Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (14 page)

When he stepped between the two buildings, Nathan fell down on all fours and retched out everything in his stomach till he thought he was going to die. Remembering the woman screaming as he stepped on her wounds, the retching increased, making his stomach cry in pain.

Jasmine told John what needed to be done then snuck off to follow Nathan to make sure he was alright. She heard him vomiting and ran back over to the mother and kids. Kneeling down, Jasmine took some pictures and recorded some video as Nathan had instructed her. Lillian looked over at her and smiled. “I look atrocious,” she said.

Jasmine lowered the camera. “Just moderately,” she said, smiling.

“I’ve told you everything about me and my kids. What about you and your group?” Lillian asked.

“We’re just trying to survive,” Jasmine said.

“Can you be a bit more specific? I really want to know the type of people who rescued my kids and will be watching over them hopefully,” Lillian said with pleading eyes. Jasmine gave her a quick run-down of how the three had run into Nathan, what they’d been through, and where they were going. Then she answered some questions and talked with the kids, even getting them to smile a bit.

Jasmine looked up and saw Nathan walking towards them pushing a wheelbarrow. Compared to when he’d left, he didn’t look much better. “Can I go check on Nathan? I’ll be right back,” she asked.

“Yes, and would you ask him to come here?” Lillian asked as Jasmine stood up. Smiling at Lillian, Jasmine hurried over to Nathan.

“Are you okay?” she asked as he stopped next to Howard and his family, who were eating a small meal.

“Yeah, I’m good, just tired. Bone tired,” he said. “Howard, this is a big tent and a big camping gazebo. Can you get your boys and John to set them up? Then get the pile of tarps by the first shed and start covering this stuff up? I have to take care of something over by the shed,” Nathan asked.

“Yes, we can do that, but aren’t we leaving?” Howard asked.

“You can, but we aren’t. Not today,” Nathan said, looking at Lillian who was talking to her kids.

“Why are we covering this stuff up?” Jackie, Howard’s wife asked.

“We don’t know all what’s here, and it’s going to rain. Let’s save what we can,” Nathan said and she seemed satisfied with that.

Howard stood up. “Let me help you with what’s behind the shed,” he told Nathan.

Nathan held up his hand. “No, I found two more. I don’t want anyone to see them,” he said. “They were female officers and that’s all I’m going to say. This was the group that killed the two cops we found,” he told everyone, but he was staring at Jasmine. She gasped.

Howard dropped down in his chair. “My God, they said they were stringing up pigs. I thought—” he stopped.

“No kids back there, whatsoever, until I check the entire area. They don’t need to see it and you don’t either,” Nathan said firmly. “Howard, you keep yours and mine busy so they can’t wander back there.”

Jasmine got his attention then. “Lillian wants to talk to you,” she said. Howard grabbed the tents and moved with his family to set them up and called John and Amanda over to help. When he took out the boxes holding the tents, Howard spied the digging tools in the wheelbarrow.

Nathan walked over and knelt down by Lillian. He could see her face was much paler and her lips were almost gray. “Hello Nathan, I want to thank you again,” she said.

“Just wish I’d gotten here sooner,” Nathan confessed.

“I’m glad you got here at all,” she informed him. “Nathan, I want to ask if you’ll make sure my kids are taken care of. Please don’t drop them at one of the shelters; we tried that and were lucky to leave with a few bruises.”

“So no family then?” he asked, and Lillian shook her head no. “I’ll find them a good place, and if I don’t, I’ll watch over them myself,” Nathan assured her.

“Jasmine told me you’re taking your group to Idaho,” she said and Nathan nodded. “Unless you find a great spot for them I’d rather risk their safety with you on the trip.”

Nathan looked at the four kids who had stayed close to their mother, paying close attention to the two youngest, especially the little blond baby girl. “Some of them are not big enough for a trip of this magnitude. I don’t think you know what you’re asking,” he said.

“I know what I’m asking. If you think you have enough supplies to take care of them where you’re going, I would rather risk their safety on a long trip than a slow starvation at a center,” she said.

Nodding, he sighed. “I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t waste time burying me. You have too much you need to do,” she said.

“Already have the stuff,” Nathan said and she smiled.

“That big oak tree over there then. I’ve always loved oak trees,” she said. Her eyelids were drooping and she began to blink very slowly.

“Any other wishes?” he asked.

“My historian has them,” Lillian said, smiling weakly at Jasmine. “Let me spend a few minutes with my kids, please,” she said, and Nathan stood up and grabbed Jasmine’s hand and they walked away.

Jasmine lifted the camera and took a few more pictures. “Why would you want pictures at a time like this?” she asked.

