Over the next few weeks life was about as normal as it could be. Wendy and I grew in our relationship and we all worked hard on the farm. We started canning and preserving all the produce from the garden and the fruit trees throughout the farm. It was a busy time but that was good because it kept us busy and our minds off of wondering what all was happening in the world. It was nice to not hear all the stories on the news about a awr, politics and of the crimes and murders going on. We didn't have to hear about the TV telling us all bad things happening...all the time. Like we use to hear before everything changed and brought us here.
The kids started to get more and more school from the women, and they were taught things that were about real life. Not like the system that we had before. It was more like home economics with sewing ,gardening, reading, simple math, spelling and we also went into wood working and some mechanics for them...we didn't force them to learn, they wanted to. They all wasnted to be able to help all they could. It was like even with everything that had happened, they still wanted to begrown ups...I guess sometimes things never change.
Wendy and I were taking a walk one day and we saw a huge cloud of smoke out on the horrizen. I had no idea of what it could be, but it seemed to be in the direction of the ethenol plant. We hurried back to the farm and everyone was already looking at it..wondering what it could be...the fire or explosion was huge if we could see it clear out here.... Dad said the same thing as me...the plant, and we thought about going to check it out, but we didn't think it was safe to do that...and if it was the plant, we had no water trucks to haul water in for helping with the fire...if thats what it was...so we just kept an eye on that area of the horrizon and continued on with our day.
We thought that if we waited till tomorrow and go check it out...it might be safer for us to. The heat from the fire, the smoke, and we had no oxygen tanks to breathe with even if we could do something..so we waited.
It wasn't easy but we all knew it was the best thing to do...if someone gets hurt we have very little medical equipment and meds for those kind of things.
That night we sat outside and watched the horrizen glow lightly with the burning fire.
As we all got up and about in the morning, we could see that the fire had appeared to burn itself down and we wanted to go and check things out now. Several of us piled into the trucks and headed out. we had grabbed a bag of medical supplies and some extra cloths and shoes, along with a few gallons of shine.
We got there in about 40 minutes and what we saw wesn't the ethenol plant burning...it was the town. We approached the town and stopped the trucks, leaving everything except for our weapons and ammo. We snuck into town from out behind the high school football field and made our way through the streets going block by block, looking for any signs of life. As we reached the center of town, we still hadn't seen anyone. It was the wierdest feeling I ever felt. We had no idea what happened and there wasn't a soul around to find out any information. We slowly made our way from building to building, getting more and more on egde as we went. The town was totally destroyed by the fire. It was a town of about 600 people but still a whole community was now gone. We made it to the other end of town to the community center and went inside. It was like something from a horror film. It was so badly burned that as we went along..if you touched the walls, they fell over. There were bodies laying all over the floor. It appeared that the whole town was in the one building and it burned to the ground. We looked around and found chains and locks on all the use to be door areas...still locked, laying in the middle of what would have been the exits for everyone.
What happened here, who did this, and are they still in the area...and WHY?
We all did a quick look around, to make sure noone was watching us and then made our way back to the High school and to the trucks. We had them behind a row of trees about 100 yards from the football field. We got in the trucks and hauled ass back to the farm. Watching behind us and stopping every few miles to see if anyone was following us.
We were all shaken up by something so strange happening. We were very thankful that we waited till today to go there...because who knows what we would have stumbled across if we hadn't.
When we srrived back at the farm, we sent out patrols to all surrounding neighbors to have them meet us tonight for a emergency meeting to inform them of our findings.
We all were a little nervous and cautious...with good reason.
Once everyone was there we told them what we had seen and what we knew.
A few of the farmers were in disbelief...but it finally sunk in..then you could see it in there eyes...they were scared.
We added more patrols and had people awake at every farm all night long.

After 3 days of nothing else happening we desided to go to another town and see if there we any word on what had happened. We loaded the truck with a couple of bags, we didn't go anywhere without bug out bags...as they use to be called..now we just called them bags. They had everything we might need if we had to walk back to the farm. We were only going about 20 miles and wanted to find out what had happened, because we were all curious. We headed out and desided to come into town from a back road that was a minimum maintenance road...which ment, unpaved, cow path at best. As we reached the edge of town we stashed the trucks in the woods about a 1/4 mile from town, by a small creek, the same creek that ran through our far end of the property.
We slowly made our way to town and saw a few people out and about. As we entered the open areas of the streets we all got in a group...except for 2 of us. Mike and John stayed back hiding..incase something was wrong. We saw a few pleople that my dad knew and started to talk to them about everything that had happened. One of the old farmers that had retired about 10 years ago...and use to have coffee every day with dad was there. He said that the people from the prison got out and had been threatening all the local towns over the last week. They were wanting all the food, fuel andweapons from them. A lot of the people were to old to fight them off, because there were just far to many of them. He mentioned something about them wanting medical supplies and pills...he figured they were all druggies and stayed out of sight as much as he could...he knew they left about a week ago and headed out of town, in the direction of the plant.
