Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (21 page)

“You hear me now?” Johnny asked.

“Water,” Scott croaked.

“I’ll get it,” Blake said, trotting out of the room. He was back in a few seconds with the glass. Johnny took it, lifted up Scott’s head, and put it to his lips. Scott felt the cool liquid break its way down his throat. He coughed.

“Is he gonna be alright?” Kerry asked.

“Well, he’s still alive,” Johnny said. “Why didn’t you guys call 911?” He stood up and looked at both of them, his muscular body looking huge to Scott.

“We will if we have to,” Blake said. “We don’t want mom to find out we’re here.”

“Where are you supposed to be?” Scott croaked.

“At the center,” Kerry said. “We ain’t going back there.”

“The looney bin,” Johnny said, laughing. “You guys sure this is your cousin?”

“Yes,” Blake said.

“Okay, let’s take a look at this wound,” Johnny said. He kneeled back down and lifted Scott’s bloody shirt.

“Ouch,” Scotty cried.

“What does it feel like?” Johnny asked.

“Dull ache, unless you mess with it,” Scott said, wincing as Johnny probed at it.

“This isn’t too bad,” Johnny said. “You really should go into the hospital, though. I can’t tell for sure if there’s internal bleeding.”

“Should I sit up?” Scott asked.

“No, I’d stay like this for a while yet,” Johnny said. “Drink more water. If you start to feel light headed or you get real short of breath, you’ll need to get to a hospital. Fast. Do either of you inbreeds drive?” he asked, looking at them.

“What’s an inbreed?” Kerry asked.

Scott started to laugh. “Shit, that hurts.”

“Want me to get the number for their mom and call her?” Johnny asked.

“No, she hates me,” Scott said. “I’ll take my chances with these two.”

“Who stabbed you?” Johnny asked.

“He said it was
some dumb bitch
,” Blake said.

Scott started to laugh again, but it turned into a cough. Johnny got a concerned look, and pulled out a small flashlight. “Open your mouth.” Scotty complied, and Johnny shined the light in his mouth. “No blood that I can see,” he said. “That’s good. Let’s take your blood pressure.”

Johnny got out his blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. Kerry and Blake watched as he took the blood pressure.

“Normal,” Johnny said, removing the cuff. “You’re probably going to be okay. I’ll get a dressing on that wound. You’ll want to change it a few times in the next couple of days.”

“Thanks, doc,” Scotty said.

“I’m just a paramedic,” Johnny said. “If I were you, I’d go to the emergency room, but I get the impression you aren’t going to do that.”

“Not unless I have to,” Scott said.

“You’re really their cousin?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah,” Scott said.

“We told you that already,” Blake said.

Johnny ignored him. “You Chet’s kid?”

Scott’s eyes got wider. “You knew my dad?”

“My dad and my uncle knew him,” Johnny said. “I was too young. Hell, I’m younger than you.”

“Really? What’s your last name?”

“Beckler.”

Scott got a sly grin on his face. “Really, now. Was your uncle named Jason, by any chance?”

Johnny got a scared look on his face. “You’re like them, aren’t you?”

“What’s he talking about?” Kerry asked Blake, who returned a dull glance.

Scotty just smiled. “We should talk.”

“I got to go,” Johnny said. “The boss will be wondering where the hell I am.”

“You’ll be back?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, we can catch up then. Get some rest.”

Johnny picked up his stuff in a hurry, shoving it into the plastic case. He rushed out the door.

“Hey, inbreed number one,” Scott said.

Both of the boys looked over at him.

“What does that mean?” Blake asked.

“It means you’re both special,” Scott said. “Is that basement room still set up down there?”

“We don’t go down there,” Kerry said. “Scary town.”

“Is there something I can sleep on down there?”

“Yes, there’s beds,” Blake said.

“Good, then you two carry me down there, and bring some water and food down.”

“Okay, Scotty,” Kerry said.

“If anybody comes to the door, don’t tell them about me. Understand?”

Both of the boys nodded yes.

“You got another Ethernet hub,
by any chance?” Frank asked Jerry, as they were sitting around in the clubhouse.

“No, I don’t, but I’ll bet that Jake does. Why?”

“I thought it’d be nice to be able to connect more than one machine in here.”

“We could set up the Wi-Fi. Jake was talking about that yesterday.”

“That’d be good too, especially for the RV spaces, but in here, a hub would work fine. Let’s go ask him.”

