Dystopia: The Long Road

by DJ Cooper

  He really only knew Matt and while he knew Dez through Matt, he hoped she was the woman he thought she was. The homestead and all the property and assets belonged to her. He worried what would happen if what Rita had said was true, he wondered if she would put out him and all of his kin when she found out about it. So many scenarios were running through his mind that he almost forgot to tell Kevin where to turn.

  The daylight was nearly gone as they approached the roadblock the guardsman had told him to go to. John was anxious, worried that if the same guardsman was not there that all their plans and preparation would be for nothing inside of an hour of their exodus. Kevin pulled up to the guardsman and John was relieved to see it was indeed the one who had given him the note. The guardsman looked into the car and said,

  “Glad to see you understood my note.”

  John replied, “I knew already things would go bad quickly, you just confirmed we should not wait.”

  The guardsman shoved his hand in the window and said, “Ray Saylor, and this big ox is Roger Morris.”

  John put out his hand, saying, “John Green and this is Kevin Brown, thank you for helping us. But I must say I’m not sure why you do.”

  Ray responded, “Well, sir, not all of us in the military agree with what is going on and many have no idea how deep this goes. Not all is as it seems.”

  John said, “I was pretty sure of that already.”

  Ray asked him, “Do you have a place you are going?”

  John replied, “Yes, we do.”

  Ray nodded, asking, “Got room for two more passengers?”

  John looked shocked, saying, “You two?”

  Ray looked down, saying, “We cannot in good conscience carry out these illegal orders that require us to round up American citizens. It is all unconstitutional and therefore we cannot comply. If we stay, we either must go against our belief and oath to the constitution or face court martial.”

  John asked them to hold on a moment while he talked to the group. He got out of the car and walked back to talk to Dickie and Amy. Dickie and Amy both agreed they would be useful and thought that it was not a ruse because most had no idea what was going on yet so they had no reason to try and trick them.

  John returned to Ray and asked him, “Why not just go AWOL on your own? Head for your families?”

  Ray responded, “I was stationed here, I’m not from here. Roger has some family in Montana but I really have none to speak of. We hoped someone with your kind of file would be a good group to team with.”

  John looked confused, saying, “My kind of file?”

  Ray laughingly said, “You don’t think you were randomly selected to visit do you?”

  John said, “What does that mean?”

  Ray continued, “They had files on everyone, yours was marked survivalist. They kept track of things you did and bought. What they really wanted to know was if you were going to be a threat and to take away your guns and ability to survive outside the camp. They would not have resupplied you.”

  John said, “Oh… I knew that part would happen.” With a sly smile he continued, “We were not willing to give up all, only what they knew we had.”

  Ray nodded knowingly and said, “Time’s a wasting you know. We are due to be relieved at midnight.”

  John said, “Well grab your gear solider and jump in.”

  Ray said, “Be right with you.”

  Ray and Roger walked over behind a stand of trees that shrouded an old barn and drove out from behind in a genuine army issue Jeep. It had not occurred to John that they would take their vehicle, nor what followed. Roger hopped out of the passenger side of the Jeep with some papers and began sticking red stars on the driver side of each windshield. Ray was at the window of the car explaining,

  “The red stars and the escort will work for a little while. Meaning you are in transport, with the Jeep in the lead there would be no questions until we are discovered AWOL. We know the guys replacing us and they too are leaving once they head out to their posts. They will not miss us till morning so we better make tracks.”

  John was impressed that they had so much planned even though they had not been sure the group would even come. He asked him, “How did you know we would come this way or even that we would leave?”

  Ray said, “It was in your eyes and answers the day you came into town. I could see you knew what was going down and from your file; I knew you would not stick around to be herded off to the camp.”

  John replied, “That was a big assumption.”

  Ray nodded, saying, “I wouldn’t say assumption but more like an educated guess.”

  The group left and knowing they had to get around Worchester and go a more northern route to avoid New York City they made their way to route 9 which would take them north and west. They made good time and had no problems until they reached the Connecticut River. Amherst, where they had planned to cross was in flames. The group could see from a distance the massive fires burning.

  They stopped to look at the map; John stretched it out across the hood of the Mustang and consulted with Ray and Danny. They all thought it would be best to continue north on route 116 and cross at Sunderland. It was nearly midnight when they reached the bridge and as they approached the National Guard roadblock John had knots in his stomach. When Ray and Roger began to pull forward Kevin moved the car hesitantly forward, where they were waved past. One by one all their cars were waved through the roadblock. John sighed in relief, hoping their luck would hold.

  They continued along route 116 which they would follow taking other smaller roads and routes into New York. By the time they came upon the outskirts of Albany it was nearly four a.m. and Ray waved out the window to them to follow up route 22. They were headed into the Adirondack Mountains and there were not many cities or towns along the route they were on.

