Escaping Home (8 page)

T
had walked over to Reggie's house. They needed to go relieve the guys on the barricade. The old coach gun was tucked under his arm and his hands were in his pockets as he shuffled along the dirt road. He found Reggie in the front yard, digging along the edge of the fence.

“What're you after in there?”

Reggie looked up from the shovel. “Morgan said you can eat Kudzu roots. I'm lookin' for some.”

“You that hungry?”

“Not really, just thought I'd see if I could find some and what they taste like.”

“You ready to go down?”

“Yeah, let me get my rifle.”

Reggie went in the house and came back with a pack and his rifle. They climbed onto his four-wheeler and headed for the barricade.

“It's starting to warm up,” Thad shouted over his shoulder as they ran down the road.

“Yeah, maybe we can start some plants and get a garden going soon.”

“I'd love some fresh veggies.”

“I'd love some fresh
anything
!”

As they pulled up to the barricade Ted and Jeff were in sight, leaning against some logs.

“Well, if you can't get here on time, get here when you can,” Jeff said with a smile.

Reggie laughed as he climbed off. “Dock my pay.”

“You guys see anything?” Thad asked as he laid the coach gun on the barricade.

“Nah, just a couple of folks walking down the road. None of 'em seemed too interested in talking,” Ted said.

“Good, no news is good news.”

“Keep an eye out for the old man, he should be back here soon. It's gettin' dark an' I know he won't stay out after dark with the girls with him,” Ted said as he and Jeff climbed onto their ATV.

“Will do,” Reggie said as he turned to face the road, leaning on the top log of the barricade. He and Thad stood in silence for a while before Reggie started lamenting the past.

“Know what I miss more than anything? You ain't gonna believe this.”

Thad looked over. “What?”

“Getting up and going to work. It's not that I particularly loved my job. But I miss the routine of getting up and going out to work on some equipment, shootin' the shit with the operators and laborers, know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do. I miss driving my truck down the interstate, drinking a cup of coffee with the fellas while it was unloaded.” He paused for a moment. “And coming home to Anita and little Tony.”

“I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, sorry.” Reggie looked down at his boots and scuffed the gravel.

Thad looked over and smiled. “You didn't, there's nothing I can do about it now.” Trying to turn the conversation around, he looked up with a smile and said, “Five Guys burgers.”

“Oh man, don't even start on that,” Reggie said, patting his stomach. “Seven-Eleven quarter-pound Big Bites, all covered in onions and chili.”

“Ooo, woo! Them things'll kill a man!”

“Naw, one of them and a Mountain Dew and I was set!”

“If I ate one of them, I'd still be burping it up the next day.”

Reggie let out a loud laugh, slapping his belly. “Momma always said I had a cast-iron gut!”

A sound in the distance stopped their laughter short. Thad stepped around the barricade, picking up the shotgun as he did. Looking back toward Altoona, he could see something in the road.

“Is it them?”

Thad squinted. “Yeah, looks like 'em.”

I pulled the truck through the barricade.

“How was the trip?” Reggie asked.

“Fine, jus' fine. Mikey sends his love,” Sarge said.

“I bet.”

“You get them hogs penned up?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, we made a temporary pen for them for now; we'll have to get the permanent one done soon,” I answered.

Thad looked past me to Mel and girls. “Hi, Miss Mel. You girls enjoy the ride?”

“I did, but it was scary,” Little Bit said.

“Hi, Thad, how are you doing?” Mel replied.

“I'm good. What was scary?” Thad asked, looking back at Sarge.

“Oh, nothin' really, some local boys from Pat's Island blocked the road on the way back. We had a talk is all.”

“What the hell were they doing all the way down here?”

“The old woman at the store in Altoona told 'em about us. They just wanted to check us out,” Sarge said.

“Well, this is interesting and all, but me and Bobbie are going to go to the house and see what we can come up with for dinner . . . that is if anyone's hungry,” Mel said.

That was met with a chorus of
yes
and
of course!
I told her to take the truck with the girls so they didn't have to walk.

