Shane had to help Jodi lift the water jug and pour it into the percolator.
I can’t even lift a stupid jug of water, she thought, feeling again that burning frustration. Her right arm was no longer bandaged, and she glared at the ugly scabbed wounds on her forearm.
“I almost hate to ask,” Jodi said, “but what about Pike? Tell me he’s still safely behind bars.”
“Oh, he’s right there where he belongs,” James replied, “and he’s a royal pain in the butt, too, always whining about his rights. I can’t count the number of times he’s asked to make a phone call. ‘I get one phone, call, Sheriff. I get one phone call. I need to call my lawyer.’ He knows the phones don’t work. Heck, I even offered to bring him two cans and a piece of string.”
“Don’t let him rattle you,” Shane said, starting one of the burners on the grill. “I’m sure he’d love you to get frustrated and drop your guard.”
“It’ll never happen,” James said. “He expects a trial, but nobody can get hold of the judge. The court is in shambles. I tell you what, sometimes I’m tempted to drive that old boy out to the nearest swamp and feed him to the gators.”
“Whatever you do, please don’t let him out of that cell,” Jodi said, opening the bag of coffee.
“I’m mostly joking about the gators,” James said. “He’d probably give the poor critters indigestion anyway. I just…” He shrugged. “Honestly, folks, I don’t know what to do with him. With no functioning court system, what are we supposed to do with criminals? I’m certainly not going to release him, and the State Troopers don’t want him.”
“He’s right where he needs to be,” Jodi said. A fresh sheen of sweat broke through the drying layer on her forehead as she stood in the heat. Shane noticed with a look of concern.
“I got this, honey,” Shane said.
She couldn’t argue with him, so she moved back into the dining room and collapsed in her chair.
“I guess I’m stuck with him for the foreseeable future,” James said. “I resent it every time I have to feed that sucker. I’ve avoided arresting other people just because I can’t comfortably fit more than about four people in the holding area.”
Shane poured the coffee and brought it to them one at a time, Jodi first. He’d made the coffee strong. When James took his first sip, he grimaced, shook his head, and blew his breath out.
“It’s like Italian espresso,” he said. “Thick as ink.”
As Jodi struggled to lift her cup, her brother, Mike, shuffled into the dining room. He was looking better these days. He’d gotten some of his color back, and she could see new hair growing in the bare patches from his last round of chemo. He still had the plastic IV port in his arm as a constant reminder of his recovery.
“Hey there, James,” Mike said. “Do you have anyone helping you out in your sheriffing?”
“Not at the moment,” the sheriff replied, then dared another sip of his ink-thick coffee. “The rest of my staff seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. I tracked down one of the receptionists, but she won’t come back to work. I’m afraid keeping law and order is a one-man job east of Macon these days.”
“Well, to be honest, I’ve sort of been looking for something to do,” Mike said. “I’d be willing to help if you want to deputize me, Sheriff.”
Seeing his still-frail form, his loose shirt, and his still-sunken cheeks, Jodi protested. “Mike, that doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“This isn’t the Wild West,” Shane said. “You can’t just ask the sheriff to deputize you.”
“It’s your health I’m concerned about,” Jodi said, seeing the frown on Mike’s face. “Mikey, you have to take care of yourself.”
“Don’t you Mikey me, sis,” he said. “I feel a lot better. Look at me. Aren’t I the picture of recovery? Anyway, I need to be productive. You know how mind-numbing it is just sitting around the house day after day? I won’t get myself into any trouble.”
“I can’t pay you,” James said. “Heck, I’m not even get paid myself these days.”
Mike shrugged. “Fine with me. Consider me a volunteer.”
Jodi could see Mike’s point, though she hated to admit it. He’d been rather restless the past couple of weeks, wandering from room to room. When James gave her a questioning look, apparently seeking her approval, she resisting scowling at him.
“Well, I would certainly be grateful for a little help,” he said, then quickly added, “Don’t worry, folks. I’ll limit him to the work he can do, and I won’t put him in harm’s way.”
