by Newman, AJ
“You need to be more careful when you choose your friends, dumbass,” Carlos said just as he heard gunfire and his men screaming as they died. “Adios!”
Before Carlos could fire, two of his men grabbed him and Sam. They rushed them out of the store and into a waiting 1955 Chevy. Tom rolled over and began shooting the remaining men with his AR. It was a turkey shoot. He could see them in the dark, and they could only see his flash. He shot, moved, and shot again. He’d shot four before Jackie joined in and killed two more.
Jackie ran to Tom and tried to push him to the floor. “Tom, you’ve been shot!”
“They took Sam. It was her ex-boyfriend, Carlos. Follow me,” Tom said as he struggled to his feet. He was dizzy and stumbled twice before gaining his footing. He found what he was looking for. The man was trying to crawl away. Tom kicked the thug in the side. “Where are they taking Sam?”
“Screw you!”
Tom kicked the man again. The man said, “I won’t talk. Carlos kills men who talk.”
Tom drew his knife and stuck the blade into the man’s calf while Jackie held the muzzle of her rifle in the man’s face. Her rifle’s flashlight made the bloodied man have a grotesque grin, even in tremendous pain. He winced but didn’t speak. Tom moved the knife to the man’s knee and shoved the blade between the kneecap and knee joint. Nothing from the man but groans.
Then the man yelled, “Screw you!”
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
The man spat in Tom’s face. Tom pushed the knife deep into the knee joint and twisted the knife. The man screamed. “Carlos has a compound east of Grants Pass on the Rogue River.”
“Give me directions, and the pain will stop,” Tom said as he twisted the knife again.
“It’s off Highway 99 at the Jackson County line!”
Tom asked, “How did Carlos know where Sam was located.”
“He told us there was a spy in your group!”
“Who is the spy?” Tom said as his eyes flared at the man.
The man winced in pain. “I don’t know!”
Tom pulled his knife from the thug’s knee and slit the man’s femoral artery. Tom walked away as the man screamed in pain. Jackie was horrified, “Tom, that was …”
“Jackie, I don’t want to hear it. We must catch them before they get to that compound. Let’s go.”
Rick had seen the torture. “Bro, ya did what ya had to do. Shake it off, and let’s go get her back.”
Tom limped and held his side in excruciating pain as they ran to the back of the store. They stepped over Carlos’s dead men and ran out the back door. Tom led the way but suddenly dropped to his knees. Jackie ran to his side and stooped down next to him, crying,” No! No! I just …!”
A woman’s body lay on the concrete in a pool of blood. A shotgun blast to her face made it impossible to recognize Sam. Beside her was a dead man with Sam’s knife in his side. She’d put up a fight and killed at least one man and wounded another. A blood trail ended where the car had peeled rubber, leaving.
Tom stared at the body. “We can’t tell Lucy about this. The bastard shot her in the face with a shotgun. Most of her head is gone. I think she stabbed Carlos, and he went berserk. I’ll hunt him down and …”
Jackie hugged her brother from behind. “Tom, he’s a monster. Don’t let him win by making you become a monster.”
Rick patted Jackie on the back. “Tom, when the time comes, we’ll go up to his compound and wipe the bastards off the face of the earth. We need to go home and regroup.”
Tom looked down at the body. “We have to bury her.”
Jackie balked and turned Tom toward her. “Everyone within a mile heard the shots. We have to leave.”
“No, she was one of us, and we have to bury her.”
Jackie nodded. “Then let’s get our butts in gear. I’ll quickly put a bandage on your wound.”
Tom slung his rifle over one shoulder and then hefted her body over his other shoulder and walked out the front door, trailing blood behind him. The bandage wasn’t applying enough pressure to the wound. Tom ignored the pain but became weak due to blood loss. He walked to a stand of trees behind a large home and set her on the ground. Tom found a shovel and dug until he felt the hole was deep enough, and then carefully placed her in the grave. They said the Lord’s Prayer and then began covering the body. Tom took enough landscaping bricks from the home’s flowerbed to cover the grave. He didn’t want an animal to dig up her body.
