by Eric Vall
I laughed at the brunette and started up the bike, it had already been a long day but it was good to take a minute to enjoy life.
I thought of my fourth tier of survival: comfort. It hadn’t been much, but for a few minutes Paige and I got to live instead of just survive, and that’s what we had to fight for.
Chapter 18
The highway was clear as we rode, and there was nothing much around aside from fields and trees and a few farmhouses scattered here and there, but every so often we would come upon a grove of trees that grew over the road, and a canopy of green would engulf us for a moment.
“116 takes us to South Burlington,” Paige said as we passed by an old farmhouse. “We can walk from there.”
“Right,” I said.
“Do you think anyone will be left there?” Paige asked.
“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Not with it being so close to the camp.”
“It’s a pretty small town,” she said. “But it bleeds into Burlington. We’ll have to find somewhere to hide the motorcycle.”
“Let’s look for any house with a garage,” I said. “Or even a mechanic shop.”
“Okay,” she said as she clung tighter to my chest, and the feel of her hips pressed against my back was almost enough to distract me, but I had to stay focused on the task at hand.
The drive to South Burlington was quiet, but I made sure to be on the lookout for more guards, and when we arrived at the small town, I slowed down and scanned the area as we drove.
“Get out your pistol,” I told Paige. “We don’t want to take any chances.”
“Right,” she said, and I felt her left arm tighten around me as her right arm let go.
The town itself was small, and some houses had front doors left open and the small grocery store we passed had broken out windows.
“Over there,” Paige said, and she pointed to a small mechanic shop that sat on the corner.
I pulled into the abandoned business and checked the front door. The window had been busted out and the door was unlocked, so I raised my pistol and made my way inside, I found the place littered with papers and empty beer cans. The door leading to the garage was open, so I moved toward it while trying not to kick random cans as I went, as I entered I checked my right and left but saw no one. The place was empty, so I opened the garage door and motioned for Paige to walk the bike over.
“It looks like this town has been picked clean,” Paige said as she parked the bike in the shop.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “We shouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding the bike.”
“We can take Williston basically all the way there,” Paige said as she looked at the map. “But it goes right through the Veterans Memorial Highway.”
“Let’s try to avoid larger roads if we can,” I said. “The Guard may have checkpoints set up.”
“Then I think the easiest thing to do is to just make our way around the highway clover,” Paige said. “It will add some walking time, but at least we won’t be right out in the open.”
“Good call,” I told her with a smile. “How many miles to Burlington?”
“Only a couple,” she said, and then she put the map in her pocket and threw on her pack. “It shouldn’t take us long.”
I looked up at the sun and guessed it was about two o’clock, we still had plenty of daylight left.
“Then let’s get moving,” I grinned as I tossed on my pack. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really,” Paige said with a shrug.
“Okay,” I nodded.
We closed the garage door and started our walk to Burlington. The small town grew larger the further we walked, and there were shopping plazas and restaurants, I wondered if all of these places had been picked clean as well.
As we walked, I noticed a Starbucks off to our right.
Paige must have noticed too because she pointed at it and turned around to look at me.
“Do you think there’s still coffee in there?” she asked with a smile.
“I was just wondering that myself,” I smiled back at her. “We’ll check it out on the way home.”
“Okay,” she said. “Rolly would be so excited if we brought home more coffee beans. I’m sure we’re running low.”
“We are,” I nodded.
“I wonder if we can grow some,” Paige mused.
“I’m not sure, actually,” I said. “But I think it can take a long time for a plant to produce even if we could figure out how to get one.”
“Well we have nothing but time,” she said, and she flashed me a grin.
“True,” I laughed.
“I’ll look for some books in the library when we get home,” she said.
“Good idea,” I smiled at her.
The beautiful brunette walked next to me, and I couldn’t help but look over at her as we walked. She really was gorgeous, her brown eyes were deep and large, and her small nose tilted upward just at the tip. I knew from experience how soft her full, pink lips were, and I reached over to brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
Paige looked at me and blushed before she turned back to the road ahead.
“Hey Tav,” Paige said as she stared straight ahead.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Do you think any of us will ever see our families again?” she asked in a small voice.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“I mean I was never really close with my parents,” Paige said. “But it would be nice to know if they’re still alive or not.”
“Do you want to tell me about them?” I asked with a soft smile.
I couldn’t tell her that I figured that she would never see them again, but I thought maybe if she talked about them it would help her feel connected to them still.
“There isn’t much to say really,” she shrugged. “My mom was a librarian, and we communicated more about books than anything.”
“What about your dad?” I asked.
“He was an insurance agent,” she said. “I never got to spend a lot of time with him.”
“You might not have been super connected with them,” I said. “But you are who you are today because of them.”
