Bug Out! Part 8: RV Park Terror by Robert Boren Read Free Book Online Page B

looked in. He brought one of each over. Jerry had come off the ladder, and was waiting at the bottom.
    “Perfect,” he said. He put the fliers in one pocket, and the channel locks in the other, and climbed back up. He brought out the pliers and tried that. It worked, and he got the latch open and pushed the trap door open on its hinge. “This isn’t so bad,” Jerry said. “There’s a climb rail outside the trap door, and the roof isn’t that steep. The dish is a ways away from the edge, too.” He climbed all the way up, and then Frank could hear him walking on the thick metal of the roof.
    “What the hell,” Frank said. He started up the ladder. His heart started to pound as he got about half-way up, and he looked down.
Mistake!
He started to tremble, but then forced himself under control. He went the rest of the way up, and poked his head through the trap door.
    “Frank, you made it,” Jerry said, chuckling. “Need to change your drawers?”
    Frank shook his head no, and got himself up on the roof. He walked over, hoping that the breeze wouldn’t come up. He was okay without any wind.
    “Well, what do you think? Is this thing going to do us any good?” Jerry asked.
    “It’s usable,” Frank said. “If we can get something a little more up to date, it would be better, of course. We’ll have to chat a little with Howard about what’s available in this town.”
    “You don’t think Jake has what we need?”
    “I didn’t see any satellite dishes in his truck,” Frank said. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have one, though. In any event, we could limp along with a combination of this and LTE if we have to.”
    “So the key is getting the power on, then,” Jerry said.
    “As far as I’m concerned, yes,” Frank said. “Assuming we don’t find big problems with other critical systems like the water supply or the electrical delivery, we should be okay. Let’s get off of this roof. It’s making me nervous.”
    “I know, me too.” He took photos of the dish with his phone, and then followed Frank back to the trap door.
    They got down the ladder in a few minutes, and walked over to the generators just as Terry was walking back in.
    “I got all of the power mast breakers turned off,” he said. “What else?”
    “We need to find the park lights, and also check the buildings,” Gabe said. “I’ll go with you…I can probably find that stuff pretty fast. I want to bring my Suburban back here anyway. We’re going to try to jump start the generators.”
    “Cool,” Terry said. They walked off together.
    “How are they lookin?” Jerry asked.
    “Promising,” Charlie said. “Top notch stuff. We’ll need new batteries, though, I’m sure of that. Gabe’s SUV might not have enough amps to crank these suckers. One of them looks like the fuel has turned to gel, but that’s easy enough to fix.”
    “Where’s Jeb and Dobie?” Jerry asked.
    “They went out to walk the perimeter of the place,” Charlie said. “They ought to be getting back in a couple minutes.”
    Gabe drove his SUV into the barn and close to the generators. He pulled the hood latch and got out. Terry got out of the passenger side, and got jumper cables out of the back. They hooked them up, and Gabe got back behind the wheel and started the engine. He revved it up, and then gave a thumbs up to Charlie.
    “Here goes nothing,” he said. He pushed the starter button. The starter motor turned, but not fast enough. Charlie put his hand up in a ‘stop’ motion. “Not enough amps.”
    “Crap,” Gabe said. He shut down his engine and got out.
    “Well, what now?” Charlie asked.
    “We know what kind of batteries we need. Maybe we just go buy some,” Terry said. “I took pictures.”
    “Hey,” Jerry said. “How about this diesel rig? You might have enough amps to start that, and that big diesel might put out a lot more amps once it’s running. These things were made to jump start other vehicles.”
    “That’s a damn