The Last Gallon Page 8
“Let’s hit the road guys” Mark said as everyone was gathering their things and putting them in their places. “We’ve got a long ride to Atlanta” he informed them and winked knowing damn well they should never step foot in that city if Kara could break the code. “Everyone buckled in?” he joked to which Joey and Cindy replied in unison with “Are we there yet?” Mark laughed and told them he would turn the car around if they didn’t shut up.
Chapter 12- Code broken
“Batten down the hatches” Mark announced to everyone. The Armadillo was heading toward downtown Richmond which was known to be one of the top black-market depots in the former USA. Black-market deals meant the shadiest of the shady were on-hand and the shadiest of the shady didn’t like to share or play fair with anyone, as evidenced by the destruction of 295 which would allow people to avoid the city altogether. Any passersby could quickly become new slaves or simply robbery victims if they were funnelled through a carefully controlled set of checkpoints.
Mark had paid the original toll using some gold coins that were included in his newest packet but he knew they were not in the clear. Even if the organized crime ring had given them passage, the dozens of penny-ante gangs that operated along the I-95 corridor wouldn’t give them a free pass.
“Keep an eye out for roadblocks and watch for snipers once we get downtown and the buildings get bigger” Mark warned. He learned about Richmond from a courier that had passed through his office one day. Mark overheard his conversation with his former boss telling tales of the wild city. The man said he had bought and resold several girls during his one week stay and had procured everything from military weapons to dolphin meat. If it existed it was for sale in Richmond. If it existed for sale in Richmond it was probably stolen from somewhere else very recently. The city was one of the few cities that still operated a railroad. Hundreds of tons of human and material cargo were moved to and from the city every day.
On the horizon Mark could see the black smoke that usually indicated a tire fire. Tire fires usually indicated a bandit roadblock of some sort. They would build a gauntlet of burning tires to ensure you slowed down and it would funnel you right into a kill zone for their snipers if you tried anything funny. These guys were smart, there weren’t any exits and the roadblock was set on an elevated portion of the road, there was nowhere to go but into it.
“Lock and load” Mark said as they reached the first burning pyramid of tires. Mark slowed some but tried to maintain a decent amount of speed. He kept the tires right on the edge of their grip, the squealing penetrated the cabin of the car and their burning added to the acrid smell of the burning tires. Mark weaved through the obstacles while everyone else held on for dear life. Bullets started plinking off the roof of the car as soon as it became clear that they were not going to be cooperative.
As the car rushed through a plume of black smoke there was suddenly a clearing. Two Mack trucks with jury-rigged armor were set like an arrow head with 6 men standing between them with what looked like a wooden gate. The trucks were running and it was quite clear they were going to close the gap since Mark was not going to stop. Behind him two more trucks had already closed the escape route.
“Joey, AP left then right, Cindy lay down cover fire” Mark shouted. Joey popped the turret and the two squeezed through the opening. Cindy fired Joey’s M4 at the roadblock guards and sent them scrambling while Joey fired the XM307 in anger for the first time. The round did exactly as advertised and absolutely destroyed the rig’s engine block. By the time the first round impacted Joey had already fired the second and as the Armadillo passed through the roadblock with a crash of splintering wood the second Mack truck was immobilized with the shape charged round. Cindy turned around and fired a couple bursts at the roadblock to keep the survivors pinned down but it was quite clear they wouldn’t be pursuing the car.
A bullet deflecting off the roof behind the turret sent Joey and Cindy diving into the car ungracefully. Cindy bumped her head on the grenade launcher coming down and Joey fell on top of her. “Better than dying” she said as she rubbed her head and came back with red fingers. Joey reached up and closed the turret down and then tended to her wounds. Kara turned around to check on them but realized Joey had things well under control. She nudged Mark a bit and made kissy faces at him then laughed. Mark shook his head and smiled, only Kara could make relationship jokes moments after a battle.
Once on the other side of Richmond it was smooth sailing. The mafia figured if you were leaving you were probably already robbed clean or had successfully done business so they didn’t need to bother you anymore. They even had a sign asking visitors to come back like it was a tourist destination in the America of old.
