The Doomsday Series Box Set | Books 1-5

by Akart, Bobby

  Tyler looked at Angela, who sprinted ahead to see what their kids had faced.

  Kaycee opened the door as Angela took the steps two at a time. She dropped to her knees and hugged her kids so hard that both begged for her to let go. J.C. wanted to pull her inside to show her the bloody mess, but Kaycee told her mom about her shoulder injury first.

  Tyler arrived and hugged his kids, then turned to Kaycee. “What happened?”

  “Dad, these two guys broke in, and I had J.C. hide in the closet. Then I ran into your bedroom and found your shotgun. Um, I knew how to open the lock. I’m sorry.” She hung her head.

  Tyler pulled her chin up and asked, “Are you guys okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s my shoulder. It hurts really bad from the gun. It’s stronger than the one you taught me to use.”

  Tyler closed his eyes and shook his head side to side. He glanced up at Angela, who returned the look of shock. Their daughter had found their gun and shot somebody.

  “Honey, let me see your shoulder,” said Angela. She examined Kaycee’s right shoulder and addressed Tyler. “She’s got a shoulder subluxation.”

  “The kickback on the Mossberg isn’t as bad as most shotguns, but it’s a lot for her size and frame,” offered Tyler. “Is it partial?”

  Angela nodded. “The humerus was partially kicked out of the glenoid socket. If it was knocked out totally, she wouldn’t be calmly standing here.”

  The recoil of the shotgun had partially dislocated Kaycee’s shoulder. The shoulder is one of the most mobile joints in the body. It contains many bones, ligaments, and muscles that work together to keep it stable. Because the shoulder is so mobile, it is very susceptible to dislocation. The shotgun’s kick had weakened the arm muscles and forced the upper arm bone out of the socket.

  “Do we need to get her to the hospital?” asked Tyler.

  Angela studied Kaycee’s shoulder for evidence of swelling and trouble moving the joint. After a moment, she shook her head. “I can take care of it here. Why don’t you go see what happened and take J.C. with you? I don’t want him to see me fix his sister.”

  “Closed reduction?” asked Tyler, whose EMT training had provided him with advanced first aid techniques like treating partial dislocations of the shoulder.

  “Yeah.”

  “Come on, buddy. You show me around while your mom gets Peanut fixed up.”

  J.C. didn’t hesitate, grabbing his dad by the arm and pulling him toward the foyer first to show him how the intruders had broken in. While their son gave the blow-by-blow details of the attack and subsequent shooting, Angela addressed Kaycee.

  “Honey, I know it hurts. What I’m about to do is gonna hurt for a brief moment, and then it’ll be good as new. Afterwards, we’ll fix you up with an ice pack and I’ll strap it onto your shoulder with an ACE bandage. Okay?”

  “Sure, Mom. No problem. Should I bite down on a wooden spoon or something?”

  Angela laughed and kissed her daughter on the forehead. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ll give you fair warning so that you can be ready, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay, you relax and I’m gonna count to five. After five, I’m gonna pop your shoulder back into place. Ready?”

  Kaycee smiled and nodded, opting to stare out the back door into the yard. Angela began the countdown.

  “One. Two. Three.”

  Snap!

  Angela expertly replaced the humerus into the shoulder joint while Kaycee’s body was relaxed.

  “Hey, you said five!” said Kaycee as she rolled her arm around as if it had never been dislocated.

  Angela smiled as she gently rubbed her daughter’s shoulder. “Did I? Oops, sorry.”

  Tyler and J.C. emerged in the kitchen. Tyler smiled as he saw that his daughter had regained mobility of her shoulder. “Are we okay?”

  “Piece of cake, Dad,” replied Kaycee.

  Tyler pulled two chairs away from the dinette set in the kitchen and motioned for the kids to take a seat. He reached into the top of the pantry and pulled out a bag of cookies. “Guys, munch on this for a minute while I talk to your mom, okay?”

