Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny (21 page)

“I don’t think any of them really woke up when we took them out of the trucks,” Nellie said, adjusting the shotgun in her arms. She really didn’t like rifles but loved shotguns, so she had grabbed one of Nelson’s tactical 870 pump shotguns. “Relax; we’re almost home,” Nellie said, patting Michelle’s arm.

“I’ll relax when we get to the farm,” Michelle said with a smile, never taking her eyes off the road.

They stood side by side for an hour before Nellie whispered, “Don’t you worry about those babies. Anyone tries to hurt them, you won’t get a chance at them until I’m done,” Nellie informed her. “Just don’t say anything about what I’ll do.”

Not able to help it, Michelle gave a soft chuckle. “In that case, I’ll bring your supplies and beer to watch.”

“Good girl,” Nellie said, patting her arm again.

A low NNNNNN sounded, and Michelle jumped, slapping her leg. Then, another sounded, and Michelle stopped jumping as she gasped for air and looked up to see Nellie holding her shotgun ready. “It’s my damn cellphone vibrating,” she whispered, digging into her pocket as the vibrating phone sounded again.

“Hello,” Michelle whispered.

“It’s one. All of you get in your trucks. I’m on my way. Once you’re loaded, start heading towards me. Have your riding buddy drive mine here,” Gerald said.

“Now?” Michelle asked.

After a pause, he told her, “Well, now would be good, but if you need a shower first, I’d understand.”

“Loading up,” Michelle said as she hung up. “Nancy, Gavin,” Michelle called out, and they came over. “Go tell Matt and Ashley we need to load up and go get Gerald,” she said, and they took off. “I’ll go tell Nelson and come back and help with the babies.”

“I’ll wait on you,” Nellie said, moving over beside the kids.

Quietly as she could, she moved up to Nelson, who was watching her walk through the woods. “Yeah?” he called out in a low voice.

“Gerald called and said load up and come get him and for Nellie to drive his truck,” Michelle said.

Not saying anything, Nelson moved with Michelle back to the kids. As they approached, they saw Matt, Ashley, Nancy, and Nellie carrying the little ones to the trucks with Gavin running down the line, opening doors. “I feel so unneeded sometimes,” Nelson said, walking out of the woods.

“Huh, whatever,” Michelle huffed.

Very wisely, Nelson said nothing and helped get the sleeping kids in the trucks. Walking up from Matt’s truck, Nelson made sure everyone and the dogs were loaded up. As he started walking to Gerald’s Bronco to check on Nellie, Nelson looked up the road to see a figure with a dog beside them jogging.

“Thought he wanted us to come and get him,” Nellie said, stepping out of the Bronco.

“Guess he got tired of waiting,” Nelson offered.

Closing the door to the Bronco softly, Nellie threatened, “If he says anything about moving those babies faster, I’ll pull out his chest hairs one by one, starting with his nipples.”

Unconsciously, Nelson covered his chest with one hand. “Um, okay, Nellie,” he said, taking a step back.

“We aren’t rushing the babies unless it’s important. They’re asleep, and I don’t see anyone chasing him, so it’s not important,” she snapped in a low voice, slinging her shotgun over her shoulder.

They didn’t have to wait long until Gerald stopped in front of them. “Everyone loaded?” he asked, huffing.

“Yes,” Nellie replied with a cool voice. “We weren’t going to rush and wake the babies. You’re a big boy and can take care of yourself.”

Confused, Gerald looked at Nelson, who still had one hand over his chest and looking at Nellie with a sense of terror on his face. “I really didn’t want you to move fast, but if you would’ve loaded up faster, you could’ve just picked me up on my run back,” Gerald said, taking a small step back.

“That’s good,” Nellie said with a nod. “Can we go?”

“Yes, I’m going to pull ahead. Give me a five-minute head start then follow. When I see you, I’ll take the lead home,” Gerald answered. Again, Nellie nodded and turned around, and since she was on a road, she walked at a normal pace, not worrying about her depth perception.

“Trouble?” Nelson asked, watching Nellie walk away and dropping his hand.

Moving to his Bronco, Gerald climbed in as he said, “Not really, but you can tell me about that later.”

“Five minutes,” Nelson said, jogging to his truck and looking at his watch. Hearing Gerald’s Bronco start and immediately drive away, Nelson jumped in, putting his rifle back on the dash then looked over to see Zeus sitting up, looking at him. “Almost done, buddy,” Nelson said, rubbing Zeus’ massive head.

