America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere (20 page)

They set up the vehicles in a loose perimeter
and posted the first watch of the night. Bob got out the map as
Janet and several others began to get the evening meal
going.

Mike made the rounds of all the posts while Bob
dragged two picnic tables together and waited with the map. He
didn't specifically mention the conversation they had all overheard
on C.B. channel seventeen during the day, but he did say he felt
they were being followed, and maybe by some folks who were not so
nice. Privately, he, Bob, Ronnie, Tom and Jeff had discussed the
transmissions. The people on channel seventeen were looking for
someone. They were staying within broadcast range, although only
barely, so it stood to reason they had to be traveling in the same
direction. The second time they had heard them, they had mentioned
Jessica.

If they were behind them and they had found
Jessica, it could only mean that they were following. It had given
each of them an uneasy feeling. After the map, they intended to
discuss it in detail.

Mike sent Tim and Annie up to the top of a
small rise where the highway could be seen for over a mile in
either direction. He told them to watch for headlights and get on
the radio system as soon as they saw any. It was quiet, and Mike
was sure they would also hear the hum of the big tires on the
pavement long before they would be able to see the trucks. He'd
done what he could. He walked over to the tables, got a cup of
coffee and sat down with Bob and a few others. The smell of cooking
food was already wafting on the air, causing his stomach to
growl.

"We're there," Bob said as Mike sat
down.

They studied the map that was laid out on the
table.

"How are we there?" Mike asked.

"We're as close as we need to be," Bob said.
"Some of that depends on where we're going to end up, but really,
no matter the direction, we can start from here."

"Southwest will take us to a large area that
includes Tennessee, Alabama and part of Mississippi and Arkansas.
East gives us the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and little bit of
Georgia," Bob said.

"Isn't that more than what you said before?"
Mike asked.

"Yes, but it's because those wilderness areas
are usually backed up against state forest preserves, logging
lands, State park areas, and all that really means is all that land
is now empty. So it has added more to the whole. I got to thinking
about that and re-figured it. It only makes sense." He paused,
drawing a wider circle around the one he had previously
drawn.

"See? We can stay in our smaller circle, build
our life, build the Nation outwards and have all of that other land
as a safety zone." Bob said.

A portable C.B. radio sat on the table nearby
squawking intermittently. It did so now.

"... eey one,"
it said. And then more clearly,
"We
keep going."

"Gotcha, Death, gotcha,"
a new voice responded.

Bob and Mike looked at each other.

"That fucks that," Bob said.

"It does," Mike agreed. He turned around and
looked at everyone. Some on post, some helping to prepare food. He
raised his voice:

"Listen everybody...."

~

Reference over heard on C.B. Radio Channel
Seventeen earlier that morning

~

"They was here, Death. There's
tracks, they was here,"
the voice
said.

"I can see that, Shitty, but what
was they here
for?
"
Death asked.

"Buried something, Death...
There's a covered up hole with rocks and shit and a little cross
marked out in stone's on top of it,"
Shitty told him.

Lilly had read over the body, and Lilly had
laid out the simple outline of a cross over the grave in small
stones once it was filled in.

"Dig it up... see what the fuck it
is,
or was," Death laughed.

"Dig it up?"
Shitty asked.
"But, well, it's
probably another dead body, what the fuck sense does that
make?"

"Dig it up,"
Death responded calmly.

"Damn, bro, you ain't supposed to
fuck with a dead body after they's been buried, Death. Everybody
knows that. Bad fuckin' luck is what it will get you."

"Dig it fuckin' up.
Now!"
Death shouted into
the radio.
"Or do I have to send Murder?
Maybe you're just a straight up
pussy?
"
Death asked.

Silence on the radio...

"You hear what I said!?"
Death asked.

"I'm fuckin' digging,"
Shitty said.
"I'm
fuckin' digging, and I
ain't
no pussy,"
he said. The
radio had fallen silent.

~

Mike talked for more than twenty minutes when
the C.B. radio once again crackled to life...

~

"There's fresh tire tracks here,
they was here. And not long ago either,"
a
voice said.

"Map says a state park is about 10
miles ahead,"
A second voice
said
,
"We keep
going."

~

The V.H.F. crackled. "That's him," Annie's
voice said. "That second voice, that's Death. And the other guy
sounds like one of his boys that used to come around." She sounded
scared.

"Okay, Annie, thank you," Mike said.

"He's crazy, Mike," Annie said.

"I know. But believe me, he won't touch you You
and Tim come on down here," Mike finished.

~

A few minutes later the radio crackled back to
life.

~

"It's a fuckin' old lady,"
Shitty said.
"Why'd they
fuckin wanna kill an old lady,"
he
asked?

"Doesn't matter,"
Death said.
“Let's Go,
We're movin' on.”

~Divided we stand~

Mike turned around, handed Ronnie one of a
hunting rifles they had bought with them and then picked up his
own. The one he had handed Ronnie had a 10 round clip, camouflage
paint, and looked more like an assault rifle than a hunting rifle.
It was also fitted with a night scope. He unclasped his V.H.F. unit
and handed it to Ronnie.

"Take over okay, they're going to be here soon.
If they turn in, try to take out the lead vehicle. Let me know as
soon as you see them, Ronnie," Mike said.

"What about Patty?" Ronnie asked,
concerned.

