Mountain Home

[Christian for Israel]

comments? or is everyone tired of this story?

[mitunnelrat]

I'm not tired of it... just patiently waiting for more...

[Superman]

Must have more.

Not much to really comment on any more except it's great. I know it seems some of us have been critical...(myself included a couple times) BUT realize folks that this is a draft and will be polished when it is put to publishing etc.

[DirtPirate]

I think it's great that you've added a secondary story line...

Now GET ON WITH IT!!! :lol:

[Christian for Israel]

ok. only a few more chapters left though...hopefully inspiration will strike soon for more than that.

btw, criticism is warmly received. it means someone is actually READING in order to have something to be critical about.

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 37

The greyhound lifted into the sky just as the sun was clearing the horizon, climbing to twenty thousand feet. Jack set the course and engaged the auto-pilot, then got up and walked back to the cabin. Seated there were Louise and her two assistants, Susan and Ellen, who she’d been passing her nursing skills on to over the previous winter.

Along with the destruction of the town had also gone the entire medical staff, except for Louise, who’d been in the complex. Fortunately for all of them she’d decided that others there could benefit from learning her trade and had selected the girls to become students.

Across from them were Robin and Mike, going on the trip to help Jack figure out just what and how much assistance the group could afford to offer Doug’s people in New Mexico. Tied to the deck of the craft were piles of supplies, food and medical gear to help the devastated village recover after the attack on them by the town of Mayfield. Jack and the others felt guilty about the attack, they felt the town had been their idea and therefore whatever actions it took were their responsibility.

“Ok, we should be there in about three hours.” Jack announced as he entered the main cabin.

Robin looked up at him and said, “thank you for agreeing to take me Jack, it means a lot that I can let Doug know that I forgive him in person, even if the idea of seeing him again makes me nervous.”

“Just make sure you keep your pistol on you and watch for signs that he’s trying to deceive us, even though he warned us about the nuke, all we really have to go on that he’s changed is his word. That goes for everyone, stay armed and watchful, but don’t be obvious about it. I sincerely doubt it, but this could be a trap, and I don’t want any of us getting hurt.”

Everyone nodded their understanding. A few days earlier, right after Jack’s reconnaissance flight over Mayfield, they’d raised the communications tower again and tried to contact someone on the radio. They hadn’t been sure the equipment still worked after the EMP from the nuclear blasts, even though the effect hadn’t been very powerful. Jack knew it was because they were detonated at such a low altitude and was grateful for that, if they’d been higher, the damage to their electronic equipment might have been worse.

Within a few minutes of their first transmission Doug answered them. In the conversation that followed, after assuring them he was happy they’d survived, he had asked them if there was any way they could help his people out. He’d said that all their medical people had been killed, and their supplies destroyed in the attack. Jack had been hesitant, not wanting to get into the same situation as before by going against the will of God, and had told him he’d have to discuss the request with the others. Doug had said he understood and would contact them the next day for his answer and ended the conversation. Jack felt the need to pray and confirm that this was what God wanted him to do, even though it was in his nature to help others in need.

Walking out into the dining room he conveyed the information he’d received to Pam and Mel, then said he needed to pray about this and asked them to pray also, that God would guide their decisions. Going up to his apartment, he got down on his knees and opened his heart to God. After an hour he felt confirmation that this was indeed what God wanted and, reassured, got up to go discuss it with everyone else.

Entering the dining room again, he went to the intercom and announced a meeting of the leadership of the group in the recreation room in fifteen minutes, then proceeded there himself. When everyone else had arrived he filled them in on the details of his conversation with Doug and gave them his decision to proceed with the idea of trying to help him out. Asking for comments, he looked at his people, people he’d come to trust implicitly over the past few years.

Mike had spoken up first “are you sure this is a good idea, after all, we all thought gathering everyone to the town was a good idea and look what that led to.”

Several present had nodded their heads at that.

“Well I can’t be one hundred percent certain Mike, but I have prayed about it and I believe this is God’s will.” He had replied.

Mike considered that for a moment then said “ok, as long as God is for it, that’s all I was concerned about. As long as God is in favor of us helping them, there’s nothing any of them can do to hurt us.”

“What kind of help do they need?” Louise had asked. “Ellen and Suzy are ready for some hands on action if they need medical help.”

“In fact they do Louise; Doug said their medical people are all dead. They also need food, medical supplies, and decent clothing. I figured we’d load up the greyhound with everything we can spare and fly it down there along with a few people to assist them. The greyhound is the only plane we have that can make the trip and return without having to refuel, and I’m not sure there is anywhere down there we could get fuel if we took any other aircraft. Doug said they could meet us at the airport with a truck if we could get the stuff there.”

The others accepted the information and soon began discussing the details among themselves.

The next afternoon Jack had made contact with Doug again, letting him know their decision. Relieved, he told Jack they would be expecting them the next day, and he thanked him profusely for their help. After breaking the connection he had gone to the hangar to oversee the loading of the plane.

Early the following morning they’d taken off, heading south for the long flight to New Mexico.




Three hours and fifteen minutes after taking off, they arrived at the small airport. Circling the field they spotted a flatbed truck at one end of the runway, with several individuals around it. Lining up on the runway, Jack extended the landing gear and gently set the plane down, taxiing to the other end to where the truck waited. Turning the plane so the loading ramp was pointed towards the vehicle, he set the brake and shut down the engines. Leaving the cockpit he told his people to get ready, then hit the switch that opened the door.

He noticed that Robin looked nervous and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you out of my sight.” He said. Raising his voice he told the rest of them, “that goes for everyone, no one is to be left alone, at least not for this first visit. If everything goes well this time, we’ll be able to relax later on.”

As the ramp finished opening the group got up and exited the plane. Jack went first and walked up to Doug immediately. Extending his hand, he said “Doug, it’s good to see you made out ok after all, when we left you here I was afraid we were handing you a death sentence. I’m glad to know you made the right decision to turn to God.”

“When you dropped me here I thought the same thing,” he said with an embarrassed grin, aware of how close that statement had come to being the truth. “But I guess God had other things in store for me.” After a second he added “I only wish that hadn’t included losing so many good people…but His will be done.” He finished in resignation. Jack understood completely, they would never fully understand God’s motives for doing what He did until they were in heaven, until then they just had to accept that He had a plan.

At this point Robin came up to them. Doug immediately turned to the girl, apologizing profusely for his previous behavior. “I don’t even feel worthy to ask for your forgiveness young lady, all I can do is let you know how ashamed I am of my actions and work to show you that I really have changed. One thing you will find here is that I have been completely honest with everyone about what I did and tried to do to you. I didn’t hold anything back to save my reputation but let them know everything so they would see what God was able to do with me.”

“Doug, there is nothing to forgive. The past is over, we can’t change it. There are things I did before I was saved that I wish I could take back. All we can do is lay it all at God’s feet and go on. I am just really glad you found forgiveness also.” She said graciously.

A look of intense relief washed over Doug’s face at her answer, and the burden he’d carried since their last encounter became obvious. As tears began to form in his eyes, the girl’s heart went out to him and she opened her arms to give him a hug.

