When The Fault Breaks: Life Will Never Be The Same Read online

  "How many did you see Doug?"

  "I made out at least ten before they opened fire on us."

  Malcolm replied, "I made out at least a dozen."

  Doug asked, "So what's the plan now?"

  "I saw a nice place a ways uphill of them where we could land and make our way back there."

  Alex asked Malcolm, "How far can ya get a good shot of from?"

  "Quite away from a stable platform, but I have never shot from a helo before. What do you have in mind?"

  "I can fly out of their range, can ya see if ya can pick off a few?"

  Malcolm replied, "I don't think that is a good idea, if we came back like that they will call for reinforcements and we will be screwed. Let's go back to that spot I saw and we can come in under the cover of darkness and see if we can take them out one by one.

  Doug liked that, "That sounds like a great idea, they will think they scared us off."

  They landed in the opening and made their way to the warehouse, they watched for the rest of the day trying to figure out how many people were there and counted twelve. It looked like Doug may have been right because none of them seemed to be edgy. They did not know if there was anyone else inside but figured they had to try after coming this far and taking this much a chance. Alex noticed both of them attaching a silencer to their rifles.

  Alex asked, "How do you plan on doing this?"

  Malcolm responded, "We're going to shoot them as they change their guards, then more will come out to see what happened to the off going guards and investigate."

  Malcolm took the northwest corner where he could see the north and west side of the building. Doug took the southeast side so he could see the south and east sides. Alex held back to be ready to approach the warehouse from the backside.

  They agreed to take out the next set of guards on their next change.

  It was around 2200 hour when the guards were changed. Malcolm and Doug then each took out four guards with barely any sound. Malcolm's next shot took out the antenna so they could not call for backup if they were detected.

  With that done they all approached the warehouse, Alex and Doug entered from the back and Malcolm entered from the side.

  It was dark inside because everyone but the guards were asleep so they crept in and looked in every room checking for anyone else. Doug noticed the light was on in one room so he opened the door very quietly and as soon as he could see inside he saw the man looking at the door wondering why it was being opened so slowly. When he saw Doug he opened fire and Doug closed the door.

  Doug retreated only a little bit and turned back to the door with it in his sites, when the man came running out the door Doug shot him and he dropped. A few other men heard all the gunfire and came running over. Doug got another one of them and the other got the drop on Doug.

  "Drop your weapon and put up your arms," he commanded.

  Doug dropped his gun and slowly raised his hands and turned toward him.

  The man asked, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

  Doug replied, "I'm nobody, I just found this place and came looking to see what it was."

  "Then why did you just shoot my friend there?"

  "Because he opened fired on me first and I was defending myself."

  "Well you came to the wrong place, you're going to die for this, but not until Pat talks to you. I'm sure he will have some questions for you. So move it that way."

  The man pointed his weapon to a room in the corner.

  Just as Doug opened the door to what looked like a storage room he heard an all too familiar sound. He turned and there was Malcolm, who took out the guy that had him at gunpoint. No sooner did Doug get to tell Malcolm thanks when he heard another single shot, Doug saw his best friend Malcolm drop to the ground in front of him.

  Doug yelled out MALLCCOOOLMMM…, just then more guys opened fire on him. Doug was furious, he took cover inside the room and exchanged fire for several minutes taking out a bunch more. It fell quiet for a minute, then he heard a shot ring out. It was different than the POP POP POP of the 9mm Doug was using or the guy shooting at him. This one was much louder, and then he did not hear the shooting any more.

  When Doug looked out he saw Alex standing there with a 44 standing over the guy that was shooting at him. That was when Doug heard a muffled sound in the room he was in. There were no lights but he could make out a shape in the corner that was sitting on the floor, a person who was clearly tied up. They did not hear any more shooting so they figured they had killed them all. Doug went to deal with his old friend Malcolm while Alex approached the person in the dark corner.

  When Alex removed the gag covering the person's mouth he noticed it was Alfred Conrad, the owner of the warehouse.

  "Alex is that you?"

  "ALFRED!!?"

  With elation in his eyes and excitement in his voice he exclaimed, "Oh My God it is you, Alex what are you doing here?"

  "We came looking for supplies. We were hoping no one would be here but I can see we're wrong."

  "Well I'm very happy you did, these guys found it a week or so after the quake and took it over."

  "Where is everyone else?"

  Now with tears his eyes he replied, "They killed them, I cooperated with them but they killed all of them anyway, they killed everyone but me. The only reason they didn't kill me was because I knew the warehouse. I was certain I was going to die after they got what they needed."

