Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (10 page)

It was only mid-morning when they entered the small town but there were people scattered about and they all noticed the strangers walking down the road. Nathan didn’t like it because he could see resentment and outright hostility on many of their faces. He glanced down to make sure his badge was prominently displayed and it was.

By the time they were in the center of town they had all eyes on them and very few people were talking, just staring at the group. Nathan led the group to the side twice so a truck could pass them then he moved them back away from the sidewalk. Everyone he saw was armed with some type of gun and he wanted distance from them.

No one in town made a threatening gesture, but it was very clear they weren’t welcome. When they passed the last building Nathan fought off an urge to pull down his pants and moon the assholes but it would’ve been too much trouble. As they left town the people walking into town moved to the side of the road, giving them harsh looks.

When they were almost to the Interstate, Jasmine asked from behind him, “What the hell did we do?”

“Have no idea, but we won’t be staying close again,” he said.

Amanda looked at a motel off the Interstate, “I wish we could stay there,” she said.

“It’s not worth it; no air conditioner,” Nathan said.

“Speak for yourself,” Amanda popped off. “I want to sleep on a bed. The ground sucks,” she said.

“How in the hell would you know? You spend half the night on me or Ares and the other half on both of us,” Nathan said.

“Well, y’all move,” she said as if that explained everything. Nathan shook his head as he was learning a valuable lesson. Don’t argue with a teenage girl: they are always right and love to prove it. He decided to keep his mouth shut.

They walked under the Interstate, only encountering a few people and those were all heading south. At noon they left the road and sat down in the trees just far enough away that they couldn’t be seen easily but could see others on the road. As they ate a couple of trucks and a car passed.

“Is it me, or are there more cars working here?” John asked.

“No, we’ve seen more vehicles moving since we entered Alabama,” Nathan confirmed for him.

“Why?” he asked.

“Don’t know. The EMP might not have been as strong here, or maybe because they had more time to work on them,” Nathan offered.

They sat and ate, each going over their personal thoughts until Nathan leaned back on his elbows. “Out of all the foods, I’m going to miss chocolate the most,” he said then added, “and then my Dog Tag.”

“We have chocolate, and why would you want to eat a dog tag?” Amanda asked.

“Dog Tag is a beer that I like. It’s made in Montana. Yeah, we have chocolate for now, but cocoa’s only grown around the equator and it will be a while till we get some more,” Nathan said with a sigh.

Amanda sighed. “I’m going to miss Taco Bell,” she said.

“Soda pop,” John said.

“Coffee,” Jasmine said.

“Well that just makes sense,” Nathan said, laughing.

“What?” Jasmine asked, wondering what he found funny.

“At home we have greenhouses that are full of coffee plants,” Nathan said, still laughing.

“Oh I’m so there,” Jasmine said, smiling. “I just have to wait till they grow, huh?”

“No, they are all seven years old and last year we got almost nine hundred pounds,” Nathan said.

She sat up. “How the hell did you grow coffee in Idaho, even with a greenhouse?” she wanted to know.

“Wasn’t easy,” Nathan admitted. “Took us a while to come up with a heating system that would keep the plants warm but not use much energy, human or power.”

“Can I just ask why and you not make me feel stupid?” Jasmine asked, cringing.

“I’m sorry if I’ve done that,” he apologized. “Think about it, Jasmine. If you could grow coffee, what the trading power of that would be if things went bad? That’s why we put a lot toward it.”

She looked off thinking about that for a minute and nodded. It would be worth a lot. “You guys thought of a lot,” she said.

“Yeah, but we didn’t do cocoa,” Nathan said, getting to his feet. “There are about a thousand other things I would’ve added,” he said, stretching. The rest of them joined him, grabbing their packs. “Before we disembark I need to take care of some business,” Nathan said, walking to the woods.

“Me too,” Amanda said.

“Count me in,” Jasmine said. Since Amanda didn’t grab the paper she pulled it out of her pack and followed her as John and Ares followed after Nathan.

Several minutes later they hit the road and continued walking on through the rolling hills. Small mountains to the rest of the group; just foothills to Nathan. They passed a few other people heading toward town and none of them showed any signs of anger toward their group. “Guess we haven’t pissed these guys off yet,” Amanda pointed out when the last group passed by.

