Last Hope: Book 5 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (The Last City - Book 5)

by Kevin Partner

  LAST

  HOPE

  The Last City Series

  Book 5

  By

  Kevin Partner

  Mike Kraus

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Escape from Ezra

  Chapter 2: Collaborator

  Chapter 3: Springs

  Chapter 4: Rebel HQ

  Chapter 5: Rusty

  Chapter 6: Plan

  Chapter 7: Dave

  Chapter 8: Redwood

  Chapter 9: Jay

  Chapter 10: Plot

  Chapter 11: Hick

  Chapter 12: Decimate

  Chapter 13: Unlucky

  Chapter 14: The Hanging

  Chapter 15: Committee

  Chapter 16: Betrayal

  Chapter 17: Meanwhile

  Chapter 18: The Farm

  Chapter 19: Devon

  Chapter 20: DeMille

  Chapter 21: Army

  Chapter 22: Mendoza

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  Special Thanks

  Special thanks to my awesome beta team, without whom this book wouldn’t be nearly as great.

  Thank you!

  LAST CITY Book 6

  Available Here

  Chapter 1: Escape from Ezra

  Paul Hickman lay in the darkness, listening to the footsteps of a genocidal maniac in the room below. He knew exactly what would happen if he, or any of the others, made the slightest noise. May had been so still and silent since they'd climbed up here that he'd touched her arm to reassure himself that she was still with them. Even Brain—the stupidest man Hick had ever met—seemed to understand the danger as he lay beside Hick, panting quietly.

  How were they going to get away? It felt like an age since the man Hickman thought he loathed above all else had been shot. Now he had a new enemy, and one more deadly than any he'd ever faced. His name was Mendoza. All Hick knew about the man was that he'd led the forces that had overwhelmed Hope so easily, and that he intended to kill every single person over the age of sixty.

  It was all part of some sick philosophy—the older generation had caused all that was wrong with the world, so they were to be wiped from it. But there was more to it than that. Something had turned Mendoza into a monster. Sure, he'd explained their radical policy as if it were rational, but it was fueled by a hidden hatred buried deep within him. Hick recognized it as an exaggerated version of the loathing that burned away in his own core. But he was a regular pussy compared to the general.

  "Boss?"

  "Shhh!" He snapped around to where Brain lurked in the darkness.

  "But I don't hear no one. And I really gotta pee."

  Hick sighed. Brain's bladder had been a constant irritation, but it might prove fatal if he couldn't deal with it quickly.

  Footsteps returned to the room, and Hick heard Crawford's body being dragged along the floor, a sort of wet sliding that made him grind his teeth with disgust.

  "Boss!"

  Hick thrust an elbow out and connected with Brain's cheek.

  The footsteps paused. A voice from below said, "Did you hear something?"

  Now Hick could hear boots thumping across the floor, as if someone was searching the corners of the room and the kitchen beyond. At any moment now they would look up and see the trapdoor, and it would all be over.

  And then more footsteps on the threshold and a new voice spoke words he couldn't make out.

  Someone directly below him said, "He wants to see us now?"

  "We'd better not keep him waiting," said an adjacent voice, and the two pounded away.

  Then a familiar voice spoke. "Come on. Maybe they're hiding in the kitchen." It was Kris Ritter.

  Hick pulled at the catch and the loft door swung downward, creaking on its hinges.

  "Oh, there you are! Get down here quick. They'll be back any minute."

  Hick was already pushing the ladder down through the gap and, as soon as it reached the floor, he scrambled down it.

  "I've got a car out back," Kris said.

  Hick could have hugged her, but he suspected she might take a swing for him if he did. Donnie stood at the door, watching.

  When May reached the ground, they ran out through the kitchen door and into the parking lot.

  He'd expected to find it empty, but military and civilian vehicles lined one edge and, in the middle, he saw the shot-up exterior of their Land Rover.

  "Walk, don't run," Kris hissed.

  It was tough. Really tough. Hick tried to affect a confident stride, but he felt as though he were walking with a target pinned to his jacket. But no cry went up. In fact, no one paid any attention. When Hick stole a look to the side, he could see soldiers moving around purposefully, but none of them looked across at the ramshackle party walking across the parking lot.

  Kris climbed into the driver's seat, Hick alongside her. Donnie had come around the front and squeezed into the back alongside May and Brain.

  Kris started the car and steered it around the parking lot.

  "What route are we taking?" Hick asked.

  Kris turned right, taking them past the busy soldiers. "We don't have a choice. The only way out is through the city. We've got to hope that they're not fully set up yet and we can squeeze through before they get all the checkpoints in place."

  Hick glanced down at the car's clock. "It'll be dark in half an hour. D'you reckon we should park in a side street and wait?"

