SURVIVE AND ESCAPE: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (The Blue Lives Apocalypse Series Book 1)

by Lee West

  “You’re right. Damn it. We’re so close. To leave her like that, it’s just not right,” said Jane, choking back tears.

  “Not to sound insensitive, but if your daughter survived this long, she’ll make it a few more hours. We need to get off the streets and into a safe place before we can do anything. Where are you guys holed up?” asked Charlie.

  “Across the street, the white house on the right,” said Sam.

  “Alright. We need to wait until dark before we can get back there. We can’t chance crossing the street. Let’s back up into the thicker brush and hunker down for a while. If they all leave again, we’ll be in the perfect position to try again,” said Charlie before unsheathing a wicked-looking knife. “I think this will cut through those ropes.”

  “I think you’re right,” said Sam.

  The three friends crawled to a more concealed location in the yard and waited for darkness. Jane’s mind kept returning to Lea, hopeful for the first time in weeks despite the rage that consumed her.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  After the crew discovered Charlie’s house, the Boss turned all of his attention toward finding the cops’ escape route. He seemed to take Charlie’s removal of his guns personally, demonstrating a single-minded focus on finding and killing everyone that assisted the police.

  The Boss assigned Brown and a guy named Cherry to drive out of town in search of Paul Reed and Jack Reilly. The pair never returned from a routine patrol, and he wanted both men returned—dead or alive. Brown knew firsthand that if he found them alive, they’d expire shortly after the Boss got his hands on them. Reed and Reilly were as good as dead, no matter what was up with them.

  Brown assumed that the two had fueled up their Chevy Impala and driven out of town, hoping to escape. They wouldn’t be the first, or the last. As the days droned on, dozens of men deserted the Boss and his murderous mission, seeing life under him as nothing more than a new form of imprisonment.

  The small army he had led to Porter had started to dwindle down to true believers, as Brown privately thought of them. The true believers were those that sided with the Boss on every one of his cruel, harebrained schemes, never questioning their orders. Whether they were cruel by nature or simply too afraid to leave didn’t really matter. They were one and the same, and despite the continued desertions, the true believers numbered close to fifty men. More than enough to spread their reign of terror to several towns.

  As he drove around with Cherry, Brown gave some serious thought to skipping out on the madness; however, he couldn’t be certain where Cherry’s loyalties fell. Cherry never showed the Boss the kind of extreme loyalty that got him rewarded with women and extra booze, like many of the other men had, but he hadn’t shown any overt signs of growing weary with the Boss’s antics. A quick eye roll here or subtle head shake there spoke volumes about a man’s true feelings. Cherry had kept a poker face from the beginning, giving Brown nothing to work with when determining Cherry’s loyalties.

  Brown knew that even suggesting to the wrong person that he wanted to leave was a death sentence. No. He’d keep driving Cherry around until sunset, without mentioning his plans to help the cops. At sunset, the two could return to the Boss and report that the search failed to find either Reed or Reilly. Brown also considered that the smartest option might be to stab Cherry in the neck and put as much distance between himself and Porter as possible. The Boss was becoming less rational by the hour.

  As the day dragged on, Brown’s mind started to drift as far away from his present reality as possible. He’d long ago passed his limit of tolerating Cherry’s stupid commentary about everything they passed on the road. The man couldn’t shut the hell up. He was seriously considering the throat-stabbing option when something metallic in the forest reflected light. He hoped Cherry didn’t see it.

  “Did you see that?” asked Cherry.

  Of course Cherry had seen it. The guy never missed anything, or an opportunity to talk about it.

  “You’re starting to see things,” said Brown.

  Investigating the source of the reflection was something Brown wanted to avoid. Not only did he want to finish off the shift without delay, he was worried that the cops were hiding a vehicle or something in the trees.

  “You need to stop, man! There’s something hidden back there—off the side of the road. Shit, it could be Reed and Reilly! Those assholes might be trying to hide out or something, or they crashed off the road.”

