Days Of Perdition: Voodoo Plague Book 6 (7 page)

An hour and a half later Katie stopped the truck next to a
gas pump.  Half a dozen of the horsemen, weapons plainly displayed, guarded the
station.  A teenaged boy stood with the pump nozzle in his hand, waiting as an
older woman walked up to Katie’s window, looking the truck over as she
approached.

“Big thing uses a lot of gas, huh?”  She asked.  Katie
nodded and held up some cash.

“That don’t do you no good, sweetie.  Food, booze or
cigarettes.  That’s what’s worth somethin’ now.  What you got?”  The woman
asked, trying to see into the bed of the truck, but the cover was rolled shut
and hiding Katie’s supplies.

“Food, I guess,” Katie said, unhappy that she hadn’t
prepared for this.

“OK.  Rate is five pounds of canned food per gallon of gas,
and you’ve got to show me the cans before we start pumping.”  The woman stared
into Katie’s eyes.

Katie looked back at her, thinking that filling up the
Ford’s big tank would cut significantly into her stock of food.  The truck had
a 36 gallon tank and was nearly empty.  But if she didn’t get gas, she was
stuck in Payson, and despite the self-appointed peacekeepers she didn’t like
the idea of not being able to leave if things got bad. 

Making a decision she wasn’t happy with she turned the
engine off and stepped down from the cab.  Walking the woman to the back of the
truck she lowered the tailgate and let her see inside the bed.  Bent at the
waist she peered inside for a moment before straightening up and telling the
teenager to fill the tank.

While the boy pumped gas, the woman had Katie start handing
her cans of food that she piled into the hanging bowl of a scale that looked
like it had been taken from the produce section of a grocery store.  They kept
pace with the readout on the pump, the handle clicking off at just over 34
gallons.  A few more cans added and she checked the piece of paper she was
using to keep track.

“One hundred and seventy pounds.  You’re good, sweetie.” 
The woman said, handing two cans of beef stew back to Katie.

Katie tossed them in with the nearly depleted cache of food
in the truck, slammed the tailgate and climbed back into the cab.  Pulling
forward a few feet she waited as Brian went through the same routine, filling
the Jeep’s smaller tank.  Re-fueled, he pulled up next to her and Cathy leaned
out her open window.

“Follow us,” she said.  “My sister’s place is just a few
miles away.”

Katie nodded and fell in behind the Jeep.  They only moved
slightly faster going away from the station than they had approaching it.  The
small town’s narrow streets were crushed with traffic, both vehicle and
pedestrian.  People were frightened, and the fear was palpable, but so was
something else.  It took Katie a while to recognize it, but her tension
ratcheted up a few notches when she did. 

Desperation.  Now she could see it in the faces of many of
the other drivers, but especially in those that were on foot.  Fear is one
thing, but most people can deal with being afraid.  Being desperate is
something else entirely.  The feeling of complete helplessness will spur some
people to sit down and give up, but it will cause others to do things to
survive that they wouldn’t normally even consider.  Then there’s the ten
percent of the population that just doesn’t give a shit and will take advantage
of any situation.

It took less than twenty minutes for them to make the drive
to Cathy’s sister’s small ranch.  A large, yellow school bus sat in front of
the house, children running and playing in the yard as a handful of women
watched over them.  Introductions were made and stories exchanged, Katie
joining the families in a lite meal. 

Early evening came quickly and Katie decided to go to the
hotel where she had told John in the note she’d left for him that she would be
waiting.  She didn’t plan to stay there, but wanted to leave word with the
owners where she was so John could find her if he showed up.  Her optimism that
he would find her was running short, but she’d learned many years ago to not
count him out.  He was the most stubborn and determined man she’d ever known.

The hotel was only about five miles away, between the center
of town and the ranch where Katie was staying.  It had been built in the 1950s
and was nothing more than a couple of dozen rustic cabins scattered amongst the
pine trees.  When the current owners had purchased the property in the late 90s
they had completely remodeled the interior of each cabin, and while the place
looked vintage from the outside, the interiors were sleek and upscale with
every modern amenity.

