The McClane Apocalypse Book Eight

by Kate Morris

  She smiles when they break apart, “Hi, Cory. How’s everyone on the farm?”

  “Doing fine,” he says and ruffles the top of her head. “Could be better if you were there, but we’re managing.”

  “How’s Paige?”

  He chuffs and says, “I wouldn’t know. The Professor doesn’t like me spending time with her if you know what I mean.”

  She smiles patiently and says, “I understand. Just give him time, Cory. He’ll come around. He loves you. He just loves his sister so much that it will take him some time to get over it. I know he wants her to be happy, and you make her happy, so it will work out eventually. Be patient with him.”

  “I don’t have much of a choice,” Cory tells her. “The Professor isn’t letting us alone for more than a few minutes at a time, and he won’t talk to me about it. I don’t force the issue. She’s acting like I’m a leper right now, but I’m hoping she’ll change her mind. We’ll see.”

  “Right, just give it some time. I know Paige loves you. She just doesn’t want to hurt her brother, Cory. Plus, let’s face it,” Sam says with a sad, little smile, “she’s going to fight this kicking and screaming because she’s scared to death of it.”

  Simon walks up and says, “Hello, Samantha.”

  “Um…hi,” she says, stammering nervously.

  “Are you staying here with Doc?” he asks.

  “Yes, just until you guys get back. Then I’m probably going back home.”

  “To the farm. Good,” Simon says with a nod.

  Cory stands back and watches it unfold, knowing this isn’t going to go well.

  “No, home. Back to Henry’s farm,” she says firmly, her tone and demeanor turning impatient with Simon.

  “His farm is not your home, Samantha. We’ve already covered this,” Simon argues, beginning to lose his own temper.

  “It’s where I live now, where I eat and sleep,” she counters. “I’d say that’s my home now.”

  “Samantha, I’m losing my patience for this,” Simon retorts angrily. “We’ve already gone over it. Don’t make me do something that’s going to upset you. I will. You know I will.”

  “You’ll do nothing, Simon. Do you understand? I’ll live where I want. I’ll go on lunch dates with whomever I want. And I’ll sleep where and with whomever I want.”

  Simon’s eyes about pop out of his head and he steps forward as if he is going to physically drag her back to the farm on the spot.

  “Save it for when the fighting starts, Professor,” Cory says, jumping in and standing between them. “Doc’s in the clinic, Sam. You should head over there.”

  “Oh, going to the clinic, Miss Sam?” Henry says, stepping in on their conversation. “I’ll walk ya’.”

  “Son-of-a…” Simon starts.

  “Let’s roll, brother,” Cory says, yanking Simon’s arm and giving him a light shove to the shoulder. Then he slaps the back of his shoulder and keeps his hand there as he leads him away. Cory says in a quiet voice, “Let it go, man. You can deal with him later. Now’s not the time.”

  His friend looks over his shoulder at Sam being led away from them by Henry.

  “I don’t like that asshole,” Simon admits.

  Cory nods and tries not to laugh because his statement is so obvious, “I know, Professor. I know. But now isn’t the time to get into this with him. You want Sam? Fine. Go for it. We ain’t gonna stop ya’. But don’t do anything right now. Get your head in the game. We need you today. We need you in this, brother. Forget the women. Forget the farm and fighting over Sam. Just concentrate on our plans and defeating these fuckers.”

  Simon frowns, shrugs off his hand, and says irritably, “Fine. For now. That’s it. For now. Later, I’m dealing with this. I’m tired of that guy, Cory.”

  “I know, brother,” Cory says, although he believes Henry is a pretty good guy. He’s never heard a single bad thing about him, and he has been generously allowing people to live within the safe confines of the walls of his farm. “Just say your goodbyes and get your head in the game.”

  Simon nods, his eyes coming into focus, and walks away from him. His pep talk worked for now, but Cory wonders if the Henry situation is about to become a fuse waiting for the right spark to ignite it. Simon hasn’t been himself since Sam left, and Cory would like her to return to the farm. However, he’s hardly in a position to give his best friend advice on his love life when he was sleeping with his sister in secret. Instead, he slings his rifle, double checks his pistol and joins the group of men getting ready to embark on their first offensive mission against these assholes.

