Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (31 page)

“They’ve been there since we left town, over,” Nathan called back.

Casey chimed in, “You mean Ares knows someone is following us but we can’t see them?” then the added, “Sorry, over.”

“Dogs are smart and Ares is the smartest I’ve ever seen, over,” Nathan told her loving this conversation over the radio.

“How can something be that smart but lick its own butt? Over,” Casey asked.

John keyed his microphone. “Maybe Ares is so smart because he licks his butt.”

Nathan coughed, blowing snot out his nose. “Then I’m staying stupid, over,” Casey answered.

The sky slowly started to lighten as they turned onto another farm road. When the group was all on the new road, Nathan grabbed his binoculars and looked behind them. Over a mile back he spotted four people riding bikes going the same way they were. “Let’s pick up the pace, over,” Nathan called out, kicking Smoke into a trot.

Emma opened her eyes from the increase in bouncing. “Ahh!” she shouted.

Nathan looked down to see a grumpy face looking at him. “Sorry doodle bug, but we have to go,” Nathan said, digging out a blueberry breakfast bar.

The rain had stopped and the clouds slowly passed over by the time they had to turn again. When Nathan looked back he didn’t see the people on bikes. Sighing with relief, he dropped his binoculars and grabbed his map. He spotted a river up ahead less than a mile away and that usually meant trees. Pulling out this tablet he confirmed this by looking at the satellite images on his tablet. On one side of the road were two ponds, and no houses close.

When they got to the area, Nathan carefully led them into the woods, trying not to leave a highly visible trail. After they moved back into the trees they found a small clearing beside one of the ponds. Nathan climbed down and the others followed. Everyone tended horses first and dried them off using all the towels and two blankets. Lines were put up for the clothes and equipment. Amanda collected batteries and set up the solar charger.

Since his woobie was wet, Nathan hung it up and pulled out his sleeping bag instead. It was already getting hot but he wasn’t lying on the wet ground unless he had to. He looked around the area at all the gear laid out to dry. It reminded him of a yard sale. Even the two tents had been unrolled and were lying in the sun.

Emma ran around Nathan in her little panties, babbling, as he sat on his sleeping bag. Nathan was cleaning his weapons when Jasmine dropped an armload of stuff and handed him a plate. “I fixed this for you and Emma,” she said in a weary voice.

Nathan took the plate without looking up. “Thank you. Emma come here and eat.” Nathan put his rifle back together and looked up. Jasmine was standing over him in her bra and thong. Nathan coughed as drool dripped down the back of his throat.

“Do we need to do anything else? I really need to sleep,” Jasmine said, fighting to keep her eyes open. Unable to talk, Nathan just shook his head. He watched Jasmine unroll her sleeping bag beside his. “You are taking first watch, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” Nathan told her in a scratchy voice, swallowing hard.

Dropping down on her sleeping bag with a thump, Jasmine was soon breathing in an even rhythm. John and Tom stood a few feet away with open mouths. Nathan chuckled, then heard stuff hitting the ground behind him. Turning around all three girls had dropped their sleeping bags and dropped down on them.

When he was finished feeding Emma, he looked up to find John and Tom still staring. Nathan waved at them and then laid his head down on his hands, motioning them to go to sleep. Reluctantly, they grabbed their sleeping bags and laid them beside Jasmine. Nathan was sure if they weren’t so tired they would just stare at her all day. But both boys were soon snoring softly.

With his weapons cleaned, Nathan carried Emma to the pond. He bathed them both quickly in the cold water and noticed Ares sleeping on the bank. “Ares, come,” Nathan called out, making Ares jump up. Knowing why Nathan wanted him in the water Ares slunk out. Nathan scrubbed him down. Emma just kissed Ares and babbled away. Nathan had no idea what she was telling Ares but it sounded important and Ares must have understood. Ares didn’t like baths and he was standing still for this one.

Walking over to his sleeping bag, Nathan hung it up so Ares wouldn’t crawl in it. Then Nathan dried everyone off with damp towels then washed the towels and blankets. Next Nathan washed his and Emma’s clothes, then cleaned and polished their boots. It was noon when he finished and returned to the camp to see the hobbled horses grazing and two lying down.

He snuck a quick look at Jasmine’s legs, then grabbed her shoulder. “Jasmine, wake Natalie, it’s your watch.”

