“That tool cabinet. I wanted to see if I can make some more suppressors,” Johnathan answered, opening the door. “We need to keep the blankets over the windows if we are leaving the lights on. It’s easy to see figures moving with lights on inside even in the daylight.”
Closing and locking the door, “The only light we’ve had on all night is the one in the dining room,” Bill said, leading Mary upstairs to the office. “And none of the upstairs lights ever got turned on last night.”
Walking into the master bedroom that was downstairs, Johnathan turned to see Sandy starting to take her clothes off. “Honey, we need to sleep in our clothes, just in case we have to leave fast,” Johnathan told her.
Giving a groan, Sandy took off her hiking boots. Collapsing back on the bed, “For just a brief second, I felt normal,” she said in a low voice.
Moving over to the bed, Johnathan sat down and began taking his boots off. “Until we get to the cabin, we can’t think about normal,” he said, running his fingers through her hair.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Sandy mumbled, then rolled her head to look at Johnathan. “Think the kids are doing okay?” she asked with a slight tremble in her voice.
“Honey,” Johnathan said in a serious voice. “I can guarantee you, they are doing better than we are. I stopped worrying about them when I saw them enter that cabin. I was relaxed when we watched them put up that fence so fast.”
Hearing the certainty in Johnathan’s voice, Sandy closed her eyes smiling. “Our baby boy was a blessing and I’m just worried,” she said softly.
Remembering the day, a year after they were married, when the doctor had told Sandy that she would never carry a baby to term, Johnathan nodded and moved his hand, caressing Sandy’s face. “Yes, we were blessed,” Johnathan said smiling. “Thirteen years ago.”
When Sandy had made it to the last trimester, she was put on total bedrest. Since Sandy had never carried a pregnancy past the first trimester, Johnathan had waited on her hand and foot. When he’d had to work, Johnathan had gotten the wives of doctors that he worked with to come over. Just starting his practice, Johnathan couldn’t take much time off.
Watching Sandy close her eyes, Johnathan lay beside her. “Then we moved and found Lance’s lost twin, and some of the best friends on the earth,” he said, closing his eyes.
Feeling a tap on his shoulder Johnathan sat up quickly, only to see Bill jump back, holding up his hands. “Just me,” Bill said, lowering his hands.
Turning his head, Johnathan noticed light coming from around the dark, closed curtains. “Who closed the curtains?” he asked, getting up but feeling like he had just gone to sleep.
“I did,” Bill said as Sandy sat up. “Let me show you how far I got on some suppressors.”
Shoving his feet in his boots, Johnathan leaned over to kiss Sandy and got up. He followed Bill out the side door to the carport and saw a workbench beside the tool cabinet. On the bench, Johnathan saw his AR with an oil filter that looked like it went on a riding lawn mower. Stopping at the table, Johnathan saw the oil filter was threaded onto the flash hider.
“Neat. Never thought about threading a flash suppressor to make a coupler,” Johnathan said, picking up the AR and saw a small hole drilled into the end of the filter. “I like these a hundred times more than the PVC ones we slapped together.”
“Yeah, I did mine as well,” Bill said, pointing toward the wall and Johnathan saw another oil filter on Bill’s AR. “I found something that should fit the Ruger 10/22s we found, too. I only found two, so you can only do those.”
Looking at the bench, Johnathan set his AR down and picked up the small oil filters. “What kind of engine would this fit on?” Johnathan asked, looking at the filter.
“It’s an air muffler for the air compressor in the back. When I found it, I went and checked the air compressor in the barn and found another one. The tap and dies are on the bench,” Bill said, patting Johnathan’s back. Before heading inside, Bill patted Dan and Ann.
Grabbing one of the Rugers, Johnathan put it in the vise and then heard metal scraping behind him and turned around. Dan and Ann were pushing their bowls over with their noses. “Okay, sorry,” Johnathan said, moving over and filling the bowls.
Moving back to the table, Johnathan grabbed the air muffler. It was six inches long and he looked inside to see it was baffled. “Damn, this will work,” he mumbled and went to work.
