Part II
itle: Re: The Bug Out - a short story
Post by: Halffast on December 05, 2008, 02:52:54 PM
Joe looked at his watch. It said 3:40. He had hoped to be on the road by now, but as long as they got out before 4:00 or 4:15 they should be okay. He wondered why Melissa had not come to get the duffle bag. He grabbed the duffle and walked into Andy’s room where he found her looking at the TV while she was lazily stuffing clothes into his pack.”
“Melissa!” he shouted. “I told you not to get distracted by the TV. You should have had that done fifteen minutes ago.”
Melissa was very sensitive to being yelled at, especially by her father. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “But, Dad, I just found Andy’s pack a few minutes ago. It was stuffed under his bed,” she cried.
“Okay. I’m sorry I yelled. We just need to be ready to go by the time your mom and brother get home. You should have just gotten a trash bag or something when you couldn’t find his pack right away.”
“Okay, Dad,” she said, sniffing and wiping an eye.
“Here’s the duffle. Anything on the TV yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Okay, hon, let me know if you hear anything and try to go a little quicker, all right?” he pleaded.
“No problem.”
Joe went back to the garage and pulled down some more camping stuff. That should do it. He spotted his chain saw and decided to take it too. If they had to stay until winter, a long shot he knew, but it was already fall, they could use it to cut firewood for the fireplaces. He put it and its accessories in the growing pile. He looked at it and couldn’t think of anything else they might need. He opened the garage door to start loading his truck. He decided to back it in to make the job easier. Just as he was unlocking the door, Melissa called him.
“Dad, Dad, it’s on TV,” she yelled.
He rushed back into the garage and pulled the door down. When he got in, he heard the TV in his room. He ran down and saw Melissa working on her mother’s bag. She was quickly packing the bag from a pile of clothes on the bed. Her face looked older than it should have, Joe thought. He turned his attention to the television.
…level has been raised to red. Authorities believe that the device found in Boston is the only one and that the terrorist are trying to cause a panic by alluding to others. However, the president has placed the military and FEMA on high alert and experts are searching other sites that might have a high probability of being a target. Authorities are urging all Americans to stay calm and stay in their homes. FEMA suggests that no one venture out until we have definitive word on where any other devices, if they even exist, might be. Moving from where you are might just put you in harms way. Authorities inform us that a dirty bomb is not immediately dangerous to anyone except in the small blast radius. It would take days of close exposure to absorb a lethal dose of radiation. If evacuation is needed, authorities will let the public know in plenty of time for a safe and controlled withdrawal from any dangerous area.
Again, three men were arrested early this morning in Boston trying to plant a dirty bomb across the street from City Hall. A dirty bomb is an explosive device that has been laced with nuclear material. The arrest came about as the result of…
Joe hit the mute button on the remote. He looked at the time. It was five minutes until four. He wondered where Linda and Andy were.
Linda had pushed her three carts, using her one at a time method, almost to the check out by the time Andy showed up with the gas cans. He helped her push all four carts into the only check out line that was open and then ran back to get the propane. The cashier looked like she was only awake enough to be annoyed at the four basketfuls that she would have to scan and bag. Halfway through the second basket, Linda’s phone rang.
“What,” she said, irritated that it hadn’t been five minutes since the last call.
Joe was oblivious to her exasperation. “Is anything going on there? It just hit the TV.”
Andy, who had returned quickly with the propane canisters, saw his mother go pale. She shook almost imperceptivity and her lips became tight. She didn’t say anything.
“Mom, is that Dad?” Andy asked nonchalantly. “I need to talk to him.”
Linda, wide eyed, handed the phone to her son.
“Dad, hey, we’re checking out now.” He paused. “No, everything is alright.” There was another pause. “Yes, I understand. We will. Bye.”
Andy folded the phone and looked at the time on the display. He handed the phone back to his mother. “Dad says that we are behind schedule.” He saw the clerk raise her eyebrows at what he said. “And, you know Dad. He always wants to leave at the crack of dawn.”