“What did we do that was different?” Jasmine asked.

“I have no idea,” Nathan said, trying to figure it out. Suddenly Jasmine came up beside him and looked at his vest, making him look down as well. “What? I got food on me?” he asked, making brushing motions.

“Your badge. It’s covered up,” she said.

“Well yes, unless we’re in a town I keep it covered. Makes a good target out here,” he said.

“That’s what’s different,” Jasmine said, smiling. Nathan looked at her unconvinced. “Nathan, it’s the only thing different,” she told him.

“She’s got a point,” John said. Nathan was sure if Jasmine said it was daylight at midnight John would agree.

“Okay, why?” he asked her.

“Shit I don’t know, but they don’t like the fact you’re a cop,” she said, looking at his badge. “Or a type of cop,” she added.

“Come again,” he said.

“The word ‘Sheriff’ on the back is covered up. All the people can see is a man with military gear and a badge,” she said. “I saw some like that but they had different clothes on.”

He nodded. She had a point. “Yeah, they could see I’m a fed, but why show that much hostility anyway? I know country people don’t like the government but damn,” Nathan said.

“Well, since I didn’t make it to the quilting party last night I don’t know,” Jasmine said.

“I think I’m going to spit in your ear,” he said, reaching for his can. Amanda and Jasmine grabbed his arm.

“Please don’t put that nasty crap in your mouth?” Jasmine begged.

“I’m going to throw it away,” Amanda threatened.

“Don’t even think about it. I only have two cans left and I want to enjoy it,” Nathan said, moving his arm away from his pocket.

They left him alone so he wouldn’t get a dip and followed along. Mid-afternoon they came upon a small country store. Two young men were sitting on the porch in chairs with a real old man. “I think I hear banjos playing,” Nathan said, looking around.

“I don’t hear anything,” Jasmine said and the others agreed.

“Deliverance,” Nathan said, looking at Jasmine.

“From what?” she asked.

“Never mind,” Nathan said, suddenly feeling very old. “Let’s keep close together. I want to see how they act around us to see how far away we move to make camp,” he said, continuing on to the store.

The three men just smiled pleasantly at the group as they walked over and Nathan swore the first person that said he had a pretty smile was getting shot. All three men had a rifle beside them and didn’t seem the least bit scared of the group, which settled Nathan somewhat.

“Afternoon,” Nathan said, stepping onto the porch and nodding his head. The three nodded at him and said hi.

The door of the store opened and the ugliest old woman Nathan had ever seen or could’ve imagined walked out. “If ya come inside, leave the packs,” she said gruffly.

“Ma’am, we can’t leave our packs out here unattended. We’ve learned several valuable lessons lately; let nothing out of your sight being one of the first,” Nathan said.

“Young man, if somebody can take those packs off this here porch with them three sitting then you ain’t goin’ to do any better,” she let him know right fast.

“Yes ma’am. We would like to fill up our water and buy some food,” he said and that perked her eyes up.

“Pump is out back and I cut up seven pounds of bacon this morning after Paw and the boys slaughtered the hog. I’ve been sellin’ BLT’s,” she said.

“You have power to store meat out here?” he asked.

“Yep, propane. Don’t like firin’ up the ‘lectric genny, makes too much noise. Drawin’ in all kinds of folks. Had a group of colored boys here two days ago drivin’ an old car that could jump up an’ down, believe it or not. But they wanted to take some stuff from us and not pay for some gas,” she told them.

“I hope they didn’t hurt you guys,” Nathan said with concern.

The old woman and the three men fell out laughing. “Oh you funny, I like ya,” she said, slapping her thigh.

Seeing that reaction, Nathan liked these people. “We’ll take ten BLTs,” he told the old woman and she quit laughing.

“I ain’t told you how much,” she said. Nathan pulled out a hundred and handed it to her.

“Will that cover it?” he asked.

“Shit, I hopes so. If not, hog prices are stupid,” she said. “I gots to finds some change and a pencil so I can be subtracting,” she said, turning around.

“Ma’am, keep the change. It’s nice to see some friendly people for a change,” Nathan said and she smiled at him.

“Very kind of ya, young man,” she said, walking into the store.

Nathan turned to the three who were just rocking in their chairs. He fought to keep the sound of banjos out of his head. “Why are the people in town so hostile?” he asked.

