Dark Titan Journey Book 1

by Thomas A. Watson

  “I’m glad too; these biscuits are good,” he said, grinning. “There will be others, Amanda, and I’m afraid many others. People who don’t know how to take care of themselves are going to try and take. That’s why we don’t give anything,” he told her.

  “I understand. I just wish I could help you more,” she said, glancing back.

  “You are helping and once you learn you will help more,” he assured her as they came up to a car parked on the side of the road. He stopped and looked in the back seat and saw a blue expedition backpack. He took out his window punch and popped the back window, shattering it and hearing a gasp from his side. Pulling a crowbar from the bottom of his pack, Nathan cleared the glass and opened the door.

  Pulling the pack over, he undid the top and took out a bra. Throwing it down, he looked at the pack and noticed it was a good one. He looked at Amanda and threw the pack back inside and moved on. It was too big for her.

  Half a mile further, he stopped at an SUV and looked in. He saw bags in the back and sandals close to Amanda’s size. Taking out his punch, he popped the window and raked out the glass with his crowbar again and put it up. Reaching in the back, he started pulling out bags and noticed three were personal baseball equipment bags. He grabbed one and started going through it.

  “This is going to take forever if you have to look in each car,” Amanda told him, glancing around nervously.

  Nathan never stopped his digging. “I’m shopping. The first car I popped had a Junior High School bumper sticker and this one had a sandal that looks like it would fit you in the floor board,” he told her.

  “If the sandal is on the floor, why are you digging in the bag?” she asked.

  “Someone needs clothes and I’m not saying who,” he said, pulling out some pants, holding them up then throwing them over his arm. He pulled out another pair along with a t-shirt and a button-down flannel shirt. Digging in another bag, he pulled out some batting gloves. Holding them up, he shook his head and threw them down and grabbed another one. These gloves he kept and closed the door.

  He turned to see Amanda looking behind them with her little binoculars. “There is someone back there at the car we just left and he’s looking at me with binoculars,” she told Nathan before he looked up.

  Nathan unzipped her pack and pushed the stuff in and zipped it up. “That’s about half a mile away. What do they look like?” he asked.

  “It’s a boy,” Amanda said with certainty, “and he looks really fat,” she finished.

  Nathan looked up and saw the person as well. He lifted his binoculars and saw it was a fat kid with some truly gigantic binoculars. The kid waved and Nathan dropped his binoculars, letting them hang on his chest. “That’s good. Let’s go,” he said. Amanda grabbed his hand as he started off.

  The highway split ahead with a stand of trees growing in the median. Nathan could see people resting on the ground and some under blankets hung up like tents. Getting closer, he noticed they were camped all throughout the trees and he couldn’t see the end of the divide. “Keep an eye out,” he said in a low voice.

  He saw men in tattered business suits, women in dresses that had seen much better days, men and women in casual attire that was filthy, and one man in a speedo. What made it bad was that Speedo didn’t have the body to wear it, being two hundred pounds overweight. Nathan gave a shiver and looked ahead.

  When they were past Speedy, Amanda asked, “Why do people wear that when they look like that?”

  “They think they look good. I’m mad at the companies that make them in those sizes,” Nathan said. “Speedos are like spandex: ‘It’s a privilege, not a right,’” Nathan added, making her giggle.

  “That kid is following us. He’s further back than he was,” she told him.

  “He may just be going this way but keep an eye on him,” Nathan said.

  Just before ten a.m., they saw a group of five men and three women sitting around a small fire. They all appeared middle-aged and looked like hell. Suddenly, one of the men started at them at a fast pace when they were fifty yards away. Amanda squeezed Nathan’s hand and Nathan gently squeezed it back. When the man was thirty yards away, Nathan moved his rifle hanging across his chest toward the man and he stopped upon noticing it.

  “Please give us some water and food!” he shouted.

  Nathan shook his head. “I’m sorry, don’t have any to spare,” he said, never slowing.

  “We’re thirsty and hungry,” the man said when they were even with him. Ares gave a growl and bared his teeth, making the man back up to the side of the road.

