Against the Wind by Gilford Patton

Against the Wind

Gilford Patton

Book One

Against The Wind

Gilford Mark Patton

In a devastated world that needed action…one man…who lived by his own code…would step forward…and inspired the world…to pull itself up by its bootstraps.

About the Author

Gilford Patton was born in Glendale California in the late fifties. His family moved to Martinez California in 1960. There he was raised with a sister and two brothers on an acre and a quarter plot of land near the Viano Vineyards. They had chickens, pigs, cows and horses.

Later his family moved back to southern California and were living there when the 1971 Sylmar earthquake hit. As a fourteen year old scout, he helped his mother write a pamphlet on earthquake preparedness for the Relief Society organization.

This began his relationship with emergency preparedness. Over the years He has written more than a hundred handouts, papers, articles, class lessons, PowerPoints, Tactical Response Plans, and books on emergency preparedness and wilderness survival.

The events of 9-11 led to his working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and for ten years he held the position of Emergency Management Coordinator for the Oakland California AOR, which consists of twenty one counties. His tenure in this position has lasted under four Federal Security Directors. Until his recent retirement at the end of September. (2018)

Gilford has also been involved with the Boy Scouts of America as adult trainer, National Youth Leadership Training Assistant Course Director, instructor for the Ham Radio program and currently as Assistant Scout Master for Troop 1351.

Gilford is also now the CEO of The ASSET Center; The American Survival School & Emergency Training Center. Table of Contents

Prolog - The Making of a Man Chapter 1 – A New Calling Chapter 2 – Diversions Chapter 3 – Twists and Turns Chapter 4 – Family Ties Chapter 5 – The Leak Chapter 6 – Hunker Down Chapter 7 – The Approach Chapter 8 – The Arrival Chapter 9 – The Passing Chapter 10 – The Passing Continues Chapter 11 – Assessing Book 2 – Preview The Cast Places

Against the Wind

Prolog

The Making of a Man

The rider on the horse straightened his legs as he stretched against the stiffness in his lower back. He looked into the setting sun and sighed. He sat back down in the saddle with a soft groan of resignation and drooped his head towards his chest, the brim of the off white Stetson hat casting a shadow across his face. Dewey Johnson had been following the rider in one of the ranch’s jeeps for the last three hours as he rode across the hundred and fifty thousand plus acre ranch that the rider had just inherited.

“Mister Rogers.” Dewey called out, “It’s almost sunset sir, and you need to sign the documents before the sun sets if you are to receive everything your uncle left you.”

The rider wheeled the horse around smoothly and guide him up to the jeep, “Let me have it.” He said as he leaned down from the horse’s back and took the documents that were bound in the blue binding, that legal papers always seemed to be in. The exasperation heavy in his voice as the last of his resistance slipped away to do what he did not care for…accepting that his uncle Dan is gone forever, He was now in charge of the business, all of the responsibilities that uncle had were now his.

Taking the stainless steel ballpoint pen from his pocket with his right hand, the rider placed documents, which were in his left hand, upon his left thigh and brought the pen to the line where he was supposed to sign. He paused and sighed deeply again then signed his name to the document which gave him ownership of all these lands, ‘Walt Rogers’, and shoved the papers back at Dewey Johnson the attorney for his uncle’s estate. He slipped the pen back into his shirt pocket and wheeled the horse back towards the setting sun and guided it back to where they were before, under the overhanging branches of the large oak tree.

Dewey folded up the document and placed it in the briefcase on the seat next to him and looked up at the rider and said, “You know Mr. Rogers, when I was little boy I used to visit my grandfather and he and I would watch old Westerns together and looking at you now Sir, reminds me of one of his favorites.”

“Which one?” Walt Rogers asked as he slowly shook his head pretty sure that he knew the answer. Dewey smiled, “It was one starring John Wayne, called Chisum.”

“Yeah, my uncle liked that one too.” Walt sat up straighter in the saddle, “You better head back now before it gets too dark, it’s easy to get lost out here if you don’t know your way around.”

“It’s probably a stupid question,” Dewey said. “But are you going to be okay out here by yourself?”

“Oh yeah,” Walt answered with the first hint of warmth in his voice that Dewey had heard all day. “I know these hills better than anyone else alive.” He sighed again, “After all this is where I grew up.”

Dewey nodded silently, started the jeep and backed it up to turn around to it around and head back to the ranch house, and as he drove off into the darkening twilight its headlights casting faint balls of bouncing light across the landscape.

***

September

Walt stood at the door of his Uncle Dan’s study looking out into the Grand Hall of the ranch house and all of his relatives gathered there. The clock was striking eight o’clock and there was a small fire in the massive double-sided fireplace that captivated the children while adults were gathered in small groups throughout the room.

His uncle had left everyone something, for some it was less than what they had expected, for others it was much more, including himself. His uncle did not have any children of his own and Walt had spent most of his childhood here on his uncle’s ranch. While Walt’s dad, Mark, in one way was the opposite of Dan, Dan being a rancher and Mark a big time lawyer, still they were close enough to each other and so much of like minds politically and philosophically, that Mark trusted Dan so much so that he let Walt spend every summer with Dan since he was seven. And then when he was fourteen, Walt was allowed to moved full time to the ranch for all of his high school years. Mark and Dan although close, always had a hard time carrying on a casual conversation about just about everything except for three things, emergency preparedness, the decline of the social fabric of the nation and Walt. So it was that Walt grew up as the only relative that spent a lot of time on the ranch. Added to that was the declaration, according in the will, that his uncle Dan thought more of Walt than anyone had presumed, and Walt felt the pressure of envy and resentment from some of his more distant relatives that were here. Walt, at only twenty years old, had received everything other than the few items and monetary amounts listed in the will for his relatives.

His uncle left his father the black Lincoln Continental stretch limo, a custom-built Plan B S.A.R. RV and two hundred thousand dollars that was to be used for prepping. When Dan referred to the S.A.R. RV, he did so not as a RV but as a Survival And Rescue vehicle or simply SAR because it was so very much more that a customized showroom vehicle. It was a custom designed, from the ground up, as an off-road survival RV that was built on an Osh Kosh HEMMIT eight wheel drive low-bed tank hauler. Walt had smile when the attorney read that portion of the will because he knew that his dad was going to have to get a class “A” driver’s license now just to drive it.

Walt’s aunt, who had never really liked being at the ranch, ever being a society diva, was more at home on Rodeo Drive then her own home, was bequeathed only seventy thousand dollars, which had her pouting because she felt that she deserved much more being his only sister.

Walt’s younger brother, David who had just turned 18, got twenty thousand dollars, his sister Sally who is 22 got fifty thousand dollars, and his older brother, Michael who was 24, got forty thousand dollars. He surmised that the different amounts were based on the time they each had spent out at the ranch. They each also received a scholarship to whatever university or college they wanted to attend, and for as long as they wanted to attend.

His uncle’s three cousins each got ten thousand dollars and each of their kids got five thousand dollars each. His Grandparents, Stan and Martha who had already been taken care of with a substantial trust fund for their retirement, got it doubled.

The big shocker to most of the family was the fact that his uncle had a girlfriend twelve years his junior. Her name was Anna Reagan and before the will was read, a lot of the family who didn’t know her, assumed that the she was just a gold digger after Dan’s money or property. Walt, his dad, and grandparents were the only ones who knew better than that. The few family members who had come out to the ranch lately thought at first that Anna was just the ranch veterinarian that was attending to the horses and livestock. Walt had met Anna eight years ago, and knew the arrangement with his uncle was that all she would get when he passed was five thousand dollars, plus a blank amount to set up her own veterinary practice and any of the horses she wanted. She had confided to Walt that she didn’t want any of it; she just wanted to be able to stay out at the ranch and work with the horses which she loved almost as much as his uncle. You see when Anna had met Dan Rogers she was a veterinary assistant working to become a veterinarian herself. She had come out to the ranch to assist the veterinarian in setting the leg of one of the horses. She came out several more times to check on the horse herself and soon she and his uncle were becoming great friends. One thing led to another and in about six months her uncle asked her to move in with him. It took her another year to actually do so as she wanted to finish getting her degree first. Walt knew of three times where his uncle had asked Anna to marry him, and each time she had said she did not want to ruin a perfect thing.

Anna and his uncle were on the way back to the ranch from an evening at a night club in Boise the previous Thursday when a drunk driver ran a red light and crashed into the driver’s door of his uncle’s truck. It wasn’t the crash that had killed his uncle per se, but one of the fence posts that were in the back of the other truck, that flew over the cab of the drunk’s truck and into the driver side window of his uncle’s truck and impaled him.

Anna told Walt that his uncle was more concerned about what would happen to the two of them than what would happen to him. She also confided how much that she regretted not marry Dan and having children with him.

Anna was now sitting with Walt’s grandmother and mother on the big leather couch that Dan and Walt had made several years before, trying to comfort them while they were trying to comfort her. Walt had to smile at this because he knew that his uncle would be chuckling over their clumsy and heart felt concern for each other. Walt walked in to the grand hall and headed over to the three women of his life and reached his arms out wide and scooped them together in a big hug. Then he released them and stood a half step back and smiled a big knowing grin.

“What?” His grandmother asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Walt’s head bobbed a little as he spoke. “Just thinking what Uncle Dan would be saying about you three trying to help each other feel better, when you should be telling stories to share the good times and stupid things he did that made you laugh.”

Anna smiled a little and said, “You’re right. He would be giving us a hard time for trying to be so constrictive with our feelings and worrying about saying what someone might think is offensive because it might be embarrassing to Dan but funny just the same.”

“That’s right, he could take it as well as he dished it out.” Walt replied then to his grandmother said, “Grandma, why don’t start with some of those old ranch stories with the cows?” “Oh my!” Martha started in surprise. “Are you sure that’s not too…” she paused as a twinkle came to her eyes, “Why you’re right!” she stated emphatically and slapped her hands on her legs and then stood up. “Everyone… Everyone! Gather ‘round over here. Come on… Bring a chair and gather ‘round everyone.”

As everyone slowly started moving towards the dark brown leather couch Walt made his way to the breakfast bar behind the couch and slid onto one of the padded barstools there. He watched as his grandmother started telling stories of Dan and Mark on the old ranch in California and smiled at the inquisitive looks on the little children’s faces. As she told the stories his grandfather would chime in with an important key fact that made the stories even funnier. As the evening wore on Walt nursed a bottle of his favorite drink, Virgil’s Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer, and watched the faces light up at the stories his grandmother told.

By ten-thirty the only ones who hadn’t made their way to the guest bedrooms were Anna, Walt, his parents and grandparents. They were now sitting by the Massive double sided fireplace as Mark prodded the coals to life and put a couple of small split logs on the grate. His grandparents sat in a couple of high back, overstuffed leather chairs, his mom was in the old rocker that Dan had made in high school and Anna sat with her knees pulled up under her chin and her back against the warm rocks of the fireplace. The hot coals popped and sputtered to life as they consumed the new fuel provided to them.

Walt walked over to the group with a couple bottles of Virgil’s in each hand. He handed one to his grandfather. “It’s not your scotch and it’s not alcoholic, but... it will make your eyes spin in their sockets if you take too big of a swig, so sip it.” He then handed on to his dad and one to Anna who smiled as she took it and twisted the top off. His grandfather broke into a coughing fit when he took a big gulp. “I told you, sip it”, Walt said with a big toothy smile.

Walt then handed his mother and grandmother each a four-ounce shot glass and twisted the top off of a bottle and pour them two-thirds full. Then he moved backward to the hearth of the fireplace that was made from stones found on the ranch, stepped up on the hearth and stopped when his back made contact with the stonework. Then he slid down and sat on the hearth with his back against the warm stones on the opposite side of the opening from Anna.

“Grandma, Granddad, are you sure you don’t want to stay for a few months?” Walt asked softly. “We could use the help running the ranch, after all, Dan took care of all of the bookkeeping and what not, and I didn’t get in on that part much at all.”

“No dear, we really shouldn’t intrude on how you will run it. It is yours and you have to come up with your own style of management.” Martha said with a shakiness in her voice which betrayed other feelings that she had not yet voiced. “Martha? Stan?” Anna said apprehensively. “If I may interject some note worthy information for you before you make a firm decision on this.”

“Of course” Stan stated quickly. “I think you might have some insights we should hear.”

“Thank you.” Anna replied and took a deep breath, closed her eyes, placed her hands on her thighs with the fingers spread wide and slowly blow out the breath. “First off, I wish that I could apologize to Dan for declining all of his marriage proposals. Not that I want to have the ranch!” She added quickly. “I should have so I could have given him some children.” She took another deep breath, “Walt has been like a son to Dan and Dan took great pride in him in the skills he learned and showed on his own. However,”

She paused for a couple of seconds then continued, “Dan never showed Walt the financial side of running the ranch and was just beginning to introduce him to some of those whom Dan had dealings with. Selling excess hay, water share usage, the different wholesalers for the cattle, and breeders for the horses. And as good as Walt is in organizing the ranch hands, acreage usage and supplies for everything, your grandson has no knowledge for the financial side of the ranch…yet!” Anna turned to Walt, cocked her head to the left a little with a halfhearted smile and added, “No offence intended.”

“None taken and you’re absolutely right. I have no knowledge of the ranch’s financial status or workings.” Looking at his grandparents Walt added, “That is why I need you two to help me for a while.”

“Walt…” Martha started.

“We’ll take a look at the books and then your grandmother and I will talk about it and then we’ll sit down with you and Anna for a management meeting.” Stan interjected, putting a hand on Martha’s leg. “No promises other than that.”

Walt smiled in spite of himself, knowing that his grandfather was getting bored with retirement. “That’s what I need. Some excellent guidance.”

“That sounds great!” Mark boomed unexpectedly. “Now…How about some ice cream?” he added with a smile and a sly wink to Walt, knowing that Walt wanted to keep things on a positive note as he could.

***

Walt stood on the front porch of the log home that was now his. His home. He had spent more time here than at his parent’s home since he turned twelve. His home, his house. Although, at over nineteen thousand square feet, he thought of it more like a grand lodge, like that one at Yellowstone Park, and it was in his heart and his home. Leaning against one of the massive log posts holding up the second floor that thrust out over the porch that wrapped around the home, He looked out over the valley and the road that lead from “The Compound”, as Dan used to call the center of the ranch, down to the highway seven miles away. There was a low thin fog that floated in finger like wisps across the fields and around the trees along the road, being stirred only by the passing of the cars leaving to carry his cousins to their homes.

It had been two days since the funeral and only his grandparents and immediate family remained at the ranch. “The only family I really trust” Walt said to himself with some regret at the way most of his cousins had acted. The only two non-family members that were still here beside Anna, who he considered his adopted aunt, were Anna’s brother John, a naval officer, who had arrived just minutes before the funeral started, and Dewey Johnson who was driving in from town and back every day shuttling legal forms, business papers, and reports to and from the courthouse.

Walt turned and walked back inside the foyer of the house and heard Dewey and Mark talking in the library about ways for Mark to get the Plan B S.A.R. home. They had decided that Mark either get to get a class “A” drivers license so he could drive it or hire someone to drive it to Seattle. They had just come to an agreement that Mark getting an Idaho Class “A” license was going to be practically impossible with him not being a resident. Walt stuck his head into the library door and chuckled, “Boy, you two hot shot lawyers are so busy not wanting to possibly offending the other that you can’t propose the obvious solution.”

Both Mark and Dewey looked at Walt with blank stares showing that they didn’t get what he was talking about.

“Really?” Walt asked when realized they hadn’t thought of it. “It’s simple” he continued. “Dad your firm is always looking to expand in good markets”

“Yes…”

“Dewey, you have some of the biggest clients in Boise and are getting more, right?”

“Sure, but there is only so much I can do with my resources…” Dewey paused, and then looked at Mark who was looking back and forth between Walt and Dewey. “You two need to form a corporation partnership or LLC or merger or whatever legal term you have for it to get it done where dad has legal standing in Idaho”. Walt smiled as he retreated from the room and headed to the grand hall.

“Grandma!” he called out as he entered the grand hall.

***

Another two days later everyone but Walt’s Grandma and Grandpa, have left, his Mom and Dad had to get back to their jobs. Mark was a senior partner at a law firm that had offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. He was in charge of the Seattle office. Mary was a professor at the University of Washington in the Horticulture Department.

Walt sat leaning back in leather padded chair that matched the oversized maple desk that was the center of Dan’s office and rubbed his temples with heel his hands because of the pain at the back of his eyes. The desktop computer and three monitors seemed out of place on the majestic old desk, but their placement was very ergonomically pleasant. Dan like old school things but was open to the newest innovations, if they worked. There were three file cabinets that also were made of maple to match the desk. In the two of the filing cabinets all of the ranch’s paperwork had been neatly filed, old school, and matching files were on the computer file scanned as PDFs for each and every piece of paper, whether it was receipt, purchase order, correspondence, canceled check or any other type that would be needed to run the ranch.

The back of his eyes hurt because he had spent the two days going over the books with his grandpa. During the check of the files on the computer they found that Dan had an elaborate business tracking software on the computer that was tracking livestock movements, birth rates, breeding patterns, pasture usage, feed and water usage, power consumption, equipment cost including fuel usage, maintenance, and other expenditures including seasonal labor and materials given or loaned out to other ranchers.

The software also ran projections on everything to do with running the ranch for the next five years. Besides the expected stock rotations, breeding schedules and such, it also included new improvements schedules for facilities such as a dam on the small river and a hydro-electric plant, a large automated greenhouse, and an expansion of the new barn that housed the hydrogen production system and storage tanks. Dan was removing the ranch completely from reliance of the power grid. As such he wanted to have several ways to maintain a reserve supply of power in case the solar panels malfunctioned or there was an extended period of cloud coverage or storms. Every building had solar panels on its south-facing roof, which originally feed a bank of batteries for nighttime power supply. However, the cost of maintaining and replacing batteries soon made it apparent that another way was needed.

Last year Dan had picked up some propane powered generators and a hydrogen production system. The generators were converted to run on the hydrogen the system produced and the hydrogen system was powered by the solar panels. In essences the hydrogen production system acted as a battery bank when the solar panels were not able to produce due exceptional heavy clouds or when covered by snow. As Dan expanded the number of solar panels, he was soon selling three times the power that the ranch had ever used to the power company. With the extra income from the power company, Dan continued to expand the number of solar panels and the production and storage capacity of the hydrogen system. All of the ranch’s buildings had all been converted to be heated and cooled using either hydrogen gas or electricity.

Using the wood burning fireplace in the house was for ascetical purposes now days, although it could still heat the majority of the home if needed. The house even had some wall mounted gas lamps installed in case the electricity failed. The lamps had the addition of piezo ignitors for ease of lighting. For safety’s sake, Dan had an odorizing unit installed on the tanks that supplied the buildings with the hydrogen gas. “No sense getting gassed when you can avoid it.” Dan had quipped.

Walt groaned out loud, “I’m too young for this stuff!” and grunted as he lean forward and brought the chair back into an upright position. He had spent all morning reviewing the lists of holdings and couldn’t make sense of what his uncle had been planning. For a cattleman he had made some killer deals in the stock market and then turned around and made some, what Walt thought was foolish, land purchases. In the comment section for some of these was the notation ‘TEOTWAWKI ’. Walt had no idea what ‘TEOTWAWKI ’ was, but one of these land purchases was that of the old Parson’s mine five years ago.

That one really didn’t make sense to Walt. It was useless for cattle, you couldn’t get around on it, the lumber wasn’t worth cutting and the mine was played out decades ago. It had a small lake on it, a two-bedroom shack that was falling apart, and the old railway track had been removed back in the forties. A light went on in Walt’s head when he thought about the railway. It used to hook up with the mainline and there was a siding there still, though the railroad never used it to his knowledge. Was Dan planning on running the cattle up there to ship them? He would have to look into to that once he got everything squared away.

Walt leaned forward on his left elbow, cupping his chin between the thumb and forefinger. “What the heck is ‘TEOTWAWKI ’?” Walt said to himself as he stared intently at the monitors. Then he had a thought and brought up a new Windows Explorer window and typed ‘TEOTWAWKI ’ in the search field and hit enter. He wasn’t really expecting much more than the ten or so documents that he had found ‘TEOTWAWKI ’ in already, but when the computer displayed over one hundred and fifty files with the reference ‘TEOTWAWKI ’ in them he sat up straight. “Holy Mackerel!” Walt exclaimed as he saw that the vast majority of the files were in a hidden folder called novels. After scan quickly through the names of the files he realized that they were just that, novels. Dan had been writing novels! “Wow!” Walt exclaimed. “Uncle Dan the writer. Who would have thought that?”

Walt then searched for the folder Novels with Windows Explorer, and once located he went to the security settings and clicked unhide. The Novels folder appeared on the folder tree and showed two sub folders, ‘Completed’ and ‘Drafts’. In the ‘Completed’ folder there were three more folders, ‘Survival – Self Reliance’, ‘Western’ and ‘TEOTWAWKI ’. The ‘Survival – Self Reliance’ folder had eight files in it, four of which appeared to be a series. The ‘Western’ folder had eighteen files with one series of six and another series of nine. The ‘TEOTWAWKI ’ folder had nine files, with one series of three and another of four.

The ‘Drafts’ folder had subfolders with the same names and a total of fifteen novel titled files and some forty plus resource files. For the next three hours Walt skimmed through the files novels and the drafts. Leaning back into the soft leather padding of the chair and massaged the back of his neck. “These are pretty good.” Walt said out loud to himself.

“What’s pretty good?” Came a voice from the doorway.

Walt looked up a saw Dan’s old friend Sheriff Randolph Cooper and his deputy Gary Wayne. “Hey Sheriff. Did you know that Dan was writing novels?”

Randolph smiled, “He and I had talked about some ideas he was kicking around for writing a book or two, but I never knew he had started them.”

“More than started. He completed a couple dozen of them and they’re pretty good. I wonder why he never published them.”

“Uh, you know your uncle.” Randolph drawled, “Ain’t nothing good enough the first three times for him.”

“That’s the truth. But he the ones he marked as completed are real good.”

Deputy Wayne softly cleared his throat while looking down at his off white cowboy hat in his hands. Walt chuckled at the deputy’s anxiousness, “Okay Gary, we’ll get to the point of your guys’ visit.” Looking back to Randolph, “So what can I help you with Sheriff?”

Randolph pushed up on the brim of his dark brown cowboy hat, which caused it to shift back on his head a little. “I hate to have to bother you so soon after your uncle’s death and all...”

“But?”

“But I need your tracking skills again.”

“What happened?”

“Two yahoos held up the US bank and headed into the Hell’s Canyon area.” The Sheriff said with obvious distain.

“We found the pickup they used to get away about twenty four miles west of town at the end of Crooked River Point Road.” Gary added, “and we found tracks for four horses.” He took a labored breath and continued, “Jason Red Hawk said that one of the horses was loaded as a pack horse.”

“If Jason is there why do you need me?” Walt inquired suspiciously.

“Because Jason asked for your help.” Randolph answered with a very slight smile that most people would have missed. “And he said to bring the suit.”

Walt turned off the computer and stood up and stretched. “I’ll meet you at the end of the road with Jason in about two hours.”

“Walt...” Randolph started a little uneasily, “I’ll have to swear you in for this one. The FBI is on their way and I want to make sure we beat them to those yahoos and do it right.”

Walt sighed and nodded okay.

***

October

Sheriff Randolph Cooper sat at his desk listening to the tirade of the senior agent in charge for the FBI task force that was now camped out in front of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. “Two weeks! Two weeks those suspects have been roaming the hills and you’ve only sent two deputies out, no make that one deputy and one twenty year old rancher out to find them and all the rest of your people are going on like it nothing’s happening! Those two have held up eight banks, killed nine guards, wounded a U.S. Treasury Agent, avoided hundreds of federal agents and you’re sitting here not helping us to find them. What do you expect them to do just walk in here and surrender themselves to you?”

Glancing out the window Randolph got a devilish grin and stood up. “Agent Donnelly, why don’t we step outside and get some fresh air while I explain why my two deputies will succeed where your hundreds of federal agents failed?”

Agent Donnelly started to open his mouth in protest but Randolph quickly held up one finger, “Son, just listen for a change.” He walked around the desk and grabbed his cowboy hat as he walked towards the door, he continued. “The reason your agents couldn’t catch them is really quite simple when you examine all of the facts. You were chasing a couple of city boys in the city. They know their way around and have a good idea what the response is going to be. So it can be expected that it will take you a while to catch them as evident by the fact that they have held up eight banks and you still haven’t caught them.”

Stepping out of the door into the bright sunlight Randolph paused to put on his Ray Ban sunglasses. Walking down the granite steps he procedure with his speech, “Now when you take some city boys and put them in the mountains on horses, well that changes everything. They’re out of their element and you think that you should be able to catch them right quick and that would be true. Except that they have teamed up with someone who knows the woods, which is way you can’t catch them. However, that person may know the woods in general, but they are in the back yard of my two deputies.” He stopped, turned to faced Agent Donnelly and pointed across the street where five men on horseback sauntered along. “And that is why it only takes two of my deputies to capture your two bank robbers and their getaway guide.”

Agent Donnelly stood with his mouth open gawking at the two deputies riding on either side of three trussed up, haggard and bloody bank robbers.

Sheriff Randolph Cooper stepped out into the street and shouted in his deep commanding voice, “Fellow citizens of Adams County! Agent Donnelly has told me that hundreds of federal agents have been hunting these two bank robbers down and without success for months. But when they came here to our fair community it took only two of our deputies to capture them.” The crowd started cheering and applauding loudly drawing in more and more people who join in the throng and merriment. After a minute Walt nods to Jason Red Hawk who puts his index finger and little finger between his lips and lets out a loud shrilling whistle bringing the crowd to a hushed murmur.

“Who is the Agent In Charge?” Walt asked the man standing behind Sheriff Cooper.

Agent Donnelly stepped forward and answered, “That would be me, Special Agent Donnelly”.

Walt leaned forward, “The Adams County Sheriff’s Office hereby turns custody of Brian Jackson, David Roberts and Willie Watson over to the FBI.” And then he reached out and handed Agent Donnelly the reins to the prisoner’s horses. Walt and Jason wheeled their own horses to the left and walked them to the curb and dismounted.

As they tied the reins to a parking meter Randolph walked up grinning from ear to ear, “Well done boys! Well done!” and patted them both on the back.

“Thank you, boss” Jason said with a boyish smile.

Walt’s own smile quickly vanished as he watched the FBI agents untying all of the prisoners at the same time. He slowly sidestepped towards the middle of the street, his rifle still in his left hand. As one of the agents struggled with the knots on the prisoner name Brian Jackson, Jackson slipped his hands free and grabbed the agent’s pistol from his holster and fire pointblank into the agent’s stomach. Spinning around he then shot the two agents restraining his partners and ran over and grabbed a young woman bystander.

Holding her with his left arm, he pressed the pistol to her head and then pointed it at everyone in general and then quickly pressed it back against her head as he kept her between the remaining FBI agents and himself. “Stop or I’ll shoot her!” he yelled at the FBI agents, “You know I will.”

The FBI agents held their positions, neither advancing nor retreating as Walt continued to sidestep behind Jackson’s field of vison. Walt watched the two bank robbers struggling with FBI agents for control of the agents’ guns. Then the prisoner named Willie Watson, who was wounded in the right leg days earlier by Jason Red Hawk, got the better of the wounded agent he was fighting with and got control of the agent’s gun and pointed it at the agent’s head. In that instant Walt snapped his Winchester model 94 to his shoulder and fired. The .30-30 150 grain blunt nose round entered the back of Willie’s of neck three inches below the ear and impacted the C4 vertebrae. At that point it shattered the vertebra and severed the spinal cord instantly turning Willie’s body into a limp blob of jelly. The 150 grain bullet with the remains of the vertebra continued on out the right front side of Willie’s neck severing the jugular and into the unsuspecting David Roberts. The bullet and bloody mass from Willie’s neck made contact with the left side of David’s face, impacting his jaw and causing his head to spin violently to the right, breaking his neck, collapsing him on top of the wounded agent he was struggling with.

Jackson turned towards the sound of the gunshot and saw Walt pointing the saddle rifle at him. Still holding the girl in his left arm he moved her so that she was between Walt and himself almost completely shielding him from Walt’s aim. He then tucked his head down next to the girl’s with the semiauto pistol tight against her right temple and blocking most of his own face. The girl stayed ridge not trying to escape or antagonize Jackson.

Walt smiled as saw blood dropping from Jackson’s right elbow indicating the wound in his shoulder was open again. He settled his sights on the pistol in front of Jackson’s face. “Let her go or you’ll end up like your buddies there.” Walt said as he tilted his head towards the two dead bank robbers yet keeping his rifle on target.

Jackson involuntarily looked to his right following Walt’s gesture. Seeing his unmoving friends bleed out he looked back at Walt and shouted, “You son of a...” But that was all he got out before Walt’s shot impacted the hammer of the pistol, breaking it off and driving it with the fragmenting bullet into Jackson’s left eye and scrambling the brain as it passed through leaving a spray of blood and brain on the side of the FBI mobile command center parked behind him.

Without any electrical impulses from the now nonexistent brain, Jackson’s body followed the example of his cohorts in crime went limp and collapsed like a warm bag of Jell-O, leaving a wide-eyed young woman standing in disbelief. Walt quickly walked up to her and wrapped his right arm around her and gently guided her to the curb. Jason and Randolph rushed to assist her before she fainted.

Once the young woman was seated on the curb Walt turned and quick stepped up to Agent Donnelly, who was ordering his men around securing the area and trying to catch the now loose horses. He stopped right in front of Donnelly about a foot from his face, raised his right hand up, the index finger extended straight out, and pointed at his nose. “This did not have to happen.” Walt growled loudly, “If your agents had any sense they would have shackled your prisoners before they removed their restraints, they wouldn’t have gotten your agents weapons and I wouldn’t have had to stop them from killing your agents and innocent bystanders.”

Agent Donnelly sputtered back at Walt, “Well, if you had use handcuffs instead of tying them up with ropes...” “Those ropes held them just fine for the last three days.” Walt shouted back at Donnelly cutting his excuse off, “and any rookie knows you only re-secure one prisoner at a time, not all of them at once. This is all on your head.” Walt spun and stocked away.

“No it’s not!” Donnelly protested. “You didn’t have to go off shooting them. You should have left it to us.”

“And then we would have a bunch of dead FBI agents to clean up after.” Came a new voice from across the street.

Everyone turned to see five men, in black tactical BDUs standing next to a jet black Ford Expedition, with mini 14 bull-pups slung across their chests. The one in the middle stepped forward and continued speaking, “So yeah, it is your fault and that’s what’s going in my report.”

“Who the heck are you?” Donnelly demanded.

“Special Agent in Charge Davies; U.S. Department Homeland Security. And we were sent here to take over this case.” Then to one of his men he added, “Myers, check for life signs.”

SAC Davies walked over to Walt and held out his hand, “Kris Davies, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Walt Rogers” Walt said taking the offered hand firmly.

“That was some nice clean shooting, a Quigley and Dirty Harry.” Davies smiled. As he guided Walt away from Agent Donnelly.

“A what and what?”

“Two bad guys with one bullet and a hostage holder head shot” Chimed in one of the other DHS Agents.

Walt looked at him and blinked, “Jessie?”

“Hey, Walt.”

Kris looked at Jessie with a squinted questionable expression, “You two know each other?” “I went to school with Walt’s older brother in Seattle”. Jessie said to his boss. Then to Walt he asked, “So you’re a Deputy Sheriff now?”

“Only until I get whatever paperwork done I have to do for discharging my rifle.”

Randolph stepped up to the group and slipped the Deputy Sheriff badge off of Walt’s duster, “Actually as soon as you handed over the prisoners to the FBI you were done and released from temporary service.”

“Temporary Service?” Asked Kris.

“Yep. You see Walt is one of the best trackers in the state, and I swore him in to track those yahoos down. So once he and deputy Red Hawk brought them in and handed them over to the Federal Bureau of Incompetence, he was no longer a deputy.” The Sheriff smiled.

Myers waved to Kris then held up three fingers then waved them across his throat indicating that all three were dead.

Kris thought for a second then said, “So when he shot them, he…”

“He was just a concerned citizen, legally carrying his firearm, coming to the aid of endangered federal agents.” Randolph chuckled.

“I like you.” Kris said to the sheriff with a laughed as he held out his hand and shook the Sheriff’s hand. “Kris Davies.”

Everyone turned as they heard hard footsteps approaching and saw a red faced Agent Donnelly march over to them. “If it is not too much trouble I would like to know, why DHS is here on a FBI case?”

“Because like I said, we were going to take over this case. We got facial recognition on Brian Jackson, and Willie Watson from the bank CCTV system and they’re on our radar for domestic terrorism. But seeing how you let them get loose with FBI weapons and they got themselves killed...” He let the implication hang in the air and sink in before he continued. “I think that we’re going to let you keep it. All of it.”

Donnelly turned an even brighter shade of red. “Fine!” and then turning to Walt, “I want a full report from you deputy.”

“No.” Walt said flatly.

“What?” Donnelly shouted. “Once I handed the prisoners off to you I was no longer a Deputy Sheriff, just a concern citizen who came to the rescue of FBI agents under fire from escaping prisoners.” Walt turned and squared off with the agent whose face was now turning from red to blue. “You or one of your agents want to take my statement then get out a recorder and I will give it to you. Or I can give it to SAC Davies and he can forward you a copy.”

Before Donnelly could respond Kris said, “That works for me since I need to get a statement him about everything the suspects said after they were captured.”

“But...” Donnelly started when Kris’ phone rang.

“Hold that thought while I answer this.” Kris said holding up one hand with the palm out to Donnelly, while answering his cell phone with the other. “Davies here ... Yes sir Director, we’re on site now ... The local Sheriff’s department captured the subjects and turned them over to the FBI just as we pulled up ... No sir, they are dead now ... The FBI broke protocol and untied all three prisoners at the same time and they attempted to make a break for it. They got control of two of the FBI weapons, shot three agents and were attempting to shoot another when a local rancher came to the FBI’s rescue and killed the suspects with two shots... no sir two shots total, a Quigley and a Dirty Harry on the one that had taken a bystander as hostage ... Yes sir, in fact he helped a deputy track them down and capture them in the first place ... Yes sir I will ask him during debrief ... One second sir.” Turning to the Sheriff, “Was all of the money recovered?”

Red Hawk answered, “I believe so but we need to verify the count with the bank.”

“Did you copy that sir ... We’ll go along for the verification ... Yes sir ... one second sir.” Kris turned and shouted to Myers, “What’s the status on the wounded agents?”

Myers ran over and reported. “One minor shoulder wound, one serious upper chest, and one serious abdomen, but all should make a full recovery.”

“Did you copy that? ... No sir ... Donnelly sir ... Yes sir” Kris made a face like he saw something painful, “I will tell him .... Yes sir we will do our best...Thank you sir ... mmm bye.”

“Why did you have to say all that?” Donnelly demanded.

“Because that was the Director of DHS Special Operations and I don’t hold anything back from him. That’s why.” Kris took a deep breath, “I’m sorry but he had me on speaker phone and your director was there too ... He wants you to call deputy director Williams ASAP.”

Donnelly’s face dropped, “Aww Crap!”

Kris looked back to Walt and Jason, “Guys, I need to debrief you right now.”

Sheriff Cooper cleared his throat, “You can use my office.”

“Thank you. Let get this done.” Kris said as they started walking towards the Sheriff’s office.

***

Three hours later Walt was leaning back in the chair stretching with his hands clasped together and over his head in exhaustion. “Are we about done?”

“Just one more question.” Kris chuckled as he leaned forward towards Walt and rested his forearm on his knee, The Director of Homeland Security Special Operations would like to offer you a job as a tracker in his division and I must add that I would like to have you on my team. Jessie has nothing but good to say about you.”

Walt smile and shook his head side to side, “I thank you for your offer, but no. You see, I just inherited my uncle ranch and cattle business and I have a responsibility to the family and the employees to make it run profitably. I have already spent way too much time on this tracking run than I wanted to. It would be nice working with Jessie but, like I said my responsibilities are here. Besides...” Walt gave Kris an ‘I beat the devil’ grin’, “I’m only twenty and I would have to be twenty-one to work for you guys.”

“What?” Kris exclaimed, “How did you get away with that? With the sheriff I mean?”

“Here in Idaho you only have to be eighteen to carry a pistol or be a deputy. I only carry a rifle while I’m tracking.”

“And since you only had the rifle with you…”

“I don’t have to worry about any of the crap that goes with a pistol.” Kris chuckled as he stood up. “Well, thank you for your time and community service. And if you change your mind when you’re twenty-one, call me.” And he handed Walt a business card.

Taking the card and looking at it carefully before slipping it into his pocket, and saying “Thank you, I will keep you in mind.” And he shook Kris’ extended hand.

As Walt walked out of the office Randolph called over to him, “Walt, hang on a second.” He went back to his phone call as Walt walked over to him. “Okay, I’ll pass it on to him. Bye.” He hung up the phone and turned to Walt, “That was the principal of the high school. She was wondering if you were aware that Dan had offered to have the FFA organization,” He smiled wickedly, “You know the Future Farmers of America organization out to the ranch this month and she said that she understands if you want to cancel or postpone it.” Randolph noticed the weariness on Walt’s face and put his hand on Walt’s shoulder. “But I guess you don’t feel like going over to the high school and talking to the principal right now, do you?”

Walt groaned and then sighed, “I’ll ride over there and talk to her.” he started for the door and turned quickly, “Is my truck and trailer still out at the point?”

“Gary and Dave are bringing it over from the corp yard now.”

“Can you have them drop it at the school?”

“Sure thing.” And Randolph patted Walt’s side, “Get some rest okay?”

“Thanks, I will.”

Walt walked out of the office and down the stairs. The FBI agents were still processing the scene for evidence and cleaning the blood and tissue off the side of the mobile command center. The fire department was standing by to wash down the street once they were given the okay. His horse was still tied to the parking meter in the shade of one of the many trees lining the street. Walt slid his Winchester into the saddle scabbard then untied the reins from the meter, grabbed hold of the saddle horn and in one smooth motion swung up into the saddle and wheel the horse around so it was facing out into the street. He nudged the horse forward and started off towards the school. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Agent Donnelly heading his way.

“Crap! What now?’ Walt thought to himself, but he never found out what Donnelly was going to say because Kris called out, “Donnelly! I need to debrief you now!” Walt looked back over his right shoulder and gave Kris a little salute and nod, who winked back. Then Walt rode off towards the high school.

The ride to the school was only nine blocks but it was enough to revitalize Walt. Being in the saddle always made him feel fresh, alive, and more alert. As he arrived at the corner of the school property he realized that he had his rifle with him and he didn’t want to carry it on to campus or leave it in the scabbard on the horse. Walt reached into his vest pocket to get his pocket watch to see what time it was and how long he might have to wait for school to be out. What he felt was not just his watch, but another piece of odd shaped metal. Pulling it out he noticed that it was the Deputy Sheriff’s badge that Randolph had taken back earlier. Walt didn’t know when, but some how Randolph had slipped it into his pocket. Walt realized that ‘Sheriff Cooper’ was deputizing him again. For what he didn’t know, but he did know was that as long as he was deputized and wearing the badge, he didn’t have to worry about going on the school campus with his rifle.

Walt pinned the badge back on his duster as he guided his horse towards the school entrance. Once he had pinned the badge on he checked his watch to see what time it was. “1:10 pm”, Walt thought to himself, “School has another hour and a half to go and the next period change is in twenty-five minutes...unless today is a long period day then it should be any...” The school bell rang and as the sound faded away he could hear the rising din of the students exiting their classrooms and heading to the last room of the day.

Walt stopped his horse under the big pine tree in front of the school’s main doors and dismounted with a groan. Being in the saddle may make him feel better than walking around, but he still realized how tired he was and how much he wanted to get home, take a shower and get some sleep without worrying about someone back tracking him.

He tied the reins to the tree then slid the rifle from the scabbard and walked towards the double doors then a young teenager, who looked to be a freshman, came running out of the doors followed by several older boys yelling to get him. They turned left and continued running down the front of the school.

A group of eight girls were coming around the corner of the school building from the gym just as the first boy got there. Walt noticed that they all had very sharp and distinct hair colors. One had the reddest hair he had ever seen, another had blackest, another was super platinum blonde, another had pumpkin orange, and one had bright pink, and the last had dyed her hair medium dark green.

“Look out! Coming through!” he yelled as he bobbed and weaved to avoid running into the first four girls. His movements were as smooth as a well-trained acrobat, until the tip of his foot clipped an exposed root of a near by tree. Then it was all keystone cop action as he went down on one knee and slid towards the girls in back as they jumped up to try to get over his sprawling and rolling body.

Walt had instinctively turned and followed the boys knowing there was going to be some sort of trouble.

“We got you now!” Shouted one of the older boys, as they now were able to catch up to the younger one.

When the first of the older boys started to slide pass the girl with the black hair she ever so slightly hip checked him and set him into an empty bike rack. The second older boy tried to pass the green haired girl and got clothes lined and hit the ground with a hollow thud. Third pulled up short when the red headed girl threw the soccer ball she was carrying at his chest. He caught it with a puppy love smile on his face and just stood there looking at her.

The forth boy tried to go between the black haired girl and the blonde and got his arms hook by both and was thrown back into the fifth boy, the largest of the group, knocking him back a step. He push the forth boy hard at the black haired girl but she sidestepped the path of the boy, hooked his right arm as she spun backwards to her left guiding him in a semicircle and as she let him go she snaked out her left foot and tripped let him and sent him again at the fifth boy, but this time he was headed towards his feet.

The fifth boy tried to jump up and over the forth but the forth boy hit the ground in front of the fifth and rolled under him with arms and legs flying out in all directions. One of the legs caught the ankles of the fifth boy causing him to pitch forward and land on his face.

“Stop it Jimmy Hardee and leave the freshmen alone.” The black haired girl demanded.

“Sarah Ahern,” he said as he got up and wiped the blood from his lower lip with the back of his hand. “You’re gonna be sorry for that.”

“Jimmy,” the green haired girl spoke up, “You may have most of the boys in the school afraid of you, but unless you stop picking on the freshmen you’re going to get sorely humiliated.”

“By who?”

“The entire girls’ soccer team.” Sarah as she took a step forward. “and when everyone hears how you got the daylights beat out of you by a bunch of girls, you won’t be safe to show your face at school because all of the boys you tormented over the years, well, they will get together to get their revenge.”

“Not if I beat the crap out of you eight first.” Jimmy said as he charged at Sarah.

Sarah smiled as she fell backwards in a partial roll and brought her right knee up to her chest and then drove it out straight in a snap kick, planting the heel of her foot into the groin of Jimmy lifting up and over her and dropping him onto his back.

As he laid there groaning with both hands cupping his smashed manhood, the Green haired girl spoke again, “and by the way Jimmy, you seemed to have not thought this through. You turned eighteen last week. That means that you are an adult and we are still minors and you just attack us.”

“So…” Sarah continued for the green haired girl as she sprang back to her feet, “you can go to jail any time we want to send you there, you dip stick!”

As Jimmy tried to sit up Walt forced him back down to the ground with an easy push of the butt of his rifle. “Is that true Jimmy Hardee? Are you eighteen?” Walt asked as he drew Jimmy’s attention to the badge on his duster with a jerk of his extended thumb.

Jimmy paled and his pants grew wet, for the first time in his life he was truly frightened. “Y…y…yes…s..s..sir.”

“Well your future is in their hands now, for the next five years. You want to know why?”

Jimmy shook his head no but said, “Why?”

“Because of something in the law called the Statue of Limitations. Basically that means that you can be charged for a crime many years afterwards. For assaulting a minor of the opposite sex, I believe it is five years…maybe ten, I’ll have to double check that and get back to you on it.”

As Walt stood up he saw old man Jenkins, the vice principal, coming from the main entrance. Walt turned to the young Freshman, “You, get to class and don’t be talking about this to anyone. EVER! Clear?”

“Yes Sir!” He turned and ran off around the corner of the school. “And the rest of you boys that goes the same for you.” Walt reached down and pulled Jimmy to his feet. “You go see the nurse. Tell her you tried to jump over the bike rack and landed on it.”

Jimmy looked ay him in surprise. “Thank you. You’re not going to tell my dad are you?”

“No, but I am going to note the date and time of your goof up just in case.”

“Yes sir.” He said dejectedly as he hobbled off.

“You!” Shouted Mr. Jenkins, “What do you think you are doing bring a weapon on to school property? And you Sarah Ahern, you and your brute squad go to my office and wait for me.”

Walt turned and hooked his thumb behind his badge pulling it forward towards Mr. Jenkins and stared at him. Walt never did like Mr. Jenkins when he attended high school here. He had always been a bigoted, chauvinistic and just upright creepy guy. “There’s no reason for them to go to your office Mr. Jenkins. Unless you are going to take their complaints as victims of an assault and take actions against those boys.”

“What are you talking about? I saw…”

“You saw Jimmy Hardee and his gang assault them and the girls just defending themselves.” Walt said quickly cutting him off and drawing himself to his full height so he looked down on Jenkins. “You saw the girls, in defending themselves, get the better of Jimmy and his gang. And since Jimmy Hardee is eighteen, you saw an adult male attacking a female minor. You saw a deputy sheriff investigating the incident and then interfered with him, thereby committing a felony yourself.”

Walt paused to let the last part sink in. “So,” he finally continued, “The question is, what are you, going to do next?”

Jenkins eyes were wider than Walt ever remembered seeing them before and they darted back and forth between Walt and the girls. Little beads of sweat began to appear on his prematurely balding head and his hands started to twitch slightly.

“You know Deputy,” Sarah began, “It’s almost like he’s trying to cover for Jimmy.”

“Yeah”, the green haired girl added, “Isn’t that like accessorizing afterwards or something? Walt smiled, “That’s ‘Accessory after the Fact’, which, is also a felony.”

“What about him slap someone’s butt without their permission?” the platinum blonde asked with clenched jaws.

“What?” Sarah and the green haired girl practically shouted.

The blonde just stood looking at Jenkins with burning loathing in her eyes and her hands squeezed into to tight fist.

The red haired girl stepped next to the blonde and held out a smart phone so that only the blonde could see what was on the screen. “Amy, I don’t want to embarrass you by letting you know that I saw it, but I save this in case you wanted to do something about it.” Then she reached around her and hugged her.

Tears came to Amy’s eyes. “Thank you Jerrie.” She said and leaned her head against Jerrie’s head. “Deputy?”

“Yes?”

“Look at this.” Amy moved Jerrie’s hand with the smart phone towards Walt.

Walt stepped closer and Jerrie restarted the video she had shown Amy, as Sarah and the green haired girl moved closer to see it as well.

As Walt watched the video, his hand holding the rifle tightened till his knuckles were bright white. When the video was over Walt turned his head towards Jenkins, “It looks like you are going to jail for child molestation.”

Jenkins took two stepped backwards as he stammered to explained, “Look at her.” He gestured to Amy, “That’s not the body of a child.” And glanced behind him as he thought about running for his office.

Walt’s thumb pulled back the hammer on the rifle. “I’m not going to run after you.” Walt rasped through clenched teeth.

Just then the school principal came out of the front doors of the school and proceeded towards the group. “Mr. Jenkins!” She called. “Is there a problem?”

“You could say that, Mrs. Williams.” Walt said as he stepped to the side a little to be better seen. “Oh! Deputy Rogers. I was just coming to look for you.” Mrs. Williams said practically bubbling with happiness, just like Walt remembered her from when he was a sophomore. “I just want to thank you for your capturing those bank robbers.”

“Thank you, but I was just doing my part to help out.”

“Yes dear, but it was too bad the FBI lost control of them and you had to… well … do what you did.”

“Yeah, I would have preferred it had never got to that too.”

“Yes, Yes you poor dear.” She took a breath and asked, “Now what’s going on?”

“Nothing much.” Jenkins blurted out too quickly.

“That’s not true at all Mrs. Williams.” Sarah corrected causing Jenkins to shoot her an angry look.

“Jenkins here,” Walt started, not dignifying him with the use of ‘mister’. “Is in a world of hurt and may very well drag the school into it.”

“Oh?” She queried in her mother like tone, “What have you gotten yourself into?”

Jenkins squirmed, hemmed and hawed, and never really saying anything as he tried to think his way out of the trouble that was obviously coming down on him.

“Mrs. Williams, Jerrie has a video that will explain the nasty part.” The green haired girl spoke up.

“Really?”

As Jerrie walked over to Mrs. Williams to show her the video, Jenkins surprised the girls by panicking and making for Jerrie’s phone. He got both of his hands around it and was trying to pull it free from Jerrie’s hands Walt’s rifle slid past Jerrie’s hip and impacted hard on Jenkins’ solar plexus, knocking the wind from him and making him release the smart phone. He started to make another lunge when Walt’s boot tip came up swiftly between his legs and caught the tip of his tailbone. The high-pitched howl that came out of Jenkins sounded more like that of an injured coyote.

“Mister Jenkins!” Mrs. Williams exclaimed.

“You’re definitely going to jail now.” Walt said. “You’ll never make it stick because the video was made illegally and without my permission. I’ll sue you all.”

“Mr. Jenkins I have more than enough to fire you right now.” Mrs. Williams said with an anger she had never used before.

“You won’t have to.” The green haired girl said, “Because Mr. Jenkins is going to resign right now and leave the state.”

“Why would I do that Cindy Montoya?”

“Because there are other videos that will go on the internet and everyone will know what you have done.” Cindy said as she pointed to the school windows where several students had their phones out recording video. “Your grabbing Jerrie will most likely be posted any second now. And there are probability more videos of other misconduct that we don’t know about yet.”

“And knowing how the news will react there will be reporters crawling through every personal detail of your life. So if you want the girls to try to stop those videos you best get to it.” Walt said.

Cindy looked at the students in the classroom and held her finger over her phone and they did likewise. “Well?”

Jenkins’ shoulders slumped in defeat and he slowly said, “Very well. You win.”

“Let’s go to my office and get this over with.” Mrs. Williams said, the anger still heavy in her voice. After she took a few steps she turned her head back to Walt and added, “We’ll have to discuss the Future Farmers of America at another time.”

“If the Future Farmers of America still wants to visit the ranch, just call out there and have Anna Reagan make the arrangements.” Walt said to Mrs. Williams as she and Jenkins walked back to the school entrance.

“We do.” The girls shouted all at once.

Walt looked at them with a puzzled face. “We’re also in the Future Farmers of America.” Sarah said with a smile and a ‘thumbs up’.

Chapter 1

A New Calling

Mid April

As Walt drove into town, he wondered what was so important that Sheriff Cooper asked him to be at the sheriff’s office at five minutes to ten this morning. No, it was almost that he demanded that Walt be there at five minutes to ten and not a minute later. Walt turned on to main street two blocks before the Sheriff’s Office and almost stomped on the brakes. There were about fifteen cars, pickups, and SUVs parked in front of the office and about fifty people standing around looking up at the old cedar doors of the office.

Walt slowed and parked his Plan B Ranger II, a deuce and a half, crew cab conversion at the end of the block. Climbing out of the truck he noticed the large number of eyes focus on him from the crowd. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he walked towards the office and more eyes of the crowd turned to him.

When he got even with the crowd one of the first person he recognized was old Mrs. Laurie Butterfield who ran the bakery on First Street. She smiled at him but her eyes showed concern. “Walt, do you know what is going on? We were told to wait until you got here.”

Walt blinked at her words. “Uh, I have no idea myself other that the sheriff asked me to be here by five minutes of.”

As he continued on to the Sheriff’s Office other people, some he knew well, others were familiar and he knew their names and some he just recognized their faces but didn’t know their names, would ask him what was the meeting for or what was going to happen.

When he got closer to the door he saw Jason Red Hawk standing by the door. Jason smiled, nodded to Walt, turned and opened the door a little and called inside, “He’s here.”

Jason then closed the door and stepped down to the second step from the top and motioned to Walt to join him there. As Walt stepped up next to Jason he noticed that Harrison Marston, a particularly obnoxious county supervisor of questionable character, took up a similar position on the other side of the steps. Harrison Marston turned to the crowd and holding up his hands and waving them forward for silence. Then smiling a snake like smile said, “My fellow citizens of Adams County...our illustrious sheriff will...” The loud screech of a bullhorn feedback caused Harrison to grimace in pain.

“Sorry about that Marston.” Sheriff Randolph Cooper said with a feigned look of innocence as he and several deputies stepped out of the door and onto the porch of the sheriff’s office. “I don’t use this much and keep forgetting to turn down the volume before keying the mike.” He adjusted the volume knob and, this time with the bullhorn aimed away from Harrison Marston, keyed the mike and began speaking to the crowd, “My good friends. I have had the pleasure to serve you in one capacity or another for over thirty-five years. But as with all things, time marches on and the seasons change and the new replaces the old.” He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. “So it is with me.” He paused again. “With grand kids and great-grand kids around and more on the way, my lovely wife and I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to retire and become a full time spoiler of children.”

Laughs and awghs come from the crowd accompanied by rounds of applause.

Harrison Marston started to step forward but Randolph aimed the bullhorn squarely at his face and keyed the mike. “annndd,” turning the bullhorn back to the crowd as Harrison winsted a little in pain, “I hereby announce that I will not be seeking re-election in November and as such I have conferred with my entire staff and as a whole we have come to agreement on our choice for my replacement. Therefore, I now nominate as my replacement on the ballot for Sheriff of Adams County...Walt Rogers!”

The crowd was surprised for a moment, for many thought that Harrison Marston was going to be named, having made it no secret that he wanted to be Sheriff, and then they broke into loud applause and cheers. The deputies behind Walt patted him on the back and Jason Red Hawk grabbed his hand and pumped it enthusiastically with a big grin on his face. A stunned Walt blinked as his mouth hung open not knowing what to say.

A red faced Harrison Marston held up his arms and shouted, “Sheriff, Sheriff,” then to the crowd, “Quite please! Quite!” As the crowd quitted some he continued, “Sheriff, we appreciate your years of service, but your decision to nominate Walt Rogers is ... well ... He has no experience in law enforcement and he too young to run for the office of sheriff and …” He grasped for more reasons and then continued. “He is just not qualified. We need someone with the political experience to navigate the modern channels of bureaucracy in dealing with the state and federal governments. Someone like...” A police siren sounded across the street behind the crowd cutting Harrison’s objection and political maneuvering off.

There stood five men, in black tactical BDUs standing next to a jet-black Ford Expedition, four of them with mini 14 bull-pups slung across their chests. The fifth one in the middle sported a calico M-900 and held the vehicles microphone in his left hand. When everyone had turned their attention away from Marston he switched the microphone control switch from siren to microphone and began to speak into it. “Good people of Adams County. I am Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies; U.S. Department Homeland Security. I am here to conduct a special investigation, but with what I just heard I feel that I must first address the situation with Sheriff Cooper’s announcement.”

Tossing the microphone back into the Expedition, he started walking across the street toward Walt & the Sheriff and spoke with a serious demeanor. “The last time I was here in your community was eight months ago, when Walt Rogers answered the request of your sheriff and went well above and beyond his civic duties and spent two weeks in the woods assisting Deputy Red Hawk in tracking down and apprehending three bank robbers.” The crowd parted as he continued forward. “I had the duty...nay honor of debriefing Mister Rogers and at that time I was authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security to offer him a position with our department. Much to our disappointment he declined the offer stating that he was too young, that his life was here in Adams County and he had no desire to leave it.” He held his hand out to Walt who took it firmly.

Many in the crowd broke out in cheers and applauds.

When the crowd quieted down Special Agent Davies started again, “Walt, two weeks ago my wife and I bought some acreage here in Adams County and she is currently setting up housing keep as I speak. We made this decision in very large part to you. So I can say unequivocally, as a Federal Agent, that I believe you to be the best man for the job and as a new resident of Adams County I will back you to the best of my ability.”

“But!” Marston shouted before anyone could say anything else. “As you said, he is too young to be sheriff.” He ended with a triumphant smile.

“Right now... but he will be old enough before the election.”

Randolph keyed the bullhorn, “I checked with the state and there’s no age limit for running for an office, just that you have to be of age by the time you are to be sworn in.”

The crowd erupted with more cheers and applauses than before as the crowd swarms a befuddled Walt and pushes a shocked Marston back away from Walt.

After a minute of being ignored Marston works his way back through the crowd and approaches Agent Davies. “Just why exactly are you here Agent Davies?” he practically shouted so everyone would hear. The crowd quiets in anticipation of the answer. “I am here to investigate possible money transfers between Reakon Properties and the terrorist organization Akmar Import-Exports.”

“Hey isn’t Reakon Properties your reality company Marston?” Jason Red Hawk asked just loud enough so that most of the crowd heard.

And a wave of murmuring began spreading like wild fire.

***

Early May

Sarah Ahern was washing down Ajax, the two year old Clydesdale that Anna Reagan had assigned to her to take care of as part of her FFA organization time at the ranch. Assigned was a bit of a misnomer as Sarah had practically jumped over the corral fence to get at him when she first saw Ajax. A rescued horse, Ajax was malnourished and stunted in growth being only 14 hands high and very skittish around people. Sarah had spent the next two weeks working with him to gain his trust and another next five to get him fully healthy again. His coat, which was a pale gray, is now a rich dark gray and his feathering was starting to fill in.

Ajax seemed to love the wash downs. Once he was wet he would lean into her slightly as she scrubbed with the brush or he would try to rest his head on her shoulder and rub the side of his head against hers and always he would lift his hoofs up so she would scrub the bottoms. By the end of his wash down, he would get her as wet as he was. Sarah was glad that Walt had built a wood based washing station that kept them from getting muddy from Ajax’s prancing. This had become a three times a week ritual that had Ajax becoming more relaxed around people.

After the wash down was complete Sarah went through half a dozen or so towels drying Ajax off. Once he was dry, she walked over to the clothes line that she had strung up weeks ago, and hung the towels out to dry. The she headed to the door to the storage room for the wash station. There she slipped off the big black rubber boots. Opened the door, stepped inside and took off her wet clothes. Grabbing another towel, she quickly dried off and pulled on a dry pair of underwear and jeans and pulled on western shirt, the type with snaps instead of buttons. Quickly she pulled on a pair of boot socks and slipped into her Tony Lama boots. She started fixing the snaps on the cuffs of her shirt as she opened the door and stepped out and almost walked into Walt. “You’re still...ah...” Walt stammered and wiggled a finger halfway pointing at her undone shirt front. “showing a lot of cleavage.”

Sarah glanced down and seeing that her shirt was still open, looked quickly back up at Walt. See the slight blush on his face she asked with an impish grin, “Do you like?” as she started snapping her shirt closed from the bottom up.

“Ahh...” Walt started to say more he shook his head and said, “I got to go check on the water tanks.” He quickly spun around on his heels.

“Walt!” Sarah called loudly at him. “Look at me.”

Walt stopped, still facing away from her, took a couple of deep breaths and turned around.

“I asked you...” she said as she snapped the shirt closed, “Do, you, like?”

“Yes, I like, very much, but I need to go.”

“Can I go with you?” She said as she looked at him with her head cocked slightly to one side.

“It would be better if I went alone.” Walt said with stress heavy in his voice.

“Why?”

Walt looked at her deeply, “Sarah, I am running for Sheriff...and you are”

“Eighteen.” Sarah interrupted.

“Still in high school” Walt continued, “and Marston and some others would claim that I am a child molester and spread all sorts of lies.” He paused for a moment, “And I don’t want you to have to go through that.”

“And?”

“And I have to keep control.”

“What? Of me?”

“No. not you … of me.” “Because I turn you on or because you really like me?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, because I turn you on or because you really like me?”

“Ugh ... both.” Walt said hesitantly as he turned a little redder.

“So you have to take the higher road.” Sarah sighed as she wrapped an arm up around Ajax’s snout and hugged him.

“I’m afraid so.” Walt said resolutely putting his hands on his hips.

“But you do … have strong feelings for me?”

“Yes.” Walt whispered looking at the ground blushing bright red.

“So? ...” Sarah started with hope in her voice and paused waiting for Walt to give her a positive sign.

“So we will have to do nothing until after the election.”

“Okay....but can we at least talk?” Sarah asked and Walt hesitated a few seconds then she added, “I’ll try to keep it just about the future in general, the ranch, college, your being Sheriff, our families, ..politics...”

“Politic talk could kill any sexy feelings according to my dad.” Walt chuckled.

“So, it’s okay to talk?” She asked gingerly.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He said reluctantly

“So can I ride with you and talk?”

“Just keep your shirt buttoned up.”

“Until thanksgiving.”

“Women!” Walt muttered louder than he should have.

“What?” Sarah shouted with obvious fake anger. “I’ll never understand them.” He said as he pulled himself up into the saddle of his horse.

“What’s to understand?” Sarah said more than asked as she slipped the hackamore on Ajax. “We sometimes go after what we want and sometimes play the martyr. Just like good men do.” Then she stopped what she was doing for a couple of seconds as she thought about what she was going to say. “Walt can I be totally honest with you?”

Walt looked at her with concern about what she could say. “I’ll try not to judge whatever you have to say.”

Taking a deep breath, she raked her jet black hair back behind her ears and began, “I’ve had growing feelings for you since you were a senior, but I was just a freshman and you were seeing Lizzy Mackelprang,” she added quickly under her breath, “the witch.”

“My friends use a lot stronger terms when her name comes up these days.” Walt said without any emotion showing.

“You were the hottest guy at school but I didn’t think that you would even look at a non-senior girl. Then after what Lizzy Mackelprang did to you, I realized that you weren’t going to be asking any girl out for quite a while. You deserved better than that. Heck, even Horn-dog Howie would have deserved better. Not that he is even in your class of character.” She smiled at Walt as she laid a riding blanket on Ajax’s back. . “That wasn’t right what she did and if I ever do anything like that…you have my permission to put me out of my misery and bury me in the back forty.” She flashed Walt a big smile, “Okay?”

Walt smiled and shook his head as he looked at the ground.

“But she’s in the past and you’re still the best male around.” Sarah hoped up onto Ajax and guided him next to Walt’s horse. I may only be eighteen but I know what I want. My hormones are kicking in my ‘motherly instincts’, I’ve always wanted to have five or six kids, I think you’d make a great father.”

“Six kids, huh?” Walt smiled a mischievous grin at her, “Why not twelve?” and he spurred his horse forward.

“Twelve!” Sarah exclaimed, “With that many kids running around we’d never be able to have alone time again.” She nudged Ajax to keep up with Walt. “My great great-grand parents did. They had fourteen and were still going at it in their seventies according to my grandpa.”

“Wow. Now that’s something to aim for.” Sarah said softly with hope in her voice. Then she added, “So when the election is over I am going to come at you full bore Walt John Rogers. I am going to do everything I can to make you love me as much as I do you.”

Walt laughed a regretful type laugh. “I wish I had known how you felt when I was still in school.”

“Why.”

“Well, if I did, then we would have been dating and Uncle Dan, being the guy he was, would have been there encouraging our romance and not at a nightclub the night he died.”

“Walt…” Sarah started then paused while she gathered her thoughts. “You can’t blame yourself or change the past with hopeful dreams. Yes, it might have been nice and full of fun times if we had started dating in high school, but there is no guarantee that we wouldn’t have messed it up back then or would have been still together to change the fact that they went to the nightclub that night. Heck, you were a bit grumpy for the rest of your senior year after Lizzy. I don’t think we could have made it work with you on the rebound from the witch.”

“You’re right.” Walt sighed, “I just miss him, and his guidance.”

“I know you do.” Sarah sighed, “I wish that I had been more … I don’t know what …Ah… mindful, that’s it, when he was helping the FFA organization out. Then I would have something to share with you about him.”

They rode along in silence towards the crest trail not knowing what to say next. The conflict that brewed within both of them was powerful and deep, hormones and desires verses care and intellect. Their feelings of care of what was best for the other stood in stark contrast to the yearning in their bodies. The awkwardness became too much for them and the both started to speak at the same time.

“So…” “I’m Sorry, you go ahead.” “No you” “Ladies first”

“I wish you weren’t running for Sheriff.” Sarah started, “But I have a strong feeling that it is for everyone’s best good that you win. What were you going to say?”

“Oh, Something much more dangerous, what’s your view on politics? Sarah Laughed, “That Marston is an ass who is going to go to jail if karma plays out. That the federal government needs to do more here at home fixing our infrastructure and less on freebies for the lazy. That the pursuit of it, is getting in the way of my marriage and having babies…not necessarily in that order.”

Walt just smiled and shook his head again and thought, ‘She’s the one.’

***

Walt knew it was Sarah’s doing. He just knew it. But she had sworn that she had nothing to do with it. She said that it was Dani, Amy, Cindy, Jerrie and Randy that had suggested that he be that Key Note Speaker at the graduation ceremony at the high school. She added that even though Randy wasn’t graduating he was the biggest booster of the idea. When he asked her who put the idea into Randy’s head, she said Jerrie said something and Randy was all over it.

Walt still thought that Sarah was behind the whole thing somehow.

Walt talked about his time at high school and how it had shaped his life. The joys and the sorrows. The good times and the not so good times. He made note that sometimes adversity brings out the best in people if they don’t let it get them down. He gave his personal experience of that with the death of his uncle Dan. How it brought his grandparents back to him and the new they had in helping him run the ranch.

He talked about duty. Duty to family, friends, and community. He cried when he told them of what really happened when he helped his good friend Deputy Red Hawk track down and apprehend the bank robbers and having to kill the robbers after the FBI let them get the agents’ guns and take a hostage. About how sick he was while being debriefed by SAC Davies. There was shocked silence from the audience at hearing the true story.

When he paused to wipe the tears from his eyes, Tammy Taylor stood up in the audience and shouted her profound gratitude for Walt’s saving her life that day. Then everybody broke into cheers and applause for over a minute.

When Walt was able to hush the audience, he choked on his words as he expressed the hurt to his soul at having done what he did. But he emphasized that no matter the cost, he would always step forward to help any citizen of Adams County as he knew many of the graduating class would too. Then he named off about ten of the class who were members of the Venture Crew, FFA organization and Radio Club and praised them for their public service and then blamed them for his being the speaker this evening. After the laughter settled down he thanked them for their extra hours of service with the rescue animals at his ranch and said that it was on the shoulders of those who serve other that the county was going to grow and thrive.

Then Principal Williams made an announcement about how Walt had help give courage to several of the young women of the senior class, that they were able to come forward and expose a sexual predator in their presence and make the school safer for all. She announced that the students had petitioned the school board for a special award to be given out each year at graduation to the person the student body voted for as their protector of the year. They also had the board name the award the Walt Rogers Guarding Angel Award.

Cindy Montoya, Amy Young, Jerrie Grey came on stage with a plaque and a pink and blue ribbon supporting a big red heart with a gold halo on it. Cindy and Amy placed the ribbon around his neck and Jerrie handed him the plaque.

Then Amy took the handheld mic, “Walt, you have given some of us a lot of your time and resources and free run of your ranch to work with the rescue animals and for keeping the Future Farmers of America animals at. But for us girls you stood by our side and took up our safety without a hesitation. And for that we thank you.” She quickly kissed Walt on the cheek and was followed by Jerrie and Cindy. “Our hero!” Amy shouted and the entire audience stood and applauded.

Principal Williams asked Walt stand in the commencement line and during the ceremony, Sarah shocked Walt by giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek when she shook his hand. But to his relief so did Patty Akins, then Lisa Alan and all of the girls of the graduating class. But the big surprise was when David Brock gave him a ‘man hug’. That started most of the guys giving him ‘man hugs’ too.

After the ceremony Sheriff Randolph Cooper came up to Walt and as he was shaking his hand said, “Well my boy, tonight really cemented you in the hearts of a lot of families.”

“Do you think it will help in November?”

“It sure put Marston on is ear. He snuck out of here like a puppy that peed on the carpet.” Randolph smiled. “and I made sure to point that out to the editor of the paper.”

Chapter 2

Diversions

September - Labor Day

Anna Reagan rode her dark brown horse Sampson across the pasture towards the stables after her usual early morning ride. Sampson was her special horse that Dan had gone back east to get for her. He was a large Morgan, which meant he was still smaller than most Quarter Horses. To her, he was the perfect size to do the ranch work that she needed to do. He had lots of stamina, an easy gate, and wasn’t intimidated by the larger horses or any of the cattle for that matter.

She could see two vehicles at the stables already, as usual. One was an older model Suburban, that would be Sarah and Cindy, and the other was an ex National Parks service truck, an F-550 crew cab still painted that god awful lime green, and that would be Dani, Jerrie, Amy and Randy. They were all members of the FFA organization from the high school and the co-ed Boy Scout Venture Crew that Dani father and Amy’s uncle had chartered for several years now.

The FFA organization had been coming out to the ranch and working with the horses for almost a year now. But these six were always early, about two hours early, for their Saturday sessions and they were the only ones that came out everyday after school and after church on Sundays except when they were on a Venture activity. Even now when several of them had graduated, they still came out.

As Anna and Sampson got closer, she could see the kids waving hello and Sarah and Cindy holding up bunches of carrots. Just then Ajax, the two and a half year old Clydesdale that Sarah had been working with, came trotting out of the stables. “Damn, he did it again!” she said under her breath. “How does he keep getting his stable door open?”

It seamed that a short time after Sarah started working with Ajax, that he had been unlocking his stable and coming out to greet her. He never opened it at any other time and Walt really didn’t seem to mind, in fact he thought it was kind of cute. For some reason Walt was giving these six unusual access to the ranch. Maybe it was because after they left the ranch on Saturdays they would go volunteer at Walt’s campaign headquarters in town or maybe it was something else, but whatever the reason she had to admit these were the hardest working seniors she ever saw. Well, Sarah and Jerrie were now graduates, Dani and Cindy were the seniors and Randy was a freshman so being with the girls was obviously his incentive to work harder. She was surprised to see them here on Labor Day instead of being down town for the parade and all of the festivities. Most of the kids in the area were going to be in the parade and she heard that the Boy Scout Venture Crew that they belonged to was doing a float on scouting stuff and the FFA organization had one too. She had expected them to be in town helping to put the last minute touches on the float, not out here doing their FFA chores.