“Are you sure about this, Mike?” Shane said. He tried to hand Mike a cup of coffee, but Mike waved it off.
“Yeah, put me to good use, Sheriff,” Mike said. “I’m your man.”
“Okay, you’re hired,” James said, raising his cup as if making a toast. He started to drink it, then seemed to reconsider and set it down.
“Shouldn’t we make it official?” Mike said, walking around the table to stand beside the sheriff.
“What do you mean?” James said.
“Well, shouldn’t there be a ceremony, like pinning a badge on my chest?”
James rose from his seat. “I don’t have a badge to pin on your chest, but I suppose we can do something sort of formal.” He reached down and picked up his hat, then touched it to Mike’s right shoulder. “I hereby deputize you by the authority vested in me as a sheriff of Bibb County.” He touched the hat to Mike’s left shoulder. “You’re now a deputy.”
“That’ll work,” Mike said with a smile.
“Of course, this would all be highly illegal under normal circumstances,” James said, putting his hat on and pulling the brim low. “I can’t just deputize someone, and if any semblance of real law and order is ever reestablished, this might become a problem. But…” He shrugged. “What are you going to do? It is what it is. Stop by the office later, and maybe we can scrounge you up a real badge.”
“A real badge,” Mike said, eyes wide like he was a kid again.
Jodi shook her head. Was he taking this seriously? “James, keep an eye on him.”
“He’ll be fine,” the sheriff replied. “I won’t let him do anything foolish.”
He stepped away from the table and waved Mike into his chair. Then he picked up his coffee, held it (but didn’t drink it), and stood near back door. Jodi marveled again at how unpleasant the constant, unrelenting warmth was. There was no escaping it. She’d been tempted many times to ask Shane to use the solar panels to power a swamp cooler, but she’d held off. It seemed like a meaningless indulgence, and where would one find a swamp cooler anyway now that almost every store had been looted into oblivion?
“James, other than the roaming bands of listless teens, how are things going in town?” she asked. “We’re all pretty much stuck here at the house.”
Jodi had been spending her days mostly inside the house, waiting for her body to recover and growing more frustrated day by day, so the world beyond the surrounding fence almost felt like a foreign country. James’s questioning look indicated he clearly didn’t understand the magnitude of her detachment from the community.
“I haven’t been away from the house since you guys brought me home,” she reminded him.
“Speaking of home, have you guys finished your various security projects?” James asked.
“I think our preparations are finally just about done,” Shane said. “The fence is complete and reinforced, the doors are strengthened.” He gestured at the sliding glass door. Though the door was currently open, Jodi could still see the sturdy panels that had been put in place of the glass, the reinforcing bars over the intact panel on the inner door. “The solar panels are working well, so we’re not without power. The garden is growing, and we even got Beth’s old water pump in the shed working. There’s not much left to do.”
“That’s good to hear,” James said, adjusting his hat. “As far as how things are going in town, people still have a little respect for law enforcement, but
overall, it’s not good. As the weeks pass, they become less optimistic. I see them losing hope. I’m telling you, Jodi, when you drive through town these days, you see grim faces peering out of the doorways and windows. We’ve got a big tent camp in the park near the high school, and you’ve never seen a sadder collection of lost souls in your life.”
“What’s the situation with food?” Jodi asked
“As bad as we feared,” he replied. He finally went to the kitchen and discreetly, with his back turned to the dining room table, poured the too-strong coffee into the sink. Jodi could tell what he was doing, but it made her smile. In her previous life, she’d been used to measuring coffee in K-cups. “The C & R Supermarket had a break-in a few days ago. A team of thieves looted an impressive amount of food. The store added armed guards—well, local volunteers with guns—and they’re working around the clock to protect the place. They’ve already had a couple of dust-ups with wannabe burglars. They’ve also adopted what the locals are calling, ‘The Costco Model,’ limiting the number of customers in the store, limiting the quantity of items that individual shoppers can buy. That’s got people steaming mad, but what else can they do? The supply chain is almost entirely disrupted. It’s near impossible to restock the shelves with even basic foods.”
