by Robert Boren
“Okay,” Kyle said. “Look at that mall to the left. It’s huge.”
“Yeah, this is more built-up than I expected. Guess the bulk of the town runs along I-40.”
“You didn’t look at the satellite view of the map?” Kyle asked.
“Too damn small,” Kate said. “There’s your off-ramp.”
“I see it,” Kyle said, taking it onto the frontage road. “That must be it. Corny sign.”
Kate laughed, looking at the sign. It had a picture of a camel wearing sunglasses. The letters it was standing on spelled out Amarillo Oasis. “Of course they’re going to have a camel. It’s an Oasis.”
Kyle turned into the driveway, then busted up laughing. “No frigging way.”
“What?”
“Look who that is,” he said, nodding towards the small old man with white hair sticking out of his face and head.
“Oh, shit, is that Brushy?” she asked.
“Sure as hell is,” Kyle said as he pulled up into the check-in lane. They got out of the truck as others pulled up.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Kyle said, rushing over. “We were wondering what happened to you.”
Brushy laughed as he approached. “Kyle! Kate! Great to see you. I was hoping it was you when my sister told me there was a big group coming in from Fort Stockton.”
“What happened?” Kate asked. “Where’d you go?”
“My sister got into a bad car accident,” he said. “Had to rush home and take care of her. She owns this park.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. “She okay now?”
“Almost,” he said. “I’ve been helping her run the place. Not like I can get mine started back up.”
Kelly and Brenda parked and trotted over. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kelly said. “Brushy?”
“Kelly!” Brushy said. “Brenda! Damn, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“Likewise,” Kelly said.
“You guys lose anybody?” Brushy asked.
“Gray,” Brenda said, choking up.
“Oh no,” Brushy said. “How?”
“Killed by a sniper after a battle,” Kelly said. “It was a hard loss. We also lost Fritz, Earl, Jackson, and…” Kelly broke down. Brushy looked at him helplessly.
“Nate too,” Brenda said softly.
“You guys have had a tough time,” he said. “I don’t remember Earl or Jackson, but I remember Fritz and Nate. Good guys.”
“Yes, they were,” Kyle said.
The rest of the vehicles were lining up, overflowing the check-in area.
“Why don’t you guys go find spaces so we don’t get too clogged up,” Brushy said. “We’ll deal with the particulars later.”
“Okay, Brushy,” Kyle said. “Thanks.”
They got back into the truck and drove into the park, the others following. It took nearly an hour for everybody to come through the gate and find a space.
Jason, Kyle, Kelly, Junior, Eric, Chance, Dirk, and Francis met by the clubhouse. Curt walked over too, with Amanda by his side. Moe, Cindy, and Clancy joined them a moment later. A few others straggled over as they talked.
“Can you believe that Brushy is here?” Junior asked.
“You guys know him?” Chance asked.
“Yeah, from an RV Park we spent the night in, early on,” Jason said.
“Had a hell of a battle there,” Curt said. “Almost got killed. After we left he got attacked again. They burned down his park.”
“Junior and I stopped there,” Kelly said. “It was in ruins, and we almost got killed.”
“You guys weren’t together by then?” Eric asked.
“No, we met up with Jason, Kyle, Curt, and the others later. Brushy joined us after his park was burned to the ground.”
“He’s one guy that won’t let an attack ruin a good barbeque, I’ll tell you that,” Curt said.
Jason busted up. “Oh, yeah, forgot about that.”
“What are we gonna do now?” Eric asked.
“I think we ought to go check out the clubhouse,” Junior said. “They might have a pot of coffee going. I could use it.”
“Seriously,” Kelly said. “I’m gonna go get Brenda.”
“Yeah, I’ll pick up Rachel too,” Junior said. “Meet you over there.”
“Want to go over too, honey?” Amanda asked Curt.
“Yeah,” he said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m gonna go get Don and Sydney, okay?”
“I’ll go too,” Curt said.
“Curt, stick around for a second,” Jason said.
“It’s fine, honey,” Amanda said. “I’ll go. Meet you at the clubhouse.”
Curt walked over to Jason. “What’s going on?”
