Mackenzie grabbed the revolver with her right hand and looked back out the window. Stuart fired two more times then got back on his feet. The two of them were sprinting back to the house again. Her dad fired once, loaded another round and shot again.
Mackenzie watched Stuart and Sawyer running down the road. Just as they neared the drive way in front of the house, footsteps bounded down the hall to the bedroom. Mackenzie raised the revolver and cocked the hammer back as the creature hit the door and let out a scream that didn’t sound like any human sound she had ever heard before. The door held.
Patrick put his rifle on safety, bounded over to where his daughter was kneeling by the window, and took the revolver from her. Just as he grabbed the revolver, the woman scavey hit the door again, but this time the jam gave way where the door handle was. The creature fell into the room with both arms above her head and her mouth wide open in the middle of a full non-human scream. Patrick squeezed the trigger of the revolver and the top half of the creature exploded into the hallway and the small bedroom.
Mackenzie cringed at the sight and sound and closed her eyes tight.
“It’s us! It’s us!” Stuart called out as they bounded up the stairs.
“Let’s get out of here!” Sawyer yelled to them.
Patrick grabbed his rifle and went back to Mackenzie. He lifted her up and guided her to the door. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help but catch a look at the scavey body lying on the floor next to the bed. She looked away and closed her eyes tight again just as fast as she had looked. Mackenzie wished that he hadn’t seen the sight. She was sure that the picture of the woman missing most of her parts above her neck would haunt her dreams for years to come. And the blood. The blood was everywhere.
“Let’s go Mak!” Patrick yelled at his daughter as he was trying to guide her quickly down the hallway.
Mackenzie finally forced herself to open her eyes when she reached the top of the stairs. Stuart and Sawyer were standing on each side of the open front door looking out in both directions.
“You alright?” Stuart asked her as she and Patrick bounded down the stairs.
“I think so,” she told him.
“We need to get out of here,” Sawyer told them. “I’ll watch the rear while we high tail it back to the boat.”
Patrick said without hesitating “Let’s go!”
Patrick shouldered his rifle sling and kept his revolver in his right hand while he grabbed Mackenzie’s with his free hand. They headed out the front door at an all-out run while Stuart fell in right behind them with a duffle bag that they must have found in town the night before. Sawyer watched the road behind them for a minute, then took off after the rest of the crew.
Mackenzie’s lungs were burning and her legs felt like jello by the time they crested the hill and first seen the boat beached in the same spot that it had been the night before. Stuart had overtaken them on the run back, and was half-way down the hill by the time her and her dad started down the boat ramp.
Sawyer fired twice for the first time since they left the farm house. He hadn’t come over the top of the hill, so she couldn’t tell what he was shooting at when she turned her head around to look.
Stuart reached the boat first and threw his rifle and duffle bag into it. He then struggled to push the boat from the dry ground out into the river.
Patrick dropped Mackenzie’s hand and told her to hop in as he helped Stuart push from the front of the boat. As soon as Patrick added his weight to the effort, the boat moved suddenly and quickly out into the river. Patrick stepped into the bow with one foot and made his way to his seat in the back as Stuart knelt in the knee-deep water and turned to wait for Sawyer who had just reached the top of the boat ramp and was sprinting towards the boat.
When Sawyer was almost to the edge of the water, three scaveys came over the top of the hill as well. Patrick readied his rifle and aimed at the lead scavey.
“Go! Go! Go!” Sawyer yelled to those in the boat.
Stuart pushed off and hopped into the boat. Patrick fired his rifle and missed. He loaded another shell into the chamber as Sawyer reached the boat and lunged onto the side. Mackenzie thought that they were going to tip over at first because the boat listed under Sawyer’s weight. The boat held though and he scrambled up onto the middle seat. Both Stuart and Sawyer began to paddle quickly away from the shore as Patrick shot again. This time, his aim was true and the teenage boy that was leading the pack dropped like a sack of potatoes on the boat ramp.
