by Cooper, DJ
Much as the previous nights had been they were to have no fire or lights of any kind. They were once again instructed to remain quiet and alert. Everyone settled into tents except those on watch. John and Dickie were on first watch and each sat motionless, watching in the darkness.
John whispered to Dickie near midnight, “You’ve been quiet these past few days is everything alright?”
Dickie nodded up and down silently, his eyes never leaving an outcropping of bushes to his left. He signaled John to be silent and move around to the side of the bushes. John immediately took the cue and began moving laterally from where they were to a position near the bushes, while Dickie approached them head on.
The bushes rustled and something moved startling John into action. John leapt at the place he saw the silhouette, while Dickie moved in closer. John surprised the figure who made a low growl in anticipation of his attack. Dickie, stopping his advance, frantically waved to John but it was too late. John was already into the bushes with the intruder. The bear howled loudly as its massive paw struck John, knocking him to the ground. The claws leaving behind a set of bloody gashes across his chest.
Dickie could see John laying lifeless in front of the bear. Trying to think he began waving his arms, he ran right at it, just hoping he could look big enough to frighten it off. The bear pawed at John a few more times before retreating into the forest. Dickie rushed over to John and checking him could see he was still alive.
By now everyone was up and wondering about the noise. Dickie grabbed Amy and ran back to John, Mark followed with Ray right behind. They carried him to the tents and got him comfortable in their tent.
Amy with tears, said to Dickie, “I can’t see anything to check on him.”
Dickie looked thoughtful a moment, then said, “I gotta idea.”
He went outside the tent and asked everyone for their blankets, coats and anything that would block the light. In moments they returned, arms full of the requested items.
Looking at Ray he said, “In World War two, they would block out the light because of air raids. Let’s just black out the tent.”
Ray immediately understood what he wanted to do and they began to drape the tent with blankets. Once they were finished Amy was told to turn on the lantern. A few small cracks of light could be seen which were quickly covered. She could now assess the wounds and check him out. The entire time she scolded him for his carelessness.
Amy began to look at the gashes and check him for other injuries. She requested her first aid bag and some water, which Roger and Jenny had already gone for and handed it to her through a small opening in the tent. By now John was awake and except for needing stitches was doing fine. Amy stitched him up and gave him some pain killers to help him sleep.
Roger and Ray took the watch lasting until daylight and talked of what they would do once they reached Kentucky. The ride through the power lines would end when they reached the Kentucky border and there was no telling what would be their options from there.
The morning of their last day on the four wheelers they were served a large breakfast and told that Arthur was updated on their location and situation.
An older lady approached Laurie handing her a small pouch while grasping her hand said, “I hope this helps.” Laurie opened the pouch to find five more insulin pens, in tears she thanked the lady and hurried over to show Amy.
John was up and moving when the guys came over to talk with him. Setting up a map of Kentucky that had been given them, they showed him red dots on it. There had been caches set up and the locations marked on the map.
Ray looked up from the map saying, “I figure it is about one hundred forty miles left to go.”
John did some quick math in his head and said, “If we can go ten miles per day we could get there in about two weeks.”
Roger looked around their group and said, “I wonder if we could maintain that pace.”
Dickie looked at Roger, who nodded to him and began to speak, “I don’t know if Jules could keep up, you may need to leave us behind.”
They all looked at him and simultaneously began to object. John waved his arms for them to quiet and spoke, saying, “We are not leaving anyone.”
Roger nodding said, “We will find a wagon or something, it will help with gear as well.”
John patted Dickie on the shoulder and said, “We are all family now and there will be no further discussion about leaving anyone. We will figure it out if we have to build a litter and take turns carrying her.”
Roger looked at Dickie who was already humbled by the gesture and said, “Tell them.”
Ray looked at Roger and said, “Tell us what?”
Dickie had tears in his eyes as he spoke, “Jules is going to die.”
John gasped asking, “What do you mean, she is going to die?”
Dickie continued, “Her kidneys are failing, the pregnancy is too much on her. She is diabetic and they warned us that even with the best of care there was a chance her kidneys would fail. We were planning to have a backup plan for her sister to donate one if they did. Jules really wanted this baby and now her only wish was that the baby be ok. The kidneys are struggling and Amy isn’t sure the baby is far enough along if something goes wrong.”
The men all stood silent processing what Dickie had just said.
Dickie continued saying, “We didn’t want to be a burden on the group.”
Ray angrily said, “You could have told us, we could have been looking for insulin or other things she might need.”
Dickie said, “We have insulin, Amy and Laurie have been closely monitoring her blood sugar. We knew when she fainted before the shower that something was wrong and have been just trying to keep her going.”
John stormed off grumbling something that had multiple expletives inserted. Talking to one of the riders he asked if there was any way that they could find a wagon or garden cart along the way, that they would need it for Jules.
