Escape: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival series (Dark Road Book 2) Read online

  “Hey, boy.” Ben scratched the dog’s head for a minute before moving on to the garage. He unlocked the door and opened it, checking quickly to be sure everything was the way he left it last night. Thankfully, it was.

  Once he got the generator started, he came right back out and locked the door behind him. No point in hanging out in there any more than he had to while it was running. Besides, he wanted to get a shower and fix himself something to eat.

  Knowing that they would be leaving in a few hours gave Ben a small amount of relief from his concerns about the noise of running the generator. He wasn’t worried about his closest neighbors; he hadn’t seen their cars either time they had passed their driveways over the last couple days.

  And if anyone were to pick up on the noise from farther away, it would take them a fair amount of time to triangulate the source in the mountains. By then, he, Joel, Allie, and Gunner would be gone.

  Ben went back inside, leaving Joel and Allie to their conversation. Finishing his coffee, he stared out the kitchen window for a minute before deciding to make them all a decent breakfast. The eggs, cheese, and butter would still be good, even after a few days without power to the fridge. Might as well eat like kings one last time. No telling how things would go on the road.

  “Making breakfast?” Joel, with Allie right behind him, entered the kitchen a few minutes later.

  “Yep, I figure we might as well use this stuff up.” Ben was cracking the eggs into a large bowl. “Grab the bread out of the pantry, will you, Joel?”

  “Sure.”

  “Need any help?” Allie stepped forward and leaned on the kitchen island countertop.

  “Nope, this is my way of saying thanks for saving my back this morning.” Ben nodded at the pile of gear they had carried up from the basement. “Why don’t you guys get your showers while I make breakfast?”

  With that, they were both off. Joel headed upstairs, Allie down. Gunner, too interested in the food he smelled, stayed put. It was not uncommon for Gunner to get scraps or leftovers in his bowl, and he knew it. The dog was smarter than some people Ben knew.

  He finished up cooking and left breakfast on the table for the kids. He gave Gunner a fried egg, then made a sandwich out of his portion of the omelet and wolfed it down on the way to his bedroom. He didn’t want to rush, but that didn’t mean he wanted to waste any more time here this morning than they had to, either. He took a quick shower and, after he got dressed, threw a few changes of clothes and some toiletries in a bag.

  Joel and Allie were just finishing up their food when he came back into the kitchen. Next stop for him was the garage.

  “Thanks for breakfast, Mr. Davis. It was really good.”

  “No problem.” Ben nodded.

  “What do you want us to do first?” Joel asked.

  “Well, I guess get your personal bags together and organized. Just the necessities now. Shouldn’t need more than a few changes of clothes, maybe extra socks, toiletries, and whatever else you can’t live without. After that, you can start going through the kitchen. Grab any dry goods we can take with us. Pretty much grab anything that will keep, like rice, oatmeal, pasta, that kind of stuff. I’m not sure if we’ll have room, but we should take what we can.”

  “Okay,” Joel and Allie replied almost in unison.

  “Oh, and one more thing. Bring your phones and chargers. They could restore power and cell service in the not too distant future, or maybe some parts of the country still have it. Who knows?”

  “That’s a good idea,” Allie agreed.

  “You never know,” Joel chimed in.

  “Would you give me a hand getting the ammo cans to the garage first, though, Joel? I want to start with them.”

  Joel got up to help.

  After they brought the last of the ammo out to the garage and stacked it once again, Ben sent Joel inside to pack his own bag and help Allie go through the kitchen.

  “You sure you don’t want more help?” Joel asked.

  “Thanks, buddy. I can get the rest of it.”

  As Joel went upstairs, Ben turned the generator off and closed the gas supply valve that came through the wall from the big natural gas tank outside. Not knowing when or if they would be back here, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to secure things.

  He would do a thorough walkthrough of the place and make sure everything was locked up and turned off before they left. If the power grid came back on while they were gone, he didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

  If someone wanted to break in and use the house while they were gone, there was nothing he could do about it. But like the shop, he didn’t see the need to make it easy for someone to take advantage.

