William Weber - System Failure

“Doris told you yesterday to let me pay you back for saving my life and the life of everyone else trapped with me.”

“What about Wayne?” Nate asked. “We can’t very well drag him behind the truck.”

“I’ll see he’s taken care of,” Jay assured him. “The same way Doris is taking care of that baby you found.”

Nate sighed. “Okay,” he said finally, shaking Jay’s hand and yanking his friend into a hug. “When will it be ready?”

Jay stepped to the kitchen window and pushed aside the curtain. Across the street, parked in front of the police station, the Beast awaited them.

An hour later, after saying their goodbyes to Chief McGinley, his wife Doris, Ralph, Jay and, not least of all, their horse Wayne, they got back on the road. The stop in Marengo had not been one Nate had anticipated when they’d set out, but it was definitely one he didn’t regret. Beneath the pickup’s bed cover was the bulk of their gear as well as several full three-gallon gas cans. The weapons, however, they kept with them up front. Ralph had even installed a rifle rack behind the back row where they hung the G36 and Dakota’s Remington 700.

Once they left, the wide grin that was plastered on the young girl’s face as the wedge-shaped plow tossed loosely packed snow to either side spoke volumes. The ability to move forward without being buffeted constantly by subzero winds was indescribable. In addition, the truck’s cab offered them a mobile shelter, removing, for now at least, the need to pull off the road every night to build a quinzhee.

Unlike Ralph “Crazy Horse” Sullivan, however, Nate kept his speed at a level where he could brake before ramming into any vehicles stuck in a snow drift.

“Stop the truck,” Dakota shouted, pointing out the back window.

Nate did so. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Shadow, he can’t keep up.”

Glancing in his rearview, Nate saw the animal at least a hundred yards behind them. He sighed, got out of the truck and folded back part of the bed cover, lowering the tailgate. When Shadow arrived, he immediately bolted past Nate and hopped into the cab.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” Nate said under his breath as he closed up and headed back. He returned to find the wolf curled up on the back seat. The animal took up a large chunk of the seating area. The creature glanced up at him without moving his head, his snout nuzzled between his front paws.

“Comfortable?” Nate asked.

Shadow licked his lips as if to say yes.

“Maybe Jay was right,” Nate said. “Maybe this was somebody’s pet and when the power went off, he managed to get away.”

“I’m not so sure about that. When I first woke up in that cage next to him, the fur around his neck was all ruffled as though Marvin or one of his men had used a catch pole to grab him. He also had dried blood around his mouth and I just assumed they’d set some kind of trap to lure him in.”

They reached Interstate 90 and headed east. This was one of the major arteries that would bring them into the city center. But the subject of Shadow’s origins continued to occupy them.

“I’ll say this, he’s used to being around humans,” Nate observed.

“That’s right,” Dakota added. “Not only used to us, he doesn’t see humans as evil, least not all of us. That’s gotta mean something.”

“Another piece in an unsolvable mystery, I’m afraid,” Nate said, squinting at an ominous sight that suddenly appeared ahead of them.

Dakota saw it too at the same time. They were approaching a rest stop on the side of the highway replete with a gas station and the obligatory McDonald’s. But that didn’t explain the other thing. The one that had unnerved them both.

A snarl of vehicles blocked the part of the highway adjacent to the rest stop. The snow had been cleared from the cars and trucks. Standing on the roofs of the various vehicles were four men.

Nate slowed and then pulled to a complete stop about two hundred yards from the blockade.

“What do you suppose they want?” Dakota asked innocently. She might have a knack for winter survival, but she couldn’t escape her age.

“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” Nate replied.

From the back seat, Shadow whimpered.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Nate said, wondering how best to get around them. A three-foot-high median prevented them from bypassing the blockade. Although, in truth, none of that mattered since the westbound portion of the highway was nothing but a graveyard of abandoned vehicles.

Dakota climbed into the back, reaching over the wolf to retrieve her rifle.

“What are you doing?”

She came back and opened her door a crack, resting the weapon in the groove. She put her eye to the scope. “They don’t look like military,” Dakota said, squinting. “But they know we’re here, that’s for sure.”

Although they were quite some distance away, even Nate could see them pointing. “Are they armed?”

“Does a bear poop in the woods?”

Nate grinned, despite his growing nerves. “Yes, but let’s hope wolves do as well, rather than in the back seat of our ride. You see the on-ramp?”

She swung the weapon slightly to the right. “It’s about a hundred meters beyond their position.”

“So I’m thinking, if we backtrack, we might be able to scoot through the rest stop parking lot and sidestep these guys.”

She shut the door. “Maybe, but we still don’t know what they want.”

“I can sure as hell venture a guess or two,” Nate said. “How about our vehicle, our weapons and probably you?”

Dakota recoiled. “That’s all you men think about, isn’t it?”

“You can’t very well condemn half the world’s population because of a few bad apples,” Nate said, readying himself for an argument.

Dakota shook her head. “Yeah, watch me.”

Nate laughed as he swung the truck into reverse. Dakota braced herself while Shadow dug his paws into the upholstery, looking up, alarmed.

When they drew even with the rest stop’s entrance ramp, Nate put it into drive and punched the accelerator. Snow sprayed in all directions, flying off the snow wedge as well as the rear tires. They were about to pass before the restaurant when a handful of men began spilling out, waving weapons around and shouting.

“Hold on,” Nate shouted as he pumped the brakes and spun the wheel. The slick road conditions did the rest, swinging out the Beast’s tail out and to the left. The shots rang out right about then, kicking up puffs of loose snow around the truck. A second later they circled around behind the restaurant, Nate working the wheel to avoid any hidden obstacles. They would be safe from fire for a brief moment or two, but as they raced back onto the interstate, they would once again be exposed.

Sure enough, as the Beast plowed through about a foot of freshly fallen snow, it became clear the snow here wasn’t as deep as it should be. Come to think of it, neither had the on-ramp into the rest station been. That meant they weren’t the first vehicle through what was obviously meant to be a trap. Nate hurried as shots continued to ring out. When one of them struck the vehicle, Nate pushed the gas down even further. Dakota was perched over her seat, looking out through the back window at the scene unfolding behind them. They were pulling even with the blockade on the interstate when shots rang out from the men gathered there. Rounds were now coming in from multiple directions.

Nate accelerated further, trying desperately to exit the danger zone without crashing into the many hidden obstacles lurking just out of view.

“They’re following us,” Dakota shouted.

A pickup with abnormally large tires tore out from the parking lot, charging after them, a blizzard of white flakes swirling in their wake.