When she turned onto the short, dirt road that lead to the
hotel, Katie was surprised to see people camping amongst the trees.  Every
available foot of ground was occupied, vehicles parked along the side of the
narrow track.  When the trees opened up for the hotel’s grounds she had to stop
as the entire area was packed full of refugees.  People wandered about, retrieving
water and taking care of other needs.

Pulling to a stop, she climbed out of the truck and looked
around as she hit the button to lock the doors.  Several campsites were
occupied by groups of men, all of them staring at her as she stood there.  Slipping
the truck’s keys into her pocket she adjusted the holstered pistol on her hip
and headed for the building marked as registration.

The door to the office was locked when she tried the handle,
but she knocked and after a minute an older man wearing jeans and a flannel
shirt appeared, staring at her through the glass door.  She could see a
revolver holstered on his hip and he carried a short-barreled shotgun in his
right hand.

“We’ve got no room, but you can camp under the trees if you
want.”  He shouted through the door.

“That’s not what I want,” Katie shouted back.  “Can you
please open the door so I don’t have to yell?”

The man looked at her a moment, eyes flicking to the weapon
on her belt, then up and over her shoulders to make sure she was alone.  Time
stretched out, but he finally reached forward and flipped a locking lever and
pulled the door open a few inches.

“What do you want?”  He asked, a firm grip on the handle.

“I had to leave Phoenix before my husband got home.  I left
him a note telling him I’d be here.  We’ve stayed here before and he’ll know
the place.  I’m staying at a ranch outside of town and I’d just like to leave a
note with you so he can find me if he shows up.  Please?  That’s all I want.” 
Katie made sure to keep her hand away from her pistol and gave the man a smile
when she finished talking.

“Oh let her in already, Russ.”  A woman Katie hadn’t seen stepped
up next to him and pushed him aside to pull the door open.  “Come on in,
honey.”

Katie smiled at her and walked into the office, Russ pushing
the door closed and locking it behind her.

“If I can just borrow a piece of paper and a pen, I’ll write
a quick note and be out of your hair.”  Katie said.

The woman stepped behind a polished counter and retrieved a
notepad and pencil from a drawer, laying them on the registration desk for
Katie to use.  Her husband stayed at the door watching something going on
outside the building.  Katie quickly wrote out a note to John letting him know
where to find her, folded the piece of paper in half and handed it to the
woman.

“His name is John Chase.  I’m his wife, Katie.  He’s a big
guy.  Over six foot, strong, shaved head.  Well, it was shaved.  He may not
have had a razor to keep it that way.  Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, honey.  Good luck to you and be careful out
there.  There’s some real bad guys coming up from the city.  We hear women
screaming every night.”  Katie was surprised when the woman stepped forward and
hugged her.

Russ opened the door and she slipped back outside into the
quickly darkening evening.  Campfires dotted the area, the smell of food
cooking making her stomach rumble even though she’d eaten just a couple of
hours ago.

Walking quickly, Katie reached the truck and popped the
locks with the remote in her pocket.  She didn’t see or hear the man that was
following her until she opened the driver’s door and it was suddenly blocked
from opening far enough for her to get in.

“What’s your hurry?”  He asked, smiling out of an unshaven
face.  “Would you like some food?  Maybe a drink.  Got plenty of both.”

The man wasn’t large, but still larger and stronger than she
was.  Katie took a slow step back to open some space between them and darted
her eyes around the area to see if he was alone.  She felt a little better when
she didn’t see anyone else.  The man was armed with a pistol and a large
hunting knife, both strapped to his belt, but his hands weren’t anywhere near
either weapon.

“I’m just waiting for my husband,” Katie said, hoping the
thought of a male’s impending arrival would deter the man from whatever he had
in mind.

“I don’t think that’s true,” he said.  “I seen you drive up
alone.  Now, I’ll ask again nicely.  Why don’t you come have a drink with me?” 
He pushed the Ford’s door closed and started to take a step forward.

Katie smiled at him, which caused him to hesitate, and
holding his eyes with hers she kicked straight up with her right foot.  The
steel toed boot connected solidly with the man’s balls, his breath whistling
out in a faint, high-pitched hiss as he instantly folded and fell to the ground
where he rolled into a knot.

