by Chris Pike
Unknown World
The EMP Survivor Series
Book 3
by Chris Pike
Unknown World
by Chris Pike
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved
Edited by Felicia A. Sullivan
Formatted by Kody Boye
Cover art by Hristo Kovatliev
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronically, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the proper written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination, except where authenticity is required. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.
Books in the EMP Survivor Series:
Unexpected World - Book 1
Uncertain World - Book 2
Unknown World - Book 3
Unwanted World - Book 4 (coming mid-2017)
Dedication
To my readers: Thank you. This story would not have been possible without you and your encouragement. Y’all are the best! And to my family who has put up with all my crazy ideas and workshopping sessions, y’all are the best too.
—Chris
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”
—Napoleon Hill
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
The Lake
About the Author
Prologue
One hour before Chris Chandler and Amanda Hardy were in the crosshairs of a high powered Barrett M107 rifle, Kurt Durant nervously took a bite of a chocolate infused nutrition bar, swallowed hard, and said, “I couldn’t get her.” He held his breath and waited for his big brother Zack to hurl a string of obscenities.
Kurt had been given one order, which was to find Amanda and to bring her back to Zack.
Failure had not been part of the plan.
Sitting in a chair on the observation deck at the University of Texas Tower, Zack didn’t blink, shuffle, or twitch at the revelation, only stared at his little brother who sat opposite him. He swung his Barrett M107 to the side then idly twirled the coffee he had been nursing, then took a drink. Zack’s purposeful movements belied the fact he was seething on the inside, and the vein on the side of his forehead looked like it was about to pop at any moment.
Zack forcefully set the coffee mug on the table which echoed off the walls in the claustrophobic quarters causing Kurt to flinch. Using his index finger and thumb, Zack dabbed the corners of his mouth, leaned back in his chair, and clasped his hands behind his head. “Why not?” The comment was neither accusatory nor inflammatory.
Relieved beyond words, Kurt let out the breath he had been holding and ran his trembling fingers through his hair. “I don’t know.”
Zack’s eyes narrowed onto those of his brother’s, big eyes set wide apart on a baby face he had never grown out of. “You do know. I can always tell when you’re lying. Your eye is twitching.”
A nervous laugh escaped Kurt’s mouth. “I swear we almost had her. You have to believe me. And if it hadn’t been for that stupid guy I hired who said he had done work for Amanda’s grandpa and knew the layout of his house, well, Amanda would be here.”
“What went wrong?” Zack asked.
“Lots of things.”
“Something always goes wrong. That’s why you should’ve had a backup plan. Didn’t I tell you that? I told you where she was. I told you what to do. Obviously you didn’t follow directions.”
“Sorry,” Kurt said meekly.
“Sorry doesn’t help,” Zack said. After a beat he asked, “Well?”
“Well what?”
“What went wrong?”
“You’re not going to let it go are you?”
“No.”
“Great,” Kurt said sarcastically. “Okay, on the day we decided to ride to old man Hardy’s spread where Amanda was living, the weather turned bad. It was storming, lightning all around, rain came in sideways. We thought we could use it to our advantage. It was perfect cover for us. Nobody would think anyone would be out in weather like that. To top it off, Trent—the guy I hired—saw Holly and Dillon riding ahead of us.”
“Who are Holly and Dillon?” Zack asked.
“People with a bounty on their heads. They were wanted dead or alive, and dead would’ve been much easier. We tracked them to old man Hardy’s house where for some reason they stopped. They went inside so we decided to kill two birds with one stone. Kill Holly and Dillon, kidnap Amanda, and we’d be in the chips. It was perfect.”
“Obviously it wasn’t,” Zack said.
“They were like sitting ducks in the house, practically had a spotlight on them. I don’t know how it went wrong. Brent got trigger happy, but at least he plugged old man Hardy with the first round, which I’d like to remind you was on the short list of things you wanted done. After that, everything happened so fast. We both started shooting then Trent went nuts about getting the reward on Holly and Dillon.”
“I don’t know who those people are, or anything about the reward, and I don’t care. All you had to do was get Amanda.”
“Don’t you even care that I stuck around town after the EMP so I could try again to get Amanda for you? Or maybe some good intel on her?” When Zack didn’t acknowledge the question, Kurt tilted his head. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything? Or tell me thanks for trying?”
Zack said nothing.
“That’s what I thought. I’m lucky to have made it back here alive.”
Zack stared unblinking at his little brother for a long moment. Finally he spoke. “If you had taken one of my older cars as I had suggested, you wouldn’t have been stuck there. EMPs don’t affect cars of that vintage.”
“If I had known about the EMP I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place!” Kurt shouted.
“At least you had the sense to ride a bike home,” Zack answered in an equally terse voice.
