by Tate, Harley
Make The Cut
Nuclear Survival: Western Strength Book Three
Harley Tate
Copyright © 2019 by Harley Tate. Cover and internal design © by Harley Tate. Cover image copyright © Deposit Photos and NeoStock, 2019.
All rights reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The use of stock photo images in this e-book in no way imply that the models depicted personally endorse, condone, or engage in the fictional conduct depicted herein, expressly or by implication. The person(s) depicted are models and are used for illustrative purposes only.
Contents
Make The Cut
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
Also by Harley Tate
Acknowledgments
About Harley Tate
Make The Cut
Nuclear Survival: Western Strength Book Three
After the unthinkable, how far would you go to find your family?
Lainey, Keith, and Bear have survived a nuclear explosion and a tortuous escape from LA. With no leads as to her family’s whereabouts, Lainey is stymied. The reporter in her craves information; she’s not used to making decisions in the dark.
Without any news, would you still have hope?
When Keith suggests they head to her sister’s intended destination, Lainey agrees despite her gnawing fear. The trek out of California is harder than either of them expect. By the time they reach the border, neither are optimistic about the journey.
Hard choices will be made and lives lost.
Thanks to a lucky encounter in a small, rural town, Lainey finally uncovers the information she’s been seeking. But weeks into the apocalypse, the border with Canada is fraught with danger. It will take all their strength to make it across alive and reunite with the family Lainey is desperate to find.
The attack is only the beginning.
Make The Cut is book three in Nuclear Survival: Western Strength, a post-apocalyptic thriller series following ordinary people struggling to survive when a nuclear attack on the United States plunges the nation into chaos.
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Chapter One
LAINEY
Yermo, CA
Thursday, 5:00 p.m. PST
The van shuddered as Lainey pulled into the dusty lot. Empty cans and bottles vied with plastic bags for prime real estate along a chain-link fence separating the parking from the desert beyond. A billboard trailer slumped on flat tires, proclaiming the name of the diner in matte black and white spray paint above a giant arrow.
“Bonnie Rae’s. Turn Here.” Jerry scratched at his chin as he read the sign. “You think it’s still in business?”
“No idea.” Lainey eased the van into the gravel lot and parked beside a vintage El Camino. “But there’s a few cars here we can siphon.”
In addition to the two-tone brown and gold classic, the diner sported an ancient Ford pickup and a Buick straight out of Lainey’s childhood. As Jerry reached for the coil of plastic tubing, Lainey turned off the engine. “Cross your fingers those cars have gas.”
They had driven the last few miles on fumes, coasting down the highway and into the barren flatlands of the Mojave. It had been a mistake to leave Jerry’s truck behind, but with the fire bearing down on his house and Keith and Bear injured, no one had been thinking straight. After piling into the van, it had been nonstop running to escape the fire and find medicine and first aid supplies. It wasn’t until they stopped along the side of the road that Lainey calmed long enough to breathe.
They were miles away from the nuclear bomb site and the fire, and she’d received confirmation that her sister was alive. According to Midge, their mother should be relaxing miles north of Chicago in a little cottage on Lake Michigan in Suttons Bay. Midge was en route and would email again when she had the chance.
Lainey wished Midge had given her a way to respond, but her sister always emailed through VPNs and bounce-backs to hide her trail. Even if Lainey had tried to reply, the message would have been undeliverable. Having faith in her sister was the best she could do. Midge would contact her again.
She stared out at the desert landscape all around them and the squat building dead ahead. Worrying about what she couldn’t control would get her nowhere. With a deep breath, Lainey threw open the van door and climbed down.
A hot, arid wind smacked her in the face. She licked her lips and tasted grit.
Straight ahead, a giant jukebox made of stucco welcomed her to the front of the diner. Above the faded pink door, a sign proclaimed, “If the door’s unlocked, we’re open! Come on in!”
She shrugged and walked toward it. Here goes nothing. She gave the handle a yank. The door didn’t budge. She pulled harder with no success. “So much for that.”
As she turned back to the van, Owen climbed down and headed around the building toward the back. While she’d driven deeper into the desert, Owen had sat in the back piecing together a news spot. Every few minutes, he’d push the cat who adopted him at the animal control facility off his lap, but the tabby would find his way back a moment later, shoving his head beneath Owen’s arm and snuggling against his stomach.
By the time they made it out of Victorville, Owen had created a four-minute segment of video, splicing together shots of the fire spreading across the foothills north of Los Angeles with Lainey’s reporting. He sent it to as many Canadian TV outlets as he could manage with the van’s satellite hookup, and they all crossed their fingers.
