Dark Titan Journey: Finally Home

by Thomas A. Watson

  Letting out a cry, Amanda jumped off her saddle and wrapped her arms around Nathan as she started crying. “I love you, Nathan,” she sobbed. Emma started yelling as Amanda squished her.

  “I love you too, firecracker,” Nathan said, rubbing Amanda’s back and with his other hand moving Emma out from between them.

  Amanda leaned her head back, wiping her tears off. “Emma’s bitching.”

  Looking down, Nathan snorted. “She only has two moods: bitching or laughing. If she’s not doing either she’s sleeping.” The others had listened and watched the exchange. Many were wiping tears off their faces as Amanda climbed back to her horse. Emma was still crying as Nathan lifted her up. “She didn’t mean it,” he told Emma, and pulled her to his chest, hugging and rocking her.

  It didn’t take long for Emma to calm down and let Nathan put her back in her sling. Seeing Emma smile, Nathan lifted his head to check on the others and they were all staring at him. “In the words of Stich ‘Nobody gets left behind,’” Nathan said.

  Amanda wiped snot off her face. “You acted like you wanted to go alone.”

  “I was wrong, we’re safer together,” Nathan said, snapping his fingers. Ares was splashing in the water with Athena. They both looked at him with innocent faces. “Ares, let’s go.” Ares leapt out of the creek with Athena right behind him. They both stopped and shook water off, covering the donkeys.

  Giving Smoke a gentle kick, Nathan guided her back to the dirt road. Ares and Athena trotted past Nathan, staying less than ten yards ahead of Smoke. Nathan lowered the monoculars over his eyes once again, seeing the weird white and green.

  Everyone was getting tired of the vast expanse of farmland, Nathan included. He liked the fact he could see forever but that just meant someone else could as well. The thermal actually gave him a good picture just in black and white, like a black and white TV, but not the best definition, hence the ‘ghost’ look of people up close. He could tell who it was he was looking at, but they looked like a weird ‘ghost.’ The green world his right eye imposed with the night vision made it all the more weird.

  Hearing a horse trot up beside him he closed his left eye, blocking the thermal, and turned to see Jasmine. “Don’t look at me then,” she said as she guided her horse in beside his. “Why are you wearing both?”

  “The night I got my headache, I realized a few hours in I wouldn’t see my UV laser with the thermal on if we were attacked. Since my head hurt anyway I tried both and it’s manageable,” he said.

  Jasmine reached up to her own NVGs and adjusted the intensity. “I have to admit I like seeing in the dark.”

  Nodding his head in agreement, Nathan looked out across the field on their right to see a herd of cows. “Yes, it is a great advantage.”

  They rode side by side, each occasionally patting a sleeping kid, studying the vast expanse of nothing. The only exception was wildlife and cows, and Nathan knew they all preferred that. Every thirty minutes, Nathan lifted his monoculars and looked through the thermal binoculars. The thermal binoculars could detect heat miles away, much farther than the monocular alone. Not seeing anything Nathan turned the binoculars off and lowered the monoculars.

  “Nathan, do you regret not taking some of the group you left?” Jasmine asked.

  “No. I offered to a few but they didn’t want to take the risk, which is understandable,” he said.

  Turning around, Jasmine checked on the others. John was looking behind them. Tom and Natalie were watching the fields on their sides. “You think they will be okay?”

  “Unless the military bombs them or sends armor, that group will be fine. Not even a large gang could take that group,” Nathan replied with confidence.

  Jasmine smiled, even though Nathan wasn’t looking at her. “I’m glad, because you care about them.”

  “Yeah,” Nathan said as his thermal went dead. Unclipping it, he dug in his messenger bag for a battery. “I do care for them, but this group is much more important to me.”

  Hearing that made the smile on Jasmine’s face grow, “I like that.”

  “So you’re going to continue to sleep in your panties and bra, right?” Nathan asked.

  “Unless you don’t want me to,” Jasmine said as she giggled silently.

  “Best vision I can think to wake up to,” Nathan admitted.

  Jasmine pulled back on her reins, falling back in her place behind Amanda and Casey. Amanda turned around in her saddle with a big smile at Jasmine. “He likes your tah-tahs.”

