Powerless | Book 4 | Last Stand

by Roberts, S. C.

  Powerless Series

  Dark

  Aftermath

  New Order

  Last Stand

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  LAST STAND

  First edition. January 5, 2021.

  Copyright © 2021 S. C. Roberts.

  Written by S. C. Roberts.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One:

  Chapter Two:

  Chapter Three:

  Chapter Four:

  Chapter Five:

  Chapter Six:

  Chapter Seven:

  Chapter Eight:

  Chapter Nine:

  Chapter Ten:

  Chapter Eleven:

  Chapter Twelve:

  Chapter Thirteen:

  Chapter Fourteen:

  Chapter Fifteen:

  Chapter Sixteen:

  Chapter Seventeen:

  Chapter Eighteen:

  Chapter Nineteen:

  Chapter Twenty:

  Chapter Twenty-One:

  Chapter Twenty-Two:

  Chapter Twenty-Three:

  Chapter Twenty-Four:

  Chapter Twenty-Five:

  Chapter Twenty-Six:

  Chapter Twenty-Seven:

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One:

  Emma woke up with a stiff neck.

  For a moment, she wasn’t sure where she was, or what was going on. The last thing she knew, she was home. There had been an EMP attack that shut off the electricity, including cars, and even a plane that came down in the middle of traffic in her town. There was no place for her to be but home, where she lived with her grandmother, Janice, her sister, Merry, and Chase, her best friend.

  Then she blinked her eyes opened, and remembered where she was because she could see it.

  She was in a car, had been for she wasn’t sure how long. She looked to the side and saw Carol in the driver’s seat. Chase had been the one driving when they left home.

  Then everything else came back to her, and she felt tears sting her eyes. Oh, no.

  Her first thoughts were for her grandmother.

  Janice was gone, and the pain from that hit her yet again. Which meant she and her sister were on their own now. She was killed when attackers from out of town came to her neighborhood. All three of them were outside, but Janice was the only one to get shot, and she and her sister had to watch their grandmother fall.

  Of course, it wasn’t something she could just let die like that. Janice had deserved so much than what those... monsters, did to her, because Emma could no longer call them people. To attack others just so you can keep a comfortable life... even before the EMP attack, it happened, but then the scale just grew. A whole town was either responsible for what happened, or a large portion of the people left over were.

  The possibility was always there that her town could get that desperate. But because of what those bastards did, they might never get to that point, anyway, because there wouldn’t be anyone left.

  After what happened to her grandmother, she, her sister and some other people from the town had gathered some cars to go and ambush the town that had sent people to theirs. Only the place was a ghost town when they arrived, and they came back only to find they were already back home.

  Then they were driving away from something atrocious—people being lined on the streets, men all over with guns, several cars parked all over the place, and the sound of gun shots—going to her home to collect supplies, picking a few people on the way. She remembered crying, because they had to leave Janice behind, even though all there was left of her were her memories and her body, buried in the back yard.

  Now, because they didn’t have much of a choice, they were on the run. Emma hated it, but there was nothing they could do, and dying senselessly when she still had family to protect was stupid.

  That doesn’t make this easier, though.

  They didn’t even have a home now. Emma had promised Merry, who didn’t want to leave their grandmother’s body behind, that they would go back when everything is all right.

  Emma didn’t think that would be any time soon, or at all.

  What the hell were they even doing? Running away and leaving people in trouble... probably leaving them to get killed. Hell, at this point, it was more likely they were already dead and the town had been looted of whatever was left.

  Her last images of home, of their attackers, swirled in her mind and she winced. They still had the police, and plenty of people had guns. After the attacks started, they’d come up with the idea of having patrols on every street and plenty of people with guns to keep back their attackers. It clearly wasn’t very effective.

  Maybe they could have gone to the police and talked them into helping? Their numbers weren’t great, but they were always joined with volunteers at the station. They could have come up with a plan like for all the other attacks they dealt with, and sure, there would have been casualties, but many lives would have been saved, right? And plenty of their attackers would have been taken down as well.

  Only, at the time, Emma hadn't even thought of it. She’d just seen what was happening and felt the crush of despair, knowing it wasn’t a fight her group could have handled. If she hadn't been thinking of just the people they had around... if she’d thought of going to the police sooner, would they have hoped for a better outcome?

  Well, it’s not like it can be helped now, she thought to herself. Hopefully, there was someone to send word to the cops and most of them would be fine...

  She wanted to curse. There was no way they would get to see it now. And she knew, if she’d tried to talk the others into going with that plan, pretty much all of them would have been against it because of the huge risk involved. Chase, particularly, would have been against it, because he didn’t like going into dangerous situations to begin with. He’d been with her as they went out to carry out revenge, but she knew it was more to keep an eye on her, than because he actually wanted to.

