No Sanctuary Box Set: The No Sanctuary Omnibus - Books 1-6

by Mike Kraus

  What was most peculiar about the town, though, was how calm it was. Shells of burned-out tractor trailers were still scattered about on the roads and hardly anyone was out driving but the buildings were still intact and some of them even appeared to have power.

  “How on earth do they have power still?” Linda shook her head as she looked out the window and up at a tall building with the logo of an obscure computer chip manufacturer on the side.

  “Maybe they’ve got a power plant nearby or the buildings are running on generators still?” Frank shrugged. “I have no idea, but I’m loving the lack of people running around rioting and looting.”

  The lack of chaos in the city gave Frank hope, but Linda had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Doesn’t this seem too calm to you?”

  “Meh. I’d rather this than deal with the people at that gas station or those two guys who you… yeah.”

  “I suppose so.” The mention of the two men Linda killed didn’t faze her. “Still, keep your eyes open.”

  As they drove through the town they kept on alert not just for signs of danger but for a gas station, as they were still in desperate need of enough to get them to Tennessee. They passed multiple gas stations, but all of them were out of fuel as evidenced by the “NO GAS” signs. Most of the stations were dark and empty, but when Frank spotted one with the lights on he decided to pull into the empty parking lot.

  “What exactly are we doing here?” Linda pointed to the sign hanging from the front door. “They’re out of gas.”

  “I know. But I want to talk to whoever’s inside and see if they know of anywhere in town that still has some.”

  Linda sighed and nodded. “All right. Just be quick about it.” She glanced around the parking lot. “I don’t want to sit still here any longer than I have to.”

  Frank hopped out of the car and ran inside to the front counter. Linda watched as he spoke with the clerk for a moment before running back out and jumping in the car. “He said there’s still one place in town with gas. They’re rationing how much they sell to each person to just ten gallons each.”

  “That’ll get us a ways down the road, I guess.”

  “He also said they don’t take cash. They’re bartering for the fuel.”

  Linda rolled her eyes. “Oh great. We’ve already devolved to a bartering-based economy. Perfect.”

  “Want to skip it and try our luck siphoning from cars on the highway?”

  Linda shook her head. “Nah. Let’s go there and try our luck. How far is it?”

  “The guy inside said to keep following the main road and we’d spot it when we got there.”

  After a few more minutes of driving, Frank and Linda did indeed spot the gas station in question. It was a large place with wide lanes, ample parking and the building had a clean, fresh look except for the copious amounts of barbed wire and sandbags that had been stacked around the perimeter of the building and parking lot.

  “What the hell…” Frank hit the brakes and stopped the truck a few hundred feet from the gas station as he and Linda gazed in shock. Behind the hastily-constructed barriers were several wooden platforms that each held a pair of people wielding rifles. They didn’t act in an aggressive manner, but appeared to merely be keeping watch over the station.

  As Frank and Linda stared at the station, a car pulled up to the narrow gap in the sandbags and barbed wire that acted as the entrance. The person in the car rolled down his window and spoke to one of the guards who waved him through. After parking next to a pump, the person in the car went inside for a moment before returning with a woman wearing a shirt with the gas station’s logo on it. The clerk and the driver of the car spoke while the clerk filled up a small can of gas, then the driver handed the clerk a small bag and drove back out.

  The whole exchange only took a few minutes, and by the end of it Frank wasn’t sure how to feel about the whole affair. “Um. So do we still want to try this? I mean it seems pretty orderly and everything. And we could do with the fuel.”

  Linda didn’t answer immediately as she was busy studying the layout of the guards. “Whoever put up those barriers did a terrible job. And the guards are half-assed at best. They don’t even have a full view of the grounds outside and inside the barriers.” She snorted and nodded. “Yeah, let’s do this. If things get hairy just get down. From the way most of those guys are carrying their guns they’ve never handled one before.”

  Frank eyed Linda carefully as he stepped back on the accelerator. He approached the entrance to the gas station slowly and rolled down his window well before he got to the entrance. A wiry young man no older than 18 with a full camo outfit on that was three sizes too big for him walked up to the window.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Yeah, we’re just passing through and could use some gasoline. A guy down the street said you’re still selling some. That true?”

  “Absolutely, though we don’t take cash, credit or check. You’ll have to trade something. Gold, silver, things like that.”

  Frank glanced at Linda who spoke up. “How about bullets? You taking bullets in trade?”

  The young man frowned and stepped back. “Just a second.” He turned around and spoke quietly into a radio pulled from his belt. After a whispered conversation he turned around and nodded. “Yes, ma’am, that’ll work. Just pull through, go inside and talk to the folks in there and they’ll get you squared away.”

  Frank rolled up the window and pulled forward slowly as he looked over at Linda. “Bullets? You have them to spare?”

  Linda chuckled. “Just stay here and watch the truck. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  After Frank stopped next to one of the gas pumps, Linda hopped out of the truck and dug around in one of her bags that was in the back. She took out a handful of small boxes and carried them with her into the gas station where she talked to both the woman they had seen earlier and a man who came from a room in the back.

