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The Ridge Awakens Ruger 10/22 Tactical Stock chassis
By the third morning, the Ruger 10/22 Tactical Stock had become more than equipment to Daniel Mercer—it was reassurance. The storm outside his Adirondack cabin had reshaped the land into an unrecognizable expanse of white, burying roads, vehicles, and the fragile assumptions that once defined safety.
The radio had fallen silent again.
No emergency broadcasts.
No weather updates.
No government instructions.
Only wind and ruger 10/22 tactical stock.
Rebecca watched from the narrow window as snow drifted across the frozen valley.
“They’ve stopped trying,” she said quietly.
Daniel didn’t answer immediately. He adjusted the sling attached to his rifle, built around a reinforced ruger 10/22 tactical stock chassis, appreciating its balanced weight distribution. Polymer nylon remained unaffected by the brutal cold, unlike older wooden stocks he’d abandoned years earlier. Wood cracked. Aluminum stiffened and conducted cold like ice itself. Polymer endured.
He suspected people would need to endure the same way.
The Sound of Rotors
At noon, the first helicopter appeared.
It emerged from low cloud cover, blades beating slowly against the frozen air. Its dark silhouette passed over the valley and hovered briefly near the ridge where Daniel had seen the descending lights.
Tyler rushed outside despite Daniel’s warning.
“It’s the military!”
Hope flickered in his voice.
But the helicopter didn’t descend.
It hovered, scanning.
Then, without warning, it banked sharply and retreated south.
Daniel felt a tightening in his ruger 10/22 tactical stock.
Military helicopters didn’t retreat from weather.
They retreated from threats.
Signs in the Snow
Daniel decided they needed information.
He secured his rifle, its polymer nylon ruger 10/22 tactical stock chassis still perfectly rigid despite subzero exposure. He remembered reading an engineering review emphasizing how reinforced polymer resisted thermal contraction better than aluminum systems. That resilience mattered now, when mechanical failure could mean death.
Rebecca insisted on accompanying him.
They followed the ridge trail cautiously.
Halfway down the slope, they found wreckage.
Not from the helicopter.
From something else.
A metallic fragment, half-buried in ice, smooth and seamless. No rivets. No seams.
Rebecca knelt beside it.
“This isn’t aircraft material,” she said.
Daniel didn’t recognize it either.
But he knew it hadn’t come from Earth.
The First Movement
They were turning back when Rebecca froze.
Ahead, between the trees, a group of figures stood motionless.
Five of them.
Frozen.
At first glance, they looked like survivors.
But they weren’t moving.
Not breathing.
Not blinking.
Daniel raised his rifle instinctively, its best chassis for ruger 1022 providing steady control even as adrenaline surged. Polymer nylon’s reduced weight allowed precise handling, even through thick gloves.
One figure tilted its head slowly.
Rebecca whispered,
“Oh God…”
The figure stepped forward.
Its skin was gray.
Its movements unnatural.
Behind it, the others followed.
Not running.
Not walking.
Advancing.
The Advantage of Stability
Daniel fired once—not to kill, but to stop movement.
The sound shattered the valley’s silence.
The nearest figure collapsed instantly.
The others stopped.
Then retreated.
Not fleeing in panic—but withdrawing deliberately.
Watching.
Daniel lowered the rifle slowly.
The polymer frame of his ruger 1022 chassis remained steady, absorbing recoil without shifting alignment.
Wood would have flexed.
Aluminum might have numbed his hands.
Polymer remained constant.
He had purchased his system years earlier after reading about advanced chassis designs built for reliability under extreme conditions. One detailed breakdown described how the ruger 1022 chassis improved stability and adaptability in unpredictable environments.
He never imagined those environments would include something like this.
Evidence of Intelligence
Back inside the cabin, Rebecca tried to rationalize what they had seen.
“Hypothermia… neurological damage…”
Daniel shook his head.
“They reacted to sound.”
“They retreated together.”
Tyler sat silently, staring at the door.
“They weren’t random,” he said.
He was right.
Whatever the frozen figures were, they weren’t acting alone.
The Broadcast Returns
That night, the satellite radio activated again.
This time, the voice was clearer.
“…if you are hearing this… avoid exposure to aerial artifacts… biological interference confirmed…”
Rebecca’s face went pale.
“Biological interference?”
Daniel thought of the metallic fragment.
Of the descending lights.
Of the frozen figures moving in coordinated silence.
The storm hadn’t created this.
It had revealed it.
Survivors Unite
Near midnight, lights appeared on the distant hillside.
Flashlights.
Three signals.
Human.
Daniel responded with his own beam.
Within minutes, three figures approached cautiously.
Survivalists.
One carried a radio antenna.
Another wore a heavy winter camouflage jacket.
The third carried equipment Daniel recognized immediately—a rifle built on a polymer ruger 10/22 tactical chassis, identical in principle to his own.
The man nodded toward Daniel’s rifle.
“Polymer?”
Daniel nodded.
“Best decision I ever made,” the man said.
“Wood failed during last winter’s freeze.”
They understood each other instantly.
Stability mattered.
Preparation mattered.
Survival mattered.
The Truth Emerges
The survivalists brought news.
Military evacuation zones had been established—but abandoned.
Entire towns had gone silent.
People exposed to the descending objects exhibited neurological collapse—then reanimation.
Not alive.
Not dead.
Something else.
And the objects were still descending.
The storm had provided cover.
Now it provided isolation.
Daniel stepped outside, looking toward the ridge.
Above it, faint blue light pulsed beneath the clouds.
He gripped his rifle, built on the reinforced ruger 10/22 chassis, knowing the coming days would test every decision he had ever made.
But for the first time since the storm began, he wasn’t alone.
And together, they might survive what was coming.