Chapter 2

I decided that we would keep off the main highways going to Sacramento. That would create its own problems, mostly making sure I had enough gas. The Hummer had two tanks that would hold about a hundred gallons but it also used a gallon every 8 or 10 miles. If I have no detours or holdups we would be able to get there and back on one fill up. If I ran into problems, we may not have enough. 1 needed information and decided that I would get it from the most current source available to me, the prisoner.

I went back to the storage area and looked for the prisoner but for some reason couldn't find him. I sent a couple of the dogs hunting for him but in a minute they came back whining. I followed the dogs to a back wall where they began to paw at the bottom. I looked at the wall and noticed that it was not connected to the side walls at all. When I looked around I noticed that a shelf on one of the side walls had been moved and several items had fallen off the shelf. I went to the shelf and looked at it. The shelf was connected to the wall and the support to make it one piece. I began to try to move it. Finally by pulling the shelf up and forward at the same time I managed to make the shelf move. Behind me I heard a sound and turned to see part of the back wall moving up.

A light came on and I saw the prisoner huddled on the floor about half way to the other end of a short corridor. This made me suspicious about the corridor and I looked around before I entered it. Next to the door I saw a small lever which I pulled. The door continued further up into the roof and a light on the end of the corridor turned green. I went back to the house and told Rita to come with me. I told her about the prisoner and finding him in the secret corridor. I showed her the shelf and how to open the door. Entering the corridor I grabbed the prisoner and pulled him out. When I got him out we checked him and found he had been stabbed by something from directly overhead. Looking at the roof I noticed that the roof was deeply dimpled. In fact the dimples looked as though they would fit around a .17 caliber round.

I thought I would test my supposition and picked up a piece of wood. Moving almost to where the prisoner had been killed I put the wood under the area and waved it. Suddenly I heard the sounds of something hitting a barrier over the area. Looking up I saw that there was a series of barrels pointing down. Looking down I saw a series of baffles on the floor and when I looked through them I saw an open area under the floor.

This made me nervous so taking my time and waving the board in front of me like a flag I moved slowly forward. I heard the sound twice more before I reached the second door. When I got there I found the door locked. I tried my keys but none of them fit so I tried to jimmy the lock with a piece of plastic. Giving up on nondestructive methods, I took out my handgun and shot out the cylinder of the door lock. I moved to the side of the door and using the stick pushed it open. I waited and didn't see or hear anything moving so I quickly peaked around the door. There appeared to be a completely normal office with another door at the other side.

By this time I wasn't sure what was going on. First I thought it was a simple storage area then I found it had been cut into the mountains to make a huge storage area. Now there was another level of mystery unfolding. Waving the board in front of me like a shield I slowly moved toward the desk. Nothing happened, but by now I was ready to scream if anything moved or I heard anything.

Finally, I reached the desk and began to look inside. I found very little that would be out of place in any ordinary desk with one exception. I found a small key card for a door lock. The only problem was there was no door that I could see that would accept a key card. There were no markings on the card to tell you what the card went to or any other information. I sat down in the chair and started looking around the office. Finally I looked under the desk and there was a key card reader. By now I was totally freaked out and decided that I would try it out. I put the card in the reader and waited. Numb from the numerous shocks I had received, I saw with little amazement that the entire wall behind me was raising and behind it was a new tunnel leading even deeper into the mountain.

Following the tunnel deeper into the mountain, I finally reached my destination. The tunnel ended in a room that looked like it was out of the set of Star Trek. I didn't recognize half of the equipment in the room except for the radar screens and radios. In the room I found the bodies of five people dressed in suits who had mummified in the constant temperature. Looking around the office I found records of observations that had been made about three months before.

Apparently they had been intercepting messages from various sources all around the world. I read some of the messages that talked of everyone dying in Asia and Africa, messages from ships telling someone in command that they were unable to maintain course due to the deaths of the crew. One message was from a passenger on a plane screaming about how the pilots had died and he needed instructions on how to land. There was nothing to do, any emergencies had resolved themselves months before. There was nothing here I could use, just a record of a dying world. I looked around and saw there was one more door that could be opened. Going forward and avoiding the bodies on the floor I opened the last door to find an elevator that had two buttons. One. I was sure, was the room I was in and the other...

Well there was only one way to find out. Pushing the button the elevator door closed and with a quick acceleration I started going up. After about a minute and having no idea of how far I had gone, I came out behind a lodge high above Interstate 5. I looked inside it and didn't see anyone or anything around. Going in front of the lodge, I found several vehicles that probably belonged to the people I had found in the room below. I walked up to the lodge and found that it was unlocked. I found the lodge to be in good shape with a full kitchen and freezer as if the people living there had just stepped out for a moment ans would be right back. I checked out the area and found there was a fueling station here as well with full tanks of gasoline and diesel fuel. I continued searching the area of the lodge and found that there was even a landing pad for the small helicopter which was there on the pad.

When I went upstairs, I received another surprise. There was a room that needed a key card to enter. Figuring what the hell, I tried the card from the desk. It opened and I found that I had located a source of heavy weapons. There were different types of machine guns and what looked like several LAWS and some sort of rifle with an extremely long barrel and very powerful scope. Looking through it I could see and identify the individual dogs in the compound. Suddenly I heard the radio, "Jon, are you OK?" I had forgotten about Rita!

