Chapter 11The Resistance - Friday, June 29th to Wednesday, July 4th
The Party was on the move again. The exhausted hikers had slept in until the forest was well lit and the birds had started their daily singing. Now they were continuing the climb that they had started last night after meeting Cleveland Charlie.
Their side-quest was still taking them along the trail, but they would have to walk off the trail about a half of a mile to get to the Greasy Creek Hostel, where they would deliver the large manilla envelope Fic had secured in his pack. It felt good to have the diversion of this mission to keep them going, but also letting them help the Resistance, which he now felt he was a part of. He didn’t know what had happened to his army. Whether it was still the same as it was before, or had it rotted into something he didn’t want to be a part of. Whatever had happened. It had completely shaken up his life. Before leaving home at the beginning of this month, everything had been going according to plan. Finish the last year of his enlistment. Retire from the army and then find something else to do. He was still young. There were plenty of things to do to keep him busy and interested. Now, everything was chaos. The future was foggy at best. He just needed to get back home. Back to his family.
The dream he had last night was still with him. The details had already started to fade from his memory, but the feeling of it remained. This one was a little different from the last couple vivid ones he had lately. He had been at home. Sitting in the living room with Lori and the kids. They were talking about something, but he no longer remembered what it was about. It had jumped around after that. They would be out in a garden pulling weeds, then out hunting, but the hunting was different. It was like he was hunting something other than a deer, or rabbit or turkey. It felt like when he had hunted men back in Iraq and Afghanistan. After a few miles into the day’s hike, they came to a place named Beauty Spot. It was an open, grassy area that had grand views all around. In front of them, they could see the ridge continuing to rise. In the distance was a mountain whose top was covered in pine trees. It looked dark and mysterious even from about two miles away. The mountain was called Unaka, and that is where the trail went.
The Party continued along. They were all ready to stop for some lunch and the day had become quite hot and humid. Resting in the shade of that spruce forest, that they could see even better now, seemed like a good idea.
They entered the deep, cooling shade of the forest and found a nice clearing about 300 meters in. Everyone dropped their packs and dug out some food.
They sat in a loose circle. Eating food out of Ziploc bags and wrappers.
Twice, Fic thought he had seen something move in the forest out of the corner of his eye. When he would look over, there would be nothing but the dark spaces between the spruce trees and the underbrush. “I think we have a visitor.” Brown Shades said softly. Just injecting it into the normal lunchtime conversation. Fic nodded in his direction and slowly, everyone became alert.
Fic checked the location of his shotgun. It was leaning against his pack, which was leaning against the tree he was sitting under. It was less than an arm's length from him. He continued scanning the forest. Looking for the movement that wasn’t his imagination.
From the direction opposite where everyone’s attention was drawn, a soft step sounded and a very tall, very green man stood between two of the dark trees. His skin wasn’t green, but pretty much all of his clothes were of one shade of green or another. Even his hiking sandals had a green tint to them. The man was tall. At least six and a half feet. He wore an interesting hat made of green leather. His shirt and pants were both a dark green and so were his socks, which he wasn’t wearing, but they were hanging off of the side of his pack drying. He was wearing a backpack, of which the main color was… wait for it… green. In his hands he held a rough-looking bow that had an arrow nocked in the string. He held the bow at the ready. Not drawing or aiming, but a second was all it would take to do both.
“Hello.” Said Brown Shades in his teacher’s voice. “That’s a nice bow you have there.”
“Thanks.” The man said. “I made it myself. Just a couple days ago. It seems a man needs to go armed in these woods now days.”
“Come join our circle.” Fic said. “Do you need any food?”
“I will join you. I have plenty of food, but I’m starting to tire of the same thing. Maybe we can do a trade.”
“That’s a definite possibility.” Said Gnobbit. “Do you like MRE’s? We have a good supply of them and I’m already ready for something different.” She turned up her nose at the tan pouch she was holding in her hand.
The green man joined The Party and sat amongst them. He pulled out some interesting-looking bars that appeared to be some sort of power bar but was in a beeswax wrapping. They looked homemade.
“I made a crap ton of this pemmican, and it is good, but eating it all the time gets old. I’ve never had an MRE. Would you like to trade for some of my pemmican?” He asked Gnobbit.
“I’m Finn.” He said smiling at Gnobbit as he offered some beeswax wrapped food.
She smiled back, taking the food and passing her MRE to the tall man. “Gnobbit,” she said. Her gaze lingered on him for several seconds after the transaction was complete. He seemed distracted by her too, but only for a second.
Everyone else introduced themselves and they started doing the age old trail pass time of trading information. Which way are you heading? (North) Have you seen anything strange or had any problems? (Yes to both) What is your plan? (Keep heading North) Do you want to join our Party? (Of course).
They found out all they could about each other and Finn became the sixth member of The Party. They were a decent raiding party now. All the skills and fantastical races seemed to be represented. The Elf Ranger had made the Party complete.
Finn was tall, about 20 or so, with long blond hair. Ultra blond. Like platinum. He had a blond mustache that turned at the ends of his mouth. Not quite a fu-man-chu, but more of a porn-stache. His green clothes and gear contrasted well with his blondness.
“I’m a college student majoring in Adventure Education at UNC.” Finn told his story. “I was spending the summer living in the woods. Walking the trail and surrounding area practicing my bush craft. My plan was to walk several miles along the trail, then head into the bush, away from the trail and do things like make primitive fire, catch and kill some of my food and build shelters and other things. I had just started about a week before the war started and I hadn’t even known it had happened, I had been in a pretty remote place, but I met a couple of guys on the trail who were heading home to Atlanta, and they told me what was going on.”