The clerk smiled and Andy wondered if her dad was really one of those crack of dawn dads. He knew that his wasn’t. A minute later, a tall, thin, prematurely balding young man came up to the register. His nametag said ‘Barry’. Linda assumed that it was the night manager.
“Kathy, we’re closing in five minutes,” he said.
“Why, Barry?”
Barry gave her a story about corporate calling and saying that the computers were going down for some unscheduled emergency maintenance. He announced over the intercom that the store had to close because of a computer problem and that all shoppers should bring their purchases to the checkouts. He also called all cashiers to report to their registers.
Linda had begun to compose herself and she figured that the computer problem story was just a cover that the manager had made up or was told to use in case of an emergency. The cashier finally finished scanning the merchandise and gave Linda a total. Linda wrote the check, knowing that there wasn’t enough money in the account. She hoped she could get to the bank before it cleared, and wondered if it would even make a difference. She and Andy loaded the carts back up with the bagged merchandise and pushed them toward the door. When they got there, two security guards were standing there with the keys hanging from the lock. The older man smiled weakly and reached to unlock the door.
“Could one of you help us with these?” she asked.
The two men looked at each other and the older one nodded once to the younger man. He grabbed a cart each from Linda and Andy and headed out the door as the other guard held it open.
It only took a few minutes to load the back of the SUV with the bags. The guard shoved the four empty baskets together and pushed them toward the entrance. Linda noticed that there were quite a few cars rushing into the parking lot as she climbed behind the wheel. She started the automobile and pulled out. As she drove by the store entrance, she saw several people banging on the door that she had just exited and a couple of them were yelling obscenities at the guards.
She pulled back onto the street and saw that there was a significant amount of traffic for this time of night. Everyone seemed to be obeying the traffic laws except for maybe bending the speed limit a little. She found herself doing about ten miles an hour over as well. She pulled out her cell phone and handed it to Andy.
“Call your Uncle Larry,” she instructed. “I think it’s number seven on the speed dial.”
Andy did as he was told. A minute later he spoke. “Uh, Uncle Larry, it’s me, Andy.” There was a brief pause. “Here, I think I better let my Mom tell you.” He handed the phone back to his mother.
“Larry, hi. Listen, turn on CNN, there’s some kind of terrorist attack going to take place.”
“Where, when?” Larry asked groggily.
“I don’t know. But Joe has us leaving for Mom and Dad’s. Andy and I just left from the Wal-Mart with a bunch of groceries and stuff and they closed the store as we were leaving.”
“Okay, I have the news on. Oh my God. I don’t believe it,” Larry said as he tried to catch his breath. “We’ll meet you at Mom and Dad’s, all right?”
“All right,” Linda agreed.
“And Linda, tell Joe that I said he was right.”
“I will,” she said, not needing him to say about what. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Thanks, Sis.”
The line went dead as she pulled into their driveway. Joe was outside making some kind of weird gyrations with his hands. Linda rolled down the window.
“What?” she asked.
“Back it in,” her husband answered.
Linda backed the car out of the driveway and then backed it next to Joe’s truck. Joe opened the back hatch. He pulled out the gas cans and placed them next to his truck. Linda and Andy came around to the back of the SUV.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“Go inside and see if Melissa has all the Bug Out Bags ready to go. Have her bring them out here and you see if we need to bring anything else with us.”
Linda went toward house and Joe turned to Andy.
“Get a couple of those empty totes and start stacking these bags of groceries into them. Then we’ll start loading the rest of the stuff.”
“Okay, Dad,” Andy answered as he walked into the garage.
Joe finished packing the rest of the gear he had assembled into the back of his truck. Then he placed the two old gas cans right next to the tailgate, followed by the six new ones. That done, he turned to his gun safe. He opened it and pulled out all twenty-one of his firearms. He put most of them into rifle cases or pistol rugs and put them into the extended cab of his pickup. He kept four rifles and four handguns out. One of each for each of them. He loaded the handguns from the ammo on his ammo shelf. Next, he loaded several magazines for each of the rifles. He had more magazines, but not more ammo. He had been meaning to buy more, but just never seemed to get around to it. Hopefully, he could find a gun store close to his in-law’s house and buy or trade for some if they needed it. The little extra that was left for his other guns he put inside the truck. He put Linda’s and Andy’s guns in the SUV and his and Melissa’s went into the truck.
