Breakdown: An EMP Survival Thriller (The EMP Terror Series Book 1)

by J. R. Tate

  “Show me where she lives, Ben.” Glancing at her brother and Randi, she pointed to the water cooler. “It’s probably best we don’t lug this thing everywhere we go. Are you two okay with going back to the house with it?” It wasn’t appropriate to think about all of the times Tom had screwed her and the family over. She had to trust that he’d take the water back home and wait.

  “Yeah, we can do that. You sure you don’t want us to come along?”

  Alice shook her head and smoothed her hand down her ponytail. There was strength in numbers but it was also best to not have to depend on them. It would invite trouble. “I’m sure. Just take this back to the house and though I’m not sure it’ll help much, lock the doors behind you. I’m going to look for Dylan and be back soon. Ben will stay with me since he knows where Dylan likes to go.”

  “Whatever you need, sis. We’re here to help.”

  Tom got behind the cooler and pushed the cart as Randi guided it down the sidewalk. Alice turned her focus to Dylan. Relying on a fifteen-year-old kid was unsettling but who better to help than someone that apparently knew her kid better than she did.

  “Let’s get going, Ben. Her house is close to the school?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry you didn’t know about his girlfriend.”

  Alice let out a quick laugh and bit her bottom lip. “Don’t worry about it, Ben. That is so trivial in comparison to what we’re dealing with now. I just hope to God he’s there. I need to find him. I need him home.”

  “I’m sure he’s okay, Mrs. Shepherd.”

  “Call me Alice. Mrs. Shepherd makes me feel like an old lady.”

  Alice tried to recall the morning before all of this happened. Jake was attempting to make plans where they could both have a day off together, hoping to pawn Dylan off on a friend so they could have the house alone. It made her smile - Jake’s desperate attempt to have some adult time was adorable and she’d give anything to go back to that day and redo it all. Knowing what she knew now, she’d have never let either of them leave the house. At least they’d all be together.

  “What are you thinking about Mrs…. I mean, Alice?” Ben kicked a rock down the street and it rolled about ten feet before hitting the edge of a yard and stopping.

  “The day this all started. Dylan had to be at school early for soccer. My husband had a flight.”

  “Seems like heaven looking back on it,” Ben replied. “I had a fight with my dad right before I left for school that day. Had I known it was the last time I’d see him, I’d have never said the things I did.” Ben’s voice shook and he ducked his head. “He probably thought I hated him.”

  Alice grabbed Ben’s arm and stopped walking. “We’re going to find your family. Just like I’m going to find mine. You’ll get to tell your dad you’re sorry for whatever it was you were fighting about. Don’t get down on yourself for this.”

  Ben sniffed and wiped his hand on his face. “Yes, ma’am.”

  They walked in silence after that and Alice continued to try and think up clues from that morning. Jake had told Dylan to catch a ride with someone after school because neither of them would be able to get him. Who was it he had mentioned? She thought the name might have started with an R but couldn’t recall.

  “Ben, do you boys have a friend on the team whose name starts with an R?”

  “Yeah, a couple. There’s Randy and Ricky.”

  “Ricky!” It hit her like a wall of bricks had toppled over on her. “Dylan was supposed to catch a ride with Ricky after school. Does he live near here?”

  “Kind of. Not as close to where his girlfriend lives.”

  Alice nodded. “Okay. We go to Dylan’s girlfriend’s house first and if he’s not there, we will go try to find Ricky.” There was still so much unknown but at least they had a more set game plan than just meandering around the neighborhood, turning over random rocks like they were searching for a lost puppy. “We’re gonna find him,” Alice said aloud. It was to convince both her and Ben. She had to keep convincing herself that it was all going to work out.

  ***

  After the storm passed the temperature cooled down to the point where Jake felt like he needed a jacket. The mountain air was humid but definitely tolerable, which helped the mood. Everyone gathered up the supplies they had found, he secured Colin back in the travois, and they started down the highway again. Jake had felt paranoid the entire time they were out there but now even more than before. Having all of the supplies and weapons were great but the worry of what it would bring on was enough that he needed eyes in the back of his head.

