Chapter 3

I woke up soaking wet and breathing heavy. Damn, I thought, I hope my dreams weren't starting again. The services called it PTSD, but me, like all the guys who have served, had another name for it. I started the coffee and took a shower and although I stood under the hot water for a long time, I never ran out. I got dressed and took a cup of coffee out to one of the lawn chairs under the overhang in front of the cabin. It had been only two foot out but when I replaced the roof, I extended it by four feet so I would have somewhere to sit in the shade during the summer. I was looking around thinking about defense when I heard a horn and saw Barry coming down the road from the gate. I noticed even though he was in a 4x4, he was taking it real easy on the narrow raised part of the drive from the gate. 'Till it hit the valley floor, it was about a fifteen foot drop off straight down. Hmm, I thought, that's another fix I can set up as well as a bell on the other side of the valley wall to warn me that someone is coming up the drive. That would be easy to set up, I thought, as Barry backed up to where I was sitting, getting out with a smile.

"Boy, we are now cut off and the kids send their thanks for the 22s. We had a meeting last night and the freeway entrances into town as well as the frontage road are now barricaded. Martial law has been set into effect and traveling has been suspended anywhere except where you live. Thom, Tucson has been hit with this flu and they are having riots all over the city. We heard Phoenix is on complete shutdown with Law Enforcement being told to shoot rioters and looters. I have been delegated with the Search and Rescue guys here to man the barricades. The old ranchers in the area are coming out of the woodwork volunteering to do this. Some of those old men still think this is like the Apache Raids we used to have around this area. This old ATV has a lot of hours on it, but it runs like it did when it was new. I had the shop go over it last month and they said it was still in excellent condition."

"Barry, not to change the subject, but what kind of condition is that old log cabin of yours in? That house of yours with all those windows wouldn't stand up to a raid if it happens. There's too many ways to get in, and way too many doors and windows."

"Well I have kept it up and did all the repairs on it when they moved it back to build the house. My mother in law stayed in it for a month when she was here last year and loved it. Besides, we were glad 'cause she snores so loud it keeps all of us awake. It's all hooked up to the well and electric and septic. That thing has logs that are bigger than yours and I have no idea what kind of wood they used. I do know the termites haven't messed with it and I had it sprayed with that new sealant that retards fires."

"Well, if it was me I would stock it and move to it immediately if trouble breaks out at the front house. Barry, you might talk to Zeke about a generator like I have if the electricity goes out. I would also make thick shutters to put up to protect the window glass. While I am thinking about it, can I borrow your tractor with the scoop and backhoe attachment? I need to enclose my propane tanks and do a few other things while I have the time."

"Sure. I will send Shelly over with it to help. Thom, she runs that damned thing like she was born on it. Now this 9mm I have is loose rounds packed 5,000 rounds to a case. The department bought I don't know how many cases from the military last year and they let us all buy 2 cases each if we wanted it. I have shot it at the range and never had a misfire. I have another surprise, but if you tell anyone I will shoot you."

With that he picked up a flat crate and set it on the kitchen table and popped the top off. Grenades! They looked just like the ones we used in Nam and I recognized the colored rings around them immediately as range use. They used to use the colored rings for identification so they didn't screw up what we were practicing with.

"There are six of each and I can tell by the grin on that ugly puss of yours that you recognized them. You only have six of each so keep them for emergencies. Don't tell anyone where they came from. An old rancher had a whole damned wall stacked up with them and he gave me six cases of each and one to all his friends. Now I don't know if you kept up, but the orange ring color is WP. They used to be for flechette but they changed them several years ago. You have six HE and six WP. I hope you don't need them but if you do you will have them. The ATV has a full tank and there are a couple of extra quarts of oil. I will put it under the overhang in front and the key is in it. I suggest you get to the truck stop and get cans and your car filled while there is fuel to do so. I have to head out so I will send Shelly over in about ten minutes and I will leave the gate open for her. Just tell her what you need and turn her loose. Oh, and in case you don't know, she is a Coke drinker and will demand one to drink while she is here. I hope this helps you out, and if I need help, you will come a runnin'."

With that he laughed and unloaded the ATV and was gone in a cloud of dust, leaving me to drag that dammed heavy case of ammo to the corner where I kept all of mine. I put the grenades in the kitchen cupboard where they would be easy to get to without having to dig for them through all the other boxes of ammo. He had taken off before I could get some more 22s out to give him. I knew I had over 10,000 rounds stacked in the corner along with my 9mm boxes and now this crate of loose rounds. BK was gonna go crazy with all of this 9mm. He had bought a small 9mm carbine that he immediately named Little Ugly. That thing was like an extra arm whenever we went out shooting. Oh well, I would give Shelly a thousand rounds when she went back home. Maybe then she would forgive me for not having a cold Coke for her. I would pick up some from the truck stop when I went in later if we got done in time today. I doubted if they would be open 24 hours with the blockades in place.

I had just finished repacking all the ammo when I heard the tractor coming down the drive. I stepped out front just as she stopped in front of the cabin.

"Hey, Dad said you had some work for me to do. Boy, I hope it takes awhile because I am bored to death. They shut down the school and the town took it over as an emergency shelter. So what do you need done?"

I motioned her down off of the machine, and we walked around to the back of the cabin so I could show her what I wanted her to do. I had another idea whirling around in my head, so I showed her what she needed to do and where to get the fill to do it. She just gave me a big grin and ran back around the cabin and had the tractor going before I could get there. She took off for the far wall where there were piles of stone all along the edges while I got on the ATV, taking several minutes to figure out how to run it since I had never operated one before. I finally got it going and headed off to the bottom of the drive, scoping out in my mind what I wanted to do. When I got there, I shut down the ATV and walked all around the edge of the drive, looking at the bottom, trying to make the picture come out of what I wanted to do here. I stepped back, looking at the angle of the drive, and then it all came together. I was grinning as I climbed back on the ATV and headed to the top of the drive to look at the upward angle of the hill on the other side. I wanted to see where I could set up a beam or something of that nature to ring a bell at the cabin, letting me know when someone was driving in.

I still couldn't figure out a way to do what I wanted to do after walking over half of the ridge at the top of the wall that my drive had been cut through. I finally gave it up as a lost cause and stopped at the gate, looking at ways to reinforce it so it couldn't be rammed without doing a lot of damage to whatever hit it. I knew the one I had up now was pretty flimsy and not a deterrent to someone wanting to get in bad enough. Then it hit me. I remembered Zeke had a big pile of 4in well casing in five foot lengths. If I did it right, I could make one hell of a gate that would take a dozer to get through. I had the Sakrete, and the two posts I had now were well casing in the ground four feet with concrete holding them. I could add on to this and make it an easy barrier. There were only about four inches between them and the valley walls so it would be hard for anyone of any size to squeeze in. I had mounted them both as close to the walls as I could get but this had made a big gap in the gate on the end where I had it chained. The gate lacked about two feet of being wide enough so I had to use chain to hold it closed. I was still wrapped up in thought when I heard a shrill whistle. I looked toward the cabin and saw Shelly over by the back wall, waving for me to come. I jumped on the ATV, wondering what was wrong. I headed to where she was sitting on the tractor, watching something on the ground. As I got close, she backed the tractor away from the wall about fifty feet.