by Dennis Elder
There was a slight pause in the conversation.
“Anyway,” said Doc. “Things have certainly changed. All I want now is a safe place where I can raise a few crops and some farm animals, if any exist.”
“I wonder if any animals survived at all,” wondered Silvia.
“We saw about 15 horses two days ago,” said Doc.
“Horses?” said Silvia with a little excitement in her voice.
“They were ridden by the men we fought off,” replied Doc.
“Why didn’t you bring them with you,” questioned Silvia.
“None of us know anything about horses,” said Doc. “And how would we have gotten them to Salt Lake City?”
“I could have gotten them there,” said Silvia.
“What. You know horses?” responded Doc with suspicion in his voice.
“Born and raised on a farm,” replied Silvia. “Spent my youth getting up at 4 am every morning to milk the cows and then getting in a few chores before I went off to school.”
“Genuine country girl,” offered Doc.
“Bonafied and certified,” replied Silvia. “But all that work finally drove me away and into the military. Seemed like my only way out.”
“Miss the farm life?” asked Doc as he made another sudden note in his weathered notebook.
“When I was younger, no. But as the years have passed, I’ve come to miss it a great deal,” responded Silvia.
Doc looked up from his notebook and took his own turn watching Silvia work on her gun.
“She is a handsome woman,” thought Doc to himself. For the first time Doc looked deeply at Silvia. She saw his gaze and smiled a bit herself. A few moments went by without words.
“Tell me more about that SmartScope of yours,” said Silvia.
A warm burn began in Silvia chest and as it rose, she suddenly blushed. Doc noticed and smiled back.
Chapter 47: Overstuffed chairs
Kevin and Marylin moved south along I-15 without a break. Since leaving the old woman’s home, they never stopped to rest and ate energy bars while they walked. Marylin’s neck was sore from looking back over her shoulder so much. They’d made it all the way back to Jean, Nevada by 2 PM. They were approaching the Fire Station where they’d stayed two nights earlier.
Kevin looked down at his watch and noticed the time.
“Took us an hour less this time to cover the same ground,” said Kevin. “Maybe we’re getting in shape.”
“Or maybe we’re so worried those convict murderers might catch up to us,” suggested Marylin.
“Either way I think we’re safe for now,” continued Kevin. “I suggest we stay in the same Firehouse for tonight.”
It was only 2 pm in the afternoon, and they knew they’d never make it back to Nipton before dark.
“Sounds good to me,” said Marylin.
The couple headed straight for the building. Once inside they dropped their cumbersome packs. Each of them sat down heavily on two of the overstuffed chairs sitting next to one of the fire trucks. The chairs weren’t particularly comfortable, but they felt great after walking for six straight hours.
They ate some food and drank a lot of water in silence. Kevin got up twice to look out the front door. Nothing moved. They seemed safe for now.
It was plenty warm inside the old firehouse, but they couldn’t risk going outside until after dark. At 6 pm they walked over to the Gold Strike Hotel again. It was the only building in sight that seemed to offer any food. They found more water bottles and some additional energy bars. They grabbed the food and water and headed to the gift shop. Kevin wanted a map.
Once they got back to the firehouse, they made their way upstairs. At about 8 pm they both laid down on the old beds and slept like babies.
Chapter 48: Assignment of the century
Hector Munoz stood alone in Ivan Petrovich’s office in the Bellagio hotel in downtown Las Vegas. The Bellagio was now ground zero for the Convict army. Ivan was smart enough to stake out his office on the first floor the day after they walked into town following their exit from Nevada’s High Desert maximum security prison. Most of the other guys wanted the fancier suites on the upper floors. But after a few days of hauling food and water up the stairs they’d all moved back down to lower levels, and a natural hierarchy had developed. In Ivan’s organization, the closer you were to the main floor, the higher your status.
Ivan sat behind a huge mahogany desk. He had it brought down by a few of his close reports. He looked up at Hector with anger in his eyes.
“She got a way?” questioned Ivan. “How could a woman and man escape five armed men?”
The big man had no answer. He just fidgeted with a wool cap he carried. The cap went round and round in Hector’s hands. His head hung low.
“They must have taken off earlier… before we got there,” offered Hector.
“Then why didn’t you go after them?” questioned Ivan.
“It was dark when we got there,” began Hector. “We checked every building in the area until dawn. They just weren’t there.”
“Well they didn’t come my way,” argued Ivan. “That means they headed back south on I-15 freeway – where you should be now, tracking them.”
“After the sun came up we looked both ways with the binoculars, but there was no sign of them,” suggested Hector, still looking down and slowly turning the hat in his meaty fingers. “We tried boss, really.”
