They both returned to their vehicles. Ben was glad to see that Sam had settled down and was back into her usual spot, close against Emma’s side.
“Maybe we got our excitement over for the day,” Sandy said.
“Yeah, maybe.” Ben wished she hadn’t said that. He wasn’t superstitious in the least, but he wasn’t one to tempt fate. He slid the pistol back into the console and put the Blazer in gear. Without thinking, he tried to look back at Joel in a mirror that wasn’t there. The lack of a side door mirror wouldn’t slow them down, but it served as a reminder of yet another close call.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ben thought about asking Bradley to come back to the Blazer, but he decided not to. He didn’t want the kids thinking they were in danger any more than they actually were. Making Bradley ride with him would have also meant giving in to what happened. Admitting that it wasn’t safe for Bradley to be with his brother and Allie would feel too much like surrendering. It was too early in the day to stomach a loss and what would surely be a shot to morale.
Checking the rearview mirror this time, Ben confirmed that Joel was on his way and following them as he picked up speed. They’d never forget about the incident, but the farther away they were, the less they would think about it. The air was still cool and somewhat refreshing. There was time to recover some of that optimistic attitude they had started the day with.
The truck was quiet. Even Sam seemed distant as she stared out the back window at nothing in particular. Ben wanted to say something—anything—to change the mood and the thoughts that were plaguing everyone’s minds, but he didn’t want to come off as trying too hard. It would be obvious and might cause his daughter to worry more. So rather than risk being awkward, he remained silent.
It wasn’t long before Emma had her face buried in a book. He was happy to see her occupied and hoped that whatever she was reading provided her at least a temporary escape from reality. He tried to think about things from her perspective. It was becoming too easy for him and the others to consider these incidents as being normal—or what passed as normal these days. But other than what they had seen over the last day, Emma and Bradley hadn’t been exposed to the world beyond Jack’s property.
The loss of Jack and the reality that they would most likely never see their mother again had to be taking its toll on them. Maybe they hadn’t accepted that yet. It was possible that they both held out hope for the impossible. But some part of them had to know how unlikely it was.
Ben tried not to think about it, but the thought of being stuck on a cruise ship forced its way into his mind. If Casey was on the ship when the EMPs hit, her fate would be sealed as far as he was concerned. She might as well be stuck on a deserted island. There would only be enough food and water to last a little while. Add in the human element, and it would get ugly pretty fast.
Once the ship started running out of supplies, the worst of human nature would rear its ugly head. The crew would be heavily outnumbered by the passengers, and it would be mob rule. Dead and adrift on the ocean in this heat would be a fate he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy, let alone the mother of his children. They weren’t on great terms, but he didn’t want that for her and didn’t want the kids to have to think about that, either. He tried to focus on other things, tried to push the thought from his mind. There was nothing he could do about it.
“How far do you think we’ll get today?” Sandy examined the road atlas in her lap.
“I’m hoping to be within an hour or two of the Ohio-Indiana border. As soon as we’re past Pittsburgh, we can start to drop down and pick up I-70 somewhere past Columbus.” Hoping to reach Indiana or even close to the state line was probably a bit too optimistic, but it was a good goal. Ben would be content with reconnecting with Interstate 70 again. They would be back on familiar ground, for whatever that was worth, and in his mind, that would feel like they were making significant progress. It would also put them about a day away from Cloverdale and the relative safety it offered.
Ben watched out of the corner of his eye as Sandy traced the map with her finger. She stopped when she reached the small red circle he’d drawn.
“Are we going to stop in Cloverdale?” she asked.
“That’s the plan. It’s a safe place to fuel up and rest.” At least it was. He left that part out, but he couldn’t help but think about it. He hated how skeptical he was becoming; the road had taught him to always assume the worst. It was more likely than not that Vince and his crew had been overrun by the gang that kept attacking them. They were holding their ground, but just only, it seemed to Ben.
The town’s defenses were wearing thin, along with the people. He could see it in their eyes that morning at breakfast: the late-night raids had taken their toll. Ben still felt a small amount of guilt about leaving them, not that he had a choice. His only consolation was in knowing that he’d taken out one of the bad guys for them.
He hoped he was wrong about Cloverdale’s fate, but he couldn’t allow himself to count on it still being there, at least not the way he remembered. The interstate ran right by the town, so they weren’t risking anything by giving it a try. Or were they? If they had learned anything on this trip, it was that there were no guarantees. If Emma wasn’t there, he might have said as much out loud.
There was no point in worrying about all that right now, though. They had a long way to go before it was a concern. There were plenty of dangerous places before Cloverdale. He had plotted a route around the major cities, but at this point, people who had the means to get out would have done so by now. The once sleepy and quiet small towns and rural areas might not be that way anymore. And all bets were off when it came to what people would resort to in order to survive. They had already seen firsthand too many examples of human nature gone bad. The animals might be unpredictable, but Ben would rather take his chances with aggressive wildlife over ill-intentioned people any day.
