AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2) (20 page)

     Neither women wanted their men to leave on this mission. But they knew that it would be a big help to the people in San Antonio. And bringing back Hannah and the girls would strengthen their group. Having Hannah standing by when Sara gave birth could prevent a tragedy if there were complications.

     As the truck idled behind them, the group joined hands and said a brief prayer. Then there were final hugs and a couple of kisses, and Tom climbed back into the driver’s seat. Scott got into the passenger seat.
Scott wanted and needed to learn how to drive the rig, in case something happened to Tom and he had to drive it back. They would swap out the first time they stopped for a restroom break. But by that time, they’d be on the relatively straight road beneath the towers. That would be the best place for a rookie driver to get some behind the wheel experience. Not on the tight twists and turns between the compound and the towers.

     Scott got on the walkie.

     “Jordan, any activity out there?”

    
Jordan hadn’t taken his eyes off the monitors.

     “All clear, Dad.”

     Joyce hopped on the Bobcat and dragged the two mesquite trees blocking the end of the drive out of the way, and Tom eased the rig out of the driveway and onto the dirt road. And they never looked back.

     As Tom
drove slowly toward the power lines, Joyce put the trees back in place, and the group somberly reassembled behind Jordan at the security console. On the monitors, they followed the truck’s progress. No one said a word.

     Finally, they watched the rig as it pulled onto the paved road beneath the towers and headed south. They followed it until it disappeared from view in the darkness.

     Scott called in.

     “Radio check. How do you read me,
Jordan?”

     “Loud and clear, Dad.”

     “Good. Just a reminder, we’ll lose radio contact in a little while. On our way back, though, we’ll try to raise you every few minutes until we get back into range.”

     “10-4. And Dad…

     “Be careful. I love you.”

     “I love you too, son.”

     Linda had to turn away. She didn’t want Jordan to see the tears in her eyes.

-41
-

     The trip down the mountain was mostly silent. Tom and Scott made occasional small talk, or Tom explained some of the gauges on the control panel, or how the air brake system worked, or a few other things Scott would need to know once he took the wheel.

     But mostly they just watched for signs of trouble as the big rig cruised down the blacktop.

     The road was only twelve feet wide. If there was something blocking the road, there wasn’t room to go around it without leaving the pavement. But that shouldn’t be a problem, since there were twelve feet of gravel shoulder on each side.

     About an hour in, Tom asked Scott if he was ready to take the wheel.

     “I have to step out to take a leak, so this would be a good time to make the change.”

     “Sounds good to me. I’m ready.”

     Scott took his place in the driver’s seat while Tom urinated against the back wheels of the tractor.

     “Okay, you can skip first gear and start out in second. When we drop the trailer and head
back, you can start out in third. It works more or less like any other vehicle, until you get to the higher gears. But we’ll stay off of those for now. You ready?”

     “Yep.”

     “Okay. Pull out the yellow knob to release your air brake and let’s go.”

     They’d planned for the worst and hoped for the best. Tom held an AR-15 rifle, locked and loaded, at the ready in case there was any sign of trouble. Occasionally he looked over and gave Scott a tip, or made a comment on his driving. But so far Scott was doing quite well. The only problem he seemed to have was skipping an occasional gear. The shifter had a very tight shift pattern, and it was easy to do, even for experienced truckers. And it was minor. He never killed the truck, only made it chug a couple of times while it worked its way back up to speed.

     They made it down the mountain and into San Antonio without incident. They’d seen a couple of dead bodies along the way. The smell sucked in by the truck’s air vents made it obvious that they’d been decomposing for awhile. Scott wondered how they’d been killed so far away from town.

     It was as though Tom read his mind.

     “Maybe it was hunters, coming back with game, who got shot and robbed of their kill. Or maybe they were just trying to find a better place and collapsed from hunger or exhaustion.”

     “Yes, I suppose.”

     “In any event, their concerns are over. May God have mercy on their souls.”

     As they neared Scott’s old neighborhood, Scott asked Tom if he had the time. Tom had tried to reset the clock on the tractor’s console, but it was forever frozen at 11:47. A casualty of the EMP that hit at that exact time of morning several months before.

     “Eleven twenty. How far away are we?”

     “Maybe ten minutes. I’m going to slow my speed a bit so we don’t get there too early.”

     Twenty minutes later, Scott slowly left the paved road and turned east, into a large field of wild grass and scrub bushes.

     “This thing won’t get stuck, will it?”

     “As long as the ground is dry and relatively flat, it’ll be fine. If there’s any big ditches along the way, let me know now.”

     “No, it’s flat the rest of the way. And I don’t trust myself to try to back this thing to the fence. Would you mind?”

     Tom smiled.

     “Not at all. You’ll have to get out of the truck and spot me, though.”

     “That’s a deal.”

     When they came to Scott’s neighborhood, he recognized his back fence from the shape of the houses. He aimed the truck at his fence, then swung it around in a huge arc.

     Then he put it in neutral, applied the air brake, took a deep breath and stepped outside.

     Tom walked around the truck and climbed back into the driver’s seat.

