“Okay, what now?” Cory asked, speaking over his shoulder to Ben.
“Gun it and keep it gunned. Let’s get to the boys’ place, get our gear, eat, and leave in the morning.”
“Okay, here we go.” Cory brought the ATV up to 50 mph and sped up Central without incident. He still winced at the sound of the motor. They went through three more checkpoints before they passed Bell Road.
“We’re back in no man’s land,” Ben said. “We need to make less noise and get back to the house on the down low.”
“Got it,” Cory replied, then added, “you okay, Rachael?”
“Fine back here. How about you?” She saw that Tim held the AR in the ready position over the side of the ATV, and wondered if he would actually be able to fire on someone if it came to that. Although he was a former Marine, he was also a doctor and that had to make it complicated for him.
“Another roadblock ahead,” Ben yelled. “Dial the speed down.” Cory slowed to a crawl as they approached the checkpoint. A National Guardsman approached the vehicle and stopped by the driver’s side.
“You the guys from Prescott?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Cory replied. “Heading back there now.”
“I was raised there. My folks are still there. Can you tell me what it’s like in town?”
“It’s pretty calm compared to here,” Ben replied gently. “I’m sure your folks are fine.”
“I’m heading up there myself once we get the city back. I got my Harley running now.”
“Take the route through Wickenburg,” Ben advised. “Everything we hear about the freeway says it’s a battle zone.”
“Yeah, I heard that too,” he replied, looking away from the ATV to the road ahead. “You best get going. You want to be clear of town before sunset.”
“We know,” Cory said, and then added, “maybe we’ll see you in Prescott.”
“Maybe.” Cory pulled away and waved as they left the checkpoint. He kept their speed down to dampen the engine noise, and they left the city limits without incident.
An hour later, they pulled up in front of the boys’ house. Ben got out and manually opened the garage door after passing through the house. Cory drove the ATV into the garage and shut down the engine. They still had an hour of daylight, so Ben replaced the ignition fuse on the second ATV and fired it up for a few seconds to ensure it ran properly. Cory unloaded the ammo boxes and NVGs from their ATV and redistributed the load so each ATV had an equal amount of gear and supplies.
“How many MREs do we have left?” Cory asked Ben.
“Eight.”
“Let’s eat one each now and get to bed. We can go until noon tomorrow, eat lunch, and go hungry from there until we get back to the ranch.” Cory paused. “How many days do you think it will take?”
“Probably three to four, depending on how fast we find the boys.”
“Remember that we have some instant ramen noodles and some canned food we got from FEMA. It’s enough for at least eight meals,” Rachael reminded him.
“We’ll eat some of that instead and save the MREs,” Cory replied. “Let’s get inside and get the windows covered so we can use the lantern to have some light in the house. Can you guys find blankets and sheets while it’s still light?”
“Sure,” Tim replied. He and Rachael entered the house through the garage entry door and disappeared into the structure.
“Cory?” Ben whispered.
“Yes.”
“We need to ask Tim the obvious question.”
“You mean about the Hippocratic Oath and if he can kill somebody if he has to?”
“Exactly”
“It’s only crossed my mind a hundred times on the way here. He could end up being a major problem, at least until we get to the ranch.”
“I’ll ask him. You two didn’t get off to the best start.”
“Okay,” Cory agreed. “By the way, do I really look any different to you?”
“Yes,” Ben stated flatly. “You’re a lot harder around the eyes and you seem more…I dunno how to put it exactly.” He thought for a second and added, “you seem like you’re angry. Maybe not angry—more like you’re looking at everyone like they’re a threat.”
“Well, they are.”
“Not really. I mean Frank never posed a threat, but he picked up the idea that you saw him that way, and that’s why he reacted so quickly. Same is true of Tim.”
“Well, I guess I’ll work on it,” Cory muttered more to himself than to Ben.
“Let’s go eat and get some sleep. I don’t remember the last time I was this hungry and tired.”
They sat around the dinner table, each working their way through a much-needed meal of ramen and canned stew that tasted pretty good, even though none of them would have touched the stuff before the EMP. They were fortunate that the house had a propane stove, and the tank still contained enough fuel for them to warm the stew and water for the noodles with pots they found in a lower cabinet.
Between mouthfuls, Ben said to Tim, “I gotta ask you something. Will you be able to shoot, and possibly kill, people?”
Tim thought it over for a moment before replying. “Sure,” he shrugged. “If they are trying to kill us, I have no problem at all with it. I was in the Marine Corps. Why would you even ask the question?”
“What about the Hippocratic Oath?”
“That only applies to patients we treat. It has nothing to do with anything outside of the actual practice of medicine. If someone attacks us, and I shoot them, I would probably try to heal their wounds, but that would be it.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Believe me, I will hold up my end when and if the time comes. I won’t hesitate one second.”
“That’s good to know,” Ben replied, apparently satisfied with the answer. He stood up, walked to the garbage can in the kitchen, and dropped the paper plate and ramen container in it.
