Our beginning

Texas Bound Continues, journey down south

It was bitter sweet leaving but my heart throbbed to see and hold my daughter and grandson. As we left the Quad City area we saw more damage from the storm than we wanted to which slowed us down but in many ways prepared us for what we would find once we got to more unfamiliar areas of the country. The bridge we had planned to cross was destroyed and the next had an accident on it stopping traffic so I continued on to the third and decided that there must have been a reason for this detour. I had planned to follow the Mississippi River as far South as we could that way as long as we could see the river we knew we were going the right way, even if we lost our map and we could find each other if we got separated. We traveled for around 3 hours before we ran into any trouble but we had expected something happen much earlier than that.

"Mom, slow down!" Brian shouted and leaned forward, "What's that in the road?"

"If you stop and let us out we can scout ahead on our skate boards, it would be less obvious that we're there if it's some type of trap." Luke suggested.

I agreed, even though I didn't want to separate from them. In an unverbal type of reply I stopped and reversed until my car was out of sight, that way if someone was watching they thought we had turned around and went a different route instead of going through the hassle. I backed into the grass between the road and woods to be out of the way and had the boys throw leaves around and over us as they grabbed their gear and skate boards. Luke started filling the reserve gas tank from the containers I had in the trunk since we were stopped, I had just switched tanked but it would make it so we didn't have to fill up again for a while.

"Send a growl my way if you run into trouble, roar if I'm good to head that way, whistle if someone catches you. We'll be listening, remember that if we need to we'll come get you so show no fear no matter what." I reassured them and they started to skate off.

It felt like an eternity before I heard anything but I was glad when the familiar roars of my boys traveled to my ears and Kena perked up right away smiling and wagging her tail so I knew 100 percent that the coast was clear.

As I pulled up, I noticed that there was a large tree moved off the road and figured it was what we had seen before but I was excited to hear the boys tell me all about what had happened after they got out of sight.

Well, I was excited until they started running towards me with their boards tucked under their arms.... I rolled the back windows down and got ready to leave this place in the dust! Both boys already knew what I was about to do so they threw their things in first and slid straight in their windows. As I peeled off, two motorized bicycles came out of the woods beside where the tree had been moved to.

"Mom, they have hatchets.... Do not slow down!" Brian said frantically.

"Put Kena's seat belt on...." I said calmly. "Either put yours on or brace yourselves." They both looked at me concerned as I smiled like cheshire cat.

When they had done as I had asked..... I glanced behind me and slammed on my brakes....

Both bicycles smashed right into my rear guards and as one of the operators screamed in agony, it seemed the other had died on impact.

"Mom! Don't!" is all I heard as I got out and walked to the back of my car but I of course wasn't listening and had already locked them in and locked the windows.

"So.... you thought you'd hurt MY boys, did you?" I was infuriated and kicked the one that wasn't moving over onto its back. No wonder it wasn't moving... they had hit face first right into my rear guard and the whole face shield of their helmet had shattered... all I could see was blood, dead on impact.

As I walked towards the other, I could hear the worry in their whimpers but still couldn't tell anything about him or her. A females voice cracked, "Please.... please, don't hurt me...."

"So, you do speak?" I picked up the hatchets that had conveniently slid to the same area and started swinging them around in circles effortlessly, playing with sharp things was one of my favorite things to do.

"I promise...... I won't..... ever..... bother anyone again.... if you let.... me go....." her voice cracked again and again.

"And let you come after us? You've already wasted to much of my time and endangered the family I have with me." The hatchets were sharper then I had expected and slid straight through her skull like a hot knife through butter as I swung them.

As I got in my seat and got comfortable Luke leaned forward and looked at me, "Chev? Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I was confused by this question and sped off a bit faster than they had expected.

He grabbed my seat to balance himself as he replied, "You have blood all over you and you just murdered two people."

"It's not much different from hunting." I replied a bit coldly. "The difference is, I appreciate and respect the deer and fowl as I hunt them. Those animals, that I just slaughtered, were coming to kill and rob us. They would have hurt someone if I left them alive. They were my responsibility to remove from the road for others traveling this route." as I noticed the terror melt from his face, I added, "Don't expect me to feel mercy for someone planning to kill us or any other innocent individual I see. You'd be setting yourself up for disappointment. The would of government has fallen apart, they aren't coming to save us, they're all at home keeping their own families safe."

