Running Away - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 4) (10 page)

“Did you hear that? Go back,” I said leaning forward. I was the only one excited. Alice was trying to get rest while Sienna and Carter were silently flirting with one another.

Dean tried to go back, but it kept jumping over the station. All he could do was keep pushing the buttons because there was no dial for him to try to tune it in more accurately. The button only wanted to stop at stations that were coming in clear… which there were none.

“Hmm, there’s nothing there,” Dean said as he reached over to click the radio off. But something made him push the seek button one more time instead. This time it stopped on the number. The station was coming in and my heart stopped for a second when I heard a voice.

A
fter a few seconds
I realized it wasn’t a person speaking… well, technically it was, but it was a recording. It was set up to say the same thing over and over again.

When it said the date, August 5th, I looked around to see if anyone else was as shocked as I was. If the date was correct, it had been more than a year since the storms hit. No one seemed overly surprised about the date, they seemed more surprised they were hearing a voice on the radio even if it was just a recording.

It felt weird how I had no sense of time anymore. Of course, the recording could easily just make up a date and I’d be none the wiser. What were the odds that this random man that made the recording actually had been keeping track of the date? Needless to say I was skeptical, but it also didn’t seem impossible.

“If you are hearing this, there is a place where survivors are gathering. We want to rebuild. Take back what is ours,” the husky voice said emphatically.

“Is this for real?” Sienna asked grabbing Penn’s seat and shaking it. She looked as though she was seeing a finish line, but I was skeptical.

“It’s probably HOME,” I said not turning to look at her. “It’s another trick to lead people into their camps.”

We listened as the voice continued, “We are located at a U. S. Government Air Force base. There is plenty of food, water, shelter and we even have a small army. It’s imperative that you do not trust the other groups out there. We are the real U. S. Military located at a real U. S. Military base. If you are approached by others… run.”

Then the recording gave out the location and brief directions before starting over with the same message. They had even given out the longitude and latitude coordinates. It seemed very official, but of course, after everything we’d been through, I didn’t trust it.

Penn continued down the highway. He didn’t pull over to discuss. I was certain he had the same concerns I did.

“Should we check it out?” Sienna asked glancing at Alice briefly. Alice’s head was resting against the back of the seat and her eyes were closed. “I think we should check it out. What if they have a doctor there?”

“We don’t need a doctor,” Penn said with both hands on the steering wheel. He didn’t even bother to slow the car down while we discussed things. “All we need is food water and rest.”

“We need those things too, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor look at Alice,” Sienna said.

“They probably don’t have a doctor,” Penn said in a low voice.

Dean looked at me and then at Sienna. I wasn’t sure what he saw when he looked at her, but he settled his eyes on Penn. “What if we are making a mistake? What if this is real? This could be our only chance to find others like us.”

I shook my head. Dean had been through all the same things I had been through, well almost all of them. I didn’t know how he could even consider checking it out.

“It’s just another trick,” I said crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“And what if you’re wrong?” Dean said looking back and forth between Penn and I. It was like he thought he had to convince us. Change our minds. It was so dark in the car I didn’t think he could see my expression, but I was worried going would be a mistake.

“What if you’re wrong?” I countered.

“I’m not saying you’re right or wrong, what I’m saying is we should check it out. They are on the radio… it could easily be the real deal. The military could have been prepared for something like this. What if this is it?” Dean said, his eyes twinkling with the aqua color from the dashboard lights.

There was a small part of me that worried about the miniscule chance that I was wrong. That we might be driving away from safety and security. Food and water. But a bigger part of me, the one that had struggled with HOME and the resistance, was far too afraid to find out if I was right or wrong.

“There!” Sienna said pointing to a sign that indicated the way to the U. S. Military base. “Look how close we are! Let’s just check it out.”

I guessed that’s why the station had come in better, it was because we were closer. Why was their broadcasting signal so small?

Penn shook his head so hard I worried he was going to hurt his neck. “No way. Especially not at night. Are you crazy?”

“Well then we find somewhere to park and wait until morning,” Dean said using a tone that made it sound as though he wasn’t asking, rather he was telling. It wasn’t often he’d say what we should do, but this time he was and he wanted Penn and I to make our peace with it. “I think we need to check. We’ll be careful and if anything looks off, we’ll turn around.”

“We’re almost out of ammo. It’s a bad idea,” I said stomping my foot on the floor.

“Penn can sort it out. I’m sure we can divide up the bullets. We can’t miss this chance… this could be the real thing. They know about the other camps, and not only that, but they warned against going to them. That has to count for something,” Dean said throwing his hand into the air. He felt as strongly about checking it out as I did about not checking it out.

It wasn’t like we could separate. I wouldn’t let them out of my sight. There was no way I wanted things going back to like they had been when I was alone in Alaska.

We were struggling to find water and the only food we had were snacks. And with our lack of ammo it was risky to travel the roads. Things were definitely bleak, but was this the answer?

We’d found shelter, food and water before, we could do it again. Food supplies were extremely low, but I was sure there were untapped food sources somewhere out there, we just had to think outside the box like Alice had with her hotel suggestion.

“Are there any resistance camps you know of around here” Penn said, and I knew he was directing his question at Carter.

“Not that I know of,” Carter answered, but I saw his shoulders move up and down out of the corner of my eye. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t have any idea about any other resistance camp, he’d only known about the one he’d been in, or so I assumed.

Whoever it was could easily be the resistance, but the warning to avoid the other camps was odd. Unless there were even more groups of people out there that we needed to avoid.

