EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4

by Tony Mastrolacasa

  Truck number two, however, continued to roll slowly towards them in a perfectly straight line. Steam spewing from under its hood told them that its engine was dead as well, but they didn’t know if they could say the same for the men inside. Corey had hit the windshield multiple times, the bullets smashing threw the rear window on their way out, but there was no sign of their enemy. They were either lying on top of each other dead or mortally wounded and terrified that they soon would be.

  Before Corey or Sydney could stop him, Cole reached for the passenger’s side door handle as it rolled past. He was anxious to prove himself and what better way than to fire into a couple of guys that were probably already dead.

  “Cole, wait!” Sydney shouted.

  Cole pulled the door open with his rifle at the ready, but it wasn’t nearly ready enough. The two men inside were waiting for him. Both of them were badly wounded, one of them even missing half an arm, but the two company men weren’t done ruining lives yet. Cole was shot four times before he managed to pull his own trigger once. As Cole flew backwards to the ground, Sydney and Corey fired several short bursts each immediately eliminating the threat. These two nameless men wouldn’t be hurting anyone ever again, but that was of little comfort to Cole.

  “T, get over here!” Corey shouted as he and Sydney leapt to Cole’s side.

  While Terrell struggled to get out of the ditch, Corey and Sydney hurried to open Cole’s jacket and see what they could do. He had four bullet holes in the front of his jacket, but they were off to the right side. The fact that he was still conscious and struggling with the pain gave them hope that he might not have a mortal wound. Blood loss, though, was a major cause for concern. The snow beneath him was quickly turning red.

  Terrell arrived just as Corey tore open Cole’s shirt. The bullet holes instantly spurted blood as the limited amount of pressure the clothing provided was removed. As feared, they were weeping blood at an alarming rate, enough to finally cause Cole to pass out.

  “Apply pressure to the wounds!” Terrell said as he dropped to his knees.

  The first thing Terrell did was place his hand in the small of Cole’s back.

  “Shit! I’m only feeling two exit holes.” Terrell said. “I’ll have to…”

  …Cole began convulsing violently and then went limp. Terrell checked his vitals and began CPR. He would try for a few minutes, but he already knew the exercise was futile. Without first repairing the damaged blood vessels, his efforts were only forcing the blood to exit his body more rapidly. Nothing short of an operating room and every piece of modern medical equipment there in would save Cole’s life now.

  This wasn’t the first time that Terrell had come to this sad realization and he doubted it would be the last. With devastating wounds such as these, all of the medical expertise in the world was useless without the equipment required to practice it. He only continued working on Cole, so that he could tell Grace and her family that he had done all that he could. It seemed a strange thing to do, but telling his loved ones that he had simply run off without even trying to help him would have made matters much worse… for everyone.

  ◆◆◆

  “What the hell’s going on out there?” Xander asked as he stuck his head out of the master bedroom door at the end of the hallway.

  “Didn’t you hear those gunshots?” Ken asked, rushing to put on his coat. “Sounds like someone attacked our hunting party.”

  Xander grimaced, looked back into his room and said,, “You three stay put. If anybody sticks their head out of this room, you won’t like what happens to you tonight.”

  “Anything going on at the gates?” Mars asked, stepping out of his own room.

  “Not yet.” Ken replied. “The guards are all wide awake, though, that’s for sure. I’m heading out there now.”

  “No, let Mars handle it.” Xander said. “I want you to run down to the cabins, grab every man we have down there and bring them up in the dump truck. I want that thing parked across the gates and ready to defend this place.”

  “Maybe we should get Hal and his family up here too, Xander… just in case.” Mars said.

  “Shit, you’re right.” Xander said. “Ken, get someone else to handle the truck. You just get Hal up here with his idiot brother and bitch of a wife.”

  “You got it.” Ken replied. “What about the others? They’re about to be left unguarded.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about any of them.” Xander replied. “Let them piss in their pants for a while. Just get Hal, Nora and Rob up here. If any of the others give you an ounce of trouble start shooting them.”

