When they were finished Dianne snapped her fingers and turned to Jason. “You said you had gas, right?”
“Yep.” He nodded. “Back in the barn. I’m glad you remembered.”
“We’ve got room for it. Let’s stick it at the back away from everything else and get back to the house.”
Jason and Dianne got back into the truck and she pulled it back around to the barn. They both quickly loaded the metal jerry cans into the back, making sure that they were completely sealed to prevent leakage. With the fuel, supplies from the barn and extras from the house loaded, Dianne nodded in approval. “I think we’re set here, don’t you?”
Jason walked alongside the back of the truck, running his hand along the tarp as he mentally went through his checklist. “Yep, I think we’re good.” He turned to look at the rest of the contents of the barn. “There’s lots more useful stuff here but I think we got the most important things.
“Good. We can swing back by here again and make another trip but I don’t want to count on that happening just in case something bad goes down.”
Jason nodded. “Agreed.”
“All right. Let’s stop by what’s left of the Carson’s house before we head back and get all of this put away.”
Chapter 15
Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies
&nbs
p; Rick traveled slowly through the storm, stopping frequently when the winds picked up and continuing on when they died down. He focused entirely on his journey, paying attention to the road and his driving as he worked his way down out of the mountains. Thoughts of his family and the plane crash intermingled and tugged at the corners of his mind but he pushed them away as he chose to hold tight to the numbness instead.
So focused was Rick on the road that he didn’t notice the headlights on the road ahead of him until they were nearly upon him. A dozen vehicles were driving along on the left side of the road in a convoy formation until their lights fell upon his Humvee. As soon as the driver of the lead vehicle realized that the person coming towards them was in a military vehicle he radioed the drivers of the rest of the vehicles and slid his truck around to block the road.
Rick slammed on the brakes and blinked several times as he struggled to pull himself back to reality. He looked around frantically, wondering what was going on until he heard a voice over a loudspeaker.
“You in the vehicle! Douse your lights and put your hands on the steering wheel!”
Rick could see that the vehicles in front of him were painted with the same camouflage patterns as his Humvee and he realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach that he was dealing with the military again.
“Douse your lights now, driver! Or we’ll fire upon you!” A burst of fire cracked and echoed across the mountainside as one of the soldiers standing in front of the truck fired several rounds into the air. Rick responded immediately by turning off the Humvee’s headlights and rolling down his side window before putting his hands on the front windshield.
“They’re out, dammit!” Rick stuck his head halfway out the window and shouted as loudly as he could. “The lights are out!”
“Turn off the vehicle, open the door and step out slowly! Keep your hands where we can see them!” Rick detected an undertone of panic in the man’s voice and quickly obeyed, not wanting to be shot just because the soldier was feeling nervous. He cut off the engine and opened his door slowly before depositing his pistol on the passenger seat. Rick then slid out of the car and raised his hands above his head while slowly walking a few paces away from the vehicle.
Half a dozen soldiers ran forward, their rifles raised. Two of them grabbed Rick and forced him to the ground as they groped the entirety of his body. The rest of the soldiers scoured the Humvee, pointing out Rick’s weapons and supplies to one another before running back to the truck to give a report. After a couple of minutes on the ground Rick was pulled to his feet and shoved unceremoniously towards the truck.
“Get moving!”
Finally able to catch his breath Rick looked around and shouted at the soldiers who were pushing him. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Misappropriation of government property during a national emergency is a very serious charge.” The answer came from in front of Rick, from a figure standing near the back of the truck. “Tie him up and throw him in the back. He can ride with us till we secure the crash site, then he’ll go with us back to base.”
“Yes, sir!” The answer came from the two soldiers dragging Rick. He struggled against them as he shouted at the figure who had spoken to him.
“Wait a second, I didn’t misappropriate that thing! The commander of Nellis told me to take it!”
The officer stopped and turned, raising his eyebrow at Rick. “Nellis was overrun. Everything that was left there was stolen. You really expect me to believe that the commander specifically gave you one of their vehicles?” The officer walked back over to Rick and cocked his head to the side. “Just who do you think you are?”
“My name’s Rick Waters. I’m not in the military. I was in Los Angeles when… whatever happened. I’m just trying to get home. I made it to Nellis and got out just as it was overrun.” Rick took a deep breath as he stumbled over his words. “I’m just trying to get home.”
The officer laughed and turned away and Rick tried one last attempt. “I know about the virus! I know about Damocles!”
Rick’s mention of the virus made the officer stop again. He stalked back to Rick, his face dark as he pulled Rick away from the two soldiers and hissed at him. “How do you know about Damocles?”
“I told you I was at Nellis. The Colonel’s name there was Leslie. He tried to get me to sign an agreement to be flown to Virginia as part of some emergency task force to stop whatever this thing is.”