EMP (The Districts Book 1)
Page 16
“I need three volunteers to get us some fuel.”
Three hands shot up before he could even finish his sentence. Sutherland felt like Rodgers had done an admirable job picking out men for the mission and for the first time he had a feeling she would be fine running district one without him until they made it back.
The three men jumped up, dropped their gear on their seats and approached the front of the bus carrying only their rifles.
“See if you can find some gas cans… or maybe an empty barrel,” Sutherland said. “Hopefully there will still be some gas in the tanks. If there’s some kind of rubber tubing or something to siphon the gas out with. Also… grab anything else you see that might be of use… we’ve got plenty of room in the back of the bus.”
The men nodded. Avery opened the door and Sutherland stood aside as the men shifted their rifles and climbed down the narrow stairs. Sutherland sighed… he knew it was a little weird, but the image of them walking off the bus reminded him of watching Nicole climb onto the bus for her first day of school.
Sutherland sat down on the empty seat behind Avery, who turned around, and watched the men walk toward the station. He turned his attention when Avery cleared his throat.
“Yes?”
“I… permission to speak freely, Sir?”
“Granted.”
“I… I was wondering why you volunteered to be the Regent of district one. I would assume you have a family, but I haven’t seen them or heard anyone talking about civilians in the bunker.”
Sutherland nodded and looked down at the floor. He focused on the grooves in the floor as he tried to keep himself together.
“Sorry,” Avery said, “I… I spoke out of turn.”
Sutherland swallowed, shook his head and looked back at the young man who clearly understood there was a reason for why his commander was so affected by talk of his family.
“It’s… it’s fine. You wouldn’t have known. I… I do have a family. A wife, Cynthia, and a daughter… Nicole. They… they were at home when the second attack took place….”
Sutherland froze and turned his head. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he heard something… and so did the rest of the men. Everyone opened their windows and held their breath as they listened in unison. It was a low rumble… and it was getting closer with each passing second. Sutherland wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about it that made him ill at ease.
“Avery, go get the men… tell them we have to leave now.”
Avery nodded and darted down the stairs and toward the station.
“Men… I don’t know what’s coming, but get ready.”
They nodded and checked their rifles as they readied for combat. Sutherland truly hoped it didn’t come to that… they were responsible for maintaining what little there was left of the United States, and he didn’t want there to be any collateral damage.
Sutherland looked toward the station as Avery came running out with a small gas can, followed by the three soldiers who each carried a gas can in each hand. Sutherland sat down as the men took the stairs two at a time and Avery fired the school bus up and closed the door. He slammed his foot onto the gas and wrestled with the wheel as they drove over the curb and bounced their way back onto the main road.
“What is it, Sir?”
Sutherland shook his head, stood up and walked to the back of the bus. He could feel the eyes of his men following him… his world slowed down as he approached the rear window and looked out. He didn’t see anything at first, but when he blinked there was a blur in the distance. Sutherland blinked again and the shapes started to take form.
He shook his head. It wasn’t ideal… that was for sure. Sutherland took one last look behind them and ran toward the front of the bus.
“Avery… how far are we from the bunker?”
Avery pointed out the front window of the bus. Sutherland looked and saw the green sign with white letters Pierre 185.
“Shit.”
“Sir? What is it?”
“Well… unless this bus can go a lot faster we might be in trouble.”
“Sir?”
“That sound… I’m afraid it’s likely the sound of death. We just have to wait and see if it’s going to be ours or theirs.”
~~~
Thank you for reading EMP and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you want to be notified of when the second book is released or when I release other books just click the link below or enter it into your web browser.
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About the Author
Orion Gaudio lives in Northern California and splits his free time between playing video games and praying for rain. He spent most of his youth in Colorado, which provides the setting for most of his books.