Trekking Home

by Jeffrey Miller

  “The Nation is in great turmoil; we are trying to maintain the power in the rural areas without much success. This economic collapse is the worst our nation has ever seen. The cities on the east coast, west coast and most of Texas are without power due to...” then the radio’s signal was gone, sounding like someone just turned it off. Now the only sound Nate heard was static coming from the small radio.

  “Great, just great,” Nate said out loud. Well now he knew things were indeed far worse than the nation had ever experienced before, and power was gone for the most part. Nate suspected this already but hearing it set things even more serious in his mind. A nation without power was a nation out of control. People had become in so many ways accustomed to the insatiable need to have power in everyday life. Little things in life that were once done manually now could be done with the flick of a switch. He was just as guilty as everyone else. He relied upon electricity just as much as the next American. This entire journey home was being done with some assistance in part by electricity. He had made brief contact with his family with the ultimate representation of human achievement, a cell phone. However, now he might as well be in the 19th century in many ways. He gazed over to his small motorbike and wondered how long it was going to last. The night was coming on fast. The temperatures were starting to drop in this low valley. Nate made the fire a little larger and prepared his camp.

  Nate wasn’t sure, but he was trying to figure out what the date was lying in his sleeping bag staring at the small but warm fire.

  “June, it has to be June now, maybe the first week.” he whispered to himself.

  “Tomorrow you need to get a move on, it’s going to be really warm soon, and the sun will be up longer, push it, Nate,” he told himself. He drifted to sleep thinking of home. Nate thought of his place on the ranch, his family, and friends. He also thought about all the new friends he recently made. He hoped Chris made it home.

  Chapter 11

  The Why in the Road

  Nate had awoken early and was back on the county road headed south making a good time. He stopped briefly to check himself on the map. The road he was approaching could lead him to the address Chris had given him. It was a good distance out of his way to travel. The dilemma of choice was a gamble either way. He could keep headed south and would soon run out of gas, and the likelihood of finding fuel anywhere was slim at best. He would be back on foot; he knew this. The concern for Chris getting home had to be his number one thought. He was far too close to ignore the chance to know and be certain. He would head to Chris’s parents.

  The bike was doing pretty well. It was very good on fuel and Nate was a little surprised knowing it was so old. Once in a while it sputtered and made some god awful sound, but it worked. He was headed east now on the small county road. He did see a few people headed west and they waved as he rode by. They were walking; some looked like they had nothing while others looked like experienced hikers. He was glad to see people though and they smiled.

  Nate finally made it to the area where Chris’s parents lived. The road he was supposed to take had several tire tracks leading up the path to a home. He noticed they were all motorbike tire tracks; he was sure now that Chris made it home. The mailbox at the end of the long driveway was faded but he could see the numbers. Nate had arrived. He shut off the bike and listened. He could hear strange but loud music but didn’t see where it was coming from but assumed it was coming from around back. Nate briefly thought maybe they had thrown Chris a party for returning home. He left his pack with his bike slung his rifle across his back and walked slowly up the dirt drive that changed to rock as it got closer to the large log cabin. Off to his right, Nate could see several rough cuts and fresh dirt bike or motorbike tracks in the nicely kept yard. Then as sudden as a cold breeze could appear from an approaching spring storm that old feeling in his gut slammed him once again.

  The loud noise he heard was music blasting from inadequate speakers. Charlie Daniels was being played way too loud. Something was very wrong. He ducked down behind a bush that was near the side of the home. It was a modern style log cabin. The sides had windows all along the first floor with electric powered blinds. The power was out and they were all down. It was near midday. He could now hear screaming and cussing from the rear of the home. Nate stopped and considered his options now.

  He had decided to come this way for the reasons to check on Chris. His gut told him to do it and not look back; it was the right thing to do. Now, something here was wrong but what? He wondered if Chris even made it here and if so what did he walk into? Nate had to put himself in a different frame of mind.

  “I’m telling you I heard a motorbike out here” Nate heard in a deep voice someone speaking as they lumbered past, kicking up the gravel as they moved by the Bush Nate was in. Nate had to act before they got to the crest of the yard and spotted his dirt bike. He only had seconds to act. He dropped his rifle and walked out of the bush.

  “Can you guys tell me where the bathroom is?” Nate said stumbling about like he was drunk, but not just a little drunk, but very drunk. Nate hit the ground pausing briefly to glance at their expressions. He tried to stand and fell again laying on his side. He pushed himself up, now covered in loose dirt and small rocks. The two men had turned to see who was talking to them and watched as some drunk was trying to stay on his feet.

  “See. I told you I heard something, who the hell is this guy? Think he is part of this family also?” the one guy said. He was enormous. He stood at least 6’8’’ and outweighed Nate by 25 lbs. Nate was just a little shorter by an inch or so but this guy was really overweight. The other guy was tiny but seemed to be the leader of the two. Nate thought to himself that the guy reminded him of the old style cookie jars, the ones who were fat, round and wore a chef’s hat.

