The King's Highway (Days of Dread Trilogy Book 1) (14 page)

“Aria, you say you’re a Christian. How can you want him dead or even hurt? WWJD?”

The older girl glared at his sister, but didn’t say anything.

“What would Jesus do? Just in case you don’t know what that means.”

“McKenzie, lighten up.” It seemed both girls were upset with him now, but Jackson’s little traveling band was set for the night’s journey. “You satisfied with this plan, Sis?”

“Well, at least if it doesn’t work, we tried. It’ll be in the Lord’s hands, not ours.”

“Okay.” He glanced at the skylight then Al. “What did the chart say?”

“Moonrise at nineteen forty-nine.”

“Alright then, let’s light the candle and get out of here.”

“I got the matches ready.” Cooper hurried toward the desks. “I’ll fire it up.” The boy watched the candle’s flame, seemingly mesmerized.

“Come on, Bubba. Let’s go.”

His little brother took Aria’s hand and headed for the door.

On her way out, the girl spit at the man. “I hope you rot in hell.”   

Boggs stopped at the door and looked at the little man. He would have ripped the guy’s throat out if he’d been there when he grabbed Coop’s sister. Why had his master called him away when Jackson opened the door for him? The ways of men were so strange; for instance, McKenzie worrying so much over the bad man.

With one last look, he turned and caught up with his boy who had taken his usual place.

At the front of the pack, Cooper scratched Bogg’s head. “So, I wonder how far we’ll get tonight, boy? Do you suppose we can make it all the way back to the King’s Highway before morning? I hope so. Don’t like walking on the railroad tracks near as much.”

He gently wagged his tail, bumping it against the boy’s leg with every swing. He dared not bark, but he let out a soft rumble. “I love you, Coop.”

“I love you, too, Boggs.”

A hundred steps or so from the school, Jackson stopped and turned around.

The desire to return and blow out the candle almost overwhelmed him, but could he leave the guy to starve or worse? Could he put a bullet in the man’s temple? He shook his head then continued after the others. Fate, or God, or whatever would decide the man’s destiny. He would have a chance if the candle thing worked, but oh well.

Jackson determined to put the banger out of his thoughts. The die cast, he had no intention of returning.

Cooper stopped short of the next intersection. Jackson joined them at the front and searched the night. Nothing moved, best he could tell. The moon rode low in the east, but cast enough light to make out shapes. He pulled his pistol and waved the others across. Once they reached the other side, he joined them.

Twice more, he used the same maneuver to cross intersections, and once, he went under a raised railroad.

Each neighborhood he passed through resembled the ones before it. A few bonfires flickered off in the distance now and then, but not much else. Guess the folks still hanging around hunkered down after dark. He didn’t really know if that many regular people still hung around.

Only ones they had encountered since the flash were thieves, kidnappers, and murderers.

Where would the good people have gone?

Maybe like him, they had family who lived in the country and were trying to make it to them. But wouldn’t they have passed others traveling from the cities? It seemed so, but these were definitely strange times, nothing like the world he’d grown up in.

Once he crossed Parker Road, there weren’t any more houses, only wide open fields on both sides of the tracks. He kept an eye out for cows or horses, but neither saw nor heard any livestock. Had they already all been slaughtered? Likely, with this pasture so close to town.

If he’d only paid more attention in his past life instead of majoring in sports, electronic games, and general fun, he might have done better. None of that mattered though, not anymore. What did matter—at least to him—was getting his people to a safe location. If such a place still existed.

Hoping so kept him moving forward. He had no idea what he would do if Meems and Pop weren’t there. His grandfather was one tough old bird. He wouldn’t have let anything bad happen.

For the next couple of hours, the tracks passed through only a few sparse communities. None of them had any bonfires lighting the darkness. Guess all the farmers kept to his grandfather’s early-to-bed, early-to-rise theory. Or, if the people hadn’t left of their own free will, the bangers might have showed and stole whatever they wanted and enslaved the people.

Cooper stopped and knelt down. Jackson joined him. Another small town quietly slept just ahead.

“Sir.” The nerd barely spoke above a whisper.

Jackson looked at him.

“I know this place. We’ve reached downtown Frisco.”