I gave them both some time to gather their thoughts before I said anything else, I could tell I had rattled them but I had promised my husband to bring all of us back alive. I wasn't sure if I'd have to bring my grandson back this way so I wasn't taking any chances on the way south or I would be even more cautious on the way home.

"What took you two so long to let me know what was going on?" I asked eventually.

"There were two trees blocking the road but they looked like they had been ripped out of the ground by the storm. We figured there was no point in worrying you so we moved them out of the way of the road first. When we roared to let you know we were done and it was safe, we heard the motors start on those bicycles. I'm guessing, they heard the car start and thought the trees were still blocking the road." Brian said as he stared out the window.

"Hmmm, well hopefully they were alone. I'm not trying to have things like that happen once we have Maverick with us."

I was hoping that they understood why I had to do what was done. I reached for my pocket watch, my husband had given me for our 4 year wedding anniversary. It was silver with a bald eagle and assorted flowers on it, I popped it open to see how long we had been on the road and then held it tight in my left hand as I drove.

I missed my husband more than anything at that moment and I had only been away from him for 7 hours, I hadn't realized that it been around 4 hours since we had first pulled over. I felt like we had been gone for longer than that in ways but I had noticed as the sun moved through the sky that the day was dwindling away. Mark understood why I wanted to hunt and train as much as I had, my dreams had gotten intense and I wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't at times. We brought all of the kids hunting regularly but when we went alone we talked about things that only he understood. I was teaching my children to hunt so that if and when society fell they would be able to take care of themselves. Learning to hunt taught them where organs were in ways without informing them why I wanted them to learn this information. They would be able to feed themselves and protect themselves, whether they knew it or not, and that made me feel better. I still had to go hunt without them though because I knew I was going to have to do things that they wouldn't be willing to do because they didn't understand how ruthless other people could be or disgusting some of them are. I knew that without any protection my children were going to need a better type of education and if I told them why they would hesitate but I had trained them all very well. I chose Brian and Luke for this journey because I knew they would forgive me for what would happen on the trip and there was no way I was leaving Johnie home without Mark. They had to be the first to learn what was really going on and it had to be away from home so I knew I could trust them not to scare the younger children.

"Mom? Can you find somewhere to pull over, please? You should clean yourself off... we don't know if those people had any type of sickness and you're covered in their blood. Also, I need to go to the bathroom and I'm willing to bet that Kena does too."

Brian had a point and I was feeling the dried blood crustiness all over myself so we found a place to park near the river that way I could go for a swim after bringing Kena for a jog and to potty.

Kena was ready for an adventure so I wrapped her leash around my waist, like always, and we investigated the shore line and stayed close enough to see my car. When we were satisfied that no one would be watching us and the boys had gotten settled back in the car we took a running jump off a near by boat dock right into the river. She always knew what I wanted before I said anything and reacted perfectly to my body language. She was a perfect hunting partner also because she blended in to most surroundings and would sit perfectly still with me for hours. Her fur reminded me of a tiger with black stripes over her amazing reds and browns.

As we dived into the river she turned to look at me and I nodded so she started heading back up to the surface. I loved the rush of swimming with her and she loved every moment of being by my side. My husband would always be my human best friend but she was the dog that broke the mold for me, I love her unconditionally. As we hit the surface we both took a deep breath and then she went back under so I went with her, in some ways I had no choice since we were connected still but she knew I needed to get some more energy out and I knew she did also.

When we were done there was no way we were dirty other than river water and we had caught a nice sized bull head cat fish. I had noticed a spot for a camp fire and the sun was starting to go down. Cat fish would go well with the fried rice I had packed so I sent Brian and Luke to find wood and I took the starter wood out of my trunk to get it going. While I waited, I filled the tanks back up and laid on the ground with Kena to admire the wide open sky. Once they got back we sat and they helped me get food started. I brought my cast iron skillet everywhere with me and always had knives a bit of everywhere around me. Food was done and ready to cool within 20 minutes. Kena was curled up next to the fire napping so I put enough for both of us in my dish and would give her what was left when I finished eating.

"What do you think? Is it good?" I asked.

"Of course it is, we both excitedly wait for your cooking daily." says Luke.

"Mom, your food is always amazing. If life goes back to normal you absolutely have to open a restaurant!" Brian always loved my cooking.

"When you're done eatting you should get some sleep," he added, "you've had a long day and we still have around 14 hours to drive."

