by Connor Mccoy
“How the hell are they wasting us?” Ethan cried out.
“They’re using scopes, you moron!” shouted Cal. “Take cover and keep moving after you shoot!”
“Take cover. Keep moving.” Lance repeated it over and over as he ran, crouched down, along the house. It was simple. Very simple. He repeated it even as the gunfire made him cringe again. To his relief, it kept his head in the game.
A shot rang out from one of the windows near the rear of the home. Lance tried to think. The shots weren’t coming from all the windows at once. Whoever was inside likely was moving from room to room, not unlike how they were changing positions out here. If a shooter inside fired from one window, it was likely the window next door would be unguarded. But the shooter then would shift to that window to fire next.
Then he spotted a window next to the window where the shot had come from. Lance raised his gun. The shooter in that room could open fire from that window at any moment…
Take cover. Keep moving.
So, Lance quickly stood up and shot in the window. Then, he threw himself onto the grass and rolled away as quickly as possible.
Liam squeezed the trigger. Damn, he thought. Through his scope, he found his target moved too quickly, jumping and rolling to the right just as he took the shot. That was the second target to evade a hit. Even as well stocked as Liam, Camilla, and Carla were with ammunition, sooner or later one side would run out of bullets.
Liam picked up his rifle and rushed toward the next window. He was starting to wonder what would happen if his father arrived home in the middle of all this. Dad would have no way to know his house was under siege until he made it here, and by then several guns could be pointed at him.
Dad…and Mom, too, Liam thought with renewed dread. If his dad was successful in rescuing his mom, both of his parents could arrive right smack in the middle of a war zone.
As he approached the latest window and leveled his rifle, he hoped the next shot would take out another shooter. Thin out their ranks. Make them see this fight is futile. He thought this over and over again.
However, his mantra came to an abrupt end. All of a sudden, a shot popped through the glass pane and struck him in the right side, sending hot pain searing through it. The impact was like a burning pinch that threw him to the floor. With a shout of agony, he fell onto his back.
“Liam!” Carla turned and shouted to him. “Oh my God! Liam!”
She broke into a run. Liam wanted to rise to his feet, to return fire, but the pain was too intense. “Carla, get down!”
But she did not listen. Instead, she raised her weapon and fired twice through the window. Then, she dropped down next to him. “Liam, where are you hit?”
She tilted him up against the wall. Fresh blood stained his shirt on his right side. Her eyes widened. Then she turned to the hall. “Camilla!” she shouted, “Help! Liam’s hit!”
Camilla raced down the hall from the kitchen. “Dammit!” She dug into her pocket. “Here, had some of this for an emergency.” Then she stopped and threw a pack of gauze to Carla. “Put that on his wound and keep pressure on it. Stop his bleeding!” Then she turned back. “I’ve got to keep them dancing out there so they don’t think they’ve scored a hit.”
Chapter Nineteen
As the gunfight raged, Derrick kept a close eye on the house through his binoculars, checking out the windows from certain spots near fence posts or a tree near the edge of Conrad’s property. There was definitely movement inside. Every now and then he’d see somebody run by the glass, but as the battle progressed, more windows would be blocked off with wood or some other barrier.
Damn you! Derrick thought, Damn you, Conrad! You think you got this all figured out? You think you can outlast me? Well, I’ve been preparing for this day for weeks. And once I grab your land, I’m going to have a lot of power at my fingertips. Think of all the people who will come to me begging for food. They’ll make me a king if I tell them, all in exchange for the apples and corn and lettuce that your land can produce. No, my land.
He rubbed his side. He had applied the bandage to his wound as tightly as possible to stop the bleeding before reapplying his vest, but the wound had been more intense than he had thought. Dealing with the pain had forced him out of the battle, not that he intended to get heavily involved anyway. Better to let his hired help take the risks for him.
But now he was beginning to grow antsy. The battle had gone on too long for his tastes. There had to be an opening, some way to break through Camilla and Conrad’s gunfire and breach the house.
