Ennis moved into what would have been the main area of the shop. There were a couple of plain metal chairs pushed against the wall alongside what appeared to be a mostly empty vending machine.
“Food!” Wendell exclaimed, heading for the machine immediately.
Before anyone could say anything, Wendell had picked up one of the chairs and started attacking the front of the machine. Austin observed, shocked at the man’s sudden burst of energy. Meanwhile, Sarah disappeared through a small door that Austin assumed led to the garage.
“Here!” Sarah shouted at the same time Wendell shouted his victory at smashing the front of the vending machine.
Austin headed through the door with only the slightest hesitation, hoping Ennis would save some of whatever was left in the machine as he rushed into the garage. Sarah was working at a round, steel door in the floor. It looked like a sewer drain, but she seemed to know it for something else.
“Let me,” Austin said, using his strength to turn the door on her behalf, unlocking it and lifting it away.
“That’s it!” she exclaimed.
Seeing the clear opening, Austin suddenly realized their mistake and prayed it wasn’t too late for them to make up for it. If NWO soldiers were down there, the ruckus they had made coming in would have revealed their presence now that this door was open, if not before. He should have kept Wendell from making all that noise when he’d had the chance.
“I’ll go down first,” Sarah said before he could voice his worry, turning and dropping to the ground to put her feet on the ladder.
“Sarah, wait! You don’t know what’s down there!”
She only looked back at him, shrugged a shoulder, and headed down the ladder. “I hope you’ll save me, or if not, kill them all and complete the mission.”
He stared after her, shaking his head at her carelessness. “Idiot,” he grumbled, knowing there was no way he could hold his gun with any chance of defending her while climbing down the ladder.
So, instead of following her down, he chose to wait, listening for sounds of trouble. Ennis came in and stood beside him, looking into the hole. Sarah had disappeared into the darkness.
“It’s clear!” she shouted.
Austin was the first to grab hold of the ladder, quickly climbing down and jumping into the underground bunker lit by soft green lights that had to be battery-powered. The room was empty, though, showing nothing but cords and a couple scattered keyboards.
Ennis was beside him again a minute later. “I take it this isn’t it,” he said dryly.
Sarah picked up a flat piece of metal. “It was. They’ve cleared it out. They took everything,” she muttered, kicking one of the rolling chairs left behind.
Austin scanned the area that had been a hub for the terrorists now controlling the world. It was a small bunker with tables set up around the room that had once held computer equipment. They were too late.
“Was this recent?” he asked.
“What?” Ennis asked.
“Did they recently clear out or was this abandoned a while ago?” he asked, his stomach sick over the idea that the next two computer centers would be the same.
Sarah ran her finger over one of the smooth metal surfaces. “This happened some time ago. It wasn’t recent.”
Austin breathed a sigh of relief. “Then they don’t know we’re coming.”
“Maybe. They could have decided to move everything as soon as they figured out Callum knew these locations,” she replied.
“Gee, so positive,” Ennis said sarcastically.
Austin scanned the room and spotted a large metal cupboard pushed up against a wall. He moved to it, tried to open it, and discovered it was locked. He jerked at the handle hard, but with no luck.
“Come on,” he muttered, feeling defeated and needing a win, no matter how small it was.
“Maybe we should try Wendell’s trick,” Ennis said with a small laugh. “We’ll attack it with a chair.”
Austin tugged on the handle again. All the frustration he’d been feeling over the last week came to a head, his regret over his decision not to go after Savannah himself suddenly boiling over. He’d been telling himself it was for the greater good. He’d get to the computer center and save the world. Suddenly, that reasoning felt empty, even foolish. He kicked at the door before pounding on it with his fists and then his open hands. He shouted, kicking and yelling obscenities as he released everything from his system, erupting emotion, the metal cupboard before him acting as the punching bag he desperately needed.
