"My M4?" Erik wheezed.
“I didn’t give up mine,” Ted replied. He clapped Erik on the shoulder. “Come on.”
Erik sighed. "It still pisses me off."
"Well, look at it this way, we got another mouth to feed!" Ted grinned and disappeared inside the van.
Erik frowned. Lucy was easy enough to get along with when she wasn't trying to showcase her medical knowledge. To her credit, she knew a lot more about first aid than the rest of them combined. Brin was okay with her tagging along, so in the end he’d agreed.
The breeze kicked up again, cooling his skin in the warm sun of the mid-afternoon. Autumn rushed south to meet them. Georgia and the Carolinas were still in the embrace of late summer. Maryland and Virginia had just been kissed by the first colors of fall. But Delaware had been enveloped by the changing of the seasons. Further north, the colors would be more vibrant—in Upstate New York, they might have even had a snowfall already. From his youth, he knew a late October snow wasn't unheard of up there.
Thinking about the changing weather—and the extra supplies they'd need made Erik all the more anxious to get going. His mind kept hashing over the cold weather list: more food and water to keep energy up in cold weather, extra clothes and gloves, boots…the list went on.
He tested the rear door on the van and satisfied it wouldn't fling open, slapped it with finality. "Okay, folks, we're all loaded up. Let's get going."
"I'm ready when you are," Lucy said, stepping up toting her canvas medical satchel. In her other hand she dragged a large plastic garbage bag, stretched at the seams. "I got the kindling you asked for."
"Great," Erik said, forcing some enthusiasm for the girl into his voice. "That paper and stuffing is going to come in handy when we need to make a fire later on."
"I looked everywhere and gathered up everything else I could on your list," Lucy said, tossing the bag into the van. "It wasn't much, just some butter knives, pens, some blank paper and stuff like that. They didn't have any food or water in the visitor’s center so we only have what Mr. Jensen got from the Professor—"
"You can call him Ted. You're one of us now, Lucy," Erik said as he helped her into the van. One of us.
"Right," she replied, looking down. She tucked the hair over her ear and looked past Erik. "It still feels weird leaving."
"You want to stay?" asked Brin from the dark interior of the van. She reclined on a pile of cushions next to Lindsay. The recalcitrant patient's leg had been propped up by a seat cushion liberated from the visitor's center.
"No!" snapped Lucy immediately. "These people are sick—I want to get as far away as I can. It's not that…it's just…this is the only place I've felt even close to being safe since the collapse." She took a long, wistful look at the colorful trees that dotted the landscape and the looming hulk of the library across the street.
"If you can forget about the Jocks, the Rebels, and those psychopaths that follow the Professor, it's really pretty tranquil, you know?"
Erik listened to the birds on the breeze and watched the colors shimmer on the trees. "Yeah," he said. "I can see that."
"Head's up—our friends are coming closer," warned Ted.
Erik ushered Lucy into the van before he shut the side door with a solid thump. He moved up next to the passenger door and opened it to pull his pipe free. Ted started the vehicle.
"Come on, just get in," he called.
Erik stared as Roger and Tammy approached the van.
"You really leaving?" asked Roger.
“As if you care?" Erik asked, narrowing his eyes at Tammy.
“Good riddance,” she spat, as she took a half-step behind Roger.
“Yeah, you better step back, bitch,” hissed Brin from inside the van. “He won’t hit you but I will—”
“Come on, let’s go,” barked Ted before Brin could get out of the van.
"You're just going to abandon us to the Jocks?" asked Roger in an accusatory tone. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. "That’s not right, man."
Erik kept his hand at his throat, massaging the purple bruise. “Kiss my ass.”
"Lucy!" called out Tammy, peeking around Roger’s shoulder. "You in there?"
"I don't want to talk to her," she whispered from inside the van.
Erik slid the pipe in the front wheel-well and climbed aboard. "Yes she is, and she doesn't want to talk to you."
