Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (33 page)

“What—” Amanda started to say.

“Amanda!” Nathan snapped, cutting her off. “We have to get the fuck out of here! Get ready to leave or I will throw you over my saddle.” He hugged her. “We need to move,” he whispered.

Amanda looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll be ready in a second.” She scampered over to her horse.

“The horses have gone fourteen hours straight already. We can’t push them too much harder or we’ll be walking,” Jasmine said.

“I know,” Nathan said looking down at the tablet. “Get ready, Jasmine.” Jasmine helped everyone get saddles back on horses. Nathan figured out the route he wanted and grabbed his saddle.

In fifteen minutes he was leading them through the woods, heading northwest as the choppers buzzed overhead.

Chapter 24

Day 32

Nathan’s horse was dragging its feet through the woods as dawn slowly crept up. The only animals that hadn’t tripped in the last forty hours were the donkeys. Nathan looked behind him at everyone asleep in their saddles. He only had a few hundred yards to go before he could stop and let them rest. None of them could go any farther. Over the last two days he had moved them over fifty miles in stop-and-go runs.

Reaching down he patted Smoke. “Only a little further, girl,” he said wearily. Smoke didn’t acknowledge him. He spotted the small meadow up head he had found on the satellite map. They were ten miles to the west of Clinton, Arkansas in the National forest. During the mad dash Nathan had to change routes a dozen times, hearing gunfire or helicopters in the direction they were going. They had finally slipped into the National Forrest at three that morning.

During the entire trip the only time they were on a road was to cross it. Nathan was so sick of fences he wanted all of them outlawed. He looked down to see Emma was passed out in her sling. Rubbing her head, Nathan had to admit for a two-year-old she did great during the mad dash.

They reached the meadow and Nathan guided Smoke around the edge to the stream on the west side. Yesterday he had tied a rope from him, connecting everyone’s horse. The rest of the horses just followed Smoke where Nathan guided, their riders asleep in the saddles. Reaching the spot they were camping at, Nathan slowly climbed off and almost fell down from putting weight on his legs.

Feeling her horse stop, Jasmine woke up and noticed Nathan was off his horse. She looked behind her and noticed everyone was asleep. She climbed down, untied the guide rope Nathan had rigged up, and led the rest of the group up to Nathan. When she stopped she saw Nathan spreading out his woobie gently laying Emma down.

Gathering the last of her energy, Jasmine went down the line, waking everyone up. Casey and Amanda had started riding together so they wouldn’t fall off as they slept. As Jasmine woke them up, she had to catch them as they slide off as she woke them up. When they were standing on their feet Jasmine let them go and Casey fell down on her butt.

She looked up at Jasmine and Amanda. “My legs are asleep,” she explained in an exhausted voice, tapping her legs with her hand. Nathan picked Casey up and carried her over to his woobie, laying her beside Emma.

“Get some sleep, little one,” Nathan said turning around walking over to Smoke, taking his saddle off. John and Tom had both climbed down and were leading their horses. Amanda stumbled and dropped her pack, then fell down beside Casey. Slowly rolling over, she took off her rifle and put it on the ground beside her.

John stopped beside Nathan. “Are we safe now?” He really didn’t care if they were or not.

Slowly Nathan turned to look at him. “As we can be, I haven’t heard any choppers to our west.”

“What about that one I heard around four o’clock?” Tom asked.

“It landed on a hilltop two miles to our northeast,” Nathan said. Amanda was already snoring. Giving them a weak smile, Nathan started taking the other horses’ saddles off.

The others helped, and soon the tired horses were hobbled and eating out in the meadow. Jasmine, John, and Tom hung up the horse blankets so they could dry out. They noticed Nathan wasn’t with them. They looked around to see Nathan studying his map as he took Ares’s pack off.

“I swear if another chopper comes near us I’m going to shoot it down,” John vowed.

“What are you doing, Nathan?” Jasmine asked, dropping to the ground beside him.

