by TW Gallier
"Four men just escaped out the back," Jake shouted.
Roger led the men into the house anyway. Terrel and Fred remained behind to stand guard over our prisoners and protect the others in the truck. I watched the back of the house, while listening to crashes and banging inside the house. At least there wasn't any gunfire. They came back out after a few minutes.
"Come on in," Roger said, giving the thumbs up.
I held my team back a second, while Vince's team emerged from the forest. No one fired on them, so we joined the rest in front of the house. I did keep us back away from the men lying on the ground, ready for them to try something stupid.
"Are we going to take the cargo truck?" I asked.
"No. We're taking the pickups," Roger replied. "They're faster and get better gas mileage."
A few of the bad guy survivors started grumbling and glaring at us. I kept my eyes on three of them who looked like they wanted to try something.
"And easier to find fuel for," Sean added.
"And better armed," Charlie said. "I get a .50 Cal."
The soldiers and other survivors were taken back into the house one by one and tied up. While our vets did that, the rest of us gathered up all of the weapons scattered around. We loaded them into the back of the trucks, and then loaded up all of the children. I got a few minutes with my kids, which were mostly hugs and kisses and crying. I'm afraid it made Fred's three kids start to cry as well, so him and Ally comforted them.
Chapter 42
Roger
When it was time to leave, I realized the captured weapons were taking up too much space. Each of the trucks had to carry seven to eight people, and only one of them was a four-door. One of the pickups was a smaller Dodge Dakota. The three full-sized pickups were all 1980s models and looked battered and muddy.
We couldn't leave the weapons behind. Not for that motley crew of scumbags. So I didn't say anything. We could dump them later.
"Charlie and Vince will man the .50 Cals," I said. "Brett and Mike can take the M60s."
"No, not Vince," Leslie said. "Someone else."
Vince started to object, but she put her hand on his arm and he shut up. I empathized while glancing at Jenny. My wife was nodding approvingly.
"I'll do it," Kate said, hurrying toward the Dakota's bed.
Sean looked like he would object, but restrained himself. He was the Dakota's driver, so they'd be in the same vehicle, but he obviously wanted her in the cab with him.
We put all of the kids in the cabs with the drivers. My vehicle, which would lead, was the four-door. Jenny and my children joined me, along with Jake and Haley in the backseat. Terrel drove the next pickup, with Sonya and their son in the cab. Fred drove the last full-sized truck, with his three kids and Ally. And Sean took the Dakota with Vince riding shotgun and Leslie squeezed in between them.
My truck was a short-bed, so Terrel and Fred could carry more in their beds than me or Sean. The last eight women were divided up two per truck. So we had three-person fire teams in back of each pickup. It was up to the gunners to ensure their helpers knew what to do.
Willa and Michelle stood guard over our prisoners until the last moment. Sean and I relieved them to go mount up. Sean cut the Canadian officer's hands free.
"Okay, Captain. We're leaving," Sean said. "It's going to take you a while to untie everyone, so we'll be long gone. Enjoy your hike back to camp."
"You're taking our truck?" he asked. "I thought you only wanted the pickups?"
"We're going to destroy the truck before we leave," I said. "Pursuit is not an option for you boys."
"Wanna bet," Walt muttered.
"Wanna die?" I replied, turning my weapon on him. "Just say it. I'll kill you right here, right now."
All he did was glare at me. It was a pretty scary glare, too. My finger moved across the trigger when I thought of my wife and children, which he was threatening. Hell, he and his boys tied my children up, terrifying them. Sean put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.
"We can't murder them," he said. "If we did, we'd be just as bad as they are." Sean looked at Walt. "I hope you realize that you've condemned yourselves by helping them. Since they are paying for Americans dead or alive, per your words, then once someone finds a cure, the eastern US will reopen. And you'll all be declared criminals. I bet you anything the Canadian government will extradite your stinky asses, too. You may hang for your crimes."
