of earshot ten minutes later the real target began to approach this time a lot more headlights broke through the trees at the bend where maggie sat watching them approach 12 main body efp worthy i think i clicked the mic in acknowledgment wanting to limit my transmission from space-based sensor detection even though our advanced radios were frequency hopping a hundred times per second the bikers headlights swept over the shallow rushing water of the bridge i saw some brake lights but some of the bikers must have disabled theirs as the first one crossed into the water i squeezed the efp detonator like a nutcracker the explosion was loud enough to cause ringing in my ears even though i wore over ear electronic sound attenuators the flash temporarily disabled my nvd and blinded my unassisted left eye the nvd returned a picture in half a second revealing chaos on the bridge one of the bikers was on fire from an exploded gas tank he fell into the creek and began to float with the part of his body that wasn't under water smoking as he slowly drifted downstream the bikes were now a mangled mess of chrome and rubber burning from the intense impact of the hypersonic copper projectile i wasted no time shaking the concussion of the explosion from my mind i sprang from cover with my car being pointed down range at the bridge switching on my ir laser i began picking out my first target a man sat screaming in flames from a gasoline explosion who didn't think it's smart to follow his dead friend into the creek my laser met his chest and i squeezed two rounds of 300 caliber blackout into him dropping his corpse to the concrete as maggie's ir laser came to life on another target i saw her laser and deconflicted my shot neutralizing it in tandem with her medium distance shots all in all every biker had lead in them within about five seconds all 10 goes down i said on our secure channel a single key on the net told me that maggie understood as i began to walk down to the bridge to get a closer look at the carnage i saw maggie's laser illuminate and pass over my head it began to lasso so i hit the ditch his lights are off he's coasting down the hill to you she said ominously i lay in the ditch as a dark figure opened fire the rounds whizzed over my head and up the hill to maggie's position her ir laser went dark i made sure mine was off when i brought my gun up from the edge of the ditch i was cold and covered with mud when the motorcycle came into view the scout was coasting in neutral with his engine off wearing an nvd he'd seen maggie's ir and taken shots at her he didn't know i was right there and about to put the hurt on him he slowed the enduro motorcycle as he approached the situation of all his hardcore biker buddies in pieces on the ground and in the water confused he looked around trying to find the source of what could have caused all that mayhem that's when his single ocular nvd met mine and he nervously reached for the pistol inside his shoulder holster i took the shot this time to his head sending the last one into the ditch under his heavy motorcycle i waited to make sure the target was neutralized approaching the bike i could smell burning leather or flesh i couldn't tell the hot exhaust was pressing against one of them i painstakingly rided the motorbike and pushed it back to the road and dropped the kickstand the guy in the ditch was dead and his nvd was smoked too good most of the groups that might scavenge that device were probably not the type of people i'd want running around in the dark with the rifle with the threat neutralized maggie came bouncing down the hill i could see enhanced light reflecting off her smile i wasn't smiling at all but maggie seemed to be having fun with this i didn't even ask as i didn't want to hear her response interview with a sociopath would be the title of that article let's check the saddlebacks she said to me walking over to the low water bridge where the corpses and mangled bikes at spilled over wow you're actually talking i said but no i don't think i can check their bags right now would you mind she cocked her head sideways at me for a moment before turning away to check the cargo that the bikers were carrying before we entered them i went over to a nearby guardrail and leaned up against the frozen metal as maggie rummaged through the disaster area i winced every time i saw her open a flap on a saddlebag hoping she wouldn't find inside the horror i'd discovered when i was operating in fayetteville just after the hit the fan some things you just can't unsee she came back with a box full of energy bars and some iodine tablets better than nothing i suppose bikes were wired with human body parts maggie said nonchalantly yeah they were road warriors probably not working for the provisional government most likely a pack of feral bikers moving like locusts they recovered our horses and walked them down to the stream to water them up before it was time to leave again i stared at the enduro bike for a few moments trying to talk myself into taking it instead of molly yes it would be faster and yes i could cover a lot of ground and scout ahead for maggie but it'd be loud as hell and the gas can strap to the back wouldn't get me all the way to the east coast adding a motorcycle to the mix would only mean more problems with the theme park behind us we rode on leaving the twisted pile of chrome and flesh behind for eastern horizons once again the big muddy happy new year we didn't see another soul on our way across eastern arkansas other than an old mountain man early one morning he didn't say much as we rode past just tipping his hat as he set snares in the field adjacent to the road we traveled i don't know for sure but something told me that he didn't much care for the troubles of his fellow man he looked as if he'd been setting snares and running trotlines since before all this went down anyway i waved and the man just ignored me and we kept on moving we are currently camped out in an old warehouse about 10 miles from the missouri tennessee border we thought briefly about crossing the mississippi river on i-40 into memphis but the report we'd received via shortwave from rich warned against getting anywhere near the city it was under the control of a group even more vicious than the provisional government and now resembled somalia more than an american city rich was sending out intel trying to time his report with where he thought we might be on our trip every few days i plan to send a morse signal to update our position based on the secret kill box grid he gave me before leaving the shire the only other crossing besides the i-40 that i knew might still be intact would be the 155 which is where we're going tonight we made our approach to the bridge that spanned the widest river in the once great united states abandoned cars were everywhere some of them blocked access to the bridge unless you were on foot motorcycle or horseback at the mouth of the bridge we stayed back for a moment observing any signs of activity i watched for nearly an hour in the darkness through my nvd trying to pick out cigarettes being smoked or any other lapses in light discipline that a would-be ambusher might let slip as they waited on a couple of suckers to try to make their way across you ready i asked maggie she nodded and led the way ahead unafraid of anything that would be on the bridge the four-lane giant appeared to be in decent shape with none of the wire supports frayed or snapped yet give it a decade and this whole span would be in the bottom of the mighty mississippi we moved farther across the bridge until we came to a giant hole in the span i looked down through the opening beyond the frayed rebar and crumbling concrete the water rushed rapidly below the hole covered both lanes on our side and a truck was leaning halfway inside we backed the horses up as combined we weighed as much as a small car what the hell could have caused that i said aloud we backtracked a hundred yards or so until we found a way that the horses could negotiate to the other lane and resumed our crossing the bridge was long and the details on the other side were still too dark to make out we continued to move forward slowly moving around abandoned vehicles i could hear the water 40 feet or so below the bridge we kept going eventually making it to the last third of the bridge after going around an ambulance swiss cheesed with large caliber bullet holes the far end of the bridge lit up a flare had been fired into the night sky illuminating the area all around us with eerie incendiary glow maggie and i slinked down like vampires exposed to sunlight and turned our horses around in slow retreat the next sound was faint unmistakable incoming mortar why wouldn't one of the only passages across the mississippi be guarded what the hell was i thinking those were just some of the thoughts going through my head as the mortar came down somewhere in front of us blasting concrete and steel into the bullet riddled ambulance we just passed you hit i yelled no but they're not gonna launch just one maggie said just as those words left maggie's mouth another round came whistling then slamming down from above into the same spot as the last again rocking the ambulance this time turning it over i watched in slow motion as the ambulance flipped in an awkward direction a way in which it didn't seem quite natural considering the blast from the explosives it was too late when i realized what was happening the ambulance was falling into a hole in the bridge just blasted open from the high order detonations being fired from the eastern end the emergency vehicle lurched in over the side and the concrete below us caved sending us down into the deep brown murky waters of the mississippi the last thing i remember before going over was screaming to maggie the explosives then impact i went under with molly she flailed and kicked to get to the surface and the current tore me from the saddle sometime after we hit the cold water impacted like a planet strike evacuating the air from my lungs my foot was still caught in the stirrups dragging me awkwardly behind the swimming animal and i was having trouble reaching the surface especially after the horse kicked me in the stomach accidentally of course eventually i wrestled my foot loose from the saddle and took in a deep breath of cold air i began to shake uncontrollably as i grip the saddle horn for dear life i knew molly was cold too but she had a much higher probability of resisting hypothermia than i did i forced myself to stay lucid concentrating on the pain letting the continued mortar strikes serve as alarm bells to my senses i craned my head over my shoulder and watched as part of the bridge came apart from the violent attack that continued from the eastern shore nearly passing out i just held on not daring to call out to maggie for fear of getting mortars redirected as a result of my voice carrying too far over the water my hands began to lose their grip so i climbed up higher on tamale causing her to winnie in protest she was pushing as hard as she could to get across to the eastern shore the river kept rushing us downstream and away from the stricken bridge and i hope that maggie was somewhere out there in front or behind awake and commanding elvis to carry on somehow i blacked out as i felt my body get even colder i woke up to a campfire on the banks of the mississippi somewhere far downstream i couldn't see the bridge or a sign of anyone other than our small camp at first i was concerned about the fire cautious that we'd be seen and killed but as i got warmer logic prevailed we'd have died without the fire no doubt about that i still shook from hypothermia but the fire began to cut through my icy skin and muscle and eventually reached my core meeting the warm water maggie made me drink somewhere in the middle how i asked barely able to speak elvis is a much better swimmer than molly it was cold at first but after the initial plunge i was out of the water the rest of the way to the bank granted i had to come in after your dumb ass as you fell off molly about 50 yards out i see you enjoy talking again i said cracking a thin hypothermic smile don't get used to it max maggie had all our gear spread out around the fire suspended on paracord clotheslines to speed up the drying i make a quick visual check and saw that everything seemed to be fine fatigue began to rob my consciousness and before i drifted out i swore i could hear the click of a weapons latch i tried to force myself awake but my body would have none of it i went down for a hard reboot to the crackling of fire woke me up at about 0-600 just before daybreak let's move she said after pouring river water on the fire don't worry i made another i was still cold from the plunge from the bridge but i reluctantly crawled out of my bag that i'd luckily stored in a dry compress and began to ball it up and follow maggie i was half naked my clothes strung out over branches to dry but they were missing it all became clear to me as i walked into the tree line from the banks of the big muddy the glow of another fire beckoned me back into the open arms of the riverside forest at the fire i dropped my bag near and crawled back inside still shaking from exposure maggie allowed me to sleep until about noon when she smacked me on the back suit up and follow you need to see she said i quickly got dressed glanced at the horses and followed maggie onto the bank she didn't venture too far out skirting the tree line that the mississippi