The Last Gallon Page 15

  “Take care of yourselves! You’re no good to us dead!” Vincent called out. The family waved through the gun ports and accelerated out of sight quickly. “Hope to see you tomorrow” Vincent said softly while hanging his head.

  A 14 year old boy in camouflage hiding in the tree-line just south of the runway put his binoculars down and turned to his partner. “Let’s get back and tell El Jefe” he said with a thick Mexican accent. The other boy just nodded and kicked the beat up motorcycle to life. The younger spy jumped in the sidecar as the other boy was already pulling off.

  Chapter 23- Little Rock, Zeta territory

  Three hours later the two boys cleared the last checkpoint and were at the doors to the Governor’s mansion. A man in uniform informed them “El Jefe will see you now” as he opened the gate to let them in.

  El Jefe sat at a large teak desk in an enormous room. He had two potted palms beside him and some elaborate furniture to show off his elite status. He was one of 6 territorial bosses for the Zeta territory which spanned from parts of Texas all the way to Key West. Little Rock was the north most city in this area and the kick off point for many raids into the free zones.

  The boys stood trembling before the man’s power. He smiled and motioned for them to sit, which they did without hesitation. “What do you know?” he asked the older one. The younger one piped up first “El Jefe we found a convoy, 17 trucks and lots of people!” he announced. The older boy punched his arm for speaking out of turn. “What of the car?” El Jefe asked. The boys informed him that they had not seen the car but they were certain it was there as it had been spotted in town.

  El Jefe laced his fingers together and said “Excellent” and then pointed towards a door that led into his mansion, “Go, and get some coke and beeches.” The boys could barely contain their excitement and ran through the door as quickly as possible. The man laughed and knew he would have good servants for a long time with those two.

  El Jefe got on the phone with the area commandant. “I want 400 men to Jonesboro, hit them at sunrise” he told the man. The commandant answered in the affirmative and began preparing for the mission.

  At around 2am the raiding party was ready. The group didn’t have any heavy vehicles; they were all lightly armored Chrysler 300s. The plan was to hit hard and hit fast. The gang had fully automatic M-16s, AK-47s and a few light machine guns. They also had 4 RPG-7s with a dozen rockets.

  The commandant had his men gathered up for his speech. “Today, at dawn you will attack and destroy a party of traitors. They have stolen a great deal from you. They need to be wiped off this earth. The city is 132mi away, if we get on the road now we will have time to rape and pillage Newport!” The men cheered and immediately began piling into their vehicles.

  The raiders made the 90 mile drive to Newport in record time. Something about the freedom to rape and murder as they saw fit just worked them into a drug-crazed frenzy. It was close to 4am and they had roughly an hour to do as they pleased before getting back on the road.

  One of the cars used an RPG to gain access to a gated community. Several other cars joined the mix and the raiders went house to house until the entire neighborhood had been thoroughly raped and killed. Ten houses down the members of car 4 and 12 got a nasty surprise.

  Helen had awoke to the sound of gunfire and discreetly got out of bed, grabbed her Noveske AR-15 and laid back in bed with it by her side, cocked and ready to rock. When the raiders kicked her door in 15 minutes later she sat up in bed and fed them lead until they stopped trying to get in. She quickly reloaded and climbed over the bodies in her doorway to make sure her daughter was ok.

  Meghan had hid in the closet when she heard the door smash and Helen feared she had been taken for a moment. A quick call of her name let her know that she was ok and hiding like she had been told. Helen pulled Meghan to her feet and told her to grab one of the men’s weapons.

  The two women used the dead gangsters as sandbags and waited for the next party to come through. Random bouts of gun-fire would erupt and then quickly die down as residents tried to defend their homes against the criminals. After about 35 minutes the girls heard horns blowing and the night got silent after the sound of the engines faded into the night.

  Helen gathered up all the gangster’s weapons, ammo and any money they might have had on their persons and called the local Sheriff. She went and put some clothes on and instructed Meghan to do the same and waited in the living room for someone to come clean up the mess she had made. Helen lit up a cigarette, looked at Meghan and sighed “We gotta get the hell out of here” she said. Meghan nodded in agreement.

  Seventy-one cars rocketed towards Jonesboro as the morning sun started to peek over the horizon behind them. 15 men had been killed and another 30 wounded and left behind during the raid. Nevertheless it was deemed a success; the men had claimed 40 lives, raped 50 women and abducted another 15 for El Jefe’s use later. They also acquired random jewellery and gold off the corpses they left behind.

  Chapter 24- The cache

  Mark and the family found the quarry right as the sun was beginning to go down. It looked like every other quarry he had ever seen, including the beautiful blue-green pond where rainwater had gradually filled the hole dug by the rock removing equipment. Mark had no clue what exactly he was looking for in way of access to the cache so he slowly drove around the facility. It looked like it had been abandoned when the war broke out and still had equipment left outside and rotting away in the elements.

  The quarry had a large rock outcropping at its north-most point with a sheer wall front. Mark and Kara examined this area thoroughly because it literally looked like it could be the front of a building. Mark eventually found a straight crack that appeared to run up about eight feet. He followed it horizontal for a bit and then back down. It was a doorway!