  “Okay!” the kids said in unison as he set a package of Nutter Butters on the table.

  “I’ve been saving these for a special occasion,” he said with a wink.

  Tyler took Angela by the hand and led her into the hallway. When she saw the carnage and blood, she covered her mouth with her hand.

  “My god, Tyler.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. It seems they were trying to break into our bedroom, where Kaycee was hiding. She shot them through the door.”

  Angela walked closer to the wall full of shotgun pellets and bloody flesh. “She hit at least one of them.”

  “Maybe both, based on what J.C. told us,” added Tyler. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Listen, we’ve got to get out of here. These two may have friends and might come back looking for revenge. But it’s not just that.”

  “What else?” asked Angela.

  Tyler sighed. “You’ve fixed our daughter’s shoulder. It may take some time to fix her memories of what happened here today.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The Haven

  Blair walked along with the newest additions to the Haven, conducting an orientation for those who hadn’t been assigned a job or who were generally unfamiliar with the many changes they’d made to the property in the last year.

  “Our goal, first and foremost, was to create a community in which residents could feel safe from the madness that might be happening around the country. Naturally, all of you share an interest in preparedness and we’re all like-minded thinkers. We understand that the threats our nation faced were real, and lo and behold, our worst fears were realized.”

  “Blair,” interrupted one of the women on the tour, “I’m going to be very up front about something. We are the only African-Americans in the Haven. That just seems a little bit, um…” Her voice trailed off as if she was sorry she’d broached the subject.

  Blair stopped, smiled at the woman, and put her arm around her shoulder, a sincere, comforting gesture. “Listen, every decision we’ve made here is color-blind. The Haven is not intended to be exclusionary, nor is it a social experiment in which we check all of the boxes to cover every nationality and race. We live in dangerous times, as we’ve seen. Our goal was to bring together a group of people who share a common interest—the survival and protection of their family.”

  The woman nodded, and Blair gave her an extra hug of encouragement before continuing. “What’s important to us, as well as y’all, is the fact that everyone has an important skill, a certain level of expertise, that will play an important role in the sustainability and longevity of our community. Ryan and I have developed the Haven with the capability of living here for decades if necessary.

  “Keep in mind, this is where we live, too. We have a vested interest in your safety, as well as ours. Your strengths overcome our weaknesses. If we pull together, we can keep the madness at a safe distance while we find some semblance of normalcy in our lives.”

  Several of the people on the tour added their opinions, and Blair continued the casual stroll, making conversation. They stopped at the Armageddon hospital, where she assigned one of the women who’d been a pediatric physician’s assistant for years.

  Later, they struck up a conversation with Charlotte, Echo’s wife, who was logging in the newly received food and supplies into one of the Haven’s secured supply depots. Ryan had built several of these around the Haven. They were all block and brick structures designed to store food under cool, dry conditions. He’d constructed six of them, with a seventh in progress, in order to, as he would say, prevent all of their eggs from being in one basket.

  One couple had experience with canning and growing a garden, so they were placed on Echo’s team. Blair talked about their sustainability program. “Throughout the Haven, we have many gardens and greenhouses that take advantage of the varied soi
ls, hillsides, and shade trees that make up the landscape.

  “Growing your own food is like growing your own money. And in a post-collapse world where grocery stores’ shelves are barren, the maintenance of these sustainable gardens becomes very important.”

  One of the attendees raised his hand. “Do you think it will come to that? I mean, empty grocery stores.”

  “It already has,” replied Blair. “We’re sending out teams twice a day, scouring the neighboring towns for any food and supplies that we will need for the future. Not everyone out there believes the events of New Year’s Eve will have a measurable impact on grocery deliveries. We disagree, as Echo’s teams can attest. Each run yields less.”

  “Will the sustainable gardening harvests last?” asked one of the women.

