by Nick Randall
“Maybe, but so far this road is our only lead,” said Butler. “Thomas’ brother made it to his people at their hideout and back all the way here in less than twelve hours on bicycles. That means they can’t be far away.”
“We can sweep the whole area east of here in a ten mile radius,” said Jones. “I’d personally lead that expedition myself.”
“Do you want to know what’s also east of here?” Gale posed the question to the group.
He pointed to Priest Lake.
“Priest Lake,” said Gale. “Eight miles away to be exact. My guess is they’re making camp somewhere either next to the lake itself or within walking distance of it.”
“You could be right,” said George. “But there’s a lot of homes and urbanized areas next to the lake. If that’s where they are, we have to be careful.”
“Yes, there will be other people by the lake,” said Butler. “And they will join our cause. Once we spread the word that there’s a murderous gang on the loose, they’ll flock to us. People are scared, hungry, and desperate. We can offer them protection and food in exchange for information and more manpower. Fear will be our best ally.”
“What if the people along the lake are allied to the Parkers?” asked Mitchum.
“Well, if they are, we’ll just have to convince them to join us,” said Butler. “But if they refuse, then as far as I’m concerned they’re just as bad as the Parkers and will be our enemies.”
Butler folded his arms and looked up to the others. Then he said:
“Mitchum, Gale, I want you to take two vehicles and sweep the west side of Priest Lake and the surrounding area. Be back in twenty four hours. If you see any sign of the enemy, do not engage them. Stay hidden. Our objective now is only to gain information on their position. Only once we know where they are will we be able to devise a coordinated attack plan to deliver justice upon them once and for all.”
* * *
Robert drove the Hi-Lux south down the highway leading to Coeur d’Alene. Randall and Jane were in the passenger seats.
Due to all of the disabled cars along the road, their progress was slow as Robert had difficulty in navigating his way around the vehicles.
“You know you guys, this could be a good opportunity to scavenge what we can from these cars,” said Jane.
“Our mission is Coeur d’Alene, you know that,” snapped Randall.
“Geez, it was only a suggestion,” Jane said.
“A half mile up ahead there’s a road that leads right that then leads to a dirt road that will take us south to Coeur d’Alene,” Randall told Robert. “It will be a lot faster progress without all these damn cars in the way.”
Robert nodded in affirmation.
Since all of the vehicles had been abandoned, there was no other person in sight that Randall could see. Of course, he knew he could be wrong and there could be people hiding in several of the vehicles right now.
He also knew that there would be no chance they could take the highway all the way down to Coeur d’Alene and not encounter anybody, which is why taking the dirt roads would undoubtedly be a safer bet.
It was nice day outside, in the mid-60s, and the sun was out over a few clouds. This was the perfect kind of weather to Randall, and he would have enjoyed it more had the world not gone to crap like it had.
Twenty minutes later, Robert took a right off of the highway and followed the road down for another half mile.
“Where’s this dirt road, Rand?” he asked.
“A ways further,” replied Randall.
Eventually, they were able to find the dirt road and Robert turned onto it. Right before he did, Randall noticed a small grocery store up ahead with a group of four homeless looking people in the parking lot staring at their car.
“They saw us,” said Jane.
“Doesn’t matter, they can’t catch up to us,” Randall responded.
While the dirt road didn’t have any abandoned vehicles that they needed to navigate through, what it did have was numerous potholes and twists and turns that hampered their progress.
“Doesn’t look like our progress here will be any faster,” Robert said glumly.
“You wanna take the highway, we can take the highway,” Randall told him.
“We’re more likely to encounter other people on the highway.”
“I know, that’s why I suggested the dirt road.”
“Then we’ll keep to the dirt road, but this better lead us where you said it will.”
“I have a good memory and I have a map grandpa gave me, we’ll be fine.”
Jane had stayed mostly silent during the conversation but now she spoke up.
“How long?” she asked.
“Few hours,” said Randall. “These dirt roads in the backcountry are like a maze. But we’ll navigate them.”
“Just as long as you for sure know where we’re going,” said Robert.
“Stop!” Jane suddenly shouted.
Robert SLAMMED on the breaks and the Hi-Lux came to a screeching halt.
Just up ahead, there was a man standing in the middle of the road, a hunting rifle with a scope slung across his back. He was in his mid-30s, scruffy, and dressed in cargo pants and a hoodie with hiking boots and a beanie hat.
He didn’t look at all surprised by the arrival of the Hi-Lux. If anything, he looked as if he had been expecting them.