Nathan looked off to the northeast. “Have someone awake at all times. The rally point is here,” he said, handing her the map pointing at the X. “If I’m not back by tonight I won’t be back at all,” he said, standing up.

Not tired anymore, Jasmine jumped up and grabbed his vest, spinning him around. “Whoa buddy, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper.

“I saw that chopper land last night. I know where they are. I’m going to find out what the fuck is going on,” he said.

Studying his face, Jasmine saw his glassed-over eyes. “You’re about ready to drop. You can’t take off and expect to catch soldiers,” she snapped at him.

Sluggishly blinking his eyes, trying to make Jasmine focus in his vision, Nathan slurred, “Jasmine, I’m not in the mood. We have to find out what’s going on. We can’t keep this pace.”

“Jesus, you can’t even talk straight you’re so tired,” she said. “Get some sleep first,” she begged.

“They may not be there later. I have to move now,” he said, looking back to the northeast.

“They may not be there now,” she tried to explain.

Nathan shook his head. “No, I watched the chopper hover and four men rappelled down,” he said, patting his leg for Ares to come over. “They are watching that road. From the hill they landed on you can see down that small valley.”

She grabbed his arm. “Nathan, you can’t go. You have to rest. You haven’t slept in sixty hours.”

Nathan let out a long sigh. “If we don’t find out what the hell this is about we can’t make it home. If it’s going to be like this the whole way we will get caught if we’re lucky, killed if we aren’t. I know how much I have left in me and you are making me drain what I need to get this done,” he explained. “Get the group taken care of.”

Jasmine stood frozen, watching him walk away with Ares beside him. She turned to John. “What do I do?” she asked.

“Nothing. We can’t stop him,” John said as he watched Nathan disappear into the woods across the meadow.

“He’s going to get himself killed,” Jasmine replied.

“If we go with him I can guarantee you he will get killed worrying about us. He never once slept leading us here. When he stopped to water the horses he would get off and check on us. He
might
make a mistake moving toward them, but I can be certain we would,” John said.

“So we just let him go off alone?” she asked, throwing her hands up.

“Yes. If we go with him we will get him shot,” John said, walking away to set up the camp. Jasmine looked across the field, wiping tears off her face.

“Please be careful,” she whispered and went to help John and Tom.

When Nathan was half a mile away from camp he knelt down and reached in his pocket. One thing Nathan had learned if he took his Adderall like it was prescribed he didn’t daydream and could remember anything. But if he took two, sleep wasn’t his top priority. Nathan pulled out three tablets, tossed them in his mouth, and looked at Ares.

“Daddy’s tired, boy, but we have to make sure the others are taken care of.” Nathan rubbed his head. Even Ares eyes looked tired, but he panted at Nathan with his goofy grin. Struggling to stand up, Nathan headed off with Ares beside him.

Thirty minutes later Nathan was feeling better but he knew it wasn’t going to last long. Holding out his hand, he could see a fine tremor. He glanced down at Ares and Ares was looking around.
I wonder if a dog can take Adderall,
Nathan thought. Not wanting to experiment, Nathan continued on.

It took him two hours to cover the three miles to the hill. He pulled Ares close. “Ares, time to work,” he whispered. Ares suddenly became rigid. Nathan crept forward with Ares beside him scanning the forest.

When they reached the top Nathan slowly crouched down to his knees and looked at Ares. Ares stared off to the left side of the hill. Giving Ares a pat he stood up, and crept forward, heading to where Ares was looking. Gently moving through the woods, they made almost no sound, stopping every five feet to scan ahead.

Suddenly Ares froze and Nathan followed suit. Out of nowhere Nathan heard a person talking over a radio to his front. Like he was melting, Nathan lowered his body to the ground, careful not to make any noise. Ares seeing him lay down copied him.

Nathan searched in front of him through the trees and spotted two men talking twenty yards away. He quietly moved to put a big pine tree between them and eased up to his feet moving to the tree. When he reached the tree he could hear the men talking quietly with his hunter’s ear. He crouched and eased his head around the tree.

