Collaborative Writing please join in the story

I have not seen one of these posted or attempted for a long time. They can be fun and interesting as long as posters are committed to adding value to the story line and not destroying what others have spent time to create. Owners, Mods and of course anyone else at ATS can participate which makes it all the more fun.

I am not golfing today as I suffered a lite heat stroke yesterday after the last hole.. 33 C and 3 cups of coffee and me did not get along very well I suppose.... but I won so regardless of being stupid at least there was that ...

OK the beginning of the story and where it turns a twist only the members will tell !

The beginning and maybe the end



I have read so many books and short stories where the hero is faced with impossible odds yet always seems to survive and come out of the fray or any situation...a hero. I hoped that I would end up a hero in this story but in all honesty I felt more like a fill in character who would shortly be sacrificed to make the real hero look important and hero-ish; unfortunately I am all there is in this story and the odds, as far as I can see, look to better favor some gambling house in a costly resort; not impossible odds but not favorable by any book maker .

I had a 40 pound back pack with all my worldly possessions which also contained a water blivet which when filled could carry 2.5 gallons of life giving water. Water is damn heavy so I usually ran the blivet only half full or even empty on occasions as my location provided me with many water sources. Most of the weight in the pack was due to 500 rounds of 7.62 and another 300 rounds of 9mm ammo. About half the 9mm was subsonic which made the suppressor even more effective at keeping the noise down. Water purification tablets, a few C-rats and MREs along with two fire starters, one folding and one Bowie knife that was big and heavy but at times very useful. I had two tubes of three and one antibiotic cream and a med kit that even had needles for sowing up a wound. Those are not all of the items in the back pack but those particular things have been extremely important for my survival .

I had started out with a Bamboo walking stick which could also function as a spear but it did not work very well so when I found a young straight tree sapling Mr. Bowie and I set about making a more functional 7 foot long walking stick and fire hardened spear. The 7 foot long spear could also become a club which was useful when beating off some creature that wanted to have a bite out of your leg as a snack.

a reply to: 727Sky

Having completed my spear, I put out the fire and wondered about what had just happened.

Yesterday I had confirmed a flight to Heathrow to go visit some of my friends for a week. I had dinner, watched a movie, went to sleep and...

Danger DANGER danger!!!" The house smelled of smoke, I am bleeding and grabbing my bags to go to my secret place and Go go GO!!!

I can remember slipping out the back door and finding the elk path.

I can remember....

Wait.

I actually can't remember some things.

But I can remember where to go, where to patch up, to eat, to sleep and to figure out what is next....

I gather my bags and with spear in hand move further up the valley towards safety.

I hope I will soon remember who or what I need to be safe from.

It almost feels like I am an extra in a bad movie.

a reply to: Lumenari

I did remember that guns and ammo can get you food and provide protection; thank god for my prepackaged back pack.

originally posted by: 727Sky
a reply to: Lumenari

I did remember that guns and ammo can get you food and provide protection; thank god for my prepackaged back pack.

There are differences in how anyone "bugs out" depending on skill level, familiarity with the terrain, population issues, etc. I think you did a marvelous start to it and my post was a bit tongue in cheek but let's see where it goes! I think it will be fun!

And ETA, I just set someone up to spike the ball on making camp. We could throw some teachable moments in here as we go...

a reply to: Lumenari

I don’t know what has happened to my memory. How on earth did I end up in Alabama?
The terrain is so swampy but I think I’ll be able to make do. I saw a water moccasin out of the corner of my eye.
I guess that spear is going to get tested out today. It’s eat or be eaten in these parts. I was quick and got him pretty easily, hope there aren’t more. I chopped his head off and skinned and cleaned him. The meat isn’t anything to get excited about but I need to conserve my energy and get out of here.

My head is so itchy, and when I scratched it I could feel the sticky blood. I wonder if that is why I can’t remember anything. How am I going to get out of here and on my plane? I’m so glad I have an empty can. I’m going to get a fire stared and heat up some water. Hopefully some of the smoke will keep the skeeters away. I’m going to put some mud on my face too. I feel safe but my heart is still racing, if I could only remember why…

a reply to: JAGStorm

As the day faded to dusk I watched flames leap from the fire. Every once in awhile I'd hear a log scream in protest as flames licked its flesh.

But I was only half paying attention. I had allowed the fire to hypnotize me and then my mind drifted elsewhere.

A memory was slowly emerging. Cloudy still, not much more than a blurry image at this point.

But I knew that it was an integral part of the puzzle.

Puzzle...how do you work out a puzzle without even having the first piece?

I glanced at my bag sitting beside me.

