by Hayden James
The four walked out of Mrs. Henderson’s house, leaving the dead corpses of the would-be robbers on the kitchen floor. As William, Vince, and Gary made their way to the van Linda interrupted them getting into the van, “Oh! You guys have a working vehicle?”
“Yes, it works,” replied Vince.
“Well, for payment for stitching Gary up, you know, I could really use a ride out of town,” pleaded Linda.
William interjected, “Sorry doc. We really can’t take anyone else. We are already full with my three daughters, wife, and these two. We can give you some food for tending to Gary.”
As William finished his sentence, Rachel peaked her head up from the passenger=-ide window. “Will, can I speak with you for a second?” Rachel asked.
Startled, William said, “Oh sure, dear,” as he went around to the driver’s side door to have a word with Rachel through the opened window.
He whispered in a low voice, “Rach, what is it?”
Rachel whispered back, “From what I overheard, this doctor went out of her way to help us. The least we could do is give her a ride to where she needs to go. It might be on our way.”
“We need to find Liam. We cannot spare anymore time,” replied William, his voice getting louder as he wanted the doctor to hear his rebuttal and to relinquish her request.
Rachel opened her mouth to refute his point, but William had already walked off. He returned to Dr. Tate, Gary, and Vince and said, “I’m sorry. We have to go look for my son in Nashville. We really cannot take anyone else. In fact, we have to get out of here this second. We are only wasting time and Liam could be hurt.
The doctor refuted William’s argument, “With all due respect, I need a ride to Tennessee, and if Liam is hurt, I could be of service.”
Rachel interrupted from the passaeger-side window once again, “Will, she has a point.”
Knowing Rachel was right, if Liam was hurt and needed medical attention, Dr. Tate could be useful. “Well, all right,” conceded William.
“Great. Well, I will need you to wait until I get my cat and things from my house,” Linda replied as she briskly headed to her house four houses down from Mrs. Henderson’s.
Gary turned to William, “Thanks man. She is really a good doctor and a nice lady. Plus, I feel like I owe her since she sewed me up.”
William’s face turned red with anger, “Cat!” That was the only word he could mutter as he became livid with taking another person with them. Someone else to take a portion of their supplies, which were already limited. William had just felt that they had enough with Vince and Gary adding to their small stockpile. “Cat!” William repeated. “She’s bringing her cat!”
Moments later, Linda returned with a duffle bag, she replenished her medical supplies, and she had her cat in a carrier. “All ready,”s he announced as she approached the van.
William couldn’t bring himself to words, all he could do was stomp over to the driver’s side door and get in the van. Gary and Vince helped Linda into the van with her bags, supplies, and cat.
William muttered to Rachel, “I hope Regis scares the living daylights out of that feline.”
Not amused by William’s comment, Rachel responded, “Watch it dear. We may need her help. Cool it with the comments and snide remarks.”
No response came from William. He took the ignition wires and stuck them together to turn over the engine. Without a word, he drove back onto Route 31, heading south.
Chapter Four
Liam Conner
Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
12:05 AM
“I don’t hear it anymore,” Liam whispered as both him and Prue slouched in their seats. Prue held Chewy close to her and had her hand on his carrier in case their need to flee the car.
“It’s been at least an hour since we heard them,” confirmed Prue on Liam’s notion that the Bubbas may no longer be a threat.
“I don’t think we should leave just yet. I know they must still be around here,” suggested Liam. “I just don’t think we are in immediate danger anymore.”
“I hope you’re right,” replied Prue. “They are definitely after us.”
“That is for sure.”
Prue relaxed a little and let go of Chewy and the carrier. She fed Chewy a few more pieces of the freeze-dried chicken. Liam let his guard down too. Thoughts of their future crossed his mind as he said, “You know, you can stay at my grandpa’s house, right?”
“Thanks. That’s a great offer. Only for a little while. I really need to find my parents and make sure that they are all right,” explained Prue. “I could probably use some rest once we make it to eastern Tennessee. From what you’ve said, Grandpa Dwight has quite a compound.”
“Oh, he does. We could rest, eat, and stock up on supplies before I take you to your parents' house. You said you lived in Spartanburg?”
“Yeah, Spartanburg.”
“Oh nice. I used to hike the Blue Ridge Mountains over there with my grandma and grandpa.”
“Right, I lived right by that mountain range.”
“I could go alone. I would rather you safe with your grandpa,” Prue rebutted Liam’s offer to help her find her parents.
Hating the notion of Prue traveling by herself to find her parents, he felt it best to not argue with her. Instead he replied, “I will make sure you have enough supplies to get you all the way to Spartanburg.” He then fell silent. He could not stand the thought of her traveling by herself to South Carolina. Ever since he met her and they’d been getting to know each other, the more and more he had been falling for her. He wanted to protect her, to make sure she was safe, and he understood that she needed to find her parents, however, he had no reason to go with her.
“I think it is safe now, what do you think?” Prue asked. “We hadn’t heard the sounds of those wretched motorcycles for hours.”
“I think it might be safe,” affirmed Liam. He started the car and pulled out of the hiding spot.
