They were just getting into the park when they heard another gunshot behind them. Wordlessly, they agreed to step it up some more, but still not break into a run.
Running would affect the way the people around them behaved. Keeping a steady pace away from the commotion, a weapon worn openly but not drawn, staying close to each other had been keeping trouble at bay so far.
“We run into any hikers, let’s just keep moving,” Bill said as they got into the park and turned onto the trail.
The next hour passed uneventfully. They encountered one pair of hikers that seemed blissfully unaware of anything amiss outside of their hike.
Bill felt a little guilty about not giving them any information about what they were about to encounter in Eureka, but he also needed to get to his children.
It was into the second hour when they saw two people coming up the trail towards them.
They weren’t dressed in the brightly-colored, high-end outdoor gear or carrying the ultralight packs that most of the long-haul PNT hikers carried. They were dressed in jeans and long-sleeved work shirts, wearing trucker caps and carrying rifles slung over their shoulders.
Sally saw them first and said, “Trouble,” quietly to her husband, giving her head a little tilt up the way.
Chapter 4
By the time the sun set, Jenny and Cole had set the house up for defense. The cabin did not have any true interior rooms, but there was an angle where the bedrooms and the living room met.
They decided to put their extra ammunition and the cabin’s first aid kit there, along with their cook stove and lamp fuel where it was centrally located and farthest from the outside.
As they inventoried their food supply, they made sure to think of it in terms of how long they could feed four with what they had, not two.
“What do you think of going across the creek and up to that clearcut on the far side of Clingback Mountain to take a look around,” Cole asked, after darkness settled in.
“Still can’t keep you out of the water, can we?” Jenny asked.
“Can you think of a better way to get mom and dad to show up?” That got a little bit of laughter out of both of them, enough to break the tension a bit, but it didn’t last long. “We can see the lake from the clearcut, see if anything has power over there or if it’s just this side that’s gone dark.”
“You think a walk down to the Wilkersons’ is too dangerous, but wandering around the woods at night is cool?”
“We don’t want anybody to know we’re up here alone, which is why we’re not going to the Wilkersons’. But we also need information.”
“And you think after dark is the best time for us to be out?” Jenny asked.
“It’s a new moon, so nobody will be able to easily see us. As long as we’re careful to move quietly, like when we’re out hunting, nobody will hear us.”
“We hunt during the daytime, when we can see what we’re walking through. Besides, it’s a good hour both ways to get up that hill from here.” Jenny said. “That’s just crazy, Cole. We’d honestly be safer going down to the Wilkersons.”
“We don’t approach any other people or homes, JJ. That’s always been the plan if things go bad. Let’s just get a little more info so we have a better idea of what we’re up against.”
“I don’t like this, Cole.”
“I still think it’s our safest opportunity to just get a look around quick.”
“Too bad we don’t have any night vision stuff.”
“It probably wouldn’t work.”
After leaving a note in case their parents got in after dark, Jenny and Cole locked the cabin behind them and made their way down the long driveway from the cabin down to the road.
Cole carried the Mossberg, loaded with shot, while Jenny carried one of the Winchesters.
They had both been hunting with their parents and uncles since they were in kindergarten, and were comfortable with firearms.
They carried their weapons at the ready, side by side and always aware of where the other was, to make sure neither of them ever got the other in their line of fire.
Each of them also carried the ever-present canisters of bear spray their parents insisted they always have whenever away from the cabin.
Both children were terribly conscious of just how loudly the gravel crunched below their feet.
A short distance from the end of the driveway, they went off the road and started down a narrow, stony draw that would bring them down to Dodge Creek.
There had been enough rain that the leaf litter below them was moist, and reasonably quiet, but they were at constant risk of slipping down the steep slope.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Jenny asked.
“We’ll be fine.”
When they heard the light chatter of Dodge Creek they knew they were halfway to their destination on the map, but only a third of the way on the ground.
There was a half mile climb up the steep side of Clingback Mountain in front of them. At least their eyes had adapted reasonably well to the darkness by then, and they were able to see a few yards in front of them.
As Jenny was the more sure-footed of the two, she took the lead. It didn’t take long for her to find a game trail up the slope, which made the going a little easier. There were places where they had to be careful with their guns, with the slightly slick slope beneath them making their footing treacherous.
Once they got to the top of a spur, they took a moment to get their bearings. They knew the clearcut they were looking for was just a little way downslope from where they were.
“My kingdom for a GPS,” Jenny said.
“Let’s just keep veering slightly left as we head downhill,” Cole replied. “We’ll hit the logging trail that way, if we miss the cut itself.”
Jenny nodded, took a drink of water from her canteen, and started down the hill. A couple minutes later, they found themselves inside a several acre swath of land that had been stripped of all its trees.
Looking up, they sky above was crystal clear and spattered with thousands of stars. They were just a few days after the height of the Perseid meteor shower, and caught a couple of shooting stars.
