Fallout: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival series (Dark Road Book 4)

by Bruno Miller

  Ben fired up the Bronco and drove a semicircle around Joel, making a 180-degree turn and heading back toward the trail. He went as fast as he dared but didn’t want to push it now that he was aware of his cargo. Each bump and rattle was a tense reminder that there were 40 pounds of impact-sensitive explosives a few feet behind him.

  Slowly but surely, they made their way out of the woods, then back along the narrow four-wheel-drive trail. Ben wondered what the kids were thinking as they passed the old Chevy pickup he had scuttled. He hoped they didn’t notice the two blood-soaked patches of dirt on the road as they drove over them.

  After a few minutes of driving they hit the smoother dirt road and Ben felt a little better about hauling the dynamite. He picked up the pace a bit and headed for the section of road that ran under the first bridge. That would be a good place to stop, out of sight from the quarry and anybody coming over the bridge. There, in the shade, he could go over the plan with Joel and Allie.

  Ben glanced down at the radio on the floor to make sure the small red light was still on. It had been silent since he turned it on back in the woods. Looking at his watch, he figured it had only been an hour since he first saw the men at the roadblock.

  The two guys in the Bronco had probably radioed over to the quarry with an update after they’d left their friend. Ben figured he still had a little time before the quarry would try to communicate with them.

  Ben drove through the intersection and passed by the right-hand turn that led to the highway. Instead, he continued on straight and followed the dirt road, where it veered off toward the river and under the bridge.

  As soon as he was in the shade, he pulled off to the side of the road and made a U-turn before parking. Now facing Joel and Allie, he watched them drive in and park on the other side of the road.

  “In there, between the columns.” Ben pointed to the area between two large concrete support structures.

  Joel waved and put the Blazer in gear before backing the truck into the tight, dark spot by the concrete columns and shutting it off.

  Ben was already across the dirt road, where he was squatting down near the shoulder and drawing on the ground with a stick. It was dark and cool in the shadows under the bridge and it felt good to be out of the hot sun for a change.

  Joel and Allie hurried over to join him. Gunner led the way, ran over to where Ben was kneeling, and lay down, panting on the damp sand. He seemed to appreciate the shade and coolness of the bridge as much as Ben did.

  He was glad to see that both Joel and Allie were still carrying their weapons.

  “Okay, so what’s the plan?” Joel asked.

  Ben looked up from his crudely drawn map that showed a rough layout of the two bridges and the highway between them.

  “We’re here.” Ben placed a rock on his drawing. “I want to leave the Blazer here and have you guys take a position up off the highway. Somewhere you have a good view of the bridge. There’s a ridge a little up the road from here that looks like a good spot. I’ll drop you guys off there so you can be my eyes. I’ll set up dynamite on the road in key locations that will provide you with a good defendable position. You can detonate the dynamite bundles by shooting them in case things go wrong and they don’t come to me.” Ben placed another piece of gravel at that location.

  Joel and Allie crouched down and joined him.

  “Where will you be?” Joel asked.

  “I’m going up the road a bit to set up a spot to ambush them using the rest of the dynamite and the Bronco. I’ll signal you with a couple clicks on the radio before I blow the truck.” Ben dropped another piece of gravel. “I’ll use the radio I found in the Bronco to try to contact them. I’m not sure what I’ll say, but something along the lines of needing help. I think I can disguise my voice enough with a little static to pass for one of them. I’ll tell them the radio isn’t working right or something if they get suspicious. I’m hoping to get them over here.”

  “But how will we get through the other roadblock?” Allie’s eyebrows squished together as she studied the roughly drawn map.

  “I’m thinking they’ll bring the loader they’ve been using to move these cars around so they can get across the first bridge. After I deal with them, we can use it to clear a path on the next bridge.”

  A concerned look crossed Allie’s face. “Are you going to kill them?” She swallowed.

  Ben was surprised by the question and was tempted to give her a vague answer, but he’d already decided the kids needed to know the truth about things. “These people are killers. I overheard them talking about killing people just like us they had trapped. I can’t just leave them here to continue doing this. We have to do the right thing.”

  “I understand.” Allie nodded.

  “It’s not like they’re just going to let us walk out of here anyway,” Joel added.

  Allie shrugged. “I know, it’s just… I don’t know. Hard to think about, I guess.”

  Joel put his hand on Allie’s shoulder and looked at her. “Your dad, my mom, my brother, and my sister are all waiting for us. Counting on us. These people? They don’t care about us. They only care about themselves.”

  “He’s right.” Ben stood. “And I don’t like it, either, Allie, but it’s literally us or them.”

  “Okay, what do you need us to do?” Allie asked as she got to her feet.

  When Joel got up, Gunner followed, apparently sensing they were moving soon. He headed for the Blazer.

  “Gunner, come on, boy. This way,” Ben called out.

  Gunner paused and gave a confused head tilt in his direction.

  “Lock the truck up, will you, Joel? I’ll give you guys a ride to your spot.”

  “Okay.” Joel jogged to the Blazer and made his way around the vehicle, locking it as he went. Meanwhile, Allie and Gunner loaded into the Bronco’s back seat.

