It is cold as all get out, I went to bed at 1:00 am, I forgot to turn on the heater, woke up half frozen at 2:00 am and this just happend: ------------------------------------------------ And so, it came to be.....Now what? Man had reached the pinnacle of his existence, but few would ever know it. How long had it been now? No way to know anymore... Anything and everything was burned the last cold months. No calendars left now that's for sure! No way to know what day it was, much less what month. It No longer really mattered anyway. All the books, the notes, newspapers, all paper, cardboard, even the wood was gone now... People had long ago stripped their homes of anything that would burn, just to stay warm. That was when it was cold. like it is now. Dark and forbidding to anyone left. There are not so many now.... It all started some time back, years I suppose...a war. It began and spread worse than a wildfire. People just went beserk. At first it was thought it was all about religious beliefs, hell it may have been, but now there is no one left to say what really happened. All I know is that the world came crashing down like a house of cards. It just fell apart. Stupid. It was all insane. Like I am now. I'm not sure if anyone will ever read this, or it may be burned for someone's last effort to stay warm or to have a last few moments light before they close their eyes, that one final time. Does it matter? NO. It is too late for that now. I'd heard once from a friend that traveled a long way with his wife and children, how bad it was and how far they had come, to be in the high desert here in what we used to call Arizona. I watched them all slowly die off. I was told that the reason all the events that happened were due to the stoppage of oil from the Middle East areas. That was ONLY the beginning. Hell, we had resources, but the "elite" in our so called "society" wanted to\ save it all for themselves, the rest of us be damned. The joke is on them now. Now, it's Not so funny anyway. But they kept their precious fuels hidden away, for a time, then someone got pissed off and blew the tanks up. End game. Now we were all screwed. It didn't stop there...Oh no...You see there was no fuel to deliver any foods to the stores, no fuels to harvest or to plant anymore foods and crops. No trucks to haul any if there were. No way to send out ships or to get them back..... It went a lot faster than I ever had imagined. You see someone out there ( smarter than most) said that the veneer of society is a bare 3 meals away from being stripped away and the real nasty would be seen. Ok, I've seen it. I have seen so many horrible, unspeakable things, and I wish i were not one of those left alive even now. Maybe I'll be lucky and die tomorrow...I can only hope. I gave up on praying long ago. It never seemed to do any good. I suppose God decided it was time to let mankind destroy itself. It did. By the way, there was a significant factor that helped all of this along, like greasing the tracks on a runaway train..... You see some overeducated bunch of scientists developed a new "strain" of plants and seeds.....Supposed to be disease and pest resistant and all that happy crap. It was. It worked far better than they will ever know. I hope when they drug them from that building kicking and screaming as they set them all on fire, they had time to reflect on their deeds to destroy man. The seeds worked ok, at first then they mutated and went south to something unfit for man or beast to consume. But the real nightmare was the killing off of the "pests". They forgot that all insects are NOT pests you see? Those insignificant little creatures we used to call bees, well they made a lot of what we ate, actually happen. Well that was just the beginning. The bees and insects were being consumed by the birds. Many of those birds got sick and fell to the earth. Of course this all happened JUST prior to all hell breaking loose everywhere else. It was a fitting end. The insects that were not infected, destroyed the other crops that were not protected by chemical changes. It went downhill, like I said, really fast! Now there are no more foods growing, and all the seeds are dead. Are you getting this? Whoever reads this, I hope you manage to survive and make sure no man ever does such a thing ever again. But, I think I am one of the very last left now....So, the food supplies ran low and things got really out of hand. Yes, yes, yes, there were gangs at first. I know, I've read all the novels about the zombie bikers and the golden hordes and such horseshit. They all lasted about 3 days. They were killed off by the regular people. Funny how the survivalist gurus' got it all bassackwards don't you think? I mean the regular people were cannibalizing the bikers for God's Sake! That's funny, well to me it is. Sorry about all the stories you were told like the booger man under the bed. It was people not unlike you and I and YES, they ate the bastards! Life is good...Well not really, and what the hell is this so called life anyway? Try it for a while. When it's hot, you look for a place under some rocks, when it's cold you look for the same, when it rains you suffer and if you are lucky you die quickly..... Now if you were going to ask about the trees...Well let me tell you about the trees. They were the first to go to, people using them for firewood. Few thought about using wood for their homes, at least right away. That passed quickly enough when they got cold! There was nothing left now. I mean nothing taller than a single blade of grass and that had to stay out of sight. People began to eat anything and everything when they heard there was a food shortage. Funny, there were some really fat people once, they disappeared. Now I don't mean they just fell off the earth either. They were EATEN. Most dogs and cats were gone within about 2-3 months. All cattle were gone within days! Horses, pigs, sheep, goats, I mean anything that was edible, was eaten. It was like a man out in the desert...you give him a full canteen and very seldom will that man even think he is thirsty...take it away and it minutes, that person is in dire need of water and LOTS of it. See? It's a psychological thing! So here we are, me and you...well not so much me...just the notes I have left behind. IF you think you want to start all over, personally I think it would be a waste, but hell, what do I know? I mean I'm dead already! right? Right! So, lets get on with this "Greek Tragedy"! Some of us went stone crazy long ago, reading and studying, in preparedness and survivalism and a few others "ism's". We did what we were supposed to do. We got our supplies all the equipment and what few did not fall prey to the "snake oil salesmen's lies" came out ok, for the most part anyway. We were all prepared for the apocalypse. Yeah sure. That worked well didn't it gang? Gang? Hello? Where the hell did you all go? Oh, that's right, you all either starved, froze or outright committed suicide Seen a lot of that I did! Lots of freakin' diseases took a lot of people. Now "we" up here in the high desert, we were the "lucky" ones! Yeah....Ok. Well, most of the population that was not shot, did not starve, died from lack of water and shelter, sure as hell died from any number of really nasty bugs that followed. I mean can you imagine the stench of that many rotting corpses out there in the valley of the sun? Wow I'll bet that was a party! It was so bad at one point, that the Military actually was dropping Napalm on the cities to burn off the rats and vermin and such. We could see the smoke 150 miles away. Now there were some "others" that did not make it up our way...you see they tried that ignorant fella's idea of "bugging out". Yeah, that was a real hoot! We saw thousands of "pedestrians", walking mile after mile "heading for the hills" as it were. They never made it this far. They were easy to spot, and they left a trail like the Mexican Immigrants coming through the desert from Mexico to Tucson. It was a gigantic mess out there for awhile. Most were sick from any variety of reasons, my guess was cannibalism in the cities....Anyway, the coyotes took a lot of them. It was sickening to see a mother lying there dying with a child in her arms and a coyote take her child away...I won't bother you and go into the grisly details, but at least that child did not suffer. Those that lie on the roads and surrounding fields were not so damned lucky. Their screams went on for weeks. The came the low life's...the druggie types, "scrapper's" we used to call them. They were worse than the coyotes! They would literally rape dead women and children, even if they were half eaten or rotting. For awhile, some of us used to use those as target practice. I