Free Bug Out by G. Allen Mercer Page A

the drones or the rogue helicopters.  What had happened to the might of the United States military?
    He had heard of a few National Guard commanders with short-waves asking for support from any military personnel along the Mississippi...no particular rally locations were given; it was just a plea for help.  These radio broadcasts usually lasted a few seconds.  Dukes figured that they didn’t want to give their true positions away by leaving a breadcrumb trail of radio signals…something that he knew he was doing himself.
    The working theory about why there was not an overwhelming show of US military force was that the EMP and the nukes so disrupted travel that the home based troops couldn’t get back to their bases to rally. 
    Also, once the power went down and the cities burned, chaos erupted around America.  Local police forces were overwhelmed with the response and inability to travel.  It seemed that most soldiers were more interested in helping their families than organizing to fight.  America had turned into a free for all, with the most prepared and the most heavily armed dominating.
    “Dukes, this is Ian.  Over,” the two-way radio crackled with new life. 
    Dukes had the two-way on constant scan mode to pick up any messages on any channel. Dukes jumped up from the dinning table.  Ian had missed his last check in and Dukes was starting to fear the worst…especially now that he knew that Ian’s daughter was safe with Birmingham Bob.
    “Ian, Dukes.  Code word?”
    “States,” he said, sounding tired.
    “How are you?  Over.” Dukes asked.  Both June and Penny gathered around the radio to listen.
    “We’ve been better,” letting his plural statement speak for he and Mary.  “Over.”
    “A lot has happened since we last spoke.  I have news, but do you want to report in?  Over.”
    “Affirmative.  I have first hand of a rocket attack on a dam from enemy birds.  My comrade and I escaped, again.  We are approximately half way to my target and have picked up five extra toon mates.  Over.”
    Dukes looked at Penny and June.  He didn’t know exactly what that meant.
    “Can you clarify, over?”
    “Scouts.  Troop 280 out of B’ham,” Ian said, using as much code as he could get away with.  He knew that other people were listening to his broadcast, and didn’t know if they were friend or foe.  So, he thought it was always in his best interest to assume that everyone was out to use the info from the broadcast to kill an American…so, he spoke in code, and bolstered the credentials a little.
    “Scouts?  Over.”
    “Highly trained mountaineers that are S & R certified and well led.  Over.”  Ian smiled at the boys around the small campfire as the sun came up.  They seemed to think this spy stuff was pretty cool.  Ian hated the fact that he was eventually going to have to tell most of them that their parents were dead.
    “Breaking in.  This is Birmingham Bob.  Sorry Dukes.  Over.”
    Dukes thought nothing of the intrusion on his call and signaled for Bob to continue.  “Bob, this is Dukes.  What’s up?  Over?”
    “We were listening to your report from Mr. Ian in the field and his band of ‘Scouts.’  Ian, did you say Troop 280?  Over.”
    Ian looked up at the boys around the ring of fire.  They had grown quiet with the addition of the third voice on the radio.  “Bob, this is Ian, that’s affirmative, sir, Troop 280.  Over”
    “Is Adam Tiller with the group?  Over.”  Bob asked.  A warble breached his voice.
    Adam stood up across the fire ring from Ian at the sound of his name.  The firelight painted him with colors of auburn and yellow light.
    “Affirmative, Bob.  Over.”  Ian looked across the fire at the youth, and smiled.
    “That’s my Dad,” Adam said.
    Ian held the radio up to the boy to take.
    “Dad,” he said.  “Dad, is that you?”
    “Adam?  Are you okay, son?  Over.”
    Mary wiped a tear from her eye as she listened to the