“It may be a cop that isn’t helping Homeland,” Matt replied.
Shaking his head, Nelson told him, “With our families here, we aren’t taking the chance. If it was just you and I, we could try and get the jump on him.”
Reluctantly, Matt nodded. “Yeah, it’s not worth the chance,” he sighed. “This sucks.”
“Matt,” Nelson said, stepping close, “I would’ve killed that trooper regardless of his involvement with Homeland. He would’ve taken down our names and license plates. The ones in charge of this would be able to narrow down where we went.”
Looking down, Matt checked his rifle. “Fair enough,” he said, knowing Nelson was right. “Hope no one stops, but if they, do we’ll put some steel on target.”
Matt and Nelson helped the others set up right inside the tree line, laying blankets out for the kids to lie on. Hearing whispers, Nelson looked over and saw Nancy adjusting an AR-15 across her chest, having a whispered conversation with Gavin. Both were sitting against a tree, looking at the road.
“Your son has a new friend,” Michelle said, walking up behind him.
“That one of your ARs?” Nelson asked because he noticed the AR Nancy was holding had a fourteen-inch barrel, and Michelle had several short ARs.
“You really think Gerald’s sister wouldn’t have her own weapons?” Michelle asked.
Thinking about that for a second, he admitted, “Yeah that was a dumb question on my part.” He looked down at her. Like all the adults, Michelle was armed and had a monocular on, and Nelson had to admit Michelle even looked good in his green-tinted vision.
“Nelson,” Michelle whispered, “get your thoughts off me, and get to the front.”
Shocked, Nelson jerked. “How in the hell did you know that?”
“The way you were grinning and looking at my body,” she whispered back.
He spun around. “Fine, I’ll go think about someone else as I sit in the woods,” he declared in a low voice, walking away.
“And I’ll break your little finger,” Michelle whispered with a smile, watching him.
Hearing someone move toward her, Michelle turned to see Nellie walking over. Out of everyone, Nellie couldn’t wear a monocular, so Nelson had dug out PVS-7 night vision goggles. Nellie was still getting used to no depth perception and was walking very slow. “I like being able to see in the dark, but how does anyone move with these things?” she asked, stopping beside Michelle.
“You get used to them real fast. Faster when people are shooting and chasing you,” Michelle said, looking over at all the kids asleep on the blankets except Gavin, who was still whispering with Nancy. Looking around, she spotted Ashley just a little further down, watching the road. “Didn’t take the kids long to go back to sleep.”
“I don’t think any of them really woke up when we took them out of the trucks,” Nellie said, adjusting the shotgun in her arms. She really didn’t like rifles but loved shotguns, so she had grabbed one of Nelson’s tactical 870 pump shotguns. “Relax; we’re almost home,” Nellie said, patting Michelle’s arm.
“I’ll relax when we get to the farm,” Michelle said with a smile, never taking her eyes off the road.
They stood side by side for an hour before Nellie whispered, “Don’t you worry about those babies. Anyone tries to hurt them, you won’t get a chance at them until I’m done,” Nellie informed her. “Just don’t say anything about what I’ll do.”
Not able to help it, Michelle gave a soft chuckle. “In that case, I’ll bring your supplies and beer to watch.”
“Good girl,” Nellie said, patting her arm again.
A low NNNNNN sounded, and Michelle jumped, slapping her leg. Then, another sounded, and Michelle stopped jumping as she gasped for air and looked up to see Nellie holding her shotgun ready. “It’s my damn cellphone vibrating,” she whispered, digging into her pocket as the vibrating phone sounded again.
“Hello,” Michelle whispered.
“It’s one. All of you get in your trucks. I’m on my way. Once you’re loaded, start heading towards me. Have your riding buddy drive mine here,” Gerald said.
“Now?” Michelle asked.
After a pause, he told her, “Well, now would be good, but if you need a shower first, I’d understand.”
“Loading up,” Michelle said as she hung up. “Nancy, Gavin,” Michelle called out, and they came over. “Go tell Matt and Ashley we need to load up and go get Gerald,” she said, and they took off. “I’ll go tell Nelson and come back and help with the babies.”
“I’ll wait on you,” Nellie said, moving over beside the kids.
