Bug Out! Part 12: RV Alliance (21 page)

“Okay, sweetie,” she said, getting on her tiptoes to kiss him. She turned and left.

“How’s it going with you two?” Charlie asked, smiling.

“Good,” Terry said. “We were ready to start a family, before the shit hit the fan again.”

“We’re probably towards the end of it,” Charlie said. “I’m really worried about Jeb and Rosie.”

“What are we gonna do about that?”

“I don’t know yet,” Charlie said. “General Hogan and Sam Hinton are working out a strategy.”

“Think they’re still alive?” Terry asked, pausing for a moment. “I’ve got a really bad feeling.”

“I don’t know, son,” Charlie said. “Hope so. You know how crazy those Islamists are, and Jeb likes to piss them off.”

“Yeah,” Terry said. “He’s probably already called them inbreeds.” He froze and looked up.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“See up there? Drone. Military, not el cheapo.” He pointed into the sky.

“Shit,” Charlie said, trembling. “Wonder if it’s friendly?”

“That’s a good question,” Terry said. “You heard about the UN. Wonder if it’s them?”

“Look, it’s definitely focused on us,” Charlie said. “It’s turning back this way again, staying in view. Wonder how long it’s been up there before we saw it?”

“Good question. Could have been a while. I saw the reflection out of the corner of my eye,” Terry said. “Probably helped that the sun is low in the sky now. You can’t hear it at all.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty high,” Charlie said. “I’ll call the general.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the contact.

“General Hogan?”

“Charlie? Great, the cell tower is back.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said.

“You don’t sound right,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a drone over us,” Charlie said. “Staying in sight of the park. Pretty sure it’s focused on us.”

“No, really?” General Hogan asked. “What kind?”

“Looks military,” Charlie said. “Definitely not one of those cheap ones the enemy was using on us before. This one is high enough that we can’t hear it.”

“I’m on my way out there,” he said.

Charlie put his phone back in his pocket.

“Here he comes,” Terry said, pointing. The general was coming in a trot.

“See it, general?” Terry asked, pointing. “Way up there.”

“That’s military all right,” the general said as he squinted.

“I take it you didn’t order that?” Charlie asked.

“Hell no,” General Hogan said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit a contact.

“Sam?” he said.

“General,” Sam replied. “Phones are back up, eh? Didn’t expect to hear back from you so soon. Something wrong?”

“Yeah, there’s a military drone flying over us. You know anything about it?”

“No, but I’ll do some checking,” he said. “Armed?”

“Could be,” the general said. “Might just be a surveillance model, though. Hard to tell from here.”

“Okay, I’ll get right on that,” Sam said. “Don’t panic yet.”

“Roger that,” General Hogan said. He slipped his phone in his pocket.

“Sam Hinton?” asked Charlie.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Hey, look!” Terry shouted. “Frank and Jane’s coach, driving in the gate.”

“Great!” General Hogan said, smiling. “You guys ready for them?”

“Almost,” Charlie said. “We’d better get the rest of these masts checked out in a hurry.”

“Whoa, look at all those rigs!” Terry said as he hurried to the next power mast. “Doesn’t look like they got shot up.”

“I’ll go over and greet them,” General Hogan said. He walked towards the front gate as the coaches streamed in.

Jane drove the rig to their spot
and shut down the engine. “Want to level the coach before I shut the engine off?”

“Later,” Frank said, getting out of the passenger seat. “Let’s go greet our new friends and get them settled.”

“Okay, I’ll take Lucy out. Mind Mr. Wonderful. He’s looking a little antsy. He might bolt for the door.”

“Gotcha,” Frank said, getting to the door. He opened it and slipped out quickly.

The coaches were lining up on the main road in front of the clubhouse. General Hogan was on his way to the front, and met Frank there as Clint was being surrounded by his people.

“Clint,” General Hogan said, extending his hand. “Glad you’re here.”

“Glad to be here,” Clint said, shaking his hand and smiling. “Wish it was a social visit.”

“General Hogan,” Frank said, smiling. “Everything okay here?”

“So far, Frank, but we’ve had a military drone circling over us.”

Clint and Frank froze and looked up.

“It’s hard to see,” General Hogan said. “I’ve got Sam Hinton checking on it for us.”

“Good,” Frank said. “We got spots set up for these coaches?”

