Bug Out! Part 11: Motorhomes on the Dark Road by Robert Boren Read Free Book Online Page A

said. “Mommy said it was for grownups.”
    “You might like it,” Howard said. “I’ll pour you a cup. If you don’t like it, you can pour it out.”
    “Okay, Howie,” he said, smiling.
    Scott and Bailey walked in together.
    “Good morning,” Scott said.
    “You’re up, eh?” Howard said, smiling. “Didn’t hear you.”
    “I’ve been up for a while,” he said. “I got a phone call from home very early this morning.”
    “Sherry?” Howard asked.
    “Yeah,” he said.
    “Everything alright at my truck stop?”
    “Oh, yeah, things are fine there,” Scott said. “Somebody from the RV Park showed up.”
    “Who?”
    “His name was Kurt,” Scott said.
    “Oh,” Howard said. “He was one of Chet’s buddies. You’ve met him before, I’m sure.”
    “I didn’t pay too much attention to dad’s friends, unless they had nice looking wives or daughters,” Scott said, laughing. Bailey looked over at him and shook her head.
    “He has a black wife,” Howard said.
    “Oh, shit, Mary?” he asked.
    “Yeah, I think that’s her name. Still a pretty good looking gal.”
    “She was hot when she was younger,” Scott said. “Kurt was kind of a jerk, though. He always eyeballed me.”
    “He probably sensed what you wanted to do to his wife,” Howard said, chuckling.
    “Yeah, maybe.”
    “Hey, Howie, I found them,” Kerry said, holding up a metal mixing dish and grinning. “There’s a hand mixer too.”
    “Good, put them on the counter, Kerry,” Howard said. He looked back over at Scott. “What else?”
    “When Kurt was there talking with her, gunfire started up in the distance. He got real concerned and ran out of the store. The gunfire increased, and then she heard big explosions. She ran out in the back, and saw the sky lighting up in the direction of the RV Park.”
    “Enemy fighters,” Howard said. “They might have taken out the park.”
    “I doubt it,” Scott said. “She saw Kurt and some black guy come back to town in their jeep, and park by the road.”
    “They were watching for more enemy coming in,” Howard said. “You sure we want to be hitting these folks, Scotty? Maybe we should be fighting with them.”
    “Why would we want to do that?” Scott asked.
    “Well, this is our country too, you know,” Howard said.
    Scott laughed hard. “The enemy creates chaos, and that’s exactly what we want. It makes the game easier and more fun. You know that, right? I’d rather help the enemy than stop them. They’ll never win, but they’ll keep up the Wild West atmosphere for quite a while.”
    Howard just looked at him and shook his head. Bailey giggled.
    “C’mon, Howie, let’s make the pancakes,” Kerry said.

    ***

    “Still no cell service?” Gabe asked.
    “Nope,” Hilda said.
    “Yeah, I got nothing,” Earl said. “What’s the next town?”
    “Monarch,” Gabe said. “Shouldn’t be too much further, but we probably won’t have coverage till we get close, because of these damn mountains.”
    “Continental Divide,” Earl said. “Glad we aren’t doing this in a motor home.”
    “Yeah, seriously,” Gabe said. “Wonder what happened to that van?”
    “I don’t know,” Earl said. “I’ve been watching. Can’t see them back there with all of these curves. I haven’t seen them peek around, even after the longer straight sections.”
    “I liked it better when we could see them,” Hilda said. “We’re liable to run into something blocking the road, going around one of these bends.”
    “I know,” Gabe said. “Starting to get light, at least.”
    “Hey, I got bars!” Earl said. “Checking GPS now.”
    “Yeah, me too,” Hilda said. “Look, there’s the town down there.”
    “Yes, that’s Monarch alright,” Earl said. “I’m calling Jackson.” He tapped the number.
    “Jackson?”
    “Earl, thank God,” he said, sounding worried.
    “Uh oh, what happened?”
    “The RV Park got attacked. Shielded semi-truck. About thirty guys.”
    “Oh, no.