“Just a sec,” Jason said. “Hey, Kyle, come over here, okay? You too Dirk, Chance. Eric.”
“What’s going on?” Kyle asked.
“Ramsey called me right before we came in here. We might have a problem.”
“You gonna tell us, pencil neck?” Curt asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “There was some kind of blow-up in the US Airforce. Ramsey said some of the bad apples took off with half a dozen bombers. B-1s.”
“Oh, shit,” Eric said. “We know where they’re going?”
“Two of them were bombing the outskirts of San Antonio right before he called,” Jason said, grim look on his face. “They hit the camp where the National Guard men were. Luckily more than half of them were gone before it happened.”
“Son of a bitch,” Curt said. “We know what payload they’re carrying?”
“Not for certain, no,” Jason said. “Probably conventional. That’s what they hit San Antonio with.”
“I’m not hiding this from Amanda,” Curt said.
“Carrie already knows,” Jason said. “She’s spreading the word quietly to the others.”
“Afraid to let the park owners know?” Francis asked.
“I think we’d better go tell Brushy right now,” Kyle said. “We don’t want to hide it from him. He’s a friend.”
“I agree,” Jason said.
“We should’ve told Kelly and Junior.”
“Was going to, but they took off too quick,” Jason said. “They probably know by now. Carrie was gonna tell Brenda and Rachel. They’ve gotten pretty close.”
Brushy walked over. “You guys are in a huddle, and you don’t look happy. Give me the bad news.”
“We were on our way,” Jason said. “There are six rogue B-1 Bombers on the loose over Texas.”
“Wonderful,” Brushy said. “Think they’re coming here?”
“We have no idea,” Jason said. “Two of them just hit the outskirts of San Antonio. They might only concentrate on the big cities.”
“They know about us,” Dirk said. “We’re pretty high on their shit list.”
“Here come the others,” Curt said. “Let’s go to the clubhouse.”
“I was just coming to invite you over,” Brushy said. “We got coffee made, and my sis made up a bunch of cobbler this morning.”
“Let’s go, then,” Jason said.
Carrie, Kate, Kim, Brenda, Rachel, and Cindy walked over. Don was behind them with Sydney and Amanda. Sherry followed with Alyssa, Chloe, and the other teens. The rest of the people were behind them. They made their way to the clubhouse, following Brushy.
“This is never gonna end,” Kim whispered to Eric. He put his arm around her shoulder. They walked through the large veranda into the clubhouse.
“Everybody, this is my sister Pat,” Brushy said. He nodded to her, a woman in her mid-sixties with longish gray hair, about the same height as Brushy with a similar smile.
“Welcome, everybody,” she said, beaming.
Brushy whispered in her ear, her eyes widening.
“Sorry,” Jason said. “Hope we don’t bring a problem to you guys.”
She smiled through the fear. “I know about you guys. Brushy told me. I also heard about what you did north of Fort Stockton. I’m read
y to join the fight. Don’t worry about it.”
People lined up to get coffee and cobbler, set up on a row of long tables against the paneled wall. The clubhouse was large and rustic, nicer looking than Moe’s, but without the electronics he had. There was a small stage in the back wall, and an old flat screen TV on the wall next to it. The kitchen was to the right of the stage, through a double-wide door.
“Nice place,” Moe said to Brushy and Pat. “Thanks for taking us on.”
“It’s a pleasure,” Brushy said. “Hard to get these places out of your blood.”
“You’ll get your place back,” Pat said. “Just you wait and see.”
“I know,” Brushy said. “Pisses me off that I lost my barbeque setup. It was one of the best in the state.”
Pat snickered. “Oh, please. It was a bunch of fifty-five gallon drums. You can make another one just like it, you know.”
“It was seasoned,” Brushy said. “That takes years.”
“I saw that there,” Kelly said. “When we stopped by, after it got burned. Looked okay to me. You haven’t been back there?”
“Nope,” Brushy said. “It’s really okay?”
“Looked like it,” Kelly said.
“I don’t know, man,” Junior said. “We didn’t have time to do a good inspection. Going there was almost our undoing.”
“Why did you go, anyway?” Brushy asked. “I didn’t know you guys then.”
“We wanted a place to spend the night,” Kelly said.
