Dark Road (21 page)

…

Their fire was almost down to coals, and the girls were sound asleep. It wasn’t dark yet, but they had taken to letting the girls go to sleep early so they could get up early and get started while it was still cool in the mornings.

“C’mere Rissa, we need to work on your neck and shoulders.” Dan said.

“It’s not that bad, really. I can wait a little longer.” Marissa said.

“Yes, you could, or you can come here and I can make it stop hurting so bad now.” Dan replied. He didn’t stop taking out the supplies to give her the shots so she came over to where he was, on the side of the fire opposite the girls.

“Obvious it’s getting to me?” She asked.

“Is the Pope Catholic?” He asked.

He had his entire EMT kit over by ‘their’ bed, even though only one of them used it at a time since one of them was always on guard duty. He got out what he needed and closed everything else up to keep it from getting dirty, but didn’t take the time to put it back with all the other supplies.

“Sit down in front of me, let’s see the damage.” He said.

Marissa sat down with her back to him and unbuttoned the first couple of buttons of her shirt so she could bare her shoulders for the shots.

Dan felt around on her neck and shoulders where the knots usually showed, massaging a little as he went, eliciting a slight moan from Marissa.

“That feels
really
good.” She said. “Right…there…not too hard though.”

“I didn’t get a chance to do this at the fire station, sorry.” Dan said. “The girls get all ‘ewww’.”

Marissa giggled. Dan loved when she giggled, even though she said she hated the sound.

“Ok, sorry, time for shots.” Dan said.

“S’ok.” Marissa said with a sigh.

The Betadine swabs and alcohol were cold again, and caused Marissa to shiver; and then there were the six shots in the neck and shoulders. When Dan was done and the needle was put away, he kissed her on the nape of the neck and said, “There, all better.”

That caused another shiver, actually more of a shudder that went from her shoulders to her hips, and Dan could see the goose bumps on the exposed flesh of her neck and upper back. That was one of the things he’d always loved about her, that she was so responsive to his touch. He leaned forward and softly kissed her neck and shoulders as he reached around to hug her from behind.

It had been a long time—since just before Danny had died. It hadn’t been on purpose, it had just…happened. The time hadn’t been right, or one or the other of them hadn’t been in the mood. Something had just always gotten in the way.

Today, though, things were finally looking up. They were finally, somehow, seemingly against all odds able to
relax
.

As he kissed the side of her neck, she turned her head to face him and they kissed; for the first time in months they really kissed. Like they had when they were dating in college and the hormones were raging and they were afraid they were going to get caught by his or her roommates and then, it was
their
bed again.

…

They were cuddled together as it was getting dark, enjoying each other’s company like they hadn’t been able to do since they left the neighborhood—but if they were honest, like they hadn’t done in months.

“I hate to ruin the moment,” Dan said, “but one of us is going to have to get up and stand watch for the first shift. We pass people on the road every day now, and we’re never more than a mile or so from anyone by the time we stop for the day.”

Marissa snuggled into him and sighed. “I know, I just didn’t realize how much I missed this until just now. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. The last time I checked it was half my fault.” He kissed her neck.

“Don’t start that again, Mr.” She giggled.

Dan smiled into her hair. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take the first shift; I want you to get some sleep.”

“In a little bit, though.”

“Ok, in a little bit.”

…

The fire was completely out and there were four still forms around the ashes. Two curled together on one side, and two separate from each other on the other side.

Three shadows crept among the still forms and their belongings, as quietly as possible, looking for things they could take without making noise or raising any alarm. It would be too noisy to take the bike with the trailer, but if they could detach the trailer then they could take all three bikes. The rifle and shotgun were next to the bikes so those they could grab easily.

Some of the backpacks would be easy to get, some would be difficult. One of the sleeping forms was holding a rifle, should they try to take it? Maybe, as the last thing they did.

They had already been in the camp for almost ten minutes and that was pushing their luck. Detach the trailer from the first bike and get going.

Who rolled the bike backwards and made the clicking noise?