Dad asked if he knew where they came from...which prison. He wasn't sure.
My dad then told us that they had a mental ward in the one about 50 miles away. If they were out, who knows what kind of sick things they might do.
We went through town and were able to see that the people there were scared to death of any new faces. We had dad and that helped but people were still alittle nervious...and with good cause.
Dad told his coffee buddy to get out to our house next time any of those people come around and we would help with there problem. We made our way back to the edge of town and towards the trucks. Mike and John were there and asked what all was said. We told them, about the mental ward at the prison and they wanted to go try and hunt them down...if thats who had done the burning of the town a few days ago.
We went back to the farm house and had everyone come in for a quick family meeting.
Once everyone was informed of what we found out, we desided to go for a hunt. we couldn't let that happen again...if that truely is what happened. We desided to take 2 trucks in the morning and just do a huge reconassance of the county...it would be Dad, since he knew a lot of the people, Mike, Bill, John and me.
We headed out at first light and went back towards the plant. We entered it the same way as before and when we got to town, we couldn't believe what we saw. There were people out by the community center with small fires eating. We made it about 2 city blocks from them and were still unnoticed. As we got closer, we saw some of the people go and take pieces of the burned bodies and place them on there fires to warm them up...and then they ate them.
We were all sick to our stomach, John puked and then got mad...I mean really mad. We grabbed him and told him to relax, we were going to take care of this, but needed him to not lose his cool. We needed all of us to protect each other.
Mike and I made our way to a couple burned up houses, about a block away. We let dad and John stay put and Bill went around Mike and I, up another block. We had a C shape ambush we were getting ready to take care of the sick cannibals. We all sat and waited because Mike and I were to start it off, once they start towards us dad and John will open up with a cross fire and then Bill would too.
We just sat and watched, it seemed like there were a hundred of them and slowly more and more started to appear.
After waiting a good half hour, we figured they were all around the old community center...like pigs at feeding time. Mike and I opened up...we dropped atleast 5 each before they realized that was happening.they started to duck and run all over the place. we kept shooting, several started to shoot back. We used the burned stone wall for cover. As they started towards us we were able to get them alot easier, since they had to be in the open. Dad, John and Bill opened up... we were dropping them left and right. Bill's weapon jammed and he couldn't get it cleared, he yelled for help. We told him to come to us, he ran so fast...I think he would have made the Olympics. As he was about to us, he fell and hit the ground, he didn't get up. we kept cover fire going and made our way over to him. When I got to Bill, I grabbed him and yelled Bill..get up...lets go!..Bill didn't move.

Please excuse the misspelled words and improper grammer...I suck at typing...lol
Does anyone want more of this story?

Mike provided cover fire for me, as I grabbed Bill by his kit. He was face down and blood was all over his head.
I rolled him over and saw he had a nice gash above his left eye, that was bleeding. He was tripped up from the remains of the burnt up building and had knocked himself out.
I dragged him behind a wall and started to engauge the closest targets to us. It seemed like time was standing still...or going in slow motion.
Dad and John made there way towards us when they saw me dragging Bill and came to help. Bill was starting to come to as they got there. John started to apply some first aid and got the blood to stop flowing, he places a pressure bandage around his head as we finished off the last few targets that we could see.
We all did a quick self check and traded mags with Bill. Then we got him to his feet and started back towards the trucks. Dad and I helped Bill, while John and Mike provided security.
We made our way back through town with stopping every block or so, for a minute...to catch our breath and help Bill get his wits back about him...as we were about through town, we noticed the trucks had people around them.
We quickly started to engauge them, but it was to late...they had one of them started and were taking off with it.
We fired several rounds into the cab, and the truck kept going faster and faster away from us.....Just about the time we stopped firing,we watched it crash straight into a tree. We had hit the driver several times when we fired but his foot stayed on the gas peddle...and he had it to the floor. The truck was totaled.
The other truck had the hood popped and we went over to check it out.
They must of been wanting to hot wire it or take parts from it....it was a field truck and pretty beat up and rusted.
We looked over the engine real quick and then shut the hood. We tried to start it...it fired up. We loaded up and went over by the other totaled truck to take what we could from it. Mike was in the bed of the truck providing security with dad. John and I were getting the fuel from the other truck...we put a screwdriver through the bottom corner of the tank and had a gas can from the back that had justbeen emptied into our truck...that we filled back up. John slid under the truck and was using his leatherman to take off the starter. We took about 10 minutes to clean anything we could think of, from the wrecked truck. Bill was doing a lot better but said he had a headache.
