Prepper's Betrayal: post-apocalyptic survival action and adventure thriller

by AJ Newman

  Kate shook her head. “I’d call this book ‘A Tale of Two Sams.’”

  Tom said, “She’s a tough one to figure out. We can’t tell if she works for Mendoza or is fighting against him.”

  Paul spoke. “She is definitely fighting against him. Her group blew up his limousine the day before we escaped. Mendoza had started to get in the limo when he suddenly walked back to his operations manager, and the car blew up. The blast knocked Mendoza into a wall and broke his arm.”

  Tom and Kate stared at each other. Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Well, that’s certainly good news but doesn’t explain her behavior around our group.”

  Tom was still confused, but something in the back of his mind nagged him. He went to the kitchen table with a notepad and made a list of what he knew about Mendoza and the gang. Then Tom made a list of everything he knew about Samantha, and then he made one for Lucy. He smiled, and then a thought caused the smile to go away, and wrinkles formed on his face. He opened his mouth. “Crap!” was all that escaped his lips.

  ***

  Tom explained to Kate and Granny B what he hoped to accomplish during his meeting with Lucy. Granny B listened, and when Tom was done, she said, “Tom, this isn’t a ding-a-ling kid. I don’t think you can trick her into revealing anything about Samantha.”

  Tom nodded and then wiped his hand across his chin. “I agree. That’s why I want you two to concentrate on reading her facial expressions to see how she reacts. Everyone has a tell when they lie or are surprised. You two just have to watch for the signs.”

  Tom made Lucy and the others wait for thirty minutes before entering. Lucy grew anxious and began asking questions. Kate and Granny B both answered they didn’t know what Tom wanted and then ignored the girl. Lucy began to fidget and squirm in her seat.

  Tom walked into the room and said, “I hope you’re doing okay. I’ve been busy and haven’t spent much time with you.”

  Lucy looked at Kate and Granny B but didn’t make eye contact with Tom. “I’m okay. I miss my mom.”

  Tom scowled and shook his head for what seemed to be a long time. “If you and your mom are so close, why did she abandon you to go join Mendoza?”

  Lucy’s face began to glow, and a red tint washed over her. “She didn’t join Mendoza. She went to join the vigilantes.”

  Tom asked, “And how do you know that?”

  Lucy cocked her head, paused, and looked at Granny B before answering. “Because she told me she was.”

  Tom sneered at the girl. “Why did she leave you here with us? Is your assignment to watch our group?”

  Lucy gave a nervous laugh and saw Granny B gazing at her. “I’m a kid. Kids don’t get spy assignments.”

  Tom replied, “That new boy Paul knows Samantha. He spent many hours alone with her while they were hiding from Mendoza’s men. Sam and he talked for hours about their families and life in general. Paul thinks Sam is hot and has a crush on her. The funny thing is that Sam never mentioned she had a daughter or a woman named Lucy.”

  Lucy looked at Granny B. “Please stop staring at me.”

  Granny B hadn’t blinked once while Lucy was looking at her. It was obviously unnerving the girl. Lucy’s face was now flushed, and her breathing was heavy. Her nostrils flared, she sat forward in her chair, and her fists were clenched. Lucy waited a few minutes during the silence and then said. “Mom was trying to protect me. She didn’t want to let people know she had a daughter, so they wouldn’t try to hurt me.”

  Tom said, “Daughter or partner. Lucy, I don’t know who or what you are, but you’re not thirteen or fourteen years old. Granny B thinks you’re twenty-five, and I think you’re maybe twenty-two. I have a feeling that I can get Paul to open up and tell us everything he knows about Sam.”

  Lucy just sat there fuming with tight lips and didn’t say anything. Tom sent her back to her room and met with Kate and Granny B to find out what they thought about the conversation.

  Granny B said, “She looked at me every time she told a whopper. She ain’t Sam’s daughter and might be her partner. Partner in what is the question. Both started out being girly-girl high-maintenance women. Sam turned into GI Jane, and Lucy has more grit than a Gulf Shores beach. I can’t tell if they think they’re helping us or spying on us for someone else.”