"You'll never make it, Lucy, you know that, right?" Tammy said sweetly. "I hear you were pretty good, Lucy—won't be long before these guys want to have—"
Ted gunned the engine and the old van roared, drowning out the vulgarity of her words. Erik shut the passenger door and they rolled away, leaving the taunts and insults shouted at the van in their wake.
Chapter 58
Pennsylvania
THEY SAT IN SILENCE as the van crept north through town. Erik wondered what exactly Lucy's role had been with the Professor's group. Roger and Tammy’s reaction to her departure indicated she'd been forced to do more than just provide medical assistance. The thought stuck with Erik and twisted the knot in his stomach.
He gripped the barrel of their only remaining M4. It seemed no matter where they went, violence and the horrible aspects of human nature were never far behind them. Whether defending the Freehold from drug-addled fiends hell-bent on destruction or fighting off Russians intent on conquest or some kind of perverse Lord of the Flies scenario. Erik shook his head at the senselessness of it all.
So much for civilization.
Maybe that's why Brin took such a liking to Lucy. That line of thinking brought up a whole other darkness that Erik wasn't prepared to deal with. What exactly happened to Brin at the Russian prison camp? Would she ever tell him? Would she tell Lucy?
Even inside the safety of his own mind, Erik couldn't bring himself to mention the unmentionable. His deepest darkest fears he kept on a short leash, locked inside a prison of his own creation.
He tried to focus on the colors of the trees as they rolled through the college town. Cars that had run out of gas or been in accidents littered the streets.
It took longer than expected to pick their way through town. Using a map they had found while looking for extra gas didn't help—most of the streets in the small town of Newark weren't even on the map—but they finally managed to pick their way through to route 896 and turned northwest. They didn't want to go anywhere near Philadelphia, which is exactly where I-95 would have taken them.
As they rolled through Jock territory, Erik noticed more and more students were out and about, rummaging through buildings and homes and some even jogging. He frowned. Erik could tell right away the Professor and his bunch of sycophant bookworms didn't stand a chance if the Jocks decided to mount an all-out offensive.
"Stay frosty," Ted muttered. "We're deep behind the lines. Everybody stay down as low as you can. I don't want any lucky shots."
Erik ignored the murmured replies and rustling from the back of the van. Every now and then one of the passengers would bump the trays of tools lining both sides of the van. At some point, they’d have to catalog what they had.
"I'll keep my eyes open for a more comfortable ride if we come across anything," Erik offered.
"I don't think that would be such a bad idea. I think this thing's leaking gas or something…I swear we've only been driving for about 30 minutes, but it looks like we've already burned up a quarter tank."
Erik grimaced. He didn't like the idea of having to stop and hunt for gas deep in the middle of Jock territory. Even if only half the stories the Professor's group told were true, he wanted to be well north of this clusterfuck of a town before they stopped.
He shot a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Brin kneeling next to Lucy, who huddled on the floor. The two women muttered to each other while Lindsay and Teddy looked on with wide eyes.
Erik brought his attention back to the window. Two impressively large men stood by the road, hands on their hips, bent over gulping air after
a run. One stood as they drove past and yelled something at the van and Erik got a good look.
That guy could be a linebacker for the Bucs…
"Yeah, buddy, we don't want whatever the hell you're selling," muttered Ted. He pushed the accelerator down in a clear stretch and the maintenance van surged forward.
The trees grew thicker north of the main campus as the road climbed higher into the Appalachian foothills. Just a few minutes after leaving Newark University behind, they passed a sign welcoming them to Pennsylvania.
"Well, I guess that's that," Brin said. "I didn't realize Delaware was such a small state…"
"Welcome to Pennsylvania, kids!" Ted announced.
Erik half-turned to talk over his shoulder. "I'm just happy we didn't run into any Rebels. The further we get away from that mess back there the better," he whispered
"You got that right," agreed Ted.
“You shouldn’t speak. You need to rest your voice,” Lucy suggested quietly.
