The Liar

by Bobby Adair

  Chapter 28

  When they stopped paddling to catch their breath, they were somewhere in the middle of the lake, in a flotilla of refugees. Some were pushing on toward the other shore, while many were stopping to rest and watch the inferno consume their town.

  The gunfire had stopped, thankfully, and Tommy wondered if it was an unspoken truce among the escapees, or if the 704s who’d made the attempt to cross the lake had all been identified and killed already.

  “God, look at that,” rumbled Gordon in his deep voice, looking back at the town.

  Others of his people were in the boats around them, faces Tommy recognized from their assault on the jailhouse. And he saw men and women in police and sheriff’s uniforms, the good guys he’d helped set free. The girls, too. Other civilians—regular people from Spring Creek—who’d waited too long to make it out in a car, or were holed up and unaware until it was almost too late.

  Some among them were crying, for the loved ones they'd lost, or for the homes they'd never see again, or for their lives turned upside down, leaving them with nothing but a shirt and shoes, and no country even to call their own anymore. People unmoored from a life they'd lived for twenty, forty, or sixty years. Until sometime late Friday afternoon, when the hate baked into America's soul finally boiled over into a suicidal war.

  The wind blew across the lake, stirring the black water into ripples that reflected the orange firelight as they fluttered toward Spring Creek. The inferno was consuming the forest all the way up the face of the mountain, working its way south toward Breckenridge. The stars in the sky above were gone, hidden behind a veil of smoke that was filling the entire night sky.

  All of it left Tommy feeling empty and sad. It was only Emma, sitting safely in the middle of the canoe, that gave Tommy any hope at all for a future.

  “What do we do now?” asked Emma in a small voice.

  “Canada?” In truth, Tommy didn’t know. He didn’t even know where to begin.

  “I need to call Barry.” Summer pulled out the sat-phone.

  Emma turned sideways in the canoe, rocking it precariously as she reached her hand to Tommy.

  He took hold. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as his voice unexpectedly cracked. “For what I had to do.”

  Emma blinked back tears that wanted to flow, but she wanted to be strong, too. She squeezed his hand hard and tried to smile. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

  Barry answered the phone, and Summer started to talk, softly, because a silence had fallen over the people on the lake, a reverence, like a funeral where the number of the dead was beyond counting. She brought the call to a quick end, then told them, “Barry’s going to meet us on the other side of the lake.”

  “Where’s Faith?” asked Emma, though her eyes told Tommy she’d already guessed the answer. “They took us both from the house, but they separated us.”

  Tommy shook his head, knowing he had to say it out loud to make it real—not just for Emma, but for himself. "They killed her. In the beginning, even before they grabbed me. I was afraid you were—" Tommy's voice betrayed him, and he couldn't finish.

  “Are you okay?” asked Emma, looking at Tommy and trying to blink her eyes clear. “I know you and Faith—” She coughed. “I know things weren’t good with you two lately, but I know she loved you.”

  Tommy struggled again to shore up his voice. “I’m okay.”

  Tears trickled down Emma’s cheeks. “They took you, too? Why?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” answered Tommy. “None of this makes any sense.”

  “You could have been killed,” said Emma. “Because of me? What I did? That’s why they came for you and Faith?”

  “Don’t,” Tommy told her. “You did everything you could to stop this.” He looked over at Summer. “She and this Barry guy, along with some others, busted me out.”

  Summer scooted around in the canoe and reached over to put a hand on Emma’s shoulder. “He never stopped looking for you.” Summer looked at Tommy when she added, “Your father’s a good man. One of the best. You’re lucky to have him.”

  ***

  The fatigue in Tommy’s bones ached, giving him a reminder of his need for rest as he climbed out of the canoe and joined Summer in dragging it onto the shore. In the light of the fire burning Spring Creek and the mountains on the far side of the lake, Tommy saw fifty—maybe a hundred—people onshore. More were still paddling in, though not enough.

  “How many do you think made it out?” asked Summer as she let go of the canoe.

  Tommy checked his weapon, a habit resurfacing from all those years ago. “A lot of cars were on the road when we got to town.”

  Summer reached out and pulled Emma into a hug, kissing the top of her head.

  Tommy sighed, and gave Summer a grateful smile.

  “Your turn,” said Summer, as she released Emma and walked over to Tommy. She squeezed him too, pulling him close and laying her head on his shoulder, like a woman completely comfortable with someone she cared about.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I couldn’t have found Emma without you.” Emma came and joined in.

  Car headlights swept across the beach as a line of five or six vehicles pulled off the road and drove down to the grassy shore. Everyone with a weapon was on edge, ready to shoot.

  Summer pulled away and called out, “It’s okay. They’re friends. They’re with us.” Turning back to Tommy and Emma she said, “It’s Barry.”

  A man in a sheriff’s uniform walked up and nodded at Summer, “Glad you made it out. You heard about Bingham?”

  Summer nodded, and hugged the deputy, too. “I’m so sorry.” She let go and turned to Tommy. “This is deputy Billy Mercer. Billy, this is Tommy Joss.”

  Tommy shook his hand. “Good to meet you.”

  “I need to thank you both for busting us out,” said Mercer.

  Tommy looked around for Gordon, and said, “There were a lot of us involved.”

  “And I’ll thank every one,” said Mercer. “If it weren’t for what you did.” He looked across the lake to let the fire finish his thoughts for him.

  “Yeah,” agreed Tommy.

  “Sheriff Mercer was Bingham’s number two,” said Summer. “He’s retired from the Army.” She looked at him. “A captain, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Twenty years.”