Two men were ten yards from him on a bluff looking out over the small valley. Then Nathan noticed two more men lying prone looking at the valley with binoculars fifteen feet from the talkers. The two men lying down had on weird camouflage. Moving his gaze back to the other two, he noticed one had on black fatigues and the other had on regular army fatigues.

When regular fatigues turned a little, Nathan spotted a gold oak leaf on his collar.
Oh, he has to come with me,
Nathan thought. He looked at the other man. His black uniform had no rank or insignia on it.

Nathan drew back behind the tree, trying to figure out how in the hell he was going to pull this off. The two men talking quietly had M-4’s but they had them slung on their shoulders. Nathan was sure the others would at least have them close.

Reaching up, Nathan uncovered his badge. “Fuck it,” he said under his breath. He wheeled around the tree, leveling his rifle at the two talkers, and crept forward. He had closed half the distance before the major noticed him. The major froze and Nathan shook his head, motioning with his rifle for him to put his hands up.

Black fatigues noticed where the major was looking and froze, seeing Nathan coming at them with a big ass dog baring its teeth. The both slowly raised their hands as Nathan stopped ten feet from them. “Turn around slowly. Get on your knees with your hands on your head,” Nathan whispered. The two slowly did what he told them as Nathan followed them with his rifle sights, watching the two men keeping surveillance on the valley.

When the men were on their knees, Nathan snap-kicked the major in the back of the head and butt-stroked the man in black. Bringing his rifle to his shoulder, Nathan saw one of the men lying prone turn around. Nathan squeezed the trigger, putting three rounds in his face, then sighted on the other man, putting three in his back.

Looking down he saw the man in black was moving. “Ares, get ‘em,” Nathan said pointing. Ares lunged forward latching on the man’s arm as Nathan moved to the major pulling out a zip-tie. Nathan zip-tied the man’s thumbs and middle fingers behind his back.

Standing up as the man in black screamed at Ares, who was trying his best to pull the arm off. Nathan walked over and kicked him in the face. “Ares, here,” Nathan said as the man fell back unconscious. He zip-tied the man like his friend. Nathan approached the two he had shot.

Rolling them over Nathan knew they weren’t part of the U.S. military just from their facial features. From their pockets he pulled out papers that had Cyrillic writing. “Damn, Red Dawn,” Nathan said. He emptied their pockets, throwing everything in his tote bag.

He went back to the other two and pulled out his knife. Cutting their uniforms off, he cut the sling to the rifles and threw them aside. Pulling the shoelaces out of their boots, Nathan tied their legs together with enough slack that they could walk. Moving to the clothes he cut off he emptied their pockets.

“What the hell are you doing, officer?” the major demanded.

“Got a call about a peeping Tom,” Nathan said, moving on to the packs.

“You don’t know the trouble you’re in, son. Your best bet is to cut me loose and let’s see if we can work something out,” the major said.

“Your best bet is to shut up before I tell my dog to chew your dick off,” Nathan said, going through the packs. Wisely, the major shut up as Ares eased over growling at him.

When the man in black woke up, Nathan moved over and pulled out some duct tape. Taping the men’s mouths shut he pulled them to their feet. Wrapping some para cord around each one’s neck Nathan leaned forward. “I’m in a bad mood. If you want to live, don’t give me a reason to kill you.” He pulled on their leashes, leading them down the hill.

It was noon when Nathan called over the radio, “I’m back with friends. Don’t shoot.”

Everyone was awake and worried sick, waiting for him. Across the meadow they saw him leading two naked men with rope around their necks out of the woods. “Told you,” John said to Jasmine, walking toward Nathan.

“John, take them to separate trees and tie them to it with the knots I showed you. For no reason are they to be cut loose. If they have to shit or piss they can do it on themselves,” Nathan said, handing the para-cord and zip ties over to him. Nathan held up his hand, stopping Jasmine and the girls before they hugged him. “Jasmine, keep everyone away from them. I have to sleep, I’m sorry.” Nathan collapse on his stomach on his woobie. Ares moved over beside him and laid his head on Nathan’s back, and in seconds both were snoring.

