Paradise

Prologue

Handing the house keys to the realtor, Rick looked at Lisa and thought back over their lives in this house, and wondered what their new life would bring. “Here you go, we’re off”. Thanks very much, and wish the new owners good luck for us” he said, and hugged Lisa.

It had been a lifetime of work for both of them, in College, in pilot training (for Rick) and the Air Force (for both), in Medical School and their careers in health care (as an Emergency Physician for Rick, and a Pharmacist for Lisa – working in mostly hospital based pharmacy after a few years in retail). Even before the September 11 attacks, they had been planning on retiring and relocating outside of the pit.

Meeting in the Air Force, they met on a training flight just before Desert Storm, and married right after they both returned. Lisa turned out to be quite the latent survivalist (the only study, or training she had given to survival was in the Air Force), but when Rick explained it she took to it like a dog to peanut butter. When Rick saw her qualify with the Beretta M9 popgun and M16 for the Air Force, he asked her how often she shot – thinking she must practice quite a bit. He was very surprised when he learned that the only time she ever handled a weapon was during her Air Force qualifications, and she didn’t even know she could have her own personal pistol and rifle. He invited her to go shooting with him, and she was hooked – she consistently outscored him on the range, with pistols, rifles, or even shooting trap. Rick just chalked it up to bad habits he picked up over the years.

In short, they were the two people fate had intended for each other, except for her odd affinity to the FN-FAL rifle instead of the M1A. They compromised on that, and got four of each, although 5 of them were “California legal”. Just one more thing to fix, sometime. Lisa also developed other survivalist hobbies, growing vegetables, cooking from scratch (including grinding wheat), sewing and knitting and even home repairs.

It was Lisa, in fact, who convinced Rick to pursue medical school after he retired after 20 years. Being a 40-something in medical school was another challenge, but Lisa helped him through the it Now, they had finally taken the last big step and decided to leave “the pit” as they called it, Los Angeles. Rick had been recalled to active duty for 18 months after September 11, and as soon as he returned, Lisa was called to active duty. In the “strangeness” that is the military; a board certified emergency physician was assigned to the Pentagon planning military deployments (he’d been an operations and planning officer his last active duty assignment). Fortunately, he was able to get a part time job in a couple of hospitals in Washington DC, to keep his skills fresh. Lisa, who had retrained as an intelligence analyst in the Air Guard, was sent to the hotspots in the world, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and coldspots, like Canada. Rick couldn’t figure out why Canada and Lisa couldn’t explain it to him.

In the last few years, when they took a vacation together they’d drive around the western US, looking for a community to settle into. They looked at Northern Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and even Wyoming, Montana and western Kansas. While Rick was stationed in the Pentagon, he took advantage of the location and would take his days off to examine the east coast as well – the Piedmont area, the northeast, Pennsylvania, Maryland. Lisa was able to join him on some of these trips, and being an analyst was able to quickly research areas. The only area that appealed to either of them was around Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but they decided to stay in the west (although Lisa did buy lots of furniture).

Since they both wanted (and needed) to keep working, their criteria for a location to move to was difficult to find. The ideal location would have affordable rural or farmland, a low population density (which eliminated their first choice, Incline Village on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe), be in a politically conservative state (which immediately eliminated Massachusetts, although Lisa loved Martha’s Vineyard), have low or no state income taxes and reasonable property taxes, relatively mild climate, gun laws that weren’t a total violation of the Second Amendment (what part of “shall not be infringed” wasn’t clear?), and of course, have employment opportunities for both of them.

Some time during their serious research phase, the “Frugal Squirrel” web site was discovered, and many of the comments and fictional stories there were food for thought for both of them. Many locations they would never have thought of, and many issues were discussed that helped refine and define their selection criteria. They even considered (briefly) an old Titan-E missile silo that was for sale in Colorado, just east of Denver – but while it had a nice amount of land and really wasn’t very expensive (considering the land), they didn’t want to be that close to a major (or minor) city. They also thought about buying a big sailboat and cruising around the world but the economics of that idea didn’t work out.

Finally, they decided on the area around Sedona, Arizona. Sedona, despite being a tourist trap had some advantages for them, including being within commuting distance of both Prescott and Flagstaff, both of which had large medical centers, retail pharmacies, or urgent care centers they could probably get jobs at, if they couldn’t in Sedona.

Once they had an area selected, the hunt for property began. More trips to the area; and more planning. What exactly would they need? What about jobs? A home? What about their friends, family, and “stuff”? How to pay for all of it? Fortunately, although they had been tempted to refinance their house in southern California after Rick was recalled (and their income had been significantly reduced) they managed to get it paid off, and the increases in property values left them enough to get started on, anywhere they wanted to go.

Finally, they found suitable land. They found a 50 acre parcel, surrounded on 3 sides by national forest, and with an existing work building. Apparently, the land had been part of a farm in the past, but no buildings other than the workshop remained. They bought the land, and had a well drilled and septic system installed – after spending time camped out in a fifth-wheel trailer on the site, and getting to know the area. Another year or so, and they would be ready to build a home.

In the mean time, however, they changed their legal residence to the “homestead” as they called it (a post office box in Rimrock), changed their drivers licenses and other ID to their new address, got CCW’s, got licensed by the medical and pharmacy boards in Arizona, got their DEA paperwork in order, and buying firearms that weren’t available in California.

The one advantage of having new ID was it allowed them to buy non-California legal items – most of which were mailed to the Rimrock address. With four FAL’s and M1A’s they certainly needed a number of California illegal magazines, not to mention their AR’s, SKS’s, AK-47’s, and other weapons. They also got a private mailbox at a shop in Prescott for shipments of ammo and other freight. They’d go to the homestead once or twice a month for three or four days at a time, and usually bring various illegal items back to the PRK.

Finally, it was time to build the house. They looked at pre-fab homes, log cabin kits, and other easy choices. A log cabin kit would be nice, but it wasn’t as energy efficient as they wanted. The decision came down to finding an architect, and building the house from scratch. During one of their trips (which were becoming five and six day trips) they started interviewing architects in Sedona, Prescott and Flagstaff. Rick had been collecting ideas for houses for more than 30 years, and had two large three-ring binders full of magazine articles, spec sheets and photos. What they wanted was a double-envelope, earth-sheltered home with a full nine-foot basement with a root cellar bump-out on the northeast side of the basement, a secure room bump-out on the south side, active and passive solar heating and cooling, and an electrical power system incorporating both solar panels and backup diesel and propane generators. They found an architect they liked, who had done a few similar houses in the area, and hired him to start the plans.

Construction proceeded about normally, that is it seemed to go in fits and starts. The grading took a couple of days, including the basement – which wound up being about 15’ deep, once Rick explained to the architect and the grading contractor what he wanted for the roof – a full eighteen inch thick, reinforced concrete slab, tied to the walls of the basement, and a full french tile drain system. Rick got a few knowing looks from the workers, and a few people started calling it the shelter instead of the basement. Rick didn’t care what they called it, as long as the work got done right. The concrete foreman was upset when Rick threw his entire crew off the job one day when he noticed they weren’t tying the rebar for the roof correctly, and claimed that they didn’t understand English – when Rick started cursing them in fluent Spanish they gave each other an “oh-oh” look.

The next day there was a new foreman and crew who stayed on site all day, the roof of the basement was tied on correctly, and the concrete poured into the form and leveled out. The crew that came to get the forms a few days later pulled them quickly and left. The basement with the bump-outs also had a couple of poured interior partition walls, for a storage room and bathroom on one end, and a generator and battery room in the other end. The generator room was able to be completely sealed from the rest of the basement, and needed its own intake and exhaust, along with pipes for the diesel and propane, that was routed into the rooms from the north side of the house, facing the storage tanks. The plumber and electrician came out and started their work, and when the wiring and fuel tanks were plumbed in, electricity was available on site for the other trades.

The construction of the house actually took a bit longer than expected, and Lisa and Rick were glad they were on site during most of the construction. The builder was a little unclear on some of the features of an envelope house and by being there to explain the plans, mistakes were avoided. Some of the features specified for the house were new to the builders as well, the roll up steel shutters for all the doors and windows were one new product. The builders had seen similar doors in industrial settings, but these were completely hidden when rolled up, but provided very good security when rolled down.

They could be rolled down both electrically (from each window or a central control panel), or individually by means of a hand crank at each window. They also could be pulled up just a little bit to provide for some ventilation. Rick had seen and used this type of window covering in Germany when he was stationed there, and thought they were a great idea. Finally, the house was nearly done and the final, finishing touches were being made. Thanks to supervision by Lisa and Rick, the final punch list was minimal – but every single light switch, outlet, sink faucet, door, window, shutter, lock and appliance was tested before Rick signed the builder’s final check.

With the house completed, things were almost ready for the final move. Lisa and Rick spoke with a realtor in Los Angeles about selling their home and discovered that values were even more ridiculous than they thought – their modest home that cost them a bit under $200-thousand would bring well over $1-million on the market, enough to retire the mortgage on the land, and the construction loan. When they heard that, they couldn’t believe it.

There were still a few preparations needed for the move. Lisa wanted some new furniture so they flew to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and rented a car. Driving around the area, they visited the factories where most furniture in the US was actually made. Aside from the enjoyment of the trip, they were able to buy very nice furniture at a significant discount, even after they factored in the cost of shipping. The area around the house needed to be cleaned up a bit and some landscaping put in. Rick also wanted a larger diesel fuel tank and propane tank installed, and filled – just in case. He also wanted to get at least a small supply of wood laid in, it took a week but Rick was able to get a couple of cords of wood cut, split and stacked – using muscles he was only vaguely familiar with from his anatomy classes. He knew all about them, now. While Rick was tearing down and building up, Lisa was on the internet, ordering food from Walton Feed, equipment from Lehmans, and heirloom seeds from Geri Guidetti at the Ark Institute. Lisa also made a run to the Costco in Prescott, filling the back of their truck with staples. She came back from her trip with an odd smile on her face but wouldn’t explain why.

Thanksgiving, 2006 was spent at the homestead, with both Rick and Lisa’s families joining them. Both halves of the extended family were impressed with the house and the area. After the family left, they had a long talk, and decided that the time had come to move, full time. Rick called their Los Angeles realtor to tell him to list their house, and after exchanging faxes the house that had been their home for 14 years was on the market – they had “pulled the trigger”.

Returning to Los Angeles on the third of December, they had a call from their realtor – they had already received two offers on their house, both well over the asking price. One offer was $100-thousand over the asking price, with no conditions – no inspection clause, financing clause, or any other legitimate ways to weasel out of the deal. They even wanted a 15 day escrow! Lisa and Rick couldn’t understand it, but if someone wanted to pay close to $1.5 million for a 30 year old house that they bought for $182 thousand, it would be silly not to let them spend that kind of money. They agreed to transfer title on the twentieth of December, and Lisa started getting estimates from movers for the things they were moving, and scheduled with a couple of shelters to pick up the things they weren’t going to move. They also had to give notice at their respective jobs, which caused some grief.

Ricks medical practice group was quite upset that he was quitting, especially right before Christmas (the toughest time of the year to staff). Rick was feeling a bit guilty, and after discussing it with Lisa they decided that they’d move on the 20th, and after unpacking Rick would drive back to LA and work a shift Christmas evening, then return a week later for a final, double shift on New Years Eve and New Years Day. Rick would get some sleep in a hotel, and then head on home on January second. Because he was going to be practicing another month (and year) in California, his medical group wound up having to pay additional health, retirement and malpractice insurance benefits which they started to complain about – until Rick said “fine, I’m out of here after Christmas”. Lisa wasn’t happy they’d be apart on Christmas, but they were used to working on regular holidays, and being apart. In the mean time, they had a lot of stuff to move themselves, since the movers wouldn’t take firearms or ammunition and they had a lot of both.

Rick drove the pickup to Golden West Trailers in Acton, and after looking at several trailers and their cargo capacity, he decided on a 20-foot TPD trailer, both for its cargo hauling capacity and some of the features which he had plans for. The trailer was in the “toy hauler” configuration, and Rick was going to first use it for hauling the ammunition they had in Los Angeles, then move a few more toys. Rick ordered it with a Kohler diesel generator, two Optima deep cycle batteries, two solar panels on the roof to keep the batteries charged, and the same wheels and tires (18”) as on the pickup, and a matching spare tire mounted. Rick had ordered the fifth-wheel modified the same way, in case they ever had more than one flat, they’d be able to use the same spare. They were able to get everything installed within a day, and Rick picked the trailer up and took it home to load up. Backing up a regular trailer was a skill that was a bit different than a fifth-wheel, but he managed to get the trailer into the driveway.

The next morning, Lisa and Rick started loading boxes and crates of ammunition into the trailer. They spread the load out and lashed it down to prevent shifting, but were able to get everything loaded. They then loaded the spare weapons (in their PRK approved locked cases) on top of the ammo, and decided to head to the homestead that day.

Getting to the homestead around midnight, they moved the weapons into the “security room” – a 10x12 room set up with a vault door, with gun racks and cabinets, a reloading bench, and a workbench to work on weapons. Finally done, they fell into bed and went to sleep.

After waking the next morning, and the obligatory wake up coffee, they had breakfast and talked about the next few weeks. Lisa continued to voice objections to the work schedule Rick had worked out. Rick didn’t want to work either, but he had committed. He could tell that Lisa was upset, and asked what was going on, but aside from some vague expressions of concern, she couldn’t voice just what had her bothered. Over the years, however, he had learned to trust her intuition, and he started worrying too.

They drove back to LA to continue cleaning the house out, and talked more. Lisa was still feeling uneasy, and wanted to be in LA during the days Rick had to work. Rick talked her out of that, since he was going to be working – and she could be snug at home. She finally agreed, but made certain that Rick would have be well equipped for the trip, with his BOB and weapons. Rick was amazed; Lisa was usually not quite so adamant about keeping their BOB’s up to date in the vehicles.

Another load in the trailer and pickup, and the next morning they took their next to final trip from their Los Angeles home. They unloaded, and had a couple of days at the homestead to get settled. They were both happy that the solar panels were doing a good job at providing their electricity, their propane tank was filled, and the diesel tank was almost filled – Rick called the fuel dealer and scheduled a delivery to top the tank off. Together, they walked around the homestead and looked at what they had accomplished, and talked about things to do in the future. Rick suggested that they could put in the shooting range and paced off 600 meters, but Lisa surprised him and said that they better make it a thousand, with that strange look she had after returning from her Costco trip.

Aside from that bit of drama, there was something else bothering Rick that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Going through his preparations in his mind, he was mentally checking things off in his mind but couldn’t quite isolate the problem. Turning around at their property line, he saw the bermed 2500 gallon farm tank that held their diesel supply, for the generator and the pickup. Looking down at the pickup, he thought it looked fine – a Ford F350 4x4 crew cab, which he had a Banks “Big Hoss” upgrade with improved intake and exhaust systems, a custom chip (and Rick had the old chip wrapped in foil and in a metal can, just in case, along with replacement computers, controllers and glow plugs). A Safarigard custom shop built front end with a 12,000 lb winch, road lights, fog lights, tow hooks and a front receiver hitch, balanced by a similar step bumper with wrap-around light guards in the back, and an American Tank and toolbox auxiliary cross-bed diesel fuel tank in the bed. With 150 gallons of diesel fuel between the two tanks, the truck had an un-refueled range of close to 2200 miles, even pulling a trailer. Of course, they kept the fuel in the auxiliary tank stabilized with Pri-D, as was the fuel in the storage tank. For some reason, which kept gnawing at him – 2200 miles range for the pickup…and then it suddenly, painfully came to him – they had a lot of diesel, but virtually no gasoline, or any provisions for Lisa’s “car”, a GMC Yukon.

Rick started laughing, and when Lisa looked at him, he started laughing harder. Stamping her foot, she was getting angry that he was laughing – finally he explained what he was laughing at, and she started laughing too. “A couple of fine survivalists we are, aren’t we?” she laughed. “What are we going to do? Get another big tank for gasoline?” Rick said “No, I think we’ll get a smaller tank, say a 500 gallon farm tank, for gasoline, and replace the Yukon with something diesel powered. What would you like, sweety?”

“I don’t know, what’s diesel powered these days?” Lisa asked. Rick answered “we’ll have to look on the web, but as far as I know only pickups made by the big three, Ford like we have, GMC/Chevy, and Dodge, and the Ford Excursion, Dodge Liberty mini-SUV, and the full size Hummer. Want a Hummer?” (Hoping that she wouldn’t, since new they cost well over $140,000). “Eww, I didn’t like driving them in the Air Force, and I don’t think I’d want one now. What’s that Liberty, isn’t that pretty small?” “Yes, smaller than a Wrangler”. “Nope, I don’t want something that small – what about another pickup?” “We could do that, or get an Excursion – I guess it would be simpler to get another Ford, what about an Excursion?” Rick asked.

“Let’s go into town and see if we can find one” Lisa answered. “OK, but lets call first, I don’t know if the dealer in Sedona will have one, or Prescott so lets find out before we start driving. And, let’s clean out the Yukon, get it ready to sell”. Walking back to the house they talked about colors, extras, etc.

Once back in the house, they checked and discovered that there wasn’t a Ford dealership in Sedona proper, it was in Cottonwood. They called, and discovered that they didn’t have any Excursions on the lot, new or used so they called the Prescott dealer, Galpin and found that they had two, a 4x4 Limited in white, and a used red one. They took the Yukon into Prescott, and looked at the model, and Lisa drove it. “It’s just like the truck” she said. They decided to go get lunch at the Prescott Brewing Company right across from the courthouse (and original capital of the Arizona territory). Over a second “petrified porter” they decided to see if they could get the price down to under $39,000 out of pocket, they’d buy it.

Back at the dealership, they were intercepted immediately by the salesman who by now had the dollar signs from a very large commission flashing in his eyes. After shaking hands, Rick said “let’s go see the sales manager” and the salesman said “Oh, you can negotiate with me”. Rick answered that he’d rather deal with the boss, or we could go to Flagstaff or Phoenix and buy the car, at which point the salesman took them to the sales manager.

“Good afternoon” Rick said, shaking the manager’s hand. “We’d like to offer you $39,000 out the door for that white excursion that’s on the lot. Interested?” When buying vehicles, Rick liked to keep the salesmen off balance, and was always prepared to walk out at any time if the negotiations didn’t go the way he wanted. He always negotiated for just the vehicle, and the options he wanted, and over the years has walked away from one or two vehicles, but in one case the sales manager called him back the next day and sold him the vehicle at the price he wanted.

The sales manager said that he couldn’t let that Excursion go for that little, it was a diesel, with the DVD player in the back seat and.. at which point Rick interrupted “We don’t want the DVD player, and we don’t want to pay more than $39,000 for the vehicle – it’s been sitting on your lot for at least two months now and it’s the end of the month and year. Plus, with fuel prices the way they are, and the economy here in Prescott, you aren’t going to have a lot of customers asking for it. So, the question is, do we buy it from you, or do we drive to Flag or Phoenix and get one?” The sales manager started to sputter a little, so Rick stood up and extended his hand and said thanks, we’ll go to Phoenix. Let’s go, Lisa”. She stood up and they walked out of the office, towards their Yukon. He opened the door for Lisa, she got in and he closed the door then walked around to the drivers’ side. As he was opening the door, the sales manager came out with another person, who he introduced as the general sales manager. “Good afternoon, Sir – I understand that you want to buy an Excursion” the GM said. “Yes, but your sales manager didn’t seem too interested in my offer” Rick said. “How much was that offer?” the GM asked. “Oh, I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t be out here with the sales manager unless he told you, and you were willing to sell it for that” Rick said. Chuckling a bit after realizing he was stuck, the GM said “OK”.

Back in the office, while the paperwork was being prepared the sales manager tried to add on tax, license, dealer prep, and that scam of all scam, “document prep fee”. As soon as he started, he got up and said “Sorry, I thought we had a deal, and that the dealers word was good. Lets go, sweetie” and walked out again. The GM came running out (he’d been lurking in the next office) and asked what the problem was. Rick said “You had accepted my offer, $39,000 OUT THE DOOR. That means no added taxes, no registration, no BS fees like documentation. I thought this was a reputable dealership, I guess I was wrong. I’ll be sure to tell the other physicians at the hospital, and my patients, about my treatment here” and continued out the door, noticing that both the managers blanched when he said “…tell other physicians…”

“Please, Doctor. We made a mistake” the GM said. “Some mistake” Rick said. “All your mistakes work out in your favor, don’t they? Tell you what, I don’t really want to have to sell this Yukon, why don’t you guys buy it from me? It’s in excellent shape, only has 255,000 miles on it (it’s a ’97), and has been very, very well maintained”. “Oh, we don’t really take trade-ins”, the GM said. “Hold it” Rick said. “I wasn’t asking about a trade in, I said a straight across sale. $4500 cash should do it, and you can sell it for around $6k”. “Please come into my office, Doctor. I’ll be handling the rest of the transactions for you” the GM said.

Half an hour later, after signing two stacks of forms, and pocketing the check for the Yukon (which they immediately deposited into their bank account), Lisa drove off in her new Excursion. They stopped by the gas station and filled the tank, after his “negotiating” Rick didn’t expect them to fill a 44 gallon tank, and he was right – in fact, he thought they might have drained some fuel out of the tank. It took 42.1 gallons by the station pump to fill the tank.

On the way back, Lisa took an odd route. Rick asked where they were going, and Lisa said that she wanted to stop by J&G sales, and see what they had in stock. Off to the gun shop they went, and they looked at the various items on display. While they were there, Lisa picked up a long, heavy package, and just a very heavy box, which was loaded into the back of the Excursion. Lisa wouldn’t answer when Rick asked what was in the package (although he figured it was a rifle and ammo), but she had that strange look again.

Back at the homestead, Lisa started cooking dinner, and Rick started grilling some steaks. Over a bottle of wine and after a couple of questions, Lisa said that the package was his Christmas present. When Rick mentioned that he wouldn’t be back until late on the 25th, she asked if he wanted his present now, especially since she had received hers (she thought!). Rick said “OK”, and they went down into the basement where they had temporarily put the two heavy packages. They proceeded to unwrap the larger package, and Rick discovered a very, very large Pelican case. Turning it over, it said “Barrett” on it, and Rick knew what it was. Opening it up, he was right – a Barrett .50 cal M82A1 Rifle, with accessories including a half-dozen magazines, and a Swarovski 6-24 adjustable objective scope with rings. Rick had always wanted one of these, especially after they were banned in the PRK. “Now I know why you suggested making the range 1000 meters” Rick said as he hugged Lisa. “The other box has ammo” Lisa said, “And I’ve ordered more. It should be here in a week or two”. “Well” Rick said, “I’ll have to wait until I get back next week to shoot it, unless you want to try while I’m gone?” Lisa started laughing, “There’s no way I can shoot that thing by myself, I’d need a wheel barrow to move it around”.

The next morning, after reading the manual (and watching the DVD) that came with the rifle, he practiced field stripping it, and dry-fired it a bit to get a feel for the trigger, and then lubed it and locked it back into its case. Checking the ammo, he found two boxes of .50 cal ammo, about 240 rounds. Checking on the ammo already ordered, he was pleased that his wife ordered about 2000 rounds total, including AP, APIT and ball. He wondered if he could get some actual Raufoss ammo, and decided to call some friends at Coronado.

While he was checking the rifle, Lisa had been busy. She had gone through Rick’s bug-out bag and made certain that everything was current and up to date. She also packed some cold weather clothing including pile pants, jacket, gloves and hat, and a Gore-Tex rain suit and gaiters. She also made certain that the ammo-box they kept in each vehicle with a variety of ammo was complete, and got one of the Kel-Tec rifles out of the security room and packed it in a case with a half-dozen loaded 20 round magazines, and a California legal SKS in a case. She also packed extra fresh water.

After lunch, Rick said “you know, I can probably get a winch and bumper installed on your Excursion, and I can probably get a radio installed too, when we go into LA tomorrow”. “Oh, you just want to drive it” Lisa laughed. “Well, that too, but I’d be happier if we had it fully equipped, just like the pickup”. “OK, we can take the Excursion, and I can get equipment installed while you watch the movers load up” Lisa said.
The next morning, they drove into Los Angeles and to the old house, one last time. They had scheduled the movers to arrive in the afternoon, so they were in no hurry. They made it in plenty of time, and Lisa went off to get the hardware installed while Rick waited. First stop for Lisa was the Ham Radio Outlet in Burbank, where an Icom IC-706GS with AT-140 tuner and antennas was installed by an old friend of Rick’s. Then, she was off to a nearby off-road store to have the Safarigard bumpers, winch, and Rancho 3” lift kit installed. The installation took a bit longer than expected, and it was almost 8 PM when she was done and back at the house. The movers were just finishing loading the last of their belongings, so they locked the house, and went off to get some dinner, and find a hotel. Rick thought the Excursion looked very impressive with the lift kit, bumpers and radio, and used the radio to chat with some HAM friends he heard on the local 440 MHz repeater.

They checked into a local hotel after dinner, and verifying with the realtor that they’d meet him at 9:00 AM the next morning, and snuggled up to each other.

The next morning, they woke and had breakfast, then drove over to the house, one last time. They saw the realtor there, and they all went inside. They checked the house for any missed items and after that handed the keys to the realtor. One last hug, and they walked out of the house that had been their home.

Paradise, Chapter One

On the trip home to Sedona, Lisa commented that her new Excursion wasn’t as “peppy” as the pickup. Rick reminded her that the pickup had the Banks modifications which increased power, and that they should find a local dealer that could install the package into the Excursion. As usual, they took the I-40 route through Flagstaff to get to Sedona, avoiding the worst traffic along I-10 in So Cal, and also staying out of Phoenix. Once they were across the Arizona state line and back in free America, they stopped at the highway rest area for a break. It was easy to tell when they crossed into a free state from the PRK, the condition of the roads immediately improved, and the rest areas were better maintained. Being a native Californian who grew up during the heyday of freeway building, Rick was depressed at the way the people had allowed the Pols to ruin California.

Returning to the Excursion, they both reached into their PRK approved locked case and removed their personal handguns, Rick choosing a Glock 21 and Lisa a Glock 30 – some time ago they both retired their 1911 pattern pistols from active carry. The Glocks worked every time, and didn’t need as much critical attention. Fortunately, they both liked the .45 ACP cartridge, and tactically, there was some advantage in being able to exchange magazines (at least from the bigger gun to the smaller). Rick also had a G30 as a second, backup gun he carried sometimes, and Lisa carried two G30’s if she wanted the extra firepower. Both went into their concealed holsters, and two extra mags into their belt carriers. “Good thing we didn’t get stopped in the PRK” Rick said. “These evil magazines, you know”. Lisa started laughing and said “That’s your problem, Stud…my magazines are legal”. “Right, sweetie – but mine are bigger” was Ricks retort. Back on the road, it was about three hours before they were in Flagstaff, taking the I-17 cutoff south towards Sedona, and another hour before they were home.

Pulling onto their “driveway” Lisa asked “maybe we should look at getting a gate and fence for here”. “O.K”, Rick said. “Probably be pretty expensive, but we can always see what it would cost. I think getting a remote operated gate would be good, so we wouldn’t have to get in and out”. “I’ll call around and see what it would cost” Lisa said. “Plus, we should figure out what to do about the firing range”. “I was thinking about that, we don’t have enough room here for a thousand meter range”. “What? Why not? I thought we’d have enough here”. “Not quite”, Rick said, “Our property lot is 50 acres almost exactly, and almost exactly square. The longest distance we have is diagonally from one corner to another and that works out to around 700 yards – right through the house”. “Whoops, let’s come up with another plan then” laughed Lisa. “We can probably put a target holder on the forest property, but that’s not safe; or fire from the forest onto our property but that’s a problem too – if we didn’t have a really large backstop we’d be shooting across the road”. “What about shooting across the top of our lot? Maybe we could put a backstop up in one corner, with shooting points along the property line and maybe in the forest as well” Lisa asked. “We’ll have to take a look tomorrow, but that might work. The fuel and propane tanks aren’t very close to the property line but we should still shoot away from them” Rick said. Pulling into the workshop/garage they walked over to their home, and unlocked the door and deactivated the alarm system.

When the installer was wiring the alarm system he wanted to know what numbers should be programmed in to dial in case of an emergency. Rick had told him to dial their cell phone numbers in addition to the local emergency numbers. As far away as they were, Rick didn’t have much confidence in the alarm summoning help in time to prevent a fire or stop a burglary, but they liked having the fire, smoke, carbon monoxide and water alarms, along with the intrusion detection in the house and workshop. “If we get a gate, we should put some sort of intrusion detection on it” Rick said. “Maybe we should look for some sort of system to let us know that someone is coming up the drive, even if we don’t get a gate”. “OK, I’ll check on that too” was Lisa’s response, jotting a note into her Palm Pilot. “Let’s go to bed”. “Sounds good, I’m glad I won’t have to make that drive too much more” said Rick.

The next morning the movers showed up, and they were busy with the unloading, and then the next couple of days with putting everything away. Too soon, it was Christmas Eve day, and Rick had to get ready to go work his shift back in the pit, PRK. Lisa had made certain that his BOB was freshly packed, and Rick did a quick preventative maintenance check on the pickup, making sure that the fluids were all topped up, tires inflated correctly, windows clean, etc. He surprised Lisa by pulling up to the toy-hauler trailer and hitching it up to the truck. “What are you taking that for, Dear?” “I have some things I want to pick up in the Pit, after I work my shift. Plus, I can sleep on the bunk in there after my shift. And, taking up three parking spaces in the doctors parking lot may convince them they don’t want me to come work the last shift over New Years” he grinned.

“What time is your shift starting” Lisa asked. “I’m working 8 AM to 8 PM, so I’m going to drive in this afternoon. After my shift, I’ll catch some sleep and head on back.” “OK, what do you need in the trailer?” “Oh, just some bottled water and a sleeping bag and pillow, the stove has propane, and I should be good – I can eat and get coffee in the hospital”. “Alright, but I’d rather go with you”. “I’d rather you came with me too, but what would you do while I work? Besides, there’s still lots of stuff to do here, isn’t there?” “Oh, alright. Drive carefully, and hurry home. I’ll be waiting for you” Lisa said, as they kissed. Rick got into the truck, started to pull out, and then shifted back into park, got out scowling, and went back to the trailer and pulled the wheel chocks out. Lisa tried not to laugh as he finally pulled out.

With Rick gone, Lisa got to work. She checked the Sedona, Prescott and Flagstaff yellow pages for fencing contractor and tried calling a few but not surprisingly, they were closed – it was Sunday, she discovered. She put the numbers aside for later in the week and continued to set up the house just the way she wanted it. She also got online and ordered a few more supplies, including two more years’ supplies of dried foods from Walton Feed, and prepared a list for shopping in town at Costco. While she was puttering around, she got a call from the Yavapai Medical Center in Prescott, asking if she was available to work a shift in the hospital pharmacy tomorrow – the first time she’d been asked to work there. She figured what the heck, and agreed to work an 8-hour shift beginning at 8 AM. “A heck of a way to spend the holiday, but at least I’ll be around people - sick people, and the patients too” she thought, chuckling.

Rick made good time to Flagstaff, and after stopping for coffee pointed the truck west. Cruising down I-40 was always a fast trip, and he stopped at the rest stop in Toprock and locked his pistol in the hard case. The rest of the drive through Needles and Barstow was as boring as usual, and to keep alert, Rick was listening to the radio. They’d put a satellite radio in the Yukon years ago since the GM/Delco radio that came with it would lose coverage so quickly, and while the satellite news and talk radio shows didn’t have a lot of local news, out on the road they always had good reception and a variety of formats to listen too. They added one to the Pickup, and the Excursion had it as a “dealer added option”. They didn’t want to pay for it, but since it was there, Rick thought he’d use it.

Since when he and Lisa were together they always found things to talk about they hadn’t been listening to the news very much, and Rick was a little disturbed at the news from around the world. Once he got the little snippets of news that Fox Radio and CNN, marveling at the absolute lack of depth, insight and analysis that both networks offered, he switched over to the BBC. Despite the notoriously leftist propaganda offered, if you filtered out the crap the BBC and some foreign news services actually provided news that was beyond the capabilities of the “talking heads” on US news services.

The news wasn’t good, no matter the source. The little greaseball in Korea continued to demonstrate the need for quality psychotropic medications, fuel prices were still high, and the terrorists in the occupied territories were still killing Israelis. The only good news was that the war in Iraq continued to wind down, and there were only about 15,000 troops still there. Rick had gone briefly to Afghanistan, but Lisa had been in Iraq and the middle east for several months, and Rick worried every minute of it, just as Lisa had worried when Rick was in Afghanistan earlier. The bad news there was that the troops weren’t being sent where they were needed, to the borders. In flipping around, Rick missed a story about a news release from NASA and JPL, and Rick put some continuing-education CD’s into the player. From Barstow, most of the traffic was headed towards Las Vegas so Rick made good time. He decided to take the back way into Los Angeles, through Victorville and Palmdale instead of down Interstate-15 and drive through the worst part of the pit.

Passing US 395, Rick tried calling his friend George in Red Mountain on the radio. He first tried some 440 MHz frequencies, and was surprised when another friend, Dave, answered. It turned out Dave and the family was down from Oregon for the holidays with the grandparents. They chatted awhile and Dave said George was probably on the 6-meter band, so after signing off he switched the IC-706 over to the 6-meter band and gave George a call. He tried a couple of different frequencies before he made contact, but George assured him that everything was waiting for him to pick up, and he’d be there all day long on Tuesday.

Cruising along highway 18 and 138 he finally got to highway 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway and headed south. Again, most of the traffic was in the opposite direction, and he made pretty good time even through the San Fernando Valley. The obligatory traffic delay in Sepulveda pass slowed him down a bit, but he was soon through and pulling off the freeway at Pico. He drove east, and after stopping at Juniors Deli for dinner, turned north on Westwood Blvd to Westwood village and the hospital.

Pulling into the parking area, the student stuck with working Christmas Eve was pretty unsure about his parking in the physicians’ lot, even with his faculty ID. Rick waited while the parking supervisor was called, and finally let him through. Rick pulled into the nearly empty lot and found a place to park, taking up four spaces – he wanted to be sure he could leave without hassles when he woke up Tuesday. After securing the truck Rick went into the trailer, and called Lisa on his cell phone, to tell her he was safe and sound. Lisa told Rick about her job tomorrow in Prescott, and they said goodnight. Rick used the bathroom, washed up and tried to stretch out on the bunk – “ugh, I should have checked, this bunk is too small for someone who is 6’3”. He set his travel alarm clock, and drifted off to sleep.

Waking the next morning at 6:30, he shaved in the trailer, and made a first cup of coffee. He then locked up the trailer and went into the hospital, and showered, changed into the scrubs he usually wore. The physician he was relieving was happy to have him there early, and after signing over patients, he left. Early Christmas morning was usually a pretty slow time in the ED, and today was no different. Rick used the time to finish up some charts he had outstanding, and visited with some of the staff members. He also called Lisa to wish her a Merry Christmas, and confirmed that he’d be home tomorrow evening. Lisa was about equally bored (already) at the hospital pharmacy in Prescott. As was typical, things started getting a bit busier around 10:30, when the first toy accidents started coming in. Rick never liked working on kids, but figured that as long as they were screaming their heads off they weren’t about to crash. Besides, there was a pediatrics resident on rotation to deal with the little ones. Rick and the other physicians took care of the adults, the stupid injuries, the unfortunate accidents, the babies that decided this was going to be their birthday (those he just transferred to OB/GYN) and the just weird. Finally, things slowed down, Rick was able to get all his charts done, and after taking another shower and cleaning up, got some dinner in the hospital dining room (they feed the staff the same bad food as the patients get) and went out to the trailer. He gave Lisa a call, and found out she was home already, after a completely uneventful day.

Tuesday morning Rick woke up, and after making coffee and washing up (he really liked having the water heater in the trailer), he carefully pulled out of the parking lot and headed north on the -405. As he was pulling onto the freeway he called home, and said that he’d be in tonight – Lisa said she’d be waiting. He took the -14 cutoff towards Palmdale, and wondered if TOM was still kicking. “Hell, he’ll probably outlive all of us, and the Internet” Rick thought, chuckling. He continued north to Mojave, and then went east to US 395, and north to Red Mountain. He gave George a call on the radio, and soon enough was there.

George had been a friend of Rick for almost 30 years. Although he had never been in the military (his brother was an AF academy grad, though) George was a military historian par excellence. He had been a paramedic in Los Angeles for many years, and now retired, collected military memorabilia. George had been in British Columbia on vacation, returning the day before Rick called, and while there had picked up a special present for Lisa – one that she didn’t know about. Rick pulled into George’s driveway, and heard the “present” as soon as he got out of the truck.

Lisa, being of Finnish decent, had always wanted a Finnish Spitz dog – and now that they were at the homestead full time, Rick decided she should have one. The Finnish Spitz is a very rare breed in North America – there are only a few breeders, one in British Columbia, and one in upstate New York. Rick had made arrangements with the breeder in BC for two dogs, a male and a female (unrelated to each other) and George had picked them up and brought them down with him. While the Spitz, or “Finki” wasn’t a particularly large breed, they did have the habit of “extreme vocalness” including barking and yodeling. Rick heard both, right off the bat.

After greeting George, Rick got to know the two dogs. George had let them run around his fenced yard, and they seemed to be happy, active dogs. Both ran up to him when he came in, barking, but after Rick said hello to them, petted them and gave them both treats, they both settled down – the female more than the male. Suspecting that there may be a dominance issue, Rick “alpha rolled” the male, which established who was in charge. Rick and George visited awhile, and Rick extended an invitation for George to come visiting anytime, and to bring some guns along. He also loaded the two dog crates in the trailer and secured them, and then they got the dogs loaded. The way they were barking, he didn’t want them in the cab, and it would be too cold in the back of the pickup, he was afraid. Saying goodbye, Rick headed down US 395 to “Four Corners” where he refueled the standard tank on the truck, and then east to I-40. Stopping at the In-n-Out burger place in Barstow he made certain the dogs were OK, and went in and had a couple of “double-doubles”. In-n-Out and Trader Joes were the only things they didn’t have in their immediate neighborhood that Lisa and he both missed.

Back on the road, Rick made another stop at the rest stop in Top Rock, let the dogs out on leash (one at a time), and made sure they had water. He also restored his citizenship, pulling his Glock out of the gun case and into his waistband. A few hours later, he made the I-17 interchange and headed south, and pulled into the homestead an hour later. As he shut off the truck, Lisa came out of the truck and gave him a hug and a kiss. “What’s that racket?” she asked. “Your dream come true, sweetie” Rick answered as he walked to the back of the trailer and dropped the ramp. Lisa was surprised to see the two fox-like dogs yodeling away inside, and as Rick opened the crates, they ran out and started exploring the area. “Merry Christmas, my little Baltic Princess” Rick said. “Oh, Rick! Finkis!” Lisa cried out. “How’d you do it?” “It was easy, sweetheart – George was on vacation in his RV up in BC, I asked him to go to the breeder and pick them up, and I picked them up from him today. I have food for them, the crates, etc. We’ll need to get them acclimated to both of us, and the area, and maybe build a dog pen for them. We should also get them a dog house or something; we can stop by the pet store tomorrow. They can probably share one large dogloo, I’d guess, even grown”.

Lisa had always wanted a Finki, and now she had a pair. She didn’t know if she should play with the dogs or Rick. Fortunately for Rick, she decided, and after letting the dogs run around a bit inside the house and out, she put them in their crates, in the workshop building for the evening with water and food. She and Rick went inside and had dinner.

Rick woke up the next morning, and discovered Lisa was already up playing with the dogs. Their yodeling took some getting used to, he thought, but at least they were supposed to be good watchdogs. Walking into the kitchen he poured coffee for himself and after putting on a jacket he went outside and watched Lisa with the dogs. She was doing OK, starting some basic commands with them, and both dogs seemed to be paying attention. Rick walked over and the dogs started over towards him, wanting to play some more. Rick gave Lisa a hug and a kiss, and said “You started early with them”. “Oh, I was so excited, I was up at 5AM, playing with them!” she laughed. “I decided to let you sleep in”. “Thanks, it’s barely light now!” Rick laughed. “What would you like for breakfast, I’ll cook” Rick offered. “Oh, why don’t we head into Prescott and stop for something, we can go to the Costco and pet store, and Home Depot” Lisa said. “OK, but what do we need at the Home Depot?” “We need to get some stuff for a dog pen, fence and fence posts, concrete, that sort of thing”. “Hmm, OK. Let me go shower and we’ll go – what do we do with the dogs? And what are you going to name them?”

“Don’t they already have names?” Lisa asked. “They have official names on their paperwork, but not call names. What do you want to call them?” “I’ll have to think about it, let’s get ready”. “OK, but what about them – do we leave them in their crates, or take them with us? We shouldn’t let them run around here without supervision unless we get the place fenced in and they get acclimated”. Oh, let’s take them, I guess – we’ll need to make sure they can both fit in a dog house”. “OK, I’ll get ready then” Rick said.

Rick put the crates in the back of the pickup, and lifted the dogs into their crates, getting his face licked in the process. In Prescott (Rick really wished there was a Costco in Flagstaff, it was a shorter distance to drive) they first stopped at the pet store and got an extra large dogloo shelter, food, collars, leashes, and tags, and some grooming aids. On the way over to Costco, Lisa asked if they could get a chest freezer, and Rick said that the solar system could probably handle it but if it didn’t, they’d have to increase its size.

The first stop was at the Home Depot, where they bought a dog pen kit. Rick also bought enough “quickcrete” to set the poles, a post hole digger, and some other concrete tools he didn’t have. Loading the supplies into the truck required them to move the dog crates into the back seat, so they had a Finki serenade as they drove around town.

In the Costco, they looked for large chest freezers, but didn’t find any big enough. A stop over at Bestbuy also turned up no freezers, so they stopped at Sears and found a very large one, almost 25 cubic feet. They rearranged a few things in the back of the pickup, and loaded it in. Back at Costco they bought what they thought was enough meat to fill the chest, as well as other supplies that Lisa had on their list. Rick also got a giant stainless steel propane-powered barbeque he’d admired, and some dog biscuits. Loading everything on the truck got to be a bit of a challenge, and finally Rick said “the heck with it” and went and rented a little trailer for the day. Renting a trailer when they had one at home was a little silly, but for $10/day Rick figured it was easier than driving home with a very top heavy load. Rick probably shouldn’t have bought the barbeque that day, but what the heck. And, they stopped and got the two 20 lb propane bottles filled, even though Rick had a stub-out connection on the deck for the barbeque. Filled propane bottles could always come in handy, and the barbeque came with them. It turned out to be a good idea, since he needed a few parts to connect the barbeque to a fixed supply line.

Back at home, they started unloading, and watched as the dogs ran around, getting used to the area. Rick made a pot of coffee, and after it brewed, he sat on the deck and read the instructions for the dog pen kit. “Lisa, we need to get a truck load of gravel for the pen”. “Can you put the fence up now?” “I suppose so, help me lay it out”. Rick got a hammer and some large nails, and a tape measure, and said “where would you like it?” Walking around, they discussed the pros and cons of putting the pen in different locations and finally decided to put it near the workshop building. The pen was 12’ x 14’ so Rick pounded a nail in to be one corner, and then measured out the other corners. Checking the cross distances he adjusted the corners until it was square, and went and got the post-hole digger.

Lisa broke down the meat from Costco and using their vacuum sealer, repacked the meat into individual meal sizes for them, and put them into their refrigerators’ freezer (until the chest freezer cooled down). As the refrigerator freezer filled up, she checked on the chest freezer and was surprised to see that it was already pretty cold, so she moved the meat to the chest freezer. When she was done, she was surprised to see that all the food they bought barely made an impact in the chest.

A few hours later, the post holes were dug, and Rick was mixing concrete and shoveling it into the holes. Rick had a fence post level, and Lisa used it to make sure the poles were plumb while Rick braced them with some scrap wood. Rinsing out the wheelbarrow, Rick put the tools away and went inside. The next day, Rick took the trailer into a building supply company in Sedona and got a load of gravel, and came back and shoveled it into the pen, and leveled it out. Lisa leveled out the gravel and they carried the dogloo in and they introduced the dogs to the pen. They seemed OK with it. “Have you picked names yet?” “Yep, I think we’ll call the female Laulu, which is Finnish for “song”, and call the male Kattu which is “fox”, Lisa said. “OK, those are good names, the female is always yodeling, and the male sure looks like a fox, doesn’t he? In the summer we can set up an automatic watering dish but this time of the year we’ll have to refill the water manually, and probably move the dogs inside if the weather gets really bad”. “OK, let’s go get cleaned up, and what would you like for dinner?” “We’ve both been working hard, why don’t we go into town tonight? “Ooh, sounds great!”

The next morning, the dogs were fine, and Rick removed the braces holding the poles up, and after removing the nails stacked the wood back into the workshop. Rick found an old coffee can, and tossed the used nails into it, for possible salvage later – you never know what you’ll need, or when you’ll need it. Looking at the workshop, Rick found a number of things he wanted to improve, and went back into the house for a pad and clipboard, to start a list. Better lighting, maybe some insulation, and the workbench in there could use something – like stable legs and a clean surface. He decided to just build a new bench, and he’d figure out what to do with this one later. He also wanted some shelves and cabinets to hold electrical tools; maybe he could find some surplus metal shelves and cabinets somewhere. He checked the box he kept fasteners in and decided to buy more nails, screws, drywall anchors, nuts and bolts and the like, just an assortment. You never know when things like that would be necessary. He also decided that some sort of a heater might be nice; the building was pretty darned cold and breezy. Maybe a woodstove of some sort, he though – he’d have to look around for one.

Going into the house, he checked his email, and poured another cup of coffee. He surfed the internet, using Google to look for some workbench plans, and found one he liked – so he printed out the plans and material list, and added the list to his clipboard of things to buy. “Lisa, I really should take the trailer back today, do you want to go to Prescott?” “I’ll go anywhere with you, you know that” she smiled back. “And, I suppose we could buy more meat – what we bought barely had an impact on the freezer”. Rick went and looked at the freezer himself, and she was right – all the meat they bought had hardly covered the bottom. “Maybe we should look at buying meat from a packing house or something?” he asked. “Or, maybe we bought too much of a freezer?” “Good idea, why don’t you look in the yellow pages while I get ready” Lisa said.

Looking in the yellow pages (you learn to let your fingers do the walking when the nearest store is more than 30 miles away) Rick located a butcher that would cut and wrap a quarter of a steer in individual meal sizes (no more than two steaks, or a pound of ground meat in one package, for instance), and give them a pork loin and box of chickens, and they could pick it up tomorrow. Lisa came in and he told her what he had done, and she was happy she wouldn’t have to wrap any more meat herself and that they needed to get another box of vacuum bags.

“What else do we want or need?” he asked. “Well, we are pretty well set up with food I think, I’ve ordered more from Walton Feed, and we’re pretty well stocked on staples and meat. I’ve ordered some more canning supplies and a really big canner from Lehmans, we’re just about fully stocked on diesel and propane, we have seeds, gardening tools, and the like for growing crops, what else could we do?” “I guess I should add the hardware to attach the new barbeque to the propane line” Rick said, “and get some more gardening hoses and irrigation pipe – we should be able to find what we need without too much trouble this time of the year. Also, if we can find a small diesel powered tractor we should look at it. We also need to find a farm tank for the gasoline and arrange to get it filled, and get some Pri-G to stabilize it. I wonder if there’s a farm sale nearby?” “I guess that’s the problem with not having any neighbors around, there’s nobody handy to ask. Let’s go driving around today and see”. “OK, let me get my jacket, and we’ll go - what about the dogs?” “Lets bring them, they need to get used to us, and driving” Lisa said. “I’ve got a BOB for them too, with some food and a water dish” she said, laughing.

Driving into Prescott (they figured that Sedona itself wouldn’t be too productive for farm equipment) they first stopped at the Home Depot. Armed with their lists, they made short work of shopping. They then drove to the irrigation parts store and picked up some pipe and fittings, and while they were there Rick noticed a polyethylene, 2500 gallon water tank for sale. He showed it to Lisa, and explained that they could install two of them for water storage – or ask if they had a larger one in stock. Asking the clerk, he said they didn’t have a larger tank in stock, but they did have two of the 2500 gallon size. Rick asked if they could deliver tomorrow, and they could, so he bought the two tanks, and a small gasoline engine driven pump that could be used to pressurize some fire hose, if needed. Rick also ordered sufficient pipe to manifold the tanks, and connect their well pump and the fire pump.

As they were walking out of the store, they noticed a bulletin board and they scanned it. They found a card advertising a small tractor, a Kubota, for sale in Meyer, and they called the number on it. It turns out that a widower farmer had passed away, and his grandchildren were selling off the property and the farm equipment before they returned to their lives. Rick arranged to meet them there in an hour, and got the directions.

With an hour to kill, they stopped at the local Starbucks, and got their usual – a triple shot cappuccino for Lisa, and a no-foam vente latte for Rick (if you’re going to pay $3.50 for a freaking coffee, he figured, get all the coffee you can!). Lisa wanted to know what the tractor was for, so Rick explained that if they got a tractor with a number of attachments, life on their “farm” would be much easier. It all depended on the condition of the tractor, and the attachments. Plus, the family was probably anxious to sell and get back to their city lives, and there might be other things they could use.

Later at the farm, they met the family and saw the tractor – it was a relatively modern Kubota diesel. Rick asked for permission to try it, and it started right up, with hardly any smoke. The transmission shifted smoothly, the brakes worked, and it had a post hole auger attached – which worked, so the hydraulics all checked out. Rick shut it down, and asked about other attachments for it. Henry, the grandson they met, said he didn’t know much about them, but the barn was full of stuff – maybe that’s what Rick was looking for? So, they went into the barn and found a number of attachments including a rotor-tiller, a box scraper, a blade, a bucket arm, a mower, forklift arms, even a trencher and a few that Rick couldn’t identify. There were a number of small boxes over the workbench that were labeled Kubota – which turned out to be spare fuel and oil filters, and a few spare engine parts. Opening one, Rick found a fuel pump, and in another some sort of relay.

“It looks like your Grandfather was well prepared”, Rick said. Is there anything else for sale? Henry said “everything on the farm is for sale, the land has been sold to a developer. We’re planning on having an auction next month, but while I was here I thought I’d sell what I could”. Wandering around, Rick found an above-ground farm tank that was around 350 gallon capacity, half filled with diesel, and another that was almost empty, with gasoline in it, both on stands. There was also an old flatbed truck of some sort, bigger than a pickup, and a large flatbed trailer.

About this time Lisa asked if Henry would mind if she let the dogs out for a little run. Henry said sure, and Lisa opened the back doors (now they were the rear seat passengers) and they jumped out and started exploring. After putting out a dish of water for them, Lisa asked if there were any antiques they were selling – Henry said not much, just some old canning junk and an old, pretty beat up sewing machine. It was so old he said; that it still had the foot treadle, although it did have an electric motor. Henry invited them into the house, and after checking that the dogs were OK, they went inside. Lisa immediately saw the sewing machine, in its mahogany case with cast iron furniture. As they went into the kitchen, Lisa saw a huge wood stove with enameled front and water tank, oven, warming bin, and the rest. She also saw a number of hand-powered kitchen tools, including a meat grinder, a grain grinder, and what looked like a coffee mill. A quick look at Rick, and she knew he was thinking the same thing.

“So, you’re going to have a farm auction next month”? Rick asked. “Don’t those usually work out pretty poorly for the seller”? “That’s what I heard”, Henry said. “We don’t know what else to do, though. Everyone in the family has been here, and they all got the mementoes they wanted; all the family heirlooms, pictures, etc. All that’s left is old junk. Looking at Lisa, Rick said “How would you feel about an offer on the tractor, the attachments and parts, and the flatbed trailer? “Well, I guess that depends on how much the offer was” Henry retorted. “The tractor, new, lists for around $4500 – you can check that on the internet. That’s for a brand new machine, with factory warranty, and usually the dealer will deliver it for free, besides discounting them. I’ll give you that $4500 for the tractor and attachments, trailer, etc, and another thousand for the truck and this wood stove, and that old sewing machine, if you’ll help me load it up”.

$5500? Let me go check those prices on the internet. Excuse me one minute” Henry said, as he left the room. Lisa and Rick just looked at each other, and didn’t say anything. They could here the faint tapping of computer keys in the distance. Lisa stood up and looked out the window, Laulu was still singing and Kattu still looked like a fox, so she sat back down. Henry returned to the kitchen, and said “You’re right, the list price seems to be $4500. If you don’t mind my asking, what do you want the stove and sewing machine for?” Lisa answered “Oh, they’d make lovely planters, don’t you think? So country looking!”. Rick tried for a slightly bemused smile at Henry.

“OK, you have a deal. Let me get the title to the vehicles, and I’ll sign them over. “Great”, Rick said. I can give you a local check now, or if you prefer go into town and get you cash”. “I guess a check is fine”, Henry said. “If you’re from around here we can probably trust you. What do you do for a living?” “I’m a physician, and Lisa here is a pharmacist” Rick said. “Oh, OK, Doctor”.

It took a few hours, but they were able to load everything onto the pickup, flatbed and the truck, including the stove (taking the covers and doors off makes the stove slightly easier to handle). As they were packing up, Lisa asked about the quaint old kitchen utensils, if they were for sale too, and Henry, in a moment of weakness, “Oh, why don’t you all just take that stuff. Nobody would want it in the auction”. “Oh, thanks!” Lisa said.

Their day turned into a very long one, with Lisa driving the pickup home, and Rick in the new (old) truck. Rick thought it odd when Kattu wanted to jump up into the old truck with him, but by that time he was too tired to care. Kattu quickly fell asleep with his head in Rick’s lap, stretched out on the seat. When they got home that night, they had some canned soup for dinner, and fell into bed.

The next morning, as they drank their coffee and looked at all the stuff they bought, Lisa could only say “wow”. “Wow, yeah!” Rick said. “We made out like bandits there. The only thing we didn’t get were the fuel tanks, and I bet that if I called Henry today, he’d sell them to me so as not to have to call a hazmat company to drain them! As a matter of fact….” Rick reached for the phone, and called Henry. “Henry, Rick here – we got home last night, and thought that we should probably get a little gas tank like those you have there. Are they for sale?” “They are? How much?” he said, smiling, as Lisa tried hard not to laugh out loud. “I don’t know, aren’t there some sort of environmental laws that I’d have to worry about?” he said with a concerned voice. “Oh, you will? OK, how about after lunch today, say about 1 PM? OK, see you then”. He hung the phone up, laughing.

“OK, sweetie; we need to unload, and head back over there, with the tractor with the fork lift forks, and the flat bed”. “How much?” Lisa asked. “$300, including the fuel, the stands and the hoses, but we have to get them today – he wants to go back home to New York City, for New Years.” Rick replied. There’s probably more than that much worth of diesel in the tank as it sits. We can drain that tank, and use both of them for gasoline”. “Can the fork lift handle the tank with the fuel?” Lisa asked. “Probably, there is about 175 gallons of diesel, at arou nd 7.1 pounds per gallon, so that weighs around 1243 pounds, and the tank only weighs a few hundred pounds. The forks should have at least that much capacity”. About that time the irrigation store truck arrived with their water tanks, and Rick helped the driver unload them near the well head.

Later that night, they had their tanks in place, the trucks and tractor topped off with fuel from their big tank and the fuel transferred from the “farm” tank through their filters and water separators, into their big tank. Lisa was going to order gasoline from their fuel supplier, and Rick was going to install permanent grounding rods for both the new tanks, in the mean time he had grounded the tanks to the grounding rod for the big tank. “Oh, I need to get gasoline filter cartridges for the new tanks” Rick said, as they went to sleep. Rick had to go into the pit tomorrow, for his last shift, so it was an early night.

Paradise, Chapter 2

New Years Eve, 2006

After they woke up, Rick cleaned up and then checked out the pickup for the trip to the pit, and hitched up the toy hauler. He thought that they’d have to figure out where to park all of the vehicles they were acquiring, maybe build a pole barn or something. He went into the house, and almost stepped on Kattu, who was getting underfoot a lot, lately.

“Lisa, why are the dogs in the house”? He called out. “Oh, they came in with me, they’re OK” she answered. “Well, if we’re going to have them in the house, we should get a doggy door for them” Rick answered, as he scratched Kattu behind his ears. The look on Kattu’s face seemed to indicate that when Rick “alpha rolled” him, it really took. Standing up, he went over to Lisa and hugged her. “I need to be in at the hospital at 6 tonight, for a 24 hour shift” Rick said. “I need to leave pretty soon”. “Oh, Rick – I have a very bad feeling about you going to LA” Lisa said as she hugged him. “I know, sweetie, but it’s too late to cancel now”. “What are you going to do after your shift?” “I’ll either sleep in the trailer in the parking lot, or probably move it to a Wal-Mart lot since I doubt I’ll be able to take up four spaces on the second, without causing a lot of grief. I’ll get some sleep, and then I was thinking of “decommissioning” our West LA shelter” Rick said. “Good idea, I was going to ask about that – what about the others?” Lisa responded. “I don’t know, I suppose we should leave the one in the San Fernando Valley, and probably the one in San Bernardino, in case we ever need them. We can move the stuff from West LA to somewhere down in Phoenix next month”. “OK, I guess that makes sense. Still, I wish you weren’t going, or I was going with you” Lisa said.

Years ago, when things started accelerating down the tubes in the pit, Rick and Lisa had established three “shelters”, they called them. These were lockers in U-store-it facilities, smaller ones that weren’t part of national chains. They’d had to move two sites when the property was bought by one of the national chains, they had used “covert” ID’s that they had established, but hadn’t been able to make very secure. They paid for the spaces yearly, with mailed-in money orders they bought for cash at local 7-11’s. Each space was an interior, 10x20 or so space that they had equipped with enough survival gear to allow two people to shelter inside for up to a month, with food, water, clothing and other supplies – including a chemical toilet, a couple of SKS’s with ammo (just in case), chemical protective masks and suits, and radiation meters. They also had enough concrete sacks and wood to be able to build very compact fallout shelters, even though the design and location of their spaces provided some protection.

The cost of these shelters, and maintaining them for years, was significant, but they looked at them as investments. They visited each shelter twice a year and refreshed the things that needed it, and made certain that their property was secure. They had also camouflaged the space a bit with some old furniture they had purchased at the local thrift stores, when the door was opened; they just looked like a typical storage space full of junk. Now, it was time to close out the shelter nearest the hospital.

“Lisa, I’ll be OK”. I’ll be in touch, too, so relax” Rick said, as he hugged her, wondering what had gotten her all worked up. “I’ve got to get ready”. Rick packed a change of clothes and made certain he had his “doctor tools” as he called them, his stethoscope and scissors, and his PDA. He sync’d the PDA to make sure his medical applications were up to date, and filled up his travel mug with coffee. As he finished, Lisa was waiting for him, to give him a goodbye kiss.

The drive into the pit was uneventful. Rick listened to more of his continuing education CD’s. Stopping in Toprock to place his pistol in what he was coming to call the “serf box”, he stretched and headed out on the freeway again. Getting a bit bored with the CE program, he decided to listen to the radio and get the news. More of the same, insane antics in North Korea, terrorists killing Israelis, assassinations of some “leaders” in Iran (“good start”, Rick said). Flipping channels on the satellite radio, he heard only the very end of some story from NASA – “I wonder what that was” Rick thought.

Lisa was busy too. She continued to put the house in order, and did a little light cleaning. She played outside with the dogs, and decided to try and find a professional dog trainer to help her – Finkis were notoriously hard to train. She checked their pen and cleaned it up, and refilled their water and food. She also decided to get some exercise, so she changed into her running clothes and shoes, and decided to run around the property line a couple of times – three times around would be a bit more than 3 miles, she decided.

Walking out, she thought about not taking her fanny pack, with a mini survival kit and her pistol. She’d never run with it before, and wondered if it would be hard to run with. “Oh, what the heck” she thought. “Three miles is three miles, even if I walk it. Besides, the dogs could use some exercise”. She strapped it on and adjusted the waist strap a bit; it tended to slide down when she was wearing slick running clothes. She did a few warm up stretches, and calling the dogs, started walking, and then jogging.

It took a while to get the kinks out, but Lisa soon was in a rhythm, even on the irregular and hilly terrain. She started her second lap and was happy that the dogs were staying out from underfoot, but keeping up with her. She started pushing herself a bit, feeling good about being out in the sunshine, even if the weather was cooler than she was used to running in. She was very pleased with their property, being surrounded by the forest on three sides. It didn’t give them any room to expand, but it also meant that they wouldn’t have troublesome (or any) neighbors. She was looking at the property, figuring out where to plant her garden, and other improvements they could make. Not paying attention, she tripped on a tree root and went tumbling down on the ground.

Lisa had tried to break her fall but only succeeded in getting road rash on her arms and hand. The dogs were all over her, licking her face and playing with her – they thought it was great fun! Lisa shook her head to clear it, and slowly sat up, checking herself for any serious injuries. She thought she was OK, it was just her arm and her pride that were hurt. She stood up, and decided that she’d run enough today, and started walking (slowly) towards the house.
Back in the house, she checked herself more carefully. The only injury she had was the road rash on her arm and left palm, fortunately she was right handed. She was starting to get a little stiff and sore, though, and knew it would get worse before it got better. She cleaned her wound with some betadine scrub and warm water, and then decided to take a shower to get the rest of the dirt off her. After the shower, she put a couple of bandaids with Neosporin ointment on the worst injuries, and decided to take a couple of ibuprofen.

Pouring herself a cup of coffee and adding half and half, she shook herself. She was angry that she had tripped, even though she hadn’t hurt herself. “Pretty bad situational awareness” she thought. “Well, it could have been a lot worse”. Thinking about that, she decided that it could have been much worse. If she was going to go running around in the woods, she (and Rick) would have to come up with a better solution than a fanny pack survival kit. They would need some sort of water, too, at the very least – and they should pack some FRS radios so they could keep in touch (if there was anyone around). And that was another thing: No more running around like that when only one person was home.

Getting online, she checked out the Camelback website, for a solution to their new problem. She couldn’t find a waist pack design that had enough cargo space, so she checked out REI.com, and couldn’t find a suitable small pack either. She thought that a regular camelback pack wouldn’t work too well while running, since the gear would bounce around too much. Finally, she wondered if just a plain Camelback bladder, with the fanny pack they already had would work. She decided to order a plain, small camelback “Classic” to try it out.

Thinking about her little accident, she wondered if there was anything missing from their medical preparations. Over the years, being a pharmacist, she and Rick had stockpiled a number of different drugs, which she kept in a small refrigerator, now in the basement. She knew that most (but not all) drugs would stay potent well past their expiration dates, as long as they were stored in a cool, dry environment. She pulled up her inventory list on the computer, and noticed that a few drugs that were age sensitive were getting close to their expiration dates. Their epinephrine was getting old, as were their epi-pens (Lisa was allergic to nuts, and Rick had developed a sensitivity to bee stings) so she ordered more epi, both vials and epi-pens, from a drug supply house. She thought that should about do it, they were well supplied with antibiotics, analgesics, and the other meds that they might want, for themselves, or for anyone else in the house.

That got her thinking about the dogs. She checked the records that had come from the breeder, and decided they were covered for right now. She wanted to find a vet for them, so she looked in the yellow pages, and called a few. Most of the vets in the area had more livestock practices, but she found one who said he handled both pets and livestock. When Lisa said she had a new pair of Finnish Spitz dogs, he was surprised – he’d heard about them but had never seen one. Lisa chatted a bit longer, and found out that the Vet actually might be their closest neighbor; he lived about 6 miles down the road. When she described where they lived, he said he knew of the property. He also offered to stop by, since it was nearby and being New Years, he and his wife (who managed the office for him) were getting ready to close their office in Sedona and go home.

Lisa said “Sure, come on over” and they hung up. Getting the dogs’ brush out, she gave each dog a quick little grooming, and decided that the dogs needed to be brushed out at least every couple of days. The fun (for the dogs) over, she gave Laulu and Kattu a doggy treat, and went back to her to-do list. The vet (his name was Carlos, and his wife was Angela, he had said) said they’d be over in about two hours. There wasn’t anything on the to-do list, except to pick up the frozen meat at the butcher that Rick had ordered. She called the butcher, and found out he was closing early, so she decided to leave the meat for another day – and since there was close to a thousand pounds of meat, for Rick to move.

With nothing to do, Lisa started surfing the internet. She read the news on Fox and CNN, checked the nonsense at the New York Times, and decided to read some other web sites. Checking in at Frugal Squirrels, she found everyone upset over an announcement by NASA and JPL. She was having some difficulty figuring out exactly what the concern was between the various opinions and “analysis” offered, so she went into intelligence analyst mode and went to the original source material.

She read that NASA and JPL had announced that a “near earth object” or NEO had been discovered a week ago (“huh? Why hadn’t we heard about it, Lisa wondered”) that was on a course with earth that would pass earth very closely, within the orbit of the moon. The object was small, they said, about two thousand feet in diameter (“small? That’s twice the size of an aircraft carriers’ length. And round” Lisa thought), and should present no threat to Earth.

“OK, that’s the official story. What’s the real deal” Lisa wondered. Reaching for the phone, she called one of her friends from her intelligence analyst days. “Paula, Lisa here. Oh, OK, we retired and moved to around Sedona, Arizona. How’s everything with you these days?” They got caught up on the news, and then Lisa asked “What’s the deal with this Near Earth Object that the news is all worked up over?” “Lisa, we just don’t know”, Paula said. “The government isn’t sure what the NEO is going to do, some say miss, some say not miss. I know that the DoD has raised the DEFCON status world wide for active units, and guard units have been given alerts – quietly. The one thing the experts can agree on is the ETA (estimated time of arrival), and the senior staff is going to be on duty when that happens. They can’t decide on where it’s going to hit, though”.

Lisa was thinking quickly. What Paula had said didn’t make sense, if they knew when it was going to hit, they’d have a good idea of what was under it when it got here. She decided that Paula either didn’t know, or couldn’t tell her. “So, what are you going to be doing, Paula?” “Our best guess is that the impact, if there is one, won’t be around the US. So, we’re just going to “hunker down” here at home, but we’ve checked our preparations.” How are things in Sedona”? “Just great, why don’t you guys come and visit, when you have a chance”? Lisa offered. She gave Paula her new phone number and mailing and email addresses, and after wishing Paula and her family a Happy New Years, she hung up the phone. She thought for a moment, and called Rick on his cellphone.

“Rick, have you heard about this “Near Earth Object”? Lisa asked. “No, what are you talking about”? Lisa filled him in quickly, including her conversation with Paula, and then Rick asked “When is this thing supposed to hit”? “The best estimate I can find is that the window opens at 8 AM on January third. I suppose those are EST times, but I’d need to check that” Lisa answered. Rick smiled at his wife’s getting so precise with the time, but was happy she was thinking like an analyst. “OK, sweetie. I should have plenty of time to get home, so unless things change, I’ll keep my original schedule. It looks like your intuition was right”. “OK, Rick” Lisa said. “Just promise me that if I find out that the time estimate is off, you’ll get out of dodge immediately”.

Rick wasn’t sure it was necessary, but trusted his wife’s judgment completely. And, what the heck, what could his management group do to him if he had to leave early, fire him? “I promise, Sweetheart. Keep me updated, and if the schedule of … what, “earthfall”? changes, let me know. I’m making really good time; I may go to the shelter and get started there, before I go to the hospital”. “OK, be careful, please, Rick. I’m worried about this”. “OK, I’ll have my phone with me, and you have the number at the ED” Rick said, “I love you, bye.” “Bye” Lisa said.

Rick pulled into the storage place an hour later. He figured he had a couple of hours he could use to move supplies to the trailer, before he had to head to the hospital. Looking around, he decided that the priority items were the supplies, the “camouflage” furniture and concrete and lumber could be left behind if needed. He worked quickly, and was able to get all the supplies loaded into the trailer, although moving the “office supply cabinet” the guns and other high-value items (which he had removed first) made enough noise to wake the dead as he dragged it across the concrete floor. A few tie-downs, and he was almost ready to go. Rick decided that he could toss the lumber in too, and afterwards he closed up the trailer and locked the storage locker. He figured that even if they didn’t get back to it, they wouldn’t lose much. There was barely enough room for him to stretch out, on the floor, of the trailer.

Rick pulled into the parking lot, and the same student was working as the last time he was here. “Weren’t you working Christmas day, too”? Rick asked. “Yeah, I was” the student said sheepishly. “What happened, did you piss someone off?” Rick asked. Laughing, the student said “Oh, no – I volunteered, it’s double time, and I didn’t have anything else to do” “Oh, what's your major?” Rick asked. “Astrophysics, senior” the student said. “Oh, really? What's your take on this NEO that everyone is buzzing about”? “Oh, man…it’s REALLY cool stuff, I wonder what it will do” the student said, excited. Just then, another car behind Rick honked, and Rick had to pull ahead. “Typical geek” Rick thought. “Not aware of any risk at all”. He found a parking space and after making certain that everything was locked up, took his bag into the ED and showered and changed into scrubs.

Lisa spent some more time on the internet, researching, when she became aware of a change in the dogs barking and yodeling. She noticed it was about time for the Vet and his wife to arrive and sure enough, they were pulling up the driveway. She went out and said “Hi, you must be Carlos and Angela, I’m Lisa”. Lisa noticed right away that Angela was pregnant, more than 7 months, she thought. “Hi, Lisa, you’re right, I’m Angela, and the goon playing with your dogs is my husband, Carlos” Angela laughed. Carlos stood up and laughing, said “Hi, sorry to be rude but I like to get on dogs’ good sides, right away”. Laughing, Lisa said “Come on in the house. Angela, the bathroom is right down the hallway, knowing how often pregnant women needed to use it. Angela had a relieved look on her face as she said “Thanks” and headed down the hall.

“Have a seat” Lisa said. “Would you like something to drink, coffee, iced tea, soda, water… I have some caffeine free drinks for Angela, too”. “Why, thanks, coffee would be great” Carlos said. Angela came back into the great room and when Lisa asked, asked for a caffeine free coke. Lisa brought the drinks out, and sitting down said “Welcome”.

“Lisa, you have a lovely home” Angela said. “We were wondering what was going on here when we saw the construction”, said Carlos. “Thanks” Lisa said. “We’ve owned the property for awhile, but just moved in full time. We didn’t know we had neighbors, at all – we’ve never seen your house off the road”. “Oh, we’ve lived here for years now, and our house is back from the road too – like yours” Carlos said. “We like to be off the beaten path, but frankly we’re glad to have neighbors, too”. “So, how did you come to get the Spitz’s?” Lisa explained how she was of Finnish decent, and how her husband had surprised her for Christmas. Carlos was playing with the dogs, and said “they seem to be in fine shape, if there’s anything I can help you with, I’d be glad to”. “Well, I think they have all their shots, would you mind checking?” Lisa asked. “Sure, what have they had?” Carlos asked. Lisa handed over their records, and after scanning them, Carlos said “They’re all up to date, the only thing I’d recommend is that you give them a flea and tick treatment like Advantage, once a month. You can buy it online, or I have it in the office if you’d rather”. “Thanks, that’s awfully nice of you” Lisa said. “Usually vets, doctors and pharmacists don’t like people buying drugs online”. “Well, I can’t really charge enough, even at list price, to make it worth my while” Carlos said. “I only stock it for the few customers I have that don’t want to buy it themselves.” “Wow, that’s awfully nice of you, Carlos”. I’m not sure I’d be quite so generous” and she explained how she was a pharmacist, and Rick was a physician. “Oh, he’s a doctor?” Angela said “What's his specialty?” “He’s an emergency physician; as a matter of fact he’s working his last shift in Los Angeles today”.

“When he’s done with that, are the two of you planning on retiring?” Angela asked. “No, not really – I’ve worked a shift at YCMC (Yavapai County Medical Center) as a pharmacist, and I’m looking for more work; and Rick is planning on working either here in Sedona, or in Prescott or Flagstaff, depending on where he can get a job. In the mean time he figures he can work part time, either in the ED’s or in an urgent care center, but he hasn’t really lined up anything yet”. “Well”, Carlos said, “He shouldn’t have any trouble getting a job in Sedona, the administrator of Verde Valley Medical Center was in my office earlier this week, and he mentioned that they were having trouble staffing the ED. It’s not a trauma center or anything, though.” “That’s encouraging” Lisa said. When he gets back, how about if we bring the dogs in so you can check them out and start their files, and you both can meet Rick”. “LOL, better make it soon, or I might have to wait a few months to meet him” Angela said. “How far along are you?” Lisa asked. “I’m due in three weeks”. “Your first?” “Yes, we’re very excited” Carlos said. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, just ask” Lisa offered. “Thanks, that’s awfully kind” “Oh, thank you” they both said. “Oh, that’s not a problem at all, that’s what neighbors are for, right”? Lisa said.

They chatted for a few more minutes and then Angela said “we really should be going, it’s been great meeting you”. “Thanks, and don’t forget to call if I can help with anything” Lisa said. Carlos gave the dogs one more scratch and he got up and helped Angela to her feet, being 8 months pregnant makes that difficult. Lisa showed them to their pickup and they left. Lisa went back into the house, and started a light dinner for herself.

Rick’s first shift was pretty uneventful. There was a surge around 2AM with the usual morons getting drunk and driving, or getting into fights. A few were brought in by the police, they left the same way. Things slowed down around 5 AM and Rick was able to get a few hours sleep, these 24 hour shifts weren’t ever easy for him. He got up around 7AM, and brushed his teeth and shaved, and got some coffee (there are few true emergencies in the emergency department, but a broken coffee maker is first on the list).

Coffee in hand and most of his potential patients asleep or at least not waiting for him, Rick called Lisa and wished her a Happy New Years. She told him about the visitors yesterday, and that she hadn’t had any more information about the NEO. Rick said that he’d call later in the morning, and they hung up. He then had his last hospital breakfast and after returning to the ED, worked on charts between patients. He didn’t want any reason to return, once he left. Patients came into the ED in spurts, as normal, family angst causing the morning heart attacks, but once the televised parades were over, the pace picked up. Another lull during the bowl games, but as they ended, the numbers of “TV commandos” coming in with lacerations from punching mirrors or windows, or thrown drinking glasses or bottles, or strains and sprains from jumping off couches started to go way up, the typical New Years day in the ED. Along with these “seasonal” injuries, the usual sick and hurt patients came in too. It was almost 6 PM before he knew it, and his replacement was there.

As Rick signed over his last patients, he looked around. The medical school and hospital had been the second most important part of his life (after Lisa) for the last 14 years, almost as long as he’d been in the military, and he was a bit sad to go. Showering and changing back into street clothes, he put his scrubs (and the clean ones, in his box) and his lab coats into his bag, tossed his “doctor tools” on top, and walked out of the hospital, one last time.

Walking out to the truck, he debated if he should try driving home. He decided to drive out of Westwood and park at the Camping World in Newhall – he could get some sleep there, and Camping World was happy to have people staying in their parking lot. Back onto the -405 freeway north, to I-5 and off at Lyons, and a couple of turns before he was there. Getting out of the truck, Rick realized how tired he was. He called Lisa and checked in, and apologized for not calling earlier. Lisa knew that he’d call if he wasn’t busy, so she wasn’t too upset. “I got most of the stuff out of the shelter” Rick said. “I got everything but the concrete and the old furniture”. “Oh, well that’s not too important” Lisa said. “They’re both easy to replace”. “That’s what I thought, and since we’d be due to pay the rent for the year next month, why don’t we just write them a letter telling them we’re not going to renew? The cost of the furniture and concrete isn’t worth going back for them.” “OK, that sounds like a good idea. When are you going to be home”? “I’m going to get some non-hospital dinner if I can find someplace open, and then I’m going to get some sleep. I’m at the Camping World in Newhall, so I should be OK. I’ll call when I wake up, and I’ll leave the phone on if you need to call”. “OK my love”, Lisa said. “I miss you”. “I love you too, I’ll be home tomorrow” Rick said, and hung up. Walking out of the trailer, he didn’t see any of the nearby restaurants open. Rick was pretty tired, so he settled for a power bar out of his work bag, and some water, and he went to sleep.

The next morning, Rick woke up. While waiting for the water heater (which he hadn’t lit the night before) to warm up, he called Lisa and checked it, then he brushed his teeth and tidied up the trailer. Finally, he decided that a shave could wait, and he locked the trailer up and walked over to the nearby CoCo’s restaurant for breakfast. Returning to the trailer, he shaved, and then shut the heater and propane off, and headed home. This time though, he was listening to more news reports, both on the satellite radio and the AM. The NEO was becoming the hot news topic, with “Tragedy Radio” trying to make the most of it, even though they weren’t offering any new information. After awhile, he turned to some talk radio stations to see what people were talking about.

The conversations on talk radio were all about the NEO, with opinions wavering between religious retribution and the end of the world, with a number of people saying the government was either causing it, or responsible for not stopping it, naturally. After a couple of hours, Rick had heard enough. Fortunately he was well past Barstow. Pulling into Needles, he stopped and got a coffee refill for his travel mug and for a pit stop. He then got back on the freeway, and soon was over the Colorado River, and out of the PRK. He decided that he’d forgo his freedom stop in Toprock, and proceeded up the hill to Flagstaff. He stopped for fuel (filling the main tank and topping the auxiliary tank) at the truck stop, and then down the 17 to Sedona. He called Lisa when he turned off the freeway, and as he pulled into the “homestead” Lisa was waiting for him with the dogs, who were both yodeling their welcome. A kiss and a hug, and he was home.

They went inside, and Lisa offered to get him a drink. Being pretty tense, he asked for a scotch, which she poured. When she came out, she had her favorite, vodka on the rocks too. They sipped their drinks, and Rick noticed that she had poured the old McCallans. Rick noticed the scabs forming on her arm. “What happened to your arm, honey”? Rick asked. Lisa told him about her day, including the orders she made, the neighbors, and the information she had been able to get about the NEO. “It’s the major topic on the radio, both news and talk” Rick said. “Well, I can’t get any more information than what I had when I first told you, you’d think that as it got closer, NASA could better estimate the time and location it passes…or hits”. “Good point, sweetie. Either they can’t get better estimates for some reason, or the estimates they have aren’t good news. Is Paula at home? Maybe you could try calling again” Rick said. “No, she’s not home, I tried calling a little while ago”.

“So, what is our exposure, and what can we do about it” Rick asked. “Well, if the estimates are accurate, it will pass or hit in about 12 hours – 5AM our time” Lisa said. If it hits, it’s going to hurt, the question is how much, and where”. “Yeah, I bet” Rick laughed. “Didn’t Pournelle write about this scenario years ago”? “Yes, in “Lucifer’s Hammer”. I found our copy of it and re-read his description of the impact. I hope things aren’t that bad” Lisa said. “Well, if it’s going to hit nearby, there’s nothing much we can do about it. I doubt that if it was going to hit the US, the government would have been able to keep it secret, though. If it misses, no problem. If it hits somewhere else, it will make a hell of a mess but we should be safe here, at least for awhile. Why don’t we have dinner, and go to be early. We can get up around say, 3:30 and see what's happening from the basement?” Lisa came over and sat in Rick’s lap, with her arms around his neck. “Oh, and what would you like for dinner?” “Oh, anything, but I think you know what to serve for desert” Rick said, as he kissed her.

Neither Lisa nor Rick got much sleep that night. They both got up around 3 AM, and while Rick put on the coffee, Lisa checked the news. There was some unrest around the world, with various fringe groups, religious or political, claiming that it was the work of God, or Satan, or the US, or space aliens. There had been cases of mass suicide and homicide all over the world, and some terrorism blamed on the NEO in the rest of the world, including in Europe where the muslim populations in France, Germany and Denmark had used the excuse to run riot in their celebration of their “religion of peace”.

As 5AM rolled around, Rick was able to pick up some Ham radio operators around the world. Rick figured that eyewitness accounts would be as good as the news. They had the TV on, but had the volume down a bit, the talking heads blather was just too tough to take that early in the morning. Channel surfing, Rick found that most of the media was saying the same thing. He even checked the BBC, which was showing some garden show. One ham who said he was in Perth, Australia reported a very bright light moving overhead towards the West, very fast, and then went off the air or they lost reception. About that time, the news media started saying that they had reports of an impact west of Mumbai, India.

Rick turned to Lisa and asked “where is that”. “It’s Bombay, shhh.” was the response he got. Rick got the world map he kept, and unfolded it. Oh-oh, he thought. This can be very, very bad as he saw what was west of Mumbai. Lisa looked at the map, but she already had a pretty good idea of what it would show. They looked at each other, and said “Oh, Crap!”

