Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (30 page)

“It just hurts,” Jasmine mumbled.

“It’s good you value life like that, but it also means you don’t value yours or ours in the same regard. Think about what would’ve happen to the kids if you hadn’t acted. Would it still hurt? Listening to them scream in pain and hunger?” Nathan asked.

The color drained from Jasmine’s face hearing Nathan’s words. “No.”

“They say it’s good to have that hurt but the hurt will make you hesitate next time. It happened to my partner. We were in a shootout with a group that had a rolling meth lab. I shot two and he shot one. It ate at him and he pulled over a biker a year later. The biker went for a gun. Greg got his out first but yelled for the man to freeze until the man had his gun out. The biker shot Greg three times before Greg got off the first shot. Two of the shots hit Greg in the vest and the third hit him in the neck. It was all captured on his dash cam. We got to hear him die, telling his wife and kids he was sorry for not shooting sooner,” Nathan said. “He always felt guilty about killing that man and it cost him his life.”

Nathan looked around at the group and could see understanding dawn on the group. Jasmine stood. “I’ll try, I promise. I can also promise you, I won’t hesitate to do it again,” she vowed.

“Then you will be fine,” Nathan said, pulling her into a hug and letting her go. Sitting back down, Indian style he pulled Emma onto his lap and started feeding her.

John let out a cough. “Nathan, what mistakes did we make?” he asked shyly.

“Well ‘we’ didn’t make mistakes. I should’ve watched the area longer or looked for another crossing,” Nathan told him.

Amanda jumped. “Piss on that, douchebag!” she screamed, making Nathan drop the bag of eggs. “I remember
we
wanted to leave, not you!” she bellowed at him, pointing her finger at him. Putting her hands on her hips, well hip bones, she continued, “You told me
we
can’t prepare for everything, sometimes
we
just have to do it.
We
didn’t see lookouts awake,
we
didn’t see guns,
we
didn’t see a big threat. Now say you made that mistake and I’ll bite your dog!”

Amazed that such a loud voice could come from such a small person, Nathan just stared in shock at Amanda, wondering who she was and where she came from. “I was just saying—,”

“Ares, come!” she yelled. They heard scratching on the tent door.

Nathan looked at the door. “Ares sit,” he commanded. “He will bite you back,” Nathan warned Amanda.

“I don’t care,” Amanda said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Holding up his hands in surrender, “Okay, it wasn’t a mistake it was a learning experience. Next time we’ll know better.”

Amanda spun at Jasmine. “He’s right, when people come at us they’re bad. Pull the trigger and make them go away. I swear if you get hurt because you
‘feel bad,’”
Amanda quoted with her hands, “I’ll punch you in the face.” In complete shock and total bewilderment, Jasmine just nodded at Amanda.

Amanda spun around to Nathan. “Now what mistakes did
we
make?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

In reality, Nathan wanted to tell her none but knew that would just piss Amanda off more. Normally that wouldn’t bother him, but she was a pissed off teen girl with a Glock strapped to her thigh. He really didn’t want to push it. “We used too much ammo to clear a path,” Nathan pulled out of his ass.

“What about the magazines I lost?” Amanda snapped.

That made Nathan chuckle, “The only reason I didn’t lose mine was they dropped in Emma’s sling,” Nathan said. “That’s something we have spares for. But you bring up a valid point. We need to have bags on our saddle we can drop empty magazines in,” Nathan offered.

This seemed to satisfy Amanda and she sat down. John looked over at Nathan hoping Amanda was done. “How much ammo did we use? I only use one and a half magazines,” John said.

“About six hundred rounds,” Nathan told him picking up the pouch of food and started feeding Emma again.

“Six hundred rounds!” John, Tom, Natalie, and Jasmine shouted together.

“A little more or a little less, but that’s a close estimate from what you wrote,” Nathan told them.

“We were only shooting for a few seconds,” John pointed out.

“From the time of first shot till we cleared the bridge was two and a half minutes, more or less,” Nathan said.

“Who shot the most, you?” Jasmine asked.

