Breakout (Final Dawn) (4 page)

     “Well, hell, a rocking chair don’t do any good unless you have a shade tree to sit under. How about leaving us one tree to sit under while we watch you young bucks wear yourselves out? That way we can make fun of you when you fall to the ground with your tongues hanging out because it’s more work than you
’re used to.”

     He turned to Frank and offered a high five.

     Frank took it and added, “Then us old timers can step in and finish the job for you and you can all say ‘Day-um! Those old guys got game!’”

     “Yeah, right, vato. We’ll see about that.”

     Jesse and Frank went back to the Malibu. Frank gave it some gas, crossed his fingers and turned the ignition. It fired right up, sputtered a bit, and then ran. A little rough, but not too bad after a six and a half year nap.

     “All right! Now we’re in business!”

Chapter 6

     Marty Hankins and the others were sitting around a campfire in a field adjacent to the Trucker’s Paradise truck stop on I-10 in Junction. For several years they’d huddled together in an encampment made by a bunch of abandoned trailers backed together to form a protective barrier around them. The trailers had been full of food and supplies. Their camaraderie and mutual support had helped them through the hard times, and the hope of better things to come had kept them going.

     But their time together was coming to an end. The previous spring and summer the snow and ice had melted completely. It had come back in the fall and winter, of course. But the small group knew that this year would see even more moderate weather. The world was getting back to the way it used to be, and there was no longer a need to stay here.

     “I don’t know,” Joe Koslowski said. “I guess Tina and I will head back east. Back to North Carolina, where we would have gone if we hadn’t gotten stuck so far from home.”

     “Do you think any of your family survived?”

     “I don’t know. I’d like to think so. Only time will tell, I guess.”

     “How will you survive?”

     “Hell, we’ll go through all those dropped trailers on the highway until we find a good one. One that’s full of dry stock and stuff that hasn’t gone bad. We’ll latch onto it and drag it back to Goldsboro. I don’t reckon Walmart will miss it none. Hell, I doubt if Walmart’s even in business anymore.”

     Tina laughed.

     “What’s that old fable, about the Greek guy who comes back from war bearing gifts? That’ll be us. Pulling into the yard back home, with a big ass Walmart trailer saying ‘here we are. We’ve been through hell and we’re bringing back gifts.’ And hoping like heck someone is still alive to greet us.”

     “What about fuel to get you there?”

     “I don’t reckon that’ll be a problem. If the I-10 next to the truck stop is any indication, there’s likely abandoned rigs all the way east. We’ll just siphon the diesel we need from them. What about you, Marty? What are you gonna do?”

     “Well, I’ve got no family to go home to. Heck, I haven’t even had a home in so long I wouldn’t be able to find it
if I tried. I’m a modern day gypsy. Was before the sky went dark, and that hasn’t changed.

     “This may sound strange, but I’ve actually gotten comfortable here. I’ve made good
friends with the folks at the Bennett farm. They’ve treated me at least as good as the family I used to have.

     “And Lenny wants to stay here and get the truck stop running again. I think I’ll help him.”

     “Seriously? What do you two know about running a truck stop?”

     “Don’t have to know much about running it the old way. We’ll run it our own way.
Ain’t that right, Lenny?”

     Lenny had just crawled out of the empty trailer he’d
modified into a home and was pouring himself some campfire coffee.

     He chuckled and said, “Damn right. And it’ll be like no other truck stop in the world. Everything will be free. Heck, I don’t expect money’s worth anything anymore anyway. I think it’s just a matter of everybody fending for themselves and struggling to stay alive.
”

     Tina was puzzled.

     “What do you mean, everything’s going to be free?”

     “Sure. There are over two hundred abandoned trailer
s in the yard and in the field behind it. One of them’s a flatbed with two huge ten kilowatt generators on the back. One of ‘em will be plenty big to provide power for the truck stop. We can haul the diesel tankers over to the pumps to refill the underground tanks, and restock the shelves with the stuff from the Walmart and other trailers.

     “Any time anybody comes by we’ll tell ‘em to help themselves, if they have no money. If they do have money, we’ll ask them to make a donation in a jar.”

     Marty added, “We don’t know if money will ever be any good again. But if it is, Lenny and I will use the money in the jar to reimburse us for our troubles. If it isn’t, I guess we’ll just live out our lives eating Ramen noodles off the back of trucks.”

     He laughed, but Tina couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

     “Well, I’ll talk to Mason Bennett before Joe and I head out. I’ll tell them you’ve both lost all your marbles and to watch over you both, because you’ll definitely need keepers.”

     “When are y’all headed out?”

     “We’re thinking that today we’ll go find a good trailer to take with us. Make sure it’s still in good shape. And I want to take a couple of air lines and batteries off some of the other rigs to keep ours going if it breaks down. Then we’ll set out early the day after tomorrow, if the weather is cooperating. No sense setting out if it’s rainy or icy. Been here this long, might as well wait for good weather.”

     Tina said, “And we want to spend a little time with
the Bennetts too before we leave. In fact, Joe and I are headed over there after we finish our coffee, to hang out for a bit and to say goodbye. Do you guys want to come along?”

