Total Apoc 2 Trilogy (Book 3): Night of the Savages
Page 22
"There's a gas station over to the left, behind that hill," Jake said. "I see a Rapid Stop sign."
We couldn't get gasoline out of the underground tanks, but there were probably cars parked there. At the moment it was our only prospect. To get to it required taking the off ramp to US-14. The Rapid Stop was just a short jump over. There were two cars and three pickups at the gas station, two of which were sitting at the pumps.
Everyone got out to stretch their legs while teams went to each vehicle with a siphon hose and six-gallon gas tank. We found someone had beat us there. Their tanks were empty.
"There's another town call Moorcroft about thirty miles up the road," Sean said. "Maybe we'll have better luck there."
So we got back on I-90 West. I kept the speed down to conserve gas, but we still reached Moorcroft in half an hour. It was late in the day, the sun in our eyes. And I was bone tired.
"We might want to stop and spend the night here," I said. "Maybe find a safe place for everyone while we send a team forward to look for a way through the defenses."
"A team? Led by you, I assume?" Jenny asked.
I tensed, knowing what was coming. "If not me, then who?"
I noticed a gas station sign off the highway and at the edge of Moorcroft. Unfortunately, I'd been distracted speaking to Jenny and missed the turn off. We passed over an overpass, so I started studying the median. It didn't look bad at all, so we could go off the road.
"What's that, Daddy?" Harlan asked, pointing to the west.
"Looks like an antenna," I said.
"No, in the sky past that."
I took my foot off the brake and looked harder. And there it was. Or more precisely, there they were. Two fast moving specks on the horizon. Jets. Fighter jets.
"Oh shit."
Ratta-tat-tat-tat-tat. Ratta-tat-tat-tat!
Glass shattered and I heard bullets striking the truck. We were taking fire from our left flank. Pretty intense fire, too. And then smoke started billowing out from under the hood.
"We're on fire!" Charlie screamed from back, even as he returned fire. "Gas tank's on fire!"
Then I spotted Walt's two CJ7s off to our left. Everyone behind us turned right and went off the road. I went over the side, too, mostly to get some earth between us and all that gunfire, before slamming on the brakes.
"Out! Out!" I screamed. "Follow me."
"What about the .50 Cal?" Charlie asked.
We didn't have a tripod, so it was useless to us without the truck. "Remove the barrel and leave it."
It was going to burn up, but there wasn't anything we could do about that. Better it than us.
There was nothing to take cover behind. Walt and his gang of unwashed savages would be coming over and across the highway at any moment, guns blazing. We'd all be mowed down mercilessly. Then I noticed the other three pickups went up under the overpass, so I turned everyone that way.
"Get under the bridge."
I waved everyone ahead of me. Jake led the way, followed by Haley carrying Harlan, Jenny carrying Timmy, and me carrying Sookie. Two Jeeps slid to a stop on the blacktop above us. I glanced back as they began firing down at us, but I also spotted the two incoming jets. They were on an attack run, too.
"Oh shit."
"I'm gonna eat your heart, boy!" Walt shouted. "You hear me? I'm gonna kill you all, and eat your heart!"
"Faster! Get under that bridge!"
KA-BOOM!
We turned and raced under the bridge as high explosives erupted on the highway above. Flames filled the air to either side of the bridge as I ushered everyone up the concrete embankment and as high up next to the bridge as we could go. Most of the other members of our group were already huddled up there. The three gunners were the only ones left in the pickups.
"Don't move," I whispered, and crawled over to look around. Someone opened fire on me. "Watch out. Some of them are still alive."
Our gunners braced themselves, an M60 and .50 Cal swinging to my side of the bridge, and the other M60 guarding the other side. Sean, Terrel, and Brett moved to defend the other side, while Charlie, Vince, and Jake came toward me. Then Fred and the women placed themselves before the children.
Flat on my belly, I inched forward until I spotted Walt and three others. They must've dismounted to follow us before the jets struck.
I opened fire and scattered them.
Motioning Charlie down behind one of the concrete pillars, I then traded weapons with Jake so I could have the grenade launcher. He handed over the bandolier of grenades, too.
"They're a bunch of suicidal idiots, so they'll attack," I said. "Just stay low and fire center of mass. Don't try to be a hero. We have the advantage in the defensive position."
Jake already had a grenade in the launcher, so I took careful aim and fired. I didn't know the position of any of them, but fired in their general direction. Then I shot another, and another, and a fourth, spreading my shots out. That tactic accomplished what I wanted.
They freaked out and attacked.