"I'll be there to watch," I said. "Guaranteed."
Sean's words hit them hard. Most of them had troubled looks, and a few looked shocked. I did notice that Dave just shrugged. I suddenly wanted to shoot Dave. He grinned at me, eyes narrowing.
"You got a pretty wife. I'm going to make you watch when I cut off her head," he said. "Then I'm going to take your kids – "
Walt launched himself at Dave, knocking him aside a fraction of a second before I fired. Sean stopped me from killing Dave.
"You can't kill him for that. After what he said it would be murder," Sean said.
Dave rolled to his feet, and advanced on us. I couldn't believe it. The man was out of his fucking mind. He looked scary as hell, but mostly he looked batshit crazy.
"That's right, pussy. And next time you see me, I'm gonna – "
Sean pulled his pistol and shot Dave between the eyes.
I looked at Sean, who shrugged as he holstered his weapon. "If you killed him, it would've been murder. I was just defending my people against a terrible, implacable threat."
"You murdered Dave! You fucking killed him!" Walt cried. "You killed my brother!"
"The situation seems to be deteriorating," I said. "Let's get out of here before we have to kill them all."
Before we left, I tied the Captain's arms behind his back, but quite loosely. I figured he could work free in about five minutes, but we'd be long gone by that time. In fact, I wasn't keen on stopping until we reached Minnesota. Those bastards might actually come after us.
"We can't drive straight west," I said after we were outside. "We need to make some evasive turns so they can't catch up."
"You got a point. Just get us out of this place," he said. "Kate, put a couple bursts into the roof as we pull away. I want to put the fear of God into those boys."
She racked the .50 Cal, voice low and angry, "My pleasure."
"Jenny, pop a grenade into that last truck," I said.
She was standing by the open door. Sookie was sitting in the middle of the front seat. Harlan and Timmy sat between Jake and Haley. Jenny nodded, put a grenade in the launcher, and took careful aim. I had a little tingle of pride as she calmly sent a grenade right through the driver's window.
Ka-boom!
The truck's cab began burning.
We jumped into the pickup, and tore out of there. As Sean's truck pulled onto the road, Kate opened fire. She continued to fire until the house was out of sight.
"I have incendiary grenades," Jenny said. "You should've let me shoot one into that house."
"Oh my God, you're getting blood-thirsty."
"No. I'm sure they'd all run out the back," she said, a smirk on her face. She looked forward, and her face screwed up. "Looks like more trouble ahead."
She was right. The horizon was a dark blue-gray. I could see lightning strikes flashing within those boiling clouds.
Chapter 43
Walt
The helicopters slowly dropped into the south pasture. The family farm was three hundred and sixty acres, with half being used to pasture our cattle. The rest was planted with a variety of vegetables. Our family had been self-sustaining farming for three generations.
As soon as the helicopters touched earth, me and the boys piled out and headed for the house. I was eager to get on the road after those bastards that killed my brother. Sean and Roger were dead meat, guaranteed, and so was that dark-haired bitch, Jenny. If it wasn't for her, we'd have never got caught and Dave would be alive.
"Quinn, take a couple of the boys and get the jeeps and pickup
s ready to roll," I said.
We had a pair of late 70s Jeep CJ7s, a 1968 Ford pickup, and a 1982 Chevy pickup at the farm. They stole all of our other trucks, along with our M60 and .50 Cal machine guns. Four trucks for seventeen men seemed about right.
"Sure thing, Walt," he said, taking off running with Paul and Hutch.
"Where are we gonna get guns?" Garret asked. "I got a couple deer rifles, and a shotgun, but we don't have enough for everyone."
I scowled at my brother. He always asked too many questions. But he had a point. We couldn't arm more than half of the men. Maybe only a third. And we lost all of our automatic weapons.
"Captain Everett!" I shouted, heading back to the lead helicopter. I had to wave to get his attention, but a moment later he got out and met me halfway. "We need guns, Captain. Those fuckers stole almost all of our shit."