Getting the radio from my belt I answered her, "Rita, I'm fine. Just close the door and wait for me I'll be back soon".

I knew this would confuse her completely, but I saw a four-wheel drive diesel pickup that would be perfect to drive to Sacramento. It wouldn't attract as much attention as the Hummer but would haul almost as much. Loading one of the machine guns with two canisters of ammo, three of the LAWs and the rifle, I refueled the pickup truck with the card key at the refueling station and started it with a key that I found in the arms room. I wanted to know exactly where I was. Driving down the road I saw that it had no numbers or signs so it wasn't a public road, which was no surprise. Getting to the gate I pulled out my handy card key and swiped it to get out of the gate. We still had electricity so I didn't have to push the gate open, thank God. It looked like it must have weighed 500 pounds. Driving out of the gate left me none the wiser as to where I was. After driving on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere for about 20 minutes I came out on a road that I finally recognized. It was a road that led to Mt. Shasta. Marking where I came out, I made sure I listed every street name and turn I made until I got back to Interstate 5.

Speeding to the storage area I met Rita at the house. She was jumping up and down with curiosity, which I refused to fully satisfy. I told her the tunnel led to a room that had several dead people in it and told her of the messages I had read. She cried when I told her about the passenger, and I wondered again how old she really was. I didn't tell her anything about the elevator or that I drove back. I did show her the four-wheel drive truck and she squealed with excitement and wanted to go for a ride. I suggested that we wait until tomorrow and then leave for Sacramento.

I was determined that I would take a barrel of diesel in the back of the truck. I had hesitated about taking more gas in the Hummer as it was too explosive. Diesel would only burn if lit by an open flame. I also wanted to do something else, get more steel to put on the doors for protection. I had seen some steel plate in Mt. Shasta and I had picked up a cutting torch already. Grabbing Rita and two dogs I headed toward Mt. Shasta where I picked up the steel We freewheeled for a couple of miles in the hills trying to make the truck fail. This satisfied Rita and I got to test my driving skills before I had to use them. Returning to the storage area I cut the plates to size and spot-welded them to the doors.

By this time it was late and I persuaded Rita to stay at the storage area for the night. I think the opportunity to have fresh eggs and bread persuaded her more than any of my other words. When I asked I found she had been living on mostly canned food with what she had gotten from the garden they had at her parent's house. I was beginning to think more and more that Rita was a lot younger than 15. I didn't pressure her about how old she was, as I really didn't care. She was a friend.

When we woke up the next morning I had a dilemma. What was I going to do with the livestock for the four or five days I would be gone? The chickens I wasn't worried about, they would be fine in their pen. The larger livestock needed more room. I decided that the only thing I could do was put them in the storeroom that the prisoner had died in with enough food and water for the time I planned to be gone. I was going to take the dogs with me except for three of them. I could leave enough food out for that many dogs to last for the entire period and water was available from an on-demand system.

Finally about 10 AM we began our trip. We kept to the back roads. It took us two days of avoiding all groups of houses until we got to the outskirts of Sacramento. Here too, much of the city was destroyed by fire. We finally ran into an area where we saw signs of people. We figured this out by seeing all of the smashed open doors and dismantled houses. I placed a white bath towel on the radio antenna and slowly drove forward. Suddenly there was a shot across the road, and an order to "STOP! What clan are you from?"

I had no idea what they were talking about but decided if they wanted a clan I would give them one, "I'm the Taggert clan leader and want to talk to someone in charge"

"There's no Taggert clan in Sacramento!" came back almost immediately.

"I never said I was from Sacramento!" There was a pause for a couple of minutes and I was sure they were getting someone more important to check the situation.

"Get out of the truck and move forward", was the next command I received.

"I'm leaving my girl and the dogs in the truck." I got out of the truck and placed my handgun on the hood, then turned around so they could see all sides of my body. One man, (no it was a woman!) came out and did a search of me to make sure I didn't have any other weapons on me. She turned and called out, "He's clean!"

"I'm Jon and the girl there is Rita. We have information about the New Life Church of the Reborn and Baron William for the clans", I told her as I waited for the person in charge to come out.

"What sort of information?"

"How about their location and strength?"

"What do you get out of it?"

"That's something that I'll discuss with the leader of the clan." She waved me forward then and I went toward the watch post. When I went by I was glad I hadn't tried to blow past them. They had a LAW set up and ready for use. There were three women at the watch post and as she led me further in past the outer line I saw that there were very few men around and most of them were very young. Finally I came to a house where she entered and sat down. I sat and waited for someone else to join us. After a few moments I looked at her and asked, "How long do we have to wait for someone? Rita needs to stand up and get something to eat".

She waved at one of the women, who went out and started toward the truck. I looked at her, "I think you could have said something about being the leader earlier."

"I wanted to see if you were a spy looking for weaknesses. If you are, you're not a good one. I've seen you looking around but not in the right directions. You seem more interested in breasts than breastworks. I'm the leader of the Salk clan. So talk."

"I'm Rita's friend and she may have a sister who is being held by one of the two groups. Plus they are in an area where I live. I don't have the strength to attack and drive them out on my own. I need help and I think that you'd like to rescue your people as well. You better help soon, if you want to save anyone, these guys are real bastards. Other than that I want to join with the clans in Sacramento for mutual defense and trade."