  Everyone gathered around and Mark instructed them to try to find a way to open it. Mark and Kara searched the wall, Cindy searched a nearby outcropping and Joey dug around in the dirt. They searched until it was too hard to see then used the car to illuminate the area and searched some more. Joey was starting to get pissed and picked up a large rock to throw it. Underneath he saw flat ground that didn’t look quite right. He quickly wiped away the dirt and rock debris and found a steel plate.

  Joey gathered everyone around as they lifted the plate. There was a large red pushbutton underneath the plate. Mark instructed him to push it and he did. Nothing happened for a moment but Mark started hearing clicks and the whir of ventilation fans. Everyone stared at the door in anticipation and after another minute or so it slowly slid open.

  The vestibule of the cache was awash in florescent light. It flickered with the awful nightclub effect of lighting that had not been lit off in a long time. The family tried to adjust their eyes to it but it was impossible. Mark hoped that it would stabilize out in a few minutes after it warmed up and it eventually did.

  The cache had two enormous doors with a large screen in-between. Underneath the screen was a large red button, much like the one out front. Mark stepped forward and pressed it and the door closed while the two large doors opened and the screen came to life.

  “Welcome to US Government Reciviliation Unit 11” a female voice said out of nowhere. “Please reference the map and enjoy your stay.” The screen flickered again and brought up a map of the facility. Mark scanned the rooms and his jaw dropped.

  The left portion of the facility, listed as level one contained 3 rectangular rooms and one upside-down L shaped room. The L room was listed as Barracks (x3 levels, 10,000 bunks per level. 100 private suites per level). The next room down was an indoor 5 acre grow room. Next to it was a 3 level food store-room and finally, closest to them was 1.5 million gallons of water storage and a treatment facility. Mark giggled uncontrollably but was in for a real treat when he looked to the right side hallway.

  The right side was 4 large rectangular rooms. The farthest back was simply listed as Small-arms Armory but it was close to the si
ze of the farm on the other side. Mark was giddy with the thought of 5 acres of small-arms. Next to that was a room labelled Artillery and MLRS. After that was Tanks and APCs, and last was a 1.5 million tank of each gasoline and diesel. It appeared to go up into the rock instead of down like the other parts of the facility.

  Mark pressed the down button to look at the other levels of the facility. On the left the lone non multi-level room was a 5 acre library. On the right were rooms holding attack helicopters and drones. Another room contained cars, trucks, and service vehicles. The last large room contained farm and construction equipment. Mark also noticed a smaller room forward of the entry way on the second level that was not labelled. He made a note to check that part of the facility later.

  The third and final level contained a museum, a chow hall and support facilities including a barbershop, clinic, sewing facilities and the like. Mark was amazed and the family was just as astonished. They had truly thought of everything from what he could tell on the map. He was now in command of enough equipment and know-how to start rebuilding.

  Mark went into the level 1 tank and APC room to get an idea of the scale of the building. When the door opened he caught the smell of packing grease and fuel right away. The room contained 4 rows of vehicle that continued on as far as the eye could see. The tanks ranged from M-60s all the way up to the newest iteration of M-1 along with some British and French models thrown in the mix. It seemed like the cache was filled in the 60s or 70s and then gradually updated as budget and time allowed. The APCs ranged from old-school M113s to modern Bradleys and foreign models.

  Mark gave the equipment a once over and it was immaculate. He assumed the building was hermetically sealed until Joey had pushed the button which activated the generators and fan systems. This made complete sense as the building would preserve its contents until it needed to be fit for human life. The forethought was staggering but Mark was very glad that someone had made the effort.

  Mark gave up count but he figured on at least 200 tanks and double that number in APCs along with an ammunition area that had crates of main gun ammo stacked to the ceiling. He moved on to the armory so he could confirm they would have the ammunition they needed. His concern was quickly dispelled as he opened the door.

  Not only were there acres of stacked loaded ammo boxes but there was a complete ammunition factory on site. There were components stacked and ready to make any calibre that man had loaded in the last century. There were anti-tank weapons, machine guns, long-guns of every variety. Not only did they think to provide an army the weapons they needed but also weapons for ranchers and farmers and even home defense weapons. Again it seemed the cache was started back when the M1 Garand was the main weapon and there were at least 200 examples that looked fresh off the manufacturer’s production line.

  At the end of each of the vehicle rooms there was a door that led out to a parking garage style ramp system. This was how vehicles were moved in and out of the facility. Mark ran up the ramp to the end and opened the door. The side of the rock structure opened up like a garage door and led to outside. Mark grabbed the Armadillo and drove it out of sight to keep anyone from figuring out their location.

  The family spent hours exploring the place, not even realizing how much time they were spending. The library contained history, engineering, math, chemistry, physics, and just about any subject one could think of that would be needed to rebuild a country. It also featured a fiction area because the designers knew its inhabitants would need to unwind occasionally.

  The museum contained examples of important discoveries and inventions throughout the ages. The idea was they could be deconstructed and re-created again.