Paradise, Chapter 3

January 3, 2007

Lisa and Rick stood in their basement, looking at each other. For the first time in their lives together, neither one knew what to do. The NEO impact in the North Arabian Sea west of Bombay (Mumbai), India was over in a second, but its impact would change the world forever. Scientists around the world were just beginning to analyze the radar and other data, which would show that the entire NEO hadn’t struck the earth, it had “calved” or broken into smaller pieces. Earth was lucky (or unlucky) enough to only be struck by one of the smaller pieces. A two-thousand foot diameter object would have had almost the same effects as the “dinosaur killer” 65-million years ago, that one was three-thousand or so feet in diameter.

However, the damage that a three-hundred foot diameter rock traveling at over thirty thousand miles per hour can do is still considerable. The rock ablated in the atmosphere to just over two hundred feet in size before it hit the ocean just northeast of the horn of Africa. The heat the rock had picked up in traveling through the atmosphere caused the near instantaneous vaporization of four cubic miles of sea water, creating clouds that raced into the upper troposphere and radiated out in all directions. The sun would not be shining on the blue planet for awhile, and the sunlight reflected by the clouds would lower the temperature over the surface of the earth. Goodbye, global warming.

The cooling effects were long term, but the most serious. Short term, the rock created tsunamis that destroyed most of the horn of Africa first. Most of the coastal areas of Somalia and Ethiopia, as well as Aden were gone. Tsunami damage extended as far south as Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and Madagascar. The many low-lying island nations in the eastern Indian Ocean were obliterated.

The wave shot up the Gulf of Oman and into the Persian Gulf, wiping out most of the oil rigs and oil terminals there. The Gulf States and Kuwait mostly didn’t exist any more. Most of the populated areas of Saudi Arabia and the costal cities of Iran and Iraq were destroyed with the waves, which created waves that exceeded four hundred feet and traveled at more than five hundred miles an hour, as fast as a jet airliner.

To the east, the port of Karachi, Pakistan was wiped out, and the waves traveled as far as the western coast of India. The impact of the rock hitting the sea floor also triggered massive earthquakes in the area, some of which generated secondary tsunamis, but they didn’t matter – there was no one left to die.

Rick and Lisa watched and listened to the news with horror. Rioting broke out in the cities in India and Pakistan that weren’t damaged by the tsunami. Governments around the world weren’t making any announcements, possibly waiting for the US to lead the way. In the US, the President and his staff were receiving briefings from the military, the CIA and talking to the Russians. The information didn’t help, nobody could figure out what was going on anywhere. The president got the status of all the US military units in the world, and tried to find out how many US Servicemen were exposed, and if possible, get their status. “Are there any satellite assets we can use to see what's going on?” The President asked. “No, Sir. The clouds are preventing visual imaging, and they’re so thick, we aren’t getting anything via IR. The radar data is completely off the charts, they’re trying to make sense of it now. The analysts are saying it looks like the baseline data they use is all wrong now” said the director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

The Director of National Intelligence concurred. “We don’t have anything we can use” John Negroponte said. “We’re getting some strange activity from the area on the intercept birds, though. It looks like the Pakistanis and the Indians are both stepping up their nuclear weapons alert status”. “What the hell?” the President said. “Haven’t they had enough death yet? Anyway, let’s find out the status of our troops in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, and do what we can to get them home”.

“Mr. President, what about our commitments to the countries in the region?” Condi Rice asked. “Condi, I think you know what happens. We have to take care of our own, and the Middle East doesn’t exist anymore. Contact the Israelis, they should be relatively safe except maybe at Elat, give them a heads-up, although they probably already know”. Turning to General Pace, he said “Peter, lets increase to DEFCON-3, all units. Do what you can for the troops in the area, and lets start getting them home, including from Europe, and lets figure out how to deploy them along the borders – both of them.” “Yes, Mr. President” was the only reply from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Turning to the Director of Homeland Security, the President said “Secretary Chertoff, I want to put a stop to all exports of EVERYTHING, for the time being. We don’t know what we’ll need here at home. First and foremost, no food or energy exports at all. I also want the borders closed tightly; work with the DoD if you need to”. “Mr. President, we can’t use the military on the border” Chertoff said. “Posse Comitatus”. The President turned to Alberto Gonzalez with a look. The Attorney General said “That’s not true, Mr. President. The actual border with Mexico is a sixty-foot wide strip of federal land. Using the military is legal. Not only that, but this is national security matter”.


Finally, after three or four hours of watching the end of the world as they knew it, Rick and Lisa needed a break. They needed a break from the disaster, and there was no immediate threat to them. They went upstairs to the house, and put a new pot of coffee on. Lisa got some cereal and milk out, and they had a little breakfast. As they finished, a gasoline delivery truck pulled up. Rick went out and met the driver.

“Hi there”, the driver said. “Did you folks order some gasoline?” Rick couldn’t quite believe what he heard but he said “sure, let me show you were the tanks are”. A few minutes later, they had 700 gallons of gasoline in their new tanks, and Rick signed for the fuel. As he was handing the clipboard back to the driver, Rick noticed the truck didn’t have a radio. The driver listened to what looked like an I-pod for entertainment. “How does that Ipod work out for you?” Rick asked. “Oh, pretty good – the boss doesn’t spring for radios in his trucks, and this way I can still get my tunes” said the driver. Rick treated the fresh gas with a quart and a half of Pri-G between the two tanks, circulated the fuel to mix it in, and then walked back to the house.

“Lisa, I can’t believe how lucky we are. The fuel truck driver must not have heard what's happening, or didn’t care. We’re up to full on both our fuel tanks, and that may be all we have for quite a while”. “With the loss of the middle east, the world is in bad shape” Lisa said. “The loss will hit Europe and the Far East hardest. Japan and China are both very dependent on oil from the Persian Gulf. I wonder what India and the Paks are going to do”.

“They’re on their own, I’m afraid” Rick said. “We need to figure out what to do here, now”. “What do you think the affects will be?” Lisa asked. “Aside from the loss of the ME oil, I have no idea. It won’t be good. In the mean time, what were we going to do to improve our situation here? Are we missing anything we can get?” Rick said. “Let me look” Lisa replied, reaching for her Palm Pilot. “The only thing I had on the list for today was picking up the frozen meat from the butcher. We should probably go to Costco and wherever, and buy more food and supplies”. Rick said “I also want to get some hand tools and some other things.

“Like what” Lisa asked. “Everything we need, that we can think of. I also want to see if there’s a chemical supply store in Prescott, and see if we can pick up some drums of methanol and some potassium hydroxide. I think we may be making biodiesel before we’re done.” “Oh. Oh, right” Lisa said, thinking it through. “Let’s get ready, and we can go. Lets take the pickup with the flatbed trailer, that way we’ll have room for everything. I can work on the list while you drive”. “I guess the flatbed would be better, I was thinking of the toy hauler” Rick said. “But, I want to get some large items so the flatbed will be easier. Good thinking” Rick said as he hugged Lisa. “They don’t have a chance against us together” Rick said.

Rick went to their safe and removed the cash they kept inside, and split it between a couple of pockets, and then pulled out a roll of silver quarters, and a roll of silver dimes. “Let’s put as much of what we buy on our credit cards, this is just in case we need them”. He also decided to carry his backup handgun, and an extra pair of magazines for the Glock-21 (which would also fit the -30). When Lisa saw that, she reached for her backup, and changed her spare mags for the -21 magazines. Rick went and hitched up the flatbed to the pickup, and they started to drive to Prescott.

“Lisa, call the butcher, and see if he’s open today, and when we can pick up our meat, please” Rick asked as they drove. A minute later, Lisa reported that the butcher was open for business like normal, and said he’d be there until 5 PM. “Great, maybe he’s not worried. I am” Rick said. While they were driving, Lisa worked on the list, and the two of them “brainstormed” items to add to it, calling out all sorts of items. Lisa had brought the three-ring binder that they kept their inventories in, and occasionally would look up an item. They added things that were from the impacted areas that they thought might be in short supply, spices mostly, in large sizes, and more food staples. After doing this for 45 minutes or so, Rick asked Lisa to start another list, for things that he would pick up. Thinking of how the Costco was laid out (and they’re all laid out the same, it seems, even in other countries) Rick had Lisa put dry-cell batteries, water filters, and the like on the new list, then wet cell batteries, engine oil and such.

Once they were at the Costco, they were a bit surprised to not see it packed – just normal weekday morning business, they thought. Exchanging a look, Lisa asked “are we over reacting?” “I hope so” was Rick’s answer. “But, we’re not buying anything we wouldn’t use anyway. Worst case, this is our last trip to Costco for a couple of years, and there’s nothing wrong with that” he laughed. Inside the store, they split up, each taking a flatbed truck, instead of a shopping cart. Rick went to the non-food side, as Lisa started down the isles that had the toiletries.

Rick finished first, barely able to push his cart with the load on it. He had the simpler job, though. He found a place to stash his loaded flatbed for a bit, and went to look for Lisa. She was about three-quarters through the food side of the store, and struggling to push and control the flatbed. Rick took over pushing, and they finished pretty quickly. As they reached the end of the store and Rick pushed the cart around, Lisa said “wait a second” and went to pick up dog biscuits. She came back barely holding four boxes at once, and Rick said “stay here, I’ll go get some more”.

When they got Lisa’s cart up to the register, Rick got his. Standing in line, they drew a few stares at the size of their purchases. The cashier gave them a look too, as Rick handed his card over. It took the cashier over 10 minutes to tally everything, and the “box boy” (what are they called in these politically correct days, “transport packaging engineers”?) barely was able to keep up. The load was easier to manage though, with the smaller items packed in overboxes. Rick swallowed hard as he handed over his American Express card, knowing that the bill came due at the end of the month. He wondered if it would this month.

Loading the flatbed trailer, they next went to the Petsmart store. Lisa went in and bought ten fifty-pound bags of Eukanuba dog food, and some other items for Laulu and Kattu. Rick stayed out with the truck, and they each had an FRS radio in their pocket. The next stop was an industrial supply store, where Rick went looking for cans of methanol and potassium hydroxide. He was able to buy four five-gallon cans of methanol, but the store would only sell him two 18oz bottles of “Red Devil Lye” drain cleaner. It seems that it’s used to make crystal meth, and was controlled these days. Rick stopped by a paint store and bought some cans of kerosene, and some more lye, and then they stopped to check the list.

“How are we doing, sweetie?” Rick asked. Lisa had been keeping track of their progress; she had even added the items they bought on, that hadn’t been on the list when they started. “We’re doing OK, I guess. We still need to go to the butcher, but other than that I guess we’re ok.” “Alright, I want to stop by the Home Depot, and get some more hand tools – wood cutting and splitting things, and maybe another chain saw”. “What about this store across the street there?” Lisa asked, pointing. “It says “Stihl”, they probably have what you want”. Rick looked, and “D’oh!” was all he said, as he got out of the truck.

The proprietor of the store came up and offered to help Rick. Rick explained that he already had a 16” Stihl chainsaw, and he wanted to get a couple of extra chains for it, plus get a larger saw – a 20”, maybe. “Do you know what model you have now?” the proprietor asked. “I think it’s a -250”. “OK, that’s one of the “occasional use” models, do you want something similar to that? “No, when I was using it, it seemed to be occasionally struggling” Rick said. The proprietor showed him a few different models, and Rick left the store with an MS390, with 16, 20 and 24” bars and spare chains for each. He also had two sets of Kevlar chaps and two of those funny helmets with the hearing protection and screen face guards, bar protectors, spare parts, oil, and a “Stihl” baseball cap. He also picked up a few spares for his original chainsaw, a couple of full-sized axes, splitting wedges and mauls, and some other tools.

Rick noticed that the new saw had a little gas in it, and when he asked, the proprietor said “When the shop is slow, I have our mechanic take the more popular models in stock, and get them ready – at the elevations we’re at the carbs need to be adjusted. We also check the rest of the saw out. That way we can deliver the saw immediately. Or, if you prefer, I can pull one from stock and we can adjust it while you wait, or deliver it to you, or you can come back for it”. “No, that’s fine, and believe me, I appreciate your service” Rick told him. “I think you’ll be getting all my small engine business. I also have a Kohler gas generator, if you work on them”. “We do, although we don’t see many of those except in RV’s” the store owner said. “No, this is a stand-alone 5KVA cast iron generator”. “Those are great machines, they run at 1800 rpm and aside from an occasional sparkplug, run forever” the store owner said. “Well, you’re right, but if I ever need anything for it, you’ll be first on my list” Rick said, shaking his hand.

After Rick and the proprietor had loaded everything into the back of the truck and Rick got in, Lisa asked “do you know how to use all that stuff?” Rick answered “Yes, but I got some protective equipment for you, too!” “Rick, I don’t know how to use a chain saw! They scare me”. “Good!” Rick said. “They scare me too. Don’t ever get complacent. Now, time for your first chain saw lesson, repeat after me: “Stihl”. Laughing, Lisa said “stuhl”. “Close enough. Stihl is the first thing you need to know about chainsaws, they make the best. Husquvarna is good to, but those seem to be the brands that professionals use, not any others. They must know what works, and lasts”. “Well, things are going to have to be pretty tough for me to start cutting trees down” Lisa said. “I know, but it’s always good to know how. Maybe not for felling trees, but for cutting wood for the fireplace or stove. Or, having a spare in case one breaks, or if someone else wants to use it.” Rick said.

“Oh, OK” Lisa said, thinking about “boys and their toys”. “What did all that cost us, though?” “Oh, it was all free” Rick said. “What!” “Yep, it was all free. I did pay a bit over a thousand dollars for this neato baseball cap, though. The stuff was free with the hat” Rick laughed. Lisa tried to tickle him, for that. “Anything else on the list, sweetie” Rick asked, trying to avoid both Lisa and the dogs.

Lisa gave up trying to tickle Rick and returned to her list. “All I can think of is the trip to the butcher”. “Ok, then just one more thing – back to the paint store, and then to the Home Depot. I want to get some five-gallon buckets with lids, and some five-gallon fuel cans. We can make some caches with the buckets, and get some gas and diesel, too”. “I thought you used PVC pipe for caching” Lisa asked. “For long items, sure. But a 5-gallon bucket does just as well”. A couple of more quick stops, and they were on the road.

Listening to the radios, the news of the disaster was similar to that of the tsunami in 2004. Coverage was about the death and destruction in India and the Horn of Africa, and not a word about the world-wide implications of the damage to the Persian Gulf. Lisa said “they’re not telling us anything”, Rick agreed with her. He thought it was unusual though, that the media wasn’t falling all over itself with their usual analysis (which, he thought, was frequently wrong). “I suppose that trying to warn people would be pointless” Lisa said. “They have access to the same information as we did, Lisa. They’re just not paying attention, and if they don’t pay attention to the news, why would they believe us?”

In Sedona they found the butcher, and bought the meat. The Butcher was a little busier than usual today, he said, but didn’t think anything about it. Rick paid for the meat with his AMEX card. This being Sedona, it didn’t raise an eyebrow. Rick pulled the truck around to the back of the store so they wouldn’t have to carry the thousand pounds of meat. Driving through Sedona on the way home, Rick suddenly stopped the truck.

He had seen a four-wheel ATV parked out on someone’s lawn, with a “for sale” sign on it. He said, “we could use a couple of those” he said. Knocking on the door, a man came out and Rick said “Hi there, I was wondering about that ATV there”. “Well, it’s a Polaris, I bought it in 2004, it’s 4x4, and I want $3200 for it”. “Mind if I try it?” Rick asked. “Nope, let me get the key”. Rick went out to the machine and was soon joined by the owner. Rick took the key, and started the machine after the owner pointed out the start button. He figured out the controls, and drove it around a bit. “Seems pretty good” Rick said, “Do you have the manuals, spare parts, whatever?” “Yeah, I have that stuff, I keep the spares in the trailer”. “Trailer?” “Oh, yeah – I didn’t mention that, did I? It comes with a utility trailer you can tow behind it. I was meaning on bringing the trailer out too”. “Let’s take a look at that trailer” Rick said. They went into the garage, and Rick saw the trailer in the same mossy-oak camouflage pattern as the ATV was. Reaching into one of his pockets, Rick pulled out a stack of hundred-dollar bills, and started counting. “How about $3000, cash?” Rick said. “Deal!” the man said. “Let me go get a bill of sale for it”. “Help me with the trailer, and I’ll load it on my flatbed while you do” Rick said.

Rick and Lisa tried muscling the trailer onto the flatbed, but were having trouble. Rick said “Hang on a second, lets try this differently”. He attached the trailer, and then drove the ATV and trailer onto the flatbed, after they moved a few of their purchases. Rick got the last of his tie-down straps out of the pickups tool box, and secured the front of the ATV, the hitch and the rear of the trailer down. The man came out with a large manila envelope, and a signed bill-of-sale. Here’s the paperwork, and here’s the bill of sale – just fill in your name and whatnot, I’ve signed it already”. Rick checked the bill of sale, comparing the serial number on it to the one on the ATV, and looking in the envelope saw the original receipt with serial number, in the same name as the bill of sale. “Mr. Higgins, thanks very much” he said, walking to the truck. Handing the envelope to Lisa, he said “one more stop”.

On the way out of town, they passed a store that sold ATVs and related equipment. Rick went in and compared the one he bought to new models, he figured he saved about half getting a slightly used one. He bought himself a helmet and snow-mobile suit, and after talking to the mechanic the store had, bought a few spare parts including a carb kit, control cables, and two sets of tire chains. Carrying the items to the truck, he showed Lisa the suit and helmet, and said that she should go in and get similar items.

Finally out of town and on the way home, Lisa did a little figuring. “Well, we spent close to $15,000 dollars today”. “I know, but it’s all stuff we either really needed, or can really use” Rick said. We both should be getting our retirement checks in the mail today or tomorrow, plus my next to last check for working in LA over Christmas. Both will help, at least a little. Plus, if all of this blows over, we still have the supplies, and we’ll both be able to work.” And, if we did it right, we won’t have to go shopping for months!” Lisa laughed. “I hope so.” Rick said.

They finally got home, without spending any more money, and after unstrapping the ATV they parked it in the workshop. They managed to almost fill up the chest freezer with the meat from the butcher plus the items Lisa had bought at Costco, and Rick put the items he wanted away – the dry cell batteries in the refrigerators freezer, the automotive parts in the workshop, along with the new chain saw. Finally, they sat down to a late lunch, and turned on the TV. The news was more of the same, no real information. Lisa tried calling Paula, but didn’t get an answer. She spent the next couple of hours surfing the ‘net, and finally stumbled on an idea to check the status of some of the countries, she tried going to the websites for the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai. She wasn’t able to get through to any of these sites, with her web browser just timing out. Pulling up her Palm Pilot desktop, she looked up the phone numbers of some “locals” she worked with while she was in theater, and tried to dial them. All she got was a recorded message saying that all circuits were busy.

Rick came back into the house, and Lisa noticed that it had started snowing. “It’s gotten cold out there, too” Rick said. He went over to the outside thermometer they had installed outside the door to the deck and Rick was surprised to see that the temperature had dropped to 10oF, very cold for Sedona. Normally, the weather would get down to the mid-twenties. Lisa, still at the computer, checked the weather forecast. Yesterday, the forecast was for temperatures in the low-thirties for the next week, now they were forecasting temperatures in the low –twenties. She showed Rick. Rick went around the house and checked to make certain that everything was closed, and checked the solar power system. The batteries were OK, but Rick new that he’d have to make certain to clear the snow off the panels tomorrow. With a double-envelope house, the heat from their fireplace and insert was able to keep the entire house warm all night long, and Rick had enough wood put up for a couple of normal years, anyway. They only used the propane for cooking and water heating, and had enough to last a lifetime.

Lisa made dinner, and they sat down to eat. As they ate mostly in silence, each was wondering how much longer they’d be able to enjoy fresh vegetables in the winter, and fruits from the far corners of the world. Clearing the dishes, Rick asked if Lisa wanted to watch TV, or a movie. Lisa said “we hardly got any sleep last night, lets just go to sleep”. The last day of the world as they knew it ended. What would the new world be?

While they slept, the other side of the world started their second day of horror. The few survivors in some areas had no food, no water, or anything else. The remaining governments, in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan were in turmoil. In Pakistan, the titular President was shot and killed, and a coup took over. These islamofascists were going to strike out at unbelievers everywhere – their citizens who had died and would continue to die did so “insh-allah, or by allah’s will. In Pakistan, the new head of the government had just finished giving instructions to the head of Pakistan’s nuclear missiles: “Brother, you understand what must be done?” “Yes, it will take but an hour or two to be fully ready”. Looking at a clock, they agreed “11 o’clock, then”.

The weather in the entire area had turned violent. Monsoon rains in India were heavier than anyone had ever seen. The clouds generated by the impact had broken over the Himalayas and rain was pouring down in Nepal, Tibet and across southern China. Rain rapidly filled the streams and rivers in China, and finally, water was pouring into the reservoirs which were nearly full, anyway. The “plan” called for the spillways be closed this time of the year, and the workers at the dam followed the plan. Water filled up faster than the overflows could handle, and with a sudden near explosion, one dam failed.

Five million people downstream had no warning, and no chance. The workers in the dam that could have given the warning were drowned, and would have needed to call Beijing to get permission to give a warning, anyway. It took twelve hours, but when the water from the first dam reached the Yangtze, the added pressure and volume caused the historic “three gorges” dam to first fill, two years ahead of schedule, and then fail. There were more than two hundred million people who died, downstream from three gorges.

India was aware of the actions of the Pakistanis. Over the years they had been able to place agents in non-sensitive posts, at some of the Pakistani missile sites. India decided to preemptively attack Pakistan, and was able to launch a half-dozen nuclear missiles towards Pakistan.

Unfortunately, Pakistan had managed to launch their missiles before India. Missiles crossing in space must have been an interesting sight. Pakistan effectively ceased to exist at all as fifty-kiloton warheads detonated over Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and three over Islamabad, the capital. One missile went off course, and crashed into the ocean without the warhead detonating.

Pakistan was not as discerning. With over 120 missiles with nuclear warheads, they launched all of them, at every target they could reach. Thirty of the missiles were the four-thousand kilometer range Tipu, the same missile the North Koreans called the Tae Dong-2. Those were reserved for southern India and the godless Chinese. They couldn’t quite reach all of China, but they could reach most of China’s nuclear weapons silos.

The missile turned out to be better than the warhead. Of the thirty Tipu missiles launched, 27 were on target. Only 20 of those missiles had effective warheads, however. The other warheads either failed completely, or “fizzled”, a low-order detonation that was effective only in spreading nuclear material across the area.

China was slow in detecting the incoming missiles, due to the degradation of their warning systems due to the rains. With little time to sort out the data, the decision was made to launch everything, at wherever it was already targeted. Fifty-two surviving Ju Lang (Great Wave) 2 ICBMs, with a 7,500 nautical mile range left their silos, headed for Russia, Ukraine, Japan, and the United States. The Ju Lang 2 carries a 2.5 megaton thermonuclear warhead, and can reach targets throughout Europe, Russia, and North America. The Dong Feng (East Wind) 2 missiles, just entering active service, were also fired, in one last spasm of the former Chinese government. The DF-2 also could reach the US, and carried a 3 megaton warhead. It also had a CEP (Circular Error Probable, or the chances that 50% of the missiles will land at the target) of less than 300 meters. The other 50% can land anywhere.

Say what you will about the $50 or 100 trillion dollars the US has spent on defense since the end of World War II, when you spend money like that, you get what you paid for (and over-spec’d coffee makers, too). The US space-based nuclear detection systems detected all the missile launches, despite the cloud cover. At the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center controllers saw the blooms from the missile exhausts and immediately started calculating trajectories. The senior controller opened his binder, and following the checklist he picked up the telephone handset on the side of his console. The decision to call the President was always hard, even harder when it was 3 AM in DC and you would be waking him.

“Mr. President, this is Lt Col Abernathy, I’m the duty controller at Cheyenne Mountain” he said. “We have confirmed, multiple launches from Pakistan and India, trajectories are looking like in theater – wait, there are some missiles headed for China, Mr. President”.

“Are there any headed for the US, Colonel Abernathy?” The President asked. “No, Mr. President, not at…wait one second please, sir”. More launches were being detected, from China this time. “Mr. President, we’re now getting confirmed missile launch indicators from China”. “Where are they going, Colonel” the President asked. “Mr. President, we’re calculating that now – we have indications that they are targeted towards India, Pakistan, Russia, France, Britain, and … Mr. President, we have incoming missiles towards the United States.” “Have you confirmed that, Colonel Abernathy?” asked the President. “Yes, Mr. President, we’ve conducted a reliability test on our equipment, and we have launch indications from multiple sources, space and ground based now. Trajectory analysis will take a few more minutes, sir”.

“Thank you, Colonel, God Bless you” the President said, as the head of the US Secret Service presidential detail ran into the room. “Mister President, we have to go NOW! he shouted, as he grabbed the President. NEACP is waiting” Plans that had been refined over 50 years, occasionally tested (without the actual president) and that nobody had ever expected to use, were being put into action for the first time. The President picked up the phone which connected to not only Cheyenne Mountain but all of the US militaries combat commands, and ordered DEFCON-One as he was hustled out of the White House. “My family” he asked nobody in particular. “They’re on the way to NEACP the head of the detail said, pronouncing it “knee-cap”. As the President was hustled along, he thought “it’s called the NAOC (National Airborne Operations Center) now”.

The President was almost thrown into Marine-1 and flown to Andrews Air Force Base, where the “doomsday plane” was waiting, engines running. Other White House staff members were loaded into other helicopters, and limos were dispatched to the homes of those asleep, but once the EA-4B aircraft, a converted Boeing 747-200B had the President aboard, it took off. Slow staff members would get a ride out of Washington on SAM 29000, the call sign that “Air Force One” had when the President wasn’t aboard, if they were quick enough.

Paradise Chapter 4

Rick was having that nightmare again. Funny, he hadn’t had it in years He was back in Germany, and pulling alert in his F4 Phantom II, ready to turn what was then called East Germany or Czechoslovakia into a glass-paved parking lot, and he was nice and warm in his rack in the Victor Alert area when the alert horn went off, jarring him from whatever kind of sleep he could get. There goes the light, he thought – and someone was jarring the bed. Must be Ken, his WSO, the jerk. This time though, there was something different, the noise was different, dogs were barking.

Rick jarred awake, and sure enough, the dogs were barking and the bed was moving. Sedona seemed to be experiencing a moderate earthquake. Rick looked out the window, and it was bright, but the shadows were all wrong. The ground stopped moving, and Rick tried to calm the dogs as Lisa started to wake. Suddenly, Rick’s head cleared, and he jumped up out of bed and ran to the window. There, in the west, was a sight he’d only seen on the movie screen or on TV, a growing mushroom cloud in the distance, the actinic light he had noticed fading but the cloud generating lighting. Rick sat down heavily on the floor, dazed.

Lisa jumped up and saw the top of the cloud, her mouth open in horror. Rick stood up, and hugged Lisa.

“We need to get dressed, sweetheart, and down to the basement” Rick said. “Right now”.

Lisa just stood there, trembling. Rick wanted to scream, to hold his wife, curl up into the fetal position, anything that would snap him out of this nightmare.

“Lisa, NOW!” Rick yelled, as he shook her. She jarred awake, and grabbing some clothes, got dressed.

“Lisa, get the dogs, and go down into the basement. I’m going to make sure the house is secure, and I’ll be right down”

“No, what about the fallout?” Lisa asked.

“We have time, go down into the basement and unpack the meters. Put some batteries in them”. Over the years, Rick had acquired a couple of old civil defense V-777 kits, and some modern lab instruments. Rick finished dressing, and followed Lisa into the hallway. He went around the house, and closed all the roll-up shutters over the windows, in case there was going to be any blast effects.

Rick grabbed a container of dog food that should last a month or so, and carried it downstairs. Lisa had unpacked one of their V-777 kits, and was putting a D-cell battery into the V-717 survey meter. Rick grabbed the bottom half of the meter and the cable spool and went upstairs. After putting on his parka and checking that his surefire was in the pocket, he went outside.

“First things first” he thought, and unwound the cable from the spool. He attached one end of the cable to the ion chamber and wrapped a plastic bag around the whole thing, tying the end closed with some tape. He then fed the other end of the cable down a plastic conduit near the foundation of the house. When he had the house built, he had a few extra conduits installed, some with pull-strings, but this one was almost straight through to the basement. A weather head made by bending the conduit, and a piece of cloth as a stopper on the top end kept water out. Rick sat the ion chamber on the extension of the deck, and a couple of wraps with the tape and it was secured. Snow was covering everything, and it was very, very cold – below zero, Rick thought. He went back into the house and grabbed a pair of Nomex flight gloves, they gave him excellent dexterity and provided a bit of protection, too.

Next, Rick secured the workshop as well as he could. He was sorry that he didn’t have time to improve the workshop, but there were a lot of people who were sorry this morning, he thought. There wasn’t much he could do now. The vehicles were as good as they could be, and if there was going to be any blast wave, it would have passed by now. One last stop, and he brushed the snow off the solar panels – he hoped that there hadn’t been sufficient EMP to damage them, but since the lights were on in the house, he figured that they dodged that bullet.

Rick was walking back towards the house, staring at the dissipating cloud to the west. He was almost back at the house when he noticed a truck pulling up the driveway.

“WTF”, he thought to himself. “Who could that be”? Rick checked his pistol in his waistband, and waited, near cover. The truck stopped near the house, and a man jumped out.

“Help me!” the man cried. “It’s my wife!”

Staying behind cover, Rick shouted “Who are you?”

“I’m Carlos Aguilar, the Veterinarian. My wife is in labor, and something is wrong. Help us!” he shouted.

Rick stepped out and went over to see what was going on. Sure enough, a woman was in active labor. Rick thought he didn’t need to go to medical school to figure that out.

“Dial 9-1-1” he called out.

“We tried, the phones are out at our place – the cellphones too” Carlos said.

“OK, what's your name?” Rick asked the woman/

“A – A, Angleaaa” she screamed.

OK, Angela, my name is Rick. I’m a doctor. I’ll try and help you. How far apart are the pains”?

“Less than two minutes”, Carlos said.

“OK, let’s get her into the basement” Rick said. He went over to the workshop, and using his surefire light found what he needed in a pile of stuff he’d never gotten around to sorting through after the movers had emptied the garage at the old house. He came out carrying a backboard, and set it on the door sill in the pickup truck.

“Carlos, hold the other end of the board, level” Rick said. “I’m going to move your wife onto the board. Push in on the end, too”.

Rick checked the position of the board, and waiting for Angela to finish a contraction, slid her onto the board and helped her lay down. She was panting, and didn’t look good.

“Is this your first child?” Rick asked.

“Yes” Carlos said.

“OK, Carlos. We’re going to carry the board to the house. Watch your step on the snow, and go slowly”.

They carried Angela to the house and onto the deck. Carefully negotiating the stairs, they went inside and Rick closed the door. Lisa came running up the stairs, and asked what was going on.

“Lisa, go get a bed or a stretcher ready for Angela. Get a medical kit, and the Oxygen out. Warm a blanket. And try dialing 9-1-1”. Rick said.

“On it” Lisa said, and turned and ran down the stairs again. That was just one thing Rick loved about her, when it mattered, no questions or problems.

“OK, we’re not going to be able to carry her on the board down the stairs. Lets set the board down” Rick said. He was sorry he hadn’t sorted out that pile of stuff in the workshop; he had a folding stretcher-chair in there, somewhere. A regular chair would do, though. “Carlos, I’m going to get a chair for her, wait here.” He ran down the stairs to the basement, and grabbed the first folding chair he found and took it upstairs. “Help me move her to the chair”. They were able to maneuver her into the chair, and Rick and Carlos were able to carry Angela in a sitting position, down to the basement.

They carried Angela down the stairs, and found that Lisa already had a bed laid out, with an OB kit open next to it. She was scrambling for the green oxygen pack. After getting Angela down on the bed and removing her robe and gown, Rick moved her into the lithotomy position (err, think stirrups) and grabbed a head lamp and put it on. He also put on a pair of exam gloves. Turning to Angela, he saw that she was fully dilated and effaced.

“OK, someone, grab a towel and get ready. This baby is going to be born, now”.

Rick helped the baby’s head deliver, and grabbing a suction bulb, cleaned the babies mouth and nose. Lisa set up the oxygen tank, and put a nasal cannula on Angela.

Supporting the babies head, figured out what the holdup was – shoulder distocia, where the babies shoulder was “hung up” on the pubic bone. Reaching in, he was able to pop the shoulder free, and the baby nearly fell into his hands. Rick grabbed the towel from Carlos and wrapped the baby (a boy, Rick noted) up, and gave it a good rub. The baby started crying, right away, Rick was happy to note. He clamped, and then cut, the umbilical cord.

Looking at his watch, Rick noted the time, and then wondered if it would matter. Time of birth was very important for birth certificates, but Rick wondered if society would bother with such niceties for a long, long time. Rick checked the 1-minute APGAR (appearance (color, and perfusion), pulse, grimace (response to stimulation), activity (muscle tone) and respirations), and gave the kid an 8 out of 10, good enough. He handed the baby to Lisa, who had a warm washcloth to wipe it off with.

Rick massaged the fundus of Angelas uterus, and felt the placenta loosen. He delivered it soon after and checked that it was complete, happy to note that it was. He placed a pad between Angelas legs, and stripping off his gloves, checked Angelas vitals – she was tired, but doing fine. Carlos was holding her hand very tightly, and Rick reached over and loosened Carlos’ hand, her hand pinked right up with the circulation. Rick put another pair of gloves on, and went to the baby.

Lisa had done a good job cleaning the baby up; she already had him in a little diaper. It must have been in the OB kit. Rick reached for his stethoscope, and realized that he should have kept a peds scope handy – his Littman Master Cardiology had a head about as big as the babies’ hand. Listening as best as he could, he didn’t notice anything significant, and noted that the baby was already producing urine – a good thing. He scaled the baby as a ten on the five minute APGAR rating, perfect. Picking up the baby, he handed it to Angela and returned to her.

Angela started nursing the baby, and Rick decided he could sit down for a moment. He realized he was sweating heavily, since he still had his parka zipped up, he figured that must be it – it couldn’t be that he really hadn’t handled a delivery in years. He unzipped the parka and took a deep breath, and looked at his “patients”.

Rick stood up, and shrugged off the parka. It would need to be washed before he could wear it again, he decided. He got a drink of water, and remembered what had taken him outside in the first place. Going over to the conduit he fed the cable into, he reached up and pulled the end of the cable down. He connected it to the top half of the V-717 meter and turned it on. It wasn’t reading anything significant, on the x1 scale, he was happy to note.

“Congratulations”, Lisa said. How long has it been since you’d done one?

“Residency, I think” Rick laughed. “At a teaching hospital, the OB residents almost always handle them”.

Rick went over and saw that mother and baby were sleeping, and both doing fine. Dad was watching over them, oblivious until Rick touched his arm.

“They both seem to be fine” Rick told him. “Why don’t you come over here for a moment?”

Carlos stood up, and Rick led him to another corner of the basement. “Excuse me while I wash up” Rick said. He went into the basement bathroom, and ran some water. He washed up, and turning the hot water off, splashed some cold water on his face. Drying off with a towel, he turned to Carlos.

“Hi, Carlos, I’m Rick” he said, holding out his hand. Carlos shook his hand, and said
“I’m sorry, I’m Carlos. Thanks very much for helping us. The earthquake or whatever woke us and Angela went into labor right away, and progressed very fast.”

“Carlos, it wasn’t an earthquake. A nuke detonated west of here, a fair distance away – one hundred miles or so, I’d say.” Carlos sat down, hard.

“A nuke? Who? Why?

“I don’t know. I don’t care, and I don’t think it matters right now. What matters is you and your wife and your baby” Rick told him – a bit harder than he might under other circumstances, but these weren’t those other circumstances.

Carlos looked a little shocked, and blinked a couple of times. “Are you sure it was a nuke?” he asked.

“As sure as I can be, until that meter starts clicking. That really bright light in the west at 4 AM wasn’t the sunset” Rick said. “Come on, would you like some coffee?” Lisa had put a pot on. “How do you take it?”

Carlos looked at Rick, and around the room at Lisa and Angela, and the baby – his baby. His son. Tears came to his eyes, and he stood up. “Who are you people?” he asked.

“I told you, my name is Rick, and you’ve already met my wife, Lisa, I understand” Rick said.

“Yes, but…who are you guys” Carlos asked again.

“Like I said, I’m an emergency physician. Lisa and I recently moved here, after living in Los Angeles. I’ve been sort of a “survivalist” all my life, and I guess I convinced Lisa after we married. I was a fighter pilot in the Air Force before I went to medical school, and I learned quite a lot about nuclear weapons – usually the delivery end, though. What’s your story?” Rick wanted Carlos to start thinking about his family.

“Ahh, my name is Carlos Aguilar. I’m a veterinarian. I’ve lived in this area all my life, my family has lived in the area for at least six generations – Angelas’, too. We’ve been married for eight years. This is our first baby”.

“You have a fine son there. I can’t weigh him just yet, or measure him, but all the right parts are there” Rick said. “What will you name him?”

“We had decided on “Daniel”

“OK, Daniel it is”. Rick reached for a pad of paper, and started a basic “chart” for Daniel. He noted the time and place of birth, and the other important information.

Carlos asked, “What are you doing that for?”

“Partly force of habit, I guess. Also, part of it is so I have a record, in case I need to remember something. And part, in case you sue me” Rick said.

With that last crack, Carlos started laughing so hard, Rick thought he might need to put him on oxygen. With that, he went over and checked Angela, and decided to shut off the oxygen for a bit, and check her oxygen saturation on room air. Rick clamped the pulse oximeter to her finger and confirmed it went on, and let it stabilize. Her saturation (SPO2) was 96% on room air, good enough at this elevation, he thought. He removed the cannula, and set it on top of the oxygen tank.

While he was doing this, Carlos came over and sat next to Angela. Lisa brought over a folding chair for him to sit on, and Rick decided to leave them be. He got his coffee cup, and got a pad of paper and a pencil from a desk. He wrote the date and time hours down the left side margin, and wrote “X-factor”, then “Reading” at the top of the column. He explained to Lisa “This is to keep track of the outside radiation readings. Hopefully we won’t need it. But, if we get any fallout, we need to keep track of when it peaks, then we can determine how long we need to stay sheltered”.

“Right, the 7/10 rule” Lisa said. I remember that from some shelter management course I took in the Air Force. Once it peaks, we wait a little over two weeks and the radiation should go down by a factor of 1000”

“That’s right, but we need to keep track regularly. The reading may go up again, and then we’d have to start all over again. Good thing we have a lot of food down here, even with our patients”. Looking at his wristwatch, Rick noted the time – almost 11 AM. He noted that down on his chart, and wrote the reading of O at the 1x scale.

About that time, Ricks stomach growled, loud enough for Lisa to hear it.
“Speaking of food…” Rick said.

“Let me fix something” Lisa said.

“OK, something simple” Rick said.

Lisa started making some sandwiches. Rick was amazed that she had the presence of mind to get the open food out of the upstairs refrigerator, and put it in the little “motel unit” combination electric stove, refrigerator and sink that was their basement kitchen. Rick glanced over at the Aguilar family, and all three of them were sleeping. Rick and Lisa had a sandwich and coffee, and talked softly. After awhile, he went over to the radios, and putting on a set of earphones so he wouldn’t disturb the new mother or baby, scanned the airwaves for news.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


From the NAOC (National Airborne Operations Command) aircraft, the President wasn’t happy. Washington, DC had received three nuclear warheads, and no longer existed. Baltimore had significant damage. It seems the Chinese, not having enough long-range missiles to handle the US nuclear response arsenal, had opted for a “Counter-Value” attack, instead of a “Counter-Force” attack. Constantly twenty or more years behind the rest of the world, the Chinese were counting on “MAD” or Mutually Assured Destruction”. However in order for MAD to work, the rest of the world had to know what your capabilities were. The Chinese were notoriously secretive.

Because of the hour in DC that the attack happened at, few of the Presidents usual advisors were able to get to Andrews Air Force Base in time to catch the flight. Those that made it in time were able to get on SAM 29000 before it departed. One of the 3 megaton warheads was detonated at 2,500 feet directly over Andrews, and killed the people who missed the last flight, and the Air Force members who didn’t have time to shelter. There numbers added to the deaths in Washington, Baltimore, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and the others. In a fifteen minute period, the population of the United States went from close to 300-million, to just under 250-million. The addition of Daniel Aguilar wasn’t tallied by the Federal Government, yet, but it wouldn’t make much difference to the total.

“Mr. President, we cannot get in touch with anyone in China, with Premier Putin, in Russia. Nor can we raise Prime Minister de Villepin in France, and our contacts with Britain are intermittent. We’re not sure what is going on in most of Europe, but the Cheyenne Mountain folks reported several missiles from China and Pakistan both headed towards France, presumably because of their own nuclear missiles. None of which seemed to have been launched, by the way. We’re not sure what remains of most of the Middle East. Israel is fighting off what seems to be the Palestinian’s last battle, neither side is holding back. It looks like the issue will be resolved there, soon”

“Thanks, Condi” the President said. “Sucks to be a frog, I guess. Would you please ask General Jumper to join us?

“Mr. President” the Air Force Chief of Staff said.

“Have a seat, General” the President offered, and waited for the General to sit. “I need to know what our military status is, especially of the personnel, but also the equipment. I also need to know what remains of our response capability”.

“Mr. President, I can tell you now that it seems that almost all of our nuclear response force remains intact. There don’t seem to have been many attacks against our ICBM fields or Bomber Bases although Whiteman AFB in Missouri did get some fallout from Kansas City. Nobody injured, and no impact on the B2 fleet. The Navy subs were at sea, thanks to the DEFCON-1 you ordered”.

“Thank you. Now, where are we and what are we doing short term?”

“We’re orbiting over the Dakotas and Minnesota, Mr. President. We can remain up here at least another 24 hours if needed, via aerial refueling”.

“And where are the Vice President, and the rest of the staff?”

“Vice President Cheney is in Air Force 2, Mr. President. The staff that was able to make the flight on the other VC-25 aircraft”

“Are they doing alright? Did they get out in time?”

“My information, Mr. President, is that they received about 50 rads of radiation. They should be OK, as long as they receive no further exposures for a while. The aircraft was seriously buffeted by the blast wave from a detonation but is in good shape.” General Jumper said.

“OK, what are the options for us to land at?”

“We can go to Offutt in Omaha, Mr. President, or we can go to Cheyenne Mountain, or Camp David, although to do that we’d have to land at Germantown, Maryland at a civilian airport and drive you. We don’t have the helicopter capabilities in place right now to fly you there. Mt. Weather is intact but the area around it isn’t safe right now due to the fallout from the attacks on DC, Baltimore and the area. We can go almost anywhere else you order too, sir”.

“Condi, do you know what happened to the members of Congress?”

“Mr. President, it seems that many of them failed to heed the alert, and we can’t find them. Of course, Congress was still on their holiday break. Some members may be in DC, or may be at home, or in transit. The Secret Service will be trying to find them. Of the leadership, Senators Frist and Delay are onboard SAM 29000, as a matter of fact it was Dr. Frist who examined the passengers. We can’t locate any of the House leadership. Or information was that Speaker Hastert is in Illinois, and Congresswoman Pelosi was in San Francisco. Unfortunately, San Francisco was heavily damaged by the attack”.

“What about Senators Kennedy, Schumer and Clinton?”

“We have no information specifically, Mr. President. The Secret Service thinks they were in New York City, still celebrating the New Years”.

“I hope they enjoyed themselves” the President said. “What's the news on New York?”

“Mr. President, the best information I have is that New York City was struck with at least five warheads, with four in the 2.5 to 3 megaton range. We can’t be certain, but on top of that it seems that an enhanced radiation warhead”.

“A neutron warhead?” Condaleza Rice said. “Why?”

“We don’t know, Ma’am. The overall pattern of the attack seems rather disorganized.”

“Disorganized, how?” Condi asked.

“Ma’am, Mr. President. As you both know, when you plan an attack with nuclear missiles, you have to target them so they arrive at the correct times. You don’t want your reentry vehicles to fly through debris caused by your earlier detonations, so the southern-most targets are attacked first. This is usually referred to as “laddering”. The Chinese attack does not seem to be laddered particularly well, and a number of their warheads were knocked out of the sky by their own warhead detonations. Then, why use a neutron warhead after you’ve already destroyed the city?”

“Fratricide”, the President said.

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“Do they have any more missiles available?” the President asked

“Mr. President, we didn’t know they had as many as they launched.” Condi said.

“Great, just great” the President said.

“General Jumper, what is the status of our surveillance and detection network?”

“Mr. President, it’s at 100%. Cheyenne Mountain is in lock down for the time being, they are receiving data from both the space and ground based resources.

“OK, let’s keep the forces at DEFCON-1 for the time being. Alert all reserve component forces, and have them report to their home station, for the time being. If a Governor asks for their Guard Resources, tell them they can have them, and ask what resources they need. Installation and Unit commanders are authorized to offer whatever assistance to local governments they can”. Looking at both the Secretary of State, and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he finished up by saying “anything I missed”?

“Mr. President, what about FEMA” Secretary Rice asked.

“I don’t know, what about FEMA?”

“I haven’t heard about them, Mr. President” she said.

Picking up a phone handset, the President asked the radio operator “Please connect me with Mt. Weather”. “Thank you”.

“This is the President. Who is this” he asked the voice on the phone

“Oh, Mr. President, this is Walter Huckleberry, how do you do, sir”

“Mr. Huckleberry, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know you. What is your function at Mt. Weather”?

“Sir, I’m one of the communications maintenance people here”.

“I see. Are there any FEMA leadership available”.

“Well, Mr. President, ah…”

“Out with it, Man!” the President barked.

“Well, Mr. President, it seems that there was a problem with the procedures FEMA had written for this kind of incident. The checklists they created were quite detailed, and the staff had been drilled incessantly in following them exactly – several people had been transferred, as a matter of fact, because they didn’t follow checklist during an exercise.”

“So?” The President said, becoming visibly exasperated.

“Well, Mr. President. It seems that someone had recently modified the procedures, and...Ah, they hadn’t quite gotten the tasks back in the right order”.

“What does that mean?”

“Well, sir…The checklist said that the vault door was supposed to be closed, before anyone could get in.”

“So? Open the door, and let them in” The President said.

“Mr. President, we can’t. The door has a thirty day time lock on it. Once it’s really closed, it stays closed for a month”.

“You mean that there’s nobody there but maintenance staff? At Mt. Weather, the emergency headquarters of the US Government?” The President looked at the two sitting with him, incredulously.

“That’s right, Mr. President. There were some people outside, on the phone. They were ordering us to open the door, but we can’t. Besides, the procedures are very detailed about that, too.

“But, I want to assure you, we’ve already talked about it and we’re not going to sue the government for keeping us here. Our month of overtime will be thanks enough” Huckleberry said.

“Thank you, Mr. Huckleberry” the President said, as he broke the connection.

“Well, Condi. FEMA in action. I doubt we can count on them, at least for a month.”

“No, sir, I guess not”

“You know, if those conspiracy theorists that were on the Internet just how incompetent FEMA was, they’d have wanted FEMA disbanded for gross incompetence. Not that they’d be wrong. No matter how much money we gave them, they couldn’t even respond to a little disaster, much less a big one”.

“Well, Mt. Weather is out” the President said. Let’s go to Cheyenne Mountain, if they’re still in business”.

“Yes, Mr. President” General Jumper said, picking up a phone and dialing the cockpit with the instructions “Head to the Springs, and notify the other aircraft, as well”.

“Condi, you’re going to have to be my Chief of Staff for the time being. Keep trying to get in touch with the rest of Congress, and with our European allies. Try the Chinese, as well. Let me know if you can get through, and what they say. If you find out the status of the rest of the world, let me know that too. In the mean time, let’s get back together in say 90 minutes, for an update” the President said. “General Jumper, please continue to try and find out the status of the rest of our forces around the world. Thank you”.

One of the advantages of being the President of the United States is that you can take a nap while others are working their rears off. Having made as many decisions as he needed to with the situation and information he had, the President leaned back and took a nap.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

At the homestead, Rick installed the batteries in the rest of the meters from the V-777 kit. He charged the individual dosimeters, knowing that they would probably bleed off very rapidly, at first and need to be recharged before they could be relied on. Checking the outside survey meter he logged that there was still no significant radiation showing. He took the Geiger counter (the low-level meter) and after checking it, ran the probe around the room, the stairs, and the conduit that the cable was running down, and all he could detect was normal background radiation.

Based on that, he decided to take a trip outside. He wanted to check the property out, and the dogs needed to go. He explained his plans to Lisa, and explained that there was no radiation being detected so it was safe. Just to be careful, though, he put on a Tyvek jumpsuit with attached booties and hood, and strapped on his protective mask in it’s carrier, an MSA Millennium, or as he thought of it, the MBU2/P, the Air Force designation. He also hung a NukAlert around his neck, as a warning device. Climbing the stairs, he pushed open the heavy steel fire-resistant door, and called the dogs up. Kaatu and Laulu came running up the stairs, and were whining at the door.

Rick checked the house, and ran the Geiger counter around the windows – just background radiation, he decided. He checked the panel for the power system and everything seemed OK, the output was low but the panels were covered with a little snow. Deciding it was OK, he opened the door and the dogs ran outside, and did their business without going very far. “Poor dogs, they’re going to have trouble getting used to being in the shelter for a long time, if we have to” Rick thought. He checked the outdoor thermometer, and it was still pretty cold, around 15.

Relieved, the dogs were staying close to Rick. He went over to the solar panel array and brushed off the panels with the push broom he had duct-taped another handle to. Hopefully, with the panels completely clear, their output would be back to normal. He went into the workshop building, and found a couple of packages of disposable diapers, chux pads, and a few other items they didn’t think they’d need in the basement.

Going back to the house, Rick set the packages down, and called in the dogs. He pointed down the basement steps, and they went. Rick locked the door up, and checked the solar panel status – full output (for the time of the year), and no problems. Satisfied, he carried his bundles down to the basement, closing the door.

Lisa, Angela and Carlos asked what was going on. Rick stripped off the jumpsuit (they didn’t breathe at all, and were very warm to wear) and explained that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The mushroom cloud had dissipated and he didn’t see anything like smoke or anything. He also didn’t see any traffic, aircraft, or anyone else.
“I don’t know what happened in Sedona” Rick said. I don’t want to go find out just yet, though. I don’t know where that detonation was, but it was west-southwest of us, upwind, and a pretty good distance. It could take a while for fallout to reach us”.

“How long do you think it could be?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t know, it depends. I think we should stay in the shelter for another day, anyway. We have what we need, and Angela and Daniel are doing fine.”

“Shouldn’t we get them to the hospital?” Carlos asked.

“Carlos, I don’t know what the status is in Sedona, or anywhere else. As far as being in a hospital, right about now they’d be discharging Angela and Daniel, they’re in excellent shape, thank God.”

“I don’t know, we should go look” Carlos said.

“Carlos, I can’t tell you what to do, or keep you here” Rick said. “I think you should stay for awhile, anyway – we’re pretty well set up, and we should wait and see what happens, for a little while. I really can’t stress this enough, you’re all welcome to stay, and you should.”

“Thanks, I don’t know….I don’t want us to be an imposition”.

Angela spoke up for the first time, telling Carlos in Spanish to be thankful for what the neighbors were offering. Rick turned to her and said, in Spanish, that we’re neighbors, and she and Daniel were his patients, and to relax. Carlos and Angela looked at Rick, open mouthed. Rick just chuckled.

“Lets see if we can get some news on the radio or TV” Rick suggested. ‘’

“OK, but if you think it’s OK, I think I could use a shower” Angela said.

“Let me examine you, it should be OK” Rick said. Angela laid down on her bed, and after draping her, Rick checked to make certain that there was nothing untoward going on. Lowering her legs, he said “Looks OK, if you feel up to it, Lisa can help you. Clothes might be an issue, thought”.

“We had a suitcase for Angela in the truck” Carlos said. “I can go get it”. He got up to go to the stairs.

“Wait a minute” Rick said. “I’ll go get it, in case anything is going on”. He put the jumpsuit and mask carrier back on, and carrying the meter, went up and outside, and got the suitcase from Carlos’ truck. He also noticed what he thought must be Carlos instrument bag, and grabbed that. Running the Geiger counter over it, he confirmed that there was no radiation. Rick started walking back to the house, when he heard a faint electronic beep.

“What the heck is that” he wondered. Just then, he heard it again. It seemed to be coming from very near, was it in one of the bags, he wondered? Looking down, he saw the NukAlert, and thought “Oh, xxxx”. He ran for the house, carrying the bags, and set them down on the deck. He checked the Geiger counter and saw that the needle was above the background radiation level, and seemed to be climbing.

“Damn, now what?” he thought. “I’ve got to decontaminate myself and these bags” he thought. Looking around, he saw the garden hose hanging there, attached to the freeze-proof hydrant. “It’ll do” he thought as he reached for the end of the hose. Standing on the covered deck, he hosed himself and his mask carrier off, and then hosed the two bags off as best as he could. He couldn’t tell with the Geiger counter if they were contaminated since the fallout was showing on the meter. “I hope it’s OK”, Rick said.

He shook the water off of himself and the bags, and after hosing off the deck shut the water off. Dropping the hose, he stripped the suit off, turning it inside out as he did so, and rolled it into a small ball, inside its hood. He just kicked it out the door and closed it. He picked up the bags and meter, and went down the stairs with the bad news.

“Here’s your bag” he said, as he handed the suitcase to Angela. I thought this might be your “doctor kit” so I brought it in for you” handing the other bag to Carlos. “We’ve got some bad news, though, I’m afraid”.

Walking over to the V-717 meter, he saw that the needle was up off the peg, and climbing. He noted the time and recorded it on the log sheet nearby, it was at 1.4 R. “It looks like we’re just starting to get a little fallout, now. It started just as I was carrying the bags back to the house”.

“Oh, Rick!” Lisa gasped.

“I should be OK, the rate was in the .1 R/hour range when I was out there, and I decontaminated the jumpsuit before I took it off. It looks like we’re going to be in here for a little while, though.”

Paradise Chapter 5

In the shelter (as Rick was now thinking of it), things got organized. Lisa checked the food supplies on hand, and Rick and Carlos moved a few things around to give Angela and Daniel some quiet, if not a lot of privacy. Rick monitored the V-717 meter regularly, and the radiation count peaked about 5 hours after it started, around 7 PM. Rick did some quick calculations and figured that they’d need to stay in the shelter until at least the 18th, praying that the reading didn’t start to rise again (indicating another attack, or fallout cloud in the area).

They set up a monitoring schedule, with four hour shifts between Lisa, Carlos and Rick. Angela was busy with Daniel, but helped out when she could. To help keep the night shift stay awake they scanned the radio waves, wearing earphones. They were able to eat pretty well, with the combination of freeze dried and dried foods, and some of the frozen foods they had. Ventilation was a bit of a problem, with a double-envelope house you normally open ground and sky vents to create breezes but with the fallout, Rick kept the house closed up tight. The shelter would get a little humid, but it wasn’t too bad.

The one issue that started grating on peoples nerves after awhile was the boredom. They weren’t getting a lot of clear information on the radio; they would get bits and pieces of conversations on the ham bands now and then, but nothing on commercial AM stations, and nothing on the TV. The worst thing for Rick was the lack of an internet connection, he’d be working on the computer twenty times a day and forget that he couldn’t look something up on the net.

A couple of days into their stay, with all the immediate needs they could think of handled, Rick went to the computer and downloaded the weather data from the Davis weather station he had installed. He checked the wind direction and speed, going back to the time he saw the warhead detonation and saw that between the detonation and the time they had to shelter, the wind had been consistently from the west-southwest and varied a little between eight and ten knots. He also noticed that the temperature had been quite cold, with lows in the minus-15’s and highs barely above zero. He wondered if there had been much snow.

Using a nine knot average and allowing for the ten or so hours he started his Topo! map program for Arizona and went looking. Using Topo! to backtrack about 90 nautical miles into the winds’ direction, when he saw what was nearby, he started laughing out loud.

His shelter companions came over, even Daniel was there. They looked at the screen on the laptop but couldn’t figure out what Rick was laughing at. Pointing, he said

“Look, that’s where the warhead detonated – near there, anyway.”

“Where?” Lisa asked, bending over to look at the laptop screen.

“They nuked Bagdad” was all Rick could say, laughing even louder.

Carlos looked at them, and started laughing too. “Someone nuked Bagdad, man that’s got to be karma” he said.

“I guess” Rick said. “Isn’t, err, wasn’t Bagdad a ghost town?”

“No, not really” Carlos answered. “It was a little mining town, copper I think”.

“Not a lot of people, a couple of thousand, maybe, the poor souls” Angela said, crossing herself. “Why would anyone want to nuke that little town?”

“It was probably a mistake”, Rick said. “It was probably a warhead aimed at Phoenix or maybe Tucson, I guess. Maybe the Palo Verde nuclear plant, maybe a “long shot” that was supposed to go to Las Vegas or Hoover Dam. Who knows? I doubt that anyone wanted to hurt Bagdad”.

“There’s a funny story about how it got its name” Carlos said. “Back when the first miners got into the area, there was a father and son team. The son would load ore into bags on a mule, and when the father was in town and the son needed another bag, he’d yell “Bag, Dad!” I don’t know if it was true, but it was cute.”

“Well, their bad luck to be there, and our bad luck to be here, Rick said. Still, it’s better than the cities, I bet. From what I remember from the Air Force, the radiation we’re getting is pretty low compared to what we might have gotten. I wonder if the warhead “fizzled”?”

“Fizzled?” Angela asked, “What's that?”

“It’s when the nuclear detonation doesn’t happen correctly. There are a couple of different stages that have to happen at precisely the right moment, or the force of the explosion just blows the warhead apart. What happens then is that the force is a lot less, and the radiation is less too.

“Well, at least we know that, I guess” Rick said. “It’s not on any major routes so I don’t think we’ll need to worry about it. It’s over a mountain range away from us, so we probably won’t have to worry much about contamination. I guess we were being watched out for”.

“Again”, Lisa said.

“Amen”, the others repeated.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In Cheyenne Mountain, the President was trying to put the nation together with what he had left. The people who had managed to get to Andrews AFB before the end were there, he had an assortment of White House staff functionaries and a few Cabinet Officers, along with their families. Few members of Congress had been located and lacking a quorum, the Congress of the United States had legally ceased to be effective.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States” a US Secret Service agent intoned. The President walked into a conference room.

“Be seated, please” He said. “Condi?”

Secretary Rice was wearing many hats these days. In addition to her official role of Secretary of State, she was filling in as the Presidents National Security Advisor, and acting as the Chief of Staff, or as she liked to think of it, professional baby sitter.

“Mr. President, I still haven’t been able to reach anyone in most of Western Europe. The only contact we have is with Britain. They think they were hit with a total of 12 nuclear missiles, from China and Pakistan, they’re not sure which. London, Leeds, and Southampton are destroyed, and they estimate that they lost some 30-million people. They asked if we could assist them, with food, and fuel, mostly. I told them we’d get back to them.

“They also have not been able to reach the continent. They finally were able to clear some rubble from the Channel Tunnel, and approached the surface in France, but the radiation was too high to continue. They also were not able to reach anyone by radio or telephone.

In the Middle East, the only contacts we have are with Israel. They stopped fighting the Palestinians or rather, there weren’t any more to fight; then Jordan and Syria attacked them. Apparently they weren’t in any mood to fight, and launched some Jericho-II missiles. Amman and Damascus no longer exist. The Prime Minister in Lebanon approached Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel, and they’re negotiating peace, right now.

“As near as we can tell, there is no functioning central government in India, Pakistan, or China. Japan was attacked, either by China or North Korea; apparently the Japanese had their own missiles and retaliated against the Koreans. South Korea was attacked by land forces from the north, but the expected follow-on attacks didn’t materialize. With our Army and Air Force support the attacks were repulsed, and our forces are on alert but in their quarters, now.

“Finally, we’re in contact with the Australians. They’re in contact with New Zealand, and it seems that neither country was attacked. The Aussies say that the government of Indonesia has totally collapsed, with various religious groups attacking each other. The Aussies have pulled all their forces in Indonesia into the area around some oil production facilities in Jakarta and are protecting them. They are also commandeering the oil for Australia”

“Well, good for them” the President said. “Did the Aussies offer any assistance?

“Yes, Mr. President. They’ve offered to send us wheat, wool, and sheep. Again, I told them we’d get back to them, and thanked them”.

“Thank you”. “Mr. Conner?” the President said, turning his attention to the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

“Mr. President, we are still not able to get a complete picture of either the damage to the cities, or the food supplies that remain. We’re still having communications difficulties, getting in touch with our field teams – most are still attending to their families. However, based on the estimates we have, we should have enough food for the population; the trouble we will have is in distribution to those who need it, once those people are in the camps”.

“What camps?” The president asked.

“Mr. President, the planning documents by FEMA that the USDA worked to indicated that the USDA would be supplying food to relocation camps set up and run by FEMA, in the aftermath of a war like this”.

The President, visibly angry, slapped his hand down on the table and stood up. Leaning over the table, he looked at every member of his “cabinet”, such as it was. “Listen, each and every one of you. I don’t care what those idiots at FEMA put in their plans. I had to put up with them because they were the best we could organize, as poor as it was, for little natural disasters – Congress and the People wouldn’t stand for the military running disaster responses, even though they had the manpower, equipment, and skills. FEMA consistently mismanaged them, they couldn’t respond to a hurricane with five days warning! As long as I’m the President of the United States, I am NOT going to allow US Citizens to be herded into federal “camps”. Do you understand that?”

Secretary Rice and a few other insiders knew the president was very, very angry – he lost his soft, West Texas twang and his words became very clipped.

Deputy Secretary Conner blanched. “Mr. President, I’ll send the food wherever the government says we should send it” he said, as he sat down.

“Fine” the President said, sitting down. “General Jumper, what is the status of the military?”

General Jumper stood up, and said “Mr. President, we are having communications difficulties, too. In CONUS” he looked around to make certain that everyone understood he was speaking about the Continental United States “we have contact with the surviving military facilities from each branch. The Air Force lost Andrews, Langley, Offutt, McCord and Fairchild Air Force Bases, the Army lost Fort Lewis when a missile probably headed for McCord missed a little, and the Navy took a hit in Bremerton, Washington. All the boomers were at sea, however, and the base was mostly sheltered.

As far as reserve units, when a National Guard unit checks in, we give them the instructions you specified – they’re chopped to the State, and to contact us if they need anything. We’ve been getting lots of requests, but haven’t been able to offer much, yet. Reserve units are being organized and tasked according to their abilities. The Air Force Reserve units are preparing for their primary missions, transport, communications, whatever. The Army reserve units are mostly doing the same, however some medical units, from all services, are assisting their local civil populations”.

“Good”, the President said. “Tell them to keep it up”

“Yes, Mr. President. I’ll pass your comments on. Overseas, we’re in touch with a small combined group of Army and Marines, that were in Iraq. There are about two thousand of them, as far as we can tell, and they fought their way from Baghdad/Fallujah to Basra, in the south. They are holding their own, but are out of room to maneuver and running low on ammunition and supplies”.

“What are we doing to help them?” The President asked

“Mr. President, we can’t send aircraft for them. We’re organizing a plan right now to use the attack subs that accompany the Carrier Battle Groups to go into the Persian Gulf, and take them off the beach. The CBG is in the north Arabian Sea, still at DEFCON-1. It’s coming together, a little slowly, because the Gulf is full of wreckage from sunken ships, destroyed oil rigs, and there’s quite a bit of burning oil on the surface from broken oil lines. Plus, the smoke in the area is preventing surface ships or fixed or rotary wing flights.

“How long will it take?”

“We hope to have the subs stripped down to the bare minimum crew, and put their crew on the ships in the CBG’s. If we do that, and really crowd them in, we can probably put between one hundred fifty and two hundred soldiers on each trip. We have four subs attached to the CBG but the CBG commander is hesitant to use more than two, because of the risk to his ships, Sir”.

The President didn’t get angry this time. “Get me the admiral running that CBG” he said. A communications technician spoke into his phone set, and in the few minutes it took to connect the call, silence pervaded the room. Finally, the technician said “Mr. President, Admiral Geller on the line”.

“This is the President, Admiral Geller. I understand that you have a plan to use all your submarines to evacuate the troops in Basra, that’s great thinking – out of the box. Good work”. The President listened for a bit and then said “No, I don’t think I miss understood, Admiral. You’ll use all your submarines. You will remove all but the current duty shift crewman, you will put two hundred men onboard, and you will get those men off that beach”. After listening a bit longer, his face clouded. Putting his hand over the mouthpiece he asked General Jumper “Who’s this asshole’s second in command” as the rest of the room gasped – they’d never heard the president swear.

Flipping through a binder, he finally got to the right page and said “Rear Admiral Bragg is, Sir”.

“Admiral Geller, is Admiral Bragg there with you?” the President said into the mouthpiece. “He is? Put him on, please”.

“Admiral Bragg, this is your Commander in Chief. I have a direct order to give you. You are to place Admiral Geller under arrest, and he’s to be detained in the ships brig. The charge is willful disobedience of a lawful order, Article 92 of the UCMJ. Do you understand?” “No, Admiral Bragg, I am most certainly not kidding. I will not have a coward refuse to do everything he can to rescue the fighting men and women that are left in Iraq. Now, will you comply with my order? “Yes, I want that cowardly SOB placed it the brig. He can sit there until your CBG returns to port. If he causes any trouble, you can have a Marine shoot the bastard. Or, place him in irons. Tell him he’s lucky I can’t order you to keel-haul him”. “Thank you, Admiral Bragg. Now, put that cowardly SOB back on the line”.

“Admiral Geller? You’re relieved of command. You’re to be placed under arrest, and detained in the brig. If you cause any trouble, Admiral Bragg has orders to have you shot. I won’t have a coward weasel and whine, while brave Americans are dying. You, sir, are dismissed!” and he hung up the phone.

On board the USS Ronald Reagan, the former Carrier Battle Group Commander looked at Admiral Bragg, and reaching down, removed his “command star”. “That SOB, I voted for Kerry. At least he was in the Navy, he’d understand” he said. “Admiral, I have to remind you, that if you continue to use disparaging words about the Commander in Chief is, and will be considered, a violation of Article 88. Further, it could be interpreted as a violation of Article 94, Mutiny. I suggest you keep your personal opinions to yourself”. Walking over to the door of the cabin, he opened it and directed the Marine guard to place Admiral Geller in the brig. The Lance Corporal looked at the two men, and remembering his training, said “Yes, Admiral”. Looking at Admiral Geller, he said “Admiral, if you will come this way please, sir”. As Geller walked slowly from the cabin, he thought of a scene from a movie, and saw his “career dissipation light” slowly go out.

“Mr. President, shouldn’t the CBG keep their submarines, for protection from other subs?” the Secretary of the Treasury asked. “Mr. Secretary, the CBG has a dozen other warships, each equipped to detect and attack submarines. Besides, whose submarines will be attacking?”

“General Jumper, please see to it that a message is sent to all military units, at any level that we’re in contact with, describing the situation surrounding Admiral Gellers reassignment and upcoming charges. That will demonstrate the kind of behavior that we need to get thorough this”

“Mr. President, if we do that, it will taint his rights, and affect his courts-martial, and charges wont’ be able to be brought” Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Richard Posner said.

“Yes, won’t it?” the President said. “I don’t care about his conviction. We need the military leadership to understand that the rules are different now. The same thing happened at the start of World War II. After World War I, the navy started developing submarines. The rules of the day, called “Cruiser Rules” required that before a submarine attack a surface ship; that they surface and give the ship and its company a chance to take to the boats. Obviously, that sort of policy wouldn’t work in the Pacific, and many of the submarine commanders couldn’t cope. The ones that couldn’t were relieved. We need the same sort of change in the mentality of ALL the government, to get through the next few years.

General Jumper, please continue” the President said.

“Err, Yes, Mr. President. Where was I? Oh, yes… Well, we should be getting those troops off the beach as soon as we possibly can, thanks to your intervention. We are attempting to organize the return of the troops from all overseas deployments, as you ordered. Those that we can reach with aircraft, we are. We’re having trouble getting fuel for them from the foreign host nations. We’re working it out, however. We have recalled the pre-positioned ships around the world, we are loading the most important equipment on the ships we can acquire, and we should get most of the troops, and perhaps 40% of the available heavy equipment, back to the US within 30 days. Mr. President, we have enough equipment to replace that left behind, however I would recommend that the equipment that is left is destroyed”.

“Fine, destroy it” the President said. “We don’t need the possibility that the equipment will be used against us or our friends. However, lets try and recover as much as we can, any special weapons, and lets make certain that any ammunition, especially, that is left is destroyed.

“Yes sir, Mr. President” General Jumper said, and sat down.

“Condi, who’s next?”

“Secretary Snow?”

“Mr. President, we’re still trying to gather information. It seems that the major financial centers, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, etc. were heavily damaged or destroyed. Most major corporations had backups of their critical data but we’re still trying to get a feel for it.

I did discover that the IRS seemed to think that they’d be sending out change of address forms to the taxpayers. I don’t know what idiot came up with that idea, but we’re not sending them out. I suppose that we could have used them for some sort of a census, but the idea that survivors of a nuclear attack should, could or would pay taxes, or answer some asinine card sent by the IRS, is just moronic”.

“Good” the President said. “Go on”.

“There are some other ideas that I’ve seen, Mr. President. Programs either run by Treasury, or that have some involvement. A “national ID card”, for one. I hope you aren’t supporting that, it would seem to me that we have more important things to worry about right now”.

“No, no ID cards, no camps, no abridgement of freedoms in any way. If we’re going to recover, we need as many people working as we possibly can, growing food and producing energy and materials. Historically, communism has demonstrated how well “master planning” works – it doesn’t. A plan by the cretins at FEMA will work worse.

If anyone finds any federal impediment at all, let me know – I’ll take care of it, if you can’t” the President said, pointedly looking at each one.

“Other than that, right now the Treasury department has nothing to offer, I’m sorry to say”.

“OK, folks” the President said, slipping back into his twang. “We have lots of work to do. The military folks here tell me that if people who are affected stay in their shelters another week, they should be relatively safe. Those that couldn’t, or couldn’t find shelter, will be dying in droves.

“We need to develop a plan for the Federal government to assist the citizens as much as possible. “Mr. Chief Justice, I’d like to ask you for a favor”.

“Yes, Mr. President, how can I help?” the Chief Justice said.

“You’re quite libertarian in your writings, Justice Posner. Is that how you really think and feel?”

“Why, yes, Mr. President. I think that the best government is the least government, just which is needed to comply with the Constitution. The proper place for most inhibitory laws is from the Several States, not the Federal Government.

“Justice Posner, mind if I call you Dick?” the President asked, and then went on without waiting for an answer. “Dick, I’d like you to review the multitude of federal laws, policies, regulations from any cabinet department, and develop a plan to fix them – abolish them, correct them, whatever it takes. We’ll have to wait until Congress is found or reconstituted, but in the mean time I’ll use my executive order authority to undo the damage that has been done. Which reminds me”, the President went on, looking at everyone at the table again. “Make certain that all federal law enforcement agents, FBI (looking at John Snow), ATFE, Park Rangers, whatever, that understand that their job now is to help people, not enforce laws. In particular, I want an EO that disbands the ATFE, and the DEA, for a start. The FBI better get back on track, too.”

“Yes, Mr. President” was murmured around the table.

“Condi, lets meet again tomorrow. In the mean time, you all have work to do” the President said, as he stood up and left the room.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the shelter, the boredom was getting to be pretty bad. When not on watch and without any specific goal, the survivors spent most of their time sleeping, or trying to sleep. Angela and Carlos had their baby, and asked Rick and Lisa to be the child’s godparents. Of course, they agreed. They also spent hours tossing tennis balls to the dogs, trying to keep them from getting into mischief.

Fortunately, no further peaks were noticed on the V-717 meter. As their “independence day” approached, Rick had a little “meeting” with the others, not that they had any choice. They came up with a list of things to do as they first emerged from their enforced isolation, first they wanted to check the house, and see what the radiation level was like outside. The last few days, the level was lower than Rick was comfortable relying on, on the V-717. Being an old analog instrument, he knew that it was only as reliable as it would be within the middle 60% of the scale range, not in the upper or lower 20%.

Lisa asked Carlos about the dogs. She was concerned that they were closer to the ground, and any residual fallout. Carlos agreed, but didn’t know what to do about it except keep them in the shelter or house, and he didn’t think that would work – they’d get out, eventually. Finkis need lots of exercise and they’d want to run.

Carlos and Angela wanted to go to their house, and check it out. Angela, particularly, wanted to get some more clothes – her bag had only a few things in it, and she had been wearing them almost continuously for two weeks.

Rick suggested that they go slowly. “Let’s see what's up there, check the house out and whatnot, first. We should probably, and the baby almost certainly should continue to sleep in the basement for another three months or so, and limit our trips outside. It depends on the background radiation levels, though. Plus, we need to watch out for MBZ’s”, he said with a grin. Carlos and Angela had picked up enough survivalist lingo from speaking with and listening to Rick and Lisa that they smiled, too.

Finally, the day came. Rick used a low-level Geiger counter to check the door at the top of the stairs, and found just a low background count. He dressed in his tyvek jumpsuit with booties, and this time he also put on his MBU-2/P mask with hood. He also put on heavy plastic “acid gloves”, and Lisa taped up the zippers and seams. He had his M1A loaded and slung on a tactical sling, with his vest with more magazines available, and a drop-leg holster with two magazines for his Glock 21.

Lisa and Carlos were at the bottom of the staircase, with rifles close at hand. Angela and Daniel were in the storeroom, just in case.

Rick climbed the stairs, and slowly pushed the door open.

Paradise Chapter 6

Rick climbed the stairs, and slowly pushed the door open. And then, he quickly closed it. He walked back down the stairs, to the questioning looks from the people in the basement.

“What's the matter, Sweetie?” Lisa asked.

“I forgot something” Rick said, taking his mask off. He set the mask on the counter, and went to a cabinet, looking for something. Finding it, he pulled out a bottle of Potassium Iodide tablets, and breaking the seal on it, shook two out.

“We each need to take this for the next couple of weeks or so or so” Rick said. It will saturate our thyroids and prevent the uptake of radioactive Iodine-131, which will damage them. Fortunately we have these.” Getting a glass of water, he downed the two tablets, and then offered them to the others. “Take two now, and then one a day”.

Lisa went and found a small plastic squeeze bottle, and washed it out. She left it to dry a bit, and then took several of the tablets and using the back of a spoon, she pulverized them. Dumping the powder into the bottle, she filled the bottle up half way with water, put the cap on and shook the bottle to mix. “Angela, you’ll need to give Daniel this, daily, too. He’s even more susceptible than we are”. Lisa did some quick mental calculations, estimating the dosage, and said “I’m not sure how much to give him, exactly. To be safe, give him 10 drops, twice a day. It’s going to taste awful, I’m afraid” as she tasted a drop of it. “Just put it in his mouth, I guess. More is better, you wont be able to overdose him so don’t worry about that” she finished.

“OK, let’s try this again” Rick said. He put his mask back on, and after Angela had given the Potassium to Daniel, decided that Lisa’s concoction must really taste bad – Daniel was really unhappy about it. Laulu and Kattu were yodeling too, ether in sympathy or accompaniment with Daniel. Angela and Daniel safe in the store room, Rick went back up the stairs. For the second time, he pushed open the door.

Bright sunlight flooded the basement. Rick blinked a couple of times and squinted. Everything looked normal in the house, a bit dusty. Turning on the Geiger counter, he checked for radiation, and only detected background counts. He couldn’t tell if the overall background level was higher than it had be, but the background count varied through the day, anyway, depending on things like the solar wind and other more or less intangibles.

Rick checked the interior of the house, and went over to the front door. Holding the probe of the Geiger counter in front of him, he still didn’t notice anything amiss. Finally, he opened the probe cover, and did a quick scan of the door frame for alpha radiation. The door was clean. Rick pulled the door open, and saw the outside for the first time in more than two weeks.

Snow covered the ground. Around the workshop and vehicles, it had drifted pretty high – ten feet or so, Rick thought. In the open, it wasn’t quite that high, maybe five feet. The snow was almost level with the bottom of the solar panels, but there wasn’t any snow or ice on them – they should be producing pretty well. Rick scanned the deck, sliding a bit on some ice. “I better be careful” Rick thought. “It’d be a bad time to break anything”. Despite the poor traction the tyvek booties offered, Rick managed moving around the deck, checking for radiation. Even with the probe cover open, he didn’t find anything.

Noticing the cold, Rick shivered. “Now what do I do?” he asked. He walked back to the front door, and shook the snow off his jumpsuit, then walked into the house and closed the door.

Rick took the mask off, and took off his gloves. He pulled the hood off his head, and opened the door to the stairway to the basement. He walked down, and told the assembled survivors “looks OK, why don’t we go upstairs for a bit?” He shucked off the jumpsuit, and carefully folded the cover on his mask, and stowed it in the carrier. He went and got another drink of water, and followed the group upstairs.

Stretching, he told the group that it felt good to be out. They all agreed, looking around. Lisa had raised the metal shutter over one of the big deck windows and they looked outside. “Carlos, this seems like an awful lot of snow to me” Rick said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it” Carlos said. “I’ve never even heard about snow like this around here. Have you, Angela?”

“No, never. I can’t even tell how deep it is, I can barely see the outline of our truck” she said, pointing to a vague lump.

“In the open, it’s about five or six feet high” Rick said. “The masts that the solar panels are mounted on has the bottom of the panels are about seven feet high, I wanted them high enough that I couldn’t walk into them. They’re still free, but the bottoms of the panels are barely a foot off the top now”.

“Now what?” Lisa asked.

“Now, why don’t we have some coffee, and decide” Rick asked, looking at everyone. Lisa put the coffee on, and asked

“Can we stay up here?”

“I guess so. Angela and Daniel should sleep in the basement to be extra safe, but I can’t really detect any significant radiation at all.

“Rick, do you think that we can get to our house?” Angela said. “I could really use some more clothes, and we have some baby stuff there too”.
“I don’t know. We’ll have a heck of a time getting the vehicles free of the snow. I don’t know if the roads are plowed or not, either.” With that, Rick went and tried the phone, as before there was no dial tone. “Phones are still out”.

“Well, why don’t we go down to the road, and see if it’s been maintained?” Lisa asked. With that, she went to the closet and proceeded to put on a pile jacket and pants, and gore-tex over pants. She put on some boots, and then tied a scarf around her neck. “Come on, Rick” she said, as he nursed his coffee.

“OK” he said, catching the look in her eyes. He dressed for the weather too, and grabbed a pair of FRS radios off the counter. He turned them on, and checked that they were set to the same frequency pair and tone. “We’ll take this with us, and call if we find anything noteworthy. Lisa, check your FRS radio, too”. Lisa turned her radio on, and confirmed the settings.

“I’ll take a camera, too” Lisa said. They both stepped out onto the deck, and closed the door. “How are we going to get down to the road?”

“I guess we need to get the snowshoes. Guess where they are?”

“Just go get them, I’m going to get the dogs and see what they do in the snow” Lisa said. She opened the front door, and door to the basement and whistled. Two red rockets came shooting up the stairs, and out the front door.

“OK, hold my rifle, please” as he handed his M1A to Lisa. She already had her FAL on a tactical sling.

Rick stepped off the deck, and just about disappeared into the snow. Struggling to his feet, he confirmed that his Glock and magazines were still in their holster, and then he said “This is going to be a long, long day” and proceeded to struggle to the workshop. Finally getting there, he managed to climb in through a side window that wasn’t covered with snow – the main doors were blocked, and looked like they’d be blocked for a long time.

Inside the workshop, Rick first found his snowshoes, and set them by the window. He’d have to wait until he was outside to put them on. He also found a snow shovel, and taking out his Leatherman Wave, flipped open the knife blade. He cut a short length of parachute cord off a spool he had hanging from a nail in a stud, and fashioned a sling of sorts for the shovel – carrying it with Lisa’s snowshoes too would be a handful, even on the snowshoes. Thinking of the difficulties with the snow, he also got the ski poles they each had, with extra large baskets, to help with walking.

