scrachline
Contributing Member
Clark Story #2 - Effies Farm
Clark realized too late in the last half of his senior high school year that his grades would not get him a college scholarship. He buckled down and finished the remaining time in high school with respectable grades. He actually learned something when he started paying attention to the teachers. He had had a great time in the small town WV school; he was a starter for the basket ball team, a wide receiver for the foot ball team and wrestled for one year before deciding he didn’t like to be in such close proximity to another male. His forte was sprints and distance running and his time for the 100 yards was a respectable 9.87 seconds. If he got the required 2 steps on a defender in either basketball or football, only a cheetah could catch him. He was one of those individuals who had that long wiry frame and his stamina was way above normal. He was 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. He had really wanted to go to college but things did not look like they were going to go his way. His parents were both service provider workers and did not have the money to send him to college, heck they couldn’t even afford to buy him books to go the local community college. That left one option. He went to the recruiters’ office a week after high school. The reason he waited a week was that was the day he turned 18.
4 years later he returned, honorable discharge papers in hand and the wherewithal to attend college for 4 years. He was a little older, a little wiser and a little stronger. He had spent 4 six month tours in a war zone, did some things no normal 18 or 19 year old should have ever been required to do. And learned some things no civilian walking around in the USA would ever think of. A small scar less then ¼ inch long adorned his left cheek. He laughed at that every time he looked in the mirror. He was in a concrete building and the phreakin place had only one window in it – you guessed it he got cut by a piece of flying glass from a grenade blast one of his squad had dropped from the top of the building to eliminate a person sneaking up to that window. He got a purple heart for that scratch and it wasn’t even hot metal that dinged him. There were several firefights he was involved in and he was sure nobody got hurt on any of them at least on his side. His luck held all during his time in that country and the IED (improvised explosive device) detonated on the opposite side of the HumVee he was riding in. The soldiers on that side were severely injured. He continued his sprints and distance running, but he had to do it later in the evening due to the heat. He found his limit was ten 5 minute miles, anything over that and his time went up to almost 8 minute miles. He was thinking he would try out for football and basketball at the college in 2 months when classes started.
The SHTF the week of July 9; his dreams of attending college were instantly shattered.
It happened so quickly the good sheeple of the USA had no idea anything was wrong until the lights went out permanently. The terrorists’ teams had to have planned this for many years. The 24 main power grids that transferred excess power from Canada to Mexico and from the east coast to the west coast were blown up at 3 pm pacific time on the 9th of July. 72 power generating dams across the US and Canada were damaged so heavily that it would take years if ever to repair them. 41 nuclear power plants in the country were each shot with one AT-4 anti tank missile on its dome. This ruptured 36 of the domes and caused the plant to SCRAM (shut down). The other 5 were manually shut down and it would take many months or years to check the integrity of those. 400 critical relay and electrical power transfer stations were blasted with 60mm mortars and completely destroyed. Hoover dam was invaded by 3 teams of terrorists and the generators blown up with large charges of C4. The power generating capability of the USA had been terminated.
The US military went to DEFCON 1 or THREATCON 1 - They did not yet have a country to retaliate against. The President of the US got on the hot line to Russia and China and received some more bad news – Their countries had also been struck and struck hard.
The satellites were still working because they were out of reach of a 3rd world country terrorist capability. So everyone thought. The terrorists knew they could not reach the satellites but they sure could destroy the ground infrastructure which they did with a vengeance. The only satellites still working was linked to on protected military installations and the terrorists did not have the man power or the weapons to take on a fully alert military base.
The terrorists had small planes flying low to the ground when the representatives were helicoptered out to their secure locations. They noted these locations and went into hiding for now.
The stock market just vaporized, there was no trading nor would there be any for who knew how long. The money printing presses in Washington DC rolled to a stop. Social Security checks could not be electronically transferred or sent by US Mail. The food stamp cards and welfare checks ceased. The big grocery chains sold out in 48 hours. There would be no more just in time deliveries for years. In other words if you didn’t have it, you ain’t gonna get it.
Untold thousands of critical care patients died from lack of food and or critical needed power to keep the systems up and running.
