Leaving our makeshift dinner camp just before sunset, we arrived on the outskirts of town a few hours later. The trip was fairly easy. The grasslands had become farmland again and we skirted farmhouses and roadways where we could. Dog proved invaluable at detection. A couple times, Dog stopped and looked in the direction he sensed or heard something and let out a low growl. Shortly after there would be movement in some bushes or out in a field where we couldn’t see what it was in the dark. But every time, whatever it had been, it had moved in a different direction and didn’t bother us.
Getting closer to town, we could see it was mostly dark. There were some fires in the distance that looked like vehicles and maybe even a house or two. We heard random gunshots and periodic yelling along with the occasional window smash. To me it felt like I was watching the movie “The Purge” but up close and personal. I began to panic a bit, worrying about my family. They had been in this town for two days and two nights under these conditions. I desperately hoped my wife and kids were okay and hooked up with her father on the other side of town. Preferably before the really big shit hit the fan. I also hoped my mother and middle son were okay out in the county area, ten miles away. After moving through the countryside for the past two days, I was more optimistic that things would be better in the county than in the city. I didn’t even want to think about my oldest son, who was currently stationed twenty-five hundred miles away, at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. That thought terrified me that I’d never see my son again.
My oldest son Mike, is twenty-one and a specialist (E-4) in the Army. He had been assigned to one of the Special Forces units out there in a support capacity. If he was still with his unit, he’d be more than okay. But Mike was due to leave the Army in less than two weeks and had transitioned to an out-processing unit. They didn’t bother to make them come to work except to take a couple classes on how to be a civilian again. They didn't even have to wear uniforms anymore. If this apocalyptic system takeover happened three weeks later, Mike would already be home. But instead, he was in North Carolina, living off base, with little to no chain of command or control. And with communications down, I could not contact him. I wasn’t even sure Mike could get on base after the lightning hit.
I was stationed at Fort Bragg on 9/11. I lived five miles from base with my ex-wife. The attack was early in the morning and we were locked down most of the day. This was until they determined the threat was reduced and allowed us to go home. When I got home, there was a message for me to return to base. I grabbed dinner, changed my uniform and headed back to base. It took me ten hours to go five miles as the base was still heavily locked down. I could only imagine what base conditions would be like now.
Keeping Dog close, Frank and I proceeded through the town towards my house. Dog was amazing. He didn’t growl or run ahead, he just stayed close to my side. This is like he was trained to do it all along. Activating my sneak ability I moved from shadow to shadow and house to house. As we moved from street to street, I could see numerous houses with broken out windows, smashed in doors and various degrees of fire damage. I even saw a few bodies through a broken doorway in a house. However, it was dark and I didn’t feel like speculating at the moment.
As we passed through the center of the town, near one of the fire stations, we could hear a woman screaming and begging for help a short way off. I looked at Frank, and without saying a word, Frank nodded at me and we both moved in that direction. As we came towards an alley behind a restaurant, we noticed three men walking towards us. Two men dragged a woman along, holding her up by her arms. The third man walked behind them.
I could see there was a black, older Ford van parked between the three men and us. There was also a dumpster just past the van about ten feet away. The men dragging the woman were still a ways off from the dumpster. I turned to Frank and whispered the plan I’d come up with on the fly.
“I’m going to sneak past the van and hide behind the dumpster," I said. You creep up to this side of the van. When they’re past me and within range of you, I will take the man in the back with an arrow. When the other two men turn to see what happened, you come out and sledge one, while I’m nocking an arrow and killing the last. What do you think?” Frank simply nodded and moved into position. I did likewise.
As I approached the van, I was surprised to see it running. The men must have jumped out of the van and chased the woman down the alleyway eventually catching up to her. Lord only knows what their intentions were with the lady. I moved to the dumpster using shadows to obscure my approach to the men. I posted up between the dumpster and the building, using the dumpster to hide myself. Dog moved up with me and crouched when I crouched. I quietly took off my ruck, nocked an arrow and waited. The three men and their prisoner passed my position and approached the sliding door on the side of the van.
