Bug Out! Part 11: Motorhomes on the Dark Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

Charlie said, eyes bearing down on the road.

    ***

    Frank put his phone in his pocket, a concerned expression on his face.
    “What?” Jerry asked. “Trouble on the road already?”
    “Yeah, the roadblock on eastbound 40 is gone,” Frank said. “Let’s go chat with the general.”
    “He’s in the lounge, I think,” Jerry said. Jane and Jasmine looked at each other, worried.
    “You two want to come?” Jerry asked.
    “I think I’d rather keep scanning,” Jane said.
    “Me too,” Jasmine said.
    “Okay, be back in a few minutes,” Frank said. He and Jerry went into the kitchen and down through the trap door.
    General Hogan was sitting on the couch, reading.
    “Hey, general,” Frank said. He looked up from his book. “What are you reading?”
    “Hemingway,” he said. “What’s up?”
    “We just heard from Jackson. The roadblock on the east bound side of route 40 is gone.”
    “Already? Shit. Knew it was coming, but there’s still a lot of stragglers.”
    “You think it’s too early?” Jerry asked.
    “Yeah,” he said. “We might want to have somebody watching the cameras and monitoring the audio dishes, just in case.”
    “Maybe we ought to put folks on duty,” Jerry said.
    “On the roofs?” Frank asked.
    “Yeah,” Jerry said. “Think it’s too late to call a meeting?”
    “In this case, no,” Frank said. “We’re stretched a little too thin.”
    “Okay, let’s do it, then. In the clubhouse?” General Hogan asked.
    “Yeah,” Frank said. “Let’s go round people up. Hopefully they aren’t asleep yet.”
    Jerry and Frank went up the stairs to the barn trap door, and into the coach section, knocking on doors and telling people about the meeting. People started arriving in the clubhouse before they got back.
    Jane and Jasmine turned as they heard people coming in.
    “What’s going on?” Jane asked.
    “Jerry and Frank just called a meeting,” Mary said, looking sleepy as she walked in with Kurt.
    General Hogan appeared in the door of the kitchen. “Wow, that was fast.”
    “Yeah, we’re used to this,” Kurt said, chuckling. “Something wrong on the road?”
    “The roadblock is gone on route 40,” General Hogan said. “We figured we’d better plan some strategy, and start watching.”
    “No, really?” Mary asked.
    “Afraid so,” he replied.
    The Sheriff, Terry, Trish, and Jake came in as a group, followed by Malcolm, George, and Heidi. Jerry and Frank came in last.
    “Looks like everybody’s here,” Kurt said.
    “Smaller group than I’m used to,” the Sheriff said, looking around, his brow furrowed. “Hope we didn’t set ourselves up for disaster by letting so many people take off at once.”
    “We’ve still got considerable capability,” General Hogan said.
    Frank went to the front of the room. “Okay, you already know what happened. Jackson called and let me know that the eastbound roadblock on route 40 is gone. That means anybody could just roll into Kansas now.”
    “We also know that the enemy has been traveling in shielded vans,” Jerry said. “They came in one when they attempted to attack the hospital that Jeb and Rosie are at.”
    Trish looked up at Terry, terror in her eyes. He petted her head. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” he said.
    “We need to brainstorm this,” Malcolm said. “Otherwise we’ll get into a tizzy. It might not be as bad as we think.”
    “That’s true,” George said. “Remember, they can’t hide a large number of fighters from us. At least not a large enough number to take this place.”
    “Ideas?” Jerry asked.
    “Man that 50 cal up on the roof of the barn,” Kurt said. “Any van or group of vans coming down the road is gonna have a bad day.”
    “Yeah, and put snipers with hunting rifles on the lower roofs to clean up the mess,” Terry said.
    “I think that’s prudent,” General Hogan said.
    “You know, they could shield the back of a semi,” Kurt said. “They could fit 40 to 50 men in a rig that