Chapter 25

Day 33

Soft whispering close by slowly woke Nathan up. When he opened his eyes he blinked several times, making sure his eyes were open because he couldn’t see. Sitting up, he heard gasps behind him. He could see the shadows of the tree line across the meadow and all the horses were grazing. Turning around, he saw the shadowy outline of his group looking down at him. “Hey guys,” Nathan croaked. They dove down on him.

Nathan didn’t complain as they hugged the air out of him. He could feel their relief that he was okay. “I don’t mean to be rude but I have to pee really bad,” Nathan groaned and they moved back.

“Nafan, pee-pee,” Emma called out.

“Yes, I do,” Nathan said, getting up. Emma came over, holding her groin. “Emma, let me go first,” Nathan pleaded.

“Nathan, go, I’ll take her,” Amanda said, picking up Emma. Well Emma didn’t want Amanda and she let everyone know it.

When Nathan stepped off his woobie he jerked his foot up. “Ow!” he yelped, picking his foot up and falling on his butt. He had stepped on something sharp. Then it dawned on him. “Where the hell are my boots?” he cried. Then he realized he was in his boxers. “Guys, I’m in my underwear,” he informed them.

Jasmine knelt down beside him. “We took them off to wash them,” she said as she put his flip flops on him.

“You better not have taken advantage of me,” Nathan said as he waddled over to a tree.

The comment caught Jasmine by surprise. “Excuse me?”

“Jasmine, I have ten gallons in me. Give me a minute,” Nathan gasped. When Nathan finished he actually wanted to lie back down but walked to the group. “You guys all right?” he asked.

“Us? What about you?” Jasmine asked.

“Tired, but other than that I’m good,” he replied. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost three a.m. “Damn, eighteen hours,” he mumbled.

Casey put a bottle of water in his hand. “Drink this,” she commanded.

Seeing the stern look on her little face, Nathan drained the bottle and handed it back. “Thank you, little one.” John handed him some food. Not even asking what it was, Nathan shoved it in his mouth. “Thank you,” he mumbled with a full mouth.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Jasmine asked as Amanda came back with Emma. Emma jumped out of Amanda’s arms and ran to Nathan. He picked her up, nuzzling her.

“Much better now,” Nathan assured her. “How are the horses?” he asked, sitting back down on his woobie.

The others joined him. “They need more rest but they are fine for now,” Jasmine replied.

“Have you heard or seen anything since I was asleep?” he asked.

“A chopper flew over from where you came from and we heard an explosion,” John said.

They saw Nathan chuckle. “I left a grenade under one of the bodies.”

“Well it pissed them off, it flew around for an hour and shot a bunch of bullets to our south,” Jasmine told him.

“Did it come near here?” Nathan asked.

“It just flew over us, never slowing down. The canopy is pretty thick here so unless they land in the field they can’t see us,” Jasmine said.

“That’s good,” Nathan said, looking up seeing what Jasmine said was true. “Where are the two I brought back?”

“Tied up like you said,” John answered.

“They give you any trouble?” Nathan asked.

“Not unless you mean the smell of them pissing and shitting on themselves,” John replied.

Setting Emma down, Nathan set Emma down, stood up, and dug in his bag for more clothes. He dressed as everyone just watched. “At daybreak I’m taking those two away from here and they are going to answer some questions I have.” He looked around for his vest.

“I cleaned your vest. It’s hanging up,” Amanda said, pointing behind him.

“Thank you,” Nathan said. He took it off the line as Jasmine handed him his rifle and he nodded at her. “I hope you got some sleep.”

“Yes, we all slept,” Jasmine replied. “What are you going to do to them?”

“Question them. Make them give me answers,” Nathan said.

“The major is in intelligence and the other is a regional director for Homeland,” Jasmine said.

“How the hell did you find that out? Nobody was to go near them,” Nathan asked.

“You have their IDs in you tote bag,” Jasmine answered. “Please don’t do anything you’re going to regret,” she added.