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Just as one of the guys grabbed the door handle, I stepped out from behind the dumpster and let my arrow fly. The arrow struck one of the trailing men in the back. The man screamed as he fell to the ground. Both the other two men turned towards the screaming man and two things happened. One, as planned, Frank moved around the vehicle and struck the closest man in the back of the head with his sledgehammer. And two, Dog sprang forward and jumped at the third man taking him down by his neck. Stunned, I couldn’t believe Dog’s instincts and understanding of who the threat was at that moment.
Seeing the first man was still alive, attempting to reach for something in his jacket, I shook off the momentary stun. I shot forward with my hammer and struck the man in the head, ending the threat. I then turned to the man caught by Dog and saw that he too had been dealt with. Dog bit deep into the man's neck, probably severing an artery. I knew the man Frank hit was dead. I heard the man's skull crunch as the sledge struck his head.
Notifications appeared in my vision, which was a pleasant change of pace, letting me know I was no longer in combat. I dismissed the notifications, as I didn’t think it was the right time to look at status screens in a dark alley in hostile territory. The woman was still crying and loudly saying “thank you” over and over.
"Shhhh, I whispered. Keep your voice down. There could still be threats here. Now tell us what happened.”
The woman took a second to calm herself, then explained she had ventured out to scavenge for food or other items. However, the van passed her while walking down the alley. When the van stopped, she ran, but the men caught up to her and dragged her back. “Do you live around here, or do you have a place to go?" I asked.
“Yes, I live a couple blocks over there," she said pointing west, in an apartment building above one of the bars.”
"Okay," I replied, taking a look around. We’re taking this van. Do you want us to bring you home, if you’re returning home, or are you okay on your own?”
"No," the woman replied. I still need to bring back some food at the very least. I still have people dependent on me.”
“That’s totally up to you but I suggest you not go outside by yourself,” I replied. I recovered my ruck from behind the trashcan and opened it. Turning to Frank, I said, "Let me have that lunch bag." We're almost home and don’t need it anymore.” I opened the lunch bag and put all the food I had in my ruck inside the lunch bag, then handed it to the woman. “Give her your machete too," I told Frank. Frank did so without a word, knowing we had access to better weapons once we got home.
"Thank you so much, both of you," the woman said.
“I don’t know what those men wanted and I shudder to think about what they were planning to do to me.”
“Not a problem,” Frank responded. The woman turned to Dog and reached out a hand to pet him. I moved forward to stop her, afraid Dog might bite her, but Dog raised his head to meet her hand.
“Thank you too, my furry friend,” the woman added. Looking at me she asked, “what’s your dog’s name?”
“Dog,” I replied.
“Yeah, your dog. What is his name?" the woman asked.
“Dog,” I replied again.
The woman looked at me confused for a moment, then stated, “Seriously? John Wayne?”
I laughed and said, “got it in two.” With that, the woman shook her head, turned, and headed back down the alley the way the men had dragged her from.
As she walked off into the darkness, I turned to Dog and said “Seriously? You’re just going to let some random woman pet you like that?” Dog looked up at me without a particular look. “Crap, I said. You’re going to be my wife’s dog aren’t you?” Dog just sat on his hindquarters and continued staring at me. Which, considering Dog’s snout was covered in blood, was intimidating. I took a water bottle out of my ruck and started pouring it. I cleaned the blood off Dog’s snout while he lapped at the water to get a much needed drink. “I can’t have you looking like that when you meet the misses,” I told Dog. “But then she likes serial killer documentaries, horror films, and animals, so she’d probably hug you nonetheless,” I commented absently.
Frank just shook his head and said, “can we leave now, or are you planning to give him a complete bath out here in the dark?” At that I opened the side door to the van and motioned for Dog to get inside. Dog did so without further guidance. Frank and I hopped inside and shut the door. I got in the driver’s seat and we took off for my house