Frozen Collapse: Book 8 of the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (The Long Fall - Book 8)

by Logan Keys

  “Lubbock. It’s not a huge city but it’s not tiny either. South, four hours maybe and an hour west, after.”

  Rufus nodded, “West is good. I bet they took the others they evacuated west as well.”

  The highways were congested, so they found that side roads were slower but easier to get through. Colton figured he’d cling to the idea that his mother and father were safe.

  “We have enough gas to get to Texas, and then we are out. Hopefully we can find you some to go on looking for your daughter.”

  Rufus sighed. “She’s with the good guys hopefully. These kids need to get to a place they can rely on. Something stable.”

  **

  The drive was slow with them having to take side roads and half of them were out of order. They had to stop once to check the map to avoid Amarillo.

  “We are about forty minutes away,” Colton said.

  He was terrified. What if his parents were dead?

  If they were okay, he was fighting the thought of the joy he’d have mixed with dread over telling them about Bart.

  Rufus leaned forward and stared at the road. “What town is coming up?” he asked.

  “Plainview. Not too big.”

  Colton saw what Rufus saw up ahead. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yeah. What’s left of it.”

  The road was completely smeared off to the side. A giant black charred pathway was cut deeply into the earth. What was not burned was in particles, pieces every which way, only a few over an inch in size. But the area was littered with stuff and all of it the exact shape of…

  “A plane,” Rufus said. “Must have crashed.”

  “At high speed, too. Ooph,” Colton said, cringing.

  “Is there a way around?” Benton asked in a small voice and Colton felt bad once more for putting the kids through extra trauma. Seeing a downed plane had to affect his sense of safety. If Colton had seen that as a kid he’d have been horrified.

  Lucky for them there wasn’t anything still in one piece. It was as if the impact to earth had completely obliterated everything and then what was left had burned in the jet fueled explosion.

  “Here,” Rufus said, pointing. “There’s a side road just a couple miles back that loops around.”

  Colton turned the vehicle around and went back the way they came. He pulled up to the side road. “This is it?”

  “Yeah,” Rufus answered, but he too was looking at the lonely dirt road with reluctance. It seemed to go nowhere, and wasn’t kept up.

  “Okay,” Colton said, pulling onto the dirt road. “This is how horror movies start,” he muttered so the kids couldn’t hear him but Rufus chuckled.

  It was bumpy but they crawled along, the area was surrounded by run down, abandon farmhouses.

  They had gone just a little over halfway to returning to the highway, when two men stepped onto the road waving their arms. “Hey! Hey, stop!”

  Colton did but he reached for his gun, as did Rufus.

  One guy approached Colton’s window with his hands up. “I’m sorry but I don’t know what to do. It’s my wife. She’s giving birth!”

  Colton glanced at Rufus and back. He rolled down his window. “Neither of us are doctors, I’m not sure that…”

  Then he paused. He did have some medical training from the Army and it felt wrong to lie. The man’s desperation was palpable. “I’m not sure we can help,” Colton finished.

  “If you could just give us a ride to the next town. Just a ride. That’s all we need.”

  Colton froze. The other man ran into the bushes, and then came back helping an obviously very pregnant woman, who was stopping every few feet to cry out in pain.

  “Please,” the man said, and he put his hands on Colton’s door. “Please.”

  “Okay,” Colton said. “Get in.”

  Colton stepped out of the SUV to help them in back. He left his gun on the dash, and when he reached for the back door, the telltale clicking of a gun being cocked, sounded by his ear.

  “Hands up. Give me the keys, old man, or this guy gets it.”

  Colton turned around with his hands up. The two men had guns, and the woman fished a shotgun out from behind her and cocked it. She pulled a pillow out from underneath her dress and smiled.

  “Fine,” Colton said, gritting his teeth. “Let me get the kids out at least.”

  “You do that. Nothing stupid.”

  The other man had Rufus get out of the car and frisked him and took his gun.

