Countdown to Armageddon (22 page)

     Joyce had asked, “Why not just cut the wire now and be done with it?”

     Scott said, “Well, I thought about that. But I figured if anyone ever got nosy and looked to see why the wire was cut, they might notice the cuts I made to the fence pieces. Also, the land belongs to the power company now, and they probably want to leave it up to keep people and vehicles out. So if I did cut it, they might just come around and repair it again.”

     Joyce was relating the story to Sara when Scott came over the radio again.

     “Joyce, this is Scott. I’m about a minute away.”

     “10-4. We’ll be ready.”

     Joyce and Jordan unlocked the fence panel and moved it to the side. Then
Jordan took the wire cutters, snipped the barbed wire, and kicked the three strands out of the way.

     They heard Scott’s Gator approaching and stepped out of the way of the void that they’d created. He was running without lights, so they couldn’t actually see him until he was twenty feet away.

     When he neared the others, he slowed to a crawl, and then crept through the hole in the fence. He drove into the center of the yard, killed the engine, and removed his night vision goggles.

     By the time Scott walked over to the fence to help replace the panel, it was already back in place.

     He gave Sara a puzzled look. She was the last person he expected to see.

     “Well, hello there. Sara, right?”

     “Yes, sir.”

     Joyce took Scott’s hand.

     “Jordan brought her here because her family is out of the state. She was all alone. He did what you would have done under the same circumstances.”

     If they expected Scott to be angry about Sara’s presence, they had him pegged wrong.

     He merely smiled and said, “Well, then. Welcome to the family.”

     Then he looked at his son and said, “You understand that your mother and Joyce and I will be ganging up on you and watching you two like a hawk, right?”

     Jordan corrected his father.

     “Shouldn’t that be like hawks?”

     “Whatever. Just be sure you behave yourself.”

     “We will. I promise.”

-42-

     Scott got settled and the group gathered in his bedroom. Jordan stood watch at the window and the others sat on the bed or stood.

     Linda asked him, “What’s the game plan?”

     “Well, we need to move under cover of darkness. But it’ll take some time to prepare, and it’s too late to move out tonight. We’ll stay the night here and rest up. Tomorrow we’ll get everything ready, and at sundown tomorrow night we’ll set out.”

     “How long will it take to get up there?”

     “We could make it in five hours if we hauled ass. But we’d have to run the engines all out, and anybody within a hundred yards would hear us coming in time to try to stop us. So we’re going to creep up there instead.”

     Zachary asked, “What do you mean, ‘creep?’ You mean like my brother?”

     Jordan punched him in the arm.

     “No, smartass. The nice thing about the Gators is they are almost silent when you take your foot off the gas and just let them creep along on their own. On open ground, the sound of the twigs breaking under the tires actually makes more noise than the engine itself. And we’ll be driving on a gravel road, which will make even less noise.

     “I want to get up there as stealthily as possible. Like ninjas. We’ll go in the darkness, using night vision goggles to see. We’ll use hand signals to communicate, or will whisper if we absolutely have to. And we’ll creep so that the vehicles make little or no noise.

     “We have to remember that there will be people out and about. Hunters will be out looking for game, and there may be outlaws out looking to steal whatever they can. Vehicles that actually work will be better than gold to them. That’s why we have to be so careful.”

     “How long will it take to get there by creeping? Can we make it in one night?”

     “I wish I could tell you yes, but I’m afraid I can’t. Going at that speed, it’ll likely take two full nights to get up there. I’ve got a great place scouted out to spend the day when the sun comes up. It’s right at the halfway point. Very well hidden. We can drive the Gators off the road and into the woods and camp there while we wait for the night to return. In fact, the camping gear is already there. I dropped it off on the way down, so we’d have more room in the Gators going back.”

     “What about Duke?”

     “Duke will follow us, and when he gets tired he can ride in the back. If he senses that someone is out there, he can alert us to their presence.”

     “But what if the outlaws hear him barking?”

     “It doesn’t matter. I always watch the weather forecast to see what the moon’s going to do. At least I used to, before the power went out. I checked the ten day forecast the night before last. The next two nights will be partly to mostly cloudy with no moon. Very little light. So the bad guys may hear Duke barking, but they won’t be able to see him. They’ll likely think he’s just a stray dog out looking for something to eat. In fact, in all likelihood they’ll make an effort to steer clear of him.”

     “What about tonight?”

     “We’ll need to break into shifts to watch the front of the house. Duke will guard the back for us. Whoever stays up tonight can sleep during the day tomorrow while we do all the preparations.”

     Joyce said, “I’ll take the first watch. My adrenaline’s still pumping too much to let me sleep anyway. Anybody want to keep me company?”

     Linda said, “I will. It’ll give us a chance to catch up on our girl talk. We can keep each other from falling asleep.”

     Scott was okay with that arrangement. After the all day jarring trip down the mountain, he was exhausted and needed some rest.

     Linda turned to Sara.

     “Come with me, sweetie. I’ll get you settled in the guest room.”

     Then she turned to
Jordan.

