Bug Out! Part 8: RV Park Terror (3 page)

Jackson walked up. “Gentlemen,” he said. “How are you?”

“Gentlemen? Who you talking to?” Earl asked, busting up. “Good to see you, brother.”

“I got pretty damn nervous at the border,” Jackson said. “What’d they ask you?”

“They wanted to see my ID,” Frank said. “General Hogan told them we’d be coming. The border is closed for most people, like we heard.”

“Yeah, I was listening to the radio,” Earl said. “Residents only. They have to protect this farm land at all costs.”

Charlie walked over. “Hi guys,” he said.

“Hey, Charlie,” Jackson said. “How’s the diesel?”

“Fast pumps,” Charlie said. “Glad to have the place to ourselves. I’m thinking we ought to spend the night here.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Jackson said. “I’m beat. Long ass drive.”

“Exactly,” Charlie said. “Why don’t you guys pull into the back, like we did at the last place?”

“Will do,” Frank said. The pump handle clicked. “Good, I’m done. See you guys back there.”

“Okay, Frank,” Jackson said, as he walked back to his rig. He moved up to the pump as Frank drove out.

Jane was still walking around, chatting with Jasmine, Mary, and Hilda. Frank slid his side window open. “Jane, I’m going to pull around the back.”

“Okay, be there in a few minutes,” she said.

Gabe and Dobie had finished gassing up, and they were already back in the lot behind the store. Dobie was getting his dogs out for a walk. Jake pulled the bobtail up next to them, and got out of the driver’s seat. Terry and Trish got out of the passenger seat and made a b-line for the store.

“They’re in a hurry,” Gabe said.

“We don’t have a bathroom,” Jake said, laughing. “It’s fun to watch those two together. Makes me feel young again.”

“Want a hand with the dogs again, Dobie?” Gabe asked.

“Sure,” he said, handing a couple of leashes to him. They started walking around, exploring the back area.

“This place is deserted,” Gabe said, looking at the flat dusty parking lot. “Haven’t been here for years. When I was a kid, this place was bustling.”

“What happened?” Dobie asked.

“I-70. Most people take that road to go east these days. I’m surprised this truck stop is still here, actually.”

“When was I-70 built?”

“Mid 1950s. This road does run into it, eventually. I suspect that’s when we’ll change over.”

“Where?”

“Right by a little town called Oakley,” Gabe said, as they walked towards the perimeter fence of the lot. “I hope we don’t have to keep going east, though. At least not for a while.”

“You and me both,” Dobie said. “I’d like to settle down for a while. It was nice at your place while it lasted.”

Gabe laughed. “Well, yes and no. How many times did we get attacked, again?”

“I know, that part kinda sucked,” Dobie chuckled.

“Sure did.”

“Here come the others,” Dobie said, pointing. Frank and Earl had just pulled in. Charlie and Jeb were just pulling up, too, and Kurt and Mary were behind them. The Sheriff’s rig pulled up, then Jackson, and finally Jerry and Jasmine’s rig.

“We lost a few along the way, didn’t we?” Gabe asked. “I only see the core group with us now.”

“I’ll bet some of them went elsewhere after we got across the Kansas border. We still have a target on our backs, and they know it. Probably a good time to cut and run.”

“Yeah, Dobie, you’re probably right. I see eight motorhomes now, plus my truck, Jake’s bobtail, and your SUV.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Wonder if anybody’s selling motorhomes around here?” Gabe asked. “I’d love to find one.”

“Kinda expensive, aren’t they?”

“Yeah,” Gabe said, “but I’ve got plenty of money in the bank, and I’m homeless at the moment, too.”

“I guess I’m in the same boat there, and so is Jake,” Dobie said.

“Maybe we could share one.”

“Yeah, maybe. Look, Charlie is trying to round everybody up. Let’s get these dogs tied up to my truck and then go over there.”

Dobie got the dogs tied up and fed, and then trotted over to the group with Gabe. Jake joined them on the way. Trish and Terry came strolling over too, both with sodas in their hands.

“Okay, looks like we’re all here,” Charlie said. “Anybody object to staying here tonight?”

Nobody spoke up. They decided who’d bunk in with the RV’ers.

“Okay, great,” Charlie said. “There was an RV Park not too far away…Kurt and Hilda both knew the owner, but we aren’t sure if it’s still there. We still have some light, so maybe we can take a toad or two over there.