  “Ok, Mack, you were right, let’s get him up and find out who he is.” He said to the larger man. Nate had to act fast and precise, he would need to take them both down without a sound swiftly. The smaller man needed to be first, Nate assumed he was smarter and would just cut and run if he attacked the larger man first. He was banking on the larger man to come to the rescue of the small man, the man with the smarts.

  The smaller man stepped over to Nate and helped him up and grabbed Nate by the neck with a switchblade knife already pulled out and coming to Nate’s throat. Nate hadn’t anticipated this man to be so aggressive right off the bat.

  Nate moved his right hand up below the man’s vision slowly at first then with the speed of a million dollar trained US Army Ranger, caught the man’s motion and reversed the thrust breaking his wrist. The knife dropped to the ground sticking straight down. He twisted in one motion contacting the man’s jaw square knocking him out with the punch. Nate slowly stood to his full height now nearly eye to eye with the heavier built man. He looked down to the dirt and saw his friend. The man looked up at Nate and his face contracted in anger. Nate was correct in his assumption, the man charged him like a bull. Nate waited until the last second and did a leg sweep takedown. The man fell flat on his face. Nate was up and on the man before he realized what happened. He turned the man’s face up to him.

  “Good night boy,” he said. With one hard punch to the side of the jaw, the man was out. Glass jaws must have been on sale the day these two were made. Nate knew he was lucky. He had to move them both fast before someone else came out. Nate pulled them both dragged them through the driveway into the yard and stuffed into a side shed that was open. He closed the door and ran back to his rifle in the bushes. He really needed to get back to his bike and pack. He decided to make a run for it. Taking off, he cleared the front yard and over the hill that leads down to his bike. In seconds he was at both and rolling the bike to the edge of the tree line hiding it in the woods. He gathered up his pack and also put himself in the woods. Whatever was going on behind the home he needed to see and do it fast before the other two woke up.

  He could still hear the screams from some woman and another female, followed by l
ots of laughter. Nate opened his pack and took out a camo shirt and hat. He then removed a different pair of boots, tan in color. Nate removed his AR-15 and reassembled it, loading it with a full 42 round mag. He removed several more mags from a rear pouch placing them in a vest he had put on. He reached into his bag and took out some Gorilla tape. He took another mag and taped it upside down to the one in his rifle. Unzipping another smaller compartment, he unrolled a leg holster and quickly snapped it all on. Nate removed his Glock and dropped it into the holster. Nate hadn’t worn much of this gear in a long time but always had it on him. He was glad now that he carried the stuff he did. Yes, it was heavy, yes it meant pain at times, but it would save not just him but others. Nate took off through the woods skirting the perimeter of the property.

  As Nate got closer to the home by way of the woods, he could now see what all the commotion was about. There were 8 men with guns. Nate could see them all sitting around in various parts of the yard. The yard was huge; it was actually a dirt bike track. This must have been where Chris did much of his practice. He could now see Chris; he was on a high-end dirt bike riding around the track. That wasn’t the issue; the problem was what was on the track. Chris was being made to nearly miss or jump over his parents. There were two men with guns right at each of the parent's heads. Apparently, if Chris didn’t do what they said they would shoot them. Nate studied them all well. Then he noticed something familiar, on their jackets, the insignia was the Night Wolves. But these were not the same guys from the small airfield.

  Nate peered through the high powered scope of his rifle. These guys carried mostly older AK-47’s. The pistols were old revolvers. Nate would have to position himself in a way where he could take them out one by one but very fast. This meant getting them all in the same line of sight, or himself nearly in front of them all. He would be shooting up range taking them as he could. He moved slowly through the woods trying to remain unseen. Fortunately, Nate was in the shadows now of the afternoon sun from the nearby mountain. He finally reached a point he felt would work.

  Nate wanted to try to get the most from each shot so he would have to wait for Chris to jump over each parent to gain the effect he needed. Each second Nate could gain meant better outcome for everyone.

  Nate prepared himself for the shots and what he was about to do. He hated to kill, but these people were animals. It was only a matter of time before they got bored and just killed them, or raped the mother if they had not already.

  The closest one to Nate was most likely Chris’s father. He looked about Nate’s age. He also had the haircut of a trooper. He was a big man but looked as though he had put up a fight. His face was battered and swollen. He was still conscious though as he tried to look at his wife who kept screaming.

  It was time.

  Nate focused his breathing now, slowing it down and his heart rate. He waited for the next pass and Chris to do the jump.

  “BOOM”

  The man’s head erupted in a pink flash and he fell low to the ground blocking Nate’s view of Chris’s father. The next shot was coming up; he rested his sights on the ugly man's face.

