TSHTF

[sssarawolf]

Thank you much,

[dstraito]

President Packard liked to think he achieved the Office of Presidency based on his qualifications, popularity, and views. In the back of his mind in the dark recesses he could not totally put away the truth that he was bought and paid for. He came to the office with virtually no accomplishments. He’d only been in the Senate for two years and he won that election after manufacturing some dirt on his opponent so ran virtually unopposed. He still held the record for the most campaign money for a single candidate and there were no pretenses of where it came from even though he tried to distance his thoughts from that. Unions, leftist organizations, and a myriad of community groups created and funded specifically to launder the money and put him in power. He never met with his benefactor, there were at least six degrees of separation between them but if one was to describe the relationship, it would be puppet and puppet master.

Packard was privy to some of the conversations of what the conspiracy groups would call “the Elites”. The recent disasters were warmly received. It sped up their plans and eliminated the need for a false flag operation. The rich not only wanted to collect all the world’s assets and power for themselves, but wanted to thin the world population so it wouldn’t pose such a threat. In their view, not only were there too many people for the earth’s resources, there were too many people to control. The magic number was arbitrarily chosen to be around 500 million. Given the world’s population of seven billion people that translated to a genocide of 6.5 billion people.
Packard just couldn’t get his head around it. His wife wondered why he was so distant lately but this really messed with his mind. He wanted out but knew there was only one way out and he was not going to choose that. Current methods being employed were unsustainable and exploitative international development which leads to massive hunger, starvation, and famine worldwide, the fomentation of war and military procurements throughout the nation’s leading to millions of deaths worldwide, and finally the creation and spread of infectious diseases leading to global pandemic, plague and pestilence on an unprecedented scale. Other methods included the build-up and use of nuclear, chemical and biological agents, the poisoning and contamination of the planet’s food and water supplies, the introduction and use of deadly pharmaceutical drugs in society, weather modification and the triggering of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis through electromagnetic psychotronic weapons, both on Earth and in space, the promotion of homosexuality to limit population growth and spread the deadly AIDS virus, forced sterilization in countries such as China and more.

As President he knew about some of these but many were dark programs run by non-existent corporations of ghost agencies. Monsanto was in full deployment mode with genetically modifying certain crops. Ostensibly to increase resistance to pests, it had side effects like sterilizations. He was aware of the HAARP program which was the ionospheric research program in Alaska. HAARP stood for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program and was a joint research venture funded by the United States Air force, the United States Navy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the University of Alaska. The project was started way back in 1993, with the aim of analyzing the ionosphere, in order to assess the potential of developing it to further enhance the radio communication and surveillance technology. A high power radio frequency transmitter was used to excite a specific portion of the ionosphere for a temporary period. Many conspiracy theorists held that the research project is basically a directed-energy weapon, a weather control, and an earthquake induction device in disguise. They didn’t know how right they were.

The internet was a wonderful thing but sometimes it allowed too much freedom of information. Another correct theory called sterilants chemtrails held that chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs. He wasn’t going to confirm what the chemicals had in them as well as being able to affect the weather if they wanted to.
The mandatory vaccinations such as Gardasil was a program that was unraveling. Vaccines used to be for the benefit of mankind, smallpox, chicken pox, whooping cough but now they were being used by the elites for the purposes of depopulation. Originally to protect against HPV Gardasil caused a noticeable increase in autism, strokes, paralysis, tics, and other unwanted symptoms. Congress tried to make this vaccine mandatory but thanks to the internet, the adverse effects were becoming too well known.

The previous century was by far the bloodiest in human history. Hunger, famine and disease took billions of innocent lives. World Wars I and II along with the despotic regimes of Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler reaped record levels of death. It was estimated Hitler killed between twenty and twenty-five million people. Stalin killed between twenty and sixty million people. Mao killed between forty and seventy million people. More recently, the killing fields of Iraq have taken the lives of more than two million men, women and children this past decade from foreign and economic intervention. More than four million people have been slaughtered, mutilated and massacred recently in the Congo. Factor in the unrestrained build-up of weapons of mass destruction in the world, especially in the Middle East along with the desire and willingness to actually use them and it’s no wonder people are seeing the Apocalypse of World War Three becoming a virtual inevitability. The death toll of World War III would eclipse all previous wars in scale and magnitude.
With the millions of deaths worldwide with all that happened in the United States and the rest of world, Packard couldn’t believe his benefactors were impatient. They wanted their agenda to move at a faster pace.

“So many dead, so many dead.” Kept echoing through the President of the United States head and much of the blood was on his hands. He wanted out, but that was not to be.

[dstraito]

Susan had never been so busy. At the no-kill animal shelter there were mostly cats and dogs. Sometimes someone would bring in an animal they found like an owl or duck with a wounded wing but mostly cats and dogs. Here at the Compound her main focus was to make sure the animals remained healthy, keep the breeding programs going, and administer the food, water and any medicines they might need. There was so much she had to learn. She was really grateful that Jeb Rodd accepted the offer to join the Compound. He was the veterinarian where she’d worked and even though he was only out of vet school a year, she’d already learned a lot from him. Jeb was about six four, broad shoulders tapering off to a fit waist. His hair was a bit unruly but that is because he didn’t care that much about his appearance even though he was very good looking.

Susan was getting to learn about their Brahman cattle they had. Ralph chose them based on their high tolerance to heat and natural resistance to many parasites. They looked pretty scary with that hump and their horns but they were considered a maternal breed. She did keep her distance from the bull though. They had sheep mainly for meat and wool but they were going to try and utilize all of their animals and not waste anything. By products could be obtained from the intestines, horns, hooves, fats and fatty acids, wool and bone. They could use the Manure as it was high in valuable minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium carbonate.

