After the EMP (Book 5): Chaos Gains

by Harley Tate

  Larkin beat out the screen with his fist and it fell to the ground. “Gloria, can you jump?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good. You first.” Larkin helped her to the window as lights hit the door. “Hurry.”

  She eased out, teetering on the edge before disappearing. A soft thud sounded outside.

  “Dani, you’re next.” Larkin helped her up and over. She jumped without looking and landed on the grass on both feet.

  Gloria rose up to stand beside her. “Were you going somewhere fancy?”

  Dani wrinkled her brow before looking down at the dress she still wore. “It’s a long story.”

  Shouts erupted inside the dorm. Melody leaned out the window, shouting at them to run. Gunfire rat-a-tat-tatted over their heads and Melody ducked for cover. Smoke plumed over the roofline and blotted out the moon.

  Dani grabbed Gloria by the arm and dragged her toward the edge of the trees. They couldn’t wait another second. As they rushed into the forested area outside the dorm, Dani’s feet sank in soft weeds and ferns. Gloria stumbled and threw out a hand. Dani hauled her up.

  She didn’t look back or slow down. She just pulled Gloria along, deeper and deeper into the shadows. Tree branches thwacked her in the face. Sticks threatened to twist her ankle or break a bone.

  Still, Dani didn’t stop. They had to get away from the soldiers and the fight and the light that would mean the end of them. She wouldn’t get shot in the back. Not today.

  After what seemed like forever, she slowed, breath sawing in and out of her lungs, and dropped to grab her knees.

  Gloria tumbled to the ground in a heap. “I can’t go any farther.”

  “We have to. Just a little rest and we keep going.”

  “I can’t.”

  Dani’s heart slowed enough that she could stand upright. They stood in the middle of a forest full of evergreen trees and wild ferns. The underbrush and branches gave them cover, and the trees blocked most of the light. From gaps in between the forest, she could see the hint of flames and hear the shouts of soldiers fanning out in search.

  She glanced around her and her heart stuttered. Melody and Larkin were nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  COLT

  University of Oregon

  Eugene, Oregon

  3:00 a.m.

  “You’re sure the roof is the best option?” Colt pulled a lighter from his pocket and held it to the wick of a Molotov cocktail.

  Doug nodded as he took the burning bottle from Colt’s hand. “It’s the only wood I can see. The eaves are painted plywood; everything else is stucco or brick. It’s our best chance.”

  Colt lit two more and together they launched the first flaming bottles at the dorm-turned-brig. They exploded on contact, spreading a ball of flame up over the roof and along the eaves and gutters. He launched the third at the front of the building where the roofline hung over the steps with wood rafters and it exploded in a shower of flames and sparks.

  Plumes of fire whooshed over the cured timber and in seconds, the roof of the dorm was in flames. A soldier ran down from the front landing, shouting. It would take a few minutes for the base to activate. At three in the morning, all but a handful of soldiers were asleep.

  A handheld air siren sounded in a repeated rhythm. A manual fire alarm.

  Colt leaned closer to Doug and yelled above the noise. “Light the rest and throw them wherever makes sense.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m going to find Jarvis and end this thing. As soon as you’re out of bottles, get back to Harvey and Will. Don’t wait to take off.”

  Doug nodded and Colt broke away, rifle strapped across his back, Sig in his hand. With adrenaline pumping, his stitches didn’t pull and his bicep didn’t ache. Power and fear and the need to fight eclipsed all the pain. He hoped the army uniform would buy him some time. He pulled the cover tight over his hair and rushed toward the closest building.

  A disoriented soldier stumbled out. Colt shouted. “Get to the brig! It’s on fire. We need water. Something to put it out! Hurry!”

  The soldier nodded and rushed down the stairs. Colt eased around the now-empty front steps and ducked into the shadows.

  This section of campus fanned out around a center grass-filled quad with dorms on Colt’s side and administrative buildings across the way. From the way Larkin described it, Jarvis worked and slept in a professor’s suite in a building opposite the brig. Colt only had to find out which one.

