Nathan looked over his shoulder. “Except for weapons, they are set up better than our group in Idaho.”
“It’s because they have so much farmland, isn’t it?” Amanda asked.
“That’s part of it. They are already living off the land, off-grid and know how to do it already. They have the skills to live and not just survive,” Nathan said, lifting up his thermal binoculars.
“You have the skills,” John said.
Not seeing any human hotspots, Nathan let the thermal drop, almost hitting Emma. “Yes, but I’ve only practiced growing crops and raising animals. Living off-grid takes some getting used to. But since there is no grid anymore that is a moot point. I’m thankful we have a vet with us or we’d be screwed.”
“You have a vet?” Jasmine asked.
Amanda let out a sigh. “Jasmine, I know I’ve told you like a hundred times. Billy’s wife Janice is a vet.”
Jasmine gaped at Amanda in wonder. “I can’t commit them to memory till I meet them.”
“I’ve been telling you about them,” Amanda said with attitude.
Jasmine knew better than to respond with the attitude Amanda was showing. She looked back at Nathan. “Greg’s daughter Karrie said we haven’t been pushing the horse very hard. Are we going to start adding miles?”
“Since we hit Oklahoma we’ve been averaging fifty miles a day. I’m happy with that,” Nathan said.
“Amanda said we were only doing thirty-nine,” Jasmine snapped him, looking at Amanda.
Nathan shrugged. “You’re the one listening to someone who counts on her fingers.”
“I used a calculator, damn it,” Amanda snapped. “And if you divide how many days since we traveled by how far we went, it was thirty-nine point two.”
Nathan shook his head. “You used the number of days since the world stopped, not travel days. We stopped at the lake for a day, the Mans’ farm in Mississippi for three days, a day in Arkansas and a day at Greg’s farm. And remember we didn’t even start for five days.” Amanda drew herself up in her saddle, taking a deep breath. “Don’t, I’m not in the mood,” Nathan warned not having turned around.
Amanda slumped in her saddle. “I tried,” she pouted.
“That you did, and did an excellent job. The inventory you and the girls completed was spot on,” Nathan said.
“How the hell would you know? You didn’t check it,” she demanded.
“I kept my own mental inventory,” Nathan said. “Now I don’t know what Greg’s wife gave us, but I will add it tonight.”
“That’s just being a smarty pants,” Amanda accused.
Nathan turned around in his saddle. “Amanda, food and supplies are rather important. Don’t you think someone needed to know what we have so they know when we need more?”
Amanda looked down. “Yeah.”
“Don’t be down. Now that you and the others see it I’m not going to worry about it,” Nathan turned back around.
Amanda broke out in a cold sweat. “You can’t put that much responsibility on us.”
“Just a little while ago you were pissed that I knew what we had,” Nathan pointed out.
Amanda glanced around for help and the other looked back at her. The faces of the others told Amanda was on her own. “Okay, I figured you knew some of what we had but not all of it. I was wrong,” she admitted.
“No, you weren’t wrong,” Nathan said. Amanda jerked her head up. “You were confirming our supplies and making sure the group was taken care of. I have a lot of other things to worry about. You were just checking.”
Amanda didn’t remember thinking that. Casey and Natalie patted her leg, smiling. “We will keep track of the food,” Amanda said.
“That’s good. Are you listening to the radio?” Nathan asked not looking back.
Amanda slumped. “No.” She pulled out the ear bud and turned on the radio. She got out her notebook and pen. Soon she was writing what she heard. Nathan turned around to watch her write. Amanda was writing in a saddle on a moving horse, and her penmanship was excellent.
Seeing Amanda’s hand moving across the page, Jasmine smiled. “Nathan, is our final rally point our campsite?”
“It usually is,” Nathan said.
“Not really,” Jasmine said under her breath but Nathan still heard it. “That’s what I was asking about traveling farther, it’s just over seventy miles.”
“We’ll keep this pace if we can, but if it wears us down we will slow down. Remember, today is a long travel day. After today we will continue moving at night,” Nathan said as they crossed a bridge over a small river. They scanned ahead and spotted a house over a mile away. It was the first one they had seen since leaving Greg’s.