After taking some time to admire the open sky, they set to their actual purpose for being out there. They both grabbed binoculars, and aimed them straight east, to Lake Koocanusa.
Normally, there was a thin border of light that outlined the far shore of the lake. The little village of Rexford had streetlights, and there were flood lights at the marinas and the offices of the campgrounds.
Farther on, they could usually catch a little glow of Eureka at the horizon.
None of those lights were visible from the side of Clingback Mountain. By carefully scanning along the edge of the lake, they eventually found a few small lights, maybe campfire or two, or a house with a backup generator running.
After several minutes, they caught sight of a three pairs of headlights driving up Highway 37, but they had no chance of identifying what the vehicles were.
“Must be some really old trucks or something,” Cole said.
Jenny sat down on the ground and took another drink from her canteen. “So, we assume the worst case has come to pass?”
“I think so.”
“We should get back. I don’t feel all that safe out here.”
“Yeah,” Cole said. “You’re doing great on the lead, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
When they hit Dodge Creek again, they took a break before the final leg of their excursion back up the steep, narrow draw to the cabin.
They refilled their canteens and listened to the water.
Jenny thought that after things got back to normal – after, not if, was she insisted on phrasing it to herself – she looked forward to maybe more nighttime walks through the dark woods.
The land around the cabin was always quiet and peaceful, but being down in the cool bottom of the draw listening to the creek and looking up at the Milky Way between the leaves of t
he tall trees, there was a different quality to the quiet.
Perhaps it was the unfamiliar chatter of the night creatures compared to the daytime fauna, she thought.
“Alright, let’s get home,” Cole said, shaking her out of her thoughts.
The two siblings got up and followed the creek a couple hundred feet down until they found the draw that would lead back up to the cabin.
Perhaps they got a little too relaxed, being so close to home, but just as the slope really got sharp, Jenny slipped and dropped her rifle.
Not ten yards ahead of her, something let out a low growl.
Chapter 5
The last hour to Rexford, Bill and Sally kept their eyes over their shoulders, making sure that the two locals they’d run into were holding their end of the bargain and not following them.
For their part, Bill and Sally kept their word, and dropped the bolt assemblies to the two men’s rifles at the top of the next big hill.
At a minimum, it gave Bill and Sally a healthy head start if the guys had decided to pursue them, but it appeared they’d decided the Chandlers were too hard of a target.
As Rexford came into sight, Bill let himself get cautiously optimistic when he saw a uniformed sheriff’s deputy and a couple men on horseback with rifles slung over their back.
Not like there were any businesses in Rexford to loot, other than a small mom and pop gas station, but it looked like things were a lot more settled than in Eureka.
“Let’s put ‘em up,” Bill said, moving his holstered pistol back into its usual concealed location, tucked inside the waistband of his jeans and under his jacket, while Sally hid hers back in her purse.
They did their best as they came down the trail into town to not draw attention, but it was such a small place that they were quickly picked up by one of the mounted men.
“Where you all headed?”
“We need to get across to the other side of the lake,” Bill said, quickly giving the run down on this situation. “So we just need to pass through.”
He’d noticed that the second armed horseman had come around behind him and Sally.
“No can do. We’ve got orders to consolidate everybody into the towns and cities.”
“Who’s got orders? Can I see some credentials?” Sally asked.
“We’ve been temporarily deputized into the sheriff’s department, as part of the county emergency plan. We don’t have badges, but we do have authority.”
By this time, the uniformed deputy was on his way over
“Sir, ma’am,” he said. “I’m sure my associates here have filled you in. We’re going to need you to stay here in town for the time being. Do you have any family or friends here in Rexford you can stay with?”
“We don’t. We’re just passing through. We got separated from our kids, and they know to stay put if anything goes wrong, but we need to get to them.”
“I’m sorry,” the deputy said. “But we’re shutting down all movement in the area to keep things from going out of control. We’re going to need you to stay put here until we get a convoy up to Eureka. There’s a school there where we’re going to house any displaced persons.”
“Look, our kids are alone right now,” Sally said. “As you can imagine, we’re worried about them.”
“Well, shouldn’t have left them, now should you?” the deputy mocked.
“We let them stay while we ran into town because they’re good, responsible kids,” Bill said. “But this is way more than they’ll be able to handle on their own. Just let us keep on our way and we can all shelter in place at the cabin. This way you won’t need to feed or house us or anything.”
“There’s going to be a sweep on the far side of the lake as soon as resources come available,” one of the mounted men said. “Your kids will get picked up, and once we get reliable communications set up, you’ll be able to get in touch and we can work out how to get you all into the same place.”
“I’ll bet you’ve got the cages set up already, don’t you?” Bill said, pointedly, to the man on the horse. “The best thing for them is to get us back to them right now, so we can all deal with this together as a family. Not keep us on this side of the lake and tell us that some day you might get someone out on that side of the lake to check up on them.”
