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

Fred nodded in acknowledgment and replied.

  "I understand, we too have encountered some of them and have had to defend ourselves to get away. I promise you we want nothing to do with ordering anybody around or taking what you've got; my team and I just want to live our lives in peace."

  Ben being the type to speak his mind just had to ask, "If you and your guys are not looking to take over anyone, then why, if you do not mind me asking, all the armament? And what made you decide to assemble a militia?"

  Fred shook his head slightly, took a deep breath and replied.

  "Where do I start? First off let me make this perfectly clear we are not a militia or army, we are just well equipped Preppers prepared to defend ourselves."

  Fred turned around and called out, "Brandon front and center and leave your weapon behind."

  A stocky guy in fatigues comes up, "Yes sir Sarg."

  "This is Brandon; he is my right hand man as well."

  "Hi Brandon my name is Peter, and this is my friend and second in command Ben."

  Brandon reached out and shook both our hands; let me tell you this guy had a grip like a vice.

  Fred continued, "We have known for a very long time that society was frighteningly fragile. We were certain it would not take very much to push it over the edge and anarchy would rule. To plan for it we spent many years recruiting the right people that are of the same mind and we spent thousands of dollars for armaments. We spent even more on buying all the gear we would need to live out here for an indefinite period of time."

  "You might be surprised to find that many of us up here were also of the same mind. Many have been preparing for it for years as well. You know Fred I think everyone here will be more at ease if we all lowered our weapons."

  Ben spoke up, "I am sure you are right Peter that everyone will feel much more at ease with out all the guns being pointed at each other."

  Fred nodded his head, then turned around and barked out, "Everyone lower your weapons and step away from the .50cal's."

  They all looked perplexed.

  Clearly perturbed, Fred hollered out, "I said… lower…. your weapons… and don't make me say it a third time."

  They all complied.

  I did the same, and everyone else lowered their weapons as well.

  Fred started out, "We have come a long way and are awfully tired and we do not want any trouble. Is there somewhere the four of us can sit and talk? Then after we talk if you still feel the same we will all get back on our rigs and look for someplace else."

  After a short pause Fred continued, "How about I make you an offer in good faith."

  "What do you have in mind?"

  "To show you we mean you no harm, I will order all my men to leave their weapons on their ATVs and leave them behind. Your men can still have their weapons if it will put them more at ease; this is after all, your turf."

  "Okay that sounds fair, how about you and Brandon join Ben and I back at our campfire where we can all get to know each other?"

  Fred nodded then keyed the mic on his shirt and said, "Bring up the column, and I want everyone to holster their weapons, and DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT man the 50cal's."

  It was a bit of an uneasy site as one rig after another came around the corner. All of them had the .50cal mounts on them, but only a few had them in it. They all came to a halt back with the rest. Now all of them were in the kill area.

  Sarg turned to Brandon and told him, "You go down and pass the word to have everyone leave their weapons on their ATVs. I want them to get up, walk around, and mingle; I want them to try to get to know everyone because we could be here awhile. Then have Eric grab some cases of MRE's and hand them out to whoever wants some. Then you get back here and we will head up."

  "Yes sir I will get right on it."

  "Fred your men can run all that up to camp on one of the ATV's if it will help."

  "Thanks Peter it will make distributing them much easier. On second thought Brandon you ride that up and meet us at his campfire."

  "Ben why don't you go with him while Fred and I walk up."

  Brandon passed the orders to Eric and oversaw Fred's orders.

  Eric called out to everyone, "Alright you goons dismount your rigs and leave all your fire arms on them. Ken you have your team bring up the food supply ATV to the camp and hand out the MRE'S to anyone that wants them. Randy and Cindy you stand by and guard the rest of our gear."

  Randy asked, "Should we be armed?"

  Brandon grabbed his mic, "Brandon to Sarg…."

  Sarg responded, "Go ahead."

  "I need your opinion on an issue; do you want Randy and Cindy to be armed while they guard our gear?"

  Fred looked over at me and I nodded telling him it was okay with me.

  Fred keyed back, "Yes but don't fire unless you are fired upon."

  Fred turned back to me and said, "Thank you for showing me the trust."

  "You're welcome, let's get going." I then turned and called out to our guys.

  "I do not expect anyone to use your weapon unless you are forced to. Everyone else head back to camp and show our guests around." Henry and Dan stayed behind at the trigger just in case.

  Fred replied, "I am sure that put many here at ease."

  Then Fred and I turned and started walking up to our compound where Sandy, Tammy and Ann were anxiously waiting with the doors closed. As we approached I called to them to open up. We all sat around the fire and started our détente.

  "Where did you and your men come from?"