mean hell there were no Nazi's or Commies, coming anyway! We had a LOT of ammo and there was no sense in letting it all just sit around was there? Besides there was NO game left. Any that were alive had long departed the area, Too many hunters, and too many were damned good shots! What else could one do for entertainment? It lasted just a few days anyhow...No great loss to humanity. I think that's what it was called, right? A few went down to see what they could scrounge from the dead and they did find some interesting things.....Novels for God's sakes! Stupid shits! I mean some of the pickin's were entertaining...like a hairdryer, a wedding dress, a suitcase filled with "survival gear" that came off some quaint site, selling their garbage and sucking in the public. I remember them. They'd sell you knives that would not cut hot butter! They all had cutesy crap, like matches and a plastic case to hold them...Wow, I never thought I'd live to see someone actually fell for that garbage! You would NOT believe the crap these people had drug with them all the way from God knows where, to a place they had no idea about....It would be hilarious if it were not so damned sad. Anyway, some of us banded together, after a small war up here broke out amongst the locals...You see, some felt that they were the first in line to be fed and generally speaking, they were the ones that sat on their fat butts and did nothing but complain. I missed them...No really, I didn't hit a one! Not for lack of trying. It's like NOT laughing while shooting at a beach ball filled with jello! That did not go over too well. Besides they also were the ones that brought NOTHING but their mouths and big fat asses ( can I say that now?) to the dinner tables. Many had put aside food and water and were not concerned about sharing it. They thought of themselves as a community. Well there you go,. man and his great frickin' wisdom struck again! Before long the arguing turned into fighting and sides were drawn. From there it was a quick 2 day shooting spree. Then there were only a handful of us left. after that episode of man's social ability. Then there was another much quicker and shorter spanned version of "who's got my damned woman"? That was settled in 2 shots. Both fired by the same guy. Then we were 4. It seems that the woman had found greener pastures ( a damned tub of all things) and she died for it! Oh well, So much for that argument. Things settled down and we tried to have some normalcy, but every now and then **** was stirred up as the stress was intense. Arguments over who would go and try to find wood for fires, and who would look for anything to kill for food. Seems all we had put away, to prepare for this day was somehow wasted. It all went too quickly. We were feeding far more mouths than we had allowed for in our supplies, When it came down to it, the blame went from person to person. I had reached my fill and so, I retreated to my own area. Few ever came that far back into the area where I lived. Being a an old Vietnam Veteran I had buried a few surprises and it had only taken 2 casualties to convince others not to enter. My dogs were long gone. More than likely eaten by one of the locals up there that we knew ate his own dogs, before things even started to get bad! What a sick bunch of throwbacks! Now at one time I had a garden...but one day I was up on the mountain peak about a mile away, when I heard the helicopters approaching.....Too late, I got "dusted". I guess they thought every freakin' plant was made by those scientific geniuses that wreaked all hell on the rest of the world with their GMO's...Mine were pure heirlooms. Nothing ever grew there again. The air smelled like rotten eggs and I figured it was some damned sort of sulfurous crap. It killed all the plants and even my trees. No matter...I no longer needed to stay hidden anymore. Hell, there were no more people now! I did have a well. I kept that a secret for all this time. It is only a few feet below the ground and I'd placed a fake outhouse over the site so no one would ever look there for fresh water! ( It worked didn't it?) Damned right! But, the food ran out and the garden was destroyed, and all the furniture that would burn, has been used up to stay alive ( well warm at least) for yet another page in this, my so called diary. Now many up here came a few years ( 1 or 2 ) before me, and they all had their alliances worked out, so they figured. They were wrong. I had a lot more going for me than just being the oldest damned fart up there! You see, I had skills, I had knowledge and I had 'mean' on my side. Without a lot of hoohaw and BS, I can tell you this: I weeded out those I considered to be a threat at first chance. Now my intent was NOT to rob or to steal from anyone up there. That's just not me. I looked and studied very carefully those around me, and I chose the worst to eliminate within the first few months I was up there. The ones I chose were "taken" for a reason. Slobs, and thieves and those that had NO skills and were a "drain" on the neighbors. That was an easy choice, I'll admit that. Now don't get me wrong here, I am not a killer by any means. Well by law perhaps, but there is only one law today, survival of the fittest. I am the last. The rest, well..... they either jumped off the edge of the canyon behind me, or they killed each other in the end. I stayed out of it and they assumed I had already died some way or another. I heard them arguing over which one would be brave enough to come into my place for a raid, to see what I had left to "offer" them. No one ever came in. And that's a bummer too, you see I would have liked the company, though the person that did make it inside would never be allowed to leave, well not vertically anyway! What "they" will never know is that I still had at least another 2 years worth of dehydrated foods, although they'd more than likely have wasted it or try to eat it dry ( remember the well? I wondered if you did!) Now I also had a LOT of canned foods stored underground, in 55 gallon poly barrels, where no one but myself knew where they were located. It was fun in the beginning you know? Like hiding Easter Eggs from your kids....Well, the fun is over. No one to fool now. The sun is setting and the embers are all but extinguished. It's a sad tale I tell and it's even far worse than you'll ever know. You see, I had fathered 8 children in my life...not one would follow the crazy old man ! They all chose to see what they were told to see, to think what they should, and to eat what was right for them. God, if you are still around, and IF you are listening, I am really PO'd at you! Why would any righteous entity do such a thing to a man? I mean, was I really all that bad and terrible of a man? I wonder. Maybe the atheists were right after all? I wish I knew. All I ever cared about and worked for, were for my children. And yet they all turned away from me. Reminds me of an old song that rattles around in an old man's head from time to time..."for my children".....I think it was by Neil Diamond. What the hell, it no longer matters. Nothing matters now. Everyone is gone. At least up here, and what the hell is the use of living if you have no one to fight with? Why all the guns, the ammo, and this damned food!?? What was the point of it all? I can't remember anymore. I recall a bumper sticker I saw a long time ago on the rear end of an RV: "He who dies with the most TOYS wins".... ******** ! You're dead ya damned dingbats! What the hell is all the **** in the world gonna account for now? Dumbasses anyway! Look at me, I sit here all dressed up nice and comfy cozy, and freezing my damned tuckus off! Where the hell did the government get off killing my freakin trees anyway!? Jerkoff's! I hope they all rot in... Oh wait, they are already toasted! I like that, maybe there is a GOD, after all! Could be ya know that? Either that, or someone out there has one hell of a warped sense of freakin' humor! Senility is approaching, I hope! Maybe I can forget to keep breathing tomorrow!??? I hate this prolonged death sentence. Ok, so what? I out lived you slugs! Big deal. That was the easy part, you guys got off easy! A- holes!!!! Not me, oh no, not the old guy, He gets to linger on and suffer a bit more. What the hell for, I ask you? Why am I asking you? Hell by the time you read this I'll more than likely be dust! **** it's cold! Anyway where was I? Up in the high desert.....Oh yeah...What a helluva show you all missed....! Some of the smaller towns around here had some that thought, just like those 'loverly' books they'd read ( to themselves I hope!) it was "get the hell out of dodge" time. Yeah that worked, I sincerely hope that someone strung up those idiots that told