He made a concerted effort to slap a magazine in his AR180 and jack a round in the chamber. This of course was for effect. He had unloaded it before he went out there just so he could put on a show and let them know he meant business. Besides, everyone else was locked and loaded already. “Get all of the vehicles hitched up and ready to roll,” he hollered.
As they were checking the vehicles and trailers to make sure they were ready to go, the crowd moved in closer yet. There were quite a few neighbors he recognized, but a lot of people he didn’t. They began demanding that they tell them what they had in the trailers. Haliday shouted out "it’s none of your concern." They kept yelling out that they wanted to know. Haliday slightly raised his rifle; he called the group from the back of the house to the front then and told them to watch the rear and sides from where they were.
“Go ahead and shoot us. You ain’t got the balls.” Haliday eyeballed the guy who said it and noticed he had a baseball cap on. River Bend Apartments was stitched on the front. Of course, half mile south he had 10 complexes of various sizes. He would take daily walks around the neighborhood all the time scoping out who lived where, who had what, who might be prepared or who might be problems. He figured the apartments would be all trouble.
“Look man, we’re leaving ok, no problems need to arise. We’re out of here in two minutes.”
The guy walked up a bit closer to the front of the crowd and said, “Bullshit; we ain’t letting you leave with that shit.” He turned around and took a shotgun from another guy in the crowd. He turned back around. “You look like you got plenty to share.”
Haliday said, “Look, that ain’t going to happen.” Haliday’s next door neighbor Phil was standing outside now watching. Haliday looked over at him and nodded. Phil nodded back. His kids walked out onto the porch and Haliday looked over at them. One of them was sucking on a pouch of peanut butter from an MRE. She was also holding a small doll. She didn’t grasp the lethality of the situation.
More and more people were demanding that they share. The guy from the apartment complex was the loudest. “We’re going to give you to the count of 10. After that we’re taking it, asshole.” Haliday quickly looked at his group. He then scanned the other group. Most were just standing around empty handed, a bunch had knives and a few had various guns visible.
Haliday noticed a neighbor across the street standing on his porch. He didn’t really know this neighbor, but had watched him closely over time and knew enough that he too was prepped for SHTF. He was surprised the guy hadn’t taken off himself. His son lived next door and he would catch them late at night unloading stuff into their small pole barn. The guy then went back inside. I don’t blame you, he thought, keep out of it. Remain unseen and unheard. Protect your own stash.
“You must be deaf or dumb you son of a bitch.”
Haliday was at his wit’s end. “Ok genius, this is what we are going to do.” He raised his rifle and leveled it at the man’s head. “We are leaving and that’s going to be good enough for everyone here. You understand?”
“Screw you ya bastard. There are more of us than you.”
“We’re all armed numb nuts. You aren’t. You’ll lose this one,” he told them.
Haliday whispered to David and Mike who then got in the vehicles and started them. He told Sarah to get in with Elizabeth and told Bev and Rich to get in as well. “Linda and Kayla, you guys walk up the street a ways. When they get down a few houses move the vehicles out. Watch your backs. Blake, close the garage and lock it. Then go with them and cover the rear.”
“I told you that ain’t gonna happen.” The group moved a bit closer. Haliday looked at Phil; Phil said, “You’re on your own man, nothing I can do.” Haliday knew Phil had a hunting rifle and plinker, but figured as much. Phil’s wife was standing next to him now. Thanks for the help neighbor. He heard the vehicles shift into drive. The crowd came closer yet, about 30 yards out now.
Haliday said, “Ok, I’ll tell you how it’s going to work.
“If you aren’t armed I suggest you step back now. The rest of you, well it’s going to be us against you if you want it that way. I’m going full auto, and so are these guys. You do not have enough firepower to win this. His rifle was full auto capable but he hadn’t finished modifying the others yet. “Now, I’m ready to kill. I already have and I will again. No doubt in my mind I can do it. I prefer not to though. You hear that?”
“If it’s food you want, my house was cleaned out. Phil there has it all. A good few months worth. He’s got five cases of MRE’s alone. Now he broke into my house while I was gone and stripped it clean of all the food.” He looked at Phil who had turned white as a ghost. He nodded at Phil again with a smirk on his face this time.
The group had separated a bit as some of the people backed off. The loud mouth said, “How you know that?”
“Well, the MRE peanut butter could be his, but I doubt it. He doesn’t know how to spell MRE. Now the doll his kid is holding is my daughter’s. It’s a one of a kind custom we had made for her at a doll show years ago.” Phil’s wife called him a bastard. “Look Heather, I’d beat feet away from the house.” She grabbed the kids and ran across the street away from the crowd.
Phil looked at Roger and pleaded. “Don’t do this Roger; I was just trying to keep my family fed. You can’t do this man.”
“Look Phil, your best bet is to walk away now. Let them take it when we leave.”
The loud mouth piped in, “How you know we’re going to let you leave? I keep telling you it ain’t gonna happen. Just more stuff for us.”
Roger said, “Look guys, you can live or you can listen to this loud mouth. My guess is you want to live. Take what’s in that house, split it up and move on. Don’t die like this man is going to.” Roger still had his rifle leveled at him.
“I’ve had enough!” the loud mouth yelled at him. 1, 2, and the number 3 came in the form of a three round burst. Roger quickly leveled it at the next guy and barked out orders.
“Keep your weapons down. Keep your weapons down. Go, go, go.” The vehicles moved out leaving Roger, Kevin and Randy standing there. “Kevin, you lead. Randy and I are walking backwards. One of the guys in the group brought his shotgun up quickly and fired at Randy, but luckily he missed. Randy returned fire with two rounds and Roger fired a few quick shots as well. The guy dropped to the ground in a heap.
Roger yelled out again, “Don’t do it. Don’t be brave.” He kept the rifle leveled at the group that was armed and now standing by themselves. There were five left. They started walking backwards, as they did the group of bystanders moved back as well. You could tell they didn’t want any more of the gunplay. “Like I said, the food is in that house. Help yourself, it was mine anyway.” Phil’s kids were crying. Phil was yelling at Roger.
The armed individuals watched Haliday, but moved toward Phil’s house. Roger and Randy kept moving backwards and they saw a few more people head to Phil’s house. They were about 75 yards away when they reached the trucks. Roger told everyone to get in. He stepped on the side step of the truck and held onto the window frame with one hand. He kept looking back at the mob that was now at Phil’s house. It was like ants on a piece of candy.
He heard a few shots as well, but didn’t see anyone firing at them. They were probably arguing about who gets what. He saw Phil standing there watching his house being raided from across the street. Phil’s wife and kids were in tears. He smacked on the roof when they hit the end of road and Mike stopped. He switched places with Mike behind the wheel of the Tahoe. He pulled up next to the Cherokee and saw terror on their faces. He said, “Follow me,” and they drove off.”