The rider told him he would see what could be done and walked over to one of the relieved riders and began talking to him. He returned to John explaining that it seemed that the people who had been transporting them knew she was in bad shape and had been getting them insulin and other things. He told John that there were things for her care at the final drop and said they should get moving.
The day's travels were much like the others before, except there was a more somber attitude among the travelers. When they reached the final stop at the Kentucky border, there was a very nice garden cart for Jules that had cushions in it for her comfort, and a second cart for gear. There was food and solar showers set up for everyone to get cleaned up. They would sleep in beds this night at an old hotel that seemed like it had not seen guests in many years.
The following day would launch them into the final miles in their journey. With almost seven hundred fifty miles behind them the last one forty seemed like a cake walk. Some of them worried about what lay ahead while others just reveled in their showers and grand meal that was set before them.
John could not help but feel grateful for the assistance Gerald had mustered for them and wished that someday he could repay the service.
John and Dickie were outside watching the sun set as two of their drivers approached.
One who had been the driver for Kimmie and Renee said, “Be careful of the ladies they are not your ally.”
John looked over to where Kimmie and Renee were animatedly talking, saying, “This we know, they cannot be cut loose, yet cannot be trusted either.”
The other man handed John a paper saying, “Do not let anyone see this outside of you two.”
John looked to the paper and began to ask, but was swiftly cut short by the man who said, “For now just put it away, look at it when there is more privacy. Another thing to keep in mind, this is Appalachia, people don’t take kindly to strangers. Be very careful who you talk to and who you trust, stick to the map you were given.”
John nodded and thanked them, as they walked awa
y Dickie looked at John quizzically and they both shrugged and went inside to eat.
Mark was visibly unsettled and John asked him what was wrong. Mark replied, “I am not sure, something is somehow off about things.”
John said, “I agree, we will keep a good eye out and start off early.”
Chapter 23
“Overland”
“The flaw in being civilized is that it permit’s the uncivilized among us to perpetrate horrific crimes against us in the name of freedom and equality.”
-M. J. Croan
November 9th
The morning came too soon for John, he felt as though he’d been beaten and tortured, his wounds aching and bruised from the impact of the bear claws the night before. John, Mark, Dickie, Ray, Danny and Roger sat at a table scrutinizing the map, hovering around it like a scene from an old war movie; while Amy, Laurie, Melinda and Jenny cooked for the day’s travels. Matty and Georgia sat with Jules and talked of missing their new friends. Everyone seemed occupied and it almost felt normal for a few moments.
Mark looked around saying, “Where is Renee and Kimmie?”
No one could recall seeing them that morning, Mark hurried to the rooms looking for them. John asked if any of the night’s sentries had seen them leaving, and no one could recall anyone leaving or even seeing them since they first arrived.
A few hours passed as they searched for them as the mood grew darker. Comments about scenarios and thoughts of kidnapping were beginning to look more plausible. Returning to regroup and look for anything that might indicate what happened to them, John and Dickie spotted them sitting on a log bench beside the porch.
John approached them, not sure if he was concerned or angry, saying, “Where have you two been? We have been searching for you for hours.”
Both of them looked at him like he was crazy, Renee saying, “We’ve been right here wondering where everyone went.”
John was becoming angry because he knew they were not there earlier said, “You were not here earlier.”
Kimmie said, “Oh, we were in the attic.”
John looked puzzled, but also knew they were not in the house earlier, he had called into the attic himself. He asked, “What were you doing in the attic? No one has seen you both since yesterday.”
Renee said, “We were just exploring the place and I guess we fell asleep up there.”
John knew that they were lying, but he could not figure out why or where they actually went. The others started returning and asking questions, Mark was just happy they were ok. No one could really understand why it was Mark tolerated some of the things they did. Mark was a helpful, hardworking, honest man; and they both were secretive, vindictive and generally up to no good. John would often tell Amy before all the problems began how he could not understand why Mark put up with it, recalling that at one time, they almost got evicted because Renee was spending all the household money on shopping trips and parties while Mark was working.
Shaking off the uneasy thoughts about these two, John announced, “We will have to stay another night here. It is too late in the day to start out. No one, and I mean No one is to leave the house without one of the guys to keep an eye out.”
Laurie said to Amy, “We should use this extra time to get some of this food prepared and packed for travel. We may not be able to cook along the way.”
John and Dickie prepared a watch rotation and headed out to walk the perimeter before the sun set. They walked a complete perimeter as far out as they could go and still see the building.
John was quietly walking, looking at the ground when Dickie broke the silence, asking, “What is bothering you?”
John said, “I really don’t know, something is nagging me as wrong, but I can’t figure out what it is.”
Dickie replied, “I have felt like something is not right as well, especially after our driver was so cryptic when dropping us off.”
