After The EMP Box Set [Books 7-9]: The Hope Trilogy

by Tate, Harley

  Daniel stared at the empty spot where Craig and Brianna used to be. “My brother’s got his hands full.” He glanced at Tracy. “Is she always like that?”

  Tracy shook her head as she tried to breathe. “Most of the time, she’s worse.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  COLT

  Unidentified Farm

  Near Truckee, CA

  3:00 p.m.

  “Something’s going on. I can feel it.” Colt ran his hand over his hair and rolled his shoulders. The sweater they gave him itched like new wool.

  Larkin sat at one of the desks, scooping peanut butter out of a jar. “They wouldn’t let us shower and feed us if they were planning on killing us. Relax.” He shoved a spoonful into his mouth and groaned. “I haven’t had Jif in years. I forgot how good it was.”

  “Dani could be dead and you’re slobbering over peanut butter. Your priorities are seriously messed up.”

  “She’s not dead. And if she is,” Larkin paused to lick a blob off his finger, “there’s nothing we can do about it. You should eat.”

  “I should find a way to kill everyone in this place, is what I should do. Definitely not eat. For all you know, that jar is laced with poison. You could be foaming at the mouth in minutes.”

  Larkin shrugged. “There are worse ways to go.”

  “Jesus.” Colt sat down hard in the other desk chair. Larkin was right. They couldn’t do anything trapped inside a bunk room with an armed guard standing watch outside. If Dani was dead, then nothing else mattered. If she was still alive, he needed his strength to save her.

  He held out his hand. “Pass me the jar.”

  “Atta boy.” Larkin handed over the peanut butter and another spoon.

  Colt took a bite and closed his eyes. It was damn good. He remembered how amazing food tasted whenever he returned home from missions years ago. After months in the desert, simple things like a piece of bread with butter could almost make him cry.

  Larkin cleared his throat. “You need me to give you some privacy with that jar?”

  Colt leaned back with a laugh. “Thanks for talking me off the ledge.”

  “Don’t go getting all soft. I wanted you to eat, not give up.” Larkin stood up and carried his chair close enough to whisper. “You remember that gag we pulled at Walter Reed with the visiting nurse on the night shift?”

  “The brunette with the legs for days?” Colt stared up at the ceiling. “What was her name?”

  “Victoria.”

  He grinned, remembering her face when she found out it was a false alarm. “I sure do. But what’s that got to do with anything?”

  “I figure if it fools a nurse, it ought to fool a football player.”

  Colt glanced at the door. “How are we going to disarm him?”

  Larkin held up a pair of shoelaces tied together. “All we need is a few seconds.”

  Colt clapped Larkin on the back. “It’s good to have you around.” He finished off the peanut butter and put the lid on the jar while Larkin moved his chair back into position.

  It only took a few minutes to plan the attack. When they were ready, Larkin held one hand out in front of him. “I’ve got two pencils. Whoever is left with the shortest one has to be the victim.”

  Colt plucked one.

  Larkin opened his hand. “Aw, man. If I throw up, I’m aiming for your shoes.”

  Colt walked over to the door and waited, doubled shoelace balled up in his fist.

  Larkin sucked in a breath and crawled onto the floor. He clutched at his throat.

  Colt banged on the door. “Help! Help! I think he’s choking!”

  Larkin’s face turned red as he forced himself not to breathe.

  Colt hit the door harder. “He’s going to die! Help!”

  The door opened and the single guard eyed him warily.

  Colt pointed at Larkin, now a violent shade of purple on the floor. “He’s choking!”

  The guard rushed in and Colt followed close behind. “You know the Heimlich?”

  Colt shook his head. “No! Can’t you do something? Look at him!”

  Larkin’s eyes were bugging out of his face. If he didn’t breathe soon, he would pass out. Colt shouted louder. “Do something!”

  The guard leaned over, arms outstretched, rifle dangling from his shoulder. It was the best chance Colt was going to get. He unfurled the shoelace and crowded up against his back.