Stuart and Sawyer started paddling down river. Stuart was going frantically enough that they started to turn back towards the bank with the scaveys.
“Slow down,” Sawyer yelled at him just as Patrick squeezed off another round and the second scavey fell just as he reached the water’s edge. He fell face first into the river and part of him bobbed there while his feet remained anchored on the bank.
The third scavey looked like he had been a good looking young business man from his haircut and the way that he was dressed. He reached the water’s edge and let out a loud hissing sound with his mouth wide open as he looked at it.
“Don’t they like water?” Patrick asked Sawyer.
“I don’t know,” Sawyer responded and turned his attention to watch the creature. The scavey paced back and forth where the boat ramp met the river a couple of times, then it decided to run along the river bank following the boat. “At least that one don’t,” Sawyer said and Patrick fired again dropping the creature instantly. Patrick dug in his pack and loaded both of his weapons up again.
When they were down the river enough to where they couldn’t make out the boat ramp any longer and their nerves had calmed down some, Mackenzie asked “So what happened last night?”
Sawyer and Stuart looked at each other. Stuart started to explain while they both continued to row. “We checked out a few places along the way that had been scavenged. But we found a mom and pop restaurant on the other end of town where none of them had made it into a walk-in pantry that they had in the kitchen. We filled up this bag with all kinds of good stuff – “
“No meat,” Sawyer cut in.
“Yeah,” Stuart confirmed with a grin. “No meat. We left the restaurant and headed back when we saw a big scavey crossing the street up ahead of us. I got excited and shot him when I probably shouldn’t have.”
“You can say that again,” Sawyer chimed in.
“As soon as I shot, they all came out of nowhere,” Stuart said. “We hightailed it back to the restaurant and holed up in the pantry. I wanted to shoot to have you guys come get us, but Sawyer said that it would be better if we waited until dawn. We barricaded the door with some of the shelves in the pantry and waited until we saw light coming in under the doorway. Those things paced back and forth and scratched at the door all night. For whatever reason, they slowly left just before dawn and we decided to make a break for it. We ran back to the house shooting them as we saw them. You know the rest.”
Mackenzie normally would have asked a dozen questions about their adventure, but now her mind was overloaded with all that she had seen and done in the last twenty-four hours. She turned and leaned over the front of the boat looking for rocks and sand bars that would hinder their progress back to her mother.
Chapter 22
The whole boating party took turns rowing, looking over the bow, and scanning the river banks for more scaveys throughout the day. While they took turns doing each task, they remained in their normal positions for most of the trip. By early afternoon, the narrow slow moving delta gave way to a large open lake.
“I think that we’re getting close,” Stuart said.
“Why’s that?” Sawyer asked.
“Because I think that this is the lake right at Yankton. Lewis and Clark Lake I think. I fished here a couple of times when I was a kid,” Stuart answered.
“How far do we have to go?” Patrick asked with excitement clearly in his voice.
“I don’t know for sure,” Stuart
answered as he turned in the boat so that he could see Patrick. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. A couple of miles I guess.”
“And the town is right on the lake?” Sawyer asked and Stuart turned back around front.
“Pretty much. There’s a dam at the end of the lake, and the highway to Yankton is right there.” Stuart thought for a moment and then added “There’s an old fort and campgrounds on the north side of the lake about half-way across I think. We could probably make out the dam from there with binoculars.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Patrick said.
The group paddled quietly for the next hour or so hugging the north edge of the lake looking for the campground and fort that Stuart had told them about. They reached a point on the lake where they could see the dam before they reached the campground that Stuart had told them about, so they decided to stop early. They beached the boat in a small bay that had an asphalt boat ramp and several parking lots around it.
