The Gathering Storm (Surviving the Fall 2)

“What’s going on?”

Rick stood up and walked past an overturned vending machine from which he had procured several more bottles of water and looked out of a window. “Scattered gunfire, a lot of yelling and a few cars went by.”

“Did you see the buses or the soldiers?”

Rick sighed. “Nope. Not so much as a sign of them.”

Jane groaned and Rick turned before running back to her as she tried to sit up. “Hey, you need to take it easy.”

“I want to sit up.”

“Okay, okay. Hang on.” Rick grabbed a few more cushions and stuffed them between Jane and the wall behind her to prop her up in a sitting position. “That better?”

Jane nodded. “My stomach hurts, though.” Rick lifted her shirt a few inches and nodded. “Yeah, I was looking at the bruising earlier. You probably have some internal bleeding. I don’t know what I can do for you except tell you to keep still for at least tonight. We’ll see how you’re feeling in the morning, okay?”

Jane nodded and closed her eyes as she leaned her head back against the cushion behind her. “That sounds good. Then tomorrow we can get to that base and we can both get home.”

“Yeah.” Rick forced a smile as he watched Jane wriggle on the pile of cushions, trying to get comfortable. “I sure hope so.” After watching Jane for a few more minutes until he was sure she was back asleep, Rick stood up and walked back to the window.

“How the hell did I get myself into this mess?” He mumbled to himself again as he watched the rapidly waning sun. The natural sunlight would normally have been replaced by innumerable artificial lights from Sin City, but the only source of lighting he could see were the flickering twinkles of distant fires. Gunfire and screaming echoed from some far-off portion of the city and he turned to look at the room he had chosen for them to hole up in for the night.

The lumberyard was the type that was mostly outdoors with only a large roof to provide shade and minimal weather protection. The building attached to the roofed area, however, was fully enclosed and consisted of a sales floor, small warehouse, a few offices and a break room. The break room was where Rick had placed Jane before dropping everything except his shotgun and racing onto the sales floor. There he had grabbed the cushions off of several lawn chairs and brought them back to the break room where he arranged a bed for Jane to lay on.

After breaking the plastic on one of the vending machines and tipping the other one over to open it from the back, Rick had pulled out all of the food and drink from both. He then proceeded to use a roll of paper towels and a few bottles of water to make wet rags that he draped on Jane’s forehead, arms and legs to try and cool her down. As she had drifted in and out of consciousness he had forced her to drink as much water as he could, though he only managed to get a bottle of it into her.

As he stood with his back to the window watching Jane’s slow but steady breathing he realized that they would need a source of light in the next half hour before things got too dark. “Crap.” He had a flashlight in his bag but didn’t want to use it unless absolutely necessary and decided to see what the building had to offer instead. Rick headed back out onto the sales floor and scoured the place, eventually finding a pair of small battery-powered lanterns on a shelf behind one of the sales counters. He brought them back to the break room and set one on one of the tables before turning it on and stashing the second away in his backpack. The glow wasn’t enough to fill the entire room but it was bright enough that Rick could walk around without tripping on anything.

Don’t want it too bright anyway. Last thing we need to do is attract attention. He arranged a few more cushions on the opposite side of the room from Jane before checking on her again. Temperature’s going down. Good. Maybe she’ll feel better in the morning.

Chapter 8

Ellisville, VA

After thirty minutes of careful searching, Dianne sat down on a stump just outside the last outbuilding and breathed an enormous sigh. Her search had been fruitless, and for that she was exceptionally grateful. Not only were there no signs of anyone inside any of the buildings, there were no signs that anyone had been in them except for her and the kids. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, though, Dianne had spent a few minutes in the last building digging around in a collection of junk boxes until she found what she was looking for.

Five large, brass and steel padlocks with matching keys had been stored in one of the boxes. Dianne took four of them and used a Sharpie to mark each key and matching lock with a number. After doing so she tested the locks to make sure they closed and opened smoothly before stuffing the keys in her pocket and hanging the locks on her belt loop.

These should work well. Going to be a pain in the rear for letting al

l the animals in and out, but maybe we can let up some in a few days. Not knowing the source of the fire at the Carson’s house was still eating at her though having a bit of time to not think about it was helping her process the possibilities in a more rational manner.

It could have just been an accident. Their car wasn’t there so they had to have been gone. Maybe it was an electrical problem or part of their heat pump failed. The more Dianne thought about all of the possible sources for the fire the less worried she felt about herself, her property and—most especially—her children.

“Still.” Dianne started talking out loud to herself as she stood up and moved back toward the building she had just cleared. “It never hurts to be prepared.”

The first of the four brass locks went on a thick piece of chain hanging around the handles of the entrance to the barn. The next three locks went on the next three buildings, including the small shed that was built around their backup generator. Instead of moving the truck into the barn Dianne positioned it behind the house so that it wasn’t visible to anyone walking down the driveway and then she popped the hood, disconnected one of the battery cables and closed the hood back down.

“Should keep anyone from driving off with you.” Dianne patted the side of the truck and looked down at the buildings, fields and pond as she went through a mental checklist. All the buildings are safe and secured. Truck’s safe. House is safe. Okay, time to try and have a normal evening with the kids.

Dianne looked up at one of the second story windows and saw Mark peering back at her, the rifle in his hands. She waved at him and he opened the window and shouted down at her. “You coming inside, mom?”

Dianne held a finger to her lips before nodded vigorously. She headed for the back door and was about to unlock it when Mark appeared in the living room and undid the latch and the safety bar before sliding it open for her. “What’s wrong?” His face was covered in concern after she had motioned for him to be quiet.

“Nothing, kiddo; everything’s clear and safe.” Dianne took the rifle from his hands, ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber before nodding at him approvingly. “Well done. How’re the other two?”

“They’re fine. Jacob’s reading, Josie’s drawing.”

“Thanks for taking care of them. Did you see or hear anyone?”