Mike shook his head. "I'm putting them all in
the Suburbans and sending them down the trails. We'll catch up with
them after this shit is done," Mike said.

Ronnie nodded and left. Mike turned back to the
camp. Silence came down upon the clearing as they waited. Mike
tried to hold every pair of eyes that searched him out.

"Tom... Bob... David... And Jeff..." He
hesitated, "Kate... You five are staying here. Patty, Janet, get
the Suburbans ready to go now. Everybody else is going with you
two.” he looked at his watch and then looked back up at Patty
catching her eyes and holding them. Her face was careful, set,
hard. Little blotches of color dotted her cheeks. Her lips were
thin and tightly pressed together. “Like, ten minutes, so get
moving." Mike finished. Patty nodded, and then she and Janet
hurried off.

He had wanted to send Kate as well, had even
told himself that he was going to do it, but when it came right
down to it, he couldn't. She was probably the best shot they had.
And he knew she would see it as him being overprotective...
unreasonable. There was no valid reason to send her
away.

He looked up and saw that Kate was standing in
front of him. "I wouldn't have gone," she said quietly.

"That too," he said. "How are you with a
rifle?"

"Good," Kate said. "Jeff is also good," she
said.

Jeff walked up just as she finished talking and
nodded his head. "What do you need?" he asked.

Mike handed both of them a hunting rifle like
the one he had given to Ronnie. "I want both of you up there with
Ronnie. If they turn in, try to take them out. We have to stop them
so the rest can get away onto the logging trails. After that, we'll
try to take out whatever of them are left," he finished.

They both nodded; Kate met his eyes and then
they both turned away at a run towards the hill

~

The three Suburbans were packed and ready to go
in five minutes. There had not been much to pack. The tents stayed;
what food they had unloaded stayed. They offloaded some water and
then loaded the rest of the camp into the three
vehicles.

Bob gave Janet a small rubber encased compass.
"Southwest... Eventually you'll run out of logging roads. Drive
until you're out of gas. Make your own road as far as you can. Keep
fresh batteries in the V.H.F. radios and listen in. We'll find you.
We'll be fine. This may take us a few days, but we'll be there," he
finished.

Patty took her foot off the brake and then put
it back on and leaned across Janet to look at Mike. "Bring her
back," was all she said. Mike nodded. She took her foot off the
brake and the three trucks moved out.

A few minutes later they were out of sight. A
few minutes after that they were out of hearing. The sounds of the
big trucks soundproofed by the trees. Ten minutes after that the
V.H.F. radio in Mike's hand crackled back to life.

“
Headlights... Headlights...
They're coming," Ronnie told him.

~

The lead truck drove right by the turn off
moving at a good clip. Kate felt a rush of relief as it blew past,
but a second later, the truck locked up its brakes and shuddered,
hopping across the broken pavement on the huge tires to a rubber,
screeching halt on the asphalt.

The other trucks were behind them spread out,
coming fast. Four all together.

"Four trucks,"
Kate told Mike.

The other trucks locked up their brakes too.
One slid off the roadway into the ditch, the other two shuddered to
a stop on the blacktop as the first one had.

"What's happening?" Mike asked.

"It's going down, Baby... Wish me
luck,"
Kate said.

Just as the lead truck began to reverse towards
the exit all three rifles opened up.

Holes punched through the darkened front
windshield and the truck suddenly veered erraticly, flipped onto
its side and rolled over into the ditch.

A second truck began to reverse. Ronnie opened
up on that truck, punching holes into the windshield and front end.
Smoke rolled from the hood. The doors flew open and machine pistols
opened up on them; returning fire. The third and fourth vehicle
opened fire as well.

The machine pistols were not accurate. Great
for a close up weapon, but over even a short distance they were
virtually useless. All three ducked at first, but when it became
clear that nothing was coming near them, they shot full clips home
and popped back up.

Ronnie was game, but not the shot that Jeff and
Kate were. Ronnie picked a target and fired a short burst finding
his range as he went.

Kate zeroed in on a man standing by the second
truck, highlighted by the headlights of the trucks behind him. She
squeezed the trigger and the man spun away in a two shot burst. The
guns would fire as fast as you could pull the trigger.

Beside her, Jeff lined up his own shot, a man
running from the wreckage of the first truck. He pulled the trigger
twice in quick succession and the man collapsed in mid stride and
skidded to a stop on the broken pavement.

The two remaining trucks, the one that skidded
into the ditch, and one that had remained on the roadway, suddenly
reversed and started backing down the highway at a high rate of
speed. The one in the ditch launched itself up out of the ditch,
into the air, and then slammed back down on the highway. The engine
screamed as it flew backwards down the roadway.

Kate and Jeff both fired at the retreating
vehicles, succeeding in blowing out the headlights on one. Even so,
both trucks continued to run backwards at great speed. Within a
very short period of time, the roadway was clear as the headlights
disappeared around a curve.

"They're retreating... We took out
two of the four trucks, but there could be people in those
trucks... We got at least two guys,"
Ronnie told Mike.

Kate was peering at the two trucks with the
night scope.

"Two dead in the second truck... One inside...
One on the outside," she said.

Ronnie repeated what she had said over the
radio.

"One guy that was running away from the first
truck is dead. I... I don't see anyone else in that truck. Could
be, but I can't see it from here. We'll have to go down there,"
Kate said.