“I’m tired. Heading to bed now.”
“There’s a queen-size bed in the room next to where Ben and I are sleeping in two singles. You guys okay with that? I’d like us to stay close to each other in case something happens, and the master is on the other side of the house.” They both nodded their agreement and all three made their ways to the bedrooms. Cory handed the lantern to Tim and then turned on his flashlight. “Make sure to turn that off when you go to sleep.”
“Sure thing,” Tim replied.
Cory slept restlessly that night and heard Ben tossing around with what must have been his own edgy sleep. They had survived the trip so far, but they had probably exhausted their luck. Finally, he rose and switched on the flashlight. Making his way to the living room, he sat down on the couch and switched the flashlight off. He sat in total silence, wondering what was happening at the ranch, if his wife and kids were okay, and what the daylight would bring. He thought maybe he should just head back up to Prescott on the trail with Rachael and Tim, and just take care of his own. It was only good sense. Ben could find his boys on the longer route and would probably be fine.
But sometimes you run into a piece of good sense that just doesn’t work for you and you can’t live with it. That’s where Cory was. He would see it through to the bitter end with Ben. And he knew that Ben would do that same, because he already had.
He got off the couch and walked to the back patio, opened the door, and stepped outside. It was very quiet with the exception of a coyote that yipped in the distance. Cory found a rocking chair when his eyes adjusted to the ambient light and took a seat.
The sky started to lighten, teasing the world with the promise of the coming sunrise. Cory rocked back and forth, squinting at the rising sun every so often, and wondered how they had made it this far. The EMP has been far easier on them than most of the world, he surmised. But still, it had taken a toll. His own sister thought he was a person who looked dangerous, and he and his family were living communally out of fear for living alone. His days revolved around doing what needed to be done to stay alive
and keep others from killing them or taking what they needed. He knew that things would have ended up much differently for him and his family if Don had not taken them in and provided the food and shelter that kept them all alive; but he doubted that it was sustainable. There were a lot of issues in the group, and they had handled them well so far. But at what point do you move on and get back to living like a family? To Cory, that point was rapidly approaching. He had found his sister, things in Prescott seemed to be better, and he really missed living in his own home and wandering the forest.
He thought about Don and Kate, and how their union seemed so perfect, even without children, and that baffled him. To Cory, the children were the glue that made the marriage work and he couldn’t image life without Angie and Tommy. He tried to imagine life without them, but the screen was blank.
“What are you doing?” Ben asked, walking onto the porch.
“Just admiring the view.”
Ben sat next to him and said, “I would kill for a cigarette right now.”
“I’ve never seen you smoke.”
“Used to, but I would again if anybody had them.”
“There’re probably a lot around.”
A silence ensued and finally Ben added, “I guess it’s just a waste of time.”
“Yeah, probably. Never smoked myself. We knew that was bad stuff for you by the time I was seventeen.”
“You’re lucky. Not that it really matters to us older folks. We already have to pay for our ignorance. You don’t.”
“You want to try to get some more sleep?”
“May as well, but it won’t work.”
Cory sighed. “Maybe we can snore each other to sleep.”
“Yeah, that’ll work for you.”
CHAPTER THREE
Ben again read the note left by his sons while drinking coffee from the MRE. The others drank their morning Joe as they passed around some crackers that came with the meals. Tim and Rachael looked at the map from the opposite side of the table as Ben and Cory began tracing routes with their fingers.
“The note says they’re going to go across the agricultural land on the northwest side of town. That’s more or less the way we came in. But, they’ve been gone for at least three days now, so we won’t find them there unless they ended up on foot somehow.”
“There’s only one place where I think we could find them.”
“You mean the switchback just north of Wickenburg?”
“Yeah. They’ll have to use that road. There is no way they could get up that ridge with climbing gear, much less on horseback.”
“You’re right,” Ben agreed, after studying the map again. “We can make a bee line for that switchback and settle down and wait for them to come through. We’re going to be covering ground four times as fast as they will, and there’s no way they could get that far in three days.”
“They might try to do the switchback at night,” Cory suggested.
“Why?”
“Because everybody moving in that area has to use the switchbacks too. Anyone traveling north or south will have to go through there and they probably know that. That’s about the only place on the whole route where they might run into folks.”
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Ben said. “You guys ready?” he asked Tim and Rachael.
“Guess so,” Tim answered. “Can I keep the AR?”
“Sure,” Ben replied, patting his beloved .308. “These damn things are pellet guns, anyway.”
“They worked well enough the other night,” Cory countered.
“What happened?” Rachael asked, a worried look etched on her features.
“We’ll talk about it on the way,” Cory replied. “We need to get moving. Tim, are you okay with Rachael riding with me, and you with Ben?”
“I guess.” He kissed Rachael’s cheek and added, “be careful and keep your head on a swivel.”
“Sure,” she shrugged.
They left the house, passed through the subdivision, and turned on Cave Creek Road, heading back on the route they used to get to town. After two miles, Cory stopped and Ben pulled next to him. “That’s where we entered the ranching area,” he pointed a finger due west.