  Kate said, “The girl turns her head to her right every time she lies. She was ready to fight all of us if she was triggered. I personally think she’s a trained professional who was chosen for this assignment because she was young looking and could pass for thirteen.”

  Tom gulped. “I don’t have a clue what’s going on, but I think we can get her to talk to Paul. I’m going to enlist him into our little band of spy hunters.”

  *

  Chapter 15

  The Cave

  The weather finally changed. There wasn’t any snow, but the temperature was down in the twenties during the day and mid-teens at night. Tom still didn’t want anyone venturing out on the pristine snow, so they had to be content with staying in the cave or cabin. Tom knew he had to keep them busy, or they’d go stir crazy. He gave Jerry and Alan the assignment to construct a brick and stone wall inside the cave's entrance and another between their living space and the rest of the cave. There were enough bricks and mortar left over if they used stone from the cave as much as possible.

  Tom gave Paul and Lucy an assignment to take care of the rabbit and goats. He had to beg Greta to not join them so Paul could be alone with Lucy as much as possible. Paul figured out what his mission was but relished the job after seeing Lucy the first time.

  Paul stared at Lucy and smiled. Lucy went on to the dining area but looked back at Paul and smiled. Paul said, “Didn’t you tell me she was fourteen?”

  Tom grinned. “That’s what Sam says.”

  “Thank God I’m only seventeen and can’t be arrested for …”

  Tom said, “If she’s actually fourteen and you’re seventeen, then all is okay. If she’s twenty-five and you’re seventeen, then not my job to pass judgment.”

  Paul asked, “What do you want me to find out from her?”

  Tom had prepared for that question. “The girl needs a friend. The only friend she had is Greta, and Greta is pissed at her for helping Sam escape. I don’t want to know anything unless she or Sam is a danger to our group.”

  Paul said, “She’s as beautiful as Sam is, but they really don’t look much alike if you take away the red hair and fake eyelashes.”

  ***

  “Rick, why don’t you and Bill form teams to explore and map out the cave system we’re calling home now. Use a couple of the ATVs or golf carts to haul gear and find out how far the tunnels go in every direction.”

  Rick replied, “That would be a great job to keep us busy for a while until we can go outside again.”

  Tom said, “Make sure everyone is armed.”

  Rick chuckled. “That’s a standing order, boss. I wear my pistol in bed.”

  “I’ll bet you do!” Tom laughed.

  ***

  The small drone flew through the narrow tunnel with the camera tilting in all directions. It quickly came to a dead-end that tapered down to a hole about a foot in diameter. Jackie spun the drone around slowly and didn’t see anything noteworthy.

  She brought the drone back to the entrance and said, “Rick, a man could crawl into that tunnel and stand up, but it ends at about twenty feet. It’s dry and might make a good storage room.”

  Rick scribbled on his map. “I added it to the map. Let’s roll.”

  They’d started their mission just outside the living area and searched every nook and cranny the cave had to offer. The floor sloped downhill toward the cabin, and then the slope downward increased. Jackie sent the small drone into the small tunnels and tight places to keep everyone safe. Bill led the group exploring the larger tunnels off the main tunnel. There weren’t many, but they tended to run a long way before bottle necking or ending at a rock face.

  Bill and Lou walked
into one tunnel about two hundred yards past the cabin and found that it exploded into a massive cavern with a light shining through the roof. The floor was strewn with rocks and even a few large slabs from a cave in a long time ago.

  Bill said, “That’s sunlight. We’ve found another entrance into our cave. He shined his flashlight up at the ceiling, and the chamber exploded in noise, and both were struck by small objects.

  Bill yelled, “Bats! Get out of here!”

  They ran back into the main tunnel, and Bill started laughing. “I don’t like bats, but they’re pretty harmless.”

  Lou was breathing hard. “They could have had rabies or been vampire bats.”

