A Change of Major (Chapter Twelve)

The next morning, we decided to do one more thing for these poor guys before hitting the road. Well, two things actually. First, Chuck put together breakfast consisting of oatmeal, Tang and two cans of fruit.

Then we offered to take Todd with us, (if his place was nearby) and drop him off at his folks place since he was hurt and walking would be out of the question.

Finally, Chuck reached under the seat of the truck and pulled out the go bag he had put together which had some protein and candy bars and some single serve meals and gave them to the guys with the instructions that they ration it and make it last.

I pulled Billy aside and asked him, "What else do you guys have for supplies? Do you have a way to make fire, a knife, a tarp or anything like that?"

"None of us had matches or a lighter before then because we weren't smokers but we found a lighter near the house. We have a couple of kitchen knives we found at that house, our clothes, a couple of blankets and not much else".

I went into my bag and pulled out a spare Bic lighter and two emergency heat reflecting blankets and gave them to Billy.

"Here, it's not much but it might help. I need you to collect all the empty water bottles from yesterday and today and let's refill them from our water bucket. Also, get the empty cans from dinner and breakfast and hang on to them. From now on, I want you to boil water in a can for a few minutes and then transfer it to your empty bottles. That way you can at least keep a supply of clean water on hand.

"OK, we are going to take Todd to his folk's house near Caldwell and then we have to move on. I wish we could come back and carry each of you home, but we don't have the gas and still may not have enough to get home as it is."

Billy and the others thanked us for the food and help, wished their friend Todd well and watched as we drove off. Caldwell was not far from where we were and we made it in about an hour due to road conditions, wrecks and my own paranoid caution.

Todd's family had a modest home outside of Caldwell in a neighborhood of about twenty other houses each on one acre. When we pulled up, several people came outside to see who we were. More than a few were armed I noticed.

Todd's parents came out of the house and lost it when they saw Todd. They had assumed he had died during the attacks and were relieved to see him back home again. We were invited in and they offered to share what little food they had for repayment, but we knew we couldn't take anything from them. I did however ask if they could spare some gasoline and Todd's dad gave us five gallons siphoned from their dead GM pickup. They also let us refill our water containers as they had a hand pump agricultural well with clean drinking water.

After a short visit, we wished Todd well and headed out. We decided to go north avoiding Caldwell proper and stick to farm to market roads for the meantime. The map said the next town was called Hobbs and since there was not a clear path around it, we decided to take a chance and roll through and hopefully be quickly in and out of town.

We drove along for about fifteen minutes talking about Billy, Todd, Randy and the others and were feeling pretty good about what we had done. In spite of all the bad stuff that was happening, it was nice to be part of a good thing and helping out others. Even if they were Longhorns!

We came to a slight turn in the road and as we came around the bend I knew what was happening five seconds before it happened. A car was parked diagonal on the shoulder with the nose blocking the lane I was in. As I slowed and steered around it, there was another car, also parked in the same manner, immediately on my left forcing me to go slower. As I banked the curve, two cars blocked the entire road in front of me which caused me to slam on the brakes.

"Get out of here!" the voice in my head screamed.

But to go back in reverse would have been a task with the two disabled cars behind me, but it did not matter. More than a dozen men with long guns came from all sides of my trapped truck.

"Hands up! Keep your hands where we can see them!" they shouted.

I could tell Chuck was about to freak and without looking at him I murmured, "If they wanted us dead we would already be dead. Be cool..."

My door was ripped open and a strong hand pulled me from the vehicle and to the ground. A huge bald guy with wearing a Carhardt jacket pointed a the business end of a Glock in my face and told me to be still. Then he flipped me over like a pancake, yanked my arms behind me and ziptied my hands together.

I heard Curtis squawking about his rights and arrest warrants and then the sound of a *slap* which most likely was received by Curtis' face. I was yanked to my feet and the big guy half dragged me away from my truck to a parked pickup truck with the tailgate down.

I was patted down and all of my pocket contents were dumped on the bed. I was then pushed on the side of the road into a sitting position behind the pickup truck. Chuck joined me a few moments later followed by a very red faced Curtis. Everything happened in less than a minute. I then watched helplessly as several men opened all the doors on my beloved truck and started ransacking it of its contents.

The three of us were jerked to a standing position again and laid face down in the bed of an old pickup which took off with a start. I could hear my truck starting up behind me, but could not see what was happening because of the way I was laying. The truck lurched down the road for about ten minutes before making a right hand turn, then another and then abruptly stopping. My mind was racing but eventually I decided that whoever these people were, they were probably going to kill us. With my family gone, stripped of all my belongings and considering the shape of the world these days, it did not seem like such a bad ending but I was scared all the same.

