“The heater is turned up to the max, it’s very cold and windy outside. The wind is finding its way into this SUV, they drilled holes in the roof to mount the antennas, those holes are leaking making it colder inside…”
“Why did we take this one? Why couldn’t we have gotten a different one, one without holes in it?”
“Honey, we took what they gave us. You remember, beggars can’t be choosy. We should be happy they had another SUV and it’s much larger than our old one. We need the antennas so daddy can talk to the army.”
“It’s still cold in here.”
“I know which is why you need to keep your coat and gloves on.”
“Okay but I don’t have to like it.”
Trinity asked, “Daddy how slow are we going? It seems like we’re not even moving…”
“Honey, we can only go as fast as the truck in front of us goes.”
“Why? Why can’t we just pass them, we know where we’re going, to the end of this endless road, every road in the States seems to be endless, nothing to see, no stores, nothing.”
Erin frowned, “Honey the only reason why you can’t see anything is because everything is covered in snow. We know we’re taking this road to the end, but we don’t know what’s ahead of us. Don’t you remember those criminals on the snowmobiles? No one will attack us in this convoy, but alone they’re sure to attack us.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone left out here.”
“That’s what we thought when the snowmobilers attacked us…”
Just then the MRAP in front of them stopped and skidded to the left, Jon cut the wheel to the right, but even with chains the traction wasn’t good. His slid the large Suburban into the bumper of the MRAP which didn’t slow down. Jon laughed, “I don’t think they even felt that. I’m happy we don’t have to pay for damage to this thing.”
Jon wondered why they’d stopped, when the radio in his SUV came to life, “Butler three to six.”
“Butler six actual go ahead.”
“Roadblock cross all lanes. Downed telephone poles and tractor trailers.”
“Wait one, sending the ready reaction team to check it out, all vehicles, this is Butler six actual, set condition delta, repeat set condition delta.”
Ariden asked, “Daddy what language are they talking? It sounds like English, but I don’t understand it.”
“It’s okay honey, I don’t either, it must be their special Army talk, like you and your girlfriends have a secret way to chat.”
“Daddy, how do you know that? Were you spying on us?”
“No, but every child makes up their own codes. I guess the military does too. From what I understand, the front vehicle discovered a roadblock and the colonel who I assume is nicknamed Butler six actual which must mean it’s him, is ordering a group of soldiers to check it out.”
A moment later a bright flash lit up the sky and the Coats heard the sound of gunfire. Jon yelled, “Get down, get down, lay as low on the floor as you can.”
Erin whispered, “We have weapons…”
“We aren’t getting into this mess unless we’re told to, if we stick our heads out, we may get them shot off. We wait. I’m worried that all this waiting and idling is going to use up our fuel and I don’t know when we’ll stop for more. I don’t know how to read the military map they showed us, so I have no idea where the next FOB is.”
They heard additional explosions when their radio came back to life. “Butler six, this is lancer six actual, roadblock neutralized. We’ve blown up a passage for us, four tangos KIA. No friendly WIA.”
“Roger, good job.”
The MRAP slowly started moving again. Erin looked at Jon who shrugged his shoulders, “I have no idea what they said. All I know is we’re moving forward.”
They averaged fifteen miles an hour, Jon was amazed the wind seemed to be getting worse. He wondered, if we don’t make it to their next base tonight, where are we going to spend the night? Do they expect us to drive all night? What about a bathroom break? I wish I’d asked these questions before we left. A strong gust of wind shook the Suburban, the wipers, even at their highest speed, couldn’t keep up with the heavy snow and sleet.
Jon was getting very tired, he couldn’t stop and switch drivers because there wasn’t any place to stop when the radio came to life, “Seal one to Butler six actual.”
“Butler six actual go.”
“Checked the falls as requested, grabbed some pics, frozen solid, water’s not moving. Hotels on both sides destroyed. Didn’t find any living. Did see a family of polar bears. Peace Bridge is down, repeat Peace Bridge down.”
“Roger, move to coordinates X-ray 01 to 04.”
“Good copy, X-ray 01 to 04.”
Erin looked surprised, the falls are frozen over? I didn’t think that was possible, too much water and all that…”
“It’s happened a few times, but did you hear the part about the bridge being down? I guess an ice flow hit the bridge and took it down, must have been a large chuck of ice to bring the bridge down, it was design to carry the weight of tanks.”
“I can’t imagine that much ice.”
“Look outside, we’re only driving around 30 Kph and I can barely see. The side windows are all fogged up and the rear even with the wiper and defroster is still frozen over. The wheel wells are loaded with snow I feel it when I try to turn the wheel. I don’t know how we’re going to make it the thousand plus Km we have to go before we reach our new home.”
Erin frowned, “What if we can’t
