Dystopia: The Long Road (10 page)

Ray came running from the offices asking where Roger and Mark were, Amy pointed by the bay door.  He ran over to them, told them the plan and ran back, hopping into the driver’s seat of the jeep.

Everyone else was getting into the vehicles, Ray beeped the horn when he saw all were loaded.  Out of the offices came Dickie and John, hopping into the vehicles they headed for the bay door.  Mark and Roger flung open the door and began firing through it.

As the vehicles passed by Mark and Roger jumped into the back of the pickup and continued to fire at the attackers until they were out of range.

“It’s hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it”

-Nicole Richie

Speeding south they drove a few hours until it felt safe to make camp.  They found themselves along the bank of a river, certain they were not on the course originally intended they pulled into a place amongst some pine trees close to the river bank to make camp.

              Remaining in the vehicles seemed the best idea for the night so each vehicle had one person stand watch at a time while the others slept.

Once the sun rose they would be able to see to assess their situation, injuries and location.  John was worried and couldn’t sleep.  For the hours they travelled they saw no lights, he wondered if the lights were out everywhere.  He wished he could talk to Matt or anyone who could tell him what may lay in store for them on this journey.

              The sun rose in a few hours and the weary travellers began to emerge from their vehicles.  Looking at the vehicles they could see the many bullet holes and realized just how lucky they were.

              Rita collected sticks for a fire and asked Matty if he would help her saying, “Let’s be helpful and build the fire.”

              Matty happily skipped alongside Rita gathering small sticks and playing chase in the woods with her.  John watched this looking at them when Amy walked up to him.

              She looked at him asking, “Whatcha looking at?”

              John said, “Do Matty and Rita look to you like she is mean to him?”

              Amy said, “No, as a matter of fact she looks quite good with him.  Why?”

John said, “I don’t know, Matt is always telling me how mean she is to him and how she only got custody because he couldn’t afford a lawyer.”

              Amy shrugged and said, “Well I just thought she was some psycho we got stuck with because of Matty but she was the only one to step up and help out back at the warehouse.”

              “See.” John said, “That’s what I mean.”

              “Well, who knows really, it is always he said, she said in these things.  For now all I see is a mom taking care of her kid and participating in the needs of this, this… whatever we call this trek we are on.” Amy replied.

              John nodded and Amy asked, “Morgan is my question what is up with that piece of work?”

              John said, “I don’t really know her, I know Matt does and Kimmie and Renee but other than that?  I honestly tried not to, she is just about as low rent as they come.”

              “You can say that again.” Amy scoffed.

              Right then Melinda came walking up asking Amy to look at Danny’s leg. 

              She said, “It’s starting to bleed through the bandages.”

              Amy said she would be right there and asked her to go get Laurie and also to get the med kit out of the truck.

Amy kissed John and said, “I’m glad you’re ok, I don’t think I could do all this without you.”

              John hugged her close and said, “I am always amazed at not only your beauty but also the way you handle things.  We both know that camping and such is not your forte’ yet you come through in every instance without skipping a beat.”

              Amy laughed, saying, “Only cause I’ve been hanging around a caveman like you.” Winking at him she headed to tend the wounded.

              Cindy was causing a scene yelling how her face hurt and how they could leave Martin just lying there a crumpled heap on the floor of the warehouse.

              Amy walked past giving her an uncomfortable look and wondering why Morgan brought her with them.  She thought she best not say anything and leave it up to the guys to question her.  It seemed like Morgan had found a new playmate of sorts and this was profoundly disturbing to Amy.

              Kevin came walking up and said to Amy, “The stream is clear and fast flowing.  Looks like some good water, would you like me to get some boiling for you to clean these wounds with?”

Amy hadn’t heard Kevin say two words since she met him, it shocked her that he offered to help.  She agreed and went to cleaning up and preparing for stitches with Laurie.

              Laurie had an interest in herbal medicines and was always trying to learn new things.  But all of this was way out of her league she said.  Amy told her not to worry that she could do the stitching, but that she needed her help just to assist her with it.

              While each were doing their own set of things, the not so insignificant task of interrogating Cindy was John’s priority on this day.  One thing he was sure of was that he would not allow her to continue with them and needed as much information about who they were dealing with back there.

              Grabbing her by the arm, he said, “You, come with me.”

              Morgan began to protest, but John gave her a look and she knew he would not be reasoned with on this.  He dragged her to the water’s edge and told her she would drown today if she didn’t start talking.

              She cried out for Morgan to help her saying, “You said no one had balls enough to really hurt me.”

              John sneered right in her face, “She lied!”

Cindy immediately began to talk, he didn’t even have to do anything, just the fear of torture was enough.

              She said, “Martin and I were supposed to go in and find out what supplies you had and sneak out in the middle of the night and let the others know.”

              John pressed her, “How did they know we were there?”

              Cindy crying now said, “They watched you from the water tower. Simon has binoculars and told us to get inside and see if you had many weapons.  They could see the military jeep and the clothes on those two.”

              John asked, “Who’s Simon and why was he watching us?”

              Cindy was begging to not be left there by now and told him he had to take her with them or Simon would kill her.  John told her if what she told him was acceptable he would think about it.

              Cindy explained, “Right after the banks didn’t open Simon opened up shop, he had a bunch of biker guys that would enforce for him.  He had lots of supplies and everyone had to give up what they had for protection from what they thought were the bikers.”