We were hauled out of the truck, stood up and found ourselves not in some empty field but standing in a parking lot behind an older building. We were obviously in some small town and there was activity all around us. There were several other older vehicles in the parking lot and many people moving back and forth carrying boxes from the vehicles into the building.

A big guy with a police uniform of some sort took my arm and led me into the building while Curtis and Chuck were led away in different directions by others. I was taken inside which so I figured they weren't going to kill me yet. I mean, who would want to go to the trouble of killing me, then have to clean up the mess and then drag my body back outside for disposal?

I was taken into the building which appeared to be a government office, like a courthouse or police station, and then taken upstairs where I was led into a small room with a table and two chairs. It was an interrogation room right out of TV or it sure looked like it.

I was told to sit in one of the chairs and then the police officer left me in the room alone, my hands firmly zip tied behind me. There was no need in trying to escape or wander around as the room had no windows and featured noting else other than the table and chairs. I noticed then that the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling was lit so they must be getting power from somewhere.

While I waited, I tried to go over my situation and if there was anything I might of noticed which might give me a clue as to what was going on. Some of the guys who grabbed us were wearing police uniforms while others were in civilian clothing. The truck we rode in and the other vehicle I saw were older model pickups like my International which means they did not have EMP-proof vehicles either. They obviously have power generation which we had not seen since the war and an organized structure as well. It might mean that there is a functioning government in place and they are just playing it safe with strangers. I guess I would just have to wait and find out.

After about twenty minutes alone with my thoughts another man, also in a police uniform, entered the room. He was about fifty, overweight, with small beady eyes and long, greasy dark hair going gray and which hung over his forehead. He set several of my personal articles on the desk including my wallet which he carefully examined (including the cash inside) before setting it aside and holding up my drivers licence.

"Michael Brewer or Dallas, Texas it says here. Mr. Brewer you mind telling me what you are doing so far from home?" he said

"I attend Texas A&M university. Or at least I think I do. I don't know if they are going to have classes there any time soon."

"I see. I am curious Mr. Brewer, you and your traveling companions have a running vehicle and a large quantity of supplies including food and water. Where did you get it all from? Did you steal it?"

"No, sir. The truck is mine and the registration in the vehicle has my father's name and the our home address. The food came from my dorm room or was stuff that Chuck purchased before the attack."

"You realize you also had a loaded firearm in the front seat of the vehicle which is clearly against state law and in violation of emergency laws invoked since the crisis began?"

"My shotgun? Yes I know it was in the truck and I probably did not have it in the approved condition for transport, but I also have not seen any police around keeping the bad guys under control either. I think someone needs to address that glaring problem as well."

"Don't get smart with me, Mr. Brewer. You are not in any sort of position to pop off, you hear me boy?"

"Sure."

"Mr Brewer, do you have a criminal record?"

"No sir"

"Have you ever been convicted of a crime or spent time in jail or prison?"

"No, but you can run a check on my licence can't you? I mean I don't have a record but you don't have to ask me to find that out, you just have to look in your computer or whatever you guys use for that sort of stuff, right?"

Ignoring me, the fat cop went on, "Mr. Brewer, there have been a large number of crimes committed by persons like yourself as of late. Small groups and gangs rolling around in stolen vehicles robbing, raping, looting and what not"

"We are not a gang. Chuck, Curtis and I go to A&M and we just trying to get home.."

"Like I said, Mr. Brewer, your vehicle contained food, water, a firearm, and other critical supplies. It's been more than two weeks since The Day and here you are with food and a running vehicle. Sure looks suspicious, especially for a group of... college boys." he said this time with distaste.

"Like I said, the truck is mine and.."

He cut me off, "Was yours. The town of Hobbs and the county are under special law due to the extreme conditions. All food, running vehicles, firearms, medical supplies and other materials deemed necessary for the the greater good of the population are to be commandeered by the appropriate authorities."

"That's not fair. That's my truck. My dad and I rebuilt it. You can't just take it!"

"I can't? Watch me, college boy. Be lucky I don't lock up you and your little friends. We got a nice jail in the basement, Who knows? Maybe we can find you a room mate to keep you company and make you forget about the little truck daddy bought you."

The door opened then and another officer entered the room.

"Uh, Holtz? Bill wants to see you upstairs. And he says to bring this kid with you." he said.

Holtz, I guess that was his name, stood up and glared at me. "Get up college boy. You got a world of trouble now if Mr Hough wants to see you.

