This was one of the things that Cody noted, they could not even count on a water hole once a day. The landscape had changed. It was flat, acres and acres of open fields that seemed to have miles of view that would finally fade into a hazy horizon. These had once been planted with crops and the skeletons of the wheeled irrigation stands that had once rolled across the fields, stood like alien invaders. They saw the occasional deer and even small herds of cattle that were free range. These would be great eating but they tried to kill mostly smaller game. This was because they would have to waste so much of a large animal and it would be more time consuming to dress a deer or cow. In this area of Texas there most certainly could be mountain lions. They stayed on the watch for them.
The travelers had covered about one hundred miles in this week. They were nearing a good size town that Jack had told Cody was approximately half way to the cabin. He and Beth had often spent the night there. They had not seen a soul in the last one hundred miles. Cody was not surprised, one thing he had figured out was that this would not be an easy place to survive in. Of course, the town might be different. They would know this morning when they entered the town.
He was driving the wagon, Bull still sitting shotgun. They decided to all ride until they saw what they were going to find. Cody looked back and said, “Everyone ready? Be on alert.” The first blocks of the town, a mile or so was complete ruins, it had probably been the oldest part of town. As they moved along, though the ruins were still everywhere, they were seeing what had been more modern businesses, motels, restaurants and gas stations. The huge W—m-rt sign was still readable. Cody saw a brick building with beer and liquor advertisements on the door. The front glass window were all broken out and the door stood alone. He remembered when he had gone scavenging with Jack and Beth. There was a liquor store that appeared to be completely stripped. They had accidentally kicked a bottle that had slid underneath the shelves. They had found several that way. He clucked his tongue and Bull barked, moving around a couple of rusting trucks the wagon moved to the front of the building.
Pat grinned, “You don't actually think there is anything in there, do you?”
David said, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” to Cody.
“It's worth a try,” said Cody. “Stay out here and keep a lookout.”
Pat was ready to gloat and said, “I gotta go in with you. Stay, Bull.”
Pat followed Cody into the store that was filled with nothing but empty shelves and a glass covered floor. There was still a faint odor of alcohol after all this time. Pat said, “Yep, just as I thought.” Cody checked out the cooler and found more of the same. He moved out to the store again and went to the shelves along the wall. He knelt down, pushing glass away and took his rifle barrel and swept it under the shelf. More broken glass pushed out and then he hit something solid. He carefully moved the object out and there was a fifth of Jim Beam bourbon, unbroken.
Pat's jaw dropped, “Well, I'll be a monkey's butt.” She went and got a broom that she saw in the corner and started sweeping under the shelves. They found a bottle of wine, three bottles of beer, a bottle of Vodka and some weird liqueur. Taking them out to the wagon, Pat acting like she just discovered gold and laughing at the other's looks, they stowed them under the blanket.
The happy caravan moved a little farther down the highway. They were passing a motel when two men of some foreign descent, stepped out from the office. They aimed rifles at the group and said with a light accent, “Where ahr yew go-ink?”
Cody pulled the horses to a stop, “Just on down the road,” he said. The four passengers had their hands on their guns.
“What do you haf? Yew haf something to trade?” said the man.
Cody said, “Might have something. What do you have?”
The men looked back and forth at each other. “We haf ray-d-o.”
“Well, we don't really need a radio,” said Cody.
The man said, “No-o, no-no...we have short wave. Send message far away... hear far away.”
“You are saying you have a short wave radio?” said David. “Is it working?”
“Sure, sure. Work all the way.” said the man, smiling a crooked grin.
Cody looked at the man and said, “If the radio works and we can send a message, we will give you two bottles of beer and ah-h...” Pat groaned when Cody said beer.
Ashley said, “And a pound of rice and this jar of preserves,” holding up the jar of jelly.
The men lowered their guns, Oo-kay, deal.
Pat said she would watch the wagon and Bull. The four friends followed the men into the back of the motel office. There sat a short wave radio, hooked up to a car battery. One of the men looked pretty proud and said, “See. Solar. Sun runs ray-d-o.”
David sat down and started trying to find the right frequency. “Unity...Unity, this is traveler. Are you there, Unity?” There was nothing but static for quite a bit, they had just about given up when a voice came over.
“Traveler, are you there?” said the voice.
“Eric, is that you? This is David. Go get Dad and Dianne and the others.”
“Here is your dad.” said Eric, “I will get the others.”
Shawna was hugging David. They all got to have a brief hello and he assured them that they were okay. He told them that they were about halfway to the cabin. Cody's uncle Lee came on the radio, “Cody, are you okay? Will you make it to the cabin before the winter weather?”
Cody pushed down the lump in his throat as he heard all of Jack's daughters in the background. “I am good Uncle Lee. We are going to be fine, we should make the cabin before the bad weather. Is everyone there well?” Lee assured them that everyone was fine. They reluctantly closed with telling them they would try to communicate again and that there would be stories to tell. That made them all laugh through the tears.