With any luck, he would hear back soon and secure a means to access their neighbor to the north. As soon as Lainey either found her mom or received word from Midge that she was safe, they would head to Canada and a country not ravaged by disaster.
But before they could even make it out of the desert, they needed gas. The three older cars in the lot held promise: no fancy anti-siphon flaps or internal mechanisms to keep the hose out. As she stepped toward the closest one, Owen called out from around the corner. “Guys?”
A shiver of alarm snaked through Lainey and she jogged toward the sound of his voice.
He stood a few feet away from a low fence, staring up at the building. “Is that a Spinosaurus?”
She gave a start. “A what?”
He pointed toward the diner. “On the roof. Just above the giant ice cream cone painted on the wall.”
Lainey cupped a hand around her eyes to shield her view from the late afternoon sun. Sure enough, what appeared to be a rather large dinosaur stood on the roof of the building, teeth bared in a snarl. She walked toward the creature, but the familiar shape of a Stegosaurus came into view on the ground. It stood on the edge of a concrete moat snaking around artificial turf and a squat tree.
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br /> Two dinosaurs in the back garden of a retro diner? “What on earth?”
“It’s a diner-saur park.” Jerry chuckled. “Get it?” He stopped in front of a sign a few feet away, shaking his head. “I’ve heard a few puns in my time, but that’s a first.”
“Are they sculptures? Giant lawn art?” Lainey shook her head in wonder.
“They’re all made out of metal, as far as I can tell.” Jerry flipped open the gate and walked inside, disappearing beyond the edge of the building. He called out a moment later. “There’s even a King Kong.”
“There is not.” She stomped after him in disbelief, but before she could utter another word, a giant metal gorilla rose up from a sandy berm, mouth permanently open in a roar. It had to be a tourist spot, luring people off the highway with promises of twenty-four-hour pie and life-size dinosaurs.
As Lainey stared at the gorilla, a laugh bubbled up her throat and she couldn’t contain it. After everything they’d been through, to end up in a diner-saur park was too ridiculous for words. She laughed so hard, tears leaked from her eyes.
“What’s so funny?” Keith’s voice filtered past the building. “You find a repository of gasoline?”
At the sound of his voice, Lainey turned and hurried back the way she came. Although Keith and Bear had rested for a few hours in the back of the van, they were both still injured and needed to take it easy. As she cleared the building, Keith came into view, hobbling with the use of Jerry’s baseball bat as a cane.
She grinned. “It’s something you have to see to believe.” Ducking beneath Keith’s shoulder, she eased the weight off his injured leg. They hopped around the diner together, through the rusted gate, and into the garden.
Keith’s eyes widened as he took in the sculptures. “Please tell me we’re not here for the selfies.”
Jerry held up the hose. “Just the gas, unless you want to see about breaking and entering. Might have some food stashed in the kitchen.”
“We’re not desperate. There’s no need to break in yet.” Lainey eased Keith down onto a bench. “I just thought you might want to stretch your legs.”
As Keith straightened his injured leg, Bear limped around the corner and through the gate, not stopping until his fur brushed against Lainey’s side. He looked up at her, a question on his furry face.
“We’re just taking a break.” She scratched behind his ear. “There’s a lot more driving to do.”
“Speaking of driving,” Keith began. “Assuming we can siphon some gas, are we going to drive all night or stop somewhere?”
Lainey hesitated. The distance between Yermo and Chicago had to be close to two thousand miles. How many tanks of gas would it take? Six? Seven? More? Apart from a destination, they hadn’t talked about the logistics of driving across country with no open gas stations and no means to acquire fuel apart from a cheap tube of plastic.
“Are we still heading to Chicago?” Jerry leaned against the fencing, makeshift siphon in his hand.
The question jerked Lainey into the present and she blinked. “Why wouldn’t we?”
He turned over a rock with his shoe, avoiding Lainey’s focused stare. “We could take I-15 all the way to Montana. It’s pretty much a straight shot straight north. We could be in Canada in a few days.”
“And if we drive to Chicago?” Owen’s voice held only curious interest, but the question rankled Lainey all the same.
“Double it. We’re looking at close to four thousand miles total.”
Owen whistled. “I’ve never driven more than a couple hundred miles to get anywhere.” He rubbed the hair on top of his head. “That many seems impossible.”
“We need a map.” Keith shifted on the bench, wincing as he moved his bandaged leg. “One of those fifty-state jobs they sell at truck stops.”
“And convenience stores.” Jerry turned toward the diner. “From the looks of it, this place might have one.”
Lainey pressed her lips together. She understood Jerry’s concern, but abandoning her family wasn’t an option. “I thought we’d all agreed. Chicago until we knew otherwise.”