  “Payback time, boys,” John says as he joins them and climbs into the driver’s seat of the truck.

  Reagan is standing with a small crowd of people and walks away with a pissed off expression on her face. This is normal for her, though. She’s always full of anxiety when John leaves for something like this.

  They mount up, all of them, including him and Kelly in an RV they’ve borrowed from a family in K-Dog’s town. They’ll be the bait, but these assholes won’t know what’s in store for them. They drive about ten miles out and park in the middle of the road. John, Simon and the others leave in their trucks, waving as they go.

  “We’ve got ‘em choked down into this road or the next, so we’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of them coming down here,” his brother says as he lifts the hood of the RV to make it seem like they are having mechanical problems.

  “Well, then let’s hope it’s this road,” Cory says with a wink and a smile.

  “You fucking know it, brother,” Kelly says and bumps his fist against Cory’s. “I’ve had about enough of their shit.”

  “Me, too. Assholes.”

  “They’re preying on the weak and helpless, and that shit’s over,” Kelly declares. “After today, they’re gonna know exactly who they’re fuckin’ with.”

  “Hooah,” Cory says and grins.

  This was the nature of their meetings for the last few days with Dave, the Reynolds and Johnson brothers, K-Dog, Paul, and, unfortunately, Parker, who nobody listened to anyway. They’ve had enough of these people terrorizing, robbing, and killing innocent travelers. Now that the family has cut off some of their sources of potential victims by placing the signs on the other roads, they are starting to hit towns and communities. Enough is enough. The McClanes are not going to stand by and allow this to happen. Not one more time.

  “Hell, I’m even glad that asshole, Robert, is contributing to the fight,” Kelly tells him.

  “No doubt. Doc talked to him last night on the radio, and he’s agreed to send more men and weapons as soon as we let him know when to,” Cory says as he lights a cigarette and offers one to his brother.

  He shakes his head and says, “Nah, Hannie will smell it on me.”

  “Pussy,” Cory teases.

  “You will be, too, soon enough, tied to that redhead,” his brother says.

  Cory chuckles and shakes his head, “I don’t know about that. My woman isn’t exactly racing me to the altar.”

  “She’ll come around,” Kelly says. “If not, Doc will force it sooner or later. Ain’t no booty calls allowed on the farm, bro.”

  Cory laughs and nods.

  “He’s gonna be throwin’ Scripture at your ass,” Kelly says.

  “Is that what happened to you?”

  Kelly chuffs and raises his chin a notch as if to confirm this. Then he says, “Fuck it. Gimme a smoke.”

  “Oh, so you do have a set in your pants still.”

  “The gunpowder will cover the smell.”

  “Jesus, you’re a real badass.”

  Kelly smirks and smokes his cigarette. His brother’s hands do not shake with trepidation of the impending battle. He is not nervous, and neither is Cory. They are ready for this, prepared and enthusiastic even. This has been a long time coming, and these people are about to get what they deserve.

  “You guys ever have trouble with drones like that before?” he asks Kelly.

/>   “Yeah, sometimes. We had nerd support from people like Derek, though, who flew our own drones. At the end there, it was pretty high-tech. We even had drones capable of shooting down the enemy’s drones. Made it kinda’ convenient.”

  “Yeah, I read about those.”

  Kelly says, “Yeah, I should’ve figured you already knew about them.”

  Kelly looks at him for a long time and finally shakes his head with a smile.

  “What?” Cory asks.

  Kelly shakes his head again and says in a tone that almost seems remorseful, “All I ever wanted to do was keep you, Em, and Dad and Janet safe by doing what I was doing overseas. I never wanted this life for you. I never wanted you to join, even though I knew that’s what you wanted- even if your mom didn’t. And look at you now. You’re so deep in it anyways.”

  “I was joining, Kel,” Cory says and adds about his mother and Kelly’s step-mother, “And Mom woulda’ figured it out soon enough. She was a lot like Hannah. Hard to hide shit from.”

