Five Roads To Texas (Book 10): Salvation Read online

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Y’ALL COME BACK NOW, YA HEAR?

  NK Outpost Sparks, NV

  Sang stealthily moved between the slat covered fence line and the cinderblock building. Trying not to draw any attention from the infected on the other side of the chain link barrier, the Captain slunk over to where his Humvee was parked next to a box car that sat on the train tracks.

  Making sure there were no eyes, infected or not, upon him, he quietly pulled open the driver’s side door. Seeing all was clear inside, he waved the Major to follow. KI-Moon hurried over to the passenger side of the UN vehicle and, careful to not make any loud noises, climbed aboard.

  “The gates?” Sang whispered. “How are we going to open them without drawing attention.” “We don’t.” The Major said scanning the area around them. A few empty box cars littered the railway giving the two some additional cover. “That Humvee over to the right. Go and start it up.”

  “Major?”

  “As soon as you start up the Humvee, those things are going to know exactly where we are. The second vehicle will serve as a distraction and will hopefully confuse them once we run the gates. We should be okay, they are pretty flimsy.”

  “Yes sir.” Sang said taking a quick, nervous breath. “Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” The Major nodded. “Proceed. Let these pigs die in their own Capitalist filth.”

  “Sir.” Sang jumped down from the driver’s side and ran over to the second Humvee. He opened the driver’s door then started the engine. Not wasting any time, Sang sprinted back to where the Major waited and climbed back into the Humvee. The Captain, a little winded from his nervous sprint, turned on the vehicle's ignition. As both of the Humvees engines rumbled to life, the loud noise caught the infected crowd's attention. The dozens of crazed people suddenly, almost as one, smashed hard into the chain link fence.

  “Now!” KI-Moon shouted, fear thick in his voice. The majority of the infected were pressing hungrily against the fence line near the vehicles and not the gates. Sang gunned the engine and sent the Humvee forward, swerving past a couple of static box cars, the Captain headed straight for the chain link gateway. The lightly armored vehicle crashed right through the locked entrance, sending the two lightweight gates flying out into the streets.

  As the Humvee hit the road, Sang made a sharp right turn away from the big Casino towers. The freeway would be a definite death trap, littered with abandoned automobiles, so Sang steered them toward a clear side street. Several of the infected sprinted out after the two men, the rest swarmed in through the fence lines' new opening. The crazed mob were now drawn into the old rail yard by the sound of the second Humvee's running engine. KI- Moon's simple plan of trapping Reese and his men inside the cinder block building had worked.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  THE GREATER GOOD AND ALL THAT BULLSHIT

  Peach Springs, AZ

  “Okay.” Ram shut the rear hatch of the Durango then turned to Jesse who stood next to him, arms crossed. “I guess we’re loaded. I threw the bug out bags and extra ammo bags up front with us.”

  “Thanks. Not gonna lie, I’m going to miss hot running water, Ram.” Jesse smiled as she looked around for anything they might have missed.

  “Yeah, I get that.” Ram walked over to where his Mini-14 lay on a table next to an open water bottle. He took a quick drink then picked up the rifle in his left hand. “I do miss a good bath. Nothing like a hot soak.”

  “A hot soak in your own filth.”

  “Don’t knock it Jesse. Once you get my age you’ll dig a good soak.” “So now it’s a soak and not a bath?” The brunette chuckled. “Whatever. Don’t knock it till ya try it.”

  “I can’t just enjoy a ‘soak,’ I get too anxious to relax like that. I guess it’s something I picked up moving from home to home. Insomnia is another symptom of being shifted from place to place. Always had this sense of impending dread, you know? I guess there really was something to fear?”

  “I don’t kiddo, and I’m sorry about that. My wife is kinda like that too. She had some issues in the past. Could never fully relax. Me, well before that damned Doctor Sandboy injected me with all that shit, I was the king of relaxation. Now, I feel like I’m always on edge. Could be the damned virus, could be this whole fucked up situation.” Ram shrugged. “I guess maybe I can relate on some kinda screwed up level. I don’t know.” He set the water bottle back on the table. “Shit, maybe when this is all over and if he’s still around, we can book us all a spot on Dr. Phil. Have him sort it all out.”

