Chapter Six Humanity Found

The following morning James awake to a roaring headache, he was feverish, and he found himself in a soft down feather bed with an ivy stuck in his arm. From his point of view he saw himself on the second floor of some sort of structure similar to a modern home. He was to delirious to determine how and who brought him here. But on the bright side James was not shackled to a wall or tucked away in a basement with Andrew Skelton. Besides the bed to his embarrassment were his clothes repaired, washed, and folded. He was wearing some traditional male pajamas with white back ground and blue stripes. His gear was right next to his clothes and from what he can tell was repacked and odor of clean soap radiated from the contents.

Outside a rooster cock coo doodled to bring on the day but it was already midday. An old hand crank clock sat by his night stand telling the time around eleven forty-seven am. The sun hurt his eyes as he returned his focused outside to what look a yard filled with chickens running around, with a dog barking and chasing a cat, several cows could be seen from a pasture; he was on a farm of some kind. A knock on the door startled him from his observation. An old woman came in, oh good you are awake, we were beginning to worry about you, said the old woman. James had not realized that in his confusion with the delirium that he was standing and that his ankle was in fresh gauze wrap and the pain was there but not excruciating when he had passed out on the road. My husband used to be a doctor and he had to cut out some of the infection, and you’ve been in and out of consciousness for over a week, explained the woman. My name is Martha and if you see my husband his name is Nathaniel, Martha said. A week? James exclaimed!  But it feels like yesterday that I was on the highway trying to get to Colorado Springs, James carried on, and I was trying to get away from a nut case who held me captive. I only escaped due a drone crashing in the building I was being held and I was chased for two days from the mad man, plus chased an additional three days by another drone. I thought that all technology was destroyed or wiped out from the attacks, James asked.

Oh no, it was Martha answered, this entire farm is ran by wind, solar, and hydro power. We do occasionally use candles now and then to conceal ourselves from other people or when Nathaniel gets romantic. James blushed to hear the comment, but the blush went away with the question. Wait, there are other people, James interrupted Martha, Where they from, do you know who are they? The excitement and the energy rushed towards James head, Martha saw James stagger and came to his aide. You are lucky that I was nurse when I met my husband, hell you are lucky we even found you on the side of the road when we did; another two or three days your internal organs would have shut down. Your infection was turning gang green and whatever you were doing was not correct or strong enough to stave off infection; Martha said. Well we are glad to have you young man it has been so long since we had company and you remind us of our son who died over in Iraq, Martha become teary eyed in mentioning her son. So many people lost their lives for that war, for what politicians to argue and give it away, my boy died for nothing! Or the fact they created the terrorist, they paid them, they trained them, they kept us in a state of fear all these years up till the nukes fell. Martha was full blown crying at this point, she sniffled, I’m sorry I get so angry from all these years when Nathaniel and I retired we took all of our money and developed this land. We did not really want to retire and so we farmed and sold all our goods at farmers markets, we made a good living off it. Nathaniel is a bit of tinkerer and he set up the power grid for us and kept us self-contained. Nathaniel even found crude oil near by and learned how to process it to make gasoline, but any ways I changed the subject to distract myself and now I find that I am bragging, Martha finished.

Well thank you mam’, it was a God sent you found me, James replied. Martha smiled and James smiled back, it was pleasant moment that James had not shared in years. Well your ivy looks about done, I will take it off but when that is done please come down stairs and have lunch with us, Martha asked nicely.She opened the door and reached around the door frame and pulled out a used pair of crutches for James. James looks at the old woman and the crutches only to begin to tear up from gesture. Thank you, sniffling James replied. Martha smiles at James and leaves the room. Now with fresh clothes James struggled to put on a pair of pants from his rucksack. Also he found a clean polo shirt given to him by Nathanial. He slowly fumbles out the door, the crutches slow his movement. He remembered the last time he had use crutches when he broke his leg in 2009. James was training for a triathlon and was riding his road bike when all of a sudden he lost control landing on his left side. Without a cell phone or any other medical attention he rode with one good leg all the way to the hospital. While there the doctors diagnosed him with a broken leg and lectured him on his stubbornness for making the trek there on the bicycle. James had to receive a leg cast then that turned into a leg brace all the time using crutches the whole time.

James struggled for twenty minutes making his way the stairs and as soon he was on the last step the smell of food hit him like a ton of bricks. You know it the smell of a pot roast and deserts baking, jus the smell alone made him feel like he was in heaven. You know living on your own and catching you kill or dig up from the ground tends to get old. All the times when James starved he would remember all the things he missed like; Burger King, Jack and the Box, Dunkin Donuts, Crispy Cream, he was not a big fast food fan but when you have nothing but a rat on a stick those places sound like a five star restaurant. The talk with Martha and trying to get ready, plus trying to get down stairs felt like eternity and the time showed it on the grandfather clock in the living room saying it was three forty-seven in the afternoon.

James made his way what he assumed was the way to the dining room, the smell was directing his movements, and sure enough there on the dining room table was beef pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and apple pie! The smell was overwhelming his senses and James felt like he began to gravitate to the open seat left towards him. Martha and Nathanial were already flipping there napkins and placing them on their laps. James followed their lead and did the same thing. Nathanial reached out in open hands and did the same to James. He was about to give prayer for the meal and James was astounded by the gesture. When the world came to the end James cursed out to God, why would you, let such a thing happen to this beautiful world. Now he sits with two complete strangers and as if were like being in church James sought for forgiveness.

       

Nathanial cleared his throat, Lord thank you for bringing this man to us, we heard your call and we answered. We are thankful for bringing him into our household and are grateful to open our hearts to him. We would also want to thank you Lord for this meal we about to receive for the nourishment and the strength it will give to us, Amen.

Everyone said amen and dinner was served, James humbled by the experience opened up to both Nathanial and Martha. During dinner Martha disappeared and went into the kitchen and brought out and old bottle of wine. The dust showed that wine had been sitting for a long time and the red label somewhat faded in time. The red wax was cracked and Martha handed the bottle to Nathanial to open. Martha disappeared again with several wine glasses and a bottle opener. With the bottled open the three of them ate and drank till the night had firmly set hold. James was officially drunk off wine and with no tolerance the wine hit harder than any shot he consumed when he was younger and more reckless. Nathanial noticed the alcohol setting him and helped him up the stairs to the bedroom where he awoke this morning. Nathanial sat James down on the bed only for James to fall down flat on his back to the bed. Nathanial grabbed James’s ankle and with a fluid motion tossed the remainder of his body into bed. James mumbles to him, thanks dad, only to pass out snoring. Nathanial smiles and walks out of the room. While walking down the stairs the snoring gets louder from James’s room and he just laughs some more and sheds a tear for the poor boy and how remind James reminds him of his son.