“After trying to go into a town to resupply, I was chased by some army men. I was able to lose them, but I became more cautious after that and have been spending more time up in the mountains, slowly making my way north. I’m from West Virginia, so I just figured I could walk back to my car way back in Georgia and expose myself on the roadways driving home or just keep heading north. Living off the forest as I go. Staying out of sight and out of mind.”
“I made my bow and a few arrows to help supplement my food, but after the encounter with the army guys, I thought I might need something for personal protection.”
“Yes. It definitely feels more comfortable having something. We were lucky to come across this shotgun and The Resistance has helped with providing some ammo.” Fic said.
Fic told Finn about the Resistance and all that they knew about The Regime and The Boss, Flaherty.
“I’m all in on helping with the Resistance. This Boss guy needs to go. I would like to help with that.” Finn said.
Lunch was done, and they had some more miles to walk today. They wanted to be able to get to the Hostel early tomorrow. Once they delivered their package, they would then figure out how far to go from there.
Everyone gathered their gear and continued down the trail. The day continued to be sunny and warm, but down in the green tunnel, the heat was tempered some. The humidity still had a way of soaking you through like you were a sponge, but as long as everyone continued to drink water, they would all be fine.
They arrived at a shelter after coming off the enchanting mountain top and The Party rested for a while. They decided to continue on four and a half more miles to a campsite next to a spring that was listed in the A.T. Guide. As they approached the area, they could tell it was an old apple orchard. The trees had been left to their own devices many decades ago. They were gnarled, crooked and unpruned. Some had large hollow spaces in their trunks. A path ran through the old orchard and into the edge of the woods. When you followed the path into the woods you saw several huge boulders. To the left of the boulders was a pipe coming out of the rocks. Water flowed from the pipe. Cold, clear, fresh, spring water.
The Party spread out around the spring and back up to the grassy area around the trees. There was a small firepit at the edge of the woods and the group gathered there, made a modest fire and cooked their dinners.
The light of the sun left the sky, and the only light source was now the flickering, yellow flames of the fire. Class Room pulled out Yuk and started playing a melody. Finn started humming to the tune and then singing, but he wasn’t singing real words. Or words that they could understand. They seemed foreign and of a different language, but a language that only Finn knew. It was soothing and hypnotic and everyone listening started to feel a deep comforting relief. When the song was over, everyone felt energized but relaxed. It was another magical moment on the trail.
“I think I dreamed of you,” Gnobbit said to Finn when the song was done. The others nodded their heads at Gnobbit, but no one said anything.
Fic started to wonder if they were somehow sharing the same dreams. He shook his head to clear the thought, but it kept coming back as the night wore on.
Soon the flames became coals and the coals ash as the fire consumed the fuel it had been fed and the hikers each went to their sleeping places. Finn was a hammock hanger too, so he and Brown Shades were the last to fall asleep. They had hung their hammocks near each other, and they talked softly for a while after they were in their beds until the conversation ran out and sleep came to all the Party.
The morning was warm, but an overcast had rolled in during the night. The Party packed up and hit the trail when everyone was ready. It was less than three miles to the forest road that would lead to the Greasy Creek. When they arrived at the gap, they turned off the trail at a sign and followed the old road down to a house that sat at the very end of a road. There was a sign in the yard of a piece of land that had two large buildings built on the hillside. The house was gray and long. With a covered porch along the whole front of the house. Behind the house was another gray building. The sign said Greasy Creek Friendly. Fic smiled at the use of the word Friendly instead of Hostel, which sounded a lot like hostile. The owners of this inn must have a really positive attitude.
As The Party walked up to the house, two dogs came from behind the building. Their panting faces made them look like they were smiling, and their tails were wagging wildly. The black lab in the back gave a short welcoming bark. Or maybe it was an announcement of our presence to the owners, because the door to the house opened and a woman walked out.
She was about five-five with graying, blond, shoulder length hair. She wore a large sweater. The morning had a nice mid-summer crispness to it, but it was once again heating up fast. “Welcome to Greasy Creek.” She said. Lifting her hand to point the way. “The bunkhouse is over there. You can set your stuff in there for a spell and come talk in the kitchen. I’m Kay Cee.” She introduced herself.
The Party dropped their gear as instructed, then walked back to the house entering at the back where the kitchen was. The room was large with a large table at one end where they all sat. Kay Cee put a plate of cookies in the middle of the group, saying. “Help yourself. I’m sure you are all a little hungry.” The group each took a cookie and started munching.
Fic took the large envelope he had fished out of his pack and slid it across the table to Kay Cee. “Cleveland Charlie sends his regards,” he said. “This is for you.”
She took the envelope and placed it on the counter by the hallway. “Thanks.” She said. “This is some important stuff. How’s Charlie doing?”
“Pretty good as far as we could tell. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him. He helped us out, and we did this for The Resistance.” Fic replied.
“This will be very helpful.” Kay Cee said. “We all need to work together to get rid of this craziness. I know it’s early in the day, but y’all must stay here for the night. I have lots of food and can actually use a little help around here for the day. We can arrange a little work for stay and I can feed y’all.”
After a short conference, they decided to stay and help for the day and head out early the next day. Once again, The Party settled into a comfortable environment. Helping Kay Cee clean up the house and then helping to move a load of firewood from a dumped pile to a nice stack next to the house. In the meantime, Kay Cee cooked a large lunch and everyone sat around the table, talking about things hikers talk about. The conversation was light and happy. The world might have gone to shit, but this group was doing ok. Fic thought.
