John’s truck rumbles down a neglected asphalt road pocked with potholes and cracks. He drives until he reaches a small, but heavily fortified bungalow. Barbed wire is sandwiched between two layers of chain link fence that surround the property. He reaches for a small remote control on the dashboard of the truck and presses a button. Spotlights flood the yard with light. Another button on the remote opens a gate made from the same chain-link fencing material that surrounds the property slides open. Mounted at each corner of the fence are small video cameras. They pan back and forth, scanning the area for anything moving, living or dead.
John shifts the truck into reverse and backs it in to the driveway. As soon as he clears the fence line, he presses another button on his remote and the gate slides shut. John switches off the trucks ignition and pockets the keys. He grabs the bag containing the chalices and the two bottles of moonshine and gets out of the truck.
He walks by a picture window that has been bricked up as he approaches the bungalows entrance. Other windows are covered with steel plates. Each plate has a small turret cut into it The front door is made from reinforced steel and has three deadbolt locks securing it. John unlocks them all and enters his house.
The inside of John’s house is a different world. His living room is filled with metal racks holding all sorts of guns and ammunition. The racks sit on bare wooden floors- John had taken the time to rip out all the carpet to avoid static sparks. In one corner is a stack of wooden crates. Each crate has the words “EXPLOSIVES! CAUTION!” stenciled in black paint. A monitor sits on one of the shelves, its screen split in to four views from cameras mounted outside.
He walks past the metal racks and into the kitchen which has been partially converted to a rudimentary ammo repackaging facility. In the center of the kitchen is a marble topped island, installed by the house’s original tenants. The island is covered with boxes of fresh ammo and plastic bags filled with gun powder. On one wall are two doors, one is a metal cooler door and the other is a wooden door leading to a pantry. These were his modifications to the house; the area now occupied by the cooler and pantry was once the houses dining room. Another door in the kitchen leads to a hallway that in turn lead to two bedrooms and a rather large bathroom. One bedroom remains a bedroom, but the other serves as his main communications outpost. In this room he has two computers, a ham radio, a modified CB radio, an ancient oscilloscope, a workbench covered in electronic parts and scraps of wire, an impressive rack of tools, and a series of large wooden shelves storing various pieces of electronic instrumentation and equipment. In the center of the workbench is a remote controlled model helicopter and RF control unit. The helicopter has been modified not only with a stronger engine, but with a camera and wireless transmitter as well.
He sets the two bottles of moonshine and the bag on the island and walks up to the cooler and unlatches its massive door. Inside it are various perishable food items and several packages of meat wrapped in brown butcher’s paper. Each package is labeled according to its contents; rabbit, deer, bear. He selects a small package of deer meat and a wedge of cheddar. It’s been a long day and he is looking forward to a quiet dinner and some sleep.