  “Just put the other stuff in the back.” Ben grabbed his M24 off the back seat and laid it barrel-down into the floor with the butt of the gun resting on the center console.

  Allie moved the box of ammo and the other rifle into the back with the crate of dynamite. Gunner was busy sniffing the interior of the truck when Joel yanked open the passenger door and hopped in.

  Ben headed back to the intersection but this time made the turn that led up to the highway and the end of the bridge.

  Once they were on the main road, he only went a few hundred yards before pulling onto the shoulder. The side of the road went down into a ditch and then rose up in elevation on the other side to the top of a hill that must have been left over from the bridge’s construction. The ridge had apparently been there a while because it was thick with vegetation where it ran into the woods.

  “Top of that hill.” Ben pointed. “Find a spot where you can see across the bridge.”

  “Got it,” Joel answered.

  “Radio?” Ben asked as he got out of the truck.

  “Got it,” Joel repeated and held up the walkie-talkie as he and Allie headed toward the hill. They crossed the half-full ditch, carefully jumping over the dirty water.

  Gunner, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to wade right through and run up the other side ahead of them.

  Ben opened the back of the Bronco and grabbed 10 yellow sticks out of the wooden crate and gently placed them in his backpack. He paced off what he figured was about 100 yards down the road toward the bridge.

  He stopped and looked back at the kids, who were now almost at the wood line on top of the hill. They would have a good vantage point from up there, as well as a good hiding spot. Whoever came over from the quarry should drive right past here. But just in case they stopped, Ben was going to take some precautions.

  “Joel, come in. Over.” From where he was, Ben watched as Joel brought the radio up to his face.

  “Go ahead. Over”

  “Let me know when you’re ready. I want you to watch me place these. Over.” Ben held up one of the dynamite sticks and waved it over his head.

&nb
sp; Joel glanced back at him and gave him a thumbs-up as he and Allie joined Gunner in the woods and got out of sight.

  Ben looked around for a good place to hide the dynamite. It needed to be hidden from the road but visible to Joel.

  “We’re ready. Over,” Joel said over the radio.

  “Let me know if you can see these through your scope as I go. Over.” Ben began by putting two sticks together with duct tape and then taping them to the back of a road sign not too far from where the bridge ended. The two sticks together should give Joel an easy target at that distance.

  “Can you see it? Over.”

  “Yes. Over,” Joel responded.

  Ben repeated this every 10 yards or so, working his way down the shoulder and back toward the kids. He used an old tire, an empty fast food bag, a mile marker sign, and a speed limit sign to hide the other sticks of dynamite.

  Joel had five targets in all, and each one had two sticks taped together. That would give Joel some options if things didn’t go as planned.

  “Looks good. I can see them all. Over.”

  “Good. Let them pass by and come to me. I want them away from the bridge. These are only in case they stop here or things go south. If that’s the case, don’t hesitate. Let them have it. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over.”

  Chapter Ten

  Ben kept the radio by his mouth a moment longer. “I’m moving down the road. I’ll be just around the corner, not far. I’ll let you know when I’m in position and before I do anything. Keep an eye on the bridge and be careful, guys. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over.”

  Ben jumped back in the Bronco and headed down the road as he began to go over what he was going to say on the radio. He wanted to keep it brief, that was for sure. He could muffle the radio and fake some interference, so he didn’t think the voice mattered as much as what he said.

  When he had gone a quarter mile or so up the road, he pulled the truck off to the side and made a small U-turn. He parked the Bronco diagonally across both westbound lanes so the truck was facing in the direction he had just come from. He went around back, opened the tailgate, and threw the extra shotgun ammo in his bag, then grabbed the dead man’s rifle case.

  Ben pulled the box of dynamite to the center of the cargo area and then out a little toward the tailgate. He thought about keeping a few sticks of dynamite but quickly dismissed the idea and decided it was too dangerous to travel with them. But he did grab the fuse cord out of the box. There was no sense in leaving that behind. They might be able to use it for something. He threw it in the bag with the ammo before continuing around to the passenger’s side of the truck to retrieve his M24 from the front seat.

  He also wanted to check the glove box for anything of value. He was actually thinking there might be ammo in there for the rifle or maybe another box of shotgun shells.

  Ben popped open the glove compartment door and immediately saw he’d been right. A box of ammo. He looked it over. It was a box of .243 WSSM (Winchester Super Short Magnum)-caliber ammunition, and it felt full.

  Well, he knew what type of rifle it was now. It was a decent caliber and was worth keeping around as a backup or maybe even to trade for something they needed down the road.

  He threw the box of ammo in his bag along with both radios and was about to walk away from the Bronco when something caught his eye in the glove box.

  It looked like a shiny deck of cards but was thicker and held together with a rubber band. But it wasn’t a deck of cards. They were drivers’ licenses, six of them all together.

  Ben shuffled through the blood-stained stack. His heart raced and his blood pressure rose with each flip of the deck as he saw the faces of the victims.

  These murderous lowlifes were actually keeping the IDs of the people they killed. And how many others had there been without an ID to steal?

