Chapter 8

It was surprising some of the things you miss when the world ends. Have a long day and feel worn out? Just go get take out for dinner, or even have a pizza or meal delivered. This was especially true with the rise of Uber Eats and other delivery services. In an area like here in Killeen, there were enough people that you could find something that you’d want within at least an hour. If it wasn’t down in Austin for example, most likely Texas didn’t have it.

Now though, meals had to be planned ahead. Meat thawed or sourced, vegetables from the garden, frozen, or canned, etc. We did at least have power though, an advantage I wasn’t sure how many survivors did have. That meant there were two sides to it: it was an awesome advantage to have, but also a potential target. It wasn’t but a day or two ago I thought I had heard a couple of gunshots.

That brought a dilemma to mind. It was possible those had been shots for hunting. However, it was also possible they had been for murder or some other crime from back when the world had laws and civilization. As much as it would have been nice to be a hero and take on bad guys everywhere, I liked living and what I had. Did I really need to seek out the bad situations? I was prepared to defend myself, my companion, and our home/supplies.

I didn’t want to go out on the offensive and definitely not without any intelligence about what I would be getting into. While it may be a safe and best assumption that anyone else I ran into would have bad intentions, this wasn’t a situation where things were as cut and dry as good versus evil. Some people would have a tendency to join a group for the strength offered, not necessarily because they agreed with how that strength was exercised.

Lindsey and I spent time discussing these types of situations. I also spent some time running her through combat drills. With the suppressors for our main weapons systems and the amount of ammo I felt confident in doing live fire drills for her. I also got the impression that she liked the fact I didn’t make an issue of her being female when it came to training her how to fight. I had served with a female Army Ranger and knew in my mind that women were fully capable of becoming very proficient fighters. Lindsey moved well and had an inner strength to her. If she “failed” at a task she didn’t take it hard, but used it as motivation when I explained where she could improve and then put it into practice. I could hope we wouldn’t need to fight, but in the likelihood it would happen, I felt I had someone I could count on to have my back.

The unfortunate part of this training was the questions that came with it. Like any military training, you could drill and explain tactics all day every day. You could even get to a point where you felt the person could handle the pressures of combat. They may even feel they could. But you would never know until the bullets were flying and someone really wanted you dead. I could only hope she wouldn’t have to face that test, but I couldn’t count it out. What I did though was put her body through stress prior to having her shoot. A mix of exercises to have the heart pumping strong and hard, yelling at her, even going so far as to play sounds from A battle field, including the groans and screams of injured. I not only wanted but needed to have her as combat ready as she could be, both for her sake and for mine. It wasn’t like one of my old combat buddies was going to come knocking at my gate anytime aoon.

It was training her that brought to mind the next set of wish list items that I thought would be worth the risk of going out to acquire: infrared (IR) scopes, binoculars, or really any type of optics. If they could be mounted directly to pistols or rifles all the better. The advantages for them were several: you could spot targets by their silhouette and heat signature ... even in low/no light ... you could also see generated heat. If someone was running a generator or heater for example, it would show the heat signature on IR scopes and binoculars. It would require night missions to use most effectively of course, but it would make scouting areas immensely easier.

The first thought was to make a run back to the base and the arms room I’d gotten rifles from. But there were also several firearms stores or sporting good stores in town that might still have some as well. But those might have been viewed as easier targets and picked over already. I decided not to try my luck, but to stick with what had already worked. While I was doing it though I would also see if I could get hold of a couple 249 and 240s. They were the 5.56mm and 7.62mm machine guns the Army used. Sure, it would mean another trip for linked ammo for each, but I could almost smell the need for weaponry coming. Best way to stay alive was superior firepower and strategy.

Prep for the trip was the same as it had been previously. Truck loaded as normal per my SOP for leaving home base. Extra fuel, ammo, weapons, food, etc. Once more Lindsey would stay and keep things secure at home. The first stop on main post was quick and easy to get to.

Getting into the arms room didn’t take long. I grabbed two each of the machine guns, making sure to pick what looked the best maintained. From there I took a minute to look through what else was around, grabbing all of the infrared scopes and binoculars in the process. An additional thought had come to mind and that was raiding the supply cage. Coming out of that with more spare magazines, batteries for all the optics, boxes of chem lights, hand grips and/or bipods for the various rifle systems (the 240 and 249 come with a bipod by default).

With more ammo to come I decided that would do for now. I was using the pickup instead of the delivery truck after all. Plus it had some extra weight in the impromptu armor that had been added to the frame. Getting back to West Ft Hood, I followed my previous path through the fence to get on post and then proceeded down to the pit. Another half hour spent loading 5.56 and 7.62 linked rounds before I was headed back out. Climbing out of the hills I could feel that the armor and ammo had enough added weight that the truck had to work harder, but not enough to really slow it down.