We were getting ready to leave and then I thought to check the dead driver...he had a full kit on, a backpack that was very heavy, we would check that later, we just wanted to get out of there...we had been there way to long already. We took the kit, backpack, and his weapons and ammo...then we desided to burn the truck...so it wouldn't provide them with any parts anything else they might need from it...so the extra gas that had drained on the ground after the can was filled...well, we took a couple of cups and threw gas on the engine and in the cab.
We took a strip of a rag with a touch of gas on it..we wrapped a golf ball sized rock with the rag, lit it on fire and threw it at the engine....The truck exploded as we were driving away, through the field. Mike yelled to stop from the truck bed.
He was standing up and said we needed to find another way out. I was back there with him and stood up to see what was the problem. As I stood up and looked up ahead...I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
It had to be atleast 200 people headed straight towards us from across the field.
Dad threw the truck in reverse and headed back towards the town and to the creek bottom.
He hit the creek and we about skipped across it...it is only about 2-3 feet deep in most spots....but there are a few that might go 5 feet deep. so we get across the creek and dad turns to follow it...it does go back to the far end of the farm.
We went cross country for several miles and then had dad stop so we could check out if we are being followed.
John, Mike and I went up through part of a field on foot to get a good overview of the surrounding area.
We each took a 1/3 sector and just looked for about 20 minutes.
We didn't see or hear anything...except the smoke from the truck we blew up.
Once we figured it was clear we headed back to the truck and told dad to find a road, so we don't leave tracks straight back to the farm.
As he pulled on a gravel road about a half a mile away, I started looking through the backpack we had taken.
It was full of blasting caps, det cord in the outter pouches...and inside was a jackpot...C4, over 50lbs of it.
We zig zagged around on the back roads for awhile, to make sure we didn't go straight home at to check out tail.
It was just starting to get dark when we arrived back at the farm.
Wendy went right to work patching up Bill and cleaning out his cut. We gathered everyone in the house and told them what we had seen in town and the mass crowd in the field. I am just glad they were headed away from the farm.

We were all exausted that night, but I don't think any of us slept much. Bills wife was worried sick about him getting hurt. His kids were bothered a lot with it to. I think the kids are starting to grasp the facts about the new world we are now living in, and it scares them...they are realizing that things may never be, what use to be normal again...
The next day we desided to send out 2 people to the creek on the other end of the property to watch for anything or anyone out and about. Mike and the neighbor kid, Ray went out to do that. They used a 4wheeler to get over there.
I took the bag of explosives and showed everyone else what to do with them. How to set up a charge and set it off. Everyone was quized and knew the basic ways to set up a charge and the distances to be away from it...when it went off.
The ladies had been starting to can food from the garden and were wanting to see if we could find some wild plums and cherries on our next trip out. They wanted to make some jelly and jams for the winter.
We also had some chickens that mom wanted butchered for canning...we ate them in pot pies and soups, like chicken and rice...since we had a lot of rice stored, we tried to make a lot of things with it.
We set up the log and put 2 nails in it for holding the chickens down as we lpped off there heads. I sharpened the hatchet, and got a few buckets ready for the plucking of feathers....and a few for the guts.
It was about dinner time once everything was ready and so we figured tomorrow would be a good day to process the birds. We had about 75 birds to do, so everyone not on a security patrol would be helping with it.
Mike and Ray came back a few hours after sunset. They said all was quiet on the western front...LOL it was the western side of the property.
Bill was feeling much better, but still sore. Dad and I did a patrol that night and started to talk about Wendy and I.
He could see that we made each other happy, he just wanted me to be happy again...and glad that I was finally home. We were finishing up our patrol and about to the house when Wendy came out on the porch. She was up waiting for me to return. Dad noticed her coming out, from the light with the door opening....he looked at me and said, I bet thats your future wife waiting up for you.... I laughed and said whatever dad...as we approached the house,... I knew he was right...she was the only ray of hope or sunshine that I had, in this crazy messed up world we were now living in.
I walked up to here on the porch and grabbed her in my arms and kissed her...she was speachless. She just kept kissing me back .Dad smiled laughed and said I told you so!! It made me chuckle inside. The sun was going to be coming up soon and we sat on the front porch swing and snuggled as the light from a new day began to appear off in the distance.
A couple hours and a pot of coffee later, we headed out to butcher the chickens. I was cutting off the heads, the older kids were plucking, the women were gutting and dipping into a pot of boiling water...even the little kids were a part of the processing...they caught me the birds, Watching them catch the hens...was a sight to see...very comical at times. It was hard to believe that the world was different now.
It was early afternoon and the ladies started to can the first of the birds. It took all afternoon and into the evening before it was all done. The kids had a busy day with chores and helping us butcher...we all selpt good that night...well, all of us except for John and Bill....they did the nightly patrol. Bill said he was feeling better so we let him go out, because he said he wanted to. My head hit the pillow on the couch with Wendy next to me and I was out...exausted from the last couple of days.
