Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror

by Robert Boren

“Maybe he’s trying to make it harder for the enemy to shoot his guys in the back.”

  “Maybe. Wow, listen to that.”

  The gunfire was picking up. Frank saw a pickup truck drive off the road, trying to get away from the fire. Then he saw the Humvee slow down and follow the truck, guns blazing. The truck tried to speed up, but hit something and rolled several times. The Humvee pulled over next to it. Four soldiers jumped out and fired about a hundred rounds into the smoking hulk. The gas tank blew, spewing fire all over the place and lighting the side of the roadway with an eerie glow. The soldiers backed up a little and watched it burn.

  “What happened?” Jane shouted.

  “The last pickup truck tried to get away, and the Humvee took off after them along the side of the road. The truck rolled, and our guys just finished them off. They just got back into their Humvee now, and are heading back onto the road.”

  “Great. Think that was all of them?”

  “Well, the Lieutenant said there were several. I saw three crash and burn.”

  “It’s quiet now, maybe you ought to call him,” Jane said as she got back into her seat, shotgun in her hand.

  “Good idea,” Frank said. He looked at his phone, picked the number, and hit dial. He frowned.

  “No answer?” Jane asked.

  “Nope. Wonder if that was his Humvee that got nailed?”

  “Good question. It didn’t sound like the men in the truck opened up the first time, did it? And how did that pickup truck get up ahead of them?”

  “I was wondering the same thing.”

  Frank’s phone rang. He answered it.

  “It’s Jerry, Frank. Hear from the Lieutenant?”

  “No. Just tried to call him. No answer.”

  “You saw that one of the Humvees didn’t make it, right?”

  “Sure did, and I counted three trucks that ate it. Looked like a grenade got thrown from the Sheriff’s rig into one of them.”

  “Yeah, I saw that. The Deputy strikes again. Way to go Terry!”

  “Should we stop?” Frank asked.

  “No, I think we should keep going. Nobody survived in that Humvee crash that I could see. We don’t care about the rest of the cretins, and I didn’t see any coaches get hit.”

  “Alright, let’s keep on moving, then. I’ll keep trying the Lieutenant.”

  “Roger that, talk to you later.”

  Frank put his phone back in his pocket.

  “Well, you heard most of that,” Frank said.

  “Yes. We’re going to keep going. Good.”

  “I’ll try the Lieutenant again in a little while, but if he’s still okay he would have seen my call in his history. I have a feeling something happened to him.”

  They drove along for another hour or so, with little conversation. It took a long time for Frank’s heartbeat to slow down to normal. Lucy came over to the front of the passenger seat and whined at Jane.

  “C’mon, girl,” Jane said, patting her lap. She leaned the shotgun against the dash next to her side window.

  “You alright, Frank?”

  “Yeah, I’ve calmed down pretty well. I’m not tired at all now, though. Still pretty wound up.”

  “Adrenaline,” she said, petting Lucy. “The girl is trembling. I’m surprised she didn’t want to get up earlier.”

  “She’ll settle down once she’s sat on you for a few minutes. That dog amazes me.”

  “Wonder where Mr. Wonderful ended up?”

  “He’s probably hiding under the bed,” Frank said, laughing. “But nothing bothers him for very long, either.”

  “After the girl has settled down, I need to take a look at RV Parks in Colorado.”

  “Yeah,” Frank said. “We might have to boondock for a night or two. Actually might not be a bad idea to do that anyway. We might have enemy folks looking for large groups of RVs showing up in western Colorado.”

  “Could be. Wonder if Kurt or Charlie or Hilda know of any good boondocking places around here?”

  “Good question,” Frank said. “I’ll call Charlie when we get closer to the state line.”

  “It shouldn’t be that long. We’ve been on the road for over an hour now.”

  They drove along for a little while longer, looking out into the inky blackness in front of them. Frank was finally starting to feel the weariness. Lucy was asleep on Jane’s lap now, but Jane looked wide awake, and was scanning the area around the road with a worried look. She reached for her phone after a while and looked at it.