Faster than he expected, Jasmine sat up, smiling, and woke Natalie. Nathan laid back and couldn’t remember if he closed his eyes.

Chapter 22

Day 29

Hearing Emma giggle, Nathan opened his eyes to see it was dusk. Jerking awake, he sat up to see the horses lined up and saddled up. Rubbing his face Nathan looked around to see everyone sitting in a circle with their packs set in a line. Fighting cramps, Nathan stood up and stretched, looking at his watch to see it was almost seven.

Turning around to get his clothes of the line he didn’t see his clothes or the line they had hung on. Glancing beside his sleeping bag he noticed everything was laid out neatly beside his sleeping bag. He pulled on his clothes and approached to the group.

Amanda held out her little hand. “We wanted you to get some sleep.” She spoke in an authoritative voice.

Nathan froze. “Just wanted to say thank you.”

“Sure you did,” Amanda said. “Let’s do the routine.”

They worked out and practiced martial arts, then grabbed a bite to eat. They gathered their gear at dark, then climbed on the horses, and Nathan led them back to the road. As they rode they spotted another dead body that was very thin lying on the side of the road. Nathan had a nagging feeling that was going to become common, like the cars and trucks everywhere.

As they got closer to the town of Brinkley they come up on a large group of bodies. They smelled them long before finding them on the road and in the ditch. Bullet wounds told of their demise. Looking at the bodies Nathan figured it happened, two maybe three days ago. What he couldn’t figure out was why they were shot here? They were several miles from town with nothing but fields.

Not liking what he was seeing, he got off and walked around the bodies, then around the area. In ten minutes he got on his horse. Emma called out, “Wa-wa,” as a small hand reached out of the sling, grasping in the air. Without thinking, Nathan pulled out her sippy cup and filled it up, giving it to her. Holding the reins, he beckoned the others. “Let’s go,” he said, kicking Smoke.

Nathan pulled out his map and changed their route. They circled around Brinkley and moved farther out into farm land. Finally at midnight they stopped at a small creek and watered the horses. They all stayed in their saddles. Everyone pulled out food, keeping a sharp eye about, although they could see for a long way so the odds of someone sneaking up were remote.

“Why the change in route?” John asked, shoving food in his mouth.

“Something wasn’t right. Just like when we rode past that camper on the bridge. They should’ve heard us,” Nathan said, thinking.

John smiled. “Have you been in a trailer here when it rains hard? You can’t hear anything.”

Nathan nodded his head. “That makes sense, I guess. But those people were not all killed at the same time. And everything of value was taken: rings, wallets, necklaces, and earrings. There was one couple that had a wagon and at least two that were riding bikes. They were robbed. So why did the others keep coming up on dead bodies?” Nathan asked.

“We did,” Amanda pointed out.

“We have NVGs and two dogs. We moved in seeing no trouble,” Nathan corrected.

“We moved up to a group of dead bodies on the road,” Amanda snapped.

Nathan was about to unload but stopped. “Of course, that’s the trap. You don’t see anything, and you take chance to find something. Then they spring the trap,” he said, more to himself that the others.

Jasmine shook her head as she took a bite. “You worry me sometimes with how weird you act.”

“Hey, sis, you back off,” Amanda popped off. Jasmine froze, not from the tone but the word “sis.” She smiled at Amanda. “He may be weird but he’s the leader and he knows more than anyone I ever knew,” Amanda declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You guys are just following me,” Nathan said, then drained a bottle of water. Amanda stuck her tongue out at him.

John put his stuff away. “Is this what you meant by getting worse?” he asked Nathan.

“This is the start,” Nathan said, sliding Emma down so he was more comfortable.

“Start?!” Casey exclaimed.

“Shh,” Jasmine shushed her before the others, but agreed with her reaction.

“Don’t get me wrong, what happened after was bad,” Nathan said. “That was the bad people in our society acting. Now we are starting to see what desperate people do. Why do you think I avoid people? If I were starving and didn’t know how to survive, I would steal. Everyone will, you can say you wouldn’t but when you know you’re dying, self-preservation takes over. People will do what they have too to live.”

“So we can’t trust anybody?” Casey asked.

“Only those that know how to survive and have the means. A starving man isn’t going to save your life, he’s going to eat what you have as you die,” Nathan said.