Watching without staring, Jack tensed slightly as they embraced, ready just in case the man tried anything. After a moment Doug, who’d been crying freely, broke the embrace and backed away. “You have made me feel clean again for the first time in a long time…thank you.” He said.

Feeling everything was really going to be ok and that Doug had been honest with them after all, Jack suggested they get busy loading the supplies, then get to town so Louise could begin treating the people who still hadn’t recovered from their wounds.

An hour later they had the plane empty and secured, and everyone loaded onto the bed of the truck for the ride back to the village. As they traveled Jack and his people looked over the area. At first everything looked the same as it had in every other town they’d visited, deserted but undamaged. After a few minutes however, they passed several buildings and houses that were just blackened remnants, obviously there had been a fire. That in itself wasn’t all that unusual, but still Jack asked about it. One of the villagers spoke up and said “that was where the second helicopter crashed during the first visit by the town. We shot one down as it tried to line up its guns on us, but the other got away. But before it made it all the way back to the airport it also crashed, so I guess we hit it pretty good too.” Looking over the area again, Jack could vaguely make out the frame of the craft amid the wreckage of the buildings.

The trip to the village took close to an hour as the airport was more than twenty miles away and they were going slow in order to have time to react if there was trouble. Finally however they entered an area of obvious damage, many of the buildings completely destroyed and others heavily damaged. Looking around, Jack was amazed that any had survived and gave thanks to God for protecting those who had lived through it.

They stopped in front of a partially repaired warehouse like structure, which Doug informed them now housed everybody that was left. Like most places they’d been to, there was an unusual number of young people present, at least three quarters of those there were under twenty years old. The group from the complex climbed down and began greeting everyone, and introductions were made. After a moment Doug took Robin and Jack aside to introduce them to his wife. Surprised to learn that he’d married, they went with the man deeper into the building.

Even inside there was evidence of the attack, and crude repairs had been erected, obviously in haste. Indicating the bare plywood and two by four construction Doug said that they were planning to move to a better location as soon as the wounded were able to travel. The repairs they saw around them weren’t meant to be permanent, but simply allow them to stay in the building for a few more weeks. Finally they entered a room with several people laid out on cots. Doug told them this was the infirmary, then led them to a young woman in a cot on the far side of the room. She was dozing lightly but awoke as they approached, smiling as she saw Doug.

“Jack, Robin, I’d like to introduce my wife, Linda. She was wounded in the attack, one of the bombs went off near her and the concussion destroyed her hearing. She was buried under the rubble of the building for almost two days before we found her.” The man was crying as he spoke, “but she’s a fighter, that’s for sure.”

The young woman, who looked to be about eighteen, never took her eyes off the man, obviously in love with him. After a moment the group left her bedside, walking back out of the room. Once outside Jack asked, “how bad is she? Will she be ok?”

“I was hoping your people would be able to tell me that. We bandaged her wounds and set her broken arm, but aside from the surface healing she still can’t get out of bed.” It was obviously difficult for the man to discuss this subject, his love for her was obvious, as was the fact that he was barely holding himself together. The thought of losing Linda was too much for him to bear and he felt that if she died, he would too.




That evening, Jack got with Louise to assess the situation. The nurse had examined all those who remained in the infirmary, along with several others who had been able to go back to light work. As she and Jack discussed the situation, she confided in him that there were only a couple she wasn’t sure would make it, one of them being Linda. Jack asked her to do all she could, especially for the girl, and told her they would get anything she needed even if they had to cross the country to get it. The only thing the nurse said she really wanted was a competent doctor, she was in over her head with all this.

Doug had prepared a place for the group to sleep and, after everyone enjoyed a good meal, they settled down for the night.

After breakfast the next morning, Jack addressed another problem the villagers had. Doug had informed him that one reason they hadn’t moved already was that they had almost no fuel left and only two running vehicles. That was also why they’d needed food, they had no way to travel to look for supplies or transport them if they found any. Besides the flatbed the villagers had only an old diesel Isuzu pick-up truck that had seen better days.

Deciding to leave Louise and Robin, along with the nursing assistants to care for the wounded, he, Mike and Doug headed out to take care of the problem. First they siphoned out all the fuel left in the big truck, which turned out to be only about a gallon. Jack realized the drive to the airport the previous day had been a chance thing for the villagers as, if his group hadn’t showed, they would have wasted all their fuel for nothing. As it was they’d barely made it back to town.

They added the gallon of diesel to the half gallon already in the little pick-up, which Jack knew should give them at least fifty miles range, as the Isuzu diesel was known for high mileage. Loading up the other two he headed out towards the airport again. When they arrived he first got out a hose and siphoned ten gallons of jet fuel from the plane, filling the trucks’ tank. Next he retrieved the portable pump and hoses from the plane and loaded it in the pick-up.

The group then headed, at Jack’s suggestion, for the Air Force Base from which the town had launched those cruise missiles at Mayfield. The base was close to sixty miles away but after a couple hours of driving they arrived. Pulling onto the flight line they started searching for containers to fill with fuel, finding several fifty-five gallon drums in the back of one hangar. They loaded two empty drums into the bed of the truck and then proceeded to the bases’ tank farm. Like every other military base he’d been to, Jack found the fuel to be stabilized and still usable. Using the portable pump they soon had both drums filled, and had topped off the fuel tank of the Isuzu as well.

Next they cruised around the base looking for other vehicles the villagers could use. Finding a motor pool they selected a couple of five ton 6X6’s and got to work trying to get them to run. After an hour only one truck would run so they took it and gave up on the other one. After filling its tank with fuel they went back to the hangar and loaded up on drums and eventually were headed back to town with more than seven hundred gallons of fuel between the two vehicles.

Now that they had plenty of fuel, Doug was in better spirits as they could move the wounded to better accommodations. As they arrived in front of the communal building that good feeling evaporated as he saw Louise standing there in tears. With a sudden premonition of trouble, he leapt from the still moving truck, stopping short in front of the nurse and asking “what is it?!?” with panic in his voice. Louise just looked at him for a moment, sadness in her eyes. Then she said “I’m so sorry Doug, Linda passed away while you were gone.”

Suddenly it felt as if a huge weight had settled on him. He fell to his knees, the very live seeming to be crushed out of him. “Oh God, no!” he cried. Breaking down completely and sobbing. Several of the villagers gathered around him, trying to consol him, and slowly he composed himself. After a long time he rose shakily to his feet and asked to be taken to her. As the group arrived he again collapsed next to her bed, holding her hand and crying uncontrollably. The others backed out of the room, wanting to give him time alone with his wife. Outside they asked Louise what happened.

“I really have no idea.” She said. “I guess she had internal injuries, but without a proper hospital and doctors there wasn’t anything we could have done for her. I really hate it for Doug though, I wonder if he’ll be all right. He obviously loved her so, I hope he’ll be able to move on.” She hung her head sadly, saying a prayer that God take care of the man. The others said ‘amen’, then moved away to take care of putting the fuel away.

