by Tate, Harley
Gloria smiled. “Of course. You know Ray’s wanted kids for years. I kept putting him off.” Her brow pinched as she focused on the counter. “With everything that’s happened we might never—”
“Don’t talk that way. Never is a long time.”
Gloria tucked her chin. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I am, too.”
“Emma!” Holly’s shout jerked Emma’s head up. She hurried outside.
“What? What’s going on?”
Holly handed Emma a pair of binoculars. “Ray spotted him.”
Emma adjusted the focus. A figure limped along the gravel drive, a familiar German shepherd at his side. “John.” She lowered the binoculars. “He found us already.”
“He looks hurt. And Tank’s with him.”
Raymond picked up a shotgun from where he’d set it on the porch rail. “Want me to chase him off?”
Emma swallowed and picked up the binoculars again. He definitely walked with a hitch in his step. No sign of a weapon and he wasn’t exactly being stealthy. If he wanted to hurt them, walking up the driveway in broad daylight wasn’t the way to go about it.
“Let him come, Emma. He’s brought us Tank. That has to count for something,” Holly practically begged.
Emma lowered the binoculars. “Okay. But be wary. We still don’t know what he wants.”
Holly didn’t listen. She took off half-running, half-slipping down the drive. Emma opened her mouth to shout, when Tank barked. She watched through the binoculars as Tank tore up the drive to meet her. He leapt, almost knocking Holly down as he jumped to lick her face.
Emma shook her head. Holly’s impulsiveness might cost them eventually. John leaned on a tree to catch his breath. His face was paler than normal, and he clutched his side with a grimace.
Emma’s heart constricted. He was hurt, that much was certain.
Raymond held out the shotgun. “You should take this.”
She shook her head. “I’ve got something better.” She headed to the car and opened the driver’s side door. She fished the revolver out from the console and held it pointed toward the ground.
Raymond raised an eyebrow.
Emma shrugged. “It’s not quite so in your face, is it?”
Raymond said nothing as she headed down the drive. It might not be Raymond’s first choice, but it felt better in her hand. Whatever John had to say, she wanted to listen, but she wasn’t going unarmed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
John
Pain radiated across John’s middle as Emma approached, revolver held tight in her shooting hand. He started to peel away from the tree, but thought better of it, opting instead to wheeze and showcase a bit of the pain.
“You look like hell.”
“Feel worse.”
She glanced at Holly and Tank cavorting up the hill. “Thanks for bringing him back to us. Holly was so upset to leave him behind.”
“I’m glad you made it out okay.”
Emma frowned. “Are you?”
Fair enough. He nodded at the gun. “I see you’re armed.”
“Seems appropriate given the circumstances.”
“Thanks for buying me some time back there.”
Emma buried the guilt. “You’re the one who saved me. Thank you.”
He nodded.
“Are you here to kill me?”
John started. “Not beating around the bush, I see.”
“Not really a point anymore, is there?”
“Suppose not.” He pushed off the tree and winced. “I admit that was my mission in the beginning.”
“Was?”
“As in past tense, yes.”
“And Gloria?”
John eyed her. “She was added later.”
“So, I was right. Are you with the same outfit that killed Zach?”
“I am. Although that wasn’t me. I’d never have—”
“Left that much evidence?” Emma’s anger boiled over, but John took it in stride.
“Not cleared the scene. No daughter should witness her father being murdered.”
Her shoulders eased. “So why are you here?”
John didn’t have a clue. “Not sure.”
“To kill us?”
“Wasn’t planning on it, no.”
“Then why? Why come? You could have gone back home, told your outfit you’d taken care of us and be on your way.” She waved her empty hand around. “The world is falling apart if you haven’t noticed. You shouldn’t be wasting your time with us.”
“Maybe I don’t think it’s wasted.”
Emma looked away.
He was losing her, and he didn’t like it. “I came because—” He faltered. “Because I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
She snorted.
He held up a hand. “It’s fine if you don’t believe me, but it’s true. Whoever killed Zach is probably on his way to find you. You’ll need more than that revolver to defend yourself.”
