Bug Out! Part 8: RV Park Terror (4 page)

“Probably,” Dobie said. He pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and started messing with it.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked.

“Just checking to see what’s going on back on highway 94.”

“Oh, yeah,” Gabe said. “I hope the General whacks those creeps good.”

“I’m still seeing the icons. They haven’t moved for a while,” Dobie said, his brow furrowing.

“I wouldn’t worry,” Jake said.

“Wouldn’t we be seeing the icons disappear if these guys are dead?” he asked.

“Think about it,” Gabe said. “If they defeat them and then burn the bodies or remove the chips, isn’t the enemy going to figure out that we’re onto them?”

“You don’t think they already know?” Dobie said.

“They might, since the General was burning the bodies early on,” Gabe said, “but then again, burning the bodies does take care of the smell, and in the field it’s easier than trying to bury them. Cooking the corpses might not look as suspicious as you think to the enemy.”

“Gross,” Trish said, walking up with Terry.

“Hi, sweetie,” Jake said. “You need some money for the store?”

“No, dad, we’re good, thanks,” she said. “You mind if I spend the night in the Sheriff’s rig again?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “You don’t have to ask me, you know. You’re too old to have to worry about that anymore.”

“I know,” she said. “It just makes things feel a little more normal.”

“I know what you mean,” Terry said. “It’s a little weird being the only people here below their mid-30s.”

“Mid 30s?” Dobie said, cracking up. “Most of the people here are at least in their 50s.”

“Jackson’s 35. I think Earl is about 40,” Gabe said. “The rest are codgers like us, though.” He snickered. “I guess that would bother me a tad too, if I were you two.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Terry said.

“Maybe not at the moment,” Jake said. “Hopefully you two can fix up one of those trailers for yourselves.”

“Dad!” Trish said. She looked embarrassed.

“Oh, settle down, honey,” Jake said. “I’m still a minister, you know. I could marry you two if you need that to be happy.”

Dobie and Gabe looked at each other and cracked up. “Told you,” Gabe said.

“What?” Jake asked.

“Oh, some of us figured you might be one of those mail-order ministers,” Gabe said. “Lots of folks who tended towards the hippies went down that road in the 60s and 70s.”

“You’re not a real minister, dad,” Trish said. Terry stood next to her with a sheepish grin, not sure what to say.

“Sure I am,” Jake said. “I’ve got the papers to prove it, too. I made sure they made it into the truck, just in case.”

Trish rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Terry, let’s take a walk. He’s going to keep teasing me.”

Terry shot a glance over to Jake and smiled. Then he shrugged his shoulders as they walked off. Trish didn’t notice.

“You know he’s just pulling your chain,” Terry said, grabbing her hand as they walked along. “He’s really a charming guy.”

“I know, but he likes to embarrass me too much. It gets old.”

“So he’s always done that?”

“Pretty much,” she said. “Especially after mom died. He feels awkward, being a single dad for a girl. I think all the joking around makes him feel more comfortable. He’s always afraid of doing something wrong, so he makes a joke out of everything.”

“What was your mom like?”

“She was the responsible one,” Trish said. “She kept everything together. When they met, they were both hippies. They even went to Woodstock.”

“No, really?”

“Yeah,” Trish said. “Somewhere along the line, she grew up. Dad only kinda grew up. When she died, he was so lost.”

“Oh,” Terry said. “How old were you when your mom passed?”

“Thirteen,” she said. “What about your parents?”

“They both died, but not until I was about nineteen.”

“Both of them?”

“Yeah, they were on vacation in Mexico, and took one of those helicopter tours. They crashed.”

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry,” she said, looking into his eyes.

“It was horrible,” Terry said. “My uncle was there for me, though. He still is.”

“I can see how close you two are,” Trish said. “We don’t know that much about each other, do we?”

“Not yet,” Terry said. “Maybe it would be good to have our own place.”

She looked at him and smirked. “Really, now. Why?”

“All the reasons you’re thinking,” he said, smiling. “I know what you’re getting at, but that part is up to you, and I won’t push. I want to talk to you for hours and hours, when nobody else is around.”

“Oh,” she said. “We’ll see, then. No promises.”