people to run for the hills. And I hope all those fancy schmancy novels kept a few warm, while they burned them! What a crock of crap! Ever seen I-17 highway from Phoenix heading north, on a "normal: weekend? It's like LA on a normal rush hour, You know 15 miles an hour IF you are lucky, on a good day! Bumper to bumper turds, all trying to get out of the heat and head north...Ha! They don't do that now. They even did that crap when it snowed up here... The "Oh, let's all go up north and freeze our butts off" types! Ski on this slope ya jackasses! Where are ya now you yuppie schmucks in yer itsy bitsy BEEMERS!? Anyway back to wherever the hell I was, before I so rudely interrupted myself. ( damn I think I've lost it...nah, here it is!) Yeah they tried, and they all died. ( did I just hear a song in there someplace?) Dumb people believe anything some moron tells them. I was surprised so many died from hunger so fast....someone could have told them to eat FREAKIN' DAMNED ROCKS! I hate these damned volcanic shards anyway. Damn it.... makes my ass hurt, them suckers are sharp ya know what I mean??? Back to the grind... Oh Yeah, lots of idiots ran into the freakin' forests and hills all over up here. It was funny at first. Then the damned wind shifted on them bodies and it was nasty, let me tell you! I figured most of them were shot by those that got there first, like 10 days ahead of them. Some of them local boys are really damned good shots And I over heard a couple one day talking about shooting anything that came near their places they'd staked out, and they were not happy about any city folks coming in and taking their game away! ( the other white meat?) So, lets be clear on that part at least. We know how they died. It were not by starvation either! I remember what happened in the local town, (just after the wheels came off the cart, so to speak). The locals had some idea about shutting off all access to outsiders alrighty. And they succeeded in a small way. They used heavy equipment to shut dowm all traffic in either the north and south and east to west highways....But they didn't account for the Military base a short hop and flight away! Them helo's hit that place like x-lax! It was over in less than 30 seconds time. I know, 'cause I watched it from my mountain top! Seems the town had some sort of militia all set up and ready to fight for their water, and they had hidden ( not so well, as I knew about it) 5 walk in freezers with frozen foods. Now the trouble is those dingbats never bothered to really set up a damned solar power system, so when the grid went south, so did ALL that damned frozen meat they had! That was really something....I'll bet it stunk like all hell too! But I figure they got one big assed BBQ out of it, once at least. Then the **** really hit the old fan down there. Seems no one wanted to be so friendly and act community minded and all that crap! Honeymoon was over Chuck! One thing led to another and in no time at all the war was on! It took all of about 4 days for them all to be killed off. Those that did survive headed off into those forests north and west of me and were NEVER seen or heard from again.... Did I happen to mention, at one time we had a severe problem with mountain lions? Well, we DID! I figure a few locals were eaten by them poor old cats out there... Good for them cats! They need food too! I like cats! Now, we did have some bears spotted once upon a time, but they got smart and left! Much Smarter than the dumbassed people, I can tell ya that! Now one day, a bunch of either Military or someone pretending to be such, came down the highway.... They slowly picked their way into town, and they decided to make it their base.. or whatever! They were there only a few days and along came another group...they were not so friendly to the first ones.. Yup you guessed it! The war was on again!. Crap, I thought the wars were over and here I got a front seat to most of them. Well, anyways that one lasted about a week or so, I can't really remember, as I got bored and went home after a spell. That mountain has sharper rocks than my place! They went down the road, what was left of them yahoo's...and I was glad to see them leave. All they did was shoot all the time and party like it was their damned birthdays! Morons anyway! So it was quiet here for quite awhile, then along came some damned idiots in strange uniforms and weird helmets. I figured it was maybe like I'd heard years back about how the UN troops would come in and save us all! Yeah that'll be the day, ever see them fight? Like the French, but at least they have white flags! So, in they roll like thunder and they stop for a bit and give us the old once over, and off they go down the road, to the west and to the south., Then came those friggin helicopters! They were all over the damned place and they had loudspeakers or bull horns, and they were yelling some crap in a language I don't speak! I guessed it was to come out and surrender or some crap like that. They departed after no one moved after an hour. They never bothered to return But them dingleberry's in the strange uniforms did. Those cowboys picked up everything they could, and it looked like it was a souvenir collector's dream come true. But they had a nasty turn for that. Seems someone left a few devices for them to scavenge. Now that was gross! I saw pieces flying all over the place. I guessed it was some claymores set face up, and they went off taking at least a dozen people with them in the process. That was seriously mean **** that was! God what a mess that made. The ones that managed to live after that departed real quick and left their comrades ( what there was left anyways) behind. I kinda guessed things were getting worse for the most part, when I saw the paratroopers going into the forested areas, to find food? A lot of them found something else, they did not come out. The people in those forests were serious and I had no need to bother with any of them. It was sheer stupidity to even get close to a forest or a road leading there. I managed quite well a distance out from them. Now once in a great while you'd see a plane, or maybe it was smaller, like a UAV type, I never saw it and I kept low and stayed out of it's camera range, under something! If there was any gunfire it was generally a long distance off. People that were where I was located, knew better than to attract attention. If you heard gunfire, that meant either you had found food or were defending it. Few shots were fired anymore by anyone. Now a funny thing I witnessed take place...I was walking outside the area I lived, which was not a really good idea, but I mean what the hell right, I was one of 3 people left. I heard a strange noise and then I saw a guy walking around with what appeared to be a stick in his hand, pointing out.....away from him...I thought it was some wacko trying to locate water by "witching" means. I was wrong! It was some fat guy that was trying to pull a bolt out from his chest, recently put there by one of my neighbors with a crossbow. Now that was weird. No sound but a whizz thunk sort of deal. The guy walks around for a few minutes like he's lost his dog or something, looking at the ground, and then he falls face first into the side of the mountain, driving that bolt all the way through him. You'd have to see that **** to believe it!. I'm still not sure It was not a magic trick! But the guy was dead and my neighbor was happy, so what the hell, right? Each to their own! I never figured out some people and glad I stopped trying, way back when. There were some strange cats out there in wonder land. Glad they are all dead now! Some I had planned to take out when I felt it was beneficial. Some just had to go, and I mean like 'right away'! Too many with guns, some were proficient and most were dumber than a dirt clod on a rainy afternoon, in a paper sack! Yeah that dumb! You get to know people and in the event that the world is taking a big dump on you, you get to know them MUCH quicker. There are those you may need, and those that NEED you. Elimination is just nature's way of saying YOU SUCK! ( think leech or tick here.....) whatever works for ya! Either or, some just have to go, No sense in wasting perfectly good air, now is there? I feel that way about most things now, like: air, water, food, ammo, medial supplies. I once watched a guy cut his own foot off! Wow, What Fun that was! He had diabetes and it went south on him and I knew it was not long before he croaked on us, I was glad to assist in his feeble attempt to stay alive. No, I did NOT use a chainsaw on his leg! How un-couth! Besides, why screw up my chainsaw? Maybe the neighbors? Maybe the guys own saw ? But things progressed along at a rather rapid rate of decomposition...People, and everything else seems to go gray. It's strange and funny...things have a different flavor, people smell funky, and you are always looking over your shoulder while fondling your weapon of choice! Ok, so it's time to take a nap, and see if I freeze to death in my sleep, or I have to wake the hell up and continue on with this load of crap! By the way, "Global warming" my ass! I sincerely hope that Al Gore got his awards all taken back and the bastard got sued for FRAUD! Later! Yeah, I know it's bizzare, even for me!