Prue took out the map and directed Liam back to the highway. “Make a right here at this next street,” she instructed, pointing to the street up ahead. Liam followed the directions, as this was the closest on-ramp back onto the highway.
Right when Liam made the turn, he slammed on his breaks, “What in the world!” Liam shouted.
“Oh, no!” Prue shouted after she looked up from the map. “The fires didn’t die down, they got worse!”
“There is no way we are going to get back on the highway,” concluded Liam.
“You’re right. I need to find us a different way,” Prue said, looking back down at the map to figure out a new route.
“I’ll help you,” suggested Liam. Prue placed half of the map on his lap, so they both could figure out a route to take other than the highway out of the Nashville area. “We need to avoid the highway at all costs. It backs up far too much, and even though it’s the most direct route to Townsend, it is so congested that I think it’s slowing us down.”
After a few moments, Prue said, “I figured it out.”
“Oh good, what did you come up with?” Liam asked, still trying to figure out how to get out of Nashville and to Townsend.
“We will take US-70. I believe it is the next best way to get us to Townsend.” Prue looked up from the map. “Turn around here and go under the underpass. We need to get to the US-70, which is a few miles north.”
Liam turned the car around, and traveled under the highway underpass, bypassing the blocked on-ramp. He traveled several miles before Prue said, “Bear left here.”
“Not again!” Liam lamented, seeing another wall of fire blocking the on-ramp.
“This is not a problem, we can get on at the next on-ramp a mile down,” explained Prue. “Turn around and I’ll direct you to the next one.”
Just as Liam was about to put the car in reverse, he heard the thundering sounds of the motorcycles.
“Oh, no!” Liam shouted as he looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the four Bubbas blocking the street, unable t
o turn the car. “This will be trouble.”
Chapter Five
Rachel Conner
Hamburg, Indiana
1:48 PM
“Looks like we are heading into Louisville,” Rachel said while she drove, turning to look at William in the passenger seat.
“Thanks hon for driving while I rest,” William replied. Rachel was eager to take some. Of the pressure off of her husband. Vince, Gary, and him had been burdened by keeping everyone safe and Rachel felt that William was coming apart at the seams.
“I’ve been thinking since we were heading down to Louisville. That’s a big city. When I left, it wasn’t that bad, but I’m thinking as people become more and more desperate, chaos might overrun Louisville,” explained Rachel.
“You want to try to skirt around it?” William asked.
“I think that’s best, what do you think?”
“It would be faster if we went through Louisville, but I’ll trust your judgement on this one,” William replied.
Rachel looked in the back of the VW camper van with the review mirror. In the back seats she saw Dr. Tate held her cat on her lap, Vince asleep, Addy stared out of the window, Natasha asleep, and to her dismay, she saw Gary resting his head on Maddy’s shoulder. Gary had been sleeping off his gunshot, but to be doing so on her daughter was outrageous. First Rachel thought that Vince was the threat with making moves on Addison, but now Gary and Maddy? Having these brothers along was now becoming an imposition and Rachel began to take shallow, quick breaths at the thought of grown men taking advantage of her twin girls.
“Hon, relax. It’ll be all right,” assured William. Rachel was certain that he did not know the new threat the presented itself. She had mentioned the flirting between Vince and Addy, but she did not know how she would break it to him that Gary and Madison seem to be starting a romance. Rachel could not muster a reply, and so she remained quiet.
Despite her daughters being almost adults, their eighteenth birthday was not far, she still did not want her twins to be serious with anyone. Rachel’s despair had turned to anger. She became angry at the notion that Gary and Vince were now taking advantage of the situation. The anger permeated through Rachel’s body at the thought of the brothers predating on her girls. She felt rage as she reminded herself of the journey she took with these two guys. How they saved her, and now were taking something from her from what seemed in Rachel’s mind to be payment. For the most part, Rachel felt betrayed.
After a few more miles, Rachel gained her composure. “Next exit, we’ll stop for lunch,” announced Rachel to the back of the camper van.
“Sounds good,” replied Maddy. “I’m getting hungry.”
The following exit, Rachel guided the camper van on the off-ramp and made the next right. Finding a Walmart parking lot, she parked the van and made her way to the back of the van to choose the ingredients for lunch.
Meanwhile, Gary and Vince got out of the van to make the fire. They gathered the charcoal that Rachel found the day before along with the newspaper that Ron had stashed in his van. Maddy and Addy watched the two brothers as they made the fire in the makeshift fire pit that they built.
Rachel selected beans, rice, and canned chicken. Canned food was becoming tiring, however, it seemed far more appealing than the other option, which was freeze-dried food that the Gary and Vince had brought from their stockpile in their house. William helped Rachel with the pots and the wire mesh that would sit on top of flames. She still could not bring herself to tell William about Maddy and Gary. For some reason, Rachel blamed herself for bringing these two into the fold, and now she was deeply regretting it. Instead, Rachel decided to take matters into her own hands.
