"You have no idea how much," Nathan said.

"You're hinting about cannibalism, aren't you?" Jasmine asked in a low voice.

Nodding his head, Nathan took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, we will see it."

"You said we were going to stay away from people," Natalie interjected.

"Try, but I figure people will start to move out of the cities. They will think the forest and country are covered in food. When they don't find it, they'll find other people," Nathan said, kicking Smoke to lead her out of the creek.

Jasmine moved alongside him. "You really think that will happen?"

"I'm sure it already has, it's just not large scale yet," Nathan said. Jasmine didn't respond and just fell in behind Nathan.

They barely made it a mile when John called over the radio, "Nathan, will you teach us over the radio? Riding all night gets boring and we can't really do it during the day, over."

Nathan laughed as Amanda came over the radio. "Boring, h.e.l.l, it's spooky. My mouth stays so dry I drink all my water, over."

"All right, let's go over what you need in a bug out bag'. It's a bag that you pack to live three days out of," Nathan said, resuming the lessons. The others rode in silence as Nathan quietly talked over the radio.

When they stopped for camp Nathan noticed the att.i.tude was much better. Everyone worked with a smile as they set up camp. It may have been his imagination but even the animals seemed happier. Since Emma only had two moods, happy and mad, she didn't really count even though she ran around, getting in the way and laughing.

As daylight filled the sky, Nathan showed them the different animal traps he had explained. Then showed them animal trails in the woods and set a few snares. It was only eight when he lay down on his woobie, resting his head on his saddle. Ares come trotting over with his woobie and Nathan spread it out at his feet. Looking up as he sat down, Nathan saw Casey running over carrying a sheet of paper and sat down beside him smiling.

"I drew you another picture," she said proudly.

Taking the drawing, Nathan looked at it. Casey's drawings reminded him of the Rorschach inkblot test. She had given him a dozen at the farm and two so far on the trip. Every once in a while he saw her drawing with the colored pencils Bob had given her at the farm. Nathan nodded. "It's beautiful! Explain it to me so I get it right." He had learned that trick on the third drawing.

"Silly," Casey said, scooting over. "This is me on my horse falling off and this is you riding to rescue me," she pointed out the picture. Nathan sighed. He had thought it was two dragons fighting.

"See, that's why I need you to explain them. I thought you were rescuing me," Nathan said, grabbing her leg and squeezing to make her yelp. He let go of her leg and patted her cheek, then pulled her close for a big hug. "Thank you, it's so beautiful."

Casey kissed him on the cheek and ran to Amanda. Nathan watched her run off and pulled out a pen and turned the drawing over to write the description she told him on the back. Studying the drawing, he could almost see it but still liked it. Nathan carefully put it with the others in his messenger bag.

Jasmine dropped her saddle and spread out her blanket. "Why don't you let us take watch today?"

"Jasmine, I may be old but I'm not frail," Nathan grumbled. Looking up at her Nathan wondered what the h.e.l.l he said to get that p.i.s.sed off look. She literally looked like she was fixing to kick his a.s.s.

"You are not old," she enunciated in a growl. "You have been pushing hard. We've all got sleep. You take care of us. Let us take care of you every so often." She still had that p.i.s.sed off expression.

Nathan smiled and patted her blanket to sit down. When she sat down he grabbed her hand. If he had been paying attention Nathan would've seen the expression leave. But he just wanted her to calm down and wasn't looking at her face. "I have to stay alert and tight. That means just enough rest to recharge, just enough to eat to stay just a little hungry. In other words, always just a little uncomfortable. Too much sleep makes you groggy and dulls the senses. Not enough and you hallucinate, seeing s.h.i.t that's not there. Too much food does the same: you're content. But only enough to make the stomach shut up keeps you alert."

Jasmine thought about what he said and nodded. "Sounds like a load of c.r.a.p. Where did you learn that?"

"From an Apache who taught me survival and real guerrilla warfare," Nathan replied.

Jasmine sat in shock. "Who else did you learn guerrilla warfare from?"

"My dad, until he died. Then I went to a training camp in Panama that was run by an ex-SEAL. Don't get me wrong he was good, but he showed sky sc.r.a.pers. The Apache showed me the nuts and bolts."

"Why?" Jasmine asked, shocked. "Why would anyone not in the military want to learn that?"

"Why not? If something happened, most of my enemies would outnumber me or my group. I can't fight a war of attrition, I'd lose," Nathan answered. Looking at Jasmine's face, Nathan didn't know what emotion she was feeling.

What Nathan didn't know was Jasmine didn't know what emotion she was feeling. "So how long have you studied for this?" she asked.