“Okay,” Jerry said. The two men got up and walked out the door, heading for the trailers. Jake was sitting under Dobie’s awning with Gabe.

“Good morning, guys,” Frank said.

“Good morning to you,” Gabe said, smiling.

Jake nodded, smiling too. “Heard about General Hogan. Good news.”

“Sure is,” Jerry said. “Hey Jake, you wouldn’t have any Ethernet hubs in your warehouse there, would you?”

“Yeah, I have a few,” he said. “Need one?”

“We were thinking about setting one up in the Clubhouse.”

“Let’s go,” Jake said. “It’ll be in the back of the bobtail.”

“Thanks, Jake,” Frank said.

“I’m still planning on getting the Wi-Fi hooked up too,” Jake said as they walked. “You okay with the bandwidth usage?”

“Sure,” Frank said. “I think we’ll be fine for the number of coaches we have, and I’m done with the hacking.”

“What are you guys gonna do next?” Jake asked.

“I’ve got the connect info for the National Parks system on my laptop. I wanted to use it to do a little spying on our friend Saladin, if the video cameras are still working. We’ve got a bunch of people showing up at Capitol Reef as we speak.”

“Gonna hit ‘em?” Jake asked, grinning.

“Probably,” Frank said. “The General will be coming to see us soon. I bet we’ll be working with him on this.”

They got to the bobtail. Jake pulled a full key ring out of his pocket.

“Damn, Jake, that’s a lot of keys for a pocket,” Jerry said, chuckling. “You need one of those cable spool things.”

“I know,” Jake said, chuckling. “I should weed through them. I can’t even remember what some of them are for anymore.” He found the key for the padlock on the bobtail door, unlocked it, and rolled it up.

“You’ve got a hell of a lot of stuff in here,” Frank said, watching Jake climb in.

“Yeah, but some of it got a little shot up,” Jake said. “Damn pajama boys.”

“Hopefully they didn’t hit the hubs,” Jerry said.

“Here’s one,” Jake said, turning towards them, holding it up. “No holes in the box.”

“Good,” Frank said.

“Holy crap, that’s a 24 port hub,” Jerry said. “Wow.”

“Yeah, these are nice,” Jake said. “You can run a whole damn office with this sucker.”

“Good, we can set it up by one of those long tables, and get a lot of PCs connected in the clubhouse,” Jerry said.

“Well, here you go,” Jake said. “Just a sec, I’ll get you a bundle of cables.” He went back into the truck, and came back with a handful of them.

“Perfect,” Jerry said, taking the cables from Jake.

“If that’s not enough, come on back and I’ll give you some more,” Jake said. “Think I ought to work on the Wi-Fi?”

“Why don’t we wait until after the General’s visit,” Frank said. “We should have a better idea of what the future will hold after that.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Jake said. “If you need anything else, you just let me know.”

“Thanks,” Frank said. He walked back to the clubhouse with Jerry, and they got to work setting up one of the long dining room tables.

Jane walked in. “What’s that?” she asked.

“We got an Ethernet hub from Jake,” Jerry said. “It’s like the one out in the barn, but it’s got 24 ports instead of just 4.”

“Oh,” she said. “Maybe Jasmine and I could set up in here, then. It’s cold out there in the morning, and hot later in the day. This is a lot nicer.”

“Sure, go ahead and bring your laptops over here,” Frank said. “I’m going to go get mine from the coach. I’m hoping the connection info I have on there for the National Park system still works.”

“Ah, that would be good,” Jane said. “I’ll go grab my laptop. I think Jasmine’s still out there. She’d probably rather be in here too. I’ll let her know.”

“Good, we’re almost done setting up,” Jerry said.

Scott woke up, and looked around the dark recesses of the basement, laying on a small twin bed against the dirty brick wall. He felt at home, but he was antsy. He kept running through last night over and over.
I thought I had Howard.
Did he just get scared?
I can’t lose him yet. I need his help to take back my park.

There were footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked over and saw Kerry and Blake, one with a tray of food in his hands, the other with a pitcher of water and a glass. They hurried over and put them on a table next to the bed.

“Time to eat, Scotty,” Blake said. “Johnny said you need to keep your strength up.”

“Is he coming back soon?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, he said he’d be here before noon,” Kerry said.

“It’s scary down here,” Blake said.

“I’ll let you boys go in a minute. Did either of you see my cell phone?”

The two looked blankly at each other, then back at him. They both shook their heads no.