Even though only hiking three miles for the day felt like time wasted to Fic, he understood the importance of being able to relax and take it easy for one day. And a Nero was better than a Zero. At least they made some progress on getting closer to home.
After lunch, the group was hanging around in the kitchen, when the door opened, and a man walked in with a shotgun slung over his shoulder and a handful of fresh game in his right hand. It looked like a rabbit and two squirrels. He was about the same height as Kay Cee but had a large kinky head of hair that added a few inches to his perceived height. A pair of glasses framed the middle of his face and below them was a kinky beard that went as far down as his hair went up. There was a good amount of gray in his otherwise black beard. He looked at the group and a smile broke on his face. “Ahh, visitors,” he said.
“Hikers who are heading north. Trying to get home. They came from Charlie.” Her pointed look at the new man conveyed more information than those three sentences and the man gave a knowing nod and once again looked at the group.
“I hope you are hungry. We have some good meat to cook for tonight’s dinner. You guys are staying, right?” He asked. Holding up the game he still held in hand.
“That’s Gizmo.” Kay Cee introduced the man. “He helps out around here.”
Gizmo had been staying at the Greasy Creek for a little over a year now. The year before, he was a hiker. He had hiked this far and had twisted his ankle pretty badly on the trail right before the turnoff. He had limped down the old forest road to the hostel, healed, started helping out and never left. He was a handy guy who could fix a lot of things and since he had come there, he had fixed a lot of stuff.
Kay Cee got to work on the rabbit and squirrels and the hikers helped with a few other things. Dinner was a lavish affair. Cooked on a large wood burning cook stove. Stewed game with potatoes and freshly picked green beans. It was a good down home meal.
In front of the house. Down the hill a little were a couple of picnic tables and a good-sized fire pit. Gizmo started a fire as the light of the day was leaving the area and the comrades relaxed by the fire, talking and making S’mores. Kay Cee had provided the ingredients. The Party were well aware that this was a special occasion. Things like marshmallows and chocolate were becoming hard to come by.
Everyone slept in the bunkhouse that night. The two dogs patrolling the area and letting their owners know if anything was amiss. Before he turned in, Fic sat in the kitchen with Kay Cee. He was drinking a cup of tea that Kay Cee had made for him.
“I have another mission for you, if you are game.” She looked at Fic intently.
“As long as it is a mission that takes us further north.” He replied.
“It does. The next link in the Resistance chain along the trail is the Boots Off Hostel up in Hampton, Tennessee. I have a small package that needs to be delivered.” She didn’t mention what was in the package and Fic didn’t really care.
“We’ll do it,” he said.
She handed him a wrapped box about four inches square. On top of the box, she placed a small statue of a gnome. “Take this along too. Give it to Jimbo at Boots Off. It will let him know that you come from us.”
Fic picked up the small statue of the bearded little man with a red hat and blue robe. Gnobbit is gonna love this. He thought.
“Whoa. This is cool.” Said Gnobbit excitedly. “I’m gonna be the one to carry it to Boots Off.” “It’s all yours, girl.” Fic Said. “Just make sure you don’t lose it along the way. It’s our ticket into the Hostel.”
The Party had all packed up and were ready to go. Kay Cee had stacked a load of resupply food on the kitchen table when she fed them breakfast, telling the hikers to take what they needed. Everyone filled their food bags and were ready to go.
They walked back up to Greasy Creek and turned right onto the trail.
The rest of the morning was spent ascending Roan High Knob. They were back over 6000 feet, and the air took on a crisp coldness as they passed the summit and stopped for lunch at the shelter.
The rest of the day had them descending the mountain and then crossing two long balds. The open grassy areas made them feel a little exposed, but there was no traffic on the road at Carvers Gap. The views from these balds were spectacular, but they moved along quickly until they were out of sight of the road. You could see a person from pretty far off on the open grassy areas. You could also see where the trail was heading from at least two miles away.
They passed another shelter that was right on the trail, then were turning off the trail at a sign that announced that they had reached Overmountain Shelter. This shelter was a large barn with some grass fields surrounding it that could sleep a large group of people.
As they approached the shelter, two men came out of the barn and watched them approach. They were scruffy looking, and both wore jeans and T-shirts.
“Hello.” Said Fic. “Is there room for six more in the barn?” Fic asked. Knowing the barn could sleep about twenty people. More if the weather was bad.
“Well, I’m sure there is.” Said the guy on the left. He had short, choppy hair and the makings of a scruffy beard. He seemed to be in his early 20s. “We been staying here for a few days. There’s too much trouble down in town. Lots of people were shot. We come from the town of Roan Mountain, Tennessee. We had to get out quickly and only had a little food. You guys got any food to spare?” He finished with a hopeful look in his eye.
“I think we can spare some food.” Said Fic. “We don’t have a lot and have been moving north fairly fast, but we can help you out some.”
A girl came walking out of the barn. She was maybe sixteen and looked like she had just woken up from a nap. “Hey Y’all.” She said. Raising her hand in a shy wave. “I’m Dotti.” She introduced herself.
“Ah, yeah. I’m Scott and this here is Dubba. He don’t talk much.” Scott said.
“Pleased to meet you.” Said Brown Shades. “I’m Brown Shades.” And then he introduced the rest of The Party.
Everyone grabbed their food bags and went through them to find some things they could donate to the three refugees from their town. A nice pile of food grew between the hikers.
