Bug Out! Part 5: RV Flight from Terror (10 page)

“Is the system still up?” Jane asked.

“It appears to be,” Frank said. The view from the first camera displayed on the screen. It was the back view, by the blind. Frank got a grim look on his face. He cycled through the cameras.

“What are you seeing?” Jane asked.

“The tank in the back is blown up, and there are bodies everywhere,” Frank said.

“Theirs or ours?” Jane asked.

“Both, from what I can tell. It’s a little dark.” He continued to cycle through the pictures. Every view showed some kind of carnage. Then he got to the view of the front gate, and stopped. He looked closely at the screen, and then shut down the computer.

“What?” Jane asked. Frank had tears in his eyes.

“You don’t want to know,” Frank said.

“Don’t treat me that way, dammit. What did you see?”

“There are heads on spikes by the front gate. They moved the camera to give a better view. They knew somebody would be looking.” Frank closed the lid on the laptop.

“Oh, no. Did you recognize anybody?”

“Yes,” Frank said.

“Who?”

“The General. Major Hobbs. The Doc.”

Jane started crying.

“Oh, my God,” she said between sobs. “I thought they were going to get out of there.”

“They probably couldn’t. They killed a lot of the bad guys. I saw more Islamists littering the ground than our boys. I’m going to go out and tell the others. Don’t look at it. Trust me.”

“I’m going with you,” Jane said. “I don’t want to be by myself.”

They got up and headed for the door. Lucy got up and wagged her tail, but she was turning her head to the side as she watched them crying. She knew something was wrong, and she was trying to understand.

“We should take her,” Frank said. “She’s our eyes and ears.”

Jane nodded and put her on the leash. They went outside. Jerry was just walking over.

“You want to check out the park?” Jerry asked.

“No,” Frank said. “I just did. It’s not something we should be showing the others…especially the women.”

“Bad, huh?” Jerry asked. “I was afraid of that. A lot of damage? A lot of bodies?”

“It’s way beyond that. There were heads on spikes. Our friend’s heads. The bastards focused the camera right onto it. They knew somebody would be looking.”

“Oh shit,” Jerry said.

“Hey, guys, here comes the Sheriff,” Jeb shouted from up on his roof.

Frank and Jerry looked up, and Charlie ran over from his coach.

“Uh oh, he’s seen some action,” Jeb said, following the coach with his binoculars. “The side of his rig is all shot up, and his engine is smoking. He’s going through the gate now. We’d better get over there.”

Jeb climbed off the roof
of his rig as quickly as he could, and ducked into it to grab his hunting rifle. Then he jogged over to the front gate with Frank and Jane, followed by Jerry and Jasmine. Charlie and Hilda came running out of their rig and followed too. Lucy was barking and looking around.

“Does Lucy see something?” Jeb asked, trying to scan the area as they ran.

“Don’t know,” Frank said. “She might just be nervous because we’re nervous.”

The Sheriff’s rig pulled to a stop just inside the gate, and lurched as the engine shut off. Kurt and Mary were running over. Jeb got to the door of the rig first and pulled it open. The Sheriff was at the door, holding his left hand, which was covered in blood.

“Sheriff, you alright?” Jeb said.

“My hand’s a little messed up, and I’m pissed,” he said. He climbed out. He saw Mary coming over and smiled. “Mary! Boy are you a sight for sore eyes.”

“Let me look at that hand,” she said, with a concerned look on her face.

Terry came out of the coach, helping Jackson. Earl followed them. They were all holding weapons.

“I think Jackson’s in worse shape than I am,” the Sheriff said. “My hand isn’t bad…..flesh wound between my thumb and forefinger. I don’t think I lost any bone.”

“Okay, let’s all get into the clubhouse where it’s light,” Mary said. The Deputy and Jackson hobbled over, with the Sheriff and Mary beside them, and Earl bringing up the rear, looking around warily with his gun in his hand. The others got behind them and followed.

“I’m glad to see you guys,” Jeb said. “What happened out there?”

“Let’s wait until we get inside,” Kurt said. Jeb nodded. Mary got to the door first, and reached in for the light switch. The room lit up brightly. It was a nice rustic room with pine paneling all the way around, and rows of benches. The kitchen was on one end and a large stage was on the other. Everybody sat down. Mary walked over to Jackson.

“Lay down on this table, while I go get my bag,” she said to Jackson. She rushed out of the room, heading towards the residence next door.

