Bug Out! Texas Book 4: Texas Battle Cry

by Robert Boren

  Curt rolled his eyes.

  “You know all these folks?” Amanda asked, slipping a little closer to Curt.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Army days, and police departments.”

  “You’re a cop?” she asked.

  “Used to be,” Curt said. “Punched out my CO before this war started, so I’m a free agent now.”

  “Good,” Amanda whispered, getting closer. “Wouldn’t want you to bust me.”

  “Bust you for what?” Curt whispered. She moved closer and whispered in his ear.

  “Shine. We got a nice operation going.”

  Curt laughed out loud.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I’ll have to let you try some of my stuff. Brought what was left of it here along with the weapons and ammo.”

  “I’m starting to like you,” Amanda said, moving even closer.

  “You’re going to end up on my lap at this rate,” he whispered to her.

  She giggled. “Later.”

  Eric glanced at Kim. “You seeing this?”

  “Yeah,” Kim said. “Amanda is all over him. Wow.”

  “Curt doesn’t mind, either,” Eric said.

  “Everybody here?” Governor Nelson asked.

  “We’re all on in Fort Stockton,” Jason said.

  “Same here at Fredericksburg,” Eric said.

  “Good, let’s get started,” Nelson said. “First of all, let me thank you for your patriotic and extremely effective actions up to now. Kudos. Texas will remember you.”

  There was silence for a moment, as Nelson gathered his thoughts.

  “There’s been a new development, and it’s going to put more pressure on the people of Texas. A major incursion is going on in Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. The US Army assets we had are being moved there. We have to develop and deploy a citizen force to take up the slack.”

  “They taking the hardware with them?” Curt asked.

  “No, this is mainly personnel, which is even worse,” Major General Gallagher said. “We’re losing General Walker, General Hogan, and their entire staff.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Jason said.

  “None of us are happy about it,” Major General Landry said. “We are blessed with a strong and well-armed population, though, which puts us ahead of the game compared to most states.”

  “What’s happening in the rest of the state now?” Curt asked.

  “San Antonio has been re-taken,” Gallagher said, “but you already knew that. There’s terror attacks going on daily in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas, mostly in the suburbs. The Houston invasion has stalled. That’s probably the best news I’ve got.”

  “How about Austin?” Eric asked.

  “Thanks to you guys, we’ve put them down here,” Gallagher said. “I don’t know who came up with the idea for that supply depot attack, but it was a total game changer in central Texas.”

  “It also put a huge target on your backs,” Chief Ramsey said.

  “Yeah, we figured,” Kelly said. “So what now?”

  “We want your group to be the core of the citizen forces in central Texas,” Nelson said. “We want you to work with Gallagher and Landry to build yourselves up. We’ll help you with equipment and air support.”

  “And intel,” Gallagher said. “Before we get too far, we need to chat about the Fredericksburg location.”

  “Uh oh,” Eric said.

  “Yeah, uh oh,” Gallagher said. “The enemy is collecting near Cain. We’ve hit them with choppers twice now. They keep sending more people into your general area. The only target worth anything to them is you guys. We need you to get out of that area. Fast. Right after this call, if you can.”

  “Dammit,” Eric said. “I was afraid of that.”

  “Can they come here to Fort Stockton?” Jason asked.

  “That’s what I suggest,” Gallagher said.

  “This place is kinda exposed,” Kelly said. “We were actually thinking of relocating to the homestead.”

  “That location seems very exposed because it’s so close to I-10,” Landry said. “There aren’t good places for the enemy to hide in that area; no places where the enemy can gather in numbers large enough to take you on, especially with those tanks you have. We think you’re safer there.”

  “What if they send a column of tanks down I-10?” Junior asked. “That’s what I worry about the most.”

  “We’re patrolling that corridor with aircraft now,” Landry said. “We’ll take them out.”

  “How do we know your resources won’t be pulled away to help in Dallas or Houston?” Jason asked.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Nelson said. “You guys are extremely important, and we want to increase the size of your force. There’s other groups like you all over Texas. We need to get you linked up.”

  Amanda glanced at Sydney, both of them worried.

  “You okay?” Curt asked.

  “Hey, Ramsey, you gonna have a problem if I move certain manufacturing assets when we leave?” Amanda asked.

  Ramsey chuckled.

  “What’s she talking about?” Nelson asked.

  “She’s running the largest bootleg outfit in central Texas,” Ramsey said.

  “Bootleg?” Nelson asked.

  “White lighting,” Ramsey said.

  “Wait a minute,” Gallagher said. “What kind of output can you provide?”

  “A lot, if I can take all my stuff,” Amanda said. “You guys aren’t going to burn me when this is over, right?”

  “No,” Nelson said. “What do you have in mind, Gallagher?”

  “The biggest weakness with the M-1 Tank is the fuel requirement,” Gallagher said. “Those turbine engines will run on what she manufactures.”

  Curt laughed out loud. “Now we’re talking.”

  Amanda looked at him, then back at the screen. “I have a bobtail delivery truck. Pretty sure I can fit all the equipment in it, if I have some help dismantling everything and loading it up.”