From the pigs, besides the obvious bacon and pork roast they could make insulin for the regulation of diabetes; values for human heart surgery (though probably not at this compound), suede for shoes and clothing and gelatin for many food uses. Swine by-products are also important parts of such products as water filters, insulation, rubber, antifreeze, certain plastics, floor waxes and more. There was a litter of pigs just six weeks old that were adorable and she had a hard time thinking of the animal by-products with these cuties.

Jessie went everywhere that Susan went and she was fun to watch as she chased the sheep into tight-knit groups. That would be a skill that would probably come in handy but right now; Jessie looked like she was just practicing.

She spent a lot of her time in the barn which of course where most of the animals were. In one corner a Calico cat she hadn’t gotten around to naming yet had five kittens curled up asleep lying against her. The Calico was brown, black and white with amber eyes. “You better teach them to be mousers or you are on the menu.” Seeing those cute kittens brought out her soft side and she just wanted to pick them up and hold them but she restrained herself. Jeb told her to not get too friendly with working cats or they won’t do their job right.

The show quality Boer goats were neat to look at except for their eyes. She thought goats had demonic looking eyes. One of the main reasons the goats were there was for the meat and milk, and from the milk, goat cheese. The female, Jeb taught her was a doe, the mail a buck, the young were kids and a castrated male, a wether. Female goats were sometimes called nannies and males sometimes called billies.
She would probably have the hardest time viewing the rabbits as a food source. In many parts of the world, rabbit meat is considered a delicacy; it is white, find-grained, and delicately flavored. It is easy to prepare and can be used in many recipes. Their rabbits were New Zealand Whites because of their hardiness and size. Unfortunately, America has a preoccupation with animals that are cute and New Zealand Whites were very cute. On the outside in the front of the barn were a series of rabbit hutches with wire mesh bottoms. Below the hutches were frames filled with soil and Red Worms. The rabbits fertilized the worms; the worms digested and made for a very fertile soil that could be used in their agricultural endeavors. Of course besides eating the rabbits, their skins could be very useful. Seeing one hutch with the white furry mass Susan suddenly thought of a good luck rabbits’ foot she’d had as a kid that was dyed green. “Not too lucky for the rabbit.” She thought.

On the side of the barn, they had a 40x20 foot area totally enclosed with chicken wire with chicken coops against the barn wall. The chickens were Leghorns, though originally from Tuscany, Italy, they were imported to North America in 1853. They were known (according to Jeb) to lay 250-300 eggs per year with a superior fee-to-egg conversion ratio.

The geese had the run of the place and usually hung out by the catfish pond.
One thing Susan was glad she didn’t have responsibility for was the bees. They had a beekeeper for that and the bee colony was outside the Compound. It was a risk to maintain the bee yard outside the protected area but everyone was glad they did. Besides honey, the bees were instrumental in pollination and helping the plants and crops to grow.

It was easy filling her days with the animals. It was hard work for sure, working 12-14 hour days. There were tasks to do and she hadn’t learned to delegate very well but she was getting better at it. What wasn’t so easy was after the work, when she had time to reflect what was going on in Paradise, in Texas, in the nation and the whole world. Surely it must be near the End Times. Homer Watkins operated a ham radio and lived a few miles over and although asked to join the Compound he did not agree. He came to the Compound every couple of days with a report and what he was hearing from across the nation wasn’t good. Anarchy was everywhere, millions dead, martial law and increasing conflicts, and other countries going through the same issues. Homer fired up his generator every day for one hour and communicated with his radio buddies worldwide.

She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t commit to Doug. Sure, she had a rocky first marriage but a lot of people got married the second time around and everything was fine. Doug was everything she wanted in a man, he was kind, thoughtful, caring, handsome, and her dad even liked him. Her doubts centered more on herself than on Doug. What if the problems in her last marriage were her fault? What if she brought problems to Doug that he didn’t deserve? What if things didn’t work out and we are stuck in this Compound for a long time?

He was far too busy coordinating activities and tasks right now but it wouldn’t be long and he’d want to have the “serious conversation” again, the same one they’d had twice already and it always ended with her turning him down. She decided not to borrow trouble and wouldn’t worry about it until she had to.

She was going to have to tell Doug and her dad that Mark threatened her the day she moved into the Compound.

[dstraito]

Tim drove while Garrison slept. They left Lake Charles and the body of the Sherriff he’d gunned down in cold blood. They had to weave through the abandoned cars and every gas station, restaurant and store were closed due to lack of electricity. The car approached the outskirts of Beaumont where he saw a gas powered sign announcing the rolling blackout scheduled for the area would be from eight pm to eight am the next morning. It was 7:50 pm so he pulled into the first station he saw. There was a long line of people in the gas line when a man in a QuickieMart uniform came out and told them there was no more gas and it didn’t matter anyway because the electricity would be turned off in eight minutes. Most of the cars left but two. One guy made a show of lifting his hood and messing with his engine. Tim drove around to the side where he could see the rear of the building and the front at the same time.

“Wake up Garr.” Tim said.

“Huh, what.”

“Wake up. We are going to rob this guy. Looks like he just sold a lot of gas so he must have a lot of cash.”

The lights cut off right then. Not just the store lights but the lights on the island, the street and everywhere else as far as you could see.

Garrison said “What’s going on, why’d the lights go out?”

Tim said “Sssshhhh. A sign said they would. Look for the guy coming out the back door.” He had his hand on the door so he could jump out quickly.

