by Payne, T. L.
He recalled Stephens saying that they had military assets out in the Gulf of Mexico and the Fourth Fleet down in the waters off South America. How long would it take for all the US ships and personnel overseas to make it back to help defend the nation? With the capabilities the military had left, would they be able to hold out long enough? But he’d witnessed the fight from those brave men and women and he knew that they’d do all within their power to prevent foreign powers from stepping foot on American soil.
As Will looked toward downtown, thinking about what the rest of the country must be going through, Jaz gasped. Will looked up and followed her gaze. The road ahead was charred black. Smoke still circled above the tank farm to the right of the interstate. Husks of the tanks were all that remained with the Buffalo Bayou just beyond, the dark, debris-filled water still out of its banks.
As they crossed over the bayou, Will turned his attention to the road ahead. Abandoned vehicles stretched as far as the eye could see. He stared into the bed of another pickup as they slowly passed. It was loaded down with suitcases, furniture, and toys. Will spotted a cooler strapped to the back.
“You know, Gus. There may be some useable stuff in these vehicles,” Will said. “It might be worth making a short stop to check them out.” Will shifted his gaze to Cayden. His clothes were filthy. Will would almost kill for dry socks and clean underwear. There would likely be a treasure trove of snack food inside them. He’d loaded his Jeep down with chips, cookies, and Cokes for their trip to the lake house and imagined most other travelers had done the same. Some may have had the forethought to take it with them when they abandoned their automobiles, but it was doubtful they could have carried much.
Gus slowed the truck. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek.”
He stopped between a loaded down pickup and an SUV with boxes and totes strapped to the luggage rack.
“Wait here,” Will said as he climbed out. Cayden rolled his eyes.
“What’s the problem?” Monte asked, hopping over the truck’s bed rail.
“We just want to check out the contents of a couple of these vehicles to see if there’s anything we can use,” Will said.
Will dropped the magazine of the pistol and examined the ammunition. He counted fifteen bullets. He pulled back the slide and ejected the round in the chamber. After slapping the magazine back into the pistol, he chambered a round. He instinctually moved his thumb to flick the safety before shoving it into his back waistband and joining Gus at the back of the SUV. That’s when he spotted four bicycles strapped to the back of a lime green Prius.
“Hey, Gus, you mind if I throw a couple of those on top of your stuff in the bed?” Will said, pointing to the bikes.
“If you can find something to strap them down, go for it,” Gus said.
“Cayden, you want to come help me?”
As Cayden and Isabella followed Will to the Prius, Gus and the others pulled the tarp back on one of the trucks and began going through the owner’s belongings.
“So you’re still considering using bicycles?” Isabella asked, leaning against the SUV in the opposite lane. She held a pack of wet wipes in her hand. She’d let her hair down and was scrubbing off her drawn-on five o’clock shadow.
“I like to have a backup plan, especially after what just happened back there at the school.”
“I guess that’s smart, but if someone takes the truck, won’t they get the bikes too?”
Will hadn’t thought about that. His focus had been on if they got stranded or it became too dangerous to continue in the truck. They had no way of knowing what the roads would be like after they left the interstate. He’d rather have the bikes and not need them than not and have to walk all the way to Louisiana. He released a mountain bike from the rack and handed it to Cayden.
“Where will we put all our supplies?” Cayden asked.
“If we have to use the bikes, we’ll have to pare down to only what we can strap to the backs,” Will said, handing down the second bike.
Will stepped back to lean the third bike against the car and bumped into Isabella. “Sorry. How’s the leg?”
A slight smile tugged at her lips. “About the same as the last ten times you asked.”
They were in no shape to be out there on the road. He was pushing her too fast, he knew, but the longer they hung around the city, the more likely it was that they’d run into trouble they couldn’t get out of. They’d been lucky so far. They’d been through hell and survived. He was afraid that, eventually, their luck would run out.
“Sorry. We won’t use the bikes unless we absolutely have to,” Will said. He pressed a thumb against the tires to see if they were aired properly. They were.
“Cayden, look around for straps or bungee cords. We need something to strap them down with.”
While Cayden checked a nearby vehicle with a trailer attached, Will rolled two of the bicycles over and leaned them against Gus’s truck. Isabella grabbed the other. She looked at it for a moment and then threw her uninjured leg over and climbed onto the bike’s seat.
Will watched as she placed one hand on the handlebar grip and tried to push off and pedal. He caught her before she could fall over. “We’ll figure something out if it comes to it,” Will said, extending his arm to help her off the bike. Her foot caught on the pedal, and she lurched forward, nearly toppling them both. Will stepped back, lifted her up, and slowly lowered her to the ground. Their eyes met briefly before Will turned his gaze. As he backed away, Isabella slowly withdrew her hand from his, sliding her fingertips lightly along his palms. His breath quickened and electricity shot through his body. He fought the urge to pull her back into his arms. Will looked around for Cayden, but he was out of sight.
Isabella turned away. “What we need is one of those sidecar thingies.”