Looking around, he looked for anything else they would need and couldn’t find anything that caught his attention. Going to the window, he set the shovel, snowshoes and poles outside, out of the way, and climbed back outside. He again was struggling in the snow, and had trouble getting the bindings fastened on his snowshoes. Finally, he stumbled to his feet, and slinging the shovel over his shoulder, picked up the items and shuffled back to the deck and Lisa. The dogs were getting around OK, he noticed, their little legs post-holing in the snow, but they were still running around.

“Here you go” he said, setting the snowshoes on the ground in front of the deck. He hung the shovel on a convenient nail for possible future use. Lisa handed him first his rifle, which he slung across his chest, then her FAL. Lisa fastened the bindings on her snowshoes, and reached for her FAL.

“I guess you thought Carlos and Angela needed some time alone” Rick said. Reaching for Rick and hugging him, Lisa said

“They’re not the only ones”.

Rick hugged his wife, and then they turned and shuffled in that peculiar gait that snowshoes made necessary. They walked around the house, their breath freezing in the cold air. The trip to the road usually took only four or five minutes in their trucks, but on snowshoes it was very different. The snow was so deep they had trouble even telling where the actual road was – snow covered the road and the culverts on each side. Panting with the exertion, Lisa stopped and took out the camera to record the drive condition for the others. “This is almost unbelievable” she said.

“Carlos, this is Lisa” she said into her radio.

“What's going on?” Carlos responded with.

“We’re almost at the main road. The snow is very, very deep. We’re going down now” Lisa said.

“OK, let us know what's going on please”.


They continued on, and when they were barely within site of the road, stopped and moved into the woods. They proceeded carefully, not knowing what they might find. Finally, they came to a break in the trees, and realized that they were at the main road.

“Well, it doesn’t look like this road has been plowed lately” Rick said.

“No, that’s not good, is it?” Lisa said, taking the camera out of her pocket. She took a few shots, down the road in each direction, and back up towards the house. Finally, looking at each other, they turned and started back up the road to their house.

“Carlos, we’re coming back” Rick said into his radio. “Nothing really to report”.

“But… OK” Carlos said.

They made pretty good time slogging up the hill to the house. The dogs apparently had enough of the snow; they hadn’t followed them down the hill and were curled up on the deck, their noses covered with their tails. Lisa set her ski poles in the corner of the deck, and un slung her FAL and handed it to Rick. She sat down, and took her snowshoes off. Finished, she reached for her FAL, and removed the magazine. Clearing the action, she caught the round ejected in the air, and fed it back into the top of the magazine she had jus removed.

Rick did the same with his M1A, and then handed it to Lisa. He sat on the edge of the deck and removed his snowshoes, and then clapped them together to get the snow off of them. “Remind me one of these days to put some webbing up in the roof here, to hold these. We’re going to have to take them inside, or they may blow away”.

“Do you think that we’re going to need them that much?” Lisa asked, as they went inside.

“I don’t know, but this snow is going to be here for awhile, anyway. The world climate must have been affected by the strike – an ocean strike would put a lot of water into the atmosphere”.

“What did you guys find” Angela asked.

After they both took off their boots and warm clothes, Lisa went downstairs to get a laptop, and carried it upstairs. She took the memory card out of her camera, and inserted it into the camera. The pictures popped up, and Carlos and Angela didn’t need any narration.

They looked at each other, and then sat down, heavily.

“Fimbulwinter”, Angela said. “Ragnarok”.

“I hope not” Lisa said. “I didn’t know you were into Norse mythology, though”. Have you ever read the “Kalevala? The Finnish epic poem? I have a copy in English here, somewhere if you’d like to”.

“Maybe later…how can you be so calm, Lisa? The world has come to an end and you’re chatting about ancient poems”.

“We might as well. We have several choices, right now and in the future, I think. We can roll up in a ball and die, or we can do what we can to survive this”.

“Survive what? How? The world has come to an end.”

Lisa had been expecting this, somewhat. Even in normal times, the rebalancing of hormones following pregnancy was difficult. Giving birth during a nuclear attack was certainly a good reason to be upset. “Angela, you have to survive, now. You and Carlos have Daniel now. You have to survive, for him. Whatever may happen, he has to have a chance” she said softly. “You both are welcome to stay here with us. We have plenty of everything for all of you, and there is safety in numbers. Right now, anyway, the snow is so deep that you can’t really go anywhere, anyhow. Rick and Carlos will figure out a way to get over to your place and check it out, and we’ll all figure out what we need to do”.

Angela was crying, now. Lisa went over to her and holding her shoulder, took her and Daniel into the spare bedroom and closed the door. “Carlos, if I was you I’d give Lisa a few minutes to get Angela calmed down, and then go to your wife. She’s going to need comforting and support, even more than she would in normal times”.


Later that day, Rick had gone outside again and done a wider sweep with the Geiger counter, around the house. Still no radiation, except for the background. He lit a fire in the fireplace and the house warmed up. The solar power system was nominal, the solar panels keeping up with the daily use. The generator had only started twice, for its weekly warm up and floating of the batteries, a process that took less than 30 minutes each time.

Mentally going over short-term needs, Rick checked off the items. At this rate, they had at least five years worth of diesel fuel. Since they didn’t need to use Propane for home heating, they had a couple of year’s worth of propane for hot water and cooking. He had two cords of wood on the deck outside, and a forest of trees that could be cut down, if the snow melted. Between the basement and the workshop, they had at least six years worth of food for the five of them, plus they had seeds if the ground warmed up. The well was pumping, the septic system was working and they hadn’t seen anyone else around.

Immediate needs addressed, Rick and Lisa sat down with Angela and Carlos and discussed what they should do next.

“Right now, travel any long distance is out of the question” Rick said. “It’s a shame we didn’t get any snowmobiles, but I wasn’t expecting this much snow. Normally, there’s hardly enough snow here to make them worthwhile. The ATV isn’t going to be much use, even with the tire chains I bought.

“If we ca get over to our house, we have several snowmobiles, and a couple of trailers” Carlos said. “We used to take them up north and go camping on them in the winter. There are three that work, and another that I bought to fix up – the body is in terrible shape but the engine and drive work”.

“Really? If we could get them, they’d be a great help” Rick said. “I suppose Carlos and I could snowshoe over to your house tomorrow, check it out, get some clothes and things for Angela and then if we can get them to run, bring back two of the machines, if you want to” looking at Carlos and Angela.
“We could do that” Carlos said. “I feel bad staying here, though – we don’t have anything to offer and we’re only alive because of you two”.

“Don’t worry at all about that” Lisa said. “You two are both welcome here, you’re as close to family as either of us have here. ‘Mi casa es su casa’, she said, laughing.

“Still….I guess that we could go and check out the house, get the machines and clothes for Angela and come back. If the house is OK, maybe we should move back”.

“Carlos, Angela” Rick said. “You’re welcome to stay here, there is security in numbers and we’re attached to our god child. We have at least five years worth of food right now, how much do you guys have at home?”

Angela said “not much – I was getting ready to go shopping, but with the baby….”

“Well, you don’t have to decide now” Rick said. “Lets Carlos and I go over tomorrow, it will probably take us two or three hours to snowshoe there, maybe a little more. We can get the clothes and hopefully ride the snow machines back. Even if you want to move back, Angela will need some warm clothes for the trip”.

“OK” Carlos said. “What should we do now”?

“You and Angela should make a list of the things to look for, so we don’t forget anything. Angela, especially the clothes you want. Carlos, if there is anything you think we need or want, let’s try and get that too. Is there anything we should take to make it easier to get the snowmobiles running?”

“Well – if you have a can of starting fluid, that might help” Carlos said. I was going to get some in town, the next morning…”

“I can probably find some in the workshop”, Rick said. “Also, we’re going to need to get you some warmer clothes, and equipment. Also, I’m not sure Lisa’s snowshoes will be big enough for you, I have a bigger set. What size shoe do you wear?”

“Ah, a 10, why?”

“I have some surplus cold weather boots, if I can find your size it will be better than anything else we have. Your tennis shoes won’t work at all. Why don’t you guys get started on the lists, and I’ll go see what I can find in the workshop, then get you some other stuff”.

Rick dressed, and went outside. The dogs came with him, and ran around on the snow a bit. “They must be getting the hang of it, they aren’t falling through the snow as much” Rick thought. He strapped on the snowshoes, and shuffled off to the workshop. It was easier now, that he had a path going. He opened the side window and took the snowshoes off, then climbed through.

Turning the lights on, he rummaged through some duffle bags until he found the right one. Dumping it on the ground, he found some extra cold weather clothes, polypro long underwear and pile tops and pants, and some very heavy wool socks that he had purchased years ago. Rick almost never through anything away unless it was broken or worn out, but things that got a little threadbare got replaced.

He put the rest of the clothes back into the bag, and started looking for another bag. He could tell by the feel that this one had the old boots in it, he dumped it out and found a pair of black bunny boots he had purchased surplus as part of a large lot once, from the military. He had (actually, Lisa had done all the work, he thought guiltily) sold most of the boots on ebay. Lisa and he had kept several pair of their sizes out, and had a few that hadn’t sold at all. Rick found a pair of ten extra wides, that was close enough, he figured.

This time he left the boots on the ground, and put the boots and clothing into the duffle bag – this one had backpack straps, so it would be easier to carry. He went to the shelf that had all the miscellaneous auto maintenance things he had purchased over the years, battery terminal cleaner and WD-40, silicone spray, belt dressing and wheel bearing grease. He finally found the black and white can of ether, and checked with a quick spray that it still worked. It went into the bag, too. Finally, he found the “medium” snowshoes.

Looking around, Rick couldn’t see anything else he thought he needed. He turned the lights out, and after putting the duffle bag and snowshoes on the snow outside the window and stepped through. This time he sat on the window sill while he fastened his snowshoes, and slipped on the duffle bag. He stood up and picked up the snowshoes and started trudging back to the house. Once he got there, he whistled up Laulu and Kattu – the one thing about the Finkis, he thought, was that if they were awake, you could tell where they were since they always made noise. The dogs came running back, and shook all the snow off, onto Rick. He sat down and took off his snowshoes, and went inside.

Rick gave the bag to Carlos, and said “here you go, these should fit well enough. I have some other equipment downstairs for you, too”. Carlos and he went downstairs, and Rick opened the door to the security room. “Carlos, you said that your only experience with military weapons was in ROTC”?

“Yes, but they cut back the numbers of participants – so they offered me an out, without having to pay back anything”

“So, you’ve got a little familiarity with the M16, and maybe the Beretta pistol?”

“Yes, a little. I hunt for deer and elk though, and birds so I’m more familiar with civilian guns”.

“OK, we’ll fix you up with what you know, then”. Reaching into the rack, Rick picked out one of the AR-15’s there, a flattop model with a C-More sight. Checking that the chamber was empty, visually and by touch, he handed the weapon to Carlos.

“That’s a semi-automatic only version of the M16”, Rick said. “That means that it doesn’t go fully automatic, and it doesn’t have a three-round burst mode. You have to squeeze the trigger each time for the bullet to come out”.

“I know a little about firearms, Rick” Carlos said, a little embarrassed.

“Sorry” Rick said with a smile. “It’s sort of a standard speech I have”.

“It’s OK, let me see if I remember anything” Carlos said. He then proceeded to point out different features, the safety, the magazine release, etc. Struggling, he pushed out the takedown pin. “What's that red thing” he asked, pointing.

“Oh, that’s an ‘accu-wedge’” Rick said. “It provides some tension between the upper and lower receiver halves. It’s supposed to be more accurate with it, it feels more solid”.

“I always wanted to get more rifles, and a military rifle, especially. I never got around to it though, with building the practice, and the home. I guess it’s too late now”.

“Maybe not, we might be able to find something” Rick said.

“You mean looting?” Carlos asked, almost dumbfounded.

“No, not looting, that would be wrong. But, if there’s something there that nobody is using, I don’t have a problem with scavenging, or as I like to think of it, “gleaning”. Gleaning is picking up the materials left behind by the reapers. It has a nice, biblical ring to it” Rick laughed.

Rick got an empty magazine, and put a couple of dummy rounds in it. Handing it to Carlos, he showed him some failure drills, loading drills and then had him dry-fire the rifle a few times.

“That sight is pretty hi-tech” Carlos said.

“It’s one that’s favored by the Israeli army” Rick said. “The US uses a variety of optical type sights including that one. It’s especially good in poor light, or for close range – just put the red dot on the target and squeeze the trigger”.

“I hope I won’t have to shoot anyone, Rick” Carlos confided.

“Carlos, I hope so too. I don’t want to stand out around here in any way. However, I’m not going to let anyone hurt Lisa, or take away what we have”.

Rick went into a cabinet along the wall, and pulled out a vest with magazine pouches for the M16 magazines. He then went and got 7 loaded magazines from an ammo box, and a bandoleer filled with some Radway 5.56 ammo. “Here’s the ammo, and a reload – stick the reload into the pack on the back, and put the mags into the pouches”. Rick then showed Carlos the other items installed in the vest, which included a compass, red flashlight, a Cold Steel SRK knife, a Leatherman tool, and a first aid kit. “There’s a 3 liter bladder in the back, too”.

“Oh, a camelback” Carlos said. I have one at home with a backpack.

“We’ll ask the ladies to fix us a little food to take with us, and we’ll get something better than the FRS radios to call home with” Rick said. They went upstairs, with Carlos carrying his vest and Rifle.

“Oh, one more thing! Rick said. He went into the security room and grabbed his Beretta 92FS off the shelf in the safe. He also got a thigh holster and three loaded magazines. He’ds set the holster and vest up for Carlos tomorrow, when he had all his clothes on.

Lisa came out of the utility room carrying an armful of bedding. “Oh, you did the laundry” Carlos said. I could have helped”.

“That’s OK, if you want there’s another load of clothes and baby things” Lisa answered.

“Doesn’t the washing machine and dryer hammer the power system hard?” Carlos asked.

“Not too badly, actually. The washer is a Staber, it’s a strange design but it is very efficient, both in terms of water and power. The nice thing about it is it really spins the water out, so the propane drier isn’t working so hard”.

“I’m amazed at how much thought you and Lisa put into this” Carlos said.

“Thanks, but remember, we’ve been doing this a long time – me especially” Rick said. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the maker, and showed Carlos where to rack his rifle. Thinking about the pistol, he went back down to the security room and got an inside-the-waistband holster, and a double magazine carrier, and brought them back upstairs. He handed them to Carlos and said “this is for everyday wear”.

That night, while Rick and Carlos played with Daniel, Angela showed Lisa how to make Chiles Rellenos, using powdered eggs and canned chilies. It was pretty good, but Rick decided to start a list of long-term things to find, and put laying hens and a rooster on the list. Carlos, with his veterinary knowledge and knowledge of the area, added the materials for a chicken coop, feed and the other items they would need.

“You know, we could also try and find some beef cows, and maybe a milker” he said. “Or maybe a couple of goats”. Rick handed him the list and Carlos added them, and their related kit.

OK, tomorrow Carlos and I will go over to their house. We’re going to take a VHF hi-band handhelds, with one long antenna in case the regular antenna doesn’t work. I think I’ll use an “odd” frequency, too – not a regular ham frequency”.

“Is that legal?” Angela asked.

The three of them looked at Angela, and then each other. Then, they looked at Angela again, and all four of them started laughing.

“Angela, it’s my sincere hope that a field engineer from the FCC comes up and gives me a ticket” Rick said. “But, I don’t think that will happen tomorrow.”

“No, I guess not. But, why do it at all?”

“Simply, most people will be on the ham bands. I had all my radios modified to go outside the legal bands, for a variety of reasons – I just was very careful when I used those frequencies. I was a member of the military ham service organization, MARS, and some of the mods were legal… some less so. Anyway, we have the capability and it provides us with more security”.

“Just make certain that you have our base radio set up to the same frequency, Sweetie” Lisa said.

“Right, let me do that right now” Rick said. For old times sake, he decided on the old “Tac-5” frequency he and a number of friends used when they were in the Air National Guard. It was actually a guard frequency, and when Rick had discovered it got permission (long since expired) to use the frequency, as long as they were not interfering with anything. Nobody really used the frequency anyway, so that wasn’t an issue. Rick dialed in the frequency on the base radio and locked the dial, and then did the same to the handhelds. Switching to low power he keyed each radio and made sure the others were receiving - not a great test, but it would do until they stopped a little way from the house tomorrow. He also got a portable J-pole antenna, really a piece of coax cable that had been modified to be an antenna, and two headsets with push to talk switches for the handhelds. Finally, he set the radios into their quick chargers to charge. He’d charge another battery pack for each, just in case.

Getting out the paper 7.5 minute topo map of the area (the one he had laminated), Rick and Carlos discussed the route they would take to Carlos’ house. Aside from being slightly uphill, and wooded, there didn’t look like there would be any major obstructions or difficulties. There was an open area shown on the map that Carlos said was a meadow, but with the snowfall it would probably be quite drifted.

Rick also checked his equipment – he filled the bladder in his vest, and checked the magazines and equipment to make certain that it was still all there. Lisa made up small food packs with raisins, power bars, and packages of hot chocolate and hot cider. Rick showed the GI canteen with stove and cup that was attached to each vest, and the trioxane fuel packs. Rick also got out his Camelback BFM that was set up as a BOB, with more survival gear inside. He decided that one bladder with water was enough, so he drained the bladder from the vest and filled the one in the pack. He also checked the batteries in his handheld GPS, surprised to see it was still getting satellites. That made him feel somewhat optimistic.

Soon enough, it was time to go to sleep. Since Angela and Daniel needed to sleep in the basement, the Aguilars went downstairs. Rick and Lisa slept in their own bed, and alone, for the first time in weeks. Sleep came slowly, and Lisa was worried about the trip. Finally, they drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, after cleaning up and breakfast, Rick announced that they needed to get started. Carlos had dressed in the poly Rick had provided, and then put on his gore-tex parka. Rick found him a pair of gore-tex pants that fit, and then they both put on their boots. Lisa prepared a thermos with coffee and slipped it into Rick’s pack.

Rick helped Carlos with his vest, and after it was adjusted put his own on. It took a moment to get everything adjusted correctly, the radios in their pouches with the headsets on and wires routed so they wouldn’t snag, and the rest. They went outside, and got their snowshoes on. Rick explained that snowshoes required a wide stance that would be tough after awhile, and gave Carlos his rifle. Finally, the ladies hugged and kissed them, and they were off.

They shuffled off for a few minutes, and soon got to about the property line. With all the snow, it was hard to tell. Rick checked the radio, and then Carlos did, both worked. Rick took out his compass, and picked the direction they needed to go, with the snow and trees the landmarks Carlos was familiar with were pretty vague.

They shuffled quietly for about a half an hour, when Rick called a break. Both were huffing and puffing, the snowshoes required an unnatural stance. Rick called in on the radio, and they were off again. They made a couple of more stops, the last one on the highest piece of ground between the two houses. They stopped for a break, and after Rick called in, he heard what sounded like someone on the frequency. He couldn’t quite make it out, though – it sounded like two people talking, but very, very faint. Rick wasn’t sure if he heard it, or was dreaming. They pressed on, and soon Carlos was getting anxious – they were near their home.

“Carlos, calm down! Rick whispered. “Let’s check the place out first”. They knelt in the tree line, and Rick pulled a small pair of binoculars out of his vest. Carlos looked and found a pair in his vest, too.

Rick scanned the area around the house’s tree line first. Then, he checked the house, and the snow around it. He didn’t see anything, at all. The house looked abandoned; there were no footprints around it at all. “Looks empty, but we should still be careful” Rick said.

Carlos and Rick shuffled over to the rear door of Carlos’ house. They both stepped out of their snowshoe bindings. Rick was on guard with his M1A at the ready, looking all around. Carlos opened the door and stepped into his kitchen, and Rick followed. There was some frozen water in the sink, and the house was very, very cold. Carlos walked around, without any attempt to clear rooms, fortunately there was nobody there. Finally, after they checked the complete house out, they relaxed a bit. Rick called back on the radio, but didn’t get through. He tried extending the telescoping antenna and still couldn’t get through, and finally tried the J-pole antenna. He gave Lisa and Angela a status update, and coiled the antenna back up into the pouch that held the antenna.

Carlos pulled out the list, and started collecting the items on it, putting them into a plastic trash bag. Rick had taken his pack off, and finding a pot under the counter in the kitchen, tried to fill it with water. The well pump either didn’t work, or the pipes were frozen, but he didn’t get any water out. It wasn’t a big problem since the stove wouldn’t light either – Rick didn’t hear any gas escaping. That explained why the house was so cold, he thought.

Finding Carlos in their bedroom, he asked “How full was your propane tank”?

“What…Oh” Carlos said. We had put in an order for the propane company to fill it”.

“I think your water pipes are frozen, too” Rick said. “No water in the kitchen”.

“Damn” Carlos said. I hope they didn’t burst. “I had that electrical wrap on the exposed pipes, but with no electricity….”

“Yeah, that would do it.” Rick said. Carlos’ home was on commercial electrical power, since the lines were nearby. Rick had checked and the power company wanted close to $100,000 to install lines and a transformer to his property, more than the solar system and generators cost.

Carlos finished with the list, and carried the bag into the kitchen. Rick pulled that duffle bag with the backpack straps out of his backpack and Carlos put the plastic bag into it.

“Let’s have a little lunch, and some coffee” Rick said. Then we can check the snowmobiles”. He got the thermos out, and found some coffee cups. They had a snack, and then started closing up their clothes. Leaving their packs on the back porch, they used the snowshoes to get over to Carlos’ barn. The main door was vertical, and Carlos was able to push it up. They both went in.

It was dark inside. Rick got his flashlight out, and checked around. He saw that the garage was set up with a couple of animal stalls, and had a bench and some hand tools. He asked about the stalls, and Carlos said that he had them in case he had a sick animal that had to be quarantined – he didn’t want them at his office. Carlos was at the first snowmobile, and checked the electric start – the battery was dead, probably from the cold. He started pulling the starter, and the engine acted like it wanted to start. Finally, he asked Rick for the ether.

Rick had left it back in his pack. He went back, and got it. Handing it to Carlos, he gave the rope pull a yank as Carlos sprayed. With a roar, the machine started and ran, then stopped. Rick gave it one more pull and the engine started and after running rough for a bit, settled down. Looking at the snow drift at the doorway, he looked around and found a snow shovel and started digging a ramp out.

Carlos went to the other “good” machine, and sprayed some ether into the air intake. He tried the electric start, and it gave a feeble groan but didn’t start. He sprayed a bit more ether and pulled the starting rope, and the machine started up. The noise was pretty bad in the garage, so he gave Rick a thumbs up. Carlos then went and dragged the trailer for the snow mobile over and hitched it up. He also got a couple of 5-gallon cans of gasoline, and a small kit of tools and spares he had prepared for his winter camping trips. Rick had the ramp about done, so he carefully started out and got the machine out and on the snow. He rode over to the porch, and got the duffle bag and tossed it into the trailer; then rode back to the garage. He got some rope and tied the duffle and other equipment into the trailer.

Rick got the other trailer and with Carlos’ help, got it hitched up.

“Rick, have you ever been on one of these?” Carlos asked.

“Once, I broke my collarbone after hitting a tree” Rick answered.

Carlos thought Oh, great. “Let me ride it out of here”.

“OK, you’re the expert” Rick said. The ramp had a trail on it now, and Carlos got it out of the garage without difficulty. He got off, and closed the garage door. Rick uncoiled the antenna for the radio and called home, and gave them the news that they were on the way. Rick thought he might have heard something, again. Carlos gave Rick a quick lesson on the snowmobile and they buttoned up their clothes, slung their rifles across their chests, and Carlos led the way home.

They stopped at the high point to call in. “Lisa, this is Rick”

Rick was dumbfounded when Lisa and someone else answered at the same time. “Lisa, hang on” Rick said.

“Rick, this is Dave” Rick heard. “Dave, where are you” he asked.

“As near as I can tell, we’re about 15 miles from your house” Dave said. I’ve got my family, we’re with George. He’s got the directions and map to your house that you left him” Dave said, not wanting to give too much away on the radio.

“Dave, I guess they can’t hear you at the house yet. Give me your coordinates” he asked, knowing that Dave would use UTM coordinates and add 1 to each number smaller than 5 to confuse anyone listening. Grabbing a pencil and the paper map of the area he had printed from Topo!, he recorded the numbers that Dave rattled off. After correcting the numbers, Rick said

“You should be at my house before I am. Just call when you’re closer, and let them know you’re coming”.

“Roger that” was Dave’s only reply.

“Lisa, this is Rick”

“I only heard half of that” Lisa said. “Was that Dave?”

“Yes, his family and George, too. They should be there soon, before we are. Get ready”.

“OK, we’re waiting for them”.

Rick and Carlos didn’t need to stop on the way back. Rick was pretty cold though, the wind from the ride was cutting through them pretty badly. Rick should have worn his snowmobile suit and gloves he thought – but that would have been too warm to hike in.

They got to the house, and saw a military 5-ton truck pulling up the driveway. George, Dave and Linda were in the front seat, he thought. Since they were all wearing protective masks, it was hard to tell. When he got closer, he saw the twins in the back of the truck, bundled up like the Michelin Men and in masks, too. The twins were 18 year old girls, Linda and Dave’s children. The truck was also hauling a trailer with a fuel tank on it.

“Hey, guys” Rick said. “Welcome. Before you come in, do we need to decontaminate anything?

“I don’t think so” Dave said after removing the mask and rubbing his face. Dave’s undergraduate degree was in nuclear physics. “But, if you have a low-level meter, you should check us over”.

“Lisa, please get the Geiger counter” Rick said. She handed it to Rick, who ran it over everyone. You’re all OK” Rick said. Checking the truck over, he found that the truck was a little ‘hot’. “We’ll need to decon the truck” he said.

“Can we do that later?” George asked

“Sure, come on in” Lisa said. “I bet you have some stories.”

Paradise Chapter 7

“George, how about pulling the truck over in back of the workshop there”? Rick asked. “It’ll be out of the way, and near our fuel tanks”.

“I don’t think I can, I need some help” George said, and staggered. Dave and Rick grabbed him, and supported him – Rick saw that George didn’t look good. They helped him to the deck, where the rest of the visitors were taking off their boots, and heavy clothing, as Lisa gave them a quick check with the Geiger counter.

“Lets get him inside and on the bed in the spare bedroom” Rick said.

“We should get his boots and outer clothes off” Lisa said. “We need to check him, too”, waiving the meter.

They helped George remove his outer clothing, and Lisa waved the meter over him. The look on her face wasn’t good. She handed the meter to Rick, who checked George himself. “OK, everyone get inside. Dave, help me and Lisa strip George, we’re going to need to hose him off here. Carlos, please go run the shower in the spare bath, after we decontaminate George he’s going to need to be warmed up. Angela, can you make some hot chocolate for everyone?” Rick fired off instructions like he was in the Emergency Room.

They got George’s clothes off, and Rick saw some disquieting signs – many small bruises across George’s shoulders, arms and legs. They didn’t seem to have any particular pattern. Rubbing George’s head as he was being hosed off, Rick and Dave also saw that his hair was very easy to pull out. These both were signs of exposure to radiation, the question then became how much? George was shivering quite heavily now, and couldn’t answer questions – “moderate hypothermia” Rick thought.

Finishing his ice cold shower, they wrapped George in a towel that Lisa had brought and took him inside. “Lisa, hose the deck off, please” Rick wanted to get any contaminated run-off off the deck. They took George into the spare bathroom, and setting the water temperature on the cool side, they put George into the shower, and carefully warmed him up with warm water. George’s shivering slowed, and then stopped, and after a few minutes was able to assist, and they shampooed him (with more hair falling out) and he soaped down. After rinsing down, they let him out of the shower, and helped him dry off. Lisa brought a bathrobe and some slippers, and after putting towels around his neck and over his head to help maintain his body heat, they led him into the spare bedroom and put him in bed.

Lisa brought in a cup of warm chocolate and a pill bottle. Rick checked the bottle; it was 10 mg zolpidem (Ambien), a sleep aid that was pretty innocuous. Rick shook one out, and told George “take this, it’ll help you rest”. George downed the pill with the last of the chocolate, and laid back.

“Thanks, that was good” he said. “Thanks for the pill, too – but I don’t think I need it. I’m pretty tired; we’ve been driving for more than three days”.

“Take a nap, then. We’ll be here when you wake up” Rick said.

“Will I wake up?” George asked, knowing that he was suffering from the radiation exposure. Rick had to swallow, hard as he looked at his friend and patient.

“George, I don’t know how bad your exposure was. When did you start developing the petechiae?” Rick asked, knowing that as a paramedic, George would understand the term.

“Oh, crap, what petechia?” George answered, concern in his voice.

“OK, if they just recently developed that would indicate that the radiation exposure you received was clinical but not especially heavy – unless you were very recently exposed, like in the last couple of days.”

“No, we’ve been sheltered until the day before we left, three days ago” Dave said. “And we haven’t been through any hot spots, as far as I could tell. If we were, we were all exposed and George is the only one with frank symptoms”

“George, I think you’ll be OK. Rest, if you wake up and want company or need help give a shout, and someone will be here” Rick told him.

“OK, that pills kicking in. Good stuff…” George said, and closed his eyes.

Back in the family room, Rick poured a cup of coffee. Dave mixed some hot chocolate and drank it. “Tastes good” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get warm again”.

“Where were you guys?” Lisa asked

“When the war happened, you mean?” Linda asked. “We were at George’s. We had stopped on our way back to Oregon for a visit”.

“Then what happened” Rick asked.

“When the explosions woke us up, we knew we had only a little time to get into a shelter. The explosion was probably at China Lake, and we knew we were going to get fallout – we actually got a little blast effect, and the building at the end of the town actually caught on fire” Dave answered. “George had that old gas station, and there was a below ground room that had been for oil storage and whatnot. It was the best we could do. He hustled us into it, and then started collecting supplies for us – you know how he has all that military equipment. He just started throwing things down the stairs, masks, filled water cans, cases of MRE’s. He had a NukAlert, and it started beeping pretty often before he finished. He stripped off his clothes and joined us in that little room.

“At first, we only had the flashlight on my keychain. It wasn’t much to work with, the lights in the room didn’t work. We were able to get a battery powered lantern working, and organized the room a little. We were in there for two weeks” Dave said.

“Do you remember how many chirps that NukAlert was making?” Lisa asked.

“It was just chirping, continuously” Dave said. “They max out at 50 Rads”.

“Yeah, George must have gotten a pretty heavy dose” Rick said. “His symptoms are just starting to show up, though – that’s a good sign”.

“How heavy a dose do you think?” Linda asked. “Is it survivable? He stayed out there, running around, until he had everything we needed – even a chemical toilet”.

“I’ll need to check a book, but my guess is around 200 – 300 REM. And yes, if I’m right about the dose, yes. It is survivable. He’ll be very susceptible to infection in any cuts or abrasions but I didn’t notice any. We’ll just have to wait, and see. Dave, you’re the nuclear physicist, what do you think”? Rick answered.

Dave was lost in thought. George had been a childhood friend of his. Finally, he answered “I think you’re right. I hope so. He saved our lives, and I was totally unprepared to protect my family”.

“Dave, we were all unprepared” Lisa said. “Why don’t you guys go take a shower, get cleaned up, and change into clean clothes? I’ll get some more towels, and we can wash up your clothes when you’re done.”

“You have a washing machine that works?” Linda asked

“Yes, we’ll show you what we have here. We’re in pretty good shape” Lisa said. “We’ll get dinner started, too.”

“You have food?” one of the twins (Anne or Catherine, only their parents could tell them apart) said. “We’ve been eating MRE’s for two weeks”.

“Yes, we’ll have to make do tonight, I didn’t take enough out of the freezer for all of us but we have real food” Lisa said. “Angela, Oh, we need to make some introductions” Lisa said, and introduced everyone. “Angela and Carlos have a new baby boy, Daniel, who’s asleep in the basement, I guess. Anyway, Angela is a pretty good chef too, and she may be able to fix up some Mexican dishes for us, too”. Just then, they heard Daniel crying, and Angela said

“Well, I guess he’s hungry too. I’ll go feed him” Angela said.
“Anyway, you guys go and get cleaned up” Lisa said. “I’ll start dinner”.


Later, as they were sitting around the table, they discussed their exploits. Rick had checked in on George, who was still asleep. His vital signs were normal but Rick wished he had the ability to get some blood work done and see what his condition was. More than anything, a blood count would tell quite a bit about his prognosis.

Dave and Linda started telling their story. They had a difficult time in the shelter. It was a very small room for five people to spend two weeks in. The lack of privacy was tough on everyone, the ventilation was poor and while George had been able to get most of what they needed, there wasn’t anything to do to fight the boredom. He also hadn’t been able to get a lot of batteries and so they sat in the dark most of the time.

After two weeks, George had them all put on what protective masks they had available (George had an assortment of various types, but not all were in useable condition). He gave the girls the good new models he had, an M40 and a Canadian M69. He gave Dave and Linda the M17’s he had that were still useable, and after looking at the remaining masks, decided on an Israeli civil defense mask. He opened the door to their shelter and checked the NukAlert – it wasn’t chirping, a good thing. George looked around the inside of his shop and didn’t see anything amiss. Fortunately he thought, the one window on the north side (towards the Navy base at China Lake) had broken in the door, and he just patched over it with some plywood.

Walking around the building with his M1 Garand rifle at the ready, he got to the front and looked out onto the main road. He stopped suddenly at the sight of a long line of military vehicles, mostly 5-ton trucks but also some larger HEMTTs with trailers, stopped outside. There were also a number of bodies, he noticed, some in the cabs of the trucks, some on the ground outside, all in obvious decomposition. “They must have tried to evacuate China Lake” George thought. “Too late”. Carefully opening the front door he looked around the little town and didn’t see anyone moving. He walked over to his neighbors, and found them both dead in their bedroom.

George went back to the shop, and called down “Leave your masks on, but come up”. George wasn’t sure if the stench of all those decomposing bodies was still in the air, but he thought he could detect it through the mask he was wearing. The Abrams family came up the stairs, stretching and blinking.

“Stay in the shop here” George told the crowd. “Dave, come with me”. He took Dave to the front and showed him the vehicles spread out.

“Poor bastards” Dave said, seeing the dead bodies.

“We need to decide what to do now” George said. They walked back to the rest.

“Well, we can eat something besides MRE’s for lunch” George said. He knew he had some canned Dinty Moore beef stew that they could eat cold, even if they couldn’t heat it up. But, we need to figure out what we’re going to do now”?

“You mean we can go home”? Anne asked.

“I don’t think so, honey” Dave answered. “I’m not sure we have a home anymore, Portland may have been a target”. He thought about the targets along the way, Sacramento, San Francisco, Beale AFB, etc and thought that “even if Portland was still there, there’s no easy way to get there”.

The girls looked at him, comprehension finally dawning on them. “What are our options, then?” Linda asked.

“Let me get a map, and some paper” George said. He went and got a road map of the USA and moving some stuff off a table, spread it out. He reached behind him and got a large red marker off a shelf. “China Lake obviously was a target” he said, marking the area off. “I don’t know what else was, but let’s approach this logically”. He marked off the entire Los Angeles basin, Orange County, and San Diego. “I wonder if they would hit Barstow and Ft. Irwin”? He also marked off Las Vegas, when Linda stopped him.

“Why would you think Las Vegas would be a target?

“A couple of reasons, it’s a major transportation corridor, and a population center with over one million people. Plus, Nellis AFB is right there”.

“Oh, right” Linda said.

George also marked off Sacramento, San Francisco, Tucson and Phoenix. That map was looking more and more red, giving them fewer options. The Antelope valley was just south of them, but out of the question because of Edwards AFB. He crossed Salt Lake City off the map, saying “population and Hill AFB”. Looking north of Phoenix, he saw Prescott, and then his vision drifted off towards Sedona. “Hmm”, he said, thinking.

“I think we have two options. We might try going due west towards the coast, taking the back roads. Or, we might try going east. I don’t know anyone on the coast, or have a good idea of where we can go. We could try going towards Rick’s place, near Sedona”.

“Is Sedona safe?” Linda asked.

“I don’t know. It should be, hopefully it was far enough away from any target. Rick was here last month to pick up the dogs I got for him, and he gave me directions to find it, though. And you guys know Rick and Lisa, they must have had some preparations in place”.

“Too bad we can’t call them on the phone” Linda said.

George picked up the wall phone, and said “Right. No dial tone, not that I’d expect one”.

“What about calling him on a radio? Dave said.

“Good idea, I’ll try. I don’t know if he would be monitoring though, or what frequency”. George went over to his radio setup in the corner, and tried to turn the radios on. “Oh, right – no electrical power”. He went and pulled a car battery he had that should have been charged, and connected it to his power bus. He tried to turn on one radio, and then another. He checked the battery with a test light and it had juice. “Nothings working” he said. “EMP?”

“Maybe” Dave said. “Probably, this close”.

They debated their options. Going very far south was out of the question. So was north. West or East seemed their only options.

“Can we stay here?” Catherine asked.

“We could, but not permanently” George said. “I have a little food and water, but without water we couldn’t stay here long”. He went over to the utility sink and turned on both faucets, nothing came out. “Plus, the food I have won’t last long. I doubt the folks in town have much set aside. And, there may be residual radiation”.

“So, we have to go somewhere” Linda said, finally. “I guess we should try to go east”.

“OK, but why east, Mom?” Anne asked. “Wouldn’t towards the ocean be better”?

“We don’t know anywhere to go or anyone that might be there” Linda said. “Plus, I bet a bunch of survivors from both Los Angeles and San Francisco crammed in there. There may not be any room for us. Plus, the coast is along the San Andreas Fault.”

George got a couple of cans of stew and some paper plates. He also got a Coleman stove going and after removing the lids, set the cans of stew directly on the burners, set low.

The girls laughed at Georges’ bachelor ways, and found a pot. They also found some plastic flatware, and some warm cans of soda. They took over the meal preparations, while Dave, Linda and George made plans.

“We should take one of the trucks outside”, George said. “We can also check them out and see if they have anything useful”.

“Won’t we get into trouble?” Linda said. “Those are military vehicles”.

“If we find someone who can cause that sort of trouble for us, I’d be happy” George told her. “I don’t think there will be many people left who can. In the mean time, they can carry us and a lot of supplies, and I doubt any of our gas vehicles can run now. The diesels in the GI trucks should be OK.

“Plus, I saw a fuel trailer on one of the trucks, probably to refuel the convoy. We can take the trailer, if not the truck, and use it ourselves. We’re probably going to have to take a long, out of the way route to get to Rick’s”.

“OK” Linda said, taking the pad of paper. “What else do we need to do?”

“Well, we need to find a truck that runs” Dave said. “We can use parts from the other trucks if necessary”.

“And find a fuel trailer with fuel, it will probably be labeled ‘JP-8’” George said.

“JP-8?” Linda asked. “Jet fuel?”

“Yes, the military switched almost everything over to run on JP8 fuel, including the diesels. They’ll still run on diesel or many other kinds of fuel” George said.

“We need to find food, and water” Linda said, writing on the pad.

“We should try and find some radios that work” Dave said.

“Flashlights, batteries, tools, spare tires, fuel cans, truck parts” George said.

“First aid supplies, maybe some better clothes” Linda said. “We should find cold weather clothing and boots, and rainwear”.

“We can probably find more masks, and filters outside” George said.

They continued to list items to prepare with, until the girls announced that lunch was ready. Nobody wanted to be the first to take their mask off, but George finally did. Sniffing, he said “seems ok”. They all took their masks off and ate.

After lunch, George put a tyvek suit on, and some gloves, along with his mask. He handed his M1 to Dave and said “cover me, partner” as he walked outside. A stopped 5-ton truck was right across the street, and George went to it first. He climbed up on the running board, and saw that a passenger was decomposing on the far side of the cab. He saw a clipboard, with a load manifest, route map and other military documents, and after flipping through the papers, decided that the load on this truck wasn’t interesting – it seemed to be electronic parts. The convoy was headed to March ARB, it seemed. “I don’t think there’s a March ARB, anymore” George thought. Stepping down, he handed the clipboard to Dave.

“See if there’s any good information there”. George walked to the next nearest truck, a 5-ton with a ring mount and what looked like an M240 on a pintle in front of the ring. There was an armored HMMWV with a mounted M2 in front and another with a grenade launcher mounted just behind this truck. The crews of the HMMWVs were still inside the vehicles. This truck seemed to have possibilities when George climbed up. There were no bodies inside. There was a clipboard, though and his eyes grew large when he saw it. He stepped down, and walked around to the back of the truck. Untying the canvas, he saw the truck filled with weapons cases, and it was towing a trailer filled with the ammo for those weapons. Dropping the trucks’ tailgate, he climbed in and saw a couple of M2 machine guns on tripods, and a number of cases that George knew were designed to hold a dozen M16 type rifles. Another, different sized case revealed a dozen MP-5 submachine guns the Marines favored for CQB. He also saw another case, similar but slightly different in size and shape, and opening it saw M4 Carbines with M203 launchers on them. “There are too many weapons for us” he thought, amazed. “We won’t have room for them all”.

Jumping out of the truck, he went back to the cab and climbed in. He turned the master switch on, and then tried the starter. The engine groaned, and then fired up. He let it run for a bit, and checked the fuel gauge which showed it was full. “The driver must have shut the engine off” he thought. Wondering about the drivers, he stepped out and went around the front of the truck. When he got to the other side, he saw the drivers lying on the ground. One had removed his mask carrier and LBE, so George picked them up, along with both M4’s that were laying there. He quickly checked, both were loaded and on safe. He walked back and told Dave what was on the truck as he handed over the weapons. He then switched out his Israeli mask for the M40 in the carrier he found, and then changed the filter for a new one that was in the carrier, sealed in a can. “Much easier than the M17” he thought. “Whoever approved that design should have been gassed, themselves”.

It took the rest of the day, but George found most of the things they wanted. One truck was loaded with nothing but tri-wall boxes with BDU’s, boots, and other clothing items. One of the HEMMTs had a trailer full of food, cases and cases of MRE’s. There was a 5-ton truck with two fuel pods, and towing a trailer with another fuel pod about a half-mile down the road, they’d check it out later, when they left. Hopefully between the three fuel pods they could fill the trailer’s pod with fuel for their trip.

As George found the items they needed, Dave and Linda would pull out just what they thought they could use. They didn’t really need thousands of sets of BDU’s for instance so they only took a couple of dozen sets for each of them, and a few others. They did load up on both MRE’s and some T-ration boxes they found. They had told the girls to unload some of the cases from the truck they were going to use, and with Dave’s directions they did. They struggled to move the heavy cases of ammunition to the truck from the trailer but managed.

Finally, George found a HMMWV with some military survey meters in it. “Bingo” he thought. He checked, and saw that one of them was showing a rate of about 1 RAD/hour. “We better get done quickly” he thought. He gave the meters to Dave.

Eventually that day, they were loaded. They had found everything on the list, and more. In addition to the weapons they had found, they also found a truck with a trailer full of explosives – claymore mines, grenades, and anti-tank and anti-personnel. They took a few cases of each. They had found the cold weather and rain gear they wanted, along with LBE and spare masks for all in the cabs of the trucks. They hadn’t had to strip any of the bodies, which was fine with them. They moved back to the workshop and had dinner.

“Let’s leave first thing tomorrow” George said. “The girls can ride in the back, and we have room up front for the rest of us”.

We don’t want to be back there” Anne complained. “It’s dark and smelly, and we’ll be alone. And freezing,” she said, thinking of the cold and wind chill.

“We don’t have room in the cab” Dave said. “We’ve set up the cargo so you will be protected from the wind, and you’ll have each other to keep from being alone”.

“Oh, wait” George said. He got up, and went looking for an ammo box in the shop. Finding it, he brought it back to the table and opened it.

“I have a couple of handheld radios in here, they may still work” he said. He pulled out two Icom handhelds, an IC-02 and another radio that looked identical. “Let me get some batteries” he said. George walked over to the refrigerator and pulled open the freezer door. He reached in and pulled out several boxes of batteries, of different sizes and took them back to the table. They’d warmed up to room temperature, when the power went out. “Here, put some AA’s into the radios and test them, we can take the batteries out if they radios got fried”.

They put the batteries in and attached the battery packs. Turning the radios on, they both emitted static. George switched the ham radio, the -02AT to memory channel 5 and told Dave to push the “5” on the H16 which was actually a commercial grade radio. He adjusted the squelch and keyed the radio, and a very loud squeal came out of the other radio.

“Great” Dave said, doing the same and getting another squeal. “What frequency is that?

“Oh, it’s our old “Tac-5 channel we used to use” George said. I doubt anyone will mind us using it”

“OK, girls – you’ll be able to radio us from the back of the truck” Linda said. She found a small box and put all the spare batteries in it. “What route should we take?”

Discussing the best way to get around the expected hot spots, they decided to go east, cross-country until they reached highway 127 on the east side of Death Valley. They wanted to avoid both Barstow and Ft. Irwin since one of the route maps they found showed a large “X” through both. Once on highway 127 they would go north until they reached US 95, and north to Tonopah. That should keep them on the west side of the Nevada test range. In Tonopah, they’d pick up US 6 and Nevada 375 to Panaca, Nevada. From Panaca, they’d cross into Utah near Cedar City, get on US 89 and go south, hopefully to Flagstaff and then down I-17 towards Sedona. They figured it would take them three days, the truck wouldn’t go very fast, even if they weren’t towing the trailer. Looking at the passes they had to travel through, George hoped the truck didn’t give them any trouble.

George gave them all a review of the M4 carbine, and had them snap in, then fire the rifles across the back of his lot. He knew there was nothing for a quarter-mile, where a hill would stop the bullets. They didn’t have any targets set up, but they got a feel for the way the carbines handled, and what full auto was like – George figured that they could fire a magazine of full auto and get it out of their systems. They also got used to the night sights that were mounted.

“Now, instead of spray and pray, stay in semi auto, and pick a target. Line it up in the sights, and squeeze the trigger” he reminded everyone, and then walked them through cleaning the weapons.

They didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning, George locked up his place and left a note in the window that he had survived, and would be back. “Not that I think it will make any difference” he thought. Looking at the line of vehicles and thinking of the dead servicemen and women, and said “Before we go, I’d like to take a minute and say a prayer for these people”. Everyone gathered around and George said “Lord, please watch over these brave souls” and choked up, unable to continue. They stood there for a moment, and Linda said “Amen”, which the other repeated.

They got the girls settled into the back of the truck. They had a nice niche between the boxes and boxes of supplies they had collected, and the girls had several sleeping pads and sleeping bags for padding. They climbed in, and tested their radio. George got into the drivers seat, Linda in the middle and Dave on the passenger seat.

“What about that machine gun?” Dave asked.

“Hopefully we won’t need it” George said. “Here, let me show you two how it’s used”. He showed them the safety, and described how to fire – short bursts, and watch the tracer rounds to adjust.

They drove “their” truck, as they thought of it, to where George had seen the fuel pod. As expected it was full of JP-8. They stripped the spare tire from it (giving them 4 mounted and inflated spares, with the others they had collected), the gas cans, and the other tools from that truck, and after switching the trailer over, left.

It took them a lot longer to go cross country than they expected. When ever they would gain a little elevation, they ran into snow that was staying on the ground. George drove, since there were many open mineshafts in the area. It was almost dark before they finally got to highway 127. They stopped to eat, and George filled the trucks’ fuel tank from the fuel pod.

“Let’s continue on” he said.

“I’ll drive” Dave said. Dave drove through the night, passing vehicles and very occasionally seeing campfires off the road but not running into any difficulties. George and Linda slept fitfully. Finally they reached the outskirts of Tonopah. There were some people there manning a roadblock further up the road, but they diverted onto Highway 6. After leaving Tonopah in the distance, Dave pulled over. “I need to stop” he said.

They had a breakfast of MRE’s, and washed up a little. Once again, George refilled the trucks’ fuel tank, and checked the oil and coolant. Closing the engine up, he got up in the drivers seat and started the engine. They drove on, and passed the occasional ranch, with no signs of life. Finally, near US 93, they saw a rancher driving a tractor. They stopped and Dave and Linda got out of the truck, leaving their M4’s inside. George stayed inside, with his M4 within reach, locked, and loaded. “Girls, stay inside and low” Dave said into the radio, before he left.

“Hi, folks” the rancher said, when he got out of the tractor. “What brings the army out this way?” Dave explained that they weren’t in the army, they just found the truck.

“Have you had any news?” Linda asked.

“Not much” the rancher said. “I can occasionally get someone on the shortwave, but we haven’t heard anything on the regular radio, or the TV. What about you?”

“We came from near China Lake, in California” Linda said. “We spent two weeks in a shelter, then came out yesterday. The area is still radioactive so we had to leave”.

“Where you going?”

“We have friends south of Flagstaff, Arizona” Dave said, not wanting to be too specific. There was something just surreal about this entire conversation he was having. They talked about route they planned, and the expected conditions. Finally,

“Anything I can help you guys out with?” the rancher asked.

“No, we’re pretty well set, I guess” Dave said. “Is there anything you need?”

“Well, I guess we’re pretty well set here, my wife and I. We haven’t seen anyone except you since the day”.

“We’ll be going then” Dave said. “Thanks for the information”.

“God bless, and good luck” the Rancher said.

“God bless” Linda and Dave said, and walked back to the truck. George started up the truck and pulled out.

In Panaca, they saw a few people looking at them from behind windows, but nobody stopped them. They continued on their route, till they were near Cedar City, when George pulled over. Time for another break, he announced. They all got out of the truck and stretched.

Rubbing her butt, Anne said “These trucks aren’t much on creature comforts, are they?” Everyone laughed, including her. They had another MRE, and got a stove out for some hot drinks – chocolate and apple cider from their MRE’s. Dave and George refilled the fuel tank on the truck, and George added a quart of oil to the engine. Dave got into the drivers seat and they left again.

“I want to get through Cedar City before dark, or we’ll stop and spend the night somewhere” Dave said.

They managed to get through Cedar City and onto Utah 14. Dave drove through the night, until they got to US 89 and turned south. The weather was very, very cold and they all were shivering in the cab, despite having the heater on full. The girls were bundled up in the back, and in sleeping bags but were still freezing.

The sun was coming up as they pulled into the outskirts of Glendale, Utah. They were driving down the road when a shot rang out and their windshield shattered. Dave jammed on the brakes, and the truck shuddered to a stop. He shifted into reverse and hit the accelerator and the truck lurched backwards, as Dave was barely able to keep it on the road. He hardly had any experience with towing, especially with such a large vehicle. He pulled around a bend in the road, and not seeing anyone, stopped the truck but left it running.

“Girls, are you OK?” Dave shouted. They both replied, “what's happening?”

“Calm down” Linda said.

“What's going on?” the girls asked.

“You all stay here”, George said. Taking his M4 with an M203 attached, he walked down the road. Staying on the hill side of the road, he carefully looked around the bend at where the shot had come from and scanned the area. Finally, he moved back to the truck.

“I can’t see anyone or anything” he said. “There’s no obvious road block, or anyone out there. I don’t know who shot at us”.

“Can we get around the town?” Dave asked.

“I don’t know; lets look at the map” George said.

They pulled out their AAA road map of Utah and Nevada, wishing they had a better one.

“It looks like this dirt road back a way, will bypass the town, and let us out on US 89”, Linda said finally.

“Yeah, that looks like the only choice” George said. He’d been keeping an eye on the road, in case anyone came after them. “You two should have your weapons with you”. Looking in the back, he told the girls “You too”. They grabbed their rifles and looked around.

“Should we try and find that SOB?” Dave asked.

“And do what?” George asked.

“He shot at us!” Dave said. “We have that machine gun, and the others…..”

“Dave LET IT GO” George said. He almost never raised his voice, and doing it now startled everyone. Dave decided to let it go.

They turned the truck around, and drove back up the road. They finally found the road they were looking for, they thought, and turned onto it. They followed it slowly because of the road’s condition. Finally, George stopped, and said “I need a rest”.

They got out of the truck, and stretched. Everyone took advantage of the situation to relieve themselves; the women using a porta-potty they carried in the trailer. Dave and George filled the truck, and they all had an MRE for dinner.

Finally, they started out, with Dave driving.

“Why can’t I drive?” Linda asked.

“You can, but lets switch later, when the suns up” George said. Squirming to try and find a soft spot on the seat, he wished the window wasn’t broken – the draft was hitting him right in the face.

They rolled slowly through the night, and finally came up to a paved, wide road. Looking at a milepost they saw it was US 89, and they turned south. Linda started driving, once they were on the paved road.

“We rolled on, to Kanab” Dave said. “There, we decided to take 89-A instead of 89, and bypass the Glen Canyon Dam. We weren’t sure if it was standing, but figured there might be people there and we wanted to avoid them, if possible. Of course, we were taking a chance on the bridge being there, too”.

They took the detour through Jacobs Lake, and Marble Canyon, until they were able to join up US 89 again, south of Lake Powell. They were able to cross the Colorado River, finally – the last major natural obstruction they had to face. They didn’t notice anything that would indicate that Glen Canyon was destroyed, but they didn’t mind avoiding people. The sun came up and they stopped for a meal, and to service the truck. They all discussed getting through Flagstaff.

“I don’t see any other way than going through” George said after looking at the map. We can take these smaller roads, but still have to cross I-40. We’ll do that east of town, and take these back roads. We can actually stay off of the Interstate, which is probably a good thing”. George started driving.

They were very careful, and drove down towards Flagstaff. They encountered lots of snow, and the weather remained very cold. George wished that he had been able to find snow chains for the trucks, but couldn’t. Every now and then they would see smoke coming out of a chimney, or gathering on the ground, low. “Looks like there are some survivors” George said.

They were able to get across I-40, and continued on the roads they picked out. “Then, we were able to hear one of your radio checks, but I guess you couldn’t hear us” Dave said. “We continued on until you could. After that, you pretty much know what happened”.

“Wow” Rick said. “You’re pretty lucky to have avoided everyone”. Noticing the time, he went to check on George, who was still sleeping.

“George is sleeping. It sounds like he may not have gotten much sleep at all th e last few days, but then I guess none of you have” Rick said, returning. “We have the one extra bedroom on this floor, besides ours, and the one George is in. Carlos and Angela are staying in the basement, but we have the loft rooms, and we can put people up on the couches here, too”.

“Girls, why don’t you come with me upstairs” Lisa said. I’ll show you where the linen is”. The girls followed Lisa upstairs, carrying their suitcases and now clean clothes.

“Rick, Lisa” Linda started. “I don’t know how to thank you. I didn’t think that we’d find you, but we had to get out of the desert. You’ve saved our lives”.

“You’re all welcome here” Lisa said. “We know that you’d take us in, as well – that’s what friends do”.

“Our room is across from George” Rick said. I’ll be able to keep an ear on him tonight”. They broke up to go to sleep.

In their bed that night, Lisa asked Rick “How will George do?”

“I really don’t know. I hope he’s OK, but if he develops an infection we may lose him. I don’t have the ability to do any blood work, and don’t have any blood products to transfuse him with. Finally, this really isn’t my area of expertise”.

“Well, I suppose that we could go into Sedona tomorrow, and check it out” Lisa said. We can take the snow mobiles and maybe that giant truck, too – if we could find a snow blower, we could clean up the area around here”.

“Good idea, my love” Rick said, as he snuggled up to Lisa.

The next morning, George woke up, and said “I’m hungry!” Rick checked him out, and he seemed to be holding his own. Being hungry was a good sign, he thought.

They got George up and around, and Rick had a private chat with him.

“You’re going to have to let me know if you have any nausea at all, blood in your stool, or urine. If you’re not feeling well, I have some drugs that can help”.

“OK, I guess you’re finally going to be my doctor” George said.

“Yep, and I know all your tricks, too – so you’re going to shut up and soldier when I tell you what you’re going to do” Rick laughed. As a retired paramedic, George had ambivalent feelings about most physicians.

They went into the family room, and had breakfast. Angela had gotten up early to feed Daniel, and had made some bread so they had toast with breakfast. George’s appetite was fine. Rick brought up the idea of going into Sedona to see what happened, and everyone was all for it.

“Sounds like a great idea” George said. Let me get dressed, and I’ll start unloading the truck”.

“Hold up, cowboy” Rick said. “You’re on the sick list, until further notice”.

“I’m OK” George said.

“Lisa, take his clothes away from him” Rick said, laughing. “As cold as it is, he won’t go far in his robe”.

“OK, OK” George said. They started discussing what they should do next.

Paradise Chapter 8

The conversation about their trip to Sedona dragged on. Everyone had ideas about what they should do, find, or get. Rick let everyone brainstorm, not offering many suggestions and shutting down criticisms that would occasionally be offered at less than practical ideas – the girls, for instance, wanted to go to the tourist trap / art gallery at Tlaquepaque, but that was an area Rick tried to avoid even in normal times.

Finally, the discussion sort of ran out of steam. Rick noticed that George hadn’t said anything about Sedona, and now looked a little distressed. He asked “George, are you feeling OK?”

“Yes, I feel fine” he snapped. “I don’t know about you folks, though”

Rick had a pretty good idea what George would say. He hadn’t wanted to dampen anyone’s ideas during their brainstorming, hoping that George would notice the impracticality of the ideas. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t think this is the right time to go shopping” George said. “You don’t know what's going on there, there’s seven feet of snow on the ground, and there may be angry people, dying people, starving people, you name it. But, you’re all talking about going on a day-long shopping spree. Except, you’re not even sure what you’re going shopping for”. George drained his hot chocolate, and sat the cup down.

“What would you suggest?” Carlos asked.

“The first thing to do, I think, is to find out what the status of the town is. A small scouting party, with radios, to carefully get close and look around, not a herd of tourists tromping through the town. And just to be careful, the scouts should be well armed”.

“Is that really necessary, George?” Linda asked.

“To be careful, yes. At the very least, the scouts can determine if there is any civic authority, a Sheriff I guess, and find out what the hells going on in the world. We don’t need everyone to go and potentially be endangered”.

The discussion started up again, arguing about George’s comments. Rick finally said “OK, I think that George has made a good point. We can send a small group in and look around – Carlos and me, I think. Carlos knows most people, and I may be able to help injured people. George has to stay here, of course”.

That started another argument. “Why can’t we go see” the girls said.

Rick was getting impatient. “Calm down, we just want to make certain that it’s safe. Especially for the women”.

“We want to go too. We have those rifles, George showed us how to use them”.

“I don’t care. A quick little course isn’t enough training. We want to keep everyone safe” Rick said. “Now, maybe we should postpone our trip a day or two. You guys can get better rested, and maybe George can give us all some tactical training”.

“There’s one other issue, too” Lisa said.

“What's that?” Rick asked

“How are you going to get there, and get around? There’s a lot of snow out there”.

Rick stopped at that. They had a few options, but they had to determine which would work best.

“Well, we probably shouldn’t just drive into the town. The only truck we can move right now is the 5-ton, anyway, and I guess it’s full of stuff. It’s a long, long way to Sedona on the snow mobiles, though.

“Lisa, you’re the snowbird, what’s your suggestion?”

“What do you mean, snowbird?” Carlos asked.

“Oh, you don’t know about me, do you?” Lisa said. “I was born and raised in Canada. I came to the US to go to pharmacy school, and liked it so much I wanted to stay – so I joined the Air Force to help me get my US Citizenship quicker. I was born in Sudbury, Ontario, north of Lake Huron and grew up mostly in Ottawa. I originally went to the University of Ottawa.

“Anyway, the cold and snow isn’t really too bad, compared to when I was growing up. We’d have to go to school when the cold and wind chill was forty below.”

“Fahrenheit or Celsius?” one of the girls asked.

“At forty below, they’re the same. And it’s damned cold” Lisa said. “Even without the windchill”.

“So, my little ice fairy” Rick said. “What do you think we should do?”

“Well, I guess the best thing to do is to unload that 5-ton truck. We can probably figure out some sort of a ramp or something to load the snow mobiles into it, and use it to move closer to town. Then we can use the snow mobiles to get closer to town and finally walk in, on snowshoes or skis”.

“That’s a good plan, tactically” George said. “We should leave a couple of people with the truck, and a couple of more with the snowmobiles to guard them”.
“Then what?” Dave asked.

“We figure out what's going on in town, and then regroup and re-evaluate” Rick said. “There’s no point in running around like a decapitated chicken”.

“That’s right. We should all get the right equipment, and run through some drills” George said. “At the least, make certain the Rifles are sighted in, and practice a bit with them”.

“We probably have enough uniforms and weapons for everyone in the truck” Linda said. “It’s full of both”.

“OK, why don’t we get dressed, and unload that truck” Lisa said. “It will take a lot of work but we should dig out the main doors to the work shop building, so we can use the door. With everyone helping it shouldn’t be too bad”.

“OK, let’s get ready” Rick said.

Lisa was wrong, shoveling the snow by hand was tough for everyone. They had to move it away from the door, and then away from the building, too. They were able to get the door open, finally, and carved a ramp in the snow that led down into the building. Rick and Dave were able to get the trailer unhitched, and Rick got a couple of big pieces of plywood to put under the front wheel foot of the trailer – Dave pointed out how it could sink into the snow and eventually spill the JP-8. “I think we may need to put something under the wheels, too” Rick said.

Dave then maneuvered the truck over to the ramp, and the entire group (except George, Angela and Daniel) helped out unloading the truck and stacking the gear into the workshop. Finally, they were done, but the sun was behind the trees and it was getting colder.

“OK, good work, folks – let’s get something warm” Lisa said. They went inside and found that Angela had made a terrific dinner, Lasagna, and fresh garlic bread.

“Where did you get the pasta?” Lisa asked, impressed. “I didn’t think we had any”.

“Oh, I made it” Angela said. “But I used the last fresh eggs, so enjoy it”.

“You made it? That’s terrific, thanks” Rick said. Everyone agreed. Angela sat down, blushing. “Here, have some wine” she said, passing the bottle around. The Abrams and George didn’t really drink, but Dave and Linda surprised everyone when they poured themselves a glass. The bottle got down the table to the girls, who looked at their mother.

“Girls, have a little, I guess” Linda said. “These aren’t normal times, and you have to start acting like adults. You two worked like adults today, adult ditch-diggers” she said.

“I guess a lot of things are different now” Dave said.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” Rick asked. “George, you said something about some drills?”

“Yes, I can give everyone some basic shooting instruction, and we can at least do a quick zero on the M4’s. Plus, we need to make certain that everyone has the right stuff in their LBE, the right clothes, etc. “Lisa, I’m going to let you decide on clothes and stuff” he said.

“We already know what to do” Lisa said. “Dress in layers. Polypro long underwear, pile pants and jacket, BDU’s, gore-tex, gloves, boots, etc. We each need to get dressed in all of that tomorrow, so we can make sure that the LBE all fits over it. The LBE will have combat and survival equipment, and you’ll all need to take BOB’s, too. We should fit the LBE first, I guess – we’ll need to be wearing it for the shooting practice”.

“OK, so tomorrow morning we’ll get kitted up. George may not have been in the military but he’s the best infantry specialist we have thanks to his study, scholarship really, and his “testing”. Plus, I trust him implicitly” Rick said.

“Testing?” Carlos asked

“George would actually go out and try the equipment the way it was designed” Rick said. “Sometimes I’d go along, but he and Dave have been doing that since they were in High School”.

“I can set some target holders up tomorrow” Lisa said. I think I have some 25-meter M16 targets for zeroing that I can print out on the computer. What else will we need?”

“With all the snow out there, I guess a tarp of some kind would be good. Plus, a pair of binoculars to check the targets, we aren’t going to be able to walk over to them too easily” George answered.

“OK, I can get that ready tonight” Lisa said. “Also, I’ll print out the packing list of our individual LBE, you can decide how the new LBE should be set up. We can make BOB’s for everyone who needs one, too”.

“OK, I can do that tonight if you get me the list” George said. In addition to the Lasagna for dinner, Angela brought out a tiramisu cake for desert, and coffee and hot chocolate. “That LBE we found had the interceptor armor in it, with the hard plates” he said.

“I found the tiramisu in the freezer” Angela said. Everyone was very happy to have a near normal meal.

“I found the large-format map of the area” George said. “Tomorrow we’ll go over it since you guys (looking at Carlos and Angela) know the most about the area. We’ll get an idea of where to stop, and where to go.”

“One last thing, then” Rick said. “This trip isn’t a shopping expedition, as George said. But, if there is anything we really need, that we’re short on, we may bring it back. So, before we go, I’d like everyone to think about what we have, and what we may need, especially short term. I don’t know that we will be able to find what we want, but we may. Hopefully” he finished.

After dinner, the girls put the dishes in the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen while Angela fed Daniel and put him down for the night. Lisa put “Pirates of the Caribbean” on the DVD and people were able to think about happier times. Finally, George said

“Well, I’m off to bed” as he got up.

Rick went with him, and gave him a quick check-up. He didn’t seem to have any worse symptoms, and when asked denied having nausea, or any unexpected bleeding.

“Be sure and let me know” Rick said.

“I will, don’t worry” George said. “Night.”

“Good night”

Soon, everyone was asleep in bed.

The next morning things went pretty much according to plan. Lisa got into the work shop and found her cross-country skis, which she was able to get around on pretty well. Her using them also meant someone else could wear her snowshoes. She got some old scrap cardboard that they had planned to take to the dump and stapled targets onto them. Taking them outside, she was able to “sail” over to where she wanted to set them up, thanks to the wind. She went back to the work shop and got out a 100 meter tape measure. She was able to measure out a 25 meter point, and then got a tarp.

Anne was on Lisa’s snowshoes. She got a couple of cans of 5.56 ammo, and then used them to anchor two sides of the tarp Lisa brought out. The tarp was still blowing around, so she figured, why not?, and got a couple of cans of 9mm ammo, and was able to drag a case of MP-5 submachine guns. She thought the little gun would be fun to shoot and they looked kind of sexy.

Inside, everyone else was putting on a fashion show. They dressed in all their cold weather clothing and then with George’s help got their LBE vests fitted correctly. George then led them through some stoppage drills with empty magazines, and described the way he was going to conduct the shooting training. Finally, he gave everyone a list of the equipment that they should load into their vests, and said “the items that are starred need to go into the pockets I indicated. In case someone needs to get that item from you, or for you, they need to know where it is”. Those items included battle dressings, quick clot and an individual first aid kit, they noticed with some concern.

George took two people at a time, and wanted everyone else to stay inside. “I don’t want to have to worry about anyone walking into the range” He told everyone. “And, the students don’t need any spectators”.

“OK, who’s going to be first?” he asked. Linda and Angela were selected.

George gave them some basic instruction, which was a bit of a review. He handed them a loaded magazine and couched them in assuming a prone position and use of the sling.

“Oh, GEEZ it’s cold” Linda said, lying down.

“Tough it up” George kidded, laughing. OK, remember what I said about the sights. Line up on your target. If the front sight is moving sideways or diagonally at all, then your position isn’t right – move around until it’s just moving up and down, as you breath.

“OK, I think I have it” Angela said.

“OK, now, get up and then do it again” George said.

“What? Why” Angela said.

“Well, the idea is for you to be able to naturally get into that position, without moving around”. George said. “We’re starting to teach your muscles”.

“OK” Angela said. It took a few minutes, but finally both women were able to get into a stable shooting position time after time.

OK, load, and put your rifles on safe” George said. The women pulled back the charging handles of their M4’s, and released them – just as George had shown them.

Using his best “drill sergeant” voice, George intoned “Ready on the left, ready on the right, the line is ready. Fire one round ball ammo”.

“Huh?” the women said in unison.

“Oh, sorry. Angela, fire one shot at your target, after you line your sights up just like we discussed – Linda, you’re next. Take your time, put the front sight on the middle of the target and squeez…” George was interrupted by the sound of the M4 firing. A hole was in the target, dead center.

“Great work, Angela” George said, patting her shoulder. “OK, fire another round, just like before.”

Angela fired another round, which resulted in a hole touching her first one.

“Wow, that’s terrific! OK, fire three rounds, now, but don’t forget to line the sights up” George said.

Angela fired three rounds, the last one a bit quicker than the others. Her target had three holes almost touching dead center in the target, one in the x-ring but not touching, and one that was out of the x-ring but still a hit. “OK, the first four were perfect but you rushed the last one and it was a flier” he said. “Do you both see what I mean?”

They both did. Rick told Angela to fire 5 more rounds at her target, and this time to keep them all in the center. She fired 5 rounds, a bit quicker than last time but well aimed, and there was a single ragged hole in the center of the target. Angela, clear your weapon and stand up, please” George said.

She did. “Hand me your weapon” George said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of adhesive tape he had asked Lisa for, and a sharpie pen. He pulled off a piece of tape and applied it to the stock of the M4, and wrote “Angela” on it. “Congratulations, Angela. Just keep shooting like that” he said, handing the carbine back to her. Angela was beaming with pride.

“Linda, your turn” George said. Linda did as well as Angela did, benefiting from seeing how when Angela rushed, she got off target. George had her clear her weapon and went through the ritual of putting her name on it.

The rest of the day went the same way. Everyone sighted in and got an M4, although the sights needed to be adjusted for most. Even Rick and Lisa got in on the act, adding the M4/M203 combinations to their gun racks.

After they finished, George said “Don’t forget to clean the weapons” and sat down. As people finished, he’d check the job they did, he only had to send the twins back – and explained that the M4 was a good weapon as long as it was maintained correctly.

After lunch, George went out and checked out the MP-5’s. He loaded a couple of magazines and fired one, to get the hang of it. He thought that as a backup, they might not be too bad, and were probably good for cramped spaces, but didn’t like the idea of spray and pray shooting. Still, they had them, and it might be useful – plus each machine pistol came with a dozen 32 round magazines.

George offered anyone who wanted as much orientation on the MP-5 as he could, considering he had never fired one before. He let them fire them until the ammo was gone, and then they policed up the brass, dumping it all from the tarp where most of it had collected into a bucket. Carrying the bucket into the workshop, George slipped on the “ramp” that had turned more into an ice chute, and went flying.

“Oww” he said rubbing his head. Pulling his hand away he noticed a little blood. “Oh, s**t!” he said. Walking back to the house in the path that had finally been beaten down, he went in.

“Rick, I have a problem” he said, and described what happened.

“Let me see” Rick said. George had so much hair (he hadn’t had a haircut since he retired from the Fire Department) even after losing some of it, that Rick couldn’t see what exactly the injury was.

“Time for a trim” Rick said. He went into his bathroom and removed his beard trimmer (which Rick used for his moustache) and brought it back to George’s bedroom. Putting a towel around his shoulders, he carefully trimmed a little hair to get a better look.

“Looks like you’re going to need a stitch, or rather a staple or two” Rick said. Let me go get the equipment. Rick went to the basement and picked up his large medical pack, a Kifaru Navigator with an E&E attached. Rick liked the Kifaru pack, rather than a dedicated “medic pack” because he could customize the pack inside and out. He brought the pack upstairs, and took it into the bedroom.

Reaching into the pack, he removed a small skin stapler, a tube of ‘EMLA’, a topical anesthetic ointment that Lisa bought when she was visiting her mother in Canada (it wasn’t available in the US, or any similar product, especially over the counter) and a tube of antibiotic ointment. He went into the bathroom and got a regular q-tip applicator, too – the ones he had in the bag were sterile and individually wrapped. The wound was bleeding pretty well, so he didn’t think he needed to irrigate it, nor could he palpate any fracture. Of course, had he had the resources, he’d have ordered a head CT, just to be sure.

Rick squeezed a bit of the EMAL onto the wound, and started talking to George.

“Man, you’ve GOT to be more careful”

“I know, I just slipped” George said.

“You can’t afford this, George. We don’t know what your immune system is doing, and an infection can be very, very bad”

“I know, Rick…I feel like an idiot”.

“Good. Don’t do anything even remotely dangerous again. We need you”.

They chatted a bit longer. The EMLA took a few minutes to take effect but Rick didn’t think that an injectable local like lidocaine would work any better, and they had the time. Rick used the time to check George’s vitals, his blood pressure was slightly elevated but he chalked that up to the excitement of his fall.

Finally and anticlimactically, he used two staples to close the wound. After putting a little antibiotic ointment on the wound he handed the tube to George. “Put some of this on there twice a day” he said. “Ask Lisa or me if you need help reaching it”.

“How long will the staples stay in” George asked.

“Oh, three or four, maybe five days. I’ll check it tomorrow” Rick said. “I probably should staple you to the bed for your own safety” he joked.

Angela had help for dinner that night. After shooting together, they had started to become close friends. Linda made a dinner of split pea soup with ham chunks for dinner, and Angela had baked more bread. After dinner, they all discussed the next day.

“I still need to show you all some drills” George said.

“George, you need to stay in the house” Rick said.

“Or at least on the deck” Lisa offered, knowing that George would rebel at the idea of being housebound.

“I can show you guys a few things from the deck, I guess” George grumbled. He might argue with Rick, but he wouldn’t with Lisa.

“OK, now, has anyone thought of anything we really need? Rick asked.

Everyone had a list, and as they discussed the items Lisa copied them onto a master list on her laptop. Some of the items were impractical, but many people had duplicated some items. Rick was listening and getting a little exasperated.

“OK, we’re getting all these good ideas down” Rick said. “But, our trip is only going to be for very critical, very small things. We aren’t taking the truck into town so if it doesn’t fit in our backpacks we’re not getting it this trip”.

“Rick, we should try and find a gas powered snow blower” Lisa said. “We can use it around here, and if we had it, George probably wouldn’t have slipped”

“I know, and if we find one that’s great. But, we’re going to have trouble finding one where the truck is”.

“I think you guys should go tomorrow, late morning” George said. “That will give you plenty of daylight, and anyone who is alive should be up and around. Carlos and I went over the map and found what looks like a good place to take the truck. You’ll have to leave a couple of people to watch it, I want to show whoever it is how to use the M240 on it. You’ll have to find a good place to switch from the snow mobiles to the snow shoes. Rick, what about commo?”

“We have FRS for everyone” Rick said. “I can get a VHF-FM mobile and a mag-mount antenna for the truck, and we can wire it to the battery. We should probably give the city team an FM handheld too – with a J-pole, just in case. The snow mobile team, too. Then, you can monitor from the house here”.

“I’d rather I go with you” George said.

“Not going to happen” Rick said, looking directly at George.

“I guess. I don’t like it though” George said. “Who is going to town?”

“I think Lisa, Carlos and I” Rick said. “Carlos and I can use the snow shoes, and Lisa can get around pretty quickly on her skis”.

“OK, who’s going to be with the truck”?

“I don’t know” Rick said looking at Linda and Dave. “There should be someone there who can drive it”.

Catherine said, “We’re going, too with the truck, or the snow mobiles”. She looked at her twin sister, Anne, who said the same thing.

“No, you’re not” Dave said. You’re staying here where it’s safe”.

Catherine and Anne both stood up. “Last night you said things were different” “That we were working like adults” “We are adults, legally, and” “We’re going to do our share of the work, including the dangerous jobs”. The twins had a very annoying habit of sharing one side of a conversation, each offering part of a conversation. Rick gave up trying to follow who was saying what”.

“No, you’re…” Linda started.

“Yes, we are. That’s it” one of the twins said.

Dave and Linda looked at each other. “We’ll discuss it tomorrow” he said.

“No, dad. There is nothing to discuss. We’re going. If one of you want to come with us that’s fine but we’re not children anymore”.

“If you go, with anyone, or anywhere” George said “You’ll have to obey the instructions of whoever is in charge. Rick, Me, anyone. You understand? It’s not because you’re young – in combat, and make no mistake about it, you need to be prepared for combat tomorrow – you follow instructions or people die”.

“We’re going” Anne repeated.

“Dave, Linda… I know how you feel, but we really need to leave someone with the snowmobiles. We don’t have a lot of choices in manpower here. George can’t go out and Angela has to take care of Daniel”. In the face of the numbers, Dave and Linda couldn’t argue, but they didn’t like the situation.

With that, the evening broke up. Nobody was interested in watching a DVD tonight. Sleep came slowly for all.

The next morning, the twins were up early, dressed and ready to go. They surprised their parents when they sat down at breakfast, and each had a cup of coffee. The Abrams didn’t avoid coffee or alcohol for any particular reasons, they just didn’t drink it. Well, in the past they hadn’t. Two were having breakfast coffee.

George described a few common scenarios they might encounter and had the “troops” as he thought of them run through some drills. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, he thought. Finally, he said “OK, that’s as good as we’re going to get today. Let’s have lunch”. George went over the plans, one more time.

After lunch, they loaded the two snow mobiles into the back of the truck. They had quite a bit of trouble. Finally they took two 2x12 planks and nailed cleats across one side to keep them together. They used them together as a ramp, and managed to ride one, then the other, snow mobile into the back of the truck. They slid the ramp in, and Linda got into the drivers seat of the truck, and Dave got into the ring mount. Rick and Lisa were in the back with the girls, while Carlos acted as navigator in the front. They pulled out, with George waiving at them.

The truck was moving slow on the ice, but Linda was able to control it. It took them about a half-hour to get to the location they thought might serve as the jump-off point. With a few fits and starts, Linda was able to back the truck into a little notch in the trees, which offered a little protection, or at least camouflage. At least, it allowed the machine gun to bear on the road.

The crew got the snow machines unloaded from the truck, and Rick and Carlos got onto the saddles. The twins were going to stay with the snow mobiles, so they climbed on behind. Lisa was going to skijor, or be towed behind the snow mobile on a long rope. It had to be long or she’d get a face full of snow and ice. For safety and comfort, the end of the rope she held was doubled, then wrapped around her ski poles. If she fell down, the rope would release and she wouldn’t be towed.

“Be careful, honeys” Dave said, he and Linda hugging the girls. Finally, the girls pulled away.

“Lets do a radio check” Rick said. “FRS first”. Everyone checked their radios, and locked the frequency and tone in. “Now, lets try the FM”.

Base, this is Fidel” Rick said, using his old fighter-pilot days callsign. “Radio check”.

“Fidel, Base, loud and clear” George answered. He would have preferred more traditional callsigns, but these would work. Dave then tried his radio.

“Base, Rudy” using his high school nickname. “Loud and clear, Rudy” George answered.

Finally, all the radios were tested and it was time to go. The twins (they chose “Gemini-Alpha and Gemini-Charlie” for their call signs) got on in back of Rick and Carlos their weapons slung over their backs. Lisa stretched out the rope so she wouldn’t have much of a yank to deal with, and they slowly pulled out.

They motored down the road for about six miles, the numbers of homes they passed increasing. They saw no signs of life, but every now and then they did see a few dead people, grotesquely preserved in the cold. They were alert to the possibility of an ambush. Lisa was their rear guard with her PARA FAL across her chest on a tactical sling. She would be the quickest to get a shot off, the snow mobiles with two people didn’t offer much room. The twins had their MP5’s in their fronts but couldn’t hold on and hold them at the same time.

Finally, Carlos (callsign “Maduro”, since he liked to smoke “Carlos y Carlos Fuentes X” cigars, when he could get them) pointed to a side road, the place they were going to leave the snow mobiles. They drove into the road, and turned around. Lisa came coasting in, panting.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve done that” she said. “It’s fun, but tough on the arms” as she stretched out her arms.

“Girls, keep an eye out, all directions. We’ll give you a call on the radio when we’re coming” Rick went over the plan one last time. He and Carlos moved their rifles to their front, across their chests. They both left the MP5’s hanging on their backs.

“OK, we have it covered” they said, in unison this time.

“Base, Fidel” Rick said into the radio. “Phase Bravo” telling George that they were leaving the snow mobiles.

“Roger” was the laconic reply.

Rick and Carlos strapped on the snow shoes, and started shuffling up the road. They had about a mile to go, before they got to the commercial part of the city. They shuffled on, passing abandoned, or at least empty cabins and houses. They saw more dead bodies, but no live ones. Rick noticed that some of the bodies had obvious signs of acute radiation exposure – lost hair, petechiae or massive hematoma (bruises), these people had been hit hard by fallout. Stopping for a rest, he pulled a low-level survey meter out of his pack and checked it. Not too bad, about .02 R/H he though. Just above background levels.

Starting up again, they took up a tactical trail formation. Rick and Carlos on one side of the street, Lisa on the other. They each checked the other side of the street, looking for any signs of danger, or life. Finally, they reached the main part of town, and saw the hospital down the road. They stopped in a doorway of a store, and discussed their options.