As she got closer Anna noticed that that all had on their Venture uniform shirts. “What’s going on?” she asked herself. She saw Sarah nuzzling Ajax as she gave him a carrot as she always did. Then before they could answer she heard Walt’s deuce and a half fire up from up at the house and the light bulb lit up in her head.

“Hey Miss Reagan.” They said together.

“Hey guys, is Walt letting you ride the horses in the parade today?”

“Yeah.” Jerrie answered then added, “Didn’t he tell you?”

“No. I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.”

“Yeah, he has been kind of busy down at the campaign headquarters.” Dani chimed in.

“Friday I told him we had a float in the parade and he said we should ride the horses in the parade too.” Sarah said, “I guess he forgot to tell you.”

“Like you said he’s been busy with the election.” Anna sighed. “It’s a good thing his grandparents are helping run the ranch and other enterprises. So, what’s your float about?”

“High Adventure!” Several of them chimed in together.

There was a puzzled look on Anna’s face so Jerrie explained, “We have a forty foot trailer that Mister Elmore is letting us use. We have a model campsite set up on it and a rock wall for repelling with four of the Crew climbing and repelling, an Archery range and a White water mockup.”

“Wow! That sounds like sound setup.” Anna said. “I guess that I will have to go just to see you guys.”

“Yeah. We should take the biggest award.” Dani added. Just then Walt drove his truck, towing the big horse trailer behind it, around the corner of the barn and stopped by the corral gate. He stepped out onto the running board and hollered, “Let get them loaded troopers! We have a parade to be in.”

***

The Labor Day was the end of summer activity for the county. It started out with several businesses doing pancake breakfasts along the parade route. Then the parade would come by, which had everyone trying to up their game from the Fourth of July parade. The parade ended at the Fairgrounds. After the end of the parade would pass by everyone would join in and follow it to the Fairgrounds.

There would be all of the normal activities that you would expect there to be a county fair. Rides for the young ones and not so young ones, food booths with all sorts of twist on the potato, the Four H Club and the Future Farmers of America as well as the local ranchers showing off the best. And of course the Midway attractions, the ring toss, penny pitch, baseball and milk bottles, mighty man sledgehammer or ring the bell depending on where you are from, and dozens of other such games of chance.

Set up on the far side of the fairgrounds was the shooting sports area. Here they had Skeet shooting, .22 rifle shooting, and the quick draw competition. When Walt was in High School he won the Junior Division for the rifle shoot his Junior and Senior years.

He never tried out for it after that. He knew that he could beat those shooting so he didn’t see the fun in it. Instead he signed up as one of the judges. Much to the other shooters’ relief.

This year he was the referee judge for the Junior Division quick-draw competition. He would only have to make a decision if the other two judges could not agree on a score. Walt thought that he would have a nice easy day since there shouldn’t be any disputes in the Junior Division. That was until he found out that Sarah was competing in the single action category.

Walt was sitting under the pop-up canopy with the other two judges when the registrar brought the list of the competitors over. As they passed the list around to see who was shooting, Walt could just imagine the complications if anyone thought he was playing favorites with Sarah. And she would get very upset with him if he didn’t give her an even and fair treatment no matter what it looked like. Then Walt noticed that another of the Ventures, Randy Cassidy, was shooting too. Then he got an idea of how to get out of the situation.

“Guys, I may have to excuse myself because several of the shooters are volunteers for my campaign for Sheriff.”

“Wow, I would hate for you to have to say that you can’t be trusted to be impartial and honest.” Jibed Patrick Hawks one of the other judges and the owner of the Ace Hardware store. “I may have to vote for Harrison Marston.”

“Yeah, and your wife would kick you out of the house.” Billie Hicks, the other judge, quipped. “Walt, we will try not to get you into having to make any decisions today.”

“Thanks Billie.” Walt sighed.

About an hour later the semi-auto category had completed and Randy Cassidy had come in Fourth Place. ‘Not bad’ Walt thought considering that that was his first time competing and that he was using a new pistol his Grandpa had bought him.

Walt had dodged one problem and had one more to go today, and so he hoped. He knew there would be other political maneuvering later at the BBQ cook-off, but he knew that Sheriff Cooper would be there to throw his two cents in anytime Harrison Marston would open his mouth.

Now it was time for the single action revolver and Billie Hicks called out the first name on the list, “Ahern, Michael.”

A boy looking to be about fifteen years old walked up to the judges table, “I’m Michael Ahern.” He announced.

Patrick Hawks handed him a small wooden block with six holes filled with six cartridges. “Take your position at the clock and load your weapon. Make sure you keep it aimed down range.”

“Yes sir.” Michael said with a smile. He turned and walked over to the clock station and set the wooden block down on the table just off to his right. The table was about three and a half feet high and two feet round.

Michael put on his hearing protection and safety shooting goggles and then he drew his pistol and stepped back with his right foot as he kept the weapon aimed towards the target down range. Michael loaded his Ruger Vaquero model 5107 with the six, thirty-eight caliber wad-cutter cartridges and turned back to face the target as he placed the weapon in the holster on his right hip.

Michael shook his arms and hands to relax them and then he placed his right hand on the timer switch and called out, “Ready.”

Patrick shouted, “Quiet on the range! Shooter, your first shot will be free movement when you are ready, you may shoot.”

Michael nodded and took a deep breath and slow let it out as he steadied himself. Then as fast as he could he pulled his hand from on top of the timer switch down to his pistol, wrapped his fingers around the butt and drew it from the holster. Rolling the barrel up as soon as it cleared the holster and thrusting it forward with his right hand, he brought his left hand across in front of his body and down on the hammer of the Ruger, cocking it as his right index finger squeezed the trigger.

The thirty-eight wad-cutter sped from the barrel and towards the paper target. Michael’s speed was very good, but his aim was slightly off and the wad-cutter punched a hole to the right of the center of the target, in the eight point circle.

Michael re-holstered the pistol with a bit of frustration, the adjusted his stance and put his hand back on the timer switch. “Ready.” He finally said.

Patrick again shouted, “Quiet on the range! Shooter, your next shot will be free movement when you are ready, you may shoot.”

Again Michael’s speed was good but his aim was slightly off. The same with his third shot. The next three shots were machine driven. The judges would push a button and the machine would randomly turn on the shoot light five to ten seconds later.

Michael’s speed remained good but his aim got worse as he got more nervous.

After he had shot all six cartridges Michael picked up the wooden block and took it back to the judges. Then walked over to where the other competitors were standing.

Billie and Patrick conferred for a moment then Billie called out Ahern, Michael, no faults, Score stands.” Then he called out the next competitor, “Ahern, Sarah.”

Sarah strode forward from the back of the group. She alone was dressed for the occasion. She was decked out in gunfighter garb top to bottom; blue cavalry button down bib shirt with a red bandana tied slightly to one side, brown corduroy pants, dark brown Tony Lama boots, an off white duster and topped a cream colored Stetson over her flowing jet black hair.

She stopped at the judge’s table and set a plain but very nice looking lacquered wooden box down on the table and spoke softly, “Sarah Ahern, and I would like to use my Navy thirty-six ball and cap if I may.” Then she opened the box.

Billie and Patrick gazed in the box and both let out soft whistles as their eyes widened at the sight of the antique weapon.

“Is that thing for real?” Billie asked in amazement.

“Yes it is, fully restored, fine-tuned and ready to go.” Sarah said proudly.

“Well...” Patrick began, “we prefer that competitors use cartridge ammunition...”

“But the rules don’t prohibit ball and cap.” Sarah pointed out confidently.

“True,” Billie sighed, “I’m not sure that it would be fair to pit black powder ball and cap against cartridge ammunition.”

“Fair to who?” Walt asked from behind Billie and Patrick.

“Well to her.” Billie said.

“Then I would say that if she wants to compete with that handicap she should be allowed to do so.”

Billie and Patrick looked at each other and bobbed their heads in agreement.

“Besides,” Walt continued, “I would like to see what she can do with it.”

Patrick chuckled, “So would I.” he reached out and closed the box and slide it back to Sarah, “Go ahead and take your position.”

“Thank you.” Sarah said trying hard not to look at Walt, afraid that if she did she would give away her feelings. Picking up the wooden box and walked to the clock station and set it down on the table. She put her shooting earplugs in her ears and slipped on her Ray Ban amber shooters. She took and slow breath and opening the box again. She reached in and took out the ball and cap revolver and worked the cylinder release to remove the cylinder. The she took a loaded cylinder from the box and placed it in the revolver and locked it into place. Then placed the revolver in the holster riding low on her thigh.

Sarah turned and faced the target. She shifted her weight slightly to her right foot and picked up her left foot and slid it up behind her right knee and caught the leading edge of her duster with the spur and pulled it back around her and brought it up to her left hand. She took hold of the corner of the duster as she lowered her foot and brought the corner of the duster up in front of her and tucked it into her gun belt. All the while never losing her balance or turning away from the target. The move bringing nods of approval from the judges and those watching.

She stared intently at it for several seconds and then slowly raised her right hand to the timer switch. It hovered above it for a couple more seconds before she lowered the hand onto the switch. “Ready.”

Once again Patrick shouted, “Quiet on the range! Shooter, your first shot will be free movement when you are ready, you may shoot.”

In a blur of movement Sarah’s hand dropped with unearthly speed and pulled back to the ball and cap revolver hanging in the western quick draw holster at her side. As her hand started to rise, her thumb caught the hammer of the revolver and cocked it as she drew the revolver from the holster using only her thumb. As the old style revolver cleared the holster it rolled up into firing position as her last three fingers wrapped around the smooth wooden butt grips and her index finger slid in, squeezed and held the trigger.

The old ball and cap revolver produced a clap of thunder that startled everyone and a cloud of thick blackish grey smoke that obscured their view of the target for a few seconds. When the cloud dissipated there were a number of gasps for the other competitors. Sarah had put her bullet in the Ten-X zone, just a half inch low of dead center.

Sarah spun her revolver on her index finger and dropped it into the holster in one fluid movement. Then she turned and asked, “Did I beat the record?”

Patrick and Billie quickly flipped through a binder of papers and a couple of paperback reference books. After several seconds Patrick said, “That score beats all county scores in all ages and categories for Free Movement.”

“That’s the best time for the state, and fifth best for national for single action.” Billie added.

“Good. Let’s go to the light.” Sarah said as she turned back to the target. Shooting on the light, Sarah again beat all county records and state records and came in third for the national standing.

Sarah asked the judges to reset the timer for six shots as she swapped out the half loaded cylinder for a fully loaded one. Then she took her stance again at the timer switch. This time when she drew she fanned the hammer with all five fingers of her left hand in one swipe. The old ball and cap sounded like a full auto fifty caliber machine gun.

Sarah spun the revolver again and dropped it into the holster and turned to the judges. “How was that?” she asked with an ‘I beat the Devil’ grin.

“You just beat all records for six shots light timed.” Billie asked, “Dang girl, do you do anything but practice shooting?”

“Well not much else right now.” She sighed slightly, “But I guess that I should withdraw from the competition to be fair to the others.”

“Why should you withdrawal? You just won overall champion for the Junior Division and I don’t think there’s anyone in the Senior Division that can beat you.” Billie inquired.

“I just don’t have anything to prove here. I know how good I am and where I need to improve.”

Patrick laughed, “I guess you don’t have anything to prove here, in my book you’re this year’s All Division champion!”

“Withdrawal not accepted.” Walt said. “The judges have ruled that your times are legitimate and they stand until someone else beats them.”

“Agreed.” Billie said quickly.

“Ditto.” Patrick added.

As Sarah walked away from the range, Walt saw DHS Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies approach her. He handed Sarah a business card as they walked back to the Midway attractions. Walt made a mental note to ask Sarah what Agent Davies talked to her about.

***

November – Election Day

Walt sat at one of the tables in the county office building waiting for the results of the vote for sheriff. He was playing six handed Pinochle with the current Sheriff, Randolph Cooper, and several of his supporters. There were four total running for the office of Sheriff including Walt and Marston. The other two were Marcus Young, the owner of Young’s sporting Goods and the Associate Advisor of the Venture Crew that Sarah and her friends were in and Ron White a retired public defender lawyer from San Francisco.

Last week the poles had Walt with forty-two percent of the vote, Marston with fifteen, Marcus Young with twenty-one, and Ron White with eleven, and another eleven undecided. Four days ago Marcus withdrew and asked all of his supporters to join him in voting for Walt. Two days ago a flier with Ron White’s client list from San Francisco was being passed around and posted on YouTube and twitter. His support suddenly dropped off. Then yesterday SAC Davies led a joint agency raid on Marston’s Offices and home. SAC Davies finally had enough evidence that someone at Marston’s company was connected with a known terrorist supporter and was funneling money to an off shore account.

Marston wasn’t around at the time and hadn’t been seen since.

After the voting poles were open for two hours the first batch was returned to the county clerk so they could begin counting the votes. By noon they confirmed what the exit poles were saying, Walt was leading with ninety-two percent of the vote. By four o’clock it had dropped to eighty-nine percent. With three hours to go Marcus had three percent even though he had dropped out, Ron has five percent, Marston had four percent of the counted votes so far. With twenty-three percent yet to be counted, Walt said he would wait until all the votes were counted unless Marston and White conceded first, to claim victory.

“Ah ha!” Randolph exclaimed as he laid down his meld, “Triple Pinochle!” then he laughed, “Well Walt, you may win the election, but I won this game.”

Suddenly Jerrie Grey ran into the room dragging Randy Cassidy behind her. “Sheriff Cooper! Listen to this!” She said out of breath as she shoved Randy forward.

“Well what is it.”

Randy fumbles with the volume control then set the scanner on the table. “It the Boise County Sheriff’s channel.” They all leaned forward to hear wait was on the scanner. “Ten-four. We have found Harrison Marston.” “What is his condition?” “Very drunk. The bar tender at Harley’s says he has been putting down boilermakers since yesterday morning.”

Almost everyone in the room broke out laughing. Those that weren’t laughing were the few supporters that Marston had left. It was now obvious that Walt had won the election and his new line of work was about to begin. The next morning the final tally for the election was Walt Rogers – Ninety-four percent.

***

Mid December

Sarah hadn’t been kidding when she said that she was going to come after Walt full bore. The day after the election, she came out to the ranch and cooked him dinner. In the six week since then she had cooked him only four more dinners. His evenings had suddenly become very fully scheduled with county meetings and speaking engagements with various organizations.

Finally he told Judy the dispatcher, who was also acting as his secretary, to stop making appointments without checking with him first. When she started to object saying that he needed to curry favor with the organizations he asked her ‘Why, I didn’t meet with them before and I won with ninety four percent of the vote. So stop or I just won’t go to any more of them.’ So she stopped and Walt finally got to plan out his evenings.

Walt was drive into town smiling to himself for his good fortune. His Grandparents had officially moved in and had taken over the business side of managing the ranch. They were much more energetic and happier than Walt remembered them being in quite a while and he surmised that running the ranch gave them a purpose in life again. Once Walt had shown them Dan’s plan’s for the ranch and the books Dan had written, they got the idea of what Dan had been doing and came up with a few ideas to expedite the growth of the ranch and the special projects.

The books, which his uncle Dan had written, were very popular and selling quite well both in hard back, paperback and especially well as e-books on Amazon. They were selling so well in fact that he stepped up the release dated to once a month for each of the series and every other week for the stand alone novels. A couple of the series he had edited and rewritten portions to connect the storylines better and added his name to them as co-author. His dad got him on several TV talk shows last month and that sent sells through the roof. He was making way more from the books than the ranch. Dewey Johnson was working on a deal with that famous TV and movie star that used to drive the red Ferrari in Hawaii to turn three of them into movies.

Yes, life is turning out pretty good he thought to himself, he could ask Sarah out this Saturday for a real date. They didn’t count the five dinners at the ranch as dates, because she was cooking for him, cleaning up afterwards and going home. Most of the time he was delayed because of political sheriff duties.

She deserved a real date for putting up with have to keep what was in her heart quite from her friends and family. He would make this date something really special to show her how he felt. He was smiling about that as he turned his county issued Hummer onto Main Street. That is when he saw two black SUVs with flashing blue and red grill lights heading towards the Sheriff’s Office from the other direction. “Dang it!” Walt muttered to his self, “What’s up now?”

He was about a block and a half away when the SUVs pulled into the parking spaces in front of the office and he saw Kris Davies jump out and wave to him to hurry. Walt liked to do twenty miles per hour in the twenty-five zone just to see who would pass him and to slow down the kids. It also gave him more time to observe what was going on around him.

He accelerated to thirty and turned on the Hummer’s flashing lights which included a low profile light bar just above the windshield, that was barely visible until the lights came on, and a set of red and blue lights in the grill that you could not see either until they came on. He also tapped the warble siren so no one could accuse him of speeding in town. Pulling in next to Kris’ Excursion, Walt slid out of his hummer and put his Stetson on. “Hey Kris what’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation for a couple more days?”

“Yeah.” Kris answered, obviously annoyed about it. “But this has to be something big for them to send Myers to come get me. Anyway we need to get inside so we can set up for a Joint Law Enforcement Agency conference call with FEMA, NASA, and hosted by DHS.”

They hurried up the steps with two of Kris’ agent carrying some Pelican cases. Inside the office they began to set up equipment from the Pelican cases that included a projector and camera. One of the agents noticed that Walt's computer had a fiber optic connection. “Hey Sheriff?” he asked.

“Yes?” Walt responded over his shoulder. “Could we barrow your fiber optic connection?”

Walt smiled, “Go for it.”

As the agents finished setting up the video conference call equipment Kris nudged Walt off to the side, “Hey I finished your last book the other night and Nancy knocked it out yesterday.” Kris paused not sure how to continue.

“Which one? There were three that were released last week.”

Kris looked surprised, “Really? Wow. You must have a lot of down time here. You need another deputy?” Kris said with a laugh.

“Actually my uncle wrote thirty-five novels and fifteen partials. I have just edited some and released them. Some in his name, some in mine and some in both. So which one?”

“The Self Reliant Series book two.” Kris said and then leaned in to Walt and in a hushed voice added, “Some of the events and reactions of the different group was kind of scary to me because they match some of our profile work of various groups in stressful situations.”

“My uncle did his research fairly thoroughly. All I did was to update the scenario a couple of decades.”

“Well it sure had Nancy engrossed. She hasn’t stopped asking questions about it. Could this really happen? Could that happen that way? Would things fall apart that fast?” Kris shook his head, “Heck her questions have me doing double takes on our family plans.”

Walt Smiled, “My uncle used to say that Plan A never works, Plan B seldom work, Plan C works forty percent of the time, so just skip to Plan F for flexible. Which means; ‘Plan for everything with the options for everything going south’.”

“That’s a tall order.” Kris said a little dis-heartedly.

“Well, just start with the basics and build from there. Water, food, protection, shelter. Three months, six months, a year, then two and so forth. Stage your plans for acquisition along the same time lines using the COOP directives.”

“COOP?” Kris said in surprise, “That’s for the government.” “And if it’s good enough for them, it should be good for you. Remember, make your master list and prioritize ‘needs’ verses ‘wants’. Water is a need while coffee is a want.”

“Whoa, coffee is a need.”

“No, it’s a ‘Thneed’.”

“A thneed?”

“Yeah, from Dr. Seuss’ the Larax, something you ‘think you need’, thneed!” Walt laughed, “I had lots of thneeds when I was younger until my uncle taught me how I could enjoy life with just the basics and being frugal with what I have around me. And you know what I found? The basics are pretty nice once you start to appreciate them. That and you’d be surprised what you really can do without and not miss it at all”

“They’re getting ready to start the call.” One of the agents said. “Do you want your deputies to sit in too?”

Walt nodded and said, “I’ll get them” and walked to the door and called out to the deputies in the other rooms to come to his office.

Kris motioned to Walt to take a seat next to him as the three deputies filed into the room stood against the back wall. On the projection screen that the agents had set up behind Walt’s desk they could see the EOC at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington DC, and different agency representatives taking their sets and getting back up, while aids hurried around placing folders and colored sheets of paper in front of each place at the tables. There was a low din coming over the speakers.

Everyone suddenly took their sets when the Administrator of FEMA and the Secretary of Homeland Security walked in the sat down at the front center table. Another man with a salt and pepper beard sat on the other side of the Secretary of Homeland Security from the Administrator of FEMA.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen.” Began the Secretary of Homeland Security, “We have called this conference call meeting to cover an issue of grave national and global importance. However, before we begin I would like Scott Dunham to go over the security requirements of this meeting. Scott.”

A slender man wearing a dark gray argyle sweater stepped in front of the table and read from a laminated card. “This is a Secret level briefing. All those who participating in, or listening to this security briefing conference call, must follow all secret classified information protection. Under no circumstance will any of the information discussed be discussed with anyone from the press or with any family members, or anyone else without a U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance. Any violation of these orders will be prosecuted as a crime of treason.”

“Thank you Scott.” the Secretary of Homeland Security spoke with solemn voice. “Folks we are facing what has been classified as a possible extinction level event. Two weeks ago an asteroid of immense size was spotted emerging from behind the asteroid belt.” The screen behind him lit up with a CGI illustration of the solar system with a blinking marker for the asteroid. “The scientists at NASA have been working overtime to plot the trajectory of the asteroid and any threat it may have to earth.”

“This is the path that they currently believe that it is on will take it near the earth but out past the far side of the moon’s orbit. However, this pathway is not set and there are variables that could change the path more towards earth.” Several hands came up quickly but the Secretary held his hands out and waved everyone’s hands down. “Depending on its density and gravitational mass, and how it is affected by the gravity of Mars as it passes, it could be pulled closer to the earth so that it affects our ocean’s tides and according to the USGS it could affect the magma flow within the earth causing a dramatic increase in volcanic activity. Or the gravity might not pull it in as close as some scientist think and it could strike the moon.”

Holding his hands up before anyone could raise theirs he continued. “In any case once word of this gets out there will be mass public panic. To this end we are here to set up a template plan for a national and local response to that panic. As of now we do not have any solid ideas of how this will actually affect us in the United States or how it will affect other countries.”

“Or it could hit the earth.” Said the man with a salt and pepper beard with a slight devilish smile as gasps, protests of not having been given a heads up and questions of validity came forth from all those present in the EOC.

Walt noticed that not a sound of protest or concern came from his or Kris’ men other than one who muttered “our brave and fearless leaders” in disgust.

After a moment the man with a salt and pepper beard continued, “That is what some groups, including some media outlets, will run with as the truth once this gets out, whether or not it come anywhere near the earth, and that is what will cause panic which will lead to price gouging, lootings, shootings for supplies, general mass mayhem and in larger communities and cities full scale riots.”

The Secretary of Homeland Security turned to him, “Deputy Director Cunningham, I believe that there will be a large degree of panic but I really don’t think that it will get that bad.” “You’re right, it won’t get that bad, it will get much worse.”

The telecon lasted a little over two hours and didn’t provide much information for a population mass type that his county fell into. But it did him some insight into his uncle’s mindset. This was similar to one of the causes of TEOTWAWKI that his uncle Dan had been writing about before his death. He was sure that short of a collision with earth on the American continent, he would survive at the ranch with his family, if he could get them there without raising the suspicions of anyone, including that of his family. However, with something this big he guessed it would be a matter of weeks if not days at the most before information on the asteroid leaked out and the panic would start.

As far as getting the county ready that was a headache he didn’t want, but he knew that most of the politicians would twist things around to their own ends or just screw it up totally and get a lot of people killed in the panic. He would have to start stocking supplies for the county today which meant he needed to find some secure storage facilities that he could get supplies into without the public, other than those that he had to inform, from knowing about it.

He had laid it down hard to his deputies about keeping their mouths shut and not telling anyone, especially family and Kris reinforced it by stating that if they only told their families, then if they only told one or two of their closest friends and so forth, then soon it would cause a panic and those that are needed to do their jobs to help prepare the needed supplies, whether or not they realized it, would not be there to help and everyone’s survival would be in jeopardy.

The arrival of the asteroid was about ten months out and that was not really enough time to ramp up production of needed materials and extra stores of food without causing a lot of questions and rumors to go flying about. Walt realized that he was going to have to put every cent he could squeeze out of the ranch into purchasing supplies for his family.

Trying to get the county ready would be much more difficult, especially with politicians like Combs and Marston trying to make a buck on every county contract.

***

Walt walked into the Ace Hardware where Sarah was working with a grim expression on his face. He walked slowly back to the paint department not wanting to tell Sarah what he had to. He found her restocking gallon cans of paint. When Sarah saw she started to run to him, but stopped short when she saw the look on his face.

“What’s wrong Walt, uh Sheriff?” She changed what she was calling him and looked around to see if anyone heard her call him Walt.

Walt walked over by her and whispered, “I just had a meeting with SAC Kris Davies.”

“So what did our very special agent have to say that has you in such a dire mood?”

Walt reared back a little and looked at her questionably.

“It’s all over your face. Something is wrong. Something big.”

“Shit.”

“Now I now it is bad.”

Walt sighed, “We had a teleconference with DC. I can’t talk about it. But it’s very important and I’m going to have to work on it all of the time for the next several months.”

“No dating?”

“I’m sorry, really sorry.” He said with his eyes closed.

“Damn it.” She whispered back, “I hate the higher road.”

He opened his eyes again and looked at her, “So do I.”

“So you can’t talk about it. And it’s so important that you don’t want to be distracted by me…” She saw the look in his eye when she said that, “No that’s not quite right. You’re scared for me.”

Walt stiffened and took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“If we were married could you tell me?”

“No.” He rasped out almost choking on the word. “If you swore me in as a deputy could you tell me so I could help?”

Walt bit his lips together.

“So you could but you don’t want to burden me with having to keep my big mouth shut, right?”

Walt just stared ahead and slipped his hand around hers and gently squeezed.

“I understand,” She gulped hard, “Tell me when you can, but know this, I’m going to find out and I will carry the burden too.”

“Crap!” Walt grumbled, “I bet you will, but I wish you wouldn’t.”

“But I will and I will support you as a loyal friend and good wife should.”

Walt snapped his head towards her in disbelief that she would say that as loud as she did.

“Sheriff Walt John Rogers, go do what you need to do, and please let me know as soon as you can so I can help you.” She looked around and slid her hand up and unsnapped her top two snaps. “If this is too much of a distraction just nod.”

Walt slowly nodded.

“You’re afraid that I’ll distract you and you’ll miss something important.” She said as she quickly resnapped her shirt. “Go. I’ll behave myself around you. Go.”

Walt sighed then turned and walked out of the store.

Sarah stood there looking after him, “This is really bad, he needs my support but won’t let me give it.” She thought to herself. “But I have to. I’ve got to figure this out.”

Chapter 3

Twists and Turns

Early January

It had been three weeks since the secret telecon meeting with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the others. DHS SAC Kris Davies had been officially on and off book with Walt in getting the county ready for public panic. He had pushed through a security clearance upgrade for Walt and a grant for communications equipment, emergency generators, and portable shipping container refrigeration and freezer units and other miscellaneous equipment and supplies that they figured would be needed. All in all, he had helped Walt get the county Emergency Operation Service up and running with ten times the supplies and equipment than Walt thought was possible. Walt knew that this was in part to the fact that Kris and his wife had moved into town earlier in the year, but he elected not to say anything.

Setting up the EOS was a hard sell at first with the county supervisors, but with the promise of DHS grant monies the politic players fell in line with hopes of getting something extra out of it. Those unethical hopes were crushed when Kris and his team threatened to arrest Harrison Marston as an accessory for treason and money laundering for a known terrorist organization if he so much as pocketed a single penny, even though it was one of his employees who confessed to the scheme. Combs kept his head down after that, not wanting to garner any federal attention.

Walt also purchased five of the portable shipping container freezer units and two refrigeration units for the ranch. To power them he got two multi-fuel twenty-five kilowatt, three phase generators and conversion kits to add hydrogen as a fifth type of fuel. Walt just about did a summersault when he was able to get a portable high volume hydrogen production unit the night before to supplement the one that his uncle Dan had bought. He just hoped that it would be delivered before word got out and panic set in disrupting shipping services.

Kris had called early in the morning and said that Walt needed to be at his office in Boise by nine that morning and that it was very important. Walt had completed the normally hour and a half drive in less than one hour with his lights and siren on but had turned them off when he exited the freeway. He drove up to the federal building in Boise and pulled the Hummer into one of the parking spaces marked ‘Police Only’. He slid out of the Hummer put on his Stetson flipped up the collar on his duster against the cold winter wind and headed into the federal office building. Even with all of the ranchers around Boise Walt still got a few puzzled looks from the business suit types on the street as he walked up the steps to the doors of the Federal building. As he entered the building, his Tony Lama boots made a distinct sound on the stone floor. On the far side of the lobby was a pair of walk through metal detectors like the ones TSA uses at the airports. Next to them were four turnstiles with badge readers. About two thirds of the people were going through the metal detectors and a few were able to use the turnstiles were obviously packing a firearm to Walt’s observation.

As Walt walked up to the turnstiles one of the Federal Protection officers held up his hand and said, “Sir you can’t bring your weapon in here and you need to go through the metal detector.”

Walt simply smiled and pulled out a lanyard with a DHS security badge that Special Agent in Charge Davies had issued him, and placed it against the badge reader. The green light on top of the turnstiles turned on and the sound of the turnstile unlocking could be heard and a puzzled look came over the officer’s face. Walt slipped it over his head and proceeded through the turnstile and said, “DHS Tactical.”

The officer’s eye widened and he choked out a ‘Umm, ah, have a good day sir’.

Walt walked over to the bank of elevators and pushed the call button to go down when everyone else was pushing the call buttons to go up. When it arrived he placed the DHS badge against the badge reader next the floor choice buttons, then entered his four digit authentication code and selected B3. The elevator doors closed and began a quick decent to the third basement level below the lower garage parking level.

When the elevator doors open, the harsh florescent lights almost made Walt put his Ray Ban sunglasses back on. Stepping out of the elevator Walt paused to look down the off white hallway in both directions before turning right towards Kris’ office. He was about to knock on the door to Kris’ office when Kris and Jessie came out of another door down the hallway.

“Walt.” Jessie called as soon as he saw him. “We’re in the EOC for the telecon.”

“We’ll be there in a minute.” Kris added as he hurried into the door across the hallway from the one he just exited from.

“See you there.” Walt smile as he turned from the door he was about to knock on and started walking towards the end of the hallway to the door labeled Emergency Operations Center. His cowboy boots made that distinct sound as he walked the tiled floor. “All I need now are ‘spurs that jingle jangle jingle’ like Gene Autry used to sing about.” He thought to himself with a half smile on his face. As Walt walked by the door Kris and Jessie came out of he glanced at the door. It was one of the few glass doors on this floor. It had a two foot wide glass panel on either side of the door and like the door they were tinted. Not so much that you couldn’t see in, but with the bright hallway lights and the dimmer lights in the room it was darn hard to do so.

He could make out the shapes of several agents moving around hurriedly. There were ten very large flat screen TVs on the back wall with major news channels on some and satellite feeds on others. There was one agent who was waving his arms around franticly like a conductor trying to lead several symphonies at the same time. Walt could hear muffled shouting coming from inside and he hurried past.

When he got to the door to the EOC Walt paused and took a deep breath before opening it. Grabbing it firmly he gave it a sharp pull and quickly stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind him. Walt wasn’t sure what he expected when he entered the room. Walt kind of half expected to be met with stares that said ‘what are you doing here?’ He got a few quick glances, but basically he was just ignored.

The room was a lot larger than Walt remembered it. As he looked around the room he realized that the two sidewalls were movable and had been folded out of the way to triple the room size. In the middle was a group of tables that were slid together to made a large U shape table, with about twenty chairs and paper nameplates in front of each chair. On either side of the big table were three rows of tables with nine chairs each, also with nameplates for each one.

Looking around to see if there was a nameplate with his name on it Walt almost bumped into agent Myers who was busy placing folders in front of each chair. Not slowing down Myers said, “Hey Walt. You’re on the right side of the big table next to Kris.”

At first Walt thought he meant they were at one of the tables on the right side of the big table but when he got near he spotted his and Kris’ nameplates on the big table near the corner of the U. “Aw crap” Walt thought to himself. He didn’t want to be at the big table where all eyes would wind up on him at some point during the meeting. “What has Kris gotten me into now?” Walt asked himself.

Reluctantly Walt sat in the chair where his name was. Everyone there was in a uniform or a suit except for Walt who looked like he just stepped out of ‘Once upon a time in the West’ or ‘My name is Nobody’. He got a lot of confused looks from those who nameplates were at the side tables as they filed in and took their places.

The speakers in the ceiling crackled to life, “Five minute warning.”

“Great! This sounds like a missile launch.” Walt thought to himself. Walt picked up the folder that was in front of him and started reading through it. In one section of the folder it showed several possible trajectories of the asteroid with the probability for each of being likely to occur, including one that was called a ‘Brushing Contact’. The trajectory they listed as the most probable was that it would pass three fifths to three quarters of the way towards the moon

In another it showed likely scenarios for public reaction to the different trajectories when announced. These were even more scarier than the thought of a brushing contact. None of these sounded like there was much hope for the cities and the sooner the announcement was made the worse it got for the towns out in the countryside.

The third section was possible geological responses to the gravitational forces of the asteroid on the earth. What Walt noticed was missing was the effect of the asteroid’s gravitational pull on the moon and vice versa. He thought back to the data his Uncle Dan had on just this type of event for the book ‘Blood Moon Falling’ that he had just released about six months ago.

The speakers came on again, “Two minutes, please take your seats.”

“Looks like we made it just in time.” Kris said as he dropped a pile of papers on the table and sat in the seat next to Walt.

“Yeah.” Walt replied dryly.

Kris stopped laying out the papers and look questionably at Walt, “What’s wrong.”

“Besides being seated at the big table? Try the vast amount of data missing on gravitational effects on the moon and from the moon.”

“What data?”

Walt reached in his coat and from the inside pocket pulled out his kindle and started sorting through the books until he found the one he was looking for and opened it. Then he swiped until he found the chapter with the missing data and handed it to Kris.

Kris was still digesting the data when the telecon started. As before those running the telecon were on the monitors. It was room as before with the Administrator of FEMA on one side of the Secretary of Homeland Security and Deputy Director Cunningham of the FBI on the other side. There was a fourth man next to Deputy Director Cunningham that looked somewhat familiar, but Walt couldn’t quite place where he knew him from.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen.” Began the Secretary of Homeland Security, “We have called this conference call meeting to provide more information on the asteroid event we are facing. However, before we begin I would like Scott Dunham to go over the security requirements of this meeting. Scott.”

The same slender man as before stepped in front of the table and read from a laminated card. “This is a Secret level briefing. All those who participating in, or listening to this security briefing conference call, must follow all secret classified information protection. Under no circumstance will any of the information discussed be discussed with anyone from the press or with any family members, or anyone else who does not hold a U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance. Any violation of these orders will be prosecuted as a crime of treason.”

“Thank you Scott.” the Secretary of Homeland Security spoke with solemn voice. “Folks several weeks ago we informed you that are facing what has been classified as a possible extinction level event. It has been five weeks since an asteroid of immense size was spotted emerging from behind the asteroid belt.” The screen behind him again lit up with a CGI illustration of the solar system with a blinking marker for the asteroid. “In the past three weeks the scientists at NASA have been working out the trajectory of the asteroid.”

“However there is some question as to the gravitational mass of the asteroid. Because of this, we still do not have a clear course that the asteroid will follow. In the packet in front of you, you will find the current data we have. There are several trajectories listed, each based on probable gravitational mass estimates based on the data we currently have. They are rated by the percentage of their occurrence.”

“I have asked Professor Raymond Johansen of NASA to explain this to us and to shed some light on what we can expect. Professor Johansen.”

At the mention of Professor Johansen name, Walt quickly took the Kindle back from Kris and went to the front of the book where the acknowledgements were. There it was, the second name on the list. Professor Raymond Johansen of NASA for his contributions of the gravitational charts and effects. Walt nudged Kris and pointed at the professor’s name.

The man next to Deputy Director Cunningham leaned forward and cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would first of all like to point out that we still do not have enough data to plot out the exact trajectory of the asteroid.” He paused as he took off his glasses and cleaned them with his tie. “I can say with some certainty that it will not hit the earth as the briefing document shows for the ‘brushing contact’. We are still trying to determine the mass density and gravitational pull of the asteroid.”

‘We are backtracking its path using every astrological database we have access to without raising anyone’s suspicion as ‘requested’ by Homeland Security.” He took a long breath, “The problem is that, unlike other asteroids, this one’s surface is almost black. There is very little light refection to see and its path has not crossed in front of very many stars so it is very hard to find in the old celestial photographs.”

“Add to that, the gravitational forces of an object are not tied to its size but its density. And this asteroid seems to be denser than we first thought.” He paused then continued more strongly, “However I must reiterate that I do not see any chance of it hitting the earth.”

Walt leaned over to Kris and whispered in his ear, “I need to ask the Professor a question now.”

Kris looked shocked at Walt’s request.

“Now” Walt said again sternly.

Kris reached out a slid one of the keyboards on the table in front of him and typed a short message then sat back.

The professor was still expounding on how the asteroid would not hit the earth when the Secretary of Homeland Security coughed, “Excuse me Professor.”

“Yes?”

“We have an urgent question request from the group in Boise Idaho.”

The Professor nodded, “Of course, I would be happy to try to answer it.”

“Boise, what is your urgent question?” the Secretary of Homeland Security asked the annoyance showing in his voice.

Walt leaned forward towards the speakerphone in the middle of the table, “Morning Professor, Sheriff Walt Rogers here.” He said then paused.

“Yes Sheriff…” The professor asked then his eyes opened wide. “Walt Rogers you said?” “Yes.” Walt waited for a verbal response but only got a visual one of apprehension so he continued. “Blood … Moon … Falling.” He said loudly. “Is this it?

The professor slumped back in his chair and brought his hand up and pushing his glasses up out of the way, pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What is ‘Blood Moon Falling’ Professor?” The Secretary of Homeland Security asked.

The Professor sighed, “It is the scenario that you didn’t want to discus today.”

The Secretary of Homeland Security paled at the professor’s statement.

“It’s also the name of a bestselling book based on that scenario that was published six months ago. Professor, what is the likely hood of it?” Walt asked.

“The probability is very likely.”

The Secretary of Homeland Security turned to an aid and asked, “Can we get the book recalled?”

Walt laughed, “No sir you can’t. It’s on Amazon’s Bestseller list and is ninth on the New York Times’ Bestseller list. And my lawyer is working on a movie deal. So no, it can be recalled or stopped”

“Nor would you want to.” Added the Professor. “To do so would bring unwanted attention to the real thing. Besides, the book puts forth hope and survival of the human race.”

“Excuse me!” Deputy Director Cunningham interjected, “Just what is the ‘Blood Moon Falling’ Scenario?”

“Well,” Professor Johansen began, “No, why don’t you explain it Sheriff? After all you came up with it.”

“Actually my uncle started the premise and I just finished writing the book with input from the professor.” Walt said, “It is basically what we have here. In the book there is a planetoid instead of a huge asteroid. And it has the added hazard of the planetoid actually come through the Asteroid Belt and capturing more than a few smaller asteroids in its gravitational wake. The planetoid passes between the earth and moon at a tight angle, its gravity well causes massive tidal surges around the world. As well as volcanic eruptions, almost all of the satellites are pulled out of orbit, then a couple of days later, the asteroids it pulled from the Asteroid Belt rain down on the earth. The majority of them impact from eastern Europe to India with the largest on the middle east wiping out ISIL and most of the rest of the Middle East.”

Chuckles fill the room where Walt is at and could be heard coming from the speaker as well. Deputy Director Cunningham leaned forward and with a smile said, “We can only hope.”

“Actually…” Professor Johansen started.

“I think we can forgo any more of this fiction.” The Secretary of Homeland Security interjected.

“Right,” Walt jumped in, “let’s get to some hard numbers. From the data NASA has provided today, things will be much worse than in my book. You can expect over three hundred foot tides as the asteroid passes if it passes during the daytime for us.”

“Daytime?” asked The Secretary of Homeland Security.

“Yes, the day time.” The professor joined in, “if it passes during our daytime that puts it on the opposite side of the world where the tides will be the highest and cause the greatest damage. And if its attitude is right it will also put it passing towards the southern hemisphere. And that we won’t know for a couple more months of tracking it.”

“On the other hand,” Walt continued, “If passes over the U.S. at night you can kiss every single coastal city lower than twelve hundred feet as well as the entire state of Florida good bye. That is if the asteroid passes closer to the moon than the earth. If it passes closer, say one third the distance to the moon, then the tides would be over six hundred feet higher. And if the gravitational mass is greater than the initial reports, Well … How did you put it Professor?”

Professor Raymond Johansen took a deep breath and sighed, “Worse case, tides over five thousand feet high with surges in funnel zones reaching as high as seven thousand feet.”

“But that is worse case and does not fall within the parameters of the data.” The Secretary of Homeland Security interrupted.

Walt countered, “But, Mister Secretary, it does meet the parameters of the data provided in this brief. If you take the increasing density and gravitational readings and carry them out for two or three months. Correct professor?”

“Yes.” The professor said softly, “And we will have a more definitive data set in two months after it passes Mars. But! I can say that it will not hit the earth on this pass.” “This pass?” The Secretary of Homeland Security practically shouted.

“Yes, this pass. We believe that it will fall into some sort of orbit around the sun. Whether it is years, centuries or Millennia.” The Professor smiled, “It will come again, but should not for quite a while.”

“So Mister Secretary,” Walt said flatly, “I would suggest that we plan for relocation of as many as we can from the coastal areas to the Plains States. That’s where I would start if I were the President. But I’m not and I have the people of my county to look after. Look, I know that I’m just the youngest Sheriff in Idaho’s history and may not know a lot but, this I do know…It’s time to stop playing politics and being politically correct. It’s time, as my uncle used to say, to grab the bull by the horns and kick him in the balls. I realize the need to avoid panic and I for one will not disclose any of this until it is already in the news. However, I will do all I can to save my county. So let’s knock it off with these fancy dancy reports that don’t say anymore than what we already know. Give us something substantial to help us save our people.”

Nearly everyone in the room muttered agreement to Walt’s statement and Walt could hear others over the speakers of the telecon.

The Secretary of Homeland Security looked shocked that he had been painted into a corner by a lowly sheriff and all eyes were on him now. He hesitated for a minute then spoke, “Unfortunately Sheriff I don’t see how we can do what you propose.”

“Well,” Walt interrupted expecting the defeatist reply, “Start with the farm subsidies to the farmers not grow food and tell those farmers to plant the highest yield crops they can and that the government will buy it all with the subsidies or they won’t get the subsidies. If the government pays top dollar and the farmers will produce more. You’ve got ten months to stockpile a lot of food. Then start taking all of the cargo containers that china is sending over and keep them. Use them for modular mini homes, make tent cities from them if you have to. And don’t make a couple of big cities, make bunches of smaller towns. And don’t worry about staying clear of national and state parks, use them for the towns. They have some infrastructure already in place for the park visitors.”

Deputy Director Cunningham coughed loudly, “Mister Secretary?” he started.

“What?” The Secretary of Homeland Security barked.

“I do believe we now have a plan that has a chance of saving a lot of people.”

“I concur.” Professor Johansen agreed. The Secretary of Homeland Security frowned as he thought and considered Walt’s words. Then turned to look off camera, “Scott, get me the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior.” Then back to the camera, “Sheriff Rogers, How do I get a hold of you?”

Walt slapped Kris on the back, “SAC Kris Davies here has my private number Sir.”

Another man at the Secretary’s far left spoke up quick, “Wait a minute, you’re the rancher that captured those terrorist bank robber and save the team of FBI agents?”

“Ah … ” Walt started when Kris jumped in.

“Yes he is.”

The man that asked the question turn to the Secretary of Homeland Security, “Boss, He’s the man we tried to recruit to SAC Davies Special Ops team, but he was only twenty at the time.”

“Well Sheriff, it seems that you are trusted amongst my staff.”

“I try to be, Sir.”

“Good, I will be in touch for more of your…uh…unorthodox insight. I think it best for us to do local breakout sessions to work on the relocation ideas of Sheriff Rogers and the feasibilities for your areas for setting relocation towns. And then report back to us on your conclusions no later than close of business Thursday.” The Secretary of Homeland Security nodded off camera and the screen went blank.

Almost immediately as Walt stood up he was besieged with introductions and questions. As everyone rushed forward to talk to him, he was getting crushed against the table as the ones in the back pushed the ones in the front tighter against him. With his back pressed against the table, he decided that he had to roll backwards on to it to keep from being injured. Now standing on the table some of the telecon participants suddenly realized what they were doing to him and stopped pushing in while others seemed to clamor all the more.

With most of them still shouting to him, he felt like he was in one of those stock market movies. Looking down at Kris and Jessie Walt mouthed ‘plug your ears’ and drew his S&W 500, pointed it at the ceiling and slowly cocked the hammer. On cue Kris and Jessie clamped their hands over their ears and turned their heads away from Walt. And like a wave of kneeling subjects before their king, the participants and staff quickly followed suit. In two seconds the room was deathly quite. “Now that is what will happen when the food and water runs short. You just wanted information and most of you lost control in your panic and desire to get it and not be left short. Imagine hundreds and thousands of desperate people trying to get food and water.” Walt de-cocked his pistol holstered it as he held up his other hand to maintain quite. “If you give SAC Davies your email I will send you a discount code to get ‘Blood Moon Falling’ and ‘The Dying Winter’ for free. Just about everything that I could tell you here you will find in those two books and more.” Walt took a deep breath and look around, “Now who is with the Idaho Office of Emergency Management?”

*** Chapter 4

Family Ties

Late March

Michael Rogers sat behind the wheel of the Lincoln Continental stretch limo that his uncle Dan had left to his dad, as he drove his fiancée and her parents up the road of the ranch for his wedding. Sitting in the passenger seat was his fiancée Jenna. In the back was his soon to be father-in-law Colonel Kurt Smythe and his wife Colonel Candis Smythe, Jenna’s Maid of Honor Debbie, two brides’ maids Ruth and Tammy.

They had been on the road for a little over eight hours including two gas stops and a lunch break and everyone was feeling a bit tired and anxious to get to the ranch. As they drove up the main entrance road to the ranch Michael slowed more than usual, not because of the light dusting of snow, but because of the sight in the road before him. There stood a smaller than normal Clydesdale ridden by a cowboy in an off white duster with the collar pulled up covering most of their face and an oversize cowboy hat pulled down covering the rest.

Michael stopped the limo about ten feet from the unmoving apparition before them. Once the limo was stopped, the rider guided the horse around to the driver’s window. When Michael rolled the window down the ride leaned down and asked, “Michael, did you stop for dinner?”

It was then that he realized that the rider was female as her jet black hair fell forward from under the collar of the duster. “No, we came straight through after lunch just stopping once for gas.”

“Good, they’ve held dinner. I’ll ride ahead and let them know that you’re come up the driveway.” She guided her horse backwards past the front of the limo wheel him around and then turned in the saddle and shouted, “Welcome back to the ranch Michael.” She nudged the horse forward and yelled “Go Ajax.” And in what seemed a single move the horse vaulted the fence and ran beeline to the house seven miles away.

“Who was that?” Jenna asked from right behind Michael.

“I don’t know.”

“Well she sure seemed to know you.” Jenna punched Michael playfully in the shoulder. “I said I don’t know her.” Michael groused at being teased.

“We’ll see.” Jenna teased him all the more. “But she does have some nice hair.”

“You may have to put a tracker on him.” Jenna’s best friend Debbie said with a giggle.

“Maybe.” Jenna said and snuggled closer to Michael.

Michael guided the limo up the long driveway that followed the creek that snaked its way up the valley through the pastures and fields toward the ranch house compound. Along the way they past a campsite with several more cowboys dressed in identical fashion and four canvas pole tents. The cowboys all waved their hats and the occupants of the limo could see that most of cowboys were girls with rather unusual hair colors.

“More friends of your Michael?” Jenna teased.

“Now Jenna, stop it.” Her mother scolded her. “They probably just work for Walt and they are being friendly.”

“That one can be friendly to me. He looks really cute.” Debbie cooed.

“But the ranch hands don’t camp out like that.” Michael said with confusion in his voice. “I wonder what’s going on.”

When they reached the house, they saw the same Clydesdale tied to the hitching rail of the small pole barn off to the side of the house. Michael parked the limo under the porte-cochere in front of the house. Michael got out of the limo and ran around to the passenger side and opened the doors for the ladies. Offering his hand to help them out of the car, he welcomed them to the ranch.

As they walked up the covered steps to the house Jenna’s mother noticed the cowgirl from earlier standing in the shadows of the porch with someone that she couldn’t see clearly. They were facing each other holding hands and she could feel the electricity in the air between them even from this distance. She nudged Jenna and nodded towards the cowgirl and her yet unknown man.

Jenna saw the two holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes. “I guess that maybe you don’t know her, but somebody sure does.” Jenna whispered to Michael.

Michael looked over to the shadows where the somebody and the cowgirl were, just in time to see the two of them let go of the other’s hands and her hurry off to her horse. She vaulted the porches handrail and landed in the saddle just like in the movies. The figure in the shadows stepped forward and Michael immediately recognized Walt. “Well, we’re here!” he called out to Walt. “Who’s your friend? She got me in a little hot water with Jenna.”

“No she didn’t.” Jenna punched him in the arm again.

“See what I mean?” Michael laughed.

“That’s Sarah Ahern. She’s with the Venture Crew and Future Farmers of America. They help out a lot around the ranch with the horses and I let them camp out where ever they like.” Walt said as if it were nothing. They reached the head of the stair at the same time and Walt waved everyone to the front door. “Dinner is ready to be served so come on in.”

Michael made introductions as each one passed Walt to get inside. Walt shook everyone’s hand and welcomed each of them to the ranch.

Walt and Michael were the last ones through the door and Michael snickered to Walt as he pointed with his head back down the way towards where Sarah rode off to, “So does she camp out in the house too?”

Walt shot his brother a searing glare that said ‘shut up or I’ll beat you ‘til the sun comes up’ and growled, “Never!”

Michael reared back in shock, “Whoa, sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Sorry,” Walt groused, “It’s a sore private subject.”

Michael nodded and hurried to catch up to the rest in the Grand Hall. They were all standing in awe of the size of the room. “It’s perfect!” Jenna exclaimed. “Oh Michael you were so right! I love it!” and she spun around and hugged and kissed Michael. Then she broke off and hugged Walt, “Oh thank you for letting us use it.”

Walt just smiled and shrugged his shoulders a little. “The dining room is to the left. Grandma and Anna have been working hard on dinner so let’s not keep them waiting.”

***

After dinner the guys had moved into the Grand Hall and stoked the fire in the huge double-sided fireplace, while the ladies made short work of putting away the leftovers and the dishes. Then they joined the men and sat around the now roaring fire.

“What time will mom and dad get here?” Michael asked.

“They should be here before lunch and I not sure when David, Sally and their guests will be arriving.” Walt answered before the next question could be asked. “But it should be sometime this evening.”

Walt’s Grandmother Martha spoke up. “I forgot to tell you that they called earlier and said that they should be in about nine.”

Walt looked up at the clock on the fireplace mantle, “About three hours.” He said to no one in particular.

“So Kurt,” Stan broke the silence before it became awkward, “I understand that you both are in the military. If I may inquire what branch and what rank?”

Jenna’s father smiled, “Air Force, but just until next summer. Then Candis and I will have thirty years each and we’ll retire with full pay. And we both are Colonels.”

“We were thinking about getting twenty or thirty acres where we could have a few horses, goats, chicken, maybe a milk cow and some pigs. Something simple that will keep us busy and where grandkids can come and have a good time.” Candis added.

“Mom!” Jenna whined and rolled her eyes.

“Come on Jenna! That sounds so cool.” Debbie said.

“It does sound real nice. So much more so because Candis has been suggesting that we do it this summer.” Kurt smiled at his wife. “But trying to find the right place will take some time. You see it has to have a year round stream, trees for fire wood, a flat area for a runway and hanger, good southerly exposure for solar panels.”

“And not near the coast.” Candis added as she looked at Walt who was sitting in his usual place with his back against the fireplace hearth.

Kurt chuckled, “Yeah she’s been reading some disaster books lately and has some strong opinions on where we can’t be.”

“What books?” Stan asked. Candis reached into her laptop bag and pulled out three. “Just some I heard about at a meeting, ’TEOTWAWKI Time’, ‘The Dying Winter’, and ‘Blood Moon falling’ so far.”

“You should also read ‘The Self-Reliant Farm’.” Stan suggested with a glance at Walt who was staring deeply at Candis as if she was a puzzle to be solved.

“When was that meeting?” Walt asked cautiously.

“January sixth, eleven hundred eastern.”

Walt scrunched his lips tight and thought a couple of seconds before asking, “What area are you looking at?”

“Where would you suggest?”

“There’s a place not far from town. It’s hundred and twenty acres with a three bedroom two bath house, couple of barns, two streams lots of trees. Not sure if you can land a plane there as it is. Maybe if you do a bit of logging.”

“How much?” Kurt asked expecting an enormous price.

“Three eighty-five I believe.”

“That’s all!” Kurt and Candis exclaimed.

“Are you interested?”

“Yes! When can we go see it?” Candis asked.

“Mom! Really?” Jenna protested.

“I can show you some pictures on the computer right now if you want.” Walt smiled as he pushed himself up from the hearth.

“Okay.” Candis said as she hopped up from the couch and dragged Kurt with her.

“Really guys!” Jenna continued to protest their interest in looking at houses instead of working on the wedding. “Don’t worry,” Walt said, “Your wedding will be very special and we have all day tomorrow to rehearse. You should be relaxing. Go have a magnum Bar”

“Magnum Bar! Where?” The girls exclaimed.

“Chest freezer by the side door off of the kitchen in the mud room.” Walt hollered over his shoulder as he led Kurt and Candis to his office.

In his office Walt brought up the website of the real estate broker that, first Dan, and now he, used. He typed in the some parameters and scrolled the results until he found the property he remembered. After reviewing the photos and information about the property Kurt and Candis were very excited about it. A quick call to Joss and the property was secured. Walt would carry the loan for them on the condition that Kurt would do as Candis was pushing for and retire there by August first.

Kurt smiled sheepishly and said in surrender, “How can I refuse such terms?”

About nine o’clock there was a knock at the side door followed by a female voice calling out to Walt and Anna. Sarah walked in through the kitchen into the Grand Hall in her full cowgirl regalia and announced that an RV was slowly heading up from the road. Then she asked Anna if she could borrow the five gallon Hot Pot for the night. Anna said sure and told her to go ahead and get it. Sarah thanked her and went to the closet by the side door and grabbed the pot. Ten minutes later David and Sally came in the front door with six other people.

“Hey everyone!” David called out as he held open the door for the others. “This is Nikki and Brian, their parents Erik and Diane, and their younger brother and sister Ryan and Wendy.”

After all of the introductions were done Erik asked were would be the best spot to park the RV. It was a Class A pusher type RV. It was a forty-five footer with three slide-outs and hydraulic levelers. Erik explained that they were ‘test driving’ it for the weekend. This was the third one they had tested and they had two more they were looking at before making a final choice. Stan volunteered to show Erik where to park the RV and help him get it hooked up to the power and water. After they had the RV all set up everyone turned in for the night.

***

The next morning after breakfast, they had the first wedding rehearsal walkthrough to figure out where they wanted everyone. Walt’s parent’s Mark and Mary, had called and said they should be there around ten o’clock with Mary’s parents Thomas and Rebecca and not to wait for them before having the first walkthrough. The walkthrough went as expected, a lot of stopping, going over through it again then changing everything up and starting over. By the time Mark and Mary arrived, some nerves were getting just a little frazzled to say the least.

Their arrival was taken as a sign to take a break and relax a bit by everyone except Jenna, being the bride she was still panicking that they would not be ready by the next day when the guest began to arrive and she was letting everyone know it.

Suddenly the front doors fly open and Sarah came striding quickly into the room her jet black hair and duster fluttering open behind her. “Damn it Walt, Kris has blowing up my phone trying to get a hold of you!” She said as she tossed her cell phone to Walt.

“Hey Kris, I left my phone in the office.” Walt’s face quickly grew dour as he listened to Kris. “Let me get on the Sat-Phone, okay?” “Be with you in a minute.”

Walt tossed Sarah’s phone back to her as he ran to his office.

“Who Kris?” Mark asked as soon as Walt was out of the room.

“Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” Sarah spoke softly.

Candis gasped quietly but not quietly enough.

“What?” Kurt asked as he moved to her side.

“Sorry, it’s classified.” She answered and her eyes turn cold.

“Mom?” Jenna asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing ... I hope.” Candis answered her daughter then looked at Sarah who was walking back towards the door, “Is there?”

Sarah stopped just short of the doorway and sighed heavily then spoke, “I don’t know for sure. I think it’s just Marston stirring up trouble in town again.” And as she closed the door behind her she said to herself, “I should have shot him months ago.” Back inside Mary suggested that they break early for lunch and get back to the rehearsal on a full stomach. With tensions as high as they were everyone readily agreed.

After lunch they had a couple more run throughs and they went a lot smoother than the morning rehearsal. The last one went so well that Jenna said it was good enough and she didn’t want to do another run through. Stan was so happy that he offered to give a tour of the ranch.

As he gave the non-family guest the grand tour he highlighted the solar power and hydrogen production systems and how they were able to keep the barns and pole sheds warm for the cattle and horses. Candis, and Kurt somewhat, were especially interested in the reason for going hydrogen instead of batteries to supplement the solar system as a backup.

Stan stated simply that Dan had crunched the numbers and the cost of battery replacement, every five years or so, was too expensive. Hydrogen doesn’t go bad and keeps forever. Also that, area heaters that burn hydrogen last longer that those powered by electricity and therefor also cheaper to use in the long run.

When was time dinner Walt insisted that they were having a BBQ on the back patio using the large outdoor kitchen that Walt’s uncle Dan had built there. The patio was about seventy feet wide and it went from the house to the gentle sloping hillside some eighty feet away. There were two octangular gazebos that had every other side open. The Gazebos were sixteen feet across with six foot round pedestal tables in the middle of them with several chairs against each wall panel. Outside of the gazebos along the side of the house were three rows of tables and chairs

When Walt led everyone out to the patio they were surprised to see the Venture Crew cowboys was busy cooking. They had the raised smoker pit going with fifty pounds of brisket and a dozen very large Dutch Ovens in the recessed fire pit with four duster drabbed Ventures moving the ovens and coals around in a dizzying fluid ballet as they checked their contents.

“These are members of the Venture Crew from town.” Walt said as he stepped out onto the patio, “They started coming out here as part of the Future Farmers of America working with the rescue horses that Anna gets. Now days I let them campout anywhere on the ranch they want and they help out taking care of the fences and livestock. Tomorrow they will decorate the house for the wedding.”

“What’s a Venture Crew?”

Before Walt could answer Amy Young spoke up from the fire pit, “Ventures are the Co-Ed, high adventure branch of the Boy Scouts of America.” “Our ages are fourteen to twenty-first birthday.” Jerrie Grey continued.

“We run the program but we have adult advisors who help keep us out of trouble.” Dani Rourke added,

“We do all sorts of things like cavalcades, white water rafting, rock climbing and other such cool stuff.” Cindy Montoya added.

“We gentlemen acquiesce to the higher intelligence of the fairer component of the species to achieve elevated consequences of our endeavors.” Randy Cassidy chimed in.

“Uh?” all of the Ventures said as they shook their heads and stared at Randy.

“Randy that was mighty nice, but if you don’t stop using those twenty dollar words that we don’t understand I’m gonna make you clean all of the pots by yourself.” Jerrie fired off. “Now say it again in common tongue.”

Randy smiled broadly, “I said us boys are smart enough to let you smarter ladies make the decisions because you always get us better and funner results for any activity we do.”

“Why didn’t just say so in the first place?” Amy said.

“Because it was more of a challenge to string those ‘twenty dollar words’ together and have them make sense.”

Jerrie walked over to Randy and put an arm around him and gave him a quick hug, “Sorry I jumped on you. Good job.”

Randy beamed like a lighthouse causing the wedding party to chuckle.

“So Crew, what’s for dinner?” Walt asked.

Tammy Watts walked over from the fire pit, “Beside the brisket you provided, we have wild honey baked beans, corn bread, fresh biscuits, corn on the cob cooked in garlic butter, Overloaded mash potatoes with sides of sour cream, smoked bacon and four blend cheese, chopped kale cooked with butter, red wine vinegar and a hint of molasses, bow tie pasta with Pesto and diced grape tomatoes, and monkey bread for dessert.”

“And only the Bride and Maid of Honor can pass on seconds ... if they want to that is.” Dani added with an evil grin. “Very good! I think this may be your best spread yet.” Walt said.

“Thank you.” Tammy said, “This is my first large meal to plan. But I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.”

“You lead and we’ll follow your directions.” Amy said, “You planned it really thoroughly. That’s the hard part.”

“Thanks Amy.”

“It sure is warmer that I thought it would be.” Diane Thomas said as she followed Brian and Nikki who were being led by Sally and David to one of the tables.

Stan pointed out that the patio had radiant heaters suspended twelve feet above them that were using hydrogen not propane to heat the patio and that they would be warm enough for the next several hours.

Several of the Ventures suddenly started moving the Dutch Ovens into one of the gazebos and a couple others pulled the slab of brisket from the smoker.

“Grab your plates and line up, dinner is served!” Dani shouted.

One of the Ventures grabbed the meal triangle and went to the corner of the house and started ringing it and shouted towards the barn, “Come and get it before I eat it all.”

Several of the wedding party chuckled,

“Don’t laugh,” Walt cautioned, “I’ve seen him eat. He can eat a side beef by himself. So you better keep an eye on your plate.”

“Aww, Sheriff, I said I was sorry. I thought you were done.”

Everyone laughed loudly and made their way to where the food was being served.

***

At nine o’clock the following morning, Sarah and the Venture Crew came into the Grand Hall carrying boxes of decorations and started in on putting them up. By lunchtime everything was decorated and ready for the Michael and Jenna’s wedding. They had even decorated the patio and cleared an area for dancing. They swapped out the clear light bulbs in the overhead string for festive colored ones.

After a lunch of leftover brisket and corn bread and biscuits and baked beans, when the Venture Crew started to leave, Jenna asked them if they weren’t staying for the wedding. Sarah explained that they were going to get changed into their uniforms and that they would be taking care of the valet parking for the guests. Then Sarah and three others went out another door and headed down to the horse corral.

At two-thirty the first guest started to arrive and by three-thirty everyone was seated and the ceremony started. There were about eighty guests in the Grand Hall, not counting immediate family. The Grand Hall was about three quarter full when the Ventures filling in quietly in and filled the back row.

Michael Jenna shared a unique sense of humor. When Michael asked Walt to be his best man Jenna asked him to wear his dress uniform. Walt in turn agreed only if his got to pick only of the groomsmen and invite a couple of guests of his own. Reluctantly Michael agreed and during the rehearsals kept asking Walt where and who was the mystery groomsman. Walt would simply say don’t worry, he would be here.

Thirty minutes before the ceremony was to start, Walt snuck Michael’s high school best buddy, DHS Agent Jessie Carter in his dress DHS uniform, into Walt’s office, which they were using as the staging area for the wedding procession. When Michael turned around and saw Jessie, he about came unglued with joy. Michael grabbed Jessie in a bear hug and wouldn’t let go for over a minute.

“Where did Walt find you?” Michael bubbled excitedly.

“My team arrived in town when Walt had to rescue a team of FBI agents when their prisoners got loose from them.” Jessie said solemnly. “And since then we have been helping Walt get the county’s EOC up and functional.”

“Wow! This is great!” Michael exclaimed. “Wait a minute, you’re the mystery groomsman?”

“Yeah, Walt wanted to surprise you.”

“Hey brother,” Walt began. Every time Walt called Michael brother it usually was something bad and Michael’s eyes widened, “If you want ... I’ll swap places with Jessie and he can be your wing man again like in high school.” Michael’s mouth drooped open and his eyes began to tear, “You would do that for me?”

“Of course, why do you think I asked you to let me pick one of the groomsmen? I knew you would want Jessie by your side again.”

Michael reached over and hugged Walt, “You’re the best brother I could ever ask for.” He snuffled.

“Hey, don’t go crying you’ll get all red eyed and ruin your wedding pictures.”

“Right.” He snuffled again and wiped his eyes.

“Well I better let Jenna know what’s going on.” Kurt said as he made to leave the room.

“Don’t tell her that Michael got a little choked up by my surprise. We don’t want her to lose it too and come out with running mascara.” Walt said quickly.

“Good idea.” Kurt smiled. That would defiantly set her off. We can tell her later how choked up he got.” And he winked at Michael.

The wedding went off without a hitch, Michael didn’t break down and neither did Jenna, until after the ceremony when Debbie spilled the beans and told Jenna about what happened when Walt brought Jessie into the room. However, she was able to pull it together for the rest of the afternoon.

When the time came for the throwing of the bouquet and garter, Jenna noticed Sarah slipping through a side door back into the house and then Walt slipping through another door.

She leaned over to Michael and whispered in his ear, “Why would Walt and Sarah not want to try for the bouquet and garter?”

“I think they want to but for some reason they can’t. Walt snapped at me and got very broody when I asked him about her. There’s a dark secret of some sort between them so I dropped the subject.”

“Oh.” Was all that Jenna said with a puzzled expression on her face.

A couple hours later after dinner when most of the guests were still dancing, Michael and Jenna sneaked out the back door to make their getaway. But when they got to the limo they found Sarah leaning against the driver’s door flipping the keys on her finger like she was twirling a pistol.

“You’re not taking the limo.” She said with a smile and pointed to a dark green Ford Explorer. “All of your stuff has been moved into it. Walt was going to give it to you when you got back, but I don’t like the ‘chase the new couple around’ game that everyone is planning.”

“Yeah, it is kind of a lame tradition.” Michael said with a weak smile.

“Then your choices are; turn left and everyone chases you or, you turn right and head out towards the old mine and the Ventures will be your outriders to guide you out the back way.”

Michael looked at Jenna who nodded to the right. “The back way it is.”

Jenna hugged Sarah and whispered, “Thank you.” She took a deep breath and spoke in a serious voice, “I know it’s not any of my business, but you and Walt...”

Sarah took Jenna’s hands in hers and gave them a gentle squeeze “Don’t ask and please don’t talk or ask about us to anyone. Okay?”

“Alright. I just thought that you’d make a great couple.”

Sarah sighed and said very softly, “One of these days.”

Jenna squeezed Sarah’s hands and released them. “Then I’ll keep you guys in my prayers.”

“Thanks.”

With a nod from Sarah, Dani Rourke and her father Jerry walked up, and Sarah handed Jerry the keys and they climbed into the limo. “They’re going to be your decoys. Let them go first then when they are past the front of the house then you take off.”

“Thanks.” Michael said, and then added, “You’re not going to get in trouble with Walt are you?”

“Naw. He’ll get a kick out of it.” She said with a wicked grin. “Or he’ll get a kick out of it.”

***

Later that evening after the guests had left and everything was cleaned up, Walt had his parents, their parents, Kurt and Candis meet with him in the Grand Hall by the fireplace, while everyone else was in the theater room watching the Hobbit.

“There is something I need to talk to you all about but I really can’t.” Walt began, “I can’t exactly tell you why either except that Candis already knew before they got here and she can’t say either.”

“Humph!” Grumbled Mary’s father Thomas, “So what can you tell us?”

“Read some books.” Candis offered.

“Great! Which books?” Thomas said not liking the dancing around.

“Well…” Candis began and looked at Walt for help.

“We can’t exactly say.” Walt finished for her. “But as one of my deputies likes to say, ‘prepare ye every needful thing’. We can’t say what is up but that everyone needs to prepare for…whatever comes.” He paced slowly back and forth in front of the hearth playing with his month old goatee.

“You’re being rather vague son.” Mark said cautiously, not wanting to fuel anyone frustration.

“I know dad, but this is a touchy situation.” Walt said with obvious trepidation. “We can’t tell you what is going on or exactly what you need to do, but we need you to act on faith and try to figure it out on your own.”

“And once you figure it out you mustn’t tell anyone else.” Candis added.

“Why?” Thomas said with aggravation show openly in his voice.

“Because your lives will be in danger if you don’t follow their instructions.” Came a voice from the other side of the fireplace.

“What?” and “who’s that?” were the replies from those seated in front of Walt.

Walt hung his head in exasperation and said, “Sarah, what are you doing here?” Sarah walked around from the other side of the fireplace decked out in her gunfighter garb and was shaking head her slightly. “Looking out for your back …side.”

“What do you know?” Candis asked Sarah the turned to Walt, “Did you tell her anything?”

“He didn’t tell me anything. I know only what I have been able to piece together over the last several months.” Sarah said as she slid into Walt’s favorite spot sitting on the hearth with her back against the fireplace stones. “The books they would like you to read are ‘Blood Moon Falling’, ’TEOTWAWKI Time’, and ‘The Dying Winter’. There maybe a couple of others but those are the ones that stand out.”

“How do you know that?” Walt and Candis asked simultaneously.

Looking at Candis, “Jenna told me that you were talking about those books last night and asked me about them.” She paused for a second and then added, “That and Walt had a stack of them on his desk.”

“What are you doing in my office?” Walt asked, then with a smile added, “Oh, the Sheriff’s Office.”

