“Do you need to go to the bathroom before I crash?”
Dave winced just a bit before answering.
“No, I’m good. And I’m glad. The only thing worse than peeing into a bottle is having to have you help me with it.”
“Trust me, dude, it’s no spring picnic for me either. But it could be much worse.”
“How so?”
“So far all you’ve been doing is sipping water. If you were eating food, that would be much worse.”
Dave couldn’t argue the point.
She crawled onto the outside of the bunk, her back to him, and Dave’s curiosity got the best of him.
“Hey, Red?”
“Yes?”
“I was just wondering. You being an attractive woman and all, and me being an average man, which as you know is just one step above an animal…”
“Oh, get to the point. I’d like to get some sleep tonight.”
“I was just wondering, aren’t you worried that I’ll get fresh, with you laying right here beside me and all?”
“No.”
“Not at all?”
“Not at all. For one thing, I get the sense you’re a straight shooter. You can’t steal alternators worth a damn. But you seem like an all right guy. You’re devoted to your wife and family, and you don’t strike me as the type of man who’d cheat on his wife. Even when the world’s gone to hell in a hand basket.”
“You’re right.”
“And there’s something else, too.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“If you got fresh with me, that beating you got would seem like a walk in the park compared to the beating I’d give you.”
“Yeah, I suspected as much. Good night, Red.”
“Good night, Dave.”
Chapter 40
Getting Dave from the big truck into the passenger seat of his Explorer was an adventure unto itself.
And not a fun one, either.
There was only about eighty feet separating the two vehicles, but it might as well have been eighty miles.
By the time he was strapped in and comfortable, they’d lost almost half an hour of darkness.
But once they were on the road, it didn’t seem to matter much. They made good progress.
“I’m going to stay on this highway instead of going back to the interstate,” Red told him. “Since you say there are FEMA and National Guard roadblocks around all the major cities.
“And, oh, by the way…”
Dave turned his head and looked at her.
“We have some time to kill, and I’m in the mood to play forty questions again. Only this time it’s my turn.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“How did you know about the FEMA road blocks? I mean, I know you saw the one south of Austin. But how did you know it was FEMA, instead of the local police? And how do you know it’s the same way at all the major cities?”
“Do you know what a prepper is?”
“Hey, I’m supposed to answer the questions. But yes, I know what a prepper in. There are a couple of them close to Blanco. One of them bought two old school buses and buried them underground in case there was a nuclear war. He and his wife live in them.”
“Well, luckily that hasn’t happened yet. But many of the preppers saw this coming, and made plans accordingly.”
“Is that what you were? A prepper?”
“Yes. But I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was, or I’d have protected a ham radio. Do you know what that is?”
“Isn’t it like a long distance CB radio?”
“Exactly. I didn’t save one, but some of the other preppers did. I have a good friend who did. And they use them to talk to each other, all over the world.”
“And they share information?”
“Exactly. That’s how I found out about the FEMA roadblocks, and about the prisoners who escaped from Fort Leavenworth. And that’s not all of it.”
“Go on.”
“FEMA, or some government agency, saw it coming too. They were able to protect a lot of their vehicles. Tanks, Humvees, even helicopters.”
“Ha! I knew it!”
“Knew what?”
“A few weeks ago I was out riding Bonnie west of Blanco, and I heard a helicopter buzz by, right over our heads. It was nighttime, no moon, just the stars up in the sky.
“The helicopter must have been black, because I saw a black shadow pass in front of the stars. But it had no lights. None at all.
“When we got back to Blanco I asked some of the others and they all laughed at me. They told me I was finally cracking up. I told them all to get bent and walked home.
“I knew I wasn’t going crazy… but, wait! You mean the government knew this was going to happen and didn’t do anything to stop it? Why would they do that? Imagine how many more lives would have been saved if everyone knew it was coming. Everybody could have prepared for it. Stockpiled food and water, and stayed off the roads on the day it was supposed to hit.
“If they knew, why in heck didn’t they tell us?”
Dave took a deep breath.
“I’ve believed for a long time that the government is made up of worthless politicians who are only out for themselves. I’m sure that all the higher ups in Washington knew about it. They were probably given some highly classified briefing and told what was going to happen so they had plenty of time to prepare for it.
“Or, heck, maybe it went deeper than that. Maybe FEMA did the preparations for them, and then spirited all the politicians and their families away to some safe place just before the lights went out.
“Maybe they’re all living in some big government camp now, a kind of nirvana where they have their own TV stations, and plenty of food and water and everything else the rich and powerful have become accustomed to.”
“That’s kind of cynical, isn’t it?”
“I’m just saying it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“So why wouldn’t they tell the rest of the world?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they thought the panic and its resulting chaos would cause more death and destruction than the blackout itself.
“Or, maybe they were afraid that if the word got out, the people would expect them to do more than give speeches, go on talk shows, and go to campaign fund raisers.”
