Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror (15 page)

“What’s the plan, Frank?” asked the Lieutenant.

“Get on I-70 and head for Colorado, like the General suggested,” Frank said. “You guys going to follow us?”

“If you don’t mind,” he said. “We’ll get behind you and watch the rear.”

“Good, make sure all your men are ready to fight. We’ll be lucky if they only sent one truck full of pajama boys after us.”

The stream of RVs heading towards I-70 was starting as Kurt pulled up next to the clubhouse. He jumped out and checked inside. It was empty. He ran in, pulled the plugs on the desktop machine, and ran back to his coach with the CPU and keyboard and mouse. Then he ran back in and grabbed the monitor and modem and a few other odds and ends. He stowed all of it in one of the storage compartments under his rig, and then turned off the lights in the clubhouse and locked the door. He got back into his rig and drove towards the driveway. He looked over and smiled at Mary. She forced a smile, but her eyes were glassy and she looked terrified.

Frank and Jane got back into their rig. Frank got into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine as Jane stowed the backpack and unhooked Lucy. They fell into line right behind Jeb’s rig. Charlie and Hilda were in front of him. Kurt fell in behind Frank and Jane’s rig. They were followed by Jackson and Earl in the rental rigs, then Jerry and Jasmine. There were a few more coaches behind that, and then the two Humvees and the military truck got behind the lineup.

“Well, so much for a good night’s sleep,” Jane said to Frank as she buckled her seatbelt. “You alright to be driving again?”

“Yes, thankfully I drank all of that coffee,” he said. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m alright,” she said. “I’m glad you guys thought to look for bugs. That was not a second too soon.”

“Seriously,” Frank said.

“So, is that Lieutenant stupid, or is he on the other side?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said, shaking his head. “He should have thought about checking for bugs, though. Sounds like those Humvees were placed on a silver platter.”

“I know,” Jane said. She pointed ahead. “There’s I-70. That’s a big road. I hope we don’t run into any problems on there.”

“I’m glad the Lieutenant is behind us. That ought to make it difficult to do a clean road assault.”

“Let’s hope so,” Jane said.

“Hey, were you ever able to figure out why the enemy left the RV Park in such a hurry?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” she said. “I was just about to show you when you and Jerry ran out to check for the bugs.

“Well?”

“They went to the regional headquarters and overran it,” Jane said. “That’s why the Lieutenant couldn’t raise anybody.”

“Shit,” Frank said. “I’d better call him about that. We don’t need him giving those folks our position.”

“Good idea,” Jane said.

Frank pulled his phone out of the pocket, went to recent calls, and hit the call button for the Lieutenant’s number.

“Lieutenant?”

“Yeah, Frank.”

“We have some info for you. Jane was just getting ready to tell me when we were so rudely interrupted.”

“What is it?”

“The guys who hit the park left from there and overran your base. That’s why you couldn’t get them on the phone.”

“No, really?”

“Yeah, really. I asked Jane to try to figure out why the enemy left the RV Park in such a rush. We saw it on the video. They got out of there fast. Really fast.”

“The location of that base was a secret. The privates didn’t even know the coordinates. They got somebody to talk.”

“It appears so. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you knew in case they try to get location data out of you.”

“Understand. Thanks. What happened to the bug?”

“Jerry dropped it in a barrel of rain water that was sitting next to the clubhouse.”

“Good…..although I suspect that the guys in the truck probably radioed their position before we took them out.”

“Probably. Keep an eye out back there.”

“Will do. Talk to you later, Frank.”

Frank put his phone on the dash.

“How did he take it?” Jane asked.

“He sounded surprised,” Frank said.

“Do you trust him?”

“I don’t know, Jane, like I said. In some ways I wish we would have just stayed on I-70, but then we might not have the Sheriff and Deputy, and we wouldn’t have Kurt and Mary either.”

“Do you think Kurt and Mary would have been alright if we hadn’t stopped there?”

“Maybe,” Frank said. “Maybe not. Who knows? If the enemy has a decent intelligence detail, they might have figured out that Hilda and Charlie both know Kurt and Mary. They might have been jumped before they knew what was coming.”

“True,” Jane said.

“How many miles is it to the Colorado border?” Frank asked.

