"Go. Go. Go. Kick this fucking thing in the ass, the road's going. Drive. Drive Drive. Hurry. Hurry.” I was nearly jumping in the seat as Mason jammed gears like a rookie and finally the trailer wheels found hard pavement. We drove on another hundred feet or so to be sure, then jumped out of the truck, and ran back to check the damage. The road continued to disappear as we watched and when it finally stopped there was a chasm a hundred feet deep and about 50 feet wide. We were standing on one side while the rest of the crew stood on the other side staring at us.
Now what are we going to do, JD? Lacy asked, mind to mind because the distance was too far to be yelling.
I ah...well hell, I ah...don't really...um ....
That's not helping JD. She thought at me.
I know that, let me think a minute.
I looked at Mason, who was staring at the hole like it was gonna get him. He was no help. So I went to the truck and got out the map. I was so flustered I couldn't think of what I was doing, so I was just as useless as everyone else. I finally walked back to Mason and stared at the hole too. What can I say, I was shaking like a whore in church from the adrenalin rush. It didn't take me very long to sit hard on the hot pavement and cuss because it was too hot to be sitting on. On the verge of tears I finally used Mason's pants legs to pull myself back up but he was shaking too so I just flung the map book down on the ground and screamed. Yea, childish I know but the moment called for some drastic action and that was mine. Mason jumped like he'd been hit with a couple thousand volts of electricity, as did the others and then everyone started talking at once.
How are we getting across, JD?
I don't think you are. You're gonna have to find another way around. As soon as I stop shaking, I'll look at the map and see. Do you have a map?
No, we were depending on you, like we always do. I guess that was a bad idea.
Now don't get excited about it, we just have to back up ten and punt. Let me look at this thing for a minute.
So they milled around on their side of the road while I looked at the map. There was several ways around but I didn't know if those roads weren't torn open like this one. So, I told Lacy and she told everyone else. We'd go on to Rocky Ford and wait for them. There wasn't anything else we could do. I didn't like it but we had no choice. We watched as they slowly turned around, and drove back the way they'd come. I didn't realize just what effect watching them leave would have on me, until Mason pulled me into his arms and I realized I was crying.
We had some slow going when we found the road buckled up in several places. I thought the semi was going to turn over once but it didn't. It didn't help much when we drove right by a prison. The damned thing was right next to the road with signs posted saying it was unlawful to pick up hitchhikers. Yea, okay, whatever. The prison walkers saw us and headed our direction, the fence keeping them from reaching us. When I looked in the mirrors I could still see them straining to get to us, the fence swaying under their weight. I didn't even want to think about that and hoped they calmed down before they tore the fence down. It was a relief when we couldn't see them anymore.
It was two hours later when we finally pulled into the outskirts of Rocky Ford. We headed for the rest area we spotted on the map and I'd told Lacy we'd be waiting. Now all we had to do was wait.
Mason wanted me to get into the bunk and take a nap while he watched out for them but I was being stubborn so I promptly fell asleep in the passenger seat instead. He woke me gently when it got dark, JD, honey I need you to quietly crawl to the bunk with the least amount of noise as possible. There's a herd coming.
OK, that woke me up. I couldn't look so I just quietly slipped from the seat and crawled to the bunk and into the bed. He very quietly followed me, slowly closing the curtains so they wouldn't be noticeable. The doors, I thought. Got 'em, he thought and we stayed there for a long time, him holding me and me letting him. I tried to connect with Lacy but still nothing. I didn't have to ask if Mason was trying cause I caught him a couple of times, nearly yelling in his mind to her. We'd just have to wait a bit longer.
We both fell asleep sometime during the night, waiting. Waiting for the walkers to pass, waiting for the crew to show up, waiting for Lacy to connect. I tried not to worry, I really did but I finally gave up and worried my head off. If you're going to do something do it to the best of your ability. That's what my mama always said. I picked and chose when I followed that rule as a, well, general rule and this was one of those times.
