I pulled my gun out and pointed it at my attacker. I spoke loudly. “I’m not giving up without a fight. So prepare to eat some lead, junior.” I noticed my hand shaking.
The young man stopped five yards away. He held his hands up in mock surrender. “Dude, what the frack? Put that thing away. I come in peace, Robocop.” He mixed up his movie references as I stared him down. He looked less menacing than I had assumed he would. “I just want someone to ride with man. Don’t get all puffed chest on me.” He appeared to be 20 or younger, and a little shorter and at least twenty pounds lighter than me. No wonder he could pedal so fast. He pushed back his longish brown hair, barely winded from catching me.
“Why you so interested in catching up to me? Planning on taking my stuff and leaving me for dead?” I had his full attention with the gun pointed at him. He looked scared, just not scared enough for my liking. “You know I’m not stupid. I know how you guys operate.”
He gazed to each side and raised his hands further in frustration. “Dude, if you’re looking for trouble shouldn’t you be looking ahead instead of behind? I mean that’s just all screwed up.” He lowered his hands slightly, the gun stayed up. “And why would I call out for you if I was gonna rob you? Don’t be stupid man.” Now his hands were at his sides; he looked at me passively, no harm intended. I lowered the gun slightly.
“What do you want? What’s your name?” I spoke loud and with authority so he would know I wasn’t a push over.
“Jake. Jake Bellsing. I’m from Balsam Lake just up the road.” I eased my stance a little, he seemed friendly. “I’ve been riding alone for four days dude. I just want someone to ride with, to talk to. That’s all.” He looked at the road behind then back at me. “But if you’re gonna be king jerk about it, forget it. Just let me pass.” He seemed more disgusted than anything else. Disgusted with me, my attitude in general. I shrugged slightly.
“I’m sorry Jake. I’ve just been on guard so much all day. A lot of crap out here. I didn’t know.” He nodded his acceptance of my lame apology. He smiled a big smile finally.
“So, you got any smokes, dude? I could really use one.”
Dude was not my favorite term in the English language. I set him straight. “Call me Bill and, no, I don’t smoke. Sorry.” He shrugged and dug in an inside pocket in the jacket tied around his waste. Out came a pack of cigarettes. I looked at him questioningly.
“Hey,” he started. “I just figured if you had any I’d bum a few off you so I could make mine last. No offense dude, Bill.” Jake certainly was an odd character. I turned and put the gun away.
“None taken.” I looked back at him. “Where you been the last four days?”
He laughed slightly as he took a huge drag from the cigarette in his right hand. “I was in Ankeny, in Iowa.” I nodded. I knew where Ankeny was. “Visiting my girlfriend down there. I drove down in my dad’s car about four weeks ago. And then all this happened.” He waved his hand at the surrounding countryside. I got his point. “Well, I stayed put for a while. Figured the power would come back on. Plus her parents were missing. They’d been out visiting when it happened.” He strolled over and took a comfortable seat in the ditch nearby. “After three plus weeks alone with her, Margo, I had to split. She was driving me nuts man. One hundred percent crazy she is.” He nodded like I knew exactly what he was saying.
“So you just left her alone down there? Margo?” His story already didn’t make sense.
He shook his head and frowned. “No dude. I ain’t like that. We rode bikes to her grandma’s just north of town a week ago. I stayed for another day or two and then split for home. I gave her some line about needing to get home and help my old man with farming.” Okay, this made a little more sense. “I just didn’t want to spend another minute with old Margo, that’s all.” He nodded, I nodded; we understood each other.
“So Jake, what route did you take?” This would tell me if his story was on the up and up. He smiled.
“Right up I-35 dude.” He used his right hand to illustrate the straight route. “Iowa was easy. Almost boring. No one out really. Minnesota, well, it started to get dicey there.” He took the last drag off his smoke and put it out. “First night I stayed with an old couple in Albert Lea. Just north of the border.” Again I nodded. I had lived in Minnesota all my adult life. “They were cool. Fed me, gave me a soft bed. The old man even gave me an extra pack of smokes. It was cool.” He thought of something and paused. Quickly he came back to his story.