It took another two hours before Lucy spoke. The entire time, the only sound in the van was the gurgling engine, purring along at the sedate pace Ted was forced to weave around countless obstacles. Every so often they'd come across an accident that forced them up on the shoulder and into the grass that lined the road.
It was slow going, and they only traveled about 100 miles before dusk, but they were moving.
All in all, Erik mused, they’d made out okay. Sure, they’d traded one of their more valuable weapons, which hurt—but they still had the Russian 9mm pistol Ted brought acquired in the prison camp and the XD Erik found at the RV, plus Ted's M4.
He sighed. They'd lost half their firepower but gained a vehicle and a huge cache of tools, though what they might be used for was anybody's guess. They had a decent amount of food to go along with a pretty impressive supply of antibiotics and first aid gear, so that was something.
Thanks to Lucy.
As the sun stumbled toward the horizon and they crawled north, the world outside grew darker, which meant inside the van it was pitch black. He could barely see Lucy, Brin, and Lindsay as they sat against the far wall of the van, heads together in mumbled conversation.
Girls.
Erik still wasn't sure what to think of Lucy, but Brin and Lindsay seemed comfortable enough with her. He figured that counted for a lot—Brin was not exactly the trusting type. He turned back front and watched another group of cars, abandoned on the side of the road, trunks open and debris littered around them.
"How much gas we got?" he asked softly.
"Quarter tank," replied Ted. "It's probably enough to get us through the night at this pace…the road's opened up a lot. But I don't know…"
"Should we stop now, then? While there's still a little light left so we can find some more gas or supplies for tomorrow? If nothing else, I think we could all use a good stretch."
Ted considered this for a moment as he weaved between two cars that looked like they had driven through a furnace. The vehicles had been reduced to black frames sitting on the remains of what used to be wheels in the middle of the road. As they drove carefully around the charred carcasses, Erik got a glimpse of a something person-sized slumped over in the driver’s seat. Not for the first time, he was thankful the van had no windows. The kids didn't need to see that.
Hell, I didn't need to see that.
"Okay, looks like there's another clear stretch coming up,” Ted announced, his voice loud in close confines of the van. “There's a break in the trees up ahead—might be some kind of farm or something up there…we can scout it out and see if we can find some gas."
Erik felt the muscles of his neck and shoulders tense for a moment. "Feels kind of exposed without trees on both sides of the road…" Erik observed, eyes on the colorful canopy of leaves surrounding them.
"Trees provide cover, yes," replied Ted, "but that works both ways. Every one of those trunks on the hills around us gives someone with a weapon cover to pick us off. Open space," Ted said, motioning with his left hand toward the gap in the trees they approached, "provides no cover. We stay in the middle of the open space, it's going to take someone with a lot of skill to sneak up on us."
Erik nodded. "Fair enough, but someone with a scoped rifle will still be able to hit us." He couldn't shake the itch between his shoulder blades, but he was getting used to it. He focused his thoughts instead on the task at hand. Get out, find some gas, find whatever they could use, then get back to the van and keep moving.
We're only a handful of hours away now…just have to get across Pennsylvania and the New York backcountry. He closed his eyes. That's it. We're so close...
The van slowed, tires crunching on gravel along the southbound shoulder. The brakes squeaked for an instant before they came to a complete stop. Ted shifted into park and shut the rattling engine off.
Erik cracked his window and rolled it down an inch to listen. Outside the only thing he heard was the breeze rustling leaves across the road and birds chirping back and forth, gathering in preparation for the approaching night. A dog barked off in the distance, the sound comforting yet lonely.
"We're really out in the country now," muttered Ted. He looked at Erik. "You want me to go this time?"
"Daddy was that a wolf?" asked Teddy from the darkness at the back of the van.
Erik grinned. "I'll go. I think you have other things to keep you occupied on the home front."
