The Last Storm

by Jack Hunt

  “Solomon needs my help. Jess. Go!” he said waving her off. She hesitated for a second then turned and hurried down as Alex pulled back the door on the fifteenth floor and opened fire from his end, firing only at targets he could make out. By now the entire hallway on the fifteenth floor was a mass of smoke and flames. Tongues of fire licked up the walls, the sound of people coughing and the noise of gunfire dominated.

  He pulled back into the stairwell to slap another magazine into the rifle.

  They had them pinned in from both sides.

  The goal wasn’t to kill them as much as it was to give Solomon enough time to get the residents out. If Cayden’s men died in the process, so be it. He certainly wasn’t firing haphazardly. If there was a clear shot he planned on taking it.

  Cayden pulled back inside the apartment, then unleashed another flurry of rounds at the east stairwell. “Bastard!” he yelled, furious.

  “Cayden, the residents are getting out,” Vic hollered.

  “Kill every one of them,” he said before darting out of the room, and trying to get close to the other stairwell. The flames were intense, he could barely breathe with all the smoke. He called out to Leon. “Leon!”

  There was no reply. He looked back and saw most of his men lying on the floor. “Leon!” he screamed and darted over to him, grabbing a hold of the back of his jacket and hauling him into the closest apartment. When he had him inside he flipped him over and looked down at the wound in his stomach.

  “Hey, hey, don’t you die on me.”

  He slapped his face a few times and Leon’s eyelids opened. Clutching him in his arms he shook his head unable to believe this was happening. Everything was going smoothly. Now his best friend was fighting for his life.

  “Leon.”

  Leon managed to muster a few words. “I told you, Cayden.”

  Tears welled up in Cayden’s eyes. “I know you did.”

  “Get out now. Look after my kid,” he said through gritted teeth as he winced in death’s grip.

  “No. No. You’re going to do that,” Cayden said. “Hang in there, Leon.”

  Blood trickled out the corner of Leon’s mouth and his eyes closed.

  “Leon. Leon!” He yelled his name several more times and tried performing CPR on him but it was useless, there was no pulse. Rage overwhelmed him. He no longer cared about the drugs, nor the residents, all he wanted now was to kill that officer. He ran his fingers over his face to close his eyelids.

  Cayden staggered to his feet, coughing and spluttering. The smoke was beginning to overwhelm him. He could barely breathe. Outside the apartment he could hear gunfire still erupting. He made his way over to the door and pulled back, then raised his forearm. The flames were intense and had filled almost every inch of the floor.

  Resigned to his fate, and fueled by the loss of his friend, he darted out into the corridor, unleashing every round in his magazine at the east stairwell while rushing forward, and jumping through a wall of fire and smoke.

  Rounds ricocheted off the door as Alex pulled back. He was in the middle of slapping another magazine into the rifle when the door burst open and Cayden piled into him. They fell back, over the edge of the top stair, and toppled down twelve steps landing hard.

  It was like being attacked by a wild animal. Cayden drove his fist into Alex’s face multiple times before Alex managed to wrap his legs around him and twist him off to one side. He squeezed Cayden’s neck between his thighs trying to choke him out and for a second he thought he had him as he watched his face turn a beet red, but then Cayden turned his head and bit down.

  Alex let out a guttural scream and released him.

  Before he had a chance to recover, Cayden began stomping him in the ribs. Pain shot through him as he tried to shield himself from the attack. Three more strikes to the face and everything went black. With the wind knocked out of him, and slipping in and out of consciousness, he felt Cayden latch on to his collar and drag him.

  When he came to, he felt himself being hauled up steps and heard Cayden talking to himself. “You’ve stolen my livelihood. You’ve stolen everything that’s mattered to me. Well now I’m going to steal everything you have starting with your life, then your wife and finally your daughter.”

  Alex shook his head. The world around him was upside down.

  He tried to snap out of the mental fog but as hard as he tried, he kept going unconscious. The next time he awoke, he felt freezing cold wind biting at his ears. The cold snapped his senses back to normal. That’s when he realized where he was, in the doorway of the roof.

  Cayden was attempting to push him out and let the wind blow him off the roof. And he might have succeeded had it not been for the cold waking him up. Alex used what strength he had in him to latch on to Cayden’s leg. He was like a pit bull holding on for dear life.

  “Get. Off!” Cayden yelled kicking him again with his free leg.

