Homeland Defense

Chapter 3 - Nulla - Out Of The Frying Pan-1

Chapter 3 - Nulla - Out Of The Frying PanThe dwellers were completely exhausted as they pulled into an abandoned motel outside the city suburbs.

“Squelch, click, click,” came the coded call as the boys gave the 'all clear'. Nulla and Phil switched off their engines and proceeded to climb from their vehicles.

“I've had it!” groaned Phil, he sagged onto the car bonnet and looked around to check that they were concealed from the main road. The motel units opened up right next to where they'd parked.

“Nice work boys, you've brought us right to our bedroom doors,” Nulla called to their motorcycle escort.

Nulla helped Glenda out of the car but she refused his offer to carry her. “No, I can do it, don't spoil me,” she said and hobbled with her AK47 over one shoulder and her backpack on the other.

“I'm sorry everyone but I have a blinding headache from these night vision goggles,” Glenda mumbled. “I really need to get a cup of tea, and then some sleep. Now, is anyone going to open a door for me?” She looked at the two boys who were just pulling off their helmets. Glenda softened when she saw that they were so exhausted they could barely climb off their bikes.

“I'll do it,” said Nulla. His face reflected the same strain from peering through the distorted image of night vision goggles for six hours straight. He kicked at the first unit door. When it wouldn't budge he tried the handle, it opened smoothly.

“Huh! Well I guess this is ours,” he said to Glenda. “You go and lie down while I get everyone sorted out then I'll put a brew on for us.”

The sky was starting to colour as the clouds shifted from a violet pink into a range of red and orange as the sun slowly rose above the horizon.

By the time Nulla had the billy boiled and eleven cups of tea and coffee made the group had settled into their units and most were nodding off to sleep. He chatted with Phil for a while but the old man kept squinting to keep his eyes open. Nulla knew he was simply too exhausted to listen.

“Sorry, Phil,” said Nulla, “I guess I pushed things a little too hard last night. Those night vision goggles are hard work.”

“I think we need to take a break tonight, Nulla. I don't think anyone can go through that again until their headaches clear. I've got a migraine and I don't normally get migraines. I think from now on we stick to four hour runs, no more. Last night was just murder. If we didn't pull over when we did I think I would have crashed into something.” Phil finished his cup of tea and waved in Nulla's direction as he headed towards his unit. Fatima was already sound asleep.

With his head in his hands Nulla pondered what he should do.

'Surely everyone realises the importance of getting out of the city as fast as possible? I guess we won't have to push so hard now that we're almost clear of it,' Nulla thought as he leaned back in his chair to drink his third cup of black tea. Slowly he closed down his mind and built his sanctuary of calm and harmony. He placed the dilemma inside his mind palace and disappeared into a deep sleep, but not for long.

“Nulla, boss, wake up.” Nulla looked up, it was Luke. “I've checked the motel rooms and we're safe and secure. What do you want me to do now?”

Nulla rubbed at his gritty eyes and got up, turned on the tap and splashed his face with cold water. 'This must be fed by a rain-water tank,' he thought absently.

“You'd better go and have a sleep, mate. You look bushed too. You and the boys did a great job last night too, well done. Hey, how's your head feeling?” he asked as an afterthought.

“Head? Dunno. I'm tired but otherwise I'm OK. Everyone else has headaches but all I got was bored. Doing sixty k's an hour is way too slow boss. We should be flying along…” he trailed off when he saw Nulla looking at him. “Yeah I know, safety first. But…” again came Nulla's look and he stopped, turned and went off to his room.

At midday Simon was up and cooking a meal for himself. No one else was there except Nulla who was listening to the CB. Simon brought him some tinned salmon and some of Fatima's flat bread with curry powder, his favourite condiment.

“Thanks, Simon,” Nulla said, as he took the tin without looking. After his first spoonful he gagged. “Hey what is it with you and this blasted curry powder? I'm going to have to explain to Glenda why I smell so bad now.”

The teenager just smiled, he was tired and his eyes rimmed by a flaming redness. “What are we going to do now? Everyone's exhausted. I don't think we can do another night like that, Nulla, my head's like cotton wool and my eyes are sore.”

“I was thinking that too…” Nulla suddenly stopped talking. From the road came the clear sounds of laughter.

“Terrorists or looters! Simon, wake everyone up and have them weapons-ready,” whispered Nulla grabbing his assault rifle. “And Simon, do it quietly.”

As he peered around the edge of the motel wall he saw a patrol of five terrorists walking in the middle of the road. They were laughing and singing, obviously quite drunk. Nulla tracked them with his scope and watched as they disappeared in the direction he had planned to lead his small group the following evening.

“Nulla, what's happening?” asked Simon, crawling up beside him. Luke was there too putting his webbing and cartridge belt around his waist. Heidi and Arthur were pulling on their boots and he could see Charlene with a 9mm pistol in her hand. She flicked her tussled hair away from her face with it's barrel.

'Strewth!' Nulla exclaimed softly to himself, 'I'd better teach her to be more careful with that blasted pistol, she's way too casual with it and sure to blow her head off.'

“Looks like terrorists out for a stroll.” Simon's voice brought him back to the present.

