“Yeah, but I convinced him to let me do it. I’ve had so much sleep the past week that I’d just lay there staring at the ceiling.” He reached over and took her hand. “I’m glad you’re up. There’s been something I wanted to say to you. What you did for me, taking the bullets out of my leg, was amazing. I just wanted to say thank you. You mean so much to me. I don’t know if I could have made it this far without you,” he said, staring at her intensely.
“Hey, of course you would. Someone would have manned up and carved your leg up for you,” she joked.
“No, that’s not what I mean, getting this far from California, and making our way home. You kept me going. I love Josh like a brother and Dara and Cooper are good friends now but all I’ve focused on is keeping you safe and getting you home. When those bikers had us, what they said they were going to do to you, it almost drove me mad. The thought of you being hurt like that killed me.” When Alex didn’t say anything, he asked her, “You must know how I feel about you after all these years - don’t you Alex?”
Alex’s mind was a spiraling mess of confusion and panic. First Cooper and now Quinn. She had to stay off this porch; it was a dangerous place to be. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She could feel Quinn looking at her, waiting for a response. She opened her eyes and looked into his.
“When I saw you covered in blood in the back of that truck, my heart stopped and I saw flashbacks of us together over the years. I love you, Quinn. I have loved you for years and if I lost you, a piece of me would die. But I don’t know if I’m ready to make us more. Everything is so crazy and messed up. All the things we’ve gone through and we still aren’t even home. I’m just not ready for more right now.”
“Is it Cooper? Do you like him? I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I understand because I look at you the same way,” he said.
“I…I don’t know!” she laughed in frustration. “The world as we know it is over and I’m supposed to pick which boy to go to prom with?! I can’t, Quinn! Yes, Cooper has feelings for me and I might have some for him but I Do Not Know! This isn’t something I can do right now. Please, be my friend and love me like I love you but just leave it for now. We can work it out when we get home, okay?” she pleaded.
He sat back and smiled reassuringly at her. He gave her hand a squeeze and said, “It’s okay, Alex, I just wanted to tell you how I felt and you’re right. This isn’t the time for it and I love you too. You should try and get some sleep. We’re out of here first thing in the morning.”
She stood up and leaned down to kiss him on the cheek but he turned his head and their lips met softly. Her whole body lit up and she pulled back in surprise with her eyes wide. He gave her a smug little grin. “I just thought you should know. Goodnight, Alex.”
She stumbled back towards the front door and mumbled a “goodnight” to him. All she could think was “now I’m never going to fall asleep.”
Chapter Nineteen
They left at dawn, excited to finally be on the road again. They made their way back and forth across the Montana countryside avoiding the few towns they came close to but always headed north. It was late in the afternoon when they finally circled around Great Falls and headed towards the interstate. Just as they thought, the interstate was wide open with mainly transport trucks left abandoned on the road. Almost all had their trailer doors open, and goods were strewn all over the ground around them.
They had discussed when the best time to approach the border would be, and they decided that morning would be best. They knew there were many small back roads that they could use to cross over the border but they were all familiar with the Coutts/Sweetgrass crossing. They also hoped that they would be able to get information on the state of their country if the border crossing was still being controlled by guards.
They stopped about an hour’s drive from the border and set up camp well off the road. They hadn’t seen any other working cars on the way or any people walking but they were still cautious. Alex tried to stay with Dara while they set up and made supper. She didn’t want to be caught alone by Quinn or Cooper. She wasn’t ready to talk to either one of them until she figured out things in her head.
Dara turned and almost bumped into Alex for the second time and finally clued in. With a laugh she asked her, “What are you doing, Alex? If you get any closer to me, we can both wear these pants.”
“Sorry, sorry.” She did a quick look around and saw the boys were busy with something in the back of the van so she told Dara, “I’m avoiding Quinn and Cooper. If I’m not alone, they won’t go all gaga on me so I’m being your shadow.”
Dara threw her head back and laughed, causing Josh to look her way with a smile. “Oh, that’s good. We’re in the middle of the apocalypse and you’re stuck in some bad CW network love triangle? Oh, that’s hilarious!” and she laughed even more.
Alex mock-glared at her friend. It was kind of funny, though, and she finally couldn’t hold a straight face anymore and started laughing too. When they finally got control of themselves, Dara wiped her eyes and looked at her friend “Seriously? Both of them?”
Alex nodded with a roll of her eyes. “Ridiculous, right? I’m mean, I haven’t had a date in months and NOW I have two guys chasing me?”
Dara shook her head. “Wow, I thought I had it bad but you win hands down.”
“What? What’s going on with you . . . Oh, Josh, right?”
“Yeah, I know he likes me but do you think the guy will say anything or even better, make a move? No, not one thing and it’s driving me crazy! I’ll never understand men.”
“Well, with Josh I think you’re going to have to make the first move. For all his joking and pranks, I know he’s shy with girls. I don’t think he’s even been on a date before. Sorry, Dara, this one’s going to be all on you.”
“I kind of figured that out. What are you going to do? Cooper or Quinn, what a choice!”