Last part...... Well...you know they say you'll wake up just before you freeze to death? I heard you fall asleep and then you freeze to death. Will someone get it right for God's sake? I mean after all, IF you can put a guy on the moon you can sure as hell go freeze some idiot or two and wait and see what happens, right? Honestly now...Lets try to get something right! Ok? Jeeze louise! I'd hate to wake up and find myself dead! Or worse, find myself half dead, half frozen and have to wait to freeze solid! Or, try to thaw the rest of me out? Why bother at that point? What a crock.. . So, where were we, or should I say I? You, well I don't know if you are even out there..... You, who knows where the hell you are, I'm here and I'm freezing my boys off! Damn it's cold..Global warming?, Oh yeah sure, wiseass! It's well below zero right now, and with a 45+ wind from the north, I can see ice crytstals in my own breath! So, there we were, a bunch ( whatever that means in quantity) You can forget QUALITY! Like freakin' penguins! So there we were, all set up and waiting for the big bang and we had all our **** together,,, Or so we all thought we did. We were so wrong! There was no big bang, it was like a whimper, and it was a slow descent into hell. Literally. No real excitement, things ground to a halt like a car out of gas, in fact that's exactly what happened. The whole country slowly ground down to a screeching halt. no more fuels...nada, nothing. That meant no fuel oil for the easterners that needed it to keep from freezing and no diesel for trains or trucks and no jet fuels for commercial aircraft, it was over.It all stopped. no fuel meant a whole lot of nothing and it happend fast. Nothing was moving. That was not a severe problem, not right away, as it all happend in the spring... People wre not too concerend as they were still able to walk and there were a few groceries still on the store shelves. But it ended. No food now and soon people were no longer able to work, as they had to care for their families. Now, the single people went off in search of some hippie commune or something such. it started to grow and the rumblings got louder. Then, all hell broke loose. No one was working, and things stopped to function. The phone systems, internet systems, the water plants, and then the electric went down. It was bad and it got worse fast. To go out was to risk your life. No police, no fire, no emergency crews, and the hospitals were locking their doors.....Then the rag tags "groups" and gangs came out in number.They did pretty much whatever they wanted to do. Now, that did not last that long! They needed women, food and water, and they wanted it thier way and you can't get blood from a stone, so they moved on...and on and on....They did manage to do some damage, but they ran into bigger and worse gangs and groups and they virtually wiped themselves off the face of the earth ( feel bad for them right?) Yeah, I thought so. But then people began to get diseases and with the lack of medical treatments, diseases spread fast and took a vast percentage of the cities. No way out where could they go? The cities became breeding grounds for old favorites which we had not seen here in the US in decades. People beagn to die off in huge amounts and there were no people to remove or to clean the places afterwards. It went south fast then. If you were not sick you had a 70% chance of surviving IF you got away from the cities. Then you'd more than likely be eaten by wild dogs, or animals that were loose from zoos, and you also had starvation nipping at your heels... It was a disaster. Now as for those gangs and the hordes and the rogue bikers,,,,arent they all rogues? Anyway, some formed with Militia groups simply for survival, and the women. Oh yes the women, the deadliest of the species! Anyway they formed into groups and most were taken out right away, seems few of them had any real miltary training and they did not seem to know about flanking moves! It was not good for them. Many "groups" had a member or more that had some infantry training and they put it to good use. Those that tried raids were shot to pieces in the first few minutes. They were outflanked and caught in severe and deadly crossfires. They showed no mercy to them as word had already spread by radio, about them and their tactics and movements. No one was spared. All their equipment and supplies were then taken and the bodies left as a reminder to the next group that came along. Some good men were killed in those first raids as they used women to try to lure the men out. The men being dumbasses, fell for many of the 'tests' and they failed miserably! (Femme Fatale?) After that women were placed on guard details and that crap ceased immediately! Those that think women can't be vicious and deadly ,never met any of my 3 ex wives! But, that's another story! So, there were a lot of so called preppers that had some defenses and some were mere targets for the bad guys! That was a real problem. You see a lot of preppers had a good assortment of some fine rifles and pistols and loads of ammo to feed them. When they fell, the bad guys had new stock to use against the rest. That only made things worse for the rest of us. Some were smart enough to get out of town before the chips fell. Some never did make it out. Those that did make it had a place to go and ususally a group to meet up with. The "lone wolf" idea cost a lot of them their lives. Even in groups you had to be well practiced or at least have some background in a similar scenario. Only military experience comes to mind. Local police and sheriff's offces closed, as all their people took off to protect their own families. Some were sharp enough to take as many weapons as they could from those departments, so they would not have to face them later on. It got ugly. People were being shot as looters and many were shot just because they were out in the open. If you did find a store, you'd be better off to starve before trying to get in. There were people that had taken over the stores for their own supply depots. The cities became a graveyard and wasteland literally overnight. We had not only CB but also ham radio for communications with others to know what was happening and where. It saved our butts more than once. There was a guy up on a mountain not so far away that acted as a watchdog and he saw everything, I swear that man never slept. He let us know if and when anyone attempetd to get within 5 miles of us. At one time we had 3 people that fancied themselves as snipers. They are all dead now. They found out that real snipers are not something to be trifled with. But then the snipers had a run of bad luck themselves. They'd never been in Vietnam and had no idea what they had walked into. Got some nice hardware that day! Although they did have some blood and flesh all over them, a bit of cleaning and they were just fine! Now, a lot of preppers and survivalists had generators, which needless to say, were useless without fuel. Besides they were noisy and easy to locate, all the time! We had solar panels and batteries, trouble was, those batteries go dead and some even froze! And many people had woodstoves and anyone that has ever been in a winter with a woodstove, knows you can see and smell them for miles away! That caused some untimely deaths as well. There were some real slick dipsticks out there that fancied themselves as preppers and/or survrvalists. Yup,.....and they did NOT last too long! Fuuniest thing too. They figured to have a huge fire-ring in their land, I mean like 9 feet in diameter and a couple of feet deep, so they could have a really big warm fire. It worked I suppose. What it did, was to draw in a lot of people that they were more than likely sorry to have met. Their new found friends slit their throats, ( saves on noise and ammo!) and took all they had, including their 2 teenage daughters..... It was like the people I knew for awhile, they loved to barbecue. That was their demise as well. Wild dogs got them, all 3! I always wonderd if the dogs ate the BBQ afterwards as dessert? We watched and waited and had some cretins try to sneak in all dressed in their ghillies suits. Pretty good