The Shattered Earth: Book 3 of the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (Surviving the Fall Series - Book 3)

by Mike Kraus

  The Shattered

  EARTH

  Surviving the Fall Series

  Book 3

  By

  Mike Kraus

  © 2017 Mike Kraus

  www.MikeKrausBooks.com

  hello@mikeKrausBooks.com

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the permission in writing from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Author’s Notes

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  Special Thanks

  This book wouldn’t be possible without the help and support of my amazing beta reading team.

  Thank you to Shari, James, Glenda, Julie, Marlys and Claudia for your awesome feedback during the beta reading process!

  Preface

  After barely escaping Los Angeles, Rick Waters headed east on his quest to return home. He had barely crossed the California/Nevada border when he was stopped outside Las Vegas by a military blockade. Forced to load into a convoy of school buses headed for Nellis AFB, the convoy was attacked by unknown assailants and all but Rick and a young woman named Jane were killed in the crash. Struggling against the abnormally hot autumn weather, Rick and Jane trekked through Las Vegas, trying to make it to Nellis where they assumed they would find safety. After Jane suffered from heat exhaustion the pair took refuge in a hardware store overnight until she recovered enough strength to continue traveling. Unfortunately, as they tried to cross the famous “Strip” they were forced to hide in plain sight as a pair of armed Humvees loaded down with looters appeared.

  Meanwhile, in Virginia, Dianne Waters has been working tirelessly to prepare the house, property and her children for what she is slowly starting to realize may not be a temporary situation. The power is still off, there are virtually no people left in the nearby small town and it’s nearly impossible to get onto the highway to travel to any other cities. After witnessing a mysterious fire consume a neighbor’s home a few miles down the road, Dianne resolves to be more vigilant than ever, ensuring that she and her oldest son are armed virtually all the time.

  And now… Surviving the Fall: Book 3.

  Chapter 1

  Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center

  One Day Before the Event

  A heavily modified Gulfstream III tears through the bright blue Autumn sky at nearly seven hundred and fifty miles per hour. Reinforcements in the structure of the aircraft enable it to withstand the additional forces generated by flying almost two hundred miles per hour faster than its civilian counterparts. The aircraft has a plain paint job and if the tail numbers were ever searched the aircraft would come back as being owned by a boring faceless corporation.

  The truth, however, is another matter. The Gulfstream III is one of several owned and operated by the United States federal government and used as semi-secret transportation for the President, Vice President and other senior members of government. Capable of landing on airstrips where the Boeing 747 cannot, the Gulfstream III—the government modified version of which is referred to as the C-20—carries a very special passenger.

  “Mr. Vice President?” A stewardess approaches a man in a suit who is staring nervously out a window. “Sir, would you please fasten your seatbelt? We’re about to land.”

  “Mm?” The man looks up at her questioningly for several seconds before her request finally processes. “Oh. Right. Of course. Thank you.”

  A portly man of sixty-something years old with drooping jowls, liver spots on his bald head and a smooth baritone voice that captivates his audiences, the Vice President of the United States is in a position he never thought would arrive while he was in office. As he is ferried from an event in New York to the secure underground bunker at Mount Weather, Virginia, he wonders what is happening to the rest of the high levels of government.

  Secure communications channels have been down for days and only limited communications are allowed on civilian and insecure channels. He has no idea where the President is, what is being done with the members of Congress or what’s happening in the country and the rest of the world. His briefings on Damocles and the effects it is having on the world have been extensive, but he has yet to fully process what it all means.

  Ten minutes later, when the wheels of the C-20 have stopped rolling, a black SUV races towards the plane and pulls to a stop. A man in a uniform steps out of the passenger seat and gives the Vice President a quick salute, then motions for him to get into the car. The Vice President obliges, not bothering to ask any questions as the SUV races back toward the Mount Weather buildings and the entrance to the underground bunker.

  Hardened against nuclear attack and set a mere fifty miles west of D.C., Mount Weather is the central operations post for FEMA. It is also one of the main relocation sites for the highest military and civilian levels of government and since it is so close to D.C. it is the location of choice for fast evacuations for anyone in, around or near Washington.

  Inside the bunker the SUV rolls to a stop and the massive doors begin to slowly close behind it. The Vice President watches the doors close with a raised eyebrow, then finally speaks to the driver. “No one else is coming?”

  “They’re here already, sir. You’re the last.”

  “Hm.” The Vice President steps out of the car and walks down a long corridor that slopes down into the mountain. He passes through two more open vault doors before the décor changes from an industrial look to an office one.