  As the man began to stand, Colt whipped the cord around his neck and yanked. He was outweighed by at least twenty pounds, but Colt had determination on his side. While Larkin sucked in oxygen, gasping like a fish on a dock, Colt tightened the cord.

  The guard grunted and clawed at the shoelace, but Colt hung on. He counted in his head. Five. Six. Seven. If he had a good enough hold, the guy should pass out within fifteen seconds.

  It took twenty. The guard sagged and Colt grabbed the rifle before letting the shoelace go.

  Larkin eked out words between gulps of air. “D-Did you kill him?”

  “I hope not.” Colt used the shoelace to tie the man’s wrists to the bunk bed’s post. The guy would wake up soon. He glanced at Larkin. “You okay?”

  Larkin nodded. His face had almost returned to normal. He picked up the rifle and switched the safety off. “The nurse was easier.”

  “We didn’t choke her.”

  “Next time, it’s your turn.”

  Colt grabbed his coat and hurried to the door. “Come on. He’ll wake up any second.” Most blood chokes lasted less than a minute. They didn’t have much time.

  With Larkin following on his heels, Colt poked his head around the open door. The hall was empty. “Brianna must be in one of these rooms.”

  Larkin held out the rifle. “I’ll stay here and look for Brianna. You go find Dani.”

  Colt glanced at the gun. “You’ll be defenseless.”

  Larkin tapped his head. “Not entirely. Now go.”

  Colt nodded once and took off down the hall, away from the rec room and toward the antechamber he’d first entered the day before. Somewhere on the farm, Dani was locked away and he was determined to find her.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  WALTER

  Jacobson Family Farmhouse

  Near Truckee, CA

  3:00 p.m.

  “Thank you for sending the vaccine to my daughter.” Walter leaned back and sipped the hot coffee Ben brewed moments before.

  “You’re welcome.” He set his own mug on the table and leaned back. “I feel I owe you an apology. We should have listened when you said your family would come looking.” He ran a hand down his beard. “I honestly thought when we picked you up that you were delusional. Maybe had a bit of Alzheimer’s.”

  “Do I look that old already?”

  “You have a bit of the crazy old guy vibe, yeah.”

  “Guess I should listen to my wife when she says I need a haircut.” Walter grew somber and leaned forward. “I’m sorry we met under these circumstances. It seems that we’re out for the same things.”

  “To rebuild America.”

  “And stay alive in the process.”

  Ben held out his mug and Walter clinked his against it. The door behind Ben opened and a little girl of about eight rushed in, braids waving behind her and hood flopping against her back. She stopped beside Ben, panting and out of breath.

  “Daddy! Daddy, I saw a dog in the field.”

  Ben hugged his daughter before pointing at Walter. “We’re in the middle of a grown-up talk, sweetie. Can you tell me about it later?”

  “But Daddy, I want to keep it.”

  “Stray dogs are dangerous, you know that, Wendy.”

  “Mr. Larkin says it’s his dog.” She pouted and stamped a foot. “But I want to keep it.”

  Ben glanced at Walter. “What do you mean, Mr. Larkin?”

  “I was coming here to tell you.” Jenny, Ben’s wife, walked in and nodded at Walter. “It seems we’ve had a bit of a jailbreak.”

  Larki
n eased in past the woman and Ben began to stand. Jenny waved him off. “It’s okay, Benjamin. We’ve talked. He’s a good man.”

  Ben eased back down. “Is that so?”

  Larkin scratched behind his ear. “Halfway decent, at least.”

  Walter chuckled. “Don’t let his humility fool you. He’s saved my life more than once and we only met after the EMP.”

  “Jenny tells me that you’ve sent Brianna and Tracy with the vaccine to the Cliftons’ place.”

  “That’s right.”

  Larkin nodded. “Good.”

  Ben motioned to the bench. “With the crisis averted and my wife deeming you acceptable, come and sit. We can talk about next steps.”

  Larkin scratched his head again and glanced behind him. “That’s just it. The crisis isn’t over. Not one hundred percent.”

