Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (17 page)

Nathan looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Yes I would,” he admitted, making Jasmine smile. “Seeing you get up naked every morning is a better jump start than any cup of coffee,” Nathan added.

Jasmine slapped his arm. “I’m not naked,” she snapped.

“Hey, have you got any complaints?” Nathan joked.

“It seems like it from you,” Jasmine said.

Nathan smirked. “Leave a dirty old man alone.”

“Old man!” Jasmine shouted, making Nathan stop. “You are not an old man!” she bellowed at him.

Clueless to what he’d done now, Nathan held up his hand. “Jasmine, need I remind you we are trying to be covert? You know, ninja-like. When you scream like that, it kind of ruins it.”

Shame crept up on her face as she looked back to see everyone staring at her. “Sorry, guys, he just pissed me off,” Jasmine said with a weak smile.

“Pee-pee,” Nathan heard from behind him.

His shoulders slumped as Nathan’s head dropped to his chest. “Damn, you woke her up,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Jasmine said and went to get Emma. As she reached down to pick her up, Emma slapped her hands. “No,” she snapped at Jasmine. She climbed out of the wagon and ran to Nathan. Stopping in front of him, Emma held out her arms to be picked up. “Pee-pee,” she whined at him.

“I really don’t like you now,” Nathan told Jasmine, taking off the harness. Picking Emma up, he headed to the ditch. He set Emma down, pulled down her pants, and suffered the indignity of being a human toilet. Casey came over with the tissue when Emma assumed the position.

When Nathan finished he felt somewhat violated and felt the need to tell someone, but couldn’t bring himself to do it and still feel manly about himself. In a hospital it was different story; he’d taken care of patients before who couldn’t use the bathroom by themselves. But Emma wasn’t a baby; she was over two. Nathan believed two-year-olds should be able to wipe their own butts.

To her credit, Jasmine didn’t smile or laugh as Nathan carried Emma back to the wagon. “Emma, you did very good,” Nathan said without feeling in his voice, but he did give Emma a big hug before putting her back in the wagon. “Ares, come,” Nathan commanded.

Ares trotted over and Nathan took off his pack and laid it on top of his in the front of the wagon. “Ares, lead,” Nathan said, putting the wagon harness on.

Ares barked and moved up front as Nathan started pulling the wagon. “I’m just a wagon-pulling jackass,” Nathan barked out at no one. The group fell in behind Nathan, not really wanting to get close to him the way he was talking out loud to himself. “I cannot believe this shit!” he snapped.

Amanda jogged up to Jasmine who was behind the wagon. “Go talk to him and calm him down,” she said.

“I’m the one who pissed him off. You do it,” Jasmine said in a low voice.

“Hell no, I don’t want him mad at me,” Amanda whispered back. “Let’s get John to do it.”

“What’s he supposed to say to Nathan?” Jasmine asked.

“I don’t know, but he’s a boy so he should know,” Amanda said.

Jasmine thought about it as Casey ran past them up to Nathan. Jasmine tried to stop her, but was too late. Casey fell in beside Nathan and looked up at him. “I don’t like wiping her butt either, but Momma told us we have to teach her. Momma made me quit because I would use most of the toilet paper on the roll every time,” Casey said.

Nathan chuckled. “The only reason I didn’t was because we don’t have that much.”

“That’s why I didn’t do it, Mr. Nathan. Since the stores are closed I don’t want to waste it, but I’ll do it from now on if you want me to,” Casey said earnestly.

“Thank you, but your sister has only let
me
take her to the bathroom today,” Nathan sneered.

“I’m sorry, but Emma really likes you and so do we,” Casey said as she grabbed his pants leg in an attempt to help Nathan pull the wagon.

Nathan looked down at her and smiled, knowing what she was doing. “You don’t have to help,” he said. “I need you to be able to run or take care of Emma if something happens, and you can’t do that if you’re tired from helping me pull the wagon.”

Casey let go of his pants leg and put her hands on her weapon. “Well, I’ll help keep a look out then,” she offered.

“Now you’re talking,” Nathan said, smiling proudly at the little girl.

Casey scanned the area in front of them as she walked beside Nathan. “I just have to tell you one thing though,” she said meekly. “If someone jumps out at us I’ll shoot at them, but will you tell me where my bullet goes? I can’t keep my eyes open when I pull the trigger,” she confessed.