  He held fast to the hope that they would eventually make it back home.

  Chapter Seven

  Looking now at the piles of supplies they had accumulated, Ben tried to visualize how all of it would fit into the truck.

  “Ammo cans first, I guess.” Ben sighed as he reached for the first one.

  He began to meticulously load the truck. Stacking the ammo cans in the center of the rear cargo area, he built around them with the other supplies. Next, he focused on getting the guns and primary ammo stashed away, being careful to make sure both were still easily accessible.

  After a few trips back and forth from the house, he had everything from the basement sorted out and in its place. He was pleased with how the truck packing had started to come together. The Blazer would be full, but it would be well organized.

  After Joel and Allie brought him their bags from inside, he was able to fit their personal things and all the camping gear—along with a few other random items like fly rods and tackle, a hatchet, and a shovel to name a few—in the rooftop carrier. Thanks to the cargo box, he found that they had enough room left inside the truck for Gunner and one person to be reasonably comfortable in the back seat.

  “How much stuff did you round up from the kitchen?” Ben asked Joel as he headed back into the house from one of his trips out to the garage.

  “We came up with a few bags of food. Not a whole lot.” Joel shrugged.

  “That’s fine. Bring out what you have and let’s get it packed.” Ben went back out and heaved the old cooler, now loaded with a long section of garden hose, hand pump, funnel, and other miscellaneous tools, onto the rear hitch rack.

  He latched the cooler down next to the jerry cans with a couple bungee cords. He had emptied the two gas cans into the Blazer’s fuel tank last night. They had about half a tank currently, and he hoped they could get a couple good hours of driving in before they had to stop for more. Of course, if an easy, safe opportunity to get gas presented itself sooner, they wouldn’t pass it up.

  Carrying a few bags filled with food from the kitchen, Joel and Allie walked through the garage door.

  “Where do you want us to put the food?” Allie asked.

  “Anywhere you can find a spot. We’re running a little tight on space.” Ben looked down at his watch. It was approaching eight o’clock. At this point, he didn’t see any reason why they couldn’t be on the road in half an hour or so.

  Joel and Allie started stuffing the contents of their bags in with the other gear anywhere they could find a crevice.

  “While you two are doing that, I’m going to do a quick walkthrough of the house.” Ben headed inside.

  He originally planned to unplug all the electronics in the house but realized he could simply secure everything at the panel box. Opening the cover to the electrical panel, he threw the main breaker, then slammed the thin metal door shut.

  After that, he began making his way around the house and checking to make sure all the doors and windows were locked and that the curtains and blinds were drawn. Finally satisfied that the house was as secure as it could be, he ended his walkthrough and went back to the kitchen.

  Standing in front of the fridge, he pulled down the kids’ latest school pictures. He lingered on each one before tucking them into his wallet. He thought abo
ut how quickly they were growing up and found it remarkable how fast time had gone by.

  And about how much he wanted to see them.

  He sent up a little prayer that they were safe from all this chaos and that they would stay that way until he could get to them.

  “Anything else?” Joel interrupted Ben’s thoughts as he barged into the kitchen from outside.

  “Ah, yeah, actually.” Ben turned, caught off guard by Joel’s sudden entrance. “You guys want to grab a few pillows and blankets? Might be nice to have them. Plus, they’ll work well for covering stuff up in the truck. We should be able to squeeze them in.”

  “Oh, I hope it’s okay, me adding my .308 to the gear?” Joel asked.

  “Yeah, right, I noticed that. No, it’s fine. Probably not a bad idea,” Ben answered, still slightly preoccupied with his thoughts about the kids.

  “Cool, thanks.” Joel headed off to gather the rest of the stuff.

  Alone again, Ben looked around as he went through his mental checklist.

  “I guess that’s it,” Ben said. There was nothing more to do or pack from the house. Well, there was one more thing.