“Oh,” Brushy said. “Sorry we weren’t open.”
Kelly and Junior looked at each other, then Brushy. All of them laughed, Pat shaking her head. “I can see why you all get along.”
There was a low rumble outside. Everybody froze.
“Dammit, what’s that?” Kelly asked, Brenda getting closer to him.
Jason, Kyle, and Curt ran to the door and looked to the west.
“No!” Carrie cried, coming up behind Jason with Chelsea in her arms. There were two B-1 Bombers flying low and fast towards the west.
Brushy rushed out. “They’re heading towards the Johnson place,” he said. “Lot of coaches there. Probably looks like a better target.”
“They’re gonna see the tanks here in no time,” Curt said as the bombers dropped a load on the RV Park, the fireball growing huge before their eyes, the ground rumbling.
“Everybody out!” Brushy yelled. “Run into the field behind the park, and keep going. Spread out!”
People flooded out of the clubhouse in a panic, racing towards the back of the park as the two bombers made a sweeping turn.
“They’re gonna make another run!” Brushy shouted.
To be continued in Bug Out! Texas Book 7.
Cast of Characters
Texas Hill Country Group
Jason – Austin PD. Young man with family. Brave, trustworthy, great in a fight, loyal. Six foot four and handsome with thick sable hair. Considered to be a high-potential employee by Austin PD. Responsible. Mid 30s.
Carrie – Jason’s wife. Strong, brave, witty, smart. Short dark hair and delicate, pretty face. Girl next-door type. Has calming effect on Jason and others. Good in a fight, brave to a fault. Pregnant. Mid 30s.
Chelsea – toddler, daughter of Jason and Carrie. Cute, rambunctious.
Kyle – Austin PD. Partner of Jason. Large man, built like a linebacker, with sandy blonde hair and a sly grin. Cheerful, funny, great in a fight, puts on front of being lady’s man, but really a romantic. Worships girlfriend Kate. Mid 30s.
Kate – strong, beautiful, emotional, witty. Former news reporter for a local Texas TV station. Fell hard for Kyle, carrying his baby. Temper. Early 30s.
Kelly – leader of Rednecks. Huge man with long brown hair and a beard. Tough, gruff, smart, great judge of character. Strategic thinker. Man’s man. In love with Brenda. Mid 50s
Brenda – half-owner of Texas Mary’s Bar and Grill in Dripping Springs. Voluptuous with bleach blonde hair and a slightly wild look. Deeply in love with Kelly. Extremely intelligent. Runs business side of Texas Mary’s. Strong but worries about Kelly constantly. Good in a fight. Mid 50s.
Junior – Kelly’s best friend. A tall rail of a man with a thick beard, usually wearing a battered cowboy hat. Funny, crazy, smarter than most people realize, good in a fight, strong, loyal to the death. In love with Rachel. Early 50s.
Rachel – picked up on the road. Black hair and brown eyes, short and thin, with a face of delicate beauty. Former drug abuser with difficult past. Lost only child to SIDS, which broke up her first marriage and led to the drug abuse. Leans on Junior, needs strong man in her life. Late 30s.
Nate – co-leader of Rednecks. A small man with hawkish eyes. Shrewd, brave, temper, known to get into trouble, extremely loyal to friends. Always thinking. Mid 50s.
Fritz – member of Rednecks. Tall and thin, long hair. Questionable past, can be cruel, loyal to his friends. Not as smart as Kelly, Junior, or Nate, but brave in a fight with good skills. Not one to tangle with. In trouble with the law more often than the other Rednecks due to temper. Early 60s.
Chris – Brenda’s ex-husband and co-owner of Texas Mary’s. A large, heavyset man with a shaved head and goatee, giving him the look of a biker. Still loves Brenda, but the relationship has been over for years. Brave, careful, measured, good at business, good host, liked by everybody. Not as smart as Brenda or Kelly. Mid 50s.
Curt – former police officer in Austin, and most recently San Antonio. Large man with a military haircut, clean shaven. Punched superior officer in San Antonio. Genius. Renaissance man. Understands many technical disciplines, creative, skilled. Has temper but with heart of gold. Likes to tease his friends. Would die for them. Skilled fighter who can turn the tide of a battle on his own. Sense of humor can be very crude but funny. Mid 40s.
