Tuesday, January 18, 2011

American Apocalypse IV - Chapter 17 - by Nova

We drove for a couple of hours through the darkness.  When I say darkness, I mean darkness. That was the one the many things I had to get use to was how dark it was out in the country.  I had pretty good night vision now thanks to Freya and eating my vegetables whenever I could. Still it was dark and the road was rapidly approaching unusable. I found myself thinking more than once that the trade off for mileage verse the higher clearance and four wheel drive might have been a mistake.  I consoled myself that it was only in books and movies where the good guys made all the right choices. 

I repeated that to myself when the axle broke.  It didn't help but it did wake up Zane who had fallen asleep.  I got us all out of the car and loaded up with what we could carry which wasn't much.  One of these days I was going to have to find someone to sew up a couple of doggy packs for Woof.  I didn't think he would wear them but who knows.  We hadn't seen a single car so far and only the occasional light from a farmhouse. I had been sending out Freya connect messages to no avail. Never the less I knew we were close. How I knew I didn't know, but I did. Then cable TV used to have lots of shows about how people had some kind of ability. My Mom liked the Ghost Whisper for just that reason though the best I could tell her only talent was picking losers for boyfriends.

We walked about 300 yards off the road into a clump of trees and found a place to sleep.  Zane curled up with Woof and he was back to sleep in seconds.  Woof watched me and occasionally lifted his head to sniff the faint breeze that was blowing.  The clouds had been building all day and I was sure we were going to end up soaked by noon tomorrow.  I saw a bolt of lightening and heard the roll of thunder and revised that to very soon.  My problem was I didn't know the weather here.  It was hot, sticky and the breeze felt good.  Maybe the rain would cool it down.  With that I stretched out and told Woof he had the first, second, and third watches.  I would relieve him before dawn.  He seemed okay with that idea.

Note: Sorry about the slow posting.  I have a lot going on at the moment. Thanks for reading.

9 comments:

  1. No need to apologize. You don't write on our schedule. We read on yours. And I am happy to do so.

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  2. Bohica here,

    Take your time, the f5 button never gets weary.

    As for Max becoming a 2nd louie, I think that rank was suggested by someone in the zone with no military background.
    W-4 would be a respectable starter position, but I imagine Max probably rates a full bird.

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  3. Nova,
    piper here...some of us read slow, and savor every word...we're all entitled to 'have a life'....;-)

    Your loyal fan.

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  4. Thanks all. I like writing this story and I don't want to let you down.

    Bohica,

    The rank was really irrelevant. What they are doing is throwing a carrot with an implicit stick. He is now subject to Uniform Code of Military Justice. It gives them legal justification and they are probably hoping it appeals to his sense of honor.

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  5. Nice that you could get back in the saddle! We addicts were beginning to sweat. Seriously, take your time. The read is worth waiting.

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  6. Forrest,

    Food poisoning on top of a cold that wouldn't go away. Plus doing carpentry on the outside of the house from hits from the walk thru and work. I just hit a wall for a couple of days.

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  7. ... Ya gotta wash the salad stuff with at least a little chlorinated water to get rid of the nasties these days...

    when the wife or daugeter brings home rabbit food for me to eat these days I make sure it gets washed [at least once] and run thru the salad spinner before I even think about eating it.

    that even happens if I'm going to be using the greens in soup...

    I drive the wife nuts when I tell he that anything grown in the dirt needs to be properly sterilized before eating... meat needs to be as close to twitching as is possible (of course!)

    [insert Evil Grin here!]

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  8. ... DUH! ....

    I meant to say 'I tell her'...

    Now if they would come up with a thought completion checker I'd be in good shape...

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  9. Tckaija,

    Yeah. Even better it was a restaurant on the way to taking my daughter to college. Her dorm mates must have loved hearing and smelling my visit.

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