The friends gladly gave the men the goods promised, even the third beer, much to the dismay of Pat. They moved away from the motel with the men waving madly as they left. They were thoughtful but glad to have heard the voices of the family. They would move a little closer to the western edge of the halfway town and make their camp. It would be a little early, however they were feeling a mixture of emotions after the radio visit, they would treat themselves to a short day. The next hundred plus miles would be the road to Amarillo. The map showed long stretches with no towns and they felt like they needed to be fresh to head out.
They found an old rodeo arena and complex. There were corrals, well fertilized in the Before world, they were rich with grass. They could put the horses in and even have troughs for some water. Though the days were scorching hot, there had been an unexpected condition that surprised them. The nights, probably due to the dry air, cooled down. There had even been one night when following an afternoon shower it had got downright chilly. They had drug out the gifted blankets that night. It had reminded him that they lost their coats in the stolen wagon. They would certainly need to be on the lookout for replacements. Cody had not really noticed it yet, but Jack had told him that you were actually slowly going up in elevation all the way from Unity to the mountain cabin. It was a fact, Jack's stories and advice lived and played back in Cody's head like an old movie. While occasionally the other family would tire of the trip to the mountains story, Cody never did and always wanted to hear more.
That evening after they were settled and had supper, they cracked open the bourbon. Cody held out his cup and signaled with his other hand, two fingers for me.
Chapter Nine
AMARILLO BY MORNING
Cody can still hear the old country song floating out from the CD player in Jack's garage, Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone. Everything that I have, is just what I have on....Amarillo by morning, Amarillo I'll be there. In the old Before world, with a big shiny pick-up truck and the wide paved highway stretching ahead, that would have been true. In this world they now lived in, one hundred plus miles was no short trip.
Ashley was driving the wagon, B
ull not only backed up her orders with his bark, he took a moment once in a while to lick her arm. She scolded him but it had crossed her mind that if Pat and the dog stayed in her hometown, she was going to miss them both terribly. They had become part of their little group. Around the campfire the previous evening, the four had made sure that she understood she was welcome to travel on to Colorado with them. This morning the soldier girl walked on the opposite side of the wagon from David and she was replaying that conversation to herself.
Pat held out no hope that her parents were surviving. They were older when she was born so they would be long ago dead. She had a brother, however, that was just a bit older than her. He was military, too. He had been injured and sent back home right before the event happened. If he was still alive, she would absolutely stay with him. There were a few other relatives in her hometown, no way of guessing if anyone at all was surviving. She had become very attached to these four new friends and Colorado would be a dream destination. She could not think of staying with them until she knew for sure what was left of her home. Just as this strong American soldier had been doing for the past ten years or more, she straightened her back, cleared her mind and walked forward.
During the long days, the waves of heat shimmied up from the pavement that had been slowly disappearing over the years. The traveling was exhausting but the evenings cooled and allowed for a good night's sleep. On the second day they had determinedly managed to cover a little over thirty miles of the long stretch towards Amarillo. They had passed through one small community that was completely deserted and except for a few brick hulls on the old downtown square it was decaying into the ground. Yesterday, they had seen no water sources, today there was only one pond that had nothing more than a three foot circle of muddy soup in the bottom. They were being very stingy with their supplies. They had left the halfway town with as much water as they could find, not knowing when they would find more. Cody saw on the map that another day or two ahead was a town that once had an agriculture community college. The old map showed a small lake near that campus. He was hoping for that lake to have some water in it.
The second evening, the sun had just finally completely set, dropping a very dark blanket of night over the camp. They had heard a shrill cry a time or two. It sounded very much like the mountain lion they had encountered, however they had sighted practically no animals. Earlier in the day, a deer was bounding along the horizon, far out of their range of fire. Pat was preparing to take the first watch, David and Shawna were settling the horses in. Ashley was at the wagon, packing away the supper utensils. She was digging out the coffee pot for morning. Cody squatted at the fire, adding some sticks and deadwood to it. The campfire was small circle of light in the black. He looked through the smoky flames and say a pair of combat boots opposite the fire. It wasn't until a deep voice said, “Hey,” that he realized it wasn't PFC Pat. He reached for his pistol and Bull sprang up from behind him, barking loudly. In a flash, the other four friends were at the fire with their weapons leveled at the intruder. A tall and muscular man dressed in camo similar to Pat's, stood with his hands in the air. His face was stubbly and blackened and very short cropped hair showed below his cap.
Cody said, “Where's your weapon?”
The man nodded down towards his waist and stuck his foot out, wiggling his boot. A rifle was slung across his shoulder but resting across the pack on his back.
“Put them all on the ground,” said Cody.
The man carefully took the small pistol from his boot, the .45 from his waist and the rifle and placed them on the ground away from him. He said, “If I wanted to attack you, I would've over the last two days.”
They were yelling above Bull's barking, Pat made a motion and quieted him. She said, “That's Bulls—t! You haven't been following us for two days, you a—hole.” All of the friends exchanged looks of concern. They thought they had been watchful and very careful with security.
The man grinned, “Don't get your panties in a bunch, Pat....or any of you. I was Special Forces. I am a bit more experienced at stealth than you are.”