From the front of the store a light came on and then went off and they saw the man working on his car open the car door, retrieve something and shut it quickly. They could barely make him out in the starlight as his silhouette walked down the side of the building from the rear.

“Wait a minute.” Tim said.

“What is it?” Garrison asked.

They watched the silhouette walk around to the rear of the store. They heard a door open as if the bottom was dragging on concrete and then the dragging sound followed by the door closing. They couldn’t see very well but the silhouette standing beside the door pointed something at silhouette that just came out the door. One silhouette shouted and then raised whatever was in his hand and hit the other silhouette. One of them opened the door scraping against the concrete again and both walked inside.

“Quick, get out now.” Tim said.

He got out of the car carrying the Sherriff’s .357 and flashlight and went over to the back door. Garrison followed him. “What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Sssshhhh. When they come out I’m going to take whatever he took. He’s gonna do all the work and we get the profits, not a bad job eh?”

“What if he has a gun too?”

“Then he’s dead.” Tim said coldly.

Tim heard someone shout out “No, don’t, please.” He heard a thunk followed by the sound of something sounding like it hit the floor. He heard footsteps approach the back door. Just as they were even with the door he shouted “Freeze” while turning the flashlight on in the guy’s face.

You never saw someone more startled. He threw his hands up in the air and dropped his tire iron but held on to a bag in his hand.

“Drop it.” Tim said.

The guy let go of it. “Who are you guys, cops?”

Tim asked “What did you do to that guy?”

“I’m not saying nuthin.”

Tim pulled the hammer back with an audible click.

“Ok, I hit him with the tire iron. Don’t you have to read me my rights or something?”

Tim said “Don’t move or you’re dead. Garr, go check on him.”

Garrison had a little one cell AA flashlight and he moved around the guy in the door and proceeded down the hall.

He came back a minute later. “The dude is dead, man.”

Tim still shining the light in the guy’s eyes said “How do you feel about that?”

The guy was nervous but obviously had a problem with authority. “Don’t mean nothing to me, how am I supposed to get by.”

“What’s your name?” Tim asked.

“Steve. What’s it to ya?”

“What’s your full name Steve?”

“Steve Winslow.”

“We aren’t cops. Now I have a choice here. I could shoot you down like a dog. Or I could maybe see my way into letting you join us. Which one do you think I should do?”

“Join you in what?”

“Now does that really matter, considering the alternative?”

“No I guess it doesn’t.”

Tim lowered the light and pointed it past Steve toward the inside of the store. “Let’s see what else we can get.”

[dstraito]

Doug and Ralph closed the door to the study. Every evening they would go to the study and review the activities and tasks of the day and what needed to be done in the near future. Twelve and fourteen hour days were the norm and even though dog-tired at the end of the day, there was a satisfaction to getting things accomplished.

Ralph poured the standard crown for both of them. They rationed it to one glass per evening so sipped it very slowly to make it last.

Doug said “People are doing their tasks and they are working hard but I think some of them are getting a little testy. Long days, no distractions.”

“No distraction are a good thing, a distraction means something bad is happening.”
“Not necessarily. I think we need to start playing music in the Compound. It could be a pleasant diversion.”

“We have the speakers for announcements. Those Altec-Lansing speakers were fidelity quality but I’m sure not everyone agrees to the same kind of music.”
“I talked to Smokey’s son and he said he would be glad to DeeJay, after he gets his chores complete. He said he’d take requests and rotate the music so everyone gets a chance to listen to what they like. He has an MP3 player with a 100GB hard drive and over 60,000 songs.”

“Let’s do it.”

Doug went on. “I borrowed our office projector. It worked very nice on the wall last night. We should start doing a movie night once a week. I had the wall painted white and it makes a very good 10x8 screen.”

“What are you doing, turning this place into Club Med?”

“No, I’m trying to make everyone as comfortable as I can here, we don’t know how long we will be here. You know what they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“As long as Jack gets his work done, I don’t care.”

“We have several people that tell stories quite well. We are also going to have a story session going a couple nights a week. People can choose to attend or not, their choice. They are meeting around the fire pit over by the Gazebo.”

“If they have a fire every night they will have to go outside the walls to cut more, what we have now is for cooking and heating.”

“We have people making soaps, candles, and cleaning products and they are each mentoring one person so they will have a backup in their specialty. Smokey is going to pick an apprentice for blacksmithing.”

Ralph said “There is one more thing we need. I put all my thoughts and effort into preparing for disaster in a physical way and I think we have done pretty well.”
“What did we forget?” asked Doug.

“I forgot to plan for our spiritual needs. We need to remember the Sabbath and keep faith in the Lord now more than ever. We need to include stories from the Bible in our story telling sessions for any that would like to hear it. Personally, I’d like to have Church on Sundays but I’m not qualified to preach. I was thinking we could start hearing stories in which people of faith live through adversity like the Exodus, the Stories of David, Joesph, and Job, Daniel and the lion’s den, or the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. I like the message that believers have often been tested by trials, but that those who keep the faith have endured. Maybe we can recruit a minister to fill that need.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe Susan has some ideas on that.”

“We already asked the Minister of her church but he declined saying he needed to server where people need him the most.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Ralph said.

Gunny walked in. “We have a family at the gates that are asking to see you. I think they want to join the Compound.”

“Did you tell them we aren’t taking any more people until we see how the numbers we have work out?”

“There are a couple of other factors. It is a Mexican family. The man said his name was Jose Garza and that he’d worked for you last year.”

Ralph said “I remember. I liked him, he was a hard worker. You said there were a couple of things. What else?”