"Well if you put it like that, all my life. But the survival helped me before this. It teaches a proactive, stance not a reactive stance. The fighting has come in quite handy being a cop. You look at it like I learned all of this for a collapse, a zombie rising or an alien invasion. No, I just wanted to always know that I could take care of myself. Staying in shape has given me some great hikes and vacations," Nathan said.

Suddenly it hit Jasmine: the reason was simple. With the knowledge of survival, you could make your own decisions and not depend on others. Survival was knowledge, how to drive a tractor or make a cake from scratch. It was any and all knowledge. If you knew psychology you knew how people would think. The physical knowledge should come first but without more to back it, the actions of survival were meaningless. If you killed game and ate it but wasted the hide when you needed clothes, you failed.

Nathan was looking right in her face when he saw the light come on. "I think you understand now," he said, patting her cheek. Jasmine snapped back with the pat on the cheek and scowled. To Nathan it was innocent. To Jasmine it said Nathan saw her as a child. She had just seen him do the same thing to Casey.

"I understand but I'm not a kid," she snapped.

Caught off guard, Nathan leaned back and replayed the conversation, trying to figure out when he called her a kid. Ares suddenly jumped up, giving off a low growl. Nathan grabbed his rifle and vest. Seeing Jasmine stand up, he pushed her down and keyed his radio. "Ares says someone is coming. John, find a spot to hide. Casey, get Emma and hide close to John. Amanda and Natalie find a different spot, over." Nathan buckled his vest and turned on his thermal.

Looking down at Jasmine he saw her putting on her vest and grabbing her rifle. Ares was intent on the field they pa.s.sed through. They were several hundred yards back in the woods beside a small creek. The hair was up on Ares's back and growls rattled his chest.

Leaning over to Jasmine's ear, Nathan whispered, "They will be here soon. Find John. All of you call out your targets and keep your sights on them. They are following our tracks in so aim that way and tell everyone not to move. Go!"

Jasmine headed toward the others as Nathan pulled packs down and covered them with blankets. Standing up, Nathan forced nice calm breathes as he checked his rifle and scanned in the area they rode through with the thermal. It didn't take long till he found spots of white moving through the trees. Lowering his rifle and calming his breathing, Nathan moved twenty feet from the camp. "Six coming, following our trail. Four are carrying rifles, over," Nathan radioed in a low voice. A log was on the bank of the creek and Nathan sat down to wait. He could hear the group walking now with his hunter aid.

Ares crouched low beside him with a low growl. Hearing a louder growl on his other side, Nathan turned to see Athena with hackles raised. "Athena, sit and stay," Nathan commanded, and Athena did as she was told. "I'm going to have to tell Amanda she's doing a good job," Nathan said, rubbing her head.

"Ares, lay," Nathan said, and Ares crouched. Nathan was on one side of the small creek and the others were following the trail they had made coming in. "At least one has on body armor, over," he said into his radio.

As Nathan waited he heard John in his ear bud. "Six: four men, two women. All the men have on vests like yours. Three men and one woman are carrying M-4's and one of the weapons has another barrel. The other woman is carrying a gun I don't know and the other man is carrying a machine gun. It looks like a SAW from Call of Duty. They all have pistols. They are stopped forty yards from the tree line. One of them is looking at you with binoculars," John called over the radio.

Nathan looked toward the group and raised his hand, waving. "They saw that, over," Jasmine said over the radio. Staying calm, Nathan was fought the urge to call the others and tell them to relax. He could hear the edge in their voices over the radio.

"They are moving to you, over," John called out. Nathan felt a little better hearing the "over." It told him John was remembering what he learned.

It was only a few seconds later the six came out of the tree line together in a tight cl.u.s.ter. "Either very good or stupid," Nathan mumbled. Then the group spread out. "Well, I know now." Nathan wondered about his course of action. The six stopped on the other side of the creek about forty feet away.

"Morning," Nathan said, nodding, holding his weapon low.

"Morning," the man with the M-203 grenade launcher said, nodding his head. They, like Nathan, all held their weapons low.

With a false smile and relaxed posture, Nathan just watched the group. He could tell he was making them unsure of themselves. The women and one man kept glancing sideways at the others. They had him outnumbered and outgunned but he was staring at them with a friendly smile.

"We was hoping you would offer us some food," the man with the SAW finally said.

"Sorry, already ate and don't have none to spare," Nathan answered, still smiling.

"Why don't you wake the others so we can get introduced?" SAW asked.

Barely shaking his head, Nathan grinned. "They need to sleep. I don't like introducing them to strangers until I get to know them."

"What if I insist?" SAW threatened.

"Then you'll die," Nathan informed him with a smile.

"Let's calm down here fellas," 203 said, looking at SAW.

