When he did one of the Minute Men reacted with lightning reflexes and moved upon the two brothers. He was a mountain of a man and when he clenched his fists they looked more like huge sledge hammers than a human fist.
But Rourke called out, “No Kilkenny.” He looked at the others, “Hold back the Mucker.”
Kilkenny stopped, and turned to look at Rourke, who shook his head no to the large man.
“Not today Mucker,” said Rourke.
Kilkenny turned back toward Beau with a death look in his eyes. Kilkenny or the “Mucker” as Rourke referred to the big man, was more than intimidating as the muscles rolled and tightened to steel beneath his shirt. All he lacked from being the Incredible Hulk was green.
“Doom,” said Rourke.
From the bed of the empty truck, two wicked eyes slowly rose into view like a submarine periscope and those eyes were ready to kill. The head emerged slowly, revealing a large pit bull chained to the bed. This was no normal pit bull. Larger than most pit bulls and with massive scars, the dog, Doom, was more than a fighter, it was a killer. The animal had tan fur almost matching the skin color, giving it a hairless almost grotesque monster quality. Huge muscles bulged from beneath the skin of the animal. Doom was a monster.
Luckily for Beau his brother had reacted just a little faster and he stopped Beau’s hand from taking the weapon out. Beau’s angry eyes shot through Jack, but he just nodded to the trucks. Three men still had rifles trained on them.
Jack showed a grim face to his brother as he said from between gritted teeth, “You said we couldn’t save everybody. What’s done is done. It’s too late, we can’t help now.”
Rourke moved to the truck where Doom waited eagerly, “Down.” The pit bull collapsed to the bed of the truck. Pulling the door closed on his truck, Rourke laughed again and yelled to the brothers, “Only a few traitors left. You can still get your own. We’re headed to for the main traitor now. He’s hunkered down, well reinforced and trying to make a stand. It won’t help him though.
Rourke grunted, “We gave him a chance to save his family if he surrendered.”
“Who?” Beau asked.
Rourke continued, “A coward as president, and a coward now. In the end he will be ours.” Rourke pointed to Sarah Lipton’s body lying lifeless on the ground. “Just like Lipton and the others. Death is too good for him.”
With a wicked smile, Rourke finished, “We’re headed to Crawford.”
All of the Minute Men started laughing. Rourke motioned to Beau and Jack, “There is still time to join us if you want.”
Neither Beau nor Jack responded. Hanging his arm out the window Rourke waited but a moment, nodded his head and smiled, “Have it your way but you’re going to be missing out on a lot of fun.”
As they drove away Beau pulled at Jack. “Come on, we’ve got to stop them.”
With a jerk, Jack freed himself from Beau’s grasp. “No.”
“What?”
“If this is what is going on it is all the more reason we need to get Tracy and get her now.”
Staring at the bodies of the Lipton’s, then at their exquisite house, and then back at his brother, Beau understood fully. He ran both his hands through his blond hair and his body shuddered. “This is a living nightmare. What has happened to everyone?”
“I wish I could tell you, but I don’t understand it any more than you do,” said Jack.
With one more disbelieving glance at the dead bodies — something that would be branded in his memory forever — Beau shrugged his shoulders, and then he and Jack returned to the dune buggy.
A mile from Hondo, the small group came upon an earthen berm recently built across the road. Behind it were half a dozen men with assault rifles. Beyond them two bulldozers worked furiously, cutting a wide path across the road. On the other side of the trench were three 4-wheel drive trucks, ready for retreat.
In the lead, Admiral Garrett stopped his van and approached the men with his arms in the air. Ruben, Sullivan, Blackman, and Warren came alongside the admiral. Not too far behind them were Marix and James.
“Halt!” yelled a man from behind the barricade. “What do you want?”
“I’m Admiral Garrett from Corpus Christi. We need to get through.”
“You don’t look like military,” snapped the same man. “How do we know you’re not civilians trying to take what we got? Or maybe you’re those damned invaders.”
Ruben yelled, “We’re pilots. We want to find our command so we can fight back for you and for us.”
The man behind the earthen mound lowered his rifle and stood. “We knew this would happen one day. The people from the cities won’t be able to just come and take what we got. Those that try to force their way into Hondo will die. You don’t have much time before the road will be cut. Take your people into town and get what you need, if you can. Good luck on finding your command.”
Garrett paused and asked the man holding the rifle, “Why are you cutting the road?”
The man showed no humor and placed the butt of his weapon on his hip. “To protect against city folks. In a few days they’ll become like cornered wild animals, huntin’ and killin’ anything they can find. With the road cut, it will take special vehicles to get through. Those with the proper vehicles already know what to do. The crazies will turn back.”
Garrett nodded, and then shook his head in disbelief at the truth of the man’s words. So much had happened and all in less than a day.
Garrett, Ruben, and the others returned to the vans and proceeded around the barricade. Soon they were in Hondo. At the entrance to the town, they passed four trucks and two police vehicles. In the bed of each truck stood at least four heavily armed men like sentinels. They waited to warn the town should the invaders arrive.
People moved quickly along the main street. They didn’t appear terrified or even aware of present events. They hurried about collecting items from the various stores like a herd of squirrels preparing for the winter. An unusually large crowd gathered in front of the general store and the hardware store. Everyone was stocking up on food and goods. The only difference in their appearance from those in a city was they all carried rifles or guns.
Sunday, Krysti, and Justin rode with Ruben in the van. Sully drove Beau’s Corvette and BJ drove Jack’s black truck with the empty trailer in tow.
During the short drive Krysti said nothing, which most attributed to some sort of shock due to the catastrophic events. Krysti was a strong independent woman and would be a critical asset to the group. They all needed her, especially now. No one had any way of knowing her reactions were related to what she had learned about Beau.
A rustic town frozen in time, Hondo appeared to be a throwback to the 1950s with a touch of Western flair. Quaint stores lined the main drag of the town and the green street sign with white letters quite aptly called it “Main Street.” The two-story city hall was made from cut stone taken from a local quarry. The small park area in front of city hall was lined with enormous oak trees, many over a hundred years old. Most of the stores that lined both sides of Main Street were shops for souvenirs and items of interest. And there were necessary stores for drugs and food and a few small hotels.
The stores that lined Main Street were all two stories or more and occasionally broken up by small alleys that led to the back. A few boasted electric neon signs, especially all of the hotels and two of the more elaborate restaurants. The rest of the businesses had hand painted or rustic wooden signs with their names carved out in large bold letters. At any other time it would have been a wonderful place to visit and spend the day. But this wasn’t any other time.