Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure (15 page)

The group added to their piles: galvanized buckets, axes, hurricane lamps, lamp oil, candles, horse shampoos, cleaners, come-alongs, ratchet straps, bolt cutters, fireplace matches, tarps, rolls of plastic, duct tape, and rope.

Dennis brought several cast iron pans and some Dutch ovens to the front of the store. “We've already got some of those at the ranch, Dennis,” Kelly said.

“I know, but it isn't my plan to stay with you forever. There's a lot of people in those small houses and lots of mouths to feed. I don't think Jose is thinking about staying forever either. This stuff will be hard to come by and a necessity if we strike out on our own,” Dennis said as he added hand grinders to the pile.

Kelly cocked her head to one side. “What, you guys don't like being in Sunflower with us?”

“That's just it, Kelly,” Dennis said without stopping his work. “It's
your
place. I don't see us leaving anytime soon, though.”

“Over here,” Jose called. He held up a chainsaw. “This thing might still work if it had gas and oil, and we've got plenty of that in the stalled cars. I bet some of the other small engines work too. Anything without electronics should run, like this water pump; it's got a starter rope. These generators have starter ropes, but I bet their voltage regulation circuits are shot,” said Jose. “Let's take a few of these engines. I'll find something for them to do.”

Rich and Kelly helped each other carry two water pumps, two chainsaws and a generator to the front, each time checking on Dennis.

Kelly heard glass breaking in the middle of the store. “What's up!”

“It's okay,” Jose yelled. “I just smashed a glass case to get knives and multi-tools.”

“Get a few, but let's wrap this up,” Kelly called back.

It took a few minutes, but everyone brought the last of their treasures up to the front.

“Jose, you got a new knife?” Dennis asked. “A bit large for gutting chickens, don't you think?” He didn't give Jose a chance to answer. “If you ask me, like father, like son.”

Jose just smirked.

“I think we should be out of here,” Kelly said. We aren't going to get all of this back to Sunflower on our cart. Maybe we could hide some of the bigger things and come back for them.”

“But what should we leave?” asked Dennis.

“Leave a few of those huge bags of oats and some of that chicken feed, but take the dried corn, that may be our only grain crop. We can get by without this pile too,” Kelly said, motioning to a stack of things that had been put in the “contingent upon room” pile.

“I saw an electrical substation a little north of here,” Rich said. “Bet people won't be looking in there for food. We can put a couple of these padlocks on it after we stash the stuff.”

Rich picked up some padlocks and a cargo net. “We'll use this to secure the load,” he said, holding up the net.

“Let's pack this stuff up and get it to the electrical station. We'll come back for the essentials, Kelly said. “Who wants to stay and guard this stuff and who wants to go?”

“I'll stay,” said Dennis. “It's gotta be safer here than out there on the streets.”

“Okay, Dennis, if you're sure,” said Jose.

Rich got Traveler and hooked him up to the cart while Jose, Dennis and Kelly loaded it.

Dennis took up a concealed position inside the store as the others left. The stash team disappeared around a small hill.

Rounding a corner, a substation came into sight. The fenced collection of formerly battleship-grey metal boxes and cylinders sat blackened and torn open by explosions of the huge power transformers that lay inside the fence. Overhead, broken power lines and metal scaffolding dangled in twisted shapes. The high barbed-wire-topped fence surrounding the substation seemed to be partially intact. No one was in sight as they came to the gate. A quick snip with the newly acquired bolt cutters dropped the padlock to the ground. Within the compound, a set of large storage units was located. Second and third snips of the cutters laid the lockers open.

“This will do nicely,” Rich said. “Move the equipment out to make room for our stuff.” Rich and Traveler brought the cart up to the locker doors, and the group went to work moving supplies.

“I can't believe the damage to this place,” Kelly said, looking around.

