The Troop
The Troop
Gayne C. Young
Six Continents Communications, LLC
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Legends of Bigfoot Boxed Set
The Tunnel
Bug Hunt
Sumatra
1
The power went out.
And the world forever changed.
Millions died.
No one knows how many exactly.
I doubt we’ll ever know.
But I survived.
And so did my dad.
And most of my troop.
My name is Taylor Hammond.
This is my story.
And since it's mine, I'll start it when and where I want.
It was two days before the United States went dark…
My dad and I were the first to get to the church. We were supposed to meet at seven in the morning but my dad got us there around 6:30. He's the Scoutmaster of our Boy Scout Troop and always likes to be there ahead of the others.
Jack and his dad showed up just after we did. Jack was a year older than me at 15. Despite this, he's pretty goofy. He says it's because he's on so many drugs for his ADHD but sometimes I think he just likes the attention and being the opposite of his dad. Jack's dad, Johnny, is the Assistant Scoutmaster. He's a retired Army Ranger Medic and is always serious. I say “always” but sometimes he tells corny jokes or tries to make us all laugh but for the most part he acts pretty much like he’s still in the army. Like his storage trailer, the one we're going to take to camp. Johnny outfitted it with solar panels and a recharging station, and it's got all his HAM radio stuff in it and there's not one thing in it or on it that's not super clean or out of place. He even has everything labeled.
Mr. Crowe dropped off his son and my best friend Liam and Andrew next, right at 7 o'clock. Mr. Crowe is also an Assistant Scoutmaster, but he couldn't go on the trip because of some conference he has to go to. He teaches Rocket Science at the high school and is pretty good friends with my dad. Mr. Crowe gave Liam a huge hug and kissed him on the cheek and laughed in a silly voice, “Liam, I'm going to miss you so much! My baby boy Liam.”
Liam turned bright red in embarrassment and tried pushing his dad away but that only made Mr. Crowe hug him tighter. “Oh my baby Liam,” he said. “I don't know if I can go a whole week without you.”
Everybody laughed then Mr. Crowe talked seriously to my dad and Johnny then left. I helped Liam and Andrew put their packs in Johnny's trailer and Andrew told me that Mr. Crowe gave him a ride over because his little sister got sick last night and his mom didn't want to leave her.
Carl drove up just as we got out of the trailer. Although Carl’s 16 he still doesn’t have a license so his mom was in the passenger side of the car monitoring his attempt at driving. Carl got his pack, gave his mom the car keys and a kiss, then came over.
Luke, the youngest guy to be going with us, was dropped off next. Luke's 12 and pretty quiet. He's real annoying sometimes but I think that's because of some social anxiety issue or something he has. Anyway, his mom dropped him off then left pretty quick.
“Let me see,” my dad began. “Who are we missing?”
Liam, Andrew, Carl, and I all said, “Bob” at the same time.
Bob is a dad that helps out with the troop sometimes. I say “sometimes” because a lot of the time he says he's going to help us, like by going out on a hike or camp out or something, but he doesn't show up. For example, our last camp out he said he and his son Matt we would be there at the campground at eight in the morning. They showed up that night at five.
That's nine hours late!
Not only that, but Bob didn't call or text or anything. When he does stuff like that it really pisses my dad and Johnny off big time. But my dad says we all need to put up with Bob and his erratic behavior if it keeps his son in the troop. The thing is that Matt's almost as bad as his dad. He's just as absent minded and never seems to know what's going on around him. Which is pretty sad given that Matt is 15 and acts like his 60 something-year-old dad.
“How late is he?” I asked my dad.
He looked at his watch and said, “About 15 minutes.”
“Then I say we go ahead and leave him,” Johnny offered.
My dad got out his phone and said, “I'll call him.”
“You know he won't answer,” Johnny argued. “He never does.”
I guess he did because my dad said into the phone, “Bob, where are you?”
“Probably still in bed,” Carl said.
Johnny shook his head and my dad got off the phone, faced us and said, “They’re about 10 minutes out.”
Johnny shook his head again and walked away. My dad told everybody to try to go to the bathroom before we left then unlocked the Christian Education Building next to the church so we could use the facilities.
