Chapter 1: The Beginning

I was hunting in the mountains when it started. Let me tell you just what I know as I remember it.

Just after sunrise I was walking along a ridgeline when I saw the meteor shower start. They were burning up as they came through the atmosphere and left a strange color in the sky. Very few made impact on the ground and those that did exploded like small bombs. They were hitting the entire earth as our planet orbited through the massive meteor field. This lasted several days and everyone had to stay indoors and even then if a meteor hit the building you were history. It stopped almost as fast as it started. After a week or so everyone began to see the affects. Only one out of every 1000 people survived the rest just dropped dead, it seemed that any medical condition was magnified over 100 times. If you had cancer within days it was 100 times worse and you died, if you had asthma the respiratory attack killed you, even a common cold was so severe you died! It also affected animals, insects, and plants too about half of the animals in the world died, as did insects and a lot of plant life. Those that did not die started to change too. The meteor shower seemed to have the effect of increasing healthy people making them even healthier.

Since I lived alone I was unaware of how bad things were. After a month I had driven into town to get more supplies and being a rancher I had my 12-gauge pump and my Marlin lever action 30-30 in the gun rack and my double action .357-mag on the dashboard. I found that my town was no different, with a population of just over 28,000 there were only 30 people left in the whole town, which was counting women and children along with the men. As it happens there were only 7 men over age 15 and 8 boys under the age of 15, there were 5 women over 21, 5 between 19 and 15 and 5 under 15 years. I was not counting myself in these numbers since I live outside of town. As I drove through the abandon cars and avoided dead bodies still on the ground, I stopped at the food mart. Just as I turned off my truck I heard the first shot, reflex had me grab the pistol and look to the door as I cocked the hammer back.

At the front door of the store there were several wild dogs trying to get into the store, two men were shooting at them to keep them out. I put my holster on, I wear a cross draw just to the left of my buckle and am very quick and deadly accurate as well. My buck 11 inch hunting knife is on the belt with the holster at a 45 degree angle to the right just behind my right hip, there are 12 rounds between the knife and buckle on the right side and 18 rounds on the back from the knife to the pistol on the left side. I slid the 12 gauge out of the rack going for close range max damage! Five in the tube and 10 more on the sling as I started toward the doors, before I got three steps from my truck I saw two dogs come from behind some cars to my left. I blew the first one under the car and knocked the other off its feet with one shot from the shotgun. A quick pump and I put the second dog down with the other and after pumping a third round into the chamber I loaded three more from the sling to keep me full. The dogs at the door that were not wounded or dead ran when they saw me coming and the two guys kept trying to kill them as they ran off.

I got to the door and found that the men were almost out of ammo for the rifle and pistol they were using to keep the dogs out. I had the rest of my 12 gauge shells in my glove box, which was only 10 more shells, and 20 rounds for my .357 left, also the lever action had 5 in the gun and 15 in the glove box. I would be happier if we all had a weapon and more ammo.

I said that I would go down to the gun shop and see what was there. I ran back to my truck and pulled up to the door. I left the lever action and the bullets since it was the same caliber as the rifle that they already had. A young girl about 19 named Brenda asked if she could help me? I said she could come along if her parents said it was ok. She told me that she did not have any parents anymore, I felt bad and said that she could help and thanked her. Brenda and I got into the truck and I introduced myself to her, telling her my name "Keal Atonuff" she smiled and said she was Brenda Beane glad to meet me. I asked if she new how to shoot a shotgun? She said yes but did not like it cuz it kicked a lot. I asked if she had shot a .357 magnum and again she said too much kick. Then she showed me a nice Ruger bull barrel .22 cal semi-auto pistol smiling she said almost no kick as she giggled. She had 3 clips with 10 rounds in each and the rest of the box of shells totaling 70 more. It was my turn to giggle. We drove to the gun store and found it open, when we walked in we found the owner dead on the floor by the cash register and the keys were still on his belt. We looked around and loaded everything there was; I got both .223 cal Armalite's and all the magazines I could find, I had Brenda start loading all the .223 ammo she could find along with .357, 30-30, .22 cal, 12 gauge and 20 gauge. I found a nice Moss berg - model 500 'slide action' 20-gauge for her and 5 more clips for her pistol.

