by Sage du Toit
The first driveway of the Welcome Center lead into the 18-wheeler parking area. The first thing they noticed was that all of the doors on the back of the box trucks were hanging open. The trucks were all parked in a row and they drove down behind them. Some of the trucks had their goods pulled out and thrown on the pavement, others had leftover trash from where they were emptied, and two were completely empty. Sam already had her M16 at the ready and Tom had his 9 mm unstrapped and ready to pull out. They intentionally didn’t have any lights working on the Bronco. Tom had asked Hernandez to disable all of the lights so not even break lights showed when he was tuning it. Hernandez was an auto mechanic wiz; the Bronco was now running smooth and quiet. He even removed the light bulb in the glove box.
They slowly drove through the trucks, looking for any light, sound or movement. When they drove into the automobile parking area they saw that someone had ripped the bars off from in front of the vending machines and all of the fronts were pried open and emptied. But this looked like it had happened some time ago, because there were leaves blown into the fronts of the vending machines. There were a few cars in the lot and at least half of them had one door open and there were bodies lying on the ground next to some of them where they had been pulled from the car.
There was a slightly raised area behind the Welcome center and it was partially fenced off, going up and over the hill. Tom drove the Bronco all the way around the Welcome Center, checking to see if there was anyone here. They didn’t see any movement, but decided not to go inside the Welcome Center, there wasn’t anything in there they needed. Tom drove the Bronco back around to the back of the building and over the curb and up on the hill. Weaving through the trees, back into the woods as far as he could get it and then turned it around and backed into some bushes. He turned the Bronco off and they sat and listened for a few minutes.
He motioned to her to wait a minute and he reached around to his pack and pulled out an infrared scope. It was something he had from his original kit. He looked all around the Welcome center and through the trees. Finally, he said, “OK, it looks all clear but from the looting we just saw I would say there are survivors in this area. So, until we know more about them, we need to avoid them and keep them from seeing us.” Sam nodded her understanding. They had discussed all these things before they left and she knew he was just reiterating.
They decided to set the bigger tent up for the night and eat MRE’s. Sam ducked into the woods with the e-tool to relieve herself first. She was hoping to use the restroom at the Welcome Station, but it was too much of a risk. When she returned, Tom already had the ground cloth down and the tent up and was putting their packs and sleeping bags inside. Sam hadn’t seen the tent set up until now. It was a dark green popup style tent and she could see there was still a piece sitting off to the side. She picked it up and asked Tom what it was, and he said the weather cover. He was waiting for her help to put it on. Once they had it draped over the tent and staked down they got the last of the things they wanted out of the Bronco, locked it and crawled in the tent and zipped it up.
It was still light outside but it was dark as night inside of the tent. Tom turned on a lantern he had sitting by the door. Sam asked him how the tent was so dark, she had been camping plenty of times as a kid and never remembered tents being dark like this. He said it was a black out tent, it kept the light out and more importantly, it kept the light in!
Sam unrolled the sleeping bags and they both blew up the air mattresses and put them together then unzipped both sleeping bags and spread them out on top so they could sleep together. It was only a little chilly out at night and Sam tended to get cold easier than Tom, so she got her poncho liner out for additional warmth. They got comfortable, taking off their boots and tactical vests and over shirts but leaving t-shirt, pants and socks on. Sam also took down her hair and brushed it out. Tom sat and watched her brush her hair, almost like he was enchanted.
Then they broke open the MRE’s. The only thing they had to eat all day was a bag of beef jerky from the glove box and they drank the whole thermos of coffee. Sam was already wondering how she would make hot water for coffee tomorrow. They used the Flameless Ration Heaters for the MRE’s main dishes. Sam put the metallic looking pouch in the plastic bag and added a little water, she then slipped it into the cardboard sleeve and sat it up. Sam and her dad had always competed to get the better MRE, looked like her and Tom were going to be the same way. Tonight, they had Shredded BBQ Beef or Mexican Style Chicken Stew. They both wanted the beef, so they played Rock, paper, scissors until Sam won three games. She happily took the beef and ate half then gave the package over to Tom. It wasn’t as great as she had hopes for!
She ate her cheese spread and tortilla then stole Tom’s fresh fruit pack from his pile of MRE packets that he had laid out. They talked quietly as they ate. Some about the past, some about what they hoped to find when they got to Texas. As well as the probability that it was going to take them much longer than they had expected. They had 30 MRE’s left, two cases and they each had 4 in their kit bags. So they had plenty of food. They also had a siphon hose to get gas out of stalled cars. They were originally going to take a diesel vehicle but Maria pointed out it would be easier to get gas and a gas vehicle is quieter.
They took their time eating and looking through all of the little packets that came in the MRE’s. They saved the pouches of drink mix and Hot coco. She gave Tom her cookie so he shared his First strike bar with her, which was apple cinnamon flavor. They packed up their garbage and brushed their teeth using water and a canteen cup. Sam wanted to relieve herself before they laid down so Tom handed her a set of night vision goggles and turned out the lantern. When she put them on and saw he also had a pair on.
