The Troop

by Gayne C Young

  “How long will it take him?” I whispered.

  “I don't know,” Dad replied in a normal tone.

  It didn't take long because Johnny hiked back over the hill and waved us over.

  Dad led the way and we hiked the short 150 yards to where Johnny stood. The vehicle was an old ranch truck; four doors with a long bed behind which was a double axel flatbed trailer. The entire rig was half on the highway half off.

  Johnny said, “She's locked. All the doors.”

  Dad looked through the front windshield to a torn piece of paper that sat on the dash. He read it aloud, “June 6. 2 PM. Truck died. Radio died. No cell. Hiking to Balmorhea.”

  “You think he made it?” I asked.

  “I hope so,” Dad said. “But at two o'clock yesterday it was probably 102°.”

  “At least that,” Johnny said. “I doubt he got very far unless…”

  Johnny caught Matt’s eye and stopped midsentence. He collected his thoughts for a second then pulled a pen from his pocket and said, “The tactical point on this pen is supposed to shatter glass. Let's see. Y'all stand back.”

  We all did and Johnny thrust the back of his tactical pen into the driver side window. The glass shattered into 1,000 or more tiny blocks that crashed to the pavement.

  “It worked,” I laughed.

  “Guess so,” Johnny chuckled.

  Johnny put his arms through the window and opened the door from within. He leaned across the cabin, opened the passenger door, then leaned back and opened the rear driver side door.

  “Looks like he just came from town. Did a little grocery run,” Johnny exclaimed.

  “Andrew you, Liam, Luke, and Matt go bring our packs over,” Dad ordered.

  “Are we going to take stuff?” Luke asked.

  “Some of it,” Dad said. “Just what we can use.”

  “Isn't that stealing?” Luke asked, his voice shaking as if he was in trouble for something.

  “No,” Dad explained. “We’re salvaging. Whoever’s truck this is, it’s been left and now we're gonna take what we need in order to survive.”

  “That is stealing," Luke explained.

  “Shut up, Luke,” Liam barked. “Everything's changed. We're going to do what we got to do...”

  Dad shot Liam a look and Liam stopped midsentence.

  “We’ll talk about it more later Luke,” Dad offered. “But I tell you what, I'll leave my name and phone number in the truck in case the guy comes back.”

  “But you said phones don't work anymore,” Luke countered.

  “For when they do again,” Dad explained. “Now please, y'all go get our packs. We have to hurry. Sun’s coming up.”

  Luke, Liam, Andrew, and Matt left and Dad pulled three full plastic grocery bags from the backseat and handed them to me.

  “See what we got,” he said.

  I dumped the bags on the highway and went through what fell onto the pavement. There was four cans of beans, a package of 20 flour tortillas, a container of salt, one of pepper, a package of hot dog buns, hotdogs, a five pound bag of flour, some allergy medicine, two rolls of paper towels, and four pork chops.

  “We can take everything but the meat,” I said to Dad who was rummaging through the truck’s glove box.

  “Good. Bag it up.” Dad walked over to me and handed me a half a roll of toilet paper and an opened bottle of aspirin. “Add these. How we doing Johnny?”

  Johnny was rifling through the toolbox in the truck bed. “We got a fence tool, some bailing wire, lots of nails, hammer…not much more."

  I bagged the groceries and tossed the hot dogs and pork chops to the side of the road. I walked to the trailer to where Dad now stood. Tied down in the back of the trailer were 15 50-pound bags of corn, some metal T-posts, and two rolls of chicken wire.

  “Is that the kind of corn you can eat?” I asked.

  “No,” Dad answered. “It's feed corn. We should take some with us though. We can use it."

  Andrew, Liam, Luke, and Matt returned with our packs.

  “OK. We're gonna split everything up,” Johnny said. “Matt doesn't get anything new.”

  Liam looked like he was about to say something but stopped himself. That was probably a good idea.

  “Even with extra load, I still think we can get back to camp before it gets too hot,” Dad explained.

