HARD ROAD: Heaven Bound

by Terry McDonald

“I’ll be damned,” Jake said. “What’s this country going to be like in another twenty years?”

  “A lot stranger than it is now, that’s for sure. Lucky for me, an old man found me and dragged me into a grocery store, and left me there without saying a word to me. He came back with a roll of thin gauge stainless steel wire, a bottle of vodka, and wire snips.

  “He was brutal. Just handled me as if I was an object. He doused the wire and my wounds with vodka, snipped off a section of wire, pushed it though the edges of my lacerations, and gave it a twist to lock it. Thirty eight times, he did that, taking a drink from the bottle between each suture, never saying a word, even though I was screaming with pain the entire time.

  “When he finished closing my wounds, the bottle was empty and he simply walked away. I never saw him again. I left Atlanta two months ago, headed to Florida.”

  “Jeez,” Jake responded with sympathy. “That had to hurt like hell, but let me ask. Why Florida?”

  “No particular reason, maybe for the climate and the ocean. Do you know the city of Atlanta is being…? I’ll say dissolved, for lack of a better word. The downtown area is blanketed in a thick white fog. Over the past three years, I’ve witnessed even the tallest of buildings reduced to rubble, and now the fog is spreading to parts of the suburbs. I found out the hard way if you touch even the slightest portion it stings as if ten wasps stung you simultaneously in the same spot. I would suppose those are the nanobots you speak of.”

  “You don’t actually mean reduced to rubble do you?” Jake asked.

  “No, not truly rubble, more like haphazardly scattered blocks of material, some large and some small, covered with a strange film. I tried cutting one open, but my knife just slid on it.”

  “If you had been able to open those blocks,” Jake continued, “you would have found them to be the material the buildings were made of, separated into their various elements. You’d find blocks of pure aluminum, iron, carbon... you name it. Check further, you’d even find small blocks of gold and silver, and other precious metals, even tiny little blocks of the rare earth elements.”

  “What about the gases, the poisonous ones like methane and Freon and ammonia?”

  “The people I was working with in Wisconsin say even those are broken down to their base elements.”

  “That is almost incomprehensible,” Eva said. “I’d love to hear more about what you learned, but I need to give Agnes a hand with lunch. I’ll put these papers up front in the cab, where you can read them. There’s information about Saint’s organization in them too.”

  *

  Back on the road, Beth took another turn in the driver’s seat. Jake told her about the conversation with Eva. He spent time reading the papers, quietly relaying bits of information to her as they traveled.

  They entered the town of Moultrie. As Jake said, it was much larger than any of the other towns they had encountered. He had Beth drive slowly while he manned the turret as they passed through.

  At where he judged, to be the center of town, he called for her to stop so he could climb down and deliver his message. Almost as soon as he climbed back into the turret he saw a gray haired man, dressed in faded coveralls, holding a rifle, waving to him from the door of a discount store about a hundred feet away.

  “Stop,” he called to Beth as she shifted into gear. “We’ve got someone out there.”

  Beth stopped and shut the engine.

  “You over there,” Jake shouted. “Do you want to talk?”

  “I wouldn’t mind talking a spell if you for sure ain’t goin’ ta kill me.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Jake shouted again. “Why don’t you come over and I’ll come out to meet you?”

  “You mind if I bring my rifle just in case?” he shouted back.

  “You can bring it if you like, but there’s going to be someone manning this gun watching you.”

  The man shrugged, propped his rifle against the wall of the store and began walking towards the truck. Jake stepped from the platform and headed for the door, passing Beth as she moved to take his place in the turret. He exited the truck, grabbing the sheath of paper on his way, and waited as the man cautiously approached.

  “Did you tell that gal there not ta shoot me, mister?” He asked as he drew near, glancing nervously at Beth manning the machine gun.

  “She’s just a precaution. She won’t shoot you unless we find out you’re a bad man. If you are she’ll cut you in half.”