Starting his truck, Nelson kept looking at his watch, thinking five minutes had never felt this long. When it was time, Nelson tapped the brakes to signal the others, and he put the truck in drive. Slowly pulling away, he looked in the side mirror and saw the others following as he put the speedometer at thirty-five.

Rounding the curve, he noticed two cars and what he took for Gerald’s Bronco and trailer about two miles ahead on a large road. Not an interstate, but compared to what they had and were driving on, it looked like a massive highway.

Getting closer, he could see a figure he was taking for Gerald moving from the cars to the Bronco. When Nelson was half a mile away, he could tell it was Gerald, and Gerald jumped in his Bronco and pulled away from the cars.

Shifting his gaze to the cars, Nelson could tell they were squad cars that were pulled across the road. When he was less than fifty yards away, he saw one was a sheriff car, and the other a highway patrol, and several orange cones were lined up, blocking the small part of the road the cars weren’t blocking. The thing that confused him was the sheriff car was from a county up north, several counties removed.

Then, Nelson spotted the bodies laid neatly behind the cars and counted three. Turning away, he continued to follow Gerald, glancing back to make sure the others weren’t stopping to look. He saw them only slow and pick back up, closing the convoy up.

It was almost an hour later when they turned off the last dirt road. They did turn onto another dirt road, but this one led to the farm. Only two farms were down it: Bernard’s and the Carrington farm. The road made a gentle Y, and they took the left branch, barely slowing down. They only had a mile to go before they reached Bernard’s farm. Fighting the urge to stomp the accelerator, Nelson just followed Gerald as the trees suddenly fell away, exposing the fields. Up ahead, Nelson saw the house and barn and buildings.

The house was facing him, but he could only see Matt’s cabin off to the side behind the house, cabin being a loose term. All the cabins were just over a thousand square feet but had a thousand square feet basement under them.

Remembering Matt making fun of him awhile back since his bugout house with the basement was bigger than Nelson’s real house, Nelson smiled. “Yes, it is bigger, and I’m sure we’ll need it,” he mumbled to himself.

As they pulled down the driveway through the chain-link fence surrounding the yard, Nelson followed Gerald as Gerald took the driveway that went around the house to the back. Bernard’s and Nellie’s house was a nice-sized, two-story farm house with a basement. It had way more room than they needed, and they only used the upstairs for storage and guest rooms.

Coming around the house, Nelson sighed, seeing his and Michelle’s cabin between Matt’s and Gerald’s cabins. The three cabins sat just a hundred feet behind the house and a hundred feet from each other. Gerald didn’t want them spaced that far so they could provide cover for each other, but Nelson convinced Gerald that another fifty feet wouldn’t matter that much. All the cabins were cinderblock with metal siding and metal roofs.

Letting Gerald continue on, Nelson pulled beside his cabin and turned off the truck. Getting out as Michelle pulled beside his truck, Nelson looked at his watch. “Almost time to get up,” he said, seeing it was just past five. Walking to the front of the cabin, he held up his hand, stopping Nancy. “Just park it here,” he told her when she rolled down her window. Nodding, she rolled the window up and turned off the Blazer.

“I was starting to get worried,” Bernard almost shouted, coming out the back door. Nelson turned to see Bernard wearing his coveralls, flannel shirt, and work boots and carrying an M-14. “I listened to the CB scanner but never heard you call,” he said, walking over.

“Didn’t want to risk it,” Nelson said as Nancy and Gavin got out. When Gavin walked around the front of the Blazer, Nelson could see that his son was close to collapse. Smiling at Gavin, Nelson held out his arm, and his son walked over, and Nelson pulled him to a hug. “Gavin, go check the house, and get in the bed,” Nelson said. “We need to catch some sleep but need to get up and unload this stuff.”

With a dull nod and glassed-over eyes, Gavin slurred, “Yes sir,” and headed for the door.

“Wait, Gavin, the keys are in the truck,” Nelson said, turning.

“I unlocked it,” Bernard said, stopping in front of Nelson. “Turned on the air for y’all.”

Struggling to put one foot in front of the other, Gavin gave a weak smile and headed inside. “You should be really proud of him,” Nancy said with a smile as Gavin closed the door. “He stayed awake the whole way, helping keep an eye out.”

“Oh, I’m very proud of him,” Nelson said. “He talk your ear off?”

She smiled as she turned to look at him. “I rather enjoyed it, but yes, we talked most of the way.”

“Go get your daughter; we are going to bed,” Michelle said, carrying Devin. Pausing only long enough to kiss Bernard on the cheek as he leaned down, Michelle headed inside.

When Bernard saw Nellie walk up holding a sleeping Mike, he stepped over and hugged her. “You had this old man worried.”