He looked put out. That really ticked me off. I was used to his superior airs, but he was starting to make me want to put some hurt on him. After all, I turned over all those prisoners, and then he lost them. And now he refused to pay us since they escaped.
Captain Everett sighed gustily and shook his head. "I suppose we can arm you. I'll send truck over tomorrow with enough weapons and ammo to last you a while."
"No. Today," I demanded. "We're going after them."
"Forget them," he said. "They are long gone, my friend. You'll never be able to find them."
I grinned at him. "Wanna bet? We anticipated losing a vehicle at some point, so set it up where we can track any of our vehicles through GPS. We'll catch them as long as they stay in those trucks."
That might've been the first time Captain Everett ever looked at me with any kind of respect. He looked mightily impressed. Still, he resisted.
"By the time I can get a truck over here they'll have a five or six hour start. They'll be halfway to the Rockies."
That was fine by me. They must not know our former government had turned on everyone this side of the Rockies. I'd have them trapped between us and the US Army. As much as I wanted to twist the knife that killed them, I'd gladly settle for Army snipers taking them out.
"I don't care. They killed my brother." I stepped toward him, fists tight. "They gonna pay for killing Dave, one way or another. I promise you that." He looked shocked. "So don't get your panties in a wad, Captain. I'll bring them all back, whether they're dead or alive."
"How many times do I have to tell you? We won't pay for dead bodies," the officer said. "Dead people don't try to cross our border, so they are no threat. We'll only pay for living men, women, and children."
"How alive do they have to be?"
Chapter 44
Roger
Jenny studied the map and fiddled with the Garman satellite guidance system installed. Neither showed many roads through Upper Michigan, so we were stuck on US-2 for a while. Basically, we had a choice between US-2 in the south and M-28 further north. I didn't want to take M-28 because it touched the shore of Lake Superior, and I was confident the Canadians would be in all of the coastal towns. And Walt's gang of ne'er-do-wells probably wasn’t their only hired help.
She finally worked out a route keeping up away from both Great Lakes, but there weren't many roads to choose from. I still thought we could reach Wisconsin, and maybe even get a good ways into Minnesota before nightfall.
"Screw the satellite thing," Jenny finally said. "I can't make it do what I want. It's too complicated."
I didn’t say anything. For one, she was so agitated that if I just reached over and did it, she'd probably explode. Secondly, I'd never used that brand before, so wasn't even sure you could plot your own path on it.
"Doesn't matter, baby," I said. "It's on the map. Besides, with our luck the satellite will crash into the earth just when we need it most."
"True." She looked around. "You know, I've always thought the northern states were all built up industrial areas. I would've never dreamed there were such large areas of nothing but forest. It's like a wilderness."
"Me, too. I think Georgia has more cities and people than they do up here," I replied.
"Well, now everyone in Georgia is undead," she said. Jenny frowned. "Damn, my joke just made me sad."
It kind of made me sad, too. Friends, family, the men and women I worked with, all gone. Some probably escaped alive. I suspected most were dead, or worse.
"Yeah, don't quite your day job."
We were quiet for a while, before she spoke again. "It's beautiful country up here. It's just a shame it's so dangerous."
I spotted the first signs of a city ahead. Jenny looked at the map again.
"This would be Naubinway. I think if we stay on this road we'll reach Rapid River in an hour or so."
That didn't mean a thing to me. "Is that a city?"
"Doesn't look like much on the map," she said. "But there are more roads to take once past Rapid River."
Getting off US-2 was a priority. Walt was pretty upset about us killing his brother, but Dave didn't leave us any choice. The man was batshit crazy. I'd rather have Walt and gang after us than Dave. And I was sure Walt would at least try to follow us.
By that time we reached Naubinway. There were a few small stores, a post office, and a bank to our left, with a scattering of homes to our right. Most of the windows were smashed out, and I didn't see any sign of life. Not even a stray dog or cat. There weren't many abandoned or wrecked cars in sight either.