  “I’m sorry,” Nathan said, never looking away from the man.

  “You have water bottles on your packs. Just give us one,” he begged.

  “We need them,” Nathan told him as they passed by.

  “You look like the military or police. You have to help us,” the man said, moving toward them again.

  Nathan let go of Amanda’s hand and walked backwards keeping his rifle, aimed at the man. “I’m sorry sir, but you’re wrong. I’m just someone who thinks ahead, and if you advance further I will shoot you and you won’t have to worry about being hungry or thirsty. At the exit five miles east is a shelter at the school. I suggest you see if they can help,” Nathan told the man and continued to walk backwards till they were fifty yards away.

  “How do you walk backwards that long?” Amanda asked, grabbing Nathan’s hand when he spun back around.

  “Train for it,” he told her.

  “Okay, why would you train for that?” she asked.

  “For one, situations just like that. I had two choices. One, keep him covered till we were a safe distance away or kill him. Then if someone is shooting at you, it’s not that smart to turn your back and run. One thing I will admit to you, I don’t think I can shoot someone unless I know they are a threat. The only way that man was going to be a threat was if I allowed him to get closer,” he told Amanda.

  “How close till you consider them a threat?” Amanda asked, thinking about what Nathan said.

  Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “Each situation is different, but never let anyone get within twenty feet of you.”

  “Okay, so how far is twenty feet?” Amanda asked.

  Pointing to a mile marker, Nathan said “That sign is twenty-five feet away.” Then he dropped his hand back to the pistol grip of the M-4.

  “What’s a meter?” Amanda asked.

  Nathan sighed and started teaching distance to Amanda. They walked for half an hour, draining another bottle of water out of Amanda’s pack. He put the bottle back and she looked up at him. “Thank you for getting me out of the bushes. Fixing me up and taking me with you and teaching me,” she told him.

  “You’re welcome, but I really wish you would let me take you to Jessie and Renee,” he told her.

  “They can’t keep me safe till I learn how to do it myself. I know you can,” she said, and he liked the answer.

  “I can’t promise I can either. We are starting a twenty-five-hundred-mile-long journey,” he told her.

  “Where did the extra five hundred miles come from?” Amanda asked, wondering if the United States was getting bigger.

  Nathan shrugged his shoulders. “Giving myself leeway. I expect when this is over it will be closer to three thousand,” he told her. She didn’t say anything as they continued walking, happy that the land wasn’t growing. Seeing another exit ahead, Nathan slowed his pace; he didn’t notice anyone in the woods bordering the Interstate. He asked Amanda and she agreed. He saw a few people in the median twenty yards ahead but none on the outside woods.

  “Come on, let’s take a break,” Nathan said, leading her to the side of the road and up into the trees. They walked up an embankment then twenty-five yards into the tree line where he dropped his pack, followed by Amanda. He took off Ares’ pack and rummaged around till he pulled out the collapsible water bowl. He pulled out a water bottle and filled the bowl up. Ares started lapping up water as he was pourin
g it in.

  “I could’ve kept going,” Amanda told him.

  “I’m sure you could’ve,” Nathan said, sitting and looking down at the Interstate.

  “When Ares gets finished, let’s go,” she told him.

  “Amanda, your pace was starting to falter. This is a marathon, not a race,” he told her. She stayed standing, looking at the road. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I don’t want you to leave me behind if I slow you down,” she told him. Looking at her, Nathan could see her trembling.

  “Hey, get over here,” he told her, pointing at the ground beside him. She came over and stood beside him. Then, seeing his face, she dropped on her butt; her feet sent her a silent thank you for sitting down. “Didn’t I say you’re my friend?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she mumbled.

  “That means I won’t leave you behind unless you want me to,” he told her.

  “You wanted me to leave you if you got shot this morning,” she whimpered.

  Nathan grabbed her face and turned her to look at him. “You couldn’t have saved me. There is a big difference,” he told her.