  The clop of the hooves was the loudest thing they could hear. Trees barely moved with the slight breeze and everyone had fallen silent. The kids were asleep on the travois that Becky’s horse was pulling and the adults all seemed exhausted as well. If it wasn’t for the fact that there were children riding along, he’d speed up the pace. It was still faster than being on foot but his patience was practically non-existent. He needed to know how his family was. The speculation of everything happening was driving him insane, to the point that he didn’t even want to stop to rest. If his body allowed him to, he’d keep going until he made it back to Dallas.

  The winding road and hilly terrain were probably adding more time on as well. The quickest way to get between two points was a straight line but they were in no shape to take things off road with Colin’s injuries and the travois. Jake wasn’t even sure if the horses were trained for mountain trails, though he assumed they probably were.

  The hills also made it hard to see what was coming in front of them. With steep inclines and downhill jaunts, they could easily walk right into a crossfire where someone was waiting on them. Rethinking their strategy, Jake stopped his horses and turned to face everyone.

  “I think someone needs to be a scout up front to watch for people. And that someone should probably be me.”

  “Are you crazy?” Colin sat up and shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand. “That’s like committing suicide.”

  “Isn’t it better for one of us than all of us? And it won’t be a suicide mission. I can take a couple of guns. If you hear gunfire, turn and go the other way. Right now we’d all walk right up on someone. How is that going to get us home?”

  “How is it gonna get you home, Jake? Haven’t you been talking this whole time about how you need to check on your wife and kids?” Becky scooted her horse up a couple of steps. “We’re a team. I don’t think we need to split up.”

  Jake wiped the back of his neck with his palm and looked in the direction they were traveling. “Anyone else got a better idea? I don’t see any other way.”

  “How many people have we actually ran into? That were alive?” Larry chimed in, his tone abrupt. “It’s been like a ghost town everyone we’ve gone with the exception of that man you killed back at the lake. What are the chances we’ll actually run into someone else?”

  “Even if there’s a small chance, I’m not liking it. The fact that there haven’t been many people around makes me think they’ve formed a group. And once they see what we have, it’s open season on us.” Jake clenched his jaw and gripped the leather reins. “We can go two at a time if you want but we’ve only got four horses so we’d have to condense the supplies.”

  He started to say something else but a loud echo of gunfire rang out. When he finally realized what happened, Becky was off her horse, kneeling next to Larry who had been shot in the head, his glazed eyes staring up at the sky. Another gunshot pierced his eardrums and it took another few seconds for him to realize that his worst fear was coming to life - they were under attack, just like he had predicted, only he was hoping for more time to make a plan.

  Grabbing Becky, he pulled her on his horse and grabbed the reins of her horse, motioning for them to ride east - there was a canyon they could go down in so whoever was shooting at them wouldn’t have a good vantage point to continue to pick them off.

  Aside from Larry, everyone was accounted for. The children cro
uched down near the river that cut through the canyon and Colin was with them. Jake edged up toward the top, staying low, gripping the shotgun so tight that his knuckles ached. The gunfire had stopped, likely due to the lack of ammunition like he was facing.

  He searched in every direction - a pair of binoculars would’ve been helpful to catch whoever the culprit was. His gaze stopped on the highway where they were just a few moments before. Larry’s body lay still, flat on the asphalt with a small puddle of blood beside him. He was speaking and then he was gone, just like that. Jake had told himself not to get too attached to anyone but seeing Larry dead made him sick to his stomach. Another casualty to tally up - another death that Jake would blame on himself.

  He was having no success scouting who it was. They were hiding just as well as his group so he crawled back down to the river, keeping watch over his shoulder as he did.

  “Larry’s dead,” Becky said, her voice quivering. “Did you see anything?”

  “No. And now we’re stuck here.”

  Jake scanned the canyon floor. They were exposed where they were. All it took was a few minutes of not paying attention and they would be surrounded in all directions.