“Second day I made it to Bloomington. You know, where the Mall of America is.” He looked at me to see if I was following his path.
“Jake, I live in St. Paul. I know all the places you’re talking about.”
“Cool. Cool.” Something seemed to catch his interest in the corn off to the west. I looked over; it was a small deer. “Well, it was getting interesting before Bloomington. But by the time I got there I had real concerns for my safety dude. I mean gunshots. A lot of gunshots. And the road warriors, dude. They were thick. Like flies. I knew I had to get off the freeway and get through the Cities on side streets. That took two more days.”
“They’re calling them road bandits up here now. Not that it makes a difference, I imagine it’s the same thing.”
He grinned. “Yeah, call them road demons for all I care. They’re crap man, all of them. I saw them take a couple off their bikes and beat them to a pulp. And ya know the funny part?” I had no idea what was coming next. He shook his head slightly. “They didn’t take a thing from them. It was just like they wanted practice on beating people. It was sick, man. Just so wrong.” He shuddered and looked away. This kid had seen a lot in four days on the road.
“So you made it through the Twin Cities alive. What then Jake?” I was actually very interested to hear what else he had witnessed on the road. It would give me a barometer to gauge the rest of my travels.
“Barely alive, dude. I got shot at so many times I lost count. I swear, if I’d had a backpack they would have killed me for it. The Cities are a real hellhole, you know. At least now they are.” I nodded for him to continue. “So I squirted out of the north side and made it for the river. Headed towards Stillwater. Bastards wouldn’t let me through. I had to go around and that’s a hilly ride.”
I smiled and nodded. “Same route. See the fires north of town?”
His eyes opened wide. “Man, that was sick. Who burns down all these places just cuz they won’t give you any food, right? And Marine on St. Croix. That was so wrong.” I frowned. I was just through there earlier. Everything was fine.
“What about Marine on St. Croix, Jake?” I started to worry.
“Are you kidding me dude? It was a hellhole. Just as bad as the Cities. Huge blaze going, guns going off everywhere. There had to be a group of at least a dozen of those road pukes there.”
My stomach sank. “I was just through there, Jake. Maybe an hour before you. Maybe two. Everything was fine. It looked untouched. I met a woman there. She was nice, very sweet.” I thought of Joan and her young daughters. I had never even asked their names.
“Well it wasn’t like that when I went through. That general store by the road? It was blazing, man. Four alarm fire.” Jake waved his arms for some sort of dramatic effect. I felt ill. “I got shot at four times as I rode by. That’s the hardest I pedaled the whole trip dude.” He saw the concern on my face. “You okay Bill?”
I wasn’t. “No, not at all. I met a woman there I said. Just south of there actually. Walked into town with them.” I wanted to cry. Things were getting so bad. Jake looked closely at my face.
“A hottie in a blue sundress? With short curly red hair and big ta-tas?” I looked at him strangely. “Two little girls, both with long red hair?” My eyebrows rose. He described them perfectly; though I didn’t appreciate the comment on Joan’s size … well, whatever. “They’re fine man. I passed them right before I got into town. They were running back south, out of town. They all looked scared, man. She warned me to go around if I co
uld.” He shrugged and looked down. “I should have listened. That was a tough scene to swallow.” I felt a little better. Hopefully Joan and her girls were safe and sound buried deep in her parent’s place. Jake looked at me funny. “Should have brought her along dude. She could have kept you warm at night. You know what I mean, right?” He smiled a silly grin my way.
I waved him off. “Be decent Jake. She had family in the area. Plus, those two little girls. She was staying put.” I looked to see Buddy reappear from the cornfield on our east. Jake smiled and called for the dog.
“Come here buddy, come here pal.” Buddy came and got immediate attention from Jake. Jake smiled and rubbed his cowl. He looked up at me. “Sweet dog dude, yours?” I nodded. “What’s his name?”
I smiled again, this was quite a day. “Believe it or not, Buddy.”
Jake laughed. I guess I had a companion for a while.
Chapter 20