This is a wonderful day today. My first contributing post here at Survival Monkey. I hope it is worthy of your time to read and leave comments below. This is a chapter that was banned and deleted from a story I was writing on another survivalist site. The reason for being too political and promoting illegal activity. The title above is only relevant to this chapter. The main story centers around building a large underground bunker built from huge 10,000 pound concrete culverts purchased thru Amazon. Since the order was over $35, they came with free shipping from China. Even after this chapter below was posted a lot of readers were still thinking it to be real. I posted this in the Book section with other fictional stories. Please tell me what you thoughts are and if it is worth the effort to continue writing and posting here. Now to the heart of the story... Now before you go any farther, every time I re-read this, more mistakes make themselves known. So as always, a work in progress. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. While I try not to get too wound up with all the goings on in the news, sometimes it is better than sticking my head in the sand. I do have my opinions, and they are just that, my opinions. I dont force them on others. A few people I associate with do have similar views on local government. I cant say that about one family member tho. One of my neighbors is now retired. While raising his kids, they got homeschooled. This was still before it was more common to do so. The education department did stick their noses where did not belong. But before this, my neighbor had been on the school board. Now you gotta understand I live in a very red state and county. But still infiltrated with liberals taking up positions in lower levels, like the school board. My neighbor put forth the effort getting himself elected. This was just to make sure his kids were receiving an education, not an indoctrination. He moved his family out to the country back in 1986, raising 7 children. They now have more or less a small compound where most of them still reside. From any angle you look, it is just normal rural farm family living. He stays to himself and tries to keep the government from over stepping their authority when on his property. He says it has been an uphill battle, getting worse by the year. While his kids were still school aged, he fought to keep all of the LGBTQ, DEI, and Common Core out of the local education system. Unfortunately, he said there was government funding associated with implementing these programs. The board eagerly took advantage of the free grants. They said the only reason for this was to keep school taxes down. He fought hard and got nowhere. The board of five representatives was always three in favor of liberal policies. After one year he gave up and pulled his kids out of school. Afterwards this decision proved to be right. Since all of his kids can now read and write in cursive. While none of the other kids graduating in the county can do so. They even know how to dial out on an old rotary phone. While we were outside on the porch talking, between sips of ice cold Hibiscus tea, his wife hollered to him after the phone rang. As we walked back in, I saw this phone with receiver off the hook, as he made his way over to the table. This phone has been in use from when his grandparents had it installed right after the war. His kids proudly stand and face the American flag during the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. This is one more thing that was removed from the schools. The board claimed it incited violence and took too much time away from teaching. Home sturdy groups were arranged with other families following his lead. The school board voiced their disdain about his defiance at every meeting. Lets just say they were not too happy about this. There was something else he mentioned about a few of his kids that went to college. They all scored very high on SAT's and placement tests. Since being homeschooled, they were required to take these placement tests the level of their education. All of them managed to skip ahead of first year classes. So why more blathering about this nonsense? It is what happens to be going on all over the world. Pay attention to current events. At least in your town, city, county and state.Instead of reading Survival Monthly and drooling over the next cool Zombie Head Slammer tool that just hit the market, open your eyes. Last year before those bunker parts were ordered, the county had its usual Founders Day celebration. It coincides with the 4th of July. But for some reason, nothing is mentioned about the 4th from a national perspective. Only about some family settling down a few miles away from the county seat. If you bothered to do some digging in the past, there are discrepancies about just who those founders actually were. From a bronze plaque this county has prominently displayed, it was a family moving west of the Mississippi wanting to make a new start for themselves. If you check the history on that same family in other states, there is a slightly different take on them. Turns out they were not a family at all. Just a bunch of outlaws and bank robbers on the lam. Then settling out where there was nobody else living. Eventually word got around and enough wanted dead or alive poster types had migrated there starting their own community. It was far off from any traveled pathways. What do you call a road before cars? Well what do you know, they were called roads. It was years before this place even showed up on maps. Then if anyone dared to pass thru, it would cost them. As in a toll charge. Yes, even before cars they already had toll roads. I had to check AI, just to make sure all of this was true. And since it is confirmed by an electronic brain with a massive data base of information to pull from, so had to be right. Hey maybe that saying "Pay toll to the troll or you dont get across" is for real. Who knew? At this big eventful Founders Day thing, the