  “She don’t look like a mean’un,” he said, glancing up again. “Just what do you consider ta be a bad man?”

  “A cannibal, rapist, cold blooded killer. If you’re a good man, you know what a bad man is.”

  “I reckon I’m safe enough then.”

  “Are you by yourself here?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. What’s this you saying about a gang headed our way?”

  “There’s a very large group of insane people not very far from here.” Jake opened the papers to the pages Eva had shown him earlier. “One of my friends took this off a man we ran into a few miles back. These pages will tell you what you need to know about who’s coming your way.”

  The old man took the papers and sat unceremoniously on the pavement to read them. Jake decided to sit also.

  The man took his time reading, turning the pages one at a time. Jake studied him as he read. He judged him to be in his late sixties. He wasn’t a frail man, but he was thin. He was clean-shaven, and his coveralls freshly washed. There was dignity about him Jake liked. The man finished reading, folded the papers, and passed them back.

  “My name’s Connie Stevens. I own a farm just outside of town. There are twelve of us there. I reckon we have us a few of those coons and spicks those papers writes about. How close you say this gang is?”

  “The last time we saw the main group was back in Bainbridge, about two months ago. We ran into one of their roadblocks earlier this morning just outside Newton.”

  “How’d you manage ta get by them?”

  “I killed them. That’s why Saint may be moving out in this direction.”

  “That so? Good a way’s as any getting past a roadblock... Mister, these papers changes things. We done started our plantin’, but if that gang of loonies is as close as Newton, I might be feelin’ we should go down the road with ya now as later. You say ya got a refuge ya headed to?”

  “That’s only a maybe, but it’s a very strong maybe,” Jake replied. “I have to tell you, there’s not enough room for twelve more in our truck, and the trailer’s full of things we need.”

  “We can take care of ourselves in that respect. It’ll take me time ta get back to my people and get them ready. Ya’ll planning ta drive all night or be you going to park somewheres?”

  “I’ll tell you what, Connie. Get your people together and join us at first light tomorrow. We’ll be overnighting at a state park just to the east of town.”

  “Reed Bingham, I know the place, used ta camp the boys there when I was a Scout Master. We’ll meet’ya at dawn and we ain’t the kind to be a burden. We carry our own weight.”

  “I appreciate that, Connie,” Jake replied, rising and offering his hand. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning then.”

  “That you will mister… don’t think I caught your name.”

  “Markett, Jake Markett.”

  “And that dangerous gal there?” he asked, nodding up to the gun turret.

  “That’s Beth Markett, my wife.”

  “That so? I’m pleased ta meet ya Jake, and I appreciate you not shooting me Missis Markett. I’ll be seeing ya’ll.”

  Jake climbed aboard the truck and turned towards the back, “Did you all hear any of that?”

  “Bits and pieces,” Agnes answered. “This metal doesn’t let in much sound.”

  “That fellow seemed like a nice enough sort. We’re going a short way further to a camping ground to overnight. He and eleven others will be joining us tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s a
lot of people,” Janie said. “Are any of them kids, maybe another little girl?”

  “What’s the matter kiddo, you getting tired of us older folks?” Jake asked.

  “No, but you don’t know how to play with me.”

  “Will there be any people like us?” Al asked. “I mean like me and Beth and Janie?”

  “He mentioned there were,” Jake answered, catching Al’s meaning, “and he said there were some people of Hispanic descent also. He didn’t mention children but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any.”

  “How far down the road is this camp ground?” Agnes asked.

  “I’d say about ten, twelve miles.”

  “Then we need to hustle if we’re going to get there in time to set camp and cook before dark.”

  Beth dismounted the turret as Jake moved to the front and took the driver’s seat.

  “I’m glad you didn’t kill him for what he said,” she remarked after she settled into the passenger’s seat.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, worried he may have missed something.

  “When he said ‘ain’t',” she replied laughing. “I thought sure as hell you were going to kill him.”

