by AJ Newman
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Prepper’s
Apocalypse
Prepper’s Collapse
Book 2
Prepper Post-Apocalyptic Survival Fiction
by
AJ Newman
.
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Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to Patsy, my beautiful wife of thirty-six years. She assists with everything from Beta reading to censor duties. She enables me to write, golf, and enjoy my life with her and our mob of Shih Tzu’s.
Thanks to Patsy, Cheryl, Jim, Richard C, Richard S, and David, who are Beta readers for this novel. They gave many suggestions that helped improve the cover and readability of my book.
Thanks to Sabrina Jean at Fasttrackediting for proofreading and editing this novel.
Thanks to WMHCheryl at http://wmhcheryl.com/services-for-authors/ for the great final proofreading and suggestions on improving the accuracy and helping me to tell a better story.
Thanks to Dee at Dauntless Cover Design for the fantastic cover.
AJ Newman
Copyright © 2021 Anthony J Newman. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. All events, names, characters, and places are the author’s imagination or are used as a fictitious event. That means I thought up this whole book from my imagination, and nothing in it is true.
All rights reserved. None of this publication may be copied or reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher.
As they say on TV, don’t try anything you read in this novel. It’s all fiction and stuff I made up to entertain you. Buy some survival books if you want to learn how to survive in the apocalypse. I recommend Wild Edible Plant of Western North America by Donald R. Kirk, Army FM 21-76 Survival, and Old Farts Survival Guide by Ron Foster for an excellent start.
Published by Newalk LLC.
Henderson, Kentucky
Table of Contents
Books by AJ Newman
Key Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Books by AJ Newman
About the Author
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Remember to read my other Science Fiction and Mystery Thriller books on Amazon.
AJ Newman
To contact or follow the author, please like my page and leave comments at https://www.facebook.com/aj.newmanauthor.5?ref=bookmarks
To view other books by AJ Newman, go to Amazon to my author’s page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HT84V6U
Books by AJ Newman
Prepper’s Apocalypse
Prepper’s Apocalypse
Prepper’s Collapse
Prepper’s Betrayal – (mid-spring 2021)
John Logan Mysteries
The Human Syndrome
Extinction Level Event
Extinction
Immune: The Hunted
War Dogs
Heading Home
No One Left Behind
Amazon Warriors
EMP:
Perfect Storm
Chaos in the Storm
Cole’s Saga series:
Cole’s Saga
FEMA WARS
American Apocalypse:
American Survivor
Descent into Darkness
Reign of Darkness
Rising from the Apocalypse
After the Solar Flare:
Alone in the Apocalypse
Adventures in the Apocalypse
Alien Apocalypse:
The Virus
Surviving
A Family’s Apocalypse Series:
Cities on Fire
Family Survival
The Day America Died:
New Beginnings
Old Enemies
Frozen Apocalypse
The Adventures of Jon Harris:
Surviving
Hell in the Homeland
Tyranny in the Homeland
Revenge in the Homeland
Apocalypse in the Homeland
Jon Returns
AJ Newman and Mack Norman
Rogue’s Apocalypse:
Rogues Origin
Rogues Rising
Rogues Journey
A Samantha Jones Murder Mystery:
Where the Girls Are Buried
Who Killed the Girls?
These books are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/AJ-Newman/e/B00HT84V6U/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
To contact the Author, please leave comments @
https://www.facebook.com/aj.newmanauthor.5?ref=bookmarks
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Key Characters
Tom Clark – Tom is a rancher in southwestern Oregon. He learned how to survive but lacked most social skills and has a hard-wired fear of cities and outsiders. His wife died two years before the apocalypse, and he still grieves for her.
Bessie Clark – Tom’s feisty grandma. They call her Granny B. She’s an ex-Army nurse and has seen combat in the Middle East. She’s a strong woman who is the leader of her family and moral compass. Her soft side and homespun humor offset her iron-will for her family to survive.
Jackie Clark – Tom’s twin sister and best friend. She shares many of Tom’s skills and traits but did develop adequate social skills. She’s Tom’s best friend and keeps him sane in a crazy world.
Kate Walker – A local young woman caught trying to survive during the chaos surrounding her. She’s a tough young woman and does what it takes to survive. She becomes a member of the ranching community after an ominous start.
Greta Stover – A young woman who joined the group. Her mom and dad died in the first book. She is a high maintenance lady who becomes a tough member of this survival group.
Rick Grimes – Greta’s uncle and welcome addition to the Clark group. He adds his military experience and firepower to a group always facing anarchy.
