In Search of Home

In Search of Home

Published by Brad Chambers at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Brad Chambers

Edited by Jessica Chambers

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter 1

Something was wrong. It took Perry a minute to realize what it was. Then he saw the dust plume. There was a vehicle on the gravel road that bordered his property, and he watched and waited while the dust got closer. It was rare for there to be traffic on the road as fuel was so expensive and hard to come by. When the vehicle came into sight Perry moved back into the brush and tried to make sure he was out of sight. A black car pulled into the driveway followed by a second one.

Perry took off his pack and dug his binoculars out of the side pouch. They were well worn, heavy for their size, and the battery pack for the night vision added to the weight. His dad had served in the army in his younger days and brought them back home with him. Now that his dad was gone they were his. He focused the binoculars on the cars and counted the men inside. Two per car, four total. The cars stopped and all four got out. Using hand signals the apparent leader sent two of the men around to the back of the house where they paused at the rear corners and drew out their weapons. The leader and the fourth man went to the front door and knocked. Perry could faintly here him call out, IRS, open the door. The man waited a three count and then kicked in the door. The men at the rear corners of the house waited a second and then ran to the back door and kicked it in. They entered the rear at the same time the leader entered the front. The fourth man stayed on the front porch and constantly scanned the surrounding area.

Perry heard a slight rustling of leaves and turned to see Jonah, his yellow lab, come walking up to him. Jonah spotted the man on the porch and started growling. Perry whispered Hush, Jonah and the dog quieted and lay down next to him. Jonah wasn't really his pet. More like a companion. He had found him in the timber two years ago; hungry, exhausted, and only half grown. Perry took him home and nursed him back to good health; they had been together ever since. Jonah ate a few table scraps, not that there were many of those, and other than that found his own food.

He turned his attention back to the house. There were sounds of a search coming from inside. Furniture was being overturned, glass was breaking. They didn't take long. The leader walked out of the house and opened the trunk of the first car. He was closely followed by the other two who were carrying Perry's guns. They loaded them into the car one by one: the .22, the 20 gauge, even the old broken muzzle loader that hung on the wall over the fireplace. One of the men returned to the house and brought out the computer from his bedroom. It went into the trunk alongside the guns. The leader spoke to the men for a minute and then turned and went back into the house followed by the fourth man. The other two hopped into the cars and drove off. At the end of the drive they turned in opposite directions and left. Perry watched the dust from the cars until it disappeared. Not because they were gone but because they pulled the cars off the road and into the brush a little ways down the road.

When Perry turned his attention back to the house he couldn't tell that anyone had been there a few minutes before. The front door had been wedged closed so that from the outside the broken frame wasn't visible. Obviously they were planning on waiting for him.

Perry eased back into the trees a little farther. If they were waiting, that meant they were watching and he didn't want to be seen. When he was safely out of sight, he leaned against a tree took a moment to think about his situation. This day was bound to come and he had known it would, eventually. Knowing didn't make it any easier.

It had been three years since his dad had died. His mother had passed away six months before that. His dad couldn't adjust to life without his partner and lost the will to go on. He had gotten sick that winter; he lasted until spring and then was gone.

When all activity on his parents’ bank account stopped, it sent up a red flag somewhere. They had only accessed it to buy a few supplies every now and then so it must have taken awhile for the inactivity to have been noticed. Since a bank and money were involved, the IRS was called in. They rarely missed a chance to confiscate property. Now that they had found his guns they were waiting to arrest him.

The year before he was born a law had been passed that anyone born after January 1st couldn't own any form of firearm. As older people died their guns were confiscated. It was a round-about way to ban the public from owning guns.

Perry mentally shook himself to get back to his present problem. He couldn't go back to his home now. Even after the four IRS agents left, the house would still be watched. If he stayed anywhere close he would eventually be found and arrested. East was not an option, Chicago was east and things were worse in the city. At least in the rural areas you could usually find food; in the cities it took money or something of value to trade and both were hard to come by. West was the Mississippi river. In the past few years going from one state to another had become like going from one country to another. You were questioned and searched; on bridges they charged a toll. Traveling north would work but the winters were longer and colder. South there was warmer weather, fewer people if you avoided the larger cities, and maybe a chance to find a new home.