Only one way to figure this out. I have to start from the beginning.

Pulling the bag to my lap, I open it and began a detailed search of the contents.

It wasn't until I reached the very bottom that I found my first clue...

a reply to: JAGStorm

I need to save my prepackaged food supplies because you never know by what means or when a new supply will become available.

I have eaten Rattle Snake prepared by some of the best West Texas Rattle Snake cookers in the world, however, for the most part the meat is stringy and greasy IMO. If you put enough spices and seasonings on something I suppose anything can be made eatable except for Nutria which seem to be plentiful in this area. Even my Cajun friends gave up on making Nutria anything more than a "for sure gag response" chewy !

Since I was going to heat water to clean my scalp and head I got to wondering if it might be better to boil the gutted snake and make snake soup instead of trying to cut up and cook the 3 foot long snake over open fire ? I have never had boiled snake before and maybe some of the soup can be kept for later....if I can stomach the first bit of soup at all.... OK big decision time ! I will cook some snake over the open flame and also make some snake stew.. Nice to have choices, no ?

I wish I had some salt and pepper along with a few other spices especially garlic as everything goes better with garlic except for ice cream; or so I have been told !

The first batch of heated water went for cleaning my head. I could feel several small open wounds where the blood had trickled and matted into my hair line. The lacerations were directly on the crown of my head and were not deep enough to cause me much concern. I retrieved my three and one antibiotic cream and applied several dabs to the open wounds as I darn sure did not need or want some kind of swamp infection setting in. I treated myself while a fresh batch of water heated for my snake stew....yumm yumm !

The snake was horrible but I could eat it and wash the snake meat down with the snake stew which was just about as bad as the fire grilled meat. It was getting late an I knew that tonight would be both dangerous and miserable with the mosquitoes. In Asia they used to build their houses about ten to twenty feet off the ground as Mosquitoes are usually ground huggers. Generations later the Mosquitoes learned the food was up there and not down close to the ground.. I just hoped there were no Asia Mosquitoes in the particular swamp.

I started looking for a tree that would be easy enough for me to climb that would have a limb large enough for me to sleep upon and hopefully high enough off the ground to avoid the insects. It did not take me long to find my Tarzan tree and after securing my back pack I tied myself to the bole of the tree and less than comfortable tree limb with a strap from my back pack. I did not need to fall from my guesstimated 18 feet off the ground while asleep.

As I pondered the clue in my back pack the sun disappeared and the night critters started all their night calls; not long after the critters started I was fast asleep with my rifle's sling keeping the weapon laying across my chest.

Maybe I should market "Snake Sleeping Soup" if I get out of this alive and there is anyone else to market to ?

One of our new members called new_here could not post this entry for some reason.. A couple of others have said they tried to post but could not...???????? anyway this is what new_here wanted to add to the story line.

"Where are you, Max?" I whispered. I didn't dare whistle for him when I embarked, for fear of drawing unwanted attention. But he'll find me. He always does. Nose like a bloodhound. But I won't feel at ease until I have him with me. I need him and he needs me. For a bird dog, he's the best damn squirrel dog around. His favorite pastime will surely contribute to our survival. Not to mention his propensity to alert me to danger out in these woods, with his keen senses and uncanny ability to communicate with me. Not having him by my side is like not having my right arm. Where are you, buddy?

The sun came pealing through the dense foliage which warmed my face and woke me up. My first thought had been about Max as I tried to move my stiff body from the Tarzan sleeping arrangements. I knew without a doubt that if Max survived and found me my chances of survival would be greatly increased.

Big decision today was where to go ? Should I return to my burned out farm house to see what I could scavenge from either it or the barn ? I wanted to get the car or the truck as one night sleeping like this was not real high on my fun list. My car, truck, and tractor were all in the barn so if the barn stood, then a ride was only a few hundred meters away, I hoped.

I approached the burned out ranch home which was still smoldering and was able to see the barn had suffered the same fate.

"There went my rides"!

O.K. I am sore I am stiff and I am getting mad. What to hell could have caused this and why can't I remember ? Then the clue came back to my mind. It was a news paper clipping from just two weeks ago (which must have been when I prepared the bug out bag) about the Chinese had started the invasion of Taiwan .

I called for Max but he did not show himself so I went to the mower shed and tried to start the riding lawn mower. The auto start was dead even though I had used the mower just two days ago. Even trying to hand start the mower was not working... I worked on trying to get the mower to start for nearly 5 minutes before I started on the wiring to only find the wires crumpled into fried pieces of carbon at the slightest touch.

"What to hell"?

a reply to: 727Sky

The fried wiring was something he dwellt on for some time, this went far beyond any Electro-Magnetic-Pulse that he was aware of. This was something entirely different.