  “Sometimes your sense of humor is way out there lady.”

  “That may be, but I can tell you’re about to laugh too.”

  “Am not.”

  “Are too.”

  “Am not.”

  “You two need to shut up and act like adults.” Agnes called from the rear. “There are some little ears back here listening to your every word.”

  “Yeah,” Jake said to Beth, “you need to shut up.”

  “You shut up.”

  “No, you shut up.”

  “I mean it you two,” Agnes called out again, “don’t make me come up there and whack your heads.”

  Jake reached over and took Beth’s hand in his. “You shut up,” he mouthed silently to her, smiling.

  “No, you shut up,” she mouthed back.

  They both started laughing, and for a while, every time they glanced at each other they couldn’t suppress the giggles.

  The roadway improved dramatically a couple miles outside of Moultrie. A long section of the asphalt had been replaced with concrete, probably not too long before the global catastrophe, and there was hardly a crack or a plant marring the surface.

  Jake increased the speed, and soon turned left to follow the signs to the campgrounds. After a couple turns, they crossed some railroad tracks and entered the park.

  A sign indicated there was a camp pavilion to the left. A short distance later, he stopped beside a large covered pavilion with open sides and a paved parking area suitable to accommodate the huge truck and trailer. The pavilion was close to a small lake.

  There were several cast iron grills near one end. Agnes and Eva began preparations to cook while Janie went scavenging for firewood. Jake, Beth and Al cleared areas for three tents and in short order they had the camp site ready.

  “I sure do hope that friend of yours put some real bathrooms in Heaven,” Al said.

  “I would think he made that a priority,” Jake had to agree. He walked to where a spigot with a pump handle was barely visible above the overgrowth and pumped the handle vigorously a few times. To his surprise rusty water came spurting out, a few pumps later it was running clear.

  “I’ll get our empties,” Al said, “that water smells clean.”

  “Good thinking, son. Pump it a few times more to clear the down pipe of standing water. Let the others know I’ll be back where the road splits. I’ll take my dinner there. Tell Agnes to figure out guard shifts for tonight.”

  Jake retrieved his rifle from where he’d leaned it, and hiked the quarter mile back down the road. The sun was getting low, and the day’s heat was fading. It promised to be a cool night. When he reached the fork, he found a place to hunker down, gathered a pile of pine straw to pad the area, and settled in with his rifle across his knees.

  Shortly before sunset, he saw Janie coming down the road with his dinner plate balanced in one hand and a cup in the other. He called out so she would know where he was. She handed him his plate and cup with relief. She sat beside him and began rubbing her wrist.

  “I told them I could bring this to you, but a plate can sure get heavy.”

  “It sure can, honey. How old are you now?”

  “I’m still nine silly. My birthday’s not until August.”

  “I bet you don’t know what day in August.”

  “Do too. It’s the ninth.”

  “Wow,” Jake said, making a mental note of the date.

  She snuggled closer. “It feels good having a daddy, I never had one before.”

  “That’s not true, honey. You had a daddy before, a real good one. You’re just too young to remember. From what Beth has said about him, he was a wonderful daddy.”

  “You’re my daddy now. I asked Beth should I call you Daddy or Daddy Jake but she said to ask you.”

  “Which way do you like best?”

  “I didn’t know until this morning, I kept saying it both ways, but I think I like Daddy the best.”

  “Then I have to say I would be delighted to have you call me Daddy.”

  “You can call me Janie or honey, I like it both ways.”

  “Okay Janie or honey.”

  “No silly, one or the other. Daddy, what’s Heaven going to be like?”

  “That’s hard to say from a point of view for you, but I can tell you some more about it. It’s mostly underground, and that means there won’t be any windows. Another thing is, it’s huge inside, and besides a lot of other big spaces, there are fifty family apartments, two hundred single rooms, and several dormitories, those are big rooms with lots of beds sort of like the place we just left. There are real bathrooms, and a huge kitchen everybody can use.

