Wandering Highway

by Ike Warren

  “You want more?” He asked.

  “I don’t, but I thought you might want to use the shirt to get a drink too.”

  Allan looked at the water and saw another dragonfly circling above and then he looked back at the shirt. “I’ll pass. I think we took a big enough risk drinking from the lake. I don’t want to risk both of us getting sick any more than we have to.”

  “Ok, that’s fine, but will you do me a favor and wash your arms off where you touched the poison ivy?”

  “I told you I’m not allergic to it.”

  “The poison ivy oils will stay on your skin for a long time unless you wash it off. You may not be allergic to it but the baby might be. I don’t want to expose him to that the next time you go to hold him.”

  Allan hadn’t thought about transferring the poisons on his skin to his son. He had to start thinking that there were three of them now rather than just Jennifer and himself. He turned and dipped his hands into the water and, taking a page out of Jennifer’s playbook, came up with a handful of muddy goo and he scrubbed his arms and then rinsed them off in the water. When he was satisfied that the contaminants were gone from his skin he picked up the soiled swaddling shirt and rinsed it out. When the shirt was as clean as it was going to get he rung it out to remove all the excess water.

  Allan stood up and looked at the two wet shirts in his hands. “Great, now we don’t have anything to wrap the baby in.” He sighed.

  “I’ll hold him against my chest. He’ll be fine. It’s too hot out now to wrap him up anyways.”

  “So you’re just going to walk around in just your bra?”

  “I’m going to walk home carrying our son.” She said with strong resolve in her voice. The firmness of her words let him know that the clothes on her back were the least of her concerns.

  “Well if we’re both going shirtless then we both ought to cover our skin with mud.” Allan suggested and Jennifer nodded in agreement.

  He smeared the mud over their exposed skin and he even dabbed a dot of the brown goo on his son’s nose so that he wouldn’t feel left out. He tied his damp undershirt around his head and then tied Jennifer’s wet shirt around her head to help keep them cool and to help expose the shirts to as much sunlight as possible to help dry them out. Jennifer held the naked baby against her bosom that was covered only by her dingy bra and they walked back across the pasture and crossed through the rusty barbed wire fence and returned to the interstate.

  Chapter 19: The Barricade

  When they reached Royse City they began to notice a large number of people walking westward. Allan felt the shirts that were wrapped on their heads and he noticed that they were pretty much dry and he asked Jennifer to put hers on since there were more people on the roadway and as she did so he removed the shirt that was on his head and wrapped the baby back up inside. There were even people walking westward on the eastbound lanes, which was unusual given that most people up to that point had used the correct car lane for their given direction of travel. As they crossed through the small rural town and reached the top of the Farm Market Road 35 overpass they saw that a crowd of people had gathered up ahead at the top of a hill near the Hunt County line. As they approached the crowd of people they could see that a line of cars and trucks had been setup in the form of a barricade similar to what they had encountered by the armed gang back in downtown Rockwall, but this particular barrier of cars was much larger and it stretched almost 300 feet across the double lanes of the eastbound and westbound roadways as well as over both grassy medians and across the service roads on either side. Between the barricade line there appeared to be chain link fencing setup that stretched across the medians which connected to the old barbed wire farm fences that ran parallel to the interstate. They could see men holding rifles in front of the cars. Some of the men were dressed in military style camouflage and others were wearing regular street clothes. The gunmen were directing people into lines and maintaining what looked like an assemblance of order. Behind the barricade they could see the silhouettes of more men nestled between the cars with what looked like gun turrets mounted in front of them.

  "Do you think they are good guys or bad guys?" Jennifer asked as she looked nervously at the massive barrier in front of them. As they got closer they could see that there was razor wire installed along the top of the chain link fences that ran between the two service roads.

  "These guys look much more professional than the criminal gang that we encountered back in Rockwall. This looks a police or military barricade of some kind." Allan replied.

  "I don't see any police cars."

  "I imagine the police cars were just as affected by the blast as everything else."

  They reached the mass of people that had gathered at the line of cars and they looked around curiously.

  A man who was holding a rifle noticed the confused looks on their faces and said loudly, "If you live in Hunt County form a line here in front of Officer Smith. If you live east of Hunt County and will only be traveling through, form a line here in front of Officer Jones. If you live elsewhere or have special circumstances form a line in front of me."

  Allan and Jennifer looked at one another curiously and then they stepped into the line for residents that lived in Hunt County which was the county that their home in Greenville lied within. There was a man at the front of the line who was looking carefully at various papers that people were handing him and then the man would look intently at the person's face and then back at the papers in his hand as if questioning the document’s authenticity. When the man was apparently satisfied with what had been presented to him he motioned for another man who was not carrying a firearm to escort the people around the barricade so that they could carry on about their way.

  "They're checking IDs" Allan said.