Kara set back into trying to open the case as soon as they were clear of trouble. Joey kept rambling about how awesome the grenade launcher was after he had taken care of Cindy. Mark had to agree, the thing had taken out two trucks in a matter of seconds, something the SAW would not have been capable of with the armor plating they had put on the trucks.
The family switched to I-85 at Petersburg and the sun was rapidly dropping out of the sky. Mark announced that he planned on stopping for the night soon and asked if everyone could please not be abducted this time. Even Cindy laughed at the joke and suggested they sleep in the Armadillo to prevent the possibility even more. Mark pointed out that it wasn’t sleep that got her abducted it was somebody playing hero. Joey didn’t like that comment but he knew it was true. It was agreed that the watch would wake everyone if even a stray sound got them concerned. Better to have a false alarm than no alarm at all.
Kara worked on the briefcase the whole trip and had not made any progress but stayed determined. The family was around 400 miles from Atlanta which in their environment was a 2 to 3 day journey. She was no longer cocky about opening the package but was possessed with the need to do so. She worked throughout her guard shift and dreamed about combination locks when she finally got to sleep that night.
The sun rose while Cindy was on watch, she was finally trusted enough to stand guard by herself and she was proud that the family allowed her. When the haze of darkness started to burn off she swore she saw movement from a bush on the other side of the dusty dirt road they stopped on. She stood up to challenge the thing in the bushes and pumped a round into her shotgun hoping to intimidate them if it was a person.
The chack-chack sound woke Mark up and he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Cindy was standing at the ready with her shotgun pointed at something across the road. Mark got up to investigate with his P220 in hand. “What’s going on Cindy?” he asked while he was walking up behind her so he didn’t startle her. “I think I saw something move in there just a second ago” she answered. “HEY” Mark yelled towards the bush, “Come out” he commanded. Behind him Kara and Joey stirred with the sudden loud outbursts.
The bush rustled for a second and a little girl, no older than 5 stepped forward. Her clothes were tattered and torn and she held a filthy doll in her left hand. She was deathly thin and pale as a ghost. She looked shaky just standing there. Mark wasn’t sure if it was because she was so weak or if she was scared.
Mark instantly softened and tucked his pistol into its holster. “It’s ok” he said as he motioned to her with one hand and pushed Cindy’s muzzle down with the other. The girl tentatively approached him but when she reached him she latched onto his leg with a bear hug. “Daddy!” she cooed.
Cindy laughed while Mark tried to unlatch the girl from his leg. “No, no, I’m not your daddy” he said softly but she just kept repeating it. “Is there something you need to tell me?” Kara joked from behind while Joey piled on with “I’ve got a sister?” Mark didn’t think it was that funny.
He finally got the girl detached and sat her down at the camp. Kara warmed up an MRE for the girl and she dug in with her filthy bare hands before the dish was even set down before her. She ate like an animal but nobody really blamed her as it was quite obvious it had been a while. When she was
done she rubbed her belly and burped. The family laughed in unison at the cute gesture.
“Where are you from?” Mark asked the little girl hoping she would be able to answer with a full stomach. “Bush” she said and pointed at the bush. “Before that” Mark said, trying to figure out where her home was located. “Tree” she said and pointed down the road. It became obvious pretty quick that this girl was by herself. The thought of it broke Mark’s heart but he didn’t know what to do with her.
Kara pulled him aside and asked him what he was going to do and he honestly didn’t know. He couldn’t even consider bringing her into the nearest town because she would probably end up a slave. Cindy asked if they could possibly go to a church. Mark wasn’t sure. He had heard about a lot of cults that had sprung up, especially in the south. You name it and there was a new branch of religion to cover it. He had seen confirmation that there were even Aztecs and Mayans sprouting up in Georgia, Texas, New Mexico and such. These groups came complete with human sacrifice and pyramids built out of cinder block and leftover bricks from demolished buildings. Others just claimed to be of Christian decent but with quirks like requiring your first born to be drowned in holy water to prove your love for God. Mark really didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling about dropping the girl off at a church. He also couldn’t justify leaving her out here to starve or be eaten by coyotes.