  “Alright, don’t get your panties in a twist,” said Brown, seeing no way around it.

  Brown slowly turned the car around and drove back to the approximate point where they’d both seen something in the woods. Cherry got out of the car first, apparently anxious to discover something the Boss would be grateful to learn. Seeing Cherry’s excitement made Brown very relieved that he’d kept his mouth shut about his own plans.

  “Check this out! I see tire tracks in the grass. Looks like a car drove into the woods.”

  The two followed the faint tracks into the woods. Not far off the road, they discovered the Chevy Impala, previously driven by Reed and Reilly, nestled between two trees. Branches haphazardly scattered across the vehicle had mostly concealed it from the road.

  “Shit! This is the car they were driving! Looks like those assholes just left it here. If they were leaving, they’d be way better off driving. Right? Why the fuck would they want to walk?” asked Cherry.

  “How the hell should I know? Those two weren’t exactly the brightest guys I ever met. Maybe they thought walking gave them a better chance to hide? Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  “I’ll just have a look in the car. Maybe I can drive it back. The Boss will be happy if we at least return the car.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” said Brown, feigning interest in the scene.

  Cherry walked over to the driver’s side door, peering through the windows as he approached. Just as he stretched his hand out to open the door, he froze, staring at the side of the car.

  “Check for the keys so we can get out of here. I don’t want to be stuck out here after dark,” said Brown.

  “Check this out,” said Cherry, pointing to the door.

  “What is it?”

  “Looks like dried blood,” said Cherry, kneeling down to get a closer look.

  “It’s probably mud.”

  “Don’t look like mud to me.”

  Brown pushed his way through the brush and headed to Cherry. On the way over, he noticed a trampled path leading to the right. No point in drawing Cherry’s attention to it. He got the distinct impression that they had stumbled on the work of a resistance group. A group smart enough to know that they couldn’t drive a car around without drawing the wrong kind of attention.

  He crouched next to Cherry to take a look at the car. A coating of brownish-red droplets covered a section of the driver’s side window and door. It appeared to be a very fine mist of dried blood. Brown scraped his nail against the substance and tasted it—spitting immediately.

  “Definitely blood,” said Brown, unable to get the metallic taste out of his mouth.

  “What do you think happened?”

  “Beats me. If I had to guess, I’d say they turned on each other,” said Brown, eyeing Cherry cautiously.

  “Maybe we should search around a little more.”

  “Aren’t you gonna check for the keys?”

  “Oh yeah,” said Cherry.

  Brown walked back to the second path as Cherry dug through the car. He used his feet to move some of the brush to try to camouflage the trampled foliage. There wasn’t much he could do without bending over and using his hands, so he stood where the trail started, hoping Cherry would pass him without noticing.

  “I don’t see shit in here!” said Cherry. “One of them must have taken the keys.”

  “Let’s get out of here. One of them might be watching us from a distance—planning to pick us off.”

  His statement had a chilling effect on Cherry. Th
e man crouched, peering into the woods around him. Now he’s going all tactical? What a dumb shit. Cherry walked quietly and deliberately back to Brown, a look of fear in his eyes.

  “We should have brought one of the rifles out of the car,” whispered Cherry.

  “Good point. We should remember that next time,” said Brown. “Let’s head back and report this to the Boss.”

  “No argument there,” said Cherry, scanning the forest again.

  He squinted past Brown. “Move over,” said Cherry, nudging past him.

  So much for hiding the trail. Brown just hoped he’d scared Cherry enough to dissuade him from exploring any further.

  “Looks like another trail. All flattened out like they dragged something into the woods. We need to check this out,” hissed Cherry.

  “With one of those traitors out there? There’s no way I’m going deeper into those woods without an army.”

  “And there’s no way you ain’t,” said Cherry, pointing his pistol at Brown.

