The Ark Series (Book 2): The Ark of Attrition

by Scott Kotrous

  Is seems like smooth sailing until it happens—their worse fear comes true. The lead plow slams into something hidden by the snow and comes to an abrupt stop. The second truck following too close behind slams into the front truck, stopping it in its tracks. Simons truck slides to a stop just a few feet from smashing into the other trucks. Dave jumps out of the truck to assess the damage, and doesn’t like what he sees. He’s soon joined by Simon, Jason, Kelly, and Peter. The look of defeat evident on everyone’s face, uncertain as to what to do. The two snow plows are heavily damaged and they are not even sure if they will start up again.

  After a short discussion, Dave jumps back into the lead truck, and Jason gets in the second truck. The second truck won’t even start, pinning them both against whatever they hit in the road. They know Simons truck will never be able to drive through the deep snow, and they are left with only one option—finishing the trip with the sleds, or on foot. They consider going back the way they came, but since they are so close they decide it’s a doable trip that can be made.

  Simon backs up his truck and they pull out the ramps from the back of the second truck, and proceed to back the sleds down the ramp one by one. They assemble a couple of makeshift sleds and fill them with as many supplies as they can, and then tie them off to the backs of the snowmobiles.

  They continue to load up the sleds when they feel something on their back that they haven’t felt in what seems like an eternity—the sun. They all look up to see the clouds parting and the sun peeking through the dissipating clouds. They all begin to celebrate and cheer at the sight and feel of that beautiful warmth radiating on their faces.

  Their happiness and jubilation is quickly cut short when Dusty begins to get anxious and alerting them to something from back the way they came. He begins to jump up and down and then bark in that direction, and they know something’s coming their way. They scramble to get the sleds and everyone behind the trucks and prepare for a defensive stand. They know it can’t be infected coming their way because they couldn’t thaw out that fast. Peter attempts to control Dusty and quiet him, but he continues his alerting behavior.

  And then they see what he’s been alerting them to, what looks like two military style Humvee’s moving at a fairly high rate of speed and coming right at them. Simon turns to Dave who looks relieved, and then looks at his son. He fears the worst, and somehow knows Marshal has something to do with it—the potential randomness just seems too unlikely.

  Simon waists no time for them to get closer. “Peter, you, Kelly and the girls get on those sleds and get the hell out of here. Make your way to Boulder and we’ll catch up with you.”

  Dave looks at him in shock. “What! What are you talking about, Simon? They can help us. No one is going anywhere.”

  “This is not a request, it’s an order. Peter, get on that sled now and get the fuck out of here, do I make myself clear?”

  Peter looks at his dad very confused and then looks at Dave looking the same. “Dad, what’re you talking about? Dave’s right, they can help us, it’s the military.”

  Simon ignores them both and goes back to loading a few last things on the sleds. He looks back at everyone standing around doing nothing, just waiting for an explanation. “Go now. We’ll make sure they’re friendlies and come find you. You’ll be easy to track in the snow so you won’t be hard to find. Worst case scenario we’ll meet at the address Maggie gave us. Do you understand?”

  “Dad?” Peter said.

  Dave walks over to Simon and gets in his face. “You need to tell us what’s going on and tell us now. You’ve been acting strange ever since you met with Marshal, and we need to know why.”

  Simon looks back to see the Humvees get about fifty yards away and stop. Military personnel empty from their vehicles and set up behind the open doors and pointing their rifles in their direction. Simon grabs his son by the jacket and leads him to the sled. “Get going right now. That’s an order, son! After we’ve made contact, we’ll catch up to you guys.”

  “Simon, what the fuck!” Dave said.

  Simon looks at Dave. “I can’t explain right now, but just trust me. They need to get out of here right now.” He looks back at Peter. “You just have to trust me, son. Do you remember the address of the girl?”

  Peter sees the look in his eyes and knows that look. His dad has always taken care of him and knows he’s just doing the same thing now, he’s just not sure why. “I remember the address. And alright, we’ll go. Okay, we’ll go.”