I woke up to mom cooking breakfast...pancakes, eggs, and sausage. It smelled amazing...I was really hungry this morning. Mom and I got talking, and no one was up and around yet, so she asked about Wendy and I. She just smiled and said she likes her..and that shes happy that she makes me so happy. As everyone started to get up and about, we ate in shifts...kinda first come first serve basis...we all ate our fill and got started with the day.
Bill and John said that everything had been quiet last night. they said that the pond over by the noth pasture had a lot of fish jumping last night....that was all my dad needed to hear, he loves fishing...so dad took the kids to the pond to go fishing for the day...once there chores were done and he dug up some worms.
They were only gone about 3 hours and came back with almost 2 dozen bass. they weren't huge but they all were 2-4 pounds each...not bad for a few hours of fishing. We then had to clean them and we dug holes around the garden for the guts...its great fertilizer for the plants. We had a big fish fry that night along with a few potato's that were dug up sliced and fried with onions...it was as if nothing was wrong in the world, like life was normal again.

As the evening was coming too an end, we all desided to have a night cap from the homemade fuel.
It was great to relax and forget about life for awhile. As the sunset, we had made it through another day...each day was different, and we had no idea of what tomorrow might bring.
Wendy woke me as she got out of bed, I asked her where she was going...she said I have to pee if thats ok with you... I laughed and rolled over and just wanted to sleep all day, but there was to many things to do today, so I got up and out of bed.
As I finished getting dressed, I noticed something through the window, out in the yard. I brabbed my pistol and went to get a closer look from the window. It was a cow, that had gotten out and wongered up to the house and was eating the grass in the yard.
I just figured the kids could get it back to the barn when they went to go do chores, it wasn't unusual for the cows to get out evey now and then. I stepped out back behind the house to have a smoke, when I noticed several more cows all around the back and side yard. They weren't our cows...who's were they? I went in and got dad up, he came out and took one look and said those are Tom's from up the road, his brand is on these ones over here. Dad said we should take them back over to him, but check on him first, to see if he is alright. John was on patrol last night and said nothing unusual was going on...it was quiet.
Mike and I grabbed our things and got in the truck. We headed over to Tom's. His place was about 5 1/2 miles down the road and he lived a quiet secluded kind of life, Tom didn't go to town for much of anything except an occasional trip to the store and feed lot. As we topped the hill just before his place, I had to slam on the brakes...his hogs were out in the road...I almost hit this big old bore hog he used for breeding. We looked down at the farm yard and all the animal were out of there pins, they were everywhere.
Mike and I didn't know what to think, so we slowly headed to his house...we had our guns ready for anything.
We came to a stop in the driveway, and got out for a closer look. We didn't say anything, we just kinda started looking around to see what was going on.
I knocked on the door and nobody answered after several attemps...so I checked the door knob, it was open. I walked in and said his name several times, I got no answer.Mike came in and we went through the house, but Tom was nowhere to be found. It looked as though nobody had been there in a few days...that got me worried and we headed out to check the barns. I yelled for Tom several times and got no answer, we went into his machine shed and looked around, no Tom...next we headed to the big barn and the doors on the back side were open...that helps explain the animals being loose...but where was Tom?
We finished looking around the barnyard and didn't see any sign of him being there...no feed in the feed bunks, no fresh hay out...something was wrong...but what? Where was he at?
After about an hour a 4wheeler came down the road from the direction of our house...it was dad, he was checking on what was taking us so long. We told him we had checked about everywhere and there was no sign of Tom being there in the past few days.
Dad said he has a small mill shed out over the hill, where he cuts his own wood from the trees that he cuts down, and makes his own lumber...so we headed over the hill to see if he was there.
As we got closer to the shed, you could smell a horrible smell...like a rotten dead animal. We opened the door to the shed and we found Tom. He must of been making lumber and tripped or something, because he was caught in the big table saw. He was opened up from his left shoulder to his right hip. There was dried blood and guts all over the inside of the shed. He had to of been there for a few days, because of the color and smell...if its like other animals, I would say about 3-4 days old. We were getting ready to leave when we noticed several other footprints on the dirt and sawdust floor...Someone had been in there. It wasn't any of us, and Toms feet were to small to of made those tracks in the sawdust. What in the world happened? Was he killed or was it an accident, did someone see him dead and do nothing, or did they kill him? Did the tracks get made before he was killed or after?
We checked around the shed for more tracks, but found nothing. We didn't wanna mess with anything incase others were around...we didn't wanna make it obvious that someone had been there.
All 3 of us made our way back to the truck and the 4wheeler and headed back to the farm...dad was hearding the hogs and a few cows down the road with the 4wheeler...because Tom wasn't going to mind...he would want someone to take care of the animals for him...so we added them to our farm. It was nice to have more animals, but we hated how we got them. It took about 3 hours to get home with the herd, slowly making its way down the road.