  He threw the licenses back into the glove compartment and slammed the door. That was the most disgusting, vile thing he’d seen all day, and he’d seen a lot already.

  Ben didn’t need another reason to justify what he was about to do. But now, fueled by his grisly find, he walked away from the Bronco recommitted to seeing justice carried out.

  He headed toward the woods with a renewed sense of purpose. He couldn’t wait to put this place and these people behind him.

  Once he was off the road, he looked for a spot that would give him a good vantage point. The woods along the highway sat a couple feet higher than the road itself, so it was just a matter of finding a spot far enough back, but without any vegetation between him and the Bronco, to be out of sight.

  He needed a clear shot at the box of dynamite.

  He was hoping they would see the Bronco and stop to investigate. But it really didn’t matter if they stopped or not—just that they were somewhere close by when he shot the box.

  With any luck, they would leave the loader at the roadblock and use a car or truck to get over here. If they drove the loader all the way out here, Ben would have to change the plan. He couldn’t risk damaging the big machine with the explosion. He’d have to take them out one by one, no matter how many of them there were.

  Ben found a good location between two trees. He set the rifles and the bag down and gathered a few low branches from some nearby saplings. He organized the branches between the trees and settled in behind them. Lying on the ground, he got the M24 in position and looked through the scope at the Bronco. He was only 300 yards away. An easy shot with the .338 Lapua.

  Ben sat up and got both radios and his Nalgene bottle out of the bag. He laid the radios side by side in the leaves next to him while he took a much-needed drink. The water wasn’t cold but it was wet and felt good on his parched throat. He’d better let the kids know what was going on before he got this underway.

  “Joel, come in. Over”

  Joel’s response was immediate. “Go ahead. Over.”

  “I’m in position. Any activity on the bridge? Over.”

  “Negative, don’t see anything. Over.”

  “Roger that. I’m getting ready to kick this thing off. Stay alert and let me know what you see. Over.”

  “Got it. Over.”

  Ben put one radio down and picked up the other. He also grabbed some dry leaves with the other hand and held them over the receiver. He paused as he held it in his hand, trying to decide what to say.

  Then he took a deep breath and squeezed the call button.

  “Having radio trouble. We got ’em at the second bridge. Come quick. Lots of supplies. Need help. Over and out.”

  The whole time he spoke, he rubbed and crinkled the leaves over the receiver in an effort to simulate heavy static. Ben almost added something about bringing the loader with them but decided it would sound too suspicious and left it out. He hoped they bought it. The plan was set in motion now, and there was no changing it. All he could do was wait for a response.

  Ben set the radio down and stared at it for a few seconds before it crackled to life with a female voice. “Levi says you boys aren’t to touch nothin’ until we get there. You hear me?”

  There was silence followed briefly by another attempt by the same woman to contact Ben’s radio. “Hey. You hear me?”

  Ben had originally planned on not answering back, regardless of what they said, but he decided to play along a little bit by simply holding the call button down and crunching the leaves into the receiver randomly a couple times.

  Then he put the radio down, this time for good. They would figure the radio was out and it would get them over faster—at least, that’s what he hoped. He was sure they would be anxious to get here and get in on the score, not wanting the “boys,” as the woman on the radio had referred to them, to hoard it for themselves.

  People like this didn’t care about each other, and he was sure there was no trust within their group.

  “Joel, come in. Over.”

  “Go ahead. Over.”

  “They’re on the way. They took the bait. Get ready.
Over.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Now it was just a matter of time, and all they could do was wait.

  “Roger that. I’ll let you know what we see. Over,” Joel responded.

  Ben was proud of Joel for using proper radio etiquette and could tell he was trying his hardest. He’d seen quite a transformation in his son recently.

  That didn’t keep Ben from second-guessing his decision to leave Joel and Allie up by the bridge alone. He thought that would be the safest place for them, but now his imagination was running wild with possibilities and scenarios where things might not go as planned.

  What if there were more than two people coming? He tried to settle down and accept the fact that it was too late to change anything now. They would have to see this plan through, for good or bad. But he reminded himself that he, Joel, and Allie were prepared for this.

  Those coming their way were not.

  “Dad, come in. There’s a loader driving around on the other side of the river. Over.”

  “Wait! Now there’s a car. Over.” Joel sounded anxious.

  “Okay, keep me posted. Over.”

  A few minutes passed before he heard from Joel again. “They’re both out on the bridge now. The loader is moving the cars out of the way. Over.”

  “Just two of them? Over.”

  “Yeah. The car is just sitting there, waiting.”

  “Let me know when they get through. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over.”

  Ben looked through his scope one more time and stared at the wooden crate filled with dynamite. He couldn’t help but wonder if he should have taken a chance and attempted to blow the roadblock open.

  Was it worth the risk to deal with these people? Or was he letting his pride get in the way of their safety and his making practical decisions?

  He shook his head as he thought about it. No, he was doing the right thing. He had thought this through, and it was time to put any doubts aside and get ready to end this.

  “Two more vehicles pulled out of the quarry. They’re heading this way! Over.”