  “Jeff said you wanted to trade bullets?” The man didn’t bother to tell Linda his name or greet her as he came out.

  “Yep. Nine millimeter. Three boxes for ten gallons.”

  The man took one of the boxes and opened it, examining the bullets inside. “Five boxes.”

  “Four, and we’ll use our own gas cans.”

  “Done.”

  Linda passed the four boxes of bullets to the man and he nodded at the woman behind the counter. She and Linda walked out and Linda grabbed two five-gallon cans from the back of the truck and placed them on the ground. Frank rolled down his window as the attendant filled the cans and whispered to Linda.

  “How’d it go?”

  She smiled. “Just fine. The guy had no idea how to haggle. Makes me glad I spent a while in the sandbox over there; every vendor in the city wanted to rip off the white American girl. I had to learn pretty quickly how to avoid that kind of BS.”

  “All done.” The attendant interrupted Linda and started walking back to the gas station.

  “Thanks. Say, know of any place to stay around here for the night?”

  The girl either didn’t hear Linda’s question or, if she did, she didn’t bother answering. Before Linda could ask again the attendant had run back inside and was back behind her counter.

  “Huh.” Linda scratched her head. She stepped out of the way as Frank hopped out of the truck and put the filled cans into the back, then walked around to the passenger door.

  “You drive for a while, okay?”

  “Hm?” Linda looked over at Frank. “Oh, right. Yeah.” Linda started the car and slowly turned around in the parking lot of the gas station and began heading out. Linda watched the guards in the gas station in the rearview mirror and frowned. “Weird place that was.”

  “Think they were doing something shady?”

  “Mm.” Linda furrowed her brow. “Not sure. They didn’t seem shady but now that I think about it, something was definitely off.”

  ***

  Behind, at the gas station, a fig
ure watched the red and white truck pulling out from a small window at the far end of the store. When the truck was gone, the figure exited his office and went to the attendant at the counter. She bore a nervous expression as the figure advanced on her, and gulped audibly when he stopped and spoke.

  “Did you plant the transmitter?” The man’s voice was soft and smooth with a touch of malice running through it that could easily be mistaken for something more benign if the listener wasn’t paying attention.

  The attendant bobbed her head up and down gently. “In the back, while they weren’t watching.”

  The man smiled, exposing rows of blackened rotting teeth.

  “Good.”

  Chapter 20

  The source of the power for the city soon became evident as they saw the signs for the “Binghamton Wind & Geothermal Power Project” pointing to a location just outside town. Several power trucks were parked along the road near the plant and people wearing hard hats and working in buckets were replacing transformers on poles.

  “Huh.” Frank nodded approvingly as he saw the sign. “I guess that explains the source of the electricity. I didn’t know there were geothermal sources around here.”

  Linda raised an eyebrow. “I’m just surprised that they can put out enough juice to power the town.”

  “Want to go check it out? If they have power they might have some more information on conditions around here.”

  Linda patted the set of notes that Liz had provided and shook her head. “I think we’re good on that front. Besides, I wish that sky looked better.” Linda looked up through the windshield at the blackening clouds that were gathering overhead. The clouds had started forming as they pulled into town, but they were starting to take on a decidedly dangerous look. The wind was picking up as well, buffeting the truck as they drove along and sending plastic bags, newspapers and other trash and debris tumbling through the air.

  “You want to find a place to stop for the night?” Frank looked at the buildings around where they were driving. “I don’t see any hotels. We could try closer to the edge of town, though.”

  “I think I’d rather stay away from hotels at this point.” Linda gripped the steering wheel tightly as a gust of wind buffeted the car. “I do think we need to get off the road, though. Let’s get out of town a ways and see what’s out there.”

  Frank nodded in agreement. “Sounds good.”

  The darkening sky and roaring winds were soon accompanied by sheets of driving rain. The downpour came at a sharp angle, tapping at the glass on Frank’s side of the car like so many skeletal fingers trying to pry their way in. As they approached the outskirts of the city on the eastern side, Frank and Linda had to shout in order to make themselves heard. “I sure hope that storage box in the back is watertight!”

  “I doubt it!” Linda shouted back. Her knuckles were white from her grip on the steering wheel.

  “We need to pull over soon!”

  “I know, Frank, I know!”

  “What about there?” Frank pointed to a house off of the street. The windows were shuttered and the door boarded up and the fence in front of the house had a small sign on it indicating that the home had been foreclosed on. While other homes they had passed had a few lights on, this one did not. There were no vehicles outside, the grass was overgrown and vines had made it nearly to the second story, though there was still one more floor left for them to ascend.

  “An abandoned house in a storm?” Linda shook her head as she shouted. “Sounds like a classic horror movie mistake to me!”

  “It’s either that or trying to drive in this!” A bolt of lightning cracked a tree less than a block away as Frank finished his sentence as if to emphasize his point.

  “Screw it!” Linda turned the wheel sharply and headed up the driveway to the house at the end. She and Frank hopped out, grabbed their guns and opened the storage case in the back of the truck. Water was seeping in, but not seriously, and they both grabbed their backpacks and Linda grabbed one of her other bags.

