The King's Highway (Days of Dread Trilogy Book 1) (15 page)

Boggs finished licking the big can’s insides while the little kids bedded down. He noted the rooms that each chose then joined Jackson outside. The biggest boy positioned himself between the two buildings with his back against the larger one, a good guard place. He liked Cooper’s big brother, especially the way he took care of the little ones.

He still didn’t understand why the boy let that bad man live. Seemed maybe akin to his master not wanting him to kill or even chase those nasty coyotes; except the wild ones weren’t evil. But that man who tried to steal the new girl, nothing but malicious; his eyes showed only wickedness with no mercy or kindness in them at all.

Boggs lay next to the boy’s leg and closed his eyes, allowing himself a quick catnap. Jackson would stay awake for a while with no problem. He sniffed with one then the other nostril; made note of exactly what that place smelled like then drifted off. Sooner then expected, Jackson’s breathing slowed then took on the sleep rhythm.

The knowledge pulled Boggs closer to awareness, but he could still rest and keep his nose on alert.

The sun peeked over the smaller building, the one the kids called a barn, and brought Boggs fully awake. He liked its warmth, but its brightness meant more danger. Men prowled some at night, but nothing like the marauding they did during the day. He stood and glanced at the boy.

If anyone saw him, it would be hard to tell he was asleep, leaning there against the building with his hand wrapped around the pistol.

Boggs decided he’d circle around, check things out. Get eyes on whatever might be out there. Who knew? Maybe his master might come and bring some of that great tasting roasted meat. It’d be great to know exactly what animal that was. It tasted a lot like chicken, but better. Then again, maybe it wasn’t meat at all.

Whatever it was, it sure didn’t take much to fill him up, and it gave him so much energy. Maybe the next time his master came, he should save some for Cooper.

Halfway through his perimeter search, a foul odor stopped him. A good ways to the east, a fume rode on the morning breeze, one he hated so much. He followed his nose. Exactly where he figured. A paw full of those flying whirly machines sat in a semi-circle with their open backs toward a building.

Men who all wore the same clothes loaded sacks from the warehouse into the helicopters. The big transport birds had brought so much death to his old home. If he could, he would tear the throats out of every one of the soldiers and chew on their whirlybirds until they could never fly again, but he was smarter than that.

Some of those men who stood around held high-powered rifles and watched, searched for someone, anyone who dared to try something stupid.

No. Boggs learned his lesson a long time ago.

He would never act stupid again.   

Her warm moist lips pressed against his. Jackson reached for Aria, but she wasn’t there. He opened his eyes. Outside? He glanced down at his hand. The pistol rested in his lap, and realization flooded his soul. He preferred the dream, but would he ever allow himself the pleasure of a relationship with the beautiful dark-skinned girl?

Did he even want one? He smiled at himself and snickered. If dreams meant anything, apparently he did.

Rhythmic whoops pulled him from his contemplations. He stood. Off to the east, five big helicopters rose into the sky. Like the others he’d seen near Grand Prairie, they all carried the Soviet’s sickle and hammer brand. For a second, they hovered then dipped their noses east and flew away like a swarm of wasps. He allowed himself a breath. What were they doing?

Shortly, Boggs trotted into view. He’d forgetten about the dog. Last he remembered, the animal lay next to him. He couldn’t believe he’d gone to sleep while he was supposed to be standing guard or that the dog hadn’t waked him. Maybe he should never have sat down at all. That’s probably why they called it standing guard.

He patted his leg. Boggs joined him, and he rubbed the animal’s head. “You been checking out those bad Russians?”

The Pyrenees banged his tail against Jackson’s leg. He knelt beside him and scruffled his fur along his back with vigor. It was almost like he was answering the question. “What? Ten whacks means yes, fifteen no? You’re such a good boy.”

The dog’s tail beat harder.

Jackson laughed. “Sure would be great if you could talk.”

Of course the animal couldn’t. Jackson eased inside. If he had it right, the others had only been down for a couple of hours. Since he’d caught some rest, he’d let them sleep a while longer. He poked around the kitchen a bit, but didn’t find anything useful. Next, he moved to the den. A big screen TV still attached to the wall, spoke of the new reality.

Who would want to carry off a useless piece of electronics? The gun cabinet? A whole ’nother matter. It had been totally emptied just like the kitchen cabinets. Not even a spent shell remained. Same as not even a can of kidney beans got left. He hated the big, tough, dark red beans.

He checked out the few books still on the shelves. Nothing he wanted to read, but McKenzie might find one or two, but then she’d loaded up at the school, too. Even talked Al and Cooper into carrying a couple each for her. Jackson tiptoed down the hall. The girls were curled up in the master bedroom’s big four poster.

