Dark Titan Journey: Finally Home by Thomas A Watson Page A

more than Nathan realized.
    “My pleasure,” he said, lifting his thermal looking at a house up ahead.
    “Trouble?” Jasmine asked, dropping her hand to her M-4.
    “No. That’s the tenth house in a row I know there is nobody home. The door is wide open,” Nathan said.
    “Maybe they left?” she offered.
    “Why? They are in the middle of nowhere and they are on a farm. People that live out here have to stockpile food because winter can cut them off for a month or more,” Nathan replied. After thinking about it like that, Jasmine didn’t like it either.
    Amanda trotted up on the other side of Nathan. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Nathan, what happened here?” she asked.
    “Huh?” he asked, caught off guard.
    “The houses we’ve passed, no one is in them. I’m keeping count and I’m at twenty-nine. Three of them have gardens right in the front yard with plants up and everything. And that one right there,” she said pointing at the house he had just looked at. “A dog is lying on the porch dead. That’s the fifth time I’ve spotted that.”
    “What do you mean, a dead dog is on the porch?” Nathan asked, lifting up his thermal.
    “It’s been dead a long time. It’s mostly skeleton. John saw its collar,” Amanda said.
    “Wait here,” Nathan said, trotting his horse up to the house. When he got close he noticed suitcases thrown on the porch. Getting closer, he saw what was left of a big dog. The bullet hole through the porch and the blood told Nathan how it died.
    Nathan spun around and passed the group. “Come on,” he said, and the others followed.
    They all knew a town was up ahead, Nathan had said they had to cross a bridge there. But Nathan never rode toward a town at a fast trot. He did slow when they reached the blacktop, leading them to the shoulder. Every house they passed looked vacant and they only heard insects. They soon came to a sign that read Cottonwood Falls.
    As they entered town Nathan moved them to the middle of the road and looked everywhere with his thermal. He stopped them and rode up to another house, seeing the door open. Nathan looked down at Ares but he was just looking around. Nathan waved for them to follow and led them through neighborhoods of the small village.
    In a few yards they found suitcases. All the houses had wide-open doors. They found one house with the doors bashed in. Nathan led them back to the road they came in on and headed north, passing some businesses. Unlike the homes, the businesses’ doors were all closed and no windows were broken. Nathan spotted a Dollar General and led them through the parking lot where he climbed off his horse. He handed Jasmine his reins as he walked to the door.
    Taking out his lock picks he had the door open in a few minutes. He stepped inside and they could see him walking around. He came back outside looking around. They could all see he was trying to figure out what was going on.
    When he spoke they all cringed as his voice broke the stillness. “These people were taken and they were taken right after the event, no more than a few days,” he said.
    “How can you tell they were taken a few days after the event?” Jasmine asked.
    He pointed over his shoulder. “There is a lot of food in there,” he said. “Girls, go inside and load up what you can find. Remember weight is a factor. Tom and John, you two stay out front and keep an eye out.”
    “Where are you going?” Amanda asked, not liking the idea of Nathan not being right beside them.
    He pointed across the parking lot to a general store. “There. I’ll do the same,” he said, taking Smoke and Ares.
    The girls entered the store staying together. They started grabbing all the dry goods and Amanda grabbed Ziploc bags. The others gave her questioning looks. “Trust me, if we don’t get them Nathan will get pissy,” she enlightened them. They found laundry bags and threw their stuff in. Thinking they had enough, they dragged it outside. Jasmine