  “Yeah, I just wanted you to go to college and stay outta’ this shit, man. Fightin’ and war, it ain’t no picnic.”

  “The way I see it is maybe some men were just born for it, maybe we both were. Shit, man, John for sure as shit was. That dude’s DNA was formulated with nothing else in mind.”

  “Yeah, but neither of us ever wanted this for the people we cared about.”

  “I know, but we don’t have much of a choice anymore. Look at Simon. He wasn’t cut out for this. That nerd woulda’ done some shit with his life, ya’ know? Been a politician like his old man or some big famous scientist or some shit.”

  “Yeah, sucks.”

  “He’s still doing shit. It’s just different. He’s smart as hell.”

  “And good with that rifle.”

  Cory bumps his fist against Kelly’s and nods, “No doubt. Some people are just naturally good at sniping. I’m not as skilled in that.”

  “No, you’re like me, Cor,” his brother says. “We were meant to be in the trenches of it. John, too. Derek was the one meant to play on the sidelines drawing up the plans, doing the tech stuff behind the scenes. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s no better soldier, but Derek was always good at leading men and keeping up with the technology shit.”

  “Yeah, and he’s frustrated as hell now ‘cuz he’s forced onto the sidelines and out of the fight completely.”

  “To tell you the truth, Cor, I’m glad he’s out. He’s got a lot to take care of on the farm. I’m disposable. Derek’s not.”

  “I don’t think Doc feels that way or he wouldn’t have left the farm in your care when he dies someday.”

  Kelly shrugs as if he doesn’t agree and stamps out his cigarette.

  “And I don’t feel that way, and neither does your wife or daughter.”

  “If anything happens to me, today or anytime, promise you’ll take care of them for me.”

  “You know I would. You don’t even have to ask.”

  Kelly looks at him and nods solemnly.

  “It won’t ever come to that,” Cory states emphatically, suddenly nervous that he could lose his brother. “You’ve never even got a scratch during anything we’ve been in.”

  “Never know when your ticket’s gonna get punched, little brother. Don’t ever live your life like there’s gonna be a tomorrow.”

  Cory pauses a long time before asking, “Do you like her, Kel? I mean, do you approve? It matters to me.”

  “Yeah, I like Paige just fine. She’s been through some shit. You weren’t there when she came to the farm. She was…I don’t know how to describe it. She was like a caged animal. She didn’t trust any of us and looked most of the time like she wanted to bolt. She’s come a long way.”

  “Now she just wants to bolt from me.”

  “You want Paige? Take her. Take her for yours. Don’t let her push you away. She cares about you. I’ve seen it when she thinks nobody’s lookin’. Tomorrow’s never promised to any of us, especially us, especially now.”

  Cory looks at his big brother, the man he’s always admired and revered, and nods. They stand there another moment until Cory puts out his cigarette.

  “Now quit being a total pussy and get ready,” Kelly orders, to which Cory laughs raucously.

  “Yes, sir.”

  He conceals his throat mic and earpiece by pulling his scarf up around his neck. Using the butt of his rifle, he breaks out both back windows of the abandoned sedan nearest him, shattering them to oblivion. Cory pops the hood on the vehicle and hides his rifle under it. He lowers the hood without locking it. Kelly’s is behind the driver’s seat in the RV, easily within reach. He uses a small mirror and signals that they are ready and gets a return signal from John and the others hidden in the woods. Simon also sends one from higher up the hill. He is completely camouflaged in his new ghillie suit gear. Dave’s sniper signals in the same way from the other hill across the street.

  “We’re in position,” Dave comes across his earpiece.

  They are farther down the road and will act as a blocking force and will push inward as the fighting starts to prevent stragglers. Chet reports the same. His group is doing the same at the opposite end of the road. Cory knows they will be well-hidden in the forest around the road until it starts, their vehicles hidden, too.

  Kelly lights a fire, causing a cloud of smoke to rise in the late day sky, hoping to draw in sharks. He slides the stack of debris which contains mostly old newspapers mixed with some chunks of cut up tire scraps under the RV to make it appear as if it is having radiator or engine problems.