  Within 15 minutes, Xander saw Ken jogging back up to the house pushing Hal, Nora and Rob ahead of him at gunpoint. Judging by the blood that ran down Rob’s forehead, Xander rightly assumed that the Weyr family had needed a little extra persuasion to pick up the pace.

  Mars had just returned from his inspection of the gates as well. He was satisfied when he saw no less than eight men now guarding the resort’s entrance. He had reassigned one of them and left Finn in charge of the remaining seven. Then he returned to assist in securing the house.

  “The guys at the gates said they haven’t heard another shot since.” Mars said. “Could have just been some random assholes out there looking to jack some wheels.”

  “Did you find Geoff?” Xander asked.

  “Yeah, he was with them.” Mars replied. “I told him what you wanted. He’s standing guard outside your bedroom window now. I told him to shoot anybody that tries to climb out.”

  “Good. We’ll hold up a while longer and then maybe we’ll send a crew out in the dump truck… see if they can find them.” Xander said as he led his number back into the front room.

  The door then opened and Ken shouted, “We’re here, Xander. Where do you want them?”

  “Get them all into the master bedroom with the women.” Xander shouted back.

  Ken pushed Hal, Nora and Rob inside and forced them ahead through the kitchen. Considering the complete disaster these animals had turned their beloved home into, Hal and Nora didn’t even blink at traipsing mud and snow across their once beautiful hardwood floors. As they continued through to the front room, Hal couldn’t resist getting a little shot in on the head zookeeper.

  “Lookin’ a little nervous there, Xander.” Hal said with a smirk. “Worried there’s an even bigger asshole than you out there?”

  “Keep it up, shithead.” Xander said as he sat by the front window. “Nobody’s a bigger asshole than me.”

  Ken marched them all into the bedroom at the end of the hallway and closed the door behind them. Then he walked back into the front room to join Xander and Mars.

  “What’s the deal with the dump truck?” Xander asked.

  “There’s a group of them getting ready to bring it up.” Ken replied. “Cam’s running around gathering everybody. He said there’s six of them down there.”

  “Perfect.” Xander said.

  “You guys decide what we’re gunna do yet?” Ken asked.

  “We’ll just sit here a while and see what happens.” Xander replied. “If anybody shows up, we’ll have a front row seat to the…”

  …A single gun shot from the gates spun all three of their heads towards the front window. They could see that Finn was arguing with one of the guys about something and then the ground beneath their feet suddenly exploded. An immense fireball erupted exactly where Finn had been standing only a second earlier. The guards that weren’t instantly vaporized were propelled through the air, some whole, most not so much. The resulting shock wave caused the glass covered greenhouse closest to the gates to come crashing down as well.

  Before Xander, Mars or Ken could say a word, a second powerful explosion hit the entrance and then a third and a fourth. The entire area out front was being annihilated, converted to a mass of flames and flying wreckage.

  Mars and Ken instinctively ducked down, shocked at the scene unfolding outside the window. They could clearly hear their hosta
ges screaming from the bedroom in between the thunderous explosions. The whole house shook on its foundation with each blast and debris rained down onto the roof.

  The entire scene was chaos, but Xander reacted in the most minimalist way imaginable.

  “Well… that’s gunna be a problem.”

  ◆◆◆

  “It’s been 15 minutes, Stu.” Donny said nervously. “Your friends will be here any minute, for Pete’s sake.”

  “They know to stay back and out of sight until we call them in.” Stu replied.

  “So what’s the delay about then?” Donny asked.

  “I just wanna make sure we nail as many of these assholes as we can.” Stu said. “I just saw a few more arrive a few minutes ago.” Stu then took a breath and added, “I got to be honest with you, Donny… I’m a little nervous about throwing dynamite around.”

  “Good.” Donny said. “That’ll keep us both alive. Over confident hands make stupid mistakes. If one spark flies into that bag… well… you remember what I said about never knowin’ you made a mistake?”

  “Vividly.” Stu replied.