Quietly as she could, she moved up to Nelson, who was watching her walk through the woods. “Yeah?” he called out in a low voice.
“Gerald called and said load up and come get him and for Nellie to drive his truck,” Michelle said.
Not saying anything, Nelson moved with Michelle back to the kids. As they approached, they saw Matt, Ashley, Nancy, and Nellie carrying the little ones to the trucks with Gavin running down the line, opening doors. “I feel so unneeded sometimes,” Nelson said, walking out of the woods.
“Huh, whatever,” Michelle huffed.
Very wisely, Nelson said nothing and helped get the sleeping kids in the trucks. Walking up from Matt’s truck, Nelson made sure everyone and the dogs were loaded up. As he started walking to Gerald’s Bronco to check on Nellie, Nelson looked up the road to see a figure with a dog beside them jogging.
“Thought he wanted us to come and get him,” Nellie said, stepping out of the Bronco.
“Guess he got tired of waiting,” Nelson offered.
Closing the door to the Bronco softly, Nellie threatened, “If he says anything about moving those babies faster, I’ll pull out his chest hairs one by one, starting with his nipples.”
Unconsciously, Nelson covered his chest with one hand. “Um, okay, Nellie,” he said, taking a step back.
“We aren’t rushing the babies unless it’s important. They’re asleep, and I don’t see anyone chasing him, so it’s not important,” she snapped in a low voice, slinging her shotgun over her shoulder.
They didn’t have to wait long until Gerald stopped in front of them. “Everyone loaded?” he asked, huffing.
“Yes,” Nellie replied with a cool voice. “We weren’t going to rush and wake the babies. You’re a big boy and can take care of yourself.”
Confused, Gerald looked at Nelson, who still had one hand over his chest and looking at Nellie with a sense of terror on his face. “I really didn’t want you to move fast, but if you would’ve loaded up faster, you could’ve just picked me up on my run back,” Gerald said, taking a small step back.
“That’s good,” Nellie said with a nod. “Can we go?”
“Yes, I’m going to pull ahead. Give me a five-minute head start then follow. When I see you, I’ll take the lead home,” Gerald answered. Again, Nellie nodded and turned around, and since she was on a road, she walked at a normal pace, not worrying about her depth perception.
“Trouble?” Nelson asked, watching Nellie walk away and dropping his hand.
Moving to his Bronco, Gerald climbed in as he said, “Not really, but you can tell me about that later.”
“Five minutes,” Nelson said, jogging to his truck and looking at his watch. Hearing Gerald’s Bronco start and immediately drive away, Nelson jumped in, putting his rifle back on the dash then looked over to see Zeus sitting up, looking at him. “Almost done, buddy,” Nelson said, rubbing Zeus’ massive head.
Starting his truck, Nelson kept looking at his watch, thinking five minutes had never felt this long. When it was time, Nelson tapped the brakes to signal the others, and he put the truck in drive. Slowly pulling away, he looked in the side mirror and saw the others following as he put the speedometer at thirty-five.
Rounding the curve, he noticed two cars and what he took for Gerald’s Bronco and trailer about two miles ahead on a large road. Not an interstate, but compared to what they had
and were driving on, it looked like a massive highway.
Getting closer, he could see a figure he was taking for Gerald moving from the cars to the Bronco. When Nelson was half a mile away, he could tell it was Gerald, and Gerald jumped in his Bronco and pulled away from the cars.
Shifting his gaze to the cars, Nelson could tell they were squad cars that were pulled across the road. When he was less than fifty yards away, he saw one was a sheriff car, and the other a highway patrol, and several orange cones were lined up, blocking the small part of the road the cars weren’t blocking. The thing that confused him was the sheriff car was from a county up north, several counties removed.
Then, Nelson spotted the bodies laid neatly behind the cars and counted three. Turning away, he continued to follow Gerald, glancing back to make sure the others weren’t stopping to look. He saw them only slow and pick back up, closing the convoy up.
It was almost an hour later when they turned off the last dirt road. They did turn onto another dirt road, but this one led to the farm. Only two farms were down it: Bernard’s and the Carrington farm. The road made a gentle Y, and they took the left branch, barely slowing down. They only had a mile to go before they reached Bernard’s farm. Fighting the urge to stomp the accelerator, Nelson just followed Gerald as the trees suddenly fell away, exposing the fields. Up ahead, Nelson saw the house and barn and buildings.
