by Mark Mathews
THE STORM
The Fall Book 2
MARK MATHEWS
CONTENTS
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Part 2
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
THE SUN GLINTED off broken bits of glass and other debris that littered the road. Every glint made Garrett whip his head around to glare at the offending piece of trash. He was walking the streets, gun on his hip, and doing his best not to jump at every little noise, every flash or movement. So far, only his head was spastically jerking around, and he was pretty proud of himself for that. The last thing he needed was for some trigger-happy cowboy to shoot him because he made a sudden movement and the other guy thought he had justification. The shadows caught the supermarket, and Garrett looked over with hope. He knew by now it would be completely empty, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking. The shelves were bare, the windows were broken out, and the glass that littered the ground sparkled like the sun glinting off the waves. He smiled weakly, thinking back to vacations to the beach that he’d taken with his family, and the way he’d been entranced by the sparkling ocean waves.
As he rounded the corner of the building, a group of young people came out of the shadows, effectively surrounding him and cutting off any retreat. His sharp gaze caught the shine of metal, and he noticed that each was armed with a knife. Two of the guys seemed to have pocket knives, while one had a butcher knife, and the woman in the group had what looked like an old fashioned dagger of some sort. She had circles under her eyes, and her cheeks looked hollow. Of the four, she looked like she had the least to lose, so Garrett kept his eyes on her.
“Give us all the supplies you have, and we’ll let you walk away from all this.” Her voice was sinister, and her eyes glared sharply at him.
She meant business, and Garrett didn’t want to hurt anyone if he didn’t need to do so. He knew his military training would allow him to make short work of all of them, but he didn’t want to fight a battle that wasn’t fair. He moved his hand to his holster and drew his pistol. Garrett was the type of man who tried to help everyone he could, but every now and then, he had to make a decision, and that was usually when he got to be the bad guy. His family meant everything to him, and nothing was going to get past him to hurt them. When he got in situations like this, he had to talk himself down because his PTSD would get him into an almost primal mindset. He was doing that now, out loud, hoping that it would help him and get them to back off at the same time.
“I’m not handing over anything, and I feel I should warn you. I’m a good shot, and I have a military background. Are you sure you want to do this?”
The guys exchanged glances, then looked meaningfully at the woman. It was clear she was their leader, and it seemed that they were looking at her to decide what should be done. To her credit, she was staring at Garrett, letting her gaze roam over him. Her eyes stopped at the gun, then his biceps. One of her eyebrows raised of its own accord, and she jerked her head to the side. The other three circled Garrett until they were safely behind her, though all of them kept their weapons up in front of them, in case they should need them. The woman began backing away from Garrett, and the others followed. Garrett holstered his pistol again, once they were far enough away, and when he looked up again, they were gone. He let out a relieved sigh. He didn’t want to kill or hurt anyone if he didn’t have to, and these young punks were just trying to survive as well. Unless they were directly threatening his family, he didn’t want to have to get into a fight.
Garrett finished his patrol of the streets and started back to the house. When he got close, he could see that both Wren and Athena were out on the screened-in porch, keeping watch. It warmed his heart knowing that his family was safe, that he had people he could trust to take care of his loved ones, and that they were quickly on the way to being elevated to that status themselves. Wren saw him first and lowered her guard. She managed to smile at him in a warm way, and it disarmed him. It was the first genuine smile he’d gotten from her, that didn’t have some wariness in it. It transformed her whole face. He caught himself thinking that she was beautiful.
“About time you got back. I’ve been dying for a break.” He returned her smile, and then everyone’s heads snapped back as Ben came out of the house.
“Well, then I call that good timing. I’m taking over for you.” Ben chuckled and Wren moved to give him the wicker chair she’d been sitting in.
“How did it go? Find any trouble?”
There was a teasing glint in her eye as she addressed Garrett. He recounted the events of his walk, letting them know about the four people that had thought to take supplies from him. Wren laughed it off. It showed how little concern she had about the threats of punk kids. It made him realize she might know a thing or two more than what she was letting on.
“Those poor dumb kids are doing what they see in the movies. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about from them. It’s pretty sad, though. We can’t even go for walks anymore without something happening.”
Athena murmured something in agreement, snaking her hand into Ben’s. He took it and squeezed back. No matter what happened to the rest of the world, Garrett was sure their love would survive anything. They were one soul split up into two bodies, and there was a time that he’d thought he and Alice were like that. Now he wasn’t so sure. Wren was fiddling with a loose string on her shirt. “So…did you get what I asked for?” The hope in her eyes made her seem younger than she really was, and something in Garrett warmed to her. He wanted to put his hand on her cheek and caress it, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do so. He smiled, making a show of reaching into his bag slowly, drawing out the suspense. Wren’s eyes were locked onto the spot where Garrett’s hand would make an appearance, and he slowly drew out the Coca-Cola that he’d managed to find. Her whole face lit up, and she clapped her hands in excitement. Knowing he had given her such a little thing that made her whole day made him feel like he was the king of the world, and that he was taking care of his people. It was an archaic notion, but he’d always considered himself to be a bit old fashioned anyway.