  The day went on, and Rick said, “We’ve mapped over thirty tunnels of all sizes, and I could drive a car down the main tunnel. Let’s stop mapping here and drive as far as we can take the carts, and then stop for the day. Jackie, keep your drone out ahead of us. I want to see the end of the tunnel, not the bottom of a big hole in the floor.”

  Bill said, “I’ll follow you and pay out my two-hundred-fifty-foot tape measure, so we know how far we’ve gone.”

  Bill tied the end to a rock and had Lou drive away. When they reached the end, he reeled the stone in and started over again. He’d reeled the rock in nine times when Rick’s golf cart stopped.

  Rick stood up and motioned for Bill and his team to join him. Rick said, “Turn your lights off.”

  Lou turned the cart’s light off and was shocked to see a glow up ahead of Rick’s cart. Rick said, “It looks like a large opening. Have your guns ready. Be prepared for people or a pissed-off bear.”

  Jackie turned to Bill. “Hey, how far have we gone past the cabin?”

  Bill looked at his notes. “Maybe a mile and a half.”

  Rick said, “Darn, we should be past the quarry and not far from Dead Indian Road. Let’s be careful. I don’t want to pop out in front of the gang or any other asshats.”

  They walked toward the light and found a tangled mess of vines and bushes blocking the entrance. Rick carefully moved through the growth and pushed the last bunch of brush out of the way. Sunshine made him blink, and he had bright spots when he closed his eyes. Rick squinted and peered at the world on the outside of the cave.

  Rick heard a chorus of questions. “What do you see?”

  Then he heard, “Where are we?”

  Rick answered, “I see a snow covered hillside across a narrow canyon. We appear to be at the bottom of a steep hillside, and I believe this hole isn’t known by any modern people. I see writing on the cave wall just barely inside the opening. It says, “I hid here from injuns in March 1848. Sirus McCall.”

  Jackie looked around the floor and found two arrowheads, an old cook pot, and some lead balls. “I think the man pulled these arrow heads out of his body and recovered or died here.”

  Colt asked, “Where’s his skeleton?”

  Jackie said, “Back in one of those side tunnels. I thought they might have been man-made. I’ll bet the man was a miner.”

  Rick said, “We’ll worry about the miner later. We’re at the bottom of the canyon wall and can walk down the side to a small stream. A four-by-four could drive in and out of here. Colt, come with me. I’m going to go up the next hill and try to see where we are. The rest of you stay here.”

  Rick looked both ways up and down the canyon and then stepped out of the bushes. A small shelf was in front of the opening. He guessed the shelf had been formed by the miner emptying rock and dirt from his digs. Rick changed his mind when he saw the snow was at least six inches deep on the slope down the hillside.

  “Sorry, I almost made a fatal mistake. Even though the next hill is bare thanks to the strong winds, the snow down toward the bottom would show our tracks. Jackie, let’s send your drone over the hill to see what’s there.”

  Jackie’s head shook. “Sorry, the battery is just about dead.”

  “We’ll have to wait until the snow melts to explore the area. Jackie, let’s come back tomorrow and bring a larger drone. We can see what’s around us and get a GPS fix on the entrance,” Rick said.

  Jackie said, “Let’s explore the closest side tunnels on the way back.”

  Rick nodded. “Sounds like a plan, but let’s head back home in three hours. I don’t want to miss supper. Tom’s grilling steak.”

  The first tunnel was only forty feet long and barely large enough for a man to stand. The first part appeared to be made by nature, but the back part had apparent signs of digging. There were pick marks on the walls and ceiling, but then they found where the cave floor had been dug down to the rock.

  Bill examined the dig. “The miner was looking for gold in the dirt and gravel that makes up the floor of the cave. Remember Tom’s theory about the tunnel being a conduit for runoff from the mountains.”

  Jackie replied, “I remember that. I don’t want to be in the cave if we ever get that much rain. Maybe we need to search higher in the mountain to see why the cave is flooded from time to time.”

  Rick said, “I just made a mental note about doing that. The cave has been relatively dry except for the small stream that flows through it. There must be a lake above the cave that occasionally drains into an opening.”

