First, before you guys ream me out for stealing some aspects from Lights Out, i "stole" those ideas because they inspired me. different names, but generally the same personalities...Hope you enjoy it. and yes, there may be a part 2,3, etc.
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Frank wasn’t entirely paying attention - he rarely did when driving up his driveway, since it was nearly a mile long. He didn’t mind the long drive, the result of owning almost a thousand acres. He much preferred this to the noise and dirt of the city he used to live in. After making his million, he decided to take advantage of Vermont’s vast tracts of untouched land – and cheap prices, too. He just passed the side-driveway that lead to his tenant and friend, Jon, who lived with his wife Mandy and son Frederick, when something stopped that should have been still going. That was his car. He turned the key, and after turning the engine over a few times, it made no more noise than the *click* of the key. Luckily it was less than 100 yards to his house from here – he didn’t want the ice cream he bought to melt.
Glad that he only bought two bags of goods, Frank started the walk to the house. Upon reaching his destination, his wife told him that her cellphone had just died. They had service, she had used her phone before.
“I told you, you should keep that thing charged!”
“But I did! I just unplugged it…”
Frank instantly got the feeling of a pit in his stomach – he checked his watch – a digital Dakota Watches piece, and where there were supposed to be numbers, there was a mocking grey-green screen. Frank tried their other electrical appliances – TV, no. Lights, no. Phone…no. Trying to suppress his mild panic, Frank dug out an ancient AM radio and tried it:
“…homes. This is a recorded message. Approximately half of the Untied States has been hit with an EMP-”
The pit in Frank’s stomach deepened.
“An EMP is short for electromagnetic pulse, which can be caused by a nuclear detonation in the Earth’s atmosphere. It will cause all complex electronic devices to fail unless protected. Please stay in your homes. Do not attempt to travel to relatives. Major car accidents have already happened with overcrowded highways. Again, please stay in your homes. This is a recorded…”
Frank had a special word for situations like this.
****....
Frank decided to go up to his neighbor’s house to see what he thought of the situation. Fighting in both Korea and Vietnam had given Gunnery Sgt. Samuel Cobbler, nicknamed Gunny, a good sense of what to do in such situations. Of course, Frank and his wife, Jen, and son, Alan, had their bug-out-bags and knew about emergency preparedness, but Frank felt better about consulting Gunny before making any moves.
After spending 15 minutes jogging to Gunny’s, he found his neighbor walking around his 5-year-old car cursing at it, Frank couldn’t help to suppress a small chuckle.
“I was just about to go out for groceries and this sumbitch died on me!”,
Gunny explained to Frank. After Frank explained the situation, Gunny furrowed his brow in thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion:
“Well, this will definitely cause civil unrest for a while – damage from an EMP doesn’t take a day to fix. I’m most worried ‘bout the gangbangers in New York – after a few weeks a’ lootin’ an’ causing havoc, the ones that survive the police and whoever else they send in there, they’re most likely to migrate up here eventually – I’d give them about a month before they start moving…”
“And addition to that, I never really liked the Polocks down the road – I hear he got kicked out of the Marine Corps – and I’ve a feeling he’s going to be a valuable asset to the gangbangers, If you know what I mean…”
“Well, Frank – you have a thousan’ acres and a decent amount of people, with Jon’s family along with yours – we should put fortifications around yer house, perhaps use some of them treestands you use fer hunting fer a watchtower.”
“Yea, I suppose I should start working on that soon – hey, do you want to live with us? We’ve got a decent stash of food, and I have some venison from my last hunt-”
“Naw, naw, I’ll stay up here unless it gets bad, and I’ve got m’self a few crates of MRE’s that are used in the army along with some other staples I have stocked up, so that should sustain me for a while.”
+++++++++
After two weeks of toil, Frank’s house was seemingly vulnerable, but unseen treestands and strategically placed foxholes silently watched over Frank’s house and a few acres beyond. Gunny had started feeling uneasy about gangbangers and looters, evidenced by occasional booms and cracks in the distance from gunfire, so he decided to take advantage of Frank’s offer. Frank and Jon had loaded up his Jeep with all of Gunny’s things he needed, finding that the Jeep worked because it had been made before circuit boards were introduced into cars. But, soon after Frank turned a corner in the road, something unexpected was waiting for them.