In the past minute, Derrick noticed the rate of return fire was dropping. Usually, there were two shots on opposite sides of the house, although since the second round began, there seemed to be three people shooting at them. But now they were taking fire from just around the right side of the kitchen.
Maybe we got lucky and nailed somebody. Derrick tightened his fist. Or maybe they’re reloading. Either way, it’s time I got the jump on Conrad. But I won’t do it alone.
Then he spotted Teller jogging his way. “Hey!” Derrick motioned to him. “We’re making a run on the front door. You’re with me.” Then he strolled toward the front porch. “I’m going in! Once I make it inside, cease fire until I come back out!”
Derrick motioned to Teller to go first. He obeyed, though he seemed a little hesitant about doing so. Still, he approached the front door, then opened fire on the doorknob, blasting it off. Then, he kicked the door hard. One kick jostled the door loose, but there still was a barricade holding it in place.
“Watch it!” Derrick then aimed his rifle at the crack between the door and doorframe. He squeezed the trigger, dumping more bullets into the wooden frame, blasting off small chunks of wood. “Come on!” he shouted, “Come on you son of a bitch!”
He stopped firing. Teller took the cue and kicked the door, this time wrenching it open, exposing the living room of the Drake residence.
“You awake? You’re staying awake,” Carla said as she pushed hard on the gauze. “You’re staying awake, right?”
Liam let out a loud breath. “Believe me, I can’t fall asleep with all that racket outside.” Then he placed his own hand on the gauze, while trying to ease Carla’s off. “I think I can handle it. Camilla needs help.” His eyes met Carla’s. “You might be the last chance we have.”
Carla clutched her weapon. “I…I can’t…”
“You have to.” Liam sat up, fighting the searing pain in his side. “This is a two--person job. You, me, we protect the house together. Remember that great Carla speech earlier about how life’s different now? This is where it counts.”
Carla’s hand trembled. She tried not to cry. “Alright. But you…” She jabbed her finger in his chest. “You’re going to have to marry me, okay? You better promise.” She raised three fingers. “I want the ring, the ceremony, and the honeymoon. Not necessarily in that order, but I do want them!”
Liam laughed. “I don’t know about the ring, but I think I can handle the other two.” He coughed. “Now go, use that ammo. Kick some ass for the both of us.”
Blinking back tears, Carla charged from the room, rifle in hand.
At that moment, the bar on the front door shattered near the lock. Camilla started running back in her direction. “They’re coming through!” She aimed the rifle at the door. “Get back, now!”
Carla backed up just as the door broke open. A middle-aged man with a gun charged through. Camilla quickly aimed and fired several rounds, most catching him in the chest. But she didn’t see Derrick ducking behind him in time, then spinning his own rifle around to open fire.
In the timespan of two gunshots, both Camilla and Derrick tumbled to the floor.
Carla looked down, seeing a spate of blood on Camilla’s collarbone. She screamed.
Derrick caught a glimpse of Camilla just before opening fire. He wasn’t even sure he struck her before a gunshot hit him in his left shoulder. The sudden burst of pain knocked him down to the
floor of the porch.
“Mister Wellinger!” Sandy took a few steps toward him.
Derrick grabbed onto the door and hoisted himself up. “It’s nothing.” Derrick patted his left shoulder. “It didn’t hit anything vital.” Then he picked up his rifle. “You, stand guard at the front door and act as my backup.”
Sandy nodded, though as he looked down at Teller’s dead body, a tremor ran over her face. “Teller,” Sandy whispered.
Derrick peered back into the hall. It remained silent. Camilla must have taken cover, or was so badly hurt she couldn’t return any more fire. Even so, Derrick wasn’t going to step inside just yet. For one thing, who did he see with Camilla? Another woman? Derrick couldn’t get a good look at her, but she seemed younger than Camilla, younger than even Derrick.
