American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (18 page)

Matt and Karen noticed less and less traffic as the day went on. Most of the traffic they saw were other trucks pulling trailers.

"It looks like everybody is bugging out." Karen said.

"It does seem to be the pass time of the day." Matt said. "I am going to pull over at the next rest stop so we can go to the bathroom and I will fill up the gas from the cans in the trailer. The tank is almost empty. Even if the gas stations are pumping, they might be hot zones for civil unrest."

Matt pulled into the rest stop parking lot. Just like the highway, it was a ghost town. There was only one other truck in the entire lot. Matt kept an eye on Karen from the truck while she went to the restroom and she did the same while he went. They had a few pieces of cheese and crackers from the cooler. Karen got back into the truck and Matt went to fill up the truck. He started with the one gallon containers, because of the way he had to stack them to save space in the trailer. While he was filling the truck, two guys from the other truck in the lot came over.

"Howdy" one of the men greeted Matt.

"How you doin'?" Matt replied.

"Not good, we ran out of gas. Do you have five gallons you can spare?" the man replied.

"I can't do it. I calculated exactly what I need to get where I’m going." Matt hated not being able to help, but there was nothing extra. He needed everything he had.

The two guys seemed like good ol' boys. They both had on jeans, boots, and ball caps. One of the caps had some tractor brand on it and the other was a camo print.

The second man replied "How bout we just take it all then?" he lifted his shirt to reveal a semi-automatic pistol handle.

Adrenaline shot into Matt's brain. He dropped the gas can, drew his Glock and shot the man in his chest. The other man was clearly surprised. He fumbled to draw a weapon. Matt breathed out heavily, inhaled again and then slowly exhaled as he lined up the sights with the man's head. The man drew out a nickel plated revolver and Matt squeezed the trigger of the Glock 21. The close range impact of the .45 caliber hollow point bullet left a small hole in the front of the man's head while the back busted open like a rotten melon. The man dropped backwards and lay beside his fallen comrade. The first man rolled over and leveled the semi-auto pistol at Matt. Matt squeezed off two more rounds into the man's chest. The man dropped the gun, but Matt walked up to the body and put two more rounds into his head.

Matt grabbed both of the men's guns and threw them into the back of the trailer next to the gas cans. The revolver was a Smith and Wesson .357 magnum and the semi-automatic was a Berretta 9mm. Matt slammed the trailer door shut and headed toward the truck.

Meanwhile inside the truck, Karen heard the shots and screamed. Even in her kitty drugged out stupor, Miss Mae jumped out of Karen's lap and ran under the seat. Karen drew her Kel Tec because it was in her pocket and easiest to access. She checked the mirrors to see where the shots had come from. She saw Matt standing next to the two bodies. "Thank you Jesus, he’s OK." she said with tears already starting to flow.

Matt looked at the two men. The grey matter of their brains lay in chunks spread around in the thick puddles of blood. As Matt got to the door of his truck, his stomach flipped and the contents emptied on the ground. He took 10 seconds to catch his breath and calm down then walked back to the trailer door to get a bottle of water and a ginger ale. He rinsed out his mouth with the water and returned to the truck.  Karen was pulling her phone from her purse.

"Who are you calling?" Matt said puzzled.

"911" she replied. She couldn't believe he even had to ask.

"No!" Matt shouted. He was thinking on an entirely different level.  Of course she would be calling 911. He should have known that, but he knew this was not the situation for that.

"Why" she asked.

"There are multiple reasons. I will explain in a minute. For now, we have to get out of here." Matt said.

Matt jumped back into the truck and sped off. He was careful to not go over the speed limit once on the highway. As soon as they were back on the road, he called Frank.

"Hey buddy!" Frank answered.

"Hey man. I just had an incident with a couple of guys at the rest stop. I need to get off the road for a while. I am just past the rest stop north of Palm Coast." Matt said.

Frank could hear the panic in Matt's voice. "OK, calm down. You are just one exit before mine. Get off at State Road 206 and take that west to State Road 305. Follow that north to 207 and take a real hard left. In a few yards from there, you will be on my road. You will know where you are once you get there. Just focus on driving for now and we will talk when you get here."

"Got it" Matt said as he hung up the phone.

"OK, why didn't we call the police?" Karen asked.

"Number one, we don't know if there were more attackers in the area. We had to get out of there. Number two, there is no way we want to get caught up in an investigation right now when the world is falling apart. Those guys could have been best friends with the town sheriff for all we know. They could be total thugs or they may have been robbing me out of desperation. At any rate, that may have been the town they were from and we could end up getting lynched." Matt replied.

"Why are we going to Frank's?" Karen asked.

"I just need to get off the road. Check the scanners, see if anyone called anything in. I also need to take a breather. I am little freaked out right now." Matt replied.

Karen was freaked out too, but it had not occurred to her that Matt was also shaken. He had just killed two people. He wouldn't be normal if he wasn't feeling this way right now.

"I also threw their guns in the truck. I need to get rid of those." Matt added.

"Why did you do that?" Karen asked.

"I don't know. Because I’m freaked out I guess. I also have blood all over my shoes. I need to clean them off." Matt said. He started to feel a knot in his throat, but there was no time for getting emotional now. He pushed it back down and kept driving.

They were at Frank's house in about twenty minutes. He was in a semi-rural area. Lots of people kept livestock and the houses were spread out. Frank greeted them and ushered them inside. Frank's wife Angela made hamburgers on the grill while Matt explained what had just happened at the rest stop. Karen put Miss Mae in her cat carrier and brought her inside. The late November air was a bit cooler in North Florida than South Florida.