  “Shit. You don’t have to threaten me,” said Brown, slightly raising his hands. “Let’s get this over with and get the hell out of here.”

  They found a body several yards into the forest. The man looked peaceful, almost like he was sleeping, a small hole in his head the only indication it was a permanent nap.

  “Satisfied? We found the body we both knew would be here. Now, let’s go. It’s obvious that they fought and Reed took off.”

  Cherry searched the body, finding nothing.

  “Yeah, unless something else happened to them. It just doesn’t make sense. If Reed did split, he would have been better off taking the car, not leaving it here and taking the keys.”

  Glancing around the forest, Cherry started to move through the brush deeper into the forest.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to check it out. I think I see something a little ways into the forest,” he said, stopping in his tracks. “Look!”

  A second body lay on the forest floor, a gaping wound in the center of the man’s chest. The man appeared to have died where he was shot.

  “Holy shit. They were ambushed! Wait until the Boss hears about this! What’s that over there? Is that a jar?”

  An unbroken mason jar sat in stark contrast to its surroundings, suggesting the existence of others. Cherry picked up the jar and inspected it closely, sniffing the inside of it. “It smells like peaches.”

  Brown knew they must have stumbled on the trail that the cops used to get people out of town. He needed to make sure Cherry did not put things together.

  “Peaches? You must be hungry. Let’s get back to town. We can tell the Boss we found them and the car,” suggested Brown.

  “Look over there—it’s a trail! Holy shit! This is it! We discovered the trail the cops are using to get people out of town! Wait until the Boss hears this! Fucking cops must’ve killed Reed and Reilly, then hid the car!” Cherry said excitedly.

  “You want to keep your damn mouth shut?” said Brown. “They might still be out here.”

  “Damn. You’re right. We need to report this immediately,” said Cherry. “We found how they’re sneaking some of the cops out.”

  “How can you be so sure? We have no idea what went down here. Two bodies and a jar don’t equal some kind of underground railroad.”

  “It ain’t no railroad. It’s a trail,” said Cherry.

  “That’s just a term for a hidden trail,” said Brown, amazed that Cherry was dumber than he looked.

  “Whatever you call it, that’s what it is,” he whispered excitedly. “The trail runs parallel to the road. The road runs directly north, out of town. Reed and Reilly must’ve stumbled on the cops and got themselves killed.”

  “I don’t know, seems like a stretch. Besides, I don’t want to give the Boss bad intel. He’ll go ape-shit crazy if we’re wrong,” said Brown, desperate to get Cherry off the idea.

  The thought of giving the Boss incorrect intel seemed to slow Cherry down. Brown could see the seeds of doubt starting to bloom behind Cherry’s cold stupid eyes. Being wrong would get both of them killed. Clearly, Cherry wanted to rise in the Boss’s ranks, not get killed.

  “To find the start of the trail, all we need to do is follow the road back to town. The trailhead has to be close by the road,” said Cherry.

  “If you say so, man. I just don’t want to take any heat if we’re wrong,” said Brown, trying once again to dissuade him.

  Cherry was right. They’d found the trail leading out of town. It would be only a matter of time before the Boss had every available guy on the trail, looking for runners and the people harboring them. Eventually, they’d find what they were looking for. Brown knew he needed to warn Marta, fast.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Safely in the basement of the Cramers’ house, Sam couldn’t sit still. He paced the small space, trying to relieve the tension, anger and anticipation. Seeing his baby girl being held in such deplorable conditions drove him mad. All he could think about was getting her back, no matter what the cost. Somehow he had managed to pull Jane back from the brink of disaster in their neighbor’s backyard. If the same decision had been put to him now, he’d vote for charging in—guns blazing.

  For the first time in his life, Sam had trouble formulating a plan. He could tell Jane was in the same condition. Once again, Charlie’s presence was a tremendous relief to him. Charlie’s calm pragmatism was exactly what they needed right now.