  She wiped tears off her face, “I know you can go faster without me. I’ve seen you slow down for me. I promise I will keep walking till I fall down then I’ll crawl,” she moaned.

  “You damn well better not,” he snapped, making her jerk back. “If you run yourself down like that it will take a lot of time to get you better to move. I would stay with you and do it but I would be disappointed that you didn’t say something,” Nathan told her.

  “Okay,” she said, giving a weak smile and feeling relieved.

  “That was a crappy smile,” Nathan told her, making Amanda smile bigger. “How much biscuits, cheese, and bacon do we have?” he asked.

  “A lot,” she said, digging it out of her tote bag.

  He lifted up his binoculars and looked at the group on the other side of the highway. It was two men, a woman, and two kids. They were only sixty yards away so he could see them real well. Studying them for a minute, Nathan let the binoculars drop as Amanda handed him some food. They sat eating, drinking, and just relaxing.

  “When the woman comes up with the kids, don’t say anything,” Nathan reminded her as he leaned back on his pack. Ares groaned and lay down and rolled on his back, holding his paws in the air. “Oh, you aren’t tired so don’t even start,” Nathan told him. Ares just snorted at him.

  Amanda sat and watched the woman arguing with one of the men through her binoculars and was fixing to ask what Nathan was talking about when the woman walked away from the man. Two kids ran over and followed her across the road. “They’re coming,” Amanda said, putting down her binoculars.

  “I see ‘em. Good girl,” Nathan said, pulling his rifle across his chest. The woman led the kids up the embankment to them and stopped when she was twenty yards away. She’s smart, Nathan thought.

  “Hello, can we come closer please?” she asked.

  “Come on, just keep your hands where we can see them,” Nathan called out. She walked toward them at a casual pace and the kids held their hands over their head. I wonder where they saw that, Nathan thought as the woman stopped ten feet from them. He looked at the kids. Both were boys, one looked about six, the other eight. “You can put your hands down, boys,” Nathan said and they did.

  “Sir, my name is—” she started and he held up his hand.

  “I don’t care what your name is and you don’t care what ours are, so let’s just dispense with introductions,” Nathan interrupted.

  “Yes sir,” she said. “I wanted to ask you for some food and water. The kids haven’t eaten in two days and the last of the water was yesterday,” she said. He looked at the mother, putting her around twenty-five; she looked like she had been rode hard and put away wet. Looking at the kids, he saw they didn’t look much better. They weren’t starving but he could see their eyes were getting a sunken look to them from dehydration.

  “What did you and the father fight about before coming up here?” Nathan asked and he saw the shock hit her face; then she regained her composure.

  “He wanted me to ask for food and I didn’t want to,” she told him.

  “You’re lying,” Nathan told her.

  “No sir, I’m not,” she answered quickly.

  Nathan smiled at her. “He wants you to use the kids to get him some food,” he told her. “Don’t lie again,” he said.

  She gawked at him in astonishment. “You can read lips?” she asked with her mouth hanging open.

  “No, just body language,” he said. “He has eaten recently; my guess is this morning. Don’t lie again. The evidence is on his shirt,” Nathan told her.

  The mother looked down. “Yes sir. A man gave me a can of stew and some crackers and Stan ate them,” she told him.

  “Thank you for being honest. You and the kids, please sit down,” Nathan said and she sat down and pulled the kids down next to her. “Amanda, give each one a biscuit with bacon and cheese,” Nathan instructed her. “Those are to be eaten here and I mean every last crumb,” he said, looking at the mother. With wide eyes, she nodded as she watched Amanda fix the biscuits.

  “Where are you coming from?” Nathan asked her.

  “Peachtree,” she said, watching Amanda’s hands with longing.

  “Should’ve stayed,” Nathan pointed out. “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Cedar Town. My sister lives there,” she answered as Amanda handed over the first biscuit. The mother held out her hands, and as soon as Amanda put it in her hands, the mother gave it to the six year old. Nathan smiled.