The girls brought out the BOBs and the big duffle bag with the extra cloths. Linda also had another medium size bag that she handed to Joe.
“Here’s everything else that I can think of,” she said.
Joe nodded and loaded all six bags into the SUV, almost filling it to capacity. He looked at his watch. It read 4:42. Joe couldn’t believe it. It had taken them over two hours to get ready to go. He looked up and down the street. There were a couple of houses with activity, but it looked like most of his neighbors were still unaware. If he had known any of them well, he would have knocked on their doors and told them. He really only knew the names of three or four of them. Even though they were more than an hour behind when Joe had wanted to leave, they were still ahead of 90% of the population if his neighborhood was any indication.
“Andy, you ride with your mother,” he said. “Melissa, you’re with me in the truck. Everyone has a rifle and a handgun. I don’t think we’ll need them, but just in case, I want to be ready if we run into any trouble. How much gas do you have in the SUV, Linda?”
“Just over a quarter,” she replied sheepishly.
Joe had continually nagged her about filling up when she got down to half a tank. Unfortunately, Linda’s indicator that she needed gas was the little light that came on at about one eighth of a tank. “Damn it,” he said through clenched teeth. “That will barely get us to the next town. I was hoping to get at least halfway to the farm before we had to get fuel.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“I know a station that leaves the pumps on for credit card purchases when they close. Maybe we can get there before they get mobbed. Let’s get going. Stay right behind me, but if we get separated, use the radio.”
Joe turned on one of the GMRS radios, looked at the channel display, and handed it to his son. He twisted the power knob, which also controlled the volume, on the second radio to find out that it was already in the on position.
“Shit!” he exclaimed. “Someone left this one on and the batteries are dead. Does anyone know where the AA batteries are?”
“Melissa took the last ones for her Walkman,” Andy said.
“Well, you used a bunch of them up in your Gameboy,” she countered.
“Are any of them still good?” Joe demanded.
Both children shook their heads sadly.
“Did you buy any batteries?” Joe asked Linda.
“Did you tell me to?” she shot back, happy that this, unlike the low fuel status in the SUV, was not her fault.
“We don’t have any in the house?” Joe asked them all.
“I might know where a couple are,” Andy volunteered.
“Go see if you can find them. Hurry.”
Andy nodded his head and ran into the house. Joe rechecked the gear in the back of his truck to make sure nothing was where it could blow out. He glanced again at his watch. He walked around both of the vehicles and noticed a low tire on the front of the SUV. Well, he thought, how can I expect her to keep air in the tires when she won’t even keep gas in the tank? He would air it up at the station.
Where was Andy? Joe walked to the door and stuck his head in. “Andy, did you find them?”
“No, not yet. They weren’t in the junk drawer. I think maybe I saw them in one of the desk drawers.”
“Come on. We’ve got to go.”
Andy raced past his father and got in his assigned vehicle. Joe quickly locked the house door and tripped the switch on the automatic garage door. He walked up next to Linda’s car and motioned for her to roll down the window.
“Just try to stay right behind me. Maybe we can find somewhere to get some batteries.”
She nodded he head and started he car. Joe got in the truck, cranked it, and put it into gear. He glanced at the time on the radio as he turned onto the street. 4:49. He was exasperated that it had taken this long. Ben Franklin had said that he was leaving in ten minutes. He was probably already at his bug out location. Next time I’ll make sure I’m ready to go that quickly, Joe promised himself.
There was a little more traffic than he would have expected, but it was moving well. When he entered the Crosstown Expressway, it looked like rush hour. There was a lot of horn honking and finger gesturing, but not much more than there usually was at five o’clock on Friday afternoons. At least they were moving, not as fast as Joe had hoped, but it wasn’t too bad. Joe worked his way over to the left lane and made sure with each lane change that Linda was behind him. He calculated that at the speed they were moving, they would be at the gas station he wanted to fill up at in twenty minutes.