…

Bekah was sleeping soundly, holding on to the empty and safe 10/22 when the sound of footsteps by her head woke her up and then she heard the sound of one of the bikes, the ‘tick-tick-tick’ sound it makes when they pedaled backwards. She opened her eyes and saw three large shadows in their campsite, and screamed.

…

Dan and Marissa had been cuddling and fallen asleep afterwards. Both had the best of intentions, and Dan had planned to get up a few minutes after they discussed needing to have a guard, but it hadn’t happened that way.

Now Bekah was screaming.

Dan opened his eyes and jumped up, and realized it was almost pitch black and there were people in camp. He didn’t have his flashlight or the shotgun, but he did have his 9mm and his first instinct wasn’t to stand there in stunned shock anymore.

He drew it and aimed at the standing figures and started shouting.

“Kids, stay down! Everyone else drop what you have and freeze!”

That would have worked if he’d had those two things he was missing, the flashlight and the shotgun. As it was, one of the shadows made a noise and then Dan was blind. They had turned on
their
flashlights—right in his face. He couldn’t see a thing. Apparently, they were expecting this and had closed their eyes, because once they turned off their flashlights there was a flurry of activity, and then the sound of the bikes being ridden off.

Dan yelled again. “Marissa, kids, are you down?”

Marissa and the girls all said yes and then Dan fired all eight rounds in the direction of the sound of the bikes since he still couldn’t actually see much of anything. There were a couple of expletives from that general direction but he was pretty sure it was more a case of fear than having actually been hit.

“DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!” He screamed.

Chapter Twenty-One

Dan took two steps towards where the bikes should have been, tripped over the trailer, and swore again. If he hadn’t emptied the 9mm already he would have fired a round heaven only knows where—which scared him even more. As he was getting up, Marissa found her flashlight and turned it on.

“Dan, are you alright?” She asked as she glanced over at the girls.

“I’m as fine as the situation will allow.” He said. “Go over and calm down Jessie and Bekah. I’m going to get a spare flashlight out of the trailer.”

With his night vision thoroughly ruined, it took what seemed like an hour, but was more like a minute, to find one of the extra firemen’s flashlights. The batteries were almost new, but the beam didn’t give him a very large field of view. He kept looking, now that he had light, for one of the more general-purpose flashlights so they could try and do an inventory of what they had.

“I left my flashlight with Bekah,” Marissa said as she came over to the trailer. “She’s loading the rifle now. It might be the only one we have left.”

Dan stopped rummaging in the trailer and closed his eyes while that sank in. “I’m half tempted to try to go after them.” He said.

“You have no idea where they went or how many more there are.” Marissa said. “For all we know there are more in the woods right now waiting for us to try to go back to sleep. Don’t you dare leave me alone right now!”

Dan sighed and grabbed her hand. “I won’t, I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated that we let this happen. I’m sorry.” He said.

“I am too,” she said and squeezed his hand. “But I’m also not. We’ll be ok.”

Dan took a deep breath and finished looking for the other flashlight he needed. “First things first, what all did they take besides the bikes?”

…

The fire was going again and providing both light and some sense of comfort. Dan was trying hard not to lose his temper, especially not in front of the girls, but it was tough.

“Both of our backpacks,” Dan said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Marissa massaged her temples. “Yes,” she said, “and the shotgun and .30-30 are definitely gone.”

“What food
didn’t
we move from the trailer to the backpacks?” Dan asked. “Anything?” Panic was warring with frustration and despair at this point. In order to make room for the bulkier items and make the journey a little more comfortable for Jessie, almost all of the food had been split between Dan and Marissa’s backpacks.

“Ketchup,” Marissa said, “the remainder of the chocolate, which is more of a melted and re-melted blob, and probably two pounds of rice and some seasonings that were in the box with the ketchup.”

Dan’s jaw was going to be sore in the morning from all the clenching he was doing to keep his mouth shut, and he was sure he sounded like a bull from breathing though his nose, but he didn’t know any other way to keep from blowing a gasket. Once he had his breathing under control he asked the first thing that came to mind.