Chapter 41
They continued to put the miles behind them, even crawling along in the darkness at what seemed like a snail’s pace. It helped that they went through two straight days of heavy rain north of Lampasas.
“What do you think?” Red had asked Dave. “I know the sun’s coming up, but I’m pretty sure that nobody with half a brain is gonna be out in this mess. What do you say we keep on going? Make up some of the time we lost back at Blanco?”
“You’ve driven all night long. Aren’t you too tired to go on?”
“Tired, yes. Sleepy, no. I’ve got a couple or three more hours in me. And you napped half the night. Three hours from me and three hours from you and we can make up a lot of ground.”
“Okay. I’m game. The windshield wipers don’t work, though, so we’ll have to be careful.”
They found that abandoned vehicles are much easier to dodge in daylight than at night, even without working windshield wipers.
They finally stopped just before noon, at Mile Marker 210.
“We need to make a food drop in ten more miles,” Dave said. I don’t want to make it during daylight. There’s much more chance someone will see us, and will take it for themselves. Let’s stop here for the day, get some rest, and set back out at sundown.”
Red was getting sleepy and didn’t put up a fight.
Dave pulled the Explorer behind two abandoned big rigs.
Both had sleeper cabs.
“Take your pick,” he said. “No crowded bunks for either one of us tonight.”
Red, who’d been talking nonstop for the previous half hour, suddenly grew quiet.
“What? Did I say something wrong, Red?”
“
No. It’s just that… well, do you remember when I told you that underneath my hard shell exterior, I was a girl inside? But that that was a part of me I seldom let people see?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m just being a girl for a change.”
“Meaning what?”
She hesitated.
“Well, it’s been a long time since I hung out with a man I could trust not to paw all over me. And in the process of cutting myself off from that, I also lost the joy of just being able to share time with another human being.
“I miss the closeness. Not physically, not sexually. Just the closeness of being next to someone and having the chance to talk about things. Anything, everything, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t know how much I missed it until the last few nights.”
“I have a great idea,” Dave announced.
“What?”
“There’s no sense in ruining two perfectly good sleeper cabs by knocking holes in them. Let’s save one and just knock a hole in the other one. You can share my bunk again.”
He looked her with a twinkle in his eye.
“That is,” he went on, “if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Why, Dave, I’ve misjudged you. I thought you were the world’s biggest putz and the world’s worst alternator thief. But it turns out you’re a positively brilliant man. That’s a great idea. And I accept your invitation, kind sir.”
She could have left it at that, but her girly side retreated and the smart aleck side returned.
“Of course, sir, if you were just a little bit more brilliant, like me, for example…
“You’d have pulled around the trucks. That way we wouldn’t have to knock a hole in either sleeper. We could just leave the curtain cracked and watch your vehicle through the windshield.”
She smiled at him.
He pulled around the trucks and parked the Explorer in front of them.
Dave felt pretty stupid.
But he didn’t mind. Not at all.
Red was starting to grow on him.
Dave was walking again, albeit very slowly and very painfully.
“Why don’t you check out the sleeper,” he said. “I’m going to go find a bush and empty my bladder, and see if I can find some wild berries close by.”
“Can you bend over to pick them if you find some? And if you do, can you straighten back up again?”
“I think so. If I can’t, I’ll call you and you can come and carry me back to the truck.”
“Yeah, right, Bucko. Fat chance of that.”
But she would have. Maybe not have carried him, but certainly would have lent a shoulder to help him back if he’d needed it.
And they both knew it.
Red stepped into the sleeper cab to check it out. It wasn’t the cleanest setup she’d ever seen, but it wasn’t as disgusting as some of them were.
It was adequate to give them the few hours of sleep they’d need to get them through the following night.
The rain had stopped, but the wild grass was still very wet.
That’s why Dave was surprised to see a girl, in her early to mid-twenties, curled up in a sleeping bag under an oversized elm tree.
He walked quietly past her, trying not to wake her up.
Then he spent twenty minutes picking blueberries off a bush a couple of hundred yards away.
They weren’t quite ripe yet, but he hoped they would ripen in a day or so if he put them in the cup holder between the front seats of the Explorer.
His mouth watered at the prospect of eating a fresh blueberry.
It had been so long…
“Hello, mister!”
Dave turned around to find the girl from under the elm, now wide awake and walking toward him. She was dragging her wet sleeping bag behind her.
“Well, hello there. I hope I didn’t wake you when I walked past you a little while ago.”
She laughed.
“No, I can thank the bird who landed on my cheek for that.
“Pardon me for saying, but you look like you got hit by a freight train.”
Dave winced. Not from any pain, but from her words. He knew his face was no longer swollen, but the bruises and abrasions were still plainly visible.
“Nope. Not a freight train. Just some very unfriendly people.”
She began to walk alongside him.
