Infiltration
Page 18
“I wish I could believe that, Eric, but I don’t know. The last time she was home she seemed more distant than ever. I’m worried that she got caught up in something bigger than she thought it was going to be, especially since I haven’t heard from her since the real bad stuff started happening. You know there were major riots in Denver, and that’s not far at all from Boulder. It was one of the first cities they cut the power to, and there were a lot of people shot. I just hope she wasn’t caught up in all that.”
“Megan? She’s got better sense than to get in the middle of a riot, Shauna. She would know to go the other way if she saw something like that happening.”
“She would have at one time, Eric, but now I’m not so sure. You don’t know how much influence some of her friends might have had on her. I’m worried that she might have been right in the middle of it!”
“You mean with the anarchists? Why in the hell would Megan get involved with people like that?”
“I don’t know, why does anyone? Because of the stuff they hear repeated so much by the media that they start to believe it, I guess. A lot of things have been changing here for years, Eric. I don’t have to tell you that. You’ve been dealing with it in Europe where it’s been worse for a whole lot longer. People have never been so divided, and never been so angry. And the longer it went on, the more things happened to fuel that anger and divisiveness. People have been taking sides, and it’s not always the side you’d think they’d take.”
“So now you’re telling me you think our daughter has been running with the people trying to overthrow the government? I thought she was against violence? She might disagree with a lot of policies, and I do too, but she wouldn’t try to hurt anyone, would she?”
“Not directly, no. But she could certainly be hurt just by her associations. She might even be locked up for all I know. They’ve got detainment centers all over the country where they’re holding dissidents. There’s no telling how many innocents like her that could be in those places simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Well I guess I really screwed up royally as a father then, didn’t I? Maybe if I’d been here to set an example, she wouldn’t have gone off on a tangent like that.”
“Maybe, or maybe not. I don’t know if she would have listened to you if you had been here or not. I remember how it was to be a teenager, and you probably do too. You think you know it all, and that everyone else is an idiot. But none of that matters now anyway, because you can’t change the past, Eric, and I can’t either. All we can do is try and find her wherever she is and get her out. I’ve been going crazy with worry all summer, but there just wasn’t anything I could do alone. I couldn’t go out there looking for her and Daniel couldn’t help me, especial not with Andrew as his first responsibility. But when I first saw you here yesterday, I suddenly had hope again. I know if anyone can go and get our daughter back, it’s you, Eric.”
“What I really should have done was put the two of you on a boat like Tropicbird fifteen years ago and gotten us the hell out of here. We should have sailed to the islands somewhere and raised Megan away from all this screwed up crap in the U.S. I knew this was coming, it was inevitable and just a matter of time. But the Navy owned me back then, and I let them change me into someone I don’t even recognize anymore. I lost myself and I lost you and Megan in the process. I’m sorry, Shauna.”
He opened his arms and Shauna fell into his embrace, the tears running down her face and onto his shoulder as he held her tightly. “I’m going to find our little girl, Shauna, and I’ll bring her back. We’ll get across the Gulf first and regroup at Keith’s place, and then I’ll be on my way. I know I’ve let you down before, but you’ve just got to trust me on this one. Nothing matters more to me.”
“I want to believe you, Eric. I really do, but you know what you’ve put us through. It’s hard to have that faith anymore.”
The words stung because Eric knew his ex-wife was right. He’d let a lot of people down, but those days were over. He had a single-minded focus now, and it was no longer about him or a sense of duty to strangers. Once his father and Shauna and her family were all safely at Keith and Lynn’s place, he would no longer have to worry about any of them. It would all be about Megan. Getting them there was no small undertaking, but at least he had the means to accomplish it in the form of a seaworthy schooner waiting in Bart’s boatyard. The voyage was just a small step in the journey he was undertaking though, and south Louisiana was still a long way from Boulder in a world where using roads was no longer an option. Bart’s idea of working his way upriver on one of the fuel barges seemed as reasonable as any, and Eric would figure it out when he got there. The only thing he knew for sure was that all of this was going to take time, and time was something Megan may not have. Maybes and what ifs were just speculation though. Eric had work to do and he was ready to get started. He relaxed his embrace and kissed Shauna’s tear-streaked cheek as he pulled away, stepping into the skiff to start the outboard as she walked back to the house to tell Bart and Jonathan it was time to go to work.
* * *
Thank you for reading Feral Nation - Infiltration. I hope you enjoyed the story! This is just the beginning of an ongoing series that follows Eric Branson in his quest to find his daughter, Megan. Read on in Book Two to find out what he and his crew discover when they reach the northern Gulf Coast. Feral Nation - Insurrection is available to download from Amazon now at this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075LRJ2PY
Please turn the page for more info on the rest of this series as well as my other fiction and nonfiction titles:
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You can grab the second book in the Feral Nation Series on Amazon right now, or read it for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber:
Feral Nation - Insurrection
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If the Feral Nation books are the first of my works you’ve read, you might enjoy my other post-apocalyptic and action/adventure books. Turn the page for the full list and links to my other published works.
More by Scott B. Williams
THE FOLLOWING LINKS WILL take you to the Amazon Kindle versions of my most popular books that are available now. New books are coming all the time so stay up to date by signing up for my book alerts via my New Release Updates
Feral Nation Series (New for 2017)
Feral Nation - Infiltration (Book 1)
Feral Nation - Insurrection (Book 2)
Feral Nation - Tribulation (Book 3)
Feral Nation - The Divide (Book 4)
Feral Nation - Perseverance (Book 5)
The Pulse Series:
The Pulse: A Novel of Surviving the Collapse of the Grid (Book 1)
Refuge After the Collapse (Book 2)
Voyage After the Collapse (Book 3)
Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath (Book 4)
Horizons Beyond the Darkness (Book 5)
The Darkness After Series:
Enter the Darkness (Series Prequel)
The Darkness After (Book 1)
Into the River Lands (Book 2)
The Forge of Darkness (Book 3)
The Savage Darkness (Book 4)
Standalone Novels:
Sailing the Apocalypse: A Misadventure at Sea
Nonfiction:
On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean
Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late
About the Author
SCOTT B. WILLIAMS HAS been writing about his adventures for more than twenty-five years. His published work includes dozens of magazine articles and twenty-two
books, with more projects currently underway. His interest in backpacking, sea kayaking and sailing small boats to remote places led him to pursue the wilderness survival skills that he has written about in his popular survival nonfiction books such as Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late. He has also authored travel narratives such as On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean, an account of his two-year solo kayaking journey through the islands. With the release of The Pulse in 2012, Scott moved into writing fiction and has written several more novels with many more in the works. To learn more about his upcoming books or to contact Scott, visit his website: www.scottbwilliams.com
Dedication
THIS ONE IS FOR my brother, Jeff