They were barely a half a mile from the bridge when Nathan turned onto another dirt road. Nathan scanned with the thermal again, seeing no hotspots for humans but finding a lot of deer. Turning around in his saddle, he was happy to see everyone was once again spread out behind him.
When the sun was on the horizon, Nathan led them off the road to a small creek. As the horses drank, everyone took care of business and opened some food. It was MREs, which Nathan barely considered food. They only ate cooked food in camp.
As the others ate, Jasmine sat on the ground, letting Emma and Chip play. In the six hours they had been traveling they had seen a total of nine houses. At most of them they observed people out working. Nathan never led them closer than a mile. The expanse of farmland around them was mind-boggling.
Amanda looked up from her notebook. “Nathan, where’s Hastings?”
“About ninety miles to the northeast,” he said, watching Emma chase Ares. Chip was throwing rocks in the water, laughing. Chip still hadn’t talked, but he was starting to laugh more. “Why?” Nathan asked, looking back at Amanda.
“Someone called ‘Green Machine’ said a group of bikers attacked there last night and left this morning. They killed a few people and took some women,” Amanda said.
Nathan raised his eyebrow. “Did they say which way they headed?”
“Northwest,” she said before shoving a handful of food in her mouth.
Nathan climbed off of Smoke and walked over to Amanda. “Any word on government close?”
Amanda didn’t look up as she wrote. “No. Several were talking about some ‘slugs’ that got ‘salted’ a few days ago. It sounds like they were driving around to farms to see if there were people there.”
“Have you heard from F-U-G-man?” Nathan asked.
Amanda shook her head. “No, but a woman called ‘Rolling Dolly’ said he would be on at seven.”
Nathan looked at his watch. “It’s six. Why don’t you quit writing and give your hand a break? I want to know what F-U-G-man has to say.”
Relived, Amanda sat up and clipped her pen to her notebook, shaking her hand. “Boy that’s some work,” she declared.
“Yeah, but its work I couldn’t do,” Nathan admitted. “I could listen but not even I could read what I wrote down.”
“Can I help?” Natalie offered.
Nathan turned to her. “Can you write as fast and neat as Amanda?” Natalie shook her head. “Neither can I, so don’t let that get to you.”
“I’m not doing anything helpful,” Natalie whined.
“Bullshit,” Nathan replied. “You are watching our sides, our flanks.”
“You’ve already seen what I’m looking at before we get there,” Natalie informed him.
“So someone can’t move into an area once I’ve looked at it?” Nathan asked. Natalie shrugged. “I’m looking way ahead; it would be easy to sneak up on our sides if we weren’t watching. Amanda is busy and Casey can’t help much now because she has to stay close to Amanda. With Amanda listening to the radio and writing Casey is basically driving two horses.”
Natalie’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t think about that.”
“You better. How would you feel if someone attacked from your area, killing some of us?” Nathan asked. Natalie’s eyes got
big. “See? You have a very important job. The only ones who don’t are Emma and Chip. Chip does help set up camp. I’m not sure what Emma is trying to tell me.” Natalie laughed.
“I’ll do good,” she promised.
Nathan shook his head. “You already have. We haven’t been attacked.”
“I haven’t seen anyone,” Natalie said.
“I’m sure we’ve been watched by ones we can’t see. Remember the ones that saw us and we didn’t see them? They didn’t attack us on the road. They followed us to camp, hoping we would let down are guard. They saw us always looking out. It wasn’t worth attacking us then. I’m positive others have noticed and left us alone,” Nathan explained. Natalie smiled.
Amanda jumped off her horse and stretched. Nathan picked up her notebook and quickly scanned it. He was happy to see a lot of what Amanda wrote was bartering and very little of it was food. There were a few people looking for friends and relatives and some relaying messages. A few entries were about the battle around Salina and a battle going on in Wichita. Unlike Salina, the government was in Wichita in strength, and those fighting were getting hit hard.