“What’s over there?” Terry asked, pointing by the tanker truck they were approaching. He led her over there and got her behind it, out of view of the others. Then he got her into his arms and kissed her gently. She backed away slightly, his arms still around her waist.

“Tricky, aren’t you,” she said, with a shy smile, looking into his eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for this all day,” Terry said. He went in for another kiss, and she melted into him.

Back with the group, Jeb walked up with a case of cold beer from the store. He put it on a folding table next to his rig. “Who want’s beer?” he asked. Some of the people in the group came over.

“You aren’t drinking?” Jane asked Frank, as he was walking towards the door of their rig.

“I want to check the laptop,” he said as he climbed the steps. “The battery is probably about done…we might need to run the generator for a while.”

“Oh,” she said, “I’ll come with you. She got up, took hold of Lucy’s leash, and led her inside.

The group partied for a little while, but everybody was tired, and they were done just after the sun went down. A quiet settled over the parking lot, and lights in coaches started going out.

Frank woke up to the sound of one of the big rigs starting up and leaving the parking lot. He looked at his phone. Only 6:30. He was wide awake, and decided to get up. Jane was still sleeping, but she was starting to stir. He tried to be quiet as he walked out of the bedroom. Lucy was ready to go, so he put on her leash and took her outside. He saw Dobie out by the edge of the fence, walking all four dogs. He waved, and Frank waved back, but he went in the opposite direction. He wasn’t ready to talk yet. He wanted to think. The encryption algorithm was slow going on the laptop. Not enough power, especially when it was on battery. It was beginning to dawn on him that it might take years to crack it, at the rate the program was going. He needed to try hacking into the enemy computers, but now they were going to a park that almost certainly didn’t have an internet connection. There were a couple of non-core folks who had satellite internet…at least it looked like it due to the kind of dishes they had, but they were all gone now. What to do? Maybe there was something left of a system at this RV Park that he could fix. He was going to have to do something. Time was running out…the auto publish for the apps was coming up. He had just under two weeks.

Charlie got out of his coach, and saw Frank. He walked over.

“Morning, Frank,” he said.

“Morning to you, Charlie. What time are you guys going to the RV Park?”

“In about an hour,” he said. “Why, you interested in tagging along?”

“Yeah, if there’s room.”

“You’ll have to bring your sidearm,” he said. “We should have room, though. We’re taking both Gabe’s SUV and Jeb’s jeep.”

“Good, I’ll be ready,” he said.

“Why do you want to go?”

“I want to see if there is any remnant of an internet system there,” Frank said. “My encryption algorithm isn’t cutting it, I’m afraid. We’re going to run out of time. I need to do some hacking.”

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, that makes sense. Jake brought a lot of stuff, so maybe you could put something together. Isn’t Jasmine good with that kind of stuff?”

“Yeah, so is Jerry,” Frank said. “Worth a try.”

“Good, be out by Gabe’s Suburban in an hour, and we’ll saddle up.”

“Thanks,” Frank said. “Guess I’d better go eat breakfast and get some coffee in me.”

“There’s hot coffee in the store, you know, and some breakfast stuff too.”

“Ah, good idea,” he said. “I’ll take Lucy back to the coach and then go on over.”

“Okay, Frank, see you in a little while.”

Frank took Lucy back to the coach. Jane was just getting up. Mr. Wonderful sauntered over, rubbing against his leg. “I’ll feed you in a minute, big boy.”

“Hi, Honey,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Want to run the genny for the coffee maker, or should we fire up the French Press again?”

“Neither,” Frank said. “I’m going to go get a cup at the store, and maybe something to eat. You up for it?”

“Sounds like you have plans.”

“I’m going to go with Charlie and the guys, out to the RV Park.”

“Oh. How come?”

“I want to see if there’s any chance we can get some internet access going out there,” he said.

“Are you coming back here after the store?”

“Yeah, we aren’t leaving for an hour.”

“Good,” she said. “Pick me up a coffee too? And maybe a Danish?”

“Sure, honey,” Frank said. “Be back in a few minutes. Can you feed the critters?”

“I’ll take care of it,” she said.

Frank left the coach and went to the store. The old white haired man was at the counter.

“You must be Howard,” he said. “I’m Frank.”

“Ah, good to meet you, Frank. Kurt told me a lot about you.” They shook hands. “Here for some breakfast?”

