Matthew Mark - Dark Days Rough Roads

They were heading down the road when they spotted a pair of headlights coming their way and a spotlight sweeping the road. Haliday peeled off the tape from his headlight and shot into the woods. Blake followed him. They got about 150 yards in and killed the bikes, laid them down and took cover.

Haliday grabbed a camo jacket shell and tossed it over his bike. Blake grabbed one and did the same thing. Haliday liked this kid. He learned quickly. They threw some small deadfall branches on them as well. There was not a lot of wooded area here and they’d be easy to spot if they tried to make a run for it. Staying put was the only option next to abandoning the bikes. They couldn’t afford to do that.

The vehicle that was approaching stopped about a mile down the road from the burning store. It was moving slowly toward the store and sweeping its spotlight into the fields and woods searching for them. They must have misjudged distance because they did this for almost half a mile past the store. They weren’t sure where they were hiding. With the spotlight, Haliday knew they weren’t using NVG’s or any type of thermal unit.

As they sat and waited, another vehicle came screaming by. It didn’t stop until it got near the store. Haliday looked through his binoculars the best he could. Once again he wished he had NVG’s. Looked like an older Jeep and older pickup. Four guys were standing near them talking and waving toward Blake and Haliday’s general area.

“Mr. Haliday, I’m a little scared.”

“Look Blake, just stay down, do not move or do anything. Listen to what I tell you.” Two of the guys got back in the truck and then the truck made another sweep down the road with the spotlight. Haliday covered the binoculars up and looked at Blake. “Don’t worry kid, just put your head down and don’t think about it. I’ll tell you what they’re doing and if you need to do anything if that helps.

“Ok Blake, they are still spotlighting the road and whole area, if they had spotted us they would be coming at us already. They are heading back toward the store. The Jeep is taking off now. It’s heading in the direction of the second car fire. The guys in the truck are still looking around. Looks like they plan to stay a while because they just opened up a cooler and it looks like meal time.

“Blake, carefully low crawl over to your bike and grab that wool blanket out of your pack. Cover yourself up with it. We’re going to be here a while.” Haliday followed suit and grabbed one out of his saddle bags. They laid there for a while watching the guys stand by the burning store. Haliday asked him about football, why he didn’t go to college, anything to help keep the kid calm. Haliday had waited like this before, hours upon hours; it didn’t bother him.

Blake had pretty much settled down and now it was almost 2:30 in the morning. The guys got in their truck and took one last look around before they left. Blake said, “can we go now.”

“Absolutely not.” They still laid there. About half an hour later the truck drove back by. “That’s why we waited Blake; they were still looking for us.” After another hour they got up and shook off the cold. Haliday grabbed a map and hid under the blanket with a red flashlight to read it.

He turned the light off and flipped the blanket off. “That was something else, huh Blake?”

“Oh ya, ranks up there in my top 10 list of favorite things.”

“Get used to it. It ain’t combat, but you are fighting for your life. Remember that. Any time you feel giddy enough you can leave if you want to.”

“No way Mr. Haliday. I just never thought I’d see stuff like this happen and I don’t like those guys for some reason. I don’t trust them.”

“Tape your headlight up again and let’s get going.” They worked their way to another farm area. Haliday spotted a rundown barn with a “for sale” sign just off the road. He could see a house. He walked up to the “for sale” sign and pulled a piece of paper out of a plastic box on the side of the sign post.

He grabbed his flashlight and blanket again and read the paper. “Fifty acres, good for sugar beets, blah blah blah, old barn can be repaired, mobile home removed from property, but foundation left in place. Good, abandoned.” They worked their way to the barn, pushing the bikes just in case. They went inside and except for a few rusted old hulks of farm implements, it was empty. “We’ll stay here for a bit, Blake.

“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable and grab a couple hours of sleep. I’ll wake you up later and we’ll switch off.” He went and grabbed a granola bar and turned to offer Blake one, but Blake was already out like a light with his sleeping bag just draped over him. Haliday munched on the treat and took a look around the barn and land. This wouldn’t have been a bad place to build, he thought.

He changed the frequency and gave his group a quick hello. “Hey Uncle Roger, it’s Randy.”

“Hey Randy, everything ok with you guys there at the camp?”

“Well, we could all use a drink.”

“Why, what’s going on?”

“You guys have definitely stirred the pot. There are a whole lot of people wanting to skin you guys alive. They are super pissed off. It was quite intense to listen to.”

“Well, that’s our plan, you guys learn anything good?”

“Kayla and Dawn took notes and then after it all settled down, grandma and grandpa took notes too.”

“Ok, I’ll call again in a few hours; we’re getting some rest right now. Tell everyone we are ok and talk to you soon.”

Haliday walked around a bit more then went over and woke Blake up. The sun was starting to rise and Blake should be able to stay awake. Haliday doubted he would have been able to take the first watch. “Before I crash, you want any coffee or anything?”

“I’m a little hungry.”

“Here, start with this.” Haliday tossed him a Snickers bar. “After that go ahead and crack open an MRE. Eat it all, Blake. You’ll need the calories and energy.”

Haliday dropped his sleeping bag to the ground, unzipped it, and climbed in. He wanted to zip it up, but also didn’t want to get stuck in it if something happened. He looked over at Blake struggling with the MRE. Blake glanced over and saw him watching. “Blake, the directions are on the side. Use the red lensed flashlight.” The kid would need a couple more hours of sleep before they moved out so he was aware of what was going on.

Blake nudged him awake. Haliday opened his eyes and Blake was telling him to be quiet. Haliday slowly got out of his bag. “What’s going on?” Blake whispered to him that someone else was here already. “What the hell, where are they?” He walked over to a window and Blake pointed them out.

About 50 feet from where the concrete pad of the mobile home had been was a door sticking up in the air. There was a man and a woman standing there talking. They had walked their bikes right by it when they came in last night. It was an old tornado shelter and it looked like it had been used last night. Haliday looked around and the bikes and gear were all there. At least they hadn’t been discovered yet.

He motioned for Blake to check his weapon and make sure it was ready to go. He checked his own as well. He signaled Blake to go to the other end of the barn. He found a hole in the side of the barn and watched them for a few minutes. They were just standing there talking. A third figure appeared out of the shelter.

This was a young child, maybe 8 or 9 years old. It looked like a boy, but with some of the hair styles kids wear these days he didn’t make judgment just yet. The kid turned around, definitely a boy. The parents stretched a bit and the kid kicked around a rock.

He came close to the barn a couple of times, which made them nervous.