“Them city folk always hostile at somethin,’” the old man said and the two beside him nodded.

“No, they seemed mad at us in particular,” Nathan said. “Has something happened lately?”

“Besides the power goin’ out?” one of the younger men spoke up. The two started laughing and the old man stopped rocking his chair and swiveled his head to look at them and they froze mid-laugh.

“Be disrespectin’ again, Billy, and I’ll get the plow line after ya,” the old man threatened.

Billy looked down. “Yes sir,” he said, and the other man nodded.

The old man started rocking again and looked back at Nathan. “Word came down on the CB last night that troops shot a bunch of people trying to get inta Chattanooga.”

Nathan blinked. “Shot?” he asked.

“Yeah, they said there was a bunch dead. One man said the people didn’t even try to run when the troops opened up, just stood there to be shot,” the old man said.

“Shit,” Nathan said to himself.

“I sayed more than that when I heard it. That’s why me and the grandkids sittin’ outside today. Just to let the G-men know we ain’t afraid of ‘em,” he said, smiling grimly.

“Well I’ve had some trouble, but none with them yet,” Nathan said. “I hope those men in the jumping car didn’t cause any damage or hurt anything.”

“They can’t shoot fer shit,” the old man said. “Two gots away but they left seven behind. We planted ‘em an’ said some prayers over ‘em.” He smiled again.

“Cool,” Nathan said.

“Where you headed if ya don’t mind my askin’?” the old man asked.

“Not at all. We’re headed to Idaho,” Nathan said.

The old man stopped rocking and looked at Nathan. “Young man, that’s on the other side of the world, close to ‘Laska,” he said.

“Yes sir, it is, but I’m a cop and have family that needs me,” Nathan said.

“I can see ‘bout the family, but the government has taken over all the police stations. Hell, ever our constable ‘round here threw his badge in when they said he reported only to them,” the old man said.

“That makes a lot of sense now,” Nathan said. “Well sir, between me, you and your kin, I’m using the power of the badge to get home. Then I’m goin’ on my farm and any son of bitch that tries to get me off I’ll plant under next year’s corn,” Nathan said. The three started laughing, slapping their legs and holding their sides.

“Hell, I really like ya now,” the old man said as the woman came out holding a paper bag.

“Here ya go, and I put some fruit in there for tha little girl. She’s lookin’ a little peaked,” the old woman said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Nathan said, handing the bag to Jasmine.

“You need anything else?” she asked.

“A ride would be great. Two thousand miles is a long way to get home,” Nathan said, putting his hat on.

“We can’t take ya that fur, but how fur down the road?” she asked.

Nathan froze. “As far as you can take us,” he said finally, and the old woman looked at the man.

“They’s good people,” she said.

“I knowed that, woman,” he snapped. “I’ve been talkin’ to ‘em, haven’t I,” he added. Then he looked at Nathan. “Where you headin’ local?” he asked, and Nathan pulled out his map and walked over to the man, showing him their trail.

The old woman came over and joined them. “Hell, the young’uns can take ‘em to the lake,” she said.

“Ah ma’am, that’s over sixty miles away and past another Interstate. It puts the men at too much risk,” Nathan said, shaking his head.

The old woman just looked at him and smiled. “That’s what I like about ya. You thinkin’ of others even when they tryin’ to help ya. Come here,” she said, walking to the corner of the store and pointing behind it. Nathan could see about a dozen small houses with several kids playing and adults sitting around.

“Those be my young’uns and grand babies. Forty-one in all. Just let someone mess with us. We’ll plant ‘em,” she said, looking back at him. “You didn’t need food, you can’t be foolin’ me. You wanted to meet and see how we was and liked us. Then tried to help us out, so we gonna do the same,” she said.

“Ma’am, those that take us will be alone coming home,” Nathan tried to tell her.

“If I ain’t worried, then you shouldn’t be,” she told him.

“Yes ma’am,” Nathan said and pulled out two hundred dollars.

“No, we doin’ this as a friend,” she said, trying to wave the money away.

“Even a friend pays for the gas,” Nathan said.

“Where the hell you buy
yo
gas?” she asked.

“Ma’am, it would make me feel better knowing I’m accommodating you in some way,” he said, still holding out the money.