No one tried to stop him as he released his unholy rage. Suddenly, though, the door he’d been yanking on and hitting tilted to the side, finally giving in to his assault. Austin stopped kicking and shouting, and jarred the door open.
And while he couldn’t make out the words, the plain black lettering on brown packages told him they’d just unearthed military rations. He stared at the shelves that had been stockpiled with food and supplies.
Ennis put a hand on his shoulder. “Good job.”
Austin turned to face him. “Thanks.”
“We’re not giving up. We knew there was a chance this could happen. We stock up on supplies and we move on,” Ennis said, his voice calm and reassuring.
Austin nodded, turning to find Sarah standing against the wall and staring at him like he had two heads. “Sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s fine. I hope you feel better now,” she replied, not moving away from the wall.
He took a deep breath. “I do. This cupboard is loaded. We need to take as much as we can carry.” He reached for a box of bullets and smiled. “Nine millimeter,” he said, using his fingers to nose out a bullet.
“Thank God. We needed ammo,” Ennis said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Sarah, look around and see if there’s a weapons cache,” Austin ordered, gesturing around to the abandoned crates littering the room. Most looked like they only held junk, but it was worth checking.
Ennis dropped to his knees and pulled out a brown camo backpack. “Well, look at this!” he exclaimed with a big smile on his face. “They were nice enough to leave us a packed go-bag.”
“Frame?” Austin asked.
Ennis stood up, holding the bag in one hand and unzipping it with the other. “Yep, internal.”
“Good. Load it. I’ll carry it,” Austin replied.
“What do you mean, frame?” Sarah asked.
“Internal frame backpack. It’ll allow us to carry more without feeling the weight quite as much as if we were using a backpack like the one you’re wearing,” Ennis answered.
“Harlen, can you come down here?” Austin shouted. “Wendell, stay up there and keep watch!”
“Did you find something?” Wendell shouted.
“Yes!” Ennis replied loudly.
Harlen appeared in the bunker a moment later, his face lighting up when he saw the rations that included a couple cases of canned water. He reached for one of the cans, popped the top, and guzzled down the liquid. “That was so good,” he said with a long sigh.
Austin smiled. “We’ll form an assembly line to get this stuff upstairs.”
Ennis climbed up the ladder, waiting near the top while Harlen took the middle spot. Austin stood on the ground while Sarah brought him one case of water at a time. After several minutes, they’d depleted the cupboard and were all making their way back up the ladder. Austin wasn’t surprised to see Wendell had made his way through several bags of what had to be stale chips and was now working on a Snickers bar.
He glared at the guy, angry he’d mowed down the food without a worry for the rest of them. Wendell didn’t seem to mind a bit, and happily chewed on the candy bar while the rest of them tore into the MREs. The last half-decent meal they’d had had been two days prior. So, yeah, Austin understood Wendell’s hunger, but they were all starving. Wendell, though, was all about himself and couldn’t care less about the others. Wendell snatched one of the MREs, moving outside to eat it when Austin shot h
im a dirty look.
“How much can we take?” Sarah asked, slurping down a second can of water.
Austin shook his head. “We have the internal frame pack. I can take about forty pounds, which is about one of those cases of water and some of the MREs along with the gear already in the pack.”
“That’s too heavy. You’re going to be hurting after a few hours,” Ennis warned.
“We’ll drink at least half that water the first day. I can do it,” Austin said.
Ennis shook his head. “You need to keep your pack light or you’re going to get tired quicker.”
“Ennis, I’m not leaving any of this behind. If we have food and water, we don’t have to waste time looking for it. This is too important,” he argued.
“Why don’t we each carry a couple cans in our pockets along with whatever else we can shove in?” Harlen asked.
“We will,” Ennis replied. “And put more MREs in the pack itself since they’re lighter. We’ll get it all, but we’ll do it by sharing the load and being smart about it. You don’t have to do all of the heavy-lifting yourself, Austin,” he said to his brother, giving him a half-smile.
