Chapter 4

“Folks, we are low on supplies. We can continue through the forest or pick a direction on this road hoping to find some kind of store. There is no right or wrong choice here. It’s just a matter of how hungry we are willing to get before we follow a road. One sign I saw on the road is that we are in a National forest. That means few houses. On the other hand, roads are dangerous.”

Rebecca said, “Riley, whatever you suggest will be fine for me. I would be dead if I hadn’t listened to you.”

Leslie said, “I will go with my daddy.”

Roy and Doug looked at each other. Roy said, “What do you recommend, Riley. You’ve got good judgment and are great in the woods.”

Doug said, “You haven’t been walking around with him all day, Roy. He’s a shadow. I agree that roads can be dangerous but eating is a good idea. I saw that sign, Riley. I think there is less forest to our left.” I nodded. Doug continued, “What if we made a circle around to the left but stayed well in the trees?”

I said, “That works. We don’t have to be far in the tree line just far enough to have decent cover. I like to hear and see whatever might be coming close to me before it’s too late.”

We didn’t cross the road but followed it for a couple of miles and came to the edge of the forest. Less than a hundred yards ahead was a crossroads with convenience stores on two diagonal corners. I stopped everyone and we watched from trees for a long twenty minutes. Nothing moved nor did any of us hear anything, be it human or alien.

I finally moved forward staying close to cover. I approached the stores from one side and looked around. There was little damage to the buildings. I could see blackened spots where people had been killed by the aliens’ personal weapons. It was quiet. I waited again but no one and no thing moved or made a sound. At my motion, we gathered together. Doug would maintain this position while I would go across the road diagonally and keep watch there. Roy and his daughter would be one scavenging team and Rebecca would be the other. All three would each carry empty packs though Leslie’s was smaller. They would fill them while they noticed what was left for another trip or trips.

Each team went into a store. Twenty minutes later, they were leaving and joined Doug. Moments later, I joined them and we went further into the trees before stopping to talk. Rebecca’s pack was full. Roy said, “My store had been raided before. There was almost nothing left. A little jerky and some candy bars were all we could pick up. The shelves were bare.”

Rebecca said, “I had good luck. I found plenty to eat. We could make another trip there and come out with more. There were sandwiches there that I grabbed as well as chips and drinks. I also grabbed some blankets and jackets.”

I said, “Great, let’s get back fifty feet or so further into the trees. We can have some supper and cover up for the night. Tomorrow, we will go to Rebecca’s store again and load up.” Everyone nodded and that’s what we did. We ate sitting Indian style and then prepared for sleep.

Rebecca looked at me and very quietly said, “Riley, will you snuggle with me. I very much appreciated you being next to me as we slept last night.”

I nodded. I had enjoyed her snuggled against me last night, too. I just didn’t want to make too much of what she was saying. We went to sleep on one blanket with another over us and our jackets as additional cover. It was quiet all night. We were tired and I don’t think any of us moved at all that night.

In the morning, Rebecca and I woke almost together. She rolled over and smiled into my eyes. “That was good. I felt safe and warm all night.”

I grinned. “Looks can be deceiving.”

She smiled back. “Seriously, thank you. I appreciate your presence.”

“The appreciation is mutual.”

We ate a breakfast of more sandwiches and chips washed down with bottled water. We were all talking low. Doug said, “Do we still want to go to Rebecca’s store this morning?”

I said, “I think so. We’ll still approach carefully. I never heard anything last night but we don’t want a surprise. I am hoping we can find and use a rear entrance to leave.” We left in the same formation as before but all our packs were empty except for Rebecca’s. We would return to this little camp to make further plans.

We went into the store and Roy and Doug were loading up. I went to the back and found the exit. I secured it before starting to fill my pack. Rebecca had stayed with me. We were loading snack foods and canned products into our packs. I raked a double handful of lighters into my pack. I also loaded two more blankets into it and one more into Rebecca’s pack. She was loading food. I found a hand truck and stacked four cases of water on it and pulled that close to the exit. We were almost finished when I heard motorcycles. I hissed just loud enough for everyone in our group to hear me. “Time to go right now. Go out the back.”

We left quickly and I closed the back door just before the motorcycles quit running. I had no desire to get into a shootout with a motorcycle gang or with any people who would make noise and heat during the day. I figured the noise or the heat signatures of the motorcycles would draw an alien ship. I had us walking directly into the woods away from the convenience store as quickly and quietly possible. We weren’t seen.

Two minutes later, the store exploded as an alien ship went by. We stayed low for a half hour before Doug and I walked back to check on the store and the motorcyclists. From what we could determine from the bodies, it had been a motorcycle gang plus two or three possible captives. No one was alive. They all lost their lives and we lost the rest of the food we could have taken with us. We walked back to Rebecca, Leslie, and Roy and told them what had happened.

Rebecca said, “We should have stayed and worked out a deal with them.”

I said, “If we had, we would have been there for the aliens, too. Also, they might not have been willing to deal though there are two females who they might have added to their collection. One of their captives, if that’s what they were, seemed to have had rope on her wrists. None of the women were wearing much.”

Doug nodded grimly. He said, “Riley’s right. Let’s get moving.” We gathered together in our normal routine but I was gradually bending our path toward the road that the motorcycle gang had followed to arrive at their fate.

Doug said, “Riley, you’ve got us headed back toward the road?”

I answered his tone. “Yes, we will still need supplies and I’m hoping they were just skimming. They may have left people who hid or who survived them, too. We need larger numbers to survive if the new ones will listen.” Doug nodded. We continued on and came to another road. I turned left and followed it to the main road we had been on. We quickly came to an intersection that had a convenience store strip with damage to its front. Quietly, Doug and I crept to the convenience store and, while he watched, I went in to determine what might be available. There was a lot of things except for beer that seemed to have been cleared out. One man was lying on the floor dead from a gunshot. Looking out and around, I saw no sign of anyone having been killed by aliens. I then noticed that the cooler door was blocked.