  “No thanks.” Jesse walked over to the front of the Durango and removed her M4 from where it lay on the hood. She quickly checked it then turned back to face Ram who stood next to the controls for the rolling door. “I’ve gotten this far without telling anyone my problems, let alone spreading it out to millions of other mouth breathers.”

  “You told me.”

  “Yes, but you don’t count.” “I don’t count, why is that?”

  “Because you’ll probably be dead before this is all over. You won’t be able to share it with anyone anyway.”

  “Swell, why am I gonna die?” Ram frowned.

  “If it’s any consolation,” Jesse took a few steps closer to the big door. “I don’t think any of us are going to make it.”

  “That’s pretty damn grim Jesse.”

  “I guess it is. Just listen to me for a second, okay? I know I’ve mentioned this before.” Ram slung the rifle over his shoulder then nodded. “I’ve been mulling this over. You have the antidote in you. Something that can help reverse or stop what’s happening to this country… this world.

  Yet you stubbornly want to go off on a fool's errand looking for your family instead of maybe trying to stop this madness. I mean…. you could get a vaccine going out there and it could save your family and everyone else. That is so selfish, Ram.”

  “Wow, selfish?” Ram shook his head. “I told you that you could leave at any time. This is my family Jesse, I have to do something.”

  “I understand that.”

  “Do you?” Ram scratched his gray goatee then crossed his arms. “They are my responsibility, the freaking world is not.”

  “I told you I would go with you and I meant it. The only thing I have to lose in this fucked up world is me and stupid you. I just think that maybe if we could find a medical unit or something. What if they could create a vaccine?”

  “Who do we trust Jesse? Look at last time. That seemed legit at the beginning.” Ram shivered as he remembered what seemed like endless poking and prodding.

  “I don’t know Ram. I don’t.”

  “Jesse,” Ram let out a tired sigh. He had been fighting this very issue inside himself the whole time they’d been traveling.” Maybe you’re right. I mean, what good would I do my family if I might be able to stop this and didn’t? But then what kind of father and husband would I be if I abandoned them?”

  “Ram?”

  “Jesse, how about this, instead of me finding my family first, we still head north toward California and if we find any kind of legit medical units we stop and I’ll be their test animal for a bit. Just so they can get something brewing, then we continue after my family. Sound like a plan?”

  “I know that’s a lot to ask, Ram.” She said quietly.

  “Yeah, yeah it is. But it's probably the right thing to do, Greater Good and all that bullshit.” “Ram…”

  “No, it’s the right thing Jesse. Just promise me you won’t let me die without finding my family first.” He unslung the rifle. “Promise?”

  “ Keeping you alive is a lot to ask, but I’ll try. I promise.” “Alrighty then. Are you ready to get this crap fest on the road?”

  “Yep.” Jesse quickly pulled the M4 into point shoulder as Ram pressed the open button on the big rolling door. “I got this.”

  As the big aluminum door rolled upwards, Jesse hunched down and moved forward. Keeping the rifle tucked into her shoulder, she sw
ept the outside driveway of the building. Seeing it was clear, she gave Ram a thumbs up.

  “Sure you don’t want to stay longer?” Jesse asked as she walked over to the locked gate. “Nope,” Ram climbed into the driver’s side of the Durango. “Not if we’re going to try and save the world and all that good shit.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  STOP AND ASK FOR DIRECTIONS

  Sparks, NV

  “How did we get lost?” Sergeant Woo-Jin slammed his fist on the dashboard of the SUV, causing corporal Ha-Jun to jump a little in the driver's seat. “We spent all night driving these horrible back roads looking for the target and still nothing.”

  “Sergeant, it must be the maps.” The corporal stumbled.

  “The maps or your faulty coordinates?” Woo-Jin growled. The soldier wanted to argue that the maps were probably finished before the location of the safe house had been truly confirmed by their agents, but Ha-Jun saw the anger in the Sergeant’s eyes and thought better of it. The Corporal knew his place. Years of indoctrination had pushed at his ego turning it into a puddle of silent, self-preservation. “I’m sure Command would not want us out here wasting time and fuel. Don’t you think so Corporal Ha-Jun!”

