Escaping Home

by Jeffrey Miller

  “I know we will have to take two vehicles, we just have far too much to handle in one, Nate,” Henry stated.

  Nate was in agreement.

  “I have been thinking about this, Nate. You said Emmett mentioned having forty semis?” Henry asked.

  Nate was always amazed at how much he was like his father, but still realizing that he wasn’t as smart as the old man.

  “I forgot about that. So you think he’ll just give us a couple?” Nate said half joking.

  Henry smirked in only a way he could. “I think knowing Emmett, he would for a trade. Maybe he would consider a fair trade of some cattle for a few semi-trucks,” Henry suggested.

  Nate considered his father’s words. With food being in short demand, Emmett just might.

  “So, should I ride into town and see what he thinks?” Nate asked.

  Henry nodded. “But make it fast, son. Not sure just how much time we really have. I mean, I think we are ok for now here because of the remoteness, but I don’t want to take any chances. One more thing, any further thoughts on where we are going?” Henry asked.

  Nate did have some thoughts on that now, but he needed to get hold of Gene.

  “Dad, while I’m gone, see if you can contact Gene. I need to discuss this with him. He might be able to answer a few questions for all of us.”

  “Will do. I wondered myself if we should head that far. It’s been a long time since I have been up that way, but I know not many people will even chance that remote landscape,” Henry stated.

  “Probably the reason why only a million people occupy, or did occupy the entire state of Montana,” Nate added.

  “I will get the UTV ready this time, I want to get in fast and get out,” Nate explained.

  Henry walked with Nate inside to discuss with everyone the plans.

  Nate secured his rifle into his scabbard next to him in the Ranger UTV. He still had some daylight left, and he wanted to get into town quickly. He made sure to bring his pistol and a showing of good faith for Emmett. In a small bag, he had several pounds of dehydrated beef jerky. Betty knew Emmett, and knew he loved the stuff. She had been making the jerky since before the collapse. Ben stood next to the UTV watching but not saying anything. Nate could sense that Ben wanted to go with him. Nate thought about taking him, but knew it would be too dangerous. This would be a very fast in and out of town.

  “Listen Ben, I know you want to go, but…” Ben cut him off.

  “I know, dad, and I understand it is too dangerous. Just come back soon,” Ben explained.

  Nate moved to hug Ben and then climbed on the Ranger. He started it up and immediately it brought back the memories of a long journey. He wondered briefly if they were all going crazy thinking of leaving their homes. Maybe they could fight off whatever came their way. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as they anticipated. Nate chuckled to himself because when he thought like that the feeling in his gut came back. It only would fade away when his thoughts were of leaving.

  “I will be back very soon, Ben. Keep packing up like before. We can take some more things, but not too much; ok?” Nate said.

  “Ok, and hurry back,” Ben replied.

  “I will, don’t worry,” Nate said.

  Nate was moving at a pretty good pace. Without it being loaded down with gear and other riders, the Ranger moved very quickly. He took the same route he had taken on horseback. The thought of what to do with his old friend Traveller was also bothering him. He hoped for an answer, but at the moment, he was without a clue on what to do. He was nearing town and figured maybe Emmett would be at the office. He rode down the street catching only a few people eyeing him as he drove by.

  There seemed to be more people since the day he was in town. Then as he rounded a corner, he caught sight of one bus. It was a large tour bus, and then he saw another. The stragglers flowing off the bus looked ragged and spent. Some were barefoot, while others had not even a shirt on their back. It was a sad sight. The buses appeared to be out of fuel and he overheard someone saying they were glad that they made it to the lake town. The lake town? Nate thought to himself. I guess if someone were looking at a map for water they might call it that. The flood of people was just starting to trickle over the very top edges of the damn.

  Nate saw the office where Emmett should be, but instead, saw Emmett’s nephew Marcus standing at the door looking in the opposite direction. When Marcus heard the sound of the UTV, he turned with his hand on his pistol, stopped when he clearly saw Nate.