Nathan started to giggle and it turned into a laugh. “Casey, I would be more than honored to do that for you if you’re protecting me,” Nathan finally got out. Hearing that, Casey smiled and let out a long breath. “Don’t worry, I can teach you how to keep your eyes open when you pull the trigger,” Nathan said.

“Really?” Casey asked and Nathan nodded.

Behind them Jasmine and Amanda were walking with their mouths open after watching the scene. “How did she do that?” Amanda asked.

“I have no idea, but I’m sure you could’ve done it too,” Jasmine said. Amanda trotted up to join Nathan and Casey, leaving Jasmine following the wagon.

John, Natalie, and Tom walked up and joined her. “Casey is a sweetheart. She always tries to make people happy,” Tom told Jasmine.

“Boy, do we need her. I thought for a minute Nathan was fixing to yell at me for waking up Emma,” Jasmine confessed.

“Why did you yell?” Natalie asked.

“Because Nathan called himself an old man,” Jasmine replied with tons of sarcasm.

“Well, he’s older than all of us,” Tom pointed out.

“He’s not even forty,” Jasmine replied.

“Well that
is
kind of old,” Natalie said.

“Have you seen how he moves and how hard he pushes himself?” Jasmine asked.

“I didn’t say he acted old, I just meant that forty was kind of old,” Natalie defended herself.

John coughed. “Jasmine, he’s double your age, so if he wants to say he’s old, he can.”

“So what. He’s not old,” Jasmine snapped.

John put a little more distance between them. “Jasmine, he’s the boss so if he wants to say he’s a midget, we just agree with him,” John tried to explain.

Jasmine snorted, laughed, and coughed at the same time. “Now you have a point,” she agreed.

John smiled, glad she wasn’t mad at him, but she had to see that Nathan was the best thing ever and if Nathan said he was old, then he was old. Glancing up to Nathan, John saw Amanda and Casey had him laughing. That was good. John had been worried about him lately.

They walked till five, finally reaching an old quarry that was close to I-22. Although I-22 was an Interstate, it ran through a bunch of nothing all the way to Mississippi.

Nathan stopped under some trees next to the quarry and looked at the Interstate half a mile away. Pulling out his binoculars, he could see a few people traveling in small groups and a lot of people on bikes. Dropping his binoculars, he commanded, “Everyone get some sleep. We leave at dark. Two people up at all times. I’ll be one. Everyone else draw straws.” Nathan walked over to the wagon and picked Emma up.

“You did very well,” Nathan said in a cheerful voice and she raised her lips, giving him that weird smile. Seeing her scrunched-up face and little teeth, a shiver ran down Nathan’s spine. “You are such a cute kid till you do that,” he said. Emma clapped upon hearing that. “Ares, come,” Nathan called out and put Emma down.

Ares trotted over to him, “Emma, chase Ares,” Nathan said, and Ares looked at Nathan and whined. “Hey, don’t start. You didn’t have to carry your stupid pack,” Nathan said as Emma let out a squeal and ran toward Ares. Just before she reached him, Ares bounced back. Emma gave chase, laughing the entire time. Ares kept right out of her reach, moving in and around the group.

Nathan took off his rifle and set it on the wagon then took off his vest and dropped it. He was soaked in sweat. Grabbing a bottle of water, Nathan drained it. Next, he took off his shirt, t-shirt, boots and socks, and laid them out to dry. Grabbing a pair of shorts from his pack, Nathan stepped behind a tree and took his pants off, putting the shorts on. Then he hung up his pants to dry out as well.

Jasmine was taking a drink when Nathan stepped back out in his shorts and coughed. Nathan’s muscles ripped out across his body and glistened in the sunlight. Jasmine caught her breath, staring at Nathan. Realizing what she was doing, she looked around surreptitiously at everyone only to find them staring at Nathan also. “Well, if they are, I am,” Jasmine muttered before turning back to Nathan.

“Nathan, you’re almost naked,” Amanda said from behind Jasmine. Jasmine fought the urge to tell Amanda to shut up.

“I have shorts on,” Nathan popped off, pulling out some food, more water and his woobie from his pack. He walked over to Amanda and Casey and sat down on his woobie. “I’m a boy so I can go without a shirt,” Nathan told Amanda.

Amanda whined, “Nathan, it’s hotter than—”

“Don’t say it,” Nathan warned. “Yes it’s hot, and you need to take your boots and socks off to let them dry.” Hearing that everyone took off their boots and socks, the air suddenly had a not so kind fragrance.

“I’m soaking wet,” Amanda whined.

