friend out of there? “It looked like some sort of explosion.”
Had Cait used that firecracker she kept in her emergency kit? Nah. It was too big an explosion for a single firecracker. It had to be something else.
“What do ye see?” he questioned impatiently, causing the car to rock a little as he tried his best to reposition. Jenny moved toward the passenger side and prayed he didn’t turn the car over with his efforts.
“Not sure,” she replied, letting go of the binoculars so they hung around her neck. “They’ve been taken into some sort of odd-shaped building. Could you stop trying to get out through the window? You’re not going to fit and you just might turn the car over. Then where would we be? I’ll tell you,” she stated sternly, not wanting to yell at him in case her voice echoed and somehow reached the compound. “We’d be without transportation when we free them and make our getaway, that’s where.”
Dour froze as if contemplating her words. Then the car rocked again as he wiggled himself back inside, grumbling as he went. “If’n this thing turned over, it’d be no trouble to right it with me sheer will.”
Jenny ground her teeth, trying to control the need to scream. The pressure of the situation threatened her resolve but she dug for the strength to remain in control. One of them had to be. If it were up to the antique giant, they’d rush the compound and either die trying to save the others or end up locked up with them.
Grabbing a backpack full of emergency supplies and a pair of blankets from the trunk, she returned to the driver’s side and handed the items to Dour through the window, then climbed back in.
“Where did ye get these? We are in the beast’s, um, car’s belly. It looked as if ye pulled these from its mouth?”
Jenny smiled inwardly. The front of the car opening probably did look like a mouth to this ancient Scotsman. “Almost every car has an area to store things called a trunk. In this model, it’s located in the front and the engine is in the rear.”
“Ah, the engine, the thing that makes the car go,” he said. She liked the way his thick Scottish brogue rolled across each word and his childlike wonder only added to his charm.
She shook her head. Don’t go thinking about his charm. What she needed was a plan. Jenny rifled through the backpack and pulled out a battery-powered lantern. It had four settings, high, medium, low and a very dim nightlight level, which was the one she chose. To keep it from being seen, she pulled the windshield screen from the rear seat and put it in place. She then leaned out the window with the binoculars in hand, trying to scout the area as best as possible.
“From what I saw, they have been taken into an area of hills. What be this place?” Dour asked.
“I’ve got a feeling it’s one of those underground bunker communities.”
“Underground bunker communities?” he questioned and it hit her just how much she needed to teach him about this new era. His world was long gone. “It looked to me as if they went into the side of a hill.”
“They did,” she answered. “I think it probably leads into an underground house of sorts.”
“Like a cave?”
If that worked for him, she’d roll with it. “Yeah. Like a cave.”
His brother was a prisoner in a van that had just entered a guarded compound. And from what little she could see, it looked heavily fortified. But it was dark and difficult to judge from this distance, even with the binoculars and the floodlights in the area near the guardhouse.
The way her and Cait’s luck had been running lately, they’d probably stumbled upon the very community the authorities had been combing the countryside to locate. Dozens of these types of underground bunkers had been sprouting up, especially in areas known to have been former mining locations. With the bad economy, many people were choosing to go off the grid and disappear into these communities in order to survive.
Had Cait used that firecracker she kept in her emergency kit? Nah. It was too big an explosion for a single firecracker. It had to be something else.
“What do ye see?” he questioned impatiently, causing the car to rock a little as he tried his best to reposition. Jenny moved toward the passenger side and prayed he didn’t turn the car over with his efforts.
“Not sure,” she replied, letting go of the binoculars so they hung around her neck. “They’ve been taken into some sort of odd-shaped building. Could you stop trying to get out through the window? You’re not going to fit and you just might turn the car over. Then where would we be? I’ll tell you,” she stated sternly, not wanting to yell at him in case her voice echoed and somehow reached the compound. “We’d be without transportation when we free them and make our getaway, that’s where.”
Dour froze as if contemplating her words. Then the car rocked again as he wiggled himself back inside, grumbling as he went. “If’n this thing turned over, it’d be no trouble to right it with me sheer will.”
Jenny ground her teeth, trying to control the need to scream. The pressure of the situation threatened her resolve but she dug for the strength to remain in control. One of them had to be. If it were up to the antique giant, they’d rush the compound and either die trying to save the others or end up locked up with them.
Grabbing a backpack full of emergency supplies and a pair of blankets from the trunk, she returned to the driver’s side and handed the items to Dour through the window, then climbed back in.
“Where did ye get these? We are in the beast’s, um, car’s belly. It looked as if ye pulled these from its mouth?”
Jenny smiled inwardly. The front of the car opening probably did look like a mouth to this ancient Scotsman. “Almost every car has an area to store things called a trunk. In this model, it’s located in the front and the engine is in the rear.”
“Ah, the engine, the thing that makes the car go,” he said. She liked the way his thick Scottish brogue rolled across each word and his childlike wonder only added to his charm.
She shook her head. Don’t go thinking about his charm. What she needed was a plan. Jenny rifled through the backpack and pulled out a battery-powered lantern. It had four settings, high, medium, low and a very dim nightlight level, which was the one she chose. To keep it from being seen, she pulled the windshield screen from the rear seat and put it in place. She then leaned out the window with the binoculars in hand, trying to scout the area as best as possible.
“From what I saw, they have been taken into an area of hills. What be this place?” Dour asked.
“I’ve got a feeling it’s one of those underground bunker communities.”
“Underground bunker communities?” he questioned and it hit her just how much she needed to teach him about this new era. His world was long gone. “It looked to me as if they went into the side of a hill.”
“They did,” she answered. “I think it probably leads into an underground house of sorts.”
“Like a cave?”
If that worked for him, she’d roll with it. “Yeah. Like a cave.”
His brother was a prisoner in a van that had just entered a guarded compound. And from what little she could see, it looked heavily fortified. But it was dark and difficult to judge from this distance, even with the binoculars and the floodlights in the area near the guardhouse.
The way her and Cait’s luck had been running lately, they’d probably stumbled upon the very community the authorities had been combing the countryside to locate. Dozens of these types of underground bunkers had been sprouting up, especially in areas known to have been former mining locations. With the bad economy, many people were choosing to go off the grid and disappear into these communities in order to survive.
Similar Books