Jodi felt a squirming unease in her belly. Hadn’t she seen the real danger that lurked out there in a crumbling world? The sheriff claimed most people still respected law enforcement, but how much longer would that last? How long would it be until men like Talon ruled the world? Between Augusta and Macon, she’d run into two bloodthirsty gangs robbing and killing at will. How many more were there now?
“Sheriff Cooley, do take care of Mikey,” she said.
“Like I said, I won’t put him in any real danger,” James said, rinsing the coffee cup with water they kept in a basin for that purpose. He set the clean cup on the counter and turned to them. “I didn’t actually come here to recruit a deputy. I came here with some…well, possibly good news. We’ve scheduled another town meeting in two days, and I figured you’d want to be there.”
Jodi glanced at Shane, who gave her a little frown. The previous town meeting hadn’t been all that productive, but it still seemed like the right thing to do. Better to get everyone in the same room talking rather than let the community thrive on gossip and whispers.
“Anyway, if you folks care to attend, I’ll swing by tomorrow evening,” he said. “We can ride together.”
“We’ll be ready,” Jodi said.
“For sure,” Shane added, returning to the dining table. “Thanks for letting us know.”
Jodi noticed Beth in the backyard. Jodi’s mother must have come from the garage, but she was now working in the garden. The cabbage and summer squash had started to ripen, and she was plucking the ripest vegetables and putting them in a plastic bucket.
A moment later, the teens came scurrying after her, bearing buckets and gardening tools, Owen and Corbin in the lead, Violet following with Ruby at her side, and the Horton kids bringing up the rear. The one named David still insisted on wearing that silly blue trilby hat, even in the sweltering heat. Somehow, Beth had put the whole lot of them to work, and they seemed to be chatting and having a good time.
“If you’ll excuse me,” James said, slipping past Mike and moving toward the door. “I need to talk to Beth for a moment. Mike, meet me at the office in about an hour, if you would.”
“I’ll be there, Sheriff,” Mike replied.
As James headed out to the garden, Mike excused himself. That left Jodi and Shane sitting at the table. They traded a meaningful look, a question lingering in the air. Finally, Jodi said it out loud.
“Are we safe here? In this town, I mean.”
Shane didn’t answer for a second, biting his lower lip as if debating with himself how honest he should be.
“I don’t know,” he said, finally, “but I doubt we’d be safer anywhere else.”
Jodi nodded. It was the answer she’d expected.
Not safe here. Not safe anywhere. This is the world now.
Get your copy of New World
Available January 8 2020
www.GraceHamiltonBooks.com
BLURB
When the lights go out, anarchy reigns supreme.
After journalist Austin Merryman’s wife died, he and his fourteen-year-old daughter left home to travel the country in an old RV. But the comfort and renewal they sought soon descends into chaos.
After a message from an old college buddy leads Austin to a bridge in the middle of nowhere, he finds his friend—now an NSA agent—waiting to give him a USB drive. Before the contents can be explained, machine gun fire strafes the bridge, killing Austin’s friend and forcing Austin into the raging river.
Rescued downstream by a beautiful veterinarian, Austin learns that EMP attacks have thrust the world into eternal darkness—and separated him from the only person he has left. Now, he’ll move heaven and earth to locate his daughter and make it to his brother’s prepper hideaway in Utah.
But the post-apocalyptic world is no longer a friendly place. Resources are growing scarce. Factions break out along ethnic and religious lines. Everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to survive in an increasingly hostile environment. And Austin’s daughter is caught right in the middle of this splintering society.
But an even deadlier foe stalks them as they struggle across the landscape. Someone who hasn’t forgotten about the USB drive Austin possesses.
And they’ll do anything to get it back.