  Kelly looks at her husband, then at Simon, and back to her husband. “Jason? What should we do?”

  Jason looks at his wife, then at Simon. He contemplates for a second and shakes his head. “Just go. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Dave looks at his brother with surprise. “What! Bro, I don’t want to split the group up, not to mention those men can help us.” He points in the soldiers’ direction.

  Jason ignores his brother and helps his wife on the sled before giving her a hug and kiss, and telling her he loves her. Peter jumps on the other sled and slings his rifle on his back. Mia and Steph get on the back of each sled and hold on. Simon points his rifle straight up in the air and proceeds to fire off numerous rounds to mask the sound of them driving off with Dusty following right behind.

  Dave and Jason duck behind the truck as the soldiers return fire. Dave throws up his hands and looks at Simon with anger and frustration. “What the fuck is goin’ through your head, Simon, have you lost your mind!”

  “The trucks should block their view and the gunfire should mask the sound from the sleds,” Simon said.

  The gunfire stops and a voice from the megaphone instructs them to drop their weapons and get on their knees and interlock their fingers behind their heads. Simon announces that they will comply and they will drop their rifles and do what they say. A small group of soldiers walk up pointing their weapons. Two of the soldiers shoulder their rifles and move around them. They zip-tie their hands and bag their heads and lead them back to the vehicles.

  Meanwhile, Peter leads the way through the snow, the wind penetrating the small gaps in his clothing forcing him to shiver. He can feel Mia holding on as tight as she can and shivering even harder. He glances back behind and sees Kelly’s sled right behind his, and hopes Dusty is not far behind.

  They drive for about another half hour and finally get to a large fence, and know they’ve arrived. He stops at the fence and looks back to check on Mia shaking like a leaf, her grasp not as tight. Kelly and Steph pull up next to him looking just as cold, and to his relief, Dusty runs up not long after. They follow the fence line in the direction of where they think the main entrance will be—hopefully near the Boulder turnpike.

  They eventually get to the main gate that’s wide open, but with no one or nothing alive in sight. They drive into the camp and follow the directions they received to Maggie’s house.

  Chapter 18

  John’s eyes pop open when he hears something coming from the headset draped over his neck. He wasn’t even sure if he was sleeping or just in a state of eye rest; it was so hard to tell sometimes. He pulls his headset over his ears while flipping though the camera feeds on one of the monitors. Nothing out of the ordinary catches his eye, but he does notice them slowing down.

  He waits for a break in the conversation before speaking. “Can you please copy that transmission. What’s going on, why are we stopping?”

  Martin quickly responds, “Sir, it seems as though we’ve encountered some mechanical failures and system faults that need to be addressed. We’ll be stopping so the techs can make their assessment. Over.”

  “Copy that. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Not at this time, sir. My techs will take care of it. You can just sit tight and we’ll be on our way in no time. Over.”

  “Alrighty, well I wouldn’t mind getting some fresh air. I’ll meet you outside.” John pulls off his headset just as the faint sound of Martin’s voice falls to his waist side.


  Moments later, after multiple crew members walk by, Martin walks up and crosses his arms. “Sir, please wait for a moment while my men set up a perimeter.” He reaches out his arm, and John grabs it and pulls him up.

  “Thanks. I’m gonna get geared up anyway so they should have plenty of time. John pats Martin on the shoulder and walks back to the rear of the vehicle. He waits for everyone to get geared up before he puts on his gear. He notices that they didn’t put on much cold weather gear so he looks around the cabin for anything displaying the outside temp.

  Martin walks up behind him and stands right next to him. “What’ya lookin’ for, John? Can I help you find somethin’?”

  “The temp. I noticed they weren’t wearing much gear.” John stops looking around and looks at Martin.

  “Oh, you didn’t hear? The snow has slowed and the temp is up in the high thirties. The storms really mellowed out, and it’s barely down to a flurry giving us much better visibly.” Martin joins John at the equipment rack and they proceed to put on their gear.