“You know nothing can keep me from you,” she said, hugging him back.

“Can I have my son?” Matt asked, walking up holding Olivia. Without saying a word, Matt held out Olivia, putting her on Nelson’s chest. Reaching up, Nelson wrapped his arms around Olivia as Matt stepped over to take Mike out of Nellie’s arms. “If someone comes, kill ’em. I’ll bury them in the morning,” Matt said, turning around and heading for his cabin.

“Bernard, don’t think I’m being rude, but I’m going to bed,” Nelson said, heading for his door.

“Don’t worry, and sleep late tomorrow. I can handle everything till all y’all get some rest,” Bernard said.

Walking in the cabin, Nelson found Gavin sound asleep on the couch. Unlike at home, the kids had their own rooms here. They weren’t big by any means, but they were separate. Not in the mood to carry Olivia to her room, Nelson just headed for his.

He found Michelle fully clothed and Devin lying in the bed. Putting Olivia on the bed, Nelson took her shoes off then moved over and untied Michelle’s boots and pulled them off. Undoing the straps on her tactical vest, he pulled it off and set it on the floor then took off the bulletproof vest. Walking to the closet, Nelson took off his tactical vest and set it on the floor and pulled a blanket out of the closet.

Heading back to the living room, Nelson covered Gavin up after taking off his boots. In a weary state, Nelson headed back to his bed and dropped down, taking his boots off. Pulling the pistol out of the small of his back, he eased his head down on the pillow and never remembered closing his eyes.

Chapter 12

Dreaming of swimming in a lake of coffee, Nelson smiled in his sleep, taking a deep breath through his nose, inhaling the aroma. Then, his brain told him the smell was real. Struggling out of his dream, Nelson opened his eyes. The room was dim, but he could see bright light coming around the dark curtains on the window.

Blinking, Nelson sat up yawning and almost gagged. “I think Zeus shit in my mouth,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face. Rubbing his eyes, he put his feet on the floor and realized it was colder than it should’ve been through his socks. Looking down, he noticed he was in his boxers. “Where did my clothes go?” he asked then smelled the odor again.

Jumping up, Nelson almost ran to the bathroom. The cabin had two bathrooms: one in his and Michelle’s room and one in the hallway on the opposite side of his and Michelle’s bathroom wall. Grabbing a toothbrush, Nelson assaulted his mouth several times. When he was done and didn’t feel fur on his teeth, Nelson rinsed out his mouth.

Realizing the smell of coffee was real, Nelson followed it down the hall, ending up in the small kitchen. The kitchen was half the size of the one at home since all meals were eaten in Bernard’s and Nellie’s house. They only added a kitchen so the family could eat an occasional meal together. The living room was much bigger than the one at home, and it sat in front of the kitchen.

When you walked in the cabin, you entered the living room with the kitchen ahead and laundry room off to the side. Going down the hall, all three kids’ rooms were on the left side, and their bathroom was the first door on the right. Then, at the end of the hall was his and Michelle’s room. They designed the cabin with their bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen at the back of the house, facing the field, and the kid’s rooms faced the house. They figured danger would come from the outside and wanted to keep the kids as far away from it as they could.

Walking in the kitchen, he found the coffee pot but didn’t see anyone else. Grabbing a cup, he found a note beside the coffee pot. “At the house.” He poured a cup and headed to the bedroom then dug out some sweatpants and a t-shirt. Putting on some slippers and grabbing his coffee, he headed to the front door.

As he walked through the living room, he looked at the big clock on the wall and saw it was almost three in the afternoon. “Whoa,” he said, opening the door, and the light almost drove him to his knees. “When did the sun get that bright?” he asked, shielding his eyes with his hand.

Closing the door and shielding his eyes, Nelson walked around the Blazer and trailer. A large deck was at the back of the house where everyone could eat outside. Nelson walked up the steps, crossed the deck, and opened the back door that led into the kitchen and was assaulted by the aroma of food. Immediately, his stomach let out a growl.

“Sleeping beauty is finally up,” he heard Matt call out. Lowering his hand, Nelson saw Nellie, Ashley, and Michelle working in the kitchen. Nancy was setting the very large dining table, and the men were sitting at the bar.

Walking over to the bar, Nelson hugged Michelle as he passed. “I feel like someone drained the life force from my body,” Nelson said, taking a stool at the bar.

“Dude, if Brittany wouldn’t have woken me up, I would’ve slept till tomorrow,” Matt grinned.

Looking around, Nelson asked, “Michelle, I didn’t roll on the kids, did I?”