“I haven’t seen anything”, Rick said. “There’s no traffic at all, nobody walking around, nothing that looks like an official presence” he summarized. “More importantly, there’s absolutely nothing going on at the hospital, the snow is almost up to the roof of the canopy of the emergency entrance. This isn’t good”. He checked the survey meter again, and it was still reading around .02 Rads. “The radiation levels now are low, I wonder what they were”?

“What do you want to do?” Lisa asked.

“I think that we should go check out the hospital, the ED. I might be able to get some idea of what's happening there…. I hope” Rick said.

“How do you want to do it?” Carlos asked, looking around at the town that had been his home.

“You two stay outside, looking for trouble. One of you, Carlos I guess, should be ready to come inside if I need help. I’ll call on the radio. I’ll go in the ambulance entrance and see what's going on” Rick said.

“You should phone home” Lisa said.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so” Rick said, reaching for the radio. “Base, Fidel. Phase three”.

“Fidel, base. Roger, phase three” George replied, a little more animated this time. “Standing by”.

“Ready?” Rick asked. Getting a nod from the two of them, Rick stood up and feeling quite exposed, shuffled across the street. “Damn”, he thought, looking around for a threat. I can’t go fast, I can’t move sideways too well, and there’s no cover if anyone starts shooting”. About that time, he got to the corner of the ambulance entrance canopy, and dropped down, breathing heavily. He took a couple of breaths while looking around, and still didn’t see anything. He motioned Lisa over, while Carlos and he covered her from both sides.

Lisa came zooming over on her skis, and dropped down next to Rick. She pulled her FAL out and started looking for any threat. With a nod from her, Rick motioned Carlos over. “He’s taking longer than I did” Rick thought. Carlos dropped in next to them.

“Geez” he said. “That was intense”.

“I know what you mean” Rick said. I felt naked crossing that street”.

“OK, lets go” Lisa said.

Rick un strapped his snow shoes, and stacked them off to the side. “Keep an eye on them” he said. He started digging into the snow, and then stopped. “I have a shovel in my pack, would you get it for me” he asked Carlos, turning around. Carlos reached in and found the shovel, a Cold Steel “spetznaz” shovel. It was easier to move the snow with the small shovel, and Rick was in the ambulance bay in short order.

The stench of death was very strong, even in the cold. Rick debated putting his mask on, but finally decided not to. The automatic doors were out of order, but open. Rick went in, and was shocked with what he saw.

There were dead bodies everywhere. Lying on the floor, in chairs, on gurneys in the waiting area. It was a nightmare. Rick reached into his vest and removed a headlamp, and put it on. There was no artificial light at all, and little natural light. He went to the nurses station and picked up a chart at random, trying to make sense of what he saw. The chart wasn’t promising, as he squinted trying to make out the typically poor physicians writing. Rick hadn’t brought his reading glasses, either. “Radiation exposure, 400 REM estimated” he saw. Picking up another he saw a note that simply said, “Expectant”.

Rick walked back into the treatment areas. More dead, this time including people wearing hospital garb – scrubs, and white coats. He looked around, and found a couple of instruments he wanted – a Hemocue, and a set of test strips for it, on a stand, and on a counter, an I-stat machine. He put them both into his backpack, and looking around found a supply of boxed test cartridges for the I-stat. They went into the pack, too. These would let him keep track of George’s blood count without a formal lab.

He walked around the ED, and came to the supply area. The Pyxis machine had been smashed in by someone, and pills littered the floor. Rick stepped around a body, and noticed that this one had been shot. He looked up the hallway and saw a security guard laying on the floor, his pistol drawn. He walked to the guard, and saw that he had been vomiting blood, and had probably died trying to stop a looter…”drug abuser? Well, Mr. Peters” he said softly, reading the guards name tag “You died doing your duty”.

Lisa was calling on the FRS radio. “Fidel, this is Michalea” she called. “Status”?

“Nominal” Rick replied. “I’m in the ED, looking around. I found that test equipment I wanted. Continuing to look around”.

“OK” was the reply.

Rick had one more stop to make. He found the physicians lounge and went inside. There was a cold coffeemaker, with very cold coffee in it but no bodies. He did find a couple of newspapers, the local Sedona newspaper, and the Arizona Republic, from Phoenix. They were dated the day before the war, and only had news of the meteor strike. Rick left them, and proceeded out.

Getting back out to the ambulance bay, Rick was faced with a seven-foot high wall of snow. Grabbing his shovel, he cut steps in it and was able to eventually get on top. He said “Well, if I can’t do it with grace, I can at least do it” as the two waiting for him smiled. He told the two what he had seen.

“Now what”? Carlos said.

“Let me call this in” Rick said, and reported that he’d been in the hospital, with no news to report. “How are things elsewhere” he asked George.

“Nominal” was the reply.

“Laconic George” Rick said. “OK, how about if we go over to the Sheriffs’ satellite station and see what's there? Its a few blocks away.”

“OK, lets go” Lisa said. “It’s getting late”.

“OK” Rick said. “Let me get my snow shoes on. Let’s all stay alert; there was some sign of looting inside”.

They slogged on, and finally came to the satellite station – a small building with a number of antennas on the roof. At least they thought it was the station, there was so much snow drifted around it they were able to step onto the roof. They still didn’t see anyone else, or any smoke or hear any sounds.

“Lets just go” Lisa said, visibly affected.

“Yeah”, Carlos said.

“Sounds like the best thing to do, to me” Rick said.

They turned, and started to leave the town. The snow had drifted very unevenly, at some places they were almost on the pavement, on others they were on feet and feet of snow. They were at a low place that was vaguely familiar to Rick. Finally, he said “I know this place”. It was the store they bought their ATV parts at. “Wait a second”.

He went inside the unlocked door and looked around the back for some batteries. He finally found them, and put two brand new batteries in his pack. He carried out six others and put three into each of his companions’ packs. “We can use these for the snow machines if we need to, or radios, or lots of things” he said.

They continued out of the town, down a commercial street they hadn’t been on. Lisa said “Look there” and pointed. Across the corner, she pointed at a store selling snow machines, snow blowers, and other small tools. They went over, and looked through the front window. They checked the door, but it was locked.

“Want to break the window?” Rick asked.

“Maybe, but lets check the back door, first” Carlos said.

“D’Oh!” Rick said. “Good idea”.

They went around back and found the small door open. They went inside and saw a snow machine sitting there, ready to go. “Cool” Lisa said, as she walked around the store. “Oh, look! A sled, or trailer, or whatever you call those things”. She continued to walk around the store, looking for something.

Finally she found it. “Here!” she said. She was pointing at a gas engine powered snow blower. “Let’s get it” she said.

Carlos had the sled hitched up to the snow machine. “Wait a second” he said. He turned the key on, and was rewarded with lights on the speedometer lighting. He hit the starter, and the machine fired right up. He left the machine running, and raised the garage door for light and air.

“OK, it works” he said. They managed to lift the snow blower into the sled, and grabbing a package of tie-down straps, Lisa secured it. Carlos found a number of items, oil, spare parts, and the like, for both machines. They eased the machine and sled out, and closed both doors. The tags fluttered merrily on the new snow blower. Lisa pulled a length of rope from her pack and tied it to the sled.

“Ready” she said.

Rick called in to the girls. “Gemini, this is Fidel. Inbound on a snowmobile, ETA ten” he said. “Fidel, on a snowmobile?” was the reply.

“Affirmative” Rick said.

“Roger” said one of the twins.

They proceeded at a slow pace out of town, and then sped up. They were soon at the twins’ location. They called into base, to relay to the truck they were coming. Lisa switched over to drive one of the machines and put her skis in the sled, along with the snow shoes. The twins had never driven a snowmobile so they got back on the back.

It took a half hour, but they were able to get to the truck. Dave and Linda were almost beside themselves, and just about dragged the girls off the snowmobiles for hugs.

While the Abrams were getting reacquainted, Carlos and Rick started loading the snowmobiles. The truck bed was long enough that they could have them two deep so they loaded the two individual machines in tandem, then loaded the new machine with its sled.

“Base, this is Fidel” Rick called. We’re all together, and headed home. Condition is nominal” he said into the radio.

“ETA?” was the response from George.

“Thirty mikes” Rick responded

“Roger, Out” George finished.

“Aren’t you supposed to say over, or out or something” Carlos asked, grinning.

“No, not really” Rick said. “Those are called “prowords” or procedure words, and are only required when they will assist in communications. If they don’t add to the conversation, they’re not needed – as a matter of fact, they can interfere with conversations. Also, when he said “Out”, that means he wasn’t expecting a response so I didn’t need to answer him” Rick said, before he realized Carlos was pulling his leg – who was going to be checking up on radio procedures?

“OK, lets go” Lisa said. She climbed up into the back of the 5-ton and sat on the floor. “Come on, radioman” she called to Rick.

They all loaded up, and then Linda pulled the truck out. They had to return the same way they came, which wasn’t ideal. Dave was back up in the ring mount keeping an eye out, and Carlos had his M4 at the ready.

They were about 15 minutes from the homestead, when a shot rang out. Dave screamed, and then slumped in the ring.

DAVE! Linda cried out.

Paradise Chapter 9


Linda screamed out “DAVE” and slammed on the brakes.

“NO, NO!” Carlos said – “DRIVE, FAST” he reminded Linda. “We need to get away from here! GO! GO!”

As they pulled ahead, Rick and Lisa in the back of the truck saw a figure on the side of the road, almost invisible in his camouflage clothing. Lisa saw him raise a rifle and then heard a very loud “Boom”. Lisa had fired her FAL at the bastard, and Rick saw him tumble backwards.

The truck made a turn, and Linda slammed on the brakes. The people in back went flying forward, then scrambled to their feet. Linda was shouting “Dave, Dave” and the girls were screaming, trying to find out what was going on with their father.

Rick jumped out of the back of the truck, and ran around to the front. He saw blood on his friend, and that he wasn’t moving. Carlos had grabbed Dave and was holding him, keeping him from falling from the ring mount.

Rick climbed up into the cab. Dave was slumped over the machine gun, unmoving. Rick checked his friends pulse, and feeling it, said “He’s alive”. He continued to check Dave out. He’s breathing, he’s got a pulse. He’s bleeding from his arm. Rick grabbed a pair of shears he always carried in his BDU leg pocket and proceeded too cut away the cloth of Dave’s sleeve. “Wait a minute, that’s only a scratch” he thought to himself. Leaving it to bleed, he checked Dave’s pupils – equal and reactive. He felt Dave’s head and neck, and felt a lump on his head.

“Lisa, get my medical bag” Rick said. Lisa got the heavy bag, and brought it around to the front of the truck. “Stiffneck first” Rick said.

Lisa pulled the cervical collar from the bag, and bent it into the right shape. She handed it to Rick, who slipped it around Dave’s neck and under his chin. He fastened the Velcro strap. “OK” he said. “Hand me the KED, please” to Lisa. Lisa was amazed that Rick’s voice and tone were returning to normal. She handed the short backboard device to Rick.

“Carlos, help me here. Hold Dave’s head perfectly still” Rick asked, as he wrapped the device around Dave’s torso. Fastening the straps, he finally wrapped the straps around Dave’s head, immobilizing it. Fitting Dave like a corset, it would keep him from moving his spine in case he had fractured something. The straps barely fit around Dave and his LBV.

“OK, let’s ease him out of there” Rick told Carlos. They used the handles on the KED and lifted Dave straight up, and then straightened his legs out. They lowered him, and with Lisa’s help was able to get him out of the cab, and lay him on the ground.

Dave was starting to make some sounds. Rick checked on him and found he was becoming somewhat aware of his surroundings, at least he responded appropriately to pain stimulus – he tried to pull away. “Let’s get him into the back of the truck” Rick said.

“How” Linda said, regaining her composure.

“Use the ramp” Carlos said. They lowered the ramp and set Dave on it, then lifted the end of it up and sliding him in. The twins went to their father, and held him there.

“Carlos, take the machine gun. Lisa, drive” Rick said. Linda climbed into the back and held Dave.

They moved out, slowly. Lisa was being careful with her cargo. They pulled onto the road to the homestead and Lisa pulled the truck around so they could unload Dave right into the house.

When he had heard from Carlos that Dave had been hurt, George was beside himself. “What happened” he called into the radio, but didn’t get an answer – the folks in the truck were either holding on for dear life, or trying to keep Dave still. Finally, Linda turned the truck onto the road to the homestead, nearly rolling the truck as she took the turn too fast. The truck settled back onto all its wheels, and she pulled up to the house.

George was waiting for them. “He’s OK” Rick told him. They unloaded Dave much the same way as they had loaded him, and took him, still wrapped in the KED, into the living room. Lisa followed with Rick’s large medical bag. Everyone was crowding around and finally Lisa had to shoo them off.

“Back up, and let Rick check him out” she said. Lisa made her point, and people moved back.

They laid Dave on the floor. Rick kneeled down and checked Dave again – his pupils were reactive, and Dave was almost coherent in his comments. “He’s getting better” Rick told the crowd.

“He’s bleeding!” Linda cried. “Help him”.

“Linda, it’s only a scratch. It’s not serious” Rick said. “He’s got a concussion, but I can’t check his spine out with him not fully conscious”.

“Let’s let Rick check him out” Lisa said. “Let’s get these clothes off and put the weapons away. But first, Carlos, would you help me with the truck?” They moved the truck, which was still running, around from the front of the house, over to the work shop and between the two of them unloaded the three snowmobiles and the sled. They put them all in the workshop and returned to the house.

When Lisa got back to the house, everyone was still fully dressed, with their weapons slung. Sighing, she gently pulled the two girls away and helped them with their weapons and heavy clothes. “Go upstairs, and clean up” she suggested to the young women. She went into the family room and saw that Linda was holding Dave’s hand.

“George, you know the drill – I’m going to unfasten the KED straps and cut Dave’s clothes off him. You hold his head still. When I have his clothes off, I’ll check his front out, then we’ll roll him towards me. You have to keep his neck aligned”. George knew all of this, of course but Rick always repeated instructions for team members, just so everyone would know exactly what was planned.

“Linda, you can move over to this side” Rick said. “You can help too”. Rick thought that giving Linda an active role would help her maintain control – she was close to losing it, herself. With the KED unfastened, Rick slid it down Dave’s spine and out from under him, and set it aside. He removed Dave’s boots and then cut away his LBV and clothes. “Good thing we have lots of clothes, now” Rick thought.

“OK, the shoulder wound is OK for now” Rick said as he started a head-to-toe survey. Face and scalp are OK, neck seems supple, eyes OK inside and out (after checking with his ophthalmoscope), ears clear and no fluid (the otoscope), so probably no basal skull fracture, arms are OK (Rick would check the shoulders, with the obvious injury, last), chest is even and expanding bilaterally, chest sounds clear, heart OK” Rick ran down the full body check. “OK, Linda – kneel here” he patted the floor next to him. “Facing Dave. Put your hands here, and here” he put her hands on Dave where he wanted them. “When I say to, we will both pull Dave and roll him onto his side. We need to keep his spine straight when we do. George will manage his head and neck”

Rick checked that Linda was in position and that George was ready. “OK, on my count of three” Rick called out. “One, two, three”. They rolled Dave onto his side. “Hold him there” he called out, while he checked Dave’s spine with his hands. “OK, lets roll him back flat, on three: One, two, three”. They gently rolled Dave back.

“OK, I can’t palpate anything wrong with his spine. I can’t tell for sure without x-rays, but I can’t feel anything”

“What does that mean?” Linda asked.

“Linda, we need to wait for Dave to regain full consciousness. I don’t think that will be too much longer. Once he’s fully awake I can evaluate him further”.

“Will he be OK?”

“We’ll have to wait and see. I wish I could offer you more comfort but that’s the best I can do right now” Rick said. “George and I will watch him, in the mean time. I don’t think he needs any medication but we’ll start an IV just in case” he said. He started an IV with a 500 cc bag of 5% Dextrose in water, and covered Dave with a blanket off the couch.

Nobody was in a talkative mood, or hungry. They waited and watched Dave, hoping for good news. Lisa and Angela made coffee and hot chocolate, and forced cups into people’s hands. Rick checked Dave’s vital signs regularly.

Finally, when Rick shined his light into Daves eyes to check the pupils Dave groaned, and pushed the light away from his eyes. “Wh…what happened?” were Dave’s first words in hours. Linda held his face and kissed him. “Oh, Dave…” she said, crying.

Licking his lips, Dave asked for some water. Rick gave him a little from a water bottle and said “Not too much right now”. He didn’t want Dave to become nauseous, not with the potential of a spinal injury.

“What happened?” Dave repeated.

“Dave, you were shot and knocked out” Rick said.

“Shot? Knocked out?”

“Yes. You were grazed on your shoulder while you were standing in the truck, and I think the bullet also hit your armor and the two impacts together made you hit your head on the truck, or ring mount” Rick explained. I need to check you out, now.

“Do you have any pain, anywhere?” Rick asked.

“Just my head – need aspirin” Dave said.

“Later. What about your neck? Rick asked the questions needed to clear Dave’s cervical spine clinically, and checked his extremities for reflexes. Finally, he said “Everything looks OK, Dave. We’re going to help you sit up – if you feel any pain at all, at any time, you need to tell us immediately”

“OK” Dave said. With George and Linda’s help, they got Dave sitting up on the floor.

“Still feeling OK?” Rick asked.

“No problems, except for my head” Dave said.

“OK, we’ll help you stand up, and sit you on the couch, then – same rules” Rick said.

They got Dave up and on the couch. Settled in, Rick said “OK, now we’ll get that collar off”. He carefully removed the stiffneck collar, and repeated the questions to clear his neck. “Everything good so far, just one more thing” Rick said, and did a full neurological exam.

“OK, Dave, I think we’ve confirmed what Linda always suspected” Rick said, putting away his examination tools. “It doesn’t seem that you have a brain to get damaged, so you lucked out”.

“Is he OK?” Linda asked.

“As far as I can tell he is” Rick said. “I wish I had radiographs but without them, he seems to be OK. You need to be careful, Dave. I don’t want you lifting anything, twisting, stretching, anything like that for at least a few weeks. You probably won’t feel like doing it anyway, for a week or so. You may have a hairline fracture and we don’t want to exacerbate it”.

“What about something for my headache?” Dave asked.

“Oh, right. Take two aspirin, and call me in the morning” Rick laughed.

“Look at this” George said. He was holding Dave’s LBV in his hands. “Dave, you stopped a bullet”. George showed them the bullet buried in the armor panel in the vest. “Looks like a .270, probably a hunting round”.

“What the hell was he shooting at us for?” Dave asked.

“I don’t know” Rick said. “Carlos, did anyone live off that way?”

“No, not that I knew of”.

“Well, this tells us something important” Lisa said, putting her former intelligence analyst skills to work. “Others near here survived. And they are willing to shoot first”.

They spent an hour or so discussing the ramifications of this development. Finally, fatigue kicked in, and people started drifting off to bed. Taking Rick aside, George said “I think I’ll stay up tonight, and watch out of the other upstairs bedroom”.

“I was hoping, I guess, that we wouldn’t have to do that” Rick said. “Even with you and Dave fully back to health we don’t have enough people to really have guards, or patrols – Or much of any other kind of security”.


“I know” George said. “We may have to figure out a way, though”.

They separated, and despite his fatigue, Rick had trouble sleeping that night.

The next morning, Dave was doing much better. At breakfast, they discussed their situation.

“There are obviously other survivors, even in the nearby area” George said. “Hostile ones”.

“We can’t be sure of that”, Anne said. “There was only one man”.

“There was one, and he decided to shoot, rather than hide, or show himself” George said. “Shoot at a visibly armed military truck, as far as he knew. He was either insane, or stupid. You’re right though, we don’t know that there was only one man, but my guess is that he was part of a group”.

“Why do you think that?” Angela asked.

“I doubt that a single man would have tried to attack an armed, military looking vehicle” George said. “I’d guess that there were several people trying an ambush, or just waiting, and someone got jumpy. That’s about the only tactical situation that would make any sense”.

“What do you think we should do about it?” Lisa asked.

“Well, right off the bat, we need to start getting serious about security around here” George said. “We need to be ready to fight, if it comes to that. So, we’ll have to keep our weapons, clothes and gear ready to go. I think we should at least keep a lookout upstairs, and if anyone leaves the house, for any reason, they go fully loaded, and with at least a partner. And, everyone should have radios.”

“That all sounds reasonable, I guess” Rick said. “Maybe we should figure out some fighting positions around here, too. I had plans to make some eventually, but hadn’t planned on this snow.

“That would help, I guess. What we need is surveillance, and we should have a fallback plan in case we need to leave. We should also get some sort of camouflage for the snow, white tops, anyway”.

“We have our BOB’s, which we need to refine” Lisa said. “But, we don’t have enough tents or bivy sacks for everyone, unless there are some in the supplies you brought”.

“There are some, I think” George said. “We need to fix something up for Angela and Daniel, though. Plus, I’d hate to think of them outside in these conditions”.

“Maybe we can use my house” Carlos said. “The pipes are probably broken, but at least its shelter. The other snowmobile is still there, too”.

“That could work”, George said. “Does it have water?”

“We have a deep well, but most of the pipes in the house are frozen and I don’t have any power. I guess the generator ran out of fuel”.

“What sort of generator is it? Rick asked

“Oh, it’s a cheap ‘China Diesel’, 5kw” Carlos said. “Hey, do you think…?”

“I think so” Rick finished for him. “We can move a small tank, or even the fuel pod, over to your house and have fuel there. We can probably stick it in your barn so it would be out of sight, too. And maybe, hide some supplies and weapons and ammo there”.

“Make a cache, you mean?” Angela said.

“Sort of, but more hide stuff in the buildings. I’d rather hide them in the woods, bury them, but not with this snow cover.” Rick said. “We should also go and find that guy who shot Dave, and see if he has any friends”.

“I don’t think we have enough people to do that, Rick” George said. “Sending you guys to Sedona took all the folks we had”.

“I know” Rick said. “There are a lot of things we should be doing, that we can’t. Von Clausewitz was right, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and all he had to worry about was France and Germany going at it.”

“If there are people out there,” Lisa said, “How can we stop them from getting up to the house here?”

“Unfortunately, they will pretty much know that we’re here if they drive by on the main road” Rick said. “The traffic in and out with the 5-ton has beaten a pretty good path down in the snow”.

“I don’t know what we could do about that path” George said. “We can’t hide it, and we can’t leave it. It’s a shame we can’t take advantage of it somehow”.

“Like how?” Dave asked.

“I don’t know” George said. “The classic thing to do would be to create a channel or lane that we direct the attackers in, and then set up our defenses around it. Give the enemy only one way, that they have to approach through, then, we at least know where they’re coming from. That’s what minefields are for, for example”.

“We have those mines we brought” Dave said.

“Not enough, I’m afraid. Plus, we need to be able to get by. And, with the snow, we can’t put them in the ground, and if we did the snow would make them useless. On the snow they’d move around and probably detonate themselves.”

“Too bad we can’t force them to come right up the road” Linda said.

“How would we do that? Lisa asked.

“I don’t know, maybe…What about if we invited them up the road?

“Up the road…like if it was plowed?” Rick asked.

“That would work, I think” Linda said. “A nice invitation. Too bad we can’t plow it”.

“We have that snowblower you brought” Catherine reminded them.

“Oh, it would take days, weeks to plow the road with that little thing” Lisa said.

“We can at least set up an early warning system, maybe” George said. “We can put a couple of Claymore mines down by the main road, and if anyone trips the wire, it will explode. We’ll probably hear it, even in this house”.

“I don’t think we should set up a fatal trap” Lisa said. “What if the person is friendly? We do need warning though…”

“Well, we can set the claymores up so they don’t fire across the road” George said. “They may knock down a tree if someone fired them”.

I think that’s a good plan” Rick said. “George and I can set them up, I think”

“If we can get that snow blower running” Lisa said, “We can make it easier to just get around here”.

“I can probably get it running” Carlos said. “I’m a pretty fair mechanic, too”.

“OK, that sounds great. Rick, we need to get the radios distributed, and everyone needs to get their gear together. Plus, we really should get someone to be the lookout” George said. “We need to get a schedule, too. That’s up to you”.

“Why me?” Rick asked.

“Because, Colonel, you’re in command” George said, using Rick’s retired grade.

“I retired as a Lieutenant-Colonel, but so did Lisa. That, combined with $3.50 will get you a latte at Starbucks.” Rick said. “Again, why me?”

“OK, because you’re in charge, Colonel Nitwit, Sir.” George said.

“No, I’m not” Rick said.

“Rick, shut up!” Linda said, in a loud voice. Everyone looked at her, openmouthed.

“Excuse me?” Rick said, getting red in the face. “What did you say?”

“I said, shut up. You’re in charge, just DEAL with it” Linda said.

Everyone else muttered their agreement with this.

“What if I don’t want to be in charge?” Rick said.

“TFB, Rick. Some people seek command, others have it thrust upon them” George laughed.

“And as usual, I get screwed” Rick muttered.

“OK, for the time being, until someone comes up with a better idea. You all are obviously 5150’s” Rick said, using the term for psychiatric holds on patients. “If I’m in charge, George, go to your room. You were up most of the night, and need some sleep. I need to check you out, too. Dave, I want to see how you’re doing, you obviously had your bell rung. Girls”, looking at the twins, “pick a number between one and a hundred…”

“49” Catherine said.

“51” Anne said.

“Smart asses” Rick said. I was thinking of fifty. OK, since that won’t work, Anne, please go upstairs and be our lookout for right now. Catherine, get everyone a radio, you’ll swap with Anne later.

With that, they broke up. Rick examined Dave first. His shoulder wound was healing nicely, so after an application of antibiotic ointment and a new bandage and he was good to go. Going into George’s room, Rick checked his vitals, and remembering the equipment he brought back from the hospital said “wait a minute”.

Rick recovered both instruments, and said “I can check some of your blood now”. He drew a small vial of blood from George and placed two drops in the I-stat chamber and let the machine run. He added a drop to the Hemocue and it reported that George’s hemoglobin was normal – but it was the white blood count that Rick was worried about. Neither machine would give him that information, but at least the rest of Georges’ blood chemistry was within normal limits. Since the Hemocue gave a reading that was duplicated by the I-stat, Rick thought that if the readings were about the same, it would be a check on each machine – the odds of both machines being inaccurate in the same degree was improbable. “George, get some rest. We’ll wake you for lunch”

“OK, thanks” George said.

Rick went and found Lisa. “Sweetie” he said, hugging her, “We need to get the equipment to do blood counts, at least – differentials. Can you add that to your “shopping list”?

“OK” she said, getting her Palm Pilot out. “What do we need”?

“Old tech stuff – check one of my old physiology lab manuals for the equipment. One thing we need is a decent microscope, and special microscope slides” he said, as Lisa jotted everything down onto her Palm.

Running into Carlos, Rick asked “Want to go work on the snow blower?”

“Sure, let’s do it” Carlos said. They dressed, and went outside to the work shop. Rick slid the main door open and turned on the minimal lights, and then they went and unloaded the snowmobiles from the truck. Lifting the snow blower out of the sled, they pushed it into the work shop.

Carlos busied himself with getting the brand new snow blower ready. He removed the booklets and junk hanging from the controls, and briefly read them. “Rick, we need some motor oil and gasoline” he said.

Rick got a couple of quarts of oil, and a funnel. The crankcase fill plug was loose, so he unscrewed it and poured the oil in, then finger-tightened the plug. Carlos had filld the gas tank, and when he was done, checked the sparkplug. “Loose! Rick have you got a spark plug socket?” He asked.

“Back in the roll-away” Rick said. Can you get a crescent wrench, too?

“Thanks” Carlos said, and walked into the back of the workshop. “Wow!” he exclaimed, returning with the wrench. Nice tractor!” he said, handing over the adjustable wrench.

“Thanks. I got it for planting, came with the attachments, too”.

“Yeah, I saw that, looks like all of them – including the blower” Carlos said. “Couldn’t we use that for the road?”

“What blower?”

“Don’t you know? That trailer with the attachments on it has the rotary blower, too” Carlos said, thinking ‘crazy flatlander’.

“You’re kidding” Rick said, finishing tightening the crankcase plug. Carlos followed Rick back, and pointed out the rotary blower attachment. “We can move a lot of snow with that”.

“Solves one problem, I guess” Rick said. “Let’s get the little blower going so we can get to the tractor”.

Even with the snow blower, it was several hours work before they could free the tractor and clear more of the front of the work shop. Lisa came out and showed them how to best clear the area with the snow blower, since she had used them as a kid. When she saw the work shop with boxes and cases stacked randomly, she got a little huffy.

“We need to clean this up” she said. “We need to be able to find stuff, and also get it on the inventory list so we know we have it”.

“Yeah, we can’t get the tractor inside to get the blower attachment, or the trailer outside, either.” Rick said.

“Lets go get lunch” Carlos said. “I’m cold, and wet”.

They went inside, and had lunch. With everyone there, they discussed the condition of the workshop and their fortune in finding the blower for the tractor. After lunch, everyone but Angela, Dave and George went and inventoried the work shop, and stacked things in some kind of order. While they were doing that, Rick found the case with Claymore mines, and took a bandoleer of two. Reading the instructions, he found that he’d need some other items. It took a while, but he found a mechanical fuse, blasting caps and det cord.

Rick went down the drive inside the tree line. He didn’t want a lot of footprints showing. Finding a good location after the first bend in the road, he set up one claymore on one side of the road, and anchored one side of the trip wires. He then crossed the road, staying in ruts as much as possible. It took him some time but he was able to set up both mines, with two trip wires and detonators. He hoped he had done it correctly. He returned to the work shop to discover Carlos driving the tractor out, with the snow blower.

Motioning for him to cut the engine, he called everyone outside together. “I set two mines up as an early warning, so don’t go down the road unless I show you where they are, and how to disarm them” he warned. Going into the house, he told the folks inside the same thing.

Carlos started up the tractor again, and started blowing snow all over. He was having a great time, with the large arc of snow blowing out. He soon had a good path between the house and the work shop, and back towards Rick and Lisa’s old fifth-wheel trailer. “If we want to get into that, we’ll have to use the little blower and shovels” he thought. Only a foot or two of the trailer was showing above the snow. Noticing the time, he drove the tractor back to the fuel tank, and after shutting down refilled it. He then backed the tractor into the workshop, turned the lights off, and closed the door.

Inside that afternoon, after she was done in the workshop, Lisa added the new materials to the inventory list she kept in excel. “More and more” she thought. “But, we still need more”.

At dinner that night, Lisa brought her concerns up. “We have lots of weapons and ammunition” she said. “We also have BDU’s, boots, field gear, and MRE’s and about a dozen or so T-ration meals. We did find some things I’m not familiar with, though – like some little FRS type radios by Icom, They don’t work with ours, though. I don’t know if they work at all.”

“Oh, cool” George said. “Those are “intra-squad radios”, designed to give everyone in a platoon or squad a little, short-range radio to talk to each other. You’re right, they’re just like FRS radios but are on completely different frequencies. Hmm” he said, thinking.

“You know, those might be real useful” Dave said. “We can have our own radios, which odds are nobody will be able to overhear”.

“That’s what I was thinking, too” George said.

“Good deal. Let’s swap them out with our FRS radios tomorrow” Rick said. “Anything else, Lisa?”

“Well, we’re doing OK on food right now. I think that we have between a six to nine-month supply including the T-rations, the Walton Feed dried food, and the food we bought. We have a lot more people here than we had planned on, though, and we should probably try and get some more before too long”.

“Where can we do that?” Linda asked.

“We can check the homes nearby, the stores in town, and I suppose if needed we could go to Prescott, Payson, Flagstaff, and the other towns around. We should do that to get intel, too, find out if there are any survivors around, or trouble”.

“If we go anywhere else, I’m going” George said. “And, we’re going differently”.

“No argument from me” Rick said. “We need to be a lot more careful”.

“We’re doing OK on fuels – liquid and propane” Lisa said. “If we can find a propane delivery truck, we could park it over at Carlos and Angela’s house or at least refill their tank. That would give them propane to warm their house, and be a good storage site for us. We should also split some gear out and take it over to their house. I suppose we can leave the other snowmobile there, too – unless we need more than three here?”

“I can’t think of why, can anyone else?” Rick asked, looking around. Everyone nodded in the negative.

“When we go over there, I should make certain that machine is ready to go, then”. George said. “Fill the gas, make sure the battery is charged, that sort of thing”.

“The only other thing is Angela told me today that she’d like to get over to her house, and get more clothes. Daniel needs some clothes, too. And finally, we have a special announcement” Lisa smiled.

“What's that?” everyone asked, looking around.

“It seems that today is Carlos’ birthday. Happy birthday, Carlos!” she said, as Angela brought out a birthday cake with candles burning.

The singing of “Happy Birthday” and the general commotion defeated any further hope of business. Rick tapped, then knocked on the table and when everyone quieted down said “Just one thing. I’ve set up the claymores, so stay away from the bottom of the drive. Tomorrow we need to make certain that our BOB’s are all set. And, I have a rotation schedule for our lookout, please check it. Everyone, including Angela and Daniel” he said smiling, “has a tour. Angela only needs to pull it during the day, and the shifts are three hours long so it’s not a terrible imposition – also, a short shift will help keep us alert.

“It’s your responsibility to know who your replacement is, and to wake them up early enough that they can wake up. Check the list, it’s here on the clipboard” Rick finished, showing them the clipboard which he set on the counter.

The next few days, things settled down into a routine. They got their gear squared away, and George ran everyone through quick action drills, and some shooting practice. Rick and George managed to get enough handguns for everyone to have one, with an extra magazine or two and a holster. Not all the holsters were concealed, or tactical, but they’d have to do.

One day, the twins came down at lunch time, dressed all in white. “We thought that we could use old bed sheets, and make some camouflage for us” Catherine said. “What do you think?”
“Wow, those are great” George said, looking at the loose parka and pants the girls had. You did it just right, too – big enough to go on over the rest of your clothes. Can you make some for each of us?”

“We could, but these were the only white sheets Lisa could find for us” Anne said. “Most of the sheets are prints, or colors”.

“That’s right” Lisa said. “Those were the only white sheets we had, they actually came with one of the bed sets and I never used them”

“We should get some more, then” Rick said. “Lisa, add them to your list?”

“Right” she said, already writing it down in her Palm. Every evening, she would sync her Palm Pilot and incorporate all her daily jottings into to-do lists, inventories, etc.

“If we can get over to our house, I have a couple of sets of white sheets” Angela said. “We can use those”

“OK, we need to get over there, anyway” George said.


The drive was plowed down to the main road. Rick disabled the claymores until the road was done, then re-activated them. The resulting road was a little less than eight feet wide, and had snow seven feet high on each side. It hadn’t snowed anymore, but was still very cold, with high level stratus clouds almost every day. Despite the cold, the snow slowly melted and settled around the compound.

Dave and George both were healing, as near as Rick could tell. Rick let George out of the house, which improved his attitude tremendously. He asked George to keep an eye on Dave and make certain he didn’t stress anything in his back or neck. Rick had taken the staples out of Georges’ head, joking that he hoped the vacuum would hold.

With a few rough edges, the lookout schedule worked OK. Either George or Rick would check on the watchmen randomly during the night, a pointed conversation with one or two caught nodding straightened them right out. After a couple of weeks of George’s drilling everyone in tactics and shooting, he and Rick thought they were doing pretty well. The weather seemed to be getting a little better, although it remained very cold, and snowed occasionally. They also had a blizzard with high winds that lasted five days around Valentine’s day. When it cleared, they used their snow moving equipment to fix the road and access to the buildings. The snow level slowly went down. Too slowly.

They had distributed some of their equipment over to Angela and Carlos’ house, both in the house itself, and in the barn. They even took the 5-ton trailer with fuel pod over and parked it in the barn, and refilled the generator. The China Diesel groaned but started, so the house had lights. Running water would have to wait until they could get some propane, or the weather warmed up and the pipes thawed. Carlos was worried about broken pipes, too. Angela was heartbroken to see her house in that condition, and tears were streaming down her face as she gathered clothes for her family, food, and her white linen.

With the added sheets, the twins made snow covers for George, Rick and Lisa, and their parents. Not having anything better they used what large buttons Lisa could find or salvage from clothes she didn’t think she would need, and when those ran out the girls made simple ties to secure the covers.

The first of March, about 10 AM, they heard a very loud explosion, and a tree falling. “ALERT!” George was shouting. Everyone was in their cold weather clothing and distributed around the area, some with fully automatic weapons, in short order. They waited in silence, for over an hour – during daylight hours, everyone was within sight of someone, and so George was able to signal quietly for everyone to remain quiet. Finally, Rick said “Lets go see what happened”. George, Dave and Rick, dressed in white camouflage tops, took their weapons and working through the treeline, quietly and looking out for anyone on foot, went down the road. What they saw amazed them.

There was a tree down on the ground, dropped across the drive. It had landed on a pickup truck that someone had driven in, and triggered the claymore.

“Damn, I didn’t mean for that to happen” Rick said. He hadn’t wanted the tree to drop on the road. As they got closer, they saw that the driver had been killed when the tree hit the top of the pickup, and that there was another person in the passenger side seat.

“Watch out, the other trip wire is here” George said, finding it. They carefully moved around the claymore and approached the pickup from the drivers side. Looking at the truck, they saw the passenger moving.

“Don’t move” Rick yelled into the truck. “Help” they heard from the truck.

“George, you stay here and cover us. Carlos and I will go down and see what's what” Rick said.

“No. You stay here, Rick. You’re too valuable” George said.

“BS. I’m going down there.”

“George is right, Rick. You stay here” Carlos said.

“Help, me, oh, God, help me” they heard from the truck.

Rick started to go down the snow bank to the car, when George said “Rick, you know I’m right”. They heard a groan from the pickup truck.

“He’s hurt” Rick said.

“And I know more about extricating him than you do” George said. “Remember?”

“Oh, OK” Rick said, taking up as good a position as he could in the snow. Carlos slid down the snow bank and took up a position at the rear of the truck. George slid down the front, and went around on the passenger side of the truck. What he saw wasn’t good.

Checking the injured man out, George removed the sawed-off shotgun from his hands, and set it on the top of the pickup shell. “The fool had it loaded, off safe and pointed at the driver” He called out to the others. “That’s what killed the driver”. He also removed a pistol from the man’s waistband and reached in and grabbed another from the dead man, and a lever-action rifle. He didn’t think the man would survive long, even if Rick had a full hospital to work with. He didn’t look good at all. Not seeing any other weapons, he moved to the back of the truck and called out to Carlos “I’m going to open the back, get ready”.

George confirmed that the shell (which had no windows on the back or side) wasn’t locked. Taking cover on the side, he reached around and with a nod from Carlos, lifted the shell door open. “Clear” Carlos called out. Looking in the rear, both George and Carlos were amazed at what they saw – food, liquor, consumer electronics, a cardboard box full of jewelry of all sorts – mens, womens, gold, silver, watches, weapons and ammo, licit and illicit drugs, all sorts of things.

Walking back to the injured man, George asked “who are you”?

“My names Raymond. Ohh, I hurt” he said. “Help me, Bro…”

“Raymond, where did you get that stuff”?

“Found it” was the answer he got.

“Found it where?”

“Different places”.

“Where are you from?”

“We’re from Phoenix. We were on the way to LA when the bomb hit. We hung out in a campground for a few weeks but everyone ran out of food. We started driving around, looking for more food. We’ve been on the move since then, finding food and stuff” he groaned. “You got to help me”.

“Who did you find it from?”

“Mostly just empty houses. We found a few guns and stuff, and if anyone tried to stop us, we didn’t let them. We gets our props”

“So, you killed those people?”

“Hell, yes – they wouldn’t give it up. “Specially ‘dem bitches”.

“Did you see any towns that had people in them?

“A couple” Brian said, coughing up blood.

“Where?”

“Cowtowns – Prescott, Flagstaff. We got run out of Flagstaff by them crackers and decided to come down here. DeWayne thought them rich white folk in Sedona would be loaded. All we saw were dead folk, and we just helped ourself. We were leaving when we seed’ your driveway and thought you was just some jive-ass white folk. Didn’t know no brothers was up here”, he gasped. “Bro, you my Brother… he..help me”

‘Not long now’, George thought. With that, Brian gasped one last time, and died.

“Rick, it’s OK” George called up. “You’re not my brother, scum” he said, under his breath.

Rick had heard most of the discussion, and when he got down to the truck he saw that the passenger was dead. Looking into the back of the truck, he noticed some of the jewelry had dried blood and skin stuck to it. “Bastards” he said. “Looters”. He moved some stuff around, and found some porn magazines, too.

“Yeah. What do we do now?” Carlos said.

“Any threat? Rick asked.

“I don’t think so, two random looters, it seems” George said.

“OK”. Calling into his radio, he told everyone to stand down but stay alert. “Well, the tree gives me an idea. If the snow ever melts, we can make a barricade from the tree. In the mean time, we have to move it out of the way.”

“Rick, did you ever read “Alas, Babylon”? George asked.

“Yeah, a long time ago. Early ‘60’s, Florida, nuclear war, Frank somebody?”

“That’s it. Ahh, Pat Frank. There was a scene where a bad guy had a bunch of jewelry, which was radioactive. He was hiding it under his bed and the constant dose of radiation killed him”.

“I guess we should check this stuff out, then” Rick said. “We’ll leave this stuff here for the time being. Them too”. With a last scoff at the thieves, Rick turned and walked up the road. “What a waste. Jewelry and TV sets. Oh, and booze and drugs and porn.”

Getting back to the house, he called everyone in and gave them a quick explanation of what they had found. They had a late, and very welcome lunch, and discussed their options.

“We need to start patrolling, at least a little” Rick said. “We need to locate other survivors, find food and bring it here, and see what is going on around us. After we clean up the trash”, meaning the truck and two dead goblins in it.

They discussed this, and other plans, all afternoon.

Paradise Chapter 10

“We need to start patrolling” George said. “There are bad people out there, the guy who took a shot at Dave probably wasn’t alone. We have no clue, and a claymore and a tree isn’t going to help protect us”.

“What sort of patrols can we form?” Rick asked. “We only have three sets of snowshoes, two pairs of skis,…”

“Wait a minute. Two pairs of skis?” George said.

“That’s right – Lisa has a set, and so do I” Rick answered. “Why does that matter?”

“Well, it gives us a little more leeway, is all” George said. “Plus, we have the four snowmobiles and the ATV”.

“Anyway, what sort of patrol can we form? We don’t have hardly any people. There are the four Abrams, the two Aguilars plus Daniel, Lisa and I and you. Ten people, two of whom aren’t available at all to leave.

“I don’t know. We have to find out what's out there. We’re sitting here blind and stupid”.

They chewed on the issue for another hour, without reaching any decision. Finally, Rick said “Let’s discuss it with everyone. Someone may have a solution.”

Rick called a general meeting, and described the situation.

“We also need to decide about going and looking for more food” Lisa said. “Plus the other things we need”.

“George, you know the situation we have here. We don’t have enough people, we have a somewhat precarious tactical situation if anyone wants to fight us, and we’re going to run out of food if we just sit here. So, now what?”

“We have a lot going for us, too, Rick. Don’t forget that. You’ve listed some of the liabilities we have; the assets include all of us, the house, the vehicles and the weapons. Oh, and whatever we decide to recover from the goblins down there.”

“What are we going to do about them?” Linda asked.

“George has me a bit concerned there” Rick said. “We need to check the vehicle out for residual radiation. Even if it’s not hot, I doubt there’s anything we really need from it – maybe the gasoline, and we should either use or disable the weapons. Other than that, after we get the tree off of it, we can just push it down the drive and across the road maybe”.

“What about the bodies”? Anne asked (Catherine was on watch, with a radio).

“What about them?” George said. “They made a very poor decision”.

“Shouldn’t we bury them or something?”

“They’re in a deep freeze right now, they’ll keep. We need to clear that roadblock but can’t spare the time and energy to bury them – even if they deserved it” Rick said. “When the ground is cleared and thawed, we can deal with them. In the mean time, there are critters that can use a snack”. With George’s callous comment, Anne shuddered.

“Rick said something there that may help” George said. “Roadblock. Maybe we can set up roadblocks far enough up and down the main road that we’d have more warning. We’d need to set up observation points, OP’s, too. We’d have to put them at least a quarter-mile from the drive (a half-mile or more would be better), each way, with some sort of shelter, commo, weapons, etc.”

“OK, that’s four people, out of nine available, George”. “Plus, we need to rotate them. How?”

No one could make the numbers work with the tactical situation.

“OK, how about if we just put some roadblocks, drop some trees across the road and wire it with some explosives, a claymore or something? That will give us a little warning, and a little security, I guess” George finally said.

“We need to be able to get past it” Rick said. “Set it up, and take it down”.

“Yeah, we could do that. There’s a little cut in the road towards town which would make it hard to get around, that’s about a half-mile away” Carlos said.

“That would do, I guess” George said. “Rick, we’d have to at least send out a patrol every day, they should go on skis or snowshoes, through the woods. Covertly, too. There’s no reason to give people a map to here”.

“I guess we could do that. At least it would give everyone some exercise. Anyone who can wear my ski boots is welcome to them. Size 12 extra wide”.

After the laughter died down, Rick also said “Let’s try and come up with a better plan to go into town. We can try getting some food and whatever we can find, and maybe find some survivors”.

“Well, I have a list of what we should look for” Lisa said. “It’s pretty long”.

“Can we try and figure out where we might find the items, and divide the work?” George asked. We could probably have two groups working at the same time, if the stores are near enough to each other that they could provide support if needed. Plus, each group of people would switch off between “shopping” and providing security.”

“We should think about going up to Flagstaff, we know there are survivors there” Lisa said. “At least to find out what's going on. We may have to pay for supplies, there too. And, maybe the same to Prescott, and Cottonwood. We can find out about other towns that might have survivors then”.

“OK, first things first” Rick said. “Dave, how about if you and I go down and check the goblins truck with a survey meter? We can also trim that tree down a bit. Carlos, if you can bring the tractor down with the bucket attached, we can just push that piece of junk across the main road.”

“Shouldn’t we mark it? Lisa asked.

“Mark it how?” Rick asked.

“I don’t know, it just seems wrong to leave it there”

“OK, can someone make up a sign that says “They chose badly – keep on going” and bring it down? There’s paint and plywood scraps in the workshop”.

“We’ll do it” Anne said.

“OK, Dave, Carlos – lets go. I want to keep most of that tree for later, to use as a barricade but Carlos can bring the end of it up with the tractor”. Rick went down to the basement and got the low-level survey meter and made sure it had a battery.

Dave took the meter from Rick’s pack when they got to the truck. It turned out that the truck was hot, about 5 Roentgens per hour. They took a quick look in the back, and the jewelry was a little higher. They gave the rest of the contents a quick look, and only removed the weapons and ammunition inside, then siphoned the gas from the trucks tank into a gas can. There wasn’t much, a gallon or two that he could get.

Then, being very careful on the slippery truck, Rick climbed up with the small chainsaw that Carlos brought down in the tractor. Yanking the pull starter, he carefully trimmed the tree away from the truck. Finishing that, he killed the chain saw and handed it to Dave and climbed down.

“Carlos, your turn” Rick called out. Carlos started the tractor and with the bucket adjusted, pushed the truck down the drive and out across the main road, and finally off the road into the culvert.

They turned around, and walked up the drive. Getting back to the tree, the three of them were able to pull it across the road. “Not a great barricade, but it can’t hurt much” George said.

They went back up to the house, and Carlos put the tractor away. Rick went to the workshop with him and saw the girls had just about finished with the sign. He got another claymore, det cord and blasting caps and taking the still wet sign, walked out.

“Dave, how about if you come with me and give me some cover?” He asked.

“OK” Dave said. They walked down the drive.

“Dave, I wanted to talk to you alone, anyway. You know that we’re very short handed here, and everyone has to do just about everything. We can’t cover what we need to, even if everyone is fully capable – Angela isn’t, naturally. Neither are you or George for that matter”.

Dave started to interrupt. “Hold it, Dave. You know I’m right – I’ve seen you trying to stretch your back, and it’s hurting you, isn’t it?”

“Well, a little” Dave said.

“You probably have a small fracture that is healing. You’re pretty lucky to be alive at all, and not having more problems, so be thankful.

“Anyway, we need everyone to do everything they can. That includes the twins. They’re pretty on the ball, George says they’re great shots and have learned about all the tactics he can teach them. He’s had them reading the military manuals that we have on the computer, and they’re even catching the contradictions and errors in them”.

Dave didn’t know if he should be angry or proud. He wanted to protect his babies but was proud of their accomplishments, too. Rick let him think about it as they got to the bottom of the drive. “Here, you cover me, and I’ll go set this sign up”.

Checking the road, Rick crossed it and wired it to the bumper of the truck. Walking back, he and Dave walked up the drive to the tree, and then they both climbed up the snow embankment, with difficulty. “Lets find another tree” Rick said.

They picked one and set up the claymore mine. Rick showed Dave how to set it up, and the fuse system. Then, Dave re-set the other mine’s trip wire. Finished, they both walked up to the house, talking.

“Dave, you know I’m right about the twins. You’re going to have to help Linda understand, too”.

“I know. I don’t like it but I can’t think of any other solution”.

“No, I can’t either. If we come up with a better idea, we’ll adjust. You need to help Linda understand”. They walked into the house in silence.

That night at dinner, they discussed their options.

“First of all, we need to create the roadblocks up and down the road” Rick said. “We can do that tomorrow, we’ll just take the chainsaw and drop a couple of trees at each end. With the tractor we can stack them, and I have some chain to fasten them together”.

“We need to make them at least a little moveable” George said. “We have to be able to get by them”.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to lock ourselves in” Lisa said.

“We should start patrolling, too” George said. “We should at least see if anyone has been around. If there has been, we should be able to find their footprints pretty easily. Too bad the snowmobiles are so loud. If we use them the noise will alert anyone who may be out there.”

“We can use them for a quick response somewhere, if we need to” Lisa said.

“Oh, yeah…Good idea, Lisa” George said.

“What about a trip to town? Lisa asked

“I think that’s second on the to-do list” Rick said. “We should get the roadblocks in place – or at least one, maybe not the one towards town”.

“We should get the trees down, and ready, anyway” George said.

“OK, first thing tomorrow we’ll do the roadblocks. While we’re doing that, someone should take a walk around the area and look for tracks” Rick said. “Why don’t Lisa and I do that, since we can get around pretty quickly on skis, faster than snowshoes. Carlos, Dave and George can do the roadblocks – there is some chain in a bucket in the workshop, and you should be able to find nuts and bolts to secure it – just ruin the threads on the bolt and they won’t come apart easily.”

“What about us? Catherine asked. “What should we do tomorrow?

“How about if you two help me with the inventory? Lisa said. I’ll print out the “shopping list” and if you can categorize the items, and figure out where we might find the items with the yellow pages, which would help. Depending on how far out we circle, we might be gone a couple of hours”.

“OK, but we can work faster on the computer” Anne said.
“Oh, sure. You know how” Lisa knew that these two kids were just about born with computers in their cribs.

“And, lets get the vehicles ready” George said. “If we’re going into town, let’s take two trucks – and two snowmobiles. We can bring more back with the trucks and the snowmobiles will allow us to send scouts out, or respond quickly if someone is in trouble”.

“And, let’s print out a couple of maps of Sedona that we can give everyone – use the Topo! program and we can all have a copy that shows where the stores we want to search are” Linda offered.

That night, everyone watched a directors cut version of “Peter Pan” and ate some popcorn. The next morning, they each went their different directions after breakfast. Rick and Lisa took their skis and weapons, and walked down the drive. “We’re going to walk down the road about a mile, and start the circle from there” Rick explained. “I don’t want too many tracks leading to our house”.

They walked down the road, and Lisa checked her GPS on her wrist. “Well, that’s encouraging” she said. “The satellites are still transmitting; the error-correction system would have shut them down if they didn’t get regular updates from the ground”.

“Maybe there’s hope” Rick said.

“There’s always that” Lisa said.

“OK, here’s a good place” Lisa said. “Which side first?”

“Let’s check the house side first. That would be the closer risk”

They climbed up the road embankment and stepped into their cross-country bindings. “Base, Fidel – starting patrol now” Rick said into his radio.

“Fidel, Roger” Angela said from the house. In the background, they could hear Daniel and the dogs all “singing”. Laughing, they slung their weapons across their chests, and started out.

Lisa used the GPS to help them ski an arc around the house. Setting the house as “home” in the GPS, she took the lead and maintained a mile or a bit more distance indicated to “home”, as they skied in a slightly changing direction. After a half-hour they stopped for a rest and Rick called in their UTM coordinates and status. They had managed to cover about a third of the distance on this side they wanted to cover, and hadn’t seen any obvious foot prints. They did see a few animal tracks, mostly rabbit and either fox or coyote, they couldn’t decide.

They had a bit of trouble in a few areas because of the density of the trees, and had to stop and put on their climbing skins to crest a couple of hills. Stopping at the crest of one hill, they were able to see Sedona far off in the distance, and also look back and see the smoke rising from the fireplace in their house.

“Lisa, mark this location in the GPS, it would be a good point for an OP, or rally point”. Lisa hit the appropriate buttons on the GPS.

“Got it.”

Rick called in their status and asked how ‘Maduro’, ‘Rudy’ and ‘The Sarge’ were doing. They had all voted on George’s call sign being ‘The Sarge’, even over his objections. Rick had explained that you normally don’t get to choose your call sign, your first squadrons pilots give it to you.

“They’re all back” Angela said.

“OK, we’re continuing on” Rick said. They skied on, and finally came to the road. They checked the area from the tree line, and then Lisa skied across. Rick went last, and skied in her tracks.

“Why are you doing that?” she asked, seeing Rick struggling to stay in the tracks, with his much longer skis.

“I don’t want anyone to know there are two of us. I don’t think that it will fool anyone who knows what they’re doing, though”.

Finally, they got done with their patrol, and popped out onto the main road at about the point opposite the point they started.

“Well, you did it again” Rick said. Lisa was a terrific navigator.

“Thank you” she beamed. They skied in the tree line, paralleling the road. They needed to miss the roadblock, since George had rigged some explosives on it to warn the house if anyone tried to get by.

“Wow, look at that” Lisa said, looking down on the roadblock. “They did a good job”.

“Yeah. Glad I don’t have to go through it”. They skied on and got to the house.

“OK, we didn’t see any signs of anyone around the house” Rick said. “We did find a good point where we had a good look towards Sedona, and almost line of sight to the house here”.

Lisa read off the GPS coordinates, and George plotted them on the map. “The map shows the high point there but shows it forested” he said.

“It was clear enough that we could see the town. Maybe there had been a fire, or it was private property that was logged” Lisa said.

“Well, it’s good to know. Maybe we can set up a radio repeater there, someday” George said. “Or, we could put an OP there”.

“That’s what I thought, too” Rick said.

The GPS had said that they traveled almost nine miles, altogether, and Rick and Lisa were tired – that was a long distance to ski cross country, especially in trees, and when you’re not in perfect shape. Relaxing, Rick said “anyone who wants to borrow my skis, you’re welcome to them”.

“Mine, too” Lisa said, taking a couple of caplets of ibuprofen, and handing three to Rick. Everyone laughed.

“How’d you girls do today? Lisa asked. The twins showed the effort of their work, they’d been busy too.

“We took the “shopping list” file and made a database out of it” Catherine started. “Then, we added some more fields – we categorized the items, like food, tools, medical, that sort of thing. We also created a couple of fields for the places we thought might have them”.

“After that, we sorted the list a couple of ways – by priority, category, and stores” Anne continued. “We can print out copies for every group, but we haven’t yet because we thought that we may have other things to add”.

“Wow, great work” Lisa said. “I never could figure out Access, myself”.

“Oh, it’s pretty simple” Catherine said. “We’ll show you”.

“Why don’t you print out one copy” Rick asked. “Then, we can each take a look at it – that will be easier than looking at the computer”.

Angela and Linda had outdone themselves with dinner that night. Enchiladas, rice, beans, and even fresh, handmade tortillas.

“Wow!” Rick said. “How’d you make the tortillas?”

“The old fashioned way” Angela said. “By hand”.

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and afterwards they shared the printout the twins provided. Everyone had suggestions to make and some were incorporated into the database.

“OK, I think we have it” Anne said. “Are we going into town tomorrow?”

“No, I think we still have to work on a few things” Rick said. “Plus, after skiing today I think I’m going to be pretty sore tomorrow. We’ll go the next day”.

Lisa went and sat in Rick’s lap. “Poor old man” she said.

“Ooh, what a sweet young thing” Rick said. “If I didn’t have watch duty tonight, I’d take you to bed and show you who’s old”. Everyone laughed, and the evening broke up.


The next morning over breakfast, George had a plan. “You know, while I was on duty last night, it occurred to me that Rick and Lisa created a kind of “track trap” for us. They have pretty much guaranteed that nobody is inside that perimeter they created, and with the snow it would be pretty obvious if anyone crosses that line”.

“What does that do for us?” Dave asked.

“Well, what if instead of skiing it every day to check it, we sent someone, or rather two people on snowmobiles, to check that perimeter out quickly, every day. The snowmobiles could cover the perimeter in an hour or less”.

“What about the noise?” Rick asked.

“Carlos and I talked about that yesterday, and he thinks he can muffle the engines better”.

“Oh, really? How?” Rick asked.

“I think I can get better mufflers at the shop in Sedona that had the snowmobiles” he said. “They won’t be as small or fit as well, but I think I can get the machines quieted down, quite a bit, if I use a larger muffler”.

“Well, let’s add that to the list, then” Rick said. “High priority, too”.

“Everything is a high priority” Catherine said.

“I’ll prioritize the list, then” Rick said.

Carlos and I are going to check the vehicles out” George said.

“I’ll help” Dave said. “Which vehicles”?

“I think that in addition to the 5-ton, we try a lower profile truck” Carlos said. “How about that old flatbed truck?”

“If you can get it started, sure” Rick said. “It’s been cold soaking for more than three months”.


After breakfast, Rick scanned the list. The problem was, everything was a priority. Finally, Rick had to decide. “OK, food, and the mufflers first. Then, we’ll try and look for fuel, and any clothing for Daniel. Daniel had already outgrown all the clothes that Angela had purchased for him, and the women were making clothes for him – except they didn’t have any fabric so they were cutting up clothes. “He’s probably the only three month old who has both woodland and snow camo bunting bags” he thought. Finally, the hospital and drug stores.

Rick wandered out to the workshop and saw that Carlos had managed to get the truck running, with some starting fluid and a batter charger. He was letting the engine idle while he checked out the rest of the vehicles.

“George, how are we doing with weapons training, and capability? Rick asked.

“Pretty good, actually. Everyone is competent with their rifles and handguns, and are doing OK with the MP5. Everyone has a full load for their rifles, seven loaded magazines for the M4’s, six for the MP5’s, and three for their pistols. They also have a full reload for their rifle, in bandoleers and stripper clips, in their gear. We have what snow camo we have, and everyone is pretty competent in tactics. The girls are getting scary, in fact”.

“What do you mean, scary?” Rick asked.

“They are very, very good at field craft. They shoot very well, in fact I’ve had them shooting at long ranges – more than four hundred meters, in fact, with their M4’s. I was going to ask you about letting them use your M1A’s and see if they can do better at longer distances.”

“Sure – in fact, if you think they’re up for it, try the M25” Rick said, referring to his specially built Fulton match rifle. If they’re good with that, try the Barrett”.

His eyes growing wide, George said “What Barrett?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? Lisa bought me a Barrett M82 when we sold our house it LA and moved here – I haven’t even had a chance to shoot it yet, we picked it up right before Christmas. The case is under the workbench in the security room”.

George was amazed. Being a subject of the PRK, he never bought one, thinking he could always get one later. The demoncrats had fixed that though, and it then it was too late. Having all his net worth in his property, he couldn’t afford to move to a free state, either.

Seeing the look on George’s face, Rick said “Why don’t you try it, yourself”.

“Oh, thanks … I..I will” George said. “Ammo?”

“There should be a couple of cans down there, and there’s a can of Raufoss I got from some friends at Coronado in the workshop” Rick said, walking to the area they had stacked the ammo. He found the ammo can and pulled it out. “Here, but use it carefully – we probably aren’t going to get any more. That reminds me, we should try and find more ammo, and reloading dies, primers, other components”.

“Wow” was all George could say. They wandered back towards Carlos, who had finished checking the 5-ton, snowmobiles, and trailers out.

“Anyway, let’s take the 5-ton with the M240 mounted, and the flatbed and the flatbed trailer” Rick said. Also, let’s take some tools, jumper cables, whatever you may need to start a truck, Carlos”.

“Sure, not a problem – some fuel, too, I guess. But why?”

“I think that if we find an 18-wheeler with food, or a fuel tanker or propane truck, and we can get the truck started, it would be a lot easier than moving everything. A lot faster, too”.

“Good idea” George said. “If I can get them started, and we can get them out of the snow. Also, I’m not really much of a diesel mechanic”.

“Well, maybe we should bring the tractor with the blower?” Carlos asked.

“Well, maybe the little blower” Rick said. “We should try and find the city’s equipment yard, they’d have trucks, fuel, spare parts, etc. Who knows? And, I don’t want to risk the big blower or the tractor.”

“OK. Rick, I was meaning to talk to you, too – if possible, I’d like to go to my office and get some equipment and drugs for the dogs” Carlos said.

“OK, that shouldn’t be a problem” Rick said. “What sort of stuff?”

“Oh, just vaccinations for the dogs, plus some meds, and some things for larger animals in case we ever get any. Plus some instruments”.

“OK, that’s fine. I want to go by the hospital and try and find some instruments there, too”.

“Like what?” Carlos asked.

“Well, I suppose that an x-ray unit is out of the question” Rick said. “I’d like to get a portable ultrasound; there should be one or two in the ED. If anyone gets ill, that’s about the best I’d be able to do, diagnostically. And, I suppose we should get some surgical packs from the OR”.

“I can help with that” Carlos said. “I have a portable ultrasound in the office”.
“OK, great!” Rick said. They chatted while they worked on the vehicles. Dave came in, looking for some electrical wire.

“I’m putting together a portable radio system” He said. “Mainly, it’s a couple of scanners with directional loop antennas. If we hear any radio traffic, it will either give us some warning, or tell us that others are out there.”

“Good idea” Rick said.

“There’s one more thing” Dave said. “There’s a radio shack in Sedona, and an electronics store, according to the yellow pages. I’d like to check them out and see if there are any components we can use as security systems” I might also be able to build a better directional antenna, maybe I can find the parts for a Doppler system”.

“OK, as long as we can get to the stores, safely” Rick said, knowing that electronic security systems could augment their security. Dave went off, happy.


Later that day, Rick called everyone in for a meeting. When they were all settled, he started out

“OK, we’re ready to go in terms of vehicles. Dave, how are you doing on your scanner?”

“It’s all done” he said. “We should put some more motorcycle batteries on the list to power it, though. Or, gel cells if we can find them – smaller ones”.

“OK, we’ll do that” Rick said. “George?”

“Like you said, Rick – the vehicles are ready to go. And, I’d like to go to my office and get that equipment I mentioned”.

“Right, if it’s safe”.

“Anne, how are you doing with the list?”

“I’m Catherine, Anne is on lookout duty” she said with a slight huff. “It’s ready to print out any time, but we’re running short of paper. I’ve added copier paper and printer ink cartridges to the list”.

“Sorry. Good work” Rick apologized. “What else?”

Nobody had anything to add, so Rick continued

“George, what about the trip tomorrow?

George described what the plan was.

“OK, the situation is this – we’re going to go into Sedona. We don’t know what will be there; it’s been quite awhile since we went the last time. This time though, we’re going to do things a little differently.

Our mission is to go and scavenge food and other supplies. The girls will print out and distribute lists of what we’re looking for, along with maps, to every group. If we find loaded trucks that have what we can use, Carlos and I will try and get them started – if we do, we’ll assign a driver and just bring the whole truck here.”

“How many of us know how to drive an 18-wheeler?” Lisa asked

“None of us are licensed” George said. “But, they mostly have automatic transmissions these days so as long as we don’t try backing them up too far, or take sharp turns fast, we should be OK. We’ll show whoever is going to drive enough for them to get it going”.

“Then” George continued” the way we’ll do this, in addition to the trucks, is first of all we’ll stop outside of town and check it out – by sending someone in on a snowmobile. Based on the last time, there may not be anyone there at all. We’ll proceed if safe, and once we’ve checked the area, send one group with the old truck and flatbed to check the grocery stores – the main stores are shown on the maps. The other group, with Carlos, will go with the 5-ton to the snowmobile store and if possible, Carlos will get better mufflers and anything else we may need. The group with Carlos should also look for fuel, ideally a fuel truck of some sort – they’ll swing by the City equipment yard to look for one. Carlos also wants to go to his office and get some equipment.

The food team, in the meanwhile, will try and find food staples and the other household items. When they’re done, they will go to the hospital and see if Rick can find the surgical trays. Dave wants to find an electronics store, either the radio shack or the security store.”

“Or both”. Dave said.

“Or both, right” But, remember, the area has to be safe, and we have to be in support of each other”.

If we need to split up, we will have two rally points – the hospital, in town which is marked on the maps, or the road intersection back to the house. Hopefully we won’t have a problem.

On this trip, we’ll use our regular callsigns and be on ISR channel two. Rick is in charge, and Angela will be at the house with Daniel. If anyone contacts any survivors, if they’re friendly call Rick. I’ll be Ricks second in command, then Carlos on the 5-ton, and Lisa with the Flatbed” he defined the chain of command, looking at each person.

“Finally, we need our weapons, full LBV with armor, and spare batteries for the radios.

“Any questions”?, he finished up.

“Who’s going to be on which team? Linda asked.

“Oh, good question. “Rick?”

“OK, we’re going to split people up like this. The 5-ton team will have George, Carlos, Dave and Anne. They should be able to handle loading whatever, and two can provide security for the others. The other truck will have me, Lisa, Catherine and Linda. I’m splitting the twins up because so they can each try and monitor our success – if one team gets an item, the other may not need to, depending”.

Dinner was quiet that night.

The next morning, they had a quick breakfast and got ready to go. George and Carlos gave the vehicles one last check and got them warmed up, while Rick deactivated the drive roadblock claymores. They turned onto the main road, and drove to the roadblock. George deactivated the explosives he had rigged, and with Carlos and Rick manhandled the logs out of the way.

“Good idea, I guess, leaving the branches on” Rick sputtered, getting a mouthful of pine needles.

“Yeah, it makes it a bit denser” George said.

They continued on, and soon came to where they had been ambushed. They checked the road, and found the remains of the man who had shot Dave – decomposing and somewhat eaten by animals.

“What did I ever do to you, a-hole?” Dave asked under his breath, looking at the man who almost murdered him. He turned and walked back to the trucks.
“Well, he must have been alone” Linda said.

“Why do you say that?” Lisa asked.

“Well, he’s still here. If he had been with someone, they would have taken him and tried to help, or buried him or something… Wouldn’t they?

“Maybe, maybe not”. My guess is not. “I don’t see his rifle anywhere” Lisa said. “There’s no backpack or anything on the body, either. Someone took the rifle, at least”. She put on a pair of gloves from her first aid kit and checked the body for any identification, or anything of value.

“It looks like someone emptied his pockets. Nothing at all, not even lint” she said, and then noticed something shiny on the ground, an empty cartridge case. Looking at it, she walked over to Dave at the truck and tossed it to Dave, who scrambled, but caught it.

“Here’s a souvenir for you.” She said. “George, you were right, a .270 Winchester”. She turned on her heel and got back into the truck.

“Wow, look at that” George said, pointing at the hole dead-center in the dead goblins sternum. “Center of mass, and took out a couple of vertebrae, too”.

They got back to the truck, and Lisa was sobbing. The others moved away.

“What is it, Sweetie?” Rick asked, holding his wife, although he had been expecting this since the day Dave was shot. Lisa just sobbed for a few minutes, before she could speak.

“I killed him”, she cried. “One minute he was alive, and the next I squeezed the trigger and then I killed him”.

“Lisa, you did exactly the right thing. He was trying to kill us, remember? His friends were probably there, too. I don’t know why they chose to, but the only reason that you killed him was that I was too slow shooting, myself.”

With that, Rick held Lisa until she was able to compose herself, and they continued on.

They came to the outskirts of town, and unloaded the snowmobiles from the flatbed. The twins each got on one, and were off, at high speed, before Linda or Dave could say anything. George and Rick went to them and said

“The twins volunteered to be the scouts. They’re the best qualified, they’ve got the best reflexes and vision, and they volunteered. They also wanted us to not tell you, because they thought you’d be hysterical. Are you going to be?”

They waited, the sounds of the snowmobiles growing softer and louder. Finally, the sounds grew louder and the girls appeared.

“We didn’t see anyone or anything bad” Anne said.

“Except for the bodies” Catherine added. “There are bodies everywhere. There are two trucks in back of the Safeway store, and we passed a truck from some restaurant supply company on the road”.

“The snow is more melted here than at the house” Anne said. It’s mostly maxing at only about three feet deep, and there are lots of patches of asphalt showing. The house is higher in elevation than the town, that’s probably why”.

“OK, let’s go then” Rick said. The girls stayed on the snowmobiles, and they headed into the ghost town that had been Sedona.


In town, they split up according to plan. They were on the lookout for any sign of anyone, but there was nobody. At the Safeway, they cleared the area but they couldn’t see any sign of anyone alive. There were a few bodies on the ground, that’s all.

One of the trucks at the Safeway was empty but the other was loaded with all sorts of canned and dried goods – Lisa climbed in and over the load, and decided to just take the whole truckload.

“We can’t afford to be picky” she said. “I hope that Carlos will be able to get the truck started”.

They then went into the store and from the light of their headlamps; they found more supplies they could use. Rick found a pallet jack, and after raising the loading dock door, started moving the pallets outside.

“Aren’t you going to put them on the flatbed? Lisa asked.

“Not yet. Maybe Carlos can get both trucks running”

Rick continued to move the palletized items to the loading dock. Canned foods of all sorts, pallets of flour, sugar, beans, dried milk, instant dinners, coffee, creamer, hot chocolate, whatever they could find. He also found a stack of Sam Adams beer cases and decided to move that too. ‘Best domestic big brewery beer in the US’ he thought. Pulling a bottle from the case, he saw that it was frozen solid. ‘Maybe not’, he thought.

Lisa had gone off to the meat department, and came out with a box of chickens. “It’s still frozen” she exclaimed. “When the power went out, they must have stayed cold until the outside temperature equilibrated”.

“We can use that” Rick said. “If there are any other meats that are good, let’s get them too. Plus, maybe we can swing by the butchers shop and get more”.

Lisa found more boxes of chicken and some elemental cuts of beef and boxes of pork loins and moved them out. With an outside temperature high that was below zero, Fahrenheit, they only needed to worry about freezer burn, not spoilage.

They stayed in touch with the other team. Carlos reported that they had found the snowmobile parts, and Dave had picked up a propane truck from the city yard. Then, they stopped by the electronics store and Dave was able to get all the security equipment and wire the store had. They were on the way over to the grocery store.

When they got there, Carlos went and tried starting the tractor attached to the truck with the full trailer. It fired right up, and puzzled, he asked “what was wrong with it before?”

“Ah, well, you see…” Rick said, as Lisa and the rest started laughing.

“We didn’t actually try it” Linda laughed.

At that, George was laughing like mad. He hopped up into the tractor for the empty trailer and the engine groaned a little, then stopped.

“Probably just a bad battery” He said. Carlos and he hooked up their jumper cables to the 5-ton’s batteries and the diesel started right up.

“OK, I love it when a plan comes together” Rick laughed. “Let’s get the food loaded in there, and check out the IGA store on the other side of town”.


They did that, and with George and Carlos driving the tractors, they drove towards the IGA store – with the girls out in front on the snowmobiles. They sped off, and after a few minutes returned. Waving the trucks to a stop, they gave them the bad news.

“The store burned down” Anne said. “There’s not much to see”.

“OK, where was that truck from the restaurant supply company?” Rick asked.

“Follow us”. With that, the girls took them to the ‘US Restaurant Supply’ truck. The remains of the driver were inside the tractor, and bypassing them, they checked the trailer out. It was about half full, but the front half was fully packed.

Rick climbed up into the cab and found the manifest on a clipboard. He gave it to Lisa who was able to figure out the coding.

“It looks like it’s more canned and dried foods, let’s just take the whole thing”.

George climbed up and removed the body of the driver with a soft “sorry, buddy”. He tried to start the engine, but nothing happened. They attached their jumper cables and the engine turned over but the engine wouldn’t start. Glancing at the fuel gauge, he stepped out and said “Out of fuel”.

“We can go get a diesel fuel truck at the city yard” Dave said. There are a couple there, and a gas truck too. And another propane truck, and a big propane storage tank”.

“That much?” Rick asked, thinking. “No, let’s see if we can get this truck started with the fuel we brought. I don’t want to split our resources too much more”.

George and Carlos had already emptied two fuel cans of diesel into the tractor. Carlos got into the cab, and hoping, was able to get the engine to start up.

“Whew”, he said. “I was worried about having to bleed the fuel lines, we lucked out”. He got out of the cab with the engine running.

“OK, folks” Rick said with everyone gathered around. “Let’s head back home, and regroup”.

“What about the other things we wanted to get?” Lisa asked.

“There’s a lot more stuff than we had planned on” Rick explained. “We need to come back another day, maybe two or three more days”. “Lisa, do you think you can handle the flatbed, and I’ll drive this thing?”

“OK”

“Then lets go” Rick said.

By this time, they were not paying a lot of attention to their security. There didn’t seem to be much point, with nobody there. They drove out of town like they owned the entire town, and drove home.

At the house, they were barely able to get the semis up the drive. The trucks were just about as wide as the snow was; in fact the mirrors were sticking out over the top of the snow banks. They got the trucks parked, and went in to share their experiences with Angela.

“Tomorrow, we’ll go back” Rick announced.

At dinner that night, they discussed their good fortune. “We’re pretty lucky, alright” George said. “It’s my own fault too, but we really need to be more on the ball for security. What if someone took a shot at us?”

“Who would do that?” Linda asked. “There’s nobody there”.

“We don’t know who is there, or not. We might run into a couple more thieves, or a group of scavengers from somewhere else. The people may or may not be friendly. We need to be careful” George said.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be more careful” Rick said. “I think we should do things a little differently, though. We can get more food from the Safeway, and there are a couple of other, smaller markets too. Our problem right now is storage. We need to inventory and re-pack the food we got today, and load them so we can get at what we want. Hopefully, we can find some more tractor/trailer rigs that are either empty, or have things we need. Also, I think we should try to find a smaller truck, say a bob-tail, that can negotiate the streets a bit better. Maybe one with a lift gate – diesel, of course.”

“While we’re at it, we should try and find a flatbed semi trailer” George said. We may need it later. And, we can use semi’s for roadblocks, too”.

“OK, but we need to figure out where to park everything. Should we just park them on the snow? How about clearing the snow out, down to ground level?” Rick asked.

“If we just try and leave the trailers sitting there, the landing gear will punch through the snow” George said. “We should try and get them on solid ground. We can use the tractor and snow blower, and then maybe grade the ground a little bit flatter”.

“Maybe we should get a bigger snowplow from the city yard” Dave said. “It will make the job go a lot faster, and if the ground is frozen, a small bulldozer will do a better job than the tractor. While we’re at it, is there any other equipment we may want to get?”

“Like what, Dave? Rick asked.

“Oh, I don’t know – construction equipment? There was a skiploader with a bucket over there. Also, a small crane. Maybe we would need it later, for lifting? It seems like we have a town’s worth of equipment there, and we should try and keep some of it just in case”.

“Wow. I hadn’t thought about it” Rick said. “It’s a good idea, why don’t you, Carlos and George figure out what we might need, where it is, and how we would get it. Then, what spares, tools, manuals, and the like. Also, where would we put it? We should get it under some kind of cover, at some point.”

“We’ll get some sort of a plan together” George said.

“Dave, is there anything electronic you didn’t get? Rick asked.

“Lots, actually” Dave said. “I want to go back, and clean out the Radio Shack, too. And the phone company yard. We can get wire and telephones there, and when we rig up a power source, have some sort of telephones. Plus, there’s more security stuff we need. And, I want to check out the houses of HAM radio operators for equipment. We might be able to find more radios we can use, and maybe even a repeater”.

“How will we know if it’s a HAM operator’s house” Anne asked.

“Simple, honey. Just look for the antennas” Dave said grinning.

They discussed the things they were going to find, the next day.

Paradise Chapter 11

The next morning, Rick summarized the plans for the day. “OK, we’re going to go back to the Safeway and hopefully find another truck. If not, we’ll load what food we can on the flatbed and trailer. George and Dave will go to the city yard and look for the equipment we need. The twins are going to be on lookout for us. I’m going to go to the hospital and get the surgical trays, and find other things we need, and Lisa will come and go through the hospital pharmacy. Radios, rally points, and the rest are the same as yesterday, right?

They all loaded onto the flatbed truck, with the snowmobiles on the trailer and went into town. They stopped on the outskirts again, and the twins took off on the snowmobiles. When they came back they confirmed that the town was still empty so they went in.

They first went to the city yard, where Dave and Carlos worked on getting a dump truck started. They had already found keys for all the vehicles in the lot in an office trailer, the day before. The truck already had a trailer attached, with a small bulldozer mounted. They couldn’t get it going so they switched to another truck, after a jump start they were able to get it going. “OK, we’ll switch the trailer” Carlos said.

Dave went and tried a diesel fuel tanker. The engine groaned slowly as he tried to start it after warming the glow plugs but didn’t fire. He tried the glow plugs one more time, and noticed it had a cold-start button. He pressed it, and the shot of ether helped the engine start. Leaving it to warm, he stepped out and walked around. “Hey, look at that!” he exclaimed. “This truck has a hitch, too”.

“Well, let’s find a trailer, and hitch it up” George said. Walking around, he found one of the big snowblowers the city maintained, for the few times a year there normally was snow. He tried to start it but it was dead. “Let’s leave this for the time being”.

Walking around a large pile of sand that he figured was for the roads, he discovered a major find. Walking back to the rest of the group, he said “We’re in luck!”

Leading the rest of the group back around the sand, he showed them stacks of banded-together aircraft runway mat. “That’s great stuff for us” he explained. “We can clear the snow back at the house, and put the runway mat under the wheels of the trailers. That will help keep them level”. He went off to find a forklift that he could use to put the stacks of runway mat into the back of the dump truck they found.

Rick was wandering around too, and found several other items of equipment that he thought could be useful. Returning to the group, he said “OK, George, you’re going to take the dump truck with the bulldozer, right?”

George nodded affirmatively. “Dave, you’re going to take the diesel tank and trailer, what do you want to put on the trailer?” Rick asked.
“I don’t know. If we can get the snowblower going, that, I guess. If not, how about the skiploader over there” he answered, pointing.

“OK, that sounds good. Use your best judgment. Carlos, lets go find another truck and trailer”. With that, they left George and Dave in the yard, with Anne on her snowmobile, and everyone else left.

It didn’t take long to find another truck. On highway 89A, the main road into town, they found quite a few semis’ that had stopped, with the drivers dead. Several had driven off the road, they must have been startled by the blast, Rick thought. Rick or Carlos checked the manifests for the trucks they found, and finally found another truck with groceries in it. It took awhile, but Carlos was able to get it started. Lisa was making notes of the contents and location of the trucks they did stop at.

Continuing down the highway, they found a truck marked “Exide” and they stopped there. Checking it out, they discovered it was full of batteries, car batteries, motorcycle batteries, and very large forklift or golf cart batteries. “Good, we need to get this” Rick said. “We can use the batteries and these are fresh. We’ll come back for them, though. Lets see what else we have” and they continued down the highway.

Finally, they turned around, after marking the contents and locations of several more trucks. Some carried things they had no use for; a few were livestock transporters filled with the dead, frozen carcasses of beef or hogs. They passed a large horse trailer with two dead horses in the back. “They must have been terrified” Lisa said. “Look how they kicked the trailer almost apart, before they died”. She turned away, with a tear in her eye.

Walking back to their truck, Linda looked over the edge of the road. “I wonder what those are?” she asked, pointing at a trailer that had gone over the edge and scattered large, flat boxes that had about fully deteriorated, if they were visible in the snow.

Rick looked over the edge, and couldn’t believe what he saw. He started dancing around, hollering, with Lisa. Finally, he stopped and grabbing Linda gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“Linda, those are solar panels you found!” he shouted. “That’s a wonderful, terrific find for us!” With that, Lisa started dancing with Linda, too. “OUTSTANDING!” she shouted.

