Tread Fearless: Survival & Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 4) (37 page)

W
ith an hour and a half of peddling behind them, interrupted by only one short break to eat a snack and check their load, the trio continued north on the mostly rural, Blue Bluff Road. By Mark’s reckoning, they were just east of the suburban town of Manor, and his target was an elementary school just off the south side of highway 290. It would be one of many schools Mark hoped to utilize on the journey because he believed they would be looted and empty.

He hoped the elementary school fit that category because it would also give him a chance to recon the highway before they tried to cross it. He knew 290 was normally a busy highway, being the most direct route from Austin to Houston, but when he got to within range of it, he was surprised to see a long string of vehicle lights heading east. There was way more traffic on the road than he expected.

Since the disaster, the number of vehicles traveling on the roads had steadily decreased, and he was surprised to see such a heavy concentration of movement. He wondered if it was military and decided to investigate before attempting to cross. It was for that reason the high school presented itself as a good observation point. His only hope was that it was empty. Mark had passed almost a dozen schools since leaving San Antonio, and not one was being used for refugees. A few had activity in and around them, but nothing official, only looters and such.

Keeping to the rural was, by and far, the smartest way to travel. When they saw people, they were few in number, and either didn’t notice them, or weren’t interested in the passing of a pair of quiet, cycling travelers. Traveling on the back roads added time to their trip, but it also allowed
Mark and Lauren to relax a little, much more than if they tried to move along the busier main roads. Mark refused to run the bikes with lights or reflectors, which meant they were practically invisible in the darkness. Besides, there was also Sage’s safety to consider.

As it was, whenever a vehicle approached from a distance, Mark and Lauren would dismount and roll their bikes off to the side of the road. And when possible, they would even conceal themselves behind vegetation before the headlights could illuminate them. So far, they only had to do that twice, which told Mark he was doing well to stay to the rural roads. But another, and far more obvious answer was that gasoline was getting harder and harder to find.

As for the roads, they were unbroken and free of debris. With the ash all but settled into recesses, or having been washed or blown away by the weather, things looked relatively normal around them. Yet the most curious thing about moving at night, at least for Mark, was the almost complete absence of electrical lights. It didn’t really trouble him that the power was out, but he never realized how much he came to accept the way electrical lights defined the landscape, both near and far.

The feeling was something like being in the wilderness, while at the same time being surrounded by familiar structures and landscape. For Mark, the wilderness felt naturally wild. Riding over dark paved roads, so near to civilization, was a different kind of wild, and he was still trying to come to terms with it.

Knowing that a large, and normally brightly lit city like Austin was only a few miles to his left was a bit disconcerting. He felt the depths of the tall, dark shadows of the many modern high-rises that defined the city skyline, and wondered briefly what the people who lived and worked in them were doing to survive. He reflected on Lauren’s report about the violence, but having not seen it, he could only imagine what it was like. It’s why he avoided San Antonio all together when he left his neighborhood.

The half-moon broke free of the clouds and momentarily illuminated the road ahead. Mark saw Sage sitting in the road about a hundred yards
ahead and smiled. He wished the moon would stay out, but it struggled to reveal itself behind the fast moving clouds above. The upper atmosphere was a mess, and Mark wondered what that meant to the world in general. For the time being, his only concern was that the wind continue to carry the fallout away from them, but he didn’t think it would last. He wondered if he could find a dosimeter, or even potassium iodide.

Mark focused on the traffic moving on highway 290. It was the only point of reference in the dark, and he was already considering options on how to navigate over and beyond it. When he reviewed the map in his head, he recalled seeing a dry creek bed to the east of the elementary school, and one that offered a potential passage under the highway instead of over it.

Then there was the railroad tracks. But those would lead them farther east, toward the San Gabriel River. From there they could travel the rural roads along the western bank of the river and head north, toward Georgetown, but it would add unnecessary miles to their day, and they were already getting tired from their exertion.