“Reggie, you got any problem tradin' that big boar for seventy-five gallons of gas?” Sarge asked.

“Naw, we need the gas, that's for sure.”

“Good, 'cause I already made the deal. We gotta run it up there in the morning.”

“Fine with me.”

Sarge leaned against the logs, kicking at the dirt, then looked up. “If you guys had to bug out of here, how long you think it would take you to pack what you need and get out?”

Danny and I looked at each other. “I don't know, depends on what we wanted to take, I guess,” I said.

“Think you were never coming back. Whatever you took is all you'd have.”

“I never planned that way; my thoughts”—Danny nodded his head toward me—“and his were to bug in. This is our Alamo.”

“And you saw what happened to them.”

“Bad example. You know what I mean.”

“I do, but it's a perfect example of what I'm getting at. You guys really need to start thinking about it. Get things ready so that if you had to you could be out of here in fifteen minutes.”

“I could be out of here in fifteen minutes, no problem,” Reggie said.

“Me too,” Thad said.

“I guess we need to work on it, then,” I replied.

“You boys good here?” Sarge asked Thad.

“Yeah, we just got here a little bit ago.”

Sarge looked at me. “You gonna bring 'em down some dinner?”

“Oh yeah, why don't you go down to the house and bring the guys over”—I looked at my watch—“say seven thirty?”

“Works for me. You two hop in an' I'll give you a ride home.”

T
he house was full of bodies and voices. Everywhere you looked someone was sitting with a plate in their hands. Seeing Sarge and Ted out of their body armor was a rarity. Looking over to the front door I chuckled at the stacks of hardware, long guns, vests and other accoutrements of our new life.

“Hey, Mel!” Sarge shouted.

“Yeah?” she asked as she got up from the table.

He was chewing a mouthful of food, holding the plate up and pointing at it. “These is some darn fine groceries.”

Sarge was joined by everyone else, all nodding and adding their compliments. “I'm glad you like it, but don't get used to it. The stored food is getting pretty low,” Mel said.

“I think I'd eat a boot if you cooked it,” Ted said, causing nearly everyone to laugh.

After making sure everyone had enough I filled a couple of plastic containers of the casserole for Thad and Reggie, telling Mel I was going to run it down to them.

Lee Ann looked up. “Can I come?”

“I wanna go too!” Little Bit shouted.

“Your sister asked first; you stay here,” I told her, then looked at Lee Ann. “Come on, kiddo, you wanna drive?”

Her face lit up. “The truck?”

“No, no, the four-wheeler.”

She wasn't nearly as excited about that but replied, “Sure.”

Picking up my rifle, we went out and I climbed onto the back of the Polaris. She got on in front of me and started it right up without any advice from me. As she put it in gear, I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. She looked back laughing. “What are you doing?”

“I'm a-skeered! Don't kill me!”

When she goosed the throttle, I let out a little scream, and now she was really laughing.

As we pulled up to the barricade, we were met by Thad's big smile. “Hey, Morg. Hey, Lee Ann.”

“Hi, Thad. Hi, Reggie,” she said as she stepped off the machine.

“You boys hungry?”

“Do we look hungry?” Reggie said with a grin.

“I don't really know; I'd have to see what not hungry looks like first, an' I know I've never seen that look before.”

Thad let out a laugh. “You got that right.”

Lee Ann walked out to the road. She was standing on the center line looking out toward the forest. I kept an eye on her as me and the boys talked.

“Tell the ladies we said thanks for the grub,” Reggie said, pulling the top off the container and smelling it.

“Goes without saying, man, really,” I said.

“Well, tell 'em anyway,” Thad said with his mouth half-full.

“Hey, Dad, look at this.”

We all looked up. Lee Ann was pointing down the road in the direction of the forest. The guys quickly laid their dinner aside, picking up their weapons, and we jogged out to the road.

“What is it?” I asked, a little panic cutting into my voice.

“Look at that glow. You can see it on the bottom of the clouds, what is that?”

