Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror (20 page)

“Are we burning too much gas?”

“We’re doing alright. The needle has just barely moved off of full. We just aren’t talking that many miles here.”

They leveled out again, and the engine was able to upshift. They crept back up to 50 miles per hour. Jane started to doze off. Frank watched the scenery and ran through all of what was coming at them inside his head. The possible dark drive into an unknown RV Park. The elevation. The local authorities...were there more like that character back in Loma?

It was cooling down. Frank reached up to the dashboard and turned off the air conditioner. There was still plenty of daylight left, but the shadows were starting to get a little longer.

The grade was starting to rise again, and there was a big tunnel coming, blasted out of the rock years ago, and looking like it built in the 1930s. The coaches ahead started to slow down slightly, and Frank saw headlights being turned on. Then he was in the tunnel himself, switching on the headlights. The noise was different, and it woke up Jane with a start.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking frightened for a moment.

“We’re okay, sweetie. Just a tunnel. We’re heading into another big grade, though.”

They came out of the tunnel and were immediately onto a grade, the engine downshifting and the motor racing.

Jane picked up her phone and took a look. “No service.”

“I’m not surprised, with all of these mountain walls around us.”

The engine downshifted again, and it got too noisy to talk. They rode along silently, each in their own head. Lucy came over and whined at Jane, then jumped up before being invited. Jane just smiled and petted her.

“It’s alright, girl.”

“She doesn’t like the noise,” Frank shouted. “I’m surprised she doesn’t go in the back.”

“I’m not. She wants to be with her humans.”

“We’re slowing down again,” Frank said. “I’m having a hard time keeping it above 35 miles per hour.”

“We aren’t going to overheat or anything, are we?”

“No, this engine was built to take this. Don’t worry.”

They continued to slow down. Frank had his foot all the way down on the petal. He pushed the Tow-Haul button, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. They were already in a low gear.

Mr. Wonderful sauntered up to the front and looked at both Frank and Jane. He saw Lucy’s head pop up, got an annoyed look on his face, and turned around.

“I hope this levels out soon,” Frank shouted. Jane just nodded at him, not wanting to yell.

They were silent for another stretch. Jane looked sleepy again, but she didn’t doze. She watched. Frank was getting tired, his hands sweaty on the wheel, his ankle getting sore from holding down the accelerator pedal. This was no place for cruise control, he thought to himself.

The road finally started to level off, and the engine upshifted, but they were still in a low gear. Frank saw more traffic.

“Gypsum coming up,” Frank said, pointing at the sign. “Five miles.”

“Good. That’s only about 15 or 20 miles from Eagle,” Jane said.

“Look, elevation is at 6316 according to that sign.”

“So what was it, in the mid-5000 range when we left Rifle?”

“Something like that. We’ve gone up almost 1000 feet.”

“We’ll be up over 6500 feet before we get to Eagle,” Jane said.

“Oh joy.”

“I’ve got service again,” Jane said, looking at her phone.

“Maybe we should turn on the radio for a few minutes before we’re back into the noisy climb.”

“Sure, I’ll switch it on,” Jane said. She reached over, switched it on, and hit the seek button. “It’s just about 4:00, so maybe they’ll have a spot of news coming up.”

A good strong station came on. It was playing country music, but then an announcer came on.

“
The 4:00 news is coming up right after this word from our sponsor.
”

A goofy commercial about a local car dealership came on. Cartoon music. Way over the top.

“I can almost see the clown cars rolling around and around the big top,” Frank said, cracking up.

Jane laughed.

“In local news, road crews said it will take several days to open the damaged section of Route 24. Authorities are still investigating how the main southbound tunnel got damaged. This will cause major problems for people living in the area.”

“Isn’t that the road we were going to take?” asked Jane.

“Sure is,” Frank said.

“Great, no way to get to Leadville
for a few days,” Jane said. “Now what?”

“Why don’t you see what there are in the way of RV Parks near Eagle that aren’t right next to I-70?”

“Okay, good idea,” Jane said, “but I’d better get on it quick, before we lose service again.”

“I’ll call Charlie and see if he or Hilda know anybody who owns a park near there.”