  “If not, we’ve got two tarps. We can shelter up until nightfall,” Johnny said.

  “Then we'll play it by ear,” Dad said. “But let's try for camp. Let's go.”

  22

  It took us about three hours to make it back to camp. The hike was slow going and nobody really said much. I don't think Matt said anything the entire time.

  I can’t imagine losing your Dad.

  Especially the way Matt did, having to watch it and all.

  Jack was sitting in front of Johnny's radio, eating a sandwich when we arrived.

  Johnny looked at him dumbfounded then said, “I'm not gonna get mad because it's my fault I didn't say anything to you before we left but I can't believe you're eating a sandwich.”

  “It's my breakfast,” Jack said. “Or lunch. I’m not sure.”

  “I know,” Johnny replied. “I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad I didn't tell you what you could and couldn't eat before I left.”

  “I'm not sneaking it,” Jack exclaimed.

  “I know,” Johnny agreed. “We just need to ration the food. We were going to save all the stuff that doesn't come out of the ice chest for later.”

  Jack boiled in anger then looked like he was going to cry. Johnny saw this and said again, “My fault. You didn't do anything wrong I should've told you..."

  Dad interrupted and cut the argument short by asking about Carl.

  “He got up like an hour ago,” Jack mumbled. “He drank a lot of Gatorade then went back to sleep.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Dad said. “What time is it Johnny?”

  Johnny looked at his radio and reported, “A little after 10.”

  “All of you chug a bunch of water then head to bed,’ Dad instructed. “We'll rally for lunch around one or sometime thereafter.”

  “If Jack left us any,” Liam scoffed.

  "Shut up Liam!" Jack barked. "I swear to God..."

  “Hey!” Johnny yelled. “Knock it off. Both of you. Go to bed.”

  We all dropped our packs under the dinning fly and went back to our tents. Liam fell into his cot and said, “Man, Jack was pissed!"

  “Well, you were being a jerk,” I countered.

  Liam laughed and said, “Yeah, kind of.”

  “Why?”

  “I dunno,” Liam admitted. “I was just having fun.”

  “You have fun being a jerk?”

  Liam grinned that evil grin of his.

  I ignored it and lay down on my cot and dozed off almost immediately. I woke up a big sweaty mess. It was super hot and there was no breeze to speak of. I got up and left Liam snoring on his cot and made my way over to the dinning fly. I drank a bunch of warm Gatorade then went over to the radio to find Dad and Johnny talking to Carl.

  “Too hot to sleep?” Dad asked.

  “I think I slept a little,” I answered. “But yeah, it's way too hot.”

  “Which is why we need to build a pool,” Carl offered.

  "Huh?" I exclaimed.

  “Carl thinks we should dam the creek down there,” Dad stated while pointing to the narrow trickle down the hill and across from camp.

  “It wouldn't take long,” Carl explained. “And when we were through, we’d have a swimming hole a lot closer, access to water. And it would attract game animals too.”

  “He's got a point,” Johnny said. “We could actually do it pretty easily with rocks and some wooden stakes driven into the riverbed. Maybe even craft some bricks."

  Dad smiled and asked, “What do you think Taylor?”

  “Sounds like a plan, but first I think we ought to go back to the truck for that corn and chicken wire,” I r
eplied.

  “There’s s over 700 pounds of feed corn on that trailer,” Dad scoffed.

  “I didn't say we should bring it all back at once,” I offered.

  “You didn't say why bring it back,” Dad said.

  I took a seat and explained my idea, “We could use the chicken wire to make several fall traps for birds like dove and quail and small animals like rabbits. We could also use it to make pens to keep those animals in so we wouldn't have to hunt every day. And we could use the corn as bait. Corn on the road will bring out all the animals like it does do at your friend Joel's place where they hunt deer.”

  Dad nodded agreeing, “True. Matter of fact that's what I was thinking we should do with some of that corn we did bring back. We spread it out on the road tonight before dusk hopefully we can lure in some rabbits or maybe a deer.”