  “Hey!” Colton yelled as the guy roughed Rufus up. He used the butt of his gun to smash Rufus in the face, and he went down after bouncing off the side of the SUV. Colton reached for the kids as they screamed.

  Rex leapt from the SUV and latched onto the man who’d attacked Rufus. The guy screamed as the dog pulled him to the ground and was not letting go.

  The man who had a gun on Colton grabbed him by the arm and threw him into the ground. He kicked Colton’s side and then lifted a boot to stomp him in the face.

  Colton rolled to the side and grabbed the man’s boot, twisting. The guy went down, falling, dropping the gun. But it was too far for Colton to get as it slid underneath the tires.

  The man and Colton grappled. He had a lot of weight on Colton, but Colton had training. He rolled over and onto the man, using his elbow to smash the guy in the jaw.

  With a quick reaction, the guy caught Colton in the side of the face with an open hand, but it was enough to make Colton’s ears ring.

  The woman used her gun to beat Rex who yelped before she and other jumped inside the SUV. “Come on! Let’s go!” she shouted and the guy shoved away from Colton before he jumped in the back.

  The SUV peeled away with the kids inside and Colton leapt to his feet and began running after the car. “Stop!” He waved his hands, panic gripping him. “Please! Stop!”

  Colton kept running but the SUV was pulling away. Rex took off, keeping pace as far as he could. He was flying after the car, barking. The door on the right side opened and he saw two blobs fall out and roll.

  Colton ran to their side—it was the kids, and they were covered in road rash but unhurt otherwise. The SUV was speeding away. “Thank God!” Colton said, grabbing them into his arms.

  Lily was crying. “Benton fought them. He made us jump out!”

  Rex was whining and licking her tears. Colton could see the dog had not suffered any actual cuts from that woman with the shotgun.

  “That’s good,” Colton said. “Very good. He didn’t want you guys to get hurt, and neither do I.” But the little girl was too upset to be calmed down so easily.

  Rufus caught up. Blood was pouring from his nose. “They okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Colton said. “It’s getting dark. Let’s get off the road and try to find a place for the night. I’ll straighten out that nose of yours.”

  They searched the area, staying off the road in case the group returned. Colton had the gun they’d dropped but that was it. They had nothing else but the clothes on their backs. At least they’d all been wearing their jackets inside of the car.

  The first place they found was an abandoned farmhouse set far enough back from the road that seemed safe enough. The temperature was dropping, and the sky had turned dark before it was night time.

  “Storm?” Colton said, and Rufus shrugged.

  “Looks like,” Rufus said.

  Boom.

  They’d just gotten inside when the loudest thunder Colton had ever heard sounded.

  Boom boom boom.

  And that was the start of a seemingly unending electrical storm. There was hardly any rain, just lightning that lit up the sky and struck nearby over and over. The thunder was so loud Colton feared they’d all go deaf if it kept up.

  The kids hid in the house, covering their ears most of the night. Rex paced and scratched at the door. Colton finally let him out.

  “Let me look at your nose,” Colton said between loud booms. “Yup. Broken. Ready?”


  Rufus sighed and nodded. He had big black eyes that were slowly bruising over.

  Crack.

  Colton straightened the nose with a pop that was barely audible in the storm. Rufus’s eyes watered but he thanked Colton. They found a few old covers left in the barn, horse blankets, and together they made a makeshift bed for the four of them.

  “I’m hungry,” Benton said but he yawned and snuggled into the blankets.

  He quickly fell asleep and Lily too. Colton was glad that the kids might be able to sleep in the storm because he sure was on edge.

  Colton kept making sure no one was outside waiting to hurt any of them. He was anxious and pacing the porch when Rufus checked on him near dawn. “How you holding up?” Rufus asked.

  Colton shrugged. “These kids are the only reason I’m not flying off the handle, I think. I thank God for them.”

  “Yeah. I know what you mean. My daughter, too, she keeps me from being so damned disappointed in the world that I want to leave it.”

  “Exactly. Those dickheads that took the car. They tried to take the kids, too, and I…I…I was going to lose it if they had.”

