Part 16 (1/2)
Jake motioned for his radioman to come over.
”Get on the horn, Emmett. Tell the boys back in Tennessee to pack it up and come on out. Bring everything with them. We'll set up a base camp right here and wait for them.”
”The big push, boss?” Emmett said, an ugly smile on his face.
”The big push, Emmett. And when we're done using Ben Raines' a.s.s to wipe the sidewalk, we're gonna rule Texas.”
Rani and her bunch avoided the main highways, electing to stay on the secondary roads. They took Highway 33 south, but only managed to make about thirty miles the first day. A tire had blown out on the small truck, and Rani was forced to call a halt until she could locate a spare, then a hand pump to inflate the tube.
Then bad gas forced them to spend a full day blowing out gas lines and siphoning the tanks dry.
They were a weary and discouraged little band of travelers when they pulled into the outskirts of Ozona, Texas, to make camp for the night.
Rani was very wary of towns, preferring the open skies for a roof whenever the weather permitted.
Even though the nearby town appeared deserted, Rani was not going to take any chances. Not when they were this close to their final destination.! She had made up her mind where they were going to winter. She had absolutely no idea what she might find there.
But she was betting on one thing: there would be no people.
And the winter would be mild. She picked up her map and looked at it.
”Yes,” she said aloud.
”You know where we're goin' now, Miss Rani?”
Robert asked. ”Terlingua,” she said.
”What's them things, Ben?” Jordy asked, pointing to a group of skeletal objects in what had once been a productive field.
They were on Interstate 10, just outside of Fort Stockton, Texas.
”Irrigation systems, Jordy. Not enough rainfall in this area, so the farmers brought water up from the ground for their crops.” ”Why didn't they just move where there was enough water?”
the boy asked.
”Lots of reasons, Jordy. This was their home, for one thing. And n.o.body likes to be forced from their home. For whatever reason.”
”Even now, Ben? With all the land and houses just there?
Would that still be true?”
”Even now, Jordy.”
The man and boy saw no one. Not one living human being. Not for miles and miles. It was as if this part of the country had been abandoned. Ben knew this part of the state had been hard hit by the disease-bearing rats, but he had not expected anything like this.
At the junction of Highway 17, Ben turned off the interstate and headed north, toward Pecos.
Ben traveled warily now, for he knew that even before the great war of '88, the land west of the Pecos had been filled with the last of the truly tough, old-fas.h.i.+oned folks; good people, but secure in their beliefs and self- sufficient. They were of pioneer stock, and were boot-tough when pushed.
Before Ben reached Pecos, a sign suspended over the highway pulled him up short: IF YOU'RE FRIENDLY, WELCOME, FRIEND.
IF YOU WANT TROUBLE, YOU GOT X.
Ben clicked on his CB and keyed the mike.
”I'm Ben Raines,” he said. ”I'm traveling with a small boy. And we're friendly.”
Someone on the other end of the airwaves laughed.
”Come on in, General. We've been trackin' you since you cut off the interstate. Ya'll just in time for lunch.”
”Son of a b.i.t.c.h!” Colonel Dan Gray cursed. ”Now what?”'
”Road is blocked, sir,” a scout radioed back to the main column. ”And someone has blown the bridge. We're gonna have to cut farther south; go across Mississippi and Louisiana.”
”All right,” the Englishman radioed.
”Backtrack. We'll wait for you here.”
Gray's Scouts had been attempting to move across the top of Alabama on Highway 72. They had been forced off that highway after only fifty or so miles. They had wound around country roads until linking up with alternate 72 at Huntsville. That had ended just before reaching Decatur.
When his recon teams had returned, Gray ordered the column south on Interstate 65. They knew from other reports that 278 west was closed; someone had blown the bridge over the East Fork.
”Find us a way around Birmingham,” Dan told his recon teams. ”I don't want to get in a fire-fight unless it's absolutely necessary. The KKK has taken over that city, and it would be terribly difficult for me to restrain myself ifconfronted.” It was a typical understated British remark from Dan. ”We'll hook up with 20/59 and take that into Mississippi. We'll stay with 20 all the way across Louisiana. Recon teams-go!”
”Way we're movin”,” a young Rebel said sadly, ”time we get to West Texas, General Raines will have already killed all the outlaws.”
”Quite,” Dan replied.
”Sure you won't stay with us, General?” a cowboy asked Ben. ”You're sure welcome to.”
”I thank you, but I'm traveling; showing Jordy the country.”
”And getting away from the reins of leaders.h.i.+p while you're at it, huh, General?” a silver-haired man said with a grin.
”Sounds like you know about the headaches, too?” Ben said.
”Very much so,” the man said. ”I was elected leader of this hardy little band. I'm stuck with it. Ben, we like your idea of outposts. When you've got it all worked out, come back. You can count on us.”
”I'll be back,” Ben a.s.sured. ”Or someone from my command will.”
”Be careful out there.” The man jerked his thumb.
”The outlaws, warlords, and a.s.sorted sc.u.m have tried to move in on us many times. They finally quit early this year. We were killing too many of them. But they're still roaming around like packs of scavengers.”
”How well I know,” Ben said. He shook hands with a few of the people and pulled out onto Interstate 20.