elected and not so elected officials were spewing their usual drivel out to everyone that would listen. Then announcing some of the more modern technology that our tax dollars are being heavily invested into. Out of nowhere this stupid drone came zinging down and making an entrance while everyone was having a good time. At first hoovering over the crowd, then zooming even lower in between the groups as they first stared in utter shock before moving back. A lot of people got totally freaked out. Many of them running away screaming. After a lot of commotion, one of the council members managed to calm most of the crowd down. At the same time, I watched a lot of the others ditching their plate lunches and leaving. The local windbag official went on explaining how useful these new drones were going to be. He was reading notes from a prepared speech while people were still horrified from the drone now spiraling around above everyone. He went on about the amount of money they will save on almost everything currently requiring a person and vehicle. The advantages of close up surveillance to eliminate any human error on 911 calls, accidents, rerouting traffic, tornadoes, firefighting, locating lost children and even pets. There was a monster size TV screen behind the speaker replaying everything this drone was picking up. To watch all those people running for their lives in real time on the TV screen did not sit well with the locals. A lot of them grabbed their children and headed for the parking lot. But so many small towns and rural areas are now infiltrated with liberal minded people. It is hard to believe sometimes with much of this country still so conservative. I have tried to keep to myself, but not sticking my head in the sand. My objective was to meet the other people living in the area. But what I witnessed was politics and complete stupidity. While a lot of the town counsel got a good laugh at this time last summer, some of them have been primaryed out of the next election. After this minor fiasco, my motivation to mingle with the local government went right back down to zero. I tried it and didnt work. Not one bit. There was one reason for purchasing those drones, that was not brought up at that picnic. The use of them for the county tax assessor. Now you might think, no big deal. It saves a lot of time and money this way. They just do a quick flyover and not having to bother you during the day. If there are any dispute about their assessments, it is all very clear in high definition pictures all available for public consumption. Once again cutting costs to the taxpayers. Its all about the tax payer you know. They are always looking out for you. After the summer hoopla, I did see my first flyover. It was zooming quietly way above my tree line. So high up I could almost not make it out. At first it looked like a small plane way off in the distance. Since the smart phone has all but obsoleted newer style digital cameras, they are cheap and plentiful just about anywhere in good used condition. Pawn shops, flea markets and even some swap meets I attend occasionally. But my phone can not zoom in nearly close enough like that digital camera can. Otherwise you would only see a small speck in the sky. In more recent months I have seen three different types of drones. Or maybe brands. There has to be hundreds of companies by now that make all kinds of models from toy cheap to military expensive. When this one surprised me outside of my cabin, I took offense. Fortunately it was pointing the other way. I was walking out from under the trees after working on the bunker. To me this is way overstepping all boundaries. It is now target practice. I watched it from a distance for a while before walking up acting like it was not there. At first I yelled, Hey, who is that with the drone? I looked all around like trying to locate the operator. But I knew it was nobody around here. When the camera spun around, it was like we were looking eye to eye. Then the drone took off at high speed and was gone. From that day forward, I kept record when one was in the area that I could hear approaching. A drone was making regular visits early Tuesday afternoons. Just shortly after most people return to work from lunch. Since then a drone has flown over every Tuesday when I was out there watching. This first time my truck was parked under the trees. The next few flyovers, my truck was parked in front of the cabin in plain sight. The drone stayed at a high altitude, but did slow down for a few moments. then went on its way. This got me to thinking, hmm. On the next Tuesday, my truck was parked far away from my place. The cabin looked deserted. It appeared no one was home. I mentioned earlier about having fun playing commando in my last post. That was an understatement. I was having so much fun it could even be considered illegal. And probably will be in the near future. From the clearing I did for the concrete blocks to be set, there were piles of brush all over the place. My plan was to burn them one at a time, so would not turn into an all night ordeal. This way is also much easier to contain. I had no intentions piling them up together for one big bonfire. Too risky for causing a forest fire and burning all my trees down. Not to mention the smoke could be seen for miles away. My big fancy ghillie suit was nothing more than some old wooden crates propped up off the ground. Then covered over with a pile of brush. These actually made brush piles easier to move around with fork attachments on my Kubota. I was ready for the next coming Tuesday afternoon. Yes I was starting to enjoy this way too much. Sure enough the Tuesday I was out there with some serious binoculars that could zoom in on one of these with no problem. I found this antique pair in some on my late uncles stuff. They were a bird watchers dream come true. These things are impressive. I easily had the jump on this this oversized mechanical microchip. I watched it hoover overhead for a while. At first it stayed way above