  The second man fell backward and it was now that the six men on the large open patio knew something was wrong, they finally heard the second shot over the roar of the bike and the loud CCR music. They raised their rifle up to shoot towards the woods but Nate was already firing to the right, one down next to the one who turned and looked at his friend, Boom, the guy looking was down. Nate focused on the leader, who was trying to take cover but now pulled up a young teen girl up to use as a shield. Nate waited on him and now was taking fire from two on his left from the other side of the patio. Nate watched as Chris stopped and dove to the ground crawling to his mother to protect her. The father was trying to crawl but found the guys on the porch started shooting at him. He hid behind a large dirt ramp mound. Dirt went flying up everywhere. Nate ran forward rifle up squatting taking fire but didn’t flinch, he moved from side to side quickly dispatching one after another bad guy. Nate took a round in the chest and went down. He rolled to his side as another bullet dug itself deep into the dirt. He could feel the heat of the round that buried itself in his Kevlar vest. Nate was now pissed. He jumped up running towards the last remaining guy and with one hand leveled his Glock. The man’s eyes opened wide as he couldn’t believe what he saw. It was his last image to see as the .45 round took his head off. The girl he held was already kneeling away when Nate reached her.

  “It’s over; you are safe, go to your parents,” he said pulling her up. She gazed quickly into Nate’s eyes and he met her gaze. She was a beautiful young girl maybe 13. She ran off towards her parents. Nate covered them and watched for any movement from the guys he laid waste to. They did not move nor would they ever again.

  Nate removed his camo hat and lowered his rifle. He watched as Chris pointed to him. He couldn’t yet make out what he was saying. His father looked at Nate and nodded. Nate slowly approached the beaten family.

  “Nate, I can’t believe it’s you,” Chris said still in shock. He looked around; they had to talk loud over the music blaring from the radio on the table. Chris’s father stepped forward. He extended his hand and introduced himself as John, and turned holding his wife up.

  “This is Rachael and Kim. How can we thank you enough?” John asked.

  “Let’s not worry about that, it’s over except for two guys that are still alive in your yard barn.” Nate looked around at his work.

  Nate helped them all into their home. He sat them in their back kitchen patio area and asked to speak to John alone.

  “We need to bury these guys, but John; I don’t want to do this on your property.” The bodies were still where they fell. Nate had personally gone out and made certain they were all dead.

  “I have radio communications with my department. Not good but have managed to get through and they are rounding up officers to head this way to help. They will bring a vehicle to load them up.”John replied. Nate looked surprised.

  “So you guys have power?” Nate asked.

  “Only diesel generators, for now, we are the lucky ones. Eventually, that will run out also.” John said.

  “Nate, Chris told us what you did for him back at Crystal Lakes. We owe you our lives for many things but getting our son home meant a lot also. He told us you are an officer? Where did you learn to shoot and train like that, you seemed military to me.” John asked. Nate didn’t like talking about his service to much, but he knew there would be many questions about how one man did this much work.

  “I was in the Army, Rangers,” he replied. I came here just to make certain Chris made it back ok, I couldn’t bring him at the time, because of another group of these guys.” he explained.

  “Chris told us everything. It was then shortly after he got home that these guys all showed up fast, guns blazing. I couldn’t react fast enough.” John said looking down to the ground. He was a tired man now, worn out but trying to deal with the near loss of his family.

  “You did the best you could. No one could have fended off a full blown attack when you’re not expecting it. Let’s go get the two in the shed, they should still be out, but we don’t need them getting out now.” Nate helped John up. The two, now both armed, headed to the shed.

  The shed where Nate had left the two biker members was still intact. John stayed back and covered Nate who opened the door. Both men lay on the ground still unconscious from Nate’s blows. Nate knew he didn’t hit them full force so they must have glass jaws. They would be pretty sore but nothing much in the way of a serious injury. John removed from his pocket one set of cuffs, and he bound the two wrist to wrist. They started to stir a bit, but John decided t leave them in the shed, this time locking the door.

  Chris came from around the corner walking fast up to Nate.

  “Nate, thank you so much, I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t come” Nate looked down trying to play it off, but caught John’s stare also.

&nb
sp; “Chris, I’m glad I came also. These guys must have been with the other gang back at Crystal Lakes. Do you remember any of them?” John looked over to his son.

  “I do remember the one that was holding Kim, he left with the others, maybe this gang was bigger than I realized,” Chris said.

  “So what happened after you left?” Nate asked. They all started walking back to the home.

  “I was nearly home when I ran into them on the road. They forced me into telling them where I lived, promised they only wanted water. I tried to trick them and rode off trying to lose them. After that, it became a mad dash for home. When I rode up, I laid on the bike horn and my parents flew out the door. That’s when they all rode up and took over everything.”Chris explained. John nodded.

  “I couldn’t do much of anything; I didn’t even have my weapon on me, and likely would have been shot if I had. They seemed to be desperate for entertainment, but that soon led to rummaging through our home. When they didn’t find anything, they decided to eat and drink our supplies while making us into a circus act” John stated. The details of the entire incident were frightening to Nate. He was amazed how fast people could turn into savages.

  John motioned to the house. “We need to go check on my wife and daughter,” John said. He led the way, taking Nate and Chris inside as they awaited the other State police officers to arrive.

  About an hour passed during this time, Nate and John looked through the identification of the dead bikers outside. They found stolen instead. They also went to take a look at the motorcycles that were now a part of the property of the State. It was about this time a few police cars and a flatbed truck showed up.