Duck for Cover (Nuclear Survival: Northern Exposure Book 2)

by Harley Tate

  “We can survive two days without eating.”

  “What about drinking, though? I remember the vet telling me cats could go a few days without food, but without water they would die. It might be the same for horses.”

  “The water might turn on in the bathroom,” Danny offered, although he knew it probably wasn’t true based on the state of the toilet.

  After a moment, Midge groaned in frustration. “They’re locked. I’d need a crowbar or a rod to pry them open.”

  “Then let’s worry about it later and finish checking this place out. I don’t like it down here, but so far it’s secure.” Danny hated to admit it, but they could make the lower level work. “If we finish checking around the walls for gaps or air flow, then we can go back up and search for a pry bar and a flashlight.”

  Midge agreed and took off again, leading Danny by the hand. The longer they spent down in the depths of the garage, the more his eyes adjusted. He squinted toward the far wall. “Is that a door?”

  “Looks like it. But what could it be for?” Midge hurried toward it with Danny on her heels. “It doesn’t have a handle on this side, only a latch guard plate.”

  Danny edged closer and pressed his ear to the door. Muffled noises barely penetrated the metal. Was it the wind? “I think it might go to the outside.”

  He listened harder, shoving his finger in his exposed ear. The unmistakable sound of footfalls and a man’s voice made him jump. “Someone’s coming!” He tugged Midge back.

  “Someone’s in there? How?” She hissed the questions, eyes wide as her head swiveled back and forth.

  Danny swallowed, memories of the old man with the shotgun fresh in his mind. “We have to get out of here.”

  The door jiggled.

  “No time.” Midge spun around, pointing at a hulking shape a few feet away. “Over here.”

  Danny hurried to keep up, ducking behind what appeared to be an old HVAC unit as the metal door swung open. It was a tight squeeze, but he crammed his lanky frame down into an awkward ball as footsteps sounded on the concrete. A single sweep of a flashlight beam and they would be exposed.

  “Man, I don’t see why we have to meet down here. It’s a dump.”

  “The rules are the rules.”

  A foot kicked at something and a rusted soda can rolled in front of Danny’s right foot. He squeezed tighter against the machine as the heavy footfalls came closer. So far, he identified two male voices, both about Danny’s age from what he could tell.

  The first one complained again. “I still think it’s dumb. Who picked it anyway?”

  “Who do you think? Don’t be such an idiot, Jimmie. It ain’t a good look on you.”

  “I ain’t no idiot,” Jimmie shot back, his voice rising on the last word. “I wouldna made it as a Fresh Boy if I was.”

  “Shut up!” a new, much deeper voice barked out from the other side of the door. “Stand watch like you’re supposed to or I’ll demote you both to street patrol. The meeting’s about to start.”

  Danny glanced back at Midge crouching beside him in the dark. Who were the Fresh Boys, and what meeting had they stumbled into?

  Chapter Four

  MIDGE

  Saturday, 5:30 pm CST

  George’s Garage

  Gary, Indiana

  Midge swallowed down a scratchy wad of dust and saliva. Crouching behind a furnace wasn’t how she’d planned to spend the next two days. Even if they escaped the notice of the two morons standing guard, how would they manage to keep the horses undetected?

  Ever since the plane crash-landed, she’d been on a never-ending trip of bad situations and life-or-death decisions. When they left the streets of Chicago behind, she’d naively hoped that was the end of the worst of humanity for a while. Too bad she was wrong.

  “Aight, Aight, the meetin’ of the Fresh Boys is called to order.”

  Midge shrunk back tighter behind the furnace and listened. From what she could tell, a group of men occupied a room on the other side of the door, separated from the storage space. Jimmie and another man stood guard in the storage area, door propped open so they could hear.

  Conversations died down in the other room and Jimmie piped up. “Yo, how long I gotta stay out here, man? Ain’t nothin’ but some rusted metal.”

  Midge almost snorted. If she were the leader of this supposed gang, Jimmie would be long gone.

  Another gang member spoke up. “What, you scared some rat’s gonna run up your leg?”