He winced. Pain shot up his side. He patted the bandage over his wound. It felt stickier. He must not have closed the wound fully. Perhaps his bulletproof vest had turned out to be a piece of garbage after all.
Two women in your house. Is that other one your daughter or something?
He stepped into the hall. Again, he encountered no resistance.
“Conrad?” he called out. “Where are you?” Derrick now crossed past an open doorway. He poked his gun’s nozzle into the room. Nothing inside moved.
“C’mon, Conrad, let’s be reasonable. You don’t have much life left in those old bones. How about doing the world a favor and checking out early?”
Derrick returned to the hall. There was another bedroom toward the end. “So, what’s the story, Conrad? How many you got in here?” Derrick called out, “I hope one of my men didn’t nail your ass ‘cause I got a bullet in here just for you.”
Conrad silenced the latest outburst from his limbs to stop and rest. He was too close to home to stop pedaling now. As much as he had wanted to cover the distance between Redmond and his home as quickly as he could, he and Sarah and Tom had to stop for one night before continuing. So far, their journey had gone off smoothly.
It almost seemed too good to be true. Just two days ago, he doubted whether he ever would step over his front door’s threshold, walk through his ranch’s crops, or tend to his sheep and chickens ever again. More importantly, he had thought the last time he would look upon his son’s face was when he had parted from him and Carla before heading off to rescue Sarah.
It seemed like too much to hope for at the time. Perhaps the battle with Maggiano’s men was meant to cap off his existence on this planet, although he would be briefly reunited with his son and ex-wife as a kind of reward. Plus, the reunion would help tie up loose ends. It seemed a fitting way for him to go out. But Conrad didn’t meet his end in Redmond. So, what would happen next?
Sarah was riding on Tom’s back close by. Soon, he and Sarah would meet up with Liam again. After almost thirty years, his family would be back under one roof. Would it last?
I never prepared myself for this, Conrad thought. I thought I’d look at my home’s walls all by myself for the rest of my days. With each mile he pedaled, he recognized his life would change drastically from here on.
He gazed upon the fields across the horizon. This world seemed suddenly emptier. The carnage inflicted by the solar event was a factor. Deprived of medical services and law enforcement, millions of people across the United States died within the first few days of society’s collapse. That meant the survivors had to pick up the pieces. But to truly rebuild their country as the free nation it had been before, those ideals had to be in the hearts of the people who did the rebuilding.
Conrad realized he could pass on those ideals to his son. And not just him, but his grandchild as well. Suddenly, he recognized he could do far better for his country than just waste away in an isolated ranch in the middle of the Midwest.
As he turned back to the road, he spotted the shadow of Tom’s bike retreating. He slowed his pace, allowing Tom to catch up with him. Although Tom was a younger man, he was more fatigued than Conrad, with more sweat pouring off the sides of his head. They had taken a few short breaks earlier to drink water and eat, and it seemed they might need just one more before they made it to Conrad’s ranch.
“Maybe we ought to pull over,” Conrad said, “We’re very close. A few more minutes won’t hurt.”
Tom seemed ready to agree, but he glanced over his shoulder. Sarah hung on his body. Then he shook his head. “If we’re very close, I can keep going. Sarah wants to see her son.”
“Tom, it’s okay. Slow down. We’ll rest,” Sarah said.
Tom did slow down, but he didn’t stop pedaling fully. “How about you two just go on ahead?” Tom asked. “I can just walk the rest of the way.”
“Forget it. I’m not leaving anybody out here, even if you’re not likely to run into trouble,” Conrad replied. “Keep in mind, there may not be any robbers or bandits out here, but you never know when a wild animal can show up to make trouble. We’re heading home together. That’s the end of it.”
Tom huffed. “I’ll just keep going a little bit more.” Then he stopped. “Okay, I’m stopping.”
Sarah got off, then slid Tom’s backpack from her shoulders and pulled out a water canteen. Tom took it. “Thanks.” He drank deeply.