  “That’s none of your business, little lady!” Nathan snapped loudly. Everyone jumped at the sound of his voice as it broke the quiet. Nobody ever spoke over a quiet voice, and they were shocked that Nathan almost shouted.

  Amanda waved her hand at Nathan’s back. “If you’re my stepmom, tell him I want a bra.”

  Jasmine started to giggle as Nathan stopped Smoke, lifting up the thermal monocular, and turned to Amanda. “I’ve told you I don’t want to hear that.”

  “Natalie wears one,” Amanda snapped at him as she stopped her horse along with the others.

  “Hey, I didn’t need to know that either. Little girls wearing bras and thongs aren’t images I want in my mind,” Nathan growled, locking his gaze on her. He was trying not to smirk because the monocular Amanda was wearing made her look like a weird bug.

  Amanda stared back at him. “I’ve figured it out, a bra will make them grow.”

  Nathan opened his mouth to say something and promptly closed it, spinning around in his saddle and kicking Smoke to go. The others followed suit as Nathan lowered his thermal back down. They rode the rest of the night without another word.

  It was five a.m. when Nathan led them off the dirt road into a field. Up ahead they could make out a small ribbon of trees running along a creek. They didn’t like that they could see through the ribbon of trees to the other side. Nathan stopped Smoke beside the creek and climbed off.

  Amanda looked over the creek through the trees and could see fields. Turning around she could see fields behind her through the trees. “This is bullshit. I can see out, so that means people can see in.”

  Nathan started undoing Smoke’s saddle. “Amanda, this is the best around us. The closest house is two and a half miles east.” Everyone climbed off except Amanda, who was still looking around. “Wait till you see tomorrow’s campsite, it’s just a small ravine,” Nathan informed her as he turned off his thermal.

  “What the hell is wrong with people in Kansas? Don’t they like trees?” she asked, slowly climbing down.

  “Trees take up farmland and soak up much-needed water,” Nathan said.

  Amanda took off her saddle. “Maybe, but they block the sun and you can hide in them.”

  Dropping his back, Nathan spread out his woobie. “Firecracker, I hate to tell you but you won’t see real forest again till we get to western Wyoming. The only difference you are going to notice in Nebraska is we will get to small hills with patches of trees and the houses get farther apart.”

  John dropped his saddle. “The last house we saw was three miles back.”

  Nathan gently pulled Emma out of her sling and eased her down on the woobie. “In Wyoming, we will go days without seeing a house.”

  Stomping her foot, Amanda turned to Nathan. “Idaho better have damn trees.”

  “That it does,” Nathan said, moving over to help Tom tie off a rope for a tie line.

  Jasmine started pulling out food as Natalie and Casey came over to help. As the sun broke the horizon they all were sitting quietly, eating. “Ah-hem,” John cleared his throat, and the others looked at him. “Nathan, you think half of us should stay awake for guard?”

  Casey looked around. “There are seven. How do we do half?”

  Tom leaned over. “Like last time, four on one shift and three on the other.”

  Setting down his plate, Nathan stood up and stretched. “Jasmine, Casey, Amanda, and Tom, first shift. Me, Natalie, and John, last shift.”

  “We have
first shift,” Jasmine announced. Nathan smiled as he dropped his gear and lay on his side next to Emma. He was soon snoring lightly. Those awake started cleaning gear and keeping watch.

  Chapter 13

  Day 45

  Feeling wind blowing in his ear, Nathan reached up trying to brush it away. The wind stopped but started up again. Opening his eyes he saw Jasmine leaning over him. She smiled. “Your shift,” she said in a sleepy voice.

  Nathan sat up and, true to form, immediately started looking around for Emma. He spotted her playing with Ares. Jasmine held out a hand to pull him up. Smiling, Nathan took it and stood up. When Jasmine turned to spread out her sleeping bag Nathan stopped her. “Just use mine.”

  Looking down at Nathan’s woobie, Jasmine shook her head. “Not what I have in mind sleeping in your bed.”

  Totally awake now with that revelation, Nathan stepped back. “Ah, well, you know,” he stuttered.