“I was out with Terry and Charlie a few minutes ago,” the general said. “They had fourteen power masts checked out, and were racing to get the rest of them done. The water hookups are all done. Over there, see?” He pointed them out.

“Good,” Frank said. “Clint, you guys can set up over there, and then we’ll meet in the clubhouse.”

“Sounds great,” Clint said. “What about the semi?”

“Semi?” General Hogan asked.

“Yeah, armored, with a .50 cal pointed out the back,” Clint said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Let’s pull it beside the main entrance with the business end pointed out towards the pasture in front of the park,” General Hogan said.

“I figured,” Clint said, smiling. “Be right back.” He trotted over to the semi cab and gave instructions as the others went back into their rigs.

“How was it on the road back?” General Hogan asked.

“No problems after the initial road battle,” Frank said. “Heard anything from Gabe and Dobie?”

“They’ll overnight at that park in Cameron, on the west end of Missouri,” the general said. “Probably be here sometime tomorrow.”

“Jerry and Jasmine should be back tomorrow too,” Frank said. “What are we gonna do about Jeb and Rosie?”

“Not much we can do just yet. We’ll talk.”

Clint trotted back over. “Okay, they’re set. I’ll get my folks situated, and then we can have a meeting.”

“Sounds good,” Frank said.

“Thanks for taking us in,” he said.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Frank said, smiling.

“Me too, believe you me,” General Hogan said.

Hilda walked out onto the porch of the clubhouse. “Hey, you guys, I got a big pot of coffee going, and a bunch of spaghetti sauce simmering too.”

“That sounds great,” Clint said as he walked to his rig.

“Thanks, Hilda,” Frank said.

Jake walked up with Jackson and Earl. “We got the internet hooked back up.”

“Great,” Frank said. “What was wrong with it?”

“Somebody climbed up the pole and cut the wires,” Jake said. “About a hundred yards east of where the cell tower was. That’s our weak spot back there.”

“We’re really vulnerable here,” General Walker said. “Wish we had satellite internet.”

“I got two dishes,” Jake said. “One of them has bullet holes in it, but I can fix it. Won’t get the kind of bandwidth we’d need for the whole park out of them, but they’d be fine for backup.”

“I agree,” Frank said. “Let me know how I can help.”

“Will do,” he said. “I’m gonna go clean up. That spaghetti sauce I’m smelling?”

“Yep,” General Hogan said, chuckling. “Hilda is a jewel.”

***

Sue sat in the police station, on a chair next to the desk of Officer Shockney. He’d been on and off the phone several times. She was getting tired. It had been several hours. Her phone rang. She answered.

“Sue?”

“Gabe, thank God. Where are you?”

“We’re on our way to your park,” he said. “Eddie filled me in on what happened. Where are you now?”

“I’m at the police station,” she said. “That killer is still out there.”

“What are you gonna do?” Gabe asked.

“I don’t know yet,” she said. “This is horrible.”

“What ever happened to that Sheriff?” Gabe asked.

“Sheriff Branson?” she asked. Officer Shockney heard that, his head snapping over. Sue saw it. “Just a sec, Gabe.”

“What about Sheriff Branson?” Officer Shockney asked.

“He had all the RV Parks along Route 36 watching for these folks. When I saw them, I tried to call him. Over and over. No answer.”

“He’s missing,” Officer Shockney said. “We’re all trying to find him.”

Sue put her phone back to her ear. “Sheriff Branson is missing,” she said. “The officer here just told me that.”

“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Gabe said. “I think I’d better let Malcolm’s friend know.”

“Malcolm’s friend?” she asked.

“Yeah, Ted Crowley,” Gabe said. “He’s catching up to us, should hit your park shortly after we do.”

“I don’t know what’s going on at my park,” Sue said.

“Eddie’s been keeping it going,” Gabe said. “He said he was bringing in another person to take over for him soon.”

“Skip Baker,” she said. “Good. I need to call him. You sure you should go there? This guy is dangerous.”

Gabe chuckled. “I hope he shows up. If he runs into Dobie, Malcolm, and I, he’s gonna wish he didn’t. And by the way, Ted’s bringing an FBI agent with him.”

“FBI?” Sue asked, drawing another look from Officer Shockney.

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “What are you gonna do? Want us to swing by and pick you up?”

“Maybe,” she said. “How far are you?”

“Twenty minutes from Cameron, give or take.”

