Drew didn’t bother answering. He just jogged to the other truck with Emilio following close behind. He kept his eyes open and his neck on a swivel. Once Emilio was in, he jogged around to the passenger side and climbed up into his seat. Emilio had the big rig fired up and ready to roll before Drew had his door shut all the way. Once the lead truck pulled out Emilio followed right behind. It suddenly occurred to Drew that Yue wouldn’t know where to find him. Then he remembered she hadn’t come back yet. Consigned to be worried all day about his siblings he grumpily put his head back on the seat and took in the sights. It was a lot riskier up here than in the back, but it was also a million times more scenic. The smell was way better too.
Drew could appreciate now why the truck drivers were so celebrated. The three eighteen wheelers blew down the tiny park roads like it was nothing. Emilio taking turns with ease that Drew himself would’ve slowed down for when driving a pickup truck. Forget about driving the massive machine Emilio was at the helm of.
Being the middle vehicle in the convoy came with some perks. The best perk being that the first truck took the brunt of the surger action head on. They had some jump at them as well, but Emilio stuck so close to the first truck that the ones coming from the side were normally caught flatfooted and swept aside by the long poles they had sticking out at multiple angles. The poles broke frequently on impact. One of the things done during that free time every night was replacing the long wooden poles. They had a ton of the poles since they were what was used to setup their circus tents.
“Where to today?” Drew asked Emilio after they’d ridden in silence for a good hour.
“The next bit of nowhere. Some place in South Carolina the boss did a gig for some politicians at a few years ago. On top of it being in the middle of nowhere he thinks it had diesel too. It’s a solid five hours from here so you might want to sit back and relax. We’re taking mostly back roads through the woods so unless somebody tries to ambush us it should be a boring day.”
“I’m a huge fan of boring days.” Drew said. Emilio smiled and nodded his agreement to that sentiment.
The drive was as scenic as it was monotonous. The route had been selected since it avoided all the major cities and towns. They cruised down backroads occasionally having to stop to clear trees and branches off the road. One time they had to setup a winch to pull a car off to the side of the road. All of that slowed them to the point that the five-hour trip took over ten hours. By the time they pulled up to the small paved road leading to their destination it was close to dusk.
The escorts were ordered to get out and clear the cheap metal gate blocking the road. Drew jumped out to join the others in unwrapping the metal wire holding the large bar down over the road. There was a pad lock on a thick chain that one of them took care of easily with a large pair of bolt cutters. Once they had the bar out of the way they ran and jumped back in their respective trucks.
Drew read the big sign half hidden by weeds that warned they were trespassing on federal property. There was a lot of verbiage under that but in big bold letters was a warning they could be shot. Considering it was the end of the world and everything Drew wasn’t too concerned with the various fines posted on the board. Getting shot would suck no matter if it was pre or post apocalypse.
They’d driven another half mile when they came to a stop again. The order came down to assist with another fence they needed to get through. Drew hopped out again and ran around to where the first truck was stopped. This next fence was much newer looking. There was no padlock and chain holding this one. Hardened steel bars were reinforced by additional steel bars cross horizontally. The gate was at least twenty feet tall and connected on both sides to a fence of approximately the same height. The three of them were staring at it wondering if maybe the winch would work on it when the gate slid open smoothly by itself.
Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth they moved off to the side jumping in their respective trucks as they drove through the gate. They drove to the end of the road where the diesel pumps Blaze remembered were indeed sitting on the edge of a small airstrip. There was a hangar at one end of the airstrip with the doors on it shut tight. Other than that, there were multiple large grass covered mounds scattered around. A door opened in the front of one of the mounds and a man in a suit walked out. He was flanked on both sides by tough looking men in camouflage.
Drew happened to look over to the left. He saw at least twenty men in camouflage on that side of the truck rapidly encircling them. He pointed that out to Emilio who got on the radio and blasted that news out. A few seconds later the response went out to hold tight but be ready to fight. Not that it was going to do them any good against that many well-armed enemies. They couldn’t even escape unless these guys opted to
