Torn Apart (Book 2): Dead Texas Roads

by Hoaks, C. A.

  “Simple. I need a truck, and I figured if I found you, you’d owe me so you’d help me get one,” Tate answered. “Besides those people at the camp need you.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Matt whispered morosely as he stared out the side window.

  She nudged Matt’s arm and nodded toward the road ahead. “What do we have here?”

  Matt studied the line of vehicles moving at a slow even pace toward them. Tate reached into her duffle bag and handed him binoculars. He brought the glasses to his eyes and studied the vehicles heading their way.

  The lead vehicle, a pickup with big tires and a roll bar, included two men in the cab and two rifle-toting, rough-looking red-neck types in the back. Another truck, a lot older and in appalling shape, followed the first. Behind the second truck was a flatbed with a cage up the sides and over the top. Canvas had been stretched across the top. Inside the truck stood women and a few children while on either side of the vehicle walked two more men. Platforms had been welded onto the back and side of the vehicle for the guards to ride on if they picked up speed. Behind the open-bed truck was an Oldsmobile 88 with a faded paint job splattered with smears of dark brown. The last vehicle was another pickup with men clinging to the hood of the cab.

  “What do you think?” Tate asked.

  “Pull in to that drive near the shed up ahead,” Matt said.

  “Do you think they’ll attack us?”

  “They aren’t making any moves, but I don’t like the looks of those women in the cage. Guns out, we need to look ready for trouble.” Matt opened the passenger door, stood on the step and draped his elbow over the door, with the military weapon and his garb in plain sight. He threw his hat at Tate. “Put that on and don’t let ‘em get a good look at your face. We don’t want them to know you’re a woman.”

  Tate scowled, but put the hat on and pulled it down to hide her face. She held the steering wheel with her knee while she slid her arms into a camouflaged shirt. She picked up the Mossberg rifle and propped it against her leg, with the barrel sticking out the window.

  Tate down-shifted and let the truck slow. The caravan of vehicles continued to approach. She glanced at Matt. He looked mean and dangerous as he hung over the opened door with the automatic weapon in hand. He angled the barrel of the gun at the first driver.

  “Stop the truck. Let them come to us,” Matt ordered. “Pick up the radio when they can see and act like you’re having a conversation.”

  Tate downshifted and slowed to a stop letting the truck idle. She picked up the hand unit and held it to the left side of her face.

  The convoy of vehicles stopped about twenty feet from Tate’s rig. The pickup driver opened the door and stepped out. He wore forest camo and carried a hunting rifle. He pushed the brim of his hunting hat up to expose a face lined and darkened by the sun. After examining Matt for a full minute, he called out, “Is that what the army is driving these days?”

  Matt ignored the question and asked, “You folks doing okay?” He watched one of the men walking along the side of the cage jump to the platform and start speaking to the women and children. The group, in mass, stepped back from the men and clustered toward the opposite side of the truck.

  The driver scowled. “As good as we can be with every dead fuck in the area trying to eat us.”

  “Where you folks headed?” Matt asked.

  “We got kin in a camp up the road a piece. We’re headed up that way if we can make it through,” the man answered. “Where are the rest of your army boys?” He looked around as if worried.

  Matt laughed. “Closer than you think. We’re looking for a place to camp tonight.” He nodded at the truck. “Who you got in the cage?”

  “Wives and kids. We’re keeping ‘em safe,” the man answered. “Got miles to go. Maybe we’ll be seeing you around, soldier.”

  “A good chance,” Matt answered, then added under his breath. “A damned good chance.”

  The man settled back on the truck seat and put the truck in gear. He waved out the window and the convoy headed out with the compliment of vehicles following close behind. One by one, the vehicles passed. Tate and Matt watched the procession.

  As the cage passed, a red-headed woman in the back clutched at the cage bars and mouthed the same words over and over again. “Help us…help us…help us.”

  “Your shopping trip is going to have to wait,” Matt muttered as he flopped down into the seat and slammed the door.