“No, I only used two mags and half of one in my pistol,” Nathan said.

“I used five and one for my pistol,” Jasmine said, holding out her chin in defiance.

Amanda stood beside her. “I used six and I rocked my gat as hard as I could,” she said proudly. Nathan tried hard not to smile as little Amanda tried to talk gangster.

“How many did you shoot?” Jasmine asked, and they both just shrugged their shoulders.

“A lot,” Tom said.

As Nathan ‘flew’ the spoon full of eggs at Emma he said, “It doesn’t matter, we’re alive. Jasmine and I will take first watch. Girls you have the middle, and Tom and John the end. Get some sleep.”

Everyone found a spot to lay down as Nathan and Jasmine got ready with the rain pounding out side. Nathan looked down to see Emma was sound asleep. He wrapped a blanket around her and stepped outside. The tent had a covered entry and they stood in it, watching the rain pour down.

“We need to check the horses and take the feed bags off,” Nathan said. Jasmine followed him and helped tend the horses. As the rain slackened they led the horses out to the field to let them graze. They moved back to the trees and watched the horses.

“How many do you think we killed?” Jasmine asked.

“No idea.” Nathan said. “We probably shot over a hundred but no more than two hundred.”

“Two hundred,” Jasmine moaned.

“You know what happened to Casey?” Nathan asked.

“Nothing, I checked her over,” Jasmine said.

“No, I meant how she almost fell off her horse.”

“My horse jumped some people lying on the ground and I almost fell off,” Jasmine said.

“A man grabbed her and pulled her off,” Nathan said and Jasmine gasped. “She pulled her pistol and emptied her magazine in his face. The only reason she stayed with her horse was the sling of her M-4 was wrapped around the saddle horn and her foot was caught in the stirrup. Otherwise she would be dead and so would I. I would’ve gone back,” Nathan said.

“And I didn’t want her to have a pistol,” Jasmine moaned, falling to her knees in the mud. “I almost killed her,” she sobbed.

Nathan pulled her up. “No, you voiced you opinion. It made me think about it harder and I could tell she treated the pistol with respect. I’m counting on you to help me get these kids through this. Remember what Tom, Natalie, and Casey saw done to their mother. Think about Amanda watching her whole family get killed and her mother get raped and John finding his mother dead. They can’t feel sorry for defending themselves. More importantly, they can’t see us feeling sorry for defending them. What do you think that conveys to them, if adults feel sorry for killing someone who wanted to hurt them?”

“I—,” Jasmine stuttered, and tears started pouring out of her eyes, mixing with the rain. “I never thought about it.” She stopped. “I don’t want anything to happen to them. I would die for them.”

“I want you to make others die if they want to hurt them,” Nathan said, pulling her in tight for a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Nothing to be sorry for, you’re learning the rules in a new world,” Nathan told her.

“Aren’t you learning the rules too?” she asked, meeting his eyes.

“No, the rules were the same in the old world, just buried beneath the false security people believed in,” Nathan said. Jasmine didn’t understand. “Protect and provide for what’s yours. Count on no help but your own. The lives of those who want to take from you hold no value. Live each day like it’s your last and if you have a dream see it through,” Nathan said letting her go.

Nathan looked back out across the field. “Go get some sleep. I’ll wake Amanda and Casey for the next shift. You and Natalie can take the one after.” Jasmine saw the hardness of his face and nodded. He had opened her eyes on how to survive and more importantly to live.

Chapter 21

Day 28

After Jasmine left, Nathan stared out over the field until he felt and thump on his leg. Not even looking down he petted Ares. “You did good today,” Nathan said, then kneeled down in the mud, hugging Ares. “I smell like a wet dog now,” Nathan said. Ares panted at him with his tongue hanging out.

They stood guard till noon and the rain lightened up to a steady soaking rain. It was better than the deluge earlier but it still made being outside a miserable experience. Nathan guided the hobbled horses to the tie line beside the camp. Hearing loud snorts, Nathan turned around to see Ares and one of the donkeys touching noses.