“I’ll get some coffee going,” Kurt said. He went into the kitchen.

“Honey, I’m going to go get Mom,” Jasmine said to Jerry. “I don’t want her out there by herself.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jerry said. “We need to have our guns with us, too.” Jasmine nodded.

Frank, Jane, Charlie, and Hilda gathered around the Sheriff.

“Where’d you get hit?” asked Charlie.

“Way too close to here,” the Sheriff said. “It was in Goblin Valley.”

“Oh, shit,” Jeb said. “Any of them survive?”

“Not that I could see,” he said. “Earl and Terry saved our butts. There was only one vehicle….a pickup truck. They tried to force us off the road.”

“Did you run them off the road?” Frank asked. The Sheriff nodded at Earl.

“I lobbed a grenade into the back of the pickup,” Earl said, grinning. “They tried to grab it and throw it out, but it went off. Blew the gas tank. Nobody survived. I’m pretty sure of that.”

“I’m glad you got your head together before that attack happened,” the Sheriff said. “I was worried about you.”

“Oh, I just bumped my noggin,” Earl said. “I’ve still got a little bit of a headache, but I’m alright…and by the way, a lot of the credit belongs to Terry.”

The Deputy grinned at Earl and nodded.

“Yeah, Terry earned his wings with this one,” the Sheriff said. “I’m proud of you, boy.”

“Thanks, uncle,” Terry said. “I’m not so scared anymore.”

“A taste of action helps with that,” Jeb said. “So Earl, who hit you guys when you lost your rig?”

“Four trucks full of morons,” he said. “We knocked out three of them, but then I lost control of my rig. Dammit.”

“One truck got away, huh,” Jeb said. “The one that attacked the Sheriff’s rig?”

“I’m pretty sure it was,” Earl said.

“Well maybe that’s good,” Frank said. “Maybe they were only up this far chasing you guys. Maybe there isn’t a larger force up here.”

“That truck had a radio antenna on it,” the Sheriff said. “I’m not so sure we’re safe here for very long. All they have to do is ask towns people where the RV Park is.”

Mary came back into the room with a large black back and a large plastic first aid box.

“You might want to take a look at Earl, too,” Jane said. “He had a concussion, according to the Sheriff. He seems alright now, but we should be sure.”

“Come here, Earl,” Mary said. He walked over. She pulled out a small flashlight. “Let’s see your eyes.”

Earl sat down and she held each of his eyes open and looked closely.

“Looks like you are alright. I’ll bet you have a headache.”

“A little,” he said.

“How long ago did this happen?”

“It’s been several hours now.”

“Do you have a wound on your head?”

“Just a little goose egg in the back.” Mary felt it.

“Not too bad. Okay, don’t go to sleep too early,” she said. “We’ll keep an eye on you.”

“I’m too wound up to go to sleep anytime soon,” Earl said.

Mary smiled at him. “Alright, what’s up with your other friend, Sheriff?”

“Jackson,” the Sheriff said. “He’s got a gash on his leg. It quit bleeding at least.”

“Let’s have a look,” she said. Jackson struggled to get his pants off as she walked over

“I can just cut those off,” Mary said.

“No way, I had to leave a lot of my clothes in my rig when I got the blowout. Can’t afford to lose anything else now.”

“Okay, Jackson,” Mary said. She got close and looked. “This isn’t too bad. You’re lucky. How did it happen?”

“When Earl’s rig went sideways, we got tossed around a little. I hit something sharp.”

“Well, you boys are lucky,” she said. “This is going to sting a little bit.” She had a squeeze bottle of alcohol in her hand. She held open the wound and squirted, cleaning it out. Jackson grimaced.

“How does it look?” Earl asked.

“He doesn’t even need stitches. I can close this up with some butterflies.”

“Good,” Jackson said.

“You need help?” Rosie asked as Jerry helped her through the door. “I nurse.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Why don’t you close up Jackson’s wound with these butterflies while I take a look at the Sheriff’s hand?”

“I do,” Rosie said. Jerry pulled out the bench next to the table that Jackson was laying on, and she sat down and got to work.

“This is a bullet wound, isn’t it?” Mary asked. He nodded.

“Went clean through. I think it missed the bone.”

“Yes, it did, barely. This has got to hurt,” she said.

“It does,” he said. “But just looking at you makes me feel better. It’s been too long.” He grinned.