  As he rose up to head that way, a civilian truck tore into the quad and screeched to a stop. Soldiers piled out. Colt braced himself. Now, Doug! Within seconds, a flaming bottle sailed through the air and landed on the vehicle’s hood. The explosion shook the campus and tossed the soldiers to the ground.

  The truck burned an acid smoke with giant black plumes fanning out to eclipse half the quad.

  Colt moved out of the darkness, striding like an officer with purpose to the next building. No one noticed him. He ducked into the shadows as another door banged open and more men piled out. Half were wearing PT gear, a few were tucking pants into their boots. It was chaos.

  He kept going. Jarvis wouldn’t hide from this. Instead of directing his men from the safety of a barricaded office, he would be out there, watching. When he used Dani as bait, he didn’t hide behind his men, he went straight to the front line and almost killed them both.

  When Jarvis tried to keep his distance, he failed. His men left Dani alive and missed Colt and the others when they were only a few blocks away. This time Jarvis wouldn’t hide. He would be coming to see it himself and bark orders from the front. Colt just had to find him.

  As more and more soldiers woke up and poured out of the buildings, Doug launched more bombs. One hit a picnic table and set it ablaze. Another set fire to a gazebo across the grass. A roofline three buildings away bloomed with smoke. Leave it to a firefighter to know the best places to burn.

  Colt ducked behind a massive trash receptacle with bins for recycling and composting and regular waste. He paused and slung his rifle around to peer through the scope. The administrative buildings fanned out straight ahead. Still no sign of Jarvis.

  To his right, soldiers swarmed the burning brig like enraged fire ants looking for someone to bite. Flames leapt over the roof and curled around the front. They lit up a wooded, natural area just beyond the edge of the quad. Trees glowed from the warmth of the fire, just out of reach of the flames.

  The tree line would give him better cover and mask his location when he shot Jarvis. But Colt couldn’t reach it. Fifty soldiers stood between him and the closest tree over a hundred yards away. The dumpster was his best bet.

  As long as Doug kept the men distracted with Molotov cocktails, Colt could wait. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Jarvis would show himself. He wouldn’t be able to resist. Every thirty seconds, Colt scanned the buildings.

  A door to a low-slung building across the quad opened and two soldiers with rifles emerged. Jarvis’s barrel-chested form followed. He stood on the landing, hands clasped behind him, watching. Yes!

  Now was Colt’s chance. The occupation of the University would fall apart without Jarvis in command. Colt leaned into position. Flipped the safety. Let the air whoosh from his lungs.

  In the second before firing, a soldier stepped in front of Jarvis and Colt eased back. He only had one chance to get it right.

  “Get the girl! Take her alive!” The shout jerked Colt’s attention to the right and he swung the rifle. A soldier shouted and pointed and a handful of others took off for the tree line. Colt squinted.

  Dani and Gloria. No! They were running for the trees, Dani dragging Gloria along without looking back. She didn’t see the danger. She didn’t know how close the soldiers were. Without weapons, they were defenseless. They would be captured and thrown in the brothel like Melody. Dani would be…

  Colt zeroed in on the soldier closest to Dani. He couldn’t make it across the quad i
n time, but Colt could damn well shoot. Colt fired and the man crumpled to the ground. Aimed again and took out the next and the next and the next.

  One after another, Colt picked off the group of soldiers racing for the tree line. The remaining few ducked for cover, running behind buildings, diving onto the ground. One even dropped his weapon and ran.

  No one chased the two women as they disappeared into the trees.

  Colt swung back to Jarvis. The man still had the arrogance to stand there, watching. Colt zeroed in on his pompous chest and fired. The trigger clicked.

  Damn.

  The magazine was empty. Colt tugged the rifle strap off his shoulder and threw the useless weapon on the ground. He couldn’t make the shot with his Sig. Too far to be reliable even for an air marshal.

  He pulled up his binoculars and stared at Jarvis. A soldier ran up to him. Gestured wildly. Jarvis nodded and headed inside. Colt’s chance to kill him was gone.

