Derek followed Daphne's invitation to a tee and arrived at the estate just as the sun was dunking its burning red head in the cold Pacific off to the west. There was still a warm glow at the top edge of the three-story building, but the rest was bathed in shadow with no lights on he could see.

Coming through the door, there was a line of scented candles providing a pathway on each step leading upstairs inviting him to follow. Of course, the candles led to the master bedroom suite on the second floor where he found Daphne lounging on the satin sheets in her diaphanous gown that was the former owner's but accented her body beautifully leaving everything to delight Derek's eyes. He was glad he had showered off all the dirt and sweat from working all day and dressed for the occasion in a clean pair of jeans and shirt.

Daphne spoke first. "Welcome, Derek. I'm so glad you're here. You don't know how much I've looked forward to this moment. I hope you like what I've prepared?" She waved her right hand toward the candlelit table with two settings of food and drink that resembled what you would see in a fine restaurant. The candlelight atmosphere, incense burning and soft music in the background was just right.

"Daphne, you didn't have to go to all this trouble. But this certainly is divine. I haven't seen anything like this for a long time." Derek shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm glad you like it. Champagne?"

Daphne led him over to the table where she had a bottle of champagne on ice and poured a glass for them. And then, said, "A toast to the two of us?" A delightful look in her eyes.

Derek couldn't help but comply and tapped her glass lightly as she swung her arm around his elbow to elbow and they both brought their glasses to their lips and sipped. Eye to eye and body so close to body that he could feel her heat.

There was shrimp cocktail as an appetizer with the main course of filet mignon grilled perfectly with a rice pilaf and some asparagus. Finally, some chocolate mousse for dessert. As Derek savored the third glass of champagne while finishing his mousse, he knew a way more delicate dessert was coming by the look in Daphne's eyes as he questioned her.

"Where did you get all of this? We are down to eating vulture." He laughed.

"I know, I saw Drake kill one this morning from my balcony. I invited him up for breakfast, but he was too eager to eat that dirty bird than to play house with me. He missed all the fun. Do you want to have fun?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I'd love to. And I think you might want to, too?"

"I can't wait, but I want you to be gentle with me."

"What do you mean, gentle?"

"I'm a virgin."

"But what about all that…" Derek was shocked. 

"Talk in our high school?"

"Yeah, about you and every jock in the place."

"I dated them all, but I never let them get to second base. One, who will remain nameless, tried to rape me, but I kicked him in the balls and had to drive us home because he hurt so much that he couldn't even drive the car to get us home."

"But what about your uncle?"

"My uncle used his finger to break my hymen. I used it to tell all the girls I'd lost my virginity when I was 13. The lie gave me bragging rights. They never knew I never let any prick get inside me until now. I've always liked you, Derek. So you will be my first. But not my last, I'm going to give Drake a chance to savor a near virgin, too. The world we have now will need babies. Before, I didn't want babies until I was at least 30. But now, I see a need for babies, don't you?"

"I do." Derek felt really awkward at this point and showed it.

But Daphne saved him. "By the way, it was all in Barbara's extensive kitchen. I learned how to cook for parties with my mom. Will you take me to bed? All this food and drink has made me a bit sleepy." She winked.

Daphne rose from the table, walked around it and took Derek by the hand to the bed where she turned and melted into his arms. Derek had never felt anything so beautiful and soft as kissing this love goddess's lips while they moved onto the bed and started exploring each other with kisses and caresses.

But about 2 am, Wondah was on the phone with a warning. "Derek! One of our sensors on the street down below triggered. The monitors show three pickups coming our way very soon. You have to get to the tank. I don't have it fully remote yet!"

I was sound asleep. But Wondah's call woke me up, too. And then, I heard the explosion, jumped out of bed, quickly got dressed and grabbed one of the AR-15s as I threw off the cobwebs of sleep while adrenaline pumped me up for battle. I quickly climbed to the roof. My rifle had a laser on it that was better than the scope on the Winchester and those armor penetrating bullets that were so lethal. I watched and waited for something to come up the street.

Wondah and Melody had two drones in the air with both surveillance and lethal capability. They could see the truck that tried to ram the gate had been blown across the street and there were bodies in the street. But the second pickup truck was moving to where the booby trap had blown a hole in the barricade and was slowly pushing through with a number of armed occupants and a machine gun mounted in its bed. The drones fired on that truck, but Melody's was shot down.

As the truck started up the street it was hit squarely by a shell from the tank and Derek. The survivors from that hit and blast all ran to the last truck and drove off. I climbed down off the roof and headed for where the truck had a huge hole in the middle where the engine had been and was burning with bodies and body parts everywhere. Augie and Ray were ahead of me but I caught up and passed them.