Calming down, Rick said “OK, we need to come back here and get as many of those as we can”. They finally got back into their truck and went back to the grocery truck. Warm, it started right up, and they drove back into Sedona.

George and Dave were at the Safeway helping to move the food onto the loading dock. They were able to get a propane forklift going which made it very easy to move full pallets down from the shelves. “This is handy” Dave said.
“Yeah, but it’s got hard tires. We couldn’t use it on soft ground” George said.

“Well, at least we have the forklift forks for the tractor. Maybe we should take these shelves with us?”

“Good idea – we can toss them on top of the dump truck” George said, as the other party pulled into the loading dock. They each filled each other in on their activities.

“Rick, why don’t we go the other way on highway 89A and look for vehicles? Anne said. “Catherine and I can take you and Lisa, and you can at least mark the vehicles”.

“That sounds like a good idea, but why don’t we have lunch first” Lisa said.

After a lunch of canned ravioli they got from the store’s shelves, opened with a can opener, heated in a pot over Sterno, and served on paper plates with plastic flatware from the same source, Rick and Lisa joined the twins on the snowmobiles and went looking for more trucks. They found a few more and marked them on Lisa’s GPS and Rick was ready to turn around when they came around a bend in the road. “Bingo” Rick said. They found a semi hauling two tank trailers. “I hope they’re full” Rick said. He was encouraged; the truck was pointed towards Sedona.

He walked over to the cab and got the manifest. Scanning it, he saw that one trailer held about five thousand gallons of Chevron unleaded, Supreme. “Well, we can always stabilize it” he said, showing the manifest to Lisa. The other trailer was full of diesel fuel. Rick climbed up on top, and breaking the seals on the manhole covers, confirmed both tanks were full. Climbing down, he saw that Lisa had removed the remains of the driver and was trying to start the truck. “See if there’s a button for cold start, or ether” Rick offered.

Lisa saw the button, and pushed it. Trying the engine one more time, it started up and ran, albeit roughly. Gradually it smoothed out.

Rick walked to the truck he saw behind the tanker. It had a flatbed trailer covered with tarps and he was wondering what it carried – he couldn’t tell from the shape. He got the manifest and read it, but was still having trouble figuring it out. Finally, he took the manifest and stuck it in his pocket. “Lets go” he said, walking over to the truck. Lisa pulled the drivers door closed in his face.

“Need a lift? Hop in, cutie!” she said.

Laughing, Rick walked around and climbed up on the shotgun side. “OK, Sweetie” he said. “Show me ‘what you got’”. Lisa shifted into gear and tried to accelerate. “We’ll go faster if you let the parking brake off” he laughed.

Lisa found the knob and pulled, and they heard the brakes release. The truck lurched forward, and Lisa was too busy driving to take a swipe at Rick.

They drove back into town to show off their loot. “We’re getting a lot of vehicles” George said.

“We have a lot more marked” Rick said. There was one next to this truck that I couldn’t figure out, though”. He showed the manifest to George.

“I don’t know” George admitted. He gave the manifest to Dave. “Do you know what it is?”

“Hmm” Dave said. “It’s an independent trucker. He picked up the load from someplace in Colorado - General Steel, in Lakewood.” Finally, he asked “What was on the trailer?

“A lot of steel in shapes, square tubing, mostly” That looked like it was on top of sheet metal”. Rick said.

“I think that you might have a steel building there” Dave said. “Or at least part of one”. Just guessing from the number on the manifest here, but it may be a 60 by 120 building”.

“Really? If we can figure out how to put it up, we might be able to use it” Rick said. “Not now, but it’s a good thing to have”.

“All of this stuff is a good thing to have” Lisa said. “We need to come back and find more vehicles – and maybe get the vehicles we can move together in one place”.

“Right, that’s a good idea, Sweetie” Rick said. “Let’s get back to the house”. With that, they drove back to the house.

That night, they made plans for the next day. “I think the most important thing to get right now are those solar panels” Rick said. With the panels, we can set up a system at Carlos’ house, we can make our system bigger here, it’s a God-send”.

“They may have been fried by EMP, though” Dave said.

“They may have, but there’s only one way to find out” Rick said.

“OK, how will we recover them? Carlos said.

“We’re going to need some technical climbing gear, ropes and harnesses” Rick said. We can go to the sporting goods store in town, they had that type of equipment. A couple of us, George and I, I guess, rappel over the edge and secure the panels to another rope. Then, the folks on the road raise them up, carefully”.

“Rick, I was able to get the city’s wrecker running” Carlos said. “Couldn’t we use the boom on it to make it easier?”

“Yes, we can – we can’t use the cable itself, but we could extend the boom over the cliff and rig a pulley on the cable hook. That would make the lift straighter and easier. Then, just pull the load in”.

“The wrecker has one of those winches, like a boat has, too” Carlos said.

“Then the work just got a lot easier” Rick said, smiling.

The next day, they stopped at the Sedona Sports, just across from Tlaquepaque and loaded up with mountain climbing harnesses, ropes, hard hats, and some other gear. They dropped Carlos and George over at the city yard and got the wrecker, and then went to the horse trailer. “I should go over the edge” Dave said. “I’ve got as much experience as the two of you do”, referring to their experience years ago on search and rescue teams.

“You do” Rick said. “You also have a bad back. Plus, we need you here to help with the panels, but let the girls do most of the work”.

“But…”

“Dave, you know he’s right” Linda said.

Carlos got the wrecker backed to the edge of the road, and after engaging the PTO, he stepped out. Rick handed him a large, 4” pulley that he had picked up at the sporting good store, along with a sewn Kevlar runner. Looking at it, Carlos said “Kevlar should be strong enough” and using a locking carabiner, secured the pulley to the hook on the cable. He then extended the boom out, over the edge of the road. “Oops” he said, and pulled the boom back in, and rigged a rope through it, then extended it back out.

They anchored their rappelling ropes on the semi tractor, which was still on the road, sideways. “That should be bomb-proof”, George said.

“I hope so” Rick joked. They threw their ropes over the edge, and then rigged their brake bars. Clipping into their individual (and color coded) ropes, they eased over the edge and carefully rapelled down to the canyon bottom.

It took them awhile, but they were able to finally get a system going to secure several panels with a length of rope, and then tie it to the hoisting rope. Carlos took a couple of turns around the winch head, and was able to quickly raise the bundle. They had a bit of a problem getting the load in, and finally Carlos had to retract the boom. “I have a better idea” he said. He secured another rope to the carabiner the hoisting line had, and after pulling the slack from both lines, he tossed the rope down the canyon. “That line will let us pull the load in” he explained.

The truck had nearly one hundred panels that they could see. Several were obviously broken and they left those there. They also found a number of large, heavy boxes labeled ‘Outback Power Systems”. Looking at Rick, George said “you don’t suppose…”

“Only one way to find out” Rick said. They rigged each box and after warning the crew on the road that these were very heavy, the boxes were hoisted and set on the road. Dave tried to pick up one of the boxes, and quickly set it down – his back was certainly not healed up.

Finally, Rick and George had salvaged as much of the materials as they could, and they told the road crew they were coming back up. It took some scrambling but they finally got back on the road.

They finally were able to get the heavy boxes on the flatbed, and they coiled up their ropes and took off their harnesses. “Let’s swing back by Sedona Sports” Rick said.

“OK, why? Want to give the ropes back? Dave said, laughing. They weren’t pristine any more, by any stretch of the imagination.

“No, but there’s some other stuff in there we should get” Rick said. We have the room and the time, so let’s get it”.

They went inside Sedona sports, and Rick said “Ladies, why don’t you all go get clothes and whatever else you think you could use. Shoes, too. We’ll do the same, and if any of us see anything else, we should get it”.

They scattered across the store and went shopping. “Why don’t we just leave stuff here and get it when we need it, Rick? George asked.

“Well, we can certainly use some of it now” Rick said. I’m kind of tired of seeing everyone in BDU’s all the time. Plus, one of these days, someone may come along and try and keep us out of town. Or, when the snow finally melts, or even before, a fire might start in town and our entire support base will be gone. I’d rather get our “gleaning” out of the way while we can”.

“Oh, that makes sense” George said. “I was a little surprised someone didn’t suggest moving into town”.

“It’s tempting, I guess” Rick said. “If anyone wants to, I can’t stop you. But, it’s going to be awfully lonely here. Driving through the streets reminds me of a video clip I saw on the internet years ago, of a motorcycle rider going through Chernobyl, in Russia. They had to abandon the entire city, just leave everything there. It was eerie”.

“Your point about security is exactly correct” George said. “I hadn’t thought about the fire danger, but that’s true too”.

The guys had loaded up with all the clothes and shoes they could find, each loading up several large duffel bags they found. After loading the items on the truck they went back in and recovered the batteries, camping fuel, dried food and other camping supplies they found. Finally, they loaded those supplies on the track.

Going back into the store the third time, they found the ladies – still “shopping”.

“Oh, you’re here” Lisa said to Rick. “Let me show you what I found”.

“Hold it!” Rick said. “Just get the things you think you may need – all of them. Have you girls been trying clothes on?” he asked, seeing their LBV sitting on the nearby counter.

“Well, yes” Lisa said. “We have to try the clothes on”.

Rick said “You aren’t shopping at the local f-ing Nordstroms! Get whatever clothing you think may fit. We don’t have time for this. Get some clothes for Angela, too. What shoe sizes do you guys wear?” he asked.

“Why” the twins asked, as they said they both said “six and a half”. “We’re going to get all the shoes they have about that size, you can try them on later”. The men went and got the shoes and loaded them onto the truck, as the women gathered their clothes.

They finally were all outside. “Linda, where is your LBV?” George asked.

Linda ran inside and got her LBV. “Don’t ever take that off, anywhere, but the house” Dave told her, visibly upset.

They boarded the truck, and went to the house. Stopping at the road block, they set it up and secured the chain with a combination lock. Rick had set the combo and told everyone what it was.



Once they were in the area around the house, Rick and Dave went to reset the log and claymores across the drive. “Dave, you need to have a word with Linda” Rick said.

“I know, I’ll do it tonight” he said.

They unloaded the clothing and supplies from the truck and stacked it on the deck. At dinner that night, Rick said “OK, we need to stop gathering stuff for awhile. We’re out of room here”.

“I know” Lisa said. We have too much stuff spread out, we need to think of a better way of storing it”.

“We can use the semi trailers” George said. “Once we get the ground cleared, we can cover the ground with the runway mat and set the trailers in close to each other. If we build a deck or platform across the back of three or four of the trailers we can even build some stairs. Plus, we have those shelves from the store.

“Good idea. Once we do that, we can move some of the tractors out of here, too – that will free up some room” Lisa offered.

“I need to stabilize the fuel we got, too” Rick said. “We’re pretty well set up with fuel here, so if it’s OK with Carlos, can we store the two tankers over there?”

“Sure” Carlos said.

“Good. I’d also like to see if we can set up a solar system over there for you. You’re welcome to stay here, of course – and we hope that you do. I’m more concerned about an alternative location for us”.

“Rick, I’d like to apologize for today” Linda said. “For myself, for forgetting my LBV, and for all of us that were getting the clothes. You’re right, we were acting like we were shopping at a department store”.

“Linda, we can’t afford to let our guard down” Rick said. “And that’s all I’m going to say about it”.

“So, for the next few days we’re going to be pretty busy” Lisa said. “Catherine and Anne, we need to come up with some way of identifying the location of our supplies on your database.”

“Oh, we can do that, no problem” Anne said.

“OK, and then once the trailers are positioned and that platform is built, we’re going to have to unpack and inventory all the trailers we have – and then repack them. There’s a lot of food there” she said.

“That reminds me” Rick said. “We need to find a refrigerated trailer, if we can. When it warms up we can keep the meat in it, otherwise we’re going to have to dry it or something”.

“How do they run?” Anne asked.

“They have a diesel powered refrigeration system. We can set up a tank for the fuel and we have enough diesel to run it for awhile.” Rick answered.

“Rick, how much lumber do you have?” George asked.

“Just whatever is in the workshop, why?

“We may need to go get some more from a lumber yard to build that platform”.

“OK. Check tomorrow, and if we need to, we’ll make a quick trip into town, and get the wood. Maybe we can find a refrigerated trailer, too – we’ll take one of the tractors that runs.”

“Rick, I’d like to go into town” Angela said. “I need to get some clothes for Daniel, plus I just want to get away from here for a bit”.

“We can watch Daniel” the twins said.

“OK, get your LBV together, and you can come with us” Rick said.

“We still need to look for the electronic gear, and HAM radios” Dave said.

“I know, but not tomorrow” Rick said. “Time to get organized”.

The next day, they went about their tasks. Angela was able to find the clothes she wanted for Daniel, and also got a few other things she thought they could use. At one of the smaller grocery stores, they found a refrigerated trailer full of dairy products – all frozen solid, some containers visibly broken. They were able to get the tractor started, and pulled it out. “Well, since that tractor runs, lets take this one over to the city yard and store it” Rick said. They had enough tractors at the house.

They found a small lumber yard and hardware store, and George loaded up on pressure treated 4x4’s, lag bolts and some plastic decking material. They were out of town, and back at the house in time for lunch.

It took them several days to get everything organized – they finally used four trailers, plus the refrigerated trailer, for food, and another for the clothes and other materials they had collected. Once they had cleared off the snow, they found the ground frozen to about a foot of depth. It was mid-March, and nobody knew if the ground would warm up so they could plant. Fortunately, they had collected enough food to last them over a year, even without dipping into their dried food stocks from Walton Feed.

When Rick had the solar panels installed originally he had made allowances for future expansion. Each panel array was only half full of solar panels, it took a little adjusting but they were able to get the panels fully loaded. They had more than 60 panels that actually produced power, while they couldn’t see any damage in the others; they just wouldn’t produce the juice. The added power was absorbed by some of the golf cart batteries they had found. They put a dozen working panels and some of the large batteries aside to go to Carlos’ house. They loaded the broken panels into the truck to put in town, out of the way.

They almost lucked out. The packages from Outback Power had inverters, but not the charge controller. The solar system at Carlos’ would have to wait until they found one. They retrieved and parked the truck with the steel building at the City Yard, too, just in case.

Life continued at the homestead. The weather got very slowly warmer, with daytime highs at least approaching freezing. The sky was still obscured most of the time with high stratus clouds but it seemed (or they hoped) that there were more days that were really clear. Dave was finally pacified by a trip into town to look for more electronic components. He found a couple of HAM radio operators (by looking for the antennas), and got a few radios, but didn’t find any repeaters. The twins found some cross country skis and boots that fit them in one of the stores.

They got a number of trucks moved into the city yard. Sometimes George and Carlos were able to get the engines running, and sometimes they had to pull the tractor away with the wrecker, and use one of their tractors. They at least got the manifests, and the twins or Lisa would enter the information into their database. They also moved a UPS tractor-trailer to the yard, it was full of parts but they had no idea what they were and didn’t have time to open each one to see. They also moved the yard’s fuel trucks to Carlos’ house, and filled both homes propane tanks with the yards propane service trucks.

One day Anne went looking for Lisa. “Look what we found” she said, showing Lisa a manifest. Scanning the documents, she finally saw what had triggered Anne’s interest.

“How about that?” She said. The last order she had placed with Walton Feed had almost made it to them, it was on the truck. The two years worth of dried foods, plus the other foods that Walton Feed had placed on that truck for other purchasers, went into their stores and database.

They did go to the Sedona Police department, and the Sheriff’s satellite office. They collected up the weapons they could find, along with ammunition and body armor. There wasn’t much, and nothing that they particularly needed, but they’d rather not leave any weapons around that could be used against them.

Carlos and George checked out the Aguilars house. As Carlos had feared, there were several pipes that had burst after freezing, so they cut the water off to the house. “Maybe we can find the leaks and fix them, after they thaw this summer” George told his friend.

One day in early April, Dave came running out of the house. Come here, listen to this” he shouted. He had been listening to the various radios as long as he had been there. He occasionally would get some broadcasts, some in English, most not, but not a lot of them. They had discussed it, and decided that sending a broadcast wouldn’t be a good idea “better to stay hidden” was the consensus.

Now, they had a clear signal, from the Federal Government. On the AM band, it was some sort of official broadcast, giving ‘news and official information’. Except, it had little of either and soon it was obvious it was a recording. It was grounds for lots of discussion.

“I don’t know where it’s coming from” Dave said. The broadcast doesn’t say. It’s not from Sedona, and it’s not really strong – so I doubt it’s Flagstaff, or even Prescott. It could be from almost anywhere, if the signal is strong enough”. He continued to listen to it, in case the message changed or they identified a location.

A few days after they first radio broadcast, Rick said at breakfast “Maybe it’s time to go beyond Sedona”. That created a storm of discussion.

“Where too?” “Lets go to Flagstaff” “No, Prescott”. The discussion went on for awhile. Finally Rick asked them for their attention.

“I think we can make a few assumptions about the condition of the world” He started out. “First of all, that there is no effective government, either federal or state. Or county”, he added. “If there was, there would have been some sign of people in Sedona, it’s a fairly major town, on a major road. And the only folks who have been there are us, as near as we can tell. If there was any sort of substantial government, I think they’d have been here by now – Sedona has been off the radar screen for four months”.

“So, if there is no strong government at all, down to the county level, the only government around might be in towns and cities. That goblin told us that there were people in Prescott and Flagstaff, those are both county seats – but Coconino county, anyway, hasn’t sent anyone to see how Sedona is. The town has probably set up their own defenses by whoever is in charge, good or bad…

“What do you mean, ‘good or bad’? Anne asked.

“We need to allow for the possibility, at least, of bad folks taking over towns” George explained. “Gangs of outlaws”. There is also the possibility that the people in the towns took matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the government and set up their own defense. My guess is the smaller towns went in that direction, and the bigger ones, like Prescott, going right to hell.”

“Why would the bigger towns fall apart?” Christine asked.

“Prescott, Chino Valley, and the little towns around them had a lot of retirees” Lisa explained. “There were probably more native Californians in Prescott when the missiles hit than native Arizonans”.

“And most Californians were just well paid, well educated, morons” Rick said. “People who couldn’t have a clue about taking care of themselves”.

“So, what do we do? Linda asked.

“I think that the first thing we should do is check the towns nearby. First on the list would be Munds Park, and Cottonwood. We can go south to Prescott, or north to Flagstaff, depending on what we see.”

They discussed these and other options for the rest of the day.

In the morning, they still hadn’t reached much of a consensus. Finally, Rick said “OK, let’s table the decision of where to go for the time being. Instead, let’s talk about how to go. George, why don’t you get a plan on that and we can discuss it tonight. In the mean time, we all have work to do”.

They went around their business that day. Later, Rick said “OK, let’s pick the “low-hanging fruit” and check out Munds Park, first. George, what do you suggest for a plan?”

“Well, this time I think we’ll have a much lower profile” George started out. “We’re just out scouting around the area, so we don’t need a really large force, or the large vehicles. I was thinking just three or four people, and maybe one vehicle, with good commo. Regular clothes, but have weapons, LBV with vests, and BOB’s handy. The idea is to go to Munds Park and just look around so take binoculars and maybe a spotting scope and take it easy – stop and look around turns, that sort of thing”.

“What sort of commo can we expect?” Rick asked Dave, who had become their electronics expert.

“If we can use one of your Fords” Dave began “We can use the HF radios in them. We won’t have 100% solid coverage though. We should set the vehicle up with an NVIS antenna, too”.

“What's that, Dave?” Lisa asked.

“Near Vertical Incidence Skywave” Dave explained. “HF, or high frequency radio waves, radiate off from the antenna at a relatively low angle to the ground, usually. That angle changes constantly based on the time of the day, the height of some layers in the ionosphere, the solar flux and the frequency, to name just a few of many factors. The rule of thumb is that for HF, though, the higher the sun, the higher the frequency – at noon you use a higher numeric frequency than at midnight, for example. With HF you normally have to try different frequencies, or bands, to get good coverage.

“Those radio waves hit the critical layer in the atmosphere, and bounce back down to the earth at the same angle as they hit the layer, just in the opposite direction. That bounce, or skip, is why HF communications can cover the entire earth. You just find a frequency that hits at the right distance to reach the area you want to talk to. The problem with them is that the radio waves don’t work real well beyond a fairly small distance from the transmitter, say 50 miles maximum on flat ground, and far less than that in the mountains like we have here. So, the area covered by the radio transmitter is kind of like a donut, with a hole in the middle with no coverage and an area around it that has coverage.

“With NVIS, the idea is to send the radio waves almost straight up into the sky. They hit the ionosphere, and return to the ground – almost straight down. This results in a “donut hole” kind of coverage, a solid area around the transmitter that is usually good for a hundred miles or so, and no coverage outside that area. To do it, we need to have a radio with a built-in, automatic antenna tuner, and an antenna that is as close to horizontal to the ground as we can get – so we’d just lay the vehicle antennas down horizontally. For here, I’ll set up a wire antenna that is flat, about ten feet off the ground. In the car, just lay the whips over” he finished.

“How long does the antenna on the car need to be” Rick asked.

“As long as possible, within reason” Dave answered.

“Well, the antennas on the vehicles are eight feet long, and I have another eight foot extension we can add to them”.

“That should do it” Dave said. “We’ll set up a schedule, and program the radios appropriately. I can also rig a long-wire antenna for the vehicle, in case you need it”.

“OK, what frequencies are you planning on?” George asked.

“Oh, I’ll just pick some, spread out, not regular ham bands, though – no point telling the world we’re here”.

“Dave, lets get a commo plan that includes other radios, too – I don’t want all our eggs in one basket” Rick said. “Which vehicle should we take?”

“One’s about the same as another” George said. “I guess we should take the pickup, we can mount a weapon in the back just in case. We can also put some concrete bags around it for a little protection. I guess we should have picked up a Hummer when we had the chance”.

“We could go and get another vehicle in town” Rick said. “There was one tour company that had the Jeeps, and another that had Hummers”.

“Well, I don’t think we want those pink jeeps” George said. “Maybe a Hummer, it won’t be armored or have a weapon mount, though”.

“It’d take a half-day or so to move a radio over, too” Dave said.

“Wait a minute” Lisa said. “Maybe we should take one of the Jeeps”.

“Why, Sweetie?” Rick asked.

“Well, it would be better if we were in two vehicles, right?” She asked, looking at George. George nodded “It would, I guess – a smaller scout”.

“And imagine what you would think if you saw a little pink jeep coming around the bend at you” Lisa said. “You wouldn’t know what to think”.

Nobody laughed for a moment. “You know, you may have something there” George said, chuckling.


They went into Sedona and managed to get two jeeps running, after putting in new batteries. They took the tires off a third, and gave each jeep two spares in the back. They managed to find one good canvas canopy for the jeep, shuddering at the striped candy-cane colors, and drove back to the house. Dave got busy installing a spare 2-meter radio and antenna, so the jeep would be able to communicate with the pickup, and George and Carlos checked both vehicles out.

“You know, one of these would be good for us to use for maintenance” Carlos said. “We could leave the tools, gas cans, jumper cables and stuff in it, and just work out of it when we’re checking the others out. I could put another battery and isolator in it, and we’d be set – with the seat extension in the back, we’d have room for lots of stuff”.

“OK, why not” George said. “It’s not like we can’t use them. And we have enough gas to last at least awhile. I just wish they weren’t pink”.

Finally, it was time to decide who was going to go. “I’ll go, and George and how about you, Carlos?”

“Rick, that isn’t going to work” Lisa said.

“Why not?”

“First of all, you need to stay here – you’re in charge. Secondly, at least one woman has to go”.

“BS. Why does a woman have to go, too?”

“It’s not BS. You need to stay here, we can’t risk you”.

“We’ll set that aside for a minute” Rick said. “What about a woman going?”

“It’s important that whoever sees us coming doesn’t see us as a threat. We have those pink jeeps with the candy-cane tops, and that’s a good start – at least one woman will also make it appear we’re not a threat.”

“She’s got a point, Rick” George said.

“Well, I’m going” Rick said.

“No, she’s right about that too” George said.

“Then who’s going?” Rick asked.

“Me, with Dave and Linda would work” George said.

“I’ll think about it” Rick said.

“Well, think fast, we’re almost ready with the vehicles” Carlos said.

Paradise Chapter 12

In the end, Rick relented and sent Dave, Linda and George on the trip. Now it was the twins turn to worry about their parents. They were “loaded for bear”, or at least as loaded as they could be. Dave and Linda were in the jeep, with their weapons (including MP5’s) handy but out of sight, and their LBV and BOB’s in the back. George was in Rick’s pickup alone, but he had the big radio, spare tires and tools for both vehicles, a couple of fuel cans for the jeep and his weapons included a scoped M1A, an MP5, a couple of grenades and just in case, one of their M249 SAW’s and two cans of ammunition. They went over the plan several times, and finally, George said “Rick, we’re only going 40 miles away or so. If we don’t leave now, we’ll have to wait another day” and Rick let them go.

Rick reminded himself of the one overreaching piece of information he had gleaned from his professional military education courses in the Air Force. ‘Command sucks’ he thought, as his dear friends left, the jeep in the lead. They had checked both vehicles out and removed any identifying information, but everyone in the area knew who those pink jeeps belonged to. Rick wondered if he was sending his friends into danger and inviting that danger back to the rest of them. He and Carlos reset the roadblock and they went back to the house.

The scouting party made good time, heading east towards Interstate-17. They passed a few homes here and there, in-holdings in the forest but didn’t see any signs of life – no tracks in the snow, anywhere and no smoke in the sky. They got to the Schnebly Hill Road on-ramp, and pulled onto the freeway, north.

George kept the speed down, around 25 miles an hour. They didn’t have that far to go, and he wanted to be able to react if anything happened. There were a number of stopped trucks, and one or two cars on the freeway. George decided that there would be only a few cars since the missile attack happened so early in the morning. ‘We should come and check these out, too’ he thought. He called Dave and told him to pull over and he checked one tanker truck and found it was carrying ten thousand gallons of jet fuel, headed to the Flagstaff airport. “Well, Jet-A isn’t that different from JP-8” he told Dave and Linda. He tried the engine and it started right up. “Lets mark it, and we can come get it later”. George laid the HF antenna over flat on it’s ball mount, and reached for the microphone for the IC-706GS and switched it to the HF frequency they had decided to try first.

“Base, this is The Sarge” he called in, wincing at his imposed callsign. It took a few calls, but finally he heard “Sarge, this is Base. What is your status?” he heard Rick respond.

George had already calculated their UTM grid coordinates, with numbers less than 5 increased by 2, as they had established and he read them off. “We’re nominal, nothing sighted, nothing to report”

“Roger, we’ll be monitoring. Base out” Rick said.

“The Sarge, Out” George said. He was a stickler for the rules, after all.

“OK, we’re only about five miles from the turn off for Munds Park” George said. “Lets go slowly, Dave – ten miles an hour or so, so we can keep an eye out.”

“OK, and I’ll stop a mile or so from it, too” Dave said. “We can check and see if there’s anything to worry about”.

They continued up the freeway a few more miles, and then Dave stopped the Jeep, on the left side lane. George pulled up behind him and leaving the engine running, stepped out of the pickup. “Why’d you stop on this side?” he asked Dave.

“I thought it would be harder for anyone over there to see us, maybe” Dave said.

“Oh. Good idea, I hadn’t thought of that” George said. “Grab the binoculars and lets scoot over to the side and check out the off ramp, and area”.

Dave had picked a good place to pull over. As they walked to the edge of the freeway they could look down into the southern edges of Munds Park. They both dropped down and edged over. George saw a number of homes that had been burned out, and saw smoke rising from a couple of homes. With the binoculars, Dave saw a few people walking around in the town, and saw a road block at the off-ramp to the freeway. It was made of burned out vehicles, stacked furniture, all sorts of junk, and it stretched across the road in the cut, from one side to another, completely blocking the road.

He couldn’t see anyone at the road block though, and he didn’t see any weapons carried by the people in town. He gave the binoculars to George, who scanned the town and roadblock also. Finally, they moved back to the vehicles.

“There are some people in town” Dave told Linda, who had stayed with the vehicles – she had her LBV on, and her rifle ready, George noticed.

“There’s a roadblock, but I didn’t see anyone there. I didn’t see any weapons, either”. “That’s what I saw, too” George said. “There are a number of burned out trailers and houses, though. Let me phone home”.

George went to the pickup, and after laying the antenna down flat again, tried calling. He called for several minutes, and didn’t hear any response so checking his wristwatch, selected the appropriate frequency for the time, and called. This time, Rick answered immediately and with a full, loud signal – so strong that George turned the volume down a bit. “Base, we are south of objective India, OVER” he said, using the code name they had determined for the off ramp. He proceeded to tell Rick what they had seen.

“Roger, what are your intentions?” Rick asked.

“We’re going to continue, OVER” George said.

“Roger. We’ll be standing by” Rick said.

“Acknowledge, Out” George said, and put the antenna back up straight.
“OK, lets go” George said. Linda took her LBV off and put it in back of her seat, and put her rifle next to it. She kept the MP-5 close though, right in front of her seat, held up with her feet.

They proceeded, slowly and drove down the off-ramp. At the bottom of the ramp they came to the roadblock and stopped. There was nobody there, and with the pile of wrecked cars they didn’t see any way to get the vehicles past it. The scouts looked at each other, they would have expected someone to be there.

“Now what?” Linda said.

“We’ll, we’re not going walking” George said. Hopping up on the hood of the jeep he looked and didn’t see anyone nearby. He stepped down and said “lets get our rifles” as he walked back to the pickup and put on his LBV and picked up his M1A and saw that Dave and Linda had also.

Finally, George reached into the cab of the pickup truck, and blew the trucks horn. The noise caused both Dave and Linda to jump, almost out of their LBV. “Don’t EVER do that again” Linda hissed.

“Sorry” George said. Truth be told, the noise startled him too. “That should get someone’s attention, let’s get behind some cover”.

They did, and waited. After a few minutes, a head popped up over the roadblock. A frightened teenaged boy said “Who are you?”

Dave, Linda and George looked at each other. George put his rifle down on the ground, and stood up. “My name is George” he said.

“Go away, George” the boy said.

“Are you guys OK? Who are you?” George asked.

“Just go away. We don’t have any food to give you” the boy said.

“We don’t want any food” George said. “We want information”.

“Information about what?”

“What happened, who’s in charge here, how many of you there are, if we can trade for anything, all sorts of information”.

“We don’t want anything. We don’t want to talk to anyone. Go away” the boy said again.

“What happened to the town?” George asked.

“We had looters. We gave them what we had, and then when it was gone they wanted more. We didn’t have any more and they started shooting people. The deputy tried to stop them, he was shot” the boy said, breaking into a sob. “Our parents were killed, then they…they hurt the girls”.

“Are they still there? George asked, his blood chilling. Glancing behind him he saw that Dave and Linda had moved into the back of the pickup, and Dave had the M249 in his hands.

“No. They finished, and set fire to the town… then they left” Go away!” he said, crying.

“OK, we’re going to go. What's your name?”

“Hank…Henry” he said.

“Henry, do you guys have food?”

“We’re doing OK. We go and get a steer when we need one”

“Henry, we’re going to go now. We’ll be back later, in a few days, a week, maybe two. When we come back, we’ll bring some things for you, OK?”

“Go away, please go away!” Henry said.

“OK, OK” George said. He walked backwards to the truck, and motioned for Dave and Linda to get into the Jeep and go. He stayed by the pickup with his rifle sitting on the seat, just in case. The jeep turned around, and as it passed, George said “Goodbye, Henry” and backed the truck up, keeping an eye on the roadblock, and Henry.

Finally, he turned the pickup and followed the jeep. On the radio, he said “Let’s take the on-ramp north”.

“North?” Dave asked

“Yeah. Lets go up the road a little farther” Dave took the northbound on-ramp, and George followed. On the road, George told Dave to pull over.

“That was weird” Dave said, when they had gotten out of the Jeep.

“It was. Henry was a lot of information, though” George said.

“What do you mean?” Linda asked.
“He told us there’s more than one of them, and they have access to beef cattle” George said. “He also told us that they had been visited by looters, and the deputy sheriff was killed. And, that whoever is there, they don’t have any weapons”.

“When did he say that?” Dave asked.

“When he didn’t show us any, Dave. As stressed out as he was, he’d have waived a gun at us if he had one”.

“Oh. Good point” Dave said, thinking. “Why did you tell him that we’re coming back?”

“Because we are. They have cattle, the cattle must be eating something, and we could use a couple, if we can find them, get them and move them. Carlos should be able to help us with that. By telling him we’re coming back, it will show him that we’re able to travel around without hindrance and we’re not afraid. When we get back here, we’ll show that we’re trustworthy”.

“What will we give them?” Linda asked.

“I’m sure that whatever we give them will be a nice change from eating just beef” George said.

“OK, why did you want to come north” Dave asked.

“I wanted them to not know which way we went, in case they could watch us. We can double back, or go further north and take highway 89-A back to Sedona. I’d rather go back on I-17 though, 89-A is the road we came in on and I’m not sure how well it will have handled three months of snow and snowmelt.”

“So, are you going to call in?” Linda asked.

George laid the antenna down again, and checking the time dialed another frequency. Calling several times, he wasn’t able to reach the Base, so he tried the next frequency on the list. That one didn’t work either, so he went to the third next frequency and after calling several more times, Rick answered.

George called in, and briefly described what they found, and that they were returning to base. “Roger, RTB” Rick said.

“Lets go” George said. “Take the next cut-over and we’ll turn around. When we do, stay on the right side, away from the town”.

They made good time back down the freeway, moving around the stopped vehicles. As they got close to their off-ramp, George got on the radio

“Dave, lets go down a few miles further, and see what sort of trucks are on the road”.

“OK” and Dave continued down I-17. They passed a number of semi trucks, including a very large Propane tanker.

“Pull over” George said. They checked the tanker and saw that it was about ¾ full. “We’ll mark this one for pickup, too” George said. “Lets go down the road to the next cross-over and turn around”.

They did, and as they came around a bend in the freeway they both slammed on the brakes. In front of them was a commercial low-boy transporter with two LAV-25 armored vehicles

“Holy Cow!” was all George could say.

“Tanks?” Linda asked

“No, not really, honey” Dave said. “These are like tanks, but are armored personnel carriers. They have wheels, not tracks, see? I wonder where they were going?”

Dave went to the cab and looked inside. There were no remains inside, or around the truck. He got the manifest out and looked at it. “These came from the Depot at Barstow” he told Linda and George. “They must have just been overhauled. They were going to a Marine Corps Reserve unit in Phoenix.”

“OK, we definitely need to get these” George said. He climbed up into the cab, and tried to start the engine, without success. “Battery is OK, fuel shows half” he said.

“George, either we need to stay here tonight, or we need to leave now” Linda said. “It’s getting late”.

“OK, we’re going. Let me phone home first” George said. He called in and got the Base right away. “Base, I’m at coordinates…as he read the coordinates off, with the numbers “adjusted”. We’ve found a transport trailer with two LAV-25, that’s Lima-Alpha-Victor-two-five onboard. Looks like they’re fresh out of depot overhaul at Barstow, OVER”.

“Understand LAV-25, with the wheels?” Rick asked.

“Affirmative, on a lowboy. Two of them. We’re unable to start the prime mover, OVER” George said.

“Standby” Rick looked up the coordinates on a map.

“Sarge, this is Base” Rick said a moment or two later.

“Go ahead” George said. He was so excited that he wasn’t using his normally impeccable radio procedures.

“I don’t think you should RON at that location. RTB and we’ll send a crew tomorrow, concur?”

“Roger, we are RTB. Concur, OVER” George said.

“BRAVO-ZULU, Sarge” Rick said. “Base OUT”.

“Sarge out”. Turning to his companions, he said “Well”.

“What was that he said, bravo-something?” Linda asked.

“Bravo Zulu, or B-Z. Back in the days when the Navy had to use flags for signaling between ships, they came up with a list of standard messages they could send with only a couple of flags, instead of spelling out each word. The Bravo-Zulu signal means ‘Well Done’. It’s a military thing” he finished, seeing Linda’s look of confusion.

They passed the truck and found a cross over, and turned around. They got back to their off ramp and pulled off. It took them a little while on the winding forest road but they got back to the roadblock, and then the house.

Everyone wanted to know everything, all at once. Finally, Rick said “OK, OK. Let them get their gear put away, and have something to drink. We’ll hear all about it at the same time before dinner. Go!” he said with a smile.

Fifteen minutes or so later, George started telling about their trip. Dave and Linda offered their perspectives, too. There were a few questions, and then said “I guess that’s about it”.

“We need to go back to Munds Park” Lisa said. “We need to help those people”.

“Yes, we will, Lisa” Rick said. “First things first, though. We need to get those LAV’s, and probably that jet fuel tomorrow”.

“That’s what I was thinking, Rick” George said. “Those LAV’s will improve our tactical situation significantly”.

“Absolutely” Rick said. “Here’s a book I had that has a picture of what we’re talking about, and it’s capabilities, in case anyone isn’t familiar”. Rick handed around a copy of ‘Janes Armor’ and passed the large book around. “It’s a wheeled armored personnel carrier, with a 25mm chain gun and two 7.62 machine guns, plus smoke grenades. Eight troops plus the crew which is normally a commander, a gunner and a driver. Too bad we don’t have any 25mm ammo, though”.

“Still, Rick…” George said.

“Oh, I know. It’s a terrific find” Rick said. “OK, we need to go get them, as I said. Also the fuel tanker, it looks like our diesel consumption is about to go much, much higher than forecast. And that big propane tanker, too, before someone else finds it”

“I tried to start the tractor on the low-boy, but no-go” George said. “The battery turned the engine over, the glow plugs seemed to heat, and the gauge said there was fuel”. He looked at Carlos.

“I don’t know what it might be, then” Carlos said. “We should probably just take a tractor we know runs, and switch it”.

“That makes sense” Rick said. “Lets have dinner and we’ll go get those trucks tomorrow”.

The discussion, and the planning, continued over dinner and into the night.


The next morning it was short work to get the trucks. They left right after breakfast, with Rick going along. George, Dave and Carlos were going to drive the trucks, Rick and Lisa would go along for cover. They first went and recovered the jet fuel, and once they had it they turned around and went to the low-boy.

Rick just whistled at the sight of the LAV’s sitting there. He climbed up on one and went inside – everything smelled of new paint, and was spic and span. Looking around, he found a holder that had maintenance and operations manuals for these vehicles. ‘Excellent’ Rick though. ‘Now we can at least read to get a clue how to use these things’.

Climbing out of the LAV, Rick noticed that what he supposed was the on-board equipment, cables, tools, and the like was secured to the hull. “George, hand me a box of ammo, would you?”

Getting the ammo, Rick fed the belt into the commander’s machine gun, just in case. Rick climbed down and saw that Carlos had already lowered the landing gear on the low-boy and was ready to unhitch the trailer. He had some cables he had borrowed from the wrecker to pull the tractor away, using the free tractor. A few minutes later he was backing the tractor into the trailer and they secured it.

“OK, lets go” Rick said. Driving his pickup, he led the convoy down to the crossover they used the day before and drove across. He looked around at the trucks stopped, as far as the eye could see on the freeway and thought ‘we’ve got to get at those’. The other trucks crossed, and started up the freeway and Rick followed.

Back at the homestead, Rick told George to wait with the low boy and George and he went to Carlos’ house to drop the tankers off. Returning, they set their roadblocks and decided to just leave the lowboy with the LAV’s on the paved main road. “If we take the tractor, they’re not going to go anywhere” George pointed out.

“OK, but lets get the machine guns off, and lock the hatches” Rick said. For casual security he supposed, a regular padlock hasp was welded onto the commander’s hatch. They pulled the pintle mounted guns without difficulty but were having trouble with the coaxial guns. Finally, Rick said “Let’s read the manual”.

“What manual” George asked. Rick explained where they were and in relatively short order the guns were out. The men went up the drive.

“You know, Rick” Dave started “That tree is almost down onto the ground now; the snow is melting off pretty well”.

“I know. We need to rethink this” Rick said. “I don’t want the dogs to trigger anything”.

“Oh, Rick. I meant to tell you” Carlos said. “Laulu is pregnant. Congrats”.

“Oh. Oh, thanks” Rick said. “Did you tell Lisa”?

“No, but Angela probably did – you know women”. They were all laughing as they walked into the house and racked their weapons.


George spent the rest of the days with Carlos, going over the maintenance manuals for the LAV’s. That night at dinner he said “I think we can try starting them up tomorrow”.

“OK” Rick said. “If you can, let’s do it. Once they’re running we can certainly use them”.

“Rick, when are we going to go to Munds Park?” Lisa asked.

“Well, let’s talk about that” Rick said. “We can go the day after tomorrow, I guess, but I’d rather wait until we had at least a little experience driving the LAV’s”.

“What do we need those for to go to Munds Park?

“What if there are bad people there? What if they were there, or they came back? The LAV has enough armor to stop most anything people would shoot at us with, and we can shoot back. It offers us a lot of protection”.

“Well, we should take some food over there” Lisa said.

“I agree, but I don’t want to deplete our foods here” Rick said. I think we should go and look for dried foods on the freeway, and take a truckload to Munds Park. Maybe if we do that, especially if we lead with a LAV but respect their roadblock, we can show them we mean to help them”.

“OK, but lets do it right away”

“As soon as we’re ready” Rick said.


It took two days before they started the LAV’s, and after carefully studying the manual, George was able to move one off the lowboy. He carefully moved it around, forwards and back, and turned it. His face was a constant smile as he drove it. Finally, he shut the engine off and said “cool”.

While George and Carlos were getting the LAV’s going at the homestead, a quick survey of the trucks on Interstate 17 was underway. Rick and Dave, with Lisa, Linda and the twins, were out on the freeway checking the trucks out, getting copies of the manifests, and marking their locations. They did find several trucks with dried foods, and a bob-tail that was filled with medical equipment. It took Rick awhile to realize just how valuable it was, when he did he told everyone “We have X-rays!”.

The others were concerned about radiation when Rick explained that the truck had a portable, digital X-ray system. This allowed X-rays to be taken without film, and instead of an actual X-ray, it produced a computer file.

“Rather than move this to another vehicle, lets see if we can get this truck going”.
Not being mechanics, even by hobby, it took them forty-five minutes but the Hino diesel was running.

They went about ten miles down the freeway, and had marked close to thirty trucks besides the bobtail. They turned around and worked their way up the freeway, and when they got to their off ramp, called it a day. The next day, they found more trucks, including a grocery store truck but Rick only let them get within three miles of Munds Park. “I don’t want them to see us, yet” Rick said.

George and Carlos had become pretty good at driving the LAV’s. They decided that they’d only use one at a time, so they parked one of the LAV’s on the main road, and the other on the lowboy with a tractor hitched. They’d move the LAV most of the way on the lowboy because it was easier on the vehicle – they didn’t have any spare parts.

“Rick, lets go tomorrow” Lisa said at Dinner.

“OK, do we know what food we want to drop off?

“We have several choices – why not the grocery trailer closest to the town?”

“OK, we’ll go tomorrow. Dave, how are we fixed for comm?

“I thought I would be able to at least use the antenna mounts on the LAV” Dave said. “But, it seems that they are 24 volt positive ground electrical systems”.

“Eww” Rick said, memories of fighting with British car electrical systems with positive ground going through his mind. “That won’t work with our radios. What can you do?”

“I guess, just put a couple of 12v batteries inside, and attach the radio to it. We’ll have to rig antennas that are electrically isolated from the chassis, and keep the radios isolated as well. I’m using some PVC pipe for the antenna mast, and Rubbermaid boxes for the batteries and radios.

“Because of the electrical system, I haven’t been able to rig any kind of intercom system. I guess we can use our ISR radios” he finished.

“OK, with earphones, I guess” Rick said. “We should probably wear hearing protection, too. Otherwise we may not be able to hear the radio”.

“Too bad we can’t find a Marine Corps unit that uses these – we could get the intercom units, radios, crew helmets, the works” George said.

“You know, I have something that might help” Rick said. “I didn’t think of it until just now. You know how I collected flight helmets?” They all nodded, they were aware of Rick’s collection – there were samples on display heads all over the house.

“I have some stuff I bought from the government, they weren’t flight helmets so I didn’t much care about them. But, they’ll help. They’re navy “cranials”, the bump hats that have hearing protection. A couple have earphones and mics”.

“I might be able to modify them” Dave said.

“After we get back” Lisa said.

“What she said” Rick said, knowing that Lisa was determined to take those people food.

“OK, tomorrow we’ll take the LAV on its lowboy and pick up the food truck. It’s about five miles from the off ramp so we’ll just unload the lowboy there. George will be the commander of the LAV, and Carlos will drive it. I’ll drive the truck, with Lisa. The LAV will go first, and once George makes certain that it’s safe he’ll call us. I’ll have a 2-meter handheld too, in case the ISR’s don’t quite reach us.”

“When called, I’ll pull up and if I can, back the trailer in to the roadblock. Then, I’ll unhitch the trailer and pull out, and wait for George”.

“Why pull the tractor out?” Linda asked.

“I don’t want anyone to be able to steal the trailer from them. Taking the tractor is better than shooting the engine out. If they ask, we’ll tell them we need the tractor”.

“Then what?” George asked.

“Tell Henry that the food is his. Try and get him to come out – if there is anything weird going on, though, don’t call us in. And, of course, if anyone shoots at you, you button up and return fire with the M240 coax. Did anyone get some ammo for it?”

“We have a full load” George said. “I wonder where we might find some 25mm for the chain gun?”

“It’s the same gun, so same ammo, as on a Bradley. I don’t know where, though” Rick said. “I wonder where the Arizona National Guard had their ASP?”

“ASP?” George asked.

“Ammunition Supply Point. There should be one around somewhere in the state, maybe up near Flagstaff – that’s where the Guard had it’s headquarters, and a training base. Anyway, something to put on the list”.

“Rick, why are you going?” Linda asked. “Shouldn’t you stay here”?

“I think I should be OK with the LAV there. I don’t know how to drive it so I can’t do that, and George has the relationship with Henry. I want to be nearby, in case someone else besides Henry is there. And, who knows, they may need a doctor. BTW, if they need a doctor, they bring the person out to me – I’m not going past the LAV”.

“That’s right, you’re not” George said. He’d read the same sci-fi stories as Rick, and knew what happened to particularly valuable people.

Dave, why don’t you work on the intercom system? Rick suggested.

That night, everyone was excited but slept well.


Right after breakfast the next day, they set out. The LAV was on the road by 10 AM, and heading up the freeway at 25 mph with Rick in the grocery truck right behind. They were at the Munds Park off ramp soon enough, and Rick kept the truck on the freeway while George and Carlos took the LAV down to the roadblock.

A new head popped up. “Hi there. I’m George. Is Henry, Hank there?” He asked.

“Go away” the head said.

“Hey, I told Hank that I’d be back. Is he there?

“No. Go away”.

“Where is he?”

“Go away”.

“Look. I have a truck load of food for you guys, if you want it. I also want to know who’s in charge here”.

With the mention of food, the disembodied head moaned. George thought he heard someone on the other side of the roadblock.

“Who else is there?” he called out. He was getting horse shouting over the noise of the LAV.

Just then, an older person climbed up on the roadblock – a very scruffy looking, tattooed individual carrying a sawed-off shotgun. He also had what looked like a large-frame Smith and Wesson stuck into his greasy jeans.

“You just get out of that tank” the tattooed freak said, lowering the shotgun.

“What?” George asked, not believing that this guy was that much of a moron.

“I said, get your ass off that tank or I’ll shoot you!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want you to do that” George said. With that, he put his hand on the M240 machine gun at the commander’s cupola, and fired it. He started high since he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, and he could see nothing but empty in back of the roadblock. He walked the burst down, and at 25 meters or so the stream of bullets exploded the vacuum filled orb that was the morons head.

With that, a couple of other bad guys popped up and started shooting at the LAV. A quick jerk of his wrists and both were dead. “Roll forward” he said into his radio, and Carlos drove into the roadblock.

The LAV was no match and the roadblock disintegrated. George had ducked down and closed the cupola hatch so he was looking out the vision blocks. He heard Rick on the radio, asking excitedly for a status check.

“Fidel, Sarge standby” was all he said. With only the two of them, he could be in the Cupola or the gunners’ position, which would at least give him some protection while he returned fire with the coaxial machine gun.

“Carlos, turn around” he said. He saw they were well past the roadblock and almost into the residential area. Carlos slowed the LAV and then turned it around. George decided the cupola would be a good place to be so he opened it back up.
“OK, go forward, slowly” George told Carlos. The LAV lurched forward. Looking around, George saw one more person with a handgun, pointing it “gangsta” style. Turning the machine gun towards him he “drew down” on him and fired.

“OK, stop” George told Carlos. “Fidel, this is Sarge, OVER”

“What happened?” Rick asked.

“It looks like there were three or four bad guys here”

“Were?”

“That’s what it looks like. We’re going to drive around a bit and see what we can see”.

“Be careful”

‘The bad guys are the ones that need to be careful’ he thought. “Carlos, lets go back to the roadblock”.

At the roadblock, they saw the bodies of the shooters, and two teenaged boys huddled over, crying. George tried to get their attention but over the noise of the LAV wasn’t getting anywhere. “Carlos, kill the engine” he said.

The quiet was almost deafening. The exhaust noise was reverberating off the canyon walls. George tried calling one more time and then reached down into the cupola and removed a little compressed air boat horn that he had found in the workshop. They had probably gathered it up during one of their scavenging trips, but now it would come in handy. He gave a quick toot with it, and the noise finally got the attention of the two boys.

“Are there any more bad people?” George asked.

Looking around, the boy who had been talking said “Phil was back there” he said, pointing behind him.

“Just one more?” George asked. Phil must have been the gangsta fool.

“Y..y…yeah” the boy got out.

“I don’t think he’s going to be a problem, now” George said. “Now, can you tell me your name?”

“Bob. Bob Rogers” he said. “This is Karl” he said, pointing to the younger boy next to him.

“How many of there are you? George asked.

“I don’t know anymore” Bob said. “They kept hurting us all”.

“How old are you, Bob?”

“I’m 14. Karl here is 12”.

“Are you all young?”

“I guess so”

“OK, Bob – are there any adults here?”

“No, they killed them all” he said, breaking down into tears, again.

With that, George had to do something. He climbed out of the cupola and went to Bob, and held him. When Bob stopped crying, he said

“Bob, you need to do something for me. Go get everyone, and have them come here. Tell them we’re here to help”.

“I don’t know if I can” Bob said. “Some are hurt really bad”.

“We have a doctor” George said. “We’ll help. Get everyone you can”. Bob went off to get the others and George climbed back onto the LAV. Grabbing the microphone, he told Rick to back up to the roadblock and wait.

“Carlos, stay here” he said. Grabbing his M1A and MP5, he walked over to the three dead goblins. Aside from being filthy, they didn’t look good – bad teeth, skin abscesses and needle tracks, and even lice, George could see, as the lice crawled off the cooling body. He put on a pair of gloves and carefully searched the bodies.

All he found was some pot, and the weapons. He scattered the pot into the wind and looked at the weapons. Two badly cut down shot guns, a Glock 22 with four rounds left in the magazine (‘looks like police issue’ George though) and each had a knife or two. He unloaded then set the shotguns and Glock on the LAV hull.

George saw Rick backing the grocery truck down and decided to walk to the last dead guy. When he got there he saw another badly cut down shotgun, an old Ithaca Deerslayer riot gun with a Coconino County seal on it, and the revolver – a Taurus knock off of a Smith 629, with a four inch barrel. George emptied the cylinder and then tried the trigger – ‘ugh, he thought. Like a bastard file over a red brick’. Patting the goblin down he also found a Glock 23 with a full magazine, and what looked like a dime bag of meth. He disposed of the meth the same way he did the pot – no reason to keep the evidence.

George saw a group of young people walking up towards the roadblock. Several of the kids were being helped by others. George reached for his ISR radio and called “Fidel – you should get your doctor bag out”. George went and helped the largest of the hurt kids, who turned out to be Hank. Hank had been badly beaten.

“Hank, who did this to you?” George asked.

“La…Lamar did” he gasped out.

George walked up to the roadblock carrying Hank, tears running down his face.



When Rick saw the survivors, he couldn’t believe his eyes. All young kids, all filthy, and looking like refugees from some battle in Bosnia. Lisa was even more shocked. They jumped out of the truck with Rick’s medical bag and ran towards the LAV.

“George, what happened” he asked.

“I don’t know, exactly. We need to help these kids out”.

“We will. Set him down here”. Rick reached into his bag and pulled out a stethoscope, and gloves. “George, check out that kid there” he said, pointing to another similarly hurt kid. Carlos climbed out of the LAV and George said “Carlos, stay on the -240 and give us cover”.

Rick checked on George, who was able to put his emotions in check and began checking their second, critical patient out. Lisa jumped into the work too, and after putting on a pair of gloves gathered the other kids around and started talking to them, and carefully checking them out.

Rick was concerned about Henry. He’d been beaten up very, very badly. His vitals were poor, with a rigid belly – possibly due to internal bleeding. He decided to start an IV, and thinking about it, reached into his bag and pulled out a 500 ml bag of Ringers Lactate and also a 30 ml vial of 23% hypertonic saline. He injected the hypertonic saline into the Ringers and shook it to mix. Then, he hooked the tubing to the bag and started an IV with a large catheter into Hank’s arm.

“George, how are you doing?” he asked.

“I think OK” was the response.

Rick had his hands full with Henry. He squeezed the IV fluids in and hoped the hypertonic solution would stay in his vascular space longer than plain fluids would. He propped his legs up, and checked him for other injuries. “Shit” he said, feeling crepitus in the boys arm. Rick got a SAM splint from his bag and splinted the arm quickly.

George came over and asked “Need any help?”

“We’re going to” Rick said. “How’s that boy doing?”

“OK for now. He’s going to need a lot of care, he’s got burns all over his back, legs, buttocks, a few small full thickness, mostly partial. I’ve got the worst ones bandaged. They look like cigarette burns”.

“Bastards” Rick said under his breath. “A-holes”.

Lisa came over and said that all the kids had injuries of one kind or another. All the girls and some of the boys had been raped, burned, and beaten. They were all malnourished.

“Anyone in particularly bad shape? Rick asked.

“They aren’t going to die right now” was the answer he got.

“Lisa, ask the kids if there are any others missing, that we have to go find”. Rick gave the other kids a quick look-over, and didn’t like what he saw there, either.

“George, when we leave I think I’ll ride in the LAV with Hank on the troop seat. Carlos can drive it. Lisa will have to manage the semi, and we’ll crowd as many of the kids into the back as we can”.

“And what about me?” George asked.

“Back in the cupola. You’re our cover”.

“Why put the kids in the back of the semi?”

“We need to keep them isolated, they are pretty well infested with louse and some of them have what I think is typhus. We need to get them cleaned off and I don’t want the lice to infect Lisa or us, so we’re not going to let them”.

“Typhus?” Is that communicable?

“Only by fleas or lice. Rats get the fleas and spread it. Did you see that rash that most of the kids have?”

“Yeah. I was carrying Henry”

“Well, the first thing we do is clean them off and get them some clean clothes. You too. We’ll feed them, and hopefully a course of tetracycline…er, since they’re kids doxycycline, will fix them up. I could give them chloramphenicol but that’s pretty risky.

“What's the deal with tetracycline”?

“It will cause discoloration of kids teeth, if they’re still forming. Either will work about the same”.

Lisa came up and said “The kids all say that this is all of them left”, as she gave a little sob.

Rick went and hugged his wife. George briefed Carlos on the plan as Rick helped her calm down.

“How are they going to do? Lisa asked.

“Hank is in bad shape” Rick said. “He was badly beaten a couple of days ago and hasn’t gotten any care. He’s got a rigid bowel and a broken arm, and that’s just the obvious injuries. The one George was working on has been burned. They’ve all been abused, physically and probably sexually, they’re all malnourished as you said, and I think they have typhus.

“We’ll have to get them cleaned up, then” Lisa said, getting back on the issue at hand. “Clean clothes, good food”.

“Right. Lets get started” Rick said and walked over to the kids.

“Kids, my name is Rick. I’m a doctor. This is my wife, Lisa. You’re going to come with us, and we’ll take care of you”.

“We won’t let anyone hurt you” Lisa said. “We’re going to get you some food, and warm clothes”. The kids looked at them both with blank stares.

Paradise Chapter 13

“Lets get them loaded” Lisa said. “Kids, you’re going to ride in the back of the truck here. Rick is going to look after Henry, OK?”

She got no response from any of the kids. “OK, small kids, first”. She picked up the littlest and with Rick’s help got them into the back of the truck. “OK, who’s next?” she asked, trying to make it a game. Finally, she told Bob that he had an important job to do.
“What?” He asked.

“Bob, I don’t want to close both of these doors – it will be very dark in the truck if I do. I’ll leave one open, but that means that it will be easy for people to fall out. So, I’m going to put you in charge for now, and you have to keep everyone away from the door, OK”

“I’ll try” Bob said, earnestly.

“Kids, Bob is in charge here. You have to listen to him, and stay away from the back of the trailer so you don’t fall out, OK? Oh, and there’s a box of cookies if anyone is hungry – but just one box”.

“Bob, make sure you all only eat the one box of cookies. I don’t want you to get sick”.

“I’ll make sure, Lisa”.

While Lisa was getting the kids into the back of the trailer, George and Rick carefully picked up Hank and carried him to the LAV. With Carlos’ help, they got him in the troop door in the back, and laid him on the floor. George went and retrieved Rick’s medical bag and handed it to him, as Rick checked Hanks vital signs again. Rick switched the nearly empty IV bag out and said “OK, let’s go”. George closed the troop door and climbed into the cupola while Carlos returned to the drivers seat.

Lisa climbed into the tractor and after checking with George, slowly drove away. She pulled onto the freeway and they headed home. George stopped them when they got to the point opposite the transporter, and told Lisa to stop, too. “Rick, what about the transporter?” he asked.

“Lets cross over and load up. I don’t want to leave the transporter here”.

Carlos drove across the center median and carefully maneuvered the LAV onto the lowboy. He and George made quick work of chaining the LAV down, and then they drove the lowboy to the nearest cross over and back onto the opposite side, and when they rejoined Lisa and the kids, they drove to their offramp and to the homestead.

When they got to the homestead, they had a welcoming party. Lisa had called ahead and explained what was going on, and there was hot chocolate waiting for everyone. Lisa had explained that the kids had to be bathed and given new clothes before they could go into the house, and Dave had decided to use that as an excuse to fire up the woodstove in the work shop, and cleared a path to Rick and Lisas trailer. He then lit both the propane space heater, and the water heater. Linda had retrieved extra towels, soap and shampoo and the twins found what extra, small clothes they had.

Lisa stopped the truck on the main road, and George pulled the lowboy in behind her. He climbed out, off the top of the LAV and opened the troop door. “Rick, what's wrong?” he asked, knowing the answer.

“Hank is dead” Rick said, holding his head in his hands. “I couldn’t do anything for him”.

George was in anguish. “It’s my fault” he cried.

Rick looked up. “What?”

“It’s my fault. I should have done something when we first went to Munds Park. I knew there was something wrong there, I could have saved him”.

Rick sighed deeply. “George, he was my patient. I couldn’t save him, I doubt that we could have even if I had a complete hospital. You didn’t beat him”.

They left Hank in the LAV, and slowly walked up the drive to the house, following the kids.


They walked to the house and were almost overwhelmed with activity. Linda and Dave had taken charge of the kids, and had them in the work shop. When Dave saw Rick he said “I thought you had one more….” before he realized what their being there meant. “Sorry” he said, quietly.

Swallowing, he said “I thought we could let the kids stay in here, and shower in the trailer. We have hot chocolate, and we’re trying to find clothes for the kids. Rick, if you want to examine the kids you can do it either before, or after they shower”.

Rick looked at Dave. For a minute he didn’t say anything. Finally, he stood up straighter, and said “Good plan, Dave. Thanks. Very good idea about the trailer”. He gave his friend George a pat on his back and said “I’m sorry, George”.

George said “I’ll take care of Henry, Rick. You take care of the living”. George went off and found a body bag folded up on a shelf with medical supplies. He walked slowly out.

“Dave, if you could find a box of exam gloves for me, and a box of tongue depressors, I’ll give each kid a quick check before we clean them off, to make sure they’re not badly hurt. I guess Linda and Lisa can help the kids in the shower. After they shower, I’ll conduct a thorough examination, OK?”

“Sure, Rick”

Checking the kids and getting them cleaned up took several hours. Examining children was always difficult for Rick; he had built a wall around kids as patients when he had a young girl as a patient when he was a Resident. She had been tortured and abused sexually and Rick occasionally had nightmares about her. Rick made certain to have a woman in the trailer when checking the girls out, to help and make certain the girls were as comfortable as possible.

It was dark when Bob, the oldest surviving former citizen of Munds Park, stepped out of the shower and Rick checked him out. “OK, Bob” he said, finishing. “You should be OK, but we’ll have some antibiotics for you and the other kids to take for a week or so. Why don’t you get dressed?”

Bob started to dress as Rick cleaned up the trailer. Lisa knocked on the trailer, mindful of the privacy needs of patients – especially young boys. “Can I come in?” she asked.

Rick made sure that Bob was ‘decent’ and said “Come in”. He wanted to maintain the idea of a doctors office, for Bob.

Lisa came in with a cup of coffee for Rick, and a cup of chocolate for Bob. “Here, I thought you guys might like this” she said, setting the insulated mugs down on the counter. “If this is a good time, I thought I’d let you know how the others are”.

“OK” Rick said. “I’m sure Bob wants to know how his friends are, and so do I”.

“We’ve been able to find clothes for everyone, although in some cases they don’t fit well. Shoes are a problem too, but we’re planning a shopping trip tomorrow to take care of that” she said, giving Rick a knowing look. “We’ve started all the kids on the doxycycline and Angela made some soup and bread for them. We’ve fed them, and found places for them to sleep – doubled up in the loft, on cots in the basement, and the living room couches.”

“Thanks, Sweetie” Rick said, feeling fatigue wash over him. “What time is it?” he asked, then looked at his watch. “10 PM” he said, answering his own question.

“Yeah, it’s pretty late” Lisa said. “George came in a few hours ago, but he’s not saying much”. Anyway, if you’re done here, why don’t we go inside and we can have some soup?”

“I need to talk to George” Rick said.

“You may want to wait” Lisa said. “He’s pretty upset”. Bob slipped into a pair of shoes way too large for him and after Rick set the thermostat down to 60 and turned the lights off, they walked into the house.

“George, can I talk to you?” Rick said. “Plus, we both should get showered, ourselves”. George slowly stood and walked out onto the deck with Rick.

“This sucks, doesn’t it?” Rick said. “I’m really sorry, George. I wish I could have saved Hank”.

“I feel so responsible” George said.

“Don’t” Rick said. “Hank was being abused, for weeks. He had bruises over his entire body, some almost totally healed, some fresh, some in between. He had one large bruise on his abdomen that looked like it was a week or more old. It looked like it might have been a kick with a large boot. It was over his liver, and he was jaundiced –that might have been the blow that killed him.

And, we rescued the others…you know, I still don’t know how many there are…we rescued a bunch of other kids from being tortured and beaten to death”.

“Rick, we should have done something more”.

“I know. But, we did what we could. Next time maybe we can do better” Rick said. They both stood there quietly for a moment.

“I wrapped Hank up” George said, finally. “I saw what had been done to him….”

“I know, George. Fortunately the other kids haven’t been tortured that badly. They’ve all been abused”. With that, George started sobbing. Rick held his friend and let him deal with it.

Finally, they both went inside and took their LBV and cold clothes off. They set them outside on the deck, hopefully the cold would kill the vermin on them. They went off and they each showered and slept.


The next morning, Rick woke up and checked the time. 9 AM, he saw as he sat up with a bolt. He staggered to the bathroom and then dressed. He went out into the house and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Morning, my Love” Lisa said.

“Morning, Sweetie” Rick said. “I guess I overslept”.

“No, not really. You and George didn’t come in from the deck until almost 2 AM”.

“Oh. I had no idea it was that late. Where is George?”

“He came out an hour ago. He said he had to take care of Hank.”

“I better go see him. Was he OK?”

“I think so, he seemed better than yesterday”

Rick dressed in some spare cold weather clothes and went outside. He saw George working in the work shop so he walked over. He saw that George was working on a casket. “Morning, George” he said.

“Hi, Rick. I thought I’d build this. Where can we bury him?”

“Where would you like to?” Rick said.

“There is a nice little clearing below the rifle range. I think that will be nice”.

“OK, need any help digging the grave?”

“Carlos said he’d use the backhoe and help” George said.

“I’m sorry”

“I know. So am I” George said. Rick walked back to the house, hoping his friend would be OK.

“Breakfast?” Lisa asked.

“Thanks. Where is everyone?”

“Mostly still asleep, at least the kids. Dave and Linda are out on the snowmobiles checking the perimeter. You saw George. Carlos is outside somewhere. Angela is keeping an eye on the kids down in the basement. Oh, and the twins are out skiing somewhere”.

“What are we going to do now?” Rick asked.

“Well, first thing, I guess we take the kids to town and find them clothes” Lisa said. “They need everything, including underwear, shoes, socks…. Then, we need to figure out where to put them. We can keep them here for awhile but it’s pretty crowded. We don’t need to decide right now, though”.

“I guess not. I want to keep them nearby for awhile, anyway, to keep an eye on them. How many are there? I never found out”.

“We have six boys, including Bob, and seven girls. The oldest girl is Carol, she’s eleven. The youngest are seven, both a boy and a girl. None are related to another. They all lived in Munds Park with their families, and they’re the only ones left”.

“What does thirteen kids do to our food situation?”

“We’re OK. We’ve got several years worth of food already, and we’ve identified more trucks. We have a storage problem, again”.

“We’re going to have to get clothes for them all to grow into, also” Rick said. “We can’t rely on the town being there. And, lets get some toys and games, especially for the younger ones”.

“At some point we will need to figure out some sort of educational program for them, too” Lisa said.

“Ugh. You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that. I guess I hadn’t thought that far in advance. Do the younger kids know how to read at all?”

“I don’t know. At seven, that’s like first grade? They should have some skill, I guess”.

“We should go to one of the schools in town, and see if we can find some educational materials – none of that “whole language” nonsense, though. Phonics. We’ll help them all read better”.

“OK, but what about the other subjects?”

“Once they all read, we can teach them everything else. We should probably get some books from the library – history, geography, some of the physical sciences. They can learn math, life sciences, writing skills, and the like from us”.

Scribbling on her PDA, Lisa was making another list. “When do we go to town?”

“We have too many to take at once. Do you want to take the girls and boys separately? Or the older vs. the younger kids?”

“I think all of the above” Lisa said. “We’re going to have to try some clothes on, especially the smaller kids. Why don’t we get the boys set up, then they can keep busy helping you out with getting books and the other things we need while we ladies take care of the girls”.

“That’s as good an idea as any, I guess” Rick said. Just then, Carlos came in.
“Morning, Rick” he said.

“Morning, Carlos. George said that ….”

“Yeah, I’ve just finished. George is making a marker now”.

“Oh. OK” Lisa said, understanding what was going on. “Rick, we’ve been very open about everything. You’ve been great about including everyone in discussions and decisions. I think we need to change that a little, with the kids here now”.

“I suppose so” Rick said.

“Rick, what are we going to do with all of them?” Carlos asked.

“I don’t know yet”

“Well, Angela and I discussed it last night. We can get our house fixed up, and we could take some of them”.

“That may be the best solution, Carlos. Until, of course, we maybe find some of their families for them”.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon”

“No, I don’t think so either” Rick said, drinking his coffee. “OK, after we get the kids some clothes we’ll move getting your house fixed up higher on the priority list. We also need to get more people trained in driving the LAV’s, I suppose we can put one at your house, too. Lisa says we have a storage problem again, too”.

“There’s another lowboy trailer at the city yard” Carlos said. “We can get that for the LAV. We’ve got all that fuel over at my house, we should find another place for it, a safer one”.

“And, we should separate it, too” Rick said. “We don’t want one to get hit and blow up, taking the rest with them”.

“You know, there’s an old homestead off the main road” Carlos said. “The land was sold to the forest service years ago and the house destroyed. The foundations are there, that’s about all – but, if the area is grown over the trees won’t be too large. We could clear it and store the fuel there”.

“Oh, OK. That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can make some berms around the trailers, too”.

“If we can get a bigger bulldozer going, it shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe George will go with me and we can check the area out”.
With that, Angela came upstairs with a brood of kids. “They’re waking up, so I thought I’d get them some breakfast” she said.

“Good idea – something light, and make sure they all take some B-vitamins” Rick said. With that, the seven year old girl, who’s name was “Amy” she told Rick seriously the night before, climbed on his lap and hugged him. Rick hugged her back, not noticing the tears in Lisa’s eyes because of those in his.

Angela busied herself in the kitchen, and Lisa went to help her. Holding Amy, Rick said “Carlos, we’re going to need some livestock here, pretty soon. We should get some chickens for eggs, and a milking cow or two. Any ideas where we may find them?”

“Down south would be my first guess, Rick. My guess is that up this high, they all died in the snow and cold. We also need to find feed for them. We’ll need a chicken coop, and a barn for the cows. And a pen”.

“A pen?” George asked, coming in on the end of Carlos’ statement.

“For some cows Rick was saying we should get” Carlos explained.

“Rick, your work shop was a barn at one time, wasn’t it? George said.

“Yeah, but it’s got so much stuff in it. Where will we put it all?

“We can always get some more trailers” George said. “If we get too many more, though, I think we should move them around, rotate them 90-degrees, and have two rows of them opening onto the platform in the center.”

“I guess that would work” Rick said. “Not very pretty, but it would work”.

“Well, we could also move them out completely, and put that steel building up” George said.

“Have you figured out how too?” Rick asked.

“I think so. We’d have to pour a concrete pad, with reinforcement. We can get the concrete and rebar in town, there was a building that was being built that had a lot of rebar sitting outside. Then we weld the steel frame together, put in whatever wiring and plumbing we want, and put the skins on. We should probably put some insulation in, too”.

“Do you think we could do it, really?” Rick asked

“I think so. It will probably take quite a long time, though. I can weld, after a fashion but we’d have to find a welding truck with the generator, and supplies. I think that might be a good project for maybe NEXT summer. In the mean time, we can move the trailers around and add some more”.

“OK, let’s think about that. We should also continue checking out the neighborhood towns, but differently than we have been. We can continue to collect food from the trucks on the freeway. Carlos gave me an idea – in addition to using that old homestead, why don’t we clear some land right across the main road, and park the trailers there?

“We could do that. I was thinking of putting a rifle range in there” George said. “I was checking it out, and it’s pretty flat – we can cut the trees down in a firing lane out to a thousand meters or more, and then put a berm in.”

“OK, but why across the road?”

“Noise, mostly. That Barrett of yours is kind of loud. So are the machine guns – which reminds me, do we want to start teaching the older kids about guns?”

“Carlos, it looks like that bulldozer is going to be busy” Rick said with a chuckle. “First though, we’re going shopping for clothes and books. And maybe a bus” thinking of how to move thirteen kids plus the rest of them. “Good idea on kids” he said to George. “Maybe get the twins to help?”


Lisa and Angela had breakfast for the kids, and served them. “We should get some more plates and flatware” Lisa said. “We don’t have enough now”.

“Add it to the list” Rick said. “Carlos, George, lets go into town and look for a bus to haul the group around in. We can see if we can get that big bulldozer going, too”.

The men busied themselves getting ready. As they were leaving, the twins skied into sight, silently. ‘They are kind of scary’ Rick thought. ‘That new range should help them out, and I could use some practice’. The twins, it seems, had been out beyond the one mile radius, just to see what was there.

“We only went on this side of the road” Anne said.

“We were out about three miles, though” Catherine said.

“Wow” Rick said, quickly calculating the distance. “You skied more than nine miles?”

“The GPS says we went 11.4” Anne said with a look at her GPS.

“When did you guys leave?”

“Oh, about two and a half hours ago” Catherine said.

“Pretty good time” Rick said.

The guys took the flatbed truck, and their “starting” tools, into town. They weren’t able to get the bulldozer in the city yard started, to their disappointment. “More work for the tractor, then” Rick said. “lets go to that construction site that has the rebar and concrete” he said.

George led them to the site. On the way there they passed a smaller bulldozer sitting on a lot. “Maybe that one will work” he said, as they stopped. With a shot of ether and jumping the battery, they finally got it to work. “You know, this might even be better” George said. “That other one was just way too big, this will be easier to get into the trees”.

They left George to drive the ‘dozer back to the city yard, and drove over to one of the car dealers in town. They found a fifteen passenger van, and got it started without too much trouble. Carlos took the flatbed back to the city yard to pick up George, and Rick drove the van home.


That afternoon, they buried Hank. ‘Please, GOD, please let Hank be the only one Rick prayed. Tears were streaming down everyone’s faces.


The next few days were busy, with several trips to town in the new van hauling kids to get clothes. While they were doing that, Carlos and George got the bulldozer over to the house and started on the storage area and firing range.

“What are we going to do with them?” Carlos asked, when they saw the wreckage of the pickup truck with the two thieves they first found.

“Get the skiploader, and dig a hole” George said. We’ll push the truck into it, and then pack dirt over it. That will support the road into the range”.

“Sounds like a good idea” Carlos said, and walked back to the house to get the equipment. He also brought down both chainsaws and equipment; they were going to be cutting trees before too long.

That night, at the “adult” dinner service (they decided they needed to eat in shifts, so the kids went first) they relayed their progress. “We’re cutting the trees down now, the range will be about fifty meters wide and maybe fourteen hundred meters long so we have a lot of wood there. We should cut it to length and probably split it, but we’re going to have to move it out of the way. Then, we can use the bulldozer to clear the way and push the dirt into a berm at the far end”.

“OK. Lisa, how’s shopping going?”

“We’re almost all done. We need to take the young girls into town and get a few more things”.

“Do you think the older kids could help with some of the work”?

“I think it would be good for them – I was worried about them sitting around brooding. We have toys and games for the younger kids but the older ones wouldn’t be interested”.

“George, you know what to do”.

The next day, Bob and Karl were out helping. George and Carlos cut the trees down, trimmed the limbs off, and then cut them down to length for the fireplace and woodstove. The two new helpers were checked out on the log splitter and supervised, at first anyway, by one of the twins. The other twin had the flatbed truck and flatbed trailer. As the logs were split and the trailer filled, they would move the wood up to the woodpile.

It took them more than a week to get the trees cut down, and another week to get them all trimmed and hauled. They were left with a huge brush pile and a lot of stumps. The snow slowly continued to melt, but the weather warmed only slightly. While the “range complex” as George had dubbed it continued on, with help from whoever was available, continued, more trips were made to find trucks on the freeway.

After the work that went into cutting the trees into firewood, the grading was almost anticlimactic. It took three days, altogether, but they had a more or less flat area with a very large berm at the end. They decided to celebrate the work by having a picnic at the complex. That morning, Rick was surprised to see that it was the fifteenth of May, and the daytime high actually got above freezing for the first time since the night the missiles flew.

George had outdone himself on the range. There was a shooting area that he had excavated, then filled with gravel and sand from the city yard. There were target holders at appropriate distances out to twelve hundred meters, and he and Carlos had “acquired” two more ATV’s to keep at the range, so people could get to the distant targets quickly. He had also graded an area closest to the road for storage of more trailers and set them up door to door, with a platform between them. In addition to dried and canned foods, they had another refrigerated trailer filled with frozen meats, and a trailer they had equipped with shelves, holding a variety of items – clothes, shoes, and all the miscellaneous things they found.

The next day, they pushed all the brush into the cleared lanes of the range and then doused the brush with some gasoline. Making sure that everyone was well back, Rick tossed a lighted torch into the pile to burn it off. After it burned off, George spread the ash out and plowed it in.

“George, why don’t you and Carlos and me go check his house out” Rick said that night. “Maybe we can get the pipes fixed up without too much damage”. The next day they did. With fuel, Carlos was able to pump water from his well, and keep the house warm. The pipes had long since melted, and so they were able to find the leaks without too much trouble. They could hear two of them out loud, and then checking the walls with stethoscopes and by making a few careful holes, found three more small ones. They had the pipes fixed the next day, and even patched the walls and painted the house.

Dave had been busy with his electronic projects. He had found the necessary parts to install solar systems, a large one at Carlos house, and a small one at the “range complex”. At the range he just mounted four panels on the roof of one of the trailers, but that allowed them to have a battery bank to provide electric lights. For Carlos, he scavenged a tracker for the panels and set up a solar array that was almost as large as the one at Rick’s. It took him a few trips back and forth to Ricks to see how his was installed, but finally got everything wired up correctly.

In addition to the solar system, Dave had provided Carlos several radios and antennas. He even found an HF radio at one of the hams homes. And, taking the ATV and a lot of wire he found at the phone company, he was able to lay a phone wire on the ground between the two homes. “It’s not going to last long” he said, “But until I can find direct-burial cable and we dig a trench, it will do”.

They had a house warming and helped Carlos and Angela to move back in with Daniel. They also took about half the kids with them, and picked up some more beds in town. They had quite a bit of food and fuel, and also got some weapons and ammunition, and one of the LAV’s. On the first of June, the weather warmed up to forty degrees, and everyone was walking around in shirtsleeves. There was still snow on the ground, but there was a lot of bare ground too. Carlos took the opportunity to go over the snowmobiles, replace the plugs, change the oil and filters and do the usual sort of maintenance. The ATV got his “silent muffler” treatment, and it became the primary way for their daily patrol around the homestead.

With two houses, they decided to meet at least once a week for dinner. Their first Sunday dinner was at Rick and Lisa’s house. The kids were fed and were off watching a DVD as the adults had dinner and discussed their plans.

“We should go check out Prescott” Lisa said. “Hopefully, it will turn out better.

“First, we should probably go to Cottonwood. It’s closer, and it’s also lower in elevation. We may be able to get some livestock there” Carlos said. “I’ve got a barn we can keep them in, and frankly, the skills needed”.

“You got me there” Rick said. “We’d have to take the freeway to the back road, though, to Cottonwood”. They had found during one of their survey trips that highway 89A was blocked by a huge landslide when the hillside above had given way. “We should take a LAV on a lowboy and get close, then go in. The LAV, this time though, will have more people.”

“How will we get the livestock? Dave asked.

“We can pay for it if they want. Or, we can trade for it. We have a LOT of fuel, close to one hundred thousand gallons of diesel or jet fuel, about half stabilized, and about half that of gasoline – again half of it stabilized. We should try and find some more Pri-D and –G, too”.

“We can also offer them food, clothes, shoes, that sort of stuff” Lisa said.

“Not weapons or ammo, though” George said. “We should be absolutely firm on that – we’ll go in with our rifles, MP-5’s, and handguns, the LAV will be fully loaded, the works. And we all bring it home. We don’t want to give anyone any weapon to use against us”.

The planning went on all night. They finally decided that they would go the next Friday. Rick, Lisa, George, Carlos and the twins would go, Angela and Linda would watch the kids and Dave would watch the parked vehicles and talk to them on the radio. “What about the big kids?” Anne asked.

“Not this time” Rick said. “By the way, George – how’s the shooting instruction going?”

“Pretty good. Bob and Karl are coming right along. The younger ones are learning how to handle guns safely. I’m making it a kind of a game for them” he answered.

“Good. By the way, we should probably get some sort of BOB for them, too”.

“We can get those going” Linda said.


While they waited for Friday, Carlos and George built the storage area for the flammable fuels. They found the homestead and drive that went to it, and it was somewhat overgrown with young trees. They did a few measurements, and then got the bulldozer going. They were able to push the trees over and level the area out. They used the trees as part of the berm they built around the perimeter of the area and after finding a piece of culvert pipe they built a good drive into the area. Finally on Thursday, a number of trips with tractors moved the fuel from Carlos’ House. As they drove off that night, they were pleased – with the trees and berm the fuel tanks were barely visible.

The next morning they loaded up. Carlos, George and Anne went with the LAV as the crew, and Rick, Lisa, Dave and Catherine went in Lisa’s Excursion. They drove to Interstate 17 and turned south, and finally turned onto Cornville Road. They had debated taking the easier state highway 260 but decided that a smaller road would be safer.