  With a deep breath, Colt pulled his service weapon out of his waistband and eased into the shadows. He would have another opportunity, just not today. Dani took priority now. He might have pulled the soldiers off their initial pursuit, but she couldn’t make it back to Harvey and the vehicles without help.

  Colt stuck to the dark corners, flanking the quad in a wide, convoluted arc, careful to stay out of range of any soldier still left. Thanks to his bullets and Doug’s flaming launches, most had retreated across the quad to hole up inside various buildings.

  There had to be hundreds of men stationed in Eugene. Maybe thousands. It was a bigger force than Colt gave Jarvis credit for. A typical siege during the day would never have worked. Colt, Dani, and the rest of them would have been captured in an instant.

  It was still touch-and-go. Would they make it out alive or would Jarvis figure out their getaway and stop them? Colt pushed the questions out of his mind as he reached the cover of the trees. He ducked into the comfort of the dark and sucked in a breath.

  The moon only penetrated enough to make large objects visible. Colt slowed as he trekked into the forest, careful to avoid hidden logs and fallen debris. Dani was out there somewhere and he needed to find her. Keep her safe.

  Fifty yards into the wilderness he heard a faint rustling. Colt froze. It could be a soldier or an animal or Dani and Gloria hiding in the dark. He eased up behind a large tree, shielding his torso from any bullets.

  The rustling came again, this time to his left, toward the parking lot. Colt advanced toward the noise, rolling his feet from heel to toe on the thick, spongy ground to stay silent. A shape loomed ahead of him.

  He brought his handgun into position close to his body to protect from a surprise attack. The shape moved again, lumpy and nondescript in the darkness.

  Colt closed the gap. He whisper-shouted into the forest, “Dani!”

  The shape froze for a moment before melting into the trees. A voice scraped the darkness. “Favorite redhead. Go.”

  “Dana Scully.”

  The bushes rustled and the tree branches moved and Dani materialized out of the dark into a soot- and dirt-covered teenager. She almost jumped into his arms and he hugged her with his free arm. “I thought you were a soldier.”

  “Same here.” He pulled back. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded and motioned for Gloria to emerge from the bushes.

  Gloria appeared harried and afraid, but unharmed. “We’ve lost Melody and Larkin.”

  Colt frowned. “We’ll have to trust them to make it back. The place is swarming with soldiers. We need to get to Harvey and the vehicles before we’re trapped here.”

  Dani nodded. “I would have gone sooner, but we ran so far into the woods, I didn’t know which way to go.”

  Colt pointed toward the parking lot. “It’s straight this way. You go first, I’ll pick up the rear. If anyone comes looking, I’ll take care of them.”

  Dani and Gloria took off and Colt followed, ears open for any foreign sound. They reached the edge of the forest closest to the parking lot without incident just as the door to Lucas’s little electric car shut.

  Colt waved the women on. “Go now before he leaves!”

  They rushed the vehicle, tearing down the slope as the car rolled forward. Dani threw herself at the trunk and the car lurched to a stop. The door flew back open and Dani and Gloria crawled inside. Colt kept his eyes on the surrounding area until they cleared the lot.

  The Humvee still sat where they left it, waiting. He just needed to make it inside.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  MELODY

  University of Oregon

  Eugene, Oregon

  3:15 a.m.

  Larkin shouted. “Go now! I’ve pushed them back into the hall!” Melody rushed to the window. The ground was so damn far. She sucked in a breath and jumped. Her legs buckled as she hit the ground. Something snapped.

  She rolled onto her side, barely stifling a scream as she gripped her ankle. No! Not now! Hauling herself up, she tried to walk. Her leg crumpled.

  Larkin was still inside, shooting at the soldiers trying to enter the room. He couldn’t hold them off forever. She needed to move. Dani and Gloria were nowhere to be seen. Hobbling toward the tree line, she prayed Larkin could keep the men busy. Her feet landed on soft earth and she fell to her hands and knees, scrabbling in the dirt and ferns to hide.

  She didn’t make it very far.

  “Look what the traitor dragged in.” A hand wrapped around her calf. “Or out, I should say.” The man yanked with violent force and Melody’s hands flew out from underneath her. Her face slammed into the ground and the man dragged her back over the weeds and dirt to the asphalt.

