Easing down in the outside ditch, Nathan looked around to make sure no one was close. Seeing the closest to him was across the interstate sixty yards away Nathan keyed his radio. "Jasmine can you hear me? Over."

"I hear you Nathan, over," she answered.

"Can the others hear me? Over," Nathan asked.

"Yes they can," Jasmine answered. Nathan waited for the over to tell him she was finished. After a minute he heard, "Sorry, over."

"There are people all over this median and some are partying hard. I can tell you some things that shouldn't be happening are, but we can pa.s.s by, over," Nathan said.

Nathan waited a little while and was fixing to call back when his ear piece went off. "About how many? Over," Jasmine asked.

"h.e.l.l, I see several hundred in front of me now and it looks like people are camping all the way down this median, which is four miles long. It could be thousands, over," Nathan said.

"Are you f.u.c.king s.h.i.tting me!?" Jasmine shot back. "Over."

"Negative on defecating on you, over," Nathan replied.

"What about going around? Over," Jasmine asked.

"Negative, we either have to use the fields or go back to where we started and back track to alternate route. Move to me staying in the inside lane and let everyone know not to go to the outside shoulder, over," Nathan said. He wasn't walking back or making the boys drag that wagon through fields.

"Copy, we are packing up, over," Jasmine said.

"Jasmine, tell Amanda to keep Athena on a leash beside her and have both Casey and Natalie beside the wagon in case Emma wakes. We can walk by unnoticed from what I've seen, but we can't draw attention, over," Nathan said.

"We copy and are moving to you, over," Jasmine said quickly.

"Calm down or you'll make a mistake. Relax and pa.s.s it along. Fear is contagious but so is a relaxed state, over," Nathan called back.

"Copy," Jasmine replied in a more normal tone.

Nathan sat in the ditch drinking water and waiting on the others. With his NVG he could make them out easily. They shone brightly walking along the road. The only time they ventured off the shoulder was to move around a car. Nathan turned the thermal off and put it away.

In fifteen minutes he was leading the group again down the shoulder. The only noise they made was the occasional crunch of gravel on the road. With the noise coming from the median they had little to fear of someone hearing it.

As they walked everyone looked at the groups in the woods until they spotted a group with some women tied up to trees and several on the ground with men on them and others around yelling. n.o.body looked into the woods much after that except Nathan and occasionally Howard. Everyone in the group fought tears as they walked quietly down the road. It only took them an hour to clear the four miles because Nathan picked up the pace to get them out of there, hearing the occasional sniffle behind him.

When they were several hundred yards away Nathan prepared to stop, and saying a silent prayer of thanks that Emma had stayed asleep. Everyone gathered around as Amanda stood in front of him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Resting," he answered.

"Bulls.h.i.t! We are getting away from here," she said in a harsh low voice.

"Little girl, watch your mouth! And to let you, know that d.a.m.n wagon gets heavy," he said looking down at her.

"I'll pull the d.a.m.n thing! Did you see what they were doing to those women?" she whispered harshly.

"Which group?" Nathan asked.

Amanda staggered back from him and Jasmine caught her. "Nathan, we just want to get away from here," Jasmine said.

"John and Tom, are you two still good?" Nathan asked quietly.

"Sure, with our packs in the wagon it's actually easier than just carrying packs," John answered.

"Then head em up and move em out," Nathan said. Howard grabbed his arm.

"We have to do something," he told Nathan.

"Oh we are, we're leaving," Nathan replied.

"We have to help those people," Howard said, pointing back at the median.

Nathan shook his head. "I hope you're kidding."

"No. I know you saw what was going on back there," Howard said.

"Yep, sure did. I'm getting this group away from that."

"How can you just walk away?" Howard asked.

"Easy. Turn and start walking," Nathan replied.

"We can help some of them."

"No we can't. I have no idea who those people are but there are more than eleven hundred of them. I don't know if you noticed but a lot of that group had military weapons. h.e.l.l, I spotted a hummer with a fifty cal on top. They would wipe us out and take the women in our group to join theirs. I'm getting the h.e.l.l out of Dodge and taking my group with me. You want to stay and die, fine, but let us get a head start," Nathan said. He turned and started walking down the interstate.

The others followed, leaving Howard standing in the road. Jackie came back. "Howard, you can't help them, but you have a family you can help. Let's go," she said, and pulled him after the group.

Chapter 12.

Day 17 It was four a.m. when Nathan led them off the interstate and back into the woods, stopping beside a small lake half a mile from the road. Everyone dropped their gear and collapsed. Counting the ten miles from the camp, they had traveled twenty-six miles. Nathan struggled to sit up. "John, Amanda, and Jasmine, we have stuff to do before we can sleep," Nathan said, standing.