too. But, they did not know about the dogs, they can't be fooled! So, then the really techno guys came out of the woodwork....mostly in the dead of night. Nightvision, lasers, and all kinds of crap. It did not work out for them. We had motion activated sensors that alarmed us only by a flashing red light. No sounds. We had rows of tanglefoot barbed wire and sticky boards and caltrops. When they stumbled and fell they were not getting up again. There were smoke and flare trips and signals of all kinds. Then we had a guy that tricked out an old transfomer and then we had some real hot wires! They worked. At one time the coyotes got out of control and they were at first taking only the kids. Then they got brazen and working in large packs, would single out from 2-3 at a time and like sharks, took them! Now we all were told of the guys that would come in and take us apart by using just a set of bolt cutters/wire cutters. Like the guy that said he would jump all of our obstacles with a dirt bike and then kill us all. I liked those people, they made me realize what I had to do to ruin their day! (or, their entire lives, the entire next 30 seconds of it!) The one and only, I might add here, that tried to cut the fence wires was still there the next day...He was pretty much a charcoal briquette! DC voltage can do that wiht help from say around 20-30 Kv! I read all those novels articles and planned around them, in lots of ways. I remember one guy that professed he would burn everyne out. Well that's not so easy when it's rock and/or dirt covered. Now was it tough guy? There were some real die hards that tried to penetrate the outer layers of our perimeters. They were not impressed, at first. But, we left them there hanging in the coils of barbed wire for a few days, to make a much better impression. I think we did that.....Few survived and those that did crawled off to die. One of my friends came by, long before things went haywire and we discussed some oldies but goodies...trenching and dirching and the use of rocks and trees. I was astonished to see it pay off almost immediately, when the first moron came flying in and went down into a hole, with his ATV on top of him. That was a real knee slapper! We had to fix the handelbars and wash the thing off, but all in all it was a good day, for us..... It was surprising to see so many attempts to get to us, when there were barely any roads to begin with out here. The area was littered with vehicles with broken spindles and axles and blown tires and thats just the things we had nothing to do with! There were a few burned out ones, thanks to our old friend: fougasse'. Old dogs and old tricks are still good, huh? Originally there were only about 15 or more of of us up here. Then more moved in and as usual theer were squabbles and crap from the old and the new residents. Then along came the "squatters". I mean they arrived in droves like freakin' locusts. None were at all prepared for the harsh winters, had nothing but the clothes on their backs and we were expected to be their "saviours". That **** went over really well! At first we tried to help them but it was "expected" and then the help ceased and they were told NO more freebies. You want to eat, you work! Well that was ok, for about 30 minutes or so.....I guess they decided to "unionize" the laborers! Yeah well, we were all laborers. They were "escorted" away and down the road...not to return. Never saw those morons again either! Now we did have some that showed up all full of piss and vinegar, you know the types...they have all the answers and you have to do it their way or not at all....They were not long for our small community as it were either. Now in all fairness we tried to get along and to help, but helping only goes so far and when it came to supplying all these folks with shelter, food, water, and firewood, not to mention clothing, pots and pans, eating utensils and so on and so forth, it got old fast! A decision was made, IF you had skills and ONLY IF, then you were allowed to stay. The entire kitchen was to be handled by a few and others would do other chores as needed. There was a lot to do and a lot of people, all in one place, at one time now. That ceased to be pleasant. It became a lunatic asylum. The meals were a problem, for some they could not or would not for whatever reasons, eat what was prepared. Then there was the chores it became a battle to get things done. Again a decison was made to break the community into smaller sections and move some of the people further away. But like a damned dog, they kept returning, as some just can't get along with anyone! That lead to a nightmare, At one point I figure there had to be 50 adults and 12-15 children and those kids would NOT keep quiet. Then we had the extra benefit of chickens, goats, and someone brought freakin' sheep of all damned things, and horses! Then we had scads of frickin' dogs all over the damned place. You have no idea what it's like to try to walk between 30-40 dogs and they **** everywhere and NO one wanted to clean it up! Then the dog fights, and then we had PUPPIES, oh yay! We had someone take them for a walk and they went over the edge of the canyon one late afternoon! All that were not ours! That went over well too! But what else can you do? We had hardly enough food to feed the losers that showed up on our doorsteps, and now we have to worry about their dogs? All we needed was a rabies outbreak or the dogs to turn on us! Nope sorry, it's adios time puppies! Now that I look back maybe they could have been a food resource? It's too late now to be second guessing! But then we had arguments over everything you could imagine. It got to the point most of us went out own separate ways and let the newcomers fend for themselves. I left at dark so they could not follow me! I came back after carefully waiting and watching from a distance over a period of a week....They finally left. No more food and no one to be their nanny's anymore! That was a relief. But about a month later I found a family of four about 2 miles west of my place,,,,,they had all either died of exposure or some illness. I am not sure even today what happened. They had no marks on them, and looked healthy enough not to have starved or died from dehydration, but there they were. Yes I feel bad for them, but I did not put them out, they left of their own accord. Sometimes I had to accept the inevitable fact that we all die, it's not always a matter of our own choices: when and where. How, well that's another matter entrirely... One day a couple of young men showed up and they appeared to be well fed and said they were "hunters"...So we took them in and they were welcomed as we needed all the extra hands we could get and they seemed eager to help with getting wood and foraging and hunting for food. Now at this time we had not had a lot of contact with the outsiide world and we were eager to hear what they had seen and heard...It was not what we wanted to hear. Someone in political power, or whatever, had made a decision to set up work camps and these 2 had barely escaped being caught. They were using people to do all the work for the elite and they were treated no better than cattle. Some they said, had died from malnutrition while working in a large farming community, They were under armed guards all the time. Now I was concerned. But, how had these 2 kept themselves in such great shape and seemed no worse for wear? I saw no dirty clothes, they were as clean as if they had just showered and they had full canteens at their sides.... I began to feel uneasy. I had bad feelings suddenly, that we were about to be set up. I made excuses for what I had to leave the main camp for and secretly,.and quietly, I made my way far off to the north. As sure as God made rain, I was being tracked....It was the youngest of the 2. He was sent, as the older of them kept the others busy with all kinds of stories.....There was barely any sound as I drove the 15 inch serrated blade through his neck. It was fast, quiet, and the easiest way I knew to rectify the problem....Then I waited. Soon a crackle at my side let me know that a recon of the train track area had turned up something. I moved to a higher location and we talked...there was movement on the tracks and we knew from previous radio contacts that someone was operating a train. Very slowly and very stealthily. Don't ask me how, what the hell do I know about trains? But the old Indian trick (as seen in oh so many westerns) you could hear the rails under the train wheels making a hell of a lot of noise and vibrations. It was coming, and it was heading our way! I called on the radio to our outpost, and told them what to do to prepare for uninvited guests. It was all set, except for