A Long Lonely Road (3 page)

I tied her close to the log where she couldn’t do anything foolish.

I had left the fire smoldering and a candle burning in the trailer. If this worked they would be distracted enough for me to maybe get the drop on them . Well that didn’t happen, guess they never read the script!

They just drove right into the camp gate and  after seeing my rig they stopped and bailed out of their old truck.

Three of the nastiest looking trash you could ever not wanna see.

The didn’t talk at all just walked up the road, lined up and opened fire at the trailer. It wasn’t a fair fight.

Hell it wasn’t even a fight or even self defense. I guess some bleeding heart liberals would call it murder but since they never even checked to see if there was any kids or women in the trailer tuff shit!

What with all the noise they were making then never heard the not so quiet sound of the 10-22 shooting super sonic ammo thru the can. Hell they wouldn’t have heard it without the can.

Three shots in the back of the head and it was quiet , no movie type stumbling around. No nothing , just pop pop pop and they were all down.

I stayed in my hide for a few minutes waiting for some movement .

When it was clear they were down for the count I eased out of the hide and walking slowly closer while looking thru the scope I stopped at around 10 yard and shot each one in the head again. Done.

I checked their old truck and found  it was an old Chevy, around a 70 or 71 ¾ ton 4x4 and beat all to hell and full of trash but there was a full 5 gal. gas can in back and a turn of the key showed about half a tank.

I used to have a truck like this and it was a good rig. It got 11 MPG moving or sitting motor on or off 11 mpg. But it was gonna serve me for as long as the gas lasted.

I checked over the dead dickheads and found the one with the 9mm. He also had a festering bullet hole in his left side, the bullet had gone all the way, in and out but infection might have killed the turd .

I took everything they had on their bodies, their weapons weren’t all that great, 2 30-30 lever guns and a bolt action that had seen a lot better days but

It was a 30-06 and he had a lot of ammo for it. I put all the guns in the cab.

That thought made me look at the three bodies laying where they dropped and they were trashing up a nice place so I spent a bunch of hard minutes getting them in the back of my new old truck. A limp body is not an easy thing to pick up and toss around regardless of how HollyWeird makes it look.

I drove out of the camp and further away from the highway until I came to a steep bank off the side of the road, with little or no thought I simply rolled them over the edge .

I stood there looking down at them wondering what had brought us to this place and time. I really hadn’t looked at them but now I did and what I saw was a lot of jail house ink.

One had 3 black tear drops in a row down his cheek, any thoughts of regret I may have has just washed away right there. For those who don’t know the Black tear drop is prison ink. It signifies the person wearing it has a kill for each tear drop to his credit. This son of a bitch got his last tear drop and good riddance .

Now I need to explain something here and now. I’m not somebody who sits around thinking about playing Wyatt Earp. I never had day dreams about being some wild assed pistolero. I saw this as something that needed doing and I did it, just like making jerky. a job. Taking out the trash which in this case wasn’t far from wrong.

I wasn’t planning on losing sleep over it and I wasn’t gonna dwell on it, these assholes came to kill not me but anybody and they didn’t care who unless it was a woman and her fate would have been worse then a bullet.

No regrets! No remorse and no more assholes killing people for fun. Now to get moving back to the camp to get loaded and ready to roll out at first light.

After I dragged out all the stuff I just couldn’t leave it was a lot!!  3- 3 lb bags of coffee beans with a hand grinder ( thank god ) 20 lbs of sugar, same of salt and around 4 pounds of coarse ground pepper even after the jerky making.

Being a wimp and a candy ass I like my coffee strong blond and sweet! So I also had plenty of creamer packets. 4 large jars of peanut butter. Large plastic jar of strawberry jam ( again thank you lord!) almost a case of toilet paper.

This could drag on so just know when I traveled I took the whole pantry. And as usual I was loaded down with weapons and ammo but I have plans for that stuff! It just may be my ticket home.

After the truck was packed as good as I could get it I was ready to go. I poured the extra gas in the tank and looked at my beautiful Dodge 3500 Cummings and my trailer.

I hoped the trailer would shelter other folks moving thru the area. Then I remembered the 5 gal can of gas I kept for the Honda gen set. Got it and poured it into the truck.

One last check produced 3 boxes of sub sonic 22 shells, a couple of butcher knives and other odds and ends.

Molly and I spent a quiet night and slept very well and by full light we had fixed breakfast, done our morning business. I knew I’d miss that outhouse!

Without looking back I headed out to the end of the road where we scouted `the area. I did stop by the grave and told the man that he could sleep well coz the trash was carried out.

One thing I really am grateful for is the Montana Atlas I carried in the Dodge. It shows every goat trail and back road in the whole state and I had been looking at it real hard for a week so I knew just where I was going .

It was a small county road that bisected this road about 20 miles south and that’s where we went. It felt really strange to be driving along on empty roads. Only the occasional car or truck sitting where they stopped when the fire went out. I never slowed down because it was easy to see the gas raiders had been here.

I did wonder where they had stayed but not enough to waste fuel looking for it. I did fear they may have taken some women or girls and who knows where they might be. It wasn’t a good thought but I really knew I couldn’t do a thing about it no matter what I wanted. Bitter pills seldom come with water to wash them down.

The miles passed quickly and I soon found the road I was looking for and turned off the pavement and stopped at the start of the dirt road to study it for tracks which I didn’t see any new looking ones.

From here on I really needed to be sharp or I could drive right into a

Mess. By the map it was a road that cut across the state line and into Idaho.

