Fall of Houston Series | Book 3 | No Turning Back

by Payne, T. L.

  “Gus?” Will said. It wasn’t his truck so, technically, it wasn’t his decision to make. That fact did little to ease his guilt though.

  “I don’t know, man. It doesn’t look like we’re going to get this damn thing out of the mud with just the four of us pushing, but I’m not sure about leaving all our stuff behind to give them a ride.”

  “Can you carry it all if we have to walk?” Will asked.

  Gus glanced back at the tarp-covered heap. “I guess not,” he said, moving toward the driver’s door. “Jaz, what do you say?”

  Jaz stuck her head out the window and eyed the crowd. “We can’t leave kids out here like this. I can move the stuff for the baby up here, and we can leave the rest, I guess. I don’t like showing up at my parents’ empty-handed, but I don’t see as we have a choice, really.”

  Isabella and Jaz watched as eight strangers removed supplies from the truck’s bed and piled them on the side of the road. Will was most upset about seeing the bicycles go. It seemed that somehow fate had determined that his plan to ride them to Louisiana wasn’t in the cards. He hoped they could get the truck unstuck, or they might have to go against fate and ride them anyway.

  A young mother stood back a way on the Crosby Freeway with her three small children. Her little boy, probably no more than three or four, stared cautiously at Tanner as he guarded the group as they unloaded the truck.

  Once everything was unloaded, Jaz opened one of the boxes and held out a can of soup to the young mother. The children stared at the can eagerly, but the woman refused the offer and walked away.

  Will took it, pulled the top, and held it out. “They’re hungry, and we can’t take all this with us. Let them eat.”

  “It’s okay, Carrie. No one is going to hurt you or the kids. You can take the food,” a woman in her late fifties said. She took the can from Will, walked over, and gave it to the boy. He held it out to his two sisters, and they scooped soup out with their fingers.

  “Everyone, come help yourself,” Jaz said, holding a can of stew into the air.

  They just stood there looking at one another. Will didn’t understand why they all seemed so reluctant to take the food.

  “Forgive them, please. We’ve had a rough few days out here. Not everyone is a nice as you people seem to be,” the middle-aged woman said as she took the stew from Jaz.

  “We understand. We’ve seen some pretty bad stuff ourselves,” Jaz said.

  The woman distributed canned food to everyone in the group, and they ate before turning their attention to getting the truck back on the roadway.

  Will, Cayden, and Isabella huddled together off to one side, watching the poor souls scarf down what might have been the first food they’d had in a week. How many more refugees were out there, just like them? He didn’t know exactly what kind of trouble they’d seen, but he knew that people like them would be easy prey for the unscrupulous and evil people who roamed the roads now.

  Ten

  Isabella

  Day Seven

  “Where are you headed?” Isabella asked the young mother as she handed her a second can of soup for her children.

  “I don’t know. Away from the city. We were just following everyone else.”

  “Oh yeah, where did you come from?”

  The woman looked up. Her big brown eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with the same dark circles common to everyone these days. Isabella’s heart broke for the woman and her two small children. “We were pulled from the roof by the Cajun navy three days ago. Since then, we’ve just kept moving, trying to stay ahead of the men with the guns.”

  “Men with guns?” Isabella asked. With all the lawlessness that had broken out all over the city, a lot of good people were likely to become prey to them.

  “The one’s fighting the army,” the woman said.

  “The army?” Had she been over near Ellington? “Where?” Isabella asked.

  “Channelview,” she responded.

  Was the fighting widespread? Were they safe anywhere?

  “Were the other men Asian?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. We were caught in the middle when the bombs started dropping. That man there.” She pointed to a muscular young man in his late twenties. “He helped us get away.”

  “Bombs?” Isabella brought her right hand up to her throat. Her heart raced as she recalled being buried alive in the rubble of the flight museum.

  “Are you all right?” the woman asked.

  Isabella blinked several times, clearing away the images from the day before. Her eyes once again focused on the woman and her kids. The news that the fighting appeared widespread throughout Houston only strengthened her resolve to leave the city as fast as possible before they could become trapped in the battle.

  Isabella studied the kids as they spooned carrots from the can with their fingers. Their frightened eyes stared back at her. The toll all the chaos was taking on the most vulnerable was almost too much to think about. She was glad that Gus and the others had agreed to help these people. But where were they to go? Isabella couldn’t help but think that she would be in the same position if she hadn’t met Will and Cayden. At least she had a farm to go to with food and clean water. What hope did this woman and her babies have? How long before they became victims of this new world?

  “We’re going to try to get the truck out now. You all might want to go stand up on the road out of the way of the flying mud,” Will said.

  Isabella couldn’t help but laugh at him. He was covered from head to toe in the stuff. All she could see were the whites of his eyes. She wasn’t sure how he was ever going to get clean.

  “Do you need help with the children?” Isabella asked.

  “No. They’re leery of strangers. We haven’t met many people as nice as you all.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m here if you need me,” Isabella said, moving to the side and letting the woman and her children pass.