  “Just leave the rest!” She shouted at Frank. “It’ll survive in the rain!”

  Frank ran towards the front door and skidded to a stop once he was on the porch. Linda followed close behind and threw her bags on the porch and took several deep breaths. “Where on earth did this storm come from?” Linda brushed the water from her jacket and shivered involuntarily. “It’s freezing out here.”

  Frank, meanwhile, was digging through the bottom of his bag. After a minute’s frantic searching he stood up with a smile on his face. “Ha!”

  The small pry bar was only six inches long, but he was able to put enough leverage on it to start pulling away the boards that were nailed across the front of the house. Linda put a hand on his arm to stop him.

  “Wait a second.” She walked across the porch and motioned for Frank to follow her. “There’s a side door here. Better to go in here than right out in front, eh?”

  Frank nodded and walked along the porch to the smaller door that was set on the corner of the house. Linda looked to the left and right at the boarded-up windows and shook her head. “You know, this place creeps me the hell out. Maybe we should have just gone to a hotel.”

  Another bolt of lightning cracked nearby, causing both her and Frank to jump in surprise. “Be my guest!” Frank tossed one of the boards out into the yard off the side of the house and leaned in to wrench the other off. The second board came off with significantly less effort and Frank threw it out into the yard after the first board. He put his shoulder against the door and stepped back, preparing to throw himself at it when Linda held up her hands.

  “Whoa, hang on!” She stepped up to the door and twisted the handle. When it didn’t budge, she took a step back and forced her weight into a step forward, raising her right foot and bringing it to bear on the door directly next to the handle. The motion was enough to cause the deadbolt and door latch to tear through the cheap wooden frame of the door on the inside and it opened freely. Linda caught herself on the frame before she fell forward, then turned to smile at Frank.

  “Never use your shoulder. A boot right at the weak point takes care of it every time.”

  Frank raised an eyebrow as he picked up his backpack and Linda’s spare bag. “Nicely done, GI Jane. Let’s get inside and see what we’re dealing with.”

  Linda took her backpack and pulled her pistol out of its holster as Frank held the rifle in one hand. As they walked inside, Linda pushed the door closed and looked around at the foyer. “Put my bag by the door,” she whispered, “and let’s clear the house and make sure we’re alone.”

  Frank kept his backpack on but held tight to the rifle as he followed Linda through the house. She held one of her flashlights in one hand and the pistol in the other, sweeping each room in the house that they went through with the weapon as they checked for any signs that someone was in the residence with them.

  The rooms were barren save for dust and a few scraps of packing paper, though, and it didn’t take more than fifteen minutes for them to sweep the basement and the three floors above. When they returned to the foyer Linda looked visibly more relaxed, a fact that Frank decided to ask her about.

  “You do a lot of this house sweeping stuff when you were overseas?”

  Linda stiffened slightly at the question but answered after a few seconds of hesitation. “Yeah, you could say that. If I’m alone somewhere I like to know I’m alone.”

  Frank nodded. “Makes sense. Especially now. Say, speaking of alone, why didn’t we think of knocking on some doors where the lights were on and seeing if someone would take us in?”

  Linda gave Frank a look like she was staring at a potato. “What would you say if two strangers showed up in the middle of a storm demanding to be put up for the night?”

  “Well, if I was Jacob I’d welcome them in.” Frank sighed. “You’re right, though. Still, it’d be nice if we had some warmth. It’s going to get crazy cold tonight with all this rain.”

  Linda walked
over to the nearest switch and flicked it up. The lights in the foyer immediately sprung to life and she laughed. “A foreclosed house that’s all boarded up but the power is still connected? What kind of a crazy town is this?”

  “Hey don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Let’s get the heat cranked up before it gets colder.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Linda waved over her shoulder as she headed down the hall. “I’m on it.”

  Chapter 21

  “What’s the status of the Russian naval fleet?”

  “Heavy movement in the Pacific. No real changes since they began assembling.”

  “China?”

  “No changes there, either.”

  “Anything new from our European allies?”

  “Germany’s sent twenty thousand as a show of strength to the east. Russian ‘exercises’ are still ongoing. The Chinese appear to be staying out of that particular dick-measuring contest for the moment. Britain’s being finicky with their commitment. On a side note, Australia committed another ten thousand should we need them.”

  “Hm. Good. And the homeland? What new developments?”

  “We’re still awaiting official authorization to begin deploying the Army into a total of thirty-seven major metropolitan cities to act as peacekeeping and aid personnel. National guard and local law enforcement’s been doing a shit job of keeping things together. Hospitals are overwhelmed and we’ve seen scattered attempts to break into bases and training camps but so far the majority of people are sticking it out at home. Almost no one is on the roads due to fear of being another victim.”

  “Do you have the latest casualty projections?”

  “I believe so. Yes, there. On the screen now.”

  “Hm. And these are accurate?”

  “Absolutely, sir.”

  “Damn. The Air Force still doesn’t have a time frame for when they’ll be through with their security checks, do they?”

  “I’m afraid not.”