by Chris Bostic
The first three trucks in the column didn’t slow. They continued down the main highway, heading off in a direction I hadn’t been since I’d been a tourist months before. As they disappeared, the driver and an unfamiliar passenger of the first stopped vehicle jumped out of his truck and headed back to Mom’s, which was right in front of mine.
Mom and Dad hopped out to talk to the other adults. I wasn’t going to be left behind this time.
Katelyn joined me in walking up to the group meeting while her dad went to the passenger seat to check out Spotted Fawn.
“Drop more trees here,” Mom was saying as we approached. “Make ‘em work.”
“Make who work?” I interrupted.
She turned and held up an insulting hand to my face. “Just a second, hon.”
That set me off. “I’d like to know what’s going on, Sunning Bear.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’ll explain in-”
“How about now?”
Mom shot an exasperated look at Dad. He nodded and took me by the arm. I didn’t resist as he guided me to the other side of the road. I kept hold of Katelyn and brought her with us.
“Sorry, we’re a little busy right now,” he said.
“I’m not eleven. You can tell me what’s going on.”
He paused to consider my words for a moment. “Alright.” He looked at the sky as if trying to pull words from thin air. The move didn’t sit well with me.
“Just say it. Please.”
“Fine. You ever see that movie where the kids run to the mountains to hide when the Russians attacked?”
“Red Dawn, right?”
“That’s it. Think about it.” He paused. “Seems familiar, doesn’t it?”
I supposed it did. We’d run away for safety when the Feds went crazy and started killing protestors; that was definitely like an attack. Now we had guns and bombs, and we were most definitely living in the mountains. Not out west, but it was similar enough. And we were better prepared.
“I think so. So what do we do?”
“We defend our turf,” he said, more animated than normal. “We’ll drop trees over the road. Set more explosives and destroy more bridges. Barricade ourselves in here, and camouflage snipers in the woods to make sure no one gets around the roadblocks.” His voice rose in indignation. “We’re gonna fight a guerilla war for as long as we need to, Red Dawn-style.”
I was completely onboard until a sudden realization hit me. “Didn’t all the kids die?”
“Not in the remake,” Dad said defensively.
“I don’t think they all died in the first one either,” Austin added, joining the conversation. “At least a couple made it.”
I did the math. “Two outta like ten. That’s not great odds.”
“It could’ve been more,” Austin said. “Besides they were always going into town and attacking tanks and helicopters and all that.”
Beating me to the words, Katelyn pointed out, “We just went into town today.”
“But I think that’s it for a while, right?” Austin looked to Dad, who nodded. “Not that I just wanna hang out here and be bored all day.”
“Settle down, killer,” Dad said. “We have what we need…lots of food and now plenty of weapons. Granted, as the rebellion gets going we’ll have to do a bit more good ole fashioned bushwhacking.” He raised a hand to cut off my brother before he could make an obscene reference. “Anyway, I just mean that, uhm, it’ll be a little more intense than live and let live from here on out.”
“James Bond said that,” Austin interjected.
Dad laughed. “Uh, no. That was Live and Let Die. You’d better stick with Red Dawn references.”
“Wolverines!” Austin cheered and walked away while barking like a dog.
Dad shook his head and turned back to the two of us. “We’ve got some work to do to barricade the roads, and we’ll need to have people watching at all times. It’s not going to be easy, but we can survive up here. Once we’re settled at the new camp, we can bring the fight to the enemy.”
“New camp?” I said, sharing a look with Katelyn. “You mean where we’re at, right?”
“No. It’s too exposed.” Dad nodded to the two men still talking with Mom. “These guys are set up in a stronger site, a safer place. There’s a cave system.”
Though I could see the appeal in hiding under cover rather than tents covered with cut branches, I must have looked unconvinced.
Dad asked, “You remember Alum Cave?”
“Yeah, we’ve hiked there. Isn’t the trail right off the main road, just past Chimney Tops?”
He smiled proudly, and pointed up the highway. “Right, about five miles up on the left. But I’m not talking about that one.”
“Good, ‘cause I’d think just about anybody would know where that one’s at.”
“Of course,” Dad admitted. “It was more of a visual. Anyway, I just meant that there’s gotta be a hundred other caves out here, and most of those aren’t on any maps.”
“I like the idea of that,” Katelyn said softly.
“I don’t like moving, but it makes sense,” I agreed. “I guess that should help with the helicopters and drones.”
“Absolutely. Cover from above is huge. Even outside we could’ve kept hidden. It’s a massive park, you know. Over eight hundred square miles. Not acres…miles. And crawling with well-prepped people like us.” Dad gestured to Mom who was still talking to the others. “We’ve got a great group here and tons of supplies in the back of those trucks. We can hold out a very long time, and meet up with the other groups.”
“And if the supplies don’t last?”
