Stealing Second (The Amendments Book One 1) (8 page)

I felt foolish riding the little bike, as I’
m sure Cathy did; but we were soon out of town and as small as they were, they beat walking. The narrow highway followed a creek meandering through small wooded areas and slicing through knee-high fields of corn. We pedaled at a slow but steady pace. Violet seemed to be enjoying herself. I caught her smiling a few times, and I began to suspect that her condition had more to do with some type of trauma than some type of birth defect. Far up ahead in the distance, a great plume of black smoke billowed high up into the air.

I rode next to Cathy for a while. “I hope you don’t mind me asking,” I said, quietly. “Violet isn’t like the other kids, is she?”

Cathy’s eyes flashed with anger, but only for a moment. She shook her head. “Violet has seen a lot bad things in her life. She has her own way of dealing with reality.”

I nodded, but I was still curious. “You don’t have to tell me, but what kind of things are you talking about?”

“Terrible things, Gary, things she saw when she was with her father.”

“Like what?”

Cathy looked as if she were about to fill me in, but she simply shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t talk about it, not now. Trust me, you don’t want to know. That poor girl has been to hell and back. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?”

“Sure,” I said. “I wasn’t trying to pry.”

“I know you weren’t. Maybe I’ll tell you some other time. Now isn’t that time.”

“Whatever works for you, I’m here if you need someone to listen.”

We continued our journey in silence. Clouds appeared in the west and lazily drifted over us. They were a welcome site as the temperature had climbed somewhere close to ninety degrees. A green pickup truck suddenly appeared from around a sharp curve in the road. The truck was upon us before we had time to react, and Cathy and I exchanged a worried look. Fifty feet away, the rusty Ford pickup slowed to a stop. I was relieved to see an older couple inside. The driver stepped out of the truck and crossed his arms as we approached. We pedaled up to him and stopped. “Hi,” I said. “How are you?” I didn’t know what else to say.

The man was thin and wore a white cotton t-shirt under a pair of faded bibbed overalls.
He was mostly bald with just a fringe of short white hair. I placed him somewhere in his early sixties. He turned to the open window of the Ford. “He wants to know how we are,” he said, amusedly. He then returned his attention to me. “We just left Mason,” he said in a gruff voice. “It’s gone.”

I pointed at the faraway plume of smoke. “
That must be Mason,” I said. “What the hell happened?”

The old man spat at the asphalt and chuckled. He then turned to face what I assumed to be his wife. “He wants to know what happened
to Mason,” he said.

“What happened?” she asked, angrily. “I’
ll tell you what happened: those goddamn little airplanes bombed it! What the hell did we do to deserve this? Has everyone lost their minds?”

The old man turned to face me. “I wouldn’t go that way if I were you. The National Guard was arresting anyone who wasn’t killed. You folks should turn around and head to Thistle. You’ll be safe there. We’ve got a plan.”

Cathy coughed and I shot her a look. “Thank you,” I said, “but we’re heading over to Pine City. My family is there.”

“You’ll never make it,” said the old guy. “There are roadblocks on all the bridges crossing the interstate. Far
as we know, the National Guard is arresting anyone who tries to get across. Least, that’s what we heard,” he then got back inside his pickup truck and closed the door. “I’m sorry. I wish we had better news for you. If you have to make it to Pine City, I’d steer clear of Mason.”

The old man wished us luck
as he slowly drove away. Violet began pedaling and Cathy followed her. I began to have serious reservations about our chances of making it out to the farm. To get there, we would have to cross the freeway. If what the old man was saying were true, we would have to jump the fence and cross against the traffic. We could do that, but we would have to cross under the cover of darkness and only as a last resort. I began to pedal after Cathy.

I hated riding the little bike
, and my knees were already beginning to ache. The revolver in my belt had chafed the skin on my back and the spot burned. I hadn’t pedaled a hundred yards when I became aware of a buzzing sound. Cathy turned her head to look at me as the sound grew in intensity. She and Violet were just ahead of me and were nearly at the sharp corner in the road. The road cut through a grove of trees and I waved her into them. “Get off the road!” I shouted. By that time, the buzzing sounded as if it were almost on top of us. I glanced back at the green pickup, which was just a small dot on the horizon.