the older man still in camp.....He had to be neutralized before giving us away and we had to do it fast...Then I saw him, he knew what was coming and ran towards me, then suddenly he just stopped. He had this stupid look on his face and he went sideways...the bolt from the crossbow went nearly thru him at the base of his skull. I was lucky, someone knew he was looking for his other half, and he saw me and realized what was happening. They were setup not us, not this time anyway! We still had a train moving and we had to make sure it didn't stop. A quick search of the 2 turned up a map of the whole damned area and who was where and how many. It was done over a period of time and in great details. We were in it deep now! A couple guys pushed an old truck on the tracks and before the train was even close, they set it on fire....the train stopped and reversed it's direction, but we knew they would be back and this time not coming by train.....We set up a major defense perimeter and then, we moved away! We heard them hit the perimeter and after a few days sent out a recon to check and see what had taken place. Well, it was bad for them. Boobytraps had taken a lot of the "hunters" as we began to refer to them now.....It was not a pretty sight. We figured by head count, there were maybe 20 dead....Hard to tell, as some of the devices we'd left behind were devastating. We reset some of the traps and left everything as we had found it.....Time had come to move to a backup area, on top of the mountain. Near the top there was a cave that was quite large on the inside, but not easy to get into....It had advantages also there was a hole that could NOT be seen from below. Perfect for watching and if need be, sniping. We moved most of the supplies but we left some equipment and even had set a fire under a grate, with a pot of coffee on it, to look like we had returned to the site after the ambush. We had no more than got up to the rear area when we heard the second round of explosions.....This time we got a lot more. Seems they really were pissed off and wanted us all, dead or alive. We settled the argument and were nearly 4 miles distant when it all came to an end. Instant graveyard. We would never see any of them again and they would never come that far into the area. There were easier fish to fry! They had lost nearly as we could tell, some 60 men. Recon went back and later they retrieved a **** load of rifles, pistols, and ammo from the dead and dying.... Then, they burned the camp to the ground..... I had intercepted a transmission I could not quite make out over the 10 meter set.....it was garbled like I was off channel....What it was, was a warning sent out on 10 meter to CB operators. I'd had the cb turned off at the time.....New "HUNTERS:. These guys were using direction finders, what us old timers referred to as" snoop loops"! They could get a fix on you with 2 of those damned things and triangulate your exact position in seconds! No more CB and that also made use of the 10 meter bad. So, now we just listen, no more transmitting. They could do quite well and these guys were old radio men from a few years before my time....They knew what the hell they were doing alright.Just when we thought things were going to settle down, then it all flared up again This time it was a new version of the old hunters. These were people looking to place others into slavery, by any and all means. You know what that meant for the women. They were using heavy trucks like semi's and traveling the major roads through the southwest states....Now we were far and removed from any roads at this point, and only a mountain goat or a helicopter or a bird could get to where we were now...It was far heavier treed than the primary site. And we could see the 2 major highways....I-40 and I-89. Now I-40 used to be the interstate highway known as the old route 66! That was long long ago...But then I digress,,,,, We had perfect 'eyes on' for the 2 major roads in question and carefully monitored them all day and half the night. It was about 6 am when we were being hailed on the 10 meter frequency, so we answered, that was a mistake. All along we knew we needed some sort of recognition codes, but we never did set down and do that......It wasn't that we got lazy, hell we were so damned busy trying to stay alive now, to worry about crap like that. Now we had more than we could handle and it was on us like white on rice! It was strange, at first I thought I knew the voice on the other radio, but then it changed, and it was talking and asking weird crap (rambling on and on) which we never talked about before. I knew that if I keyed up again, we were done for.......I managed to get everyone together and had them slip away down the side of the mountain to my primary site. There they would be safer there than anywhere else I could think of, at least for now. I took off around the west side of the mountain, and I set up the radio on the far southwestern side. Then I rigged a branch over the radio to key the mike and ran a tripwire from it to over the canyon wall. I tied a rock to the wire and let it slide down the slope until it pulled tight and keyed up the microphone. They came out of nowhere. They had ATV's, ATC's, dirtbikes, and a 4 wheeled drive truck that was skeletonized for speed. I saw them go nuts flying in the direction of the radio, and to make the bait even juicier, I'd put a fluorescent orange flag on the radio's antenna. It was over as fast as it began...They all went flying into what looked like a site...until you got there, and saw that it was a sheer dropoff for over 300 feet straight down. They never stopped and couldn't if they had tried...it was all loose rocks, flat and slick, flagstone on loose dirt. Not one saw it and not one was able to avoid the drop. Now there were 2 more out there left yet to deal with...They had the radios and the "snoop loops". I was sure they were not happy with that trick. As soon as I began to start my way back around the mountain to go down I heard the crack of a high powered rifle, followed by a thunderous boom! Ha! The guys had come back up and around the mountain as they knew there had to be more. They had finished the job. Both hunters now had holes the size of lemons in their skulls. Then they called me on the smaller belt radio and asked what to do about several trucks on the highway, that had stopped and they appeared to be taking a break. I had the best shooters we had of all of us, line up on the south side facing both major roads and snipe the drivers. It was done and done, all in less than 15 seconds time. All the drivers were dead. Then we heard cheering fron the trucks and down went the recon group, only to discover at least 80 people locked inside 4 semi trailers. We managed to get most of the stories sorted out, and some people that could drive and went off, back to where they'd been captured... I was happy to know we did NOT have more mouths to feed, not now. .All of the first signs of trouble came in the end of January, and by February things were getting strained on the US. By spring, I figure it may have been mid March or close to it, when the country's problems started to get serious. Food and fuel shortages. Then there were some riots in the largest cities. It was not pretty. I was glad I had left months ahead of the trouble. I figure you'll never have a reall accurate body count, and now there was no one that cared to even try. Can't blame them for that, really....It was beyond what most humans could handle mentally anyways. We saw some that had for some reason ( I assumed it was dehydration) had gone off the deep end. They never were right again. I was waiting to see if one of 2 large groups I'd known about in Phoenix would ever get to their site area, about 10 miles north of where I was. I never saw one of those people. A few that ventured out that way, said they found a lot of those conex boxes, all cut open with torches and grinders. They were stripped clean, No bodies, no signs of anyone for a long long time having been there. Most never secured their lands and never made it to them after they had stocked them with all kinds of supplies. Someone at some point had pushed an old truck across a pinch point in one of the only 2 roads into the main area. I saw it one day and the next it was on it's side and burned. No idea what the hell that was all about. I think I knew the guy that had the tractor to do it, but he and his wife were among the first to be overrun. Now let's get this straight right here and right now... The biggest problems and threats we ever had to face, were from those that at one time lived in the town a few miles south of us. There were a few lost souls that came by, but for the most part they were