  “There’s no service,” she said. “Pretty deserted out here.”

  “I’m not surprised there’s no service. Can’t believe how dark it is.”

  “It’s been over an hour and a half now. We should be seeing the state line any minute.”

  Suddenly one of the coaches at the front of the line sounded their horn three times. The next one followed suit, and then another.

  “There it is!” Frank said. He honked his horn three times too.

  “Thank God,” Jane said. She looked down at her phone. “Still no service, but there are a few decent sized towns coming up. Loma, Fruitia, and Grand Junction. We should get coverage near those.”

  “Good, keep an eye on your phone, then.”

  They continued on for a while. Lucy woke up and jumped off of Jane’s lap. She walked over to her water dish and had a drink.

  Frank’s phone rang.

  “Well, guess we have service now,” Frank said. He answered it.

  “Hey, Jerry”

  “Hi, Frank. Finally got service. Nothing back there.”

  “Seriously. We were thinking about boondocking tonight, to stay off the radar. What do you think?”

  “Good idea. Maybe Charlie or Kurt or the Sheriff know of a good place around here.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. I’ll call Charlie.”

  “OK, talk to you later, Frank.”

  “Bye.” Frank hit Charlie’s number.

  “Charlie?”

  “Hi, Frank. How you guys holding up?”

  “We’re good. Hope you are doing alright. Wondering about boondocking places around here. Know any?”

  “Yes, there are places all over around here, and I like your idea. I suspect that the bad guys will be watching for us to hit an RV park.”

  “That’s what we were thinking.”

  “Let me wake Hilda, she knows this area better than I do. Hold on.”

  Frank could hear Charlie waking Hilda. Jane looked over at him.

  “He’s waking up Hilda, because she knows the area better.”

  “Frank?” Charlie said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Get off at Loma and go north on route 139 for about three miles. There’s a nice spot there.”

  “Excellent,” Frank said. “We need to get somebody to the front of the line to lead us there. I don’t know the person up there right now.”

  “I can do that,” Charlie said. “Need to blow the carbon out of this thing anyway. Talk to you later.”

  Frank could see Charlie’s left blinker go on, and his coach pulled out into the left lane. He sped up, passing the coaches in front of him, and got in the front.

  “Charlie’s going to lead us there?”

  “Yep,” Frank said. “Hilda knows of a good place coming up. We’re getting off at Loma, and heading a few miles north on route 139.”

  “Good. I’m finally getting tired.”

  “You and me both.”

  They drove along for another half hour, and then saw signs for Loma. Charlie’s coach took the off-ramp onto route 139. The other coaches followed.

  “Small town,” Jane said. “Not much here.”

  “Lots of farm plots on either side, though. Why don’t you get your phone GPS going so we have an idea of where we are?”

  Jane nodded and picked up her phone.

  “I’ll bet we’re going to the Highline area. There’s a lake there, and lots of camping. Both boondocking and non-boondocking.”

>   “Good. Hope its close. I’m about done.”

  “I could imagine, sweetie. It’s been a long day,” Jane said

  “For both of us.”

  “Look, Charlie is turning left on that road up there.”

  Charlie’s coach made the turn onto a small road and slowed way down. The other coaches followed. Frank turned onto it, following Jeb.

  “Dirt,” Frank said. “Or maybe gravel.”

  The coach creaked on the uneven surface. They crept along. Frank could see the other coaches following them on the road. Everybody was off of route 139 now, including the Humvee and the army truck. They were on the dirt road for about fifteen minutes when Charlie slowed down.

  “We must be getting close,” Jane said. “We’re slowing down.”

  “Look off to the right,” Frank said. “Looks like a huge flat area with trees. Right before that sign for the lake.”

  “That’s it alright, there goes Charlie.”

  Charlie’s coach drove slowly to the back of the flat spot, did a K-turn, and backed in. The next coach followed suit, and the next one.

  “This looks perfect,” Frank said. “It’s pretty level, too.”

