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

“Here they come,” Frank said.

“Yes, here they come. Looks like Charlie’s driving the SUV.”

They watched as Terry sprinted to the gate and pulled both sides all the way open. He was grinning ear to ear.

Charlie drove through the front gate
of the RV Park, in Gabe’s Suburban. The rest of the vehicles followed…eight motorhomes, Dobie’s truck, and Jake’s bobtail. They parked on the access road in front of the barn and clubhouse. There was just enough room. Everybody got out and met in front of the clubhouse, joining Frank, Gabe, and Terry.

“Wow, this place dump,” Rosie said. “Who fix windows?”

“Don’t worry, Rosie, I already have somebody lined up for that,” Charlie said. “We just need to send the measurements to Howard.”

“I already have them,” Frank said. He handed a slip of paper to Charlie. Jane rushed over and hugged him.

“Where do we park our rigs?” asked the Sheriff.

“We cleaned out the first several rows of spaces,” Terry said. “Go straight ahead on this access road. They’re past that barn over there.” Trish walked up to him and smiled. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. She settled against him and laid her head on his chest for a moment.

“Electrical working?” Kurt asked.

“The city power got turned on a while ago, but we haven’t tested all the power masts,” Gabe said. “Any of you not have surge protectors?”

Nobody raised their hands.

“Good, then I say we just hook up and hope for the best,” Gabe said. “There are about two hundred spaces in this joint, so we should be able to find eight good ones. I’d try the power before doing everything else, though”

“The power works on all of the trailers,” Terry said. “I checked them out, and turned on the refrigerators.”

“How many?” Trish whispered.

“A 5
^th
wheel and four travel trailers,” he replied quietly. “Dobie’s taking the 5
^th
wheel. Gabe already picked his trailer out. There’s three left...one will be extra, assuming you want to move in with me.”

“We’ll see,” she said, with a sly grin on her face. She kissed him lightly, just a peck on the lips. “Let’s go look at them.”

The coaches started to move out as Terry and Trish walked towards the trailers. Jake trotted over and caught up with them.

“Oh, cool, I know which one I want,” Jake said, as they walked up. He was looking at the classic older coach.

“That one is classy, but it’s a little small,” Terry said.

“It’s just gonna be me, so no problem there. I’ll pull the bobtail right next to it…it’ll make a nice storage unit.” He trotted over to it and went in the door.

“That leaves these two,” Terry said, pointing. They were standing in front of the one he liked the best.

“Well, let’s take a look,” Trish said.

Terry opened the door and held it for her as she walked inside. She silently looked it over, looking in cabinets, sitting at the dinette and the couch, then checking the bathroom. She opened the fridge and cold air flowed out over her. Then she looked at the bedroom.

“Well?” Terry asked.

“Let’s go check the other one,” she said in a business-like manner.

“Okay,” Terry said. They left the trailer and walked over to the other one. It was much closer to Jake’s trailer. Jake came out and saw them.

“Hey, honey, I’m going to move the bobtail over here and start stocking up my trailer. I’ll back it up to whatever one you choose after I’m done.”

“Okay, dad,” she said. “That’s
is
a classy looking trailer.”

“Yeah, I’ve always liked the look of these. It’s a mid-60s model, but somebody gave it a lot of TLC over the years. It’s got solid wood cabinets. Beautiful.”

Terry opened the door on the second coach. Trish walked past him, and went through the same routine she did in the first one, silently looking it over. Terry just sat and watched her.

“What do you think?” Terry asked her. He was nervous, and it showed.

“They’re both suitable,” she said, still in her business-like manner. “Let’s go look in the other one again.”

Terry nodded, and followed her over there. They got inside.

“The air conditioning work?” she asked.

“Sure does,” Terry said proudly. “Want to see?”

“Yes, turn it on,” Trish said. As he turned it on she shut the door, and walked over behind him. When he turned, she was right there. She looked up at him and smiled.

“See, told you,” he said, as the cold air flowed around them. “Which one to you like the best?”

“I could live in either, but I like this one the most.”

“Why?” Terry asked.