By the end of the day Doug had pulled himself together enough to handle the arrangements. Knowing he would be unable to handle the service he asked Jack, who he said was the closest thing to a pastor he’d ever had, to perform the funeral. After discussing it with the rest of the group they all turned in early, planning the service for the next day.

When it was all over the group gathered in the communal building to comfort each other. Doug hadn’t said much to anyone all day, but now he spoke up.

“Jack, the kindness and grace you showed us all by coming here is greatly appreciated. We will never be able to repay it. I would like to thank each one of you for all you’ve done, but for now I think we as a town need to see about setting things up in another area. If we were able to keep in contact with you I would be grateful, and I would love to continue having dealings with your group. Maybe someday we can begin to repay you for the things you brought us.”

“Don’t worry about repaying us Doug,” Jack replied. “what we gave we gave to God, it’s Him that you should thank. Yes, I too would like to keep in contact, maybe God’s will in this new world isn’t for men to get together, but instead to gather in small groups and simply get along with each other. I hope we will be able to get along with you and others across the country for a long time to come.”

With that he signaled his people that it was time to leave. Reboarding the plane they bid a final good bye to Doug, who’d driven them to the plane.

“I’ll call you in a few days and let you know how we’re doing.” He said.

“I’d like that Doug, I really would.”

As the man got in the truck and drove away Jack made his way to the cockpit and soon they were in the air, headed home.

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 38

Rod and his group spent the next couple of months getting better acquainted. During this time Jill realized she’d gotten pregnant. The news delighted Rod, but he was concerned as well since they had no doctor and no one there knew anything about birthing a baby. Still, he’d always wanted a family and he hoped things would somehow work out.

The group had come together well during the winter, becoming a family of sorts. Mike and his wife Barbara were also expecting, and she was pretty far along. None of the group really knew when she was due; they figured the baby would come whenever it was ready. But the idea of delivering healthy babies weighed heavily on Rod, as he was in nominal charge of the group and felt responsible to make sure everything turned out ok for them. He simply had to figure out a way to get someone with medical training to join them, not that there were many chances available. They’d seen no one at all since he and Jill had joined the others.

Another problem was figuring out where to move the group to when the snows melted. They’d need a place that was secure and easily defended, yet had enough land to allow them to farm. He had only a vague idea of how to go about planting crops, only what he’d picked up in school and from TV, but he knew it was imperative if the group was going to live. The food in the Sam’s club was mostly unfit to eat by that time, and what was still good was running low.

He was thinking about the problem of land while snuggling with Jill atop the store one evening in mid march when he was startled to see a sudden flash in the sky to the northwest. A few moments later they heard a low rumbling noise, followed quickly by another flash. Realizing something extraordinary must have happened, he and Jill got up quickly and went downstairs to let the others know what they’d seen.

“But what could have caused it?” Billy asked.

“I’m not sure,” Rod said, “an explosion of some sort I guess. It came from the direction of Mayfield, maybe someone attacked them.”

“Wow.” Vicki said. “I can understand why someone would do that, but who is there left in the world that’s strong enough? The town had a big defense force when we left.”

“Yeah, and they added several A-10’s before we took off.” Jill added.

“I don’t know,” Rod continued, “but I can’t imagine what else it could be. If it was just the one I’d think it may have been an accident, but there was another flash as we were coming downstairs, which seems to mean more than one blast.”

“Well,” Vicki said, “whatever happened I think we’d all be better off to keep under cover for a few days, even if it was an accident or even if the people who may have attacked them were friendly to us, I don’t think we can afford to take any chances. From this time forward, no one goes outside for any reason.”

“I agree Miss Vic, we all need to keep our heads down for at least a week. We can see what’s going on outside with the security cameras anyway.”

The others voiced their understanding of the directive, even though a few grumbled about it. The weather had finally improved enough for them to enjoy going outside and they were reluctant to remain indoors anymore after the long winter.

After two weeks there was still no sign that anyone knew they were there and Rod decided they could lift the restriction on going outside. He warned everyone to take precautions and remain alert when they were in the open however, as they had no way of knowing who might be out and about. Several of the young people cheered at this announcement and he grinned, as sick of being cooped up inside as anyone.

The first day out was spent taking care of needs. Both their water and fuel supplies were low and had to be topped off. After they finished Rod got with Vicki and Mike and discussed a plan for finding a new place for the group to live. They discussed the requirements for such a place and agreed that each of them should take one other to help provide security and cover a different section of the city. That way they’d cover the town more quickly and wouldn’t overlap each other.

The next morning, Rod and Jill took the hummer and began their sweep of the western portion of town. Vicki and Billy took the northern part and Mike and Eddie took the southeastern section. The groups had agreed to return to the store for lunch so they could report on their progress, as well as to let the others know they were ok. They also carried GMRS radios they’d found in the store. But they weren’t sure of the range so they didn’t rely on them.

One thing Rod failed to take into consideration was the possibility that other people may have moved into town during the several months his crew had been forced to remain inside because of snow. In fact there were two different groups that were new to town and both were refugees from Mayfield, but only one of them was peaceful.




Spike and what was left of his gang had been on a wild ride during the past year. They’d taken over an improvised shelter in Albany, New York from a bunch of idiot townspeople led by some politician. The politician hadn’t seen the need to arm the group, being one of those liberal types spike had always found so useful back before the sickness. When the gang discovered the shelter they’d simply stormed in, guns blazing, and overwhelmed the townies, eventually killing all but the youngest women.

It didn’t take long for even those prisoners to die, although many wished they’d been killed outright before it was over. One of the last to die was a girl of only fifteen or so who had hung on despite being raped repeatedly by most of the gang. Pleading with them to kill her, she offered them information in exchange for her death. That information had to do with a town of thousands out in Idaho where the gang could have everything they wanted.

Spike had promised to kill her quick if she’d contact the people and arrange for them to be picked up, which she gladly did. Once arrangements were made she asked them to shoot her but he said that was a waste of ammunition and instead ordered her raped again, only this time they weren’t to stop until she was dead. It took over twelve more hours for her to die, screaming and cursing them the entire time.

Arriving at the town they found things to be a lot like the world before the plague. There were security people around keeping the peace, and the water and lights were working. Still, it didn’t take long for his people to get bored and start causing problems, but unlike before the sickness they weren’t arrested or jailed. Instead, they were approached with an offer of becoming security personnel themselves, an offer that baffled Spike.

It was explained to him that most of the old security force had abandoned their posts and other people were needed…stronger people. He was also told that he’d be given free reign to allow his men to ‘enjoy’ themselves on occasion, as long as they restricted their activities to people outside the town itself. He’d agreed immediately, still barely able to understand how they’d gone from being criminals to being in positions of authority so quickly.

For the next few months life had been good. The town sent them out to fight and enslave smaller groups in the area, and even gave them some of the outsiders for their enjoyment. That mayor, Sylvia, had been sure to let them know it was her decision to let them enjoy themselves, and they were loyal to her because of it.

Then, while out looking for more outsiders to exploit, they’d been shaken by the attack on the town. Spike didn’t know much about nuclear weapons, but he figured they didn’t need to stay too close by, especially as the town looked to be pretty much destroyed. Making a snap decision, he called his gang together and told them to get their stuff and move out, they were going to put some miles between themselves and the remains of the town.

