Breakout (Final Dawn) Read Online Free PDF Page A

comes back from war bearing gifts? That’ll be us. Pulling into the yard back home, with a big ass Walmart trailer saying ‘here we are. We’ve been through hell and we’re bringing back gifts.’ And hoping like heck someone is still alive to greet us.”
         “What about fuel to get you there?”
         “I don’t reckon that’ll be a problem. If the I-10 next to the truck stop is any indication, there’s likely abandoned rigs all the way east. We’ll just siphon the diesel we need from them. What about you, Marty? What are you gonna do?”
         “Well, I’ve got no family to go home to. Heck, I haven’t even had a home in so long I wouldn’t be able to find it if I tried. I’m a modern day gypsy. Was before the sky went dark, and that hasn’t changed.
         “This may sound strange, but I’ve actually gotten comfortable here. I’ve made good friends with the folks at the Bennett farm. They’ve treated me at least as good as the family I used to have.
         “And Lenny wants to stay here and get the truck stop running again. I think I’ll help him.”
         “Seriously? What do you two know about running a truck stop?”
         “Don’t have to know much about running it the old way. We’ll run it our own way. Ain’t that right, Lenny?”
         Lenny had just crawled out of the empty trailer he’d modified into a home and was pouring himself some campfire coffee.
         He chuckled and said, “Damn right. And it’ll be like no other truck stop in the world. Everything will be free. Heck, I don’t expect money’s worth anything anymore anyway. I think it’s just a matter of everybody fending for themselves and struggling to stay alive. ”
         Tina was puzzled.
         “What do you mean, everything’s going to be free?”
         “Sure. There are over two hundred abandoned trailer s in the yard and in the field behind it. One of them’s a flatbed with two huge ten kilowatt generators on the back. One of ‘em will be plenty big to provide power for the truck stop. We can haul the diesel tankers over to the pumps to refill the underground tanks, and restock the shelves with the stuff from the Walmart and other trailers.
         “Any time anybody comes by we’ll tell ‘em to help themselves, if they have no money. If they do have money, we’ll ask them to make a donation in a jar.”
         Marty added, “We don’t know if money will ever be any good again. But if it is, Lenny and I will use the money in the jar to reimburse us for our troubles. If it isn’t, I guess we’ll just live out our lives eating Ramen noodles off the back of trucks.”
         He laughed, but Tina couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
         “Well, I’ll talk to Mason Bennett before Joe and I head out. I’ll tell them you’ve both lost all your marbles and to watch over you both, because you’ll definitely need keepers.”
         “When are y’all headed out?”
         “We’re thinking that today we’ll go find a good trailer to take with us. Make sure it’s still in good shape. And I want to take a couple of air lines and batteries off some of the other rigs to keep ours going if it breaks down. Then we’ll set out early the day after tomorrow, if the weather is cooperating. No sense setting out if it’s rainy or icy. Been here this long, might as well wait for good weather.”
         Tina said, “And we want to spend a little time with the Bennetts too before we leave. In fact, Joe and I are headed over there after we finish our coffee, to hang out for a bit and to say goodbye. Do you guys want to come along?”
         Lenny said, “Sure, why not?”
         Tina looked at Marty.
         “No, I’ll pass. Sarah and the girls will be all emotional about y’all leaving. And I never liked seeing dames cry.”
         “Dames, huh? What a silver tongued devil you are.”
         “Hey, as one of my favorite