Bug Out! Part 7: Mile High Motorhomes (7 page)

Gabe cracked up. “Now, don’t make fun of small towns,” he said. “This is a nice place when things aren’t going crazy. I had a lot of fun here over the years.”

“There it is,” Dobie said, pointing. It was an old brick two-story building, with a yard behind it fenced in by chain link. There were a few commercial vehicles in the yard - a bobtail truck, a forklift, and a delivery truck. Gabe parked on the street in front, and they all got out.

“Side arms alright?” Terry asked.

“Yeah, we have open carry here, so you’re good. Leave the long guns in the car, though.”

Dobie came around the back and opened the tail gate. Duchess jumped out, and he put her leash on. They walked into the front door of the store. A buzzer went off. The store was packed with merchandize…row after row of shelves stuffed with electronic equipment. They made their way to the back half of the store, which had a long glass counter and a stock room behind it. A man in his early fifties came walking out from the back. He had long grey hair, pulled back in a pony-tail, and a beard. He was average height, and in good shape for his age, wearing a tie-died t-shirt and faded jeans.

“Dobie,” he said. “How you doing?” Then his smile got wider. “Gabe! Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes.”

“Great to see you, Jake,” Gabe said. “How you holding up?”

“It’s getting bad around here,” he said. “Trish and I moved into the store about a week ago.”

“What’s been going on?” Dobie asked. Duchess sat down next to him. Terry walked up alongside of him. “Oh, I forgot. This is our friend Terry. Terry, this is Jake.”

“Nice to meet you, Terry,” he said.

“Nice to meet you too,” Terry said.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?”

“No, I’m from Utah. I came here with my uncle.”

“Terry here was a deputy sheriff from his town. His uncle was the Sheriff.”

“Oh, really,” he said. “Left your town behind?”

“It got overrun by the enemy,” he said.

“I heard some bad things went down in Utah. Around Bryce and Capitol Reef.”

“That’s where we were,” Terry said.

“Well, glad you got out alright,” he said. Then he looked back at Dobie. “I’d kind of like to get the hell out of here, actually. I think the shit is about to hit the fan. What’re you doing here, anyway?”

“Well, two things,” Dobie said.

“Go on,” he said.

“First of all, we need a signal generator. I’ve got some options on this list.” He handed the slip of paper to Jake, and he looked it over.

“What are you guys trying to do? This is expert stuff.”

“We’re trying to give the enemy a hard time,” Dobie replied.

Jake’s face lit up. “Oh, really? Tell me more.”

“We can’t tell you more right now,” Gabe said. “At least not here.”

“Sounds mysterious,” he said. “What’s the other thing?”

“We were hoping to talk you into coming back with us,” Gabe said. “You know it’s not safe here.”

“To the RV Park, eh?” he said, his hand messing with his beard. “What makes you think that’s safer than here?”

“We’ve installed some fortifications, and we’ve got some good people there. Good at fighting,” Dobie said. “You might want to get Trish out of here. At least for now, it’s safer there.”

“There aren’t a lot of young men there, are there?” Jake asked.

“Just Terry here. Everybody else is at least in their early forties.”

“What about my stuff? I’ve got a lot of merchandise here. Some of it’s worth a boatload of money.”

“Why don’t you load up your bobtail out there with everything valuable? Bring it with us.”

Suddenly there was gunfire. Everybody jerked around towards the front of the store.

“Shit,” Jake said. He ran to the front door and locked it.

“Wait, let us get our long guns out of the car,” Gabe shouted. Jake nodded and let the men run through. They got their guns and ran back inside. Jake locked it and then they all ran back to the counter.

“Daddy, what’s happening,” shouted a young female voice.

“Don’t know, sweetie,” he shouted back. “Let’s get on the roof. Follow me, guys.”

“I’ll leave Duchess down here,” Dobie said. “Anybody coming in here is gonna have a bad day.”

“Good,” Jake said. The men followed him behind the counter, to a rough wood staircase.

“Who’s here, daddy?” asked the girl’s voice.

“Gabe and Dobie and a friend of theirs,” he said. “C’mon, let’s get upstairs.”

The men ran up the stairs quickly, to the second story, and then to the back, where there was another set of stairs.

