38

  Dusk was falling fast. Austin looked around the circle of people sitting around the small campfire they’d made. Everyone had the same look of sadness and despair. The losses they’d endured that day had been severe—more than enough to break their spirits. Even he was struggling to stay focused on the goal.

  Dr. Bastani sat up against a rock, her hands and ankles still bound. He wasn’t sure what to do with her. They’d just finished burying the dead and were all lost in their own thoughts. Savannah had barely spoken since she’d seen Nash. He hated that she’d insisted on saying goodbye, knowing the image of his beaten face would stay with her forever. He had warned her, and tried to prepare her, but it hadn’t been enough.

  “You may as well let me go,” Dr. Bastani snapped.

  Austin looked at her, realizing she was right. There was little she could to do to help them now. Amanda had told him the mine had been destroyed along with all the electrical equipment. He’d had the USB tucked safely away, buried in a plastic container under a few rocks, but without the laptop, what good was it? He’d decided to hide it before he’d left to get the doctor, just in case he was captured. He also hadn’t trusted Wendell not to take the thing and try to use it as leverage or sell it to the highest bidder. But now…

  “You’re right,” he grumbled. “You’ll have to walk back to your house. We can’t let you take a horse,” he told her.

  “You can’t let her go,” Ennis protested.

  Austin shrugged. “What’s the point of having her? She doesn’t want to be here, and there’s nothing she can do without the laptop.”

  Ennis got up and walked back to the hole in the ground, disappearing inside before emerging a few minutes later carrying the laptop bag.

  “What’s that?” Amanda asked.

  “Savannah insisted on taking this stupid thing. I told her to leave it, but she grabbed it anyways,” Ennis said with a grin.

  Austin turned to his daughter to congratulate her for her fast thinking, but the words died on his lips. She wasn’t paying attention. She had a dead look on her face as she stared at the flames. She was thoroughly traumatized. He’d seen the look before on the faces of soldiers who’d seen their buddies die in front of them.

  “She’s a smart kid,” he said softly, moving away from the crowd to retrieve the buried USB.

  He returned with the drive in hand and he stopped in front of the doctor, holding it up.

  “What do you want me to do with that?” she snapped.

  “I’ve already told you,” he said, his tone surly.

  She looked away. “I won’t do anything until you untie me.”

  “Don’t untie her, not yet,” Amanda said.

  Austin turned to look at her. “Why not?”

  “We need to figure out what we’re going to do first,” she said, her voice revealing her exhaustion.

  “I agree,” Ennis said, taking his seat once again, the laptop tucked against his side.

  Austin moved to sit down, looking at the somber faces around the fire. The devastation smoldering behind him was hard to look at.

  “We can move on,” he started, looking at Malachi and knowing he was essentially the leader of the revivalist group.

  “Where?” Mike asked.

  Austin shrugged. “I don’t know. I do know these mountains are littered with hunting cabins. We might be able to find one to take for our own.”

  “What if they keep looking for us?” Tonya asked.

  “They want us because of that USB,” Gretchen stated.

  Austin nodded. “That’s true. They want the USB, and their leader Zander has a personal vendetta against me. He’ll keep coming for me. If you want to leave and go separate ways, I don’t blame you a bit.”

  “Mom, we’re family now,” Malachi said in a hushed tone.

  Tonya took a deep breath before speaking. “He’s right. We’re a family now. All of us, we’ve gotten this far together. I think we stay together.”

  Austin gauged the reactions of the others, waiting to see if they would stay or go. He had no real personal connection with any of them, but he knew they’d die if they all tried to go it alone. He didn’t want anyone else to die.

  “Personally, I’m willing to stand behind you,” Wendell said.

  Austin turned to look at the man’s face. “Really??” Austin asked, knowing the guy was only trying to be nice now because he knew he’d pushed Ennis too far.

  “Yes. I’ll fight for you,” he said, his chin raised.

  Austin rolled his eyes. “Thanks,” he said sarcastically.

  Ennis was shaking his head, clearly disgusted by the sudden display of butt-kissing. Wendell had sobered up and realized his mistakes, but he’d burned the last bridge he’d had standing with Ennis. He had no friends in the house.

  One by one, though, the others had begun nodding, and Austin realized they were truly in this together now. He found he was glad for it.

  “Do we stay here tonight?” Malachi asked.

  Austin looked up at the sky and nodded. “I don’t think we have a choice. Everyone, sleep with your weapons close. We’ll take turns keeping watch. I want at least two people awake at all times. The faintest noise, the snapping of a twig, anything at all, you point and shoot. The rest of us will wake up in a hurry.”

  They were all going to bed hungry, but he doubted anyone would have been able to eat even if there had been food. The hits kept coming. It was enough to break even the strongest person.

  39

  Austin was exhausted. They had been moving for two weeks straight. Traveling on foot, taking turns riding the horses. They’d scavenged edible wilds, including some very good wild strawberries, but they were all in serious need of protein. They’d decided not to take the time to hunt, though. They wanted to keep moving, to put as much distance between themselves and the NWO as possible. It was a risk to deprive their bodies of nutrition, but as long as they ate a little something every day, including some really nasty bugs, they could survive for weeks.