Randall, Robert, and Jane stared at the man on the road, and he stared back at them, as the truck’s engine rumbled ominously.
“What do you want to do?” asked Jane.
“We can go around him,” suggested Randall.
“He may not let us,” Robert pointed out.
Randall noticed that Robert’s hand was slowly gliding over to the grip of his Ruger .357 Magnum revolver in his crossdraw holster.
“Maybe we should just back up,” said Jane, getting nervous.
Then, the man in the beanie hat shouted out to them:
“Out of the car, all of you! Now!”
Robert rolled down the window and shouted back:
“We don’t want any trouble!”
“There won’t be if you do as we say!” the man in the beanie hat shouted back.
It was only then that the three of them glanced around and saw they were surrounded by around five more men and women with rifles, shotguns, and handguns all aimed at them.
The man with the beanie hat in front of them began to approach the truck.
“Out of the truck,” he ordered again. “Like I said, you don’t want any trouble, you won’t get any if you do as we say.”
“Do as they say,” Robert told Randall and Jane. “We should have taken the highway after all.”
Chapter Six
Randall, Robert, and Jane each stepped out of the truck, hands in the air. Before he stepped out, Robert made sure to turn off the engine to preserve fuel.
In addition to the man with the beanie hat who had stopped them, there were exactly five other armed people surrounding them, three men and two women. Each of them were dirty and gritty with determined yet sorrowful looks on their faces.
“Guns on the ground,” said the man with the beanie hat. “All of them.”
Randall and Robert dropped their sidearms while Jane carefully lowered her .30-30.
But Randall still had his Beretta 92FS concealed in a shoulder holster under his jacket, and there was his M1A and Robert’s AR-15 in the Hi-Lux. They could grab them quickly if they needed to, but they were still completely surrounded and Randall knew going for any of those guns would be suicidal at the present moment.
“This truck is ours now,” the man with the beanie hat said. “And so are those guns. If you would be so kind as to turn and walk back down the road where you came, we’ll be happy to leave you be.”
“We need this truck,” said Randall. “And we definitely need the guns.”
The man with the beanie hat laughed.
“Dude, I just gave you a very generous offer by letting you wa
lk away!” he said. “Normally, you don’t turn down an offer like that without it being offered again. But since I’m in a good mood today, I’m going to give you another shot. Turn around with your two friends here, and walk away. No one gets hurt.”
“You’re desperate aren’t you?” said Randall. “I look at you guys and I see thin and dirty folks in torn clothes who have all seen better days.”
This remark took the man with the beanie hat by complete surprise.
“Hey man, we’ve all seen better days,” he said, trying to keep his smile. “I said I’m giving you another shot. Turn around and walk away.”
“Not until we talk,” said Randall. “What’s your name?”
“Joe,” said the man in the beanie hat, the smile finally disappearing from his face.
“Joe who?”
“Just Joe.”
“Alright Joe, you can call me Rand, and can I explain what we were doing here exactly?” he asked Joe.
Joe looked at Randall a moment before responding:
“You have one minute.”
“We were on our way to Coeur d’Alene to pick up supplies from our homes,” Randall began. “Food, guns, ammo, medicine, warm clothes, and information too on what the hell is going on if we could find out any.”
“So what does all that have to do with us?” Joe interrupted impatiently.
“We’ll split it with you fifty fifty…if you let us go,” Randall offered.
“Oh come on, that’s total bullshit!” exclaimed Alexandra, one of the women surrounding them. “You let them go, and they’ll never be back!”
Joe thought for a moment. Randall, Robert, and Jane all stood there tensely, waiting for him to speak.
“You’ll split it with us evenly?” he asked Randall. “The food, the ammo, the warm clothes, the medicine, all of it?”
“You have my word,” replied Randall.
Joe thought for another moment, longer this time. Randall could tell that the thought of those supplies were very enticing to him.
“All right, here’s what’s gonna happen,” said Joe to Randall. “We let you go with your truck, you gotta come back with the supplies in twenty four hours and we split it fifty-fifty. I send two of my people with you, and you leave the little girl with us as collateral. Either you agree to that right now, or we’re taking this truck and your guns and leaving you here.”
“I’m fifteen!” Jane said defiantly. “I’m not a little girl!”
Joe couldn’t help but grin in amusement from ear to ear.
“My apologies,” he said, sarcastically. “You leave the ‘fifteen year old girl’ with us then as collateral.”
Randall and Robert looked at one another.
“Leaving her with you is not necessary,” said Robert. “You have our word we’ll be back.”