As they neared the highway, Red saw them approaching and went out to join them.
“Hey, Dave! You said you were going to collect berries. That don’t look like no berry to me.”
Dave introduced Red to the young girl.
“This is Red, she’s my traveling companion. Red, I found her sleeping under a tree.”
Red was intrigued.
“Why on earth would you sleep under a tree, in a rainstorm? The highway is full of abandoned vehicles. And most of them are dry.”
The girl laughed.
“Oh, I know. I prefer to sleep outside under the stars. The rains stopped for a bit and I thought they were finished. So I found a tree to sleep under overnight. Then the rains came back, and were so heavy I didn’t want to leave the shelter of the tree to return to the highway. But it was okay. The bag is waterproof, and the tree gave me some cover too. Are you two headed north?”
Dave and Red looked at each other.
Red remained silent.
Dave hesitated, but told her the truth.
“Yes.”
“Great! Mind if I join up with you? It sure helps the day pass faster when you have someone to talk to.”
Again, Red remained silent, and again Dave was honest.
“Well, to tell you the truth, we’re night travelers. We were just getting ready to crash in that truck over there so we could get some sleep. We won’t start out until after dark.”
The girl was visibly disappointed. She really wanted some company.
But she was undeterred.
“Oh, well. I probably should travel at night. It’s probably safer. But my night vision sucks. Maybe I’ll see you later on up the road. Where are y’all headed?”
“Lubbock.”
“Kansas City.”
“Oh. Well, I’m headed to Dallas myself. To see if my grandma and grandpa are still alive. I sure hope they are.”
“Well, good luck to you. I hope you can find them.”
“Good luck to you too. Be safe.”
And with that, the young girl headed north on foot, along the solid white line of the highway’s shoulder. The wet sleeping bag was draped over a bright pink backpack.
As they watched her small frame get smaller and smaller, Dave and Red considered their dilemma.
Red said, “I suppose we should have offered her a ride at least part of the way. It would have been the neighborly thing to do.”
“Yes. I thought the same thing, but I was afraid if she found out we had a working vehicle, she might try to steal it while we slept.”
“She didn’t seem to be the type. But then again, these days it’s wise not to trust anyone you don’t know.”
“What we could do is get a few hours’ sleep and let her get a head start. She can’t cover more than five miles, tops. We’ll leave an hour before sunset and catch her before she beds down for the night. We can let her sleep in the back while we drive, and she can keep watch tomorrow while we sleep. We’ll hide the keys before she wakes up so she doesn’t take off on us.”
“Dave Speer, I knew the first time I met you that you were a brilliant man. I don’t care how bad a thief you are.”
Chapter 42
Dave felt the cheap mattress shift when Red crawled out of the bunk. He wasn’t ready to open his eyes just yet, but he needed to know what time it was.
His bad eye was opening about halfway now, but still wasn’t focusing worth a darn. With his good eye, he looked at his watch.
He said, “Darn it!”
He’d forgotten to wind it again.
He looked up at the sky light on the cabin’s roof, and could no longer see the sun. But i
t was still light outside.
He crawled out of the bunk, noticing that it didn’t hurt quite as much this time as the evening before.
Red was outside the tractor, looking at the sun lying low in the west.
She heard the door close, but didn’t turn around. Didn’t even acknowledge Dave until he’d walked up behind her.
“We’d better get a move on,” she said. “I think we slept too late. We might not be able to catch the girl before she beds down for the night.”
Dave held up his hand and examined it against the horizon.
“Nope. We have an hour and fifteen minutes before the sun sets.”
Red laughed.
He explained.
“Each finger between the sun and the earth is fifteen minutes. More or less.”
“Where’d you learn that?”
“Boy Scouts.”
“Figures.”
“You got something against the Boy Scouts?”
“No. Not at all. What about people with skinny fingers?”
“That’s why it’s more or less.”
“Did you get enough sleep?”
“Yep. You?”
“Yep. Ready to head out?”
“Yep.”
Their friendship was growing now to the point Dave was dreading the time in the near future when they’d part ways.
So was she.
Ten minutes later they were on the road, Dave behind the wheel, scanning the highway in front of them for the girl.
Scarcely two miles had gone by when they drove around a sleeping bag, thrown haphazardly across their lane of traffic.
“Hey, that looks a lot like the girl’s bag. Or, at least, the same color. Odd place for it to be.”
Red felt a knot in the pit of her stomach, but said nothing.
Over the next rise, Dave said, “What the hell is that?”
It was a bright pink backpack, its compartments zipped open, its contents strewn across both lanes.
It was all he could do not to punch the gas pedal. He picked up speed as much as he dared, but didn’t want to move so fast that he drove right past the girl when they did catch her.
He scanned the left side of the highway, while Red scanned the right.
The light was starting to dim.
Dave had a terrible feeling of foreboding.
Alone, Book 3: The Journey Page 13