Apocalypse in the Homeland: The Adventures of John Harris Read online

  Apocalypse in the Homeland

  The Adventures of John Harris

  A J Newman

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  This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife of over thirty years.

  Thanks to Wes Newman for being a great sounding board for many of the ideas in this novel.

  Thanks to my golf buddies who duck and look to see if the CIA or NSA is watching when I bounce the plots off of them.

  Thanks to Carole Lewis and Christie Jenkins for beta reading, proofreading and editing.

  Copyright © 2015 Anthony J Newman. All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-0-9912334-5-8

  This book is a work of fiction. All events, names characters and places are the product of the author’s imagination and/or used as a fictitious event. That means that I thought up this whole book from my imagination and nothing in it is true.

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  Books by A. J. Newman

  “The Adventures of John Harris” a post-apocalyptic America series:

  Surviving

  Hell in the Homeland

  Tyranny in the Homeland

  Revenge in the Homeland

  Apocalypse in the Homeland

  “Grumpy Sam and Sammy” - A murder mystery series:

  Where the Girls are Buried.

  Who Killed the Girls?

  These books are available at Amazon:

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HT84V6U

  The Adventures of John Harris:

  A series about post-apocalyptic America.

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HT84V6U

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  Prologue

  America is in a morale decline and losing a war with drug gangs and illegal immigrants inside our country. Islamic terrorists across the world are terrorizing most countries. They probably have numerous sleeper cells already established in the states. Three nuclear EMP blasts would send us back to post-apocalyptic dark ages. We are also in decline, thanks to the poor stewardship of our elected officials for the past 25 years. My story just takes what our enemies and our politicians are currently doing to destroy the USA and expands on these misdeeds.

  Apocalypse in the Homeland is a novel that continues the story that tells how John Harris leads a group of survivors through the chaos of a country that has fallen apart.

  The US president and a coalition of third world leaders have launched a major nuclear and EMP attack on all of the major powers and killed over 100 million Americans. The USA is in chaos with criminals and thugs attacking innocent citizens, while John and his team fight the corrupt Department of Homeland Security and the president.

  John leads the people from a major part of the old USA and most of the remaining US military in building a new country, the Independent States of America. The USA immediately begins attacking the new country along with attacks from drug lords based in Mexico.

  In the last book, Revenge in the Homeland, the ISA has just delivered major blows to the USA’s military and corrupt politicians in retaliation for a series of devastating attacks on the ISA.

  John and his team were kidnapped, but crashed in Wyoming while overpowering their abductors. They are thought to be dead. He quickly makes the best of the situation and decides to annex the Northwest ahead of schedule. He only has to kill a few thousand gang members and wannabe dictators. No big hill to climb for John. Everyone else in the ISA is worried about rescuing John; however, John has never felt like he needed to be rescued.

  I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them. I had only planned for five total books and I have begun writing another Post-Apocalyptic series along with a murder mystery series, so I’m not sure if there will be any more yarns about John and his team. Thanks to my readers for allowing me to share my imagination with you and remember to recommend this series to your friends.

  A J Newman

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  Chapter 1

  Tall Tales

  Smyrna, Tennessee

  2048

  Josh looked around the hospital room and almost had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He had only been in the ISA for a few weeks and had helped save one of its founding fathers from an assassination attempt, found the love of his life and gotten shot twice.

  Josh was a reporter from the USA and had been in Tennessee interviewing John Harris, the ex-president of the ISA, about the early days of the ISA. Josh had taken two bullets that probably would have killed John and his daughter, Jenn, during an attempt on John’s live.

  A Mexican drug lord had sent a team of assassins into the ISA to kill John and as many family members as possible. Josh was pinned down with John, Beth and Jenn in a barn during the attack. They killed many of the attackers, but were vastly outnumbered. Scott Harris, the current President of the ISA, led a team that came to their rescue and killed all of the attackers except the leader, who was tried, convicted and executed after giving up the name of the man who paid them.

  Josh and Jenn fell in love and are to be married after Josh recovers from his wounds. John was sitting beside him telling him more about the fight to build the ISA.

  Beth and Jenn were off in a corner making wedding plans and John was in the middle of the story about his adventure in Wyoming and the North West when Scott Harris, John’s son and current President of the ISA, walked into the room.

  “Well, look what the cat drug in. Apparently this hospital doesn’t have much in the way of security.”

  “They aren’t too picky about who they’ll let occupy a bed in this hospital. Real sick people are trying to get in and this slacker keeps hanging around taking up valuable resources.”

  Josh replied, “Mr. President, that would hurt my already bullet-riddled body even more if I thought you weren’t kidding.”