They grabbed some of their gear and cautiously made it to a stand of trees near a brick building that served as restrooms. There were nice beaches all along the lake’s edge that would have been a perfect place to frolic and relax under different circumstances. There weren’t a lot of trees or other cover that broke their line of sight, so they could see in almost all directions with their binoculars and rifle scopes without obstruction. After they each took turns using the restrooms, they decided to cook an extremely large can of vegetable soup from the restaurant on the last of the available camping stove gas. While the soup was cooking, they finalized their plan of how to safely get Patrick and Mackenzie across the line, without getting Stuart and Sawyer caught. They relaxed, napped, and talked in low tones after lunch until dusk.
Sawyer was cleaning up the dishes and stowing the food back in the duffle bag they had found when Patrick sidled up to him. Patrick held something out to Sawyer for him to take.
“Thanks for all of your help,” Patrick told him. Sawyer took the folded map from Patrick and looked at it for a moment before standing up and sticking his hand out to shake. Patrick took his hand and pumped it a couple of times before bending in and giving him a quick man hug with the other arm. Patrick let him go and said “I wish you the best. Take care of Stuart for us.”
“I will,” Sawyer told him and continued putting the food stuffs up.
Patrick walked over to Stuart where he was sitting in the grass visiting with Mackenzie. Mackenzie gave him a hug and was crying a little when Patrick approached.
“Uh, sorry,” Patrick said.
“It’s okay Dad,” Mackenzie said.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Patrick said.
“It’s alright Mr. Kincaid,” Stuart said as he stood up to face Patrick.
“I wanted to give you this,” Patrick said as he held out his hand with his bible in it.
“Ahhh. I can’t take that,” Stuart told him.
“You can, and you will,” Patrick told him. “You’re going on an adventure with another young man that is smart and brave; but neither one of you are wise. Whatever questions you have are answered in that book.” Stuart didn’t move. “Take it,” Patrick said and motioned the book towards him. Stuart apprehensively reached out and took the bible. “Those answers are sometimes hard to find, but if you read it daily and ask for His help; you’ll get the wisdom that you need.”
Stuart reached out quickly and gave Patrick a bear hug. Patrick wasn’t expecting it and he about fell over backwards.
“Thank you, Mr. Kincaid,” Stuart said with considerable emotion in his voice. “Thank you for everything.”
“Okay Stuart,” Patrick said after a moment. “You can turn me loose now.”
Stuart let him go and used the back of his sleeve to wipe his nose.
“You sure that you want to go with him?” Patrick asked him.
“More than anything,” Stuart answered.
“Good luck then. We’ll be praying for you,” Patrick said. Mackenzie stood up and the three of them had a big group hug with runny noses all around for each of them.
Sawyer brought the display of affection to a halt as he walked by on his way to the boat and said “We’d better get going.”
Patrick told Stuart after they separated and started towards the boat “Oh – and when you find the Answer to your questions; tell Sawyer about Him.”
They shoved off again and started paddling towards the dam. The sun had set by the time they all made it into the boat and the last light was disappearing as they got into a rhythm of rowing. They heard some commotion along the bank not far from where they had put in. The bank rose quickly into tall bluffs. They couldn’t see anything and the noise didn’t seem to be following them as they passed by, so they continued on their way trying not to make any noise of their own.
It didn’t take them long and they had reached the dam. The dam at the end of the lake was huge, just as Stuart had told them. There was also a large marina next to it as he had explained over lunch. There were dozens of sailboats and larger motor boats docked on piers all next to the marina. The group pulled into an empty slot on one of the piers and tied their small drift boat off to it. They unloaded all the gear that they wanted to take and fastened it to Stuart’s and Patrick’s bikes.
They walked east along the highway together towards the town. Stuart and Sawyer walked next to the bikes while the other two walked abreast down the center of the highway. As they neared town, they could see artificial light coming from the other side of it that shown dimly on the horizon. The light cast an eerie glow that they weren’t used to seeing in the new world.
