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situation.

Chapter 5
    One morning in late February, Jason stepped out of his front
door. He breathed in the crisp air; clear, still without the rich smell of
spring to come. He walked over to the garage and opened the door. Then he
brought out his travois loaded with two large packs. He had a third backpack
that he shouldered himself. Setting everything down in the driveway, he paused
and stood looking at his house; his and Maggie’s. His mind raced over the
memories of their time together. There was so much joy and laughter. The house
had been filled with it. Now it was only memories and emptiness.
    He stopped himself from locking the door. I’m not coming
back. There’s no need to keep anyone out. He was leaving behind his
possessions, things from a world now passed. A wave of sadness swept over him
flowing deep into his bones. He shuddered, trying to shake it off. Maggie’s
gone. Life as I have known it is gone. I love this house but there’s only
memories here now. It’s time to leave. He turned away with a sigh. Got
to look forward. Then he shouldered his backpack, hitched up his travois
and headed down the driveway.
    He had packed his camping gear and all the food rations he
could fit on the travois. For weapons he chose the Ruger .223 rifle, his 9mm
pistol and his hunting bow and arrows. He included the bow because it was
stealthy and the ammunition was reusable. A survival knife, a multi-purpose
tool and small camp ax rounded out the hardware. He packed as much ammunition
as he could carry, which increased the weight of his rig dramatically. Weighed
down with 50 pounds of backpack and 120 pounds on the travois, he was not going
to move fast, but as he got the hang of controlling the load, he managed slow
but steady progress.
    His plan for getting to the forests was to go around the center
of town on his way north. He knew he couldn’t go straight through town. He
would be stopped, disarmed and stripped of supplies. Three miles down the hill,
his street connected to a county road running east and west. He planned to hike
east for ten miles, avoiding local neighborhoods. He was familiar with the
county roads and planned to go east far enough to avoid the denser parts of
town before turning north. Within two hours he crested a rise in the road and
saw a small, ragged group on the road heading towards him.
    Uh oh! Too late to hide. Keeping his eyes on the
approaching group, he stepped to the side of the road, unhooked his travois,
slid off his back pack and slid everything into the ditch on the side of the
road. Then with the Ruger held at ready, but not pointed at anyone, he watched
as the group approached. They were looking intently at him as they came closer.
When they were thirty yards away, one of them motioned to the others and they
began to fan out.
    Jason called out, “Stop! I’ll let you pass, but I’m going to
shoot if you spread out. I won’t let you circle me.” He pulled back the
charging lever on the Ruger. He couldn’t tell who was armed and what weapons
they had, but he hoped his rifle presented a significant threat. The group paused
and Jason took advantage of the indecision.
    “If you try to spread out, I’m going to shoot, starting with
you in the blue jacket.” He addressed the one who gave the gesture to fan out,
thinking he might be the leader. “You’ll be the first to die.”
    “We’re not looking for trouble,” the blue jacket called
back.
    “If that’s true, get back together. I’ll step to the side,
then you can walk past on the other side of the road.”
    “How do we know you won’t attack us?”
    “You don’t have anything I want. I’m on my own journey and I
don’t have any interest in you.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “Out of town. On my own.”
    “You been in town?”
    “Enough.”
    “Things ain’t good there. They work you hard and don’t feed
you much.”
    “At least you get fed.”
    “We’ve managed so far,” blue jacket responded.
    “Long as