  Walter swallowed. “Let me guess.”

  “Colt’s out there and he’s on a mission.”

  Ben stood up. “Jenny, get Wendy and the rest of the kids inside.”

  “But Daddy, what about the dog?”

  “Not now, sweetie. Do what I said. Go to Mommy.” He gave his daughter a pat and reached for his pistol.

  “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

  “That man tried to kill me while on the ground and defenseless.” He checked the chamber. “I should be carrying a bazooka.” Ben turned to Larkin. “Where’s the last place you saw him?”

  Larkin exhaled. “Leaving the bunk rooms. He was looking for Dani.”

  Ben pushed past Larkin and out the door.

  Walter stood up. “We better get out there. Ben’s liable to shoot first and not bother to ask a damn thing.”

  “Then God help him, because he won’t stand a chance.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  TRACY

  Clifton Compound

  Near Truckee, CA

  4:00 p.m.

  A shiver racked Tracy’s frame and she rose up onto her toes to peer over the hood of the truck. “Any chance we can get inside?”

  Daniel blew warm air into his hands. “I’ll catch holy hell from Ben if I do.”

  “Why? You’ve got someone on patrol. I don’t have a weapon. No one’s going to be happy if we freeze to death.”

  After a moment, he relented and tugged open the driver’s door. “Get in. I’ll turn the engine on for a few minutes to warm it up.”

  Tracy climbed up and fell into the passenger seat. As soon as the first hint of heat spread from the vents, she pulled off her gloves and warmed her hands. “Thank you. I was close to frostbite.”

  He nodded. About Madison’s age, Daniel had a quiet way about him. He reminded Tracy of Peyton. A kind giant. She glanced at the rifle. Even the gentle ones had to fight now.

  “Are you from here?”

  He jerked up, her question bringing alarm to his eyes.

  She held up her hands. “Just making conversation.”

  He twisted in the seat and leaned his wide shoulders against the window. “Yeah. Born and raised. Ben is my uncle.”

  Tracy nodded. She could see the resemblance in the blocky head and square frame. “Did you always want to be a farmer?”

  “Not a chance.” He laughed and the tension eased from his neck. “I was in school to be a landscape architect.”

  “Really?”

  “University of Nevada, Reno. Two years left when it all… ended.”

  Tracy swallowed. “You’re the same age as my daughter.”

  “Was she there, too? I might know her.”

  Tracy shook her head. “We’re from California. She was at UC Davis, studying agriculture.”

  They fell into easy conversation about the Clifton property and Madison’s work clearing the ground for their first farm. Then it was on to Anne’s skills canning and preserving and Brianna’s knack for getting into trouble.

  Daniel’s eyes brightened the more Tracy talked. “You guys sound like us.” He smiled at the seat. “Ben’s always saying Craig talks too much for his own good and Heather’s too softhearted.”

  “Is she the nurse?”

  He nodded. “My older sister.”

  “Where are your parents?”

  Daniel’s face fell. “They were on vacation when the lights went out. Their first cruise.” He looked out the window. “I like to think they’re still in the Bahamas, oblivious to all of this here.”

  Tracy nodded. She’d lost a lot of people, too. “So why the pharmacy?”

  Daniel looked up, trying to put together the words. “Ben thinks this is all temporary. That as soon as the government is up and running again, the country will put itself back together.”

  “So you’re protecting the pharmacy for the future?”

  “He says hospitals will need medicine and doctors and researchers will use what we save to create more.”

  Tracy ran a hand through her hair. “What if that doesn’t happen? What if the government never comes back?”

  Daniel chewed on his lip. “I don’t know. I guess it’s all ours.”

  She nodded and looked away. They seemed like good people, but Ben was either delusional or naive. The government wouldn’t rebuild. At least not in the way he thought. Even if people in Washington, DC were putting their lives back together, how long before word reached the West Coast?

  A year? Two? Ten?

  By then new governments would form. People would cobble together new communities and towns. Walter even heard on the radio that someone was trying to get steam locomotives up and running. It would be a new industrial revolution with supply lines powered by what made America great two hundred years before.