I knew what I was looking for because I had a plan. Not the best plan but about the only one I could see that gave us a chance to make it home.

So I drove on slowly to avoid raising too much dust. I slowed down and eased over the hills until I could see the other side. I was pretty sure this was empty country with the exception of scattered ranches.

Which is just what I was looking for and I needed to find one before the fuel was gone in the truck. But the tank was close to full and I hoped the slow driving was saving fuel.

About an hour before dusk I looked for a good place to pull over for the night and found it right away, a clear water creek flowing along at a good rate over a gravel bottom wonderful !

There was a goat path trail heading off along the creek so I headed that way and got a good way off the main road. I parked in a thicket of brush and trees and got right to fixing something to eat.

After the meal was done I cleaned up the things that were dirty then I took my bed roll and the 870 shotgun and a ground cloth and headed into the woods. I circled around and found a nice spot off our back trail where I set up my night camp. No fire but it wasn’t that cold .

In the Mountains a sunset seems to last forever and then slowly turns dark. Bt the time that happened I was in the sack with my sweats on and my clothing for a pillow.

I slept in heavy wool socks in case I had to bail out and run, better then bare feet. I also slept with my 45 in hand and the 870 beside me with Molly on the foot of the bed roll. We slept the sleep of the innocent.

Once in the night Molly kinda rumbled but it wasn’t her “ Warning!! Alien Intruders” growl, more her “ Get outta here before you piss me off warning” I noted it and went back to sleep.

Next thing I knew I was listening to a squirrel bitching to the world about Alien Intruders in his world.. Noisy little bastard ! Ever wonder what a load of buckshot would do to a small furry critter? I was tempted .

But we got up got dressed and headed back to the truck, Molly in the lead to give warning which didn’t happen.

So we took time to fix a good breakfast ,well I fixed it, Molly just watched the skillet in case it tried to make a break.

We or “I” was getting to the last of the eggs I had on hand, Molly was already out!! Lol! She just didn’t know it.

After eating and cleaning up the mess I poured the old Stanley full of hot coffee and we were ready to roll. After checking the road for traffic from the night and seeing no tracks but mine we headed out .

Another day passed as before and another night except no creek but water we have so no loss .

It seems so still, like we might be the last folks on earth but I was sure out there in the population centers it was a horror show.

I could only hope and pray my people were dug in and safe from the hell going on out there around them. Thank God the Piney Woods were so thick that walking thru them was damn near impossible .

In truth I must admit that by now I wasn’t sure if it was day 6 , 9 or 99 since things came apart and in truth it don’t matter coz it is what it is and that’s a fact Jack!

After the usual morning chores of getting going we got going. I do know this is day three on the road and so far knock on Molly’s wooden head things are going better then I have any right to expect.

The fuel gauge shows I have about half a tank left but according to my map I think I’m coming up on what looks like some small town or at least a group of building.

Midday found us sitting on a hill above a small valley and what looked to be a cluster of old building, like maybe an old ranch. But I see no signs of life around the place.

At this point I was at a loss as to how to approach this place since I didn’t wanna lose the truck the same way I got it, nope not in my play book.

In the end I said to hell with it and kinda eased down the hill, about half way I stopped and let Molly out.  Kinda figuring if there was trouble and I lost at least she had a chance. I’m not a hero folks, but I’d have let her drive and I woulda walked if she had her drivers license .

Well of course Molly just trotted right into the place like she owned it and showed no signs of being alerted to anything so I drove on in. And Molly was right, there wasn’t anything stirring in this place and hadn’t for a long time.

After looking around and finding nothing and having no desire to stick around we loaded up and got on out of there.

The place had the look of a bunk house and was probably used during fall roundup which reminded me I was seeing no cattle and that place hadn’t been used in years.

This day ended in a nice little valley with another nice creek and the remains of old camp fires. Hunters most likely since there was no other reason I could think of.

We followed what had become our routine and settled in for the night. Around what I took to be midnight I heard the sound of gunfire way off in the distance.

It had the muffled sound it gets when it’s not close. Close up it would have had more of a crack then a boom or so I think.

Since there wasn’t a thing I could do otherwise I went back to sleep and surprisingly morning came. We got up and took care of business and fixed some breakfast.

I was still working off the stuff I  had in the trailer but that was gonna end sooner or later and we would be scrounging for dinner. But this morning I fixed some of the dried sausage I had rehydrated over night along with some canned pinto beans and crackers.

I am a pretty good cook and tonight I was planning to make a big pot of “Skeddy” as my Son used to call it. Which made me wonder if him and his had stayed put in Arkansas or had tried to head to our place. I’m pretty sure his old truck would make the run and if not he will make it run. For all his trials and problems he’s a damn hard worker and has no quit in him and I’m proud of him.

Nothing I can do for any of them so outside of a silent thought sent to the Big Boss I let the thoughts go. I have a different relationship with the ol boy upstairs, some folks have the need to go to church all the time. Some several times a week. I don’t see the need in that. Since He knows all , He already knows I’ve been pretty much a sinner all my life.

And I just can’t see calling on him all the time asking forgiveness for things I’m just gonna turn right around and do again. I figger if He knows everything he knows that while I’ve been a “Rounder” all my life I’ve also tried to live an honorable life ( and failing often) as best I can.

Anyway that’s how it works for me and when I feel the need to talk to Him I try to find a nice place away from people. A nice quiet meadow and a friendly boulder in the sun works better for me.