  Wearily Jasmine laid down on his woobie and was soon asleep. It was only then that Nathan registered she that was in her bra and panties. Sighing, Nathan turned around to see John and Natalie up. Nathan walked over and picked up his rifle, Amanda’s notebook, and the scanner. Seeing it was charged he turned it on and started reading Amanda’s notes.

  Natalie brought him a cup of coffee as he read and listened to the scanner. He occasionally made notes of what he heard as he read. He didn’t like much of any of it. After two hours he turned off the radio and laid down the notebook so he could check the horses. They had already been brushed, and Jasmine’s group had let them graze in the field beside them.

  He found nothing wrong, so he washed up and sat down, pulling out his map and tablet. Then he went through the daily ritual of mapping out their route for the night. As he was committing it to memory, Emma ran over and dove in his lap. She sent his map and tablet to the ground as she giggled. Shaking his head, Nathan picked her up. Long ago he had quit getting upset about that. It didn’t any good for her or him.

  “Doodle bug, you are a mess,” Nathan said, noticing Jasmine hadn’t given her a bath. Not able to take the sticky filth any longer, Nathan moved over by a water jug and wet a rag. He talked to Emma as he cleaned her up and Emma talked back in gibberish but she talked back.

  When he was done, he grabbed her toothbrush. This was the only time he liked her weird smile. Nathan stopped brushing and took pictures with his camera of what looked like Emma foaming at the mouth with her weird smile.

  Seeing what Nathan was doing, John laughed. “Nathan, that just ain’t right.”

  Putting his camera down, Nathan gave Emma some water to rinse her mouth out. “Just how in the hell do you teach a kid to spit?” Contemplating this new thought, Nathan grabbed a brush and brushed Emma’s hair.

  John walked over and sat down beside Nathan. “Nathan, can I ask you some questions?”

  “Sure,” Nathan answered, working on Emma’s hair.

  “I thought we would see more people starving,” John noted.

  “Remember we are in the sticks. If we were to go in a city, we would see starvation.”

  “Yeah, I know. What I’m trying to ask is, why haven’t we seen more bodies? I know we are in the sticks, but at that river in Oklahoma, we saw dozens of bodies floating around,” John asked.

  Putting a rubber band on Emma’s hair to hold the ponytail, Nathan let her go, “John, where do people go when something’s wrong? The city. I’m sure in the cities there are piles of the dead.”

  “Just how long does it take a person to starve to death?” John asked.

  Picking up his thermal binoculars, Nathan scanned around. “We talked about this in Mississippi. In nursing school I was taught the rule of threes: three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. But that is without any food. People can survive a long time with minimal food, like a handful of rice a week. Most deaths at first are from lack of clean water. Then people start eating stuff they shouldn’t.”

  “Drinking bad water is going to kill a lot of people?” John asked with doubt.

  Not spotting anything around them, Nathan repacked the thermals. “Ten years ago I was dating a nurse who wanted to save the world, that means I wanted to help. We went to Central America and Africa on medical assistance trips. I’ve seen cholera up close. You usually die in days without good medical care. I saw a man in El Salvador die of cholera within ten hours of the first time he threw up. We couldn’t put fluids in him fast enough when he started shitting. Dysentery is almost as bad. You shit so much you start shitting blood. There are several nasty diseases like that. Without medical treatment, the death rate climbs.” John thought about that as Natalie joined them.

  “Were those people in Mississippi starving to death?” Natalie asked.

  “Yes, but they still had some time if they drank clean water. That’s what I mean, people don’t know what they can eat,” Nathan said.

  “You mean like setting traps and stuff?” Natalie asked.

  Nathan nodded. “Yes, but most people don’t know how. A good source of protein that’s readily available is bugs.”

  The color left Natalie’s face. “Bugs?”

  Laughing at her expression, Nathan nodded. “Yes, bugs. Three ounces of crickets will give you over a hundred calories from carbs. Termites are pure protein for your body. Pound for pound, insects and grubs have more nutrients than meat or fish. They are easy to find and gather, so you don’t spend a lot of energy collecting food.” They both stared at Nathan in utter amazement.