His family is with him, two sons and two daughters and it appears they have all been roughed up, maybe beaten. He said three guys in town stopped them as they were passing through and when they didn’t have anything those guys wanted they just started hitting them.”

“Three guesses as to the three guys.” Doug said.

Ralph got up. “Let’s go talk to them.”

They walked to the front gate. Even though it was dark there were solar lights on all the paths and a solar panel and inverter to provide power to open and shut the gate as well as light it at night.

Jose was being propped up by his wife. His four kids stood behind them.

Ralph typed in a code in the keypad and opened the gate. Doug rushed out to help Jose and put his arm around Jose’s shoulders. They led the family in and immediate closed the gates. They took them to the kitchen were the remnants of dinner was being put away.

Ralph talked to Penelope who was putting the food away and she brought over six plates with food and a loaf of sour dough bread that had just been baked hours earlier. She also poured them tall glasses of cold water.

The Garza family was famished but they went for the water first. After eating and drinking and many gracias from every family member Doug and Ralph took Jose into the study and closed the door.

“Gracias, Senior.” Jose said again.

Ralph said “What are your plans?”

“I planned to take my family back to Mexico. We were in Oklahoma and it has taken us three weeks to get this far. I heard things are not much better in Mexico. We were hoping you might take us in until it gets better, we’d work very hard for you.”
“We are not really taking in more people right now. There is a whole town full of people in Paradise that have either asked to come join us or they will be asking us when the collapse gets worse.”

“I have nothing to offer you senior, other than the hard work of myself and my family.”

“Why don’t you go into the kitchen and get some more food. Let me talk to my partner here.” Ralph said.

Doug helped Jose back to the kitchen and returned to the study.

“Partner, I like the sounds of that.” Doug said.

“I’ve come to think of you as a partner, no, really, more like a son.” Ralph mused. “So, what do you think, give them some bottle water, send them on their way.”

Doug said “I know we can’t take everyone on, not even very many, but this seems like a real nice family. The people in the Compound have been working hard, but I bet they don’t hold a candle to these folks. I guess what you said about prepping spiritually really hit home, I’d like to help these folks.”

“I’m glad you said that, I feel the same way. Jose did a very good job for me before and I too like him. I’m glad to see you are starting to think of your spiritual side.”
“We still need to make this conditional. I know there are some people who are bias and might not want to share with Mexicans, especially ones that are not in the United States legally. Better than in town though, there are people that would do far worse than that, in fact, did. I bet the three stooges were responsible for their beatings.”

They walked into the kitchen and told Jose. He was overjoyed and wept. They told him it was conditional but it was as if he didn’t even hear those words he was so happy to have his family out of harm’s way, even if only for a little while.
“Doug will show you to a tent where you and your family will stay. The Cabins are all full right now but the tent has a kerosene heater if it gets too cold and the bathrooms are fairly close by. Rest up a couple of days and then we will put you in the rotation to work.”

“Si, yes, senor, we will work very hard for you.”

Doug went to bed feeling a little better about things, like they might not have helped the overall situation in the United States, or even Paradise, but they helped when they could.

[dstraito]

Dallas reportedly was up smoke, literally. Arsonists were setting neighborhoods on fire to make people flee their homes. They would rush in and grab what they could from the house before it was totally engulfed in flames. Many of the arsonists were consumed by their own fires. More and more people were either homeless from the chaos or from choice. Many chose to try and travel outside the city to points unknown. Most were woefully unprepared with no bug-out bags or kits containing travel survival supplies. Most couldn’t navigate the wrecks and ruins of previously abandoned cars or if they could, they didn’t think ahead enough to have a full tank of gas so they abandoned their vehicles as well. People out in the open didn’t fare well as they were picked off by opportunistic thugs or roving gangs that were out to steal anything they could from anyone that had anything. The fires were not being put out as the infrastructure was effectively down. What started as roaming blackouts became random blackouts as demands on power were uneven and put strains on the Texas Electrical Grid. Plants started needing repairs and they couldn’t get the parts and if the parts were available the people that could have installed them were long gone. The previously affluent areas were hit first. The thief’s first targets were Highland Park, Lake Highlands, the Preston Country Club and areas like that. Security systems meant nothing. If their battery backups still worked a signal was sent out to security companies that were so overwhelmed they did not even try to verify and see if it was really a problem, they just assumed that it was and that there would be no police to do anything about it.

Ironically, the traditionally poor areas of East and South Dallas, areas like Oakcliff were among the safest. All the looters must have figured there was nothing there worth stealing as they sought out the more affluent areas. The minorities were a majority in these areas and they tended to put a lot of stock in faith. In the short run, it appeared to work but as people started getting more desperate, the fabric of society begin to tear, then rip into shreds with every person for themselves. While people could fiercely vie for their own survival, that was nothing compared to someone trying to provide for his family, to ensure their survival.

Convenience stores, grocery stores, specialty food stores, restaurants were looted by hungry mobs. One group would break into a store and on the way out another group would rob them and take what they stole for themselves. There were many shootings, stabbings, beatings, and other actions not conducive to survival. As the urban stores and communities started being cleaned out of resources, the desperate starving, crazed people began branching out, at least the ones that survived the inner-city wave.

It was a common occurrence to come across dead people in the street or in houses that were already looted to find the owners in various forms of rigor. The smarter people started forming coalitions. They started sharing resources and grouping together. A group could easily over power one or two individuals they ran across and as they did, they gained power and resources. Rewarded by this model, they formed a loose set of rules and impromptu leaders emerged. If they were strong leaders they led their groups to even more power and strength. If they were weak, ineffective leaders they would be replaced by someone with a little more intelligence and a lot more ambition.