Frank pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah, Frank, what’s up?”

“We just heard some local news……Route 24 is shut down, maybe for a few days.”

“Uh oh. What now?”

“Jane’s on the web seeing if there’s any parks near Eagle that aren’t right on top of I-70, but I got to wondering. Maybe you or Hilda know somebody that owns a park in Eagle, or nearby?”

“I don’t know of any offhand, but I’ll ask Hilda, and I’ll call Kurt too. He might know of something.”

“Alright, thanks. Talk to you later.”

“No problem, Frank.”

Frank looked over at Jane.

“Well?” she asked.

“Charlie doesn’t know, but he’ll check with Hilda and Kurt and get back with me. You seeing anything?”

“Yes, there are some parks that aren’t right on I-70. Some are up in the foothills a ways.”

“Good, then at least we know we can hide out for a few days if we need to.”

The V-10 started to labor, and downshifted, engine racing.

“Here comes another grade,” Frank said. His phone rang again, so he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it.

“Charlie?” asked Jane

“Nope, the Sheriff,” he replied.

“Hey, Sheriff,” Frank shouted.

“Hi, Frank. I just heard that Route 24 is stopped up.”

“Yeah, we heard a news story a few minutes ago. Maybe you have better info. What have you heard?”

“Somebody blew up one of the bridges.”

“No, really?”

“Really. When I heard the news report I called the state exchange and got ahold of the Highway Patrol in the area.”

“Islamists or militia? Or both?”

“They don’t know.”

“Has there been enemy incursions up here before?”

“No, not at all so far, Frank.”

“Well, this sucks. Dammit. Wonder where they’re coming from?”

“The people I talked to with the Highway Patrol are thinking it’s probably New Mexico.”

“Ah, from the south, huh?” Frank asked.

“I didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling that these folks really know. They’ve had less experience with the enemy than we have.”

“Might not even be a large force, of course. Could be a lone wolf attack. You know…sleeper, just to keep us guessing.”

“Could be. Still want to talk in Eagle?”

“Yeah, I think that’s our best bet at this point. Jane’s been trying to scope out RV Parks around there. Looks like some of them are up in the foothills, away from I-70. Maybe one of those would work for at least a few days.”

“Wonder if Kurt or Hilda know anybody up here?”

“Way ahead of you there.” He repeated his conversation with Charlie.

Frank got off the phone just as the engine downshifted again. The big V-10 was really screaming now. He looked over at Jane. She was watching him, waiting for a comment.

“You want to talk now?” Frank shouted.

“Let’s wait until we level off again,” Jane yelled back.

Frank nodded. The road ahead looked like a huge climb. He kept an eye on the engine and transmission temp gauges, and the RPM. He was tired, but his mind was racing at a breakneck pace.

After about ten minutes the road leveled out. The engine RPM dropped as the transmission downshifted. He looked over at Jane again as it got quiet.

“Good enough?” Frank asked.

“Finally. I didn’t like the look on your face back there. What happened?”

“That was the Sheriff. He heard the news story about Route 24. Then he called up the state exchange and got ahold of somebody in the Highway Patrol.”

“Uh oh,” Jane said. “I’m not going to like this.”

“Somebody blew up one of the bridges.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit,” Frank said. “They don’t know who did it yet. They haven’t had any enemy activity up here yet. The Sheriff doesn’t think they know what to do.”

“I heard you mention lone wolf…that could actually be what we have here. There might not be a big force.”

“Want to take that chance?” Frank asked.

Jane sat silently for a few moments. Frank could see her eyes start to get glassy.

“What are you thinking, Frank?”

“If it’s a lone wolf, it could be a sleeper who’s been here all along. If it’s a larger force, they might have snuck up from New Mexico. Lots of wilderness down there.”

Jane looked at her phone, and started moving her finger around on its face.

“Checking out possible routes, aren’t ya?”

“This isn’t good at all, Frank. They could have taken I-25 north, and split off to the northwest on Route 24 from there. Nice clear shot.”

“Well, if that’s what they did, it may tell us one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“They’re probably on the wrong side of that blown bridge, so they may not be heading up to I-70.”

“I don’t think we can count on that, Frank.”

