Bug Out! Part 10: RV Race to Battle (23 page)

Howard made the turns, and got to the alley.

“You’re right, that’s pretty tight,” Howard said. “I need to back up and get a better angle.”

“Want me to get out and watch?”

“Yeah, Scotty, that’d be good. Don’t like the look of those branches up there.”

Scott opened the passenger side door and got out, trotting to the opening. Somebody had their trash cans a little too far out in the alley, so he moved them tighter against the fence, and then motioned for Howard to come ahead. He rolled forward slowly, the wider angle helping him. He slid into the alley and straightened out, as Scotty walked backwards quickly, keeping an eye on the tree branches. Howard heard a slight rubbing on the driver’s side roof.

“Dammit,” he said out the window.

“Don’t worry, Howard, it didn’t hit anything vital,” Scott said. “You’re good. Keep coming.”

When the Class C was down the alley several houses, Scott trotted over to a gate, and unlocked a big padlock. He walked the gate open, as Howard pulled past it, getting ready to back up. It was easy to get in that way. He pulled in even with the back of the garage, and saw that Scott could slide the gate closed. He turned off the engine and got out.

“This is pretty nice,” Howard said, walking over. “Great trees. Lots of privacy back here.”

“Yes, that’s one reason I picked this place,” Scott said as he finished pushing the gate shut.

“How much have you used it?”

“Oh, quite a bit,” he said. “Bought it about five years ago. Wifey was getting suspicious though. That bomb went off just in time. I was already planning on how I would do her when it happened.”

“So, that was a gift, eh? Didn’t you just tell me you wanted to watch her die?”

“Oh, I did, but as it turned out, I got the added bonus of being
dead
myself. You can’t buy that kind of break for hard cash.”

“Do you think she found out about the house? She might have told somebody who didn’t die, you know.”

“No, but towards the end, I was being a little lazy about making sure there were motel receipts for my
trips
,” he said, grinning. “She was snooping around. I don’t think she thought I owned a house in another name, but she was trying to find out if I had a mistress or not.”

“Well, I suspect you had a number of short term mistresses,” Howard said, a wicked grin on his face. “
Very
short term.”

“True enough,” Scott said. He got to the side door of the coach and pulled it open. Kerry climbed out, followed by Bailey.

“Wow, Scotty, that’s a big house,” Kerry said, looking around. “Do I really get my own room?”

“Yes you do, Kerry,” Scott said. “And look up there.” He pointed up into a big tree, closer to the back of the house.

“Is that a treehouse?” he asked, grinning.

“Yep,” Scott said. “It needs a little work. Maybe you can set it up the way you like it.”

“Yes,” he said, jumping up and down like a six-year-old. Bailey looked on like a proud mother.

“Well, tomorrow,” Scott said. “It’s almost dark. We need to get your room ready.”

“You want me out in the rig tonight?” Howard asked.

“Of course not,” Scott said. “It’s a five bedroom house. About three thousand square feet, not including the basement. You can move right in. Same with you, Bailey. This is our house.”

“Great, then I’ll put the food in a bin and bring it inside,” Howard said.

“Only the fridge stuff,” Scott said. “I’ve got plenty of dry foods and beer.”

“Excellent,” Howard said.

“I’ll help you, Howie,” Bailey said, following him into the coach as Scott walked towards the back door with Kerry.

“What do you think?” Bailey asked as she held the bin for Howard. He was putting items in.

“About what?”

“This place,” she said. “Scott.”

“I think Scott ought to stay here and forget about that damn trailer park,” Howard said. “He’ll get himself killed trying to get that back.”

“We should talk him out of that,” Bailey said.

“Don’t you do that,” he said. “Let me handle it. We don’t want him getting fickle over you.”

“You think he’d change his mind about me?” she asked.

“Probably not. He’s pretty smitten, and he has a weakness for dirty, wanton women.”

“Should I take that as a compliment, Howie?”