  "Ours got stolen by those assholes who took my backpack with my purse inside." Jennifer replied.

  "I hope he'll accept that as an excuse and let us through."

  They waited in the line with anticipation for their turn for over an hour. Finally when they were next in line to be identified they stepped up to the officer and began to explain their situation.

  "We live in Greenville and my wife had her purse stolen the other day." Allan began.

  The officer held out his hand, "Photo ID or other proof of residence."

  "I just told you we don't have that. My wife's purse was stolen."

  "You don't have your wallet either?"

  "My wallet was inside my wife's purse. It was easier to carry everything together that way."

  The officer gave him a suspicious look and Allan took it as an indication that he needed to explain himself further. "Look, we live at 1405 Glencrest Road. We've lived there for the past 5 years..."

  "Special circumstances line." The officer interrupted pointing in the direction of the third line among the cluster of people gathered in front of the barricade. Allan looked at the line of people and saw that it was nearly twice as long as the line that they had been in and he knew that it would take hours just to be seen by another officer.

  "But sir, we..."

  "Next person in line please." The officer interrupted again, this time lifting his rifle off of his hip and raising it to his chest to indicate to Allan to fall in line or else. Allan and Jennifer stepped aside and Allan scanned the barricade line hoping to find a familiar face, someone who would recognize him and say, “Allan? Is that you? Come on across buddy.” but all he saw were the stone faces of strangers staring back at the crowd of people on the road.

  "What do you want to do? There's no way they’re going to believe that we live in Greenville without some proof of ID" Allan said.

  "We have to try to explain our situation to them." Jennifer said.

  Allan leaned down and whispered in her ear, "There's no way they are going to be able to guard the entire county line. There are way too many side roads going in and out. We could sneak…"

  "I wouldn't recommend trying that sir." A voice in fron
t of them interrupted. The officer that they had just been speaking to had somehow overheard their conversation. "We've got roadblocks setup at every crossing into Hunt County and where there's no road we have patrols out in the fields."

  Allan was stunned.

  "We're not going to let a horde of assholes from Dallas invade our county." The officer spoke loud in a manner so as to speak to everyone around. "So you go ahead and discuss with your pretty little wife about what you plan to do but I'll tell you what. There are only two options for you here. You can either convince us that you live in Hunt County or are just passing through or you can turn right around and head back to the west where you came from." Everyone in the crowd turned and stared at Allan to await his reaction but Allan just lowered his head and took Jennifer’s hand in his and they walked over to join the Special Circumstances line.

  Allan looked on with envy at the people in the line in front of him who were able to produce identification and documents for the officers. Those that did not have any paperwork could be seen trying to explain their situation but every single one of the people without papers were turned away. All the additional explaining that was going on in their line caused everything to slow down. They had been standing in line, shifting their weight from one leg to the other, for over two hours. Allan watched when it was the man's turn in front of them to speak. The man approached the officer and presented a USB computer thumb drive out of a backpack that he had strapped onto his back.

  "I've got everything on this thumb drive sir. Photo copies of my driver’s license, birth certificate, social security card, everything you need to prove that I am who I say I am and that I live in Hopkins County just to the east of the Hunt County line." The man explained.

  The officer took the thumb drive, looked it over for a moment and handed it back to the man with the backpack. "Unless you've got a working computer on you this does me no good. I can't let you pass."

  "Where the hell do you expect me to go then?"

  "You'll have to head back towards Dallas and wait for this mess to clear itself up."

  "I won't do it. I've been walking for days. You can't make me go back there!" The man yelled as he flopped down to the pavement and sat down looking up at the officer in protest. The officer swung around and motioned for two of the dark silhouettes positioned behind the barrier of cars. The barricade guards jumped up and hurdled the cars and zip tied the protestor’s hands behind his back and hauled him into the back of a nearby U-Haul truck. Loud shouts and bangs could be heard coming from inside the truck as the man kicked and screamed.

  One of the guards warned, "If you don't stop throwing a fit I'll come in there and make you stop." The flapping inside the truck continued and the guard pounced on the man and struck him with the butt of his rifle and instantly the man fell quiet. The crowd in front of the barricade had watched the whole scene play out with looks of terror on everyone’s faces and when they saw the man drop lifeless to the floor of the U-Haul truck they let out a collective gasp.

  "He'll be fine folks. He's just taking a little nap." One of the officers said and the rest of the gunmen behind the barricade chuckled.

  "What are you going to do with him?" A woman from the line next to them asked bravely.

  "We'll drop him off outside Royse City and suggest that he don't come back." The officer grinned and Allan knew that they would use more than just a suggestion to keep him from coming back.