river had carved out the polished stones before relenting to softer dirt where the trees grew from fertile soils brought down river we passed our camp from before charred black driftwood being the only evidence left behind to be erased the next time it rained somewhere upstream somewhere uphill rounding two more bends the bridge was revealed the same one from which we plummeted last night maggie pulled out her binoculars and glassed the eastern side before handing them to me gesturing that i do the same i clean the lenses with my dirty t-shirt and brought them up to have a look clearly i could see white armored vehicles covering the eastern side and could make out black u-n letters painted on the side a few years ago i'd have been called a conspiracy kook for even talking about un vehicles at a checkpoint let alone a u.n force firing mortars to close off passage across the river that's weird i said handing the binoculars back to maggie chinese all of them she commented how do you know that i got close this morning they're not wearing blue helmets straight up people's liberation army listen max i think they were guarding the bridge because i think they're laying claim to this side of the river damn that really stung to here i chastised maggie for getting so close to the action but i couldn't fault her success we didn't know for certain but it appeared at least from here on the riverbed that her assessment of the situation could be true especially knowing what i'd learned from the intel reports of the shire the chinese wanted their share of what they were owed from the 32 trillion dollars in national debt backed up by sovereign u s territory after getting back to camp just off the river we tended to our horses and check their hooves and coats brush them good and made sure they had enough to eat for the night's journey away from here away from the chinese threat enemy of my enemy we were prepared to leave camp on the big muddy and continue our journey east when the explosions commenced again it wasn't long after nightfall and we were about to mount up when light flickered over the trees a few seconds later the sound of an explosion we poured some silty water onto the concealed campfire got on our horses and moved towards the bridge held by the u n armored vehicles and chinese troops rounding the last bend before the bridge became visible i saw the arc of tracer fire through my nvd a high order detonation rocked the middle of the bridge and more abandoned cars fell into the river an rpg returned fire from somewhere near the middle of the bridge impacting a jackknifed semi truck near the un vehicles before it detonated i watched the large projectile travel fast between the steel beams that held the bridge up the chinese responded with another volley of mortars but whoever they were attacking were not giving up without a hell of a fight i heard the revving of motorcycles and saw a few of them weaving through the cars rushing the checkpoint position bikers the suicidal and feral bikers navigated through the abandoned cars and appeared in front of the eastern blockade of armored vehicles both sides opened up with fully automatic machine guns inflicting what looked like losses on both ends i was too far away to see detail through my nvd but i saw multiple grenade detonations behind the white un vehicle blockade and heard screams carried by the wind down to the riverbank where we watched the skirmish raged on for 20 minutes before the chinese were able to kill every last biker that didn't fall into the water like maggie and i did we disappeared into the trees and down a small deer path for a few miles before it led to a clearing where we could see a road i checked my maps and we decided to follow the pavement east keeping our eyes and ears tuned to our surroundings so that we could disappear into the forest at the first sign of trouble i thought back to the bridge and how viciously the bikers attacked the chinese checkpoint no self-preservation rage hatred from now on it was shoot on site for anyone on a motorcycle no hesitation we rode mostly east until the road branched off to the north we followed it until reaching a crossroads where we had to make a decision on whether or not to risk skirting a small city nothing like memphis or nashville but still big enough to show up on my map besides the bikers in the checkpoint we'd seen no significant threats so we decided to take the shorter route and avoid nashville but travel south near clarksville with any luck we'd reach the blue ridge mountains in a week moonshine and treason a sort of lost count of how many days have passed since we left the mississippi we travel at night and sleep during the day so things sort of bleed together my watch says it's the 7th of january it's cold in these higher elevations i don't think we've hit the blue ridge mountains but we're close we had to detour a few nights ago when rich transmitted that one of the nuclear power plants along the route he'd estimated correctly we were on had been left abandoned the neutron rods were dropped during the scram but the area could still be dangerous better to avoid eastern tennessee was nearly as quiet as arkansas but there was some military activity near the interstates we observed and also in the skies above two days ago as we slept under a tree canopy i woke to the sound of jet engines i jumped out of my bag and slipped on my coat to have a look as maggie slept funny how she would wake up if i looked at her while she slept but not to the noise of low-flying fighters leaving the cover of the trees for the nearby field i brought my binoculars up two flanker aircraft adorned with red stars on their vertical stabilizers were conducting low passes configuration dirty with numerous bombs and fuel tanks hanging from the hard points on the wings i mean it made perfect sense if you think about it what u s military pilot would conduct armed patrol on american soil ready to bomb their fellow americans into oblivion when ordered none i'd wager if any were alive they were all home with their families trying to get them through all this when you want cold and calculating military power on your soil you need foreign muscle to do the dirty work muscle that wouldn't think twice about dropping a bomb on someone like me or strafing me with the machine gun that was no doubt cleared hot on the flankers that patrolled overhead we'd been on a red clay road for most of the night i haven't seen any sign of chinese troops or air support in a stretch which was fined by me even though we had a stinger missile by the time we armed it and got it ready to fire any flanker might have cut us to pieces before we could go up against them the stinger would be used to prosecute targets of opportunity to have a chance at a fighter we'd need to get lucky and know where it was going to patrol beforehand elvis acted up half the night picking on molly a little bit whenever he'd walk past with a snort and a nip molly wasn't taking any from him though good for her she'd check him knocking him and maggie over to the other side of the road when she'd had enough elvis was an ornery horse but he was the only explosive capable horse that i currently knew of maggie asked me about the case she finally admitted to examining it when i was unconscious from hypothermia back at big money we were approaching the halfway point to dc so i didn't see any reason to keep it from her any longer there's going to be a meeting of the mines in washington our creditors and our so-called provisional government are going to get together and decide who gets what part of the united states i told her that's what the nai said to you asked maggie yes they did that's why we have the explosives and that's why we're currently headed to washington i said you don't sound very enthusiastic about going said maggie i mean you should know that it wasn't supposed to be a significant amount of land in the beginning it was originally negotiated as a 50-year lease they agreed to give the land back after the time was up maggie get the out with that i said i know i didn't say anything back before they locked me up maybe i should have and maybe i should have done something maggie said sounding like a lump was developing in her throat max if what you're saying is true you need to wipe any doubt from your mind those bastards deserve more than a few pounds of naic-4 shoved up their asses i wasn't so sure what positive difference might another pile of bodies make besides pushing me over the edge we kept riding down the red clay road under old light that beamed from long collapsed stars after finally reaching an end to the red clay road last night we hitched up an old logging trail that was supposed to find a two-lane road in 30 miles or so a couple hours before sunup we came across an old mossy stone dam built a long time before maggie and i were even a twinkle in anyone's eyes we decided to make camp for the night near a wooden shack that sat next to the old dam the sun was peeking up and the lock on the door to the shack wasn't something i wanted to mess with before i'd had a couple hours of sleep so we just built a small fire and unrolled our bags while the horses drank and sniffed round for food after falling asleep to the sound of trickling water i woke at about fourteen hundred maggie was already boiling water for food and i tried my hand at a fishing pole i'd made from a straight stick and a handful of hooks i'd brought luckily i caught a bass after half an hour of struggling and quickly cleaned it for the fire i had been looking for a catfish when i caught the bass which is a fine indicator of how bad a fisherman i am after we had our small meal of fish and rice i tried to get lucky again but just ended up losing one of my hooks i went over to check the dam shack and gave the lock a go with the master key their large brass lock marked us fell to the ground reminding me of dog patch for a moment inside i found a simple breaker box with a series of labels made with old school label maker ribbons i flipped on the one marked turbine one nothing turbine two nothing turbine four a light over my head began to flicker and then go steady and a radio began to play static i turn the radio off and check the shack for anything that might transmit giving away our location i saw no electronic threats inside the old shack i flipped the turbine breaker off again dousing the lights and went outside to survey the area there were no visible power lines so i began to look for any conduits that might be buried and eventually found one at the back of the shack i pulled the shallowly buried conduit up from the ground to at least find out the direction it might be going so i'd know where to even start looking maggie paid little attention glancing over at me from time to time just sipping warm broth by the fire picking her teeth with a fishbone i began to walk in the direction the conduit was going into the trees and up a hill eventually i spotted another small building resembling the shack at the dam maybe a little bit larger but definitely the same design and workmanship down to the roof walls and door i went back to the camp for the master key this time maggie took interest and followed the horses remained by the fire not giving a care about the musings of humans at the second shack i walked around the outside noticing that the door wasn't padlocked so i didn't need the bolt cutters figures the same type of conduit sprouted out from the ground and up to a breaker box on the side of the shack i twisted the doorknob and pushed the door didn't budge i gave it a good kick nope i searched around the building and grabbed a nearby log that had been cut down and used it as a battering ram to finally get the door open splintered up and nearly defeated i walked inside the dark windowless shack the smell of a corpse slapped us both in the face the door we breached was solid and about three inches thick two crossbeams kept the door closed put there by whoever lay decaying on the ground nearby a large moonshine still coiled copper line arced at a constant angle around the shiny metallic still and stacks of yeast bags sat waist high in the corner milk jugs full of clear liquids sat stacked deep on a shelf against the wall opposite the still a bushel of some sort of long rotted fruit was sitting on top of the corpse's torso i used a coat that hung on a peg near the door to cover up the body well we're making good time let's have a snort or two what do you say i asked maggie she nodded and said simply definitely we took a gallon of the clear liquid back to our small camp next to the dam and had ourselves a few sips of untaxed liquor the shine was a little stronger than i'd expected i woke up at sunset cottonmouth feeling dehydrated we had a good time during the day playing poker under hydroelectric light inside the shack we were missing a couple cards but it was fine we made it work after getting up and around i pumped the empty moonshine jug full of water through my filter i sat for a while and drank it slowly in the time before we mounted up for the logging trail once more i flipped the breaker and the shack off for the last time saddled up the horses and checked their hooves for any problems they were holding up pretty well all things considered but i think that elvis might have lost a few pounds since we left arkansas the trail was dark and devoid of old growth smaller christmas tree-sized pines sprinkled the hills as we headed up the mountain meandering on a small switchback the cold was