Kurt rubbed his left eye, trying to conceal the spasmodic twitching that afflicted him whenever he was under duress. “Trent was bound and determined to get the reward on Holly and Dillon. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen. Then the jackass got the bright idea to sneak in the back door and kidnap Amanda. Since he had done work at the old man’s house, he knew which room was Amanda’s.”
“That’s about the stupidest thing you could have done.”
“It wasn’t my idea.”
“Then what happened?” Zack asked.
“He went in the back of the house, and then there was a scream and a gunshot.”
“Why didn’t you go in and help him?”
“We were outnumbered! It would have been suicide. We had lost the element of surprise. I found out later at the town café they didn’t suspect a second person was involved. I also found out Chris Chandler was one of the guys in the house.”
“Who’s that?”
“A sniper, from what I learned from gossip. A real hero. Saw action in Kandahar. He helped take down the guy who had taken over the sheriff’s office. He’s a real big dude, let me tell you.”
“And you were no match for him.” Zack’s tone was mocking.
“Right. You wouldn’t be either,” Kurt shot back. “He could whip both our asses with one hand tied behind his back.”
“I doubt that, and besides I don’t care about him.”
Putting his hands on the table, Kurt leaned forward, dropped his voice and said, “Well, you should care, because he’s Amanda’s new boyfriend.”
Zack rocketed off the chair. “What! A new boyfriend?” His face contorted into a mixture of rage and disbelief.
A corner of Kurt’s mouth curled into a satisfied smirk. Turning the knife a little more, he said, “That’s right, and they’ve gotten real cozy riding double on a horse.” With his bravado increasing, Kurt met his brother face to face. “Your luck is about to change.”
“How so?”
“Chandler is escorting Amanda to her great aunt’s ranch. And you know what that means?”
“Yeah,” Zack said. “They’ll have to travel through the middle of Austin, past me and my trusty M107 to get there.”
After Kurt left, Zack sat back down, thinking.
His plan was coming together after all, and Amanda wouldn’t even know she would be leading him to what he really wanted.
Chapter 1
December, East Texas, two months after the EMP
Routine had settled in at the Double H Ranch, a five hundred acre spread in East Texas, now home to six ragged survivors, two dogs, and one scared cat. Dillon Stockdale had insisted on naming Holly Hudson’s ranch the Double H Ranch, keeping to the tradition of naming parcels of land.
Earlier, Dillon had found an old bent piece of rebar, heated it, and laboriously carved the name on a board until the letters were blackened. Next on the agenda was to nail it to the posts at the entrance to the ranch. For this he would need Chandler’s help.
The morning sun peeked through the low clouds, brushing the treetops, casting a golden glow over the land, awakening it. A bright red cardinal flitted from a nearby pasture to where it landed in a yaupon bush, the red berries glistening in the crisp air.
Dillon and Chandler walked in silence along the dirt road leading to the ranch entrance. Chandler carried a ladder, while Dillon held the sign.
Their footsteps were heavy and slow, and gravel crunched under their boots. A link of chain Dillon had put on each side of the sign clanged together as he walked. They passed towering pines and oaks, and tangled brambles, stopping at the gated entrance.
Chandler positioned the ladder near the posts and held it for Dillon.
The steady hammering of nails upon wood echoed across the land.
Dillon looped the last rung of the chain to a nail in the post. “I think that does it.”
Dillon stepped off the ladder, and he and Chandler admired their work.
“It looks good,” Chandler said, glancing up.
Dillon nodded.
The work had been bittersweet since Dillon knew this was one of the last chores Chandler had offered to help him with. This was the day Chandler and Amanda would leave. Chandler had promised to escort Amanda Hardy to her great aunt’s ranch near Austin, located in Central Texas where his parents lived.
During the weeks after the big shootout in town, Dillon and Chandler had worked the land, while Holly and Amanda combined their domestic efforts to make the ranch a livable place.
Cassie and Ryan were in charge of trading goods and services, and Ryan’s stint in medical school provided excellent bargaining power. He treated minor illnesses, made diagnoses, and prescribed a lot of bed rest and fluids. Hand washing was a requirement of his, and he implored his patients to be adamant about keeping their hands clean and away from their faces. Cassie was learning how to be a nurse and Ryan’s assistant. They made a great team.
Electricity had been off ever since the EMP attack, forcing the survivors to lead lives much as their forefathers had led. They woke at daybreak, ate breakfast, which was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner or sometimes eggs when they felt like splurging. Each had their chores, and they went about the daily business of living.
Stock had to be tended to, there was an endless supply of tasks around the ranch, and with Ryan and Chandler’s help, the ranch started to shape up just in time for Chandler and Amanda to leave.