A flood of questions entered his brain seeking answers... Who had the capacity to do such a thing? Was it our technology, was it from an enemy abroad (like the Chinese), was it even from Earth? His brain swam in a pool of factors and puzzle pieces that made absolutely no sense at all.

Shaking his head, he tried to get his head "straight" and back to the events at hand.

He knew he still needed to find water and went around the burnt ranchhomes side where the Hot-water heater was located. Slowly moving some burning embers away, he smiled a bit as he knew that generally people forget that they have at least 60 gallons of water sitting in their tank. One more quick shove of lumber revealed the hot-water heater. He screwed open the valve and filled a 5 gallon bucket he had found full of fresh water. It even came out slightly warm from when there was still electricity heating it up or perhaps it was the fire that had kept it warm. It didn't really matter either way... he was just happy to have a supply of the life-sustaining liquid.

Much of the rest of the day was spent sifting through the embers where the Ranchhouse once stood for anything that would be good to have. He found some burnt kitchen silverware and mason jars. Max's family was into canning and the hope of finding a jar of peaches (or something else equally delicious) was a bit overwhelming and he lost track of time.

He decided that it was too late to try and find shelter so made the decision to sleep in the Mower shed rather than the house in case others were also looking for shelter. His idea (which he thought was sound reasoning) was to stay as far away from any people as possible. Being alone was 'now' his only advantage and surviving for one is easier and more stealthy than with a group.

He was weighing out the pros and cons of his situation before nodding off to sleep.......

After sleeping in real beds with only the occasional outdoor sleeping blanket experience let me just say the mower shed was not the Ritz Hotel. I had gone over every square inch of the shed looking for holes where a rat or snake could get into my sleeping room for the night as I had been camping once and was only covered by a thermal blanket when I was awakened by a big rat climbing up my body to get to my face for a little midnight snack time. Luckily I had my arms inside the blanket so it was an easy matter of throwing the blanket and rat off my body once it arrived at my chest . The Rat actually squealed as it went sailing into the air by the force of my extended arms to never be seen again !

Another addition by new_here via ATS U2U email.

I awoke in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of leaves crunching under foot. I froze in horror as the sound came ever closer. Gathering my wits about me, I slowly rose and crept behind the mower, using my penlight to scan for anything I could use as a weapon of surprise. The shovel on the wall behind me would do in a pinch. The rustling of steps outside the shed set my heart to pounding as I reached for the shovel. The sound of footsteps seemed to circle my hideout. Just how many men were there?! My mouth went dry and my heart pounded. My vision tunneled with purpose. There was a scratching sound at the door, then and a whining sound. It took my brain just seconds to traverse the chasm between nightmare scenario to elation. My boy was back! Max had found me! I raced to the door and cracked it open to let him in. He bounded in, wiggling all over and whining for joy as he dropped a rabbit at my feet. As I embraced him, all of the build up Adrenalin in my system flowed out in a rush of grateful tears. My life may have 'gone to hell in a handbasket' but at the same time, all was right with the world. This would be the first of many times I would feel that sentiment.

I gave Max some water and checked him out for any wounds or possible cuts and scrapes. Have to say that all in all, he appeared to be in good shape, so decided to skin the rabbit he brought to me.

"How did you find me boy?" Even though Max can't answer any of my questions, his tail wagging never ceases to cheer me up.

Making a fire to roast the rabbit with was no problem with the little fires still sparking their heads up from the rubble. The smell from the rabbit cooking was making Max's mouth water almost as much as mine was.

Slicing off a leg I decided that Max should have the first piece and tossed it at him. He tore into it like there was no tomorrow and paid little attention to me,. so I sliced off my own piece. Always thought it was strange that folks would say that rabbit tasted just like chicken, to me it tasted ok but definitely not chicken.

Max had pretty much demolished what I had given him and I could see that he wanted more. "You want some more buddy?" And then that tail of his started going again... 60 mph with gusts up to 80.

Just as I was reaching over to cut Max off a slice, I heard a branch break behind me and Max heard it too and quickly had his eyes glued towards the brush some 30 yards from us........

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous

It was my neighbor's 24 year daughter standing and looking at me with big tears rolling down her cheeks. (In the country a neighbor can be 7 miles away and still be considered a neighbor.)

"Sally" I said as she took a step and basically crumpled to the ground with her .22 rim fire rifle still strapped to her back .

I sprang to her side as she said, "Everyone is dead." and then she passed out, fainted, or whatever.

