He kicked Smoke hard into a gallop, following the others. Four seconds later, ka-boom! sounded behind him. Emma woke up screaming thinking the world was ending. “Yeah, doodle bug, that scared the shit out of me as well,” Nathan said, kicking Smoke faster and glancing behind him.
The blast had caught two of the ATVs and the others had run off the road. All Nathan saw was wreckage. He soon caught up to the group and they pulled in behind him. Behind them they heard a ton of gunfire. The fields didn’t gradually end; instead they came to an abrupt stop where the forest started.
A mile into the forest, Nathan pulled Smoke into a trot. Feeling better after a few miles, Nathan pulled him into a walk. He saw a creek ahead and guided the others to it. No one got off as the horses drank. Nathan filled Emma’s cup and gave her some food, thankful she wasn’t screaming. Ares and Athena drank then went back to the road, looking at the way they had come.
The others looked at Nathan as he pulled out his map, swearing. Even Amanda had to admit, he had an extensive vocabulary concerning swear words. When he put the map up he looked at the group. “Listen up, we are going cross-country. They have vehicles and can get in front of us on this road.” He pulled out the magazine he had emptied and reloaded it.
“You think they will follow?” John asked.
“I’m not taking the chance they won’t,” Nathan said pointing to the dogs.
“They shot at us first,” Jasmine popped off.
Nathan looked at her, “I will tell them we are on base and they can’t touch us now,” he replied. Jasmine sucked in a breath to unload.
“Nathan,” John said, cutting her off. “Why do you think they would chase us?” He asked hoping Jasmine would stay quiet.
“Shit I don’t know, maybe they’re bored. I know I did at least wound some,” Nathan admitted.
“I thought you were supposed to yell ‘grenade’ when you used one,” Amanda stated.
“Sue me,” Nathan said, leading Smoke out of the creek up into the woods. It was slow going in the woods at night. Off to the east they heard vehicles. Nathan finally dismounted and led the horses. It was dawn when he led them out to a logging road. “There’s a ravine a hundred or so yards on the other side,” Nathan said, crossing the logging road.
“We’re making camp?” Amanda asked, shocked.
“Yeah,” Nathan said crossing the road.
Amanda strode up to him. “Why don’t we get farther away?” she asked with the sound of ATVs off in the distance, “They’re looking for us.”
“I’m not running the horses into the ground because some good ole boys are upset,” Nathan said.
Jasmine joined Amanda. “There were quite a few of them, Nathan. How about we move another mile or so?”
“No, I’m beat,” Nathan said. “I led the horses while everyone rode last night. If you want to go then go but my ass is holding up to rest.” He traipsed off up the small hill, weaving between the trees. Since leaving wasn’t an alternative, the others followed and were surprised to see Nathan stopped halfway up the hill.
He dropped his pack and tied Smoke’s reins to a tree. Walking back to the pack animals he pulled out some rope, then walked to Jasmine, handing her Emma. “Stay here,” he said, and strode down the hill with Ares at his side.
Everyone looked to Jasmine, who shrugged her shoulders. Amanda climbed down and dug some food out for Athena. “Sometimes he makes me so mad I could eat nails,” she admitted.
John smiled and climbed off, “Amanda, you ever think about it from his point of view?” John asked walking over beside her and pulled out his water bottle handing it to her. Amanda took it and started drinking making John freeze. ‘Damn, she psyched me again,’ John thought as she handed the bottle back.
“Yes, but I’m scared,” she admitted as Nathan walked onto the logging road. They were above him thirty yards in the woods as the logging road ran in a valley between the hills. Nathan walked to the other side of the road and then walked back laying the rope out across the road. “What the hell is he doing?” Amanda asked.
Nobody answered as they watched Nathan and Ares walk to anther tree and kneel in some bushes. They stood around and wondered when they heard engines heading toward them. Looking down the logging road they spotted two ATVs speeding toward them. When they were almost to Nathan he pulled the rope taut.