“No, you should take it as a fact,” Howard said. “But always keep your guard up.”

“You’re scared of him, aren’t you?”

“I’m scared of him and love him at the same time,” Howard said. “It’s hard to explain.”

“What do you think of me?” Bailey asked, glancing away, then back, watching for his reaction.

“I don’t want to kill you, if that’s what you’re asking,” Howard said, smiling. “A beautiful college girl who will give attention to a crusty old codger like me has a lot of value in my book.”

“Amanda was as good looking as me,” Bailey said. “You did her in.”

“Totally different,” Howard said. “I would never keep company with her. At a weak moment I decided to spare her, but she would have blabbed, or she would have stabbed me in my sleep. She wasn’t one of us.
You’re one of us.
”

“That everything?” she asked.

“Yeah, except a few things in the freezer. I’ll come back for those. They’ll keep until morning.”

The two left the coach. Bailey walked towards the door with the bin as Howard locked up. Then he followed her, watching her hips sway as she climbed the steps, his heart beating a little faster.

***

George laid back next to Heidi, sweat beads on his forehead, breath going quick and raspy.

“You liked that,” Heidi said, looking over at him, her face beaded with sweat. She had a gentle, loving smile on her face.

“You haven’t been that excited for a long time,” George said. “I thought you were getting tired of me.”

“Are you really still afraid I’ll run out on you?” she asked. “Seriously, George.”

“That battle got to you, didn’t it?” he asked. “You were great, by the way. Every bit as capable as any of us.”

She smiled. “Okay, yes, it
did
turn me on a little bit. More than other times.”

“Why?”

“Because there was no moral question with this one. Those were bad guys, opposing us in a war. I feel no guilt at all.”

“Okay, I get it,” he said. “You’re a better person than I am.”

“What are we gonna do next?” she asked. “Do we switch over to the Nighthawk Road killer?”

“I think the country might need me…us.”

“You’d give up the games with Malcolm? Your business?”

“For a while, until our nation is secure, yes,” he said. “In a heartbeat.”

“What about him?”

“Malcolm? He’ll have to make his own decision on that. He knows that I’ll always be his friend, and we’ll get back at the business eventually. We might have to expand our target criteria a little bit. Serial killers will always be out there, but now we’re going to be saddled with a lot more terrorist activity. I have skills that can be brought to bear.”

“Yes, you do,” Heidi said, smiling, brushing his hair back. She looked at him with reverence, and he noticed.

“I haven’t seen that look for a while,” he said. “Reminds me of the early days.”

“I still feel the same about you, Georgie,” she said.

“Then maybe we should make it official.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment. “You still want that?”

“Haven’t I asked you enough times?” he said. “We’ve been together over seven years now. It’s time.”

She continued to look at him, her brow furrowed. “Can I say maybe?”

“You can say whatever you want to,” George said, trying to hide his disappointment. “Can you tell me why?”

“That time in Sailor Boy’s compound always smacks me in the face,” she said, tears forming around her eyes.

“That wasn’t your fault,” George said, tearing up himself. “You know that.”

“My head knows that,” she said. “But the bad stuff got drilled into me. I don’t know how to get rid of it. Hell, I’m afraid my head will take me down that road again.”

“Well, I’ve been through this, you know,” George said. “PTSD, remember?”

“I know,” she said. “It still comes out in you, too. Remember the trip out here?”

“Yes, I know,” George said. “We can get you help.”

“I tried, remember?”

“You have to be ready to take the help,” George said, getting up on his elbow and wiping the tears away from her eyes. “I think you’re getting close now.”

“I hope so,” she said, trying to smile.

***

The General didn’t stop drinking after two rounds of Maker’s Mark. He was getting himself drunk, talking, laughing, and cussing with Jake, Dobie, and Jackson. Mary finally got tired of it and dragged Kurt away with her.