“I guess that means you brought the books here. See, I am a detective.” Sarah smile at him and then looked back to the others and continued, “Now the reason they can’t tell you more is, if I deduced this right, that it’s a top secret national security thing and they would get in big trouble if they said anything directly, nondisclosure and all that. So, because of that they are desperately trying to dance around what they can’t talk about, dropping obscure hints, and such.”

“How the halibut do you know that?” Walt asked this time very seriously.

Looking Walt in the eyes Sarah started with a deep breath, “I really didn’t know, I guessed. What with all your meetings with SAC Davies and his team, the warehouse space the county has been leasing under your signature, the cargo containers here and there, fuel trucks, refrigeration units, and other stuff kind of gave me clues. That and the fact you still haven’t asked me out on a real date. You’ve been too busy getting ready for the big ‘End of October’ event.”

“What?” Mary exclaimed looking wide eyed back and forth between Walt and Sarah.

“I don’t count the five dinners I cooked for you here, because Anna, Stan and Martha ate with us or our horse riding times as dates. Although you do revel more about your concerns than you think during those rides.” Sarah looked sadly at Walt’s mom and breathed a deep sigh, then looked back at Walt as she gestured to Mary. “But you need to take care of your families first as well as the county before you can worry about your personal pleasure … with me.”

Walt stood there trying to think of what to say when Sarah got up from leaning against the fireplace as smoothly as a cat on the prowl, slipped her Stetson back on and walked over to Thomas. “Give him a break. He’s trying to live up to his oaths as sheriff and as a Rogers and not go to prison.”

Thomas nodded, and breathed out heavily through his nose.

“Good.” Then she turned to Kurt and Candis. “I hear you are buying some property up Jackson canyon. That’s some good land up there, two streams year round, room for a very large garden.” She paused before continuing, “Get some solar panels and batteries, ion lithium if you can afford them, and a bigger propane tank. Much bigger.”

Sarah walked up to Walt. “The house is big but you need to get a couple of modular homes installed up above the leach field. And some camp pit toilets, three or four at least.” Then she hugged him and left towards the kitchen without another word.

“Wow.” Thomas said in shock, “She sure is sure of herself.”

“And right too. Huh Walt?” Stan said to Walt with a smile.

“I don’t know how, but yeah. She was pretty much spot on.” Then thought to himself, ‘God I’ve got to marry her soon’.

“So,” Mark said as he stood up and started to pace off to the side. “There’s something very important you so desperately want to tell us, but you can’t because you are prohibited by Law. It has something to do with national security. Candis knows about it to and I surmise that has to do with her specific duties. We need to get prepared for this event, which is supposed to take place in end of October. Now we can’t go telling anyone because it would cause Walt and Candis legal problems and could jeopardize our survival, but the books you have published contain important hints to this. But you can’t just come out and say ‘this is going to happen, get ready’, but some how Sarah figured it out and told us what she could without coming right out with it. Am I right so far?”

“We can neither confirm nor deny any of that.” Candis spoke before Walt could.

Mark smiled. “Would you say, hypothetically of course, for instance that it would be much safer here than on the coast.” Walt held up his hand to stop Candis from saying anything. He thought for a few second then smiled. “You know dad, when I was growing up, for some reason I always felt safer on the ranch than in Seattle. That’s why I started bugging you about coming to stay with Uncle Dan. I just felt safer here!”

Sarah walked back into the room with an arm full of books and dumped them on the coffee table, then tossed an FRS radio to Walt. “Walt, why don’t you take Mrs. Smythe down to the barn and show her the horses?” Then she turned and went back to the kitchen. Walt looked after her puzzled then shrugged his shoulders and motioned for Candis towards the door.

After Walt and Candis had left the others began speculating on what the end of October Event was. After several minutes, Sarah came back with a tray loaded with ice cream cups and toppings, “You know…” She started and paused for effect, “You might not spend so much energy on what specifically it is and more on how prepared you are food, water, survival gear, first aid, and skill wise to survive a major disaster. Because that’s what this is, a friggin’ MAJOR disaster. You know … TEOTWAWKI …” She looked at the blank stares from everyone but Mark and set the tray down and waved her hands in frustration, “Really? … Mister Rogers you want to explain the acronym while I take this to the theater room?” and she picked up the tray of ice cream cups and toppings and walked off muttering a little too loudly, “Walt I’m going to kick your butt.”

“Well,” Mark spoke slowly, chuckling at what Sarah said on her way out, “TEOTWAWKI, it means ‘The End Of The World As We Know It’. The final game changer, no going back. At least for several generations.”

Thomas whistled, “Oh Shit!” and the others sat in shock.

“Worse than that, SHTF or Shit Hitting The Fan is a very major but relatively short disaster on the scale of a couple years with five to twenty years of recovery before things are back to normal. Nine eleven was a SHTF event. TEOTWAWKI is a generation or three before real recovery begins. No government. Frontier law and justice. The fastest gun wins, the biggest guy wins, the strongest community wins,” Mark chuckled, “and I’m out of a job.”

“So what do we do? How do we plan for something we don’t know what it is?” Rebecca asked with a panicked voice.

“Well I suppose we could check with Sarah and ask her opinion. After all she seems to know almost as much as Walt and Candis but doesn’t have the restriction placed on her.” Mary mused.

“Yes, we could, but I get the feeling that she is going to hold back anymore information beyond what she has given already out of loyalty to Walt.” Mark surmised. “Love.” Martha said softly.

”Love?” Several of them asked.

“Her loyalty is that she’s obviously deeply in love with Walt and he is with her.” Martha clarified, “but for some reason they won’t or can’t act on it.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t get us any closer to what we need to do.” Thomas said as he took his wife’s hand. “They’ve helped us all they can, so what do we do?”

“Walt has been giving us more responsibilities in running the ranch and other businesses that Dan had set up.” Stan said flatly. “In doing so he has… well…locked us into the ranch. He wants us here. He has been following Dan’s plan in building up the ranch to be totally self-sustaining, but at a very accelerated rate.”

“Are you saying that he wants us all to move here?” Rebecca asked in disbelief.

“Well he sure set us up with a place close by really quick.” Kurt added.

“Yeah, a real nice setup too. Independent, yet close.” Thomas observed.

“Don’t forget what Sarah told Walt.” Mary spoke with sudden energy, “remember? ‘The house is big but you need to get a couple of modular homes installed up above the leach field. And some camp pit toilets, three or four at least.’ I think she knows that he wants to move us all here by the first of October.”

“If that is so then what do we need to do to get prepared?” Kurt asked.

“Sell everything we own on the coast and buy land here.” Thomas said surprisingly enthusiastic about the idea.

“But not just land, Walt has land, but supplies to live off of for several years.” Mary corrected. “Freeze-dried food, canning equipment, stuff like that.”

“ugh! Freeze-dried food storage?” Rebecca groaned, “I can’t imagine what that stuff tastes like.”

“There is some really good stuff out there. You aught to check into it as soon as you get back.” Mary said. “I have found some really great recipes for it and you can’t tell that it’s freeze-dried.”

“Really?” Rebecca asked in disbelief. “That casserole you like so much?” Mary replied.

“Yeah?” Rebecca questioned cautiously.

“Freeze-dried!” Mary said proudly.

“Uh…back on topic?” Thomas interjected.

“Okay.”

“Several years?” He questioned.

“If it is TEOTWAWKI like Mark said then, I would have to agree, several years. Not two or three but five or six.” Kurt said. “Candis has been making some retirement and relocation budgets, most of which she doesn’t know that I have seen. I don’t think she was ready to show me yet. And, well, she has for some of them for five years of long term food storage for the two of us and some for four people and some for four plus babies and even longer time frames.”

“Whoa, babies, the next generation.” Mark said as the light bulb went on in his head, “I totally forget about that. Baby supplies, sanitary supplies, toilet paper for ten years a least!”

“Ten years?”

“Yeah, we may start recovering somewhat in five as far as food production goes but what about the stuff we can’t grow or make?” Mark put forth.

“Clothing too, bulk fabric, buttons, zippers, socks, shoes, there’s a lot to consider.” Mary added.

“And what if this event doesn’t materialize?” Rebecca asked.

Thomas hugged her, “We’ll be well stocked for our retirement.”

“Guys?” Stan interrupted.

“What?” Several of them answered.

“I think I know what the event is.”

“What?” Mark asked. Stan held up the books that Sarah dropped off and wiggled the one titled ‘Blood Moon Falling’, “This is a planetoid passing so close to the earth that it causes all sort of disasters, earthquakes, volcanoes, weird weather storms, title waves, total and permanent collapse of the power grid, water supplies, gas supplies. Everything.”

“It can’t be that. There are too many observatories that would spot it and the information would have leaked out by now.” Martha said in disbelief.

“Not if the government clamped down on it and threatened anyone who talked about it.” Kurt said and sighed.

“It’s got to be this or something similar. The other books are part of the series.”

“Are you sure?” Rebecca asked in desperation for it not to be that, “Couldn’t it just something almost as bad?”

“I don’t think so.” Stan hesitated in a way that caught everyone’s attention so they just stared at him. After a couple of second he spoke, “Last week I heard Walt talking to this guy,” he point to back of the book, “Professor Raymond Johansen. They were talking about something in October.”

“Okay,” Mark spoke, “We have a good idea what we need to prepare for. The question is ‘what do we need to do’?”

“We may need to build some protected green houses.” Mary said quickly.

“Why protected?” Thomas asked.

“Well, Professor Howard Earp and I have been working a modular system for NASA and last month our funding got doubled and Homeland Security and the department of Interior took over the project. They want units that can produce higher yields per crop cycle and more cycles per year. Units that are mobile and protected. We can do the same thing here.”

“There is the old mine that Dan bought. Walt has been letting the Ventures use it for camping and spelunking.” Stan interjected.

“Yes that would work great. It would be protected volcanic ash and harsh weather and we could store the food in the mine as well.” Mary said enthusiastically.

“I think food wise we are already set with the cattle and other supplies that Walt has been stockpiling for the last several months.” Martha added, “We should concentrate on other supplies that we will need.” “We can all write down things we come up with and we can do group emails to work out the details.”

“That all and good for that stuff, but what about medical needs? Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and such. What do we do about that?” Thomas asked. “You know right now we are all in fairly good shape, but in a couple years? An old fashion lifestyle is harder on the body and accidents do happen.”

“Well, Michael only has a couple more semesters left for his degree so there’s our dentist. But medical doctor? I don’t know. We need to ask Walt if he has any plans in play for that.” Mark responded. “If he hasn’t we can pick up the ball for him.”

“I may be able to help with that,” Kurt spoke up finally.

“YES!” Sarah almost shouts from the other side of the fireplace. “You’ve got it! Thank you so much.”

“Thank you?” Thomas asked totally confused.

“Yes, thank you, because now Walt won’t be distracted worrying about what you are going to do and if you will be in a safe location. He can get his job getting the county ready done quicker without the distraction of worrying about you,” Then she added softly, “or me.” Sarah said as she pulled out a small radio. “Walt.”

“Go ahead.” Walt’s voice came back over the radio.

“Coma on back up. They got it and now they need to talk to you about stuff you can talk about.”

“Now that you guys are taken care of, I’ve got one more job to do before I can relax.” Sarah said as she turned and left the room with her wicked smile on her face.

***

Entering the theater room Sarah saw David and Nikki snuggling in the back row on the left side and Brian and Sally doing the same on the right side. She approached each couple and whispered to them that she needed to speak with them outside of the room. They quietly followed her out into the hall and then into the rec room on the other side. “What’s up?” David asked.

“Just a second first.” Sarah said and stood there thinking then continued, “David stand here, and Nikki stand here. Brian here and Sally here.” She had them stand about three feet apart, David facing Nikki and Brian facing Sally. Brian and David on one side and Nikki and Sally on the other. Then she stood between and slightly behind David and Brian with her right hand on Brian’s left shoulder and her left hand on David right shoulder.

“Now,” She Began, “I need you all to be totally up front and honest with me, please. Brian, how do you feel about Sally and David how do you feel about Nikki? Brian you go first.”

“Uh, What’s this all about?”

SMACK! Sarah slapped the back of Brian’s head, “I asked the questions. How do you feel about Sally?”

“I feel that she’s the only one for me.” And he flinched.

“David?”

“She smart, intelligent, She so hot in her bikini, She kind to dumb animal like me..”

SMACK! “I didn’t ask what makes her special. I want to know how you feel about her.”

“I’m head over heels in love with her.”

“Ditto.” Brian added.

Sarah smiled and quickly brought the crook of her hands to the back of their knees driving them down onto one knee. “Ladies, present your hands if you feel likewise.”

They both quickly stepped forward with their hands in front of them and Sarah stepped back and said take their hands dummies. They did quickly.

David cleared his throat and said, “Love of my life, will you marry me?”

Brian asked, “Only one for me, will you marry me?” Both girls happily answered, “Yes.”

“Freeze,” Sarah shouted, “don’t move. Just stay the way you are.” She quickly ran back to the theater room and brought Erik and Diane back with her.

“Okay one more time.” Sarah said.

Brian and David glanced at each other and looked back at the women in front of them and repeated, “Love of my life, will you marry me?” “Only one for me, will you marry me?” and Nikki and Sally repeated, “Yes.”

“Okay this time you can kiss.” Sarah said as she turned to a shocked Erik and Diane, “Mister and Misses Thomas please come with me to the Grand Hall.” And she held her arms out to guide them in front of her. Upon reaching the Grand Hall, Sarah ushered them over to where the other parents were talking.

“Mark, Mary, the Thomas’ have something to tell you.”

Erik and Diane looked at each other for a second and then Erik spoke. “It seems that love is in the air. Our boys have asked our daughters to marry them and the girls said yes.”

“What?” “When?” “Where?” Were the questions that came like an avalanche followed by Walt’s “Was this your doing Sarah?”

“I just took down the roadblocks” Sarah smiled.

“What did you do?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just because we have to travel the higher road right now doesn’t mean I can’t help keep your family together.”

“But...”

“Shush.” Sarah held up her index finger. “Mark will you do the honors of bring the Thomas’ up to date on the topic of discussion?”

“Okay.” Mark nodded.

Sarah walked over to Walt and took his hands in hers. Walt eyes got bigger as he glanced toward his parents and grandparents. Sarah smiled a little and said. “They know Walt. Tell them why the higher road.” She raised his hands up and kissed them, then let them drop as she stepped towards the door.

“Sarah! I...”

“Don’t!” She cautioned loudly, “Or I’ll be spending the night in your room on top of you. Remember, the higher road.”

“Okay.” Walt said regaining his resolve.

Sarah backed across the room to the door and gave a weak smile and slipped out through the door and disappeared into the darkness like a Spector.

“Okay Walt, why the higher road?” Mary asked.

***

Later that night after everyone else had gone to bed, Walt and Mark were sitting in his office going over some of the points of the discussion that Walt lead after Sarah left.

“So what would be the latest that we should relocate here?” Mark asked.

Walt thought for a moment, “That depends on how close to event date we get before it becomes public knowledge. But, I would start boxing up and shipping nonessentials now. Get everything you can live without gone from Seattle. I don’t know how long this will be kept quite. Hell, Sarah found out and there are probably a hundred more like her that have or shortly will figure it out. We can’t count on all of them keeping it quite.”

“Do you really think something like this could happen?” Mark asked as he held up and wiggled a copy of ‘Blood Moon Falling’.

“Are you speaking as my attorney?”

“Of course, client confidentiality, and privileged information.” “The data has been confirmed, so if things were to happen as laid out in the scenario in the book, then the resulting effects would be fairly close to as described in the book. However, I think that uncle Dan was trying to write an optimistic storyline. It could get worse.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

“So if they plan to make it public say, three months out?”

“Then you may have a month to wait, max, if you have the fuel to make the trip. Otherwise aim for two weeks after the news comes out. The first week will be a freak- out show, then things will settle down for a week or two then things will start getting bad again. Now if word gets out say six months before and then you would have a couple of months before things get ugly. And then there’s whatever the federal and or state governments plans to do. They may start mandatory relocations sooner than later to try to get a handle on the panic.”

“And if it’s only a month?”

“Run, don’t walk to the nearest exit.” Walt said and Mark chuckled at the old tag line.

“How many vehicles do you think we should try to take when we evacuate?”

“That is going to be a bit of a problem for keeping a lid on what you know. You should try to get as many moved here as you can, at least one a month you can just to make sure that you can move them. I don’t think that you want to just walk away from them, but you may have to plan on leaving a ‘commuter car’ there and evacuating in the S.A.R. and maybe one other. You could tow one with the S.A.R.”

“I don’t see the reason to abandon running vehicles if I can help it. I could get one of those car trailers you see pickups towing. That way I could tow two or three if needed.”

“Or you could sell them, get a puddle jumper commute car that you can abandon and not worry about towing a trailer and getting stuck in a situation where you can’t back up.”

“True. Traveling as light as possible would be better.” “If Michael gets on the stick and loads up his final courses for the spring and summer semesters, then Jenna could relocate as soon as possible and he could follow her as soon as he graduates, IF word has not leaked out by then.”

“Again the problem is when the beans get spilled or the government makes the announcement.” Mark sighed.

“I think that I should get a heads up on the government breaking the news, but that might only be a week at the most. If they keep it quite until the end of September who knows if I will get any notice more than a day or two. In any case, if I were you, I would put in for vacation starting the last week of September now. That way if they do keep it quite until the last moment you will already be gone.”

“Agreed, but I don’t see them being able to do that. Too many know and someone will come out with some of the details that you are trying not to.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No, No, I understand. You took an oath and you have very little wiggle room. Luckily Sarah figured it out and was able to tell us what she felt she could.” Mark paused and looked hard at his son, “You know she really loves you.”

“I know.”

“No. She REALLY loves you. She held back information from us because she felt that she had to abide by your oath as much as she could, but told us just enough to get us to see what we needed to. I think she knows a whole lot more than she feels comfortable knowing. That’s why she forced Sally, David, Brian and Nikki’s hands tonight.”

“Yeah, I realize that she is carrying my burden longer than we planned. It was supposed to be just until I was sworn in, but then this thing happened and…well, she’s stronger than me sometimes.”

Mark laughed, “So is you mother.”

Walt nodded that he understood.

“But why wait until after the event is passed?”

“She doesn’t want me to be distracted, by her, from doing my job. She insists that we can wait until then to make it public and get married.” “What are you going to do about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who’s going to perform the ceremony? If we are in TEOTWAWKI, who is going to marry you two?”

“There are several ministers in town and the county clerk can do it too. Heck you could work up some sort legal way that you could do it. I’m more concerned about getting a doctor or two onboard than who will marry us.”

“They are most likely going to want to be with their families and you don’t want a whole bunch of outsiders here.”

“Anybody outside of family will have to sign some sort of agreement or contact of participation to be part of the group.” Walt thought out loud as he picked at his goatee, it still itched a little. “Much like the group at The Lake in Blood Moon Falling.”

“What you need is to form an LLC survival group that rents the land from the ranch. That way the LLC board of directors picks who is admitted and removes anyone that becomes a troublemaker, and you as the land owner can always trump the LLC if needed.”

“I guess you do still have a job.” Walt smiled, “CLO of the LLC.”

“Okay, I’ll get it done and filled within the week. What about residences for the members? They can’t stay in the house.”

“No, Sarah was right. I am going to need to put in some modular homes and RV pads. I’m thinking about up the canyon a mile or two possibly up beyond the upper hay barns. There’s already a well up there and I can get a septic system put in next month.”

“You might want to plan on ten to fifteen homes and RV pads. And the RV pads will need covers and a storage building.”

“Yeah.” Walt said as he leaned back in his chair and thought. Then a smile came to his face. “Cargo containers.”

“Cargo containers?”

“Yeah, each RV pad is say…thirty feet wide and fifty feet long and has two forty foot cargo containers with a peaked roof over the area between them for the RV and a car or truck.” Walt explained excitedly. “That sounds like something that can be done fairly cheap and quickly. We sell memberships in the LLC to pay for it. They can store what ever they want in the cargo containers.”

“And if the want power they pay extra for solar panels or put in their own system. We’ll have to put in a big water tank on the hill so the water will have some pressure without individual pumps. That way the water will be provided and we’ll have it metered to prevent waste.”

“There are a few doctors that I know that would want to get in on this. And there are a few good hearted preppers that the firm has dealings with, I can do back ground checks on them and drop hints and see if we get any takers.”

“We’ll set aside several plots for those that want to bring in their own modular home.”

“That will have to be on a special lease arrangement.”

“They have to know that they are buying in to the LLC not just for the space but for each person. They can’t expect to bring extra people. They have to have enough food for at least two years for each person stored here and we should recommend five years of food. No … we will make it five years minimum and ten years recommended. We’ll say that’s what one of the containers is for. There has to be a limit to the number of residences for each pad and modular home. And each modular home will have one cargo container.”

“Okay, what else?”

“They can buy or bring more containers, but that eats into their ground area. Lot sizes will be say…start at ten thousand feet square and they can buy more up to twenty thousand at the compound and up to ten acres elsewhere on the ranch for farming only. That will give them room for a private garden to extend their supply of food longer.”

“What about our family?”

“I have ten years of Mountain House for us already in the basement, but that does not include the Thomas’ or the Smythes. Also did you see the new hay barn by the horse stables?”

Mark nodded, “I noticed that this morning.”

“Well it’s not just for hay. It’s divided into several sections. In the middle section there are five portable shipping container freezer units and two refrigeration units, each of them are forty footers. I plan on processing enough of the herd to fill two of the freezers. Two others will be for frozen vegetables, cheese, and such. So the family is taken care of.”

“And the fifth one?”

“Backup in case one of the other breaks down.”

"And the refrigerators?”

“For fresh food we will grow and store like potatoes, carrots, beats and such.”

“Well it looks like you have taken care of the family.”

‘Not until everyone is here.” Walt said with concern heavy on his shoulders. “When word gets out we could go straight to a worse case scenario. Seattle could erupt into chaos immediately and you might not be able to get out. And if you do get out, some of the towns between there and here may try to block the roads to protect themselves. You may not be able to get through even in the SAR. And if you get as far as the Snake River, well I have a bad feeling that some idiot will try to blow a bridge. And if he is successful then others may get blown by other towns to try to stop the evacuatees from crossing it to our side.”

“I see what you mean. I wouldn’t want to try to swim across the Snake River. We will have to come up with a plan for that.”

“I will let Kris … Special Agent in Charge Davies know about our concerns with the bridges.”

“What about the cousins?” Mark asked casually.

“That’s kind of up to them.” Walt said as if he didn’t care, then added, “We can build three extra modulars above the leach field like Sarah said for them. Then when the news breaks, you can contact them and see if they want to come or not. If any say no, that they have other plans then those can become homes for the newlyweds.”

“Three extras?”

“I’m thinking one for the Thomas’, one for Grandpa Tom and Grandma Becca, one for the Ahern’s, one for You and Mom, if you want more room than a bedroom in the main house, one for Rourkes, Sarah would want her best friend here,”

“Happy wife, happy life?” “Exactly, and one more for just in case.” Walt smiled, “And six trailer RV pads for expanding families. Then the three extras.”

“What about Elizabeth?”

Walt bit his lips until they started to bleed.

“Trying not to say something bad?”

“She’s your sister. But she burnt my bridges at the funeral, then again at the reading of the will, and then she nuked them when she contested the will.”

“If she apologizes and begs to come?”

“She’ll have to know that she will be working with the horses and cows just like everyone else. Oh, and she comes alone. She tries to bring anyone here without asking and they all get shot and buried in the leach field.” Walt growled.

“You could do that?”

Walt sighed, “No.”

“But I will.” Sarah voice shocked them.

“What the … How did you get in here?”

“Uh, I walked in and sat down.”

“Wow, we were that wrapped up in our conversation?”

“Yeah. Thank you for including my family and Dani’s.”

“Hey, I care about you.”

“Damn it Walt,” She exploded, “Just say it. I know all about what you wouldn’t tell me, what you didn’t want me to have to bear, I said I’d find out and I did. You were right. It’s a hard burden and I need the strength, so just say it.”

“I love you.” Sarah rushed over and threw her arms around Walt burying her head in his chest. “Thank you, I needed to know so I could carry on.” She sighed, “It’s tough being so hard.”

“Dinner and a movie tomorrow night?”

Sarah reared back and punched Walt in the shoulder, “No pity dates. We stay on the high road until the work is done.”

Walt rubbed his shoulder, “Damn you hit hard.”

“Damn straight I do and I’ll love harder once this is over. All I need is a weekly reminder of how you feel.”

“Staying on the high road is going to get a lot harder.”

“I know, but we have to do it.” She turned and walked silently to the door.

“Stop.” Walt called out.

“Don’t or I fall from the road.”

“No, not that. Walk backwards please.”

Sarah did.

“Stop. Now go forward.”

She did.

“Stop. How did you do that? You didn’t make a sound and you are on an oak floor!”

“Gunfight’s secret.” And she walked out of the room.

“I think she came in to jump off the high road.” Mark said.

“Maybe, Maybe not. Sometimes she just so hard to read.”

“So is your mom … at times.”

***

April

Walt was at the main county storage warehouse when his special AT&T Satellite phone rang. Only six people had the number. His mom and dad, Kris Davies, Jessie Carter, the Secretary of Homeland Security and Sarah. Walt answered the phone, “Walt here please hold-on while I move to a better spot.” Stepping off to the side away from those that might over hear him, Walt checked the area then he really answered the call, “Okay I’m clear.”

“Hey Walt, it’s Kris.”

“Hey what’s up?”

“We got an update on the girl.”

“What her status?”

“Pretty much the same attitude as before but a different angle and a talking little faster.”

“So I’m still going to miss her?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Will I see you?’

“Two weeks before I get home.”

“Does she have a boy friend?”

“Not sure but Jessie will know soon.”

“Okay, talk to you later.” Walt hung up the satellite phone and quickly walked back over to the warehouse manager. “Robert, I have to go but keep me apprised of your progress and any problems.” “Sure thing Sheriff.”

Walt headed to the door as he called his dad. When his dad answered Walt only said six words, “She’s coming home two weeks early.”

***

It was late in the evening and Walt was still going over the data that Jessie had delivered after lunch. Basically, after the asteroid pasted Mars, it course was altered two hundredths of a degree and its speed increased from a slingshot effect so the asteroid, instead of passing at the end of October, would pass mid October.

The thing that really bothered him was the new path on which it would pass the earth. It would still pass between the earth and the moon, but it would pass at a slightly different angle and on the other side of the earth. It would pass closer to both and as such the effects would be much greater on both.

With the affects of the asteroid being greater on earth, he wondered if his preparations would be enough to protect his family. Then there was the question of what affects it would have on the moon. Nothing in his uncle’s research had anything for him to focus on concerning what could happen to the moon. However, that was something for to work on later.

His first concern was trying to figure out what the effects of the asteroid’s new path would be here in Idaho. His second concern was could he plan for them accordingly? Thirdly would losing two weeks screw up the time table that they couldn’t make adjustments for it?

*** Chapter 5

The Leak

Mid September

“Sarah!” Came her father’s voice loudly up from the basement. “Come down here right now!”

“Ut oh, Sarah’s in trouble.” Her brother Tommy said softly.

Sarah looked at Tommy expecting an impish grin but his head was looking down at his school project that was due on Monday and his face had a look that was very serious. Then she looked up across the dining room table at her mother at the kitchen sink. This was the moment that they both knew could come, but hoped that it wouldn’t for a while longer. As Sarah saved the spreadsheet for her online college course and closed the laptop. Her mother stopped working on the food she was getting ready to can and wiped her hands on her apron as she headed towards the basement door.

Sarah pushed back the chair she was sitting in and stood up slowly. She had rehearsed in her mind many times what she was going to say when her father found all of the supplies that she had stashed in the basement. Generally he didn’t go into that section of the basement and she and her mother felt it should be safe from his finding out until after the event happened. But her father had been talking about cleaning the basement up and getting rid of some of the old junk down there. She had hoped that he wouldn’t start for a couple more weeks.

Her mother waited at the door for Sarah to go through first and then followed her down the stairs. The stairwell had been finished off with sheetrock and paint that matched the kitchen and the stairs themselves painted safety yellow with non-slip black grit tape across the width in three one inch rows. Her father had always been one who, as her mother said, had rose-colored glasses about the future and preparing for the worst was something he didn’t believe in. Yet there were times when he became convinced that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Slips were one of those things. He had read some statistics that explained that Slips, trips and falls were the biggest threat to household finances, so he had painted the stairs and put the grit tape on them, not so much for himself as for her mother. He also the grit tape on the front and back porch stairs and anti-slip decals in the bathtubs and showers. He called it cheap insurance. When she got to the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner to head to the section that was set aside for her mother’s home canned foods and the camping equipment. Most of the family camping equipment was not used anymore since they had bought the fifth wheel RV trailer. While some of the gear had moved into the trailer, most was still down here in the basement. Most of it Sarah used for camping and hiking with the Venture Crew, but some things like the eight-person tent and folding table had not been used in several years. It was in that area that Sarah had been stockpiling cases of canned food, toilet paper, buckets of wheat, fifty pound bags of rice, sugar, and other emergency supplies such as water filters, FSR radios, hand-crank flashlights and lanterns. She had just about killed off her college savings account on this.

She had told her mother what she was doing and why. At first her mother was more than skeptical about it until she showed her the pictures she took at Walt’s office at the Sheriff’s Department. She had been there after the New Year to get the Venture Crew signed up for the Search and Rescue program and he had left her alone in his office for about fifteen minutes. She had got rather bored just sitting there so she started looking around and found several document laying out about something called the ‘End of October Event’. She glanced at them and couldn’t believe what she was reading. After a couple of minutes she knew this was some very important information and that Walt wasn’t supposed to talk about it with anyone not approved to know.

Yet she got the feeling that he wanted her to know about it. He had left it out with her in the room alone with it for quite some time and guest that she would get bored and read it. Not knowing what else to do she quickly took out her smart phone and took pictures of everything she could find about the ‘End of October Event’. Then she put everything back the way it was and hoped that she got it all right. A couple minutes later Walt came back into the room and said that he had to go see Special Agent Davies down in Boise and they could finish the paperwork for the Venture Crew later.

After she got home she transferred the photos to her computer and converted them to PDFs and spent the rest of the day reading and rereading the documents. The next day she talked to her mother about what supplies they had and how long they would last. It was a week later that she finally shared some of the pages with her mother to convince her to let her buy and store the extra food and supplies in the basement. Sarah spent off of the money she earned working at the Ace Hardware on supplies for her family

Now she and her mother were going to have to confront her father about all of the supplies in the basement. As she entered the back room in the basement where the supplies were she saw her father holding a box containing one of the water filters. He kept reading the information on the box, ignoring her as he did when he was upset and trying to formulate his response. When he looked up she saw the surprise on his face of see his wife there as well.

“Carol, you knew of this?” he asked sounding a little hurt. “Of course Errol, I helped her plan out what to get.” She said with a smile that really confused him. “We were trying to get everything done as a surprise.”

That really threw him off track. “A surprise?” he started, “For what?”

Carol turned to Sarah, “Your turn.”

Sarah stepped up to her father and gently took the box from his hands and set it back on the pile of supplies. “Dad, I have something up stairs to show you and I need you not to ask any questions until you have read it completely. Promise?” She had only asked her dad three other times to promise something.

Errol looked at his daughter’s apprehensive face and saw something that he didn’t like, fear. He was surprised at how much it hurt to see fear in his daughter’s eyes. “I promise.” He choked out and hugged her quickly.

When he released her, Sarah turned and led them back upstairs to the dining room to her laptop. Once there she opened her laptop and logged back on to it. Then she went to a hidden folder and clicked on a PDF file and when the window asking for the password came up she entered it. When the file opened, she slid from the chair and indicated with her hand for her father to sit. “Remember you have to read the entire file before you say anything.”

Errol nodded and sat down. He adjusted the angle of the screen and began reading. After several minutes looked up with a puzzled expression and said, “Paper and pencil.” and went back to reading. Carol grabbed a notebook and pencil from the breakfast bar and handed it to Errol. He began making notations as he scrolled back and forth over the cryptic file. Sarah quietly sat down across from her father while Carol continued to slowly pace behind him. About ten minutes later he took a huge breath and let out a long whistle as he set the pencil down and leaned back in the chair.

Sarah sat forward and started to talk when Errol cut her off, “Where and how did you get this and how accurate is it?” he asked cautiously.

“I got them from Walt’s desk.”

“Walt?” Errol asked with a confused look on his face.

“The Sheriff.” Carol interjected when Sarah hesitated.

“The Sheriff?” Errol exclaimed. “What were you doing going through the sheriff’s desk?” Sarah took a deep breath and explained why and what happened that day. Her voice trailed off when she said that Walt had to leave to meet Special Agent Davies and she just looked down at the table.

“What happened then?” Her father asked with great concern in his voice.

She looked up biting her lips close for several seconds, obviously not sure how to tell her father or if she really wanted to just yet.

“Go on.” Her mother urged.

“Well, after he said he had to go and that we would have to work on the Venture Crew paperwork later, he stopped and stared at the papers on his desk for several seconds. I really felt that he knew that I had read them and was going to get mad at me.” She stopped and took a quivering breath. “Then he gathered them up and put them in the safe and locked it. When he turned around I stepped up to him, looking him square in the eyes, asked him if I could go with him.” Sarah stopped again and with her face still looking down she raised her eyes up to catch a peek at her father’s face.

“You what?” was all he said in disbelief.

“I asked him if I could go with him to meet with Special Agent Davies.”

“But you got in his face to do it.” Errol exclaimed.

Sarah let a small smile creep across her face. “Yeah, I kind of do that a lot with Walt.”

Errol stared at his daughter in disbelief for a few seconds then asked. “Then what happened?”

“Well, His response was not either of the two I had expected.” She took another deep breath before continuing. “He quickly grabbed me,” she paused and swallowed, “and pulled me tight to him in a deep hug and whispered in my ear, ‘Knowledge is a dangerous burden. You have to bare it well to protect those you care about’.” Sarah was blushing as she related her life to her father. “When he finally eased the hug and held me at arm’s length, and stared at me.”

“And”

“I nodded and said. ‘I understand. But I do have one question though.’ And then I asked him … ‘When are you going to ask me out on a real date?’” “A real date? What have you two been doing?” He asked starting to get angry.

“Talking, behaving ourselves, and acting like we are not interested in each other so he could win the election and be a good sheriff.” She sat back quickly and pouted, “It really sucks taking the higher road.”

Errol stared in surprise at his daughter’s concern for appearances of the sheriff. Carol came up behind Sarah and put her hands on Sarah’s shoulders and patted her.

“So, what did he say? About a real date.”

Sarah swallowed hard again before continuing, “Well, he pulled me in close to him again and said, ‘Soon, real soon I hope.’ And then he gave me the only kiss we had ever had.” She choked as tears came flowing to her eyes. “We love each other but we can’t do anything about it. We have to keep it a secret so he can do his job protecting everyone in the county without Marston and others causing trouble.” She looked up at her father, “Dad, I’m afraid we won’t ever be together if this thing is as bad as it looks.”

“It looks serious, but not end of the world bad.” Her father said trying to comfort her daughter.

“But it IS worse than these reports say. I have overheard Walt and others talking, dad. It’s real bad. And it’s going to happen sooner than these old reports say. Now they’re calling it the ‘Mid October Event’.”

“Well now we will just have to go talk to…”

“Mom! Dad!” Sarah’s Brother Mick screamed from the family room where he was watching TV. “Come here quick!”

They all ran through the dining room and living room to the family room. As the entered the room they saw a flashing red banner on the TV saying ‘Breaking Emergency News’ and heard the announcer saying, “Once again, sources at NASA have confirmed that a massive asteroid is headed towards the earth and it is not clear whether or not it will impact the earth or miss it. Scientists are trying to calculate the exact path of the asteroid but there are unknown problems in doing so. What our sources do know is that it should arrive at or near the earth about mid October.”

Sarah and her parent all said in unison “The Mid October Event!”

Errol grabbed Sarah’s arm and turned her to face him. “What else do you know? And what do we need to get?” “Only that Walt and Kris, ah Special Agent Davies, have been helping the county to get a whole lot of supplies warehoused at several spots around the county and Walt has been getting even more out at the ranch.” Sarah stopped talking as an expression of a light bulb coming on in her brain came over her face. “We need more gasoline, diesel fuel, propane tanks, and food, lots of food.” She looked at her parents hard, “Now!” she said loudly as she broke free of her father’s grasp and ran back to the kitchen “Right now!”

As she ran she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed. In the kitchen she grabbed her keys and wallet and said to her parents, “I’m going to the propane store and get a tank trailer. Dad, get to the auto parts store and get all of the gas cans you can and get them filled. Mom, get more canned food now and cereal and pasta and rice, all you can get.”

“Right!” Errol said as he grabbed his keys from the hook by the back door.

“Okay,” Carol agreed. The hollered back to the family room. “Kids! Let’s go! Quick!”

“No!” Sarah stopped her. Then the phone was answered, “Walt, hi. Did you see what’s on the news?” … “Yeah, we’re heading out to get some more supplies.” … “I just needed to say I love you.” … “Then screw the dating. Let’s get married.” As she listened to Walt’s response she looked up at her dad whose eyes were just about bugging out of his head. “Yeah, you’re right. He’s about ready to have a stroke. We’ll wait a while longer, but you agreed so we are engaged now.” … “I’ll call you later after we get back from shopping.” … “Love ya’ Babe. Bye.”

She hung up the phone and slipped it back into her pocket while she danced in place saying, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!” then she looked at her parents. “Dad, go! Mom, take Mick. Amber can watch the others. Let’s go.” She turned and went out the back door to her Suburban with her dad right behind her.

“We’ll talk when we get back!” Errol said half with pride of the woman his little girl had become and half in fear of the woman she has become.

Carol was giving instructions to Amber as Mick pulled on his boots, then they too came out of the back door and headed to her year old Ford Expedition.

***

It was an hour and a half later when everyone was back at the Ahern house. Sarah had gotten a trailer with an eight hundred gallon tank on it. That would supply their RV trailer for at least two years if they were very careful and used the Sun Ovens and campfires whenever they could. Showers would be cold in the summer and barely warm in the winter.

Errol had hit both auto parts stores and the hardware store before anyone else had thought to get extra cans. He had fifteen five gallon cans and eight three gallon plastic cans. He then stopped at the tractor supply and got a two hundred and fifty gallon bed tank for his Ford F-550 crew cab. He filled all but two of the five gallon cans and all three gallons cans with gas. The other two five gallon cans and the bed tank he filled with diesel. Sarah’s Suburban and the Jeep Wrangler ran on gasoline while the F- 550 and the Expedition were diesel. He had just finished fueling, when Bob came running out of the station and changed the prices, almost triple what they were. Errol shook his head and headed home.

Carol was the last one home. She and Mick had three carts filled and had just checked out when a lot of others flooded into the store. Dani Rourke had pulled in and stopped next to them. She asked where Sarah was. Then if they were members of the Co-op. When Carol said no, Dani said to follow her over there and they could use her membership to load up. So with Dani’s help they filled both vehicles past their maximum weight limits and slowly drove to the Ahern’s home. They scraped bottom as they pulled off of the street and into the long driveway that ran alongside the house to the back where the three car garage was and the RV carport next to it.

Carol pulled into one of the garage bays and Dani pulled around by the back door.

Sarah bounded out of the back door and hugged Dani as soon as she was out of the old Forest Service Truck. “What are you doing here?”

“Well dad was on his way home with the Crew Trailer when the news broke and swung by the co-op. He loaded it and his trunk to the max and called me to get a few more things. And that’s when I ran into your mom at the market. They had just come out and the place was turning into a zoo quickly so I had her follow me to the Co-op and we loaded up.”

“Thank you Dani.” Errol said and held out his hand to her.

“Sure thing Mister Ahern.” Dani said then added boldly. “Now I need a favor.”

“What?” Carol spoke as she and Mick came over from the garage. “Well, when dad heard the news he called Mister Young and told him to lock up quick before he got looted, so he did.” She paused and gave Sarah a quick sideways glance that between the two of them was more of a ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ signal. “He wants some help relocating certain items tonight and I was hoping you could help.”

“We would be happy to help.” Errol said. “But first, let’s get your truck unloaded. You can come back to get you supplies tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Dani said with a big smile.

They unloaded the vehicles and headed over to Young’s Sporting Goods. When they got there the front was boarded up, so they drove around back. Dani’s father Jerry had his ex-military deuce and a half truck backed up to the loading dock door and several of the Venture Crew were standing guard with shotguns and some ten million candle power lights. Randy was there directing other crew members who were just arriving where to park. He had all of the vehicles form two road blockades, one on each side if the deuce and a half with their headlights facing away from it so they could illuminate anyone approaching them.

While they were loading the truck, Sarah called Walt to let him know what was going on. Five minutes later two pickup trucks slowly pulled around the side of the building to the back of the building with their headlights off. The parking lot lights were still covering the trucks with light and Sarah thought that she recognized one of them from high school. The pickups stopped as soon as they were out of the light from the parking lot lights. Their panicked conversation couldn’t quite be made out, but it was obvious they though no one would be here and they didn’t know what to do.

Randy came around from the other side of the deuce and a half and saw the pickups. “Lights!” he yelled and turned on the portable searchlight he was carrying. When all of the vehicle lights came on as well as the several ten million candle power portable searchlights, it was as if the two pickups were sitting in the noonday sun.

Marcus Young stepped out of the back door of his store and yelled, “The store is closed. Get off of my property! You are trespassing!”

“We just need to get some supplies.” Came the reply from the pickup that Sarah did not recognize. “Just let us get what we need and no one will get hurt.”

Sarah suddenly recognized whom the one pickup belonged to. “Jimmy Hardee!” she yelled. “You best be getting out of here before my fiancée gets here.” She felt all warm and fuzzy inside referring to Walt as her fiancée.

“Yeah? Who’s that?” Came Jimmy’s surprised and nervous reply. Sarah chuckled to herself as she shouted back, “Walt Rogers. You know, the Sheriff!”

“Oh Shit!”, “What the heck?”, “Damn it!” and a few other exclamations came from the group with Jimmy.

After seconds Jimmy shouted back, “I don’t believe you. News like that gets around.”

“We got engaged a couple hours ago, so it isn’t general knowledge.” Sarah smiled as she remembered something, “Hey Jimmy? Do you remember what he said to you in front of the school last year? The clock is still ticking and it has several years left on it.”

“Oh Shit! I’m out of here.” Jimmy practically screamed in a panic as he started his truck back up. He had just put it in gear when flashing red and blue lights and bright headlights appeared behind him and a siren sounded.

That was followed by the PA horn saying, “Turn off your engine, and step out of the vehicle.” and another set of red and blue lights that pulled up behind the other pickup. Then Walt’s Hummer pulled around the deuce and a half with its light bar flashing and stopped next to Sarah’s Suburban.

Sarah looked over at Walt and said, “It’s Jimmy Hardee and some of his friends.”

“Hey Jimmy.” Walt said over his PA. “Before you do something stupid you should know that there are about fifteen shotguns aimed at you and your friends.”

“Don’t shoot!” Jimmy cried out. “I give up.”

“Me too.” said another.

“Ditto” from the third person in Jimmy’s truck.

“This is bullshit.” Said the other driver as he started his truck.

But before he could put it in gear Jason Red Hawk’s shotgun butt came through the window and knocked him out. Half an hour later Jason and Gary had transported the five would be thieves to the jail and the Venture vehicles and Jerry Rourke’s deuce and a half truck were loaded.

Marcus Young had Sarah, Dani and Randy load several crates and smaller cases into Sarah’s Suburban and fill out some papers. When they were ready to go Sarah and Dani saw Errol talking to Walt off to the side where no one could hear them. Marcus had locked up his store and everyone was getting ready to head over to the Rourke’s home.

“Five bucks they’re talking about you.” Dani said.

“Ten bucks says you’re right.” Sarah replied.

“Let’s move out!” Jerry shouted.

***

The trip to the Rourke’s house had been uneventful. Dani and Randy had driven out first and pulled over after six and eight respectively blocks and parked with lights and motors off. After the caravan pasted they waited to see if anyone was following them. When the caravan had gone twelve blocks and turned left, they started up again turning left where they were at and sped up to catch up to the caravan. Errol and Sarah were rear guard they turned left with the caravan until the caravan turned right, then they blocked road it turned on to until Dani and Randy caught up to them. Then all four vehicles sped up until they had just about caught up to the caravan. When they were four blocks behind Dani and Randy held at that distance and Errol and Sarah closed until they were two blocks behind.

Jerry Rourke had what appeared to be a standard cinder block barn style building for storing and working on farm equipment. It had the standard roll-up doors on each end and two walk-in doors next to them. But that was all that was standard about “Fort Rourke” as the Venture Crew called it. The walls were made of eight inch wide cinder blocks filled with concrete and rebar with another wall of twelve inch flat cast concrete lined the inside. The first floor was fifteen feet high for working on the farm equipment. Above that was ‘the Loft’ where the Venture Crew met for the meetings. It was here they were going to store the items from the sporting goods store until it was safe to return them to the store.

Walt had left Young’s Sporting Goods store as if he was heading back to the office but after several blocks he turned and sped ahead on a different route to the Rourke’s home to get there about five minutes ahead of the caravan. He did a quick search patrol of the area to make sure that no one was waiting to ambush them for the items from the store. Then he parked a half block past the driveway facing it. He stayed there while everyone unloaded and secured the items and the building. Then he waited another fifteen minutes after everyone had left to make sure that no one was coming before returning to his office.

***

Cathy Dire was having a great day as she rode her Harley-Davidson Road King back to base housing at Camp Pendleton. She was getting out of the Marines in two days and was on terminal leave. She had just landed a job with a high-end security company doing executive family protection. The client was the Donaldson Family.

The father was the Senior Vice-President for a major oil company and was going to relocate to Northern California to be closer to the corporate headquarters at the end of the year. Two members of the current team did not want to relocate with them and asked to be replaced. Since Cathy was just getting out of the Marines and had no ties to the area, she was seen as the perfect fit.

The mother was a stay at home mom who was involved with community service groups. They had twin seventeen year old daughters and a fifteen year old boy.

The two members of the security detail that were staying on lived in the gate house. She would have one of the rooms over the six car garage and would be the only female on the four person team assigned to the family, so far that is. The fourth person had not yet been hired.

The company’s account representative, Brian Allen, was standing with the client talking to them when she arrived at the Donaldson’s home for her interview with the family. She surprised everyone when riding up on her Road King. The father was lean and sharp and hard to read. Cathy guessed that if he had been in the military he had to have been an officer. The mother was easier to read. She gave Cathy a disapproving look as she parked the Harley.

Then there were the twins, Mary and Jane; they fell in love with her as soon as she rode up on the Harley. They immediately ran to her and started to pester her to take them out for a ride on it. Their parents weren’t so sure about Cathy until she told the twins that they would have to earn the privilege from both her and their parents and only if their parent agreed to it first.

Cathy walked over to where the account representative and client stood and came to attention. “I understand that you are getting out of the Corps.” Mister Donaldson stated more than asked. “I am Joseph Donaldson and this is my wife Linda.”

“Master Gunnery Sergeant Dire, Fourth FORECON, on terminal leave for the next two days.” Cathy said.

Mister Donaldson stiffened when she gave her rank. “You appear to be a bit young to be a Master Gunnery Sergeant. How old are you?”

“Thirty-two sir. I enlisted at seventeen with special waiver. My father was a First Sergeant. I received a Combat Meritorious Promotion to Sergeant my first week in the box, ten months TIS, still seventeen. Then a year later another Combat Meritorious Promotion to Staff Sergeant. I received three more Meritorious Promotions and made Master Gunnery Sergeant two years ago.”

Mister Donaldson smiled wirily, “So you’re that Dire. Let’s go inside.”

As they went inside the mansion like home to conduct the interview, Cathy was awed by the furnishings. She had never seen the likes of them in person. Yes, she had watched those lives of the rich and famous TV shows, but she never expected to be in one of those type homes. The Donaldsons apologized for the fact that Jake, the fifteen year old, was not there. They explained that he was off riding his ATV with some friends and was running late again.

It was about five minutes into the interview that Jake showed up and came tromping into the room tracking mud everywhere he went. Cathy bit her lip when he replied snippety to his mother’s inquiry as to why he was late. But the topper was when he slapped Cathy’s fanny as he walked by. Cathy would not take that from anyone let alone a teenage boy. She hooked his arm, spun him around and face-planted him on the floor. The look on his mother’s face told her that she had lost the job.

So keeping Jake pinned to the floor, Cathy really laid into him with a Marine Corp style lecture and laid out some rules he would have to follow around her.

The first rule was that he would never, ever, disrespect his parents in any way including being late, tracking dirt, wet or dry, into the house, and never ever talk that way to his mother again. Second rule was he would respect women as being on a pedestal not as a piece of meat. Third rule was that if he ever touched her butt again she would break every bone in that hand and pull his pants down and spank his bare butt in front of god and everyone. Fourth rule was that there would always be more rules to learn.

When she picked him up off the floor Cathy told him to go back and get himself cleaned up and then clean the floor. When she looked at the parents she saw two different reactions. The mother was holding her hands over her mouth and her eyes were saying ‘how could you do that to my baby’. The father had a smile that went from ear to ear. Then she glanced at the twins who were giving her two thumbs up each.

The company’s account rep Brian Allen, was starting to apologize when the father held up his hand to him as he faced Cathy, “You’re hired!”

“What?” Protested Jake.

“He said I’m hired and that means you’ve got some cleaning up to do. Now!” Cathy ordered.

Jake looked back and forth between his parents and the new pain in his life several times then he slumped his shoulders and sulked off to do as he was told.

Mister Donaldson seemed to smile bigger, “Let’s talk in the den.” They left the twins and went into another room that was an executive’s mancave. He sat on the edge of the desk and took his wife’s hands in his. “Linda and I have been having trouble with Jake and he has not responded to anything we have tried. But you…you’re the Pacifier! You put him in his place and did it without showing anger in your voice, even though I knew you were pissed. That seemed to make the biggest impact on him. His eyes told me all I needed to see.” He paused, sucked in and chewed on his lips as he thought out something that he had not considered before. “Gunny, I want you to be my Drill Sergeant in charge of the kids.”

“Two quick questions.” Cathy replied a bit confused, “One, Pacifier? And two, do you mean boot camp time for them?”

Mister Donaldson smiled, let go of his Linda’s hands and walked over to a cabinet that was full of DVDs and opened it. Drawing his finger across the DVD cases, he scanned them until he found the one he was looking for and pulled it out. He walked over to Cathy and handed it to her. “One, The Pacifier. Two not quite boot camp, but training. PT, survival tactics, situational awareness, help them to protect themselves, in general, not be spoiled brats.”

“Do you mean just hand to hand or does that include weapons too? I don’t want to start teaching something you don’t care for.”

Mister Donaldson smiled and walked over to another cabinet and slid his hand along the inside edge until he felt a certain spot, then he grabbed it tight and pulled. The cabinet swung out to reveal another cabinet behind. This new cabinet was loaded with all sorts of weapons. Everything from knives to bows to pistols to rifles and shotguns. He turned and smiled, “everything here is okay.” Cathy nodded then said, “Where can I watch this?” holding up the DVD.

“The girls will show you and if you want they can watch it with you. It’s been awhile since they’ve seen it.”

“Sound great Mister Donaldson, Sir.” Cathy said and held out her hand.

Shaking her hand, the father said, “Master Gunnery Sergeant Dire, we are going to have a different relationship than the rest of the security team, so call me Major.”

Reacting instinctively, Cathy snapped to attention and saluted sharply. “Yes Sir, Major Sir.”

The Major returned the salute, “Now get to it Gunny. While Mr. Allen and I take care of the paperwork.”

Cathy left the room and found the girls in the kitchen and they bombarded her with questions. She held up her hand to quite them then gave them a quick rundown on what was to come and they were both jumping around screaming with joy and hugging her and each other. They took her to a room that was a private theater with twenty ultra plush reclining chairs and played the DVD for her. About ten minutes into the movie, Jake came in and told Cathy that everything was cleaned. The twins quickly rattled off all of the things that ‘Gunny’ was going to teach them. That seemed to peak Jake’s interest. Then one of the twins added, “Yeah, but we have to earn the special stuff.”

“Special stuff?” Jake inquired.

“Marine FORECON Training.” Jane answered with a serpentine smile.

After the movie Cathy knew what the major meant by The Pacifier. The girls showed her the room over the garage where she would be staying. Then she said good bye to them and headed back to base housing to pack up her gear and get moved in. Even though she two days until she was official out of the Corps, she was on Terminal Leave, which meant that she did not have to report for any type duty and could stay where ever she wanted.

Back at base housing Cathy packed all of her belonging into the little teardrop trailer she had for her Harley. She hooked it up to the Road King and headed towards the main gate. She felt a little uneasy about leaving the Corps but excited about being with this new family. She had called in a favor when she got back to base and found out that Joseph Donaldson was a retired Marine Major who had done a stint in Fourth FORECON before retiring and going to work for the oil company. That explained why he took her in so quickly and fully. Cathy pulled her Harley and trailer to a stop at the main gate to the camp and was surprised to see her friend Gunnery Sergeant Jenny Holland stationed there.

Jenny came out of the booth and hurried passed the other MP that was going to check Cathy off base, and gave her a hug. “So you’re actually out, eh?”

“Yeah. Gonna miss it but I got a great posting doing family security with an ex- Fourth FORECON Major so…” She let it hang in the air.

“Well don’t be a stranger and keep in touch.”

“Of course I will.”

“Yeah, Right!” Jenny smiled at her. “Now get out of here Marine!” And she snapped to attention and saluted.

Cathy returned the salute and drove off.

***

Two hours later Cathy had unpacked her belongings and was making a list of what she needed to go buy to be ready to start work the next morning when Jane and Mary came running out towards the gate house and garage yelling for everyone to come into the house quickly. At the same time the intercom activated and the mother’s voice came out sounding quite panicked, calling for them to hurry into the house. She grabbed her matching S&W 645s which were hanging in their double shoulder holsters on the back of one of the chairs in her room and ran into the hallway as she swung them over her shoulders and snaked her arms through the straps.

Ross Martin and Paul Snider were running from the gatehouse towards the garage and the main house. They were pulling on their jackets over their weapons. Ross had a Glock .40 in a light brown hip holster and Paul had a browning .45 in a black web shoulder holster. Cathy noticed that neither of them had extra magazines, at least not that she could see. Her rig had pouches for two extra magazines on each side.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs leading from her room above the garage, she saw the twins looking very scared. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s an asteroid gonna hit the earth!” Mary said “What?”

“Yeah, it’s on the news right now! Hurry!” Jane added.

They all ran to the main house and into the side door and continued on to the family room where the rest of the family was fixated on the large LCD TV. “and so we urge our listeners not to panic and stay tuned for more updates. We repeat that sources at NASA have leaked that an asteroid of immense size is on a possible, repeat, possible collision course with earth. Please stand by, we’ll right back with more up to the minute information after these words from our sponsors.”

“Oh my god Joseph. What are we going to do?” Linda asked in a panic and on the verge of tears.

“I’m not sure Dear, I’m just not sure. This maybe nothing. We don’t have enough information.”

“Mister Donaldson?” Ross spoke up.

“What is it?”

“I would suggest that we at least start packing for the Farm.” Then Ross added, “Just in case.”

Joseph nodded, “Are you sure we need to do that now?”

Before Ross could reply Cathy asked, “What’s the Farm and where is it?”

“It’s my grandparent’s farm in Idaho.” Linda answered, “They have two and a half sections of farm, but they lease out all but forty acres.”

Cathy nodded as she processed the information, “I think Ross is right. We should start packing essentials for a quick evac and if we have time, pack more for a long stay.” Then she turned to Ross, “Are all of the vehicles fully fueled?”

Paul answered, “I topped off everything this morning and the trailer has a full tank of water and all four propane tanks are full.”

Turning back to Joseph, Cathy said, “Major, with your permission?”

Joseph nodded, “Of course Gunny.” “Paul,” Cathy started, “I saw a gas station on the way in that has a propane exchange. Take the truck and get all the tanks you can and all of the jerry cans too, right now, go. It won’t be long before they are gone. Ross let’s get the other vehicles ready. We should be prepared to leave when Paul gets back.” Then turning to Joseph, “Major can we get every TV turned on to the news channels so we can hear updates as we pack?”

“Yes we can.” Then added to his family, “Let’s get busy packing everyone! We may not have much time.”

“Remember only the essentials, hair driers and makeup are not survival items but toothbrushes are.” Cathy shouted as she headed to the pantry to start pulling items.

Twenty minutes later Paul returned with fifteen propane tanks, six jerry cans of gasoline, three of diesel and three cases of motor oil. Cathy and Ross were packed in five minutes and in another ten minutes had the Escalade hooked up to the Open Road three axle, fifth-wheel trailer using the Automated Safety Hitch System. While she was packing, Cathy changed into dark navy blue cargo pants and a long sleeve shirt of matching color. She choose the blues instead of camo because they looked more official.

Going back in the house to check on the family she found them with a dozen packed bags in the family room watching the news. “There would be extremely high tides as the asteroid passes the earth, but it will not collide with the planet according to our sources at NASA. Also there appears to be a dozen or so smaller asteroids that are following the main one. These according to one source are no bigger than one hundred feet in diameter. We remind our viewers to stay tuned for the president’s press conference in fifteen minutes.”

The co-anchor began speaking, “To recap for those of you just joining us, our sources at NASA report that a massive asteroid will pass, not hit, the earth in mid October. The president will be speaking to the nation in about fifteen minutes so stay tuned and we will be right back after this commercial break.”

“Thank god!” Linda exclaimed.

“Well that was a waste of time.” Jake grumbled.

“Maybe not.” Cathy said quietly.

“What do you mean Gunny?” Joseph asked.

“Just because it misses the earth doesn’t mean there won’t be problems here.” “I agree.” Ross said. “Don’t forget they said there appears to be a dozen or so smaller asteroids that are following the big one. One or more of those might hit the earth.”

“And there will definitely be other problems.” Paul added, “When I was at the gas station a guy wanted to take some of the tanks and jerry cans from the truck. Luckily he didn’t have a gun.”

“I suggest that we get to Costco or Sam’s Club and load up on beans, rice, and toilet paper while we can. Maybe some canned goods and cereal.” Cathy suggested. “These things may become in short supply soon.”

“Good idea.” Joseph agreed, “Dear, you Jane and Ross go to Costco, Paul you take Jake and Mary and hit Sam’s. I’ll go with Gunny to Smart and Final. One cart for each group unless you think it is safe to do two. Let’s go.”

As they headed outside Cathy quick stepped up next to Joseph, “Major, another question.”

“Yes.”

“How much ammo do you have?”

He stopped and thought, “Not enough.”

“I thought as much. You should go on to Smart and Final, it’ll be safer than Costco or Sam’s Club and I’ll go to Dick’s Sporting Goods.”

“No, go to Canyon Guns, on East St. behind the Chevy dealership. Ask for Mickey.” And he handed her a wad of hundred dollar bills. “Twelve gauge, twenty gauge, forty-fives, nine mil, twenty-twos, two-twenty-three, thirty-thirty, three-o-eight, and whatever you need.”

Cathy nodded and ran to her Harley Davidson Road King and pulled everything out of the saddlebags. Then she dumped her oversized gym bag out and stuffed it in one of the saddlebags. She fired up the Road King and was out of the driveway before they had finished disconnecting the trailers.

When she got to Canyon Guns, Cathy was surprised to find the store nearly disserted. She was able to find Mickey right away and told him that she was working for Joseph Donaldson and Mickey smiled and asked how the Major was doing. It turned out that Mickey had served under the Major for six years, four of which were in Fourth FORECON. When Mickey found out that Cathy was Fourth FORECON and on terminal leave he took her in back and helped her load up the gym bag with the shotgun and rifle ammunition. Then loaded two cardboard boxes with the pistol ammunition the Major wanted plus some forty caliber for Ross. The Mickey sold her two cases each of ten thousand rounds of the elusive twenty-two long rifle ammunition. She spotted an S&W 500 magnum and a tactical quick draw holster for it. Grabbing those and two Ruger 10/22’s with six twenty-five round magazines. Mickey helped Cathy load the ammo in the saddlebags of the Road King and strap the gym bag across the top of saddlebags. Then they tied the boxes with the Rugers in them on top of the gym bag.

Just before she got on the bike, Mickey told her to tell the Major that a Barrett 82A1 should be in this afternoon’s shipment if he wanted to come check it out. Cathy stopped and asked him how much ammo he had for it. He replied that he had five hundred rounds in the store and another two thousand was coming with the rifle. Cathy pulled out her credit card and said that she would take the rifle and all of the ammunition. After paying for it, she gave him her cell phone number and told him to call as soon as it was there. He agreed and she pulled out heading towards the Smart and Final.

When Cathy pulled into the parking lot, Joseph was just loading the Ford Flex with four carts of food.

“What happened to one or two carts?”

“There was hardly anyone here when I got here so I decided to take advantage of it.” He smiled.

“So did I.” She added as she unstrapped the Rugers and gym bag and tossed them in the Flex with the food. “Mickey said the Barrett would be in this evening’s shipment so I bought it and all of the ammo he had for it. When I pick it up, I’ll get a scoped case to mount on my bike. That way, I can always split off and give you cover when we do bug out.”

“You are going to stick with us? You don’t really know us.”

“I hired on, gave you my word.” Cathy turned and looked Joseph square in the eye, “You’re Fourth FORECON, you’re my family now. Simper Fi.” Then she saluted him.

“Oorah!” He returned her salute.

Breaking her salute she turned and got back on her Harley, “I’m going to head over to Sam’s Club and see how they are doing.” “I’ll head over to Costco and check on them.” He answered with his plan.

“No Sir,” she fired back, “Take what you have and go secure home. Let me do my job. I can get around a lot better and fast than you can.” She started the Road King and sped away leaving the Major standing there, shaking his head and smiling.

Three minutes later Cathy was pulling into the Sam’s Club Parking lot and spotted Paul in the Chevy one ton four by four backing out of the parking stall. She wheeled around and drove up to him head on. “Did you get everything?”

“More.” He replied, “We just beat the crowd and got two carts full of TP and one of Rice and beans and cereal.”

“Great. The Major is on his way home. I’ll head over to Costco and escort them back.”

“Roger that.” Paul acknowledged and pulled out.

Cathy gunned the Harley ahead and proceeded to Costco as fast as she could go. In her mind Costco would be the trouble spot. The lines are always longer there. That would mean that Ross, Linda and Jane should still be in the checkout lines.

Five minutes later, she pulled up to the exit doors of Costco. There were two police motorbikes parked there. So whipped around and parked next to them. At first glance, her Road King looked like another police bike, being painted black and white. It was just missing a decal and it had a bigger engine.

Cathy got off the bike and walked over to the exit door. She still had her MP badge & ID from the occasional weekend assignments with the base MPs. So she dug it out of her back pants pocket and flashed it at the employee staffing the exit. She had seen Cathy ride up and since she was dressed in dark blue cargo pants and shirt, she thought that she was another cop responding to help the other two cops that went in just a minute ago, so she just waved her in and said, “They’re over by the office door.”

As she walked in, she took off her Ray Ban Aviators with hooked temple tips, folded them and put them in her shirt pocket. It took but a half a moment for her eye to adjust to the dimmer lighting in the store, but she saw immediately the two motor officers talking to an irate customer and the store manager on her left and Ross, Linda and Jane getting their three carts checked out on the right. She chuckled to herself; this new family did not follow orders blindly.

As she got closer to the officers on her way to her charges, she recognized one of the officers from her duties with the MPs. His name was John Thomas and he had her twisted sense of humor. She slowed her pace and listened to the conversation going on with the officers and the customer. The customer was claiming that he had plenty of balance left on his charge card and there was no reason for the store to deny his charge. He was getting louder and more agitated every time they tried to calm him down. Cathy smiled to herself, walked up behind the customer, and winked at John Thomas.

“Hey Cat!” He said, “How are things with Homeland Security?”

The customer froze in mid sentence. “Homeland Security?” was all he could say.

“Not bad, now that the president has declared Marshal Law. We get to shoot illegals and troublemakers on sight. Which one do you have here so I can put it on my toe tag report?”

The customer sighed and passed out.

“Cat that was so wrong.” John Thomas said with a laugh. “Thanks.”

“Me wrong?” Cathy asked innocently, “What about you saying that I was with Homeland Security?”

“Hey, it worked when we raided that floating betting parlor that your marines were getting ripped off at.”

“That it did. That ... it ... did.” She said with a wicked smile as the memories flooded back into mind.

“So, I hear you got out of the Corps. What are you going to do now?”

“I’m working executive security guarding the family of an oil company Senior Vice-President.”

“Sweet!” John said with a little envy in his voice. “If you need a partner give me a call.”

“What about your fiancé? This is a live on site gig.”

John sighed and his face clouded over, “She called it off and went back home to her folks yesterday. She just didn’t have the mind set to be a cop’s wife.”

“Too bad, I liked her.” “Me too, but if she can’t hack the stress, maybe it’s for the best she called it off now.” John said as if he had just made a final decision. Then he smiled at Cathy, “Seriously though send me the company’s info so I can check it out.”

“You got it.” Cathy nodded and added, “See you around JT.” Then she turned back to where the Donaldsons had finished checking out and Ross was helping Linda and Jane move the carts towards the exit. She stepped over to the path where the shoppers were making their way towards the exit and waited for them to get to her.

Jane was pushing the first cart, which was loaded with toilet paper and a few cases of diced tomatoes. “Hey Cathy! What are you doing here?”

“Everyone else is on their way home so I came by to see if you were having any problems.”

“Not yet.” Jane smiled for a second before reality set in again. “It’s going to get real bad isn’t it?”

“Maybe, Maybe not. We just have to be prepared for whatever happens.”

As they walked by the officers, JT called out, “Hey Cat, is that them?”

“Yup.” Cathy replied and nodded.

“Cool.”

When they got to the person at the exit checking sale receipts Linda came forward with the receipt and Cathy dropped back by Ross.

“The Major found Smart and Final with hardly anyone there so he got four cart loads, and Paul, Jake and Mary got three.”

“Yeah we were lucky to be able to grab three carts before they started limiting shoppers to one cart per group.”

“Lucky you.”

“Yeah, How’d you do?”

“Bonus points big time. And I got you several boxes of your brand.”

“Thanks.” When they got outside it was getting more chaotic by the second. Cathy stepped up to the first cart to help Jane steer it through the crowd. She had her left hand on the handle and was leaning slightly forward with her right on the front package of toilet paper. With many an ‘excuse me’ and ‘coming through’ they finally got through the crowd and out into the parking lot and to the Escalade. As they started to load they supplies Cathy went back to get her bike so she could escort them home.

She got back to it just as a greasy looking punk knelt down next to the one of the saddlebags with a knife and start working on the lock trying to jimmy it. His buddy, a pencil thin geek, was keeping a lookout but in the wrong direction. They figured that the owner would be coming from inside the store, so he was watching the exit door.

When she got right up behind the lookout she planted her left foot in front of her and snapped her right foot up to the back of the lookout’s head. The blow lifted his feet about six inches off the ground and propelled him forward in such a way that he landed in a belly flop on the concrete several feet away.

The greaser when heard the geek hit the concrete and several people gasp quickly looked over his right shoulder and was shocked to see his buddy laying there. He jerked his head around the other way to see who knocked him down, only to find the business end of a Smith and Wesson forty-five three inches from his nose.

“That’s my bike you’re breaking into.” Cathy growled as she grabbed a handful of hair. “Drop the knife or a flash is the last thing you’ll ever see.”

The greaser’s hand went limp and the knife fell from his hand. “Don’t shoot me! I didn’t know it was your bike.”

“But you knew it wasn’t yours, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I knew, but I give up. You can’t just shoot me.”

“Didn’t you hear? The president declared Marshal Law. I have orders to shoot law breakers on sight.” And she cocked the pistol.

“Oh geez, Please don’t shoot me.”

“Why not? You little shit! You scratched the snot out of my bag.”

“I..I..I’ll pay for it.”

“Pay for what?” John Thomas asked as he walked up with his pistol drawn but pointed towards the greaser’s feet. “My Saddlebag.” Cathy snapped, glaring at the greaser.

“Lennie,” John Thomas sighed shaking his head, “Please tell me you didn’t use your switchblade to try to break into a federal officer’s bike. Crap man that’s federal time if she doesn’t just shoot you on principle.”

“I can pay for it!” Lennie yelled. “I’ve got five grand! It’s in my pack!”

“Cat, are you willing to let him pay for the damage?”

Cathy thought about the Barrett she just paid for and how much the scope was going to cost her, “I guess I can let him live if he pays for it now!”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Lennie babbled as he slowly took his backpack off. As he started to unzip it John Thomas warned, “There better not be a gun in there Lennie. I would hate to get your brains all splattered over my uniform.”

Lennie carefully slid out a six by eight mailer and handed it over to Cathy. She took the mailer and said, “Close the pack and put it back on.” She opened the mailer and saw what looked like well over fifty, one hundred dollar bills.

“Are you good Cat?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She slid the mailer into the inside pocket of her jacket. “Now Lennie, Pick your buddy up and get.”

“Sure thing.” Then Lennie worked on rousing his buddy and getting him to stand up so he could help him walk away.

When they had gone around the corner Cathy said to John Thomas, “You might want to tell your ex-girlfriend get some supplies. I have a feeling things are going to get crazier by the minute.”

“I think you’re right. I may have to quit just to stay safe. See ya around Cat.”

She started the Harley and slowly pulled away through the crowd who scrambled to get out of her way. She started to turn in the direction of the Escalade when she saw it coming her way. She waved them past and pulled in behind them as they headed home.

