Chapter 9

The disposal teams from the military "cleansing" unit dragged the bodies from the slope and graveled trail down to the side of the paved road. They threw them in with the rag-tag remains of the mopped-up civilians trying to escape to the other side of the road. Mike had his share of "Search and Destroy Missions" but this seemed pretty harsh and more like the stuff he saw go down in Bosnia and the Middle East.

Rebecca could see how upset he was and came over to console him much to Maria's annoyance. She told him that the civilians were probably "infected with the dirty bomb virus" and sources of probable contagion for the untouched masses outside the contaminated areas. It was brutal but necessary to save the general populace from a hideous death.

Ginnie was retching into a plastic container until she had only dry heaves left to break the silence. They were really subdued after that realizing how lucky they were to escape notice of the military search teams. Even the looters seemed a better prospect but not by very much. Instead of finding isolated corners of the cave that night the group seemed to find comfort in coming closer together and slept almost touching each other in the dark with only a starry sky to cast some light inside the quiet cave.

Mike wondered why the soldiers had not gone into some of the small towns with their "mopping up" operations and cleaned out the nests of looters. The only thing he could figure was that the military was allowing the looters enough rope to help do their job and "cleanse" the unwanted survivors from impacted areas. If his surmise was correct, their next target would be the looters who were already sentenced to death by military tribunal.

He put his head together with Rebecca and they both decided it was getting a little too hot in the National Park area because the caves were well known and it was only a matter time before the military would come looking to search the caves for survivors. Mike told her that he didn't think they could head either North or South in California so their only choice was to head deeper inland to Nevada. Rebecca came in so close that he could inhale her female scent which was not in the least bit disagreeable to him.

"Mike, some of the female soldiers in my unit told me that there were some good groups of folks hiding out up on Mt. Charleston just outside of Vegas. There is plenty of water and the small game is plentiful. The main thing is it is easy to defend against ground troops. That is probably why they are using a lot of air assets to thin out the resistance. I know the back roads. All we need to do is steal a Humvee from the road guards and we can make it there on a single tank of gas."

Mike knew the terrain in that area and he had to agree with her analysis of the situation. It was unlikely the "government" troops would mount any kind of an offensive against the elevated location before the following spring. That would give them some time to re-group and avoid being wiped out by one of the cleansing units.

Ginnie was adamantly opposed to the plan. She had her reasons but the main one was she had no desire to risk rape by the looters or swift death from the government troops. She was not in accord with Rebecca's analysis and scoffed at the suggestion that her husband knew best. The second naysayer was Maria, his bed partner and supposed main ally. She almost hissed at the words coming out of Rebecca's mouth as she explained the circumstances and the options open to them. All of the others were in full agreement and were supportive of Mike's determination to take them to safety.

Since the vote was 6 to 2, both Ginnie and Maria shut up and just acted pissed off at the mention of each little detail of the arrangement for the move inland and away from eminent danger.

Wesley and Tom were tasked with securing the vehicle and they took Heather with them to act as a diversion to distract the soldiers on the paved road.

The three young people squatted in the ditch watching the soldiers eat something from their ration boxes. There were only two of them at the outpost but they had a Humvee parked hidden in the tall grass with the red light of a radio blinking to show it was on standby. Wesley was certain he could handle them by himself but decided to let both Tom and Heather share in the assignment. They both had the tiny .22LR pistols which made very little noise and watched while Heather stripped off all of her clothing except her bra and panties. Wesley was none too happy about the ogling look that Tom kept casting in her direction. The two men crept as close to the Humvee as possible without detection and they listened as Heather called from the darkness for help. The two soldiers were immediately on the alert but they relaxed when they saw a defenseless young nubile female in her undies in need of assistance. This was a big change from the tattered remnants wandering about needing swift execution at the direction of their superiors. At least, this one looked like she could be played with before the necessary deed was done.

Their first and last mistake was to lay down their rifles and try to grab hold of the pretty girl suddenly in their midst. Tom and Wesley jumped up and took them both out with a single shot to the back of their heads and they never knew what hit them. Poor Heather was covered with blood spatter from one of them and she whimpered as she tried to get it off her skin. Fearing that the radio might have some sort of homing device, they removed it and drove the Humvee back up the gravel path to the cave easily bypassing the ravine because they knew a navigable ford hidden about a half mile down the narrow creek bed. They were able to hide the Humvee in the same little culvert with the abandoned RV and the other car they used to get to the cave.

Mike and Rebecca were ecstatic with the procurement of the transport for their escape to Mt. Charleston but Ginnie and Maria were less than enthused. They immediately began to make preparations for the departure and it turned out to be none too soon.

Down on the paved road, a dozen vehicles with no markings gathered and the officer-in-charge, Colonel Martinez studied a map given to him by a subordinate. The two bodies of the road guards were being buried in a shallow grave nearby. There was no smile on the Colonel's face, but then again, it seemed like these days, there was never a smile on the Colonel's face.