Seeing Nathan get up, the others followed and started setting up camp. Everyone was soaked in sweat but n.o.body cared. After they ate and filled water jugs all the kids collapsed. Nathan took off his gear and hung it up. Howard walked over as Nathan poured the dogs some food and water.

"Nathan, I'm sorry. You were right, we would've died," Howard admitted.

"If we were lucky," Nathan said.

"Weren't you worried about them spotting us?" he asked as Jasmine and Jackie came over.

"Even if they had, I don't think they would've done much if we stood tall," Nathan replied as he started checking his gear. "They are mean and evil, but think of them like a dog with a bone. We were just a bone walking down the road. They had a bone, so why fight when you're enjoying your bone? Now if we had tried to take their bone then that's a different story. I don't think all of that group was together. I think they were a bunch of different a.s.sholes." Nathan pulled out batteries to recharge.

Howard sat and thought about what Nathan said. Howard looked up as Nathan pulled out his solar recharger. "How many more would've had to been guarding us for you to have turned away and not rescued us?" Howard asked.

"If all nine had been there, I probably would've left," Nathan said. "Howard, you have to judge your opponents and their numbers. h.e.l.l, I took on over thirty outside of Atlanta, but they weren't much of a threat because I engaged them at distance. They couldn't run because they had to hold up their pants with one hand and shoot a rifle with the other. Not much to be scared of but even an a.s.shole can get lucky. Those s.h.i.t bags at the camp were dangerous. They had good equipment. But the first four were drunk and sleepy. I could tell by the way they moved. I still thought I was going to die but I figured it was worth the risk." Nathan stopped to see if Howard needed to ask a question.

Not getting any questions Nathan continued. "Howard, if I had to face a larger group at the truck stop, say like sixty, I would've left. That's too much lead coming at me and the a.s.shole luck factor goes up for a lucky shot. I don't care if that group tonight was only armed with steak knives, I still wouldn't attack them. Those numbers are too big for a group our size. h.e.l.l, I wouldn't attack them with a platoon of SWAT. Don't throw away your life for nothing. Now, if those s.h.i.t bags had grabbed one of my group, it would have been a good day to die. But if I die I don't have much hope for those with me. In a few more weeks I really think they'll be able to make a pretty good run without me, but not now."

Howard thought about what Nathan said as Nathan continued working on his gear. "I understand. Thank you for getting my family and those kids." Howard stood. He patted Nathan on the back and held out his hand, pulling his wife up. They lay down on their packs.

Nathan laid out the panel, hooked up the battery charger, and started loading batteries. He turned around to see Jasmine staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"How come you get to walk around in boxers but say something when I wear bra and panties?" she asked.

Putting his hands on his hips, Nathan looked at her. "Well for one guys aren't s.e.xy like a woman, and you are pretty hot. Second even girls will look at another hot girl but guys don't look at other guys. So everyone sees women as s.e.xy," Nathan said.

Jasmine giggled, "You are so full of s.h.i.t you should be brown. Nathan, you are very hot," Jasmine said.

Nathan's jaw hit his chest as he looked at Jasmine and a red flush crept up on his cheeks. "Ah-you're just tired," he stuttered.

"Whatever," she said. She kicked off her boots and took off her combat top, leaving on her t-shirt, which Nathan was thankful of. Then she pulled off her pants. "Don't start," she said, throwing them on her pack.

"Okay," Nathan said. He knelt by Amanda, who was snoring softly. Nathan untied her boots and pulled them off. Jasmine did the same for John. Shortly they had all of the kids' boots off. Jasmine was about to lie down when she noticed Nathan taking the clothes off the kids.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Letting them dry off," he replied. It took both of them to take John's clothes off. When they were finished they heard a soft giggle behind them. Turning around they saw Emma standing up in the wagon. "I will watch her, go get some sleep," Nathan said walking over to Emma.

When he stopped at the wagon, Emma jumped into Nathan's arms. Nathan sat down with her and fixed her something to eat. When Emma was done the sun was over the horizon. Nathan walked around, gathering his group's clothes. He stopped and looked at the kids. All the girls were laid out in t-shirts and panties. John and Tom had on underwear and every one of them was snoring. Nathan noticed a small blister on Casey's foot. "I'll fix that when you get up," Nathan said. He walked to the lake with an armload of clothes. He dropped them on the bank then went back and carried Emma and his rifle back.

For the next two hours Nathan washed clothes while Emma splashed in the water. When the clothes were done Nathan picked up Emma and waded out in the water. Nathan bathed both of them then carried Emma back to then sh.o.r.e. Nathan pulled out his tablet and showed Emma how to draw on it. She thought that was the best thing ever.