  “Ain’t no rat that’d touch Jimmie.” The other man standing guard laughed out loud and the rest of the Fresh Boys joined in.

  “Hey, watch it!”

  Three clangs of metal-on-metal echoed throughout the building and Midge clenched her teeth. She hoped the noise didn’t scare the horses. If they whinnied or tried to bolt and dragged the carriage through the warehouse, Jimmie or another Fresh Boy would surely hear.

  “You’ll stay out there until I say you don’t.” The same commanding voice from before silenced the remaining conversations. “We can’t be too careful with Affiliated guys runnin’ up and down Central. They gunned down Rocky last night.”

  Jimmie cursed and kicked at something hollow. “He owed me fifty bucks.”

  “How’d it happen?” called out a voice from the other room.

  “I heard someone caught him in flagrante with his baby mama if you know what I mean. Pretty hard to fight back when you’re like this—”

  Hisses and catcalls sounded from beyond the door and Midge imagined the moves being pantomimed for everyone to see. She shuddered. If these guys could make fun of one of their own a day after he was shot dead, what would they do to a pair of outsiders caught listening to their meeting?

  Nothing good.

  She eased forward and leaned as close to Danny as she could manage. “We’ve got to go.”

  Danny turned and pressed his lips against her ear. “They’ll spot us. We have to wait it out.”

  Feet shuffled a few feet away and Midge froze. Metal scraped against the floor and something creaked. Jimmie’s voice called out, louder and lower than before. “So what’s the plan?”

  He must have found a place to sit on the furnace components. Midge retreated into the shadows. Danny was right. They couldn’t move now.

  Jimmie kept talking. “We gotta avenge Rocky, man. Affiliated can’t get away with it.”

  “Taking them out won’t be easy,” the deep voice said. “But this is our world now. The cops won’t stop us. The neighborhood won’t stop us. If we play it right, this whole part of town can be ours.”

  A chorus of agreement rose up from the other room and Midge stilled. She and Danny hadn’t just stumbled upon a gang meeting; they’d inadvertently walked into the beginnings of a turf war. Great. Just great.

  Could they even make it out of this part of town and find shelter before the fallout? Not if they had to stay crouched behind the furnace for the next few hours while the Fresh Boys hashed out a plan. She tugged on Danny’s shirt and pointed toward the stairs.

  He nodded. Apparently the mention of a gang war changed his mind, too. She eased forward, but Danny grabbed her hand. “Together,” he mouthed and she exhaled, relieved once again to not be alone. One foot at a time, they crept from behind the furnace, slinking away from the open door and toward the stairs.

  Midge ducked to avoid the arm of an old jack propped against the wall. Danny missed slamming his head into a water pipe running the length of the room. The voices of the Fresh Boys receded as they moved farther away and Midge risked a deep breath.

  If they could reach the stairs— Her thought cut off as a clang sounded throughout the space. Danny reeled back, stumbling, as a rusted can of oil rolled in front of Midge. Oh, no.

  “What the—”

  “Check it out!”

  Footsteps sounded behind them and Midge tightened her grip on Danny’s hand as she dragged him toward the stairs. She could still see better than he could and as the light from the back
room grew faint, Danny stumbled even more. “Don’t stop! Just follow me!” She let go of his hand to reach for the stairs when a gunshot rang out. A bullet ricocheted somewhere above her head and Midge ducked on instinct.

  “Keep going! Get to the horses!” Danny spun around, DuBois’s gun in his hands. He fired into the dark.

  Midge leapt for the stairs. Her boots thundered on the metal, one step after another, up and up and up. As she reached the first floor, her heart kept up the relentless rhythm of her boots, slamming into her chest and pumping blood through her ears. She tore through the shop, darting around work benches and lifts and old, forgotten stacks of boxes.

  Another round of gunshots echoed through the basement and up the stairs and Midge hoped Danny was the shooter. She didn’t know what she’d do if he didn’t make it out of there alive. As the horses came into view, Midge could sense their panic.

