Renewal 4 - Down on the River by Jf Perkins Read Free Book Online

long enough, you may find out you just can’t function without her.”
    “Yeah, I guess, but it’s hard to see. I mean, she just proved that she could take on a room full of monsters. She might as well have been a Marine herself.”
    “I’ve always seen it as she wanted to set that one thing right before she died, but who knows the answer?” Bill shrugged. “Anyway, we’d better get some sleep. Long day tomorrow.”
    “Yes, sir,” Terry said, reverting to his commander relationship with Bill.
    That night, Terry’s dreams were full of fire and dark creatures and old women chasing him with clubs. He didn’t sleep well and knew he would be gritty all day, but he was almost thankful when John stuck his head in the door to wake everyone up.
    Judith and Charlie attempted to feed Bill’s team to an overstuffed state at breakfast, and the boys were happy to cram in every delicious bite. Charlie and Bill were making a final pass at the logistics of the trip based on some radio calls Charlie had made before the men were awake. Everything was set.
    After breakfast, Terry accepted John’s help in preparing his pack for the mission. “We’re not taking the truck?” Terry asked.
    “Nope. Our transportation is courtesy of the state. Should be interesting. It looks good going in. Getting back out may be tricky,” John said, sounding more relaxed than he actually felt.
    “Sounds great,” Terry said with his typical sarcasm.
    “Listen, Terry. The old man likes to lead from the front, and he likes to keep you close. So, my orders to you: watch his back. If he gets in trouble, get him out.”
    “Ok, John. I hope I can do that.”
    “I have a feeling you’ll be fine. Just trust your instincts.”
    “Yes, sir,” Terry said, in all seriousness.
    Once the packs were ready, Terry and the men jumped in the back of a large flatbed GMC truck and settled in for the ride. The packs were heavy with ammunition, light on food, and only a little better than nothing to cushion the bouncing truck. Terry glanced up to see Bill having an animated conversation with an old police captain who was apparently willing to drive them in harm’s way, but not willing to go himself. John was diligently checking their turns on his pre-marked map, and trying to memorize everything in case they needed to find their way back. Terry spent a good deal of his time doing the same. The worked northwest from Murfreesboro, but didn’t seem to be headed directly towards Nashville.
    “We can’t drive in on I-24,” John said, practically shouting over the wind noise. “There is enough traffic that some big pirate communities have formed through Smyrna and Antioch. We’d waste too much time and effort trying to fight through. I-40 is better, but it’s a long way around by usable roads.”
    “Are we taking the back roads?” Terry asked.
    “Even better. We’re sailing down Percy Priest Lake to get to I-40, then taking that to the city, and surface streets from there,” John replied.
    “Oh...Ok,” Terry said, not knowing whether it was a good plan or not. “How are we getting back?”
    “Good question. Depends on what we find when we get there. According to Charlie, we may have to grab one of the police vehicles. In other words, we’ll make it up as we go.”
    “Yeah, I figured. Oh well, not like I could be surprised by anything at this point,” Terry said.
    “I really wish you hadn’t said that,” John answered and stuffed his map into his shirt pocket.
    Shortly, the truck turned into an old parking lot. The pavement was cracked and the local flora was growing aggressively through the old blacktop. A shiny path of flattened vegetation showed that this place got regular use, however, and soon the brownish green water of the Stones River came into view. A bit further and they could see a broad aluminum boat sitting in the water, tied up to the end of its trailer. The whole rig, attached to an old brown pickup, was parked on the boat ramp,