“Jane pulled her phone out of her purse and looked at it. “It’s only about eighty miles.”

“That’s not too bad,” Frank said. “Should be there in about an hour and a half.”

Frank’s phone rang. He looked at it. It was Jerry. He picked it up.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“What do you think about the Lieutenant?”

“Jane and I were just talking about that. I’m not sure.”

“Seems awful stupid for a Lieutenant, Frank.”

“Did Jasmine tell you about the base? Jane just told me.”

“Yes, it was overrun. That might have been the real reason why they hit the park. They didn’t know any other way to find out where the main base was.”

“We’ll have to watch ourselves, Jerry.”

“Right. Jeb and Charlie are both leery as well….I just talked to both of them.”

Frank’s phone beeped.

“Jerry, I’ll call you back. The Lieutenant’s trying to call me.”

“Alright, Frank, talk to you later.”

Frank switched over to the Lieutenant’s call.

“Frank here.”

“Frank, we have company. Coming up behind us.”

“What is it?”

“Several pickup trucks. Looks like there are men in the backs of all of them.”

“Nothing heavier than that?”

“Nope, Frank. Just wanted to let you know. If they get any closer I’m going to have the privates in the truck open up on them.”

“Might want to do that either way. We don’t really want them to know where we are going.”

“Shit, gotta go,” the Lieutenant said. The line went dead, and then were was the pop of gunfire behind them.

Jane looked at Frank.

“We’ve got somebody coming up behind us,” he said. “The Lieutenant is taking them on now. Several truckloads.”

“Military trucks?”

“No, just pickup trucks. Call Jerry. I think I’d better have both hands on the wheel.” He tossed his phone over to Jane. She picked it up and hit recent calls, then re-dialed Jerry as the gunfire continued behind them.

“Jerry, we are getting attacked from behind.”

“Yeah, we hear it.”

The gunfire behind the line of the RVs intensified.
Then there was the sound of squealing tires. Frank looked in his rear view mirror and saw a Humvee rolling off of the road, headlights dancing around. Then it rolled and caught fire, lighting the dirt around it in a hideous glow. A moment later he saw headlights coming up the left lane. It was a pickup truck trying to come up beside the motor homes.

“Crap,” Frank shouted. “I just saw a Humvee eat it, and now one of the pickup trucks is trying to get along side of us. Get the shotgun.”

“Will do,” Jane said, and she unbuckled and ran back into the bedroom. She was back with the gun in a second. Instead of getting back into her seat, she got on the couch and opened the side window. She pointed the shotgun out the window and waited. Then there was a loud explosion.

“Scratch one truckload of cretins,” Frank shouted, looking at the rear view mirror.

“What happened?”

“They got up next to the Sheriff’s rig. I’m guessing that the Deputy tossed one of those hand grenades into the truck. It’s burning by the side of the road now. Nobody got out of that one alive.”

“Good,” Jane shouted.

More gun fire started coming from the back of the line.

“That sounds like M-16s to me,” Frank said. “Several of them.”

“Hope they did a better job this time than they did on that first pickup.”

“Whoa, they did,” Frank shouted. “I just saw another truck cartwheel off the road. Bodies were flying away from it. Some of them might have survived that time, though. Too dark to tell.”

More gunfire started up.

“See anything?” Jane asked.

“Nope, not yet,” Frank said. “Wonder which Humvee we lost?”

“Good question, but judging from the amount of M-16 fire we heard, we still have that truck.”

“I can still see the truck every few seconds,” Frank said. “It’s wide, and whoever is driving it isn’t keeping it straight in the lane very well.”

“Maybe he’s trying to make it harder for the enemy to shoot his guys in the back.”

“Maybe. Wow, listen to that.”

The gunfire was picking up. Frank saw a pickup truck drive off the road, trying to get away from the fire. Then he saw the Humvee slow down and follow the truck, guns blazing. The truck tried to speed up, but hit something and rolled several times. The Humvee pulled over next to it. Four soldiers jumped out and fired about a hundred rounds into the smoking hulk. The gas tank blew, spewing fire all over the place and lighting the side of the roadway with an eerie glow. The soldiers backed up a little and watched it burn.

“What happened?” Jane shouted.