  “You mean you can just go around eating any bugs you find and live?” John asked.

  Nathan laughed. “No, like plants, there are ones you leave alone. Any bug that emits a strong odor, pass up. I was taught: Red, orange, or yellow, forget this fellow. Black, green, or brown, wolf it down. Any brightly colored bug, just leave alone. It’s advertising for a reason.”

  Natalie’s jaw fell open. “You’ve eaten bugs?”

  “Yes, many times,” Nathan said.

  “So the world hasn’t even seen the die-off from starvation yet?” John asked.

  Shaking his head, Nathan watched Emma try to wrestle Ares down. “No, John, the millions we’ve heard of are just the beginning. I’m sure a lot of those were not true starvation. Probably most were due to violence, bad water, fires, and other hazards.”

  “That’s a lot of people being killed,” Natalie said with doubt.

  “The group we killed that came to our camp had killed over a hundred,” Nathan said. Nathan didn’t want to mention that the group he had rescued her from had killed way more than that.

  As realization set in, John let out a soft whistle. “Damn, most aren’t going to get a chance to starve to death. They’re going die from bad water, bad food, or violence.”

  Natalie scooted over under Nathan’s arm. “I’m glad I’m with you.”

  Squeezing her, Nathan tickled her belly. “Me too.”

  Natalie laughed and Emma looked up, seeing Nathan tickling Natalie. “Ah!” she shouted with a grumpy face, and scampered toward them. Emma hit Natalie, yelling in gibberish that Nathan was hers.

  Grabbing Emma, Nathan picked her up, “You need to relax.” Emma gave him that weird smile. “I will give you money if you quit that.” Since she held the smile, Nathan didn’t think she would take the offer. Nathan sat down with Emma in his lap and pulled Natalie under his arm, hugging her tightly. Emma just looked at Natalie with a scowl.

  John laughed. “Emma has really become possessive over you.”

  “John, I really don’t like thinking about that,” Nathan said in a flat voice. Nathan looked at his watch. “Let’s get the rest of the gear clean and start some food.”

  Natalie ran to the supply packs. “I’ll cook.” As she cooked Nathan and John cleaned gear and kept watch. At six they woke the others and sat down to eat.

  Amanda sat with the scanner and her notebook, making occasional notes. She flipped through her pages and look
ed up at Nathan. “Your handwriting sucks.”

  “Why do you think you’re doing it?” he asked.

  “You need to work on this,” Amanda said.

  Emma was in Nathan’s lap as he flew the spoon to her mouth, pretending it was a plane. “I was. I was learning calligraphy to improve my handwriting.”

  “Was?” Amanda asked.

  Nathan stopped ‘mid-flight’ and looked at her. “Yeah, was. I’m sure I’m going to be busy teaching you guys to survive. My calendar is getting full.” Emma slapped his leg, wanting the ‘plane’ to ‘land’ as she held her mouth open.

  “We will work on this when we get home,” Amanda stated like a royal command.

  ‘Landing the plane’ in Emma’s open mouth, Nathan turned to Amanda. “Did you just command me?”

  “Yes,” Amanda stated. “You are the best at everything so your handwriting has to improve.”

  Glancing at the rest of the group, Nathan could see they were just as lost as he was. “If I get the chance,” Nathan offered, filling the ‘plane’ again.

  “Nathan, writing is important. Without it, humans would still be living in caves. That was how knowledge was passed down,” Amanda snapped.

  “I know that. I can write,” Nathan grumbled.

  Amanda shook her head. “I can’t read it, so it doesn’t serve its purpose of conveying information.”

  Emma slapped him, waiting on the spoon. Nathan lifted it. “Fine,” he grumbled, wanting Amanda to drop it. Nathan guided the spoon to Emma and she turned her head. “Amanda, if you interrupted Emma enough for her to stop eating, I’ll spit in your ear,” Nathan snapped, chasing Emma’s mouth as she turned her head back and forth.

  “You aren’t making the plane sounds, goofy,” Amanda told Nathan like he rode the short bus. Nathan closed his eyes, stopping a dozen smartass comments. Nathan took a deep breath and started making the plane sounds. Emma opened her mouth for the ‘plane’.