Men charged us screaming and firing full automatic. We kept our heads down until they ran out of ammo and had to stop to reload. My hands tightened on my rifle, and my stomach twisted. They were bigger idiots than I thought.
Rising up on one knee. "Kill them while they are reloading!"
Three big, shirtless men came to a stop, a look of surprise on their faces. All four of us fired into them. One dropped like a rock. Another turned and tried to get away, but a dozen rounds pounded him in the back. The last man stood his ground, still trying to get another magazine into his AK-47. He jumped around a little as round after round ripped into his flesh. When we stopped firing, he gawked at us, dropped to his knees, and then fell face forward to the ground.
"Yes!" Charlie cried. "Killed them all!"
"Wait," I shouted, heart racing. "Where's Walt?"
As if on cue, a figure dropped down from that gap between the two bridges. Walt cried out in triumph and pointed his weapon up at the women and children tightly packed atop the embankment.
"Don't move!" he commanded. "If anyone moves, I will kill the children first."
Everyone froze. I stared incredulously at him. It couldn't be happening, but there he was grinning like an insane idiot. There was no way that bastard would let a single one of us go free.
"Drop your weapons," Walt said. "And then I want Sean, Roger, and Jenny down here on their knees before me."
I glanced at Jenny. She was pointing her weapon toward him, but aiming too high. Walt was staring right at her, so he'd kill her before she could pull the trigger.
"Why should we trust you?" I asked.
He glanced at me and scowled. His hand tightened on the handgrip, so I could only assume his finger tightened on the trigger as well. So when he started to turn back to Jenny, I made a big show of holding out my weapon and slowly setting it on the ground. When I released it, the rifle would slide down the steep concrete embankment to the road. His eyes locked on my weapon.
Out the corner of my eye I saw Jenny's rifle lower.
Pap-pap-pap. Walt's arms flew wide as he stumbled back a step. Then, Poof!
"Grenade!" I shouted, and the gunners all dropped into the beds of the trucks.
Ka-Boom!
I watched Walt explode when the grenade hit him square in the chest. The explosion sounded ten times worse under that overpass. I was knocked back on my butt, and lost hold of my rifle.
I looked around, ears ringing loudly. I didn't see any dead or wounded. No blood visible, anyway.
"Gunners! Man your weapons!" I scrambled down to my rifle. "Sean, we'll clear this side."
Sean waved, and led the men with him out to clear that side. I took point, and we quickly advanced on all of the bodies. Everyone was dead. We took their weapons and tossed them far away regardless. Not taking any chances.
Then I headed up to the burning Jeeps. More bodies were scattered around. Really, a few bodies and a lot of body parts. I met Sean in the media
n.
"Do we continue, or turn back?" I asked.
Stupid question. Sean looked off to the west. It would be dark in an hour or two. There was no sign of the jets, but they'd be back.
"Do you think we're close enough for helicopters to come out?"
"Yes."
"Let's get the hell out of Dodge," he said. "Back the way we came. Don't stop until we reach Sundance."
"No, Sturgis."
"Sounds like a plan."
The women dragged Walt's body away before we returned. They didn't want the children looking at it. It was pretty gruesome.
We had to do some reorganizing to accommodate everyone from my truck. I took over driving from Brett, with Jenny and the kids in back. Brett rode shotgun with the map. I'd rather have Jenny there, but she wanted to be with the kids.
"Where are we going?" Brett asked.
"To find a safe place to live." I drove up onto the eastbound side of I-90. "I was thinking that lake we stayed at last night. I bet that island would be as safe a place as we'll ever find. And we'd have access to that garden."
Chapter 52
Roger
Sighing gustily, I stood up and paused to watch the boat approach. Four men paddled it, towing another log for the house. We'd been there a week now, and the walls were half-built already. While the men disassembled a pair of log cabins, dragged the logs to the water, floated them over to the island, and then used them to build another, larger house, the women weeded the garden and collected vegetables.
Sara and Sonya were "canning" the vegetables with mason jars we'd scrounged. Brett, Fred, and Mike hunted for meat that Sean and I smoked most of the meat in a makeshift smoke house we constructed on the island. Even the children helped with the garden and smoke house fires. All effort was in getting enough food to survive the coming winter.
There was an old TV show that used to say something about "Winter is coming" all ominously. Now I understood. The prospect of a northern winter was a little scary.
The island was heavily wooded, and more than large enough for the little village we planned. Next summer we would start building each family their own log cabin, and the first structure would become a common place for everyone to gather and eat.