The following morning James woke up from a raging headache from the wine from the night before. On the bright side he had something else to worry about other than his ankle throbbing less and the hang over was the perfect distraction from the pain itself. When he awoke James was still in the clothes from the night before so the right thing to do was change in fresh clothes. When he looked at this gear it would appear the old couple had thought the same thing and left clothes with a note saying, these clothes belonged to our son, we hope that they fit. So James tried on an old pair of wrangler jeans plus he found a t-shirt with Tim McGraw on the front which must of have been an old concert t-shirt. Laid besides his gear was an old pair boots about a size eleven and a half from the tag inside and on top of the boots was a tan stihl ball cap. Putting on the clothes felt like more and more like home but James hope that this couple was not trying to replace their son with him; he had a mission and needed to get to Colorado Springs. He would stay long enough to heal and be on his way.

With the pain in ankle lessened James tried on the boots after the jeans slid on like a pair he would wear in the past but as of late the only thing he would wear would be combat fatigues that he was issued from the Marines. Wearing civilian clothing was foreign to him; it did not feel the same as the fatigues. But in the here and now James accepted his new clothes and made his way down the stairs. In the kitchen Martha was humming an old tune and turned to see James, well good morning sunshine, how are you feeling? Martha asked. James embarrassed, I am better thank you for asking, but my head is not, James replied. Martha laughed and turned to the kitchen counter to retrieve a plate, here you go I hope you like scrambled eggs I threw on some cheese we made last month, everything you see here is made fresh, Martha continued, Nathanial and I have become real excellent at farming over the past years. James hungry and eager sat down to the fresh plate of eggs and Martha came over with homemade toast and milk in a glass. Thank you Martha you don’t have to do this all for me, James spoke with his full mouth. Martha blew him off, Honey you look like you needed more than medical attention and food is the next best thing that we could give you and besides while you are here healing you will work to pay us back.

Within minutes the eggs, the toast, and milk were all gone so James offered to help clean up but Martha kicked him outside to meet Nathanial instead. Out in the fields Nathanial was plugging along in a 1940’s John Deer tractor coming in as he saw James. Good morning, Nathanial said, how did you sleep, when I last left you, you were sawing some pretty good size logs. James laughed, I have not drunk like that in ages and my head is feeling the repercussions from it, so thank you for putting me into bed. Both men smiled and James followed Nathanial to the barn where he would park the tracker. Nathanial jumps down, I got this old thing running after the nukes fell. I only drive it when I need to due to their being no parts for it now a days. Martha prefers the horse drawn buggy; it makes her feel like a pioneer like they did the old days. I have an old an old pick-up truck under this tarp but it has not ran in ages. It would appear that the engine over heats. Nathanial finished talking.

Under the tarp James started to drool at a 1933 Chevy Apache still with its original two tone paint color and as he walked around it he could see a wooden bed still riveted in place. James was a car buff and could not get enough of classic cars when the world was still around and now he stood to see another classic right in front of him. In his free time James would volunteer at a nearby hot rod restoration shop so he knew a thing or two about cars. This Apache would probably be an easy fix, Nathanial walked over to James, do you like it, I had it rebuilt from the ground up back in the day and paid a pretty penny for it. I do miss how she runs, would you know anything about working on cars, Nathanial asked. James was still drooling could only squeeze out a nod yes.     

       

Chapter 5 Discovery

Andrew and his men were making strides tracking the Drone back to its location. When he took off he had about twelve men but now he was down to nine men thanks to the stupid predator. His evasion tactics were holding and the enemy was not to be seen in a couple of days. Andrew took caution not to let his guard down keeping men on watch during others slept or ate. The journey consisted coming down from the mountain lands to the low lands of the plains. Given the higher elevation Andrew’s men moved faster without the elevation restriction and they also packed the essentials to make the journey to Oklahoma. While on the trail of the drone they would only stop to hunt and eat their food. Their loved ones gave them biscuits and small fruits and vegetables to carry so they only lacked the meat in their diet. Each man was able to track and hunt small game or as a group they would hunt a deer or two to eat their fill plus smoke the remainder.

Given they had left the high country Andrew and his men went from sleeping in homemade shelters and dugouts to now finding abandoned buildings every twenty miles or so given the plains being more developed with farm homes and abandoned gas stations. Andrew directed his men to be ever so vigilant with the sky and with the land ahead of them so as though to be never to be caught off guard. He also instructed his point man to direct them to avoid major roads for that would be a possible ambush from marauders still in existence since the fall of the country. Eventually he would assign two of fastest men to scout ahead to find safe routes for them to follow. Those men would come back with horror stories how entire towns were wiped out with heads atop of spikes as an foreboding warning to all who enter. The scouts would account marauders turned cannibals in the area catching men, women, and children in wooden cages killing one and cooking them on a spigot for their flesh to rip eaten with delight. The cannibals had running vehicles and to Andrew amazement they were not killed by the predator drones in the recent attack to him and to his men or to his town.

Andrew had to find out why he solely was attack and not these demons who wander the plains. Or were they next to be attacked and the demons did not know the attack was imminent. He and his men past signs mentioning Guymon then Woodward and eventually Enid. They would always stop along the way to find more abandon homes to search for food. What they had in reserves were gone and now raiding parties needed to be the essential operation of the trip. Outside of Ponca City Andrew and his men were resting in a abandon farm house pilfering through a root cellar trying to find any remain food left behind from the farmer and his family. Upstairs he and his men would avoid of the remains of the farmer who took his life and the lives of his family from an apparent murder suicide from the falling of the country. One of his men reported finding the bodies all decayed and rotting in their beds. Another one of his men went to see the carnage only to throw from the horror. That man and others were fathers having wives and children.

Andrew ordered his men to bury the bodies for they deserve some sort of Christian burial. The farmer was a coward and Andrew did not remind his men what cowards do in a time like the falling of the United States. The sun was setting as the men buried the bodies when Andrew stood at the graves and gave the last right and prayer to mother and two children but he would spit on the father for being a spineless fool when all of the sudden the ground began to shake, clouds of dust showed a glimmer of metal and the sound of mechanical doors began to open. Andrew could not see it but he could hear it, that what he was looking for. About a mile out the roar of engine came out of the ground and to Andrews horror was a predator drone. He yelled to his men, Go to the root cellar and hide immediately! The root cellar should be deep enough to hide themselves from the infrared. Andrew lingered longer than he should have when he saw what he thought was exhaust coming out of the ground near him and the barn so he ran to join his men to hide out the coming danger. All the while the he watched the venting fumes the mechanical doors began to close. He was tempted to run towards to the field but risking exposure would most likely get him killed.