     Lenny said, “Sure, why not?”

     Tina looked at Marty.

     “No, I’ll pass.
Sarah and the girls will be all emotional about y’all leaving. And I never liked seeing dames cry.”

     “Dames, huh? What a silver tongued devil you are.”

     “Hey, as one of my favorite philosophers once said, ‘I yam what I yam.’”

     “I know, and then he ate his spinach and was strong to the
finish, right?”

     “Yeah. Something like that.”

     Tina got up and stretched.

     “Lenny, do you think you can use the yard tractor and pull two of these trailers out of the way today, so we can get our rig out of here?”

     “I reckon so. The brake lines are probably rotted after all this time, but I can drag ‘em out of the way if I need to.”

     Marty dumped the rest of his coffee into the campfire and walked over to the truck stop.

Chapter 7

     John sat at the new security contr
ol center and called Brad from the base station.

     “Brad, this is John. You got your radio turned on this morning, or did you forget again?”

     Silence.

     He tried again.

     “Brad, this is John. Come in.”

     “Go ahead, John. I just… had my hands full.”

     But John could hear Sami laughing in the background.

     Sami came on and said, “Don’t believe him, Dad. His radio was off. He heard you calling on mine.”

     John heard Brad, in the skewed falsetto voice of a twelve year old boy, say “tattle-tale.”

     John said, “Brad, what are we going to do with you?”

     “Nothing, John. Living with your daughter is punishment enough.”

     John smiled but let the comment slide. Sami was a handful, all right. Always had been, even as a little girl.

     “Brad, Mark and Bryan are going out this morning for a couple of hours. Can you give them cover from the roof?”

     “Sure. Not a problem. I’ve been wanting to check out those blinds up there anyway. When are they heading out?”

     “In about forty five minutes or so.”

     “Ten four. I’ll come and see you as soon as I tie Sami up and leave her outside for the vultures.”

     John caught Rusty’s eye as he walked past the security console. Rusty was only fourteen, David’s oldest boy. But he was always volunteering to help out where he could, trying to prove he was more than just a kid.

     “Hey, Buddy!
What are you up to this morning?”

     “Oh, nothing. Just looking around the new place. I think we’re going to like it here. Can anybody use the pool tabl
es over there? Or are they reserved for just the ‘
adults
?’”

     He made air quotation marks with his fingers.

     “Oh, they’re for everybody. Warm yourself up a few games, and when I get relieved in a little bit I’ll play a few games of eight ball with you.”

     “Cool. But eight ball’s for amateurs. How about nine ball?”

     “Doesn’t matter the game, son. You’re going down either way. But hey, you want to help us out in the meantime?”

     “Sure. How?”

     “Mark and Bryan are going outside the wall this morning to do a little gardening. I need somebody to let them out, and then to man the gate in case we see something out there and have to tell them to come in quick. Can you man the gate for us?”

     “Okay. Do I get to carry a radio?”

     “Yes, but not to play with. You’ll have to stay off of it so you can hear me if I yell for you to open the gate for them.”

     “Can I carry a gun?”

     “Now, Rusty, we’ve had this conversation before. Your mom and dad don’t want you to carry a loaded firearm until I’ve had a chance to train you. And I told you I’d give you some training for your fifteenth birthday. Remember?”

     “They said I was almost ready. Ho
w about if I carry an unloaded gun today? Just so I can get the feel of it?”

     John rolled his eyes and considered looking for someone else to man the gate for him. But Rusty was the only person he’d seen this morning who didn’t look busy, trying to settle in to the new place.

     “I’ll tell you what,” he said, handing Rusty a radio. “Go ask your parents if it’s okay for you to carry an empty gun. If it’s okay with them, have them call me. But if you take one, you’ll have to leave it in your holster. Empty or not, it’s not a toy, and should never be treated as one. Fair enough?”

     “Sure.”

     Rusty ran off, but the radio remained silent, as John knew it would.

     Rusty came back a few minutes later, looking dejected.

     “Dad said no, not until you train me and I’m mature enough to know men don’t carry guns for the fun of it.”

     John smiled. He almost could have predicted the exact words David was going to share with his son. David and John were on the same sheet of music when it came to weapons safety.

     Brad walked up to draw out an AR-15 rifle and a web belt containing four magazines from the gun locker.

     He took the rifle from the locker, checked it again to make sure it was clear, and then slung it over his shoulder.

     “I’ll call you when I’m on the roof.”

     Rusty took his radio and headed outside to the gate, sulking every step of the way.

     John called behind him.

     “Don’t forget to wear a mask and gloves.”

     “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

     Because of the thousands of decaying bodies
outside the compound, of humans, livestock and wild animals, the group was worried about airborne diseases. It was probably overkill, but they decided to mandate the wear of surgical masks and latex gloves while outdoors, at least during the warm weather months when such issues were more likely.

     Nobody liked the whole idea of masking up to go outside. But they did it anyway. If for no other reason, to avoid hearing people like John nag them about it.