Bug Out! Part 8: RV Park Terror (2 page)

“They mention who was running it?”

“It was General Walker, but he got killed.”

“He was our friend,” Frank said.

“Oh. It was you.”

“Don’t let people around you know. There’s still a lot of bad guys in the service. Any chance you can tell me where you are, approximately?”

“Next state over, name of town same as a town nearby home…and a big street.”

“Ok, I’ll find it.”

“Have they said anything about chips in the enemy?”

“RFID…yeah. They said we haven’t been able to break the code to use them.”

Frank laughed.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.” He paused.

“Oh. Figures. I gotta go, dad. Take care. Say hi to mom.”

“Love you,” Frank said.

“Love you too, dad. Bye.”

Frank put his phone back into his pocket.

“How’s he doing?” Jane asked.

“He sounded good. He’s almost through basic. Then he’s going to Denver.”

“I was afraid of that. Could he tell you where he is?”

“He said next state over, town same name as a town and big street by us. I’m looking it up now.”

“Good.”

Frank started laughing. “Hawthorne, Nevada. Big base there.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Jane said. “What did he say about the chips?”

“They’ve been briefed about them. He said they haven’t figured them out yet. He also said they got briefed on the citizen recruitment program, run by General Walker.”

“No, really?”

“Yeah, really. He said one of the groups they described sounded a whole lot like us.”

“Glad you told him not to spread that around.” She looked over at Frank. He had a worried look on his face. “What now?”

“I was just checking for cretins in that town. I’m getting hits at Robbie’s military base.”

“Crap. Can we warn him?”

“Not over an open phone line, sweetie. I can’t contact him, either. I’ll have to wait for him to contact us again.”

“How many do you see?”

“Not that many. Looks like about twenty.”

“Maybe we should contact General Hogan.”

“Now there’s an idea. Later, though. I want to try to get Sarah. It’s been a while.”

“Good idea,” Jane said.

Frank dialed her number. It rang, then she picked up.

“Daddy!” she said. “Where are you?”

“Hi-tailing it to the east, sweet pea. How are you?”

“Working my way through morning sickness.”

“You’re pregnant?” Jane looked over, surprised. Then she smiled. Frank nodded at her.

“Yes, daddy,” Sarah said.

“Really! That’s great, sweetheart. You still where you were, up in potato country?”

“Yes. Things have gotten back to normal around here. It’s nice. We’ve been setting up the nursery.”

“Here, I’ll give the phone to your mother,” Frank said, handing the phone over. Jane took it.

“Hi, Sarah. So, you’re pregnant?”

“Yes. I’m so excited. So happy.”

“That’s great. It sounds like you’re safe where you are.”

“Yes, the bad people left, and the Canadian border isn’t as bad as it was. We’re in a good place.”

“I’m so glad to hear that.”

“Are you and dad in danger?”

“No, not really. We’re moving further away from the action, though.”

“Dad said you were going east.”

“Yes, we’ll be in the Midwest. We’ll let you know where when we can.”

“Have you heard from Robbie?”

“Yes, just now. He’s almost through basic training.”

“I’m worried about him. There’s still a lot of fighting going on.”

“Me too, Sarah, but try not to let it bother you. Too much stress in a pregnancy isn’t good, especially at the beginning.”

“I know, our OB told us that.”

“Okay, honey, I’d better get off the phone. Traffic is getting kinda heavy again.”

“Wow, you’re driving?”

“Sure am. It’s not as scary as I thought it would be.”

“Well, good for you, mom. I’ll talk to you soon. Be careful. Love you both.”

“Love you too, honey. Bye.”

Jane handed the phone back to Frank. Traffic slowed to about 30 mph.

“Well, that was quite a call,” Frank said. “Nice job in candy coating our situation. She doesn’t need the stress right now.”

“That’s what I was thinking. She sounded so happy.”

“Yes, she did,” Frank said.

“Wonder what caused the traffic to slow so much?”

“I’m on it,” Frank said. He was staring at his phone, using his fingers to move things around. “Oh, it’s just highway 94. That’s coming up fast. It’s a smaller road than 24. We’ve probably got people on the southbound 24 dumping onto the 94 too.”

“Crap. It’s liable to be a long slog, then.”