  “I’m there,” Curt said.

  “Count me in too,” Dirk said.

  “Yeah,” Chance said.

  “That sounds good,” Gallagher said. “I wouldn’t hold the whole population out there on that task, though. A few of you work on moving the distilling equipment. The rest of you need to get out fast. Within the next couple of hours.”

  “We’re really in that much danger?” Eric asked.

  “Yeah,” Gallagher said. “Unlike Fort Stockton, there’s a lot of places for the enemy to hide around Fredericksburg, and we can’t use air power there without causing a lot of collateral damage.”

  “Your truck have a trailer hitch?” Curt whispered to Amanda.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I’ll need to drag my Barracuda home,” he said.

  “What’s a Barracuda?” she asked.

  “One heavily armed off-roader,” Curt said. “It’s got one of the automatic grenade launchers mounted on it.”

  “Cool,” she whispered back.

  “We going into any tactical discussions in this meeting, or should we start getting ready to leave now?” Kim asked.

  “Does Fort Stockton have enough room for everybody in Fredericksburg?” Ramsey asked.

  “How many coaches we talking about?” Moe asked.

  “Only a couple,” Eric said. “We’ll need space for tents.”

  “Yeah, some of you already have RVs at Fort Stockton,” Jason said.

  “True,” Curt said. “I need to get back to my workshop.”

  “Workshop?” Amanda asked.

  “I got a 3-D printer and some machine tools in the back of my toy hauler,” he said.

  “I’d rather not get hung up talking about next steps in this meeting,” Nelson said. “You guys got the lay of the land. I say we end the call and get moving.”

  “I agree,” Gallagher said.

  “Anybody else have anything?” Ramsey asked.

  There was silence in both locations.


  “Okay, then we’ll talk later,” Nelson said. “Thanks, and God Speed.”

  The video feed stopped. Kim closed the connection on the laptop.

  “Well damn,” Dirk said. “Let’s get busy.”

  “Yeah,” Eric said.

  Sydney rushed over to Amanda. “You okay with this?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I think I can hang out with this character for a while.” She nodded at Curt. He glanced back at her, eyes lingering.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t climb onto his lap,” Sydney said.

  “I saw you and Don making eyes at each other,” Amanda said. “So don’t give me any crap.”

  Curt stood, shaking his head. “Let’s get busy.” He held a hand down to Amanda she took it and stood next to him.

  Don came over to Sydney. “You’re going, aren’t you?”

  “Do you want me to?” she whispered.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Good,” she said.

  “I need to help my daughter and her friend get packed,” Don said. “You need a way there?”

  “I may be here longer, getting our equipment loaded. Don’t wait around for me. Protect your girls.”

  “Okay,” Don said.

  Amanda followed Curt out to the barn. “There it is,” Curt said, as he pointed to the Barracuda.

  “Lord have mercy,” she said, looking at the grenade launcher. “That thing works?”

  “Like a dream,” he said. “Want a ride to your place? It seats two.”

  “Let me check with Sydney first, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said. He looked her up and down, taking in her curvy figure as she walked away. She turned around and snickered.

  “Caught you.”

  He just smiled at her as she kept walking.

  Chapter 20 – Doctor’s Call

  Hendrix drove through his gate and around to his garage, hitting the opener. It was almost seven in the evening. The conference call and meetings afterwards took longer than anybody expected. Maria’s not home yet. He sat in his car, mind racing to all the bad things that might have happened. Then he pulled out his phone and called her.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” Hendrix said. “Where are you? I just got home.”

  “I’m still at the hospital, waiting for the panel to decide if Celia has to stay or not. They’re taking a long time.”

  “Want me to come down there and wait with you?”

  “No, sweetie, that’s okay. I’ll see you in a little while. She won’t be getting out tonight. It’ll be tomorrow if they allow it.”

  “So why do you have to wait?” he asked.

  “They might have questions,” she said. “The doctor asked me to stick around. They should be done pretty soon. Want me to pick up something on the way home?”

  “To eat?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Sure, go ahead,” Hendrix said. “Or if you want to go out, we can meet somewhere.”

  “I want to come home and be alone with you,” Maria said. “If you don’t mind.”

  “I’m counting the minutes,” he said. “Love you.”

  “Love you too. What do you want to eat?”

  “Surprise me,” he said. “I’m good with anything. They fed us between meetings, so I’m not desperate.”

  “Okay,” she said. “See you soon. Don’t worry, all right?”

  “I won’t,” Hendrix said.

  “Bye.”

  Hendrix went inside his house and headed for the kitchen. Then he paused and made a detour to the bar in the living room. He poured himself a shot of Jameson and threw it back, then sat on the couch and turned on the TV. He was asleep in minutes.

  Maria made it home just after nine, setting a bag of Chinese food on the counter. “Kip?” she called out. She heard nothing but the TV, then walked into the living room and found him asleep on the couch.

  “Kip?” she said above him. “Kip.”

  He startled awake, fear in his eyes until he saw her pretty face smiling at him.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said.