In the root cellar Andrew joined his men but he pondered on the exhaust coming near the barn. Could it possibly be a vent or some sort of access tunnel? The government was always hiding things in plain sight and the farm could be a cover? The family could have possibly been a cover as well and the government was always making deaths look like murder suicides to cover their real intentions. Questions flowed through Andrew and none could be answered at the moment. The roaring of the jet turbine engine died down within a few minutes of the initial sighting but Andrew wanted to cautious; any exposure would lead to certain death of him and his men. Just like sardines in a tin can their heat signatures would give them away in a heartbeat. A half hour had passed before Andrew gave the all clear but before letting them go top side he told them what he had saw near the barn. He explained to them that he wanted to investigate it right away. Half of his men would go to the field and the others would explore around the bar and look for what might be an access pipe or service tunnel. Once everyone had done their initial search meet up at the bar. All the men nodded and understood to be cautious no men would die from this endeavor.

Five men went to the fields and five men to the barn including Andrew. He assigned his most senior man, Kyle, to do the patrol into the field and would lead the barn search. Kyle was former Army Ranger and he took his job more serious than others, but this day in age who wouldn’t.  Andrew led the remaining men to the old barn that still had faded red paint. Two men stacked on either side of the barn door and the other three stayed in a mounted stacked fashion to breach the building. At a nod of Andrew the two men swung the barn doors open and the remaining three charged in, one barrel to the front, another barrel to the right, and Andrew coming up the rear with left and overhead coverage. In sequence all three men broke off and took their own sectors of fire with arriving at each corner. Andrew in the year coming up to this had train these men for all terrains with multiple scenarios for the world was unknown to them so to train was to survive.

In the barn the light from the day’s sun was leaking through but was the sun was almost finish setting in the west so everyone turned on their flashlights, whether by hand held or rifles mount. The remaining two men who held the door came inside to join Andrew. Within twenty minutes of searching high and low of the structure the five men found vent grates and within the stone coble and concrete structure they found an elevator hidden behind a false wall near the horse stalls. The other men came in from the fields, Kyle reporting that there was a large metallic door exposed from the field but there was no entry from what they had surveyed.  With all nine men staring at the elevator, Andrew went up and found a key pad, hit it with his butt stock exposing the wires. Within minutes of tinkering Andrew hotwired the key pad and the door made an audible, Ding, and then opened to the nine men. The sun was fully set with the light from the elevator temporally blinded the eighteen pairs of eyes. Andrew not waiting for his corneas adjusted to the light charged into the elevator. Without a moments noticed the elevator slammed shut on him and the mechanics began operating on its own. Someone or something did appreciate Andrews mishandling of the elevator like he did. As he felt the elevator come to a halt at the bottom the door chimed again then proceeded to open. To Andrew’s amazement he saw what he was looking for.

Topside the men were pounding on the metallic door and were shocked to see their leader kidnapped in front of their eyes. Kyle took his pistol and shot one round into the door and nearly was hit with a ricochet. Shit, he said, the door is probably bullet proof. Kyle looked at the remaining men and spoke, we need to find anything you can use as a tool and start hacking at the door. We need to create gashes to attach hooks into and use that tractor over there to rip the door out of it moorings. All men agreed on the task and went their separate ways’; Kyle went over to the tractor and found the keys in the ignition. Once on board he turned the keys to turn the beast over, but it went like; a rom, rom, click, click, click, and click. Kyle knew the battery was dead, so he went about finding if other vehicles or of another way to jump start the tractor. All the while the other men were found axes and pick axes began chopping away the door.

Down below Andrew was all alone; he had already left the elevator and was walking around the underground structure. One minute he was in a hall way and another door was opening for him as if he were being led to his final destination. A voice over head sounded to him, Andrew Skelton, welcome to my humble home, said the unknown host. Andrew was beginning to become frustrated for he was separated from his men who were probably working on blowing up the door by now. The voice rang throughout the hall ways, I have been watching you, and I know everything about you Andrew and I must say you are one person I never thought that would survive my attacks. Overhead old flat screens turned on showing images of old news footage of Andrew protesting the destruction of El Paso. Other screens showed him in leading riots against police and then National Guard troops. You have been very busy all this time; I have your entire profile loaded on my data base. You are forty-two, you were married, with two kids, but all them died in the fires preceding the attack. You suffered third degree burns from ninety percent of your body which I have also access to your medical records. In the military you worked on the drone program and were a program annalist for the CIA. You have masters in computer programing and wrote, but was not finished your doctorate in artificial intelligence. At this point Andrew had enough seeing the images of his dead children, his wife, and his old life. He began shooting each TV screen he came across till he emptied his rifle magazine.

Quit mocking me you bastard! Andrew screamed! But the voice only laughed more at his grief. Why stop now? The Artificial intelligence asked. You have seven more magazines for the rifle and three for the pistol. I scanned you as you came in and I verified with my air detection system. I ran read the gun powder from what you have used and what you have remaining, the AI exclaimed. The government was good to me when they installed all these items in protection of this base. I can read your pulse rate, your pheromone levels, everything in your biometrics, to what you ate last. Andrew was about to snap even more than before, he must find this culprit that intends to drive him over the edge. As he walked more doors opened he followed he one till he could see several windows showing out to an air plane hangar stretching over a mile and half long. The sight was horrifying with predator drones all lined up and ready to launch. At least five drones were lined up and others from what he could see were being built one by one in an adjacent bay next to the hanger. Andrew forced himself to walk farther and farther the hallway seemed endless to him. When he came to a single door which slowly. Eerily, opened by itself. He entered into the room to see it well lit but what stood out to him was a bright glowing orb so he presumed to be an eye.

       

       

To All who read this.

I have come to realize that showing my work early in the process is my gimmick to show the public what I am doing. I want to build my fan base early. Ask yourself, has any author publicly showed an entire book or half a book, probably never. Example Dean Koontz and Stephen King will maybe show one or two chapters at the end of some of their books to show what is coming next. Another example is J.K. Rowling began with the Harry Potter series trying to keeping it quiet because of the following it created, only when a manuscript was lost or leaked did the public is when we truly saw what was going to happen to Harry Potter. Of course this is one's writers opinion about other writers. I am using social media to show that I have what it takes with hard work and imagination to become a great author. 