I carried her to the shed and tried getting water down her throat after dabbing coolish water over her head and neck. After choking a few times she came back enough to grab the water hose and greedily drink until I told her to stop. Sure enough she turned on her side and puked a gush of water into shed. She was shaking and white as a clean white sheet.

"Sip slowly Sally.... you just puked in my bed room" ! She looked around but finally figured out what I was saying and attempted a weak smile and a "Sorry"..

I checked Sally's few scrapes and scratches and after cleaning off the blood I applied a few dabs of three and one antibiotic. I figured she would live unless there was something I was not seeing.

She was very weak so I told her to rest and sleep.... which she did almost as soon as I finished saying sleep.

Sally slept for a solid 7 hours and would have slept more but hunger and thirst drove her to open her eyes for water and ask if I had anything to eat ?

Over a can of beanie weenies and crackers out of the C-rat stock I got her story.

Same as me, her home was on fire when she woke up to the sound of her pet Parrot screaming. The master bedroom was on the second story of their farm house and her Mom and dad were there while she had been sleeping down stairs; that was the only thing that saved her as the entire upper story was consumed by the fire.

She threw on the clothes she had been wearing the day before and got her .22 she had been using to kill turtles in the ranch pond. She had just enough time to set the parrot free, who flew the hell out of there as soon as she opened the door just before the upper story collapsed into the room Sally had been sleeping in; smart bird.

She had walked the 7 miles to my place with a small fanny pack of ammo but otherwise nothing but her rifle and the clothes on her back.

Sally was not the typical callused farm girl as she had been away at college finishing her degree . She was around 5''7" of a slender build, brownish black hair, and would no doubt be consider pretty by most all the college boys when cleaned up.

When extracting her story from her I got to thinking this was another clue. The fire at her place had started upstairs as had the fire at my place which had started upon the roof.

We stayed at the mower shed for the next day after I cleaned out her watery puke so we could rest an form a plan.

There was a small private airport where I kept my plane just about 10 miles away so if my bird or any of the numerous Cessna's and Pipers were still flyable that would be our ticket out of the boonies and back to some form of civilization.

Sally agreed so the morning of the second day we set off to see about some transportation with wings.

This whole week had been to damn hot for most people to be outside. I think that is one of the reasons Sally had been in such bad shape when she stumbled onto my property; the heat, no food, and lack of water had given her a mild heat stroke in my non medical opinion. She was much better now after eating everything I offered (and then some) so we set upon our 10 mile hike.

An average distance with a 40 pound pack and someone in good shape with good foot ware, could be 10 miles a day if you were pushing it but....it was so hot I figured if we could do 5 miles a day we would be doing good.

Out of my property's gate onto the two lane paved road our little march started. It did not take Max long to figure out the asphalt was to hot for him by 10am to walk on so he ran the grader ditches seeing if he could scare up something to eat or drink. We had not heard nor seen any vehicles or even airplanes these last 6 hours we had been walking and for that matter I had not heard or seen anything mechanical since my house burned.

Sally was starting to not walk as sure footed as she had upon our departure so I called a break underneath a big wide Oak tree just off the side of the road. I broke out some MREs and gave Max one of the cans of Vienna sausages with the statement, "those are for the Rabbit the other day." He looked very interested in what I had to say (in case I had more food no doubt) but his understanding was about as good as me talking to a closed aluminum door. Nevertheless he was part of our troop so if one eats we all eat. I was not to concerned as I figured we would be at the airport by sometime tomorrow.

It had to be 15 degrees cooler in the shade of the Oak tree coupled with once off the hot Asphalt I had an idea .

"It is so hot why don't we take a break here and try and get some sleep. We can continue when the sun goes down and maybe even bag a night critter for something to eat"?

"Good plan I like that as I am feeling faint headed," was Sally's response.

"Why didn't you say something Sally...this does not have to be a forced death march"!

"I feel like a wimp as you are carrying the pack your guns and everything and all I have is my fanny pack and the .22"

"You are a wimp but don't let that bother you as you are only a girl," I said with a smile hoping she would not shoot me. She just smiled and shook her head in agreement.

"I am surprise you noticed under all this dirt and filth."

"Sally there is a small lake along our route, not to far off this road."

"You mean the Phillips lake"?

"That's the one," I said.

"We can have a wash, freshen up and maybe even get a fish or two if we are lucky" she said beaming enjoyment by just the mere thought.

Max just wagged his tail and slobbered as he was also very hot.

It would start cooling and getting dark around 18:30 so I spread out my pack as a pillow and laid back for some sleep. Next thing I know Sally's head is on the opposite side of the pack. From her breathing I could tell she was asleep within 5 minutes....I followed shortly thereafter...

a reply to: 727Sky

I awoke not too long after from the sound of rustling somewhere not too far off. I slowly sat up and began collecting myself, while thinking of worst case scenarios - the only light came from the half-moon and some dying embers from the fire.

