Blake had pretty much settled down and now it was almost 2:30 in the morning. The guys got in their truck and took one last look around before they left. Blake said, “can we go now.”
“Absolutely not.” They still laid there. About half an hour later the truck drove back by. “That’s why we waited Blake; they were still looking for us.” After another hour they got up and shook off the cold. Haliday grabbed a map and hid under the blanket with a red flashlight to read it.
He turned the light off and flipped the blanket off. “That was something else, huh Blake?”
“Oh ya, ranks up there in my top 10 list of favorite things.”
“Get used to it. It ain’t combat, but you are fighting for your life. Remember that. Any time you feel giddy enough you can leave if you want to.”
“No way Mr. Haliday. I just never thought I’d see stuff like this happen and I don’t like those guys for some reason. I don’t trust them.”
“Tape your headlight up again and let’s get going.” They worked their way to another farm area. Haliday spotted a rundown barn with a “for sale” sign just off the road. He could see a house. He walked up to the “for sale” sign and pulled a piece of paper out of a plastic box on the side of the sign post.
He grabbed his flashlight and blanket again and read the paper. “Fifty acres, good for sugar beets, blah blah blah, old barn can be repaired, mobile home removed from property, but foundation left in place. Good, abandoned.” They worked their way to the barn, pushing the bikes just in case. They went inside and except for a few rusted old hulks of farm implements, it was empty. “We’ll stay here for a bit, Blake.
“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable and grab a couple hours of sleep. I’ll wake you up later and we’ll switch off.” He went and grabbed a granola bar and turned to offer Blake one, but Blake was already out like a light with his sleeping bag just draped over him. Haliday munched on the treat and took a look around the barn and land. This wouldn’t have been a bad place to build, he thought.
He changed the frequency and gave his group a quick hello. “Hey Uncle Roger, it’s Randy.”
“Hey Randy, everything ok with you guys there at the camp?”
“Well, we could all use a drink.”
“Why, what’s going on?”
“You guys have definitely stirred the pot. There are a whole lot of people wanting to skin you guys alive. They are super pissed off. It was quite intense to listen to.”
“Well, that’s our plan, you guys learn anything good?”
“Kayla and Dawn took notes and then after it all settled down, grandma and grandpa took notes too.”
“Ok, I’ll call again in a few hours; we’re getting some rest right now. Tell everyone we are ok and talk to you soon.”
Haliday walked around a bit more then went over and woke Blake up. The sun was starting to rise and Blake should be able to stay awake. Haliday doubted he would have been able to take the first watch. “Before I crash, you want any coffee or anything?”
“I’m a little hungry.”
“Here, start with this.” Haliday tossed him a Snickers bar. “After that go ahead and crack open an MRE. Eat it all, Blake. You’ll need the calories and energy.”
Haliday dropped his sleeping bag to the ground, unzipped it, and climbed in. He wanted to zip it up, but also didn’t want to get stuck in it if something happened. He looked over at Blake struggling with the MRE. Blake glanced over and saw him watching. “Blake, the directions are on the side. Use the red lensed flashlight.” The kid would need a couple more hours of sleep before they moved out so he was aware of what was going on.
Blake nudged him awake. Haliday opened his eyes and Blake was telling him to be quiet. Haliday slowly got out of his bag. “What’s going on?” Blake whispered to him that someone else was here already. “What the hell, where are they?” He walked over to a window and Blake pointed them out.
About 50 feet from where the concrete pad of the mobile home had been was a door sticking up in the air. There was a man and a woman standing there talking. They had walked their bikes right by it when they came in last night. It was an old tornado shelter and it looked like it had been used last night. Haliday looked around and the bikes and gear were all there. At least they hadn’t been discovered yet.
He motioned for Blake to check his weapon and make sure it was ready to go. He checked his own as well. He signaled Blake to go to the other end of the barn. He found a hole in the side of the barn and watched them for a few minutes. They were just standing there talking. A third figure appeared out of the shelter.
This was a young child, maybe 8 or 9 years old. It looked like a boy, but with some of the hair styles kids wear these days he didn’t make judgment just yet. The kid turned around, definitely a boy. The parents stretched a bit and the kid kicked around a rock.
He came close to the barn a couple of times, which made them nervous.
For a minute, he eyeballed the barn and started walking toward the door. “Timmy, don’t go in there, it’s dangerous,” the mother called out. He turned around and walked back toward her. “We need to get moving again, we have a long way to go.” They went down into the shelter and the father came out with a bike. He went down again and came back out with another one. One more trip and they now had three bikes.
He went down once again and brought up a small two wheeled cart like those you tow behind bikes with your dog in it. They retrieved some packs and things, then started getting everything loaded up. “Looks like they just stayed for the night.” They were about to pedal away when they heard a vehicle coming down the road.
The truck pulled in and right up to the family. A man and woman climbed out and walked up to them. Looked like they were wearing some kind of Russian camo pattern. The man spoke first. “Who are you guys?”
“We’re members of the Bad Axe Minute Men. Who are you?”
“My name is Steven and this is my wife Jill and son Tim.”
The Minute Man spoke, “You guys from the area?”
“Yes we are. We’re from Port Austin.”
The woman walked around the three of them and looked down the steps of the shelter. “Anyone else down there?”
“No, we were just staying the night and getting ready to leave.”
The woman went down into the shelter and re-emerged. “No one else down there.” She went and stood back next to the other guy. Haliday was shocked at how much risk they took.
“What about the barn,” she said.
“We looked in it last night, but it’s empty. We chose the tornado shelter because it had the old cots down there. There was too much rusty stuff to get hurt on in there and my son is curious.”
“Where you guys heading?”
“Imlay City to my parents house. We left yesterday and stopped here for the night. We hope to make it there some time in the next couple days before it gets much colder.”
The guy walked around and looked at their bikes and packs. “You have any weapons?” he asked.
The guy said, “No.”
“Mind if I check?”
“Yes I do. You’re not a cop. You don’t have the right.”
“Look bud, times are different. This area is under control of the Bad Axe Minute Men now. What we say goes. We have a no weapons policy for travelers.”
“You don’t have any right to search us.”
The woman walked up and grabbed the guy’s pack; he struggled but then got hit by the other man. The wife yelled at him to stop it and the little boy was crying and yelled for them to stop. The minute man laid one more punch in the guy’s face and knocked him down. Haliday was fighting the urge to fire. Blake just had this WTF look on his face, but Haliday signaled him to stay down.