The Guardians (33 page)

Molly brought Evan some clean clothes to their room and cuddled up with him for a few moments as he tried to get some much-needed rest.  "Maybe you can stay back on the next one?" she said.

"I don't think so," he replied.  "We can't keep rotating through our leadership folks.  The other guys in the group are new to all of this and need consistency.  Besides, Washington didn't lead the Continental Army to victory via carrier pigeon.  He led from the front."

She just smiled and kissed him and said, "OK General, you get some sleep.  I'm gonna go tend to the kids."

He just smiled realizing the ridiculousness of his own comparison, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

As the other men r
ejoined their families and word of the victory spread amongst the homesteads, several of the men who did not volunteer to go along on the first raid felt as if they had let their fellow homesteaders down.  They felt as if they had missed out on a defining moment in their lives.  They sat on the sidelines, while others risked everything to secure safety and peace of mind for them all.

****

Chapter 35: Nate's Plan

As Rachel slept, Luke relieved Nate and stood watch while he took his turn sleeping.  Around four o'clock that afternoon Rachel awoke to find Luke leaning agains
t tree with his rifle in hand.

"Hey there my sexy
guard," she said with a smile.

As Luke returned the smile
, they both heard Nate say, "What do you mean?  I'm not on watch, Luke is."

"Ha, ha, very funny," Rachel replied.  "I thought you were asleep.

"I was trying,"Nate said in reply.  "I just have too much on my mind."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like how to get us around Huntsville," he said with a yawn.  "We can't just ride right through the middle of there, and with it being on the other side of the river, we are restricted to bridge crossings which are all in the middle of the sprawl.  I do have an idea though."

"What's that?" asked Luke.

"We can use the river to our advantage," Nate explained.  "If we stay on our current course, we will be just north of Decatur, and just northwest of Huntsville when we get to the river.  If we can find a boat or a raft..."

"Do you mean steal a raft?" Rachel interrupted.

"No, I mean if we can find something that's abandoned or something that we can use as a raft, we can float right through Huntsville under the cover of darkness.  The river turns to the east just past the city where we could ride it downstream a little further, getting well clear of the urban sprawl before we go back ashore."

"I'm not sure I want to be on a raft on a river at night," Rachel said in a concerned tone.

"It may be a boat and not a raft," Nate responded.  "It depends on what we find.  Either way, I think we would be much safer braving the water of the Tennessee river than the thugs in the city."

"I agree with Nate, Honey," added Luke.  "I say we just go w
ith his plan.  Look how far he got on his own."

"Well, let's see what he finds," she said.

"Either way, it's time to get moving," said Nate as he donned his prosthesis and climbed to his feet.

They
packed up their bedrolls, each at an MRE, donned their packs, and hiked back down to find their bikes exactly where they had left them.  They continued towards Huntsville refreshed and ready to go.

After riding their bikes another five hours, they found themselves on the outskirts of Decatur, Alabama.  They took a much needed break in the woods, just off of the road and out of sight while Nate studied his map.  After a few moments, he looked up at Rachel and Luke and said, "If we can work our way around the North side of Decatur to the river, we should be able to start scavenging for something to use there.  It looks like there are a few marinas located off of Joe Wheeler Highway.  We can take Highway 24 to Beltline Road, and get to the river while avoiding most of the city."

"In the daylight or wait untill dark?" asked Luke. 

"Well, considering the fact that without street lights and such we will have a hard time finding what we need, I think we need to get in there before the sun sets, and then get in position
and wait until nightfall to slip into the water to get around Huntsville.  If we can't find a boat or a raft, we will just have to come up with a new plan then."

"You're the boss," said Luke.

"OK then, that's the plan," Nate said enthusiastically.  "Let's eat another MRE and then get back on the road.  Once we get in there we may not have another convenient opportunity to rest up and eat for a while."

"Good, I'm starving," said Rachel as she opened her pack and began to sort through her remaining MRE's.

They ate their dinner and relaxed for a few more minutes before packing up to hit the road again.  This had been the furthest bike ride any of them had ever attempted by a huge margin, and it was beginning to take a toll on them physically.  Nate had been starting to feel pain in his left hip and thigh from the lack of lower legs muscles on that side to assist with pedaling his bike.  He had been compensating with his other muscles, and being a fairly recent amputee, it was still all new to him.  Still, despite the discomfort, he knew they needed to press on.

Nate donned his prosthetic leg, which he had now gotten into a habit of removing every time they stopped to rest, and climbed back up on his feet and said, "Let's get
moving!" in a positive voice.

As they continued up Highway 24, they began to see people off in the distance as they entered Decatur.  The people they observed seemed to be equally intent on avo
iding them.  Nate rode up front with Rachel in the middle and Luke taking up the rear.  They had worked out a defensive plan during one of their earlier breaks using this formation.  If a threat came from the front, Nate would dismount and cover or engage the threat while Luke covered him and Rachel's retreat to cover, if they encountered a threat from the rear, Luke would do likewise while Nate and Rachel sought cover, following closely behind the other two.  This is of course if it was a threat they simply could not evade, which was always the first strategy to pursue.

As they came upon Beltline Road, they made their turn to the North.  "It won't be too much further now," said Nate.  After traveling approximately a half mile on Beltline Road, Nate n
oticed a set railroad tracks and rail service road going off to the right in the general direction they eventually wanted to travel.  He stopped for a moment and pulled out his map.  "Cover us while I look something up" he said to Luke.  After a quick scan, he said, "OK, perfect, let's take the railroad.  It leads to exactly where we want to go.  We can cut off some distance while staying out of plain sight as well."