In his mind, he could excuse the animals’ behavior; it was an environmental factor, or so he thought. But the bad people they encountered had made a choice to harm others. Survival was no excuse, as far as he was concerned. Making the decision to harm someone for one’s own benefit was never excusable. Every person who tried to cause them harm knew better but made a conscious decision to do otherwise. He had little compassion for those types, and what little he had diminished with each encounter, along with his reluctance to take a life when needed.
Killing another human being was an evil he thought he’d left far behind in a life that seemed more like a bad dream than reality. His nightmares confirmed it was real, though, on many occasions, yet they were nowhere near as frequent as they once were. Unfortunately he feared it was due to the old dreams being replaced by fresh ones.
Out here on the road, they had all been forced to make some tough decisions. Really, the decisions had been made for them; in most, if not all, the situations they had been in, the consequences of inaction would be their deaths. He hated that Joel had been forced to do these things, and it made him angry to think about his son being robbed of his innocence and youth because of what the world had become. But there was no one to take it out on, and Ben felt the weight of it.
He carried the anger like a burden and found himself laying it on the next person whom they came across and who tried to get in their way. Killing someone who looked like you, in your own country, and on a street that looked familiar was a different kind of guilt. The wars he fought in the army took place in a foreign land; the enemy was obvious and looked the part. It was his job then, and although it haunted him, he could leave those places behind, at least physically. But here, now, this was American soil. There was no leaving this behind.
If life ever returned to normal, he wouldn’t be able to travel through these places without seeing the faces and reliving the encounters. If they were fortunate enough to make it home, he would never leave Durango again. He might change his mind at some point, but that was how he felt right now.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Ben’s hopes for the rest of the morning going smoothly were fleeting, along with the cool mountain air. Reaching for his sunglasses, he almost didn’t notice the large tree lying across the road in time to stop.
“Look out!” Sandy shouted.
“Whoa!” Ben stood on the brakes and checked to see that Joel had seen them. Fortunately, he did and brought the Jeep to a swift stop several feet behind them. Ben leaned over the steering wheel as he studied the downed tree in silence for a while. Neither end of the massive oak was visible, with both the base and the top extending into the woods far beyond the road.
Cutting through the tree would have been a formidable task with his chainsaw, which was back in the garage at home. He didn’t even want to think about how long it would take with the ax he had with him. And even if they did manage to chop their way through and free it from the guardrail, it might still be too big to push or pull out of the way.
With a near-vertical rock wall to their right and a steep drop-off to their left, there was no going around the tree, so they had little choice. He hated to admit it, but they would have to go back and look for another way.
Emma’s reading had been interrupted by the sudden stop. “What do we do now?”
“I guess we’re going to have to find another way.” Ben heard the sigh as she leaned back in her seat and slouched down. Sam stood up and put her front paws on the center console while wagging her tail and panting loudly. She was oblivious to their predicament.
Ben thought about the road they had been driving on this morning. “Can I see the map?”
“Sure, here you go.” Sandy handed Ben the atlas. “I saw a dirt road on my side about a half-mile back.”
Ben studied the map for any trails, but as far as he could tell, there was nothing indicated. Taking an unmarked trail could lead them to a dead end or, worse, right back where they started. It would also waste a lot of time if it didn’t pan out.
Ben heard Joel approaching. “What’s the plan?”
“Dad says we have to find another way now,” Emma said with disappointment in her voice.
Joel was at the window now. “I saw a trail back a little ways. We could try that.”
“It must have been the same one I saw,” Sandy added. Ben wondered how he had missed this trail; he had been in deep thought this morning. He would have to do a better job of paying attention to their surroundings, especially once they were out of the mountains and back into more populated areas.
“Let’s take a look and see if we can figure something out.” After taking a closer look at the tree, Ben doubted anything would change, but his intentions weren’t entirely about finding a way through. He was suspicious of the tree and its condition. It wasn’t dead or rotten, and mixed in with the dry brown leaves was the occasional green, leafed branch. It wasn’t healthy by any stretch, but it looked no different than any of the other trees in the forest. They hadn’t seen any others down in their travels through the mountains here, and it just didn’t seem natural.
Ben inspected the tree and made his way toward the base. He climbed the rock face that bordered the road on their right until he could see the root ball of the tree. He wanted to confirm that the tree hadn’t been cut down on purpose in order to make a roadblock. Contrary to what his gut told him, it appeared to be a natural occurrence.
“This thing is huge. It’ll take all day to chop through this.” Joel eyed the trunk from one end to the other. Even at its smallest point on the other side of the road, it was nearly two feet in diameter.
“Yeah, I’m afraid there’s no getting around this.” There was no way Ben was going to waste the better part of a day chopping wood. What he wouldn’t give for his Husqvarna 455 Rancher right now.
“Should we head back to the dirt road I saw and give it a try?” Joel asked.
“I guess we can.” Ben wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but he’d looked at the map and there was nothing for miles. They would have to backtrack past where they had camped by twenty miles or more, to where a secondary would take them on a winding path around the mountain and reconnect with the road well beyond the fallen tree. But that would take them the better part of the day as well.