Sobbing, she continued, “He said he would take care of us with all of his supplies and even shot one of the biker guys.  Martin found out later that he was a guy they made drive through town like that just so that they could shoot him.”

              John asked her, “How far away do we need to go to get away from them?”

              She said, “We should be far enough now, they stay pretty close to the city and wait for people to come into town.”

              John thought her story a little too organized and feared they may still be in danger, none the less he allowed her to stay with them just in case she was telling the truth and needed to get away.

              He told everyone what she said and that he figured it was probably safe to set up camp.  But there would be no fires, they were to cook over the camp stove and keep everything put together just to be safe.

              Morgan went to Cindy and told her she was sorry, “There was nothing I could do, believe me.”

              Cindy sat staunch not really speaking to anyone and scowling at John.

Laurie was staring at Morgan and Cindy saying, “What the hell?  Her and her boyfriend just tried to kill Danny and she’s all BFF with her. Can we even trust her?”             

              Amy overheard her and said to her, “I am wondering that myself.”

              John, Ray and Dickie sat looking at the map trying to figure out where they were.  They knew they went south because the direction showing the mirror inside the truck.  They tried to find the river on the map, but there were at least five possibilities.  They wanted to get back to their original route, but also needed to get Mandy and Aaron to their family.

              Dickie said, “I’ll go ask her what town her family is in, so we can see if it is even possible for us to take them.”

              Ray said, “Why wouldn’t we?”

              Dickie replied, “There is no way I want to go east at all or go into another city.”

John interjected, “I agree with Dickie to a point.  I’ll not bring them to a city, but slightly east as long as it is south I could live with.”

              Dickie was growing agitated and said, “I don’t want Jules to have to travel any longer than necessary.”

John sighed, saying, “Somehow, I think this is going to be a long and perilous journey.  I thought we could get there in a few days since it was merely a fifteen hour drive a few bumps might slow us down.  Now I can see we are in for I think a little more than we bargained for.”

              Ray looked down and said, “You don’t know the half of things.  Roger and I saw the FEMA relief camps and there is nothing to do with relief in them.  By now Ebola will be rampant in them as well as the cities.  We need to limit our contact with people, all people.  We have no way of knowing who is friend or foe.”

              Ray and John agreed with Dickie that the injured needed a day to rest and recover a bit.  Ray and Roger would do a bit of scouting to see if they could determine their exact location.  They tried the map program on their phones but there was no signal.  John cursed himself for not thinking of grabbing Amy’s GPS.

              The pine grove they were in offered shade and cover, but they found that where they stopped they could be easily seen from the road.  Moving further off the road they felt they could conceal the vehicles better and set up a more comfortable camp.

There would still be no fires until they could determine where they were.  Roger and Ray would set out in the Jeep and head down the road to check out the area and determine where they were. First, they wanted to take all the supplies out of the vehicle and leave them with the group.  Ray said there were a few reasons why, but mostly for fear of losing them if anything went wrong.

              The afternoon was cool, but agreeable, they commenced with setting up their camp.  With all the pine needles they made beds under each of the tents that would help with comfort while sleeping.

              Mark and Jenny set up a tent for the family and offered to let Rita and Matty share it with them, but Amy said she already had a place for them in their tent.  Kimmie and Renee just sat and talked to Morgan all afternoon while Laurie tended to the injured.

              Laurie approached Cindy with some salve for her cheek, and Cindy backed away saying, “What are you trying to put on me?”

              Laurie said, “It’s nothing really just a little bit of salve to help heal your face.”

Cindy looked disgusted, saying, “Why did you spit the green stuff in it?”

              Laurie smiled, saying, “Its plantain.”

              As she reached over and plucked a leaf from a weed explaining, “You have to chew it up to get it ready, it has amazing healing abilities and I want to get that cut cleaned and covered before you get an infection.”

              Cindy reluctantly allowed her to clean and dress the wound and thanked her for her kindness.

              Laurie looked at her sternly, “Don’t thank me, you can thank Amy.  You and Martin tried to kill my son.  Amy insisted I help you.”

              The camp was set up including some firewood that Jenny and Melinda had gathered and said it was for just in case.  When they started gathering it, Mark also started gathering rocks to make a fire pit and said it was also for just in case.

              John began to get concerned when Ray and Roger did not return for a number of hours. He sat on a rock near the water’s edge, staring into the river.

              Kevin approached saying, “I want to help but I don’t know what I should help with.”

John didn’t know what to make of Kevin, Morgan constantly yelled at him calling him stupid and worthless.  John wanted to ask him why he stayed with her but didn’t.

              Instead, he asked, “Has anyone determined a watch schedule yet?”

              Kevin replied, “I don’t know, I’m not usually involved in that kind of stuff.”

              John considered what he said and told him, “Well, you are now. If for some reason Ray and Roger don’t return we need enough people to stand watch in twos throughout the night.”

              Kevin said, “Should I ask for volunteers?”

              John thought a moment and replied, “No, only schedule those with shooting experience.  That would include, myself, Dickie, Mark, Amy and Danny.  Can you shoot?”

              Kevin replied, “Not well.”

              John said, “That’s fine schedule yourself with me or Dickie.  On second thought, let’s make shorter shifts and add Rita and Laurie to the list.”

Kevin said he would do so and report back to John when he had the schedule and a lookout point.  John thanked him and asked that he also keep an eye out for Roger and Ray while he did.  Kevin agreed and said it would be good to get some time to himself anyway.