Morning came and with it a thunderstorm. Well, hell, why not. The wind buffeted the truck rocking us and trying to lift the hood. They're only made of fiberglass anyway, so it didn't take much. The rain came down in sheets and the lightning was non stop which meant the thunder was non stop also. I was tired, hungry, worried and had to go to the bathroom. I know, I always have to go when things are in a pinch but that's just my luck. I gave Mason the 'I have to go' look and he looked around but didn't find anything for me to use. I already knew about it, so he just shrugged his shoulders and cupped my chin. Sorry, brat. He kissed me good enough that I became interested in other things, till we felt the truck get banged against. Oh, for heavens sake.
He chanced a peek out of the truck so I looked also. The truck was surrounded by the undead. The truck banger had a broken leg or back cause it was bent oddly to one side. I looked ahead and saw a traffic jam from hell in front of us. When things died down and we were able to continue, we'd have to back up a ways first. Mason was getting good at it so this should be a piece of cake.
I got an odd feeling as the rain let up. I concentrated and finally got a line on Lacy. They were heading towards us but were still a ways out. Lacy? "Mason, are you getting this?"
"Yes, but it's weak."
"They're a ways out but I know it's her."
"Keep broadcasting, it might be the lay of the land, or the iron in the rocks keeping from communicating."
"For Pete's sake, Mason it's not like it's a radio connection here. I don't think it matters how much iron is in the rocks."
"Just thinking out loud kiddo, don't get your pantyhose in a bind."
"I don't wear pantyhose. Give me a minute, here."
I went back to calling Lacy again but didn't get anything that time. I'd just wait a bit, which reminded me I had to go, again. Sigh. Water was dripping off the truck, which didn't help. Mason saw how much trouble I was having so the smart ass presented me with a empty water bottle. I gave him one of my looks, which had him trying to suppress a laugh. He checked the side mirrors and around the truck the best he could then announced the area was clear enough if I wanted to step outside a minute for 'fresh air'. He didn't have to say it twice. I took care of business, then walked around a bit to get the kinks out. I nearly fell on my ass with Lacy yelled in my head, JD! Can ya hear me now?
Yes, smart ass, and Mason is cross eyed to prove it. Where are you?
We're on the road east of Rocky Ford about....25 miles, Randy says. Where are you?
East of Rocky Ford, in a traffic jam. Are you all ok?
Yea, I'll tell you all about it when we get there. The road seems to be clear so we should be there in about an half an hour.
Okay, we'll see ya then.
"Did you get any of that?" I asked Mason.
"Yep, sure did, maybe we ought to think about getting on the other side of the road now the coast is clear. If you're all done out here, we should get a move on."
So we did but it took longer than I liked. Backing up, we ended up backtracking until we got to the other side, since we were heading south, we needed to be there anyway. By the time we got to the intersection, the crew got there too. It was a grand reunion, but short lived when a herd of walkers heard us and headed our direction. There was a lot of cussing and running but we high tailed it out of town and headed south by the time the walkers knew we were gone.
We were on secondary roads so, no more rest areas. The land was flat enough though that a person could just stop on the road and camp,
it's not like there was a lot of traffic. We did just that under a group of cottonwood trees that lined the road for a small stretch. Setting up a couple of tables and some chairs we heard the story of their trip.
It seemed like every road they took ended in a big gouge in the road to deep to drive over, or a bridge that was out, so they did a lot of backtracking. They finally ended up on Interstate 25 near Pueblo Colorado and traffic jams from hell. Since Howard had the snow plow on his tow truck he cleared the way but it was slow going. They also had to deal with two herds of walkers that were rather large so they spent a lot of time 'hiding' from them. They had traveled all night and were worn out. I think everyone was just plain pooped and we decided to rest a few hours before heading out. I was just happy we were together again so I didn't say much. The kids and dog ran themselves ragged then we all just climbed into our outfits and napped a couple of hours.
