Free Jernigan's War by Ken Gallender

travel southeast to Black Eagle Mine Road, and from there out of the park. Porter decided to make this run at night, the bad guys would probably be asleep or sitting around a fire and they could travel undisturbed.
    Porter and the girls split a large can of ravioli, cleaned up their utensils and carefully packed all the gear. Ally would ride lying down in the trailer so she could sleep. Sandy would ride behind him sitting on the canvas bag of pine straw as a cushion. He hung the gas cans on ropes so they hung across the front and rear racks with one tied to the front rack. The water was put in the trailer along with the packs and duffels. They created a depression in the gear on the trailer so Ally would ride secure nestled down in the trailer. Sandy wore the SKS across her back and Porter had the AK47 and his magazine pouch over the Chinese coat. Ally was in the sleeping bag and Sandy had on one of the jackets with the sleeves rolled up. According to his dad’s watch it was about 10 pm and it was a bright moonlit night. Porter had grown accustomed to seeing at night since he started trying to save his flashlight batteries in the past week. The loaded Rokon and trailer looked like something you would see in a third world country.
    Porter couldn’t run the bike wide open because of the load. He estimated his speed at about 15 miles an hour. He just barely had the bike in second gear. Although the going was slow, he didn’t have to use the headlight to see the road. The Rokon was fairly quiet at this speed and the going was smooth. Once they came upon a camp near the road. They could see the campfire with men sitting around it. They didn’t stop and the men didn’t seem to notice so they continued on into the night. They reachedthe edge of the park just as the sun was coming up. Porter found a trail and headed up the road that ended at an old mining site. There were some old abandoned buildings and equipment. Porter hopped off the bike and went through and around all the buildings to make sure they were vacant. There was no indication of any recent activity or occupation. He pulled the Rokon and girls behind the largest building out of sight. They split a can of beans for breakfast. Not wanting to be trapped in a building, Porter strung a tarp from the eave over to the Rokon so they could rest in the shade until they could resume their trip again in the evening. Even though she slept in the trailer Ally was still tired. It was much warmer today so she and Sandy slept on top of the sleeping bag. Porter slept sitting up leaning against the wooden building. Other than some gnats and ants he slept undisturbed.
    He was waken by a very nasty Hispanic man holding a machete to his throat. Porter bolted awake and almost cut his own throat when he jumped at the touch of the cold steel. It was at that moment that a ball peen hammer came down squarely on the big toe that was exposed in his dirty sandal by a little girl with blond curly hair. The man cursed, jumped, and turned as Sandy, who had walked behind another building for a bathroom break, shot him with the SKS. He went down and before Porter could shoot, she shot the man through the head while he was on the ground. Porter hopped up and quickly made a run around the location. He proclaimed, “You girls are awesome; I was a dead man for sure!” He followed the man’s tracks in the sand and found that they wormed their way off and back to a camp out of sight. Other than a few more cans of food, there wasn’t anything they could use. The man appeared to be infected with scabies and lice so Porter elected to abandon the camp site and move behind another building rather than drag him off. He cleaned off Ally’s hammer and again complimented and praised her on her quick thinking. Ally beamed! Sandy hugged his neck, “Thank you for saving us, you could have just given us some food and left us again.”
    “If I had I would probably be dead right now.”
    Sandy said thoughtfully,