Another Novella Excerpt

Thanks for the kind words on the first excerpt, here is another.

Months had passed and things around the county had sort of been almost normal. The feds and state boys had not been active in the area for a good while. There had been lots of successful ops around the US by active resistance cells. Of course, the media portrays it as domestic terrorism but the truth is that despite all of their technology advantages, the government just could not get a handle on the insurgency. Members of congress were targeted to the point where the senate and house were rendered inoperable. Three Supreme Court justices were killed in the last two months, one of which was hung from an overpass going into DC. Leaderless resistance cells simply found a statist and killed them. It was working like gangbusters.

Jack and Dave had been in several other states helping to get certain things done. Both were home now and were focusing on the homestead. Keeping food, water and other life sustaining supplies squared away had become a way of life, they were busy catching up.

Matt had become a big part of the team since the raid on his farm. His knowledge of firearms and his ability to make or repair practically anything made him an important asset. He had made every weapon on the team select fire and given each one a suppressor. With a lot of help from many folks his entire shop had been moved to a more secure location in the basement of a large building in town. The sheriff was his first customer at the new location and had gotten his personal .308 Savage fitted with a can.

Kay had left early to go into NC to pick up a new solar panel to replace one that had been damaged at the cabin. She had taken her friend Liz with her for the company. They had decided to stay off of the highway and had stuck to back roads to avoid any unwanted attention. About fifteen miles from Asheville Kay rounded a corner and cursed under her breath when she saw the checkpoint. She was armed with a Glock 19 and there was a short barreled AKM with a side folder behind the seat of the pickup. It was built by Matt, was select fire and had no serial number. These state patrol guys would absolutely love to find that little gem. The Glock alone was enough to get her 25 years in club fed.

The NC Hwy Patrol had begun conducting checkpoints about a year ago. They were part of a program put forth by .gov to search cars for weapons. It really wasn’t about the number of weapons found and people arrested; it was about keeping the population afraid of owning and transporting them. There had been multiple people put in prison by these checkpoints though and they simply did not care if you agreed to be searched or not. They needed no warrant; the fed had given them carte blanche to do whatever got the job done.

She quickly ran through her options. There was no way she was going to outrun them in this pickup. If she stopped and attempted to turn around she would be pursued and arrested. There were four troopers she could see and three vehicles. “Liz, look in the glove box and get out the registration”. Liz quickly found it, and handed it to Kay, her hand was visibly shaking. “Get a hold of yourself Liz, stay cool and we will go right through this, they probably won’t even want to search us”. Liz looked like she was going to be sick.

“Morning ma’am, license and registration please”. Kay handed the documents to the trooper with a smile. “Where you headed Ms. Wilkes” asked the man with the mirror shades. “Going into Asheville to do a little shopping” Kay replied. Liz was staring straight ahead, she was simply scared out of her wits. She would likely go to prison too if she were caught with Kay in possession of a machine gun. She had watched Kay put the AK behind the seat and knew that she always was armed with a concealed pistol.

“Good little trip from Tennessee to go shopping isn’t it?” the trooper stated dryly. “No trip too far for shoes” Kay said with a chuckle and flashed a big smile. “I suppose” the trooper said with a smile of his own, “is there anything in the truck I should know about?”
“Just two women desperate for the mall” said Kay. “Mind if I take a look?” Mr. Mirror Shades asked. Kay smiled even bigger now, “not a bit”. The trooper gave her instructions to pull forward to the rear of the patrol car ahead of her and wait for him there.

Kay said OK, and in one fluid motion pulled her pistol from her holster and put a 147 grain hollow point into his face as he was looking toward his car. She stepped out of the truck, flipped the seat forward and grabbed the pistol grip of the AK. In what seemed like slow motion she flipped the stock and chambered a cartridge while already looking for the other troopers. The man’s blood stained her face and her eyes were wide with adrenalin. Her training kicked in and she felt very calm. She lined up the Aimpoint Micro on the next man’s face and pulled the trigger. She killed the third man just as he was raising his pistol from behind his car to take a shot at her. She felt the hot flash of pain in her left hand as the fourth trooper’s shot raked across her knuckles. His next shot missed her altogether and she ended the fight with return fire of her own. In less than twenty seconds four troopers lay dead. Kay ran back to the pickup, stopped by the first man and picked up her license and registration and jumped in the driver’s seat.

Liz was crying, she screamed at Kay “get us the hell out of here!” Kay said a silent prayer of thanks that the trooper had not radioed her plate or license in during the stop and that there had been no other cars there. She tried to stop the bleeding from her hand with some fast food napkins from the dashboard without wrecking the truck. She forced herself to slow down and not cause undue attention, she was really starting to feel her hand now and it was getting worse by the moment. They continued down the road in silence and made a few turns onto other roads. When they saw a gas station, they decided to stop so Kay’s hand could be cleaned and disinfected.

Liz went inside, and bought a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some Tylenol. She asked the attendant for the restroom key and met Kay by the door. Once the hand was cleaned and wrapped in the tail from her T-shirt, Kay took a couple of the pain relievers and they filled the truck with gas. Back on the road, Liz looked visibly alarmed when Kay headed east. “We still need to get that solar panel” Kay offered.

After about a mile, Liz looked over at Kay shaking her head. “You are one crazy bitch”.