biting down to the bone with the wind coming off the hills but maggie and i were used to it by now and the horses didn't seem to mind as long as we kept them full of water and let them graze as we found the peak of the hill we'd been negotiating via switchback for the past few hours i saw light in the valley below i gave the silent signal to halt and we both stopped at the same time i couldn't use my binoculars effectively with my helmet mounted nvd so i sat still concentrating on the light it was well after midnight after a long stare i determined that the light was a campfire of some sort but it was too far out to tell i asked maggie to hang back so that i could scout ahead while she kept the payload safe with elvis i took molly down the pass to within about 200 yards of the fire i litter off into the woods a little distance and slung her reins around a low branch that had been broken off i made sure my carbine and my silenced ruger pistol problem solver were loaded and chambered and approached the fire at first i thought i'd go through the woods and approach from the cover of trees but i'd made too much noise in the dark i decided to stick to the logging trail and stay low i moved slowly but found myself just outside the fire light before i knew it i stepped back away from the fire and observed i saw nothing but two sleeping bags with lumps in them and the fire whoever was here was fast asleep and didn't give a i didn't see motorcycles or armored vehicles so my plan was to just leave them alone and sneak on by i backtracked to molly and called maggie via secure have quick radio letting her know to come quietly down the mountain after two minutes i met her and we both continued down the trail past the fire i glanced over and saw that one of the sleeping bags was empty i threw my reins to maggie and jumped off the horse car being at high ready only to discover a man standing in the darkness just outside the fire pissing on a tree he didn't see me but the branches that i'd broke jumping off the horse alerted him pretty fast he ran back to the fire and pulled a long gun out of his sleeping bag i gestured for maggie to get the hell out as i tried to talk the man down hey i'm just passing by no need for the weapon i yelled to the man he obviously couldn't see me as he leveled his deer rifle sweeping it left to right blindly in the darkness an ir laser clicked on beaming over the top of my head at about horseback height the powerful beam came to rest on the man's chest and hardly moved maggie's steady aim don't i said whispering into the radio the ir beam remained listen i'm going to keep going i don't want anything to do with you i said trying to throw my voice so the man wouldn't point his muzzle in my direction not because i was afraid he'd shoot me but that maggie would ice his ass if he flagged me with his gun again by this time the other sleeping bag opened up like a chrysalis revealing the second camper a woman with matted hair and a very skinny frame incredibly the man lowered his gun placing it on the ground it must be because of the woman and his desire not to get into a gunfight in the middle of the cold night with someone he couldn't see when the gun hit the deck maggie's ir switched off okay i'm leaving i said wait wait can we trade before you go the man said hold on a second i responded maggie what do you think i asked discreetly over the radio well she's skinny as hell from where i'm sitting i doubt they have food and what else would we need maggie replied damn her and her spock logic what do you have to trade i asked this time from a different position outside the fire so that the man wouldn't triangulate my voice we have maps we know where all the checkpoints are all around this place we've mapped them ourselves what's that worth to you the man said you're damn lucky to be here this is a dead zone but go a few miles in a certain direction and it's not i stand corrected maggie's voice said over the radio okay what do you want i said from a different location the usual food medicine anything you have that you're willing to trade after shouting back and forth a few times i agreed to step into the light to meet the man i was comforted by maggie's ir beam lazing the chest of whoever was speaking to me inside the glowing light of the fire my bearded face nvd and helmet concealed most of my recognizable facial features after a short story about how the man and woman came to be in these hills he went back to his pack and pulled out a ratty worn road atlas whatever you got for us the man asked i told him to wait and i returned to maggie to retrieve the gallon of white lightning we took from the shack and our own maps i gave the man the alcohol and told him that it was strong enough to have medicinal application he handed over his maps and i began to copy all the checkpoint information over checking every few seconds to make sure the laser was on the man's chest hey my name i don't want to know you mister i said cutting him off i marked the hydroelectric shack on his maps and returned them to him go there and you'll find a dozen more gallons of this stuff and a still i told him before stepping back into the darkness bye the man waved and maggie and i rode away letting a mile open between us and the fire before letting our guard down enough to sling our rifles maggie commented that she hoped the trade was worth losing the shine based on the direction we needed to go i thought it just might be we rode on through the rest of the early morning until our nvds let us see the reflectors from the road signs up ahead we found the highway i said to maggie sun's up soon let's find camp we took a turn off the logging trail into the forest to hole up for the night before heading out on the pavement we've been moving to for days now a spartan lean-to was all we could manage we slept on the ground next to yet another stealth fire and didn't have the luxury of playing cards under hydroelectric light but hey the sun was coming up anyway feast famine rinse repeat and hope you didn't get smoked that was life out here most recent encoded transmission from rich best bet use decoded to appellation trail fallout and troop concentrations are decoded too thin there had to use decoded two stingers here sukhoi getting thick stay on target and godspeed four-legged friends 24 january rich's advice was sound using the intel we'd gathered from the people we'd run into after the dam we were able to avoid two security areas on the highway and make it to the appalachian trail we'd have probably predicted the checkpoints as they were all on the eastern or northern sides of large bridges but it was nice to have it marked on our maps to help us make root decisions ahead of time the trail was abandoned with no signs of recent human activity every so often we'd come across a snow-covered cash box where wealthy hikers would have their supplies pre-positioned to facilitate their mid-life crisis hike along the a t no luck inside any of the caches unless you count the nearly empty role of toilet paper which i did if we thought the road from arkansas was lonely the a t was even more maddeningly silent january 19th zero 100 gmt operation haystack director's eyes only we managed to bring two of our older keyhole sigint birds online after reconfiguring a ground station back to analog function we put a team of nsa operators on the console after we managed to squeeze out satellite orbital adjustment fuel to tweak the ago of both birds to work in tandem the team was able to receive a sig int hit on a suspected have quick transmission on the western side of the blue ridge mountains in east tennessee likely source of transmissions are from captured radios the geolocation major miner covers a wide area due to the older equipment and antiquated techniques utilized the team is working around the clock to exploit the spectrum to ensure we catch the next instance of unauthorized have quick radio utilization recommend a qrf be on standby near last intercept to conduct rapid direct action when the next sigint tipper is received redacted sends we continued north for two days until we were forced to make early morning camp where a rock slide had blocked the trail sometime before thick moss covered the north faces of the jagged boulders and the bones of a dead animal lay strewn about the rubble with gps being hard down we had to rely on molly's pace to figure out how far up the a.t we'd gone there were surprisingly few trail markers or at least not many we'd seen along the trail our packs were a lot lighter than when we'd left and my belt was about to need another hole to keep my pants up it wasn't that we weren't eating it's that we were burning a lot more calories than we were consuming that very thought was on my mind as i set out with my carbine and nvds to poach the king's game before maggie and i left the camp we tied the horses so that we wouldn't accidentally shoot them when you were hungry everything that moved looked like cheeseburgers hunting on night vision was the only way to fly things you couldn't notice during the day jumped out when you wore seven thousand dollars of technology on your head the compound eyes of insects shown on the leaves of branches as we stalked our prey we moved through the frosted grass and trees for an hour in a concentric circle around the rock slide camp at high ground we could see the glow of the fire like a great beacon and the eyes of the horses as they scan their surroundings flashed in our nvds i was watching the camp thinking about our next move when maggie's ir laser flashed in front of me and a shot snapped from her muzzle the frantic gobble of evading turkeys told me that breakfast was going to be a good one maggie sprinted into a turkey fight the glint of her blade flashing moonlight from the mirror honed edge with one swat the head of the turkey lay snapping on the grass maggie waited for a few moments so that the turkey's sharp talons would stop jerking in defiance of its own demise maggie could switch into predator mode quickly and was an efficient killer we built a real fire not worrying about being seen in this remote area of the at the heat reflected back off the avalanche rocks making me warmer than i'd felt in weeks it didn't take us long to prep the turkey and soon we were eating like tourists at a renaissance fair we ate half the turkey and put the rest of the cooked meat inside a plastic bag surrounded by ice and suspended it in a tree away from camp ain't no way i'd keep it in camp with us i knew for a fact that the cats and bears were bigger and meaner here this wasn't arkansas and i had no desire for a newton county repeat when the weather is just right or i've had a particularly long day i can still feel the scars we both slept well knocked out on the turkey drug i hadn't experienced in so very long shortwave intercepts transcribed from max's recording device onto paper in the field real state of the union zero seven hundred it's all over at first it was the government we had to fear you know their brand of order and restoring justice they've all burned out most of them gone home to their families unless you're unlucky enough to be living nearby one of their intel centers might as well be a dark ages castle lords and barons living inside the heavily guarded fusion center forcing their will on the region they are charged to occupy the provisional government is on its knees it's true that's why chinese and russian troops are on our god damn soil the russians they are in no better shape than we are but a hell of a lot less dependent on the grid besides who's going to maintain the suhoi i never thought i'd see flankers on patrol in u.s airspace never 0923 the president has given authorization for the u.n to operate in all 50 states to facilitate the restoration of order citizens are reminded that the un troops are only here to help quell the lawlessness occurring along the major roadways and that their presence here is only temporary 1202 max whoever you are wherever you are we need you now more than ever jamming phases in and out from unknown source you did in arkansas spread more than jamming everyone listening to this you are ma more jamming flip the script long live the re some interference 13 19 u n troops boarding large helicopters for unknown regions on a regular basis government media calling them qrf rumors swirl that their sole function is to double down on unlawful transmissions and to find and eliminate pirate radio stations like the one you are listening to right now they can't stop all of us bastards sixteen hundred hey america what's left of you the un is just the enforcement arm of the world bank funny how most of the troops wearing un helmets come from the countries we owed money here's the real kicker the biggest debtor was the american people stop listening to this get out there and start shooting anyone in a foreign uniform 1822 hello my name is harold i worked for the dhs before all this i resigned last year when things started getting ungentlemanly i saw the writing on the wall before stocked up like most of you out there if you didn't you're dead and most likely not listening to this and are probably inside someone's stomach well sorry for that but it was modeled out people knew i'm here to tell you that upwards of 90 percent of the u.s population is dead this outcome was briefed to the highest levels as far back as the turn of the millennium they knew the consequences of a nationwide grid down event and did nothing they well it's been a shitty night to