***

Mark Rogers walked into the Senior Partners’ meeting with a big smile on his face. He had gotten the final financials on the new Boise Idaho office and the numbers are better than he had hoped for. A couple of the other senior partners were less than supportive on opening an office in Boise, much less joining with an existing firm and bringing that office’s head on as a junior partner. However, with Mark’s insistence the acquisition merger went through and Mark had overseen the process at first then pulled back and Dewey Johnson had been able to drum up more business that they had expected. Mark even had to send a couple of associates to help out until they could hire permanent local associates.

This would be his great justification to open an office in Salt Lake City Utah and one in Phoenix Arizona. Mark was trying to move the firm’s new account focus to areas away from the coast. Although this was spurred in part by the strong hints given him by his son Walt, he also just felt it was good business sense to diversify in that direction.

Though Walt said he couldn’t talk about it in detail, he was able to reference enough in the novels to get the point across with Sarah’s help. If the coming disaster was survivable, he wanted his company to be at the forefront bringing law and order back to a devastated America.

Mark walked over to the Audio-Visual hook up and plugged in his laptop and keyed up the one slide he had for the meeting. Then he hit the letter ‘b’ and the monitors around the room went blank. He had done it so fast that no one who was there got a decent glance at the data he was going to present. Taking the remote with him to his seat, Mark sat waiting for the other partners to arrive.

When all of the senior partners were present, the presiding partner called the meeting to order. After the roll call was made, Mark requested to be first to present the financials of the new Boise Office. The presiding partner nodded and Mark pressed the ‘b’ key on his laptop and brought up the presentation on the flat screen TVs and received several groans.

“Lady and Gentlemen, I am going to make this short as I am delaying my vacation to make this presentation. Therefore I have only one slide for this presentation.” Mark said with a smile and that brought forth even more mouthings of approval than there were groans before. “I draw your attention first to the column on the left. These are the projected losses that were put forth to be the result of this merger by those who did not believe it was a worthwhile endeavor. In the next column are the projected profits that my team modestly estimated would come from the merger. And in the third column are the actual profits. Three times that of the projected profits!” Cheers and applauds greeted these numbers. Even those who were against it were clapping. “Well done Mark,” The presiding partner said, “What are the projections for the next year?”

“That depends on whether or not we open offices in Salt Lake City Utah and Phoenix Arizona.” Mark held up his hands to stop an onslaught of questions. “Right now Boise is poised to become a major player in our firm for the digital age. It is in a relative earthquake free zone unlike LA, SFO, or even here. We need a secure digital storage center for all of our own files and if we offer that to our clients…Well, that is where the big money will be for the future. Legal Digital Warehousing.”

There were a couple of under the breath grumblings, when one of the most opposed to the Boise office idea spoke up, “I’m for it. All of it.”

Mark looked at him a little perplexed, “Charles, if I may inquire what changed your mind so much?”

Charles chuckled, “Several things, one, the profits from Boise, two, my broker asked me about a digital storehouse for legal documents outside of the coastal states, three…It makes damn good sense.”

Just then there was a loud knock on the door and Mark’s Administrative Assistant came in. “Excuse me but there is something on the news that you must see now.” She walked over and took the remote from Mark and changed the flat screens to Fox News.

“…our sources at NASA have confirmed that a massive asteroid is headed towards the earth and projections say that it may not hit the earth, but should pass between the moon and the earth some time in next month. We will try to get an exact date as soon as we can for you.”

“The asteroid appears to be on a grand arc orbit that brought it out from behind the asteroid belt. It has been in a blind spot from our telescopes, which is way it was not spotted until this week. It is not known where it came from or what type of material it is made of. Our sources say that if it is dust and ice, then it presents less of a threat than if it is an iron core asteroid. It appears that the asteroid is about fifty miles in diameter, which makes it about eight times that size of the one that cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, our sources say that it is not supposed to hit the earth, but will come very close to it.” The announcer pause as he was handed a sheet of paper then continued, “We have just received word that the president is holding a press conference in about thirty minutes to address this issue. We will continue coverage of this break news story in a moment.” Mark took the remote back and muted the TVs. “I do believe that this is the greatest crisis our city will ever face. It is going to get very dangerous on the streets very soon. I am going to have my staff leave now and telework from home. I suggest you do the same. Contact the courts and get postponements for every case you can until next week, when things should settle down a bit.”

“How do you know that?” Charles asked.

Mark reached over and grabbed Charles’ laptop, disconnected his from the AV hookup and then attached Charles’. The he brought up Amazon and typed in ‘Walt Rogers’ and Walt’s page came up. “You see these first three books? The federal and state governments has been buying copies like crazy this year. The most important is his current best seller, ‘Blood Moon Falling’. I would get a copy and read it today!” Mark slid Charles’ laptop back to him and picked up his own laptop and turned to leave. As he did so he saw that everyone was still sitting in shock except for Charles, who was ordering the books. “Now people!” he shouted as he left the room with his Administrative Assistant hot on his heels.

“Mister Rogers?” She choked out, “Is this, the end of the world?”

Marked stopped and turned to face her. She was barely holding it together. “The end of the world? No. The end of the world as we know it? Possibly, for a while. Did you ever get that six months supply of food you and your husband were talking about?”

She nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

“Good. Now, get our staff out of here and headed home now. I will be in contact via emails, texts and tweets.”

She hurried off to tell their staff what to do and Mark turned and pulled out his cell phone and called Walt. When Walt answered, he said only three words, “It has leaked.” Then he called Mary.

***

Mary Rogers had been working all morning with Professor Howard Earp in the Aeroponics lab. They were setting up a new rack system setup for tomatoes. One that would allow for more space usage and better root saturation and retention of moisture and nutrients. The one of the plans for this system was that it was to be used in space aboard the Mars Advance Testing Simulator or MATS. As such it was built in a standard forty foot cargo container that had been modified with a self contained environment control system. The idea was to have it be able to be moved from one location to another by truck while in full operation. This would simulate being transported to a launch site, launched into space, and then docked in a receiving port on the MATS. If this system worked it would mean that the spaceship to Mars would be more like a cargo ship. A framework support structure with an engine and command center. Astronauts going to Mars would be in their own cargo units.

Another plan for this system was earth bound. Units like this could be deployed to disaster areas for relief support. It was that use which Mary was more concerned about. And one which she had received lots of funding for from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior.

They had built several prototypes which had been taken out for ‘Road Testing’ but in reality were being copied and deployed to the mid west states. One of the units, running around the clock, could produce more food in a year, than five acres of farmland could. So far there had been several hundred of these units built.

This was the next generation model. It was fifty percent more productive and sixteen percent more efficient in power usage. She and Professor Earp would be getting three more set up this week for testing. One for potatoes, one for kale, and one for wheat. Wheat had been the failure so far with all of the other designs. They just didn’t have the yield to make it worthwhile, but with this new configuration it looked like it might work.

“Okay, turn on the pumps.” Professor Earp called out from behind the spray rack.

Mary turned them on and the nozzle emitted ultra fine mist of nutrients. She walked the length of the thirty foot rack and saw no leaks. “It looks fine on this side Howard.” She hollered.

“It looks good on this side too.” He hollered back. “Turn them off and we’ll slid it back in place and secure it.”

When Professor Earp was out from behind the rack Mary turned on the screw motor and the rack slid in its track back against the wall. They secured the lock down latches that held it in place during operating sessions.

“Now we’ll let Jason and Margie insert the seedlings.” Professor Earp said with satisfaction. ”Then it should be ready for a road trip by tonight.” “I agree,” Mary said. “I better check on Bobbie and Alex and see if they have the flats for the wheat done.”

“I’ll take some more pictures for the file.”

As Mary walked towards the door, her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and stopped when she saw it was her husband because he very rarely called her at work. “Hey, What’s up?”…“Okay. Got it.” Mary turned around and went back to Professor Earp. “Howard, it’s happened. The word is leaking out.”

“It’s about time.” He said with some sense of relief. “So, what is happening now that the word is out?”

“Nothing yet that we know of, but it just a matter of time before the world goes crazy.”

“As if it’s not already.” The professor chortled under his breath.

“We better get the other containers loaded and shipped so we can finish the testing in Idaho.”

***

Sally and David were at the Westfield Southcenter Mall with Brian, Nikki and their parents shopping for winter clothing that they might need for the next couple of winters. They had about six bags of clothing when Sally’s phone rang.

“Hey daddy.” Sally said when she answered the phone. “We’re at Southcenter.”

Just then several people came running out of BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse screaming that the world was going to end.

“Yeah, it’s starting now. Bye.” She said quickly. “We got to get out of here now!”

Seeing people freaking out help drive the point home to the Thomas’. They started to really believe what Walt and Mark had been telling them about how dangerous and stupid people would get in a disaster situation. They made their way to the exit and Erik’s Yukon and threw the bags in the back, then climbed inside. As they were pulling out of the parking space, Sally noticed that they had only half a tank. ”Dad, we better get gas while we can. The lines are going to get long insanely fast and the prices or going to go up faster.” She said with a panicked tremble in her voice.

Erik smiled at Sally calling him ‘Dad’ despite the tenseness of the situation. He pulled into the Chevron station by the mall exit and Sally bailed out of the Yukon before it came to a stop and stuck her credit card into the pump. She spun the cap off as soon as Erik popped the door open, and inserted the nozzle and gave it a hard squeeze. Sixteen gallons later the Yukon was full and just as Sally said the price went up fifty cents and a line was forming behind them. Hopping back in the SUV she said a little too loud, “let’s get out of here.”

The Thomas’ had one year’s supply of Mountain House canned and bagged dehydrated food at their cabin in Wellington Washington. Well above the one thousand foot elevation, they figured that they would be safe there. Reluctantly they had tripled the amount of food stored at the cabin and had added four fifty-five gallon barrels of water, just in case the well pump wasn’t working. Now they were wishing that they doubled what they now had there.

At first the drive home was normal, then about five miles from their off ramp the traffic slowed to a crawl. Forty minutes later they pulled off the freeway and were back to normal speeds for the rest of the trip home.

Usually Erik pulled forward into the garage but this time he took the extra time to back in. then he had the kids park their cars in the driveway as close to the garage door as they could and along the side of the garage in front of the LUXE travel trailer.

Once everything was secure outside, everyone went inside and made sure all of the doors and windows were locked too. Then Erik called Mark and apologized for not taking him as serious as he should have.

*** The Press Conference of President of the United States of America

My fellow Americans I come before you to set the rumors and wild speculations to rest and to give you the true information about the asteroid that is headed our way. First of all, it will not make contact with the earth. The closest it will come to the earth is sixty thousand miles. That’s more than a quarter of the distance to the moon.” He held up his hand and continued. “Second, yes there will be exceptionally high tides for a couple of days before and after it passes. The height of the tides will vary depending on your location. Since the asteroid will pass in the southern hemisphere, we will not suffer the greatest effects of the high tides. However, we will still have tides that will mandate the evacuation of all coastal cities with an elevation less than five hundred feet. This evacuation will begin on October first and should be completed by the tenth. Nine days before the asteroid passes.

The government has been constructing temporary housing in the central states. These camps are being finished this and next week. They will have power, water, sewer, and other essential services.

Flood zone maps are being distributed to all affected state and local government agencies as I speak to you. We will try to keep communities together by assigning them to the same camps. If you have relatives in non-coastal states, you may go to stay with them if you choose. If you have a vacation home at a high elevation, please go there. If you have an RV, motor home, travel trailer, or camper you are encouraged to use those to travel to the relocation camps or other location where you can stay for several months. Fuel vouchers will be provided by your local governments.

I am freezing all prices. Food, fuel, everything. There will be no price gouging. What a loaf of bread cost last week it will still cost the same until this event is over. Hording will not be allowed. Grocery stores will allow only one level cart per family. Food deliveries will continue to the evacuation areas until September twenty-ninth. At that time food deliveries will be rerouted to the relocation camps.

Now the hardest executive order I have ever given. I am declaring Marshal Law throughout the United States and her territories. There is a nation curfew from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise. Looters are to be shot on sight. We will not tolerate lawlessness. Criminals arrested during the next two months will be transferred to detainment camps in Arizona and New Mexico. The right to a speedy trial is suspended for the next three months.

The highest point in Florida is only three hundred and forty-five feet , in Delaware it is four hundred and forty-seven feet and Rhode Island is eight hundred and twelve feet and in the District of Columbia it is four hundred and ten feet. Because of this I am ordering the evacuation of these three states and the District of Columbia. These are the only states that will have to be completely evacuated. There is thirty-three days until the arrival of the asteroid. Now some of you may ask that if the asteroid is going to miss the earth by sixty thousand miles why are we having to evacuate. The answer is, this is not an ordinary chunk of rock asteroid, no, this is a nearly solid mass of iron, and as such has a gravitational pull almost as strong as the moon. So as it passes it will have an immense influence on the ocean tides. Tides are expected to be as high as five hundred feet on the east coast.

For this reason, any area on the east coast and has an elevation less than one thousand feet and an unobstructed path to the ocean is to be evacuated. The elevation for the west coast is eight hundred feet.

Now we will get through this if we work together. FEMA will be making informational broadcast on all TV channels and radio stations every three hours. Homeland Security is setting up several informational websites where FEMA broadcasts will be posted for viewing only. There will be nothing to download as of yet. I will turn the microphone over to the Administrator of FEMA to cover in more detail how the evacuation process will work.”

The Administrator of FEMA spent the next thirty minutes explaining the evacuation process and the locations of the camps and which zip codes were to go to which camp. He finished with the option that if you have family outside of the evacuation zones you may go stay with them, but indiscriminate relocations are to be avoided as there may not be resources there to support you.

Chapter 6

Hunker Down

October Second

Cathy rode her Road King with its little teardrop shaped trailer at the back of the little convoy as it was heading toward Idaho. Leading the convoy was Ross in the new Ford Raptor crew cab that Joseph had just bought. Next was Joseph driving the GMC Sierra 3500 Denali HD and it was pulling the twenty-eight foot sports trailer with two quads and other gear and supplies inside. Next was Paul driving the Escalade pulling the Open Road three axle, fifth-wheel trailer using the Automated Safety Hitch System. Next was Linda in the Ford Flex with a twelve foot long Wells Cargo, low top, box trailer.

In the last two weeks the Major had dropped some serious cash on vehicle upgrades. For the GMC he had picked up a two hundred and fifty gallon bed tank. He also got two, fifty gallon tanks for the cargo trailers and a hundred gallon tank for the Raptor. Each tank had the fuel type for the vehicle it was associated with plus an additional five jerry cans, two with diesel and three with gasoline. Each vehicle also had two jerry cans with water and three cases of bottle water.

All of the vehicle tires had been replaced with run flat tires. He also changed out all of the trailer tires to the same size. The trailers had spares of the regular type in them. The trailer tires had been slime filled, as had their spare sets. Each trailer had a two year’s supply of Mountain House dehydrated food in number ten cans while the vehicles had eight cases of just the dinners and a two burner camp stove setup. In all they had six and a half years’ worth of the Mountain House food. There was also several thousand pounds of bagged rice and sugar in the trailers.

The ammunition had been divided between vehicles. Pistols had been stashed everywhere so that everyone could get to one quickly, but only Ross, Paul and Cathy had concealed weapons permits. The Major had been able to get them travel permits for Nevada and one year temporary permits for Idaho. The only place he wasn’t able to get any type of permit was for Oregon and they only had about two hours of drive time without traffic through the bottom southeast corner of the state.

The rifles had been placed in the vehicles and trailers. Cathy’s Barrett was in the Raptor and she had Joseph’s ‘Quigley’ in .45-90, from Shiloh Rifle in Montana, in a bike scabbard on the front forks. She hadn’t been able to find a scabbard for the Barrett that would mount on her Harley. While the Quigley’ didn’t have the range the Barrett did, it was the second best they had and at seven hundred yards she would put the hurt on anybody who tried to mess with them. Plus, they had more ammunition for it then they did for the Barrett. Mrs. Donaldson’s grandparents, the Butterfields, lived in a town called Indian Valley just off of U.S. Highway 95 in the middle of the Idaho finger. Ross and Paul had both been there before when the family went there for summer vacations and once for Thanksgiving. Usually the trip there took seventeen hours with fuel/restroom breaks so they would overnight in Fallon Nevada, which was a little over half way.

This time the trip had taken them most of the day just to get out of LA and what should have taken a little over five hours to get to a town called Beatty in Nevada, had taken them twelve hours. It took them three more hours to get to Fallon where they stopped for the night at the Kennecott Rawhide Mining Company and used their parking lot to camp in. It was a little after nine pm when they pulled in and got the vehicle circled up.

Ross had contacted the Fallon Police Department and informed them what they were doing and that they would be leaving about six o’clock in the morning. He also asked if they had two off duty officers that would like to make five hundred each for the night as their sentries. Twenty minutes later the police chief and two officers showed up. After about ten minutes of chitchatting the police chief left and the two officers got set up. Ross pulled out the outdoor kitchen stove on the Open Road trailer and set up a pot of coffee for them. The security guard for the Kennecott Rawhide Mining Company gave them his cell number in case they need to use the restroom.

At six oh five they pulled out and headed north on U.S. Highway 95. The rest of the trip was uneventful and they arrived at the farm eight and a half hours later. The first thing they did after greeting Linda’s Grandparents was to set up the Open Road trailer next to the house and hook up the utilities to it. Then they set up the twenty-eight foot Sports trailer next to the garage and it was also hooked up the utilities.

The Donaldsons would stay in the Open Road and the sports trailer, which had two bedrooms, would be for Ross, Paul and Cathy. But seeing what the barn looked like Cathy decided to set up a cot in the loft for of several reasons. First was that the workshop down stairs had its own bathroom and it would give her a little more privacy. Secondly was that the window gave her an advantage point which she could lookout over the main approach to the property. Third, Ross snored and that kept her from being able to hear anyone that might be trying to sneak up on them. Fourth was that Paul owed her for giving him his own room to sleep in.

Most of the food was moved into the basement of the house with some of the ammunition and guns. Some more ammunition was stored in the trailer with Ross and Paul, and some in the shop with Cathy. The majority was placed in the underground bunker/gun range in the barn along with the remaining food supplies.

Then while everyone else finished unpacking the vehicles of other items, Cathy, with Mister Donaldson’s approval, went on a recon of the farm property to get the lay of the land. When she got back to the house everyone was gathered around the television watching the latest update on the asteroid and the relocation progress.

The next morning Cathy started the children back on their boot camp routine. Ross and Paul joined in the second day for the morning PT and the Major and Linda the next. Mr. Butterfield said that he and the misses were too old for that type of work out.

***

October Third

David carried the last case of Mountain House dehydrated food into the Thomas’ cabin and set it down on the stack in the living room with a groan. This one was sugar and heavier than the others. Eighty-seven cases this trip. Diane was starting to have trouble finding places to store/hide the canned food. Erik and Diane had really come around to the prepping way after what happened at the mall in September. They had quadrupled the food supplies at the cabin. Bought two six hundred gallon water tanks, more solar panels and a battery back up system, two chest freezers, and guns.

Erik Thomas was an avid hunter, but a bow hunter. He felt that hunting with a rifle and killing the game from hundreds of yards away wasn’t sporting. Even though he only killed game for food, he always wanted to give it a chance to survive. Now, with a glance on how mankind was going to react in a panic, he was very concerned with how the other people were going to act when they ran out of food.

So with suggestions from the Rogers and a few other hunting friends and a lot of research on the Internet Erik and Diane decided that they would get some guns to protect the family. They were able to get three Mossberg twenty gauge shotguns with eighteen and a half inch barrels, four Ruger ten shot twenty-two pistols, two Ruger 10- 22 rifles, one Ruger mini-14 rifle, and a Ruger SAR736 rifle. They had killed off their savings and maxed out their credit cards, but Erik figured it was better that than the alternative.

Ammunition was more of a problem to get with the mad rush on the supplies available. The whole family had to get to Dick’s Sporting Goods three hours before they open to get a ‘Bucket of Bullets’ that had sixteen hundred twenty-two long rifle rounds in it. It was a special sale that was restricted to one bucket per customer. Even then they were some of the last to get the ammunition. With six buckets they hoped that had enough, but would be keeping an eye out to get more.

The shotgun ammunition was easier to get and they got a variety of loads including slug, double aught buck, pheasant, and clay target for a total of fifteen hundred rounds. For the Mini-14 and SAR736 they were able to load up on these and stockpiled almost three thousand rounds for each in Nevada. They had a time share at Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side so they had Nevada IDs and were able purchase the weapons and ammunition there without the draconian regulations of California, Oregon, or Washington. They were able to get cleaning kits, holsters, belts, slings, and a whole host of other sundries for the weapons and these filled two plastic totes.

Erik also got two more compound bows and three crossbows and two crossbow pistols. He surmised that arrows would become hard to get if everything fell apart for a while so he bought six hundred full-length arrows and three hundred for the crossbows and one hundred for the pistols. He didn’t want to have to rely on rifles for hunting. The bows would be quieter and therefore safer for his family to use, not alerting people as to where he was and letting them have the opportunity to steal his kill or ambush him for his weapons or back track him to his home.

David was quite happy with the way his relationship with the Thomas’ was going. The only thing he didn’t like was the one full year engagement that Nikki’s parents had insisted on.

***

Professor Howard Earp was trying to back the converted Greyhound Bus into the covered area of his lot of the Redoubt Village. This was his fifth try and he wasn’t having much better luck this time.

“Stop!” Yelled his wife Helena. “You’re too close to the container for that angle.”

Howard pulled forward again trying to get a better line of sight on the spot where he wanted the bus. He was just about to try to back it up again when he saw Stan Rogers driving into the little loop road that made up the access road for the Redoubt Village and right behind him was the delivery truck that he had seen here two other times. The loop was more like a huge cul-de-sac with a huge flat gravel island in the middle. Putting the bus in park and setting the parking brakes, Howard opened the door and stepped out with a groan. His hip hated stairs. It didn’t bother his knees walking on semi-level ground, but go up two or three stair steps and they began to let him know it.

“Stan.” Howard called as soon as Stan had gotten out of the John Deere Gator.

“Hey Howard.” Stan called back, “Are you getting all settled in?”

“Nope. I can’t park that bus for the life of me.” Howard said with disgust, “Could you give it a shot?”

“I could, but why don’t we get a professional to do it?” Stan said looking over at the delivery truck driver. “Hey Bobby? Could you do the professor a favor while we get your truck unloaded?”

With a big smile on his face, Bobby Trickle said “Why sure thing. What can I do for you professor?”

“Well,” Howard began and pointed with an open hand at the bus, “I can’t seem to be able to line that thing up right.”

Bobby laughed, “Not a problem professor. I get her right in for ya.” Climbing into the bus’ driver’s seat, Bobby stuck his head out of the window, “How close to the conex do you want it?”

“Conex?” Howard asked confused.

Bobby smile, “Sorry, I should have said shipping container.”

“Oh, about thirty inches away and all the way back.”

“You got it. Just holler when you want me to stop.” Bobby started backing up the big bus quicker than Howard would have ever dared and when he got about ten feet from the back he started slowing.

“Stop!” Yelled Helena, “Perfect.”

“Every time.” Crowed Bobby to himself.

Howard was waiting at the bus door while Bobby shut it down and secured the brakes. He offered Bobby his hand as bobby stepped from the bus, “Thank you very much. You probably saved me several hours of frustration and a few dents.” “Not a problem Professor.”

“Well what did you bring this time?”

“Red Winter Wheat seed.” He smiled, “And we’ll be back in three days with another load of the same.”

“Great, great, she did order it.” Howard muttered, “Is there any chance that you would know what the order after that is?”

Bobby scratched the stubble on top of his head while he thought, “Navy beans half load and red kidney beans the second half.”

“Ooh, good.”

They got back to Bobby’s truck just as the last pallet was being off loaded and placed on the gravel island in the middle of the loop. The Stan and his helpers were re- securing the soft sides of the trailer. Bobby did a quick look around the trailer to make sure all of the bucklings were secure.

“You guy are good enough to be truck drivers.” Bobby said with a laugh. “See you in three days.”

“Did he get your bus parked where you wanted it?” Stan asked as he walked back to them from the area where they had unloaded the wheat at.

“First try.” And they both laughed.

“Well, let’s get these pallets moved to the containers before it decides to rain.”

The forklifts started up again and started moving one pallet to each container.

***

Sarah and Carol were securing a heavy-duty vinyl trucker’s tarp to the side of the house next to where Carol’s Mother’s Airstream trailer was parked so they could drape it over the trailer and give it extra protection form the winter’s snows. It would also keep the part of the driveway between the trailer and the house clear so it would be easier for her to come in and out of the house.

Mick came out of the garage with some tie down ropes and steel stakes when Dani drove up in her old ugly green forest service truck. “Hey Dani.” He called out as soon as she opened the truck door, a big smile flashed across his face,

“Hey Mick.” She called back returning the smile as she hopped out of the truck and closed the door. “Hey Sarah, Mrs. Ahern. Getting the trailer covered for the snow, eh?”

“Yeah,” Sarah responded, “Grandma is worried about slipping on the ice and dad is worried that it may be extra cold this winter so we adding some extra protection for the trailer and the walkway.”

“I still say Grandma can have my room and I’ll sleep out here.” Mick chimed in.

“Right, and you’ll be sneaking out how many nights a week?” Mrs. Ahern asked.

“None, I promised, I wouldn’t.”

“Or having unapproved guest in.” Sarah fired back.

“Or that either.” Mick protested and looked at Dani. “I’m not going to do anything like that until I’m married!”

“Good for you Mick.” Dani said proudly of her best friend’s brother, then to Mrs. Ahern, “That’s kind of what I came over to talk to you about Missis Ahern.”

“Dani, what’s on your mind?” Carol asked.

“Well,” Dani hesitated, “My Mom was six years older than my dad, and I know that you are five years older than Mister Ahern…”

“Okay, and your point is?”

“I would like your permission to date Mick.” Dani said hurriedly and sighed once she had said it.

“Dani! You’re my best friend. You can’t be serious?” Sarah objected. “Uh, I don’t know.” Carol faltered, “I have to talk to Errol and …I …” She stopped and saw the way that Mick was looking at Dani. “Okay but no hanky panky. You’re nineteen and he’s still seventeen. You could get in real trouble.”

“I understand.”

“What is going on here?” Sarah exploded, “You’re my best friend. You’re not supposed to be dating my annoying little brother.”

“Sarah,” Dani said as she took Sarah’s hands. “You and Walt…?” she paused for a second for that to sink in. “Mick hasn’t been an annoying little brother for sometime now has he? He’s been being real nice and helpful and respectful hasn’t he?”

“Well…” Sarah thought, “I guess so… When you’re around, but when did he change?” She asked in shock as the new image of her brother sunk in.

“When we were working on Walt’s Campaign he started emailing me questions about life and what boys are supposed to do to make girls like them and stuff like that. And I realize that he was serious about changing and being a proper man. And after a while I took another look at him and my heart changed. And the last couple of months our whole relationship evolved. He’s turning into a proper man ahead of time and not getting those bad habits most guys have to over come later.”

“Yeah, I see your point,” Sarah said slowly. “You want to train him while you can.”

“Besides,” Dani said really cheerfully, “If it works out I’ll be your best friend and sister-in-law.”

Mick got a huge smile on his face and turned to his mother, “Mom don’t freak out, okay?”

“Why?” she asked with a mother’s sacred look on her face.

Mick turned and walked up to Dani and took her hands and dropped to one knee, “Dani will you marry me?”

Dani looked in happy shock at Mick then quickly at Carol who was looking back at her with her mouth hanging open, and then at Sarah and back to Mick and back to Carol and back to Mick. “I kind of thought we might in a year when you’re eighteen,” She took a quick breath, “but we will still have to wait a while before we can actually get married, but yes! I will marry you!” she glanced at Carol and saw the shock on her face and quickly added, “With your parent’s permission.” The clatter of tools hitting the concrete drew everyone’s attention towards the garage where Errol Ahern stood in shock with a pile of tools at his feet. “What? What? What?” Was all he could say as his jaw moved up and down on its own.

“Dani…” Mick said as he stood up and looked intently into her eyes, “I mean as soon as possible. This week if we can.”

Dani looked a bit surprised at Mick’s request, “Why the rush?”

“Exactly my thought, why the rush?” Errol asked a little louder than he should have.

“The asteroid.” Mick responded soberly, “I have this really strong feeling it is going to be much worse than what we are being led to believe.” He paused for a few seconds then continued, “I want a chance to be a good husband, even if it is only for a couple of weeks.”

Dani started to cry and grabbed Mick in a tight hug, “You’ll make a great husband and father Mick.”

“If I get the chance.” Mick said sadly.

“We’ll go to the county clerk’s office after lunch and see what the requirements are.” Carol said to everyone’s surprise. “But until then we need to get this tarp up and the storm windows on the house and winterize the trailer.” She added trying to redirect everyone’s thoughts as well as her own.

“Wait a minute,” Errol said when he finally found his voice, “Don’t I get to have a say in any of this?”

Carol looked at him with a sly smile, “Did your dad?”

Errol was surprised that Carol would bring that up. He thought for a moment then let out a small sigh and just shook his head no slowly and a small exasperated smile crept across his face.

***

Walt sat at his desk in the sheriff’s office going over the invoices of supplies that were in the county warehouses. They were full to capacity and DHS SAC Kris Davies had delivered six triple wide office trailers and two generator cargo containers to the site of the biggest warehouse. DHS was going to use his county as a fall back center in case something happened to the Colorado site.

This meant that there would be several DHS security teams besides SAC Davies’ team stationed here along with their immediate families. Two of the huge trailers would be for the families as dormitories. There were also three more forty foot cargo containers with fuel tanks in them for the backup power generators. Kris had said that the tanks were safer in the containers if things went really bad. A fuel tank in the open was a definite target for looters while a sealed cargo container was an unknown quantifier and less of a motivator to those looking for specific things such as food or fuel.

Even though there was not supposed to be any major problems at any of the federal bunker sites, the Secretary of Homeland Security had ordered Sac Davies to set this site up with as little public knowledge as possible. With this site far away from the rest of the ‘known’ bunker sites it was a good ‘hide in plain sight’ redoubt. As such, the only thing that the people of the county knew was that their sheriff was able to get a supply depot just like most other counties, only bigger.

When the leak first happened, Walt held a town hall meeting for the county the next day. The high school gymnasium was filled to capacity and just about everyone was expecting political double talk about the asteroid. What they didn’t expect was Walt’s announcement that with HSD’s help he was able to get the county to set up an EOC set up with supplies for the county. Because of this Walt was the hero of the county.

He also informed everyone that that the supplies could not be touched for the first eighteen months after the arrival of the asteroid. For that reason, everyone needed to stock up on as much food as they could get. He announced that the county had secured several wholesale shipments of wheat, rice, pinto beans, black beans, navy beans, red kidney beans, rolled oats, barley, and split peas in twenty-five and fifty pound bags. Payments had to be into the county clerk by ten the next morning. The clerk’s office had to stay open three hours later due to the orders that everyone was paying for.

The FEMA websites were reporting that the relocation camps set up was going fairly well considering the amount of time the government had to get them constructed. The evacuations were going a little behind but most of those that had families out of the evacuation zones to go to, had already went. Walt was concerned that there were so many still so close to the coasts even though they were at a supposedly safe elevation. If something went wrong, they might be heading his direction in a mass panic. If Walt had his way, he would have had the doubled the elevations and flood surge zones. He had heard that some of the old towns near Detroit that were basically abandoned were being repopulated with evacuatees. The same with other towns across the Midwest that had fallen on hard times and most of the residents had left years before. So that was something that made him feel better about the evacuations because it meant that there were less refugees in Idaho and his county to worry about caring for.

Just then Jason Red Hawk came in a sat down dejected and exhausted. “I’ve got a problem Walt.”

“What is it?”

“The tribe doesn’t want to have any of the containers stored on tribal land.”

“All of them or just the leaders?”

“Most of them and all of the leaders.”

“Even though they will have first access to the supplies?”

“Even with that and they don’t want the generator sets there either.”

“What about your family?”

“My father is having a change of heart. He actually agreed with your plan and argued for the supplies and said that they should ask for even more. But the council decided against it.”

“So what are you planning to do with your family?”

Jason fidgeted in the chair, “I was wondering about Bear Cave?”

Walt laughed, “It’s yours. It should be nice and clean still. The Ventures were camping up there for Labor Day weekend and there shouldn’t have been anyone up there since.”

“Thanks.” Jason paused in silence longer than he should have.

“What else my friend?”

“Dawn was…well…wondering…” “Sarah and I are going to get married. As soon as things settle down after the asteroid passes.”

Jason nodded, “She was still hoping.”

Walt sighed, “You know Jason that there will always be a fond spot in my heart for her. But the tribal elders make it very clear; I may be a very good and honorable white man, but a white man nonetheless. And therefore we were not to be, especially with the deal I made.”

“I know my brother,” Jason used the phrase he hadn’t used in a while, “It’s been eight years since you saved my life and we became blood brothers and in that time you have been nothing but a very good friend to the tribe, but still they hold your whiteness against you.”

“But I don’t hold that against your family.”

“I know.”

“Is there anything you will need at Bear Cave?”

“No, I have plenty of water barrels and dry goods to hold us through next fall.”

“Just let me know if there is.”

From the doorway came a cough.

“Kris!” Walt exclaimed. “How did you get away from Boise?”

“I heard there was a problem with some of the truckers delivering the supplies, so I decided it needed my personal attention.”

“Sorry about that Agent Davies,” Jason said. “My people are sometimes still stuck in the past.”

“I don’t take it personally, I’m just trying to keep everyone alive.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Jason sighed.

“So what is this Bear Cave you two were talking about?” SAC Kris Davies asked. “It’s a large, deep cave up on the north east side of the ranch.” Walt explained, “It can house a four or five dozen people comfortably with cooking and dining areas and four times that if you pack them in just for sleeping.”

“What sort of access does it have?”

“Four by four, pick up with good tires, you wouldn’t take the family minivan there.” Jason replied.

“What about a semi truck and trailer?”

“You mean the containers for the tribe?” Walt asked.

“Yeah.”

“No way they could make it past the creek.”

“Is there any way at all to get some containers up there?”

Walt and Jason paused to think for a few moments then both said at the same time, “Tractor and hay wagons.”

“Hay wagons?” Kris asked.

***

October Eleventh

On October eleventh the evacuations were declared complete. Anyone that wanted assistance in relocating had been moved. The President was safely bunkered in the new specially built bunker in the Appellation Mountains of eastern Kentucky. Key members of congress were spread out between ten others bunker, with the Vice President being at NORAD. The members of the President Cabinet were also spread out to insure that if any two or three bunkers were destroyed, the government would still have most of its elected officials. The only one who was not hunkered down just yet was the Secretary of Homeland Security who was with his team checking on all of the bunkers and other key facilities. He would head to Colorado soon then down to New Mexico. On October thirteenth, Professor Johansen emailed Walt and asked him to call him at the number given in the email. When Walt called he found the professor in a state of near panic. He said that he and his team had just received some new data that made all of the information that was given to the government useless and extremely under stated the effect of the asteroid. He needed to get hold of the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Administrator of FEMA, but they were not answering the numbers he was given.

When Walt asked what the problem was the professor said that simple the asteroid did not have a primarily iron core like they thought, but was made up of plutonium, osmium and uranium, making it many times denser and having a much greater gravitational field than they had calculated. The tidal waves would be greater than the ‘revised’ numbers he gave back in August, which themselves were much greater than the original projections the government had planned for.

Walt told the professor to stand by his phone and he would try to get a hold of one of them for him. Walt pulled out his Satellite phone and entered the speed dial number Special Agent in Charge Davies gave him just in case he absolutely needed to get hold of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

When the Secretary answered the phone and Walt announced who it was, the Secretary replied. “I’m surprised to hear from you Sheriff. I didn’t think you liked me.”

“Not that at all. You should hear how I talk to my brothers whom I love to death, sometimes with my fists.”

The Secretary laughed, “I’m the same way with my brothers. I take it that you aren’t calling to pass the time of day.”

“No sir, I just talked to professor Johansen and well to quote my uncle, ‘we’ve got a big shit storm of trouble headed our way.’ The numbers on the asteroid are all wrong.”

“What?”

“Stronger, badder, uglier. The professor wants you to call him.”

“What’s the number?”

Walt gave him the number and said good-bye. Then he started making calls, to his dad, who was now at the ranch, to Sally and David who were at the Thomas’ cabin near Wellington Washington, and SAC Kris Davies.

***

Chapter 7

The Approach

October Seventeenth

It was eerie driving down Interstate eighty without any other vehicles on it. Occasionally there would be another truck heading east but since he passed Auburn Bobby Trickle had not seen anybody heading west. His oldest son Mike, who was also a truck driver had radioed him that there were several trailer loads of sugar at the C & H plant in Crocket just off of Interstate eighty near Highway Four. That was two days ago when he was taking the last load to the Rogers’ Ranch in Idaho.

His other son, Jacob, had gotten there yesterday with the family buses in tow. Bobby’s wife Marlene drove the Class ‘A’ RV bus and daughters in law Susan and Terrie were in the old converted Greyhound Bus with the five grandkids.

His had just passed Fairfield and was coming up on the Carcinuez Bridge traveling at a bit over the speed limit when he saw the roadblock ahead. He cursed himself for not going down Interstate five to Highway four and coming in that way. These roadblocks were to keep looters out so that authorized truckers could collect left behind supplies for the relocation camps. Usually truckers had either an escort or a loading team with them. Bobby had neither.

He hoped his authorization slip from four days ago would be honored but there was no telling. The officers and military police at the checkpoints were under orders to confiscate the trucks of looters and send them away on foot. If that happened he would have no way to let his family know to head out without him.

Suddenly his peripheral vision spotted a black sedan coming up fast from behind him. It looked like it could be a cop car but it didn’t have any flashing lights on. Bobby decided to play innocent and kept his speed up. The roadblock was about a mile and a half away when the black sedan passed him and pulled sharply in front of him. At that point its strobe lights came on. But instead of slowing down it kept speeding towards the roadblock. Suddenly those manning the roadblock started scrambling to make a hole for the sedan.

The sedan reached the roadblock when it locked up its brakes and skidded to a stop in the hole. Five seconds later it was burning rubber as it pulled away. Still maintaining his speed as he got several hundred yards away, Bobby spotted two of the men at the roadblock start waving him to pick up his speed.

Not being one to question the fates Bobby up shifted and pushed down hard on the accelerator. His empty truck and trailer lurched forward and shot through the hole doing seventy and speed on to the bridge. When he was half way across the he saw the black sedan stopped at the off ramp for Crockett. Down shifting quickly Bobby started applying brakes. As he got up to the exit the sedan pulled ahead on the off ramp and headed towards Crockett.

Bobby followed the sedan all the way to the C & H sugar plant and into the shipping dock. He saw Mike’s forty-five foot box trailer was off to the side looking like it was ready to leave and Jacob’s Truck was hooked up to a dry goods tanker and was sitting behind Mike’s. The two of them were on the loading dock with two forklifts loaded with pallets waiting for him. Without asking for instructions Bobby whipped his truck around and backed it up to the loading dock. Marlene and Susan unhooked the tarp covering the back of the trailer as soon as he set the parking brakes.

The black sedan pulled up to Booby’s side of the truck and rolled down its window as bobby was climbing out of his truck. Bobby turned around and did a double take.

“Reba?” he said in surprise at seeing his daughter. “What are you doing here?”

“I just escorted Senator Washburn to his aircraft at Travis Air Force Base and was getting on the freeway to head east when I saw your truck. Mike had texted me on your plans and I thought that you were already here, but when I saw you I knew that you would have trouble at the roadblock so I swung around to give you an escort through.”

“Where are you going to go to now?”

“I’m supposed to go to Reno to drop off the car and catch a transport back east.”

Bobby leaned in close, “You know Reba baby, it is going to be much worse that the government is saying.”

“I know, but what can I do about it. I have my orders to go to the Federal Protective Services mega center in Denver Colorado and I can’t take you with me.”

“I understand, but what happens if you are unable to catch the transport?”

“I am supposed to drive there.” “Well then you can come with us to Idaho.”

“Dad I can’t. There’s no federal rally point there.”

Bobby smiled, “Yes there is honey child.”

“What?”

“It’s a secret back up facility and there’s a super duty prepper ranch near by that’s run by the sheriff. That’s where we going to, the sugar, is our buy in to the ranch. Come help us get there and then you can go to the federal facility and check in. That way we will be close to each other when it happens and in case something goes wrong.”

Reba thought for a moment, “How long before you are ready to go?”

“As soon as I’m tied down and fueled up, we’re on our way.”

“Alright, I have a feeling you’re going to need my escort services again.”

“That’s my baby girl.”

***

As the asteroid neared the earth, its gravitational forces began to affect the flow molten lava of the earth’s core causing an increase in earthquakes and volcanic activity around the globe. As scientists later discovered the asteroid had a heavy metal core type with a significant gravitational field that caused it to change course more than anticipated as it passed the earth and moon

In addition, the gravitational pull of the asteroid caused a dramatic increase in tidal heights on the side of the earth facing it and extremely low tides on the leeward side of the earth. This caused unusual surface pressures on the tectonic plates, which in turn squeezed the magma below causing it to shift and that in turn caused more plate slippage more earthquakes and more volcanic activity. October Eighteenth

Walt woke to the sounds of screams and the room around him vibrating intensely. He immediately realized that this was a much worse earthquake than anything that he had felt in the last couple of days and quickly began to get dressed. He guessed that this was a three point six to four point zero quake if it was nearby, that being within thirty miles.

When Walt went to bed the night before, Seattle was experiencing tides over one hundred and fifty foot in height and Los Angeles had an increase of one hundred and sixty-five feet in its tides. He had expected these higher tides to increase the number of minor earthquakes, but not the intensity of them to this magnitude.

The vibrations, which had been going on for the last minute suddenly increased in strength three times and now Walt could barely maintain his balance as he made his way to the bedroom door. Once he was in the hallway he spotted his sister Sally holding onto the banister of the balcony that looked out over the grand hall. “Sally!” Walt shouted, “Get away from the railing before you bounce over the edge.”

“I...I can’t!” she cried out, holding on tighter with both arms wrapped around the wooden top railing of the banister.

Walt stepped over to her and placed both hands on her waist, “Let go!” he shouted over the noise of the earthquake and firmly pulled her away from the banister and set her down against the opposite wall. “Just sit down and wait it out.” He added as he started down the hallway towards his parents’ room.

Mark and Mary staggered out of their room into the hallway when an intense shockwave hit the house knocking everyone to the floor. Walt rolled against the banister and back to the wall before he had a chance to react. Then the shaking quickly subsided to a mild vibration and then trailed off and stopped after about ten seconds.

“Mom, Dad! Are you alright?” Walt called out from down the hallway.

“We’re okay.” Mary replied as she and Mark struggled to their feet. “How are you two?”

Walt looked back at Sally who sat with her back against the wall and her heels dug into the carpet, pushing herself tighter into the wall. She stared up at Walt and gave him a weak smile but still had eyes open as big as pool balls. “We’ll survive.”

“Whoa!” Michael said as he and Jenna came out of their room, “That was a shaker!” “How much longer is this going to go on?” Jenna asked as she rubbed her elbow and wiggled her fingers from where she had hit her funny bone on the dresser.

“It should be just a couple more days after the asteroid passes.” Walt said. “But I hope sooner...”

“I lost Nikki.” David shouted as he ran from his room into the hallway, “We were talking on D-Star when it started breaking up and suddenly there was a loud noise and the signal went dead! I was trying to get her back when the earthquake hit.”

Everyone fell silent with concern because David had been giving the Smythes updates on the quakes when they hit Seattle and how long before they would feel them at the ranch from their cabin. Mary walked over and put her arm around her son’s shoulder to ease his anxiety, “I’m sure they are fine and well on their way here.”

“No mom, they were late leaving. They were only on the road a couple of hours and traffic was kind of bad.” David said about ready to break into tears. “They had only....”

David was cut off by an incredibly loud roar and high pitch shrill. Everyone tried to block out the sound by covering their ears but the sound seamed to pierce them to the very core of their bones. The whole house shook and the window rattled to the point of breaking but no one could tell because they could not even hear themselves screaming. Walt thought that it sounded like a steam boiler rupturing next to his head. Looking around he saw tears coming to everyone’s eyes and suddenly he realized he had to stop the sound before it liquefied their brains. Cupping his hands tightly over his ears, Walt started down the stairs to the grand hall. Staggering through the grand hall to his office, he stopped to wipe the tears from his eyes to try to clear his vision. The pain from the noise seared his skull as soon as he removed his hands from over his ears.

Entering his office, Walt went directly to the walk in closet, which was the entrance to the gun room where his uncle had stored all of the shooting gear and several gun safes. Grabbing a set of soft shooters earplugs, Walt quickly inserted one in each ear. The earplugs helped reduce the volume but did not stop it enough to reduce the pain so he picked up one of the over the ear shooters’ ear muffs. The combination of the two reduced the sound to a manageable level. Quickly Walt gathered up all of the earplugs and shooters’ muffs and headed back to the others. He worried whether the loud noise would cause permanent hearing damage.

Walt went first to his grandparents rooms on the first floor and helped them put in earplugs and then the earmuffs. Then he went upstairs and handed out the ear protection and helped everyone get the gear on. Once everyone was set and indicated they were able to function, Walt directed them all to head down into the basement. On the way they came across Anna, who was sitting on the floor of the kitchen crying with her hands clasped over her ears. Walt quickly gave her earplugs and muffs and once she had them on, helped her up and to the stairs that lead down to the basement.

When everyone was in the basement, Walt led everyone to a locked storage room in the back corner. He unlocked the door and turned on the lights. Then he walked to the far side on the room to what looked like a bank vault door. Spinning the handle, then pulling on the door to open it, Walt smiled at everyone’s expressions when they saw what was behind him. Before them was a ten foot diameter concrete tube that was illuminated by only one led light fixture. The tube went on for over a hundred feet before it disappeared into darkness. There was a steel grate that gave the tube a three foot wide floor.

Walt stepped inside the tube, reach to his right and flipped a switch that turned on a string of LED lights that ran the length of the top of the tube. He then flipped another switch and another string of LED lights came on under the grates. Waving everyone inside, Walt closed the door behind them. As soon as the door sealed they all felt the absence of the noise and began to slowly remove the hearing protection.

“What was that?” Mark asked as soon as he had his hearing protection off.

“What?” Walt asked, not hearing his dad.

“What? I can’t hear you.” Mark repeated louder at an almost shouting volume.

Walt saw that his dad was trying to talk loudly to be heard and yelled back. “I said ‘what?’. I couldn’t hear you. Our hearing is impaired from the noise. It may that a while for it to return to normal.”

His dad nodded and yelled, “I said, ‘What was that?’”

“I’m not positive, but it sounded to me like a steam boiler rupture on a monumental level.” Walt replied loudly.

“But what could make a noise that loud?” Michael shouted.

Walt glanced at Sally and David and grimaced a little before answering, “I believe, and I could be wrong, that it could be caused by a super volcanic eruption such as Yellowstone, which in this case doesn’t seem likely as it appears that the event occurred west of here based on David’s radio communications. The most likely scenario is a massive underwater eruption along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. And from the facts that it was so loud this far from the coast, I have a feeling that the entire zone ruptured with volcanic activity. I don’t believe that it was Mt. Saint Helen or Mount Rainier.” Walt kept to himself that if it was either of those two than it had to have been a massive eruption that would have blown the mountain away.

Sally and David both started shouting questions on top of each other so fast that Walt couldn’t keep track of the questions so he just held up his hands and said, “Stop. I don’t know. I’m just making a best guess. If it is what happened, I’m sure the Thomas’ were far enough east to be safe from the debris falls of an eruption.”

“What about the noise? Will they be hurt by it” David asked.

Walt lowered his head with closed eyes, took a deep breath and slowly let it out, “I don’t know. I just don’t know. We will have to wait to hear from them or for them to get here and if they don’t, then we can go looking for them after the asteroid passes and when it is safe to do so.”

“That’s not good enough!” Sally shouted. “You’re the expert! You should know.”

Walt thought to himself, ‘No I’m not, Dan was the real expert. I’m just picking through his notes’.

“Sally, David,” Mark spoke calmly to them as he put a hand on each of their shoulders, “Walt is doing all he can. It won’t do any of us any good to rush out there and get hurt ourselves.” He took a moment’s pause and looked them in the eye. “We will do what we can when we can. Hopefully they can get here before things get really bad. They know to hunker down if they must.”

“I’m sure they will make contact as soon as they can.” Mary added.

“In the meantime let’s get into Dan’s safe room.” Walt said as he started walking down the concrete tube.

“How come we don’t hear the noise in here?” Anna asked.

“I would say that because of all of the heavy concrete and steel in the pipe and the foam insulation that was injected around it when Dan built this. That plus we are going into the mountain behind the house. The safe door was from the bank remodel fifteen years ago. Dan got it real cheap and it sits at the edge of the slope by the BBQ pit. The pipe is ten foot diameter water pipe and is two hundred and forty feet long. As you can tell, it has a slight incline. This is to keep water from flowing into the safe room if there happens to be a leak … and other things that he wrote about. At the other end we will have a bulkhead door to go through to get into the safe room.” About halfway up the pipe Walt stopped and put his hand against the wall of the pipe. “What’s up?” Mark asked.

“Just checking to see how much of the vibrations from the noise is traveling through the pipe.” Walt kept his hand on the wall a few second longer before he removed it and continued walking up the pipe. “It seems to be dampened by the surrounding materials and distance. I could hardly feel the vibrations.” Walt smiled then added, “Either that or I am just getting numb to the vibrations.”

“I hope it is the former.” Mary said just loud enough for Walt to hear.

“Me too.” Walt added softly as he turned and continued walking up the pipe.

They continued walking up the pipe in silence to the door to the safe room. When they reached it Walt pointed out several key features outside of the door. “Dan took some unusual precautions at this point to secure the safe room. As you can see the pipe empties into a sixteen foot by sixteen foot antechamber that provides three gun ports and one water jet for defensive actions.” Walt pointed to the six inch long steel cone with a one inch orifice and the three, three inch steel hatches in the wall facing the pipe opening.

Turning to the right Walt unlocked what looked like a doublewide ship’s bulkhead door and pulled it open. Stepping inside he reached to the right and turned on the lights. Everyone gasped at the size of the safe room. The room was a dome over fifty across and thirty feet high in the center with a ring of eight pillars one third of the way out from the center. All of the surfaces were covered with concrete and there were several doorways leading off of the room. There were eight foot high office dividers sectioning of areas from each other, and a kitchenette along one wall section. Inside the ring of pillars was an area with couches and coffee tables and a couple of TVs. There was some structure work attached to the pillars for the floor of a loft area that was not yet completed.

“David,” Walt said as he pointed to one of the doorways, “That’s the ‘backup’ communication center.” Walt snorted a chuckle, “Although you will find more equipment in there than everywhere else on the ranch. You should be able to grab a live satellite feed from google or one of the others that agent Davies set up. Sally, go with him and see if you can contact Mrs. Davies. Her contact information is posted by the ham radios. Try lane lines first, then cell if you can’t get through, repeat with the GETS number that is posted above the landline phone.”

David ran off to the communication center with Sally hot on his heels. Mark walked over to a wall section that was made up of bookshelves and Mary and Anna made for the couches. Michael and Jenna started fixing some coffee in the kitchen when another quake shook the safe room. Not nearly as strong as the one that woke everyone up, but strong enough to make them all grab hold of something to stabilize themselves. Mark was looking at the dome of the room with concern.

Walt smiled, “Dan built this to take a lot more than a seven point five quake. There are anchor rods drilled deep into the bedrock and tied to a web of rebar throughout the dome.”

“How did you find out about this room? Dan never said anything about having told you.” Anna asked Walt.

“He didn’t in person.” Walt replied, “He left me all sorts of information on his computer and in a kindle he had hidden for me to find after he died.”

Sally came back into the room, “Walt, no one is answering the phone at the Davies’ house. It just rings four times then goes to the answering machine. I think that they can’t hear it because the noise is still going on or their hearing hasn’t recovered yet.”

Walt thought for a moment and looked at his wristwatch before he spoke, “I need to go to the office this morning. It’s five forty now...I head out in about fifty minutes and swing by their place before into town.” Looking back at Sally, “Keep trying them every ten minutes. You can try Brian’s and Nikki’s cell phones in between calling the Davies’ house.”

“Okay, Thanks!” Sally said as she turned quickly to go back to the communication center.

“Hey!” Walt called out to her causing her to stop and turn around. “Don’t kill their cell phone batteries. Call one, one time and the other the next time.”

“Got it!” She smiled and spun around again towards the communication center then stopped, “How we just text them? That uses les of the battery and stays on the phones until deleted.”

“Sounds good.” Turning to the others Walt continued, “I’ll head up and check to see if the noise has stopped and I’ll let you know. Once the noise has stopped you can go back into the house, however you should keep your hearing protection with you at all times. Also conduct a check of the house and the hydrogen plant and storage tanks for earthquake damage.”

Walt paused while he considered what more things that needed to be checked on and then continued, “Also check the water storage tanks, the wells, and the water powered generator systems. Back up all of the computers and bring the backups in here. Also anything else you think of and make a check list of everything, I think we may be doing this a couple more times before this is over.”

“We’ll take care of everything.” Mark said with pride at his son’s command actions, “Now, go to work and take care of the county. I’ll also go check on the ranch hands and give them hearing protection.” He added as he followed Walt to the door.

Walt smiled and nodded then opened the door. As he walked to the vault door he put the earplugs back in and placed the earmuffs over his ears and Mark did likewise. When he reached the vault door, he stopped and placed his hand on the door to see if he could feel any vibrations from the violent noise. Walt couldn’t tell what it was but there was a slight buzzing sensation when he pressed hard against the door. Taking a deep breath Walt unlocked the vault door and pushed it open. He immediately felt the vibration of the noise against his body. It was not nearly as strong as it was earlier but it was not comfortable either. The hearing protection greatly limited the sound he could hear, but he could tell that there was still a noise that permeated the air.

Carefully Walt lifted the earmuffs from one ear in anticipation of the painful noise. He heard a background roar that sounded like a broken steam pipe but nothing like before. He totally removed the earmuffs and found it was not painful. His head did not feel like it was being split in two. Next he reach up and slowly pulled an earplug out , ready to shove it back in if needed, a little at a time until it was all of the way out. He grimaced in pain and reinserted the earplug.

The noise was still painful without the earplugs but he didn’t need the earmuffs. Mark hand signaled that he was going after the hearing protection for the ranch hands as Walt stepped back inside the vault door and pulled it closed. Reaching over by the light switch he picked up the intercom handset and pushed the call button for the safe room. A few moments later Anna picked up the handset in the safe room.

“The noise is still loud but not nearly as loud as before.” Walt informed her, “I don’t need the earmuffs but it is a little too painful without the earplugs. I’m going to go ahead and take a shower then test taking out the earplugs again then. Tell Sally and David to stop trying to reach anyone by voice and to try text messaging only.”

“Got it. Are you sure you’re going to be alright without your earmuffs?” she asked.

“I should be fine, but I’ll keep wearing them just the same. I’m going to get the decibel meter from the office and check to how loud it is now then I’ll check after I’m ready to leave. I’ll bring it down to you guys before I go.”

“Okay. Your granddad is making job lists for everyone, so as soon as it is safe for us to go out and be able to communicate with each other we will get on it.” “Sounds good. I’ll see you guys in about thirty minutes or so.”

Walt hung up the handset and opened the vault door again. He stepped out into the noise and closed the door again. He went to his room to shower and checked out the house along the way. All of the windows were still intact and nothing was spilt from the bookcases or any of the shelves as far he could tell as he made his way to his room. The fireplace was just as solid as before and all of the stone work floors were crack free. Stopping by his office he got the decibel meter from the gun closet.

Turning the decibel meter on Walt was surprised to see it showing the background noise levels at 118dB. He continued on towards his bedroom watching the meter as he walked. The meter barely moved 118dB the entire time. Suddenly he had a thought and jogged quickly to the front door and went outside. As soon as he stepped outside the meter rose to 126.5dB. Walt breathed a sigh of relief that the readings didn’t go a lot higher outside like he feared it would. He surmised that with the house being so dense because of its construction of logs, it was keeping more of the noise out and that the outside readings would be of a harmful level to the body as a whole.

Walt went back inside and continued towards his room. When he reached his room Walt set the decibel meter on the bed and started to get ready to head into town. He pulled out a fairly new pair of Levis and a uniform shirt and laid them on the bed. Then he grabbed a pair of briefs, a tan T-shirt, a pair of white wool boot socks and laid them on the bed as well then headed into the bathroom. When he opened the shower door he realized that he hadn’t check to see if the water was still working or if the water heater was still in place. Shrugging his shoulders he reached in and turned on the hot water. It came on, that was one less thing to worry about, there was still had water pressure. Letting the water run he put a finger in the stream to check the temperature until it got hot. “Whew!” Walt said to himself. The hot water heater was still working, another thing that they didn’t have to fix.

Adjusting the water temperature to a comfortable level, Walt shucked his clothes and stepped into the shower. As the water flowed over his head and shoulders he relaxed some and wished that he didn’t have to go into town, but that was his responsibility to manage the emergency response for the county. He knew the small County Health Center would be overwhelmed with frightened and some injured people. Some of whom would not be, well behaved, as his mom liked to say of the rowdies and drunks he was having to lockup lately.

After he had finished his shower and shaved, Walt went back into the bedroom and got dressed. Then he checked decibel meter again, 115dB. ‘Good’ he thought ‘It’s coming down’. Checking his watch to see where he was time wise, then he headed to the kitchen for some breakfast. He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and a box for raisin bran from the counter where several varieties of cereal sat. He poured the bowl full and got the milk from the refrigerator and drenched the flakes. Sitting on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter Walt was unsure of what to do next. He had his responsibilities as sheriff and his responsibilities to his family. He didn’t want to leave them, yet he had another family out there as well. Shoving another spoon full of the raisin bran in his mouth, Walt pulled his phone out to text Sarah. When he unlocked the phone there were three messages from her. “She’s gonna’ kill me’, Walt thought to himself then broke into a smile, she’s able to get texts out. Opening the text messages Walt read them in order.

“What is going on? That was some shaker. Are you okay?”

“Do you hear that loud noise? It is painful even with earplugs. Any idea what’s causing it?”

“Sally got a hold of me. Text me when you’re out of the shower.”

Walt smiled. She was okay, for now. He started typing a message to her, “Decibel meter at 115dB inside the house, down from 118 twenty minutes ago. Should continue to drop. Will text when leaving to go to office. See you soon. I do love you so much. I’m an ass for not texting sooner.” He pushed send and set the phone down and shoved another spoon full in.

On the next bite the phone lit up showing it had received a text. He touched the screen to read it, “You’re right, but you’re my little ass. Love you more.”

Walt laughed and spewed his food across the counter. She was okay. After finishing the bowl of cereal and cleaning up the counter, Walt took another reading with the Decibel Meter. It was now at 105dB. “Good, it’s dropping faster.” He said although now one could hear him if they were even there in the room with him.

He went down into the basement and over to the safe door and took another reading, 103db. He wasn’t sure if it was dropping off that fast or whether the last drop was due to being partly underground. He opened the safe door, stepped inside and closed it behind him. He then pulled out the earplugs and stuck a finger in each ear and wiggled them because his ears itched from the wet earplugs. He headed up the pipe to the safe room and then the irony hit him. Dan had put a safe door at the tunnel entrance to the safe room. He could just see Dan laughing at him for being so slow and just getting that.

When he entered the safe room everyone looked at him and opened their mouths to ask questions but stop because Mark was holding his hand up quickly anticipating that everyone would start asking questions at the same time. He looked at Walt and waited.

Walt took the clue and began, “The decibel meter at 118dB inside and 126.5 outside at first reading. The last reading in the kitchen was 105 and it was 103 at the safe door, but that may have been because the room is partly underground. Hey Sally, thanks for texting Sarah. The water is still working, as is the water heater.” Then he looked at David, “Any contact with the Thomas’?”

“Yeah. Nikki texted that they were stopped at a light when the sound started. They were able to get earplugs in pretty quick but it is still a bit painful. They see a big orange glow to the west all along the horizon. As far as they can tell Mount Rainier is still intact as is Mount St Helens. They are making slow progress. Most of the other cars have pulled off of the road but some are still on the roadway not moving so they have to work around them. But they are moving. They are just about to Davenport Washington. They should be,” he checked his watch, “there in about fifteen minutes at their current speed. I checked the maps and its elevation is twenty three hundred feet, so they should be safe from the tidal waves and any run up surges.”

Walt could tell that David wasn’t happy about the situation the Thomas’ were in, but at least they were still making their way here. So he took some consolidation in that. Then he had a terrible thought, “Show me the map.”

David brought up the digital map on the laptop. Walt stood behind David leaning over his shoulder. “There,” he pointed on the map, “Have them head south on highway twenty eight in Davenport and then left on twenty three at Harrington, then get on one ninety five south in Steptoe and follow it to 95 south. That way they don’t have to go through Spokane, Spokane Valley or Coeur D’Alene.”

“Got it.” David practically sang as her ran back to the radio.

Sally coughed at stepped forward a little, “I got a hold of Mrs. Davies and she’s okay. She was getting a little panicky the last couple of nights so she was in their bunker when the noise started. It was loud like a rock concert but we could still talk on the radio. She didn’t think about the earplugs in her husband’s gun supplies. She asked me to get you to let him know that she’s okay. She has texted him but has not gotten a reply.”

“Let her know that I’ll do that.” Walt turned to his dad and handed him the Decibel Meter. “How are the ranch hands?”

“Doing a lot better now that they have the hearing protection. I wrote them a note to stay inside until the noise stops.”

“Good.” Walt said then lowered his head a little and leaned in towards Mark, “And how’s everyone holding together down here?” Walt asked softly.

“Not as bad as I feared. With the new rooms to check out and all of the stuff to play with everyone is keeping busy so they don’t have much time to dwell on what’s happening other than it is a challenge to deal with. After a couple of hours though, who knows?”

“Well in an hour or so if the decibels keep dropping you might want to have everyone go take a shower and start checking out the ranch and buildings for quake damage. Also check on those at the Redoubt Village LLC. See if they are all right. You will need to take pen and paper to communicate with.” Walt suggested. “I have another decibel meter in the Hummer, so I’ll keep taking readings and call them in to you.”

“Sounds like a plan. And Walt…” His dad’s voice changed, “I’m proud of you son.”

Walt turned three shades red and turned quickly and headed back out of the safe room. When he got out of the tunnel and secured the safe door. He headed to the garage via the mudroom door. Stopping at the door Walt took down his duty belt and hat from the pegs next to the door. Slid his hat on first then buckling the belt on and tying the lace for the holster around his leg. Grabbed his Levis wool lined jacket and slipped it on and tossed the duster over his shoulder and walked out of the door into the garage.

He walked over to the Hummer and opened the back up. Moving some things around, he found the department’s decibel meter and pulled it out. He was this one to read how loud the teenagers’ cars were with their modified mufflers and how load there parties were. He had more teens that owed him favors because he gave them a break, after he told them what would happen to them in court of course.

He powered it up and took a reading, 98dB. At this rate it would be back down to normal within an hour. Closing up the back of the Hummer, Walt kept the Decibel Meter with him and put it on the front passenger seat. Then he went and opened the garage door.

He stopped in his tracks at what he saw. Looking down at his watch to check the time to make sure he wasn’t off as to what he thought the time was. Five fifty-five. It should still be dark in the western sky, but it wasn’t. It looked more like a sunrise in the east, but it wasn’t. If it were Mount Rainier or Mount St. Helens there would be in a single spot not across the entire western sky. It had to be the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and it sure was putting up a bunch of light.

Then it hit him, volcanic ash! There would be a lot of it coming. With that long of a volcanic fracture, it would be putting up more ash the all of the volcanoes in the last fifty years. And with the wind coming from the west, they could get buried. Quickly he pulled out his phone and texted his dad, “Get up here now.” Walt walked out onto the driveway looked around at the various buildings that were on the ranch, that all had steel roofs with steep angles to keep snow from building up on them. But, he wondered, would they be steep enough for the volcanic ash that would soon be here. So long as it was dry then the ash should flow off. But if it were wet and sticky, it might just be like concrete and build up and collapse some of the roofs.

Mark came running out of the front door and came to a skidding halt when he saw the sky. “What in the sweet name of heaven is that?” he yelled so Walt could hear him.

“The Cascadia Subduction Zone.” Walt shouted back. “It looks like it ruptured for at least three hundred miles in length.”

“Are you sure?”

‘Pretty much, it’s not Mount Rainier or Mount St. Helens. Those would be single points of lava light.”

“This isn’t good.” Mark said as he scratched the back of his head, “Did you plan for this?”

“Not really.” Walt shook his head. “There’s going to be a boatload of volcanic ash coming our way shortly. It’s going to play havoc with the solar panels. Have Anna lock the arrays tracker in ‘Heavy Snow’ mode and sunrise position. That will tilt them up so the ash won’t scratch the face of them and make them useless. As far as the ones mounted to the roofs, I gonna need you to get them covered with tarps from the hay barn. Maybe we can save most of them before the ash ruins them.”

“We’ll take care of it.”

“I’ve got to get into town to warn everyone and get teams ready to shovel the ash off of the warehouses’ roofs. We don’t need them to collapse and ruining all of the supplies.”

“Good point, go. We’ve got this.”

Walt turned to get in the Hammer when suddenly something was different. He turn back to look at his dad who also had a puzzling look on his face. “What just happened?” Walt shouted and then realized he didn’t have to. The noise had stopped. He took out his earplugs carefully; ready to stick them back in if needed. But there was no noise at all. It was unusually quite.

“Finally!” Mark said as he followed his son’s example and removed his earplugs. “Dad?” Walt said over his shoulder.

“Yes Walt?”

“Snap your fingers three times.”

Mark looked confused but did as requested.

“Okay, my hearing is fine.” Walt said softly, “There’s just not any noise.”

Mark stopped and listened harder, “You’re right. It’s dead quite. Maybe all of the animals are being very still because their ears are ringing, after all they didn’t have hearing protection to put on.”

“Maybe, but there’s no breeze either.” Walt pointed out.

“Now that is weird. There’s always been some breeze even if it is just in the tops of the trees.”

“Something is up. I’m not sure what it is but I’ve got a feelin’ it isn’t gonna be pretty.” Walt started heading back into the garage, “You better get everyone out checking things right away and don’t forget the Redoubt Village.”

Walt climbed into the Hummer, started it and put it in gear. “I’ll call as soon as I have an update on the situation in town.”

Mark waved in response as he was already calling back down into the safe room. He was very glad that Walt was able to get ATT to set up a cell tower at the Redoubt Village and a small repeater on the house that had a feed line for the safe room. He just hoped that it would continue to work once the ash fall started.

***

Sarah woke with a start as her bed was shaking and creaking and banging against the wall. “I hate these things!” she shouted to no one in particular as she held on to the sides of the mattress waiting for it to end. After a minute she laid there thinking this has to end soon, but instead of subsiding, the shaking suddenly increased dramatically and the emergency lighting came on as the power went off. Now she could see the ceiling fan blades sway as they tried to come loose from the motor. Her bed seemed to have come alive and it didn’t want her to be in it anymore. She closed her eyes tight and wished that Walt was here holding her.

Through the din of the earthquake she heard the sounds of books and other things in her bookcase hitting the floor. Then she heard her mother screaming the names of her and her siblings. Sarah yelled back that she was alright even though the bed was still acting like a mechanical bull.

In the hallway she heard her father grunt and mutter as he was thrown from wall to wall as he tried to check on everyone. Her grandmother could be heard calling for help from Mick’s room and Amber and Lisa were crying in the room next to Sarah’s. However nine year old Tommy was the only one not panicking, Sarah could hear him whooping it up laughing like it was an amusement park ride.

Then after about another thirty seconds the shaking started to decrease and in about twenty seconds more it had stopped. Sarah sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She sat there for several seconds waiting to see if the shaking would startup again.

“Sarah, are you okay?” her father asked through the door.

“I’m okay. I’ll be out in a minute.” She replied.

She could hear her father move on to her grand mother and check on her. Tommy was still laughing and saying how cool it was. Amber and Lisa had stopped crying now that their mother was with them. She stood up to get dressed and stopped to look out of the window just out of curiosity’s sake and went into a panic when she saw Dani’s truck across the street.

Sarah grabbed her clothes and got dressed fast than she ever had before. She ran through the house to the kitchen and grabbed the spare keys to her grandma’s trailer and rushed out of the mudroom door to the trailer. She opened the trailer door and almost collided with Mick and Dani.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked in a hushed but agitated voice as she pushed them back into the trailer. “If dad knew you two spent the night together, alone, in the trailer, he would kill the both of you!”

“But all we were doing was talking.” Mick protested. “After all, we only have to wait until the county clerk opens and we can get married. We’re not going to ruin that by having sex now. That would really tick mom off and dad would never allow Dani over here again. I wouldn’t do that to either of you.” “If they open…” Sarah stopped talking and clasped both hands to her ears as an extremely loud sound threatened to deafen her.”

She started to fall to the floor when she saw the bag of earplugs on the table next to Mick’s rifle. Ushering all of her resolve she staggered passed Dani to the table and ripped open the bag. Fumbling with the earplugs with one hand while her other was covering one ear and her head tilted so her shoulder covered the other, she worked the packet open and rolled the earplugs and stuffed them in her ears.

The sound was still too loud to stand for long but she was able to help Dani and Mick to get theirs in. Then she looked for Mick’s earmuffs. When she found them she tossed them to him and grabbed both of their hands and dragged them out of the trailer and into the house.

Once inside the house she found her family on the floor crying in pain. Sarah quickly handed out earplugs and Dani and Mick helped her put them in everyone’s ears. Them she signaled for everyone to go to the basement.

