Part 5 (1/2)
They'd walked another half hour when Nathan spoke. ”We are stopping ahead for ten minutes. Don't take your packs off and stay close,” he told them.
”h.e.l.lo, we're still here,” Amanda said in a low voice, looking at a crowd of people at a small store.
”Amanda, we have to stop and give Ares water. He doesn't have a drinking tube,” Nathan said.
”Oh Ares, I'm sorry,” Amanda said, reaching down and rubbing his neck. Ares looked up at her, panting hard with his tongue hanging out. Amanda felt bad just looking at him. ”I'll get you some water in a minute, Ares, don't worry,” she promised and he rubbed up against her, knocking her into Nathan. ”I know Ares, I love you too,” she said, running her hand down his back.
Nathan stepped off the road and onto a lawn in front of an abandoned business. He stopped under a tree and Amanda dug into Ares' pack, pulling out his bowl. Nathan handed her a bottle and Ares was lapping it out of the air as she poured.
As he looked around, Nathan could still see a lot of people in front yards, and some were looking back at them. He turned to look at the building behind them and saw it was a computer repair store. ”That's why it's empty,” he mumbled.
”She's heading to us,” John said in a low voice. Nathan turned around to look.
”If anyone tries anything, just kill everybody. Ares is still thirsty,” Amanda commanded. Nathan smiled as he gazed at their follower.
He had to agree with John. She was a hottie. Young, but a hottie. She peeled off the road and crossed the lawn towards them. She slowed her step as she neared. ”Can I come closer please?” she asked. Nathan nodded and she walked over. He looked down at Ares, still lapping, and Amanda, who had taken off his pack and was rubbing his fur.
When their follower got closer, Nathan could see she was in her late teens or early twenties. She stopped in front of them and held out her hand. ”I'm Jasmine,” she told them, taking off her sungla.s.ses.
Pausing for a second, he reached out and shook her hand. ”Nathan,” he said.
”You guys were moving along,” she said, smiling. ”You must know about the refugees coming in?” she asked.
”Nope, just moving through,” he said as Ares finally quit drinking.
”That's why I was following you. I knew you were leaving,” she said, and Nathan shook his head.
”No, this is our group. Go join another,” he said, knowing what was coming.
Jasmine looked him in the eyes. ”You're the first I've seen who aren't a bunch of rednecks, gang bangers, or people who've never walked further than the front door of their house. I'm not stupid. I've seen over a dozen women raped in the last week, two people shot, one beat to death, and three stabbed. I know what's going to happen if I stay here longer,” she said.
”Amanda, get the pack on Ares, we're leaving,” Nathan said, seeing several people take an interest in the group. ”Jasmine, I'm sorry, but we're leaving,” he said.
”Fine, I'll follow,” she said, putting on her sungla.s.ses. Across the street two men came out of a house and pointed at the group. With the grins on their faces, Nathan knew they weren't pointing at him.
”Okay, you can come with us but I'm the boss. The first time you don't do what I say and endanger us I'll tie you up and leave you behind. If you get one of these kids killed you won't be far behind,” Nathan said like he was ordering pizza, and then he looked at Amanda as she put the bowl in Ares's pack.
Nathan didn't say anything to them as he grabbed Amanda's hand and started walking out of the subdivision. Not long after that they came around a curve to a four-lane highway like the one the camp was on. ”Ahh, s.h.i.+t,” Amanda said, looking at the road.
”Amanda, watch your mouth. Enough is enough, you're a little girl. You're tough, but still a little girl,” Nathan said, never breaking pace to the highway.
”Watch my mouth?” she popped back. ”That's a big f.u.c.king road. Bad stuff is close to big f.u.c.king roads,” she said, pointing with her left hand holding the leash.
”I'm not kidding on the mouth, I'll spank your b.u.t.t,” Nathan said, looking down at her with a gleam in his eye. ”I know it's a big road but you are attracting attention. We want everyone to think we've been here a thousand times and know where everything is at,” he reminded her.
She looked down shamefaced. ”Sorry,” she said.
”You can cuss tonight when we camp, just not too loud or where I can hear it,” Nathan said. Amanda jerked her head up with a smile as they turned onto the highway and crossed over to walk on the southbound lane side.