“You better make it last, it’s getting harder and harder to go out.” He felt a pang of sadness because, for some reason, it made him happy to put her that smile on her face, and he didn’t know when he could do that again.
“I know. I really appreciate it.”
She cradled the Coca-Cola to her chest, like it was the most precious thing in the world to her. Wren went into the house and made her way to the kitchen. She wasn’t in there long before Jenny came in.
“Hey there. And how are you this fine day?” Jenny glared and pointedly ignored her.
Wren frowned and dropped the cheerfulness from her voice. “Are you still mad at me for killing one of our chickens for dinner last night?”
Jenny stared at her, and Wren was keenly aware of the expression ‘if looks could kill’. Jenny jerked her head up and down once in a curt nod.
“I think I’m going to be a vegetarian,” Jenny said. Alice came into the kitchen and looked from one to the other. She smiled, then turned to Jenn
y.
“If you want to be a vegetarian, then you can cook your own dinner.” Jenny glared back at her mother, outrage clear on her face.
She was trying to help in her own little way, and her mother was making things difficult for her. Why did she have to do that? This was a personal battle between the two, and the fact that her mother had come in and taken Wren’s side to end the battle wasn’t okay with her. She’d barely even had the chance to argue. Seeing that that was Alice’s intention from the start, Wren decided to play the good cop.
“Jenny, I’ll try making it up to you, how’s that? Want me to toss the football around in the backyard with you?”
Both women could see the little girl was fighting a battle within herself. Reluctantly, she agreed. Jenny had liked Wren from the first day that she’d arrived, and the two had been thick as thieves lately. Knowing someone had to cheer up the little girl, Wren took it upon herself to do the job. Wren and Jenny went out to the backyard to start their game. Alice looked after them with a smile on her face, thinking that could have gone much worse. She hadn’t realized Garrett was there in the kitchen too, until she turned around and saw the two of them were now alone in the kitchen.
“Can we talk about last night?”
Alice was biting her lip, and that meant this was something she really wanted to discuss. Garrett winced. He never should have told her what had happened between him and Austin at the town hall meeting. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the argument that he knew would be coming.
“Let’s just forget about it. It’s not important, and I don’t want to worry the girls. Let’s just let it go so there’s nothing for them to overhear.”
Alice dropped her eyes to the floor. While it was true that she didn’t want the girls to overhear the conversation, she still wanted to talk about what had happened.
“Austin wouldn’t hurt you. He’s not that kind of guy.” Her quiet confidence in that moment grated on Garrett’s nerves. Before he could stop himself, his comment slipped out.
“Then why did he and his goons threaten me at the meeting last night?”
He could have punched himself for letting the words slip past his shut-up filter, but now it was too late. He was giving Alice what she wanted by talking to her about it, and he wanted to stop this before it got out of hand.
“He’s probably just being protective.”
The way that she was protecting him, and making excuses for him, was like a knife in Garrett’s chest. His love for her was still pretty strong, but he didn’t know if he could take her being on Austin’s side and let it survive. She was killing it all on her own. So he decided to end the conversation right then. Casually pulling his gun from his hip, he made a show of checking it, and making it look like he was being meticulous about loading and unloading it. Alice’s eyes were locked on the gun, and he knew she wasn’t very happy about him having it out in front of her.
“So am I. I guarantee you I’m a little better at it than he is.”
There was a menacing tone in his voice. It was a side of him that he’d managed to hide from Alice for the entire time they’d known each other. Now he thought he might need to unlock that part of himself, since that was the type of person who would survive the world in the shape that it was in now. She stormed out of the kitchen, and he watched her go. A tiny voice told him to go after her, but he couldn’t do it. All she would do was defend Austin more, and then he might say or do something that he couldn’t take back. He decided he would take the night shift on watch. Hopefully something would happen that he could take his anger and aggression out on. If not, he’d just bottle it up until he was relieved, then go for a run in the morning. Danger be damned. He needed something to let it all out on, and if it wasn’t a bag or a person, then it would be physical exercise. Walking over to the window, he saw Wren out in the backyard with Jenny. The two of them were having a grand old time, and it seemed that Jenny had completely forgotten about the chicken fiasco. She had a big grin on her face, and it did a lot to make him feel better. Seeing the two of them together made him feel lighter than he had in a long time. It was almost like two sisters playing together, or a mother with her daughter.
Garrett snapped himself out of it and went to the front porch. Ben and Athena still were cuddled together, guns on opposite sides so they could both get to them in a hurry. That was something he wished he could have. A woman that understood him, and had the same passions in life that he did.