Cathy and
Violet dismounted and quickly wheeled their bikes down into the ditch. I joined them a few seconds later. After unstrapping the duffel bags from the handlebars, we dropped the bikes in the tall weeds and jogged for cover under a tall canopy of oaks. We had no sooner dropped to our knees when we spotted the drone. The little plane was flying high in the sky and seemed to be following the highway behind the green Ford, and Cathy gasped as it bore down on the unsuspecting couple. Suddenly, something began to whistle and I looked up to see a jet stream looping down from the sky. The missile took only a few seconds to reach the pickup. I’m sure the old couple never knew what hit them. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

“Dear Lord,” moaned Cathy.

I watched as the drone flew over the burning pickup, and I was about to say something when I felt a presence behind us. I had no idea what it was, but I pulled my revolver from out of my waistband and spun around. I found myself staring into the muzzle of a shotgun. “Don’t shoot,” said a man’s voice. “Just get away from the goddamn road. You’re going to give us away!”

Chapter 6

Cathy let out a small cry as she turned to see the gun, but the man quickly dropped the barrel and motioned for us to follow him deeper into the woods. With the drone still buzzing menacingly in the distance, we rose to our feet and ran after him. He didn’t run far, perhaps fifty yards, before he disappeared behind a tangle of downed tree limbs. We found him waiting on the other side, holding open a trap door.

“Hurry,” he said, sweeping us over and down into the hole. “Those things have infrared cameras.”

Cathy turned to me for approval and I nodded my head. I followed her down a crude set of stairs and into a dugout, which roughly twice the size of my bedroom at the apartment. An electric lantern cast light on a tapestry of roots woven into the earthen walls. The man followed me down and slammed the hatch down behind him. He was ruggedly handsome with broad shoulders and thick brown hair that was parted in the middle and hung to his shoulders. He was dressed in camouflage cargo shorts and a matching tank top over combat boots.

“Thanks,” I said. “My name is Gary.”

He gave me a wary look before leaning his gun against the wall. He shook my hand. “I’m Todd,” he said, dryly. “I hope like hell that drone didn’t spot you people. We’ll be dead in a few seconds if it did.”

I turned to face Cathy. She stood with
Violet tucked into her arms and she stared up at the plywood ceiling, which hung about ten feet above us. We waited for a long minute before she spoke. “Thank you,” she said to Todd. “My name is Cathy and this is my daughter, Violet.”

Todd reached over to take her hand, but instead of shaking it, Todd lifted it to his lips and he kissed the back of it. “A pleasure to meet the both of you,” he said
. “You’ll have to excuse the mess; I wasn’t expecting company.”

I felt a sharp pang of jealousy as he released Cathy’s hand. She smiled, but she held Todd’s eyes in her own. I pretended not to notice and turned away. The dugout was furnished with secondhand furniture and appeared to be well organized. One wall was lined with long shelves brimming with canned foods and other supplies. The floor was
level and covered in green indoor/outdoor carpeting. A queen-sized bed sat on one end of the dugout and a kitchen table sat near the stairs, complete with four mismatched chairs. Behind the table was a gun rack. I counted seven rifles standing there, two of which were illegal assault-style weapons. I sat down at the table.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” said Todd to Cathy, completely ignoring me. “
I know it isn’t much, but it beats the hell out of a FEMA camp or being shot by a drone. I’d leave the door open, but the mosquitoes would eat us alive. Did you know those people in the truck?”

“We had just met them,” said Cathy, who had released her grip on
Violet. “Why don’t you go sit down by Gary,” she whispered. “Don’t worry, we’re safe here.”

“That’s right,” said Todd as
Violet sat next to me. “But I’ve got to ask you something: what in the hell were you doing out there? Are you nuts? In case nobody told you, we’re at war, man. President Brown declared martial law. Anyone caught out of their homes is either being shot on sight or if they’re lucky, they’re being arrested and hauled out to a FEMA camp.”

