Nathan stood up. “Now you will die but it should take a while,” he said, turning away.
One of the men who’d been shot called out, “If we’d known he did that to the girl we wouldn’t have helped him,” he said.
“Guess in the next life you need to choose your friends a little wiser,” Nathan said. “You’re just like some judges I know; letting killers walk and wondering why people want to attack you,” Nathan said as he left. John stared at the men groaning and then trotted off after Nathan and Amanda.
When John came up beside Nathan, Nathan reached down and grabbed Ares’ pack. “Still want to stay with us?” he asked.
“Are you kidding? Tell me what I have to do to stay,” John almost shouted as they caught up to Amanda. She was walking with her hand on Ares’ back, still petting him with a broad smile on her face.
They walked for an hour, passing the Georgia welcoming center as they came to the state line. Leaving Georgia behind, Nathan adjusted his watch and looked around at all the people on the road in the eastbound lane. There were not many people behind them; most had stopped, letting the three get ahead of them after seeing what was happening under the bridge.
They had not even walked a thousand yards into Alabama when Nathan turned north off the Interstate where a small creek ran under it. “Come on, we aren’t walking the Interstate anymore,” he said as he crossed the ditch.
“You said we had to go ten miles into Alabama before we got off the Interstate,” Amanda said, following him into the woods.
“I don’t have the ammo to stay on the Interstate,” Nathan admitted to her. He followed the creek through the woods. At a little clearing beside the creek, he stopped and looked around at the forest; after a moment, he dropped Ares’ pack and then his.
Amanda and John saw Nathan drop his pack and did the same as Nathan pulled out his computer and turned it on. “We are about half a mile from the Interstate so we should be okay,” he said.
“We’re camping here?” Amanda asked.
“Yes,” Nathan said.
“That means we only went like twelve and a half miles,” she said. Then she looked at her watch. “We still have like four or five hours till dark.”
“Amanda, take your blankets out and get your boots off,” Nathan ordered and she whined but did as he said.
Nathan walked over to the creek and saw a small sand bar that led down to the water. There were a shit load of animal tracks showing this was a crossing spot. He looked at John, who was sitting down, leaning back against his pack. “John, let me see your pack,” Nathan said, kneeling down.
John carried the pack over and sat it down, then kneeled down beside Nathan. Opening the pack, Nathan saw several plastic bags full of food. Those weren’t there when I first looked in it, he thought, taking them out, impressed with the weight. “Where did you get the food?” Nathan asked.
“I got most from the first center I was at. Then I stopped at every place I could and most had shelters set up, so I got more,” he told Nathan.
“You haven’t eaten a lot,” Nathan said, more to himself than John.
“No sir, I’ve only been eating three things a day; small meals,” John told him.
“Where’s your family?” Nathan asked.
“My mom’s dead and my sister is off at college in California. I haven’t seen my dad since I was three,” John answered.
“You sure your mother is dead?” Nathan asked gently.
“I ran home from school to find the house on fire. My neighbor said my mom had run in to bring out more stuff. He tried to stop me but I ran inside and found her on the floor in the living room on fire. I couldn’t get close and the neighbor pulled me back. I saw in the yard some stuff she had pulled out. Nothing but crap like chairs and the TV,” John said, wiping his eyes.
“Any other family close?” Nathan asked, feeling very sorry for the kid.
“No sir, we moved here from Cleveland four years ago and that’s where the rest of the family is at,” he answered.
“We will get you to a rescue center and get you sent to them,” Nathan said, pulling out more stuff.
“No thank you, sir,” John said. “I went to one the first night and it was okay but the second day some mean people started showing up. I saw a few guys stabbed and two women that were being held down and having guys do stuff to them. One of the guys looked at me and said I had a nice butt so I grabbed my bag and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed some stuff and a man saw me. I told him I was going to a cousin’s house in the country but it was fifty miles away. He helped me fill my bag and wished me luck.”
“And you wanted to send me to one of those places?” Amanda shot at Nathan.
“Drop it,” Nathan said over his shoulder. “What about the rest of your family? Don’t you want to see them?” Nathan asked.
“Maybe my sister, but sir, I’m not stupid. I was just outside of Atlanta and I know Cleveland is a thousand times worse. My best bet is stay with you two and hope in a few years I can find my sister,” he told Nathan.