“This should hold you over for a while. If you need more and can’t go home, you might want to hike to the Greasy Creek Friendly and see if Kay Cee can help you out. She is always looking for help at the place and seems to still be well supplied.” Fic explained.
“We might just do that.” Scott said. “Thanks for the food. We do appreciate it.”
The Party walked into the barn and walked up to the second floor. The threesome had spread out pretty well in the shelter. Their gear was scattered around, and it definitely looked like they had been living there for a little while. They gathered their gear and made room for the other hikers. Their gear looked serviceable enough but most of it was old and heavy and most likely purchased at the nearest Walmart. It was doing the trick and that was all that mattered.
After looking around some, the hikers picked their spots for the night. Finn decided to hang his hammock in the woods right behind the barn. He was always more comfortable in his hammock and in the woods. Brown Shades decided to stay in the barn, hanging his hammock between some large beams that were on the lower level which was open on one side.
After settling in and setting up, they all had a good dinner and then hung out for a while. It had been another long day of about seventeen and a half miles, and everyone was pretty tired and sore after climbing the mountains and balds during the day.
There were several lengths of rope hanging from the rafters and Fic decided that they should hang their food bags from them to keep them away from the mice that surely lived in this barn too.
The threesome of Scott, Dubba and Dotti had pretty much kept to themselves, but did contribute to the conversation in the evening. They seemed to be quite hungry when they made their dinners of the donated food.
Darkness arrived, and The Party retired to their sleeping set ups for the night.
…Later
Fic came awake. It was very dark in the barn, but the nearly full moon was shining up above and its light was coming through the cracks in the walls and roof. It seemed to Fic that some noise had woke him up. A shaft of moonbeam ran across the hanging rope in the middle of the loft. He looked at the rope where their food bags were hanging, and he was alarmed to see that the bags appeared to be gone.
Fic got up quickly and grabbed his head lamp. We went over to the rope and confirmed that their food bags were no longer hanging on the rope. He pointed his light over to where the others were sleeping and noticed that the threesome were also gone.
“Son-of-a bitch.” He whispered as he went to wake the others.
Luckily his shotgun was still resting next to his sleeping mat where it had been when he fell asleep. He shoved his feet into his boots, tying them loosely, placed the headlamp on his forehead and swooped up his shotgun, jacking a shell into the chamber.
The hikers sleeping in the barn came together in a circle. Brown Shades came up from the lower level, fixing his glasses over his sleepy eyes. “Brownie and Class Room. Stay here and guard the gear. They may be still in the area.” Fic instructed the two hikers. “RW and Gnobbit, come with me.”
Everyone grabbed their head lamps and weapons. Fic led the way down the stairs to the lower level. His light shown across the open area and fixed on a green object. It was Finn coming in from the woods behind the barn. He had his bow in his hands and an arrow nocked. “Trouble?” He asked. “I saw the threesome heading out a few minutes ago and was wondering.”
“It looks like they took our food. All of it.” Fic answered.
“Follow me. I know which way they went.” Finn said.
The four hikers followed the path that went back to the trail. Following the easily seen trail the threesome had made through the dewy, longish grass of the field. The moon made the tracks stand out.
They got to the forest canopy, and the trail was harder to see. Finn kneeled down at the sign that pointed to the shelter and looked at the ground for about thirty seconds. “It looks like they headed south. These tracks here look like the girl’s slim sneakers. Let’s go.”
They had started out with white head lamps, when they started following the trail south. Two or three minutes later they went to red, then turned the lights off all together about five minutes after that.
The moon was shining into the early July woods, and they could see pretty well. The light dappled between the leaves, shifting to and fro as a light breeze moved the branches of the trees. This created moving shadows on the forest floor. It was enchanting and scary at the same time.
After about fifteen minutes of fast, dark walking, they saw a light moving up ahead. The threesome was still using their flashlights to move along. The chasers quieted their steps as much as they could and continued to close on the moving light.
When they could make out the person carrying the light, they matched their pace and followed at a distance. Waiting for a chance to surprise the thieves.
They were close enough to hear a few words of conversation from the three. It sounded like Dotti needed to stop for a rest. Scott kept telling her they would be able to stop in a minute. He told her there was a shelter just up ahead.
The chasers gave each other a nod in the dark. A plan had come to each of them naturally. After a few whispered instructions, the four chasers closed in on the three runners.
Scott, Dotti and silent Dubba came to the shelter and dropped their packs. They all sat on the edge of the shelter, panting a little. Their heads were all looking down at the ground.
Fic walked into the clearing around the shelter, his shotgun in the crook of his arm. “I think you might have accidentally taken something of ours.” He said. Keeping the shotgun pointed at the ground, but ready to move it quickly.
The three all jumped like a snake had been thrown in their laps. Dubba let a scream that sounded like Dotti could have made it. He jumped back into the shelter, coming to his feet.
“We didn’t take anything.” Scott tried to lie. Fic just looked at him for a minute. Saying nothing.
“He has a gun.” Dotti pointed out the obvious.
“But if we rush him.” Scott revealed a half-baked plan.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Fic warned. “I can’t remember exactly what shell I have in the chamber. It could be a slug. Maybe some buck shot or even bird shot, but no matter what it is. It would hurt a lot if I had to shoot you.”
As he said this, Finn moved into the clearing, his bow drawn and pointing at Scott's chest. Rodent Whisperer moved in on the other side of Fic. His axe in his hand and at the ready. Gnobbit came from behind the shelter, her stick in her hand.