Luckily my feet & boots were fully dry on the inside (in case I had to make a quick move or ditch this spot)... and most of the terrain was dry enough... the last thing I needed was another situation where I let the elements postpone my bi-weekly salvage routine. I had to ditch my other pair of duck boots after a run-in with some questionable transients about 10 days ago when I ventured further outside of my zone than the usual

I must have eaten some rotten squirrel meat again.
My stomach was upset. I sat there, on the pot, just blasting god knows what into the blue water.
Oh yes, I thought. I then finished up and left quickly. Finally feeling good again, and ready for the new day.

The woman behind the desk outside gave me a look as if she'd never seen me before, as if I scared her somehow. She then half-smiled and mumbled something after apparently regaining her memory.

I kept walking past her, trying to not notice. Through the double doors, sliding open as I walked, and into the streets of - where am I?

Oh, hmm. I thought. I walked over to a kiosk. A man (I think) with a goats face stitched to his own face, with the eye sockets cut clean and his blue eyes staring through the fur, looked at me inquisitively. "Chacha?", he asked.
"Chacha cuukoo moto?", he pressed on.

I reached for my spear out of nervousness. It was missing!

Man those were some weird dreams I was having after I fell asleep ! I woke up with Sally shaking my shoulder and asking if I were going to sleep all night ..

I grabbed my pack and re-slung my my rifle after checking the mag for the 100th time and so we were once again off to Phillips Lake.

It was only another two hours walk when we came upon the dirt road leading to the lake. Sally and Max were maybe 20 steps in front of me as this was more than familiar territory for her and Max. Max was thirsty and started to run ahead to the lake for a drink and a splash. This dirt road was tree lined and we had not made the last turn before there was a shot that rang out from the direction Max had taken to the Lake.

Sally without thinking ran towards the sound of the shot before I could say anything to stop her. Myself I went to the tree line and continued to go in Sally's direction while staying concealed. When I found a spot through the trees I could take in the picture of what was going on, I was almost stunned immobile.

What I saw was Max down on the ground "dead stone still" while Sally was kneeling by his side. One guy was standing and talking to Sally with his gun pointing at her. I could just barely hear the conversation but from what I could hear made my determination needle peg out into the red zone !

"Why did you shoot my dog," was Sally's question ?

"Cause I'm gonna eat that dog.... and now I want you to UN-sling that pee shooter you have and very slowly sit it on the ground, muzzle pointing away from me."

"What to hell is wrong with you mister ? You just shot my dog and now you are acting like I am your prisoner or something" ?

"If you do not do as I say I will put a bullet in your head and all your worries will be over there Missy; I might even eat you after I play with your body for a while" !

That was all I needed to hear so I blew a big hole in his head with a 7.62 round in his ear. He crumpled to the ground and other than a few twitches he was no more.

I stayed where I was for a few moments to see if anyone else would be coming upon the scene as the report of my rifle was anything but quite in the stillness of the night. I have a suppressor in my back pack but there was no time to screw it on...it was a mistake to take it off the rifle to save some weight to begin with, but hind sight is 20/20 or so the saying goes.

Sally just sat there looking at Max with her eyes barely able to see through her tears. I did not know what I would find when I got to her but instead of talking about the man I just blew away she just said, "He did not have to shoot Max"!

"Sally I am pretty sure he will not be shooting anyone or anything anytime soon."

"Thank you." was all she said.

I could not bring myself to skin and eat Max and Sally would have probably thrown a fit if I had suggested it so I grabbed Max's back legs and pulled his body into the woods. He would become a meal for the numerous critters in these woods, "Dust to dust Max" as I left his body next to the base of a tree.

As I came out of the woods Sally was going through Mister Dog killers pockets and pack he was carrying. The rifle he had used to kill Max was an iron sighted SKS which shot 7.62X39 rounds. The rifle was old and worn but serviceable as Max had been shot in the head from an estimate 40 yards away. Dog killer had about 50 rounds for the gun and there were still 8 in the magazine. There was even a folding bayonet attached to the barrel.

Sally asked if I wanted her to keep the gun and ditch her .22 and my answer was, "No."

"Your .22 can kill all kinds of small and even big things and not destroy the meat like that SKS will plus it is heavy and there are less than 60 rounds. It ain't worth lugging around IMO."