  “Then we better work on that smoke rack this afternoon,” Johnny added.

  “See,” I said looking at Dad. “My idea's a good one."

  “No. You're right,” Dad complimented. “I'm glad. Pleased that you and Carl are planning ahead. Y’all have some good ideas. Both of you.”

  Carl and I smiled.

  “So what's your plan to bring the corn and chicken wire back?” Dad asked.

  “We hike out to the truck, load up maybe 15 pounds of corn in each pack and Carl Jack and Matt can take turns caring a roll of chicken wire. They can run a pole down the center and carry it over their shoulders.”

  “Johnny and I don't have to carry any wire?” Dad asked.

  “No. Y'all stay here. This trip is to prove that we can do it on our own. Like you said, everything’s changed. It's time to grow up. It's time for us to make our own way.”

  23

  After everyone woke up and ate lunch, we went to work on making our smoker. We started by lashing together a tripod with some rope and six-foot tall wooden wall tent poles from the trailer. We then collected fallen limbs from the woods to make the racks that run along the inside of the tripod. We made a fire pit by stacking a circle of rocks and placed the smoker on top of it.

  “We place small-sized chunks of meat on the racks,” Dad explained. “And allow the heat from the sun and smoke from the fire to dry it out. We don't have much in the way of spices but the result will be plenty of jerky.”

  “So that's pretty much what will be living on food wise once what we brought with us is gone?” I asked.

  “Will it be all we eat? No. Will it be most of what we eat? Yes,” Dad answered.

  “There’s some edible plants around here,” Johnny offered. “But not many so your Dad's right, we’ll be mostly carnivores from here on out.”

  “I hope none of you have a problem with that,” Dad laughed. “Because there's nothing I can do about it if you're not!”

  Even though Dad's attempt at being funny wasn't that great, most everybody at least understood and appreciated that he tried. Except Matt. He was still in a pretty bad place. Which was understandable. I can’t imagine how I’d be if something happened to my dad.

  While everyone else headed into the woods to gather firewood, Liam, Dad, and I headed away from camp and down the road. We took a couple of handfuls of the feed corn we took from the trailer and spread it out over 50-yard length of the road. Afterward, we cut some fresh brush and tree limbs and clumped them together to form a sort of wall. This four-and-a-half-foot brush blind would hopefully block us from the view of any game that might come after the corn.

  “What do you think will come out first?” Liam asked as we walked back toward camp.

  “Probably rabbits,” Dad answered. “They'll come out just before dusk. Of course, I hope some deer show up as well.”

  “You can't turn rabbits into jerky can you?” I asked. “I thought they were too lean.”

  “I don't know if you can or not,” Dad admitted. “But if we do get some rabbits, we’ll probably just cook them right away.”

  “I've never had rabbit,” Liam offered.

  “Hopefully you'll try some tonight,” Dad said.

  We returned to camp to find Johnny and the scouts stacking firewood. Most of the wood was small branches no bigger than my forearm but there were some pieces that looked to be pretty big as well. We all gathered under the dinning fly to ride out the late afternoon heat.

  “Johnny and I thought it over,” Dad started. “And think that Carl's idea to build a dam and Taylor’s idea to retrieve supplies from the trailer out on the road are good ones.”

  Carl and I smiled while the rest of the group wore looks of confusion. I was about to explain my idea to head to the trailer but Dad continued.

  “Time is of the essence for Taylor's idea though because we’re only going to have two more nights…”

  “Three, maybe, four at best,” Johnny interrupted.

  “That'll carry enough moonlight for y'all to hike at night,” Dad continued.

  “What are y'all talking about?” Luke suddenly burst out.

  Dad nodded for me to tell my idea.

  “We're going to hike back to the trailer so we can bring back as much feed corn and chicken wire as possible. We’ll use the wire to make traps and a pen and the corn for bait.”

  “Y'all will be going alone,” Dad revealed. “But Johnny and I will be keeping note of your time if you're gone too long, we're coming for you.”