We made it back to the farm and got all the animals in fenced in areas or pens. Then we told the others about what we had discovered. While we were sitting around talking about that we saw, one of the kids grabbed a hand crank radio and started to mess around with it...we got music!!! We hadn't heard a radio since this whole thing started. We all stopped talking and just listened.
A voice came across after the song and said it was time for the news. We had no idea of what was happening anywhere in the world and we were all anxious to hear what they had to say.
It started off with a pledge of some sort, we all just kinda looked at each other and didn't know what to say...then it said that the Americans were scared and running for the hills and wooded areas throughout the country.
A womans voice told all us Americans to give up, for we were no match for the Western Alliance...We all sat there in shock...hearing this come out over the radio.
The broadcast lasted about 15 minutes and from the information told, we figured that the West Coast was now Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona. The East Coast was blew back to the stone age and the enemy was being held to the west...around the rockies and to the east at about the Columbus Ohio area, and going south to the gulf...to about the mississippi river.
There were a few cities in middle america that were getting bombed from the enemy...quite often...from the sound of the broadcast...It seems that China, Russia, Iran, Mexico and North Korea were the main forces that we were dealing with.
I know all of us were glad we came out here when we did...who knows what all happened back at our old homes.
As we were thinking about it and letting it sink in, We saw several explosions and balls of fire on our way out here...one was within an hour of us leaving...talk about timing...then there was a road block..check point what was blown up...the aircraft making the night sky glow..wow..we had no idea that our country could have that much distruction done to it by others...after all we were Americans...that just doesn't happen to us....so we use to think.
We needed to know more...we sat around and talked for a few hours about everything we heard. It was in the backs of all our minds..to go and see if we could help with the fighting on the fronts and defend this great nation.
All of us guys went and talked about it outside, away from the ladies and kids. After a few minutes, we all said we needed to hear more news, before we took off, half cocked and just try and wonder to find the front...so we all agreed to wait for a few days more news of what was happening, before we did anything.
We assigned 1 person to be searching the radio for other stations. About that time, dad said that we needed a short wave radio...John had one in his RV, it was in the pole barn..so he went and got it.
They had tried several times before to use it and had no luck getting anything for the first few months, so we all just kinda forgot about it. John was able to get 2 other stations on it. 1 was for the USA and the other was for the enemy forces...it kinda made us think of the old 1980's movie Red Dawn.
We listened to the radio for several hours, and they repeated everything many times....they only had about 20 minutes of information on it and it just kept repeating itself.
We put the radios away and all headed to bed, with our heads spinning from all the events of the day.
Wendy curled up next to me and asked me to just hold her. She was scared and worried that we all would take off and head to the front to fight, leaving them all alone. I asked her how she figured that? She said that with Mike and I...it was easy to see the experiance we had with the military, Bill was just that kinda guy...always wanting to help where he could...and he would go with us. John, well with his ability to do metal work and shoot, he could be a big help in maintaining the weapons, vehicles that would be used to fight them....and your dad, as much as he loves your mom...he was destroyed tonight when you all went out to talk about going. I asked her how she knew that...she said I am not blind or stupid...we all know how you guys are....and your mom started to cry. Your dad said you never back down and you always wanted to be where the action was...just like when you were in the Marines...you always volenteered to go, change units and cross decked on deployments..to be in the thick of it.
I was speachless....she knew me to well. I put my arms around her and held her next to me. I felt a wet spot on my arm...it was from Wendy's eyes...they were leaking water.
I just held her tight throughout the night and ran my fingers through her hair every now and again...to comfort her.
When the sun came up, I was already awake...so, I grabbed a cup of coffee and started playing with the radio, to see if there was any new news. Dad was up and came out to join me. He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down.

I looked at him and he just looked down. I asked him what was the matter? Dad said you know, your mother is worried sick that your leaving again...but she said she's terrified that your pushing your luck..son. I just looked down at the floor...I couldn't of been more proud when you left to serve...I knew you were going to live your life then...and damn I missed having you around...everytime you re-upped..I knew that you might not be coming home...all the places you went. The letters that you wrote..we saved everyone. I..well your mom too.. never knew if the letter she was reading was going to be the last one. I ate dinner in front of the damn TV, glued to the news..hoping to see you...but praying that we wouldn't. We are all proud... of what ALL you boys...MEN have done...but son....when is it a good time to stop?...and let someone else do the fighting?
I looked at dad and could see the pain in his eyes...I said, dad...if I can go and do what I was trained to do, and by me going...if I can save even one person...its worth it to me. I have the experiance and the knowledge...I have lived through all this...what do you expect me to do? sit here and wait for them to come to us? Do nothing and know that I could have helped my country when it needed me most...but didn't? I couldn't live with myself dad...you know that...you raised me and made me the way that I am. I know if you were younger...you'd be doing the same thing as me..right! Dad said yes, your right...I would be. I guess your mind is made up then?