those you could count on to help and not cause you any grief. Those from locally were nightmares. It was even worse when one of those we all knew had always had a BIG mouth, a braggard. That **** got him, his wife, and their dogs killed in a hurry. They had a nice place but the guy was a scammer for all intents and purposes, he had screwed over more people than any politician. He was NOT well liked up there. No one shed a tear over his passing! What did concern everyone was his gun collectioin. This guy had a shitload of weapons of all calibers and not more than 20 rounds for each one, if he had that! He was easy to hit, being right off the main paved road up there. Personally, I think one or two ( brothers?) were from our community that did the deed. Some people hold LONG grudges. It may have been another guy, but he was too fat, too old, and far too slow and he'd never get close enough to that place. They were devoted enemies, for awhile before that. It does not matter one way or another to me. I knew what was happening and what I had to do to ensure my own safety and well being. It had already been a mindset for me since I moved up there. i had sized them up and put them all into categories. It was only a matter of time. Before I had a chance to "exercise" my own plans, things went into gear that made the whole thing seem insignificant. Brother set on brother ( and I was reminded of some Bible versus) Yeah, like I had time to do Bible studies, must have been a former life? Ha! So, we had too many people, too few supplies, and more starving lunatics were finding their way to our little piece of heaven. Back long ago, prior to the old Y2K thing, a lot of people had moved in to the area, but they left by January of 2001. The bad nasty never happened and they all pulled out. In their wake the left a lot. Their sites were full of equipment but any food left was eaten by coyotes or those damned big eared rats! So, there was a lot of housing, such as it were, and woodstoves and even beds and such One place had a ton of clothing. There were places to put people then. It ran out quickly. Now some stayed only a day or maybe a week at the most. Few wanted to stay in the most desolate place they'd ever seen, as it resembled something from a Stephen King novel. It was not a 5 star vacation spot! It ws ugly. It was harsh. When it was hot, it had humidity like Miami, and the cold, it was a nightmare. The winds alone would kill you. Some people that were up there before me, had put in wind generators...Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. No one bothered to check out how strong the winds were in that area, before putting up one of those damned things! They fell and 1 killed the guy that had just installed it. "In the beginning"...it all went like clockwork. Every first week ( the 2nd or 3rd ) a couple pole would take a truck into town, change vehicles to a cargo van, and go out to do their monthly "supplies run". Now honestly, don't you think that after about the first say year of, this someone would take notice of your "habits"? Well as it just so happens, someone did. They were coming back with a full load of all kinds of supplies from a couple of the closest towns, on one of the worst parts of the road where there is a sheer drop off to the side. And lo and behold, they had a tree felled across the road in front of them. Now there appeared to be no one around.... But being prudent, they stayed in the van and waited to see what would happen next. It wasn't too long to wait. On the opposite side of the road where the land was about 18 feet higher than the edge of the dropoff, someone kicked off a small avalanche. That took care of the 2 in the van and after it landed, it was easy pickin's from that point. In fact, no one could see down there unless you stood directly at the edge of the road....Now that created a few problems...you see the 2 in the van were "major" resdients of the area, and those supplies were for at least 3-4 families. All gone in an instant. Not hardly a sound was heard just about a quater mile away from their main site. The van was stripped and all the supplies were taken. The 2 bodies were placed in a ditch some 30 yards away and not noticed for quite awhile. The question was who did this, and did we know them? As it turned out, it was a local that they had to pass his place every time they went into town. He was already considered to be a loon. Now he was a threat. Now the trouble is, that most never got to know this person and his background. He was a Vietnam Veteran, and was as crazy as a bed bug! And, he had help! He had formed an alliance with another couple of guys and a third few had only known him as the ghost. This was a Marine Corps dropout. he had a bone to pick with everyone. He was insane. This person fancied himself aa a Marine sniper. He was dangerous mind you, but not Military traimed. He was a killer for all intents and purposes and just wanted to kill. Anyone anytime, for NO reason whatsoever. He was what you'd call "special", like so many others out there! Sick bastards! now we all had heard rumors about the leader of this "pack" of wild animals.... One was that the leader had eaten his own dogs when he got snowed in, back in 2009. That's weird! I mean, he could have walked out, it was not that deep, so I guess he was pissed off because his big assed van was stuck in the mud or the snow.. You hear a lot of rumors in a small community like this. Some are unfortunately too true! Well as things progressed it was not long before these renegades came along and played some others up there like a cheap violin. They killed them, took their food, and burned their places to the ground. We'd have known about it sooner, but never heard a single shot fired. Only when we saw the smoke rise above the tree tops, were we aware something was up. As it happens, I was out doing a recon with 2 others of the immediate area, and we were the first on site. I made a decision to let the others come and take care of the neighbors charred remains, ( I don't like that **** personally!) I went out and disappered into the trees. It took nearly an hour and a half before I got wind of these miscreants. They were having one hell of a good time...they were drinking, and wasting food they had stolen and all in all, having a party. They were all so full of themselves, they never saw me..That was a good thing too. I had no way on earth to take on 3 wazoo's all armed with what looked like M-14's. They were M1A1's on later inspection... They had walked into a clearing about a mile and a half from where their leaders site was and they were so engrossed in getting drunk and eating, they had all laid their rifles against a tree...I went around them as quickly as I could and went to my place about 3 or 3 1/2 miles further south from them. On my way I was thinking what I could and should do.....I got to my place and pulled an OD bag off the shelf. It was just what I'd need, boobytraps and tripwire devices. As I made my way back to where I had last seen them, I noticed something, moving along just out of sight in the treeline to my east, and parallel. I knew this was "ghost". So we meet at last? I knew this clown had done a lot of target practice and I always heard he and others shooting hundreds of rounds each week. But this was cat a different animal, by far, he was truly a work of art. Insane, yes, but a work of a sick twisted immoral perverted art. I thought he had crossed behind me and I caught myself looking over my shoulder. I was wrong! He had moved quickly in front of me and wanted to play "cat and mouse" games.....So, this is where your head is at hmmmm? I had to work fast and I had to be the best I had ever been to trap this critter. He would not go down easily, and I had seen some of his own handiwork not too long ago. He had set up some tripwires of his own, and it had nearly taken a dogs leg off when it jerked the dog up into the tree. He was not a veteran, he was a reader. He had studied all the manuals and things everyone else had, but without the assistance of the Military mind, he was a dollar short come payday! He damn near got me! He was fast, but I was just lucky....I used an old trappers ( some say Indian) trick and walked backwards in my own steps...Now if the ground had been wet, soft, muddy, or snow covered, I would not be here and you'd not be reading this! Like I said, I am lucky! The ghost had circled me and was about to pop out and take his time toying with me, until he tired and just gut shot me for spite. I could read this character like a cheap paperback! He was sick and perverse. So, I relied on some old tactics I had personally seen used by the Viet Cong. It was nasty, but it did what had to be done. I