by Robert Boren
“That thought crossed my mind,” Trish said as they drove to the gate. “Hope so.”
Ned trotted over to Clara’s trailer. She was helping Vicki load her truck. The bed was full to the gunnels, thanks to the fifth wheel hitch in the middle. Almost everybody else was gone.
“You want to ride with me in the Humvee?” Ned asked.
“No, I think I should ride with Vicki and help her with her kids, but we’ll stay right behind you guys.”
“Maybe you should be in front of us,” Ned said. “Better protection.”
“That’s fine with me,” Vicki said.
Clara nodded in agreement. “Who else still has to leave?”
“Just my team, you, and Clint,” he said. “Everybody else is gone.”
Clara looked at the rows of coaches. “I hope this place survives.”
“I know, me too,” Ned said. “But in the grand scheme of things, the people are way more important than the place.”
“Oh, I know,” she said. “It was starting to feel like home, that’s all.”
“Hey, Ned, you about ready?” Wedgie yelled. There was a line of Humvees by the gate now.
“Yeah. I want these ladies to be in front of us, okay?”
“Sure, but let’s go. We’re getting too far behind,” Wedgie yelled back.
“You guys ready?” Ned asked.
Vicki shook her head yes. “Kids, let’s go. Now!”
They scampered out of the trailer with bags of toys, climbing into the back of the crew cab. Clara hugged Ned and kissed him as Vicki got behind the wheel.
“C’mon, while we’re young!” Wedgie shouted, laughing. “Loverboy.”
Clara and Ned broke their kiss, stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and parted. Clara got in the truck, and Vicki drove past the Humvees and out the gate.
“Here comes Clint, too,” Clara said, looking back. “Wonder why he waited so long?”
“Because of us,” Vicki said. “He protects his flock, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed,” Clara said. “So does Ned.”
“Yes he does,” Vicki said, smile on her face.
“You look happy, Vicki.”
“I get to see Dobie sooner,” she said, face turning red.
“Thought that had something to do with it.”
The last of the vehicles went out the gate, leaving the park deserted, a gentle breeze blowing through the trees, breaking up the silence.
***
Frank and Jane helped the others push shopping cards, full to the brim with sleeping bags, tarps, tents, ice chests, and stoves. They got to their rigs and loaded them up.
“Well, that’s a good start,” Frank said.
“Sure enough,” Gabe said, laughing.
“I’m going to take the dogs out for a quick walk before we split,” Dobie said, hooking them up to their leashes.
“I’ll help,” Gabe said.
“Lucy needs a walk too,” Jane said.
“Good, you do that,” Frank said. “I’ll go get stuff locked down a little better so it doesn’t fly all over the place during the drive.”
Malcolm walked up. “You get a call yet?”
“A call?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, from home,” he said. At that moment, Frank’s phone rang.
“Here we go.” Frank put the phone to his ear.
“Frank? Jerry here.”
“Sounds like you’re driving,” Frank said, brow furrowed.
“Yeah, Frank. The enemy sent a huge group of vehicles towards us, coming on I-25. That’s only about seven hours away, so we left. We’ll meet up in Amarillo, and then plan to stay somewhere down near Lubbock. Think you can find us a place down there? One that allows tent camping?”
“Yeah, already been working on that, and we just bought most of the camping equipment this Walmart had on the shelves.”
“Good.”
“Everybody get out?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, Ned’s group, Clint, Vicki and her kids, and Clara just pulled out a few minutes ago. They were the last.”
“How’d people take it?”
“Better than I expected. We all pulled together. It was something to see.”
“Good,” Frank said. “Here comes Jane and Dobie. We best get moving.”
“I hear ya,” Jerry said. “Where are you guys now?”
“Just south of Colorado Springs.”
“Shit, you won’t beat us to Lubbock by much, if at all,” Jerry said. “We’re going to get there within a half hour of each other.”
“Could be,” Frank said. “We’ll talk more as we get closer.”
“Yeah,” Jerry said. “Take care.”
“You too,” Frank said. “Watch out, because if the enemy wants to steer clear of Colorado, they’ll end up on the road you’re coming down.”
“I know. I think we’ll be okay, though. We’re not in a caravan. We took off gradually over a half hour.”
“Good, then they might not notice you,” Frank said. “We gotta go.”
“Okay, Frank.”
Jane walked up with Lucy, and froze when she saw the look on his face. “Oh no, what now?”
“Our people just left the park,” Frank said.
“What’s that?” Dobie asked, walking up with Gabe.
“The enemy split up, and send a large force north on I-25,” Frank said. “Our people just left the park. They’re meeting us in the Lubbock area.”
“Holy shit,” Gabe said. “We’d better haul ass, then.”
“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “I just got a call from George. This is gonna be hairy.”
“Okay, let’s get going,” Dobie said.
Frank and Jane got into their rig and drove back towards southbound I-25, the other two rigs following. The road was wide open.
Jane was driving, Frank in the passenger seat. Sarah and Hank sat nervously on the couch behind them.
“We’re in danger, aren’t we?” Sarah asked.