They made it another mile only to see a camp on the other side of the road. A group of young men were standing just off the shoulder of the road yelling out stuff no doubt aimed at Jasmine. ”Jasmine, hold John's hand,” Nathan said over his shoulder.
A few minutes later he heard several ”Awws” from the group followed by a few challenges at John. ”John, don't even look at them,” Nathan warned, never slowing pace.
”Yes sir,” John said and Nathan let it slide, hearing the tremble in his voice. He didn't know if it was from fear or from holding Jasmine's hand. Knowing boys, Nathan figured the latter.
When the sun touched the horizon they were still walking and Amanda looked up at him. ”That's our rally point; we're supposed to camp,” she said. ”That's the road on the right with the pond on the left with a gentle slope to the southwest.” She pointed off to the left.
Nathan was very impressed. ”You go, girl,” he said. ”Yes it is, but look around. There's too many people still around. We don't want to head into the woods with fifty people watching where we went in.”
Lifting her chin up, she said, ”I'm not complaining, but I really don't want to walk all night.”
”Can't we slow down? She's getting tired,” Jasmine asked from behind them.
”I'm not talking to you,” Amanda sang out. ”Nathan, I can keep going. I'm just saying,” she said, leaving it open.
”Amanda, I know what you mean. My legs are numb, but I'm not in the mood to kill more people today just because they want our stuff unless I have to. If this keeps up, ammo is going to become an issue,” he said.
”Okay, so where are we going?” she asked, taking a drink.
”There's another spot a mile up about two hundred yards off the side of the road,” Nathan said.
”Out across the fields?” John asked.
”You two are getting good with remembering the map,” Nathan told them. ”Yes, we cross the field into the woods and find a spot to crash.”
Only half the sun was peeking above the horizon as they entered the field then walked into the tree line. The mosquitos were waiting as they stepped into the woods. With the exception of Jasmine, the others just let the d.a.m.n things feast, only swatting when the little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds tried to fly in their noses.
They reached a small clearing half a mile in and Nathan dropped his pack, pulling out the ThermaCELL, followed by Amanda. No sooner than the things were on then the torrent of bloodsuckers abated. Praising his holy ThermaCELL, Nathan set it down and started pulling out gear. ”Just get what you need to sleep. No was.h.i.+ng or anything else, we will do that at our next camp. I'm sure there are others in these woods,” he said in a low voice and turned to see Jasmine had a holy ThermaCELL held out against the bloodsuckers of the night.
”Jasmine, do you have a gun?” Nathan asked.
”No, I have pepper spray and a Taser,” she said proudly.
Blinking his eyes rapidly, Nathan was caught totally off guard. ”Okay, you and John go to sleep. Amanda and I will take first watch and wake you after midnight. No talking above a whisper,” he warned them, feeling Amanda moving beside him. He looked down to see her spreading out Ares' woobie.
The woobie was barely on the ground when Ares walked over and just flopped down. Nathan sat down and pulled out the night vision scope and his monocular. Putting the head harness on, he clipped the monocular on and reached in his tote bag and pulled out two stripped down MREs.
He and Amanda ate the MRE's as total darkness sat in. When they were finished, he picked up Amanda and put her between his legs and leaned down to whisper, ”If you hear something, move slow and use the scope to look. If you see something, tap my leg. Let's tap each other's leg every so often to make sure we don't sleep,” Nathan explained to her and she nodded.
It was only ten minutes before Nathan felt her breathing fall into a regular pattern. Nathan patted his leg and Ares moved over, putting his head on Nathan's leg. Slowly wrapping an arm around Amanda, Nathan sat watch in a light doze, waking when he heard the slightest noise and letting the others sleep through the night.
Chapter 4.
Day 9 Amanda awoke with a startle and felt an arm tighten around her. She started to panic till she felt it was Nathan's arm by his elbow pad on his s.h.i.+rt. Blinking her eyes to get the sleep out of them, Amanda noticed it was still dusk. It was darker than that a few minutes ago, she thought. She grabbed Nathan's arm and turned it till she saw the face of his watch. It was almost 5:30 a.m.
She leaned her head back and looked up at Nathan. ”You didn't tap me to stay awake,” she whispered.