The Burning Fields (Surviving the Fall 5)

I hope it does, anyway. Dianne left her last thought unspoken as she followed her son around the house and towards the outbuildings to start planning out how they would secure those as well.

Chapter 5

Somewhere in Utah

“All righty, then. Here we go.” Rick mumbled to himself as he slowly pulled around to the front of the gas station as instructed by the sign. The doors and windows of the Humvee were armored and reinforced against small arms fire and he kept them locked and rolled up. His pistol sat on the seat next to him within easy reach and he unbuckled his seatbelt in case he needed to duck down and hide.

The metal canopy extending from the front of the building over the pumps was lower than on most gas stations due to the building’s age. Rick wondered as he pulled in whether the turret would scrape against the top of the awning but, thankfully, it did not. He watched through the passenger window at the building, looking for movement inside when the sound of an engine firing up behind the building caught his attention. A moment later he heard the sharp squeal of feedback through speakers before an older man’s voice cut through.

“You out there! You need fuel? Honk once for yes. Two for no.”

Rick considered the question for a few seconds before deciding that honesty was the best choice given the current circumstances. He leaned on the horn, giving it a quick honk, then waited for a reply.

“What’re you doing all the way out here by yourself? Your convoy passed by here yesterday. Oh… for….” There was the sound of fumbling and crashing as the microphone was presumably dropped to the floor. Instead of the voice coming back, though, Rick saw movement through the front window of the station before the front door eased open.

A man who looked to be in his late seventies pushed open the door. He clutched a shotgun in his weathered hands and his wrinkled face was set in an expression of suspicion. He approached the Humvee cautiously until he caught sight of the camo jacket Rick was wearing and then relaxed, standing up taller and lowering his gun. Rick reached over and rolled down the passenger window a few inches and waved at the man in a friendly manner.

“Hey there! You got any diesel?”

The man stopped several feet from the Humvee and looked it over, nodding approvingly at it. “Yeah, still got some. Your convoy sucked up most of it. You get separated from them or something?”

Rick was about to ask what the man was talking about when he realized that the man thought Rick was with the military. That assumption was likely part of why he was being so friendly and Rick didn’t want to disrupt his friendliness by surprising him.

“I wasn’t part of that convoy. I’m coming straight out of Nellis, heading for Fort Carson.”

“Carson? That’s where the convoy was going, too.” The man sniffed and ran a hand through his hair. “They were talkin’ about some kind of computer virus causing all of this nonsense. You know if that’s true?”

“That’s the story right now, yes sir.”

The man nodded and pursed his lips. “Knew I should have joined up when I was young and had the chance. Not that it would have made a lick of difference today, though.” He sighed. “Well I won’t keep you. I’m sure you’ve got important things to do. Just pull over to the diesel pump and I’ll get your cans and tank filled up for you.”

Rick nodded in appreciation. He drove over to the pump and turned on his GPS unit again, attempting to look busy while still keeping an eye on the man. Under any other circumstances he would have hopped out and helped the man fuel up the Humvee but he was already feeling nervous enough with his partial deception. If the man started asking details about Rick’s supposed service or anything else he feared the truth would come out in an ugly and confrontational way.

It took the man just over ten minutes to fill the empty can on the side of the vehicle and its tank. When he was done he walked up to the driver’s door and tapped on the window. Rick glanced down at the man and saw that his shotgun was leaning up against the pump. He rolled the window all the way down and nodded at the man.

“Thanks very much. What do I owe you?”

The man shook his head. “Not a damned thing.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Rick smiled. “Well, thank you. It’s much appreciated. You out here all by yourself?”

“That’s right.”

“Nobody helping you?”

“Nope.”

“Do… do you want a ride somewhere?”

The man laughed and did a half turn as he raised his arm to gesture at the gas station and the land behind it. “I’ve been living out here for my whole life. Just because the power’s out, the internet’s down and p

eople are going a bit crazy doesn’t mean I’m going to up and leave.”

“So you’re just waiting here to help people?”