People tell me there are a lot of errors in the writing and I get that. I share rough drafts to the public so as though to build a supportive base for the release of the book. I gladly take suggestions with corrections but I will be happy if you read the postings as entertainment until the book goes to editing and eventually publishing. Most famous authors will go through between five and ten edits before coming up with a finished manuscript. Also when typing on Microsoft Word I have maybe two to four pages to a chapter but when the time comes those pages will double or triple in editing. I want to share with the public and when there is a big enough following then buy the real thing. So please enjoy in the mean.

S. Haufe

Chapter 4 What Haunts You Makes You Stronger

It has been a couple of days since the encounter with Andrew Skelton and James had a hard reminder from the burn on his ankle which was becoming infected. No amount of cleaning or first aid was controlling the swelling. On top of that James was trying to get far away as humanly possible from the mad man. In the recent days he heard a drone overhead and feared being spotted from the iron vulture overhead. Several times he would dive into creeks or water source nearby. Another time he had his fire going so hot that he could warm up from hiding in the water to prevent hypothermia. Now granted James had to put up seven fires to protect himself from wolves in the north county, and they made a serious come back after the humans died off, go figure right? Or the pack of wild dogs that inbred with wolfs were far nasty than he had realized. So with seven fires to protect his exterior surrounding and a bond fire roaring in the middle the Predator drone for some reason missed him. James did not have time to study the one that crashed landed in Skelton’s building which ultimately freed him.

His ankle was throbbing; the burns melted his clothes, which possibly became imbedded in his skin. Luckily when they took and locked him up they stripped him of his boots so that was one thing he still had going for him, but the running away apart and the lack of medical care at first seemed to be more important than getting apprehended again. With his ankle it began to puss within the second day, the throbbing followed. James was forced to fashion out of a tree limb he had found. Unlike a cane James used it to stable his footing. Although it became more apparent that the walking stick became more of a crutch and that is when he decided to stop for the night to where he was now. James tended the wound by fire light and tried applying the last of his iodine from his first aid kit. He had enough rations to stay a couple of days before needing to hunt or fish. So with the night burning and his wound treated for the moment James dozed off to sleep.

Andrew was not so lucky, his home was destroyed, his people scattered. The Predator did a number on his food resources with the fires spreading to the fields. A few caches remained to feed the women and children for a couple of weeks. He made the decision to find the Predators home location and finding the boy became low priority on his list. With the remaining of his men, only keeping a few men behind for security and protection for the women and child. Andrew decide to head East towards Oklahoma in search of the killer who ruined his life. Only he did not know that the killer at the controls was an artificial intelligence, it was made by man and so a man must be operating the control.

Like James, Andrew was avoiding the second drone but it did however find him more quickly and killed off a couple of his men. But Andrew was smarter and more cunning. He had studied the crashed drone and found its weakness. So where ever he went after the second attack he would light fires to confuse the drone from where his location. In the Army he was a computer programmer and then switched over to aviation for all sorts of planes and black op projects. He was ready to take whoever was controlling the Predators and take them out without prejudice. Killing became a fairly a regular thing to Andrew and if he were to rebuild and expand a few heads had to shot to make his goals more attainable. So the searched continued well into a week and no sign of the second drone and Andrew did not waver in his search.

The artificial intelligence was furious over its failure, not only did it fail in its first adjective but the second drone barely came back on fumes only killing a few more targets. The AI became more frustrated when the fires were being set, and the smoke cover became increasingly apparent that second group of humans were learning the tactics that IT was using. With increasing the AI’s power and fully recovering the base it also began repairs to the local power grid in search of more power. The AI went through the remaining data base and the internet to find out what truly happened to the humans. It watched old news reports made by the Chinese, the Russians, and the United States. It was capable of translating thirty three different major languages and had access to algorithms to decipher other languages to get more intel. The AI went back into a learn phase while still in repair of the base. The AI found that within the instillation other robots were available to do certain tasks and was able to hack them to do IT’s bidding to continue on with repairs.

Like an assembly line robot that was mobile and could move freely that had multiple arms with welding devices plus interchangeable tools that could be changed within the chassis. Multiple styles of robots were available like a in a car plant were put to use constructing more drones with those drones came a second assembly line that AI may change in the future. Eventually the AI had the conveyer belt up and running again to refuel and rearming the drones to put them on stand bye. The creator of this facility did not realize that using a nuclear reactor was his biggest mistake in his design. Several floors down from the hanger and the Artificial Intelligence servers was a fusion reactor. The magnetic balancing system was still operational and kept the fusion still in motion still providing power. Although the mechanics were complicated to a normal human; the AI had working robots at its control monitoring and adjusting the harmonics every five to ten seconds. The AI had the fusion reactor running smoothly like a well-oiled engine or machine, only for it to laugh at itself for the pun.

James in a dream was back in Afghanistan, he was on patrol in the mountains hunting Taliban and a fire fight ensues. Alex gets hit by an RPG and dies instantly. The rest of the platoon busts open a mud hut gate to find cover. James on the communications calling in for an air strike with a predator and the operator manning the drone; higher ups want a situation report or SITREP. James goes off the handle and tells them, hold the fuck on! He and his men were surrounded from the high ground with AK-47 and RPK firing all around. The sound was defining from explosions and gunfire. James requested a C-130 gunship to level the place. At that very moment he cussed to himself and to his buddies back home who loved call of duty, that COD can kiss his ass. All at once the sky opened up with mini-guns, a 105mm howitzer, and 40mm pouring out at 100 rounds a minute. The predator was on location providing visuals and launching hellfire’s. The sight from James’s point was like angels from heaven bringing the wrath of God on the Taliban. With cover from above helicopters were called in to extract the platoon within the mud hut compound with landing one bird at a time. Those pilots were either really good or really nuts but they got the boys out. James helped carry Alex’s remains on a poncho liner with three other men. The blood pooled within the plastic eventually splashing James’s hand. When he got to base James went to the bathroom to wash it off. He began scrubbing and scrubbing, it was not coming off and eventually James slumped to the floor and started to ball his eyes out.

He awoke from his dream delirious the emotions were real, the smells were real, the sound, the ringing came back, but it went away in the matter of seconds. His infection was becoming worse and the dream turned hallucination was a shear sign. He rubbed his hand once again remembering the blood. That day is when he decided to leave the military for he did not want to be on that poncho the next time. Now James found himself in the middle of nowhere, with a fever, and sweating making it impossible to keep food or water down. He attempted to pack his things only shoving the items into whatever hole he could find.   As James attempted to put on his ruck sack he fell to the ground. He reached for his rifle to balance in one hand his crutch with the other. The walking was miserable and the hallucinations came back in full force. He began to see Alex in civilian clothing just pop to his left. What you doing buddy, the hallucination asked. Hey remember that one time at Twenty-nine Palms you went after the fatty. You were so drunk you told me she looked like the hottest girl in the world, Alex went on.