  Would they ever go back? Even if they did, what could possibly be there to go back to? She looked behind the seats and noticed the others sleeping in the cramped space. Chase and Merry were squeezed together with her sister’s head on her friend’s shoulder. Carol’s sister, Barbara, and Karen were seated on the other side, each holding one of Karen’s kids in their lap. Everyone was still asleep, understandable since the sun was just rising.

  She turned to Carol, and noticed she looked a little sleepy. Considering they’d been out for over a day before they went back home, only to meet trouble and be on the run again, she wondered when Carol had gotten any sleep. Chase had offered to drive, and they must have switched when Emma fell asleep, but by how Carol looked, it must have been a while back.

  “Hey,” she called softly and Carol shot a sideways glance at her. “I can take over if you’d like,” she offered. “You look like you could use some more sleep.”

  She didn’t mention that she’d technically, never driven a car before. She had doesn’t he tests, but she didn’t have a license. Not that there was anyone that would stop them just because of that, anyway.

  “Nah, I’m fine,” the other woman muttered, not convincingly at all. “I’ve been on the wheel for a while, but not that long. You just woke up, Emma.”

  She shrugged against the seat, even though Carol wasn’t looking to see it. “Honestly, I don’t think I want any more sleep for some time,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

  She hadn't had a nightmare, exactly, but it left her too disoriented. They were on the road, and from that point on, anything could happen. She would have to thi
nk about staying alert through an attack. Of course, she needed sleep, but there was no need to overdo it when just a few hours of sleep would do. She’d had her time to sleep, even though she had been uncomfortable, so she was going to be up for a while.

  Carol shot her a sympathetic look. “Bad dream?”

  Emma gave a weak snort. She knew Carol would guess that. “It’s not that, really, just... I can't really afford to sleep now, can I? We’re on the road. This isn’t home, and we can run into trouble anywhere, any time. We don’t even have a plan...”

  Carol’s face went grim, and Emma knew the other woman agreed with her. She had been the one at the wheel that time, too, and while Emma was frozen and not sure what to do, she was already driving them out of danger. It was her initial plan to run, Emma would have tried to fight anyway no matter how impossible it seemed at the time, but Carol had been the one to get her back to her senses.

  She could have fought, yes—and dragged Chase and Merry, not to mention several friends, along with her to their deaths. Since they were all, for some reason, following her as the leader to their excursions. She didn’t like that, of course, but she did like it when people listened to and gave credit to her opinion.

  Was she cut out to be a leader at all? She didn’t think so...

  She sighed and shook her head to dispel those thoughts. They had no place in this. What was done, was done, and now all they had to worry about was surviving another day. It would be tricky, they didn’t even have a specific place to go, but there just had to be something. Emma didn’t leave her home only to go off and die out in a different location so early. She was thinking a few more years, and they would have to be hard earned years, but after everything she’d faced recently and not caved, she felt she might have a chance at it.

  “Seriously, though,” she said as she saw Carol nearly nod off on the wheel again. “Just let me drive, all right? Stop so we can switch seats. You’re our nurse. Something could happen at any moment and we’d need your services.”

  The other woman scoffed. “You’ve been working with me at the hospital long enough to manage some things on your own.”

  Emma grimaced. “I’m not a professional, though, you know.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You can learn pretty much anything and you’re good at following instructions down to the letter,” Carol praised. “I’m sure you’d be able to pick it up pretty quickly. And my sister has some nursing experience, too, so she can help you guys out. I don’t want to sleep yet.”

  Emma frowned at her, watching her for about a minute, and noticed several times where their lives would have ended in a fiery death if Carol didn’t keep startling every time it looks like she’s going to fall asleep for real. Only, Emma doesn’t think that’s a good idea, either, because her hands tightened on the wheel, and the car lost some of its stability.

  “When did you guys even switch out anyway? I had Chase sit up front with me and drive so you could get some sleep in the back, you know,” Emma chided.

  “It was a few hours ago. And Emma? I’m fine.”

  “Except the part where you’re not,” she argued back. “Did you even get any sleep at all?”

  There was no answer, and Emma narrowed her eyes on her friend.

  “Carol,” she said again, and it almost sound whiny.

  But Carol just shook her head, turning long enough to give Emma a tired smile, then she was facing forward again. She yawned a little, taking a hand off the wheel to cover her mouth and blinked her eyes a few times. Emma watched her, a little unsure, but didn’t want to argue the matter right then, so she let it go. Carol might be stubborn as hell, but Emma had her share fair of stubborn moments as well.

  “So where are we headed,” she said instead, looking out her window curiously.

  She didn’t recognize where they were, but then, she’d rarely had need to move this far from home. Even her grandmother, before she came to live with them, hadn't lived all that far off, in a nearby town.

  But out there, as far as Emma could see, there was a long stretch of land on both sides. She knew they were avoiding any routes that connected to the town of the people they were trying to escape from, but that was it. She didn’t think they even had a map, just a few people that had vaguely traveled in the same direction they were taking, and that was about it.

  They must have been out long enough to pass a few towns. They were going farther than the town they’d gone to before, Brassville, since that was where their attackers came from and would probably return to once they were done with their town.

