Bug Out! Part 10: RV Race to Battle (14 page)

“You won’t, don’t you worry about that,” Scott said. “Go on, Howard.”

“So Emma shows up, locks the twins in a closet, and finds Scotty convalescing in the basement of the farm house. They have an argument, and she spills the beans about a family issue.”

“Family issue?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah, let’s just say that the twins and Scotty are more closely related than he knew about.”

“Oh,” Bailey said, mesmerized.

“What does that mean?” Kerry asked.

“Never mind, Kerry,” Scott said. “I’ll tell you later. Go on, Howard.”

“Alright,” Howard said. “So after she spills the beans, she throws her weight around. Scotty tells her that the only way she’s going to survive is if she signs the farm over to him. She doesn’t like that idea.”

“That’s for sure,” Scott said, chuckling.

“Anyway, Johnny lets it slip that she hangs around with a biker gang,” Howard said.

“Who’s Johnny?” Bailey asked.

“Oh, forgot. He’s the paramedic that stitched up Scotty,” Howard said. “An old family friend from days gone by. You ever hear of Jason Beckler?”

Bailey got a scared look on her face, but didn’t say anything.

“Johnny is related,” Scott said. “He’s straight though. Never a participant.”

“You guys knew Jason Beckler?” Bailey said, the scared look inching into excitement.

“Him, Earl Wilson, and Red Dagger were all part of our clan,” Howard said. “Scotty’s dad was the ring leader.”

“This is turning you on, isn’t it?” Scott asked, watching Bailey.

“Maybe,” she said, looking self-conscious all of a sudden. “Go on.”

“Scott asked me to let the twins out of the closet. Emma tries to fight me, but I get the keys away from her and let them loose. Emma gets tiresome, so I knock her out, and we chain her to the wall in the basement, and then plan for the arrival of her biker friends.”

The traffic on the road slowed. “Dammit,” Howard said.

“Indianapolis rush hour,” Bailey said. “Finish the story.”

“Well, there isn’t that much more to tell,” Howard said. “We had this motor home parked in the barn, which is right by the opening of the driveway back to the farm house. We laid a trap. Put cuffs on the front porch, locked Emma up there, and stripped her. We were just finishing that when we heard the Harleys coming down the road, so we ran out to the barn, got in the motor home, and waited. The bikers drove in and rushed up to porch to help Emma. We rolled the motor home out of the barn and across the driveway so they couldn’t escape.”

“Don’t forget the stragglers,” Scott said.

“Yeah, after we had things bottled up, two more bikers came along. They pulled up into the front of the driveway and we shot both of them. That got the rest of the biker’s attention. We opened up on them from the windows in the motor home. Killed all but a couple of them.”

“What was Emma doing?” Bailey asked, mesmerized.

“She was unconscious until we splattered her boyfriend’s head all over her face,” Scott said, laughing.

“Yeah,” Howard said. “So we go up to the porch, and one of the bikers had run into the house. We forced him out and then made him slit Emma’s throat. It was beautiful.”

Bailey was clearly excited now. “What about the cops?”

“They saw the two dead bikers in the driveway, right off the highway,” Howard said. “They tried to get past the motor home, and Blake shot one of them. Then the other cop shot Blake, and Kerry shot him.”

“What happened then?” she asked, eyes dilated, breath coming faster.

“Then we split,” Howard said. “You don’t want to hang around dead cops for very long.”

“Geez, that’s quite a story,” she said. “Different from what the FBI guy was saying on the news.”

“FBI?” Howard said. “Shit, why are they involved?”

“Don’t worry about it, Howie,” Scott said. “Pull off at the next off-ramp. You need some relaxation.”

“Okay, traffic is thinning out now anyway, and it’s getting dark,” he said. “Bailey here looks pretty well primed.”

She looked at him, her face a mixture of fear and lust.

***

Gabe took the off-ramp nearest the hospital, and drove down the street in the darkness. Some of the buildings were knocked down. There were military vehicles here and there, but no people walking around. A few windows showed dim light, but most of them were dark.

“Are there still people living here?” Hilda asked.

“Everybody’s probably shell-shocked,” Gabe said. “Hunkered down. I don’t blame them. I suspect it got really bad here.”

She looked around, tears rolling down her cheeks. “This was such a nice town. Wonder what’s left of my RV Park?”

“Maybe we can go out there and check before we go home,” Gabe said. “Rosie still asleep back there?”