Back to our main character Clark.
story #2 part 2
________________________________________
4 days had gone by since the power went off. Clark was sitting on his dad’s front porch saying a dirty 4 letter word over and over. The temperature in the shade was 93 degrees with 90% humidity. Sweat was dribbling down his forehead. He kept thinking I never sweated like this in 115 degree weather and the thought hit him – Ah there was no humidity in the desert. His dad came out and sat in the swing beside his boy. There was a little quiet tension for a few minutes until Clark broke it. He told his dad we cannot stay here, this city is going to explode soon and when the water tank up on the hill there, he pointed at the huge tank on the mountain top, dribbles out the last bit of water, there will be real bad times. His dad agreed with him and said your mom has a 1st cousin who is quite old and lives about 95 miles out of the city in the country and lives on a small 1 acre lot with a creek running through it. I have about 10 gallons of gas in the little shed and that will be enough to get the pickup there.
Clark asked him about guns, his dad said just those 4 long arms and a 357 revolver. A 12 guage pump, a 30-06 bolt gun, and the the lever action 30-30 I bought many, many years ago. There are 2 and ½ boxes of 180 grain 06 bullets, 2 boxes of 30-30, and about 75 #5 or #6 shot shells for the 12 guage and a full box of 50 158 grain jacketed hollow points for the .357. The last time they were out of the closet was when we went squirrel hunting and the last time for the 06 and 30-30 was when we went deer hunting. Clark sat there and said that was over 8 years ago. His dad looked at him and said yep. His dad said your mom is ready to leave; we just have to load the truck.
Clark backed the truck up to the shed which was beside the side door of the house. His dad poured most of the gas in the truck, kept about 2 gallons for the dual fuel lantern and Coleman stove, and Clark started loading their personal possessions. He brought all their important papers because he didn’t figure the house would be here when or if they ever came back. They did have a small amount of camping gear, the cupboard was emptied and his mom brought her sewing materials. The fridge and freezer had been emptied yesterday and the spoiling goods put in trash bags and placed on the curb where the rats and animals would eventually get into them because there would be no more trash pick-up.
Clark asked them if that was all and his dad said just a couple of more things to do, he turned the water, the main breaker and the gas off. Everyone said good bye to the house they had lived in for so long. Clark told his dad to load the pistol, the 06 and the shotgun and cover them up under a blanket on his side behind the driver’s seat in the bed of the truck. On second thought he said, give me the pistol and lay the box of shells on the floor board. Clark was back in combat mode.
just anoter story 2 Part 3
________________________________________
They almost made it past the city limits on a back road before trouble struck. There were 4 autos in front of Clark and 1 behind him. He heard that unmistakable sound of gunfire.
He pulled over to the side of the road and motioned for the auto behind him to pass. The idiot got up close behind him to where Clark could not maneuver. He started to get out of the pick up and tell the idiot to let him back up. He looked close at his side rear view mirror and saw there were 3 guys, all black with big grins on their faces. Ah ha the thought hit him this is an ambush set up and he was last man to be picked off. He sure wished he had his squad with a SAW (squad automatic weapon) and a few other neat devices. Not gonna happen today he thought. OK this is easy. He jumped out of the truck and fired 3 rounds at the car behind him. The driver was the 1st to get shot. The passenger next and the dude smiling under the rear view mirror in the back seat lost his front top right tooth as the 357 bullet took it out through the back of his head. He jumped back in the pick up and told his dad to reload the pistol and backed up beside the car behind him after he had the reloaded pistol in his hand – Lucky me, he thought, he grabbed an AK 47 leaning on the seat beside the driver and a bandoleer of loaded magazines. The back seat man had an AR 15 or M-16 type weapon beside him on the seat. He grabbed it and 5 fully loaded magazines. He then backed up 200 yards and got the 06 from the bed of the truck. He checked under the bolt and saw the shiny brass round gleaming in the sun. He asked his dad about the 06 which had a no name brand 4X scope on it. His dad said ain’t anybody touched that gun since you shot it last. He dug deep in his memory and remembered he had zeroed it in to shoot 2 inches high at 100 yards and that would put him back on at 225 yards. He did all the 30 caliber weapons he picked up in that war zone the exact same way. It worked for him.
He settled down to wait and see how many idiots were robbing the unarmed sheeple. There were 6 of them. Pretty good odds for the amount of firepower he had laying beside him. He told his mom and dad to take a small walk to a grove of trees about 50 yards behind a small mound. He handed the shotgun and the pistol to him. He said if I remember right you cannot hit the side of a barn with a rifle. His dad gave him the finger and said yep. He parked the truck sideways in the middle of the road and pulled a pillow out of the back of the pick up. He leaned across the hood of the truck lay the 06 on the pillow and grinned an evil half grin. He laid the box of 06 bullets on the hood of the truck and took an aim at the big black guy who seemed to be screaming at the other 5.