  “I know you are right about that. But they didn’t get them, Colton. We have them. They are safe. We can find another ride.”

  Colton sighed. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I’m just so…”

  “Angry? Pissed? Furious? With them. With God. With everything?”

  Colton dropped his head. “Yes. All of that and then some.”

  Rufus rubbed his chin. His nose had finally stopped bleeding but was puffed up and made him look like another person altogether. “Well, let it out, son. Go on out there into the storm and tell Him how you feel. Why not? Who’s going to hear it?”

  Colton chuckled and shrugged him off but then he thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. You know what? I might. Can you watch the kids?”

  Rufus said that he would, and Colton walked off the porch into the barely there light other than the lightning strikes that seemed to be close enough to touch. They went on and on, lighting up the sky. Colton marched off into the field far enough away that he could let it all out.

  And he did. The booming sounded, and he roared right back at it. He shouted at God and nature and everything else. The wind whipped his overgrown hair and dried the sweat that had built from pacing. The freezing cold filled his lungs, but he screamed out obscenities and everything he could think of to yell and the storm almost seemed to answer him.

  He roared for his brother. For Brittany. His parents who were dead or alive but who now had a dead son. For the children whose innocence was stolen.

  For Rufus who took a beating for him, and for his daughter.

  For everyone who was dying or dead and for everyone who would die.

  He shouted until he had no voice.

  Until he had nothing left to give.

  And when he was quiet, the storm was too.

  It died just like Bart had. In an instant.

  Chapter 4

  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

  Dusty stood before the group with a sneer that seemed to be stamped permanently on his features. Brittany glanced at Beau, then Chuck, and finally at Paige. Only one of them seemed unafraid.

  Paige looked as though she had something to hide, but she didn’t let on as to what that was. “Put them with the others,” Dusty said.

  Paige spun on her heels without a fight and marched towards the building where the rest of the group was held. She handed her gun over without issue, and Brittany watched her carefully, wondering what she had up her sleeve.

  Brittany raised her hand as a man on her left pointed his weapon at her. “All right. I’m going,” she promised through gritted teeth.

  All of them were taken where the rest of Chuck’s group was held. The others appeared, at first, happy to see them all alive, but then sad to see them caught. They seemed curious that Beau, the soldier, with them as well.

  After blowing up all of Dusty’s tanks, Brittany knew that retribution was in order. Sweat formed on her lip as she thought about what that would mean. What would he do to them? Kill them all?

  Dusty marched over to Chuck and aimed his gun at his forehead.

  “No!” Paige shouted and Dusty paused and smiled.

  “What?” Dusty asked putting the gun down. He was enjoying his returned control of them and wasn’t prepared to make this easy. Paige, most of all, was stubborn, so he wanted to hear her beg.

  “Please,” Paige said, but she stood firmly. Like she was about to do something.

  Dusty shrugged her off, but Brittany was watching Paige, carefully trying to read her expression. “Okay, fine.” He pointed the gun at Beau and pulled the trigger.

  Brittany didn’t even have time to scream. She felt as if she was in slow motion as she ran to his side and caught him while he was falling. Blood splattered her face and chest, and Beau was too heavy to hold up. Together they fell to the ground. She cradled his head in her lap even though blood was pumping out of him onto her.

  “No!” she cried, but his eyes were already vacant. “No, no, no,” Brittany said, sad that she barely knew him and he didn’t deserve to die for a pack of strangers.

  Brittany felt someone yank her arm. One of Dusty’s guys was pulling her away. “Let me go!” she shouted, but they were moving the body out of the room already.

  “Don’t dump him with the rest,” Brittany begged Dusty. “Please. I’ll…I will do whatever you want, just don’t dump him with the rest.”

  Beau had seemed terrified of that pit where the other soldiers had all been killed and then dumped in. They’d had to pass by it on their way to the tanks, and he’d told her that he just knew he’d wind up down there, someway, somehow, and that he was glad the rest of his platoon had gotten away.