Michelle walked over carrying a bowl. “Baby, you never moved. It took me and Gavin to get your clothes off,” she told him, setting the bowl down. Seeing it was oatmeal, Nelson attacked it.

“Gerald, you find out anything from those cops?” he asked between spoonfuls.

Finishing a sip of coffee, Gerald said, “Didn’t talk to them.”

In less than a minute, the bowl was empty. “You did notice that sheriff car wasn’t from Shannon County. That was a Miller County sheriff car,” Nelson said, sitting up and taking a sip of coffee. Nellie came over, took his bowl, and gave him an apple, which Nelson pounced on. 

“That’s why I just cut loose,” Gerald replied.

“Find anything then?” Nelson asked.

Gerald nodded. “Yeah, a federal radio and a coil-bound presentation notebook called ‘Homeland Disaster, Plan and Reaction: For Law Enforcement Only.’ It’s quite an interesting read. It clearly calls out the nonexistent FEMA camps and detention centers and the use of the nonexistent rail cattle cars to be used for transporting dissidents.” 

“Well, there are a few people I wish I could show that to that said I wore a tin foil hat. I did for a reason,” Nelson said, putting down the apple core. “Bernard, you hear anything while we trekked here?”

“Oh, let me tell you, it’s open season on federal officials. They haven’t announced the exact numbers on the news, but online, the body count is over three hundred. Someone bombed the IRS building in Atlanta, killing another forty or so, and wounded double that,” he said, getting up. “The mainstream media is only reporting ‘Violence against Federal agents.’”

“Any action by the government?” Nelson asked, wanting more food as his stomach let out a rumble everyone could hear.

Walking around the bar, Bernard headed over to the coffee pot. “Yes, the web is reporting a lot of people have been detained, and anyone putting up resistance is shot,” he said, pouring a cup. “The numbers are actually frightening.”

Getting up and grabbing the apple core, Nelson threw it in the compost can and searched for more food. “It’s only going to get worse,” he said, opening the fridge.

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” Gerald smiled, watching Nelson dig through the fridge. “The government announced this morning they seized all bank accounts, and once again, it’s illegal for citizens to own gold and silver. All gold must be turned in to the Federal Reserve in the next two weeks. Only approved jewelry and coins may be kept after a certificate is issued. It’s a ten-year sentence if you don’t comply. If you own a safe deposit box, it must be opened in front of a bank employee and its contents reported.”

Grabbing several slices of cheese, Nelson closed the fridge. “Yeah, that would escalate some violence,” Nelson agreed as he unwrapped the cheese.

“They did announce on the disappearance of a state trooper on the news affiliate out of Springfield,” Bernard said, getting back on his stool. “Nellie told me about the trouble you all had,” he said, looking at Nelson.

“Only mine?” Nelson said, and Matt snickered.

“Yeah, all of yours, but another station mentioned three officers killed on Highway 19,” Matt said. “Seems like this group isn’t the only one dropping law enforcement around here; seven other officers have been shot, and two more are missing.”

Bernard took a sip of coffee. “The governor is expected to declare a state of emergency later today.”

“Any riots?” Nelson asked, finishing the cheese.

“A few,” Nancy said, walking up behind Bernard. “Nothing bad. The people the government pissed off aren’t the ones just sitting at home, not working, getting checks. It’s the workers who lost money. They aren’t going to burn a business and hurt another working class family. They go after the ones responsible.”

Nodding, Nelson said, “Eloquently put.”

“Get to the table,” Nellie said, and Nelson took off, almost knocking Nancy down as he dropped in his chair. Nellie laughed, bringing bowls of food over. “Bernard, go get the kids from outside.”

As Bernard walked over, Michelle carried over more bowls of food. “I take it you won’t be feeding Devin?” she asked, looking at Nelson with a smile.

Nelson dropped his shoulders and let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’ll feed the soccer ball head. Where’s he at?”

Letting out a laugh and slapping Nelson’s shoulder, Michelle said, “Don’t call him that. I’ll feed him, baby. I don’t want you biting one of his hands off.”

“He laughs when I call him that,” Nelson objected, grabbing his plate. “Besides, his head is way out of proportion with his body. Gavin’s or Olivia’s wasn’t that big.”

Nellie walked over and popped him on the back of the head. “Don’t you say that about Devin. It just means he is going to be a big man.”

Nelson never stopped loading his plate even with the pop to his head. “Then Devin will be the size of a house,” he said, putting his full plate down. The front door opened, and the laughter of kids filled the house as they ran in and jumped in their chairs. Michelle walked in carrying Devin and Mike. Passing Mike off to Ashley, Michelle sat down beside Nelson.

