Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (28 page)

Chapter 20

Day 27

Nathan and Casey took the first watch and entertained Emma. Nathan checked his gear then his saddle then grabbing a brush, Nathan headed to Smoke. With the hobbles on, Smoke met him and nuzzled his chest. Stroking her head, Nathan gave her some dried fruit and started brushing her. When Nathan watched Emma run under Smoke like the horse was a bridge, he picked her up as he continued to brush.

Looking over he saw Casey brushing her horse though she had to lead it to a stump so she could get the back. Thinking that was very smart, Nathan laughed and kneeled down to check Smoke’s hooves. Then he walked around checking the other horses’ hooves, knowing they would each have to brush their own horse. Eyeing the donkeys Nathan turned around and took Emma to Casey.

Then Nathan checked the donkeys. He had limited experience with donkeys but he knew they were smart, strong as hell and could kick you with their back leg when you were standing beside their head. The last point was the only one that mattered to Nathan at the time. The donkeys loved his attention and loved the brushing, telling him with their soft baying. He gave both some dried fruit and went back to get Emma and Casey. Their shift was up so they woke up Amanda, Natalie, and Jasmine.

Taking his boots off, Nathan lay down with his head on his saddle and watched Ares sleeping beside him. Nathan laughed as Ares ran in his sleep. He lowered his hat over his eyes and was asleep almost instantly.

When Nathan felt something land on his chest giggling, he woke with a start. Moving his hat he looked on his chest and saw Emma smiling at him. “There are other people you can jump on,” Nathan grumbled. Emma just giggled at him.

John came over, followed by Tom. “Sorry, she got away,” John said, picking up Emma.

Reaching out Nathan grabbed her. “I got her.” Nathan said sitting up. John looked like someone shot his dog. “John, it’s no problem. A wise man once said, ‘There is only one way to stop a toddler: don’t have one,’” Nathan said, making John laugh.

Nathan watched the boys head over and brush their horses. The horses were tied up to a rope strung between two trees. Nathan had told everyone the last shift had to move the horses back to camp when they started. Looking at his watch Nathan felt good seeing he got almost six hours of sleep. Emma slapped the side of his face and yelled at him.

“You better rectify, woman. I’ll bounce you like a basketball,” Nathan warned. Seeing her rear her hand back again, Nathan popped her hand. “No,” Nathan snapped. “I hit harder. Do you see me hitting you for no reason?”

Acting like Nathan broke her arm, Emma poked out her bottom lip. “You will not hit me,” Nathan said and put her down. Emma pouted with tears running down her face. Lying back down, Nathan watched Emma from under his hat. Emma looked over at John and Tom then back to Nathan. Slowly she climbed on Nathan’s chest and laid her head down.

Patting her back, Nathan smiled. “You’re a mess,” he said. Emma lifted her head up, smiling, and babbled. “You have the memory of a fruit fly,” Nathan said, shaking his head. Holding Emma tightly, he sat up and started some coffee.

Hearing blankets rustle Nathan looked over to see Jasmine stand up, stretching. Like always, she was in her bra and panties. Looking behind her, Nathan spotted two spellbound boys staring.
Maybe I should say something to her?
Nathan thought. “Nah, what’s life without some beauty?” he said out loud.

Pulling on a t-shirt and shorts, Jasmine tip-toed over in her bare feet. Seeing that Nathan was sitting right in the middle of his own woobie, Jasmine stepped beside him and hit his shoulders with her hips for him to scoot over. Reluctantly, Nathan complied.

“What’s with the tip-toe? The ground is dry,” Nathan pointed out.

Jasmine pulled her hair back in a ponytail, tying it up. “There are stickers,” Jasmine told him.

Seeing the coffee percolate, Nathan poured a cup and handed it to Jasmine. “Thank you,” she said, smiling. She played with Nathan’s hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. “Don’t you let your hair down when you sleep?” she asked.

“No,” Nathan said, pouring a cup and waited for Jasmine to finish with the creamer and sugar. When he was finally able to take a sip he noticed Jasmine hadn’t been talking. Looking at his side he noticed she was just studying him and that made him nervous for some reason. “What?” he asked.

“Just looking at you,” she said and looked away. Nathan fought the urge to run instead he pulled out a pot to boil some water. “You think we will make that many miles often?” she asked.

