Broken Roads
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. The others belong to their respective creators.
The remainder of the ride home was eerily quiet, no one wanted to speak. After all what was there really to say? Gracie was dropped off at the house while Dugger took Sod back to his home. The house was dark and quiet when she walked through the door. Flipping on the living room lights she collapsed on the couch; Jake jumping up and settling down beside her. Turning on the TV a small part of her hoped that there would be something on the news about what they had just witnessed.
After several minutes of channel surfing it was evident that the world hadn't learned of the apparent attack yet. With a sigh Gracie got up and went into the small bedroom that had been her's and started gathering up what dirty clothes there was to throw in the washer. That done she went into the kitchen in search of something to drink, while scanning through the scant contents of the fridge she heard a special news announcement interrupting the game show that had been on.
"This is Denise Richards in with this live news announcement, we have learned that there has been an apparent explosion at the Crane Naval Base. At this time authorities have not released any information as to the cause of the explosion. We now return you to your scheduled programming. Stayed turned to WTTIO for more information as it becomes available."
Gracie stood there staring at the screen for a few moments, no news yet on how many had been injured or even killed. A small thought in the back of her mind kept trying to wiggle its way to the front-what if their being there had something to do with it? Dugger had said that there was a possibility that the signal on the disc had something to do with those attacks in Mission City. Of course everyone had heard what had happened, the terrorist attack as it had been called, but there had been doubts. She vaguely recalled her dad was very quiet and solemn when the images from the attack had been on the news every night. It honestly looked like a war zone.
Thoughts of her dad never had really left her mind, she was more just trying to figure out what to do next in order to keep her sanity. The door slamming shut brought her out of thoughts, Dugger soon entered the kitchen stopping to pat her on the head with a grim smile before opening the fridge and grabbing a can of soda.
"Where's Sod at?" she finally asked watching as he stood staring out the large kitchen window.
"He'll be along soon, had some things to take care of. You all packed yet?" he asked as he drained the last of the can tossing it into a bag with several others.
"Just had to wash a few things, won't take me long. It was on the news just now, they didn't say much though. Their saying it was an explosion." Gracie drew up a kitchen chair and sat down fiddling with the place mats left there from breakfast. Charlotte must have washed up the dishes before she left she idly thought.
"Yeah, I expected that much. Listen Grace...um I called a friend of mine, he's gonna come along with us okay?" Dugger spoke quietly still staring out the window.
"Sure that's fine I guess, I mean if you think he can help then its fine with me." She sat there a moment before getting up and switching on the kitchen light, she hadn't noticed how dark it was until just a moment ago. "Do you think its gonna snow again." she asked joining him and peering up at the dark grey sky outside .
"No I don't think so, but you never know.I better start getting stuff together, you go crash while we wait for Sod to get here." With that Dugger turned patting her lightly on the shoulder as he left the room.
Taking one last glance out the window Gracie sighed before grabbing her can of soda off the table and heading for the living room. Scooting Jake over a little she sat down grabbing the throw from the back of the couch and wrapping it around her. She couldn't help wondering what exactly Dugger was acting so strange for.
Just as she was getting into a movie that had just come on she heard car doors outside slam shut, soon Sod came stomping through the front door a large green canvas bag slung over his shoulder. Nodding at her and a brief wave Sod sat the bag down on the floor then disappeared out the door again. It wasn't but five minutes later he reappeared this time with a tall thin man behind him that Grace had never seen before. His hair was thinning on the top so that only the sides of his head still retained wisps of red hair, he wore green camo pants with tall black army boots. His jacket was covered with all sorts of different badges and from her place on the couch Grace couldn't tell what they were badges for.
He acted like he didn't notice her at first, setting his bag down on the floor next to Sod's he turned and rubbed his hands together as if to warm them. He stopped; a large grin forming on his face when he caught her staring at him.
"Well hello I'm sorry I didn't notice you there young lady. You must be Grace, hi I'm Nathan" he walked closer extending his hand.