  Fred replied, "Most of us lived in and around a small town outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, we had not planned on coming here, we expected to be somewhere else, somewhere even more remote."

  It was not very long before Brandon and Ben arrived. While the four of us talked, the girls put together some food. Then as we enjoyed good hot meal, we continued our conversation.

  "I bet it has been awhile since you have had a good home cooked meal Fred."

  "You sure got that right Peter, MRE's are good to feed you but not comfort food… Ann everything was great I loved it all."

  Brandon asked, "So Peter would it be too intrusive to ask your story?"

  "No that's fine; I will make it short and simple. I am retired Navy and have seen many things and places. We left Washington a few years ago and have been 'Free Birds' for a few years now."

  Fred looked at me with a blank stare and asked, "Free Birds, what do you mean by that?"

  I smiled and replied, "You know what Snow Birds are don't you?"

  "Yea it's the silver haired retirees spending their retirement riding around in their monster rigs."

  "Right. Well we were doing the same thing except we don't have gray hair, so we are 'Free Birds' instead."

  Fred smiled and replied, "Funny I like that."

  "As I was saying, we were enjoying my retirement until this all hit."

  "What about you Brandon, tell us a bit about you."

  "Well I was a Sergeant in the Marines Special Forces for a few years and decided I did not like some of the orders I was given. I carried them out then got out as soon as I could. And before any of you ask, no I do not care to elaborate."

  "Not to worry Brandon, we won't ask."

  As a sailor on a ship carrying nuclear weapons I had the opportunity to work closely with marines. I knew one way to build camaraderie with them so I decided to share a story of my time working with marines on the ship.

  "As a Marine I think you will get a kick out of an experience I had with the Marine Detachment Captain on board my first ship. I got to know the First Lieutenant pretty good when I had to weld his safe back to the deck after it broke loose in heavy seas and chased him around his office.

  Sometime later he called me at my shop and asked me to meet him in a certain passageway on board. The passageway we met in had an escape hatch for the nuclear warheads we stored (that is if we had them, I could neither confirm nor deny the presence of nucs on board our ship). The Marines regularly ran drills on
someone trying to get to them and when they came running everyone else had to get out of their way.

  I met the LT in the passageway and he asked me to kill as many Marines as I could and handed me a broom and said it was my weapon. A very evil smile came across my face and I said sure. There was a hatch in that same passage that went into a berthing below, so I hid behind the open hatch and the LT stood behind me and we waited. It was not long before we heard the call for the Marines to do their thing and we heard the clear sound of combat boots stomping as the Marine that was assigned to check on the escape hatch was coming.

  As soon as the Marine made his way into the passageway I stood up with the broom pointed at him like a gun and called out, 'Bang you're dead' the marine looked at me like I was nuts but his Captain pointed at him and told him to drop to the deck where he stood, he did as he was told. Now he was supposed to radio in that the hatch was secure and when he did not they radioed him but of course there was no reply. It did not take long to hear two more sets off boots hitting the deck again.

  This time they stopped and slowly peeked around the corner and when the one closest to me came into sight I pointed my trusty broom at him and said, 'Bang you're dead' then immediately turned to the other side said the same to the other Marine. Their Captain ordered both of them to drop right there which meant they had to lie in the middle of the passageway.

  Before the slaughter was done I had killed ten Marines, then I unexpectedly felt the barrel of an M16 poking me in my side from below. Needless to say I dropped my broom and held up my hands. Those poor Marines, as I was leaving I heard LT screaming at them about how the hell did one stupid squid kill ten of them."

  Everyone laughed but I thought Brandon was going to fall off his seat; Brandon said, "That sounds like something a Marine LT would do."

  We continued to talk for a few hours and I came to the conclusion that Fred was a visionary. Like many of us here he knew the day would come that the government would lose control, and he was not going to get caught with his pants down. He had recruited his band of like-minded people over the years and they had spent those years preparing for this time, just the type of person I wanted on our side.

  Fred said, "I have another proposition for you Peter, one that would be a benefit for all."

  "I am listening."

  "From what I could see you were not very well armed in comparison to any of the well-armed militia we have seen. It looks like you could use someone to help defend this incredible location if someone comes up here that is hell bent on taking it over."

  "We are a bit more prepared than you know, but I am interested in what you have to offer."

  "In return for you allowing us to join you here by the lake, but separate from the rest, we will supplement your watches and help you defend it against invaders. We will not be a drain on your food, as we have plenty of our own."

  "That sounds like a hell of an offer, but I cannot make such a decision for everyone. As I said before our biggest fear is that some power hungry militia would make their way up here and take over. Many here have lost friends or loved ones to militia groups and may not like your presence here."