Still, I was cautious. When I saw someone moving in the truck across the street, I didn't hesitate to put him out of his misery. But as I surveyed the scene, I counted ten dead and three of them were women. Including the one who had a mortal wound before I shot her. It didn't make me feel any better. I was beginning to know what PTSD was all about, and I didn't like it.

I told everyone as a crowd was gathering. "I've taken a look here and there's no one left alive, but there's nothing we can do tonight. We all have to get some sleep and get up the first thing in the morning to cart off these bodies before we have predators all over the place."

Derek arrived. "Drae, don't worry, you and the other guys have got to take off for Grandpa Ralph's in the morning. I'll take charge of taking care of these bodies and make sure I get good pictures so Wondah can find out who they are and whether we will have to confront them like we did the Blips. They'll probably want revenge. We'll fix these defenses right away."

"Thanks Der. I'm headed back to try to get some sleep and I suggest all of you do the same. If anything else comes along tonight, our surveillance cameras will pick it up and warn us like it did with this. Thanks a million everyone, and Wondah. You are the best."

Everyone clapped and cheered their appreciation for her skills.

I was back in bed, but thoughts of what was going on and anticipation kept me awake.

Derek returned for a second round in the loving arms of his high school idol. Finding her more than what he had ever dreamed. Only because Daphne finally let herself be herself and not have to put on any false airs of who she really was. Just a young woman of childbearing age in a new world where she would have to work hard to survive and adapt.

The clock on my phone moved slowly, but finally, it was dawn and I was up preparing for our journey to rescue Grandpa Ralph if he needed rescue and get food. The four of us gathered what we would need for the trip and grabbed a breakfast of cereal with water with no milk, fruit or sugar to put on it. We still had plenty of energy bars we would take along for the journey as well as large jugs of water, not knowing if water would be a problem or not. Water was always on my mind and I regretted not getting to work on an adequate cistern system for the neighborhood that day.

Before we left, Derek took pictures, gathered up all the bodies and body parts, and once again, transported them to the place out back of the estate where wild animals would have their way and other smaller animals would also benefit. The flies were terrible, but Derek and his team worked as quickly as they could and the flies settled on the new blood right away.

Returning at the gate, Derek, Viktor and Gary got busy restoring it. With the tank, they pushed the destroyed vehicles completely to the other side of the road where they would be a great deterrent to anyone attempting to enter the compound again. A road sign signaling DANGER! With a skull and cross bones emblem warned of the fate of marauders.

Knowing that everything was in good hands, the four of us began the 200 mile journey to Grandpa Ralph's ranch, all 40 acres of it.

My 2031 utility truck (mentally no longer thinking of it as Dad's) had a 450 mile range with its fuel-cell storage system, with higher capacity and efficiency than batteries. In addition to rapid charging ability at self-serve charging stations. The finish on the roof and hood was nano fiber, ChargeSkin, an attractive wrap pattern that, when properly connected to the wiring harness, provided continual charging to the battery or other electrical storage system as long as the sun was shining on those surfaces. The only requirement was to keep the surface clean at all times. The skin was tough, too, with a useful life of 20 years. Much longer than most paints in the California sun.

I didn't need GPS to guide me on this trip, or even a map. From Cal 2, we quickly picked up the 405 that took us to the 5 and rapidly out of Los Angeles. Looking back there was a haze in the air from all the fires still burning. We were fortunate to have the seabreeze from the coast to keep our neighborhood clear of that unhealthy, smoky haze.

I figured it would take four hours conservatively averaging 50 mph, but we were averaging 70 with very few obstacles to push or winch our way out of. There wasn't much through these mountains that would hamper us except for a few abandoned cars. No people by the side of the road, just California state and national forest. Just beyond the Grapevine, no longer the scary ride before 5 was built, Dad told me, we branched off the 5 to the right and took Cal 99 all the way to Grandpa's ranch, about 25 miles short of Fresno.

Although we were prepared for battle and saw some traffic on the other side, across the median, nothing hampered us on 99 except smoke across the road from grass fires. We arrived just before 11 am. Grandpa's mangled gate at the entrance made my blood race to my temples and sweat pour down my back in our air-conditioned truck as I hit the accelerator tearing up the long dirt driveway to the house.

What was worse, were all the bullet holes around the doors and windows of the house. The porch couch and Grandpa's favorite chair destroyed. But there was no blood on that front porch. The door was open and the living room was full of holes inside, the place was torn apart. My blood was boiling at this point and whoever did flight headed back to the barn this, and scared to death that Grandpa Ralph may have been taken or killed.