Lost in his thoughts, Mark didn’t notice that Lauren had peddled up next to him, but slightly to the rear and on his left. She had slipped into his draft to ease her peddling into the wind, and it took Mark a minute to turn and look at her. “You doing okay?” he asked.

“Can we stop for a sec?” she said.

“Sure,” replied Mark, and they rolled to a stop next to each other. When her feet hit the ground, Lauren reached for her water bottle and drank deeply. Mark thought it was funny how she didn’t like to drink from her water bottle when they were riding, but he didn’t tease her about it. Traveling on dark roads was difficult enough without having to let go of handlebars to drink from a plastic bottle.

Mark stepped out of the obsolete, but more tactically suitable, aluminum toe-clips and removed a light windbreaker from one of the bike’s saddlebags. Lauren was already wearing hers. The cooler nighttime temperatures were appreciated by both riders, but the additional layer of protection was necessary to avoid the chill when they stopped.
“You were really distracted,” she said, as she looked around for Sage. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I need to take a look at the map for a second,” he replied, as he pulled out a mini, thumb-sized, red-light flashlight from his pocket. Without dismounting the bike, Mark scanned the map with one hand, while shining the small red light over the map in the other.

Mark heard Sage come trotting up in front of him and he didn’t bother looking up. He was already familiar with the sound of the dog’s nails on the road surface, and with time he would have all of Sage’s sounds and behaviors down to memory. Upon seeing him, Lauren dismounted, laid her bike down, and waited for Sage to approach. She was complementing him on being such a good dog while she pulled out her bag of bottomless jerky.

Like Lauren, Mark was also impressed with the dog’s stamina. He thought he’d be soft from his simple duties on the ranch, but the dog seemed to be setting the pace. On more than one occasion, Mark would see Sage ahead of them, waiting, or even lying in the middle of the road, as if taunting them – taunting him. But what annoyed Mark the most was when the dog jumped out at them from the grass as they passed. He would playfully bark at Lauren, like some love-struck puppy, until she tossed him a piece of jerky.

“Keep doing that and we’ll have to eat him to stay alive,” Mark teased.

“How dare you say such a thing?” she snapped. “We will never eat Sage!”

Mark learned the depth of her feelings for the dog then, and he knew he would never understand it. But he was curious as to who was leading whom. “Welcome back,” said Mark, as the dog trotted up to Lauren. “You know . . . I’m the alpha-male here,” he added.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of him,” teased Lauren.

“No,” said Mark. “I can pee standing up. And I can shoot a gun. The way I see it that makes me the leader.”

Lauren snorted and said, “I don’t think Sage is trying to be the leader, but I do believe he thinks he can protect me better than you.”

Mark chuckled and looked up from the map. “That may be true,” he said. “He’s got better ears, and a stronger nose than I do, but he can’t . . .” But he stopped and deciding not to say what he had already seen for himself at the barn.

“Keep me warm at night?” provided Lauren.

“You know what I mean. I’m talking everything, like emotional support. But I guess Sage can give that to you as well,” replied Mark.

“Mark Phillips, I don’t understand you? You said you liked having Sage along, and now you’re jealous of his affection toward me? I don’t get it.”

“It’s a little . . . unusual,” replied Mark, in his own defense. He didn’t know what he was talking about either, but the dog’s strange obsession with Lauren was a bit unnatural. “What do you think’s going on between you two?”

“Seriously?” asked Lauren. And when Mark nodded she said, “Okay. I think Sage is like my guardian angel,” replied Lauren, directly and to the point.

“Really?” asked Mark, surprised and interested at the same time.

“Sure. Why not. I mean, I can’t explain it either, but I can tell you he understands me. And I think he understands you, too, only you’re too troubled to be open to it.”

“I’m open to it,” replied Mark, as he folded up the map and slipped it and the flashlight into his cargo pocket. “It’s just that, I don’t know, I’m not used to a dog that’s more human than not,” said Mark. “Do you know what I’m thinking, Sage?”