The house was facing him, but he could only see Matt’s cabin off to the side behind the house, cabin being a loose term. All the cabins were just over a thousand square feet but had a thousand square feet basement under them.
Remembering Matt making fun of him awhile back since his bugout house with the basement was bigger than Nelson’s real house, Nelson smiled. “Yes, it is bigger, and I’m sure we’ll need it,” he mumbled to himself.
As they pulled down the driveway through the chain-link fence surrounding the yard, Nelson followed Gerald as Gerald took the driveway that went around the house to the back. Bernard’s and Nellie’s house was a nice-sized, two-story farm house with a basement. It had way more room than they needed, and they only used the upstairs for storage and guest rooms.
Coming around the house, Nelson sighed, seeing his and Michelle’s cabin between Matt’s and Gerald’s cabins. The three cabins sat just a hundred feet behind the house and a hundred feet from each other. Gerald didn’t want them spaced that far so they could provide cover for each other, but Nelson convinced Gerald that another fifty feet wouldn’t matter that much. All the cabins were cinderblock with metal siding and metal roofs.
Letting Gerald continue on, Nelson pulled beside his cabin and turned off the truck. Getting out as Michelle pulled beside his truck, Nelson looked at his watch. “Almost time to get up,” he said, seeing it was just past five. Walking to the front of the cabin, he held up his hand, stopping Nancy. “Just park it here,” he told her when she rolled down her window. Nodding, she rolled the window up and turned off the Blazer.
“I was starting to get worried,” Bernard almost shouted, coming out the back door. Nelson turned to see Bernard wearing his coveralls, flannel shirt, and work boots and carrying an M-14. “I listened to the CB scanner but never heard you call,” he said, walking over.
“Didn’t want to risk it,” Nelson said as Nancy and Gavin got out. When Gavin walked around the front of the Blazer, Nelson could see that his son was close to collapse. Smiling at Gavin, Nelson held out his arm, and his son walked over, and Nelson pulled him to a hug. “Gavin, go check the house, and get in the bed,” Nelson said. “We need to catch some sleep but need to get up and unload this stuff.”
With a dull nod and glassed-over eyes, Gavin slurred, “Yes sir,” and headed for the door.
“Wait, Gavin, the keys are in the truck,” Nelson said, turning.
“I unlocked it,” Bernard said, stopping in front of Nelson. “Turned on the air for y’all.”
Struggling to put one foot in front of the other, Gavin gave a weak smile and headed inside. “You should be really proud of him,” Nancy said with a smile as Gavin closed the door. “He stayed awake the whole way, helping keep an eye out.”
“Oh, I’m very proud of him,” Nelson said. “He talk your ear off?”
She smiled as she turned to look at him. “I rather enjoyed it, but yes, we talked most of the way.”
“Go get your daughter; we are going to bed,” Michelle said, carrying Devin. Pausing only long enough to kiss Bernard on the cheek as he leaned down, Michelle headed inside.
When Bernard saw Nellie walk up holding a sleeping Mike, he stepped over and hugged her. “You had this old man worried.”
“You know nothing can keep me from you,” she said, hugging him back.
“Can I have my son?” Matt asked, walking up holding Olivia. Without saying a word, Matt held out Olivia, putting her on Nelson’s chest. Reaching up, Nelson wrapped his arms around Olivia as Matt stepped over to take Mike out of Nellie’s arms. “If someone comes, kill ’em. I’ll bury them in the morning,” Matt said, turning around and heading for his cabin.
“Bernard, don’t think I’m being rude, but I’m going to bed,” Nelson said, heading for his door.
“Don’t worry, and sleep late tomorrow. I can handle everything till all y’all get some rest,” Bernard said.
Walking in the cabin, Nelson found Gavin sound asleep on the couch. Unlike at home, the kids had their own rooms here. They weren’t big by any means, but they were separate. Not in the mood to carry Olivia to her room, Nelson just headed for his.