“We hadn’t heard that,” I said.

Todd turned to look at me and he shook his head. “Well, now you know what we’re up against. Do you mind if I ask where you were going?”

“Gary is going to Pine City,” said Cathy. “
Violet and I were just following him. We don’t have anywhere to go.”

I felt my face flush as she said that. Until Todd had kissed Cathy’s hand, I hadn’t given much thought to how I felt about Cathy. I now realized that I was starting to have feelings for her. I felt that what she had just said to our host was a betrayal of those feelings. I turned away and thought about the gold and cash I had buried back at the campground. Thinking about my treasure helped me survive the moment. I looked around and thought if Cathy preferred staying with Todd, I wasn’t about to stand in the way. Once things returned to normal, I wouldn’t have any trouble finding a date.

“Pine City,” said Todd, scratching his chin. “I don’t know, that’s pretty risky, I wouldn’t advise it. I don’t have a lot, but you people are welcome to stay. To be honest with you, I could really use the company.”

I shook my head. “
My family is there,” I said. “I’ve got to make it out there. How many miles are we from there?”

Todd stared up at the ceiling and scratched his head. “I’m guessing it’s about forty miles. That may not sound like much, but it’s a pretty good piece of road with those damn drones flying around. You’d be safer here.”

“Thanks,” I said, “but no thanks. I promised my folks that I’d make it out there.”

Todd turned to Cathy. “I hope you don’t plan on following him. Do you want to get your daughter killed?”

Violet rose from the table and rushed back into her mother’s arms. She buried her head in her shoulder and shook her head. “I don’t want to die, mommy,” she whimpered.

Cathy stoked the back of her head, but she was looking at me. “I’m sorry, Gary,” she said. “Todd is right, we’ll be safer here. Maybe you should wait it out for a few days? What could it hurt?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I promised.”

Todd held up his hands. “Look,” he said. “You can do whatever you like. I’m not going to stop you, but I won’t let you leave until dark. The roads aren’t safe, not even for bicycles. I’m going back out there and drag your bikes up into the woods.
You guys can hash things out. I’ll be back in two minutes.”

I looked at Cathy, but her gaze was fixated on Todd. “There’s nothing to hash out,” she said. “Hold on, I’ll join you,” she turned to me. “Would you mind keeping an eye on
Violet?” she asked. “We’ll be right back.”

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. Inwardly, I was madder than a hornet at being tossed over for someone she had only known for five minutes. Cathy smiled and raced after Todd. Daylight spilled inside the dugout, but all too soon we were plunged back into the dim light of the lantern.

“You should stay with us,” said Violet.

I looked at her as she returned to the table. She had barely spoken to me since we’d met and I wondered if was starting to come out of her shell. “What would you do if your mom w
as waiting for you to come home?” I asked.

Violet
stared at me with green eyes that matched her mother’s. I was relieved to see that there was finally a spark of life in them. “I would keep going,” she said, “but I’m just a kid. You’re a grownup. You can do whatever you want.”

I shook my head and smiled. “Not really,” I said. “My mom worries just as much about me as your mom does about you. That doesn’t change when you become a grownup. Sorry to bust your bubble, kid.”

Violet smiled at that and it warmed my heart. I wanted to reach over and give her a hug. “Then you have to keep going,” she said. “I understand, but I wish you didn’t have to go. You’re a nice man and I think my mom really likes you.”

I pointed to the door. “I think your mom likes Todd a little better.”

“I don’t. I think he’s being too nice, don’t you?”

I stared at her for a long moment as I thought about that. I honestly didn’t know what to think.
I was already starting to make plans inside my head that didn’t include Cathy or Violet. I thought of how much easier it would be for me to cross the interstate and make it out to the farm, alone. Did I really care what happened to Cathy after I was gone? I hadn’t even known her for a full day. I didn’t know, but I did care for the girl seated next to me. “Maybe,” I said, “but some people are just overly friendly. That man has been out here all by himself. Maybe he is just lonely.”