  Her skin ripped and tore as he flipped her over.

  Captain Ferguson.

  Melody gawked in fear. The way he leered with nothing but malice and vengeance in his dark eyes, Melody knew what he intended. He’s going to kill me. She reached behind her for purchase on the ground, but her fingers only grasped at leaves.

  “Did Major Larkin get tied up? What about your good buddy Potter? Or that sniveling little girl I should have shot in the head?” He stepped closer. “Where are all of your friends now?”

  “They’ll find me.”

  His head tipped back and a laugh bubbled up from the depths of his stomach. “Only when you’re dead.” He reached down and grabbed her by the belt around her dress. “Is that what you want? To be made a spectacle of? Give your friends a lasting memory of how they failed you?”

  “Get away from me. You’re nothing but an ugly, incompetent soldier who couldn’t even handle a house raid.”

  His fist slammed into her face and something inside her cheek crunched. Melody’s face hit the dirt and she left it there, twisted to the side. She needed to get away, but the pain radiating out of her cheek made it hard to breathe.

  Ferguson didn’t waste any time. He tore at the skirt of her dress, fluffing it up to find shorts beneath. “What’s this? How’d you know I love a challenge?”

  Gripping the spandex shorts with his fist, he yanked them down her body. Melody’s hips jumped in the air like a fish on land. She struggled to get away, but he was too big. Too strong.

  Pinning her with one hand to her shoulder, Ferguson yanked the shorts down to her ankles and kneeled between her legs. “I wanted our first time to be better than this. I gave you a nice room. Fancy clothes to wear. You’d have been pampered with hot food and showers. Plenty of attention.”

  He snorted his disgust. “Instead you’re flat on your back in the dirt. Nothing better than a piece of trash.”

  Melody brought her knees up and twisted, but it wasn’t any good. She couldn’t get enough leverage, couldn’t hit him where it counted. Her fists slammed into his arms like marshmallows against a wall.

  She whimpered and fell back. “I’ll behave. I promise. If you just take me back inside, I’ll do whatever you tell me to.”

  The captain paused. “Begging is beneath even you, Ms. Harper.” He reached betwee
n her legs and ran his hand over her underwear. “Screaming suits you better.”

  Melody dug her heels into the ground and shoved backward enough to gain a couple inches. Her skin rubbed raw against the gravel and loose dirt, but she didn’t care. She had to get away.

  Sweeping the ground with her hands, she searched for anything to grab hold of. Her fingers wrapped around a stick and she pulled it up, but time and rain weakened the wood and it crumpled in her hand. A sob escaped her throat.

  Ferguson smiled and reached for his belt. “I’d like to say this won’t hurt, but I’d be lying.”

  She scrabbled, passing over rocks and twigs, desperate and frantic as he pulled the belt into a loop. He whipped her with it across the thighs and Melody screamed.

  He whipped her again and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Her legs fell open as Ferguson yanked open the button on his pants. No! A sob broke free from Melody’s throat and she swept the ground again with her fingers. A sharp pain lanced through her palm and she closed her hand.

  Yes! Melody clutched a shard of glass tight in her fingers. It wasn’t much—no bigger than a stubby pencil—but it would do. This time she would stop him. She wouldn’t freeze in terror because a man bigger and stronger than her tossed her around. She wouldn’t be his victim.

  Ferguson grabbed her panties, but instead of fighting, Melody relaxed. His eyes flicked up to her face.

  “Please, I don’t want it to hurt. I meant what I said. I’ll come back with you. I’ll let you do anything you want.” She chewed on her swollen lip and tried to make it convincing. Please work. I only need a chance. She let her lip go. “I’ll be yours.”

  His eyes ran up and down her body. “Mine?”

  She nodded. “Only yours.”

  Ferguson smiled. “Prove it to me. Give me a kiss.” He leaned down and Melody seized the moment. She gripped the shard of glass, cutting her own skin she launched her fist straight for Ferguson’s face. The point entered his eye dead center.