It was shockingly easy. Dixie was expecting them so when they knocked on her door she let them in and got the shock of her life when, after she had turned around to lead them into her apartment, she found a knife at her throat and Johnny's arms around her. When Johnny nudged her further into the apartment so that Early and Brackett could see her, they had a surprise as well. Apparently this dinner was a double date and Joe Early had brought someone with him.

Roy was actually glad to see that Dr. Early had brought his girlfriend along tonight. It had been common gossip for a while now that he had a girlfriend but he had been keeping her name quiet. That meant that Roy and Johnny hadn't known who she was so that they could bring her along. Now they didn't have to worry about that. What they did have to worry about was Dr. Brackett. He had jumped up when he had seen Dixie with a knife at her throat and Roy could tell that his very famous temper was about to explode.

"You need to come with us right now," Stanley said, using his best 'I'm in charge and you will do what I say' voice.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Dr. Brackett yelled as he started forward. He instantly stopped when he saw that Johnny's knife had drawn blood. It wasn't much, in fact if it hadn't been Dixie who was the one bleeding he would have realized that the injury wasn't even deep enough to really qualify as a scratch.

Joe Early noticed. Whatever was going on it looked like they didn't want to hurt them, but they would as much as they had to too convince them to do whatever it was that had brought them here. "We need to do as they say Kelly. Emily, come here," he said. He put his arm around his fiancé and escorted her to the door.

Brackett stood still in silent frustration before jerking his head and following Joe and Emily. 'What could have driven these three hose jockeys to do this? We may not be best friends but never thought that Roy or Johnny would do something like this,' he thought.

Roy led the way down to the parking garage where the van was parked. They were lucky and did not run into anyone in the halls. When they reached the van, Roy opened the side door and waited for the doctors to get in. Then he turned, grabbed two duffle bags and ran back up to Dixie's apartment. He had been to Dixie's often enough with his wife to know what Dixie's favorite things were. Moving as quickly as he could he packed her books and mementoes, thankful that she had more than a few medical reference books among them. He made sure that the fragile items were wrapped in some of her clothing so that they wouldn't break. Then he went to her coat closet to get as many of her coats as he could carry. When he saw the obviously packed bag on the floor of the closet he grabbed it as well. No matter what was in it that would be one less thing that Dixie would lose.

By the time he staggered back down to the van, Stanley had duct taped the doctors' arms and legs together and was finishing the job on the ladies. Roy handed Johnny the three bags and Dixie's two coats to Johnny through the driver's side door. Then he got in and started the van. They didn't have time to waste. They had to be out of LA and as far away as they could get by dawn.

Johnny and Stanley were climbing around in the back of the van, setting up the last of the lead lined blankets over the side door. They were also trying to get everyone settled down into the nest that Roy and Johnny had put together so that their 'hostages' would be as comfortable as possible on this trip. They weren't going to stop unless they absolutely had too.

They spent the night mostly in silence, due to the fact that four out of the seven were gagged. Roy and Johnny made frequent checks to make sure that no one was getting too dehydrated or that their bonds were causing any injuries. Kelly and Joe both tried to talk to the paramedics every time their gags were removed as they were both more familiar with them than they were with Captain Stanley. None the less, they couldn't get any answers out of the men. Stanley and Roy only spoke to each other when consulting the map or making fuel stops. They both dreaded what the morning would bring. Johnny spoke to no one, too uptight and stressed to make small talk. This was the worst rescue he'd ever had to take part in.

Dawn came sixteen hours after leaving Dixie's apartment and found them in Grand Junction, Colorado just leaving the city. Stanley was driving. Although they were doing their best to avoid any military bases and large cities, Stanley wanted to be close enough to get a radio station that would be likely to carry the news that they feared. Just as the sun was high enough to be seen in LA; Johnny fell over with a cry of pain.

"I gotcha Junior," Roy said as he wrapped his arms around Johnny. They had been in the middle of checking their 'hostages' and Brackett and Dixie were both ungagged.

Johnny muttered something in Lakota and Dixie tried to translate it. "Father, blood, Mother, hurt?" She shook her head as the few words strained what little Lakota she knew. Whenever Johnny woke from anesthesia he often spoke in Lakota for a short time before he fully came to consciousness. The words that he was saying now made much less sense now than they did then.

"Father Sky is bleeding, Mother Earth is hurt," Roy said quietly. He knew that Johnny was somehow actually feeling the impact of the bomb.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Brackett demanded. He wasn't surprised that no one answered him. What did surprise him was that Stanley immediately reached over and turned on the radio. What he heard over the radio shocked him almost as much as the sight of Johnny holding Dixie at knife point yesterday had.

From the radio in the front of the van came first the sounds of a popular country western song. It was soon interrupted however, by the sound of a disk jockey crying. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sorry, so sorry to have to tell you this. But," here the listeners could actually hear the d-jay gasping for enough composure to complete his message, "ten minutes ago a nuclear explosion wiped out LA. We have been attacked. From where I am in I can see, see missiles launching from the nearby military base. We are at war."

Stanley pulled the van over and turned off the engine. He crawled into the back and removed the duct tape from around the two couple's arms and legs. "How did you know?" Brackett asked, stunned.

"Johnny," Dixie said, putting together clues that she had seen for the last few years but hadn't understood. "He knew this was coming, didn't he?"

Stanley nodded. "He's been helping us get ready for this for a long time now."

"Well, he's not going to be able to help anyone right now," Roy said as he held his partner. "If I knew how to knock him out safely I'd do it. He's in a lot of pain but I don't know how much of it is physical and how much is his gift."

Through out the day the small group made its way towards the Rez, avoiding the cities and the panic. And there was panic as the missiles flew back and forth. They picked up fewer and fewer radio stations as they drove. They weren't sure this was due to the route they were taking or to the fall out or to the stations simply not existing any longer. This was where the trailer and its contents came in. Although they stopped to get gas where they could, the main part of their fuel came from the gas cans in the trailer.

It took them another fifteen hours, making the trip thirty one hours total, to get to the Rez. By that time the damage done to the world, and to those in it, was done. If Johnny hadn't recovered enough to drive, and they hadn't ditched the trailer when the gas had run low, they never would have made it through the snow that began to fall. As it was, they covered the last few miles crawling through the blizzard that was falling in the height of summertime until they reached the closest parking area to the beginning of the cave system where Johnny's tribe had taken shelter.

After wrapping up in the blankets they had used to shield themselves from any fallout, they made their way to the caves. As they entered the first cave and shed the blankets they were swarmed by their friends and family. It wasn't until everyone else had been sorted out that Grandfather Gage stepped forward. "You have done the will of the Great Spirit well, Johnny. Welcome home." At that Johnny was swarmed as everyone tried to hug him at once. He had been missed.

The End