We all looked down the road. Off to the left, way, way out there, was a very light glow. The complete absence of man-made light meant the nights were exceptionally dark.

“It's the camp,” I said after a moment.

“They must be pretty busy out there to have it lit up like that,” Thad said.

“Yeah, but busy doing what?” Reggie said.

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I get my own gun?”

Her question was like one of those scenes in a movie when they add the sound of a record needle being dragged across the vinyl. Thad and Reggie looked at me expectantly.

“Why do you want a gun?”

“I want to feel safer. I want to be able to help protect us all.”

“You don't think there's enough people around with guns now?”

“It's not that, it's just you guys are gone a lot. It would be better if me and Taylor had our own.”

“You two been talking about this?”

“Yeah, I told her I'd ask. We're old enough; we can take care of everybody.”

“You
are
old enough, but while I taught you how to shoot, I'm not the best teacher.” I paused for a moment. “Tell you what: we'll get one of Sarge's guys to give you both some pointers. I agree it would be better to have you girls armed, and I'm glad you're ready for it.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Someone will be down later to take y'all's place,” I said to Thad and Jeff.

“No problem, we ain't going anywhere,” Thad said.

Lee Ann was on the Polaris. “Come on, Dad!”

“You're being paged,” Reggie said, pointing at her.

“I see,” I said, looking at her, then turned back to him. “Whatever happened to playing with Barbie dolls?”

“Hard to stop a raider with a Barbie,” Thad said.

I shook my head and walked over to the Polaris and climbed on. “Home, James!” I shouted.

“Who?” she asked.

“Never mind, just go.”

“Can I go fast?”

I wrapped my arms around her again and pushed my face into her back. “Don't hurt me!”

She laughed as she opened the throttle up, kicking up gravel and speeding off down the road. By the time we made it back to the house everyone was gone except Sarge. He was sitting on the porch rubbing Meathead's belly. He looked up as Lee Ann started up the stairs.

“Your daddy let you drive?”

“Yeah.”

“Thought I heard some squealing.”

Lee Ann smiled and started for the door.

“Hey, Sarge, you think tomorrow you or Ted could spend some time with the girls giving them some lessons on weapons handling?”

My question stopped her with her hand on the knob. Sarge looked over his shoulder at her, then back to me, “You think they're ready to start carryin' guns?”

I looked at Lee Ann and said, “I know they are.” She gave me a big smile and opened the door.

“Yeah, I think we can do that. Let us get the first load ready to go and while the truck's gone, I'll have Ted work with 'em.”

“Sounds good to me. Can you and the guys handle things in the morning? I got something I want to do.”

Sarge looked up from the dog, much to Meathead's displeasure. “Sure, what's up?”

“I'm going to look for a small trailer. I know someone has one around here somewhere. If I can find it I'm going to pull it over here and put my power plant in it. That way if we have to move, we can hook up to it and go.”

“Good idea, you need to get as much ready as you can.”

“What makes you so sure they're going to come for us?”

Sarge looked up. “'Cause it's what I'd do. That cop that lived here took up with the DHS. You said you and him didn't exactly see eye to eye, and he's already been here once with a warning. After our little interaction with them down at the camp and their militia boys disappearing, this place has a target on it.” He rubbed Meathead's ears. “If I had my way, we'd already be gone.”

I stood in silence in the dark, thinking about what he said. The only sound was the dog's leg thumping. After a few minutes Sarge stood up and stretched. “Tell Mel I said thank you for dinner again. I already did, just want her to know I appreciate it.” He paused and even though it was dark, I could tell he was staring at me. “Morgan, we have to get out of here before someone dies. That's all I'm worried about right now.” He paused again. “Stay home tonight with your girls; we'll take care of the security.”

“You're right, Sarge. As bad as it is now, if we stay, it's only going to get worse. My family has been lucky up to this point. It's just going to be a hard transition.”

“I know it is, but you're not alone. We got your back.”

“I know, thanks. I really do appreciate it.”