Creeping Tyranny Read online

  “Probably afraid they’d get confiscated,” Robbie said.

  “What did they take?” Gil asked.

  “I don’t see the .44 mag Winchester or the Ruger .44 mag single action revolver,” Robbie said.

  “Same ammo for both,” Gil said. “Smart, if you can handle a .44 mag pistol. Those things kick like a mule.”

  “Dad’s pretty good with it,” Robbie said. He grabbed a couple boxes of 30-30 ammo and handed them to Gil. “Here, take these.”

  “Excellent,” Gil said. “Thanks. If we have to do any sniper shooting, those Weatherby rifles are the hot setup. The scopes sighted in?”

  “Hell, I have no idea,” Robbie said. “Can you tell?”

  “Only by shooting them,” Gil said. “I’d keep that shotgun and the 30-30 handy.”

  “What handguns are those?” Steve asked.

  “The big one is a .45 Colt Model 1911,” Morgan said. “My dad has one of those. The other two look like 9 mm to me.”

  “Good eye,” Gil said. “One’s a Smith and Wesson Military and Police model, the other is a Beretta. Nice guns. Good for carry.”

  “I didn’t know my dad had any automatic pistols. Wonder why he didn’t take them?”

  “I only see one box of ammo for each,” Gil said. “That might be why.”

  There was a bell ringing in the kitchen.

  “That’s the chicken defrost,” Morgan said, getting up and rushing to the kitchen.

  “Damn, what a babe,” Steve whispered.

  “Forget it,” Gil said. “You see how she looks at Robbie?”

  “What are you talking about?” Robbie whispered. “She’s out of my league.”

  “No she’s not, man,” Justin said. “I saw it too. You like her?”

  “No comment,” Robbie said. Steve snickered.

  “Hell, he’s in love already.”

  “Stop it,” Robbie said. “I’m gonna put these away.”

  “Carry one of the pistols,” Gil said. “All the time. Leave out the 30-30 and the shotgun, too.”

  “Okay,” Robbie said. “Good idea.”

  The sound of automatic weapons fire floated through the air, from the direction of the Galleria.

  “Shit,” Steve said. “I’ll bet the National Guard is killing looters over there.”

  “We should go turn on the TV,” Gil said.

  Morgan ran through the door and into Robbie’s arms. “What is that?” She was trembling, fear in her eyes.

  “National Guard, probably,” Gil said. Justin and Steve shot a smile to each other.

  “It’s okay,” Robbie said, rubbing Morgan’s back as they embraced.

  “C’mon, guys, let’s go watch the TV. Hopefully they’ll have something about this.”

  They went into the living room, leaving Robbie still holding Morgan. He pulled back from her and looked into her eyes, watching the tears roll down her cheeks. He wiped them away. “It’s okay, Morgan. You’ll be fine.”

  “I’m so scared,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. “Sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry,” Robbie said, breaking the embrace. They sat down on the bed together.

  “I don’t want to sleep downstairs. Can I be in here with you? We don’t have to do anything.”

  Robbie thought about it for a second. “I don’t mind,” he said. “I can sleep on the floor.”

  “No, we can both sleep in the bed,” she said. “Like I said, we don’t have to do anything. I just want to be close. I feel safe with you.”

  “Okay.” He took her back in his arms again as she softly cried.

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  “It’s no problem,” he said, heart beating harder.

  “Hey, man, we’re under martial law,” Gil said through the door.

  “Be right out,” Robbie said.

  “You think they’ll mind?” Morgan asked.

  Robbie chuckled. “No. Well, maybe Steve will mind.”

  “He’s a little aggressive,” she said. “Not my type at all. How do you know the others won’t mind?”

  Robbie sighed. “Let’s not talk about it.”

  “C’mon,” she said. “What?”

  “They think you like me,” he said.

  “I do like you,” she said.

  “No, like me,” Robbie said.

  “Oh,” she said, an embarrassed smile washing over her face.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “Why do they think that?”

  “C’mon, let’s go out there.”

  “Tell me,” she said, holding onto his arms, looking him in the eye.

  “They said it was the way you look at me.” His face turned red.