Not finding him there, we left the house and headed to the barn. I called out, "Grandpa, we're here! Are you all right? We're here. We can help."

Gramps appeared in the doorway of a small shed that had held pigs in earlier days. He yelled back. "Drake! What took you so long! Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you had come yesterday. But you're a sight for sore eyes. Glad you're here now."

He began walking toward us carrying his shotgun. Likewise, we were all carrying our AR-15s but those guns were dropped and hugs were in order. Tears flowed. My anxiety eased off a bit.

"What happened here, Gramps? Your house is a mess."

"It's those Gillett brothers. They've terrorized everybody in Eunice. Probably ran out of food and water and that's why they came last night. When I heard them crashing the gate, I grabbed my guns and hightailed it for this shack, knowing it would be the last place they would look into. Where I'd make my stand if I had to. But they left after they ransacked the house and even took some mementos along with all the food and some water. In all the containers they could find. Even left the water running." Old man's tears started flowing down his face. I joined him.

"Why didn't you make a stand? Save your place from this?"

"They've got automatic weapons and are vicious. I heard they came from Belize or one of those other Central American countries. Not at all like farm workers who live here. I feel badly for those poor folks if they are still alive. Took over the whole damn town."

"I know them, Gramps! We took Dad's tank and wiped a whole gang not 10 miles from where we live."

"It's about 7 miles to Eunice. That's why they came here last night. Probably just going down the road and picking on every farm." His tears had stopped, but he sighed in resignation.

"If they raided all night, they are sleeping today, probably still drunk. We need to hit them now."

"No, Drake! They're too dangerous."

"Couldn't be more dangerous than the LA gangs that we are faced with. We brought Dad's bazooka and some rockets for their trucks and houses. That will soften them up before we go after them with four AR-15s. You can come along if you like. Just where in Eunice do they live?"

"Okay, I'll go along. But I'll stay in your truck and drive away with you if you come back wounded or dead." Gramps's eyes narrowed. He was dead serious.

"Before we go, do you need any water or food?"

"Got plenty of water and there are some of my garden crops that I snacked on this morning. We can go. That way I can show you where they live."

It took only about ten minutes to drive to Eunice and to the small house where the Gillett family lived. The town was quiet, but there was evidence of shootouts on some of the buildings. I gathered most of the occupants had either fled or were killed. Dogs ran loose in the streets and there was that unmistakable smell of dead bodies with some bones in the street picked clean by vultures bleaching in the sun.

There was an old car and two pickups at the house. One of the pickups already had a number of bullet holes in it and appeared to be no longer drivable. I gathered that the newer one had been stolen to replace the one that got shot at last night during the raids.

I told everyone to get out, including Grandpa, and get behind the truck so they wouldn't get shot by surprise. I loaded the bazooka and aimed it at the front door of the house. Standing by the front of the truck and ready to duck back behind the truck to avoid shrapnel and bullets when the shooting started.

The rocket blew a hole through the front door and exploded inside. The house started to burn but no one came running out or shooting. I reloaded the bazooka and propped it behind the truck. And then, led the others toward the house, ready to fire at anything that moved.

The fire lit up the inside when we carefully entered. There were bodies in there, none them were moving. I saw a middle-aged woman, two young men and a young woman with bullet wounds patched up with bandages and one baby. But all of them had been hit by shrapnel from the blast and were dead. Soon, the fire got too intense and we had to retreat.

Inside the shot up truck Gramps saw lots of blood on the seats and found all of his momentos mostly intact in the bed. Apparently, when the marauders got back, they were so wounded they didn't bother to take anything into the house. The truck was full of what they had taken from Ralph and others in that spree the night before.

Gramps hadn't stayed behind the truck like I told him. He was waiting right outside for us with his shotgun when we came out. Told us what he found in the shot up truck.

He pointed to the newer truck I didn't blow up, either. "That maroon one belongs to Cyrus Meyer, 2 miles down the road from me. He bought it just last year… Proud of it. Worked hard to get it. Sure hope he's alive when we bring it back to him."

The ignition was broken to unlock the steering wheel, and the truck had been jumped to steal it. I got it started the same way.

"Melody, will you drive this truck behind us as we return it to its owner. Stay a bit back from us and if we run into any trouble, remember to be turned around and ready to take us back to Grandpa's place."

"Gladly, Drae. I know the routine." She winked. She got in the driver's seat when I slid out and put her AR-15 down on the seat next to her.