“YA’ STOP YO’ CAR RIGHT THERE, YO!” were the words thrown to them over a police bullhorn by three gangbangers. Curses flying everywhere, like the dirt thrown from the Jeep’s wheels when Frank slammed the brakes, Frank was at loss of what to do – the gangbangers were about 70 yards away, way too far for his Kel-Tec P3AT .380 Auto that he always kept with him. Gunny, in a hurried whisper, said:
“Stay here, I know how to handle this…Just like in Korea…”
Frank caught the sound of a metallic *click-chunk*, then he realized Gunny was hanging out the window with the M1 Garand-
*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM* was the sound that filled the air next, along with four shining spent brass shells. The veteran’s aim had not deteriorated over the years. Four rounds had found their marks on two of the gangbangers, putting neat little .30 caliber holes in them, but less than neat exit wounds. The last gangbanger had hid behind the engine block of the car they were using as a barricade, and was firing erratically over the hood. The heavy cast steel engine block was a tough opponent to the Garand, but four more spent .30/06 shells along with an empty en-bloc clip clattered onto the Jeeps’ windshield, and a hole was torn through the engine block, thus restoring the air to characteristic Vermont silence.
“Just like in Korea, boys. Hang out the winder’ of your Jeep…” Gunny and Jon, both being Marines, were not as affected with the sudden adrenaline rush as was Frank, who was now experiencing the common twitching after the body’s adrenaline dump. Frank opted to have Jon drive the rest of the way back, while Frank tried to restore his heart rate to normal.
It was turning to dusk, and Frank was still calming down from the events of that day. His wife’s gentle hands touched his shoulders, and Jen’s voice reached Frank’s ears.
“How are you?”
“Better, but the…eh…enormity of it all is still kind of hanging around…”
“Gunny did what he had to do, and you probably would have too. They were bad people – think of it this way: they’ll never pose a threat to Gunny, us, or Jon’s family again. The less dangerous people there are the safer life will be until everything is fixed. And that will be a while, so…”
Jen struggled with words so they would not come out too harsh.
“…you should accept it and accept that it’ll be the way of life for a while.”
“…Yea, I know… I’m going to take a breath of fresh air before I go to bed. Be right back.”
“Okay…”
Frank closed his eyes and put his head against a post in the gazebo in his yard, and took a deep breath of fresh air as an X-shaped muzzleflash appeared in front of him. The spindles of the railing near him turned to splinters as Frank registered the signature ear-splitting *CRACK* of a .223 round.
---------
Hope it's good,
~tmm
---------
Frank wasn’t entirely paying attention - he rarely did when driving up his driveway, since it was nearly a mile long. He didn’t mind the long drive, the result of owning almost a thousand acres. He much preferred this to the noise and dirt of the city he used to live in. After making his million, he decided to take advantage of Vermont’s vast tracts of untouched land – and cheap prices, too. He just passed the side-driveway that lead to his tenant and friend, Jon, who lived with his wife Mandy and son Frederick, when something stopped that should have been still going. That was his car. He turned the key, and after turning the engine over a few times, it made no more noise than the *click* of the key. Luckily it was less than 100 yards to his house from here – he didn’t want the ice cream he bought to melt.
Glad that he only bought two bags of goods, Frank started the walk to the house. Upon reaching his destination, his wife told him that her cellphone had just died. They had service, she had used her phone before.
“I told you, you should keep that thing charged!”
“But I did! I just unplugged it…”
Frank instantly got the feeling of a pit in his stomach – he checked his watch – a digital Dakota Watches piece, and where there were supposed to be numbers, there was a mocking grey-green screen. Frank tried their other electrical appliances – TV, no. Lights, no. Phone…no. Trying to suppress his mild panic, Frank dug out an ancient AM radio and tried it:
“…homes. This is a recorded message. Approximately half of the Untied States has been hit with an EMP-”
The pit in Frank’s stomach deepened.
“An EMP is short for electromagnetic pulse, which can be caused by a nuclear detonation in the Earth’s atmosphere. It will cause all complex electronic devices to fail unless protected. Please stay in your homes. Do not attempt to travel to relatives. Major car accidents have already happened with overcrowded highways. Again, please stay in your homes. This is a recorded…”
Frank had a special word for situations like this.
****....
Frank decided to go up to his neighbor’s house to see what he thought of the situation. Fighting in both Korea and Vietnam had given Gunnery Sgt. Samuel Cobbler, nicknamed Gunny, a good sense of what to do in such situations. Of course, Frank and his wife, Jen, and son, Alan, had their bug-out-bags and knew about emergency preparedness, but Frank felt better about consulting Gunny before making any moves.