  "No. Every minute we waste makes it more likely they'll catch us. Like those poor devils."

  They were driving past the former recreation park, which the former mayor had turned into farmland. Soldiers were among the workers, separating them into two groups. Most of them were in a bunch on the far side of the field, but Hick's stomach turned to ice when he saw the smaller group of people being herded toward the fence. Most had gray hair, and many struggled to walk after a long day in the fields.

  "There's nothing we can do," Kris said.

  Brain leaned through from the back. "What's going on, boss? What's gonna happen to them old folks?"

  "You heard what Mendoza said to Crawford," Hick snapped.

  "Well, I heard a bunch of talkin', but I didn't entirely understand what they was sayin'. Seemed to me that general fella don't like old folks much."

  Kris took the Land Rover around an Army troop carrier just as the soldiers prodded the first of the confused and fri
ghtened people up the steps and into the back.

  "Jesus, what have we become?" Hick said.

  Kris kept her eyes on the road. "What have they become, you mean."

  "But if we don't do nothing about it, then we're not much better than them."

  May, who'd twisted around to look through the back window as they left the truck behind said, "What are they going to do with them?"

  "What Hitler did to the Jews and the Gypsies. Take them somewhere away from the others and kill them."

  "But why hide it?"

  "Because it takes a special kind of monster to kill someone in cold blood. The kind who's been brainwashed into not seeing them as people, but just animals for the slaughter. Even among the army of the Sons, there are things the leaders don't want the average soldier to see."

  Hick breathed out when they passed beyond the perimeter of the park, but Kris gestured ahead and to their left. The Catholic church that Crystal Hawkins had made her center of operations was a hive of activity. Trucks and other military vehicles were parked in regular blocks around it, and figures carried equipment into the church. "Mendoza's probably in there. He won't want to base himself on the edge of town like Crawford; he's quite happy sitting in the house of God like some bishop on his throne. At least until he goes back to Hope."

  "You talk as if you know him," Hick said as their car inched its way along the crowded road. He felt as though he was waiting for a soldier to look directly at them and raise the alarm.

  "I've heard him speak, that's all. He's the most radical of the generals. That's why he's risen to the top. He's become Chair's anointed successor, when the day comes."

  Hick glanced across at her as she steered the car right and the church fell behind them. "Who is this Chair?"

  She shrugged. "I never met him. In fact, I don't know for sure if it's a man or a woman, though most of the leadership is male, so I reckon it's a reasonable assumption. Chair rules from a secret location."

  "I don't get it. Why do people like Mendoza follow this leader?"

  "I guess Mendoza knows who he—or she—is. But anyway, they follow because he—or she—is the genius behind the entire plan. Without Chair, the firestorm would never have happened. Without Chair, the Sons wouldn't have been ready to fill the vacuum."

  Hick could see the highway ahead as it rose above the level of the ruined city. "Sounds to me as if you kinda admire this megalomaniac."

  "Well, maybe I do sympathize with the aims. Obviously not the method. I lost everyone that night."

  "So, why did you fight for Crawford?"

  Again, she shrugged. "To stay alive. I was an Army engineer, so when they rolled into my town, I made myself useful. Bit by bit, they sucked me in. That's how it happens, you know. Most people don't choose to be on the wrong side, they just end up there because they don't get out when they realize. Dammit!"

  She pointed ahead to a barrier made by parking two SUVs tail to tail with a gap between them just wide enough for a truck to pass through. The light was so low that they could barely make out the two figures standing in the gap with weapons across their chests.

  "Put your foot down!" Hick hissed, but Kris bought the car to a halt as one of the guards walked casually across to the window, signaling for it to be rolled down.

  A man in a black mask peered inside. "What is your business?"

  "Orders from the general," Kris said confidently. "We're on a litter-pick to the northern suburbs."

  The guard's blue eyes narrowed. "Standing orders are to allow no traffic out of the city until the perimeter has been secured."

  "You haven't been informed? Integrity has been confirmed. That's why we've been sent out. Now, will you let us pass, or do you wish to delay the general's orders being obeyed?"

  She was good, very good. Hick saw the eyes widen, then the head turned to look at the other two guards as if hoping to receive their help telepathically.

  The face glanced back at them and then it seemed that the guard made up his mind as to which path was the least likely to result in punishment. "Hey, Rodrigo, put in a call to HQ," he said. "Just to be sure," he added, looking directly at Kris.

  Hick raised his handgun. "Sorry, son," he said as he squeezed the trigger and the face fell backward in an explosion of red.

  "Jesus!" Kris cried out.

  Hick gestured at the other guards who were bringing their weapons to bear. "Get us out of here!"