  “Sergeant…” Ha-Jun started to apologize, when Woo-Jin cut him off.

  “Quiet Corporal. We need to find the target before Major KI-Moon radios in and wants to know why the hell we don’t have the target yet.” The Sergeant glanced over at the junction of dirt roads they’d stopped in the middle of. Nothing but rolling, brown hills and dirt greeted them. The senior enlisted man reached over to the dashboard and cranked up the air conditioning. The interior of the SUV was becoming warm and rank. Woo-Jin wiped some sweat from his forehead then looked over at the Corporal, who sat patiently behind the steering wheel waiting for an order.

  “I can get used to this air conditioning.” The Sergeant smiled as he looked around at the four soldiers that sat comfortably in the vehicle waiting for another outburst. The men had quickly become accustomed to Woo-Jin's fits of rage then quick decelerations into joviality. “Once we take this country, we will all have air conditioning in our houses. No more sweating our balls off. Eh, Ha-Jin?”

  “Yes Sergeant.” The Corporal nodded.

  “Okay.” Woo-Jin took a breath then slapped his hands down on his thighs. “Corporal, take the road to the East. I have a good feeling about that one.”

  “Sergeant.”

  “Sergeant!” Private Dae-Jung shouted from the third seat of the Tahoe. “On the main road to the West, look!”

  “Wha" Woo-Jin turned to the left and glanced down at the four-lane asphalt road that was about 100 yards away. In the mid-morning sunlight he could make out the heat reflection of a speeding vehicle pulling a trailer. The Sergeant grabbed up his binoculars from the dashboard and quickly tried to focus in on the SUV’s occupants. It took Woo-Jin a few seconds to get any kind of visual, but eventually he did.

  “Female, passenger side. Can’t get a view of the driver.” Woo-Jin then saw one of the Pelican cases with the familiar markings strapped down to the motorcycle trailer. It was one of theirs.

  Trying to contain his excitement, The Sergeant dropped the binoculars into his lap.

  “It’s them!” He pounded Ha-Jung in the shoulder with his fist. “It’s them. Get down there!” “Sergeant!” The Corporal spun the wheel and the Tahoe slid around in the dirt road sending a big cloud of dust upward.

  “You can kill the female,” Woo-Jin told his soldiers as he pulled his handgun from its holster. “We need the man alive and mostly unharmed.”

  “Sergeant, can we have the American woman?” Won-Ji grinned, displaying a mouth full of yellowing teeth.

  “You want disease Private?”

  “No... no Sergeant.” The soldier ducked his head down at the Non-Commissioned officer’s rebuke.

  “Just stay on task. This is more important than getting that little thing you call a penis wet. Besides Private, we accomplish what we came for, you can have all the American women you want.” The rest of the soldiers in the vehicle seemed to like the Sergeant’s view on what would soon be theirs. The SUV bumped and shook as Ha-Jung steered it across the uneven ground in an attempt to cut off the Durango. “Quickly Corporal!”

  “Almost there, Sergeant!” The soldier swung the steering wheel to the left causing the Tahoe to jump a small berm and crash back down onto the small gravel service roadway.

  “Easy Ha-Jung!” The Sergeant barked as he grabbed the hand grip above him. “If we crash we will be letting down the Supreme Commander and your punishment, I’m sure, will be worse than any injury you might suffer.”

  “Yes Sergeant!” Ha-Jung said, trying to regain control of the SUV. The Corporal wasn’t about to stumble right in front of their long sought-after prize. He’d visited his homeland work camps and re-education centers, there was no way he intended on ending up in one of them. Gritting his teeth, he quickly regained control of the sliding vehicle and sped out ahead of the Dodge, hoping he could get enough distance to cut them off.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  WHO ARE THESE ASS CLOWNS?