“Well, the enemy isn’t keeping to the timetable that the militia’s spy sent out,” Frank said. “Makes me wonder about the rest of his info. Hope General Hogan is being careful about how he deals with these guys.”
“Now you’re scaring me,” Jane said
“Sorry. Really, though, when you think about it, we aren’t any worse off than we were. The timetable is moved up, but that might actually work in our favor.”
“Why, Frank?” Hank asked.
“They think they’re going to surprise us.”
“Won’t they figure things out as soon as they get to the park and find it empty?” Hank asked.
“Yeah, but by that time they’ll be over nine hours away from their base, and we’ll be right next to it.”
“How is that better than before?” Jane asked.
“Our group would have been playing cat and mouse with their aerial surveillance if we’d stayed at the park in Kansas longer, and there’d be a good chance they would’ve witnessed us leaving. Their big base would have known hours before we could get there. Had me worried before.”
“You didn’t say anything,” Jane said.
“I mentioned it to General Hogan,” Frank said. “He had similar concerns.”
“How do we know they don’t already have the aerial surveillance going?” Hank asked. “Maybe they saw the group leave this morning.”
“We still have the drone,” Frank said. “General Hogan also has air force assets watching for them. They haven’t seen anything yet. He would have called me by now if we had that problem.”
“I don’t know, Frank,” Jane said. “This whole thing seems awful dicey to me. Wish we could see what’s going on with your snapshot app while we’re moving.”
“We’ll be able to when we can get to some Wi-Fi,” Frank said. “We should stop at the last town in Colorado and check. It’d be worth the time.”
***
“How much further, mommy?” Derek asked, jittering in his seat. “I’m bored.
”
“We’ll be on the road a long time,” Vicki said. “Sorry, kiddo. Why don’t you color? The books and crayons are in the pouch on the back of my seat.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, pulling them out.
“I’ll do that too,” Jamie said, taking a book out for herself.
“We don’t look like we’re in a caravan, do we?” Clara asked.
“No, and it makes me a little nervous. We’re aways ahead of Ned’s group. I can only see them when they’re on a high spot in the road.”
“They’re still watching out for us.”
“Oh, I know,” Vicki said. “Ned’s precious cargo is in this truck.” She glanced over at Clara, smiling.
“Talk about a whirlwind romance,” Clara said. “I’ve never had it so strong for a guy. Not even for Josh’s father.”
“I know the feeling.”
“Dobie?”
“Yeah,” Vicki said. “I don’t understand why it hit me so hard.”
“It’s this world,” Clara said. “Has to be.”
“You think we’ll live through the last battle?”
“I don’t know,” Clara said. “I hope so. Frankie seems to think so.”
“Same with you know who,” Vicki whispered, nodding towards the back seat. “She thinks I’m going to pop out more babies with Dobie.”
“Oh,” Clara said, smirking.
Clara’s phone rang. She looked at it and smiled. “Ned.” She put the phone to her ear.
“Hi, Clara.”
“Hi, sweetie. How’s it going? Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Do you know if Vicki has a cell phone?”
“Of course she does. Why?”
“A certain party wants her number,” Ned said, chuckling.
“Oh. Just a sec.” Clara pulled the phone away from her ear. “What’s your phone number?”
“That Ned?”
“Yeah, but I think he’s asking for Dobie.”
“Good,” Vicki said. “It’s 555-323-7489.”
Clara read it off to Ned.
“Thanks, Clara,” he said.
“You hear anything else?”
“Nah, not yet,” Ned said. “You?”
“No, we haven’t talked to anybody.”
“Okay, Clara. Keep your eyes open. Call me if anybody messes with you.”
“Oh, I will, don’t worry. See you soon.”
“Bye,” Ned said.
Clara slipped her phone into her shirt pocket. “I suspect you’ll be getting a call any minute.”
“Yeah. I’m getting butterflies.”
“Dobie’s going to call you,” Jamie said in a sing-song voice. Vicki’s phone rang. She put it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Vicki?” Dobie asked.
“Hi, Dobie.”
“How you holding up?”
“Good,” she said. “You?”
“We’re good. Just stopped at a big Walmart an hour ago and picked up a bunch of camping gear.”
“You guys going to meet us in Amarillo?”
“No, probably Lubbock. You might beat us there. We were only in central Colorado when you guys took off.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, either way I should see you before the day is out. I’m so anxious.”
There was silence on the line for a moment.
“You okay, Dobie?”
“Choked me up a little, but I’m better than okay,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you. It’s all I can think about.”
“I don’t know why this is hitting me so hard,” Vicki said.
“I know, it’s so strange, but I like it. How are the kids holding up?”
“Good. Derek is getting a little bored, but he’s being a good boy. Jamie understands all of this better than I do.”
“She’s amazing. I’d better get off the line, we’re heading into some switchbacks.”
“Okay, you be careful,” Vicki said.
“See you soon,” Dobie said. He ended the call.
“Now don’t swoon while you’re driving,” Clara said.
“Are you gonna tease me? Better not, because I can tease you right back.”
“True enough,” Clara said. “True enough.”
***
General Hogan hit George’s contact.