  He reached back and grabbed his other bottle and held it out. The mother took it and opened it and helped the young one drink. Nathan noted she was being real careful so the young one didn’t let it run out the side of his mouth. Amanda fixed the biscuits and laid them out for mother and kids. “Eat and drink slow or it will just come back up,” Nathan told them. He looked at Amanda. “Boots off,” he told her and turned back to the three.

  The mother was pulling the biscuit back from each child, telling them to chew what they had in their mouths. “Boys, listen to your mother and neither one of you get another one till you drink half that bottle in small sips,” Nathan told them, leaning his head back. “Ma’am, take a drink,” he told the mother.

  “Thank you, sir, I’ll give mine to the kids,” she said, making the kids take small sips.

  “That wasn’t a request, ma’am,” Nathan told her, and she looked up at him and then took a small sip. He saw her gasp when the water hit her parched throat making it hard for her to breathe. “More or you’ll get sick, and still in small sips,” Nathan said, and she complied. When the bottle was empty, Amanda filled it from her hydration bladder on her pack and gave it back.

  Nathan reached in his tote bag and pulled out the small med kit. “Hands,” he said, and Amanda moved over and sat down beside him, putting them on his leg. He undid the dressing and noted the cuts were scabbed over but a little red. He cleaned her hands off and put ointment on. “They don’t need to be bandaged anymore,” he told her and she sighed with relief. “Wear the batting gloves from now on,” Nathan said.

  He looked at her sitting beside him and noted her boot laces were undone but the boots were still on. “Boots off and let me see your feet,” Nathan told her. Amanda let out a long breath and gently pulled her boots off, trying not to cringe. Nathan looked down at her socks that were red with blood; not soaked, but red nonetheless. “Hurt a little, huh,” he said to her. Giving a half-smile, Amanda shrugged her shoulders as she extended one foot toward Nathan.

  Taking the sock off, Nathan found the dressing was soaked. Shaking his head, he undid the dressing to find all the cuts were open and bleeding. He held her foot under his drinking tube and rinsed her foot off then cleaned it up. Covering her foot in ointment, he put on a new dressing, much tighter this time, and taped it down. Then he repeated the process for the other foot.

  “Put on
clean socks and pack the dirty ones up. Get your boots back on and lace them tight,” he told her and turned back to the mom and kids. Seeing the water bottle was empty, Nathan refilled it and handed it back. The three passed it around, taking long drinks. Then he saw the food Amanda had laid out for them was gone. He grabbed the bag with the biscuits and stuff and pulled out one more apiece for him and Amanda. Handing the bag to the mom, he said, “Fix you and them another one and eat it here in front of me.” She took the bag, smiling gratefully, and fixed the kids more. She ate hers in two bites and made the kids drink the last of the water. He refilled the bottle and watched the kids finish off the food.

  “You need to get to where you’re going quickly. It’s only going to get worse for those that are traveling,” Nathan told her.

  “Stan wants to wait,” she said quietly.

  “Leave his ass,” Nathan said.

  “Sir, it’s beyond bad now. We’ve seen five people shot and I don’t know how many women attacked.”

  “Which one has the gun?” Nathan asked her.

  She frowned at the question. “The other man, Doug.”

  “Do you know how to use the gun Doug has?”

  “Yes sir, I bought it. They both have records and can’t. My boyfriend in high school taught me how to shoot,” she explained.

  “If you had that gun would you take off, and if threatened, could you use it?” Nathan asked.

  She nodded her head vigorously. “Sir, I would use it on Stan and Doug now. That’s why they don’t let me near it,” she told him.

  “Drink,” Nathan ordered.

  She looked at him pleadingly. “Sir, Simon cut his foot two days ago on a piece of glass. Will you look at it please?”

  Nathan nodded and the mom took off the older boy’s shoe after pulling him over to Nathan. His foot had a piece of shirt tied around it and Nathan took it off. The cut ran the length of his filthy foot and was packed with dirt. “Simon, this is going to hurt but if you don’t let me do this your foot will rot off and you’ll die,” Nathan told him. Tears welled up in Simon’s eyes and he nodded.