  Summer told Tommy. "He knows his shit. He's a good man, and I'd vouch for him."

  That took Tommy aback, as he wondered why Summer needed to vouch for anybody. “Summer’s a good judge of character. If she says you’re a good man, I'm sure you are. Whatever she says about me, though, don’t believe her.” Tommy smiled, like he was with his boss, meeting a client in one of a hundred cities that were probably all on fire now.

  “Tommy has tactical experience,” Summer continued, spinning up an imagined resume for Tommy. “I can’t say what he did, well, let’s say, it’s not the sort of thing people talk about.” Summer winked at Tommy as a warning to let the implied lie slide.

  “What are you saying?” asked Emma, looking at Tommy in a whole new light. “CIA?”

  “No,” Tommy told her. “Nothing like that.

  “Is that why you were always gone?” pressed Emma. “Always traveling somewhere and never telling us anything?”

  Summer shrugged with a knowing smile on her face.

  “Drop it,” Tommy told them.

  Summer turned to Deputy Mercer, “What’s the plan from here?”

  Mercer drilled Tommy with his hard eyes. “I can’t do anything alone. I need good men, and women, to help, but you should know, I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was on the side of freedom, not just for America, but for the people who lived there. I carried a gun on the other side of the world, and I’ll carry a gun here. I believe in our system of government and I’ve sworn to protect our Constitution. I sure as hell didn’t fight for the right of civilians to murder others because they wanted something different. And I’m sure as hell not gonna sit around and let a
bunch of amoral yahoos burn everything to the ground.”

  “Yeah.” Tommy watched the fire across the lake. He couldn’t make out any building still standing in the blaze.

  “You’re good with that M4,” said Mercer. “We could use you. I can deputize you right here.”

  “You should do it,” said Emma.

  “Give me a minute,” Tommy told Mercer, as Barry and Gordon walked up for Summer to make more introductions.

  Tommy stepped away from them, and Emma came along, putting an arm around Tommy and holding him close. "What you said about Canada, is that what you want?"

  “I want you to be safe,” answered Tommy. “Nothing is more important to me.”

  “I want to save my country,” said Emma, looking across the lake. “What’s left of it.”

  Tommy shook his head as he watched the reflection of the flames on the water. He had hard choices to make.

  THE END (of Book 1)

  The Last Word…

  Thanks so much for being one of the first readers of Liar’s Apocalypse. To be quite honest, I started writing a little bit about my thinking on the story and how it relates to world events, but it wasn’t quite ready for this first published version. If you’d like to sign up for my mailing list, I occasionally send out emails with information about my books and writing. Click here to be in the know when the next installment of Liar’s Apocalypse comes available:

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  Many thanks, Bobby

  Amazing people who made this book happen…

  Cover Design

  Alex Saskalidis, a.k.a. 187designz

  Editing, eBook and Print Formatting

  Kat Kramer Adair

  More about Bobby’s other writing…

  Slow Burn Series (9 books), a best-seller!

  Slow Burn is Bobby’s flagship post-apocalyptic zombie series, but so much more than a zombie book. Follow the adventures of Zed as he wakes up one morning to find that something’s a little different in the world. As the world is going to shit, Zed meets up with Murphy, and they try to navigate their new reality through a world of the “slow burns” before they are completely consumed by the virus. Great reviews, with over a million books sold, readers LOVE this one.

  Dusty’s Diary: One Frustrated Man’s Zombie Apocalypse Story (ongoing; audiobook available)

  Fun, crass, and short reads…be careful if you’re easily offended! Has some great advice about what to pack in your post-apocalyptic bunker (don’t forget the porn!). When I started Dusty’s Diary, it was more ‘therapy writing’ than anything about an everyday guy in Houston whose been locked up in a bunker for two years while the world came crumbling down around him. After a two-year hiatus, and feedback from readers, two more were published in 2017, and more are coming. The audiobook was released in Summer 2018.

  The Last Survivors Series (6 books)

  A collaborative series with fellow zombie author T.W. Piperbrook, this series has a little more of a Sci-Fi feel, popular with folks who like Game of Thrones. It explores what happens 300 years in the future after the apocalypse, when man has rebuilt and gone back to an almost medieval society.

  Ebola K: A Terrorism Thriller (trilogy)

  A really great terrorism thriller with awesome reviews. It focuses on the devastating Ebola outbreak and the possibility of weaponized Ebola by terrorist organizations and nationalized resources like blood with Ebola antibodies. A more in-depth and complex observation of the real world. This series follows an American college student teaching in Uganda as the country comes under attack from the deadly virus as he tries to make his way back to the safety of his family back in the United States.

  It’s also historically and medically accurate, so you’ll learn a little about the history of the disease as well…did you know that Ebola has been airborne in the US in the past? Or that it can survive in semen for 90 days or more after a person is declared “Ebola-free?” (This is Kat’s favorite of all my books!)

  Black Rust, Black Virus (first two in a series)

  A newer series from Bobby that also deals with a different post-apocalyptic reality. Christian Black is a bounty hunter charged with hunting down the infected…a “Regulator.” When caught in an unsanctioned kill, Christian sets about to clear his name. A fairly deep character, whose flaws are an important backstory to his adventurous life.

  Text copyright © 2018, Bobby L. Adair & Beezle Media, LLC

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. Well, the Razor was a real ATV that Aaron Landau of EVO3 Workspace in Frisco took us for a ride in when we visited Colorado a couple years ago, and those of you around Breckenridge might recognize some landmarks. Oh, how we miss Colorado!