“Try don’t cut it, Hector,” said Ivan. “You know how bad we need women. We are organization of two hundred and fifty three men, with only five women to share. We need all the women we can find. Have I not made this clear?”
“Yes, boss,” replied Hector. “Very clear. But they just got away. We did all we could.”
“No, you didn’t,” said Ivan. “I want you to send out two men to capture her and bring her back. I don’t care what you do with the guy. Just bring me the woman. And don’t show your face in my office again until you have her.”
Hector knew he was in trouble. Ivan had a unique way of making a person understand how vulnerable they were if they didn’t deliver.
Hector left Ivan’s office a few moments later. He thought for a moment and then decided who he’d send after the woman.
Ten minutes later he had Ralphy Simmons and Squeaky Parrin in his office, and he was quick to stick them with the assignment. Like in any organization all bad things flow downhill. So, Hector used his size and voice to intimidate Ralphy and Squeaky the same way Ivan had intimidated him. Finally, Hector told them not to come back unless they had the girl.
The two degenerates left without protest. Once they were outside Hector’s closed door, Ralphy looked over at Squeaky.
“Great,” said Ralphy. “We get the crap assignment of the century.”
“Yea,” added Squeaky. “A nice walk in the desert to clear the sinuses. Supa. Can’t wait!”
“We’re not walkin,” said Ralphy. “Before we start, we go to Wal-Mart and pick up a couple bikes. Make it easier to find um.”
The two men moved off and toward their rooms.
“At least we’ll get a crack at the woman before anybody else,” observed Squeaky.
Ralphy hadn’t thought of that and the prospect made the little man smile. His stained and crooked teeth showed advancing stages of gum disease.
He nodded his head slightly and said, “Well, there is that.”
Chapter 49: Good ole Nipton
There was still water pressure in the old firehouse and Marylin and Kevin took advantage of it. By five am they’d showered, eaten and now were on their way, walking south again on the I-15 freeway. Their backpacks were bulging with water bottles and energy bars. Kevin’s larger pack held the sleeping bag. He carried the revolver in his belt.
They were making good time and walking fast. They wanted to continue to put good distance between them and the maniacs back toward Las Vegas.
“Can’t help but think about poor, Olivia,” said Marylin between breath
s.
“Me neither,” said Kevin. “She was a nice lady. Didn’t deserve to die like that.”
“Wish we could have done more for her, bury her maybe,” said Marylin.
“Me too,” replied Kevin. “But I was just so afraid those guys would catch us. There’s no way I could have protected you from all of them.”
The walked a while longer before anyone spoke.
“When that guy said I would go into the “pleasure house,” began Marylin. “Do you… Do you think they were talking about like a whore house?”
Kevin didn’t want to think about that, let alone respond to Marylin’s question. He was quite for a while and then spoke.
“Unfortunately, I think that is exactly what they were talking about.”
There was an uncomfortable silence before Marylin spoke again.
“I’d rather die than be forced to do that.”
“And I’d die trying to keep you from it,” added Kevin.
Marylin appreciated the thought. It was obvious Kevin was sweet on her. But Marylin had kept her distance so far. Nothing had been right since the Gamma burst and she hadn’t been in much of a mood for a boyfriend. But when she compared Kevin to those men back in Olivia’s house, Kevin suddenly looked like Brad Pitt.
So Marylin slowly reached out her hand toward Kevin’s and for the first time took it in hers.
Kevin smiled and looked over at Marylin.
They walked for a while longer before either spoke. They also let go of each other’s hands. It’s a lot easier to hike if you can swing both your arms. But they both now knew the attraction was mutual.
“I checked the map last night before it got too dark,” started Kevin.
“And?” commented Marylin.
“We’ll be able to get back to Nipton by dark,” said Kevin. “But we both know there is nothing for us in that town. We’ll just rest there tonight and move on in the morning.”
“Never thought I say I’d be glad to be back in good ole Nipton,” said Marylin.
“It’s the next leg of our walk that I’m worried about,” said Kevin.
“How come?” asked Marylin.
“Because it’s about 40 miles between Nipton and the town of Baker,” said Kevin. “We can make at best maybe 22 miles walking in a day, and there is absolutely nothing between Nipton and Baker. Not a building, nothing.”
“Which means?” asked Marylin.
“Which means we will be sleeping out in the open tomorrow night,” said Kevin. And the desert can get very cold at night. Temperatures drop quickly after the sun goes down.”
“What choice do we have?” said Marylin.
Kevin suddenly had a thought.
“There were a few kids in Nipton, right?” asked Kevin.
“Right,” replied Marylin. “Mostly little kids.”
“Where there are kids there should be bikes,” said Kevin. “I think we could make it to Baker in one day if we could find a couple of bikes.”