When everyone was through the door to the basement Sarah started to follow when she got an idea and ran back to the bedrooms and grabbed every pillow she could find. In her room she grabbed her earmuffs and put them on. It made all the difference in the world to her.

When she had all of the pillows she could carry she headed back to the basement. Squeezing through the doorways she got to the basement door and shoved the pile of pillows down the stairs.

Then she ran back and grabbed her cell phone and the throw pillows from the living room couch. When she got down into the basement she found that Dani, Mick, and her mother were placing the pillows around everyone’s head and covering their ears. Lisa and Tommy were crying the most but everyone was in some sort of pain except for Dani because Mick had made her wear his earmuffs.

Sarah handed out the throw pillows and got a thumbs up from Amber that the denser throw pillows worked better than the bed pillows. Dani saw Amber’s signal and got an idea. She tapped Sarah’s arm and spelled out PADS on her hand. Sarah looked puzzled at her so Dani patted her crotch. Sarah’s face lit up as she got Dani’s idea.

Sarah went to the back of the basement to the supply room to get some sanitary pads. When she went into the room she noticed that it was a little bit less painful. She started to grab two boxes of pads and a bottle of water then changed her mind. She went back to the supply room door and waved to everyone to come to her. When everyone was in the room she closed the door. Then she point to her dad and a pile of blankets and then to the door and motioned to him to hang them over the door. Then she and Dani opened the boxes of sanitary pads then dribbled some water on each pad so it would swell up. Once the pads had absorbed the water they were denser and blocked more sound when placed over the ears. Errol and Mick were the most resistant to wearing the feminine hygiene pads but gave in when Carol forced the pads against the ears and the sound was reduced.

When everyone was feeling a little better Sarah took her phone out and started texting Walt and her friends in the Venture Crew. Dani saw Sarah texting and she pulled out her phone and started texting her dad.

***

Walt called SAC Kris Davies while driving into town to let him know what was going on with his wife and the ranch. There was no answer so Walt left a voice message and then texted Kris with the same message. Next Walt called the office on his radio, but the dispatcher didn’t respond either. Then he tried calling the office landline, but all he got was a busy signal. Then he tried the individual desk numbers, some were busy but most just rang. That made Walt worry. If the no one was answering that could account for the busy signals if he were calling in behind someone else.

He was half way to town when he saw the power line start swaying. It was another earthquake! Walt pulled the Hummer over to the side of the road and stopped. The Hummer rocked gently for a few seconds and then stopped. He started to call his dad to see how bad it was at the ranch when a text popped up. It was from Sally.

“Minor quake. You might not even feel it while driving.”

Walt chuckled, if he hadn’t noticed the power lines moving he wouldn’t even had known there was another quake. He typed back, “Didn’t, I saw power lines moving.” Then he started driving again and wondered how much worse it was going to get in the next couple of days. It was obviously worse than what the government was saying.

When Walt reached the sheriff’s office there were several people outside shouting at Deputy Gary Wayne demanding answers as to what the noise was and why weren’t they warned about it. He pulled the Hummer into his parking space in front of the office and honked the horn. Everyone quickly turned to look and he held his finger up to his lips. Then he opened the door and stepped out still holding his finger to his lips. He walked through the crowd and when he got to the top of the stairs he turned and had a quick whispered conversation with Deputy Wayne, then stepped down one step. “Everyone, Please,” Walt held up his hands to stop the questions, “It appears that the Cascadia Subduction Zone has ruptured along its entire length. Let me check in with my deputies and Homeland Security and I will let you know exactly what is going on. However if I were you I would be getting my home ready for a heavy ash fall that should hit us within the next half hour.”

When he said that everyone panicked. Some ran off to their homes, some started just crying and others shouted for how he knew that, to which he just pointed to the western sky. When they turned and saw what he was pointing at they too left for their homes. He told Deputy Wayne to repeat that to everyone who showed up, and then he turned and went inside the office.

When he got inside he saw Jason Red Hawk at the county map putting push pins in it and to his right was Judy the dispatcher, who was trying to explain they are only responding to human life threatening calls. Walt walked over and picked up the handset and told the caller about the ash fall heading his way and hung up.

“Judy, tell everyone that it appears that the Cascadia Subduction Zone has ruptured along its entire length and to get ready for some very heavy ash fall.” Walt instructed, “and that they need to get their animals under cover or inside if possible, cover wells, springs, and watering tanks.”

Then he turned to Jason, “What do you have?”

Jason shook his head, “Just about every burglar alarm went off from the quakes and that noise that followed. I have everyone on duty and checking out the major targets and working their way down to the minors. There are a lot of people that will have hearing damage, but most that we have been in contact with had earplugs of some sort or were able make some hearing protection to cut the noise.”

“Are all of our people okay?”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing you had everyone keep a set of earplugs on the duty belts. They took that to heart and had extra around the homes.”

“Good, glad to hear it. Any contact with DHS? Fed or state?”

“Not yet. I don’t think that they were able to store hearing protection in their office building.” Jason surmised. “I even tried Colorado without any luck. I guess that they are real busy with calls from their agents long the coastal observation posts.”

“You could be right. Try texting to every number we’ve got. I’m going to try some other alternative communication avenues.” Then Walt went into his office. Once inside he took out his satellite phone and called the Secretary of Homeland Security on his private number. To his surprise, the he answered the phone on the second ring.

“Yes Sheriff, What is it?”

“Sir, what do you know of the current status of the Cascadia Subduction Zone?”

“I haven’t heard anything yet, hang on a second.”

Walt could hear him asking his staff what was going on with the zone. Everyone was saying that they hadn’t heard anything then one staffer said that they had lost contact with their observation posts in the northwest coastal region.

“Sheriff...” The Secretary started.

“I heard,” Walt interrupted, “Here’s what has happened to the best of my knowledge; there has been an eruption along the entire Cascadia Subduction Zone. I can see the orange glow in the sky from California into Canada. I am expecting heavy ash fall here in two to three hours at the latest. There was an extremely loud noise that was over one hundred twenty decibels, which started about five minutes after the earthquake stated. We are currently experiencing earthquakes in the four to five point ranges. My office is up and running but I have not been able to contact Boise.”

“Are you sure about the Cascadia Subduction Zone?” The Secretary asked with great concern.

“As far as I can be.” Walt explained, “We were in contact with family friends in central Washington that were heading east when we heard a loud noise over the radio and then lost contact. Several minutes later we were hit with the loud noise that sounded like a broken steam pipe roar that lasted for about forty minutes or so. Then it suddenly stopped. We regained contact with our friends and they report that Mount Rainier is still intact as is Mount St Helens. The sky in the west looked like a sunrise when it was still dark in the east. I don’t know what else it could be sir.”

“Thank you Sheriff for the information. We’ll get on it and see if we can raise Boise.”

“Thank you sir. By the way the noise was ear damaging here at my office. If we didn’t have earplugs and earmuffs close by I wouldn’t be able to hear at all. So Boise might be deaf.” “Thanks, we’ll work on that presumption when trying to contact them and our observation posts.”

“I’ll update WebEOC as I get information.”

“Good, talk to you later. Good bye.”

“Good bye.”

Walt walked to his office door and opened it. “Judy,” he called out.

“Yes Walt?” She answered from around the corner.

“Can you activate the emergency radio warning message and broadcast a message about the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the incoming ash fell?”

“Sure thing. I’ll do it right away.”

***

Cathy was coming back from her early morning run to the top of the ridgeline behind the farm. Ever since she took this job she found herself doing more PT than she did in the service. The run was about twelve miles and now that she was getting accustomed to the altitude she was considering adding a pack on the run.

Linda’s Grandfather had in old root cellar that had collapsed years ago when Linda was in her teens and her father had bought several cargo containers to replace it with. One had been buried next to the house so that its doors opened into what were in the remains of the old root cellar entrance from the house’s basement.

The other containers he buried end to end under the barn but never got around to putting shelves in them. So they were unused and almost forgotten about until the Donaldsons arrived and Cathy started a survey of the property. She put Jake and Paul to work fixing the stairs down to them and hauled a bunch of old railroad ties inside and made a wall about three feet from the far end and filled the void with sand.

Then they set up a workbench and supply cabinets and shelves at the front of the first container. Then about thirty feet into the containers they set up two rifle shooting stations. This gave them a little over one hundred feet to the railroad tie wall. Plenty of distance for practicing shooting without disturbing the neighbors or anyone else on the farm.

Cathy now hurried down into the underground gun range for some practice while she was still tired from her run. This was part of her own personal combat training regiment. To hone her skills of weapons control while exhausted. Before her run she had set out several different caliber and styles of pistols and rifles. She didn’t believe in the adage ‘Spray and Pray’. There was too great of a chance of hitting the wrong target, just totally missing your target and wasting ammunition, or being hit by a ricochet.

When Linda’s father had buried the cargo containers, he poured six inches of concrete around them to give them strength. This also made them an echo chamber so she made it a rule that when ever anyone was shooting in there, they had to wear two sets of hearing protection, earplugs and earmuffs.

She was just starting to shoot when the earth lurched and rolled. “Earthquake!” she said though there was no on to hear her. Then she smiled, “Might as well take advantage of the shaking” and quickly started shooting. She went through two reloads on four of the pistols before the big shaking started. When it did she hesitated for a moment before finishing off with the S&W 500 and switching to the rifles.

“There’s nothing I can do to stop the quake and I am safer down here.” She thought to herself, ‘I can’t hardly stand let alone walk, so I can’t help anyone topside right now. I’ll go help anyone that needs it after the earthquake stops.’ She went through one load for the Ruger 10/22 and Mini 14, and was about to pick up the Barrett fifty caliber when the quake subsided. She setup and went through three magazines on the Barrett then moved to the Shiloh ‘Quigley’ for six shots.

Ten minutes later, when she finished shooting, she double checked that all of the weapons were empty and the bolts or slides were open. Then she headed down range to check her targets. She stopped about half way to the first target when she heard a strange sound like a ruptured air hose.

Looking back towards the door she didn’t see anything that would be making any type of noise. Cathy removed the earmuffs from her ears and draped them around her neck. The noise was much louder and she realized that it had to be coming from outside of the steel door. She quickly headed to the door to see what was going on topside. When she opened the door to the cargo container she was assailed by a noise that pierced her to the core.

Even though she still hard the earplugs still in, her automatic response was to clasp her hands over her ears and retreat back into the container. The first thing Cathy did after she retreated to where her weapons were was to put the earmuffs back on, and then she reloaded the S&W 500 and the two speed loaders. She put the holster for the 500 on and placed the speed loaders in their holders and headed back out the door with the 500 in her hands.

When she got out of the container she could feel the intensity of the noise. She made her way to the top of the stairs she looked around and made her way to the barn doors. Looking out side she didn’t see anything that would be making the noise. There was the glow of the morning sun beginning to cast a bit of light on the farm. She exited the barn and worked her way to the house checking the sky for what she was now thinking was a very large jet of some sort. Then she realized that the glow in the sky was in the west, not the east. That wasn’t the sun but something else that was causing the glow.

Her next thought was that a smaller asteroid had preceded the one that was to pass by the earth tomorrow and had crashed into the west coast. That would explain the bright orange glow in the west and the loud noise could be the impact explosion.

Cathy broke out into a full speed run back towards the containers. Taking the steps three at a time she fly down into the underground range and picked up the box of hearing protection and headed back out again. She was running as fast as she could towards the Donaldson’s travel trailer. Her path took her by the smaller trailer that Ross and Paul were in and when she was passing by it they stumbled out in front of her.

Skidding to a halt next to them she handed them each two pairs of earplugs and earmuffs. Then waving her hand in front of them she pointed to the house and gave them a shove in that direction. Then she continued her run to the trailer that the Donaldsons were in.

The door to the Open Road trailer had a pin code door handle on it and she quickly punched in the code and yanked the door open. Reaching in Cathy slapped on the lights as she climbed into the trailer. She made her way to the front of the trailer where Joseph and Linda’s bedroom was. Not bothering to knock she opened the door and found Joseph unconscious on the floor and Linda curled up in a ball next to him.

Cathy quickly put earplugs in Linda’ ears and then Joseph’s. Then she handed Linda two pair of earmuffs and gestured for her to get dressed. When Linda nodded that she understood Cathy turned to find the children.

She found Jane and Mary curled up on their beds with their pillows wrapped tightly around their heads and over their ears, crying. She handed them each earplugs and earmuffs and the girls nodded and quickly put the plugs in and muffs on. Then she gestured for them to get dressed too. In Jake’s room she found him putting in a set of dirty earplugs under the earmuffs that He had on already. He had worn the earmuffs around his neck when he left the underground range the night before and didn’t bother to return them.

He gave her a ‘thumbs up’ when he saw her. She waved for him to follow her as soon as he had gotten dressed. Then she turned around and left his room heading back to Linda and the unconscious Joseph. She stopped in the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kit then continued on to the master bedroom.

Linda was tying her boots laces when Cathy entered the room and Joseph was still lying on the floor. Cathy moved to him with the first aid kit and knelt next to him. She noticed a red mark on his forehead and waved at Linda then pointed to it.

Linda reached up and pointed at a dent in the ceiling above the bed. Cathy nodded and took a smelling salts packet out of the first aid kit and broke it open. She waved it under Joseph’s nose and after a couple of seconds he started to stir.

Joseph reached up and rubbed his forehead groggily and was moving really slow so Cathy put the smelling salts under his nose again. His eyes popped wide open as the smelling salts did their thing. He sat up, and put his hand on his head and pulled it away and looked at it to see if his was bleeding. Seeing none, he staggered to his feet with Linda and Cathy’s help.

Cathy snapped her fingers in front of the both of them even though they couldn’t hear the snap it got their attention. She then ‘wrote’ on the palm of one hand with her finger “Go to the barn gun range”. When they nodded that they understood she left to check back on the children.

She found them in the dinning room looking confused trying to communicate. Cathy spotted a note pad and pencil they had been using to keep score for a card game they were playing the night before and picked it up. She wore directions for them to gather some water and food items and go to the barn gun range. Then she left the trailer.

Once outside Cathy checked the western sky again. The orange glow was still there. She headed into the house to check on how Ross and Paul were doing with Linda’s grandparents.

She found Ross and Paul in the Butterfield’s bedroom trying to comfort Lorie and Lonnie. Cathy tapped Ross on the shoulder and he just about jumped out of his skin. She mouthed sorry to him and showed him the note pad where she had written everything that she had done and had seen so far. Ross nodded and handed the pad to Paul. After he read it, he handed it to Lonnie and indicated that he was going to get dressed and head to the barn. Ross nodded in acknowledgement and pointed to his chest with his thumb and held up two fingers. Cathy nodded.

She took the note pad back from the Butterfields and wrote on it, asking them if they were able to get dressed and move to the underground gun range. They nodded that they were and Lonnie shooed Cathy out of the room.

Outside Cathy saw the Donaldson children carrying some food and water into the barn. Linda was carrying some blankets and Joseph was carrying some radio gear from their trailer.

Cathy stopped to look at the western sky one more time. It hadn’t changed since the first time she saw it. That didn’t seem right. She expected it to either get dimmer or brighter. It just stayed the same. Just like something she had seen before, but she couldn’t remember.

Paul Came out of the smaller trailer carrying his go bag and a Mossberg 500 cruiser in twelve gauge. He walked over to where Cathy stood looking at the sky. He held out the Mossberg for her to take and took the note pad from her.

He wrote on the pad and gave it back to her, “That looks like the night sky over Kilauea.”

“That’s it! “She shouted at him as she swapped the shotgun for the notepad and then took off at a run to the barn.

Cathy ran down the stairs and into the buried containers, closing the door behind her. Then she hurried over to Joseph and took off her earmuffs. Seeing that she was able to remove hers, he did the same.

“Can you hear me?” Cathy shouted.

Joseph shook his head a little and pointed at his ear. He started to remove the earplug but Cathy stopped him, shaking her head and held up the note pad.

Writing on it franticly Cathy scribbled, “The orange glow is from a volcano!!! It must be a huge one for the sound of the eruption to be so loud and last for so long.” And the she showed it to Joseph.

He took the pad and wrote back, “I think you are right about volcano, but not just one!” Cathy’s heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. She took the pad back and wrote, “Yell at me. I might be able to hear you.”

Joseph looked confused but did as she asked. “Can you hear me?”

She wrote, “Yes, very clearly. I had my earplug in when the noise started.”

Jake walked over, “I can hear you too. I fell asleep with my earmuffs on.”

Cathy quickly wrote that on the pad and showed it to Joseph and Linda. Then she wrote, “It may be an hour or so before your hearing returns.”

The noise level increased as Paul opened the heavy door and let Ross and the Butterfields in. When he closed the door the noise level dropped again. Cathy went over to the door and inspected it more closely than she had before. It had a sheet of three quarter inch plywood, which she had noticed but what she hadn’t noticed before was the inch and a half sheet of foam insulation sandwiched between the plywood and the steel door.

Smiling she turned back to the group and wrote on the pad, “We should be safe from the sound down here.”

“But what about the animals? And the volcanoes?” Jake asked, “The wind is coming from that direction.”

“What are you worried about? We are a long way from the volcanoes.” Cathy said.

“We were reading about Mount Saint Helens the last week of school. Ash from that one volcano covered most of this area. Just ask Gee Gee and Pa Pa.”

Cathy quickly wrote all of Jakes concerns on the pad and handed it to Lonnie. As he read the pad Lonnie paled and held out his hand for the pencil. He wrote with a great urgency then showed it to everyone.

“When Mount Saint Helens erupted we barely heard it but we got about an inch of ash from it. With this much noise it would have to be five or more volcanoes erupting in a massive and continuous eruption and that should dump a couple of feet of ash on us. Hopefully the noise will quit before the ash gets here so we can try to get ready for it. We need to make a list of what we need to do once we can go back outside.”

They all stared in shock at what Lonnie had written.

***

It was about nine-thirty when the ash began to fall outside of Walt’s office window. It had taken longer to arrive than he thought and there wasn’t a lot at first, just a flake here and there. And just like the first snows of the season, a little more and more. Unlike the first snow of the season the ash did not melt. It collected and blew around and if there was a gap that the air would come through, so would a little ash. Such as under the front door of the Sheriff’s Office.

Once that happened Walt hurried to the front door and went out to check it out. He held out his hand and caught a few of the ash flakes. He rubbed them between his fingers and thumb. It was gritty, yet light. Then a pickup truck drove down the street raising a cloud of ash behind it, dusting everything as it past by. This included people and other cars.

Walt quickly stepped back inside and closed the door as tight as he could and locked the deadbolt. He took a few steps backwards away from the door as if it would open on its own and let the ash inside. But it didn’t have to open, the ash just came in under the door.

Spinning on his heels, Walt dashed back into the office where the dispatcher, Judy, was talking to a patrol unit.

“Judy!” Walt practically shouted, “Have all deputies return to their homes at once. Code three but slow enough as not to raise a cloud of ash behind them. Once they are home, have them stand by for more information.”

“Does that include Chris and Nelson at the DHS Depot?”

Walt thought for a second, Chris and Nelson were the only two guarding the supply warehouse and the DHS families. Chris was an only child and his folks had moved to Arizona for his dad health. Nelson likewise had no family in the area to worry about. “No. Have them stay put. And add to the message that anyone who goes out in the ash needs to be wearing a dust mask.”

Walt turned to Jason Red Hawk, “Update the emergency radio warning message with the warning that no one should be out driving. That driving in the ash will cause engine damage damage. If you have to drive, all speed limits on all roads are now five miles per hour. If you must go out in the ash you need to be wearing a dust mask.” “Got it.” Jason acknowledged and went to update the message emergency radio warning system.

Walt walked over to the front window and studied the ash fall. As he stood there he slipped out his cell phone and texted Sarah and his father. After getting a reply from both he put the phone away and returned to his office. He brought up his internet and tried to access the DHS WebEOC site, but he got a message saying that the server was down.

Then he tried his email. It started to load then he got an error message saying he was offline. He looked over at the modem and saw that it had a bunch of red lights like the last time the internet was down.

“Sheriff!” Judy called out, “We lost all communications, except for cell and radio. No land lines, internet or Satellite TV.”

“It’s probably the ash on the dish antennas that’s causing the TV outage and somebody probably hit a telephone pole somewhere down the street that took out the landlines and the fiber optic line for the internet. Try calling on the cell phone to different parts of town to see how local it is.” Walt responded and took out the satellite phone and called the Secretary of Homeland Security before he lost all outside communications.

***

It was about ten o’clock and Jason Red Hawk was monitoring the Sheriff’s department Ham Radio Scanner. He was trying to see if he could get more information on what was happening because of the asteroid and was having a hard time accepting what he was hearing. He called out for Walt to come over to him. When Walt got there, Jason handed him a notebook that he had been writing down what was going on according to the Hams around the world. Walt read the notebook and was stunned.

“From Europe:

Ireland Had a 7.3 earthquake lasting four minutes,

Germany had a 6.5 earthquake lasting eight minutes

Greece had a 9.3 earthquake lasting four minutes, From Middle-East:

Eastern Turkey 9.6 lasting eight minutes

Iran had three 7.0+ earthquakes in the last six hours

Tajikistan has an ongoing quake – fifteen minutes so far

Northern India 8.8 lasting twelve minutes

From Asia:

Unconfirmed reports of massive earthquakes all over china and along the Himalayas.

Russia has dozens of 6.0+ quakes and reports that the Siberian Traps have ruptured in numerous locations and huge amounts of lava were flowing out across the landscape.

New Madrid has been having earthquakes about every sixty minutes in the 5.0 to 6.0 range.”

“Holy Cow!” Walt exclaimed as he sank into the chair next to Jason.

“Yeah.” Jason answered with a sigh.

“I didn’t expect anything this bad.”

“Do you think it might get that bad here?”

Walt took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I don’t know. I hope not. But there’s no telling how the earth is going to react from the gravity of the asteroid.”

“I have a bad feeling things are going to get a lot worse this evening when we are facing the asteroid.” Jason grimaced.

“I think you’re right.”

“We should see an increase after six o’clock tonight.” “Unless it’s the magma flow shifting that is causing our quakes now. If that’s the case then the increase will be on going until the damn thing has passed.” Judy chimed in from across the room.

Walt and Jason looked at each other with horrified expressions.

***

The moderate earthquakes continue throughout the day ranging from 2.8 to 4.1 as felt in the Sheriff’s Office. The devastation being reported overseas on the Ham radio is incredible. Walt, Jason and Judy were monitoring Ham, CB and FRS radio channels for information on the effects of the ash fall and quakes on the county specifically. The ash in the street in front of the Sheriff’s office is six inches deep and it is still rising.

Ricky Dickerson stepped through the front door stomping his feet and shaking gently his torso by the door. “Man it’s getting nasty out there.”

“What are you doing here?” Walt demanded in a half annoyed and happy to see him voice.

“I came in to give Judy a ride home. If she tries to drive her car the ash will kill her engine.”

“What about your engine?” Jason asked.

Ricky Smiled, “I modified the patrol car like they did when Mount Saint Helens blew.”

Walt and Jason went to the window to see what he did to the patrol car. What they saw was a black four inch flexible drain pipe coming up from under the front bumper. It went up on top of the right front fender and ran back to the windshield, then up to the roof of the car. There it went into the bottom of what looked like the air filter housing from a Peterbilt truck. But instead of the bug screen on top it had the cyclone dust bowl from a farm tractor.

Jason Laughed, “That ought to do it. You should be fine for days so long as you empty the dust bowl every night.”

“Longer if I empty it after every hour of use.” “Where did you get the truck air filter from?” Walt asked with a hint of an idea in his voice.

“Over at Jerry’s Truck Stop.”

“Does he have any more?”

“Two or three.”

“Quick, go get them and whatever else you need to fix up the other vehicles. Charge it to the department.”

Ricky nodded and gave salute with his index finger off of his hat, “Right away.” Then he turned and went back outside.

“Judy, See if anyone is at the John Deere or Caterpillar dealerships and if we can get them to open the parts department.”

“If I have to, I will call them at home.”

“Good. Jason, See if we have any cardboard we can make a shroud for the front of the Hummer’s intake to block some of the ash from getting in it. Then you can go after any filter supplies we can get and be sure to put a dust bowl on the hummer when you get one.”

***

Cathy looked around at all the odds and ends in the barn’s supply room. “There had to be something I can use to filter out all of this ash from the engines.” She said out loud to herself. As she looked through all of the filled shelves and piles around the room, she spotted a small Massey Ferguson tractor engine sitting in the corner with all sorts of odd parts lying on and around it. But what caught her eye was a small dustbowl sitting on top of its carburetor.

It had a small opening at the bottom that was about half again the size of the air cleaner ports on her Harley. The two of them together would be just about the same square inches as the opening of the dustbowl. She picked it up and examined it a little closer. With a little luck and a bit PVC plumbing fittings and of course duct tape, she believed that she could get this to work on the Harley. Although she still need to find an air filter to put in between the dustbowl and the carburetors.

She continued her search for about an hour and gathered what she thought were enough pieces of odds and ends to build an ash stopping air cleaner for her Harley, the Ford Raptor and the GMC one ton pickup. With a couple more parts she could get Lonnie’s Ford F-450 King Ranch set up too.

Staring at the pile of parts Cathy felt a little better about the situation with the ash falling outside. She could help her new family survive and get around. She turn to go tell the major what she had found and her plan to make their vehicle functional on the ash covered streets when she saw Lonnie stand in the door with a silly grin on his face.

“So, what did you come up with to get the trucks mobile?” He asked with a tone that said he knew what she was doing all along.

“Uh, I think I have enough parts here to make air cleaners the will protect the engines of the Raptor, Jimmy and my Harley from the ash. I need a couple more pieces to get your King Ranch running.”

“Well I already have a system for my truck in the garage so we can save those parts for the Escalade or Linda's Flex.” Lonnie said with a pride. “I learned that lesson back with Mt. Saint Hellens, so I made up a really good ash remover for the next ash fall.”

“Wow,” Cathy said as she slumped in amazement, “Linda said you were a genus. I should have gone to you first.”

“No, you did right. How else would you have stretched you mind to figure out what you could do?”

She gave him a puzzled look because she wasn’t exactly sure what he meant.

“You are a pretty sharp young woman and a heck of a soldier according to Joseph.” Lonnie said as he walked over to the bar stool in front of the work bench and sat down on it. “However you are in a different battle, one with the environment. That is not anything like you have ever been in before. You need to start thinking of other ways to survive Mother Nature. You can’t always use your Marine combat skills with her. Somethings you just have go old school. And speaking of old school, you need to go there to learn what you will need to know to keep my family alive.”

Lonnie looked Cathy hard in the eyes, “Is this getting through to you? Do you realize that the world you knew is most likely not coming back?” “Yes sir. I had a feeling that this was TEOTWAWKI, ever since the first broadcast of the asteroid hit the TV. I realize then that the cities were going to become a death zone and the country was the place to survive and grow.”

“TEOTWAWKI?” Lonnie questioned, “What’s that?”

“It means, ‘The End Of The World As We Know It’. I believe that even with all the government has done to prepare for this, it isn’t anywhere close to what we will need. I have this nasty feeling that things are going to go sideways really badly, really quick and we need to be ready.”

Lonnie nodded and smiled his approval to her response, “Okay. What else are you realizing?”

“That the earthquakes are going to get a lot worse tonight and tomorrow. That there will be more volcanic eruptions, not just more of the same volcanoes but others that haven’t erupted will do so with a vengeance. That with the ash fall, we need to protect the animal from breathing it in and we need to keep it from building up on the buildings and collapsing them. That includes the trailers. That the power is going to go out very soon and maybe permanently. So we need to get the generators set up to run without the ash getting sucked in and destroying their engines or getting into the windings and grinding them up.”

“Go on.”

Cathy started pacing back and forth in front of the window and glanced out of it as she continued, “We need to keep the creek clear and flowing. Also the area around the well so none of the contaminated run off gets into it. The feed for the livestock needs to be kept from becoming contaminated as well. The roads need to be kept clear so we can get around the farm quickly in case there is a need. We need to secure access from the highway to keep undesirables out.”

“What else?”

‘When the power is out, we need to come up with a way to blackout the windows so light doesn’t show out at night but where we can still see what’s going on outside and to let light in during the day. We also need to sound proof the generators so they can’t be heard from more than fifty feet away.” She smiled, “We all need to have a notepad and pencil to write down the things we think of that need to be taken care of. We need a way to be able to watch the highway to know who is traveling towards us.”

“Is that it?” Cathy gave a little shutter, “No, we are going to need more food. A lot more food.” She turned and stared out the window, “And we need to talk with the sheriff.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

***

It was a little after three o’clock and Walt’s unusual visitor had just left, riding away on a motorcycle modified to filter out the volcanic ash. She was a former Marine who was working as a bodyguard for a rich oil executive, who had relocated his family to his wife’s family farm. Her visit was fortuitous because it saved him the trip down to see Lonnie Butterfield and put another phase of his plan into action.

Speaking of which Walt decided he had better check in with his dad and see how things were going at the ranch. When he got hold of Mark, he said that they got the Hughes Satellite dish for the ranch cleaned off and built an ‘A’ frame cover for it using clear plastic sheeting. The internet works but it is a little slow and becomes intermittent as some ash sticks to the plastic and builds up a little before it slides off.

“Dad, can you check the USGS site ‘earthquakes last 7 days’ for me?” Walt asks.

“Sure thing, do you want me to call you back or are you going to wait?”

“I’ll wait while you check it.”

“Okay, it will take a minute.” His father replied and Walt could hear him typing on the keyboard. “By the way the ash is about seven inches deep here out on the fields. Around the house it is deeper on the west side and practically clear for about ten feet on the east side. The ash is sliding off of the roofs of the buildings for the most part.”

“Where is it sticking?” Walt asked with dread concern because if the ash was building up on a roof and it got too much it would collapse.

“So far it is just the two pole barns for the hay. But we have been going out and sweeping them off. And a little on the house around the vent pipes but not very much. The stuff flows like cornstarch so it doesn’t build up too much. I just hope it doesn’t rain and make it sticky.”

“If it does we’ll have to use the fire hoses and wash it off. How deep is it getting where it slides off of the roof?”

“There’s about an eighteen inch mound on the west side. Ah, the site is up and … Oh heavens, the map looks like the freckles on your cousin Lynn’s nose. Give me a second to change the setting to four point two and greater.”

“You might want to just go to the custom settings and set it at five point five.”

“Yeah, I think your right, the four point two didn’t make hardly any change at all.”

“If it is still too busy at five point five you should try six point five.”

“Here it comes. Wow, it is still pretty bad, but some areas are starting to thin out a little. Let me try six point zero first.”

“Can you take screen shots and email them to me?”

Mark chuckled, “Already am.”

“Good. Then we can check them against the Ham radio reports we are getting.”

“Speaking of Ham radio, David has set up camp in the safe room and is writing away. The Smythes are fine and the Thomas’ are holed up at a town called Culdesac, until the ash stops and they can figure out how to keep the ash out of their engine. Damn!”

“What?”

“Oh sorry, it’s just the number of quake still on the map at seven point zero. There must be a hundred and fifty or more. They’re mainly in the Middle East up in to the Pakistan region. They must think the wrath of god has come down on them and…holly crap!”

“Dad!”

“Wow, the wrath of god doesn’t cover it, it’s Armageddon! There was a ten point eight earthquake in Tajikistan and that lasted for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes! There can’t be anything left standing after that!” “Damn, that’s beyond any worse case scenario that I have seen.” Walt paused as fear over took him. “Dad, have everyone start securing everything they can. I have a bad feeling that tonight we will get the same type earthquakes as we face the asteroid.”

“Hang on a minute, let me check something quick.” After half a minute Mark continued, “I think you may be right. The time stamps on the big quakes follow as that area rotates past the asteroid. I think that the magma is being pulled so much that it is bulging the earth’s crust like fans at a football game doing the wave.”

“That means the Cascadia Subduction Zone eruption will get worse after midnight.”

“Wait! Maybe not. The asteroid path is along this route and we are rotating like this. The asteroid will not pass above this area, and therefore.” Mark was muttering as he figured out his idea. “Okay, the way I figure it, our worse case time frame is nine o’clock tonight to just after midnight.”

“But it’s still going to be bad?”

“Oh yeah. It’s going to be very bad. Here, I’ll sent you the screen shot and I will write up my calculation and send them shortly.”

“Thanks dad. Have everyone get everything secured as best as they can. Let them know how rough of a ride it is going to be. Box up the breakables as if getting ready to move. Let all of the family that you can contact know too.”

“Of course, are you going to be able to get home to night?”

“I hope so, but don’t count on it.”

“Alright son,” Mark’s voice started to break, “I love you.”

“Yeah I love you too Dad. Give mom a hug for me.”

“See you later.”

***

The Donaldsons and the Butterfields were gathered around the dining room table working on the things to do list when the sound of Cathy’s Harley Davidson motorcycle could be heard returning from checking out the water tanks and the Alpine store. She had insisted on doing a recon patrol before it got darker than the ash fall was making it.

Jake got up and went to the door as Cathy’s footsteps could be heard on the front porch. He got there in time to open the door for her, “Hey Cathy.”

“Hey Jake.” Finishing brushing the ash from her boots, Cathy set the broom back next to the door and stepped inside. “Hi guys. Everything is getting a good coating of ash. The water tanks are okay for now.”

“For now?” Joseph Donaldson asked.

“Yes sir. The ash hasn’t built up more than several inches. It seems to sluff off when it gets too thick but it will stick solid if it gets wet. When that happens, it will build up and collapse the top of the tanks in and contaminate the water. But if we put a steep peaked tarp tent on them the ash won’t build up at all, it will just slide off, even when wet.

“A pole tent will be easy enough to set up and secure on them. There are extra tarps in the basement.” Lonnie said thoughtfully, and then added, “This will work for the trailers too.”

“How does the road look?” Joseph asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

“Cars are already breaking down.” Cathy answered shaking her head slightly. I passed two compacts that had sucked the ash into their engines or at least clogged their air filters to the point they won’t run. There were a couple of pickups that were driving really slow. It appeared as if they were trying not to stir up the ash. But no one has put any extra ash cleaning equipment on their vehicles yet except for the Sheriff’s Department.”

“Other than you.” Jake chimed in.

“So far.” Cathy replied with a smile and then added, “The Alpine Store was open but their food stores were low. I grabbed a couple jars of jam, a loaf of bread, a six pack and a couple cans of Zippo lighter fluid. Just so it wouldn’t look like I was scoping them out.” “Good, Good.” Lonnie said with a smile, “Very good Gunny. Now we need to get our list prioritized with what we need to get done first before it gets too dark to work outside.”

“Uh,” Cathy spoke cautiously, “I also rode into Council and spoke with Sheriff Rogers.”

“Oh,” Lonnie shot her a strange look, “What did he have to say?”

“Several things; first of all, that the earthquakes are going to get worse tonight and tomorrow. To pack up all breakables like we were going to move. Protect our generator from the ash.” She stopped talking as if there was something more.

“What else did he say?” Lonnie asked a little sterner.

“To take the best twenty of the cattle and move them under cover to protect them from the ash and that we could have the rest to butcher, jerky, freeze, and can.”

Lonnie sat back in surprise, “Really?”

“Lonnie, what’s going on with the sheriff?” Joseph asked.

“Well his uncle Dan Rogers leased most of our land to grow feed on and he continued with his uncle’s deal and then this spring moved several hundred head on to the pastures. He said he would make it right by Christmas, but I didn’t think he would. In fact I was going to take legal action against him.” Lonnie lowered his head and shook it slowly side to side, “Boy do I feel stupid.”

“Why would he give you all of that beef granddad?”

Lonnie threw his hands up show a loss for a reason. “I don’t know.”

“TEOTWAWKI” Cathy interjected.

“What?” Joseph and Lonnie said at the same time.

“I asked him the same question and he said ‘TEOTWAWKI it means The End Of The World As We Know It’ then he said to trade the extra beef for potatoes, rice, and such, as much as we can store.”

“He knows something he can’t talk about.” Ross said from the corner as he stood up. “He has got to have access to information that he is prevented from sharing. Something that is very apocalyptic and he can only do so much on his own, so he is doing the best he can to build up reserves of food that he can call on if he needs to.”

“He said something else about the twenty cows; it was ‘Noah’s ark away from the ranch.’ Do you know what he meant?” Cathy asked Lonnie.

It was Paul that answered, “He wants breading stock to survive the effects of the asteroid. It’s going to be worse than we were told.”

Lonnie’s eyes widened, “Joseph, go get the deuce and a half and hitched up the trailer and get to town and get as many freezers as the store has. Fill it up and get back here as fast as you can.”

Cathy looked shocked that she had missed a deuce and a half truck on the farm. “Where did you hide a deuce and a half?” slipped out before she regained her composure.

Lonnie smiled, “It is in the chicken coop.”

“In the chicken coop?” Jake almost shouted.

Lonnie laughed, “Can you think of a better place to hide one?”

Cathy shook her head, “No, but don’t we have to make an ash cleaner for it?”

“Already has one better than anything else here that we have made.” Lonnie said with a smile.

The chicken coop was an old barn that had a fenced off area on one side that kept the chickens in and critters out. Cathy never went inside because she imagined chicken droppings everywhere. In reality only a third of the barn was used by the chickens. In the center area was parked an old 1965 deuce and a half army truck. Behind it was a two axle military cargo trailer. In the right side area was a machine shop with lathes, milling machines, drill presses, welders, and oxyacetylene torches and machinist tools from forty years of collecting that Lonnie had done.

Ten minutes later Joseph, Ross, and Paul were on their way to town and everyone else was busy making room in the barn for freezers or working on items on the to do list.

***

The USGS site screen shots had confirmed most of the information that was reported over the Ham radio. The discrepancies between the projections of tidal heights, earthquakes, weather changes are greater even than what they had previously heard. Walt texted Sarah and SAC Davies with the news. Then he had Judy update the emergency broadcast message with the warning about the earthquakes going to get much worse and instructions for everyone to pack their breakables up and secure for the worse.

Ricky and Jason were able to gather enough parts to equip two of the departments Excursions and the Hummer that were at the office with the modified air filter systems. And they had the parts for four other patrol units, so Jason and Ricky took the parts out to Chris and Nelson who were guarding the supply warehouse and the DHS families and fixed up their units and then to two other deputies’ homes.

At four o’clock Walt took Judy home so she could get her home secured and then he stopped by Sarah’s home to see how they were doing in getting ready. On the way he saw an old Chevy station wagon that had plowed into a powerpole, taking it down. It was resting on top of the car with some lines still attached to the next pole.

Walt stopped to see if anyone was still in the car. As he walked up he spotted the passenger side door open about six inches. He peered inside and saw that it was empty. Taking his nightstick, so he wouldn’t get electrocuted if the powerlines were still live, he pushed on the door to close it to keep the ash and animals out. The door creaked and bounced back open. The powerpole had deformed the roof of the car so that the door would not align enough to close.

Shaking his head Walt got back in the Hummer and made a note of the number on the powerpole so he could report it, if anyone was answering at the power company. Then he thought, “Who is going to respond? If there is anyone there, how long will they stay on the job? And how long before they can send someone out here? This is getting worse than anything Uncle Dan wrote about.”

Still he made note of it just the same and then continued on down the road. When he got to Sarah’s house the ash fall had dropped off to practically nothing. Walt started to pull into the driveway but then thought better of it and instead turned out into the street and then backed up the driveway towards the mudroom door.

Opening the door Walt stepped out of the Hummer and closed it behind him. Then he chastised himself for his forgetfulness and opened the door back up and grabbed the trash bag on the passenger’s seat. He walked around to the Hummer’s snorkel intake and put the trash bag over it and secured it with the bungee that was already on it. The trash bag would make sure that no ash build up on the top of the snorkel would get suck into the engine’s intake when he started it up again. They had noticed that happen with Ricky’s patrol car. Fortunately Ricky saw the cascade of ash as he started up and he quickly turned off the engine so very little got sucked in and what did the dust bowl took care of most of it and the air filter the rest.

Walt made his way to the mudroom door and saw that the small portico that extended to the driveway now had plastic film walls on. There was a tarp that was attached to the house that came down over a travel trailer that was parked about four feet away from the house. The tarp was steep enough that none of the ash was collecting on it. He could see that it had the power, water and sewer hooked up to make it additional living space.

He also noticed that Dani’s ugly green ex-forestry truck was backed up next to the end of the trailer. But he didn’t see any of the other Ventures’ vehicles around as he walked up to the portico. The plastic had been hug over lapping each sheet about two feet and duct taped together. At the bottom of the plastic sheets baseball sized rocks had been laid on the extra plastic and was folded up around the rocks and duct taped to keep it from blowing around in the wind thus keeping more of the ash out of the covered walkway. The end of the walkway had two pieces of heavy duty tarp overlapping several feet, also to keep the ash out.

There were three brooms in this ‘decontamination hallway’, place along the plastic wall. Taking the hint, Walt took the first broom and swept any ash from his pants and boots. Then he took his Stetson hat off and knocked the ash off of it and he shook his jacket to remove any ash on his shoulders. He walked up to the steps to the mudroom door and wiped his boots on the mat and made sure that he was free of ash before ascending to the stoop of the door.

Walt was about to knock on the door when the door opened and Sarah fell into him wrapping her arms tightly around his chest and nearly knocking him over.

“Mumm, you feel good.” She sighed as she buried her face in his chest.

Walt enveloped her inside his jacket and arms and pulled her tighter to him as if that were possible. “I love you.” He whispered in her ear, “and I’m so sorry for the misery I have put you through making you wait to get married.”

Sarah pulled back just enough to be able to look up into Walt’s eyes, “I think it’s been for the best. If we were married then I would most likely have a baby by now and I wouldn’t want to subject our child to this ash filled air.” She leaned back tight against his chest, “I shudder to think of the repertory problems that they could get from it.” Walt squeezed her then released her, “I was worrying about you and your family breathing the ash and you guys getting siliceous or some other lung disease.”

“I worry about all of the heat you two are letting out the open door.” Earl hollered from the living room. “Close the door and bring the Sheriff in here, girl.”

Sarah stepped back taking Walt’s hand and pulled him into the mudroom and closed the outside door. When they entered the kitchen, Walt closed the door to the mudroom. Then Sarah snaked her right arm into Walt’s jacket and around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder.

Earl looked up at them and sighed with a slight smile on his face. “Today I lost my eldest boy and gained a man and daughter-in-law. Soon I will loose a daughter and gain a women and son-in-law.” He sighed again and tossed the playing cards he was holding down on the cards on the table in front of him and scooped them together into a pile and started shaping them back into a deck. “When you two finally get married, remember that your children are going to grow up faster than you want and they won’t always be around for you share your life with them.”

“Whoa, Dad, that is pretty deep sadness there, I not gone yet and Mick and Dani are going to be here with you for a while and you’ll always be welcomed at the ranch. I don’t see us ever moving away from it.”

“Mister Ahern, Sarah’s right. You’ll always be welcome at the ranch.” Walt said earnestly, “Sarah can tell you I try to keep family close by or in good contact.”

“Yeah he even gave his grandparents the ranch to run just to keep them close by.”

“It was more than that, they had the expertise to run it and Sheriff Cooper set me up to run to replace him as Sheriff. I didn’t have time or the skills to run the ranch.”

“Bullshit.” Both Sarah and Earl said at the same time.

“You have done an amazing job organizing the county for this disaster. Better than anyone else could have. And you still helped your grandparents run the ranch and get it ready for your family to come here from Seattle and set up the Redoubt Village.” Sarah argued. “You got Homeland Security to set up a supply depot here with a back up command center. So you do have the expertise to run the ranch. You just want to have them close to you.”

“She’s right, Walt.” Earl said flatly. “Maybe so, if that’s the case then this makes even more sense, I have three modular homes that my cousins aren’t coming to use. I would like you to move everyone out to the ranch as soon as you can. I believe it is going to get crazy here in town when the power goes out tonight and people’s freezers stop working and the water stops.”

“Walt, we have supplies for a year thanks to Sarah’s fore thinking and two quite generators to power the well and the freezers in the basement.” Earl said with obvious pride in Sarah, “We will be fine here.”

“Do your neighbors know what you have? Does anyone at all know about your food or the generators?”

“Not the generators.” Earl said quietly as he thought about Walt’s query, “I picked those up in Boise, one last year and the other last month. They’re tri-fuel eight kilowatt inverter type. Really quite and the one that is hooked up in the basement has the exhaust running out the chimney so no one will know about it running as long as we don’t use any lights other than in the basement. And the other is a spare.”

“What about your other supplies?”

“Sarah gathered a lot of the food before the news broke. But we got the trailer with the large propane tank and the bulk rice, bean and wheat the day it broke on the news. But there were a lot of people doing that, so we blended in the mix.”

Walt sucked his lower lip in and nodded as he thought over what Earl had said. Finally he spoke, “You maybe right that you have gone under the radar of most people but, there will be those that remember that you have food and when they run out they will try to get yours from you, first by asking, then begging, then taking by force. You will need to blend in with those that have no food by asking for food yourselves.”

“You want us to go begging?”

“Sort of.” Walt said soberly, “I suggest that you pretend to be going hungry. When you are out and about talk about how you are running out of food and need to find where there is some to buy or barrow until your garden can start producing. This way word will get out that you have run out and others won’t come to you looking for food.”

“I understand.” Earl said then asked. “Do you really think it will come to that?”

“It defiantly will.” Walt sighed, “It is getting worst than the government thought it would, so they are not prepared enough for the long haul.” “I don’t like lying, but I guess we will have to protect ourselves.” Earl said reluctantly.

“You can always come out to the ranch. Now or later, but I hope you won’t wait too long.” Walt urged. Then he turned to Sarah, “Have the Venture crew members been able to get their families stocked up with supplies?”

“Most of them are, but not all. Some of their parents think that it is the government’s responsibility to take care of them in a disaster and they weren’t able to stash much in the way of supplies.”

Walt lowered and shook his head with a heavy sigh. Then he looked back up and said, “I blame the parents and I don’t want to condemn those crew members.”

“Neither do I but I don’t want to separate them from their parents.”

“I don’t want to bring their parents into the camp at the mine and have them still thinking that it something that they are owed just for being a citizen.”

“I know what you mean.” Sarah grimaced with the hardness of the choice they were facing.

“Do those Venture crew members expect to take their parents with them if they have bugout to the camp?”

“I’m not sure about most of them. Randy is so pissed at his parents that he has packed most of his gear and stashed it where he can bugout without them know when he feels it is no longer safe to stay at home.” Sarah paused in thought then continued, “Two others might try to bring them up to the camp, but not before they run out of food or it gets unsafe to stay in town. Amy’s mom is as spacy as Amy pretends to be and won’t listen to anything we say about stocking up. Amy loves her but I get the feeling she will leave her, if she has to and go with her uncle, to get to the camp safe.”

Walt took all of this information in and was digesting it when Earl spoke up, “Would it help if I were to go talk to their parents?”

“Only if you pack up and come out to the ranch within a week. Otherwise they aren’t going to buy your lack of food bluff.”

“How about if I play the ‘I just found out the government doesn’t have enough supplies for us’ gambit just to try to wake them up and listen their kids?” Walt sucked on his lower lip as he thought out what the outcome of that would be, and then he shook his head. “That might have worked several weeks ago but now… it’s too late and I think that all that would do is to stir up trouble before you could get your family out to the ranch. No… they made their bed by ignoring the advice they were given. They will have to sleep in it.”

“Then they can’t come to the camp.” Sarah said with sad finality. Then she breathed heavily, “Crap!” she said under her breath.

“What?” Walt and Earl said together.

“What if they try to bring them anyways?” Sarah asked afraid of the answer she knew would come.

“We will have to set up some roadblocks down by the highway with lookouts. The crew will have to stop them before they hike to close to the camp and turn them around, hopefully without bloodshed.”

“You think it will come to tha…” Earl stopped himself in mid-sentence, “Of course it might. Some parents will demand to have food if they know where it is at.”

“We will just have to make sure those crew members know what will happen if they try to bring family out to the camp without supplies to buy their way in.”

“Just food, or any supplies?” Sarah asked.

“That will be up to the crew to decide. They will have to live with the consequences of whatever choice they make.” Walt stated flatly.

“Mister Young moved his family out there last night with Mister Rourke’s army truck pulling a big trailer. They took the southern route out of town and then swung out around Copper Lake and came back in past the old Pitman’s place. He brought the truck back this morning and took his King Lariat and camping trailer out passed the cable car.”

Walt smiled, “That should throw anyone off his trail.”

Carol came into the room and cleared her throat, “Sheriff, What is going to happen tomorrow when the asteroid passes?”

“That’s one of the reasons I stopped by, it’s not tomorrow you need to worry about, it’s tonight! You need to pack everything that’s breakable, like you are going to move it cross country. There will be stronger earthquakes starting soon and peaking between nine and a little after midnight if my dad figured right. I am thinking a little later, towards midnight to four AM. Like this morning.”

“Thank you for the warning, we’ll start packing and making sure everything is secured to the walls.” Carol said with a defiance that didn’t quite hide the fear inside.

Earl stood up “Yes we’ll get right on it, thank you.”

“Sheriff?” Dani asked as she slipped into the room holding Mick’s hand. “Could you check on my dad? I just sent him a text about packing the breakables up and putting them in the basement, but sending texts at our house has been very spotty at best lately. We were going to head out to the camp the day after tomorrow, but I want you to make sure him doesn’t try to pack everything into the truck tonight by himself.”

Walt smiled, “Sure thing ‘Mrs. Ahern’.” He said with a smile and a very heavy emphasis on the ‘Mrs.’ to acknowledge that he knew about her and Mick getting married.

Sarah put her arm around Walt’s waist, “I’ll walk Walt out then I will check on the stuff in the garage. Somebody be sure to check…”

She stopped talking as the house suddenly lurched like a sick child throwing up. Everyone braced themselves and looked at each other. This was not like the other earthquakes they had felt over the past week. After about ten seconds everyone breathed and started to relax when a second lurch hit the house a little harder.

It was a nauseating feeling like lying on an air mattress at the beach when a wave rolls in. Everyone grabbed hold of something to hold on to and braced for more of the quakes, but they didn’t come.

“That was weird,” Tommy said from the other room.

“It sure was.” Sarah agreed.

“Yeah,” Walt mused, “That had to be a long ways off if all we got was two shockwaves.”

“I wonder how far.” Earl asked no one in particular.

Walt pulled out his satellite phone and hit the auto dial, put the phone on speaker and waited. A few seconds later came the familiar voice of his father. “Walt, did you feel that?” “Sure did.” He answered, “That’s what I’m calling about. Can you check the USGS website and see where that might have been centered at?”

“Will do, but it will take a few minutes to bring it up. We’re having a hard time staying online for some reason. I’ll give you a call back when I have the answer.”

“Alright, I’m at the Ahern’s house now and then I’m headed over to the Rourke’s and then to the DHS trailers before heading back to the office. Keep me updated with anything that looks unusual, okay?”

“You got it. By the way, David got a couple of messages for you; from Red Hawk, they’re at the cave and settled in for now. Two other families have joined them. Also the Thomas’ have found a safe haven and are hunkered down for the next couple days or until the ash fall stops. Then they will continue on.”

“Tell the Thomas’ to be ready to head out tonight as soon as the ash stops falling, and I mean the split second. They may have only three or four of hours of driving time before it starts again and then it will be worse than before. The roads will soon be impassable for… I don’t know how long. Oh and have the driver keep at least one earplug in while driving everyone else should have both in. Have them send any messages while driving via D-STAR text.”

“Got it.” Mark said, “And I’ll tell them why.”

“Thanks Dad.”

***

It was just after five o’clock when Walt pulled into the Rourke’s driveway. He had to stop and pull three cars and two pickups off of the roadway on the way over from Sarah’s house. His dad had called back shortly after he had left Sarah’s and he said the quake looked to be centered at Yellowstone, so he had David check with the Hams in the area for more information. What he found out was bothersome to say the least. It seemed that the valley floor was oscillating up and down once each day for the past several days, and getting more extreme with each day cycle.

As he drove up the Rourke’s driveway he saw a little light shining under the rollup door of Fort Rourke so he swung the Hummer around to head towards the Fort. Walt stopped right in front of the door and tapped the siren button on the light bar controller twice and got out of the Hummer with the garbage bag in hand. He put the bag over the snorkel and secured it. He was about to knock on the door next to the rollup door when Jerry Rourke opened it up and peered cautiously around the door.

“Hey Walt! Come on in.” Jerry said as he opened the door wider so Walt could come in.

“Dani asked me to stop by and check on you and make sure you’re not trying to load everything by yourself.”

“Yeah, I just got her text about five minutes ago.” Jerry said with a halfhearted smile as he scratched the back of his head. “That last shockwave nearly dumped me on my face, so I figured I would just tie down what I had loaded and single stack what I could from the stuff piled on the floor. No sense getting hurt when you’re by yourself, right.”

“You got that right, especially with the problems with phones kicking in.” He said with a bit of concern in his voice, “I was just about to wrap it up out here and go pack up the breakables in the house.”

“Good. By the way, my brother David is parked on the Ham radios at the ranch, monitoring everything he can. He has one of the radios tuned to the crew’s frequency, if you need to get a message to me.”

“Thanks, that’s good to know.” Jerry said with a grunt as he shoved one last box into the stack at the back of the old army truck and latched the tailgate. “There! The rest can wait until morning.”

“Alright, I’ll see you on my morning rounds...if things don’t get too bad tonight.” Walt quipped as he walked to the door. “And call if you need help, the Ahrens will all be glad to help out.”

“You think it’s going to worse than today?”

“A lot worse, we may not get another ear buster noise from the Cascadia Subduction Zone breaking loose, but Yellowstone has been rumbling this evening.” Walt stopped and turned back to face Jerry, “If it were me, I would tarp the load and park it outside and away from the fort tonight.”

Jerry’s brow frowned as he thought about what Walt suggested. “I’ll consider it. I wouldn’t want the building to come down on it, but then again I wouldn’t want the supplies to walk off in the middle of the night.” Walt was about to reply when his satellite phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Kris Davies. He quickly answered the phone, “Hey Kris, I thought we lost you this morning, are you alright?”

***

It was seven-thirty and Walt was back at his office using his smart phone as a hotspot for his computer to access the internet. The phone company was able to get the cell towers operational again. For how was anybody’s guess. Now he was opening the email his dad called him about. Mark had compiled it about a half an hour ago and sent it to him. Mark said it was too much to relay over the phone and that Walt needed to see the data to really get a hold of what it meant.

For the next ten minutes Walt read and then reread the email. He couldn’t believe what was happening, New York State had suffered a series of five point five plus earthquakes all over the state with thirty plus four point zero plus aftershocks. There had been an increase of moderate earthquakes in the New Madrid area then about seven o’clock Idaho time a 7.4 earthquake hit that lasted eight minutes.

There is an increased moderate level earthquake activity at Yellowstone swarms of three point zero to four point four quakes have been occurring for the last two and a half hours since the six point nine that hit while he was at the Ahern’s house. Around six o’clock, nine eastern, Ham radio operators were relaying reports of three hundred foot tidal surges already hitting the east coast as the waters return from the Middle East. By ten o’clock Eastern Standard Time the tidal surges are six hundred feet high. Florida had been completely wiped out and the surges were hitting the gulf coast states and Mexico stronger than anticipated.

The Mississippi river is flowing backwards part of the time as the tidal surges flow into the gulf and up into the Mississippi river valley. The Hams report that the water surges are inundating further into the southern mid-west states than anyone thought they would.

On the bright side there has not been any sign of any other volcanic activity to the west other than the Cascadia Subduction Zone. One ham reported that the lava flows seem to be increasing but without exploding out like it did when it first erupted.

With that Walt was hoping that the Cascadia Subduction Zone eruption would reduce any magma pressure under Mount Saint Helens, Rainier and the other volcanoes to the west of his ranch. He didn’t need more ash to hamper the recovery efforts of his county. Suddenly there was a hollowing outside that sent a chill shivering down his back. He could hear the sounds of trashcans bouncing down the street.

“What the heck?” Walt said out loud even though there was no one there to hear him. He got up from his desk and started to make his way out of his office and to the front door when there was a racket that sounded like someone was trying to shoot out the windows with a couple of old Freon powered BB machine guns. He stopped at his office door and peeked around the door frame at the front windows. They were intact but the sound continued. Cautiously he slipped along the wall towards the front door. There the sound indicated that whatever was hitting the windows was also hitting the old solid three inch thick Cedar doors, although it didn’t make nearly the amount of noise the windows did.

Walt inched over to the window to the left of the door and carefully and slowly moved the blinds out enough so that he could peek out around them. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the hail building up on the window sill. Then his heart jumped as he saw a trash can flying through the air, over a parked car and into the greasy spoon down the block.

“This is going to be a bad night.” He said to himself as he turned around to go back to his office. Then as if in answer to his prediction the earth began to shake and roll under the building. “And so it begins.”

***

It was about nine-thirty and they had been on the road a little over four hours when the earthquakes began in earnest again. The ash on the roads made travel at any significate speed impossible. In fact for a while they were down to less than ten miles an hour between White Bird and Riggins. They had just come out of the last crooked part of the mountains and were on the flat lands about five miles north of New Meadows.

“Hey guys!” Erik Thomas shouted, “We’re passing Little Salmon Cabin! That puts us about forty miles from the ranch.”

Everyone cheered and breathed a slight sigh of relief. The light was visible at the end of the tunnel so to speak, as far as Erik and Diane were concerned. There wasn’t any more ash falling currently and the roadway here was fairly clear. Erik increased the speed of the Chevrolet Kodiak C4500 that he traded the Yukon for back in September after the news about the asteroid broke. Erik smiled when he thought about how he picked it up from the Chevy dealer on an even trade for the Yukon. The dealership had run out of SUVs and this guy was in there willing to pay just about anything for one. So Erik asked how much the Kodiak was and it was less than what the guy was offering the salesman for a SUV. So Erik offered to trade his Yukon for the Kodiak and the salesman jumped on it. An hour later he drove out with a dark gray Crewcab Kodiak with an eight foot flatbed with stake sides.

He stopped off at the lumberyard and picked up eight sheets of inch and a quarter subfloor, a couple of two by fours and some hardware. By dinnertime he had built a six foot tall box on the flatbed. At the front of the flatbed were two seventy-five gallon fuel tanks. The rest of the box was loaded with only half of their food supply, two fifty-five gallon barrels of water, sleeping bags, and most of their weapons. The rest of their food, ammo and other supplies were in the LUXE forty-two foot Travel Trailer being towed behind the Kodiak.

The LUXE was a fifth wheel, three axel trailer made by Augusta RVs. After talking with the Rogers family Erik and Diane decided to get a trailer instead of one of the Class A RVs they had been looking at, like the one they took to Michael and Jenna wedding. After several weeks of researching they decided on getting the LUXE. With the LUXE they could set up living quarters and still have mobility with the Yukon using the Automated Safety Hitch System, without having to drive their home around with them. When he sold the Yukon they installed the Automated Safety Hitch System on the Kodiak.

Erik had the Kodiak up to forty miles an hour when road began to move in front of him. Expecting the earthquakes to start again and actually being ready for when they did were two different things. It took him a second or two to realize what was happening and to take his foot off of the accelerator and start applying the breaks. Then a rolling wave of energy came at them from the right. The earth seemed to rise and lower like a table cloth being shook out over a table.

They were down to twenty-five when the wave hit them from the side. The road lurched up from right to left as the wave traveled along. The Kodiak and the LUXE rose and tilted to the left as they were thrown from the southbound lane into the northbound lane. Erik was petrified enough that he didn’t turn the wheel in either direction so they just continued south in the northbound lane and rocked from side to side. He was barely able to keep himself from trying to turn the wheel as they came close to tipping over.

The truck and travel trailer had slowed to ten miles an hour when Nikki yelled from the back seat that another wave was coming at them.

Erik watch the wave approach and at the last moment turned the steering wheel hard to the right then back straight again as the wave hit them. He had timed it just right and they were back in the southbound lane and tipping to the right as it hit them. The kinetic energy of the maneuver lessened the shoving action of the wave. Erik was able to keep them in the proper lane and the truck and trailer did not rock as much this time.

There were three more waves in ten minutes that Erik was able to steer through them using the same technique. Each one was a little bit less intense than the previous one. Now there were just jolts and shaking every couple of minutes, not enough to cause him to move out of the southbound lane but enough to keep everyone white knuckled. They continued on at about seven miles an hour and watching the reddish orange glow build in the western sky.

***

Susan and Terrie were in the old converted Greyhound Bus, a 1978 Eagle Tour Bus Motorhome 40ft Diesel. It was a Class ‘A’ Coach similar to the one that Marlene was driving behind them. That one was a forty-five foot, 1995 Newell Coach. Bobby had it rebuilt from the wheels up. Both of them pulled mid-seventies Jeep Cherokees

It looked like it was just another old motorhome that wasn’t worth breaking into, which is exactly what Bobby wanted, for the women folk and kids to be inconspicuous and not a target, and that was even before the whole asteroid thing. Now the whole family was almost paranoid with watching out for any threats to the RVs.

“So, how far out do you think we are now?” Susan asked Terrie who was riding shotgun and tracking their progress through the ash covered roadways.

“What are we doing now?”

“Forty-seven miles an hour.”

“Well, I would say less than an hour if we stop at the Sheriff’s office, about thirty minutes if we go straight there according to pop’s GPS logs.”

“I hope we go straight there.” Susan sighed, “I don’t like driving in this ash.”

“My feelings exactly. I have to think what would happen if one of the air filters leaked some ash into one of the engines.”

Susan glanced back in the rearview mirror and saw Marlene’s headlight bounce like she ran over a log or something. Then the Eagle lifted from the back and they were shoved forward as the front end lifted up into the air. She saw the wave of the earthquake shockwave proceed in front of her towards the back of Mike’s Rigs when she heard Marlene shout over the radio.

“Earthquake! Slow down! Earthquake!”

Susan fought to control the old bus as she applied enough brake to slow it down without going into a skid as she watched the brake lights on mike’s rig come before the back of the trailer started rocking. She gasped as her husband’s bounced and swerved all over the road from the shockwave. “Oh Lord no. Don’t take him now.”

The shockwave had caused several of the palleted bags of sugar to shift and bounce around inside the trailer. Mike struggled for what seemed like minutes to regain control of the rig, but was able to bring it safely to a halt.

“Mike’s stopping! I think his load shifted.” Terrie called out over the radio as Susan pulled the RV over behind him.

“My load shifted too.” Bobby answered back.

***

Cathy was sitting cross-legged on her bed reviewing her copy of everyone’s lists that that they had made earlier. She entered each item in an Excel spreadsheet marking what they had completed and giving priority to what they had yet to do.

Lonnie and Cathy had talked about almost everything on the lists. The few things that they hadn’t talked about were luxury things that Jake and the twins had come up with. Now they were all going over copies of the lists on their own and marking them in priority of what they thought need to be done first.

They had a lot more to do than any of them thought there was to do when they left California. It seemed that everyday there was more to do, more to worry about, more that was going wrong. Cathy was not sure that they would ever catch up where they were keeping even, let alone getting ahead of the curve.

Cathy sat on her bed as she sorted the lists so that she had the top twenty items that they need to do tomorrow and the next twenty they needed to get done with in the week. She realized that at some point some items on the lists could only be done by the adults so she started looking items that the kids could do on their own.

Suddenly the barn rolled and bucked and groaned as a wave of energy passed through the ground below. Cathy was thrown from the bed onto the floor.

“Damn.” She muttered as she uncrossed her legs to right herself, “So much for sitting cross-legged on the bed.” Then as she started to stand up a second wave hit the barn. Cathy dropped onto the bed with her upper body and reached across it to grab the far side. The bed bounced her twice before she was able to grab the framework of the cot. Then just as she was able get a grip on it the earthquake stopped.

“Figures.” She said in disgust as she picked up her laptop off of the floor. ‘At least I didn’t land on you.’ She thought to herself as she checked it out to make sure it was still working. After giving the laptop a quick once over she set it down on the bed and breathing a sigh of relief, she grabbed S&W 500 and its rig that she had hung on a two by four that stuck out about six inches from the wall stud it was nailed to.

Cathy buckled it on as she made her way down the stairs from the loft in the barn to go check on everyone in the house and trailers.

“I’m not going to get much sleep tonight.” She said to the tiger stripped cat that prowled the barn. “and I guess you’re not going to either.”

She made it about half way to the house when she saw Jake running at an easy lope towards her. “Is everyone okay?” she called out to him.

Slowing to a normal walk Jake replied, “Yeah everyone’s fine. I just wanted to make sure you were.”

“I fine. Just got bounced off the bed and dumped my laptop on the floor.” She smiled back at Jake.

“The twins are making monkey bread and Gee Gee is making potato chicken chowder.

Cathy thought on this for a minute, “Are they sure it is wise to be cooking during while the quakes are increasing?”

Jake shook his head, “Gee Gee seems to think so.”

“Well then let’s go get some while we can.”

***

The ash had stopped falling for several hours and Walt was heading south out of town to check on one of the secret DHS warehouses. It was the one which was closest to the ranch. As he was driving on his way to the warehouse he saw the flashing lights of a patrol car heading north followed by several trucks. Walt reached down to the light bar console and flipped on the Hummer’s grill lights as he slowed to a stop and then got out.

The sedan pulled to a stop even with the Hummer and the door open. A blonde with a shorthair cut and wearing a Federal Protection Service uniform stepped out and said, “Evening Deputy, I’m Officer Reba Trickle with the Federal Protection Service. I need to talk to Sheriff Rogers about …” her eyes bug out as she saw Walt’s face, “Oh my…You’re the Sheriff Rogers! The author. My dad didn’t say that it was you he was coming to see.”

Walt smiled, “By dad, do you mean Bobby Trickle?”

She blushed a little and gave a very quick glance back at the trucks. She opened her mouth to answer but all that came was a little squeak of an ‘ugh…’ and a cough.

Walt chuckled and then hollered, “Hey Bobby, Come on up here.”

Bobby climbed down out of his rig and walked over to Walt. It wasn’t his usual happy bouncy walk, but one of a man with his hat in hand. He kept looking at the ground as he walked up.

“Okay Bobby, what’s wrong? You’re not your usual jolly elf self.”

Bobby cleared his throat as he took his hat off. Reba looked shocked at the gesture and Walt caught the looked on her face. “Sheriff Rogers, I not a stupid man. Nor am I an unobservant one. I know what you are doing up at your ranch and I want to assure you that me and my family will not jeopardize you and yours. But we would like to buy in with what we have to offer.”

“Well, we will have to see what you have to offer.” Walt said forcing a straight face, knowing that Bobby had something that they would need. “We have three Peterbilt trucks, one is a heavy duty construction model with all- wheel drive. Six drivers, two converted Greyhound buses recently rebuilt, five grandkids and three trailers loaded with C & H sugar.”

It was all Walt could do to keep his jaw from dropping when Bobby said they had three trailers of sugar. Walt had stocked some to last four or five years. He figured they would plant sugar beets and process them in the coming years. Three trailers of sugar would give them many more years of sugar, maybe even decades if they rationed it.

Walt looked at Reba Trickle and eyed her up and down. “Bobby didn’t mention you in his buy in assets. Where do you fit in?”

She hesitated before answering, “I need to check in at the government facility here and hope I don’t get fired for making the detour here instead of going to Reno and flying out to Colorado to the FPS rally point there.” She took a deep breath and blew it out through her nose, “I needed to help my family and I’m hoping the agent in charge here is understanding and doesn’t write me up.”

“Well if you get fired, which I highly doubt, I can always use more female deputies.” Walt smiled, “But if you really want to stay federal, I’ll talk to Kris for you.”

“Uh, Who?”

“DHS Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies, Sector Chief for the Boise Special Operations Area.” Walt explained, “You can meet him tomorrow afternoon when he gets here from the Boise office.” Then he turned to Bobby Trickle, “Go ahead and head up to the ranch. I’ll let them know that you are coming.”

They nodded to each other and Walt turned to get back in his Hummer but stopped short and turned back and asked, “Reba, How did you know who I was?”

She blushed, smiled a weak smile and rocked her head side to side nervously, “I have all of your books.”

***

Mark and Mary had just backed the Thomas’ truck and travel trailer into one of the new barns near the house and all hooked up to the utilities. Walt had installed several sewer hookups for RVs and travel trailers so that family members that brought either could use them instead of cramming into some of the house’s rooms.

It was another of Sarah’s suggestions but one that came with a request that three of them be set aside for her family. It was a request that Walt was all too eager to agree to with an amendment, he set aside one of the modular homes for her family.

They had just gotten the Thomas’ trailer all hooked up, when Walt called with the news about Bobby Trickle and his family and their buy in to Redoubt Village. Now they drove one of the John Deere Gators out to the Redoubt Village to meet Bobby Trickle and his family and show them which RV pads they could use.

On one of the three cul-de-sac loops that made up the Redoubt Village. There were three lots next to each other that had not been sold. These would work for keeping the trickle family together. It also had good access for the semi-trucks and trailers to get in and out without a problem. One of the lots had a couple extra conex cargo containers on it and that is where they would start to move the palletized sugar to in the morning.

They could park the dry bulk tanker under one the covers to keep it out of the weather as soon as they cleaned the pad off of the lumber that was currently stored there. Mark had noted, after reading all he could find on late fall / early winter volcanic eruptions, that they could expect some heavy rain within two weeks. Of course the data he read said nothing about a lava flow as large as the Cascadia Subduction Zone at the water’s edge and the amount of steam it was producing. With that much moisture being put into the air alone with all of the ash, he believed that they could get acid rain or mud rain in a little as a week.

They might have to figure out a better way to store the sugar soon. Then again if the winds keep increasing the way they had been, all of that just might blow over them and come down in Yellowstone or farther east.