As we left Eunice, a few very haggard looking people and kids came out of the houses and waved at us like we were liberators. Gramps knew some of them, waved and called out to them by name. Told them to come if they needed water or food and he had work for them to earn it. When we got back on the road to his place, Ralph muttered…

"All good hard-working people. They suffered a lot from that gang. Good riddance. I'll help them all I can."

In the rearview mirror, I saw Augie give Gramps a brotherly punch on the shoulder. Everyone was smiling. We passed Gramps's place to the Meyer's place. It was a large farm with lots of outbuildings and orchards in the background. There was no gate or long drive but the house looked okay from what we could see. I part on the road and let Gramps out to approach them so they wouldn't think of us as raiders. Grateful for the construction sign on the side of our front doors.

When I saw two young men come bounding out of the house followed by a middle-aged woman, I knew we were okay and signaled Melody to follow me in. The young men were shaking Gramps's hand enthusiastically and the woman hugged him. By that time we were getting out of the truck and the two young men came over to shake all of our hands as well.

Gramps got a curious look on his face after the woman hugged him and said, "Gladys, where's Cyrus?"

Her face dropped and she replied, "He's dead." Shaking her head. "Covid-30 got him. And all of us were sick. Thankfully, Cy, Jr. and Rich came out of it like me along with two of their sisters in the house."

"So sorry to hear that, Gladys. Cy never hesitated to help me. Like my boys just helped me out by finishing off that Gillett gang in town. But from what I saw in town, your boys and you had already given them hell, making our job much easier. They won't be bothering us again. Thank goodness!" He sighed and held her hand in his.

"Yes, Ralph. When I saw that girl from my bedroom window sneak down from the road and steal Dad's truck. I saw the other truck waiting on the road and began to worry it was more than just the girl taking the truck, I woke the boys and told them to grab a rifle, go out the back kitchen door and sneak around the sides of our house to ambush them if they came down the drive.

"It only took a moment. When my boys, using the house for cover, saw guns sticking out of the windows of the truck coming down the drive, they opened up on it and its occupants. Suddenly, the truck backed up to the road, turned, and sped off while my boys kept shooting. Those in the truck got off a few wild shots, but were so surprised they missed, and left, taking Dad's truck with them. And now it's come back, thanks to you." She smiled and nodded us her appreciation.

I butted in. "Not entirely, the ignition's broken. But we wiped the whole family out with one rocket from Dad's old bazooka as part of his military collection from his time in service.

The girl that stole the truck is dead from the blast. And the way the other three guys were shot up, I think some of them may have died before we got there. They were a vicious branch of the Belizean gangs that have infiltrated many cities in the States. Conditioned to know nothing but killing and terrorizing. The sooner they are wiped out, the better. It's war now. and, unfortunately, women and children will be killed, too." I buried my thoughts about that.

Cy said, "Thanks Drake for finishing them off in town for us. We were going to follow up ourselves. We expect there will be more. Everyone here in the country has guns and when people get desperate they do terrible things… Even to friends.

"We have a lot of crops that we have no market for right now and not enough hands to harvest them.  We are willing to trade with our neighbors and supply Eunice with food and water now that there are only good people there. Do you need anything?"

"That's what we we're here for. To harvest some of Gramps's early crops and take them back to the secure compound we are building in LA from the street we live on overlooking the Pacific at Santa Monica. Drake and I will rebuild there just like our fathers and mothers would have with the construction business.

"But they're gone like your father in the pandemic. We have to rebuild and move on. Right now, our primary need is water and food. We are here for the food part. We need a water system for our neighborhood that we will build soon. If Gramps doesn't have what we need to take back with us come we may come to you and trade for it. Don't know what that is yet."

"Don't worry about trading right now, whatever you want, we will give it to you, free. Wiping out that gang has saved us all. We could use some of their weapons."

"They're yours. We have plenty, including my dad's military arsenal. Augie, would you please go back to the truck and get those guns, knives and hand grenades we pulled out of that house and car before it all burned? Insured added great big"

Augie got the stuff from the truck and brought it to Cy and Rich. There was a lot of shaking hands and happiness. I told them to use remote cameras on the road to give them advance warning. Use drones and booby-traps to catch the bad guys unawares. They agreed and listened to my suggestions. Gladys fed us with a great big farmers' lunch spread and a lot of leftovers before we left for Ralph's place around 3 o'clock.

We were too full and sleepy to work, but got out in the hot sun to the garden, weeded it, and began harvesting ripe vegetables and greens for both Gramps and us to take home. We slept well that night after cleaning up the mess and slept on his floor, couches and beds wherever we could find a place to rest our weary bones. By sunlight, we were up and at it again.

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

6/1/23