  Allan and Jennifer's conversation with the officer at the front of the Special Circumstances line produced similar results as before. Allan tried to explain what had happened to them but the officer just cut him off and looked at Allan suspiciously when he couldn't produce any identification. When the officer told him that he couldn't let them through Allan felt like punching him in the face but he knew such an action would result in far worse than the bump on the head that the man in the U-Haul had just received. What difference does it make? They have no right to refuse to let us in the county that I live in. So what if they shoot me? If they make us turn back they might as well put a bullet in our heads anyways rather than make us face the deteriorating conditions in Dallas.

  Jennifer tugged at his arm as she knew that Allan was contemplating some kind of revenge. The look in her eyes told Allan that he needed to let it go and with anger in his eyes he gave the officer one last glare. They turned and walked westward back towards Royse City with their heads hung low in defeat.

  "Now what do you want to do?" Jennifer asked when they were clearly out of ear shot from the officers at the barricade.

  "There's only one option." Allan replied with firmness in his voice. "We have to sneak across."

  "You heard the officer. They have every farm and county road blocked off and patrols out in the fields. If they see us trying to sneak across they'll probably shoot us."

  "Better to shoot us than to force us go back into Dallas. I say we find somewhere to cross over into Hunt County under the cover of darkness and take our chances."

  Jennifer thought for a moment about the repercussions of what Allan was proposing and then she nodded her head in agreement.

  They walked back toward Royse City and exited the Interstate when they reached the overpass of FM 548. There they headed south for a little over a mile, passing some nice residential neighborhoods along the way, until the highway finally opened up to wide open pastures on either side of the roadway. At the far end of the field to their left was a thicket of trees that surrounded a shallow creek bed. Allan figured the location would be the best place to hide until nightfall when they would attempt to cross over into Hunt County undetected. He looked down the highway in either direction as far as he could see and saw nothing but more glimmering mirages on the road deck. They stepped off the road to cross between the barbed wire fence and they found that it was pulled much more tightly than the rusty fence that they had crossed through earlier. Despite pulling on the fence as hard as he could he found that there was no way that they could cross between it without getting cut by the sharp barbs on the wires. He looked down the length of the fence line and saw a wooden H brace about 100 yards away. They followed the fence and when they reached the H brace he looked cautiously in both directions one last time to check for anyone who might be watching them. When he saw no one in sight he climbed up the side of the wooden post and used the horizontal part of the H brace for support as he crossed his legs over the top of the fence. Once he was safely on the other side Jennifer handed him the baby and then she carefully repeated the procedure to get across. When they were all three on the other side of the fence they ducked down into the weeds and surveyed the area once more. There were no signs of any patrols in the field and so they proceeded to make their way toward the thicket of trees on the other side of the pasture. In the places where the weeds were high enough, they stopped and surveyed their surroundings again before carefully proceeding forward. Allan felt frightened walking across the open field. If they were caught the guards would know what they were up to and they would surely be punished or worse, but he also felt a sense of excitement as they carried out their covert operation in rebellion to the authorities at the barricade who were preventing them from going home. They stopped when they reached the low hanging branches at the edge of the thicket of trees. Allan searched for snakes and Jennifer scanned the area for more poison ivy and when neither were detected they ducked into the woods.

  Nightfall seemed like it would never come. Every part of Allan wished to be pushing onward toward home and the wait for the cover of darkness was excruciating. By mid-afternoon his stomach was growling fiercely for nourishment. It had been days since he had eaten a real meal and he looked down into the dry creek bed below and he daydreamed of flowing waters filled with fish so plentiful that he could simply dip his hand into the water and pull one out. The longer he stared at the creek the more he began to think the fantasy was real.

  "What are you looking at?" Jennifer interrupted.

  "Are there fish in that water?"
Allan asked.

  "There's no water babe. Are you delirious?"

  Allan shook his head to bring himself back to reality. "I was just kidding." He lied. "I'm going to scout around in the woods to see how far it goes and what we need to do next."

  "And leave me and the baby here alone?"

  "I won't leave your sight." He said as he stepped down into the dry creek bed and then high stepped over broken branches and thorny vines as he made his way up to the other side. The thicket of trees was only about 500 feet wide and when he reached open pasture on the eastern border of the woods he looked back and realized that he had long walked out of Jennifer's sight. He turned around and rushed back through the trees and thorny vines, praying that she wouldn't panic in his absence. When he got back within visual range of her he waved to Jennifer and motioned for her to join him and she acknowledged the gesture with a wave of her own.

  "Thought you said you weren't going to leave my sight?" She said as she stepped over a thorn bush next to him.

  "The woods aren't very wide.” He replied ignoring her question. “We should try to get across them before it gets too dark."

  He led them to the edge of the open field on the eastern side of the woods. They stopped and looked around for any signs of patrols but there were none. In the middle of the field in front of them they saw a metal barn with a small cattle corral around one side of it and further ahead there were residential houses spaced out across two acre lots that ran along an oil top county road.