After the shootout with Cole Cassel and the resulting fallout, Chandler had been Dillon’s right hand man around the ranch. He took to ranching like he had been meant to do it all his life, having a knack for repairing fences and digging latrines.
He was a big man with wide shoulders and a chiseled face, and had the hardened look of a man who had seen too much in his short years. At twenty-eight, and with a military tour under his belt, Chandler was ready to get back to a normal life—if it ever could be normal.
Days before the grid went down, Chandler had spent two nights in jail, cooling off after he had pummeled his best friend to within an inch of his life after finding him and Chandler’s girlfriend in bed together. The betrayal was hard to fathom, and at first he had thought about forgiving his girlfriend, but the more he thought about it, the more he decided to cut his losses. If straying had been as easy as it had been for her after she had promised Chandler she would wait for him…well, leopards didn’t change their spots. There had been earlier signs she wasn’t a one-man woman, and Chandler had banged his head against the cell wall, berating himself for being such a patsy. Man, had she fooled him.
So be it.
Life went on. There were other fish in the pond, and while Chandler hadn’t planned on fishing, Amanda was turning out to be a great catch.
Amanda led the horses loaded with supplies to the ranch entrance. “I just said good-bye to Holly. She said we should probably get on the road while the weather is good.”
“Do you think you have everything?” Dillon asked. The words caught in his throat.
“I think so,” Chandler said.
The pair was well provisioned with food to last them a week, camping equipment, and extra ammo. Amanda had insisted on taking Nipper, her dog, having made a special carrier which was attached to Cowboy’s saddle.
“I guess it’s time for us to go,” Chandler said with pensive sadness in his voice. He put a foot in the stirrup, heaved himself up, and swung a leg over. He sat atop Cowboy, a rugged and powerful horse, cantankerous and strong-willed at times, yet when it came to the business of transportation he was the horse to depend on.
Amanda rode Indian, the smaller of the two horses, who doubled as the pack horse, carrying water, bedding, and a few tools if they were caught in a bind.
Sensing everyone’s anxiety, when Chandler had said the magic phrase, “Ride ‘em, Cowboy”, the horse refused to budge. He whinnied nervously, stamping his front hooves. Dillon stepped closer to Cowboy and talked to him in soothing tones, stroking him along the neck and flanks.
“I’m gonna miss you,” Dillon said. He took a handful of Cowboy’s mane and patted his neck. “You’re a good horse.”
It took some coaxing to get Cowboy walking, but when he finally did, he snorted and shook his head.
“Godspeed to both of you,” Dillon said.
“It’s been a real pleasure.” Chandler reached down to shake Dillon’s hand. “I’ll take good care of Cowboy, and I promise to bring him back one day.”
“Holly said you can keep him. Our mare has a foal on the way, and Holly is sure Cowboy did the siring. So it won’t be long until we have Cowboy number two.�
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“I’m not very good at good-byes,” Chandler said. He glanced away and cleared his throat.
Amanda sat tall in the saddle, resting her hands on the saddle horn. “Dillon, thank you so much for everything,” she said. “I don’t know how to repay you.”
“No need to,” Dillon said. “Stay safe, and as Cassie likes to say, ‘remember the Fs: faith, family, and firearms.’”
“She reminded me of that earlier. I’m going to miss her,” Amanda said.
“I know. She’s going to miss you too.”
Amanda tapped her Glock. “As for family,” she said, “I’m lacking in that department.”
“You got me, Babe.” Chandler winked.
Dillon cracked a smile, understanding the reference to the old song. “Watch out for each other,” he said.
“We will,” Chandler assured him. He tapped Cowboy in the flanks. Cowboy didn’t budge.
“You need to say the magic phrase. Remember?” Dillon said.
“Right,” Chandler added. “Ride ‘em Cowboy!” He belted out the command using his affected Texas drawl. Taking the reins, Chandler directed Cowboy to turn right. Amanda followed his lead.
Dillon watched Chandler and Amanda until they were a speck on the horizon. He squinted and thought perhaps Chandler had turned to wave, so he returned it, unsure if he had been seen. He looked skyward, said a silent prayer for the travelers, asking the Almighty to watch over them and to keep them safe. Dillon wondered what lay ahead of them, what trials they would face, what hardships they would have to endure.
He was satisfied in their abilities, a capable man and an able woman traveling together, yet they were subject to the whims of the weather and to the vagaries of mankind they would no doubt encounter on the road.
He wondered if he would see them again, and if he did, he wondered what the world would be like then. Maybe better, maybe the same. He headed back to Holly’s house where he belonged, and to where Cassie and Ryan had made a home.
There was work to be done, the day was new, and Dillon did as he always did, he barreled onwards.