say the least maggie has been shot in the arm just to graze but it's still going to be a problem molly was hitting the flank but seems to be okay enough to still move without too much trouble elvis and me made it out with only minor surface injuries bastards 12 hours ago we started with a hunt as we'd run out of our turkey meat we decided to spread out a little farther apart as seeing maggie's laser cross over my shoulder right before she took her shot was a little spooky last time she was a beast when it came to killing no hesitation yeah i can swing a pipe too but not the same way maggie does females are the alpha killers in many species and maggie certainly was a lioness when it came to hunting we spread out and moved into the forest from the main artery of the at after half an hour maggie sent me a message on the half quick tracking something she said i clicked the radio in acknowledgement and began to move faster as a point of pride i wanted to kill the next meet instead of letting her go two for two that all went out the window a few minutes later when her have quick phased back into sync with my radio wrap it down she said before i could answer i heard the sounds of rotor blades beating the cold air over one of the adjacent hills go dark i transmitted before switching off my radio i began to head for our distress point the place we'd worked out nightly before bedding down normally we'd pick a spot 200 paces off a compass direction from the campfire this time the direction was north east and the spot was a large boulder with graffiti on it from the people hiking the a t which i thought was uncharacteristic for the types of folks that hiked the trail but whatever i moved to the boulder looking for the glow spilling from maggie's nvd i ran quickly fighting off the urge to go back to the camp to secure the weapon and let the horses free nearly to the boulder i looked over my shoulder and saw a large twin rotor helicopter in a hover atop a cliff ir glow sticks attached to a salter's webbing shine brightly in contrast with the darker sky the twin rotor tips formed twin arcs while the large machine hovered dropping off its packs i counted four based on their landing zone i had time i sprinted down to the camp and grabbed the horses and supplies leading them back into the cover of the trees quickly maggie and i donned our body armor i grabbed the three remaining grenades giving her one of them the helicopter was already gone probably headed somewhere to wait on the call for pickup a call that would occur after maggie and i were ventilated in these hills attaching the grenades to my plate carrier we mounted up and drove deeper into the cover of the forest in case a drone was loitering overhead providing a real-time video feed to the team that pursued i knew the game i used to play it maggie and i rode hard for an hour until stopping at a natural choke point two high cliffs stood face to face twenty feet apart if we were being pursued they'd need to come through here maggie and i hid the horses and began to set up a trap we had one efp remaining and maggie and i agreed that this would be a damn good reason to drop 20 pounds from our loadout i set the explosive device up to shoot down the corridor between the cliffs and rigged an expedient tripwire using copper snare and paracord after checking and double checking the trap maggie and i retrograded back to the horses and found some high ground a safe distance from the pass so that we could pick off any survivors after the blast we waited for half an hour until the trap was sprung without warning the explosion rocked the pass sending boulders down into the gap the flash of suppressed muzzles began to pop off like camera flashes but not in the area behind the blast to our right coming from the direction we were now hiding they were planning to pincer us the blast probably killed one of them but judging by the chunks of rock that hit my face they knew that we were out here somewhere i signaled to maggie to check her radio as i checked mine it was off maggie mounted the word sorry as she pointed to her radio they were likely tracking the rf leakage from her powered on radio they found us with our transmissions but refined our position off maggie's god damned radio i thought we were dead until i remember the one thing that tended to solve most problems grenades i signaled to maggie that i was about to send a frag in the direction of the muzzle flashes instead of taking cover behind a tree she tossed her frag out with mine and we both hit the deck explosions once again echoed back and forth between the hills but there was now less shooting maggie's ir laser came to life prompting me to click mine on too our beams cross like flashlights at an old x-files rerun as we scan for remaining shooters one rifle kept barking from a nearby tree the rounds exploding on the face of a nearby boulder glancing at maggie i could see that she was bleeding her arm was black from the dark blood that covered it and half her gun if i fired it could give away my position so i decided to lob my last grenade at the base of the tree i gave maggie the signal to dive and as soon as she did so the pineapple left my hand i heard it hit just before the explosion sent the last shooter to the ground the shrapnel from the point-blank grenade to the torso seemed as if it nearly cut the soldier in half maggie and i waited behind cover for anyone left alive to bleed out what would be the point to walk up on one of them only to get shot by an ak wielding possum the wait was forever time marked by our breath shooting into the air from underneath our nvds back and forth in tandem after an hour of shivering our adrenaline wore off and we broke cover to check the bodies chinese all of them their bodies were covered in holes and lacerations from grenade damage their nvds were of an older generation we removed and smashed them we took their aks and magazines and concealed them inside a plastic trash bag with some duct tape marking the location on a map we hid them away for a rainy day part of me wanted to shoot a few rounds through the receiver but they could potentially save lives if the location of the cash was shared with the good guys yeah good guys was that even me anymore line is blurry 28 january tonight was one of the many times i'd risked using hf and shortwave to send a more signal back to richardshire base we were about ready to leave for the night which would put some distance between the transmission and our next camp the simple message encoded with rich's code book read firefight a t chinese insert hilo pressing to objective his response was short cryptic and terrifying you are compromised via overhead no more tx after hearing the dire message i removed the batteries from the hf radio pulled the long wire out of the tree and taped the batteries to the outside of the radio i tossed the small shortwave transceiver and morse paddle into the bottom of my pack for the last time i then asked maggie to do the same to her have quick unit as i did so to mine she asked satellites yeah what took them so long she said rhetorically with our batteries taped to the outside effectively neutering our radios we kept moving east maggie's shrapnel injury from the fight with the chinese stormtroopers looks like it's infected my horse's flank is swollen and she's losing about two hours of travel per night we're leaving the at and heading for antibiotics if any exist sparta day i picked a spot on the map and committed one of the last towns before we crossed into the commonwealth of virginia molly was hurting and i wasn't sure if we'd find enough antibiotics and other meds to save maggie let alone the horse carefully consulting my maps we avoided the roads leading into the small town for the most part until the map indicated that there was a convenience store a mile up ahead we broke cover and rode to the edge of a vast field until the road was in sight once again i dismounted and clipped the barbed wire fence with the master key and we rode through the severed wire onto the cracked roadway up ahead i could see a texaco sign reaching up over the trees our immediate destination i rode ahead scouting for trouble molly complained as i rounded one of the abandoned cars that sat perpendicular to the road easy girl i said to her hoping to comfort her the gas station was trashed just like i expected but i didn't need anything here except the one thing that probably still remained under the counter i dismounted causing another grunt from molly and stepped over the broken glass to the front of the store as maggie caught up i looked over my shoulder at her and thought of the pale horse verse from the bible i used the business end of my carbine to clear enough glass to safely get inside flipping on my weapon mounted light the entire floor began to move and change colors cockroaches i suppressed my desire to just burn the whole place down and crunched over the stragglers to the register i hopped over the counter and peered underneath the only thing i saw was a loose shotgun shell and a roll of scratch-off lottery tickets i stuffed the half-dispensed roll into my pocket as an afterthought and continued to search digging through the yellowed and torn newspapers on the floor i hit my own personal jackpot coming across an ad for a vet clinic located just off main street we'll see you there i snatched up the ad and left the cockroach nest crunching for the light of day where the vermin dare not swarm after conferring with my maps we once again headed down the highway into the small town of sparta we didn't see any movement on the streets as the old stone buildings began to appear up ahead we passed persimmon and orlick before reaching main turning right as the road transitioned from regular cracked concrete to older style cobblestone horse hooves kept clicking on the cobblestone as we transitioned down a gentle hill i saw a horse statue up ahead approaching closer i could see a large stethoscope around the statue's neck and a doctor's head mirror atop its head a red cross was painted on the rib cage the side of the vet office pushed me ahead a little faster as molly grunted in protest i was scope locked on the horse statue tunnel visioned as i rode maggie's rifle report snapped me out of my focus as her shot ricocheted off the road with a loud zing don't shoot don't shoot a woman screamed from cover my carbine was out of its scabbard before the woman could finish her sentence i trained the red dot on the group of trees from where her voice had come flipping over the magnifier to give me a little more clarity on the situation i pulled the reins and gave molly the command to walk backwards my faithful horse reluctantly complied not wanting to back into the loud noise she'd just heard coming from the barrel of maggie's gun come out or we're shooting i yelled my car being leveled to the trees red dot beaming bright like the eye of the devil as the bushes began to move i was off my horse taking concealment behind a nearby vehicle a woman stepped out of the bushes dirty and disheveled holding the hand of a young girl i moved the devil's eyes away from them stop there i commanded loudly what do you want food my husband is too weak to hunt and my child is hungry just food that's all what are you doing here the woman asked her eyes searching near molly trying to find me we're here for medication my friend has an infection i responded i have medication at our house antibiotics ibuprofen and morphine if you could spare food anything the woman said as she began to beg no one is left here we're not important enough for help everyone that lived here left already we thought we could make it through on our farm the woman began to sob and the girl reached her hands up into the air for the woman to pick her up i looked over to maggie to get a read on what she was thinking as expected she rolled her eyes and i watched her lips as she mouthed whatever i told the woman not to make any sudden movements i whispered to maggie that i was going to check the clinic to see what was left inside i handed maggie the reins and stepped over to the building mindful of the woman and the child if she were to pull a gun from underneath her rags i'd have little choice but to waste her in front of her daughter and then what leave the child to die out here if i were being honest to myself i'd probably let the woman shoot and kill me the woman didn't skin a gun and remain still as i breached the front door to the vet clinic negotiating around the receptionist payment is due upon services rendered was the sign posted prominently atop the receptionist's desk i made it to a door leading to the back office which happened to be locked i breached the door with a well-placed kick sending it flying so hard that the knob dug into the drywall i tossed the place top to bottom looking for drugs they were long ransacked along with the rest of this town i realized at this point that i had no choice but to negotiate with the woman outside brenda i walked into the bright light once more meeting the woman and child take us to your place we need antibiotics i told her maggie looked at me but i couldn't read her at the moment she had the facial expressions of a t-rex you could never tell if she wanted to kill you the woman turned to walk back into the tree line don't try anything don't make me add another demon to trampoline on my soul i've had enough i said not really sure why i took the time to say that the woman trekked through the trees for half a mile until everything