Roads Less Traveled | Book 5 | End of the Road

by Dulaney, C.

Chapter Five

  They hadn’t heard from anyone, Kasey’s group or any of the others, for a few days, and Bill didn’t like it. His two scouts that’d been left behind hadn’t come back, either. It made the old man’s hip ache.

  And when his hip ached, Bill listened.

  He stood on the porch of his modest cabin and looked out over the shanties on either side of the stream. His people went about their chores same as they always did. He took a deep breath and rubbed his hip.

  “I don’t like it, Charles. Not one bit,” Bill said. The cat sitting on the porch railing next to him didn’t reply. Bill glanced down at his old friend, then up at the sky. “Storm’s comin’, or my hip’s a’fibbin’.” He snorted and ran a hand over the cat’s head. “And the only one ‘round here fibs is you.” He turned and went back inside.

  “Ellen?” Bill called. He walked through the front room and into the kitchen, but no sign of his wife. He rubbed his hip again. “Where is that woman?” He pushed through the screen door, careful to not let it slam shut. Ellen hated it when he did that. “Ellen?”

  “Over here, blind man.” Ellen stooped over the hand pump behind the house and slid an empty bucket in place. She straightened and pressed her hands to the small of her back. “What are ya hollerin’ about?”

  Bill limped over to her. “When was someone last up to the home place?” he asked, referring to their old farm up on the hill.

  She wrinkled her forehead and thought a moment. “What’s today?”

  “Saturday.”

  Her head bobbed up and down a few times. “Yeuh. Reckon it’s been four days then. Why?”

  “The place was still boarded up?”

  “Well yes, Bill. Everything’s the same as we left it. Least, that’s what the boys said. What are you on about?”

  If the house and barn were still secured, then Bill knew the provisions he’d sent up were still there. That, plus what supplies they had in the camp would, or should, be enough to get them through awhile. He reached out and squeezed his wife’s shoulder.

  “Let’s round up the boys. We got somethin’ needs doin’.”

  ✽✽✽

  With the aid of a cane, Bill led his people up the hill. They were refugees again, though not for long. Charles the cat bounded ahead of him. Every man, woman, and child had a bag or pack hanging from their shoulder, a bow and quiver on their back, and a sidearm or knife on their belt. Bill’s hip shot a bolt of pain down his leg with each step, and the fact that it’d gotten progressively worse through the day was all he needed to know he’d done the right thing. At times he wished he’d had that warning ache back in Vietnam, then he wouldn’t have ended up with his face in the mud and a bullet in his hip. But then again, if he hadn’t have gone through that, he wouldn’t have his own built-in emergency alert system now.

  The last three men in line pulled sleds laden with tree stands. Some thought it had been an odd request from Bill, that they go out into the woods and take down all the deer stands and pack them up. But it wasn’t any odder than him wanting to relocate everyone to his old farm with no explanation. The folks of Bill’s Fork had learned not to question the old man. His instincts were solid, and he’d never led them wrong. With Bill leading, they’d never gone hungry or thirsty, they’d never been cold in the winter, and never felt as though their voices weren’t heard. So, when the old man said go get the tree stands, they went out and got the tree stands.

  They hiked all afternoon before coming to the top of the hill. The fields were overgrown, but the barn still stood, and the house was just as Bill had left it. He gathered them all underneath the oak in the front yard.

  He took his wife’s hand. “Ellen, I want you to take some of the others and get the little ones settled. House and barn, wherever there’s room. Leave the windows boarded. Make sure the doors’ll all lock up.”

  Ellen nodded and made eye contact with the other ladies of a certain age. Together, the older women rounded up and hustled the kids toward the house. Bill turned to those who were left. Younger and stronger men and women, and a few teenagers as well. These were his hunters and general handypersons whenever something needed done.

  In a lower voice, he said, “I want y’uns to get these stands up. Least fifty yards or so from the house, farther if you can. Set ‘em up high, give yerselves good lines of sight.”