Grab your copy of Survive The Chaos here.
EXCERPT
Chapter One
Austin Merryman stored the last of the dinner dishes in the small cupboard of his thirty-two-foot fifth wheel. The RV wasn’t an ideal living space for a man and his fourteen-year-old daughter, but they’d been managing to make it work. As he and Savannah constantly reminded each other, it was both easy and difficult to keep the small living space clean. It only took a stray pair of shoes or a few dishes on the tiny kitchen counter to make things look untidy, and both of them were guilty of forgetting the fact on a too-regular basis.
Waiting for Savannah to emerge from the little upper bedroom, he folded a blanket, tossed it on the couch, and put the TV remote back in the little caddy mounted on the wall. Austin liked things neat, though he knew Savannah had to clean up after him just as he was cleaning up after her now.
“Savannah!” he called out, checking his watch again.
She popped her head out from around the upstairs corner of the fifth-wheel, a hair dryer still in her hand. “What?”
“I have to get going.”
She shrugged as she wrapped the cord around her dryer. “I told you, I don’t need a ride. Leave already.”
“I’ll be back within an hour or so. Where are you going exactly?” he asked. She’d told him she was going to the creamery for ice cream with the girl who lived on a nearby farm; somehow, he couldn’t believe it was that simple. He wanted to, but he’d seen the way she’d ogled that boy they’d run into in town—and the way they’d leaned in to each other to talk. He remembered being young and carefree. Yeah, it had been a long time ago, before life and the world had given him a much more jaded view of things, but he remembered. And Savannah was too pretty for him to forget what he’d been like as a teenage boy.
“Dad, I already told you. We’re going to get ice cream,” she groaned, adjusting her hair in a hand mirror. “Me and Cassie.”
Out with it, Austin. “Are you going to see that boy?” he asked.
She glanced over to meet his eyes and then gave him that maddening teenage shrug again. “He might be there,” she replied.
Right. He might be there. Austin kept eyeing her, trying to decide whether or not to trust her—not that he had much choice, but still. She looked so much like his late wife that it hurt sometimes. Her long, light brown hair had been brushed to a high shine and left loose around her shoulders. She’d only asked him to buy her l
ip gloss and mascara thus far. He dreaded the day she wanted to go full face-paint. He preferred the clean, youthful look that befitted her fourteen years over the girls her age who he’d seen with more makeup than a supermodel wore.
And he had to admit, she didn’t give him as much stress as he knew many fourteen-year-olds dealt their parents. Even with tonight being a warm early summer night, she wore something he couldn’t quite object to. For tonight’s ice cream trip, she’d donned the black flowy shirt with the shoulder cut-outs that she’d begged him to buy her on their last mall visit. And it wasn’t truly revealing, so he couldn’t complain. It just made her look far more mature than he liked, reminding him that he had to accept that she was growing up.
“I want you home by ten,” he reminded her. “Not at the farmer’s house with your friend down the street, either. Home.”
Finally starting to move down toward the door where he stood, she quirked her lips in a frown. “Dad, it doesn’t even get dark until like nine-thirty,” she argued.
“Ten, or don’t go at all. You don’t need to be walking around after dark. There are wild animals out here,” he lectured her.
“I have my phone,” she said, brandishing it as if the expensive gadget were a gun. He wished it were, the way she looked.
“And the service out here sucks,” he told her, “as you remind me all the time. Animals aren’t going to wait for you to call for help, either.”
The look she gave him told him she was mentally slapping her hand to her forehead, even if she was smart enough not to actually do it in front of him. “My phone has a flashlight and Cassie knows this area. We’ll be fine, Dad.”
“Don’t take rides from strangers, and remember what I told you if anyone tries to grab you.”
She got to within a foot of him and leaned back on the couch in obedient daughter mode. “I remember: palm to the nose, fingers in the eyes, and knee to the crotch,” she recited robotically.
Surviving The End (Book 2): Fallen World Page 25