  He grabbed his hefty U.S. road atlas from the kitchen counter and, glad he’d kept the old thing now, flipped at the pages with his thumb. He hadn’t used it in a while, instead relying on his phone for directions when needed. With all the USGS maps available through an app on his phone, there was no reason to lug this monstrosity around. It was heavy and quite bulky, but it contained a complete and detailed U.S. road atlas. In the back was a good-sized collection of topographical maps that Ben had accumulated through the years on his many backpacking trips.

  Carrying pillows and a neatly stacked assortment of blankets, Joel and Allie reappeared in the kitchen.

  “Here, let me get the door for you.” Ben opened the mudroom door, allowing them to pass by freely since their arms were full. Of course, not before Gunner could squeeze out in front of them, nearly tripping Joel.

  “Dog! Really?” Joel shook his head, caught himself on the doorframe, and almost dropped the blankets.

  Gunner knew they were going somewhere and could barely contain his excitement.

  “I guess that’s it then.” Ben followed them onto the deck and locked the door behind him, the moment bittersweet. He hoped to see the old homestead again, but this new world didn’t offer those kinds of guarantees.

  They laid the blankets across the cargo area of the truck and covered over all the gear, stuffing the pillows on top. Because of the almost completely blacked-out windows and the blankets, Ben couldn’t see into the back from the outside. He was good with that.

  Allie climbed into the back seat and was immediately joined by an exuberant Gunner. She gave him a kiss and a good scratch on the head.

  “You know the drill.” Ben tossed the garage keys to Joel and slid behind the wheel.

  “Got it.” Joel stood by, ready to close the door as the Blazer rolled out from the shade of the garage and into the sun.

  Ben stopped the truck and put it in park while he waited for Joel to lock up and rejoin them.

  God, please give us safe passage to Bradley and Emma, Ben thought to himself as he squinted against the glare of the sun through the windshield. It had been a long time since he had asked God for anything, but he was asking now. He lowered his sunglasses as Joel climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Well, guys, here we go.” Ben glanced around the vehicle, giving everyone the most reassuring smile he could muster before putting the truck in gear and heading out.

  Chapter Eight

  Not much had changed since they had last been out on the road. The car wrecks they passed seemed to be putting off less smoke as the fires began to smolder and die. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing, though, as now Ben could plainly see the unfortunate people who had been trapped in the wrecks and burned alive.

  Allie had slept on the way back from town on the first trip and been spared the horrific scenes that littered the roads. But not now.

  Ben noticed her in the rearview mirror. The blank, vacant look on her face as they passed wreck after gruesome wreck said it all. She was in shock, and Ben couldn’t blame her. There was nothing he could say or do. This was their new reality. The sooner they accepted that, the sooner they could move past it. The shock and awe would eventually wear off and they would learn to cope with it over time.

  There was total silence in the truck for what felt like a long time before Joel broke it with a question. “How long do you think it will take us to get there?”

  “I really don’t know. If the roads are like this the whole way, it could be a while.” Ben remained focused on the road ahead.

  “I wonder if the whole country is like this or if it’s isolated to certain areas?” Allie scratched Gunner’s head as he lay sprawled across the rear seat.

  “Gunner, don’t be a seat hog.” Joel looked back at them and shook his head. “Sorry. He really likes you, I guess.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind him at all. He’s like a big teddy bear.” Allie smiled.

  They made light conversation for a while, and it was a welcome distraction from the scenery outside. Ben was glad the kids had each other to talk to, and once again he felt validated in his decision to bring her with them.

  The big V-8 was using fuel at a faster rate than Ben had anticipated. He watched the needle steadily fall toward the big red E on the gauge. They had only been on the road for a little over two hours and already their half tank of gas had dwindled to just a quarter.

  It was all the slowing down and accelerating they were being forced to do as they navigated the sea of accidents and debris. They hadn’t even made Pagosa Springs yet, which was only 60 miles away.