  “You want a perimeter around the farm,” Pete said.

  “Yeuh,” Bill said. “I expect trouble, so let’s not get caught with our pants down.”

  They didn’t question him. Instead, Pete said to the rest, “Come on, then. Let’s get it done.”

  They each took a tree stand, two in some cases, and without a word being spoken headed off in separate directions, towards the woods.

  Bill watched them go, then rubbed his hip again and looked down at his cat. “C’mon, Charles. Let’s get inside.”

  ✽✽✽

  They’d been riding through the woods that shadowed the road for a day and a half by the time they noticed the smell. The wind had picked up that morning before they’d even left camp and was blowing a storm in their direction. Caleb complained and mumbled several times about how it was going to rain because his joints were “thumping like a mad bastard.”

  The breeze hadn’t brought in the rain yet, but it did bring in a sour stink.

  “Bright side?” Jake said. “That ain’t dead. We must be gettin’ closer.”

  Kasey brought them to a halt. She stood on her stirrups and peered through the trees, trying to see as far down the road as she could.

  Michael rode up next to her. The rest hung back, dismounted, and rested their tired asses while sipping some water.

  Kasey dropped down into the saddle and turned her horse around until she faced Michael. “Alright. We’ve been at this long enough. Nothing’s changed. Do you have any idea where they’re headed? Because at this rate, we might follow them to fucking Mexico before we find out anything.”

  Michael used a bandana to wipe his forehead, then rummaged around in his saddle bags and pulled out the map. He spread it out in front of him and took a moment to find their location. Kasey leaned in as far as she could. “We’re about here,” Michael said, pointing. “They’re moving south.” He traced the road down and made note of anything along the route that might give them some clue as to what was going on. “Shit. I’ve got nothing.”

  From her vantage point, Kasey looked at the map upside down. “Wait. Move your finger.”

  Michael glanced up at her and moved his finger.

  “Son of a bitch.” Kasey covered her eyes with one hand.

  “What?” Michael asked. He looked down at the map, where his finger had been, and saw it. “That’s a hell of a coincidence.”

  Kasey’s hand slid down her face and dropped to the saddle horn. “I doubt it,” she said. “They came from there, remember?”

  “Yeah, but why would they go back?”

  “How the hell should I know?”

  “No wonder we didn’t realize this sooner. We didn’t come this way before.”

  “Yeah.” Kasey traced out a different route on the map with her finger. “We came at it from this direction.”

  Michael agreed.

  Several yards behind them, Gus barked and ran toward the road. He looked back at the others pacing around, stretching their legs, and barked again. Then he ran back and forth, barking first at the road, then at his people, four more times until Mia caught his collar and held him next to her legs.

  “Head’s up,” she said.

  Kasey and Michael rode back toward the group. They spoke back and forth, and Michael motioned with his hands a few times.

  Caleb pushed through the others and met the horses. “What is it?” he asked.

  Kasey and Michael pulled on the reins and shared a look. “They’re headed for the CC,” Kasey said.

  Caleb’s mouth fell open. “Wait. What? How the hell?”

  Kasey leaned forward in the saddle and rested against
the horn. “More like why the hell. But yeah, looks that way. We know they’re somewhere ahead of us, and this road goes straight there.”

  Michael rubbed his jaw and he caught Jonah’s eye. Jonah tipped his head and gave a little shrug.

  Michael turned back to Kasey and said, “It can’t be the Guard. They promised to cease and desist, and to make sure that round-up program would stay dead. It can’t be them.”

  Kasey shrugged. “Didn’t say it was. But all the terminators are headed to the CC for some reason. Could be someone is there waiting for them. Could be a new group, or it could just be the same damn people who made the things to start with. I think we need to get on the horn to Rabbit and find out.” Rabbit, their Guard contact and buddy, kept headquarters at Blueville Correctional, the old prison the group had lived in some time back, before their last trip south to investigate and put a stop to the things that had been going on at the CC.