They walked a while longer in silence. Then she looked over at her newly found Brad Pitt and said, “Then we better pick up the pace some, and say a prayer that a couple of those kids got bikes for Christmas last year.”
Chapter 50: Body detail
Mark’s army of twenty gathered together just outside the Indoor firing range on Imperial. Training time was over for the newbies. They learned all they could in a day and a half. Everyone now had a good bicycle and trailer. The kids and Silvia could shoot straight and everyone was outfitted as best as possible. They’d even found one more police radio that worked with the other two they already had. That was a very lucky find. Their bike column would be twenty people long now. It was Randy’s turn on point. Everyone was standing over their bikes. Mark wanted to give them a little encouragement before they started riding.
“I’m proud of every one of you,” started Mark. You’ve pulled together and in only two days you’ve done well.
Then Mark made that serious face.
“Now. We’ve got a long way to go to make it to Salt Lake City,” continued Mark. “Boon estimates its about 730 miles from here to there. Even if we average 30 miles a day, we’ll be on the road for 25 days. That means we’d be lucky to get there by New Year’s Eve. And remember we haven’t been able to average anywhere near that so far. If we get delayed too long, we’ll end up spending the winter in some Podunk town fighting cabin fever and wishing for spring. So, from now on we press on. We make time. We’ll only go as fast as the slowest rider. But I’m going to ask you to ride with everything you’ve got every day. You’re going to beg me for breaks, but I’m not going to give you any. As discussed, other than lunch, we keep moving every day until 4 pm. And we’re out of bed by 5:30 am each day and gone by 6:30 or as soon as it’s light.”
Silvia couldn’t resist and raised her hand. Mark noticed and nodded.
“What about bathroom breaks, Major?” asked Silvia.
That got a few silent chuckles from the group.
“Breaks at morning noon and night as promised,” responded Mark, with a slight smile. “We’ll work in some pee breaks too.”
Mark looked over his group and took a deep breath.
“Alright then. Let’s move,” he said, as he signaled Randy to push off first.
The others followed a hundred yards back of Randy. Each regular had been matched with a newbie. Caroline went as co-scout with Randy. Even scouts would keep their newbies near. Doc was with Silvia, Sam took on Robert, Susan was with Connie, Randy with Caroline, Junior with Cheryl, Tyrone and Teresa went together, Jeremy matched up with Boon, and Jake took William. Mark decided to adopt Gracie as his match. He was concerned about her. They decided they’d stick with their matching partners for the rest of the trip. Changes would be made with Mark’s permission only.
It was just less than five miles back to the 57 freeway. They took South Brea Road north for a mile, so they could bypass the Imperial overpass over the 57 freeway. There was a chance that someone from the supremacist’s group might still be guarding their Northern boundary. Mark hoped that Imperial was more than little north of that area. Once they got to Lambert they cut back east and rode up and on to the north bound lanes via the on ramp.
“Only 725 more miles to go,” thought Mark as the team huffed and puffed their way up the steep on ramp.
The group spread out a bit. After an hour or so they found out who were the better riders. Mark had given Susan responsibility for making sure the slower riders stayed up front. Gracie had the most difficulty, so she and Mark seemed destined for the head of the line. Didn’t take long to see how strong Tyrone and Teresa were. They barely seemed to work at it when everybody else was breathing hard and sweating like an overworked farm hand.
But the real surprise was Silvia. She seemed right at home on the bike. There wasn’t much talking because of the measured effort, but finally Doc Martin asked Silvia, “How the heck are you riding that thing with so little effort?”
Silvia smiled and said, “Must be the Triathlons.”
“Triathlons?” the Doctor asked between gasps. “As in Marathons?”
“Partly,” replied Silvia. “Marathon races include just one sport, running. Triathlons include three separate races rolled into one.”
“Like what?” asked Doc again.
“Swimming, running and biking,” said Silvia, as she reached down to the water bottle mounted on her bike frame and took a long drink.
“How do you do three races in one?” questioned Doc.
“Most races start with the swim,” continued Silvia. “If the race is in a pool everybody gets their own start time. But if it’s a lake swim then large groups of 50 or more start at the same time.”
“Sounds dangerous,” replied Doc.
“I’ve taken and given a few kicks to the head,” said Silvia. “But the group thins out pretty quick and by the time you come out of the water there’s usually 10 yards between each person.”
“And then what happens?” asked Doc.
“Then you tip toe barefoot across the pebbles and make for your bike,” said Silvia.
“How far on the bike?” asked Doc.
“Depends on the type of race,” said Silvia. “The shorter races are called Sprints. Those bike distances go about twelve miles. There are other race versions, but in the mother of all Triathlon races, the Iron Man, you go 126 miles.”
“All in one day!” yelped Doc.