They both went out of the tent and she dumped the canteen cup they used to brush their teeth and then found a spot close by. Sam had taken wipes with her so she could clean up a little, she dug a small hole in the underbrush with her boot first and then relieved herself and wiped and buried it all under the brush. When she crawled back in the tent Tom was already there and he zipped it up and turned on the lantern when he was sure her night vision goggles were off. It was still early, just after 7 pm and neither were very tired.
Tom said he really enjoyed this morning, he loved how spontaneous she could be sometimes. He continued on telling her that sometimes he had a hard time holding back and he just wanted to push her against the wall and rip her clothes off. She smiled coyly at him and told him if he felt that way, then he shouldn’t hold back. He put his hand behind her neck and tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her into a deep kiss. His tongue explored her mouth and ran over her teeth. She gently sucked on his tongue and he moaned. He stroked her face softly with his hand and ran his finger over her lips and then pushed it in her mouth. She sucked on it softly while she looked him in the eyes. He started to slowly and sensually move the finger in and out of her mouth.
He moaned, “Samantha, you turn me on so much.” He kissed her again deep and then started removing her clothes. She reached down to help him and he pushed her hands away and told her to let him do it. He removed her pants first, running his hands down her legs. Then he removed her socks, one at a time, holding her leg up in the air and kissing all the way down until he was kissing the edge of her panties. Then he did the other sock and did the same things. He then removed her t-shirt, slowly moving it up as his lips followed the edge, kissing around her bra and then moving over her bra covered nipples and sucking the hard nipples through the fabric on each side. He slid her shirt over her head and tossed it off to the side. He kissed her as he pushed his fingers under the bottom of sports bra and then pushed it up over her breasts and pushing her breasts together he flicked his tongue from nipple to nipple, moving back and forth and then sucking each one hard, letting it pop out of his mouth. He pulled her bra over her head and tossed it with the other clothes.
He kissed back down and around her breasts, ignoring the nipples this time and jus
t lightly teasing around the edges. Then down her stomach and teased his tongue around her belly button. As he moved further down he left light sensual kisses on her skin. When he got down to her panties he moved down between her legs and put his mouth against her and blew hot air. He then pulled back and blew from a distance making the air cold. He pushed her panties off to the side and suddenly stuck his tongue inside of her. She cried out, not expecting the sudden thrusting of his tongue and her hips jerked. He held on tight to her hips and licked her hard, thrusting his tongue in and out of her and then sucking on her hard nub and flicking it with his tongue.
Sam was biting on her wrist to keep from shouting out. She couldn’t control her hips they were bucking and squirming and suddenly he was thrusting two fingers inside of her, all the way to his knuckles. She felt her body spasm and she could feel hot liquid coming out from inside of her. He moaned as he lapped it up and continued to thrust his fingers in and out. He pulled his body away but kept his fingers still thrusting she was getting close to the edge again she was right on the brink and he removed his fingers. He was suddenly on top of her and he rammed his hard shaft all the way inside of her.
She screamed in ecstasy just as he put his hand over her mouth to block the sound. He removed his hand and replaced it with his mouth. Kissing her hard, she could taste herself on him and it was a deep sexual taste, different than normal. He grabbed her hands and pushed them above her head, holding both of her wrists in one hand he continued to pound her as he reached down and grabbed her breast with his other hand.
He suddenly pulled out and flipped her over on her stomach and pulled her hips up and back so she was on her knees. He shoved his rod back in side of her and holding her hips he started pounding hard, faster and harder until she felt herself clench one more time as he exploded inside of her.
When he was done he pushed her down flat and lay down on top of her, his member still inside of her. He pushed her hair off to the side and kissed the back of her neck and she moaned as chills went down her spine. He rolled off her and pulled her over on her side and spooned in behind her. He whispered in her ear and asked her if she enjoyed that. She turned over and kissed him deeply. She told him that it was wonderful. Each time with him was amazing.
They cleaned up and then redressed, they needed to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. They snuggled under Sam’s poncho liner and the sleeping bag, both tired now and they wanted to make an early start in the morning.
Sam woke up once during the night, the tent wasn’t pitch black, Tom had opened some vents and windows before they fell asleep but warned her not to turn on any lights unless she closed them back. The moon was full and she could see it peeking through the trees above the tent through one of the holes. She lay quietly and listened, wondering what woke her. For a moment she thought she heard a vehicle, but it sounded far off. She kept listening and didn’t hear anything else and she drifted back to sleep.
17 November 2020 N-day +130
Augusta, GA
In the morning Sam told Tom that something woke her during the night and she thought she heard a vehicle. He said they would be extra careful leaving then. They packed up, ate the muffins and Sam thought they were going to have cold coffee. Then she saw Tom was squatted down behind the Bronco out of the wind. He had a flat rock and a canteen stove with a canteen cup of water over it. She couldn’t see any flames but there was already steam coming from the cup. He picked the cup up and poured the steaming water in their Thermos then added more water in the cup over the little stove.