  Inside the command center buried beneath Mount Weather the mood is tense. All conversations between the staff are carried on in whispers and the Vice President looks around for someone in command to speak with. After a moment a figure in a suit and tie comes jogging through the door and extends his hand, smiling apologetically.

  “Mr. Vice President. I’m so sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Please, come this way.”

  The man in the suit leads the Vice President through the operations command center into a large room with chairs, couches and tables scattered throughout. The place is decorated like an upscale club with leather furniture, bookcases on the walls and carpeting that keeps the myriad of conversations dulled.

  Scattered throughout the room are dozens of high-ranking government officials, all in various states of distress. They are all dressed as though they have just come directly from D.C. and as they catch sight of the Vice President they all approach him and begin to pepper him with questions.

  Before the Vice President can raise his hands and ask them to settle down, the man in the suit pulls the Vice President aside and hands him a sealed manila envelope. “T
he latest briefing, sir. We’ve severed connectivity with the outside world so everything’s on paper now.”

  The Vice President opens the envelope and reads the single page inside. The color drains from his face as he reads farther down the page and by the time he’s done he is white as a sheet. “What can we do about this? Has the President been briefed?”

  “We’ve temporarily lost contact with Air Force One, sir. We’re unsure whether or not he’s been briefed. As of right now, though, we have to assume that he hasn’t.”

  “What about responses? Surely there are contingency plans?”

  The man in the suit shakes his head. “No sir.”

  Chapter 2

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Rick watched the men outside the Humvees carefully as they walked south down the road. After the first three entered the restaurant and vanished from sight, Rick had kept his attention on the remaining pair as they went along, hoping that they wouldn’t turn around and see Rick and Jane in the median. Fortunately, though, the pair didn’t appear to be interested in situational awareness. Instead of looking around and checking for any signs of trouble, they merely laughed and jabbed at each other as they walked along.

  After the pair stopped and entered another building down the road, Rick knew it was his and Jane’s best opportunity to get off the median and into cover. The two armed Humvees were the only visible threats, but all it would take is for one of the gunners to spot him and Jane and the two of them would be killed almost immediately.

  “Are you ready to run?” Rick whispered to Jane and she nodded, her eyes wide in fright.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “As soon as both of the gunners are looking away from us we’re going to run like hell and try to get inside the casino across the street, okay?”

  Jane nodded again, her face creased with worry. “Are you sure we’ll make it?”

  Rick put on a brave smile, thoroughly unconvinced at his own answer. “Of course we’ll make it!”

  There was no definitive pattern to how the gunners on top of the Humvees were rotating around and scanning the area, but after a few minutes of watching, Rick finally saw that he and Jane had a window. The gunner farthest away from them had shouted at his partner and pointed at something up the street to the north. Both of them swiveled to face it and Rick jumped up, pulling on Jane’s arm. “Let’s go!”

  Rick and Jane ran full tilt across the road, heading for what used to be a collection of small shops in front of the towering casino. At one point the shops were a neon tourist attraction that had to be seen, but something had damaged them to the point that they were naught but a pile of twisted metal, concrete and broken glass.

  As Rick and Jane began to pick their way through the maze of wreckage in front of the casino, Rick thought for a moment that they were in the clear. The metallic whirr and thud of the turrets spinning around and the shouts of surprise from the gunners proved that assumption to be incorrect.

  “Hey!” The voice was distant but Rick knew instantly that it was one of the gunners shouting at them. “You two, stop right now!” The shout was followed almost immediately by a burst of machine gun fire that tore into a large slab of concrete and rebar. A plume of concrete sprayed over Rick and he pushed Jane forward, urging her to go faster.

  “Come on! They’re going to shoot us if we don’t move faster!”

  Without drivers, the Humvees had a limited range of fire on Rick and Jane, but in between bursts from their guns he could hear the shouting of the other five men as they ran back towards the military vehicles, wondering what was going on. It only took a moment for the men to pile back into the Humvees, start the engines and squeal the tires as they pulled around to head across the street towards Rick and Jane.

  “Inside, quickly, quickly! Come on, go!” Rick didn’t even bother trying to be stealthy as he shouted at Jane, helping her climb over one last pile of debris that was in front of the casino entrance. A good fifty feet stood between the pair and the front doors to the casino. As they ran Rick cast a backward glance and saw that the Humvees were pulling to a stop at the edge of the road. One of them had a clear shot on the front of the building and Rick pulled Jane to the left to get out of the line of fire.

  Lead tore through the air, shattering the few remaining panes of glass hanging in the front entrance of the casino and narrowly missing Rick and Jane. Rick continued heading perpendicularly to the entrance until he and Jane hit the wall of the building, at which point the Humvee on the road no longer had a shot on them.