Everyone gathered together to vote and the consensus was to drop her off at the nearest church that didn’t appear too creepy. That seemed to be a good compromise so they packed the girl in the back on Joey’s lap and they headed out to find her salvation.
“What’s your name?” Joey asked in the sweetest voice he could muster. “Eve” she answered. Mark laughed to himself and thought it was mildly amusing and appropriate that they would be dropping an Eve off at church.
A little past Henderson they found a branch of the Mormon Church that appeared to be still operational. Everyone agreed that would be a good choice and they pulled in to what appeared to be an operational cannery. Kara got out and went inside and came back out with a woman with a very worried expression on her face.
Mark, Joey, and Cindy stepped out of the car as the two approached. Joey was carrying Eve who had taken quite a liking to him. She had her thumb in her mouth and looked quite content for someone who had been on the edge of death only an hour ago. The woman reached out to Eve and said “Oh my child, come here.” Eve resisted at first but Joey told her it would be ok and that she would be her new mama. “Mama!?” the girl asked excitedly. She then practically jumped into the Mormon woman’s arms.
“Oh child you need a bath” she exclaimed as soon as she smelled little Eve. The woman turned to Mark and held out her hand while saying “Thank you so much for taking care of this girl. There are so many animals and perverts out there. I know what you are and know you didn’t have to do this.” Mark shook her hand and corrected her “You don’t know what I am, but nonetheless I could not leave this girl on the side of the road to die.” She nodded and contemplated his answer; maybe she did judge him too soon. “Would you come inside for breakfast?” she asked. They all agreed that would be fine as avoiding an MRE was always a welcome treat.
The family sat down with about twenty others from the church and an enormous plate of pancakes was passed around. On the other side of the table another plate full of sausage was making the rounds. Before it got to Kara Mark stood up and intercepted it. Something had turned her away from sausage and he didn’t want any issues with her seeing it. Kara noticed what Mark did and when he sat down after passing the plate past him she took his hand, squeezed it and whispered “thank you.” When she noticed he skipped as well she kissed his cheek and thanked him again. It was little things like that which made him so special.
With full bellies the family got on the road, it was getting late in the morning and Mark wanted to get to Greensboro and through it before lunch. It was considered a pretty safe city compared to others but the sooner any major population area was cleared the better, they were all trouble just some worse than others.
The church and Eve stood outside and waved goodbye to the family and they all waved back. They were all feeling pretty fulfilled for completing this little side mission successfully. It was a great and positive way to start the day and in this bleak world that kind of thing was rare and appreciated.
An hour and some change later the family was right outside of Greensboro when Mark heard the briefcase click. He turned to Kara and her wide eyes confirmed his suspicion, she had broken the code! Mark pulled over so he wouldn’t be distracted when she opened the case. After he was on the shoulder of the road he turned to her and said “Well?”
Kara slowly opened the case to reveal the contents. It was a sheet of paper and a folded up map. Kara read the paper to the entire car. “36.737355, -91.864991 Pre-war Government cache.”
Mark clapped his hands together in excitement and laughed. They all looked at him wondering what he was so excited about. Mark explained “It was rumored, usually through conspiracy theory nuts, that the government had built caches so they could send their people underground during a nuclear war and rebuild society. These bunkers contained food, water, supplies, hell, anything you need to re-create the world after the shit hit the fan.” Joey’s eyes got wide along with everyone else in the car. “If this thing is one of the bigger ones an entire city’s worth of people could eat for years” Mark said, “Even the smaller ones are good for months.”
“What do you think this one is?” Kara asked. Cindy had an idea “Based on those diamonds, I would bet it is a big one, a huge one.” Mark nodded in agreement, a payment like that made the mysteriously shrouded guy in DC likely the head of that city, if not the whole of Mechacorp in one fell swoop. This cache, in turn, could outfit an army and feed them for quite a long time. It could turn the tide against the darkness that seemed to be enveloping everyone.