Will leaned over and hoisted the bicycles up and over the side of the truck. “Yeah. That would be great. We’ll have to keep our eye out for something like that,” he said, regaining control of himself.
“Gus,” Jaz said. Alarm rang in her voice. “Gus, there’s people coming.”
Will spun around, looking for Cayden. He felt the same panic he had when Cayden was three and had become separated from him and Melanie at the county fair. He spotted the top of his head between cars. Pulling the pistol from the small of his back, he ran toward him. “Cayden, get to the truck,” Will called to him in a low voice.
Isabella yanked open the pickup’s door and gestured for Jaz to get in. “Jaz!” Jaz stared at her for a moment and then took off running toward Gus. Monte stepped into view. “What?”
Jaz stopped abruptly and pointed over her back. “People are coming this way.”
Will stood tall but couldn’t see anyone.
“Where?” Monte asked, turning in that direction. He must have seen them because he raised his pistol and began backing toward the truck. “Tanner, we have company,” he said.
Will grabbed Cayden’s hand, and the two rushed between vehicles, staying low and out of sight. Cayden’s eye fell to the gun Will was holding. He lowered it, pointing toward the ground.
The pack was within twenty feet of Isabella and the pickup when they spotted another group consisting of six to eight men walking toward them on their left. Gus poked his head out from inside a mid-sized sedan. He saw the look on Will’s face and straightened.
“What?” he said, just a little too loud. Will looked past him. If they hadn’t spotted Will and the others yet, they had now. The gang picked up the pace and was running toward them by the time everyone made it back to the truck. Will pivoted in his seat and stared at the group as Gus stomped the gas and sped away.
“This sucks,” Jaz said. “I can’t wait to get to my mom’s. This is too stressful.”
That was an understatement.
“We shouldn’t stop again,” Will said.
“No, shit!” Gus said. “That dude back there was right. This truck attracts too much attention.”
“What choice d
o we have? I can’t walk forty miles,” Jaz said, rubbing her baby bump.
Isabella glanced back to the pickup’s bed. “The way things are looking, we may end up on those bikes after all.”
Will hoped they didn’t lose the bicycles. He hadn’t had the chance to strap them down. Tanner was sitting on top of one of them, but the other two looked like they could slide off the heap of suitcases and bags any moment. They couldn’t risk stopping to tie them down. All he could do was hope that they made it to Jaz’s mother’s house. From there, he’d have to decide if it was worth it to take the truck.
Seven
Savanah
Day Seven
Savanah watched as Blake picked up his rifle from the ground and walked off across the field. Before climbing back over the fence, he threw his hand in the air and gave a brief wave. Jason stood and gathered up the empty coffee mugs. He’d been quiet ever since they’d heard Blake’s suggestion to deal with Jason’s brother and cousins. She wanted to know how he felt about it but wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. She couldn’t just come out and ask him what he thought about Blake assassinating his brother.
“I’m going over to Pete’s. We need to go back to all the neighbors and try one more time,” Jason said as he turned toward the house.
Although Pete Ashby had agreed to work with them against the Blanchards who’d taken up residence at the Sugar Hill community, most of the other neighbors were too afraid. Savanah wasn’t sure that Pete was the right person to take to convince them.
Mrs. B was standing in the doorway. She held the door open as Jason went inside then joined Savanah as she tried to salvage the eggs she’d dropped earlier. It had been a stupid mistake. Every egg was precious food. Savanah shooed away the cats and picked through the shells. They were all wasted. There’d be no eggs for breakfast. At least the mousers would enjoy them.
Luca and Jane stepped out on the front porch. Jane waved. Savanah raised her hand and returned the gesture. It was awkward having strangers living in her house and tiptoeing around people sleeping in every nook and cranny. She’d moved Keegan and Kylie in with her. There was plenty of room in her bed. Of course, Kylie was less than gracious about giving up her room to Luca and Jane, whereas Keegan was thrilled to have the Bertrands using his room. Jason was still staying in the barn, despite Karson offering his room.
Jason reappeared with a bandolier filled with ammo and a small pack. “I’ll be back before dark,” he said.
“Wait, I want to come with you,” Savanah said.
“No!” Jason said, just a little too sharply. He lowered his voice. “No. You should stay and help guard the farm. I’ve got this.”
Something was wrong—she could feel it. A knot formed in her stomach as she called after him.
“Jason.”
He kept walking.
“Jason,” she called again.
“Everything will be fine, Savanah. Just stay here and watch out for the kids.”
She stared at his back with her mouth open, trying to think of something she could say to stop him. The thought ran through her head that this could be the last time she saw him. If he was going to see his family, he might never come back to her and her children. She took a step toward him, but Mrs. B caught her arm.
“You have to let him do what he feels is best.”
Her forehead creased. “But—”
“He’ll be back. He cares too much about you and those little ones not to.”
“Where’s he going, Mommy?” Keegan asked as he ran up to Savanah. He was barefoot as usual.
