Viral Resistance Read online

  Bug Out! California Book 8

  Viral Resistance

  Robert Boren

  South Bay Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Robert Boren.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Author/Publishing South Bay Press

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout ©2017 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/Acapellabookcoverdesign

  Bug Out! California Book 8 – Viral Resistance/ Robert Boren. – 1st ed.

  For Steve S.

  You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve YOUR freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.

  ―John Adams

  Contents

  Previously – in Bug Out California Book 7

  Meeting at Minus Four

  Blood Samples

  Street Riot

  Big Tent

  Mismatch

  Night Arrival

  Rescue

  Bloody Exit

  Home Fires

  Deadly Battle

  Travel Night

  Treasure

  Bay Area Rampage

  Folsom Blues

  Acting Governor

  Northern Recruitment

  Roads and Passes

  Cast Of Characters

  Previously – in Bug Out California Book 7

  As Book 7 opened, a conference call was held between Jules’s team and Ivan. Morgan and the other women made a case for using one of Ivan’s broadcasts to testify about their treatment while held in the UN’s Torrance Civic Center installation. Ivan agreed.

  In Dulzura, the group was worried sick about Ed, who was out on a patrol in his hovercraft. He was overdue and not answering his cell phone. Several in the group believed Ed had been captured by Black Crow, the renegade tribe member who led enemy assassins to Hassan. There was a trickle of Islamist RFID hits heading for the area Ed was patrolling, and a large group of RFID hits in nearby Descanso as well. The group sent a small team to rescue Ed, and a large team to attack the enemy at Descanso.

  A local San Francisco TV station broadcasted a panel discussion about martial law. A young student activist calling himself Ben Dover disrupted the show and was severely beaten on camera by UN thugs. Ivan noticed, and rescued the young activist. He nursed Ben back to health and offered him a job, which Ben accepted.

  Tyler, Garrett, and others found Black Crow in the wilderness with several Islamists. Ed wasn’t with them. They killed the Islamists and wounded Black Crow. After some rather unkind persuasion, Black Crow admitted that they never found Ed, assuming he’d crashed the hovercraft somewhere.

  Jules and Ivan noticed that a group of Islamists were heading towards Santa Cruz, so they watched, seeing them arrive at UC Santa Cruz. General Hogan supplied a satellite photo, showing many UN vans at the University, along with the Islamist’s trucks. Ivan sent Mr. White and Mr. Black there to investigate.

  The Dulzura team took off for their attack on Descanso, but were attacked on the way by UN Peacekeepers and Islamists. They beat the enemy. Meanwhile Garrett, Tyler, and the others who had killed Black Crow stumbled upon a large group of UN Peacekeepers camped in the wilderness near Barrett Lake. James took out sentries with his crossbow, but a UN Peacekeeper shot him, wounding him mortally. Garrett called the five-hundred cavalry men he’d sent to Descanso, asking them to join the wilderness battle, which started just before the five-hundred arrived. Garrett’s group defeated the enemy.

  Sam took a small team into Descanso to scout, after seeing the Islamists leave the area. They found many of the townspeople hanging from trees around a church just outside of town. John opened the door to the sanctuary and the building blew up, killing him instantly. The team went into town after that to look for survivors, especially children who weren’t seen hanging with the adults at the church. The first place they looked at was the grocery store. There was a little girl visible through the front windows, tied to some shelving, but Clem pointed to wires going from the front doors to a massive bomb. Sam and Sid climbed onto the roof from the back, and Sam went inside to free the little girl, whose name was Mia. They got her out of the store without the bomb going off. On the way out of town they checked Mia’s house, finding her parents and brother dead inside.

  Mr. White and Mr. Black kidnapped a UC Santa Cruz dean and two professors who were indoctrinating students to promote martial law and put down protests. While that was going on, Jules held a meeting to go over the coming attack on the Mertins Electronics Plant in San Jose. Islamist’s RFID chips were manufactured there. Ivan learned that a large group of enemy VIPs were heading there for a conference, and timed the action accordingly. The team attacked, aided by other of Ivan’s forces. A wild battle ensued, which Ivan’s team won, killing all the VIPs at the site and destroying the facility.

  The Dulzura group returned to the Williams Place, after seeing how difficult an attack on Julian would be. They decided to hit a new UN base in Jamul instead and began the planning process. Sam and Erica stepped up to raise Mia as their own, since no next-of-kin could be found.

  Jules’s team split up after the Mertins Plant attack, holing up in different locations. Tex and Karen were discovered by the enemy and had to shoot their way out of their hiding place. Ted, Bryan, Brianna, and Haley heard explosions and gunfire near their location. It was a group of patriots, inspired by Ivan’s TV broadcast, attacking a UN Facility. Jules asked the battle wagons nearby to go help the patriots. That UN base was one holding female prisoners, on Ivan’s list to be liberated. When the battle wagons arrived, the patriot team was nearly defeated, losing twelve out of the twenty men they brought and running out of ammo. Jules’s battle wagons quickly defeated the enemy at the base, but he saw another two hundred Islamists racing towards their location on the apps. They did a quick search of the facility, finding a large stash of weapons and the captive women, all beheaded in a storage room. Jules and the others took pictures of the bloody scene, including outside the building to show it was a UN facility, uploading the photos to Ivan, who published them far and wide. The team left for Concord after mining the roads into the facility.