  The metal attachments on the carriage jangled. Beatrice and Bethel tossed their heads and neighed. The carriage shook with their nerves, wood creaking as the horses pranced forward and back in nervous agitation.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here.” Midge didn’t stop to pet them. She hurried around a near-frantic Beatrice and yanked on the handle for the garage door. The gears stuck and she cried out in frustration. She didn’t have time for this. Danny needed her help and the horses needed safety and she had to make it out of there alive. They weren’t going to die by the hands of a gang after coming this far. No way.

  Panic and determination sent a burst of adrenaline through her muscles and Midge shoved her gun inside her waistband before reaching for the handle again. Tugging with all her might, she managed to pull the garage door up partway. She pulled again and it rolled up, crashing into the backstop and shaking the entire front of the shop.

  The second the sky came into view, Beatrice lunged for the open air. Midge scrambled toward her and dove for the loose rein, grabbing it just as the horses turned toward the light. She vaulted into the carriage and plucked the other rein from the floor as Danny burst out of the darkness.

  He waved his hands and shouted, “Go! They’re right behind me!”

  What? And leave him behind? “No!” Midge gripped the reins tight in her left hand, ignoring the pain of her cut and fished Max’s revolver free. She pointed it in the direction Danny had come. “I’m waiting for you!”

  As Danny angled toward the right, the hulking shape of first one Fresh Boy and then another materialized out of the darkness. Midge didn’t hesitate. She aimed at the closest man and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked so hard she almost lost her balance. The Fresh Boys slowed but didn’t stop. She’d missed.

  “Leave me!” Danny shouted as he turned around, firing again toward the men hot on his trail.

  Midge refused, opting instead to fire another round. She fell back against the front of the carriage as the gun discharged, but managed to keep ahold of the reins.

  Danny reached her at last, grabbing onto the carriage door as Midge cracked the reins. “Go! Bethel! Go Beatrice! Run!”

  The horses needed no encouragement and they took off, racing out of the warehouse and onto the broken concrete as Danny fell into the back seat.

  Chapter Five

  DANNY

  Saturday, 6:00 pm CST

  George’s Garage

  Gary, Indiana

  The carriage banged into ruts and holes and rattled over the curb before Danny managed to climb into the driver’s seat. Midge squeezed the reins tight in her right hand but the fear and adrenaline of the horses bounced her out of the seat and into the side of the carriage.

  Beatrice’s eyes opened so wide, all Danny could see from his angle was white. The horses were terrified and rightly so. Danny stretched for the reins and Midge handed them over with relief. He risked a glance behind him. “Can you watch our back?”

  She nodded, reaching for Max’s gun as the carriage hit a pothole. Midge fell against the side and the wood of the carriage cracked.

  “Are you okay?”

  She mumbled something about a bruise and clambered over the seat back and into the passenger area.

  Danny didn’t dare take another look. “Are they following us?”

  “No. Three of them are standing in the road, shouting and waving their guns, but they aren’t coming. The horses are too fast.”

  He slumped in relief. For the first time, he was thankful most cars died in the EMP. A pair of older horses would be no match for the worst clunker on the block, even if they were racing like the carriage was on fire.

  Bethel and Beatrice kept pushing, sweat working up into a lather on their backs. They couldn’t keep this pace for long, but escaping the Fresh Boys and finding somewhere far enough away to hide came with a price. Warehouses and garages and boarded-up buildings passed in a blur. The occasional pedestrian was nothing more than a stick figure with a slack jaw and shocked expression.

  After a few minutes, Midge climbed back to sit beside him. “We’re clear.”

  Danny pulled up on the reins. Beatrice reared up, almost rampant, as she whinnied. “They’re as scared as we are.”

  “More.” Midge gripped the edge of the seat, bracing herself against the side of the carriage as Danny tugged on the reins and begged the horses to slow down.

  At last, Bethel eased back and Beatrice followed. The gallop turned into a trot and finally a walk. Their chests heaved, their nostrils flared and Danny knew both horses were on the verge of collapse. A pang of guilt mingled with the fear inside his chest and Danny sent up a silent prayer for Max’s forgiveness.