The group watched, stunned, as the rope caught the first rider by the neck, slinging him off his four wheeler. The other rider wasn’t watching him and the rope caught him in the chest, knocking him off. He landed on his back and had the air knocked out of him. The four wheelers speed off down the logging road then veered off into the woods.
“Stay here,” Jasmine said, handing Emma and the reins to her horse to Amanda. John handed his reins to Tom and ran after Jasmine. By the time they got to the road, Nathan had the second man zip-tied and was moving to the first one, who was holding his throat and making funny noises as he breathed.
Raising his rifle Nathan shot him in the head and walked back to the man he had tied up. John gave him room. “How in the hell did you do that without them pulling your arms out?” he asked. Nathan pointed to the end of the rope where he was. The rope was wrapped around the tree three times. “Man, you’re like Jason Bourne,” John said, moving with Nathan to the man lying on the ground.
“Your buddy’s dead. Talk or you’re next,” Nathan said, aiming the rifle at the man’s head.
“Okay! What do you want me to say?” he asked.
“Why are you chasing us?” Nathan asked.
“You killed Scott and two others,” the man said.
“And that means what?” Nathan asked.
“Everyone liked him,” the man replied.
“You shot at us first,” Jasmine popped off.
The man looked at her, “Y’all raided our farms,” the man shot back.
“Like hell, asshole! We were just passing through. We don’t raid people,” she said. The man looked at her shocked.
“Is that what the people in the fields you were chasing did?” Nathan asked.
“Yep. We were tired of it,” he said.
“How many are after us?” Nathan asked.
The man shrugged. “I don’t know. The sheriff called most of the group up here to look for ya.”
“What about the group that raided your farms?” Nathan asked.
“A few stayed back for them,” he replied.
John pointed his finger at the man. “I saw a woman carrying a kid gunned down.”
The man looked at him with indifference. “They were taking our food and livestock.”
Jasmine’s face turned red. “You were shooting unarmed women and kids?”
“Someone don’t need a gun to steal from ya,” he said.
Nathan put his hand on Jasmine’s chest as she advanced toward the man. “I need information, so drop it,” he told her quietly and looked at the man. “How far out are you searching for us?” he asked the man.
“Sheriff told us to stop before we got to Powell. A biker gang hit them a few weeks ago, and then the Army came through, gathering up survivors takin’ ’em to some camp,” the man said.
“Army still there?” Nathan asked.
“Nah, they pulled out. Sheriff just didn’t want us to get too far from home,” the man admitted. “Tell you what, let me go back and I’ll tell my guys this is a mistake and you didn’t have nothing to do with the raids.”
“We will let you go to talk to them for us but is the Army close by?” Nathan asked.
“They said there was a big fight in Fayetteville. Said the Army wasn’t doin’ what the president wanted. Terry went up to Springfield and when he came back he said there was a bunch of solders there wearing blue helmets and funny camo,” the man said, relieved they were letting him go.
“Heard anything from the Feds?” Nathan asked.
“Shoot yeah! Homeland came through a few days ago and tried to take our guns. We buried them on the Caldwell farm,” the man
replied.
“Anything else?” Nathan asked.
“Heard there was a bunch near Joplin workin’ with the Army that was listening to the president. Word is they’re headin’ to Kansas City,” he answered.
“Much obliged,” Nathan said, pulling out his knife. “You tell your Sheriff to leave us alone. I don’t want to kill more of your friends but I will,” Nathan said walking behind him as the man sat up holding his hands out, and Nathan walked behind him. Jasmine was raising her hand to talk to Nathan as the man spoke.
“Sure thing, mister, sorry bout th—” he stopped as Nathan covered his mouth and drove his knife into the base of his skull. Jasmine was looking into his face seeing the surprise on his face, then the light left the man’s eyes. Nathan pulled his knife out and wiped it on the man’s shirt. He knelt down and pulled the man’s hunting vest off and went through his pockets.