The East Side of Fort Worth followed the Dallas example. Everything was in flames, most people were on their own but there were a few groups learning about teamwork. There were a few groups leaning about strength in numbers and hierarchy of command. As these groups gained knowledge and power they became more ruthless and bold. Hundreds of thousands of people in Fort Worth and Dallas died before they were able to learn the survival lessons. The people that remained became more and more zombie like. Disease was rampant, clean drinkable water non-existent. There were reports of rapes, suicides, murders, all of which went undeterred by law enforcement. There were even rumors about cannibalism since food was a scarce resource and not being replenished. Squirrels, cats and dogs became a rare and endangered species quite likely to end up on a spit over someone’s campfire and if you were invited to share, you didn’t ask what it was being cooked.

The TCU and University area in Fort Worth was hard hit. The hospital districts already overwhelmed by the influx of diseased and injured patients was quickly overrun by people looking either for medicine to make them better or medicine to make them feel better. The hospital staff quit unpaid, overworked and overstressed.
Mobs and looters followed Interstates out of their city areas they’d lived all their lives. Many ventured further than they ever did while the world was still intact. Dallas mobs followed I75 and I35 both south and north and I30 mostly west. In Fort Worth they took I30 both east and west, I35 both north and south and State Highway 287 northwest and southeast and State Highway 114 both east and west. The northwest direction took them through a lot of little suburbs like Rhome and Boyd and not too far away, Paradise. Denton looters took I35 South and North. Most of the mobs running into each other between Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton viewed each other as competition for scarce resources and turf wars ensued. More people died. Groups began to form. As locusts storming through the inner-cities salvaging what they could, these groups began to gain in goods to barter and more importantly, weapons. The group with the better weapons usually won out over groups with fewer or no weapons and individuals didn’t have a chance.

Preppers who prepared diligently for all kinds of disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, Electro Magnetic Pulses, Nuclear Wars, Earth Quakes, Polar Shifts, collision asteroids did not adequately prepare for one factor, human nature. Years’ worth of preps fell prey to invading strangers who chose rather than to prep, to take what they wanted from those that did. There were more than a few prepper’s that died with a look of consternation and confusion on their faces like they did everything right, why didn’t it work.

Those prep supplies, the guns and ammo, the food, water, and medical supplies, the camping gear, the MRE’s, all followed the motto “To The Victor Belongs The Spoils”, meaning it was all for nothing.

The good news was that this group inner warfare was killing a lot of bad people off, even though a lot of good people were being killed as well. The bad news is, the ones that survived followed the motto “Survival of the fittest or strongest.” They were the worst of the bad and they had the strength and the cunning to survive where hundreds of thousands before them did not. That made them very dangerous.

The outward flow slowed somewhat. Now that groups started gathering resources they started being a little more cautious. They’d hole up in a few conquered houses for a few days after the conquest and consolidate their bounty. Each outward stage was like a groups of bees swarming from one location to the next gathering more resources, more despicable vile people and further entrenched the hierarchy to a more efficient level. They were getting organized. With nothing to fear from local, state or federal law enforcement, and not many people that could withstand their onslaught, they advanced slowly toward Paradise.

[dstraito]

Chapter – Good Army

Captain James Adkins of the 4th Regiment called his Staff Sergeant David Yates in.

“Yes sir.” Sergeant Yates said.

“Call in the men, we have been assigned a mission.” The Captain said. They served the Northwest/North Central Texas areas.

“We have been assigned to Denton and areas west, there are rumors of city gangs headed that way. We have also been instructed to confiscate weapons and supplies that anyone might be hoarding for the greater good. Before you assemble the squad, bring Hawkins, Hinton, and Larson.”

“Yes sir.”

Staff Sergeant Yates rounded them up and delivered them to the Captain’s office.

“Close the door.” Captain Adkins said.

Annie Hawkins, PFC or Private First Class closed the door.

“I know you four; you are patriots, like me. I’m going to ask you to take an oath and this is off the record, totally confidential and if you decline, it will not be held against you.”

Captain Adkins looked at each of them in the eyes for several seconds. There is an organization I’m part of, maybe you’ve heard of it. The organization is called the Oath keepers. It is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of likeminded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God.

“There is a contingent in our current administration who might ask us to do something that is morally wrong and goes against the Constitution. We are trying to fight that mindset as it is destructive to the continuity of the United States. Are you with me?”

He heard a chorus of “Yessir’s.”

“Here is the Oath of Enlistment: I, [state your name], do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

All four repeated the pledge.

“Staff Sergeant Yates, I’m going to ask you to take an Officers Oath.”

“But sir, I’m not an officer.” Yates said.

“You will be an officer in the Oath Keepers. Are you willing?”

“Yes sir.”

“Repeat after me: I, [state your name], do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Sergeant Yates recited the oath.

Captain Adkins said “Your oath never expires! It’s time to keep it!”

“We have been assigned a mission. You all know the turmoil the cities are in, Dallas and Fort Worth and Denton. It seems that mobs are spreading out from the cities and heading toward the suburbs. We have been assigned the mission to stop them, to not let them disrupt the food chain, ie, stealing and disrupting the rural farmers. We have also been tasked with rounding up supplies and returning them to the city. They want to try and establish some stability by providing food, water, and some basic supplies and the cities are fresh out. The only supplies left are likely to be hoarded by farmers and communities outside the city. It goes against everything I believe in to take supplies and goods from the people that produced it by their hard work and sweat. I’m going to remind you now of the ten orders that Oath Keepers will NOT obey.