Bob and Matt showed up 20 minutes later. I could tell that Johnny was about ready to explode but my dad kept him calm by having him lock up the trailer and making sure all the vehicles were ready to go. He came back right as my dad was telling us all to load up. Liam and I got in the back of my dad's Jeep and Carl sat upfront with my dad. Carl asked if he could drive some and my dad said, “Let me think about it,” laughed, then said, “No.” My dad led the caravan. Next came Johnny with Jack, Andrew, and Luke then Bob and Matt in Bob’s truck.
We left the Fredericksburg city limits at around eight and were on Interstate 10 heading toward west Texas 30 minutes later. There was nothing really to look at except ranch land and cows for about an hour until we pressed through Junction. That's when the lush green rolling hills of the Texas Hill Country gave way to what most people from outside of Texas think the state looks like.
The landscape was flat and choked with cactus and small cedar trees. It looked like that all the way to Ozona where we
stopped for gas and to go to the bathroom. Liam had drunk, like, three Dr. Peppers by that time and he jumped out of the Jeep almost before my dad could stop he had to piss so bad. All three vehicles fueled up and we all went to the bathroom.
We got back in the vehicles and continued west on I-10. The big empty flat spaces gave way to small desolate hills and then to crazy rock formations. Two of these rock mountains looked like pyramids. My dad pointed to the largest and said, “Some people think there’s an actual ancient pyramid under there. And what’s even stranger is the fact that there’s a mountain almost the same size and shape at the same latitude and longitude on Mars.”
“Really?!” Liam excitedly asked.
“No Liam,” my dad laughed. “Don’t be so gullible.”
Carl and I burst into laughter and Liam assured us that he was just playing along and that he didn’t really believe it was a pyramid. But Carl and I knew the truth.
We drove for another hour and a half until we got to Fort Stockton. We all pulled into a Sonic and ordered what would be our last fast food ever. My dad got irritated at almost everybody saying none of us knew how to order.
“All of you act like you've never been to a restaurant before!” my dad barked. “Even you, Johnny.”
Johnny burst into laughter, “Me? What’cha talking ‘bout?”
“You get the same thing every time. The same combo meal, but you act like it's a surprise when they ask you what kind of drink you want and if you want fries or tater tots.”
Johnny laughed some more, “I just forgot that I have to tell them that.”
“No you didn’t,” dad semi-exploded before switching to his dumb guy voice. “Fries or tots cuz, like, I don't know what those are. Which ones are made out of potatoes cuz I like those the best I think.”
Johnny laughed hard and waved his hand to dismiss my dad. Johnny then gestured to Carl and said, “At least I don't order French fries to dip into my milkshake like this guy did. That's just gross man!”
Carl smiled and said, “I can't wait for them to get here. I'm starving and that's the best combination ever!”
Everybody was laughing and having a good time. The food came and everybody ate and the good time continued until Liam started throwing ice from his drink at people.
2
We topped off our gas tanks and filled our coolers with ice after lunch and pulled back onto I-10 and continued west. It wasn't long before the Davis Mountains came into view and the white gravel and sandy soil gave way to a desert floor riddled with chocolate colored rocks and fine gravel sand. We turned south off the highway near the town of Balmorhea then drove another 35 miles on some super narrow old ranch road. We drove up a steep mountain then down the other side and turned off on a gravel road that went to the west.
The road was blocked by a gate that had three padlocks. My dad pointed to one of them and told Carl the combination. Carl got out, struggled with the lock, then got it open and swung the gate. We all drove through and Carl got back in and we inched slowly forward.
“This isn’t Mr. Wilson’s land yet, is it?” I asked.
“No,” dad said. “This road’s what's called an easement. Land on both sides of the road are owned by someone else but since Wilson owns land at the end of it he can use the road to get to it.”
“Who owns what we’re driving through now?” Liam asked.
“I don't know,” my dad admitted. “I think it’s owned by some people out of the Dallas area. They lease the land to some rancher that runs a few cows on it.”
“What do the cows eat?” Liam scoffed. “There's nothing out here.”
“There's not a lot out here,” my dad agreed. “But there's enough for cows to survive on I guess.”
We continued down the dusty road going slow because of its many washouts and potholes. The road dipped and crossed a small creek only an inch or two deep. Dad said, “Mr. Wilson told me that when it floods out here this creek can get as high as five or six feet deep.”
“That's a lot of rain,” Liam exclaimed.
“Not really,” dad said. “These mountains are mostly igneous rock. When it rains the water just washes right over it and into the low spots and cuts.”