“There were some coveralls hanging in that garage,” Harlen said, jumping up from his spot on the floor and heading off through the door.
“I hope he doesn’t think wearing coveralls in the middle of the summer while walking a hundred miles is a good idea,” Ennis muttered.
Harlen came back with two sets of blue coveralls that were remarkably clean for a mechanic’s shop and dropped them on the floor. “Got your knife?” he asked Austin.
Austin nodded and handed it to him. “What’s your plan?”
“I’m going to make some fanny packs,” Harlen said with a grin.
“What?” Ennis asked with confusion.
“I’m going to cut off the legs, tie a knot at one end, stuff them with whatever, and there you go. I tie it around my waist and I’ve got myself a fanny pack,” he said with a grin. “I’m thinking I personally might need to use a strip of fabric to serve as an extension of sorts. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a thirty-two-inch waist,” he said with a laugh.
“Extension?” Ennis asked.
“I’ll cut a strip from the torso and tie it to each end of the pant leg,” he explained.
Austin’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. That’s a really good idea. Make one for Wendell, too. Anyone who’s not carrying a pack should have one.”
Harlen nodded, already cutting off the first leg. When he was finished, he tossed the leg to Austin, who tied it off at one end and began shoving in a few cans of water, some water purification tablets, waterproof matches, and a couple of the MREs. He held it up with both hands, testing the weight, and decided he could slide in one of the light sticks and some of the dense food bars that tasted awful but packed a lot of calories.
They stuffed the next leg with supplies before going after the second pair of coveralls to do the same.
“What about the arms?” Ennis asked.
Austin looked at the arms and smiled. “Pillows—or pillowcases, rather. We stuff them with leaves and other debris to make pillows. It isn’t luxury, but anything is better than resting our faces on the cold, hard ground.”
Harlen nodded. “Good thinking.”
Wendell came back into the office then, wiping his face with the back of his hand as he looked down at the butchered coveralls. “What’s that?”
“Your new fanny pack,” Austin replied.
Wendell wrinkled his nose. “Whatever. Why don’t we stay here tonight? We’re ahead of schedule and a roof over our heads would be nice.”
Austin shook his head. “Too risky.”
“Why is it too risky? We haven’t seen anyone for miles. This place has been abandoned,” he said, practically pouting.
“Who’s to say they won’t come back? Maybe they’re out there right now. We need to get back to the highway. Malachi will be following it to catch up to us,” Austin said.
Wendell rolled his eyes, putting a hand on his hip. “You’d rather sleep on the ground than in here just in case the kid shows up?” he snapped.
Austin jumped to his feet and stalked towards Wendell. “That kid you’re referring to is my daughter, along with the young man who went off to find her. So, yes, I’d rather be out there where they’ll find me. Feel free to stay here by yourself.”
Wendell looked around Austin to where Ennis was sitting on the floor. Austin turned to look and caught Ennis shaking his head. When he looked back at Wendell, the man looked angry, but he would clearly be doing as Ennis said and remaining quiet about it.
“Let’s get our new fashion accessories on and get a move on,” Harlen said, getting to his feet.
Ennis stood up, as well, holding out the fanny pack for Wendell to take. His much smaller frame could probably have done without the extender, but they kept it on anyway. Wendell grumped and complained about how heavy it was, but the others ignored him, putting on their own gear. Austin bounced up and down on his legs, checking the feel of the pack on his back, adjusting the hip belt to tighten it. He didn’t want it rubbing and chafing him. He knew it was a risk to wear the heavy pack so close to his body, which would already be sweating, but he was convinced he could handle it. He’d give his skin time to air out and dry as often as possible to avoid chafing over his back that could lead to an open wound and, ultimately, a life-threatening infection with no antibiotics on hand.
“Everyone ready?” he asked.
With that, they set out, following along the old road that Sarah was convinced would intersect with the highway. There was a cool breeze from the west with the scent of fresh, moist air. Austin closed his eyes for a brief second, savoring the freshness of the breeze blowing across the Snake River.