  “You only got a couple of scratches and you have everybody feeling sorry for you. What lies is the old man telling you about Wyoming? You know that he only has half of the story. My team had to travel over a thousand miles fighting the bad guys all the way and enduring many hardships just to rescue his ass.”

  “Gus and you were the only ones that kept looking for us. The others put up a plaque in a park that said 'John Harris lies here'.”

  Beth spoke up, “John went berserk when he found out about that plaque. He went to the park and pissed on it. He was going to demolish it, but I talked him into leaving it alone so he could rub it in on the ones who gave up on us. Josh, please don’t mention pissing on the plaque in the story.”

  John said, “Josh, you tell them about the plaque. I want everyone to know the whole story.”

  “I knew Dad was too hard-headed to die from a plane crash. I was worried about the rest of you though. Has Dad told you about his girlfriend up in Montana and his new family? I’ll bet he doesn’t.”

  “Damn, Scott, don’t stir that shit. Beth still holds that against me every chance she gets. What you need to know is about many brave people who kicked the drug gangs and thugs out of the North Western states.”

  Josh propped himself up and said, “I want to hear about rescuing John, but I also want to hear about the loss of Israel and how they rose back up from the nuclear ashes. Hey, I almost forgot. What’s being done about the people who tried to kill you and wounded me?”

  “There’s plenty of time for that, but I want you to make sure that everyone knows that John Harris did not need to be rescued. I’ll tell you the true story, not some campaign BS that Scott used to get elected as the hero that saved John Harris.”

  Scott threw a towel at John and called his father several names.

  ***

  President Harris met w
ith his Cabinet and Joint Chiefs to discuss the imminent threat to the ISA from the USA and her allies. The USA and UN had completed phase one of building stealth boats armed with nuclear bombs. Their plan was to run the boats up into the waterways of the major ISA coastal cities that harbored the Navy and detonate the bombs. They would also launch nuclear missiles aimed at the major landlocked cities to deliver a knockout punch to the ISA. They knew there would be a nuclear counterattack, but their leaders would be hidden in secret bunkers far away from the action.

  “Mr. President, we have had a major breakthrough. Israeli intelligence has found the location of three bunkers for the Leaders of the USA and UN. Wilton, her staff and her Joint Chiefs are traveling to it as we speak. The same for the other world leaders and UN personnel who are plotting to nuke us again.”

  “Where are they and how much time do we have?"

  “The USA has a bunker in Alaska, north of Juneau and one below Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. The UN bunker is at the Global Seed Vault in Spitsbergen, Norway. They thought no one would suspect that it would be a secure location.”

  “Mr. President, may I offer a peaceful suggestion?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “If we publish the location of the hideouts, they would catch hell from their loyal followers and they wouldn’t dare attack us if they know that we can kill all of them.”

  “Joint Chiefs, Cabinet and staff, what do you think of that idea?”

  Gus spoke up first, “Bullshit is what I say. Those bastards will just regroup and find a way to nuke us next year. We have to cut the head of the snake off once and for all.”

  There was a round of cheers and everyone else agreed with the Secretary of Defense.

  “Team, I want a revised plan to take out all of the USA’s and UN’s nukes and their leadership ASAP. They can attack us as early as five days from now.”

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  Chapter 2

  The Dark Side

  Wyoming

  2022

  The air was so cold it burned his nostrils with each breath and his moustache and beard were covered in frost. The sky was crystal clear and the sun danced off the snow. So much for global warming, it was late April and winter still had a grip on the land.

  The crosshairs were steady and in the middle of the woman’s forehead. His hands were steady, he took a deep breath and he gently squeezed the trigger on the Ruger American .17 caliber rifle. It made almost no noise due to the homemade silencer and the bullet struck its target as it always had in the past. The woman quietly slumped down in her chair while he worked the bolt three more times. All four of the people were dead before anyone in their camp knew they were under fire.

  John took a deep breath and killed six more before slinking back behind the ridge and repositioning himself a hundred yards to the west of the camp. He raised his field glasses and saw chaos in the camp. He also saw Joe, Imelda and Eric moving in to rescue the children and the few living adults. He fired five more times with the same results. He was deadly accurate at a hundred and fifty yards and the small caliber ammo didn’t make a huge mess by blowing brains all over the place. He was sick the first couple of times that he killed these human predators, but when they captured the camps and saw the abused and tortured kids and adults John started to like killing the scum. He had killed hundreds over the past two months as his team helped Eric reclaim Wyoming from the gangs, thugs and small time dictators who wanted to practice their perversions without regards to their victims.

  Even Beth couldn’t stop him from going out by himself to hunt down and kill these miserable excuses of human garbage. They had always been in the communities, but with no police to keep them in line they had taken over communities and villages all over the country. The ISA had all but eliminated these thugs from inside its borders, but much of the country was lawless like back in the early 1800’s. John was on a mission to exterminate as many as possible until the ISA found him and his team.