“Just give us our food bags. You can still keep what we gave you earlier. This isn’t the way to navigate this crazy world we are now experiencing. I know you might have become desperate, but that doesn’t give you permission to take other’s stuff without permission. It may just get you killed now days.” Fic lectured.
The scared threesome opened their packs and pulled out the food bags they had taken from the rope. They placed them in a small pile at the corner of the shelter edge. Rodent Whisperer sheathed his axe and grabbed all the food bags, handing a few to Gnobbit. “We were just so hungry.” Said Dotti. “We had run out of food a few days ago and… We were just so hungry.” She repeated.
“Now I’m gonna have to ask you to gear up and head south. Just keep going until I can’t see you anymore. I wish you the best of luck, but I hope you learned a lesson here,” Fic said.
The threesome did as they were instructed and started walking away from the shelter. Fic nodded to the others, and they quickly started heading back to the Overmountain Shelter.
They arrived back at the shelter in about forty minutes. They had moved very fast in the moon-dappled woods. They found Brown Shades standing guard outside the barn with his staff at the ready. He smiled when he saw they were all carrying food bags. “I see you found them,” he said. “Any trouble?”
“Not really,” replied Fic. “We caught up to them, confronted them and they saw the wisdom of giving the bags back. Hopefully, they won’t try that again.”
“I guess we are going to have to start standing a watch even out here in the boonies,” Fic suggested.
“Yep,” Gnobbit said. “Can’t trust anyone now days.” A snarky look on her face.
“I’ll keep watch for a couple hours,” said Finn. Walking back to his hammock.
“It’ll be light in a few hours,” said Fic. “None of us are probably going to get much sleep. We can get an early start to the next camp.”
The Party went back up to the loft of the barn and rested for a few hours. They were all packed, fed and ready to go when the sun started to lighten the field.
As they started up Little Hump Mountain, the sun rose in front of them. Promising a bright and warm day on the trail.
The trail on this day was once again over a lot of open mountain tops with bald grassy summits. The two Hump Mountains were open, and The Party had that feeling of exposure again as they walked along in a high visibility area. After summiting the Hump, the trail went downhill for several miles and re-entered the forest. On their way down, they had passed a sign that indicated they were leaving North Carolina for the last time. They were in Tennessee for good now. No more walking the border. At the bottom of that mountain was US 19E. They could hear traffic as they approached, and they slowed their approach as they got closer. Gnobbit snuck up to the road to take a look and returned quickly with news of what she had seen. “That traffic is all military. It seems to be a pretty long convoy. Trucks, personnel carriers, hummers.” She informed the group.
They all snuck closer and waited for a lull in the traffic. When the road grew quiet, they made their move and crossed the road at a trot. Getting across and heading up the incline on the other side. In a minute, they were back in the woods on the other side. Climbing away from the road.
In the late afternoon, they approached Mountaineer Shelter, their home for the night. The shelter was impressive. It had an overhang which covered the front of the shelter and a thin table built into the front wall of the shelter and also provided a third sleeping area as a loft. The main part of the shelter had two sleeping platforms like the shelters in the smokeys, only smaller.
The Party found their places as usual and settled in for the night. Gnobbit bedded down on the top floor, Fic, Rodent Whisperer and Class Room took the middle platform and Finn and Brown Shades hung their hammocks in front of the shelter. They stood a watch during the night again. Keeping vigilant and alert. They were in a dangerous situation and had to be constantly on guard.
The night passed uneventfully and, in the morning, they were once again on the move.
The day was another of those regular days on the trail. The sky was overcast most of the day and that tempered the heat, but the humidity seemed to have risen. They stopped for lunch in the Moreland Gap Shelter and then came to Laurel Falls. The falls were impressive, and the trail traveled along the stream for a while along cliffs right next to the water.
Evening was once again approaching when they arrived at Laurel Fork Shelter. The shelter had stone walls and a wooden roof. The ground dwellers found their spots, and the hangers found their trees.
Dinner was their last decent meal apiece. Once again they had run low on food. They still had a bunch of odds and ends that could nourish them for a couple more days if needed, but it was time to find more meals to carry. Giving up what they did to the three hungry thieves cut their rations short earlier than planned.
They didn’t make a fire because they were pretty close to the town of Hampton. Their current side-quest ended tomorrow on the outskirts of the town, near the large lake named Watauga.
Today was July third. Fic realized that tomorrow would mark being away from his family for a full month now. He could see the full moon rising over the mountain behind the clouds. The moon was full when they started their training. A full turning of the moon had passed.
As they sat in the shelter, staring at the dark fire ring in front of the shelter, they could hear explosions off in the distance. At first, they thought they might be fireworks. An early celebration of the Fourth of July. Some remnant of what the country used to be. With hot dogs, and baked beans and potato salad. But they soon realized that it was the sound of a firefight. Automatic weapons and single shot rifles. Explosions every once in a while. They didn’t know what they would find in the morning, but they would proceed with caution as they climbed the last mountain before the road that heads into Hampton Tennessee. Boots Off Hostel is just off that road.
Fic sat watching the forest grow lighter by the minute. He had stood the last watch of a quiet night. The firefight had slowed down then quit after a while and The Party had tried to get some sleep. It was hard to get any sleep. The shelter wasn’t ideal. There were a lot of bugs in the area due the close proximity to the water and after hearing some noises under the wooden platform floor of the shelter, he had discovered a large spider living under there. It seemed to be a little aggressive, but mostly left them alone. Everyone was ready to get away from this shelter, so they ate a quick breakfast and headed up that mountain they needed to climb.