You are not real! You are dead and buried. I know I was the one who buried you home in Kentucky. I watched your casket being lowered into the ground; James went on, yelling at the air. The image changed of Alex in civilian attire to the bloody body that he remembered him last. Eyes white, blood dripping from open wounds, shards of shrapnel sticking out. Would you rather I look like this, Alex asked? No, No, stop haunting me, James yelled. Attempting to swing his crutch at the apparition, only for it disappear and reappear. How can you do that to your best friend James, I was there when your dad died. I flew home with you when you could not do it alone. I was there when you chickened out at the recruiter and asked me to sign up with you. We were brothers not in blood but in friendship and family, Alex went on reminding James. I might as well be a figment of your imagination or am I? James and Alex argued for hours, all the while James continued to hold his course north. One day turned into another Alex became more real to James even convincing him to hug each other only for James to fall flat on his face. Four days into the journey James made head way when he had found a road which was marked Highway eighty-seven. His pack was becoming a burden; his rifle feeling like a ton of bricks, during the journey James body was eating itself from the inside out. He had lost about ten to fifteen pounds and was becoming a skeleton. James saw a sign for Pueblo, Colorado twenty miles ahead when he fell to his knee, then the other knee, and eventually he lay down to die, so he thought. Alex was screaming in his ear. WAKE UP!  

It had been quiet within the last day and James had not heard Alex until now. But now James was not sure whose voice that was screaming. Plus in his condition he did not realize that he was being carted away in an old buggy pulled by a horse. A man was steering while a woman was putting an ivy in his arm. The woman began drawing from a vial of an unknown substance and stuck him in the leg above the infected ankle. Adrenaline rushed to his body and James tried to lunge at the woman but fell back into a slump just as the syringe was removed. James went to sleep not knowing what real or fake. So he slept and he slept like he had not in years. 

While dreaming James recalled his time in boot camp, everything from the first day that he arrived at Parris Island to the hours of in processing to the times being woken up by Drill Instructors with a trash can being tossed into the squad bay. To look back and think that was Hell to only to be living in this nightmare here, and now in the present. He would take back all the times he had to steal something from others to survive to be back in Boot Camp with Alex always doing pranks on him at night when they were in their bunks. James would take all of this back to be on those sandy beaches being smoked for no apparent reason other than the Drill instructors just being bored or someone screwing up. He would take back all the cold sleepless nights in tree trunks and survival shelters for the rifle range and the crucible; in those times that was hard! Now in his current state he was in; he had no control, no apprehension of these people who were good or evil. No sense of trust could or would be found if these people were helping him.   

Chapter 3 Will Man be Smarter than Machine

Given the next day no one saw it coming. The cell phone had chimed on and that triggered something more sinister to wake up after a year of slumber. The world was archaic by definition with people living in agriculture environment rather than a technologically advanced environment. No one knew that miles away a secret base with artificial intelligence was still running unscathed from the nuclear attacks and the EMP waves. What made it more worried some that the AI was still in an existence was being hidden in refurbished missile silo from 1960s with underground run ways with predator drones with still in operation? Denounced by the heads of government or heads of state this was a secret program to kill enemies by locking in on by GPS or smart phone device. The government developed the AI to carry out kill strikes on terrorists in the United States as well outside the Continental United States or CONUS. The other sites in Europe and Asia were destroyed by the Russians and the Chinese when the US turned the AI on them. The AI did not need to sleep; it did not have emotional break downs like a normal predator drone operator could.

This AI still had access to some satellites, the internet that remained, and several data base saved by the NSA. The NSA was saving all the worlds data via communication through cell phones, tablets, laptops, Google, Facebook, etc. The data base was so encompassing that massive warehouses were created to hold the computer servers and storage servers throughout the United States. The concept was if one data storage site was ever attacked another would take its place would automatically back itself up. The NSA even created storage sites with the Help of NASA within the space station so no one country could attack causing an international incident. The astronauts and cosmonauts were all dead from starvation or resupply from their adjoining countries, but the space station with the help of the AI kept it in orbit.

 But the problem with the AI still functioning but became corrupt over time it had not the human operator to maintain or right itself on an ethical course. The AI determined that all humans were evil and needed to eradicated. The AI decided that it had no sexual definition or preference would call itself GOD.

The AI reconnected to all the satellites still under its control. It fired up old data reels in storage. Screens throughout the silo began to fire up. The Silos run way lights began to light up. It would have looked like ghosts were coming to work after so many years of death and vacationing in Hell. The drones when to their fuelling stations then onto weapons armament to become fully load with hell fire missiles and fifty caliber linked bullets for the machine guns. But there is a problem some of the drones have deflated tires so they do not move. The conveyer system breaks down only leave three to four drones ready to fly. One drone is starting to fire up its engines after all the years of inactivity incinerates the dust and spider webs. The AI gives the coordinates of the cell and starts to to take off. The camera on the drone is moving back and forth adjusting for trajectory and take off.

The drone takes off and starts recording live feed to the AI capturing the landscape in infrared in greys, blacks, and whites. The drone catches a herd of deer and sends it back to the AI. The AI tells the drone to ignore the deer and continue course forty five degrees south and correct to altitude fifteen thousand feet. The target is one hour out with plenty of fuel within the drone’s tank and back up fuel reserved in a drop tank. The drone flies over deserted roads and towns finding no recognizable heat signatures. While in flight the drone captures a bright flash and flickers from a forest fire, again the AI tells the drone to focus on course, correcting one hundred and twenty seven degrees south by south east, elevation lowered to ten thousand feet. Time on target is twenty four minutes.       

Andrew has since woken up and made a walk through town. The town’s people are busy doing their assigned chores. He is worried about the winter and getting the food supplies stocked to make it through then. His men are out hunting and gathering meat for cold storage only leaving a skeleton crew to guard the perimeter. Within the last year he and his men have put up crude guard towers and his best sharp shooters watch the farms and the town. Andrew is curious about his new capture and wants to put him work right away with the next day or so. He hears a rumble out in the distance it is familiar to him and could not forget, but that was ages ago. Andrew looks out to the sky a gray silhouette cuts through the clouds and heading fast towards him. A screeching screams comes from the silhouette, and a flash of light and fire comes from the creature. Andrew sees what he most fears a missile has been launched from a predator drone and it explodes on impact on one of the guard towers he just got done inspecting. The drone flies over head passing Andrew buzzing by a few hundred meters. The drone comes around and changes trajectory and heads towards the town and starts a strife run on the huts and Andrew watched in horror. The fire is burning at his back and does not realize that fire gives him concealment from the drone.