Fortunately they had built the pad roof that spanned between the conex cargo containers with plenty of slope so that snow would not stick to them. They were hoping the same would hold true for any wet ash they got.

Mark and Mary got to the access road for the Redoubt Village just ahead of Bobby Trickle’s caravan of vehicles and just as the ash began to fall again. Chapter 8

The Arrival

October Nineteenth

The earthquakes did increase as Walt thought that they would. His family members, at the ranch, were weathering the shockwaves well enough. There was no super loud noise this night. Walt surmised that the noise was from the Cascadia Subduction Zone rupturing and the massive rush of material out of it. He believed that since it was already open and the flow never really stopped, that when the pull of the asteroid moved the magma back the fault area, it didn’t have a chance to build up pressure and just flowed out. Large volumes of lava flowed out into the pacific and onto the western seaboard in a somewhat orderly fashion. Sure there were earthquakes caused by the shifting tectonic plates, but not because of the violent eruptions of lava.

Walt spent most of the night driving slowly around town checking on the DHS warehouses and the other businesses in town that he and Kris had deemed of infrastructure importance. He also checked on certain other individuals that he was worried about.

It was about two in the morning when he drove by the Ahern’s and saw that there was a light on in their kitchen. He back up into their driveway and saw that Dani’s ugly green ex-forestry truck was still backed up next to the end of the trailer that she and Mick were now living in. He made his way to the makeshift airlock that was made from the portico. The plastic and baseball sized rocks had done their job to keep it from blowing around in the wind and kept most of the ash out of the covered walkway.

He entered and grabbed the first of the three brooms in the decontamination hallway and swept the ash from his pants and boots. Suddenly the mudroom door flew open and Sarah came running out and down the steps and to him. She threw herself against him, pinning his arms to his sides as she wrapped her arms around him in an emotionally charged hug.

After several seconds she released him from the hug and looked into his eyes. The redness of her eyes told him that she had been crying. He opened his mouth to speak but she quickly placed a finger to his lips and said “Shush.” She then his took his Stetson hat off and knocked the ash off of it and brushed the ash off of his jacket as well. Then she took him by the hand and led him into the house. She led him through the mudroom and into the kitchen and stood him in the corner by the refrigerator with his back to the cabinets. She leaned into him, resting her head against his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist and up the small of his back.

Walt could feel her erratic troubled breathing as she held him tight. He realized that she was still upset about something but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He knew that their relationship or lack thereof was a major contributing factor, but there was more to it than that. Slowly he worked up the courage to ask her what was troubling her.

“Hey Babe.” He began, “I’ve been thinking about a lot lately about our future.”

“Don’t!” she interrupted him.

“Then tell me everything that’s wrong. I know most of it, but I would like to know it all. I can’t promise that I will just listen and won’t try to fix it, but I will try to do that.”

Sarah took a deep breath to answer Walt when the house began to shake as another earthquake shockwave hit. She tensed up and squeezed Walt tighter and he responded likewise. When he held her tighter she sighed and melted into him more.

Then Walt realized that it was the earthquakes, which on top of everything else that was going on, was the straw that broke her emotional camel’s back. So he just held her a little tighter and she tried to melt through his clothes to be closer to him.

They stood there for almost twenty minutes when Walt’s Satellite phone rang. Sarah let out a loud groan of disappointment as she released Walt from her arms.

Walt pulled out the phone and checked to see who was calling him. “It’s the Secretary of Homeland Security.” Walt said as he pressed the answer icon.

“Well if it’s the Secretary of Homeland Security I guess you can take the call,” Sarah said sarcastically and finished in a serious tone, “but you better get back in my arms as soon as you hang up.”

“Hello, Rogers here.” Walt answered the phone.

“Sorry to take you away from your fiancée Sheriff, but I need to check with you on this matter. We lost contact with the lab where Professor Johansen was at. We think it is just a connectivity issue, but with what is going on in the New Madrid area you are the best source we have right now on the non-typical events occurring.”

“What’s happening in New Madrid?” “Apparently there’s a volcano forming in the middle of the Mississippi river.”

“What!” Walt exclaimed, “When did that start?”

“About three hours ago, but it didn’t break the surface until ninety minutes ago.”

“We had talked some about that happening. The numbers for a New Madrid volcano were about the same as a full blown Yellowstone Super Volcano eruption. What word do you have from Yellowstone?” Walt asked.

“Yellowstone is relatively quiet right now. The oscillations have stopped so we are luck there. How bad should the New Madrid eruption get?”

Walt thought for a second, “Well it sounds like it is a slow roller. How much ash is it putting out?”

“Not much, just a whole lot of steam and a small island in the middle of the river.”

Walt sighed heavily as he pulled up from memory the old information that his uncle and the professor had corresponded about years ago. “I believe the big tell will be in about twenty to thirty hours. If it doesn’t blow big then it should settle down. Whether it shuts down and seals itself off or not I have no idea. Some of the guys at USGS would have a better idea on that.”

“Unfortunately they never thought a volcano would ever form in New Madrid, so they have no projection tables at all.”

“Sir, Did you say that Yellowstone has stopped oscillating?”

“Yes, why? Is that important?”

“I believe it is. As long as it was oscillating it showed that the pressure was decreasing for half of the day. Now that it has stopped, well it could mean several things. Do you know if it stopped at the top or bottom of its cycle?”

“I believe they said the bottom. Yes definitely the bottom. In fact I remember them saying it was lower than normal. Why?”

“Crap. If it stopped at the high point that would mean that the crown of the caldera just got stuck like an expanding pie crust and the magma retreated lower leaving a void that can be filled on the next cycle. However, being that it is stuck in the low point, well that means that it is under pressure as the next cycle started. It could pop like a locked down pressure cooker if it can’t release some of its pressure slowly.” “Like oscillating?”

“Exactly. There’s not much else I can tell you about what to expect except that if New Madrid has a surge in its lava flow, you can expect Yellowstone to blow tenfold anything we have seen so far.”

“Well, thank you for the information you had,” The Secretary said with weariness in his voice, “We will try to be ready for that if it happens. We’ll be in touch on WebEOC if we are able to keep it up and running.”

“I’ll post any other information I come across as soon as I can.”

“Thank you again and get back in her arms.”

“You heard her?”

The Secretary just laughed and said, “Good night Sheriff.”

Walt disconnected the call and put the Satellite phone away. Then he reached over and pulled Sarah back into his embrace. “You’ve got to be careful when I’m answering the phone, especially the satellite phone. That was…”

“I know who that was and I don’t care if he knows he was interrupting us…” She paused and looked up into Walt’s eyes, “Actually I do care. I want him to know that you have others here that you care about and care about you.”

“Yeah,” Walt exhaled and let it hang in the air as if there was more he wanted to say. Instead he just pulled her back tight to him.

“Do you really think that Yellowstone will blow?”

“I don’t know.” And he held her tighter.

***

Cathy sat at the table that held Lonnie Butterfield’s Ham Radio setup in disbelief. Lonnie was listening to the high frequency rig that was picking up broadcasts from South America and Australia. The news coming in was ominous. They had sent Jane, Mary and Jake off to help their parents and grandmother with lunch so they wouldn’t hear what was coming over the airwaves. Ross Martin had closed the door and was now standing between and a little behind Cathy and Lonnie.

Last night’s tides were twenty-two hundred feet on the Atlantic Ocean side of South America and most of the countries had taken very heavy causalities. Uruguay, Paraguay, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Panama, and Nicaragua were completely flooded. It was obvious that unless the people of those areas had boats that could withstand the tidal floods, they would drown.

Most of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and the low lands of Argentina were inundated with sea water and would not be able to sustain vegetation for several years. With that and the volcanic ash from the over ninety volcanoes now erupting along the west coast of the continent, those lands would not be habitable for decades or until they were to get washed clean by rainstorms.

Now in Australia all of the coastal cities were being totally flooded. The flood waters were sweeping up the rivers inland to the very center of the continent in some regions.

New Zealand was reporting that only those that had evacuated to the high mountains were in good condition, those that stayed below twenty-five hundred feet elevation were being washed away by the tidal surges.

Further north, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand were wiped out. If anyone there survived, they didn’t have a functioning ham radio or any other way to get news of their survival out to others of the world.

“What do you think Cathy?” Lonnie asked her in is sage like demeanor that he used when he wanted Cathy to think outside of the box and look at thing from a different point of view.

“I’m not sure what you’re looking for, other than it’s going to get a lot worse for the next day or three.”

“Exactly.” Lonnie exclaimed. “I don’t know if we are truly ready for this.”

“I don’t think anyone could be truly ready for what coming.” Joseph said from the doorway as he stepped in followed by Paul, who closed the door behind him.

“Boss,” Ross started with anxiety heavy in his voice, “I think the experts got it very wrong. I think that we will lose close to seventy-five percent of the world’s population.” “I think it’s going to be closer to eighty percent.” Joseph said grimly.

“No, the experts had it right.” Cathy said softly, “The government tried to soft sell it to avoid panic.”

“What do you mean the experts had it right?” Lonnie asked quickly.

Cathy took a deep breath and began to explain, “Before I decided that I wasn’t going to re-up, one of the guys introduced me to a writer that was producing some scientific based survival adventure books. And a couple of the books were about this type event. Some were so spot on it is scary.”

“Wow.” Paul interjected from the back of the group. “What else did he have to say?”

“One of the books is called ‘The Dying Winter’.” She sighed, as she drew little figure eights with her fingers on the table top. “It is the second book of the series and in it he tells how the first two winters wipes out eight-five percent of those that survived the event in the first book,” then she added very softly, “Which is the type of event we have now.”

“Shit!” Ross muttered quickly followed by, “Sorry Boss.”

“Ditto.” Joseph said quietly.

Lonnie cleared his throat, “Who wrote those books?”

Cathy looked up from the table, “Sheriff Rogers.”

Lonnie whistled as he leaned back in his chair, “No wonder he moved all of those cattle in here. He knew what was going to go down.”

“Why didn’t he just tell you?” Paul asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Because they would come after him if he did.” Joseph said flatly. “I bet he did all he could think of without getting in trouble with the government.”

“To bad I didn’t catch on sooner.” Cathy said sadly. “We might have come up with some stuff we are going to need before we left California.”

October Twentieth - The night of the passing

As luck or fate would have it, the asteroid was passing the earth almost directly on the opposite from Walt’s ranch in Idaho, but still a little over the northern hemisphere and worst yet was passing between the earth and the moon. It was just a little after noon and Walt, like most people, were listening to any news they could get from that side of the world as well as anything going on in America, Canada or Mexico that might affect them.

The fact that the power and internet were still up, intermittently as it was, surprised Walt. After last night’s earthquake and volcanic activity he expected to see a lot more ash falling but it had slow dramatically. If fact he wasn’t sure it was even falling, it could be ash already on the ground being blown up and around by the increased winds.

What was being reported via Ham radio and the internet was that the asteroid’s gravitational pull had drawn most of the water from the eastern Pacific Ocean and western Atlantic Ocean causing a 4,200 foot high tidal wave to hit the Arabian Sea, Mediterranean ocean. Eastern Africa, to India, up to Caspian is flooded. Wave surge run up is in the hundreds of feet above wave contact height and getting worse. The loss of life in the region was expected to be ninety-four percent over all, with some areas suffering a one hundred percent fatality rate.

Reports were also coming in that nearly every volcano from Spain to Iran is in full blown eruption mode or is beginning to erupt. Scientists are saying that this is because of the asteroid’s gravitational pull of the magma beneath the crust, that the crust is bulging out as much as three hundred feet where the crust is thin. Areas like the Smokey Mountains and Rocky Mountains are being tracked with twenty-five to forty foot changes in altitude change.

It was the last that worried Walt. The reports he was getting about Yellowstone were bad before. Now he was sure it would erupt in the morning when the magma surge past under the area. The only saving grace was that the wind was blowing hard at twenty-five miles an hour towards Yellowstone and that should blow the ash away from the ranch.

Massive earthquakes were being reported across the Mediterranean to India and up into Russia. NASA, the Air Force and Navy had numerous aircraft airborne in the region tracking the asteroid and its effects on the ground. One NASA flight was using laser tracking equipment to track and plot the effect on the moon. The information these flights accumulated allowed the scientists to predict that the returning water would bring fifteen hundred foot tidal waves to both of the coasts of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico would funnel the returning water into even higher wave surges at the focal point south of where the Rio Grande emptied into the gulf.

Today the earthquakes were not going away like they had in the previous weeks. Although they were dropping magnitude, there still seemed to be one happening every five minutes or so. Walt contributed that to the magma being pulled to the other side of the world and the North American continent settling into the void left by the magma.

Sarah informed Walt of the status of the Venture crew members that were out at the ranch in the old mine. The concrete re-enforcements that had been made to the old mine were holding up just fine to the earthquakes. In the mine they had filled all twelve of the eight hundred gallon water tanks that they had scavenged from local farms and ranches that the owners had left the area to head to what they thought were safer areas. They had also secured six five hundred gallon propane tanks, and all of the food that they were requiring members to bring was stored in the different alcoves off of the main mine tunnel. They had acquired several cases of dust masks and had set up a decontamination tunnel to keep anyone from tracking the ash into the mine.

The crew had rearranged the ten, twenty foot cargo containers, which Walt had donated to them, into a better defensive arrangement. Three of those were used for the decontamination tunnel. Two of the containers were being used as family habitation units. One as a medical station, two as stables for the crew’s horses and the rest were being used for sacks of grain and boxed food storage because in the mine, even with all of the activity of the crew and their families some small rodents were brave enough to go looking for food. All in all, the venture crew were set up better than most people in the county.

Besides Sarah and Dani there were only a few of the Venture Crew that had originally planned to go to the mine that were still in town. These few were still trying to convince their parents to leave town for the defendable safety of the mine camp. So far only two of the crew had given up trying to talk to them and abandoned their families to whatever would happen in town.

One of them took his brother and sister with him to the mine camp. Their parents come to the Sheriff’s Office to complain about it. Walt listened patiently as they whined about their son taking the younger children out into the dangerous woods when the government was going to provide everything they needed.

Then Walt unloaded on them about how stupid they were for thinking such bullshit. He informed that neither the county, nor state, nor federal government were in a position to provide them anything other than basic medical supplies, survival advice and the barest of food and that may not be available after all with the severity of the disaster. The government had spent all it could to relocate those in the coastal regions to the inland camps that it had set up. The county had arranged for the bulk purchasing of food when the news of the asteroid went public. What other supplies were not to be touched for eighteen months and any trying to break into of the warehouses would be shot.

He added that their son may well have saved his brother and sister’s lives by taking them to the crew camp. Then he dropped the bombshell on them, “If you go out there you must bring your own supplies. If you go without supplies they will run you off and if you try to force your way in they will kill you.”

“They are setting up their own community. To be part of it you have to work. There are no free rides there. Your son understood what was coming and tried to tell you but you choose not to listen. That’s on you. What you do next is also on you. Work hard and live or whine and die your choice. There’s the door. Don’t let hit you in the ass on your way out.”

As they were starting to leave, the mother turned and faced Walt with fire in her eyes, “You’re a hard and cruel man Sheriff.”

Walt looked up at her from behind his desk, “Hard? Yes. Just like your son. He made the hard choices and because of it, all your children will live. Cruel? Not yet, that’s coming. What’s in your heart?” Then he went back to his paperwork leaving her standing there.

After several seconds she turned and stocked to the door and suddenly stopped when she saw the poster Walt had by the door. It read, ‘Preparedness begins at home with citizens, not the government.’ And it had an image of the founding fathers working in the middle of it. She stared at it for almost a minute, not saying anything.

“Sometimes saying ‘I was wrong’ isn’t a sign of weakness, but a sign of true strength.” Walt said softly. “It definitely is, when followed by ‘What do I do to make this right?’”

“What do we need to take to get in?” She asked with a cracking voice as tears streamed down her face.

***

“Mister President, the small volcano in the Mississippi river has collapsed into a sinkhole.”

“What?”

“The whole thing just dropped from sight about two o’clock this afternoon. A sinkhole about three miles across has opened up where it was. The entire river is flowing into the hole!”

“That was six hours ago! Why am I just hearing about it?”

“The team that was observing the volcano went to investigate when the volcano started dropping and they cannot be found. We believe that they fell in when the sinkhole opened up all the way.”

“Damn.” The president shook his head in disbelief, “And the river is still flowing into the hole?”

“Yes sir. There is a little steam coming out. But nothing even remotely close to what the new team of geologist says should be.”

“That can’t be good. What are their concerns?”

“They are afraid that the water is pooling underground and when the magma returns, it will cause a steam explosion.”

“Are we evacuating the area?”

“We already were because of the volcano. But we have tripled the evacuation area.”

“I hope that’s enough.” The President sighed as he sank back into his high back chair.

***

Lonnie called all of the adults to his den to brief them on what he had just heard on the Ham radio. “I have been talking to a group of researchers that set up camp on Mount San Jacinto in Riverside County, California. They are up over ten thousand feet and were watching the ocean tides and how far inland they were coming.” He took a deep breath and sighed, “However, a couple of hours ago they saw a volcanic plume appear in the northern Death Valley area.”

Everyone sucked in the breath in surprise as he continued, “Stan, the radio operator, said that Death Valley is an older part of the Long Valley Cauldera. An old super volcano whose last major eruption was seven hundred sixty thousand years ago. But he also said that it was last erupting about six hundred years ago with several small lava flows.”

“So do they think it is going to erupt as a super volcano?” Linda asked.

“They’re not sure. But they believe that, whatever happens, it is going to be late tonight or early tomorrow morning because of the way the magma flow is going around the earth’s core.”

“Did they say what it could mean for us if it does erupt as a super volcano?” Cathy asked the question that everyone else wanted to but were afraid to.

“It will wipe out the breadbasket of the country and ninety five percent of the population that would have survived the asteroid would then starve. The human race may not return to our current level of technology for thousands of years.”

“Not if I can help it.” Cathy said as she stood up and made her way to the door.

“Where are you going and what are you going to do.?” Joseph asked as he stepped in front of her.

“Sir.” Cathy said in a hard voice. “This isn’t just about your family here anymore.” She swept her hand out to indicate everyone in the room. “It’s about their kids and grandkids and great grandkids. I’m going on a raiding expedition.”

“For what?”

“Laptops, extra batteries, printers, ink, paper, external hard drives, anything and everything to store and publish information.”

“What information are you thinking about?”

“Everything. Medicine, machinery, power manufacturing, chemistry, everything.” She took a deep breath, “and while I’m gone try keeping the internet up so you can download everything you can. Pick Lonnie’s brain as to what we will need to know on what to build to expand farming and make our own fuel or anything else you can think of that we would need to be able to make.”

Joseph looked at her for a moment and then said “Do you need Paul or Ross to go with you?”

“No, I can handle this on my own and if I need to, I can get away quicker on my bike without anyone else to slow me down.”

“Alright,” Joseph said reluctantly, “But don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger.”

“Yes Sir, Major Sir.” And she snapped him a salute which he promptly returned. “I have every intention of keeping myself a Recon Ghost.”

***

The Ash had slackened for a while and they were able to keep the Hughes net dish clear enough to access the DHS database. Mark was feeling a little out of his league with the system and what it could do. Since Walt was still in town it fell to him to sift through all of the data available for what they needed to know. Still he smiled thinking of how he and Walt were violating a dozen or so federal security directives on sharing passwords and access levels for the DHS and other government systems they were using.

Then he got bright idea and he had Jenna call her parents and tell them to move into one of the still empty bedrooms in the house for ‘safeties sake.’ Jenna’s mom then could help him make more of the data than he could by himself. They replied that they had internet access and Walt had given them access to the ranch’s server. If he would download the information to the server, then she could access and review it.

While he was doing this he had Sally accessed the feed from one of the satellites over the Southern California area that was sending a live video feed of the area. She found that if she buffered the feed in ranch’s server she could play with the zoom and pan features to get a better look at certain areas.

It was while Sally was doing this that Mark glanced over when Sally gasped and saw six volcanic ash plumes in eastern mountain range and two more in Los Angeles itself. He realized that if these were to grow as he suspected they would when this side of the earth faced the asteroid, that the amount of ash produced would be at least twenty times that of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

The CSZ was in the ocean, and during high tide was producing vast amounts of steam. That steam was mixing with the ash causing most of it to drop before it got to the Idaho western border.

These volcanoes were well inland and all of their ash would be blowing across the southwest into Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and other food producing states. With the loss of the California central valley to flooding, the loss of this food would cause a major die off due to starvation because it would be years for those states to be able to produce food again. As they watched the footage he saw one then another mountain change its shape as it seemed to fold in on itself and become obscured in dust.

Mark texted Walt to contact him ASAP then he has Sally start saving the images to the hard drive. “This is worse than anything Dan and I ever thought of.” Mark said to Sally as he felt his checks get moist for the tears of fear that were starting flow.

***

It was Jake’s turn to monitor the ham radio. Everyone was taking turns on Ham duty as Jake called it, but Paul was sitting with him just the same. Dinner would be ready and he would send Jake to eat while he listened.

Suddenly Jake called out, “Dad! Mom! Everyone get in here!” as he flipped the switch that put the frequency that he was listening to on the speakers instead of the headphones he was wearing. Brushing the headphones from his head Jake adjusted the volume so everyone could hear it. Then he turned on the recorder that sitting on the table next to the Ham base station.

“…Death valley area. We have also seen a couple of small vent plumes in the downtown Los Angeles area. These maybe just vents that opened up with the absence of magma due to the gravitational pull of the asteroid. It is that lack of magma under southern California that is causing the numerous fractures in the crust to appear and for White Mountain Peak to drop several thousand feet a couple of minutes ago. We fear that in the early morning hours before sunrise when California is once again facing the asteroid and the magma returns here that we will have some major eruptions. “Doctor Marcus believes that there may be fissures that have opened up just off shore that we cannot see and they may well be filling with water. If that is the case and when the magma returns, all of that water will be turned into steam and we will have an underground steam explosion the likes of … Oh my lord, San Gorgonio Mountain just dropped into the earth a third of its height. This is an incredible sight. San Gorgonio is only thirty miles away and we felt nothing as it collapsed into … Oh my … I spoke too soon, we are experiencing massive quakes and … oh god we are dropping …”

Static filled the speakers and everyone sat in silenced shock. Another Ham radio operator started calling out trying to raise the research team without any response. Lonnie finally reached over and turned off the speakers but left the recorder running.

“We need to take this into account for growing food. When the magma returns I believe that it will flow up around the mountains that have dropped into the earth’s crust and that there will be vast amounts of ash released from this. It will cover most of the southern U.S., if we are lucky.

“If we’re not lucky?” Paul asked.

“If the winds change ... ” Lonnie sighed, “It could cover everything from southern Mexico to the Arctic Circle.”

***

Sarah and her family were huddled together in the basement of their home. Errol had come to the conclusion that things were not going to go smoothly and decided to reinforce the basement with one and an eighth inch subfloor plywood and foam board insulation. While he was at the lumberyard, he had the rest of the family move all of the food stores out of the back section of the basement and then pull the shelving away from the basement walls.

They then lined the walls and ceiling with the foam board insulation using liquid nails adhesive to hold it in place. Then they secured sheets of the one and an eighth inch subfloor plywood to the ceiling with four inch deck screws. They had to cut out two holes for the lighting fixtures and a couple more for the wall receptacles, but Errol didn’t believe that would compromise the strength of the plywood. Then they secured more of the plywood to the walls with cement screws. Errol then made a door for the room by sandwiching a piece of foam board between two sheets of the subfloor plywood. Then they used can foam sealant to fill any gaps around the light fixtures, wall receptacles and any other gaps that needed it. Then they moved the shelves back into place and secured them to the walls and refilled them.

The next day they did the same with the rest of the basement. Then Errol built a new wall that divided the rest of the basement in half and mounted shelves to it. One of the sheets of plywood he made into a hidden door. It had shelves built on to it just like the rest of the new wall but they didn’t touch the floor so you could push it in to gain access to the other half of the basement with its two rooms.

They left only cloths and nonessential items in the first part of the basement. The rest was placed in the two hidden rooms behind the new wall. That way if someone broke in they wouldn’t find their supplies. It had taken all of them working two full days to finish the job.

Errol had also picked up the last two bunkbed cot sets that the sporting goods store had. These he set up in the first hidden room in the opposite corner from where the generator cubical was built. This was so they could take turns sleeping if they had to stay hidden for several days.

That is what they were using it for now and that was the reason he used the inch and an eighth subfloor plywood, protection from the earthquakes. The heavy duty plywood reinforced the ceiling joists which supported the floor above and the concrete walls. The foam board would muffle any noise from the outside coming in, as with the extreme noise when the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptured, and keep any noise inside from getting out.

Sarah looked around the room at her family. As far as she could tell everyone, except for her father, was asleep. He was sitting in one of the camp chairs in the corner reading something on his Kindle. Her mom was on one of the lower bunkbeds with Lisa curled up next to her. Amber was on the top bunk above them. On the other lower bunkbed was her grandmother and above her was Tommy. Mick and Dani were on a futon with Dani half on top of Mick, who though he was asleep, had a big smile on his face.

Sarah looked over at her father one more time before closing her eyes and letting her thoughts drift off to Walt. Then the house began to shake and she tensed up and grabbed tightly the arms of the reclining camp chair she was in. “It’s going to be a long night.” She muttered to herself.

***

Cathy eyed the group of four men casing the computer store from her spot in the shadows of the alleyway across the deserted street. Two of them had their heads on a swivel, looking up and down the street while the other two were checking out the door lock and the alarm system on it.

One of the two checking out the door knelt in front of it and started tinkering with the lock with tools he kept pulling out of his jacket pockets. After a few minutes Cathy heard the loud click of the lock flipping open. The one that was picking the door lock stood up quickly and stuffed his tools back into his jacket pocket. When the other reached for the door he stopped him and said something Cathy couldn’t make out but was sure it had to do with the alarm system.

The other two moved in closer to the door and they all whispered and nodded to each other. Then as they girded up their courage before they entered the store, the ground began to shake violently. The four men reactively stepped back from the door and looked around to see if there was anyone who saw them.

The computer store was in an older building that was a wooden frame construction with brick façade. The earthquakes of the past several weeks had fractured the mortar holding the bricks together and to several of the metal straps that were secured to the building’s framework to hold it in place. With straps no longer attached to the brickwork, it began to sway and bulge outward.

And as the earthquake continued to rock the building the brickwork swayed more and more, it pulled loose from more of the straps. Finally there were not enough strap still connecting the brickwork to the building and it broke loose and collapsed onto the sidewalk and out into street. Unfortunately for the four would be burglars they were on the sidewalk where the brickwork landed.

Cathy turned her eyes away and grimaced at the sickening sound of flesh and bone being crushed by the bricks. Then realizing her location, she looked up quickly to assess the buildings on either side of the alley which she was standing in.

These buildings did not have brick facades, but had wood siding. Breathing a sigh of relief Cathy turned attention back to the computer store. As she watched the store the earthquake continued for another minute and the buildings on either side, which also had brick facades, suffered the same fate as their brickwork collapsed across the sidewalk and into the street. One of the buildings, which was a three story building, began to lean dangerously towards the street, but before it could fall the earthquake stopped. Cathy took off like a shot across the street at a full run. When she got to the brick rubble she slowed slightly as she changed her path into the computer store. She did not look at the crushed bodies of four men, but concentrated on gaining entry into the store.

Once inside Cathy made her way to where the laptops were stored. She grabbed three identical Dell Business laptops and stuffed them into her duffle bag. Then she looked for spare batteries for them. She was getting frustrated trying to find them when she noticed one of the cabinets against the wall had a label saying Dell Batteries.

Quickly she knelt next to the cabinet and pulled the door open. Smiling and shaking her head, Cathy counted nine batteries for the model of laptop she had already taken. Then she stood and made her way to the printers and grabbed four identical models of small laser printer and all of the ink cartridges she could find.

Once her duffle bag was full she closed it up and hefted it up onto a counter so she could get her arms through the straps. Then she pulled it onto her back. “Damn this is heavy.” She complained to herself as she stepped away from the counter and made her way to the backdoor of the store. She stopped short when she saw the display of external hard drives. Quickly she grabbed the four, Seagate eight terra bite drives and stuffed them in her jacket.

She stooped at the door and listened for any sound coming from out in the alley behind the store. Then she moved closer to the door and looked out through the peephole to see if there might be anyone out there hiding in the alley. After several seconds on not seeing or hearing anything move, Cathy carefully unlocked the door.

As careful as she was, the lock still made a loud click that sounded much louder than it actually was. She was sure that it was heard at the sheriff’s office four blocks away. Taking a breath to steady her nerves, Cathy slowly turned the knob on the door and pulled it open quickly with her left hand while her right held onto the butt of the S&W 500 in the tactical quick draw holster.

She was hoping that if there was someone on the other side of the door, that the sudden motion of it opening would surprise them. In deed it did. A cat that was snuggled up next to the trashcan just to the right of the door sprang into the alley and darted between some boxes on the other side with a startled cry.

Cathy leaned against the door jam and let out sigh of relief. Then taking another deep breath and pulling herself up straight, she trudged out into the alley and worked her way to her Harley that was parked two blocks away.

Once there she unloaded everything from the duffle bag into the Harley’s saddle bags and the big tote box she had strapped behind the seat, then she was off to hit up the office supply store for cases of printer paper. Cathy checked her watch, two minutes to midnight. Chapter 9

The Passing

October Twenty-first - The Pre-Dawn of the Passing

Walt was riding the high trails of the ranch, enjoying the crisp spring morning air when his horse started trotting down the rocky trail, bouncing him hard in the saddle. Suddenly the horse started bucking and Walt was having a very hard time staying in the saddle. Then he heard a bunch of car horns blowing. His mind was having a difficult time trying to justify car horns way up here on the mountain trails. A loud boom woke Walt from the dream and brought him quickly back to reality.

Walt had gone to sleep in his department Hummer about ten thirty knowing that he would be awaken by the quakes that have been increasing in strength in the early morning. He had parked the Hummer in the high school parking lot where it would be safe from anything falling on it short of an asteroid or airplane. That did not stop the Hummer from being bounced like a basketball though.

The current shockwave passed and Walt sat up in the passenger seat and brought the seat back to an upright position. It wasn’t as comfortable as sleeping in the Ranger II with its fold down seats but it was definitely more comfortable than trying to sleep in his office. He swore that the wooden beach was a medieval torture device his predecessor, Randolph Cooper, had got to keep deputies and prisoners awake.

Walt looked at his watch, three-thirty. At least in the Hummer he had gotten some sleep. It wasn’t as much as he hoped for but it was better than nothing. He opened the passenger door extricated his stiff body from the seat and began a series of stretching exercises to work the kinks out of his sore muscles. When he finished the exercises he walked around to the other side of the Hummer, opened the driver’s door and picked up his Stetson off of the seat, then after combing his hair back with his left hand, placed it on his head.

Walt noticed that the orange glow in the western sky was brighter than it had been the last four mornings. So far the ash fall has been steady yet light and not nearly as heavy as they thought it would be. It seems that even though the Cascadia Subduction Zone rupture was during the time that the ocean water was pulled away by the gravitational field of the asteroid, and a great amount of ash was released, Most of it had pass over western Idaho and was dropping on the eastern edge of the state and into Montana.

A little bit of luck had been on his side when the waters returned. They came to a higher height and thus farther inland than during the normal high tides and thus they covered the majority of the rupture.

When the water covered the lava great amounts of super-heated steam was created. The steam rose with the ash and mixed with it and condensed on it. Then the water heavy ash fell back to earth within two hundred miles of the fault. However when the gravitational field of the asteroid pulled the water away again, the lava flow was uncovered and the ash rose dry to a higher altitude and traveled farther inland once again.

Now the flow from the Cascadia Subduction Zone rupture was greater than before or so Walt presumed because of the increase brightness of the western sky. What this would do to the ash fall pattern he had no idea.

The ground started to shake and Walt looked at his watch again, three-thirty-five. The shaking got worse so quickly that Walt didn’t have a chance to properly brace himself and in trying to stay upright, he bounced off the side of the Hummer and landed on his backside.

He grunted as he tried to remain sitting against the shaking of the earth but soon gave up and rolled over on his side holding his head up out of the ash covering the gravel of the parking lot. At least the ash had provided some, all be it a small amount of padding from the sharp rocks of the gravel parking lot.

Finally the shaking stopped. And Walt quickly checked his watch, “Forty-eight seconds.” He said to himself and rolled off of his side and staggered to his feet. “even the shot ones are getting bad” he continued as he stood up and dusted the ash of himself.

Walt’s phone pinged and vibrated indicating that he had an incoming text message. He reached inside his duster past the sheep skin vest to his shirt pocket where the cell phone continued to vibrate and fumbled with the pocket flap to get the phone out.

He opened the flip case and tapped the touch screen to acknowledge the text and open it so he could read it. He saw that he had three unread texts, all from his dad, all over the last two hours and as he scrolled through them they all said the same thing, ‘Call me.’ “Dang! I must have been out of it not to hear of cell the phone.” Walt said to himself with a chuckle.

Walt walked around to the passenger side of the Hummer and took the bucket covering the air intake off and put it in the Hummer on the floor of the passenger side seat. Then he went back to the driver’s side and climbed into the driver’s seat and started the Hummer up. Next he dropped his hat onto the passenger seat, adjusted the heater setting and then called his dad.

The phone only rang once and his father’s voice came loudly through the speaker, “Walt! Where have you been? We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for two hours!”

“I laid down to take a nap and crashed hard. I was so wiped out it took a good earthquake to wake me up.”

Mark’s voice came back a little less harsh, “Well, I guess you have been work rather hard and long hours, but son, the shit has hit the fan hard.”

It was very unlike Mark to use that phrase in plain language. He would usually say something like ‘the defecation has made hard contact with the rotary oscillator.’ Or use some other form of lawyer speak to get the point across. This meant some very bad and Walt knew it.

“What Happened?” Walt almost shouted back into the phone.

“The asteroid slowed down as it passed the moon. It slowed a lot.”

“What do you mean it slowed down? It was supposed to keep accelerating because of the earth’s gravitational pull and slingshot in towards Mercury and then slingshot around the sun and back out of the solar system.”

“Somehow the gravitational pull of the moon had more of an effect on its speed then they thought and slowed it to a deceleration point rather than just slowing its acceleration into the slingshot. Anyways its slowing is causing a lot more than just throwing it path off. Because it is going to take a little longer passing the earth, its gravitational pull is moving a lot more water and lava around the world.”

“What is happening?” Walt asked a little more in control of his panic and added, “Just the bullet points please.”

“The earth looks like an egg pointing at the asteroid as it passes. The tidal levels are eight to nine hundred feet higher than expected in the Middle East. If it wasn’t flooded by the tides the existing and new volcanoes are burning and burying it. There are lava flows that haven’t been seen since the dinosaurs. And it’s spreading our way.”

Mark pause to take a breath and let Walt assimilate the information before he continued, “The tides that will hit the east coast in the next thirty minutes are going to be higher by six to seven hundred feet.”

“Wait a second,” Walt interrupted, “Those tides aren’t supposed to hit the east coast for two more hours at least.”

“They are early because when the asteroid slowed and was able to pull the water faster and more of it. The magma flows will also be greater and therefore the volcanic activity will be greater.”

“Damn.” Walt let out with a heavy breath as he turned his eyes to the orange glow in the western sky.

“That’s not all of it, for some reason the magma flow is coming faster than the water is. The volcano that appeared in the middle of the Mississippi river near New Madrid has started erupting like Mount Saint Helens. The whole area blew out when the magma hit the billions of gallons of water that were flowing into the crater when it dropped twelve hours ago.”

“How bad is it?”

“They’re saying debris is landing over a hundred forty miles away. But that’s not the worst of it, about 0245 hours the eight volcanoes in and around Mexico City all erupt at the same time.”

“What?”

“Let me read it off to you; Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl, Nevado de Toluca, Xitle, Volcan Xaltepec, Volcan Teuhtli, Volcan Ajusco and Pico de Orizaba. They all erupted within ten minutes of each other. Here’s what you need to hear, New Madrid is latitude 89.5279° W, Mexico City is 102.5528° W, Yellowstone is 110.5885° W and we are 116.4382° W.”

“Crap!” Walt yelled, “Yellowstone should be ready to blow any second!”

“It should have blown thirty minutes ago.” Walt put the Hummer into gear and punched the accelerator as he cranked the steering wheel towards the street. “Have you warned everyone at the ranch and Redoubt Village?”

“Yes, everyone we have contact with, the Smythes, Red Hawk’s family, the ventures, and of course Sarah’s family. David and Sally have been calling texting or radioing everyone. Misses Davies said that her husband can’t make contact with the Secretary and you would know what that means.”

“Yeah, it means the government communications network is collapsing due to all of the damage. You could lose the DHS satellite connections real soon so get what you can while you can. That may or may not stay up, but I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to get shut down real soon. I’m heading to office to put out an emergency radio warning message, then Sarah’s, then out to the ranch. There’s not much more I can do here in town.”

“Okay, but try not to take too long. I don’t want you to get caught out in the open when Yellowstone blows or something else as bad happens.”

“I’m going as fast as I can safely. If Yellowstone does blow, the safe room may not be the best place to be, I think everyone should be in the tunnel. It’s stronger.”

“Got it. I have them start moving beds and supplies now.”

“See you soon.”

“Take care son.”

***

Walt was coming out of the sheriff’s office after setting up and activating the emergency radio warning message with the information he had it was about a five minute message that was on continuous loop and would run for four hours unless something happened to the building, the tower, or someone shut it off early.

He was almost to the Hummer when he heard the sound of a big motorcycle heading his way from the business district. Not many people were out driving with the ash on the roads unless they had some sort of extra filter system on their vehicle. So far there was only one person he had seen with an ash filter set up on their motorcycle and that was the ex-marine / body guard from down in Indian Valley at the Butterfield place. This one sounded like her ride.

The motorcycle started slowing a half block away and coasted up to the Hummer. The rider was dressed in winter camo and had a big duffle bag strapped to the back of the motorcycle. Even with the baggy winter camo, Walt could tell that it was a woman driving the motorcycle. She turned off the engine and undid the chinstrap of her helmet and pulled it off.

“Sheriff Rogers, I heard your broadcast and headed over here hoping to catch you before you disappeared off patrolling the county.” Cathy said with a little trepidation in her voice.

“Well Gunny, I am surprised to see you in town at this time of the morning.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She paused and pursed her lips and drew in a long breath through her nose, “First of all the Butterfields would like to express their gratitude for the deal with the cattle.”

“Not a big deal, just self-preservation on my part.”

“Yeah right,” Cathy responded showing she knew it was more than that, “Anyway I think you should know what we have found out listening to the Ham radio.”

“Southern California.” Walt interjected before she could continue.

“Ah, you know.”

“My brother David is monitoring most of the frequencies and has several recording with a time stamp recorder. It is going to get a lot worse in California in the next couple of hours. They should have a massive steam eruption like happened in New Madrid a couple of hours ago.”

“New Madrid?” Cathy asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Walt realized that she knew nothing about the volcano in the Mississippi River, “Yesterday, no was it the day before...a small volcano started to form in the middle of the Mississippi River, yesterday afternoon it collapsed into a huge sinkhole when the magma shifted to the other side of the world.”

“Following the pull from the asteroid?” she half asked and half stated.

“Correct, and the river just dumped all of its water into the sinkhole.” “Shit!” Cathy shook her head as she glanced down, “So when the magma returned it...”

“Flash boiled the water into steam and it exploded out like a super volcano and threw debris out at least a hundred and forty miles.”

“So with all of the mountains that dropped in southern California and any sea water that made it into that super sinkhole...” she let the thought hang in the air.

“Exactly.” Walt finally said.

“What about the Cascadia Subduction Zone?” Cathy asked looking to the orange glow to the west.

“Well since we see the glow from the lava flows I don’t think any water has flow into it that hasn’t already been boiled off.”

“At least we lucked out there.” Cathy said with relief.

“Was there anything else you need to talk to me about?” Walt asked a little hurriedly.

“Yes Sir,” She said as sat upright.

Walt realized that this was something important and that her thanking him for the cattle and talking about southern California was just breaking the ice and making nice.

Cathy continued, “With everything that’s happening in southern California, we believe that the Long Valley volcanic area is going to erupt as a mega volcano if not a super volcano. And what you added to the mix with what happened at New Madrid, kind of proves our supposition that we are going to lose the southern food belt and industrial base of the country.”

Cathy held up a finger as she took a breath to steady herself for continuing with what she wanted to say, “Since yesterday evening we have been downloading everything on crop chemistry to simple machine manufacturing to making cloth and clothing manufacturing, and anything else our grandchildren are going to need to know to not just survive but rebuild.”

When she stopped, unsure what or how to say what she had on her mind Walt interjected, “What did you do about it?” “I have been scavenging through businesses that have been either broken into or were damaged in such a way that I could just walk in. I have been gathering laptops, batteries, external drives, printers, ink, paper, binders, everything we would need to publish books on how to make stuff again.” She held her palm out to stop Walt from saying anything, “We know that the internet is going down for good and we don’t have much time left to gather the information. Everyone at the Butterfield’s have been up all night searching and download what information they could find. This trip I have just been after paper and ink.”

“This trip?” Walt interrupted.

“Yeah, this is my forth trip to town.” She straightened up again, “I can’t let my new family down...they have to survive. I just wanted you to know that we will pay for what I took maybe not in money but in goods and information when the asteroid passes and we start to recover.”

Walt did something that Cathy did not expect; he smiled broadly, “Well if you are trying to save information to rebuild with I guess you need some authority to do it. Raise your right hand and repeat after me.”

After giving her the Oath of Office for a Deputy Sheriff, Walt opened the box he had taken from his office when he started the emergency radio warning message. Inside were twenty some odd deputy badges. He took one and tossed it to Cathy, “Here you go deputy. I’ll have my brother David set up a side band frequency for you to use to update me when you get back to the Butterfields. In the meantime use this frequency to get with him.” Walt quickly wrote the Frequency on a page in his notepad and tore it out and gave it to Cathy.

Cathy shook her head in disbelief, “I was afraid you were going to arrest me for what I was doing.”

“What? Trying to save lives and knowledge. Heck that’s going to be our main job from here on out.” Then his smile dropped from his face, “That and killing the scumbags that survived and come to the surface and try to impose their will over others.”

“Well I had already planned on doing that come springtime.”

“We may have to a lot sooner than that, maybe before the start of the New Year.” Walt sighed. “Some of the gangs from the big cities will realize that the food is in the country and come right away. Others will come in late summer when their food runs out. But you need to get home right away.”

All Cathy did was nod then she put her helmet back on. She started her Harley, threw Walt a salute and drove off to help save her new family. Walt hopped into the Hummer and headed off to Sarah’s house.

***

Jerrie Grey and Randy Cassidy were inspecting the mine tunnels after the last couple of earthquakes hit. It was still very early in the morning and they were trying to be as quite as they could as not to wake anyone who was still asleep or trying to get back to sleep. They were looking for any new cracks or older ones that were widening. So far they hadn’t found any. They had been doing the inhabited areas where people were living and sleeping; now they were moving into the storage areas where the water tanks, bulk food, medical supplies, and other temperature sensitive supplies were kept.

Jerrie had recently noticed that whenever she volunteered or was asked to do a detail that required two or more people, that Randy was the first one to volunteer to go too. At first she did think anything of it until Amy said that Randy had asked her what Jerrie’s favorite foods were, and then her color, and what desserts she liked.

Granted Amy said he had been really coy about it also asking about others at the same time. But Amy had caught him writing down what he heard in a pocket notebook and when she confronted him he fessed up and begged her not to rat him out. Amy said that she would think about.

Amy started to leave him when she turned and asked Randy why he hadn’t asked Jerrie out. Randy said that he couldn’t because it would get Jerrie in trouble dating minor. That he couldn’t ask her out until he was eighteen and then he insisted that she not tell anyone because it would ruin Jerrie’s perfect reputation. Amy almost told him that Jerrie didn’t have a perfect reputation when she looked into his eyes and saw pure fear there. Not for himself but for Jerrie.

That was when Amy knew that Randy was hopelessly in love with Jerrie. For the next couple of days Amy watched Randy try to be the perfect gentleman for Jerrie. If he did something that she didn’t like he never did anything close to it again. That is when she decided to tell Jerrie. But first she made Jerrie swear not to hold what she was going to tell her against the person she was going to tell her about.

At first Jerrie didn’t want to swear until Amy said it was cute and adorable. Finally Jerrie swore and Amy told her. Jerrie didn’t want to believe her friend and said she was reading too much into it. Then Amy told all about confronting Randy and what he said and did. Jerrie was in shock. This fellow that she had thought of as just a non-annoying little brother was trying to win her heart slowly and on the sly. It was cute as Amy said but Jerrie had to figure a way to find out without letting Randy know that Amy had told her for herself.

So she came up with a plan to find out just how serious Randy was about her and what he would and would not do to get her. The day before she had put her spare sleeping bag back behind one of the water tanks in one of the storage rooms that no one went into except to do the crack check as they called the inspection detail. The storage rooms were just side tunnels off the main mine tunnel.

Now by the time they entered the room where Jerrie had hidden the sleeping bag, they had checked several other such rooms and were talking freely about the asteroid and the future,

“Do you think that it is going to get as bad as it does in the books the Sheriff wrote?” Jerrie asked Randy as they entered the doorway.

“I hope not, but I have a bad feeling life will be a lot harder than what he has let Sarah know about. The earthquakes sure are.” Randy answered as he broke to the right side of the tank like he normally did.

Jerrie went to the other side where she had hidden the sleeping bag and hurried down to it. “I think the Sheriff knows that it is going to be worse and that is the reason he let us set up our little group here.”

“But for what purpose?” Randy asked,

“I’m not sure. Sarah said that there are little groups all over the county. Maybe he wants to make sure that those he trusts make it through the ‘Dying Winter’ I guess.” Jerrie quoted the title of one of the Sheriff’s books as she spread out the sleeping bag.

“That sounds logical.”

“Hey Randy come over here and check out this crack.” Jerrie called to him.

“There shouldn’t be a crack on the wall according to the log” Randy said as he ran back around the tank and came up behind Jerrie. “Where is it at?”

“Right here in front of me.” She said with her back to him.

When Randy tried to squeeze by her, Jerrie turned towards him and quickly raised her arms up and put her hands on the wall, one in front of Randy and one behind him. She then leaned into him so that lips were just inches apart. “Randy let’s be honest with each other okay? I mean totally honest.” She rasped out as she rubber her body against his.

“O...O...Okay.” he stammered out.

“I have been watching how you always volunteer for details that I’m on and I have heard you asking others what I like. Do you love me or is it just like me?” She slid her nose along his until the tips were touching each other’s faces, their foreheads touched and their lips were a finger’s width away from each other and her warm breath wash over his face.

Randy was fast being overcome with joyous emotions that she wanted him, but he still had some sense of self control. “Yes I love you and...”

Her lips pressed gently against his in a quick kiss.

“And I want to do what I think you are planning...”

She kissed him again but just a little longer and harder.

“But I don’t want you to go to jail for having sex with a minor.” He was able to get out before she kissed him again.

“I won’t tell if you don’t tell.” She said with a throaty passion and kissed him again.

“I would never do anything to get you in trouble so we can’t do this now. Not until we get married.” He grabbed her hips and held them tight so she wasn’t grinding them into him anymore.

“What?” she said as she pulled her face away from him, “You don’t want to have sex with me?”

“Oh I want to have sex with you, boy do I want to have sex with you, for days on end I want to have sex with you, but I want to do it when we are married.”

“So why can’t we do it now and get married later.” She pouted, “I brought a sleeping bag here just for us.” She looked down to her right where the sleeping bag lay.

Randy looked at it for a second or two then back at Jerrie and said, “Because I love you and respect you. You’re not a cheap tramp and I won’t treat you like one.” “But what if I want you to treat me like a tramp.” She leaned back in and licked his lips.

“Jerrie, if you really want me to treat you like a tramp then I will, but only after we are married.”

Jerrie released him and smiled. “Oh my goodness. You really are in love with me.”

“Of course I am in love with you.”

“Yes, but you just proved it by not having sex with me.” She pulled him to her and kissed him long and deeply then broke the embrace, grabbed his hand and lead him out of the room and back towards the living area.

She led him through the various family groups to her family. Kneel down next to her parents she gently woke them.

“Mom, Dad, Randy and I want to get married, need to get married.”

Her mom gasped, “Oh no!”

“No, no, no, mom. I’m not and we haven’t...yet. That’s why we need to, so we can.”

“What?” her dad finally said. “You haven’t ...yet but you want to...so you have to get married? Are you thinking clearly? Because I’m confused.”

“Every boy I dated tried to get me to have sex with them. Randy won’t until we are married. I know I just did my best to seduce him and he refused to have sex with me until we get married. How many men would do that?”

“Not enough.” Her dad said now fully awake.

“Exactly! He really loves me and I don’t want to wait any longer now that I found a man that really cares that much about me.” Jerrie declared.

Her dad nodded that he understood and then he looked at Randy, “You said no to her.”

“It was hard but yes I will not get her into any type of trouble. Physically or legally.” “How old are you Randy?” her mom asked him.

“I turn eighteen on Christmas.” Randy answered with an apprehensive tone quivering in his voice.

“Yeah, I heard that a lot of teens are getting married young these days.” Her dad said with a sigh. “And just how long have you been pining away after my daughter Randy?” He asked expecting an answer like weeks or a couple of months.

“Ahh, four years and six weeks.” He said kind of shyly.

“Four years!” Jerrie and her parents said loudly.

“That’s why I joined the Venture Crew when I turned fourteen. So I could be around you.”

“Four years six weeks, two years six ...” Jerrie stopped talking as her eyes lit up “That was your first day at high school!”

“Yeah, I saw you and your red hair getting out of your red truck and it just blew me away.” Randy smiled sheepishly, “I knew that any girl with red hair that drove a big red truck had to have her feet planted right and head on straight ... and I was right.”

“So you two really want to get married?”

“Yes we do Reverend Grey.” Randy answered. “Yes, Dad.” Jerrie said at the same time.

“Well then, we’ll take care of it right after breakfast ... if you two can wait that long.”

Jerrie looked down at the floor and blushed.

Randy reached over and took Jerrie’s hand and brought it to his lips the said, “I’ve waited four years, I can wait a few more hours.”

“Good. Now we can get back to sleep while you two finish your chores.” Reverend Grey said as he flopped back down on his pillow and pulled the blanket over his head.

Jerrie threw herself on top of her father as he tried to get comfortable and hugged him, “You’re the best father ever.”

***

Cathy turned the Harley off of the road and onto the gravel road that lead to the Butterfield’s ranch. The motorcycle responded a little sluggishly with the weight of all of the supplies that she had acquired on this last supply run. It wasn’t enough to cause her to slip or lose control or anything like that, it just made her a little more nervous on the gravel.

A few minutes later she pulled up to the house and, seeing that there were lights still on in the house, she honked the horn. She was unstrapping the boxes of her haul when Lonnie and Joseph came out of the house with smiles on their faces.

“You did good Gunny.” Joseph said as he looked over the boxes on her Harley.

“Well Major, I did get lucky at a couple of stores.” Cathy said with a little hesitance in her demeanor.

Joseph and Lonnie shot quick glances at each other but didn’t say anything.

Cathy caught their exchange out of the corner of her eye and sighed, “A couple of guys were breaking into one of the stores I was checking out when an earthquake hit and the brick facade fell on them, killing all of them.” She took a deep breath and sighed again, “Afterwards I ran into the sheriff.”

“What happened, Gunny?” The Major asked sternly.

Well,” she began slowly, “I told the sheriff what I was doing and why. I was a little unsure what I was going to do until the Sheriff tossed me a deputy’s badge and swore me in.”

“What?” Joseph and Lonnie said at the same time.

“Yeah. He made me a deputy and said that protecting lives and knowledge was what our job would be for a while... until the bad guys get here from the cities. Then we would be at war. Well, he didn’t exactly use those terms but that’s what he meant.”

Lonnie grabbed two of the boxes, “Let’s get this stuff inside and you can tell us the rest over a cup of hot chocolate.” “Just like my grandpa.” Cathy muttered.

“And don’t you forget it.” he cackled back.

Inside the house Cathy saw that just about everyone was up and working on the laptops she brought back on earlier trips. There were extension cords strung all around to provide power to the laptops and the external hard drives and printers connected to them.

“We figured that we might as well start printing stuff now in case we get a power spike the surge protector can’t handle and it fries the equipment.” Joseph said.

“I just wished I had gotten the faster internet service.” Lonnie groused. “This is just so slow with all of these computers trying to access it.

Once they had unloaded everything off of the motorcycle and taken it into the house, Cathy excused herself to go park the Harley in the barn.

In the barn she wiped down the Harley to get all of the ash off of it. Then she emptied the dust bowl on the intake air filter system that she had built to keep the ash out of the engine. She wiped it down and reinstalled it. Then she removed the tractor air filter and wiped down the inside of the housing.

Once it was clean she took the filter and tapped it against the inside of the trach can she had brought into the barn just for this purpose. As she tapped the filter clouds of ash fell from the groves of the filter. When she couldn’t get any more ash out by tapping she picked up a one inch paint brush and gently dusted the filter as if it were a dinosaur fossil.

When she felt the filter was as clean as she could get it with the brush, she took it outside to where she had an air hose with a tube nozzle on it. The tube was bent at the end so that it would blow air out through filter. This would remove any particles that were still embedded in the filter paper.

Once there was clean air blowing from the air filter, Cathy hung the air hose back up and went back inside and took the filter over to the Harley and reinstalled it. Then she wiped down the filter housing and bike again then put the tools away. She then cleaned herself up and went back to the house.

As she walked she took notice of the orange glow in the west. It was brighter again indicating that more lava was flowing from the ruptured fault of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Then for some reason she turned to look for the sunrise, even though it would not be rising for a couple more hours. Cathy stared at the eastern sky for a while and she noticed that normal night time sounds were not there. She looked around for something out of the normal but did not see anything. She was drawn back to looking to the east as if drawn by some primordial instinct warning inside her.

She shook her head and told herself that she was just being silly. Then she saw a light far over the horizon growing brighter by the second. Soon it was brighter than the orange glow from the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Suddenly she was over taken by a terrible dread like none she had ever felt before.

Turning quickly and running as fast as she could to the house, Cathy started screaming at the top of her lungs, “Put your earplugs in! Put your earplugs in!”

***

Walt was leaving Sarah’s house when his phone rang. He stopped walking in the decontamination hallway and pulled the phone out. It was his dad calling,

“Hey Dad, what’s the update?”

“Who is Cathy Dire?”

“She’s one of my new deputies. She lives at the Butterfield’s in Indian Valley.”

“She just radioed that she just saw Yellowstone erupt!”

“What?” Walt shouted and ran for the entrance to the hallway. He shoved the plastic sheeting aside as he went outside and looked to the east. There was a brighter light than what was showing in the west. Yellowstone had indeed finally erupted.

Walt was trying to comprehend the impact of the situation when a question forced its way to the front of Walt’s mind. “Did she say when it happened?”

“Yes, at three fifty-six. Six minutes ago.”

“Okay, sound travels at about a mile every five seconds, and figure about two hundred eight miles as the crow flies times five divided by sixty gives us a little more than fifteen minutes before we get hit by the sound of the explosion.” “That’s what I come up with too.”

“This may be louder than the Cascadia Subduction Zone eruption.”

“There is that possibility but I believe that the foot print of Yellowstone is smaller than the Cascadia Subduction Zone.”

“Still, have David get the word out. In fact, get everyone on a phone, the radio, the internet, whatever, and get it out that Yellowstone has erupted and we may get another ear busting noise in about fifteen minutes.” Walt said as he went back into Sarah’s house.

“The Ham airwaves are already alive with the news and the warnings about possible loud noise from the explosion. David, Sally, Nikki, and Brian are working on it. We’ve got it on this end.”

“Great! I got to let the county know. Talk to you in twelve minutes.” Walt disconnected the call as he opened the door to the Ahern’s basement.

He took the stairs three at a time and when he hit the basement floor he yelled “Everybody up we’ve got trouble!” and walked over to where the hidden door was and pounded his fist on it. Mister Ahern, Sarah, Yellowstone just erupted.

Sarah pulled the door open, “What?”

“Yellowstone just erupted. We have about ten to fifteen minutes until the sound of the eruption gets here. Make sure everyone has earplugs and well you know what to do. I have to get back to the office change the emergency radio warning message.”

“Okay we’ll ge..” Walt cut off Sarah’s response with a big kiss.

When he broke the kiss he hurriedly said as he backed out of the door, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Hurry.” Was all that she could get out.

Walt took the stairs again three at a time and cleared the door way on his fifth step. He closed and secured the basement and back doors. And hurried through the plastic decontamination hallway to his Hummer. Quickly taking the bucket off of the air intake he sprinted around to the driver’s door, opened it and hopped inside.

He grabbed the handheld microphone and keyed it. “This is Sheriff Rogers to all deputies and anyone monitoring this frequency. The Yellowstone super volcano has erupted. I repeat the Yellowstone super volcano has erupted. This is not a hoax. We have about ten minutes before the noise of the eruption reaches us. You need to get your earplugs and earmuffs ready.”

‘All deputies respond.”

“Gary copies.”

“Jason copies.”

“Chris copies.”

“Nelson copies.”

“Ricky copies.”

Silence. After several seconds Walt continued. “Gary, start calling the others. Chris, let the DHS personnel know what’s happening. I’m on my way back to the office to change the ERWM and sound the county alert siren.”

Walt headed the hummer back towards the Sheriff’s Office and turned on the light and siren. This was not good Walt thought to himself as he drove. With Southern California, Mexico, New Madrid and now Yellowstone sprouting volcanoes and no telling where else they are appearing, the air is not going to fit to breath. This could be an extinction event. Damn it.

“I just hope the winds out of the west continue for the next couple of days.” He said out loud. It was those fast winds that had kept the ash fall so light in this part of Idaho. When the Cascadia Subduction Zone was spewing lots of ash when the tides were low, the winds blew the ash over past western Idaho into the Yellowstone area. Now that ash was being blown back up into the air and would be carried into the midwest and most likely even eastern states.

This was definitely worse than anything Dan had made notes on for any of his stories. His phone vibrated telling him he had a text message. He smiled, at least the cell towers were still working, but for how much longer. He pulled out the phone, it was from Sarah. He tapped the screen and her message popped up, “What about the horses?”

Walt laughed. “That’s another reason why I love you.” He said out loud.

He pushed the speed dial for his dad. And the phone only rang once, “Yes Walt?” “What about the horses? Is there any way to protect their hearing?”

“Your mom already thought about that and is in the barn with your grandparents, Erik and Diane taking care of that right now. They’re packing their ears with wet hygiene pads and then wrapping them with towels and strips of sheets to hold it all in place.”

“Thanks dad, I’ll tell Sarah. She was worried about them.”

“You know that you’re not going to make it back here before the sound gets here.”

“I know but I have all of my hearing protection with me and I’ll drive out there with it on.”

“You might want to stay with the Aherns tonight.”

“I’ll see what happens. But right now I have to go inside and update the emergency radio warning message.”

“Alright we’ll talk later son. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Walt stopped the Hummer in front of his office and climbed out. He had only taken three steps towards the office when the pavement beneath his feet seemed to object to his walking on it. It jolted first to the west and shoved the Hummer into him knocking him sideways several feet. Then as Walt tried to regain his balance the pavement jumped up tossing both him and the Hummer into the air a couple of feet. When he came down Walt was so off balance that he tripped over his own feet and landed hard on his left shoulder.

Even as pain shot through his side Walt was trying to roll away from the Hummer which was bouncing back and forth with the shockwaves. This wouldn’t have been a problem except that it was bouncing towards Walt. After about twenty seconds of playing dodge Hummer, Walt was able to struggle to his feet. He did it like a drunken sailor in a storm, but he did get himself upright.

Walt noticed that the shockwaves were beginning to decrease in magnitude. He also noticed that several of the buildings had sustained considerable damage and that he could no longer hear the generator that was powering the Sheriff’s Office building.

He could hear a car alarm a couple streets over. He shook his head, with all of the earthquake activity recently some people still didn’t realize that setting the car alarm was akin to saying ‘Look at me! I’m stupid! I can’t figure out that the earthquakes are going to set off the alarm just about every time!’. All that was accomplished by setting the car alarm was to make your neighbors mad at you.

Walt started to walk toward the sheriff’s office when he saw that the antenna for the emergency radio was laying down on the roof and part of it was hanging over the edge of it.

“So much for that.” Walt muttered to himself. He didn’t feel it was necessary to sound the warning siren since the last earthquake should have woken everyone up. If the tuned their radios to the emergency radio warning message frequency they would find the airwave silent and hopefully they would realize that something bad was happening.

He turned back to the Hummer as the shaking increased again. “Oh this isn’t good.” He said to no one. Usually by now the shaking would be diminishing not increasing. This was not a normal earthquake shockwave. Walt didn’t know what it meant but he didn’t like it. This quake was producing a noise that was not unlike the rumble one would hear standing between the team of engines of a couple of freight trains as they started up.

Walt staggered to the Hummer and putting one arm out, he braced himself as he timed the shaking of it so he could grab the door handle to open the door. Once he got the door open Walt carefully climbed on the running board and slid into the driver’s seat and pulled the door closed behind him. Walt took the radio microphone from its clip and keyed it up.

“This is Sheriff Rogers to all deputies and anyone else listening on this frequency, the emergency radio antenna is down and the generator has stopped working. We have few minutes before the noise of the Yellowstone eruption reaches us. In these last few minutes please warn your neighbors to protect their ears.”

“Also, please stay out of the downtown area. This current earthquake has damaged many buildings and it is not safe to be near them. Within an hour the Cascadia Subduction Zone will experience an increase in lava flow that will also produce an increase in ash production. How much ash and soon it will get here will depend on the speed of the wind from the west.”

“Once again please pass this information on to your neighbors. Sheriff Rogers out.”

Walt started the Hummer and headed off to Sarah’s house. This was not as easy as he thought it would be with the Hummer being bounced around be the shockwave of the Yellowstone eruption. Then a terrifying thought hit him, ‘What if this is not from the Yellowstone eruption? What was it from?’ Walt drove a little faster.

***

Jerrie and Randy had finished their inspection of the tunnels of the mine. Now they were sitting outside by the watch fire in front of the mine since the ash had stopped falling for a while. They were holding hands and talking about what future held in store for them. What they would do after the asteroid had left the solar system and whether things would return to normal and if so, how long it would take.

They wondered what they would do in the first few years while the world was recovering. What they would do for income and where they would live. These were the things they were trying to figure out when they saw the light from the Yellowstone eruption.

“Randy?” Jerrie asked in a quiet but steady voice that was a little odd compared to what it was a second ago.

“Yes?” he replied unsure if he had said something to offend her.

“What is that light?” she pointed to the eastern sky where off in the far distance where there was a brightness beginning to grow.

“I don’t know.” Randy stood up and walked around to the far side of the fire pit to get a better view without the glare of the fire in his eyes.

Jerrie followed him and as they stared at it, she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. “I don’t like the look of it.”

“I think this is going to be really bad.”

“How bad?”

“I’m beginning to wish we were back in the room on your sleeping bag and I had let you seduce me type bad.”

“What do you think it is?” “I think Yellowstone just killed us.”

Jerrie squeezed Randy's hand all the tighter as tears began to run down the face. “I don’t want to die Randy.”

“If that is Yellowstone erupting, I’m not sure we can survive this.”

“We are better off up here than we would be in town? Aren’t we?” Jerrie aske with broken breath on the verge of breaking down and bawling.

“Yes we are definitely better off up here.” He said, “The ash will collect more in the valleys and what does collect up here will wash down to there with the rains. At least that’s what I read in one of the Sheriff’s books.”

“We better tell everyone inside about this.” Jerrie said between gasps.

“Yes you’re right. They need to know.”

They turned and walked slowly back inside the mine holding hands.

***

The lights were flickering on and off as the power tried to re-establish its flow. Several of the overhead light fixtures had come loose and were dangling just like in the disaster movies that Hollywood loved to crank out. Only this wasn’t a movie. This was really happening and it shouldn’t be. This was the most robust facility in the United States military! This was Cheyenne Mountain! It was supposed to be able to take an atomic strike.

“Colonel Mitchell!” General Snyder hollered, “What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know Sir. No one does.” The Colonel said as he continued to try to get an outside line on the communication system. “It appears that all of the lines of communication to the outside world are no longer functioning.”

Just then the room began to shake and bounce again. The lights flickered furiously and then as several more lighting fixtures began falling, it went dark. Screams of panic and pain came from all around as personnel were struck by falling fixtures and other pieces of equipment.

After several minutes the shaking stopped and the battery powered emergency lighting came on. General Snyder was a hardened combat veteran and had seen some pretty gruesome sights during hid tours of duty. But the sight that met his eyes when the lights came on caused him to lose his breakfast.

Colonel Mitchell was lying over the console with a light fixture imbedded in him from his left shoulder down through his pelvis. The fixture was smoking as was the colonel as arcing electricity shot from the colonel body to anything metal around him. The worse part was that he was that he was trying to talk and his body twitched with each arc of electricity.

A young airman came clawing his way through the wreckage to Snyder. “General, we made contact to the outside via the old MARS radios.”

“And,” the general asked as he wiped his lips clean.

“Ham radio operators are saying that Dotsero has erupted like a super volcano. But I don’t know of any volcanoes in Colorado.”

“I do.” Snyder said turning pale. “It’s a volcano about one hundred and fifty miles northwest of here. It hasn’t been active in over forty-two hundred years. Did they say how bad it looks?”

“One reported that it looks like an old steam engine puffing out black and grey smoke out of its funnel, but that the funnel is twenty miles wide.”

“My lord. We are dead.”

“Sir?”

“That much smoke mean millions of tons of ash. Our ventilation system will be buried within the hour. And without power we can’t open the doors. We will suffocate within a day or two at the most.”

“What can we do? Sir.”

General Snyder, one of the toughest command officers around, looked at the young airman and said, “Make it quick.” And with that he pulled out his service weapon and put it under his chin and pulled the trigger.

***

As Walt got closer to Sarah’s house he tried again to call her but the cell phone kept dropping the call on the first ring. When he looked at the cell phone it show that there was no signal to link to. The cell towers were dead. Walt wasn’t really all that surprised. Actually when he thought about it he was surprised that they stayed up this long. If they worked like repeaters like most people thought, then he might find one tower still able to broadcast his signal. But they didn’t. They needed to be connected to the landline switching station to reroute the signal to another tower or even the same tower to transmit it out to the desired receiver, aka cell phone.

“That’s it!” Walt shouted. He reached over and turned on the ham radio that was added to every patrol unit six months ago. He racked his brain to try to remember what was the frequency that the ventures used. He just couldn’t remember so he figured he might just try the ranch and see if David could give it to him. Reaching down to turn the dial to the ranch frequency he saw that it was on a familiar frequency other than the one he had the ranch set on. He wasn’t sure what it was until it came on with one of the Ventures talking;

“Sarah do you copy? This is William, over”

The call was repeated three times without a response so after the third call Walt keyed his mic, “William this is Sheriff Rogers over.”

“Sheriff! Boy are we glad to hear you. How are things in town? We can’t raise anyone. Over.”

“The power is out and we got shaken real bad but most of the buildings are still standing. Your signal is real weak. Trying boasting the power. Over”

“I’m on a handheld. We are working on getting the generator running again. The big generator bounced around and landed on the feed line and shorted it out and the backup generator tipped over and broke the oil line to the cooler. We don’t dare run it until we can replace the line. Over.”

“Just plug the line and top off the oil and it will be fine for a couple of days before you have to check the oil. The extra oil cooler was for long term usage. Just so long as you shut it down every two or three days and check the oil level it will be fine. Over.” “Copy that. My dad heard you and is going off to do that now.” There was a long pause without the standard ‘over’ to indicate that he was through talking. Then he continued, “Sheriff, Randy and Jerrie saw Yellowstone erupt ... are we going to die? Over?

“Not if you keep your heads about you and play it smart. We may get a boat load of ash from it but the winds are strong from the west and are picking up speed. They should blow most of it eastward. A bigger concern is the pacific crest volcanoes. If they blow we will get a lot of ash. Over.”

“Thanks for the update Sheriff. Is there anything else that we should be doing? Over.”

“Yes, Get ready for a really loud noise from the Yellowstone eruption. It should be getting here any minute. Over.”

“I understand. I’m going to go tell everyone to get ready for it. Over.”

“Good. I’ll have Dave out at the Ranch get in contact with you after the noise passes. Over.”

“Understood. William over and Out.”

“Hey William, I’m heading to Sarah’s now so I will update her on your status. Rogers Out.”

“Copy, Out”

Walt was about half a block from Sarah’s now and he could see that the light from Yellowstone was not dimming at all, nor was it getting any brighter. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. For now, he just wanted to be out of the night with Sarah.

He tried to call Sarah one more time on the radio, but got no response.

When he pulled up to the Ahern’s house, Walt saw that all of the lights were out. He had seen light of some sort at most of the houses he had driven by. Most of those were camp lantern, generator or candle lit. He figures that they had put up blackout curtains or that they were in the basement. So he just backed the Hummer in the driveway like he had always done for the past couple of weeks. Just in case he needed to leave in a hurry.

Besides his normal routine of putting a five gallon bucket over the air intake snorkel, this time Walt grabbed the decibel meter from between the seats and stuck it in his messenger bag and then grabbed the sleeping bag and pad he kept the back storage compartment for emergencies and took them to the house with him. He hope that Sarah parents wouldn’t think that he was being too presumptuous bringing them inside with him.

After brushing the ash off of himself with the brooms the Aherns had in their decontamination hallway they made out of their home’s portico, Walt knocked several times then used the key Sarah had given him to unlock the backdoor and enter the home. Walt called out to keep from getting shot, but no one responded.