Ignoring her Nathan looked at his group, “Let’s eat,” he said. They all followed and started breakfast. They asked Nathan about what happened and he told them. Ares moved over and informed Nathan, he wanted some of his food. The group sat and talked until the sky started to lighten.

When Nathan could see the two tied up to trees in the dawn light, he stood up pulled his Tomahawk off his pack. Amanda ran over to him, “What are you going to do?”

“Going to get some answers,” he said, rubbing her head.

Looking down at his hand, she asked, “With a Tomahawk?”

“It’s up to them. They can answer without it or with it,” he said. “John and Tom, help me move them away from here.”

Everyone followed Nathan to the two, who were sleeping. Even Nathan was impressed with how John had tied them to the trees. He untied the major and pulled him to the other side of the meadow, then he brought the Homeland Boy over. John retied them to trees sitting down. Nathan brought over two feed bags and placed them over their heads.

“Guys, go back to camp,” Nathan ordered. Reluctantly the group left as Nathan spread out other stuff he brought over. The two were tied up ten yards apart. “Gentlemen, I’m going to ask you questions. It’s up to you if you can walk away when I let you go. If your answers don’t fit each other’s story it won’t go good for you,” Nathan said. Grabbing his headphones, Nathan put them on the major and turned up the volume so he couldn’t hear what the other man said. Pulling out his camera, he set it to video and started recording.

Taking the bag off Homeland Boy, Nathan dragged a log in front of the major. Then Nathan put one in front of him. Grabbing Homeland Boy’s legs, Nathan tied his ankles to the log. Homeland Boy didn’t fight him. Nathan pulled out a water bottle and ripped the tape off the man’s mouth.

“First name?” Nathan asked, holding up the water bottle.

“Keith,” he answered. Nodding, Nathan let Keith drink the bottle down.

“Why are there so many helicopter insertions here?” Nathan asked.

“Three companies of the Arkansas National Guard went rogue four days ago. We were trying to contain them before they reached other units that have gone rogue,” Keith replied.

“What do you mean by going rogue?” Nathan asked.

“They killed a platoon of U.N. troops that opened fire on citizens in Little Rock. They shot down two Homeland choppers and freed over a thousand people from a detention center,” he answered.

Nathan smiled. “Keep answering like this and you will walk out of here just fine,” Nathan assured him. “What were all the explosions we heard?”

“Some were choppers that found the Guard and others were large groups of civilians moving,” Keith answered, watching Nathan twirl the Tomahawk.

“What is ‘Operation Dark Titan?’” Nathan asked.

The color drained from Keith’s face as his eyes got big. “I don’t know where you heard that, but you need to forget it,” he said.

“If I ask again, you lose your left foot,” Nathan said, standing up.

“Okay, okay! Six months ago, NSA said there was a ninety-eight percent probability of a massive solar flare hitting the earth. It was projected to be much bigger than the Carrington Event. They gave a four-day window. We got orders that told us to be ready to corral the masses. The government was taking control. Operation Dark Titan was set in motion over a year ago for an event like this when the NSA found out they could predict solar flares reliably,” Keith answered.

“What about the EMPs?”

Closing his eyes, Homeland Boy took a deep breath. “The Air Force and CIA had killer satellites in orbit around the globe. When the flare hit, they detonated them worldwide.”

“How far up the chain?” Nathan asked.

“The top,” he answered, watching the Tomahawk.

“What other countries?” Nathan asked.

“Eighty percent of the U.N.,” he replied. “Seven other nations had killer satellites up with ours to make sure the masses could be contained.”

“Any uprising of the military?” Nathan asked.

Keith looked at him nervously. “Yes.”

After five minutes, Keith had offered no more new information. Nathan sighed. “How much of the military?”

“Almost all of SOCOM and forty percent of the active force. Seventy percent of the reserves and Guard units,” Keith answered.

Nathan was pleased with that answer. “How many U.N. troops are on U.S. soil now?”

“Last week there were one point two million here, with more coming, I don’t have current numbers,” Keith answered.