I asked Brenda what kind of holster she wanted. Brenda said that she did not know so I had her try different types and she settled for a thigh rig with all the clips on the other thigh. I had her try out a few knives until she found 2 she liked and she put them like an X in the small of her back. We took all nine 9mm; five .45 caliber; four .357 magnum one was a semi-automatic that I would be keeping since it held 7 in the clip and was faster to reload than my double action; six .22 caliber three semi-automatics two revolvers and one semi-automatic .22 magnum pistols and all the magazines for them along with the ammo and put that in the truck too. There were three more 12 gauge pump action shot guns and two double barrel shotguns one 12 gauge and one 20 gauge that I put in with the ammo for them too. I took the other nine rifles, two 7mm; two 30-06; one .308; one lever action .357 magnum; two .22 caliber semi-automatics; and one .22 magnum bolt action and a pump action .410 shotgun. Then I put all the camping supplies that I could think was useful in the truck too. Brenda and I drove back to the store and I told her to bring a shopping cart to carry just a little of what we got to the store. I explained that we would keep the rest for us because I did not know if we would be able to find any more later. She understood and agreed with me. The two men had loaded up two carts of food for me when I got back and I thanked them leaving them with both 30.06 rifles with all the ammo about 19 boxes of 20 rounds and two 9mm pistols; one Smith & Wesson with 5 mags the other a Ruger it had 6 mags. I gave them each 10 boxes of 50 rounds for the 9mm. I also gave them each a 12-gauge shotgun and 5 boxes of shells, some buckshot, number 2 shot, number 4 shot, and number 8 shot.

Brenda helped me load the food and then asked me what I was going to do next. I asked her where she lived so we could get her clothes and she could come with me if she wanted too? I was pretty fast but did not stand a chance against the speed in which she leaped on to me wrapping her legs and arms around me almost tight enough to stop me from breathing. I just smiled and said "your welcome"! It was a short drive to her house, when we had all her stuff loaded in the truck we drove back to my ranch. When we were done unloading the truck and put away the last of the food, I took Brenda to the spare bedroom that would be hers from now on. I emptied the closet and move the stuff to the hall closet and downstairs storage. The dresser was already empty except for a few sweaters that she asked if she could keep. We ate dinner and went to bed.

In the morning I woke up to find Brenda wearing only a large T-shirt and her fluffy slippers cooking eggs, while the toast and coffee were being made. I smiled and thought to myself that this just might be a nice thing. Brenda saw me and asked how I wanted my eggs? When we were done with breakfast I had Brenda help me with the chores and we took the new weapons out with us to get familiar with them.

We each took a Beretta and a Browning Hi Power 9mm with 5 magazines each, the two Armalite's with 18 30 round magazines and four 50 round magazines, my 12 gauge and the 20 gauge for Brenda. When we finished the chores mostly moving hay bales and checking cattle, we set out targets to practice shooting and get use to the new weapons. Brenda liked the 9mm and so did I it did not have a large kick and was fairly accurate out to about 100 feet. Brenda was just as accurate with her 20 gauge as I was with the 12 gauge, and we both loved the .223 Armalite's we would carry them with a 50 round mag in the well and had pouches that held six 30 round mags we could sling over our shoulder. I had my hunting rifle a .270 caliber bolt with a 4x16 X 50 scope and Brenda had the lever action 30-30 it had a kick she did not like but she could shoot it dead accurate to 200 yards eight out of ten shots, which was almost as good as my nine out of ten.

I loaded an empty toolbox with extra ammo for all the weapons and had that in the truck along with my medical aid bag. I had retired from the army after 20 years as a combat medic and still had most of my stuff. The Special Operations Unit that I was attached too gave me access to the best of all the military equipment and exposure to training that most never even new was available. I had seen and done a lot in my last seven years with the military and was more than ready to retire after my 20 years were done.

I was impressed with Brenda's maturity level since she was half my age at 19. What a picture we were, a nineteen-year-old female standing about 5'2" weighing maybe 110 soaking wet? With her dirty blonde shoulder length hair, greenish blue eyes, and very female 36B-28-36 hard body figure. Wearing a T-shirt under a flannel work shirt that she tied across her midriff with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and tight jeans. A thigh rig for the Berretta on her right thigh the Browning on her left and her .22 cal pistol under her left arm, 2 extra mags for the 9mm's were in front of each holster and 2 were on each side of the buckle, the extra clips for her .22 were under her right arm. The Armalite was slung with a combat sling across her chest and she still wore the two knives in an X at the small of her back. I stood at 6' and wore a T-shirt under my flannel shirt tucked into my military style pants, I had my berretta in a left thigh rig, but I had my .357 at my left hip just left of the buckle and the second 9mm Browning under my left arm, 4 mags for the Browning were on my right side hanging from the shoulder rig, the mags for the Beretta were on my right thigh. My Armalite was slung across my chest too, unless we were carrying the shotgun then the .223 went across our back ready to swing forward if needed. My knife was behind my right hip as always at the nice angle and I had added two Tanto Cold Steel combat daggers on the outside of each ankle. Why did we look like commandos? Because of what had happened, and the fact that my military training taught me it is always better to have something and not need it then to need something and not have it!