Trying her best to be friendly Grace smiled hoping it didn't look as false as it felt "Hi Nathan, yeah I'm Grace. Do you want me to tell Dugger you guys are here?"
"Naw that won't be necessary. Say I'm gonna go start loading the car" with that he turned grabbing the two bags and went out the door.
"Grace honey, where's Dugger at anyways" Sod asked settling himself down in the empty armchair.
"He said he was gonna start getting stuff together." Gracie answered patting Jake on the head, she couldn't help but notice that when Nathan had come over to introduce himself Jake had scooted closer to her; eyeing this newcomer suspiciously.
Nodding the older man was quiet for several moments before getting up and heading out the door. What the heck was wrong with everybody she wondered watching as he shut the door behind him.
Several minutes later Dugger came down the stairs carrying a large duffel bag and what she knew was a gun bag. Setting them at the bottom of the stairs he went back up coming down with another large bag. Carrying the large black bag out the door he returned a few minutes later and picked up his gun bag and his duffel bad disappearing out the door again. With a sigh Gracie got up from the couch tossing the throw off to the side and went to check on her load of laundry.
After tossing her laundry in the dryer she went back to her bedroom and started packing the rest of her things. When she went back to the living room everyone else was still outside, peering out the window she could see them all standing around the old wagon discussing something.
Pulling up into the drive came Charlotte's jeep, the short woman got out waved to the others and quickly climbed the steps. Shedding her coat as she walked through the door she smiled and came over hugging Gracie.
"Hey honey, so what's going on out there?"
"Not sure really, so umm... your home early" Gracie returned the hug as they made their way over to the couch.
Sinking into the couch Charlotte was quiet a moment as she petted a sleeping Jake, patting him a final time she turned to Gracie a small smile on her face.
"I got a call a little while ago from Dave he tells me you all are planning on a little trip."
"Yeah, not sure exactly where yet but I think we'll be leaving soon." she wasn't sure exactly how much Dugger had told her yet, so didn't know what all was safe to say or not.
"It's okay Grace, Dave told me that you all are in a little bit of trouble. He didn't exactly go into the details of it all but enough of it. And of course when I heard that you all were leaving I decided that I'm long overdue for a little vacation."
"But what about your veterinary clinic?" she sat there confused for a moment; when exactly did Dugger call Charlotte anyway?
"Oh I've got a couple of assistants that can take care of things for a while, besides there's another vet that's a friend of mine about 20 miles from here. He's offered to help out if need be. So here I am, say have you had any lunch yet?" Charlotte asked already rising and heading for the kitchen.
"No not yet, need any help?" Gracie asked taking a sip out of her soda can.
"No thanks sweetie I got it, you got your things packed yet?" the older woman asked as she went into the kitchen
"Just about, got a load in the dryer. But other than that I'm ready" Gracie yelled back turning her attention back to the movie that was almost over.
The door opened with Sod and the newcomer Nathan following Dugger in.
"So what's going on in here?" Dugger asked coming over and hugging Charlotte while she tried to make sandwiches.
"Making some lunch, you all hungry?" Charlotte asked as she shooed Dugger out of the way.
"Thanks Charlotte, this hard head here was more than likely gonna let us all starve to death." Sod grumbled as he took a seat at the kitchen table.
Dugger chuckled as he went to grab sodas from the fridge. "I'm sure you would have let me know long before that happened."
"Yes, thank you ma'am lunch would be appreciated. Oh I'm sorry I'm Nathan by the way." the tall man got up and walked over shaking hands briefly with her.
In the living room Gracie sat there listening to the conversation in the living room, Jake had woken up and crawled over resting his head in her lap. When Nathan spoke a low warning growl erupted from the dogs throat.
"Yeah, I think I agree with you" Gracie whispered stroking his head.
I so apologize for the long delay in updates. Some of it was actually not my fault. First I had to have an unexpected surgery and then my computer decided to die on me. Yeah. But I'm back now and am working on updates on my other stories. Thank you all for being so patient! I would love to get some reviews back, as always constructive critism welcomed. No flames please.