“Don’t remind me! I don’t plan on doing anything but avoiding the whole sticky mess until we get home. I like them both but it’s not something I can figure out as we’re traveling like this and that’s what I told Quinn last night. The only good thing about it is there doesn't seem to be any hard feelings between the two of them and I really want to keep it that way, especially while we’re on the road. So, you are now my shadow buddy and I plan to stick to you like glue!” She gave Dara a sickly-sweet smile and batted her eyes at her.
Dara groaned. “That’s great! Now I’ll never get anywhere with Josh!” She laughed.
“Hey, you help me out here and I’ll set up some alone time for you two. Isn’t it great to be friends again and help each other out with these little girlfriend issues?” Alex said mockingly.
“You know what, Alex? It really is, I missed you a lot,” she said, no longer joking.
Alex pulled her into a hug and whispered, “Me too.”
They decided not to have a campfire that night and everyone took a turn at keeping watch. They were so close to being home they didn’t want anything to go wrong. They were up early the next morning and quickly packed up after a hasty breakfast.
The closer they got to the border the more car wrecks they saw. They could see the cluster of buildings ahead and they could also make out groups of people and what looked like tents and campers clustered around the parking lots. It looked like most of the cars had been moved out of the road ahead but there was a line of them being used to block the actual crossing lanes. Josh pulled the truck to a stop before they got to the main group of people. They quickly got out and gathered by Quinn who was in the truck’s front passenger seat. People were already looking their way but no one was approaching them yet. Quinn stayed in the truck but had his window down.
“Okay, it looks like they aren’t letting these people through for some reason. We are crossing this border no matter what so get your passports ready. Everyone sling a rifle and make sure you have extra magazines. We don’t want to start a fight here but we’ll finish one if we have too.
This is what we do. We drive straight up and stop in front of one of the crossing booths. Everyone will get out except Cooper, who will be up on the camper covering us. We show them our passports and maybe offer a bag of buns to sweeten them up. Keep your rifles on their slings unless we are threatened. These guys will all be armed as well and we don’t want to seem too threatening. Make sure you lock the doors when you get out. We don’t want one of these people trying to steal our rides. Stay close and keep going until we get up there. If anyone tries to get in the way, just blow the horn and keep going. Everybody agree?” They all nodded and ran back to their vehicles.
Once Josh saw everyone was ready, he pulled ahead. They weren’t going very fast but kept a steady pace. Josh had to blow his horn once when three men tried to get in front of them and wave them down but they scattered when they saw he wasn’t stopping and if that wasn’t enough, the hard look and barrel of the assault rifle he stuck out the window and pointed their way was. The people lining the road all stopped what they were doing and watched the kids go by. There were little campsites set up all along the road and from the amount of trash everywhere, they had been here for a while. More and more people were emerging from tents and campers to see what the new arrivals would do.
Alex noted that a lot of older people were in the crowd, especially around the campers, and she guessed that they were Canadian snowbirds who spent the winters down south. They must be trying to get back home. They came to a stop in front of a disabled car that was blocking the guard booth and they all climbed out and locked the vehicles. Except for Cooper, who stayed in the camper and scanned the crowd from the roof. There were only six guards on the other side of the barricade and as they came closer Alex could see that they were wearing Canadian uniforms.
Alex was so happy to see people in authority who were actually doing their jobs that she gave them a big smile and waved. Her smile went away when the obvious leader started to shake his head with a scowl on his face. He marched up to the other side and stopped.
He looked them all over and pronounced, “Border’s closed! Turn those vehicles around and move them away from here.”
Josh pretended he hadn’t heard him. “We have our passports right here, sir! We’re all Canadians and we have nothing to declare,” he tried joking while holding his passport out.
The man didn’t even reach for it and without a change of expression told them, “It doesn’t matter. The border is closed. NO one gets across.”
Josh scanned the faces of the five other guards and saw they were all looking sympathetic and some even frustrated. Before he could say anything else, Alex stepped forward and turned on the charm.
“Sir, we understand you’re just doing your job. We’re just so happy to see the Canadian authorities after everything we’ve been through. Would you and your men like some freshly baked buns? We made them in our camper’s oven.” She smiled sweetly and held out a grocery bag filled with buns. The man leaned forward and his eyes were greedy as he took in how many buns were in the bag. As he went to reach for the handles he came face to face with Alex’s assault rifle barrel, right between his eyes.
Alex had also seen the sympathetic looks the other guards had given them and hoped they wouldn’t do anything rash. She gave them a cutesy smile and focused back on the leader with a hard look and mustered up the most impressive voice she could.
“Now you listen to me! We are Canadian citizens that just want to go home! We were in Disneyland when this happened and we went through hell to get here but we fought our way through it. You are not going to stop me from going home and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying. If all these people out here are Canadians and you stopped them from going home then you, sir, are a traitor to your country and the people you are supposed to serve. Now, tell me again why we can’t cross this border.”