“If it’s HOME… they’ll probably kill me on sight, you know that right?” Penn said turning his head slightly towards Dean before he returned his gaze back to the road.

Dean looked down and then over his shoulder at Sienna before he twisted around to look at me, “If it’s HOME, they’ll probably kill us all. That’s why we have to be careful.”

If there had been any HOME camps or bases down this way and Penn had known about them, there would be no way he’d even consider checking it out. But I could tell by the way he was looking around the area as he slowed the car, that he was going to do it, if only to satisfy Dean’s curiosity.

Penn had been out of touch with HOME for a long time. For all he knew there were HOME camps and spies strategically scattered everywhere. This could be one of those places and he just wasn’t aware.

“I don’t know about this,” I said feeling my stomach twist into a tight knot, or maybe it was trying to eat itself again. I never felt hunger pangs any more, instead it felt more like little critters were gnawing at my insides. They usually went away if I ignored them. But of course, it would always come back later to remind me when I needed to eat, whether or not food was available.

“OK,” Penn said after several minutes of silence. “I’ll head out and check the place in the morning when I can see better.”

“You’re not going alone,” I said leaning forward.

“We all go in the morning,” Dean said taking charge. It was the first time since Owen’s death he’d stepped up and made a decision about what we were going to do. If Penn and I shut him down now, I didn’t know exactly how he’d take it.

For some reason he wanted to check out this place. Maybe he was having visions of a safe place with tons of food and water, and he didn’t want to be wrong about it. Why continue struggling if there was a place we could go? Maybe we’d be stuck in Michigan worried about where the next meal would come from, always thinking about when HOME or the resistance would come and attack us. Why go through all that if we could just stop here and never have to worry again?

“Ugh! OK, fine. We’ll go in the morning. I’ll find a side road for now. We’ll eat something, and take turns getting rest so we are alert as possible,” Penn said as if he was trying to take charge of the situation. After all, Penn had been leading ever since we lost Owen. It hadn’t been a role he asked for, it was one that sort of just fell into his lap. And he’d done a fine job.

“Right,” Dean said as he sat up and straightened his spine.

Ten minutes or so down the road, Penn pulled over into the ditch and parked the car. He twisted sideways in his seat, “Give me your guns.”

Dean and I passed over our guns and we all watched as Penn rearranged the ammo between the guns. He checked them over and then handed them back.

“I’ll get some snacks out,” Dean said as he gripped his gun handle and opened the passenger door. Besides the lights from the car we were in complete darkness.

I was almost one hundred percent positive there wouldn’t be anyone wandering around in the dark. They wouldn’t be able to see anything, well, except for the lights from our car. But they probably couldn’t make it this far unless they were carrying their own light and then we’d spot them coming from a mile away. It wasn’t likely someone would just be walking around aimlessly and happen upon our car, but Dean was ready with his gun just in case.

We feasted on our snacks, probably more than we should have eaten considering it was our only food supply and it was limited. Then we took turns sleeping so that when morning rolled around, we’d be ready to make our way to the military base and check out the possibility of finally finding help.

* * *

T
he sun was barely
over the horizon when Dean started waking us all up. I couldn’t quite figure it out, but Dean clearly didn’t have the same reservations about the military base that Penn and I had. Perhaps it was just desperation. Desperate for help. Desperate for a break.

After we each had another snack, we were out on the road heading back towards the sign that indicated where the military base was located. My palms were sweating so badly I had to wipe them on my pants. And even though I’d eaten, it still felt as though my stomach was chewing on itself.

When we saw the base come into view, Penn parked the car. He tried to hide it from view by parking behind some dead shrubbery, but his plan hadn’t really worked. The car was still visible from most angles. Anyone paying the least bit of attention to their surroundings would see it. But they probably wouldn’t be able to start it unless they knew which wires to touch together.

“Dean, Ros, walk with me in front,” Penn said gesturing for me to stand on his left and Dean on his right side. We formed sort of a triangle with Sienna, Carter and Alice tucked in behind us.

As we got closer to the gate, I noticed the tall chain-link fence that surrounded the entire base. For the most part it looked intact, but I did question the amount of security it would provide.

Maybe everyone inside kept to a particular building or area, but since I didn’t see anyone moving around, I wondered how many survivors were even inside. People weren’t milling about working on things like I’d imagine a place trying to rebuild would be like.

It was possible that something had happened and everyone was gone. Although, the recording had mentioned the date. I wished we would have listened to the recording again, maybe it always said the same date. And if the date changed, then we’d know there were people still inside.

Some of the buildings looked to have been torn down. There were piles of wood, brick and concrete blocks in heaps where buildings had once stood. But there were plenty of buildings still standing, and several of them looked very sturdy and secure. Perhaps if there was still anyone here, those were the ones they used.

“Where is everyone?” Sienna whispered looking out between Penn and my shoulders.

“I don’t know… it’s awfully quiet,” Penn said and I could tell he was considering turning back. And I would have agreed.

“Step forward and lower your weapons,” someone shouted from above.

“Not in a million years,” Penn said gripping the handle of his gun tighter. We needed to retreat, and based on the look on Penn’s face, he knew it too.

The harsh voice laughed. It sounded similar to the voice we had heard on the recording.

“Come on now, we can’t have you shooting up the place. I need to keep my people safe.” He let out a loose cough. “I get it though… you don’t trust us. Why should you? My guess is that you’ve seen some bad shit out there, but kid, we are the U. S. Military and we’re here to help,” he said as if words would somehow ease our concerns. If he knew at all what it had been like out there, he would have understood why we weren’t lowering our guns. He would have also known words were just that… words.