Chapter 2

It sounded like a big explosion. The sound was from behind me where Blue Ridge was located. I saw Dad come out the door. I had shrugged as he swiftly walked to me. He asked, "Where do you think it originated?"

"From Blue Ridge, Dad. That was a big bang. I think we should check it out but carefully. My question is, 'Was it natural or did someone do it accidentally or on purpose?' I think we need to know." He nodded and we started walking toward our cars.

He said, "Let's take your car. It's quicker and more nimble." I nodded. We had our pistols. We went inside and Dad grabbed his twelve gauge while I picked up my rifle. We also had two pairs of binoculars. We headed around the lake and into town. I was even more curious because there seemed to be no smoke.

Blue Ridge was still deserted but we found the source because there was a tiny bit of smoke once we got close enough. At a power sub-station, a transformer had exploded for some reason. It brought home to me the statement Dad made about power. We had no way to fix this thing. Sooner or later, it would affect us directly. It was disappointing that no one else came to check out the noise. That suggested that Blue Ridge was empty of life.

That incident finally moved us to looking for a real place where we could be independent of the "grid" and grow and raise food. Neither of us knew what that last part meant but we were really trying to think long-term now. We had Internet access at Charles' cabin through my laptop. We began to look for what we should have in a farm and where we ought to locate this farm.

We discussed things at length and finally decided that we wanted to stay in north Georgia. It was home. We would move a bit south of Blue Ridge and look around Ellijay and Jasper. Dad hoped to find a vacant farm that we could take over and set up to be independent of electrical power lines. Most of those farms, Dad knew, had wells and septic systems.

We started our hunt with the intention of being picky. I thought I knew north Georgia before but I learned more dead-end and dirt roads than I would have ever thought existed!

West of Ellijay, we found a county road that had seen better days. It was marked as a dead-end. It went to dirt soon after we got on it. We followed it a few miles before cresting a hill. We saw before us a pretty little valley. I was driving and followed the road slowly and carefully letting Dad look around. It was quiet. That was usual. We hoped it stayed quiet. It did. The valley contained three houses. We found the owners by using our noses. We had liberated face masks from a clinic and doused them with various things that would block the smell from rotting flesh. The last house looked like a great candidate for us. Its owner, Norman Blanchett and his wife, Susan, had been marginal survivalists. They had generators and even a hydroelectric generator. I surmised that Norman was planning to leave or be able to leave the power grid. Unfortunately for them, the virus got them first. We liked the house and buried them in a family cemetery we found in a common grave. We cleared the other houses of Blanchetts. One house even had a baby. All had died of the virus. From what we could determine, they were three brothers who were farming the family land. We found deeds in the middle house and a plat of the valley showing some handwritten notes on what was grown where.

It was now late summer and we reaped the harvest alongside every vegetarian animal you could imagine. Deer and rabbits were everywhere and we shot our meat. All three houses were equipped with freezers. We moved in after bringing both our vehicles and all our clothes and food from Charles' cabin. Norman's house was a two-bedroom, two bath ranch-style house and we each took a bedroom and made them our own. We started doing what we felt farmers should do and harvested. We froze food since neither of us was into canning.

September passed into October and we had been busy constantly. On the morning of October 17, Dad said, "I want to go to our old home. I want to visit your mother's grave and there are things to bring here."

"Dad, we're about as caught up as we will ever be. We could go today. I've been thinking that I should get a new vehicle, too."

"What kind, Son?"

"I was thinking about a four-wheel drive but smaller than a full SUV. There are a number of smaller SUV types with four-wheel or all-wheel drive. Road clearance isn't vital but we've already seen how my car slips and slides on the dirt roads in the valley when it's wet."

"That sounds good. What would you get?"

"Dad, there should be a bunch available. I'm thinking of a Ford, Jeep, Toyota RAV-4, or something similar. I want a tough little car not a show car."

"Sounds good. We'll look on the way and in Marietta. We should take your car and leave it when we find a new one. We'll take a change of clothes, the siphoning equipment, and our guns." We loaded up and left. The ride was quiet until we reached the north end of Marietta.

We had the windows down to listen and could hear guns firing. Some people were having a real battle from the sounds. It was ahead of us just over the hill. I could hear three different caliber rifles and then an explosion boomed! I was coming to the top of the hill and had been slowing ever since I heard the shots. I pulled off the road with some distance from the top of the hill.

Dad looked at me and said, "I agree. Let's walk up carefully and find out what's going on. Stay low." We left the car with our rifles and binoculars and walked up to the crest of the hill. We took cover behind a car and peered out carefully.

We could see smoke rise from the place of the explosion. There were two groups shooting at each other from behind cars. We could see one group clearly and a few of the other group. We watched as they both shot their rifles without much effect. It was like both sides were using many bullets to make up for their poor marksmanship. On the side we could see clearly, there were two bodies down. One looked female if long hair and a small, curvy body were any indication. The body was lying facing away so we couldn't see any other indications. We could see one body on the other side. It was male. We watched and waited as the two sides shot at each other.

From the right side of the two groups and the one we couldn't see well, a man's voice shouted, "Give us two women and the rest of you can leave!" I heard that and looked at Dad.

His face hardened and he looked at me. "Taking women by force is never a good idea. I think I'm against that group. If the other group is using them as slaves, I will be against them, too."

I said, "Dad, it looks like women are fighting with them. Why don't we swing around to the right and get a closer look at the group that wants the women?" I had never killed a person in my life. Dad had been in the army and seen a little combat. Neither of us were looking forward to this adventure. He nodded. We pulled back and walked around to be behind our first choice of the two groups to be the bad guys.

We came on to a spot and saw ten or so men with rifles. What widened my eyes was the huddled group of women tied or chained together. I looked at Dad and knew he saw them, too. We lined up some cover. Dad took the first shot and took out his target. We were about twenty feet away from each other. His shot turned them toward us and I shot my target. I knew he was dead because it was a head shot and I watched the back of his head explode from my bullet. It wasn't a pleasant view.