“Hey, guys. Your shift is over. It’s my turn.”
Ben saw the look on his face and immediately stood up, not questioning what he was thinking. Athena, however, looked from him to the house, asking a question with her eyes, and he pointedly ignored it, choosing to take her seat the second that she vacated it. Both left him alone with his thoughts. For that, he was grateful, because the place that his thoughts now were taking him was very dark indeed.
CHAPTER TWO
THE SUN WAS SETTING, and it lit up the sky with wonderful hues of pink and gold that Garrett hadn’t been able to enjoy in years. Now that there was no technology , he had more time to enjoy the simpler things in life. Kayleigh had come out at some point to sit with him, and though she had a gun in her lap, he didn’t really consider her much help when it came to keeping watch. Ben and Max came out to relieve them. Though Kayleigh was eager to go back into the house and be out of danger as well as the accusing glares of the neighbors walking by, Garrett wanted to stay. The silence on the porch stretched on, but it was a comfortable silence. After a little while, Ben cleared his throat.
“I know how you feel. You always want to be overprotective to make sure you did all you could to keep them safe.”
He offered the lifeline to the conversation, and Garrett jumped on it before he even realized he had.
“I don’t know. It didn’t use to be this bad, but right now I feel like I’m the only one who knows how to take care of them, and that no one even wants to acknowledge what is going on, much less try to prepare for it. It’s hard to come to terms with the reality of what’s going on, so no one looks past that to what has to be done.”
Garrett leaned forward in his chair, putting his head in his hands, trying to block out the world for a few seconds. Ben didn’t move, didn’t offer a hand on the shoulder in comfort, but Garrett could feel the comfort and the reassurance coming off the man next to him, and that was enough. It was one of those things that only came from a bond where the people involved knew absolutely everything about each other.
Max sat there, his eyes trained on the road, fulfilling the duties of the watchdog very well. Yes, he had some issues of his own from the time that he’d been in the military, but it was nothing as severe as the PTSD that Ben and Garrett shared, so he kept out of it. He always hated when people tried to relate to something that they had no idea about, so he wasn’t going to jump into the conversation when he felt like it had nothing to do with him. Ben swallowed hard, and his eyes misted for a second.
“I feel like that with Athena sometimes. I just feel like I should be doing so much more to protect her, but my paranoia and fear cripple me. What if something happens and she ends up in danger? What if I see that and freeze? That makes me more than useless to help her, and she might get hurt or worse trying to protect me because I froze. I feel like a liability to her, and I’ve thought about leaving in the middle of the night before, just so that scenario doesn’t play out. Right now, I think that’s my biggest fear in life.”
Max tensed, but his eyes never left the road. Garrett’s head jerked up and he stared at Ben. The comment about being a liability was something indicative of suicide, and with both of them being in the military, they had been trained to pick up on that sort of thing. Both men were instantly on the verge of jumping in to save their friend from a mistake that he couldn’t take back.
“Have you even considered leaving her? Don’t you think she would come to find you?”
Garrett started testing the waters, trying to figure ou
t exactly what kind of “leaving” Ben had in mind. If something was wrong, then he would do his best to help. He refused to let a friend off himself because of a “what if” game that they could play all day. He knew how that went, because he’d been there before, and it had been a pretty close call for himself, but he’d had his friends and the thought of his family to pull him back from the edge.
“I know that she’d come after me if I tried to disappear, and that would put her in more danger, so I stay and try to do my best to protect her.” Both Max and Garrett visibly relaxed at his answer.
“I think that’s the best choice you can make. If she’s with you, you can do what you can to protect her. That’s how I feel, too. If the girls are with me, then I know what’s going on, what danger they’re in, and I can make sure I have options to control the situation.” The three lapsed into silence as the shadows lengthened. Max went into the house, quietly, and Ben and Garrett stayed together on the porch.
“Not sleeping is only going to make it worse, you know.”
Garrett’s cheeks grew red. Ben had hit the nail on the head. He’d realized that Garrett was trying to stay awake to avoid going into the house and talking to Alice, and to avoid sleeping so his mind could work on the problems subconsciously. Sometimes he didn’t quite agree with what his mind wanted him to do, and that was why he avoided sleeping. He thought that he could just put it off and worry about it later, but that wasn’t the case. The door to the house opened again, and Max came out. Neither Ben nor Garrett looked up. They had become so used to each other coming and going while they were in the military that they could tell when one or the other of them came and went without visual confirmation. They did look up, however, when Wren followed Max out onto the porch. Ben and Garrett were a little confused as to why she was here. It wasn’t her turn to stand watch.
“Hey. Why don’t you come in the house and get some rest? Alice and the girls are tucked in, and that’s where you’re going as soon as I get your ass out of that chair.”