  Nate could see a smile wash across Marcus’s tired young face. Nate slowed to a stop, but left the UTV running.

  “Nate? What are you doing back so fast?” Marcus asked, stepping down from the high steps and shaking Nate’s hand.

  Nate scanned the office inside through the glass, but didn’t see Emmett. “I came to see Emmett. Know where he is, Marcus?” Nate asked.

  Marcus had a concerned look now. “Actually, I don’t. I came into town ahead of him and my brother Nick. They should be here by now. I was just thinking of going to look for them,” Marcus stated.

  “Climb on, we can go look together,” Nate replied.

  Marcus looked very tired. His clothes were torn and his shoes had scuffmarks that were not there the day they met.

  “So, what happened since I left you with those two fine old men?” Nate asked.

  Marcus turned his head to face Nate. “I brought them back into town and took them to our holding facility. Mind you this facility is not really a jail, it’s more like a big concrete barn. We can’t hold people in the real cells because we have no power; no backup power and no way to properly secure those who need to be. So this old barn became a jail cell with one door. We feed through a slot; we only have four men in it. The two I brought back escaped. Overnight they used their hands and literally dug a two-foot deep hole under the wall and out the other side. They just got into a fight so we threw them both in to detoxify basically. I will admit, it’s a very crude jail, but we don’t have any other options without the available power to run the diesel generators.”

  “Wait a minute, are you telling me all those semis you guys have, the forty of them have no fuel?” Nate asked.

  It was like watching a light come on slowly across Marcus’s face.

  “Oh my God, I never thought about that,” he replied. He face was turning red.

  “Man, don’t worry about it. You have a lot on your table to have even thought about things that were parked and out of sight,” Nate replied.

  Marcus didn’t seem anymore pleased with himself.

  “So Emmett lives just outside of town right?” Nate tried changing the subject.

  Marcus pointed to the direction he needed to go. “Yes, just over that hill and make a right,” Marcus replied.

  The amount of people in town had really exploded in the past thirty hours. It was very obvious now, people seemed to be walking about aimlessly looking for something, but neither man knew what.

  “Seems like you have a bunch of new people arriving?” Nate asked.

  “They are starting to, yes. Emmett told me what happened down in Glen Rose. I assume these people are from that area?” Marcus asked.

  Nate nodded his head as he crested the hill. He could see Emmett’s place just as he remembered. It was a nicely kept up ranch style home. It had an older fenced front yard with the gate swung open. Then Marcus saw something and yelled.

  “Nick!!”

  Nate gave the UTV gas and drove right up to the front gate. Marcus jumped off and ran to his brother who laid face flat on the yard.

  “Is he ok?” Nate asked, removing his newly acquired Kimber pistol and starting to maneuver around the house.

  “I think so, he is coming around now,” Marcus replied, rolling Nick over. He had a small knot on the top of his head.

  “Watch the front, I’m going around back,” Nate yelled, gun up in a defensive position and staying down below the windows.

  He was in fight mode now. He knew Emmett was
likely still inside because the small UTV he used with Nick was still parked. Nate made it to the back door. The inside door was slightly opened, but the screen door was still latched. Nate removed a small knife, slitting the screen and raising the latch. The inside of Emmett’s home had been remodeled a few years ago. It did not match the exterior. In contrast, it reflected the true style Emmett liked more of a modern design that his wife also loved. The floors were of dark mahogany real wood planks.

  When Nate stepped into the back mudroom, he could hear someone’s voice. It was a familiar voice, but not Emmett’s. Nate walked further into the home, still hearing the male voice become clearer with each passing moment. The home Emmett remodeled was done so well it was nearly sound proof from any noises from the outside world. Nate now believed that whoever was in the home had no clue that someone just drove up on a loud UTV.

  “I’m not going to ask you again. What is the combination to the safe? We already know you have gold, boy; so you better tell me now or I will kill you,” the voice said, and he has said, “We” Nate also overheard. Then he heard the other male voice.

  “Billy, he’s not gonna spill it. I say we spill him here and now and just pry that bastard open for the gold. We can then just take that go-cart he rides and split ourselves.”