  After switching direction and going south they stopped at the lower part of Scandaga Lake. Ray came to talk to John saying,

  “I think we should make camp here, we can pull the vehicles off the road into these woods and rest up. We need to continue to travel at night. It might also help to know which direction we are headed into besides just getting around New York City.”

  John nodded, saying, “We will get some food going and sit down and talk. You can meet the rest of the group and we will try and plan out our route more then.”

  Ray acknowledged him and said, “I’ll scout around and find us a place to set up camp. Everyone sit tight for a few.” After a few minutes Ray returned and led them to an area of trees where they could hide the vehicles and set up camp. Dickie quickly had a fire going. Amy and Jules were quickly preparing a hot meal for the group.

  They sat around the fire after the meal with coffee and discussions about their next move. Dickie had an idea, saying, “We need to get some comm's up between vehicles; if we should get separated we need to be able to communicate.”

  Rita leaned into Jules saying, “Comm's? What’s that?”

  Jules giggled a little and whispered to her, “Communications.”

  Rita nodded a sheepish nod and Jules reached out and touched her shoulder gently saying, “It’s ok, I didn’t know what that was till a short while ago and I’m married to him.”

  They both giggled as Dickie shot his wife a stern look. Kevin, who was a quiet man that rarely spoke, said,

  “I’m going to do some fishing while we have this fire anyone care to join me. I really don’t know much about what is going on but think I can be most helpful catching some fish.”

  Morgan scoffed at him, saying, “Is fishing all you can think about right now?”

  Kevin replied, “It helps me think.”

  John was curious about him with his gentle manner for an obviously strong man and leaned into Danny saying, “I don’t want people out alone can you go with him. I think some fish for breakfast would be a good thing since we don’t know how long this is going to take we should try and conserve and gather what we can when we can.”

/>   Danny agreed and spoke up saying, “Hey Kevin, I would love to get some fishing in mind if I join you?”

  Kevin’s look brightened and he said, “Sure, the more the better.” Amy curiously watched Morgan as Kevin and Danny left the fire; there was something about this that still bugged her. She got up and went over to where Jules and Rita were talking and quietly asked,

  “Rita, there is something I don’t understand about what you told me.”

  Rita looked up saying, “What’s that?”

  Amy responded, “If she and Matt have been carrying on like you say, then why did she bring Kevin with her?”

  Rita said, “I don’t know why, but he tolerates her whoring. I think he just loves her although I don’t know why. I’m sure she wants something from him because that is what she does, I think most likely it is because he has been friends with Matt for many years and it would look odd for her to be going there without him.”

  Amy nodded and said, “I’m sorry Rita, I don’t know what to make of all this yet, but we only had Matt’s word on things until now. I hope you’re wrong about all this.”

  Rita looked at her defensively saying, “You don’t have to believe me, but just watch your back. She is a liar and a home wrecker, if she can sleep with any of these guys along the way she will… John included.”

  On the other side of the fire John saw Amy go over to where Rita was and nodded. He and Dickie were talking with Mark, Ray and Roger about their destination.

  He wasn’t listening when Dickie nudged him asking, “So what do you think of the comm's mate?”

  John looked startled and said, “What? Oh, sorry, what did you say?’

  Dickie sighed and said, “CB’s? I think we need to find some CB radios for each vehicle. The only problem with CB's is they ain't secure comm's, so we will need to come up with some system of switching channels so we can't be monitored”

  John said, “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

  Re-joining the conversation they were having about the trip, John said, “We are going to need to try and avoid the cities, so we are going to have to think creatively to find them.”

  Ray said. “We should look where semi-trucks park many of them have CB’s, and if we stick to fleets of trucks we could know where we got them so if things go back to normal, we would return them.”

  They all agreed that it was a good idea, but none believed things were going to go back to what one would call normal any time soon. They sat looking at the map, realizing they had made little progress on their journey. Knowing it would be even harder as they continued because Ray and Roger were sure to be found AWOL by now and could not get them through roadblocks anymore.

  Deciding to head south in the morning, out and around Binghamton down into Pennsylvania. The thought was that if they could get over to route 92, it would take them far west of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Not really knowing much in the way of news they decided to adjust as they needed to along the way.

  It was getting quite dark and Kevin and Danny had not returned from fishing. John walked over to the lake to find them. They had already caught twenty-three fish and cleaned them as well. They were already getting the tackle and poles ready to head to camp by the time John found them. The three men walked back to camp chattering about the great fishing.

  Everyone was getting settled in for the night while watches were established. Dickie and Danny would take the first watch and moved to an area of cover where they could watch the camp but been unseen. The evening was quiet and

  Dickie looked to Danny saying, “This trip usually takes about fifteen hours to drive it and it took longer to just get here. Do you think we can make it in a week?”

  Danny shrugged, saying, “I thought we would be there already, I hope it won’t take that long.”

  Dickie replied, “I don’t know what to think right now, we saw a lot of shit just trying to get to John’s place. How bad do you think it is out there mate?”

  Danny shrugged, saying, “Not sure, but I think we are gonna find out.”

