The End.... Chapter 4

Scooter, Ray, and Jerry stood in the dark house just on the other side of the front door, each bent over and panting as if they had just ran a marathon. They were all grateful to be alive, and Ray was even more grateful that the lights were still out, so Scooter and Jerry couldn't see that he had pissed himself. They could still hear the horn blaring out side, but it wasn't as loud in the house thankfully.

"Let me see that pocket light Ray" Scooter finally said.

Ray fumbled around in his pocket un till his fingers found the light. He took it out, turned it on, and handed it to Scooter.

Scooter took the light and started down the hall... " We have got to get back down to the basement before those thigs try to get in here." he said

Remembering the size of those centipede looking creatures, Jerry did not think they would have to try very hard. His mind had suddenly shifted to his wife and son who were in Knoxville, visiting her parents.

Johann Benson's gruesome death was still fresh in his mind, he shuddered at the thought of it. What if that had been Regina or Tommy, he thought. Although he was not a religious man, Jerry found himself praying that his family was okay. He knew there was nothing he could do about it at this moment other than to follow Ray and Scooter.

Once back in the basement, Scooter quickly made his way to the back wall where a rather large wooden entertainment center stood. He walked over to the corner and motioned for Ray...." Hold the light and point it down towards the baseboard on the floor." Jerry and Ray then watched as he bent down and undid a small latch there on the baseboard and then pushed the the entertainment center three feet to the left. It was on a small track hidden under the carpeting, so it slid easily. Behind the center there was a big steel door, it too slid to the left, only it slid into the wall. All three men stepped into a specious room with high concrete walls.

Scooter turned and slid the entertainment center back into place first. It had two latch's at the top and at the bottom on this side and he latched them both. He then slid the big steel door back into place. Jerry could see that the door was at least four inch's thick and had three large bars built into it. The bars slid another two feet into the concrete wall before locking into place. Jerry Stilts was impressed to say the least.

Ray was impressed too, but not surprised, and if he knew his old friend as well as he thought he did, he would have other goodies too, like guns, big guns.

"Bring that light over here Ray" Scooter said as he walked over to a large metal shelf, standing on the front wall just to the right of the door. He open the doors of the shelf and Jerry and Ray could see rows of flash lights and battery operated and gas powered lanterns, and other camping accessories. Scooter took three of the battery operated lanterns and turned them on instantly lighting the room up. Ray turned his pocket light off, it's service's were no longer needed.

With the room now fully lit, Jerry could really appreciate it. It was at least twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide. There were four sets of bunkbeds on the very back wall, a smaller room with a toilet and shower stood to the left of the beds. There was a small kitchen area with a counter top with a built in sink. There was also a stove, microwave and small refrigerator . Further down the back wall there was a small utility closet. Beside the closet, actually built into the concrete wall were six closed circuit tv monitors. Just to the right of the monitors sitting on a little desk was something that really got Jerry's attention, a very expensive looking ham radio. His father-in-law had one too, he talked to people all over world on it. Maybe Scooter could help him get in touch with his wife.

Ray was looking hard at the refrigerator, he made his way over to where it stood, opened it and took one of the beers that he knew would be there. He needed a drink of something, and even though the refrigerator was not on, the beer was still cold. He then looked across the room at all the metal shelfs that lined the front wall, there were twelve of them. All of the shelfs had doors, some were padlocked, no doubt where the good shit was kept.

Scooter needed a drink too, but for him the situation called for something a little stronger than beer. He walked over to the kitchen area and took out a bottle of wild turkey from underneath the sink. He did not bother with a glass, instead he just took a long drink directly from the bottle. He offered the bottle to Jerry, who declined. "This is a hell of a bunker you got here Scooter".....

Scooter smiled and nodded before taking another long swig of the wild turkey. "Thanks, this room cost me an extra hundred grand back in 97' when I had the house built. This safe room was put in first and then the rest of the house was built on top and around it.".... He paused for just a moment to take one last drink before putting the wild turkey back under the sink. "After the war ended back in 91', I wound up going back to Iraq as a civilian contractor. Spent a lot of time away from home, so I had this house and room built mainly for Darcy...so she would have a safe place to hide if the unthinkable ever happened, and I wasn't here. Never thought cancer would be that unthinkable thing though." he said looking down at the floor.

Ray was looking towards the tv monitors...." You got cameras out side hooked to those monitors Scooter" He asked, forgetting for the moment that the electricity was out.

"Oh yea, you know it brother, and I know what you are thinking Ray, but we can't turn them on right now. There's a large generator in that utility closet that would allow us to use the monitors, but it is wired for the entire house. If we were turn it on, every damn light in the house that was on before the black out occurred would come back on, I think that would probably be a bad thing right at this moment, don't you??" Scooter asked looking over at Ray.

Ray nodded," Hell yea it would be a bad idea." he said thinking about those centipede looking things.

" How about that ham radio Scooter, it runs on batteries doesn't it??? You any good at using it?" Jerry asked.

Scooter was lookin at Jerry hard and slightly amused by his question. "It runs on a battery pack that I built my self. I can transmit to any where in the world and I have a armature extra license, so yea I am pretty good at using it. Hell I still talk to my buddies in Iraq every other week or so. But like the monitors, I don't know if it is a good idea to get on it right now" He said.

Jerry sighed long and hard...." Scooter, Regina and Tommy are at her parents in Tennessee, my phone won't even come on. Her dad has a ham radio too, use's it all the time, you think maybe you can try and contact them??? I have to know that they are okay."

Scooter could hear the desperation in Jerry's voice and he instantly understood what it was that his friend wanted to him do. " We can try Jerry, but we have to know your father-in- law's exact call sign before we can contact him directly, do you know it???"

Jerry shook his head...." No idea, but he lives in Knoxville Tennessee if that helps." He said.

It was Scooter's turn to sigh hard and he did so. He sat sat down at the desk and turned the radio on, and then took a band chart out of the top drawer of the desk. " Let's see here, Tennessee is number six on the band here in the US..." he said turning a dial on the radio...."Frequency 145.3900." he almost murmured under his breath, as he turned another dial. Finally Scooter looked up at Jerry, " What is your father-in-laws name? He asked.

"Tim....Tim Johnson" Jerry quickly answered.

Scooted put the radio mic up to his mouth and began to speak: "This is LB7AlPHA in West Liberty Ohio trying to reach Mr. Tim Johnson down in Knoxville Tennessee, if you are there, please acknowledge , come back".....

The radio made several beeping and screeching sounds, Scooter repeated him self once more, turning the frequency dial ever so lightly as he did so. Suddenly a very mechanical voice came through the static.

"WE ARE HERE, AND WE HEAR YOU, WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED..."

Scooter sat straight up in his chair, and repeated himself once more...."Again, this LB7ALPHA in West Liberty Ohio trying to reach Mr. Tim Johnson down in Knoxville Tennessee, do you copy....come back"

The mechanical voice instantly replied: "WE KNOW WHAT AREA YOU ARE IN, WE ARE CLOSE BY, WHAT IS YOUR EXACT LOCATION????"

Ray was freaking out, he did not know who that weird ass voice belonged to, but he felt certain that he did not want to find out. " Turn it off Scooter, turn it off now...." he screamed

Scooter did not hesitate, quickly hitting the off button, he too was freaking out. At that moment there was a loud crashing noise from upstairs and all three men knew something had just burst through the front door.

"