Savanah picked him up. “He’s got something he has to take care of. He said he’d be back by dark.”
“But he said he’d make me pancakes this morning.”
“It must have been really, really important then. I can make you pancakes,” Savanah said, turning toward the house.
“But you don’t make them crispy like Jason does.”
“That’s because Jason’s are more like the funnel cakes you get at the fair. They’re totally bad for you.”
“He lets me put a little sugar on them.”
She’d allowed Jason to indulge the kids somewhat since the world went to shit, knowing the two-pound bag of sugar Mrs. B had brought with her wouldn’t last forever. Especially as much as Mrs. B baked with it. If she’d known that there’d be so many things that her children would miss out on, she would have been a little more indulgent with them herself. She suddenly recalled the cookies Paul Broussard had given her for the children. She had placed them in her backpack before heading home from town. Keegan’s birthday was in two days. They might be a little stale by now, but they’d still make a special treat.
“Let’s go in, and maybe you can show me how Jason makes his crispy pancakes. I’ll let you have an extra spoonful of honey on them. How about that?”
An ear-to-ear grin spread across his face.
After Kendra and June milked the goats and all the other animals were fed and watered, Savanah donned her tactical vest and grabbed her rifle to patrol the fence line. There was a ton of laundry and other household chores that needed to be done, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate. “I’m going to walk the fence line. You want to come with me, Luca?” Savanah asked. Luca turned to Jane. She smiled kindly and nodded. He picked up his shotgun and followed Savanah out the back door.
“I think Jason is right. I think we should try to talk to all the neighbors again and convince them that we need to work together,” Luca said.
Savanah said nothing as she held open the gate for him to pass through. “He didn’t go to talk to the neighbors.”
“He didn’t?”
“No. He went to talk to his brother.”
“How do you know that? Did he say so?” Luca asked.
Savanah latched the gate and headed south along the cross fence, heading toward the gully that separated their farm from Blake’s in-laws. She considered going over and telling him what she suspected. If Jason let it slip that they had discussed taking him out, Blake and the residents of Sugar Cove Road might be in even more danger. The Blanchards would be more than eager to kill a cop. The farther she walked, the more she was convinced they should know. They needed to take steps to protect themselves.
When they reached the gully, Savanah stopped and stared through the trees along the Herberts’ fence line.
“You’re thinking of going over there and telling that officer?” Luca asked.
She was, but that could derail any plans that might come up to settle this thing with Sugar Hill’s Blanchards. Jason would feel betrayed. Maybe he hadn’t gone to visit his brother after all. How much did she trust him? Savanah turned back toward her house. She trusted Jason with her life—with her children’s lives. She’d wait and see what he had to say. Maybe he could take care of things with his family. It was a long shot, she knew, but she could hope—for all their sakes.
Eight
Will
Day Seven
It was an encouraging sign that the off-ramp for Highway 90 had been cleared of vehicles until Isabella spotted something odd as they neared the exit.
“Guys, do you see that?” Isabella asked.
“Who is it?”
“Stop! Stop!” Will shouted. “Stop the truck!”
Gus hit the brakes a little too hard, causing Tanner to smash into the back glass. “What the hell?” he yelled.
“Are they ours?” Isabella asked.
Will did a double-take. It wasn’t every day that one ran into military tanks on an American interstate. After what they’d experienced the day before, the sight sent a chill down his spine.
“I think so,” Will said.
“Definitely ours. Those are Bradleys—a mix of M2s and M3s,” Tanner said through the opening in the back glass. “My dad is a veteran. Military stuff is like a religion to him and the old-timers he hangs out with.”
“What are they doing out here?” Jaz asked.
“I have no idea,” Tanner said.
“To stop the Chinese from heading north or east,” Cayden said.
Jaz turned in her seat to face them. “What? Why would they need to stop the Chinese?”
No one answered her.
Will shifted his gaze to Isabella. He wasn’t sure if they could answer that—or should.
“Isabella? What do you know?” Jaz insisted.
“The Chinese launched a nuke high in the atmosphere over the continental United States, causing an electromagnetic pulse capable of taking out the power grid and everything else,” Cayden said matter-of-factly.
Will placed a hand on Cayden’s thigh. He looked up, and Will shook his head.
“Is that true, Will? Did the Chinese do this?”
Will said nothing.
“What the hell. You know what happened and you won’t tell us?” Jaz turned around in a huff, crossed her arms, and rocked back and forth in her seat. “We’re at war, and you weren’t going to tell us.”
“When the military came for you, that’s what it was about?” Gus asked, looking over his shoulder.
Will couldn’t hold his gaze. He regretted not telling them, but what good would it have done for them to know just how screwed they were? Would they have done something differently? Could they have?
“We weren’t sure how much we were allowed to discuss. We kind of got ourselves mixed up in some classified shit, and well, it really doesn’t matter who did this. The results are the same.”
“Yeah, if it doesn’t matter, then why the hell are there tanks on the interstate?” Gus said.