“You sure? Frisco’s a pretty big town. I played ball here a time or two.”

“Yes, sir. This is the old downtown.”

“Okay.” Jackson closed his eyes and pictured the map. “By what I’m remembering, seems we’ve traveled at least twelve miles tonight.”

“Should we be looking for a place to spend the day, sir?”

Jackson checked the moon. It hung a bit over mid sky. Best he could figure, that’d mean around three or so. “No, let’s push on a little farther.”

Cooper tugged on his sleeve and pointed at his mouth.

“Good idea.” He backed up thirty yards or so, then led them a ways off the tracks to a clump of cedar trees.

McKenzie swung off her pack. “Want an MRE or would you prefer something out of a can?” She smiled.

“MRE is good, but let’s splurge and eat two tonight. Any of those chicken parmesans left?”

Aria pulled a brown package from her backpack. “I’ve got one.”

“And I’ve got a southwest beef and black beans here.” Al held his out.

Jackson shared with Aria. Her coolness toward him was icy, but he didn’t care. Her being so bloodthirsty…a big turnoff. Seemed the more he got to know her, the less attractive she became. He’d cut her some slack on that banger who attacked her family, but wanting him to plug a helpless man who was all tied up….

Maybe he’d understand better if he’d been through what she had.

Cooper, who had been eating some of the beef with Al and McKenzie, scooted over to him.  “I’ll take some of that rice.”

Jackson handed him the plastic spoon. “Sure.”

After his brother moved back to the beef MRE, Jackson stopped short of full and gave the rest of his cut to Boggs. No way could what the dog had been getting be near enough, but maybe he still hunted some when he went off. And, he might still be going on those hog innards from two days ago.

Had that only been two days? Seemed more like two months.

Maybe Coop’s aliens sent them through some time warp? He laughed aloud at the thought; more like they released a crazy virus.

“What’s so funny?”

He looked up. Aria stared at him. “Oh, I was thinking about Cooper’s alien theory.”

“But it was the Russians. Remember? We saw them.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She nodded, glanced at the others, then leaned in close. “Sometimes I hate your guts.”

He shrugged and lied. “I understand.”

She smiled a weak, sad sort of smile. “But I also love you.”

“Love me?” Man, what was with the girl?

She looked down into her lap. “You were right not to shoot that guy. I was wrong to want him dead. It’s just that –”

Jackson touched her hand, and she looked up. “You’ve been through a lot.”

A tear rolled down her cheek and dripped off her chin. Her dark eyes glistened with more. She nodded then quickly got up. Kneeling beside her backpack, she started digging around inside it.

He didn’t wait on her to come back. He needed to think about this. Man, he’d never had a non-relative tell him that they loved him. And the hate thing? Could you love and hate someone at the same time? He swung on his backpack and walked to where McKenzie and Al sat. “Let’s get a move on, people.”

Cooper jumped up and patted his leg at the dog. “Come on, Boggs. We’re the leaders.”

The others did as they were told, but without as much gusto as his little brother.

With old town Frisco behind him, the landscape turned back to farmland and pastures again. Six intersections later, the high-lines came into view, then right after county road ten-forty-three, the huge pylons crossed the railroad.

He whistled softly, and Cooper stopped. The others bunched up behind him.

“McKenzie, let me see the note. Al, check that tower’s numbers, will you?” He pointed to the one northeast of the tracks.

“Certainly, sir.” Shortly, the nerd trotted back and reported the number.

McKenzie tapped the old man’s note. “It’s a match. Praise God. We can get off these stupid tracks.”

An old barbed wire fence guarded a big, open farm field. According to the compass, the high-lines ran north by northeast.

Jackson shook his head. He didn’t believe some big guy in the sky orchestrated all this, but still remained at a loss to explain it with any logical rationalization. Whatever or whoever devised the phenomenon, the King’s Highway took him once more in the general direction he needed to go.

Through the first fresh-plowed field on the way, the soft dirt made a nice change from the rocky steel tracks, but by the end of the second, it grew old, and he was glad to get back on level clear ground on the green corridor. Shame the roads weren’t safe.