  As painful as it was to hold on, he knew if he released it was over. He wouldn’t have the strength to resist the 90 mph winds that had already torn off some of the air vents. Cayden dropped down and tried prying his fingers away but when that didn’t work he started punching him in the face, once, twice, three times.

  After being knocked so hard in the jaw, his hands released from his leg and he slipped out but just managed to grab hold of a steel pipe near the roof’s doorway.

  “You bastard just won’t die, will you?”

  Cayden got on the ground and positioned himself in such a way that half of his body was inside the stairwell and the other half was out. He was trying to use the length of his legs to reach Alex and kick his hands off the steel pipe.

  Alex felt the crunch of his boot against his knuckles.

  So cold from the wind he could barely feel it.

  Cayden inched out a bit further and drew back his leg, this time hoping to kick him in the face and perhaps it would have worked if what occurred next didn’t happen. Something red struck Cayden hard in the head, knocking him out of the doorway and across the roof. Alex turned in time to see him topple like tumbleweed blown by the wind straight over the edge. His scream was lost in the howl of the storm.

  Alex squinted, looking back to see who it was, a figure came into view and he smiled. There at the door with a fire extinguisher in her grasp was Jess.

  “I told you I wasn’t leaving you,” she said reaching for his hand.

  Chapter 20

  Windswept, frozen by the cold and staggering in pain, Alex and Jess made their way down the fourteen-story building. When they reached the second floor there was a long line of people clogging up the stairwell. Agnes spotted Alex and called out to Solomon. A minute or two passed, then he navigated his way up and stopped a few feet in front of them. Alex had his arm slung over Jess and was gripping his ribs with the other hand. A smile flickered on both their faces as he leaned in and squeezed Alex’s shoulder.

  “One hell of a day, huh?”

  “You’re telling me,” Alex replied.

  Solomon motioned with his head. “Well, we are not out of the woods yet. The basement is full now. There’s no way to get to the school. However, I’ve managed to get the lock off the back door and flagged Lucas down. They’re taking out people five at a time. It’s going to be a long process.”

  They made their way down the staircase to the first floor. Alex’s gaze washed over the crowd of people. “Did everyone make it?” he asked.

  “Not everyone,” Solomon replied, his chin dropping.

  They continued on around to the front of the building and joined the others waiting for a ride. It was a slow process as the weather outside wasn’t letting up and only appeared to be getting worse. The waters had risen, seeping into the building and flooding the first floor. Up to their ankles in water they sloshed through the mess and assisted Solomon in getting everyone to safety.

  Outside it was dark, and the blizzard had intensified making visibility low. When they finally loaded the last resident into the boat, Alex, Solom
on and Jess climbed onboard. The boat bounced over choppy waves that now covered the town. All that could be seen was the silhouette of a few tall buildings above the surface like outstretched fingers. A crescent moon reflected off the water in one area while the rest was covered in snow.

  “Where are you taking everyone?” Jess asked.

  “A local fisherman, Ted Manning, owns several boats. We’ll head out across Prince William Sound and the Passage Canal and head over to Valdez. It’s going to be a long journey but hopefully we’ll eventually find dry land.”

  “And if we don’t?” Jess asked

  Solomon looked back at Alex as they got closer to Ted’s boat. “We will.”

  Alex knew he couldn’t guarantee that the rest of the country was in any better shape than Whittier. Whatever had occurred had been drastic enough to cause the waters to rise exponentially. The atmosphere was somber as they were greeted by Ted and climbed onboard. Ted had enough room on his boat for close to thirty people, the rest had to go in two separate boats.

  Hayley had been sitting with her knees up and a gray thermal blanket wrapped around her when they spotted her. She squinted, unsure if she was hallucinating. A smile broke on her face and she rushed over, tears filled her eyes as she hugged them tight.

  Jess and Alex took a seat beside her and joined the others looking back at the town. No matter what lay ahead Alex had a sense that they would forge forward together. As they pulled away from Whittier, or what was left of it, a lid of heavy white clouds hung over the place, and Begich Towers stood out defiantly as if challenging Mother Nature to bring her worst. It had survived the biggest earthquake in Alaskan history and weathered many storms but this one would truly test its mettle.

  Chapter 21

  One year later

  Tucson, Arizona

  Alex sat in a café, soaking in the early morning rays and watching military trucks leave with large numbers of refugees loaded in the back. Families were going home, returning to what was left of the fifty states to rebuild and start again. It would be a struggle but when had life not been hard?