Well, he thought I cannot stay parked here in the middle of the road with dead people everywhere, if there are any police working it will really look bad for me, unless I kill the police. Nope don’t wanna do that right now; things haven’t went all the way completely down hill yet. He held his point of aim on the big guy’s sternum and was going to track right to the other dude who had hair that looked like it stuck 2 feet straight up. The 1st 2 shots went true. The next 2 went true. Uh Oh the 2 remaining dudes took cover. Well I have to reload this sweet shooting gun. So he did. He walked behind the pickup and lay on the hot asphalt and saw their feet moving around behind a Chevy pick up. He grinned again and when one of the feet quit moving he shot it dead center right about 6 inches above the foot. The other 2 feet were moving to fast away from the auto for him to keep track of. He walked back to the hood and saw the guy about 320 yards away moving fast through a field of 2 foot tall hay. He held just on the back of his head and squeezed the trigger. A red spot appeared about mid center of the running mans back. Now I wonder how much damage was done to that idiots shin bone. He laid back down behind the truck and saw the man laying on the ground holding on to his leg and quivering all over. He shot him again, this time in the stomach. The quivering stopped and the guy ended up in a spread eagle position. He watched him for 2 minutes and there was no movement. He whistled for his dad and said lets get away from here. He picked up the 06 brass and pocketed it.
just another story #2 Part 4
________________________________________
Clark stopped to check the other vehicles for survivors; his mom was giving him down the country for shooting them people. He snatched open the side door of the pick up and almost grabbed her by the hair of the head but came to his senses. The fiery combat mode was slowly fading. He politely asked her to come over to the side of a Ford car and look in the back seat. There was a 2 year old white boy or girl, he could not tell the sex that had been shot in the top of the head with a large caliber bullet and its little tongue was hanging out about an inch from its mouth and both eyeballs were hanging on its cheeks. He said to her in a really low voice. Mom, please do not try to second guess me on some things I do. She puked all over the side of the car. He left her to recover herself. His dad was looking around and said to Clark, they ain’t anything wrong with this Chevy 4 whl drive pick up other then the 2 dead people in it. Clark asked him if he wanted it. He said it has a full tank of gas and is loaded down with supplies that may come in handy later on. Clark said, good thinking dad. Let’s take it. I’ll get mom and put her in our truck. I don’t think she could ride in a blood spattered auto right away. It will take time until she realizes this is a changed country. He helped his dad remove the bodies from the Chevy and they headed out again.
Clark realized too late in the last half of his senior high school year that his grades would not get him a college scholarship. He buckled down and finished the remaining time in high school with respectable grades. He actually learned something when he started paying attention to the teachers. He had had a great time in the small town WV school; he was a starter for the basket ball team, a wide receiver for the foot ball team and wrestled for one year before deciding he didn’t like to be in such close proximity to another male. His forte was sprints and distance running and his time for the 100 yards was a respectable 9.87 seconds. If he got the required 2 steps on a defender in either basketball or football, only a cheetah could catch him. He was one of those individuals who had that long wiry frame and his stamina was way above normal. He was 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. He had really wanted to go to college but things did not look like they were going to go his way. His parents were both service provider workers and did not have the money to send him to college, heck they couldn’t even afford to buy him books to go the local community college. That left one option. He went to the recruiters’ office a week after high school. The reason he waited a week was that was the day he turned 18.
4 years later he returned, honorable discharge papers in hand and the wherewithal to attend college for 4 years. He was a little older, a little wiser and a little stronger. He had spent 4 six month tours in a war zone, did some things no normal 18 or 19 year old should have ever been required to do. And learned some things no civilian walking around in the USA would ever think of. A small scar less then ¼ inch long adorned his left cheek. He laughed at that every time he looked in the mirror. He was in a concrete building and the phreakin place had only one window in it – you guessed it he got cut by a piece of flying glass from a grenade blast one of his squad had dropped from the top of the building to eliminate a person sneaking up to that window. He got a purple heart for that scratch and it wasn’t even hot metal that dinged him. There were several firefights he was involved in and he was sure nobody got hurt on any of them at least on his side. His luck held all during his time in that country and the IED (improvised explosive device) detonated on the opposite side of the HumVee he was riding in. The soldiers on that side were severely injured. He continued his sprints and distance running, but he had to do it later in the evening due to the heat. He found his limit was ten 5 minute miles, anything over that and his time went up to almost 8 minute miles. He was thinking he would try out for football and basketball at the college in 2 months when classes started.
The SHTF the week of July 9; his dreams of attending college were instantly shattered.