The trail made its way up the mountain using many switchbacks, which eased the climb. The overcast from last night was now lower and signaling some oncoming rain. Before they got to the highest point on the mountain, the rain started to fall. It was a slow, steady rain that felt like it was going to last all day.
In three hours they had hiked almost seven miles and were approaching the road. As they got to a gravel road that connected to the paved US 321, they saw a sign that turned them left up the gravel road.
They followed up the narrow road, passing a few signs that pointed the way until they turned on to a long driveway that went uphill. As they approached, they saw that several cars and trucks had been parked across the driveway as a sort of barricade. There was a man on the other side of the cars with a scoped rifle in his hands. He drew a bead on them as they walked up the driveway.
“Gnobbit. Do you have that gnome handy?” He looked over at the short girl who was walking beside him.
“Yep. Right here. I moved it to my front pocket for this very purpose.” She replied.
She pulled the small statue from her pocket and held it up in her hand for the man to see.
The man behind the barricade zeroed in on what she was holding, then moved his head back from the scope, taking in the whole group. He stared at them intently, trying to see if he recognized them or not.
“Kay Cee sent us.” Fic said. “From the Greasy Creek.” He added.
The man lifted his rifle and motioned for them to come forward and head to the side of the barricade where they could more easily get by the line of cars.
Fic noticed at they walked up the last of the driveway that there were a lot of shell casings scattered about and some broken vehicle glass. There even was what appeared to be a pool of blood amongst the weapon refuse.
When they had passed the cars, he could see even more on this side of the barricade. The man had slung his rifle and came over to them.
“I’m Fic.” He proceeded to introduce The Party who were now six.
“Jimbo.” Was the guy’s response. He was a tall and wide man. A short brown beard grew on his face. Well trimmed and neat. He wore jeans and a camo rain jacket. High cowboy boots covered his feet.
“We have a package for you.” Fic explained. “It looks like you had some excitement here last night.” he said pointing at the spent shell casing laying about.
“The bad guys, who are just locals that have joined the Regime Army, tried to penetrate our defenses last night.” Jimbo replied. “They didn’t get too far. Did you see that blood trail to the right as you came up the drive? We hit at least one of them and took no casualties ourselves. They ended up retreating, but we think they will be trying again soon.”
Jimbo had a small walkie talkie on his belt. It was one of those inexpensive sets you can buy that lets you communicate short distances with each other. He called to announce the visitor and to ask for someone to come relieve him. A scratchy voice replied in the affirmative.
They started walking up the driveway. They had walked about a dozen meters when they saw another man walking down the driveway wearing a brown rain jacket that had many duct tape patches on it. He had a shotgun slung over his shoulder.
“This is The Party.” He said to the man. “They come from the Greasy Creek.”
The man nodded at the group and touched his dripping ball cap in a small salute. “I’m Sobo. Welcome to Boots Off.”
He continued on and took up the position that Jimbo had just vacated. Keeping his eyes down the road and scanning the nearby woods from time to time.
The group continued up the drive until they came to a house that had a covered area in the back. Inside were a couple of picnic tables, a small kitchen area and plenty of shelving and storage.
They dropped their packs and Fic opened his to pull out the small package. He handed it to Jimbo.
“Thanks,” said Jimbo. “I have been waiting for this for a while.” He placed the small box beside himself on the bench. “Our courier system is still working out its bugs and these damn rogue army are causing all kinds of problems for us.”
“We are glad to help,” said Fic. “We probably wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for the Resistance. We are trying to get to Damascus where Brown Shades has a car. Hopefully, we will be able to get everyone where they need to go with that, but it seems the roads have a lot of Flarmy traffic on them, so the plan is still being worked out.” He used Cleveland Charlie's word for the enemy.
“Yeah. Driving on the highways is beaucoup risky. The Flarmy, as you call them, travel it extensively and are well armed. They stop everyone they find. Most don’t get to continue on. They are either taken prisoner or worse. They have been working very hard to quash the Resistance, but we just keep on growing.”
Suddenly the thought of getting off trail and traveling by car the rest of the way home excited Fic. The difference is amazing between moving at 2.5 miles per hour and 60 or more miles per hour. You can cover the distance in a few hours what would take you weeks to walk.
If he could be home by this time next week or sooner, he would be able to be with his family. Protecting them and figuring out what happened to his army and how he would fix it. Being back near his unit would make it easier to determine what had happened and if there were still good soldiers out there who would work with him to set things right. There had to be other good soldiers like himself and his squad.
Thinking of his squad, he wondered once again what had become of them. Were they still out there? Doing what he was doing. Were they captured or worse, killed? Laying in some ravine in the middle of the woods in Georgia. That was something else he needed to figure out. Leaving his men had been hard, but at that time, he had seen no other choice. Weaponless and marked as a rogue army soldier, he had to change the mission and find a way home.
“You guys hungry?” Jimbo asked. Snapping Fic out of his thoughts. “We still have a good amount of food. When this all started, we went into town and picked up all we could fit into the trucks. We can last several weeks here without having to leave the grounds.”
“We could eat,” Rodent Whisperer said. “Also, if we could resupply, that would be fantastic. We still have some cash, but if there is anything else we could do to earn the food, we will do that too.”
“We may have a few things to do here, but members of the Resistance get taken care of. In fact, your payment will most likely be another delivery. This time to Damascus.”
“It would be our pleasure.” Replied Fic.
They had a good lunch in the kitchen area and Jimbo showed them the bunkhouse, cabins and camping area in the woods. They decided that spending the night here would be smart, then heading out very early in the morning to get away from the road before daylight. The first part of hiking near the lake would be open and exposed. Hopefully the rain will have stopped by then.