  “We need to all move over there.” He pointed to a cove of trees. “We can hide there until we figure out what the hell we’re gonna do.”

  The group moved to the trees and Jake checked on everyone. The kids were quiet, their eyes wide in fear from everything they had witnessed. They’d be scarred for life after this. The adults gathered near Colin’s travois and Jake waited to speak, hoping one of them had a good idea.

  “The longer we sit here and wait, the worse it gets,” Colin finally spoke up. “They just came outta nowhere.”

  “We weren’t ready.” Jake took a swig of water and paced. “Either the person who shot Larry is a hell of a sniper or they’re closer than we think. With all of the hills and trees, there’s no way to tell.”

  “We can just wait them out, can’t we? We’ve still got plenty of food and water.” Becky motioned toward the stack of supplies. “If we go out there they’ll kill us.”

  “And what if they have more than we do? What if their plan is to wait us out? I can’t stand here and allow more bloodshed.” Jake peered out of the trees, jumping when he saw two men walking along the top of the canyon rim. “Holy shit…” Whispering, he clutched the shotgun again. “There are two men up there.”

  “What? You can see them?” Becky’s eyes widened. “What are they doing?”

  “Pacing. Waiting. Both holding shotguns like this one.” Jake closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. “They don’t know that we are armed yet. The second we start shooting, we better make damn sure we aim to kill or we’re in trouble.” He tossed Becky a gun. “I know you are nervous with guns but without Larry, I need your help.” He also gave Colin a gun, just in case someone snuck behind them. Tossing a rifle to another man in the group, it meant three of them were mobile enough to get out of the trees and aim correctly.

  “I’m not sure how many are out there,” Jake said. “I only saw two but just like we were gonna do, they could be scouts.”

  “I’m not ready for this…” Becky said as tears ran down her face. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “Think about your family, Becky. Think about getting home to them. If we don’t do this, you’ll never see any of them again.” Jake was partly telling her and partly telling himself. “We can’t wait much longer. They’re gonna close in on us and then we’ll be trapped. Are y’all with me?”

  “We’re ready.”

  “On my count, we’ll go.” Jake gripped the cold metal of the shotgun, taking a deep breath before he began to count.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “His girlfriend lives in that house right there!”

  Ben pointed to a nice, two-story brick home with a picket fence around the yard. Just like the majority of houses in the neighborhood, the windows were busted out and the front door was hanging wide open. It wasn’t a good sign but Alice ran toward it anyway. Ben was right behind her, matching her step for step.

  “Dylan! Dylan are you inside here?”

  She went through the threshold, the only light cascading in from the windows through half open blinds. The place had been looted just like her own home. Cabinets were open, the refrigerator was empty, and all of the pantries had nothing left inside but empty boxes. Stopping in the middle of the floor, Alice tried hard not to lose her composure again. Ben came down the stairs, his eyes downcast.

  “They’re not up there either.”

  “Does this place have a basement?”

  Alice didn’t wait for Ben to answer. She ran through the house, checking other doors until she found one that had a dark staircase. The hair on the back of her neck stood up but hope was restored when a small light flashed several feet below.

  “Dylan? Dylan are you down there?” Her voice echoed against the cement walls and though she couldn’t see, she took the steps down. It occurred to her halfway down that it could be someone out to hurt her but she was already committed to getting down there. “Dylan?”

  “Mom? Mom, is that you?”

  She’d recognize that voice anywhere. It was Dylan, and as she reached the dirt floor, the light from the lantern was brighter, giving her a much better look at who was down inside the basement. The thick musty smell was welcomed - anything was welcomed since she knew her child was okay. Pulling him in for a hug, she ran her fingers through his hair and kissed the top of his head.

  “Have you been down here this whole time?”

  “Mom…” He whispered, his voice trailing off. “Mom, it’s Katy.” He pointed to the corner, flashing the lantern in that direction. There were streaks in the dirt on his face where tears had fallen. “She was hurt. I… she’s dead, mom. Katy is dead.”