“There was a massive power surge,” Jose said. “Look, the transmission wires are melted together. The transformers' circuit breakers couldn't trip fast enough or were overwhelmed by the flow. It must be like this all over town. Hell, who knows, it could be like this all over the country.”

“From what I could tell, most of the transformers in Mesa exploded,” Kelly said.” It's been days and no one has come to help. I still haven't seen a single airplane.”

After a few minutes, all of the items were stowed in the electrical compound. The group had bundled them in tarps. Rich secured the outer fencing with his three shiny, new padlocks. “I wouldn't count on any of this stuff being here when we come back. All we can do now is hope that no one saw us stash it.”

“Let's get back to Dennis and get the rest of our stuff,” Jose said. “I'd like to get out of town. Do you think we will make it home tonight?” Jose directed his question to Kelly.

“It's going to be a long haul for the horses with that cart,” Kelly said. “We have quite a bit of elevation on the way home. If we switch them out often, it's a possibility.”

“I was hoping to get home. A night on the desert doesn't seem very appealing and I'm feelin' sorry for Lynn. You know her mom's dead and now she's worryin' about her dad. It would be nice to get him back to her tonight,” said Jose.

“Yeah, and I'm anxious about Jared too. My mom's a hell of a nurse. She saw plenty of wounded in Vietnam, but infections are tricky. We'll know something tomorrow.”

The three companions started back to the feed store. As they got closer, the roads seemed deathly quiet.

Gunfire erupted.

“What the hell?” Kelly shrieked.

“It's near the feed store,” Rich exclaimed, kicking Buckskin in the flank, urging him to run. “Dennis!”

Hokey lunged after Buckskin without any urging from Jose.

Kelly struggled to maintain control of Traveler. If she let the horse have his rein downhill at high speed, she chanced losing control of the wagon and killing them both. The stallion, determined to be with the herd, reared up, whinnying and snorting, fighting Kelly's restraint.

Hooves thundered on the pavement and sparks flew from their shoes. The two men rounded the corner in time to see six gunmen charging the store, firing their weapons. One of the attackers fell to the ground just outside the front door. Blood stained the sidewalk where he lay.

Jose and Rich grabbed their long guns from their scabbards while dismounting. Both ran crouched toward the store. Taking advantage of surprise, they knelt behind a door frame. Each chose a human target and fired. Double-ought buckshot exploded from Jose's gun, throwing his foe to the floor. Two 5.56 mm rounds slammed into Rich's target. The gunman began to turn slowly toward Rich, but was unable to complete the turn. His knees gave way and he dropped to the ground. One bandit dove for cover. The other two turned toward the front of the store, firing wildly. Jose and Rich had the advantage of time and position. They each sighted their second targets and fired. The rounds flew straight and true. “Five of six down,” Rich whispered. “One to go. Load your gun full. Did you see Dennis?”

“No,” Jose murmured, “but our last guy dove to the left.”

“I'm coming up,” Kelly whispered.

Jose scampered behind a long, cash-register counter running along the front wall. He reached into his pocket and fumbled, loading shells into his Remington. Rich crouched behind a display of goat feed on the left and motioned Kelly toward Jose behind the counter.

“We think we've shot all but one,” Jose whispered.

Rich held up his finger before his lips, signaling everyone to be quiet. He scanned the store before tapping his ear, indicating he heard something, and then pointed into the aisle on his left.

Footfalls from the left receded toward the rear. Rich crawled quickly to the aisle's entrance. He saw the attacker pass rapidly behind a display of bottles, headed toward the bulk feed section in the back. Kelly rose quietly to peer over the counter, AR-15 at the ready. Quiet descended over the store. She could hear Jose's panting near her. She got his attention and motioned that she would go right while he covered the middle of the store. Together they moved silently down the aisles.

A barrage of gunshots erupted from the back of the store. Jose and Kelly dove for cover, peering around the corner. They listened as Rich's heavy footsteps thundered to the rear of the store. Suddenly the shooting stopped, as quickly as it had begun.

