Read Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands for Free Online Page B

raising his voice to be heard above the drone of the truck’s tires on the decaying concrete. “You?”
    “Right as rain, man. You excited?”
    “Maybe worried is a better word,” Ed said.  
    Jasper chuckled. “You would say something like that, wouldn’t you?”
    “True to form, I suppose.”
    “At least you’re consistent.”
    “He’s ecstatic,” Trish said, joining in. “Can’t you tell by the look on his face?”
    “Clearly,” Jasper said. 
    “How about cautiously optimistic?” Ed added.
    “I’ll allow it,” Jasper said. “It’s an entirely reasonable feeling.”
    “Now you’re just placating me,” Ed said. “You’re not really the cautious type, which is good I suppose, or else I wouldn’t be here.”
    “Nah,” Jasper said, shaking his head. “I’m careful enough. Besides, it’s a long trip. Lots of ground to cover. Anything could happen. We could use a healthy amount of caution.”
    “Weird hearing you say that,” Ed said.
    “I’ve mellowed in my old age, I suppose.”
    “I very much doubt that.”
    “They’re planning on stopping for bathroom breaks soon, I hear.”
    “Who told you that?”
    “Terry.”
    “Who’s Terry?”
    “That guy over there,” Jasper replied, pointing. “The big guy with the red beard.”
    “I remember him from this morning,” Ed said.
    “He’s a cool dude.”
    “That so?”
    “You don’t think so?”
    “I don’t know him. I was asking.”
    “Oh, sure. Yeah, he seems okay. He knows John. Apparently they go way back.”
    “I suppose it’s good to know the guy in charge,” Trish said.
    “You’d think. Terry says John is a nice guy, but not really much of a leader. He says that if anybody’s in charge it’s Alice.”
    Ed remembered Alice’s “speech” from earlier that morning, mentally rolling his eyes. “Interesting.”
    “Something ain’t right with her,” Jasper said.
    “You’re not the first person I’ve heard that from.”
    Unexpectedly, the truck began to decelerate, the engine whining and bucking as the transmission reigned it in.
    “Guess that pitstop is now,” Ed said.
    “I really have to pee,” Zach added.
    Jasper stood. Balancing himself on the edge of the truck bed, he leaned out and peered around the cab. “This doesn’t look like a bathroom break.”
    Ed stood and took his own look ahead. Before them stood a line of nearly two dozen men standing shoulder to shoulder and blocking the road. A single jeep sat idle on the highway’s shoulder. A tall man dressed in long, flowing robes with a thick, black beard stood in the center of the group, waving a white flag attached to a length of PVC pipe. The trucks came to a groaning stop as the man in the middle approached.
    “What’s going on?” Trish asked. Ed gave up his spot so that she could see. “What do you think this is all about?” she asked.
    “I don’t know,” Ed replied. “Be ready, guys,” he said to Zach and Jeremy.
    “Is everything okay?” Jeremy asked.
    “For now,” Ed said. “Just like always, be ready.”
    Both boys nodded in return.
    “Those guys look creepy,” Jasper said under his breath.
    “They’re waving a white flag,” Trish said, looking back at the others. “Maybe they’re friendly.”
    “Why are we stopping for them?” Ed said to no one in particular. “We should keep going.”
    Ed squeezed in behind Trish and took another look around the cab of the truck. The tall man with the black beard and flag approached Alice’s truck. Two men walked slowly behind him wearing garb similar to the others in the party, but to Ed it looked like they carried themselves more like bodyguards than followers.  
    “I don’t like this,” Ed said. “Not at all.”
    “What do we do?” Jasper asked. “We’re stuck back here.”
    Ed didn’t have an answer. Instead he said nothing, watching as the odd men conversed with Alice in the lead truck, too far away to make out the conversation. Alarm bells rang in his head and he had