  Meanwhile after making sure his friend was dead and could not be helped Doug continued to check out the warehouse.

  "Alex come quick there is someone one else over here in this office."

  "I will be right there."

  As Doug and Alfred approached they noticed a girl tied to chair and gagged, as they drew near her she started screaming through the gag and trying to squirm and kick. Doug tried to calm her down while he removed the gag. She screamed at him to not touch her but he continued to cut her loose. When she noticed he was freeing her she calmed down. When he finished freeing her she broke down crying and fell into his arms and wept heavily.

  "My name is Doug and I will not harm you, we have killed all the bad guys that had you tied up. What is your name?"

  Through the tears she replied, "My name is Amanda."

  "Well you are safe now Amanda, no one is going to hurt you anymore, I promise you that I won't let them."

  That seemed to calm her down more and she was able to get control of herself, so much so Doug decided to ask her some questions about the place.

  "I have to ask you some questions Amanda, do you know how many men were here?"

  "No, it changed all the time."

  Alex asked Alfred, "Do you know how many men were here?"

  Alfred replied, "It changed from day to day but there were fifteen today. I never knew they had a girl, she did not work here."

  "That's good because I counted and we killed fifteen, so we are safe for now."

  Doug asked, "Do either of you know what their leader looked like?"

  Her tears turned to anger and she replied, "I would know that bastard anywhere. He made it a point to refer to me as his property."

  As we came around a corner Amanda saw the man and started to kick him in the face and nuts. She kept screaming, "It serves you right you bastard."

  After that Doug and Alex started looking for the items they came for. It took them most of the night to find everything they needed. Then Alfred told us that new people came in every morning around nine, so we needed to get going.

  Alex asked, "What do you two want to do?"

  Alfred replied, "I have family here and need to go see if I can find them."

  "I understand; is there anything I can do to help?"

  "No but there is something I can do for you. This place is an arsenal now after the men brought in so many weapons."

  You could see the excitement in Doug's eyes, they got real big and he quickly turned his head and asked, "Weapons, what type of weapons?"

  Al
fred replied, "Hell, let's see all sorts of rifles, grenades, mines, a huge horde of RPG's and a couple surface to air missiles."

  "Where did they get all that?"

  "Their group took over a National Guard Armory and brought some of it here."

  Doug's eyes opened even wider, "Where is all this stuff?"

  Alfred replied, "It is in the secure storage in the back section of the warehouse."

  Alex said, "Hey Doug I'm gonna get the helo while ya check out the storage?"

  Doug replied, "That would be great, see you soon."

  Alex headed back to get the helo while Doug shot off the lock and they looked inside the storage area. Looking at the stash, Doug heard Angelico music in his head and started drooling when he saw the hoard. They grabbed as much armament as they could and still carry what they came there for in the first place, this included cases of MRE's. It was a good thing they brought the net because the inside was as full as Alex dared to load it. Doug piled it up in the parking lot waiting for the helo.

  Then Doug asked, "So Amanda do you have family around here to go to?"

  "No I'm not from here, and I have no idea where I'm going to go?"

  "Well we have a seat for you if you would like to join us."

  "What do you mean you have a seat for me? How did you get here? And where did your friend go?"

  At about that time the two heard the helo coming in for a landing.

  "So do you want to go with us, or stay here and fend for yourself?"

  "I have nothing here, let's get out of this place."

  Doug explained the rules and expectations of living in Little Haven and she agreed to them, so they loaded up the inside and took off up the valley. They flew for at least another half hour when Alex called back on the headset.

  "Doug the mill's coming up on your side, can you get a look with your scope before we pass over it?"

  "I sure can Alex."

  Doug looked through his scope and didn't see any movement around the mill. There were a couple of burnt out cars and trucks but nothing that looked new. He could make out a heavy dust coating on all the vehicles and no new footprints in the dust. After radioing that back to Alex he came in for a closer look.

  The rotor blades stirred up the dust as they got close. If anyone was there, they certainly would have come out to investigate. Since it was clear Alex put the helo down in the parking lot and they all went in to the mill.

  They had gone there for one reason and that was to get the saw blade. They were very happy to see it was still there. They were able to get it off in no time and loaded it into the net. While they were there they grabbed all the hand tools they could get as well and anything else they thought would be helpful in their new home. They took off and continued up valley until they reached the ridge. Then followed that ridge for a bit when Doug hollered out, "Alex, slow down, what is that down there?"