“Hey, no flirting with my woman, you old lecher,” Kurt said, walking in from the kitchen. He laughed. “I’m so glad you made it, old friend.”

“You and me both,” the Sheriff said. “Sorry for the mess.”

“How bad is your rig?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t know yet,” the Sheriff said. “I can live with the bullet holes, but something was making the engine smoke quite a bit.”

“Was it still running alright?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, actually, it felt normal all the way here. Terry told me about the smoke. I couldn’t see it in the mirrors.”

“We’ll take a look at her,” Jeb said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“One of your slides might not work, on the driver’s side,” Jerry said. “That’s where most of the bullet holes are.”

“I don’t care too much about that, as long as it’s road worthy. I don’t think we’re going to want to stick around here for long, and we’re already down two coaches.”

“Who lost coaches?” asked Kurt.

“Jackson had a blowout shortly before we got into Capitol Reef, and Earl’s rig was attacked. It’s laying on its side way back by Boulder.”

“Oh,” Kurt said. “There are a couple of extra rigs here, and both of them run. If we need to leave, let’s take them.”

“You have extra rigs?” the Sheriff asked.

“Yeah, I picked them up cheap. I rent them out. They’ve both been gone through recently, in prep for this non-event of a season.” He laughed. “I even put new tires on them.”

Mary finished cleaning out the Sheriff’s wound, and wrapped it with a bandage.

“We’re going to have to keep an eye on this,” she said. “Same with Jackson’s leg.”

“Thanks so much for helping us,” the Sheriff said.

“Yes, seriously,” Jackson said. “You’re a life saver.”

“Glad to do it,” Mary said. She put her supplies back into her bag. “Nice job on the leg. Your name is Rosie, right?”

“Yes, thank you,” Rosie said, smiling. “I nurse in Philippines for many year.”

“Excellent. We’ll make a good team,” Mary said.

“What now?” Jerry asked.

“Did you get a look at Hilda’s park?” Charlie asked. Hilda came over close to him.

“Yes, I’m afraid I did,” Frank said.

“Oh no, what did you see?” Hilda asked.

“There was a nasty battle there. I think the buildings are alright, but our army friends are dead. The General and Major Hobbs…and the Doc too.”

“No,” Charlie said. He looked over at Hilda and she started to cry.

“George is dead?” Mary asked. “That’s awful.”

“How do you know?” Jeb asked. “You got that good a look at their bodies?”

Frank got closer to Jeb so he could speak quietly.

“Those creeps put their heads on spikes out by the front gate, and then focused a camera right on them. They knew we’d be looking.”

Jeb’s face turned red. “I’m going to take out as many of these jerks as I can. Jane didn’t see that, I hope.”

“No, I saw it and shut down the PC before she could look,” Frank said.

Jerry walked over and listened.

“What else did you see?” Jeb asked.

“Carnage everywhere. Lots of dead Islamists and dead soldiers too. The tank is blown apart back by the blinds. Bodies everywhere.”

“We got out just in time, didn’t we?” Earl asked as he walked up.

“You heard what I said too?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got good ears,” he said. “Those sick bastards.”

“We need to get back in this fight, men,” Jeb said.

“I agree,” Jerry said, “but we need to do that from a safe base, and I don’t think this is it.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Jeb asked.

“I’m suggesting that we continue to go east. Get into Colorado, and find a good base of operations. Then we go back in and create havoc.”

“What kind of havoc?” Frank asked.

“Blow up their supplies,” Jerry said. “Blow up their vehicles. Kill as many as we can. Capture weapons. Rinse and Repeat.”

“You guys could also hack their systems, I suspect,” Earl said, looking at Frank. He nodded.

“Hey, any chance you can access that DVR at the park?” Jeb asked. “We might be able to identify the mongrels who led the attack and beheaded our friends. Maybe then we can go hunting.”

“You know, that’s a damn good idea,” Jerry said. “What do you think, Frank”?

“We can certainly try,” Frank said. “The place looked deserted to me when I was cycling through the cameras earlier. If they didn’t shut down that part of the system, we should be able to go back through the video.”

“That won’t guarantee that we’ll be able to tell who we need to kill, though,” Earl said.

“I know,” Jerry said, “but it’s worth a shot at least.”

“What are you men getting ready to do?” Jane asked as she walked up with Jasmine.

“We’re going to see if we can get on the DVR at the park and see who killed our friends.”