  “What made you come here, Charlie? With all the excitement, I don’t think you mentioned why you’re here,” asked Jane, breaking the silence.

  “You failed to communicate during our designated time. I figured either you ran into a problem or the range was too far. In either case, since you weren’t too far from Scott’s house, I decided to check on you.”

  “We tried to call you for about an hour right after midnight,” said Jane. “How are Mike and Jenny? She obviously held up for the walk?”

  “Barely. Scott and his wife desperately need supplies, so I’m not altogether too optimistic about the trip to HQ. They’re looking definitively worse for the wear. I hoped to bring some more food back to them, but it doesn’t look like anything has been left untouched around here.”

  “Everything has been ransacked by those animals,” said Sam. “Thank you for coming. We were relieved to see you this afternoon, to say the least. I don’t know if we can pull this off with just the two of us,” said Sam. “If they come back again while we’re in the house, we’d be in trouble. We got lucky with the gunshot. Tank probably got pissed and shot one of his crew when the car broke down.”

  “Sounded like a rifle shot to me,” said Charlie.

  Jane glanced at Sam with a knowing look, both of them blurting the same name at the same time.

  “Mark.”

  “Mark?” said Charlie.

  “He’s a former Force Recon Marine turned attic dweller. He has a clean line of sight down the street. Sounds like he did us a big favor,” said Sam.

  “If we could get Mark in on this, we could even the odds with the element of surprise. Three against five isn’t undoable, but it isn’t great either,” said Charlie, stretching out on the couch. “Plus, we don’t know who else might arrive later tonight.”

  “We should signal him. God knows we could use his help. He’s probably one of the most capable people we’ll ever run into. It can’t hurt to ask,” said Sam.

  “Yeah, you’re right. But why would he want to get involved? A lot of people seem to be keeping their heads down, too afraid to stand up to the New Order. For good reason,” said Charlie.

  “He already has gotten involved. He didn’t have to flag us down as we entered the neighborhood, nor did he have to slow down Tank and the guys while we were in the house,” said Sam.

  “I’ll go up and shut the signal shade in the spare bedroom,” said Jane, getting up.

  Jane moved through the house quicker than she had before. Experience with the contours of
the house allowed Jane to move quickly through its dark hallways. Crossing the front of the Cramers’ house, Jane could see her home through a part in the curtain. Inside, a few dim lights cast an eerie glow to the once cheerful home. Silently, she prayed for help and for Lea. They would need all the help they could get.

  Hearing a loud noise entering the neighborhood, Jane returned to the front window. A car turned down the street and headed toward their home. Three large New Order men got out of the car and joined their brethren inside. Eight against three, maybe four if Mark would help. A sick feeling crept over her. They needed Mark’s help more than ever.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Mark had long since moved away from his post at the window. After he determined that the unknown operator was a friendly, he assumed Jane and Sam would wait for nightfall before returning to the Cramers’ house. What he did not know was if they’d found their daughter. Lea had not been with them when they ran from the house following his warning shot. He could only assume Lea was not found. At this point, he figured that Jane and Sam had left the neighborhood. Why would they stay around? They’d indicated they knew of a place containing supplies. They’d probably waited until dark and started moving.

  He went back to his usual duties, the excitement of the day passing. He took the waste bucket to the woods, checked the progress of the deer draining in the garage and then settled in for an early night.

  Sleep eluded him as he considered how close he had come to shooting Jane and Sam’s friend. The man was seconds from having his head blown off. Luckily, the man motioned to Jane and Sam in an obviously friendly manner, pulling them into the safety of his hiding spot. Before the grid went out, he would never have considered shooting a man in cold blood unless given orders in a lawful wartime situation. The world had changed, taking him with it.

  Getting up from the makeshift bed, Mark sat quietly by the window. He’d grown fond of his perch. The bright full moon illuminated the clear sky, casting a bluish silvery glow over the houses. He loved the night. Looking out the window, over the quiet world, he could almost imagine things were back to normal.