The trailer in tow was pulling the VW back and forth and must have been a handful for the driver, Josh noticed as he drew nearer. When the helicopter roared past the vehicle, Josh saw the driver snap his head over, a look of shock, which was immediately replaced with concern, clearly discernable on the driver’s face, even at fifty yards away. Josh leaned as far out the side door as he could safely do, scrutinizing the vehicle’s front windshield. He clearly saw two occupants hunched over in the confines of the German car, and then he was past and climbing away, heading back to base.
Josh just saw the first working vehicle outside of what they kept in the base’s inventory, and the vehicle had been occupied by two men, towing a trailer full of what looked like solar panels. Josh’s team, along with the SEALs alike, were screaming into one another’s ears in excitement over what they’d just discovered.
“Looks like someone’s got a car running and is putting together their own little power grid down there,” came the pilot’s cheery voice over the headset.
Josh removed the headset and hung it on the bulkhead before moving back to his seat in the cramped back of the helicopter. Josh thought about what they’d stumbled on. The two men in the vehicle were heading out of town, not into town, and were in possession of a fully functioning vehicle. The two men were also up to something with the solar panels, Josh mused. The fact that these men were over three months into the event and were thriving under the circumstances mystified Josh.
It also caused him to think of them as possible threats. Men who could survive this long under these circumstances were men who would ostensibly be armed and distrustful of the government, along with anyone else who wasn’t part of their crew or community. When Josh had received orders to work out in California, he was stunned at the number of Californians who were armed and who did not care for any sort of outside or government interference.
In and around San Francisco Bay, there wasn’t much of this, but thirty miles outside the greater Bay Area, people were not like what California was portrayed to be in the media. Josh was sure when he reported the incident to his command, they would want a closer look at these people. The sitting government, at first, was very clear on what it was they wanted to achieve, including how they intended reaching those goals.
After the retrieval missions began to dry up due to the chaos in the cities along with the fact that they were unable to locate many if not most of their targets, the orders coming from wherever they came from seemed more and more desperate. Josh was relieved they hadn’t been in the business of bringing survivors back to the base, due to the food situation. With the personnel living on base, there was only enough food for maybe a year. Any additional mouths to feed would reduce that drastically.
Josh pulled a map from his pack and, using a grease pencil, drew a circle in the area he’d seen the vehicle, adding an arrow indicating its direction of travel. If they wanted him to come back, at least he would have an idea where to look for these people.
The Black Hawk helicopter appeared seemingly out of thin air on their left side, causing Jared to nearly soil his trousers. John immediately scanned for any mounted weapons, but saw only armed men staring down at him. None of the men were pointing rifles in his direction, so John relaxed a little as he studied the aircraft for the few seconds it was close enough to make out details.
John wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw at least eight men inside the cabin of the aircraft, although he couldn’t identify a single one due to the distance and rapidness with which the helicopter appeared and was gone.
“That scared the crap out of me,” Jared blurted, ducking his head to gaze through the smallish windshield after the receding aircraft.
John was silent, his mind churning over any and all possibilities in regard to seeing a helicopter in broad daylight. Not only was the helicopter operating during the day, but it buzzed them like some Top Gun movie. John could only imagine the occupants wanted a closer look at what was presumably the only car they’d seen on the road since the event.
“Who do you think they are?” Jared queried after calming himself slightly.
“Gotta be some of the boys from my old command. There were a lot of guys on that bird, eight for sure, maybe more.” John thought for a moment. “If that’s the same Black Hawk that flew over last night, then they would have to have another base over on the coast,” John mused out loud.
Jared pressed the gas just a bit harder after seeing the helicopter loaded with guys just as capable as John. Seeing the military out hunting again unnerved Jared. If they were friendly, great, but if they meant to impose their will on him or anyone in their group, there would be problems.
The remainder of the trip was stressful, but uneventful. When they reached the dirt road to the ranch house, John leaped out and opened a hole in the fence, allowing the little VW an avenue to pass through. He motioned Jared forward, then stuck his head in the window.
“Move up the road out of sight and shut down until I’m finished here. I’ll be there