“Because it’s further from my dad’s trailer, and I think we’ll need the privacy,” she said, watching his face. She smiled and pulled him in for a kiss. It wasn’t just a peck.

The motorhomes were all parked in spaces. Only one had a bad power mast, the one that the Sheriff picked. He moved to the next spot, and it was fine. Everybody was busy setting up their households for the next couple of hours. It was a warm day, and you could hear air conditioners starting up.

Frank finished his hookups and came inside the coach. Jane was puttering in the kitchen.

“Hungry?” she asked.

“Sure, I could eat,” Frank said.

Mr. Wonderful crept out of the corner he was hiding in, and jumped up on the dashboard, scanning the area. Lucy noticed him from her bed, raising her head and cocking it. Then she put her head back down on the edge of her bed and sighed.

“She’s glad we’re settling,” Frank said.

“I know,” Jane replied. “Mr. Wonderful has been hiding most of the time since we left Gabe’s place. I think he can sense when we’re nervous.”

“You nervous now?” Frank asked.

“Not as bad as I was. I feel safe here so far, with the state being closed up. Plus we have your apps to tell us if the bad guys are coming. You checked it lately?”

“Oh, yeah, I check it about every twenty minutes,” he said. “Nobody anywhere near us. That group of icons is still sitting at the base, but I think those guys are all dead. They would have moved by now.”

“What’s your plan for the rest of the day?”

“Try to get the internet running,” Frank said.

“Is there Wi-Fi?”

“I doubt it,” Frank said. “I’ve been checking all of the usual places for antennas. I haven’t seen any yet. I doubt that the satellite system here is going to have a lot of bandwidth, anyway. Maybe we can fix that, though. Jake probably has a lot of equipment we can use in that bobtail of his.”

“Hopefully,” Jane said. “If not, there are a few places in town. It’s larger than I expected. They have a big Walmart. We went there before we left.”

“Really? What for?”

“Household stuff, mainly,” Jane said. “Bedding for the trailers, for instance.” She got a sly smile on her face.

“What?”

“Trish. Talk about a woman in full nesting mode. She bought all kinds of stuff for her trailer. We asked her if she decided to move in with Terry. You should have seen the look on her face. She’s really got a case for that boy. Then she told us that she hadn’t agreed to that yet, and that she was going to be very coy. She’s loving this.”

“Yeah, well Terry worships the ground she walks on, I can tell you that,” Frank said. “He spent a lot of time getting those trailers ready. You should have seen him run to the gate when the group was coming down the road.”

They both laughed.

Charlie and Hilda were finished getting their rig set up. They walked over to the clubhouse together. Hilda looked around.

“Pretty messed up,” she said.

“You should have seen it when we first got here. Somebody swept it up and put the furniture back where it belongs. There was broken glass all over the floor, and the elements were starting to get a foothold near the window openings.”

“The place probably went through a few winters with no windows,” Hilda said. “Actually, considering that, it doesn’t look too bad. How’s the kitchen?”

“No broken windows in there, so it’s in better shape,” Charlie said. “I’ll show you.” They walked over to the swinging door and pushed in.

“Oh, wow, this isn’t bad at all,” she said. “I like this more than the kitchen in my place, in some ways.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. We have running water. I’ll have to find the water heater.”

“Is it electric or gas?”

“Good question,” Charlie said. “I need to spend more time looking around. I assume this place is on propane, but I haven’t found any big tanks around yet.”

Hilda opened the door of the walk-in fridge. “Phew!” she said, shutting the door quickly.

“Yeah, I know, we have some cleanup to do in there. I didn’t turn it on, because I figured we’d want it warm when we’re in there cleaning.”

“Maybe we ought to leave the door blocked open to air it out,” Hilda said.

“Good idea,” Charlie said. He took hold of a step stool over by the counter and used it to block the door open.

“Where’s the pantry?” Hilda asked.

“Don’t know. There’s a door on the other side of the stage, but that wouldn’t make sense as a pantry. Too far away.”

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the floor. There was another trap door, but it was covered with the linoleum flooring, so it didn’t stand out.

“Wow, I didn’t see that before,” Charlie said. He pulled up on the door and laid it back. There was a stairway leading down.