His little brother and Al had taken the room across the hall.

Two more bedrooms held nothing of interest, then right next to the closet housing the furnace, a steel door was locked. It had a few dings and scrapes like the bangers had tried to open it, but they must have decided it wasn’t worth the effort. He thought on it a minute then came to the same conclusion.

For sure it wasn’t worth waking the others up, beating on it, but still, maybe before they left….

Soon, he tired of poking around the house and moseyed out to the barn. Whoever had ransacked the place hadn’t been real interested in the barn. Most of the tools and other stuff rested just as the owner must have left them. A shadow crept over his soul. These folks had such a nice place and great stuff, but they’d high-tailed it and left it all.

Granted, most of it was worthless then, but how many hours had someone worked to pay for the huge tractor that would no longer run? And even if it could, where would a farmer get the fuel for it?

If Al was right, and the power wouldn’t ever be back on, and the Russians looted the country every day… What exactly could they be after? Sending five big transport helicopters out there to the boonies to get what? That question bounced around for a bit, but it seemed only one answer made any sense.

Grain. Or maybe beef. For sure, food of some kind, probably the grain.

If it had been cows, he would have heard them, wouldn’t he? Man, there was so much he didn’t know, that he needed to. Why hadn’t he paid more attention in school?

A soft whistle pulled him around. McKenzie stood in the door. “Hey.”

“You get any sleep?”

“Yeah, a little, but Aria isn’t a very good bed partner. She kept rolling over and kicking out. Since I was awake, I finally decided to just get up.” She glanced toward the sky. “It seems to be about our turn to be on watch anyway.”

“You get Al up?”

“Not yet.” She looked around. “Where do you think we should be?”

“Doesn’t matter, really. Boggs will let you know if there’s something out there.”

“You’re right about that. Is he the biggest blessing or what? We never could have had him at the apartment, but when we really needed a humongous guard dog, God sent us such a great one.”

“Yeah, right. The big guy in the sky sent him. How can you believe that if there is a supreme being, he would care about whether or not we had a dog?” He held both hands out. “It’s so ludicrous, Sis, and you’re usually of such a sound mind.”

“Of course He cares! About every need we have! It’s called faith, Brother, and you need some.” She shook her head and walked back toward the house. “I’ll get Al.”

McKenzie didn’t ask, and Jackson didn’t offer the revolver before he slipped into the bed that Al had just vacated. Seemed to him that he needed to know where their only weapon was at all times. At this particular time, it would rest under his pillow with his hand wrapped around the grip.

If the guys could only see him now.

He tried to remember what life was like before, but it all seemed like a hundred years ago. Wonder what his friends were doing. Did they have their parents to take care of them? Probably, but what could it matter, he’d never see them again. He bet they’d never believe he had four other people he was totally responsible for.

He slipped into a shallow doze, but knew when Cooper got up. He neither stirred nor opened an eye, just kept on lying there. McKenzie had promised to get him up if she decided to catch another nap. The doze slipped a bit deeper, into a blissful blackness that carried no accountability and no hard decisions.

But then too soon, the touch of the revolver’s cold blue steel brought him back to his reality. He rolled out of bed, painfully aware he was several thousand calories short of his daily requirement. Man, a Whataburger with double meat and cheese, fries, and a vanilla shake sure would get him going.

Then maybe a fat slice of apple pie with a big tall glass of milk.

He chuckled to himself; a can of sardines with some pecans on the road would have to do.

The others all sat around in the den. Al and Cooper played chess on a real board, while both Aria and McKenzie read books. Though Boggs was nowhere to be seen, Jackson knew he remained on the job. If he could, he’d buy the dog a Whataburger, or three.

“You guys eat?”

His sister marked her place. “No, not yet, figured we’d all eat together.”

Cooper jumped to his feet. “Hey, I found a key ring, and one of them fits that locked door in the hall, but McKenzie said to wait for you.”

“Cool, we’ll check it out after we eat something.” He faced his sister. “What are you thinking, hot or cold? I can light a fire. There’s an old grill in the barn.”

“I say hot, but no need for you to go to all that trouble. The stove works.”

“You serious?”

“Propane.” She smiled. “And I found some spaghetti, too, way in the back of a drawer.”

“Want to fix that and open the can of chicken to put in it?”

Cooper raised his hand. “Ooh, how about the pork and beans to go with it?”

“Let’s save those.” Jackson hated going though two of the giant cans they’d brought from the school, but canned chicken with spaghetti sounded so dry. “What could you make a sauce out of?”