It was noon when Nathan woke up Howard and Jasmine for watch, telling them to wake others up in two hours. Nathan didn't just fall asleep, he crashed.

A buzzing in his ear woke Nathan up. Cracking his eyes open, he noticed the sun was setting and he could hear people talking softly. Sitting up Nathan saw everyone up and eating. Nathan stood and stretched as Jasmine lifted up a cup of coffee for him. "d.a.m.n, that was some sleep," Nathan said, taking the coffee.

"I'll say. You didn't even wake up with all the gunshots we heard toward the highway around three," Jasmine said.

Suddenly several sets of arms wrapped around Nathan. "Thank you for washing my clothes," Amanda said.

"Yeah, me too," Casey and Natalie said in unison.

Emma ran at a fast wobble to Nathan and wrapped her arms around his knee. "Well it was my pleasure ladies," Nathan said. He tried to hug them back but just settled for patting each on the back till they let him go.

"Thank you," John and Tom said walking up. Nathan just raised his cup to them.

"Casey, you have a blister on your foot. Does anyone else?" Nathan asked.

"What if your feet just hurt?" Amanda asked. Nathan didn't reply. Amanda raised her hand toward him. "Don't say it, Nathan," Amanda said.

Nathan shook his head and got a first aid kit from his pack. After putting moleskin on Casey's blister, Nathan got dressed. His group started the morning routine and were joined by Howard's family. When they were done Nathan showed Amanda how to teach basic commands to Athena. With Ares helping it was pretty easy.

At seven they listened to the presidential address. It was announced that all the military was back stateside and was working to bring the lawlessness under control.

When the address was over everyone stood up, getting ready to leave. "This should make crossing state lines interesting," Nathan said, picking up Emma and putting her in the wagon.

Howard put his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "We only have to make it to Mississippi. My uncle is the Sherriff of Lee County."

"That could come in handy," Nathan admitted.

Howard laughed. "My other uncle is the general over the Mississippi National Guard," he said.

"d.a.m.n if you aren't full of all kinds of surprises," Nathan said walking around making sure nothing was left.

"Those two are my dad's brothers. My mom's brothers are all CEO's of big companies and we rarely ever see them," Howard said as Nathan led them to the interstate.

It was dark by the time they reached the interstate, and everyone had their NVGs on. Little Emma was snoring in the wagon. Nathan noticed people lying in the road ahead and held up his hand for everyone to stop. Using the thermal, Nathan found that the bodies were cold and there were a lot of them.

Turning around, Nathan discovered everyone looking down the road at the bodies. "They're dead," he told everyone.

"What happened?" Jasmine asked.

"How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to know that?" Nathan asked. "I see dead people. For all I know, they drank bad moonshine," Nathan said.

Jasmine looked away, "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Hey," Nathan said, grabbing Jasmine's arm. "You've seen just as much as I have. I'm sorry but even you have to admit that was a stupid question at the time. We see dead bodies strung out on the interstate three hundred yards away and I'm asked the five W's and the sixth question. What you should be looking around for are the ones who did it," Nathan said.

"I'm sorry, it's just a habit," Jasmine said, smiling. Nathan had to admit, even in the glow of the night vision she still looked good.

Amanda came over to Nathan, "What are the five W's and sixth question?" she asked.

"Who, what, when, where, why and the sixth question is, how," Nathan told her.

Amanda thought about that for a minute. "d.a.m.n, that would answer everything," she mumbled.

Jasmine laughed, "Yes it's considered the basic for information gathering," she told Amanda.

Nathan turned away from the two, "I want you all to stay a hundred yards behind me," he said, walking ahead with Ares.

When he was out of ear shot Amanda leaned over to Jasmine. "I was just about to ask him the same question," Amanda admitted.

Jasmine patted her arm. "It's a habit and Nathan's right. We need to quit asking him questions like that. He has enough to worry about."

"How can we learn, then?" Amanda asked.

"Try to figure it out for ourselves then ask him," Jasmine replied. "Come on, let's go."

The group followed a hundred yards behind Nathan and watched as he eased up to the bodies. When Nathan stopped to look at something the group stopped. Nathan never stopped longer than a few seconds. When he stopped at one cl.u.s.ter of bodies he pointed his rifle at them and everyone gasped when the area in front of him lit up.

Jasmine dropped down to her knees, seeing the light on Nathan's M-4. Then she noticed the light was very bright in her left eye with the NVG but her right only saw a faint purple light and only when Nathan spun the light toward them. Then suddenly the light was gone. "What the h.e.l.l was that?" Amanda asked.