Surviving Chaos

26

Max and James had left Georgia and Sadie at the campsite with the deer. Max’s stomach was still mostly empty. They’d walked so far. He was already tired when they’d set out.

His leg hurt, but he was pushing on.

After half an hour of walking, they’d finally come to a creek.

“This must be the one Mandy came to,” said James.

“If she got this far.”

“I think she did. Look.” James pointed to the water containers that Mandy must have left behind.

Max’s Glock hadn’t left his hand since they’d set out, and he kept it at the ready. His eyes darted around.

But he saw nothing.

“What do you think happened to her?” said James.

Max didn’t answer. He was looking across to the other side of the creek. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw something there in the dirt. Some mark or pattern.

He walked across the creek. It was just deep enough to get his boots wet. Whatever waterproofing they had, it didn’t work.

“You see something?” said James, staying on the other side for now.

“Yeah,” said Max, bending down to examine the dirt. “Tire tracks.”

James was there, splashing across the creek as quickly as he could.

“It sort of looks like a road up that way,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Max. “A dirt road. I think we have our answer. Or part of it. Come on, there’s no time to lose.”

“You think they took her? Kidnapped her? Whoever they are.”

“Hopefully.”

“What if they just killed her.”

“If they did, they didn’t do it here.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s no blood.”

“But what about this? I found it on the other side, over there.” James seemed hesitant and nervous as he held out his hand, as if he didn’t want to show Max.

Finally, he opened his hand.

There was a shell casing resting on his palm. “There are more over there,” he said.

Max picked it up and examined it.

“It could have come from Mandy’s gun,” said Max.

“Shouldn’t we look for more over here, to figure out what happened?”

“No time,” said Max. “We can philosophize all we want about what happened. But it’s not going to save Mandy. If she’s still alive to be saved. Come on, let’s get a move on it.”

They set off down the dirt road, which became clearer the more they walked.

“Keep your eyes on the tracks,” said Max. “But don’t forget to look up, too. I’m watching, but don’t rely just on me. We’ve all got to get used to the idea that the other person might not be doing their job. And at the same time rely on each other.”

“Tricky balance,” muttered James, whose eyes were fixed to the dirt road. “I’m pretty sure these are the same tracks. It’s a little hard to tell, because it looks like other cars have been on this road before.”

“It’s probably the same car,” said Max. “Or truck.”

“I wonder where this leads.”

“Me too,” said Max.

They walked for a good half hour, still seeing nothing.

Max’s leg was hurting more than it had been. Carrying Georgia on that stretcher had strained it. But he just gritted his teeth.

“Hey,” said James, stopping. “Do you see that?”

“What?”

“Right there. Some kind of structure.”

Max took the binoculars from where they hung around his neck and put them to his eyes.

As he dialed in the right adjustment, the image came into focus.

It wasn’t a building, but some kind of old tent.

“Take a look,” said Max, unslinging the binoculars from around his neck and handing them to James.

“What is that?” said James. “Doesn’t look like a normal tent.”

“It’s not,” said James. “Looks like one of those old military tents. Not meant to be portable.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we could be dealing with people who are more prepared than average,” said Max. “In the sense that they’re very well-prepared.”

“Maybe it’s just some people who had an old tent from their dad or granddad or something,” said James. “I mean, I’ve seen things like that before. Big canvas tent, steel poles and all that.”

“I don’t think so,” said Max, taking the binoculars back and scanning the area. “There’s a ton of equipment around. Actually, it looks like they’ve been there for a while, before the EMP.”

“What should we do?”

“We’ll do some more surveillance, before we move in,” said Max.

“What about Mandy? Time isn’t on our side. Anything could happen while we’re snooping around.”

“We’re not going to be able to save Mandy unless we know what we’re up against,” said Max. “Rushing in there might be the worst thing we could do.”

It was a hard decision for Max to make. After all, he realized now that he cared about Mandy in a way… well, it was different than how he felt about the others.

But he needed to keep a cool head. He needed to stay practical and strategic. There was a good chance that they’d be up against people who were better fed and better armed.

“Come on,” said Max. “Follow me. And try not to make any noise.”

Max set off, heading away from the road, on a course that would lead them around the campsite. He didn’t know how many people there were, or how big the campsite was, and he wanted to circle in on it. If they were dealing with another compound situation, they didn’t want to walk right into the center of activity without realizing it.