They approached Cornville, and didn’t see anyone or any sign of life. The homes were dark, and there were a few homes that had their roofs collapse. Several were burned out, with the warmer days the smell of burned wood was still detectable. They decided to switch over to the LAV and found a place they could more or less hide the lowboy and Excursion. Dave took an M240 and two cans of ammo and found a good place to guard the vehicles. Rick wished they had enough people that they could have left more than one.

In the LAV, Rick put on a helmet that had communications. Dave had been able to build an intercom system and modify the ‘cranial’ helmets. They bounced along and came to a roadblock outside of Cottonwood. Carlos had been listening to George’s lessons on tactics, he pulled the LAV across the road at an angle so the troop door was blocked by the rest of the hull from the roadblock.

This roadblock had people there. “Hello!” George said, from the commanders cupola, his machine gun pointed into the sky and the turret slewed around to the side. “How are you guys?”

“Who are you?” one of the men said. “We’re from out east of here” George temporized.

“What do you want?” another asked.

“Well, we wanted to see who was left, get some information, and maybe get some livestock” George said.

“What kind of livestock?” guard number 1 asked.

“What have you got?” George asked, laughing. “Hey, you mind if we get out of this can?”

“How many are there of you?” guard 1 asked.

“Oh, there are eleven of us here, we’re full. We have some friends back aways” George lied – no point telling how vulnerable you were. “How about if only a few get out, like our leader”?

“Leader?” guard 2 spat. “OK, if you want. I suppose you want to talk to the mayor?”

“Sure, if you can ask him to come down” George said. “We’ll just have three people outside”.

With that, Rick opened the troop door and the three of them stepped out. Rick had his M1A at the ready, Lisa her FAL and Catherine the M25 with the scope. Of course, they all had their side arms and MP5’s. Lisa and Catherine moved to opposite sides of the LAV and Rick held his M1A in his left hand. Rick moved out and said “Hi, I’m Rick”. He walked out slowly, towards the roadblock.

“Come on ahead and we’ll take you to see the mayor” guard number 1 said.

“Oh, sorry, I can’t do that. Can the mayor come here? Or, maybe whoever can work a trade with me?”

“The mayor come here? No, I don’t think so” guard number 1 said. “You’ll have to go see him”.

“No, I’m not going in there, at least not without the rest of my people” Rick said. We can all come, I think the LAV can get by your roadblock. Or, why don’t you ask the mayor to come down here?”

With that, Rick stopped walking. He wasn’t too concerned about these two “guards” since he knew that the LAV could cover him. The guards were busy talking, heatedly.

“Hey, tell you what” Rick said. “If you guys are OK and don’t need anything, food, gasoline, medical or veterinary assistance, whatever, we’ll just go. We don’t want any trouble, like my friend said we’re just looking for some information, and maybe livestock.” He made a big deal of speaking into his radio and said “Base, this is unit four – Cottonwood doesn’t require any assistance, we’ll continue on mission”. Rick held his earphone a bit and then said into the radio “Roger, Out”. “Tell your mayor we were here, OK?”

“Who are you guys, the government?” Guard number 2 asked.

“You ever seen anyone with an armored vehicle like this besides the government, dipwad? George asked. Now, if you don’t need anything we can get back to our work”.

“No, no. Wait here, please, Sir” guard number 1 said. “Go get the mayor and tell him to get his ass down here” he said to guard number 2.

“Don’t call me Sir, jackass!” George said.

“Easy, Sarge” Rick said, trying not to laugh. Guard number 2 scurried off.

Rick and guard number 1 stood there for awhile. Finally, Rick said “So, how’re you guys doing?”

“Ah, Okay, I guess”.

“You have a lot of survivors?”

“No, most everyone died off. We’ve only got a thousand or so folks”.

“Too bad” Rick said, thinking they were doing a lot better than most did. “You fixed ok for supplies, gas, food?

“We don’t have much gas. Old Joe Herman has some horses, so we’ve been using them to haul stuff around. We don’t think we’re going to get much of a crop this year though”.

With that, Rick saw guard number 2 with a few other people coming up the road.
“So, you guys from the government?” one figure asked.

“Are you the mayor? Rick asked. “I’m Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dickson” Rick said holding out his hand.

“I’m the Mayor here, Bruce Hedrickson, Colonel Dickson” he said, not returning the handshake. “What brings the government here?”

“As I told your guard there, we’re out looking to see who survived, see how things are going, maybe see if we can trade for some livestock”.

“What sort of livestock do you want, Dickson?” Rick noted the rude tone.

“Well, Mayor, we’re looking for some beef and milk cattle, chickens, and maybe some hogs” Rick said. “We’re willing to pay, or trade”.

“How many of you are there?”

“Oh, we have quite a few. We don’t want to take all your food though, with times like this we understand that we might have to grow our stocks. We’d like to buy some feed, too of course” Rick said, deliberately saying both “take” and “buy” at the same time. ‘Keep them off balance’ Rick said to himself.

“Buy?” The mayor said. “Buy with what?”

“Why, we have US Dollar bills, of course” Rick said. “We understand that you may prefer something more tangible, so we have silver and gold coin, too. Or, if you prefer, we can barter. We have a stock of dried and canned food, and fuel too.”

Rick saw the mayor startle at the mention of fuel.

“Well, we could probably let you have some livestock” the mayor said. How much would you like?

“Well, we’d need feed for them too, of course. We’d be responsible for hauling it, naturally. I suppose that we’d be very happy with say a bull and two breedable cows, from different lines, of course, and maybe fifteen chickens and a rooster, and three or four hogs.” ‘Might as well ask for it all’ Rick thought. “We have a vet who would have to approve all the livestock, naturally”.

“Oh, naturally” the mayor said. “Now, what exactly do you have to trade for all of this livestock?”

“Well, it depends on the report I get from my Vet. We want both healthy animals and good feed. But, I might be willing to pay you three thousand dollars in greenbacks”.

“Greenbacks? No way, soldier-boy. I..”

“Mr. Mayor, I told you. My name is Dickson. And I’m Air Force”.

“Listen, you…” the mayor sputtered

“Dickson, Mr. Mayor. Lieutenant Colonel Dickson. Or, you can call me Rick. Not “you”. Now, do you want to sell livestock or not? Are you actually a legitimately elected representative, at all? Rick asked, finally. With that he saw the cronies glance at each other.

“Rick, we have movement behind us” he heard Lisa say in his earphone.

“Mr. Mayor” Rick said as he casually stretched and switched his M1A from one hand to the other, pushing the safety off as he did so. “My people in the vehicle tell me that there are some people trying to get behind us. If those are your people, you better call them off or we’ll kill them. Right after we kill you”.

“How dare you…” Rick heard the Mayor start, and then he heard a burst from one of the machine guns. Rick saw the people behind the roadblock dive down, so he decided to run to one side of the road, closer to the LAV.

The LAV roared to life, with George shooting behind them with the commanders machine gun, and Catherine was slewing the turret around and shooting the coaxial machine gun. Carlos had waited for Anne and Lisa to jump into the LAV and then he sped off to pick up Rick. He slowed down and Rick jumped in the troop door, and slammed it shut.

They heard several pings on the hull as they were shot at. Fortunately, nobody had anything that could do more than scratch the paint. Carlos took another turn around and bouncing off road, got behind the roadblock as George shot the people hiding there. Continuing on parallel to the road block, Carlos popped out the other side and headed for where he saw people shooting at them. When they saw the LAV coming at them they panicked and ran off with George shooting short bursts at them.

“OK, Stop” Rick said after he finally got his helmet on and could talk to them. Carlos stopped the LAV. “How many got away?” Rick asked.

“I don’t think any” George said. “I think we got them all”.

“OK. Get in touch with Dave and see how he’s doing.”
“I just talked to Dad, he’s OK” Catherine said.

“Good. Tell him we are too, and to keep an eye out. Lets head into town buttoned up, and see what the hell was going on in there.”

Carlos drove back to the roadblock and drove around it again. They drove up the road into Cottonwood. They saw people, who followed them, but didn’t see anyone hostile. Finally Carlos said “I’m about in the middle of town”.

“OK, stop then” Rick said. George, let me get up there”. They switched positions and Rick opened the commander’s hatch and stood up.

“Good Morning” he said in his best command voice. “I’m Lieutenant Colonel Rick Dickson. Is there anyone in charge here?”

The crowd murmured but nobody said anything. “Anybody at all?” Rick repeated. Finally, an older man was pushed forward. “Ah, yes. You, sir” Rick said.

The man started “Well, I used to be the Mayor. Names Tufts, Jay Tufts”.

“Yes, Mayor Tufts?” Rick said.

“No, I used to be the Mayor. I stepped down a few years ago”.

“OK, is there an elected Mayor, or representative here?” Rick said. “And who was that at the roadblock”?

“Jay, you go and talk to him” someone in the crowd shouted out. A number of other people shouted their approval at that idea.

“Well, Mr. Tufts, it looks like you’ve been elected, at least for right now” Rick said. “Would you care to climb up here?”

“Err, no, thank you, not quite as spry as I used to be” Tufts said. “Why don’t you come out here?”

“Well, I’d love to Mr. Tufts, but after the last reception we got, that may not be such a good idea” Rick said.

“Oh, those yahoos weren’t from around here” Tufts said, and then spit on the ground. “I hope you took care of them for us”.

“Who were they?”

“Just some thugs who came into town and sort of took over” They toadied up to the mayor, the real mayor, that is and he appointed that big fool, Bruce Hedrickson, as town Sheriff. Hedrickson and the mayor got into a fight one night and the mayor got shot. He said it was an accident, that mayor accidentally shot himself.” With that, there were some chuckles around the crowd. “So, Hedrickson appointed himself Mayor”.

“And what did the rest of you do about it?” Rick asked, looking around. “Well, you see….” Tufts trailed off.

“Yes, I think I see” Rick said. “None of you cared enough about your freedom to defend it.” Rick saw some ashamed looks in the crowd.

“Just a dag-gummed minute” Rick heard from the crowd. I aint no coward, Mister. A traitor neither”. With that the crowd parted and an elderly man in a wheel chair came rolling slowly forward. I tried to tell these slack jawed cowards but they like not having to worry about anything”.

“And who are you, Sir” Rick asked. He had already seen the enameled pin in the mans jacket – The Screaming Eagle design of the 101st Airborne.

The man struggled slowly to his feet. “My name is Edwards, Frank Edwards” he said. “I used to be in the 506th PIR. He painfully stood at attention, and offered Rick a salute.

Rick returned it and said “Please be seated, Mr. Edwards. Easy Company?”

“No, damn it” the man sputtered. “I was in Dog – I could have been famous”.

“You’re famous enough for me, Sir. Thank you very much for your service. So, what happened here?”

“Oh, like Jay boy there said, more or less. Once Bruce Hedrickson was the mayor he passed all sorts of “ordinances” to help us. Confiscated all the food – to protect it, of course. His idea of what food people needed wasn’t always the same about what they thought, though. Same with the fuel, until one of his boys blew himself and it to hell smoking. We don’t have hardly any left. And nobody was willing to do a damn thing about it except me, and I cain’t hardly get around anymore” he said with a wave at his wheel chair.

“I see. Thank you, Mr. Edwards”.

“You people are fine examples of Americans” Rick said with disgust. “Why the hell didn’t anyone do anything about these thugs? Was this gentleman the only person here who knew what the hell to do?”

Nobody said anything for a moment, and then someone said “Well, where the hell have you been?” A lot of people in the crowd yelled “Yeah” at that.

“Where was I?” Rick shouted out. “Where have WE BEEN?” “We’ve been taking care of sick and starving people. People who have NOTHING AT ALL. No food. No Home. No clothes. Children whose parents were killed by thugs much worse than “Bruce Hedrickson”, Children who were tortured, raped and almost killed. “We’ve been making the best of what we could, too. Now, what the hell have you been doing?”

Nobody said anything. Rick looked around the LAV at the people there.

‘Well, I hope you all figure out what to do, or the next time I come here I doubt most of you will be alive”. With that there were shouts “What do you mean? You have to stay and protect us!”

Rick tried to quiet them down. Finally, he pulled his Glock from his holster and fired one round over the heads of the townspeople, into an empty field. ‘That got their attention’ Rick thought, as he holstered his weapon.

“Listen. I’m not here to protect you. You can protect yourself. There must be someone here besides Mr. Edwards that has a pair of balls. We came here to see what was in Cottonwood, to get information and maybe to buy some livestock. We have people who really need our help to take care of”.

“Mr. Dickson!” a woman said from the crowd. Rick turned and saw a woman waiving at him. “Yes, Ma’am?” he asked.

“ My name is Julie Towse. What sort of livestock do you want to buy?”

“We’d like to buy some cattle, Ms. Towse, both beef and milk. Maybe four or five breedable cows, and a bull – from different lines. Some laying hens and a rooster, and maybe some hogs. Our Vet would have to approve of any stock. We also need a year’s worth of feed for them. And, if anyone has seed for livestock feed, we’ll buy some of that, too.”

“And what are you going to pay for it with”? someone asked.

“My American Express Card” Rick said with a smile. People looked at him for a second and saw that he was kidding, then roared with laughter.

“OK, we have greenbacks” Rick said.

“They’re worthless too” someone shouted.

“OK, then… We have silver coins. Or, we can barter. What do you need?”

“Got any gas?” The woman asked.

“Got the livestock? Rick asked.

“Maybe, if you have five hundred gallons of gasoline” the woman said.

“We do, but you’ll have to provide the tank”.

“I have the livestock, then” she said.

“What about the feed?”

“I have the feed, all my animals died off” a man said. I’ll sell it to you for one of them fancy rifles you have”.

“Sorry, the weapons aren’t for sale. Don’t you folks have weapons?”

“Bruce Hedrickson got them” the man admitted, abashedly.

“Bruce Hedrickson got them? BRUCE HEDRICKSON GOT THEM? My GOD, what kind of idiots are these” Rick shouted. “Bruce Hedrickson is dead. Go get your weapons. Don’t let anyone take them away from you. “Bruce Hedrickson got them? What part of “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” isn’t clear?. Is there anyone here who has ever HEARD of the Constitution of the United States?”

Rick looked around at the crowd. “Is there anyone else who has the feed we want?”

“Colonel, don’t you want to get it from me?” the man asked.

“Not if you want weapons” Rick said.

“Well, how about gas?” the man asked.

“We have gas” Rick said.

“I got some seed” a man shouted out. “I’ll trade for some gas, too”.

“OK, deal” Rick said. “What else do you folks need? Food and fuel was the most common item mentioned.

“Is anyone a Ham Radio Operator? Rick called out.

“Billy!” a few people called out. A young man stepped out. “I am, Colonel, Sir”.

Rick looked at him. “Which year, Cadet?”

“Sir, Third Year, ASU, Sir. Black, William G, Sir!” ‘Billy’ snapped to attention.

“Which branch?” Rick asked.

“Army, Sir”

“ OK, Mr. Black. What class of license do you have?”

“Extra, Sir”

“What was your major?

“Electronic Engineering, Sir”.

“Got an HF radio? Power for it?

“Yes Sir. I have a battery and a solar panel”.

“At ease, Mr. Black. Does it work? Do you know what an NVIS antenna is?”

“Yes Sir. I’ve heard the term sir, but I’m not familiar with it, No Sir”.

“Does your radio have an automatic antenna tuner?”

“Yes, Sir”.

“Very good. You’re now our communications link to Cottonwood. When we come back to pick up the livestock, we will have frequencies for you and instructions on how to build an NVIS antenna. We’ll make sure that you have the materials, too.

If Cottonwood needs anything, you can ask us. We won’t promise that we can help, but we’ll do the best we can. We have a physician, for example – and a vet, and a pharmacist. If someone gets ill, we’ll do what we can to help out”.

Turning to the others, Rick continued in his ‘Command Voice’ ‘You all need to help yourself, too. We’ll give you some written suggestions about that when we’re back too. You need to be responsible for your own security so I’d get some sort of schedule for the roadblocks, but be careful who you select, who you let through, and who you shoot at.

“Finally, I don’t know any more than you do. I don’t know what happened with the war and I don’t think it matters. I don’t know what the weather is going to do, but I doubt that this is going to be a regular summer”. With that, he got a few laughs. “We all have to make hard choices to get through the next year, and establish agriculture again. I’d make a real effort to keep the beginnings of animal herds, and grain seed though, if I were you. We’re in for more bad before things get a lot better. And, don’t expect anyone to come riding over the pass to save your asses”.

The townspeople were stunned by what Rick told them. Nobody said anything.

“OK, today is Friday and it’s 1:33 PM” Rick said, looking at his watch. “Does someone have a watch that works?” He got a few nods. “OK, we’ll be at the roadblock on Monday, at 11:00 AM. Got it?” He got nods from the people he was bartering with.

“Any last questions, comments, suggestions, or complaints?” Rick asked, using his standard meeting close.

“We’ll see you on Monday, Colonel. We’ll be ready for you” Tufts said. Rick didn’t like the way he said that, but he called for Carlos to move the LAV.

Paradise Chapter 14

They made good time back to the lowboy. Dave was there, with the body of one of Bruce Hedrickson’s ‘boys’ that got away. Rick asked him “What happened?”

“Well, I was sitting here” Dave began. “It was five or ten minutes after I heard your shooting, and all clear. I had just gotten done cleaning my MP5, and had just screwed the silencer back on. I saw this guy running by, and he saw me. He tried to shoot me. I shot him first”.

The body had three evenly spaced holes in the chest and abdomen. “Good shooting” George said. “How about letting me see your MP5?” George was concerned that Dave might still be a bit jumpy. His concern was misplaced; he saw – Dave had the presence of mind to have changed magazines for a full one, and had cleaned the weapon again.

George went over and after putting on a pair of gloves, searched the body. He was carrying a bolt action rifle, in .270. There was an empty case in the chamber and George cleared the weapon and looked at it. “Dave, do you have that .270 case the guy who shot you used?”

“Yeah, why”

“Let me see it for a second”

Dave fished it out of his BDU pants, and handed it to George. George looked at the primer on both. “I think I may know where the guys who shot Dave went to” he said. I can’t be sure, but that looks like a pretty distinctive primer indentation to me – it looks like the firing pin is chipped. They’re both identical” he said.

He gave both cases to Dave and he and Carlos got the LAV loaded on the lowboy. They all headed home, quietly.

They planned their trip the next day. “We’ll take both LAV’s, the gasoline truck from Sedona and a Semi with a livestock trailer, and a semi with a flatbed for the feed, I guess”.

“I know where we can get that trailer” Carlos said.

“OK. Wait a minute, not the one with the dead livestock in it we found?”

“No, I spotted an empty”

“OK, What else do we need to do?” Rick asked.

“Well, we’re going to have to make a couple of trips for the feed” Carlos said. “After we move the livestock, we should bring back another flatbed, or an empty van to move the feed”.

“OK. I want us all to be on the top of our security game. There was something about the way that Tufts said they’d be ready for us that wasn’t sincere.”

“If we cut the crew of the LAV down to two, and everyone drives, we might be able to handle it” George said. “But, I think that maybe we should leave the LAV’s there while we’re making the round trip. And, lets get Bob and Karl to act as gunners in the LAV’s”.

“Do you think they’re ready for it?” Rick asked.

“I think they’ll be able to handle it”

“Dave, do you have the directions for the kid for the NVIS antenna?

“All done. I have both a CD with lots of information, and a printed copy. The frequency schedule too. I’ve decided to use regular HAM frequencies, and we’ll monitor them on the R-7500. I’ve set up another antenna for it”.

“Good. What else should we do?”

“Are we going to give them anything?” Lisa asked.

“I think we’ll find the food truck closest to Cottonwood on the freeway and after we’re done, bring it in to them” Rick said.

“OK, my love” Lisa said.

“What instructions are you going to give them for survival?” George asked.

“Basically, I’m going to tell them to do what we did. Go look for commercial vehicles on the interstate, and highway 89A. I don’t know how successful they’re going to be, but some of the trucks we scavenged were headed down that way. Also, I’m going to suggest to them that they figure out some way to establish schools for the kids. I told them we have a physician, a vet and a pharmacist, and with their radio will be able to contact us for help. I also told them that they can call, but we may or may not be able to help and they will have to be primarily responsible for their own safety and security”.

“Think it will do any good?” Dave asked.

“I hope so. There’s been enough death.”

George gave Bob and Karl a quick orientation on shooting the coaxial machine gun from the gunners position. “Only shoot if the commander or the driver tells you to” he stressed, over and over.

“What about the big gun?” Karl asked.

“That’s a sort of “super” machine gun” George said. It fires a bullet that’s about an inch in diameter, and goes about a mile. The problem is we don’t have any ammunition for it”.

“Oh” Karl said.

“Maybe one day”.


George suggested, and Rick insisted, that they all go through some drills covering different possible scenarios. Rick was concerned that they might have some trouble from Tuft, or others in the town, and he wasn’t going to have any of it. They’d do their best to keep as many people away as possible, except for Tufts, and the people they were dealing with. Sunday afternoon they checked all the vehicles one last time and then they checked their individual weapons and equipment.

Monday morning they loaded up and drove to Cornville. They offloaded the LAVS and formed up their convoy. At 10:30 they started out, with a LAV in the front and the rear, a semi hauling a stock trailer, a semi hauling food, and the gasoline supply truck.

Rick was in the Commanders hatch on the lead LAV. When they got within sight of the roadblock Rick held up his hand to bring the convoy to a halt. He had Anne drive up to the roadblock and saw that Tufts was there, with some townspeople. At least they were armed, this time.

“Good morning, Mr. Tufts” Rick said.

“Dickson” Tufts said in reply.

“Is everything ready?” Rick asked.

“Oh, it sure is”

“Terrific. Tell you what, Mr. Tufts – why don’t you join me up here, and you can direct me to where we need to go”.

“Ahh, well you see…”

“Oh, come now, Mr. Tufts. Help us out here” Rick said.

“”Well, I’m not too comfortable with heights, you see..”

“Oh, that’s OK. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. Tell you what, why don’t you join us in the back , it’s a bit crowded but I think we can offer you some coffee, or hot chocolate to make it a bit more comfortable”.

“No, thank you”. Tufts said.

“Mr. Tufts, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist. These vehicles have very poor visibility and we’ll need your assistance to get to where we need. Now, Mr. Tufts” and with that, Rick casually moved the machine gun.

Tufts walked around the roadblock. Rick ducked down and opened the troop door. “Sit right down, Mr. Tufts. Coffee? Hot chocolate?” Rick asked solicitously.

“No, thank you”. Tufts looked like he had eaten a lemon.

“Tell me, Mr. Tufts. Do you have any enemies in town?”

“What? Why?”

“Well, I have a suspicious nature, you understand. I developed what my wife calls a “sixth sense” when I was a fighter pilot, and I’ve learned to depend on it. Now, it’s been a few years since I flew a fighter, but that sense tells me that you might not be completely forthright.”

“Now, you wait one second…”

“Listen, Mr. Tufts. I don’t know if you’re stupid, or just a sleazy politician. I don’t care, if you can convince enough morons to vote for you they deserve what they get. However, I’m willing to hold up our end of the bargain. I want to make certain that nobody bothers us, and so you’re going to be our tour guide today. That is not, by the way, in any way negotiable.

“If I think you’re lying to me or anyone, I’ll beat you senseless. If you try and leave this vehicle without my express permission, I will kill you before you’re five feet away. And, if by some miracle, I wind up dead, my compatriots in the other LAV back there will destroy this town with the cannon. It fires a one inch diameter bullet, two hundred a minute, and will reach over a mile. Do you understand that?”

Tufts nodded, slowly.

“Good. Now, are you sure you won’t have some of this coffee? My wife put cinnamon in it this morning?” Rick asked, as he reached for his coffee.


“No? Well, OK. Oh, are you LDS? Sorry if I offended. Anyway, where shall we go first?”

Tufts explained the location of the woman with the livestock’s ranch. Rick got on the radio and ordered the fuel tanker and livestock trailer up. Carlos drove up with the livestock trailer and Dave in the fuel tanker. Rick directed Anne where to go.

They managed to get the livestock without any trouble. The woman and Carlos discussed the blood lines and health of the stock and finally he was satisfied. Dave pumped the agreed on 500 gallons of gasoline into the woman’s tank. Tufts stayed in the LAV through it all. As they were getting ready to leave, the woman said “Watch out for Tufts, you know”.

“Thanks, I am.”

They escorted the livestock truck back through the roadblock and then Rick said “OK, Mr. Tufts. Now, lets go see about the feed”.

They waited while Carlos swapped vehicles and returned with one of the flatbeds. Tufts showed Rick where to go, and they were off.

They had a bit of an argument with the farmer over how much feed was a “years” worth. Finally, Rick said “I’m sorry we can’t come to an agreement. We’ll see if someone else in town can help us out”. With a “wind it up” sign, Dave started the engine on the fuel truck and Carlos walked towards the semi.

“Wait!” the farmer said. “OK, take what you want”.

“It’s not what I want” Rick said. “It’s what we contracted for. I don’t know squat about livestock but Carlos does, and I trust him. I can either trust you, or not – you either hold up your end of the bargain or we go. We’re not going to take your feed from you, we’ll live up to our end.”

They settled on the food they would take. As Carlos had anticipated they would need a second truck. They used the farmers tractor to load the two flatbeds, and then Dave pumped the mans fuel. “Dave, give him an extra ten gallons” he said. “For use of the tractor”. They finished, and drove back to the roadblock. Carlos drove off, and Rick waited for Lisa to arrive with the food truck.

“Almost done, Mr. Tufts” Rick said cheerily. I appreciate the help you’ve been”.

Finally, they went to see about the feed. As soon as they drove into the farm, Rick had a bad feeling. He dropped down into the hull and saw that Tufts was sweating profusely. “Better tell me what's going on, RIGHT NOW!” Rick shouted.

“No, no…” Tufts whined.
“Stop” Rick told Anne. “You come here” he told Tufts, and dragged him up into the commanders hatch. It was a tight fit with Rick, wearing his armor. “Tufts, if you want to live ten more minutes you better stop whatever is going on”.

“Don’t SHOOT” Tufts yelled. “For GODS Sake, don’t SHOOT”. Tufts was so scared he pissed himself.

”You coward” Rick said. “You’re cleaning that up, dead or alive”. With that, Tufts lost control of his sphincter.

“Where are they” Rick said. “Karl, if you see anyone outside with a weapon pointed at the LAV or me, shoot them”.

“Yes Sir” came a determined voice.

“Tufts, where are they? Rick repeated. Tufts was screaming “DON’T SHOOT”.

‘Geez, if he doesn’t shut up I’m going to shoot him myself’ Rick thought. Just then he saw a figure off in the distance raise a rifle. Rick tried to get his M1A out of the hatch but couldn’t with Tufts in the way. Rick tried to get his MP5 and as he struggled with it he heard the coax cut loose with a burst. He saw two figures in the distance fall down.

“Let’s get out of here” Rick yelled into his radio. “Ambush”. Dave had been back on the road to the farm and started driving. The fuel truck handled like an elephant on ice, though, and accelerated more slowly. Anne started driving, right through the farm. Rick was bounced against Tufts with the wild ride. Finally Rick could get Tufts stuffed into the hatch.

Rick grabbed his M240 and swiveled around, looking for targets. He saw a couple of figures running away and decided to let them go. Looking around he didn’t see anyone else. “Back to the roadblock” he said into his radio. He dropped down into the hull and saw Tufts. Grabbing him, he punched him under his chin as hard as he could. ‘Oww, that hurts’ he thought, shaking his fist. ‘Next time I’ll butt stroke the a-hole’ he said.

The townspeople were gathering in the town square. Dave, and then the LAV blew through them and went past the roadblock without stopping. The other LAV with George in the hatch was in the distance, turret swiveling back and forth, looking for targets. Once Dave was past the other LAV, Rick told Anne to stop and turn around.

Rick dropped down into the hull. Tufts was still unconscious, but starting to come around. Rick grabbed a plastic tie wrap and tied Tufts hands together behind his back. Rick climbed back up into the cupola and stuck his head through the hatch.

There were a number of townspeople coming towards him. Rick pulled his M1A out and fired a round into the ground along side the LAV. “STOP” he told them. They stopped. Tufts was moaning.

A few people continued towards the LAV. Rick turned the commanders’ machine gun and trained it towards them.

“Wait” he heard from one person in the crowd. It was Black, he saw. “Black, come here”.

Black ran up and saluted. “What the hell is going on here?” Rick asked. He listened to Black explain that Tufts had co-opted Hedricksons’ spot as “mayor”, and they were planning on stealing the fuel truck.

“Who all is in it with him?” Rick demanded. Black told him. “You go back there and tell the townspeople that they have fifteen minutes to deliver those people here. Go!”

Black ran off. Rick called on the radio. “George, move your LAV up here”.

While he waited for the LAV, Rick climbed out of the LAV and opened up the troop door. He pulled Tufts out, and reaching under a seat pulled out a tool bag, filled with chain. He grabbed one end of the chain and using a padlock secured the chain around an eye on the hull. He grabbed the other end of the chain and locked it around Tufts neck. Rick slapped Tufts until he came around, and then cut the tie wrap.

“You asshole” Rick yelled at him. “What were you thinking?” Tufts was sniveling.

“Strip” Rick told him.

“What?”

“I said strip” Rick said. He pulled his MP5 off his back and pulled the charging handle, then stuck the barrel in Tufts face. “Right now”.

Tufts stripped off his outer clothes. The temperature was about forty degrees, maybe a bit more. “Now, clean up your damned mess” Rick ordered.

Rick saw both Anne and Karl looking at him from their stations. Rick gave them a wink. “Hurry up!” Rick shouted. He saw Black returning, with some townspeople escorting a half-dozen men. The townspeople were carrying weapons but had them pointed at the men. Rick climbed back into the cupola, after pulling Tufts out of the troop door and locking the door.

“Anne, pull up slowly. Curve around to the left a bit, I want them to see Tufts” Rick said into the intercom.
When Tufts came into the view of the men the townspeople were escorting, they feel to their knees. “Anne, drive over there to them” Rick said. From the cupola Rick looked down on them. “Who’s in charge today?” He asked them.

“Nobody is, exactly, Sir” Black said. “Here are the men who were working with Tufts”.

“Who are they?”

“They’re some folks from around here – mainly trailer trash, low account people” Black said. “Tufts figured that he could just step into Hedricksons shoes and he’d need some muscle to keep the rest of the townspeople in line”.

About that time Frank Edwards rolled up. “Colonel, they’re just white trash. Jack there was always beating his wife, Teds a thief. They always been bad, since they were kids.”

“Mr. Edwards, you seem to be one of the few people around here willing to be honest with me. Are there any others who might try and act the same way as Tufts or Hedrickson?”

“I don’t rightly know, Colonel. I don’t think so but you know how bullies are”.

“I do. I know that they act a lot better right after they’re given a good swift kick to their groin”.

“Yes, sir” Edwards said, laughing.


Rick climbed down from the LAV and told the townspeople to bring the men over, one at a time. He took the chain holding Tufts and looped the chain around each man’s neck, locking it in place. One man tried to get away, but he saw Julie Towse knee him in his groin, hard, dropping him immediately. “Good job, Ms. Towse” Rick said as he locked the squirming man onto the chain. Rick climbed back onto the LAV, and addressed the townspeople.

“People, you don’t have another chance. You can decide to fight against thugs and terrorists, or not. We’re not going to clean this town up any more. Here are these thugs, for you to deal with as you wish. We’re going to go. We’ll give contact information to Bill Black here” pointing to the young man, “and he should be able to get in touch with us. We may be able to help, or not. The information we’re giving him also has some ideas in it. You can use them, or not, it’s up to you.

“Now, has anyone been to Jerome, or Prescott, or is there anyone here from those towns?” Rick looked around, and no one responded.

“Nobody?” Rick reached down into the hull of the LAV and pulled out a manila envelope. “Mr. Black, come up here please”.

Black scrambled up the LAV and got onto the turret. “Yes, Sir?” Rick handed the envelope over. “Black, are you going to be OK here?”

“Yes sir, I think that we will have it under control now. You’ve taken care of most of the criminals in town”.

“OK, here are the instructions we promised you. Also, do you know what access and duress codes are?”

“A duress code is used to indicate that someone is acting under duress, when they’re a prisoner, for example?”

“Right. An access code is just the opposite – confirmation that you are OK” Rick leaned down and whispered the codes to Black. “Don’t mix them up” Rick said.

“No Sir”. He jumped off the LAV.

About that time the farmer who they were going to buy seed from came up. “Colonel, I want you to know that I didn’t have anything to do with those bastards. They were holding me and my family at gunpoint in our basement while they tried to ambush you. If you want I still have that seed”.

“If you bring us the seed, and some fuel cans, we’ll hold up our end of the bargain” Rick said. “I don’t want to risk going into town again, though”.

“No, Sir. I can understand why you wouldn’t. I’ll go get the seed”. He walked off.

“People, we’re going to give you some help, too.” He called into his radio “Lisa, bring up the truck”. “We found a truck full of food on the highway. I’d suggest that you get organized and go find your own trucks and supplies. I’d also check out the surrounding towns, and try and work with them. You can get on with living, or you can die. Its up to you”

About that time Lisa pulled up in the Semi. She pulled the truck off the road and jumped down to drop the trailer. Then, she took the semi back to the others.

“One last thing” Rick said. He jumped down from the LAV and went to the rear. Spinning the combination, he unlocked the chain from the LAV. “Black!” he shouted.

When Black came running up, Rick handed the end of the chain to him. “Here you go” he said, and climbed back onto the LAV. Addressing the townspeople, he said. We’ll be in touch with Black here, via radio. He’s got the prisoners, you figure out what to do with them. Good luck!”

“Wait” Tufts said. He looked comical standing there in his soiled underwear. “You can’t leave us here. We have rights”.

“You have the right to be silent” Rick said. “If I were you, I’d take it right now. I could, and probably should, just shoot you right now – I’d be justified, since you tried to ambush us”.

“You have to take us to jail. We’re entitled to a trial and attorneys” Tufts whined.

“I’m going to leave your punishment up to the townspeople here. We’ll see what they come up with. Frankly, I don’t much care what they do – except understand this, Tufts: If I EVER see you or your buddies here around me, I will kill you – without warning, without worrying about your “rights”, and without any more thought than I’d step on a maggot”.

“Sir, what about the locks?” Black asked.

“Keep them” Rick said. “Anne, lets go”. The LAV moved forward and left the townspeople of Cottonwood.

They loaded up their vehicles and drove back home. They dropped the semi on the freeway in case they needed it later, and went home.

“Rick, why did you leave those guys chained up? Lisa asked.

“Why not? I’m sure someone in town has a pair of bolt cutters. Or, if they don’t, that’s OK too. I really don’t care.”


They took the livestock and feed to Carlos’ house, and helped him get everything set up. They decided that they’d try and find some fencing for the cattle. Carlos said that he was going to try and increase the number of chickens first, and once they had a few more and another rooster, he’d split the flock and bring some over to Rick’s.

“Can you help me with a chicken coop?” George asked.

“Sure. I’ve got some plans around here too. If you build a coop on skids or something and we get some snow fence you can move the coop around pretty easily – that way the chickens are able to fertilize and condition the soil. We’ll have to come up with an indoor coop for the winter, though.”

“What about the cows?” Rick asked.

“Pretty much the same” Carlos said. “We’ll let them get settled here. Hopefully we’ll be able to grow the herd, but that will be slower. We’ll have time to build a corral and maybe a barn over at your place.”

“There’s going to be a lot more work here” Rick said. “Be sure to let us know if we can help”.

“With the whole family we should have it covered, but thanks” Carlos said. Rick thought it interesting that Carlos called the Munds Park kids ‘family’.


It didn’t take long before they had fresh eggs and milk, which improved their outlooks (and diets). They continued to scavenge materials from town, including books from the library. Angela decided to try and make cheese from the extra milk they had, and after a few disastrous attempts, started getting at least edible results.

As July approached, George started working on a project with help from Bob and Karl. Dave also got involved. Rick wasn’t privy to the secret, however. Lisa suggested that they take two ATV’s and get away for a day away, and so they did. They had a good time on the ATV’s, and stopped for an impromptu picnic. It was getting late in the afternoon as they returned to the homestead and Rick saw what George’s project had been.

The homestead sported a new forty-foot high flagpole with the US Flag flying from it. George had salvaged it from one of the schools, and had dug the base and set it during one of Rick’s trips to Carlos’ house or somewhere. When the base concrete had set, they talked Lisa into getting Rick away from the house for a day so they could move the flagpole and erect it.

“Looks very, very good” Rick said. “Thanks”.

I think we need it” George said. “Besides, tomorrow is Independence Day”.

“So it is” Rick said.


Independence Day was occasion for a picnic for the two houses. Angela had a surprise of her own, she had made ice cream from the milk they now had. They had a casual shooting match at the range and it came down to the twins leading everyone. They were so equally matched in abilities that one couldn’t really be picked as the best.

George came up with what he thought would be a tie breaker. “With your M1A’s, I want you guys to run to the fuel storage area and back, three miles each way. The one who gets the closest to the dot on the target, red for Anne and green for Catherine, wins”. George held up a package of stick-on half-inch dots. “Clear your rifles. Ready? Go!” The twins took off at a moderate pace for the six mile run. “OK, they should be gone for an hour or so” he said with a laugh as he sat down.

When the twins returned, sweaty and breathing hard but still keeping pace, they both flopped down into a prone position and took their shots. Once they had cleared and racked their weapons they sat down and had a drink of water as George went down to the 600 meter target holder to retrieve the targets. “OK, I quit” he said.

Anne’s target had the 30-caliber hole inside the dot, with the upper edge just touching the edge of the red dot. Catherine’s was nearly the opposite – just touching the bottom of the green dot.

“You both win” Rick said, finally. He didn’t want to get either of the girls mad at him.

Cottonwood had been checking in regularly. Bill Black had been reporting that they had a city council with some reasonable people on it, and preparations were being taken for the upcoming winter. They continued to scavenge semi trucks, putting the recovered trailers in first the Safeway parking lot, and then on the school playground.

Rick decided to set up the fifth-wheel trailer as a clinic. They had to remove some furniture, along with the carpet, then installed the digital x-ray machine, a surgical table with lights, and some rudimentary lab capabilities. He also stocked the trailer with all the surgical trays and equipment that he could.

In addition to George and the twins conducting training in shooting and field craft, Rick gave everyone a crash course in emergency first aid. He found a practice arm in the hospital and they all practiced starting IV’s and giving injections, until they were ready to practice on each other. Once they were each punctured a couple of times Rick decided they were qualified and gave each of them a small bag with IV solutions and starter sets, tubing and angiocaths. Lisa talked him into giving them some injectable analgesics and antibiotics. She prepared labels for each with instructions.

The fifteenth of July, the daytime high was fifty two degrees. That was the warmest it would get that year. Carlos and George had built both a mobile chicken coop, and also an indoor one in the workshop, and helped Rick get the woodstove flue in. Lisa had organized the younger kids at their house into a wood detail – Trees would be cut down by an adult, and then cut into twenty four inch lengths. The kids would then carry them to the splitter where they could split it, and stack it. They cut ten cords of wood that summer, stacked near the house, and outside the work shop.

Dave had been busy setting up better communications. They had to repair the phone wire to Carlos’ house several times a month; the wire seemed to be especially tasty to rodents. Finally fed up, he started looking at the existing phone lines down on the main road. It took him almost a month to trace the wires out, with help from Karl and three younger kids, but finally identified several wire pairs that went past their houses, the fuel storage area and the range complex, With some careful cutting and splicing he was able to wire all four locations into the telephone system. He also dug a trench from Rick’s house to the workshop, and Carlos’ to his barn.

They continued to receive meaningless radio broadcasts from the federal government. They changed from time to time, but didn’t seem to be anything specific – just repeated recordings.

Towards the end of July at one of their Sunday dinners (this one at Carlos and Angela’s) Lisa summarized their overall logistical status. “We’re doing pretty well in all areas except ammunition. We have four years worth of dried foods, about six years worth of liquid fuels and if we count the propane supply tank at the city yard, about ten years worth of propane or more, and we seem to be doing OK on clothing and shoes for the kids”.

“What sorts of problems are we having with ammunition?” George asked.

“We’re using it and we don’t have much of a plan to replace it. We need to maintain our skills, certainly and we’ve started reloading what we can but we’re drawing it down at a pretty good rate. I’d be happier if we had found more to salvage”.

“The folks in Cottonwood have tried to get to Prescott via 89A” Rick said. “Apparently they couldn’t get past Jerome. They tried a few back roads, but they couldn’t get up past the escarpment that Jerome was built on. They didn’t want to use the fuel to try the freeway route.”

“Should we take them some more fuel?” Lisa asked

“We told them how they could find more. I suppose we should continue to salvage on the interstate, south of Cornville Rd – maybe all the way to Prescott” Rick said.

“Will that get us more ammo?” Dave said.

“It depends. There were several very large gun dealers in Prescott; they had very large stocks of ammo. Without more information about the condition of the town, though…”

“What about going to Flagstaff?” Linda asked.

“That might be the best idea” Rick said. Flagstaff had a much smaller population than Prescott did. There weren’t too many gun shops there, but west of Flagstaff off of I-40 was the National Guards major base. They might have their ASP there.”

“You know, Rick” George said. “The ASP would probably have all sorts of ammo that we could use – including the 25mm”.

“I know. If we go to Flagstaff and ... ah, Bellmont, I think it is, we’ll have to be away from here for several days though. It would be a major undertaking, since we don’t know what we’d run into”.

“How many would need to go?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t know. A lot of us, though. We’d have to take both LAVs, along with a lowboy, I guess. The 5-ton with fuel pod – we’d have to get Carlos another tank. Maybe a small scout vehicle? And we’d have to leave enough people here for security, and to tend the animals.”

“Do you want to take one of the powder puffs?” Dave asked, using the nickname that had developed for the pink jeeps.

“Maybe. Maybe we could take the Excursion, or the pickup instead. They have the HF radios installed already”.

“Rick, why don’t we offer the folks in Cottonwood some more fuel, and suggest that they go to Prescott and make contact?” Angela said. “Let them get involved”.

“Great idea!” Rick said. “I’d rather have them do something to earn it, than just give it to them. Dave, the next time you talk to them suggest that we’ll offer them 250 gallons of gas or diesel, their choice, to help them get further out from town to scavenge. They’ll need it, anyway, for the winter”.

“OK” Dave said.

They continued to discuss some of the things they’d have to do to get ready for going on a trip. Besides the vehicles they would need ammunition, water, fuel, food, sleeping bags and tents, spare parts for the vehicles. They also wanted to get a list together of things they’d look for at Bellmont. Lisa suggested that they just put everything they could possibly think of onto the list, even if they didn’t think it would be there. When she said that, Rick jokingly said “OK, put a C130 on the list. Either an E or H model, I don’t think I could fly a J without going to school on it”. Lisa wrote on her PDA.

Cottonwood accepted their offer of fuel, choosing diesel. They took a trip to deliver it. George had been training just about everyone in every position on the LAV’s, and for this trip the twins were going to be the vehicle commanders. They dropped off the lowboy at the Cornville off ramp and headed in. Passing through Cornville they saw several homes that had been recovered, with smoke from the chimneys and some people in small gardens. The people in the field waved as they drove by.

Cottonwood looked very different than the last time they were there. The people looked different, too – most of them were armed, either with handguns or long guns; most had both. The road block was further out of town, and the town council was there to meet them. “Good morning, Mr. Edwards” Rick said to the familiar figure. Edwards was looking better, still in his wheelchair but stood up more easily to shake Rick’s hand. “and too you, Ms. Towse. Mr. Black”. He shook each of their hands. “Are you the town council?” he asked.

“Yes we are, Colonel” Bill Black said. “The town had an election, and for some reason we got elected”.

“It’s a hell of a lot of work, too” Edwards groused.

They chatted for several minutes and Rick found out that they’d done pretty well scavenging the semi trucks on Highway 89A. They got enough food from several trucks that they thought they’d be OK for the coming winter. They just hadn’t been able to find any fuel trucks. “The fuel we give you today may help” Rick said. “We haven’t been south of Camp Verde on I-17. You should be able to find some. If not, let us know. We may be able to share some of ours”.

“Thanks, Colonel” Julia Towse said.

“Please, call me Rick – all of you” Rick said.

“I hope you didn’t think you’d need both of your tanks, Rick” Julia said.

“I’m happy, and glad, I don’t” Rick said. “Would you like a tour of one?”

“Sure” they all said. Rick spoke into his radio, and the two LAV’s advanced. The twins were both in the commanders hatches, wearing their helmets. When they stopped, Anne pulled her helmet off and stayed in the hatch. Catherine dropped down, and opening the troop doors, stepped outside.

Bill Black couldn’t believe his eyes. Anne had dazzled him when she took her helmet off – and now she was standing in front of him, smiling. Rick saw him do several double takes and burst out laughing. “Sorry, I should have warned you – they’re twins”.

Rick introduced Catherine, and the crew of her LAV. “This is my wife, Lisa, and Catherine’s’ mother, Linda in the gunners position”. Both women waved. We have room to carry up to six more people inside – it gets crowded though. He let them look inside the hull, and Catherine answered some questions. Most from Bill Black, he noticed.

“Where would you like the fuel to go?” Rick asked. “Fuel?” Black asked, paying all his attention to Catherine.

“We have a central tank over here, Rick” Julia said. “We figured that we could keep it there and not blow it up like those clowns did”.

“Speaking of which, what did you folks do with them” Rick asked.

“Oh, nothing” Edwards said.

“Nothing?”

“No, not a damned thing” he said. “We took the property they had stolen back from them, clothes and shoes mostly, and then told them to leave. They whined about rights this and rights that, and how they deserved something. We explained that they had two choices, leave or die. We haven’t seen them around so they must have left”.

“How’d you get the chain off of them?” Lisa asked.

“Oh, we didn’t” Julia said.

“Good thinking” Lisa said.

With that, the fuel truck pulled back out of the roadblock, followed by the other LAV. Dave pulled the fuel truck down the road and pulled over, then caught a ride back in the LAV. When he arrived, Rick introduced him and then Dave went off to talk to Black.

Everyone chatted for a bit longer, and then Rick said “Well, we better be going”. Dave walked back to the main group, after discussing radio stuff with Black.

“Oh, by the way – I filled that tank of yours” he said.

“Oh, thank you” Julia said. “That was a 325 gallon tank”.

“It took about 315” Dave said. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to the meter and let it get away from me”.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem” Rick said.

“Thanks very much, sonny” Edwards said.

“Lets go, Dad” Anne called from her LAV.

“Dad – you mean you’re their father?” Black asked

Dave, holding his MP5 in his hand, said “Why, yes I am”.

They loaded up and with a final ‘so-long’, drove back to Sedona.


They finalized their plans for their trip to Flagstaff. They had scouted highway 89A quite a way north and thought it would be free – twisty and steep in places, though. They planned their route to take Interstate 17 north, and then south of Flagstaff stop and do some reconnaissance. Rick would command one LAV, with Anne as driver and Bob as gunner. George with the twins would be in the other LAV, and Dave, Carlos and Karl would be in the 5-ton truck towing the fuel pod. They decided to leave the transporter behind, they’d go all the way on the LAV’s wheels – they figured the entire round trip would be just one hundred miles or so. Linda would stay behind this trip, along with Angela.

They got the 5-ton and the LAV’s serviced and loaded up. They combat loaded everything so no one vehicle had critical supplies. They finally spent two days practicing drills – ambushes, blocked roads, everything they could think of. Finally, George pulled four wooden cases out of the work shop and opened them. Inside of two of the cases were Javelin anti-tank missiles, and the others had the smaller AT-4’s. One of each went into each LAV.

One last topping off of fuel tanks, and the next morning they drove off. George had (with the twins input) named the LAV’s they got named after the moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos. George was in Phobos, in the lead. As they passed the off ramp for Munds Park, Rick kept an eye on Bob. He didn’t seem to notice they passed his home.

They passed some small towns that either appeared abandoned, or were burned out. The closer they got to Flagstaff the more evidence they saw of outlaw activity, shot up vehicles in the road, and burned out stores and homes. They were soon just south of the Flagstaff Airport when Rick called them to a halt.

Gathered around a map on the ground, Rick said “I don’t like the amount of damage we’ve seen. Instead of going into Flagstaff proper on the freeway I think we should get off the Interstate here, and get onto 89A over there”. He pointed at the parallel road, across the freeway. “About a mile north of here is this forest road that should take us well west of the main part of town. It joins this street, Woody Mountain Road and crosses Interstate 40 again.

They carefully made their way across the freeway and then cut the fence to allow them onto highway 89A. They turned onto the forest road and carefully made their way through. Rick monitored their progress on the map and before they saw Woody Mountain Road called a halt.

“Phobos, the road should be right around the bend there. Scout forward and see what you can. We’ll continue in bounding overwatch”.

“Roger” He moved his LAV forward and got to the intersection. “The intersection is clear” he radioed. The rest of their convoy drove up, and then made the turn.

“Traveling overwatch” Rick said into his radio. They continued forward a bit faster. They could see the freeway in the distance. Aside from the occasional burned out or abandoned house, didn’t see anything or anyone. “Phobos, turn south on Flagstaff Ranch Road, and pick up Kittie Road. Rick was going to keep them on the back roads as much as they could, bypassing most of Flagstaff. Fortunately the south side of Interstate 40, and the railroad tracks that paralleled it was considered “the wrong side of town” and there was little development.

They finally got to the US Naval Observatory. “Lets take up a laager here” Rick said into the radio. The three armed vehicles moved into a circle, weapons pointing out. The Excursion was in the center. There were no vehicles in the parking lot, and the building was dark. Sarge, Carpenter (using Karls callsign, given to him because of his affinity for woodworking), go check the building out. We’ll cover you from here”.

Karl jumped out of the 5-ton and Carlos moved up to the Ring Mount. They had installed an M2 .50 caliber in the mount for this trip – they thought the ability to reach out could come in handy. They all thought it was a serious omission on the Marine Corps part that the LAV’s couldn’t mount either a .50 caliber or the Mk-19’s, but then, they didn’t have the ammo for the 25mm chain gun. Dave was keeping his attention on his sector of fire, Rick noted. Karl and George moved forward toward the front door. “Locked” came the report on the radio.

That made their tactical situation a bit more difficult. Rick was in a quandary – should he redeploy his vehicles to cover the rear of the building? Should he send just one, which would require redeploying their ‘laager’? All of the options raced through Rick’s mind, and as he executed his ‘OODA’ loop he quickly decided.

“Phobos, move right. We’re going to cover the side and rear of the building”. Rick had his LAV move to the left side rear of the vehicle, turning the turret to clear the back of the building, and called George forward on the radio.

The back was locked too. Rick’s ‘sixth sense’ was telling him they were in trouble. “Pull in along them” he told Anne. “Get in” he said on the radio. He heard, and felt, the troop door open and close. “Let’s go back to the laager” he told Anne. He wanted to get out of this area, quickly. “Everyone stay sharp”.

Paradise Chapter 15

The LAV moved back to the parking lot and laager. Rick was inside with the hatches closed, and he was looking through the vision ports and the thermal sight. He scanned the front of the building again. Something was out there, Rick was sure of it. He traversed the cupola back and forth, looking for the threat.

“This place is crawling with something. Let’s get ready to pull out – Anne, pull over to Rudy and lets get Karl back onto the truck”. The vehicles moved. Just then, Rick saw motion behind the glass inside the building. Rick watched, waiting for the motion to repeat. “Ready” he heard from Dave, then George.

“Phobos, lead out. Rudy next” He said into the radio. He traversed the turret again and then he saw him – a man inside the building, raising his head up. “Lisa, do you see that?” he asked.

“Got him” Lisa said. She lined the man up in her gun sight. “Should I fire?”

“Only if he has a weapon. Anne, lets go”.

They moved out. Rick was drenched with sweat. They drove north on Naval Observatory Blvd and left the area. “If it’s clear, stop at the train tracks” he said.

They pulled over in a laager. “What was that all about?” Dave wanted to know.

“I had a feeling there was someone inside” Rick said. We saw him as we were leaving”.

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. But I do know one thing about him. He didn’t belong inside there”.

“How do you know that, Rick?” Anne asked.

“It’s a government building, actually a DoD building – part of the US Naval Observatory. We show up in military, actually Marine Corps vehicles, and in uniform. If he belonged there, he’d have come outside, or at least gone about his business. Not hide from us. And, he was at least a little careful to stay in the shadows”. Rick looked at everyone, slowly.

After a drink of water, Rick explained what he wanted to do next. “Let’s get up on the tracks, and take them west. They should take us right to the Navajo Army Depot, which is where we want to go. We’ll take point, Dave next, and George can bring up the rear”. They got on the tracks and headed west, slowly. The encounter had spooked Rick.

They came to the Depot. The train tracks passed between the freeway and the depot, so they left them and drove down the eastern perimeter fence, with Rick standing in the hatch looking through his binoculars. He finally said “pull over here” into his radio. The patrol stopped, with a trail visible in the forest and the fence and depot on the other.

“I can’t see anybody inside the fence” Rick said. “Lets laager in the trees here, set up security and then we’ll talk.”

They moved into the trees and set up the camouflage nets over the LAV’s. “Lisa, we should try and find more of this netting” Rick said, looking at the job it did hiding the vehicles. They set up firing points for M240’s and prepared a meal but since they were MRE’s that wasn’t much of an accomplishment. They planned their activities.

“Tonight, I want a patrol to go into the depot and look around” Rick said. “I guess that means you two” he said looking at the twins. “I want to know if there is anyone in there, if there is any sort of security – it could be fixed, electronic or patrols, layout of the facility, vehicle parks, and the like. A post telephone directory would probably tell us most of what we want to know, too. So would a map. You two know as well as any of us what kind of things we’re looking for.

“So, figure out how you want to do it and brief me on your plan in an hour. I’d say you should plan on leaving around 10 PM, and being back before sunrise so you may want to get a nap in, too. OK?”

The twins left to plan their operation. “George, lets see how they do planning themselves, OK?”

“Mind of I sit in when they brief?” George asked

“I’m counting on it, George. Is there anything else we should do here now?”

“No, I think we’re OK for right now – but, if you don’t mind, I’ll go on a little walk to the east and south, see if I can see anything”.

“Need any help?

“No, I’ll go alone. Bob and Karl are on security here, Carlos is helping Lisa and Dave with maintenance on the vehicles. I should be back in say two hours, OK?”

“Sounds good – I’ll wait on having the girls brief until you get back.”

“OK, I’ll call every half hour”

George checked his equipment and then his weapons, and then melted into the woods. Rick went and helped with the vehicle maintenance and then checked on the boys, and chatted with them for a bit. He was amazed that a pair of young boys was as mature as these two were. When Rick asked them about it, he found out they were both home schooled.

George came back into their laager at about 3 PM. He sat down with Rick and briefed him on what he had seen. He pulled out a map.

“Rick, I went here, and then down to here then came north this way” he pointed out on the map. “There was one hell of a fight in this meadow here. It’s more new forest growth than a meadow like the map shows – little trees about two feet high. There must have been a fire, originally, that burned it off. There are probably a hundred or more bodies there, burned out trucks, weapons. Judging from the decomposition it happened months ago”.

“Any idea who was fighting?”

“That’s the strange thing. It looked like a gang of bikers going up against civilians – and more bikers. The fighting was hard – there are empty shells all over the place, all sorts of different calibers, shotgun shells, pistols, 5.56, .30-06, that green steel AK ammo.”

“So the military was involved?”

“No, that’s the strange thing. None of the bodies were in a full uniform. There were some uniform parts here and there. Those that had field gear had all different sorts, US GI from different eras, foreign stuff, cheap imitation junk from mail order. But, look at this.”

He handed over a couple of 5.56 empty cases. Rick checked the head stamp. “Well, this one is Lake City, and this one is what, British – Radway Green? What am I looking at?” he asked.

“It’s not government issue. That Lake City was reloaded”

“Oh, yeah – the primer isn’t sealed.”

“Right. I saw a lot of PMC ammo out there, too – and some unfired rounds, M193 type stuff, 55 gr. There was just a little SS109 type ammo out there. If the military had been involved, there would have been a huge amount of it – from M16’s, SAW’s, whatever. Also, very little .308 brass – mostly hunting rounds. Some small amount of M80, but there was someone out there with a CETME or HK91 or G3”. He handed over another case that had the distinctive stripes left by those weapons.

Rick thought about that for a bit. “I only come up with one explanation that fits what you saw”.

“Yeah. Me too” George said. “One hell of a huge battle on the edge of a military installation, and the military didn’t come”.

“Well, it’s a guard base. There may not have been many people there to fight”.

“That’s true. I scanned the perimeter as I came back up north here. There are more ammo bunkers, what look like warehouses, and a couple of vehicle parking areas” he pointed to the map, showing the relative areas “but no people, no motion”.

Rick continued to think about that. “I wonder why. “Let’s go see how the twins are doing” he said finally.


“We checked the fence line out” Catherine said. “We think we can use a little gully that’s formed to get through the fence. We’ve been looking and can’t see any signs of any electronic security systems”

“Dad looked too” Anne said. “So, we’ll go through the fence and head across, towards the main area. We’ll be looking out for anyone, and the other stuff we need”.

“Weapons? Equipment?” George asked. He particularly wanted to see how well the ‘kids’, as he thought of them, had learned his lessons.

“We’re going to be in dark clothes – pile jackets and pants. Boots, of course. Camouflage face paint, and dark gloves. We have face veils that we made that will help break up our face images. Our knit caps. We should be completely dark blobs” Catherine said.

“We’ll have our LBV, but stripped down” Anne continued. “We’ll only take our MP5’s so we won’t need M16 magazines. And, we’ll have our radios with ear buds”.

“What face veils? Rick asked.

“George had told us about a face veil he had that was designed for snipers” Anne started. “The idea is that you wear it over your face, tucked into your hat. It breaks up the outline of your face”

“It was made to look like a kind of knit, he said” Catherine said. “So, we found some different colors of cotton yarn. Lisa helped us crochet them”. She pulled hers out of her pocket and handed it to Rick, while Anne pulled hers out and put it on.

“See how well it works?” she asked. “You can see right through it from the inside, but hardly at all from the outside”. Rick held it up in front of him.

“Amazing. Good thinking!”

“Sounds good” George said. “What time do you want to leave?”

“It should be fully dark around 9 PM” Anne said. “We’re ready to go now, though”.

“Try and get some rest” Rick said. “We’ll wake you at 8 if you actually can” he said.

The twins left a little after 9 PM. They seemed to be able to get through the fence without any trouble; at least there was none they could see. They squirmed under the wire and took cover, weapons pointed outward, in a culvert for ten minutes before they decided to head out. The rest of the crew watched their shadowy figures disappear in the darkness. They waited all night long, anxious for the twins to return.

The sky was lightening behind them when they heard a whispered “we’re ready to cross the fence” on the radio. First one, then the other, snuck under the culvert, the last one checking to disrupt signs of their passage as much as possible.

They carefully retreated to their laager in the trees. Lisa offered them coffee from a thermos, since they hadn’t had any fire or shown a light during the night.

“How’d it go? Rick asked, after they had a chance to relax a bit.

“OK. We didn’t see anyone” Anne said, drinking her coffee. “Alive, anyway. We went to the main area and checked out some buildings that had been broken into. We got some papers that might be important”. She handed the papers to Rick.

“They’ll have to wait for daylight”.

“We checked out some of the ammo bunkers too” Catherine said. Lots of stuff in them. Some had been broken into, also. Same with some warehouses. We went into one that had lots of things we may be able to use”. She pulled out a sheet of paper she had taken notes on “PVS-7D, PVS-15, GVS-5. Another had M40 masks and something they had labeled ‘JLIST’. We found a bunch of radios, VRC, PRC that sort of thing.”

“There are lots of big trucks, too – bigger than the 5-ton. Some have little cranes on them, some have fuel tanks. Hundreds of shipping containers. We saw about a hundred hummers all neatly parked, and some tracked vehicles – not tanks, but with guns like on the LAV”.

“Those would be Bradleys, I guess” George said. “The JLIST is the new MOPP suit, or chemical protective suit”.

“You didn’t see anyone? No security patrols?” Rick asked.

“We stumbled over one body” Catherine said. “We almost didn’t see it. That was near the building we got the papers at. Dressed in BDU’s, but weird boots – with straps going around them instead of laces”.

“Tanker boots” George said. “Maybe a full time technician on post”.

They continued to ask the girls questions, referring to the map on several occasions. Finally, it was fully light, and everyone was exhausted, being up all night. “OK, lets get at least a little sleep” he said. I’ll relieve Bob and Karl; and George, I’ll wake you in a few hours”.

Rick thought about their next course of action. He finally went to wake George, and they discussed several options. George told him to get a nap, seeing Rick yawning.

He woke Rick two hours later. “Nothing to report, Rick” he said. Rick busied himself cleaning up and then had part of an MRE for breakfast.

“OK” Rick began. “We should move onto the post here and find a place to settle into – maybe one of the warehouses. It would be easier to secure, and give us better cover.

“Then, I suppose we should do a better search. Find as much as we can use – we all know what's on the list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we found things we can use that isn’t on the list. And, a bunch of stuff we’d have no clue about. For now, lets just locate the stuff. Carlos, try and identify a couple of large trucks for us to haul equipment in – a couple of HEMTs, I guess. We can go with two people in the LAVs and the 5-ton since they’re armed, that gives us a maximum of 3 drivers.”

“OK, Rick. I can probably find some trailers, too” Carlos said. “I may need the 5-ton to get them started, though”.

“If you do, we’ll do it at night” Rick said. “Those PVS-7’s the girls found are night vision devices and we’ll use them. The PVS-15’s probably are too. I think the GVS-5 is a laser rangefinder binocular, I think. We can use almost everything we find, if we can find all the parts we will need.”

It took them three days to locate running vehicles and move them to the warehouse they operated from. During that time, they also identified a number of items they would take with them. Rick wanted to maximize the amount of material they could salvage, in case they couldn’t come back. If they came back, though, they would with more drivers, and a much better tactical situation: The girls had found several ammo bunkers loaded with cases of M791, M792 and M793 ammo. They’d fully loaded the 25mm cannon for the first time and had three complete reloads on each LAV. They didn’t bother with the M793 training ammunition at all but they did fill the trailer of the M1074/M1075 palletized load system truck with the real stuff.

They filled the truck itself with 7.62 ammo, linked belts for the M240 and in stripper clips, 5.56 ammo, 50 BMG ammo in belts of both ball and tracer and SLAP/SLAP/T rounds, and 9mm ammo. They also found more claymores and other antipersonnel mines, demolition explosives kits and more shoulder launched missiles – AT4’s, Javelins, and TOW’s.

They also found a vault that they thought probably had actual weapons stored in it. They couldn’t find the combination anywhere in the office – often times lazy people will write things like combinations or passwords down in case they forget it but not this time. Finally, using some of the explosives they found, George and Dave tried blowing a hole in the wall.

They flipped a coin, and Dave won the toss – with a crank of the detonator there was a mild “phht” and a little dust. “I told you that we didn’t use enough explosives” Dave bitched. “I’ll go get more”.

“Wait, let’s see what happened” George said. George had used some figures from old engineering field data manuals, and as the manual said to do, they actually placed quite a lot of tamping in the form of sandbags they filled with dirt over the explosives. “Help me with the sand bags”.

They pulled the sand bags off and in front of them was a clean square hole in the concrete wall into the vault, with a few pieces of rebar bent inward. “What was that you were whining about again?” George asked Dave.

They went into the vault and found racks and racks of M16 rifles, M4 carbines, and M9 pistols. Against one wall they found several M25 rifles in rigid cases, with both day and night scopes, and silencers. And they found more SAWS, M240’s and M2 machine guns.

Dave had been busy with the radios and electronics, too. He was able to find the SINCGARS radios that the LAVS were designed for, and installed them. He also found the PRC 119 man portable radios and accessories for them. The key loaders were locked in a cage in one warehouse, they couldn’t find the keys for it, and the class-200 padlock proved to be difficult to open so they finally just cut the wire fence that formed the cage, and walked in. He also recovered several GRC213 HF radio sets – with all the accessories. “We can use these if we find another town” he said.

Their third night in the warehouse, or fourth day of the trip, Rick announced “OK, we’re about loaded up here. We should head back home tomorrow.”

Everyone was anxious to get home, eat something besides MRE’s, and take a shower so they were happy to agree. They decided to take the same route back, except bypassing the observatory. They left the next morning and were in Sedona before lunch.


“Rick, that was pretty easy. Too easy” George was saying a few days later, as they unloaded ammo into a container at the range complex. “The only person we saw was that guy at the observatory. There should have been people in Flagstaff but all we saw was burned out buildings”.

“I know. I just don’t know what to do about it, though”.

“Well, we could go and look, I guess. I don’t think we have enough horsepower, though” George said.

“No, I don’t think so, either. Even with the 25mm cannon we’re just too small a force to go anywhere and take names”.

“We might be able to get some folks to help from Cottonwood.”

“Maybe we could. Want to become a drill instructor?” Rick asked.

“Oh, I was thinking that I’d just sit around and drink my diet Pepsi, and let the twins handle it” George laughed. He drank diet Pepsi the way Rick drank coffee.

“That’d be something to see” Rick said. “I was watching right where they came through the fence at the depot, and I didn’t see them until they stood up right in front of me. You did a good job training them”.

“Well, it may be your turn” Anne was saying that she wanted to get more medical training”.

“Oh. I thought she was more interested in working with the animals.”

“Well, she asked me if I could teach her how to be a paramedic. I told her that you could teach her more.”

They discussed that, and other options.


One night for dinner, Rick was surprised to see tiny little fresh tomatoes on the table. “Where’d those come from? He asked, dumbfounded.

“Oh, Lisa and I have been working on a little project” Linda answered. “We decided to take advantage of the sun room and have been growing some vegetables. We decided that we couldn’t wait any longer and we picked these – but we have a lot more growing”.

“We’re working on a hydroponics system, too” Lisa said. “We think that if we can get a steady source of warm water going, we could grow more food, longer in the year”.

“How warm does the water need to be” Rick asked.

“Oh, not too warm – around 80 degrees, or so”.

“Mmm, that’s good” Rick said, taking a bite of tomato. “We might be able to work something out. But, how scaleable is it?”

“We’re just trying to get a feel for it right now” Linda said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to start growing food next spring”.

“I was wondering if we could build a big greenhouse. I think I saw some designs that used plastic film for covering, we could probably find some”.

“I suppose so. It’s still so cold, though” Linda said.

“We can probably figure out a system with a boiler and some plastic tubing – maybe garden hose, if nothing else. We can use a little water pump like from an RV to recirculate water. If we put loops of the tubing on the floor of the greenhouse, it would help warm it. The sunlight would help, too”.

They had another surprise for desert. With quite a fanfare, the young girls brought out some of Angela’s home made ice cream, topped with fresh berries. “Wow!” Rick exclaimed. More goodies from the greenhouse?”

“No, these are from Connie and Beth” Lisa said. They found these berries out in the woods and told us about them. We checked, they’re actually ‘golden currants” or buffalo berries.”

“Well, they’re very good. You two did especially well today” he told the young girls, and after walking over to them, he gave them a hug. “Oh, you’re both getting big!”


George had everyone practice with the 25mm canon on the LAV’s. The gunners sight made it pretty easy to aim, and switching between the two kinds of ammunition. The gun allowed them to select either armor piercing - discarding sabot tracer, or high explosive tracer with the flip of a switch, depending on the target.

Cottonwood had stayed in contact with them via the radio. Bill Black had updated them on their progress, and preparations. With the added fuel, they had been able to scavenge trucks from the interstate highway, but hadn’t been in touch with anyone from Prescott. Rick decided to pay Cottonwood a visit.

They drove down in one of the LAV’s, with Anne driving, Bob in the gunners position, and Rick commanding. Lisa and Carlos also went along. As was their procedure, everyone was wearing BDU’s, LBV and carried their weapons. They tested their radio link with the newly installed radios, and decided that the appropriate Combat Vehicle Crewman helmets were much better than the cranial helmets they had been using.

They drove past Cornville and were happy to see a few more people occupying homes there. They headed into Cottonwood. Rick was standing in the commanders’ hatch, and Lisa and Carlos had the roof hatches open and were standing in them. Rick noticed that the townspeople were still carrying their weapons, and continued to man the roadblock.

They met with the town council. “How are things getting along here? Rick asked.

“Pretty well, thanks” Julia Towse answered. “We were able to get quite a bit of food from the trucks, thanks to the fuel you let us have. We were also able to get a few tankers of fuel, and other things we can use”.

“Glad to here it” Rick said. “Are you getting set up for the winter?”

“Yes, but it’s strange to have to worry about that this time of the year, isn’t it?”

“Better now than when there’s another six feet of snow on the ground, isn’t it?

They chatted a bit more. “Are you conducting any school program for the children?” Lisa asked.

“Not yet. We’ve thought of it, and we probably will once the weather gets bad” Julia said. “Right now, everybody is kind of busy”.

“Mr. Black, how are you doing?” Rick asked.

“Colonel, please – call me Bill. It doesn’t look like I’ll ever be commissioned, does it?”

“Well then, Bill – call me Rick. Mind if I ask why you folks haven’t been to Prescott?”

“We don’t feel we have enough strength to do it safely, Sir.”

“How are your defenses coming along?”

“We have a few people, but a very large area to protect” Black said. “Frankly, I can’t seem to solve all the problems we have with the resources I have to work with. We hope that we’ll be able to call on you for help, if we ever need to”.

“We’ll certainly try to help. We might have a way of improving your security situation, though”.

“How can you do that?”

“We’re thinking of creating a mobile response force, to provide for area security. We were thinking of getting perhaps twenty people from Cottonwood, here, and we’d train them in security, patrolling, weapons use, communications, that sort of stuff, and then provide equipment and weapons. We’d be able to use the LAV’s in a secondary support role”. After training, your people could stay here in Cottonwood, working and helping as normal. We’d expect them to maintain their training, though – and be available for call-up if we need their help.”

“Who would conduct the training” Bill asked.

“We would. We’d take the people, feed them during the training period, and as I said, equip them. Once they’re trained, you folks will be responsible for replacing the fuel they burn during patrols or training, and you work out with them how you pay or feed them”.

“You going to give us any of them tanks, Colonel?” Frank Edwards asked.

“We only have the two LAV’s, Mr. Edwards. We will give you some appropriate vehicles, though”.

“Who would you want, Colonel” Black asked.

“We’ll leave that up to you. The number is a bit flexible, too – if you have more than twenty people that would be excellent. We will provide the equipment and personal weapons for all of them but we’re a bit limited in vehicles we can allocate to Cottonwood.”

They discussed the specifics of this idea and some qualifications for the people, their physical condition, health, experience, education and whatnot for awhile longer. “When would you like to start the training, Rick?” Julia Towse asked.

“I think that if you can find the people, we can start their training, say, the first of September. Training should take about a month, full time – and it will be conducted away from here. No leave during training, by the way”.

“I don’t know if we could find twenty men who would be willing to do that” Julia said.

“I never said it had to be men, Julia. As you can see, we have both men and women here – and I’ll tell you right now, Anne and Catherine are going to be two of the primary instructors. I don’t care what the trainees do after hours. I expect them to be adults so don’t send me anyone who can’t act responsibly. The people who do come should be in good physical condition, though. I can guarantee that they’ll be in excellent condition when they get back to you, if they last the month”.

“I’ll check with the townspeople” Julia said.

They discussed a few other topics, and then it was time to go back to the homestead.


“That went well” Rick said. “We’ll conduct the training in Munds Park, I think, and Mormon Lake. Lots of room to work, homes and buildings we can use, and close enough to the homestead that we won’t spend too much time traveling.”

“What vehicles do we want to use, Rick?” Carlos asked.

“I think we’ll go find them some humvees, the armored ones if we can, with weapons mounts. We’ll give them as many as five, eventually. Carlos, you’ll have to teach how to maintain them. George, we need to come up with a training program.”

“OK” they both said. “Dave, more radios, too – each of the vehicles should have a SINCGARS, and we should get them something like FRS radios. We’ll continue to use the ISR radios, ourselves”.

“Rick, you sound like you don’t really trust them” Linda said.

“I don’t. It’s as simple as that. We’ll give them the vehicles and weapons, but nothing that can really reach out to the LAV’s. SAW’s, not M240’s. No shoulder fired missiles. We don’t need to tell them where we live, either but they’ll probably figure it out eventually.” Rick said.

“Good idea, Rick. What about ammo?” George asked.

“They’ll get a full load out for their individual weapons. We’ll give them M16’s or M4’s. If they have personal handguns, fine, if we can find ammo for them we’ll give them some. The SAWs will get maybe four belts each. Enough to hold them if they get into trouble, and then we can resupply them.”

“When will we go back to the depot” Dave asked.

“In a couple of days, I guess. We should be able to get what we need and be back in a couple of days. We’ll need to take a lot of drivers, though”.

They collected all the small kids over at Carlos and Angela’s house. Angela could watch them for a few days. The ‘middle kids’ could help with the loading. They took the LAV’s, fully loaded with people, and the 5-ton, again pulling the fuel pod. They entered the depot and the first stop was the park with the humvees.

They found eight M1043 humvees that they could start without too much trouble, and moved them over to the warehouse they used as a base. They made certain that each one had the on-vehicle equipment it needed, and that each had two spare tires.

“Rick, we have a problem” George said.

“What's that?”

“You said you wanted to put SAWs on these. The mount on the vehicles are for larger weapons – I don’t know how to attach the M249’s on the mount”.

“I don’t want to give them a bigger gun. They’ll have to make do.”

Dave got more radios and installed them in the vehicles, and a spare with a power supply for Cottonwood. Carlos was able to find spare parts for the humvees, and the other vehicles they had. He also found a few drums of motor oil for the vehicles – the large diesels took as much as nine or ten gallons of oil for an oil change.

They located a CONEX container and another PLS truck. All of the equipment they were going to give to the Cottonwood Scouts, as they were calling them, went into the CONEX – uniforms and boots, underwear, socks, LBV and weapons and all the rest. They loaded other containers with more ammunition, more radios and more of everything they could find.

They got M40 protective masks for everyone. George found a bunker full of riot control agents so they took a few cases of them for training with the masks. “I guess we’ll all have to shave” he said, scratching his beard. “We can use a building or house for the CS training”.

“Just don’t burn it down” Rick said, laughing.

On the way home, they had three PLS trucks with trailers, loaded to the maximum. They loaded six humvees onto two lowboys (Bob and Karl drove one each) and headed home. Passing Munds Park, they dropped the one container off. The rest were stored.

The next day, they made a one – day trip to the Depot. They recovered two 2,500 gallon fuel tankers, filled with JP-8. More containers, with more equipment were loaded on the PLS trucks and they went into storage.

One last trip, and they had about everything they thought they could use. They were ready to leave when Carlos and George show up in a very large M1000 transporter – with two M2 Bradley vehicles loaded, one hanging rather precariously off the end.

“What do we need those for?” Rick asked openmouthed.

“Well, they were just sitting there” George said. “We’ll have time this winter to figure out how to drive them beyond getting them on the trailer”.

Rick just shook his head. “Are we going to be able to get that home?”

“I hope so”.

They were able, just barely, to get the two Bradleys home. Using four times as many chains to secure it to the trailer as normally would be used helped, as did Carlos driving very, very slowly. The Bradleys were parked down in the fuel storage area and the M1000 was parked out of the way in Sedona.

As expected, there were more than 20 people in Cottonwood who wanted to volunteer for their security force. Rick decided to interview them and try and get a feel for them. George and Lisa were there, also – he trusted both of their judgments. Rick decided that a few were not security material. A couple of them were quite upset when they found out that the twins would be conducting part of their training. “What could a couple of little girls teach us?” was the kindest comment from the complainers about the twins teaching. Rick showed them the targets they fired after running six miles with their full combat gear and said “600 meters. Show me you can do that and we’ll talk”. The complainers weren’t selected.

The last person to be interviewed was Bill Black. “Want to join up?” Rick asked, suprised.

“Yes, Sir” was the answer.

“Why would you want to give up your town council seat”?

“Ah, well, I hadn’t planned on doing that, Sir”.

“Don’t you think you should? You’ll have trouble otherwise”.

“I think I can handle it”.

“Sorry, I don’t think you can. You should have learned this in your ROTC training. The military is separate from civil government for a reason. Further, you can’t have two mutually exclusive organizations demanding your time. Finally, as a member of the town council, you’re effectively the judge in town, and can’t act impartially if you had to arrest someone”.

“Colonel, I was in ROTC because I wanted to serve. I agreed to be on the town council for the same reason. I still want to serve.”

“Well, then…you need to decide for yourself where you think you can best serve.

And Rick rejected Bill Black.

After rejecting the unsuitable, Rick gave each potential member a quick physical. He rejected a few more after deciding their health wasn’t up to snuff. Finally, they had thirty-two people but Rick and George both suspected that the number would drop off before graduation.

George addressed the crowd. “OK, folks. We’ll meet in Munds Park, on Saturday, September 1st at 8:00. Bring your toiletries only – everything else will be provided. Between now and then, I suggest you all start working on your physical conditioning, including running. Those of you who think you’re in good shape now – good for you. You’ll be in better shape. Those who aren’t in good shape, will be when you graduate.

Just so you know, we won’t have any chickencrap rules about bed check, or whatever. I don’t care if you shine your boots or bathe – your team mates may, about bathing anyway. We will care how you maintain your equipment, including your weapons. If you want to leave, go ahead. However, we will have night exercises, callouts, and drills. Anyone who misses one at any time, for any reason, will be dropped from training. No excuses. If you don’t want to be there, you can leave, any time you want. Any questions”?

One man asked, “How are we supposed to get to Munds Park?”

“Any way you want. If you’re serious about being there, you will be. The trip back will be in the vehicles we provide you, assuming you graduate”.

“What about my family”? Another asked.

“Tell them you’ll see them the first of October, and they may not recognize you at first.” George said.

“What about visiting our families?”

“Like I said, tell them you’ll see them in October”. With that, two people left.

“A few more things” George said. “If any of you were in the military, that’s good. This isn’t the military and we’re going to do things differently. We have to. You’re going to be a sort of constabulary, a cross between military and civil police.

“If anyone has a good suggestion for us, that’s terrific. However, unless you have a suggestion on how to do things better, please don’t bother telling how it was ‘back in the day’. Those of you who have knowledge and experience to share will be obvious to all of us. Those of you who want to tell stories will slow us down. If you don’t know why we’re doing something, ask – we want you all to understand exactly the reason that things are done the way they are, you all have to be able to think quickly and make the correct decisions.

“And, I want you all to look around at each other. You will all be a team – if one of you makes a mistake, you ALL made the mistake. All thirty-two … no, thirty now, of you are a team. You will all be tested in positions of leadership and responsibility – some of the time the tests will be obvious. Some of the time they won’t be. I expect everyone to make mistakes. I don’t expect anyone to make the same mistake twice. If you make the same mistake three times…well, let’s just say you’re out.

“An amateur is someone who practices something over and over, until he gets it right. A professional is someone who practices something over and over until he can’t possibly do it wrong. To graduate, you will all become professionals.

“See you on the first.”

With that, Rick, George and the rest returned to the homestead.


George, Rick, Carlos, Lisa, Dave and the twins all worked on the training program. The first day would be a sort of an orientation as they issued them their clothing and equipment. Then, they’d start with a test of the people’s physical condition.

George went over to Munds Park and set up a firing range. This one was only 400 meters long, not a full length one. They also used one block of houses on the far side of town to set up some quick reaction targets, a sort of “Hogan’s Alley”. And, after putting plywood over the broken windows in a garage, they had their gas chamber.

Linda and Lisa got the individual equipment set up for everyone – except for the items that required sizing. They’d have to check on sizes when the people got there but they figured they had enough of everything, except maybe shoes, to cover everyone. They’d have to wait and see. They loaded a PLS truck with three containers full of T-ration meals and MRE’s for the trainees to eat, as well. They found a Mobile Kitchen Trailer to heat the T-rations with, and got fuel for the burners.

Trips to the depot were becoming routine. They went up and recovered eight more humvees, this time the M1044’s – weapons carriers that had winches installed. They equipped four with M2 machine guns and the other with Mk 19 grenade launchers. Each of these vehicles were fully equipped with ammo, water, a case of MRE’s, and medical bags in addition to the OVE, the on-vehicle equipment the book said they were to have. George prepared load plans for each vehicle. “I want any of us to be able to reach into these vehicles blindfolded, and be able to grab the right thing – water, ammo, fuel, whatever. Standard, enforced load plans saved peoples lives in Iraq. I hope they won’t have the opportunity here”.

