Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (11 page)

She took the money. “You girls come with me so I can give ya an apple pie to take with ya,” the old lady said, then walked back into the store. They looked at Nathan and he nodded. As they ran after the old woman she stopped them. “You can’t take the packs in ‘cause you’ll knock stuff off the shelves,” she told them. Jasmine and Amanda looked at Nathan and he nodded again. They dropped their packs and followed the old lady inside.

“John, get the bottles and take them to the pump and fill them,” Nathan said. “Ares, you can’t go in the store. Go with John,” he said and Ares groaned and followed John. Nathan looked at the old man. “Can I help you in any way?” he asked.

“Don’t see how. ‘Fore the black fellers came a car of city boys came out, and none of ‘em left,” the old man said. “Between just them two we made mo’ money than we did in the last ten years. Don’t know where they gots it but it’s ours now,” he told Nathan.

Nathan laughed. “You don’t know how much better that makes me feel,” he said.

“Don’t be worryin’ ‘bout us. But I hafta say it’s right nice ta see manners from ya. Givin’ Ma that bill for those sandwiches’ was kind, sir,” he said, smiling. He gestured to the two men beside him. “Go get the truck and pull it ‘round here. Getcha another box of cartridges and tell your daddy to go with ya,” he said.

“Oh come on, Papaw, let us do it,” Billy begged.

The old man looked at them and smiled. “Okay, but don’t be actin’ a fool, and drive safe. If the G-men say somethin’ just head home and tell us on the CB. We’ll be ready for ‘em,” the old man said firmly and the two men jumped up, grabbing their rifles. They ran off the porch hooting and hollering. “They’re the light of my years,” he said, looking at Nathan.

“Thank you sir, and I hope this doesn’t bring trouble to your family,” Nathan said, holding out his hand.

“Trouble’s comin’ son, only a matter of time ‘fore it finds us all. Me, I’d prefer to face it sooner than later,” he said.

“Yes sir, but I’d really like to be home before I start stirring the pot,” Nathan said.

“Nothin’ wrong with that, but ya may not get the chance,” he told Nathan, shaking his hand.

“Then I’ll just have to start stirring,” Nathan said as the two girls came out carrying an armload of stuff followed by the old woman. Even encumbered as she was, Amanda was still managing to eat a caramel apple and she was grinning from ear to ear. Nathan just smiled and rubbed her head as the truck pulled around with John and Ares already in the back.

Nathan helped to put the stuff in the truck and the old woman and the old man hugged everyone goodbye. When the old man went back to hug Jasmine a second time it bought him a slap to the head from his wife. After the goodbyes everybody jumped in and the driver took off down the road. The two men knew the area a thousand times better than any map Nathan had. They went down logging trails and down roads on farms that weren’t even on the map. The group sat in the back and ate as the two drove.

Jasmine looked over at Nathan. “I guess you’re going to give us a ticket for riding in the back of the truck, huh?” she asked.

Eating his sandwich, Nathan shook his head no. “Hell, I was eleven years old before I knew a truck had a front seat.”

“I’ve never ridden in the back of a truck,” Amanda said, smiling and eating her sandwich.

“Me either. This is great,” John said, looking out at the world going by.

Nathan looked at Jasmine. “How about you? Have you ridden in the back of a truck before?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean I’m a little kid,” she popped off. “They passed that law before I had the chance to,” she said, trying to defend her position.

Unable to restrain himself, Nathan started to laugh, which only irritated Jasmine more. “Jasmine, you can now tell everyone you’ve broken another law with us,” he said, smiling. Relieved, she smiled and polished off her sandwich.

An hour and ten minutes later they stopped and Nathan and his crew got out, hugging the men bye. Wishing them well, the two left. Jasmine asked Nathan, “Why did they give us a ride?”

“They said because I was friendly and gave her a large tip,” he said. “I really think they wanted to flaunt their nose at the government, letting them know they’ll do what they damn well want.” He looked at the three and smiled, “Man, do I miss cars.”

Amanda snatched the map out of his pocket and opened it. After studying it she looked up. “They carried us seventy-three miles,” she said with awe.

“Yep, at least five days of travel in little over an hour,” Nathan said as Amanda handed the map back.

“Makes me feel bad for taking cars for granted,” John said, picking up his pack.