Walt relocked the backdoor and went to the door that led to the basement. Walt knocked loudly three times and called out, “It’s Walt. Please don’t shoot me.” Then he unlocked the door, opened it and went down the stairs. He had made it about have way down the stairs when Sarah and Errol came out of the secrete door to the rest of the basement.

“I take it that everyone is awake?” Walt asked as he continued down the stairs.

“Yeah that last shaker woke everyone up and scared us pretty good.” Errol said with more calm than Walt imagined anyone having after the earthquake.

“Do you have any idea what it was?” Sarah asked with her voice quivering like she was trying to do an impression of the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.

Walt took a breath, “Yellowstone erupted.”

“Oh crap.” Errol said followed quickly by, “Excuse my French.”

Sarah jumped against Walt and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head in his chest, “Don’t leave me.”

“I can’t promise that, but I will stay for several hours and if it’s alright with your dad I’ll even try to catch some winks.” Walt replied as he cradled Sarah in his arms.

“Of course you can stay.” Errol said then added under his breath “We should be staying with you out at your ranch.” As he pulled the secrete door open a little wider for Sarah and Walt to go through, he muttered, “Not cowering in a hidey hole in a basement like some frightened mouse.”

“What was that dad?” Sarah asked having only heard him mumble something that she couldn’t make out. “Oh nothing really. Just muttering about how much smarter you are than your old man.”

Sarah knew something was wrong and bothering her father. “Well whatever it was you said, I want you to know that I love you too and I know that you’re trying to do your best for us.”

“But what if it isn’t good enough or I do the absolutely wrong thing?” Errol said a little louder than he meant to.

Sarah turned to her father as he closed the door. “Like what exactly are you thinking you did wrong?”

“Staying here and not taking Walt up on his offer to move everyone out to the ranch.” He berated himself, “I have my family hiding in hidey hole rooms hidden in the basement for crying out loud!”

“So do I.” Walt chuckled.

“What?” Errol and Sarah both said at the same time.

“My uncle Dan was big into disaster preparedness. I’m not sure when he did it but he built and addition to the house’s basement. It is under the back patio out door kitchen. To get into it you have to open a hidden door and once inside, on the back wall that is against hillside, his installed the old safe door from the bank when the remodeled twenty some odd years ago. Anyways behind the safe door is a tunnel that goes several hundred feet into the mountain to a huge cave that he re-enforced with concrete walls and pillars.”

“The tunnel is made out of ten foot diameter three eighths inch thick steel water pipe that is concrete lined and the void between the pipe and the wall of the bore tunnel that was dug to put it in has been pumped full of foam concrete as well. Right now, to be safe I had my family move into that tunnel. Like rats in a sewer pipe in the basement.” Walt shrugged his shoulders, “You do what you can to keep your family safe.”

“Yeah but your hidey hole is a lot safer than mine.”

“True, but yours has heat, water and a toilet. The tunnel doesn’t.” Walt said with a smile and a jerk of his thumb to the half bath in the front part of the basement.

“But being concrete, yours is fire proof and not likely to shake apart on top of you with a seven point five earthquake.” “Well I’ll give you that one. I take it that you want to come on out as soon as you can?”

“If we are able to.” Errol sighed. “I know we can get out there but we would be leaving a lot behind. I don’t want to come with nothing and be a burden.”

“Things can be replaced, family can’t.”

“Could your dad and brother bring the S.A.R. and the Ranger II here? Then we could load what we could into it, Dani’s truck and our vehicles and leave the rest hidden down here.” Sarah asked hopefully.

“If the ash fall isn’t too heavy they should be able to bring it, the Ranger II and the Deuce and a half with the horse trailer. Then we should be able to get everything.”

Errol held up both hands with fingers crossed, “Here’s to light ash fall today.”

“Well what we need to be ready for is the sound wave from the Yellowstone eruption.” Walt looked at his watch, “Which should be here any minute. So everyone should have one earplug in, if not both earplugs in and have your extra hearing protection ready. This may be louder than when the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptured.”

“I’ll get everyone set up with what they need.” Errol said.

Sarah folded up and moved her reclining camp chair then grabbed Walt’s camp pad and untied it and rolled it. Once she had it was rolled out and staying put she grabbed his sleeping bag and pulled it out of the stuff bag and laid it out smoothing the wrinkled out.

“There you go babe. All the comforts of home. All you need is a wife.” Sarah said and as soon as she said it her own sadness washed over her face.

Walt reached down and gently lifted her up to her feet. “I have the best wife there ever was or will be. I just haven’t cut paper or taken her to bed yet.” Then he pulled her in tight and kissed Sarah deeply.

Everyone else in the basement made an effort to be looking somewhere else.

When he broke the kiss Sarah would not let Walt loose at all and start give him little peck kisses between each word. “I ... love ... you ... Walt ... Rogers ... love ... you ... love ... you ... love ... you.” And then, she slowly let him slip from her embrace. “I should have married you the day after the election.” Walt said regretfully. “Hell I should have married you that day we went for a ride after you washed Ajax.

“Speaking of which...” Dani spoke up from where she was sitting on Mick’s lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. “What will you and I be, when you two get married? We’re not exactly in-laws.”

“Out-laws?” Walt said a half second before he realized that Dani had set him up for one of her puns.

She flashed a big smile, “I have a sheriff for an outlaw.” And then rest her head back against Mick’s head.

“Ah cute Dani.” Walt said as he set his jacket, duty belt, decibel meter and hat in a pile next his sleeping pad and bag. Then he checked his watch. “Everyone better get their hearing protection on. The sound wave from Yellowstone should be here any moment.”

Everyone hurried to put their earplugs in and their shoot earmuffs on.

Seeing that everyone had put their hearing protection on, Walt sat down and was stretching out on the bag when the noise from the Yellowstone eruption hit the Aherns’ house.

Even in the basement with the sound dampening insulation and the hearing protection, the noise was exceedingly loud. Walt picked up the decibel meter and turned it on. Walt was surprised at the reading of 126 decibels. That meant that the level outside had to be well into the 140’s or maybe higher.

Then he noticed that the decibel reading was dropping it now read 123 db, no 121 db, 118, 112db, and still dropping. Within two minutes it was reading 19 db, which was normal for this environment.

Walt reached up and slid the earmuffs off of his head. No sounds. Then he removed one of the earplugs. He could hear the clothing of the others when they moved around. He sat up and touched Sarah’s hand to get her attention.

Sarah turned and saw that Walt had taken off his hearing protection. And slowly reached up and took her earmuffs off. And not hearing anything pulled out an earplug. “It’s over?” She asked quietly.

“Seems so.” Walt said with a perplexed look on his face. Sarah waved at everyone and pointed to her ears as she then took the other earplug out.

Carol looked at Walt and asked “Was that it?”

“I think so.”

“Why? How?” Sarah asked him. “The last time it lasted for almost an hour. What is going on?”

“I’m not sure. It does seem strange though.”

“I know what happened.” Mick said.

“Really?” Sarah snapped at him then realized that he was serious and not trying to be funny, “Sorry, what happened?”

“That’s easy to explain.” Mick said with a smile. This was the first time that he could supply information on what was going on. “When the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptured, it was along the fault line, like a crack in a boiler. It hissed loudly for a long time as the pressure bled off. But when Yellowstone erupted it was like the cork of a champagne bottle. Boom and it’s all over except for the liquid flowing out.”

Walt chuckled, “Mick, you’re a genius. That makes perfect sense.”

“But what of the ash fallout from Yellowstone? Do we have to worry about it?” Carol asked.

Walt thought for a few moments to formulate his response to Carol before answering, “I don’t know for sure. I would imagine so in the long run. Right now we have some pretty good and constant winds blowing from the west. So far the winds have been blowing the heaver ash falls from the Cascadia Subduction Zone over us to the east. They should keep the ash from Yellowstone from getting to us. But the rest of the country ... they are going to get hit hard with the ash. Food production will be nonexistent for years in the Midwest.”

“And what about what we have heard about California? If that is true then that would really mean that we are going to be short on food for the whole nation.” Dani said. “That means that most of the people are going to die.”

“And those that survive in the cities are going to be looking for a new food source.” Sarah added. “And with the Midwest and California out of the picture then the population down in the Boise area ...” Carol started to postulate.

“Will be running out of food by the first of the year.” Mick continued.

“Then the survivors will go looking for food and ...”

“Our farms and ranches just made it to the top of the ‘where is food’ list.” Walt finished everyone’s conjecture.

“Maybe they’ll go south instead of coming north.” Sarah’s Grandmother said.

“We can only hope.” Errol added.

“But they’re not the only ones we have to worry about. Are they?” Dani asked.

“No. We will see refugees from eastern Oregon and even from Washington, and they could be either those fleeing the ash and or gangs. Make no mistake about it, gangs will raise their ugly heads and they will be bad. Of course we may have to worry about the gangs that have been chased out by the towns that are well armed and organized.

“If it’s the latter, then they won’t be that tough. They have been run off already and shouldn’t have that much in the way of guns and ammo and other supplies.”

“True, but they will be all the more desperate.” Walt sighed, “And that will make them even more dangerous.”

“We have time to get ready for them.” Sarah said positively, “After all, the highway department won’t be clearing the highway and we can take the equipment here and use it to pile snow roadblocks. That will stop any vehicles and slow those walking in.”

“You’re right about some of that but we need to take a closer look at what other counties are doing and plan accordingly.”

“But that won’t be happening for a while so let’s try to get some more sleep and worry about that tomorrow.” Errol said as he laid back down.

“Amen to that.” Walt muttered softly.

Chapter 10

The Passing Continues

October Twenty-First - The Early Dawn of the Passing

At the Butterfield farm, Cathy had everyone in the underground gun range. When the shockwave from the Yellowstone eruption hit them, they were ready for it. They had hauled several of the mattresses into the range and set up some camping cots and chairs, along with a couple of low tables made from sheets of three quarter inch plywood on top of a few stacked pallets. They had nothing set up that could fall over onto anyone.

Earlier when they first got to the farm and Cathy had chosen to stay in the barn instead of one of the trailers, Lonnie Butterfield had given Cathy a WIFI internet remote repeater for the satellite system that he had never installed. Cathy set it up in the barn so she could use the internet without going in the house.

She hooked a cat 5 cable to it and ran it down in to underground gun range. Now she plugged in one of the WIFI hubs she gathered with all of the other equipment in town. Lonnie insisted that everyone use it and keep downloading everything they could until the internet went down permanently.

That is what they were doing as they waited for the sound shockwave from the Yellowstone eruption to get to them. All except Cathy who was making supply runs back and forth to the house. She used Murphy’s law as the need.

Major Joseph Donaldson retired Marine, senior vice president of the largest American oil company, had felt that he could trust his most treasured possessions to this fellow Fourth FORECON Marine. Looking around at his family, and knowing what they had now and knowing what they wouldn’t have without her, he knew that it had been the right choice.

His only concern was the way his fifteen year old son was now looking at Master Gunnery Sergeant Cathy Dire. She was twice his age and his son was enthralled by this woman, who when he first met her, had put him in his place and threatened to beat him if he ever disrespected his parents again.

Joseph wondered if she knew what was going on with Jake. Yes, she had to. Very little got by the Gunny. But as it turned out he wasn’t the only one who noticed the way Jake was looking at her. When Cathy returned with a case of water pouches and she bent over to set the case on the floor he heard one of his daughters calling Jake out.

“Jake Donaldson! Geez!” Mary said a little louder than she wanted to. “Quit staring at Cathy’s butt and close your mouth. You’re drooling.”

“I told you.” Jane said to Mary.

Cathy stopped what she was doing and looked over at Joseph and Linda with an exasperated expression on her face. Then she turned and walked over to Jake and knelt down in front of him. “Jake, I’m too old for you. I told you that I would find you a couple of nice girls to date. You have to stop. It’s not good to obsess about me.”

“I know.” Jake said dejectedly, “But right now you’re the only woman here that’s not related to me. The world could end and I’m still ...” Jake looked over at his parents and swallowed hard, “... still a virgin. Heck I haven’t even been able to kiss a girl.”

Cathy reached out and ran her fingers through his hair fluffing it up. “The world is not going to end. It will get a lot tougher to live in, but that doesn’t change the fact that I promised you what I did or that I will do it or die trying.”

“Besides,” Mary interjected, “We’re still virgins too and we’re older than you.”

“You don’t see us eyeing Paul or Ross do you.” Jane added quickly.

Jake started to fire a nasty come back but Cathy held up her index finger in front of him.

“Don’t let them bait you.” She gave him an intent look. “You have an advantage that they don’t know about.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Cathy smiled at him. “Right now you all,” She looked at the girls, “Need to get back to work downloading the information we need to survive.” “Yes Ma’am.” Jane and Mary said sorrowfully realizing that they had disappointed Cathy with their picking on Jake.

Cathy put her earplugs back in her ears as she headed back to get some more supplies. She knew that wearing the earplugs while out and about limited her situational awareness capability but she reasoned that it was the lesser of two evils. The first was being caught by the soundwave without hearing protection in. She had them in but hadn’t put her earmuffs on because that was a compromise she was making to be able to hear a little rather than nothing at all.

She got to the back of the underground range and was starting to open the door when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up causing her to stop. The door was open about two inches was she heard a sound like a dozen freight trains coming at her. She pulled the door closed with all of her might and yelled, “Earplugs!”

Cathy latched the door shut tightly but the noise was louder than it had been when the Cascadia Subduction Zone had ruptured. She had a set of earmuffs around her neck and quickly slid them up over her ears as she hurried back to the other end of the gun range.

Cathy started with the twins, in checking that they had their hearing protection on properly. Then she moved to Lonnie and Lorie Butterfield. She noticed that Paul Martin and Ross Snider were checking Joseph and Linda’s hearing protection so she turned to Jake who gave her a big ‘thumbs up’.

Lonnie grabbed a tablet and wrote on it, “Loud but manageable.” And passed it around. As everyone read it, they nodded in agreement. Cathy wondered how loud it really was outside.

***

Jerry Rourke and Marcus Young sat with their backs to the front of the mine keeping a steely stare on the parents of the Venture Crew. They were doing so to keep them from interrupting while the Venture Crew leaders, Cindy Montoya, Amy Young, Jerrie Grey led the meeting. Behind them were Randy Cassidy, William Hawks, Danny Elmore. In front the other twenty-two members of the Venture Crew that sat in a circle discussing what they were going to do about the new development with the Yellowstone eruption. Some of the parents wanted to take over, but the two Venture Crew Advisors stepped in and laid down the law so to speak. “This is a crew operation and they made the rules, if you didn’t like it...leave.” Jerry said. “They planned it, they got permission to be here, and they are in charge. Not mister Young nor I or any of you parents. Marcus and I are here to make sure it stays that way.”

“And he said that the sound of the eruption could get here any minute. Also that David would contact us later to see how we are doing.” William finished his report.

“I think we need to get everyone inside and as deep into the mine as it is safe to do so. The mountain will help dampen the sound so it won’t be so loud and painful.” Amy Thoughtfully. “That’s kind of what Sheriff Rogers had the one group in ‘Blood Moon Falling’ do to escape the fuel tanker explosion.”

“I agree.” Cindy spoke up. “The cargo containers will not provide any direct protection from the noise. We have three of them set up as a decontamination hallway but that in and of itself will not stop the sound from getting into the mine. We need to try to move one in front of the opening and the tighter the better. Then we need to stack the bulk food at the opening to really absorb the sound waves.”

“Excuse me.” one of the fathers said raising his hand, “I have a question.”

“Yes Mister Conley?” Jerrie acknowledged him.

“Well first I would like to say that you all have done a wonder job here and I don’t know a lot about this stuff, but why put the food at the entrance to the mine? Won’t that put it a risk to animals?”

“Well it would put it at risk if we were to leave it there. The fifth pound bags of rice, wheat and sugar are very dense.”

“Like you Joe.” Another parent jibed in quickly.

Several of the Ventures turned quickly and shot back a one word response, “Respect.”

That was all they had to say to get a weak and sorrowful “Sorry” from the parent.

Cindy cleared her throat and continued, “and since they are dense, the sound will be absorbed by them and not penetrate into the mine very well. But we don’t have enough bags to block the entrance so we will also have to stack the cases of number ten cans there as well. Then we should drape blankets, sleeping bags and anything else we can find that will block the sound.” “And we have very little time to do it.” William added.

Joe Conley stood up and spoke proudly “You are right. What do you want me to move first?”

Jerry and Marcus smiled as the other parents stood to get their instructions. Soon everyone was doing something, moving bags or cases of food, sheets of plywood, gathering blankets, sleeping bags and clothing, or keeping the little children contain and safe in one of the side rooms further back in the mine.

In ten minutes they had the entrance to the mine completely blocked off and several of the side rooms also protected with sheets of plywood and blankets. In the one side room that was designated as the Venture Crew command post, Jerry Rourke, Marcus Young, Cindy Montoya, Amy Young, Jerrie Grey, Randy Cassidy, William Hawks, and Danny Elmore sat looking at the closed circuit television monitors that Cindy had set up.

The system had three monitors. One was set with the multiplexor on it, showing all twelve cameras in a small area like a tic-tac-toe board. One camera was on the inside of the mine entrance looking out towards the decontamination hallway. Another was on the back of one of the cargo containers that made up the hallway and was looking in at the entrance at the wall of food blocking it.

Several others were placed in the trees around the flat area in front of the old mine. Some were aimed at the flat area and others were aimed at away. The latter were PTZ cameras. This gave them the ability to move the camera remotely and give them better views around the mountainside.

The other two monitors were linked to the multiplexor so that any of the cameras on it could be moved to one of them by clicking the number one or two in the top right or left hand corner of the camera you wanted to enlarge.

“Now all we can do is wait and watch.” Cindy said.

“But what are we watching for?” Danny asked.

“Anything that would indicate that a loud sound out there.”

“Like what?”

“Animals running when they should be laying down. Birds flocking to flight.” Amy answered, “That might be an unusual movement.” “There might even be a shockwave we could see as it passes through the trees.” Cindy added, “I’m not sure what exactly we might see. Then again we might not see anything.”

“Look at the sky.” William pointed to one of the cameras on the multiplexor monitor.

Cindy quickly moved the image that William was pointing at to one of the monitors.

“What do you see?” Marcus asked.

“The stars are deforming.” He answered and pointed to the area on the image that he was talking about.

They could see the stars shift slightly as a compression wave move through the sky towards the camera.

“That’s definitely a shockwave.” Cindy said as she got and went to the main mine tunnel hollered, “Shockwave is coming! Get your earplugs in!”

Turning to go back into the room she saw Jerrie and Randy holding each other’s hands so tight they were white. “It’s about time you two.” She said under her breath so softly that no one heard.

***

Jason Red Hawk and the four families that joined him at Bear Cave had been busy the last several days setting up some of the equipment that was in the cargo containers that SAC Davies left with him. This included a couple of generators, a bunch of work lights, a couple of electric ranges and some very large refrigerator-freezers and chest freezers.

They decided that they should move the containers into Bear Cave to make better use of them. Since the first container was unloaded to begin with, they moved it inside and placed it where they thought it would be best. To do it the used the Hay wagon that was used to get the containers up to the cave. Without a power lift they had to unload each of the containers, then jack them up onto the hay wagon and roll it into the cave. Then repeat the process in reverse. Once they had the container in place they moved the contents of the second container into the first and so forth with each container thereafter. This took them over a week to do. And they were able to squeeze five of the seven containers into the cave. The remaining two containers they lined up in front of the cave with the doors facing towards the cave entrance. When they opened both of the doors on both containers, it effectively blocked the entrance to the cave.

Now they were turning the spaces between the containers into bedrooms and private family spaces with some of the tarps that were in the containers.

“Not bad.” Jeramiah Red Hawk said to his son Jason. “Not bad at all.”

“If Walt is right in what will happen after the asteroid passes, this may be some of the better living conditions around.” Jason said with some optimism.

“Our conditions would be better down at Walt’s compound.” Came a voice from behind them.

Both men sighed for they knew where this conversation was headed and neither one wanted to go there.

Jeramiah turned around and faced his daughter. “Dawn you are right. Conditions would be better for you at Walt’s home. He would welcome you openly. But think about this, please. What about his wife to be? How would that work out? What about the rest of your family? How could we go there and leave the others up here?”

“Everyone here would be welcomed there. You know that. He is not just another white man to be feared and distrusted.”

“I know that he would welcome everyone here. After all he is letting us stay, even here, on his land because this,” he gestured to the cave and the supplies within it, “is all that your brother asked for, nothing more and yet he gave more. And I do know that he is very honorable. And I would trust him with you. I would have been proud for you to wed him and just as proud for him to wed you. But you know our people would not have stood for it.”

“You disagree with the council all of the time. Sometimes almost violently.”

“That is also true.”

“But why then did you ask him to not see me anymore? Why did you not stand up for me?” “I did not ask for him not to see you and I did stand up for you.”

Dawn’s mouth dropped in shock and moved wordlessly for several second before she was able to speak, “What then why did he stop coming around?”

“Dawn,” Jason spoke up, “Walt heard what the council was going to do to our family. That they would remove father from the council and censor him. That mother would not be allowed to come to the center, your sister and I would be kicked out of the school and more that he did not tell me about.”

Dawn started to ask Jason why but he stopped her.

“Walt cared so much for you, for me and for our family that he went to the council and interrupt one of the sacred meetings and exacted a promise in blood from them and made one in return.”

“A blood promise? With the council?”

“Yes.”

“What did he make them promise and what did he promise in return?”

“I don’t know all of it, but this I did find out; that father would always have his seat on the council, that our family would be left alone and not punished for the two of you having real feelings for each other, and that all would be free from any reprisals for his rash actions. And finally that he would never enter the reservation again unless the council asked him to come.”

“He had real feelings for me?” Dawn said half in surprise and half in joy.

“Yes he did. But that was seven years ago. He has had to move on. He made a vow that protected us and he will not break it. Not even now.” Her father stated factually.

“Dawn, No matter what you feel for him, please understand, now is not the time to tell him. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders right now and he has to keep focused on his job of protecting us all, Native American and White Man.” Jason spoke solemnly.

“I understand. But once the crisis has past, I will speak my heart to Walt and his new woman.”

“Sarah Ahern.” Jason said. Dawn paled when she realized who Walt fiancé was. ‘Little Sarah?”

“Yes, ‘Lightning Death’.”

“Well ... I guess I will have to speak carefully.”

Suddenly they were all driven to their knees in pain as the soundwave hit Bear Cave. Had they been out in the open they would have suffered much worse. Fortunately, being in a mountain cave with the opening mostly blocked by the cargo containers, the sound was cut by half.

Though still debilitating to some, some were able to get hearing protection in right away and then help the others get theirs in.

***

Walt woke when his phone stared vibrating indicating that he had a text message. He went to move his right arm and found that he couldn’t feel it. A wave a panic swept over him for a second or two until he realized the reason why he couldn’t feel his arm. It was asleep from restricted blood flow because Sarah was asleep on it.

Walt smile and reach across with his left arm and stroked Sarah’s hair and brushed it from her face. Then he contorted his arm to get the phone which was in his inside left jacket pocket. Retrieving the phone Walt opened the Text feature to read the message from his dad, “Son, we dodged the bullet on this one. Ham radio operators are reporting that Mt. Rainier, Shasta & Saint Helens have erupted...barely. Very small lave flow don’t expect much if any ash. Satellite images show Cascadia flowing very heavily into low tide areas, no ash clouds. Expect large volumes of steam with returning water. Should know by ten o’clock if it is safe to make the run to the Aherns.”

As he reread the message thinking on the implications, Sarah surprised him with a soft spoken question. “Is that a good thing or bad?”

“Hey Babe, feeling any better?”

“Much with you here.” Sarah sighed and wiggled to against him. “So is that a good thing or bad?” she repeated. “I’m not sure.” He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then continued, “It could be both but I’m hoping that’s it’s a good thing. Low lava flows from those three volcanoes means less ash in the air and coming in our direction. Large volumes of steam should be a good thing for us. That means there is extra moisture in the air to form clouds and cause rain. That will help clean the air of the ash from any volcano. The only drawback that I can see is if it causes super heavy downpours in areas where the ash is building up, which could cause mud slides or rather ash slides and flash floods. So like I said, I’m not sure.”

“Why do you think that Shasta and the others didn’t blow big like Yellowstone or Cascadia did?”

“All I can think of is that because the Cascadia fault ruptured and stayed open and flowing, that there wasn’t much of a back pressure for the other volcanoes. Just barely enough to leak out.”

“Good. I like that explanation.” Sarah sighed and snuggled a little tighter against Walt. And after a second she realized that Walt’s arm was throbbing beneath her shoulder. She propped herself up off of his arm and looked down at it. Seeing that it was slightly blueish she a little louder, “You should have told me I was cutting off the blood to your arm. Can you feel anything?”

Walt strained to lift the arm and when he got it half way up it flopped over at the elbow like a wet noodle.

“Oh no.” Sarah exclaimed as she grabbed the arm and started massaging it to get the blood circulating again. “Your arm is so cold. You should have said something.” She scolded him.

Walt just smiled as Sarah worked on his arm. Every now and then he would try flexing his fingers. “Ow.” He would say as the nerve endings regained their functionality and he felt the thousand stabbing needles that come with a numb extremity waking up. “It’s waking up slowly.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think that laying on your shoulder would do this.” Sarah said obviously upset about his arm.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nice waking up next to you.” Walt said with a shy boyish grin.

“Well, we’ll have to see what positions work best for snuggling where I don’t disable you.” “You didn’t disable me.” Walt protested.

“Really? Try to hold me.”

Walt reached out with his left arm to scoop her in but she caught it with her right hand and stopped it. “Use your right arm silly.”

Walt smiled sheepishly the quickly shot his right arm out and around Sarah and pulled her to him and kissed passionately.

When he finished the kiss and eased his pull on her, she smiled and said, “Faker.”

“We will have a lot to work out, like who gets the foot rub first, who does the laundry, who cooks, who gets the upper bunk bed, who showers fir...”

“Whoa, whoa, whooa!” Sarah said in a panic sitting up straight, “Who gets the upper bunk bed? I don’t think so. We will be in the same bed! I don’t care who gets the foot rub first or second, but we will be in the ... uh... ‘ Sarah catches the slight grin on Walt's face and she smacks his hand and throws his arm back at him. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Why not?”

“Why NOT?!!, I’ve waited over a year to be Missis Walt John Rogers and share your bed. IT WAS NOT FUNNY!”

Walt countenance fell as he lowered his head, “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just don’t know how to make jokes.”

“Humor is an acquired skill.” Sarah smile sweetly tilting her head. “We will work on it later once I’m moved in.”

“I await your tutelage.”

She laid back down next to him and put her head on his chest and wrapped her arm over him, making sure not to pin his arm and cut off the blood flow. Walt began to stroke her hair and Sarah sighed, “I feel so much better with you here when the stupid earthquakes happen. I can’t fight them, and that scares me even more than anything I have ever faced.”

“It scares you that you can’t physically fight and beat the quakes?” “Yeah. Silly uh?”

“No, not so silly. They scare me too.”

They laid there in silence for a few minutes before they heard rustling of sleeping bags as others begin to toss and turn or stretch as they woke up.

“What time is it?” They heard Dani ask softly.

“Seven forty-five.” Mick answered back.

Walt squeezed Sarah with his right arm and pushed the hair back behind her right ear with his left hand. Sarah looked up at him questionably.

“Time for me to get going.” Walt said reluctantly.

“Us! I’m going with you today.” Sarah stated so manor of factually as she got up, that Walt didn’t even offer any resistance.

Sarah walked over to where her father was sleeping wake him and decided against it. Instead she went over to Mick and Dani, “Guys, Get up and be quiet.”

“What up?” Dani asked before Mick could.

“We’re going to help Walt check out the town.”

Quietly they gathered the things they were going to take with them and made their way out of the basement. Sarah left a note for her parents with the radio frequency that they would be on.

When they got into the driveway the sun was just cresting the hills to the east. It was an overcast day with the dark clouds moving quickly from the west. That was a good sign to Walt. It meant that the ash from the Yellowstone eruption would be blown away from them.

In the western sky there was the faint glow from the Cascadia Subduction Zone still evident on the clouds coming from that direction. That would soon fade away as the sun rose higher in the sky. Another good sign in Walt’s mind was that there wasn’t any ash falling from the volcanoes to the west. The massive rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone had provided a relief valve for the surge of magma that had passed in the last couple of hours. It looked as if they might be able to move the Aherns out to the ranch today after all. But first they had to check out the town and how bad the damage was. Walt knew about a few dead bodies in the rubble of some of the collapsed buildings from what Cathy Dire had told him. So because of that, he knew that there had to be even more bodies elsewhere around town to be removed.

Walt took the bucket off of the air intake snorkel for the Hummer and tossed it in the back of the Hummer. He noticed that Dani and Mick were carefully using the brooms from the ‘decontamination hallway’ to clean the couple of inches of ash off of Dani’s old ugly green ex-forestry truck.

“You might not want to use your truck Dani, the ash will clog the air filer and it will get sucked into the engine.” Walt cautioned.

“Not to worry Walt. You won’t believe what this thing came with under the hood.” Dani smiled as used the broom to gently push the ash from the hood of the F-450 crew cab. “This was a support vehicle that carried all of the gear for the incident commander for the region. It was modified to go into any situation like fire, dust storms, volcanic ash fields and such. The only reason they sold it was the service record. It kept going through batteries and alternators. Whoever designed it forgot to include battery isolators and a directional diode switch. Once I added those I haven’t had to replace any of the four batteries or either of the two alternators.”

Once Dani and Mick had the hood and grill cleaned off, Dani popped the hood release and raised the hood up to expose a 460 cubic inch engine with an extra canister air filter and a dust bowl intake.

Pointing to the air system Dani proudly said, “It is a specially design air intake system much like what your deputies cobbled together for your patrol vehicles. But mine is hidden under the hood.”

“Dang, Now I’ll have to stop complaining about its color.” Walt said.

“Hey, what’s wrong with its color?”

“Nothing anymore. It’s perfect.”

“Darn tootin’ it is.”

“And the tool boxes are loaded too.” Mick chimed it.

Walt eyed Dani suspiciously, “I don’t want to know, do I?” “There’s nothing illegal in there. Tools, camping gear, food, jumper cables, tow cables, bottle jacks, everything a good Venture Scout should have.”

Thirty minutes later they were out front of the Sheriff’s office with six of the deputies and three of the DHS agents assigned to the supply depot. Walt was writing down what they had seen on their way to the office. One of the deputies had spotted the four burglars that Cathy had told him about in the wee hours of the morning.

When the deputies had all made their reports Walt introduced the DHS agents. “All of you already know DHS Agent Jessie Carter, I’ve known Jessie for many years, he went to school with my old brother and used to come over to the house now and then. Until SAC Davies gets here from Boise Jessie is the Lead Agent for DHS here.”

“Most of you know Agents Tim Jones and Pat Smith. Agent Bud Myers is back at the depot with how many more agents Jessie?”

“Two agents and four supply clerks. There will be more coming from Boise.”

“How many are going to be stationed here?”

“We will have fifteen agents, six supply clerks and one comm specialist and their family members at last update, plus a FPS specialist that check in unexpectedly this morning.” Jessie said thinking that he was going to surprise Walt with that bit of news.

“And how is Officer Trickle doing?” Walt asked with a slight smile that no one caught sight of.

“What? ...How did ... augh ... never mind.” Jessie said obviously flustered. “She’s doing fine. We tried to contact her rally point but no one responded. I posted a message on WebEOC in case they get back up they will know where she is.”

Sarah started to ask if Officer Trickle was any relation to Bobby Trickle but thought better of it. Especially when Walt shot her a wink. “Good. Maybe we’ll get to keep her.”

“I have a feeling that we are going to need her.” Jessie sighed.

“Well, to find out what we need, I think we need to do a more in depth recon of the town and the other communities all the way up to New Meadows. I want two units, two men each, to head to New Meadows. Be sure to hit Fruitvale, Starkey and Glendale. Take it slow. I don’t need you to take a corner into a land slide or a new gully. I know you normally could make it in an hour but I want you to take it slow and talk to people. I think about three hours to New Meadows. If you make better time on the straightaways fine but don’t push it. If the road conditions are good radio back and let me know how you are doing and I may have you go on to Ramey Ranch or even to the county line.

“I think that it would be a good idea for us to team up with the agents so we can to get to know each other. Jessie I would like it if one of your agents could go in the second unit heading to New Meadows to show that we have federal resources and help calm any fears up there.”

“Tim’s you man.” Jessie said nodding to Tim.

“Good. Gary, pick who you want for the other unit and get going.”

“On it.” He replied and point to two deputies standing next to each other as he walked away, “You got lead, Tim and I will follow.”

Walt turned to Nelson, “Nelson, I want you and Jessie to go down to Mesa and Alpine. Check out the store and Lakey’s Café. Then I you want to go to the Butterfield’s farm and check in with our new deputy, Cathy Dire. She’s going to be our point person down there.”

“When did you hire her?” Nelson asked a little confused.

“Last night. It’s a complicated story so don’t ask.” Walt said sternly.

“Got it.”

“Oh yeah, she’s a Marine Fourth FORECON Master Gunnery Sergeant. So don’t piss her off.”

“Oh fun.” Jessie said dryly.

Then turning to another deputy Walt continued, “Chris, the generator for the office needs your loving care. I haven’t looked at it so it maybe something simple or the back of the building may have fallen on it. So you to assess the whole building. Drag the city engineer out here if you need to. I need to know if the building is safe to use as our headquarters or if we need to relocate to one of the warehouses.”

“I’ll get Chief Harker to get his crew over here as well.” Chris said, “That way they can help us to evaluate any of the surrounding buildings that need it quicker. Then they can either help us relocate or start helping to check on the neighborhoods.” Just then another earthquake began. It was a minor quake that would have registered about 3.2 if there was a working seismograph to measure it. It only lasted about three seconds.

“These little quakes will continue for the rest of the week and the next couple of weeks as well most likely.” Walt said with the realization that Sarah was now holding his left hand tightly.” And for those that haven’t heard or figured it out, Sarah and I are getting married.” And he held up his now ghost white left hand with hers attached to it.

Several of the group chuckled at Walt’s white hand.

***

Mark and Mary were driving one of the Gators out to Redoubt Village to check on everyone there in person. They had talked to Bobby Trickle and Howard Earp on the Ham radio, but they still wanted to make sure that everyone was okay. Michael and Jenna driving the other Gator and checking on the ranch hands at the bunk house. David and Sally were back in the radio room. David was contacting the usual suspects as it were while Sally was monitoring other Ham radio traffic.

Kurt and Candis were working on monitoring the DHS servers and on getting into the DOD servers to find out what they could on what was really happening around the country and world. The connections were spotty due to the volcanic ash in the atmosphere and power supply issues at the various internet hubs that were still working. A lot of the time they had to make their access to the systems via the satellite system.

Wat’s grandparents, Stan, Martha, Thomas, and Rebecca, were going through the ranch house making a list of things that need to be repaired and cleaning up any broken items that had missed being secured in the days before. Fortunately there wasn’t much to clean up or put on the list.

A ceramic candy bowl that had gotten missed on the fireplace mantel, a wall mounted brass oil lamp that had bounced off of its screw, and a couple of plates that had come out of the kitchen cabinet when the door wasn’t closed enough to catch the safety latch. And of course non-breakable such as books and paper goods that had bounces off of their shelves. All in all the ranch house had come through the quakes pretty much unscathed as had the inhabitants. Walt’s immediate family was safe for now. What was the status of his other relatives that did not come to the ranch? That was unknown for now.

Dan’s plans and preparations, started so many years before, and Walt’s additions to those plans, with Sarah’s suggestions, had made sure that the Rogers family had a fighting chance of surviving this new world that was just beginning to unfold.

***

Cathy and Paul were patrolling the farm to check on the cattle, fences and out buildings including the water tank. The cattle were gathered under trees and the various pole buildings scattered about the farm. As far as they could tell none of the cattle were standing, or laying, out in the open in the ash. They had instinctively huddled together under what shelter they could find. Most fortunately was the fact that cattle did not stampede when the soundwave from Yellowstone arrived.

The pole buildings that the cattle were seeking shelter under, were just that, buildings made of vertical poles. The poles were usually six to ten inches in diameter, with a sloped roof. The poles were usually twelve feet apart in two or three rows, which were also twelve feet apart. The roof was sloped in one direction, usually. There were a few of the pole buildings that were built with a peaked roof like a barn. Most did not have sides but some did, usually just one side on the side where the roof sloped down to keep the piling snow out.

The slope of the pole building was such that snow would not build up too much before sliding off. So far the same was true with the ash...well somewhat. Ash was accumulating on some of the pole buildings but the earthquakes would shake them and the ash would slide off. When light rain and ash combined, well no one was sure whether the ash would wash off or set up like concrete. As time would tell it would be a bit of both depending on the slope of the roof and how hard the rain was.

Up at the water tank they found that the makeshift teepee they put on top of it was holding up just fine. All of the ash just slid right off. The wind hadn’t bothered it either. Their water storage was in good condition and looked to stay that way for quite a while.

The twins were checking out the other livestock, the chicken, pigs, goats and horses. All had survived the night for the most part. A few chicken had died from fright when the soundwave from Yellowstone arrived. The rest had stopped laying eggs, and would not do so again for several months.

Of the goats that were currently being able to be milked, most would dry up until they gave birth again. The goat cheese for the next several years would have a very different flavor to it. Lonnie would still win the award at the county fair, but the cheese would have a very unique taste to it.

Jake and his mother and grandparents were busy working on cataloging all of the data they had downloaded.

Ross was working on turning the ornamental cupula on the barn into a lookout post and sniper’s nest. First, he took the four Closed Circuit Cameras that Cathy had picked up on one of her late night supply runs and attached one to bottom side of each corner of the cupula’s roof. Since these were pan, tilt, zoom cameras, they each had two hundred and seventy degrees of visibility. They could be set in manual mode or programed to do a number of panning segments.

One was aimed at the driveway where it met the road. Another was aimed where the road met the main highway. The other two would auto scan their full field of view. This would give them the best visual coverage of the property and the main access routes to it. Cathy had picked up two linkable control panels for the system. This would allow them to be viewed and controlled from both the house and in the barn loft where Cathy was sleeping.

Cathy was planning to go back and see if there were some more cameras that she could pick up to expand the system. The controllers could handle sixteen cameras. Cathy wasn’t sure if that store had that many, but she knew they had at least four more pan, tilt, zoom cameras and four stationary cameras. Ross wanted to put some closer to the road and on the far side of the house and chicken barn.

Ross was also taking sheets of plywood and Wonderboard cement backing board and layering the space inside of the cupula between the two by four studs with them. These layers would be a little under four inches thick on the side and back. The front he added four more layers making it about seven inches think. This would stop any civilian round and most military rounds. They only needed to worry about the big bore rifles with armor piercing rounds, and that was highly unlikely that they would have to contend with them out here.

As Cathy and Paul returned to the house she could see Ross putting the vent louvers back in place on the cupula. Now he just had to install the extension cord for the electric blankets that would mask the lookout’s heat signature from inferred scopes and binoculars. The electric blankets would look as if there were animals in the barn below and their body heat was just rising up and out the cupula as normal.

***

Cathy came into the house wearing the dark navy blue cargo pants and long sleeve dark navy blue shirt that now sported the Deputy Sheriff badge that Walt had given her. She was also wearing the S&W 500 with two speed loaders attached to the web belt. Also on the web belt but on her left side was another pistol. This was one of her two stainless steel S&W 645s, with an ambidextrous safety and a four pack of spare magazines for it.

“I’m going into town to see the Sheriff and see if I can get more security cameras.” Cathy announced. “Major, do you and Jake want to come along? We need to see about getting more canning supplies and clothing.”

Joseph looked at Cathy with some apprehension, “Are you sure we should be leaving the farm right now?”

“It’s safer now than it might be in a couple of days.” She answered, “The real trouble makers won’t be coming out in the daytime until things start getting bad for them. Right now the opportunists are the ones coming out and they do it just at night.”

Joseph pondered Cathy’s reasoning then spoke. “You’re right. Now is the better time to go.”

“Can we go too?” Jane asked quickly.

“Please can we?” Mary

“I’m not so sure that so many of us should be going into town right now.” Linda spoke up quickly.

“Aw mom,” Mary whined. “If we don’t go now we might now be able to go for weeks.”

“Or months.” Jane added.

“If this is going to be a big supply run, then Major, you should take the Jimmy with the twelve footer.” Cathy said referring to the GMC 3500 four by four that had a cab level camper shell on it and the twelve foot long low top Wells Cargo brand trailer. “Paul can ride shotgun, you and Jake. I’ll take the Raptor with the girls and everybody carries a pistol and rifle.”

Then Cathy turned to Linda, “Will that meet with your approval?” She asked.

Linda sucked her lips in as she considered Cathy’s proposal. After about a minute she sighed and said, “Everyone will wear body armor and BDUs and carry radios with throat mics. Ross will drive the Raptor so Cathy can take the Harley for rapid response. AND I want fifteen minute updates.” She added as she crossed her arms, which was her signal that she had made up her mind and would not tolerate any discussion on the matter.

“Okay then,” Joseph said signaling his agreement. “We better get changed. And geared up.”

Twenty minutes later they were on their way into town with Cathy leading the way on her Harley Davidson by half a mile. Joseph came next in the GMC 3500 with the trailer and Ross brought up the rear in the Raptor.

***

Three bullets whizzed over his head and impacted against the stone wall of the federal building as he ducked behind the fender of the HUMVEE.

“You homeland boys ain’t gonna take our guns from us.”

Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies shook his head in disbelief and shouted back. “What the hell are you talking about? We did not come here to take anyone’s guns.”

“Yeah, that’s just what you homeland boys say in those books.” The shooter shouted back at Kris.

“You’ve been read too much fantasy fiction. Up until now I didn’t give a rat’s hinny about you or your guns.” Kris cocked his head to try to gage exactly where the shooter was at, in doing so he saw a reflection of three men slowly advancing on his position. One of the three hollered back, “If that’s true, then why did you come here armed with your machine gun?”

“Because I work here you dip stick!” Kris yelled at them as he took hold of the side mirror and leaned down and looked under the HUMVEE until he could see the feet of the three men advancing on him.

Aiming his Kel-Tec KSG shotgun in front of their feet Kris shot a double aught buck shell. The pellets struck the pavement at about ten feet in front of them. Then the pellets did two things, first they kicked up a cloud of volcanic ash at the three attackers and second skipped along the pavement rising no more than eight inches.

It was then that they struck feet, ankles and shins with damaging results. All three attackers were hit and their thoughts immediately went from thinking about Kris to the pain in their lower extremities.

Kris quickly pulled himself back up and pumped another shell into the chamber. The Kel-Tec KSG shotgun was of the unique design of having two magazine tubes and the ability to switch back and forth between them. This gave the user the ability to load different type of shells into the magazine tubes and choose which they want to shoot.

This time Kris had selected the magazine tube that contained the slug shells. Rising up and looking over the hood of the HUMVEE, he brought the laser sight online with the attacker to his right. Kris squeezed the trigger and sent a one and a quarter ounce slug into the attacker, knocking him off his feet and blowing out his chest cavity.

The man in the middle was already on the pavement curled up in a ball, crying in pain and holding his lower legs as he rolled back and forth in the ash.

Kris pumped another slug shell into the chamber and lined up on the third man who was still standing, or rather limping around cussing but still holding his rifle.

“Drop your weapon!” Kris shouted as he stepped around the front of the HUMVEE and slowly advanced on the limping attacker.

To Kris’ left he saw four Federal Agents come charging out of the front door of the Federal Building with M-16s in hand. They proceeded down the steps to the sidewalk and took up a position there. To his right he saw six more agents coming out of a side front door in a little more organized manor.

Four of them had M-16s, one had a M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System and the last had a SAW, Squad Automatic Weapon. They broke into two teams with the agent with the agent with M110 taking a defensive cover position by the concrete planter near the door with two of the agents with M16s. The other three agents slowly advanced to the street, sweeping the area visually as they proceeded.

“I said, drop your weapon!”

The attacker looked back and forth between the groups of federal agents and realized that he and his buddies had really screwed up when they decided to come down to the federal building to raise a ruckus about the lack of correct information that had been provide about the effects that the asteroid would have on their city.

Slowly he raised one hand and leaned over and set his rifle on the ground with the other. “I guess you homeland boys have us.” He sighed heavily, “So what are you going to do with Jimmy and me?”

“Well, we could do what your stupid trash books say we would and just shoot you or we can turn you over to the local police.” Kris said as he shook his head side to side. “What do you want?”

“Ah, the police?” He said in disbelief at what was being offered him.

“Good.” Kris Smiled, “I’ve wasted enough ammunition on you morons.”

“Are you serious?” You’re not going kill us or make us disappear or ship us off to some FEMA detention camp?”

“I hate to pop your bubble ... no that’s not true, I’m more than happy to pop your delusional bubble that there are FEMA detention camps that the government has set up to dump people into. That’s just a twisted fantasy of some left wing trouble makers that they put out on the internet to stir up the far right wing writers and their readers. We’ve got far more important things to worry about and do, than taking the guns of law abiding citizens.”

“Then how come nothing was ever put out against those stories?”

“Because they are just stupid fictional stories and we don’t have time to worry about idiots that would actually believe such nonsense.” Kris Smiled as four city police SUVs came hurriedly up the street.

***

For the last two hours Walt, Sarah, Dani and Mick had been driving around town checking on the damage from the previous night’s earthquakes. Sarah was riding shotgun with Walt in his Sheriff’s Department Hummer and Mick was doing likewise in Dani’s ugly green F-450. They were taking one block at a time, photographing each building and checking the damaged buildings.

Operating as teams, they would take turns entering the damaged buildings, which they deemed were safe to enter, and check for anyone injured or trapped inside. So far they had found a dozen deceased bodies and about three dozen moderately injured people and ten more seriously injured. The city’s volunteer Community Emergency Response Team, known as CERT, were also coming out in force and checking buildings as well.

They brightened up when they saw the Sheriff out searching buildings and getting his hands ‘dirty’ too. They liked seelng that he was not an office sheriff but a hands on sheriff. Word spread quickly and more volunteers began to show up to help.

Deputy Chris Harden had called on the radio and told Walt that Chief Harker said the building would need some re-enforcement but it was safe enough for now. Also that the generator had a tip-over safety shut-off switch that had been activated by the shaking of the earthquake and they reset the switch so they had power in the office again.

Chris added that the new deputy had shown up with a group in tow and they were now headed over to Walt’s location.

Walt looked up with a smile when he first heard then saw Cathy’s Harley- Davidson motorcycle. She came around the corner doing about seven miles an hour and was followed by a GMC 3500 four by four that had a cab level camper shell on it and the twelve foot long low top trailer and then a Ford F-150 Raptor with soldiers standing in the back with assault rifles at the ready.

As Cathy pulled up to him, Walt saw that she was wearing blue tactical garb and the Deputy Sheriff badge that he had given her. A smile of satisfaction crept across his lips.

Stopping the Harley, Cathy pushed the kickstand down and removed her helmet. “Morning Sheriff.”

“Good morning Gunny.” Walt replied. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

“Well...” Cathy started then paused for a second, “I thought that you should meet my other boss.” She jerked her thumb back towards the GMC which had stopped about thirty feet back. “and his kids and the other body guards.” Walt nodded in agreement. “Okay, let’s get to it.”

Cathy slid off of the Harley and put her helmet on the handlebars then turned towards the trucks and waves them forward as she called out, “Come on up guys and meet the sheriff.”

Joseph pulled the GMC forward some more and stopped about ten feet behind Cathy’s Harley. Paul, who had already exited the Jimmy, walked along side and slightly ahead of the front bumper. When Joseph stopped the GMC, Paul took two more steps and waited for Joseph and Jake to exit the truck and join him.

Ross followed Joseph’s example and also pulled forward but stopped six feet behind the cargo trailer and slight off to the left so that the Raptor was visible in the side mirror of the Jimmy. Then he got out and walked with the twins up to where Cathy was.

When everyone was gathered around Cathy made the introductions. “Sheriff this is Major Joseph Donaldson USMC Fourth FORECON, retired and Senior Vice President of Standard Oil.”

Walt reached out with his right hand, “Good to have an experienced military leader nearby. I hope that I can convince you share your knowledge and help out where you can.”

Joseph took Walt’s hand firmly, “I’ll offer what assistance I can but my family comes first.”

“Absolutely. Family must come first.”

Cathy took that as a cue to continue the introductions, “These are the twins Jane and Mary, they’re nineteen, this is Jake, he’s seventeen.”

Walt shook each of their hands as he greeted them.

“This is Ross Martin and Paul Snider, the Major’s security team.”

“Gentlemen.” Walt said as he shook their hands. “Good to have you in the county.”

“The Major’s wife is back on the farm with her grandparents.” Cathy added after the handshaking was done. “I look forward to coming down to meet her as soon as I can. Now...” Walt turned a little and gestured to Sarah, “This is my fiancée Sarah Ahern, her brother Mick and his wife Dani.”

As everyone was saying hello, Mary stepped up to Sarah, “You’re the sheriff’s fiancée?”

“Ya.” Sarah sighed slightly, “We’re going to get married as soon as things settle down a little.”

“But you don’t look twenty two.”

“Good, I’m only nineteen and a half. Walt’s twenty two.” Sarah smiled. “Thanks for not adding age to my looks.

Walt leaned over and softly whispered in Sarah’s ear, “Why don’t you take them over to Dani truck and talk to them over there while I talk to their dad and the others.”

Sarah’s eyes widened in disbelief as her face started to redden. “Really? You’re dismissing me like that.”

Walt realized how his request sounded and he quickly held up his hands, “No. not at all. That’s not what I meant.” He tilted his head a little and whispered, “Venture crew them.”

“Oh!” Sarah’s face brightened, “Duh, silly me. Sure thing. That’s a great idea.” Then she said to the Donaldson teens, “Guys? Why don’t we talk over there by Dani’s truck?” She point to the big ugly green ford.

Walt turned back to the others and spoke quickly, “Sarah’s the Venture Crew president and Dani’s one of her vice presidents. The ventures are big into emergency preparedness, horses and firearms training. I figured that your children could use some friends and group structure.”

Walt stopped suddenly, lowered his head and shook it as he sighed. “Damn. I’m only several years older than them. The last two years sure have changed my outlook on others. Man I feel old for my age.”

“Sheriff...” Joseph spoke up, “I get the feeling that you are trying to do too much. You need to delegate some of your responsibilities to others...” Joseph stopped as the realization that he had just stepped into a trap. Walt smile and sighed, “I know, but I can’t just yet. I’ve got the whole county looking to me to lead the way and protect them. But I would like you guys to take the lead in keeping the southern end of the county together and organized, but I can’t just drop you on the old time residents. Lonnie is who I need to take the active role in leading the down there. He would have to introduce you to everyone and with Cathy as both one of my deputies and part of your group and as such she would be the authority figure for the government down there.”

“Thanks for nothing.” Cathy muttered in mock annoyance at being asked to be the government representative.

“Actually, that’s your thanks for my helping you get the supplies you want.” Walt smiled slyly.

Cathy, Joseph, Paul and Ross all gave Walt a blank stare.

Walt continued to smile as he reached inside his jacket to his shirt pocket where his notebook was. As he pulled the notebook out he said, “I took the liberty of noting which business buildings were damaged to the point where the contents could not be secured. I have talked to a few of the business owners this morning and ...” Walt tore out several pages from the notebook and handed it over to Cathy, “Deputy Dire, you are authorized to take what items you deem necessary to your project to store data we will need to rebuild our world.”

Cathy looked over the list of businesses and a crooked smile slowly crept across her lips, “It looks like it was a good thing we brought the trailer and second truck. We’re going to need them.” She handed the list to Joseph.

“Will that do?” Walt asked.

“It should do just fine.” Cathy said with a smile, then added, “Just so you know, we are going to grab all of the closed circuit TV cameras we can find. We have a few set up but we need to some down on the highway so we can monitor it from the house.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Walt exclaimed. “I wish that I had done that out at the ranch. If you don’t use them all, please bring some back so we can set them up on the northern end of the county.”

Cathy nodded, “We’ll grab all we can find and drop off what we know we won’t use at your office today and bring any extras back in a day or two.”

“That sounds like a winner of an idea.” “Hey Walt?” Sarah called from over from Dani’s truck as she was walking towards him. “The girls said that Cathy has been giving them Marine FORECON training and the like. Is there any way we can send a couple of deputies down to Indian Valley a couple days a week so she can come out to the mine and train the Venture crew once the highway is closed at the county line for the winter?”

“We’ll talk about it next week when things settle down ...if they settle down that is.” Walt said. “But that is a very good idea.”

“Alright, but I do have a special favor to ask of her.” Sarah stated as the breeze increased and blew her duster wide open exposing her quick draw rig.

“Nice rig.” Cathy immediately took notice of it and asked. “Are you any good with it?”

“No shooting!” Walt said very quickly in a loud voice.

“Don’t worry.” Dani spoke up, “We’ve been practicing something that is really cool.”

As Dani walked over, Sarah pushed the duster back behind her with her right hand and grabbed it with her left hand. Then she tucked it into the gunbelt on her left side.

Dani took a small water bottle out of her daypack and held it by the cap with her thumb and index finger. Then she stood a little in front and to the right side of Sarah facing the same way as Sarah so she couldn’t see her. “This is cool.” Then she held the bottle out in front of Sara and after several seconds let go of the bottle,

The bottle only fell about a quarter of an inch before it landed on the hexagonal barrel of Sarah’s pistol.

“Holy Shit!” Mary exclaimed bug eyed.

“Wow.” Paul said softly.

“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone that fast.” Cathy added in amazement.

“She’s not done.” Dani said.

Suddenly Sarah’s pistol was back in its holster and her hand was wrapped around the bottle, which seemed not to have moved at all. “As you can see I am good with pistols. But rifles, well, they’re another story. The favor that Dani and I want to ask you is, would you please train us on our Barrett M107A1s?” Sarah said.

“What?” Cathy asked in disbelief, “You have a Barrett M107A1?”

“We each have one.” Dani answered proudly. “We had ordered them several months ago when Sarah figured out what was going to happen.”

“I figured that I could protect my family and handle a lot of bad situations one on one or even up to one on four with my pistols but I would rather not have to get close up if I can handle it from a distance.” Sarah sighed, “But I’m not that good with a rifle.”

“Well, we’ll have to see how this all plays out this winter.” Cathy mussed, “But I would be glad to help you set them up and site them in as soon as it is safe to leave the Butterfield’s farm for a week.”

“I can work with that.” Sarah smiled her devilish smile.

“What?” Cathy asked having spotted Sarah’s smile.

“If you can’t come to us than we’ll just come to you.”

“I’m not sure how bad the winters usually are up here but I’ve got a feeling that this year it is going to be a lot worse than normal. You may not be able to get to us even in that green beast or Walt’s hummer.”

“You could be right,” Sarah smiled even bigger, “Then I would have to barrow Walt’s Ranger II or his dad’s S.A.R.”

“What’s a Ranger II and a S.A.R.?”

“That is a S.A.R.” Sarah pointed behind them. “Survival Adventure Rescue vehicle and behind it is the ranger II.”

Coming up the street was Mark driving the S.A.R. and behind him was Michael driving the Ranger II with Mary driving the deuce and a half with the Horse trailer behind it. They had several of the ranch hands with them.

“Your family sure doesn’t do things half way Sheriff.” Joseph said. “We have been blessed in adversity.” Walt said think of all of the things that had come to the family after his uncle Dan had died. “Sometimes I wish we had a little less adversity though.”

“Don’t we all.”

Mark brought the S.A.R. to a halt even with the front of Walt’s hummer and rolled down the window. “Hey son, we’ve been trying to raise you for the past hour.”

Walt instinctively reached for his cell phone to see what was wrong with it.

“Don’t bother. The phone system is dead. David’s been calling you on the Ham radio.”

“Aw man!” Walt shook his head in self discuss, “I turned it off to save the battery last night and forgot to turn it back on.”

“I figured as much.” Mark smiled broadly, “Anyway we were able to get a hold of the Aherns and they are already getting everything that they can ready to move out to the ranch. They said that you took Sarah, Mick and Dani with you, so I figured that I would bring a little extra help” he nodded back at the others in the various vehicles “so that we can get everything before the weather or ash fall turns bad. The NOAA website was still operational and it looks like a big storm front is forming off of the coast.”

“I hope you are quick enough.” Walt replied with concern heavy in his voice as he glanced at the western skies. Then turned, “Sarah, Dani, Mick. You need to get home and help pack everything you can. You don’t have time to waste.”

The three of them nodded and said good bye to Jane, Mary and Jake and then ran to Dani’s truck.

Walt turned back to the Donaldsons, “You need to hurry up and get those supplies while you can so you can get home before the road conditions get too bad to be able to travel safely.”

Joseph held up the notebook pages, “Thank you for the leg work on where to go to get these supplies.”

“I need to keep good people safe and able to help others.” Walt said flatly.

“Understood.” Joseph replied, turned, and walked back to his GMC truck. “Follow me. The first place is three blocks over and there a bunch of debris blocking one of the streets that I noticed last night.” Cathy said as she straddled her Harley and started it.

As the Donaldsons drove away, Walt thought to himself, 'If they can bring at least ten families together to keep watch on the southern county then we may have a chance of holding the south county line against what’s coming.”

***

Kurt and Candis Smythe had weathered the earthquakes rather well. When they had bought the property that Walt had shown them the first thing they did was to sell logging rights to the trees they wanted cleared for a runway with a quick cut provision to get them out as fast as possible. That way they could stumps remove and the runway graded and oiled.

The second thing was to build an underground bunker out of five, forty foot, high cube cargo containers. They poured a forty feet by forty feet square concrete slab that was six inch thick for a base, and set five of the containers on it. Then welded the corners together to make sure the containers didn’t move when they poured soil-cement around the sides.

The soil cement was made by using a portable pug mill and mixing Portland cement powder with the dirt they had dug out to make the pit for the bunker. The amount of Portland cement that was added was called a four sack mix, which meant that the equivalent amount of cement use was four ninety pound bags of pure Portland cement to one yard of dirt.

Most driveways and sidewalks were made using a five sack mix and house foundations were a six sack mix. The four sack mix the Smythe’s used encapsulated the cargo container in a rock hard cocoon and made a great base for the next phase of their plan.

This was topped off with another six inch thick slab of concrete which was coated with tar to make it water proof and then two feet of crushed rock for drainage of ground water. Then on top of that they pour another six inch thick slab of concrete and on that built the sixty feet by eighty feet aircraft hangar with a secrete entrance hidden in one of the supply rooms to the bunker down below. Doorways had been cut to allow access from one container to the next. All in all it was a very nice sixteen hundred square foot bunker. For power they had installed two auto-rotating solar panel stands that could produce twelve hundred watts of power each and a fifteen hundred watt wind generator. These feed a ten thousand watt bank of batteries that could power the bunker for two days of normal usage should the power feed get cut off for some reason.

In addition they had four foot diameter ABS drain pipe from the basement of the house to the bunker in case they were in the house and had to evacuate to the bunker because it was unsafe to stay in the house. It was over a thousand feet from the house to the bunker which made using the tunnel a little difficult. Being only four feet tall it meant that they had to squat walk the entire way, which was very hard on the legs. It was also a shooting gallery if someone found entrance and shot at them as they were trying to escape to the bunker. So they put three off-set jogs in the pipe to break up the line of sight shooting problem.

Down in the bunker they didn’t hear the noise from the Cascadia Subduction Zone eruption nor the Yellowstone eruption, but they did feel the earthquakes. They were able to keep Jenna, Michael and the others at Walt’s ranch apprised of their condition via emails until the internet satellite dish was covered in too much ash to work. Then they used the Ham radio until Mark suggested that they go topside and clean off the dish.

Having done so, Kurt turned one of the closed circuit TV cameras so that it was aimed at the dish. He figured that he wouldn’t have to wait until they lost their internet signal to come up and clean the dish off. Other than the occasional cleaning of the dish, they were going to hunker down for the several months until the spring thaw. Then they would come out and check on their little ranchette.

The original house was boarded up and eviction notices and chemical warning notices were stapled to the boards covering the doors and window. Anyone who came across the house would think that the owners had been evicted by county heath because of dangerous chemical contamination and that the property was uninhabitable until the chemicals could be removed by a haz-mat team.

They were positive that no one would try to break into the house. They had also put notices on the doors of the hangar to discourage anyone from trying to get in it. All in all the property was no longer inviting to anyone who might happen by.

***

Kris and his contingent of DHS staff were drive north on U.S. Highway 95 coming up on Alpine when they came upon several vehicles blocking the highway with their hoods up.

“Heads up people, and let’s hold it back here. This could be more than it looks.” Kris cautioned as they stopped the convoy of federal employees they were escorting to warehouse and modular trailers where they would be staying.

Agent Sal Peters pulled the Hummer over to the shoulder of the road allowing Agent Connie Simpson to pull the Hummer with the Mini-Me Gatling gun mounted in the copula around to the front position of the convoy.

“Connie, hold it there. Sal and I will walk up to them. While you and Leon cover us.”

“Roger that.” Connie acknowledged.

Kris and Sal walked cautiously towards the jam of vehicles with their hoods up. As they got closer they noticed that two of the vehicles were minivans and one was a Bentley Bentayga hybrid SUV cross-over and the last two were Suburbans pulling trailers. The people standing around the vehicles were arguing about what was wrong with their vehicles while the eyes of several children stared at them through the windows of the vehicles.

“Folks,” Kris said loudly to be heard over the arguing, “What seems to be the problem?”

“What does it look like the problem is?” one of the men snapped at Kris from under the hood of one of the Suburbans. “Our engines won’t run dip shit.”

“Jerry! You better check your attitude and apologize to the man.” One of the women, who standing to the Suburban that he was working on, said quickly under her breath to him.

“Why?’ Jerry barked at her as he pulled his head out from under the hood and stepped around from the front of the Suburban and froze in his tracks when saw Kris and Sal in their DHS BDUs with their mini 14 bull-pups slung across their chests.

“Have you checked the air filters?” Kris asked trying to suppress the smile that was attempting break through the dead-pan expression on his face. “Driving through all of this ash has most likely plugged them up and that would starve your engines for air.”

“What?” One of the other men exclaimed. “Damn. I should have thought of that.” All of the drivers dove under the hoods of their vehicles and went to work pulling the air filters out.

“Be careful not to spill any ash into the filter chamber. That would be very bad for the engine.”

Those who were working quickly on pulling the air filters suddenly slowed down and rethought what they were doing. Then most of them asked for helping from those in their vehicles in pulling the air filter cover, wires and other things out of the way so they could get the clogged air filters out without spilling ash back into the filter housing.

After about ten minutes and a bit of cussing on the part of a few drivers, all of the vehicles were able to start and run somewhat normally. “Do you mind telling me where you are heading to?” Kris asked cautiously.

“To my ... late brother’s ranch up by Council.” The women who was about to get into the Bentley Bentayga. “Why?”

“Oh ... We’re heading to Council too.” Kris said with non-emotional face, “You may want to check in with the Sheriff when you get to town. They’re trying to keep count of people to be able to allocate supplies when the time comes.”

The woman looked a little startled “Oh. It’s that bad up here?”

“No. But we are trying to keep it from getting that way.”

“Well, I guess we better check in with Sheriff Cooper then.”

“Sheriff Cooper retired last year. Walt Rogers is the Sheriff now.”

“What?” She exclaimed. “He inherits the ranch and now he’s the sheriff? That weaselly little brat ... ” She stopped when she saw Kris and Sal trying to suppress their laughter. “What?”

“Ah, you must be Elizabeth Ward, Walt’s aunt from Beverly Hills.”

“Y..yes? How did you know that?” She asked carefully.

“We’ve been working with Walt for the past couple of years.” Kris paused as he thought for a moment, “Just a couple of months after Dan’s funeral as a matter of fact.”

“Oh.” “Yah, He caught some bank robbers and saved a bunch of people and did a bunch of other hero type stuff that you’ll hear about at the ranch.” Then as if an afterthought added, “Oh, you may want to try and not piss off his fiancé. She a better shot than Walt is and has a much shorter fuse and doesn’t take guff from anybody. So don’t call Walt a weasel again if there’s a chance it will get back to her.” Kris said as he turned to walk back to his Hummer he rubbed his left shoulder and worked his left arm as if were really stiff from an old injury.

Sal waited a second before turning himself. He had heard Kris and Walt talking about Walt’s family at the reading of Dan’s will and knew about Elizabeth’s attitude.

“Excuse me.” Elizabeth said to Sal, “There seemed to be a subtle message that he was trying to convey but I’m not sure what it is.

Sal smiled, “She double tapped the boss in the shoulder when he made a bad joke about her and Walt. Hell...” Sal pulled up his sleeve to expose a scar from a bullet wound that he had received in Fallujah, “She shot me for laughing at it.”

Elizabeth’s eyes started to bug out in shock, “Didn’t someone arrest her?”

“Hell no! There ain’t anyone stupid enough or crazy enough to try to arrest her let alone press charges against her. She a one shot, three kills type of shooter. And Walt said if we were stupid enough to piss her off, then we deserved what we got.”

Sal then advised them to drive slowly as not to kick up ash dust and to pull over in Alpine and see if they could get help in doing a better job of cleaning their air filters before they finish driving into council and out to Walt’s ranch.

Kris had the convoy wait for two minutes after the group had left before they started out again. He took that time to call Walt on the satellite phone and gave him a heads up that his aunt was coming with a group of people and what he and Sal had told them.

Then the convoy slowly continued to make their way north towards Council and the DHS warehouses and living quarters. As they passed Alpine they saw the vehicles they were in the parking lot of the store. Elizabeth and several of the others gave the caravan of humvees, army trucks and other assorted government and private vehicles the once over as they drove by them.

***

Walt had finished his survey of the town and was checking in with his dad to see the moving of the Aherns was coming along.

“We are just about back to the ranch.” Mark said. “We will have them unpack in the modular in a couple of hours at the most.” Then he chuckled, “Sarah is chomping at the bit to get back to town to meet up with you.”

“I’m glad you’re almost back to the ranch.” Walt took a breath before continuing, “How does she plan on getting back to town?”

“Dani and Mick are going back and get the trailer mounted propane tank we couldn’t tow this trip, so they were going to give her a ride as soon as they’re unloaded.”

Walt smiled at the fact that Sarah had figured out a way to get back to him so quickly. “Tell them that I’ll be at the main DHS warehouse. Agent Davies and the group he is escorting pulled into the warehouse about an hour ago and are getting settled it. They brought several more travel trailers and Class ‘A’ RVs with them. Things are getting ugly in Boise and they are pulling more DHS staff out and moving them up here. He may be heading back down tomorrow to escort another group.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Mark said. “How do you think that is going to affect the flow of evacuatees?”

“I’m not sure. We will start getting some before Halloween. But I think that we will definitely see some groups before Thanksgiving and right up to when the snows close the roads.”

“What about the ash?”

“That may stop the flow if vehicles break down just north of Boise. They won’t be able to walk this far. That’s one of the things that is bothering Agent Davies about going back to Boise.”

“I wouldn’t want to go back there without some snow plows to help clear the road.”

“Me neither.” Walt agreed. “And a couple of MRAPs too.”

“Or a military bulldozer.” Mark sighed. “Too bad they all couldn’t have pulled out with him this morning.” “I agree. But we didn’t think that it would get this bad so quickly. Kris said that they were planning on hunkering down at the Federal Building, but when people started showing up with guns looking for handouts and supplies, they realized that was a bad idea.”

“Does he have an idea what they’re going to do if he can’t get back to Boise to escort them out?” Mark asked curiously.

“I’m not sure. They’re still kicking ideas around. Whatever they decide, I have a feeling it is going to be as tough on Kris as it is on those left behind.”

“No doubt.” Mark acknowledged then knowingly added, “I’ve seen how making the tough decisions affects you, and not just you, but Sarah too.”

Walt sighed with guilt. “I know. I have put her through a lot with all of this.” He sighed again, “But I don’t know if I could have held up without her.”

“I don’t think that any man that could without a strong woman beside him.”

“Remind me to thank mom for all she did for us.”

“Amen to that.”

“Oh, by the way, Kris ran into Lizzy south of Alpine. She was traveling with a group of about twenty or so. They have five vehicles and were having trouble with the ash plugging up their air filters.”

“That’s just great!” Mark said with exasperation, “We don’t know who she’s bringing with her or what they intensions are.”

“I know. But Kris and Sal put the fear Sarah and the fear of messing with the family into them.”

“How did they do that?”

“Wellll....”

***

“Mister President, I have the report on the moon for you.” The young female analyst said as she walked up to the conference table where the president and several other military and civilian department heads were in deep discussion about the unfolding events concerning the asteroid’s passing.

“Just give us the brief version Cynthia.”

She hesitated then spoke with a shaky voice. “The moon has pulled in closer to earth as expected. But we still cannot determine exactly what its new orbit will be. We are pretty sure that it will settle down into a defined orbit between thirty-eight to forty-five thousand miles closer than it had before. It should take anywhere from six months to three years to get set in the new orbit. This will, of course, cause an increase in average tidal height of about five to ten feet worldwide. The numbers are changing as more data become available.”

“But we really don’t have any better numbers than yesterday?”

“Actually we do. The numbers are falling in line with Professor Johansen’s adjusted theory.”

“Well at least something is going right today.”

***

Walt stood with SAC Kris Davies and four of the DHS agents talking with Elizabeth Ward and several of the men in her group. “I’m sorry Aunt Lizzy but all of the homes and modulars are occupied. If you had let dad know that you wanted one we could have bought another for you.” He emphasized that he was talking just about her.