Two of these (one each of the machine gun, and grenade launcher version) were parked at the range complex, the fuel storage area, Carlos and Angela’s house and the homestead – just in case. Then, George spoke to Dave and after a trip to Sedona to salvage some equipment from police and sheriffs’ vehicles; Dave added the PA speaker amplifiers to four of the humvees, and to the LAV’s. Having a loudspeaker system was more useful than the sirens, though. They made a trip into Sedona and cleared out all the New Balance brand running shoes they could find, for the trainees, and scoured the sporting good stores for a few more items the trainees needed.

While they were getting ready for the training program, they all started a rigorous PT program themselves. When Dave saw Rick getting ready to go out running one morning he asked “Why are you doing that? You’re in charge, nobody expects you to be able to do what everyone else has to”.

“Dave, the reason I’m going out there is because I’m in charge. I can’t let anyone think that I’m asking them to do anything they aren’t willing to do, and show them that. Now, why not join me?” Dave joined Rick for his runs, and then George did. Lisa preferred treadmills or an exercise bike so she and Linda would get their cardio exercise in the sun room.

They also went into town and found three weight machines. They set one up at Carlos’ house (the homestead was running out of room) and after clearing out an office trailer in Munds Park they put two in there. Then, they decided to get two treadmills, and two exercise bikes. “Too bad we don’t have a sauna for them” Lisa said. They also made certain that there were enough beds cleared for the trainees, and buried the bodies in the streets.

Rick went down into the basement one day to check on the generator and batteries, when he bumped into all the women of both houses, in Yoga poses. “What's going on?” he asked, surprised.

“Oh, I thought we’d add some yoga to our exercise program” Lisa said. “It’s good for flexibility”. Rick thought about that for a few days and decided to join the girls. Dave and George started, too, and then the boys – they were running out of room in the house for everyone to have floor space. The stretching seemed to benefit Dave’s back, in particular. The guys weren’t as flexible as the girls, but they benefited from it as well.


“George, I was thinking that we need to have some sort of graduation exercise for the trainees” Rick told him one day as they were out running to the fuel storage site.

“I was thinking that too. I’ve been trying to think of something particularly challenging and I’m coming up short”.

“What sort of ideas have you come up with?”

“You know the ‘gauntlet’ exercise that the Marines did at the graduation from their basic training? You know, an exercise that starts in the middle of the night and goes for two days, and finishes up with a big celebration? Something like that, but the exercises seem so contrived.”

“I know what you mean. We should be able to do the same sort of team and esprit building in an operation that isn’t just ‘Hollywood’. I know what we can do for the celebration, though – let them roll into Cottonwood, and show the folks what they’ve accomplished”.

“That would work – we could let the folks in Cottonwood know they’re coming and arrange the celebration.”

“Yeah. What about the operation, though?”

“We’ve never been inside Flagstaff.” George reminded him. “Or Prescott”.

“And they will never be better trained than graduation day, will they?”

“No, not without experience” George said, puffing up a slight hill. Running in LBV and carrying three weapons (Rifle, MP5 and handgun) with ammo is tough on the knees, especially when you’re over 50. Talking makes it much worse.

Rick was huffing and puffing, too. When they got to the top of the rise and saw the homestead in the distance, he said “Glad we’re almost home. For the exercise, we should see how the trainees can plan the op, too. And, it should be a surprise to them.”

They discussed the rest of the training program as they finished their run.

Paradise Chapter 16


Before September 1st rolled around, the folks at both the homestead and at Carlos’ house worked to get ready for the coming winter. The animals were doing well, with a large number of chickens at both houses, and two of the cows pregnant. The cattle were producing a fair amount of fertilizer as well and after it aged, it was being worked into the areas set aside for next years crops at the two homesteads, and in a field they decided to try and plant as well. It wasn’t much, but every little bit would help, Carlos explained, and they wouldn’t be able to get much worked into the ground once the snow started.

Everyone continued on their physical conditioning program, augmented by cutting wood. George had talked them into clearing another parking area off the main road, so they dropped, delimbed, cut to length and split the trees that were in the way. They crammed as much cut wood around the houses, barn and workshop as they could, and then stacked the rest of it at the range complex. They hoped they had enough wood now, they figured that just at the homestead they had close to twenty cords of wood, and almost the same at Carlos and Angela’s. They took some of the wood to Munds Park, and just to make certain that there would be hot and running water, put some propane into the tanks for the houses and building they would be in, and got the water running with some fuel added to a generator powering a well.

Two days before the start of training, they made a trip to Cottonwood. They checked in with the town council, and also the thirty prospective trainees. Most of them had taken Georges instruction to heart and looked a little fitter than they had. Some of them also looked a little different, in some way.

After returning to the homestead, they had an all-hands barbeque, cooking a couple of frozen roasts they had. The meat was still edible, but was getting a little freezer-burned. There wasn’t a lot they could do about that, and they talked about getting enough cattle that they would be able to get fresh meat. With that, Carlos and Rick got into a discussion of hunting – and they both decided to hold off until the next year. In their travels around the woods they saw the carcasses of many game animals, deer, elk, even a bear or two that had died in the last winter, and they decided it would be better to let the population recover from that, as long as they had the food to eat.

The morning of September first, they were up bright and early, and left for Munds Park in the LAV’s. Many of the people from Cottonwood had walked there the day before, and were waiting for them. A few more were dropped off in a truck driven by Bill Black. “I hope you don’t mind if I watch”, he said to Rick.

“No, not at all. This morning is going to be pretty boring, I’m afraid though – equipment issue, a physical, that sort of thing”.

They started out at 8 AM promptly. George called out the names of the people who had volunteered, and as they answered checked them off. There were twenty seven, total – three had chosen not to show up on time, and were stricken from the roll.

The next few hours were spent with getting everyone their gear – BDU’s, LBV with SAPI plates and all the other items that went into the LBV, boots, underwear. They wrote each persons name on a piece of adhesive tape and stuck it to them, for use until they became known to the instructors.

At noon, they all broke for lunch, and the instructors mingled with the trainees, trying to get a feel for them. Rick was walking to the coffee pot when he overheard one trainee telling George how surprised he was that they hadn’t started out with a haircut. “If you need a haircut, we can help you out – but we expect you to be adults” was the response.

Everyone was relaxing after lunch when George called for their attention.

“OK, folks. Time to go to work. We’ll meet here in ten minutes and then we’ll start so if anyone wants to use the bathroom, this would be a good time”.

Ten minutes later, people were strolling around, some coming back from their quarters, some still on the way. George pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew it.

“OK, Lets have two lines right here, right now” he yelled. People were still in civilian mode, and strolled over to where George was waiting, all except three people – two men and one woman. George waited there, patiently, until everyone was present, and then looked at his watch.

“I told every one that they would make at least one mistake. Except for these three people” he pointed “you all just made one. When I blow that whistle, you have one minute to get in line. That’s one”. He walked up and down the line and checked to make certain that everyone had all their gear – those who didn’t were sent to get it. “When we do anything, we will do it in our full gear – unless you’re told differently. That means BDU’s, boots, LBV with plates, water, and everything else. For those of you who didn’t have it all, that’s two. By the way, when we issue you weapons, that will include them”.

Rick stepped up and said “OK, we’re going to start out with a little test of our physical conditioning. Just so you know we can do what we ask you to do, we’ll ALL join in”. The rest of the instructors joined Rick in twenty minutes of the “dirty dozen” calisthenics that had everyone breathing hard. “Good, now that we’re warmed up we’ll go for a little jog. Please note that the instructors are going to be carrying weapons, too”. With that he led off at a gentle pace towards the east and ran for about three miles, then off the road and up a stream for a mile before he curved back to the west and finally got back onto a street in Munds Park. About a half mile from their starting point, he slowed everyone down.

When they got to the finish, Rick stopped and turned around to see how people were doing. “OK, come on, people” he yelled to the stragglers. He could barely take a breath himself, but had to ‘gut’ through this right now. “Come on, hurry up” he yelled again as the twins and George helped the stragglers.

“We have a lot of work to do” he told them all. “You need to be in much better condition than this in order to fight effectively and survive. We will be running every day, by the way. We will also be evaluating your upper body strength, lower body strength, teamwork and most importantly, the way you can think on your feet. We set up an exercise gym with weight machines, treadmills, and the like – you may wan to use it on your own time.

“We told you that we expect you to be adults. If you want to make your bed, then do it. If you want to share your bed, that’s up to the two of you. I doubt you’ll have the time or energy. We are here to train you, and we will devote 100% of our effort to that – and we expect you to do the same thing.

“We have a few rules here, though. The first is that everyone has their gear with them all the time. You don’t have to sleep in it, and you don’t have to shower in it, but we expect you to have it within arms length. As you can see, we have it with us all the time as well – with the plates” he knocked on his vest to show that he had the plate in.

“We also expect that if you want to leave, you tell us. If you just go, we’ll find you and ask you why you snuck out like a coward.

“And finally, we expect you to tell us the truth, every time. If we can’t trust you, you can’t be here. That is the one rule you don’t get to break more than once.

“If you want to talk to me, I’ll be here every day. George?”

“OK, now that you’ve had a chance to rest, let’s go over the gear that is in your LBV or load bearing vest” George started, as Rick walked over to the humvee they would use as a taxi – the one without a weapon on it (it was inside).

Lisa was driving. “Poor old man” she said, seeing how tired Rick was. “How’d it go?”

“For them, or for us?” Rick laughed. “It’s a good thing we’ve been working out, too.” They drove off.

The next morning, they got up early and got into the humvee. They drove over to Munds Park and found George and the twins already there – they’d spent the night with at least one person awake at all times. They chatted until about 4:30 and then each person went to one of the houses that people were staying in. At 4:35 they each blew a compressed air horn and started yelling.

“Lets go, lets go” They yelled. George moved outside and picked up a SAW with a belt of blank ammo loaded and started firing short bursts. Pandemonium ensued.

Finally, Rick called a stop to it. He started blowing his whistle. “OK, form up” he yelled.

Finally, everyone was in some sort of line. “Who was on guard here?” Rick asked. Finally, someone said “we didn’t know we should”.

“Maybe you folks should start thinking. You folks are a team, we’re all part of a team, but that doesn’t mean you can sleep in and expect others to protect you. Folks, YOU will be the protectors. You have thirty minutes to get ready for PT”.

Exactly thirty minutes later, George blew his whistle. Everyone was in line in less than one minute. “Good, good” he told them, as he started some warm-up stretches.

The first week of training was mainly physical conditioning, and the issue of their M16’s. They started learning how to maintain them, and then the fundamentals of shooting – position, breathing, sight picture and trigger control. Then they started shooting – first at 25 meters to get sighted in, when a couple of shooters developed a very bad flinch. The twins worked with them, and got them through it.

George and Rick noticed that the two men and the woman who had been in formation the first day were always on the ball. They never lagged in the PT although they found it difficult on occasion, and they helped with some people who did. They also were able to shoot pretty well, they noticed – especially the woman. Rick decided to find out more about them so he called them aside after class one night.

“So, which branch were you folks in” he started out. The two men looked at each other, and then one, Joe Chizmut, said “Marine Corps, Sir”. The other man, Ted Ranson, said “I was in the Army”. “I was in the Coast Guard, skipper” the woman, Laura Hewitt, said.

“Coast Guard? How’d you learn to shoot so well?” Rick asked.

“I was part of a boarding team and port security detail, Sir. We had to be pretty good with our weapons”.

“Joe, what did you do in the Corps?”

“I was a rifleman, Sir”.

“Infantry? Did you do have any special assignments?”

“I was assigned as an instructor at MCRD San Diego, Sir”.

“And what did you instruct in?”

“I taught hand-to-hand combat, Sir”.

Ricks eyes grew wide at that. “Ted, what about you?”

“I was an 18 Bravo, Sir. I cross trained to 18 Charlie.”

Rick knew that the ‘18’ code was Special Forces. “What are those shred codes? I only know what an 18 Delta is, a medic”.

“Bravo is a weapons specialist. Charlie is operations, Sir”.

“Laura, what weapons did you qualify with?”

“Oh, most of the small arms in the Coast Guard, Skipper”. “M16, M9, shotgun, M60 machine gun, M2. I also was a designated marksman”.

“I didn’t know that the Coasties had DM’s” Rick said.

“Yes Sir. We had them in the gulf, to detonate mines from a distance”.

“So, what did you shoot for that?”

“Mostly a M14, sir”

“With a scope?”

“No sir – not usually. Scopes would get gunked up with spray and salt so we didn’t use them unless we really needed to. The rifles I used were usually National Match grade, and had pretty good sights” she allowed.

Rick sat back, thinking. Finally he said, “So. I have three ringers with me. What was your grade when you separated?”

“I was a Staff Sergeant, E6, Sir” Joe said. “I was a Gunners Mate First Class, Skipper. That’s an E6, also” Laura said. “I was a Sergeant first class, Sir, when I retired” Ted said.

“So, two E6’s and an E7. Do any of you have copies of your DD214’s?”

Laura and Joe did. Ted’s was presumably destroyed, he said - he’d been in Cottonwood visiting friends from Jacksonville, Florida when the asteroid hit. Rick scanned them quickly, and handed them back.

Well, good – Joe, you’re now going to teach us all hand to hand combat. That’s one area we didn’t think of, or have an instructor for. Laura, Ted – we will use your expertise as well. We don’t have all the answers – we’re not even sure about all the questions so I hope you’ll let us know how we can improve. So far, any suggestions?”

“Skipper, we have a couple of other prior military folks” Laura said. “What about them?”

“They haven’t demonstrated any particular area they were stellar in. Right now, don’t even tell me who they were. What were their specialties?”

“One of the women was in the Air Force, in the security police, Sir” Laura said.

“I know a man who says he was a supply guy in the Army, Sir” Ted said.

“We’ll pick out the people who demonstrate excellence” Rick said. “Any suggestions on the training?”

“Sir, the PT is fine but people are still not serious about security” Joe said.

“OK, thanks” Rick said.

Later that night, they didn’t bother with whistles or horns. They drove along the row of houses and tossed artillery simulators on the ground. The people came running out with their clothes in hand, but wearing their LBV and carrying their weapons.

When Rick and George saw that, they were pleased. “At least they got the message about their gear” George said.

Training continued. To Rick’s surprise, nobody had walked out yet. They did notice that the trainees had organized people to be on watch at night, on a two hour schedule so everyone could get some sleep. They gave them a few days and then George had Anne sneak in and set up trip wires to fire artillery simulators as booby traps. She set one on each house, and then as she was leaving, tossed one in the street.

“Alert, Alert” the watch people shouted, and blew on their whistles and horn. People started running out of their houses, and tripped the booby traps.

“OK, over here” Rick said. “How come nobody saw the infiltrator? Who was on watch? Why did everyone run out the front door? Who is protecting whom?”

The second week of training concentrated on weapons training, and started small unit tactics. They also had classes in land navigation, first aid, and radio procedures. Joe started teaching them hand-to-hand combat, which everyone, including the instructors participated in – some of the trainees enjoyed going after Rick until he was up to speed – then they tried him at their risk. They continued the physical training, and every second or third night they’d have a night exercise. The trainees continued to improve until finally, the watchman at one house caught George trying to sneak up on them.

“Good work” was all that Rick said. George was mortified. He got revenge, though – he would walk up on someone at odd times and ask them to do something totally unrelated to what was going on – ‘what is the bearing to that mountain’ or handing them a piece of rope, ‘tie a figure 8 on a loop knot’. Some mistakes were made, once, but once the students figured out that they would be quizzed like that, they started quizzing each other in their free time, and would ask the instructors to go over subjects they weren’t quite clear on.

The instructors noticed that after hours, students would help each other out with areas they were deficient in – a development that they were happy to see. “They’re learning” George said.

The third week they continued the small unit tactics. They decided to have a ‘gut check’ exercise so one morning during their run they ran to the cliffs above Munds Park. When they all got there, Rick showed them how to put on a rapelling harness, and with a “lets go” Rapelled off the cliff. Dave and George were there to make certain everyone was tied in correctly, and then they went over the edge. Two people were hesitant, but with coaxing made it over the edge. Then they learned to ‘prussik’ back up the ropes, and did it again.

One day, during PT they ran over to the local lake and Rick stopped. He took his LBV off and set it down, then put his weapons on it. “All of you do the same” He said. They did, and then Rick took them on half-way around the lake – and then into it. They had people standing by as lifeguards in case anyone couldn’t swim. Everyone made it across the lake, except two people who didn’t swim, and didn’t attempt to try. George took them aside and tried to talk them into the water.

“I don’t swim too well, either” George told them. I don’t float, I just sink. I have to keep paddling like hell or I’ll just go straight down. I can make it across the lake, though”. He got Laura to help with them and eventually they were at least ‘drown-proofed’.

Rick told the others “OK, I guess you won’t drown”. After they got their gear back on they continued on their run. That week they also had classes in military psychology, leadership, adult instruction and a dozen other subjects. Their training day started at 5:30 in the morning and lasted until at least 9 PM. People from the homestead helped with meal preparation (heating the T-rations) and housekeeping tasks like making sure they had wood and propane, to give the students more time for training. The students were responsible for their own laundry and maintaining their gear.

The third week of training also got them started with vehicle operations. Carlos gave them directions in operating the humvees and they started applying their small unit tactics to the wheeled vehicles. They all got trained up to the CLS standards and were given their CLS bags. They practiced, and practiced more small unit tactics.

They didn’t really have ‘inspections’ of uniforms. They did have spot checks on various equipment items – of the ‘everyone show me your compass’ or ‘let’s see the cleaning rod for your weapon’ type. The trainees didn’t have a lot of time for pointless inspections or checking to see that their bed corners were at a 45-degree angle. They did learn to maintain their weapons.

On occasion, Bill Black would come up to see how the training was going. Rick let him watch from a distance, but not get up close to the trainees. “We don’t want them distracted” he said. “No junkets for any politicians – we don’t have time for that sort of crap”.

The fourth week they conducted drills with the vehicles and Rick and George gave them classes in Operations. Ted helped out too. They learned about the OODA loop, SMEAC and how to plan ops, and they worked them at it all week long. Every one was given experience in every position in the humvees, driver, gunners, commander. They also worked with the LAV’s, and saw how the 25mm chain gun and the Mk 19 grenade launchers performed. They also practiced rapid reaction drills until they were literally doing them in their sleep. They were hard, fit, and sharp.

They finished the week of training up with a grand exercise where all of their skills were tested, and they finished up with a large barbeque on Thursday evening. The trainees were planning on going home on Saturday. They didn’t remember that the training went to the first of October.

The next morning at three AM they woke everyone up. “Get ready, we have an op. This isn’t a drill” they were told.

In the classroom, Rick was there. We have an actual operation. We’re going to go to Prescott this morning, in force. We need to see what's there.

“This is also your graduation exercise. But make no mistake about it, this is real. If people start shooting at us, they will be real bullets fired by real enemies.

“Now, I want you all to come up with a plan. Figure out your chain of command, disposition of people in the vehicles and how we’ll go. We will meet back here in an hour to go over the plan.

“Any questions? Lets go”.



They gave them an hour and then went back inside. “OK, what have you all done?” George asked.

Ted started their mission brief. “The team decided that I should be in command – subject to your orders, of course. Our plan is to head south I-17 to the Dewey cutoff at highway 169. We’ll send two vehicles along 169 to Dewey to check out the condition of the road, as far as Dewey, anyway. The rest of us, hopefully with your LAV’s in support, will remain in support. We want to know if that road is viable, at least as far as from Dewey, to be an escape route if we need one.

“Then, we’ll go back down the freeway to highway 69 and head in towards Mayer, and then Dewey. If everything in Dewey is OK, we’ll proceed in towards Prescott, and take one of these two routes, through this housing development towards US 89A, to the north and enter Prescott from the area around the airport, or continue on 69 and enter the town more in the town center. We’ll decide on which route to take after we send a couple of scouts, possibly dismounted, up on this peak, Spruce Mountain, to scope out the town. Then, we’ll adjust our plan.”

“OK” Rick said. “What else have you all been doing?”

“We’ve assigned vehicles and positions, and checked radios. Vehicle commanders have started to check their team equipment, vehicles, and weapons. We have a full ammo load, and everyone has two CS grenades and an M18 smoke.”

They went over the plan and Rick and George discussed how best to support the humvees with the LAVs. Finally, they agreed. “OK, Rick said. It’s 5 to 5 now, assuming everything is good to go on the vehicles and equipment, lets crank at 5:15”.

“Sir, what about the LAV’s?”

“They’re waiting for us at the freeway, along with two humvees – one with an M2, and one with a Mk-19”.

“I’ll conduct my mission brief, then”.


Rick called the LAV’s up and they all participated in the mission brief. Situation, Mission, Execution, Admin, Command and Support. Then it was time to go.

They only had about 30 miles to go. Rick had them maintain a moderate 35 MPH speed on the freeway, so they made it to the Dewey cutoff before 6:30 AM. The sky was still dark when they found what they thought would be a good place to settle down. The LAV’s took position overlooking the highway ready to support the two vehicles remaining.

“Now, we wait” Rick said. The trainees had a quick breakfast of MRE parts, and waited – ready to response in less than 30 seconds. They kept their weapons ready, and stayed close to their vehicles. None of them used any lights, and they all kept their voices down.

A couple of years later (it seemed) they got a call from the scouts. “We’re in Hecla. We don’t see any signs of life, there are burned out and collapsed buildings. We’re heading into Dewey”.

“Roger” Ted said into the handset.

Another interminable wait. “We’re in Dewey. It looks about the same as Hecla”.

“Stand by” Ted said. Looking at Rick, he asked “Now what?”

Rick and George discussed the tactical situation with Ted. Joe and Laura were commanding the two scout vehicles. “OK, we have them there. The road is open and there’s no evidence of life. We can recall them and go with the original plan, we can send the rest of the force down the same road, or we can leave them there” George said.

“We can also have them get some high ground, there’s this mountain there, ‘Spud Mountain’ that they can get a better view from” Rick said.

“They haven’t seen any threat at all” Ted said. “We have enough to handle most anything here. Why don’t we leave them there, and bring everyone else in through Mayer”.

“It’s your call” Rick said.

Ted called the scouts and told them to take up an overwatch position near the mountain, and they moved out, back down I-17.

Going down the freeway another 15 miles or so, they passed the off ramp to ‘Arco Santi’, an architectural experiment to create a completely planned community. “We’ll have to take a look there” Rick said.

They continued down to the off ramp to the Mayer and headed towards Prescott. On the outskirts of Spring Valley they sent one humvee ahead. “Nothing significant” was the report. They kept on the move through Mayer, where Rick called a stop.

“Let’s look around a little” he said. They were able to see signs that the stores had been broken into and scavenged. A liquor store had been burned out, as had a drugstore. There was fired brass scattered around, and many buildings and cars had bullet holes. They found decomposed bodies, many with evidence of animal depredation.

They checked in with the lookouts on Spud Mountain. “We can’t see anyone” they said. “We can’t see any smoke, either – but we don’t have a good view into Prescott. We can see towards Chino Valley, though – no smoke, no movement, even with the spotting scope”. They had equipped each humvee with a spotting scope, for just this sort of tasking. While the high power (60x) scopes gave a very small field of view, they were more effective at very long range than just binoculars.

“Let’s head into Dewey” Ted suggested.

In Dewey, they rejoined the scouts. “Nothing in Humboldt, either” George told Rick. “This was all a more or less suburban area – part of the growth around Prescott”.

“I know. This is pretty strange, all right. We used to eat at that restaurant over there” he pointed.

Rick got on the radio. “Everyone stay sharp. Phobos, take the lead” he said, putting one of the heavily armored and armed vehicles in the lead.

“Beanie” Rick called, using Ted’s callsign. “What's your plan now?”

Ted responded “Lets stop up ahead, as planned, and send scouts up to the top of the mountain”.

They stopped, and again Ted sent Joe and Laura’s vehicles up to scout the town. The rest of the vehicles formed a defensive laager – the tension was thick enough to walk on. Rick walked around and chatted with everyone while the lookouts positioned themselves, trying to judge their mood. Finally, the lookouts reported in.

“There are a few small fires burning” they announced. “Scattered around. They look like chimney or cooking fires. The main interchange in town has collapsed – the one on highway 69 and US 89A. It’s just dropped down, both ends. Lots of rubble and some cars, it looks like a roadblock. We don’t see anyone, but we don’t have a good line of sight with the hills”.

Rick looked at Ted. “I wonder if that interchange collapsed on its own or was blown?” he wondered.

“If it collapsed, it wouldn’t have the cars there as a roadblock, I’d guess” Rick said. “How do you want to handle this”?

“Plan A” Ted said. Straight into town, I guess, with the LAV in the lead. We should find a location overlooking the interchange and deploy the M2 and Mk19. We go in in traveling overwatch formation until we deploy the two humvees”

“Lets go” Rick said.

They drove in the last bit of highway 69 into Prescott, passing burned out stores, restaurants, gas stations and motels. One of the stores burned out was a gun store that specialized in cowboy arms guns, Rick noticed. The Costco and Best Buy were also destroyed. Finally, Rick called a stop.

“Lets send the two humvees up there” he said, pointing to the hill that separated them from the destroyed interchange. The two humvees, one driven by Dave with Bob on the M2, and the other driven by Linda with Karl on the Mk-19, scooted off on the paved roads, until they were visible just below the crest of the hill.

“Fidel, Rudy” Rick heard Dave call.

“Go ahead”

“It’s a roadblock. The overpass was blown, and whoever did it did a great job – both ends, clean like a knife. They have a number of cars behind it. I see three people lounging around, they don’t seem to have a clue we’re here. They’re armed with what look like M16’s”.

“Acknowledged. Will you be able to provide fire support?”

“We just need to move over the crest of the hill. We don’t see any heavy weapons anywhere”.

“OK, standby”.

Rick and Ted discussed their options. Finally, they decided to carefully send one humvee ahead to first meet with the roadblock.

Ted briefed everyone there, and then told Dave. “Get ready” he said over the radio, and then motioned the humvee to go ahead. The humvee disappeared around the bend in the road.

“Rudy, what's going on?” Rick asked on the radio.

“OK, I see the humvee” Dave said. It’s moving up to the roadblock, they’re just aware of it now. They’re taking cover…”

Just then they heard a huge explosion, and felt the ground shake….

Paradise Chapter 17


The ground shook, and the sounds of an explosion were heard. “Ambush” Rick shouted to everyone, unnecessarily. Everyone was trying to shout, give orders, ask questions, yell and scream at the same time.

“Take cover” Rick shouted. Looking around, he confirmed that people were in covered positions or inside their armored vehicles. “Rudy, what happened?” he said into the radio.

“Bomb, right in front of the humvee” Dave reported. “The humvee is on it’s side and I don’t see anyone moving inside. The people behind the barricade are starting to move around”.

“Doing what?” Rick asked.

“Looks like they’re going to climb over the roadblock”.

“Dave, fire a burst from the M2 across the barricade. If they make any effort to cross it, open fire. Rose, you too. Do you copy?”

Linda (‘Rose’) answered “Roger”.

“Watch out for us. We’re going to be coming in with the LAVS, in about one mike” Rick said as he heard the M2 firing.

“Vehicle commanders, hold short. We’re going to take Phobos and Diemos in and rescue the troops in the humvee.”

“I’m going with you” Ted said.

Rick looked at him. “OK”, he said. “Get in”.

“Rudy, what's the position of the humvee?”

“On it’s right side, about ten feet in back of the crater from the bomb. I see someone trying to crawl out of the back”.

“Lets go” Rick said, and the two LAV’s pulled forward. Pulling around the bend, they saw the humvee laying on its side, and the roadblock. “Lisa, put a few rounds from the chain gun into that roadblock”.

Rick heard and felt the 25mm firing. “Pull in alongside the humvee” Rick told Catherine, driving the LAV “use the hull to provide cover for us”. Rick saw that George was doing the same thing. “Rudy, what's the status?”

“They’re moving around but I can’t see them clearly” Dave said.

“Rose, do you have a clear field of fire?” Rick asked.

“Affirm”

“Take them out. Walk the rounds in behind them. Watch out, we’re going to be close”.

“’Kay” was the response from Linda. Rick heard the 40mm grenades from the Mk19 exploding behind the roadblock. As the LAV pulled into a blocking position Lisa traversed the turret to keep the roadblock covered.

“Sarge, ready?” Rick called.

“Lets go” George said. Rick saw that his LAV was in position as well.

“Rose, Rudy – keep their heads down” Rick said into the radio. “Let’s go”.

Ted had the rear hatch open and was going out of it. Rick climbed down and exited the LAV, grabbing a medic bag as he went. George was already at the humvee, helping someone from the rear – when you’re being shot at, you don’t have time for the niceties that would be followed in peacetime, like cervical collars and backboards for everyone. “Get into the LAV” George told the first person.

Rick went around to the front of the humvee. The window was shattered but not broken. With the humvee on its side it was going to be hard to get the injured out – they couldn’t go through the windows so it would have to be the sides. He jumped up onto the side and looked into the humvee.

Two of the people inside were unconscious. One person was trying to climb out of the rear door, so Rick helped hold it open as they climbed out. Getting in and out of the doors was difficult wearing LBV with a normal humvee, with the smaller doors and armor of these it was almost impossible – especially with it on its side. Finally, he was out. “Get into the LAV” Rick told her.

“Rick, get down here” George said. “I’ll go inside, I’m smaller than you are”. George knew that it would be tough getting inside the tipped over humvee.

“Come on up here” Rick said. Just then, the slow thudding of the Mk19 was heard, and another burst from the M2. George hopped up onto the humvee, and Rick held the door open for him as he dove headfirst into the back seat. It took George a moment to get his weapons, legs and arms untangled, and then he checked the two front seat passengers.

Checking the driver, George couldn’t find a carotid pulse. Feeling the persons neck, he felt an obvious deformation at the base of the skull. He moved over to the other person and checked him out. “He’s breathing” he told Rick.

Reaching into the bag, George pulled out a SAM splint. It would take three people to put a proper cervical collar on the injured man, since they’d have to remove the helmet he was wearing so the limited protection the SAM would provide would have to do. He taped the aluminum into place and then checked for any obvious injuries he could feel through the armored vest.

“How’s he doing?” Rick asked.

“Responds appropriately to pain, pupils equal and reactive” George said. “I can’t feel any other injuries”.

“What about the driver?”

“I think she has a broken neck. No pulse”

“How are we going to get him out of there?

“I don’t think we are” George said. “Not with the vehicle on its side. We can’t lift him through the door – he’s damned near as tall as you are. We’d have trouble if this thing was on all four wheels.”

Rick thought about that. “We can do that, but it will be a hell of a ride” he finally said. “Can you stabilize his head?”

“I think I can” George said. How about if I tape his helmet and the collar to the seat? Just then, they heard another string of firing from the Mk19.

“Do it” Rick said. Speaking into his ISR radio he got an update from Lisa. “OK, fire a mix through the barricade” he told her. The chain gun started firing.

“We need to do it quick” he told George.

“On it” George said.

Rick spoke into the radio again, to bring the other LAV up to pull the humvee back onto its wheels. “Ted, grab a cable from the LAV. We’re going to pull this thing over”. Ted moved off.

Rick helped George out of the humvee and they both jumped down and clear. Ted had a cable rigged from the tow point on the LAV to one on the humvee. “Pull ahead, slowly” Rick said and the LAV pulled the humvee onto its wheels.

“Let’s just pull it out of here” George suggested.

Rick thought about it. “OK” he said. George climbed into his LAV and they started to pull the damaged vehicle out of danger. “Ted lets go” he said, waiting for him to climb into the rear hatch of the LAV.

Just then Rick heard a long burst from the M2 and saw Ted shoulder his M16. Spinning around he saw a man on the side of the roadblock with a shouldered rifle. A shot rang out and Ted fell over, backwards. Rick grabbed him and saw that he’d been shot in the head, killing him instantly. Rick heard and felt the chain gun firing as he pulled Ted’s body into the LAV.

“Let’s go” he said as he got into the commanders seat. “Lisa, keep firing. Rudy, Rose, you too. Clear them out. Let’s get out of here”. Rick heard the weapons firing and saw the roadblock being torn apart by the grenades from the Mk19 and the high-explosive rounds from the chain gun. Just then, they saw a massive secondary explosion from behind the roadblock.

They drove out of danger and caught up with the damaged humvee. George had the injured man out and was starting an IV. Rick checked and directed Catherine to pull into an overwatch position then told them to stay alert. “Rudy” he said into the radio. “What the hell happened?”

“We must have hit some explosives” Rudy said. “The roadblock is scattered from hell to Sunday. Nobody’s moving that I can see, there are bodies lying around it”.

“Make sure they stay not moving” Rick said. He heard the M2 and Mk19 open up. “Lisa, keep an eye out, I’m going to talk to George. As he climbed out of the LAV he saw the Cottonwood Scouts, watching him.

“How’s he doing?” he asked George.

“He’s coming around. Still not oriented though. Check the others out?”

Rick gave the two who had been in the back seat a quick check and asked what had happened. “We were driving up, we didn’t see anyone at all, and then the truck was on its side” was all they remembered. Rick didn’t see any serious injuries so he told them to stay in the LAV. Going back to George, he saw that the injured man was becoming more alert.

Rick motioned for the vehicle commanders to join on him. He briefly explained what happened. “We lost two people, and one injured” he said, pointing at the man George was working on.

“Why’d they blow them up?” someone asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What do we do now?”

Rick stopped and thought about that. “We just got our asses kicked” he said, looking around. “But, a kick in the ass is still a kick forward. “We’ve already neutralized the roadblock; apparently they had explosives stored there. Bad move.

“I think we should go in there in a recon in force and see who the hell is running the town. And then discuss it with them” Rick said.

“What if they have more bombs?” Joe Chizmut asked.

“If we see any roadblocks we’re going to blow them up. If we see anyone with any weapon, we’ll shoot them. If we see anything that’s a threat to us, we’ll destroy it.”

“Aye-Aye, Skipper” Joe said.

“We’ll move out in fifteen” Rick said. “First we have to take care of our wounded and dead”.

“I’ll take care of them, Skipper” Joe said. “I knew Toni, and Ted was a good guy, for a grunt”. Joe picked three people and reaching into the damaged LAV grabbed a tarp that was kept there, for other purposes. They managed to get the driver, Toni Bassett, out and wrapped her in the tarp. They did the same for Ted’s body, and then Joe took a shovel from the LAV and dug up a shovel full of dirt, which he threw onto the floor of the LAV. “Nonskid” he said, to nobody in particular.

Rick was checking out James Carter, the injured man. He was alert now, so Rick and George checked him out for a spinal injury. He was sore, but seemed OK. He was also angry. “I want those bastards” he said.

“As far as I can tell, they’re already dead” Rick said. “If you’re up for it though, we’ll go find their bosses”. With that James stood up and began putting his LBV on.

“OK, lets figure out how we do this” Rick said. “Joe, what do you suggest?”

“LAV in front, LAV in the rear, SAW gunners in the hatches, AT-4’s at the ready” he said. “We should also bring the two heavy humvees, and put them in the middle. A quick “speed run” down Gurley to Willow Creek, and then back around the town. We’ll come out up here by the airport, down highway 89A to the back road here to get back to the freeway, unless we stop first”.

“George?”

“I wish we had air cover, or at least recon” he said. “But, that will have to do, I guess. We should set up ORP’s here and here” he said, pointing at the map.

“Joe?”

“I agree, Skipper”.

“OK, let’s tow the damaged humvee back to Dewey. We can pick it up on the way back. Put Ted and Toni in the back”.

“It’ll drive, Rick” George said. “It’s just scratched up badly”.

“Oh? OK, drive it back to Dewey. But, strip all the ammo and equipment out of it, and cross-load it into the other vehicles. Joe, send someone to bring George back, will you”?

Fifteen minutes later they were ready to go. They discussed the mission with everyone, but didn’t want to spend the time going through a practice of it. Finally, they called the two heavy humvees down from their overwatch positions and they took their positions in the convoy.

“Lets go” Rick said into the microphone on his helmet. They moved out, George in the lead, with the turret on his LAV trained to the right, the presumed threat vector, at least at first. They drove across the wrecked road and debris from the explosion, every weapon at the ready.

Down Gurley into the heart of Prescott they went. “Keep an eye on the building tops” Rick reminded them all. Many buildings were burned out, many more obviously looted – not scavenged, destruction for the sake of destruction. Windows broken, shelves dumped over.

They approached the city center – the old courthouse. Burned, as was a few block area around it. ‘Too bad’ Rick thought. ‘It was a nice old federal style building’. As they approached the intersection of Miller Valley Road Rick saw some people taking cover behind cars along side the road.

“George, drop a round of HEI into that first car over there” he said on the radio. George’s gunner fired and the car disintegrated, causing the people to run. “Let’s go”.

They made the turn and drove past a burned out mall north on Miller Valley Road. In front of the Yavapai Community Hospital they saw a roadblock made from Semi trailers. “Stop here” George said. They discussed the situation – they could turn around, take another road or force the roadblock.

“George, go up there and announce on the external PA that we’re going to go through” Rick said. “Tell them if they don’t move, we’ll blow them apart. We’ll be in support here, if they don’t move back off to the side and we’ll use an AT-4”

“OK, here we go” George ordered his LAV up the road.




“Mr. President that concludes my briefing today” General Peter Pace said. George Bush sat silently, thinking about the damage that the United States had suffered.

“Condi, what about the rest of the world?” He finally asked.

Secretary of State Rice stood. “Mr. President, we’re doing better than most of the rest of the world, still. The changes in the weather have caused the Gulf Stream recirculator to shut down, causing the weather in Great Britain and Northwestern Europe to become quite severe. They may be looking at a ‘little ice age’ scenario. The bad weather extends as far south as the Pyrenees, and weather further south, into North Africa is so disrupted that little agriculture will be successful for the foreseeable future. The crops that traditionally were grown there simply aren’t going to grow, and the populations lack both seed stocks and expertise in growing more suitable crops.

“Britain also reports they are being inundated with refugees from Europe, who are crossing the English Channel in anything they can find that floats. Prime Minister Blair has ordered the Royal Navy to intercept and return anyone they find. Reports from refugees from the continent indicate that near total anarchy has taken over, especially in France. Islamic fundamentalists there have apparently declared ‘jihad’ and attempted to continue the spread of islam that was stopped by Charles Martel in 732. Apparently they gave non-muslims a chance to convert, and failing that, killed them. The violence has spread throughout Western Europe, including the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and includes Germany, Portugal and Spain.

“Australia and New Zealand are attempting to get by as well as they can. In terms of agriculture they’re doing fairly well, except for the lack of fuel. They’re also reporting infrastructure failures since both nations were almost totally dependent on the importation of electronics and machine goods from Asia, or the West. We’re trying to help them with their most pressing needs.

“Africa is still an unknown. We simply cannot get any good information from there, but it seems that tribal animosities have continued at the expense of centralized governments in any of the countries. More of the same, I’m afraid, Mr. President…just more of the same. I’m sorry that I don’t have any good news to report.”

“Does anyone have any better idea of how the weather is going to change?” the President asked. The advisors looked at each other, and the President, and didn’t say anything.

“Agriculture, what about you?” the President finally said.

“Mr. President, the snow didn’t fully melt this summer north of about Topeka, Ks. That’s a lot of our most productive farmland, particularly for grains and animal feed stocks and cattle range. We don’t know what will happen next year.

“In the areas that people could plant, the crop yields are very low. We planted as much as we could, especially in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, but the crops are not coming in as hoped. We also have a problem in that the farmers used what seeds they had access too, mostly hybrids. There aren’t any more stocks of seeds available for next year, and the hybrids of course aren’t true breeders so we can’t rely on those crops for seed stock…assuming people could last the winter without eating them.”

President Bush looked at his cabinet. “We need to get seed, then. Where did the seed get grown?”

“A few major farms produced most of the seed stock, Mr. President. Two of the largest are in South Dakota and Iowa. We haven’t been able to get any information from those areas at all, all communications have broken down”.

“General Pace, we need to get those seeds, and distribute them to the places where they can grow. How can the military help with that?”

Peter Pace thought about it for a moment. “Mr. President, we can send some special forces troops to the locations. They can parachute in, find the seeds, assist any citizens they find, and once we have the seeds located we can figure out how to get them out.”

“Do it” the President ordered. “Make certain the troops know that they’re there to help, not kick tail and take names”.

“Yes, Mr. President” General Pace said.

“Condi, check with the Aussies and see if they have any seed they can spare”.

“Will do, Mr. President”.

People, our most pressing task right now is to figure out how the citizens of the United States are going to live – not this winter, unfortunately we’re beyond helping them now. We need to make certain that the Nation survives the next winter, and beyond. And to do that, we need to make certain we can grow and distribute enough food. I want a plan prepared to make that happen. We need to figure out a way to get the available seeds, and find non-hybrid seeds to use in follow-on years.

“And, please G-D, I hope that an Electoral College can be formed next year to pick a successor for me.” With that, the President stood and left the room.



Georges’ LAV approached the roadblock. He saw one person aiming a rifle at the vehicle, he decided that he’d let them take one shot with the hunting rifle and then if they fired again, he’d shoot them with the coaxial gun.

The LAV pulled up to the roadblock. “Good Afternoon” he said over the external PA system. “We’re going to come through here so please pull the roadblock aside. If there is someone who would like to speak to me, approach this vehicle, unarmed”.

George waited a bit, and repeated his message. Finally, he said, “OK, your choice” and the LAV backed up and moved to the side of the road. “Fidel, they didn’t answer”.

“OK, move aside” Rick said. “Joe, bring up an AT-4 or two”

Joe Chizmut’s humvee moved up and Joe stood up in the gunners’ position. He reached down and grabbed an AT-4 rocket. Pulling the safety pin out, he unfolded the shoulder rest and opened the sights. He took careful aim, and after taking a look behind him to ensure the back blast area was clear he held the forward safety down and pressed the red trigger button.

The missile detonated on the semi truck and blew a hole in it. George had the chain gun add a bit to the destruction. “Sarge, move up again and see what they’re doing” Rick said.

George moved up and was able to see behind the semi. “We’re going to come through here” he said. He saw people moving on the other side, some wounded.

“Fidel, move up. We’ve got wounded” he said on the radio.

The convoy moved up. Once they were in position behind George, they proceeded through the hole that was the semi. They went through the hole.

George moved ahead quickly. He went through the hole and moved up to a position where they could provide security for the others. With the turret facing to the rear he provided cover to the rest of the convoy. The rest of the vehicles moved through and took up positions along the road, each in a position to support the other. One CLS from each vehicle started treating the wounded.

Rick brought up the rear and after clearing the wreckage, moved to the side of road and checked the area through the sights. He flipped the switch to enable the PA system and said “You were warned. Who is in charge here?”

Nobody answered. Rick repeated the message. Finally he said “Is there anyone here who can tell me what has happened here?”

Finally he saw a woman stand up and wave. “Come over to the side of the vehicle” Rick said on the PA. He called for one of the scouts to frisk her. When done, he had her brought over to the rear of the LAV and Rick opened the rear hatch and invited her in.

“Good afternoon” Rick said. “What's your name?

“Elizabeth Porter” the woman said. “Why did you shoot at us?”

“Ms. Porter, we gave you all fair warning, and someone even shot at us before we broke up the roadblock. Now, would you like to tell me who is in charge here?”

“I don’t know, now. Jack Rice was in charge, he’s dead. Good riddance”

“Who was Rice?”

“He was some scum from Phoenix. He and his bastard friends came in after the bombs and took over. He had some military weapons and they killed off most of the sheriffs and blew up the police station”.

“Where are the rest of them?”

“There was a road block over by the college, most of them were there. We heard a couple of big explosions, though”.

“They blew up a vehicle of mine, and killed two people” Rick said. “They won’t be a problem any more. Are there any here?”

“No, they’re all dead. I saw Jack laying on the ground after you blew up the truck and I took a rock and bashed his head in with it. He raped my daughter, and me….she’s dead” she said, sobbing.

“Ms. Porter, I’m sorry. But I have to know, are there any others here who were part of Rice’s group?

“I don’t know”.

Rick reached for the microphone. “See if you can find some others to speak to me” he called. “Ms. Porter, what else has happened here?

“They showed up and started killing everyone who stood up to them. The Sheriff tried to stop them and they shot him. The police were going to stop them and then the police department blew up. We’ve been trying to get by since then. Some people tried to stop them, but they got killed too…my husband”….she started crying harder.

“I’m sorry” Rick said.

Another local was looking in the rear hatch. Rick helped Elizabeth Porter out and another woman stepped in. “I’m Victoria McCune” she said.

“Rick Dickson” Rick said. “What happened here?” He listened to pretty much the same story, including the rape. After listening to the same story from three or four others, Rick stood up on the LAV.

“People, my name is Rick Dickson. I hope we have taken care of the scum that was here. We cannot take care of you, we cannot give you food. We can offer some suggestions.

“Winter is coming again, soon. You need to get food lined up. Go and check the roads for Semi’s that have canned or dried foods. We’ve checked as far south on I-17 as highway 69, you can check further south. Look for fuel tankers, too. You need to get yourself organized here – your own defenses. Figure that out on your own.

“Is there anything you need right now?”

The crowd murmured. Someone shouted out “Where are you going?”

“We can’t be everywhere. We might be able to come if you need help in an emergency, but in the wintertime, probably not. You need to get yourself ready – it’s almost October now”.

Rick noticed that there were few men in the crowd. Few old people, either. ‘Rice’ and his crew had done a number on Prescott. “Is there anything you need, right now?” he repeated.

Finally a woman came over from where she had been working on one of the wounded. “I’m Doctor Okawa” she said. “Sylvia Okawa” How can we get in touch with you if we need help?

“What sort of doctor are you?” Rick asked.

“I’m an ophthalmologist, an eye doctor” she said.

“Doctor Okawa, I’m a physician as well” Rick said. “Emergency Medicine. I’d like to speak to you in a moment, privately.

“Is there anyone here who is a HAM radio operator? Rick called out. After a bit, he called out “Anyone at all with any communications experience?”

A small boy stepped forward. “I got some” he said.

“What's your name?” Rick asked.

“Wilson Stanton, sir” the boy said.

“Well, Mr. Stanton, what sort of communications experience do you have?”

“In Civil Air Patrol, Sir…That’s...”

“I know about CAP, Mr. Stanton. What sort of qualifications do you have?”

“I had a Communications Officer rating, Sir. I also have a few radios”.

“Not a ham, though?”

“No, Sir… I was working on it”.

“Does your radio work?”

“I think so. I haven’t heard anyone on the CAP frequencies, though”.

“OK. You’re going to be the communications for Prescott” Rick told the young man. “Dave, fix him up”. Dave took Wilson aside and showed him the GRC-216 radio.

“We’ll give you a spare radio, accessories and a frequency list. Dave will show you how to set up an antenna for it, too. We’ll be back in a couple of days to see how you’re doing”.

“Doctor Okawa, that’s how you’ll get in touch with us” Rick said. “Now, if you’ll join us?

Inside the LAV, Rick introduced himself, and the crew. “What shape are you in here?” he asked. The news wasn’t good in terms of food and fuel.

“Medically I guess we’re doing OK” Okawa said. “How did an Emergency doctor wind up in a tank?

“It’s a long story. Is the hospital in any kind of shape?” Rick asked.

“Except for fuel, I guess so. The generators quit running, we don’t know why but probably fuel. We haven’t had a lot of people to work on. There are a few staff people here, nurses and techs. No other physicians that I know of.” Rick asked her a number of questions about the area, people that might be in nearby towns, etc. Finally,

“OK, we’ll be back in a few days” Rick said. “We need to bury our dead”.

They loaded up and headed out to finish their planned route, passing by the other college, Embry-Riddle and joining up with highway 89A at the airport. They took a quick spin around the airport perimeter, looking for any undamaged aircraft. On the north side of the airport they discovered the ruins of the Ruger firearms factory.

They drove down the runway and cut across the country club golf course to get back onto highway 89A, and then took the ‘shortcut’ to highway 69. In Dewey they picked up the damaged humvee and took the road to Interstate 17 and headed north.

They drove into Cottonwood. Dave had called ahead, and the city council was waiting for them. Rick explained what had happened and how the two people had died. “We’ll take care of them” Julia Towse said. “Thanks for bringing them home”

“We still have to go to Munds Park today” Rick said. “Just for a final debrief, and to let everyone pick up their gear. They’ll be back this afternoon. “We’ll be back in two days, to go to Prescott”.

“We’ll bury them when you get here, Colonel” Julia said.

The mood was not what Rick had hoped for among the scouts. It’s never good to lose anyone, but at least they had improved the lot of the people in Prescott. The scouts refilled the fuel tanks on their vehicles, replaced ammunition, and then took showers and changed into clean clothes. They packed up their belongings.

While they were doing that, George was packing up Ted’s and Toni’s gear. They would keep the weapons, vests, and other items.

“Rick, come over here, would you” George called out.

“What's up?”

“Look at this”. He handed over a sheet of paper. Rick scanned it, surprised.

“Ted’s DD214. He said he didn’t have one” Rick said.

“Look at it. The discharge. It was…”

“I saw it. It doesn’t matter now, does it? He did pretty well for us”

The Cottonwood scouts were ready to go. Joe had them all in formation, one last time. “Skipper, thanks” he told Rick, and saluted.

Rick was surprised. He returned the salute. He addressed the scouts. “We saved a lot of people today. Don’t forget that. And, I’ll see you in two days. Dismissed”.

With that, the scouts loaded into their humvees and drove out and returned to Cottonwood.

“Lets go” George said, after hosing out Rick’s LAV.

“Yeah, lets go” Rick said.

That night, Rick poured himself a scotch.


Two days later in Cottonwood, following the funeral services Rick discussed the situation with the Cottonwood Scout leaders. “Obviously we can’t continue to approach new towns like we did Prescott. I’m open to suggestions”.

“The only big town we might want to go to is Flagstaff” Joe said. “If we really need to go there?”

“I think we need to find out what's going on there. It’s a big city, very near us. We might have a problem with them, but we just don’t know what's there” George said.

“Well, in the Corps we’d get some helo support for intel” Joe said. “Too bad we don’t have any”.

They discussed the issue back and forth for several hours and couldn’t reach any conclusions, one way or the other. Finally, they returned to the homestead.

The next morning, Rick told them he wanted to go to the Sedona airport. “We haven’t been there since we first went to Sedona, and the airport might have some fuel we can salvage – the jet fuel, anyway”.

“Are there any helicopters there?” Linda asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know how to fly one though – they’re quite a bit different than an airplane”.

They got dressed and drove two humvees into town, and then up to the airport. “There are some nice looking houses up here” Lisa said on the drive up to the airport. “We should check them out before winter, in case they get damaged”.

They arrived at the top of the mesa the airport was located on. “What a runway” Rick said. “A regular aircraft carrier”, referring to the sharp drop-offs at each end of the runway. He got out of the humvee and stretched.

What he saw didn’t impress him too much. There were about seventy aircraft visible in the tie-down areas, many obviously damaged. A couple had visibly broken wing spars, probably from the snow load. Many tires were flat. “Lets check out the hangars” he said.

They opened one hangar door and saw two helicopters inside, a McDonnel 530 and a Bell 414. They closed that door and went to the next hangar and walked inside. “Hello” Rick said. “Look at that”. Inside the hangar were three airplanes – a Cessna Citation business jet, a Beech King Air twin turboprop, and in the middle of the two, a Cessna Caravan single-engine turboprop. “I wonder if they will start?” he said.

They looked around the airfield and saw a few aircraft that looked like might fly, and found a small fuel service truck. “We’d have to bring a generator over to pump the fuel out of the ground” Carlos said. “I can go get one at the city yard”.

“No, wait a second…” Rick said. “What if we had air cover? That would change our tactical situation considerably”.

“What are you thinking of, Sweetie?” Lisa asked.

“Well, we have three airplanes in the hangar that might be just fine…if we can get them started. We could use the Caravan there for aerial recon…that big door on the left side can be taken off for flight…It has good visibility, and good short field capability. Plus, it’s very easy to fly … I could teach others in it. I can also fly the other two aircraft that are in there – I’m even type rated in the Citation.”

“Oh. So, we fly that airplane over to Flagstaff, and check it out?” George asked.

“Right. We could fly anywhere else we wanted to go in the other aircraft, too as long as it was within range – or we had a place to refuel”. With the Caravan, we could easily toss messages, or even a radio out the door to people we saw on the ground. I wonder if it will start?”

“Only one way to find out, I guess – do you know how to?” Carlos asked. “I haven’t got a clue”.

“I’ve flown in them a couple of times – not as pilot, as a passenger sitting in the front seat on very small airlines. But yeah, I think I can get it started if there’s any power to it. Let me go check it out. With that, Rick opened the pilot door and lowered the stairs, then climbed in. He settled into the seat and then looked around the panel. Finding the battery switch on the lower left panel he flipped the guard up and then the switch, under it. “Nope, no juice. We need to get some power up here, after we check the battery”. Rick looked around and found the aircraft flight manual, and grabbed it, then climbed down the stairs and closed the door.

Then, he found a short ladder and checked the engine compartment, and oil in the engine and the propeller gearbox. “Looks good so far” he said. “Carlos, why don’t you get that generator and let’s see if we can get anything working.”

Carlos went off to get the generator, while Rick looked at the other two aircraft. Both looked like they would be safe to fly, except for minor items – the tires needed air, things needed minor lubrication, they needed to check the fuel for water. The others looked in the other hangars for anything useful. When Carlos returned with the generator, they found a 28 volt battery charger and plugged it into the generator, after connecting the power cables to the battery. They let it charge for a half hour and then unplugged everything.

Rick checked the power again. “No, the battery is shot. Lets see if there is another battery on the shelf we can use”.

Carlos started removing the old battery from the aircraft. “Rick, I think we have a battery like this back at the homestead – batteries like this, Royce, were in that truck of batteries we found. We never did anything with it since it was 24 volts”.

“OK, lets close up here and head back. We can come back tomorrow and try it. Lets get the battery specs on the other two airplanes, too.”

That night, Rick asked Dave to send a message to Cottonwood and Prescott, and see if there were any aircraft mechanics or pilots available. It would take a day or two to get the information.

The next morning, Rick and Carlos threw themselves into getting the Caravan flying. They added acid to the new battery and then after installing it in the aircraft, gave it a light charge. Rick checked the power, and then with great difficulty rolled open the big hangar doors. “We need to grease those” Carlos said.

With the hangar doors open, they were able to push the big aircraft outside. Rick gave them a quick briefing on what they needed to do. “Someone standby with the fire extinguisher” he laughed, as he went through the external and internal preflight inspection checklists, and the before starting checklist. With a last look to make certain everyone was clear of the prop, and that there was an escape route for him, he yelled “Clear” and flipped the battery switch to On, the fuel boost to on, the auxiliary fuel pump on, confirmed there was no fuel flow (indicating a fuel system leak) and then moved the starter switch and ignition switch to “ON”. The starter groaned and the propeller started to slowly turn.

Rick kept an eye on the gas turbine RPM (N2) speeds and when it showed speeds above 12%, checked that there was oil pressure indicated, then moved the fuel condition lever to low idle. The engine was running.

“Good deal” he yelled outside, before he realized that nobody would be able to hear him. He let the engine run, happy that it hadn’t started “hot”, a very bad thing. When the N2 RPM was above 52% he flipped the starter off and confirmed that it had stopped, by looking at the annunciator panel. No “starter engaged” light showing.

Rick ran through the rest of the engine start checklist, then pulled up the pilots boarding stairs and closed the door. He motioned to have the wheel chocks pulled, and then released the parking brake. The airplane was moving on its own power; Rick wanted to make certain it would stop before he tried anything more. The brakes squealed a bit but held, and so he eased off and let the aircraft roll forward. He checked the nose wheel steering, and as he taxied clear of the parked aircraft, turned into the wind.

Rick set the parking brake again, and pressed on the brake pedals. He then completed the before takeoff checklist, especially confirming that the fuel would feed from both tanks, that the electrical system was working correctly, that everything that could be checked was checked. Then, he taxied back to the hangar and shut the engine down.

“Everything looked good” he reported. “Lets see if anything starts leaking”. They waited for the engine to cool and then looked inside the engine cowling for leaks, then checked all the fluid levels again.

“Looks like it’s going to fly” Rick finally announced. He went over to the humvee and pulled out a helmet bag with his headset and sunglasses. “OK, I’m going to go and give it about a half-hour flight. Dave, you can probably get the generator going in the office and monitor me on the radio there, or use this handheld – I’ll be on…I don’t know, I guess it doesn’t matter. 123.45 is as good as anything else”. Lisa had stayed home today, after quite a discussion over the safety of the flight.

He got back into the aircraft and went through the engine start checklist and before takeoff checklists again, and then taxied to the end of the runway. One last check to make certain the controls were free and he set the flaps at 20 degrees, moved the power lever forward making certain that neither the torque or operating temperature limits were exceeded, and then release the brakes.

It had been a few years since he had flown but it all came back to him. 85 knots and the airplane felt like it wanted to fly so he pulled gently back on the yoke. Up he went. He stayed in the vicinity of the airport but checked everything he could – fast, slow, turns, departure (power on) stalls, approach (to landing, or power off stalls) (at two thousand feet above the ground), and checked all the radios he could. The GPS powered up but had a warning to not use it for instrument flight since the database hadn’t been updated in ten months. “Coming back” he finally said into the radio, and managed to make a respectable (one that the aircraft can be used tomorrow) landing.

“OK, I’m back in the Air Force” he said, climbing out of the airplane. They turned the airplane around and pushed it back into the hangar.

“Rick, I found a tractor thing while you were flying, to move the aircraft – it looks like it has a little lawnmower engine so I’m going to work on it.” Carlos said. “I’m going to need some parts for the fuel truck, I think. Ignition parts, coil, condenser. It’s an old gas engine.”

“OK, whatever you need. I suppose we can find parts in Prescott or Cottonwood if we need them.”

Rick noticed that he was dripping with sweat – it must have been the excitement. “Lets figure out what we can do with this” he said. He gave everyone a tour of the airplane, and pointed out some of the features. “It doesn’t go very fast, maybe 160 knots in cruise but it can cruise for about five hours, then land on a very short runway. It can also carry a bunch of stuff, or in this model eight passengers in the back. The cargo door there can be removed before flight so people or cargo can be parachuted out. It will also fly pretty slowly so the crew can get a good look at the ground”.

“So, we can fly up to Flag and look around?” Dave asked.

“Yeah, I think so. Can you rig one of our radios to the audio panel?”

“Maybe. Probably, if the maintenance and wiring manuals are around”.

“See if they are, would you? I also want to make a survival kit for this aircraft, and I suppose we should try and figure a way to drop some sort of radio to the ground, so it will still work. Maybe some food and medical supplies too? I don’t know” Rick finally said.

They went back to the homestead discussing the possibilities.

Paradise Chapter 18

It took Dave a few days of experimenting before he decided that using a man-portable or vehicle SINCGARS radio in the aircraft was going to be a lot of work – it could be done but it would be very sloppy, and he needed a real aircraft antenna, anyway. He finally realized that they needed to make another trip to the depot in Flagstaff.

“There are a number of the RT1794 modules up there – the receiver/transmitter for the SINCGARS airborne radio. I bet we can find the control panels, and cables too” Dave said. “I’ll need the RT1794, the rack it goes in, the interconnect cables between the two, the interconnect cable to the audio panel, an external antenna, and while we’re at it, I guess we should get spares, and for the other aircraft”.

“OK, Dave” Rick said. “Any word from Prescott or Cottonwood about mechanics or pilots?”

“There are several people in Prescott who are or were aircraft mechanics, and two pilots. One guy in Cottonwood who was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam”.

“OK. We’ll go visit tomorrow – we owe Prescott a visit anyway. Put out a request for an aircraft avionics technician or anyone with any aircraft maintenance experience at all – there might be some people who were specialists in some subset but not full A&P mechanics – fixed wing or rotor. They may be able to help. We’ll try and talk with each of them”.

“What are you thinking, Rick?” Lisa asked.

“If we have a helo pilot, we might be able to get the helos running. That would be terrific. In the mean time, if there is someone with actual aircraft maintenance experience, maybe we should get them to the aircraft. I suppose we can invite them down to live here, near the airport – or get them to start working on aircraft at the airport in Prescott, it’s bigger….Oh, wait a second!”

“What?” Lisa said.

“Wulfsberg Radio had their manufacturing plant in Prescott – it was over opposite the runway from what used to be Ruger, near the golf course”.

“So?”

“If we can find the right radios, we’re going to have some terrific radio capabilities. Dave, ask Prescott if anyone is around who worked at Wulfsberg, we’ll talk to them too.

“We can start planning for the future. We have a few aircraft here that may fly, and there might be more in Prescott. We can equip them with good radios, or equip vehicles with radios that will talk to the aircraft – whichever is easier. They’ll make our jobs a lot easier”.

“Yes, it would – I can put a radio in the humvees or LAVS much more easily than in the airplane” Dave said.

“OK. Let’s try that – I’d like to get everyone on the same frequency though, it makes coordination a lot easier – until we have a lot of people trying to talk. How about salvaging some of the radios out of the wrecked aircraft, and installing them in the LAVS and our humvees?”

“OK, I can do that today, without much trouble at all” Dave said.

“Thanks. I think we should talk to these pilots, and see if there are any more available. If we can get one of the helicopters flying we can get aerial reconnaissance, we can get to places in the winter as long as the weather is good, and we can start exploring further away than we would want to drive. The maintenance types can help too.”

“If they’re going to be staying here, where will be put them up?” Linda asked. “We don’t have much room here”.

Lisa answered “We have a whole town full of houses that are available, including some nice ones right around the airport – we could fix them up, get them a power system or generator, propane, whatever. We’d have to find houses that had wells and septic systems which shouldn’t be too hard. All we’d have to do is give them some food and assistance”.

“Good idea. Linda, why don’t you and Lisa go over to the airport and check out a few houses? Also see if they have anything we might want. If there are bodies we’ll bury them later”.

“OK, we can do that” they said.

“Lets go, then” Rick said. “Carlos was going to be there at the airport in about fifteen minutes.”

Dave was able to salvage ten aircraft radios from various wrecked or ruined aircraft. He only selected radios from aircraft that had 24 volt electrical systems, since the vehicles all were 24 volt. He also got their installation trays, microphones and after looking at the poor quality of the speakers, also pulled the audio panels for their audio amplifier capabilities and then found larger speakers at the Radio Shack.

Lisa and Linda found two houses that were intact, and had wells near the airport. Carlos got a generator hooked up and verified that the well pumps worked, and they ran the water to clear the pipes. He put a power system on the watch list, for each house and the hangar and office, as well. With the water situation resolved, he got the propane service truck from the city yard and filled the two tanks.

While all this was going on, Rick was flying the Caravan. He wanted to get a few hours in it before he would trust an aircraft that hadn’t been maintained in almost a year. He flew over Sedona and the Verde Valley, looking for signs of anyone alive. He figured that while an airplane may attract a lot of attention, it wouldn’t all be good so he stayed up around 11,000 feet, and used binoculars for a close-up of anything interesting.

When he landed at Sedona Carlos came up in the fuel truck which he had gotten running. Rick conducted a little class in how to refuel an airplane, and then checked the oil levels. Happily, it looked like there wasn’t any particular consumption so the shaft seals on the turboprop were probably still good.

“Rick, I’m going to need to bring a generator up for the airport, to pump fuel out of the ground, anyway” Carlos said. “We can set up a solar system for the office and hangar, and another for the houses”.

“Good. Lets hold off on the houses until we know someone will be in them, though”.

“OK. But I already filled the propane tanks on the houses and office”.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, it won’t go bad” Rick said.

Dave came up. “I’ve got the radios ready to go, and I installed two already in the humvees. I want to change the way they’re secured but they work now”.

“Great, Dave. Any trouble?”

“No, not really. By the way – the little helicopter has one of those Wulfsberg radios in it already, a P2000”.

“Oh, really? Maybe it was for police use. Anyway, cool”.

They drove back to the homestead. Carlos came in and said “Rick, Laulu will be having her puppies any day now. I’d say less than a week, maybe just one or two days. And, it’s getting close to time to butcher the steer”.

“Oh. Anything I need to do for Laulu?”

“No, I fixed her up with a little nest. She should be OK.”

“What about the steer – what do we need to do?”

“I’ll take care of it – unless there’s a butcher in Cottonwood. We should find out how they’re doing with their beef, too”.

“OK, we can do that. Why don’t you come with us to Cottonwood tomorrow?”

“Will do. See you tomorrow”.


They drove to Cottonwood the next morning. The Cottonwood Scouts were out patrolling, and as they’d pass a vehicle they would stop and chat. They met with Julia Towse and Bill Black. Rick asked after Mr. Edwards and found out that he was in poor health.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Rick asked.

“I don’t know, Colonel” Bill Black said. “I’m sure he’d like to see you but I’m afraid he’s just so old…the winter was very, very hard on him. I don’t know if he’ll be able to survive this winter”.

Rick went to visit Frank Edwards. What he saw wasn’t good. Frank was in very poor shape, and looked it. He was glad to see the visitors, though.

“Oh, the folks are taking good care of me, Colonel” he responded to Ricks questions. “I just don’t think I can go much longer, though”.

“Let me check you over, then” Rick said. He asked the others to wait outside, and then helped Edwards remove his jacket and shirts. He pulled his stethoscope to his chest, and listened.

“Frank, it doesn’t sound good” he said. “I don’t think I can help you. I’m so sorry”.

“Colonel, don’t worry about it. Take good care of my town for me, though, would you?”

“Sure. Are you in any pain?”

“No. I knew I had cancer – it was diagnosed just before the bomb hit. I’m surprised I’ve lived this long, to tell you the truth.

“I’ve been on borrowed time since the war” he continued. “I almost died twice in Bastogne, I almost froze to death, and then I was shot during the breakout. I’ve tried to live each day like it was my last. I hope I was right”.


“If it gets to be painful, we have some analgesics I can give you” Rick said.

“No, you save them for the saveable, Colonel”.

“I’ll check in on you from time to time, if that’s OK”

“Sure – but like I said, they’re taking good care of me, so don’t worry much. Just one thing – please don’t tell anyone I have cancer”.

Rick helped him dress and then shook his hand. Don’t worry, Mr. Edwards. I’ll make sure the town is OK”.

Rick walked outside and walked back to the town city hall. “OK, who was that helicopter pilot?”

Julia Towse brought a man in his sixties forward. “Colonel, this is Alex Deweber”.

“Mr. Deweber, nice to meet you” Rick said, shaking his hand. “Have a seat”.

“Thanks, Colonel, I understand you’re looking for a helicopter pilot?”

“Yes, we are. Tell me about your experience”.

“Well, I was a pilot in Viet Nam – I started with the First Air Cav my first tour, in ‘65”. I stayed for a back to back second tour, mainly flying dustoffs from Da Nang”.

“Wow. Which unit were you with in the First?”

“Alpha/227 – I was a nineteen year old Warrant Officer. I had two helicopter commanders killed my first two days flying in combat, and three helos shot up”.

“You were at A Shau?”

“Yes, Sir. All thirty-five days of it”.

“And then you went to Da Nang, to China Beach?”

Deweber laughed. Well, yes, Sir...But it was nothing like the TV show”.

“No, they never are. So, then what happened?”

“I was assigned as an instructor at Ft. Wolters. I stayed there for a year and went back to Viet Nam”.

“Do you still fly?”

“I have been – I used to instruct at Guidance Helicopters”

“I see. How much time have you got?”

“Oh, I quit counting – around twenty, twenty-five thousand, I guess.”

“Mr. Deweber, do you have a copy of your ticket, and your DD214?”

“Here you go” as he handed over his logbook and papers.

Rick scanned them. Deweber had much more than twenty five thousand hours – closer to thirty five thousand, Rick estimated. He also had a current FAA medical and Flight Instructor ratings – both single and multi engine, and instrument, in rotorcraft.

“So, you retired as a CWO-5. No fixed wing?” Rick asked.

“No, Sir – I like the rotors. The Army tried to make me transition to fixed wing but I didn’t want to”.

Rick leafed through the back of his logbook and saw the FAA endorsements – designated check airman for rotorcraft, aviation safety councilor, type ratings in a number of different turbine powered aircraft.

“Ever done any maintenance?”

“Not really. I was a maintenance officer in several units though – more of an administrator”.

“Chief, we have a Hughes 530 and a Bell 414 that might fly”.

“The ones at Sedona?” Deweber asked.

“That’s right, you’re familiar with them?”

“Yes, Sir…I knew the pilots that flew them – the 530 was for the police department, the 414 belongs to a surveying company”.

“OK, can you fly them?”

“If they can fly, yes sir”.

Rick thought about it. “OK, Mr. Deweber. Here’s the deal. We have the two helos. I can fly just about anything with fixed wings, but out of my 11,000 hours of flight time I have a grand total of 0.7 hours in rotors. We can use rotor support, if we can get it.

“We don’t know if we can get those helos flying. There may be some maintenance types in Prescott, we’re going there later. If we can get them flying, would you be interested in flying them for us?”

“What about my wife?”

“She can come too”

“No, sir. I mean, my wife is retired Army also – she was a helo mechanic and then a maintenance officer. She retired as a CWO-5, also. She’s got an A&P, an IA, and also flies”.

Ricks mouth dropped open. “We only heard about you”.

“Well, if she’s not included…” and he stood and gathered his papers.

“Hold short, Chief” Rick said. “You’re both welcome to join us. But, we have a few rules. You come to live with us, and don’t tell anyone where you are going. We like our seclusion. We have a house you and your wife can use. We are also looking for more maintenance types – do you know of any more here?”

Sitting back down, Deweber said “No, most everyone lived closer to the airport – we were more or less gypsies, we lived in our fifth-wheel and traveled around a bit after we retired. We kind of liked Prescott but the trailer parks didn’t have any spaces so we settled in Cottonwood”.

“Why don’t you go get your wife and discuss it with her?” Rick suggested.

“OK. What would we do about food?”

“We’ll help you out with that, too. The house has running water, propane, and will have either a solar power system or a generator. If we can find any more maintenance types, they’ll be living nearby, too. I can’t pay much, but do offer full health benefits” Rick said with a smile.

“OK, Colonel. I’ll ask her” and Deweber left.


Rick walked outside and saw Carlos walking towards him. “How are things?” Rick asked.

“Oh, OK. The cattle are doing OK, I guess. They’re keeping a few breeders and getting ready to slaughter in a week or two, so I was thinking of just bringing ours up here too”.

Sounds good, you’re the expert” Rick said.

“I’ve arranged for another feeder for us, for next year. Want any horses?”

“Horses?”

“There was a rancher who raised quarter horses – he recently died, without any family, and there’s nobody who wants to feed them over the winter.” Carlos explained.

“Oh. Do we have enough feed?”

“No, but we can come cut the late hay and use the farmers, if we want to use the fuel”.

“Sounds like a no-brainer to me” Rick said. “Let me know what we can do to help you”.

“I’ll just need the stock trailer and trucks, and the fuel pod to fill their tank. I guess we can find someone to farm the land for us next spring”.

Bill Black came up, and Rick discussed their plan. “It’s up to you, Bill. We don’t want to take the horses or feed if you folks will be using it”.

“No, that’s fine, Colonel. I’d hate for those horses to die off”.

“Bill, is there anyone here who would like to raise the horses and stay here? We don’t really have room for them but we’ll help with the hay cutting. Next spring we can use the horses” Carlos said.

“We could, but we are still kind of short on fuel and wood to heat another house. There is one family, the Hernandezes, that used to work that farm”.

“Manny Hernandez?” Carlos asked? Rosalita, three kids?”

“I think its four kids now” Bill said. “Know them?”

“My cousins” Carlos said. “Good ranchers. Where are they?”

Bill explained it and Carlos went to find them. “OK, Bill. It looks like the Hernandez family will be horse ranchers, with a little help. How are things here?”

“OK, but I hate politics” Bill said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t quit and join the scouts. At least there’s a chain of command – I don’t have to be in charge, but I hate the arguing about every little thing”.

“What about you, Bill – found a girl?”

“No, I haven’t. A few have been interested but they were more interested in being Mrs. Town Council than my friend, or wife”.

Rick clapped him on his back and said “It’ll work out” he said.

Alex Deweber walked up with a woman in hand. Colonel, this is my wife, Sherry”.

“Nice to meet you” Rick said, shaking her hand. “Would you come inside, please?” They went inside and sat down.

“So, did Alex explain our situation to you?”

“Yes, sir. We’re interested” Sherry said.

“OK, great. Do you need any help moving?

“We only have a few things left. Our trucks don’t start, and the fuel has been drained. Our trailer pipes froze up when we ran out of propane so we’ve been in a house in town. We can pack and be ready to go in a few hours”.

“OK. Remember, we’d rather that nobody knew where we are. Is there anyone you will want to tell?”

“No, not really – we weren’t really part of the community here. We mostly spent our time in Prescott before the bombs, and since then there hasn’t been a lot of time to make friends”.

“OK. We’re going to Prescott next. There are supposed to be some maintenance types there, and some people from the Wulfsberg factory. Would you both like to come with us, and we can talk to them?”

“Let’s go get our BoB’s” Alex said.

They drove into Prescott, and saw that there was another roadblock. Fortunately, the people in town welcomed them this time. They went over to the hospital, which had become a surrogate city hall.

“Dr. Okawa, good to see you” Rick said.

“Dr. Dickson, you too” she said.

“How are things going here?”

“We’re managing to get by. Your advice has helped out quite a bit, thanks”.

“That’s OK. Have you been able to find food and fuel?”

“Yes. We had one man who knew how to drive big trucks and he taught a few others. We’ve been down 89 to Kirkland Junction where the road was blocked with a land slide, but found quite a few trucks between here and there. Some started like you said they would, and some didn’t but we got all the food and other supplies they had. We’ve also had a few trips onto I-17 down to Bumble Bee and found lots of trucks. We’re going to be very careful going further down towards Phoenix, though. And, we’ve been up 89 as far as Paulden but haven’t found anything”.

“OK, sounds good. As I said, we’ll offer what help we can. Do you need anything right now?”

“Security is our main worry. There are few of us that are comfortable with military things”.

“The group we came with the last time we were here was mainly from Cottonwood. We trained and equipped them to be a security force for Cottonwood, with the understanding that if we needed them we could call on them for assistance in other areas. I don’t think we’re going to have time before the snow falls to train another class, though”.

“Oh. How long is the training?”

“Four long, hard weeks – 28 days, day and night, no time off”.

“Could you train a group of us? Please?”

I don’t know. Do you have twenty or thirty people in good physical shape that are willing to learn how to be a combination of police and infantry? The physical part is quite important”.

“I’ll find out. If we can find them, can you train them?”

“I’ll have to think about it. In the mean time, how about those aircraft mechanics?”

“I’ll get them” Dr. Okawa said, and left the room.

Rick got up and walked around the hospital. It was a modern, new facility and the ED would have been a nice place to work a few shifts, he decided.

Sylvia Okawa came back with four people. “Here they are” she said, and introduced them. Rick left the interviewing to the Dewebers, with the understanding that they’d be their neighbors, their workers, and that they couldn’t tell them where they’d be going.

“How’s the health of the town?” Rick asked Dr. Okawa.

“We’re doing OK, I guess. We’re moving people around to houses that have good water supplies and septic systems, and we’re cutting wood for the winter”.

“We have a lot of wood, we’ll bring some for you in the next week or so” Rick said. “How are you doing on liquid fuel?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t got any experience with this. There’s so much I don’t know”

“It gets overwhelming” Rick agreed. He had a thought “Would you like some help getting organized? I may know someone in Cottonwood that can help get you organized”.

“Oh, please. Yes, I would. I just want to be a doctor”.

“Me too. I’ll see if he wants to come help” Rick said. “If he does, I’ll bring him around with the wood. If you could, find a flatbed semi trailer that we’ll trade you for”.

“OK, if we can find one…”

They discussed a few other issues as they walked around the town. When they returned to the city hall, the Dewebers were there waiting.

“So, what do you think?” Rick asked.

“Colonel, three of these folks are mechanics – one is an A&P and the other two were on vacation from vocational school – one at Wyo-Tech and one from Rice. The other is an FCC radio technician with radar endorsement who worked at Wulfsberg.”

“Oh. OK” Rick was thinking about it. “Do you think you can work with them?”

“I think so” Sherry Deweber said. “The two kids are anxious to learn, and I know Henry, the A&P. He has a family though, and doesn’t want to move”.

“OK, how about if Henry and the radio tech start setting up a maintenance facility at the airport? We can help them with fuel and food, and maybe some help with a power system, whatever. I’d like Henry to find an apprentice or two, too.”

“I think they’ll go along with that” Alex said. “What about the kids?”

“Introduce me” Rick said and they went inside.

“Colonel, this is Alice McCune, and Aaron Jones” Alex said.

“Alice, Aaron, good afternoon. Have a seat, please. Has Alex explained what we want?”

They both nodded their heads. “Relax, people… I don’t bite” Rick said.

“So, Aaron – you were going to school where?”

“Northrup-Rice, Sir”

“In Los Angeles?” Rick asked, surprised.

“That’s right”

“You’re pretty lucky to be alive, I think. I don’t think much of Los Angeles would have survived bombs and then the rioting that would have happened”.

“I guess, sir”.

“Is your family here?”

“They died during the winter, Sir”.

“I’m sorry. So, do you haven anyone here?”

“No, Sir – working on your airplanes sounds like a good deal”

“How about you, Alice?”

“About the same, Sir”. “I was attending Wyo-Tech in San Francisco. I was on my way back to my Family in Phoenix from a trip to the Canyon, and we spent the night here in Prescott”.

“We?”

“My Sister, Katy. She died”.

“I’m sorry” Rick said.

“That’s OK, Sir. You killed the bastards that killed her”.

“We can offer you some good work, a house, food and whatnot. I expect that the weather is going to be particularly bad this winter so we won’t have much flying to do but there are a few aircraft that need to be worked on. We’ll also be providing you with combat gear, weapons, and combat training, if you’re interested”.

“I am, Sir” Alice said. “Me too, Colonel” Aaron said.

“OK, is there anyone you want to say goodby to? How long will it take you to get packed”?

“I don’t have anyone” “Neither do I, and I don’t have much – I can be back in ten minutes”.

“OK, then – we’ll leave in about an hour, we’ll meet you here” Rick said.

“Alex, how about the two others?”

Rick met the two that were staying in Prescott. “We will get you whatever you need, but you’re going to be on your own for a lot of things. I’m sort of envisioning the airport as a heavy maintenance base – for the things we can’t take care of.”

“Where would we stay?” asked Bernard Wilson, the radio technician.

“Anywhere you want, I guess. I’d find a house with a well and septic system. We can help you with fuel for a vehicle but at the airport you should have a bunch of avgas – take the catalytic converter off a car and use it. We can help you with propane, too. And, if you can find some apprentices, that would be great.”

“I’ll stay in my house, it’s on Willow Creek and we’re pretty well set up. I could use some propane, though” Henry Murphy, the A&P mechanic said. “Bernie, I’ll help you get set up”.

“Good. We’re also going to be bringing you a radio to contact us. Bernie, you shouldn’t have any trouble setting it up. We will want to install some radios in at least three, possibly five or more aircraft – plus whatever you find here that might be useful”.

“What would be useful to you, Sir?” Carl asked.

“It depends. I flew F4’s and C130’s in the Air Force, I’m type rated in a couple of airliners, and in Citations and Learjets. I’m very comfortable in King Airs and Citations, and can fly Caravans and anything smaller. I guess you can find out what's on the field in flyable condition, first of all. The Dewebers are the rotorcraft experts. I think that we should concentrate on turbine helos for the time being, though”.

“OK, we can do that. We’ll take a quick look at the field before you come back” Henry said.

Rick stood up and shook their hands. “Thanks very much”.

They left, and Rick went outside. “Sylvia, how are you doing at fixing up the hospital?”

“We’re not, very much. It’s pretty much a mess – dead bodies, blood and food that decayed, it’s terrible. I’m using a doctors office for patients right now”.

“Oh. OK, that makes sense. How’s the pharmacy?”

“Except for opiates, pretty good – the thugs got all the analgesics.”

“If you need anything, let me know. We might be able to help. How’s the lab here?”

“We can actually get the lab moved and set up and running. We have a couple of good lab techs that survived”.

“OK, that’s good. I could have used a lab back in January but we made out OK”.