  With all of Gus and Jaz’s possessions and the supplies she and Will had brought stacked up on the roadway, everybody who was able had assembled behind the pickup. Jaz was in the driver’s seat, and as the engine revved, everyone else pushed. With grunts and shouts, they heaved and managed to lift the tires out of the ruts and onto the shoulder. After one last shove, to everyone’s delight, the truck bounced onto the pavement and came to a stop in the opposite lane of the frontage road. The celebration was short-lived as the men, women, and children piled into the back of the pickup. Gus and Will shoved as much of the food and supplies as could fit around and between them as they could, though Will was still disappointed to leave the bikes.

  Isabella handed Will and Cayden some wet wipes, knowing it would do little to clean the mud caking nearly every inch of them. She was almost glad that she had a broken wrist and hadn’t been able to help in their failed attempt to get the truck unstuck. When they’d wiped as much as they could off them, she handed them fresh shirts from their backpacks.

  After cleaning themselves up, Gus climbed back into the driver’s seat and Jaz returned to the front passenger seat. She had one of the small children in her lap and looked content. She was going to make a great mom. Someone handed Isabella a toddler. She and the child were too exhausted to protest. With everyone loaded in, Gus drove east along the frontage road until reaching the next on-ramp to the Crosby Freeway.

  The mood was somewhat lighter as they continued on their journey to Liberty. Jaz was talking softly to the toddler in her lap and the little boy Isabella was holding fell asleep about ten minutes after they got on the road. Isabella’s mind raced with the information the woman had given her. That, along with the bombs back at the checkpoint, confirmed the fighting was not restricted to the base. She wanted desperately to believe that the military would quickly get things under control, but how? With limited technology, how would they coordinate and call for reinforcements? She couldn’t bring herself to think about what other places in the country must be experiencing. It was overwhelming and made it very hard to remai
n hopeful.

  “That young woman I was speaking to said that they fled bombing down in Channelview,” Isabella said in a low voice.

  “They must be fighting for control of the ship channel,” Will said. He reached out and placed his hand on hers. “It’s all right. We’ll get away in time. We’ll be at my sister’s before dark.”

  She glanced at Cayden, who was staring out the front glass. He looked dazed and exhausted. They all were. She wanted to ask Will if he thought his sister’s place would be far enough away that the fighting wouldn’t affect them, but she didn’t want Cayden to worry. He was a tough kid—and smart—he’d likely had the same thoughts.

  Isabella gave Will’s hand a gentle squeeze before he removed it. She thought about their kiss—more him kissing her. She’d been so shocked that she’d frozen. She still wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about it, though it was likely just the emotions of the moment. She’d been ready to give up, and he had just been trying to comfort and encourage her. It likely didn’t mean anything. It was clear he wasn’t over the loss of his wife, and she’d just days ago lost her boyfriend. She shuddered at the image of his body. Neither of them was ready for anything like that.

  Tanner rapped on the truck’s roof, causing Isabella to jump.

  “Hey, there’s another roadblock up ahead.”

  Eleven

  Savanah

  Day Seven

  Savanah passed back and forth in front of the large windows in her living room. She stopped to see if she could see Jason coming down the drive every few minutes. At half past midnight, she’d waited as long as she could. The children and the Bertrands were sleeping. Jane and Luca were in the barn caring for a sick goat. If she left to find Jason, there’d be no one to guard the house but…

  She had her hand on the doorknob when Mr. Bertrand spoke her name. Savanah stopped and turned, but the house was dark, and she couldn’t see him standing near the hall. “You planning on going to look for him?” he said.

  She hesitated. Was she? Should she? Even if she found him and he was in trouble, what could she do against so many? “I…”

  “He said he’d be back. You have to give him time to work things out in his own way.”

  “But what if he’s in trouble? I should have never let him go out there alone.” A ball of fear formed in Savanah’s stomach.

  “That wasn’t your call. It’s between him and his family now.”

  “I don’t think his brother would hesitate one minute to harm Jason if he got in their way. They will never forgive him for splitting with the family.”

  “He had to try something, and you tagging along would’ve only made things worse,” Mr. Bertrand said.

  “He should have been back by now, though. Maybe I could just check the road—look in the ditches. He could be hurt and lying out there bleeding.”

  “You ain’t going to see much in the dark. Wait until morning. If he ain’t back by then, I’ll go with you.”

  Morning was only a few hours away, but those precious hours could mean the difference between life and death to Jason.

  Daybreak. She’d wait until sunrise, and then she’d go find him. She prayed she was wrong and that he hadn’t gone to see his brother.

  Luca and Jane came in just before the first light shone over the horizon. They’d been up all night caring for sick animals. They would be sleeping most of the day. If she and Mr. B left, that would leave only Mrs. B and the children awake to guard the farm. She could make it the five miles to Sugar Hill in a little over an hour by herself, but with Mr. B in tow, it could take a couple of hours. That would mean they wouldn’t make it back home until early afternoon.

  The awful feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that she had to go. She had to find him. She’d checked her rifle and loaded spare magazines into her pockets and backpack. She was ready when Mr. B woke up. Savanah handed him a thermos of coffee and a rifle.