  John gathered his pack and his M4 and headed into the settlement. Several of the people pointed at him and others yelled out their thanks to the man who had freed them from their captures.

  He heard one man say to his kids, “There goes the Lone Wolf. He strikes down the bad guys and helps the good guys.”

  John was deep in thought as he rounded the corner of an old hardware store when he heard, “John, these people worship you. I thought being President of the ISA was enough to give you a big head, but this is getting ridiculous.”

  John looked to his left and saw Steve laughing at him and telling Janet to bow in 'The Lone Wolf’s' presence. Steve was still hobbling around with a cane due to breaking his leg when their plane crashed several months ago. Several of John’s team had been wounded, but John led them to Eric’s home and they spent the winter with him and his granddaughter, Billy.

  “Steve, what are you doing out here away from the cabin? You’ll freeze your balls off and Janet will blame me somehow.”

  “I was getting cabin fever and besides, they needed someone to help teach these people how to defend themselves so we won’t have to save them from the next group of thugs that happens along. Are you coming back with us this afternoon, or are you going to do some more hunting today?”

  “I’m going out for a couple of days. Joe, Imelda and I are going to scout out Cody. We’ve all heard that several gangs are harassing the city and it’s time to check them out and neutralize them. There is an airport there and perhaps I can find a plane to fly us out of this freezer.”

  “So you’re not going head hunting?”

  “Of course I am. I’ll stand off, find out who the bad guys are and pick them off before they know what hit them. Joe and Imelda will scout the town and determine how much help we’ll need to liberate the town.”

  “And what happens if a bunch of them attack and over run ya’ll?"

  “They can try. We are loaded for bear and I hope they try. We could get rid of all of them in one fight.”

  “Damn, John, I think you are starting to believe those stories about the Lone Wolf being able to kill the enemy, but can’t be killed. Son, a bullet will kill you just like the rest of us.”

  “Steve, the trick is to not let the bad guys lay their sights on you. Keep your powder dry and I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

  ***

  Cody, Wyoming was incorporated in 1901 and was only 50 miles from Yellowstone National Park. The area was developed by Buffalo Bill Cody and he founded the town along with some investor friends. The town had 10,000 people before TSHTF and John hoped that many had survived due to the town’s remote location.

  The drive over to Cody on highway 14 was just 28 miles, but it took most of the remainder of the day. There had been no traffic on the road and the snow was several feet thick. The going was slow, but the old Dodge Power Wagon plowed through the snow with ease. They stopped every two miles so John could use a telescope to check out the road ahead for ambushes and recent activity. All he saw was snow and more snow.

  Their plan was to stop for the night about a mile outside of Cody and stay in an abandoned house. Then, before daylight, they would sneak into town and determine how many gang members were in the area and how well they were armed.

  “John, how long do you think it will take for the Navy to find us? I’m glad we're helping out, but this snow is getting old and I’m tired of deer and rabbit.”

  Imelda added, “I want a steak and Jim to hold me. Let’s go home when the snow melts.”

  “Joe, I don’t think they will ever find us. I believe we will have to either fly or drive back home if we want to get there. We are hundreds of miles from where they would expect to find us and they can’t waste fuel and manpower looking forever. I’m hoping to find a plane large enough to make a flight to Dallas to get help. Cody has a small airport and there could be some functioning planes.”

  “We’re burning daylight. Fire the old Dodge up.”

  They made it to the o
utskirts of Cody just a little after 4:00 and the sun was setting. They found an abandoned ranch house about a mile east of the airport, parked the truck in a barn and ate cold food that night. They didn’t want to take a chance on being discovered this early in their mission. As usual, they took turns at guard duty until 3:00 a.m. when John woke the other two.

  “Rise and shine sleepyheads. We need to eat some good old deer jerky and hit the dusty, err snowy trail before sun up.”

  “Daddy, can I stay home from school? I have female problems.”

  “Imelda, get your ass out of bed or you’ll have John problems.”

  She laughed and said, “No sympathy for a poor young girl today.”

  “Look in the dictionary if you want sympathy. It is right there between shit and syphilis. Get moving.”

  “Yes, Captain. I'm just moving slow this morning.”

  They grabbed the rest of their gear from the truck and started circling south towards the airport so they could approach the hangers from the southeast. The plan was to go below the two lakes south of the airport and walk beside highway 120 until they arrived at the commercial hangers.

  John made them stop several times to check for guards and they were always looking for trip wires and booby traps. The going was slow, but keeping below the radar was their best protection. They arrived at the highway 14 and 120 junction just before 5:30 a.m. and again, John had them stop and survey the airport and the area around it.