Bug Out! Part 7: Mile High Motorhomes

by Robert Boren

  “Yeah, you’re not ‘the man’ type,” Jake said. “You’ve got an old soul. Gentle. I feel that vibe.”

  Terry just smiled and nodded.

  “It’s okay,” Jake said. “Don’t pay me no mind. I still got the hippie thing going, I guess. She asleep?”

  “Yeah, she’s snoring.”

  “Good,” Jake said. “I’m glad. She was so upset when that last battle happened.”

  “I know, she told me.”

  “How do you feel about her?” Jake asked, in a hushed tone.

  Terry’s heart started pounding, and he thought about it silently for a moment.

  “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Jake said quietly.

  “I’m in love with her,” Terry said, watching for the reaction. “I won’t take advantage, though. Believe me.”

  “I know you won’t,” Jake said, still being quiet. “I can tell that about you. You tell her yet?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t want to scare her off. I don’t want her to feel pressured.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that,” Jake said. “I’ve seen her with different boyfriends over the years, of course. She can be hell on wheels, believe you me. You’ll be taking on a strong, independent young woman.”

  “I know. You trying to scare me away?” Terry asked.

  “No, no,” he said. “Actually more the opposite. Give her a chance. I don’t know what she’s told you, but she doesn’t have her guard up when she’s alone with me. She’s in love with you already. Trust me. I wouldn’t hold back on being honest about it with her. Life’s too cheap now.”

  “Too cheap?”

  “You know what I mean. We could get killed an hour from now. You want to go to the great beyond without having told her?”

  “Oh,” Terry said, starting to choke up. “Alright, I get your point.”

  “She hasn’t exactly been resistant since the first few hours anyway, from what I’ve seen,” he said, laughing.

  “She’s stirring,” Terry said. She adjusted, getting even tighter against Terry. Then she sighed, and started to snore softly again.

  “My baby,” Jake said. “She looks so sweet when she’s sleeping.” He felt choked up, and smiled at Terry. The rode along quietly for a while.

  Hilda watched Charlie, as he drove silently.

  “How much trouble are we in?” she asked him. “Really?”

  “I think we cheated death once again,” Charlie said. “You heard that cannon fire. I know that sound. That was a tank. There’s probably not much left of Gabe’s park.”

  “You think we’ll be safer in Kansas?”

  “Yeah, if we can get there,” Charlie said. “That’ll be the trick. We need to keep the group motivated and focused on that goal.”

  “You should step it up a little more, then.”

  “No need to,” he said. “We’ve got their trust now. I’m not going to muck it up by being overbearing. Besides, I’d trust any of these folks with our lives, and that’s the truth.”

  “You don’t think we should be more organized?”

  “No, I think we ought to be like any real democracy. Messy, and adaptive, and creative, and unpredictable. It’s the greatest strength of our country, and the greatest strength of our little group as well.”

  “Sometimes it feels really out of control,” Hilda said. “It makes me so nervous.”

  “You and I are a lot alike, my love,” he said, looking at her and smiling. “Two type A personalities in a sea of chaos. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine, or we’ll go down doing the right thing for our friends and our country. At my age, I’d be happy with either.”

  “Do you think we’ll survive if the world settles down?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Us.”

  “Oh,” Charlie said, looking over at her. “What, you think I’m going to get tired of you?”

  “You might, when I settle down and start to nag you about stupid little things. Remember, we tried before, when we were young. It didn’t work.”

  He laughed. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

  “What?”

  “My first wife wasn’t the love of my life. I got her on the rebound from you. I was in love with her…enough to be married for all those years. We did okay together because she was pretty passive and put up with my nonsense, but I spent a lot of time thinking about you. You’re the love of my life, and I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have you now.”

  Hilda looked at Charlie, tears streaming down her face.

  “It wasn’t the same for me,” she said. “I really loved Jer, except when he was drinking too much. He was fun and exciting and protective. All the things that make a long term marriage work. I wasn’t pining for you back then.”