Having tools and power, Johnathan was done in an hour. Grabbing his rifle and slinging it, Johnathan grabbed the Rugers and headed inside. Putting the Rugers on the table, he saw a plate of scrambled eggs and snatched it up. Eating as he walked upstairs, he found Sandy in the office looking out the windows, but was holding a book.
“See you found the eggs,” she said smiling, then looked back at the book. “I would’ve brought them to you, but Bill said you were working.”
“Thanks,” Johnathan said, finishing the plate off. Setting the plate down, he moved over to look at the book and grinned, reading the title. “Understanding Horses, very appropriate reading,” he said.
“You done?” Sandy asked, not looking up.
“I can take over,” Johnathan said and Sandy put the book down and stood up stretching.
“No, I have to pee,” she said, walking over to kiss him and then leaving.
Moving to the desk, Johnathan grabbed his notebooks and chastised himself for not packing them already. Grabbing more ink pens and pencils, Johnathan looked through the desk again. Opening the bottom drawer, “Knew I saw one,” he said, pulling out a topo book of Nevada, then saw one for Utah under it and grabbed it.
Putting them with his notebooks, Johnathan moved around the office and grabbed an atlas of the US on one of the bookshelves. “Need another one,” he said, adding it to the stack. Seeing a black messenger bag, Johnathan grabbed it and saw it’d been used to carry a laptop.
Moving to the desk, Johnathan loaded up his notebooks and stuff in the messenger bag. Glancing out the windows, Johnathan called the dogs over and then started working with them. When Sandy came back she smiled, watching Johnathan working with the dogs.
“I told you last year you could get a dog,” she reminded him, moving behind the desk and sitting down.
“Sit,” Johnathan commanded, motioning with his hand and both dogs sat down. “They knew that one already,” he said, glancing over at Sandy. “I know, but I was scared to get one because if you were allergic, it would hurt to get rid of it.”
“I would’ve taken Benadryl,” Sandy chuckled, picking up her book. “If they are half as good as Dino, I’ll let them sleep in our bed.”
Looking over at Sandy in shock, “Why didn’t you tell me that last year? I can train a dog!” Johnathan almost cried out.
Resting her book on her chest, Sandy looked at Johnathan. “Stinkers weren’t running around a year ago,” she said calmly, then lifted her book up. “I have the watch, if you need to do something.”
Grabbing the messenger bag, Johnathan patted his leg and Dan and Ann sprang up, running after him as he walked out of the office. Moving to the other rooms, Johnathan searched them for anything useful. When he came to a room he determined was Brock’s, Johnathan opened the closet. Pulling out some hunting clothes, Johnathan looked at the sizes in the collar.
“Brock was one big boy, but it’s close enough,” he said, tossing them on the bed. Bill had found some clothes in the master bedroom that the dad had worn, but the dad’s feet were three sizes bigger than Bill’s. Glancing at the shoes and boots Johnathan smiled, seeing his size ten on the sole.
Grabbing the hiking and cowboy boots, Johnathan dug through the clothes and pulled out another pair of pants and a shirt. Moving to the dresser, Johnathan grabbed several pairs of socks. Seeing several packs of unopened underwear, Johnathan snatched them up. “I’ll make them fit,” he vowed, tossing them on the bed.
Continuing around the room, he stopped at the desk and looked at the turned off computer. Lifting his
eyes up, Johnathan saw a picture hanging on the wall and gave a sigh. From the pictures downstairs, he knew it was the family standing around Brock, who was dressed in Navy whites in front of an aircraft carrier.
“Sorry, Brock, but unless your family left that camp, they are dead,” Johnathan said with a sigh. “We aren’t taking everything, so you’ll have enough here if you make it. Your family saved our lives; we never would’ve made it on bikes.”
Almost putting the picture back on the wall, Johnathan stopped and took the picture out of the frame. “Want to remember the people who saved us,” he mumbled, putting the picture in the messenger bag. Putting the frame down, Johnathan grabbed the stuff he’d set aside and headed downstairs. Packing the stuff in his backpack, Johnathan explored around the house and was shocked at how much food was left in the basement. Under no impression that the girls had left it for Brock, Johnathan knew they just couldn’t carry it. Grabbing a box of one gallon Ziploc bags, Johnathan headed to the carport and filled all twenty-five of them with dog food.