  She pushed down on the gas pedal and the engine roared as the car leaped forward. "You didn't have to shoot him!" she shouted.

  "Yeah, I did," Hick said, bringing his handgun up and rolling down the window.

  Bullets shattered the windshield and Hick fell to one side before sweeping the shattered glass off him and pumping two rounds through the newly formed gap.

  Kris headed directly for one of the guards, forcing him to leap out of the way, and bringing Hick's open window into the firing line of the other guard.

  Crack, crack, crack.

  Two rounds thumped into the door, but the third fizzed past Hick's ear.

  A muffled gasp from behind them, but Hick was too busy dodging behind the pillar of the door and returning fire. Finally, a shot hit home, and the guard fell backwards.

  The Land Rover swerved back into the middle of the road as Hick twisted around to see the remaining guard leveling his weapon. "Duck!"

  This time, the back window exploded inwards as Brain yelled in pain. Donnie, who'd been cowering in the footwell, finally raised himself from the floor and brought his handgun up, pumping half a dozen shots at their attacker, driving him under cover.

  And then they were out. Kris kept her foot down for a while, but then Hick felt the car slow. "We can't stop now! They might have copters for all we know! Let's get out of sight first, then we can rest."

  The darkness was almost complete as they found their way to the ruins of Ezra's small commercial airport. The Land Rover only had one working light, and it illuminated the blackened hulks of planes and the rubble where the terminal building had once been.

  Kris brought the car to a halt under the partially destroyed wing of an airliner, and Hick finally felt as though he could breathe.

  Brain leaned forward and said in a quiet voice, "Boss."

  "What is it?" Hick said, not bothering to hide his impatience. He just wanted a minute or two to recover.

  "May's dead."

  Hick spun around, searching the darkness of the back seats. "What? When?"

  "In the firefight. When that guard shot at you."

  "Why didn't you say anything before now?"

  "It wouldn't have helped her none. Poor May."

  Kris had gotten out and opened the back door. Hick could see her short blonde hair reflected in the moonlight, and he could hear her voice, thick with grief, as she denied the obvious truth.

  They gathered around the car as the night hid the destruction around them. Hick gazed up at the pinpricks above them. The stars didn't care that people were dying down here. Frankly, it'd make life a whole lot easier if he was the same way. But Paul Hickman's metamorphosis into an actual human being was approaching its painful conclusion. He'd barely known May, but her sudden and random death had shocked him to the core. It could have been any of them. It could have been him.

  "What should we do with her?" Brain asked.

  Hick didn't turn. "We can't do nothin' to bring her back, but we sure can add her to the list."

  "What's that, boss?"

  "The revenge list. Crawford was on it, and with good reason, but Mendoza is another level of evil."

  Kris's tall shape moved to his other side, and all three looked up into the heavens as they listened to Donnie sobbing beside the open car door.

  "I don't know about you guys," Hick said, finally, "but I've had just about enough of taking this crap. It's about time we served it up ourselves."

  He could feel the air move as Brain's head nodded up and down. "Yeah, boss. We gonna make him pay. We gonna make them all pay."<
br />
  The three of them stood beneath the canopy of stars and each made their own private vow.

  Chapter 2: Collaborator

  "Am I mayor or not?" Devon said, leaning over the desk of Marianna DeMille.

  She stabbed a finger back at him. "Watch your attitude!"

  The door swung open and a black-masked figure glanced in. "Is everything okay, ma'am?"

  "Yes. Thank you, Louis. The mayor temporarily forgot where he is and who he's talking to. Sit down, Devon." The guard retreated after glancing at Devon maliciously.

  Slumping into the uncomfortable chair Paul Hickman had chosen to offer an advantage over his opponents, Devon shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry. And I know I'm basically a puppet, or a stooge. But if I'm to act as a convincing mayor, I need to make at least some decisions."

  "True, but you don't get to pick your own sheriff. Policing is my concern."

  "And what do you think Laverne knows about policing?"

  She tilted her head as if suggesting that it didn't matter. "Not a lot. Which makes him ideal for our purposes. He's good at breaking up a fight, and he scares the civilians. Seems perfect to me."

  "Marianna," Devon began before noticing how her expression tightened. "Leader, then. How does it help to have someone like him running around like a bull in a china shop? Throwing people in jail for nothing more than looking at him?"

  "It keeps them on their toes. All the while they're watching him and you, they're not so interested in me and my people."

  Devon sighed. "Marvelous. Okay; Laverne stays for now. When do I get to see Jessie?"

  "When you have demonstrated your good faith."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Devon's patience was hanging by a slender thread.

  Marianna took her pen and ran it down a notepad on the desk in front of her. "You could start by ensuring the census is completed quickly."

  "Are you serious? I've only got one staff member."