Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel by Thomas A Watson

the woods right at the edge of town. “What town is this?” Amanda asked.
    “This is what’s left of the base. Saks is up ahead,” Nathan said. As they walked on he saw two HUMVEEs driving away from them with soldiers standing behind machine guns. Nathan looked down to make sure his badge was uncovered. “John, get right behind me and keep the shotgun on your shoulder. Amanda, don’t let go of my hand unless I let go,” he said, and they moved closer.
    Nathan stopped abruptly, just about giving both of them heart attacks. Reaching in his tote bag, he pulled out the ten-foot leash for Areas. He handed the leash to Amanda as he clipped it to Ares’ collar. “Hold it tight,” he said and led them on.
    Almost panting, Amanda felt like her heart was beating a million miles an hours as she held Nathan’s hand in one hand and held onto Ares’ leash in a death grip with the other. Everywhere she looked she saw military trucks like they had on TV. There were men and women running around, all carrying really big guns, yelling and jumping in trucks. A few looked at their small group but they didn’t pay much attention to them. She looked up at Nathan, who was just looking straight ahead.
    Looking closely at his eyes behind his sunglasses, Amanda saw they were moving everywhere but his head stayed pointed straight ahead. Her head snapped forward and she copied what he was doing. It took them an hour to walk out of the area, having to stop a few times to let trucks drive past them down the road. The road they were on ended ahead at a stop sign at a T-intersection, and directly across the road was a field with hundreds of people walking around with a lot of tents put up.
    Now accustomed to the quietness of the new world, the sounds of activity were making her nervous. Amanda could see men, women, and kids moving everywhere; she didn’t know what they were doing but they all had panicked looks on their faces. When they came to the stop sign two pickup trucks loaded with people drove by. She noticed they weren’t Army trucks but regular old ones. Nathan just about ran her over when he turned left onto the road in front of the camp of people. A man ran over and began walking backwards in front of them.
    “Please give me some food,” he begged.
    “None to spare, sir, and if you ask again I will be forced to detain you,” Nathan barked at the man. The man’s shoulders slumped and he wandered off toward the camp.
    Staying on the road, Nathan was keeping a pace Amanda wasn’t used to and her legs were starting to get tired. She tripped once as Nathan turned off the road they were on and moved into a subdivision. “We can rest just a little further ahead, okay?” he said softly, looking down at her.
    All she could do was smile up at him. Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t talk. Fear was racking her body and all she wanted to do was hide. She saw Nathan’s hand reach across her to her drinking tube and put it in her mouth. Amanda gripped it with her teeth and started to suck down water.
    “Slow down, not too fast,” Nathan murmured. She raised her head to look around; there were still people around the houses, but nothing like the numbers they’d seen at the camp and the old military base.
    Seeing Amanda wasn’t drinking anymore, Nathan reached back over and took the tube from her mouth and clipped it back to her pack. “Thank you,” she whispered and he squeezed her hand.
    “Someone’s following us,” John told them in a low voice. Amanda almost took off running hearing that.
    “How far back?” Nathan asked.
    “I’m not good with distance but they are by that house with the four men sitting on the porch,” John said.
    “Eighty yards,” Nathan said and Amanda just looked up at him in awe. “Tell me if they get closer than that. Can you tell if they have a rifle?” he asked.
    “They don’t have a rifle, but I don’t know about a pistol. I’m scared to use my binoculars,” John said in a quivering