  “Forever, if we maintain them properly,” replied Blair. “There are several aspects to our program, but the most important has to do with the heirloom seeds we have stored and our harvesting procedures at the end of a growing season. We have sufficient seed packets in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to last a decade. However, properly harvested, the heirloom seeds from the plant material can be reused the next season. The crops those seeds produce will produce new seeds to be used later.”

  A young boy raised his hand. “Why do you call the seeds heirloom?”

  Blair looked down to the boy and mussed his hair. “You’re here with your parents and grandma, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Well, that means there are three generations of your family at the Haven. Your grandma had a baby, then your mom had a baby, and one day you’ll meet a nice girl and you two might have a baby. Heirloom seeds work the same way. They’re grown in a tomato, for example. After we pluck it off the vine, we remove the seeds, dry them, and then store them for next year. Then we plant them and grow another crop of tomatoes. We do it over and over and over again, for years if necessary.”

  “That’s pretty neat,” said the boy with a grin, as he enjoyed the attention from the boss lady.

  “You know what, this is the type of thing you’ll learn in our new school,” added Blair. She pointed ahead toward the Little Red Schoolhouse. “Of course, you’ll learn the basics. You know, the three R’s—reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic. However, you’ll also learn about practical, real-life things like growing food, basic first aid, and when you’re older, how to handle a weapon.”

  Blair continued their walk and then paused as some of the famous buildings featured in the Hunger Games movies came into view. Thus far, the new arrivals, to their credit, hadn’t bugged her about the movie set. As a result, she decided to reward them and spend some time explaining the background.

  She showed them the country store that had served as Mellark’s Bakery, and the Katniss Everdeen home, both of which had been restored and left intact. When she and Ryan purchased the property, they agreed that the history of Henry River Mill Village should be respected, and the prominence it received from the Hunger Games movies should not be forgotten. Several of the structures were renovated and put into use, but the exterior facades were left in their original state.

  Blair pointed out several wells that had been dug to ensure that fresh water was available and also the solar arrays that had been installed to take the Haven off the grid. A tour of a large greenhouse and a look inside the school finished off the walking tour.

  By the end of the two hours, everyone was enthusiastic about the jobs they’d been assigned, and any trepidation they had regarding life in a confined area disappeared.

  Blair and Ryan had adopted a survival mindset years ago. It was one thing to buy supplies and fill up their closets. However, to survive for years during the apocalypse, they had to adopt a preparedness lifestyle, one in which sacrifices were made and approaches to everyday living changed.

  Now their task was to instill this mindset into everyone who lived at the Haven. Their collective survival would depend upon it.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The Haven

  Ethan had spent an hour that afternoon learning all of the features and operation requirements of the quadcopters. Alpha was a very patient teacher, offering encouragement to the young man, who soaked in the knowledge. Eventually, he was left alone with the controller, and he practiced flying the drone around the Haven until he’d mastered its capabilities.

  Toward the end of his training session, something was said that puzzled Ethan at first, and then angered him. As Alpha was leaving, Ethan’s attitude changed, and he successfully hid his aggravation from Alpha. As he flew the drone along the perimeter of the Haven, his mind recalled the exchange.

  He’d asked Alpha if he’d been able to find a charger for his Android cell phone. He explained that he’d left his behind in Atlanta and that his dad would ask about one. Alpha knew nothing about it. To the contrary, he immediately offered one up out of an electronics cabinet in HB-1 that contained a variety of electronic devices and their accessories.

  Ethan instantly became mad at his father for lying about the availability of the charger. After Alpha left him alone, Ethan took the charger from the storage and raced back to the Hightowers’ cabin to retrieve his phone. While he operated the drone, he charged his phone with plans to call his mother as soon as he could.

  Once the phone was charged, he repeatedly tried to contact his mom or her boyfriend, Frankie, to no avail. This simply added to Ethan’s frustration, and the anger swelled inside him. As he stewed over his father’s lack of candor, he recalled the seriousness of the situation outside the Haven. His mind conjured up several horrific scenarios that could apply to his mom’s safety. He reminded himself that his father hated his mom, and that he’d be just fine without her in their lives.