“We can all hunt and fish. We can still raid the town. We will raid the town, and other places. It’s the only way to spark the change, you know? To make headlines, to get the word out…to have the rebellion really take shape. We can start, or maybe more like join, a movement that spreads across this country.” He met my gaze with an unexpected grin.
“Why you so stoked about this, Pops? I’ve never seen you like this.”
“We have help, and a ton of it.” He practically glowed with confidence as he spoke. “When we started out, we were only sure that there would be a few groups out here, like Marisol’s and Katelyn’s and a few others your mother didn’t know that well. So we were making the garden and getting set up to rough on it our own until we got the lay of the land, however long that might have taken.”
“And now you’ve got a real live Red Dawn rebellion, but bigger. A lot bigger.”
“Right, but don’t take that movie too literally. They were just a bunch of kids. You’ve got your mom in charge of this operation.”
“That’s almost reassuring.” I chuckled under my breath. “It went so smoothly in town today.”
“It actually went great, other than almost losing Spotted Fawn.” He glanced at Katelyn and offered a subdued smile as an apology.
I continued to make myself heard, and issued a challenge. “Then I guess you won’t leave us behind next time you run off.”
Mom stepped over, catching the last bit of our conversation. “No, I won’t. And I’ll make sure you always know what’s going on. Okay, hon?”
“Okay, but can you please quit calling me that?”
She set her lips in a firm line and took a moment before nodding. “Hug it out?”
I honestly didn’t mind the idea, but I had to make her think I wasn’t thrilled lest I gave up some ground I’d just gained into adulthood. “Fine.”
She embraced me, and then opened her arms to pull Dad and Katelyn into the group. When we separated, she said, “We’ve got it all now. Tons of food, weapons, gear.”
A two-way radio squawked in Mom’s pant pocket. A man’s deep voice sounded off, saying, “Done with trees outside town. Rollin’ your way.”
“Ten-four,” Mom responded on a brand new walkie-talkie, then gestured to the driver standing by the lead vehicle. “Roll out.”
He started it up without q
uestion. Another man jumped into my parents’ truck, and they drove off with a wave.
“Those guys are gonna take the new stuff over to their hideout,” she explained, “and destroy the bridges once they’re past. You can leave your truck here. We’re gonna go break camp and then head for their cave.”
“Things are really looking up,” Dad said, and patted me on the back.
“Our own little army,” Mom added. “Not too bad at all.”
I considered their words in a new light. The park hadn’t been where I’d wanted to be, but home wasn’t an option anymore. I’d make do in the forest, especially with Katelyn alongside me. We’d all do what we had to for the country to get straightened out. We deserved a brighter future.
I thought back to a cheesy dinner theater in town, and smiled at thinking we’d become modern day Hatfields and McCoys, bushwhacking revenuers trying to barge in on our turf. The fallen trees, blown bridges, and moonshine fireballs would definitely slow them down.
Better yet, there was no decade long feud between our two families. I wrapped my arm around Katelyn, and I felt her sigh.
I smiled at her and repeated Dad’s words. “Nope. Not too bad at all.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge Thank You for taking the time to read Prepper Mountain, which falls square at the top of my favorite books. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed playing in this world. Better yet, there’s a sequel coming soon in this series. Stay tuned to my social media for word on a release date for Shadow Warriors.
If you are looking for something with a deeper dive into SciFi, but also with dystopian underpinnings, then I certainly encourage you to take a look at The Savage Horde Series. If Scifi isn’t so much your thing, then you can’t go wrong with another nation collapse series set in an entirely different, thousand lakes, dark atmosphere. That one is The Northwoods Trilogy.
Should dystopian oddly not be your favorite genre, then I can offer up a trio of standalone adventure novels. While not a big departure from my other books, wilderness survival stories such as Game Changer, Murder Cove, and Creeper Falls offer up teenage outdoor suspense adventure with new characters, exciting storylines, and unique settings.
But first, before you cast this book aside, I would be grateful if you would take just a quick minute out of your busy life to leave a review. Good or bad, I greatly appreciate any reviews left on Amazon, Goodreads, and anywhere else you please. Reviews help other readers decide whether or not to check out a story, so they can really help get this book noticed by others. I hope you agree with me that this book deserves all the notice it can get. In an oversaturated market, I hope you found its redeeming qualities.
Lastly, a big Thank You to all my returning readers! This book is my tenth published novel. Ten! Double Digits!! I finally made it, now about six years after starting this writing adventure. Plus a sequel sure to come before the end of the year. Mega thanks to everyone for all your support and kind words!
To connect with Chris Bostic
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Other books by Chris Bostic
The Savage Horde Series:
Book 1, Savage Hills
Book 2, Cold Valley
Book 3, Complex Three
The Northwoods Trilogy:
Book 1, Fugitives from Northwoods
Book 2, Rebellion in Northwoods
Book 3, Return to Northwoods
Standalone Novels:
Game Changer
Murder Cove
Creeper Falls