The trail Joel and Sandy spotted was no guarantee, but it seemed like the better option, and more than anything, Ben wanted to keep making progress. Their other options might mean spending another night in the woods. After last night, he doubted Emma or Bradley would be too happy about that, and if he was being honest, he wasn’t thrilled about it, either.
He had been looking forward to this portion of the trip and thought it would bring a welcome break from the death and destruction on the bigger interstates, but now it felt like they were trapped. The once tranquil woods and fresh air seemed to be mocking them. Ben had hoped they might come out of this area recharged and somewhat rested. Instead, it had been one challenge after another.
What choice did they have? Taking Interstate 70 through the mountains and back past Pittsburgh wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to risk exposing them all to radiation again. South would have meant going back through Baltimore and way too close to D.C. for his liking. They had to cross over these mountains, but he was beginning to question his choice of routes.
Ben agreed to let Joel lead the way back to the trail since he was the one who knew where it was, but once they found it, Ben would take point in the Blazer. If the trail was rough or in poor condition, the Blazer would have a tougher time getting through than the Jeep. If the Blazer couldn’t make it, there was no reason to waste time, and they would have to suck it up and take the long way around.
Ben saw the Jeep’s brake lights sooner than he expected, and shortly after, he spotted a fairly open and well-worn dirt road that he couldn’t believe he’d missed earlier. Joel made a wide turn and stopped, leaving room for Ben to pass and lead the way up the mountain. Ben thought it was a little odd that the road looked well-used. No overgrown weeds covered the entrance; there were only a few here and there between the wheel tracks of the trail.
All the other places they’d ventured off-road had almost hood-high grass and overgrowth, but not here. Maybe this was a well-used off-road recreational area before the EMPs.
Ben checked his paranoia for the time being and shifted the Blazer into four-high before starting up the steep incline. He motioned for Joel to give him a little extra space as the Blazer’s tires began to spin and shoot small pieces of gravel behind them. As they climbed, Ben had to give it more gas to maintain forward momentum and didn’t want to risk taking out one of Joel’s headlights or windshield with a shooting rock. He was glad to see the trail level off a little up ahead, and before long, they were cruising along at a casual pace without much effort.
Other than the strip of vegetation up the middle and the occasional rock or pothole, the trail was in good shape and plenty wide enough for the old Chevy. Sam bounced off Emma, struggling to stay balanced every time they hit a rut. The big yellow dog was excited about the new path they were taking, and she strained to push her nose out the window on Sandy’s side of the truck. Ben wondered if Sam thought they were going hunting. Jack had taken her along on many off-road excursions; it was the only way to reach some of the duck blinds he used.
He wished they were going hunting today. But they weren’t; they were trying to get home, and every second they spent driving through the woods felt like he was adding days to their trip. Ben hoped this trail came out beyond the fallen tree. If it turned out to be a dead end, he would prefer it happen sooner rather than later, before they invested too much time. But for right now, all they could do was tread lightly and see where it took them. Ben always hated taking risks, even when it was necessary. But that feeling was magnified when their very survival was at stake.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was encouraging to see the trail turn west, and Ben strained to look as far ahead as he could. As long as the trail continued in this direction, he was optimistic that it might eve
ntually lead them back out to the paved road.
Within a few hundred yards, they crested the hill they were climbing and leveled out onto an open meadow. They followed the wheel tracks through the tall grass until the terrain became rockier and led into the woods once again. As far as Ben could tell, they were still headed in the right direction, and now they were going slightly downhill.
In his experience with the Jeep trails around Durango, once you started heading downhill, you were usually headed out of the forest and toward the end of the trail. They hadn’t gone that far, maybe two or three miles. But these mountains were significantly smaller, so he wouldn’t expect a San Juan-sized off-road trail here.
A little farther along, they came to a switchback section, and the terrain began to steepen. He was sure they were on their way out now and headed in the right direction. Another switchback lay just ahead, and as they crept around the sharp curve, Ben saw a fork in the trail. It led back up the mountain.
It was an easy decision to stay on the trail leading down. The fork looked like it would lead them deeper into the woods and back up into higher elevations. They continued downhill for another half-mile or so to where the terrain leveled off again. The woods were thick through this section and closed in on both sides of the trail. Scraping along the sides of the Blazer, the overgrowth squealed and scratched at the truck as they crept along.
Sam stood up on all fours and sniffed at the air. She had settled down and was content to sit next to Emma for the last couple of miles, but not anymore. Maybe she needed to go to the bathroom. Or maybe the noise of the branches hitting the truck had her worried. They could stop for a couple of minutes once they reached the road. It would be good for all of them to stretch their legs for a bit, because once they hit the pavement, Ben had no intentions of stopping until they needed fuel. All he could think about was making up for the time they’d lost trying to find a way around the fallen tree.
Dark Road (Book 7): Deception Page 11