“We can’t count on anything at this point.”

“So what do we do?”

“We’re still going to meet up in Eagle to talk. I suggest we have a few possibilities for parks we can overnight in. Maybe we can hammer out a quick plan while we’re there.”

“You have an idea, don’t you? I can see it on your face.”

“Well, yeah, a thought has crossed my mind.”

“Out with it, sweetie.”

“We stay on I-70, get into Kansas, and then go south to Texas.”

“That’s worth at least considering. We know the folks in Texas aren’t afraid to take these creeps on.”

“Yeah, I think we’d fit right in,” Frank laughed. “Even though we’re from the left coast.”

The engine downshifted and raced.

“Here we go again,” Jane shouted. “Maybe there’s a diesel pusher in our future.”

The grade got steep quickly, causing another downshift. The V-10 engine screamed. Frank struggled to keep it at 40, then at 35, then at 30.

The shadows were getting longer, the sky darker. Frank and Jane sat silently, thinking and watching. Lucy was back to beg Jane for a seat on her lap. Jane let her come up, and then petted her as she nervously looked around. Frank reached for his water bottle and had a drink. He felt like the coach was just creeping along. Then they came to a bridge. The first thought that crossed Frank’s mind was the blown bridge on Route 24. He scanned the area looking for any evidence of trouble. Jane looked over at him. She was still petting Lucy with one hand, but the other one was squeezing the inside armrest.

They got across the bridge with no problem, but it seemed to go on forever. Then the road started to level off, and the engine upshifted and quieted down. Their speed climbed back up to about 60 miles per hour.

“That wasn’t fun,” Jane said.

“Yeah, a white knuckle ride for sure. Wonder when Charlie is going to call back?” Just at that moment, Frank’s phone rang. He looked over at Jane and cracked a smile. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

“Frank?”

“Hi, Charlie. Find anything out?”

“Both Hilda and Kurt know a family who owns an RV Park up in the hills. It’s way off the beaten path.”

“Excellent,” Frank said.

“It’s a little on the primitive side compared to what we’ve been used to, though.”

“Does it have hookups?”

“It has 50 amp electrical and water, but here’s only a central dump station. No Wi-Fi.”

“We’re just talking about staying a day or two at the most anyway,” Frank said. “At least we can plan our next move there. Where’s it at?”

“South of I-70, down on Brush Creek Road. It’s in the boonies. Long way in, and there are a couple of stretches of gravel road.”

“Good. We still meeting in Eagle, or are we going straight there?”

“I think we ought to just go straight there so we don’t attacked a lot of attention hanging around town. We can gas up on the way out.”

“Alright, why don’t you call the Sheriff with the info so he can lead us there? I’ll call Jerry and Jeb.”

“Sure, Frank. Kurt’s already been on the horn with Jackson and Earl.”

“Alright, talk to you later. I’d better get to it before another grade.”

“Yeah, that’s why I didn’t call you earlier. Knew that gasser of yours was going to be loud going up those hills back there. Talk to you later.”

Frank looked over at Jane.

“I need to make a couple of calls before it gets loud. Kurt and Hilda know a good place, and it’s in the boonies.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

Frank dialed Jerry.

“Hi, Frank, what’s up?”

“When we get to Eagle, we’re going to an RV Park that Kurt and Hilda know about. It’s in the boonies, far away from I-70.”

“Decided against getting all the way to Leadville, I take it?”

“Somebody blew a bridge on Route 24.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jerry said.

“I’ll tell you about it later. I need to make another call before we get to the next grade.”

“Alright, no problem. Thanks.”

Frank dialed Jeb.

“Jeb?”

“Hi, Frank. What’s going on?”

“We’re going to stop at an RV Park that Kurt and Hilda know about, outside of Eagle.”

“Hopefully it’s a ways into the back country.”

“It is. We can’t get to Leadville. Somebody blew a bridge on Route 24.”

“Uh oh,” Jeb said. “There be cretins about, I ‘spect.”

“Sure seems like it. We’ll talk when we get there.”

Frank slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“So tell me about this place,” Jane said.

“Sounds a little more rustic than what we’re used to. Kurt and Hilda both know the family that owns it.”