  “Man, I was really out,” Hendrix said. “Busy dreams, too.”

  “Bad dreams?” she asked, sitting next to him.

  “Yeah, kinda,” he said.

  “About us?”

  He chuckled. “No, about ancient history. What happened with your sister?”

  “They decided to wait a week and talk again,” Maria said. “Hungry yet?”

  “Yeah,” he said, getting up.

  “I got Chinese. Hope that’s okay.”

  “Perfect,” Hendrix said. “That’s better than the comfort food I ate all day today.”

  “That’s what I figured,” she said. He moaned as she stretched up to grab plates from the cupboard, showing her figure.

  “That blue dress really gets to me,” he said, coming up behind her, his arms going around her waist.

  She turned and kissed him gently. “Let’s eat first. Then you can have your dessert.”

  He grinned and let her go, watching her put the plates on the kitchen table.

  “Grab the food bags, okay?” she asked.

  Hendrix nodded, picking them up off the counter and putting then on the table. Maria got the white cardboard boxes out one by one and opened them.

  “Smells good,” Hendrix said.

  “Hope it’s okay. The place I used to go to is by my apartment. It’s probably gone, judging by what we saw yesterday.”

  “Which place did you get this from?” Hendrix asked.

  “Louis’s Garden,” she said.

  “Oh, I know that place. It’s one of the best ones around here.”

  “Good,” she said as she dished the food out. Hendrix sat next to her.

  “So what was the deal with Celia? They tell you?”

  “It’s embarrassing,” Maria said.

  “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me.”

  “No, you need to know,” she said. “Celia tried to come on to one of the attendants. Had his pants all the way off before the other attendants saw it on the monitors.”

  “Oh,” Hendrix said. “I’m surprised they’re going to reconvene in a week, then.”

  “The doctor told me it would have been more like six months if she was a male.”

  “Well, being a danger to others is considered more of a risk than being a danger to yourself, I guess,” Hendrix said.

  “What makes you think she’s not a danger to others?” Maria asked. “She could ruin somebody’s life. It’s not always just about physical danger.”

  “Good point.” He took a bite of food. “Excellent.”

  “Yeah,” Maria said. “I was hungry. All I got was snacks from the machines at the hospital.”

  “You look worried,” Hendrix said.

  “I think it’s risky to bring Celia here, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Risky?”

  “Of course,” Maria said. “She’ll go after you.”

  Hendrix leaned back in his chair as he finished a mouthful of food, then looked at her. “They’ll keep her there if she’s still showing that behavior. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

  Maria sighed. “I wasn’t going to go into this, but I’d better now.”

  “Uh oh,” Hendrix said.

  “My mom didn’t just kick Celia out because of the substance abuse or the depression-related issues,” Maria said.

  “Oh,” Hendrix said. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I see the worry written all over your face.”

  “No, I need to tell you this, especially if there’s a chance she ends up here for a while.”

  “All right, go ahead,” Hendrix said.

  “Mom caught her screwing her boyfriend,” Maria said.

  “No, really?” Hendrix asked. His mind flashed to Cami but he pushed it back.

  “That’s why I’m worried. She was doing those behaviors before she had her breakdown.”

  “Did you tell the doctor abou
t that?”

  “Of course,” Maria said. “I think we should arrange for her to go to a halfway house instead of coming to live with us.”

  “Well, sweetie, it’s your family, so I’ll go along with whatever you decide,” he said.

  “What if she comes onto you?” Maria asked.

  “You think I’ll go for it?”

  “Not on purpose,” she said.

  Hendrix chuckled. “I do have some self-control, you know.”

  “You don’t know her. She can be every man’s wet dream.”

  Hendrix stopped eating and leaned towards her. “How about this. If we can’t get her into a halfway house, let’s just make sure that you’re always here when I am. Then she can’t do anything.”

  Maria thought about it for a moment. “That would probably work, but my first choice is to have her someplace else. Things could go wrong.”

  “We’ve got at least a week to think it through,” Hendrix said. “Don’t be too worried about it. We’ll handle it if we need to, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’m done. You want any more?”

  “No thanks, sweetie,” he said.

  “What happened in the meeting today? Can you tell me?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Let’s clean this up first, and sit on the couch.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Ready?” Hendrix asked, settling next to her on the couch.

  “Uh huh,” she said, leaning into him, her hand on his chest.

  “We’re losing the two generals from the US Army. And their staffs too.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Maria said.

  “It’s not,” Hendrix said. “The Texas National Guard forces are too thin. I’ve never seen Nelson so worried.”

  “So what are we gonna do?”

  “Recruit citizens to join in the fight,” Hendrix said.

  “Like a draft?”

  “No, more like a group of local militias,” Hendrix said. “I don’t think we have any choice now, but I don’t like it.”

  “Why? You don’t think they can handle it?” Maria asked.

  “Oh, I think they can beat the enemy, although it will be a very bloody affair.”

  “So what are you worried about?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid of what happens after the war,” Hendrix said. “By the time we get there, we’ll have thousands of people who served this way. Anything could happen. What if some bad actors take control of these forces?”