She looked at the SKS one more time and laid it next to the body. The guys pack had hardly anything worth having other than some matches and a few dirty changes of clothes with a small folding knife in the bottom of the pack. But the back pack looked new so Sally claimed it as her own after throwing the guys clothes out. I checked for a pocket book or some kind of I.D. and there was nothing. No money, no I.D. nothing !

Sally came beside me and took my wrist and said, "Lets go have a wash and a drink I want to get away from that A$$hole as soon as I can'"

I always liked Sally since I first met her when she was just 15 years old but, I had no idea how strong a spirit she had developed as she became a 24 year old woman. My esteem of her increased considerably .

There was a big flat rock that was half submerged in Phillips lake and that would be where we would wash our clothes and bodies. I told Sally to go ahead as I wanted to scout around a bit before I settled down to get cleaned up.

"Give me your shirt and let me wash it for you while you are checking what else is out there."

"Are you saying my shirt stinks" ?

"No, no, the shirt smells very manly, like some man dead for a week "!

I grimaced and went through the act of smelling my armpits before I took off the shirt and handed to her at arms length with a scowl on my face. Next bug out bag will have some deodorant !

As I left my shirt with Sally and proceeded to a place where Mark's cabin was was located I first stopped and retrieved the SKS as a gift for Mark at his cabin.

I did not really like walking at night with my shirt off as the Mosquitos and anything with a pair of eyes could see my upper body without much problem, however I arrived at the spot of Mark's cabin only to find it had been burned to the ground. I went through the ashes and found what I assumed was Mark and his wife burned to death in the ashes of their bed.

Nothing left worth anything in the cabin but Mark did have a boat shed 40 yards away which was still standing. In the shed I found his boat wiring was fried but I did manage to pull out his heavy duty plastic canoe, some rod and reel fishing poles and a tackle box. Weighted down with my stuff and now the Canoe and more stuff it was a chore getting everything to the water's edge. That accomplished I went back to the boat shed and did another search for anything useful . I did find some boat motor oil which we could use for the guns and even got a couple of rags for just in case.

I filled the Canoe with everything and stared to paddle across the lake to our washing rock. I wanted to call out to Sally and let her know it was me ( didn't want to get shot ) but I figured without a shirt and the full moon Sally would know it was me.

As I arrived at the rock Sally said, "What about Mark was he at the cabin"?

"The cabin is burned to the ground and I will assume the two bodies were of Mark and his wife. They did not make it out of the Cabin."

Sally just starred at me and shook her head in bewilderment.

I looked for my shirt and saw it hanging on a tree branch to dry. Sally's clothes were also hanging as she only wore her Bra and what looked like a "T" back pair of blue underwear. She had already washed herself off and even her hair judging buy how it hung down her back still dripping wet.

"Give me your pants and socks and I will wash them for you," she commanded.

I did as she requested but held my rifle at the ready once I was undressed. She was fast and shortly my pants and socks were on a branch drying. She asked what else besides the canoe had I found at Mark's; I showed her the two Rod and Reels and the well stocked fishing tackle box in the canoe.

"Wow, I am already hungry so lets go and catch us some fish" !

It was two hours before we managed to catch 4 decent sized fish which were all caught 2 by two almost at the same time. One of us would hook one and a second later the other person would also have a fish on their line.

We returned to the rock and unloaded the canoe after beaching it. Using the recently acquired matches I had a fire going suitable for cooking in about 5 minutes. Sally had been busy cleaning the fish with my Bowie Knife and was almost finished by the time I had a green tree branch to skewer and cook our fish on,

The fish was OK if you like unseasoned fish... but one should not disparage the Lake that feeds you less 10,000 camel fleas crawl up you butt...

It was almost sun up by the time we finished eating and as our clothes were still wet so we decided to stay the day at the lake and do some more fishing. Also I wanted to go back to the boat shed and see if I had missed anything in my night time search .

Yes I wanted to get to the airport and fly someplace with a real sit down restaurant and a place to get some new clothes but .... Live in the now but plan for the future.

In the coolness of the morning we sat upon our rock and just talked about what had happened to our little part of this world. Having buildings burn in the way they caught fire was "WEIRD". Also I had experienced memory loss and still had not recovered enough to know exactly what happened or how my head had been scrapped and slightly cut. Sally did say upon the exit of her folks house she had felt like she was almost sleep walking as her brain seemed to be fogged over except for the basic instinct to get away from the fire.

"I wonder if you being protected by the upper story of your folks house..... that what ever started the fire, maybe kinda protected your memory ? Because Sally I could not even remember how I got outside my burning place .... I have also taken notice that so far the sheds which have metal roofs and are less than 10 feet tall all seem to still be standing even if everything with a wire inside seems to be fried."