"You can let the cat walk around inside if you like." Angela told Karen.

"She would probably find somewhere to hide and we would be looking for her when it’s time to go. But thank you." Karen replied.

Frank threw Matt's hiking boots that he was wearing into the washing machine. Matt also changed his jeans and threw them in the wash as well. The jeans also had a blood spattered around the cuffs. Matt walked Frank over to the trailer and told him about the guns.

"I have no idea why I threw them in the trailer." Matt explained.

"Brother, you were traumatized. You did good. You stayed alive and you kept your wife safe. That’s what you were supposed to do. Don't beat yourself up over some small detail like that. If you want to get rid of them, I will be happy to take them and bury them. I will always know where they are. They might come in handy some day, you never know." Frank said.

Matt gave them to Frank who then wrapped them in thick construction garbage bags with a sock full of rice to absorb the moisture. He then placed them in a two gallon plastic bucket. He wrapped the bucket in more plastic then dug a quick hole behind his tool shed.

"You look like you've done this before." Matt said relieved to have gotten rid of the pistols.

"You know me brother; I've been prepping since before it was cool. I got stuff buried all over." Frank said with a smile.

"You’re a regular pirate." Matt said.

The guys rejoined the women inside and ate the wonderful burgers  Angela had made. Afterwards, they went to the computer to listen to the local police scanner on Broadcastify.com. There were several reports of looting and robberies but nothing about the shooting that they could hear.

"It’s just after 9:00 p.m.." Frank said. "It sounds like the natives are starting to get restless over in town. That’s how it was during the riots. I would say the police are going to have their hands too full to worry about you. You all are welcome to lay low here as long as you like though."

"Thanks for the offer. I think I will try to get back on the road about 1:30 a.m.. That puts me in Atlanta at 7:30 a.m., just after sunrise. That tends to be the most peaceful time of the day. Atlanta will probably get bad again, and we don't have enough fuel to get around it. The bypass should be OK early tomorrow morning, but I got to get through there." Matt said.

"Wow." Frank replied.  "It sounds like you have thought this out."

"Well, I had it all planned out before I almost got robbed." Matt said.

"You’re still on track Bro." Frank responded. "It‘s just a slight detour. Do you want to try to take a nap before you go?"

"No way! I could never go to sleep now." Matt said. "Not after that incident."

"Well" Frank replied, "We will make you a big pot of extra strong coffee before you pull out. You will be pretty far from any major cities till Atlanta. Valdosta is the only big town between here and there. Driving at night will probably work out good. Make sure you top off your tank before you head out."

Matt thanked Frank for his hospitality and for helping him out of this tough situation. They moved back and forth between the news and the police scanner. Nothing was ever mentioned about the bodies.

They talked about the uncertainty of the future and what the world would look like tomorrow. Times were a changing.

CHAPTER 26

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

-Thomas Jefferson

Matt and Karen Bair were ready to leave from Frank's house just west of St. Augustine Florida at 1:00 a.m.. They took their time getting on the road, because they did not want to arrive in the Atlanta area until just after sunrise. Frank and Angela had fed them. Matt's clothes that had been stained in the shooting were now clean. Matt replaced the Mossberg from behind the truck seat with the AR-15. From now on, stopping to refuel would be a military exercise.

They pulled out of the driveway at 1:30 a.m. with full cups of hot, strong coffee. The adrenaline was high because they knew it was still possible to be questioned about the shooting if they had been seen leaving the rest stop or had been caught on any surveillance cameras while at the rest stop. In this age of total government intrusion, they had to have been caught on film at some point during the time of the incident. Their best hope was that the police were too occupied with criminals to be chasing someone who had shot in self defense.

Matt kept to the speed limit and was soon out of Florida. It felt relieving to pass the state line. While a shooting certainly warranted the involvement of police from a neighboring state in ordinary circumstances, Georgia likely had enough problems of their own right now.

After about five hours of driving, the adrenaline and caffeine were  wearing down and they were both very tired. Karen had gone to sleep while Matt drove for about two hours.  He woke her up to tell her they were going to have to pull off the road to fill up the tank again. The sudden memory of the last fill up filled her with anxiety. It was still dark.

"We’re going to pull off the road at the state park where we were originally going to sleep. Once we are off the exit ramp, I will look for a side road with no people. I will get out of the truck with the AR-15 and you fill up the tanks. If anyone pulls up other than a police car, close the trailer door and get back into the truck. If police pull up, I will stick the AR-15 in the truck bed under the tarp. Don't say anything to the police except direct answers to what they ask you." Matt instructed.

"What if they ask about the rest stop?" Karen asked.

"Did you actually see me shoot those men?" Matt asked.

"No." she said.

"OK, then you didn't see anything." he replied. "After we refuel, you will drive through Atlanta, and I will be watching out for threats with the AR-15 ready."

They got to the exit and executed their refueling plan without incident. They were back on the road and Karen was driving. They were out of coffee, but they did have some Mountain Dew. Prior to reaching the I-285 Atlanta bypass, Matt started searching for another campground to go to once they were past the city. They were both tired and they had to rest soon. He soon located one in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It was only about 70 miles north of Atlanta.

They reached the I-285 Bypass just after sunrise. It was eerily quiet. Matt had not known what to expect. The news radio had reported several fires and some rioting in Atlanta the night before, but there was not much in the way of details. All of the news reports were focused on the oil markets and the stock market which had been shut down again to cauterize the bleeding of wealth into oblivion. The Dow had plummeted 840 points the previous day causing the SEC to halt trading before lunch. This was the second time in a month that the circuit breaker rule had been used to freeze trading on all the major exchanges.