I said no it wasn't 100% yet. I wanted to know more about what was really happening.
We turned on the radio's and listened in for awhile.
I grabbed Mike, Bill, and John a short while later. They all wanted to do the same as me, but they were worried about who would take care of the women and kids. We all agreed it needed to be someone other than my dad...it wasn't fair to do that to him..or the other families.
We desided to get all the food in that we could...by butchering, canning and preserving everything possible, to lighten the load on the farm. Then after that was done, we would see who would be heading out...plus we all agreed we needed more information about the war and what or where we should go...east or west?
Over the next few weeks there was a wierd feeling around the farm...the ladies and kids knew it was just a matter of time before we would tell them we were leaving them.
When we finally had almost all the food stored, and all the maintenance done on the farm equipment...we had a good idea of what was going on now, with the war. It was time to get going and get our butts in the fight.
We laoded 2 vehicles with gear, food, water, fuel and plenty of ammo...and we desided that it was time.
We all had been spending good quality time with our respective families...Wendy was all but part of mine...the only thing missing with her and I...was the I do's.
We had many late nights together...going for walks...well patrolling. We wanted them to know what they were doing and to be safe while we were gone, so we had started taking them out on patrol with us. It was good to see them doing everything so well. The kids were getting bigger and able to do more all the time, and they all had learned a great deal about the farm and what all to do...to get by.
The battle lines had moved several times over the last few weeks and it wasn't looking good for ol' glory.
The front to our west was only about 350 miles...and to the east, well it was changing all the time...due to open fields and not having mountains to help stop them. We figured that to the east it was about 500 miles to the front lines.
It was getting colder out and fall was upon us, so to the west...we had extremely cold weather in the mountains with winter...With the heavy snow we get at the farm, we thought that it might be tougher for the enemy to get across the open planes to the east with all the drifting snow and the thousands of country folks that they would have to go through first..We desided to go to the mountains out to the west.
I will always remember the looks on there faces, the day we told them we were going to leave.
We hadn't figured out who was staying back to help protect the women and kids yet, so we had a tough choice to make. All of us guys got together and Bill said he would stay, but he said...why not take Wendy? She's a nurse, she can shoot and she has no kids....plus who better for her to be with....then her brother and you? Your all she has. John agreed to this...so I quickly realized Bill, John and Wendy had been doing some figuring...while I was around. I said OK if she really wants to, thats fine..but I wanna hear her say it.
Wendy came out and said she wanted to go...but wanted 1 thing first. We all agreed and asked her what she wanted. She called everyone outside and began by saying, you are all my family, everyone of you, I love you all very much. I am going to go with the men, if I can have just one thing...

We all looked on and waited..for what she wanted. She walked over to me and looked me right in the eyes. She said the only thing in this whole world is...your last name. She knelt down and took my hand...as she looked up at me she said...will you make me the happiest woman in the world...and be my husband?
I was shocked...but yet I wasn't. She had always been straight forward with me. I put my hands on her shoulders and pulled her up to me and said, YES. I couldn't imagine living this life without you in it with me...beside me through it.
All the ladies started to cry, the guys all said...damn its about time...we figured you to would never get hitched...figures that she has to be the one to ask...We all got a good laugh. John said..she asked me a couple days ago about going. I told her it was her choice, but I knew that with you there..well, I am just happy that she's happy again. She desirves someone like you...someone that will take care of her, and we all know you were ment to be together...brother.
We all desided to put off the trip for a couple of days and Wendy and I would get married. Now the craziness started...all the women had wedding to quickly plan. The girls headed into the house and all of us guys stayed outside and sampled the fuel we had been making...we sampled a lot that night.
We also took Bill's gear out of the trucks and replaced it with some of Wendy's things. I had a few extra sets of gear in seabags at the house...that I had left with mom and dad over the years...and I went through everything I had there...and found a set that would be about perfect for her. I guess it would be my wedding gift to her...lol. Thats a great wife to be...giving her tactical gear for a wedding present. After I went through the gear...it was way late and so I went to bed. When I woke up, I milled around for a little while and then got back to getting the gear ready for her. I found a field surgical kit complete with pouch. I added that to the pile of things, I was putting together for her.
The ladies were very busy today. I didn't see Wendy at all..My mom was doing something with her...most of the day. I didn't wait around the house long, there were things to do before we all left and I wanted to get a bunch of jerky ready for the trip.
Bill came upto me and started talking, he said...You know, she use to be my sister...but since my brother passed...well, she was still a part of my family, and you know...as much as i miss my brother..I am glad that you two are together. I still see her as a sister...and now, your my brother...you...your so much like him, and I see so much of him in you..it just seems right that it would be you...taking care of her. His eyes started to water up and he gave me a hug...and said you are my brother too. Then he wiped his eyes, turned and walked away.