“We have about two hours of light left. Let’s camp on the other side of the dam,” Nathan said as he strode away.

They made camp, cleaned equipment, then ate pie. Gathering around Nathan, they listened intently as he started teaching them more about how to survive. After a while he pulled out his tablet and showed them pictures of the guys and their families in Idaho. One by one, they drifted off to sleep, leaving Amanda awake for guard. She continued to look at the pictures for a while, with Ares beside her and her head on Nathan’s lap.

Chapter 7

Day 13

John was on guard when the light started creeping back into the sky. He looked over at the three sleeping and felt really good. They actually liked being around him and listened to what he had to say. Nobody ever said anything bad to him when he asked a question or made fun of him.

Reaching down, John tugged on the pants to see if they had loosened up some, but they were still snug. The only complaint he had was that his belly, his arms, his neck—hell, everything itched. He’d told Nathan last night and Nathan had taken a look, then informed him that it was the fat dying off and the skin tightening back up. Hearing that, John wanted to dance, but he didn’t know how.

Hearing movement, he turned to see Jasmine lift her head up and his heart stopped. He didn’t want to tell her but Jasmine was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. She had a body like he had only seen on some of the websites he wasn’t supposed to go to.

When she stood up John felt his heart stop and his face get real warm, as she was clothed only in panties and a bra. He watched her put on some jogging pants and a shirt. Slipping on her sandals, Jasmine started some coffee and walked over to him.

“Morning, John, did you see anything last night?” she asked.

In visual overload, John just stood there with his mouth open and his eyes bulging out of his head. It took a second for his brain to process she was talking to him and what the words meant. Then he just slowly shook his head no. “Want some coffee?” she asked and he shook his head no again.

“Wake everyone up, I’m going to the bathroom,” she said, patting his cheek.

When she walked by John realized he was holding his breath. Letting it out slowly, he turned around, watching her step behind the blanket they’d hung up. “Today is the best day ever,” he said as he walked over and shook Amanda and Nathan awake.

The group worked out and Nathan noticed John wasn’t paying attention like he usually was. When he asked John about it all John could tell him was, “Today is the best day ever.” Nathan had no idea what he was talking about and let it go, not sure he wanted the answer.

They packed up and Nathan studied the map, then took off with everyone following. Amanda came up to him and grabbed his hand. “John’s acting weird,” she said.

“How so?” Nathan asked.

“He just keeps talking about how this is the best day ever,” she said.

Nathan smiled. “Yeah, he said the same to me. I bet he’s just happy that we’re safe,” he offered.

“Maybe,” Amanda said not convinced. “How far today?” she asked.

“I’m thinking we should get eighteen miles,” he said.

“We are walking really well. I think we can get more. Like twenty,” she said.

“I think you’re right, but I don’t want us to drop every night. If we piss someone off and have to run, I want reserves,” he said. Jasmine moved up closer, seeing the two talking.

“Just kill ‘em,” Amanda said, waving her hand.

“What if there are a bunch of them?” he asked.

“You shot seventeen,” Amanda pointed out.

“Okay, what if there are a hundred?” Nathan asked.

She thought about that for a minute. “You’re right, we should run,” she agreed.

Sighing with relief, he said, “You really had me worried there, girl.”

“Well, you fight anybody,” Amanda said.

“Not if I can help it, and if I do I try to stack the odds in my favor,” Nathan told her.

Amanda looked up at him. “We came around that corner and those bangers wanted some trouble and you gave it. There were more than you.”

“They left me with no choice. They were going to kill us. Remember, never give up your gun. No matter what the other guy says. Even if they are holding me with a gun to my head, never give up your weapon. Once you do I’m dead and you’re dead. Try to shoot them, run, but don’t give up your gun,” he told Amanda.

“Really,” she said.

“Amanda, think. Why would a man who’s holding a gun to your friend’s head or demanding you drop your gun let you go if you do? You aren’t a threat anymore, therefore you’re dead,” Nathan said. “The death they will give you makes a gunshot seem kind,” he added.

“Like Momma,” she said, looking down.

“Hey squirt,” Nathan said, making her look up. “You remember, you’re with me and if I’m still breathing the fight is on. And don’t forget we’ve got that dumb dog,” he said, pointing at Ares.

“He’s not dumb,” Amanda shot back.

“You said he was, for licking his butt,” Nathan reminded her.