  Fortunately, there had been no shortage of water. They had attempted to fish, catching a few tiny ones that they’d cooked on sticks. Malachi had managed to catch a few frogs, as well, but the meat they’d offered had been negligible. They were starving in a very literal sense. The walking meant more calorie burning, too, which wasn’t good for their long-term survival, but it was a necessary evil.

  Austin had chosen to walk most of the time, leaving the horses for the women, like Tonya and Savannah and the doctor, who weren’t as strong as the rest of them. His chivalry was wreaking havoc on his recently-healed leg. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

  He looked up, hearing the plodding of the horses’ hooves coming closer and spotted Amanda atop Raven with Malachi behind her on Charlie. They had ridden out, searching for one of the elusive hunting cabins he knew had to be around.

  “Found one!” Amanda said gleefully.

  He looked at the dark circles under her eyes, noticing how much weight she’d lost in her face since they’d set out two weeks earlier. The physical exertion, lack of sleep, and severe lack of food was taking its toll on everyone.

  “You found a cabin?” Tonya asked hopefully.

  Amanda was still grinning as she slid off the horse’s back. “We did. It’s maybe five miles west. We can make it by nightfall.”

  There were sounds of muted exhilaration at the thought of finally finding a place to call home, however temporary it might be; it would be a roof, at least. Malachi helped his mother into Charlie’s saddle, holding the reins and leading the way as they walked over the rocky ground. Austin guessed they were on the west side of the Rockies, probably in Utah.

  “Is it a cabin?” Austin asked Amanda.

  She nodded. “Yes—not big, but it is empty. We didn’t take a lot of time to scout around, but it didn’t look like anyone had been in it for a long time. I think it will do for now. We’ll all be very cozy.”

  “Anything is better than nothing at all,” he muttered.

  By the time they made it to the A-frame cabin, Austin felt as if he was at his wit’s end. He’d pushed himself to the max of his endurance. Despite his attempts to sleep at night, nightmares had kept him awake. He constantly felt like there was someone lurking in the shadows. They were all suffering from PTSD in one way or another.

  Everyone stumbled inside. There were only two chairs in the living area, and one at the tiny wood table. Tonya, Drew, who was still healing from his gunshot, and Gretchen were given the chairs while everyone else found a spot to rest on the floor. Even the good Dr. Bastani had been quiet over the last couple of days.

  “Now would be a good time for you to work on that file,” Austin said after they’d all had some time to rest.

  She shot him a glare. “No, thank you.”

  It was the same fight they’d had every evening when they’d stopped to rest through the nights. For whatever reason, the doctor refused to try opening the encrypted file with the software he was keeping safe. He didn’t trust her not to smash the discs, truth be told.

  “Look, you might hold the answer to making all of this go away. You alone might be the only person in the world who can unlock the key that shuts this thing down,” Austin said.

  The others around the room were staring at her. They were all angry with the woman for her obstinance and refusal to do the one simple task. He was seriously considering leaving her behind at this point, too. She was dead weight. Only the fact that she seemed to be their only real shot against the NWO had kept him dragging her along for this long.

  “I told you, I don’t want to know. Whatever is in that file is bad news. I don’t want to know what’s to come. Ignorance is bliss,” she retorted.

  Austin scoffed. “Ignorance is a lame excuse. You’re not an ignorant woman. You left the NSA because you knew something was coming. That was a cop-out. You ran and hid while they did their thing. Now’s your chance to make a difference,” he told her.

  She shook her head. “It’s too late. It’s already happening.”

  “If you’d seen the death in the cities, the starving children, you wouldn’t think that way,” Amanda said in a quiet voice.

  Dr. Bastani shrugged. “I chose to hide away. I knew I couldn’t live forever in my little hideout, and I was okay with that. I was okay with dying.”

  “You made that choice for everyone else, though,” Malachi interjected. “My dad died because you chose not to take a stand.”

  Dr. Bastani looked guilty, however briefly, but visibly pushed the emotion away. “I couldn’t have taken a stand. You don’t understand how powerful these people are. They would have killed me, just like they killed Callum.”

  Austin shook his head. “Callum died trying to stop it.”

  “And look what good that did. He died,” the doctor retorted.

  “You don’t have to read the information. Do whatever it is you do with those discs and I’ll read it. We’ll let you go as soon as you unlock that file,” Austin promised.

  “Do you really think you’re some kind of hero? Do you actually believe you can stop them?” she asked with disbelief.

  Austin mulled over the question. “I don’t know. I don’t know because I don’t know what it is I’m up against. I have to try. I’m not like you. I can’t run and hide and hope someone else will do something. I can’t roll over and die because trying is too hard. I have a kid to think about. I don’t know if you can understand that, but I cannot give up. It’s not an option.”

  Savannah offered him a faint smile before looking at the doctor. He couldn’t understand Bastani’s reluctance. His eyes drifted to Wendell, who was sitting near the doctor. Austin had been watching the guy for the last two weeks, as he tried to buddy up to the only person he hadn’t made mad.

  Dr. Bastani shook her head. “I can’t,” she replied.