The rest of the day wasn't to busy, but it was enough to keep me out of the house and in the barns...cutting wood, checking fence, adjusting gates and do a few quick minor repairs to the barn and shed. Mike was helping me out with a lot of it.
It got to be dinner time and so we headed up to the house. When we got there, dad came out and said that he thought tomorrow would be a good day for the wedding. I asked if Wendy was ok with it and he said...well she told me thats when she wanted it. I said alright...well tomorrow it is. We went into the house and the girls were really busy today. They had a huge meal prepaired and mom told me to stay out of one of the rooms...she was making a wedding dress and I wasn't allowed to see it. I agreed and sat down to eat.
After dinner John got us men together and we went out to the pole barn. He had built an alter for us to use tomorrow at the wedding. We needed to pick it up and carry it to a level spot in the yard...
As we were about to go to the house..we heard a noise. It was coming from the sky...as we looked up. We saw several jets up high, they were headed west. They were to high to know who they belonged to and we all hurried inside and turned on the radio.
The broadcast didn't tell us much...except that the USA was hitting the western front hard...tring to push back China, North Korea and a few Russian's. It brought everyone back to reality...The ladies still had a few things to do, before tomorrow...so all of us guys grabbed a deck of cards and sat around the table and played spades...all the while keeping the radio on...to listen for any new news.
It was about 11pm when we desided to call it a night. Bill was going out with his son on patrol tonight. They grabbed there gear and headed out...I headed to bed.
I woke early in the morning...excited...today was my wedding day. I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat in the kitchen with a radio in my hand...I had the volume turned down and was tring to be quiet...when dad came out.
We sat and talked about a lot of nothing...it was just good to have some time alone with dad..we didn't have to say anything...I missed having that time with him.

I like the direction this is taking. I'm still a little confused on who is attacking and why they are, and is there more than 1 army fighting for America? Anyway, I'm a little slow, but I'll get it. Love your story and I can't wait for another installment. Keep it coming!

The morning sun rose above the horrizon, as we finished our coffee. Dad and I went out on the deck to greet the new day. As the sun slowly warmed my face, I could hear the sound of aircraft in the distance.
Dad looked over and said..I do believe that the fight might be here sooner than later.
I paused for a moment...they asked him. Is it the right thing to do...you know, going off to help in the fight?
He said, son...thats a choice that only you and you alone can make.
We could hear the planes getting closer to the farm.
The rest of the guys had woke up and were starting to get around...as we headed back in the house.
About a minute later..Bill said, hey look at that!!
It was parachutes that were coming out of the plane. They looked to be a few miles away...and we couldn't tell who or what was coming down.
We all ran and grabbed our gear, woke everyone up and started getting things together. We were wanting to find out if it was a friend or foe, that was arriving.
We jumped into the truck and waited for all the guys to get there guns and gear.
After a few minutes, we were all loaded up and starting down the road, we had 3 vehicles going to see what was falling from the planes.
We raced down the gravel roads and across a few fields to get to a hill top close to where we thought the parachutes landed.
As we approached the hill, we could see more and more still coming down. It appeared to be a lot of pallets wrapped and cargo straps holding things together.
We used the bino's to get a better look see, and it was...pallets, lots and lots of pallets.
Mike and I were in 1 truck and told everyone to stay here and cover us. We went down to see what was in all the pallets. As we approached the first pallet, we could see ammo cans, shrink wrapped all together. We took out our knives and started opening the first pallet. It was ammo, thousands of rounds of ammo.
We went to the next few pallets and it was the same thing...there was probably a half million rounds of american ammo on all the pallets. We noticed a few pallets looked a little different, and went to them next.
We started opening them up as we signaled the rest of the guys to come down and help us.
When we opened the next pallets contents, it appeared we had crates of weapons...as we opened it up we found AT4's in 3 crates, M16's in 2 crates, A crate of machinegunns, and Mike and I just thought...WOW...weapons from heaven...LOL
There were 20 pallets in all. It was amazing. We were like kids in a candy store! One of the pallets was all 203 grenades and another pallet was hand grenades...we loaded all we could and sent all the trucks back to unload eveything in the barn and to come back with the grain trucks, tractor and hay trailer.
Mike and I stayed back to watch over the remaining pallets.
We began to wonder why they had dropped this stuff here...in the middle of no where....that started to freak us out a little and we watched for more parachutes to come down...only this time..with soldiers instead of weapons ...but it never happened. We loaded up the remaining pallets and headed back to the farm. It was about noon by the time we finished unloadeing and storing everything....of course we all picked out a few weapons for our personal use and had ammo staged all over the place.
We turned on the radio to listen for any information, that might explain what had just happened. We all froze when we heard the news.
