The Long Night Box Set

by Kevin Partner

  Nathan fired a shot through the open back door as the front door also came under attack.

  "Here, take this," Bella said, handing the gun to him

  He took it and flipped out the magazine. "Glock G40," he said, before handing back the Bersa. "Fifteen shots. Get ready for plan B."

  Bella looked up at the children cowering behind Al on the stairs. Suddenly, the front door burst open, the shotgun kicked, and a body flew back.

  "Go now!" Nathan hissed. "I can't keep them pinned down any longer."

  "Hold on, that's not the plan! We're all going or none of us!"

  Nathan turned to her and she saw the determination in his eyes. "No time. If they get into the garage, we're all dead. Now, get the kids out of here!"

  Another blast from the shotgun and the front entrance was clear again. A pellet ricocheted off the back door-frame and a picture fell to the floor, shattering as it landed. Maddie let out a cry and covered her ears before she and Jake scrambled across to Bella, followed by their grandpa.

  "No, I'll hold the fort," the old man said. "You take young Nathan with you. He'll be a lot more use than a silly old fool like me."

  Nathan fired again, then shouted. "Get out of here! I was trained for this. You need a long head start and I intend to give it to you. Go!" He waved his arm at Al who stepped down to the bottom of the stairs and took his hand.

  "You're a solid gold hero," the old man said before moving over to Bella. "Come on, girl."

  "We can't leave him here!" Jake said as Nathan swung around and shot into the entrance.

  Bella pushed him into the passageway that led to the garage and, as she did so, she caught Nathan's eye as he tried to cover both the front and back. She hoped her glance communicated her gratitude. She'd been wrong about him. He wasn't a monster, he was the sort of man the new world needed. She muttered a silent prayer for them all and flung the garage door open.

  "Lock it!" she said. Al was the last to make it into the garage. He wiped away the tears and locked the door.

  The children were already in the back seat.

  Now for the biggest gamble. Al sat alongside her, shotgun ready, and she held her Bersa, though heaven only knew how many rounds either had left. Not many, certainly. She put her key in the ignition, drew in a breath, and hit the gate release and garage door buttons at the same moment. Neither was designed to open quickly, and Bella watched, her heart racing and her gun trained, as the gap grew slowly wider. As soon as it was wide enough, she started the car and immediately stabbed her foot down onto the gas.

  As the car emerged into the daylight, she caught sight of several figures kneeling at the entrance, firing inside. They turned as the car passed them and Al fired twice, taking one down and forcing the others under cover. Bella felt the punch of a bullet hitting the driver's door, but she was almost at the gate. She didn't wait for it to fully open but used the car's momentum to force the gates apart with a hideous screech.

  They flew out onto the road, and she caught sight of people running after them, only to fall on their faces. She saw Nathan standing momentarily in the front door, before he turned and ran back. She could hear shot after shot coming from inside as she squealed around the gate post. The attackers had parked their bikes in a group and, between them and the brick wall that marked the border of the house, huddled some women. Bella ignored them and swung the car, plowing it into the nearest bike and sending it crashing into the others.

  The car bounced away and she drew in a deep breath of burning rubber and gasoline.

  "Open the window!" Al called to Jake, before pointing his shotgun through it. A deafening bang and the car stunk of gunpowder. With a woomf, one of the bikes erupted into flame and soon they were all engulfed.

  "My last shot," Al said. "And it was a good one. Boy, I hope Tiger got out of there."

  Bella put her foot down and the car lurched back onto the main street and toward the junction she and Nathan had cleared a couple of days ago. She wiped a tear from her cheek and quietly thanked God for sending him to them.

  Chapter 20

  Solly looked up at the underside of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway, then glanced back and gestured to Ross to get a move on.

  Jaxon stood beside him, enjoying the brief shelter from the rain provided by the silent road above, as Ross finally caught up with them.

  "The slower you walk, the wetter you'll get," Solly said to him as the boy took off his baseball cap and shook the water out of it.

  "Not true," Jaxon said. "It's a little-known scientific fact. Doesn't matter how fast you go, you get just as wet."

  Solly began rummaging in his pack to find the food they'd brought with them. "Thank you, Professor Proton," he said, handing Jaxon a chunk of hard cheese, an apple and a pack of potato chips.

  The boy looked at it with a mixture of hunger and disappointment. "I'd give my right ball for some real actual bread. Like a proper sandwich, you know?"

  "Making bread's not rocket science," Solly said. "Flour, water, yeast and heat."

  Jaxon chewed on his cheese and pulled a face. "And we ain't got none of those, 'cept water." He allowed himself to slide down the wall of the bridge support and sat with his legs outstretched.

  Solly had warmed to him as he'd gotten to know the boy a little better. A typical young teenager, he changed completely when he was away from the younger children and, particularly, the girls.

  On the other hand, Ross had withdrawn. He'd almost thrown a fit when Arnold had suggested Jaxon come with them to scout for a place to hide. Solly was worried about the boy. Perhaps the shoe was finally about to drop.

