The Defiant: An Unbeaten Path by John W. Vance Read Free Book Online Page B

side.
    With her pack now on her back and Rob ready to march in search of Nicholas and Proctor, Bryn turned to the bickering group and said, “We’re off.”
    Frank came up to her, dangled the keys to the Dodge Dart and said, “You’ll be needing these.”
    “Thanks.”
    “And I removed the battery. It’s stashed over near the highway sign,” Frank said.
    “Good thinking,” Bryn said. She stuffed the keys in her pocket, gave the group a sloppy salute, headed down the embankment and disappeared into the woods, with Rob following just behind.
    “You see, they’re off to find them. Now can we get off this road, please?” Colin begged.
    Katherine leaned into Becky and said, “I don’t like saying this, but they have a legitimate point. Sitting here makes us vulnerable, and there’s nothing we’re going to accomplish by sitting here.”
    Becky chewed on her lip, her mind racing.
    Marjorie then added, “I agree with Katherine. Now that we’ve sent some people to look for them, let’s get off this road.”
    Becky turned to Abigail, took her hands and asked, “What do you think?”
    “Just leaving feels wrong, but what I’m hearing makes sense, and if it’s what Dad wishes, then we should go.”
    Becky turned to Colin and said, “We go, but not too far. Somewhere we can get off the road and hide.”
    Not wanting to debate anymore, Colin begrudgingly agreed, “Fine. Let’s load up.”

    Vista, CA

    Vincent took the earlier incident in stride and even found it humorous. Here he was, a big, bad Marine and he allowed himself to get held up by a woman and her child. At first, he did think that his time was up, but it took him only a few minutes to come to the conclusion she didn’t want to kill him, but might if she felt threatened. He counted his lucky stars that the person who managed to catch him off guard wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Like he did most of his life, he never looked at the negative, he always found the lesson in anything, and this lesson stood out like a massive neon sign for him.
    He had inspected the cabinet refrigerator they had raided, and noticed Noah had done as he was told and took every bottle and packet. The problem was he didn’t know what he was grabbing, and they didn’t get what they had come for. This made him wonder if they’d come back, probably not, he imagined, but nowadays he just couldn’t be sure. When people were desperate, they were capable of desperate measures. Plus, she seemed very paranoid and she had to figure the odds of getting a jump on him again would be slight. However, he wasn’t going to take any chances, so he barred the doors and nailed the windows shut.
    He hadn’t eaten yet today, and the hunger pangs were becoming stronger by the minute. He hurried to the kitchen and began to browse for food. He found a jar of crunchy peanut butter and an unopened jar of jelly. His mouth watered thinking about the combination. As he prepared a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the last two slices of stale bread, which he toasted to make it more palatable, he caught a figure moving near the gate. He placed the butter knife down and stared, just waiting to see the movement again. It was like déjà vu for him.
    The gate was two hundred feet from the main house, but after his experience, specifically with the mob, he knew someone could clear it and be at the house in less than a minute.
    Without taking his eyes off the gate, he reached behind him and grabbed his rifle, which he’d laid on the center kitchen island.
    A head appeared over the top of the gate, looked left and right and disappeared.
    “Twice in one day, things are getting bad out there, I guess,” he murmured to himself.
    Again the head popped up, and with catlike reflexes, the person jumped over the gate.
    A smile stretched across Vincent’s face when he recognized that it was the boy, Noah.
    Noah rushed towards the barn and disappeared.
    “Going for the garage, are you?” Vincent said to