The broadcaster said...I have an important public announcement to make...In order to assist the local farmers and towns throughout the remaining free areas in America, the government is providing you with weapons and ammo to help protect America in some of the more remote locations. We have our forces spread out as far as we can, and need the help of every man, woman, and child to assist in the fight for our survival.
The west coast is holding there own, the east coast has started to stablize with there lines, but in the north, many of the Russian and North Korean troops are starting to come in from Canada. The Russians are skirting the great lakes and tring to take us up north. The Canadians are being over whelmed and there lines aren't holding. We have reserve units that are doing what they can to assist in holding them back, but we are out numbered 7-1.
We are fling air assaults in on them, but need your help. This afternoon there will be food dropped in the same general locations as the other items, from earlier today. Please use it, and go to the north, at assist the military however you can.
If weapons were dropped in your area, there will be military forces coming along with the food. Please assist them in anyway you can, Our country in counting on you.
Then the radio started playing our country tis of thee...
So we turned the radio volume down and started to look to the skies for planes. About 20 minutes later we heard the first one. We all started to get ready to go, then the planes turned and headed straight towards the farm.

As the parachutes started to open, we could see from the house that there were several men coming down first, then a couple of what looked like vehicles, that followed.
While we were watching them fall from the sky, another plane had several more pallets begin to fall.
We all watched the forces land about a half a mile away. We jumped into a truck and headed over to them.
The troops were all through the pasture and were setting security as we started to get close to them. We got about 200 yards away and they yelled with a bullhorn to stop. We froze where we were at.
Four of the men made there way over to us, they appeared to be a little nervious. We started talking to them, and showed them our hands...we left the guns on the seat of the truck.
Mike and I got out with our hands raised and said we heard the announcment, and were here to help. That seemed to ease the moment.
They made there way over to the truck and we all could relax a bit. One of the men said that we were needing to meet with the platoon leader, and that we should follow him.
We headed over to them and introduced ourselves. We shook his hand and began to find out what they wanted
and needed.
There was about 20 men in the group. They asked if we had a place to let them stay, and if we were the ones that had gotten the previous drop. We told them yes and yes...and we were here to help, however we could.
It took about 20 minutes for them to get there vehicles and the other supplies that they dropped with together, then we were on our way to the house.
As we pulled into the farm yard, everyone from the house came out to see our new guests. We all gathered around and they began to tell us what was happening with the war.
It was all that we had heard on the radio, but even worse than the radio was letting on. We figured that it was to not have everyone in a crazy panic. The group that had dropped in to our farm was a platoon of forward observers, they called in air strikes and other lazer guided bombs. It was a reserve unit from the USMC.
We all went over to the barn, where we had stored the weapons from earlier and they started going through it.
The ladies started getting a huge feast going, and the troops started to look around the farm yard.
Dad told them we had built the cabins around the property and they said they were going to use them for quarters...until they moved on. We really didn't have a say, and didn't mind. They were being nicer than they had to be. We all knew this.
The platoon leader was getting them all set up and organized as we started to hear more aircraft approaching.
He started yelling and everyone scrambled to various places though the barn yard. It was about that time it clicked, that the aircraft coming in, might not be ours. We all ran into the buildings and had everyone stay inside, so we couldn't be seen as they flew by.
When the women realized what was happening, they all started to freak out. Everyone in the house headed for the basement and it was Bill, John, Mike and me left out in the garage.
Once the sound of the aircraft was gone, the troops started to show themselves again. It was wild seeing all the bodies climb out of the wood work in the barnyard.
They wanted to set down and talk to us... right away. We called everyone up from the basement and all gathered in the garage.
Well, they wanted our farm for a base of operations, a headquarters so to speak. they wanted to run missions up north about 100 miles and have a place off the front line, where his men could assist all missions to the north.
He wasn't asking, he was telling us.
I guess we had been so sheltered for so long during this whole thing, that we thought things were no as bad as they actually were.
We had all the equipment stored around the farm, close to the house and barn. The vehicles that they had, were in a pole barn and they made it look like there was no military there...if you were looking from the sky down.
Dad asked them if there was anything else that we could do, and they just told him...we will let you know.
They asked for everyone to help move there equipment and get it divided up into vehicles, to be taken to each cabin...for each team. We all hurried to help them, in fact we all went down to help, including the women.
About 30 minutes later, there is smoke and flames coming out of the kitchen window at the house. The ladies had ran downstairs and left the oven on, and the stove on...from when they first got here... getting the feast prepaired.
We started to run to the house and get the fire put out. As we grabbed garden hoses and buckets that we filled with water...we could quickly see that is was no use. The house was going to burn..we grabbed all we could from the garage and moved it to a safe place.
Even the troops were helping, I turned around because I saw something. It was a helocopter, several headed towards us...there were quick bright flashes coming from the sides of it...that was the last thing I ever saw..The End