Along the way, every open gas station had a line of cars. Even the ones that were closed had cars at the pumps. Joe figured that those drivers believed it was quicker to wait for the station to open than to get in one of the long gas lines.
As they drove, the traffic got heavier and heavier. It took almost forty minutes to get to the station. It was a few blocks off of the access road. Joe only knew about it because he had needed fishing bait one time and a local had sent him here. As they pulled into the lot, there was a car at every pump. Some had another behind them. Compared to the other stations, this was a dream though. Since only a few of the outside and none of the inside lights were on, most people probably thought the pumps were off too. Joe waved Linda behind a car at one pump and he pulled up behind another.
Linda didn’t have to wait too long before she was able to pull up to her pump. Andy jumped out, swiped the credit card that she had given him and began to pump gas into the SUV. Joe was behind another truck that the driver had finished with one tank and was now beginning to fill the second. He began to reach into the bed of his truck and pull out 5-gallon jugs to fill as well. Joe, not angry since he planned to do the same, was anxious to get back on the road. He noticed that a car pulled out from one of the pumps and the car behind it did not move. Joe looked and could see no one in the vehicle. He put his truck in gear and pulled in next to the pump. Swiping his credit card, he was pumping gas seconds later.
“Hey, I was next!” A man shouted, startling Joe and making him turn.
The younger man was coming from behind the store. He was quite a bit taller than Joe and appeared to have a bad attitude. Joe wasn’t sure if it was just because of the situation or if it was normal for him.
“I’m sorry. There was no one in your car and I didn’t know where you were. I’ll be done in just a minute,” Joe said.
“I had to go take a leak,” the man said as if it were Joe’s fault that his bladder had filled. He sat on the hood of his car and stared at Joe’s truck. The pump soon kicked off as Joe already had more than half a tank when he pulled in to the station. He reached in the back and started pulling out the jerry cans.
“Oh, no,” the young man said as he jumped off his hood and clenched his fists. “You’re not gonna fill those up too.” He took a step toward Joe.
“It’ll just take another minute or two.”
“You’re moving that truck now or I’m moving it for you!”
He stepped to the back of his car and lifted the hatch. When he reappeared from the back he had a tire iron in his hand. Joe had no idea what the man meant to do with the bent metal weapon, but he didn’t want to find out. He reached in through the open door of the truck and pulled out his Kimber .45 Auto. The man, seeing the weapon and the almost half inch hole of the muzzle, seemed to shrink in size. He quickly backed up.
“Sorry, Mister, I don’t want no trouble,” he told Joe.
Joe prayed that the man couldn’t see his hand shaking. “I…I…I think you better get in your car until I leave.”
“Okay, okay man, relax. Don’t shoot me. I’ll get in the car.” He did as he said.
Joe stuck the pistol in his waistband and stood were he could watch the little car and its occupant. He looked over at the SUV. Andy was hanging up the hose, oblivious to what had just happened. Joe didn’t trust the guy to stay in his car.
“Andy,” Joe called, “tell your mom to pull over here and you come help me.”
Andy did as he was told. “Finish filling those cans, while I watch this guy,” his father told him.
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you later, just fill the cans as fast as you can.”
Joe thought to get Melissa to help Andy put the cans back in the truck. He looked in the truck and saw that his daughter’s eyes were the size of manhole covers.
“Melissa,” he said. “Melissa! MELISSA!”
She jumped as finally heard her name. “What?”
“Get out here and put the gas cans in the truck as your brother gets them filled.”
“Dad, you pulled a gun on that guy!”
“I know,” Joe said as he glanced in the direction of the tire iron brandisher. “He acted like he wanted to hurt us, so I had no choice. Now get out here and help your brother so that we can get out of here.”
Melissa opened her door and scurried around to the back of the pickup. Joe carefully watched and made sure that the man could see he still had his Kimber ready. Joe heard several thuds as Melissa swung the now full jugs on to the tailgate. It seemed to take forever for his children to finish. Finally, he heard the tailgate shut and Andy spoke.
“All done, Dad.”
“Good. Load back up and let’s get the hell out of here.”