After they ate lunch, William and Dr. Tate began the cleanup. Maddy, Addy, and Natasha scrubbed the pots with boiling water, while William and Dr. Tate dried and brought the pots back into the van.
A few moments later, Maddy and Addy came over to where Gary, Vince, and Rachel sat on the ground. “Mom, we are going to take Regis and Natasha on a walk before we get back into the van,” Addison said.
“Sounds good dear. Make sure Regis takes full advantage of this,” replied Rachel.
While the daughters were away, and Dr. Tate and William were inside, Rachel took the opportunity to let Gary and Vince know where the boundaries were. She started off, “Guys, I’ve been seeing what has been going on.”
Vince innocently responded, “What what has been going on?”
It was clear to Rachel that Vince did not have a clue of what she was talking about. She clarified, “I’ve been noticing the two of you have been getting close with my daughters.”
Gary interjected, “They are really nice.”
“I know,” responded Rachel with the coldest tone she could muster. “I need it to stop now. My girls are seventeen. You two are in your mid-twenties. It is illegal. They are too young for you.” Rachel conveniently left out that the twins would turn eighteen the following week.
“Understood,” responded Vince.
“Right. I totally understand,” replied Gary.
“Good,” Rachel said abruptly as she noticed that the girls had returned. Both Gary and Vince stood up, appearing taken aback but he conversation that had just taken place.
Upon the girls’ arrival, Addison reached Vince’s hand and he quickly grabbed it away. Rachel saw this and was relieved that Vince understood the boundary. Addy looked disappointed by Vince’s resistance to her affectionate advance, yet Rachel was quite pleased. The girls went inside the van to get ready to leave and get back onto the road.
As Rachel assisted with the remaining items that needed to be put away and Gary and Vince put out the campfire, two men pass by the parked camper van. Rachel, Gary, and Vince were still by the recently extinguished fire. “Hey there. Nice van,” one of the men said to Gary.
“Thanks, man,” replied Gary.
The other man asked the three, “How have you guys been dealing with all of this?”
Vince spoke up, “We’re doing the best we can, considering.”
Rachel did not trust these two and did not understand why they were trying to get information. In an effort to deflect the attention, Rachel interrupted, “How have you guys been doing since the disaster?”
“Last night we had a break in,” one of the men explained.
“A break in?” Gary asked.
“Yeah, I had a fairly decent stockpile already, and I was able to get more supplies from the stores when they were open. Well, last night while Jeff and I slept, four men busted down our door,” the man explained.
“Oh dear! What happened?” Rachel asked, letting down her guard to freely speak to these men. Perhaps, Rachel could learn what exactly was going on.
“Some scum were trying to get to our stockpile. After them breaking the window woke me up, I got my AR-15 that I sleep with ever since this horrible event happened. I unloaded the thirty-round magazine right where I heard the noise. Once I was sure that the threat was gone, I went outside to check what it was. Sure enough, I found four men, dressed in black with masks on laying in pools of blood. After that, I was sure glad it wasn’t a family looking for abandoned houses for food ro anything like that. These guys were legitimate bad guys. They’d probably had been watching Jeff and I for a few days and realized that we had a stockpile. This will only get worse, and I don’t know how far this is going to go,” answered the man. “My name is Bob, by the way.”
Rachel replied, “I’m Rachel, and this is Gary and Vince.” The men shook hands.
“How have you guys been dealing with it?” Bob asked.
Rachel felt compelled to divulge the ordeal that her and her family had gone through, “Well, my twins were kidnapped, but we could get them back,” she answered.
“Dang!” Jeff exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for Bob, I don’t know what I would do. He offered for me to stay with him. And now we are looking for more supplies, not to mention, we are keeping tabs on the community. You know, keeping a w
atch for who’s coming and going.”
“Smart!” Vince replied.
“Well, we’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” responded Bob. The two men shook hands with Vince and Gary and kept heading in the direction that they were before the conversation.
Astonished by how things had turned, Rachel whispered to Gary and Vince, “This is not good.”
Gary responded, “No, it’s not. And I hate to think about it, but it will only get worse.”
“I know,” Rachel responded in a deep thought of what would be the next to come.
Gary and Vince carried the charcoal and the lighter fluid into the van while Rachel took a few moments to observe the new world around her. She was grateful that they had the camper van, a way for them to travel and remain isolated from the crowds. The yellow color of the van made it so they always stood out, the raveling band of misfits, but the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
While Rachel took a moment before going back into the van, William joined her. “Lunch was very good dear,” he said while putting his arm around her shoulders, drawing her body near to his.
“Thanks, hon. I’m getting tired of it,” replied Rachel.
“Me too,” answered William with a chuckle. “If you could eat anything you could?”
“I could really go for some deep-dish pizza. Like the ones we used to order from Giordano’s occasionally on Fridays. How about you?”
“That’s easy. Smoked brisket. I dream of the tender, peppery flavor of brisket every night,” answered William.
“When we make it to Dwight’s compound after we find Liam, I’m sure he has some livestock that we could make brisket with,” assured Rachel.
“Brisket would be much easier dream to make come true than deep-dish pizza, given what we will have available,” explained William.