“Donkey, you hurt my dog and we eat you tonight,” Nathan warned, but the two just studied the smells of each other. When they were satisfied they both turned away. “You better not piss them off,” Nathan warned Ares, stepping under the covered area of the tent. Ares shook the water off his body, nearly drowning Nathan.

“You better be happy you did that here,” Nathan said, wiping the water off his face. Stepping inside, Nathan found everyone awake and cleaning weapons. “What the hell? Why aren’t you guys asleep?” he demanded.

“We couldn’t sleep so we became productive,” Casey said, smiling holding her rifle barrel up with the other pieces around her.

“I stood a long watch so you could get some rest,” Nathan whined.

“Sorry, but we couldn’t sleep,” Casey said, putting her rifle back together.

John put down his rifle he was cleaning. “Nathan, it hasn’t even been a month. Why were those people so starved-looking?”

Nathan took off his wet gear. “A supermarket only has three days’ worth of food on its shelves, and most people only have three days’ worth of food at home. It’s been said the average person is six days from starvation and they’re right.”

“But they shouldn’t look that skinny yet, should they?” John asked.

“It takes a long time for someone to starve. Eating only one meal a week can keep you alive for months. Granted, you can’t do much. I follow the rules of three: three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food causes death,” Nathan said.

John nodded. “Okay but when those people ran at us I thought they were zombies.”

“That’s not even funny,” Jasmine snapped. “I almost dropped my rifle thinking that.”

“Zombies aren’t real. What we faced was. Remember, there are real things out there to be scared of. Don’t be afraid of zombies,” Nathan said.

Amanda scoffed, “I don’t care what comes after us, it’s taking a dirt nap.”

“Where are you learning all these new sayings?” John asked, smiling.

“Nathan has a bunch of books on his tablet,” Amanda said.

Smiling, Nathan looked down at his woobie and didn’t see Emma. Quickly scanning the tent, he spotted her in Jasmine’s lap, watching Jasmine put her pistol together. “Jasmine, your turn,” Nathan said, feeling like they didn’t like his sacrifice and gift of staying up for a long guard shift.

“Natalie, let’s go,” Jasmine said, moving Emma, who ran to Nathan. Nathan had to hold her at bay as he stripped off wet clothes. When he was done, Emma dove on his chest. Unlike the others, Nathan had no trouble going to sleep.

Nathan felt something tap his foot and opened his eyes to see John. “Nathan, it’s five,” John said. Nodding, Nathan tried to sit up and felt a sleeping Emma on him. Sliding her off, Nathan was a little grossed out to see a puddle of drool on his chest. Reaching to grab his clothes, Nathan wasn’t shocked to find them still very damp.

Girting his teeth as he put them on, Nathan looked around to see only he and Emma were the only ones in the tent. “Where is everyone?” Nathan asked putting on dry socks, some things he had to draw the line at and wet socks were one.

“Outside packing up,” John said.

“Did any of you sleep?” Nathan asked, worried.

“Everyone got a few hours,” John admitted.

Putting on the rest of his gear, Nathan shook his head. “This is not the weather you want to be tired in.”

John shrugged. “Sorry. We smell smoke outside.”

That stopped Nathan making him look up. “Which direction?” Nathan asked.

“From the east,” John said gravely. “It’s still raining, as you can hear. You said rain would suppress the smell of smoke.”

Nathan grabbed his rifle. “Come on,” he said, walking out.

John passed by him. “You can smell it good out in the field.”

Nathan followed. He saw Ares standing at the edge of the field and grabbed John’s arm to stop him. Turning on his thermal, Nathan eased up to a tree then crept from tree to tree till he was near the edge of the field. Nathan gave a low whistle for Ares to come.

Looking through the scope Nathan couldn’t see any hot makings of people but did see several deer. Then he caught the smell of smoke. It wasn’t overpowering, but it wasn’t weak, either. “Shit, that’s too close,” Nathan said standing up heading back to camp.

“John, get the tent down. We will wait till dark to leave,” Nathan said, turning the scope off.

“That’s close, isn’t it?” John asked.