“What about at the village thing you guys have set up?” One of the men with Elizabeth spoke up.

Walt shot him a stare that told him that he had violated protocol by interrupting. “That facility is leased by the Redoubt LLC and the association’s rules are that you have to buy in and have five years of food storage when you arrive. No they won’t let you near the place.” One of the other men held up an index finger for permission to speak. When Walt nodded to him, he spoke softly, “Is there any place that you would recommend that we could stay for a couple of nights until we can work out something more permanent?”

“The Quail Hollow might be able to put you up for a day or two, but they’re taking gold or silver coin only.”

“Well that’s a start.” The man said.

“Well!” Elizabeth pronounced loudly, “I can’t believe that you won’t make room for me at my brother’s ranch. That you’d ...”

She was cut off by an old ugly green forestry truck pulling into the parking lot at faster than normal speed and heading straight towards them. The truck turned about twenty feet away and stopped. However, before it came to a complete stop the front passenger door opened a cowboy in an off white duster and hat stepped out pulling off the Bruce Willis move from RED.

The figure strode towards the group defiantly, the duster swinging open to expose the holstered pistols she wore.

“Oh shit!” Kris exclaimed as he slapped Walt on the shoulder, “You’re on your own buddy. Your fiancé looks really pissed and we’re outta here.”

SAC Davies and his agents scattered like sheep before an alpha wolf leaving the others looking around for some place to hide.

“SAC Davies?” She called out.

Kris pulled up short and make out as if it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Yes Sarah.”

“You are going to run a full back ground check on all of them, right?” she stated as she continued to walk towards Walt and his aunt’s group.

“Yes Sarah, it is in the works now.”

“Good.” Than as if an afterthought, “Sorry about the shoulder.”

Sarah stopped when she got next to Walt. “Your dad and I talked to the LLC and they said that; if they pass the background check, that it will cost them two hundred thousand in gold or silver coin for each of the RV spaces that they need and they must have six instead of five years’ worth of food for each member of their party because they aren’t ready to do gardening in the spring and will be a year behind everyone else.

“They wanted three hundred and fifty but dropped the price when Mark explained that she’s your only aunt. Also if anyone in her group can’t or won’t abide by the LLC bylaws then they asked me to enforce the removal of those that need to be removed.”

“What?” Elizabeth shouted, “You can’t ...” her tirade was cut off by the sudden appearance of a cocked, ball and cap revolver pointed up under her nose.

Shocked gasps came from all in Elizabeth’s group.

Sarah continued talking looking at Walt, not ever looking at Elizabeth, “Mark played it up like you really like the Beverly Hills Bitch.”

“T...th...that wa...was very kind and generous of him and them.” Elizabeth stammered her eyes wide open in shock, not sure she really heard Sarah say what she said.

“I thought so.” Sarah said with a dead pan face and the revolver disappeared.

Walt struggled to keep his face as impassionate as he could as he listened to Sarah and nodded. He knew that his father did not agree with much of what Elizabeth espoused. Heck, even his grandparents had a strained relationship with their daughter.

“Excuse me please,” the polite man in the group spoke, “Where could we buy six years’ worth of food?”

“Nobody is selling anything for cash or credit cards. For gold or silver coins or ingots some people will sell some supplies and I might be able to scrounge up what you need in a couple of days.” Sarah answered. “Exactly how many do you have in your group?”

“Twenty five.” And he reached inside his shirt and pulled out a leather pouch about six inches square. “Here’s twenty thousand in gold to start. Please let me know how much more you need.”

“That I will.”

***

Chapter 11

Assessing

October Twenty-Second - The First Full Day After It Passes

Walt stood on the front porch of the ranch house looking out across the lower fields of his ranch. The orange glow in the per-dawn western sky was dampened by the light rain that was steadily falling. All around the house were piles of ash, that had slid off of the roof over the past several days, that now were slowly settling under the rainfall and soon would be running in riverettes down towards the creek that ran through ranch.

Sarah stepped up next to him, slid her arm around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder and gave him a long gentle hug. She also noticed the ash settling under the rain and a few spots where the rain was starting to cut channels into the ash.

“Is this rain going to cause us problems?”

“The way things have been going, I would have to say that it will cause a bunch of problems. What exactly and where, I can only make an educated guess. But I have a nasty feeling that we will have some mud and ash slides coming down from the higher elevations on the ranch.”

“Will that flood the Redoubt Village or the modular homes by the barns?” Sarah asked with concern.

“Not unless it is pushing a ten foot deep and a hundred foot wide wall of debris ahead of it. No, we should be okay for the homes, barns and other storage areas. It’s the water quality for the animals and crops that I’m worried about.”

“And town?”

“The areas nearer to the river, the road crossings, and along the highway are some we need to keep a watch on. If we get a heavy storm we could have some major problems. Even with light rain like this...” Walt gestured to the rain now falling, “if it were to go on for several days we shouldn’t get any flash floods but we could very well get some big mud slides. And those might close some sections of the highway.” The door behind them opened and Mark glided himself silently through it.

“So you two couldn’t sleep either.” Mark said as a statement rather than a question.

“With all of these earthquakes? I’m lucky to get a couple of hours of sleep a night right now. In a couple of days when the magma settles back down to normal and we see what permanent damage has been done around the county I might be able to get a half a night’s sleep.”

“I wouldn’t count on that just yet.” Mark cautioned solemnly.

Walt and Sarah both reacted with a start.

“What are you talking about?”

“Murphy’s Law. We don’t know anything about what or how many asteroids from the asteroid belt got caught up behind the asteroid when it passed by the belt.”

“Aw Crap! I forgot about that.” Walt groaned as the energy seemed to visibly drain from his body and his shoulders sagged and his head slumped down.

“Hey Babe, There’s nothing else to do.” Sarah said softly, “You’ve got us as prepared as we can be. Unless an asteroid lands close enough to wipe us out, we’ll be fine. If it wipes us out...well then, we won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Mark put his hand on his son’s shoulder, “She right Walt. All we can do is to monitor the radio frequencies and listen for any updates on what anyone is able to see or track in outer space just in case we need to shelter in the tunnel again.”

“We will need to keep the Venture Crew in the mine until we can get an all clear for them to come out.” Sarah added quickly.

“Don’t forget Jason Red Hawk’s group at Bear Cave.” Walt added.

“What sort of communication equipment do they have?” Mark asked.

“Jason has a department radio with a charger and his dad has a quad band Ham radio and there are some other HF radios in the DHS supplies.” Walt replied.

“I take it that the DHS Warehouses have more communication equipment that we ever dreamed of having.” Sarah stated. “Actually Kris got the sheriff’s department several tote boxes full of their com gear. One set is in the safe room.”

“Hey!” Sarah exclaimed, “Speaking of the safe room, when are you going to show it to me?”

“We can go down there now if you wa...” Walt stopped mid-sentence and stared at the sky.

“What?” Sarah asked thinking that he had just thought of something else to do and looked up into his face only to see him staring off into space. “What are you looking at?”

“Meteorites.”

“What?” Mark and Sarah shouted.

“There.” Walt pointed to a spot in the lower south western sky. “They must be small ones because they don’t last very long.”

“Whoa!” Sarah exclaimed. “There sure are a lot of them.”

The far southwestern sky had flashes every couple of seconds as the meteorites burnt up as they entered the atmosphere.

“That there are.” Mark agreed. “But at least they are burning up very quickly which means that they are very small.”

“Dad, you want to wake David and a couple of the others up?”

“Okay.”

“Have David get on the radios and advise everyone he that can contact that there are a lot of meteorite falling in the aftermath of the asteroid passing. And get two others out here to try to take a count of the meteorites. It will be light in an hour and I want to have a good guess on what the rate per hour is so we know what to expect tonight. I have to go advise my deputies and the DHS agents of what’s going on.”

“Got it.” Mark said and turned to go inside.

“Sarah can you try to keep a count until you get some help?” “That’s a lot of meteorites, but I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I’ll ever ask of you.” Walt smiled then leaned over and kissed Sarah deeply. Then breaking the kiss turned and followed his father inside the ranch house.

***

Randy and Jerrie Cassidy were once again sitting outside manning the watch by the fire in the fire pit the Venture Crew had built in front of the mine. It was their shift to maintain the watch for anything that would or could threaten the group. The watch fire really wasn’t much of a fire considering the light rain that was coming down, but more of a warming fire of coals struggling to stay burning in a metal ring that was to keep the light from showing too far.

Even though several of the other Ventures had offered to take their duty and let them have some honeymoon time. Still they would not shirk their turn and besides they reasoned they would be alone at the fire pit and wouldn’t be bothered by anyone as it was getting a bit chilly. They would also have some time away from nosey ears to do serious planning for their future, both with and without children. They were concerned about how they were going to make a living and how far back into the Stone Age the world was going to plunge.

After the shockwave from the Yellowstone eruption had pasted the Ventures opened the entrance to the mine back up, but kept the opening small enough so they could close it up quickly. Now that they had a little more time to properly secure the entrance they began replacing the bags of food with a wall of rocks and small boulders that they rolled into position. The Ventures had lost two cameras and six microphones to the damaging effects of the shockwave hit so they were supplementing the remaining cameras with a pair of watchers at the fire pit and two more up on the hill above the mine near one of the vent shafts. They had dropped phone wire down the vent and hooked up a simple intercom system.

A ten by ten pop-up with a half wrap side section had been set up between the mine entrance and the fire pit. This gave whoever was on watch more shelter from the winds of the cold of the night and early morning hours than just blankets alone would. The half wrap side section covered completely across the back of the pop-up and half way towards the front on each side. It was fortuitous that the pop-up had been put up before the rains began, for it kept the area they were sitting in dry. The problem with the pop-up was that while they had a good view of what was in front of the mine and down into the valley, it blocked the view of what was behind and above them. They were unaware of the meteors that were streaking through the sky and burning up behind them as they contemplated their future. The temperature was starting to drop as it does before dawn and the fire was struggling to keep burning, so Randy got up to feed it with another big lump of coal, several cups of charcoal and a couple pieces of split pine. When he turned around to go back to the log where Jerrie was sitting he saw the light show from the meteors.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed softly.

“What is it?”

“You better come take a look.” Randy said slightly memorized at what he saw the sight in the sky.

Jerrie struggled to get up from the log and keep the blankets, they were using to help keep the cold at bay, around her. She gathered up the blankets to keep form tripping on them and keep them dry and mud free as she shuffled over to Randy and turned to see what had his attention more than her.

“Are we going to survive this?” She asked softly as if she had spoken louder the meteors would have heard her and changed their course to come get her.

“It looks like they all are passing far to the south and the west, and the earth is rotating in the direction away from them. We shouldn’t have to worry about them until this evening.”

“But we will survive everything?” Jerrie asked in a pleading voice as she scooted closer to him.

Randy wrapped his arm around her, “I believe that we will be okay.” he sighed, “Still we better tell the others.”

***

It was mid-morning as Lonnie Butterfield looked around at those seated at the table. Five of the larger families in the Indian Valley area had sent two representatives each in response to Lonnie’s request. Six other families had sent only one as the rest of the family members were busy cleaning up their properties and tending to their livestock. This was all that responded to his invitation to meet even though the drizzling rain had stopped with the sunrise.

There were several of the vehicles parked out front that didn’t have some sort of added air filtration contraption added to them and two horses with homemade dust masks. Those without the added filtration were those that hadn’t lived in the area when Mount Saint Helens had erupted or just hadn’t gotten around to installing them yet.

When Jane reported that there wasn’t anyone else on the road, Lonnie called the meeting to order.

“Okay folks, it’s time to get to the reason I asked you all to come here.” Lonnie took a deep breath and sighed. “As you know we are facing a difficult winter with all of the damage from the asteroid’s passing, earthquakes, ash fall, power outage and such. Those we can handle, especially since we had some forewarning and were able to lay in extra provisions.”

He looked around the room with a bit of sternness at each face there then continued, “The ash is causing us some concern with the livestock and I believe it is with all of you as well. But we are country folk and we deal with it.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“We may have to butcher and jerky a lot more than normal but that’s life and we’re used to dealing with things that nature throws at us. What is not life that we are going to have to dealing with is what is happening in the cities and larger towns. It seems that many people thought that the government was going to take care of them and their needs. You know, hold their hands and wipe their behinds and dry their tears.”

Chuckles, snorts and a few out right laughs came in response to Lonnie’s last sentence. Lonnie too smiled.

“That is the reason that I have asked you all to come here this morning. Sheriff Rogers has asked us to organize the residences of the southern end of the county to be ready for the fleeing masses that he believes will be coming our way when the snow melts. He also believes that there will be groups that will head this way before the roads get too bad to travel. Some of these will be honest and hardworking people who will offer fair exchange for food and help. These will be in the minority.”

“Most will be lazy, shiftless and life owes me types who take what they want. Some of these will make it here before winter sets in. We cannot afford to let them take our supplies. To do so will put our families at risk of starvation or worse.” “Will it be that bad?” Mason Johnson asked.

“That is the best case scenario.” Cathy spoke as she walked forward from the kitchen doorway. “In Boise, things are already falling apart. The police are being hard pressed to maintain order. Sheriff Rogers told me that DHS Special Agent in Charge Davies and his convoy were attacked outside of the federal building and he had to kill several of the attackers.” Cathy stopped next to Lonnie, “Think about this. There are no more food deliveries that will be coming into Boise.

“All of those people that believed that the government was going to provide food for them and didn’t stockpile supplies for the winter, will be starving by the first if the year. Heck, some will be out of food by the end of the month and more by thanksgiving. What do you think that they are going to do? Just roll over and die? No, they are going to take what they can from others. They are going to riot and kill others to save themselves. Then come spring, where are they going to look to get food? Where?”

“Ugh, here?” Mason said weakly.

“That’s right. Come spring we will have individuals and groups coming to take what we have and kill us to get it.”

“Deputy Dire is right.” Lonnie spoke again, “She is well trained and will help us to secure the county line and prepare for the coming...” Lonnie paused not sure what to call those that would coming from the cities.

“Riotous mobs and brigand hordes are what they will be by the time they get here.” Joseph interjected.

“Brigand hordes?” Asked one the neighbors that rode one of the horses to the meeting.

“Riotous mobs?” Asked another.

“Yes, some will band together into gangs of a sort. Leaders will come to the front and they will not be the gentle type either.” Joseph stared down at everyone. “They may not be the gangs of the inner cities, but they will be mean and nasty by the time they work their way up here. The others will be those that just are very desperate for food and basic needs. They will be turned into riotous mobs by their hunger and anger.”

“Anger?” Robert Young asked. “Yes anger. Anger at the government for not doing what they thought that it should have done and anger at themselves for having to take from others and just plan mad about the situation that they are in.”

“And they’ll take it out on any who has more than they do, and who is that?” Cathy asked.

“Us.” Several of the neighbors said in unison.

“I’m glad you understand the precariousness of our situation. We are, or soon will be, be in that proverbial moral spot between a rock and a hard place.” Lonnie said.

“Damned if we do and damned if we don’t, eh?” Martin Fielding stated more than asked in his gravely old voice.

“Perfectly put, Mister Fielding.” Cathy said with a grim smile. “We may have to do things that will sicken you. However, remember your choices, your family or them. Who’s going to live?”

“No choice there, my family!” Gordon Johnson piped up.

Mark reached over and put his hand on his son’s shoulder and gave him a firm and approving squeeze. “That’s right.”

“So,” Martin asked with a bit of suspicion hanging on his voice. “What else do we do that we won’t be doing now?”

“Plan, organize, patrol, communicate and steel yourselves for the worst.” Cathy said slow and emphasizing each word. And, as if on cue to punctuate what Cathy said, Mary came into the living room in a hurry.

“There’s a caravan of vehicles coming up the highway. The long range CCTV camera started working again and picked them up. They’re doing about fifteen miles an hour.”

“That means they’ll be at the county line in about fifteen minutes.” Lonnie said.

“How many vehicles?” Cathy asked.

“At least twenty five. The camera was off line and didn’t come up until vehicles were going by.” Cathy looked at Joseph who had a concern look on his face. “They are a little early for refugees from the Boise area.”

“They could just be a prepper group that decided to get while they can.” Joseph replied.

“True but they should have bugged out before the asteroid passed.” Lonnie observed.

“Unless they thought that they would wait to see what would happen with the asteroid and then see if the food shipments stopped. Which the shipments could have stopped days ago with the earthquakes. Some roads could be out or the shippers don’t have drivers willing to take the risk right now, so nothing has been getting into the city the last couple of days. Now they are panicking and getting out now instead of waiting out the winter to see how bad it gets”. Mary proposed.

“That would mean that it is getting bad now and people are heading out before winter sets in to find a safe haven to hole up at.” Joseph said with a deepening concern in voice and on his face. “Cathy, radio the Sheriff and give him an update. The rest of us need to go secure the road. Lonnie, we need the deuce and a half to take those that rode horses and anyone with a good sniping rifle to the back Donald Smith's big shop via the Monday Gulch road.”

“I’ll go fire it up.” Lonnie said as he hurried out of the room.

“Paul, get my Quigley and Cathy’s fifty cal. and load them into the Raptor. Ross, get the Raptor ready to go. I’ll be riding with you.” Then he turned to the twins, “Mary, go get Cathy’s Harley ready to go. Jane, get yours and Mary’s rifles and grab an extra ammo can too.”

“Ah, Mister Donaldson?” Gordon held up his hand to get Joseph’s attention.

“Yes Gordon.”

“I have a drone with we use to track the cattle and such and it’s in the back of the truck.”

“What’s the range on it?” Joseph asked suddenly excited at having aerial surveillance available.

“It’ll stay up for three and a half hours with all three cameras transmitting. I’ve had it fly down to Cambridge and record the football games.” “Great! Get it airborne and headed down to the county line and get eyes on the caravan.”

“Alright people, we need to be out of here in five minutes if we are going to be in place when they get to the county line.”

“I got a hold of Donald.” Robert Young called out. “He’s blocking the highway with an old school bus and other broken down equipment he has.”

“Perfect.”

“The Sheriff said to hold all traffic. He’s on his way but he’s not going to get here for about fifty minutes, but there are two teams of DHS agents on their way and they should be here in twenty minutes. They’re not sure but they think it maybe a Homeland security convoy that left Boise early this morning.” Cathy reported.

“Okay they may be good guys but we are to hold them until the DHS agents get here to verify who they are.”

Ten minutes later they had reached the county line and had State Highway Ninety-Five blocked off. Donald Smith not only had the old school bus blocking the highway but had dragged several old belly dump trailers out to block the field on the east side from the highway to the irrigation canal that fed from the Weiser River about three hundred yards back east of the county line.

On the west side of the highway he had a couple of rusty old cargo containers in his equipment yard blocking the fence line from the corner of his property by the highway back up to the tree line. These Joseph could tell had been there for a long time as waist high brush was growing all around them. On top of the containers were about a dozen pallets of some sort of farm equipment that hadn’t been used in a while. All of it was covered with a layer of ash.

The space between the highway and the corner of his property was filled with a dozer and a track loader, the latter of which was cabled to the old school bus. There were two concrete ‘K-rail’ barriers on each side of highway in front of the equipment and trailers. The K-rail looked as if it had been there for a couple of days because they had a layer of ash on them and the ash on the ground had not been disturbed.

Off to the east on the other side of the river, back in the trees, Joseph could barely make out Lonnie’s Deuce and a half. He knew that meant that there were several of the ranchers set up as snipers in the lush brush that grew along the riverbank. They were about a hundred and twenty yards from the highway, prime hunting range for these ranchers used to hunting coyotes and such. Mary and Jane had grabbed a ladder and had taken up positions on top of the cargo containers, each behind a pallet of equipment that offered them substantial cover and concealment. Paul and Ross had climbed into the bed of a dump truck that was on a mound of dirt about forty yards behind the bus barricade. The bed of this dump truck had a canopy that extended over the cab of the truck and on it they had set up Cathy’s fifty cal. Ross was in the shooter’s position and Paul was setting up a spotter’s scope.

The others had taken up positions around the belly dump trailers and the dozer. Mason and Gordon Johnson were over at Mason’s pickup truck at the back end. Gordon sat in a folding chair facing the open tailgate on which sat the control station for the drone. It slid out of the camper shell onto the tailgate and became a flight station. Mason stood behind Gordon as the watched the monitors for the drone’s cameras.

Suddenly Mason called in alarm. “Deputy Dire, Major Donaldson! Come here quickly. Cathy and Joseph ran to the pickup truck with Cathy getting there several steps ahead of Joseph.

“What’s up?” Cathy asked as she moved around to see the monitors as Joseph finally caught up breathing hard.

“Well, we found the caravan and it has about thirty vehicles in it. However, in front of it is another group. In this group the first six look like they are military vehicles but the next ten look like RVs and passenger vans.” Gordon excitedly.

“So what’s wrong?” Joseph asked.

“You see, after the last RV there’s two Humvees with a pair of fifty caliber machine guns mounted on them and they’re manned. And about twenty car lengths behind them is the caravan that Mary saw, thirty vehicles of assorted make up. They seem to be tagging along behind the government convoy, but not getting too close enough to make the gunners track them.”

“That’s still nothing to worry about.” Joseph replied.

“No, but this is...” Gordon said as he worked the controls and made the drone bank to the right out over the open fields and back in the opposite direction. The one monitor’s image swiveled to the right and zoomed in on the town of Cambridge, which was still a ways off. “I thought that if one group was following a government convoy then there could be another further back so I took a look back down the highway and this is what I found.”

The camera displayed on the monitor zoomed in a little more as the drone banked right again so it lined up looking north up the highway as it entered Cambridge. There, strung out along the highway, were about sixty motorcycles of various after- market configurations and two twenty foot box trucks and an old Greyhound bus.

“It looks like they’re doing about twenty miles an hour.” Cathy estimated.

“But they should slow down through town.” Gordon said hopefully.

“Maybe, maybe not. The ash isn’t falling right now and the road has been cleared by the first two groups. The lead military truck has a snowplow on it, clearing most of the ash from the road. They’re just going slow so they don’t stir up the residue ash and suck it into their engines.” Mason said a bit more apprehensively.

“We don’t know who or what they are. So can you keep an eye on them?” Joseph asked.

“Better yet can you get behind the biker group and zoom in for a closer look at them?” Cathy asked.

“Sure thing.” Gordon said and then asked, “But why behind them?”

“I want to see what colors they are wearing.”

“Colors?” Gordon, Mason, and Joseph asked at the same time.

“Yeah,” Cathy explained, “You see motorcycle clubs wear vests or jackets with logos and banner’s identifying what club or gangs they belong to. With those guys all bundled up like they are, I can’t tell if they are a gang or just a local group of riders from Boise. I have a feeling though that it is the former.”

They watched as Gordon maneuvered the drone around behind the motorcycle group. After several minutes it was in position to be able to see the backs of the riders.

“Crap!” Cathy said with distain in her voice. “I know who and what they are.”

Joseph looked at Cathy with a good idea what she was going to say, “Go ahead Gunny.”

“That is a motorcycle gang’s supply camp and they belong to one of the most vile and violent gangs around. Usually only when they are going cross country or to a big meet do the trucks and bus go along. The trucks are loaded with fuel, common parts, welder, lathe, small milling machine, medical supplies, surplus military tents, and such. The bus has an operating room of sorts in the back for stitching up wound and setting broken bones and the like. It also carries the women of the four escort bikers. Those two in front of the first truck and the two behind the bus. It also carries the common women.”

“Common women?” Gordon asked.

“Yah, those who are not owned by a specific biker. They’re also called ‘pass- arounds’. That means that they are shared by the gang members, one at a time or in groups.”

“Oh!” Gordon said a little taken back.

“All we can hope for is that they decide to stop in Cambridge for a bit while we have a chance to get ready for them.” Cathy said grimly.

“Get ready for them?” Mason squeaked and then swallowed hard. “You want to have a run in with them?”

“Did you notice that they were all packing weapons of some sort? Some of them had AKs or M-16s or some other form of automatic rifle. These guys are geared for battle not a stroll in the park.”

“And you want to fight them?” Mason asked with fear in his voice.

“Better now, when we know that they are coming and before more of them join up with them.” Cathy said flatly.

“More?” Gordon asked, “How do you know that they have more coming?”

“The two supply trucks and the bus. It says that there are about a hundred more somewhere else and they should be on their way to join up with them. The big questions are where are these guys going and where is the rest of the gang.”

“Could the rest of their gang already be wherever they’re going to and these are just stragglers?” Joseph asked.

“I doubt it.” Cathy grimaced, “This is a scouting unit. They will go find and setup a camp site for the rest of the gang. Somebody would have noticed a larger biker group, if they had already come through and would have let the Sheriff know about them.”

“And he didn’t say anything to you about them, did he?” Joseph stated more then asked. “Correct.” Cathy verified and then added, “I have a very bad feeling that when they get to Cambridge they are going to cause some trouble. If they do then the fight will be on.”

“So why fight them now?” Mason asked not sure exactly what kind of people he had gotten mixed up with and with a little bit of a panic thrown in for good measure. “Can’t we just let them pass on by?”

“There are only sixty or so there right now and we now where they are. They don’t know about us so we have the advantage of surprise.” Cathy stated.

“Agreed.” Joseph added. “We have the long range weapons advantage right now. If you zoom back in closer you will see that they aren’t packing anything better than some AKs for range. If they have anything better it is packed away in the bus or trucks.”

“If they do start trouble in Cambridge then they will also hit Alpine, and Council.”

“I didn’t think about that.” Mason said softly.

“Cambridge is far enough from Boise as not to get a big law enforcement response. They are going to be too busy with the problems that are popping up in the city right now. Power outages and looting and such.” Cathy noted.

“And with the cell phone service going down more and longer, the folks in Cambridge may not be able to call for help, right?” Gordon asked

“Correct, and once the DHS teams get here and if that is their convoy, then we’ll have several Ma Deuces and some other DHS weapons here to deal with them.” Cathy continued. “And if the Sheriff brings Sarah then we can all just sit back and watch the show.”

“If she can shoot in combat like she draws.” Joseph said skeptically knowing that shooting at a target is quite different that shooting at a person.

“Hey guys! Look!” Gordon said in a panic.

“What?”

“They’re stopping. Some of them are pulling into the US Bank parking lot and some next to the pawn shop. And they’re readying their weapons.” “That tears it.” Joseph said, “They’re hitting places that have money. Both paper and coin. The pawn shop is also a coin shop. If we’re lucky and they don’t find what they want right off, then they will waste some more time looking around town for it before heading in our direction.”

“Gordon, can you record this?” Cathy asked.

“Already am.”

“Good. See if you can get close-ups of each of their faces. The sheriff will want proof of this for the courts.”

“Well the bank is closed so they won’t get anything from there unless they plan on breaking into the vault. But Bennie lives upstairs over the pawn shop and that could be trouble.” Mason said.

“Who’s Bennie?”

“He’s the owner of the pawn shop. He procures special items for survivalists and others that don’t want it recorded what they have. If they don’t leave when he tells them to ... well it could get really violent really quick.”

Cathy watched as the first of the trucks now stopped in front of the bank and the other truck stopped in front of the pawn shop. The bus stopped a hundred feet behind the second truck.

“What’s that building?” Cathy asked. Pointing to a building that several of the bikers were moving towards.

“That’s Loveland’s General Store.”

Six of the bikers that were standing in front of the pawn shop and one of them was beating on the door. Suddenly they started jerking about as red puffs exploded from them and tracer lines appeared from the pawn shop passing through them and into the second truck.

“Told you things would get violent ... ” Gordon stopped talking as the truck in front of the pawn shop exploded in a huge fireball.

“Lord all mighty.” Mason exclaimed softly as not to incur the same wrath that just enveloped the truck. “One of those tracers must have hit some explosives that they had in the truck.” Joseph noted.

“Yeah, but are they going to run or fight? That’s the question.” Cathy said.

Just then Joseph’s radio came to life with Paul’s voice, “Here they come and they have a deuce and a half with a snow plow leading the way and clearing the road.”

“Major, can you keep me apprised on what the bikers are doing while I deal with this first group?” Cathy asked.

“Sure thing Gunny.” Joseph answered and saluted her.

Cathy turned and hustled across the ash covered highway to the roadblock as she worked her earpiece into place.

“The convoy is stopping about a thousand feet back by the corral and barn on the south side of the highway.” Paul’s voice came through Cathy’s earpiece.

“Hold that.” Paul came back again, “The Deuce and a half is moving forward and a Hummer is rolling up fast from further back in the convoy.”

Cathy slipped around the back of the old school bus and started walking down the middle of the highway towards the oncoming vehicles. When they were about seventy five feet from her she reached up with her right hand and brushed the ash from her Deputy Sheriff badge and then tapped it.

The Deuce and a half slowed slightly and Cathy could see the passenger bring a hand mic to his mouth. The Hummer that was speeding to catch up to the Deuce and a half also then started to slow down. When the deuce and a half was forty feet away from her, Cathy held up her left hand signaling the vehicles to stop. To her relief they did. Then she pointed to the passenger then wiggled her finger for him to come to her.

The passenger and the driver looked at each other talking for a moment, and then the passenger held the mic to his mouth again then lowered it. A couple seconds later he opened the door and climbed down out of the truck. At the same time the Hummer pulled forward beside the deuce and a half and stopped. On top of it was a cupula with a mini-gun and the gunner kept it aim at the ground just to Cathy’s right.

The passenger from the deuce and a half truck slowly walked towards Cathy with his arms slightly away from his body and bent at the elbows with his palms toward the front. Across his chest was an UMP 45 on a sling. When he got about ten feet from her, he stopped. “Sorry but the highway is closed by order of Sheriff Rogers.” Cathy said as she watched the passenger’s face for reactions. She saw the ones she was hoping for, the tenseness left his face and he let out a slight sigh.

“I’m DHS Agent Jackson. We’re the DHS convoy from Boise. SAC Davies will vouch for us.”

“We know about a convoy but we’ll have to wait for the DHS teams to get here to allow you to pass. But what about the thirty or so vehicles behind your last Hummer?” Cathy asked still watching his face.

Jackson blinked and turned to look behind him then looked back ay Cathy. “How do you know about them?”

“The same way we know about the sixty plus bikers following your cleared path faster than you are traveling.”

Jackson started to reach for his handheld radio when Cathy held up her left index finger, “Hold on,” and put right hand on her right ear, “Go ahead Major.”

Cathy listened and nodded as Joseph told her that the motorcycle gang started to fight in earnest with the pawnshop owner when more of the town folk joined the fray. The frist box truck took some of the tracer fire and started smoking bad but no flames could be seen coming from it. The bus was another story. It started taking gunfire when it erupted in a fire ball. Once the bus went up, the town folk turned their full attention on the bikers. Of the sixty about a third of them had been taken out and the rest were fleeing towards the roadblock.

“Copy that Major.” Cathy said grimly. She lowered her hand and spoke to Jackson, “The folks in Cambridge just took out twenty of the bikers and the rest are heading this way. Have the rest of your convoy move up to here so once we have verified you we can get you through the blockade before they get here.”

“How long do we have before they get here?” Jackson asked with a little panic in his eyes.

“About fifteen minutes to twenty minutes. If they don’t turn around and go back to seek revenge for their dead buddies.”

“Do you have any idea when the teams will get here to let us through?”

“About five to ten minutes.” “That’s cutting it kind of close.” Jackson said as he turned and waved to the deuce and a half to pull up to where he was standing and the Hummer to do likewise in its lane. He then got on his radio and relayed the information from Cathy to the others in the convoy. Then he turned back to Cathy and asked, “What are you planning on doing when the bikers get here?”

“The Sheriff and the others will be here by then and we’ll use extreme measures to turn what’s left of them back.” Cathy responded with a sly smile.

“What’s left of them?” Jackson asked tentatively.

“We’re planning on fighting them. We have several snipers on each side of the road and an observation drone to track them. We don’t plan on too many of them getting back to Cambridge.” She said flatly.

“And SAC Davies is okay with that?”

Cathy shrugged, “As far as I have heard, he’s not against it. But then again. I don’t really care. I will not allow that scum to hurt my family group.”

Cathy raised her right hand to her right ear again and then responded, “Copy that. I’m talking with Jackson now.” She nodded her head

She looked at Jackson, “SAC Davies just arrived with six agents and three more deputies. He would like to talk to you.”

Jackson nodded and turned to look back at the Hummer as he brought his hand mike to his mouth, “I’m going to meet SAC Davies.”

“Got it. I’ll have everyone ready to move on your signal.” Came a voice back over his radio.

Cathy and Jackson walked back to the roadblock and round the back of the bus. There gathered around by the back of Mason Johnson’s truck were DHS Agents Jessie Carter and Tim Jones and four others dressed in the same black tactical gear and with them were Deputy Chris Harden and two other deputies. Joseph Donaldson was addressing most of his attention to one of the agents that Cathy had not met yet. She presumed that he was SAC Davies.

As they got close Joseph looked up from the drone monitors, “Gunny, this is Special Agent in Charge Kris Davies. Kris this is Deputy Cathy Dire.”

“Good to meet you Sir.” Cathy smiled as she took Kris’ hand. “Gunny, Walt told me you were in charge down here.”

“I wouldn’t say that I’m in charge. I’m just the department’s focal point for him.” Cathy said with a bit of resignation in her voice.

“Well, I think you’re doing great job. You got the community pulled together to protect itself.”

“That was mostly Lonnie and the Major. All I did was to legitimize the action as a deputy.”

“I told you she was cool.” Chris Harden said to the other two deputies. “No ego there.”

Cathy shot Chris glance and he smiled and nodded back. Cathy realized that he wasn’t being sarcastic but serious and smiled back.

“Agent Jackson, are you ready to move your convoy to the warehouse?”

“We’re just waiting for your verification so they would let us pass.”

Joseph hollered out, “Let’s get the bus out of the way so we can get those people through before the bikers get here.”

“Agent Jackson.” Kris said, “Keep two of your Humvees with the fifty cals here. Pat, take Bud and the Humvee without a top gun to escort them to Site One.”

“Bobby,” Chris jumped in, “You and Nelson to escort those following the Homeland Convoy to the High School. We’ll get the CERT guys to start processing them as refugees. But hold them a quarter mile up the road around the bend until Walt gets here just to be sure that’s what he wants to do.”

Bobby O’Connor and Nelson Tanner nodded and moved off to intercept the civilian vehicles following the DHS convoy.

Joseph turned back to Mason and Gordon, “Can you move the truck while controlling the drone?”

“I can put it into an autopilot orbital pattern while we move.” Gordon smiled.

“Good. Move your truck back up the road to that turn-off two hundred feet up there on the left. I don’t want you taking any accidental damage.” “Sure thing Joseph.” Mason said.

Gordon typed few keystrokes and then slid the controls back into the bed of the truck. Then tossed the chair in after it and close the tailgate. Mason had hopped in the truck and started it. As soon as Gordon climbed in they were heading up the road.

Donald Smith had pulled the old school bus off of the highway and the DHS convoy was moving through the blockade with the Deuce and a half plowing the ash to the side of the road. The Hummer with Pat Smith and Bud Myers pulled out in front to lead the way into Council. Deputies Bobby O’Connor stood by to flag down the lead vehicle following the convoy and Nelson Tanner sat in the department’s SUV ready to pull in front of it to lead the way to the holding point.

Cathy got on her Harley and rode back to where Gordon was setting the controls and monitors back up.

“Do you have eyes on the bikers?” Cathy asked as soon as she shut off her Harley and stepped off of it.

“Give me a second to sweep the ar...re..a and there they are. They passing Thompson Lane and coming fast.”

“Major, they’re passing Thompson Lane and moving fast.” Cathy said into her radio.

“They’ll be here in a couple of minutes.” Gordon added.

“Gordon says they’ll be here in a couple of minutes.” Cathy repeated and then she turned her head when she heard the engine of a big truck coming down the road from Alpine. “Looks like the Sheriff is here.”

Coming up behind them was Walt driving his Ranger II and he had a half a dozen cowboys riding in the back of it. He pulled up next to Cathy and stopped.

Sarah rolled the passenger window down and Walt called out, “Gunny what’s the situation?”

“Sheriff we have a nasty and pissed off biker gang about two minutes out. There’s about forty of them. They lost their two supply trucks, med bus and twenty of their friends in Cambridge. These guys are the worst of the worst, real rabid dog types.”

“Deputy Dire.” Gordon hollered from his control console, “There’s only thirty six of them.” Then after a short pause, “Make that thirty five ... no thirty four.” He adjusted the camera angel on the drone. “There’s three pickups chasing them loaded with folks from Cambridge shooting at them with hunting rifles.”

“That explains why their numbers are going down so fast.” Cathy noted.

“Climb on Gunny. Let’s go deal with them.” Walt said heavily not liking what they were going to have to do.

Cathy stepped up onto the running board and grabbed the handhold with her left hand as Walt put the Ranger II in gear.

When Walt got close to the DHS Humvees he pulled off the road onto the wide shoulder area next to them. Cathy stepped off of the running board before the Ranger II had come to a complete stop. The cowboys in the back of the Ranger II also began to bail out before it had stopped. Once it did stop the four doors opened and Walt, Sarah and eight more cowboys climbed out.

“Hey Kris. How do you want to handle this?” Walt said quickly knowing that they didn’t have much time.

“You’re the Sheriff. This is a local problem so far. We’re just here to help in however you might need us.” Kris said flatly, “These are your people, protecting their homes. We are just guests here and I don’t want to step on your toes in front of your voters.”

“Well I guess we better get ...”

“Babe?” Sarah interrupted, “Do you love me?”

Walt turned to see Sarah standing in the middle of the highway looking through binoculars towards where the bikers would be coming from.

“Oh shit.” Muttered Agent Sal Peters as he turned and slowly started walking away.

“Crap!” Kris said.

“Why?” Walt asked cautiously.

“If you do you’ll let me handle this.” Sarah said still looking through the binoculars. “I think that I can turn them around.” “What?!” Walt practically shouted. “Are you out of ...” Walt stopped short when Kris punched him in the shoulder.

Walt looked annoyingly at him only to see Kris shaking his head slowly as he raised his index finger to his lips.

“Walt mouthed at him ‘What?’.

“What do you have in mind Sarah?” Kris asked.

“Get your Humvees backed up against the fence, angled to charge the blockade in case my plan doesn’t work. Ventures let’s line up on the other side of the highway in front of the blockade. Time to play cavalry. Funnel vie formation on each side of the highway.” Sarah ordered as she started walking towards the opening in the blockade. She looked back over her shoulder, “I’m going to try to sweet talk them with a big stick.”

Walt started to object as the cowboys all ran through the blockade, but stopped when Kris put his hand on his shoulder and whispered to him, “You’ve got to let her do this. Just be ready to stand by her afterwards when she’s puking her guts out like you did when we first met.”

“But...” Walt looked lost at Kris.

“Do you love her?”

“Of course.”

“Then stand by her decision.” Kris said as pulled Walt gently back towards the Humvees. “You should back your truck up a bit too.”

As the Hummer and Ranger II were moved took up moved back Sarah and the Ventures took up their positions on the other side of the blockade. Sarah stood in the middle of the highway on the dotted line with Jerrie Grey Cassidy on her left and Randy to Jerrie’s left. On her right was Dani Rourke Ahern. The rest were lined up angling away from them towards the fence line on either side of the road.

Everyone was wearing a cowboy hat and off white duster and carrying a lever action rifle except for Sarah. She did not carry a rifle and she had opened her duster and tucked it in behind her back exposing her pistols.

The bikers came around the bend in the highway about three thousand feet away and everybody seemed to tense up. “Everybody stay loose. Don’t get tensed up, these are just polecats that need to be put down.” Sarah shouted out. “I’m going to try to convince them to turn around and head back to Cambridge first. If that doesn’t work, well then it’s open season on polecats.”

“Just polecats that shoot back. If you need to hit the ground, do it. Don’t run because that makes you an easy target.” Cathy added as she stepped up next to Dani.

Sarah and the others looked over at her and saw that she was wearing a cowboy hat and duster too.

“I barrowed the Sheriff’s so I would match the rest of you.”

Sarah smiled and said, “Just because you’re wearing Walt’s clothes don’t expect me to let you kiss me afterwards.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t want the Sheriff mad at me for stealing his girl.” Cathy said as she adjusted the sights on Joseph’s Quigley rifle.

“You’re that good of a kisser?” Sarah continued the nervous banter.

“That’s what the boys say.” Cathy worked the action of the rifle open and dropped in one of the .45-110 cartridges.

“Damn!” Dani exclaimed, “That’s the biggest forty-five caliber round I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a forty-five one ten caliber buffalo round. This rifle is called a Quigley, from the movie it was made for. This is the Major’s. Ross has my fifty cal Barrett 82A1.”

“Looks like they’re slowing down.” Jerrie interjected.

“When to you want to start this dance Sarah?” Cathy asked.

Sarah thought for a second the called out, “Nobody shoots until I do.”

“Are you sure about that?” Mary shouted from her position on one of the cargo containers.

“Positive.” Sarah shouted back.

“Bullshit.” Dani said. “You’re hoping.” “You’re right, aim at the fuel tanks of the bike further back in the pack. But don’t fire until I do, okay?”

“And then you go into machine gun mode?” Jerrie asked.

“Something like that.” Sarah said as she held up her left hand indicating that she wanted the bikers to stop.

To her surprise they slowed and most of them stopped about eighty feet away. The three bikers in front continued forward in a slow roll, just fast enough to keep their motorcycles from felling over. When they were thirty feet away they too stopped.

When they shut off their motors Sarah spoke with a sweet southern accent, “It appears that you all boys stirred up a hornet’s nest back there in Cambridge and because of that we can’t let you into Adams County.”

“Girly, we ain’t going back so you kids best get out of our way.” The biggest of the bikers said with a sneer.

“Let’s check the numbers, shall we?” Cathy said lightheartedly, “So far you have lost over twenty five of your riders plus those in the trucks and bus. We have over a dozen snipers in the trees and fields covering you, fifteen Texas Rangers with Henry repeaters chambered in forty-five longs, twenty plus ranchers with thirty-thirties, and worst of all for you ... there are three DHS Humvees with Ma Deuces on them being held back on the other side of the blockade by her fiancée.”

“So you boys best just turn around and head back where you came from cause you’re not allowed in Adams County.” Sarah spoke again. “Otherwise we’ll have to tie your carcasses on the fence for the wolves to feed on and as a sign to those that follow.”

“Girly,” the big biker began.

“DON’T call me girly!” Sarah snarled.

The biker was shocked for a second then he laughed, “Me and the boys are gonna take the both of you and all the rest of your ‘Texas Rangers’, and enjoy plugged all of your holes tonight.” He and several bike started laughing.

“In your dreams.” Cathy growled.

“No in your dreams, we’ll triple team you.” “Not likely.” Sarah hissed as she shifted her weight slightly to her right foot and picked up her left foot. She then slid her left foot up behind her right knee and caught the leading edge of her duster with the spur and pulled it back around her and brought it up to her left hand. She took hold of the corner of the duster as she lowered her foot and brought the corner of the duster up in front of her and tucked it into her gun belt and then slid it back, catching the left side of the duster with it, to expose a second revolver holstered in crossdraw fashion and a third in a holster on her left hip.

When the lead biker saw Sarah’s guns and the look on her face he stopped laughing. “Now you don’t want to be doing that.”

As he started speaking one of the bikers behind him pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and started to point it at Sarah.

The lead biker continued to talk, “Listen up gir...ahh!”

The word ‘girly’ never finished leaving his mouth as the pain of a thirty-six caliber mini-ball shattering his left ankle and knee overrode the nerve impulses from his brain to his mouth. The biker that was pulling the gun went limp as bullet entered his right eye and bounced around inside his skull scrambling his brain.

“Go!” Sarah shouted as she continued to shoot her single action ball and cap pistols with unnerving speed. The rider to the big biker’s left went stiff and fell backwards as his Adam’s apple split and his number six cervical vertebrae blew out the back. The rider to his right screamed a short scream as the ball from Sarah’s left pistol shattered his cheek bone and the bounced around inside his skull. One biker after another screamed and died in the hail of bullets that rained down on them from Sarah’s pistols before the others were able to add their shots to hers.

Six seconds after Sarah’s first shot it was over. Not a biker was left upright and all three of her guns were empty and she was reloading. There were several that had been just wounded by the shaky aim of the ventures and others. A couple of them that were caught in the fires of the fuel tanks that Cathy, Dani, Jerrie and Randy had shot open were still alive although severely burned and most likely would not survive the trip to a hospital if anyone was so inclined to take them there.

Sarah walked forward, quickly reloading her pistols as she did. She stopped next to the big biker who was still alive. When Sarah shot his left ankle and knee out, the bike fell over and pinned his leg under it. She squatted down and put the barrel of her freshly reloaded pistol against his right kneecap and cocked it.

“Oh no! Please don’t! I give up.” He pleaded. Sarah noticed that gasoline was dripping slowly from the gas cap and smiled. “Take the cap off of the tank.”

“No! You’re going to burn me alive!”

“No I’m not. You’re going take the cap off and soak your hands and sleeves in gas. That way I know you’ll lay still while the Sheriff and DHS agents figure out what to do with you. Okay ‘girly’? Or do I shoot your other knee?”

The biker fumbled with the cap trying to get it off quickly, “Don’t shoot! I’ll bathe in it. Just don’t shoot me no more.”

As the gasoline flowed from the tank the biker soaked hands and arms in it. Once he was thoroughly soaked Sarah turned away and went to those she had shot making sure that they were not suffering because she had missed. About a quarter of the way through the battle site a badly burned biker reached out for her. When she saw the grotesque hand reaching out at her she acted with adrenaline driven reflexes and shot him in the head.

Once she did that the other also began to dispatch the severely wounded. About two thirds of the way through the battle scene reality and adrenaline withdrawal set in on her. She began to shake and get dizzy.

Walt, Kris and Cathy were following and watching her closely. Making sure to be looking elsewhere whenever she looked at them. As she neared the end of the scene of the battle, she suddenly ran to the side of the highway and caught herself from falling over by grabbing the highway reflector.

Walt noticed that she wasn’t the only one of the Ventures that were being hit with the reality of what they just did. Several other ventures were off the side of the road already puking their guts out or expressing regret at what they had done or both.

Sarah took a few breaths and then ran on to the fence and grabbed hold of it and belt over and began to vomit. She would start to stand up straight and then bend over quickly and try to vomit some more. This continued until there was nothing left to come out.

Cathy walked the last of the battle line and dispatched the last three wounded bikers. Then she turned and joined Walt and Kris as stood by behind Sarah and waited for her to regain some of her composure before moving in to comfort her. Slowly she stood up and turned towards them with a halfhearted smile, “I guess I’m not as tough as I thought I was.” Walt put an arm around her shoulders and Kris took up position on her other side, offering an elbow for her support as they helped her away from the fence. As they walked back towards the Ranger II, Sarah was overcome with regret and began to sob heavily about being a murderer. Kris and Walt kept try to tell that she wasn’t a murderer and she was wrong about that.

Several of the DHS agent and Walt’s deputies were helping some of the ventures that were in the same boat as Sarah, back to the barricade. Those ventures that were dealing with the battle better were helping others back as well.

When they got back near the barricade where the leader of the bikers was Cathy stepped around in front of them and stopped them. She had Walt and Kris turn Sarah to see the sole surviving biker that she didn’t kill.

“Sarah, you are not a murderer, you are a hero, a savior of your friends and neighbors. Not one of them were hurt in this fight. NOT ONE! That is something to be proud of. You saved lives here today. Yes, you killed some of the scummiest creatures to walk the planet but you didn’t kill that one.” She pointed to the biker still pinned beneath his motorcycle.

“You let him live. That proves you’re not a murderer. You did what no one else could do. You distracted them and stopped them from killing your friends. Sarah! What did he say he was going to do to you? Do you remember? He said he was going plug all of your holes. Is that what you wanted? To be raped? Or do you want to be whole for your husband to be.”

“I want to be whole, but how do I live with this?” Sarah cried out.

“By remembering that you serve to protect the innocent. And if that mean eliminating scum like this then so be it. We bear this burden proudly so others can sleep safely and children can play safely.”

Agent Sal Peters walked up and interrupted, “Excuse me Sir,’ He said to Kris, “The president just declared Martial Law. All murderers, rapist, looters, kidnappers and robbers are to be shot on sight. All other criminals are to be held and tried within twelve hours by in place local, state or federal authorities. If none are available the SAC has authority to act as judge.”

Sarah nodded then looked down at leader of the bikers still pinned under his motorcycle. “But what do we do about him? I promised we wouldn’t kill him.”

“That’s right. You promised.” The biker said quickly. “You have to help me now that you’ve won.” “Uhmm, …” Kris started as he tried to work around Sarah promise.

“No you didn’t.” Randy said as he walked between them and the biker. “You said you wouldn’t shoot him or burn him.” He quickly pulled his big Bowie knife and raked it across the biker’s neck. “You didn’t say anything about a knife being taken to him.”

Quickly Cathy stepped over to the biker and pulled the vest he wore off of him before it got bloody. She held it up to Sarah and point to the back of it. “You see this? These are call colors. They denote which ‘club’ the biker belongs to. She did quotations in the air when she said club. This ‘club’ is one of the most viscous and violent gangs around. They rape, murder, deal in drugs, guns, explosives, prostitution and human trafficking, that means slaves. They are what is below the scum at the bottom of the barrel. We shouldn’t even try to take them prisoners. They can’t be rehabilitated. They won’t change and they will kill you the first chance they get. After they rape and sodomize you multiple times. You see them, you kill them. It’s that simple.”

Sarah took a deep breath and sighed, “I’ll try to remember that.”

Behind her the Venture Crew looked on and nodded too when Cathy looked at them.

“Sarah, they’re not worth the guilt. They’re sub-human animals. You shouldn’t feel as much guilt for killing them then you would for killing a rat. They both eat your food and carry diseases, but only this scum will kill your family on purpose laughing while they do it and some will rape you afterwards. That’s how bad they are.”

Cindy walked up, “They’re all dead Sheriff.”

“There,” Cathy said flatly, “The trash has been taken out. It’s time to clean up and go home.”

“Not yet!” Mason shouted as he ran up, “Didn’t you guys wonder what happened to the three trucks that were following them?”

They all looked quickly down the empty highway, then back at Mason.

“They’re hightailing it back to Cambridge. There are more bikers coming up the highway. I picked it up on the CB that they sent a scout south to set up a lookout. He reported back that he nearly ran into the second bunch. He got off the road just before they could see him. He said that there are well over a hundred of them and they are about thirty minutes from town. Where the scout is I’m not sure, but if he is about thirty minutes south of Cambridge then he should be a little south of Midvale. Possibly at the rest stop. Gordon is changing out the battery packs on the drone right now and should have it back up in the air in a minute or two.”

Walt looked at Kris, “They’re gonna need your Humvees with the Ma Deuces.”

“That’s not what they’re for.”

“We” Walt pointed to himself and Kris, “have to keep this gang of scum away from the warehouses and the command center, which means keeping them as far away as we can or better yet eliminate them from being a threat...ever.” Walt rebutted. “Remember we’re under Martial Law, and if it is the same gang …”

Kris sighed, “You’re right.” He grabbed his radio microphone, “Load up guys we have to go stop the bigger part of the biker gang down in Cambridge.”

“Donald,” Walt asked. “Can you get that loader and clear us a path?”

Donald just smiled and took off running.

“Ventures! Load up we got more trash to take out.” Sarah shouted. Then she turned to Cathy. “Will you ride with us?”

Cathy looked over at Joseph, “Major?”

“Go. We’ll be right behind you.”

“Have Lonnie and his group come over here and help Donald secure the blockade again in case some of them get around us.” Cathy said as she made her way to the Ranger II.

As everyone was loading up Donald Smith came out of his shop with a dump truck with a huge snowplow on it. And pulled out onto the highway to clean the trash from it. While he was doing this the ventures took the time to reload their rifles and climb aboard the Ranger II.

Cathy looked at Cindy in the back seat and asked, “How are you handling this so well?”

“Simple, they are Gadianton Robbers. They have to be stopped and aren’t worth any guiltily feelings. They’re just varmints to be exterminated.”

“Oh.” Cathy said, and wondered what Gadianton Robbers were.

***

Mark and Mary Rogers had gone up the ranch road to check on the people at Redoubt Village. They found that everyone had been busy helping Bobby Trickle’s group get settled in and getting the trailers of sugar protected from the coming winter weather. Most of the bags of sugar had been moved into the two extra Conex cargo containers with the rest divided up amongst the rest of the Redoubt Village families. Three left over pallets of sugar had been moved to the ranch house.

The dry-goods tanker of sugar had been placed on one of the three spare RV pads under the cover built over two cargo containers. They moved the tanker to one side of the pad as close as they could get it to one of the cargo containers. They took some of the lumber that was being stored there and boxed the tanker in with double walls so that the trailer inside was better protected from winter weather of the that was coming and keep the moisture from getting to the sugar and causing it to clump together and get stuck in the trailer.

The rest of the pad had Bobby’s son Jacob’s red Cab-over Peterbilt sleeper parked on it as well as one of the Jeep Cherokees.

Another pad had Bobby and Marleen’s forty-five foot Class ‘A’ Newell Coach and his blue Peterbilt truck and trailer.

The third pad had Mike’s Greyhound 1978 Eagle Tour Bus that was converted into a motorhome, a Jeep Cherokee and his green Peterbilt truck with part of the trailer sticking out of the back.

There were several extension cords running from a small generator mounted under Mike’s trailer to the two RVs and Jacob’s cab-over sleeper, but not to the other two Peterbilt trucks. Obviously Jacob and Terrie and their two little ones were sleeping in the cab-over sleeper.

Leaving Mark to check on the residences of the village, Mary went over to check on the fenced off area that contained the facility where seven of the Aeroponics container units sat. These were some of the containers from the University of Washington in the Horticulture Department that she and Professor Howard Earp were developing them and that they were able to move here for ‘field testing’. Other containers had been move to a site in northern Nevada for testing. Originally they were for use on the Mars Advance Testing Simulator, but more recently the earth bound models for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior in preparation for the Asteroid passing. There were several more containers that had not had work started on them yet to make them able to produce any food.

She stopped at the gate and typed in her access code and then put her finger on the scanner for secondary verification. The gate unlocked and she pulled it open. The facility was a cement pad that was one hundred and fifty feet by two hundred feet with a steel pole building with a sloped steel roof, the sides were open but a tight weave chain link fence enclosed the entire pad. There was the generator and battery house behind the pole building that had its own chain link fence around it. Several of the families in the Redoubt Village worked on the project at the University and had come along because they knew how important the project could be to everyone’s survival.

The seven Aeroponics units were lined up on one side of the pad along with other cargo containers lined up against the back ends and sides to help provide a buffer from the winter weather. On the other side of the pad were more cargo containers. Some of these were full of parts for more Aeroponics units, and some were full of the nutrient solutions for the units and others were either empty or filled with mechanical equipment and other types of supplies in them. Three of them had been converted into labs and one was an office for record keeping.

It was the latter one that Mary was proceeding to. She was almost to it when the door opened and Bobbie Carson came out.

“Hey Professor Rogers.” She said in surprise, “I didn’t expect to see you up here today.”

“I’m just checking on how our babies are handling everything.”

“They’re going okay.” Bobbie said a little annoyed, “The quakes shake a tray or two loose each time we get a good jolt. Or a feed line gets pinched. But other than that they are producing great. Except for the wheat which is barely producing, but it is producing something which is better than the first models did.”

“That’s for sure.” Mary looked around, “How is Howard doing?”

“Much better now that we got Helena helping out with the seedlings. She’s so much happier and he is less stressed out now that she is not complaining about not having anything to do.”

“Good, Good.” Mary smiled, “And how is everyone else doing?” “We’re doing okay. We have even had several of the medical personnel asking to help out. I guess that they are getting a little bit of cabin fever with nothing much to do. I would be bored to tears too if I didn’t have something to work on.”

“Humm,” Mary muttered as she gave what Bobbie said some thought. Then looked up at the cargo containers at the far end of the pad. “The last four containers are still empty right?”

“Yeah. Alex was going to put some of the empty nutrient tanks inside to do make an aquaponics fish farm, but we don’t have any empties yet.”

“I think I know someone who can get some. Then we can put any of the others that want something to do, to work.”

***

“Mister President,” Cynthia said as she approached the president and the group of advisors that were surrounding him at the display console.

The president turned at the sound of her voice, “Yes Cynthia, what do you have for us now?”

“The reports we got via Ham Radio relay two days ago about Dotsero erupting near Cheyanne Mountain are confirmed. It is a massive caldera about fifteen miles across and it is pumping out hundreds of cubic tons of ash which is being blown eastward.” She took a quick breath, “Towards us. The flyby could not get near Cheyanne Mountain because of the ash plume blowing over it. They were able to tune into the frequency that the Ham Radio operators said that they heard communications coming from Cheyanne Mountain.”

“And?” one of the generals jumped in when she took another breath.

“General!” the President snapped at him, “Give her a chance to breathe for Pete’s sake.”

“Sorry Sir.” The general replied duly chastened.

“They picked an automated transmission stating that the ventilation system was clogged with ash and they could not open the doors.” “My god!” “Those poor souls” “Damn.” Came from the various advisors,

“The transmission was date stamped zero four thirty yesterday morning. It also included a list of those who had died already. It included Colonel Mitchell and General Snyder. The vice-president was still alive but seriously injured.”

“Why didn’t you lead with that bit of information? We have to mount a rescue mission at once!” One of the civilian advisors shouted. The he noticed that no one else was speaking up in favor of a rescue, “What?” he asked as he looked around the group.

“The other shoe, Cynthia.” The president said solemnly.

“There were out of control fires throughout the facility giving off toxic gases and breathable air was not expected to last more than a couple of hours. That was thirty two hours ago. They all dead by now.” She turned and started walk away and after several steps she collapsed on the floor in tears.

“Mister President.” The Secretary of Homeland Security voice came over the speakers as he spoke from his remote site in the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. “With what we talked about yesterday and this possibility now a fact, I took the steps for relocating the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to the special site. I have consulted with General Hale and Admiral Adams and they have agreed to the deployment of SEAL Team Three a head of move to help secure the area and Fourth FORECON to fly in with him. They will make sure that area stays controlled.”

“As if that needs to be done.” General Tyree snickered off to the side.

The President shot him a dire look but saw that Tyree was smiling and realized he was talking about Sheriff Rogers and his precautions, “I guess you’re right, but it won’t hurt to have them there.”

***

Sally Rogers and Thomas Michaels sat at the computer console in Walt’s office at the ranch. Sally was showing her grandfather how to operate the DHS software to access the satellites to see what was going on around the world. They discover that the satellites in stationary orbit between the earth and the sun were able to stay in their proper location for the most part as are those in geosynchronous orbit above the western United States. However, they all will have to be recalibrated to their new positions and to compensate for the higher gravitational pull of a closer moon.

They found one of the still functioning NSA satellites, that was in a high traversing orbit and it was equipped with thirty-six hour video recorder that they were able to download. Playing back the recording at high speed they were able to count over two hundred and thirty volcanoes that were erupting worldwide. They almost missed a few because they were almost hidden by the plumes of other volcanoes.

What surprised them was seeing the huge plume of Dotsero erupting near Cheyanne Mountain. It is a massive caldera about fifteen miles across and it was pumping out hundreds of cubic tons of ash into the air. This was almost as big as the Yellowstone volcano. But as big as these two were and as much ash as they were pumping out, it was nothing compared to the eruptions in Eastern Europe and South America.

The entire west coast of South America looked like a road flare pattern for closing a highway lane down. There were over thirty large volcanoes there alone, not counting the others scattered across the continent. The ash fall there was three times that in North America. Europe, western Asia and the Mediterranean were even worse.

What they had not expected to see were several volcanoes in Antarctica. Pulling up maps and other reference data, they determined the names of six of the volcanoes. They were, starting with the most damaging to human life, Deception Island, which is an island in the South Shetland Islands archipelago, with one of the safest harbors in Antarctica. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which eruption in 1967 and 1969 seriously damaged local scientific stations located there.

The others were Mount Melbourne, The Pleiades, Mount Takahe, Penguin Island, Hudson Mountains. The effects of these volcanoes was already evident in the new massive rivers of melted snow and ice flowing from those volcanic areas.

Sally called the others still at the house to come to the office. She had Thomas explain and show what they had found. Then she had them start checking the data archives that Walt had gathered to see if they could compile some data to give them some idea of how much ash they could expect to reach them from the Europe and Asia volcanoes.

To be continued in ‘Running Against The Wind’ Book 2

Running Against the Wind

Preview

Sarah eyed the seven men facing her with an unusual calm such as she had never before experienced. Her right hand hung onto the horn of the saddle resting on her right shoulder. Her left hand was limp at her left side.

Harrison Marston stood in the middle of the group laughing softly and shaking his head slightly. “What are you going to do?” He gestured out with his right hand as he continued, “That old pistol of yours only has six shoots and there are seven of us. All you’ll accomplish is to get yourself dead.”

Sarah shifted her weight slightly to her right foot and picked up her left foot. “I used to watch an old movie with my dad and there was this one line from it that seems real appropriate right now.” As she spoke she slid her left foot up behind her right knee and caught the leading edge of her duster with the spur and pulled it back around her and brought it up to her left hand. “The main character was facing off against a bunch of bad guys that just tried to kill his idol Jack Beauregard with a bomb. Anyway, he told them that Jack could draw and shoot his revolver three times before the other guy could even draw once.”

She took hold of the corner of the duster as she lowered her foot and brought the corner of the duster up in front of her and tucked it into her gun belt and then slid it back, catching the left side of the duster with it, to expose a second revolver holstered in crossdraw fashion.

Harrison Marston’s laughter stopped and his smile faded away as his eyes focus on the second gun. He then realized her resolve not to back down. “There are still more of us and you are not fast enough to get more than one of us before we kill you.”

Before Sarah could utter a respond one of Marston’s men spoke up with a quivering voice, “Boss, I think she is fast enough to get most of us.”

“Bull shit. She’s just a girly ...”

Sarah didn’t even realize that she had made the decision to draw until she heard the first shot. Her right hand had let go of the saddle horn and dropped with unearthly speed to the ball and cap revolver hanging in the western quick draw holster at her side. Her thumb caught the hammer of the revolver and cocked it as she drew the revolver from the holster using only her thumb. The old style revolver rolled up into firing position as her last three fingers wrapped around the smooth wooden butt grips and her index finger squeezed and held the trigger.

The first bullet caught Marston in the Adams Apple and blew out two vertebras from his neck as it exited. Sarah’s left hand flashed across fanning the hammer of the pistol sending a bullet into each of the heads of three men standing to the right of Marston’s still standing body before anyone had the chance to move.

The saddle was now starting to slip from Sarah’s shoulder so she tossed the revolver to the left where her left hand wrapped around the butt as the thumb rolled over the hammer cocking it and her finger tightened on the trigger sending the fifth bullet flying into the groin of the man on the far left of Marston’s now falling body as her right hand and grabbed the horn of the saddle and pulled it back up on her shoulder.

The man next to Marston was bringing the barrel of his M-16 up as Sarah thumbed back the hammer and snapped off the last shot of the old ball and cap revolver. As much as she had practiced shooting left handed, it was still awkward cocking the single action revolver and as such the action threw her aim off to her left.

As the fate would have it this was a good thing as in stead of hitting the man in his center mass, the bullet hit him in his right forearm, shattering the bone and causing him to lose his grip on the weapon. The M-16 fired a three round burst in Sarah’s general direction. The first hitting the ground in front of her left boot. The second went further to the right as the gun climbed from momentum and recoil and passed several inches to the side of her knee.

The third bullet was even farther away from Sarah as her right hand was once again in motion drawing the other revolver from the crossdraw holster. This was a modern reproduction of a Colt thirty-six caliber Navy revolver chambered for three fifty seven magnum in double action.

The last man was the one who told Marston that he thought Sarah was fast enough to take most of them. His fear had caused him to hesitate, she fired two shots at him, one hitting him in each shoulder joint making his arms useless.

Sarah spun the revolver as she quickly placed it back in its holster and reached up and caught the saddle horn before it slipped completely from her shoulder. As she started walking towards Marston’s life ebbing body, she reached across her body and dropped the old ball and cap into the holster hanging from her right hip.

She stooped when she was standing over Marston and gave his head a nudge with the toe of her boot. His eyes came open with a shock stare. “I got all seven of you and I have two of your wounded men still alive to question. Your spine has been severed so that’s why you can’t move and you are slowly drowning in your own blood.” She smiled wickedly at him, “And the group you sent to take out Walt and the DHS agents...well they ran into a Marine Sniper Team while they were trying to setup for their attack. There were no survivors. Neither were there any survivors from any of the groups you set on to Walt’s ranch.

“So you see, all of your perverted plans have been stopped and just to make sure I will be questioning the two men that I wounded here.” Sarah pulled out a fish filet knife, “I when I start cutting off things that they really want, they will tell me everything. Then I will go after your family and friends just to make sure I got all of the information I need.”

Marston’s eyes widened in fear and surprise as he tried to say ‘no’ without any success.

“Then I will take all of their weapons away from them and let everyone know that they are defenseless. I am sure that there are more than a few of those you have stepped on who would love to pay them a visit.”

Sarah spat in Marston’s face and turned and walked over to the two wounded men.

“Who wants to play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’?” she said with an evil grin that sent chills down the two wounded men’s spines.

“I do.” Came from behind her. Sarah spun around and all she could see was a blurry shadow figure and everything went black.

The next thing Sarah knew was she was sitting upright in bed in a cold sweat.

“Just that damn dream again.” She muttered as she laid back down.

Appendix

The Cast

Walt John Rogers - Sheriff, Rancher, Writer, Jack of all trades Master of most Dan Rogers - Walt's Uncle Mark Rogers - Walt's Dad Mary Rogers - Walt's Mother Michael Rogers - Walt's Brother Sally Rogers - Walt's Sister David Rogers - Walt's Brother Stan Rogers - Walt's Grandfather Martha Rogers - Walt's Grandmother Thomas Michaels - Walt's Grandfather, Mary Rogers Father Rebecca Michaels - Walt's Grandmother, Mary Rogers Mother

Elizabeth Ward - Walt's Aunt

Erik Thomas - Nikki's and Brian's Father Diane Thomas - Nikki's and Brian's Mother Brian Thomas - Sally's Boyfriend Nikki Thomas - David's Girlfriend Wendy Thomas - Ryan Thomas -

Jenna Smyth - Michael's fiancée/wife Kurt Smythe - Jenna's father – Colonel USAF retired Candis Smythe - Jenna's mother – Colonel USAF retired - AF intelligence

Randolph Cooper - retired Sheriff, good friend of Dan Rogers Gary Wayne - Deputy Sheriff Jason Red Hawk - Deputy Sheriff Chris Harden - Deputy Sheriff Nelson Tanner - Deputy Sheriff

Jeramiah Red Hawk – Jason and Dawn’s father Dawn Red Hawk - Jason's sister

Anna Reagan - Dan's Live-in Girlfriend and Veterinarian John Reagan - Master Chief SEAL Team Three and Anna's Brother

Sarah Ahern - Head of the Girl Squad - Jet black hair Errol Ahern - Sarah's father Carol Ahern - Sarah's mother Mick Ahern - Sarah's brother, Dani Rourke’s Husband Amber Ahern - Sarah's sister Tommy Ahern - Sarah's brother Lisa Ahern Sarah's sister

Venture Crew Amy Young - Platinum blonde - Girl Squad Jerrie Grey - Red Hair Marries Randy C. Girl Squad Tommy Grey Gary Grey Cindy Montoya - Green hair - Girl Squad Dani Rourke - Purple hair Marries Mick A. - Girl Squad Randy Cassidy - Marries Jerrie Danny Elmore Valerie Elmore William Hawks Linda Hawks Tammy Watts - Pink Hair - Girl Squad Henry Parker Don Parker Raquel Parker - Orange Hair - Girl Squad Samuel Smith Arthur Roberts Evey Charles Sammie Harris Bob Harris Tina Harris Marty Pratt Michael Montoya

Jerry Rourke - Survivalist, Venture Crew Advisor

Marcus Young - Owns Sporting Goods store, Venture Crew Advisor Patrick Hawks - Owns Ace Hardware

Zane Elmore - Owns the Cat dealership Wyatt Flynn

Dewey Johnson - Dan's Lawyer

Michael Ahern Sarah's cousin

Kris Davies DHS SAC Agent Bud Myers DHS Agent Jessie Carter DHS Agent Tim Jones DHS Agent Pat Smith DHS Agent Sal Peters DHS Agent Connie Simpson DHS Agent Jackson DHS

Nancy Davies - Kris' wife

Cathy Dire "Gunny" Marine Master Gunnery Sgt, Trains the Girl Squad

Joseph Donaldson Linda Donaldson Jane Donaldson Mary Donaldson Girl Squad Jake Donaldson Girl Squad

Ross Martin Paul Snider

Lorie Butterfield Linda's Grandmother Lonnie Butterfield Linda's Grandfather

Redoubt Village:

Howard Earp - University Professor - Physics and Astrology Helena Earp

Bobbie Carson - University Intern

Bobby Trickle - Truck driver Marlene Trickle – Bobby’s Wife Mike Trickle - Son - Truck driver Susan Trickle – Mike’s Wife Jacob Trickle - Bobby’s Son - Truck driver Terrie Trickle - Jacob’s wife Reba Trickle - Bobby’s Daughter - cop - Federal Protection Services five youngins

Places

The Ranch House – On Walt’s Ranch

Bear Cave – On Walt’s Ranch

The Old Mine – On Walt’s Ranch

Redoubt Village – On Walt’s Ranch

Council Idaho – Adams County seat

Indian Valley – South of Council near the southern county line

Cambridge – West of Indian Valley on the other side if the county line