Jasmine helped loot the man’s body. “Though you were going to say something about that,” Nathan said, rolling the man over.
“Shit, I was about to shoot his ass, shooting people like that,” she said, pulling out a 1911.
Looking up at her Nathan shook his head, “Jasmine, they had every right to do it. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. When we get home, if unarmed people try to take our stuff they will be killed.”
Startled Jasmine jumped back. “Nathan, that’s not right.”
“You’re damn right it’s not. But there is no choice. We lose what we have and we die. Nobody lives.” He gathered what he wanted from the dead man, leaving the hunting rifle.
John picked up an AK-47. “We want this, Nathan?” he asked.
“Bring it. We might need it for trade,” Nathan said walking to the ATVs. They pulled some water and food off the ATVs. They could hear the faint sound of engines off to the east. “Come on,” Nathan said, heading back to the group. He stopped by the man he had stabbed, rolling him over, then back. Standing up he walked to the group.
Emma ran over to him when they reached the group. “Come on,” he said climbing up on Smoke, “we have four miles to go.”
“Thought we weren’t going to ride the horse hard?” Amanda asked.
“Since we know where the search ends, now we can move out of the area,” Nathan said.
They rode through the woods, following Nathan at a very easy pace. Twenty minutes later they heard an explosion behind them. “What was that?” Tom asked.
“Grenade,” Nathan said over his shoulder.
“How do you know?” Casey asked.
“Because I left it,” Nathan said.
Amanda rode up beside him. “How did you make it go off back there and you’re here?” she asked.
“I pulled the pin and put it under the body,” Nathan replied.
“How do you know it wasn’t someone just coming up on the body?” she asked.
“Don’t, but the odds are against it,” Nathan told her. “That should give them something to think about now.”
“Or piss them off more,” Amanda added.
“True but they are losing men that they can’t afford to,” Nathan replied. It was midmorning when they crossed the highway leading to Powell and headed back into the forest, following logging roads. They hadn’t heard any engines after the explosion but everyone was still nervous.
Nathan stopped them in a small clearing with a creek off to the side. When everyone saw him getting off and drop his pack they climbed down. “We need to set the tent up,” Nathan said.
“The sun’s out,” Casey said.
“It’ll rain before tonight,” he said.
“This time we’ll wait before moving,” Jasmine said, pulling her saddle off her horse.
“No, we need to get to the plains,” Nathan said.
Spinning around putting her hands on her hips, “You didn’t want to travel last night but we wanted to and look where that got us,” she informed him.
“No, I was being a pussy,” Nathan admitted.
“Look what happened,” she said, throwing up her hands.
“Doesn’t mean anything, who’s to say if we had waited we wouldn’t have run into that group in an ambush?” he asked.
Caught off guard, Jasmine just stared at him. “Nathan we were wrong in wanting to go,” Amanda said.
“Wow,” Nathan said, taking off his damp clothes. “Never thought I’d hear you say that. But you weren’t wrong, if you want to play worse case scenarios a thousand things could’ve went wrong if we stayed,” he said stringing a rope between two trees. Grabbing his clothes, Nathan hung them up, hoping they would dry some before the rain hit.
“How can you tell it’s going to rain?” John asked.
“I smell it,” Nathan said. He spread out his woobie and sat down and started to clean his weapons.
Amazed, John smelled the air. “How far west do we have to go till we don’t have to worry as much about people?”
“I figure past Salina, Kansas. We’ll cross I-70 between there and Abilene. Then it should get better,” Nathan said.
“Are we going to start traveling by day then?” he asked.
“Depends on how the batteries hold up. I have to admit I kinda like traveling at night,” Nathan admitted.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. The batteries are doing great. They are holding their charges and we still have plenty,” John said with his customary smile.
Amanda carried Emma to Nathan. “You realize if you had set up your compound in Nebraska like you wanted we would almost be there,” she informed him, handing Nathan food for Emma.