Rick and Jackie stood watch for intruders but only saw a few curious people around the store's front. None entered the building and soon disappeared. Jackie shook Tom’s shoulder as he cried over her grave. “Tom, you’re bleeding. I have to treat your wound, and we must leave now. The sun will rise in about an hour.”
Tom turned to Jackie and hugged her. “Do your worst.”
Jackie checked the wound and found it was a deep furrow in his side. The bullet had nicked a rib and had probably broken the rib. The bleeding had stopped, so she applied some antibiotics and bandaged the wound. “Here, take this Fish Mox and these Tylenol tablets.”
Tom grimaced when he shouldered his rifle and picked up his bag full of scavenged items. “Let’s get back to the ranch and tell the others. I’ll tell Lucy. Jackie, can you help me take care of her?”
“Of course. Rick and I will do anything to help the poor girl.”
Jackie said, “I can’t imagine who the spy is in our group?”
“It’s not me,” Rick said.
Tom thought for a minute. “I don’t know who, but their death will be much harder than that thug’s death was. Don’t tell anyone but Granny about the spy. I want to catch them.”
James and Alice met them on the dirt road and challenged them to stop. Rick got out with his hands up. “It’s me, Rick.”
James walked up to Rick. “Hey, I don’t see Sam. Is she sleeping in the bed of the truck?”
“No, she didn’t make it.”
Alice heard Rick. “Oh, no! Poor Lucy! What happened?”
Tom had walked over to them. “We’ll cover what happened when we get the group together. I’ll tell Lucy first.”
Tom didn’t have the patience for the conversation. His mind was in denial and trying to block off the memory of the shootout. “That’s enough talk. Let’s go to the bunker.”
Most of the others were still sleeping as Tom filled Granny B in on Sam’s death. “I know you cared for her much more than you let on. Will you be okay?”
“I liked her, but she wasn’t the one for me.”
“Oh! You could have fooled me the way you two flirted.”
“Flirting isn’t love” Tom replied.
Granny B hugged her grandson. “I’ll be with you when you tell Lucy.”
“Granny, there’s a spy in our group. That’s how Carlos found us. We need to figure out how to smoke them out.”
Granny B said, “To catch a rat, you set a trap. We need some juicy cheese for bait.”
Lucy went into a crying fit and then shock when Tom explained that her mom was dead. She wanted to see the body, but Tom told her they had to bury her mom in Ashland. He promised to take Lucy to her mom’s gravesite once it was safe to travel there. Tom tried not to cry with the grieving girl, but tears formed in his eyes. She fell asleep with Duke by her side, and Granny B stayed with her. Tom composed himself and joined the others.
Tom told them the story and kept his emotions under control. “We need to hunker down and make this place safe. Only the men will go foraging in the future. Sorry Jackie, but women are in too much danger with these perverts and criminals running the cities. I have vowed to kill the people responsible, but I’ll make sure we take care of our people and our bunker before striking out. We have much work to do here.”
Tom was surprised to see Kate cooking breakfast while Granny B tended to Lucy across the room. She looked up at him and smiled. “I escaped my chains.”
“I see you have. I also saw Greta walking around with
a gun strapped to her hip.”
Kate shrugged. “We made peace. Anyway, I hope she means what she says.”
Kate then pulled a knife from under her shirt. “Just in case she didn’t. You don’t seem to be alarmed. I guess I could just walk away from here.”
Tom was surprised that he wasn’t mad or had a thought about Kate being free to wander around. “Your attack on us was a mistake. You apologized, and I accepted your apology, but I can’t let you leave on your own. I can arrange to blindfold you and drop you off wherever you want.”
