Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

The Stryker came rolling past us. Dalton had pulled the motorcycle out to the far travel lane and Mike never slowed down as he ran over it. Braking, he reversed the huge beast back over it. The man on the ground shook his head, witnessing the destruction of something he couldn’t replace.

“Why’d you do that? You offer me food, then crush my bike?”

“I ain’t having you follow us to where we’re going. You’re welcomed to come to town. But not my house,” Sarge replied.

The man looked down the road at the tanker. “So, you’re taking all the fuel to your house, huh? Gonna share the food, but not the fuel.”

Sarge looked up at Dalton, squinting against the spitting rain. “Told you it was about the fuel.”

“So, it would appear.”

“Look here, sport. That fuel belongs to the Army. Now, if you want to tangle assholes with that, then go for it.”

The man looked at the Stryker. “You guys are with the Army?”

Sarge looked at me and shook his head before answering him. “Are you always this fucking stupid? Or is today a special occasion? Of course, we are! You can’t buy those things at Walmart, shithead!”

Dalton reached down and pulled the man to his feet. “Time for you to kick rocks, bud.”

The man paused for a moment, looking around. Dalton drew his pistol to encourage him and the man raised his hands and started walking away. Sarge looked at me and said, “You guys go on to the ranch. We’ll catch up. I’m just going to give this shitbird a minute to get gone.”

I nodded and headed back to the truck. Climbing up into the cab, I released the airbrake and put the truck in gear. Looking back, I saw Ian was right behind me and the Stryker was rolling to catch up. Home was less than a half hour away and I couldn’t wait to get there. I wanted a nap. I wanted to see Mel and the girls. I wanted to get home, again. It was kind of funny to be returning along this same route again. At least this time I was driving.

I looked over at the Pittman Center as I passed it. A smile started to spread across my face as I saw my road ahead. It only grew wider the closer I got. Before I knew it, I was turning onto it. The tanker was huge, and it could easily become stuck back in our neighborhood. I could only think of one way to park it, so I could get it out.

Waving at the smiling Guardsmen as I passed the bunker, I stopped the truck and backed into the road Sarge and Thad lived on. Getting the trailer onto the road, I backed down it for a way before pulling forward and parking it on the right side of the road. That way, it would be easy to turn left and leave when the time came. The airbrakes applied with a hiss and I shut it down.

As I got out, a couple of the Guardsmen that were manning the bunker walked over. They were eyeing the truck up and down. “Where did you get this?” One of them asked.

“Eglin,” I replied.

Wallner, one of the Guardsmen, whistled, “Damn, that’s a long way.”

“Yeah,” his partner replied. “And, so you know, Sheffield is pissed. He came by to check on us, and when he found out you guys were gone, he got really torqued off. Told us to leave, but we told him we were staying.”

Wallner laughed. “Yeah. We eat way better here.”

“If you guys think this truck is the shit,” I turned and pointed down the road, “Check this out.” I could hear the Stryker; and in a moment, it turned onto our road.

“Holy shit!” Wallner exclaimed. “How the hell did you get that?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. Something the old man did.”

The truck Jamie was driving was right behind the armored vehicle and turned onto our road as well. The Guardsmen were getting excited now.

“What the hell is all this?” One of them asked.

Wallner nodded at the tanker and asked, “Is that fuel?”

I smiled, “Damn straight.”

He was laughing. “I can’t believe you got all that! A Stryker! Diesel! I can’t believe it.”

“What’s in that truck?” The other Guardsmen asked.

“That’s all kinds of stuff. I’m not totally sure. I gave them a list of what I wanted. We’ll have to open it up and see.”

As we were talking, Sarge’s Hummer rounded the corner as well. The rain had stopped, though the evening sky was heavily overcast. But the reprieve was nice. Word was getting around we were back and people began to show up. Perez was one of the first ones.

He went straight to Jamie and wrapped his arms around her. “I was worried about you, chica.”

She patted his back. “I’m fine, poppie. It was a milk run. No trouble.”

He smiled. “Good.” Then he rubbed the stubble on his chin. He’d given up shaving. “You, ah, got anything for me in there?”

Jamie took a deep breath and let it out. “You know how hard those are to find? I mean. It’s like looking for a virgin in a whorehouse.” Perez’s shoulders dropped. Jamie smiled and climbed up onto the side of the truck and reached in, retrieving a bag. She hopped down and handed it to him.

Perez opened the bag and his face lit up. “Holy shit!” He exclaimed as he pulled a carton from the bag and tore it open. In an instant, he had a cigarette clenched in his teeth, holding a lighter to it. He took a long deep drag, holding the smoke in for a moment before letting it out through his nose. “Thank you, chica. I was out. I was dying.”

“You were an asshole,” Wallner said.

“You were grumpy as hell!” Jess announced.

Seeing her, I smiled. She was with Taylor and Lee Ann. “I wish you’d been with me,” I said to her. “We drove back on