  Emma scowled just thinking about it. They could have tried hiding out in their town and waiting on them to ambush them, but their numbers... and she hadn't really had the opportunity to even talk to the others about it, since they were all in different cars.

  But she dismissed the thought almost as soon as it was birthed. It was one thing catching them by surprise on their home turf. Emma was pretty sure there would be a different outcome if they tried to defend a town they weren’t all familiar with from all the locals. They’d still get to kill people, probably, but they would be caught off guard as well.

  It wasn’t an option Emma would ever consider. Their initial plan had promise, which was why she’d gotten volunteers for the trip at all, even though a few of them were her friends. Anything else just wouldn’t work as well.

  Again, we’re getting off topic, she chided herself.

  Carol sighed, and it sounded long suffering. “Honestly, I don’t really know. We’ve been driving for hours, and believe it or not, I did catch some sleep. But I don’t really know where we are anymore. I’m just following the person ahead.”

  Emma frowned. She’d noticed the car ahead of them, of course, but she did remember that their car had been in the lead when they left. Had they really just been driving aimlessly for this long? When did the other car even cut ahead of them?

  Admittedly, they didn’t have a plan besides just getting away, and they were doing that. They didn’t have anywhere concrete to go, but still. Wasn’t this dangerous, considering their meager supplies? They had managed to carry as much food and some water as they could without going over capacity, which meant they didn’t pack a lot of other stuff, like clothes and stuff.

  “It doesn’t seem very sensible to just follow the road,” she muttered, glancing at her family through the rearview mirror. “How much fuel did we even carry? And after we already took a couple trips to leave and get back... it’s stupid, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes,” Carol said bluntly, “but can you come up with any better alternatives? None of us have anywhere to go, though,” Carol reminded her.

  Emma sent her a look. Because she did know, she was just trying to be cautious. She’d come too close to dying too many times. If it were at all possible, she wanted it to stop.

  They needed to find some place safe for all of them to relax, but that was easier said than done. Whoever they met would probably be on the alert, as they were, and it would be dangerous if they happened to be armed. The only thing they all agreed on was to avoid large towns, whether or not they looked to be occupied, and she thought it was a pretty safe bet, but it didn’t leave them much choice for a long stretch.

  They made a quick stop to switch seats when Carol started nodding off at the wheel, enough to make the car give a few lurches before she was awake again, Emma ignoring her protests when she made her offer a second time, only making it more a demand. They had to honk the horn and signal the other cars, so the car in front and the ones behind them could stop with them, and the passengers in the back woke up. Emma felt a little guilty for doing it, but the kids hurried outside to relieve themselves. Some people in the other cars wanted to do the same thing, so they were stopped for around five minutes before they all got back in the vehicle.

  Emma followed the car ahead, fumbling only a little as she took control of the car, since she’d seen Carol do it already. Chase, who’d moved to seat in the shot gun seat, shot her a look,
but didn’t protest as she drove. After a little bit, it got a bit smoother.

  She wondered where they were. Unless she’d slept for longer than she thought, they had been out on the road and driving for a day and a half, with stops at night to rest. She wondered how long their few cans of petrol will get them, with the number of cars and weight they were travelling with. It was a big concern, and why she was worried about them just driving aimlessly. If they didn’t find anywhere to stop before their fuel ran out, they were screwed.

  More than anything, she prayed that wherever they stopped would be better than where they came from. Away from all the fear and the worry, where they wouldn’t have to live day to day on edge and facing attacks where they couldn’t defend themselves. She wondered, of their truly was a place like that even left anywhere in the world. She doubted it.

  Emma drove for a while, and she was glad by the time the car in front of her started signaling for a stop that she hadn’t accidentally crashed the car. She was an ok driver, though maybe a little cautious in her seat, and even then still getting distracted by dark thoughts of her last moments in her home. The image of all those people, getting marched out of their homes and getting lined out on the streets just wouldn’t leave her, nor would the sound of gun shots. She had to be grateful that she was too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to have a nightmare when she fell asleep.

  When the car ahead came to a stop, she did the same, having signaled the cars behind them. She got out of the car, stretching out her muscles and looked around.

  “Let’s go check out over there,” the driver from the car ahead called back, and she nodded.

  They didn’t all go, a few staying back with the cars. They went in and found a few stores. She had to wonder at their luck as they picked up tenting supplies from one of the camping stores. There was nothing like food and water to be found, but their own wasn’t nearly out yet, so that wasn’t too bad. They took what they needed, and left.

  It wasn’t a safe place to stop at, so it was a unanimous decision to get in their cars and start driving again. Chase insisted in taking her place, but she didn’t put up too much of an argument. They rove until it became dark, and the cars in front pulled over, Chase following suit. She left him to go speak with the guys from the other cars, as she helped her sister and Karen and her kids, Carol and Barbara sticking around her. Chase was back a moment later.