Kate looked up at Tom, and their eyes met. “I don’t know where to go. Can your people forgive me enough to let me stay with you? Even with having to keep an eye on Greta, I haven’t felt this safe since the shit hit the fan.”
Tom felt the tingling, he could feel his heartbeat in his chest, and he gazed into her heart through the gold flakes in her eyes. “Uh … You’ll have to stay in the bunker for a month or so until I fully trust you. Then we’ll decide on a long-term arrangement. So, if you behave and contribute, I would vote for you to join the team.”
She continued the eye to eye contact, grinned, and then hugged Tom. “I’m sorry, but this made me so happy. One thing I can quickly contribute is training your crew on how to shoot a bow and arrow. ”
“Brenda was our best archer, but she didn’t get a chance to train anyone. Crap! I didn’t mean anything by that.”
Kate’s smile disappeared, “I haven’t had a chance to give you my condolences. I’m sorry for your loss. I know this won’t matter to you, but I tried to talk my uncle out of attacking your group. He was filled with hate and blood lust. I failed.”
“Thanks. That does matter to me. Give Rick and the others a chance to grieve. We’ll all have to toughen up to survive this disaster. I have to work harder at keeping my people safe from the chaos.”
“Amen to that.”
Tom turned to walk away then turned around. “I want you to begin archery training tomorrow. We need the ability to silently kill … uh … protect ourselves. Jackie, Rick, and I will be your first pupils. When you get done with Granny B, look me up. I’ll have Rick set up some targets and have the bows and arrows ready.”
“Will I have to be blindfolded?”
Tom thought for a quick second. “Yes, coming and going. We’ll take it off once we get to the range.”
“You already have an archery range?”
Tom snickered. “No, it’s a gun range that’s about to pull double duty.”
Granny B caught Tom after his discussion with Kate. “You seem okay with allowing Kate some freedom. We’ll lock her in at night or when we don’t have a babysitter for her.”
Tom smiled and took his Granny’s hand. “I trust your judgment. She can’t be the spy because she wasn’t with us when we met Sam or with us on the trail. She’s been in our custody since the attack. No, I think we know the person, and somehow the gang turned them against us. We’ll catch the rat. Just watch Greta and Kate to make sure they don’t kill each other.”
“I am. Go get some sleep.”
Tom replied, “I’m wide awake and need to do some powerful thinking, as Grandpa used to say.”
Tom sat on the roof of the barn, watching the stars while pouring whiskey in his glass. The sky was black and free of clouds that night, making the stars stand out like diamonds on a black cloth. He reflected on the past several years, smiling at the good memories and grimacing more than smiling. He knew Gwen hadn’t loved him enough to stay at the ranch. She just died before she could leave him. He then thought about Brenda and made himself only think about the good times he’d had with her. Dark thoughts kept trying to creep into his train of thought, but he pushed them away.
His thoughts turned to that brash blonde bombshell of a spoiled brat he’d met on the day the world had ended. Tom reminisced about how much both of them had changed. She’d lost her princess mentality, and she’d softened his hardened heart but wasn’t the one for him. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t get the same tingling feeling with her as he did with Kate. He downed a big slug of Jim Beam Black just as Jackie sat down beside him.
“Brother, don’t dwell on the past. We can make a great future for our loved ones and us if we keep our act together and do what we’re trained to do. I need my goofy, caring, and steady brother as much as I need your tough side. The team needs you. They need a strong and steady leader.”
Jackie kissed Tom on the cheek and then took a slug from the bottle. “Damned good whiskey.”
“Sister, Sam needed me more than I cared for her. She was a survivor, and a man would never know if she cared for him or the safety he provided. I know I’ll eventually fall in love with the right woman, but next time, I’ll be more attentive to her needs. I screwed up with Gwen.” Tom said and then pitched the empty whiskey bottle into the air.
There was silence, then Tom asked, “How did you know that Rick was the one?”
Laughter sprang from Jackie. “Remember what Grandpa told you about the zing?”