  “Wow, almost forty degrees, that’s crazy. So what’s the issue with the equipment? Anything serious?” John pulls on his jacket and pauses to look at him since he didn’t get an immediate response.

  Martins hesitation is obvious and most likely there because he doesn’t want to make John nervous or get his mind racing. Martin continues to put on his gear while he explains the situation. Once he starts talking, John starts putting on his gear again while Martin explains that the Axle Alternator drivetrain isn’t working properly and needs to be looked at. Of course the solar panels haven’t been charging because of the snow, and so they are left with only the hemp fuel blocks that they are going through much faster then anticipated due to the fact that their initial fuel calculations were estimated based on the fact that they would have at least one of the alternate fuel sources at their disposal.

  They each grab a rifle before exiting the vehicle once they receive the announcement that the perimeter is secure. As soon as they walk outside, John reaches his arms out and puts his nose up in the air and inhales a big breath through his nostrils and then exhales loudly as the tranquil bliss of such peaceful snow- covered mountains envelope his soul. While closing his eyes, he steps forward and out of the area of packed snow and falls gracefully face first into a pillow of champagne powder. He just lays there for a second as the cold snow encases his face. Moments later he feels a tug on his jacket, and he’s immediately pulled up to his feet.

  He looks at Martin and blows some of the snow from his face before smiling and nodding his head. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. Anyway, please, continue what you were sayin’.”

  Martin chuckles a little but then goes right back to telling him about the situation they’re in. He leads John to the trailer containing the hemp fuel supply and points out the LCD display showing the low amount of fuel left. John notices the train of men handing off cubes of hemp down the line and resupplying all three vehicles with an adamant supply of fuel block that he assumes should last a while. So far they haven’t had to attempt an ‘in motion’ truck fuel supply handoff, that by the sound of it didn’t seem extremely safe to John.

  After discussing a few more details, Martin leads him over to where the techs are diagnosing the Alternator Axle issues and hopefully determining why it’s been failing. They get the rundown on why it’s not working properly, but was described something neither of them could understand—evident by the looks on their faces. Martin eventually interrupts the tech and asks for it to be put in layman’s terms, but even that seemed complicated. Finally, he just asks if it can be fixed or not, and he was answered with a reluctant ‘no’ and a not too certain ‘maybe’ possibility, leaving John with an uneasy feeling in his stomach that eventually turns into a knot.

  They wait until the techs finish their assessment before getting back into the Havoc. After the team gets settled back into their positions, they are back on their way—Boulder in their sights.

  Chapter 19

  Maggie jumps when she hears a pounding on the bunker door and looks at everyone at the table not moving. They’ve all been on edge more than usual after realizing Maggie’s potential fatal mistake of giving out their address to an unknown person who could turn out to be Brock’s home invaders. She’s been beating herself up inside ever since, but when they hear the faint sound of Nate’s voice on the other side, she knows they can relax just a little bit. Maggie stands up and waits for everyone else to join her before moving to the door. She turns the manual locking mechanism and, with the help of others, opens the bunker hatch.

  Nate rushes in and informs everyone that someone’s at the front door. They all look at each other before grabbing their rifles and handguns, running upstairs, and getting into position flanking the front door. They wait for another knock before Nate yells out.

  “Who is it?”

  The voice on the other end yells back. “My name is Peter, and I’m looking for Maggie. She spoke with a person named Dave and gave us her address.”

  Maggie looks through the peephole and sees a guy standing in front of a woman with two younger girls and a dog. “Peter? Dave mentioned he was part of the military, remind me what that was?”

  “Navy. He’s a Warrant Officer with the Navy; he’s a SEAL.” Peter gets closer to the peephole and attempts to look in.

  Maggie thinks he’s telling the truth, but she’s still wary. Anyone could have heard their radio transmission—anyone including the people who invaded Brock’s house. “Where’s Dave, why isn’t he here?”

  “We got split up on the way over, he, my dad and another person from our group stayed behind and said they would catch up to us later,” Peter said.