  Nate recognized the two voices. He and Marcus knew them well. It was the two men they encountered and already arrested once and locked up. Nate knew Emmett was a gold hawk and a silver hound; he was smart to keep that locked up. But it was going to cost him his life unless he gave them the numbers to the safe.

  Nate wasn’t about to allow this. He slowly stepped into view of Emmett, but not the two with their backs to him. Emmett saw Nate and his gun. He tried not to make eye contact with Nate. The two men both had small sawed off shotguns. Nate couldn’t see their weapons yet, but he knew they had something small.

  “Don’t move. You move I will drop you where you stand,” Nate said. Slowly, the one man he shot in the knee thirty something hours ago, turned and smiled at Nate. He saw Nate standing alone with the image of a modern day art piece spread behind him. The home was lit well with the skylights Emmett added during the renovation. The light casted Nate as a huge figured with a bronze looking weapon in his hand.

  “Boy, I see you have come back to return my gun. I’m going to turn around slowly and...” he turned around slowly, and at the same time, raised up his shotgun; but before he could do anything else Nate kept his word. The man fell where he stood. One shot spilt his forehead open like a canoe.

  “You son of a bitch!” the other man screamed as he moved much faster than Nate figured the old coot could, but not faster than a bullet. The crazed man had spun in the opposite direction trying to get behind a column in the room, but not before Nate place the round in the man’s chest. In seconds he was gone.

  Emmett, beaten but alive slowly stood and gathered his composer. He was breathing hard now. He seemed ill. After a few more seconds, the color returned to him.

  “Nate, I can’t ever repay you for this. They were going to kill me. What even brought you way out here?” he asked.

  Nate went on to explain what all happened when he arrived back in town. They walked outside after making sure both men inside was no longer a possible threat. That’s when Nate and Emmett found Marcus kneeling next to Nick who was still groggy from the thump on the head.

  “You going to be ok, Nick?” Emmett asked.

  Nick nodded.

  “Hey Marcus, found your two escapees. They will not need three hot’s and a cot,” Nate said, pointing inside. Marcus and Nick removed the bodies from Emmett’s living room. They cleaned up the mess with fresh well water on the property and some old towels from his garage. Nate couldn’t stand seeing good wood be destroyed. As Nate was finishing up, he wondered how the two came to be at Emmett’s place. They could have went anywhere, why here?

  “Emmett, any idea why they came here? I heard them asking you about your gold. But how did they know about that?” Nate asked. “Many people before the collapse and since it became legal, horded gold and silver. It was a wise thing to do, but you couldn’t go around telling people.”

  He was sure there had to be a good reason.

  “Nate, those two are the ones I hired years ago to build my non-moveable safe. They put it in just before I started my remodel project. They came highly recommended in the industry, and I even had them checked with law enforcement. Somehow they must have figured out whatever I was putting in the safe was worth more than the rifles they saw go in it,” he replied.

  “Well, someone somewhere told them about it, but I guess it would be a likely thing to put in a safe like you describe,” Nate replied. “Emmett, I didn’t come here for all of this, but I’m glad I did. I came here to relay to you some new information about what is going on out there,” Nate said.

  Marcus and Nick were now walking in and had a seat on Emmett’s long sofa.

  “Some time ago, the two nuke plants near Houston also exploded. No mention of how or why. So not only do we have the Glen Rose facility, but now these plants as well, making people leave the Houston metro area,” Nate explained.

  Emmett, Marcus, and Nick all gasped at the same moment with hearing the devastating news.

  “So you will then go ahead and scout out to the east to see what or how many are coming?” Emmett sounded desperate now.

  “I don’t have to. Emmett, they are almost here. We have Ham radio contact with a few people along I-40. One in particular in Panhandle said over 20,000 arrived and are pushing to the north, Emmett,” Nate said.

  “Dear Lord, so how many in other places?” Emmett asked, not really wanting to hear the news.