“Drunk too,” Nulla replied. “I'm going to follow and see where they're going. You stay here on guard, Simon. Luke, you get everyone packed and ready to run if we need to. I'll be back within the hour.” He looked at his watch. “At this point there's no reason to panic. They don't know we're here.” Nulla looked at the boys. “Simon, post Arthur in a sniping position upstairs too.”

Crouching low he headed towards the fading sound of voices.

They continued walking for a hundred metres where they stopped at a road block of sandbags. In front were four or five cars parked in such a position to slow any approaching vehicles. It was just as well he'd stopped his group when he did, he thought. There was one thing he forgot to do when they arrived, he reminded himself, and that was to reconnoitre their extended environment.

He scoped out the guards, their weapons, and looked for any other support in the vicinity - he saw none. It looked like a single roadblock on the main road. A machine g*n and small arms surrounded by sandbagged walls. It was a solid-looking stockade. There was a roof to keep the sun and rain off and right opposite was their living quarters.

Nulla noted four guards inside the post. They didn't move when the group waved to them and entered the house opposite. The four guards appeared to be well disciplined and stayed at their posts. Nulla then noticed there were bullet holes in the cars and the stockade sandbags were peppered with holes as well. He looked further down the road and saw two cars severely damaged by rifle fire, another looked like it had been hit by an RPG.

The group he followed were now sitting on camp chairs at the front of the house drinking. Some were setting up a table with food and drinks. He could still only see the five terrorists he saw earlier, he didn't see any new faces exiting the house itself. Nulla stayed in the area to scope out as far as his binoculars could see in each direction. It appeared to be an outpost as well as a well prepared road block. Music came blaring from the house and Nulla decided he could safely head back to the group.

“What did you see, boss?” asked Simon.

“It's an outpost with a road block. It cuts us off from the Murray River but we can get around that if we want to. You'd better call everyone into the motel office where we can watch the road - and tell Fatima and Heidi to bring some food. We'll eat then we need to move out,” answered Nulla, the tension in his jaw and neck muscles betrayed his fears.

“Will do, boss.” Simon ran off on his errand.

When they were gathered Nulla called to Arthur, “Arthur, did you see anything while I was gone?”

“Nothing, Nulla, no more people, not even dogs or cats,” he replied.

“Good, looks like that's the lot of them. They don't know we're here and that's the way I want it to stay. They've got a heavy machine g*n at their post and it appears they've had contacts in the past. Perhaps my cavalry unit visited or perhaps it's another local group of civilian resistance.

“I've thought a lot about where we should be heading and I think the Flinders Ranges is our best bet. Although there are reports that there are plenty of Revelationists there and the locals are on their payroll. We might not have friends there but the Murray River plan I was working on is now out.”

Glenda spoke up quickly, she sounded irritated. “Since when have we been going to the Murray River? I thought it was always going to be the Flinders Ranges?”

“I've been talking to our friends in Birdsville and to Sydney Charlie, they both said to be careful in the Flinders.” Nulla stood up and placed his big road map on the table and waved for everyone to gather around it.

“They didn't know much about anything else though, not in our region. I really think we should get to Birdsville and meet up with this Sundown's Commando mob. They're the one's we've heard so much about from listening in on the Revelationist's radio calls. I think they have the kind of civil resistance I've been wanting to organise since the day of the apocalypse.”

Charlene and Heidi spoke at once, “Nulla, what the hell is going on with you? You shouldn't be making plans without advising us first,” said an irritated Charlene. “If you've changed plans then we need to be involved too. I'm not budging one inch until you come out with everything that's in your head.” She defiantly folder her right arm over her left resting in its sling.

“Hey, hey girls,” stuttered Nulla putting up his hands in surprise. “I'm sorry, my bad. I spoke to Birdsville and Sydney Charlie on HF only yesterday and that's when I found out about the terrorist activity in the Flinders Ranges. I thought about what to do next while we were driving last night. I started to form a loose plan to see what was out towards the Murray River. I was going to talk with you all today but everyone fell asleep.”

He ran his finger over their original route which Heidi had drilled into everyone and then showed an alternative route that avoided all the townships between where they were now and Arkaroola.

Heidi excitedly said, “Arkaroola is a wild place. I've been out there with my family. We spent a whole week in the bush prospecting for gold with grandma and grandpa, they used to have a farm somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. There's a small village at Arkaroola, it's got a hotel and a beaut camping ground and cabins… it's perfect for what we want. Oh Nulla, can we stay there?”

“Whoa, slow down there, Heidi. It's probably quite a safe place but the Birdsville commando said the farmers around the Flinders Ranges were sympathetic towards the crusaders.” He looked at the small group gathered around him and continued.

“We need to take these back tracks here.” He pointed to the faint lines on the map. “They'll become rougher the closer we get to the village. At night and with our night vision we'll need to be careful, especially the bikers.”

He looked around at his friends then asked for their thoughts.

“Boss, we can do it but not six hours straight like last night. I think we should stick to four hours of driving and as we get better we can stretch it out,” Luke said. Then he pointed to their proposed trek. “All of this is off the main roads, that should be safe shouldn't it?”