A Change of Major (Chapter Eleven)

I stepped out and stretched trying to get the kinks out from driving combined with adreniline fueled stress. I was feeling pretty worn out and depressed from the enormity of the situation. When I walked out of the shelter this morning. I was certain I would be most of the way back to Dallas by now. I had no idea what would happen to Chuck or Curtis, I just assumed I would drive up 35 to Dallas, go my folks house and figure things out from there.

Secretly, I had wished I would drive up to the house and find my parents at home with my sister and this whole nuclear war thing was a mistake. I knew after looking at College Station and the area around Bryan, nothing could be further from the truth. My parents and my sister were probably dead and that was something I was going to have to deal with one day at a time.

We stood around in the fading light of the day made worse by the constant haze in the sky. When I asked Chuck about it he said it was theorized that nuclear detonations would cause so much debris to be thrown in the air and when mixed with the smoke of out of control, wide ranging fires, would make the skies hazy and darker for some time afterwards. When I asked for how long, he shrugged.

We pulled my tent out but decided to make some food first as we had not eaten (maybe we didn't want to after seeing town) since this morning. We planned on using the hot plate mounted on the tailgate of the truck and we would heat up some canned stew or chili. We still had a few sodas left over which we planned on enjoying before they were all gone when we heard someone coming on foot.

From behind some low bushes on the edge of the field, a young guy, around our age, walked out. He held up his hands and said,

"Hey, I'm not a bad guy I just need some help, please."

Curtis spoke up first, "It's cool dude. What's up?"

I kicked myself for not having my shotgun out of the car, but while Curtis was speaking, I made my way to the front seat and picked it up all while checking the area around to make sure this guy was alone. I had to remember to never leave my gun unattended and to never walk around unarmed.

"Um, you're not gonna use that thing, are you?" the stranger said pointing at my shotgun. "We don't have very much left and we aren't gonna do this anymore. We will fight back this time and we don't care what you do to us."

"Huh?" I said. "Dude, I don't know who you are but things are starting to get nasty out there and we don't want to get jacked up either. Who is "we" and what happened?"

I noticed then the guy was staring at the pot on the hotplate and our soda cans on the back of the truck. He looked like he was mentally trying to absorb the food straight from the pots and cans before I interrupted him.

"Are you like hungry or something? You look pretty bad. You want something?"

"Sure, um no, the others. Todd, he needs it worse than I do. He's in pretty bad shape, worse than me. That's what I need your help with" he answered.

"Where are the rest of your people? Where are you staying" Chuck asked.

"Just over there in the field away from the road. There is an old barn we are staying in for now. Todd could not keep walking and we couldn't carry him"

I looked at the scrub bushes and figured my truck could make the ride cross country a ways. Besides, I did not want to leave my truck so near the road unattended. I did not trust this guy and worried this might be some sort of ambush so I told came up with an alternative.

"Chuck, how about you are Curtis get the stuff back in the truck and I will walk over with... what's your name, guy?"

"Bill, but everyone calls me Billy at school". he answered.

"OK, Billy, why don't you show me where you are staying and then I will come back and get the truck and we will come over, deal?"

"Sure, if you have some clean water and some spare food, that would be great, but I don't want to be a bum or anything, we just don't have much and I wanted to ask." Billy said.

"We'll see," I replied.

We cut through the scrub and cross the field which looked like it had not been tended in some time or maybe was only used for grazing. There were a fair number of scrub bushes and an a good amount of live oak and mesquite dotting the landscape. The barn was easy to see once we walked down a short rise into a natural hollow.

It was an old barn with a rusty metal roof falling off in places. There was an ancient car body sitting off to the side along with a two metal watering troughs. A lone abandoned refrigerator, missing its door, stood sentry in the hard pan in front of the long ago used structure. As we approached, I could see smoke coming from inside the barn. Someone had made a fire to keep warm or to cook but did not do a very good job.

We entered through the open big door on the other side of the barn and I saw who Billy was talking about. There were three other young guys, half of who were wearing University of Texas sweatshirts, sitting around a badly laid fire. A fourth figure lay on the ground, covered in an old blanket, his head resting on a balled up shirt.

"Hey guys," said Billy, "I found this guy and his friends down by the road. They were driving the car we heard a little bit ago. They are getting their stuff together and are coming over in just a second."

"Is this everyone?" I asked.

Billy nodded and looked down, "Yeah, this is it."

I could tell there was a story there but that would have to wait for now. "I am going to get my truck and the others and be right back. Hold tight"

I quickly cut back across the field to the truck and found Chuck and Curtis ready to go. "What's up with them, Mike?" asked Chuck.