Sage turned to Mark and barked loudly. Mark looked surprised and Lauren said, “See what I mean?”

“He just barked,” said Mark. “All dogs bark.”

“Well then . . . ask him to do something he can do,” challenged Lauren.

“What? Like fetch?”

“No, silly. Something specific. Like this . . . Sage. Go tug on Mark’s pant-leg,” commanded Lauren, kindly but directly. To Mark’s
amazement, the dog walked over to Mark’s leg, sniffed it, and then grabbed a loose sedge of his pant-leg and began to pull.

“Hey!” said Mark, as he was about to be pulled over with his bike. “Stop it, Sage!”

Sage released Mark’s leg and resumed his seat next to Lauren. She smiled at Mark and said, “Now you try it. Trust me, he likes you more than you like him.”

Mark sighed and tried to think of something really challenging for the smart dog to do. Finally, he looked at Sage and asked, “Which way is north?”

“Seriously?” asked Lauren, but to both their surprise, the dog pointed north like a Setter. They were both speechless, and stared at Sage in wonder before looking at each other with open mouths.

“Coincidence?” asked Mark.

“Point south, Sage,” asked Lauren, and they both laughed with joy when Sage turned around and pointed the way behind them.

“That’s impressive, Sage,” said Mark. “But I wonder, can you . . .”

Lauren interrupted and said, “He’s not a circus monkey.”

“Is that coming from you, or him?” asked Mark, a little hurt by the quick and sharp judgment.

“Him mostly,” said Lauren, “but a little from me as well. The point is, he’s special.”

“I can see that,” said Mark, and he climbed off his bike and laid it down. He approached Sage and knelt in front of him to briskly rub his neck. At that moment, Sage looked regal to Mark, and he was surprised to the point of awe. For the first time, Mark realized he was seeing Sage as something different, more than just a special dog, but a guardian even, like Lauren had earlier said. “Wow!”

“You see him, now. Don’t you?” asked Lauren.

“I do. I . . . why didn’t I see it before?” asked Mark, while he studied the dog’s face with a fresh perspective.

“Probably because you weren’t looking. Or maybe you weren’t ready. Either way, you see him now. I think that will make things easier between the two of you,” replied Lauren, tenderly.

“I think you’re right,” said Mark, and Sage leaned forward and licked Mark’s face. “Okay, I love you too,” said Mark, as he hugged the dog’s neck, “but please . . . no kisses.”

Sage barked again and Lauren laughed. “Ah, a new bromance.”

Mark snorted and said to Lauren, “I’d rather have a kiss from you.”

She smiled and said, “You have to earn my kisses, mister.”

They made their way up the road, crossed over a set of railroad tracks that Mark was expecting to find, and then over Old Highway 20 without stopping. Mark spotted the dark and apparently empty elementary school to his left, but something about it felt really off to him, so he veered to the right, aiming for the chain-link fence that surrounded a school bus maintenance yard, and just kept on peddling.

Mark was about two bike-lengths ahead of Lauren, but he knew she was close enough to see him change course and follow his lead. They hardly ever spoke to each other when people could be near. They even tried to peddle quietly, careful not to make too loud a racket when they shifted gears or braked. Silently as possible, the two cyclists passed by people that never even knew they were there.

He was not only filled with a desire to avoid the high school, but also to seek cover. The weather didn’t feel off to him, nor did he hear any human activity other than the passing vehicles on the highway ahead of them. Still, he followed his gut feeling. With no sounds of danger about, and Sage leading the way, Mark was confident. Besides, they had a very competent, four-legged, early warning device moving with them. It was strange how Sage seemed almost capable of reading Mark’s mind. Either that, or he was the smartest dog in the world. Sage didn’t even turn around to see if Mark and Lauren were following him, that’s how sure he was of his direction of travel.