“Keep your t-shirt on,” Nathan said, turning to watch Emma chase Ares. Athena had joined the game now and Emma was having trouble deciding which one to chase.

Jasmine turned around and scooted over to Nathan’s woobie as she took off her boots. “You think the risk will be acceptable traveling at night?” she asked, staring at Nathan’s body, thankful she had on sunglasses so he didn’t notice. Everyone heard the question and moved over to listen, except Emma who was still chasing after the dogs.

Thinking for a minute as he ate, Nathan took a long drink of water then looked at Jasmine. “Don’t know yet, but we should be okay. It’s hard to move at night without making noise, but we should be better off than others since we have the NVGs. I’m worried about ambushes mostly, because most people stop at night and we will be walking past them. It will be tempting for some, I believe,” Nathan said.

Everyone sat in silence till Emma let out a squeal as Ares let her catch him. Then Ares jumped away, making her laugh and she chased after him once again. John sat down on the ground beside Nathan. Amanda and Casey had scooted over onto his woobie with Jasmine and there was no more room.

“Nathan, how about letting me and Tom pull the wagon? We talked about it and really want you to be ready to shoot and move. Let’s face it, tied to a wagon you won’t be able to do that very well,” John said.

Nathan looked at John then at Tom. “Gentleman, let me tell you that son of a B is heavy.”

“Yeah, but you have two harness for it so both of us can pull it at the same time. We really want you to be able to shoot,” John said, and Tom nodded in agreement.

“Hell, we’ll help too,” Howard offered. “I have to agree with John, it would be nice to have you free to deal with any rowdy friends.”

Jackie leaned over. “I’ll pull the thing if you mow down people that try to hurt us,” she told everyone.

“Oh I’ll do that, attached to the wagon or not,” Nathan replied.

“Well, let me and Tom pull it tonight and see how we do?” John asked.

Reaching over, Nathan patted John’s leg. “Hey, if you two want to, be damned if I stop you. Howard, I want you at the very back of the group with one of your boys. We will have our radios tonight. If you see something, call me in the front. Jasmine and Jackie, you two will be in the middle with radios on to keep us posted on the condition of the group. I want us to spread out over twenty yards, from me at the front to Howard at the back.” Nathan lay back and crossed his arms behind his head.

“What about us?” Amanda asked, motioning to Casey and Natalie.

“Two of you will be beside the wagon making sure Emma is okay and not making noise. The others will be walking with me and you guys will trade out. If John and Tom get too tired to pull the wagon, we’ll make some changes,” Nathan answered.

“I’m going to fill the water jug,” John said, standing up, and Tom followed. Nathan was very proud of them as they picked up their rifles as they walked over to the creek with the jug and water filter. Emma ran over and jumped on top of Nathan.

“Emma,” Nathan whined, lifting the sweat-soaked kid off his chest. “Drink,” Nathan said, holding out his bottle, and Emma just looked at him like he was stupid. Jasmine ran over to the wagon and dug out a sippy cup from Emma’s pack and brought it over.

“She can’t drink out of an open bottle yet,” she said, handing the cup to Nathan.

“We are fixing to work on some stuff, girlfriend,” Nathan told Emma as he filled the cup and handed it to her.

Emma turned the cup up, draining it. “No,” she said, handing the cup back to Nathan.

“You are one confused child,” Nathan said, taking the cup and filling it back up. “Say ‘more,’ Emma. ‘More,’” Nathan said, holding the cup but not giving it to her.

Emma reached out, opening and closing her hands. “No,” she snapped.

“More,” Nathan said, holding the cup over her head.

“Ahh,” Emma grunted, trying to reach it.

“More,” Nathan repeated.

“Moor,” Emma groaned, reaching for the cup.

“I’ll take that,” Nathan said, handing her the cup and picking her up. Wiping the sweat off her face, Nathan hugged her. “That was very good,” he said and kissed her forehead then started to wipe the salty sweat off his lips.

“Mooor,” Emma grinned.

“Finish that, then we’ll talk,” Nathan said, lying back down.

Ares walked over behind Emma and licked the side of her face. Emma let out a squeal and took off after him. Amanda laughed and lay down, putting her head on Nathan’s belly and looking up at the tree branches overhead. “Nathan, you’re the best,” she said and patted his chest.

“Well thank you little lady,” Nathan chuckled.

Casey spun around and laid back, putting her head on Nathan’s chest as well. “Yep, Nathan, you are cool, but I want to know how long it took you to get these bumpy muscles?” she asked.