Number 1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.

Number 2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people.

Number 3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

Number 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

Number 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

Number 6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

Number 7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

Number 8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”

Number 9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.

Number 10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.”

Finishing the list the Captain asked “Are there any questions.”

Sergeant Yates raised his hand. “Excuse me sir, but doesn’t this list preclude us from following the orders we have just been given. We are being asked to disarm people, do warrantless searches, detain any one protesting our actions, we are already in martial law, and they want us to confiscate food and other essential supplies?”

“That is a pretty good summary Sergeant.”

Annie Hawkins spoke up. “So why did you bring us here to give us the oath and then give us orders according to the oath that we can’t follow?”

“Because the five of us are not enough to fight the corruption and indifference of those in the service that did not take the oath. I want each of you to try and see how other members of your platoon feel and see if you can get them to take the oath. If any of them have any questions, please have them talk to me.”

“So what do we do when we go out with these orders and we aren’t planning on following them?” Sergeant Hinton asked.

“I believe we may be the last line of defense Americans might have. Remember the line ‘Foreign and Domestic’?”

“Yes sir.”

“We have domestic enemies with traitorous agendas and we are at war, make no mistake about it. Now it is just a matter of whose side we are on. I choose America’s side.”

General George Washington once said to his troops before the battle of Long Island “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army”.

“I believe such a time is near at hand again. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army and our Oath Keeper brothers in the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and National Guard. The declaration of Orders We Will NOT Obey is recognizing that we each swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and affirming that we are guardians of the Republic, of the principles in our Declaration of Independence, and of the rights of our people. We will not make war on our own people, and we will not commit treason, by obeying any such treasonous orders.”
“Orders have come down to prepare the FEMA camps for dissenters. Mass forced internment into concentration camps was a hallmark of every fascist and communist dictatorship in the 20th Century. Such internment was unfortunately even used against American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Whenever a government interns its own people, it treats them like an occupied enemy population. Oppressive governments often use the interment of women and children to break the will of the men fighting for their liberty – as was done to the Boers, to the Jewish resisters in the Warsaw Ghetto, and to the Chechens, for example. Such a vile order to forcibly intern American switch-out charges or trial would be an act of war against the American people, and thus an act of treason, regardless of the pretext used. We will not commit treason, nor will we facilitate or support it. “NOT on Our Watch!”

Annie Hawkins said “What about gathering up goods and supplies from the suburbs and distributing it to the people in the cities. Surely they are in a desperation state and the suburbs could spare some of their goods.”

“One of the causes of the American Revolution was the seizure and forfeiture of American ships, goods, ad supplies, all in violation of the people’s natural right to their property and to the fruits of their labor. Deprivation of food has long been a weapon of war and oppression, with millions intentionally starved to death by fascist and communist governments in the 20th Century alone. Accordingly, we will not obey or facilitate orders to confiscate food and other essential supplies from the people, and we will consider all those who issue or carry out such orders to be enemies of the people.”

Captain Adkins went on. “Remember, our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We don’t care if unlawful orders come from a Democrat or a Republican, or if the violation is bi-partisan. We will not obey unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law. We won’t “Just follow orders. We are at a time within the ranks of the military regarding their oath. Some mistakenly believe they must follow any order the President issues. But many others do understand that their loyalty is to the Constitution and to the people, and understand what that means.”

[dstraito]

Chapter – Bad Army

The squad ignored looters breaking out windows and taking appliances, large screen televisions and anything else that wasn’t nailed down. The eight of them had just been assigned to go door-to-door in White Settlement and the two Hum Vees were ordered not to let anything else deter their mission including crime. The vandals and looters outnumbered the soldiers and even though they had M16 Rifles they would end up killing a lot of people and causing them to rebel against the government. Instead, their instructions were to round up food and supplies from people that were hoarding them and to deliver those supplies to warehouses the government had set up to distribute to the very people that were looting and rioting. The top brass were trying to defuse the anarchy and reestablish order and FEMA was maxed out with no available resources to help.

Colonel Frank Seline in the lead vehicle talked into the radio. “Keep close. We have reports that there are people near Lake Worth in White Settlement that have amassed large amounts of supplies and are hoarding them. We are there.” He said as they pulled up to an older style house with a large barn in the back yard.

“Corporal Jenkins, establish a defensive posture with your team.” Colonel Seline said.

“Yes Sir.” Corporal John Jenkins said. He and three others jumped out of the second vehicle. Two of them ran to the back and the other two each took a side of the house. The Colonel and his second-in-command Sergeant Major Raymond Chandler walked to the front door, the other two in their vehicle slightly behind and to the side of them.

Sergeant Major Raymond rapped on the door with a baton. Twenty seconds went by and no one came to the door. He rapped harder. A curtain pulled back from a bay window and quickly pushed back. He yelled out “Open up, Military Police.” He rapped again leaving large dents in the door.

An older man that looked to be in his mid-sixties opened the door that was chained. He peered around the door carefully. The Colonel slammed his hand on the door causing the chain to break and the door to fling back knocking the older man down.
They stepped over the man and walked into the house.

“You can’t come in, I don’t give you my permission.” said the older man.

“We don’t need your permission, in case you haven’t heard, martial law has been declared. Hoarding has been outlawed. We are searching the premises for excessive stocking of emergency supplies.”

The older man continued protesting. “The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probably cause.”
“That may have worked a month ago, but that doesn’t mean squat now. Corporal, search the premises.”

The older man pulled himself up and said “I must protest, who is your superior.”