“Less than a mile,” Nathan said. The others, seeing Nathan coming, back ran over. “Get everything ready in case we have to leave fast but we don’t move till dark,” Nathan told them.

“You think it’s some of the ones from the Interstate?” Jasmine asked.

Nathan shook his head. “There is no way, we’re nineteen miles away. With the shape those people were in they couldn’t run that far.”

“What if they had bicycles?” Amanda asked.

The concern was approaching anxiety. “That is possible. But it’s probably someone else just trying to stay dry,” Nathan offered.

“You lie for shit,” Casey snapped.

Nathan glared at Amanda. “What?” Amanda asked. “It’s freedom of speech, she can say what she wants. I read the constitution and bill of rights on your tablet,” Amanda popped off.

“Stop teaching her words,” Nathan warned Casey. “It is possible that it’s not anyone from the interstate and much more probable,” Nathan said. His answer made him feel better.

“Bullshit,” Casey said and Nathan glared at her. Amanda stepped over and wrapped an arm around Casey, putting her hand over Casey’s mouth.

“She just meant to say we shouldn’t take the chance, we should make tracks,” Amanda offered seeing Nathan getting mad.

“We leave at dark,” Nathan grumbled.

Jasmine stepped between Nathan and the girls. “How about we pack up and follow this creek till dark, then head to the road?” she offered.

“By the time we are packed and saddled up it will be dark,” Nathan said.

Jasmine pointed to the horses. They were saddled and the pack animals loaded. Nathan turned around to see the other tent was down and only the tent he and Emma were sleeping in wasn’t packed. But John and Tom already had it down. “Emma better not be in that tent,” Nathan warned.

“Natalie has her,” Jasmine told him as Natalie walked over carrying Emma. Emma was sticking out her tongue trying to catch rain drops.

Afraid to say anything in reply, Nathan pulled out his map and studied the area. “Change in plans,” he said. Tom and John stopped packing the tent to listen. Nathan pointed an area a mile east of the Mississippi River. “This is the rally point on this side,” he said. He pointed out another on the west side. “This is for the other side. If we cross and get separated, go there. Don’t cross the river to come back.” Nathan rolled the map up.

“So we are getting the hell out of here, now?” Jasmine asked hopefully.

“Pack the tent. I’ll make a walk around. Everyone pull out your dusters with your rain gear. Make sure you can get to your weapons,” Nathan said and started walking around making sure everything was packed.

Jasmine walked over carrying a cup of coffee, “Here I made you this; already put your stuff in.”

“Thank you,” he said, taking the cup. Jasmine pulled the Emma sling off her shoulder and tied it around Nathan. “So I get relegated to Emma duty right off the bat?” he asked, taking a long sip.

“Nathan, let’s face it. If she had been riding with anyone else last night…I don’t want to think about it,” Jasmine said walking away checking to make sure they had everything.

“I didn’t think about that, you’re right,” Nathan called out after her.

When they were packed Nathan noticed Casey and Amanda putting new batteries in their NVGs.
Damn, we couldn’t recharge today
, Nathan thought as he put new ones in his. Since the thermal was not on for long he left those. “Change the batteries in your radios, too,” Nathan told everyone. He smiled at everyone in full length black dusters, thinking they looked like a group of time-traveling cowboy warriors.

After everyone was done they mounted up. Nathan had to adjust the ‘Emma sling’ so she could see in front of them. They rode slowly through the trees as the rain soaked them even with rain gear on. At dark Nathan stopped them and had Jasmine make another sling for Emma while Nathan stripped her and wrapped her in his woobie. He put the new sling under his Gore-Tex jacket and duster then put Emma in, zipped up his jacket, and buttoned his duster, feeling like a kangaroo he looked down. Emma looked up at him grinning with quivering lips.

When he saw Emma quit shivering he led them to the road. Reaching the road they came out on a dead body lying in the middle of the road. It was the body of a woman stripped naked and very thin. No one could see any sign of violence. Nathan kicked Smoke in the sides and moved past the dead woman.

Amanda and Casey trotted up beside him. “Did she starve to death?” Amanda asked.