“Okay. You want to stay in the lead?”
“For now. When the dust gets bad enough, we’ll take turns.” After riding for an hour at forty miles an hour, Ben noticed that the Hassayampa River, which mostly ran underground, made a brief appearance on the surface of the desert. They stopped long enough for Ben to take the lead, and maintained distance discipline for the next hour before they were forced to ride on the highway as the trail petered out. They passed through stands of large saguaro cactus as they rode parallel to Highway 60, passing the tiny desert outpost called Morristown that was really just a gas station and post office.
Wickenburg was more than a thousand feet above the desert floor, but the climb was very gradual, and Ben maintained the pace until they arrived at an outlook within a few miles of the town.
Cory got out of the ATV and glassed the town from the bluff.
“What do you see?” Ben asked.
“Looks pretty calm down there. They got roadblocks on Highway 60 on both sides of town, but people are being allowed though.”
“That’s good news. Still, do you know a way to skirt the place?”
“No. I wish I did.”
“Well, let’s get on with it then,” Ben sighed. They got back into the ATVs and Cory took the lead. They arrived at the first roadblock in a matter of minutes. A tall, thin man wearing a deputy’s uniform approached Cory's vehicle with a hand on the butt of his pistol. Another stood behind the barrier that crossed the road.
“You got business in town?”
“No. We’re just passing through. We went to Phoenix to get my sister and are headed back to Prescott.”
“You didn’t come through here on the way down, at least not during the day. I’ve been here every day since this started and I don’t remember seeing you.”
“We went down the Black Canyon Recreational Trail. It’s shorter.” Cory really did not want to get into a long discussion.
“Why aren’t you going back the same way?” Ben came over and joined them, introducing himself and shaking hands.
“You didn’t see two young men on horseback come through here in the last few days, did you?”
“I’ve seen about a hundred young men on horseback in the last few days,” the deputy scoffed.
“These two would be together. About my height and they both have dark hair and are carrying ARs.”
“Nope,” he replied after a moment’s thought. “Haven’t seen anybody like that.”
“Thanks anyway.” Ben shook his head and walked dejectedly back to the ATV.
The deputy looked at Cory, obviously waiting for the answer to the question he posed prior to Ben’s question.
“We’re looking for his sons. We know they’re heading back to Prescott. But they’re on horseback and we don’t know how far along the route they’ve gotten so far. Is there a trail around town that they could have taken?”
“There’s a lot of them.”
“If you see them, will you tell them we are going to wait for them at the switchbacks north of town?”
“Names?”
“Eric and Justin Brown.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for them. One last thing?”
“Yes.”
“What’s going on in Phoenix? Is it as bad as we hear?”
“The northern part of town is controlled by gangs and that’s not someplace you want to be. Police and Guard units got everything under control from the southern part of town to 48th Street. The rest of the city seems to be up for grabs right now. But FEMA is there, and believe it or not, distributing food. My guess is they’ll get the entire town back before too long, but I don’t really know how long it’ll take.”
“Thanks for the intel.” He turned and motioned the second deputy to raise the barrier. Cory walked to where Ben sat, n
odded at Tim, and patted Ben’s shoulder.
“We’ll find them, Ben. According to the deputy, there’s a lot of trails that skirt the town, and my guess is they used them.”
“I know,” Bens sighed. “Let’s get moving.”
They again fired up the ATVs and passed the barrier, waving at the deputies as they past. The town looked all but deserted, and they traveled through the northern barrier a few minutes later. A few miles out of town they came to the junction of Highways 93 and 60. The sign for 93 said “Las Vegas,” so the stayed on 60 for a few more miles and came to the junction of Highway 71 and 60.
Highway 71 was the shortcut to Los Angeles from central and northern Arizona, so they again continued on the 60 after passing through another small town, Congress. The town was deserted, just another desert outpost with a post office and gas station and not much else. They drove a few miles past the town and the landscape slowly changed around them. The occasional yuccas and desert bloom plants joined the saguaros, still magnificent in their own right. As they continued to gain elevation, the saguaros petered out and were replaced by scrub cedar and the occasional pine tree. The air began to feel chilly and the light started to fade as the sun began to sink lower on the horizon.
Ben pulled even with Cory and motioned to the side of the road. Cory pulled over and Ben parked behind them. Everyone got out of the ATVs and met between them.
“I need to take a potty break and drink some water,” Ben announced before disappearing into bushes that lined the highway. The rest of the group did the same, each moving in a different direction. The met back at the ATV moments later, and each grabbed a water bottle from the back of their vehicles. After drinking deeply, Ben pulled out the map and laid it over the hood of his ATV. The rest of the group joined him.
“We’re almost at the switchback,” Ben noted, pointing to the map.
“Looks like about two miles from here,” Tim added.
“We should try to stop at the bottom of it and save the boys the ride up on the horses.”
Prepper's Crucible: Volume Five: A Post Apocalyptic Tale Page 5