John nodded, noting down the ideas. “Yes, absolutely...we need to find something big to contain water when it rains. Perhaps we can set up some old bathtubs outside? Those are large enough to collect water for a long period of time…”
Aby smiled to herself, glad that she could be of use. She wished Jake was there to see her thriving.
“Don’t you think we need to recruit more people?” Megan offered quietly. “I mean, people who can be trusted. There’s so much to do around here...we need a lot of people defending the area since there are going to be more attacks like today...people are going to want what you have here.”
“You’re not wrong,” Abigail said. “And it’s not just that. We need people out hunting, foraging for food, growing crops...and we need more people who know how to do those things. Farmers, perhaps...but most of them rely on machines to get their work done now. We need people who have done their research.”
“Things could go wrong if we’re not careful with foraging and hunting too,” John points out. “We don’t want to be harvesting poisoned berries and making people sick...plus any animals we hunt need to be properly prepared...skinned and gutted and then properly cooked...by someone with a strong stomach too, I should add.”
Aby didn’t really fancy gutting animals and getting them ready to be eaten. She often already felt guilty about eating meat, and she didn’t want anything to put her off more. But she’d be happy to contribute. Hell, she’d be happy to defend the town if that’s what they needed. She had a gun, now. She knew how to shoot. She’d managed to protect herself...why not a whole town?
That would show Jake.
“We’ve already sorted food rationing...but we need to keep an eye on medical supplies too,” Abigail pointed out. “The town doctor controls all of the pharmaceutical supplies, but we don’t have much. We should send out scouts to get more, but the second anyone catches wind that we have stuff like that, we’re going to be a target.”
“Another reason to ensure we keep ourselves clean...and our houses, too. Margaret has a whole stock of cleaning supplies...that should last us a long time, at least. But speaking of cleanliness, we’ll need a way to dispose of waste. We can’t continue to...defecate where we eat, if you will,” John said with a blush on his cheeks. Aby felt odd talking about going to the bathroom with near strangers, but he was right.
“Maybe we can make some kind of outhouse...I know it’s a bit gross, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Noted.”
Aby began to get invested in the conversation. There was so much to talk about and so much to prepare for. Now that the EMP had taken away all of their electricity, they’d have to rethink every single thing about the way they lived. They’d have to rely on their own means much more. Not only would they have to control producing their own food, but finding alternatives for man made supplies that may never be produced again; toilet roll, toiletries, machine made clothing and other textiles, paper, shoes...the list was endless and terrifying.
There was so much that Aby hadn’t considered. All of the money in her bank account, stored electronically, had been wiped from the world. It simply didn’t exist anymore. How would they trade for goods now?
The internet was gone, too. How would they all get their information? They had no communication with the rest of the world. How far had the EMP spread? They’d probably never know. They needed to get their hands on books if they wanted to continue to accumulate knowledge, but how might they get there without a car?
Aby wasn’t feeling very hopeful about the whole system. Even with the good ideas that they were coming up with, she didn’t think they prepared them for the worst case scenario. What if there was a drought in the summer and the crops wouldn’t grow? What if the animals died of a famine they couldn’t control? What if outside attackers just kept coming and then ran out of bullets?
Their plans talked about the far future, but Aby was sure they’d be lucky to last a year. She’d learned from experience that the worst case scenario was only minutes away from wrecking your life. They’d had so many near-death experiences in the past few days that she was surprised they’d made it so far. Now, they were trying to plan lifetimes ahead when it was possible they were going to die that day.
But she wanted to believe that they could be okay, so she kept going.
They talked about training horses to use for travel. They discussed scavenging for bullets or learning to make their own. They thought of ideas for how to grow more food at a higher speed to help with the growing population and lack of supermarket supplies. The whole thing was making Aby’s head spin...but she was glad to be a part of it. She was in control for once, and she loved it. She felt useful and appreciated in a way she hadn’t in a while.
She was tired of being overlooked. She was every bit as good as Jake, and she was going to prove it. He might be out there playing at being some kind of spy, but she was building the foundations of the town’s future. She knew she shouldn’t keep being bitter and comparing herself to her fiance, but for that moment, she just wanted to revel in the fact that she was important. Was that so bad?
It took John no time at all to fill three entire pages with ideas, messily scrawled across the page. He sat back with a long sigh, rubbing at his wrist.
“Well, this was a good start,” he said. “So long as we’re not obliterated by the city folk, it looks like we’ve got a promising future.”
“Don’t joke about that,” Abigail said sternly. “It’s going to be okay.”
John nodded and offered his wife a warm smile, but Aby could tell he was worried. From what she’d seen, the city folk were at least equal in numbers to the people of Dent. If they were equally armed too then they were going to be a serious issue. Aby had read once that fighting on home turf was an advantage since you’d know the lay of the land and how to defend it, but she didn’t think any of these people were particularly clued up on battle plans. If shots fired, it would be messy and cruel and people would die. At the end of the day, none of them were soldiers. They were all just civilians in a world that wasn’t so civil anymore.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the near distance. Aby jumped out of her chair with a gasp. The bang was over in a split second, but it was closely followed by the roar of men fighting, gunshots and the roar of engines. It was like there was a war going on outside. Abigail clung to John and the four of them were silent and still for a moment, frozen by their fear. This was one thing they couldn’t prepare themselves for.