Simon Orr – dangerous leader of militia movement, trying to take over Kelly’s group. Large man wearing cowboy garb. Shadowy, cruel. Crossover character from original Bug Out! Series. Wants to become warlord. Playing against every side except his own. Mid 40s.
Sydney – one of the Merchant girls living outside of Fredericksburg, next to Jason’s family homestead. Grew up with Jason and his brother Eric. Former teenage girlfriend of Eric. Beautiful, smart, funny, avid hunter and tracker, runs family moonshine business with her sister Amanda. Raven hair and stunning bright blue eyes. Mid 30s.
Amanda – Sydney’s older sister. Raunchy, wild, aggressive, knows what she wants and goes for it hard. Beautiful, deep blue eyes like Sydney, hair bleached blond, contrasts with jet-black eyebrows. Tattoos. Smart, good negotiator, runs family moonshine business with Sydney, more technically savvy. Early 40s.
Gray – leader of the bikers, originally from southwest Texas. A large man with black hair and a black beard. Brave and resourceful, suspicious of strangers, but loyal once he’s gained respect. Late 40s.
Cindy – Gray’s wife. Nervous, small dainty blonde with tattoos and piercings. Pretty face ravaged by a hard life. Early 40s.
Moe – owner of the Fort Stockton RV Park. Overweight and balding with a gray and brown beard, shrewd and strong, strategic thinker, protective, kind. Mid 60s.
Clancy – Moe’s nephew. Scraggly thin man with a wicked grin and long stringy brown hair. Works at the Fort Stockton RV Park. Smart as a whip with good intuition. Outdoorsman. Protective of the group, good with technology, good at organizing and getting things done. Mid-30s.
Brushy – owner of an RV Park overrun early in the story. He’s been missing for a while. Small man with a huge beard and long hair, about sixty years old. Good in a fight, fearless, crazy, funny.
Jake – owner of a farm house north of Lamesa. Joins the group at that point. Small thin man with a folksy way and a lot of heart.
Jax – huge man with a blonde beard and a shaved head. Joined the group with a huge group of citizens. Gung ho, brave to a fault, cunning and loyal.
Pat – Brushy’s sister, and owner of the Amarillo Oasis RV Park. She�
�s in her sixties, short and round, looking a lot like Brushy. Robust, brave, loyal, good sense of humor.
East Texas/Florida Group
Eric – Jason’s brother. Over six feet tall with a trim but massive build. Was living in Florida before the war started. Private Investigator working elder fraud cases in retirement areas of central Florida. Brave, very athletic. Fast, good with guns and other weapons. Smart, charismatic. Loved by everybody. Loyal to a fault. Mid 30s.
Kim – Eric’s girlfriend. Red-haired, freckled beauty with a slim build. Tough as nails but gentle, head over heels in love with Eric. Mid 30s.
Dirk – leader of Deadwood, Texas group. Medium sized man with a muscular build. Gruff, shrewd, brave, sentimental. Loves family and friends. Large man, muscular build. Late 50s, but a young late 50s.
Chance – best friend of Dirk. Short and chubby but quick, good in a fight. Wise cracks a lot. Good mixture of smarts and bravery, but cautious. Mid 40s.
Don – single dad widower with teenage daughter. Large man, average build with a conservative haircut. Kind and gentle, smart, protective. Lonely, misses wife. Brave but not really a fighter. Took in daughter’s best friend when her family passed. Late 30s.
Francis – Don’s older brother. Local political figure in Deadwood. Older man, spry for his age. Smart, good strategic thinker, understands the meaning of events better than rest of group, sage. Mid-60s.
Sherry – Francis’s wife. Younger than him by ten years. Still pretty, trying hard to live during wartime but having trouble. Depression. Mid 50s.
Alyssa – Don’s daughter. Pretty, a little self-centered. Misses mother. Terrified of enemy after attacks on Deadwood. 17 years old.
Chloe – Alyssa’s best friend. Orphan taken in by Don after both parents killed. Mousey, kind, smart, helps Alyssa to cope. 17 years old.