“I have Raymond and Gloria and—”
“And none of it will be enough. You need someone who thinks like them, who knows what they’ll do and when.” John stepped forward. “You need me.”
“You were going to kill me.”
“And now I’m not.”
She eyed him with doubt. “How can I trust you?”
John opened his mouth, closed it again. Go with the truth, you idiot. “Because I could have killed you a million times already and I haven’t. Because I rescued a dog I was willing to watch die a few days ago.” He lifted his shirt. “Because I took a damn bullet and I’m still standing here.”
Emma’s mouth fell open. She stepped toward him, paused. “I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.”
He dropped the shirt.
Holly rushed up, a huge grin on her face. “Thank you so much for rescuing Tank. How did you even find us?”
John half-smiled and pointed at Emma.
“What?”
“Mind if I?” He reached forward and grabbed her by the waist before spinning her around. She squirmed, trying to look at what he was doing. He grabbed the sticker between his nails and pulled.
“What is that?”
“A tracker.” He pulled the locator from his pocket. “This doesn’t work as well as on a phone, but I could see your general location. He turned the device so she could see the blinking dot in the middle.
“You found me based on a sticker on my pants? No map? No directions?”
He nodded. “It’s why it took me all night in the woods.”
He could practically see the gears turning in Emma’s head. If he could place a tracking device and use it to find her, what could his colleagues do?
She motioned toward the cabin. “I’ll have to ask Raymond and Gloria if you can stay.”
“And if they agree?”
“Then you can stay. For now.”
John took a step and faltered, pain radiating across his middle. Holly rushed to his side, dipping below his arm to help support his weight. Tank walked alongside them, keeping pace, while Emma strode ahead.
He waited on the edge of the porch while Emma slipped inside to talk to Raymond and Gloria. A man’s voice rose once or twice, but after half an hour, Emma emerged.
“You can stay on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“You hand over all weapons.”
John froze. He’d never even considered it. Be defenseless? “How can I help if I’m not armed?”
“Take it or leave it. I’m not having a hired gun under my roof with a weapon.” The man who must be Raymond stepped onto the porch. About forty, with stacked muscles and a thick neck, he didn’t come across as the negotiating type.
A woman stepped around him and John recognized her from the info briefing. Gloria Sanchez. “Ray’s right. You can stay, but no weapons.”
“And if we’re attacked?”
“We’ll reassess.”
It was better than nothing. Reluctantly, John agree
d and handed over his Sig Sauer.
Raymond took the gun. “Emma tells me you’ve been shot?”
John nodded. “Through and through. Clipped my ribs. Might have broken a couple.”
“Stitches?”
“Probably need them.”
“Come on in.” Raymond stepped aside. “I can take care of it.”
John raised an eyebrow. “You have training?”
“Enough.” Raymond didn’t explain anymore, and John didn’t ask. He followed the man into the cabin and took a seat at the table. When the door shut behind them, Raymond told him to strip. John did as instructed, lifting the shirt and removing the bandage.
Raymond examined the wound with a flashlight. “You did a good job irrigating. Don’t see any bits of fabric or bullet. Needs closing, though.” He stood and opened a far cabinet, pulling down a black tactical backpack stuffed to the gills. He pulled out two flat bandages and a bottle of pills.
“I thought you said it needs stitches.”
“These work better.” He opened the first bandage and John leaned closer to take a look. “It’s like a suture kit on tape.”
“Exactly.” Raymond smoothed two sides of tape on either side of the front wound and lifted a set of strings off of each side. “Hold your breath. This might hurt.” He pulled, overlapping the threads and closing the wound, before smoothing them down and adhering them to the bandage. “It’s a suture kit for dummies. No need to stitch.”
“Amazing.” John stared at the closed wound with new admiration. Raymond was more than a tough guy with a hard attitude. What else was he hiding?
Raymond opened the second bandage and set to work on John’s back. “Picked them up last year when we took a backpacking trip through the mountains. Didn’t want to cut ourselves on a rock and bleed out before we could do anything about it.”