“I wake,” Rosie said. “Too worried to sleep much.”

“We’ll be with Jeb in just a few minutes,” Hilda said.

Gabe pulled into a parking place and got out to help Hilda with Rosie. They walked through the front door to the information desk.

“Jeb Taylor?” Hilda asked.

The woman behind the counter looked on the computer monitor. “Here he is. He’s going into surgery soon. Room 323. There’s another of your people here, too. General Hogan’s been talking to us.”

“Earl,” Gabe said. “Which room is he?”

“121,” she said. “He’ll be fine. We’ll probably release him in the next day or two.”

“Good, then we can take him with us,” Hilda said.

“Let’s go,” Rosie said.

They went to the elevator and rode up to the third floor. There was a nurse’s station nearby.

“We see Jeb?” Rosie asked.

The nurse turned to them. “Family only. Any of you family?”

“I wife,” Rosie said.

“Okay, I’ll take you back. He’s going into surgery any minute now. You two can wait over there.”

Gabe and Hilda sat as the nurse helped Rosie to the room. Rosie cried when she saw him, all wired up, machines beeping around him.

“I don’t know if he’s awake or not,” the nurse said. “Don’t wake him if he’s not.”

“Is that my Rosie?” Jeb asked, his voice weak.

“I here, my love,” she said, shuffling over to his bedside. “How feel?”

“We’ll have to put off that dance tonight,” he said, trying to laugh. “Ouch.”

Rosie took his hand as the nurse left. “I so worried.”

“Oh, I know, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

“I tell them we married,” she said. “When they say family only.”

“Okay,” he said, smiling. “I like that. Maybe when I heal up, we should get hitched.”

“I like,” Rosie said. “You know. Love you so much.”

“Anybody else get hit?”

“Earl, but he not bad. He on first floor.”

“Saladin?”

“George capture. Team on way back. They throw him in dungeon.”

“Good,” Jeb said.

Rosie petted his forehead. “I proud of you.”

He smiled at her, his eyelids getting heavier. Then the attendants came in.

“Time to take him,” one of them said to Rosie.

She nodded and moved out of the way as they prepared to move him out.

“Please make it,” she muttered softly, tears rolling down her cheeks. After they left, the nurse from the front station came back and helped her over to the waiting area. Gabe and Hilda watched as she sat down.

“Was he awake?” Hilda asked.

“Yes,” she said. “We talk. I told him mission go well, and Earl here. I told him Earl not bad.”

“Good,” Hilda said. “Glad this hospital is back in operation.”

“We need to keep our eyes open,” Gabe said. “The enemy might know we have people here.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Hilda said. “When do the apps get released everywhere again?”

“Tomorrow,” Gabe said. “We’ll still be here, I reckon. Probably should see if there’s a place to bed down for the night.”

“I sleep here,” Rosie said. “Stay with man.”

“They’ll probably let you do that,” Hilda said. “If they give you any trouble about it, we can always have General Hogan make a call.”

“We see,” Rosie said. “Hope doctor good.”

“Me too,” Hilda said, glancing at Gabe, a worried look on her face.

Malcolm was at the wheel of the
Jeep Unlimited, racing down the road, nearing the Kansas RV Park. It was late, and he was tired. Kurt was in the passenger seat next to him.

“I think he finally passed out again,” Kurt said. “Got to hurt his burns laying back there. No padding at all.”

“My heart bleeds,” Malcolm said, grinning. “Hope General Hogan isn’t too easy on him.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Kurt said. “Did anybody tell you what he did to Simon Orr?”

“I just heard that he killed him with a grenade,” Malcolm said. “During a battle or something?”

“Oh, it was much worse than that,” Kurt said. “We had Simon Orr and an Islamic inbreed locked up together in Gabe’s smokehouse after they tried to take over the RV Park. The smokehouse was made out of cinder block, and had a hole in the bottom of one of the walls to push logs through. He rolled a grenade in there. Boom.”

“Really,” Malcolm said, grinning. “How diabolical.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. The funny thing was it didn’t damage the damn smoke house.”

“Probably a mess inside, though,” Malcolm said.

Saladin groaned. Malcolm and Kurt looked at each other and laughed.

“Any railroad tracks around here?” Malcolm asked.

“Ouch,” Kurt said. “Now that would be diabolical.”