always carried about 6 sections of aircraft cable, the 1/8 inch stuff, for heavy tripwires. I deliberaetly laid 4 across the ground where they were easy to be seen and bypassed with NO trouble at all. I took the other 2 and strung them from a tree limb...One had really nasty and large treble hooks, secured every few inches. That was the "bait". I knew this guy had read a lot and to 'take him' was not going to be much fun. If you can call any of this nightmare fun! The last cable was hooked over a tree branch and I quickly attached a "4" style trigger device and pulled the branch way back, just to catch him in the face. There was no time for fancy ****. The guy was coming, to kill me. I had just finished the trigger, when I heard a low pffft sound and a sharp tug on my collar. I was wrong, The time had come to kill me and he was not going to play after all! i rolled away and under a low juniper trees branches and tried to hide myself as best as was possible in the last few seconds of my life....He stopped! That was unexpected! He laid his rifle down on the ground, and picked up the firts of the 4 trip wires I had laid out. He started to laugh. A strange maniacal sound came from him....He stood up and walked a couple more paces and picked up the second trip wire. Now he had a nasty gleam in his eye! He knew I had played him. That alone was what probably saved my damned life! He turned around picked up his rifle, looked at the third and 4th tripwires and started forward. He was as intent in killing me, as sincerely as I was in killing him! He didn't even try to avoid or duck the 5th wire that had the fishooks on it. It took him completely by surprise! Now he was not just mad, he was in a blinding rage. He also had lost a eye in his quick movement to get to me. He was "hooked" in his right eye, and it was deep and it held fast! He howled and screamed and cursed. To no avail, he could not dislodge that nasty treble hook and the cable was really strong! He cut his hands trying to pull the cable down from the tree, but it was tied in a knot and the more he pulled the tighter it got! I jumped up and ran sideways and grabbed his rifle that had fallen away from him by about 6 or 7 feet. He tried to kick me in the face but I got his gun and he was screwed now. We both knew how this was going to end. I had the upper hand and I was determined to end that maniacs life, right then and there. He pleaded with me NOT to kill him....Hmmmm now what should I do? He'd sure as hell would have had no compunctions about killing me, slowly too! I had to think on this...As I was pondering what to do with this idiot, he triggered the last of the 6 cables tripwires. It took both of us by surprise! The branch hit him so hard, that it took his feet out from under him. Needless to say, the cable with the fishook came away, with an eyeball on it.... The impact of the branch had also done it's own damge. His left eye was now impaled on a small branch of the larger one. I truly felt sorry for the guy. I shot him in the back of the neck, a nice quick clean kill. . Now then,... what the hell? Almost no sound !??? Then I saw it. A homemade suppressor...Well I'll be damned. Now I'd thought those were illegal! Well, unless you had a class III tax stamp and all that crap! So that's what made the other minions of his "group" so dangerous, and why we never heard them! Someone has either got a shop to make these or had them made by someone else! I needed to know that! I wonderd what would have happened if I had let the guy live...? More than likely he would die from infection, surely from starvation, as no one would even feed him! I considerd it a courtesy! Too bad people are that screwed up inside their heads! The tables had turned! I got back to where the original group had been, but they were no where in sight now. I wondered if they'd be out looking for "ghost"? I doubted it. He was NOT someone you wanted to find anyway! i went back to the community i was working out of and had a cupo of coffee and a small meal...I wasn't really so hungry as I was scared. I had damned near been zapped by an idiot that was insane. I beagn to look at those in the community with a different perspective now, Anyone could be a damned nut case, a latent killer in disguise...Hell I was getting paranoid now, like so many I had seen before. Maybe this was not such a good idea..I mean trying to survive with an unknown bunch of people! Sheesh. I needed a break. I didn't get one. I must have left the "ghost" just an hour before they went looking for him. They came looking for us now. I heard a plop squish sound as a round hit one person in the forhead. It was pretty disgusting, but I've already seen worse this day! The bad part was that mist of brain and goo from a .308, it went all over the place. The persons head was 3/4 missing. it was a holes and elbows time. People went running all over the place and I dropped to the ground and grabbed the rifle I had just recently "acquired". I checked the magazine and it had at least 15-17 rounds left in it. I started a slow sweep and all I heard was a pfft and pfft and pfft. When the shooting finally stopped, about 6 people were dead and the 3 bad guys were in a real world of hurt! They had more holes than a spaghetti strainer. They eventually would all bleed out. Not before I got some information, I was determined to get that. They had done their worst but these morons were not really all thet well trained. Yes, they could shoot well enough, but they were not happy about watching live targets explode into goo and guts all over the place! 1 was bleeding to death rapidly and vomiting all over himself in the meantime. It was not a good scene for anyone. All I wanted was to rest up and have a meal of sorts! Damned scumbags anyway.....! Their leader was almost dead and was not in any shape to talk much, as most of his face was missing now. I chose another one.... This one had 4 pistols all over his body,... he had cross draw hip holsters and shoulder holsters. I wondwered where he thought he was, in Dodge City? For God;'s sakes...they were stupid. All I wanted to know was who made their sippressors. I had my reasons. Anyone that can do that, can make a lot of other things too! That worried me, a LOT! I got all I could before this guy bled to death, and the others were already dead when I stood up. Seems some guy tardes and barters "things" to survive and he lives in Paulden. About a half hours drive from Ashfork. Good to know but no good to us at any rate, No one went that far off the reservation anymore. I was the most proficient in what was left of the community. I had the machine shop! I made a lot of things, and did all the welding. But I was only one person and there was so much to do. Itseemed like the more everyone tried to have some sort of a routine or what we used to refer as a normal life, it always took a nasty turn.Always. I always just wanted to have someone to teach, to pass on a few things I knew, for any future we may have. That never occured. There wa sno one to take my place. We had no more mechanics, no more sharpshooters. no real hunters and trappers...They were all dead or gone. I figured it was much the same one way as the other. The one thing I have learned from all of this insanity, was that man will always self destruct. Maybe it was destined to be? Too many men seek power in any way, shape, or form, they can find it. It's always that someone has to be the leader. Someone has to be "in charge". There is always those that seek power and greed in mankind. I'll be glad when it's all over. Maybe then the universe will find peace within itself? I mean, after all traces of man has vanished? There was no point in all the wars and the power struggles, the gold, and the jewels, and all the lands. What good did it come to.? Nothing. History has once again repeated itself and no one learned. Sure they said "oh yeah, we can learn from history"...They didn't. Or,... they simply did not care. So, if you find this small amount of history and can learn from it, then do so, or perish. We did. It's your choice, and your world now.......
Interesting read. I enjoy journal type reads. I really hope nothing like this ever happens! No amount of prepping could help you out in a situation like this. You would almost just hope do die peacefully. What else could you do?
I have that same question in mind today! Thanks for the time taken to read the short "story". What is the "best" part is that which is unknown. ( not revealed until now) The place, roads, terrain even the trains and tracks all exist, as do the people. That is why I ONLY named one that is not known to me personally. Many of those in the story, I know their real names...But one, he is and remains a "ghost".