“Could be. It’s really hard to say. Route 24 goes off to the north east and links up with I-70. That’s a better road if you want to go east in a hurry. A lot of folks might be getting on this road to go that direction.”

“Any enemy fighters on that stretch of I-70?” Jane asked.

Frank took a look. “Not a one. I think something happened to the guys who were coming down 87, too. They haven’t moved for a while. I doubt that the traffic is that bad.”

“Check the traffic app.”

“Doing that now. Yep, the traffic isn’t that bad. It’s moving at 30 mph or so. I’ll bet the army nailed those guys.”

“I hope so,” Jane said. “There’s a sign for route 94.”

“Good. About right, there’s the airport.”

They followed the line of coaches onto the transition road. As Frank was hoping, most of the people were heading northeast. Route 94 was crowded, but it was moving at about 60 mph. Frank and Jane looked at each other, relieved. They watched silently as the farm land went by on either side of them. Frank dozed off, and Lucy with him, curled up on his lap. Jane drove for about an hour. She saw the signs for Route 40 coming up, and followed the group onto that road. It was wider, and they were traveling along at almost 70 mph after a few minutes. The added speed woke Frank up with a start.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“We just got onto route 40,” she said. “This is a much faster road.”

“What’s that town?” he asked, pointing.

“I saw a sign for Kit Carson just before you woke up, so I’m assuming that’s it.”

“Oh,” Frank said. He pushed on Lucy, and she jumped off his lap and got into her bed.

“How far from Kit Carson to Sharon Springs?” Jane asked.

“I was just going to check that out,” Frank said, getting his phone out of his pocket. He fiddled with if for a few minutes. “Yes! Only about an hour.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“I’d better check out the long range app.”

“Yeah, it’s been over an hour. I’m surprised you slept so long.”

“Me too,” he said, as he stared at the phone. “Crap.”

“What?”

“Those cretins aren’t stuck anymore. They’re getting onto route 94 right now.”

“They’re coming after us,” Jane said, a horrified look on her face.

Frank and Jane followed
the line of coaches down Route 40, heading for Sharon Springs, Kansas. Traffic was moving along at a good clip now, and the farmland rolled by on either side of the road.

“The Kansas border isn’t that far,” Frank said, looking at his phone. “We’ll go through Cheyenne Wells first.”

“Just saw a sign for that. We’re about five miles out. Not many towns out here.”

“You holding up alright?” Frank asked.

“Sure, this has been an easy drive,” Jane said. “How about the cretins?”

“Been keeping a close eye on them. They’re still on highway 94, but it looks like they stopped.”

“How far?”

“Not very. There’s an air force base right by there. Hope they aren’t planning something.”

“What kind of base, Frank?”

“Looking that up now,” he said, looking at his phone. “Crap. Space warfare. That’s one of the bases that they use for our Satellite systems.”

“Maybe you’d better try to get General Hogan.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” He dialed, heard ringing.

“Hello?”

“General, it’s Frank.”

“Frank, how are you? Make it across yet?”

“Close. You seeing the cretins on highway 94?”

“Yeah, we’ve been watching them, thanks to you.”

“They’re getting close to Schriever Air Force base.”

“Roger that, we’re ready for them.”

“Good…that’s all I wanted to know.”

“By the way, thanks,” the General said.

“For what?”

“For making sure my boys were ok, and for giving them that Oldsmobile.”

“Oh, almost forgot about that. Seems like so long ago. The Oldsmobile belonged to Gabe. They made it to you okay?”

“Yep, they did.”

“Good, General. Glad to hear it. They said a lot of nice things about you.”

“We had a tight little Boy Scout unit,” he said, chuckling. “Better times than these. I gotta go Frank. Don’t worry, I don’t see anybody else anywhere near where you’re going.”

“Me neither. Take care of yourself, General.”

“You too. Call me when you get settled.”

“Will do.” Frank put the phone back in his pocket.

“We’re okay, I take it?” Jane asked.

“Sounds like they’re setting a trap for the bad guys at the air force base. We should be fine. They aren’t after us.”

“Good, I’m relieved,” Jane said. “There’s Cheyenne Springs. Bigger than I expected.”

The line of coaches slowed as they drove through the outskirts of town.

“Wow, two big parks, and fairgrounds,” Frank said. Then he cracked up.

“What?”