  “Just guessing, but it sounds like tens of thousands, but most likely far higher coming. They are looking for new places to settle, and I don’t blame them. However, my family and I have decided not to stay, Emmett. If we wanted to live around millions of people we would live in the cities,” Nate said, realizing he may sound selfish, but Nate knew other things.

  “Where will you go? What happens to Fritch if we become overrun when people see this water resource?” Emmett stopped his questioning of Nate, knowing what it all meant.

  “Emmett these are going to be hard times for many people. I have seen third world living, I’m afraid it is happening now in most of the country, especially along the coast and big cities. Count yourself fortunate to be out here, and yes…you have the option to leave,” Nate replied.

  No words were spoken for a few seconds. Then Marcus spoke up.

  “Emmett, I think we need to head to what family we have left. I think where they are would be far better than sitting here waiting for possibly millions of city dwellers to arrive begging for food or just taking everything. We really need to consider leaving, Emmett,” Marcus pleaded with his uncle.

  Inside Emmett knew his nephew was right; but facing this and leaving his beloved Rachel’s graveside cut him to the core.

  “Emmett, I came here to ask for a trade or barter of sorts. You said there are forty something big rigs and other trucks parked at the old airstrip. Would you let my family have one or two for some cattle? We don’t have many head left to be honest, but we will happily provide you with some for a few trucks. We want to head north, and trust me, it will not be an easy route no Marcuser what; but we may be leaving our property for good. I have a son and two older parents, Emmett. As much as I would love to stay and defend my land, I have to think about the time I have left also with family,” Nate explained.

  Emmett wasn’t aware of Nate’s newfound parenthood.

  “You have a son?” Emmett asked. “When did that happen, Nate? Congratulations!” Emmett added.

  “On my way home from Montana a month ago, I came across a young teen with his dying grandmother. She asked me to take him because he had no family left,” Nate explained.

  Emmett’s face seemed to well up with tears. Emmett reached over to his old teammate from high school football and pl
aced a hand on his knee.

  “Nate, just go pick out what you want from that air strip. If I remember right, there is one cattle truck out there, but I’m not sure how far you would get with a semi loaded with meat. However, you decide what you want. I think you might find a few other things out there that might suit you better. If you leave the cattle behind, well…we might take a few when we leave,” Emmett said, turning to look at his two nephews sitting on the sofa.

  They both smiled.

  “Deal Emmett; thank you,” Nate replied, shaking Emmett’s hand.

  Chapter 6

  Rolling Thunder

  The airstrip was located southwest and on the outside of town. Nate rode up on the UTV and stopped at the sight of all the trucks. From about half a mile away, Nate thought he was looking at a truck stop. It was a majestic sight; some of the vehicles were still very clean and were shining in the sunlight, while others looked like heaps of junkyard scrap metal. Emmett had told him that they planned to use some of the trucks at some point and had removed the fuel from others for that purpose. The fuel would be in yellow containers in the back of one of the trucks.

  Nate rode up to the gated area which wasn’t locked at all. As he rode around looking at the variety of semis, he wondered if this was a good idea. The trucks didn’t get very good miles per gallon to begin with, let alone, how much stuff they bugged out with the trailers. If they loaded up two of their vehicles in the back of a trailer, they might with a full tank of fuel make it anywhere from 700 to 1,000 miles. Everything depended upon the stops, wind drag, load weight, hills, and other unknown forces along the way…but the idea of using one of the trucks seemed, at the moment, to be the best option.

  Nate had finally reached the rear of the area that held the rest of the trucks, when his eye caught sight of something very familiar. There, next to a black Volvo semi-truck, was an older model MRAP armored vehicle turned into a personnel carrier. It had the word Sheriff written across the sides. Nate approached the familiar vehicle and got off the UTV. Walking around it, he noticed several things were missing. Someone had already been out here and had started to remove many parts off of the truck. Nate guessed the thing didn’t run any longer, and was being scavenged for its armor. That wasn’t a bad idea, but he didn’t have time to mess with the heap. Even if the thing were working right, it would just draw too much attention and would make him a huge target.