“Well I’m sure it’s important to him. He does it all the time, so leave him alone,” she said.

“That’s my little firecracker,” Nathan said.

Out of the blue, Amanda asked, “Who were the girls I saw in your ‘friends’ folder?” The disdain was evident in her voice.

“Huh?” Nathan asked, hearing the tone.

“Just give me the thing and I’ll show you,” she said and he handed her the tablet. After it was on she turned it to him. “These?” she asked with more than a little attitude.

“Oh, those are old girlfriends,” Nathan said. Then he saw her counting. “Twenty-four,” he said.

“You’ve had twenty-four girlfriends?” she asked.

“No, I’ve had more. Those are just the ones I dated for a while,” he said. Then she started to pull up each one and question him as they walked through the woods along a dirt road. They stopped mid-morning for a break and continued on. The entire time the inquisition continued. When Amanda finished with the girlfriends she moved to his friends and kids, asking a ton of questions about each.

It was just after noon and Nathan was getting ready to call for lunch when they came around a bend and he saw a car in the distance. They had seen a few stopped cars on the back gravel roads but Nathan didn’t like the looks of this one as he raised his binoculars. Amanda never stopped asking questions as he looked the car over carefully.

“Amanda, turn it off and be quiet,” he said.

She heard something in his voice and turned off the computer pad and looked up. “It’s a stopped car. We’ve seen like a billion,” she said.

“It’s a cop car and I swear there is a bullet hole in the windshield,” he said as she put the tablet in her tote bag.

“Oh man, does it have some holes in it,” John said beside him. Nathan lowered his binoculars and looked at John. He was using his massive binoculars. “Someone shot that car all up,” he said.

“Let me see,” Nathan said, holding out his hand for John’s binoculars. When John passed them over, Nathan noticed they were Marine 20-100x70s. “Jesus, you can see Mars with these damn things,” Nathan said, lifting them up to his eyes. He felt like he was standing right in front of the car. “Yep, it’s shot to shit,” he said, looking at the front of the cop car.

“Let’s go around,” Jasmine said.

“That’s going to take some time and add fifteen miles to our trip,” Nathan said, still scanning the car and the surrounding area.

“Screw that, let’s go this way,” Amanda said. “If someone is there we’ll crank a gat on ‘em,” she said, making Nathan lower the binoculars and look at her.

“Excuse me,” he said.

“Yeah, we’ll just crank a gat on ‘em,” Amanda repeated.

“Where did you hear that?” Nathan demanded.

“Those bangers you shot,” she answered, adjusting the AK on her chest.

Shaking his head, Nathan handed the binoculars back to John. “Don’t bunch up. I’ll take this side with Amanda; you two take the other side,” he told John and Jasmine.

They progressed slowly down the road and when they were about a hundred yards away from the car Nathan noted some shell cases on the road. Then he noted tractor tire tracks. Keeping his weapon ready, they approached the police car and a familiar smell crept into Nathan’s nose. As he moved around the side he saw something covered up with a tarp behind the car.

Easing around, he told everyone to stay as Ares came forward on high alert. Ares was just looking around wanting to know what all the tension was about. Moving over to the tarp, Nathan crouched down and pulled it back to find an officer shot multiple times in the chest. Nathan threw the tarp off and didn’t see his duty belt or weapon. Leaning over, he touched the officer’s chest, confirming he didn’t have a vest on.

He looked around, keeping in a crouch.

“What is it? He’s dead,” Jasmine said.

“Don’t be loud,” Nathan said in a low voice. “Who covered him up and where’s his rig and weapon?” he asked, standing up and moving slowly around the body. “Ares, search,” he whispered. Ares looked at him then at the woods in front of him. “Ares, search,” he commanded and Ares just looked at the woods and trotted towards them, stopping in the ditch. He turned to look at Nathan then at the woods.

“You guys stay on this side,” he told the three and moved to Ares. He heard someone behind him throw up as he eased up to Ares. He thought he saw something about twenty yards in, so he ventured deeper into the woods, wondering why Ares wasn’t leading him. When he reached the spot he found out why.

It was another officer and she was dead as well. “Search” only told Ares to find a live body, not a cadaver. She was a stocky female. And unlike the other officer she was in tactical gear.