  Alice took the lantern from Dylan and slowly approached the lifeless body in the corner. It was a young girl, about Dylan’s age, with a large gash right at her hairline. There was no blood on her and her eyes were halfway closed like she was in REM sleep. Her skin was pale and when Alice checked for a pulse, rigor mortis had already set in, confirming what Dylan had said. The girl was dead.

  “What happened, Dylan?”

  Alice noticed Ben had joined them in the basement, all three of them gathering around Katy. She didn’t know the girl but her heart ached for her son. She had meant a lot to him and now she was gone.

  “It all started so fast. We were at school and everyone was telling us to run. Her house was the closest to the school so we started running this way. Something hit her on the head, mom. It knocked her out. I had to carry her.” Dylan paused as more tears fell and he wiped his face with his shirt collar. “We were in the living room and I tried to clean her up. I tried to doctor her wound. She was bleeding so much. I thought we were safe and then I heard people breaking in. They were up to no good. So I took Katy down here and locked the door, hoping no one would think to look down here. And then… and then she stopped breathing. I tried CPR. I tried everything, Mom.”

  Alice pulled him in, hugging him tighter than she ever had before. “I’m so sorry, Dylan. I’m so sorry.”

  He quivered in her grasp, his body shaking as he buried his face in her shoulder. His arm tears soaked through her scrubs. “What is happening? Why are we stuck here like this? Why didn’t help come?”

  “I don’t think anyone knows, Dylan. We’re trying to get that figured out. I wanted to come find you. I’m so glad we’re together now.” She pulled the water bottle from her bag and handed it to him. “I bet you’re thirsty. Drink all of it. We have a big water cooler back at the house full of water, thanks to Ben. Tom and Randi are there and we should probably all go back. We need to stick together.”

  “Uncle Tom?”

  “Yeah, Uncle Tom and his new wife Randi.”

  “What about her?” Dylan pointed toward Katy. “What do we do about her?”

  “She’s fine where she is, Dylan. No one
will mess with her down here. No one can even see her.”

  “I don’t want to just leave her here.”

  “We will come back and give her a proper burial when we can, Dylan. I promise. But we need to get back home. We need to be with family. We need to be at the house since that’s where dad and Sophie will first go when they get back to Dallas.”

  “Is dad there?” He wiped the tears from his face, drinking the rest of the water.

  His question was like a punch in the gut. “No. It’s just us right now, but we’ll find both him and Sophie. We found you. I know we’ll find them, too. Come on. Let’s get out of here. I bet you’re starving.”

  Dylan led them up the stairs with the lantern. Though it wasn’t all resolved, finding Dylan was a huge stroke of good news for Alice. Now they had to hope luck would be on their side to get Jake and Sophie back home safely as well. Once they were all reunited, they could attempt to find some normalcy in the midst of the chaos happening all around them.

  ***

  “One… two… THREE!”

  Jake didn’t hesitate as they all ran out, shooting immediately. He made sure to take careful aim so they wouldn’t waste bullets and he slowed himself, training right on the first man. Pulling the trigger, he hit the man in the leg, making him fall. The second man fell with him and he couldn’t tell if he had been hit, or if he was just taking cover.

  Hiding behind a large rock, Jake kept the gun up, ready to fire. He saw the top of the hat one of the men was wearing and fired, hitting him, sending him backward. There was enough blood to confirm that he was either dead or he would be soon. The second man shot at him, splintering pieces of rock, hitting him close to the eye. It took him a second to blink away the dust and to be able to see clear again, but as he gained his composure, he heard gunshots from Becky and the other man who had stepped in to help.

  Staying down in the canyon wasn’t going to help them. It was providing good cover but to fully know how many people they were dealing with, Jake needed to see how many were up there. The last thing they needed was to run out of ammunition and be stuck. He didn’t have time to tell the others of his plan. If they all stayed together the man on the canyon rim could pick them all off together.