the tree line. That is not OK with me, and better not come any closer. I still think this is a serious violation, but nothing can be done about it. Eventually some privacy laws will get passed. Especially if local jurisdiction is using them without just cause. Just takes enough intrusion on peoples lives and something will eventually give. The brush piles were spread out all over the area where the bunker is being put together. But most of the pathways leading there are canopied very heavily with trees over head. There is a ton of growth all around the trees at ground level. It is more than easy enough to move between them without being spotted. Who ever is operating this drone finally decided to come in for a closer look. Since the outward appearance of my cabin looked uninhabited at the moment, the drone swooped down and stopped about 10 feet off the ground. It made a few circles pointing the camera all around. When it went under the canopy of trees, I was determined to take this thing out. A good ole reliable 10-22 Ruger with threaded barrel sure comes in handy. But for this I was not taking any chances. Or prisoners for that matter. I dug out an old pristine Remington 513T from my Boy Scout days. I attached a serious scope more recently for very up and close precision work. It was loaded with subsonic 22RF rat shot. With as low as this drone was coming in, I did not need much to take it down. The drone would follow the trail under the canopy of trees for a few yards, stop and hoover a moment while sweeping the camera all around. Then proceeded on following the pathway. I already headed a lot farther down crawling under one of the other brush piles. Way before the drone was close to the bunker area, it made another stop and look. This is the closest to the thing I would get. Which was no more than 50 feet away off to the right. Still holding steady about 10 feet off the ground. The camera was stationary in the other direction. This is when I drove one right up its tailpipe so to speak. What I did not expect was the immediate reaction. It reminded me of that movie Short Circuit. The drone totally freaked out. At first it went straight up grazing a branch above. Then jerked the other way reversing its direction following the pathway it came in. This thing was acting very erratic and not keeping altitude very well. Another bounce against a tree branch. Fortunately this new spring growth was soft enough not to cause any serious damage. The farther it traveled, just got more out of control. By the time it was almost to the county road, the drone was looping around in large arcs and overcompensating doing just the opposite going the other way. Then it was all over after slamming into the street. It had slowed down to almost a crawl. Bounced once, rolling down the asphalt as small pieces broke off. After this roller coaster ride, it finally stopped. This is the smallest of the drones I have seen. Not much different than the one last summer at the Founders Day fiasco. A lot smaller than the black one I caught a pic of early on. So here it sat not making any noise. I kicked it around and nothing happened. I didnt know how to check its pulse, or even cared if it lived or died right there. Preferring it was already dead. I kicked it again over the yellow stripe on the road to show about what size it is. Some years back my younger cop sister had given all of the family members a sort of bug out bag. Not really anything more than a small wrap of duct tape, bag of jerky, wire ties, and pvc gloves. Sort of like a crime scene kit. Well sort of, and including that snack. For later, a roll of toilet paper. After a final stare down with this thing, I covered it over with a Mylar blanket, then wrapped it all up with duct tape. Oh yea, it might have suffered some minor damage when a brick fell on top. I swear it was an accident. Those plastic gloves are slippery. The only thing I could think of is ditching this wannabe Airwolf contraption before someone came looking for it. I pushed it off to the side of the road and went for my truck. Tossed it in the back and off to the river that feeds the local big mouth bass filled lake. There is a bridge in one remote area that has no lights and rarely any traffic. That brick I dropped on top, I swear it was an accident, was to help with buoyancy, as in the need to offset its buoyancy. It would sink to the bottom instead of just floating down stream . No chance of running ashore somewhere before emptying into the lake. So all of this took place shortly after the primaries several months ago. Then the primary runoff took out several incumbents that had been in office way too long. Since this time there has been no more mention of using drones from the county. I hope it stays this way for a long time. It is too soon for 1984 to sweep over this country.
I like it. I can understand why people would mistake it for a current event. Well done! There were a couple minor editing errors, one where a letter was omitted in paragraph 3 from the word you(r), the word their appeared to be missing in paragraph 5, and another somewhere, where the wrong two letter word was used. Autocorrect will do that. I think if you read it through aloud, you'll spot a few natural pauses where a comma would be appropriate, some spots where a contraction sounds better, and a few sentences that don't flow naturally. That's all part of writing, and what editors (which I don't claim to be) do. If you read almost any of my longer stories or technical posts you'll see the "last edited ...." line in tiny print at the bottom. Very rarely do I get things right the first time, even with a typing speed that almost exactly matches my slow Carolina accent. I could understand your story just fine, was completely drawn in by it, and would encourage you to post more. P.S. I think I'll stick with Eley Tenex in my 513T.
Good story. Post more. Find it less objectiveable than the 4 letter words used by a lot of the left media people. Looking forward to seeing your stories.