Part of every day was spent out and about scrounging for anything we might use. Weapons, ammo, knives, canned food, blankets, and clothes. We'd found a tiny library that actually had books on farming and food preservation.
Mike claimed we were all "post-preppers" because we didn't start until after the end of the world. I just called us survivors. And I was going to do everything in my power to ensure we continued to survive, and maybe even thrive.
"It's a crying shame none of us was a carpenter," Sean said. "Stacking logs is one thing, but building the roof is going to be mother."
He started toward the shore, and I followed. It was late in the day, so that was probably the last log we'd have to haul up and add to the walls. We'd all gather at the house with the wood burning stove and eat as usual. Then we’d take all of the boats over to the island and spend the night in relative safety.
"Tell Kate to check for books on carpentry and house building next time she goes to the library," I said.
"She already did, but hasn't found anything yet. She'll keep looking." He looked across the water to where she was working in the garden. "Don't say anything, but she might be pregnant."
"Congratulations, if it's true," I said.
I was thrilled for them, but the prospect scared me, too. She'd have to give birth medieval style. No pain meds, and only a pair of former emergency room nurses to help. I had complete faith in Vince and Leslie, but conditions were not good. Yeah, it scared me a lot.
"Life goes on," he said, and kind of choked up. I patted him on the back. "All we can do is trust in God and carry on. But, it'll be great having a little boy or girl of my own."
"Oh man, don't you know? The baby will be all Kate's. But she'll let you play with it sometimes."
Kate probably wouldn't be the only woman to turn up pregnant. I glanced across the water at Jenny. But I still had hope someone, somewhere would come up with a cure or vaccine that would allow the US to reclaim the eastern two-thirds of the country. If we were barred from entering the civilized world, then our only hope was it came to us. I didn't want my children to struggle as sustenance farmers all of their lives.
A god-awful noise erupted behind us. I heard childish screams and laughter, and then a cry of triumph. A moment later Sookie came running up to us, Timmy and Terrel fast on her heels. Those three were inseparable. She held a fairly large rabbit by his hind legs.
"Daddy! I caught it! I caught it!"
"That's great, baby."
"I helped," Timmy and Terrel said in unison.
"Aren't you kids supposed to be fishing for dinner?" Sean asked.
The rabbit suddenly struggled violently, and broke free. All three kids cried out and took off after it. I looked at Sean and grinned.
"Yes, you're going to love being a father."
Terrel, Fred, Vince, and Charlie were the guys in the boat. They helped Sean and I drag it uphill to the house and then lift it up atop the rising walls. It was going to be a pretty big place, that we planned to divide up inside for the different families. Everyone needed some privacy. Once it was finished, then we'd bring the two wood stoves we'd found over to heat and cook.
"I think we're going to make it," Charlie said. "Our shelter is more than half built. We'll probably have enough veggies canned to last all winter, and plenty of smoked meat. Plus we can continue hunting all winter for fresh meat. We'll have everything we need."
I looked around. "Except firewood."
"Dammit," Charlie said. "That's it. I'm not talking to you anymore."
I laughed. "Don't worry. We're not going to make you cut firewood. Almost every house around has a chimney, with a stack of firewood waiting to be taken."
We'd have to locate and haul of it back to the island, but that was easier than chopping down trees, cutting them into the right length, and then splitting the logs. We'd do that next summer.
"But I think you're right, Charlie. For the first time since the shit hit the fan, I feel optimistic about our future," I said. Laughter across the water drew our attention. "And that is the sweetest music. The children are playing again. The women are laughing and smiling. And as Sean said earlier, life goes on."
THE END
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Check out these other stories by TW Gallier Publishing:
Total Apoc 1 Trilogy
The Horde Rises (Total Apoc 1 Trilogy)
Fighting the Hordes (Total Apoc 1 Trilogy)
Horde Ravaged (Total Apoc 1 Trilogy)
Total Apoc 1 Trilogy Boxed Set
Total Apoc 2 Trilogy
Dawn of the Apocalypse (Total Apoc 2 Trilogy)
Day of the Zombies (Total Apoc 2 Trilogy)
Night of the Savages (Total Apoc 3 Trilogy)
About the Author:
TW Gallier was born in Beaumont, Texas. He served 7 years in an Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR Blackhorse Regiment), learning no useful skills. After the Army he went back to school to study electronics, figuring that would be a profession with job security. In 2008 he was laid off. It wasn’t the first time or last time he was wrong. But while in school, and holding down a full time job, he began writing in his spare time. In the mid-nineties he had his first short story sale and publication. He shares his life with his wife and their two dogs.
Table of Contents
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Table of Contents
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43