Al raised his hand. “We found a jar of tomatoes, sir. Those who preceded us either didn’t care for the acidic fruit or either simply overlooked them. They were in the pantry’s floor under some junk.”

“Excellent. There wasn’t a loaf of French bread and a stick of butter hiding with them, was there?” Jackson smiled.

The nerd returned his mirth, then shook his head. “Regrettably, no.”

His little brother rubbed his hands together. “Yea! I love spussketti!”

While the girls, McKenzie mostly, got supper going, Jackson hauled water from the swimming pool. It was a bit green, but after straining it through a piece of bed sheet, he put it on the stove to boil. Al touched his arm then nodded toward the outside. Jackson shrugged and followed him out the door.

The boy pulled out the moon chart. “Sir, it appears we may soon encounter a slight predicament.”

“How so?”

“Moonrise isn’t until ten-sixteen, and as you can see, it’s waning fast. It persists in rising later and later each night.”

“Shouldn’t affect us too much. If I’ve got it figured right, we only have another fifty miles or so.”

“Exactly where are we going, sir? I mean I know to your grandparents’ home, but –”

“Honey Grove. It’s a little west of Paris off Highway Eighty-two. Their place is a ways out of town.”

The nerd looked around then leaned in close. “Sir, I have a confession.”

Jackson eyed Al hard. Had something happened behind his back with McKenzie? “What have you done?”

“Nothing, sir. It’s only that, as a man of honor, I desire to inform you that, well, I am quite enamored with your sister.”

“Okay.” Jackson stretched the ‘O’. “I knew that.”

He gave a nervous grin. “Well, good then. It also seems that for some extraordinary reason, she has warmed to my rather peculiar self of late, yesterday to be exact.”

Jackson hesitated blowing out his breath as he dragged his hand down his face. “What exactly are you talking about?”

The nerd glanced at the house then back. “When I threw myself into the fray against that felon attempting to steal Aria, your sister adopted the impression that I saved her from severe bodily harm.”

“Yes, I could see that. So what’s your confession?”

“I’m in love.”

“Al, come on. She’s only thirteen.”

“I’m profoundly conscious of that, but as you must know, she’s very mature for her young years, and I am primed to wait however long it might take to win her hand in marriage.” He glanced toward the house. “With your blessing, of course.”

“Okay, I appreciate you talking with me. And it’s cool with me. But.” He leaned in close. “I’ll kill you dead if you do anything inappropriate with her, you understand?”

“Yes, sir. Of course, sir. I wholly understand and am in total agreement.”

“Good.” He studied on the guy for a minute and didn’t discern any deceit in the nerd. If he wanted to be McKenzie’s friend boy, that was fine with him, as long as the relationship remained strictly platonic. “Let’s go check on supper.”

The meal reminded him so much of the way it used to be. Eating at a real table, on plates, and using silverware seemed so civilized. If only a big chunk of his mother’s hot buttered, parmesan garlic bread graced his plate, and a tall glass of milk sat behind it to the right, the meal would be perfect. Oh, how he hoped those times would be back one day.

He gathered the leftovers, scraped them back into the pot and put it all on the floor for Boggs, who just happened to return at the exact right time to eat. The dog must work off an internal radar, along with some kind of super stellar smeller.

“Hey, Al. What do you know about a dog’s sense of smell?”

The nerd did his look-off-remembering-thing then faced him. “Canines are able to distinguish and separate smells and tell exactly from which direction they originate. They enjoy noses over a hundred times more sensitive than man’s. Certain breeds of hounds, even more.”

McKenzie touched his arm. “You’re so amazing, knowing all that stuff.”

Cooper waved her off. “Yeah, but he can’t beat me at chess.” The boy grinned at his conquered opponent. “With or without the board.”

“It’s true. The little whiz has captured my king twelve games straight, but I’m on to him now. I’ll get him next time.”

“Wait, before you two get lost in your game.” Jackson stood. “It’s getting dark, and the moon doesn’t rise until after ten tonight, let’s – ”

“What?” Aria sounded incredulous. “The sun doesn’t ever go down that late.”

“The sun going down and the moon rising are two different things. If I can finish what I was saying, let’s get the candles and matches ready so we’ll have some illumination after the sun goes down but before the moon comes up.”

Her face reddened. “Oh, I didn’t – I get it now.”

He smiled his best no-big-deal grin and turned toward Coop. “So where’s that key ring, little brother?”

The boy pulled it from his back pocket and tossed it to him in one smooth move. “The game can wait. I want to see what’s behind that door.”

Seemed like everyone did. The other four bunched up behind him as he fitted the key into the door’s lock and twisted. It easily swung open. McKenzie handed him a lit candle. Its flickering flame brightened a small empty room and another door right in front of him.