“Actually, I think that’s more because of you,” she said and she flashed me a smile. “Most people saw me as book smart but not really smart in other ways. You gave me the opportunity to prove that I was more than just a bookworm.”
“You are smart,” I told her with a smile. “But you’re smart in a lot of ways. We all have our strengths.”
“I feel better about myself than I ever did before,” she said.
“You always seemed confident to me,” I told her.
“I was,” she laughed. “But I also pushed myself way too hard. I was too focused on knowing things instead of doing things. I actually feel useful now.”
“It’s good to feel like you have a purpose,” I told her with a smile. “I’m sorry about your parents, but I’m happy that you stayed at the school.”
“Me too,” she smiled at me. “What about you, were you the smart kid?”
“I was a wild child,” I laughed. “My mom used to send me into the woods to cut down trees to blow off steam.”
“You cut down trees as a child?” Paige asked with wide eyes.
“They were tiny,” I explained. “It was just a way for me to get my energy out.”
“Did you wear a plaid shirt and suspenders?” she laughed.
“No,” I chuckled. “I did have a play sheriff badge that I loved though.”
“So you were always a man of authority,” she joked.
“Pretty much,” I grinned.
We had made our way to the right of the clover on the highway, and I scanned the road as we moved around it, but I didn’t see any signs of a Guard checkpoint.
“We’ll get on Main after we cross the highway,” Paige said. “It looks like there’s a brewery up here soon. We should check it out on our way back.”
“We can do that,” I
smiled.
“We might be able to find some stuff to brew our own beer,” Paige said. “I know you and Rolly have been dying for some beer.”
“A cold beer to be exact,” I laughed. “Though I’m not sure we’ll ever get one of those again.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Paige shrugged.
I was happy she had found some things to be excited about, and I knew when it was time to focus Paige would have no difficulty with it, but for the time being while we walked it felt good to find things to look forward to. I had no idea what we would find at the Burlington Camp, but there was no point to worry before I knew what we would have to deal with.
We came around the clover and found ourselves behind a large building, but as we walked, I began to hear commotion, and Paige and I both stopped.
“Do you hear that?” she whispered.
I nodded.
It sounded like the banging of hammers and as we listened, I heard a few voices yell.
“I think we’re close,” I whispered. “Wait here.”
I made my way to the side of the building and scanned the area. Across the way was a university, and it looked like The Guard had taken it over, there were large fences going around the place and I noticed a few guard towers. There were some houses and buildings between us and the university, but I had no idea who might be around there, and I knew I needed a better vantage point.
“Tav,” Paige whispered.
I moved away from the side of the building and walked toward Paige.
“The camp is a couple streets over,” I said. “It looks like they have the whole university closed in.”
“Look,” she whispered, and she pointed to an old fire escape ladder that led to the roof of the building.
I thought for a moment. They wouldn’t be able to see us from that far away, and even if we couldn’t get a good vantage point, we might be able to find a closer building that we could sneak to.
“Good idea,” I told her, and I moved to the ladder. “I don’t think they’ll be able to see us, but just in case we need to stay low. So once you get on the roof lay down and crawl to the other side.”
“Got it,” she nodded, and then she reached for the ladder.
I waited for Paige to reach the top before I began to climb. The ladder looked old, and I wasn’t sure it would support both of our weight at the same time, but as I climbed, I found it sturdy enough and I hopped over the edge and laid down.
Paige was already on the other side of the roof waiting for me. The roof had concrete sides about three feet high on all sides, and I crawled to Paige as she rummaged through her pack.
“Here,” she said as she handed me a pair of binoculars.
“Perfect,” I grinned. “I’ll look first and scout it out.”
“Okay,” she nodded, and she stayed low as I lifted myself just enough to get a good view with the binoculars.
It wasn’t a perfect view, but I could see a lot more. I counted six guard towers, one at each corner and two by the front gate, and there were two men in each tower and one .50 cal per tower. All the men were armed with rifles, and they held them at the ready. Already I could tell this place was far more organized than the outpost, it seemed the CO here ran a tight ship.
I moved the binoculars down to the fence line and waited. One guard walked along the border, and I counted ten seconds until another came from the opposite direction. They had crisscrossing patrols, and as I looked closer, I realized that they had a double fence set up and there was razor wire at the top of the inner fence.
“What do you see?” Paige asked.
“They have a double fence set up,” I said, and I crouched back down and leaned my back against the concrete wall. “There are six guard towers, and each is equipped with a .50 cal.”
“How many men are there?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” I shook my head. “But they have crisscrossing patrols.”
“I’m guessing that’s bad,” she sighed.
“It means they’re organized,” I said.
