“I need you here, Joel. We’ve got two more vehicles to get ready, and I want to wrap this up in the next half hour or so.”
Joel stopped and hung his head for a second. “Fine, whatever.”
He let out a sigh and handed the radio to Allie. Ben ignored the attitude and chalked it up to fatigue. They were all well beyond exhausted, and he had been asking a lot of them. Not that he had a choice. The moonshiners didn’t care if they were tired. And complaining about it wouldn’t change anything.
“Allie, let your mom know we’ll be ready to leave in less than an hour.”
She nodded. “Will do.”
“I’m just trying to get us out of here before the other moonshiners show up.” Ben directed his comment at Joel once Allie was out of earshot.
“Ah, to be young and in love,” Martin teased.
Joel’s cheeks flushed, and he got right to work sorting through gear and avoiding eye contact with anyone.
“Hey, kid. I’m just joking. I didn’t mean anything by it. I say stupid things sometimes when I’m stressed out.” Martin laughed at himself. “You two are lucky to have each other. You’re all lucky to have each other,” he said in a more serious tone.
Joel looked even more awkward than he had before Martin’s apology, and Ben figured he better divert the conversation soon for his son’s sake.
“We are lucky.” Ben lightly smacked the back of Joel’s shoulder as he unloaded the additional MREs onto the Toyota’s tailgate. “There you go. That’s enough for you guys to have twenty-four meals, and I’m sending you with five hundred rounds of ammo for the AR and five hundred for the 9mm.”
“Thank you, Ben.” Carlos made his way over to peer into the back of the truck as Ben continued.
“Oh, there’s also a gas-fired stove back here and fuel, along with a couple pots and pans and a water-purifying pump.” Ben studied the pile in the back of the pickup, wondering if anything else back there was worth mentioning before he pulled a tarp over the supplies and threw a few old boards across the top. “I’d keep that covered the best you can,” he added.
“The rest of your stuff is inside behind the seat.” Joel opened the driver’s side door and pulled the seat forward to show Carlos and Rita the camping gear he’d packed for them.
“Oh, thank you, Joel. You’re so thoughtful.” Rita patted his arm.
“Everything you need is in there. Tent, sleeping bags, a fire-starter, sleeping pads…” Joel tilted his head back toward the sky as he tried to remember what else he’d managed to squeeze into the truck. “Oh yeah, and a few jugs of water. And there’s a knife in the glove compartment.”
“We can’t thank you all enough.” Carlos shook Ben’s hand again.
“No problem. Where do you think you’ll turn off the interstate and head north?” Ben had the road atlas out and was looking it over on the tailgate. Carlos joined him and started tracing the route with his finger.
“I think we’ll head north toward Fort Wayne, somewhere around Columbus.”
Ben put his finger on the map. “If we take the northern route around the city, we can stay with you guys all the way until…looks like Marysville, Indiana. That’ll only leave you another hour or two of easy, back-road driving to Fort Wayne.”
“That would be fantastic, Ben.” Carlos stepped back and smiled at Rita.
Ben’s original plan was to drive hard for Cloverdale, only stopping when they absolutely had to, but it wasn’t just them anymore. And while he thought Martin would be able to keep up without much trouble, Rita and her husband were a different story. If they were going to stick together, he needed to start thinking about travel in terms of what the newcomers to their group would be capable of.
They couldn’t leave them behind; that wasn’t an option Ben was willing to entertain. Even though they were armed now, he questioned their ability to actually defend themselves. Joel had given them both a little instruction while Ben, Brad, and Martin remained focused on packing the vehicles, but as far as Ben knew, that was the extent of the couple’s knowledge of firearms. He’d really sent Rita and Carlos with the guns and extra ammunition in hopes that their daughter and her husband could use them when they reached Fort Wayne.
Maybe it was best to take it easy and focus on being safe. If it took an extra day to reach Cloverdale, so be it. Rushing across the country wasn’t what had brought them this far. Slow was smooth, and smooth was fast. But that was a hard mantra to follow with more than 1700 miles to go before they made it home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ben checked his watch and was disappointed to see that it was fast approaching noon. Judging by the intensity of the sun on his back, he figured it was about that time, but he’d put off confirming it until they were finished packing.
With the trucks loaded and ready to go, there was little left to do. As badly as Ben wanted to put some distance between them and this god-awful place, they needed to recharge their batteries a little before hitting the road. And as bad as this place was, the fresh spring water here wasn’t something to take for granted. The fact that it came out of the pump cold only added to its appeal.
Ben took advantage of the opportunity to clean up, as did the others. He was glad to be rid of his bloodstained T-shirt. The smell of detergent was still fresh on the new one he pulled from the laundry Sandy had done at Jack’s.
They also needed to drink all they could while they had the opportunity and make sure to top off every container before heading out. There was no telling when or where they would find the next decent water source. Driving out of