Private Lloyd Bramble ran from the side of the house. “Colonel, we found supplies in the barn. There was a trap door leading to an underground chamber. There were cases of water and canned food as well as weapons and ammo.”

The Colonel said “Corporal, arrest this man.”

A white haired lady came from the kitchen “No, leave him alone.”

“Arrest her as well. Take them to the Camp.”

The Camp the Colonel referred to was a recently created FEMA camp at the Naval Air Station in White Settlement.

Corporal Jenkins said “Sir, we have procured the supplies, is that really necessary?”

“Tell me you are not questioning my authority, Corporal, that would not make me happy.”

“Sir, no sir.”

“Good, carry on, we have four more stops to make today.” The Colonel was operating from a list communicated to him through channels but in essence coming directly from the President’s office. President Packard’s office a year back began compiling a list of journalists, bloggers, and others that publically issued criticism for his administration. He belabored the people as unpatriotic and categorized them as terrorists. Forums were reviewed and those people who held dissenting and negative opinions were classified as persons-of-interests to watch. Now with Martial Law declared, the witch hunt began where the progressive agenda could further itself by thinning out the ranks of the conservatives and the right-wingers.

Corporal Jenkins and Private Bramble gathered the older couple up and moved them into the Hum Vee as they protested.

“Wait, you can’t take us away from our home, we haven’t done anything.” The woman said.

“You will have a chance to address the charges against you. Right now you have been charged with hoarding which under martial law, the Patriot Act and orders from President Packard, what you have done is illegal.”

The older man said calmly “You know it can’t be illegal unless there is a law passed that makes it illegal. The president cannot pass laws, only Congress can. Therefore what you are doing is illegal.”

Private Bramble slammed his M16 rifle butt into the older man’s head. “Shut up. Traitors like you make me sick.”

“Knock it off Private.” The Corporal said.

The old man slumped moaning lowly into his wife’s lap.

They arrived at the camp and were waved through the gates. The Hum Vee drove over to a large hanger. The wife helped her husband out of the vehicle. His white shirt was covered in blood and he looked pretty dazed. They were escorted in through the doors where they saw a wire fence taking up most of the space in the hangar where it was full of people looking equally oppressed and hopeless. There were hundreds of people milling about glassy-eyed and shell-shocked.

The Corporal escorted the couple into the processing area and then he and the Private returned to their vehicle to return to his squad where they had several more stops to make.

On rejoining their squad, they continued on to the next destination. The Colonel said “If we can find one more stash of supplies people are hoarding we may be in for a commendation. What we are doing here is vital in getting supplies to the people that need them. We are a life-line to thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people who would be destitute and hopeless without us.”

Sergeant Major Chandler said “Sir, what about what the old man was saying about the Fourth Amendment, was that true?”

“It may have been true at one time but we are in an emergency situation. We take orders directly from the President of the United States, there is NO higher authority so we will follow orders as usual.”

[223shootersc]

very good story like your work, can't wait for MOAR

[dstraito]

Doug worked long days including the planning sessions after the daily chores were done. He hadn’t had much time to spend with Susan but surprisingly was okay with that. He was filled with a sense of accomplishment each day like what he was doing really mattered. He never had that sense being a manager of a sporting goods store. Granted, he did his work well, his effort contributed to the stores profitable bottom line but he never felt like he was accomplishing anything worthwhile. The people at the Compound that accepted the provisions Ralph laid out were all getting along very well. Everyone was performing their assigned chores and if anyone had any spare cycles they were volunteering to help in other areas. There was a sense that they were in a precarious situation and the group was their main line of defense. The reports that were coming in horrified the people and everyone was worried that despite their best efforts, what they were doing was not enough to protect them from the ravages of the current conflict.

As if to underscore their precarious situation, Gunny came in, out of breath as if he’d been running.

“Doug, come quick, to the infirmary. Sean Buckler was standing watch in the tower and he was shot.”

Doug stopped what he was doing and ran with Gunny to the make-shift infirmary.
Houston Ashcroft, co-owner of the canoe and Kayak store helped bring Sean down from the tower. He was laid out on a table with Jeb Rodd applying a compress to Sean right shoulder.

“What happened?” Doug asked.

“Sean was standing watch and fell down before the sound of the shot reached him. We know the general direction and think the shot must have been from about two hundred yards out, back in the tree line. They must have used a rifle for that type of accuracy.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“The bullet passed through his right shoulder and exited. He should be okay, but we really should be at a hospital, but I know there isn’t one and a doctor should really be treating him, not me.” Jeb Rodd said.

Jeb was the veterinarian that worked with Susan at the no-kill animal shelter
Doug said “Jeb, you are doing fine. Gunny, is there anyone in the tower now?”

“No, we didn’t think it safe.”

“We have to get someone up there that is our only vantage point. Make sure they don’t provide a silhouette or target but we have to have eyes in a 360. If we are under attack, we have to know about it.”

Tim McCall was there. “I’ll go.”

Doug said “Be careful. Let us know as soon as possible if you see a threat.”

Tim left to go to the tower.

Doug said “Gunny, round four or five guys up and get some arms, double the patrols.”

“Done.” Gunny said.

“How is Sean?” Doug asked.

Jeb said “He has stabilized; we are going to need to give him some antibiotics.”

“Do it. I think that is a good justification for using them.”

The Compound went on alert and besides Tim in the tower; the patrols were checking the perimeter at various points along the wall. Even though they were fairly secure behind the fourteen foot wall, a coordinated attack could undermine them.