At this stage I am beginning to believe that something space based or flying high can shoot a beam of some kind down to start all this mess. What ever it is, seems to hit anything above a certain height and burn anything that does not have a metal roof. When we get to the airport we will know more as everything there has a metal roof," I surmised.

Sally had been nodding in agreement and finally said, "That theory is as good as anything I have come up with as I have no answers only questions."

Lets take a swim and wash our underwear so there is enough time for everything to get dry. I can go back and get the clothes we ditched out of your new pack so we will have something to wear while the underwear is drying."

I stood up and went to where we had left the clothes and got a long sleeved long tailed shirt for Sally and found a pair of pants about two sizes to big for me but they would work I figured.

I returned and handed the shirt to Sally who got up and waded into the water; I follow with the baggy pants. The shore line sloped gently so we just walked out to chest high water for me and neck deep for her. I did not like this as there was no one on guard duty. I scrubbed my underwear and slipped on the baggy pants. Not wasting anytime I got back to the rock so I would be close to my pack, pistol, and rifle. I was having trouble keeping the pants up ( I should have cut a short piece of rope to tie them up with) but I did manage to keep them up long enough to hang my underwear on a branch.

Sally was taking longer as she had to wash her Bra and underwear. She finally emerged wearing the long sleeved shirt which she had rolled up the sleeves on; it was not a wet tee-shirt but still the shirt left very little to the imagination. Sally really was a very pretty girl.

I asked her if she wanted me to cut the sleeves off with the knife and after studying them for a second she said, "Yes please. "

The rolled up sleeves would have stayed wet all day so it was smart to cut them off for comfort sake at least. I took the knife and they were both gone at the shoulder line in a matter of moments. I tied the two sleeves together and made a belt that would keep these blasted wet pants up while I walked.

That settled we went to Mark's boat shed to see what else we could find that we could use. There were some tools and other boat stuff but basically there wasn't any thing we could use at helping us get to the airport. That was until Sally opened a bottom draw in the cabinet that lined one wall of the shed.

"What is this" she asked as she pulled out a mono NVD.

" Sally I love you already ! What you are holding in a single eye peace night vision goggle. Let me see if it has any batteries in the housing" I exclaimed.

I was so excited that my fingers actually trembled slightly as I unscrewed the battery housing. There were no batteries, so we started another search but it was short lived and there were 4 packs of lithium batteries in the same drawer she had originally found the NVD.

"Well now I know what it takes for you to love a girl. Boys and their toys." she said rather sarcastically in a joking way.

"Sally these will give us an advantage over anyone or anything during darkness as we can see out to possible 300 hundred yards or further if the optics are still good."

I fitted the goggle to my head by adjusting the head strap and centered the reticle over my right eye. I did not turn the device on because there was way to much light to get anything out of them but a blinding flash and possibly damage the unit. There was a small Led that powered up after the side switch was placed into standby mode so I flipped the switch off and determined I would wait until darkness to give them a real test. There was no book for the NVD but by looking at the buttons I surmised the was a IR and night vision scope combination. One thing I did not really care for was there was an illuminator side mounted on the case of the unit. When you turn that on it is like putting a red dot on the side of your head but nevertheless I was actually excited for the first time in several days ! Maybe boys and their toys really does have a true meaning ?

I think Sally was getting jealous of me and the NVD so once I thought I knew how it worked I sat down beside her and started telling her everything I thought I knew about the unit and how it worked. She was actually attentive, asking questions about the IR function and finally she wanted to put the unit on her head and adjust the straps to fit her own head.

We will both try the NVD out tonight and see just how effective this unit is. Mark never bought anything on the cheap so I expected this unit to be top notch if not close to a military $3000+ set. Can't go by the military price as everything the military buys is many times more expensive than you can buy off the shelf from many places even overseas.

As we returned to our rock Sally though she heard something coming down a small rabbit trail to our left; her ears are better than mine as I have spent to many years around noisy aircraft. I stepped into the woods for concealment as Sally stood just off the barely visible trail in the grass. It did not take long to see someone walking upon the trail. I could tell it was a woman carrying what looked like an AR slung by her side and some kind of leg strapped pistol on her right leg. Sally just stood there waiting and I stayed concealed as I figured I had the situation covered with my rifle.

The woman called out when she saw Sally with a "Hello there, I am Julie."

Sally replied, "I am Sally Sims from the Rock Port farm."

"Sally do you remember me we were at your Christmas party two years ago"?

Sally went forward and the two women hugged a greeting as they exchanged how, what, and whens .

Just a moment later a big guy, and I do mean big stepped out of the woods and walked to the two girls.

"Sally do you remember my husband Roger"?

"How could I forget" was Sally's reply.