  Dusty looked at Brittany with interest. “All right. You want a proper burial for the brave soldier? I’m a patriot and I get that.” He motioned to his men. “See that our young man gets what the lady wants.”

  He pointed at Brittany. “Remember though. You offered, and I’ll be expecting that payment.”

  Dusty left them with the group, unbound, but he posted guards outside—five of them.

  Brittany stared at the pool of blood as if it would somehow form back into a person she'd been with only minutes before. Beau was a hero. He'd saved them. And now he was dead.

  "That's what happens to heroes," she said, not meaning to speak out loud.

  Chuck was staring at the blood, too. He seemed to be in shock. Brittany supposed that he knew the blood could have been his. The bullet had been meant for him, as well. She didn't wish Chuck had taken Beau's place---on the contrary. But she did wish that she could turn back time and maybe save them both somehow.

  George stepped forward, and his foot dipped into the red before he slid his boot back and wiped it off. "Why don't we just do what these guys say. No reason they won't let us go when they realize they have to feed us all."

  "Let us go?" Paige said. "Did you just see what happened? Are you blind?"

  "I did. But that was because you guys didn't do what they said."

  Paige's eyes bugged out, and Chuck stepped between the two when it looked like she might punch George in the face.

  George kept going, as he always did. "Maybe if someone had just stopped fighting him, the guy wouldn't have to take such drastic measures!"

  Paige tried to push past Chuck who was wise enough not to let her. "Maybe we wouldn't even be here, George, if you hadn't started that fight back at the rest stop. Huh? Maybe we'd have gotten to the south by now without all of this nonsense preaching you have going on!"

  George laughed up at the sky then pointed his finger over Chuck's shoulder at Paige. "Maybe if you hadn't made us all stop for your little friend, we'd be further south!"

  Brittany knew he meant her, and she felt guilt creep further into her heart.

  "May---be," Paige started, spitting each syllable, but Brittany had had enough.

&nb
sp; "He's right," Brittany said, and everyone spun around to stare at her. "Of course he's right. We all have a part to play in winding up in this mess, and me most of all. But now, we have to talk about what we are going to do to get out of it." George looked smug until she added, "Because once he comes back, he's going to bring Chuck outside again and he's going to kill him."

  The blood drained from Paige's face. "What? How do you know that?"

  Brittany sighed. "Because his party was interrupted. Because he's obviously a creature of habit, otherwise why not just kill us all right now? He has a pit where he puts the soldiers. He is very methodical. He wants to make Chuck the example, leader versus leader. And while we all fight and tear each other apart, he's planning an execution. And I dunno about you all, but I really really can't see another friend die today."

  While the group let that settle, Brittany realized what she was saying, and it wasn't what they'd heard. She was saying that no matter what, she would not watch Chuck up on the platform, being murdered.

  She was certain that she was planning to take his place.

  **

  "What's taking so long?" Paige demanded and she pounded on the door until a guard opened it and told her to shut up and sit down. Paige rabidly paced instead.

  "They are probably patching him up," Chuck said quietly. "Dusty looked pretty banged up."

  Paige snorted and Brittany couldn't help but give a smile. "He really did. I wonder what happened?"

  "Trouble at the gate!" Paige mocked the voice that had interrupted the execution ceremony just before they all got away.

  "Yeah," George said with a frown. "Well, good. Too bad they didn't finish him off."

  Brittany turned to look at the conspiracy theorist, and she tried to picture a reason why Chuck and Paige had let him stay on for as long as they had. He seemed to be such a troublemaker. But still, at the end of the day, he was on their side, and that mattered during the end of the world far more than it didn't.

  It was an "us versus them" situation if there ever was one.

  **

  The night didn't just arrive, it struck the earth unconscious, dousing everything right in the world into darkness that allowed for the chaos to reign once more. Even with Dusty injured, he was still ready to finish what he had begun. He rallied far better than Brittany, Chuck, and Paige seemed to. They were weary, tired, exhausted actually. Hungry and thirsty.