  She smiled softly at him. “Okay, we can go now.” They got up, but she pulled him back into her arms.

  “What?” he asked.

  She got close to his ear and whispered. “Your friends are pretty smart.” She kissed him on the cheek, then took his hand and led him out to the living room.

  Chapter 8 – Rocketship Park

  Seth and Emma walked up to the front door of the Palos Verdes house.

  “Nice house,” Emma said. “Matt knows this guy?”

  “He doesn’t know the guy who owns the place, he knows his kid,” Seth said.

  “Don’t tell me, let me guess,” Emma said. “The parents flew the coop.”

  “Yep,” Seth said. He rang the doorbell.

  “It’s open,” yelled somebody inside.

  “Really?” Emma asked. “The way things are going lately?”

  Seth shrugged and opened the door for her.

  Matt rushed over. “Hey, guys, this is Jamie,” he said. “Jamie, this is Seth and Emma.”

  “Nice to meet you two,” Jamie said. He was older than the rest of the group, with red hair and a scraggly red beard. “Welcome. There’s beer in the ice chest out back.”

  “Great, thanks,” Seth said. “How do you know Matt?”

  “Work,” he said. “My dad owns the company.”

  “Well, that explains the nice digs,” Seth said.

  “Where did they go?” Emma asked.

  “Their house in Colorado,” he said. “They wanted me to go, but I talked them out of it. I agreed to watch their house instead of staying at my place.”

  “I would have gone,” Emma said.

  “Hey, Emma!”

  “Kaylee!” Emma said, rushing over to the attractive Asian girl who was walking up. “How are you? Isn’t this scary?”

  “Yeah, it is,” she said, pushing her long black hair away from her face. “Is it safe in South Redondo?”

  “So far, but you can’t go anywhere,” Emma said.

  “My dad has guns all over the house,” Kaylee said. “He thinks the problems in North Torrance are gonna come down to South Torrance. He’s getting ready to split, but he’s not admitting it yet.”

  “I’m surprised he let you come out,” Matt said.

  “It’s because of where this is,” Kaylee said. “And it's straight home afterwards. He’ll ground me if I don’t.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  “It’s open,” shouted Jamie. When everybody turned to the door, he stared at Emma. The door opened. Trevor came in with Angel. Both of them had their Winchesters.

  “Guns?” Jamie asked. “Those things loaded?”

  “Yeah,” Trevor said. “This is Angel. I’m Trevor.”

  “Jamie. Nice to meet you. What kind of guns are those?”

  “They’re .44 mag Winchesters,” he said. “Closest thing you can get to an M4 in California. Completely legal.”

  “Cool,” Jamie said. “My dad’s into guns. He left a couple of them out of the safe for me.”

  “Really? What are they?” Angel asked.

  “Pump shotgun and a .45 Colt auto,” Jamie said. “I’m pretty good with the pistol. He put me through a combat pistol shooting class last year. The instructor said I’m a natural.”

  “You like it?” Trevor asked.
<
br />   “It’s okay,” Jamie said.

  “We went to the combat range yesterday,” Seth said. “We all have these lever guns. We’re trying to learn how to handle them in a combat situation.”

  “For fun, or because of what’s been going on around here lately?” Jamie asked.

  “Both,” Trevor said. “You got yours with you, Seth? You should.”

  “It’s in the trunk,” he said.

  “You brought a damn gun with you?” Emma asked.

  “Hell yeah,” Seth said.

  She looked at Kaylee, and they shook their heads. “Let’s go get a drink while the boys talk.”

  Kaylee nodded and they took off. Seth noticed that Jamie was very interested in both of them, nervousness creeping into his mind.

  “It’s worse tonight,” Trevor said softly. “There’s a mob down at the Del Amo Mall. They’re stopping cars in the street. Flashed our guns to get by. The cops were just arriving when we went through there. Guess what else?”

  “What?” Seth asked.

  “National Guard. I saw several Humvees arriving at the mall.”

  “Martial Law,” Seth said. “I knew it.”

  “Relax, it might be better than what we’re going through now,” Matt said. “I just want things back to normal.”