“How much 9mm and .22 do we have left?” Dan asked. “Did we have any in the backpacks?”

“All of it was in the trailer.” Marissa said.

Dan walked around the fire to the trailer to reload his magazine since they didn’t have extras for either of their handguns, and he hadn’t taken the time to do it yet since the raid. He needed something tedious and this would be just the thing since he was bad at it and it would require him to concentrate on the task at hand.

“Dan,” Marissa said while he was digging out a box of ammunition.

“Rissa, I just need a few minutes.” Dan said. “Just give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be ok.”

“Fine,” she said, “but don’t check out on me. I need you
here
.”

“I won’t, I just need a couple of minutes.”

Marissa was fairly certain Dan wouldn’t do anything rash, like eat a bullet, so she went to comfort the girls while Dan pulled himself together. It didn’t take him a full two minutes, but it did seem like a long time while she waited.

“As near as I can tell, the park is still another twenty or twenty-five miles away.” Dan said when he came and sat down where Marissa was sitting with the girls. “We can’t make the same kind of time we were making before. In fact, I have no idea how fast we’ll be able to move on foot.”

“Five miles a day is five days.” Marissa said.

“If we can make five miles a day,” Dan said. “And we probably have enough food for that. Three miles a day is eight days…and we’re going to need more food at that rate.”

Marissa nodded.

“I’ll hunt,” Bekah said.

“I know you will, sweetie,” Dan said with a forced smile, “and given your track record so far we’ll be eating well all the way there. I have no doubt you’ll hit it if there’s anything to shoot. Having something to shoot at may be the problem and we can’t always count on that, though.”

“Oh,” Bekah said.

“You girls need to go to sleep now, though, and Daddy is going to take watch for a while.” Dan said. “You too, hon,” he said to Marissa. “I’m up, and I was planning on first watch anyway.”

Marissa gave him a questioning look and he responded. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I wouldn’t leave you unprotected. I may not be the best guard in the world but I’m better than that.”

“I didn’t…” Marissa started.

“Go to sleep,” Dan said. “It’s ok.”

…

“We need to stop, Dan,” Marissa said.

“I’m ok,” he panted, “I can make it a little further. Besides, we’ve barely gone three miles today.”

“You can’t go any further today!” Marissa snapped. “Neither can the girls.”

Marissa had actually been carrying Jessie for the last quarter mile and Dan hadn’t even noticed because he’d been so intent on pulling the trailer. He had re-done the rope sling a half dozen times during the day to try and find something at least usable and less likely to cause the trailer tongue to stab him in the back or drag in the dirt if he stopped.

Currently, the tow bar was removed and tied to the top of the trailer and he was using two loops of their traded rope, one around each shoulder. The trick was to keep moving so the ropes stayed taut and the attachment point stayed out of the dirt or off the road, whichever they were walking on.

Dan stopped and let the ropes go slack and the trailer ground to a halt behind him. He turned around to see his wife holding their youngest on her hip and Bekah bent over with her hands on her knees.

“We aren’t stopping often enough,” Marissa said, “even for as slow as we’re going. You’re pulling everything we had before by hand, and going up that first hill almost killed you this morning.”

Now that Dan was stopped he realized he didn’t have the extra energy for talking and just nodded.

“Then, going
down
that same hill almost killed us all,” she said, “literally.”

Dan couldn’t let that one go and had to respond. “Ok, ok,” he panted. “Lesson learned. I go behind the cart and I let it pull me down the hill. It really didn’t look that steep though.”

“Fine, fair point, but we’re out of water now and we’ve been plodding along all day and it’s got to be 90 degrees out here.” Marissa said. “We need to stop for the day and recover if we’re going to get anywhere tomorrow. We can’t get stuck for two or three days in one place because we overdid it.”

“Ok,” Dan said. “From the map there’s a tributary from the river and a bridge up ahead. Obviously we don’t want to camp too close to the river because we don’t want any more company.”