Read Online 299 Days VIII: The War by Glen Tate - Free Book Online Page A

girls ran over to the guard shack and the officers began to entertain
     them.
    “What is Santa getting you guys?” one of the officers asked them. It was Christmas
     Eve, after all. The girls began talking a mile a minute about all the toys they wanted.
    “I bet Santa brought all those things to the cabin,” the other officer finally said
     when the girls stopped talking. “He knows where you’ll be tonight.” He realized what
     he just said and suddenly got very quiet. Todd couldn’t understand why the officer
     was so disturbed about where the girls would be tonight.
    “Time to go,” Willden said as it was getting light at about 8:10 a.m. Before getting
     into the Range Rover, Chloe announced to the girls, “Daddy has a pretend gun to scare
     any bears away.”
    “But don’t worry,” Todd said. “There won’t be any bears. Know why?”
    “Because they’re scared of Daddy’s pretend gun!” his youngest said.
    “Let’s hope so,” Willden muttered under his breath.
    Everyone was anxious to get the dangerous journey started; they had been waiting all
     morning to get on their way. When it was finally time to go, time to leave everything
     they ever owned, Todd and Chloe were ready.
    “One last thing,” Willden said before he and Todd got into the Range Rover. He handed
     Todd the AK-47. At first Todd didn’t want to touch it, but then he saw Chloe was watching.
     He couldn’t wuss out in front of her, so he took the AK, but touched it softly so
     it couldn’t go off by accident.
    Willden saw Todd was afraid of the AK. “They don’t go off by themselves,” he said.
    “Does this have a safety?” Todd asked.
    “Yes,” Willden replied. “It’s that lever there,” he said pointing to the right side
     of the rifle. “When it’s up, like it is now, it’s on safe. So push that lever down
     when you want to fire.”
    “Okay,” Todd said, knowing that he never wanted to fire it.
    Once they were ready to go, they slowly left the safety of the subdivision. The other
     officers waved goodbye to them. Willden seemed very serious about the journey ahead.
     He didn’t talk at all.
    Todd and Chloe hadn’t been out of the subdivision in weeks. The subdivision next to
     theirs was also nice. They drove to a gate that was manned by private security contractors
     and Willden flashed his badge. They rolled right through.
    Todd had to break the silence. “That thing works pretty well,” he said, pointing toward
     the badge.
    “Yep,” Willden said. “That’s what you’re buying.”
    They went through another few subdivisions, with Willden flashing his badge each time.
     The neighborhoods were becoming less and less expensive as they headed to the streets
     that fed into the highway. Each neighborhood seemed more and more crime-ridden. There
     were a few burned out cars and garbage was strewn everywhere. One subdivision had
     a huge pack of wild dogs running around on the hunt. Todd was glad they were in a
     vehicle and not out in the open.
    They came to what looked like an official police roadblock. Willden flashed his badge
     and they breezed through. No other vehicles were allowed through it. Todd was thrilled
     that he was renting that badge, even if it did cost him everything he’d ever owned.
     Unfortunately, it appeared to be the best deal he’d ever made.
    The streets were deserted except for a few small packs of dogs. Many stores were burned
     out and had been looted.
    “Did someone break that window, Mom?” one of the girls asked.
    “No, silly,” Chloe said, “It broke when something fell on it.”
    “Did that building get burned?” the other girl asked.
    “No,” Chloe said. “They just painted it to look that way. Kinda silly, huh?”
    The girls nodded, and then Chloe changed the subject and got them talking about the
     Christmas presents Santa was bringing to them at the cabin, which occupied them for
     long enough.
    When they came up to I-405, there was a huge roadblock with