“That sucks,” Casey said looking down and putting her food away not hungry anymore.

“You have no idea how much,” Nathan said.

“You’re hinting about cannibalism, aren’t you?” Jasmine asked in a low voice.

Nodding his head, Nathan took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, we will see it.”

“You said we were going to stay away from people,” Natalie interjected.

“Try, but I figure people will start to move out of the cities. They will think the forest and country are covered in food. When they don’t find it, they’ll find other people,” Nathan said, kicking Smoke to lead her out of the creek.

Jasmine moved alongside him. “You really think that will happen?”

“I’m sure it already has, it’s just not large scale yet,” Nathan said. Jasmine didn’t respond and just fell in behind Nathan.

They barely made it a mile when John called over the radio, “Nathan, will you teach us over the radio? Riding all night gets boring and we can’t really do it during the day, over.”

Nathan laughed as Amanda came over the radio. “Boring, hell, it’s spooky. My mouth stays so dry I drink all my water, over.”

“All right, let’s go over what you need in a ‘bug out bag’. It’s a bag that you pack to live three days out of,” Nathan said, resuming the lessons. The others rode in silence as Nathan quietly talked over the radio.

When they stopped for camp Nathan noticed the attitude was much better. Everyone worked with a smile as they set up camp. It may have been his imagination but even the animals seemed happier. Since Emma only had two moods, happy and mad, she didn’t really count even though she ran around, getting in the way and laughing.

As daylight filled the sky, Nathan showed them the different animal traps he had explained. Then showed them animal trails in the woods and set a few snares. It was only eight when he lay down on his woobie, resting his head on his saddle. Ares come trotting over with his woobie and Nathan spread it out at his feet. Looking up as he sat down, Nathan saw Casey running over carrying a sheet of paper and sat down beside him smiling.

“I drew you another picture,” she said proudly.

Taking the drawing, Nathan looked at it. Casey’s drawings reminded him of the Rorschach inkblot test. She had given him a dozen at the farm and two so far on the trip. Every once in a while he saw her drawing with the colored pencils Bob had given her at the farm. Nathan nodded. “It’s beautiful! Explain it to me so I get it right.” He had learned that trick on the third drawing.

“Silly,” Casey said, scooting over. “This is me on my horse falling off and this is you riding to rescue me,” she pointed out the picture. Nathan sighed. He had thought it was two dragons fighting.

“See, that’s why I need you to explain them. I thought you were rescuing me,” Nathan said, grabbing her leg and squeezing to make her yelp. He let go of her leg and patted her cheek, then pulled her close for a big hug. “Thank you, it’s so beautiful.”

Casey kissed him on the cheek and ran to Amanda. Nathan watched her run off and pulled out a pen and turned the drawing over to write the description she told him on the back. Studying the drawing, he could almost see it but still liked it. Nathan carefully put it with the others in his messenger bag.

Jasmine dropped her saddle and spread out her blanket. “Why don’t you let us take watch today?”

“Jasmine, I may be old but I’m not frail,” Nathan grumbled. Looking up at her Nathan wondered what the hell he said to get that pissed off look. She literally looked like she was fixing to kick his ass.

“You are not old,” she enunciated in a growl. “You have been pushing hard. We’ve all got sleep. You take care of us. Let us take care of you every so often.” She still had that pissed off expression.

Nathan smiled and patted her blanket to sit down. When she sat down he grabbed her hand. If he had been paying attention Nathan would’ve seen the expression leave. But he just wanted her to calm down and wasn’t looking at her face. “I have to stay alert and tight. That means just enough rest to recharge, just enough to eat to stay just a little hungry. In other words, always just a little uncomfortable. Too much sleep makes you groggy and dulls the senses. Not enough and you hallucinate, seeing shit that’s not there. Too much food does the same: you’re content. But only enough to make the stomach shut up keeps you alert.”

Jasmine thought about what he said and nodded. “Sounds like a load of crap. Where did you learn that?”

“From an Apache who taught me survival and real guerrilla warfare,” Nathan replied.

Jasmine sat in shock. “Who else did you learn guerrilla warfare from?”

“My dad, until he died. Then I went to a training camp in Panama that was run by an ex-SEAL. Don’t get me wrong he was good, but he showed sky scrapers. The Apache showed me the nuts and bolts.”