When they reached the edge of town and the first main street that headed north, Stuart and Sawyer found a low spot next to a building to lay their bikes down. They joined the other two and said their goodbyes. Stuart said goodbye to Mackenzie first and they both were emotional after the quick hug and few words. Stuart thanked Patrick again and gave him a quick hug. Sawyer talked to Mackenzie for some time in hushed tones that Patrick couldn’t make out from where he was standing. He was beginning to get upset with the secretiveness when Sawyer leaned forward and gave Mackenzie a hug. Mackenzie wiped her eyes dry and Sawyer stepped up to shake Patrick’s hand one last time.
“Good luck young man,” Patrick said.
“Good luck to you,” Sawyer repeated. “You’re gonna need it.”
Patrick nodded to them both and they turned and headed east down the street that was lined with residential houses. Patrick unbuttoned the strap on his pistol holster and said to Mackenzie “Let’s go find Mom and James.”
Mackenzie nodded and started walking abreast with her dad. She had to try to keep the skip out of her step at the thought of seeing her mom. After they went several blocks, the side street that they were on turned into the main road. The artificial light on the other side of town was much brighter now, and they could almost make out where it was coming from. They both slung their rifles and tied the white towels they had brought along to the muzzles. They carried the rifles in front of them kind of like the color guard does at big assemblies.
The two of them walked several more blocks and passed some vacant commercial buildings and two gas stations. Patrick took out his revolver and fired two shots into the air. That was the signal to the other two that they were getting close and to let the soldiers know that something was coming.
Patrick leaned into his daughter and said “Don’t forget about what we talked about.”
“I know Dad,” Mackenzie said with disdain in her voice. “I won’t say a word about Stuart and Sawyer.”
“Well I know you won’t, but I just want to make sure that our stories are straight,” Patrick said. “Whatever Stuart had done, tell them that was me; and whatever Sawyer had done, that was you.”
“I know Dad,” Mackenzie repeated still irritated. “Now let’s find Mom.”
They started walking again, but now they lifted their rifles with the towels tied to them well over their heads and waved
them.
“It’s just us! Don’t shoot!” they both yelled and repeated together as they walked along towards the lights. “It’s just us! Don’t shoot!”
After less than a block, they heard a loud diesel engine headed their way. They stopped where they were, but continued to wave their towels and yell out “It’s just us! Don’t shoot!”
The engine sound got louder and louder. A Humvee came rolling down the street headed straight at them at a rate of speed that was much faster than the town’s sheriff probably would have allowed under other circumstances. There were bright lights from all over the vehicle pointed at them. The driver of the truck slammed on the brakes several yards in front of them and the tires slid several inches with a screech on the pavement. A deep voice from one of the soldiers standing with the top half of his body extruding from the roof of the Humvee called down to them “Drop your weapons.”
Patrick and Mackenzie both carefully laid their rifles down on the pavement in front of them and stood back up slowly.
“All of them,” the deep voice said. “Drop all of your weapons.”
Patrick suddenly remembered his revolver and reached back to his belt, unsheathed it, and laid it on the ground next to the rifle.
Four soldiers each jumped out of the Humvee’s doors simultaneously. One from each side of the vehicle ran forward to Patrick and Mackenzie while the other two leaned against the front of the truck with their rifles trained on their targets. Both running soldiers simultaneously stopped about ten feet in front of the father and daughter. “Hands on your head,” one of them said and both Patrick and Mackenzie complied.
“On your knees,” the other one called out.
“It’s okay” Patrick whispered to his daughter and they both knelt in front of the soldiers.
Both soldiers advanced and stood behind them as they knelt in on the pavement flooded in the bright lights of the Humvee. Patrick felt the soldier behind him grab both of this thumbs with his gloved hand and squeeze them tight. The soldier gave him a quick pat down, then pulled his hands down from his head and placed them in the middle of his back. The soldier then zip-tied his hands together and put another one on from his hands to his belt loop.
The Hike (Book 1): Survivors Page 28