After spending 15 minutes jogging to Gunny’s, he found his neighbor walking around his 5-year-old car cursing at it, Frank couldn’t help to suppress a small chuckle.
“I was just about to go out for groceries and this sumbitch died on me!”,
Gunny explained to Frank. After Frank explained the situation, Gunny furrowed his brow in thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion:
“Well, this will definitely cause civil unrest for a while – damage from an EMP doesn’t take a day to fix. I’m most worried ‘bout the gangbangers in New York – after a few weeks a’ lootin’ an’ causing havoc, the ones that survive the police and whoever else they send in there, they’re most likely to migrate up here eventually – I’d give them about a month before they start moving…”
“And addition to that, I never really liked the Polocks down the road – I hear he got kicked out of the Marine Corps – and I’ve a feeling he’s going to be a valuable asset to the gangbangers, If you know what I mean…”
“Well, Frank – you have a thousan’ acres and a decent amount of people, with Jon’s family along with yours – we should put fortifications around yer house, perhaps use some of them treestands you use fer hunting fer a watchtower.”
“Yea, I suppose I should start working on that soon – hey, do you want to live with us? We’ve got a decent stash of food, and I have some venison from my last hunt-”
“Naw, naw, I’ll stay up here unless it gets bad, and I’ve got m’self a few crates of MRE’s that are used in the army along with some other staples I have stocked up, so that should sustain me for a while.”
+++++++++
After two weeks of toil, Frank’s house was seemingly vulnerable, but unseen treestands and strategically placed foxholes silently watched over Frank’s house and a few acres beyond. Gunny had started feeling uneasy about gangbangers and looters, evidenced by occasional booms and cracks in the distance from gunfire, so he decided to take advantage of Frank’s offer. Frank and Jon had loaded up his Jeep with all of Gunny’s things he needed, finding that the Jeep worked because it had been made before circuit boards were introduced into cars. But, soon after Frank turned a corner in the road, something unexpected was waiting for them.
“YA’ STOP YO’ CAR RIGHT THERE, YO!” were the words thrown to them over a police bullhorn by three gangbangers. Curses flying everywhere, like the dirt thrown from the Jeep’s wheels when Frank slammed the brakes, Frank was at loss of what to do – the gangbangers were about 70 yards away, way too far for his Kel-Tec P3AT .380 Auto that he always kept with him. Gunny, in a hurried whisper, said:
“Stay here, I know how to handle this…Just like in Korea…”
Frank caught the sound of a metallic *click-chunk*, then he realized Gunny was hanging out the window with the M1 Garand-
*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM* was the sound that filled the air next, along with four shining spent brass shells. The veteran’s aim had not deteriorated over the years. Four rounds had found their marks on two of the gangbangers, putting neat little .30 caliber holes in them, but less than neat exit wounds. The last gangbanger had hid behind the engine block of the car they were using as a barricade, and was firing erratically over the hood. The heavy cast steel engine block was a tough opponent to the Garand, but four more spent .30/06 shells along with an empty en-bloc clip clattered onto the Jeeps’ windshield, and a hole was torn through the engine block, thus restoring the air to characteristic Vermont silence.
“Just like in Korea, boys. Hang out the winder’ of your Jeep…” Gunny and Jon, both being Marines, were not as affected with the sudden adrenaline rush as was Frank, who was now experiencing the common twitching after the body’s adrenaline dump. Frank opted to have Jon drive the rest of the way back, while Frank tried to restore his heart rate to normal.
It was turning to dusk, and Frank was still calming down from the events of that day. His wife’s gentle hands touched his shoulders, and Jen’s voice reached Frank’s ears.
“How are you?”
“Better, but the…eh…enormity of it all is still kind of hanging around…”
“Gunny did what he had to do, and you probably would have too. They were bad people – think of it this way: they’ll never pose a threat to Gunny, us, or Jon’s family again. The less dangerous people there are the safer life will be until everything is fixed. And that will be a while, so…”
Jen struggled with words so they would not come out too harsh.
“…you should accept it and accept that it’ll be the way of life for a while.”
“…Yea, I know… I’m going to take a breath of fresh air before I go to bed. Be right back.”
“Okay…”
Frank closed his eyes and put his head against a post in the gazebo in his yard, and took a deep breath of fresh air as an X-shaped muzzleflash appeared in front of him. The spindles of the railing near him turned to splinters as Frank registered the signature ear-splitting *CRACK* of a .223 round.
---------
Hope it's good,
~tmm
Gangbangers?
i say we make them a more formal enemy, something like gurrillas or a violent invasion force.