To their surprise their vehicles wouldn’t start. They didn’t know why but the fact that every truck they had was now dead scared them. Motivated now by fear of the unknown, the gang had headed out, moving along the highway toward the southeast. It took the better part of two weeks to make it to Twin Falls but upon their arrival they’d immediately seen signs of other people around. They took that as a sign that their fortunes had changed for the better, and settled down in a deserted motel to plan their next course of action.




“I don’t see why we need to move anyway.” Eddie griped. He had developed the reputation of being a complainer, a reputation that was well deserved in Mike’s opinion.

“For one thing that store is too big to defend.” Mike began for the third time that day. He wished again that Rod had stuck him with someone else; Eddie was more of a pain than he was worth. “And it’s a prime target if anyone comes along, heck that big sign out front can be seen for miles.”

Rod had mentioned to the group that they should knock down the big “Sam’s Club” sign as it was an open invitation to anyone who saw it. As he’d said, no one would know everything inside was mostly used up and they would be drawn to the store with dreams of everything they might find there. Following his reasoning the others had agreed, but that was as far as it had gone. They’d tried to knock it down, but no one knew how to use a cutting torch, much less where to find one. And without a torch there was no way to move it as it was mounted atop huge steel pipes. In the end they’d agreed that the store just wasn’t suited to their needs anymore and planned to look for someplace new as soon as they could.

“Maybe, but moving is so much work!” the boy complained again, making Mike sigh.

“Look, there’s gonna be a LOT of work in the world from now on. If we have to do everything ourselves then we’re all gonna have to pitch in and help.”

As the two continued to argue they almost didn’t even see the young man standing outside an old rundown motel. As they passed him Mike did a double take and hit the brakes.

“What’d ya do that for!?” Eddie chimed in.

“Look! Did you see that guy? He ducked around the corner when he saw us!”

“What guy…what are you talking about?” the younger boy whined.

“Wait, I’ll show you.” With that, Mike slung the vehicle around and headed into the parking lot of the motel. Once past the office the two of them saw they’d entered an effective ambush. From nearly every window on the bottom floor and several on the top a rifle barrel protruded. And there was no place to go, the driveway they’d entered being the only way in or out. Realizing they were trapped, Mike stopped the truck and got out, raising his hands above his head. A minute later Eddie joined him and mike could see the boy was close to tears.

As the two stood there unsure what was about to happen a door opened in front of them and the same guy Mike had seen before stepped out, a rifle in his hands, pointing at them.

“Who are you and wha’da’ya want?” the guy shouted.

“I’m Mike and this is Eddie…we uh, we didn’t know anyone else was in town. We were surprised, that’s all. If ya want we can leave.”

“Not just yet. Are you armed?”

“No, our rifles are in the truck.” Mike replied, mentally kicking himself for getting into such a predicament.

“Good, leave them there. One at a time I want you to walk over here. Go slow and don’t make any sudden moves, we don’t really wanna kill anyone.”

Mike nodded his head and started walking slowly towards the man. When he was a few feet away the man told him to stop and turn around, then shouted to Eddie not to move or he’d be shot. Mike could see the boy now and thought he looked like he was about to run. He hoped these people wouldn’t take that as a bad sign and kill both of them, but there was nothing he could do about it right then.

The man had come up behind him and patted him down. When he was finished he called for Eddie to come forward as well, still pointing the rifle at both of them. Eddie hesitated for a moment and looked even more like he was about to run away, but finally gave in and walked forward as well.

After patting him down also the man told them they could turn around and put their hands down. After a minute Mike began to relax, apparently these folks weren’t going to kill them just yet.

“My name’s Dave, we just got here about a month ago. We’re from a town about a hundred miles west of here.”

“You mean Mayfield, right?” Mike spoke up.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“We’re from there too, all of us.”

“How many of you are there?” Dave asked, looking more relaxed as he learned that these guys were the same as his people.

“About a dozen…how many in your group?”

“Close to twenty. Where are you all staying?”

Mike really didn’t want to give away such important information, especially to such a large group, but he didn’t know what else to do. “In the Sam’s club. We’ve been there about five months.”

“Wow! The Sam’s club! I bet you have everything you need there, huh? We don’t have much at all here, in fact we were wondering how long the food would last.”

“Well, if ya’ll don’t want to cause trouble, we’d be happy to take you in. most of the food’s gone but we have electricity and water and we’ll share everything we do have.” Mike saw this as an opportunity to increase the group’s numbers. Rod had said several times that they needed more people, and here were a bunch more! He only hoped these people weren’t dangerous, they sure did have a lot of guns. But then again, he thought, so did his people.

“Oh, we don’t want no trouble, believe me. We just want to keep on getting by. How do we know you won’t try to take us prisoner once we get there though? You know, force us to work for ya?”

Mike thought about that for a minute. “I guess you don’t. All I can do is tell you that we wouldn’t do that. After that you’ll just have to trust us.”

Dave thought about it for a moment, then decided he’d have to take the chance. “Tell ya what. I’ll go with ya and meet the rest of your people. If everything works out I’ll come back and get the others. If not, you’ll only have me and these guys will fight ya if you come back here.”

“Sounds fair enough, Rod will probably want to talk to you anyway.”

“Who’s Rod?”

“He’s sort of our leader, I guess.” Mike replied.

Dave went inside the room and talked with several others for a moment, and then a young woman came outside. “We want one of you to stay here, in exchange for Dave.”

Surprised, Mike knew he should have thought of that himself. Answering quickly he agreed, thinking to himself that, even if they lost Eddie, it wouldn’t be that bad, at least the whining would stop. Grinning to himself as he thought this, he and Dave got in the truck. Dave noticed the grin and wondered about it, but didn’t say anything, resolving to simply remain alert for possible trouble. Once back in the truck, Mike reached for the GMRS radio, explaining to Dave that he was supposed to call in if anything unusual happened. Holding the button in he tried several times to make contact with someone, to no avail.

Throwing the handheld back on the seat in frustration, he said “well, I guess they’ll just have to be surprised.” And pulled out of the lot.

They arrived at the store just in time for lunch and consequently the others had returned as well. When Mike informed the others of what he’d found they were excited, and Rod and Vicki took Dave off to have a talk with him in private. Half an hour later they returned and ate lunch, informing the rest that his group would be joining them that afternoon. The two groups merged easily, with several from one group finding they knew people from the other. By the end of the day they’d settled down and gotten comfortable with each other.





Spike’s people had decided they needed information first and foremost, and to that end he’d sent them out in two man patrols to try and learn where other people might be holed up. They continued to see signs of people everywhere and by the end of the second day one of the patrols announced they’d found them.

“We heard what sounded like an engine running and followed the noise.” One of the men reported. “You wouldn’t believe where they’re at, the Sam’s club! They got the generator running non-stop, and have a whole tanker of fuel next to it.”

“How sure are you that it’s them?” Spike wanted to know. He figured the guys wanted to get into the store and see what was inside, and he didn’t want that to happen until they made sure no one was going to bother them.