After his time in the service, Bill was very disillusioned about the government’s ability to do a lot of things competently.
He’d seen first hand in Afghanistan that after the military won the battles, the politicians failed to win the war. He had seen first hand how poorly the refugee camps were managed, or the detention centers, how difficult the interface was with the local police.
Too many people disappeared, too many were murdered when they should have been safe. There was no way Bill was going to take any chances with getting swept up inside the wire in some camp in his own country, not when he had a home where he and his family could be safe together.
“We’ve already run into two people on the PNT coming in from Eureka that are out there robbing people,” Sally said. “It’s not safe for our kids to be alone in a cabin out here.”
“That’s why we’re locking everybody down and clearing all the roads and trails until we get everything sorted out. We don’t want anybody out and about looting and who knows what else, and we don’t want people getting robbed and killed.”
“You’re still offering us no help at all in making sure our kids don’t get robbed or killed,” Bill said. “C’mon, Sally. We don’t have time for this.”
With a surprising quickness, the man that had been silent the entire time swung his horse right into their path. The other horse moved in behind, effectively penning in Bill and Sally.
“We’re sorry about your kids, but we’ve got our orders to get everybody off the roads and trails.”
“Well than why don’t you get someone on that trail there and pick up the two bandits that are actually trying to rob people, instead of holding us up?” Bill said.
“We’ll get to them, as soon as we’ve got everybody safe into a town,” the deputy said.
“Do you have kids?” Sally asked.
“That’s not relevant here,” the deputy said.
“I can’t believe this crap!” Bill exclaimed. “We’ve got a place to hunker down, if you’d just let us get to it. Where are we supposed to stay here? Somebody going to let us sleep in their car? Not like we’d be able to steal it or anything, right?”
“Hey, deputy,” somebody said, an older man who looked like he’d lived hard but well. “I can put these folks up. I got some kids of my own. Grown and gone already, but I’m worried sick over them too right now.”
To Bill and Sally, he then said, “I can’t help you get to your kids right now, but I’ll treat you better than these guys will while you’re waiting.”
“Alright,” the deputy said. “I’m going to need to check you for weapons first. State of emergency, private ownership is restricted.”
That got some noise going among the few locals hanging out.
“We’ve been over this already, deputy,” one of the townsfolk said. The deputy and his two helpers looked around a bit nervously.
“The agreement we’d reached was that we weren’t going to remove any arms from private property,” the deputy said.
“And these two are now my guests and about to come onto my private property.”
“They’re on public property right now,” the deputy said.
Bill looked around. Most of the folks around were locals, year-round property owners that had probably been born and raised all within a few miles.
Up in the northwest corner of Montana, people took their rights very seriously, including and especially their rights concerning their homes and their guns.
If Bill had to guess, he’d say that the conversation about confiscating guns didn’t go over very well, and that one sworn officer with two guys he’d deputized knew they’d be no match for a few dozen armed homeowners protecting what was the
irs.
He and Sally watched the silent standoff.
“Alright,” the deputy finally said. “I’m holding you responsible if these folks skip town.”
“I’ll take that responsibility,” the old man said.
He then walked up to the two of them.
“Steve Patten,” he said, offering Bill and Sally handshakes as he walked up. “Looks like you’re with me for a few.”
Once they got into Patten’s house, Bill and Sally thanked him profusely.
“This whole thing is a load,” Patten said. “We know the deputy a bit. Mostly decent, does his job, stays out of the way, but this mess has got him trying to go on a power trip. I think it’s having a couple guys assigned to him, thinks he’s suddenly all that.”
“Well, we appreciate you stepping up for us, at least to give us somewhere to stay.”
“I don’t expect you’ll be staying long though, will you?” he said, giving a knowing wink.
“We’d be bad guests if we got you in trouble,” Sally said.
“I wouldn’t have invited you in if I wasn’t really to deal with it. You got family to take care of, that’s following a higher law. How old are your kids, by the way?”
Sally pulled pictures out of her purse and told Patten all about Cole and Jenny.
“Don’t be too hard on yourselves,” Patten said, when Bill started getting a bit choked up, as the stress of being away from his children and the guilt that he wasn’t there with them started to catch up to him. “You were doing the right thing, letting them live and learn and be on their own. This is the kind of thing nobody could really predict. Just real bad timing that it hit during the couple hours you were out.”
Bill shook his head. He understood Patten’s words, but now that he had actually taken some time to stop and rest for the first time since the event, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had failed his children in some unforgivable way.
“Maybe once we get moving again, I’ll feel better,” he said.
“You will,” Sally said. “You always feel best when you’re doing something.”
“You’ll need to wait until after dark. Try to get a bit of rest now while you can,” Patten said, showing them to his spare bedroom.
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