  “We’ll be fine, Stu. Just keep the bag between us and do all the lightin’ and tossin’ off to the side.” Donny said. “Make sure you never place your lighter hand in that bag. Your throwin’ hand handles the dynamite, your lightin’ hand holds the lighter.”

  “Got it.”

  Donny was a seasoned expert at handling dangerous explosives, having done so safely for many years, but he had never lost his fear of it. That fear, Donny would tell you, is why he was still around. Fear would keep them alive today too. Well, it would keep them from blowing themselves up anyway. The bullets were an entirely different matter.

  “Sounds like they’re starting up that dump truck.” Stu said while reaching into his chest pocket. “Time to get ready. It would be great if we could eliminate that thing right off the bat. If they bring it out front, I’ll take the truck while you stick the gates, Donny.”

  “Fine by me, Stu.” Donny said, digging through his own chest pocket. “I’ll light mine when I see you toss yours.”

  They each pulled out a pair of foam ear plugs and inserted them into their ears. When Donny had handed the hearing protection to Stu and Liv this morning, Stu had been adamant that they not insert them into their ears until the last minute. Being able to whisper back and forth was an important part of Stu’s plan and he knew from experience that once the ear plugs went in, their voices would go up. That’s not good when there’s several armed guards only 15 metres away looking to kill you.

  Donny unzipped the bag and they each took out a stick of dynamite, Stu choosing one with the shortest fuse and Donny going for the longest. They then shuffled off to either side a bit and pulled out their lighters. While Donny waited nervously, Stu climbed up the hill and slowly brought his eyes up above the roadway. Sure enough, the massive dump truck was steadily making its way up from the cabins.

  He watched for a few more seconds and tried to get a feel for the distance and hang time of his throw. It was extremely important that the burning fuse reach the blasting cap at the right moment. Admittedly, having the explosive detonate early would be bad, but having it land too soon could be equally tragic. Stu had no intention of giving those men enough time to throw it back.

  Before Stu could report what was going on to Donny, his eyes widened in terror. Someone had spotted him. Even though Stu had been very careful to keep himself behind the cover of a small dead bush one of the men was reacting to something he had seen across the road.

  As the man raised his rifle, Stu ducked down and lit his fuse. The guard, obviously terrified himself, instinctively took a shot at the roadway above Stu’s head. The bullet ricocheted off the snow covered asphalt and soared harmlessly into the trees. What Stu threw back, however, was anything but harmless. The throw came unexpectedly early, but Donny jumped into action anyway. While Stu reached into the bag for another, Donny lit his.

  The first explosion was truly staggering. Stu and Donny didn’t see it, but they heard it and they certainly felt it. Stu had never experienced an earthquake before, Southwestern Ontario not being prone to them, but he couldn’t imagine the ground shaking anymore than is was at that moment.

  As Donny tossed his stick of dynamite blindly out over the road, the first shower of debris finally arrived. As promised, it mostly consisted of harmless bits of sand and rock. The distinct sound of the steel gates landing on the road was slightly more concerning though. Then the ‘wet and sticky stuff’ arrived and it was horrific. For a moment, it sounded like dozens of over ripened tomatoes hitting the road. Neither of them said anything to the other, but they both wore a small percentage of that ‘tomato’ on their faces.

  By the time Donny’s first stick exploded, Stu had already thrown his second. Once Donny’s second was lit, thrown and detonated, Stu grabbed his third and scrambled up the hill to see how they were doing. The dump truck had stopped well short of the entrance seemingly unaffected by the explosions. The entrance itself, however, had been completely demolished. Not a single man was in sight, but that was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t suddenly appear anyway.

  The driver of the huge truck was trying desperately to turn around and get their biggest advantage out of there. If Stu was ever going to attempt an assault on it, he knew that he was going to have to get across the road. Deciding to give the throw a try anyway, he lit the fuse, targeted the truck and heaved it with everything he had. It landed well beyond the gates, but short of his intended target. The explosion was close enough to sent a blast of debris towards it’s steel sides, but not nearly enough to cause it any serous damage… or so he thought. When the snow dust settled, Stu noticed that he had managed to blow out several of its tires. It was sitting broad side with its rear tires flattened and spinning ineffectively.

