Part 37 (1/2)

Shaking his head, ”John, these choppers can only carry ten to twelve men. That many can't stop the ma.s.ses we have seen,” Nathan said.

John looked shaken. ”They don't have to. In COD, you call in strikes,” he mumbled.

”Impossible,” Nathan scoffed as an explosion sounded off in the distance. ”They might do something like that later but you don't start wholesale slaughter at the beginning of a crisis.”

Jasmine grabbed his arm. ”You do if you're purging those that don't follow directions, so others won't try to fight later.”

Nathan jumped up. ”Now who needs to relax?” he asked as they heard a jet scream overhead. Seconds later they heard several large explosions to the southeast. Nathan dropped to his knees and drew a line. ”That was near Antioch,” Nathan said as a steady thump from a cannon on an attack chopper sounded off to their east.

”Nathan?” Amanda asked looking around.

Reaching over Nathan took the tablet from Amanda. ”Get the horses ready,” Nathan said studying the tablet.

”What?” Jasmine asked slowly standing up.

”John's right,” Nathan said, pointing at the map. ”They are only setting out lookouts, trying to get people to stop moving. Once people stop moving they can find them.”

”Just like you said, America is big. h.e.l.l we are in b.u.m f.u.c.k Egypt now. They can't just find us,” Jasmine said.

”If they just saturate this area with drones scanning the ground they will find everyone,” Nathan said pointing at the map.

Shaking her head, ”That is too labor-intensive. They can't do that to the entire state, much less country,” she replied.

”Look at the map,” Nathan said pointing. ”They aren't. We are in a grid between two large cities. They are trying to stop movement.”

Jasmine looked at the map where all the X's were. Each was close to a crossroad or a high point on the map, forming a corridor between Memphis and Little Rock. There were smaller corridors running off the main one. ”Oh d.a.m.n,” she mumbled, seeing what Nathan and John described.

”Get your horses ready. We are moving,” Nathan said.

”Let's wait till dark,” Amanda pleaded.

”Firecracker, listen, if they get more lookouts out we won't be able to slip past them. They can spot us just as well in the daylight as they can at night from the air,” Nathan said.

”What-” Amanda started to say.

”Amanda!” Nathan snapped, cutting her off. ”We have to get the f.u.c.k out of here! Get ready to leave or I will throw you over my saddle.” He hugged her. ”We need to move,” he whispered.

Amanda looked up at him with tears in her eyes. ”I'm sorry. I'll be ready in a second.” She scampered over to her horse.

”The horses have gone fourteen hours straight already. We can't push them too much harder or we'll be walking,” Jasmine said.

”I know,” Nathan said looking down at the tablet. ”Get ready, Jasmine.” Jasmine helped everyone get saddles back on horses. Nathan figured out the route he wanted and grabbed his saddle.

In fifteen minutes he was leading them through the woods, heading northwest as the choppers buzzed overhead.

Chapter 24.

Day 32 Nathan's horse was dragging its feet through the woods as dawn slowly crept up. The only animals that hadn't tripped in the last forty hours were the donkeys. Nathan looked behind him at everyone asleep in their saddles. He only had a few hundred yards to go before he could stop and let them rest. None of them could go any farther. Over the last two days he had moved them over fifty miles in stop-and-go runs.

Reaching down he patted Smoke. ”Only a little further, girl,” he said wearily. Smoke didn't acknowledge him. He spotted the small meadow up head he had found on the satellite map. They were ten miles to the west of Clinton, Arkansas in the National forest. During the mad dash Nathan had to change routes a dozen times, hearing gunfire or helicopters in the direction they were going. They had finally slipped into the National Forrest at three that morning.

During the entire trip the only time they were on a road was to cross it. Nathan was so sick of fences he wanted all of them outlawed. He looked down to see Emma was pa.s.sed out in her sling. Rubbing her head, Nathan had to admit for a two-year-old she did great during the mad dash.

They reached the meadow and Nathan guided Smoke around the edge to the stream on the west side. Yesterday he had tied a rope from him, connecting everyone's horse. The rest of the horses just followed Smoke where Nathan guided, their riders asleep in the saddles. Reaching the spot they were camping at, Nathan slowly climbed off and almost fell down from putting weight on his legs.

Feeling her horse stop, Jasmine woke up and noticed Nathan was off his horse. She looked behind her and noticed everyone was asleep. She climbed down, untied the guide rope Nathan had rigged up, and led the rest of the group up to Nathan. When she stopped she saw Nathan spreading out his woobie gently laying Emma down.

Gathering the last of her energy, Jasmine went down the line, waking everyone up. Casey and Amanda had started riding together so they wouldn't fall off as they slept. As Jasmine woke them up, she had to catch them as they slide off as she woke them up. When they were standing on their feet Jasmine let them go and Casey fell down on her b.u.t.t.

She looked up at Jasmine and Amanda. ”My legs are asleep,” she explained in an exhausted voice, tapping her legs with her hand. Nathan picked Casey up and carried her over to his woobie, laying her beside Emma.

”Get some sleep, little one,” Nathan said turning around walking over to Smoke, taking his saddle off. John and Tom had both climbed down and were leading their horses. Amanda stumbled and dropped her pack, then fell down beside Casey. Slowly rolling over, she took off her rifle and put it on the ground beside her.

John stopped beside Nathan. ”Are we safe now?” He really didn't care if they were or not.

Slowly Nathan turned to look at him. ”As we can be, I haven't heard any choppers to our west.”

”What about that one I heard around four o'clock?” Tom asked.

”It landed on a hilltop two miles to our northeast,” Nathan said. Amanda was already snoring. Giving them a weak smile, Nathan started taking the other horses' saddles off.

The others helped, and soon the tired horses were hobbled and eating out in the meadow. Jasmine, John, and Tom hung up the horse blankets so they could dry out. They noticed Nathan wasn't with them. They looked around to see Nathan studying his map as he took Ares's pack off.

”I swear if another chopper comes near us I'm going to shoot it down,” John vowed.

”What are you doing, Nathan?” Jasmine asked, dropping to the ground beside him.

Nathan looked off to the northeast. ”Have someone awake at all times. The rally point is here,” he said, handing her the map pointing at the X. ”If I'm not back by tonight I won't be back at all,” he said, standing up.

Not tired anymore, Jasmine jumped up and grabbed his vest, spinning him around. ”Whoa buddy, what do you think you're doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper.

”I saw that chopper land last night. I know where they are. I'm going to find out what the f.u.c.k is going on,” he said.

Studying his face, Jasmine saw his gla.s.sed-over eyes. ”You're about ready to drop. You can't take off and expect to catch soldiers,” she snapped at him.

Sluggishly blinking his eyes, trying to make Jasmine focus in his vision, Nathan slurred, ”Jasmine, I'm not in the mood. We have to find out what's going on. We can't keep this pace.”

”Jesus, you can't even talk straight you're so tired,” she said. ”Get some sleep first,” she begged.

”They may not be there later. I have to move now,” he said, looking back to the northeast.

”They may not be there now,” she tried to explain.

Nathan shook his head. ”No, I watched the chopper hover and four men rappelled down,” he said, patting his leg for Ares to come over. ”They are watching that road. From the hill they landed on you can see down that small valley.”