They all clasped hands as Bernard said grace. As soon as he said, “Amen,” Nelson started shoveling food into his mouth. He was doing it so fast everyone just stopped and watched in awe. They watched the food disappear, and Nelson stood to refill his plate, oblivious to everyone watching.

“Um, baby,” Michelle said, stunned, “you really don’t need to eat that fast.”

“He really ate it?” Matt said from across the table. “I thought he threw it down his shirt.”

Shoveling mashed potatoes on his plate, Nelson stopped and noticed everyone looking at him. “What? I’m starved,” he announced and continued loading his plate.

“Baby, I know I don’t cook as well as Nellie, but you don’t have to rub it in,” Michelle said, holding out her plate for him to put some food on it.

“Pfft,” Nelson scoffed and started loading her plate. “Your cooking is very good, baby, but I haven’t ate much because I was a little on the nervous side,” he admitted.

“You could’ve said something,” she told him as the others started getting food.

Finished loading Michelle’s plate, Nelson set it down in front of her. “What good would that have done besides made you nervous?” he asked, sitting down. With a conscious effort, Nelson slowed down his eating.

Picking up a spoon, Michelle started feeding Devin some mashed potatoes. “Sorry to tell you, babe, but I was so nervous my hair was falling out,” Michelle told him. “Baby, we need to bring Devin’s high chair from the cabin.”

Nellie looked up and around the table. “Bernard, you didn’t bring out the high chairs we bought?” she snapped, turning an icy gaze at him.

“I put them together. I just forgot to bring them down,” Bernard said, almost jumping up and running out of the room. Everyone heard him run up the stairs.

“Nellie, you two didn’t have to buy highchairs,” Michelle told her.

Holding up her hand, Nellie replied, “Don’t, Michelle. These babies need chairs at the table like everyone else. You and Ashley can’t keep bringing their chairs in and out of the cabins.”

Michelle took a breath to retort, but Nelson grabbed her arm. “Don’t,” he warned. “If you’re bad, she does stuff worse than spank you.”

Looking at Nelson, Michelle watched his left hand come up and cover his chest. “Um, uh,” Michelle stuttered. “Ah, thank you Nellie.”

Thunder rattled the house as Bernard ran down the stairs. “Bernard, quit running or you’ll fall and hurt the high chairs!” Nellie yelled out.

Somewhat startled by that, Matt asked, “What about himself?”

She waved her hand. “Him hurt by a fall? Please. Matt, six years ago, that bull out there knocked him down and stepped on his jewels,” Nellie announced, making Matt and Nelson cringe. “Bernard didn’t even go to the doctor. He just came in, laid down on the couch, put an ice bag on, and took some Motrin. Three hours later, he was back out at work. He was moving slower, I’ll admit.”

Leaning over to Michelle’s ear, Nelson whispered, “That happens to me, get a gun and just shoot me in the back of the head. In fact, we will put it in our living will right next to no prolonged life support.”

Hearing that, Michelle busted out laughing as Bernard carried in two very nice wooden high chairs. “I’m serious,” Nelson told her and looked at the chairs. “Did you, uh, buy those?” he asked as Bernard set one down beside Michelle.

“Yep, the last time we came up,” Bernard replied and Michelle turned and stopped laughing, looking at the high chair.

“At the baby store in Springfield?” Nelson asked.

“Sure did. They showed us how hard it was to turn over and even had me stand on one,” Bernard said proudly. “Thing didn’t even creak. It can be turned into a regular chair and the top taken off then used as a booster seat.”

Shaking his head, Nelson said, “Bernard, that chair cost two hundred and fifty dollars.”

“Shut it, Nelson,” Nellie snapped.

“They let us have them at two twenty apiece since we bought two,” Bernard told him, grinning.

Ashley froze, putting Mike in the chair. “You paid what?” she asked.

“Ashley, put Mike in and feed him,” Nellie told her with a hint of iron.

“We wanted to bring all the kids out here and give you four some time alone,” Bernard said, sitting down. “Now, we looked at those other chairs and just didn’t feel comfortable putting the babies in them.”

Picking up his spoon, Nelson announced, “I’m not saying another word, Nellie, so quit looking at my chest.”

Putting Devin in the high chair, Michelle whipped her head around, looking at Nelson, who was just eating. Then, she turned to Nellie, who was glaring at Nelson. “We have always seen these kids as part of our family, and you even made us their grandparents,” Nellie said. “Okay, guardians, but same thing. If we want the best for them, so be it. Keep on, and I’ll have Bernard hold you down, and I’ll pull out each hair on your chest one by one.”