The road wound back and forth and deeper into the mountains that soared upwards of 1,000 feet on either side. We came to another barbwire fence, this one held up by rickety cedar posts. There was a cattle guard with a chain across it holding a rusty sign that read, “No Trespassing.” Dad gave Carl the combination to that padlock and he got out to undo it. Liam asked, “How big’s this guy’s place?”
Dad eased the Jeep over the cattle guard and replied, “Round 3,500 acres I think.”
“How come he never comes out here?” I asked.
“He used to come out here hunting a lot, but I think he just quit coming after he and his wife got divorced a few years back. He lets our troop come out here because he made Eagle Scout in this very troop ‘bout some 40 years ago.”
A lot of thoughts ran through my head after dad said that. I couldn't believe that our troop was that old. I mean we were a small troop with only 15 boys. How could something so small last that long? Then I started thinking about divorce. It seemed like everyone I knew had divorced parents. Carl's parents divorced when he was just a baby. So did Andrew’s. My mom left dad six or seven years ago and Liam's parents got divorced last summer.
I tried putting all thoughts of divorce outta my head and to pay attention to being on my way to what I knew would be an awesome time.
Our three vehicles drove over the cattle guard and Carl locked the chain tight and in place. He got back in the Jeep and said, “It's hot out there.” I looked at the thermometer on the dashboard and said, “No wonder. It's 95°.”
Dad drove forward and said, “It was 101 when we drove through Balmorhea. It's usually about 10° cooler up here at the camp.”
The road winded up through the mountains. There were mesquite trees on either side of us and lots of cactus and yucca. We drove down and through another creek and then up a steep hill then down into the valley and we were there. It was beautiful and just like I remembered it from last year. The valley was actually more of a wide bowl some 150 yards in diameter with a small creek that ran almost exactly down the middle. There was a thick grove of oak and big tooth maple next to a high flat area where we usually camped. That area was bulldozed a long time ago by Mr. Wilson when he was thinking of building a cabin there. The mountains that rose all around were slick rock but some showed cracks with small trees growing out of them. The road ends at the old cabin site but there's a couple trails that you can hike through a narrow pass that open up to a long valley.
“Hey!” Liam shouted in my ear while pointing down into the valley. “There's a cow in the creek.”
“Wow! Liam spotted a cow,” Carl joked.
“Shut up!” Liam barked before his voice jumped up even further in excitement. “She's got a baby.”
“Probably born in the spring I’d guess,” dad speculated.
The mother and calf ambled into the brush along the creek and out of sight and dad eased the Jeep forward and down into the valley. He parked on the flat cabin site and Bob pulled his truck next to ours. Johnny looped around us and backed up his trailer until the back door was facing the woods. We all got out and stretched and Johnny clapped his hands in excitement and said, “Troop 137 we have arrived!”
3
We were all still looking around, soaking up what was supposed to be our home for a week when dad looked at Carl and said, “What you got Mr. Senior Patrol Leader.”
Carl looked dumbfounded then said, “Uh…oh yeah. OK, scouts we’re here to work on some merit badges, develop some leadership skills, and have fun.”
My dad nodded.
“But the first thing we need to do,” Carl continued. “Is to get organized and set up. So let’s start by setting up the fly that hangs off the trailer.”
“Carl,” Johnny called. “Sorry to interrupt but I've got
that taken care of.”
“Oh…OK,” Carl said. “Then let's set up the dinning fly.”
“Sounds good,” my dad agreed.
Carl led us to the trailer, and we unpacked the huge tarp, some poles, rope, and the five-pound sledgehammer. We were pretty disorganized at first - and some of us like Luke and Matt said they remembered how to tie the right knots for the job but really didn't remember - but we all eventually got the hang of things and the dinning fly went up soon after. While we were doing that Johnny put up the huge tarp that came off the side of his trailer and set up a small table and chairs. Dad set up a wall tent close to the trailer and outfitted it with a canvas ground cloth floor. Bob said he was too hot to do anything and sat under one of the small oak trees and took a nap. I saw Johnny shake his head at my dad but neither of them said anything about how Bob wasn't helping to set up camp.
After we got the dinning fly up we paired off and worked on setting up our tents. Matt started off by immediately saying that he wanted to stay with his dad. My dad asserted, “No, scouts stay with scouts and adults stay with adults.”