  “I thought you were shot back there.”

  Midge’s words shocked Danny out of his thoughts. After a moment, he turned to give her a rueful smile. “I almost was.” He lifted up his arm to show off a bullet hole in his shirt. “Missed my ribs by an inch.” He left out the part where he tripped over a box of air filters and almost cracked his head on the stairs. “How far is it to Suttons Bay?”

  She thought it over. “Four or five hours by car. I’m guessing at least three hundred miles.”

  Danny let out a low whistle. “Walking, that would take us, what, two weeks?”

  “That’s if we had plenty of food and water and were able to sleep at night.” Midge shifted on the seat. “We have to find a way to keep Bethel and Beatrice safe from the fallout. They can cover more ground than we can and we can rest while they do it.”

  Midge was right, but the chances of finding a place to house the horses was slim to none. He checked his watch. Over an hour past the blast already. Fallout must be blanketing downtown Chicago. They didn’t have much time. He swallowed and glanced at the buildings on either side. The industrial warehouses had given way to the beginnings of a commercial district with a closed-up deli and a hairdresser on the corner.

  None of them would house a pair of horses or a carriage. As he focused on the road ahead, a man and woman rounded the nearest corner. The woman’s blonde hair was tangled and ratted and her ballet flats weren’t made for long-distance walking, but it wasn’t her bedraggled appearance that stalled Danny’s breath. It was the huge, pregnant belly and the woman’s hand resting underneath it that caused him to almost choke.

  What were they doing out on the street? The man Danny presumed to be the woman’s husband sported a swollen eye already tinged with bruising and his expensive Burberry sweater with the familiar plaid was torn and hanging off his shoulder. Danny swallowed. Had they been carjacked? Robbed? They stuck out like sore thumbs in a neighborhood where wealth didn’t visit.

  They couldn’t leave them on the side of the road. He leaned closer to Midge. “We should offer them a ride.”

  Midge almost jumped. “What? No! All that extra weight will only slow us down.”

  “Look at her. She could have that baby any day.”

  “Then they should be back home, not wandering the streets.”

  “I don’t think it’s by choice. He’s got a nasty black eye.”

  Midge cro
ssed her arms. “We’re supposed to be looking for shelter, not picking up strangers.”

  As they neared, the couple kept their heads down and eyes focused on the sidewalk. Up close, he could see the scuffs on the woman’s shoes and a bruise covering the top of her foot. She could be hurt. Her baby could need medical attention. She ran her hand over her belly and the simple gold band on her ring finger reminded him of his mother’s wedding ring.

  His father had bought her some outrageous diamond bigger than her knuckle, but Danny’s mom never wore it. She said it got caught on the laundry and she didn’t want to lose it. He couldn’t leave the couple to suffer out there on the street. He couldn’t be callous and heartless like his father.

  If a dollar could be made, his father would make it, no matter the cost. Danny vowed to never be like that. Just because the worst happened didn’t mean he would go back on that promise now. He slowed the carriage.

  Midge sat up in alarm. “What are you doing?”

  “We have to help them.”

  The couple kept walking, ignoring the hushed argument in the carriage. They passed by without a single glance in Danny’s direction. He turned to Midge. “What if she goes into labor? What if they can’t find a place to shelter and she has that baby outside? Do you want to be responsible for a child’s death?”

  Midge paled, the remains of the black eyeliner around her eyes standing out in harsh relief. Her eyes flicked to the couple and then back to Danny. “What if we can’t find anywhere to hide?”

  “Then we’ll do the best we can with what we have. Besides, they might know of a place nearby.” Danny knew the latter probably wasn’t true, but it was worth a shot.

  Midge plucked at her sleeve. “It’s a huge risk.”

  “Is it one you’re willing to take?” Danny pleaded with his eyes, hoping she would understand. He knew Midge desperately wanted to find her mother and make sure her family was safe, but Danny couldn’t turn his back on someone obviously in trouble. “We’ll get to Suttons Bay, but we have to find shelter now. There’s no reason we can’t bring them along while we do. After that, we’ll go our separate ways.”