  Michael countered, “Or we ride on and see for ourselves.”

  “No,” Jonah said. “I don’t like it. I say we git.”

  Kasey and Michael were both too surprised at Jonah’s sudden lack of interest in finding out what was going on to even reply.

  Jake spoke up, “We can ride to Bentree. Check in with the Guard station there, see what they know? Maybe get ahold of Rabbit from there?”

  “Yeah,” Michael said. “Alright. Jonah?”

  Jonah hesitated, then nodded.

  “It’s a couple days ride from here,” Michael continued, “but it’s the best place to start.”

  Jonah turned back toward his horse. “Saddle up, folks.”

  Mia picked up Gus and handed him up to Kasey.

  Right then, a sudden clap of thunder rolled through and it started pouring down the rain. Gus and the horses spooked, and Jake made a noise he probably hadn’t made since his balls dropped. The horses shuffled around and threw their heads, and the dog whined, filling the spaces between with snorts.

  “I told you it was gonna rain!” Caleb yelled.

  Michael wiped water out of his eyes and tried to look skyward. “We need to get out of this!” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the downpour.

  Kasey swore under her breath. Gus shivered, though it wasn’t cold, and kept snorting and whining. Something wasn’t right. Just as she wondered about her dog’s intestinal fortitude, bolts of lightning flashed and a huge crack of thunder rocked through the valley. Men shouted, the horses squealed, and Gus leapt from Kasey’s arms and hit the ground running.

  “Gus, no!” Kasey yelled. Her dog ran so fast his belly almost dragged, and he shot straight out into the road and turned south. Kasey exerted control over her horse and wheeled it around, then dug heel and kicked it into a full run. She heard several voices shout for her to stop, but there was no way. She had to get her dog.

  “Gus! Gus!”

  It was insane to think he’d hear her over the rain and thunder, or to think he’d be able to obey in his terrified state even if he could hear her. Obviously a horse was faster than a dog, but Gus had a good head start and he was running scared. Kasey had seen her dog in worse situations than this since the world went to shit, but had never seen him like this.

  A little over a hundred yards later, she caught up to him and had to actually slow her horse down to stay astride of Gus. That was great, except she didn’t know how the hell she was supposed to stop him.

  “Gus! Hey, Gus!”

  He flicked his head to the side and eyeballed her for only a moment, long enough to know she was there. That brought him up a step or two, and Kasey reacted. She kicked her horse on, outpaced the dog, then jerked on the reins and brought her horse around to stand directly in Gus’ way. The dog plowed into the horse’s front legs and rolled a few feet to a stop. She jumped out of the saddle and was on him before he had the chance to bolt again. He wiggled and squirmed, trying to get away from her, but she squeezed him tightly to her chest.

  “Gus,” she said. “Come on, quit it. What the hell’s gotten into you?”

  Kasey heard horse hooves behind her and turned. Jake grabbed the reins of her horse to keep it from darting off, and Mia pulled up next to her. Both stared down the road behind her.

  “What?” Kasey yelled up to Mia. Her friend simply pointed. Kasey turned.

  From ditch to ditch and as far back as she could see in the pouring rain, the road was packed with terminators.

  Those in the front ranks, as those were the only ones Kasey could make out with any detail, were clean, uninjured, and pissed off. They marched with strength, and if the raised lips and growls were any indication, they marched with purpose.

  No, Kasey thought. They’re not coming at us. They’re coming for us.

  “Oh, shit,” she said.

  The first of the terminators broke from the horde.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Kasey! Horse!” Mia yelled.

  A dozen of the things started running.

  “Oh, shit!”

  Kasey spun and climbed into the saddle, then took the reins from Jake and off they went. It took a moment for Jake and Mia to get their horses moving. They were so spooked by the terminators they wanted to take off in random directions. Because of that, Kasey had a head start and didn’t even slow down as she came up on the rest of the group. From where they stood, the horde looked like a blurry mass, nothing they could really make out. But the shrieking of the ones running them down was enough to tell them something was wrong.