Doug climbed up the inner ladder to the first chamber of the fifty foot tower. He peered through one of the window crosses and scanned the tree line. He pulled away from the window and went back to it several times taking a full minute to view the horizon just in case he was dialed in. He climbed up to the top level.

“See anything Tim?” Doug asked.

“No. I’ve been looking through the spotting scope and the only thing that has moved has been a couple of birds. Of course if they are still and wearing camo, it would be easy to miss them.”

“What do you suppose their deal is? I mean pick us off one at a time. Obviously, they aren’t trying to rush the Compound.”

Tim said “They might be trying to provoke us and setup an ambush on the people we send outside the wall. It could be strangers or it could be people around town that know what we have here in the Compound.”

“I can’t believe anyone from Paradise would shoot someone here.”

“How about your buddies, the three stooges? Or the Chief at the bidding of the Mayor? Or it could just be random gangs trying to drive us out. Luckily for us they can’t get the high ground on us as the land is the high point and with the fourteen foot walls there is no where they can see in.”

“Yes, but there are times that we are going to have to go outside the walls. We are supposed to plant the spring crops in about three weeks. We have some inside the walls but to feed all of us, we are going to have to use land outside.”

“That could be a problem.” Tim said.

Doug stayed with Tim for another hour. “I’m going to go check on Sean.”

“If he’s conscious, tell him I’m praying for him.”

“Will do and I’ll send someone to relieve you in a couple of hours. I think we are going to have to do 24x7 for at least the foreseeable future.”

“I think that would be wise but the watch group will have to be careful. We might never know they are out there until they pull the trigger.”

Doug climbed down and went to the make-shift infirmary. Sean was almost as white as the sheet covering him but he was awake.

“How’s it going bud?” Doug said.

“I’ll be okay. As soon as I’m better I’m going after that bastard that shot me.”

“I don’t blame you but we can’t do anything without planning. That may be exactly what they want us to do is lose our temper and leave the Compound where they can pick us off.”

“So we are going to let them get away with this?” Sean said with disgust.

“Not hardly. But we are going to be smart about it. I don’t know how they are equipped but we have some night vision goggles. Several people have already volunteered to go outside the walls tonight with the NV goggles. It might be dicey if the shooter or shooters have them too but we need to know if it was a random stranger passing by or if there is someone stalking us and waiting us out.”

“Count me in.”

“I don’t think you are quite ready but I appreciate your willingness.”

“Tell me if you catch them alive, you’ll let me have a crack at them.”

“You got it, though the men have instructions to err on the side of caution. Shoot first, take names later. It would be nice if we could get at least one of them alive so we can get information from them. I’m going to go brief Ralph, take it easy Sean.”

“Okay, thanks.” Sean closed his eyes like the conversation had worn him out.

Doug found Ralph in the study. He knocked and walked in.

“Sean’s going to be okay.” Doug said.

Ralph gave a big sigh. “I’m relieved. What are we doing about it?”

“Houston and Tim are going out tonight, I’m checking the NV goggles out for them to use tonight.”

“Is two guys enough? Does that put them at risk?”

Doug said “We thought about that, we think it will be easier for just two guys to conceal their movement. Also, from a logistics point of view, we only have four Night Vision goggles so we really can’t afford to lose all of them in one foray.”
“Makes sense. Did you distribute the weapons?”

“Yes, eight men are going to rotate shifts in the tower, they are going to share two 30-06 rifles. We handed out four .223 Bushmasters to the guys walking the perimeter. Right now it doesn’t look like there is an effort to storm the Compound but they could be out there waiting us out.”

“Keep me informed. This could be a problem with anyone leaving the Compound. Eventually we will have to go out and if someone is out there we won’t last long.”
“I was talking about that with Tim, that’s why we are going out tonight. Hopefully they would catch the shooter unawares and either take him out or even better catch him so we can question him to see if there are others.”

“You know, one of the fatal flaws in this whole Compound plan is that we can’t outlast a prolonged siege.” Ralph sagged visibly.

“Ralph, are you okay?”

“I’m just tired, I’ll be alright.”

Doug worried the stress might be getting to Ralph, he’d never seen him this desolate looking.

He looked at his watch. It’s about time for Tim and Houston to go out; I’m going to go brief them.”

“Okay, Godspeed.” Ralph said.

Doug found Tim and Houston at the base of the tower. It was almost dark and they were adjusting the NV goggles.

“I can see you five by five.” Houston said.

“Isn’t that a CB term?” Tim asked.

“Well, yeah, but it seemed an appropriate use.”

“Goggles are working fine Doug, we are ready to go.”

“I’ve been thinking, instead of going out the gate we should drop a rope ladder on the opposite side and sneak out. If they are watching anything, it will be the gate.”
“Good idea, but if we run into a large group, I hope you open the gate if you see us running full speed toward you.”

“Definitely, we have two guys with rifles standing by and two others to open the gates if necessary while the other two cover them. I’m hoping it was a random walk-by and they are long gone but the next best hope will be to catch a small group. Don’t take any chances.”

Doug walked with the two to the back fence. They’d staged a wooden ladder on the wall allowing them to climb to the top of the wall. They attached the rope ladder to the wooden ladder and the two climbed to the bottom. Doug couldn’t see them very well since it was so dark. He couldn’t remember a time when the countryside achieved such darkness and the stars were so brilliant and plentiful. He heard a whistle and then Tim called out, “You make a great silhouette, go down the ladder.”
Doug scurried down the ladder and but thought he was only a silhouette if someone had NV goggles. He walked to the gate to stand with the other four, anxiously awaiting their return.

[sssarawolf]

Thank you very much, I am a avid reader and this helps to have so many chapters .