The other guards hadn’t moved and a few were even smirking at their leader’s predicament. The man looking down Alex’s rifle barrel was red in the face and his eyes were very angry.
“It’s standard procedure to shut the border down in a nationwide emergency. We are following what the manual says. Now put that down, little girl. You’re not even big enough to fire it,” the man snarled as he reached for his sidearm.
“Uh, oh. Shouldn’t have said that,” Josh said to the man in warning, as all the teens brought their guns up and pointed them at him.
Alex was done, just plain done with condescending idiots like this. She pressed her gun barrel hard between his eyes and roared at him.
“Mister, I might have been a little girl when we left Disneyland but when my friends and I killed a group of bikers in Nevada, I stopped being one. Now take your hand away from that weapon or I’ll give you a third eye.”
The man paled at her words and put his hands up.
“You did the right thing closing the border when it happened, but that was over twenty days ago. So, as a Canadian citizen and taxpayer who helps pay your wages, I’m here to tell you that you are FIRED!” She glanced towards the other guards, “Any of you have a problem with that?” When the other officers shook their heads, she continued, “Good, do any of you have restraints?”
One of the guards stepped forward, “Yes, ma’am, I got some right here.”
“Thank you, sir. Please restrain this man before he gets himself shot. You can let him go after these people have all been cleared through,” she told him.
As the guard came over and took his boss’s gun from him, Alex was surprised at how quiet it was. She turned and looked at the crowd of people behind her. They were all watching and waiting in silence.
One of the other border guards walked over to Alex and her friends. “Excuse me, miss, but did you say you took out a group of bikers in Nevada?” When they all nodded their heads, the man’s face split into a huge grin. “Holy crap! Are you guys the Maple Leaf Mafia?”
They all stared at the man in shock. Josh started to howl with laughter. “I told you it was a catchy name!” In the silence of the waiting crowd, everyone heard what was said and at Josh’s reply, the crowd let out a huge cheer.
After discussing things with the group of border guards, they helped to get things moving. They had the guards open two channels through the crossing. One was for Canadians with any form of ID that had an address in Canada and one for people who claimed to be Canadians but had no identification.
The new leader walked with Josh and told him, “I’ve wanted to do this for a while. We shut everything down on the first day as per procedure but as the days went by and people started showing up with passports we all felt it was wrong not to let them through. We have a hardened radio that still worked and we spoke to the military but they were pretty busy and didn’t offer much help.”
Josh looked sharply at the man. “The Canadian military is still functioning? What’s going on in our country?”
“Well, I don’t know much but what we’ve heard on the radio isn’t pretty. The pulse stopped up north, just past Edmonton, and straight across the country, but we don’t have a whole lot of population up there. The major cities in the east are gutted. You couldn’t pay me to get near Toronto or anywhere in Quebec. Calgary and Edmonton are bad but a lot of people just walked out so the countryside around any city is also a mess. We have heard a lot of small towns with radios saying things about barricading against refugees and other places have set up aid stations - but with no food being shipped in and the growing season just starting, there will be a lot of deaths in the next few months. The prairie provinces are lucky because they don’t have huge populations and there’s a lot of livestock, but if it’s not managed right it won’t matter. So where are you guys headed? Where’s home?” he asked.
“Our town’s called Prairie Springs. It’s in Central Alberta, about an hour west of Red Deer.”
The guard made a face. “Prairie Springs, Prairie Springs, I heard something about that town a few days ago. There was some chatter on the radio about it.” He paused to try and remember
and shook his head. “I don’t know. It was some warning about staying away from it. We were changing the dial and I just caught a moment of it, sorry.” They came to the line of people who wanted to cross with no identification and the guard sighed. “Now how am I going to work this mess out? Things are going to be hard enough up north without a flood of hungry Americans coming in, but how do we figure that out?”
Josh studied the people waiting in line and saw the first was a family of four with a small boy and girl. He grinned at the guard and said, “Follow my lead.”
He stepped up to the family and crouched down in front of the kids.
“Hey there, guys, you ready to go home?”
They both nodded shyly.
“Are these your parents? Do you live in Canada?”
When the kids both nodded, he smiled at them. “Okay, you have to pass a test. Are you ready? Here it is. What do you call a dollar in Canada?”
The little boy grinned a gap-tooth smile and yelled, “A loonie!”
Josh nodded and stood.
“Pass!”
He moved down the line and greeted the woman that was next in line.
“Ma’am, can you tell us a Canadian football team?”
She looked at him in confusion and answered, “Sure, there’s the Stampeders, the BC Lions, the…”
Josh cut her off. “Pass!”
The next people in line were a couple and he asked the woman, “What party did you vote for in the last election?”
She answered without even thinking. “Democrat.”
Josh shook his head and made a sound like a buzzer, “EEEEE! Not in Canada, fail! Back of the line for you!” he left them sputtering and moved on to the next group.
There were six senior citizens grouped together. He smiled and nodded at them and asked, “What drive-thru do you all get your coffee from?”
They all started to laugh and said in unison, “Tim Horton’s!” One of them followed up with a “Double, double please!”
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 19
