The Burst [A YA Apocalyptic EMP Survival Novel] (Barren Trilogy Book 1)

by Harley Vex

  And maybe food.

  I grabbed David’s arm as he groaned. His eyelids fluttered, and Alana kept her pistol aimed at him. Her expression told me she didn’t want to shoot, and I hoped that David stayed knocked out for the time being. I had probably given him a head injury. But that beat the alternative.

  “We’ve got to get him into a secure place,” I said.

  Alana just nodded. “I agree. And Jerome. Laney and I will have a serious talk with Tony and Eric. They should have done more to stand up to David here.”

  “All three of us will talk to them, together,” I said, eyeing Gina and Christina. Everyone should have done more. No one wanted to step out of line and be the next scapegoat. But, I sensed, the three of us would have some status after this. Silent shame burned in everyone else’s faces, and no one wanted to make eye contact with us.

  And it would be our job to keep this group together.

  Keeping us all alive long enough to find other survivors would be no easy feat.

  Could I do it without becoming like David?

  “Help me,” I said to Jerome, who took David’s other arm. Christina, without prompting, took both of his legs. “Alana, keep that weapon on him, in case he tries anything. And Mina. If you have a flashlight, keep that on for us.”

  She clicked it on, a small but powerful beam that illuminated the gas station parking lot and reflected off the car. We walked past both work tractors and towards the mine, holding David. I brushed up against Jerome’s tense form as Alana followed, and I could sense the pain and betrayal in his movements.

  “Things are under control for now,” I said.

  “For now,” Jerome grunted.

  “You’re right to be angry.” He needed validation. Jerome had just had the worst night of his life, and he needed that room. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  “Oh, trust me. I’m keeping it together to keep us together. That’s all that’s left now. But I am going to exchange some words with Eric and Tony.”

  “Just don’t kill them.” I forced a smile as we entered the mine.

  Cool air washed over us, and we walked down a wide concrete ramp that was complete with its own breeze. The miners had painted the rock walls with numbers that told us we were fifty feet down, and then a hundred feet, and then two hundred. I looked over my shoulder and down the ramp, trying not to get dizzy, and I saw lanterns glowing far below us, at the bottom. Yes. Old Mr. Connors had stocked light sources. That was a good sign.

  I let hope swell into my chest.

  It was the first time I didn’t stifle it, either. When I focused back on David’s shoulder and arm, Alana grinned at me. She was having a victory, and I’d let her win this time.

  At last, a new number appeared on the rock wall, painted in yellow as the ground flattened out and turned to smooth, carved stone.

  2500.

  We were almost a half mile underground, in a large chamber that must have housed higher-tech mining equipment before this place closed. Now, old boxes stood everywhere with lanterns, most of them battery-powered types, decorated them and cast a warm, white glow on everything.

  “Took you long enough,” Eric managed, which was bold, considering that he had almost held Jerome there while David murdered him. The smaller guy shifted from leg to leg as Christina set down David’s legs and looked to Mina, who stood by Tony.

  “Well, after being almost shot at point blank range, yeah, we were going to take a bit of time and take precautions,” Jerome snapped.

  “Not now,” I said. “We can’t argue. We’ll have a serious discussion in the morning. First, we have to get David tied up, or imprisoned somewhere so he can’t try to hurt anyone ever again. Tony. Eric. You can start earning our forgiveness by finding a room to put him in, or something. There have to be offices down here that aren’t used anymore.”

  “I didn’t want David to hurt Jerome,” Tony said.

  I’d use his guilt on him, then. We didn’t have time to screw around. “Then prove it.”

  Tony motioned for Eric to follow him. I knew neither of them had liked David, but they could have released Jerome when David reached his worst. Now they were going to live with their decisions, and I’d make sure of that.

  Don’t become David.

  I swallowed. No. I wasn’t becoming like David. Tony and Eric had almost gotten Jerome killed. They had allowed him to rise to power over the course of the last few days when it could have been prevented, had we stood up for each other.

  “Find some ropes to tie his wrists,” I told Mina, who also hadn’t tried very hard to stand up for us.

  The three vanished, and we set David down to wait. I looked at the long chamber, which was wider than it was high. Old lights still hung from the ceiling, and they were off, but there were boxes upon boxes here, and some of them already sat open.

  Soup cans. Beans. Boxed goods. All packed the army of boxes, and there were even some twelve packs of various soft drinks as well. My jaw dropped as I stood there, surveying the most beautiful thing I’d seen since this whole thing started. Jerome joined me, and I sensed his anger melting as he joined me, looking at the supplies.

  “Wow,” he said. “Mr. Connors wasn’t joking about the prepping. I bet there are generators down here, too. All kinds of stuff. There must be other chambers that branch off from this one, with other things in them.”