“Why?” Jasmine asked, shocked. “Why would anyone not in the military want to learn that?”

“Why not? If something happened, most of my enemies would outnumber me or my group. I can’t fight a war of attrition, I’d lose,” Nathan answered. Looking at Jasmine’s face, Nathan didn’t know what emotion she was feeling.

What Nathan didn’t know was Jasmine didn’t know what emotion she was feeling. “So how long have you studied for this?” she asked.

“Well if you put it like that, all my life. But the survival helped me before this. It teaches a proactive, stance not a reactive stance. The fighting has come in quite handy being a cop. You look at it like I learned all of this for a collapse, a zombie rising or an alien invasion. No, I just wanted to always know that I could take care of myself. Staying in shape has given me some great hikes and vacations,” Nathan said.

Suddenly it hit Jasmine: the reason was simple. With the knowledge of survival, you could make your own decisions and not depend on others. Survival was knowledge, how to drive a tractor or make a cake from scratch. It was any and all knowledge. If you knew psychology you knew how people would think. The physical knowledge should come first but without more to back it, the actions of survival were meaningless. If you killed game and ate it but wasted the hide when you needed clothes, you failed.

Nathan was looking right in her face when he saw the light come on. “I think you understand now,” he said, patting her cheek. Jasmine snapped back with the pat on the cheek and scowled. To Nathan it was innocent. To Jasmine it said Nathan saw her as a child. She had just seen him do the same thing to Casey.

“I understand but I’m not a kid,” she snapped.

Caught off guard, Nathan leaned back and replayed the conversation, trying to figure out when he called her a kid. Ares suddenly jumped up, giving off a low growl. Nathan grabbed his rifle and vest. Seeing Jasmine stand up, he pushed her down and keyed his radio. “Ares says someone is coming. John, find a spot to hide. Casey, get Emma and hide close to John. Amanda and Natalie find a different spot, over.” Nathan buckled his vest and turned on his thermal.

Looking down at Jasmine he saw her putting on her vest and grabbing her rifle. Ares was intent on the field they passed through. They were several hundred yards back in the woods beside a small creek. The hair was up on Ares’s back and growls rattled his chest.

Leaning over to Jasmine’s ear, Nathan whispered, “They will be here soon. Find John. All of you call out your targets and keep your sights on them. They are following our tracks in so aim that way and tell everyone not to move. Go!”

Jasmine headed toward the others as Nathan pulled packs down and covered them with blankets. Standing up, Nathan forced nice calm breathes as he checked his rifle and scanned in the area they rode through with the thermal. It didn’t take long till he found spots of white moving through the trees. Lowering his rifle and calming his breathing, Nathan moved twenty feet from the camp. “Six coming, following our trail. Four are carrying rifles, over,” Nathan radioed in a low voice. A log was on the bank of the creek and Nathan sat down to wait. He could hear the group walking now with his hunter aid.

Ares crouched low beside him with a low growl. Hearing a louder growl on his other side, Nathan turned to see Athena with hackles raised. “Athena, sit and stay,” Nathan commanded, and Athena did as she was told. “I’m going to have to tell Amanda she’s doing a good job,” Nathan said, rubbing her head.

“Ares, lay,” Nathan said, and Ares crouched. Nathan was on one side of the small creek and the others were following the trail they had made coming in. “At least one has on body armor, over,” he said into his radio.

As Nathan waited he heard John in his ear bud. “Six: four men, two women. All the men have on vests like yours. Three men and one woman are carrying M-4’s and one of the weapons has another barrel. The other woman is carrying a gun I don’t know and the other man is carrying a machine gun. It looks like a SAW from Call of Duty. They all have pistols. They are stopped forty yards from the tree line. One of them is looking at you with binoculars,” John called over the radio.

Nathan looked toward the group and raised his hand, waving. “They saw that, over,” Jasmine said over the radio. Staying calm, Nathan was fought the urge to call the others and tell them to relax. He could hear the edge in their voices over the radio.

“They are moving to you, over,” John called out. Nathan felt a little better hearing the “over.” It told him John was remembering what he learned.

It was only a few seconds later the six came out of the tree line together in a tight cluster. “Either very good or stupid,” Nathan mumbled. Then the group spread out. “Well, I know now.” Nathan wondered about his course of action. The six stopped on the other side of the creek about forty feet away.