Going down to the basement and over to where the camping gear had been stored, Johnathan didn’t see anything they needed after Bill had raided it. Moving over to the safe, Johnathan saw two more pistols were gone for the wives and all the magazines for the Rugers and ARs were upstairs. Giving a sigh, Johnathan closed the safe and locked it.
Heading upstairs, he moved to the table and made sure the magazines were loaded. Moving to the living room, he worked with the dogs until Sandy came to the top of the stairs. “Come keep watch while I cook,” she called down. Grabbing the messenger bag, Johnathan ran upstairs with the dogs in tow.
Pulling out the topo book for Nevada, Johnathan flipped through the pages until he found where he was and looked over the area. Because of the groups they had run into trying to get past Reno, they were further north than the original route he and Bill had planned. “This house more than made up for that,” Johnathan mumbled, looking at the book.
Walking in while carrying a plate, Bill moved over and noticed the book Johnathan was looking at. “That will come in handy,” Bill said, setting down the plate. “That’s yours, I’ve eaten.”
“Thanks,” Johnathan said, glancing out the windows and grabbing the plate. “We need to head southwest, otherwise we will pass under Salt Lake City and I’m not getting close to any city.”
“No shit,” Bill grinned, petting the dogs. “How far to Utah?”
“Two hundred miles,” Johnathan answered, shoveling food into his mouth. “How much are you putting on the pack horses?”
“Two hundred and fifty pounds,” Bill answered and Johnathan whipped his head over.
“There is no way there is that much food still here,” Johnathan said, putting his empty plate down.
Sitting down on the desk, Bill nodded. “Want to bet? But I’m also carrying two hundred pounds of grain with us for the horses. We are going to go through some very arid regions. Once we reach Colorado, we won’t have to worry,” Bill said.
“Yeah, I would like to just cut across the middle of Colorado, but the eastern side is too dry. That’s why I wanted to drop to the southern edge traveling,” Johnathan explained, making a quick count in his head. “Over a month of food.”
Nodding, “About what I figured, that’s if you got the dog food,” Bill said, raising an eyebrow.
“Filled twenty-five bags,” Johnathan said, looking at Bill. “What’s your best guess on travel time?”
Glancing at the door, Bill turned around and leaned over the desk toward Johnathan. “To be honest, we can make it home in sixty days, if we are lucky. I figure we will have to rest the horses every three days, but I think we will travel forty to fifty miles a day. Granted, we may only move half that in actual distance until we get to flat ground,” Bill said.
“Our best day on bikes, not counting the run from hell, was only twenty-six,” Johnathan said.
Sitting back up, “I’ll know more when we are actually moving,” Bill said.
Glancing out the windows, Johnathan saw the sun setting. “How about we load up and try?” he said, standing up.
“Now you’re talking,” Bill said, heading for the door.
Gathering his stuff and putting it back into the messenger bag, Johnathan pulled out a folded note and set it on the notebook for Brock. “Thank you,” he said, picking up his messenger bag.
Making sure the front door wasn’t locked, they carried their stuff to the barn. After loading the pack saddles on four horses, Johnathan watched Bill sling two collapsible five-gallon water jugs over each pack horse. “I think you’re getting close to three hundred pounds if we filled those,” he said, then moved to his horse.
The large brown horse looked at him as Johnathan inspected his saddle. Two quivers of arrows hung off the saddle and one of the Rugers was in a rifle scabbard. They had just over a hundred arrows between them from the store they’d raided. The rest had been lost on errant shots or damaged and thrown away. But inside the house, they had found more and took another forty. That wasn’t the only ammunition they took, also loading up on rifle and pistol ammo, but everyone was scared to even use a gun, afraid stinkers would swarm them.
Climbing up in the saddle, Johnathan saw that the others were ready. Giving his horse a kick, Johnathan pulled out his compass and steered the horse up the hill behind the house. “Dan, Ann,” he said, patting his leg and the two bounced after them.
They had barely gone a mile when Johnathan had to get off his horse and walk alongside it, to teach the dogs not to run off after every rabbit that jumped out. It took some time but soon, the dogs stayed beside him and then Johnathan climbed back into the saddle.