“That was before we fled the fire and ended up here.” Jerry pushed off the fence. “Look, I’m not saying we have to head north, but I wanted to put it out there. Driving through Utah and Idaho might be a heck of a lot easier than Iowa, Illinois and all the other densely populated states.”
“He’s got a point.”
Lainey spun on Keith. Not you, too.
He held up his hands. “All I’m saying is maybe we head north first. Stay on I-15 into Nevada and Utah. We can jog over to I-80 at some point and take it all the way to Chicago. We just need a map to confirm.”
“We can’t go anywhere until we find some gas.” Jerry strode toward the open gate and the parking lot beyond.
“I’ll help.” Owen pushed his glasses up his nose. “I should check on the cat, too.” He hurried after Jerry and the pair disappeared around the side of the diner.
A whirlwind of emotions tore at Lainey’s insides. She thought they had a plan. Head to Chicago, look for her family, then only after confirmation from her sister or locating her mother would they head to Canada. Now everything was in limbo. She crossed her arms and frowned at the scrap of artificial turf beneath her feet.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Keith reached out a placating hand. “We’re not abandoning your family.”
“It sure seems like it.”
He patted at the empty space beside him on the bench and Lainey flopped onto it.
“We’re just thinking through the options.” Keith turned to face her. “It doesn’t matter if we head north now or later. At some point we have to if we don’t want to drive straight to Atlanta.” He reached out and squeezed her knee. “Staying on I-15 for a few hundred miles merely keeps our options open.”
Lainey exhaled. Deep down, the explanation made sense, but on the surface it still felt like some form of surrender. She sagged against his strong chest as he wrapped an arm around her. “You promise we’re not abandoning them?”
“I promise.” He tugged her closer and planted a kiss on her hair. “I meant what I said earlier. If we have to drive into the heart of downtown Chicago to find your mother, I’ll be right there with you.”
“We won’t be heading that way anytime soon.”
Lainey turned at the sound of Jerry’s voice. He stood at the edge of the fence, a scowl deepening the groove between his brows. “Someone’s beat us to it. All the cars are empty. We don’t have enough gas to make it to another town.”
“Try another block. We’re out.” Lainey glanced up at the diner. The setting sun cast a rich orange glow across the horizon beyond. As much as she hated to break in, daylight was fleeing fast. They would be far safer inside a building overnight versus the van, and they could all sleep for the first time in forever. She twisted back around toward Jerry. “You said they have a store inside?”
He nodded. “One of those roadside places full of candy and knickknacks.”
“Maybe a map.” Keith nudged her.
“All right.” Lainey held up her hands. “Let’s break in. But only for tonight.”
“I call a booth.” Owen cast a sheepish smile at their faces as everyone protested. “What? I can’t sleep sitting up.”
Lainey shook her head. “Let’s see if we can find a way in before we claim the furniture as our own.” She reached for Bear’s leash and wrapped it around her hand before helping Keith up to stand. Exhaustion weakened her muscles and she stumbled on their first step.
Maybe a good night’s sleep was exactly what they needed. Her family would understand the delay, wouldn’t they?
Chapter Two
KEITH
Bonnie Rae’s Diner
Yermo, CA
Thursday, 7:00 p.m. PST
The pane of glass cracked under the force of Jerry’s sweatshirt-covered fist and within five minutes of casing the place, they were inside. Entering the diner from the kitchen back door bypassed the
kitschy front entrance complete with a life-size Betty Boop behind the counter, but they passed it all on their way to the store. Jerry headed straight for the pre-packaged snacks, rummaging through bags of nuts, dried fruit, and candy.
Owen lingered at the rack of gift cards, picking up the shiny plastic and turning it over in his hands.
“You know those are worthless now, right?” Keith hobbled up to the counter and rested his weight on the glass.
Owen nodded. “I keep thinking about the economy. We’ve grown accustomed to dissociating goods from value, relying on these little hunks of plastic to buy lunch and dinner and something to wear.” He ran a hand over his hair. “Two weeks ago at this time, I was sitting on my couch waiting for a food delivery from a restaurant down the street.”
He hung the gift card back on the rack and turned to Keith. “I almost never grocery shopped, and if I did, half the time I used an online service and someone else did the shopping for me. I just picked up the groceries off my front mat.”
“We’ve become reliant on other people for day-to-day necessities.”
“For everything,” Owen agreed. “I used Uber constantly. Didn’t see the point of a car.” Owen shook his head and his glasses slipped down his nose. “A lot of my friends never got licenses. Why go through the hassle when you can pay a few bucks to get somewhere in a stranger’s back seat?”