  They wait and then wait some more. Over an hour passes, and still, there is no sign of them. Kelly makes sure the fire stays lit enough to continue puffing out long, tenuous plumes of black and gray smoke high into the sky. A low rumble of thunder in the distance echoes down through the trees. It makes no difference to Cory or his brethren. They’ll fight this out in a monsoon if need be. It is time to send these people a clear message. Their days of tyranny have come to an end.

  “We’ve got a visual,” Chet says through his mic.

  “What’ve ya’ got, Four-wheeler?” John asks, using Chet’s new call sign since he’s always the one repairing everyone’s ATV’s.

  “Three trucks…” he says but pauses. Static ensues. “No, wait, four trucks, one’s a deuce. They’ve got a fifty cal mounted on one again.”

  “Hold the fuckin’ door, Batman,” Dave says next in his own mic. “We’ve got us a little maneuver going. I’ve got two trucks full of what appears to be gen-u-ine assholes approaching from this direction, too. Fuckin-A, Bubba.”

  “They’re boxing in the road,” Kelly says.

  “How’d they even know we’re here? Drone? The smoke?”

  Kelly shrugs, “Could be.” Then he presses his throat mic and says, “Watch for drones, people.”

  “Let them come,” John says, his tone deep and menacing. “Wait for the signal.”

  The signal that John is referring to is Cory. He is to ascertain that these are the highwaymen and send a signal to Simon with the mirror. Unless, of course, these dickheads kick it off sooner. He feels bad in a way because they sent Parker to the farm to manage the command center from there with Derek. The part he feels bad about is that Derek is stuck with him. They got rid of him because the dullard can’t follow orders and thinks he is in charge of every operation. Mostly, he’s a pain in the ass. He’s going to be dead soon if Cory finds out that he spent his time on the farm hitting on Paige again. He and his men have been staying in Derek and Sue’s empty cabin in the woods since he and his family are living in the big house again because of his injuries. He’ll be glad when Parker leaves. Robert’s men are pretty cool, some of them very well-trained, others not as much, but their intentions are honorable. Parker, he’s not so sure of.

  “Hey, show time,” Kelly calls to him and snaps his fingers twice as the convoy that just passed Chet comes into view on the horizon. Cory heads over to the abandoned
car to be in position to grab his rifle and also signal Simon.

  The lead truck with the fifty cal pulls up within thirty feet of them and stops. The others follow his lead but pull off to its sides, effectively blocking escape. Cory looks the other way but doesn’t see the ones that Dave spotted coming toward them. They must hang back and wait to see if their buddies need help. This is how it was before, too, when he and John had trouble on the road, and the cavalry came in for backup.

  A man hops down from the bed, followed by the driver and front seat passenger of the lead truck.

  “Car trouble?” the driver shouts to Kelly.

  “Yeah, piece of shit radiator took a dump,” Kelly yells back.

  Cory’s grip on the hood of the car tightens. This is them. He can feel it.

  “We can help,” the man says in a quieter tone as he approaches. “Got anything to trade?”

  “Yeah, sure. That’d be great. What do you need?”

  “Food, weapons, medicine,” the man says.

  Cory gets a closer look at him. He is clean cut like the others they’ve killed from this group. His clothing is not filthy, which lets them know that they have certain amenities worked out. He doesn’t look skinny or starving. The other men in his group appear well-fed and clothed, as well.

  “Sure. We’ve got all that,” Kelly lies.

  The only thing they’ve got that they’re willing to trade is lead.

  “How many are with you?” the apparent leader asks.

  “Just my son there and my family inside the RV.”

  “How many?” the man repeats with less patience.

  Kelly’s eyes narrow and he says, “My wife and two daughters are inside.”

  Cory watches as a flicker of interest jumps between the men at the mention of women. He knows how this would go if it were all true. They’d either rape and kill them or take them if they are going to be useful. Children are killed, not taken or spared.

  Others have come forward in a flanking maneuver. All together there are at least twenty that Cory has counted. Good, their flanking maneuver is what they’d been hoping they’d do.

  “She’s a good cook,” Kelly expands on his lie. “She could make us up some dinner if you all could help us get this hunk of junk running again.”