He grabbed her M-4 and called the others over. Laying the rifle down, Nathan spotted her wound on the inside of her left thigh. “That probably got the femoral artery,” he said, undoing her Tac vest and pulling it off. Then he pulled off her shirt and took her concealed vest off, throwing it in the pile.

He heard the others coming up behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the three were just staring at him with blank faces. He looked down at Jasmine’s feet then looked back at the officer’s feet.
OK, that’s close
, he thought, taking her boots off and throwing them in his pile. Seeing her backup pistol, Nathan took it off and it joined the pile. Lying next to the officer was a notebook with some supplies. Opening the notebook, he found it was a handwritten journal. He skimmed the final entry.

“What happened?” Jasmine asked.

“It says in here,” Nathan said, laying the notebook on the body. “Someone on a tractor came by and shot the first one. This one stayed here for at least two or three days and then they came back and got her,” he said, not finding anything useful in the supplies.

“What are you doing?” Jasmine asked.

“Getting her stuff. She doesn’t need it anymore,” Nathan said.

“You can’t desecrate a body like that,” she said. Totally taken off guard, Nathan fell off his heels onto his butt. Ares moved over and found food that Nathan had passed over. Ares didn’t see the need to waste it.

“Oh I see, so when you are shot down the road I have to look at you and say ‘I’m sorry we didn’t take the dead cop’s stuff so you could help us defend ourselves and you got shot.’ Is that it? Because in case you haven’t noticed we aren’t going to be buying a lot of tactical gear like I’m wearing,” he pointed out.

“It just seems … wrong,” she said.

“In a regular world it would be, but now she doesn’t need it and we do,” Nathan said and continued stripping the body down. “Read the journal and see what else it says. John and Amanda, start grabbing this crap and set it on the hood of the car,” he told them and they started moving. Standing up, he saw the female’s officer’s tote bag and grabbed it.

Undoing the belt, he rolled the body and found a boonie hat in the same ACU pattern of her fatigues. Not seeing anything else useful, Nathan walked out of the woods. Throwing the stuff he had on the hood he opened the door but didn’t see the keys in the column. Not finding them inside anywhere, he walked back to the body, digging in her pockets and finding the keys. He continued emptying her pockets, only finding some photos and a spring-assist knife. Grabbing them, he walked back to the car and threw the pictures and knife on the hood.

Walking to the trunk, he opened it using the key as John and Amanda came and stood beside him. “Wow,” Amanda said, looking at all the stuff. “How did you know she would have the keys?” she asked.

“She was in her tactical gear and he wasn’t. That meant she had already been in the trunk,” Nathan said and started pulling out gear. Then he saw the dead officer’s war bag, the bag the tactical gear would be kept in. He opened it, looked at the boots and smiled. The dead officer had been just a bit taller than John and a little lighter in the ass, but Nathan was certain it wouldn’t take much longer and John would be able to fit in his clothes.

He started tossing out gear and handed John the other M-4. Seeing some ammo cases, he grabbed them. Finally the trunk was empty except for the dead female’s uniform. Reaching down, Nathan removed her badge and put it in his pocket. He went to the front seat and went through their belongings, finding a few extra magazines and a box of shells. He looked at the shotgun in the holder and left it.

Moving to the dead man, he just patted him down, only finding his backup weapon and a spring-assist knife. Nathan took the man’s boots off and grabbed his knife and backup pistol. Seeing Amanda and John had moved the rest of the stuff to the hood, he joined them.

Jasmine looked up from the journal. “The male officer, Tony, got shot the day it happened. Around six p.m. The woman’s name is—was Glenda. She’s only been on the force for two years. She said it was the Gordon brothers and their crew and names them off. They came by on a tractor pulling a trailer. It wasn’t till they got close that Glenda saw who it was. They shot Tony and she started shooting at them. She says she thinks she got one but only wounded him. She grabbed her gear and moved off the road, grabbing Tony’s stuff for his wife.

Jasmine wiped her eyes. “She ate what they had in the car and the brothers came by again the next day on foot. She says she knows she wounded one then and they kept yelling at her they were killing all officers. She drove them off and they said they would be waiting. Out of food and water, she was going to risk going out the next day but the brothers drove up real fast in a truck. They got her in the leg and she kept shooting till they left. She says she knows the truck is dead, ‘cause she dumped a clip in the engine. Her last entry is four days ago,” Jasmine said, closing the notebook, tears running down her face.