  Peach Springs, AZ

  “Yeah, but you really can’t call that music.” Ram said as he drummed his fingers idly on top of the Durango’s steering wheel. After an extensive search of the silent radio airwaves they had finally found a station still broadcasting. Unfortunately it was an automated playlist of weird elevator music. The two were now in a tied game of ‘name that tune.’

  “Who listens to this garbage?”

  “Serial killers and socialists.” Ram chuckled.

  “I’d rather listen to one of those Midwest radio evangelists than this.” Jesse popped the top off a water bottle. “I mean really. We’re at the end of the world and all there is to listen to is elevator music? Come on!”

  “So does that mean you give up on this one?” Ram asked .

  “Yes.” Jesse took a swig from the water bottle and nodded as she wiped her lips. “I give up.” “It’s Rick James ‘Superfreak’.” Ram smiled. “It’s three to two Jesse.”

  “You’re only winning cause you're so damn old.”

  “I…” As the SUV sped over a small rise in the road, Ram immediately saw the black Tahoe that was straddling both lanes, creating a mini road block. The other vehicle was about a hundred yards away. “Shit!”

  “That's not exactly new, News.” Jesse chuckled at the drivers remark then suddenly, as he slammed on the brakes, she became aware of the black Chevy Tahoe blocking the highway. “Shit!” Jesse repeated her partners exclamation. As the Dodge came to a swift halt, Ram noticed UN soldiers. The men were armed with automatic rifles aimed directly at the Durango and using the black vehicle for cover.

  “Who are these ass clowns?” Ram grumbled.

  “Not UN.” Jesse reached down beside her and pulled up her M4, keeping it out of view of the soldiers. From his peripheral, Ram could see the weapon in his partners lap, he gave her a slight nod and stealthily drew his Beretta, dropping it between his legs on the seat.

  “I try and turn, that trailer is going to fuck us up and jackknife, then we’ll be sitting ducks for those blue helmet turds.” Ram glanced anxiously over at Jesse. “What do you want to do?”

  “ I can crawl over the seats, you lower the back window and I’ll slip out and unhitch us.” “I hate losing the bikes and all that gear but I don’t see us having much of a choice.”

  “I know.” Jesse nodded.

  “Be quick.” Ram said as he pressed the rear window release. Jesse just fixed him with a ‘no shit’ look before she hurried over the middle row of seats.

  “You in the vehicle!” The Korean Sergeant shouted through a battery powered megaphone. “I am Sergeant Woo-Jin with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. We are here to help you. Please turn off your engine and step outside.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t trust you fellas! I’m just fine right here.” Ram shouted back at the Korean soldier.
r />   “Please exit your vehicle!”

  “And you can please suck my nuts!” Ram yelled back through the open driver’s side window. “What did he say?” The Sergeant asked Ha-Jung. “What did he say?”

  “Sergeant, I believe he said he wanted you to suck his nuts.” The Corporal replied. “What the hell does that mean?”

  Ha-Jung slowly pointed down at his crotch. The Sergeant frowned in understanding then immediately grew angry. Trying to control his anger at being disrespected by the American, he again shouted into the megaphone. “We mean you no harm. This is a United Nations order!

  Come out or we will use authorized deadly force to remove you from your vehicle.”

  “Kill us to save us.” Ram mumbled to himself as he tensely watched in the rear-view mirror as Jesse slid out of the open rear window of the Durango. Trying to provide some kind of distraction, Ramacher opened the driver’s door and halfway stepped out.

  “Sorry boys!” Ram yelled back, hand on the butt of his Beretta. “This is America, we don’t take orders from the United Nations!”

  “Sergeant!” Dae-Jung shouted as he watched the female climb out of the back of the Dodge. “What is that woman doing?”

  “Damnit !” Woo-Jin could see the woman had made her way out of the rear of the SUV and was now doing something to the trailer they towed behind them. Dropping the megaphone to his side he turned to Dae-Jung and Eon-Ji. “Shoot her, shoot her now!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  SHRIVELED MANHOODS

  Sparks, NV

  “There’s still a few milling about.” Dutch said as he peered through a small opening in one of the cinder block building’s blind, covered windows. “Most of them have wandered off back into town.”