It happened so quickly the good sheeple of the USA had no idea anything was wrong until the lights went out permanently. The terrorists’ teams had to have planned this for many years. The 24 main power grids that transferred excess power from Canada to Mexico and from the east coast to the west coast were blown up at 3 pm pacific time on the 9th of July. 72 power generating dams across the US and Canada were damaged so heavily that it would take years if ever to repair them. 41 nuclear power plants in the country were each shot with one AT-4 anti tank missile on its dome. This ruptured 36 of the domes and caused the plant to SCRAM (shut down). The other 5 were manually shut down and it would take many months or years to check the integrity of those. 400 critical relay and electrical power transfer stations were blasted with 60mm mortars and completely destroyed. Hoover dam was invaded by 3 teams of terrorists and the generators blown up with large charges of C4. The power generating capability of the USA had been terminated.
The US military went to DEFCON 1 or THREATCON 1 - They did not yet have a country to retaliate against. The President of the US got on the hot line to Russia and China and received some more bad news – Their countries had also been struck and struck hard.
The satellites were still working because they were out of reach of a 3rd world country terrorist capability. So everyone thought. The terrorists knew they could not reach the satellites but they sure could destroy the ground infrastructure which they did with a vengeance. The only satellites still working was linked to on protected military installations and the terrorists did not have the man power or the weapons to take on a fully alert military base.
The terrorists had small planes flying low to the ground when the representatives were helicoptered out to their secure locations. They noted these locations and went into hiding for now.
The stock market just vaporized, there was no trading nor would there be any for who knew how long. The money printing presses in Washington DC rolled to a stop. Social Security checks could not be electronically transferred or sent by US Mail. The food stamp cards and welfare checks ceased. The big grocery chains sold out in 48 hours. There would be no more just in time deliveries for years. In other words if you didn’t have it, you ain’t gonna get it.
Untold thousands of critical care patients died from lack of food and or critical needed power to keep the systems up and running.
Back to our main character Clark.
story #2 part 2
________________________________________
4 days had gone by since the power went off. Clark was sitting on his dad’s front porch saying a dirty 4 letter word over and over. The temperature in the shade was 93 degrees with 90% humidity. Sweat was dribbling down his forehead. He kept thinking I never sweated like this in 115 degree weather and the thought hit him – Ah there was no humidity in the desert. His dad came out and sat in the swing beside his boy. There was a little quiet tension for a few minutes until Clark broke it. He told his dad we cannot stay here, this city is going to explode soon and when the water tank up on the hill there, he pointed at the huge tank on the mountain top, dribbles out the last bit of water, there will be real bad times. His dad agreed with him and said your mom has a 1st cousin who is quite old and lives about 95 miles out of the city in the country and lives on a small 1 acre lot with a creek running through it. I have about 10 gallons of gas in the little shed and that will be enough to get the pickup there.
Clark asked him about guns, his dad said just those 4 long arms and a 357 revolver. A 12 guage pump, a 30-06 bolt gun, and the the lever action 30-30 I bought many, many years ago. There are 2 and ½ boxes of 180 grain 06 bullets, 2 boxes of 30-30, and about 75 #5 or #6 shot shells for the 12 guage and a full box of 50 158 grain jacketed hollow points for the .357. The last time they were out of the closet was when we went squirrel hunting and the last time for the 06 and 30-30 was when we went deer hunting. Clark sat there and said that was over 8 years ago. His dad looked at him and said yep. His dad said your mom is ready to leave; we just have to load the truck.
Clark backed the truck up to the shed which was beside the side door of the house. His dad poured most of the gas in the truck, kept about 2 gallons for the dual fuel lantern and Coleman stove, and Clark started loading their personal possessions. He brought all their important papers because he didn’t figure the house would be here when or if they ever came back. They did have a small amount of camping gear, the cupboard was emptied and his mom brought her sewing materials. The fridge and freezer had been emptied yesterday and the spoiling goods put in trash bags and placed on the curb where the rats and animals would eventually get into them because there would be no more trash pick-up.
Clark asked them if that was all and his dad said just a couple of more things to do, he turned the water, the main breaker and the gas off. Everyone said good bye to the house they had lived in for so long. Clark told his dad to load the pistol, the 06 and the shotgun and cover them up under a blanket on his side behind the driver’s seat in the bed of the truck. On second thought he said, give me the pistol and lay the box of shells on the floor board. Clark was back in combat mode.
just anoter story 2 Part 3
________________________________________
They almost made it past the city limits on a back road before trouble struck. There were 4 autos in front of Clark and 1 behind him. He heard that unmistakable sound of gunfire.
