Free The Last Layover by Steven Bird Page B

gasoline generator in the garage and ran an extension cord to the television. To her dismay, she saw that every channel was nothing but static. Well , she thought, at least if it's happening, the boys and I are in a good place thanks to Jason and his crazy prepping . She was far better equipped to handle what was going on than your average family. Although their home wasn’t upgraded with the security enhancements that the Baird household had, they had plenty of food, water, weapons, and about every other survival supply she and the boys would need.
    The Baird and Jones families were separated by a little over four hundred miles. However, since the Baird's Homefront had everything they would need—and more—to hold out for a longer duration of time, Evan and Jason had mutually planned on having the Jones family bug out to Tennessee to join the Bairds, should the need arise. Not only did they share operational security (OPSEC) type information and planning, they kept each other focused on their preps by sharing and recommending related reading materials and ideas. They were basically long distance prepping partners.
    Like Evan, Jason also had quite the gun collection. Although they both had numerous non-matching guns and calibers at their disposal, they would joke that “disturbed minds think alike” as they both chose the 7.62X39 Russian and .45ACP as their primary defensive cartridges. Jason didn't catch the VZ58 bug like Evan had, but over the past year, he had been scouring gun shows and the like to find off-the-record SKSs to stock up on. While an SKS went for a lot more today than it had in previous years, they were still quite a bit cheaper than AR and some AK platform rifles.
    Jason also liked the conventional old school rifle layout of the SKS. Also, with the ability to fit them with thirty-round magazines and optics, he felt they were his best of both worlds. In addition, since the SKS utilizes the same 7.62X39 cartridge as Evan’s VZs, he and Evan were stockpiling the same ammunition. If things ever came to pass where the two families needed to hook up, the collections would complement each other.
    Jason's handgun collection, like Evan's, also revolved around the venerable 1911. This gave them commonality in that regard, as well. Jason's specialty rifle was his modified and customized Remington model 700 in .300 Winchester Magnum. His “Remy” had been a pet project of sorts. He had used an M24 based on the Remington 700 while he was in the Army filling the role of company designated sharpshooter, and felt right at home with the design. He had never officially gone to sniper training due to Clinton era budget cuts. In addition, his observation was that most of the Sniper, Ranger, and SPECOPS school slots were reserved for guys who were buddies with all of the right brass. That was the dilemma of serving during  sustained peace time; those who made the calls weren’t necessarily making decisions based on really getting the job done.
    Jason had taken on gunsmithing as a hobby and as an unofficial preparedness skill. He had been working on his rifle on and off over the past few years. It had a stock that fully floated the barrel from Accuracy International, a custom long-range barrel, threaded for use with a suppressor that he had quietly “acquired”, and a match-grade custom trigger job that broke as smoothly as glass. A Night Force 5-25X56 scope rounded out the package. Combined, these modifications made an easy-to-carry, reliable “reach out and touch someone” gun.
    Jason understood his role in the SHTF plan he and Evan constructed; as the one who would be on the move for the meet up, instead of stockpiling weapons based on sheer numbers like Evan had, Jason focused on having what he needed to be well-armed on the road. Six SKSs for close-in fighting, six 1911 handguns, and his Remington would round out his firearms in the event of a bug out. He just couldn't carry very many different types of