I gave the pickup a little more gas. We sped through Naubinway at 80 MPH. I kept a close eye on the other three vehicles in case one of them started having problems. All four trucks were at least as old as me.
I noticed Timmy and Harlan were asleep in the backseat, between Jake and Haley. Even the two teenagers were starting to nod off. Sookie was still wide awake between Jenny and I, watching the road nervously.
Jenny wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her. "Don't worry, Sookie. We're all going to be fine."
"I know," she said, but didn't sound convincing.
The coast turned away to the south once past Naubinway. I felt a little safer driving into heavily wooded country. About fifteen minutes later, we blasted through Gould City. It wasn't much of a city. I saw a few little white houses and a small mom and pop motel.
We drove a good ways past Gould City before US-2 turned sharply to the south. The next town was Culver. There were a lot more abandoned cars there, so we stopped to gas up in front of the Sunoco station despite our tanks still being more than half full.
"What route are you planning?" Sean asked as he, Kate, Brett, and Terrel joined us in front of the pickup. He spread his map across my hood. "I thought for sure you were going to turn right on M-77 to Seney."
"We really need to get off this road," Kate said. "We're just making it easier for them to find us."
"I know," I said. "But if we head up north, then we have to pass through the port town of Munising. I'll bet anything it's full of Canadians." I traced out Jenny's proposed route on his map. "We think it better to stay on this road to Rapid River, and then we can take our choice of roads across Wisconsin."
"I agree with Kate," Terrel said. "We have to get off that road ASAP."
"Look," Jenny said, indicating the map. "Rapid River is less than an hour away. I think it is better to continue as we are, away from anyone looking for us, than turn around and head back just to get off this highway."
"She's got a point," I said. "Trust us. This way is better. Hell, they might even anticipate us wanting to get off this road, and are already headed north to cut us off."
"I hear helicopters!" Charlie shouted.
"Shit!" I cried. "Quick, find something to hide your pickups under."
We raced to our trucks and tore out of there. I made it hundred feet before Jenny pointed to the right.
"Over there."
I saw it. It looked like a steel building with the bay door open. I was pretty sure all four pickups would fit inside, but I was the only one to turn off the road and head fo
r it.
"Where are they going?"
"Across the rail-road tracks," Jenny said.
We drove through that open bay door before I hit the brakes. We came to a screeching stop. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I drove to the back and parked it.
"Stay away from the door," I said. "They can't see us all of the way back here."
"Are you sure?" Jenny asked.
"No," I said.
"You have a knack for instilling confidence," Charlie said. He'd swung the .50 Cal around toward the door. "I feel safer already."
At least four helicopters passed overhead. It sounded like they were flying nape of the earth, too. Very close and loud, and I saw their shadows whip by.
"Wait a minute, what direction were they going?" Charlie asked.
"West to east," Jenny said. "That's odd. Maybe they're not looking for us."
"No, I don't think they'd be following the highway if not looking for us," I said. "I bet they searched for us up north, and then looped back around."
"Or they started somewhere ahead of us," Charlie said.
"Either way, they are heading east, so I'm going west," I said. "Let's go."
Sean, Terrel, and Brett were already heading for the highway as I started up US-2. They fell in behind me. I half expected Sean to stop me so we could continue hashing out our route.
I continued up the highway as fast as the road would allow. We passed through several towns before we reached Rapid River. I stopped on the side of the road and we gathered around a map to decide where to go next.
"We can't go north. There's only the one road on the map, so it'll be easier to find us," I said. "I say we go down to Escanaba and then head for Iron Mountain."
"No," Sean said. "That's the route I first thought, and so will anyone following us. I say we go through Escanaba like you suggested, but go toward Foster City instead."
"Yes, that's better," Kate said. Even Jenny and Brett nodded in agreement. "And a lot more roads will be available to take. I think we might actually get away."