opened up to a hayfield that eventually rounded a bend to a farmhouse and large white barn the woman asked me to wait outside so she could speak to her husband that's fine but my friend and i will fall back until you come back out i told her after a few minutes she came out with her husband leaning on her shoulder for support he looked a lot worse than maggie i'm brenda and this is john this is our farm the reason you couldn't find any meds at the clinic was because we took them john was a vet tech there he had permission i got right down to business telling them that maggie and my horse had a nasty infection from a gunfight with the chinese military they both smiled at hearing that and offered that we come inside john looked maggie over determining that she probably had some shrapnel still inside her arm after applying a local anesthesia he opened her up and removed a small metal shard with a pair of sterilized tweezers during the operation the man looked as if he'd pass out from exhaustion he carefully stitched her back up and asked his wife to help him to the porch once more maggie stayed in bed waiting for the medication to wear off as john struggled down the front porch steps to look at my horse molly was a little leery of the new smell and tried to step away from john but i comforted her with a pat and a soothing voice she's infected pretty bad how long you been running her like this john said a few days no choice john continued to examine molly nearly earning a kick to the leg after the horse reacted to the sharp pain from the checkup well mister the good news is that i have enough antibiotics to kill your friend's infection but i can't help the horse now from the looks of the swelling i'd say she has a few days maybe a week if you get damn lucky she's going to be in considerable pain between now and then i let that sink in for a while petting molly and kissing her on the nose she was pleased by the affection but i could see that she wasn't doing well i went back inside the farmhouse to check on maggie brenda had her on an iv drip bag and was already administering antibiotics i retrieved some rations from my saddlebag and handed them to brenda who immediately began to prepare food for the little girl who was called naomi after considerable deliberation i decided to do the right thing i asked john to give the meds to maggie in exchange for enough horse meat to see them through the rest of the winter if they prepared it right and didn't waste anything i took molly out back behind the proverbial barn and said my goodbyes maggie came out to support me and she could see that i was a little torn up over what i had to do but i didn't want the poor animal to suffer any longer than was necessary i kissed and rubbed the horse one last time reassuring her that she was a good girl i put my suppressed muzzle up to her head and pulled the trigger the thump of mali hitting the ground was psychologically louder and more damaging than those of humans i'd sent to the ground over the past year the horse was loyal to me and was a good companion during our journey from the arkansas mountains to where we now found ourselves molly's death solved a lot of problems for john brenda and naomi but they caused problems for maggie and me elvis was a stout horse that could carry maggie and most of the supplies but not everything we need to figure it out part of the deal was that brenda and maggie harvest the horsemeat as there was no goddamned way i could bring myself to do that i spoke to john as the women worked behind the barn and ascertained that he was sick with the flu and malnutrition and i hope that the new meat would bring him and his family's strength and get them through the winter i threw in a small bottle of vitamins to go along with the meat i hadn't even bothered breaking the seal on it since we left and figured that he and his family could use them more than i could hooves to hydraulics maggie and i took a few hours in the old white barn to strategize our next move being down a horse wasn't going to do us any favors using our detailed charts we circled every airfield within 10 miles of our intended path through virginia after some deliberation and checking of runway lengths we picked our target airfield and planned our route we said our goodbyes to the family the following evening amidst the heart-stinging aroma of cooking horse meat maggie showed marked improvements since she began the antibiotics she was still recovering so obviously she'd be taking elvis in case we got into some trouble i doubt that ornery animal would let me ride him anyway he was used to maggie i'd even go so far as to say he was partial to her as we moved ahead on foot elvis's load was a little heavier but so was mine every so often i'd catch elvis looking back from molly the travel companion that would never be there again i'm glad it was dark maggie wouldn't notice my watering eyes i wouldn't have to feel guilty about being devastated over losing my horse but not over killing men it was a strange world in which we lived and every day proved that with our radios completely powered down and batteries removed our chances of being geo-located became exponentially more remote these chances were even more to our favor if we kept moving at night and sleeping during the day about halfway to the airfield we saw a light on the highway far ahead and disappeared into the brush a few minutes later a bicycle pedaled by its headlight shining brightly onto the road an older man traveling hard to his destination pedaling as if his life depended on it at that instant i suspected that our previous host had called the bicyclist on the radio about their newfound food i prayed that they didn't say anything else over the airwaves after discussing this theory with maggie we both agreed we might have to get off the road quick at the first sound of rotor blades beating the cold night air one advantage to not having molly was that i didn't get very cold i was working pretty hard to keep my 40 pound pack from getting the best of me as i tried to keep up with maggie and elvis on point just before the eastern sky began to change hue we made it to the top of a hill looking down on the airfield we had some work to do after arriving at the airfield perimeter we had to cut the chain link fence to get inside i didn't want to attempt entry at the terminal side of the small airstrip in case someone was camped out there after splitting the fence wide enough maggie put elvis in the brush for the time being if all went well poor elvis would be on his own the runway was littered with small branches and other debris from suffering a year of zero maintenance six aircraft sat evenly spaced apart with lines tethering them to pad eyes on the ground we eventually made it through the thick grass and stepped out onto the concrete an old windsock was swaying in the breeze half torn apart adjusting our nvds and making our guns ready maggie and i moved in on the aircraft hangars and admin buildings scattered through the eastern side of the airfield we purposefully didn't choose a larger field as we'd have a much lesser chance of finding a ride out of here i checked the first aircraft an old 172 her cockpit glass was riddled with small caliber bullets and her pilot the same i opened the door and pulled the shriveled corpse out onto the frosty tarmac the interior smelled like i imagined it would death i thought i'd get lucky and the aircraft would only have damage to the cockpit window maybe some minor airframe damage but i wasn't the controls glass cockpit and much of the avionics were damaged worst of all the fuel tanks were ruptured having long ago spilled their fuel onto the ground a puddle of oil formed below the engine cowling where another bullet must have struck something underneath dozens of 556 caliber cases lay on the ground picking up one to examine more closely under a flashlight i observed that they were tarnished and far from fresh just like the body that was rotting inside the aircraft for months maybe since the beginning i moved on to the next aircraft one of the tires was flat but that was a problem that could be solved unlike the bullet riddled mess i'd just inspected much to my frustration the aircraft passed inspection up until the point i examined the wings a perfectly round 556 hole punctured the wingtip probably killing this aircraft just like the last one maggie yelled at me from one of the nearby hangars i got so involved with inspecting the aircraft outside that i'd forgotten about her i had a couple more aircraft to inspect but i broke off the search to see what she needed i stepped through the hangar door into the darkness letting my nvd adjust to the side of a business jet sitting diagonally inside well maggie said i'm not multi-engine rated maggie i told her pretty sure that this 10 million dollar monstrosity wasn't what we were looking for this morning well i am you sexist bastard flew a few evergreen sorties in my day long before you got sheep dipped young blood maggie snapped back startling me with the tip of her sharp tongue you haven't said much more than that since we'd left arkansas i thought but didn't say allowed okay so you can fly this thing it's jet and hasn't had a maintenance check in a pretty long time i said yes i know it's a goddamn jet but it takes less to maintain this thing than most of those pieces of out there let me take a crack at the checklist and see what's up go get elvis not wanting to discourage her i did what she asked but not before securing the airfield there were no signs of recent activity in the area after retrieving elvis i rigged up some rope to him and tied off an old tarp i'd found sitting in a stack next to the hangar i spent the rest of the morning until sunup leading elvis up and down the runway getting rid of branches rocks and other that could get stuck inside a jet intake on takeoff or blow a brittle tire halfway back to the hanger with a full tarp dragging behind elvis i heard the sound a loud high-pitched engine noise shot from the hangar door out onto the runway i quickly scanned my surroundings to see if the noise caused movement at any of the perimeters so far i saw nothing no flash of a weapon light or vehicle reflector motion i left elvis where he was and ran over to the hangar to find maggie's face covered in grease as she held a set of wrenches in her hand over behind the jet i saw a power car plugged into the aircraft with a fuel hose running to support equipment from outside the door the jet door was open it steps already lowered to the hanger floor is it serviceable i screamed over the power cart engine yeah i think so open that hangar door will you maggie said pointing to the large doors i went over the control panel thinking that pushing the button would do something finally realizing that the power card was plugged into the aircraft and not the building i disengaged the motor on the bay doors and manually began to attract them up into the ceiling revealing the morning sun as it spilled over the top of the hangar casting a large shadow just before the light shone and sparkled from the ice on the ground beyond elvis looked over at us as if we were insane cocking his head to the side he didn't dare approach the noise without being led with the bay doors open the fumes from the power cart began to thin out allowing maggie to work i took a glance at the manual she was looking at between wrench turns and panel pops it appeared as if she was doing the monthly check on the aircraft my suspicions were confirmed after an engine panel was closed and she stepped down off the ladder everything looked safe enough i wouldn't take it across the ocean but as long as we have a few divert airfields pre-planned i think we'll be okay as far as dying goes fuel state will give us about four hours of flight time way more than we need i could top it off with what's in the tank outside but i know the stuff in the jet is still good i took a sample maggie wiped the sweat from her forehead with an oily shop rag after shutting down the power cart maggie asked when i thought it'd be best to leave we had a discussion and thought we should at least get a little sleep and figure out what we were going to do about elvis with everything shut down we brought the horse inside and tied him off to the tool cabinet i didn't feel safe enough to sleep as the hanger doors were open wide to the adjacent road i sat on the wing eating some of the last of my rations watching for any signs of trouble as maggie slept she'd be piloting so i wanted her fresh enough for a safe take off and landing the two times that we'd be at the most risk i fought the urge to fall asleep while sitting on the wing of the gulf stream my back to the fuselage the flurries started mid morning prompting me to start a fire outside the hangar maggie was asleep in her bag but i was on sentry duty and freezing my ass off i gathered some of the branches elvis and i cleared from the runway and made a small bonfire elvis came sauntering over to warm up i gave him some pats on the neck and fed him the hay i had shoved in the increasingly open space of my pack i still reeled with guilt from having to shoot molly and the thought of leaving poor elvis out here to fend for himself only increased the sickening feeling in my stomach when we go you don't stop for anyone head west back over the mountains okay i said to the animal hoping it'd somehow understand as i fed elvis the last of the hay i caught a flash from the corner of my eye on the road through the