  The food storage facility had freeze-dried meats and vegetables of all varieties, barrels upon barrels of rice, wheat, noodles, sugar, powdered milk, cheeses and just about anything else that could be long term stored. There were also seed pods of almost every plant imaginable for future cultivation.

  The non-military vehicle section had cars and trucks, delivery vehicles, construction vehicles, armored construction equipment like the Navy Seabees used, and just about every farm implement imaginable. It was refreshing to see the level of planning that went into the construction of these facilities and there were apparently at least 10 more spread across the United States.

  Mark traveled to the second floor to explore the out-building that was forward of the main complex. The entrance was hidden to the side of the main stairwell, down a narrow corridor. The hallway ended with big, heavy double doors. Mark had a hard time pushing them open and when he finally got them to budge he realized they were nearly 6 inches thick.

  To the left the room had a small control room; its panel was dimly lit but clearly active. There were four separate controls with four separate maps of the world. Mark was not sure what he was looking at so he moved on. There was another thick door opposite of the control room. Mark pushed it open and found himself in a cylindrical room that had a platform around it. Down below, in the depths of the hole was a missile.

  Mark explored the rest of the silo and found three more just like it. Upon returning to the control room area he found another door with the universal radiation symbol on it. He opened the door and found 24 crates with the words warhead, W-58, 200kt on the side. He also found the complete entry vehicle, guidance system, and nosecones to build 8 Polaris A3 missiles, four of which were ready to go in the silos. The family had just become a nuclear power.

  “Dinner is served” came through the intercom in Kara’s voice as Mark sat on the steps outside the silo in contemplation. Athena was right; they had just walked into the means to set about the recreation of civilization. He was both happy and frightened to the core because he knew that one day he would probably have to launch one or more of these missiles in anger.

  On his way to the third level he stopped by the air-wing of the cache. Like the other sections it had apparently been stocked in the 60s and the helicopters ranged from Cobra gunships, UH-1 Huey gunships all the way up to Apache, an MH-60, and the tiny AH-6 “Little bird” gunships.

  In another corner sat a dozen MQ-9 unmanned drone attack craft. Mark shivered when he looked at them, he considered them horrible creatures and they were responsible for the death of many American freedom fighters. He hoped he would never need to use them in combat, he hoped he never lost his humanity enough to think it was a good idea to execute people from a thousand miles away with the push of a button.

  Mark made his way to the enormous chow hall and found his family already eating. “What’s for dinner?” he asked as he pulled out his chair causing the noise to echo down the empty hall. “Spaghetti and meatballs with fresh artisan bread” Kara said. “Cookbooks are wonderful things” Mark said with a wink as Kara discreetly flipped him off.

  Everyone had stories of things they had found. Kara had obviously discovered the pantry and cookbook collection, Cindy found a fully stocked dispensary that had every antibiotic and useful drug known to man stored in safe conditions. She said there was probably enough medicine to treat everyone for around 5 years if the place was at capacity.

  Joey had explored the private suites and found them to be perfectly adequate. They were one bedroom, one bath affairs with a small living area but no kitchen. The idea of the facility was apparently solidarity through food as the mess-hall could serve nearly 10,000 people at once.

  Mark talked about the military equipment he had discovered and said that Vincent would probably have a heart-attack. “Vincent!” Mark suddenly remembered. “SHIT!” He quickly finished his meal and told Joey to hurry up as he was coming along. Mark hoped his friend was still around and felt like a complete asshole for forgetting about him and his crew.

  Chapter 25- The Jonesboro Massacre

  Dawn broke with the sound of gunfire across the city. The cartel came in with blitzkrieg style force and was steadily pushing towards the airport. The citizens of Jonesboro were used to short, brutal raids and responded by throwing as much lea
d at the attackers as they could. Members who occupied the National Guard unit used their newly acquired Bradley and the few lighter APCs they already owned to slow the onslaught.

  The Zetas had nothing in their arsenal that could stop a Bradley so they did their damnedest to avoid them. The 25mm chain gun ripped through a column of cars that made a bad turn. Three of them exploded as the rounds impacted them, penetrated their engines and gas tanks and set them alight.

  Vincent was alerted by the initial contact on the outskirts of town and had the convoy ready to go. They had arranged themselves in a defensive posture and were just waiting for the cars to come into view. It was a modern version of waiting to see the whites of their eyes to fire.

  The Zeta main attack squad fanned out on the runway and charged at the awaiting convoy. The convoy opened up with TOW missiles from the 3 remaining Bradleys which absolutely devastated the front line cars. After the missiles impacted the chain guns and light machine guns the convoy owned all open fired.

  Line after line of car was destroyed but for each car that was destroyed another got close enough to fight. One of the deuce and a halfs took 3 RPG rockets and was hit hard enough to lift off the ground and roll-over. Another RPG car took out one of the modified H2s. The cars that broke through the wall of destruction put up by the Bradleys and fixed machine guns on the Humvees started doing drive-by style shootings on the squads of troops huddled behind the cover of their vehicles.