Kara opened the map and found that the location was circled. The cache was located in a quarry outside of the town of West Plains, Missouri. The trip was 811 miles from Greensboro and would likely take them to their last gallon unless they found supplies.
“What say everyone?” Mark asked. “Do we take the cache for ourselves?” Everyone voted in the affirmative. From that point forward the family and the slave they were supposed to deliver would be fugitives of Mechacorp and would be hunted until the day they all died.
Chapter 13- Off the beaten path
Conveniently Greensboro had a branch of interstate, I-40, that would take them very close to their ultimate destination. Mark asked Kara if she had planned it this way as the trip would have been a lot longer if they discovered the coordinates further south. She laughed and just announced “I’m good, what can I say?” Mark patted her thigh and said “Yes you are” seductively and she slapped his hand playfully. Joey groaned in the back seat but quickly shut up when Cindy placed her hand on his thigh.
Mark and Kara discussed the fact that they would no longer have any data on cities they visited since they would be off the company’s intended path. Playing it by ear in this harsh environment was a recipe for disaster so Mark suggested they take it slow and try to find friendlies wherever they could to get information. While people did not move to and from cities with the regularity of the past there were still large amounts of nomadic people who could not stay put in one area for long. Kara agreed but also reminded him that their timeline needed to be somewhat the same as their arrival date in Atlanta. If the cache included weaponry they would probably need it when the company came knocking.
At over 100mph average the Armadillo hit Statesville NC in just under an hour after passing through Greensboro. The family quickly learned that the city was fairly friendly though not particularly open to strangers. They didn’t mind bartering for goods though.
West Statesville was right in line with I-40 and most of the population of the area lived there. It had returned to its roots and became a distillation, tobacco, and herb farm city.
The inhabitants built themselves a fair sized earthen wall and used Semi-trailers as gates to allow passage into their city. From the interstate the passers-through were allowed access to their trade markets and not much else.
The family stopped in to see what kind of goods they could acquire. The market was set up like a flea market of old with bunches of open air booths with various goods available. Some people just used their booth to get rid of old crap they had laying around the house; others sold crops or alcohol they distilled for a living. Every family in the town had a booth but not everyone opened every day.
The girls went clothes shopping and Mark and Joey told them to have fun and be back in an hour. They were not going to get involved in that mess. Mark gave Kara some gold dust and a few silver coins left over from their mission packets, it would give her some buying power so they could get some nice clothes to replace the drab company issue survival garb.
Mark and Joey set out looking for goods that they knew others would want and could trade in the future for other goods. They had a handful of items from the car that were not needed and could be traded along with a little more of the money stash from the packet.
The first thing they looked for were medicinal herbs, the sign for the market claimed the area was renowned for its herbs. Natural medicine was a great thing to have available on the road because actual pharmaceutical drugs were very hard to come by out in the wild. “Dad, over here” Joey waved for Mark. “They’ve got all sorts of herbs” Joey said proudly and gestured with his arm as if he was presenting them.
Mark and Joey stared at the variety of herbs for a while before the owner realized that they didn’t really have a clue what they were looking at. Eventually she came over and asked what they were trying to do with their herbs. Mark answered “I am looking for an herbal first aid kit.” The girl smiled and started gathering herbs from the different containers. “How many you have?” she asked. Mark assumed she meant people so he answered “four”. She grabbed a couple handfuls of each herb, bagged them and scribbled their names on the bags. She laid each one out and gave them a quick rundown of their uses. “This one is Chicory; put it on a sore muscle to reduce inflammation. This one is Dead Nettle; it helps stop bleeding and heals wounds. This is Greater Celandine; great for infections. This here is Meadowsweet, it’s like an herbal aspirin but it won’t mess up your stomach. Lastly, but not least, we have Skullcap; it is a wonder-herb that cures pain, anxiety, relieves stress, headaches, is an anti-inflammatory and an astringent.” Mark shook his head; he knew he wouldn’t be able to remember all that so he asked if she could write a basic use on each bag. She said no, she couldn’t write anything but their names but if he knew how to write she would tell him again.