“Positive. They’s got cars pulled in front of the doors an’ I saw one of them go out the back to a fire truck they’s got and start it up.” The man said.

Spike thought about that a moment, then said “ok, first I want you to go back and watch them for at least a day. Be careful and don’t let them see ya, and if everything’s as you say it is, we’ll hit them the day after.”

The gang was eager to get in the store and looked forward to some more ‘fun’ with whoever was inside, but they saw the wisdom in Spike’s decision. Getting themselves killed by attacking a superior force wouldn’t get them what they wanted. Still though, every one of the gang was looking forward to the coming festivities.

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 39

By the time they landed back at the complex, Jack was convinced. It had occurred to him during their time in New Mexico that the purpose God had for him wasn’t to rebuild nations, but instead to simply carry out his first calling, that of helping others. He remembered a verse from the bible, paraphrased to better fit himself, that basically said God was the builder and people were the objects that were built. Whatever God’s purpose was in building us, we needed to embrace it, whether it was a glorious job or a simple one, and do it to the best of our ability. Instead of being led by our pride into trying to perform the glorious position, we needed to submit ourselves to our God and perform the job He had given to us.

In his case the glorious job was the vain attempt to rebuild civilization, and it had led to disaster. The simple job was to just walk in love towards others, helping them when and as best he could, and when he did that it led to peace and contentment in his heart, not to mention good will from those he helped.

As these thoughts were coalescing in his mind he busied himself with putting the plane away. Louise and the others had already gone below and he was alone with his ruminations. When he was done he looked around himself and, seeing that no one else was there, decided this was as good a place as any and dropped down on his knees to pray.

As he sought the face of God, he again repented. This time he named the sin, that of going against the will of God and pursuing the glorious position instead of submitting and fulfilling the role the Lord had for him. While he was praying he felt the Holy Spirit come upon him, and a feeling of intense peace filled him. Suddenly he knew he was right, and he resolved at that moment to strive to do his own job and leave the rest in God’s hands.

Standing up again, he wiped the tears away and made his way into the heart of the complex. Everyone had been wondering which direction they as a group would take now, and he had a good idea of where they were meant to go. Walking into the dining room several people stared openly at him, and Pam looked up, startled by his appearance.

“Jack? Are you ok?”

Still mildly surprised at the power of the experience, he shook his head to clear it. “You bet I am hon, I’ve just been praying. I now understand how God wants to use us, and it has nothing to do with rebuilding society. He wants what He’s always wanted, for us to help each other and walk in love.”

Pam realized that what she saw in her husband was real peace, as if all cares and troubles had been removed from him. Suddenly she knew he was right, that was the job God had for them. Going to her husband she put her arms around him, whispering in his ear her conviction that he was right.

When they parted, Jack, with supreme confidence now, looked at Mike and said “get together a list of every group we’re in contact with. I want to know who needs help and how we can provide for them. I don’t care how far away they are or how hard it may be to help, whatever we’re able to do we will, and nothing else will stand in our way.”

Smiling, Mike stood up, feeling in his heart that they were now on the right track. “I’ll have it for you in a few minutes Jack, I know there’s a whole lot who’ve asked already and I’m sure we can start to make a difference right away.” With that he left the room to get everything together, feeling at peace with their situation for the first time in a while.

As he walked out, Heather, one of the kids who’d come to them from the town spoke up “you know, there were a lot of people that bugged out of town when things got bad. I bet there’s lots of them living pretty close by who could use help also.”

Looking at the young lady in surprise, Jack said “I hadn’t thought about that, we need to offer to help them most of all, since they’re here primarily because of me. But how would we go about finding them? They don’t likely have radios anymore.”

“We could start patrolling around the places people would likely gather, the towns and cities nearby.” She offered.

“That sounds like a plan, why don’t you take charge of it and start getting people organized.”

Flattered that he had taken her seriously and even thought enough of her to put her in charge, the girl smiled and left to do as he’d said.




The group Dave brought with him to the Sam’s club was mostly made up of people he’d known since first coming to Idaho, and a few he’d known even before then. Even some of the kids with Rod he’d at least met while in Town, even if he didn’t know them well. A couple however, had joined them recently, all having known someone already there except one, Joseph.

Joe had come asking to join them just a couple of weeks before. He was kind of strange, a loner, and Dave had been watching him carefully. The boy kept to himself mostly, and he hadn’t made any friends in the group, but that wasn’t enough for Dave to ask him to leave. Still, every once in a while he did something that seemed to be just a bit more cruel or violent than necessary, and Dave suspected that, before long, he’d go too far and they’d have to get rid of him.

In the security office Barbara was staring sleepily at the monitors. The others had told her she didn’t have to pull sentry duty because she was so close to delivering her baby, but she’d insisted saying it was the only useful thing she was able to do, and it would relieve others for more strenuous work. As she sat there almost hypnotized by the unchanging images on the screens she failed to notice the figure making its way from shadow to shadow, moving across the parking lot and away from the store.

The past few weeks had been hard on Joe. Since joining this group of simpletons he’d been forced to restrain himself more than he liked. Several times he’d had the opportunity to kill Dave and take over the group, not to mention have his way with the women, but he’d been sent there to watch them instead. He was just afraid enough of what Spike would do to him if he messed up not to go against his orders.


But now that the group had joined others and everyone was holed up inside what he figured was a palace filled with everything they’d ever need, he decided it was time to make his way back to the gang and report in.

Sneaking out had been simplicity itself. He pretended to go to sleep with the others and waited until he was sure they were all sound asleep. He never saw any guards posted and therefore decided they didn’t have any, a mistake that was going to cost him in the end. Getting up quickly he silently made his way to the back door, quickly going through it and propping it open so the others would have easy access.

Once outside he moved from one concealed spot to another, not so much because he thought anyone was watching as out of habit. After clearing the lot he move more quickly, headed towards the motel where Spike had told him they’d be staying.

An hour later he arrived, staying out of sight so he wouldn’t be shot by mistake and calling out to the sentry. The man on guard duty brought up his rifle when he heard the shout, ordering the person into the light. When he saw it was Joe he brought him to the lobby and sent for their leader, who’d told all of them to wake him whenever Joe returned.

When Spike appeared Joe quickly gave him a rundown on the situation.

“Man! They’s got everything we ever wanted in there! Not to mention the women. There’s at least fifteen of ‘em and they’s all pretty young, but there’s this one old bag as well who seems to be in charge. They’s got lights and food and everything we need, and no one’s on guard either.”

“How many are there and how are they armed?” Spike demanded. If things were as his patrol had reported, this should be easy.

“There’s thirty at least, and they all got’s guns, but mostly they’re huntin’ rifles and hardly any of ‘em knows how to use ‘em.”

“Good enough. So, how do we get in?”

“I left the back door open. We can all get inside before they’s know we’re there. After that we can kill the bag and maybe Dave, the leader of the ones I was with, and the rest will do anything we tell ‘em.”

Joe knew he was exaggerating about how easy it would be, but he had been going nuts being around so many women and not being able to do anything. He really was looking forward to going back there and taking any of them he wanted, and therefore glossed over any problems they were likely to find.

