Ever Hayes - Emergency Exit

He stopped and waited for any of us to say something, but no one did. He’d made his point. We all, even Cameron, believed the radio message was legit. I mean, we were up in the wilderness of northern Minnesota and it was like this. Whoever was targeting small towns probably only did so because they had everything else covered too.

What needed to be said had now been officially said. Dad walked over to Cameron and put his hand on Cameron’s shoulder. He spoke in a calmer voice now. “I know this is the furthest thing from ideal. I hate it. I’m mad about it. But none of this is Danny’s fault. None of this is your fault either, Cameron. And after all you and Danny have been through together, you know what he would do for you…and for your family. The only way we’re going to get through this is if we all stick together. I’m not going to try to convince you.” He pointed at Cameron. “You.” Pointing at Jenna. “Or you—” He pointed at Kate. “—that leaving your families behind is the right thing. It’s terrible. If my wife were down there I’d be going to try to find her. But I’m old. You all are young. I don’t know if I can make it to Hawaii, but I believe you all can. This isn’t the end for you all…or—” Dad waved off my interruption. “—hopefully for any of us. But…but, I personally think that if we do anything other than make a run for it at this point, we’re all dead. And I do have my wife here with me so—again personally—I would like to at least try to live.”

Everyone was watching Cameron and I was relieved to see him nodding. He knew Dad was right. There’s nothing any of us could do to change the way things were, and the only way we could hope to get through it was together.

Danny approached Cameron now, and I watched Cameron extend his hand for a fist bump. Danny responded accordingly. That wouldn’t have been enough of an apology for me, and frankly Cameron’s dig still bothered me, but it appeared to be sufficient for Danny. And Dad. Content that the two of them were on good terms, and that the rest of us were all on the same page, he returned to the table and began loading our flashlights with new batteries. Danny and Cameron went downstairs to clean and load up all my guns. They additionally packed and brought up bags of hunting equipment and all their own Special Ops gear. Jenna followed Mom into the kitchen and helped her organize our food and other supplies. Kate said she was going to take a shower, which struck me as odd for some reason, but no one objected to the idea. So maybe it was just me. Then again, who knew what ‘normal’ even was at this point anymore?

Hayley snapped me out of my daze and got me involved with Dad in going through my collection of maps. We created a folder of potential routes, all in some form of a similar line from Ely to Mexico or Southern California. I flipped through the maps we’d need: Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico, California, Hawaii, and two different national maps. We went over the route options with Danny, and he put the entire folder in his truck. I packed a spare atlas in my truck and another in my bag in case we were separated at any point.

We planned to stop at our favorite hunting store in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on the way through to pick up the items on Danny’s extensive list of “needs,” half of which were items to combat the enemy’s THIRST detection equipment. From there, it was going to be one heck of a long trip. It was almost three thousand miles to the west coast of Mexico, and then we’d have to figure out how to get to Hawaii. But we couldn’t afford to dwell on that now. That was a long ways off.

Our current focus was on making it to Estes Park, Colorado, a place we’d vacationed dozens of times over the past two decades. Since it was pretty close to the halfway point to the coast it was a logical spot to regroup and adjust our course. But even more pressing was the initial leg to Grand Forks, North Dakota. We planned to stop at Cabela’s there, our favorite hunting/camping store, collect some necessary supplies, and hopefully spend a few hours getting a little rest.

We were worried the origin of our many attempted phone calls may have been traced, and troops might already be on their way to the cabin. Danny and Dad took all the batteries and chips out of our mobile phones, GPS and other devices. No point in taking any unnecessary chances. By 6 p.m. we were ready to go. We figured most of our travel was going to have to be at night. We’d have to keep the lights off and drive much slower, but doing so in both cases would help us maintain some form of cover. Danny had made it clear it would be difficult to hide from the enemy’s THIRST equipment, but at night we could at least be mistaken for animals. In daylight, on the other hand, there would be no way to hide.

We ate a final meal at the table together and then headed outside to Sophie’s headstone for a farewell prayer. It was at that point I mentioned to Dad that I wasn’t going along. The ensuing conversation didn’t quite go the way I had planned. In fact it wasn’t much of a conversation at all. He grabbed my arm and yanked me inside the cabin. I saw Danny glance back at us before Dad shut the door. “Oww… dang…” I objected.

“Shut up,” he barked. “You listen close because I’m only going to say this once.” He still hadn’t let go of my arm, or decreased the strength of his grip. “When Sophie died we all lost you too, Ryan. You disappeared. We all tried to be understanding while you were up here being selfish—feeling sorry for yourself. It was hard as a parent to see my son give up. But it was hard on your kids too. They really needed you and you weren’t there. They missed Sophie as much as you did. But they tried to move on. We all did. Everyone except you.”

“Dad—” I tried to cut him off, but he wouldn’t stop.

“You can’t do that to them now.” He poked a finger hard into my chest. “You can’t give up. Even if you still miss her. Even if it still really hurts. Just stop to think for a second about Danny and Hayley—right now—this would be the last time you’d see either of your kids. Ever! The… last… time,” he emphasized each word. “Your wife—I’m sorry—is dead. But your kids are still alive. You think it was hard for them to forgive you for what you did before? There’d be no forgiving this. And Sophie wouldn’t forgive you either. This would be your biggest mistake. Ever!”

And then he was out the door. Ouch. I stood there stunned, but suddenly well aware of the truth in his lecture. I’m not always the quickest guy, but I got that message right away. He was right… about all of it. All of his words hit home. It would be a huge mistake to stay here . Sophie would never forgive me if I stayed here. I would never forgive me .

I joined the others at her tombstone and we all said a few words, then everyone but Danny and I headed to the trucks. He stood behind me as I knelt in the rain. I said goodbye to Sophie. For the last time.

And then we were leaving. Kate and Hayley hopped in the truck Danny was driving. I was with Mom and Dad. Jenna joined Cameron in the last. We could have easily crammed into two trucks, but Dad thought it wise to bring a third along, just in case.

We headed out, lights off, slowly making our way across the back roads toward Grand Forks. We’d concealed the cabin entrance as we pulled out, in case we ran into any enemy presence right away forcing us to retreat. That didn’t happen, and we continued west across northern Minnesota. The pouring rain made it even harder to see without lights, and kept our speed down around forty miles per hour, but we knew these roads well. The kids and I had driven them on many hunting and camping trips.