chain-link fence the same place we'd cut through my gun came up quickly but there was no target to engage whatever had caught my attention was gone trusting my gut i rushed over to maggie waking her up my kit was already stowed buckled into one of the leather passenger seats inside i saw something we probably need to think about quitting this place i said to her i swung my gun around to the hanger opening as she crawled out of her warm bag into the freezing night i heard her toss her kit into the aircraft instead of climbing inside she walked past me over to elvis in a rare showing of emotion she kissed the animal on the nose and said something to it that i couldn't make out before leading it to the other side of the area near the terminal parking lot away from the hangar after saying her goodbyes maggie took the saddle off elvis tossing it on the frosty ground back at the hangar maggie plugged the power card into the aircraft and started it up just before climbing inside the multi-million dollar business jet she signaled for me to wait at the side door after a loud compressor type bang it sounded like she got the apu up and running she looked back through the cockpit door down the small row of seats and gave me the signal to disconnect i shut down the power card and unplugged it from the gulf stream the apu was blasting hot exhaust quickly filling up the hangar despite the open bay door i decided to open the other side of the hangar to vent more exhaust i saw elvis watching from afar looking apprehensive about the noise maggie left the pilot's seat and came back to remind me to pull chalks and to show me how to stow the cabin door i performed the last walk around and then boarded the jet tossing the chalks to the back of the tube before shutting the cabin door to the sound of rushing air i hunched over and walked forward ducking into the cockpit and taking the right seat next to maggie this time i put on a cushy bose headset which was a hell of a lot better than the dc's i was used to flying with the apu noise instantly lowered to the point i could hear maggie sharply over the ics glad you opened the other doors the jet blast from taxiing might have knocked the wall out and maybe destabilized the whole hangar maggie said how's she look i asked gesturing to the jets master caution panel nothing critical we're good maggie worked the checklist startup sequence bringing the engines online with a cough and a lot of smoke the smoke cleared quickly shooting out both sides of the hangar from the odd air pressure anomaly created by the exhaust vortices maggie hit start on her wrist chrono about 30 seconds passed before she stuffed the checklist under her leg and edged the throttles forward the metal hanger building shuttered and creaked maggie gave the engines more power bringing rpms up noticeably on the instrument panel with nose wheels steering in play she turned the jet toward the runway taxi lane delta as she made the turn the powerful engines swept across a wall on the hangar and all hell broke loose hurricane force winds focused like a fire hose on the flimsy aluminum siding sent a section of metal wall paneling spinning up in the air i saw elvis gallop off in fright as the metal hit the terminal parking lot and skidded across into an abandoned car on the curb maggie began to taxi into position dodging sticks and other debris that elvis and i missed on the mile and a half long piece of pavement the aircraft was in position nose facing into the wind as evident by the tattered wind sock at two o'clock five hundred yards away you ready maggie asked i didn't say anything only nodding that i was maggie began the run-up sequence on the jet sending the engines into proper rpm and internal temperatures for takeoff simultaneously she let off the brakes and push the throttles to near firewall and the aircraft jerked forward and began its takeoff role 80 knots maggie said about halfway down the runway rotate the nose wheel left the ground followed by the main gear and we were off deck maggie climbed rapidly while bringing up the landing gear reducing the drag helping us to clear any terrain out there we didn't know about we didn't have the required faa pubs and for all we knew there was a radio tower a mile in front of us and 500 feet high ready to cut a wing from our fuselage in 15 seconds systems check good keep an eye on pressurization for me max maggie said gesturing to one of a dozen gauges above my head on the co-pilot side of the cockpit the instrument indicated that cabin altitude was climbing but it stopped at two thousand feet as the aircraft shot past that altitude and leveled off at a mile above the earth gas i asked based on projected burn rate and fuel state on takeoff still plenty of fuel maggie said tapping the multi-function display on her side i pulled out our maps and did a quick scan of terrain near our takeoff airfield we were good to go at five thousand feet but wouldn't win any efficiency awards this prompted me to ask we are not efficient why are we staying at five thousand look at the road maggie banked the aircraft giving my window a great view of the scene below there were people on the road headed to the airfield i didn't see any armor but i did see at least two technicals white pickup trucks with what looked like tripod mounted guns on the back people on all types of motorcycles were streaming down the road to the airfield if we didn't get out when we did this jet would have had enough holes in it to look like a cheese grater maggie said smoke began to shoot out from the barrel of one of the truck mounted guns time to go mags they're shooting at us maggie leveled the wings and began to climb pointing the aircraft east flying off wet compass i'm going higher but we still need to see the interstate when we get to it no gps no takan or vor we are visual direct to dc she said the aircraft cooled off at ten thousand feet and the cabin pressure maintained maggie dodged winter clouds letting us both maintain visual on the road below i traced our highway with my finger on the map making sure to calculate time speed distance to our next road we had about four smaller airports we were going to attempt near alexandria but couldn't really count on any one of them they could have debris all over the tarmac or even aircraft left abandoned if all our airfields were a no-go we'd set the aircraft down in some field not optimal but it was either that or run out of gas 31 january potomac i have some purpose i realize that now today forever i knew that i wasn't destined to go down in history as the guy that crashed the world not just yet we survive the impossible the improbable and that counts for something that has to the problem started with our first outlying airfield because we were flying lower than the aircraft was designed to cruise efficiently we burned a hell of a lot more gas than we should have we were at our first airfield option with just over an hour of gas to go the first airfield had fire trucks spaced at even intervals blocking the runway from use when maggie hit the throttles climbing out of that aerodrome we only had enough gas for one maybe two more airfields the rain was heavy over virginia when we made our low pass over the second runway to survey the field what we saw sent terror down my spine chinese flankers the squadron of them parked neatly in rows we were low enough to see the red stars painted on their vertical stabilizers as maggie once again pushed the throttles the jet began to climb but not before we noticed two men bust out of one of the buildings white reflective flight helmets swinging in their hands as they sprinted for their jets ahead of a flock of maintainers who were also running for the fighters oh maggie said weather is bad think we can shake him i asked no we're on fumes probably flame out in 15 20 minutes i unbuckled my harness and walked hand over hand to the back of the jet flipping over seat cushions and opening latch cabinets until i found it life raft i buckled the life raft into one of the leather seats near the overwing exit along with our kit before running back up to the cockpit can we depressurize i yelled over the drone of the engines into maggie's covered ears maggie glanced up at the gauges and nodded to me that we could i ran back to where the sealed life raft was buckled and followed the instruction sticker on the overwing hatch after a near-death scare i managed to jettison the hatch hearing it hit the side of the aircraft as it fell away we were either getting shot down or we were going to ditch this sucker it was the only way we had no time to find a suitable airfield the safest place to put the aircraft down on short notice was the potomac river fast moving air shot through the fuselage tossing loose papers and small items everywhere i rushed back to the front and got back in my harness checking maggie's too we ditching maggie asked already knowing the answer yep you know where i said grabbing my checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything as i scanned the checklist our radio blared to life on the guard frequency unknown aircraft unknown aircraft at 4 000 feet on a heading of 094 at 150 knots you are in violation of standing no-fly zone executive order you are to change course to 0-2-4 and land immediately at andrews air force base either ground radar had us or the flanker radar did both would be bad i could barely make out the contours of the large river up ahead i think we're losing number two maggie said as the aircraft began to vibrate maggie executed a shutdown of engine 2 adjusting for the new flight characteristics from the lack of thrust and the new barn door attached to the aircraft outside 10 miles to the water the altimeter began to tick down and the trees began to get bigger gear up flap set i said keeping maggie focused on setting us down in the river ahead we both screamed when the chinese fighter made its high speed pass no more than 20 feet off our right wing the sonic boom was deafening even through our headsets i watched the flanker bank right and then roll revealing multiple missiles mounted to the hard points on his wings they wouldn't bother with another pass they were no doubt setting up for a perfect aspect shot five miles to the water maggie began to configure the aircraft for a ditch the rain was still coming down and visibility wasn't all that great the only way the fighters could have found us was with radar vectors on their own onboard radars neither mattered i scanned the checklist for anything that would kill us if we missed and held on for dear life virginia side if you can i set into the boom mic with no verbal response the aircraft made a slight heading adjustment as the altimeter dropped to fifty feet we had no idea what the setting should be so we could be ten feet off the water or thirty it was difficult to tell until the aircraft machine guns helped us the flanker strafed shooting water up into the air next to the gulf stream this gave maggie the perspective she needed to judge our altitude just before hitting the water i'd never ditched an aircraft before and was underwhelmed the aircraft just slowed down really fast and came to a stop like a boat pushing a bow wave of water ahead of it maggie and i disengaged our harnesses and ran into each other trying to get out ladies first i said happy to be alive she punched me hard in the arm and pushed past me to the opening where i'd previously jettison the hatch save the jokes max you think that flanker won't do another run she said tossing the raft out and yanking the cord to inflate it with one motion we threw our gun strapped packs into the inflated raft and used our hands as paddles hauling ass to the shore much to my surprise the gulf stream didn't sink immediately also we were only about a hundred yards away from the virginia bank of the potomac i could even see part of mount vernon before we got too close to shore we ditched the bright orange raft and disappeared into the thick foliage to the sound of communist fighter jets buzzing at high speeds up and down the potomac river delmay maggie and i kept moving inland from the river navigating via compass and our wet and tattered maps the foliage was thick and unforgiving and would have been impassable in the summer based on our charts we were only a mile from george washington's mount vernon estate as we trekked through the forest i wondered if general washington ever hunted in these woods and if he might have followed the ancient trail that maggie and i traced north to route 1. the thumping of helicopters continued for the rest of the day and into the evening but the sounds were faint and to the south of where we found ourselves moving slowly to avoid detection we broke through the trees into the back end of suburban alexandria as we waited for complete darkness to conceal our approach to our cia front delmae glass fighting fatigue and cold we both took a dose of speed pills that we brought in the event we had to stay awake and make mission as we waited for the drugs to kick in we cashed away the heavy stinger missile after all we were horseless and alexandria seemed abandoned there was not even candlelight shining through the windows i could make out the grey green outline of route 1 up ahead and saw the familiar specs of abandoned cars probably lined up to cross the woodrow wilson bridge the overcast sky concealed the bright moon providing us enough cover to begin moving at about twenty one hundred thirty pounds lighter i sprung to my feet and took point through