  "There is little I can do to quell that fear, but we sure can try."

  Brandon spoke up, "That was what the militia down below wanted us to do; we wanted nothing to do with that so we left. I'll tell you they were not too happy about how we departed either."

  "That leads me to a very important question that I am sure many will want to hear. So Fred, how did your team make their way up here with that group of thugs below?"

  "That is a long story."

  "Well we have all the time in the world, we all laughed."

  By now many of his men and our residents had already joined us in our compound and were listening very closely to everything we talked about. The entire compound was filled with people eager to hear what was happening.

  Fred started telling everyone their story, "We had planned for this for years and had found the perfect isolated location that we planned to go to when the shit hit the fan. We ran drills and knew every inch of the area so we would be ready when it happened. We spent years putting together the right men and women we would need to make it without any outside aid and thought we were ready."

  "What do you mean you 'thought' you were ready?"

  "We had made our way to our site and thought we would be isolated, only to find that some other well-armed group had the exact same idea and had beaten us to it."

  Sandy asked, "So why didn't you just stay there and team up with them."

  "The other group wanted nothing to do with more people to deal with. When they saw us coming they came out with their guns and told us to turn around or we would be shot, so we did."

  Ben asked, "So why here?"

  "Both of our alternate sites were also taken, and this was our last option."

  Sandy, who was probably the biggest skeptic, didn't trust any militia. I don't think anyone could blame her, she wanted to know more and she drilled Fred.

  "How did you get here past the militia below, and did they follow you?"

  Fred replied, "After we left our last site we headed here, when we came upon the group below they wanted us to join them, but we had to follow their leader's orders. Those included holding people against their will and taking their belongings."

  Brandon added, "Those assholes thought that this new world was for them to make as they pleased and to hell with anyone that did not like it, they killed anyone that talked back. There was no way any of us were going to do that, so we started to leave but they had different ideas. Fortunately for us we had practiced for this contingency and had our guns at the ready, so we could fight at a moment's notice."

  Fred went on, "When they tried to stop us we opened fire with the .50cals on them and took off. Brandon here, who always has my back, was riding shotgun with me, when they fired at us he turned around and fired an RPG into their arsenal. You should have seen it, there was a huge explosion which stopped them all in their tracks."

  Excitedly Brandon exclaimed, "Sarg and I were in the last ATV and they were shooting at us because we were trying to leave. I stood up on the back of our ATV and trained my RPG launcher on their ammo dump and fired."

  Fred continued, "It was quite the sight (throwing his hands in the air) KABOOM their ammo started exploding, BOOM, BOOM. They all started scrambling and taking cover because there was shrapnel flying everywhere and bullets going off in all directions."

  "Did you kill them?"

  "I don't know how many we got but they started it, all we wanted was to leave."

  Sandy yelled out, "Good for you I hope you killed all of them."

  Fred continued, "Anyway we hauled ass out of there and took a convoluted route up here. We found an alternate route up a different set of forest service roads that also met this one, so we made our way that way. So Sandy to answer your second question about if they followed us I hope the answer is no, but it sure is going to be hard for them to get up here now, not impossible just hard."

  Brandon added, "To make sure that we were the last to make it up we either blew up or otherwise destroyed the road behind us to ensure that militia groups or anyone else couldn't make it up here any time soon. We are very well armed with lots of explosives, guns, and even a few RPGs. We are armed to the teeth, ready, willing and trained to defend ourselves or any group we feel a part of."

  "We saw that; we saw you blow up that bridge at the bottom of the valley."

  Sandy added, "I sure hope that is the case. If you truly want nothing to do with ordering us around you will be welcome here."

  Fred replied, "If you guys welcome us we will do everything in our power to ensure that other groups NEVER make their way here while we are here; if they do we will fight to the death to defend our ground."

  We spent the rest of the night going over all sorts of things. We had a better understanding of where we were all coming from. I called for a meeting the next day with everyone
so we could all go over if and how the new comers would fit in. With any luck anyone that had encountered militia that wanted to dominate them would see that this was not the case. Hopefully I was not wrong about my sense of Fred's intentions.

  That night Fred's men all slept on the ground by their ATVs in their sleeping bags and dined on MRE's, partly because it was late before it was decided they would even be staying and partly because of the amount of work it takes to set up even a temporary camp.

  Chapter 5: Our First Vote

  The next morning after breakfast everyone arrived at the fire circle where we would put Fred's proposition before the group and see how it would fly. It did not take long for everyone to settle in for the meeting. You could hear all sorts of small conversations throughout the circle. The tension in the air was high, some were afraid that this was a prelude to occupation.