Conrad pulled over as well. Although he wanted to take a swig from his own canteen, Sarah continued to command his interest. Her attention remained squarely on Tom, and it seemed her anger over being sold out largely had dissipated. Either that, or she might have repressed it. Conrad hoped it wasn’t the latter. In the time he had been married to her, Conrad knew Sarah to be an outspoken woman. She rarely hid her true feelings about anything. On the other hand, people can change over time. Plus, she just had been through a horrifying experience. Lord knows how that could reshape a person for the worse.
Sarah then turned and looked at him. Conrad was almost startled. “Hey,” she said, “You should drink some water. You’re not a spring chicken anymore.”
Conrad chuckled. “Right.” He took a long drink from his canteen. “First time in ages that I had to do as you said.” He swallowed, wondering if that comment went over as well as he hoped.
“You always worked yourself too hard,” Sarah said. “Tell me you don’t still crash on the sofa without taking a shower.”
Conrad didn’t answer that right away. Sarah shook her head. “I should have figured.”
After taking another swig, Conrad replied. “Well, I guess you could say no one complained about it. It’s easy to forget those pesky habits when nobody reminds you of them.”
Sarah’s eyes widened a little. “So, you really don’t have anybody? I mean, there’s no one at your home but you?”
Conrad wiped his mouth. “Well, not always. It’s a bit of a long story.”
“Wait.” By now, Tom’s breathing had slowed. He was recuperating well from the latest bout of riding. “There is somebody? A girlfriend?”
Conrad looked away. “A lady friend, you could say. Like I said, it’s a bit of a long story.”
Tom wiped more sweat off his face. “Well, I definitely want to hear about her. Is she…like you?”
Conrad frowned. “What do you mean?”
Tom thought his words over carefully. “You know, survivalist, off the grid type. Rustic.”
Sarah burst out laughing. “Oh Lord!”
Tom started laughing himself. “Yeah, a female Conrad. That would be something.”
Conrad, though, wasn’t sharing in their merriment. Instead, he put his canteen away and turned back to the road. Sarah and Tom silenced themselves when they noticed Conrad’s mood had darkened.
Sarah instead strolled up to him, her boots making crunching sounds through the grass. “Hey,” she said, “Tom and I were just having fun. It’s not easy to laugh nowadays.”
Conrad didn’t look at her. “It’s not exactly easy to laugh at it. After all, once upon a time, you didn’t find me such a joke to be around.”
“It’s not that. Oh God, I’m sorry.” Sarah sighed. “With everyt
hing that’s happened, I guess you’re not the crazy one.” She grabbed her shirt sleeve, looking away. “If you found somebody, that’s wonderful. Really. I had no idea.”
“You could have asked. Called. Written,” Conrad said. “I’d have been happy with smoke signals.”
Sarah shook her head. “This isn’t going to work. I’ll come with you, see Liam, and then Tom and I will find somewhere else to live.”
Conrad frowned. “Sarah, where the hell are you going to go? You can’t go back to Redmond. I don’t know if there’s a town out there that’s safe at all. No, you have to stay.”
“Conrad, can we really stay under one roof again, even if it’s different now? Even if we’re no longer at each other’s throats? Even if we’re just friends?”
Conrad scowled. “Well, that’s a pleasant surprise. I’m glad to be back up to the friend level. We didn’t exactly part on friendly terms.”
Sarah folded her arms. “No. No, we didn’t.” She sighed.
The two just stood there, looking away from each other. The old history wouldn’t stay silent, but it seemed neither of them could, or would, delve into it any further. For his part, Tom didn’t want to get in the middle of this at all. Instead, he drank more water and worried about resting his tired legs.
It was Conrad who broke the stalemate. “I’m not throwing you out of my home. You’re coming with me, and you’re staying. Liam’s there, and you should be with him, and, soon, your grandchild.”
Sarah’s mouth fell open. “My…grandchild?”