  Canada, the USA and many of the northern countries of Europe had suffered greatly during what was called the deadliest storm in recorded history. Over 6.4 million people died across the northern hemisphere and that number appeared to grow with each passing day. There had been wild speculation as to what had caused it, discussions on news channels argued and debated, conspiracy theorists pointed fingers, and climatologists were saying it was the precursor to an even greater event to come if humanity didn’t find a solution to global warming. Those who lived in the southern part of the United States had fared well with most heading over into Mexico and seeking asylum in the first few months after the initial hit.

  Alex looked over to Jess who was serving coffee to a large line of refugees. In the days and weeks after they’d made it to Anchorage, military helicopters started evacuating people and taking everyone south to where it was warm and dry. Somewhere in the shuffle they had got separated from Solomon and the rest of the Whittier residents, and it had taken close to a month before they saw each other again.

  The past twelve months had been tough but a learning experience. The suddenness of the storm had opened even the most skeptical to the dangers of ignoring climate change. The fact was every person’s actions had an impact on the environment and if they were to turn back the tide, huge changes would need to be made.

  Hayley hurried over and sat down on the bench beside him and tucked her arm around his. “You’re up.”

  “Already? I just sat down,” he said.

  She pointed at the crowd of people. “Lots of people to serve.”

  That was one of the prerequisites for staying in the FEMA camp, everyone had to chip in and help, refugees were no different. He was just about to return to serving food and coffee when he spotted Solomon heading over. He ducked under the makeshift green tent that had been set up and assigned as a canteen and café.

  “Alex.”

  “Solomon. Did you find them?”

  “Took me a while. Had to ask a lot of questions. They were in a camp west of here.” He turned around and motioned to Natalie and his son who were standing near one of the green military trucks.

  Alex smiled. “How was she?”

  “Natalie is Natalie. We have our issues to work out but I think there’s hope.”

  “Of course there is.” He smiled. “I’m pleased for you. So you heading back?”

  “Yeah.”

  “To Whittier?” Alex asked.

  “No, actually her family headed to Florida. Jacksonville.”

  Even after a year many of the cities in the northern hemisphere were unlivable. Whittier, Anchorage and many parts of Canada had got the worst of it.

  “What about you?” Solomon asked. “If they ever get it back up and running again, will you return?”

  Alex breathed in deeply and looked over to Jess and Hayley. “A wise man once said, if it ever becomes too much, get out. I think I’m going to take his advice.”

  Solomon grinned, shaking his hand. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s been good knowing you, kid.”

  “You too.”

  Solomon looked over to Natalie who glanced at him. “Well I’ll be seeing you.”

  “I hope not, I think our reunion would be cursed,” he said before both men laughed.

  They hugged it out and Alex watched Solomon join his family and climb into the rear of the truck. A soldier banged the side, and it kicked up a plume of dust as it drove away. Hayley called out to Alex, and he twisted around. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

  The storm had tested the resolve of their family and been a wake-up call to humanity. Although many lives were lost, and much was taken from the world they once knew, it had taught them all a valuable lesson, and one that would not be so easily forgotten.

  The world they lived in was not a commodity, an inexhaustible resource from which they could draw upon, it had its limits and if they continued to push, it would push back. Climate change was no longer someone else’s problem, it was his, his neighbors’, and the world at large, and how they dealt with it today would determine the impact of tomorrow.

  THANK YOU FOR READING

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  A Plea

  Thank you for reading the final book The Last Storm. If you enjoyed the book, I would really appreciate it if you would consider leaving a review. Without reviews, an author’s books are virtually invisible on the retail sites. It also lets me know what you liked. It also motivates me to write more books. You can leave a review by visiting the book’s page. I would greatly appreciate it. It only takes a couple of seconds.

  Thank you — Jack Hunt

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  About the Author

  Jack Hunt is the best-selling author of horror, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic novels. He currently has three books out in the War Buds series, three books out in the EMP survival series, two books out in the Wild Ones duology, three books in the Camp Zero series, three books out in the Agora Virus series, five books out in the Renegades series, one book out in the The Armada series, a time travel book called Killing Time, a science fiction book called Blackout, another called Darkest Hour, another called Final Impact and another called Mavericks: Hunters Moon. Jack lives on the East coast of North America.

  jackhuntauthor

  www.jackhuntbooks.com

  jhuntauthor@gmail.com

 

 

 
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