Nathan nodded, pulling out some oatmeal. “We should manage about thirty-five a day. On the prairies we could get as many as sixty. In the mountains we may move thirty-five but only gain twenty,” he said.

“Huh?” she asked.

“Remember, you’re traveling up and down as you go forward. I’ll be happy with twenty-five,” Nathan said.

“No problems, what’s the time frame?” she asked.

“Fifty days,” Nathan said after thinking about it.

Jasmine extended her legs and crossed her ankles, sighing with relief. “That sounds so much better than four months,” she said smiling.

Nathan was just looking at her legs and didn’t hear what she said. Realizing his eyes were burning because he wasn’t blinking, Nathan went back to fixing breakfast. Jasmine smiled, catching the stare. “You know, Amanda was right, you worry about us too much,” she said.

“Just let me worry so I can get all of you there safely,” Nathan said, looking back at her legs.

Seeing him stare, Jasmine fought back a giggle and the urge to tell him her face was higher up. “At least you see we care about you and are grateful for you,” she said, uncrossing her legs and crossing them again, putting her right leg that had been on the bottom on the top.

Breaking the hypnotic effect of her legs, Nathan jerked his eyes away to see the water boiling and dumped some in the oatmeal. Stirring the oatmeal quickly, “Thank you,” he said and put some oatmeal in a bowl for him and Emma.

“Am I making you nervous?” Jasmine asked, tapping his side with her leg.

“No,” Nathan answered quickly but glanced over as she set her leg down.

Grinning, Jasmine stood up. “I’m going to get the girls up,” she said, tip-toeing over to her blanket.

Nathan looked down at Emma. “The good Lord wasted no parts when he put her together,” he said. Emma nodded her head, babbling. Nathan was sure she was agreeing with him. Everyone ate then started getting the horses ready to go. Tom and John helped the girls get their saddles on but the girls strapped them on. Nathan was going to help Jasmine but she snatched up her saddle, doing it herself.

Getting the pack animals ready was what Nathan didn’t like. They didn’t unload the pack saddles, they just lifted them off and on. Each was almost three hundred pounds. Everyone had front and rear saddle bags and Amanda, Casey, and Natalie had more supplies strapped to their saddles, since they all weighed next to nothing.

Even though they were riding, Nathan made everyone wear their backpacks. When the complaints started he explained if they fell off and their horse ran off, they still had supplies. That shut everyone up, but didn’t stop the complaining; they were just quieter about it.

When the camp was packed Nathan checked everyone. “Nathan, how come you sometimes have your weapon off safe?” John asked.

“What’s your primary safety?” Nathan asked.

John held up his trigger finger. “This not on the trigger till I’m ready to shoot.”

“That’s right,” Nathan said. “Because we have little Emma, a.k.a. I have to touch everything, when I have her I put it on safe. So far she doesn’t like guns,” Nathan said.

“Shit who could blame her? You made her stand beside you as you shot that water jug with a twelve gauge,” Jasmine said.

“Sure did and it showed her it can hurt her,” Nathan replied.

“You could’ve let her wear better ear muffs,” Jasmine shot back.

Nathan looked over at her, “I’ll be sure to stop at the next store and pick some up.”

John stepped over and grabbed Nathan’s arm seeing where this conversation was heading, he needed answers. “Nathan, I mean what’s the point? We carry ours on safe,” John asked.

“And will continue to carry them like that until I tell you different. You will follow the five safety rules,” Nathan said picking Emma’s ‘sling.’

“The why don’t you?” John asked.

Nathan grabbed John’s shoulder. “John, when it happens, it happens fast. Usually the first thing you notice is someone shooting at you. That split second could save me, since I will be the first target. You will get to take your safety off.” Nathan told him letting John’s shoulder go and catching Emma who was chasing Ares.

John looked shocked and Jasmine reassured him. “It’s okay, John, no one’s going to shoot Nathan.”

“He thinks they are,” John said, a little scared.

“Then that’s their problem,” Jasmine said. “Remember he said most people don’t know how to shoot so they’ll miss. You can fill in the blanks of what Nathan will do to them,” she told him walking to her horse.

Feeling a little better, John’s customary smile returned but uneasiness settled in him as he walked over and climbed on his horse. They stopped and let Tom take down the fence and put it back up so no one would be the wiser that they had stayed there. Jasmine was just happy the cows weren’t able to get out.