“Looks like the city folks got in,” John whispered. He glanced at the women in the room with fear in his eyes. “Let’s get ready.”
He took them through to the hallway and began to hand out guns. Aby was handed a hunting rifle and she held it anxiously. She didn’t really know how to use it. Sure, she knew the basic idea, but in practise, it was going to be much more difficult. She tried aiming it and felt panic surge through her when she saw that it was harder than expected.
She wishes for Jake. She didn’t feel quite so competitive now. She wished he was there to tell her it would be okay. He could show her what to do. She’d feel calmer with him by her side…
But he was nowhere to be seen.
“Everyone upstairs,” John ordered. “We can shoot from the windows...the house should protect us a little from any shots coming our way.”
It seemed a sensible idea, so Aby obeyed. Megan was close behind her, terror in her eyes. Aby wanted to offer some words of comfort, but she had nothing left to offer. She was scared too.
As Aby looked down at the town, she quickly understood what had happened. One of the pickup trucks had smashed through the barricade and others were pooling into the streets. Aby felt nauseous as she saw each truck bed loaded with men and women, each of them ready to fight with guns or knives. They seemed better prepared in terms of weapons, and they were so concentrated in one place that Aby knew they wouldn’t be able to stop them from wreaking havoc.
But they had to try.
/>
She prepared to shoot.
Ten
Jake
Jake stood his ground, his aim trained on one of the three men emerging from the shadows. They were outnumbered, but he wasn’t going to allow that to make him lose his focus, even as the three men drew guns of their own.
“You need to leave,” Perry growled at the men. “You’re not from here and we don’t want you here...so go before we have to do something we regret.”
“It’s a free country, man,” one of the men drawled. “You don’t get to tell us what to do. Besides...who is going to stop us, hm? The police?”
The other men laughed and Jake felt anger rise inside him. He’d been in this same position only a few days earlier. He was sick of people laughing at him and not taking him seriously. He fingered the trigger, wondering whether to shoot. He knew he shouldn’t be hot-headed about this. He was considering ending someone’s life...that decision shouldn’t be taken lightly.
But his decision was made when he heard the commotion in the distance. He heard a crash and recognized it as the barricade toppling down. His heart leapt in fear. Aby was back there…
He exchanged the quickest glance with Perry. They knew they had to act fast if they were going to make it out alive. They were about to be shot to pieces if they didn’t move. Jake dived instinctively for the closest tree and then gunfire filled the air.
Jake was high on adrenaline as he pressed his back to the tree trunk. He could see that Perry had also made it to safety behind a tree and was in full attack mode, unloading bullets at will. Jake took a moment before diving out to shoot at the men. He clipped the man on the arm, but he didn’t go down. Jake hastily aimed for the chest and missed once, twice, but the third shot got him, throwing his body backward and causing him to drop his pistol. Jake made a note to pick it up before they left.
Perry was taking on two of the men at once, hiding behind the tree. They didn’t seem to have noticed that their friend had gone down. Jake took a moment before he shot at the middle man, managing to lodge a bullet in his hip. He fell sideways and took the other man down with him. Perry took the opportunity to jump out from where he was hiding and neatly put a bullet in each of the men’s heads.
Jake could barely breathe, but he knew they had no time to waste. He tried not to feel guilty as he and Perry quickly ransacked the bodies. These men and their friends back at the town were going to kill the citizens of Dent without mercy. They had to be just as ruthless.
The first man was still alive as Jake took a lighter and a knife out of his pockets. He gurgled blood from his mouth and tried to speak. Jake didn’t know whether he was cursing him or asking him to end it. Either way, he told himself he owed the man nothing. It was him or them. That’s how things worked now.
Perry joined Jake. The backpack on his back was now loaded with supplies too. “They’re still carrying money around,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Like that’s of any use now. Any ideas what to do?”
For once, Jake was at a loss. If the city folk were storming the town, it seemed like they had very little chance of survival. He shook his head. “Maybe we take them by surprise...head back to the road and come up at them from the rear…”
“That won’t work. They’re backed up all the way along the road. It would be like suicide,” Perry said in a disapproving voice, as though Jake had really let him down with his suggestion. “Maybe we’ll just have to come back the way we came...our gunshots will have drawn people in this direction anyway. Let’s move.”
Jake followed Perry’s lead. It felt good to have someone else take charge for a while, though he’d never admit that out loud. All he wanted now was for the battle to be over, one way or another. He wasn’t scared of dying anymore. He’d come close too many times. But he was afraid of someone hurting Aby. Hurting Megan, or any of his new friends. He had to get back and save them from the onslaught.