  “Come on, get inside!” Rick continued pushing Jane forward until he saw her stumble, at which point he caught her arm and held her up. “Are you okay?”

  Jane turned toward him, her mouth open as she panted, trying to form words with which to reply. She mumbled something incoherent as another blast of fire echoed out. “Dammit!” Rick struggled as he hauled all of his gear and tried to support Jane as they moved closer to the casino entrance. Rick heard a commotion behind him and glanced back to see movement amongst the rubble. Unable to fire on the pair from the road, a few of the men from the Humvees had disembarked and were pushing forward to catch up to Rick before he could get inside.

  “Come on, Jane!” Rick shook her by the arm and he felt her begin to walk under her own power again. With a final few steps they crossed over into the entrance of the casino through a broken window and made it inside. Rick steered Jane to the left, behind the wall and dropped his bags onto the floor. He grabbed the shotgun from the bag and whirled back around to face the entrance.

  The first of the group to finish making it through the rubble screamed as Rick fired the shotgun. The buckshot spread out in a wide arc at the distance between the two, and while the man wasn’t mortally wounded, he clawed at his face and neck as the pellets pierced through his skin. He fell backward into the rubble as the rest of the group paused, suddenly reconsidering their pursuit of Rick and Jane.

  While the group had been temporarily halted by Rick’s fire, he knew that they wouldn’t hold back for long. Once they worked up the nerve to make another move Rick figured that he might be able to take down one or two of them before they killed him. Got to think of something else. Rick’s eyes flicked across the interior of the casino, his vision slowly adjusting to the darkness.

  The interior of the building looked like something had torn it apart. Half of the tables and chairs he could see were knocked over, large sections of the roof had caved in or cracked and the floor was littered with decorations and artwork that had been knocked off of the walls. The evidence of the earthquake that Rick had heard about was plain as day, but he still found the idea difficult to comprehend.

  He took a few steps back from the entrance, looking up at the slanted ceiling, when he saw that a large neon sign hanging from the wall was precariously positioned and looked as though it could fall at a moment’s notice. Rick stepped back even farther, pointed the shotgun at the sign’s supports and fired. Having such low mass, the pellets couldn’t do much to damage the metal supports, the wall mounts or the sign itself. At least under normal circumstances they couldn’t.

  As three shells full of buckshot bounced off of the sign and the supports, Rick heard metal groaning as the tiny vibrations disturbed the delicate balance of the sign and it began to continue its slide downward that had started during the earthquake. The sharp snap of steel breaking preceded the sign shifting down and outward suddenly before coming to a brief halt. The sign swung back towards the entrance and Rick’s eyes opened wide and he shook his head, hoping that it would stay in position long enough to swing back in the opposite direction.

  A few seconds more was all the sign needed as the bottom swung back towards the interior of the casino. This movement was the final straw for the sign’s supports and the massive object came crashing down in a thunderous roar. Because the sign was already angled toward the entrance, instead of falling flat on the inside of the casino it fell at an angle towards the entrance. Light
streaming in from the outside was suddenly blotted out as the sign was jammed into the front of the building, completely blocking it off from entry or exit.

  “Get through that, assholes.” Rick allowed himself a brief smile as he spoke quietly, overjoyed that his ludicrous plan had somehow worked.

  Chapter 3

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Only a few small streams of light came through cracks in between the sign and the building and while sounds from outside were muffled, Rick was able to make out the gunfire and shouts and anger as the men outside both shot and threw their body weight at the sign to try and get it out of the way. The commotion outside lasted for several minutes, and after waiting a moment to ensure that the entrance was secured, Rick went over to check on Jane.

  The young woman’s eyes were closed as she sat on the floor, her head back against the wall as she took long, slow breaths. Rick felt her head and neck and quickly opened a bottle of water for her and helped her take several sips. “Easy there.” Rick spoke quietly and splashed water on her forehead. “You’re getting too hot again. How are you feeling?”

  “I want to live somewhere cold.” Jane opened her eyes and forced a smile. “Did you kill them?”

  Rick shook his head and glanced back at the sign jammed into the entrance of the casino. Light streaming in through cracks around the sign and through holes and cracks in the ceiling provided just enough light to make out the general shapes inside the building. “No, I didn’t. The front door to this building is closed off but I’m sure they’ll try to get in here another way.”

  “Why?” Jane’s question caught Rick off guard and he struggled to think of an answer. Why, indeed, was he assuming that the men would try to get into the building?