  “I don’t,” Jamie said. “If things get back to normal, I’ll have to open up the shop again. Matt, you didn’t hear that.”

  Matt cracked up. “I don’t mind a little time off. If I wasn’t living at home it might bother me.”

  “What about your parents, Matt?” Angel asked. “You’re pretty close to Lomita and Carson.”

  Matt laughed. “Some of those gang-bangers showed up in Carson, by my cousin’s house. Started doing home invasions. Stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down. You shouldn’t do that to Samoans.”

  “Samoans? Your cousins are Samoans?” Jamie asked

  “No, but some live across the street from my cousins. They’re cool. I know them pretty well.”

  “So what happened?” Trevor asked.

  “The Samoans use their garage as a den,” Matt said. “Two of the girls were out there watching the TV with the door open when a couple gang members came over. They tried to take the TV. Didn’t know all the men were inside the house.”

  “Uh oh,” Angel said.

  “Yeah, uh oh,” Matt said.

  “What’d they do?” Jamie asked.

  “They took them down to Point Fermin and tossed them off the cliff.”

  “Oh, bullshit,” Angel said.

  “I don’t know, man,” Matt said. “I think I believe them.”

  “Seriously?” Seth asked.

  “Yeah, man, they’re nuts,” Matt said.

  Angel rolled his eyes. “Let’s have a beer.”

  “Yeah, guys, go for it,” Jamie said. They walked out back to the patio, which overlooked Rocket Ship Park. Kaylee and Emma were sitting out there in lounges drinking bottles of hard lemonade.

  “You guys done with the gun nonsense?” Kaylee asked. She looked at Emma, who shook her head.

  “These chicks are pretty high-maintenance,” Matt whispered to Jamie.

  “I’ll bet they’re worth it,” Jamie said.

  “Sometimes,” Seth said. “Emma’s been on me since we left her apartment.”

  “She doesn’t live with her parents?” Jamie asked.

  “No, she moved out last year,” Seth said. “She’s got roommates. That might be why she’s in a bad mood.”

  “What happened?” Angel asked.

  “Her roommates left while she was at work. Took most of the food, including some that she bought for herself. She was pissed.”

  “I don’t blame her,” Trevor said. “Not that I like to take her side on anything.”

  “You don’t get along with Emma?” Jamie asked.

  “Not really,” he said. “She thinks I’m a bad influence on Seth.”

  Matt laughed. “Join the club. This is one of the two nights per week we’re allowed to drink.”

  Jamie laughed. “Allowed?”

  “Long story,” Matt said. “Think I’ll have a smoke.”

  Seth looked at him and laughed. “You really want to start that up?”

  “No smoking and no drinking?” Jamie asked. “Why do you put up with it?”

  “Look at them.” Seth sighed. “It’s not as bad as we’re making it sound. Emma’s nice most of the time.”

  There were gunshots in the distance.

  “Was that more gunfire?” Emma asked, looking scared. She rushed over to Seth’s side. “That scares me.”

  “Whoa, that’s automatic fire,” Angel said as the gunfire continued. “It’s pretty far away, though.”

  “I’ll turn on the TV,” Jamie said. “They might have something on the news.”

  He went from the patio into the living room and turned on the large flat-screen TV.

  “Holy shit,” he said. “Hey, guys, check this out.”

  The others came in and watched the helicopter video of the Del Amo Mall.

  “Geez,” Seth said. “Those look like Army guys.”

  “Told you we saw National Guard showing up,” Trevor said.

  “Who are they shooting at?” Angel said. “They’ve got AK-47s. Never seen any gang-bangers with those.”

  The announcer came on.

  “As you can see, we have a battle going on at the Del Amo Mall in Torrance. Several Torrance police officers were shot, and the National Guard was brought in to help. Officials are telling us that these aren’t the usual gang-bangers wanting to loot. They lured the police in and started a battle using automatic weapons and advanced battle tactics.”

  “That isn’t good,” Jamie said. “Damn, look at them go. One of those National Guard guys just got hit.”

  “Matt, I’m scared,” Kaylee said. “That’s not that far from my parent’s house.”

  “Call them,” Jamie said. “See if you can spend the night up here. We don’t want to be driving anywhere near that.”