  “I didn’t like the looks of that bunch,” Tate announced. “And it sure didn’t look like those women were happy being in that fuckin’ cage.”

  “I saw a padlock on the door,” Matt answered. “It’ll take ‘em less than a mile to figure out we’re not part of a large unit. They’ll send someone back to take care of us as soon as it gets dark.”

  “And that’ll be soon.” Matt made a quick survey of the area then grinned at Tate. “Let’s make it easy for them. Park over there.” He pointed at an open cattle guard and a shed beyond.

  Tate drove over the bars used to stop livestock from leaving a pasture and parked the rig outside a small shed. They got out of the truck and carried a few supplies and weapons to the pole building. They shared a meager meal of snack food and bottled water.

  “Wonder where the cattle are?” Tate commented.

  Matt shrugged. “Back of the pasture, I would guess. It would be cooler in the shade.”

  Matt walked around the three-sided shelter with an opening on the front. He glanced in each of the three stalls then stacked hay bales in the first two stalls creating two walls, leaving the last with only a couple bales to sit on. Matt created an enclosure in the darkest corner of the building. Together, Tate and Matt used hay stuffed in a jacket and shirt from the truck to create the illusion of two people sitting on bales of hay around a small lantern. Tate adjusted the hats on top of both straw figures to complete the illusion. Matt turned down the small LED lantern and slipped out of the shed. Matt led Tate to a row of huge round hay bales. The mounds were thirty feet from the back of the shed and about twenty free inside the wooden fence.

  He laced his fingers and held his hands down. “Up you go.”

  “What are we doing?” Tate asked.

  “Setting up an ambush.” He gave her a leg up. “Lie down and don’t give ‘em a silhouette to shoot at. Don’t come down. We’re not alone out here.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  Matt ignored her question. “Use that silencer if you can get a clean shot. Just don’t shoot me.”

  “Fuck you,” Tate whispered as she settled between the two bales and stretched out on the rounded bales of hay.

  “You may be here all night. Whatever happens, stay there until either morning, or I come get you,” Matt ordered.

  Tate whispered, “There! Look. I see lights, a couple miles down the road.”

  They watched the distant orbs slowed to a crawl then blinked out.

  “This is it,” Matt whispered back. “Stay put.”

  Matt slipped into the trees and headed out parallel with the road. He picked up the pace and began jogging until he was half a mile from the shed. He pulled binoculars from his pocket and watched the vehicle stop and six men climb out. They gathered for a short conference before splitting up and heading toward the shed.

  Matt glanced over his shoulder and could see the dim glow of the lantern through the rear opening in the shed. He squatted down in the tall grass at the side of the road. He watched one of the men direct two men one way, another two in yet another direction and the last man followed him when he moved out.

  Two of the men crossed the road and disappeared into the brush to work their way to the far side of the shed. The second pair climbed over the fence and headed into the woods to circle around the back of the shed. The last two men stepped into the ditch alongside the fence and crept toward the building.

  The leader, anxious to get to the task, soon outpaced his companion by twenty feet. Just as the second ma
n passed, Matt rose from the grass, grabbed the man’s head under his chin and shoved the blade of his K-Bar under his chin into his brain. Matt eased him into the grass and stepped away. He picked up the man’s rifle and handgun and stowed them behind a fence post. Matt turned and disappeared into the shadows. He ran back into woods and made a mad sprint to outdistance the second man.

  The man walked forward with an arrogance that belayed confidence in numbers. He didn’t bother to check on his companion supposedly lowing.

  Matt got to the tree he had staked out earlier and peeked around the trunk of the spreading oak. The limbs reaching toward the road made long, dark shadows in the waning light.

  The man Matt was stalking slowed his pace when he noticed his companion seemed to have fallen behind He glanced over his shoulder as he whispered into the dark, “Arnold? Where in the fuck are you, you idiot? I told you to stay close.” He turned to retrace his footsteps.

  Matt leaned around a tree and hissed, “Psssst.”