  “Don’t forget that I loved Jer too,” Charlie said. “He was my best friend, remember?”

  “I know. He loved you as well. He felt guilty about being with me, on and off.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he could tell that you still had feelings for me,” she said. “He was very perceptive. Your wife knew too, by the way. It made her nervous. I told her she had nothing to worry about, more than once.”

  “You didn’t have thoughts about me?”

  “Of course,” she said, “but I was so much in love with Jer that I never would have left him for you.”

  “And I couldn’t have taken you from Jer,” Charlie said, laughing. “We’ve got a circular conversation going here.”

  Hilda laughed. “Yeah, we were so close for so many years with our spouses that it felt like family. When I first realized that I wanted to be with you again, it almost felt a little incestuous.”

  Charlie laughed again. “Yeah, there was a little bit of that. Thought it was just me. This isn’t unusual for people like us, though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Widows and widowers getting hooked up with people that were part of their circle of friends when they were married. Happens all the time.”

  “Oh. You know, you’re right about that, but it doesn’t always work. My sister had to beat her brother-in-law off with a stick after her husband died.”

  “I know somebody who had a similar situation,” Charlie said, laughing.

  “Do you think we would’ve gotten back together if the world hadn’t gone crazy?”

  “No, but not for the reason you’re thinking,” Charlie said.

  “Why, then?”

  “The apple of my eye was my RV Park. The apple of your eye was your RV Park. We weren’t going to be together enough for the sparks to start to fly again…and by the way, I’m glad it went this way. I’m so in love with you.”

  “You’ve got me crying again, you old fool,” Hilda said, wiping her eyes. “I wouldn’t trade you for my park, either. I love you as much as I loved Jer. It’s different, and I hope I don’t screw it up this time.”

  “You didn’t screw it up last time. We just weren’t ready for it. Life is that way, sometimes.”

  “You are a better lover than Jer was, by the way,” she said.

  Charlie laughed. “Kind of a naughty statement from a proper lady, wasn’t that?”

  She smiled back at him.

  “I’ve got phone service again!” Jane said.

  “Good, bring up the Long Range app,” Frank said.

  “Doing that now.”

  “We’re coming up to another grade,” Frank said.

  “Crap. Well, I got a view of the surrounding area,” she said, speaking louder as the engine started to rev higher.

  “Anything?”

  “Nope, no bad guys around, and I’ve got the map out to cover Aspen and beyond a ways.”

  “How about Eagle?” Frank shouted. The engine got louder, and shifted again.

  “Wow, there’s a whole lot more icons by where the bridge was blown up,” she said. “Has to be about three hundred people there now.”

  “Any of
them past that point?”

  “Nope. You think they might be trying to put up a temporary bridge?”

  Frank froze, silently, mind racing. “Call Jerry.”

  She dialed her phone.

  “Jerry?”

  “Yeah. This Jane?”

  “Yes. Sorry about the noise. These damn grades.”

  “You guys need a pusher,” he said.

  “Maybe someday. Frank wants to talk to you.” She passed the phone to Frank.

  “Jerry, we’ve got about three hundred hits by the bridge you guys blew. Any chance they’re going to be able to repair it?”

  “It’s going to be really tough,” Jerry said. “That was a pretty long bridge, over a really steep, deep ravine. We don’t have any military bridge sets that you could get across a span like that…unless you had a couple of dual rotor choppers to help.”

  “You mean like the one that the enemy flew into our park?”

  “Shit,” Jerry said. “Yeah. Those don’t do that well flying low in terrain like this, though. There’d be a big risk that the air force would take those out while they were trying to fly there.”

  “I hope you’re right about that,” Frank said. “Talk to you later.”

  He handed the phone back to Jane. The grade started to back down, and the engine noise started to reduce.

  “Figures…now it gets quiet,” Jane said. “What’d he say?”

  “The only way they could fix the bridge would be with a couple of those big dual rotor choppers.”