  Once they'd finished their meal, such as it was, they headed out from the shelter and back into the drizzle. They were walking along a small rural road that cut through a flat landscape of grass and barren trees. Aside from the complete lack of movement, it could have been a perfectly normal, if wet, stroll. Except that there was no hint of road-noise from the highway behind them, so they walked in an eerie silence broken only by the whistling of the wind.

  They passed houses to the left and right, but Solly was looking for something more secluded. And it'd have to be pretty big to house all of Arnold's kids. He insisted on thinking of them as the old man's responsibility, though he knew he was only fooling himself.

  They'd been walking for another hour when they reached an intersection with a larger road. They'd seen almost no cars on the back-lanes, but here the road was entirely blocked in several places. It was almost as if someone had deliberately pushed vehicles into groups to blockade it.

  "Look!" Ross said. "It's a Walmart!"

  "It's not a store, it's a distribution center," Solly responded as they trotted across the silent road and toward the low, white building. An American flag fluttered fitfully in the breeze beside a guard hut. The orange and white striped barrier was down.

  "Hold on," Solly said as his spider sense tingled.

  Just as they stopped, a figure leaped out of the guard hut, shotgun in hand. He was wearing military fatigues, a bullet-proof vest and sunglasses.

  "Halt right there," he called, bringing his weapon to bear. "Raise your arms and declare yourselves."

  They stood, arms up, around ten yards apart. Now that he was up close, Solly could see that the guard was a young man, maybe even a teenager. And he was no soldier. But he was holding a gun, so Solly gave his name. "I was just checking this place out."

  "Were you fixin' to steal anythin'?" the young man said. "'Cos this facility is now state property. I'm here on account of the National Guard bein' mobilized to secure it."

  "You're National Guard?" Solly said, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice.

  He saw the hesitation.

  The man shrugged. "My daddy was. He got the call, but he fell down dead before he could get out here, so I came instead."

  "Hey man," Jaxon said, walking out from behind Solly. "You're Landon, right? Landon Briggs? I know you from the club, right."

  The man lowered h
is shotgun and used his other hand to peer over his sunglasses. "Jax? Is it you?" He let out a yell and ran toward Jaxon, wrapping him in an embrace. "I ain't seen nobody I know in two weeks. Man, it's good to see you, it sure is. And these here are with you?"

  Jaxon nodded. "This is Sol, and this is Ross, his right-hand man."

  "Well, that changes everything. You wanna go inside? I got the key. If one of you will stay on guard, I'll show you around." He held out the shotgun, stock first, and Ross took it.

  "Do you know how to use one of those?" Solly said.

  Ross shook his head. "No, but I've seen them in the movies."

  "It's fully loaded, so you just have to push the safety down by the trigger guard, aim and fire. Then you pump another slug into the chamber with that bit," he said, pointing at the fore-stock, "and bang. Easy."

  Ross smiled and Solly realized what had been bugging the boy. While it had been just the three of them, he'd had a role, but once they'd met Jaxon and the others, he became just one kid among many. Solly patted him on the shoulder. "Now, you take care. You see anything, and you call out, okay? No heroics."

  An hour later, Solly, Jaxon and Ross were taking turns at pushing a shopping cart full of supplies along a country lane. Landon had told them of a farmhouse he knew along Mill Road that had been put up for sale shortly before the apocalypse. From his description, it sounded ideal—it was beside the river, so it was protected on one side, and it was set back from a road that had been pretty out of the way even in normal times.

  The drizzle had stopped, and the sky was brightening as they increased their pace, hoping to get to the farmhouse before it went dark. Solly didn't relish the prospect of having to find shelter as the light failed, stumbling into a dark house, not sure if it was still occupied by either the living or the dead.

  A gunshot rang out and the three of them spun around. It was coming from the Walmart.

  Without thinking, Jaxon ran off and, after a moment, Solly and Ross followed him. Another shot, then the crackle of returning fire.

  By the time Solly caught up with them and crouched, wheezing, behind the bush they were hiding in, the two boys had sized up the situation.

  "They're in that car," Ross said, pointing at a battered red sedan parked twenty yards from the guardhouse. The door nearest them was open and a figure crouched behind it, head popping up now and again.

  Landon appeared from behind the guard-house, leveled his gun in one smooth movement, and blasted a shot into the door.

  Solly spotted a head appear on the other side of the car and look along the approach road. "They're expecting reinforcements," he hissed. "He's on his own; we need to get him out quickly. See if you can creep around the back." He watched as the boys moved along the bushes, looking for a way to safely cross the lane.

  He flipped the safety on his SR40 and aimed it at one of the figures skulking behind the car door but, just as he was about to shoot, his target sat up, raised his handgun and fired off a round. They heard Landon cry out, and the man who'd shot him came out from cover and headed toward the guardhouse. There was no time to waste.

  Solly pulled the trigger. He'd aimed low and the bullet caught the man somewhere behind the knee and he collapsed to the floor, yelling as he wrapped his hands around his leg. A bullet fizzed past Solly's head as the attacker on the other side of the car opened fire. Solly heard the sound of revving engines and knew that they had seconds to get away.

  He needed to keep them pinned down so the boys could get Landon, so he returned fire without exposing his head. As he peered around the bush, he saw Ross and Jaxon half-dragging Landon out the back of the guard-post and away over the grass.