  All of these things compounded the teen’s anger until he decided he’d take matters into his own hands. He returned to HB-1 and shelved the quadcopter. He chose another one out of its cubby in the barn and took it for a flight. This time, rather than patrolling the Haven, he ventured beyond the property’s borders in search of other homes and businesses.

  It was more than idle curiosity. Ethan Hightower had a plan.

  He’d picked up on the operation of the quadcopter quickly and now was highly confident in his ability to fly it around any number of obstacles. He’d also figured out how to adjust its programming. The first thing he did as he flew H-Quad-4 across the eastern perimeter of the Haven was to turn off its recording capabilities. He didn’t want anyone to come back later and see what he’d been up to.

  Secondly, he slowed down his flight speed. Before, he’d enjoyed buzzing about at high rates of speed, caring little about the surveillance aspect of his job. He was playing, but now he was all business.

  He began to surveil adjacent farms. There were only a few homes in the area, as this part of North Carolina was very rural. Ethan thought that might work to his advantage for what he had in mind.

  It took him almost an hour, and several different quadcopters, until he found what he was looking for. Just past the bend in the Henry River, at the edge of the Haven’s property, there was an isolated farmhouse. A white, four-door sedan was driving slowly up the driveway from the road.

  Ethan hovered high above the car and slowly followed it toward the garage. The driver pulled up short and stepped out. Ethan used the zoom function on the camera to get a closer look. An older man slowly exited the vehicle and walked around the trunk to the passenger side. He opened the door and helped an elderly woman get out. They leaned on each other as they made their way inside.

  “Perfect!” Ethan exclaimed before he caught himself and stifled his exuberance. He looked around to see if anyone had heard him, but he’d been left to his own devices for hours.

  He lifted the drone to a higher elevation and flew it back to HB-1, diligently making mental notes of the farmhouse’s location in relation to the barn.

  Minutes later, the drone was stored on its shelf and Ethan meticulously put everything away so as not to draw
attention. Then he thought about his next step.

  He didn’t want to go back to their cabin, as he was afraid he might get trapped by his dad or sister. There was really nothing there that he needed. He had his favorite clothes on and he had his phone.

  Ethan took a minute and walked around the barn. He tried the door handle to the conference room, but it was locked. He began to open up some wooden lockers on the wall adjacent to the conference room. Each locker had a backpack stored in it.

  Ethan pulled one out and rifled through it. It contained some camping equipment, meal replacement bars, water purification supplies, and two bottles of water. Works for me, he thought to himself.

  He put his arms through the backpack straps, took another look around, and began making his way through the thick woods toward the location of the farmhouse.

  Yes, Ethan Hightower had a plan. It was not a good one. But he’d made up his mind. He was going to Philadelphia to get his mom, and he was gonna need a ride.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Duke Homestead

  Durham, North Carolina

  “This is getting ridiculous,” Tom lamented as he tried one exit after another in search of gasoline. He didn’t want to wait until the fuel gauge hit empty, but despite his best efforts, he found gas stations closed or out of gasoline.

  “This next exit seems to be an option,” added Donna, who pointed ahead toward the Guess Road exit off the interstate. Tom craned his neck and saw the Popeye’s Chicken sign across the street from an Exxon station. As he slowed to take the ramp, a Home Depot appeared on their right, and then several other familiar businesses could be seen.

  “We’ll give it a try,” he said as he waited for the light to change.

  Traffic was light, and he noticed that some of the businesses were closed despite being the middle of the day. He turned right onto Guess Road and smiled at the thought of a Quarter Pounder with cheese from McDonald’s. His hopes were dashed upon a closer look. The restaurant had closed, and a maintenance crew was in the process of boarding up the building’s windows.