  “I don't want to go,” Matt almost exploded. “I don't want to go back there.”

  “That's OK Matt,” Dad assured him. “No one has a problem with that.”

  “I'm not going either,” Luke said. “It sounds dangerous.”

  “It'll be fine,” Dad assuaged Luke. “We wouldn't let y'all do anything unsafe. Especially now.”

  “And we’ll have rifles with us,” Carl almost bragged.

  “No, you won't!” Dad quickly countered.

  “What?!” Carl immediately shot back.

  “No rifles,” Dad reiterated.

  “But Dad, you said people on the road…”

  Dad nodded as I spoke then Johnny cut me off.

  “Y'all handle this mission rifle free then we'll see how you do.”

  “Mission?” Liam laughed.

  “OK Liam,” Johnny sighed. “Mission. Journey. Expedition. Whatever you call it, but no rifles. But I will show you all how to hike carefully and unseen and to keep a lookout.”

  “Plus, you're hiking at night,” Dad explained. “And nobody's going to be on the road. We're too far from anything.”

  We all more or less agreed then listened to Dad as he instructed us to come up with a plan for our mission before we went out to watch the road for game.

  “Y'all come up with a plan, what you're taking with you, what you're bringing back, how you're bringing it back, how long you'll be gone, and what to do if something goes wrong or you don't feel safe.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement and we got to work on a plan.

  24

  By the time Carl, Jack, Liam, Andrew, and I came up with a plan for our retrieval trip to the trailer it was time for us to go check the road for game. Or at least that's what Dad said. He took Liam and me to the trailer and we retrieved two rifles. Dad took his AR and Liam and I got to share a .22. We walked quietly out of camp and toward where our newly built brush blind stood.

  “You think the animals have had time to find the corn?” Liam asked in a normal voice.

  “Not if you talk so loud,” Dad whispered.

  “What does my talking have to do animals smelling corn?” Liam whispered in return.

  “Do you have to argue about everything?” Dad quietly chuckled.

  “No!” Liam scoffed. “I just…”

  “Liam,” I interrupted.

  “What?!

  “Shut up.”

  Dad shook his head at both of us although, let's be honest, more at Liam than at me.

  We reached the brush blind and sat on the rocky road it sat upon.

  “We made this in a hurry,” Dad whispered. “We’ll make a bette
r one, one that we can sit in chairs behind soon enough.”

  The three of us peered through the openings in the tied together brush to the road before it that was littered with a few handfuls of dried corn. Quail and dove hopped and ran silly among the dried kernels as did a few cottontails.

  “Already,” Liam exclaimed at the sight of the rabbits.

  “Liam hush!” Dad angrily whispered before turning to me. “How far is the first one?”

  “I'd say 15 or 20 yards.”

  “I'd say that's about right,” Dad opined. “Take them if you can.”

  “I can hit ‘em for sure,” I promised.

  “Then do it.”

  I pushed the rifle barrel through a gap in the brush and held it tight against a thick limb in the structure. I found the rabbit and sighted in on his head. I quietly worked the bolt to drive a bullet into the chamber. The rabbit’s head was a small target, but I knew I could hit it. And I didn't want to waste any meat. I found the rabbit again in my sites, pushed the safety off, let out half my breath, and squeezed the trigger.

  The rifle cracked and the rabbit flipped over and backward. Dove flew and quail scattered and the rabbits that were left alive on the road scurried away.

  Liam started to rise, and Dad pulled him back down.

  “We’ll get him in a minute.”

  “But…but,” Liam began to argue.

  “Rabbits aren’t that smart. Give them some time. More will come out soon enough.”

  It didn't take long to prove Dad right as in no time three cottontails bopped back onto the road looking for corn.

  “My turn,” Liam whispered.

  I handed Liam the rifle and he took it and checked to make sure it didn't have a bullet in the chamber and the safety was on.

  “Which one?” I whispered.

  “Closest one,” Liam said pointing to a small cottontail that was eating about 23 yards before us.