  Zac, Bradley, and Ryan went into the wilderness south of Barrett Lake to repair Ed’s hovercraft. They were attacked by UN Peacekeepers while they were working. Ryan was wounded on the ridge he was watching from. Zac and Bradley were taken away by the enemy. Ryan struggled down the hill from the ridge and finished the repair on the hovercraft, heading for home as Garrett sent a posse out to rescue Zac and Bradley. They met on a narrow part of the road, Ryan almost losing control of the hovercraft and going down a cliff. A shot rang out, hitting Garrett’s hat. The posse engaged the enemy, killing them with their Winchesters and mortar fire. When it was over, they discovered the bodies of Zac and Bradley, killed during the battle.

  Jules and his team of battle wagons went on a rampage up north, busting through roadblocks, killing UN Peacekeepers and Islamists wherever they found them. Ivan asked Jules to go attack the main enemy communications inst
allation in the tiny town of Nortonville. The team went there, climbing the narrow winding road into the hills under cover of darkness, getting into position to take out the facility. They were surprised by three old M60 battle tanks which attacked, destroying one battle wagon, killing Gil and Tisha. Jules and Ted got their TOW missile launcher out and set it up in a panic, destroying the first tank as another hit Cody and Allison’s battle wagon, damaging the top but not destroying the vehicle. Jules and Ted destroyed that tank before it could get off a second shot, and then hit the turret on the third tank, taking it out of action, the tank crew trying to escape, mowed down by a hail of mini gun fire. The rest of the battle wagons opened fire on the communications facility, blowing it apart...

  {1}

  Meeting at Minus Four

  C ody got out of the driver’s seat of his damaged battle wagon. “The engine turns over, but at least one of the motor mounts is toast, and the roof is liable to peel right off at speed.”

  “So, what does that mean?” Allison asked.

  “It means we blow it up and catch a ride with somebody else,” Cody said. “Grab your belongings.”

  She nodded, and they went into the bedroom to get their stuff, racing out the door with it.

  “Not road-worthy?” Tex asked.

  “Nope,” Cody said. “Broken motor mount and damaged roof.”

  “There’s some explosives in my rig,” Tex said.

  “There’s some in the middle storage compartment of this rig. Perfect placement. We should take the ammo and mortar rounds out first, though. We can use that stuff.”

  “I’ll help you,” Tex said. They got to work. Morgan approached Allison.

  “Put your stuff in our rig,” Morgan said.

  “Okay,” Allison said.

  “Think Cody is up to driving? Robbie’s a mess.”

  “Probably,” she said. “I know how to drive these rigs too.”

  “Good,” Morgan said, walking with her. They entered the coach.

  “Where’s Robbie?”

  “He took off walking with Bryan and Justin,” Morgan said.

  “Were they all old friends?”

  “Justin was part of Robbie and Gil’s group,” Morgan said. “Bryan was on the fringe of that group. He worked with Robbie at Ted’s restaurant.”

  “Oh,” Allison said. She stashed the possessions in the cabinet above the pull-out queen bed towards the front of the salon. “This okay?”

  “Sure,” Morgan said. “This is horrible.”

  “It was a successful mission,” Allison said. “We will lose people. We’ve been lucky so far, but that won’t last forever.”

  “Wonder how much this damaged the enemy?” Morgan asked.

  “Good question,” Allison said. “The enemy had a worse night than we did. You see any of the news reports?”

  “Yeah, before the battle started.”

  They heard diesels starting up.

  “Dammit,” Morgan said. “I hope the boys get back here fast. We need to split.”

  “Want to go find them?” Allison asked.

  “Okay… wait, here they come.”

  “Good,” Allison said.

  Cody poked his head in the door. “We need to leave. Fire up the engine.”

  “I’ll do it,” Robbie said, walking up behind him with Justin and Bryan.

  “I’m going back to my rig,” Bryan said. “Take care, man. We’ll talk later.”

  “See you soon,” Justin said, walking to his rig. Katie rushed out to meet him, throwing her arms around him.

  Robbie climbed the steps and got behind the wheel. He fired up the engine, and then shook for a moment as the tears came back.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” Morgan said, hugging him as he sat in the seat.

  “I can’t believe he’s gone,” Robbie said.

  “You want Cody to drive?”

  “No, I can handle it,” Robbie said. Allison stepped out for a minute, then came back.

  “We need to move this down the road a little so Tex and Cody can blow our rig.”

  “You got it,” Robbie said, shaking himself out of it. Allison sat on the couch as Robbie backed up, watching his mirrors. When he was far enough away from the line of trees, he made a sweeping turn back to the road, going to the first clearing. The two coaches that were there had already moved onto the road. Jules and Ted’s coaches came up behind him, beeping the horn for everybody to move further away.