  When it was Frank’s turn he made the K-turn and backed in next to Jeb. He turned off the engine, undid his seat belt, and stood up, stretching and yawning.

  “My butt hurts,” he said.

  “You aren’t going to level out?”

  “I want to talk to a few folks first. I keep thinking about other enemy folks who might have followed us at a distance.”

  “Thanks for that warm thought,” Jane said. “I’ll get Lucy outside. I’m sure she’s more than ready.”

  Jane got up and put the leash on Lucy. Frank opened the door, and the steps extended. They stepped out together and Frank shut the door. Charlie and Hilda were already out, talking to people. Jerry and Jasmine had just walked out, and Jeb was getting out too.

  “Well, that was a wild trip,” Jeb said.

  “That’s for sure,” Jane said. Frank nodded and smiled. Charlie walked over with Hilda, followed by Jerry and Jasmine.

  “Everybody alright?” Charlie asked.

  The group nodded.

  “Good place,” Frank said. He looked around. There were coaches lined up in rows on both sides of the big clearing, all backed in. Between the two rows was enough open space to drive through. The Army truck and the Humvee were parked at the far end by the road. The privates were leaned up against the truck talking, holding their weapons, and looking around.

  “Wonder if the Lieutenant made it?” Jeb asked.

  “We were wondering the same thing,” Frank said.

  Jackson hobbled over, followed by Earl and Kurt and Mary.

  “How’s the leg?” Jane asked Jackson.

  “Was starting to get a charlie horse,” Jackson said, chuckling. “Glad we stopped.”

  The Sheriff and the Deputy walked over.

  “Nice job with the grenade,” Jerry said, nodding to the men.

  “That was Terry,” the Sheriff said. “I want to know how those bastards got past the army guys. Seemed like it was on purpose to me.”

  “I haven’t been able to reach the Lieutenant since the fighting started,” Frank said. “We’d better go talk to those privates.”

  “Agreed,” Jerry said, “but maybe just a few of us.”

  “I nominate Jerry and Frank,” Jeb said.

  Everybody nodded in approval. Frank and Jerry looked at each other and walked over.

  “Hey, guys, what happened to Lieutenant James?” Frank asked.

  A couple of the privates looked at each other. Then one of them spoke.

  “I shot him. His body is in the passenger seat of that Humvee.”

  “He turned, didn’t he?” Jerry asked.

  The two privates nodded. One of them started crying. He looked like he was only about 18 years old.

  “Do you have any wounded?”

  “We have two dead in the back of the truck, and we lost one Humvee with six guys in it,” the first Private said. “Other than the Lieutenant, the rest of us are alright. I’m Private Williams, by the way.”

  “What happened?” Jerry asked.

  “Lieutenant James told the guys in the truck not to fire on the enemy. Then he turned around and pretended to fire at them, but he took out the driver of the other Humvee instead.”

  “Oh, shit,” Frank said. “Then what?”

  “I shot him,” the other Private said. “I’m Private Jenkins. I was sitting in the back, and saw what was happening. He knew the enemy was coming, and he knew about the bug too. Traitor.”

  “We were wondering how anybody that made it to Lieutenant could be so stupid,” Jerry said, shaking his head.

  “I was starting to wonder, too, when he wouldn’t let us go to the front of the RV Park,” Private Jenkins said. “There was nobody there. We could have gotten a bunch of our stuff. He didn’t want us to see what happened to the General and Major Hobbs.”

  “So what now?” Jerry asked.

  “We need to get back to an army base, but it’s going to be difficult. There are phony Army outfits all over the place now. We’re liable to get shot if we approach a base.”

  “Yeah, that is a problem,” Frank said. “You guys are welcome to stick with us until a good time comes to rejoin.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t want to hang around you guys for long. Maybe overnight. We might draw some bad folks. I’m thinking we ought to head to Denver.”

  “How many of you are left?”

  “Only five,” Private Jenkins said.

  “We need to get rid of the bodies,” Private Williams said.