     “Okay, stay on this side of the truck, but far enough back to where you can see both sides of the back end. Use hand signals only. Don’t yell. And keep looking at my mirror. You’ll have to move back and forth, side to side, to keep my face in the mirror. If you can’t see my face, then I can’t see you.”

     “Got it.”

     Tom nailed the backing on the first try, and stopped about six feet from the fence.

     He stepped out of the rig, took the other AR-15 rifle, and joined Scott at the back of the truck. Each of them took a post, watching in opposite directions, for signs of trouble.

     And they waited.

-42
-

     John was nothing if not prompt. At just before midnight, Scott heard the patio door on the back of the house slide open. He heard John’s voice, and some others as well.

     John asked in a loud whisper, “Scott, are you there?”

     “We’re here, John.”

     Scott heard John talking to someone else in his back yard.

     “Okay, you guys stand over there. Don’t get close. I’m going to take this section of fence off and put it to the side. Then I’ll stand back and I want you guys to go through the fence to my friends on the other side, okay?”

     It broke Scott’s heart when he heard a little girl’s voice ask, “I’m going to miss you, Daddy. Can I give you just one hug before we go?”

     “I’m sorry, honey. We can’t take that risk. How about if you blow me lots of kisses and we’ll save the hugs for when you come back someday.”

     “I love you, Daddy.”

     “I love you too, Sugar.”

     John slid open the sliding bolts that held the section of fence into place. Then he dragged it aside and backed up until he was in the middle of the yard.

     Scott took off his night vision goggles so he didn’t frighten the girls. Tom kept his on and maintained watch.

     A striking woman came through the fence, carrying a suitcase in each hand. She stopped in front of Scott. He couldn’t see in the darkness, but her face was wet from tears.

     “Hi. I’m Hannah.”

     “Hi, Hannah. I’m Scott. This is my good friend Tom.”

     Hannah looked at Tom and he nodded.

     “How many more bags do you have?”

     “Only three more. I’ll get them. It’s probably better if you stay as far away as possible from John.”

     Scott took the first two bags and carried them to the door of the sleeper cab. He shoved them inside, and then crawled into the sleeper so he could stack them out of the way.

     He turned around to see Hannah, lifting the other bags into the doorway for him.

     Scott stacked all five of the bags on the end of the bunk and climbed back outside.

     “The accommodations aren’t that great, but it’s only for a couple of hours.”

     Scott
took over watch from Tom, and Tom disconnected the air hose from the trailer and cranked down its legs. Then he pulled the pin to disconnect the tractor from the trailer.

     Scott
returned to the rear of the trailer, where for the first time he saw two girls, one fourteen and one eleven. They were standing next to Hannah looking forlornly at their father, on the other side of the fence about twenty feet away.

     Scott waved at John.

     John waved back and said, “I wish I could come and shake your hand. But that’ll have to wait for another time.”

     “Looking forward to it, John.”

     “Thank you again, Scott. I know I can never repay you for this…”

     “You can repay me by getting better so the next time I see you we can shake hands and sit down and have a drink together.”

     “Okay, that’s a deal.”

     Hannah and the girls said goodbye to John from afar, blowing him kisses and air hugs, and telling him they loved him.

     Then they crawled into the sleeper cab. The curtain that divided the cab from the sleeper was open, and the girls watched as Tom took the wheel and Scott climbed into the passenger seat.

     Scott put his night vision goggles back on. It was still dark, since the fuse for the interior light had been removed. But Misty, the youngest, was able to make out the goggles in the moonlight.

     “Mom, why are they wearing those weird masks?”

     “It helps them see in the dark, honey. So they can drive safer.”

     Tom put the tractor into gear and eased forward until he was clear of the trailer. Then he slowly drove back to the power lines.

     In the passenger side mirror, Scott could see several uniformed national guardsmen open the trailer and climb aboard it to start unloading the cargo.

     He turned toward Hannah and said, “I know it’s dark back there. I’m sorry. It’s going to be about two hours or so before we get to the compound. If you want to sleep, we’ll wake you up when we arrive. If you don’t feel like sleeping, I put some flashlights under the bed pillows, and some kid’s books for the girls. The portable television and DVD player work. They were protected from the solar storm and we installed them yesterday. We brought
Lion King
and
Lilo
and Stitch
.

     Misty immediately cried out, “You brought
Lion King?
” and it suddenly dawned on Scott that these young girls had done without the simplest joys in their lives for more than half a year.

     He turned toward Misty and said, “Yes, ma’am. And even something better. If you look in that top drawer, you’ll find a box of Twinkies, just for you guys.”

     He said, “With your Mom’s permission, of course.” Then he looked at Hannah, and could see tears well up in her eyes as she shook her head yes. Scott wondered just how long it was since she’d seen her youngest smile.

     Hannah put her hand on Scott’s shoulder.

     “You guys sure know how to soften a sorrowful goodbye. Thank you for bringing us along.”

     Scott said, “It’s our pleasure. I’m just sorry we couldn’t bring John as well.”

     “He wouldn’t have come, even if he hadn’t been exposed. He’s trying to save the city, him and a handful of others. When this thing is finally done, I hope they erect a statue to John and the other officers and firefighters who are out there each and every day saving lives and convincing people there’s a reason to hang on.