“Hell, my Suburban isn’t hooked up to anything, and she’s full of gas,” Gabe said.

“Ah, good idea,” Charlie said. “Thanks.”

“Why don’t we go into the store and ask around,” Kurt said. “I used to know the guy who owned this joint. If he’s still there, he could probably tell us about that park.”

“Good idea,” Jerry said.

“There’s an old guy in there, at the counter,” Trish said. “Maybe it’s him.”

“Maybe,” Kurt said. “I hope so. Haven’t seen Howard in forever.”

“Alright, let’s go over there,” Charlie said. “I guess we can have some time to relax, too. That roadblock should keep anybody unsavory from joining the party.”

“We’d see them coming with Frank’s app, anyway,” Jerry said. “They haven’t moved from where they were for almost an hour. I suspect they’re trying to mess with that air force base.”

“I talked to the General about them,” Frank said. “He said they’re watching and ready.”

“Good,” Jeb said. “Wish I could go help them.”

“No, you stay. We fight another day,” Rosie said, leaning against him.

Charlie, Hilda, Kurt, and Mary started walking over to the store, leaving the rest of the group behind.

“When’s the last time you saw this guy?” Charlie asked.

“Hell, probably the mid - 1990s,” Kurt said, chuckling. “He had a firecracker of a wife. I think she passed on, though.”

They got to the front of the store. It looked fairly modern, with a glass front that was in good shape, and glass double doors in the middle. The four of them went through, and walked back to the counter.

“Hey, Howard,” Kurt said. The white haired old man was crouched over, looking at a newspaper. He turned around slowly, and got a big grin on his face.

“Kurt, you old son of a bitch, how the hell are you?”

“I’m alright,” he said, extending his hand over the counter. “How are you?”

“I’m great. That isn’t Hilda, is it?” he asked, smiling at her.

“Yes, it’s me, Howie. Good to see you.”

“I hope you brought Ger along,” he said.

“He passed years ago,” she said.

“Oh, that’s a damn shame,” Howard said. “So sorry to hear that.”

“He died happy,” she said. “This is Charlie. We got hitched a while back.”

“Don’t I know you?” Howard asked.

“You might. I went on a lot of hunting trips with Ger. Maybe we were on one together at some point.”

“This is my wife, Mary,” Kurt said.

“Ah, nice to meet you,” Howard said.

Mary smiled and nodded. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“What’re you guys doing in this hell hole, anyway?” he asked. “There’s nothing interesting around here for miles and miles.”

“We had to leave Colorado in a hurry,” Kurt said. “Things got bad quickly.”

“Oh,” he said. “You around Denver? Lots of fighting going on there. The news isn’t good. Not enough army up there.”

“No, we were outside of Eagle,” Hilda said. “Before that we were at my place in Utah, but it got overrun by the enemy right after we took off.”

“What about your place, Kurt?”

“We had to leave that too,” he said. “We’re hoping that Kansas will be safe, for a while at least.”

“Sorry to hear about all this.”

“Before we got with Hilda, we were at my place,” Charlie said.

“Where was that?” Howard asked.

“Near the Grand Canyon in Arizona.”

“Oh,” Howard said, looking concerned. “That area is still hot. Controlled by the enemy.”

“Does the RV Park here still exist?” Kurt asked.

“You mean Chet’s old place?”

“Yeah,” Kurt said. “I figure he passed, but we were hoping it’s still open.”

Howard got a grim look on his face.

“What?” Hilda asked.

“Chet passed the place down to his son Scott,” Howard said quietly. “He hated running the place, and it was dying anyway…not much he could have done about that. All that kind of trade moved up closer to I-70 by the mid-60s. There were a bunch of long term old folks living there for quite a few years, but they started dying off. Then a bad element started moving in…cooking meth, doing other bad stuff. Scott was able to get them kicked out, and he also got the remaining old folks out of there too. Then he just locked the gate and walked away. He didn’t even try to unload the rigs that were left there.”

“There’re rigs there?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, most of the old people who were there toward the end didn’t have next of kin… that cared, anyway. Those coaches are just sitting there rotting.”

“Motorhomes?”

“No, they’re mostly travel trailers. Maybe a fifth wheel or two.”

“What happened to Scott?” Kurt asked.

“That’s the saddest part of all. He got a good job back east. Real Estate investment on Wall Street. Made himself a fortune.”

“That doesn’t sound sad,” Hilda said.