“Maybe this is the light switch,” Hilda said, pointing to one on the wall next to the trap door. She switched it on, and the lights came on below.

“There you go,” Charlie said, getting onto the stairway.

“Lot of underground stuff here,” Hilda said, as she watched Charlie climb down the stairs. “Be careful down there.”

“Wow, check this out,” Charlie said. Hilda climbed down.

The room was large, with shelves all around, and a big table in the middle. It was fully stocked with canned and dry goods, along with cleaning supplies and other household stuff, in industrial sized containers.

“Well, we won’t have to buy food for a while,” Hilda said.

“We’d better check the dates on this stuff. Some of it might be too old.”

“Maybe,” she said. “What’s behind that door?” She pointed to the far end of the room.

“Let’s check,” Charlie said, walking over there. He opened the door and hit the light switch. “Holy crap, this is connected to the bunker under the barn.”

They walked down the long hallway, and into the main part of the bunker, where the barn trap door was. Charlie hit the light switch.

“This is a workshop,” Hilda said. “What’s all that stuff?”

“Reloading equipment, and gunsmith tools,” Charlie said.

“Oh,” Hilda said. “What’s behind those doors?”

“Living quarters,” Charlie said. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Charlie opened the door to the left, and hit the light switch. There was a short hallway with several doors on one side. Hilda followed him in.

“Why isn’t it musty down here?” Hilda said. “The air smells fresh.”

“There’s got to be some vents somewhere,” Charlie said. He opened the first door. There was a bed, a dresser, and a closet there.

“Somebody was living in here,” Hilda said.

“Looks like it, huh?” he said. They went into the next room, which was another bedroom just like the first. The door after that was a bathroom, and the final door was a laundry room, with dusty old machines and a big sink.

“Where’s the kitchen?”

“Other door,” Charlie said. “C’mon.” He led her out of there and back into the workshop area. Then he opened the other door and hit the light switch.

“Wow,” she said. The right side of the room was a normal looking residential kitchen, with all of the appliances you’d expect, and a phony window over the sink with frilly curtains. On the other side of the room was a large living room, with two couches, a couple of recliners, and an electric fireplace. An ancient 25 inch TV sat against the side wall. On the back wall was a good sized bar, with six stools.

“Ah, I wanted to check out the bar,” Charlie said, grinning. “Didn’t have time earlier.”

“Figures,” she said. “Ger would have been in hog heaven down here.”

“I’m going to call this the lounge,” Charlie said, chuckling. He got behind the bar and rubbed his finger on its surface. “Dusty as hell.”

“Big surprise,” Hilda said. She pulled out one of the bar stools, dusted it off with her hands, and sat down, feeling the padded elbow rest that went around the outside.

“The mother lode!” Charlie said, laughing. “This is fully stocked. There’s a little fridge under the bar, too.”

“Well, now I know where to find Jeb and Rosie,” Hilda said, grinning.

“Whoever built this was one paranoid son of a gun, you know,” Charlie said.

“Obviously. We can use this place, though. You know twister season starts up in November.”

“I know,” Charlie said. “I wonder how long we’ll be able to stay here.”

“I’m wondering the same thing, but let’s not worry about it now. Let’s just enjoy this place while we can.”

“We need to get a meeting together,” Charlie said. “Lots to talk about.”

“Wonder how people will take the money part?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Charlie said. “Several of us are well off enough to handle the bulk of the taxes, and we can split the utilities. It’ll be cheaper than paying for spaces somewhere else.”

“True,” Hilda said. “Let’s go back up.”

They turned off the lights and headed back down the hallway to the clubhouse kitchen.

Frank and Jane finished eating. Frank took off for the barn, while Jane took Lucy out for a walk. Jerry caught up to Frank on the way.

“Going to mess with the internet setup?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Power should be stable enough now. I was a little reluctant to turn it on with the generator.”

“Okay, you go ahead and mess with that. I’ll trace the wires and find out where the line outlets are.”

“Cool,” Frank said. He was in the barn now, and walked over to the satellite equipment cabinet. He looked inside for the power button, and pushed it. The equipment lit up. Frank saw where the outlet was, and then trotted out to his rig to fetch his laptop.