A little after noon, found us on the road again. It was taking an awfully long time to travel through Colorado but we knew we'd have problems. Still this was a bit on the ridiculous side. Earthquakes? It's like mother nature was trying to figure out what we could handle and we keep proving ourselves. I just hoped we could continue to do so. But time would tell, and I was wishing I had a watch.
CHAPTER 6
I was getting tired of watching the mountains always to the right of us and never getting to be in them. If we didn't get there soon I'd be in full blown withdraw. I needed the mountains like people needed air, food and water. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of them.
When we pulled into the old ghost town of Folsom we stopped in front of the Folsom Supply Co on main street among the weeds. Our long line of outfits turned their engines off and just sat there, too tired to get out, listening to the clicking the motors made as they cooled off.
We had encountered cows and horses and walkers of every type, color and condition. The roads had been almost impossible, with holes big enough to loose a truck in and chunks of asphalt broken on the shoulders. The going was slow. Trees down from storms, fires, traffic jams and damaged bridges hampered our progress no matter which way we went. No one was in a good mood and everyone was hungry, dirty, out of sorts and plain pooped. We were still a couple of days from our destination and nearly no one cared.
Mandy came running up to Sarah and said, "Mama, come on. Look what I found." Pulling her arm in the direction she wanted her to go.
"At least she didn't say 'What's that?'." mumbled Randy.
I smiled as I heard at least two others say, 'no shit.' We followed Mandy because we didn't have anything else to do. Dragging our feet we turned at the corner of a building and saw a pool of water several feet deep, surrounded on all sides by a rock wall with a waterfall on the far end.
"Shouldn't we have cleared the place before we started wandering around?" asked Duke.
"Damn," Mason said, "we can't let ourselves get this tired again, we're too careless. You women stay here, come on guys lets clear the area, then we can grab some grub, clean up and go to bed."
"I hear you," Flynn said, as they went to secure the small town. It had about ten buildings, some of which had bars on the doors and windows. Most of the others were run down almost to the ground. We'd leave them alone, cause we were only staying the night and planned to hit the hay as soon as possible. I left them too it as I admired the nice, big bathtub in front of me. Mercy, who was holding Davy, grinned at me and I nodded at her. She handed the baby to Lacy, then her, Melody, Sam and Sarah proceeded to take off their clothes. I went back to Lacy's RV and found some soap, towels and shampoo and got back in time to see them romping in the pool. Tossing the soap and shampoo at them I turned and watched for the guys to come back while looking for any signs of trouble.
The town was smaller than I thought because it didn't take them long to return. I directed the men to find their women some decent clothes or at the very least robes so they trudged back to their outfits to do just that. Not a grumpy word between them. No one had the energy. They knew when their ladies were clean, they would begin fixing some grub so that was fine with them. By the time the women were through bathing they headed to the RV's to fix supper. The men took over in the pool while I moseyed over to Lacy's RV and took a shower.
Not one person asked why I wasn't bathing in the pool. They knew the story of my jumping in a pool and while bathing an underwater walker grabbed me and pulled me under. They don't fight well underwater so when I got loose of it and out of the pool, it started to follow. I caved it's head in with a pipe wrench I found near the pools water intake valve. I don't jump in pools anymore. Even when they're cleared. I just can't do it.
When I emerged from the shower, Sam and Howard had finished eating. Sam asked, "Shouldn't we have felt aftershocks, if that really was an earthquake?"
"Not necessarily." Howard replied, "When I lived in San Diego years back, I found you wouldn't feel a small one unless you were standing still. If you were moving around you wouldn't notice and it'd have to be a big one to wake you up. Since we've been driving around the 24 hours after that 'quake I'd say we wouldn't notice any aftershocks."
"I agree, Howard so I still don't know if it was an earthquake or the results of an explosion. We may never find out."