"Don't see nothing to get excited about," Nathan replied, looking around at all of them. That unnerved them. He never looked at one of them, just stared at all of them. One of the women moved and Ares was on his feet, growling. "Careful, ma'am, these dogs don't like fast movement. They can run over thirty miles an hour. That means they will be on the other side of the creek before you can blink your eyes twice," Nathan warned. The woman raised her hands slowly.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Ares," Nathan said. Ares quit growling but didn't lie back down.

"That's not being friendly, mister," SAW said.

"Wasn't trying to be friendly. Just stating fact," Nathan replied.

"Now, we just come to talk to you," 203 said.

"So talk," Nathan said.

"You're kind of far off the beaten path," 203 said.

"Not really," Nathan said.

The man stared at Nathan, wanting Nathan to talk some more. "We really want some food," 203 said.

Just as Nathan was about to answer in his ear bud he heard Jasmine say, "Now." Behind him he heard the suppressed shots and five visitors jerk backed from bullet impacts and dropped. The woman who had raised her hands stared at her group with wide eyes as Jasmine pulled her trigger a second time, sending the woman to the ground.

"Ares, work," Nathan snapped, bringing up his rifle and running across the stream. He ran to the end of the line they had formed. Ares ran to the woman, who raised her arms. Nathan saw all four men had been shot in the face. 203 was still moaning. Nathan fixed that with his rifle. Both women were still alive. They one who raise her hands had a wound in her chest. The other had two; one was right at her sternum.

Moving over Nathan took their weapons and tossed them away. Seeing the woman that was shot twice was dying fast Nathan moved to the other. He leaned over and looked down at her. "You're going to live a while, so answer my questions and I promise it won't be more painful. How many more in your group?" he asked.

"None," she whimpered.

"How did you find us?" he asked.

"We saw you on the road last night and found where you turned off in the woods," she answered.

"We would've seen you if you had been near the road. Now answer the question," Nathan said, pulling out his knife.

"We have some stuff that sees in the dark. We were a long ways off the road in a house," she said looking at the knife.

"Is that where your stuff is at, the house?" Nathan asked.

The woman shook her head. "No, it's back by the field, we put some bushes over it."

"Why didn't you just kill me?" Nathan asked.

"We were but you waved at us and Ben said you knew we were here. They were going to bully you into surrendering," she said. "Can I have some water?" she asked.

"Where did you get the weapons?" Nathan asked, pulling a bottle out of the woman's thigh pocket.

After the woman took a drink, she replied, "Thank you. We took them from some soldiers we killed."

"Soldiers don't carry the weapon you had," Nathan said.

"That was from the ATF agent." She coughed, bringing blood to her lips.

"How many groups like yours around here?" Nathan asked, hearing some of his group move around him.

"We've seen several," she said, grimacing.

"Do you have supplies besides what you hid in the field?" Nathan asked.

"No," she said.

Nathan stood up. "You should've left us alone. How many has your group killed?"

"I don't know," she said. Nathan kneeled back down with the knife. "I don't know! A lot. I didn't count, I didn't want to know!"

"I believe you," Nathan said, standing back up. "Are there other government troops around?"

"We saw several other army trucks driving around and some helicopters starting to fly around us lately," she answered.

"Thank you," Nathan said. He squeezed the trigger of his rifle, putting three bullets in the woman's face. He looked over at Jasmine.

"What? They came here," Jasmine snapped seeing that look. "You were just talking to them and we all knew they wanted our stuff," she said.

"I'm impressed," Nathan said. "You and Tom strip them of everything and take it to camp. Tell Casey to stay with Emma over there. The rest of you come with me."

"What about Athena?" Amanda asked.

Athena was still sitting where he commanded. "Tell her to come on," Nathan said, following the trail out. Not trusting the dead woman, Nathan sent Ares ahead. When Ares reached the field and looked back at him, Nathan led the others up.

Before they reached the field Nathan spotted the large pile of brush. Pulling the bushes and dead limbs off, they found three garden carts. They were piled full of stuff. "When you have a good idea someone is bound to copy it," Nathan said moving to the front of the cart.

"What?" Amanda asked. Nathan pulled up the handle and showed her the same type of harness he made to pull the wagon in Alabama.

"Should have patented it," Nathan said. He grabbed the harness and to pull the one of the carts through the woods. John grabbed one and Amanda and Tom pulled the other. With the fat tires they were fairly easy to pull but they had to go around a lot of obstacles.

When they reached the creek there were six bodies stripped to underwear lying on the bank. None of them paid any attention as they rolled by. It took some work but they rolled the carts through the creek to camp. On the other side Jasmine had all the gear laid neatly in in groups.

"I'll take first watch," Nathan said.

"No how about all of us lay this stuff out and pack what we need?" Jasmine more told than asked.

"It's going to take a while," Nathan said.

"You are wasting time then," she said moving to a cart.

John eyed the weapons Jasmine had gathered and held up the odd weapon he couldn't identify. "What is this?"