Chapter 19: Bandits
At the Barrett place, The Wilkerson group were having a cookut. Mickey had venison steaks on the grill, he was sipping a beer as he cooked. They had a small boombox which played "Saturday Night Special" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Dan was cleaning his gun, he had a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth as he done so. Job approached Dan, he reached out a bottle of moonshine which Dan quickly took. He sipped the strong brew, it sent a chill down his spine and a burn in his throat. "Good shit." Dan told Job. "Best brew in Trumbull Valley." Job replied. Dan got to thinking of how he ended up there, he reminisced about him and his friends before the world went to Hell. Ian crossed his mind, his best friend. He regretted a lot of things, like sleeping with Ian in a drunken stupor. He regretted more deeply that he let Ian die. A cute redheaded woman wearing a green t shirt, cargo vest, and tight blue jeans with boots approached the pair. "Got a drink for me?" She asked Job. "For you doll, of course." Job replied. He handed the woman the bottle, she took a big gulp and wiped her lips.
A red pickup pulled in front of the farm house, Marcus and Kevin got out. Kevin had a rucksack full of food, they were trading for some ammo. The two walked up the hill, where Mickey looked at them. "Marshall." Mickey said catching Dan's attention. Dan stood up and walked over to Mickey. "Go get the sack by the supply locker." Mickey told Dan. Dan nodded and walked in the house. Job approached Marcus and Kevin, he looked at the two with a smirk. "Doing pretty good with your food supply." Job inquired. "We've been doing okay. A lot of mouths to feed in our enclave." Marcus replied. "We got mouths to feed too, we do well hunting game for meat but we struggle with produce and canned goods." Job told Marcus. "We are growing produce at the moment, maybe we can work out a regular trade." Marcus replied. "We may do that." Job said as Dan walked up with the rucksack. Kevin handed the rucksack to Job and Dan Handed his to Kevin. "Any word on those bandits you told me about?" Job asked Marcus. "There's a group at Big Jake's who are being stalked. I've been sending people to keep an eye on them." Marcus replied. "Good man." Job replied. The two turned around with the ammo sack and left the Barrett place.
Dan sat back in his chair on the porch and assembled his now clean rifle, he loaded and cocked it. Job walked up to Dan, he looked down at the young man sitting there. "The Colony is onto us, go down to The Grange with a couple boys. Stake it out, see what you can get." Job told Dan. "You got it." Dan replied. He stood up and whistled, three men walked behind Dan as he walked towards the SUV. He got behind the wheel and the other three men got inside, Dan left the farm and drove down the road. The other men put on masks and cocked their guns, Dan looked at them in disapproval. "I can't wait to kill the first poor bastard that tries to fight." One of the men said. "We're only here to stake the place out, nobody needs to die yet." Dan replied. "Just concentrate on the road Fido, leave the men to work." The man in the backseat told Dan.
Dan kept driving, he spotted a stranger beside of broken down car. He stopped the SUV and got out, he walked towards the man. "You alright friend?" Dan asked the man. "Yeah, I'm stranded." The man replied. "My car ran out of oil and the engine blew." The man said pointing at the four door sedan with smoke coming out of the hood. Dan opened the hood, as he did the smoke stunned him. Before he knew it he was on the ground. He looked up and the stranger was holding a pistol to him with two other men wearing ski masks. "You're gonna give us the keys to your truck, or we'll kill you!" One of the men screamed. The bandits were taken down by gunfire, Dan looked up to see his men taking down the bandits. He stood up and fumbled around his pocket for a cigarette, he lit it before taking out his radio. "Hey, Job." Dan spoke into the radio. "Come on Dan." Job replied. "Some asshole is copying us, we just taken down some cowboys looking to rob us." Dan replied. "Copy, just go over to The Grange. Scout it out." Job replied. The four got back in the SUV and drove off.