Jimbo’s radio squawked. “I have a movement at the bottom of the hill.” Sobo’s voice came out of the walkie. Jimbo grabbed his rifle and rain jacket and started heading to the barricade.
“How can we help?” Fic asked.
“Grab your shotgun and come along. Do any of you have other firearms?” Jimbo asked.
The others shook their heads, showing that they had their staffs, axe and knives.
“I have my bow, but only three arrows, but I’m coming along, anyway,” said Finn.
I have another shotgun and a 45 handgun. If anyone wants to grab those, we could use the help.
“I’ll take the shotgun,” Class Room said. Moving to the corner where Jimbo pointed, picking it up and checking the chamber.
Rodent Whisperer took the handgun and all the hikers headed into the still falling rain, down to the barricade. Brown Shades and Gnobbit carrying their staffs.
They approached the cars and saw Sobo crouching and looking down the driveway. At the bottom of the driveway was a Humvee, parked across the way and idling its engine. They had come back for more. This time in the middle of the day.
The hikers lined up along the cars, weapons at the ready. Whoever was in the humvee was just sitting there. It looked like there were at least three people in the vehicle.
“I’m gonna head into the woods here and try to circle around some. Maybe get behind them,” Finn said.
“I’ll come with you,” Gnobbit said. “I’m a quiet stalker.”
Finn nodded, and the two faded into the wet forest to the left of the barricade.
The three soldiers got out of the vehicle and moved behind it. They all had firearms.
One of the soldiers took out a white handkerchief and waved it over his head. “Can I approach?” He shouted from next to the Humvee.
“Come on up.” Jimbo shouted down the hill. “Unarmed.” He added.
The man slowly walked up the driveway, his arms out to the side, showing he was unarmed.
When he got close to the cars, Jimbo said. “That’s far enough, Kirk. What do you want?”
“Well Jimbo, by the authority of the Regime Army of Hampton we are gonna need you all to surrender and give up your weapons. The Commander wants you to join up with us or there will be more trouble. He’s mighty pissed that you shot Doug last night.”
“Is that who we hit?” Jimbo said laughing. “That idiot never could figure out when to put his head down. I’ll tell you what. Since you are now firmly on the private property of the Boot’s Off Militia, I’m gonna have to ask you to surrender and give up your weapons. We don’t want you to join up though. You can go back to your Commander and tell him to go fuck himself. I think it’s pretty funny that Larry is calling himself a Commander. From a grocery store owner to Commander all in a few weeks of all hell breaking loose. You have ten seconds to get back to your Humvee, make like a tree and get out of here.” He had a big smile on his face. Enjoying his mangling of the old saying. Kirk looked back at his guys then up the hillside as if he was looking for something, but the pained look on his face revealed that he wasn’t seeing anything that he wanted.
Just then there was a shout from up on the hillside. The forest was thick up that way, so they couldn’t see anything. Another shout turned into a scream and a shot rang out from up in the woods.
Kirk looked startled, and he took a few steps back. His arm reached into the small of his back and drew a handgun from his waistband.
Class Room screamed. “Gun!” Pointed her shotgun at the man and fired. The shot hit him square in the chest and he went down. His 9mm pistol skittering on the gravel driveway.
More shouting came from up on the hillside and now the men down at the bottom of the driveway started shooting up towards the group. They all took cover under the barricade.
Jimbo aimed his rifle at the Humvee and took a couple of well-aimed shots. He shot the tires, but they were self-sealing, so nothing really changed. The soldiers would shoot every couple of minutes, then hide down behind the vehicle.
“Kirk.” One of the guys shouted to his leader. “What should we do, Kirk?” There was real fear in his voice.
Class Room had sat down behind the barricade. She had dropped the shotgun and was crouched hugging her knees. She appeared to be in shock. Fic bent down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “You did good, lady,” he said. “If you hadn’t reacted so fast, who knows which of us might have been hit. Take a breath and just stay low. We will handle this.” He tried to reassure her.
Just then a groan came from in front of the barricade. Fic peeked over the cars and saw Kirk moving around, clutching his chest. He had a flak jacket on. It must have taken the brunt of Class Rooms shot. He was still alive.
Fic jumped over the barricade and grabbed Kirk. Lifted him in a fireman’s carry then climbed back over the cars. He laid him on the ground and Rodent Whisperer assessed his wounds. Some shot had hit flesh, but most had been stopped by his vest. He was a lucky if not too smart man. Unarmed means unarmed.
“Ok Kirk. Take a deep breath. You’re alive. For now. You need to tell your men to lay down their arms or you won’t be alive for much longer.” Fic instructed the wounded man.
Fear entered the man's eyes at the steel cold look that Fic gave him. He yelled down the hill. “Johnny, Derrick. Stand down. Cease fire. Lay down your arms.”
Jimbo watched through the scope of the men did as instructed. He had them walk up the driveway with their hands up. When they got close, Rodent Whisperer and Brown Shades came out and checked them for any hidden weapons.
Just then they saw Finn and Gnobbit come down the hill next to the humvee. They checked out the vehicle then came walking up the driveway.
“They had a guy coming through the woods, trying to do the same thing we were doing. Luckily Gnobbit saw him first. I put an arrow in his leg and Gnobbit put him to sleep with that wicked stick of hers.” Gnobbit was smiling. She had her stick in one hand and a rifle in the other. The spoils of war.
“We tied him up with his own belt and shoelaces. He is up on the hillside. Still alive, but probably in quite a bit of pain,” Finn said.
