Okefenokee

Yancy squinted his eyes, “Who’s there?”

“It’s me fool,” Bart said.

“Darn Bart, do you have to make such a commotion when you enter a room?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know there was another way.”

Surfer and Beach entered from separate bedrooms. Beach yawned, “What the heck is going on?”

“Its Bart. How did you get here anyway?” said Yancy.

“Remember we hooked up that electric scooter to the solar panel a while back. Well I decided to try it and it worked nicely. I rode it here. It was so quiet I could hear the bugs on this road while I sped here and it even had a headlight to see.”

Yancy, “That’s great because you convinced us to ride in the dark I hit a tree limb and can barely walk now.”

“A weak body leads to a weak mind. Don’t worry I can give you a lift. The scooter will hold two of us,” Bart chuckled.

“Can we talk about this in two hours at 5:00AM when we are getting up?” Beach walked back into his bedroom.

Yancy got comfortable and Bart said, “Where can I sleep?”

Surfer, “Take my room. I will sleep with Beach the remainder of the night,” she went into his room and the house got still.

Junior woke up in the dark. He woke his Mom, “The birds are chirping, time to get up.” He got his sneakers on and wrapped the holster around his waist, placed the revolver in it and stepped outside to listen to the birds singing. He loved the sound and it made him feel at home. He walked around the house as the sky lit. He noticed a trail into the woods next to the workshop and decided to investigate it. It led to a narrow game trail that seemed to parallel the road.

Cyndi was up and dressed when he returned. He said “I’ll get the bikes out.” He opened the door and went to the garage. Cyndi followed and as they were looking over the bikes a voice startled them.

It was Bart limping up the lawn from the street with Beach. Yancy and Surfer where laid back on the other side of the road. “Now it’s payback time.” but before he could say another word Junior pulled his gun and fired a shot at him.

Junior and Cyndi raced back into the home. Bart dropped to the ground with Beach looking on. He was not hit. He was taking cover. Beach fired a shot back after they were in the house and backed away to the street.

Bart said, “You are going to be sorry before this is over.”

In the house Cyndi was shaking, “What can we do?”

Junior, “Come with me Mom,” he took her hand and they ran out the back door right to the trail which was not visible from directly in front of the house where the kids were. In their new sneakers they moved swiftly along the game trail but they had to go three miles to the boat. They didn’t know where this trail went but they had no choice but to follow it. He was a pro at going cross country like this. He could see the road every so often.

Bart yelled at the house, “We have all day. You may as well give up and come out.” He whispered to beach to go around to the back and close it off.

When he was in position he noticed the back door wide open and looked around seeing the trail. He sneaked up to one window and peeked inside seeing no one. “I think they escaped into the woods,” he yelled. They busted into the house and searched it finding no one.

Bart cried out, “Beach, follow that trail in the same direction as the road goes. They don’t have wheels so we can over take them. He got on the scooter with Yancy and Surfer mounted her bike. They rolled down the road looking into the woods for a sign of them or where they were heading. The road turned to dirt and they followed it all the way till it stopped at some cypress trees. There was a crude overgrown trail showing.

Bart, “Surfer, you are the only one with good mobility. Can you see where that trail heads to? We will circle back searching the road.”

Yancy handed her his revolver, “You better take this.”

“No thanks,” she replied. She cautiously moved into the brush on the trail.

Bart turned the scooter and slowly rolled back down the road, “look for any place that they may be trying to reach,” he said to Yancy.

Cyndi and Junior were noticing the trail was getting closer and closer to the road leaving them visually exposed. Junior, “We should be close to where the RV and boat are.”

Cyndi looked around confused by what she saw. “I don’t know. Maybe we passed it already.” She grabbed Junior’s arm and pulled him down as she saw a quiet scooter rolling toward them on the road. Bent down they were covered from view.

Junior, “What is that, a motorcycle?”

“Kind of, it’s a scooter.”

“A scooter, it’s cool he said in a whisper.”

Cyndi put her index finger to her lips indicating quiet down. The scooter went by just a few yards from their position. It went out of site when they heard heavy footsteps like someone running coming from behind. Junior grabbed his Mom’s hand and quickly pulled her up and across the road leaving the trail and scurrying into the woods on the other side of the road like a couple of squirrels. The lower bushes had thorns that gashed there bare arms as they pushed through far enough to take cover. It was Beach. They could see him run by where they left the trail continuing along the path.

Junior and Cyndi got up still shaking nervously. Junior took the lead cutting a trail further away from the road trying to keep the thorny branches from scraping his Mom.

Surfer girl reached the end of the trail she was exploring and all that she found were wetlands around her and a rickety wooden platform that was falling apart where she guessed people used to fish or hunt from. It was not in working order so she turned and headed back. She reached the road at the same time Beach finished his trail search. He was out of breath when he saw her.

She said, “You didn’t see any signs of them?”

“No, not really. They vanished. Where is Bart? I am ready to give up on this and go back to town. Let me ride your bike back to pick up mine. I’ll give you a ride. Hop on.” She sat on the seat with her arms around his waist while he stood and peddled back.

They went by Cyndi and Junior’s location. They saw and heard them as they went by while crouching low to hide. Junior, “We should be really close at this point if they turned around at the end. Let’s keep going,” he pushed the limbs away as he explored forward. “There,” he said pointing at the top of the RV well hidden from the road but less so from their vantage point. They rested for a moment at the boat before he hugged his Mom. She got in the boat. He then launched it from the trailer pushing a little as he went into the water up to his waist before pulling himself on board. He got into rowing position and removed the gun holster laying it on the bottom of the boat. He looked at his Mom facing him and they both broke large smiles and began to laugh. Then they quieted knowing they were safe but not wanting to give their position away. As he rowed away from the shore line his Mom took a piece of cloth from her bag and wiped juniors forearms that were covered in stinging bloody cuts as he rowed She removed some of the salty sweat that was inflaming his arm while the blood crusted. She had less cuts but mopped her arms as well.

…

Bart came across the Surfer’s bike with the twosome about half way back to the houses and stopped. Bart said, “Where are you going? We haven’t found them yet.”

Beach, “We are going home. This is their habitat and they know it. We don’t. They got away.”

Surfer “They are gone. We are not going to find them now. We tried.”

Bart, “Go ahead and give up then. You are weak and you know what happens to those who are weak. Right Yancy?” Yancy rolled his eyes because Bart couldn’t see them. Then Bart throttled the scooter forward going back toward the swamp.

Surfer, “Do you think he was threatening us with that comment?”

Beach, “Maybe. He has done some things that none of you know about. He can be dangerous. We will have to wait and see but be prepared as well. Will you take a revolver now when we get back?”

“Yes,” she replied and Beach peddled away.