Spike added Joe’s report to that of the patrol he’d sent out during the day and decided this would be easy. Gathering his gang together he went over the plan.

“We’ll wait ‘til just before the sun comes up, that way we’ll be able to see what we’re doing. Joe’s left the back door open so we’ll go in real quick and follow him to where they all sleep. Don’t kill any of the women unless ya have ta, or ya might not get any if there’s not enough to go around.”

With that taken care of he had the group move out and an hour later they were all set up across the parking lot from the back door.




As the sky lightened just before dawn the gang made its move. There was just enough light for them to be able to see where they were going and they crossed the lot quickly, stopping near the door to regroup for the assault. Inside, in the security office, Barbara saw the movement this time and quickly ran into the main room to warn the others.

Everyone was slow to get up at first, until her words at last penetrated their sleep sodden brains. Then they were quick to grab their rifles and get behind cover, just as the back door burst open and the gang members filed in.

Vicki was closest to them and was secretly hoping they could resolve this without having to kill anyone. Standing up she raised her rifle and pointed it in the general direction of the closest gang members, calling out “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Drop your guns, we have you surrounded!” they didn’t really, but she hoped these guys didn’t know that.

Spike was knocked off guard by the sudden appearance of the woman holding a gun, having expected everyone to still be asleep, but it didn’t take him long to recover. Just as she made her demand he brought up his AK-47 and sprayed half its magazine at her. She dropped immediately and everything was quiet for a moment, then several people opened up at once, both among his own people and the group in the store. Thirty seconds later it was all over; Rod stood up from behind a section of shelving and looked over the scene. All of the gang members were dead, as was Vicki. He could tell that even at this distance as half of her chest was blown away and the pool of blood under her was several feet across. Looking around at the rest of the area he saw that two others of his people were down, as were three of Daves’ group. Though his ears were still ringing from the noise and it was hard to see due to the early hour, he began to organize the group to begin tending to the wounded.

None of his people were seriously hurt, most of the wounds needing stitches, but nothing major, but one of the women from Dave’s group had been hit in the stomach and was unconscious. He wasn’t too sure they could help her, and again wished they had someone who had medical training, but they made her as comfortable as possible, after getting the bleeding stopped.

Finally, after taking care of his wounded Rod made his way over to the gang members. Looking closely at each of them he recognized Joe and called Dave over to confirm his identity.

“That son of a b*tch! I knew he wasn’t any good, but I never suspected he was spying on us. Rod, man, I’m sorry. If I’d had any idea I’d never have let him in here with us. I guess I should have told you that I was suspicious anyway.” Dave raged, hanging his head in shame for bringing this trouble on these people, especially after they’d been so good to his group.

“Don’t worry about it man, you couldn’t have known. Go see to your injured people, I’m going to take a couple of people and scout out the parking lot and see if they left anyone outside.”

Calling to Mike to grab someone else and follow him, he went to the back door and carefully opened it. Seeing no one there, the three moved out, looking for any sign of movement. After half an hour they were sure they’d gotten all of them and went back inside. When they arrived Dave walked over and told him they didn’t think the girl with the belly wound would live as no one there knew anything about doctoring. Hoping for a miracle, Rod went to see if there was anything he could do to help.

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 40

The girl hung on for two days, but finally succumbed to her wounds. Her death saddened everyone, but also further strengthened their resolve to never allow something like the attack to happen to them again. The entire group had been traumatized, but as they recovered they looked as one to Rod to lead them.

For his part, Rod didn’t really want to be the leader, but the others hadn’t asked. All he really wanted was to find some place safe to live and finally be able to stop worrying about the safety of everyone else. But he also knew they needed a leader, and finally came to grips with the fact that he was the one chosen to fill that role. His first official act in this capacity was to post armed sentries on the roof to augment the security cameras. The others weren’t too happy having to pull this duty, but they understood the need and took the job seriously.

he also decided that they needed to keep a watch on the rest of town, in case there was anyone else out there who wanted to cause them problems. Soon four man patrols were covering all parts of the town on varying schedules, both in vehicles and on foot. These patrols not only watched for signs of other groups around, they also kept a look out for items the group could use. Since many things produced before the collapse were starting deteriorate and rot, and a lot of what was being lost would be useful to them in setting up a workable community, they decided to salvage as much as they could.

When he was satisfied that no one could easily sneak up on them again, Rod got with Dave and Mike and they began looking for some place to move the group to.

“First and foremost, we need someplace where we can grow food.” Rod said. “It has to be defensible and accommodate all of us, but mostly it has to have plenty of open land so we can grow crops.”

“Well, I guess we could take one of the trucks and drive out to the country around town. We may even luck out and find a farm all set up that we can use.” Mike suggested. “we might have to build our own defenses though, I doubt many farms anywhere are set up to fight off hordes of invaders.”

“What about housing? There are twenty six of us left, way too many to share one farmhouse.” Dave spoke up.

“What about mobile homes?” Rod asked, “we could drag some to wherever we settle and set them up. My best friend’s dad did that before the sickness and we went with him sometimes. I’ve seen how they set up and it’s not hard to do. If we could find some, all of us could have a place to live.”

Mike smiled, “that’s a good idea. We lived in a mobile home when I was a kid. But if we got into another fire fight they wouldn’t be very safe, the walls are really thin.”

“Maybe we could shield them with something. Steel plate or dirt or whatever. Just something to stop bullets from hitting them.”

“Well, sounds like we have a plan, sort of. Why don’t we get going and see what’s out there and then we can decide what we need to do?” Dave said.

“Agreed. You and Mike get one of the trucks and load it up with some supplies. I’ll get a radio and meet you at the front entrance in ten minutes.”

As the others went to carry out Rod’s directive, he went to find Billy. Rod had put the boy in nominal charge of security and he wanted him to know they were leaving and when to expect them back.

“You’re in charge while we’re gone, Billy. Other than the patrols, keep everyone close by until we return, just in case. We’ll be taking a radio, so make sure someone’s monitoring it here in case we need help.”

The boy told him he understood and asked him to be careful, then went off to let everyone else know that they needed to stay close the rest of the day.

With that taken care of, Rod headed for the front door.




Heather had been thrilled to be put in charge of searching for survivors locally. As soon as she’d left Jack she went to the hangar to talk to some of her friends and ask them for help. Her idea was to use the helicopters to search locally, and the fixed wing planes to check out the towns and cities farther out. She figured they could take a convoy of vehicles, with air cover of course, and go out to whoever they found and drop off supplies if they were needed. If no help was needed or wanted, at least they could begin to open relations with their neighbors.

Her friends were all from Mayfield and therefore would hopefully know many of the people they might encounter. She hoped this recognition would help them make friends and not enemies of whoever was out there. After discussing her ideas with her friends, they came up with what they figured was a workable plan. This she presented to Jack, who asked a few questions before telling her to go ahead with it. Calling together the pilots, she explained what she intended them to do, stressing that they weren’t to over exert themselves. This was going to be a long process so they shouldn’t try and get it done all at once. Several had questions about the details, but after a while they all understood and agreed to get started the next day.