“How many can be expected?” Nathan asked.

Keith looked up helplessly. “Up to nine million.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said. He took the headphones off the major taking and put them on Keith, then put the feed bag over Keith’s head.

Grabbing the major’s legs he kicked at Nathan. “Boy, do that again and a foot comes off. It’s up to you how you answer. Keith did well and got water. Put your feet on the log or I start chopping,” Nathan commanded.

Slowly the major put his legs on the log. Nathan tied them down and held up another bottle of water. “First name?” he asked.

“Rusty,” he answered.

Nathan let him drink the bottle. Nathan asked the same questions and the answers were close till he got to numbers of U.N. troops expected. “What do you mean, ten million?” Nathan asked.

“That’s what I was told would be on the ground here in six months,” he answered.

“Who will be the main forces?” Nathan asked.

“China and Russia,” Rusty said.

“How are you handling the Midwest?” Nathan asked.

“We are only keeping the large population centers under control. Large farms are put under state control,” Rusty told him.

“Why did Keith tell me twenty million U.N. troops?” Nathan lied.

“Shit, he wouldn’t know. He would be able to tell you how many agents are in an area, but the military is working with the foreign units,” Rusty said.

“What did Arkansas’s governor think about his rogue troops?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t know. He was executed seven days ago, along with every other red state’s governor,” Rusty replied with a smirk.

“Wipe the smirk off or I’ll do it for you,” Nathan warned, twirling the tomahawk.

“Come on, we won. Cut me lose and we can work something out,” Rusty promised.

“I will cut you lose after I get answers. Keep up the answers and you can be back in your world in a few days. It shouldn’t take them too long to find you,” Nathan said standing up walking over to Keith taking the bag and headphones off Keith. He then put them on Rusty and continued the questions.

At noon, Nathan walked back to his group and told them all he found out. It was late afternoon when he finished. John summed it up the best. “We’re fucked.”

“Yeah, it’s fixing to go to hell in a hand basket,” Nathan agreed.

“What the hell do we do?” Jasmine asked.

He reached over and grabbed her hand. “Get home and start the fight.”

“What are you going to do with them?” she asked, motioning toward the prisoners.

“Can the horses leave tonight?” he asked.

“Yes but we have to go easy on them,” she said.

“When we leave I’ll cut them lose like I promised,” he said.

Amanda jumped up. “Like hell! Leave them tied to the tree. They knew about this and could’ve warned people. They killed my momma!”

Shaking his head, Nathan held up his hand. “I told them I would cut them lose,” he repeated. “Now that each of you knows what’s coming and what they are doing, do you want to turn yourselves in? If you are caught with me, we will be shot. Any soldier or law enforcement officer not reporting, is a deserter and considered a hostile.”

They all looked at each other and Jasmine looked at him. “We stay with you. Better to die on ground of our choosing on our feet than starving on our back,” Jasmine said.

Smiling at her, “Together then,” Nathan said holding out his arms. They all group hugged. “Get the horses ready,” Nathan said.

As the sun set Nathan led Smoke to the prisoners. “Gentlemen, I’m a man of my word.” Nathan said, walking over and cutting the ropes holding them to the trees. They moved over to Nathan and turned around so he could cut their hands lose.

Nathan took a step back and pulled his pistol out with the suppressor attached, placed the suppressor against Keith’s head, and pulled the trigger. Then Nathan shot Rusty before he even moved. Leaning down over the bodies, he cut the zip-ties off. “See you’re free, you pieces of shit, you can go now,” Nathan said. He turned and climbed up on Smoke.

Ares walked over to the two bodies and lifted his leg. “That’s telling them, Ares,” Nathan chuckled. He led Smoke to the others, who had watched. “I let ‘em go,” he said, moving past them. Looking at the bodies across the meadow, the others fell in behind Nathan.

Hearing the others behind him, Nathan took a deep breath, “I will keep them safe,” he vowed. Weaving through the trees, Nathan led them northwest, toward home. He didn’t like the odds, but he would do his best to get them home safe and sound.