“There it is,” Malcolm said, watching the Humvee turn into the driveway, followed by Jeb’s Jeep. “Hard to see your park at night. Just looks like a stand of trees.”

“Yeah,” Kurt said. I reckon that’s a good thing.

Malcolm made the turn, and George’s Jeep followed him in. They pulled up next to the clubhouse.

“Wow, look at her coming,” Malcolm said, looking at Trish in a dead run towards Jeb’s Jeep. Terry got out of the driver’s seat and ran to her.

“Young love,” Kurt said, smiling.

They both got out. Charlie walked over.

“Saladin back there?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Malcolm said.

“Good, why don’t you drive to the barn next to the trap door,” he said. “We’ll get him loaded into a cell down in the dungeon.”

“Good idea,” Malcolm said. He got back behind the wheel, watching as Kurt and Mary melted into each other’s arms. Saladin moaned again. “Shut up, or I’ll go find some speed bumps, cretin.”

Dobie, Jake, and the Sheriff were waiting by the trap door when Malcolm rolled up. He parked and got out. Dobie opened the rear gate, and the three men wrestled Saladin out. He cried out in pain.

“Damn, this guy’s pretty messed up,” the Sheriff said. “What’d you do to him?”

“He got a little well done,” Malcolm said, laughing. “Firebomb flew into his hideout. He’s lucky compared to some who were in there.”

They got him down the first flight of stairs, and over by the second trap door, which was already open. They carried him down and laid him on the cot in the front cell. General Hogan approached.

“Well well, look who we have here,” he said, grinning. “Enjoy the ride?”

Mary pushed her way past the men and headed to the cage. Kurt grabbed her arm and stopped her. “We haven’t frisked him yet, sweetie. He might have a knife or something.”

“Yeah, let’s check him out,” the Sheriff said. He searched him from top to bottom, rolling him over, causing him to cry out in pain. “Ah ha!” he said, pulling out a large ornate dagger from one of his leggings.

“Nice goose sticker,” Jake said, laughing.

“Alright, Mary, he’s clean,” the Sheriff said. “I’ll go get one of those drop lights from the workshop.”

“Thanks, Sheriff,” she said as she walked in. She shined her iPhone flashlight on him and looked at the burns, then walked out, shaking her head.

“Well?” General Hogan asked.

“He’ll be lucky to last the night,” she said. “He’s burned so badly that he’s got organ damage. I’ll bet his lungs are in bad shape too. Listen to his breathing. Hear that raspy sound?”

“Yeah, I was wondering what that was when we had him in the Jeep,” Kurt said.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do for him,” Mary said.

The Sheriff brought the drop light. “You done looking at him already?” he asked.

“He’s beyond help,” Mary said. “He’s too badly burned.”

“Put that drop light up anyway,” General Hogan said. “I’m going to take pictures and post them. I’d rather have him alive. Think we can get his eyes open again?”

“Maybe,” Mary said. “He’s delirious. I doubt if he even knows where he is at this point.”

The Sheriff hung the light on the bars and turned it on. That got Saladin’s attention, and he opened his eyes, looking at the people gathered around, sheer terror on his face.

“Perfect,” General Hogan said as he snapped several pictures with his iPhone.

Kurt walked over to Charlie. “Heard from Hilda yet?”

“Yeah, a little while ago. Jeb’s in surgery right now.”

“I hope he makes it,” Kurt said.

Mary got by his side. “How about Earl?” she asked.

“Hilda said that he’s going to be fine. They’ll probably bring him when they come back.”

***

Jerry and Jasmine walked together through the park, hand in hand.

“Oh, Jerry, I’m so glad you’re back,” she said. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I didn’t have any close calls in this one,” he said. “You guys and that web meeting were great. Most of the operation went like clockwork.”

“I’m worried about tomorrow,” Jasmine said as they got to their coach.

“Why? Because of the app release?”

“Yes, and because mom is out there, sticking out like a sore thumb,” she said.

“We can drive out there and join her in the morning if you want to, you know.”

“No,” Jasmine said. “As much as I’d like to, it’s time to lower my stress level. I
am
pregnant, remember.”

“Oh,” Jerry said. “Yeah, good point. She’s got Gabe with her. He’s a good man.”

“Yes, I know,” Jasmine said. “I’m so glad he went with them.”

***

Trish and Terry sat next to each other, on the couch in their trailer, hands together, fingers intertwined.

“You look so tired,” she said.