  They moved to the next tunnel and found the miner. The tunnel’s roof had caved in long ago and yielded a floor strewn with large rocks and several huge boulders. The entrance was narrow thanks to a slab of ceiling rock that fell and stood on end sideways. This left an opening just wide enough for Rick to squeeze through. He cleared the choke point and saw the skeleton piled against the wall. Well, most of it was there. Several bones had been chewed on by an unknown animal.

  The man had a note written on deerskin pinned to his chest. It read, “Those damned injuns kilt me. It took a week, but the infection is making me addle brained Anyone finding me kin hav me Hawkin rifel an me gold mine Watch fer injuns –.– Sirus McCall – – 1848.

  Rick and the others searched the room and found numerous artifacts from the miner’s possessions to crude mining equipment. Colt saw a flat rock that looked out of place and moved to reveal six bags full of gold nuggets and gold dust.

  Colt yelled, “We’re rich! Gold was at four thousand dollars an ounce when the crap hit the fan!”

  The others stared at him. Greta said, “And where will you spend it?”

  Colt thought for a minute and then said, “Tom said that Paul told him Mendoza took gold and other precious metal in trade. Others might also trade for it.”

  Rick hefted one of the bags. “This bag is worth over six hundred thousand dollars at four thousand dollars per ounce. I think we’ll load this up on the carts and figure out what to do with it later.”

  *

  Chapter 16

  The Cave

  Alan’s crew quickly finished the front entrance wall. The tunnel was much smaller, and they had to leave a large doorway to allow horses and ATVs to enter. They made the door out of six-by-six posts and installed a wheel to support the end to keep the door from sagging. The door was locked shut by cross ties and wedged in place with six-foot-long posts with the ends stuck in holes in the floor and propped under the middle cross tie. It took almost as long to hammer and chisel the holes in the floor as it did to build the wall.

  They soon found they didn’t have enough mortar to make a floor-to-ceiling brick and rock wall between their living area and the rest of the cave. Alan caught Tom and explained the situation. Tom looked at the work so far and saw the wall was eight feet tall and a foot thick.

  Tom asked, “Do we have enough lumber to build the rest of the wall out of two by fours and plywood?”

  After a quick review of his construction material, Alan replied, “Yes, and we can finish it in one or two days.”

  Tom smiled at Alan, “Go for it. The wall was only meant to keep wild animals out.”

  Alan said, “You know we could bring more material up after the snow is gone and add another wall. Then divide the chamber into more storage or liv
ing space. Our only issue with the long-term expansion is the creek starts flowing just about eighty feet past this wall.”

  Tom asked, “Where does the creek end?”

  Alan said, “You’d have to ask Rick. I’ve been a half-mile down the tunnel, and the creek went past where I stopped. Rick will be back sometime today and knowing him, before supper.”

  Tom laughed and headed to the kitchen to start the grill.

  ***

  Tom called his closest team members together. Rick leaned back and patted his stomach. “That was the best steak I’ve had in months.”

  Tom replied, “Thanks. Bill found several bags of mesquite and hickory chips during his last scavenging trip. The mesquite makes a big difference. Rick, did you find where the creek ends in the cave?”

  Rick rubbed his jaw. “Do what? You bounced from grilling to the creek. You know I didn’t notice, but it ended way before we found the other entrance.”

  Jackie said, “At least Bill and I were paying attention. The creek veered off the main tunnel about a quarter-mile from the end. Why is that important?”

  Tom said, “The gold appears to be in the dirt and gravel at the bottom of the cave. I think that means there will be gold in every low spot on the floor and maybe down the hillside at the mouth of the cave. Also, it means there was much more water flowing through the cave sometime back. I need to know if we’ll be washed out of here if there is a heavy rain.”

  Rick replied, “No, we won’t. There aren’t any signs of flooding, at least back to the 1840s. The miner’s bones and many of his possessions would have been scattered or washed away. It must have been some cataclysmic event that caused the massive amount of water to flow through the cave. Even then, the water didn’t flow through for a long time.”