He pulled over to the side of the road and motioned for the auto behind him to pass. The idiot got up close behind him to where Clark could not maneuver. He started to get out of the pick up and tell the idiot to let him back up. He looked close at his side rear view mirror and saw there were 3 guys, all black with big grins on their faces. Ah ha the thought hit him this is an ambush set up and he was last man to be picked off. He sure wished he had his squad with a SAW (squad automatic weapon) and a few other neat devices. Not gonna happen today he thought. OK this is easy. He jumped out of the truck and fired 3 rounds at the car behind him. The driver was the 1st to get shot. The passenger next and the dude smiling under the rear view mirror in the back seat lost his front top right tooth as the 357 bullet took it out through the back of his head. He jumped back in the pick up and told his dad to reload the pistol and backed up beside the car behind him after he had the reloaded pistol in his hand – Lucky me, he thought, he grabbed an AK 47 leaning on the seat beside the driver and a bandoleer of loaded magazines. The back seat man had an AR 15 or M-16 type weapon beside him on the seat. He grabbed it and 5 fully loaded magazines. He then backed up 200 yards and got the 06 from the bed of the truck. He checked under the bolt and saw the shiny brass round gleaming in the sun. He asked his dad about the 06 which had a no name brand 4X scope on it. His dad said ain’t anybody touched that gun since you shot it last. He dug deep in his memory and remembered he had zeroed it in to shoot 2 inches high at 100 yards and that would put him back on at 225 yards. He did all the 30 caliber weapons he picked up in that war zone the exact same way. It worked for him.
He settled down to wait and see how many idiots were robbing the unarmed sheeple. There were 6 of them. Pretty good odds for the amount of firepower he had laying beside him. He told his mom and dad to take a small walk to a grove of trees about 50 yards behind a small mound. He handed the shotgun and the pistol to him. He said if I remember right you cannot hit the side of a barn with a rifle. His dad gave him the finger and said yep. He parked the truck sideways in the middle of the road and pulled a pillow out of the back of the pick up. He leaned across the hood of the truck lay the 06 on the pillow and grinned an evil half grin. He laid the box of 06 bullets on the hood of the truck and took an aim at the big black guy who seemed to be screaming at the other 5.
Well, he thought I cannot stay parked here in the middle of the road with dead people everywhere, if there are any police working it will really look bad for me, unless I kill the police. Nope don’t wanna do that right now; things haven’t went all the way completely down hill yet. He held his point of aim on the big guy’s sternum and was going to track right to the other dude who had hair that looked like it stuck 2 feet straight up. The 1st 2 shots went true. The next 2 went true. Uh Oh the 2 remaining dudes took cover. Well I have to reload this sweet shooting gun. So he did. He walked behind the pickup and lay on the hot asphalt and saw their feet moving around behind a Chevy pick up. He grinned again and when one of the feet quit moving he shot it dead center right about 6 inches above the foot. The other 2 feet were moving to fast away from the auto for him to keep track of. He walked back to the hood and saw the guy about 320 yards away moving fast through a field of 2 foot tall hay. He held just on the back of his head and squeezed the trigger. A red spot appeared about mid center of the running mans back. Now I wonder how much damage was done to that idiots shin bone. He laid back down behind the truck and saw the man laying on the ground holding on to his leg and quivering all over. He shot him again, this time in the stomach. The quivering stopped and the guy ended up in a spread eagle position. He watched him for 2 minutes and there was no movement. He whistled for his dad and said lets get away from here. He picked up the 06 brass and pocketed it.
just another story #2 Part 4
________________________________________
Clark stopped to check the other vehicles for survivors; his mom was giving him down the country for shooting them people. He snatched open the side door of the pick up and almost grabbed her by the hair of the head but came to his senses. The fiery combat mode was slowly fading. He politely asked her to come over to the side of a Ford car and look in the back seat. There was a 2 year old white boy or girl, he could not tell the sex that had been shot in the top of the head with a large caliber bullet and its little tongue was hanging out about an inch from its mouth and both eyeballs were hanging on its cheeks. He said to her in a really low voice. Mom, please do not try to second guess me on some things I do. She puked all over the side of the car. He left her to recover herself. His dad was looking around and said to Clark, they ain’t anything wrong with this Chevy 4 whl drive pick up other then the 2 dead people in it. Clark asked him if he wanted it. He said it has a full tank of gas and is loaded down with supplies that may come in handy later on. Clark said, good thinking dad. Let’s take it. I’ll get mom and put her in our truck. I don’t think she could ride in a blood spattered auto right away. It will take time until she realizes this is a changed country. He helped his dad remove the bodies from the Chevy and they headed out again.