Nathan nodded; the boy had a plan. “Okay, here is what you have to do now,” Nathan said, handing him a pile of stuff. “Go to the creek and bathe. Then wash your clothes, and I mean scrub them. Wrap the towel around you so I can inspect you. Just to let you know I’m also a nurse.” Nathan looked back down at the stuff he’d pulled out.
“You mean in that water?” John said, pointing at the creek.
“Unless you see another way to bathe, yes,” Nathan said. “Did you even check this pack before putting it on?” he asked.
“No sir, I figured I could do that later. I didn’t want you to get too far ahead of me,” he answered.
“You were carrying ten pounds of female clothes for no reason,” Nathan said, holding up a pair of black lace skimpy panties and a bra. “These will not fit you,” Nathan told John with a tight little grin.
“I can wear them,” Amanda snapped.
“Amanda, you are a little girl. You saying that sends shivers down my spine and puts images I don’t want in my mind,” Nathan told her.
“I’m thirteen and a girl,” she popped off.
“Check the attitude,” Nathan warned her. Amanda stuck her nose in the air and snorted at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “John, go do what I said,” Nathan said, and reluctantly John stood up and headed to the creek. When he peeled off his gray sweatpants, Nathan noted the discoloration on his lower legs. He looked at Amanda. “Turn your head,” he told her quietly; John was twenty yards away.
She turned around on her blanket. “What’s wrong with his legs?” she whispered.
“That’s from poor blood flow from being overweight,” Nathan told her.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked.
“It all depends on him,” Nathan told her, still digging through the stuff in John’s pack. He held up some feminine supplies. “Have you started your cycles?” Nathan asked Amanda.
“Cycles of what?” she asked, clueless.
“Never mind. They’ll make good bandages,” Nathan, said throwing them down. Then he held up a real camp stove with a high pressure bottle. “This is totally unnecessary,” he said.
“That’s a stove!” Amanda said, looking at it.
“Yeah, one made for high altitude hiking. I still prefer my fuel tabs. If I have to carry the oxygen to burn, I’m not going that high up,” Nathan said throwing the stove down.
“What’s that?” she asked pointing at a large silver bag.
“It’s a camping shower,” he told her.
“Cool,” Amanda said as Ares came over to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Ares,” she said, squeezing him tight. Ares looked at her and started licking her face. “Eww,” she said, trying to move away. Ares pushed her down and started licking everywhere and nibbling on her neck. “Help, Nathan!” Amanda cried out, giggling, curling up in a ball.
“Nah, that one is on you,” Nathan said laughing. Ares looked up at him with hi
s tongue hanging out, panting. “What? You try that on me and I’ll throw away the woobie,” Nathan threatened.
“No he won’t,” Amanda said, raising her head up. Ares started on her again.
Nathan got up and strung up a clothes line as John walked over to him, carrying his wet stuff. Nathan hung it up and looked over John. The skin folds around his body were red and inflamed. The ones under his pecs were the worst. Nathan walked over to his pack then John’s pack and came back.
“John, those red areas in your skin folds is a yeast infection and a bad one. You will bathe every day, and during the day wipe them out. You want to keep them dry. Here is some antifungal cream. Just a little dab on each area at night; this is all we have so use it sparingly,” Nathan told him. “This is foot powder. I want you to put it in all the places it’s red. If you do what I tell you, it will go away. If not, it will get infected and move into your body and kill you.” Nathan handed over the supplies.
“Yes sir,” John said with quivering lips.
“Grab that blanket on your pack to wrap around you and move over to my pack,” Nathan said, then walked over and sat down on his poncho liner. John came over and Amanda saw Nathan motioning her to join them. She walked over with her hair sticking up in spikes and covered in dog slobber.
Nathan held up his rifle. “This is an M-4. It has a fourteen-inch barrel and a collapsible stock,” he said, pointing them out. “This is how it works,” he said, taking it apart.
As Nathan sat and taught them about the M-4, he realized they had a lot to learn in the days to come and it was his responsibility. Watching the two study his hands as he took the M-4 apart, Nathan smiled. They had the intelligence, heart and will; he only hoped they had the strength to live and survive in this new world.
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Dark Titan Journey Book 1 Page 22