the empty backyards mirroring the curves of route 1 as it meandered north to intercept the loop high on speed we made good time creeping behind the shadow box privacy fences eventually hitting the side street we were looking for follow me maggie said gesturing us away from the path we were following i followed maggie with the trust rebuilt from trekking over half the country on horseback and being strafed by sukhoi fighters together we cut behind a pizza joint and were once again slogging through the type of pseudo woods that existed between the abandoned city developments and masses of empty commercial lots we moved for some time through these trees and bushes until maggie stopped at a large gray border sitting on the middle of one of the grown over commercial lots the large rock was covered with graffiti ms-13 gang markings and some lewd interpretations of male appendages maggie scanned the area unmoving she did this for five full minutes before leaning her gun against the rock and reaching underneath a loud click pierced the night silence maggie grabbed her carbine and leaned on the rock spinning it out of the way underneath i could see the massive boulder was attached to some mounting system and magnetic locking mechanism i went first down the narrow stairs and watched her petite frame move the two thousand pound rock back into position with one hand the rock settled down one inch onto the magnetic lock with a secondary click and we were underground post 911 delmae remodeling g watt funded maggie said as we move deeper into the corridor i never knew about it i said fishing for a reason you were new max these types of things are reserved for more vetted employees of the agency the covered facility is the first layer of the onion there are many i thought about this as we move deeper into the ground before leveling off the subterranean passage was solid concrete with rebar making its appearance randomly along the passage the emergency lighting had long gone dark and i wondered how the maglocks remained functional as i watched maggie key a code into a panel next to a large steel door with a click the lock was disengaged and maggie swung the heavy vault-like door open we're under delmae now she said maggie walked over to a bank of dark screens and flipped on a breaker the machines began to power on and the screens began scanning the drives following an improper shutdown maggie skipped the scan and initiated the building's security program after the operating system was done booting up only three cameras were active covering the lobby and a room marked skiff in white digital letters on the live feed of the top floor the other camera feeds had either broken or been otherwise disabled the lobby looked as if a war had been fought in it and the skiff feed looked normal but completely abandoned well whoever has been here the past year didn't find the champagne room that's a good thing maggie attempted to bring the other stricken cameras back online to no avail they were hard down these two cameras and this terminal were the only ones hardwired to the system and off the grid i think the computer worm killed the others maggie said we're going to have to go top side and reach the skiff on foot i responded not liking the sound a bit out loud yes the building should be abandoned though should i said maggie released with a click the last maglock between us and the acknowledged area of the building we stepped through a false wall door before maggie swung the wall back to its original position the entrance to the basement was undetectable and from what maggie said the skiff on the top floor was configured the same way we were still on nvds as the grid was down in alexandria and any auxiliary generators had likely long run out of juice we moved over an air bridge that overlooked the delmae glass lobby the area was decimated as the glass was blown out and bullet holes peppered the once pristine white sheetrock interior walls we left the lobby view for the stairwell and began to climb to the penthouse or as maggie called it the champagne room halfway up the stairs we were forced out onto the fifth floor because the stairs were blocked with likely every piece of furniture from the sixth floor as we quietly entered the fifth we were met with another post-apocalyptic landscape like the lobby windows had been blown out but the burn scoring marks and explosive damage replaced the bullet holes from the lobby looked like a dozen rpgs went off inside we stepped through the rubble of the office walking over at least two badly decomposed corpses before reaching the other stairwell and eventually the top floor here it was undamaged with all but one window still intact a bird had made a home in a cubicle near the open window and was protesting my presence as maggie and i surveyed the area around the covert entrance to the champaign room after we were sure all was clear maggie went into one of the offices and closed the blinds out of habit just like the played out movie trope she slid a large bookshelf out of the way revealing a door after entering her code the familiar click of a maglock released and we were inside the skiff maggie slid the shelf back over the opening and secured the skiff door before flipping a switch illuminating the dim emergency lights champagne room has battery backup trickle charged by panels on the roof we are fully command center capable here but any rf and we get the flanker treatment she said after clearing the floor to make sure we weren't sharing the skiff with anyone we piled our kid in a conference room and sat down for a moment the speed still had me wired and i'm a lot bigger than maggie i can only imagine how hopped up she was time to get what we came for ready for another layer of the onion max inside the defunct but still secure delmae glass company front building remained a few interesting items the last holdouts from the cia's book of dirty tricks one of the items i recognized from syria the box that was carefully placed and wired in with the dozens of other grey boxes at the syria tell cell and data tower we infiltrated this one wasn't painted like the one we deployed i suppose one of the people in the delmae unit was paid to research the color scheme of junction boxes inside the cell tower buildings of various countries and paint them to match mackie carefully went over the setup routine for the device using a black marker she wrote the wiring setup on the outside of the box she stuck the box onto the metal workbench with a clang i'd forgotten the device had a magnetic strip on the back for easy mounting after pulling the plastic battery barrier she switched the thing on and began entering settings referring to a manual that was inside afterward i watched her carefully enter a code twice before stepping aside okay your turn the exact code you entered in syria it has to be exact to work maggie said i entered my six-digit code twice it wasn't hard to recall as it was my childhood home phone number minus the first number back in the day when people still had landlines the device blinked eights in all six windows before going dark maggie secured the power on the box and placed it back in the bubble wrap it was stored in the cat6 cables still neatly folded and wrapped with rubber bands why don't we hook this thing up now i asked maggie do you want the capital region to have cyber and grid first she responded making me feel pretty stupid she placed the device in my pack before summoning me to follow her across the hallway to another storage room it took a while to get the door open as my fingerprints weren't as easy to read as maggie's the lights in the skiff began to blink prompting maggie to tell me that reserve power was about to deplete we need to get this door open before that happens or our job's going to be a lot harder she said as i attempted to press my thumb at different angles onto the glass over and over again finally the biometric gods relented and a series of thumps indicated that the giant door was unlocked it took both of us to swing the door open as under normal circumstances it was assisted by an electric motor inside the vault were stacks of vacuum sealed cash and other odds and ends the item in the center of the room was what maggie was after it appeared to be a piece of carry-on luggage she extended the handle and pulled it out of the vault and into the conference room with the rest of our kit after laying it flat she unzipped the case revealing a control panel with cyrillic markings maggie what the is this thing i asked moving in for a closer look under the fading emergency lighting well max i guess the best course of action is to just tell you outright it's a false flag weapon this is a portable nuclear device the weapons-grade uranium in the core was sourced from russian uranium mines so that if we ever needed to use it the core material would trace back to russia if our agents were apprehended prior to employment all the markings would indicate russian origin this 30 kiloton devices only function is to start a war why the hell didn't someone secure it how is it still here max there wasn't anyone left to care or anyone that knew about it anyway besides all the non-proliferation resources were probably focused on the thousands of other first strike weapons no one was going to bother with a little suitcase nuke well what's our plan now i asked already knowing what she was going to say very simple we replace the nai's c4 with a portable nuclear weapon no maggie that's taking it too far we're already responsible for enough destruction innocent people could die children i said i don't give a about their children maggie snapped we've come all this way to eliminate those bastards and you want to quit over collateral damage she was seeing red do you know how they disposed of all the bodies max do you no i don't they pushed them into a landfill with a bulldozer the ones lucky enough to be buried that is the rest they just dumped in the ocean millions that's on them and that's on me i was stunned numb the government let so many people die only to dump them in the ocean like common trash history will remember the entire executive legislative and judicial branches as nothing short of war criminals so there it was then maggie and i were the ones that started the calamity it seemed somehow fair and fitting that we be the ones to usher in a new era one where america can start over without the grip of tyranny and the swamp of corruption that thrives in this den of serpents summit summit eve the night before the summit using the delmae tunnel maggie and i exfiltrated into the darkness at the edge of the empty overgrown lot i tossed my shortwave antenna tied to a rock over a branch above my head making sure the radio would not transmit i tuned up the known nai frequencies for an update after a few cycles of gibberish that meant nothing i heard the words i was looking for there will be no christmas this year the summit was still happening i gave maggie a thumbs up and we continued north to the woodrow wilson bridge we changed our clothes to better blend into the surroundings my sbr was tucked under an overcoat and maggie rolled our piece of carry-on luggage playing the bag lady part very well the woodrow was dark and foreboding strewn with abandoned cars on one lane with the other lane cleared off i could see where someone had tossed the cars off the bridge into the water on one side to clear a passage back and forth between virginia and maryland across the potomac the concrete and steel guard rails on the side were marred with steel marks and grazes where something had manhandled the vehicles into the abyss we skipped over onto the cleared lane passing under the maryland governor's welcome sign suspended across the middle of the span i thought to myself how the unregistered short barreled m4 personal defense weapon with a silencer attached under my coat had made me a double felon even in the best of times as i stepped over the invisible state line that separated the commonwealth from maryland add those two felonies to the hundreds of others the all-powerful all-knowing state says that i committed it they were going to murder me or bury me under the prison anyway it took most of the night to reach the district proper the federal reserve building was where the summit was going down new world order powers were meeting to cut up what was left of the united states and they were doing it tomorrow under the ever watchful gaze of the money changers maggie insisted on picking a specific tall abandoned apartment building in the grid down area of the district after her intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the delmae underground i didn't question her overwatch choice even on the ground from the dark zone we could tell that the power was still very much on inside the heart of the district this wasn't a makeshift fusion center the federal reserve perimeters would have hundreds of cameras trained upon it and would be wired to detect even the slightest movement or seismic activity i honed my b e skills easily defeating the ground floor padlock with one of many tin can shims i'd constructed on the way out here as extras to replace my real shims we were inside the place smelled of rotten food and dead animals and we could see why as we worked our way to the top corpses lays strewn about frozen in death clutching fatal gunshot wounds the bullet marks on the walls inside the stairwell told the story of a gunfight in which both sides sustained casualties the corpse at