“Hey, General Hogan, what’s up?”
“Hi, George. I’m going to conference Hopper in. We need to chat.”
“Good. I’ll stand by. Heidi’s driving, so it’ll be easy to talk.”
“All right,” he said. “Hold on for a moment.”
Heidi looked over. “He gonna set up a conference call?”
“Yeah, with Hopper.”
“I hope to hell these guys aren’t setting us up,” Heidi said.
“I don’t think they are.”
“George, still on?” General Hogan asked.
“Yes sir.”
“Good, Field Marshall Hopper is on the line.”
“How are you guys?” Hopper asked.
“Been better,” General Hogan said. “We saw the enemy force coming at the park this morning.”
“Oh, crap,” Hopper said. “How long till they get there?”
“About six hours.”
“You gonna leave?”
“Oh, we’re already gone,” General Hogan said. “Been on the road for over a half hour.”
“Thank God for that,” Hopper said. “We need to move up our attack, don’t we?”
“Yeah, I think so. What do you think, George?”
“Once those guys arrive at our park, they’ll call their base,” George said.
“You think they’ll know we’re on the way to them?” General Hogan asked.
“That’s the real question,” Hopper said. “They might think you just high-tailed it to the northeast or southeast.”
“Possible,” George said. “We can still monitor where they go, but Frank’s snapshot program doesn’t do well with LTE. I suspect he’s gonna stop somewhere and make a Wi-Fi connection.”
“How about that drone?” Hopper asked.
“We still have access, and the Air Force is watching over the park too,” General Hogan said. “We’ll know when the enemy arrives, and we can take a look at what they’re doing with the satellite, too.”
“How much of this capability is visible to the enemy?” Hopper asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” General Hogan said. “If we have a mole, they already know we’ve flown the coop. If not, they’ve got a huge disadvantage which we can exploit.”
“If they change course before they get to the park, we’ll know,” George said. “I hope to hell there’s no mole. We’ll be badly outnumbered if they hit us on the road.”
“If they come after us on the road, we’ll bring in air power to take them out,” General Hogan said. “I’d rather not do that, though. It’ll ruin whatever surprise we still have at Carlsbad Caverns. We must take out their facilities there and in the surrounding area. We must take their hiding places away.”
“If they follow us on the road, Carlsbad Caverns will be ready for us,” George said. “We’ll have a straight up fight on our hands. We’ll need as much air support as we can get.”
Suddenly there were explosions coming over the phone line.
“Oh, shit, where’s that coming from?” General Hogan said.
“We’re under attack, General Hogan,” Hopper said. “Got to go.” He left the call.
“Son of a bitch,” George said. “Islamists? Could they have found them?”
“Remember where they are,” General Hogan said. “They’re in central Colorado. All the Islamists there are in detention centers. I’m looking at the app now on my son’s phone. Still see them in the centers, but nowhere else. If they were on the attack, we’d see icons swarming around Gabe’s park. They can’t attack and hide at the same time.”
“It’s the UN,” George said. “Not surprising, since the militia has been hitting them.”
“Yeah. Hope they su
rvive. We’re gonna need them for Carlsbad Caverns.”
Chapter 20 – Attention Shoppers!
“We need to change our plans,” General Hogan said, after sitting silently in the Humvee’s passenger seat for a half hour or so.
“Change them how?” Private Brown said.
“We shouldn’t stop in Amarillo. We should go all the way down to Lubbock.”
“Oh. Why, dad?”
“Two reasons. First, I think we ought to avoid looking like a convoy, especially since we don’t know the status of the mole situation or the battle going on at the militia headquarters. We don’t want anybody to notice where we’re going.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“Time is on our side right now, but it won’t be for long. The sooner we can get close to the enemy base, the better. Gathering ourselves in Amarillo will cost us over an hour.”
“You gonna start calling?”
“Yeah,” General Hogan said. “Hope we can get everybody.”
He got on the phone and made calls. The communications snowballed, hitting everybody in the group.
***
Frank listened on the phone, and then put it back in his pocket.
“What’s up?” Jane asked.
“The group has decided to go straight to Lubbock instead of re-grouping in Amarillo. They’ll beat us there.”
“Why?” Sarah asked.
“So they don’t look like a convoy, mainly,” Frank said. “I think it’s a good call.”
“You guys want a place close to Carlsbad Caverns, right?” Hank asked.
“Yeah,” Frank said. “Why?”
“Lubbock is a ways. I know a place that’s an hour and a half closer, and there’s a big RV park there with a tent area in the back.”
“Do tell,” Frank said. “I’m listening.”
“The place is in Seminole. You go south from Lubbock on Route 62 to get there.”
“You’ve been there before, honey?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, we had a Fire Fighter’s Association convention there a few years back. Most of us didn’t have RVs, so they found a good compromise spot. And by the way, the Wi-Fi is strong there – strong enough to cover the tent area.”
“Think they’re still in business after all of this craziness?” Jane asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Hank said. “Still got their number in my contact list. I’ll call them.” He hit the contact and put the phone to his ear.
“Seminole RV Park, Cheryl speaking.”