While this had been going on, Jack and Mike had been discussing the larger assistance operation. They’d agreed that they needed a real airport for any sort of operation that involved large cargo planes and, since the Boise airfield had been nuked, they decided to set up operations at the Air force Base. Besides, as Jack pointed out, there were still a bunch of usable planes and lots of fuel there, not to mention storage facilities and the hospital. Heck, there was even housing for the people who would be doing the bulk of the work for this project, not to mention for anyone who really needed to move from their present location.

The important thing however, was not to encourage anyone to move there. The last thing they wanted was what had happened at Mayfield. The two men agreed that, while they’d freely offer to accommodate anyone who wanted to move, they’d make an effort to help them set up where they were first.

The expedition to Mountain Home AFB found the place much as they’d last seen it. There were still several cargo aircraft sitting on the ramp, not to mention fighters and bombers galore. The hospital had been cleaned up by the medical people from town, but since there had been no emergencies, the people themselves hadn’t been there. That was unfortunate because the only ones left with medical knowledge were Louise and her apprentice nurses, and they didn’t have the knowledge or skills to handle major trauma. What they really needed was a doctor or Veterinarian, if they could just find one still alive somewhere.

The expedition set up shop in one of the hangars near a couple C-17’s, and got to work securing the area and setting it up for relief operations. While they did that Jack and Robin walked out to take a look at the planes. Robin was one of the few people Jack had that was experienced with the C-17. she had been one of the instructors before the town took over flight operations. Jack took a moment to consider the girl. At first she’d been so timid he’d wondered if she’d ever come out of her shell, but since the death of her husband she’d seemed to be on a crusade and had excelled past just about everyone, especially when it involved flying or shooting. For this trip she’d left her children with Pam back at the complex. For her part, Pam wasn’t going anywhere as she’d given birth to her and Jacks’ third child, a healthy baby boy, a month earlier. This worked out well for Robin because she was finally getting back into the action after being held back for so long by motherhood.

As they looked over the aircraft, the first thing they noticed was the tires were mostly flat from sitting for so long. Upon further inspection however, Jack realized they were in fact dry rotted, and would have to be replaced before the planes could be flown. Looking over the rest of the craft he saw they’d need to take care of some other maintenance problems as well, and realized they wouldn’t be flying it anytime soon. he knew this was a problem they would run into more and more as civilization aged without the support that used to be available to keep everything maintained, and resigned himself to the repair job ahead. In the back of his mind he also realized that things would soon get to the point that repair would also be impossible, and that, if they wanted to continue to do things like fly, they’d have to build new systems from the ground up.

Calling the others together he explained what they were faced with and what would be necessary to accomplish their goal. The rest of the team was disappointed, but determined to forge ahead as best they could.




High above the town of Twin Falls, the little Viper circled slowly. Ellen had only soloed a few weeks before, and still got a thrill out of flying the nimble craft. She’d been over the town, part of the area assigned to her by Heather, for less than half an hour when she’d seen what she thought was movement on the roof of a large warehouse of some sort. Coming around again, lower and slower this time, she saw that the warehouse was in fact a Sam’s club, and there definitely were people on the roof moving around. What’s more, they had spotted her as well and were milling around, obviously surprised and unsure what to do.

The question of how to open communications with anyone they found had been debated before the first flights had taken off. What they’d come up with varied by aircraft, but for the Viper it entailed mounting a small container under the fuselage and working out how to release it when the pilot wanted to. The ‘bomb’, as they jokingly called it, was simply a metal canister packed with a small parachute and loaded with a few luxury items including instant coffee and sugar which would hopefully reassure their good intentions to those it was dropped to. Included was a note that let the recipient know that help was offered, and no strings were attached. It said that all they had to do was create a large X out of whatever was available, visible from the air, and the plane would leave and not return. Creating a triangle instead would bring a visit by ground units within 24 hours, if contact was desired and or help was needed.

Lining up for a second pass, Ellen slowed to just above stall speed and came in low over the roof. She’d made sure no one had been pointing guns at her the first time, aware that it wouldn’t take much to knock the light jet out of the sky. Just as she crossed over the edge of the roof she released her package, knowing it’s momentum would carry it a ways before the parachutes slowed it and softened it’s landing. After it was released she increased throttle and banked slightly, watching the reaction of those below. As soon as they saw the object detach itself from the belly of the plane they’d scattered, obviously thinking she was attacking them. But as the package landed and failed to explode, one individual cautiously made his way over to it. Opening the case he studied the contents a moment before waving to her, then made his way to the roof entrance and disappeared inside.

Ellen continued to circle the area for half an hour, but there was no more activity. Finally she realized an answer wouldn’t be forthcoming soon and, as her fuel was getting low, turned the plane towards home and left. After she landed she reported to Heather what had happened. Heather decided they should probably give this group time to decide and asked Ellen to return the following day to see if there was an answer. That evening she called Jack on the radio and reported the contact in Twin Falls. She also advised him of their plan to return the next day and voiced her hope that the people there would be receptive to them. Jack told her she’d done well, then signed off for the night.




Driving out of town had sounded easy enough, but after years of neglect the streets were littered with debris. After several hours of stopping to clear the way however, Rod and his crew finally managed to get away from the built up area.

Once outside town they began their search in earnest, following a gas station map and looking for a suitable place for the group to live. The going was slow as they really couldn’t see much without driving up and checking out each placer individually, and by the end of the day were no better off than they had been before. They’d driven up to three places that looked to be real farms, but two of them were only equipment storage barns, with no signs of the residential area associated with them. The third had been an actual house, but it seemed to have been abandoned long before the sickness and was practically falling down.

Disappointed, they returned to the store, realizing that simply finding a place was going to be a bigger job than they’d first thought.

As they approached within a mile Mike called on the radio to let the others know they were coming in, and not to shoot. Proceeding into the large parking lot, Rod was surprised to see several people out front waiting on them, Billy among them. He wondered if everything was all right, but didn’t sense anything amiss, so he pulled to a stop near the doors and got out of the truck. As soon as he got out Billy walked up to him excitedly and began telling him about the events of the day.

“Man, you should’ve seen it! A fighter plane flew over and dropped a note saying they want to help us!”

trying to calm the boy down, Rod asked him to start over from the beginning and go slow. Finally the boy got control of himself and started again.

“Around noon the sentries on the roof saw a fighter jet circling over town. Before they could decide what to do they said it came in low, obviously seeing them. As they stood there wondering whether to try and shoot it down it came back around and dropped this bomb like thing, but instead of exploding it had a parachute and landed on the roof. Eddie was one of the ones up there and after waiting to see if it would blow up, he went over and picked it up.”

Rod shook his head at this. That Eddie never seemed to learn. It was a wonder the boy was still alive after some of the dumb things he did. Setting the thought aside, he turned his attention back to Billy.