If he was going to be traveling, he needed to check his pack to see what he did and didn't have with him. The IRS agents were too close to take the time now though. Perry decided to go west for a short distance and then head south. He looked at Jonah. At least he had company he thought, sadly. Come on, boy, he whispered, patting the dog on the shoulder. Jonah looked at him, then at the house, sighed as if he understood, and then got up and followed.

They went about half a mile and then turned south. After another half of a mile, Perry felt it was safe to stop for a while. They were in a patch of timber with open fields all around. The only way to get there and remain out of sight was through a low waterway in the field. He had been here the previous day looking for mushrooms and knew that the brush was thick enough that he wouldn't be seen from any nearby roads. In a small flat area surrounded by downed trees, Perry sat on a log and spread out his belongings to inventory them.

With his jacket laid out flat he opened his pack and started removing things from it one at a time. First came his extra clothes: a t-shirt, a long sleeved denim shirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of underwear, two pair of socks, a stocking cap, a pair of gloves, and a bandana. Then came his electronics: a small laptop, a GPS, his night vision binoculars with built in camera, a rolled up solar panel for recharging, and his small lightweight stunner. The stunner was a pistol with a folding stock that shot a rechargeable, reusable dart that carried an electric charge. The charge was adjustable depending on the size animal you were shooting with it. Perry used it for shooting rabbits and other small game for something different to eat once in a while. On the highest setting it would stun a dog or a small deer.

On the outside of his pack was a small, lightweight sleeping bag wrapped in a tarp that when unrolled and unfolded could provide a small shelter from rain. In one of the side pockets there was twenty feet of lightweight rope. Another side pocket yielded a small mess kit similar to what boy scouts used to use. The Boy Scouts didn't exist anymore because they believed in God; the government had outlawed the group. Inside the mess kit there was a tiny container of salt, one of pepper, and one with a few bouillon cubes. Below the mess kit in the pocket was a small bag of oatmeal. Sometimes when he was out mushroom hunting or walking, it got late and he would camp for the night. Those times, it was good to have something for breakfast.

The sound of vehicles on a nearby road interrupted him. Staying low Perry moved to the edge of the downed trees and watched as a government car drove past slowly. There were two people in the car but they were too far away to tell if they were the same ones who had been at his house. He watched until the car was out of sight, waited until he couldn't hear it any longer, and then went back to his inventory.

Strapped to his pack were a small hand ax and a folding saw. He also had two quart water bottles tied to his pack. One was empty, the other full. He had been out for several hours and drank the one bottle of water.

Perry repacked his pack and then started to empty the pockets of his old, worn military pants. Military pants were great for all of the hiking in the brush that he did, and they were cheap and easy to come by. First there were his multi-tools. One was small and had a pair of scissors, knife, finger nail file, tweezers, and screwdrivers. The larger one had pliers, knife, scissors, screwdrivers, and a small saw. Then came a bandana, a small flashlight, his fire starter, and his wallet. His wallet had his old identification papers (which were expired), twenty dollars, and pictures of his parents. He refilled his pockets and picked up his jacket. Aside from those things, all he had was a small bag of mushrooms. It had been a bad day finding them; he only had about a dozen gray morels. He kept them in a small vinyl bag with a drawstring.

It was getting late in the day and Perry didn't think he would find a better place to stay out of sight for the night. Careful not to make himself visible from the road, he cut a few branches from the fallen trees and pushed them into the dirt around his small camp to form a stronger screen from searchers. With his tarp spread on the ground he unrolled his sleeping bag on it and then folded the tarp over to cover the bag. This would keep the dew from getting the bag or him wet.

Jonah had been laying in the dirt half asleep the whole time they had been in the clump of trees, but now with the light starting to fade he got up and stretched. He looked around to get his bearings, sniffed the air, and trotted off in search of supper. Perry didn't always know what Jonah found to eat but as long as the dog found something he wasn't going to worry about it. Actually, he thought, probably better not to