  The man turned back and stopped mid-step when Matt’s knife suddenly appeared in his chest. He fell to his knees, looking down at the blade sticking from his body. Matt walked to the man and grabbed his knife. He pulled it from the man’s chest and drove it into his eye. The body collapsed into the grass. Matt turned back to the woods and disappeared back into the shadows.

  Chapter 28

  Planning Ahead

  At the evening meal, the four adults at the lodge ate without much conversation. Each seemed lost in thoughts of family or friends and the struggles they must be facing. Despite the hard labor, most picked at the food, despite Wilma’s culinary skills in the kitchen.

  Finally Randy announced, “I’ve been monitoring CB radio transmissions. There’re a lot of people moving west and north from San Antonio since the FEMA camp was overrun. That means they’re bringing the infection with them. We have to be careful who we let in.”

  “We have room for over a hundred people here,” Wilma protested. “You said so yourself.”

  “Shush!” Cassie jerked her head to the side. “Hey, I hear something?”

  After a minute the distant rumble of motors fell silent, and a distinctive truck horn blared twice. There was a brief silence, then it blared again, one last time.

  Will and Randy jumped to their feet and ran to the front porch with the two women close behind. The men each picked up rifles, stepped out into the night air and looked toward the raised cattle guard in the distance. At least half a dozen sets of headlights approached the gully in the distance.

  “Who in the hell?” Will cursed.

  “I think it’s Juan. You asked him to bring help to work at the Lodge,” Randy answered. “I believe it’s that old beater he drives.”

  “Or it could be some asshole who decided this would be a good place to hide,” Will ordered. “Let’s get on the ATVs and check it out.”

  Randy called over his shoulder at Wilma and Cassie, “Get armed, but stay out of sight.”

  “We’re not helpless. Do what you need to,” Cassie answered.

  Randy and Will each climbed on ATVs and disappeared into the darkness. Five minutes later, they rolled up to the wide ravine and shined a spotlight toward the trio of vehicles. The first was a rattle-trap truck packed with boxes, bags, and supplies. Three men stood at the front rack of the second truck, shading their eyes from the glare of the spotlight. The driver of the first vehicle stepped out of the driver’s door and approached the edge of the gulley in front of the cattle guard.

  “Hey, Señor Will,” the man called out. “I come back like I promise.”

  “Miguel?” Will answered.

  “Sí,” Miguel called out. “I bring Elaina and others. You make big change.”

  “Yeah.” Give us a minute to lower the bridge guard. “Come on over, then follow us to the lodge and park the vehicles in front. We’ll go inside so we can talk.”

  “Señor Will, is something wrong?” Miguel asked.

  “We check for the infection,” Will responded.

  “What about the women and children,” Miguel answered.

  “No problem. We got a couple women to check them,” Will answered. “We do the exam, or you can turn around and head back south.”

  “No, Señor Will. It is little to ask. Is no problema,” Miguel answered.

  Will nodded to Randy. He walked to the large wheel and lowered the cattle guard. Well led the vehicles to the lodge and parked at the front door. Randy followed after raising the cattle guard again. Will lead a dozen men, eight women, and ten children into the lodge. Randy followed with a rifle resting on his arm.

  “What is this?” Wilma berated Randy. “Why are you carrying a gun inside?”

  “We’re going to do a quick health check,” Will answered, ignoring Wilma.

  “Ladies, if you will escort the women and children into the kitchen and give them a once over, Randy and I will check the men. Everyone we bring through the gate will be doing this. No matter who they’re kin to.”

  Wilma scowled. “Hmm. I suppose it’s necessary.”

  When Cassie followed the assemblage of women and children, Randy stopped her at the door and stuck a handgun in her hand. She pulled her hand back, but Randy leaned close. “You will always carry a weapon when new folks come into the camp.” He nodded toward the others. “One infected and we all suffer for it.”

  Cassie slid the revolver into the back of her pants and followed the women into the conference room at the front of the hall.