"I'll be alright. We've been here to long already and the fire will attract attention soon, if the smell of food hasn't already." They both looked at me concerned so I continued the subject, "I just had a full workout and I won't be able to sleep, even if I try to. I promise that I'll find somewhere to get some sleep as soon as I burn off all the energy I have left."

They knew I wasn't going to give in so they helped me clean up and got everything in the car. I fed Kena her share and let her have the leftovers. I had brought enough to make sure she got food also and she did great helping me catch that bull head. We made an amazing team! After she finished eating we got ourselves in the car and I made sure she was comfortable before I pulled off.

Not to long after I started driving, I could hear snoring and I giggled when I noticed that everyone but myself was sleeping. They would be annoyed with me when they woke up but I decided to drive until they started waking up, that way I could nap and know that they wouldn't fall asleep while I slept. It was 9:23 pm when we left the spot we had ate at and I checked my pocket watch as I noticed movement from the back seat. The sun was rising and my watch said it was 6:15 am so I started looking for somewhere to pull over since if they realized I drove for 9 hours they would try to chew me out but we were only 5 hours away from Cheyanne and Maverick. I drove another hour before I found a good spot to pull over for a couple hours, I wanted to make sure we made it to the Library before she left today. When we found her, I would be able to relax and get more sleep but until we got there and I had them safe in my car I wouldn't be able to fall completely asleep.

As I pulled over, Brian woke up and started giving me questioning looks. "What time is it, you promised not to do this?"

"I promised to pull over and get some sleep as soon as I started getting tired." I laughed, "I'm still not tired but I'm going to sleep a couple hours before we head the rest of the way to the library she said she'd be at. We're only 4 hours away and it's around 6:30, I don't want to miss her but I know I need some sleep. Could you build a fire and heat up burgers?"

He agreed reluctantly and I promised to get more sleep after we found Cheyanne, he seemed happier after that and woke Luke up as I got comfortable cuddled up with Kena.

When I woke up, I felt rather relaxed and glanced out the window. I could smell the fire and hear the sizzle of burgers being cooked so I nudged Kena to wake her up and get her off of me. She rolled over smashing me under her weight and as I gasped for air all I could do is laugh so I opened the door to roll her off me. She went straight to the fire and laid back down, "You lazy dog!" I laughed.

"Just in time, we're finishing up and already have almost everything picked up for when we leave." as Luke spoke, I realized I didn't know the time and checked. 8am.... perfect!! We could make it by 1pm probably earlier and she had said she would be there until 2pm so I was excited to eat and get going.

Since I had gotten some sleep, Brian seemed in a better mood and moved along to get done with our journey there. I was just glad that everything had gone so smoothly since our first stop and I was ready to go. We filled the tanks up with the last of the gas and headed out.

When we got to Brownsville, Texas I pulled into a gas station to see if anyone was there to ask directions but it seemed deserted so we figured out how to turn the pumps on. "Could you fill the tanks and the cans, while I find a bathroom and maybe a map?"

"Yep, take Kena with you..." I looked at him funny, "Please, Mom? I'd worry less if you did."

"Ok... Ok.... but you know.... I can defend myself...."

"I know, this isn't somewhere we're familiar with though. You have your knives on you, right?"

"Of course, I do." I grinned at him, "Kena! Let's go!" I tied her to me and started investigating.

When I got back out of the bathroom, I searched for a map and found one of the city in an office the size of a closet. According to the map, the library was 6 blocks away. I sketched a copy of the route I wanted to take and headed out to share the good news.

I had Kena climb in through my door and then got in the car but when I looked at the boys they looked terrified. I followed their gaze since neither spoke up. As I heard a rattle sound and saw something start flying towards my face Kena leaped across the car catching the snake in her mouth right below its head. She let the head fall to the ground as she landed smoothly outside my door and chewed the rest of its body up.

I was about to cry when she jumped on my lap and started licking my face, my pretty girl had just saved my life and ate the evidence all but it's head. I hugged her as the tears flowed from my eyes and when she moved back over to her seat I leaned out of my door to pick the head up and placed it on the dash. No one was going to believe me.

"I found a map, what time is it? We're only 6 blocks away...."

"It's almost 1, we should have an hour." Brian replied still in shock of what he had just witnessed.

The roads were strangely quiet and empty, I had never been here before but I could tell that this wasn't somewhere that had normally been run down like this. Where were all the people?

When we found the library I looked over at Kena, "Are you ready for another adventure? "