“Maybe I dropped it on the road, or in the barn. Would one of you go look for me?”

“I will,” Blake said, getting up, looking ready to bolt for the stairs.

“Good, Blake,” Scott said. “It might be in the barn. There’s a girl sleeping in there. Don’t wake her up. Don’t even go near her, okay?”

“A girl?” Kerry asked.

“Yeah,” Scott said. “A friend, but she’s feeling a little under the weather, so we need to leave her alone.”

“Maybe Johnny can help her when he comes,” Blake said, as he climbed the stairs.

“Yeah, maybe,” Scott said.

“Are you feeling better, Scotty?” Kerry asked

“Sure, I’m a lot better,” he said. “Thanks for helping me.”

“You’re
blood
,” Kerry said, smiling. “Better eat something.”

Scott propped himself up on his elbows and took a drink of water. Then he picked up a piece of toast off the tray and ate it.

“This is good, thanks,” Scott said. “Does your mom ever come around here?”

“No, never,” Kerry said, eyes wide. “You aren’t going to call her, are you?”

“No,” Scott said. “Why doesn’t she come here?”

“She says it’s evil here,” Kerry said, eyes still wide. “She says Uncle Chet and his friends did bad things here with her daddy.” He paused, looking around. “I don’t like to talk about this, Scotty.”

“Why?”

“It reminds me of the noises. When I was a little kid. And the smells.”

“That was scary?” Scott asked.

“Yeah,” Kerry said. “Did Uncle Chet hurt you?”

“No, he was my dad,” Scott said. “He treated me well. I miss him.”

“He told Blake and me that he was going to cut us up,” Kerry said, looking down.

“Why would he do that, Kerry?”

“We snuck down here one time, and caught him.”

“Caught him doing what?”

“He was hurting a girl,” Kerry said, eyes starting to tear up. “He was on top of her, and he hit her. She was crying.”

“Oh,” Scott said. “Did he ever hurt you?”

“No, he said he wouldn’t as long as we didn’t tell mom.”

“Did you tell mom?” Scott asked.

“Oh, no, we didn’t,” Kerry said, looking frightened again.

“Don’t be scared,” Scott said. “Chet was only kidding, and he’s dead now. He can’t ever hurt you.”

Suddenly there were footsteps above them, and Blake came running down the stairs with a big grin on his face. “Look, I found it,” he said, beaming.

“Oh, great,” Scott said. He held out his hand, and Blake placed it there, then backed up. “I didn’t wake up the girl. She’s still asleep.”

“Good, thank you for that, Blake,” Scott said.

“Is that the
dumb bitch
that stabbed you?” he asked.

“No, it was her friend,” Scott said. “She left in a big motorhome with my friend.”

“Oh, a motorhome like Uncle Chet had?” Blake asked.

“Yeah,” Scott said. “If you see a motorhome drive up to the house, you come get me right away, okay?” He looked at the two of them. They both looked worried.

“She’s not coming back to hurt us, is she?” Blake asked.

“No, no, don’t worry about that. My friend might come back, though.”

“Okay, we’ll watch. Can we go upstairs?”

“Sure, Blake, go ahead,” Scott said. “Thanks for the food and water.”

The two smiled and nodded, then went back up the stairs.

“Geez, how did those two get here?” Scotty said to himself, wondering if he had anybody else to worry about. He brought his phone up to his face. There was a text message waiting, from Howard. He opened it. Amanda. Death pictures.
I still have him.
He smiled, and ate some more.

Frank had his laptop set up on the table next to the PC desk. He navigated to the link for the National Park system and got on. No problem; the access was still there. He navigated to the video system at Capitol Reef, and brought up the grid of cameras. It looked like they were still working. He heard Jane, Jasmine, and Jerry walking in, chatting. They lined up on the table, setting up their laptops.

“Can you still get on the system?” Jane asked, scooting over closer to him.

“Yep,” Frank said. “Look.” He turned his laptop towards her so she could see the screen.

“Why didn’t they didn’t shut down the cameras?” Jasmine asked.

“I know why,” Jerry said. “If they go dead, the Park Service might send a crew out there.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Frank said, as he brought up the camera nearest to the hiding spot. “They
are
being careful, though. This camera in the back is pointed in a different direction now. It’s not covering that overhang. Somebody climbed up on the pole and turned it.”

Jane and Jerry came over and looked. “Yep, you’re right,” Jane said.