  “I think what will interest you most is, Avis said there’s playground equipment in storage, and board games too.”

  “What’s playground equipment?”

  “Why honey,” Jake said, setting his plate and cup aside and pulling her into his lap. “Playground equipment is probably the best thing a little kid could have.”

  Jake told her about the joys of swings, and slides, and jungle gyms, and what a board game was. When she fell asleep, he fluffed pine straw to pad the ground and, covered her with his jacket.

  His dinner and coffee were cold, but that evening, listening to her soft breath as she slept, he felt like he was already in Heaven. Jake hugged Al when he came down to relieve him, and carried his daughter to the tent, placing her between himself and Beth under the spread out sleeping bags.

  CHAPTER 17

  The next morning dawned crisp with a chill wind. Al was returning to the campsite with an armful of dry firewood. The others, except for Agnes, were at the picnic table preparing breakfast. Jake greeted them a good morning, and made the trek back to the fork. Agnes was alert, and called out to him as he approached.

  “I was about to radio you. I heard some vehicles coming this way with the engines revving as though they were in a hurry, and now I don’t hear anything. That was only a moment ago.”

  Jake considered her statement. “I don’t know what those folks are traveling in, could be two or three vehicles. It’s strange they stopped. Maybe one of the vehicles broke down. We’ll give it a while and see if they begin moving again.”

  They waited in silence, straining to hear any sound from down the road. What they finally heard was the sound of a weapon fired.

  “Damn,” Jake exclaimed, “We’ve got trouble. Let me have your radio.”

  Jake keyed the radio. “Attention, Emergency!”

  “Eva here. Over.”

  “Listen closely Eva. I need all of you down here fast. Douse the fires and bring your weapons and ammo with you. I think Connie and his friends are in trouble. Do you copy?”

  “I copy Jake, douse the fire. Grab weapons and ammo, and come running. Over.”

  “Hurry,” Jake sai
d,

  They arrived at full run. Jake and Agnes stepped from concealment to join them.

  “What going on?” Beth asked. “Janie said she heard a gunshot.”

  “She did,” Jake, replied, “I think our friends from Moultrie are in trouble.”

  “Damn,” Eva exclaimed, “can’t we have one peaceful day?”

  “Not today it seems,” Jake said. “Let’s make this quick. We are not running. We can’t be dogged every step of the way to Haven. Beth and I are going to take care of the problem.”

  “I’m going with you,” Agnes said.

  “I’d rather you didn’t, Agnes. If anything happens to us, I want at least one adult with these kids, who knows how to fight.” He motioned for her to follow him. “Come over here with me.”

  Jake led her to a point where the others could not hear his whispered words.

  “Take them back to the MaxxPro. Break out any weapons you think you can use. If they get past us, fight to the death... You don’t want Saint to have a go at you. I want Janie and Eva armed too. Agnes, if you see you all are going down, you cannot let Saint take any of you alive. It’s on you, you know what to do with your last four bullets and why.”

  “Jake, I can’t shoot... You son of a bitch!”

  “It’s on you,” he repeated, cutting her off and moving back to the others.

  “What do we need with us Jake?” Beth asked.

  “Just our rifles with a spare magazine, same for our pistols.”

  They headed up the slight grade, Jake setting the speed at a fast sprint, Beth easily pacing him.

  “How far away are they?” Beth asked as they ran.

  “Shot sounded about a half mile. It could be more or less.”

  They continued running in silence, saving their breath. They were in excellent condition, and neither of them was breathing hard when they reached the railroad tracks.

  Another shot was fired, and Jake increased the pace to a flat out run. As they approached a curve to the left Jake saw what could only be the front of a school bus. He put out his arm to guide Beth and swerved to the left side of the roadway into the brush.

  “School bus around the curve,” Jake informed her in a low voice, as he continued to move. “We’ll go deeper into the trees and approach them from this side.”