Samantha “Sam” Hale – A young mother trying to escape her drug lord boyfriend when the EMP blasts rocked the world. She grew fond of Tom and joined the family at the ranch. She was killed during her ex-boyfriend’s attempt to kidnap her from Tom.
Lucy Hale – Sam’s thirteen-year-old daughter and a spoiled brat.
Jack ( no last name )– Ranch hand at the Clark ranch and friend of the Clarks.
June ( no last name ) – Jack’s wife and ranch hand at the Clark ranch.
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Chapter 1
Ashland, Oregon
Tom was deep in thought about the events that had passed since the day the EMP blasts caused their plane to crash. He heard a noise and his focus turned back to the people across the street. The larger of the two rough-looking men held a young man with a gun to his head while the other tore a woman’s blouse from her shoulders. Tom turned to Rick and Jackie and muttered under his breath. “It ain’t none of our business. We can’t save everyone in trouble.”
The moon gave just enough light to enable them to see the attack on the seemingly innocent people. Rick pointed at the woman. “Darn, he’s going to rape her.”
Jackie nudged her brother’s shoulder. “Tom.”
Tom raised his compound bow and took aim at the one attacking the girl. “Jackie, take the big sumbitch. Rick, watch our backs.”
Tom aimed and held his breath as his heart raced. The adrenaline pumped through his body, and that queasy feeling hit the pit of his stomach about the same time he released the arrow. The feathered shaft struck the man on his right arm and went on through deep into the man’s chest. The man stumbled, trying to regain his balance with his underwear and pants around his feet. He fell to the ground, and his head made a sickening sound as it struck the concrete.
Tom hung the bow on his backpack and motioned for the others to follow him. Jackie tugged on his arm. “Aren’t we going to help them?”
Tom’s brows furrowed, and he gave her a stern look. “We just saved their lives. It’s up to them what they do with the gift. They can take the men’s guns and get the hell out of Ashland before some of Carlos’s men finish what these asshats started.”
Rick faced his girlfriend. “We can’t take them home with us. You know that.”
“I guess you two are right, but what if one day, we need other people to help us?”
Tom stopped and huffed in exasperation. “Grandpa always said – we had to keep to ourselves and not bring others to the ranch. It’s hard for me to break away from a lifelong fear of adding people to our family. I know we need to add more families, but how do we vet them adequately?”
Rick interrupted the conversation. “Look at what the couple is doing. He grabbed the weapons while she searched the bodies. Now, they’re hiding them under that pile of rubble. These two might be keepers.”
“Let’s follow them and see where they go and what they do. I’d like to bring them to the ranch,” Jackie pronounced.
Tom shook his head but replied, “Okay. We’ll follow them for an hour or two and see what happens.”
The couple finished hiding the bodies and ran across Highway 66 to the Community Hospital before turning west. Tom led the others but stayed about fifty yards behind the couple. The man pointed at the street sign and walked south on Normal Avenue. He stopped behind a truck and hid in the dark for a minute. The couple appeared to be arguing until the man suddenly ran to the home across the street. The woman followed him, and Tom was surprised to see the man kick in the front door. A few seconds passed, and then flashes of light and gunfire rocked the inside of the house. The woman shot through one of the windows at an unknown target, and the battle ended.
The man came out the door with two young girls trailing behind him. Their hands were tied, and a rope was tied around both of their necks. Jackie gasped. “The women have been captured.”
While the man and woman were distracted by their captives, Tom moved closer to the home. Jackie and Rick joined him. Rick said, “Our innocent couple has some explaining to do.”
The man pushed them to the ground and left the young lady guarding them. He came back a few minutes later with an armload of small bundles. The man placed all but one of the bundles on the ground and opened the remaining packages. Tom couldn’t see what was in the box but gritted his teeth when the man snorted something from his own hand. “The people we saved just ripped off drug dealers. Do you still want to take them back to the camp, dear sister?”
Tom’s twin sister, Jackie, raised her bow. “Brother dear, you can be such an asshole,” she said before letting the arrow fly. Rick quickly nocked an arrow and shot it through the air. Jackie’s arrow struck the man in the back. The second one hit the woman in the back of her head. She turned as she fell, and they could see the arrowhead sticking out of her eye socket.
Jackie huffed as she turned to leave. “I don’t want to hear it. Put a cork in it, big brother.”
Tom followed. “It’s not a game where we keep score on being right. I’m just overly cautious, and you use your heart too much. That keeps us on a level keel. Do the same with Rick, and you two will have a good marriage.”
Jackie stopped and hugged her brother. “We do make a great team,” she said and then walked away.