     “And after you tell Sara good night tonight, the guest room is off limits to you. Do you understand, young man?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     Scott and the boys let the ladies have the honor of using what was left of the hot water still in the hot water heater. Once it was gone, they washed up with chilly water in the bathroom sink.

     An hour later Linda and Joyce moved from Scott’s room to an adjacent bedroom at the front of the house so that Scott could get some rest. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

-43-

     Scott woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon frying. He stumbled to the kitchen.

     Linda had retrieved a propane camping stove from the garage and was cooking what she could from the refrigerator.

     To keep the fumes from becoming a problem, she slid open the patio door and placed the stove in front of it. On the other side of the screen door, Duke was lying forlornly, watching the bacon and licking his chops.

     “Don’t worry, boy. You’ll get some too, I promise.”

     He wagged his tail, as though he understood every word.

     She turned to Scott.

     “I’m going to make all of the eggs we have left. There were three pounds of bacon in the chest freezer. I’m going to fry all of it and pack it into zip lock bags. We can snack on it on the trip up the mountain.

     “I just tested the milk. It’s still okay, but just cool now. Drink it before it sours.”

     “Do you think you guys can pack enough road food for two days?”

     “Oh, sure. Joyce and I have already talked about it and we have a plan. There are several packages of lunch meat and three loaves of frozen bread in the freezer. We’re going to leave it there until this evening, then we’ll make it all into sandwiches. We’ve got two cases of water and a case of soda we’ll take along, and we’ll also take a few cans of ravioli and spaghettios in case anybody gets tired of sandwiches.”

     “Good. Just don’t take anything we have to cook along the way. Campfires may attract the wrong kind of company.”

     Joyce came up behind him and hugged him.

     “Linda, if you can spare a burner I’ll boil some water for coffee.”

     “Oh, girl, that sounds great. Okay, the scrambled eggs will be ready in a couple of minutes. We can use that burner.”

     Scott turned around and kissed Joyce and said, “Sounds like you two have everything under control. How are the boys doing?”

     “They’re doing okay. They’re all upstairs pulling guard duty together. And you really need to get used to calling them ‘kids.’ Not ‘boys.’”

     He remembered Sara and said, “Yes, I suppose so.”

     He looked at Joyce and said, “Do you think there’s anything morally wrong about us taking her away from here? I mean, what if her parents find a way to get back eventually, just to find she’s not here waiting for them?”

     “In my opinion, it would be wrong if we
didn’t
take her with us. I mean, the alternative is leaving a frail and vulnerable fifteen year old girl to fend for herself in what will soon be a very violent world. What chance would she have?”

     He had to admit, she was right as usual.

     “Besides, I talked to her last night. She left a note for her parents. It has our address in it so it will bring them to our house. I’m going to write a second letter for them today. I will tell them that when they get here, to make themselves at home. I will tell them that we have taken their daughter to a safe place, and that we will take good care of her.

     “And I will also tell them that at some point, when we believe it’s safe to do so, we will return her to them.”

     “Good. I slept like a rock last night. Did I miss anything? Was there any activity in the street?”

     Linda spoke up again.

     “No, the street was deathly quiet.  We heard a lot of gunshots, but they were far away, over in the business district. We also saw a couple of yellow glows on the horizon. Fires, I suppose.”

     Joyce added, “We assumed it was probably looters, stealing whatever they could from the stores before the lights came back on. Imagine how stupid they’ll feel when those huge televisions they carted away are absolutely worthless.”

     “Or it may be that the rioting has begun. That would explain the fires.”

     “It’ll be twice as bad tonight. By then people will be furious with the power company, for not having service restored yet. And they’ll be frustrated and sick of being stuck in their homes. I’m glad we won’t be here to see it.”

     “How are you two holding up?”

     “I’m beat. After we eat breakfast, Linda and I are going upstairs to crash. Y’all can wake us up in the afternoon to start preparing the food. Or before then if you need our help with something else.”

     “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. We’ve got all day long to make preparations. If you’re still asleep at five, we’ll wake you up then. I can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”

     Scott said, “I’m going upstairs to relieve the kids so they can come and eat. After they’re finished, would you have one of them bring me a plate?”

     He headed up the stairs to find Jordan standing at the window watching the street, and Zachary and Sara sitting on the bed playing “rock, paper, scissors.”

     “Good morning you guys. How’d everybody sleep?”

     “Pretty good, Dad. I sure was sore when I got up, though. I hope I never have to walk that far again.”

     “I think that’s a safe bet. Are you guys hungry?”

     “Starved.”

     “Well, head downstairs. Breakfast will be done soon.”

     “Dad, what’s the game plan?”

     “This afternoon we’re going to get the vehicles ready and packed, and as soon as it’s dark, we’re going to head out. We’ll go very slowly, and it’ll take two full nights to get there. During the day in between we’ll camp in the woods.”

     “So what’s our job? Today, I mean?”

     “There will be plenty to do. Your mom and Joyce will be making sandwiches and other food later and packing the coolers. You can help them. Or you can help me get the Gators ready to go. One of the things I want everybody to do is to eat as much as they can before we set out.”