They fell into a semblance of rhythm, Raymond asking questions about John’s past and occupation, John sniffing around at Raymond’s skill set and level of experience. When they each satisfied their own curiosity, Raymond stood and reached for a glass. He filled it and handed it to John. “You allergic to any antibiotics?”
John shook his head.
“Then take one every morning for two weeks.” He pointed at the bottle.
John picked it up. Fish Mox 500. “Fish antibiotics?”
“Close enough to human grade, no refrigeration required.”
John opened the bottle and tapped out a pill. “I won’t grow gills, will I?”
Raymond didn’t answer.
John spent the rest of the day resting his wound, annoyed to not be of more help. After dinner, Emma invited him to join her on the front porch. He eased into an Adirondack chair with a groan.
“How’s the wound?”
“It’ll improve.” He knew she didn’t trust him and deservedly so, but he hated it all the same. “I know you don’t want me here, but—”
She cut him off. “I’ve thought about it all day, and you’re right. Whether I like it or not, I need you. If someone is still out there, searching for me and Gloria, you’re our best resource to defend ourselves. You helped me escape the city, you saved us from that crazy family, and you brought us Tank. None of which you needed to do.”
John didn’t move.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever trust you, but for now, I’m willing to admit when I need help.”
“I could really use a weapon.”
“Don’t press your luck.”
John smiled and Emma reciprocated. It wasn’t how he’d expected to be spending his evening, sitting on a porch in the middle of the woods, smiling like an idiot at a woman he was supposed to kill. But it sure beat the alternative.
He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we prepare.”
Thank you for reading book one in the No Ordinary Day series. Book two will be out soon!
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In the meantime, if you are new to my work, check out my After the EMP series:
If the power grid fails, how far will you go to survive?
Madison spends her days tending plants as an agriculture student at the University of California, Davis. She plans to graduate and put those skills to work only a few hours from home in the Central Valley. The sun has always been her friend, until now.
When catastrophe strikes, how prepared will you be?
Tracy starts her morning like any other, kissing her husband Walter goodbye before heading off to work at the local public library. She never expects it to end fleeing for her life in a Suburban full of food and water. Tackling life’s daily struggles is one thing, preparing to survive when it all crashes down is another.
The end of the world brings out the best and worst in all of us.
With no communication and no word from the government, the Sloanes find themselves grappling with the end of the modern world all on their own. Will Madison and her friends have what it takes to make it back to Sacramento and her family? Can Tracy fend off looters and thieves and help her friends and neighbors survive?
The EMP is only the beginning.
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Also by Harley Tate
NUCLEAR SURVIVAL
First Strike (exclusive newsletter prequel)
Southern Grit:
Brace for Impact
Escape the Fall
Survive the Panic
Northern Exposure:
Take the Hit
Duck for Cover
Ride it Out
Western Strength:
Bear the Brunt
Shelter in Place
Make the Cut
AFTER THE EMP
Darkness Falls (exclusive newsletter prequel)
Darkness Begins
Darkness Grows
Darkness Rises
Chaos Comes
Chaos Gains
Chaos Evolves
Hope Sparks
Hope Stumbles
Hope Survives
Find all of Harley’s releases on Amazon today: www.amazon.com/author/harleytate.
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading book one in the No Ordinary Day series! I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve had a new release, but I’m back and (hopefully!) better than ever.
Expect book two at the end of April.
As I’ve mentioned before, a few liberties may have been taken, especially with place names and other minor details in writing this novel. I hope you don’t hold it against me!
If you enjoyed this book and have a moment, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Every one helps new readers discover my work and helps me keep writing the stories you want to read.
Until next time,
Harley
About Harley Tate
When the world as we know it falls apart, how far will you go to survive?
Harley Tate writes edge-of-your-seat post-apocalyptic fiction exploring what happens when ordinary people are faced with impossible choices.
The apocalypse is only the beginning.
Contact Harley directly at:
www.harleytate.com
[email protected]