“That would be my guess,” Nathan said.

“Then why was she naked?” Casey asked, pulling her poncho hood back so she could see Nathan.

“I’m sure someone took her clothes,” Nathan answered.

“That’s wrong,” Casey said.

Nathan shook his head. “She didn’t need them anymore.”

Both girls thought about it and sighed, pulling their horses back in line. Nathan stopped everyone a mile from the river. “Get off your horses, we missed the morning workout,” he told them climbing down.

“You’re kidding right?” Amanda asked.

Nathan saw her quivering lips. “We are freezing to death. We have to heat up in case of trouble.” With Emma asleep in her sling under his jacket and duster, Nathan did different exercises to warm up. In an hour they were all breathing hard and Nathan made them eat. When they climbed back in the saddles they all felt better, although they were still wet.

They turned off the small blacktop onto a highway. After so long traveling on small roads it felt weird to be on a road with lines painted on it. Up ahead they saw a sign: Helena, Arkansas—2 mi. Unconsciously, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons in one hand and reins in another. Dennis had told Nathan the Helena Bridge was one of the few bridges across the Mississippi that wasn’t locked down yet.

Pulling Smoke to a stop and turning on his thermal, Nathan could just make out the bridge in his NVGs. Bringing his rifle up, he noticed a camper parked on the side of the road that was warmer than the cars around it. “There’s a camper parked up there and it looks like someone’s inside it. I don’t see anyone around the bridge though,” he said, lowering his rifle.

“What do we do?” Jasmine asked.

“We cross the bridge. Swimming isn’t an option.”

“What if they stop us?” she asked.

“I’ll try to lie. If that doesn’t work, we kill them. People aren’t going to stop me from moving around. I don’t care who they are. Get in your positions.” Nathan kicked Smoke and stayed on the shoulder of the road.

As they got closer they could see two state trooper cars parked by the camper. When they were less than a hundred yards from the bridge a smell hit them. Nathan knew what it was as the others fought not to puke. Looking down in the ditch ahead, Nathan saw a pile of bodies as the rain-swollen ditch flowed over and around the bodies.

If it smells like this in the rain, I’d hate to be here in the bright, sunny daytime,
Nathan thought, keeping his eye on the trailer. When they were almost to the bridge, Nathan led Smoke up to the roadway. Smoke’s hooves sounded loud, clacking on the asphalt. Nathan didn’t see any movement from the camper.

Nathan took his eyes off the trailer and lifted his rifle to look at the other side. He only spotted abandoned cars and trucks. Once they were off the bridge they moved back to the shoulder as Nathan led them to Helena. Even though he should’ve been used to it, Nathan fought off the heebie-jeebies seeing a town with no lights whatsoever.

They entered the city proper, and Nathan led them to the center of the road as they moved through the town. Rounding a corner, Nathan spotted several burning barrels set way off the road. Lifting up his rifle and looking through the thermal, Nathan saw a group of men setting under a porch around burning barrels. They were sixty yards away and he could see the bottles being passed around.

“Trouble? Over,” he heard Jasmine ask in his earpiece.

“Not unless we take their booze, over,” Nathan said, continuing on. They passed another house with a group sitting on the porch, but they didn’t have a fire. Those on the porch just watched them pass.

When they passed through the last subdivision everyone gave a sigh seeing at the trees formed up on their right and open fields to their left. They were three miles outside of town when Nathan turned down a small county road.

“Hey this is our camping spot? Over,” Amanda called out over the radio.

“We can’t stop, we have guest, over,” Nathan called back.

Amanda casually turned around to look behind them but couldn’t see anything. “Are you sure? I don’t see crap, over,” she called back.

“Where’s Ares? Over,” Nathan called out.

Amanda looked in front of the group and didn’t see either of the dogs. Looking back behind John she saw them following John’s horse. As she watched, Ares turned and looked back toward town. “Ares and Athena are behind John, over,” she said.

“Exactly. Ares smells something he doesn’t like. If they’re on foot we will leave them behind, over,” Nathan told her.

“The dogs run around everywhere, over,” Amanda said.