the bottom of the steps still had his pistol along with the one at the top we stepped over the decomposing mess and continued on to the top where i had to once again use a shim to defeat a padlock in order to gain roof access it was a rather cold february here in dc but a small fire would have been too risky based on our maps we were 500 meters from where the powered up micro grid had been put in place likely unconnected to the outside maggie and i began to surveil what we could but the distance to the target was a little too far to ascertain watch rotations or other security habits and movements with my binos i could barely make out that the perimeter guards were carrying long guns the area we inhabited on the top of the building was mostly surrounded by the eerie blackness of a disabled grid eaten from the inside out by the nsa manufactured super worm only the lights from the federal micro grid punctuated the post-apocalyptic scene all around us one thing that caught our attention was the ir laser activity from the rooftop of one of the buildings adjacent to the federal reserve likely a team of night vision capable snipers were nested there something we'd need to deal with uncharacteristic of maggie she asked me to take the first observation period and that she'd tap in after a quick combat nap she sweetened the deal with a single serve package of instant coffee she'd been saving since arkansas i gladly accepted her bribe god damn maggie i awoke to the bright sun of first light half frostbitten near the rim of the apartment complex roof i had a splitting headache and the canteen of coffee i was drinking while i stood lookout had tumbled over on its side the contents spilled out onto the tar roof and frozen solid i tried to stand up and wasn't able maggie was gone no sign of her the only thing left was my kit leaning up against the roof access hatch i tried to work my paralyzed leg muscles stretching them to the point of pain they weren't working right so i had to drag myself over to my kit yearning for the extra canteen i kept inside after reaching my pack i flipped it over on its side and climbed up on it to get myself off the cold roof for a minute after struggling with the bag zippers i rammed my freezing hands into the pack hoping to bust my knuckles on the canteen so i could find it after a few grueling minutes dealing with the pain of a throbbing headache and near freezing appendages i found the canteen and drank deeply this gave me the strength i needed to find the small bottle of ibuprofen i was so desperate to kill the pain i popped three into my mouth and chewed them like candy before washing the dust down with another drink my legs started to come back after about 15 minutes of flexing and massaging i finally stood wobbling and instinctively felt for my short barrel carbine it obviously wasn't where i left it as i'd have felt it crawling over to my pack scanning the rooftop careful to stay low enough not to be seen i saw it leaning barrel up against the edge of the roof something yellow was attached to the hand guard a dog patch map was affixed via rubber band to my gun somewhere maggie knew i'd find it quick i hastily pinched the rubber band from the gun and unfolded the old theme park map dear max i know you're angry right now but you need to understand a few things you are not part of this system it didn't make you i am i knew full well what we were doing in syria and accepted it i am this system the same system that murdered millions including my own daughter you fought for redemption since the start and have little for which to be ashamed the worm device is in your pack i suggest you activate it in nai territory if you follow the instructions i've left for you the effects of the worm will be rejected the nuke doesn't have a delay fuse you know dead agents tell no tales and all i never told you as i didn't want you to try any of your hero guilt it's my right my charge you're free and clear max sleep well knowing that this decision was mine and mine alone i'd have killed you anyway if you try to stop me and you know it if you're reading this you don't have much time get out maggie i stood atop del may as the blast rocked the district a searing flash followed by a small but distinguishable mushroom cloud rose up above the trees on the horizon as the sonic boom of the blast eventually vibrated delmay's elaborate but already fractured glass face maggie had sacrificed herself to slay the beast along with all of its ticks and fleas in one fell swoop i've read her letter again and again more than i've read anything in my life i'd be lying if i said i didn't have my serious doubts over what she had done hell i might have hesitated maggie knew after all she trained me one thing is certain if it was vengeance maggie wanted she got it in thermonuclear spades i suppose i'll point my boots west and start moving i'm bringing the grid back online but i won't start here in the remnants of the hydra headed beast this place will never ever deserve it arkansas territory march every day i ride my life has been a blur since i witnessed the blast on the del may rooftop when i first wake up in the morning small outlines of high order nuclear detonation can be seen overlaid against whatever i'm looking at burned and scarred into my retinas not in my direct line of sight but just outside a forever forget me not something to put maggie back into my head every time i open my eyes a few days after escaping dc i found an old motorcycle inside a workshop next to a small farmhouse this was a few miles outside of quantico virginia it's not much but it gets me farther west every day closer to arkansas closer to the objective closer to savannah no the arkansas territory at least that's what i'm calling it now as there is no more united states i think of maggie every day i reflect on her sacrifice i cry most days no i've run into raiders on two occasions i didn't even give them a chance there isn't much of the old me left hanging on every day i ride january 1st northwest arkansas free press lights on in nwa engineers with the nai have restored power to the majority of northwest arkansas washington benton and parts of the adjacent counties currently have power for 12 hours per day nai officials confirm citing computer performance issues as the main causal factor engineers were able to stabilize the grid control computers operating system timely for nwa citizens this windfall comes to us just after the provisional government's unconditional surrender reverting power back to the individual territories incarcerated officials won't confirm the reasons for the unexpected pivot however staffer plea bargain testimony points to the nuclear explosion that occurred last february the attack remains under investigation by adjacent territory officials tune in on 10 30 a.m nightly at 6 for more on this and for provisional government trial coverage january 25th northwest arkansas free press no power for border territories nai engineers have been unsuccessful in their attempts to bring grid power back online for any of the border territories sources confirm eyewitness accounts of the issue have been streaming in via radio since the nwa power and data grid was restored residents of border territories have been bringing their personal electronic devices across the territory border to get them back online witnesses report that their devices function as designed while inside the nwa grid zone but barbara kelly of joplin missouri tells us her account of what occurred when she recently attempted to take her phone and laptop back across the border they work just fine when i'm in bentonville but as soon as i cross back over that line they start acting up again just like they did before all this robert victor of huntsville arkansas reports i brought my dang electric car across the border to charge her up when i drove her back into madison county she just stopped working left me stranded all night tune in on 10 30 a.m nightly at 6 for more on this developing story and for continuing coverage of the provisional government trials february 10th northwest arkansas free press chinese troops on the run according to the newly elected president christopher newmaur of the california territory west coast harbors are being flooded with chinese troop carriers but they're not dropping off troops says one eyewitness they're loading those ships down with men like a boat full of cuban refugees surprised they don't sink leaving the harbor says michael schurr of san diego with most territorial leaders issuing a shoot on site order on any u n troops operating illegally inside north america this comes as no surprise with more than 400 million guns in american hands before the defunct provisional government's failed attempt at disarmament the chinese military has a lot to be worried about tune in on 10 30 a.m nightly at 6 for more on this developing story and for our continuing coverage on the public executions of convicted provisional government officials april 23rd northwest arkansas free press local fed convicted sentenced to death by firing squad former special agent in charge lon peterson was convicted of 743 counts of murder today the jury only deliberated five minutes in this landmark case deciding the fate of the agent known to many as the man behind the jailhouse massacre among countless other atrocities he will be awarded the death penalty by firing squad in the fayetteville town square this saturday at noon patrons are asked to leave children under the age of 16 at home a raffle is being conducted to choose 10 executioners any able-bodied adult citizen may apply interested parties are asked to see sheriff baker for details or contact her on citizen band channel 18. tune in on 10 30 a.m nightly at 6 for more on this and for our continuing election coverage of the arkansas territory presidential election july 4th northwest arkansas free press independence day celebration takes on new meaning amidst sino-territorial tensions arkansans take to the streets today to celebrate independence from the former provisional government at times expressing intense outrage on last year's sino-territorial occupation pressure from newly elected arkansas territory president jim sparks has driven talks with the nuclear-capable dakotas territory regarding potential retaliatory measures sheriff baker reminds arkansans not to discharge firearms into the air in celebration and to take appropriate firearm safety precautions during their independence day celebrations please people we've had enough accidental injuries it is true that all federal firearms laws have been nullified by the territorial supreme court until further notice but let's try to police ourselves and have some common sense fun out there tonight there ain't any more chinese running around in the arkansas territory just because someone might look like they could be asian that don't mean they're a damn chinese spy just keep a level head out there it's all i'm asking long live the independent territories although emotions run high as more details are uncovered regarding the circumstances around the sino occupation most territorial citizens remain hopeful for peace tune in on 10 30 a.m nightly at 6 for more on our coverage of the developing sino-territorial crisis and cognitive transcription the previous record has been classified as a protected historical document transcribed from petabytes of text audio and video recovered from various sensors that were located in the territory formerly known as the united states of america hub records indicate that there were nearly a thousand fragmented personal accounts of the rebellion of 2021. the max account clearly stands out from the rest as it is widely considered by historians to be the most accurate and definitive depiction of how where and when the rebellion began and eventually ended this 67th edition includes archival evidence that the nuclear device detonated in february 2023 was most likely the single event that triggered the nuclear emp exchange of 2025 although the redacted digital portions of the record outlining the early days of the rebellion survived the nuclear enp exchange of 2025 not until 2093 when the yellowed pages of the handwritten volume were discovered at an estate sale in the arkansas territory was the bulk of the max account made available to historians quantum digital forensics worked diligently for a decade to recover the missing pieces of history that took place before the nuclear emp exchange of 2025. the identity of max remains unknown as of this printing this has been an audible studio's production of tomorrow war serpent road the chronicles of mack's book two written by j l bourne performed by j snyder and kevin t collins executive producers steve feldberg and mike charzik producer neil basic copyright 2017 by jl born production copyright 2017 by audible inc audible studios is a division of audible inc

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Rating: 4 out of 5

Keywords: Serpent Road, The Chronicles of Max, Tomorrow War, J. L. Bourne, tomorrow war audiobook, day by day armageddon, j l bourne audiobook, tomorrow war, day by day armageddon audiobook, jl bourne audiobook, the forever war audiobook, armageddon audiobook, audiobook, martial law, shtf audiobook, lanaudible, litrpg audiobook, pandemic audiobook, the final day audiobook full, zombie audiobook, zombie audiobooks, max redacted, tomorrow war hörbuch

Id: WgweFXMXsyQ

Length: 482min 39sec (28959 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021