He stopped and looked down at her. “Jasmine, out of those nine men over there, I shot seven in the back. If I survive this, fifteen years from now I don’t want some do-gooder putting me up on trial saying I should’ve tried to talk to them first,” he said.

“But the others you shot …” she said.

“They can be argued self-defense. Granted, the gang that was walking down the road would take some work, but I don’t think any of their families will survive,” he said.

“The man under the bridge?” she asked.

“Oh, that was personal. Someone wants to prosecute that, I’ll plug the chair in myself,” Nathan said.

Jasmine looked over her shoulder. “How much longer does she have?” she asked.

“Less than an hour,” he said.

“I’m going to stay close to her,” Jasmine said.

“When she goes, let the kids say good bye and make them sit down and write a letter to send with her. I’ll make some more tasks for them later,” he said and she seemed startled. “We have to keep them busy. If they freeze up we can’t carry them. Well, the one-year-old we could,” Nathan said, looking at the little blond girl.

“She’s twenty-six months old and her name is Emma,” Jasmine said.

“You’re kidding me, right?” he asked, still watching the children.

“No, and before you ask, nothing is wrong with her. She’s just little for her age. The boy’s name is Tom and he’s thirteen. The girl with the light brown hair is Natalie and she’s twelve. Next you have Casey. She’s ten,” Jasmine told Nathan, pointing out each kid.

“Keep them busy. I have to go and—” He didn’t finish, but just turned around and left. Forty minutes later the three older kids let out a wail, dropping down and hugging their dead mother. Little Emma stuck her thumb in her mouth and stared silently down at them.

Chapter 9

An hour and a half after he walked back to the sheds, Nathan returned, pulling a heavy-duty wheeled lawn cart with three tarp-wrapped bundles.

He had found the two females when he’d walked behind the shed looking for water after he puked. They had been left tied up in a frog position, naked. When he cut their bonds he looked for a means of death and couldn’t find one. Wanting to forget what he was doing, Nathan wrapped the bodies in tarps and put them in the lawn cart. As he grabbed the handle, Nathan was sure he would remember the details on his death bed.

Pulling the cart over to the fire area, he noticed the two tents had been put up and most of the stacks of supplies had been covered. Jasmine and Jackie were dressing Lillian. Off to the side, Amanda and Ares were sitting with the kids at a picnic table. The older kids were busily writing away.

Hearing digging, Nathan looked out across the field and saw Howard, his two boys, and John digging four graves with picks and shovels. Nathan sighed, thankful he wasn’t going to have to dig the officers’ graves. All four of the grave diggers were stripped down to the waist and were at knee depth already.

Towing the cart behind him, Nathan headed across the meadow. When he reached them he said to Howard, “I can take a turn.” His gaze was locked on the empty holes, and he looked shell shocked.

Howard looked up at him and dropped his shovel. “Nathan, are you okay?” he shouted, hastening to climb out of the hole.

“Yeah, I can take a turn,” Nathan said, reaching for the shovel. Having heard Howard shout, Jasmine came running over and skidded to a stop as Nathan turned around.

She ran over to him and patted him down. “My God, are you hurt?” she asked. Nathan looked down. He was covered in blood and gore.

“No I was—” He stopped and looked at Howard. “That’s good enough for the officers. Get Lillian’s ready,” he said, bending down and lifting one of the bundles. Howard grabbed the end, helping him place it in the grave. When the other two were in, Nathan grabbed a shovel. “We’ll need markers,” he said, shoveling dirt over the bodies.

Everyone just stared at him as he worked. He was literally coated in blood and other body fluids from the three bodies. Slowly they went back to doing what needed to be done. By the time the three graves were filled in, the boys were waist deep in Lillian’s grave. Jasmine came over to Nathan with a bowel of water and a soft cloth and washed his face.

Finally done, the group carried Lillian over. She’d been wrapped in a sleeping bag and a tarp, and they gently lowered her in the ground. Nathan looked around to find everyone was staring at him expectantly. He took off his boonie hat and held it over his chest. “I’m proud to say I knew Lillian. She put her family first and her kids stayed with her till the end. Never once did she think of herself, worrying only about the well-being of her children. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you better in life, Lillian, but I will do my best to find a place for your kids or I’ll keep them with me,” he said, putting his hat back on.

The kids threw in flowers they’d gathered from the meadow, and ten-year-old Casey came over and handed some flowers. “You can put them in with Momma too,” she said.

He reached down, brushing the hair out of her face. “Thank you Casey, I will,” he said and put the flowers in. Then he motioned for everyone to gather around. “Jasmine, Jackie, I want you two to walk the kids around and find rocks to place on the grave, okay, but don’t leave our sight,” he told them and they led the children around the area collecting rocks.