“Yes, but …?”
“I felt a bond, a zing instantly. My heart throbbed in my chest, and my skin tingled. It was weird and not a sexual desire. It was more a – I can’t live without this person in my life.”
“I never had that with Gwen, Brenda, or Sam.”
“But you did with Kate, didn’t you, big brother.”
“Do what? How did you know, and why am I attracted to a bitch who tried to kill us?”
I’m your twin, and besides, I saw you two staring each other in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity. I knew then that you made the connection to her like Rick and I made. I hope she feels the same way about you.”
“The zing. I feel an electric charge run up and down my spine, and my skin tingles every time I look into her eyes.”
“Tom, you deserve the love of a good woman.”
“The jury is out on the good woman.” Tom said, and then he added, “I’ll keep my cool and take care of business at the ranch, but I vow I’ll do what it takes to kill that Mexican asshole and every drug dealer that works for him. Between Rick and me, we know how to blow shit up, kill from a mile away, and how to make deadfall traps. I’ll terrorize them and then kill the survivors. Only after that will I let my feelings for Kate be known.”
Jackie snorted, “Now that sounds more like my brother. But please wait a while before tilting away at windmills but don’t wait on discussing your feelings with Kate. The right one doesn’t come along every day.”
“I’ll try.”
Jackie replied. “We have a lot of work to do here before taking the fight to those asshats. Remember Grandpa’s cardinal rule …”
Tom beat her to say, “Don’t give away your location. Hunker down until the die-off has finished. Then gather supplies and needs. Build stronger defenses and prepare to repel all invaders.”
Jackie joined in, and they finished their grandpa’s creed together. Tom saw Rick approaching. “How’s Rick doing?”
“It’s too early to tell. He goes from wanting to kill Kate to acting as if nothing happened. Everyone grieves their own way. How are you doing?”
“Not good, but I’ll get over it. I wish I’d hadn’t been so dumb and avoided Sam. I ain’t making that mistake again.”
Jackie hugged her brother. “We all have regrets.”
Tom squeezed Jackie’s arm. “I know this sounds a bit crazy, but tonight is the first time that I’m sure we’re going to survive and make a difference in this world. We can’t save everyone, but we can make a difference in some peoples’ lives.”
Rick had waited until they looked up at him to join them. “Tom, you and your family saved all of us at the ranch. You’re giving Lucy and Greta a chance in life. We’ll struggle for sure, but we’ll make it.”
Tom reached his hand out and shook Rick’s. “Thanks.”
Rick said, “You’ll never guess who Jack found wandering in the woods west of here.”
Tom held his breath and the
n asked, “Carlos?”
Rick cringed. “No. This is good news. It’s Betty and Bill. They had to flee from their homes because a new gang moved into Medford and wiped out the gang of criminals that had been terrorizing the citizens. They said the new gang is nice to them and helped them get the city cleaned up. The gang also brought food and medicine to the town.”
Tom was confused. “If they’re doing so much good, why do you call them a gang?”
“A Hispanic called Carlos Mendoza is their leader.”
Tom’s pulse raced, his fists clenched, and nostrils flared. “Well, the plot thickens.”
The End
Of
The Prepper’s Apocalypse
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Thanks for reading Prepper’s Apocalypse. Please don’t forget to give it a great review on Amazon.
I hope to have Book 2 – Prepper’s Collapse published by early spring 2021.
Remember to read my other books on Amazon.
AJ Newman
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A list of my other books follows at the end.
Thanks, AJ Newman
Books by AJ Newman
Prepper’s Apocalypse
Prepper’s Apocalypse
Prepper’s Collapse – spring 2021
John Logan Mysteries” The Human Syndrome
Extinction Level Event
Extinction
Immune: The Hunted
War Dogs
Heading Home
No One Left Behind
Amazon Warriors
EMP:
Perfect Storm
Chaos in the Storm