Looking up at the clear sky and the twinkling stars, Johnathan smiled. “This is so much better than those bikes,” he declared.
“Hell, yeah,” Sandy agreed behind him. “We should’ve found horses sooner.”
“Doing the best with what we have, honey,” he chuckled, then stopped as the dogs saw a rabbit take off. Both dogs stopped as Johnathan snapped, “Dan, Ann!” The dogs looked up at him and moved over to walk beside his horse.
“Good guys,” Johnathan said softly and both dogs wagged their tails, looking up at him.
Not seeing a stinker or another soul as they rode through the night, they stopped the next morning at a small stand of trees beside a water trough fed from a windmill pump. Johnathan looked at the map and grinned. “Made it fifty miles, we can do this,” he said.
Chapter Ten
May 21
Glancing out the side of the buggy as she drove through the woods, Jennifer clicked her tongue in her cheek softly at Judy who had walked too far in front of the buggy. Halting, Judy glanced back as Jennifer drove the buggy up beside her, “Heel,” Jennifer whispered without stopping and Judy walked alongside the buggy. “I know we are going slow, but stay beside me,” Jennifer said, navigating a slope.
“Jennifer, I think that’s too many words for a dog,” Lance said up front with Jennifer scanning around.
“Humpf,” Jennifer snorted. “I’m telling you, George and Judy are smarter than you think. They just act dumb sometimes to fool us.”
Sitting behind Jennifer, Ian chuckled softly as he scanned the woods. “Sorry, but Dino’s smarter,” Ian said softly.
“Duh, Dino is an adult and doesn’t play. George and Judy are teenagers like us,” Jennifer said and noticed Dino stopping ahead and looking over the ridge Jennifer was driving toward. Rolling her eyes, Jennifer took her foot off the accelerator and the buggy rolled to a stop on the slope. Feeling the buggy roll back, Jennifer pushed the brake.
Getting out, “I got it,” Lance said, easing up the hill. When he was beside Dino, Dino fell in step with Lance going up the hill. Glancing over her shoulder, Jennifer saw Ian get out while swiveling his head around.
The past week had been a blur for Jennifer. Ian and Lance had started a routine that they followed. Doing the morning routine from 0430 to 0630 and then, at 0700 they took of
f on patrol, checking out the four sectors around them. At or very near 1500, they were back at the cabin.
Unlike the other times they had gone out, they collected stuff now. Once when she had gone out with them, Jennifer had watched the two hit a small hardware store and fill up the trailer. The things they were collecting made no sense to her.
One thing that did scare her, was all the chemicals the boys loaded up and continued to bring in. Jennifer was home last year with the gazebo in the center courtyard, and knew that had been the day the boys had lost their chemistry set.
On the first day, they’d found another ten-foot trailer at one of the houses in the zone so now, they would take the trailer they had loaded with stuff home, then grab the other trailer. Hooking it up, the boys would run to what was left of Bones’ house, which wasn’t anything, and load up a trailer of the stuff they’d hidden.
The latest they had been, on those days coming in from patrol, was 1540. Once they were back, the boys would move to the shop and work until 2100. They would come in, shower, get their gear ready for the next day, and go to bed.
It just blew her mind that they could move like that. Jennifer did ask what they were working on and both tried to explain, but Jennifer had just given up. Seeing the evil smiles as they explained was all that Jennifer needed to know.
Setting the brake, Jennifer reached out and patted Judy. One of Lilly’s dogs always went out now with them so they could continue training them. So far, they were doing really well.
Listening to the quiet forest as she scanned for danger, Jennifer’s eyes ran over Ian. Seeing Ian holding a SAW or Squad Automatic Weapon, a belt fed machine gun, Jennifer still had doubts. Granted, she’d been there in the shop when the boys had practiced with it and taken it apart. Then, Lance had put a suppressor on it and they’d taken it out and test fired it.
Even with the world gone insane, seeing the boys with a ‘real’ machine gun upset Jennifer. It took her some time to figure out why and then it had hit her, it would never be like it’d been before.
Forsaken World (Book 3): Rite of Passage Page 11