Sam said, “I didn’t know we had those solid fuel bricks.” Tom said he had them in his original kit and some of his guys gave him some of theirs too. He turned and looked at her with a crooked smile, “I know how much you love your hot coffee!” Sam smiled and said, “Yes, you are right about that!” Tom added some of the instant coffee to the thermos and some creamer and sugar then put the lid on and shook it lightly. He poured her a cup and himself a cup then packed up the last of their gear.
They were sitting in the Bronco sipping their coffee. It was still dark outside and when she asked him, he said it was 04:30. They stashed their cups and put on the night vision goggles. They looked around for a few minutes to make sure there wasn’t any movement and to get use to the night vision goggles. Then Tom started the Bronco and slowly drove out of the woods, through the Welcome Center parking lot and back to the highway.
They had decided to say on the main highway since it didn’t pass through the middle of downtown Augusta. They drove through without any problems. Someone had moved the cars out of the way, so they didn’t even have to stop to move cars or back track to a different exit. They were still on the eastbound side going west because there seemed to be less cars on the that side of the road right now.
They had both relaxed once they had gone a few miles and didn’t see anyone. It was so early in the morning that even if someone was out there they would probably be asleep or standing guard over their camps. Tom was driving since they were using the Night vision goggles. He had much more experience with them and they decided he should drive now and Sam would drive later. He was driving slow though, he didn’t want to take any chances. They had gone about 10 miles in the last 20 minutes. They did have to weave in and out of a few cars but nothing blocked them. They had just passed a bunch of buildings and houses and knew they were on the other side of Augusta. They were coming up on a straight section with trees on each side.
Tom had picked up the speed, there weren’t any cars in the road that they could see on this side, just a few on the other side. Suddenly Tom yelled, “Oh Shit!” And slammed on the breaks, but it was too late. Someone had placed spike strips in the road and put camouflage over them so he couldn’t see them with the night vision goggles. The Broncos tires exploded and the Bronco careened off the road to the left. Sam tried to brace herself but the Bronco was rolling down the slope. She could hear Tom saying “Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck” the Bronco hit the trees hard and Sam blacked out.
Chapter 20
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Sam woke up and didn’t know where she was. Her head hurt and she started to groan when suddenly Tom was right at her ear shushing her. She opened her eyes and saw she was in the bushes and her gas mask was on her face. She looked around and saw her kit bag next to her and Tom had his on his back. Both of their M16’s were over his shoulder and he was looking through the bushes at something. She carefully rolled over and looked through the leaves. The Bronco was about 50’ away and there were men walking down the hill toward it carrying guns. That didn’t look good...
Tom turned to her and signed, “Can you get your pack on without making noise?” She nodded and carefully slipped her arm through her pack and slid the heavy bag over and on to her back, she slowly pulled the straps down, tightening it and wrapped the belt around her waist and eased the buckle in without letting it snap. She looked up at Tom.
Still signing, he said, “Keep down, keep quiet, follow me” He did a slow low-crawl, heading toward a big tree that had fallen down. When he started crawling she noticed there was a big rip on his pants and blood all over his face and arms, but he wasn’t leaving a trail of blood, so he had either stopped the bleeding or it wasn’t his blood, or maybe both. She looked down at her hands and saw there was a little blood but then she had to concentrate on moving quietly behind him, because he was trusting her to keep-up. She moved exactly where he did, knowing he would pick the quietest path. She was struggling to keep up, the pack was heavy and her tactical vest was not easy to low crawl in without making noise.
When she reached the tree, she saw that the base had come up roots and all, she looked around and saw several trees had come down that way. There had obviously been some flooding in this area and the roots must have become saturated. Tom was carefully easing some leaf litter and detritus that had built up against roots, up and away so that it made a kind of solid piece. When he had it pulled back, she coul
d see there was an empty space inside, behind all the roots. Tom eased out of his pack and pushed it in the hole and motioned for her to come forward. He signed for her to take her pack off and she undid the straps and he lifted it from her back and slid it down the hole with the other one.
He motioned for her to slide in the hole, feet first. He kept checking over his shoulder looking toward the Bronco. She could hear men’s voices but she wasn’t sure what they were saying. She slipped down into the hole and saw that it was tear shaped. She pushed the bags back with her behind and squeezed back as far as she could go to make room for Tom. He pushed the two M16’s through the hole to her and then he disappeared for a moment. She got scared, because she thought he was going to come in the hole and hide too.
It was still dark out so she couldn’t see anything through the small gap and then his boots were coming down and she helped to guide him to the empty space that was left. As he wiggled his way in he pulled the forest debris back over the hole. She could now here the men shouting.
One distinctive male voice vehemently rasped, “Their gone damn it! Find them now! This Bronco is full of good shit! There’s no telling what else they might have.”
Sam couldn’t see Tom but she felt his hand move down and grab her hand. He squeezed it and then put his hand inside her hand and made the sign for “I love you.” In their time together, he had never said those words. Sam was scared and she hoped it wasn’t a bad sign that he was saying that now.