  He and Joel had been skiing and snowboarding many times at Wolf Creek, just outside the town, and it usually took them an hour or so to make that trip. He really hoped the roads improved, but common sense told him otherwise. The main roads and interstates would most likely be worse, specifically I-70. There was bound to have been more traffic on those roads when the bombs detonated.

  This trip was going to take a lot longer than expected, and they were going to have to stop for fuel more frequently, just to add to the fun.

  “We’re going to need to find a spot to get gas soon,” Ben announced. “You guys want to keep an eye out for a place?”

  “Okay, are we looking for a gas station or cars to siphon it from?” Joel asked.

  “Let’s try our luck at a gas station and see what we can figure out with the hand pump.”

  Ben didn’t like the idea of siphoning gas out of someone’s car. Most of the cars they saw were burned-out wrecks. The intact vehicles they had seen were parked at residences, and he wasn’t about to steal gas from someone else’s car in their own driveway. He wasn’t sure what kind of situation they would find at a gas station, but it was their best bet.

  “There’s a station. Up there on the right.” Allie pointed.

  Ben slowed down as they approached the small service station from the shoulder of the road. It appeared empty except for a few cars, which looked like they were there for repair, along the side in a fenced-in area.

  As they cruised by the front of the little convenience store section of the building, they could see that it, too, had been vandalized and looted. It didn’t look like there was much left of any value inside the store. The place was a mess, and it reminded Ben of what he saw on their trip into town. The windows were smashed, and shards of glass and trash were scattered everywhere. He pulled around to the other side of the store to look for any signs of activity.

  “Place looks deserted.” Joel shrugged.

  “Let me check it out while you guys wait here.” Ben parked on the side of the store. “I need to find the key to the tank lids.”

  “Dad, let me come with you,” Joel pleaded. “I can help.”

  “No, just wait here, please.” Ben didn’t want Allie left alone.

  “Um… Mr. Davi
s, I need to use the restroom,” Allie said softly.

  Ben rubbed his forehead with his fingers, closing his eyes tightly for a second. He couldn’t keep them hidden away in the truck for the entire trip. They were going to get involved sooner or later. It might as well be on his terms. Besides, the place looked empty anyways.

  He looked at Joel. “Okay, then. Got your gun?”

  “Got it,” Joel answered quickly.

  “Allie, stay close to us and let us check the bathroom first, okay?” Ben glanced into the rearview mirror to make eye contact with her.

  “I will,” she said.

  They all made their way out of the truck—Gunner included.

  “Gunner,” Ben said sternly. “Load up.”

  Gunner lowered his head and then reluctantly hopped up into the driver’s seat, knowing that the tone of Ben’s voice meant it was a nonnegotiable command. Joel had taught Gunner a few commands when he was a puppy. That was one of Ben’s rules when they got the dog: that Joel would have to work with him and teach him some basics. Now the front seat was Gunner’s preferred place to sit whenever he was made to wait in the car.

  “Too much glass everywhere, boy. Besides, we need you to watch the truck.” Ben rubbed Gunner between his ears briskly. He gently closed the door, leaving the dog inside with a pitiful look on his face as he stared back out through the window.

  “We’ll be back. Good boy,” Joel said.

  They made their way to the front of the store, trying not to step on any of the larger pieces of glass lying on the ground. The smaller pieces were unavoidable and crunched under their hiking boots with every step they took.

  Ben held his hand up, signaling them to stay put next to the commercial ice chest they were standing near. It was missing one of its doors and the other barely hung on by one hinge. The cooler was now empty, and its contents formed a large puddle of water around it on the sidewalk.

  Ben continued forward alone, slowly pulling the battered empty frame of a door open enough to slip by. With his gun drawn, he made his way down each aisle, carefully checking each lane. The bathroom doors were on either side of the drink coolers in the back of the store. The only other door in the place was behind the register up front, and it looked like it went into the garage area of the service station.