They were only on the road a few minutes before darkness fell. Clouds had rolled in through the day and Nathan was praying it didn’t rain. Everyone turned on their NVGs and followed Nathan. The new group was catching on fast. Casey was having trouble reading the map but was getting it. Natalie love the idea of learning martial arts and the morning routine was her favorite part of the day. Tom idolized John and this made John ecstatic. They were becoming best friends, as were Amanda and Casey, even though Casey was three years younger. Not to say Natalie wasn’t friends with Amanda but a bond was developed between Amanda and Casey. Natalie, strangely, was bonding with Jasmine.

Sitting straight up in his saddle, Nathan was thinking of his group as they trotted down the road and turned onto a county road. Unconsciously, he reached down and patted a sleeping Emma as he looked around not seeing or hearing anything Nathan led them to the shoulder almost in the ditch. In an hour he stopped and let everyone catch up to him.

“I-55 is up ahead. It should be empty but we are staying close together. What’s the rally point?” Nathan asked.

“Small church two miles south of Route 6 on Highway 35,” they said in unison but quietly.

“Ares, lead,” Nathan said, kicking Smoke. A mile up the road a dog started barking from a house off the road, but thankfully didn’t come out to the road. Slowly but steadily the area in front of them began to get brighter, then Nathan started seeing the glow of fires with the NVGs. The road they were on crossed over the interstate but had no connection to it; it wasn’t even paved. It was just a farming road over the interstate.

From half a mile away Nathan stopped trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He could see dozens of fires along the interstate. Reaching down he turned on the thermal scope and waited for it to heat up. Lifting up his rifle he looked through the scope. “Holy shit,” he said out loud.

There were thousands of people camping in the median. Then he looked in the fields beside the interstate and saw the white heat of bodies lying in small groups. Every so often he would spot a human shape that was cold. Focusing on the bridge he could see a few people sleeping on the shoulder next to the railings and in the center of the bridge was a barrel with a fire in it.

“What the hell do you see?” Amanda asked.

“A shit load of people,” Nathan said. “There are some on the bridge.”

“Well let’s just cross the road,” Jasmine offered.

“There are thousands down there stretched out on all the road I can see,” Nathan told her.

“What the hell are they doing here out in the middle of nowhere?” she asked, offended people were in their way.

Nathan lowered his rifle. “I’ll go and ask one and find out.”

“Smart ass, you know what I mean,” she snapped.

Bringing his rifle up he continued to scan the area. “I’m pretty sure they are using the interstate to travel where they heard it’s safe. Remember we are only fifty miles from Memphis.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Casey said, gripping her rifle tightly.

Never taking his eye off the scope, Nathan popped off, “Amanda, quit teaching Casey your language.”

“Screw that! Let’s do what she said and get the hell out of here. Something is wrong, I can feel it,” Amanda said in a low voice.

“Yes there is something wrong but remember, never rush, that’s when mistakes are made,” Nathan said, lowering his rifle.

Amanda sat up in her saddle. “We waited. Let’s get our asses on the other side of that road,” she politely told him.

“If you see me kick Smoke into a run you do the same but stay close,” Nathan told them, kicking smoke in the sides. As he got closer he didn’t notice anyone moving on the bridge. All the bodies looked like they were asleep or hiding. “Move up closer to me and don’t look into the fires long with your NVGs, it could damage them, over,” Nathan said quietly over the radio.

The closer they got to the bridge the more Nathan just wanted to start shooting and clear a path through. When they were thirty yards away Nathan saw on the side of the road a man, woman, and three kids. They looked like they had escaped a concentration camp. They were all lying on their backs with swollen bellies poking out. Nathan thought they were dead till one of the kids lifted his head and looked at them. Seeing the hopelessness on the kid’s face, Nathan knew they were dead already, they just hadn’t quit breathing yet.

On the bridge they saw more people lying on the ground sleeping. Looking off the bridge they all caught their breath. As far as they could see both ways along the interstate, campfires burned. Suddenly a man stood up in front of them and ran toward them.

“Food, please!” he yelled, running at them. Ares launched at the man, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the ground. Bloodcurdling screams from the man woke those around him and they jumped up. Seeing the group, they charged screaming for food.