It was then I stepped out of my concealment and presented myself weapon lowered .

"Julie and Roger this is Jay Benson from the Benson farm."

Roger stuck out his hand and I took the shovel of a hand into mine. It was a firm manly hand shake but there was no effort on Roger's part to crush my hand into a bloody bone crushed nub like he used to do back in high school. Roger was a senior when I was a freshman. He played fullback and I played wide receiver. We had a great football season and won the state pennant for high school football that year. I even got to play sometimes as I was fast and the coach said I had good hands.

"Damn Roger you still look like you are pumping iron and could life a car all by yourself"!

He almost blushed and said,"You seem to be doing 'not to bad' yourself," was his reply.

There was more small talk and about how Julie had heard the two gun shots and had decided to investigate what the ruckus had been all about, and see if anyone was still at the lake.

They invited us back to their home away from home and as we followed I mentioned that I had never seen anything like a living space other than Mark's at the lake. Roger said, "That was the plan since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile crises. See my Grandfather started the place and my Dad got serious about finishing it after 9/11. All we have done is spend a fortune on stocking the place and making it as hidden as we could."
We were maybe 20 yards away from our destination before I got the first hint there had been some foot traffic in the area. We proceeded and at first all you could see was the low ridge-line jutting probably 70 feet into the sky with dense foliage, trees, and brush, covering everything. It wasn't really a real ridge line as this had been part of the dirt removed when the lake had been made deeper and larger but still, the excavated dirt was almost 100 yards long and fairly consistent in its height. I had been back here a few times but never wanted to cut a path to the top of the hill, as once there, the brush was so think you would not be able to see anything further than 10 feet around you.
We followed Julie and Roger to a well camouflaged double wide iron door which was hard to discern even from 10 feet away. Roger looked around and behind us and then opened the right side of the double door before saying, "Welcome to our castle."

We entered and after 12 feet made a 90 degree turn to the left and after another 5 feet there was another 90 degree turn to the right. Once past all the turns Roger produced a key from his key chain and opened another iron door. When I say iron door it does not do the door justice as it was 3" thick and swung outward or toward us on 4 hidden concrete mounted hinges. Roger just said, " Granddad was a civil engineer and when he built something he built it to last. Those walls of the tunnel are 3 foot thick reinforced concrete and once we enter the living areas everything is that think or thicker".

I was deeply impressed and said so, as did Sally.

Roger and Julie had a living space of 2000 Sq feet with another 1500 feet dedicated to storage and the place was stocked with everything anyone might want or need for the end of civilization. As we were all sitting in the Den and telling our stories over a few drinks of bottled water I told Roger about the SKS and where to find it with the ammo.

He wanted to know our future plans which I laid out the best I could as both Sally's and my home had been burned to the ground. Roger said he had just returned two days ago from the airport and Ben the airport owner had said nothing was flyable as all the wiring harnesses has been fried on the aircraft he had checked. Roger had gone to his hanger and because it was grounded and hardened for an EMP air burst his Maule still had power. He had flown to Dothan, Alabama and even flew over Ft. Rucker and there was not a light on anyplace. He said there was nothing moving on any street or highway except for some people walking and waving at his aircraft in desperation; he figured whatever the thing was that turned out the lights..... it was very effective.

Roger went to a desk drawer and pulled out two sets of keys which he placed in front of me, "This key will get you into the hanger and this key will start the Maule. I also have 4 ATVs in an underground shed and you can take one to the airport which will make everything much easier for you two. Leave the ATV in my hanger and tell Ben he can use it if he has to."

I did not go through all the useless blathering words of thanks or I can't do that, as most people would probably have done as I just stood up and extended my hand to Roger and said, "Thanks Roger."

Roger explained that he and Julie had at least two years of food stored and with the lake, fish, and his purification system which would furnish all the water they would ever need, he figured they were set . He had gas stored but he knew the gas would go bad within a year so we might as well use it before it goes bad. He had managed to gravity fill the Maule gas tanks from the elevated gas storage tank once he had returned to Wind Sock airport.... so the Maule was full. Ben did not even charge him for the Avgas.

After many thanks, hugs, and handshakes we were on our way as we did not want to mooch of of Roger and Julie as they were set for two people to ride whatever this was for the long term. I did fill my back pack water blivet and Julie insisted on Sally taking some storable food in her back pack .

I drove the ATV to the paved road and then got Sally to drive so I could ride shot gun, just in case. The day was overcast but I figured the scud layer would burn off by ten or eleven O'clock or by sometime after we arrived at the airport.

We were only 4.5 miles from the airport so we made a good uneventful journey to our destination.