  “I have to go now,” she said.

  “We should eat a good breakfast. We might be doing a good piece of walking today. We need energy.”

  Savanah handed him an energy bar and marched to the back door.

  “Okay then,” he said, sitting by the door and sliding on his boots.

  “Where are you two going, Mommy?” Keegan was dressed in his overalls and straw hat, which meant he was ready to milk the goats. He’d been getting up early, trying to beat Kylie out there.

  “We’re just going to go check the fences again,” she lied. She never lied to her children. Savanah smiled and tried not to let the worry show on her face. In her heart, she knew that something terrible had happened or Jason would have been back by now. How could she tell her four-year-old son that they were leaving to search the ditches for Jason’s body?

  “I’m heading out to get Matilda ready for milking. Kendra said I could do her first.”

  “You wait for your sister. Jane and Luca were out there all night with the babies. Some of them have belly aches, and I don’t want you scaring them chasing their mom around.”

  “Aw, Mommy. Kylie will beat me out there if I wait.”

  “Keegan, just do as I say and stay inside.” His little face scrunched, and she could see tears starting to form. She hated being short with him, but she didn’t have time to deal with it now.

  “We have to go. You go wake Kendra for me, all right?”

  Without a word, Keegan turned and slowly walked away. “I love you, buddy. We’ll be back in a bit,” she called after him. Her stomach was doing flip-flops. She was so torn. Her concern was turning into anger—at Jason—for putting her in this position. It was stupid for him to go alone. She prayed she’d get the chance to tell him so.

  “Ready?” Mr. B asked.

  “Not really,” she said.

  “We could give him some more time.”

  Savanah looked him in the eyes. “You really think he’s just going to walk back down the drive by himself?”

  He said nothing.

  “Let’s go then,” she said.

  Savanah walked westbound on their two-lane road while Mr. B walked on the opposite side, each keeping an eye on the ditches for any sign of Jason. Savanah looked for drops of blood or anything that might indicate an injured person had walked by there. When Mr. B stopped, put both hands on his knees, and bent over, staring into the drainage ditch beside the Johnsons’ driveway, her stomach lurched.

  “What do you see?” she asked, rushing to his side.

  “Just a shoe someone lost. I don’t think that it’s Jason’s.”

  Savanah leaned down to get a better look. “It’s a running shoe. Definitely not his.” Relief flooded through her. She turned to cross back over to the other lane and froze.

  “What?” Mr. B said, bringing his rifle up as he turned.

  “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Blake said as he stepped between the trees lining the road.

  “What are you out here sneaking around for then?” Mr. B asked.

  “I wasn’t sure who you guys were at first.”

  “What are you doing over here?” Savanah asked.

  “I was heading back from surveilling that subdivision. I was going to cross over Mr. Johnson’s pasture to get home to my in-laws’ place.”

  He’d been to Sugar Hill?

  “Did you see Jason?” Savanah asked.

  “No. Why?”

  Savanah’s eyes pivoted to Mr. Bertrand. She didn’t want Blake to know that Jason had gone out there on his own. “He’s patrolling the road.” Her gaze dropped to the blacktop. Blake’s boots were covered in mud. Her eyes cruised his pants legs. The knees were wet like he’d knelt on the ground. “What did you see over at Sugar Hill?”

  “I saw a group of six young men riding quads with trailers attached arrive at the gate. They were loaded down with stuff,” Blake said.

  “Did you see a tall, muscular man dressed in black jeans and a white button-up shirt?” Savanah asked.

  “I did. He seemed to be the one in charge of things. He
roughed up this one kid pretty bad. Seems he took a little something for himself and the punishment for that is a beatdown.”

  “He’s their leader,” Savanah said.

  “And Jason’s brother?” Blake asked.

  She lowered her head and nodded.

  “Where did Jason really go?”

  She hesitated before answering. “He said he was going to talk to some of the neighbors again.”

  “But you don’t believe that’s where he went, do you?”

  “He didn’t come back last night,” she said.

  Blake moved closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She stared at it while he spoke. “He didn’t go to Sugar Hill. I can assure you of that.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I’ve been there practically since I left your place. I wanted to have all the information I could about the place and the people. You were right. They’re using those folks. They’re victims in all this. Until I saw it with my own eyes, I wasn’t convinced. But they’re as terrified of those Blanchards as we are.”

  “So, where’s Jason?” Savanah said, turning to Mr. Bertrand.

  He shook his head. “He said he was going to talk to the neighbors, right?”

  She nodded. Fear seeped into every crevice of her mind.

  “Then maybe that’s what he did. We need to go back and start there, and we should get Pete to help us look for him.”

  Twelve

  Will

  Day Seven

  Will spotted a crowd of people in the convenience store’s parking lot fifty yards ahead and to their right. Tanner hopped down from the back of the truck and appeared in Will’s passenger side window. He raised his rifle and peered through its scope.

  “How many? Do they have weapons?” Will asked.

  “At least a dozen, maybe more. I see one dude with a shotgun.”