  “You can’t get home anyway,” Matt said to Kaylee. “Look at that listing on the bottom of the screen. The roads to your folk’s house are closed because of this, and going around it to the east is a bad idea.”

  “He’s right,” Seth said.

  “Okay, I’ll call,” she said.

  Suddenly there was breaking glass outside, and a car alarm went off.

  “Crap, what’s going on here?” Jamie asked. He ran out to the backyard and looked down at Rocketship Park. There were about ten gang-bangers there, breaking car windows and searching through the cars. One of them looked up and saw Jamie, then pointed. He ducked down, and a pistol shot rang out, hitting the wood fence.

  “Somebody shooting at you?” Trevor asked, running out with his rifle.

  “Go inside,” Jamie said in a panic. “I’m calling the cops.”

  “Yeah, like they’ll be showing up anytime soon,” Angel said. He looked at Trevor. He nodded back, and they grabbed their rifles.

  “You want to shoot at them from here?” Angel asked.

  “No, combat style, out there. We don’t want them to know the fire came from here, or they’ll bring a mess of cretins back here later.”

  “Matt, you got your gun?” Trevor asked.

  “No, man, it’s at home,” he shouted.

  “Pussy,” Trevor said.

  “Stuff it,” Matt replied.

  “You take the shotgun,” Jamie said. “I’ll take the Colt auto.”

  “I’m getting my gun out of the trunk,” Seth said.

  “No!” Emma said.

  Seth ignored her and ran out the front door with the others, stopping at his trunk.

  “Loaded?” Trevor asked.

  “Yeah,” Seth said.

  “Okay, guys, remember what we learned at the combat range,” Trevor said.

  “And shoot to kill,” Jamie said, next to them, pistol in his hand. “We can see the park when we get around that corner there. Lots
of cover to hide behind. Be careful.”

  They rushed down, getting into planter boxes and behind trees as the gang bangers continued breaking into cars. They heard a scream, and saw a pre-teen girl being dragged into the park by her long hair.

  “No frigging way,” Trevor said, aiming and firing, the loud blast from the .44 mag shocking the gang bangers. He hit the one dragging the girl dead center in the chest. The girl broke free and ran, one of the gang bangers taking aim at her with a pistol. Seth shot him before he could fire, and then all of the boys were firing at the gang-bangers, hitting several before they could get to cover.

  “We’re gonna kill you guys,” one of them shouted.

  “Wanna bet?” Trevor yelled, rushing to another position. He could see several of them behind some playground equipment, and fired three times, killing two of them. Meanwhile Jamie ran to the other side of the park, rolling into the grass and firing from prone position, killing three more gang-bangers before they knew what hit them. The last two panicked and ran for their car. Matt took out one of them with the shotgun. The other one got behind the wheel, Angel hitting him in the head before he could take off. Then there was silence.

  “Damn fine shooting, boys,” Jamie said.

  “Hell, you’re pretty good with that pistol, man,” Matt said.

  “We better check them,” Trevor said. “Stop their clocks if they’re still alive, before they can call their friends.”

  “Isn’t that murder?” Angel asked.

  “No,” Jamie said. “This is a war. C’mon.”

  They rushed to the park and checked. All of the gang-bangers were dead, so they went back into the house.

  “Thank God,” Emma said, rushing to Seth, throwing her arms around him.

  Kaylee rushed to Matt as he set down the shotgun. “That was crazy,” she said. “We could see a lot of it from the backyard.”

  “Yeah, you guys are actually good,” Emma said.

  “Hey, look, is that a tank?” Angel asked, watching the TV. It was still following the attack at the mall.

  “Yeah, but it’s an old one. M-60,” Trevor said.

  “The National Guard has moved in heavier vehicles after killing all of the attackers. They plan on using that area as a command post to protect this part of Torrance. The following roads remain closed. Hawthorne Boulevard, Sepulveda all the way to Western, Crenshaw, Prairie, Del Amo, Carson, Torrance Boulevard, 235th street, Anza, Cabrillo, Arlington, Lomita Boulevard, and PCH between Anza and Western. Police aren’t saying how long these roads will be closed.”