“Trish, come on!” Jake yelled.

“I’m coming,” she cried. “I wasn’t dressed.”

“You guys go on up those back stairs,” he said. “Be up in a minute.”

There was the sound of another person coming up the stairs. A young woman appeared, wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. Her light brown hair was tied up on top of her head, held there by a white plastic clamp.

“C’mon, honey,” Jake said. He put his hand on her back and moved her to the back staircase. They got out on the roof. The three men were standing at the façade, looking towards I-70. Terry turned and locked eyes with Trish. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him, looking very shy. Terry turned back to I-70.

“Look, they’re holding a gun on Bob,” Gabe said. “Crap. Wish Jeb or Kurt or the Sheriff were here. I can’t make that shot.”

“That Weatherby sighted in?” Terry asked, looking at the bolt action rifle with scope, leaning up against the façade.

“Yeah,” Jake said. “My eyesight isn’t what it used to be, though. No way can I make that shot.”

“Mind if I try?” Terry asked.

“Help yourself,” he said.

Terry picked it up, worked the bolt to chamber a round, and took aim, looking through the scope. There were three men down by the barricade. One militia guy and two Islamists.

“I think I can get two of them, but they might be able to shoot your friend before I get the third,” he said, still peering through the scope.

“I probably can’t hit any of them at this distance,” Dobie said, “but I can lay down some fire with this thing while you’re shooting. He had his bolt action Remington .270 with a scope pointed at them. “Take the shot.”

Terry squeezed the trigger. The militia man fell to the ground, and Terry worked the bolt and fired again. He missed the second shot, then loaded a third round as Dobie fired several rounds as quickly as he could. Terry’s third round hit one of the Islamists square in the back. Bob dived for cover, but came back up with his pistol in hand and blasted the third man. Then he got back under cover.

“Damn, I didn’t know you could shoot like that, Terry,” Gabe said.

“How could I not? I hang around with my uncle most of the time, for God’s sake.” He laughed, and looked over at Trish. She was staring at him, and looked away quickly.

“Here comes the cavalry,” Jake said, pointing. Half a dozen squad cars rolled up to the barricade. Then Jake’s cellphone went off. He answered it.

“Jake, who the hell was shooting from up there?”

“A friend of Gabe and Dobie’s,” he said.

“I had a feeling. Tell them thanks. You guys saved my butt.”

“Will do. You be careful down there, Bob.”

“You too. This is the second incident like this today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, same thing happened just west of here. That’s why we have somebody manning each of the barricades.”

“You sticking around here, Bob?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Don’t know where else to go. You?”

“I might fly the coop for a little while. I’m worried about Trish.”

“Don’t blame you there. Gotta go, thanks again.”

“Bye,” Jake said. He put his phone back in his pocket. “Bob asked me to thank you guys. Especially you, Terry.”

Terry shot back an embarrassed smile, and then turned back towards Trish. She was staring at him again, and turned away when they made eye contact. Then she looked back at him and smiled.

“Well, what do you think, Jake? You two want to go with us?”

“I don’t know. Trish, come over here.”

She nodded and walked over.

“What, dad?”

“We’ve been invited to join our friends here back at Gabe’s RV Park. What do you think?”

“I think we ought to go, dad,” she said, shooting a sideways glance at Terry.

“Alright, then let’s do it. You guys want to help me load up that bobtail?”

“Of course,” Gabe said. “Let’s get busy.”

They all went back down the stairs, taking their rifles with them.

“I’ll back the bobtail up to the loading dock,” Jake said. “You might want to bring your SUV around here, that way I can block up the front of the store.”

“Gotcha,” Gabe said. He trotted back through the store, unlocked the front door, and got to his SUV. He drove it around the block and down into the alley behind the store, pulling through the sliding gate and over next to the bobtail.

Everybody got to work, moving all of the most valuable stuff from the store into the bobtail. It took a couple of hours.

“Here’s that signal generator you were asking about,” Jake said, walking over with it. “Put it in your SUV, just in case somebody stops the truck. I’ve got the feeling that it’s more important than any of the rest of this stuff.”

“You think somebody might try to mess with the truck?” Gabe asked.

“I’ve heard stories,” he said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll caravan, and we have weapons,” Gabe said.