The Party and Boots off Militia brought the men up to the hostel area. They put Johnny and Derrick in one of the small cabins and left Gnobbit to guard them at the entrance. Finn and Rodent Whisperer went back up the hillside and escorted a wobbly and stunned George from up on the hill. Jimbo moved the Humvee up to the edge of the barricade. Adding its bulk to the barrier.
Rodent Whisperer checked both men out and bandaged their wounds with a first aid kit they found in the Humvee. No sense using our own supplies on these guys. Fic thought.
When the wounded men were all taken care of, they were added to the same small cabin, now holding cell, and then the group gathered together to discuss their next move.
“I’m not sure how long it will take for the Commander (he smirked a bit when he said this) to come looking for his men and vehicle. More trouble might be on the way. It might get a little messy.” Jimbo said.
“We are here to help as long as you need us.” Said Fic.
“The parcel I have for you really needs to be delivered as soon as possible to Damascus. This might turn into a prolonged siege as we have pretty good supplies and good defenses. You could be stuck here several days until those idiots from town figure out that they need to leave us alone. I think it might be a better idea if you head back into the woods tonight or you might not be able to leave at all.” Jimbo continued.
“Don’t you need our firepower?” Fic asked.
“My neighbor has been helping when needed. He is just beyond the fence at the end of the property. We have a gate between us. Hank and his three sons have been watching that side or the perimeter. In fact, I’m surprised that he hasn’t already shown up.”
As if on cue, a tall freckled faced, young man came walking from the direction of the fence with a rifle on his shoulder and a handgun holstered on his hip. “You guys alright here?” He asked. “We heard the shots went on the alert on our side and Dad thought I better come check.”
“We are all good, Jerry. We have a few prisoners now. Kirk and his idiot cousins,” Jimbo explained. We will probably bargain them away with Larry, so he leaves us alone, but it might get a little hairy later.
He introduced Jerry to The Party and fists were bumped all around. “They are going to be heading out soon on their next mission, so I may need you and your brothers help later if Larry comes looking.” “Roger that,” said Jerry. “We’ll be ready and on channel 14.”
He headed back towards the fence in the still falling rain.
It was settled then. They would head out on their next side-quest which was actually helping them complete their main quest which was heading north towards home and leave this brewing pot of shit behind. The next several minutes had the hikers getting their gear together.
Jimbo gave them several day’s worth of food for their bags. He let Gnobbit keep the rifle and gave her a couple rounds of 30 30 ammo to go with it. He gave Fic a couple more rounds for the shotgun and to Finn, he handed him five hunting arrows with sharp, steel hunting broad heads. The Party was becoming an armed squad. Lastly, Jimbo handed Fic another large manilla envelope full of papers. Their next mission. “Deliver this to Crazy Carl at the Broken Fiddle Hostel in Damascus.” He instructed. He also placed a small baby’s boot on the envelope. “This will be your identification pass, telling Carl that you come from us.” Gnobbit picked up the boot and put it in the top of her pack.
Rodent Whisperer returned the handgun and would carry Gnobbit’s rifle. She was happy with her stick for now. “I need to figure out a name for this beauty.” She said to herself as she admired her walking stick. She had already started to carve little designs into the wood that looked impressive.
They got ready to go. Their packs were once again heavy and fully laden with their gear and food. “I have an idea.” Jimbo said. Pulling out the keys to the Humvee. Everybody pile in to the hummer. Put your packs on top and squeeze in.
It was a tight squeeze as the six hikers piled into the large Humvee and Jimbo sat at the wheel. “I’ll be back in a few.” He said to Sobo. He put the vehicle into reverse and then headed down the driveway to the small, paved road.
He turned left towards town. “We will have to skirt the town using Swimming Pool Road, but I think this rain will be keeping everyone indoors and they are used to these hummers driving around. We will hide in plain sight.” Jimbo explained.
They made it around town and up another road until they came to a stop sign. Across the road was another sign that pointed the way to Wilbur Dam. They went that way and Jimbo pulled over at a trailhead. The familiar white blaze was on a tree showing the way of the trail back into the woods.
The Party exited the vehicle, grabbed their packs and started heading into the woods. The rain continued to fall. Fic turned to Jimbo and shook his hand. “Thanks for everything. We will get this parcel to Damascus. Also, Happy Fourth of July,” he added with a smile.
Jimbo smiled and shook his head. “Thank you for your help. Without you guys, that encounter might have gone very differently.” Jimbo replied. “Some fucking Independence Day, huh?”
They still had a few hours of daylight left, but the water-laden sky was already making it feel like the beginning of evening. They had almost ten miles to go before they would reach the shelter they were hoping to get to, but there was another shelter only five miles away.
Jimbo watched until the hikers disappeared into the forest. He wished them the best. Hoped they would all get back to where they needed to be. His thoughts turned back to his next ordeal. What to do with Kirk and his cousins?
He put the Humvee in gear and headed back to the Boots Off Militia compound. Spitting wet gravel from the back of the tires that had taken hits today, but continued to go their job.
As they slowly made their way up the mountain beside the lake, they could see the lake for quite a long time. When they were a couple more miles away, they once again heard the sounds of another firefight that no longer sounded like fireworks at all.
I was dark when The Party walked down the short trail to the Iron Mountain Shelter. Everyone was tired and wet. They moved about their chores like robots. Spreading their bags and pads in the shelter and putting up the hammocks. Changing out of their wet clothes, the hikers had a quick hot dinner and retreated to their down. Exhaustion took all of them quickly. There was no watch set.