“…and there was coffee and sugar in the can, along with this note.” The boy finished, handing the note to Rod. The coffee and sugar wasn’t needed, they still had more than they could possibly ever use, but it was a nice gesture, one not lost on him. Looking the note over he felt some anxiety over trusting these people who flew in dropping things on them. But after thinking about it for a bit he realized they could have simply blasted everyone there to bits if they’d wanted, and he and the whole group could never hope to even put up a decent defense. In the end he didn’t see any other thing to do but reply to the note and hope these people were as friendly as they claimed.

Reaching a decision he instructed Billy to display a large triangle on the roof, and to be ready to receive visitors within a day or so.

That night, as he lay with Jill, he kept going over in his mind anything they could do to get the upper hand on these airplane people. His intentions were peaceful, of course, but he wanted to ensure that theirs were as well. But no matter how he looked at it, all he could see were his people getting slaughtered if they put up any sort of defense at all. It was a very long time before he got to sleep that night.

[Christian for Israel]

Chapter 41

The small convoy left the complex and headed for Twin Falls shortly after daybreak. It consisted of two .50 cal armed Hummers with a 6X6 five ton truck in the middle, loaded with a general assortment of supplies. Overhead the Kestrel buzzed back and forth, providing air cover and scouting the route ahead. Among the supplies in the truck was a radio set-up, including an antenna and tower, that they intended to leave with the group in the event that they were willing to establish relations with them.

In the lead Hummer, Mel and Susan chatted. Susan had recently been graduated from nursing training by Louise, who thought some field experience would be just what the girl needed. Behind them, standing in the open hatch with his hands on the heavy machine gun was Donald. No one had ventured so far from the complex in ground vehicles yet and they weren’t taking any chances. They were all aware that it would be easy for an aggressor to overwhelm them and kill everyone if they let their guard down.

The Kestrel over flew the convoy as it made it’s way down the road and Donald looked up grinning and threw a mock salute to Heather as it passed. As the leader of the expedition, Heather had decided to take the position of pilot of the craft, figuring that would give her the best overall view in case anything happened. Wagging the craft’s tail in return to Don, she increased her altitude and accelerated ahead of the group to ensure that the way ahead was open. After a minute she pressed the button on her radio and said “you’re clear for quite a ways Mel, open her up if you want but keep your speed under forty.”

Mel acknowledged and sped up a little, wanting to get there quickly but aware of the dangers as well.

The day before, Ellen had made another run to the town in the Viper. On the roof of the store she had seen a large triangle apparently made out of strips of cloth, held down by bricks. As she passed over top of the building she wagged her wings in acknowledgment to the people standing and waving to her, then headed back to the complex to report a “go” for contact. She intended to be over the area again today when the convoy got close, just in case any surprises awaited them.

Aside from having to stop and make their way carefully around spots where the road had washed out, the trip was uneventful, and they arrived on the outskirts of the city around noon. Among the buildings they slowed to a crawl, following Heather’s directions to the area in question.




As soon as the small jet had appeared the day before, Rod had directed his people to take up defensive positions around the building and parking lot, just in case. But as the day wore on and no one appeared, the group began to get restless. Finally, with the approach of night he’d relented and allowed most of them to return to the store, leaving only a few to keep watch. He was well aware that an attack could come at night as well as during the daytime, but he also knew his people had to rest sometime.

Bright and early the next morning he had them back in position, and just before noon one of the roof sentries signaled him on the radio that the jet had been spotted again. Rod was wondering why it was back, had there been a problem? But there was no way to communicate with the pilot so he simply resigned himself to waiting. After another forty-five minutes he heard the sounds of truck engines, accompanied by a loud screaming that was similar to the jet, but different as well. Several minutes later the first of three vehicles came into view, and he signaled his shooters to be ready, but not to fire until he did.

As the vehicles made their way the last several hundred yards and entered the parking lot, everyone tensed. Two were army Hummers armed with machine guns, but the third vehicle looked to be a truck filled with supplies. The presence of the truck went a long way toward helping Rod to relax, as it showed at least a sign that these people were legitimate in their intentions.

The lead vehicle had just stopped in front of the store when the screaming sound suddenly got louder and Rod looked up and saw a strange craft appear from over the trees at the far side of the lot. It appeared to be some kind of helicopter, but without skin. It was just a framework and blades overhead, with a single occupant. As he watched it continued to fly over the two groups, then began to circle slowly, about a hundred feet above the ground. Rod was so busy watching the strange craft that he didn’t even notice the woman who’d stepped from the lead Hummer until she was half way to his position. When he did he stood quickly, noting that she didn’t even have a pistol on, and her hands were out from her body.

Stepping forward, he held out his hand and the woman took it, shaking it in a friendly manner. By this time several other people had departed the trucks, and Rod made his decision, signaling the others to put down their arms and come out as well. Seeing that the meeting had taken place without breaking down into fighting, and knowing Ellen was orbiting overhead just in case, Heather circled around and landed in the lot, near the other vehicles. As soon as the blades had slowed she unstrapped and made her way over to Mel and who she assumed was the leader of this group of people.




As soon as she’d entered the parking lot, Mel could see that abandoned cars were being used as hasty barricades. She could also see movement behind them, but there weren’t any overt acts of aggression so she continued cautiously on. Stopping at the front of the store and approaching on foot she’d seen the young man stand, staring at heather as she landed the Kestrel a few yards away. Finally he’d turned towards her and stuck out his hand. As she shook it she thought about how odd it was, this person was hardly more than a boy, but his face was aged, as if he’d seen more than his share of hard times. But then again, she mused to herself, we’re all in that boat.

Finally the noise from the helicopter died away enough to allow them to speak without shouting and Mel and Rod introduced themselves. When She noticed the rest of Rod’s group coming out from behind their barricades she signaled her people still manning the machine guns to stand down as well.

Heather walked up and Mel introduced her as the leader of the expedition. Rod was impressed, the girl didn’t look to be as old as he, yet this obviously older woman said she was their leader? Apparently these people were more concerned with ability than age, a sign that he’d be accepted by them as the leader of his group.

“Nice to meet you,” he addressed the girl, “why don’t we go inside where it’s warm, and talk?”




After two days, Jack’s crew finally got the first of the transport aircraft operational. The effort had been more than he’d realized would be necessary. Besides finding and replacing the landing gear tires they’d had to service the engines and replace various system components that had gone bad with age and lack of use. The previous evening he and Robin had taken it up for a short test flight, and everything had gone well. Upon landing he announced that the operation would go ahead as planned, bringing grins to the faces of his tired work crew.

Anxious to get on with the effort he walked over to the operations board where Mike had listed the different groups who were asking for help, along with their location and other pertinent data. The list was done in order of need, and he could see from the information before him that the first group was barely hanging on. According to the board there were several dozen people who had gathered in Baltimore, Maryland who were almost out of food. Mike had offered them enough to get them by until the fall, but informed them that growing their own would be necessary if they were to continue to survive. He had offered to bring in seed and fertilizer as well as the food, as long as the group were willing to do the work to provide for themselves. Apparently, they had heartily agreed.

Making his decision, Jack went to the newly set up communication center and told the operator to contact the group and let them know a flight would be on the way within the hour. Then he went to find Mike and get started loading the plane with everything they thought they’d need.