“True, but the others might not have made it,” Nathan said, moving Emma to his lap as he put his pistol back together. He started feeding her.
Amanda sat down beside him, looking down at her boots. “Nathan, I’m sorry I made you mad,” she said in a pitiful voice.
Falling back Nathan started laughing then pulled Amanda into a hug. “Firecracker, it’s okay. At least you give me a chance to cool off before you do it again,” he told her making her smile.
Amanda kissed his cheek and ran to help with the tent. When she came to get Nathan to go sleep in the tent, she found him asleep with Emma on his chest. Ares was beside him with his legs sticking up in the air. She crept over and kissed Nathan’s forehead. “Love you, Nathan,” she whispered and went to take care of the camp.
There is where Nathan laid until four p.m. sound asleep, waking up when it started to rain.
Chapter 4
Day 37
Nathan didn’t go back to sleep after the rain woke him. The group was apprehensive as they headed out. It was only a light shower but they could see with their NVGs. Emma sat inside Nathan’s duster, babbling away, as they rode down a gravel road. It only took them an hour to reach I-49.
When the group spotted the road, visions of the mass of people in Mississippi attacking them filled their heads. Nathan pulled out his thermal and saw very few people on the roadway. However, there were a shit load of cars. He slowly led the group, with everyone holding their rifles ready. When Nathan glanced back and saw this, he was nervous. Not from the area but from them.
Pulling to a stop, he motioned them around. “Guys, you have got to relax some. You are wound so tight if any of you fart you’ll explode,” he told them in a low voice.
“Someone jumps out I’m cranking the gat on them,” Casey said glancing around.
“Just don’t shoot me, please,” Nathan said, shaking his head. Leading the group on he kept an eye on Ares. Ares and Athena trotted along with their tongues hanging out.
They reached the interstate and looked down from the overpass at the cars, frozen forever along the roadway. When Nathan looked ahead he noticed Ares and Athena beside an old fire, sniffing around. As Nathan rode past he saw bones, human bones. “Ares, come,” Nathan said, looking away.
“Someone got burned up,” Amanda gasped. Nathan thought about keeping his mouth shut.
“I’m sure they were already dead when the fire got them,” Jasmi
ne said.
“Guys, they were eaten,” Nathan said over his shoulder.
Jasmine stopped her horse. “What did he say?” she asked as John passed her.
“They were eaten,” John said, waiting for Jasmine to go.
Jasmine kicked her horse and trotted up to Nathan. “You mean like cannibalism?”
“When was the last time you saw a bear or coyote cook food?” Nathan asked.
Shocked, she didn’t know how to answer. “I’m just saying, people?”
“Yes. I told you to expect it,” Nathan said, looking ahead with the thermal.
“Nathan hearing you say it, then seeing it are two totally different things,” she said in a quiet voice.
Letting the thermal hang, Nathan refilled Emma’s cup seeing her eyes getting heavy. “Before you ask, no, this isn’t the worst yet,” Nathan told her. Jasmine pulled her reins slowing her horse then pulled behind Nathan.
They rode into Oklahoma an hour later and the group was still in shock as the rain continued to fall. At all the bridges they crossed, the creeks below looked like whitewater rapids. Nathan held up his hand as he led the group to the side of the road.
“Nathan,” Casey asked. “Why do you get out of the road when we stop? No cars are coming,” she said.
“You’re right but it’s easy to see stopped shadows on the road. This is like hiding in plain sight,” he said. She raised her eyebrows, thinking that was smart.
“Guys, we have a choice, stop now or use the bridge in Wyandotte. We will get there about three so not many should be awake, but after that we have to go ten miles and camp less than two hundred yards from I-44. There are a lot of farms here so we have to be careful where we stay,” Nathan said.
The group looked at each other uncertain. “What do you think?” John asked.
“I say we get the hell out of here,” Nathan said. Hearing that, everyone became nervous again.
Dark Titan Journey: Finally Home Page 4