Nathan, Howard, and the boys had the grave filled in by the time the kids started coming back, their arms loaded with rocks. Nathan directed them to place the rocks on the pile of dirt. Jasmine walked over and dropped a pile of rocks and he grabbed her arm. “Keep them busy,” he said and she nodded.

Nathan went over and collapsed at the picnic table. Howard sat down across from him. “I don’t have words for the thanks I owe you,” he said.

“It’s okay, you don’t owe me anything,” Nathan said. “You want to get your family ready to leave tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you leaving tomorrow?” Howard asked with a little alarm.

“I can’t. I have to figure out how to transport the two little ones. I’m sure Tom and Natalie will be able to walk, and Casey will be able to walk some. But little Emma, I just don’t know,” Nathan said, lying his head down on the table and wondering what he’d got himself into.

“I’ve talked to Jasmine. Why don’t y’all come to my dad’s farm. It’s just south of Tupelo and on your way,” Howard offered.

“We can’t take any more time off. We’re going to be cutting it close as it is getting there before winter,” Nathan said.

“Well let’s crank up that tractor and run to my dad’s farm,” Howard offered.

“That’s how the gang here got it. They shot the family off of it. The damn thing only goes at a jogging pace, so outrunning someone is out of the question. We’ve already proven it can be heard a long way off. If it was faster, maybe,” Nathan said, raising his head off the table.

“There’s a truck back there. I saw it when we were covering stuff with tarps,” Howard suggested, and Nathan shook his head.

“The engine block is shattered. I already checked it out. You also have to remember the government has stopped all Interstate transport. I was told they opened fire on a large crowd heading for Chattanooga.”

“I heard that and a few others,” Howard said.

“We’ll have to stay on foot or get a truck that doesn’t announce its arrival ten miles away,” Nathan said. “We’ll have to sneak across any state lines. That’s why I suggested you and your family go ahead and take off. We’ll slow you down.”

“Ah, no offence but I talked it over with my family, and if you don’t mind we’d like to stay close to ya,” Howard said shyly.

“Don’t have a problem with that, but I operate my own way,” Nathan said.

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. I’d—” he started. “
We’d
feel much better off with you leading us home.”

“Howard, I’m not the infallible leader,” Nathan said. “Sure, I’ve trained and prepared for stuff, but I will let you in on a secret.” Nathan looked away. “When this happened, I froze. I knew I needed to leave the store I was at but I kept putting it off. If Amanda hadn’t come along, in all reality I would probably still be in that store or dead. Dead more than likely,” he added, looking back at Howard.

“Nathan, you can’t judge yourself like that. Who’s to say you weren’t being held up there until it was time to start out,” Howard said and Nathan just looked at him, turning that over in his mind.

“Okay, we’ll talk more tomorrow. We have about two hours of light left,” Nathan said as thunder roared through the sky. “Not much longer till it rains.” He looked up and surveyed the dark clouds rolling in from the west.

“Think we should get in that building?” Howard asked.

“Howard, with as much stuff as they’d stuffed in there, we’d be lucky to get half the kids inside,” Nathan said.

“We can move the stuff out,” Howard offered.

“Howard, it’s full of guns and ammo,” Nathan said. “I would really like to look at it before we throw it in the mud. We have the tents up,” he suggested.

“I want to get my boys something more than a shotgun then,” Howard said.

“Oh, we’ll be fitting out hardcore,” Nathan assured him. “Keep them busy, I’m going to see just what’s in there and what else is around that we can use. Howard nodded at him as he walked to his pack.

There was a pile of M-4s laying on his pack, and his vest and rifle were off to the side. Amanda came over and said, “We found all the ones that shoot fast.”

“Good girl. Take them in the tent, okay,” he said. He grabbed his pack and vest, throwing them in the tent. Slinging his rifle and tote bag over his shoulder, he headed to the buildings, praying he hadn’t missed another body.

He stepped into the main building to find it was wall to wall guns. Stacks of guns were on the floor and against the wall, with hard gun cases stacked everywhere and bunk beds along the wall. Nathan guessed the building was barely a thousand square feet. Then it hit him; it was likely a hunting camp. He started poking around and noticed price tags on everything. Picking up several items, he saw they were from pawn shops, a local sporting goods store and a surplus store. Standing in the middle of the cabin, Nathan looked around at all the gun cases but was too tired to even think about opening them.

Against one wall Nathan saw a table with hard plastic container boxes stacked in rows. They were longer and wider than ammo boxes. Walking over, Nathan flipped the clamp lock on one and lifted the lid, seeing it held rows of something that gleamed dully in the light. Grabbing one of the plastic items, he pulled it out. His heart stopped as Nathan looked down at his hand.

