Coastal Event Memories Read Online Free PDF

greeted him. 
     
    They were in the bar area. Both were dead, with evidence of torture, and the woman was nude.
     
    David spent the afternoon burying them in a common grave behind the building. There was an office upstairs, where the safe had been opened and emptied. He slept there that night on a couch, with the pistol by his side. He took a couple of cans of meat and a box of Bisquick from the pantry, and a bottle of scotch from the bar. After a breakfast of canned ham and cheese, He shouldered his pack and started following the tire tracks down the canyon.
     
    After about five miles, the tracks turned off the highway, on to a narrow road. The tracks did not come out. David climbed the hill above the road, and carefully followed it up the canyon, while keeping in the brush and out of sight.
     
    He heard the scream before he saw the cabin. Dropping the pack, he crept closer, and discovered that an older man was tied to a column that supported the corner of the roof. The older man screamed when a younger man touched a cigarette to his face. An AK47 was leaning against the wall. Another young man opened the door and said, “knock it off, the old broad just dropped the coffee when he screamed. I’m hungry, let’s eat first.”
     
    The second man came out and sat down at a table on the other side of the porch. “Gimme a butt and a light.”
     
    The other guy responded, “ I tell you they gotta have some gold around somewhere. They got a nice sluce box over there. I’ll make that geezer talk, just like I made that guy open the safe.”
     
    “All in good time, now I want to eat. Hurry up in there,” he shouted.
     
    The door opened, and an older woman came out carrying a coffeepot and two cups. “I’ll have it ready in a few minutes. The Coleman’s only got one burner.” She set the items down and went back inside.
     
    Keeping out of sight, David crept around to the back of the cabin. There was a back door, and he carefully opened it. She startled when she saw him, but did not cry out.
     
    “Shush, I’m a friend. Ask one of them to open the door for you and get out of the way. It’s risky, but I have to try to take them both out.” She agreed, and took out a tray and a stack of dishes.
     
    David hid behind the door, and the woman called out for someone to open the door. When it swung open, the woman threw the tray to the floor with a crash. The startled young man hesitated and then started to reach for the 9mm at his waist. David had wondered if he would be able to take a life, but did not hesitate to put a 357 slug through his chest, and knocked him off the porch.
     
    David was through the door before the second young man could reach the AK47, and the first bullet in his hip, spun him around. The second took him out.
     
    The old man, Elmer Frombach, was in bad shape. David and his wife Alice carried him into the bed. He had a broken arm, lots of cuts, burns, and bruises, and a possible concussion. After they had done everything possible for Fred, Alice made a meal for them.
     
    “They came driving up like they owned the place, pulled out their guns, and tied Fred up. There was nothing we could do. Thank God you showed up. They would have killed us for sure.”
     
    David then told her what he had found at the casino. After finishing the best meal he had enjoyed since before the Event, he buried the two thugs in a shallow grave below the road. Their vehicle was a 1989 Dodge diesel 4X4 truck. It was all decked out with a shell, roll bar, a winch, and big off road tires. There was a CB radio and a shotgun in the cab. The fuel tank was almost full and there were two, full five gallon fuel containers in the shell. A bag in the shell contained the contents of the casino safe. There was also a box with several cases of ammunition and another box of liquor.
     
    David stayed with the Frombachs for two months, while Elmer recovered. He made a trip back to the casino and returned with all the useable food from