we were on our way, Skip trotting along at my side. He tugged occasionally and pawed at his leash, which he wasn’t used to wearing, but I wasn’t risking his taking off after a rabbit and delaying our departure, or worse, missing it.
We arrived at our staging area, the parking lot of the community building. Team one had departed the previous morning, and team two was leaving tomorrow. Team four was the larger group, and they needed several more days to prepare.
We eased our packs from our shoulders and looked around. Our convoy consisted of six vehicles, and we’d received our travel assignments at the end of last night’s training. Marcus and John Kim were riding in the lead SUV, with our radio. We were on strict communication silence on this trip, other than a daily check-in with the council, and Marcus was determined nobody would decide it wouldn’t hurt to radio a friend back at the Compound and inadvertently give away our location.
One of our escorts would ride on top of the SUV in an open, armored steel enclosure. Chest high, it would give the man a good vantage point and firing position, while offering protection if anyone decided to shoot back.
I was in the second vehicle, a passenger van. Patrick Gough, Neil’s good-looking young nephew, would drive. Melissa, along with Jocelyn, Faith, and a guy I didn’t know well made up the rest of my companions. The guy’s name was Cody Boatman, and I thought he worked on the construction crews with Patrick and Anton Lindahl.
Behind us was a full-size Budget Rental truck, packed to the roof with supplies. The livestock truck and a second passenger van were next, and another SUV brought up the rear, with an escort on the roof.
As we passed the livestock truck, Wilhelm and his girlfriends bleated and shifted, probably wondering why they’d been so unceremoniously rousted from their yard so early this morning. A large wire mesh crate, positioned for maximum air flow, contained a number of disgruntled chickens, if their clucks and squawks were any indication. Three horses were at the back, their heads bobbing over the rear gate.
Marcus emerged from the community center and called for us to gather around him. “If anybody’s having second, or third, or fifty-third thoughts, now’s the time to say so.” Nobody did. “I’m not kiddin’, folks. Once we reach the fallback, you’re there for the duration.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Gil, the guy who had been added three days ago when Isaac was injured.
“It means you’re to stay at the fallback, with minimal excursions, and those only in the case of extreme necessity. Even then, you’re to use weather or daylight conditions to conceal your activity. You’ll understand what I mean when you see the location. It’s highly secure, but any comings and goings would be easy to see if anybody’s looking.”
Rebecca leaned toward me and muttered, “I like the ‘highly secure’ part, but I don’t know what the rest of it means.”
“Me either.” While a secure location was appealing, I didn’t like the idea of being pinned down. Where could we be going? The peak of a very steep hill? A house and barns in the middle of a sprawling horse farm? There were plenty of those in Kentucky, but they didn’t sound especially secure. Well, no use speculating. We’d know in a few days.
“I will be driving the lead vehicle,” Marcus said. I’d already known that much. “I have the maps, and initially the escorts and I are the only ones who know our destination, for security reasons.” The team did some grumbling at this, and Marcus hastened to reassure us. “I know, it’s not that we don’t trust every one of you. But we don’t know what we’ll run across, and if someone gets snatched, they can’t tell what they don’t know.”
Yeah, that made me feel tons better.
“If anything happens and we have to split up, follow either my vehicle or the one at the rear with the escort. If you get cut off, head
We arrived at our staging area, the parking lot of the community building. Team one had departed the previous morning, and team two was leaving tomorrow. Team four was the larger group, and they needed several more days to prepare.
We eased our packs from our shoulders and looked around. Our convoy consisted of six vehicles, and we’d received our travel assignments at the end of last night’s training. Marcus and John Kim were riding in the lead SUV, with our radio. We were on strict communication silence on this trip, other than a daily check-in with the council, and Marcus was determined nobody would decide it wouldn’t hurt to radio a friend back at the Compound and inadvertently give away our location.
One of our escorts would ride on top of the SUV in an open, armored steel enclosure. Chest high, it would give the man a good vantage point and firing position, while offering protection if anyone decided to shoot back.
I was in the second vehicle, a passenger van. Patrick Gough, Neil’s good-looking young nephew, would drive. Melissa, along with Jocelyn, Faith, and a guy I didn’t know well made up the rest of my companions. The guy’s name was Cody Boatman, and I thought he worked on the construction crews with Patrick and Anton Lindahl.
Behind us was a full-size Budget Rental truck, packed to the roof with supplies. The livestock truck and a second passenger van were next, and another SUV brought up the rear, with an escort on the roof.
As we passed the livestock truck, Wilhelm and his girlfriends bleated and shifted, probably wondering why they’d been so unceremoniously rousted from their yard so early this morning. A large wire mesh crate, positioned for maximum air flow, contained a number of disgruntled chickens, if their clucks and squawks were any indication. Three horses were at the back, their heads bobbing over the rear gate.
Marcus emerged from the community center and called for us to gather around him. “If anybody’s having second, or third, or fifty-third thoughts, now’s the time to say so.” Nobody did. “I’m not kiddin’, folks. Once we reach the fallback, you’re there for the duration.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Gil, the guy who had been added three days ago when Isaac was injured.
“It means you’re to stay at the fallback, with minimal excursions, and those only in the case of extreme necessity. Even then, you’re to use weather or daylight conditions to conceal your activity. You’ll understand what I mean when you see the location. It’s highly secure, but any comings and goings would be easy to see if anybody’s looking.”
Rebecca leaned toward me and muttered, “I like the ‘highly secure’ part, but I don’t know what the rest of it means.”
“Me either.” While a secure location was appealing, I didn’t like the idea of being pinned down. Where could we be going? The peak of a very steep hill? A house and barns in the middle of a sprawling horse farm? There were plenty of those in Kentucky, but they didn’t sound especially secure. Well, no use speculating. We’d know in a few days.
“I will be driving the lead vehicle,” Marcus said. I’d already known that much. “I have the maps, and initially the escorts and I are the only ones who know our destination, for security reasons.” The team did some grumbling at this, and Marcus hastened to reassure us. “I know, it’s not that we don’t trust every one of you. But we don’t know what we’ll run across, and if someone gets snatched, they can’t tell what they don’t know.”
Yeah, that made me feel tons better.
“If anything happens and we have to split up, follow either my vehicle or the one at the rear with the escort. If you get cut off, head
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