“We should do—”
“Don’t move!”
Austin spun around to find a group of five men armed with ARs pointed directly at them. He groaned with anger and disgust.
“We’re on our way out of town,” Austin told them.
The man in the front of the group, in his mid-thirties and of average build, shook his head. “Yes, you are on your way out of town, but we’ll be taking that off your back.”
Austin thought about the supplies they had only just managed to get their hands on. It wasn’t right. He was sick of taking one step forward only to take two steps back.
“We need something to survive on,” Ennis begged them.
“You’ll find more. Hand it over.”
Austin’s gun was tucked under his t-shirt. There was no way he’d be able to reach it before one of the rifle shots hit him. Wendell untied his own makeshift pack and dropped it to the ground.
“You, now,” one of the men said, pointing at Ennis.
Ennis grumbled, shaking his head as he took off the pack and dropped it to the ground in front of him. Sarah was standing a few feet from Austin. She looked at him, her eyes wide.
“All I have is a laptop computer,” Sarah said, holding up her hands.
The men holding guns on them laughed. “Why are you carrying around a brick?” one demanded.
She shrugged. “It has sentimental value.”
“Computers don’t work anymore,” the leader spat out.
She nodded. “I know, but I hope one day they will. It has pictures of my children on the hard drive. It’s all I have left of them,” she said, sniffling as she exaggerated emotion.
The men looked at one another. “You can keep your stupid computer, but we’ll be taking everything else. We’re not taking your word for it, though,” he told her, gesturing her to open up the backpack. Once she did so, he stepped forward and looked inside, pawing around the equipment inside. Austin said a silent prayer of thanks when the man stepped back, apparently not having recognized the value of either the messenger apparatus or the solar battery.
Austin undid the front snap of his own pack before sliding it off his arms. He put it on the ground and took a step back, looking
at Sarah and silently telling her to do the same. He heard the other packs hit the road and waited for the men to decide what they would do next.
“You’ve got our gear, so are we free to go?” Austin asked.
The men exchanged looks. “You’re free to go. Happy hunting,” the leader said with a laugh. “Walk backwards until we tell you to stop.”
Austin nodded and took a few tentative steps backwards, stopping to look behind him and then moving again. It was a little surprising that the men hadn’t searched their bodies, but he wasn’t going to make a fuss and risk someone being shot or them losing their weapons. He was confident they’d find more supplies. Harlen’s idea to load their pockets with as much as they could fit was a good thing. Austin had his knife, his gun, and a variety of gear, plus a few of the crappy protein bars. They had all tucked some away in their pockets, in fact.
The thieves finally moved forward, picking up their gear while keeping their guns trained on Austin and the others.
“You can run away now!” one of the men shouted, bursting into laughter.
Austin shook his head, angry, but he knew when it was smarter to retreat than fight. They were outgunned.
“Well, now what are we going to do?” Wendell grumbled.
“We keep walking. Nothing changes,” Austin snapped, turning and stomping down the paved road.
“We could go after them,” Ennis suggested.
“It’s stupid to try. We keep moving. We have enough to get by. Before they interrupted me, I was going to say we could do a little fishing in the river, but I don’t want to stop here after that encounter. I want to put some distance between us and them in case they decide they want the laptop or they want to do a more thorough search of our persons,” Austin said.
They were quiet as they crossed the road, heading to the wide highway that would put them on the path to their next destination.
21
When Austin awoke early on the morning following the robbery, the first thing he thought of was the fact that Malachi hadn’t brought Savannah back. Every day that she wasn’t with him filled him with a gnawing worry that he couldn’t shake. He’d vowed to never let himself get separated from her again during the long trek across the country, and here he’d gone and done it anyway. It made him furious with himself, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she was hurt somewhere. Was she waiting for him to save her? What if Zander had found her?
Small Town EMP (Book 3): Survive The Conflict Page 15