[In collaboration with Hondo]
Back to the monotonous driving through the now safer and clearer highway road to the next town. Nothing but road straight ahead and stars above from horizon to horizon, it was hard to see the wrecks on the side of the highway, most from earlier times when the roads were a war zone and battle lines drawn for which transports to go through it. New wrecks are added as unwary travelers not paying attention to the road conditions crash on the side of the highway.
"Looks like we got another new wreck on the left!" Caravan Leader says on the CB.
Fernando picks up his microphone, "Are we going to check for survivors?"
"Who is this?" Caravan Leader asks.
"The Last Medic on the line." Fernando tells him.
"Oh, you're new to this. We are not stopping for survivors!" Caravan Leader throws at him.
"Vengeful Cowboy - take it upstairs!" Fernando says on his CB Microphone - a code they made years before for them to take their conversation above the 40 channel limits of the CB by flicking a secret switch, ending up in the 28.145MHz frequency of amateur radio stations, far above the capabilities of most modified CB radios.
After a few seconds, there is an answer on the higher frequency, "I heard ya, Prisoner. Got a plan for a rescue?"
"Gotta check for survivors first." Fernando answers.
"Fine by me..." Hondo says as he leans his truck to the left to look for that particular wreck. It was easy to spot as its dying batteries kept the headlight on dimly for the meantime.
"I'll be joining ya's!" Val's voice added to the radio chatter.
"Don't." Fernando replies on the radio, "Stay behind Jeanette to make her think everything's alright. She and the others sees you pulling off, they're going to follow you. Better to make sure they make it to the next town without us."
Silence hangs in the air for a while before Val answers, "I got it."
"Hon, we'll catch up. We'll just check for survivors and that's it." Hondo says.
"Good. Hondo - on the count of three - lights out and slow down to separate from the line." Fernando says on his mic, "One... Two... Three..."
The lights on Hondo's truck and Fernando's electric camper go off and they slow down to separate from the caravan and just in front of the wreck. It looks like the remains of a
Ford Econoline Box-Truck Van that had rolled over badly in its accident into a ditch, with remnants of a broken trailer and its spilled contents right behind. Fernando and Hondo look about the area, the front of the van crushed and pushed into the passenger section, killing the driver and shotgun passenger, windows were broken, and the side and rear doors open. The stench of death hovers over the van.
As Fernando check the inside and around the van, Hondo walks towards the trailer where he heard something out of place, the muffled cries of a couple of children. He investigates and finds two young boys of about 4 and 6 years of age. Fernando finds the cause of the accident – fresh bullet holes along the rear and side of the van, which would mean they were attacked instead of driver carelessness causing the accident.
"Jefe!" Hondo calls out.
"Found something?" Fernando asks as he approaches the rear of the wreck.
"Yeah." Hondo says as he crouches down in the mangled trailer behind the van and extends a hand into it, "What's your name, son?"
Fernando pulls some of the metal out of the area to make it easier for the boy to get out of the wreck. The boy does not answer though continues to be scared and whimpers, and yet defensive at the same time. In pulling the metal apart another younger boy is found. No one else is found in the trailer and the two adults in the van were found dead.
"We'll get you into town and get you some help." Fernando says as he gets the younger crying boy out of the wreckage.
Hondo asks, "What about the parents?"
Fernando just shakes his head, followed by Hondo nodding his before taking the older boy. They take the boys to Hondo's truck and sit them inside on the row of seats behind the driver's seat, buckling seat belt where they sat. Fernando goes into the camper section of his friend's truck to get some food and drink for them: half a meat and cheese sandwich and a bottle of soda for the each of them. Starvation made them calm down enough to eat.
"You think you can handle them?" Fernando asks.
"Should not be a problem. Let's go catch up with the rest of the group." Hondo answers.
"Yeah..." Fernando says.
After cleaning up, Fernando and Hondo go into their respective vehicles. Fernando picks up his CB Microphone, "Val, still there?"
"Yeah." Val replies.
"Good. What's the caravan status?" Fernando asks.
"We just stopped, one of the trucks caught a flat, so the whole line is stopping so it can get fixed." She answers.
"Oh sure, they won't stop to help out an accident victim but will stop to change a tire. I swear. These are merchants alright." He says more to himself but into the mic.
"Hon' we'll catch up in a few. We gotta talk." Hondo says on his radio.
"See ya..." Val says.
"Hondo, we gotta boogie down but be careful... let's take it down stairs and keep it quiet."
"Gotcha." Hondo replies before his truck takes off.
Fernando stomps on his accelerator, switching on the two truck batteries for extra power. They managed to get to near highway speeds with minimal lighting and catch up with the caravan within a couple of minutes. No one seems to notice that they were gone. Hondo pulls in behind Val’s Bronco and Fernando behind Hondo’s truck as to not to lose their place in line. Hondo steps out of his truck and walks over to Val in the Bronco.
“Hon, we found a couple of boys still alive in the wreck. Young boys." Hondo says to her.
"I see. What’s your plan for them?" Val asks.
"Don’t know yet. Turn them into the local authorities when we get to town." Hondo says.
"OK." Val says before the horns from the vehicles in the caravan begin to blow.
"Repairs are done, we are about to roll!" a voice on the CB radio says out loud.
"I’ll see ya when we get to town." Val tells him.
Another four hours and the caravan got to the second town at 3:30AM. Hondo and Val set up some sleeping gear (sleeping bags, pillows and blankets) they had in storage and set them on the camper pull out couch/bed to sleep for the boys to sleep in before they went to sleep in their bed in the loft area above. Fernando managed to get Macey into bed in the VW electric camper without waking her up, setting up the heater to a low setting as it begins to snow lightly outside. At least for Fernando, he could sleep a little later as he, like Hondo, was tired.
[To be continued...]
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After Chaos (Read 186046 times)