“My map shows a ‘Waterin hole’…with a Martini glass icon. First time I’ve ever seen that. Wonder if Rosie and Jeb will stop off.”

Jane laughed. “In better times, yeah, I’m sure they would.”

They got past the town in just a couple of minutes, and sped back up. There was only a short drive left before they hit the border.

“Uh oh, there’s a roadblock up there,” Jane said, looking.

“Border. I expected that,” Frank said. “Keep calm, sweetie.”

They rolled to a stop, and watched as Gabe talked with the officer. Gabe pulled out his phone, and then Frank’s phone rang.

“Gabe,” Frank said. He answered the phone.

“Frank, can you come up here?” The officer wants to chat.”

“With me?” Frank asked. He got a twinge that he hadn’t felt since Officer Simmons was still around. “Be right there.”

“They want to talk to you?” Jane asked, looking scared.

“Yeah,” he said, getting out of his seat. Lucy jumped up and down. “Not now, girl. I’ll be right back. Don’t worry, Jane. There aren’t any cretins around.”

“Okay, be careful.”

Frank stepped out of the coach and shut the door. He walked up to the front of the line, where Gabe was standing, talking to the officer.

“Thanks, Frank,” Gabe said.

“No problem. What’s up, officer?”

“Your name is Frank Johnson?” he asked, in a businesslike manner.

“Yes,” Frank said.

“Can I see some ID?”

“Of course,” Frank said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. He took out his driver’s license and handed it to the officer.

“Okay, very good,” he said. “All of these people are with you?”

“Yes, they are, officer,” Frank said. “Somebody cleared the way for us?”

“Yes, the regional army commander told us you’d be coming through. The border is closed to most people.”

Frank felt relieved.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Gabe said, chuckling. “Thank you General Hogan.”

“Don’t use that name around here,” the officer said. “We’re still at war, remember.”

“Got it. Sorry, officer.”

“Okay, you folks are free to go. Take care of yourselves.”

“Thanks, officer,” Frank said. “Talk to you in Sharon Springs, Gabe.”

He walked back to the coach.

“Everything okay?” Jane asked.

“Yeah, General Hogan notified them about us. Good thing…the border
is
closed.”

“Well, this is a relief in more ways than one.”

“Yeah, we can get through, but the cretins will get stopped.”

“Exactly,” Jane said. “Should only be about half an hour to Sharon Springs.”

They got going again, and rolled along on the empty road, looking at the flat farmland on either side that seemed to go on forever.

“It’s a good thing this farm land is still producing,” Frank said.

“Maybe we’ll be safe enough here to spend the night in Sharon Springs.”

“Maybe. It’s still early, though, and I can drive for a while after we stop.”

“I know, I’m not worried about us. Think about the folks that can’t hand off the drive to somebody else. The Sheriff, and Mary, and Jackson, and Earl, and Jeb. They’ve got to be beat.”

“Oh,” Frank said. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll suggest that we hang out, then, if the truck stop that Kurt was talking about looks safe.”

The rest of the miles went by quickly. Frank and Jane were quiet, until they saw the signs for the town.

“There it is,” Jane said. “Three miles.”

Frank nodded. They were there in no time.

“This isn’t much of a town,” Jane said.

“Nope, big truck stop, though. See it?”

“Yeah, there goes Gabe. Looks like we have the place all to ourselves.”

“There are a couple of big rigs in the back,” Frank said. “See them?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jane said. She followed the line of vehicles onto the lot, and pulled up to the gasoline pumps.

“How we doing?” Frank asked.

“We’ve got about a third of a tank. This fill up is going to cost a little more than the last few.”

“I’ll gas us up. Why don’t you take the girl out?”

Jane nodded and got out of her seat, handing the keys to Frank. Then she took Lucy outside. Frank got out, went over to the pump and got the gasoline flowing. Earl had just pulled in on the other side of the pump.

“Frank, how you doin?” Earl asked as he put the pump nozzle into his rig.

“Probably better than you,” he replied. “Must be tough having to do all the driving yourself.”

“Oh, it’s not bad. This is a nice rig. I’m hoping Kurt will sell it to me eventually.”

“There’s Jackson,” Frank said, pointing, as he pulled up behind.

“We gonna stay here tonight?” Earl asked.

“Hopefully,” Frank said.