NO ROAD HOME Book One: Echoes by John Prescott

Author:John Prescott [Prescott, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-04T22:00:00+00:00

6

Smith stood on the passenger-side kick-plate of the full-size truck and stared down Jesse. “Look alive, soldier! I don't want to be splattered across highway two-eighty-five.”

Jesse didn't quicken his pace. He scratched at his grizzled cheek. “Man, do you know what time it is?”

Spirit answered in her hollow voice. “The time is now oh-three-hundred hours.”

Jesse popped open the driver's door and pulled himself in. “Well look at that, I'm right on time!”

“I said we were leaving at three, not meeting at three.”

“And so we are!” Jesse pressed the ignition button. The engine roared to life.

Mark turned about in the truck bed and leveled his head at the rear window. “That is incorrect. The time now is oh-three-hundred-one hours.” Raven smiled.

“Time to go.” Patterson slumped and pulled down his ball cap. “Wake me when we get there.”

Jesse shook his head as he pulled away. “It's half an hour away, man. How much sleep do you think you're going to get?”

“More than you.” Everyone laughed, save for Mark and Spirit.

Jesse eased the pickup onto the highway and accelerated. They were the only vehicle on the road. The moonless night pressed in on the narrow beams of light thrown by the truck's headlamps.

Raven looked out his window and watched the guardrails blur past. It stirred something in him. Was it peace? Contentment? Whatever it was shifted to frustration. Why couldn't he remember?

“Okay, everybody.” Smith broke Raven out of his trance. “Let's go over this one more time. We'll pull into the weeds and go dark when we get close to the ammunition dump.

“About a mile out, we ditch the truck. We're going to do this quietly if at all possible. Intel has called out anywhere from ten to twenty personnel at any given time.”

“That's quite a spread.” Raven said.

“It is. That's why we're going to predict shitty luck and be quiet as mice, isn't that right, Jesse?”

The soldier sighed. “Yeah, boss.”

“There's no question that Spirit is taking the lead. Raven's bot 'Mark' will follow up...”

Jesse snorted. “Man, what a name for a bot.”

Raven shrugged. “Better than a serial number.”

“As I was saying... After Mark will be Robert and Jesse. If shit goes boom, you boom louder.”

“Heard that.”

“I'll round out the back with Mike. We might rotate if we encounter electronic locks. Questions?” Silence stretched out amongst them.

Raven smirked. “Can we listen to the radio, dad?”

Smith smiled in the dark. “That's one perk of modern society we haven't resurrected just yet.”

“We suffer through nuclear war and still don't have our priorities straight.”

“Here, here. Okay everybody. Get your heads straight.”

The trip proved to be a quick one. Jesse pulled off the highway into the sand and brush about four miles out. The vehicle detected the rough terrain and switched to four-wheel-drive mode. It did little to soften the bumpy ride.

Jesse donned a pair of night-vision goggles and damped the headlights. The vehicle was swallowed in darkness. Smith put on a pair of his own. Patterson didn't care. He'd somehow managed to fall asleep on the short ride.

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