“The last pickup truck tried to get away, and the Humvee took off after them along the side of the road. The truck rolled, and our guys just finished them off. They just got back into their Humvee now, and are heading back onto the road.”

“Great. Think that was all of them?”

“Well, the Lieutenant said there were several. I saw three crash and burn.”

“It’s quiet now, maybe you ought to call him,” Jane said as she got back into her seat, shotgun in her hand.

“Good idea,” Frank said. He looked at his phone, picked the number, and hit dial. He frowned.

“No answer?” Jane asked.

“Nope. Wonder if that was his Humvee that got nailed?”

“Good question. It didn’t sound like the men in the truck opened up the first time, did it? And how did that pickup truck get up ahead of them?”

“I was wondering the same thing.”

Frank’s phone rang. He answered it.

“It’s Jerry, Frank. Hear from the Lieutenant?”

“No. Just tried to call him. No answer.”

“You saw that one of the Humvees didn’t make it, right?”

“Sure did, and I counted three trucks that ate it. Looked like a grenade got thrown from the Sheriff’s rig into one of them.”

“Yeah, I saw that. The Deputy strikes again. Way to go Terry!”

“Should we stop?” Frank asked.

“No, I think we should keep going. Nobody survived in that Humvee crash that I could see. We don’t care about the rest of the cretins, and I didn’t see any coaches get hit.”

“Alright, let’s keep on moving, then. I’ll keep trying the Lieutenant.”

“Roger that, talk to you later.”

Frank put his phone back in his pocket.

“Well, you heard most of that,” Frank said.

“Yes. We’re going to keep going. Good.”

“I’ll try the Lieutenant again in a little while, but if he’s still okay he would have seen my call in his history. I have a feeling something happened to him.”

They drove along for another hour or so, with little conversation. It took a long time for Frank’s heartbeat to slow down to normal. Lucy came over to the front of the passenger seat and whined at Jane.

“C’mon, girl,” Jane said, patting her lap. She leaned the shotgun against the dash next to her side window.

“You alright, Frank?”

“Yeah, I’ve calmed down pretty well. I’m not tired at all now, though. Still pretty wound up.”

“Adrenaline,” she said, petting Lucy. “The girl is trembling. I’m surprised she didn’t want to get up earlier.”

“She’ll settle down once she’s sat on you for a few minutes. That dog amazes me.”

“Wonder where Mr. Wonderful ended up?”

“He’s probably hiding under the bed,” Frank said, laughing. “But nothing bothers him for very long, either.”

“After the girl has settled down, I need to take a look at RV Parks in Colorado.”

“Yeah,” Frank said. “We might have to boondock for a night or two. Actually might not be a bad idea to do that anyway. We might have enemy folks looking for large groups of RVs showing up in western Colorado.”

“Could be. Wonder if Kurt or Charlie or Hilda know of any good boondocking places around here?”

“Good question,” Frank said. “I’ll call Charlie when we get closer to the state line.”

“It shouldn’t be that long. We’ve been on the road for over an hour now.”

They drove along for a little while longer, looking out into the inky blackness in front of them. Frank was finally starting to feel the weariness. Lucy was asleep on Jane’s lap now, but Jane looked wide awake, and was scanning the area around the road with a worried look. She reached for her phone after a while and looked at it.

“There’s no service,” she said. “Pretty deserted out here.”

“I’m not surprised there’s no service. Can’t believe how dark it is.”

“It’s been over an hour and a half now. We should be seeing the state line any minute.”

Suddenly one of the coaches at the front of the line sounded their horn three times. The next one followed suit, and then another.

“There it is!” Frank said. He honked his horn three times too.

“Thank God,” Jane said. She looked down at her phone. “Still no service, but there are a few decent sized towns coming up. Loma, Fruitia, and Grand Junction. We should get coverage near those.”

“Good, keep an eye on your phone, then.”

They continued on for a while. Lucy woke up and jumped off of Jane’s lap. She walked over to her water dish and had a drink.

Frank’s phone rang.

“Well, guess we have service now,” Frank said. He answered it.

“Hey, Jerry”

“Hi, Frank. Finally got service. Nothing back there.”

“Seriously. We were thinking about boondocking tonight, to stay off the radar. What do you think?”