  Stu had his chance. He went back to the bag and dug through it searching for the double stick bundles that they had taped up. Finding them, he pocketed two and grabbed his rifle.

  “Time for me to go, Donny.” Stu said. “Set off the signal.”

  Without another word, Donny lit one of the short fuses and tossed it straight down the road. The instant it exploded, Stu scrambled out of the ditch and sprinted across the road. He didn’t know if Donny intended to join him or not and he didn’t care. His friends would be arriving at any moment and he would have all of the backup he needed… assuming they didn’t run into anymore problems.

  ◆◆◆

  Corey, Sydney and Terrell ran ahead undeterred, well aware that they were still a full kilometre from where they needed to be. Leaving Cole lying out in the middle of the road seemed an incredibly cold thing to do, but they had no choice. If Stu didn’t get some support soon he could be the next one lying dead in the road. The men guarding the entrance had undoubtedly heard the gunshots and sent for reinforcements. Stu would soon be facing off against their entire gang alone. They had no idea if Olivia or Donny had accompanied Stu or not, but they doubted that an inexperienced young girl and some random guy would be much help to him anyway.

  “You doing okay, Corey?” Terrell asked as he jogged up along side.

  “What are you doing up here, T? You’re supposed to be keeping back.” Corey replied.

  “I’ll back off again in a second.” Terrell said. “What’s going on with you? You look like you’re struggling.”

  “My freakin’ shoulder’s on fire, man. George wasn’t kidding about this thing.” Corey replied, looking down at the Barrett he carried.

  “You want a hand with that beast?” Terrell asked. “I don’t mind carrying it for a while.”

  “Oh, man, that would be great.” Corey replied.

  He waited for Terrell to sling the 30-30 across his back and passed it to him. Along with the Barrett he now carried in his hands, Terrell now had his lever action rifle, Cole’s Derya shotgun and his medical bag on his back. They were all terribly overloaded, but Terrell had definitely taken on the greatest lo
ad by far. Not a single one of them complained about it, though, especially Terrell. It was extremely comforting to him to know that a warrior like Corey wouldn’t be overly encumbered in their next engagement.

  “Thanks a lot, man.” Corey said as he brought his rifle around.

  “No problem, homie. The next time we stop, I’ll dig a few pills out of my bag for ya. I might take one myself.”

  “Roger that, T.” Corey said.

  “You girls just about done?” Sydney asked as she ran past them both. “My husband’s all alone out there.”

  “Movement on the right!” Corey suddenly said, dropping to a knee. As he slid to a stop, he simultaneously raised his rifle and pointed it into the trees.

  Sydney and Terrell immediately dove to the ground. Sydney raised her rifle while Terrell pointed the Barrett. He would have much preferred to have the 30-30 in his hands, but urgency hadn’t allowed for choosiness. He only hoped that he wouldn’t need to fire the monster he currently had shouldered.

  “Don’t shoot! We’re unarmed!” a voice in the woods just ahead of them shouted.

  “Come out and you wont be harmed.” Corey shouted back. “Keep your hands where we can see them.”

  “Corey… is that you?”

  “Yes, it’s Corey and some friends. Who the hell are you?”

  “Damn it, you scared the life out of us. It’s Sergeant Dan Konie. I’ve got some friends of my own with me.”

  “Sorry about that, Sarge. Come on out.” Corey said, motioning for Sydney and Terrell to put their guns down.

  “Man, are you guys a sight for sore eyes.” Dan said as he stepped out of the trees.

  Corporal Collin Stantz stepped out next followed by their wives, Reese and Molly and three young children. Austin and Evelyn Green then came out ahead of Mia Campbell. These 10 survivors quickly got through the ditch and out onto the road where they were all greeted with handshakes.