The Gathering Storm (Surviving the Fall 2)

Rick and the woman made it to the building he had pointed out from the bus and they ducked inside the lobby. It was an office building of some type judging by the décor and layout, though that mattered little to Rick. The only thing he was concerned about was getting off of the street and making sure both he and the woman from the bus were safe.

“Come on, over here.” Rick spoke quietly to the woman as he guided her into a chair. “Let me look at your stomach again.” The woman lifted up her shirt and Rick gulped as he saw that the bruising was even worse than it looked. “What’s your name?” He helped her put her shirt back down before taking off his backpack and gun case.

“Jane.” The woman’s eyes were still wide and she kept looking around the lobby of the building nervously.

“Nice to meet you, Jane. I’m Rick.” Rick dug through his backpack, pulling out wet clothing and supplies until he found a water bottle that was undamaged. “Here, drink this.” Jane accepted the water bottle gratefully and took several large gulps before handing it back to Rick.

“Thanks. Where are we?” The look in Jane’s eyes made Rick wonder if she was suffering from shock and he then wondered if he was suffering from it as well. His whole body was shaking and he could feel his heart still racing. He closed his eyes and sat down on the floor, taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves before replying.

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure where we’re at in the city.” More gunfire came from down the street as he spoke, though it was far enough away that he didn’t jump at the sound. “Are you from Vegas, Jane?”

She shook her head. “No… I’ve never been here before.”

“Hm.” Rick pursed his lips. “That makes two of us. If we had a map that’d be extremely helpful. I guess at this point we just have to rely on a compass.”

“Where are you going?” A look of concern flashed across Jane’s face as Rick started picking through the supplies in his backpack and on the floor, looking for a compass he knew he stuffed inside when he was at the sporting goods store.

“We are going to get to the Nellis air base on the Northeast side of the city. I won’t leave you behind, especially with how injured you look.” Ha! Rick grabbed the compass out of the backpack and stuffed it in his pocket. Here we go!

“What about all the gunfire out there?”

Rick shook his head. “I wish I knew what was going on. The soldier in the bus said there’s been a lot of gang activity. I didn’t expect a warzone after only a couple of days, though. Especially in a city this size. Where are you from, anyway?”

Jane was staring off into the distance again and he had to repeat his question before she answered. “I was… visiting L.A. Everybody said to get out of the city so I just started driving east.”

“You got anyplace in particular you’re trying to get to?”

Jane shook her head at first before nodding slowly. “Colorado. I flew in from Colorado. Wait… my rental car! I left it behind!”

Rick raised an eyebrow as Jane’s mutterings became less coherent. “Take it easy, okay? Don’t worry about your car or anything else. Just sit there and take it easy. I’m going to see what’s going on outside and see if we can get going to Nellis soon, okay?”

Jane nodded but Rick could tell she was barely paying attention to him. He sat his backpack on a chair down from her and put the gun case with the rifle inside of it over his back, picked up his shotgun from the floor and moved toward the front of the building. The sun was still high in the sky and the heat showed no signs of letting up as he scanned the street up and down in front of the building. So much for that fall weather, huh? Who builds a city in the middle of the desert like this. I mean come on already.

Rick sighed and headed back inside the building and grabbed his backpack. The jacket he had been wearing went into his backpack and he pulled out one of his last remaining bottles of water and a couple of energy bars. “It looks clear out there. We should get moving and see if we can find the convoy or something. We can at least get moving towards the air base and hopefully get there by tonight or tomorrow.”

Jane nodded and stood up slowly, holding her stomach as she walked towards the entrance to the building. “Here.” Rick held out one of the energy bars and Jane accepted it gratefully. “Try to take it slow there, okay? No telling how beat up you are inside.”

As Jane ate the energy bar, Rick stepped out of the building and into the hot sun. The variation in temperatures—down into the forties the previous night and what felt like the nineties or hundreds in the Vegas sun—turned his stomach. “If you’re ready,” he said as he put his pack back on, “then we should get going.”

Jane nodded and followed Rick out of the building and they started down the street, heading in the general direction of both the convoy and the gunshots from earlier. The shots had died down and Rick hadn’t heard any more in the last few minutes, though he was still wary as they walked down the street. “I really wish we had a map. I think we came in at the south or southwest side of the city, though, so as long as we keep heading northeast I would think we’ll see signs for Nellis at some point soon.”

Rick stayed close to the buildings on their side of the street as he and Jane went along. He kept his walking speed slow, both for his sake and hers. As his adrenaline from running into the building and away from the gunfire started to dissipate he realized that his hands were still hurting. He looked at one of them and grimaced at the myriad of small cuts in it as well as the bits of metal and rock that had been ground into the skin. Probably should have cleaned that up when we were back there. Rick sighed and tried to ignore the pain in his hands as he adjusted his grip on the shotgun.

After half an hour of walking passed, Rick finally saw a street sign that indicated they were on the right path. “Hey!” Rick turned to Jane and pointed at the sign. “Nellis is only fifteen miles away. We can make that by tonight if we hurry.”

Jane tried to put on a smile but the pain in her eyes was immediately obvious to Rick. “Are you okay?” She put her hand out on the building next to them to prop herself up, but she began to sink down as her knees started to buckle.

“Jane?” Rick ran back to her and grabbed her, then looked for a place where they could rest. A sign across the street caught his eye and he started walking towards it while supporting her on his shoulder. “A lumber yard? I guess it’s better than nothing.”

Chapter 6

Ellisville, VA

The entire two-story house was engulfed in flames that licked toward the sky as they sent torrents of grey and black clouds billowing upward. The conflagration was so intense that Dianne had to back the truck up and park off the side of the driveway before stepping out for fear of the intense heat.

“Jacob, Josie—I want you two in the truck. Mark, you get in the back and get the rifle. Don’t load it, just sit in the back with it, okay?”

Mark nodded and jumped out and into the back of the truck. Dianne got out and held her rifle in both hands, her eyes scanning the fields and tree line around the house in search for what could have started the blaze. It had only taken them around thirty minutes to visit the Statler’s house and in that time she found it hard to imagine what could have caused the Carson’s house to erupt into an inferno.