John stopped, looking up at him like a light bulb was over his head and said, “I forgot about the note.”
Dickie looked at him quizzically asking, “Note?”
John said, “Remember, the note that only you and I were to read?”
Dickie replied, “Right! Let have a look at it.”
John pulled the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and opened it so they could see what it said.
The note was short, but spoke loud and clear. “You have a traitor in your camp. A small group of ruthless killers is following you. Someone in your group is leaving markers for them to follow.”
John looked up from the note eyes wide and said, “Do you think?”
Dickie responded, “Renee and Kimmie?”
John said, “They have been disappearing.”
Dickie nodded and looked back in the direction of the others and asked, “Why do you suppose they only trusted us?”
John thought a moment and said, “I don’t know, but we should keep a very close eye on everyone. I know for a fact Amy is not a problem, and pretty sure Jules is clear too.”
Dickie said, “Yeah, we should get them to keep an eye out as well.”
John looked down and said, “This is bad, we could be bringing a shit storm to the others.”
Dickie nodded, saying, “Well, we can stop the trail of breadcrumbs by making sure everyone stays together. Maybe they will lose the trail, so to speak.”
John said, “I hope so.”
They continued their perimeter walk and found nothing, on the way back John looked at Dickie saying, “We don’t even know what we are looking for. I don’t know what kind of bread crumbs are being left.”
Dickie said, “I am sure the crumbs for this stop are already planted, we will have to be very aware though. We should observe and let them be left, but pick them up. Our traitor won’t know that their messages are not getting out.”
John just looked at the ground, saying, “Yea, maybe.”
Amy and Laurie prepared a large meal for the night and packed up the prepared food for travel. Roger and Ray examined the map and noticed that they were not at the Kentucky border, but some thirty miles into the state. This left them with a little over one hundred miles to go. It was cold that evening, which made it perfect for keeping everyone together. John had all the mattresses brought to the main living room and a fire was started in the fireplace. Initially they were worried about the smell of smoke, but after Dickie went outside and smelled fire, they knew the smell would not be an issue and once it got dark the smoke would not be seen.
When morning arrived, they packed up and made their way to the power lines which would carry them another fifty or more miles closer to their destination. On the map was marked places where supplies would be cached for them. They were to be careful to follow the map, and avoid areas shaded in red no matter what. It was impressive how in only a few months this network had been established and was working so well.
John asked one of the drivers how they managed to be so organized so soon after the collapse of things and was told that they belonged to the A.N.T.S. network before any of this happened. They had never heard of A.N.T.S. before and were told it meant Americans Networking to Survive. John wondered why he had not heard of this before and wished he had.
They traveled a number of days, on foot. There were complaints from a few, mainly Kimmie and Renee. Danny was struggling to maintain the pace of ten miles per day. His leg was healing well, but he was still weak. Jules was getting sicker by the day. Even with the fresh insulin the pregnancy was taking its toll. Amy and Laurie told John that they could not continue this way.
The pace had to slow no matter what John had hoped, he knew they could not continue as such. Another few days passed and they were only making half what they started out with now at five miles per day. He knew they would have to have a day or two of rest, his hopes were too optimistic. John wanted to push through, only another five or so days at this pace and they would be more than half way there, they were nearly to the area of the map where the power lines intersected
with the railroad tracks that they would follow for a time.
At this intersection the location of the cache was an old barn long forgotten by those who built it. Inside the barn there were two men who stepped out as the group approached. Quickly they identified themselves as A.N.T.S. and told them to come inside, they had news from their friends.
One man introduced himself simply as Red, the other said nothing. Shaking hands all around, he told them that there was a hot meal ready on the other side of the barn and that they would spend the night inside.
Red said, “I need to talk to John, which one of you are John?”
John stepped forward with his hand out and said, “Right here.” Taking his hand in a handshake.
Red replied, “Good to meet you, let's step outside and chat a moment.”
John nodded affirmation toward Dickie and followed the man out the door.
Once outside, Red said, “I was instructed to tell you that you need to be more careful when packing up camp. You still have the group tailing you.”
John nodded and said, “We were hoping we managed to lose them without the trail of breadcrumbs.”
Red said, “They are struggling to follow now, but they are still on you.”
John looked off a moment and said, “I will personally check the camp when leaving. Was that all?”
Red said, “No, I have news from Arthur.”
John was excited asking, “Is everything ok? What is the news?”
Red laughed, saying, “Yes, everything is fine. Your friends will be moving soon, but you are to stay on course. They are part of a much larger group that will take over for us once you get closer.”
John was full of questions asking all at once, “Why are they moving? Where to? Is everyone ok?”
Red put his hands up for him to calm down, saying, “Everything is fine, I have not been given any of the details. I was supposed to check on you and give you that information.”
John nodded, and shaking his hand said, “I’m sorry, thank you for everything.”