Chapter 3

I left for Knoxville on a sunny day. It was an easy trip. When I got close, I could see that the downtown had burned. The store I wanted was out from town. I found it and pulled in at the back. I tried the back door but it was locked. So was the roll-up door.

I walked around front watching and listening. I tried the front door. To my surprise, it opened. I walked in saying, "Hello. Is anybody here?" I received no answer because no one was in the store. I went through picking out what I needed and taking those items to the roll-up door. I left no sign at the front advertising my presence and heard nothing but my noises. I left the front door unlocked like I found it.

I went over my list after rolling up the loading door. Everything was checked off and I unlocked the back door and backed my truck into place. With the shell top open and the tailgate down, I had plenty of room and carefully loaded the bigger parts first. When I finished with those, I put everything else inside and closed up the truck. I closed and locked the roll-up door but left the back unlocked though closed. I pulled out carefully looking in all directions but I saw and heard nothing. I drove back to the farm, had supper, read and smoked, and then went to bed for the night. Tomorrow, I would unload my hydro-electric generator and start figuring out how to put it together and make it work.

I unloaded everything and set it all in the barn. I had also grabbed all the books in the store about hydraulic power generating that were there. Those were brought into the house and I began to study them to learn all I could before I started doing things. I knew that I didn't know much about what I was about to do. I felt there was no hurry so I took the time to do it right.

I merrily worked away at my projects. They kept my mind off my situation. Sometimes at night, I would just sit with tears running down my cheeks from loss and from being alone. When that happened, I made it a point to not drink but to go to bed and get up the next morning with an intentional purpose in mind.

I followed the instructions and got the generator working and was able to leave the grid and power my house and everything in it from my water wheel. It was a great day and I felt that I achieved a great thing.

I had other projects including planning a vegetable garden for next year. I now had a utility trailer for my truck and a four-wheeler that was small and nimble. I maintained everything and found that you can stay busy if you wanted to. I wanted to.

One day, the cable died along with the Internet. I checked a house in the area that had a light on that I could see. When I looked that night, it was off. The grid had failed. I had two hundred gallons of gas with stabilizer though I had a small, portable pump in the truck that I used to keep the truck's tank filled every time I went into town. I figured that power outages would affect more areas as time went on with no maintenance and no repairs.

Spring had turned into summer and the loss of power caused more things to fail or deteriorate into uselessness. I still saw few signs of people. My cell phone no longer received a signal at the farm or much anywhere else. I set it to one side. I had a CB in the truck and the house as well as a police scanner in each place that I had liberated from Radio Shack. I heard no signals on either one.

I took to hiding my presence at the farm and, even more, in town. I had hidden the truck one day in my old town. I was going to scout out a different grocery store for canned goods. I was close when I heard noises in the street and quickly found a hidden spot from which to watch.

I didn't have my rifle but at least had my pistol. I had practiced, keeping my skills up. I hoped I would not have to use it. I watched and waited.

Four people were walking down the road. One had a rifle and another had a pistol. The other two were pulling wagons and seemed to be unarmed. They were headed toward the grocery store I planned to raid. As they became closer, I realized that I was looking at two different couples. The younger couple was armed and the older couple was pulling the wagons.

I continued to watch and collect my impressions of the four. The younger couple was not a nice pair. The girl was probably in her late teens or early twenties. She seemed to be very gothic in her clothing and makeup. She also seemed to be very cruel. The guy with her didn't bother the others. She, on the other hand, was particularly cruel to the man pulling the wagon. He seemed to be old, older than me, and not in good shape. They were close to me when she kicked his butt hard. He stumbled and fell. She was immediately on top of him screaming for him to get up and carry his weight or she would shoot him! He was on his hands and knees and I heard him say, "Please, Teresa. I'll get up."

She responded by shouting some more and calling him, "Daddy," in a derisive way. The young man with her just let her carry on. It appeared that he didn't care what she did to the old man. She kicked him again and he went sprawling. He struggled to stand but she seemed enraged. "You won't beat me any more or kill me like you did Momma!" She shot him in the back of the head. I saw the back of his head explode and his body go limp. She laughed in a screeching manner. She shot him again.

The fellow with the other rifle said, "Enough, Morgan! We need to get this food and bring it back to the group. You can't kill our workers unless you want to be a worker."

She calmed down and faced him and me. "I've wanted to kill him since I was twelve. I should have done it sooner. I'll be good to you, Tony." She was facing him and I realized that the vest she was wearing was all she was wearing above the waist. She opened it to show her breasts in obvious invitation.

"All right, Morgan. Let's finish this job. Then you put out for me tonight." She nodded and pushed the woman. Tony took the other wagon and the three continued to the store. They went inside having made no effort to watch out for trouble.

My question to myself was, "Did I want to be 'trouble' knowing I would almost certainly have to kill the two carrying guns? I would also have to do it without warning or one of them might get a shot off and hit me. I was still undecided but moving carefully toward the store. As much as I hated the thought, Morgan would have to die first. I had a feeling Tony was working. I was creeping up to the entrance when she stepped out and saw me. I had my pistol out and shot her before she could raise her pistol though she was grabbing for it. I charged by her putting a second bullet in her. That shot went into her head. I was looking for Tony. Tony was close to the door with a wagon and was just going for his rifle. I shot him twice with the second shot going in an ear and ruining the back of his head. He fell limply.

The woman was looking in shock. She screamed. I reached over and slapped her hard. She fell and stopped screaming. I looked at her face and realized she was in her early to middle thirties probably. She was dirty and bruised. She had probably been mistreated in many ways for some time.

I kicked the rifle away from her reach. "Will you be quiet and talk?"

She nodded. "Who are you?"

"That's not important. Will their friends come check on them?" She nodded. "When?"

"Probably not for a couple of hours or more."

"Good. My name is Tim Hawkes. I live outside town. Quickly, what is your story?"

"I-I'm Wendy, Wendy Peterson. I lived here for the last five years. My husband, Mark, caught the virus and died. I was caught about two weeks ago and made a slave. No one wanted me for sex. There were enough young, pretty ones who were willing. They didn't need me for sex. Instead, they just made me a worker."

"Okay, Wendy. How many more are there to this gang?"

"There are five or six more guys with guns but only two are important. All the girls with them have guns, too. There are maybe twenty slaves. We are treated badly. They forced me to give oral sex to two of their girl friends. The first woman they picked refused and they raped her with a shotgun. They pulled the trigger with it inside her without warning. It took her a while to die. Please help me. I want to get away. With Tony and Morgan dead, they will kill me because I didn't manage to kill or capture you."

"Do you have a safe place?"

"Not anymore. They caught me at my safe place."

"I have a safe place but I don't want you to know where it is. I will bring my truck to the back. We will load it. I will blindfold you and drive there. Is that okay?"