Alone, Book 3: The Journey (2 page)

     He could no longer hope to travel to Kansas City without being detained.

     The only bright spot, as the winter grew to a close, was Dave’s success in getting his vehicle running again.

     It took a lot of work. He had to replace key components with undamaged parts he’d squirreled away in his Faraday cage. He also had to simplify the electrical system by bypassing anything that wasn’t reallyimportant.

     Like lights, for example.

     But he didn’t need lights. He planned to travel at night, blacked out, seeing his way along with the aid of night vision goggles.

     As for the National Guard and FEMA’s order to stay off the interstate highways?

     That didn’t deter him much.

     As far as Dave was concerned, FEMA and the National Guard could get… well, they could mind their own business. Dave was going after his wife and daughters, whether the government liked it or not.

     As so begins Book 3 of the saga…

                      
 
THE JOURNEY

Chapter 1

     “How else can we help you? There must be something we can do.”

     Dave smiled at the older woman he’d come to know well in the weeks leading up to his departure.

     He smiled and hugged her.

     “You’ve done enough already. Both of you. You’ve given me someone to talk to, when I was all alone in the world. You quite literally kept me from going insane. You’ve become good friends. And that’s what I’ve needed the most lately. Good friends to show me that even though the world has gone to hell, there are still some things worth having.

     “You’ve given me a reason to keep going on, at a time when I was dangerously close to ending it all.

     “And you’ve renewed my resolve to make this journey to find my family.”

     Frank Woodard put his two cents in.

     “How in heck did we do that? If I had my way, I’d have been able to talk you out of it.”

     “You don’t understand, Frank. When we became friends I was starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing. I was thinking that if Sarah and the girls had made it to Kansas City, then they were safely in the care of Sarah’s sister and brother in law. And they were being well cared for. And I began to wonder whether pulling them out of that safe environment would have placed them in unnecessary danger. Danger that they didn’t have to be in.”

     “Makes sense. So how did we strengthen your resolve to go, then?”

     “By telling me about the prison break. And about the dozens of dangerous men who were trapped in the area, unable to get out because they’re being hunted and because they have no transportation.

     “No, I’m convinced that Sarah and the girls may be in peril. They may already be hostages. If that’s even the remotest of possibilities, then they need me now more than ever.”

     Frank couldn’t hide the look of sadness in his eyes. Part of it was the thought of his new friend leaving, just as they were getting to know one another. He’d lost a lot of good friends lately, and he didn’t have many left.

     But there was another reason Frank didn’t want Dave to go.

     “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, Dave. You might consider me just a doddering old fool. But Eva and I have come to consider you almost a son. In fact, Eva, would you go get Jake’s photo?”

     Eva nodded slightly and left the room.

     Dave was suddenly puzzled.

     Frank continued in Eva’s absence.

     “We have a son. Jake is his name. His wife and children lived in Cibolo, not far from here. Stacey was her name. They had three beautiful children.”

     Dave saw the tears forming in Frank’s eyes and knew the answer to his question before he even asked it.

     “They didn’t make it?”

     “They might have, if I’d gotten there sooner. The day after the blackout I borrowed a neighbor’s bicycle and rode to Cibolo. My neighbor, he’s a young fella, about your age. He said, ‘Just give me the address. I’ll go check on them.’ But I didn’t know their address. They’d moved a couple of months before, and we’d been to their house several times. I knew how to get there, but only by landmarks. I didn’t know the house number, or any of the names of the streets in their neighborhood. I told him I had to go myself.

     “It took me two and a half days to get there. I didn’t ride very fast, but I’m an old man, and I had to stop and rest frequently.

    “They were dead when I got there. All three of them. The kids, it looked like they were shot in their sleep. I pray each and every night that they went quickly.

     “Stacey, on the other hand, had been savagely beaten and raped. They showed her no mercy.”

     “And your son, Jake?”

     “If Jake had been there, he’d have moved heaven and earth to prevent it from happening. He’d have fought them to his dying breath.

     “But he wasn’t there.”

     Eva returned to the room, clutching an eight by ten photograph that Dave wasn’t able to make out.

     Frank was overcome by emotion and couldn’t continue.

     So Eva did for him.                                                                                                                                                                                                

     “Our Jake, he was always an adventurous sort. Like you, he joined the military when he was young. But he took a slightly different path. He signed up for four years in the United States Air Force.

     “Jake was always good with his hands, and they made him a mechanic on F-15 fighter planes. We were so proud of him. They sent him to a base in a place called King Salmon, Alaska. He was to be there by himself for a whole year, but he was young and single and liked to hunt and fish, so he saw it as a great adventure.”

     She started to choke up and looked to Frank, who continued the story.