  Alex slowed the forward motion of the helo and descended a bit and Doug could make out a small herd of cows roaming in an open field.

  "Hey Alex how much more weight can this thing carry?"

  Alex replied, "None. Why?"

  "I want to get one of those cows. Do we still have room in that net?"

  Alex seemed irked, "We have room but can't take much more weight, why?"

  "Because I'm going to get us some meat, so hold her steady Alex."

  Alex replied, "If we cut it up right there we could take some."

  Doug said, "Thanks."

  The next thing they heard was a shot followed by the bolt action of his rifle being reloaded, then another shot.

  Alex radioed back trying to tease Doug and asked, "I thought you were supposed to be good, why did it take two shots to get a cow?"

  "Funny Alex because you moved. Now can you land this thing by the cow so we can process it and load it in the sling."

  Amanda looked over at Doug and said, "You're good with that thing." She smiled and asked, "Are you married?"

  Doug turned to her surprised that she asked that after her ordeal in the warehouse and replied, "No I'm not."

  She smiled back looking at him like her knight in shining armor.

  They landed and processed the cow and loaded as much as Alex dared to load and went to take off. The helicopter struggled to get off the ground, but once it was airborne it was fine. They continued their flight changing valleys several times before they came down our valley. You could hear them coming for some distance and many were waiting at our cabin to help unload.

  It did not take long to divide up the cow and unload the helo. Alex didn't want to stay around because he wanted to get home to his family. In return for his services our team of crack barn raisers planned to head to his place and build a barn for him the next day. Alex left Doug to fill us in on what happened on their adventure and off he went for home. We waved as he flew away swinging his helo from side to side to wave back.

  Doug filled us in on the loss of his friend Malcolm and on Amanda. She decided to stay in the cave while she figured out what she wanted to do. As it turned out Amanda and Doug became more than friends and they moved in together. Maybe it was his saving her life or maybe that they just really liked each other, but either way they were good for each other.

  The night they arrived Amanda filled us in on where she was from and what she had seen.

  Chapter 37: The Fall of Chicago

  Amanda started out, "I was living in Chicago when the quake hit. We didn't feel anything but it was all over the news from TV stations outside the disaster zone. The mayor of Chicago knew that things would get out of hand real fast if he didn't take steps to keep things under control so he immediately called for the National Guard to step in and maintain order before any looting began."

  "His fast action kept Chicago from collapsing into chaos and was able to prevent any destruction at all. The Guard placed armed soldiers at every major intersection with orders to shoot with non-lethal ammo if anyone started to loot or destroy things. It did not take many being shot to stop the rest from trying to do more damage."

  Lester yelled out, "You mean the mayor just took it upon himself to declare martial law?"

  Amanda replied, "Yes, he remembered what had happened in New Orleans and didn't want it to happen there."

  Lester interrupted her again, "Who died and made him God?"

  I could not let him continue so I called out, "Please let her finish, others here want to know what happened, and Lester, I want to talk to you when we are done here."

  Amanda continued, "Thank you Peter, now where was I, oh so the mayor acted quickly enough so that the city escaped the fate we heard about in New York. We had also heard about Washington, DC and feared we would be nuked as well.

  None of the members of Congress, the Senate, the President, or the Vice President survived the nuking, and the government collapsed. The Secretary of Defense was in Chicago with his family at the time of the nuclear attack. Back in 1991 or so the U.S. Government ordered the removal of nuclear weapons from every surface warship as part of the SALT treaty with Russia, so none of the surface ships carried them.

  Most of the rest of the country had fallen into total chaos, some turned to Chicago for guidance when they heard it was still intact. After about a month it became the defacto capital of what was to be called The Eastern States of America AKA the ESA. They didn't really have any control over anything but did seem to be able to get help out to some places.

  By now the rest of the world knew about the fall of our government and many outside forces saw it as an opportunity. The UN was no more and China had been closely watching events unfolding and used the collapse of the US as an excuse to move in.

  At first they came claiming to be our 'FRIENDS' they claimed to be only wanting to provide us humanitarian aid and flew in tons of food. We had no means of stopping them and many needed the food and medical supplies so badly that they didn't object when more and more of them flew in.

  Then it started, they flew in flight after flight of
their people to 'operate' what plants were left. They restored power to key areas so they could provide power and feed their people and did little to get any to ours. In many of the suburbs the Chinese immigrants took over abandoned homes and even a few suburbs that had been left uninhabited."