  “Hope we don’t have problems getting out of here,” Morgan said.

  “Me too,” Robbie said. “It bothers me that Ivan didn’t know about those tanks. There could be more waiting for us before the highway.”

  “Hope not,” Allison said.

  The line of coaches stopped and waited. After a moment there was a huge explosion, lighting the sky behind them, catching the nearby trees on fire. Cody opened the door and rushed in.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  “You want him to drive?” Morgan asked Robbie.

  “No, I’d rather drive. It’ll keep my mind off things.”

  “Hey, dude, if you need me to take over, just say the word,” Cody said. “So sorry about Gil and Tisha.”

  “I know, thanks,” Robbie said. “Glad you guys survived. Could’ve been different.”

  “Tell me about it,” Allison said.

  The coaches rolled down the dark road like a long train. Robbie’s eyes darted to the sides and the mirrors often, half expecting to see a tank’s cannon pointing at them.

  “Do we know where we’re going?” Allison asked.

  Cody shook his head no. “Not yet, but we’ll hear from Jules soon, I’m sure.”

  They rode silently for a while through the winding dark road, heading for Highway 4.

  “We need to know which way to turn on the highway,” Robbie said.

  “Want me to send a text to Jules?” Morgan asked.

  “Yeah,” Robbie said.

  She pulled out her phone, and it dinged with a text message, along with the other phones in the rig.

  “There it is,” Cody said. “Get on Highway 4 going east. We’re taking I-5 north after that.

  “They’re moving us up to Sacramento already,” Robbie said. “I’m surprised. Thought we had more to do in the Bay Area.”

  “Maybe not, after the patriots started their rebellion, and the enemy bases got abandoned,” Morgan said. “Wonder what happened to the women they were holding?”

  “Nothing on the news about bodies so far,” Allison said. “Hope they’re okay.”

  “There’s the highway,” Robbie said, making a right turn onto it. He sped up, and they were off.

  ***

  Saladin was in the elevator with three of his men and two of Daan Mertin’s guards, heading below ground, enduring a tense silence. The doors opened into a basement hallway with gray cement walls and plumbing running along the ceiling.

  “This facility is four levels deep,” Saladin said. “What is its purpose?”

  Daan’s guards looked back at him silently.

  “You can’t speak to me?” Saladin asked as they walked out the hallway towards the left.

  “Answer the question, infidel,” one of Saladin’s guards spat. Saladin shot him an angry glare, and the man looked down, like a child scolded by his father.

  The first guard opened a door on the left and walked inside. The second guard held the door, waiting for Saladin and his party to walk in. He pulled the door shut and stood next to it inside as the others walked down the short hallway to another door. It opened when they got there.

  “Saladin, how are you?” Daan asked, extending his hand. Saladin took it reluctantly, half a smile on his face.

  “Nice rabbit hole,” Saladin said.

  “How’s your caves at Capitol Reef?” Daan smiled.

  Saladin chuckled. “I guess we both deserve that, don’t we? I’m sorry, my friend. We need to work together.”

  “Don’t say bury the hatchet,” Daan said.
“Come, I’ve got food lined up for us. Only the best.”

  Saladin’s men and Daan’s guards looked at each other with relief, then sat in chairs by the door as their bosses went into the next room, which was lavishly furnished, not a hint of gray cement or plumbing anywhere to mar the effect.

  “I wasn’t able to contact you on the way here,” Saladin said. “I had others telling me you couldn’t be reached. What happened?”

  “Minor problem,” Daan said. “Some of Ivan’s people took out our communications facility in Nortonville. We’re back to normal cell phones now. Use the old numbers.”

  “Those aren’t secure,” Saladin said.

  “That’s okay, we own the system now,” Daan said. “Hell, we’re running the whole state, at least from an infrastructure standpoint.”

  “It appears you’re losing control, from the news reports I’ve seen. The UN is ready to pull out completely unless their safety can be guaranteed.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know,” Daan said. “We are working to get control of the Bay Area back, and we’re making some progress in east San Diego County as well. Once we have these areas shored up, we can consolidate our power in the other areas. We must have the pipeline of fighters reopened in San Diego county. That is the most important thing right now.”

  “I agree. You don’t have enough forces, even if the UN stays. We need that supply line re-opened along I-8.”

  “Yes,” Daan said, “and don’t worry about the UN. They’ll stay and increase their forces. If they don’t, my counterparts in Belgium will pull their funding. They’re having a real problem since the US Government became unreliable.”

  “What happened to the counter-demonstration program?” Saladin asked. “I saw a news report that the main hub of that activity got taken out last night.”

  “UC Santa Cruz,” Daan said. “Yes, it got hit by reactionaries last night. Most of it was burned to the ground. That wasn’t our only facility. We have several other campuses that are up and running. Real progress takes time, though. It’s a long-term effort.”