Shaking his head, Nathan put Amanda’s notebook back and hugged her. A smile split her face as he squeezed her. Seeing Amanda’s reaction, Nathan went to all the girls and hugged them. Jasmine was disappointed till Nathan hugged her. Then he kissed her, a real one on the lips.
When he let her go she was just standing in shock as he walked away. “Whoa,” she said, fanning her face with her hands. Chip walked over to her, smiling. Jasmine picked Chip up. “I think I’m wearing him down.” Chip just looked at her with an innocent smile.
Calling Ares over, Nathan caught Emma as she chased the dog. Ares looked at Nathan with a thankful expression. Nathan pulled out a piece of jerky and gave it to Ares before climbing in his saddle. Emma wasn’t happy about playtime being interrupted and didn’t feel the need to be quiet about it. Nathan said nothing as he wrestled her into her sling.
When Nathan held up her sippy cup and cookies, Emma shut up and reached out. Handing them over, Nathan looked at the sticky mess that the sucker made. Emma’s hair had massive clumps where the sugar dripped in it and her face was filthy. “I’m glad I don’t wash you,” Nathan said. Then, checking to see if everyone was mounted up, Nathan kicked Smoke, leading her back to the road.
Nathan patted Smoke. “Don’t worry girl, when we get home you get a month off.” Smoke blew through her lips, giving off a nicker. Nathan wasn’t sure what that meant so he just ignored it. As the sun eased to the horizon everyone put on NVGs. Reluctantly, Nathan pulled out his head harness with both the thermal and NV monoculars mounted. “You give me another headache like that and I’ll take the chance of riding in the day,” Nathan told the harness.
Taking off his boonie hat, Nathan put the harness on and raised both monoculars up. Hearing a horse coming up Nathan glimpsed back seeing Jasmine move up beside him. “Hey hot stepmom, the kids driving you crazy?”
Shocked with the question, Jasmine jumped in her saddle. “No, they’re being good.”
Nathan smiled. “That’s good, because I might want to sneak a kiss later.”
A flaming blush crept up Jasmine’s face. “You don’t have to sneak one.”
“I do like the sound of that,” Nathan said, smiling and raising his thermal binoculars.
Jasmine wondered where this mood came from. She liked it. “What got you in such a good mood, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“We’re alive and doing pretty good. All of you are stepping up and working hard,” he said. He looked down at Emma, who was just staring at him. “Well, almost all of you.”
“You didn’t think we would?” Jasmine asked.
“To be honest, I didn’t think all of you would accept it this fast,” Nathan admitted.
Jasmine looked off at the sunset. “What about me personally?”
Nathan turned to see her looking at the sunset. Damn, she is pretty, he thought. “I’m very proud of you. I’m very glad I told you to come.”
Jasmine turned to see him staring at her. “So am I, even if you complain about how I sleep.”
“Seeing a super hottie like that in the morning can give one palpations,” he explained.
“So you’re not going to make fun of me anymore?” she asked hopefully.
“I can’t promise that. Sometimes I need to so I don’t pass out when you walk over,” Nathan said. Jasmine snickered and looked away, trying to fight the blush. “Now don’t you go getting ideas about wearing a onesie with bunny feet. I’ll be forced to take it off so I can see ya wake up in the morning like you always do, starting a battle between my Id and superego.”
Jasmine coughed, trying not to laugh. “I didn’t know I was starting a battle.”
“Hell, the last few days, Id won big time. He says, ‘Look,’ and superego wants to avert the eyes. This morning Id wanted pictures,” Nathan confessed.
Covering her mouth with her hand, Jasmine fought not to laugh. The sun was just sinking below the horizon when she could talk. “I like Id,” she said as Nathan was taking a drink. The water went down the wrong pipe, and Nathan started coughing, shocked at the answer. Jasmine moved closer but Nathan quit coughing.
Nathan reached up wiping tears from his eyes. “Sometimes I think you women are trying to kill me.”
“Why in the hell would we want to do that?” Jasmine asked.
“Not sure. Maybe it’s just your way showing dominance,” Nathan said as he filled Emma’s sippy.
“I’m not answering that,” Jasmine said, smiling.
Nathan handed Emma her sippy cup back. “Hell, Id wants to know where your handcuffs are.”