Cooper stopped at the next intersection with a paved street, and the next. After that, Jackson lost track. His legs burned. His sore back ached. And he was sure he had at least three new blisters. His brother stopped at another road, this one gravel. Jackson joined him and the others. Across the dirt road, tucked in behind several trees, a big house and barn sat just off the high-lines. He pulled out the pistol.

“Everyone stay here. I’ll be right back.”

McKenzie grabbed his arm. “Be careful.”

He patted her hand then gently removed it. “Always.”

Jogging across the street, he worked his way to the barn and eased in through a side door that stood open. He pulled a candle out and lit it. A tractor with a big shredder hooked to it sat in the middle undisturbed, but other stuff had been thrown around. Place looked ransacked. He stepped back to the door and blew out the candle.

After his eyes adjusted, he trotted to the house. The back door hung crooked on only one hinge. He stepped inside and lit the candle again. Cabinet doors gaped with nothing to keep covered on their empty shelves. The fridge, too, stood wide open. Trash littered the floor and most surfaces. The bangers—or someone—had been there.

Slipping out, he joined the others. “No one’s around. Seems to be a good place to hole up for the day and get some sleep.” He held his hand out to McKenzie. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. He got mad at her some, but couldn’t remember any reason he’d ever hated her over.

For a girl, she’d been a real trooper since the flash. A wave of brotherly love washed over him. No doubt, he’d love her forever. Same with Cooper.

Maybe that was how Aria felt about her brothers, but they were all gone. She had watched them be murdered. If that had happened to him, if he’d been forced to watch someone kill his siblings… Maybe he judged her too harshly about being bloodthirsty.

Thinking about the Latino beauty brought him back to what she’d said.

What was up with that? Saying she hated and loved him? He remembered hearing something somewhere about love and hate being close. Was it because of the passion both emotions enlisted? His parents didn’t have that kind of relationship. Meems and Pop for sure never said they hated each other.

And why had she said she loved him?

That question nagged at him through the canned stew with crackers breakfast. He tried not to look at her, but almost every time he glanced her direction, she watched him. And when she wasn’t, every time, she looked over and caught him staring. Then to make things worse, she smiled at him and held up her hand.

“Jackson, would you mind changing my bandage before we go to sleep?”

Uh oh. Though he expected some kind of reaction from Al and took a quick look his direction, the nerd acted like it was no big deal. He’d already discussed it with his sister and she’d claimed she’d vomit then faint, so the chore fell to him by default. Not that he hated to do it….

Each time he touched Aria, little volts of electricity or whatever made the tingle, ran from her skin to his heart. Did doctors feel that way? Had Al? Was it love? Man, he needed to talk with his dad or at least Pop.

Had either of them ever had someone like Aria in their lives?

He carefully took off the gauze. “Wow, it’s looking so much better. McKenzie, come see. I think you could handle this fine.”

“Forgetaboutit, Jackson. I am not called to be a nurse. I admire those who are, but guts and blood and pus are not for me.”

Shaking her head, Aria smiled again.

After smearing a liberal squeeze of antibiotic ointment on the cleaned wound, he put a new bandage on then taped it off. “There. How does it feel? It’s really healing good.”

She rubbed her hand over it then touched his arm, sending more sparks. “Thank you. It is feeling better every day.” Her eyes held his and he could see deep into her, the pain and frustration. She was afraid, too. “And to think of what would have happened if you hadn’t come along.” A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

He stood. “Okay, then. I’ll take the first watch. Who wants the second?”

Al held his hand in the air like they were in school, and Jackson was the teacher. “Me, I guess.”

McKenzie smiled at the brainiac and nodded. “Go ahead and get me up, too. It’s easier to stay awake with someone to talk to. Aria and I will be in the back bedroom.”

Al glanced at her as though a little insulted…like she thought he couldn’t handle it himself…but he must have seen something in her peepers that changed his mind. He turned back. “Two pairs of eyes may be superlative, and I definitely appreciate an engaging conversation with your sister anytime, sir.”

Cooper jumped up. “I’ll keep Aria company. We’ll take the third watch, so you wake me up, Al, when y’all are ready to lay back down.”

Aria glanced at Jackson, shrugged, and gave him a little grin.