  She tried to smile at Daniel. “I hope Ben is right and we do rebuild.”

  “But you don’t think it’ll happen?”

  Tracy chose her words carefully. “Over the past nine months, I’ve seen some of the worst humanity has to offer. I’m not sure we can go back to what we had before.”

  Daniel’s face fell.

  Tracy hated to be the bearer of depressing news. She reached out and patted his shoulder. “But I hope it does. You’re doing a good thing with the farm.”

  He nodded. “Sometimes, when I’m asleep, I dream of the world the way it was before. I’m sitting in my dorm room, snarfing down a delivery pizza, playing Xbox with one of my friends.” He faltered. “Then I wake up and I realize it wasn’t real.”

  Tracy knew exactly what he meant. She still dreamt of their house in Sacramento, sipping tea on the back porch and waiting for her husband to come home. Then there were the harder dreams: watching Madison graduate from college, a wedding, grandchildren. A future.

  She swallowed.

  Daniel pointed at the road. “Is that one of yours?”

  An ATV came barreling down the snow-covered gravel, flinging rocks in its wake. Tracy nodded. “That’s Brianna. They must be done.”

  Tracy clambered down out of the truck and the cold air stole her breath. She couldn’t wait for spring.

  Brianna stopped the ATV ten feet from the truck and put it in park before climbing out. “I talked my parents out of shooting anyone, although they thought about making an example out of me for a minute.” She grinned and kept talking. “We’re welcome to come in.”

  “And the vaccine?” Tracy turned to Daniel.

  He nodded. “It’s all yours.”

  Tracy exhaled. Finally. She hurried to climb in the back of the truck. Daniel honked and John appeared out of the tree line. Together, the three of them followed Brianna back to the Cliftons’ home.

  It took five minutes to bump down the drive, hop out, and find Madison in the cabin where she left her in what felt like a lifetime before. She smiled.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “How are you, honey?” Tracy rushed to her daughter’s side.

  “Good.” Madison stuck out her leg. “It’s healing.”

  The bite had shriveled into a prune-shaped scab. Tracy turned to Daniel.

  He held a box out to Tracy. “It’s
four doses. The standard protocol for post-bite inoculation.”

  She took it with gratitude in her heart. “Thank you.”

  After reading the instructions, she pulled up Madison’s sleeve. “This is going to hurt.”

  Her daughter braced herself and Tracy sank the needle deep before plunging. The vaccine disappeared into Madison’s arm and Tracy exhaled. She felt like she’d held her breath for two days.

  “When will we know if it worked?”

  Tracy turned to Brianna who stood nearby, watching. The young woman shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess when she doesn’t get symptoms?”

  “According to the directions, you get another dose at day three, seven, and fourteen.”

  Madison tilted her head toward Daniel. “Who’s he?”

  In her rush to inject her daughter, Tracy forgot she didn’t know anything about the past fifty-four hours. “He’s from a nearby farm.” Tracy waved him over. “Daniel Jacobson, meet Madison Sloane, my daughter.”

  He stuck out an awkward hand and Madison shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Thanks to his uncle, we got the medicine.”

  Brianna crossed her arms. “You mean in spite of.”

  Madison’s head swiveled as she looked first at Brianna and then Tracy. “Is there something more to the story?”

  Tracy stood up. “We can fill you in later. Right now you need to rest.” She fluffed Madison’s pillow and waited until she lay back down before turning to Brianna. “Let’s all meet in the cook cabin. We should talk.”

  Brianna glowered at Daniel. “Him, too?”

  “Everyone.” Tracy motioned for Daniel to join her and together they stepped out into the trampled snow. She zipped up her jacket and pointed at the main cabin used for cooking. “Let’s all meet here. You, Craig, John, and all of us.”

  He kicked at the snow. “What for?”

  She waited until he looked up, and she smiled. “Because I think this could be the start of something beneficial for everyone. It would be a shame to waste it.”