“He was in New Jersey when the bomb went off. He didn’t make it…and his whole family went with him. Kids and all.”

“Oh, no,” Kurt said. “I remember him. He was a nice boy.”

“So what happened to the RV Park?” Charlie asked.

“It’s still just sitting there, as far as I know. Scott didn’t have any next of kin. I think the local sheriff has to chase the druggies out of there every so often, but as far as I know, the place is still standing.”

“Maybe we should drive out there and take a look,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, might as well,” Howard said. “If you want to stay there for a while, I’ll call the sheriff and let him know who you are. As long as he knows you aren’t cooking meth, he’ll be fine with it. Heck, since so many of you folks ran RV Parks before, you could probably get the place up and running again. There’s a good spring out there, so at least you got water.”

“That’s a good idea,” Charlie said. “Let’s go check it out.”

“I’d make sure you do it during daylight, though,” Howard said. “You’ve only got a couple of hours left today. Why don’t you hang out here overnight, and then go check it out in the morning? I’ve got plenty of room back there, and you guys could use my showers and bathrooms. It’d be nice to have you around to catch up with.”

“I think we’ll take you up on that,” Kurt said. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks, Howard,” Hilda said.

They walked out of the store and around to their rigs.

“I can’t believe our luck,” Charlie said quietly.

“Well, don’t count your chickens yet,” Kurt said. “The place might be really trashed.”

“True, but like Howard said, we’ve all got experience. We could get it fixed up in no time, I suspect. Hell, we even have a backhoe with us.”

When they got into the back parking lot, they saw the whole group, sitting in their folding chairs. A few of the rigs had their awnings out, and everybody was chatting and laughing and enjoying what was left of the day.

“There’s our family,” Hilda said. Charlie put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close as they joined them.

“What’d you find out?” Frank asked,
as Kurt and Mary walked up with Charlie and Hilda.

“It was my old friend Howard,” Kurt said. “Nice to see him. He said we could stay here, and use his bathrooms and showers.”

“Excellent,” Jackson said.

“What about that RV Park?” Jerry asked.

“Long story…but bottom line, it’s just sitting out there empty, except for a few abandoned trailers and 5
^th
wheels. The son just locked the gates and walked away. Then he got killed in the New York harbor bombing.”

“Oh no,” Jane said.

“We takin a ride out there?” Jeb asked.

“In the morning, if that’s alright.” Kurt replied.

“Wonder if I can pull one of the trailers with my SUV?” Gabe asked.

“Maybe,” Charlie said. “I’m pretty sure they’ll at least need new tires, though, if they’ve been sitting out there for years. They might need a lot of other types of work, too. Apparently there’ve been lowlifes out there cooking meth a few times over the years.”

“Yuk,” Jasmine said.

“When we go tomorrow, we go armed,” Jeb said. “Just in case.”

“Yeah, I agree, Jeb,” Kurt said.

“You aren’t going,” Mary said. “You don’t need to be running around in no gun battle. At least not yet.”

“I know, sweetie, I’ll let the able bodied folks take this one on,” he said, looking at her and smiling.

“Your friend have any cold beer in his store?” Jeb asked.

“Probably,” Kurt said. “I’m sure he’d appreciate the trade. If any of you need supplies, it’d be a good place to buy them.”

“Okay, I think we ought to commence relaxing a little bit,” Charlie said, smiling.

“You right,” Rosie said. “Who’s got mobile bar?”

“I’m sure we could set something up from my rig,” Jeb said. “I don’t think I have all the ingredients for Weng-Wengs, though.”

“You get beer,” Rosie said. “Also buy cookies.”

Jeb smiled at her. “Anything you want, sweetie, but I’m going to get my jeep unhitched before I start drinking. I want to take it along tomorrow.”

Jake walked over to Gabe and Dobie.

“This sound’s promising,” Jake said.

“Yeah, it does,” Dobie said. “I can remove the kennels on my truck…could probably use it to tow a 5
^th
wheel, if I can get the hitch hardware.”

“Hell, my bobtail has a trailer hitch on it,” Jake replied. “You know these things are gonna be trashed, though, right?”

“Probably,” Dobie said. “Hopefully we can get them nice enough inside to be able to live in them for a while, though. Wonder if Howard has propane?”

“There’s a sign for it out front,” Gabe said. “I’m also wondering if the park has generators. See that diesel truck over there? I’ll bet this guy delivers.”