  As Danny continued to talk Dickie looked around and putting his finger up to his mouth indicating he wanted Danny to be quiet while he strained to listen, sure he had heard something. There it was again, they had both heard it this time. It was a rustling in the woods on the opposite side of the camp from where they were.

  Dickie indicated to Danny to watch the area that the noise had come from, by signalling with two fingers pointing to his eyes then to the area the sounds had come from. Before Danny could object he turned back to where Dickie had been to find him silently creeping into the woods, in seconds he was gone from sight. Anxiously waiting for something to happen Danny kept scanning the area they had heard the noise, but heard nothing.

  After a few minutes Dickie emerged from the woods where the sound had come from and waved Danny over. Danny came over quickly to find Dickie triumphantly holding out two rabbits he said were the source of the noise.

  The rest of the evening was uneventful, even quiet. John sat watching the sun rise across the lake and wondered what surprises this trip may offer along the way.

  Chapter 10

  “A changed landscape”

  “There is nothing new except what is forgotten.”

  -Marie Antoinette

  September 25th

  The group packed their camp, remembering to place things into the proper vehicles. Taking some time to look at their maps again, they ventured in the direction the road took them to go south into Pennsylvania. They carefully charted the roads along the way to make sure they were avoiding cities like Scranton.

  After talking it over the guys formulated a plan to try and obtain some CB radios. They found some information in an abandoned truck, noting a location outside of a larger city on the Pennsylvania state line. It was one they had already noted, seemed like there was no way around. They all agreed it would be best if they found some way to communicate while on the road with the other vehicles, and thought it was worth the risk.

  Once on the road, travel seemed slower than it had been the previous day. A few hours into the day they came to a small town that had been burned to the ground, there was nothing left but some brick and mortar shells of what buildings remained. The insides of these were nothing more than ashes, little more than a few memories of the once tiny town.

  They slowly made their way through the one stop light town, each car with faces pressed to the windows, staring at the destruction. No one could believe this entire town had been so utterly and completely erased from the map.

  Ray and Roger who were still in the lead at this point pulled over into a secluded rest stop off the roadway. As each vehicle pulled into the rest stop, Ray signalled that each vehicle was to be backed into a space. This would make supplies for lunch close at hand, but also for ease of escape if necessary.

  It was still early in the day, not even noon. John wondered why they chose to stop so soon and quickly headed for the lead vehicle. Approaching the vehicle he was nervous about the look on the military men’s faces. There was something very wrong in the way they looked and one thing he was sure of, was that for it to worry Roger and Ray, this was not going to be good.

  Approaching them he waved saying, “I’m guessing there is a reason for this early stop?”

  Roger nodded waving him over. Once he was close enough Ray said, “I don’t want to panic anyone so lets you and I take a short walk with the map.”

  This immediately raised the hairs on the back of John’s neck. By this time Dickie had caught up to them and asked the same question. Ray instructed him to follow as well. They walked over to a group of large boulders and spread the map out on one. Ray began looking it over with an intense and troubled look.

  John asked, “Is there something wrong with the route?’

  Ray looked at the map saying, “Do you have any idea what happened to that town?”

  John said, “No.”

  Dickie without looking up from the map said, “I have a
n idea, but I hope I am wrong.”

  Ray looked at him and asked, “What did you notice?”

  Dickie said, “Oh, you mean besides the town being ransacked, and there ain't no fucker around you mean? But what really got me bothered is the partial red X on one of the doors not fully burned, that was what really told me what happened to that town.”

  John looked at him, “Red X?”

  Ray nodded in Dickie’s direction, saying, “You’re right Dickie, Roger and I saw that too.”

  John, looking uneasy, began to raise his voice, “What are you two talking about? “

  Roger said, “Let’s not get worked up, I don’t think it is a good time to let everyone else know what we think is going on.”

  John apologized, saying, “Sorry about that, but how about you guys let me in on this will you?”

  Ray nodded and began to speak, “The red X is something FEMA uses to identify houses and its inhabitants in areas of disaster. It indicates a house has been searched and what was found. It gives the date and time of when they were here, who searched it, if anyone was alive or dead and numbers along with what the hazard was. I saw a few as we passed through the outskirts.”

  John looked concerned, saying, “What does this all mean?”

  Ray responded, “Well the best I can figure from the ones I saw is that, they were here the day before yesterday. The reason for the visit and likely the town burned is because of a Biohazard, and there were at least some dead. As for the rest they have likely been sent to a camp.”

  Dickie and John looked at each other and back to Ray in shock almost in unison saying, “Biohazard?” Ray nodded and replied, “Before we left Roger and I heard some things about what was going on with Ebola. They were not telling the public, but it was spreading in urban areas quickly. Honestly, we think it has something to do with everything that is happening. All of this is just too orchestrated, too much having fallen into place to institute martial law. Look at it, the whole OPEC thing, Ebola and the banking virus at once? It is just too coincidental for us.”