Kelly saw Rich peek around his corner. She motioned to him to hold his position and cover her. With her rifle ready to fire, Kelly “cut the pie” of the opening to the feed area, moving slowly with her weapon in a semicircle around the corner. The gunman lay sprawled in the middle of the floor in a still-forming pool of blood.

“Dennis, are you okay? Dennis, answer me!” She frantically scanned the large, barn-like space. Sacks of all kinds of feed were stacked on pallets, and high piles of baled hay surrounded her. No response. The silence was deafening and she grew more panicked. She glanced hopelessly at Jose and Rich.

“We'll find him,” Rich assured her.

“Dennis!” Kelly yelled again. Her eyes drifted to the man lying on the floor. Blood still flowed from his wound. His outstretched hand nearly touched the grip of his pistol. She scanned the area for threats, then ran to him, knelt down and picked up his gun. She moved closer and checked his pulse at the neck.
Are the other gunmen still alive?
Kelly wondered.

“Rich, Jose, go check the other shooters. Secure their weapons and make certain they aren't a threat. This one is out of action.” They went back toward the front of the store.

Kelly thought,
The gunman had been facing the hay stack to her right
. She eyed the high pile of bales. There was a stairway of sorts, made by removing the bales from the square stack. Nothing looked out of place. She moved cautiously to the side of the stack. “Dennis!” Then she saw him. He was lying on his back, rifle at his side, eyes open and staring at the ceiling. “Dennis!” Kelly screamed, voice shrill, tears coming to her eyes. She scrambled to his side, then dropped to her knees. Dennis blinked and slowly looked at her.

“Oh, I hurt... everywhere,” Dennis groaned.

She breathed a sigh of relief and dropped to her knees beside him. “You better,” she chastised him. “You scared me to death. Don't move. Let me take a look at you.” She began the same quick field assessment she had used during the war. “What happened?”

Dennis tried to sit up, but Kelly put one hand on his forehead, holding his head still. “Don't move your neck. Does it hurt?” She put her free hand gently behind his neck.

“Nope.”

“Does it hurt when I move it side to side or up and down?” she asked, moving his neck very gently.

“Nope.”

“Okay then, slowly, try moving it on your own and see what you think,” Kelly said.

“Everything seems to move okay,” Dennis said, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position. “I was climbing that pile backwards as fast as I could go, shooting as I went. I must have topped it and kept on going. Did I get him?”

“Yeah, you got him alright. We saw you defending the fort. Good timing on our part, huh?” Kelly asked.

“I didn't know I could shoot a man,” Dennis said.

“I'm sorry you had to do that, but you've got to get up, we have to get going before anyone else decides they want what we've got.” Kelly helped Dennis to his feet and together they navigated around shattered glass and pellets of dog food to the front of the store.

Jose and Rich had two of the injured gunmen propped up against the wall. One had a flesh wound to his right arm and the other had been shot through-and-through the left leg. One was pleading for his life, the other just crying.

“We aren't going to kill you,” Rich said.

“We didn't mean to hurt anyone,” the least hurt said. “We were just defending ourselves.”

“Didn't look like you were defending yourselves. We saw six guys charging the store. What a waste of human life,” Rich said. He spat on the ground in disgust. “There's plenty in here for us and all of you too. Now your buddies are dead and for what? You kids have been playing too many damned video games.”

“Please, just let us go,” the youngest pled, tears streaming down his face.

“Oh, we aim to let you go, but you're done shooting at people,” Rich said.

“You take our guns mister, and we're as good as dead,” the other kid said.

“Should have thought about that before you rushed poor Dennis here,” said Rich. “If we give 'em back, you're just as likely to shoot us as not.” He motioned toward the west. “Now, get on out of here while I'm still inclined to let you leave.”

The kid with the flesh wound helped his leg-shot buddy stand, and they hobbled off.

“I hate this,” Rich said. “Scrapping like thugs for things we all need.”

Everyone else was silent.