  Maggie looks back at everyone with blank stares on their faces. She thinks for a second and then looks back through the peephole. She doesn’t think one guy and three girls could have killed Brock—especially since two of them looked pretty young. But the possibility of an ambush hiding out of sight is still lingering in the back of her head. “Alright, everyone needs to lay down their rifles, remove their jackets, and slowly turn around with their hands up.”

  She watches as the two adults lay down their weapons and take off their jackets and turn around. Peter keeps his hands up and says, “It’s just Kelly and I carrying weapons, neither Steph or Mia are carrying. We’ve dropped our rifles and handguns, what do you want us to do now?”

  Maggie checks her rifle and has a quick conversation with her group before unlocking the door and slowly opening it. They are all shocked at the sight of the sun peeking though the clouds and reflecting off the snow, and it forces everyone to squint their eyes. Nate and Eric wait for their eyes to adjust before opening the storm door and slowly walking out, rifles trained on Peter. The dog starts to whine and get anxious, but Peter quickly gets him under control using verbal commands. Maggie and Kristie stand in the doorway pointing their rifles at Peter with Jen and Sam right behind them, while Eric and Nate walk around them in opposite directions to check the sides of the house. Once they clear the front yard, they walk back over and Eric stands guard while Nate pats Peter down, and then asks Kristie to pat the girls down. They tell everyone to get inside without their weapons that Eric and Nate grab on the way in.

  They lock the door behind them and Maggie lowers her rifle. “You guys can put your arms down; we just have to be cautious that’s all, I’m sure you understand.”

  Everyone lowers their arms. “We completely understand. You can’t be too cautious these days.” Peter attempts to calm his dog down by petting him. “Sorry, this is Dusty, he’s friendly but just gets a little excited sometimes.”

  Kelly reaches her hand out. “Hi, I’m Kelly, and this is Mia and Stephanie. My husband, brother-in-law, and Peter’s dad should be here soon, and quite possible accompanied by some military soldiers. But thank you for letting us into your home, and rest assure, we mean you no harm and we’re just thankful we found you guys. It’s quite a blessing.
”

  Maggie looks at everyone still holding their rifles up and motions with her eyes to lower them, which everyone does. “Well that remains to be seen since we haven’t had too many blessings in a while. But we’re still alive so I guess the blessing is the obvious. But the main reason why we’re so cautious, well besides the obvious, is because our neighbor was just killed by home invaders.”

  Kelly covers her mouth with her hand and then says, “Oh my god, when did this happen?”

  “Just the other night so we’ve all been a little on edge ever since, well more on edge than usual. But please come in, take off your wet clothes, and make your way over to the fire and warm up. We have MRE’s and water for anyone who needs them, so don’t hesitate to ask.”

  Peter bends down to untie his boots but then stops. “Oh, wait, I almost forgot. We have supplies of our own that we towed behind the snowmobiles, should we go get them?”

  Maggie bites her lip and hesitates, but after looking into everyone’s eyes she just somehow knows she has nothing to worry about. “Sure. Eric and Nate can help you get your supplies, but make it fast, okay. Also, move your sleds into the garage, we don’t want any unwanted guests thinking there’re people living here. And please forgive me for not letting you carry your weapons just quite yet, but both Nate and Eric will be armed so you should be fine.”

  Peter nods his head in agreement and then looks down and away. The three guys discuss a quick plan and then exit the house. Maggie closes the door and waits while the three girls remove their snow gear. No one says a word while they get undressed. They follow Maggie into the living room, but Kristie stays behind to wait for the guys. They immediately go over to the fire, and then Maggie hands them all some bottles of water and MRE’s.

  All six of them jump when they hear the banging on the door, but soon relax once they remember it’s just the guys coming in from gathering the supplies. Maggie gets up and grabs her rifle, but stops when Kristie enters the room looking surprisingly relaxed and even a little happy. They exchange a quick smile as she walks by and then goes over and sits next to Mia and Steph. Maggie stares at the doorway leading to the foyer and then looks back at the four girls all huddled around the fire eating their MRE’s. She looks at her rifle and then leans it against the couch and smiles at everyone.