  “The air force would probably pick those off, right?”

  “He thinks so. Me? I’m worried. They can’t afford to have three hundred men sitting around there, twiddling their thumbs. Something’s going on there.”

  “Any chance they’ll try to just climb it?”

  “Maybe, but it would be slow going, and then they’d need vehicles if they have any hope of catching us,” Frank said.

  “What was left at Gabe’s park?”

  “That old pickup truck of his is the only vehicle I know of.”

  “One pickup truck could cause a lot of problem for a group of RVs,” Jane said.

  “I know, but they’d have to solve the problem with the moat, and we took the backhoe with us. Jackson was going to screw up that draw bridge on the way out, so we’re probably okay. They’ll probably have to walk quite a few miles to find another vehicle, and they’ll risk being seen every inch of the way. Keep an eye on that GPS. If you see some of them start going past the bridge, let me know.”

  “Alright.”

  “How far are we from Aspen?”

  “Not too far,” Jane said. “I’d say less than an hour.”

  “Good. We should fuel up and get back on the road. I think we need to race to Kansas.”

  “I think you’re right,” Jane said. She kept looking from the road ahead to her phone over and over, nervously.

  Chapter 15 – Barreling Down the Back Road

  The road was getting harder to drive, especially in the dark. Tight switchbacks, thin sections, and steep grades, both uphill and downhill.

  “What the hell road is this, anyway?” Frank asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jane said, looking at her phone. “It’s not maintained very well. It was a smart way to go, though. Got to hand it to Gabe…he knew which way to lead us, even if this road isn’t fun to drive in the dark. It’ll get us onto route 82 going east. We can take that to route 24 going south. We’ll be way south of Leadville that way, and then route 24 cuts off straight to the east.”

  “We almost to Aspen?”

  “Yeah, it should be right over that next grade. I think I can see the glow already…look.”

  “I see it,” Frank said. “No cretins showing up on the Long Range app?”

  “Not a one, and they haven’t made it across the ravine where the bridge was, either.”

  “Hopefully route 82 will be easier. I’d like to stop and gas up.”

  “You want me to drive after that?”

  “How do you feel about switchbacks in the dark?” Frank asked.

  “Scared, but I’ll try it if you want.”

  “Maybe we should wait until we get on the downslope towards Kansas. I can keep going, if I have some coffee. I slept good last night, and it’s not that late yet.”

  “Okay, Frank, but if you change your mind, tell me before you go nodding off.”

  “No worries there,” he said.

  The engine started to make more noise as they climbed the last grade. It got too noisy to talk again, and they sat silently as the coach climbed. Then they were on the down side. Frank had to hit the tow-haul button to keep the coach from racing down the hill.

  “What a beautiful little city,” Jane said, as they approached. “I’ll bet this is insane during the ski season. There’s good hills all around the town.”

  “Yeah, I think you have to book a ways in advance for this place,” Frank said. “Check out the truck stop situation.”

  Jane looked at her iPhone.

  “There’s a good one right at the beginning of town,” Jane said. “I’ll call Gabe.” She dialed her phone.

  “Hi, Gabe.”

  “Jane, how you holding up?”

  “Good. We need to stop for gas. I see a big truck stop on the edge of town.”

  “Yeah, I know the place. I need to gas up there too. There’s a pretty big parking lot in the back…we could even overnight there if we needed to.”

  “Maybe…we might want to keep going, though. There were a lot of enemy hits showing up where you guys blew that bridge.”

  “They aren’t going to be able to fix it. Not without a couple of big cranes, or some big choppers. Even then, it’d take days if not weeks.”

  “We’ll talk about it when we get there,” Jane said. “Thanks.” She put her phone back in her shirt pocket.

  “He wants to spend the night here?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” she said. “I’ll take a look at the Long Range app and see if there’s any change back at the bridge.”