“I’ll get back with you, Gabe. Thanks.” She ended the call.

“Okay, who’s coming?” Officer Shockney asked.

“You ever hear of Malcolm Davis?” she asked.

His eyes got wide. “No way.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I think I’ll let them pick me up.”

“Who else is with him?” Officer Shockney asked.

“Ted Crowley, an FBI agent, and a couple other people.”

“Heard of Ted Crowley,” he said. “Serial Killer Task Force.”

“Oh, that’s where Malcolm knows him from, I suspect.”

“Probably,” Officer Shockney said. “Going with those guys might be dangerous for you.”

“I know, but I can’t stay here forever, and I can’t lose my park. It’s all I have.”

“You have to do what you think is best,” he said. “Mind if I tag along when you leave? At least for a while?”

“I’ve got no problem with that at all,” Sue said. “The more the merrier.”

“Good,” he said.

“I’m going to call Gabe back and ask him to pick me up, then.” She looked at her phone, and hit the contact.

“Sue?”

“Yeah, Gabe,” she said. “I’ll take you up on your offer. Swing by the police station and pick me up.”

“Will do,” he said. “See you soon.”

***

“Kerry, come out and give me a hand,” Scott shouted. He was done with the bodies. He marked both of them, and had the Jeep pulled up close. Kerry came out.

“What do you need help with, Scotty?”

“Lift their legs for me. We need to put the bodies in the Jeep and take them away.”

“Okay,” he said. They picked up Shannon first, Kerry looking away as he lifted her by the ankles. They put her in the back of the Jeep. Cindy was next. She was lighter. They set her carefully on top of Shannon.

“Where are we taking them?” Kerry asked as they got into the front seats.

“Further out,” Scott said. “I don’t want them to be found for a long time.”

They drove down the driveway that went behind the barn, past a dilapidated storage shed and a pasture. There was another road running along the back of the pasture, looking like it had been deserted for years, with thick weeds on its surface.

“Where did they go?” Kerry asked. “The people who owned the farm, I mean?”

“Good question,” Scott said. “I don’t know. Something caused that farmhouse to collapse. Reminds me of old dust bowl pictures.”

“Dust bowl?”

“Yes, Kerry,” Scott said. “It’s history. Back during the Great Depression, there was bad weather that caused farms in the Midwest to dry up and blow away.”

“The houses and everything?” he asked, eyes wide.

“No, the top soil. The dirt they planted crops in,” Scotty said.

“Did that happen here?”

“No, south and west of here,” Scott said. “This farm isn’t that old. It’s been ruined for a good ten years, but the dust bowl was about ninety years ago.”

“Oh,” Kerry said. “Then what happened here?”

“Maybe the family died out, and nobody was left to take over,” Scott said. “Doesn’t look like very good farm land.”

“I saw cow milking stuff behind the barn,” Kerry said.

“Could have been a dairy farm, I suppose,” Scott said. “There’s the end of the road.”

“We gonna keep going?” Kerry asked. “I like riding around back here.”

“Yeah, we’ll keep going,” Scott said. They went past the broken fence and into another pasture, dry and ruined, dead brush around the perimeter. They were about half way through it when Scott’s ears perked up. He stopped the Jeep.

“What?” Kerry asked.

“Shsssshhh! Listening.”

“That’s a helicopter,” Kerry said.

“Son of a bitch,” Scott said. He drove as fast as he could towards the stand of trees on the far end of the pasture, bodies bouncing in the back. Cindy bounced out into the pasture just before they made it to cover. Scott shut off the engine and watched.

“Cindy came out of the back!” Kerry said, looking behind the Jeep.

“It’s okay, this is a good place to leave her. Help me with Shannon, okay?”

Kerry nodded, and they got her out, putting her under a tree as the sound of the helicopters approached.

“We need to get under more trees,” Scott said, scanning the horizon further out from the barn. “Look, over there.”

The two jumped into the Jeep and headed in that direction, Scott driving as fast as he could without kicking up dust. They got to the denser trees and stopped.

“What now?” Kerry asked as the chopper sound got louder.

“We watch and wait,” Scott said.

They sat in the Jeep, watching the sky. The chopper finally came into view. It was a police chopper, and it was circling over the barn.

“Crap, they’re gonna find the RV,” he said. “Should have brought all the guns with us.”

After about fifteen minutes of circling, the chopper flew slowly away. It was silent for a while.