Jasmine blew snot out her nose as she covered her mouth. “That was nasty.”
“You did it,” Nathan said, turning on the thermal and NV monoculars. “Jasmine, don’t take this the wrong way, but get back behind me.”
Jasmine’s jaw fell down then she thought something was near them but she didn’t see anything. “Because I blew snot?” she asked worried.
Nathan snorted. “No, that was cool, even superego said so. No, when I put this contraption on,” he pointed to the harness, “I see the thermal view overlaid with the night visions and a person up close looks spooky. I know who it is but I really don’t want to associate you with it.”
Jasmine almost took off running so he wouldn’t associate her with something not nice. “Can I see?” she asked. Nathan handed them over. Jasmine put them on and looked at Nathan. Seeing a white shaded ‘ghostly’ Nathan with dark eyes in a green world sent a shiver down her spine. She took them off. “Yeah, I don’t want to be thought of like that by you.”
Nathan put the harness on and lowered the monoculars. He could feel a headache starting, but within the first hour it passed, and Nathan just watched the world. Seeing the ghostly animals in the green world was weird, but Nathan could take it. Just before midnight Nathan spotted a group of people walking around a house about half a mile away, but he didn’t see any other people.
They stopped and watered the horses. Nathan had to take the harness off after seeing the kids. They ate as the horses drank and munched on the grass along the bank. Nathan leaned back in his saddle with his eyes closed as he ate.
Amanda moved her horse over beside Nathan. “Are you going to ask what ‘Fuck u G men’ said?”
“Can’t you call him F-U-G-men?” Nathan sighed.
“Fug men? Instead of sounding really cool you make him sound like he wants to molest pug dogs,” Amanda accused.
Nathan opened his eyes. “You want to tell me what has you riled up, or you just want to fight?”
Amanda looked down. “Sorry,” she said. Nathan reached over patting her leg. “He said interstate eighty is firmly in government hands from Denver to Omaha, and don’t go near it.”
“They can’t watch six hundred miles of interstate. It would take ten thousand men and all they could do is watch the road. I’m sure he mea
ns for people to not attack convoys on it,” Nathan said.
“You’re not worried about it?” she asked.
“Just a little bit. Not much. It just means we will have to camp a mile or so from it and watch. I’m more worried about gangs and dogs,” Nathan admitted.
“Yeah, even F-U said to watch out for dogs. But they’re staying near cities, eating dead bodies. In L.A. there are packs of hundreds of them roaming. They’re killing living people. He said a man watched a pack of a hundred dogs take down twenty people. No one lived for more than a few seconds,” she said.
Nodding his head, Nathan patted her on the leg. “What about gangs?”
“He talked for a while on those and you will want to read it. He said the government wasn’t doing anything to the roving motorcycle gangs,” she said.
“Makes sense. Let them roam and kill in areas you don’t control, driving the ones left to you,” Nathan said.
“Nathan, they bombed the Mexico border,” she said.
“Who did?” he asked.
“Texas and the government. It appears the cartels were getting out of hand. There isn’t an intact city from the border to fifty miles south,” Amanda said as Nathan finished his food.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. From now on only write down information about attacks, areas we are heading into, riots, and stuff like that. I don’t want your hand to fall off,” Nathan said.
“You don’t want all of it?” she asked.
Turning on his monoculars, Nathan smiled at her. “I did before, just to see what people were saying. Now I know, so let’s look for information we need.”
“There have been a lot of reports of cannibalism,” she said.
“We were expecting that,” he said, glancing at the others.
Amanda looked off. “Atlanta is a war zone.”
Nathan froze. “What?”
“The area in and around Atlanta is a war zone. Most of the city is gone and the government is locking down the area. U.N. troops and troops still fighting for the government are fighting patriots as they try to move out west and north,” she said.
Closing his eyes, Nathan said a prayer for the friends he left behind. “We can’t help them, let’s go,” he said. Amanda looked away. “And Amanda, you were right for wanting to go with me. I would be turning around now to come and get you.”
Dark Titan Journey: Finally Home Page 16