  “Well, I’d say pull them out of your vehicles, and we’ll ask Hilda if she knows anybody around here. Maybe there’s a coroner that could pick them up, and the local authorities might be able to help you guys re-connect with the army.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Private Jenkins said.

  “Let’s wait on that until morning, though,” Jerry said. “When we’re ready to leave. I don’t think we want to be hung up with local authorities this close to the border.”

  “I agree,” Frank said. “You guys alright with that?”

  The two privates looked at each other.

  “Yes, I think we should sleep for a while, but we’ll rotate a guard to make sure nobody comes up this road.”

  “That would be great, thanks. Need any food? A place to sleep?”

  “No, we’re good. We have rations, and we have our sleeping gear.”

  “Alright, then we’ll leave you guys alone. Get some rest.”

  They nodded as Frank and Jerry walked back to the group.

  “Well?” asked Jeb when they got back over to the group.

  “They fragged the Lieutenant. He was with the enemy,” Jerry said.

  “I’m not surprised one bit,” Charlie said. “What are they going to do?”

  “We suggested that they call the coroner tomorrow morning and have the bodies picked up. There’s a couple dead privates that were in the back of the truck, and Lieutenant James is in the passenger side of the Humvee.”

  “Really? He wasn’t in the Humvee that crashed?” asked Earl.

  “No, he caused the other Humvee to crash, actually,” Frank said. “Those kids just want to get back with the army at this point. They’re nervous, though, because there are so many phony US soldiers around now. They’re afraid they might get shot trying to get onto a base.”

  “Can’t blame them there,” Jeb said.

  “They’re going to rotate a guard by the access road tonight,” Jerry said. “We asked them not to contact the local authorities until we get out of here tomorrow morning. We don’t need a local Sheriff holding us up.”

  “Good advice,” the Sheriff said. “I’ve heard about the local Sheriff here. He’s kind of a jerk.”

  “I think we all ought to get to sleep, and decide what to do next in the morning,” Jasmine said.

  “I
agree,” Mary said. “We’re all done for today.”

  The group started to head back to their coaches when Rosie stuck her head out of the coach.

  “Hey, turn on radio,” she shouted.

  “What is it, mom?” asked Jasmine as she approached.

  “Bad guys take over Flagstaff. Kill many people.”

  “Dammit!” Jeb exclaimed.

  “What do we do now?” Jane asked. She was trembling.

  “Keep going east until we find a good place to hole up,” Frank said.

  “And then start going after these creeps,” Jackson said.

  “Here here,” Jeb said. “I’ve had about enough of these cretins.”

  Jane looked up at Frank. He was so mad his red face could be seen in the dark.

  “I’m with you,” Jane said. “But let’s get some sleep, honey.”

  Frank nodded. Everybody slowly went back to their coaches.

  Chapter 13 – Highway Shakedown

  Frank and Jane followed Lucy up into their coach. Frank shut the door behind them.

  “You going to level and put out slides?” Jane asked.

  “No, I think we ought to be ready to fly the coop right away,” Frank said.

  “Okay, I can live with that, as long as you don’t mind climbing over me to get into bed.”

  “Want me to get one of the radios going?”

  “Just bring the portable into bed with us, Frank. We need some sleep. It’s late.”

  “Let’s just forget it,” Frank said. “It’ll just keep us awake.”

  Frank locked the door and brought down the front blinds. Then he followed Jane back into the bedroom, and shut the door. They both fell asleep quickly.

  The next morning was overcast and dreary. Frank woke up and carefully climbed over Jane to get out of bed. He threw on some clothes, and then went out into the salon. Lucy and Mr. Wonderful were both waiting by the door.

  “Let’s get you out, girl,” Frank said. “Then I’ll feed the both of you.”

  He pulled his phone off the charger and looked at the time. It was just after 6:00am.

  “Shoot, no coffee unless I fire up the generator,” Frank said. Then he remembered that they’d brought the french press and some coarse ground coffee for an occasional treat. “I’ll get that going when we get back,” he said, looking at Lucy, who tilted her head, anxious to get outside.