“I know, but I’d feel better anyway,” he said.

“Okay,” Dobie said. He took the box and carried it over to the back of the SUV, shoving it all the way back against the seat. Duchess followed him over, looking up in the SUV. “Not yet, girl. We’ve got to finish loading, then we’ll take off.”

“Go get your stuff, Trish,” Jake said to her.

“How much of it?”

“Everything you can carry,” he said. “Maybe Terry could help. Hey Terry!”

“Dad!” she whispered.

“Oh, get acquainted. You know you want to.” He looked at her with a sly grin.

“What do you need, Jake?” Terry said, walking over.

“Could you help Trish carry her stuff out here?”

“Of course,” he said, smiling.

“C’mon,” she said, and turned quickly. Terry followed her silently into a room in the back, where there was a cot and a lot of girl stuff.

“You’ve been living here?” Terry asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, dad thought it was safer than the house. It’s so boring here.”

Terry watched her as she puttered around, pulling things off of the shelves. He liked what he saw. She was cute. She wasn’t skinny…she was sturdy, but graceful too, with an hourglass figure covered by the long, loose fitting sweat shirt. She turned around quickly and caught him watching her.

“Hey, buster, you checking out my butt?” She looked sternly at him, and then cracked up.

Terry had an embarrassed look on his face. “Maybe just a little,” he admitted. “Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, silly,” she said.

“You’re not as shy as you look,” Terry said.

She smiled at him. “C’mon, help me with this stuff. There’s some boxes right outside the door.

He brought them in, and they put her clothes and other possessions in the boxes. They were done in a few minutes, and carried them out to the truck. The men were just finishing up.

“Ready to go?” Gabe said, looking at his watch.

“Yeah, let’s move it out,” Jake said. “I’ll lock her up.”

He disappeared into the store, locking and blocking up the front, and then locking the heavy steel rear door on the way out.

“Terry, why don’t you ride in the cab of the truck with Jake and Trish,” Dobie said, “and have that gun ready.”

“Fine with me,” he said, smiling at Trish. She smiled back and then looked down, embarrassed.

“Look at the sparks flying there,” whispered Gabe to Jake.

“I know, huh?” Jake whispered back, and snickered. “He’s going to have a tiger by the tail with her. She runs me ragged.”

Both men laughed as they walked to their vehicles.

“Hey, you know how to get there, right, in case we get separated?” Gabe shouted.

“Yeah. Why don’t I follow you guys?”

“Okay. I’m taking the back roads.”

“Sounds good.”

Gabe got into the SUV and fired it up. He drove through the gate. The bobtail followed, lumbering as it went onto the alley. Jake jumped out of the truck and ran over to the gate, sliding it shut and locking it. Then he got back in the truck and followed the SUV.

They left the alley and got back on the main drag, heading quickly out of town. Then they were on the small road that bounded I-70, heading for the even smaller road that led into the back country.

“I sense a new couple,” Dobie said, looking over at Gabe and grinning. “Did you catch how those two looked at each other?”

“Yeah, Jake and I were joking around about it before we left.”

“He doesn’t mind?”

“No, Dobie, I think he’s relieved. It can’t have been good for those two to be cooped up together like that. I’ll bet most of her friends are long gone.”

“Oh, crap, look over there,” Dobie said, pointing out the passenger side window. Duchess growled. There were about eight Islamists climbing off of the raised roadbed of I-70. One of them saw the bobtail and pointed it out to the rest of the men.

“Step on it!” Dobie said.

Gabe sped up, and watched the rear view mirror. Jake saw what was going on and sped up too. Terry rolled down the window of the truck and stuck his rifle out, pointing it at the group who were now running towards the road.

“Can you get a bead on them from here
with your handgun, Dobie?” asked Gabe as they were racing down the road.

“Maybe,” he said. He stuck his torso out the window of the Suburban as far as he could and started to fire at the Islamists. He hit one of them, and the others looked towards their car and got ready to fire. Then they got hit with rifle fire from inside the truck, and they weren’t sure which way to shoot.

“Here comes the first curve. We’ll be out of sight of those creeps in a minute!” Gabe shouted.

“Slow down so the truck gets a little closer,” Dobie shouted. “Let’s tighten it up before we get there.”