  “Okay, fine, so tell me this,” he said with a sigh. “How much do you know about what they were planning? I mean, Callum said you figured out the plot long before he did, which is why you quit and ran. What is Blackdown? Nash tried to tell me about it before he died and I’ve seen it mentioned in a couple of the memos Callum stole. Have you heard about it?” he asked.

  The doctor’s eyes widened. “Blackdown?” she whispered.

  He nodded. “Yes. It was the last thing Nash said. Amanda said he was in the lair with computers and a functioning satellite. I’m assuming that’s where he heard it.”

  “Where’s that laptop?” she asked suddenly.

  Savannah looked at Austin before jumping up and grabbing the case. She delivered it to the doctor, who quickly fired up the machine.

  “Is it charged?” he asked, hoping the battery was still full from when he’d put it on the solar charger the day before, in the hopes that she would use the thing.

  Dr. Bastani nodded. “It is. Give me the discs,” she ordered.

  Austin jumped to his feet, his energy renewed at the thought of finally uncovering what it was that had gotten Callum killed. He handed her the discs and took a seat nearby. Everyone watched and waited.

  She looked up, seemingly surprised to see so many eyes on her. “This isn’t instant. Please don’t stare at me the whole time. It’s going to take some time,” she muttered.

  Austin burst into laughter and was soon joined by the others. Their emotional journey to find out what secrets the USB held was finally coming to an end. He knew the information was only the beginning to the next leg of their journey, but it was something. He was only sad Nash couldn’t be there to see what it was that was happening, but he had a feeling Nash had already figured it out before he’d died. Now it was their turn.

  End of Survive the Aftermath

  Small Town EMP Book Two

  Blurb

  The world has descended into a nightmarish hell. Death and destruction reign at every turn. Everywhere Austin Merryman has led his tightknit group of survivors has gone from bad to worse as enemies pursue them for the intelligence he possesses. Yet, his group remains steadfastly together even as the infighting continues.

  It’s only when the cryptologist traveling with them finally breaks through the last coded barrier, exposing the full extent of the data on the mysterious USB drive, that their luck finally seems to be turning. So many have already given their lives to secure the information, and now they know why.

  Now, a small window of opportunity remains for stopping the New World Order from succeeding in their plans, but Austin and his cohorts will have to move fast. Once again, splitting up may be their only option, but at what cost? And can they really launch the countermeasures that could take down the NWO’s plan for domination?

  But when the enemy closes in and lives of his entire group are threatened, Austin will be forced to choose between his family and the ultimate survival of the entire world…

  1

  Austin Merryman kept his guard up as he headed inside the small convenience store, Amanda Peterson right behind him. The place had been used to serve campers staying in the nearby RV park, and he knew it wasn’t likely they’d find any food, but they had to try. Months without any stores and surviving by the seat of his pants meant that just about anything he could loot from the store could be useful—anything they could carry off, anyway.

  Austin double-checked behind the store’s counter, but the place was empty. Most of the shelves were, too. Off to the side, he saw Amanda pick up some empty boxes from the shelves and then begin rummaging around in the counters beneath the old coffee station, looking for anything that could be useful. They’d learned a lot about improvising and repurposing regular everyday items, all to make living without electricity, running water, and even grocery stores possible.

  Leaving her to it, he ducked down to the lower shelves and began searching through the spaces that other scavengers were more likely to have missed. The place was empty enough that he figured that was about their only shot.

  “Transmission fluid and some oil,” Austin said, standing with the bottles of car fluids that had rolled under a shelving unit.

  “Good fuel,” she replied. From the look on her face, she hadn’t found anything to be excited about.

  With their limited loot in plastic bags, they walked back to the door, waiting and listening for any signs that there were other people around. Their scavenging mission was proving to be futile, like the one yesterday and the day before that. They’d hoped the small towns would provide something worthwhile, but destruction had become widespread. The towns had been abandoned for some time, but only after being thoroughly ransacked.

  “Clear,” Austin finally muttered, stepping outside with the Glock in his right hand, ready for whatever popped up.

  He would have killed for one of the ARs or M-4s they’d taken off the NWO back at the house, but their guns had been stolen right out of their hands days ago while they’d still been generally heading west toward a more temperate climate. Without any sure destination, that had been the fallback plan—to keep going and find somewhere they could hole up. They’d landed in an abandoned lodge that had seemed to have a lot of promise, but the nearby scavenging wasn’t offering much to live from. Those guns, though—he could still taste the anger over losing them. It was the way of the new world, though. A game of Yankee Swap. They kept their weapons, food, and gear only until someone came along and took it. Then, they in turn did the same thing to another group. It was a revolving door of easy come and easy go with weapons, especially. He was ready for the tide to turn back in their favor and allow them to stumble on more weaponry, but it hadn’t happened yet.

  Amanda pointed off to the side, away from where they’d come from. “Let’s head down that trail and see if we can find anything in the RVs. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  He nodded, his eyes scanning the area. “But where is everyone, seriously? Bed, kitchen, shelter, and porta-potties... why wouldn’t anyone make this their new home?” he pressed even as he followed her. Maybe this could work for their own needs.

 

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