     “He was supposed to get thirty days leave after six months into his tour, so he could come back home to see us. But he called us up one day and asked if he could stay up there for the thirty days instead. He said that there were canneries in a nearby town called Naknek that only worked at certain times of the year. When the salmon were running, the canneries ran full speed, twenty four hours a day, and paid people really good money. He said that many of his friends were going to spend their thirty days to work at the cannery, and he wanted to join them.

     “We said of course we’d miss him, but that it sounded like a once in a lifetime opportunity. So we told him to follow his dream.

     “It turned out that he made more in those thirty days than the Air Force paid him for the entire year he was up there. More than thirty six thousand dollars. He put it in the bank, and when he finished his tour he paid off all his bills and paid cash for a brand new truck.

     “Since he got out of the Air Force, working at the Naknek cannery became a habit for him. Every March, when the salmon started to run, the cannery paid his way up there and gave him a cot to sleep in in one of their shanties. They even fed him three times a day. And every year he came back with a fat paycheck. He and Stacey were able to pay off their mortgage in four years because of the cannery work.”

     The light came on in Dave’s head.

     “So, Jake was still in Alaska when the blackout hit?”

     “Yes. And although there are several people in Alaska we’ve been able to contact by ham radio, none of them are close enough to tell us what became of the cannery workers. We don’t know if the cannery is still taking care of them, or if they were left to their own devices. We just don’t know.”

     Dave hugged Eva again.

     “I’m so sorry. But if he was an avid hunter and fisherman, then surely you’ll know that he can survive up there. There’s so much fish and game up there he could keep a hundred people fed.”

     “That’s what we’re hoping, Dave. But it’s the not knowing for sure that’s so hard.”

     Dave swallowed hard and tried to find the right words. He wanted to know how Jake’s situation related to his own. But he didn’t want to appear insensitive.

     Frank let him off the hook.

     “I can tell by the look on your face that you’re wondering why we’re telling you this.”

     Dave, a bit embarrassed, meekly nodded his head.

     Eva handed him the eight by ten photograph.

     Dave’s jaw dropped.

     Most people, when told they resemble someone else, can’t see it themselves. They are so intrinsically aware of their own features that they deny the resemblance.

     But there was no denying this. The resemblance Dave had to Jake Woodard was uncanny. Even scary.

     They almost could have been twins, were it not for Jake’s deeper brow and lower hairline.

     Eva went on.

     “You see, Dave, you’re more than just a friend. You’ve almost brought a sense of… family, back into our home. I know it sounds ridiculous to you. But if we lose you, it’s almost like losing Jake all over again. You’ve come to mean that much to us.”

     It took Dave a full minute to find the words to put the Woodards at ease.

     “Well, first of all, you’re not losing me. I’ll be back. I promise you that.

     “And second, while I’m gone you two continue in your efforts to find him. If you can find him, then when I get back we’ll work together.

     “I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way to bring him home.”

Chapter 2

     Dave said his goodbyes, collected his hugs, and accepted a letter of provenance from Frank.

     “They did this a lot in the old days,” Frank explained. “When a man went on a long trip to a foreign land, where he would be a stranger to everyone he met, he’d likely be greeted with some suspicion. A letter of provenance from his employer or some government official was meant to help him prove he was on a mission and of no threat to anyone he met.”

     Dave had never heard of such a thing. He took the letter out of the envelope and read it.

To Whom It May Concern,

     My name Is Frank L. Woodard. I am a Senior Deputy with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department in San Antonio, Texas.

     I can vouch that the bearer of this letter, Dave Speer, is a personal friend of mine who is also a permanent resident of Bexar County.

     Mr. Speer means you no harm or ill will. He is merely on a journey to find his family who was stranded in the Kansas City area when the blackout occurred.

     Please aid him on his journey if you are able, and not hinder him in any way.

     As testament to my own identity and credentials, I urge you to contact Jason Willingham, Sheriff of Winslow County. I have known Jason for many years, and I know he is well known and respected throughout the State of Kansas. Jason knows the sound of my voice, and will vouch for me if he contacts me via ham radio. Dave knows the frequencies I monitor.

     Respectfully Yours,

     Frank L. Woodard

     “I don’t know if this will help,” Frank said. “But I figure it can’t hurt. And it may be of some benefit to you.

     “You see, the law enforcement community is like a brotherhood. We go out of our way to try to help one another.

     “If someone were to present such a letter to me, I would do what I could to help its bearer. It doesn’t matter whether I knew the man carrying the letter, or even the man who signed it. I’d do what I could to help. It’s probably a lot like you, being a former Marine. When you come across someone who was also in the Corps, you have a kinship with him. Even if you never met him before, you’re more likely to try to help him if you can.”

      Dave was touched. And he understood exactly what Frank meant.

     “Thank you, my friend.”

     “Safe journey to you. And if you happen across any preppers with a ham radio, please ask them to pass the word that you’re doing okay.”

     “Yes, sir. I’ll do that.”

     And with that, Dave was out the door, heading back to his own house and trying to beat the first rays of the morning sun getting ready to peek over the horizon.