  Twenty minutes later the women reappeared to see the men sitting around the main room, holding drinks. They were laughing and drinking like the long lost friends they were.

  “Señor Will, it is bad in Laredo. The muertos came from San Antonio the first day with familia. It’s busy at the checkpoints, but this was loco. They just opened the gate and let people go. The first night the muertos sat up and killed familia and amigos,” Miguel explained.

  “We already packed to come up for the job when it happened. We gathered family and left before dawn.” A short, thick man by the name of Pablo added, “The first day was realmente terrible.”

  “This is all fascinating, but you men have families to get settled,” Wilma announced. She turned to Will. “I’m assuming you have places for these people set up since they were expected. I would suggest you get the women and children fed, then if you men want to sit around swapping lies, you can do it without the children passing out from exhaustion.”

  Will snorted. “Oh. Yes, I guess we should.”

  “If I might suggest, my family will return to the staff housing with my brother and his family,” Miguel suggested. “There is room mi madre. Only two families will need alojamiento.”

  “Sounds good,” Will answered. “Miguel, take them to the cabins closest to the staff housing. Anything they need, make a list. We’ll try to find it. For now, get everyone settled. Don’t forget to turn on the water at the side of the house. The batteries should be charged enough from the solar panels, so lights won’t be a problem. Give us an hour, and we’ll bring a big pot of venison stew to the staff housing.”

  Miguel and Pablo hustled the crowd back into vehicles and drove around the lodge to the first of the designated cabins. After leading a family of four inside and turning on a few lights, Miguel went to the side of the cabin to turn the water on. He reappeared to lead the next vehicle to the second cabin twenty yards away. Again, Miguel took the family inside and then turned on the water. He pointed to a larger building behind the lodge and advised, “We’ll be there. Clean up and come in an hour for your evening meal.”

  Miguel returned to the staff housing where Pablo was busy getting both their family settled.

  “Wish I not lose my truck,” Pablo said when Miguel walked to the staff kitchen and filled the glass with water.

  After taking a long drink, he answered. “We are here, hermano and the familia is seguro.”

  “Safe? Are you sure? Pablo asked.

  Chapter 29

&
nbsp; RV Hilton

  Harry and Liz stacked the supplies inside the kitchen, then Harry stepped back out of the camper. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” He gave a casual wave as he got back in the truck and drove the pickup back to the sales office.

  Liz closed the door and stepped back inside to look at John. Her face mirrored her concern. “I can’t see much.”

  “Let’s tape some of those black plastic bags over the windows, then you can turn on a light,” John struggled to get to his feet.

  Liz held up her hand. “I got this. Sit tight.”

  She pulled the trash bags and duct tape from the stack of supplies taken from the office and moved around the camper covering the windows. When she finished, she turned on a small light and announced, “I’m going to make sure the light can’t be seen from outside.” With gun in her hand, she slipped back outside and walked around the camper.

  When she returned, she stepped inside to see John’s face red and glistening with moisture. “You’re in pain.”

  John nodded, and she helped him out of his denim jacket, then his shirt. She turned up the light to get a better look. Half of his chest was splotched with dark purple and abrasions.

  “Oh God, John.”

  He moaned softly. “I think I hit the concrete divider. I’ll be okay. Just needs to be taped.” His breathing was reduced to shallow gasps.

  After a light double tap at the door, Harry’s harsh whisper announced his return. “Just me.” He slipped inside the camper and pulled the door closed and locked it. He gave John a worried look and grunted. “Well, is he going to make it, Doc?”

  “I’m as far from a doctor as you could get. The only things I’ve ever treated have been diaper rash and skinned knees, but I think he might have a broken rib.”

  Liz slid her fingers down John’s side, and as they grew closer to the purple flesh, John cringed. She clenched her jaw and continued the exploration.

  John gasped. “You found it.”

  “I can feel the bone move. I think it’s only one rib broken, but there could be another one or two cracked,” Liz announced.