On the edge of the woods, Perry silently signalled for Jake to stop. They stared at the madness unfolding in the town. The streets were packed tight with pickup trucks and people were beginning to jump off and spread out. There were even more people than they’d feared. Perry swore under his breath.
“How are we supposed to stop this?” he growled, rubbing his forehead. His jaw clenched. “I guess we just go in, all guns blazing.”
“That’s a sure fire way to get us killed...we’re no use to anyone dead,” Jake pointed out. “Look, they’re all spreading out. If we stay here for a few minutes, they’ll be more spread out. They’ll be easier to pick off one by one.”
“But the longer we wait, the longer our friends are on their own…”
Jake considered that. He thought of Megan cowering alone in a strange house in their strange new town. He thought of Abigail and John desperately trying to fight back to back, but being pelted with bullets they couldn’t fend off. He felt agony at the idea of these people dying because he wasn’t doing anything.
But then he remembered that they weren’t alone. They were meeting in John’s house that very moment. That meant they were armed. That meant they had each other’s backs. That meant they were a force to be reckoned with.
And at the head of it all would be Aby. She’d be taking charge like a boss, keeping Megan from spiralling in fear, ordering Abigail around to make up for her being condescending before, working with John to take down the enemies from the city. Jake smiled to himself.
“Aby can handle it,” he said quietly, and he meant it. She was the strongest woman he knew, and he didn’t let her know that often enough. Now, he might never get the chance to tell her how amazing she was…
But he couldn’t think that way. When the battle was over, they’d pick up the remaining pieces. Until then, he had to believe she was alive, and that he would live too. He needed a goal at the end of the tunnel, and that was her. It had always been her.
“Keep back,” Jake said, reiterating his point to Perry. “If we can hold off just a while and keep watching, then we’ll know the situation better.”
“People are dying out there…”
“And more will if we can’t get a handle on this thing. You’re a smart man, Perry. You know that if we go now, we’ll die in seconds and maybe only take a few casualties with us. Don’t you want to see them all suffer for what they’re doing? Don’t you want to be around to see that happen?”
Jake could tell that Perry wasn’t happy. He was a man of action. He wanted to be out there in the thick of it, protecting his people. Jake had no idea how it must feel to know all of his friends were dying on the battlefield. People he’d shared a town with for a lifetime. People who he knew by name. People who he loved as neighbors and friends and family.
Jake had never known a community like that. In the city, he didn’t even know who lived in his apartment building. He’d never spoken to any of his neighbors, or even seen half of them around. He didn’t know what Perry was going through. But he did know that he was right to hold them back.
Perry looked like he was about to run off on his own. Jake was worried that he was going to be left on his own, or that Perry was going to become a liability in his moment of madness. But he waited patiently as Perry thought it over.
“We can wait,” Perry said eventually. He relaxed his gun for a moment. “I don’t like it, though. My baby girl is only a few streets over...if she dies, maybe that’s on me.”
“She’s going to be alright,” Jake said, though he didn’t know if it was true. He had no idea if Abigail was good with a gun, though he supposed she’d been trained at the shooting range at the town. But if Aby had her back too, he was certain she would be fighting her hardest. And that was one thing that soothed his fearful heart.
It was torture waiting in the shadows, watching the scene unfold. The city folk seemed endless and each time Jake heard a scream, he convinced himself that it was someone from their side. They were woefully unprepared when it came down to it.
“Half of them don’t even have guns,” Perry
whispered bitterly. “Our people, I mean. That’s why John was so excited about you and your friends...we thought you’d be the key to surviving here. Well, people like you. We’ll be lucky if half of us make it out of this alive…”
Jake tried not to absorb what Perry was saying too much. The more he thought about those people suffering, the more reckless he wanted to be. But recklessness would kill them quicker than any guns.
They waited five whole minutes, though it felt like much longer. By then, many of the city folk had dispersed into the town, looking for blood. There were some bodies already laying in the streets from both sides, but Jake didn’t want to see a single other townsman go down. He patted Perry’s back.
“It’s time.”
“Thank God for that, I was going mad...but thanks for keeping me sane, Jake. You did the right thing.” He glanced at Jake with sadness in his eyes. “If I...if I don’t make it, and you do...take care of Abigail. And John. They’re not made for the horrors we’re going to face now.”
“I’ll take care of them...and if I don’t make it…”
Perry shook his head. “You’ll make it, Jake. I can feel it in my bones. You’re a survivor. Let’s raise hell, yeah?”
Jake nodded, his breath quickening. He didn’t feel ready, but he had to be. His heart was threatening to give out, but he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Perry began to run toward the town. Gunfire began straight away. Jake prepared his gun and began to follow.
And then, all of a sudden, he’d walked into hell.
Eleven
Aby
Aby felt like she hadn’t breathed in hours, like she was already dead and watching herself from up above the battle.
The End of the World Series | Book 2 | Survive The Onslaught Page 6