Not waiting to see if he had any friends in the area, Katie
yanked the door open and jumped into the truck.  Getting the engine started she
slammed it into drive and hit the gas, spitting dirt as she whipped the truck
around, narrowly missing the man on the ground.

The group spent the next few weeks at the ranch.  Friends of
Cathy’s sister drifted in and out, all of them with horror stories of what
conditions were like to the south in Phoenix.  A large garden and pigs and
chickens kept everyone fed.  Meals were supplemented with deer and elk taken
from the forested mountains surrounding their refuge.

Katie was slowly losing faith that she would ever see John
again.  She knew the country had been devastated, and Atlanta was a long ways
away.  A four hour flight before the apocalypse, but now it might as well be on
the other side of the planet.  Close to 2,000 miles, how could she expect him
to fight his way to their home, find her note, then follow her to Payson.  She
knew that if there was anyone that could pull it off it was him, but as the
days began to run together her hope faded.

Daily conversations with Steve kept her, and the group,
updated on what was happening around the country as well as the more immediate
area in the desert southwest.  She was horrified to learn of the nuclear bombs
used in Nashville to kill millions of infected.  She hadn’t seen an infected,
yet, and would be happy if she never did.

It was a day much like all the others, Katie on the phone
with Steve as she watched a group of children playing.  They were about to wrap
up their conversation when he suddenly told her to hold on.  She could hear him
breathing over the open connection, a keyboard and mouse clicking in the
background.

“Katie, there’s a large group that just pulled into Payson. 
Heavily armed and organized.  Looks like at least a hundred men.”  He finally
said.

“What are they doing?”  She asked, turning her back on the
kids and focusing on his voice.

“They’ve already shot several of the Peacekeepers and a
couple of civilians.  Hold on, let me watch them for a few minutes.”  He said.

Katie stood in the shade of a pine tree, impatient, but
holding her tongue.  She could still hear sounds over the phone; the low hum of
the equipment in the listening post, the occasional mouse click and the squeak
of Steve’s chair every time he shifted his weight.

“You should probably get out of there soon,” he finally
said.  “They’re spreading out and looting.  They’re also taking women.  If
anyone tries to stand up to them they’re shooting them.  They’ve got heavy
weapons.  Either got into a police SWAT or more likely a National Guard
armory.  No one other than the Army is going to be able to stand up to them.”

“Are they coming this way?”  She asked.

“Not yet.  There’s plenty in town to keep them occupied, but
I wouldn’t count on them to not come looking to see what else there is in the
area.”  Katie ran a hand through her thick hair, frustrated and afraid of what
a group of men like that would do.

“If we leave, where do we go?”  She asked after almost a
minute of silence.

“East,” Steve immediately answered.  “I’ve been watching
what’s going on in the country, looking for a safe haven for you in case you
had to move.  There’s a large buildup of military in Oklahoma City at Tinker
Air Force Base.  The city is still relatively normal and in the control of the
authorities.  If you head due east from where you are and cut across the Indian
Reservations into New Mexico, then across the Texas pan handle that will get
you into Oklahoma without encountering any problems I can see on satellite.  No
infected if you stay away from northern New Mexico.  No gangs to speak of. 
That’s your best option.”

“Have you kept an eye on my house like I asked?”  Katie had
hoped that if John did make it to Arizona that Steve would be able to see him
and let her know he was close.  Steve had been a little weird for the past few
days and she was hesitant to ask him, but had to know before she could even think
about heading out on the road.

“You’re whole neighborhood burned four days ago.”  He
answered hesitantly.

“My house?”  Katie’s breath caught in her throat.

“Yes, your house too.  I’m sorry.”  He said.

Katie couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in her eyes
and rolling down her face.  The house was gone, and so was her note to John. 
He’d never be able to find her, even if he was still alive and looking for
her.  She thanked Steve and broke the connection.  Getting her emotions under
control she went to find the other adults and fill them in on the outlaws that
had just arrived in town.