Aaron and Alice walked up carrying some bags. “Ready, Colonel” Alice said.

Rick directed her to the vehicle. “Sylvia, we’ll be back in a few days with the wood, and perhaps a helper for you”.

“I’ll look forward to it, Rick” she said.

They went back to Cottonwood, and the Dewebers packed up their few items. “We’ll come back for the rest later” Sherry said.

They went to the homestead and Rick explained that they still needed to get the power system set up, and get them some food. They all met each other, and enjoyed a good meal.

The next day they took the maintenance folks to the Sedona Airport and showed them what they had. Carlos got a generator for them to use at the house until they got a power system set up, and they moved in – the Dewebers in one house and Aaron and Alice in another. Alice was adamant that they’d be sleeping in DIFFERENT! Bedrooms.

“Alex, I guess the first priority is to check the helos out and see if you’re willing to fly them” Rick said. We could use some recon when we check out the areas around here. Get the kids on a program on the fixed-wings too”.

“Roger that, Colonel. We’ll take care of them”.

“OK, I’m going to put a few more hours on the Caravan before I trust it too far away.”

“Why not let us check it out, first? The helos will wait”.

“OK, good deal. We should find you guys a vehicle, too. If any of you need more clothes or anything the town is right down there. And, I guess we should give you all some weapons”

“OK. I have a couple of weapons myself, Colonel, we’re OK for right now”.

“What have you got?”

“I have an M14, an M16, and a couple of 1911’s. My wife has the same”.

“How are you fixed for ammo?”

“We can always use more, but we’re ok for right now”.

“OK, we’ll fix you up with an M240 and some other things”.

“Got a Browning?”

“We can probably spare one. Sherry should start making a list of the spares that she thinks we may need, by the way”.


Rick walked over to Dave. “When you get a chance, can you try and get the phones working up to here?”

“OK. You know, we should try and find any phone company people in Cottonwood or Prescott – maybe we can get a real phone system running”

“You’re the man. Take care of it”.


Finally, they went back to the homestead. Rick talked to Bob and Karl. “Do you guys want to go get a semi and flatbed trailer and bring it up here?”

“OK” they said, eagerly.

“Good. Tomorrow we can load it up with firewood – lets take it from the extra parking area. We’ll take it to Prescott in a day or two”.

“Can we use the tractor to load the wood? Karl asked, thinking of the work to load nine or ten cords of wood onto the trailer.

“Sure. Just be sure to stack it tight enough for a rat to get through, but not a cat. Get the girls to help too, just make sure you all wear gloves, goggles and hard hats. And be careful”.

Rick went inside and took his gear off. He sat down heavily in the chair, exhausted. Lisa walked behind him and started rubbing his shoulders and neck. “Tough day at the office, dear?” she asked.

Rick pulled her into his lap, and hugged her. “This is some retirement we have”.

“It sure is. No sitting around and getting old for us!”

“It’s a lot of work though”.

“Yeah – well like you told me when you were in medical school, we can rest when we’re dead”.

Paradise Chapter 19

The next day, Alex had the Caravan checked out and ready to go. When Rick went over to the airfield he saw that they had already started checking out the helicopters. The Hughes 530 was out of the hangar with the engine cowling removed and the mechanics working on it. Alex and Sherry Deweber was working on a small aircraft tug’s engine. Sherry walked over as Rick pulled up. “Good Morning, Colonel” he said.

“Good morning. Please call me Rick, I retired a long time ago”.

“Well, Sir – you’re running this outfit, so it still fits”.

“Anyway, how are things going?”

“Not bad. The kids seem to be doing pretty well. We’re getting things organized around here. We’ll have this tug running in an hour or two, I think.”

“How’s everything else?”

“We like the house. We’ll figure out the electrical situation, in the mean time we have a lot of avgas that’s probably not going to last too long”.

“I wonder if Pri-G will stabilize it?” Rick asked.

“Well, it probably won’t hurt to try” Sherry said. “At least there’s no FAA to write us up for it”.

“See? There’s a good side to everything, isn’t there?” Rick laughed. “How’s the Caravan”?

“Well, someone barely installed a battery in it, but other than that, it’s fine”.

“Barely installed a battery?”

“It wasn’t secured correctly – it’s not the right battery, and the hold-down wasn’t torqued correctly. It is now. We also modified the weight and balance”.

“OK, you’re the maintenance chief. I appreciate that you’re that detailed. Keep it up”.

“Will do”.

With that, Rick walked over to the Caravan and started a pre-flight inspection. “Did you wash the airplane?”

“Yes sir. Clean airplanes fly better. We’ll wax it as soon as we have time”.
“Thanks. I’ll be back in a couple of hours”.

With that, Rick climbed in and ran the engine start checklist. When he looked up ready to shout ‘clear’ he saw Alice McCune standing by with a fire extinguisher and Aaron ready to pull the chocks from the left main wheel.

Rick flew for a few hours, getting a feel for the aircraft. The Caravans flew like any other single engine Cessna, a bit heavy on the controls like an empty -206. They’d cleaned the inside of the airplane out too, Rick saw – the carpet had been vacuumed and the windows cleaned inside and out. The passenger seatbelts had been all fastened the same way, too. Very tidy – and if they devoted that much time to unimportant things like securing the seat belts, Rick was confident that the engine and everything else was as good as they could be.

After landing, the maintenance troops were waiting for him with wheel chocks, and the fuel truck. He stepped out of the truck and Sherry said “Welcome Back, Sir. Good flight?” as she handed him a cup of coffee. “We’ll take care of the airplane, Sir. Were there any squawks?” meaning any maintenance problems.

“Clean sheet, Chief. Thanks for the coffee. How are you doing here?”

“We’re getting settled, Sir. The house is nice and the kids look like they’ll work out just fine”.

“OK, let us know if you need anything. Lisa will probably be by later to take you all shopping for clothes, shoes, anything you guys need”.

“Yes sir, she was by earlier. We’re going later this afternoon”.

Just then, Alex drove up in the aircraft tug. “Slow, but steady” he said. “It turns out that the carb needed to be rebuilt; there was water in the fuel tank which caused the float to rust”.

“Where did you find a carb kit?” Rick asked.

“Aaron found one at the gas station right down at the bottom of the hill there. We’re going to go salvage whatever else they may have later.”

“OK. We still need to get you some vehicles”.

“Aaron has that taken care of too. He found a couple of pickups that we’ll be working on after hours. We’re going to try and find a big enough generator to run there, to be able to use the hoist.

“Alex, we don’t have ‘after hours’. Work on them when you want. We don’t have any big schedule to work to”.

“OK, Colonel. FYI, we should have the -530 flying tomorrow. We’re basically doing an annual inspection on it today. The times on the components are all looking good so we don’t have to worry about that.”

“Sounds good”.

“The 414 is next on the list, unless you want us to check the fixed wings out”

“No, that should be fine. Do you know where the National Guard kept their airplanes around here?”

“There was a maintenance facility down in Marana, near Tucson. They also did some training, including qualification training in Apaches and Kiowas”.

“Marana…That’s near Davis-Monthan”.

“About 20 miles more or less. Want an F4?”

“No, thanks… I’m getting too old to pull seven or eight gees. Besides, all the good ones were converted to drones, and I don’t think there’s much of a need right now for Wild Weasels, which were my specialty”.

“Still, there might be something good down there. A Blackhawk, or maybe an Apache?”

“We’ll have to go look, one of these days, I guess” Rick said. I’ll be by later today to see if you need anything”. With that, Sherry saluted. Reflexively, Rick returned it.

“Later, Chief”.

Rick went by the house and found a beehive of activity. He got George and they went to Cottonwood – Rick wanted someone for security and needed to talk to George anyway about the possibility of running another class for Prescott. In Cottonwood he checked on Frank Edwards and then had a sit-down discussion with Julia Towse and Bill Black. He explained the situation in Prescott to them.

“It’s up to you. If either of you want to go help the folks out in Prescott, give them advice in how to organize themselves, find food and what not, I’m sure they would appreciate it.”

“I suppose we could do that” Bill Black said. “When do you need to know?”

“We’re going over tomorrow to deliver some wood tomorrow, and see what progress they’ve made. If you want, you can come with us tomorrow and I’ll introduce you”.

“OK, we’ll do that. How are the Dewebers doing?” Julia asked.

“They’re working out very well. That reminds me, are there any telephone people here in Cottonwood? We’re thinking it might be possible to get some phone service up and running” George asked.

“Dave asked us the other day on the radio, we’ve been checking. So far, we haven’t found anyone”.

“Oh. Well, if you find anyone, let us know. Any plans on school for the kids?” Rick asked.

“Not formally…we’ve gotten the books from the school and people are sort of home-schooling for now”.

“That’s probably a good thing. How’s everything else going? How are the scouts working out?”

“So far, so good, Rick” Julia said. “They certainly make us feel more secure”.

“Good, I’m glad to here it. We’ll see you tomorrow then, around 9?”

“See you then, Colonel” Black said.


On the trip back to the homestead Rick and George discussed the possibility and process of erecting the steel building the next summer, and discussed running another class of scouts.


The next day they escorted the truck with wood to Prescott after picking up Bill Black in Cottonwood. In Prescott, Rick introduced Black to Sylvia Okawa.

“We’re willing to help out anyway we can” Bill said.

Rick left them to discuss the problems while he drove over to the Airport. Driving around the field, he saw many more aircraft that had been damaged by the heavy snowfall the winter before. He drove around the hangars until he found Henry and Bernie working setting up some solar panels on the roof of a hangar.

Climbing down, they explained that they had found the panels at a house in town.

“Good find” Rick said. “We did the same thing”.

Henry pulled a list out of his pocket. “We found a bunch of aircraft here. Skipping the aircraft tied down outside, we have eight piston twins including a Baron and a twin Beech, three Cessna 310’s, a -421 and two little trainers that were in the shop; five twin turboprops including a Cessna Conquest, two King Airs, a Rockwell Commander, and a Twin Otter, and three business jets – two Lears and a Citation X. Oh, and a little foreign job – a Czech jet trainer”.

“An L-39?”

“That’s it, ever flown one?”

“No, but I’ve thought about it” Rick said.

“Well, anyway, it’s here if you want it”.

“Too bad we can’t arm it. I guess the best airplane to start on woud be the Twin Otter – it would give us the most cargo capacity, if we needed it”.

“OK, we can do that. I know the airplane; it was here for a progressive maintenance cycle. We’ll finish it and get it going”.

“Good. If you can find a flight manual for it, I’ll study it. Bernie, what kind of shape is the factory in?”

“Very good, Sir. We could still be building radios if we had the power”.

“What I’m more interested in is installing a few in some airplanes – a Bell 414 and a Caravan to start. Then a King Air and maybe a couple of Citations”.

“We can do that, I think. No problem”.

“OK. If we found the parts, do you think you guys could install a couple of military radios as well?”

“As long as we had the manuals and all the parts” Bernie said. “We’d need the racks, the antennas, all of it”.

“Right. I’ll see what I can do”.

“Rick, what do you want the Citation for?”

“Two Citations, actually – the one here and we have one at Sedona – a 501. I guess that if we want to go somewhere at some distance they’d be the best way. The 501 for shorter ranges, and the Citation-X if we wanted to go long distances. I’m not in any hurry though; I’m just thinking ahead. If I could find a bigger aircraft, I’d be going after it, too.”

“Like an airliner?”

“More like a big cargo plane – a C130, maybe. If we needed to go get anything that won’t fit in another airplane. I can fly it pretty much by myself, as long as there was someone to reach the overhead panels that I can’t from the pilots seat. An airliner would be too big.”

“Well, if you find anything that large, we’d need the maintenance stands and tools that go with it. In the mean time, we’re going to work on the power system here and then start on the aircraft” Henry said. “We got the radio set up and talked to Dave on it last night, so it’s working”.

“Good. Bernie, did you find a house?”

“Yes, Sir. I’m living in that demo mobile home, right across the highway from the factory. I’m riding a bicycle back and forth right now”.

“Oh. OK. Don’t be bashful about finding a vehicle, too. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help” Rick said as he left.

Back in town, he found Bill. He had been discussing a number of issues with Sylvia, including the way that the Cottonwood Scouts had helped their security.

“Dr. Dickson, have you thought about running a class for us?”

“We’re willing, I guess. It will be somewhat more difficult than the class we ran for Cottonwood though, if only because of the weather. Do you have some interested people?”

“We already have fifty people who signed up. All in pretty good condition, considering”.

“Fifty? We can’t handle that many at one time”

“Will you help us?”

Rick asked them to get the people together so he could speak to them the next day. “They’re already here, Doctor” Sylvia said.

“We’ll have to get ready, and figure out the dates. I’m not sure when exactly we’ll be ready to start. I can tell you now, though… the graduation exercise will be much more difficult than our coming to Prescott was.”

Rick went outside and gave the people much the same speech he gave to the Cottonwood people. “We’ll let you know when the classes will begin” he finished.

Bill surprised him by saying that he would be spending the night. “I’ll call Cottonwood on the radio and ask the Scouts to pick me up” he said.

“Rather than take a scout out of service, why don’t you find a vehicle here that runs and drive yourself?” Rick asked.

“I suppose I can” Black said.



The next day at the airport, Alex had the 530 up in the air. “No problems, Colonel. Want to go somewhere?” he asked.

“Not right now. Good job!”

Thanks. We should probably designate an LZ near your house, and at Dr. Aguillars”.

“Yeah – good idea. Is a fifty-foot pad enough?”

“It should be – mainly, we need to make certain that there’s an approach and departure path. If we find a bigger bird like a Blackhawk we’d need seventy five feet”.

“Right. We can put up some sort of streamer for a windsock, too. Get with George and we’ll organize it. We’re thinking of putting a steel building up next year so we’ll have to make certain that everything fits”.


At the homestead, they started planning for another course in Munds Park. “We need to go get more equipment for them” Lisa said. We only planned on the one group”.

“I know. Lets figure out what it would take to get all the gear that we might possibly need in the future, and get it moved” Rick said.

The spent several days planning the course. Finally, they got everyone together and talked about going to the depot in Flagstaff.

“OK, we’re going to take everyone who can drive, and load up as many vehicles as we can – we may not get another chance before the snow blocks the road”. There had been several snow storms already, but the snow melted or blew away before it accumulated.

They drove to Flagstaff and collected as much as they could. They dropped three PLS containers at Munds Park and stored the others in the spare parking area. The next two days they did the same. They had recovered all the weapons they could find, all the ammo for the weapons, eighteen more humvees, all the food, and all the other field gear. The warehouses were mostly empty now. They also found more fuel trucks and they recovered those. The parking areas were pretty much full of semi tractors. George also got a couple of rough-terrain forklifts to help move the supplies around.

Rick and George went to Prescott and discussed the training with the potential students, and tried to explain to them how difficult it would be. He also had a couple of the Cottonwood scouts come up and discuss the training with them. Rick wanted to reduce the numbers of applicants before he had to decide.

Finally, he announced that the training would begin on October 15 and take at least five weeks. George and Rick decided to add an extra week to give more time for training. This time they’d have more instructors, too – Laura Hewitt and Joe Chizmut would be helping.

Alex and Sherry got all the Sedona turbine aircraft into flying shape, and once they did that and had power set up for their houses and the hangar they started flying to Prescott daily to help Henry and Bernie with the aircraft there. Alex was able to get the turbine powered helicopters running that Henry had overlooked, and Bernie installed the Wulfsberg radios from the factory, and SINCGARS radios they found in Flagstaff in the helos. Rick flew the fixed wings down and they installed the radios in the Caravan and Citation, too.


Rick was out running one day when Dave came driving up. “I just got a message from Cottonwood” he said. “Frank Edwards passed away”.

Rick stopped. “That’s a shame” he said. “He was pretty sick though. When is the funeral?”

“They said tomorrow at noon”.

“OK, thanks”. Rick finished his run.


Most everyone from Sedona attended the funeral in Cottonwood. Afterwards, Julia Towse called him aside. She wanted to talk.

“I want to quit” she started out. “I’ve had it with the town council”.

“Having troubles?” Rick asked.

“Yes. With the three of us it was very difficult. With Bill in Prescott so much it’s almost impossible”.

“I didn’t know that Bill was spending so much time away. Does Prescott need that much help?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s more because he’s found a girl there”.

“Well, good for him. So what’s the problem here? Just have another election. Hell, you could even have it on election day next month”.

They discussed the task at hand. Julia wanted Rick to supervise the election – and Rick didn’t want to. He didn’t want to interfere or tell them how to run their town. Finally he said that if they wanted to have an election he’d supervise and count. He didn’t know what the big deal was.

The weather was definitely going to be an issue for the upcoming class. The snow was falling more frequently now and not always clearing off. They moved a dump truck with a plow blade and a snowblower to Munds Park, just in case.

The October 15 class started out much like the first of September class had. They had a total of thirty two people in this class, and Rick was planning on providing eight humvees to Prescott. This time though they were going to spend a little more time in exercises and small unit tactics, and they needed to have a joint exercise with the Cottonwood Scouts. Training went somewhat slower too, because of the weather. Snow got in the way.

On Election Day Rick had a simple ballot system set up. He and Lisa had gone to Cottonwood with a rubber address stamp of Rick’s and an ink pad. They simply gave every voter a slip of paper that had been stamped with the stamp – that way the ballot boxes couldn’t be stuffed. The voters simply wrote the three people they wanted on the ballot. Rick told them to print clearly or he might not be able to figure out who they were voting for.

There were a number of people who received votes at all. After tallying them all, it was well after dark. They announced the results – when the counting was done the winners were Bridgette Cohan, Jose Curtis and Jim Bannerman – three people who Rick hadn’t met before. He met them, told each of them good luck, and went back to the homestead. Rick wasn’t surprised to see that Bill Black hadn’t run at all.

Joe Chizmut and Laura Hewitt had both helped in training the new class. Alex and Sherry Deweber did as well. They worked out ways to integrate their helicopters into their activities. Everyone stressed that helicopters were a nice asset but to never depend on them. There was one change with this class – everyone in it was female, and apparently none of them had ever been in the military. There were a few people who demonstrated leadership skills, but nobody apparently had been much of a shooter.

Discussing the students in this class one night, they were worried. “It’s almost graduation and there’s nobody I’d trust to even lead them” George said. The others agreed with him.

“You’re right, George. I don’t know what to do about it, though”.

“What about Laura?” Lisa asked.

“She’d do. I see what you’re suggesting. I wonder if she’d be willing to move to Prescott?”

“There’s only one way to find out” Lisa said.

Rick discussed it with Laura, and she said that as long as it was OK with the town council, she’d be glad to move to Prescott and help. They went to the new town council, and after discussing it, they reluctantly agreed. Rick then had to go to Prescott and make certain it wouldn’t cause any troubles there. Sylvia was overjoyed that a professional would be there to assist her with security.

On the way back to Munds Park, Rick and Laura discussed the second increment of students. They wouldn’t be able to go through the training program until the spring, but they could get some training in the mean time. “If you want, get them some weapons and have them ride along, too” Rick said.

“Where would we get weapons from? Laura asked.

“There were at least two very, very large gun stores in town we haven’t seen yet – civilian guns mostly, some military...but still useable. They must have had some warehouses too – see if you can find them.”

Graduation was scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving. Lacking any strong leaders, they decided to plan the exercise themselves. They got two vehicles of the Cottonwood scouts to assist them, and this time, they got the students up at 4 AM and set out for Flagstaff.

They drove up Interstate 17 in the dark, with snow flurries and more snow as they went higher. This time, they stopped at the Flagstaff airport and waited for Alex Deweber to arrive after first light. Looking around in the dark Rick thought that he should get the maintenance guys up to look in the hangars here, for any parts or aircraft that would be useful – Rick could see a Caravan painted in Fedex colors that was parked, if nothing else they could use it to cannibalize parts from. The Fedex Caravans had the belly cargo pod, they could put that on their Caravan, at least. There were also two large above ground self-service fuel tanks, one for avgas and one for jet fuel that they should salvage. They’d need to come back with a generator, and empty fuel trailers.

With the LAV’s and the eight students humvees, and four humvees armed with either M2 .50 cal machine guns or Mk 19 40mm grenade launchers, they had quite a force to investigate Flagstaff.

The sun came up as it always does, and as the skies brightened, they heard the unmistakable sound of the helicopter flying up. Bernie had installed the Wulfsberg radios in all the humvees, while they were relatively low powered at 10 watts; they were able to talk on virtually any frequency above 20 MHz and below 1 Gigahertz. They also had two URC-113 HF radios installed in two of the homestead humvees for frequencies down to 2 MHz.

Alex called in. “Fidel, this is Gunner” on the SINCGARs.

“Gunner, go ahead”.

“I have you visually, standby”.

They waited a moment and the helicopter landed nearby. “George, you know what to do” he said. Rick climbed into the helicopter and put on a helmet. “Let’s go.”

They took off, and first gained altitude to the south and west of the town. They saw the depot, and the observatory. There was no indication of anyone at the observatory, no smoke, trash, cut wood, or footprints. They got up to about 1500 feet above the ground, and flew west towards Williams, then north towards the Grand Canyon, then flew east and south until they picked up highway 89 and flew south to approach Flagstaff from the north. They saw lots of trucks on Interstate 40.

Flagstaff is a city that is pretty well cut into four quadrants, east/west by I-15 to the south and Highway 89 to the north, and I-40 and the railroad tracks dividing the town north and south. The south west quadrant had the depot and the Naval Observatory, the airport was in the southeast quadrant along with the factory district, and the high rent districts to the north of the tracks.

Much of the town had been burned out, especially the in the north. The nearby forest had been involved, too. Flying over at altitude they saw a few small fires burning, probably the morning cooking fires. They flew east and saw a number of semi trucks on the freeway, apparently unopened. “Can you set down here? Rick asked over the intercom.

Alex flew a high approach, and then a low scan, looking for any wires or other obstructions, and testing the wind. He set the helicopter down and Rick jumped out. He walked over and checked the seals on the trailer and found them intact. Rick walked back to the helo and got in. “Let’s go a bit further east” he said as he called into the troops at the Flagstaff airport for an update.

They found much the same until they were about ten miles west of Winslow, when they started seeing tractors without trailers, and trailers that had been opened. “OK, let’s head back” Rick said.

They landed at Flagstaff, and while Alex refueled the helo from drums of fuel that had been brought up in a humvee, Rick gathered everyone around for a briefing of what he saw. “OK, a lot of the town has been burnt out. There seem to be some groups of people, we saw cooking fires – I have the locations noted. They’re in the north-east part of town and are a few blocks away from each other.

We went about forty miles east on I-40, and saw a lot of vehicles that hadn’t been scavenged – up until about ten miles from Winslow. Then they were being scavenged, so there must be people there.

“So, we’re going to go into Flagstaff and see if we can make contact with the people there. Let’s move out in ten minutes.”

“Alex, go up and give us some eyes in the sky. I hope we won’t need Anne here”. Anne won the coin toss they had to decide who would fly as the shooter in the helo. She had an M249 and several boxes of ammo.

“Sure. It’d be nice if we have a real armed helo though. We ought to go get some Apaches”.

“Maybe. Ready to crank?”

“Sure, lets go”. They had taken the door off the helo so Anne could shoot through it. “Anne, just remember to not shoot the rotor. Or me”.

“I’ll try” she laughed as she put on a helmet from Rick’s flight helmet collection.

They moved back to the vehicles and George nodded to Rick and gave a wind it up signal. Rick got into one of the humvees that had all the radios and they moved out.

Their convoy moved north and crossed Interstate 40, then moved east. They had decided to move north on two parallel streets, with a Mk 19 and M2 jeep as a reserve force to hold back and be able to support either column. The columns were necessary to keep from getting all spread out in a line along a narrow residential street, and they also allowed one to support each other. They got on line and then turned, with Alex flying cover.

They moved up, getting reports from Alex that the roads were clear. They came to the first house where they had seen smoke and approached it carefully.

Lisa was commanding Diemos, the lead LAV. They approached a good sized stone house with a large garden in the front. They could see the smoke, but nobody came out. They weren’t sure looking through the sights on the LAV but they thought there might be someone inside the windows, looking out.

Rick flipped the switches on the audio panel to allow him to use the PA speaker on the outside. “Hello the house” he called. “Do you need any assistance?”

They waited a moment or two, and then Rick repeated the call. They definitely saw movement in the house now.

“We aren’t going to harm anyone or anything. Can we talk to you?” Rick called on the PA system.

“What if they don’t want to talk?” Lisa asked.

“Then we go away” Rick said.

“I would like to speak to someone. I’ll get out of this vehicle, and meet with you” Rick said on the PA system. “Keep me covered” he told the crew.

Rick got out of the LAV and walked around to the side of it. He waived his hands to the people inside the house, and yelled out “Hello there!” He saw motion inside the windows.

Finally, a man came out of the house carrying a double-barreled shotgun. “Good morning, Sir” Rick called out.

“Who are you?” The man demanded.

“My name is Rick Dickson, and I’m a physician” Rick said. “Is there any help I can offer you?”

“A physician?” the man said.

“That’s right, a medical doctor. Is there someone here hurt or ill?”

“No, not any more…Cary died”.

“I’m sorry. Say, would you mind pointing that shotgun off another direction?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry”. The man broke the shotgun open and rested it over his shoulder. “Who are you people?”

“We’re from down south of here. We have people from Prescott, Cottonwood, Munds Park, all over. We just got the helicopter up there flying recently”. The man looked up.

Alex had been flying over the neighborhood looking for the slightest threat – but didn’t see anyone. The noise finally got the folks at the other area interested and a couple of them came out of the house. Alex used the PA system on the police helicopter to say good morning to them, and somebody would be by to talk very soon. He called down to George in Phobos, leading the other column and suggested that they might move up.

Rick asked “So, how are you folks getting by?” Even from the distance of the street to the front porch the man looked malnourished.

“We could be better” the man admitted.

“We can help you, Mr. …..”

“Oh, Jackson. Steven Jackson. Dr. Steven Jackson, actually”.

“Doctor?”

“Yes, PhD. I was a professor at Northern Arizona University.”

“I see, Professor Jackson. What do you teach?”

“Forestry. I was the chair of the Department of Forestry”.

“Professor Jackson, do you mind telling me how many people you have here?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just curious. If you need help we can provide some ideas to make your life a bit better.”

“How can you help? The world seems to be completely screwed up now”.

“We can offer some ideas on food, fuel, and other supplies. I’m a physician and we have other medical aid. We can offer to help you, if possible, and if you want us to. We’re not going to force anything on anyone”.

“Then why did you come in a tank?”

“It’s not a tank. However, we’ve found that there is a degree of lawlessness today – we’ve lost some people due to thugs already and we’d rather not.

Rick continued the conversation with Jackson and discovered that his wife and son were inside. His daughter, Cary had died. The other group was large, around 100 people and were OK – they just stayed in their home when Cary had gotten sick. It wasn’t radiation, but he wasn’t sure what she had. And since Cary had died, they hadn’t tried to join the other group. “We’re OK here, I guess. We’ve found food in the stores. We don’t have power though. I have a generator but we ran out of fuel. We siphoned fuel from as many cars around here as we could find.”

“OK, Professor. We can offer some suggestions on getting more fuel – is your generator gasoline or diesel?

“Gasoline. My car was diesel and I ran out of fuel for it, too” He said, pointing. Rick saw an International Scout.

“The scout has a diesel engine?”

“Yes, a turbocharged engine. I had the turbo installed years and years ago, for a little more power pulling a trailer”.

“Did you try the railroad engines for fuel?”

Rick saw the lightbulb go on over Jacksons head. “I never thought of that. They run on diesel too”. He shook his head. “Thanks, for that. We can go get some in cans and start the scout”.

“We can help you out, if you like”

“Sure, what can you do?”

Rick called into his radio “Carlos, can you get the scout started?”

Carlos got out of the LAV. “What's the problem?” he asked.

“It’s out of diesel. It might need a jump, too”.

Carlos got a can of diesel off one of the humvees and said “we can take care of that”. He started busying himself with the Scout. “Keys? He called over.

Jackson said “Excuse me one minute” and went inside. He came out with the keys in his hand and walked over to the edge of the porch and handed the keys to Carlos. “I’m sorry, Doctor. Please, come in” he told Rick.

Rick walked up from the street, and stood on the porch. Jackson called for his wife and son to come out. “This is Dee, my wife, and Tom, my son” he said. About that time they heard the Scouts engine groan, and then sputter to life. Carlos stayed inside until the engine smoothed out, and then he got out.

“There you go” he said.

Dr. Jackson, Ma’am. This is Doctor Carlos Aguillar, DVM” Rick said.

“A vet? You’re pretty handy as a mechanic, too” Dee said.

“We’ve had to all learn different skills, Dee” Carlos said. “Do you have any livestock or animals you’d like me to look at?”

“We have a few chickens and turkeys in the back. If you can look at our set up and tell me if there’s anything else I should be doing, we’d appreciate it” Dee said.

“I’d be glad to. Let me get my other bag” and he walked out to the humvee and strapped the fuel can back on. He reached inside the LAV and got his ‘vet’ bag and walked back. They went through the house to the back.

“Dr. Jackson, have you thought of getting another generator?”

“I don’t know where. Most of the stores in town have been burned out.

“I saw that. What happened?”

“After the bombs, things were just crazy here. Lots of criminals, as you said. Lots of murders, rapes, looting – and when looters didn’t find what they wanted, they burned the stores out. Of course they were mainly interested in drugs and alcohol so lots of stores were burned out.

“The sheriffs were mostly all killed early. The fire department tried to fight the fire but they couldn’t – no water. We only have water here because of a spring in the back of the house. I normally used a well, though … but with no power, that wasn’t too useful. Anyway, a fire spread to the forest, and even with the snow it was a terrible fire. We were lucky it finally died out”. Rick just let Jackson continue, nodding his head and making appropriate sounds.

“I don’t know what happened, but I heard a huge amount of gunfire one day, from the west. It went on for hours. After that, we didn’t have much trouble from anyone. The kids in the other group just started aggregating after that. We’ve been trying to get by, since then. We planted a garden in the front and back but the very short growing season didn’t let much grow”.

“We saw evidence of a huge gun battle west of town” Rick said. “I’m not sure who was involved though. How did you manage to avoid the thugs?”

“Mostly lucky, I guess. We would hide any time we saw them coming around. With no lights it was pretty easy”.

“I guess they won’t be a factor any more” Rick said. “Excuse me one second”. Rick called and gave a status update, and got one. George was making contact with the other group, Alex was flying cover. “Ask Alex to start noting any solar power installations”.

“Dr. Jackson, we’ve solved your fuel and transportation situation, I guess. We’ll see about finding you a diesel generator, too”.

“Do you have that kind of equipment?” Jackson said, amazed.

“No, not really. We’re OK, but we can probably find you a generator. Our helicopter is also looking for solar power installations, we can help you move and set them up here, if you want. Excuse me, one second”. Rick radioed out for two of the scout humvees to go with a heavy humvee and find the city yard and bring a diesel generator.

“OK, you should have lights pretty soon. You have a vehicle and fuel, so you should be able to get well water. I presume you have a septic system, too?”

“Yes, we do”.

“How are you fixed for weapons?”

“I have that shotgun. I don’t have any shells for it, though” Jackson admitted.

“None at all? You’re not from around here, originally, are you?”

“No, my family is from New York City”.

“I’d suggest that you find yourself some weapons and ammunition, Professor” Rick said.

“Where can I do that?”

“I’d look in your neighbors’ houses, in the sheriffs department, in the sheriffs vehicles, and in gun stores. We might be able to bring you some later, and we can also provide you with some shooting instruction if needed. Do you know if the other group has any weapons?”

“I have no idea”

“They do, Dad” Tom said. “I have a rifle, too”.

“What?” Jackson said, amazed.

“I have a rifle, too. I bought it when I turned 18 last year. I’ll go get it”.

Tom Jackson went and a moment later returned with a Yugo SKS. He handed it to Rick after clearing the weapon. Rick looked at it and handed it back.

“Looks good, and it also looks like you have at least a little familiarity” Rick said. “How much ammo do you have?”

“Well…none” Tom Jackson said, hanging his head.

“Lisa, put a can of AK ammo on the list of things to bring back” Rick said into his radio.

OK, we’ll give you a can of ammo. I’d suggest that you find more weapons and ammo, though”.

“Tom, why did you buy that thing?” his father asked.

“I started hanging out with students in ROTC at school, and we would go shooting” Tom said. “It was fun, and so I bought the rifle from a store in Prescott – it was only $90. I should have bought more ammo, though”.

“An empty weapon is just a poor club” Rick agreed. “Professor Jackson, I’d suggest that each of you get a semi-automatic rifle, a pump shotgun and a handgun as a minimum.

“We’ll go look” Jackson said.

“Good. Just because there hasn’t been much threat lately doesn’t mean there won’t be. I’d suggest that once you have your fuel situation resolved … wait a second”. Rick thought of something and called into the radio “See if the guys getting the generator can find a fuel trailer or something, with diesel in it. Have them bring that, too. Oh, OK, have him RTB and refuel, and then come back up here”.

“Sorry. Our helicopter was getting low on fuel. If the team getting a generator can find one, they’ll bring a fuel trailer too. You can tow it with your scout – just go very slowly. I’m sure you can figure a way to get the fuel out of the trains’ fuel tanks, like a garden hose siphon. Anyway, I’d also suggest that you get a little trailer and go looking for food in the grocery stores, and search the semis on the freeway”.

“I never thought of that” Jackson said. “We should be in pretty good shape with that”.

“If you wanted too, we could probably get you a house in Cottonwood or Prescott, Professor. It might be easier for all of you”.

“Move? I don’t know” Jackson said. Rick was noticing a change in the man…he was starting to show some things missing earlier, like hope.

“Let us know if you want to.

“We’re also offering much the same advice to the other group. Between the two groups you might be able to get by up here”.

“I haven’t had much to do with them. I don’t even know any of them” Jackson said.
“Dad, I know some of them” Tom said.

“Really? Who?”

“Well, I’m seeing a girl over there. Her name is Helen” Tom said, blushing.

“Professor, it sounds like Tom is already your ambassador” Rick said, laughing. About that time he got a report that the team had found both a generator and a fuel trailer, both full of diesel, and they’d be bringing them back.

“Roger” Rick said into his radio. “Good news, professor – we’ll be dropping off a trailer and generator here. You can use an extension cord and we’ll bring an electrician up next time to wire it into your house”.

“Who are you people?” Jackson asked.

“I told you. We’re just trying to keep things from getting any worse” Rick said.

About that time, Carlos came back with a large cardboard box. “Rick, I have some fertile turkey eggs here, a dozen of them” he said.

“Terrific. I get so tired of chicken” Rick said.

“Oh, would you like some turkeys now, Doctor?” Dee asked. “Thanksgiving is coming up”.

“Thanks, that would be nice…but we have our troops out there and it wouldn’t be right for us to have turkey when they don’t” Rick said.

“Oh, that’s not a problem at all – would a dozen turkeys be OK?”

“A dozen? Can you spare that many?”

“Rick, the only problem I saw was overcrowding. They must have a hundred turkeys back there, and three hundred chickens” Carlos said.

“In that case, thanks very much” Rick said. “You know, with that many birds and eggs you might be able to trade with the other group”.

“We’ll look into that” Jackson said.

“Carlos, come and get the birds. I have some wire cages you can have, bring them back next time”. Dee said.

“OK, will do” Carlos said.

“Professor, do you or Tom have any experience with two-way radios?

“I don’t” Tom said.

“No, me either” Jackson said.

“OK” Rick said. “We have a radio that we normally leave with different towns, to call us. If there is somebody in the other group that has any experience, they’ll be able to call us. We can’t promise to come every time, especially in the winter but we’ll try.”

“Thanks, Doctor Dickson” Jackson said.

“Thanks for the turkeys” Rick said.

Carlos had the cages tied to the top of the LAV. Rick wasn’t an expert but he was willing to bet the turkeys weren’t especially happy, with the noise they were making. Rick shook hands with them all, and said “Thanks very much – we’re going over to the other group, and we’ll be back in a few days”.

Rick went out and told Lisa to take the convoy back down to the main road. It was too crowded to have all the vehicles on one street, and Rick would just walk over to the other group. Lisa said OK, as long as they covered him. She called the other group and told them what was going on.

Rick got over to the other group as George was coming out. “What's there story?” he asked George.

“There’s about a hundred of them. Mostly young folks. They’re kind of hippies, I guess – just no drugs that I could see.

They have a few houses they’re using, they got bedding and furniture from other houses, they’re growing food and scavenging for more. They have a solar powered water pump in the back that they use for water, and the houses up here have septic systems”.

Rick filled George in on the Jacksons. “Is there anyone inside that can handle a radio?” he asked.

“I’ll ask. I suppose I can suggest that they ask Jackson to give them a hand in getting a generator and fuel, too” George said.

“Suggest it. How are they fixed for weapons?”

“They have a bigger assortment of weird stuff than I do” George said. “I suggested that they go find more and standardize as much as they can”.

“OK. Find out about the radio and generator. Tell them we’ll be back in a few days. What's their health like?”

“They’re doing OK health wise” George said. “A few of the women are pregnant, there’s a baby or two, they seem to have a clue about hygiene”.

“Well, lets go in. You can introduce me and then make your offers” Rick said.

They went inside. George was right, these people had managed to get by, at least so far. George made his offers and suggestions, and then asked about the radio.

The spokesperson, Butch Salliday, said “I was the chief engineer at the FM radio station in town. I can probably handle it”.

“OK, we’ll bring the radio up in a few days. Will you tell the Jacksons?”

“Sure. We didn’t like keeping them isolated, but with their daughter being sick, we didn’t want to risk getting sick ourselves. It’s a shame she died”.

“Yes. Let me know if there’s anything we can do for you at all” Rick said. “I have some vaccines still, I can come up next time and update everyone’s immunizations before they expire. If you have any livestock, we have a vet too”.

“That sounds like a good idea, Doctor” Salliday said. “We have a nurse here, but we didn’t think of that. We don’t have any animals, though”.

“You should talk to Jackson. He might be able to help you with some birds. Glad to help you” Rick said. With that, they went outside and got into the vehicles and headed down to the airport.

Alex showed up in the helo about the time that they got there. Rick asked him to land and then motioned for him to cut the engine.

“While we’re here, lets check out the hangars” Rick said. He suggested that the other scouts have lunch.

They walked through the airport and checked the two fuel tanks – a thirty thousand gallon tank of jet fuel that was almost full, and two forty thousand tanks of avgas. “We need to stabilize this fuel” Rick said. “We’ll need fifteen gallons of Pri-D for the jet fuel, and forty gallons for the avgas”.

“We’ll need to get a generator here, too” Alex said.

“I’m sure we can find one big enough” Rick said. “The city yard, or an equipment rental company – or we can bring one over from the depot”. They wandered through the hangars and found two Bell helicopters, a Jet Ranger and a seriously disassembled 212.

“We might be able to get the Ranger going” Alex said. “Sherry would have to look at the 212 to decide”.

“Next summer, maybe. I suppose we can get the cargo pod off that Caravan though”.

“We have a cargo pod back at Sedona” Alex said.

“Oh, I didn’t see it” Rick said. With that, they walked back to the vehicles. They were starting to get some snow. “You going to be OK with this snow?”

“I’ll follow I-17 down, and then cut over to Sedona. Once I’m down lower it should be fine but if not I’ll set down on the road and wait for you guys” Alex said.

“See you back at the farm” Rick said.


They all went back to Munds Park and after refueling the vehicles, Rick had them gather around.

“This trip to Flagstaff was much different than the trip we made to Prescott. We will be able to help some people, though, and that’s a good thing. We’ll try and make contact with the people in Winslow, and check out the other areas later.

You’re now going to be the protection for your town. Remember what we’ve taught you, and good luck!

With that, the Prescott Scouts loaded into their vehicles and left. Carlos took the LAV with the turkeys and eggs home, and the rest of the folks winterized the houses – it was snowing more frequently now and the snow was starting to accumulate so they set the thermostats at 60 for all the houses and offices and after making sure the trash was all removed, closed up their training site for the winter.

Paradise Chapter 20


Winter was coming on hard, with more, longer snowstorms. Since it seemed that Flagstaff was relatively safe, Rick decided that they would just go up with two armored humvees, and the 5-ton truck with some foodstuffs. Rick also took his vaccines and Dave came along with a radio for Salliday.

They stopped at Salliday’s first. Rick was surprised to see that Professor Jackson was over there, and they were getting along like old neighbors. Dave helped Butch set up the radio and confirmed that it worked, and then gave him a set of FRS/GMRS radios with a base unit. He gave a similar radio set to Professor Jackson so they could talk to each other.

They also dropped off the food. Lisa made certain that the other ingredients for a thanksgiving dinner were included, at least with instant mashed potatoes and canned yams. They already had the turkeys.

Once the food was dropped off and the radios working, Rick suggested that they find some snowmobiles and make sure they would be running during the winter. He also suggested that they might start checking out the semi trucks along I-40, and at least note the contents and location for salvage the next spring. With the skies getting very dark, they traveled back to Sedona.

Sedona started experiencing one snowstorm after another. Thanksgiving Day was celebrated with the usual dinner, thanks to the Turkeys from the Jacksons. This year, they all met at Rick and Lisa’s house for the dinner, with the Aguillars and Dewebers bringing cooked turkeys and other dishes as well. Alice McCune brought a few dishes as well, it turns out that she was quite the pastry chef so she had made many different sweet rolls, pies and cakes for desert.

Rick and Lisa weren’t feeling quite happy this Thanksgiving and Rick was sure that others were missing their families also. During the meal he asked for everyone’s attention, and stood up, and took Lisa’s hand so she would stand, also. “Last year at Thanksgiving, Lisa and I had just moved into this house. Our families came to visit…it was the last time that we saw them. Things didn’t quite happen the way we thought they would, that’s for sure.

“But, we need to focus on what we have. We’re alive, we have good places to live and more than enough food”. With that, everyone chuckled – this Thanksgiving was as much an event of gluttony as any had ever been. “We have good friends, old friends with us (nodding to the Abrams and George), and new families (he hugged Beth and Connie) and we’re going to be fine. We need to remember that.

“In my old family, we each say what we were thankful for during Thanksgiving dinner. It was a nice tradition, but this year if someone doesn’t want to say anything, we understand. You know what I’m thankful for” and with that, he hugged and kissed his wife.

Linda stood next, with Dave. “I’m grateful that we’re here, and alive. I’m especially thankful that my girls have turned out the way they have” and with that, she started crying.

Several others expressed their thanks, as well. After dinner, Rick had a special surprise. The adults got to watch “The Wizard of Oz” on the big screen, while the kids watched “Harry Potter” in the basement. Rick dozed off during the movie, and came too as the movie was ending. He looked around and saw that everyone else was asleep, too. He walked downstairs and saw that the kids were all asleep as well.

Chuckling to himself, he started walking up the stairs and heard a faint whimper. He looked around and saw the nest that Carlos had made for Laulu. He looked inside and saw Laulu, and four newborn puppies. Laulu had already cleaned them up and bitten off their umbilical cords, and the puppies were nursing. Rick gave her a pat on the head and went upstairs.

He woke Lisa and they got blankets for everyone. Rick set the heat up a little bit and they went to sleep in their bedroom.

The next few days were a little busy getting ready for the winter. They made sure that every house had a full propane tank and a full wood pile. They got a few more snowmobiles and sleds from the store in Sedona, and left one at the airport for the Dewebers. They also positioned a snowblower at the airport. Dave got the phone lines working so they could telephone the airport. Carlos checked out the puppies, which were a big hit with the kids.

During a break in the snow, Alex and Rick flew first to Cottonwood, and then to Prescott. They made certain that the two towns were as prepared as they could be. Rick told them that he didn’t know for certain, but hoped that the winter wouldn’t be quite as bad as the last. “It stands to reason that as things equilibrate in the atmosphere, the weather will return to something like normal”.

They took off from Prescott and got back to Sedona just as a big snowstorm hit. It snowed for four days continuously. The weather provided a break for Rick – he slept in and relaxed. He played with the kids, and the dogs. After a couple of days of not much to do, he was getting restless.

“George, you did a great job with the training for all of us, especially the scouts” he said over coffee and chocolate.

“The twins did a great job, too, Rick. Honestly, I’m too old to be a drill sergeant”.

“Yeah, me too. Well, we’re snowed in for the winter, it looks like. Is there anything we should be doing now?”

“I suppose we should start the snowmobile patrols” he answered. “I need to get with the airport folks and make sure they’re up to speed on weapons, too. And, I can always start figuring out the Bradleys”.

“Yeah. The Bradleys. Well, work on the weapons training for the maintenance troops first. And the twins and Karl and Bob can do the patrolling”

“Will do, Rick. Also, Carol and Jessica asked me if I would show them how to shoot”. Carol was fourteen now, and Jessica was thirteen, the oldest girls from Munds Pk.

“If you think they’re up for it, go ahead. I want to try my Barrett, too – you know I’ve had it almost a year, and I’ve never fired it?”

“Well, Rick…it shoots really nice” George said, ribbing him.

“Clown” Rick thought.

They also made plans for the spring, getting as many food crops in as possible. Carlos snow-mobiled over one day and they discussed the prospects of raising crops.

“We can grow garden crops, and maybe some feed crops. We’re going to have trouble the follow-on year though. These seeds are hybrids and probably won’t grow seeds that will germinate.

“We can also turn some of the cattle loose in the spring, to fatten up. We should coordinate with the folks in Cottonwood, though – lower elevations will be better for the cattle during the winter”.

“Sounds good, Carlos. You’re the expert”.

“Actually, I have a suggestion about that”.

“What's that?”

“I know a little about farming, my specialty is really ranching. If we can find someone that would be willing to move up here to handle the actual farming, that would be an improvement, I think”.

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“No, not really. I can ask my cousins, though”.

“OK, we’ll put the word out to everyone else, too. Will you do the interviewing?”

“Sure”.


They also planned on improving the homestead by erecting the steel building. The question was, where? They could put it up in the yard, or they could put it up in another area. Finally they decided to cut down another couple of acres of trees, and put the building up in a new clearing off the main road. George soon was busy planning the construction schedule, trying to find a septic tank, and the materials to finish off the inside. George had discovered some people in Cottonwood who had been in the construction business and two people who had worked as well drillers – and they had a well truck and enough materials to drill a well.

Christmas came and went with the usual exchange of presents. The puppies were growing but hadn’t been weaned yet. They were getting used to people though – everyone wanted to play with them. Laulu and Kattu would let people play with their pups for awhile; they Kattu would growl at them that it was time to leave.

They discussed having a new year’s party but finally decided to pass on it. Rather than celebrate a new year it would have been more of a memorial service for the world. They had the radios to check in with Cottonwood, Prescott and Flagstaff and things were about as well as could be expected. Henry Murphy called in one day and said that all the aircraft at Prescott were in flying condition. George was getting the hang of driving the Bradleys, and then he started teaching the younger kids. “It’s pretty simple, actually” he told Rick when he saw Jessica and Carol driving the large machines.

Around the first of February, Rick and George had snow mobiled to the airport for a chat with Alex. “I think it might be time to go exploring” Rick said.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I think that it might be a good time to go flying. For example, we can conduct some aerial reconnaissance of Phoenix, and Tucson. We could also go to California, and Nevada, and maybe Utah and Colorado.”

“Which aircraft were you thinking of?”

“At first, I think the Citation. It’s fast enough – I could do a flyover of Phoenix, Tucson, and then head towards Las Vegas, maybe. Up to St. George, Utah and then back down to Winslow and Holbrook, then back to here”.

“When do you want to do it?”

“Well, having good weather would be nice. How about after this system goes through?”

“You sure you want to take the Citation for that? The Caravan or King Air might be better” Sherry said.

“Why do you think that?” Rick asked.

“Well, the King Air is almost as fast. It also has the big cargo door”.

“So?”

“Well, you could put a snow mobile or dirt bike in it. If you crash, you can drive home”.

“Funny”.

Rick checked his bug-out bag and updated a few items in it. Lisa did too, if Rick was going flying on this ‘fools mission’ as she put it, she was going to go too. They added a four-seasons backpacking tent to their supplies, and more food. And both sets of cross country skis, and their boots. Lisa and Rick both went over the navigation.

“Just like the private pilot cross country” Lisa said. “Needle, ball and airspeed”.

They waited for a morning that was clear, then called the airport. George drove them to the airport in a humvee. The runway had been plowed and the aircraft was ready to go they pulled the Citation from the hangar and started it up.

The Citation performed well off the relatively short runway – it wasn’t near gross takeoff weight, and the air was very cold. Rick quickly climbed to twenty four thousand feet altitude for good fuel consumption, and headed south.

At 340 knots cruise speed they were over the ‘Valley of the Sun” in short order. Rick had a low level survey meter running, if there was any radiation he wanted to know about it. The meter wasn’t doing anything unusual.

The view from 24,000 feet wasn’t good. Rick had an eye on the transponder reply light, hoping that he’d get an indication. No such luck. They had brought binoculars, both regular and stabilized. They could see where at least two detonations had hit Phoenix, one over the downtown area and one further west. The skies over Phoenix were absolutely clear.

Even with the stabilized 18 power binoculars, they couldn’t see anything from altitude. “Lets go down” Rick said. He pulled the power back and descended to just ten thousand feet and flew over the city ruins.

“You can see the damage from the detonations” he said. See where the blast damage starts and stops?” They didn’t see any signs of life. “People could have survived this, if they had sheltered”.
“Too bad for them” Lisa said, keeping an eye on the survey meter.

They flew over Sky Harbor airport. There were several destroyed aircraft on the field. “They must have been landing right at the time of detonation” Lisa said. “Do you think it was EMP”?

“It certainly could have been. More likely the flash. We had an eye patch we would wear in the Air Force, when I was supposed to deliver those bombs. The Buff drivers had these electronic visors that would go opaque in a flash. We can’t land there. The runways are both too obstructed. He turned, and checked out the smaller airports in Phoenix. “I learned to fly fighters down there” he said, flying over Williams. “It was converted to a civilian field years ago. The runway looks good”. They flew further west, over Luke Air Force Base, and saw that the base had taken a direct hit.

Rick climbed back up to 24,000 feet and headed south. Tucson had been nuked as well – or rather, Davis Monthan had. “What a waste” Rick said. “They pulled the Titans out of there in the early 1980’s”. Rick turned for Marana. Marana was OK, it seemed. No blast damage, but nobody seemed to be alive either. “I wonder if they used W70 warheads?”

“Neutron warheads? Did the Chinese have any?” Lisa asked.

“That’s the warhead design that what's his name from Los Alamos was supposedly stealing” Rick said. “The Chinese could have scaled it up”.

“Nothing on the meter” Lisa said

They saw a number of military helicopters that seemed OK at Marana. “OK, lets head over toward Las Vegas” Rick said, as he turned northwest and climbed. They cruised over and saw that the containment buildings and cooling towers at Palo Verde were intact. A few minutes later they saw that Hoover Dam was still standing. They were soon over Las Vegas, which was covered in snow. Rick tried calling Nellis Air Force Base on all the frequencies he could think of and didn’t get any response. From altitude, they could just barely see a few aircraft parked on the ramps.

Rick followed I-15 to St. George, Utah. He tried calling on a few different radio frequencies when he saw some smoke coming up from some buildings. “Hang on” he said, and pulled the power back and popped out the speed brakes. He lost altitude and made a speed run over the town, and tried calling again – on aircraft, ham and police frequencies. No response.

“Back to Sedona, Sweetie” Lisa said. Rick turned towards Holbrook, and they were able to here somebody on the radio on 146.52, the ham simplex frequency, just barely. Rick made a low pass and they saw a few people waiving at them. He couldn’t get anyone on the radio, at least not clearly. One more pass while rocking the wings, and they were off.

Winslow was more of the same. They couldn’t get anyone on the radios, but they did see a few people walking around. Rick made a low pass down the main street and rocked the wings, and they were off.

They landed at Sedona and taxied back to the hangar. As Rick cut the engines, Alice was there with the fuel truck and Aaron had the tug and towbar. Sherry came out with two cups of coffee.

“How was it, Sir?”

“Phoenix is toast. Tucson looks like it might have gotten hit with a neutron weapon – not much destruction at all, and nobody around at all. Marana seemed to be OK, there were some helos lined up but nobody there”.

Rick and Lisa both went to the rest room and when they came out, George was there so they headed back to the homestead. “Come on over for lunch, tomorrow. All of you.” Lisa said. “We’ll tell you the rest of it”.

At the homestead, they described what they saw. “I suppose we could go out to Los Angeles or towards Albuquerque” Rick said. “From what I saw though, my guess is that the coastal area will be a loss”.

“So, you want to go to Albuquerque?” Dave asked.

“I think that it might be more worthwhile than LA”.

Lisa was looking at a map. “We could head to Albuquerque, and then go north towards Colorado Springs, and Denver. Maybe there’s something left in Cheyenne Mountain”.

“Do you want to go tomorrow?” George asked

“No, not right away. I think we should talk to the folks in Holbrook and Winslow, first. We can take the helo up there when the weather is good. I suppose we could take the Caravan, too – I could land it on main street”.

“Should we take anything to them?” Lisa asked.

“No, I don’t think so, at least no food. We can take a radio and instructions like we’ve given the other towns. They’re far enough away that we can’t really support them much, we’ll just let them know we’re here”.


They went over the plans to go to Winslow and Holbrook the next day. They decided to take the larger helo, it had slightly better endurance. The Facilities Directory that Rick had said that Winslow had jet fuel but Holbrook didn’t, but they didn’t think that they’d be able to get any. They also made contingency plans for Sherry to come looking for them in the other helo, if necessary, and George and Carlos to bring a convoy with the LAVS if necessary.

The next clear day they took off. Alex was flying the helicopter, of course. Rick and Dave went along, with the two radios and printed and CD instructions and suggestions for each town. The twins came along, as did Bob and Karl, for security. They went to Holbrook, first.

They flew over the town low, keeping an eye out for anyone who would be unfriendly. When they had the attention of a number of people, they dropped a message out of the helicopter – an empty plastic soda bottle with a piece of surveying tape tied to the neck. It said “Good morning. We would like to land and talk with you – if you can, please respond on any of these radio frequencies: 121.5 MHz 146.52 MHz 446.00 MHz or indicate where we can land”.

They dropped the bottle and then flew around the town at altitude for a few minutes. They listened to the radio and could barely hear something on the 2-meter simplex frequency, but couldn’t make it out. Finally, they flew over the center of town and saw that people were motioning for them to land in a large empty parking lot.

Alex said “here goes” and set up his approach, and landing. First out were Bob, Karl and the Twins, who were armed with either SAW’s or M249’s. They all had M4/M203’s as well. They ran out from the helicopter in each direction and flopped down on the snow, muzzles pointing outward. With their snow camouflage covers they became almost impossible to see. Seeing four combat troops getting out of the helo stopped the townspeople who were approaching.

Rick stepped out of the helicopter with Dave, and walked forward. They were armed as they normally would be but left the weapons on slings – they didn’t want to appear too threatening, but didn’t want to appear to be helpless, either. “Good morning” Rick called out to the group of townspeople.

“Good morning” one of the townspeople said. “Welcome to Holbrook. Who the hell are you?”

“Thanks very much” Rick said. “I’m Rick Dickson and this is Dave Abrams. We’re from down south. We thought we’d drop in and see how you folks were doing”.

“Are you from the military? The man asked.

“No. We’re not from the military or the government. Mr. ….” Rick said. He was watching the faces of the crowd. Some seemed relieved when he said they weren’t, some were disappointed.

“Florer, Daniel Florer” the man said. “I apologize for my manners – we haven’t had any visitors for quite awhile”

“That’s quite alright, Mr. Florer” Dave said. “We understand. If I may, we could barely hear anything on your radio, is there anything we could do to help with that?”

“Why don’t you talk to Chuck Franco, he’s the radio guy. Chuck!” he called out. A middle-aged man walked out of the crowd and after introductions, they walked off to chat.

“So, where did you guys get the helicopter? Florer asked.

“We found it” Rick said. That brought a laugh from the townspeople. “We also found some people who could fly it, and maintain it. Some other aircraft, too – I flew overhead a couple of days ago in a business jet and saw that there was some activity here”

“Oh, was that you?” Florer asked.

“Yes – my wife and I took a trip to see what happened to some of the bigger cities. Phoenix got two nukes, Tucson was hit with what looks like a neutron bomb. Las Vegas is cold, covered with snow. We didn’t get any reply from Nellis AFB. The reactors at Palo Verde are intact, as is Hoover Dam. There are groups in Prescott, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, and Winslow – we’re headed to Winslow next” Rick summarized.

“Thanks for the update. What do you want from us?” Florer asked.

“Nothing, really – we just wanted to find out who was still alive. We have some ideas we are leaving in each town, a few ideas on how to get by a little better. If you have any special suggestions you’d like to share we’ll pass those on, too. We also have a radio for you that we’re willing to leave, if necessary. I’m a physician. We have another doctor in Prescott too. We have a vet, if necessary. If your town needs our services, you can call and if possible, we’ll help you out.”

With that, another man pushed out of the crowd. “You’re a physician?” he asked.

“That’s right – my specialty was emergency medicine. The doctor in Prescott specialized in ophthalmology – an eye doctor. Of course, we’re doing everything, now”

“I know. I’m a dentist. Doctor Ian Bredeberg” he said, holding out his hand. Rick shook it.

“Doctor, good to meet you. How are things here?”

“We’re doing OK now. We had a lot of sick people a year ago, radiation sickness I guess – a lot of my X-ray film was fogged. Then, we had a lot of people die with the weather. Fortunately we have a lot of food and fuel with the power plant.”

“Glad to here it. Is the power plant running?”

“No – the operators shut it down”. Florer said. “Apparently the lines are down somewhere and there wasn’t much of a load on the plant. There’s a lot of coal, though. We also have a lot of diesel fuel because of the railroads. We’re using that in generators”.

“Very good. Doctor Bredeberg, are there any supplies or anything you may need? Any help we can offer?”

“I sort of took over the clinic, Doctor. I’m not sure what we’re doing. Perhaps you could come back and check us out sometime? If I observe, it would increase my abilities. And I suppose I could call you for advice?”

“I think we could do that – and I would hope that we could talk you into coming around with us, and doing dental checks? I have a number of kids at home that need some dental care”.

“I think we could do that. I don’t know how I’d get around, though”.

“I think that we could help you out with that. Mr. Florer, do you have enough security for the town?

“I think so, Doctor. We have enough weapons for everyone in town, and ammunition too. We even have a few machine guns. Bob Woods was a gun collector and a machine gun dealer”.

“Very good. You know, of the towns I’ve been to so far, you’re the best set up. Good job”.

“Thanks. A lot of us were in the military and we just put our training to use. I’m a Marine, myself. I was a company commander during Desert Storm”.

“That explains it. I was a fighter pilot before I became a physician, myself. I was over in the sand box, too”.

They chatted until Dave and Chuck came back. “All set up, Rick” Dave said.

“Well, then, nice to meet all of you. We’re off to Winslow next” Rick said.

“We haven’t been over there” Florer said. We’ve been pretty busy here”.

“Give us a call, we’ll let you know what's going on – or maybe the two towns can trade. Goodbye”.

They walked back to the helicopter and as they approached, Alex started the engine. The security troops stood up and brushed the snow from their clothes, and jumped into the helo as they took off.

It was a short flight to Winslow. They tried to call on the radio but got no response at all. They dropped another message bottle and waited. Rick had Alex fly over to the Winslow Memorial Hospital. They didn’t see any signs of activity around it at all.

They flew back to the center of town and there were a couple of people motioning for them to land. The area wasn’t quite large enough though, and there were telephone and power lines around so Alex decided to land at a parking lot a few blocks away. Flying over they saw a couple of people aiming rifles at them.

Alex pulled the collective and they got out of there, as a bullet flew through the fuselage of the helicopter. Taking evasive action, he flew well out of range. “Alex, lets fly back over Holbrook” Rick said. “Everyone OK?” he asked. They all were, fortunately.

When they were over Holbrook, Rick told them what had happened in Winslow and to be careful of the people there. With that, they flew back to Sedona.

“Well, I guess they weren’t feeling neighborly” Dave said.

“Jackasses” Rick said.

“Are we going to do anything about it?” Alex asked.

“No, I don’t think so” Rick said. We’ll warn Flagstaff, too. Let’s just go home”.


They gave Flagstaff a heads up about Winslow. Winslow was about fifty miles from Flagstaff so they weren’t too worried about them, at least not yet. Speculation was running wild about who was there and why they started shooting but without a desire to go back, it was all speculation.


A snowstorm started on February 20th and lasted eleven full days. Everyone was restricted to the houses, except for the security patrols on the snow mobiles which were quite limited – the chances of seeing anything in a blizzard was almost nil. On March 2nd they woke to clear skies and snow everywhere.

“Well, it’s only five feet deep this time” Lisa said. They dug out a path to the storage building with the small snow blower and let the pups out for the first time – the big strange world was all new to them and they were falling over themselves trying to discover all of it.

Dave had been in touch with the other towns throughout the blizzard. Flagstaff, being even higher in elevation had it worse with ten feet of snow. Holbrook had received about three feet. A few people had died in Cottonwood and Prescott, either because they ran out of fuel or wandered off and got lost in the blizzard.

They didn’t have any significant snowfall for several weeks. In that time most of the snow had melted around the homestead. Finally, George decided it was time. He’d been working with Carlos off and on through the winter, designing a hothouse. He took the trailer and cleared the snow off an area for the greenhouse, making it about thirty by forty feet square. He took some rebar and cut the lengths in half, and drove a piece in every two feet along the perimeter of the hothouse, leaving a foot or eighteen inches above ground.

He had been gluing plastic pipe together during the winter, making lengths of about forty feet. When he was ready, he got everyone together and with someone sitting in the bucket attached to the tractor, slipped one end of the pipe over the exposed rebar, then bending the pipe, slipped the other end over the opposite piece. The person in the bucket helped hold the pipe until both ends were secured.

When all the pipes were set, George took some parachute cord and tied the piped together, at the top and half way down each side. The pipes themselves needed a little stability so he secured some pipes across a few of the bows, lengthwise. Finally, he pulled out a roll of clear plastic sheeting and with everyone carefully helping, got the sheets pulled over the bows.

With a little duct tape the greenhouse was ready. “Lets see if it lasts” George said. The greenhouse was certainly trapping heat inside – people working inside for any time took their coats off and rolled up their sleeves.

Linda and Lisa were ready to try the greenhouse. They made some stands and trays, and started planting seeds they had picked up in town. Soon, they had little shoots poking through the trays. Fortunately, the small amount of snow they got didn’t damage the greenhouse, but they weren’t willing to risk it on a blizzard.

April came, and with it much nicer weather. Most of the snow around them had melted, and with Carlos’ suggestion, George started preparing the fields for planting using the tractor. At first it was hard going but they got the ground prepared.

Carlos had joined Rick on a flight to Prescott, and spoke to his cousins, trying to find a family willing to farm. So far, they had no luck. Rick had Alex fly him to Holbrook and gave anyone who wanted one a physical, and immunizations. Doctor Bredeberg had salvaged vaccines from the doctors offices and hospital – which was in remarkably good shape. The townspeople had even managed to keep the generator for the hospital running when needed, using fuel from the railroads. They flew Dr. Bredeberg down to Prescott for a week and he gave those who wanted a dental checkup. One of the people who had come from Cottonwood was Jessie Halloran, a dental hygienist. She started working with Bredeberg and just about doubled his productivity.

Alex and Sherry had been suggesting that they go down to Marana and look for a couple of helicopters. Rick finally agreed. They’d take the Twin Otter with security people, mechanics, tools and spares, just in case. They planned on being there for three days, maximum. Rick flew the plane down and made a landing on the taxiway near the military hangars. He didn’t want to be too far out.

Alex and Sherry checked the helicopters out. They decided to work on two Blackhawks and two Apaches, allowing for spares. They managed to get two of the Blackhawks running right away, and loaded with spare parts and tools, flew them back to Sedona. Rick took a load of spares and tools back as well in the Otter, and picked up the pilots.

The Apaches turned out to be a problem. The chain gun, although similar in design to the ones on the LAV were 30mm instead of 25 and they hadn’t seen any ammo at the depot in Flagstaff. They looked around and couldn’t find any ammo or missiles stored at Marana. Finally, Rick said “Lets try and find a couple more Blackhawks as spares, or if you want, Kiowas. We’ll look around for the ammo supply point”.

They got another two Blackhawks flying and loaded them up with more spares. On the way back to Sedona, Rick took a course that took them over Tucson airport, and looked down. He couldn’t believe what he saw there. “Lets check this out” he said over the radio. Down below on the parking ramp was the unforgettable outline of a C130 transport.

They landed and Rick taxied the twin otter over to the Herc. It was an aircraft assigned to a search and rescue unit, an MC-130H model. It looked like it was in good shape – where it was parked there was a steady and strong wind blowing between two hangars so maybe the venturi effect had kept the snow from accumulating too badly.

Rick opened the crew door and stepped inside. He saw the remains of the crew there, the loadmaster and engineer were on the cargo deck. He walked up to the flight deck and saw the pilots, lying on the deck. Rick didn’t know the crewmembers, fortunately – he’d left before they started. He didn’t see any PJ’s onboard

Rick stepped outside and asked for help with the bodies. They gently removed the bodies and set them on the ramp. Alex went off to find a vehicle in the hangar.

Rick went back up to the flight deck and sat in the pilots’ seat. He had over three thousand hours sitting in chairs just like this one and it was a welcome feeling of normalcy. He reached for the -781 binder and checked the logs, nothing untoward was recorded.

Rick started flipping switches and saw that the batteries were still charged, much to his surprise. The fuel gauges showed that the wing tanks were almost full, and the auxiliary tank on the cargo deck was almost empty. Rick opened the pilots’ window and told them to stay clear because he was going to start the GTC. When he saw the blank look he said the ground power unit which was in the left wheel well.

He got the GTC started and heard the whine of the gas turbine compressor engines. Warm air started coming out of the vents, too. Rick then configured the aircraft to start an engine using air from the GTC, and watched the gauges carefully as the #3 engine started spinning.

The engine started, and smoothed out. Rick shut the GTC off and made certain that the generator on the #3 engine was charging the batteries. Alex had found a tug that would run and he had placed the bodies on it, and was driving off with them.

Sherry came up to the flight deck. “What are you planning on, Colonel?”

“I just want to make certain the batteries are charged. They’re nicads, the cold didn’t do much to them”

“Are you going to fly this back?”

“Not today. It’s a nice find, though – this is the spec ops model, the tank on the cargo deck about doubles the range and endurance. We can remove it too, and load up to twenty tons of cargo. We’ll have to come back and find the maintenance stands, tools, spares that we can find, oil, whatever, and take it with us, later”.

“You going to put this at Sedona” Sherry asked, a little incredulously.

“I could, but I think Prescott would be better. You know that someone actually talked a Marine pilot into landing one of these on an aircraft carrier once?”

“Well, you can talk a Marine into anything” Sherry said, shaking her head.

Rick saw that the load on the generators had dropped off and the battery voltage was maxed out, so he shut the engines down and turned everything off. He found the appropriate checklists and confirmed that everything was shut off, and then pulled the circuit breaker for the battery relays. “This airplane is cold” he said.

They walked down the ladder to the flight deck. Rick checked the cargo deck, in addition to the usual C130 stuff there was also the aux fuel tank and a full allotment of Para-rescue equipment – including a rigged zodiac boat, parachutes, and medical gear. He left the cargo deck and closed the crew door.

“Wow, its getting dark” he said. “I lost track of time”.
With that, they took off and made it back to Sedona, barely before the light was gone.

They talked to Henry in Prescott and discussed putting two of the Blackhawks there, along with the Herc. “I can find room for the Blackhawks in hangars, but we don’t have anything big enough for the Herc”.

“That’s OK. Want to come with us and help decide what to bring?”

“OK, let me know when”.

They stored two of the Blackhawks at Prescott, and after ferrying the two helo pilots back to Sedona, Rick dropped the Twin Otter off as well. Alex came over with a Blackhawk and Aaron, and Bob and Karl as security and manpower. Rick and Henry got into the Blackhawk and flew down to Tucson.

Being an international airport, there were lots of different sizes and shapes of maintenance stands. Henry found some that would collapse enough to go into the Herc and be useful, so with Ricks direction they got them moved onboard and secured. Henry also found some tools and turbine oil and other consumables that he wanted, so they loaded those up as well. Rick gave Henry a brief tutorial on the Herc’s panels, and started all four engines.

On the radio, Rick said “Here goes” and motioned to pull the wheel chocks. Rick released the brakes and the aircraft started rolling. He controlled the direction with the pilots’ nosewheel steering wheel with his left hand and jockeyed the throttles with his right. He lined up with the runway and did everything he would do for a return-to-flight maintenance check flight, and finally called into the radio “We’re rolling”.

He moved the throttles forward and the Herc started its distinctive rumbling taxi, accelerating. At the calculated airspeed Rick pulled the wheel back and the airplane rotated and jumped into the air. “WOW!” Rick said. Henry moved the landing gear switch to retract the gear.

Rick kept climbing and did a few turns to get a feel for the aircraft. Just like he remembered. He called Alex on the radio and found that Alex had taken off, and if he could possibly slow the HELL down he’d catch up!

Rick throttled back to about 150 knots, and made a large, slow turn to the right and let the Blackhawk catch up. They flew in formation to Prescott where Rick made a pretty good landing – the airplane would fly again.

He taxied back to the area Henry wanted to park the airplane, and shut it down. “All yours, Henry” he said.

“I wish I had the maintenance manuals, Rick”.

“You do”. Rick showed him the bookshelf that had a complete set of technical orders for the Herc. “All Hercs have them” he said.

“OK, give me a week or so to get used to this beast”.

“You have it. Thanks”. Rick took off his headset and gloves, and put them into his helmet bag. “See you later” he said, and walked out of the plane. Alex was just setting down so he got into the left seat and buckled in, and they soon were back in Sedona.

“Well, Colonel – you have your Air Force, now” Sherry said.

“I guess so. Maybe we both should give flying lessons” He said. “I really need at least one person more to fly the Herc, a loadmaster would be good too”.

“I can get a Robinson from Prescott, Sir – we can start in that”. Alex said.

“And I guess I can start people in a Cessna 172. It’s actually closer to the Caravan than a 182 or 206 is”.


Carlos had made arrangements to free-range their cattle down in Cottonwood for the summer, and his cousins would help with the round-up. Alex and Sherry got the Blackhawks set up with machine guns in the doors, and spent a day flying around letting people practice shooting while in flight. Rick took a turn, and never felt more exposed than sitting in the open door shooting the gun. He hoped that nobody would ever be shooting back.


Laura Hewitt called Rick and asked for a meeting in Prescott. Rick drove down and met with her. “Skipper, we found a number of weapons, as you said. We even found some fully automatic weapons, and a whole lot of ammunition”.

“How much ammo?”

“Altogether, about two hundred containers worth – full containers” she said. Another forty or so containers full of SKS’s and AK’s. The class-III’s include a BAR, of all things, and some M16’s.

It took Rick a moment to process that information. “Two hundred containers ammo?”

“Yeah, forty-foot containers. They weren’t full, apparently they were loaded to max weight”.

“That’s forty tons, eighty thousand pounds, each”

“It’s a lot, like I said, Skipper”.

“Sixteen MILLION pounds. Eight thousand tons”.

“It’s mostly 7.62x39. Some of it is steel core, they must have had it when the ban went into effect”.

“And another twenty containers of weapons?”

No, Sir – forty containers, plus, of weapons”.

“So, can I assume that everyone in Prescott is armed now?”

“And then some. We also got some very nice handguns, and hunting rifles. Everyone has at least a rifle and handgun, even if they don’t want them. I’ve been busy teaching them to shoot, too”.

“I guess. So, what can I do for you?”

“I just wanted you to know that they’re here. Even after giving everyone in town a rifle, we still have a thousand or so AK47’s, still wrapped up in the paper. That doesn’t even include the SKS’s or Moisants. We have a bunch of western guns too – Bushmasters, Barretts, a few Colts, some M1A’s and FALS, even a couple of G3’s.

“I talked it over with Sylvia and Bill. If you want to offer the AK’s to others, it’s OK”.

“Alright. I guess I don’t have to worry too much about Prescott”.

“Skipper, we even found explosives – Claymores, and blasting explosives. We’ve got it put away but if some one can show us how to use them, we’d appreciate it”.

“OK, I’ll ask George to come up and do that. He’ll give you a call”.

“Thanks. One more thing, there are about fifty more women who want to be trained as scouts”.

“Another fifty?”

“Yes, Sir. That’s in addition to the ones that already volunteered, and didn’t get trained”.

“That makes seventy-five!”

“Yes, Sir. I’ve got them all pretty well trained in the stuff I could train them in. Joe Chizmut was up a couple of times and we got them trained in hand-to-hand, and I worked on the classroom stuff as much as I could during the winter”.

“Laura, you have weapons, the training…what else do they want?”

“Sir, they want to go through the same training as the rest of us did. It might be a bit quicker, but they still want the same lumps and knocks”.

“Two classes. Plus, I need to offer the guys in Flagstaff the same class. Plus, we need to get our crops in”.

“We can probably help with that, Sir. Lets go talk to Sylvia”.

They finally settled. Rick would conduct the training for the Prescott Scouts for the seventy-five that were on deck. He would also train the best and brightest from the two first classes as instructors and they would take over the main part of the training in the future. Prescott would have to supply the clothes and weapons to the scouts, as well. In payment, Prescott would find twenty volunteers to help raise food for the homestead.

“It’s a natural distribution of labor, Skipper” Laura said. “You’re the best able to protect us, so we will pay with food. It’s the feudal stage described by Marx”.

“Laura, what did you do after the Coasties?”

“I got my Masters in Economics at the University of Chicago – I was going for a PhD, Sir”.

Rick and Lisa drove up to Flagstaff one day. With the commotion at the homestead, it was nice for the two of them to just get away together. They still took their BoB’s and wore their armor, of course. In Flagstaff, they offered to train a maximum of thirty people as scouts, if they wanted. They’d be equipped as well. Butch Salliday offered to get back to them. He’d been busy, each house had a solar power system set up sufficient to run the water pumps, and a back up generator.

They conducted a train-the-trainer class for the first Scouts. The theory of adult education, preparing lesson plans, group psychology and leadership, and the other subjects that were appropriate were covered the first week. The second week, everyone had to prepare lesson plans and conduct lessons for the entire class – which was free to criticize the performance. And then they did it again.

Then, they started the second Prescott Scouts class. The new class was very well prepared and the classes went very quickly, especially with their shooting abilities and physical conditioning. They decided to hold off on having a graduation exercise until all the classes were done. Because of that, the class was done in less than four weeks and they started the next class. Rick was surprised to see Bill Black in the class.

“I’m not a politician anymore, Colonel”.

Flagstaff decided to send twenty five people to the class, including Tom Jackson and his girlfriend Helen. They took the full five weeks for the training, and were given four humvees, weapons and equipment.

Rick had been busy with the training and the work going on with the growing of food. He hardly had a chance to conduct flight training or even go flying. Finally as the last class finished in June, he decided that he was going to go flying.

“This time, we’ll go to Albuquerque, then fly up towards Denver, Salt Lake City and then return via Reno, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I’ll take the big Citation, which has the range for the trip. It should take about four hours, altogether – I won’t spend much time down low”. They decided to leave the next day. The Citation-X had an HF radio installed so they coordinated frequencies with Dave.

The next morning they got a lift to Prescott in the -530. Henry had the Citation-X ready to go and so Rick and Lisa loaded their gear and took off. Rick climbed to about thirty-five thousand feet to get the best performance from the engines and at 525 knots they were soon over Albuquerque. They made a quick look and turned northwards, towards Los Alamos. The birthplace of the Atomic Bomb was also the graveyard, it seemed – completely flattened.

Rick called Dave on the HF radio and told them what they saw. “I’m going to make a detour to Amarillo, then head to Denver” he told them. He turned East and flew to Amarillo, and as he suspected, the Pantex plant was gone – a hole in the ground was all that was left of the plant that assembled nuclear triggers.

He turned northwest again and headed for Denver. Denver had been nuked so he turned south and followed I-25 south to Colorado Springs. Lisa was making calls on the aircraft radio and didn’t get any response from anyone. Rick made a low pass over Falcon AFB and saw a number of aircraft, but no people. Climbing out, he saw that Cheyenne Mountain was still intact.

As they were climbing back up to altitude they overflew Pueblo. Lisa was able to see some smoke coming from chimneys and people moving around, using the big stabilized binoculars. They tried calling on the radios and were able to reach a ham operator on the 2-meter band. Lisa chatted with him for a bit, before they were out of range, and then she called Dave on the HF and gave a status update.

Salt Lake was destroyed but it looked more like a riot than a bomb. The LDS Temple was intact but much of the rest of the city was destroyed. Rick headed into the sun for Reno.

In Reno, Rick was able to reach a couple of people on different frequencies. Things in Reno were pretty stable, after suffering riots and starvation. Apparently they had almost been overrun by people trying to escape from California until they had blown I-80 at Donner Pass - which was now considered part of Nevada, as was all of Lake Tahoe. They hadn’t heard anything from Las Vegas, and Rick explained what he had seen. He continued on west and saw that both Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay had been hit.

“Sure looks pretty from up here” Rick told Lisa as they flew south along the coast. It took about thirty-five minutes before they were starting to see the northern limits of Los Angeles. They descended and flew into the basin.

“Look, there’s the VA hospital” Lisa said. “But where’s UCLA?” Much of the campus of UCLA was destroyed – burned out. Look at that, that was my hospital” Rick said at the burned out, collapsed ruin. “What the hell were they doing?” Lisa reached out for Ricks hand. They saw small enclaves of people in the basin – cooking, moving around. Rick flew over downtown Los Angeles, which must have been ground-zero for a nuke. He turned south and overflew the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Several ships were sunk in the basin, and much of the harbor had burned.

“One more detour” Rick said. He climbed up to twenty thousand feet to save a little fuel and turned south. “I want to overfly Camp Pendelton and San Diego”.

Over Camp Pendelton he was able to raise a very angry person on the radio. “You’re entering restricted airspace” he said. “Go away”.

Rick tried to get some information from the radio operator but couldn’t get any more information from him. “OK, let’s head home” he said. Rick turned north and decided that the route over Barstow and Flagstaff would be good. At Barstow he saw the Marine Corps depot that was intact, it seemed. They weren’t able to raise anyone at Ft. Irwin. Rick followed I-40 to Flagstaff, and then turned south for Prescott.

Close to two thousand miles in a little under five hours and they were home. Henry was there with a fuel truck. “No squawks, Henry” He said. They went to the bath room and waited for Alex to finish with a lesson for Anne in the Robinson.



Ricks flight over Cheyenne Mountain was not without notice. “Mr. President, we tracked the airplane from Denver. It then flew south along I-25, and apparently turned towards Salt Lake City. Once we knew what to listen for, we monitored their broadcasts. They seemed to fly to Reno, then San Francisco, and then south to Los Angeles and San Diego. They flew over Barstow and Ft Irwin. We think they’re around Prescott, but we don’t know for certain”.

“Well, why didn’t you talk to them?” the President asked.

“Our protocol is to remain silent, Mr. President. We don’t want to give them something to home in on”.

“Oh, BS” the President said. This mountain was the second most well known military target in the world, after the Pentagon. I’d be willing to bet that anyone who was flying over knew it and wanted to see if it was left. Now, we’re left with questions and you can’t give us any answers. The next time something like that happens, invite them down”.

“Invite them down, Mr. President? What if they’re hostile?”

“I’m sure Generals Pace and Jumper can stop them. The damned doors on this mountain weigh 25 TONS apiece in case they can’t.”. ‘What a jackass’ the President thought.

“General Jumper, I want to get out of this mountain. Let’s fly down towards Prescott and see what's going on”.

“Mr. President, that’s not safe” the head of the Presidential Protection Unit of the Secret Service said.

“We’ll just have to run the risk. John, what sort of airplane can we whistle up?”

“Mr. President, both Air Force one aircraft are at Falcon”.

“Too big – they won’t be able to land at Prescott. What's smaller?”

“Well, we have a couple of Blackhawks but they don’t have the range, Mr. President”.

“The only other airplane we have available and flying is a C35, Mr. President. It’s a little business jet”.

“Fine. Let’s go tomorrow” the President said. “Laura will go with me, too”.