“So you’re saying that the voters allowed this to happen?” Dobie asked. “Is there really any difference in who we elect anymore? The system seems pretty rigged to me. We get a new president, and he goes on to do the same stupid shit that the last one did.”

“What I’m saying is that we don’t teach critical thinking in school anymore,” General Hogan said. “We teach kids
what
to think, not
how
to think, and that’s a critical difference which is lost on most people. People aren’t growing up prepared to detect bullshit well enough.”

“I think there’s some truth to that,” Dobie said. “But I don’t think it’s anything new. We’ve been making the same stupid mistakes over and over again, since the last decades of the 19
^th
century. Think about it.”

General Hogan clinked classes with Dobie. “Yes, that’s true, but it’s getting worse.”

“Not sure I agree with that,” Jake said. “Were things
really
any better before? We’re going through a real rough patch now, there’s no doubt, but look at what happened in the first half of the 20
^th
century.”

“We rose to the challenge, and defeated evil,” Jackson said. “Didn’t we?”

“Yes, after we let things go
completely
sideways, we were able to rally and pull ourselves out of the fire, barely,” Jake said.

“Our bad leadership in recent years led to this buildup of Islamist power,” Dobie said. “That’s pretty bad.”

“Yes, it is,” Jake said. “Now let’s think about the past. How did the Nazis come to power?”

Both Dobie and General Hogan looked at him quizzically.

“Not sure what you’re getting at,” General Hogan said.

“The same kind of bad leadership that allowed the Islamists to become dangerous in recent years also allowed the Nazis to become dangerous in the 1920s and 1930s,” Jake said.

“But that was different,” Dobie said.

“Tell me how it was different,” Jake said.

“Maybe I’ve had too much to drink for this conversation,” General Hogan said, chuckling.

“It’s interesting,” Dobie said. “I think you might have a valid point, Jake. I’m trying to think up a good answer to your question, but I’m at a loss.”

“In both periods, the leadership of the world failed us,” Jake said. “The real question in my mind is how this happened. Was leadership just stubborn and stupid, or did they do it on purpose, for some kind of gain, financial or otherwise?”

“Sounds like the buildup to a conspiracy theory,” Jackson said, pouring himself another drink. “I overheard you talking with George and Malcolm about that the other night, General. Out on the porch.”

“You did, huh,” General Hogan said, a sly smile on his face. “You caught me. A lot of that was just projection. I keep having these questions in the back of my mind. Why have the supply lines, the communications systems, and the business systems survived through this whole mess? Who’s pulling the strings to keep all of it going?”

“At the risk of sounding like an Adam Smith Libertarian, I’ll tell you what I think,” Jackson said. “There’s an overlapping mesh of systems in our society that can’t be broken easily, even in times like these. It’s hundreds of thousands of mini-cells which are connected, but also independent. This web rights itself automatically. It always finds a way to keep going.”

“You’re talking about the invisible hand of the market,” Jake said. “You’ll lose me if you start talking about trickle down and supply-side economics, but I’m with you so far. What you have is millions of people, open for business as much as they can be in this free society, all working in their own rational self-interest. You’d have to kill off a lot of the mini-cells to stop it. When things go wrong in one cell, the others work harder to compensate, to go around, to do whatever they have to so they can put food on their own table.”

“Exactly,” Jake said.

They sat silently together, pondering the question. Then Charlie ran in.

“Guys!” he said, voice trembling. “I can’t raise Hilda, or Gabe, or Earl, and the hospital is under attack.”

Jackson quickly pushed his drink away from him and stood up, looking like he was ready to bolt out the door.

To be continued in Bug Out, Part 11, available now in the Kindle Store!

Bug Out! Part 10
copyright © 2015 by Robert G Boren. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Thanks to Laura Thomas for editing this book!

Robert G Boren is a writer from the South Bay section of Southern California. He writes Short Stories, Novels, and Serialized Fiction. Most of his work is about people from the South Bay.

In 
"Never A Loose End"
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