“Did you see any civilians?” she asked, and her forehead wrinkled.
“Not yet,” I said. “We’ll need to move closer. There are houses blocking my view.”
“Okay,” she nodded, and she pulled the maps from her pocket. “Where does the fence line end to the left?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” I told her.
“There’s a country club just past the track field,” she said. “If we’re sneaky, I think we can make it over there.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “We’re safe here for a moment though, let’s get some food and water.”
“Good idea,” she nodded, and we both reached into our packs.
I pulled out some wolf jerky and took a bite.
Paige looked up at the sun.
“It looks like it’s maybe four o’clock,” she said. “Should we wait until dark to move to the country club?”
“It’s unlikely they have spotlights,” I nodded. “But we don’t have a good vantage point here, and I don’t want to waste the day.”
“Okay,” she said, and she looked at the map again while she chewed. “I can get us there.”
“Show me,” I said, and then I took a large swig from my water bottle.
“Here,” she said as she pointed at the map. “We’ll have to backtrack a bit, but we can make our way around. It’s not that far so it shouldn’t take us long.”
“Okay,” I nodded, and I took another drink of water.
“So don’t hate me,” Paige said.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow as I chewed my wolf jerky.
“I have to pee,” she laughed.
“I definitely hate you for that,” I joked.
“Oh, shut up,” she giggled and hit me on the arm.
“We’ll find a place to pee,” I laughed. “Are you done eating?”
“Yeah,” she said, and she shoved one last bite in her mouth.
“Let’s go then,” I laughed and put away my food and water.
We crawled to the opposite side of the roof where the ladder was, I went down first, and then Paige hopped down after me.
“The bathroom’s right over there,” I joked as I gestured to the trees behind the building.
Paige rolled her eyes at me and disappeared into the trees, and she returned a moment later.
“Ready?” she asked with a smile.
“Lead the way,” I said.
Paige headed back in the direction we had come from and led us around the clover and down a road with various strip malls.
“There’s some research facility up here to our right,” she said. “But we’ll have to run over to it without being seen. After that we should have some tree cover.”
“Okay,” I nodded.
Paige led us around the back of a supermarket, I could see the research facility across the street, but it was hard to see the guard tower above the houses that stood between us.
“I think we’ll be okay,” I said. “Let’s still hurry though.”
“Okay,” she nodded and took off across the road.
I followed her, and we stopped at the side of the research facility.
“I think we’re in the clear,” I smiled.
“Told you I could get us there,” she laughed.
“Well we aren’t quite there yet,” I said.
“Right this way,” she grinned and jogged into the trees.
I followed Paige as she made her way to the Country Club. She had been right, there was plenty of tree cover for the walk there, and it was a short trip. We arrived in about ten minutes at a large building that was nestled into some trees.
“The campus is right over there,” Paige said, and she pointed north of the building.
“Let’s check it out,” I said, and I walked to the side of the building.
I could see the Guard fence from my position, and I noticed a large patch of trees several meters out from the fence. The guard tower was far enough away
that I thought we could sneak to the trees without being seen.
“You see those trees over there?” I asked Paige as I pointed them out.
“Yeah,” she nodded.
“We’re going to make our way over there,” I said.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Stay low,” I said. “And once we’re there be quiet.”
“Got it,” she said, and she crouched down.
I crouched too and led her to the trees. When I got to the edge, I laid on the ground, Paige followed suit, and from our position we could see most of the camp.
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
The area we were looking at was the track and football field, as well as the tennis courts, and there was a tower to our right and one to our left at each corner. I realized then that I had overestimated how large the facility was, it looked like only one building and the athletic area were fenced off. There were guards patrolling along the fence line, and there were still two men in each tower.
In front of us were many civilians in the athletic court, they all wore the same striped jumpsuits that the other escapees had worn, and they all looked skinny, but they were all hard at work. It looked like they had built several old-fashioned pioneer style wagons already, and they worked on more as we watched.
In the far corner there were some makeshift stables that held ten to fifteen horses. There were also at least five trucks parked in the yard, and soldiers roamed about and barked orders at the civilians.
“Jesus,” Paige said after a moment.
“This isn’t good,” I agreed.
“They’re treating the civilians like slaves,” she whispered and frowned as she watched.
I nodded and watched as a soldier hit a middle-aged man with the butt of his rifle because he tipped over a bucket of rusty nails.
“We have to do something,” Paige whispered.
“Yes,” I said. “But this place is guarded far better than the outpost was. There’s no way we could take them down in a firefight.”
“They have trucks,” she said. “We could wait until they send men out for supply runs and take them down. Eventually they would have to break camp.”
“It’s not a bad plan,” I told her. “But if we cut off their supplies, the civilians will be the first to suffer.”