He found Michelle fully clothed and Devin lying in the bed. Putting Olivia on the bed, Nelson took her shoes off then moved over and untied Michelle’s boots and pulled them off. Undoing the straps on her tactical vest, he pulled it off and set it on the floor then took off the bulletproof vest. Walking to the closet, Nelson took off his tactical vest and set it on the floor and pulled a blanket out of the closet.
Heading back to the living room, Nelson covered Gavin up after taking off his boots. In a weary state, Nelson headed back to his bed and dropped down, taking his boots off. Pulling the pistol out of the small of his back, he eased his head down on the pillow and never remembered closing his eyes.
Chapter 12
Dreaming of swimming in a lake of coffee, Nelson smiled in his sleep, taking a deep breath through his nose, inhaling the aroma. Then, his brain told him the smell was real. Struggling out of his dream, Nelson opened his eyes. The room was dim, but he could see bright light coming around the dark curtains on the window.
Blinking, Nelson sat up yawning and almost gagged. “I think Zeus shit in my mouth,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face. Rubbing his eyes, he put his feet on the floor and realized it was colder than it should’ve been through his socks. Looking down, he noticed he was in his boxers. “Where did my clothes go?” he asked then smelled the odor again.
Jumping up, Nelson almost ran to the bathroom. The cabin had two bathrooms: one in his and Michelle’s room and one in the hallway on the opposite side of his and Michelle’s bathroom wall. Grabbing a toothbrush, Nelson assaulted his mouth several times. When he was done and didn’t feel fur on his teeth, Nelson rinsed out his mouth.
Realizing the smell of coffee was real, Nelson followed it down the hall, ending up in the small kitchen. The kitchen was half the size of the one at home since all meals were eaten in Bernard’s and Nellie’s house. They only added a kitchen so the family could eat an occasional meal together. The living room was much bigger than the one at home, and it sat in front of the kitchen.
When you walked in the cabin, you entered the living room with the kitchen ahead and laundry room off to the side. Going down the hall, all three kids’ rooms were on the left side, and their bathroom was the first door on the right. Then, at the end of the hall was his and Michelle’s room. They designed the cabin with their bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen at the back of the house, facing the field, and the kid’s rooms faced the house. They figured danger would come from the
outside and wanted to keep the kids as far away from it as they could.
Walking in the kitchen, he found the coffee pot but didn’t see anyone else. Grabbing a cup, he found a note beside the coffee pot. “At the house.” He poured a cup and headed to the bedroom then dug out some sweatpants and a t-shirt. Putting on some slippers and grabbing his coffee, he headed to the front door.
As he walked through the living room, he looked at the big clock on the wall and saw it was almost three in the afternoon. “Whoa,” he said, opening the door, and the light almost drove him to his knees. “When did the sun get that bright?” he asked, shielding his eyes with his hand.
Closing the door and shielding his eyes, Nelson walked around the Blazer and trailer. A large deck was at the back of the house where everyone could eat outside. Nelson walked up the steps, crossed the deck, and opened the back door that led into the kitchen and was assaulted by the aroma of food. Immediately, his stomach let out a growl.
“Sleeping beauty is finally up,” he heard Matt call out. Lowering his hand, Nelson saw Nellie, Ashley, and Michelle working in the kitchen. Nancy was setting the very large dining table, and the men were sitting at the bar.
Walking over to the bar, Nelson hugged Michelle as he passed. “I feel like someone drained the life force from my body,” Nelson said, taking a stool at the bar.
“Dude, if Brittany wouldn’t have woken me up, I would’ve slept till tomorrow,” Matt grinned.
Looking around, Nelson asked, “Michelle, I didn’t roll on the kids, did I?”
Michelle walked over carrying a bowl. “Baby, you never moved. It took me and Gavin to get your clothes off,” she told him, setting the bowl down. Seeing it was oatmeal, Nelson attacked it.
“Gerald, you find out anything from those cops?” he asked between spoonfuls.
Finishing a sip of coffee, Gerald said, “Didn’t talk to them.”
In less than a minute, the bowl was empty. “You did notice that sheriff car wasn’t from Shannon County. That was a Miller County sheriff car,” Nelson said, sitting up and taking a sip of coffee. Nellie came over, took his bowl, and gave him an apple, which Nelson pounced on.
Forgotten Forbidden America: Rise of Tyranny Page 19