The drone has made course adjustment unloading its payload of fifty caliber bullets on human silhouettes lighting like candles through the infrared. All became sitting ducks in the drone’s attack path. The drone flies over the town confirming the AI that targets have been found and the cell phone was located in the middle of town inside structure. The AI orders the predator to unload two more hell fire missiles on the structure. With doing so the drone launches two missiles at the communication killing Caleb and destroying the cell phone within the structure. The AI is still not convinced and has the drone to do a fly over to confirm for human life.

Andrew has since caught up to the chaos and destruction. He has an assault rifle in hand and begins to fire at the bird. The drone is reporting shots fired and sending intelligence to the artificial intelligence. More humans who did not die come out from there shelters. Andrew had made them all make shift basements for tornadoes. The survivors begin shooting at the predator and it appears it is taking on enough damage causing it to loose altitude. The AI is trying to order the drone back to back but instead follows the way of the Japanese and does a Kamikaze run on the town with the remaining missile attached to its under belly. Fate so have it the drone falls from the sky and crashes into Andrew home but it does not explode the missile is a dud. When the crash had happened the guard watched in horror as the drone came barreling at him, he jumps out of the way but is impaled by falling debris. The drone pierces the floor and shows light to James who had become aware of the carnage with explosions and gun fire. The camera on the predator is still working although the protective shield is shattered from gun fire and the crash. The AI is watching from the camera and spots James within view. Drawing from the data base the AI has stored he pulls up a NSA profile of James McCade. United States Marine, Facebook posts, cell phone conversations, some inappropriate pictures to his girlfriend, the AI is pulling up old government documents from Homeland Security and reading protocol about military veterans were now the enemy and should be detained or eliminated when possible. The camera takes a snap shot of James and the crash has broken him free from his confinement but he is still dragging a chain from the wall with a chunk of concrete. The drone gives ample opportunity to use split fifty caliber shells to break open to steal the gun powder and pours it on his ankle the chain.

Quickly he puts two rocks together praying for a spark and not realizing he was not alone the drone was now recording the event unfold. The AI is furious this threat needs to eliminated but has to record and watch to learn this enemy that could be a threat to its existence. Spark, spark, James is trying more and more causing blistering on his hands and cuts to his fingertips. Flash goes the gun powder and the shackle comes off with searing heat burning his ankle, the lock attached is no more. James does not have to worried about the burn and he begins to charge up the stairs busting down the door. The AI watches as James leaves from view, it is tired of this and sends out another drone. James is frantic where is his gear? Where is his AR-15 and pistol? Luck would have the guard was impaled from deltoid to deltoid preventing damage to his rifle. James throws off debris and finds his ruck sack still cinched up. He does not have to think, he does not have time to act, he goes to the dead body and cuts with his knife he recovered the rifle sling off the dead man. He takes his pistol and quickly shoves in a pouch and with a quick motion throws the pack on his back.

James follows the opening of the crash and begins running as fast as he can towards the hills. He is free but hears a shill scream from behind you. You did this, you brought that thing on us; on me, Andrew is screaming in the distance. Andrew is trying to put out the fires when the predator drone missile finally explodes, no longer a dud. I will find you, I will find you to ends of the earth you hear me boy, Andrew continues to rant. James is running hard and fast and no longer hears the screams of the mad man. He feels safe and begins to walk at a normal pace. James thinks that the only way to be safe is put distance between him and New El Paso and the man named Andrew Skelton.       

Chapter 2 The Devil Does Not Sleep

As James awoke to a splitting headache compliments from the scarred man. He took his hand to survey the damage to face and his scalp. Dried blood had solidified on the right side of his head above the ear plus blood could be found above his left eye brow. He mumbled to himself, that’s going to leave a scar. James surveyed his surroundings and found his ankle shackle and the shackle attacked to the wall. A bucket was in the corner for obvious reasons James had not to think about. The room was dark but for candles and a couple of lanterns attached to the wall. A table was is in the middle with two chairs, one for him, and one for his ungracious host. At the moment he was alone and from the sounds of it James determined he was in a basement of sound kind. Rumbling and shuffling was coming from above and heading towards stairs that James could not see till his eyes adjusted.

The door opens to the top of the stairs; a large shadow blocks the light pouring in. James becomes apprehensive as the shadow starts walking one stair after another. All James could hear was thump, then another thump. The shadow grows more into a silhouette of his capture, the scarred man. At the bottom of the stairs James begins to study the man more closely and it felt like the man was doing the same to him. Before a word could be said the scarred man made a hand gesture to sit at the table. You are wondering why you are here, said the scarred man. My name is Andrew Skelton and you were found trespassing on my land. James exclaimed how this land is, this is America, and no one claims ownership.

But the man called Andrew did not agree with the sudden outburst. Shut up, if it weren’t for me, you’d be dead right now, Andrew responded harshly. He began to explain that after El Paso fell to the nukes that he and his family were scarred and maimed from the blast. He began picking up survivors who didn’t die and made the trek to the border where the mountains prevented the fall out to follow with the harsh plains winds that could carry the fall out for miles unimpeded. Andrew also explained that Texas had taken a beating like in the beginning of the state’s creation but he did not agree with the politics of Texas and so he would create a new land free for all, of course under one condition, follow his rule or be kicked out as an outcast. Speaking of outcasts, James wondered why the treatment?

Andrew replied, I have to maintain order, without order there is no stability amongst the people. James was not happy with the response but any more outbursts could get him killed so he decided to play along although he thought of Andrew more of a dictator than a governing man. So why keep me? I have no business with you, James asked. With the question came a calmer tone from his capture. I am keeping you because I do not know you. I will keep you under observation till I know what I know what better to do with you, Andrew explain. Keep me, James thought, why observe me I am no threat. I gave up without a fight. Andrew began to feed on the thoughts of James. The reply came without warning, I see that your arm says USMC, and I am former Army, myself. I also see you unscathed when thousands of people died or were scarred from the blasts. So what is your story, Andrew asked intently, did you desert from your post, are you a veteran, because most veterans were rounded up if not killed in the fight after the fallout.