"That looks a little creepy," Rachel said.

"It won't be any worse than being out in the open.  Trust me," he said.

Nate took off pedaling up the service road that ran alongside the railroad tracks
, followed reluctantly by Rachel and Luke.  After another half mile or so, they came upon a rail yard off to their right full of abandoned boxcars that were now being used as a make shift shelter.  They could see people inside the cars watching them as they rode by.

As the service road came to its closest point to the boxcars, a child of
around seven or eight years old came running out and stood in front of them and began asking them for food.  This startled Nate and the others as it was the perfect scenario for a trap or an ambush.  Nate and Luke immediately came to a stop and scanned the area with their rifles, looking for anyone who may be making a move while the child distracted them.

A young mother came running out of the boxcar yelling, "Please don't shoot him!  Please don't shoot him!  He's just hungry and desperate," she said as tears began to roll down her face.

They lowered their rifles as they could see the sincerity in the woman's eyes.  "How many of you are there?" Nate asked.

"It's just me, him and his little sister," she said.  "Well, there are others on the tra
ins, but my two kids are all I have."

They looked towards the car that the young boy and his mother had ran out of and saw a young girl staring back at them in fear.  Rachel got off of her bike and took her pack off.  She dug around and pulled out two MRE's and handed them to the woman.  I'm sorry, but this is all I can spare," she said.

"Thank you so much," the young mother said.  "We haven't had anything to eat in a few days now.  God bless you."

Nate watched as others began to climb down out of train cars.  "We need to get going Rachel," he said.

Luke made the same observation from the rear and agreed.  "Let's get moving Rachel," he said.

The young mother and her son walked back to the train car and climbed back inside.  Initially
, the people, a mix of men and women, maybe six or seven total, were moving towards Nate, Rachel, and Luke, but when they saw the young woman climb back up into her train car, they changed course and went towards her.  She quickly climbed inside and slid the door shut as the crowd reached her car.

"Damn it!" Nate said aloud as he dismounted his bike with Luke following his lead.  "Keep your head on a swivel," he said to Rachel as he walked by her towards the cars.  He raised his rifle to the low ready and yelled, "Hey!  She clearly closed that door for a reason.
  Back away and leave her be."

One of the rough looking men just turned and looked at him and said, "Mind your business." 

Nate noticed he had a large kitchen knife in his belt and one of the other men had a three-foot section of pipe.  The man with the pipe started to pry on the door as the woman struggled to keep it closed from the inside.

Nate fired a shot at the man's feet sending a
cloud of dust and flying gravel in all directions.  "I said leave her be!" he shouted in an angry voice. 

"We've gotta eat too.  If that bitch has food, we're all gonna get some," one of the men shouted back.

Luke just looked at Nate, and they both understood what needed to be done without even saying a word.

"You're a grown man!  You should be down in that river fishing and catching your own dinner instea
d of stealing from a woman and her children.  What kind of worthless piece of crap are you?" said Nate trying to anger the man to get him away from the boxcar.

"Shut your mouth boy before I cut your tongue out," the man said as he reached for the knife in his belt. "You can't shoot us all before we get to you.  You had better move on and mind your own damn business."

"Maybe not, but I can shoot you," Nate said as he pulled the trigger sending a .5.56mm round directly into the man's center mass, dropping him where he stood.

The women in the group began to scatter and
run while the man who was prying on the door ran at Luke swinging the pipe.  Luke fired three quick shots into the man, ripping three gaping holes into his torso while dodging the pipe, barely avoiding being hit.  One of the other men who had started to advance on Nate quickly changed course and ran the other way.  Nate desperately wanted to shoot the man in the back.  He knew this kind of person would always be a threat to that woman and her children, and any other vulnerable people he encountered in the future.  Do it! Do it! He thought to himself with his finger flinching on the trigger as he tracked the man with his sights as he ran away.

Finally, Nate said, "Damn it!" and lowered the weapon.  He just could not bring himself to pull the trigger on a man who was running away.  He turned and looked back and Rachel and Luke and said, "Let's go.  No more diversions," as he climbed back onto his bike.

Rachel was shaken by what she had just witnessed, but climbed back onto her bike and followed Nate with Luke closely behind.  She could not help but be distracted by the thoughts of what that poor woman must have to go through every day to feed and protect those children.

After they were out of sight of the scene of their altercation, Nate stopped to consult his map.  "Let's cut through here," he said pointing to a run down RV park and an abandoned industrial facility.  "The river bank should be just beyond the main road on the other side of the park," he said.

He and Nate slung their rifles in front of them for easy access as they all got off of their bikes to push them through the park.  Nate took the lead again with Luke covering the rear.  As they walked through the park, many of the campers and motorhomes looked abandoned and ransacked, but a few clearly had inhabitants.  They could see curtains move as they advanced through the park, indicating that they were being watched.

As they reached the road on the other
side of the RV park without incident, they all breathed a sigh of relief.  As soon as Luke was on the road behind them, Nate proceeded towards the river.  An abandoned marina was just in front of them, sheltered inside a cove behind a man made barrier.  The barrier would have been used to provide shelter from the river's current, while boats pulled in and out of their slips.  The only boats that remained were sunken at their moorage.  Nate assumed that they were abandoned and eventually filled with rain water long after the battery that fed the float activated bilge pump no longer held a charge.