They said their good nights and headed to bed. The sun had a couple of hours yet to set but we were too tired to care. It cast a shadow of purples and blues across the rocky landscape changing in depths and hues as the sun sank lower on the horizon adding reds and yellows to the mix. No clouds were in the sky to stop the glow as it slowly draped itself over the sleepy town. You could already hear the songs of the coyotes as they played in the desert and crickets were gearing up for a loud song fest when it got dark. I finished my meal that I really didn't taste and sat on the broken curb in front of the Folsom Hotel and sipped my water.
"Do you think it will be any better tomorrow?" asked Sarah.
"I doubt it. We have to go through some more populated areas to get to the west side of the state and into the mountains. I reckon we'll see more walkers and traffic jams so I don't think it's gonna be much better. Although, if you think about it, today was about the worst it could be."
"No kidding. I didn't think Duke knew that many dirty words. Mandy tried a few on for size so I'm going to have to speak to her about it. Not tonight though, I'm just too damned tired."
"Yes, I hear ya there. I'm gonna turn in. You all have a good one. If you see Mason, let him know I'm down for the count, would ya."
"No problem, goodnight JD." she wandered off in the direction of the Dukemobile looking so out of place in this ghost town that words just couldn't describe it. I saw he'd tired a piece of Hawaiian material around his antenna, which made me smile.
I pulled myself up into the truck, stripped to my undies and climbed between the sheets before going out like a light. I don't recall Mason coming to bed but I felt him sometime in the night, curled up behind me, snoring lightly.
Morning came too early. My body was pissed at me and didn't want to do what I wanted it to. Kinks and knots had me moaning like a 80 year old and getting dressed was proving to be quite the feat. I was cranky anyway until I had my coffee so my day was ruined before I made it out of the truck.
Mason met me halfway to Lacy's RV smiling like he'd told a joke and holding the mug at arms length in front of him. Smart ass! I smiled and took it from him, and accepted the coffee flavored kiss he offered before we walked back to the RV for breakfast. He hadn't gotten up long before me. The morning was misty and cool, although we knew the sun would take care of all that and it'd be hotter than Hades in an hour or two.
The land looked shrouded with a dress of lacy mist as it clung to nearly every leaf and twig it could. The coyotes had gone to bed and a few of the birds were trying to court before it got too hot. A movement caught my eye and when I looked I almost blew coffee from my nose. One, two...no let me see, seven chickens scratched a small spot in the yard behind the supply company and when Mason saw what I
was looking at he grabbed my bow and arrow and whistled for the guys. They had a special whistle they used to get each others attention. Manly type stuff, ya know what I mean.
As the men ran around chasing poor widdle chicks for supper tonight, I ate pancakes. Lacy, Sarah and Mercy sat at the small table and watched the mini rodeo, laughing at their antics until they delivered the poor things to our doorsteps. We decided to skin them so we wouldn't have to deal with plucking and finished breakfast, fueled up and started the grueling trip to the other side of the state.
When we'd come to Montana back a hundred or so years ago, or last year I guess, we'd passed through New Mexico. I was trying to get us to the place where we had crossed the state to the west side. I knew the road was pretty clear unless...well I didn't want to think of 'unless'. We'd ran into a military unit at a ranch house we'd found that had electricity. We'd hidden in the barn during a thunderstorm, then we sneaked out in the middle of the night. We'd driven with lights out most of the night to get away so I wasn't sure I could find the exact route again. But I didn't think that would stop me.
We hit Interstate 40 west of Tucumcari later that day playing dodge ball with walkers and traffic jams and the usual backtracking, wearing everyone's nerves thin. The interstate was in pretty good shape but we had to do a lot of off ramps to on ramps because the overpasses looked bad enough to fall at any moment. We finally headed south at Santa Rosa because we were tired of that crap and wanted some different crap.
We got it.
A thunderstorm came in with such force that it threw dirt and dust on us until we had to stop. It was good that we did because the bridge a head of us was swept away in the flash flood. Our outfits swayed and jumped with the force of the wind and the hail cracked two vehicles windshields and took out a window in Clint's and Mercy's RV. In a matter of minutes it was gone leaving a white faced bunch of Montanan's in its wake.
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