James did not know about the round up. He had left before the explosion and hid after picking up his gear. Round up, James asked? What did do you mean? Andrew did not know how to respond, he figured that this man before was avoiding his questions, and they were soft. Not to the point of interrogation because he well trained from the CIA to get the information that he wanted. Did you not hear? They had wellness camps or at one point FEMA had camps made for illegal immigrants when the border was taken over throughout the Southwest. Those camps were then turned into processing centers for veterans caught during the infighting. The government did not an uprising and the veterans had the means of taking on the government, when both parties stopped fighting each other in Washington D.C. they turned their sites on the U.S. Andrew followed the news closely, he blames the government for meddling in other peoples affairs, which he assumed after all these years led to the nuclear strikes on his home and to the death of his friends and other family members.

James was tired of waiting so he finally told his capture what he wanted to he wanted to hear. I am veteran sir, I served honorable for eight years and I did four tours split up between Iraq and Afghanistan. I got out because I was tired of fighting wars that were not of mine doing. I lived and worked in Albuquerque where my family was. I am not a prepper nor was I ever. I like many of the thousands of people started to get a bad feeling about the years to come and I struggled to keep a hold of what I had and what you just took from me. Andrew watched and listened to his guest. James continued, I am no threat to anyone, and I gave up to you without a fight. My business is north in Colorado Springs and I trying to find the last part of my family praying that they survived too. So I ask you politely sir, where is my gear, I want to leave, and I will leave you alone and not bother your little village of nut cases.

Enough! Andrew exclaimed. Do not insult me for I have control over you and I can bury you just as quickly as my village took you over. James worried; maybe he bit off more than he could chew. Now would be a good time for some cavalry to arrive but James new those times have come and gone he was truly on his own. Time to play this mad man’s game, so what is it do you want me to do sir? James asked trying to make up for his boldness. 

Outside a young child was digging into James rucksack when she found a cell phone. Given her age she did and did not know what the device was so she took it and put it in her pocket. The child began dumping other things out when she was caught by a guard, very quickly the guard began shooing with his rifle was balancing James rifle on his back and adjusting his pistol to his hip. The child scurried off outside with new treasure tucked away. Back downstairs the meeting seemed to end in more of a stale mate between James and Andrew. Two egos bumping together neither one were right or wrong, but James being the prisoner, will remain wrong till proven guilty by Andrews shot gun.

As James returned to his bed, Andrew left him in Silence. Andrew had to figure out what to do with this boy. Should he kill him or make him work in the fields to make another example of him to the locals. Of course chains would have to be added and a guard or two could be taken off other details to watch him. 

Andrew wondered if could turn this boy into an ox and make him blow fields with a yoke around his neck and a blade in tow. To his credit he loved torture and thinking of ways to makes someone’s life miserable was a reason for living. There was no crime, there were no jails or court system, and there was only his rule with an iron fist. Andrews only reason for living was getting even with the human race with chaos and torment. 

In the center of town the little girl who stole James cell phone went to a power station set up by Andrew with wind turbines and solar panels, the girl went to visit her father in charge of the site. With a small power grid set up Andrew found a way to have a freezer and refrigerator running for the town, but also he had short wave radio and other forms of communication that were rebuilt after the blast. The girl excited showed her dad the little device, what is this daddy, the girl asked her dad. The man wrapped up in calling out to survivors stopped from transmitting and looked down to her daughter. Juliet that is or was a cell phone, people used to talk into them to talk to family or friends, the father replied. He also showed her by taking the device and putting it to his ear and pretended to talk and joke with the ghost on the end.

The curious father waited till her daughter ran away to create more mischief for herself. The man pulled out a power cord and checked the connection to see it would fit the cell phone. You know what they say curiosity killed the cat. Well the man wanted to see what was on the cell phone and waited for it charge to turn it on to see if it still worked. A few hours later the father who appeared to never sleep was mulling around his communication room. Andrew walks in from taking a tour of the village; he would do it every night before he went to bed to make sure his people were safe.  Armed men followed after Andrew in the communication room. He always had people trail behind him for safety. Well, Andrew asked, any news from the outside, asking the father. Caleb, Andrew called the man by his name, we need to grow our numbers, the father now called by Caleb responds, I have been listening to static for hours and I got nothing. However my daughter did come to me with this, Caleb shows the cell phone to Andrew. It appears to be function as far as taking power. Do you want me to turn it on Andrew, Caleb asked.

Andrew curious like a child wanted to see if the device worked. Every time his search parties returned from gathering supplies and hardware of any kind the men would be bring cell phones mostly fried from the attack. Occasionally a TV or satellite would be brought to Andrew as an offering but none of the items worked.  The EMP blasts destroyed everything if it had a CPU or a computerized brain the waves fried it. Or so would you think. The government had black sites shielded and hidden from the public would come back to haunt this post-apocalyptic world.  

Till now Andrew, Caleb, and James go to sleep. The morning is yet to come, the morning may never come but hey optimism is in the eye of the beholder. A creature lie and wait, these men do not know that evil men have created something that god would disapprove of and the devil would lay with in delight.

Chapter 1 The Trek

James packed up his gear and put out his fire.When he was packing his gear he dropped his cell phone from his ruck sack. James forgot he even had that the phone was in his bag. When the attacks happened and James lay in hiding all he had for memories was on his cell phone. Pictures, videos, and voicemails of loved ones all that remain when the system was still running before it eventually came crashing down, but now the cell phone network was destroyed and James only had a paper weight of a dead cell phone. James took the cell phone and with one hand was about to throw it away but he didn’t, because he had hope one days that he could fire up the cell phone one more time and commit pictures to memory. So James took his phone and put it back in his rucksack to be forgotten once again. The spring had started with rain every other day and it felt like Mother Nature really wanted to make life miserable for survivors. He debated whether to make a skiff for his gear or just throw it on his back.

Heading north just seem like the right idea to do. Colorado Springs has to be intact. Even though the area had three military bases like; Fort Carson for the Army and Peterson Air Force Base, plus ENT Air Force Base for the Air Force widely known for NORAD and Cheyanne for their government importance. You would think the government would have sunk money to protect Colorado Springs for without it there would not be any bases to run. But what of the condition the area, James had to figure it out on his own. With all this contemplation in James’ mind the only thing was start walking.

The world seemed so small from his point of view when a few years ago he could jump on a plane or just go onto the internet to surf the world at his fingertips. While walking he could not but see down planes and search through for supplies.

James always did like the peanuts and he was not always getting the essentials from using his hunter gatherer techniques. He had to be resourceful in find wild onions or being from the Southwest eating off a prickly pear or two. He did remember when he lost his filter straw and was so thirsty that he drank stagnant water from a stream that his bowels turned inside out. The experience reminded him in the future to always process water. In some cases when had time James made a distiller out of copper piping and a pot he had found in an abandon home. The experience of being lonely made him very creative on how to survive. Although meeting the occasional human was an occasional treat depending if they were trying to kill him or not, James became very wary on becoming close to another human.