  “We haven’t explored everything yet,” Bethany said, “but we found a tunnel with a lot of air mattresses in it, all still packed into their boxes. We found board games in another tunnel close to here. We can of course collect things from town like clothes, but I’m willing to bet he thought ahead on that as well.”

  I turned to her. Bethany was the only person I had no anger for right now, and maybe that was because we had talked before.

  “You think this stuff was low enough underground to be safe from the radiation?” I asked. “Mr. Connors was always talking about a solar storm wiping us out, not a gamma-ray burst. It’s just a coincidence that he put all his supplies down here, where they’d be safe.”

  Bethany nodded. “It is. But it’s a good one. We could last for years down here. And you know what?”

  “What?”

  “I’m glad you didn’t kill David,” she said with a sharp glint in her eye. She looked down at his still-unconscious form. “I’m afraid that I would have. He scared me too many times, and I thought about it every time he had his back turned to me.” Bethany eyed the pistol on her hip for a second before meeting my gaze again. “I’m glad you’re back, Laney.”

  I swallowed. “Thanks?”

  Tony and Eric came back, and Eric motioned for us to bring David forward.

  “We found an office we can put David into,” Tony said. “We’ll throw him an air mattress and see if he recovers. Yikes, man.” He pointed to David’s face, where blood had dried and crusted. I was sure I’d broken his nose.

  My stomach lurched. Maybe David wouldn’t recover, and I’d given him a slow, lingering death. And those were the worst.

  “Good,” I said. “Carry him there.” I was done moving bodies, hopefully for a long time.

  Tony and Eric did, and Mina blew up the air mattress with a pump. The office was small, with nothing but a metal file cabinet and stone walls. It was probably for the supervisor at some point.

  But I helped to tie David’s wrists, just to make sure that Tony and Eric weren’t still siding with him and trying to help him escape. For all I knew, someone here was still loyal to David and would turn on us the first chance they got. Once finished, we set David on the mattress, left a bottle of water next to his head, and placed a bottle of aspirin that Mina had found near the mattresses. After placing a lantern inside, we left him there, closed the door, and slid some hefty boxes of cans in front of it.

  Once completed, I let out a sigh of relief.

  David was contained for now.

  “Laney. That was intense,” Jerome said right behind me.

  I whirled
as Tony, Eric, and Mina left us alone. Alana had stayed with the others, probably Bethany, and now it was just me and Jerome standing in front of the office, near the edge of that wide corridor that seemed to stretch into infinity.

  A faint breeze rolled over us, making my hair tickle my ear.

  “Never put yourself in danger like that again,” I said.

  Jerome frowned. “What kind of guy would I be if I hadn’t? David was going to kill you.”

  “Then he almost killed you,” I said. “Tony and Eric are going to earn back their trust. And so will the others.” I was angrier at the two of them for doing that to Jerome, and after he’d received the worst news of his life. And I wasn’t sure if I’d ever forgive them.

  “I know they will,” he said. “And they should. But before then, why don’t we take it easy for the rest of the night? We’re all exhausted, and frankly, a can of beans sounds great right now. I could use the protein.” He reached out to put his hand on my back, then paused in midair.

  Tingles swept over my body. “Thanks. You’ve been nothing but a godsend, even if you and Alana did gang up on me to stop me from losing it.”

  He smiled, and even in the dim lantern light, I could tell it was genuine. “You didn’t lose it. Not at all. You’ve navigated this mess better than any of us, and you deserve to be in charge. I know we’ll get to the alive zone. We just need a plan, and to stop another David from replacing this one.” He nodded at the door. “Come on. Let’s get back to the others, let them stew in what they’ve done for a while, and then figure out a way to set out and find your dad.”

  END OF BOOK ONE

  THANK YOU FOR READING!

  Thank you, dear reader, for reading The Burst!

  I have always been interested in space, and in space-related disasters, of course. I also enjoy disaster books, and there don’t seem to be too many out there about gamma ray bursts, or any other type of cosmic disaster that comes from beyond the Solar System. I wondered what would happen to the survivors if such a disaster were to strike our planet, and most of all, how the survivors would react and interact with each other. After all, we are all human and complex, and would remain so after such a disaster.

  Of course, cosmic disasters have a very slim chance of happening, but they’re fun (and scary) to think about.

  You will be contacted on release day with instructions on how to write your review! Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to see you in the upcoming sequel, The Storm! To follow me and know when The Storm releases, be sure to flip to the next page to sign up for my newsletter.

  Follow Harley Vex!

  Harley Vex now has a newsletter! You can follow it for news on the latest science fiction, dystopian, and apocalyptic releases from this author! Have the latest news of action-packed books delivered right to your inbox today! You can unsubscribe at any time and you will not have to deal with having your email address given away or sold anywhere.

  Sign Up Here:

  The Harley Vex Newsletter