“Sorry, not good enough,” Joe said, not wasting a second to reply. “I send two of my people with you and you leave the girl with us. It’s that simple. Either that, or my original offer stands and the three of you walk away right now and leave us the truck and guns.”
Robert turned to his younger sister.
“Jane, that’s up to you,” Robert told her.
“I’ll stay,” said Jane. “But on one condition: I get to keep my rifle and everyone else stays twenty feet away from me at all times.”
Joe put up his hands.
“Hey, we’re not threatening you,” he said. “Deal.”
With that, Jane quickly scooped up her Winchester. She had an affection for the venerable rifle and she wasn’t about to let it escape into someone else’s undeserving clutches.
Robert walked right up to Joe and looked him directly in the eyes.
“I’m telling you right now, if I see a single scratch on her when we get back — ” he began to say before Joe cut him off.
“Relax, bro. You get us those supplies, and we’ll all be happy. Just be back in twenty four hours or less.”
Joe pointed to Alexandra and one of the men and barked:
“Duncan, Alexandra, you go with them!”
* * *
Randall and Robert were squished into the Hi-Lux with Duncan and Alexandra, both of whom were in their 20s but looked much older.
The trip down the dirt road was awkward to say the least and felt much longer than it was. Duncan and Alexandra clearly didn’t want to be there and Randall and Robert definitely didn’t want them there.
Neither party said a word to each other the entire way to Coeur d’Alene.
Finally, two and a half hours later, the dirt road returned to a paved road that later opened back up to the highway just outside of Coeur d’Alene.
“Park the truck here in the trees and brush,” Randall told Robert. “We don’t want anybody seeing it.”
Robert went off road and parked the Hi-Lux behind a brushy area. The four of them got out of the truck, each glad to be back on their feet.
“Let’s cover it up,” said Robert.
Randall and Robert pulled a green tarp out from the back of the Hi-Lux and covered it up with it, while Duncan and Alexandra gathered more brush to add to the disguise and keep the vehicle hidden.
When they were finally done hiding the Hi-Lux, Randall peered through some branches and brush at his home city that was just down the road.
“You know where to go, right Rand?” Robert asked.
“Yes,” said Randall. “Should take an hour or so to get to my condo on foot.”
Robert turned to Duncan and Alexandra.
“Duncan and Alexandra, right?” he said.
They both nodded. Alexandra was the one to speak.
“That’s right,” she said. “But don’t think we’re all friends here. We could have killed you back there if we wanted to. I almost regret we didn’t. So you best not get too friendly by calling us by our first names.”
“Your gang has my little sister back there in the woods,” said Robert. “And I didn’t want you with us either, but now we’re here and we need to work together. I’m an Army infantryman with multiple tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan and I have the most combat experience of any of us here, so I’m in command, is that understood?”
Alexandra stepped up to Robert. He didn’t intimidate her one bit.
“Let’s just get what we need,” she sneered.
With that, she stepped past him and began walking towards Coeur d’Alene.
“Wait,” said Randall.
He took off his gun belt with his .45 and KA-BAR knife and put it into the truck.
“Open carrying firearms will be a bad idea,” he said. “Let’s leave the long guns here and keep any pistols and knives you have on you concealed.”
“I don’t have a pistol, just my rifle,” said Alexandra, holding up her bolt action .270 Winchester.
“You walk around in town with a gun you’re asking for trouble,” said Randall. “Plus, if the town turns out to be under martial law, meaning it’s under complete government and military control, the right to bear arms no longer applies. Your rifle will be confiscated and all of us will be arrested. Trust me.”
“I ain’t going into town without a gun,” said Alexandra. “That’s not something you get to negotiate with me.”
“Then take mine,” Randall said, offering her his .45.
That Colt 1911 .45 was one of his most prized possessions, and handing it to someone else he didn’t trust was the last thing Randall wanted to do. But at the same time, he could see Alexandra was stubborn and not someone who could be reasoned with at the moment, and they needed to move quickly.
He could have just as easily given her his Beretta 92 that was hidden under his coat, a gun he had less affection for, but the fact that Alexandra and Duncan didn’t know he had it was an advantage he couldn’t give up.
After around ten seconds, Alexandra finally gave in. She snatched the .45 out of Randall’s hand, performed a brass check to confirm it was chambered, and then tossed her .270 carelessly into the bed of the truck.
; “There, Duncan, put your shotgun into the truck,” she ordered.
Duncan, who had been mute the whole time, simply did as he was told.
“Now without any further ado, let’s go,” said Randall.