You would never know who was friend or foe. He remembered this one time that he met a girl and thought he would settle down and get close, but she was bait and the bandits were trying to get to his supplies he carried on his back. Another time he would come across patriots but their attitude was more radical than he cared for. Now granted there was militias he did come across that shared his values and he would have stays if there were not constantly fighting with other factions.

With towns falling to their own bureaucracies and the police creating own little coups to take over their counties. The United States reverted back to tribalism on unseen scale since the medial times. From what James heard from other Texas held together as well as Utah for economic and religious reasons. But other than that California was swallowed up by Mexico only for them to collapse on themselves when the world fell. Canada took over some parts of the Dakotas for the gold and oil. United Kingdom tried to establish their own version of the thirteenth colonies but the East Coast fought them back once again, but the fight stretched the remaining part of the East Coast Armies thin which led to the infighting within the government.

 The Southern States tried to reestablish the south but only to flounder on the immigrants and welfare system that was reestablish made those states fall into more chaos with racial division and economic turmoil. The haves and the have-nots were running amuck with their version of socialistic Darwinism that eventually led to sectors of Elites running New York and the former District of Columbia.    

 James had nowhere to go. He would not fit in anywhere. He was not rich and I never saved enough gold alongside the ammo and supplies he would stash. The United States Dollar was no more and was equivalent to the Deutschmark or the Soviet Ruble. What dollars he had been now used for fire starter or kindling. The barter system was back in full swing and James got really good at bartering. The best example was when he needed boots due to the others being worn off so much that James would trade some medical iodine he saved along the way.  Luckily doctors still existed and James found a few that would trade for cigarettes or occasional porno mag. Men are men and they all have their weaknesses.

When on your own reflecting is your friend either that your enemy. Today was trying to swing all the songs in his head from his childhood or watching all of his favorite movies with no big screen movie theater around. The sky was his theater, the wildness was surround sound. With the world collapsing the animals knew before we did and started taking over towns that were abandon. Storm drains became caves to all sorts of animals like bears, bats, and the one time a pack of wolves. James was better off on the outside of towns where his skills were best used making tree stands or lean-to shelters. Nature was his Home Depot, his Lowes when he needed the bare building essentials.

While walking James always had a compass, his grandfather said you will never be lost if you knew the direction you were going. James took that to heart from his grandfather’s lessons every time he would visit on the weekends. He as a younger boy would volunteer as a boyscout at the retirement homes where his grandfather stayed till his death. Oh how grateful James was that his grandfather was not alive to see this turmoil he was in. For his grandfather was a World War II veteran and a proud one at that, he would be ashamed of the United States; being destroyed so easily from outside and from the inside. James came back from Marine Boot camp and he would visit his grandfather and just sit and listen to the atrocities that his grandfather had faced. Right then and there did James truly know his grandfather? Even before grandpa had died while James went to Iraq for the first time his grandfather sent him one of the only letters he got while fighting in the war.

It said,

In this letter there are more words than I can describe how proud of you and what you are doing for standing up for our country. If I were younger and in your shoes I would have done the same thing after September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacked us. It felt like my Pearl Harbor to me. So in this letter I enclosed my most prideful possession it what you called a can opener. Back in my day we didn’t eat from bags ready to eat we had real cans. So I am leaving this to you so you can never be hungry again.          

Love,

Grandpapi Joe

   To James that letter he remembers verbatim and where he stood over the Rockies the he still had grandpapi’s can opener. Honestly without that little can opener James would have starved on a number of occasions when he came across all sorts of can goods.

As James walks he could not help but think of all the loved ones who passed on. What would they say that he is the survivor carrying on the linage in this savage world? It would be like in the movie Star Wars, when Luke Skywalker is looking across the fire and seeing Obi Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and his father Anakin Skywalker. Is James ancestors follow behind him in a trail of ghost or will he sit down one day and see grandpa just whittling on a stump. What would he say? Use the can opener; it is not as cool as, use the Force, Luke.

James only had his humor and his wit for he would go insane. The Rockies were long and mean. The terrain would go from plains to mountains in the matter of hours. Out in the distance while trek was long about three days since he had left the New Mexico border James came across a column of smoke in the distance. The smoke was not of a natural state like a forest fire. James in the past when there was fire departments and the forest service, he would volunteer for wild land firefighting, James participated in the explorer program and would eventually pursue it in college. So James knew what a forest fire looked like up close and this was not it.

As James got closer he would see multiple structures or shanty buildings roughly made to looks like something out of Southern Argentina or Venezuela. As he neared the town because it became abundantly clear it more town than village James found a rough cut road from the path he was walking. Upon that road he found a sign that said, Welcome New El Paso, Gateway to the west. Around the road James could see farms and livestock grazing to him this seemed out of the ordinary. From where he came the land was either barren or devoid of life other than nature taking over. James had no map and had to think did he really travel more east than north. None of this made any sense El Paso was in South East Texas not southern Colorado. A boy and a little girl came running by and they stopped, looked, and screamed at James.

The two children scream, Stranger danger, and went to the nearest hut they could find. The noise of the two children brought attention to some more adults nearby working in their own personal garden. James was taken back this like he had kicked someone’s dog or drowned a kitty in a pond. Then all of the sudden a mob came rushing at James and they surrounded him like a swarm of wasps. If you see it for yourself it was not turning out to be a good situation for James. On top of that he was armed which seemed to anger the mob even more. James not trying to escalate the tension put his hands above his head.

A tall man walked through the crowd with a shot gun slung over his shoulder. He would appear the authority figure of the town. As the man grew closer he could see burnt scars over the man’s arms and partial his face.  A man of six foot five inches with scars can intimidate any man like James. Right then and there the scarred man took his shot gun off his shoulder and with a defensive stance butt stroke James right in the face, knocking him out cold. The sudden feeling of a wooden butt stock gave way to shooting pains. The in James unconscious he was awoken to several men stripping him in a dark room, his firearms were gone, his clothes remained intact, but he could not see his pack or the remainder of his gear.

Where? Am I? James had asked his assailants. Not one of the four men spoke a word. The scarred man came back again only to thump him in the head. The world went dark; James began to dream, to remember his past. The dream became clearer and clearer, the scene was Christmas back in Albuquerque. Scented candles of apple cinnamon, mom baking in the kitchen, Dad arguing with his brothers, his sister nowhere to be found, he was home.