Pat stepped forward and put the end of her AR right on the wide chest of the man. “Don't say my name. Who are you and what the hell do your want from us?”
The man said, “You can call me Sarge. I don't want anything that you have. I am just heading in the same direction as you are, been on the road for a long time. Thought I might be an extra hand and you all would be some company.”
The soldier girl noticed some stripes on the man's fatigue jacket. She said, “Anybody can find some Army clothes and blacken their face these days.”
Sarge looked her up and down, “That's true,” he said.
This made her furious and she kicked him hard with her booted foot, in the shin. He laughed but bent and rubbed his leg. Pat's short cut hair had grown out about an inch and it framed her face in wispy arrows. Her brown eyes narrowed and she said, “I don't trust this puke one bit. I think we should send him on his way, right now”.
The four had actually been watching in fascination this exchange between the PFC and the Sergeant. Cody pushed his hair behind his ear and said, “Um-m, I don't know Pat. He has already been following us, obviously without us knowing. Do we want him where we can watch him or lurking around on our tails?”
Pat stomped her foot in frustration, “Dam-mit, Cody...this guy is either a big liar or very dangerous...probably both. He could break your neck in a blink.” She looked at the others. They looked at Cody and shrugged. She rolled her eyes up at the sky, “I am going to stand watch...for all the good it does!” She stomped off, cursing and muttering to herself.
Cody said to the man, “Sit down. Are you hungry? Ashley, wasn't there a little soup left?”
Sarge squatted down and Ashley handed him a bowl and a wet towel. “Wipe that stuff off your face,” she said. The man wiped the black away and took off his cap. Cody noticed that he appeared to be a little younger than himself. He was doing some quick calculating, he couldn't be very much younger or he was a liar. When the S—t-hit-the-fan, he had only been twenty one. If this guy was in Special Forces, he couldn't have been much younger at the time. When the man smiled, his white teeth filled his face and he had heavy dark brows and eyes. Cody thought Pat could be right, better not trust this guy.
David had gathered the weapons from the ground and secured them. Shawna said, “So what is your story, Sarge?”
He finished the soup and said, “Thanks, that was good. My story? Nothing very unique. I joined the Army before I finished my last year of High School. I was pretty good at soldiering, ended up in the Special Forces. We had been on some missions in the far east and were sent home for a little R&R. When the world went into the toilet, I stayed with the unit. We thought there would be re-building, we would still be protecting and serving. After about three years most of us knew that just was not happening. Things weren't improving, not getting restored and we were just clean up crews. The camps that we were delivering citizens to, were cesspools. There weren't near enough supplies and food and not enough personnel to provide law and order. I hit the road and have been traveling since. I have encountered groups and loners, both good and decent and plain mean and evil. In my opinion, if we have a new America or world someday, it is still far in the future.”
I agree with that, thought Cody. He looked at the others and then said, “Pat is going to be pissed but if you want to travel with us for a while, you can. You can have that small pistol back, not the others until we see how this goes.”
Sarge stood and stuck out his hand, “Sounds good.”
Heading out the next morning, Pat pushed the cowboy hat down on her head, clicked to the horses and with Bull beside her, moved out. She was not speaking to the new traveler, she wasn't speaking to anyone right now. Cody and David rode this morning, so as the day got warmer the women could ride. Ashley and Shawna walked on one side and Sarge on the opposite.
David said to Sarge, “So, have you ever drove a
horse drawn wagon?”
Sarge said, “Nope, never did. Don't know much about horses. I was a city boy.”
Pat gave a “hmph-h” sound and clicked to the horses. They picked up speed and Ashley griped, “Hey, girl, we are walking here, ya know?” Pat slowed the horses a bit.
“Not that hard,” said David. “I'll give you some pointers next time I guide.”
Cody, like Pat, was not quite so certain yet. He thought, he's not driving this wagon and all our supplies until I know him better.
They covered another fifteen miles that day and Sarge walked the whole way. They had still found no water source. Cody was really placing some hope on the junior college town that they should reach the next day and that lake on the map. In the evening, Sarge stretched out near the fire. They of course, would not trust him to do a watch. The big shepard had slowly eased up next to him. He was tilting his head to the side and studying the newcomer. The man reached out and patted his head, “Well, hi there, boy.” Pat called the dog back to her side. She had rarely taken her eyes off of the man all day and she still was only making the absolute necessary conversation with them all.
They told stories of Unity and the man told them how he had been the son of an alcoholic and was ready to get away, that's why he joined the military as soon as he was accepted. Stories about the compound and family always made them all homesick, however Sarge's past made them grateful for the love and support they had, to get them through the change of the world. They told the soldier how they planned to make it to Colorado and also about Pat's plan to make it to her hometown and maybe her brother. Even the talk of the brother and his injury did not make her join in the conversation. She still stubbornly remained silent. Sarge said, “I know about that area where he was injured. It was really bad there for a while. Many did not come out of there alive. I am sorry, Pat.” He looked over at the woman, her elbows on her knees, her face lit by the campfire. She turned her head away.
No Normal Day III (West) Page 9