Our days were the same; wake up eat breakfast, do the chores; practice with the weapons at least three five shot groups to confirm our zero and keep us confidant. Then lunch before we started a new project, like cutting hay, baling the cut hay, stacking the bales of hay, clearing the irrigation, checking fence and mending breaks. After about a month, we both began to notice that we were both getting stronger and after checking our height and weight found that we had both grown about 2" and gained about 10 pounds but neither of us looked fat or over weight, in fact we both looked like we should be in one of those muscle magazines. Brenda could pick up a 50 pound bale of hay and toss it up three bales high almost with one arm, I could catch the bale with one arm and stack it like it only weighed 10 pounds. I was still a 38" chest with a 28" waist but now I was just over 6' tall and weighed 200 pounds. Brenda was now 5'4" and weighing 120 with the same with the same dirty blonde shoulder length hair, greenish blue eyes, and very female 36B-28-36 hard body figure.

I felt that we should make another run into town and get more food and maybe take some time to have some fun. When we got into town the food mart was empty and most of the cars had been moved away. I took a drive around town and stopped in all the stores that may have items we could use. It was the same at every store; everything of use had been taken. I stopped at a gas station and filled two 5-gallon fuel cans putting them in the back of my truck and topped off my tank as well. Then Brenda and I drove north to Centennial the big town 55 miles away. We arrived about an hour later and found the first large food store was empty just as my hometown store. I drove to a smaller food store and found it had not been emptied like the larger ones had. Brenda and I loaded as much food as my truck would hold and then I drove to a sporting goods store.

We stepped out of the truck and were about to pull out our Armalite when we were shot at from someone down the street. Brenda dropped to the ground and I drew my .357 fanning three shots hitting the guy with the last two. Another guy from the other side of the street shot me with a Mini-14 hitting me in my left rib and left upper arm; it broke the rib and made a long gash in my side, and the other went straight through the outer part of my upper arm making a clean tiny pencil size hole going in and a large hole about the size of a quarter coming out. I spun around and fell to the ground trying to move under and behind my truck. I heard four or five shots and saw Brenda firing from a prone two-handed position beside the front tire.

A shotgun blast slammed my truck door closed and let me know that I needed to move faster. As I got to the rear of my truck I could see several more guys with weapons moving up from behind us. I drew the browning from my shoulder holster and put the .357 back to draw the Beretta. I waited until the guys moving up from our rear to see me then I fired until all three were on the ground. Brenda asked if I was alright and what the hell was going on all in one breath! I told her to move to the store but to stay on the ground and crawl like a snake. I moved around the truck again and took a quick look around to make sure there were no more idiots moving toward us.

Brenda got inside the store and was kneeling at the door waiting for me to join her. I rolled under my truck to the passenger side stood grabbing Brenda's Armalite and an ammo can then did a backward roll into the store. Brenda was impressed with my little show and giggled before breaking down and crying. She knew that she had killed the guy across the street that had shot me, so I told her that it was him or me and she made the right choice. Brenda told me that she knew that it was the only thing to do but she had never killed anything before and she was scared.

Then she realized I was shot and really began to cry while she said stuff like 'please don't die!' 'Are you going to be alright?' and 'what do I need to do?' I told her to calm down and get some of the medical stuff off the shelf behind her. We were in a pharmacy; I just smiled and said that I was going to be fine! Brenda smiled and got the stuff to clean up my wounds and dress them.

I looked through the drugs and got antibiotics and medical supplies just in case we got injured or shot like I had been. I did a quick look around before we moved next door to the sporting good store. We got all the camping food and other items that we felt would be useful to us. I found the hunting area and found they had 3 rifles and 2 shotguns, no pistols and only about 4 boxes of ammo for various weapons. Brenda loaded all the ammo and I loaded the three rifles; a 30-06, .22 bolt action, and a .22 semi-auto; one 12 gauge double barrel and a single shot 20 gauge. I made sure it was clear once again before we went back out to the truck.

We drove to a car dealership to look for a truck with two tanks and a little larger size. We settled for a crew cab Chevy 3/4 ton 4X4 with an extended bed. It was automatic fully loaded and had 2 tanks. We loaded all the food and fuel cans along with 4 extra tires. Then we headed toward the closest hospital to see about getting me fixed up right. Brenda saw a Quickcare center and asked if it would work? I said it would be fine and we pulled in and parked, this time Brenda was very cautious as she got out of the truck, as was I. We checked the front door and found it locked; I was going to break a window when a young woman opened the door.

Cheryl Dent was a beautiful 24-year-old Physician Assistant, she was 5'5" short black hair and green eyes, and I would say her build was 34C-30-34 and about 110 pounds. Her roommate had been raped and was hurt pretty bad so she had come to this clinic where she worked to get some supplies. Brenda offered to give her a ride and keep watch if she would fix me up. Cheryl agreed and after stitching my arm and cleaning and dressing my rib she said I needed to be careful not to push the broken rib into my lung. I asked how many guys had raped her roommate; Cheryl said she did not know only that she had come home and found Michelle naked and tied to the legs of the table bleeding and unconscious. Obviously she had been raped. Cheryl untied Michelle and got her to the bedroom and came for medical supplies.