  She looked at her phone. Frank saw the line of coaches slow in front of him as they got onto the city streets. Then he saw the big sign for the truck stop ahead. “There it is!” He saw Gabe pull in, and the coaches behind him started to slowly pull in, most of them getting in one of the lines for a pump.

  “No movement on the bridge,” Jane said. “In fact, I think they might be giving up. There are less of them around, and I don’t see any on the other side.”

  “The thirteen decoys still show up?”

  “Yes, I can still see those.”

  “Good,” Frank said. “Maybe we should stick around for the night.”

  Frank drove onto the truck stop’s lot, and over to the gasoline pump. He was the first gas coach there. Jackson and Earl’s coaches pulled up behind him. All of the diesel spots were filled, with coaches in line behind them.

  “I’m going to take Lucy out,” Jane said. “She’s got to need it by now.”

  “Good,” Frank said. “If you see the others out there, tell them that we want to pull into the back and chat a little bit before we take off again.”

  “Will do,” she said as she took Lucy out the door.

  Frank got out and started the gas flowing into his rig. Jackson walked up.

  “Figures, we all have the gas fill on the same side,” he said, laughing.

  “You could drive around and head the other direction,” Frank said. Then he saw Earl doing exactly that, getting into position quickly. He came out of his door and started his fueling, then walked over.

  “Hairy drive back there, especially towing this backhoe,” Earl said. “I didn’t even know that back way existed into Aspen.”

  “Me neither,” Jackson said. “I was wondering how we were going to get east without getting close to Leadville.”

  “We aren’t seeing any bad guys around there anyway,” Frank said. “If there are any around, they don’t have chips in them.”

  “Or
they aren’t close enough to a cell tower to get picked up,” Earl said.

  “Yeah,” Frank said. He looked at his pump. It was getting close to finished.

  “What now?” Jackson asked. “We gonna keep driving tonight?”

  “You guys haven’t been looking at the Long Range app?”

  “No, we’re both alone,” Earl said, “and that was a two handed drive.”

  “Good point,” Frank said. “There were about three hundred bad guys showing up at the blown bridge.”

  “Uh oh,” Jackson said. “Any chance they can fix it?”

  “Jerry says no, without a couple of dual rotor choppers. Jane was looking right before we pulled in here. She said the number of folks there has gone down quite a bit, and there aren’t any hits on the other side of that ravine. Looks like they’re giving up.”

  “I take it you still don’t want to stop yet, though,” Earl said.

  “I’m a little apprehensive about it,” Frank said. “I’d rather get a lot closer to the Kansas border.”

  “I’m with you,” Earl said. “Besides, the road gets a lot better from here. We’ll still have grades and switchbacks here and there for a while, but then it’ll settle out, and we’ll have some full speed stretches.”

  “That’s what I was hoping,” Frank said. “I’d like to at least get to Colorado Springs.”

  “You seeing any movement on the south side of Denver?” Jackson asked. “It’s not a hard drive from Denver down to Colorado Springs. They could be on us in a hurry.”

  “Shit, good question,” Frank said. He pulled out his phone and looked at the Long Range app. “They’re still mostly to the west of Denver…and to the north side heavier than the south side.”

  “How many?” Earl asked.

  “Quite a few thousand,” Frank said.

  Jackson got a grim look on his face. “Why isn’t the army stopping them?”

  “Another good question,” Frank said. The gas pump shut itself off. “Good, I’m done. I’ll see you guys around the back, on that big parking lot back there.”

  “Alright, see you in a few,” Earl said.

  Frank got back into his coach and fired it up. He saw Jane walking over with Lucy. He shut off the engine for second, so the steps would come down when she opened the door. She got in and shut the door, letting the dog loose. Then she sat back down in the passenger seat. Frank started the engine again, and drove to the back area. Charlie and Hilda were already back there, talking to Gabe and Dobie. They drove up just as Jake’s bobtail was pulling up. There were lots of spaces around, with only a few big rigs parked here and there. Frank and Jane got out of their coach and were walking over to the others when Jerry and Jasmine’s coach drove over and parked.