  “Go!” She motioned with one hand and held Gus in a death grip with the other. “Just go!”

  They didn’t need to be told twice.

  Jake and Mia caught up, and together the entire group raced down the road. It didn’t take long to put some distance between them and the terminators. But the group faced the same problem as they had with the zombies; they might be able to outrun them on horseback, but the terminators didn’t get tired. Or rather, they didn’t tire nearly as fast as a person, or a horse for that matter.

  There was actually another problem with these terminators, and it didn’t take long, maybe a half mile of running, for it to present itself.

  Six terminators leapt out of the brush on the right-hand side, jumped over the ditch, and pushed into the group of galloping horses.

  Kasey’s group hadn’t lasted as long as they had by having slow reflexes, and they’d seen the terminators use this same flanking maneuver a long time ago when attacking the dead. Following Michael’s lead, all the riders jerked their horses to the left and loosened their grips on the reins. The horses, now having some leeway, bunched their bodies up and let loose another burst of speed. They jumped the ditch on the other side of the road, bulled their way through the brush, and disappeared into the trees.

  ✽✽✽

  They had once wondered what would become of the terminators after the zombies were gone. Would they ramble around and eventually starve to death? Or would they evolve into something else? The group finally had their answer, except they weren’t too sure that what had happened could be considered a natural evolution, given the CC’s apparent involvement with the current state of affairs.

  They pushed their horses for as long as they dared, then had to slow to a trot. The only thing scarier than not knowing how far behind the terminators were was the horses dropping of exhaustion and the group being on foot. Damn terminators were smart, and behaved now like the runners used to, back when they were fresh and new.

  Through no conscious effort on their part, the group gradually rode farther and farther from the road, still headed north-ish, but deeper into the backwoods. That’s all there was in that part of the state once you left the main highway and the towns dotted along it. Nothing but mountains, hollows, and trees. Lots of trees.

  It also happened to be a more direct route to Bentree, but they were pretty divided now as to whether or not they should bother with the place. There was barely any discussion on it, though; they needed to stay quiet and keep moving.

  ✽✽�
��

  They ended up riding for four straight days before getting to Bentree. Between bathroom breaks, having to maneuver the horses up and down hills, and hunting for water, the trip slowed them to the point of just keeping ahead of the terminators.

  “Straight to the Guard post,” Michael said. “They can use the siren to warn the people.”

  The others either nodded or kept looking around for terminators; they were too exhausted to do much else.

  Bentree had once been a mining town. And though the mine itself had closed down when Kasey was a kid, the old company houses still stood. That’s where a rather large group of survivors had settled, and after a ton of maintenance and rebuilding, had made a good home for themselves. The “Guard post” was just the old company store, manned by three bored soldiers.

  “That wasn’t here the last time I was,” Jake said.

  In the field behind the store was a helicopter.

  The group pulled up in front of the Guard post and Michael slid off his horse. “You three,” he said, gesturing to Kasey, Jake, and Mia, “stay out here with the horses and cover us. The rest of you, with me.”

  Kasey and the other two moved their horses around and faced out toward where they thought the terminators might come at them. Michael and Jonah went inside, while Caleb took Gus off Kasey’s hands and followed behind.

  “Either of you have any idea why those damn things are after us?” Mia asked. She held her rifle at the ready and tried not to look behind her, at the houses. She heard doors opening and closing, though.

  “Those things weren’t like that before they went to the CC. And they look brand new,” Kasey said. “We were afraid they’d turn into something else once their food ran out, but that’s not what this is.”

  “No.” Jake shook his head. “It’s not. They didn’t just evolve.” He glanced at Mia and gave her a chance to shut him up, and when she didn’t, he knew she agreed with him, so he went on. “They did somethin’ to ‘em, whoever’s at the CC.”

  Kasey agreed. “Yeah. This didn’t just happen.”