"There's four of them plus Billy, They look pretty bad. No food I could see, only a few things with them, One guy is laying down and looks like he is sick or something"

"I packed first aid supplies in my bag. Not much, but its sounds like its more than what they have" said Chuck.

"Where did they come from?" asked Curtis as we got into the truck.

"Two of them have UT shirts on so maybe Austin. I didn't ask" I replied.

We drove the truck into the field and worked our way over to the barn without a problem. As we pulled up, Billy and two others came outside the barn. One was limping.

Once we stopped, we got out and gathered our stuff together. We left the tent in the truck but brought the duffle with the food and the other containing water bottles, drinks and other stuff. I planned on getting that fire ship shape before we did anything though.

"Guys, I am Mike, this is Curtis and that's Chuck. We go to A&M, well we did. I don't know if that is gonna be in the plans for now. We got some stuff we can share with you. Not much, but I think we can manage"

Curtis handed each a bottle of water while Chuck pulled a protein bar out for each of them. I swear one guy tried to eat the paper along with the bar.

Chuck knelt down next to the guy on the ground and asked what was wrong with him. Billy spoke up,

"He got beat up pretty bad a few days ago. I think its his ribs, but I don't know."

Chuck's first aid training consisted of reading a first aid manual while were in the shelter so that made him the doctor. He asked some questions and then got a couple of ibuprofen for the kid, whose name was Todd.

"There's not much you can do for cracked ribs other than rest and take it easy. I think if he had a full break we would be dealing with some other symptoms and I don't think he has any internal injuries. I don't know, I am just working off what I read. He really needs to be in a hospital or at least at home in bed." said Chuck.

While Chuck was checking Todd, I dug a shallow hole in the dirt closer to the door and surrounded it with some loose rocks from outside. Then I carefully collected some dry wood from outside and built a more stable, less smoky fire. I scooped up the remains of the old fire with a piece of sheet metal and dumped it into one of the troughs out front.

Then I got my steel pot out and put water on to boil. As soon as we had a rolling boil, Chuck dumped a couple of packs of noodles into the pot with some salt. We opened one of our few cans of Spam and cut it into small cubes and added it to the drained noodles with a can of peas, some garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. I think our five new friends inhaled it. I used the left over boiled water and made ramen noodles for Chuck, Curtis and myself. For Todd, we made some chicken stock with a bullion cube and gave him some hot tea as well.

After we ate, we shared two candy bars between all of us before I asked how these guys ended up here. It was a story all too common in those days.

Billy and his friends attended UT and the day before the attack, they along with two other guys and two girls they knew, loaded up into two cars with the plan of dropping everyone off in a round about path through the area. They dropped off one guy outside of Conroe that night. The plan was to head back up to Navasota in the morning. They ended up sleeping in next morning and then got on the road. The second guy lived in a rural area outside of Navasota and when they got there, the nuclear attack came.

The family had the group of kids hunker down in the tornado shelter outside while they would shelter in their basement. Billy's group had brought food but the mother of the family gave them a couple of boxes of canned goods and water to hold them. So for the next week or so, Billy's group of five guys and two girls were crammed in this outside shelter trying to make the best of it.

Around that time, they heard some shooting outside and Billy opened up the door to see what was going on which turned out to be a mistake. A group of convicts who escaped from a local jail had invaded the house and killed the family for their supplies. When they saw Billy, they wrenched open the storm shelter and dragged all seven kids into the house.

The boys were tied up which is how Todd ended up injured. He knew what was going to happen and two of the convicts worked him over pretty good after he fought back. Billy was also beaten as was the kid with the limp, Randy. Afterward, they were tied up at gun point and forced to watch as the two girls, Colleen and Taylor, were abused numerous times by the four convicts.

This went on for days until the convicts had run through all the alcohol and food in the house. They then took the two girls and loaded up into an old car they had and took off but not before setting fire to the house hoping to kill Billy and his friends in the process.

Randy managed to get his hands untied and through dumb bravery, dragged everyone out with their hands and feet still tied. The house burned down and they were left with whatever clothes they had on and what few things they were able to salvage from the storm shelter. After trying to get Todd in good enough shape, they started walking towards the home of whoever lived closest. Naturally, with hardly any food, injured and traveling on foot, they had not made it very far.

I can't imagine what these guys went through and I was sick thinking about those girls. It was probably like that everywhere with the collapse of society. For the first time, I hoped my sister had died right away so the same thing would not happen to her wherever she was.

As for us, I know we have to be more vigilant than we have been. Chuck and Curtis and I drove off campus like we were going to Padre for Spring Break. Around every corner, people like those convicts are waiting and are probably wining. We saw no sign of cops or any sort of authority back at college and I assume that is the way it is everywhere now.