  The man he'd injured cried out, "Get them!" and the shooter moved around to the front of the car, his head appearing just over the hood, his gun raised and pointing at the boys. There was no time for thought, it was him or them. Solly raised himself up, took the gun in both hands and aimed along the barrel before cracking off two rounds. The man disappeared, just as a pickup truck squealed into the lane.

  Solly got up and ran for his life. He heard the crack of weapons behind him and the popping as a spray of bullets hit a tree a couple of feet away. He weaved back and forth, trying to make himself as hard to hit as possible, expecting to feel hot metal slice into his back at any moment.

  By the time he reached the boys, they'd gotten Landon to the edge of the park and into the neighboring scrub. Blood covered Landon's leg, but there was no time to do anything about it now. He put his shoulder under the boy's arm and, between them, they moved off into the trees.

  "We can't leave it! I got my duty to do," Landon moaned as they took a brief rest and listened for sounds of pursuit.

  "It wasn't your duty, son," Solly said, trying to keep his voice calm. "It was your father's. Sooner or later, you were going to be outgunned."

  "I was waitin' for reinforcements. From the Guard Base."

  Solly shook his head. "They aren't coming." He'd often thought how odd it was that he'd seen no sign of the military whatsoever over the past two weeks. They'd been mobilized on the first night and even with massive losses, there would still be thousands of them. But he had more pressing matters. "How far away is the farm?"

  Landon looked around, as if trying to orient himself. "The river's thataway," he said, pointing through the wood, "and the farm's on this bank."

  They picked him up by the arms and helped him through the trees, emerging in a lane on the other side.

  "Solly!" Ross called, gesturing along the lane at the shopping cart they'd left when they'd first heard the gunshots.

  "That's the first piece of luck we've had today," Solly said. They retrieved the cart and emptied its contents into the bushes, carefully concealing them so they could come back later and retrieve them. They'd brought some medical supplies, and Solly left a roll of bandages, some alcohol, water and some packets of dried food in the bottom, then helped the boys lift Landon inside. He looked ridiculous, lying on his back with his legs in the air, but it meant they could move faster, and it slowed the bleeding.

  They heard the river before they saw it. Mill Road ran along the bank and, before long, they were passing the blue painted wood and brick mill-house beside a weir. Conococheague Creek was about fifty yards wide here and, despite the failing light, it was easy to stay on track by keeping the river to their left as it meandered through the flat landscape.

  As they went, the road became narrower and the potholes more frequent. Landon had fallen asleep, despite their attempts to keep him awake, and Solly was beginning to wonder if they'd missed the farmhouse when he saw a small lane to his right. He left the cart there and walked a little way until he reached a gate. Almost perfectly hidden behind the bare trees and bushes in the half-light, Solly could glimpse a low white building. "This must be it," he called to the others. "And, if it isn't, it'll have to do for tonight. Come on!"

  They wheeled the cart up to the front door. "You wait here," Solly said as he took the flashlight from Ross. The door was locked, so Solly found a stone from the driveway and used it to smash the glass alongside it and slide his hand in to turn the latch. He drew the air of the house in through his nose. It smelled musty, but there was no trace of decay.

  "Come on, there's no one home," he said, and they manhandled Landon in through the door and onto the couch of the dim front room.

  Solly took his hunting knife and ripped the bottom part of Landon's pants off to expose the wound. It looked pretty ugly, but once cleaned up with some water, it turned out to be a flesh-wound. A small chunk of Landon's right calf had been blown away and would be scarred for life, but Solly reckoned he'd live. Landon cried out when he washed the wound with alcohol and it took both Ross and Jaxon to hold him down while Solly made sure nothing was left inside before wrapping it up in a clean bandage.

  They left Landon there and Solly quickly explored the house, just to be certain that it was unoccupied. Satisfied, he suggested that Jaxon and Landon camp in the fr
ont living room, while Solly and Ross made themselves comfortable in the dining room at the back. It was impossible to get a true picture of a place by torchlight, but it seemed to him that it was a classic, slightly careworn, farmhouse. Big, solid and roomy.

  Once they'd rolled out their sleeping bags, he and Ross sat by the camping stove as he boiled another kettle of water—the first having been used to make hot chocolate for Jaxon and Landon.

  "D'you think this place will do? To settle down in?" Ross said.

  Solly thought he detected a hint of fear in the boy's voice. "It looks good so far, but we'll need to check it out in the morning, make sure it's properly hidden. It looks as though it's big enough, and I'd bet good money there's a generator in the basement; this place is barely on the grid at all."

  "So, what happens next?"

  "Assuming it all checks out, we'll bring the kids here. We'll have to think about how we do that now we know there are bad guys around. If it comes down to it, we'll have to walk them across country a few at a time." Solly sighed, not relishing the logistics of getting dozens of children of all ages from the mobile home park to here safely and without attracting attention. And there was Arnold in his wheelchair to think about.

  "And then what?"

  Solly looked across at Ross. The boy was gazing into the blue flame of the little stove. "What are you really asking?"

  Ross paused for a moment as if coming to a point of decision. "When you go, are you gonna take me with you?"