Tom wanted to scavenge a veterinarian office on Highway 99 on Ashland's northwestern end before heading home. The Animal Hospital looked as though no one had looted it from across the highway. Tom always liked to watch a store or area before risking their lives by barging in without surveilling the situation. The trek to the Animal Hospital took too long, and they found themselves with only three hours to search the place and get back out of Ashland before daylight.
Tom looked at the area around the front of the building and passed the night vision scope to Rick. “I think we’ll search the place and fill our bags but spend the day there before going home tonight. I don’t want to rush into a trap.”
Soon after Tom spoke, a horde of people walked out of the shadows behind the gas station beside the Animal Hospital and came across the street. Small groups split off and searched every building in their path. Tom exhaled in relief when they passed by the veterinary facility without stopping.
Jackie whispered, “The mass migration and die-off have begun. These people almost look like zombies walking along devouring everything in sight.”
Tom was in deep thought about what Granny B and his grandpa had said about the die-off. They’d preached about avoiding the city people as they fled to the country to find food, even if it meant robbing the ranchers and farmers. Jackie tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll bet you’re thinking about … .”
“Wrong as usual, my dear sis. Us high-level leaders of the apocalypse don’t have time or a need for sex. We just concentrate on keeping our devoted followers safe.”
“Sounds like bull crap and smells like bull crap.”
Tom chuckled. “If you have to know, I was wondering how much trouble these folks are going to be for us. There couldn’t be more than thirty thousand people within a hundred miles of here. We just need to hunker down and wait them out as they flood through or kill each other.”
Rick listened. “But where will they try to go to? There isn’t much farming or ranching around here. I think they’ll be like locusts and swarm down the Rogue River Valley going south before winter settles in on us.”
“I hope you’re right. That would mean they’d miss us by ten miles,” Tom said as he saw a man walking straight at them. Tom cleared his throat and pointed at the man. “Duck and hope he doesn’t see us.”
The man continued walking toward them, and then a woman joined him. She’d been hiding behind a truck. Jackie whispered. “I think they’re carrying crossbows.”
The stranger was exceedingly cautious but didn’t see Tom behind the shrubs. He motioned for the woman to join him. “I know I saw a blonde woman over here. Those freaking mexicans will pay top dollar for her. Don’t hurt her but kill anyone with her.”
Tom felt his heartbeat in his ears as he leveled his AR and aimed at the man when he heard the pop of the bowstrings behind him. The man stood, still looking in Tom’s direction as his crossbow slowly drooped by his side. Only a few inches of the arrow stuck out of his chest. He said, “Ramona, I’m dead. Someone killed …”
Ramona had her own troubles. Jackie’s arrow struck her in the right breast and pierced her lungs. She toppled against a nearby car, and only bloody foam bubbled from her lips. Ramona soon crumpled to the ground a few seconds before her partner.
Tom searched the man while Jackie and Rick stripped the woman of anything useable. They both had 9-mm pistols, the crossbow, and a couple dozen bolts. Tom led them into an empty restaurant and examined the crossbow. “Holy crap, this is a fancy bow and arrow. Is it any better than the compound bows?”
Rick chuckled. “The one there costs about thirty-five-hundred-dollars, and comparing it to a compound bow is like comparing a bicycle to a Corvette. You have a night vision scope, range
finder, and wind meter built-in besides all the fancy stuff that makes it about the best made. The one Jackie has in her hands is only a notch better.”
“How do you know so much about this stuff?” Tom asked.
“My best friend Wes had a decent crossbow but always salivated over the fancy crossbows in the hunting magazines like a teenage boy looking at a porn video.”
Jackie poked her boyfriend on the arm. “Gross, that was gross.”
Rick laughed. “You’ve never been a young boy with raging hormones.”
Jackie turned to her brother. “Well, my brother never looked at that porn crap.”
Tom glanced at Rick. “About those crossbows, can you teach us how to shoot them? I can’t hit a barn door with the compound bows.”
Jackie laughed, “He couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle. Hey, you changed the topic.”
Rick quickly said, “Of course I can teach you.”
They drove back to the ranch the next night after holding up in the veterinarian’s office all day. Their backpacks and bags were full of medicine and other medical supplies scavenged from the vet’s office. The crossbows were a great addition to the team’s armament, and Tom knew silent but deadly was the way to go if they wanted to stay hidden. He thought, We keep saying we’re trying to avoid killing but end up having to kill to save ourselves or others. When does this crap end?
Tom drove the old Dodge, as usual while Jackie watched the road with the night vision scope. They bounced along at thirty miles per hour with Tom fighting the wheel. The old truck’s steering gears had been worn out many years ago, and the slop in the gears caused him to continually make corrections.