After one more look around the immediate vicinity, Erik opened his door, wincing as it squealed in protest. He stepped out of the van and shut the door as quietly as he could, eyes scanning the tree-covered hill on the north side of the road. The ground sloped at a gentle grade and the trees grew so thick he couldn't see anything but shadows beyond 50 feet.
There could be a whole army hiding up there and I'd never see them. Erik slung the M4 over his shoulder and made his way to the double doors at the back of van.
Brin hopped out, carrying two plastic fuel cans salvaged from their minivan. She handed one to him. "Here, you take one and I'll take one." She reached back inside and took two screwdrivers from Lucy's outstretched hand.
Handing one to Erik, she said, "There's a ton of tools in there, but without light I can't tell what we have. Lucy found these," she said slipping a screwdriver behind her belt. "Let's get going, the sun's setting pretty quick."
Erik nodded his thanks to Lucy and left the doors open so they could get a little light in the van. He slipped his own screwdriver in his pocket and walked off behind Brin.
In the fading light of day, Erik watched wife as she moved forward, full of confidence and strength. He wanted to wrap her in a hug and take her away to a safe place—away from the chaos and death and insanity of the world. The sway of her hips as she walked made him think of more pleasant times. Lazy days spent in bed back home in Florida, waking to the sound of a rainstorm and snuggling back under the covers.
I miss those days…
"Get your eyes off my ass and come up here," she muttered. "I feel naked out here without a gun. How strange is that?" She snorted. "I used to hate the sight of those things…"
Chapter 59
Reconciliation
BRIN DROPPED TO THE pavement and slithered under the rear bumper of the first car they came across—a dark little hatchback that had been customized to the point he couldn't tell the make or model. She put her gas can on the ground and aimed the head of the screwdriver at the car's tank before smacking it a couple times with a rock. On the third hit, the driver sank in. She pulled it out and a thin trickle of gasoline dribbled into her container.
"This one doesn't have much," she muttered, brushing the gravel off her hands.
Erik grunted as he looked around. He didn't see any movement other than leaves shimmering in the breeze. "There's nobody out here. I'm gonna walk across the road to that car over there," he wheezed, gesturing toward the truck on the other side of the road.
Erik squatted down behind his vehicle and did the same thing Brin had, onl
y he punctured the gas tank on the second try. The truck had a decent amount of gas—it came out in a steady stream.
"This one's got a lot more," he called over his shoulder.
Before his container was half-full, Brin walked over, her feet crunching on loose gravel. She handed him her half-empty container so he could make the switch as his filled. The tangy smell of gas burned his nose.
Erik stood and brushed his hands off, leaning against the truck's dented tailgate. He surveyed the area again in the gathering gloom of dusk.
Tall oaks and white birches, interspersed with green pines surrounded the area. Bright golden leaves fluttered on the breeze while brown and red ones swirled in little eddies along the sides of the road. On the other side of Brin's car, the road gave way to a gentle slope covered in knee-high weeds that led down toward a wide field, run wild with what looked like soybeans. The small green leaves rippled in the breeze. Here and there a random taller plant stuck up.
"Is that corn down there you think?" he asked, pointing in the gloom.
Brin grunted on the way back to her car. "Could be…I have no idea. The only corn I know comes in a can. It’s too dark to see, anyway."
The whole scene gave the impression that someone had planted crops earlier in the year and had made at least an attempt to tend them throughout the summer. It must have been some time since the field had seen the farmer.
Erik switched containers as the gas continued to leak out of the truck. Brin emerged from her car clutching a backpack. She held it in the air like a trophy, then moved around to the driver’s side and opened the trunk.
Erik couldn't help but smile as his wife rummaged in the trunk. A garbage bag, food wrappers, a pair of boots, and an umbrella soon piled up on the ground next to her.
Other than the sounds of Brin scavenging in the car across the street and the gas dripping in his container, there was absolute silence around him. Erik took a deep breath and smelled the sweet scent of fall on the breeze.
Dux Bellorum (Future History of America Book 3) Page 36