Luther had graciously given them a small house near the wall to sleep in.  It had running water, but no electricity.  Allistor found her sitting on the sofa in the living room, reading a well-worn magazine by candlelight.  He sat next to her for a while, just relaxing and enjoying the quiet.  At least, until a cannon blast shattered the silence about ten minutes later.  She looked up in alarm, and he explained what they’d found, finishing with, “So, they just sent a warning shot toward whoever is left of Evan’s crew.”   Amanda rolled her eyes.   Snuggling up against his chest, she closed her eyes.  He did the same. He and Amanda had claimed the smaller of the two bedrooms in the house, but they never used it.  They slept through the night right there on the sofa.

*****

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

RVs and BFGs

They rose early in the morning.  Meg and Sam already had breakfast ready.  Simple bacon, sausage, and oatmeal.  The kids were given some fruit to help with the malnutrition.

Sam and George had discussed the roadblocks, and George had produced maps taken from the gas station.  They were full atlas books, with maps of every state.  They put one in each of the RVs and Sam took one with an alternate route marked on it in the lead Humvee.  He’d chosen to take the one with the gun on top.  Meg rode with him, hoping for the chance to blast something.

As the sun rose, everyone loaded into one of the vehicles, and they opened the gates.  One of Luther’s men closed them behind the convoy as they left, not wanting the place to get overrun by critters.  Then he ran to the top of the wall and lowered himself down atop of one of the RVs.   A minute later, they were on their way.  A convoy of two RVs, two Humvees, a winery truck, three pickups, and trailers pulling snowmobiles and ATVs along with two cannons in tow.   Allistor felt a twinge as he thought how much his father would laugh at the sight.

They kept a faster pace on the way back, now that they had some idea of the condition of the roads.  No creature in its right mind would attack such a large noisy convoy, so they worried less about attacks.

A quick stop at the house where’d they’d stopped before, and the group made short work of loading up the rest of the jars from the cellar.  Others searched the house and barn for anything useful, and they were soon on their way again.   They took side roads to avoid the two large pile-ups, and it was only mid-afternoon when they reached the ancient shellback’s lake.