“Yeah, I’m going with the guys over to that RV Park…need a little something.”

“Coffee’s over there, and we have some fresh pastries.”

“Excellent, thanks.” He got himself two cups of coffee and a couple of Danish, paid, and went back to the coach.

“That was quick,” Jane said, watching Frank come in. He set the coffees down on the dinette table, and put a brown paper bag next to it. She looked in and pulled out a Danish, taking a bite right away. “Oh, this is tasty. I was hungry.”

“Yeah, we didn’t eat much last night,” Frank said, grabbing a Danish for himself. He took a sip of the coffee. “Pretty burned. Typical gas station coffee, but it’ll wake me up anyway.”

“Charlie’s out there, looking at our coach. I think they’re getting ready to go already,” Jane said.

“Oh, really? Gotta go get my gun.” He got up and went into the bedroom, coming out with his holster, and strapping it on as he walked. He picked up his coffee and Danish and went for the door.

“Taking Lucy?” Jane asked.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” he said, looking out the window. “Oh, wait, Duchess is going.”

“Okay, you be safe out there.”

“Will do,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “Bye.”

Frank left the coach and walked over to the SUV.

“Maybe you ought to ride with Jeb,” Charlie said. “I didn’t think about the dog.”

“No problem,” Frank said. Jeb pulled up next to them. Frank got in, and Terry got in the back. Charlie, Gabe, Jerry, and Dobie got into the SUV, all of them carrying their guns. Duchess was in the back.

“That’s a hell of a hog leg you got there, Frank,” Jeb said, cracking up.

“I’m never going to live this thing down. We can thank it for one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Terry asked.

“I used it to shoot Officer Simmons. That’s how we got out of the Williams area, remember?”

“That the only time you’ve had to use it?” Jeb asked.

“I’d have to think about that. Probably. I’m a better shot with the Winchester.”

Gabe drove off, and Jeb followed.

“Gabe knows where he’s going, hopefully,” Frank said.

“He went into the store with Charlie this morning and got directions from Howard,” Jeb said. “He told me too, in case we get separated.”

“We could use our phone GPS,” Terry said.

“I don’t have the address,” Frank said.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s simple,” Jeb said. “There’s only four turns, and a lot of long straight road. This is farm country, remember.”

They settled in for the drive. They went south east, getting out of town in no time, and into the green flatlands, with stands of wind break trees here and there.

“They have twisters here, don’t they?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, they sure do,” Jeb said. “We’re in the heart of tornado alley, my friends.”

“Should we be worried?” Terry asked.

“Naw, we’re not in Tornado season. It won’t start up again until November, and we’re past the early season.”

“There’s two?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, May to June is the first one.”

“Wonderful. I think we want to get out of here before November,” Terry said.

“It’ll be too cold here by that time anyway,” Jeb said. “For most of our coaches, that is.”

“Man, there’s just nobody around, is there?” Terry asked.

“It’s not unusual for this part of the year,” Jeb said. “Another month and it’ll be harvest time. Then this place is going to go crazy. Wonder how much the problems in Mexico are going to impact that?”

“Right turn coming up,” Frank said, watching the Suburban make the turn ahead of them.

“How many miles is it?” Terry asked.

“About thirty, according to Charlie and Gabe,” Jeb said. “Fast roads, though.”

“Yeah, Colorado was getting a little old,” Frank said. “If I never see another switchback it’ll be too soon.”

“Lightweight,” Jeb said, chuckling. “I love the high country.”

“Farms are starting to thin out,” Frank said, as they continued down the long straight road.

“I’ll bet our place is in that big stand of trees down there,” Jeb said. “See it?”

“Yeah, looks like about the right size,” Frank said.

“Maybe those trees would be good to set up watch towers…like those blinds we had at Hilda’s place.”

“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing,” Jeb said. “There’s a water tower in there.”

“I see a few buildings towards the front too,” Frank said.

As they approached, the park came more and more into view. Gabe pulled up in front of the gate. It was a large tube steel gate, which swung open from hinges on either side. It was painted white, but rust spots were coming through. It was chained together in the middle and padlocked. Everybody got out of the car, and Dobie got Duchess out of the back. Jeb pulled up behind them.