It was a one-ounce Gold Eagle fifty-dollar-piece in a hard plastic display case. The case was full of them. Laying the coin down, he looked at all of the boxes on the table, now realizing they were coin boxes. He started opening them up and finding more gold coins and one-ounce silver coins; then found another which contained five-ounce gold bars. He quickly closed the boxes he had opened and looked under the table.

He found suitcases, a large canvas satchel bag, and more coin boxes. He pulled out a suitcase, opened it and gasped upon seeing stacks of money. “The bitch was right and I stepped on her for telling me a lie,” he said wonderingly. He grabbed the satchel and tugged, but it didn’t budge. Pulling hard, he slid the satchel across the floor. He unzipped it and found heaps of gold jewelry stuffed inside.

Noticing a black bag inside, Nathan grabbed it, untied the end and looked inside. It was filled with sparkling diamonds. Closing the bag, he tied it up and threw it in his tote bag. Glancing around the room, he saw some empty spots under some of the beds. Grabbing the coin boxes, he carried them over to the beds and pushed them underneath and all the way to the back. Since he was only able to carry one at a time because the damn things were so heavy, it was slow going, but he was done by the time he heard the rain start to fall. Picking up the suitcase with the cash, he slid it under another bed and arranged guns around it until he was satisfied it couldn’t be easily seen.

In a panic, he looked around the room for more of a find but only found more weapons and accessories. A knock at the door almost made Nathan pull his gun out. “Nathan, are you in there?” he heard Jasmine call.

He walked over to the door and opened it. “Yeah, I’m here,” he said, looking at a soaked Jasmine.

“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping in and shaking the water off. She stopped and looked at all the guns. “Holy shit,” she said, looking around. Spotting the empty table, she asked, “What was there?”

“Nothing, they probably ate there,” Nathan said and she looked at him with a ‘you expect me to believe that’ look.

“You lie for shit,” she said.

“You’re right, I’m lying. Don’t ask me why right now, but it’s for our group.”

“You can trust us,” she said.

“Oh I do, but we have Howard and his family here. I have to be sure before I say anything else,” he said.

“What the hell can be that important?” she demanded.

“Don’t say anything to anybody or you go your own way,” Nathan said and reached in his tote bag and pulled out the bag of diamonds. Grabbing Jasmine’s hands, he sat the bag in it, opening the top.

She looked down and her eyes got three times their normal size. “Holy fucking shit,” she gasped. “I can feel the weight of them,” she exclaimed, and her hands started to shake.

“That’s what I mean, I figure that’s around three pounds,” he said.

She closed the bag. “We can’t tell anyone.”

“Duh, that’s what I told you,” Nathan reminded her.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“We are going to see how trustworthy our new people are before even talking about this. If they are good then we will share it. But either way this will end someday, and this will be for those kids out there,” he said.

She nodded. “Okay.”

“I want you to go back up there and let me finish looking around,” he said.

“You found more, didn’t you?” she asked.

“You have no idea,” he said with a bewildered look.

“I’ll keep them there, but don’t take too long,” she said before running out the door.

He looked outside and saw the rain was coming down pretty hard. Putting his rifle on the table, Nathan ran over to the shed with all the carts on the outside and grabbed another lawn cart. Wheeling it to the door, he moved some of the coin boxes and the canvas bag of jewelry to the cart. He pulled the cart feeling his muscles strain as he struggled to move it into the woods. Going about fifteen yards in, Nathan found a small gully and laid the boxes and bag down.

Dragging the empty cart back, Nathan filled it up again with more coin boxes. He managed to get all but two in the cart and dragged it back to the ravine. After one more trip, he put the cart back where he’d found it and then grabbed the suitcase. He found a box of trash bags, wrapped the suitcase up and put it with the gold then covered everything with leaves. He eyeballed the site and was satisfied that it was well hidden.

Walking back, he could see the ruts from the cart turning into small rivers. “That thing was heavy,” he said out loud. Just guessing, he put the weight at over four hundred pounds each trip.

Upon reentering the building, he grabbed his rifle and then paused. “Hell, I’m not tired now,” he said, putting his rifle back down and going over to the stacks of gun cases. He went through them and stopped at a Savage 110 BA in .338 Lapua. Picking up the sniper rifle, he said, “I know someone who wants a rifle that shoots a long way.” He put the rifle back in its case and set it on the table.

***

Jasmine had run back to the group, still incredulous at the amount of gold and gems she’d seen. She found John and Amanda in the gazebo sitting in chairs, with Ares sprawled out on the floor. As she walked in, she took off her top, stripping down to her t-shirt and immediately getting John’s attention. “Where is everyone?” she asked, wiping water off her face.