The Complete Lee West Post-Apocalyptic Box Set, page 51
part #1 of The Complete Lee West Post-Apocalyptic Box Set Series
“Can you tell how many of them are in the stairwell?”
“No. We could hear the pounding of their steps but have no idea what we’re dealing with in terms of numbers. Most of our shooters are out of ammo. If they break through, it’ll be a slaughter!” she shouted, sounding frantic.
“Okay. We’ve got you. We’re headed up the stairwell behind them!”
Charlie knew the mission was possibly more dangerous than anything they had experienced before, if that was even possible.
He turned to the men with him and said, “I’m going in. I can’t sit here and allow those scumbags to kill more civilians, but I’m not ordering any of you to come with me. This is one hundred percent voluntary. No judgment for those who choose to rejoin the rest of the team.”
“I’m in,” said Feltzer without hesitation.
“Me too,” said Ryan.
“This ends tonight. Let’s do this,” said Tucker.
The four men sprinted across the entrance to the emergency room. Once inside, Charlie was momentarily blinded by the darkness inside the hospital. The team silently fanned out as they moved cautiously toward the stairwell.
Inside the stairwell, they waited and listened. They could hear the pounding Jane had described. It sounded like the men were trying to kick down the doors.
“That’s weird. It doesn’t sound like they’re in the same stairwell,” whispered one of the men.
“No. If I recall correctly, there’s a second, internal stairwell. That must be the one they’re in. We should be relatively safe going up one more floor to the second level,” said Charlie.
The small team moved with quiet precision through the dark stairwell. At the top of the stairs, Charlie stopped the team.
“Look over there! We need to get to that stairwell. Look alive and watch your backs!”
Once inside the second-floor stairwell, the pounding sound intensified. It was obvious the men were one flight above them, trying to kick in the door.
“The hell with it! This fucking door ain’t going nowhere. Let’s get outta here!” said one of the New Order men.
“No fucking way! I’ve been looking forward to getting some conti. No way am I leaving this close to a buzz fix!” shouted another New Order man.
Charlie and his team crept up the staircase slowly, counting on the pounding to mask the sound of their footfalls. Once they were on the final landing, they were able to see the New Order men. Six heavily armed men stood at the door, each taking turns kicking the door.
Charlie gave the officers a hand signal, and at once they sprayed the men with bullets, dropping them to the ground before they even knew what had happened.
“Get their weapons and ammo! We need to hit the New Order from the hospital bunker!”
The men dove toward the front bunkers, concentrating their fire on any New Order men still standing. As each tense moment passed, the fighting started to slow to a trickle and then finally to deathly silence. The New Order had been defeated.
Chapter Forty-Two
The next morning, Jane sat by Sam’s bedside, holding his hand. He looked terrible. The hospital was a complete mess. All of the remaining glass had been shot out, blood covered the floors and windows of the second floor, and bodies were all over the ground. The police worked through the night to move the dead New Order men. They were concerned about the civilians, particularly the children, seeing the macabre scene in the morning light. The less they knew, the better. Jane had been up all night as part of the cleanup crew.
“You look worse than I feel,” said Sam groggily.
Perking her head back up and looking into his eyes, Jane kissed Sam’s forehead and said, “Welcome back. You missed all the fun.”
“What happened?”
“We beat the New Order. Charlie estimates that over sixty New Order men went down last night. We’re hopeful that we’ve managed to kill the last ones from Evansville and Grant. Later today, I’m leaving with a team to head to Evansville.”
“Please don’t. I hate to sound like a wimp, but just this once, please sit out and let others do their jobs.”
“You know I can’t do that. Besides, this is different. There will be a large number of us and hopefully very few of them. When we’re sure Evansville is clear, I plan to swing by Doris’s house to grab Lea.”
A young exhausted-looking doctor walked up to Sam’s bedside. His scrubs were covered in blood.
“How are you feeling?” he asked Sam.
“Tired and sore.”
“You should be. You took quite a hit, but we managed to dig out the bullet and stitch you back up. A couple of days of rest and you should be feeling like getting back to your golf game.”
“Very funny.”
“I aim to please. The nurse will be around with more pain relievers and some water. Just try to rest.”
“Thank you, Doctor, for everything,” said Jane.
“You and the other officers are the ones who should be thanked. I’m just doing my job.”
“Me too,” she said with a slight smile.
Chapter Forty-Three
Charlie sat in the lead vehicle heading into Evansville. The police decided to send a sizable team to the town in order to fight any remaining New Order men. They couldn’t take any chances that the men they’d fought were only half of the New Order ranks.
Once the team was approximately half a mile outside town, they pulled over, concealing their vehicles in the underbrush. The men and women got out of their vehicles and waited for orders.
“Charlie, Wheeler and I will be on point. The rest of you stay concealed and wait for my orders. I want to know what we’re getting into before we roll into town.”
The men jogged the short distance on the main road and then veered into the forest.
“Let’s fan out. Meet back here in fifteen minutes on my mark,” said Charlie.
The three men synchronized their watches and darted in different directions. Charlie headed south toward the section of town where the library stood. He settled himself into a high branch of a substantial oak tree and peered through his binoculars. Nothing moved. From his vantage point, he could see down the main road in town. However, there were neither civilians nor the New Order out on the streets. The town appeared to be completely abandoned.
Checking his watch, he quickly descended from the tree and ran to join the others.
“You see anything?” asked Mark.
“Nothing. Like the entire town has been emptied out.”
“Same on my side,” said Mark.
“Maybe we did manage to crush them last night? Whoever was left might’ve just run. Who knows,” offered Wheeler.
“The civilians might not be willing to come out just yet. Or are so accustomed to hiding that they don’t feel safe to come out,” said Charlie.
“Who can blame them after everything that has gone down,” said Mark.
“I still don’t feel comfortable bringing the entire team into town. We could be driving into an ambush.”
“Agreed.”
“Let’s get ourselves into town. We can pick our way through the yards and buildings. That way, we might get a better idea of what we’re looking at,” said Charlie.
The team dispersed into Evansville. Charlie moved cautiously, snaking his way through the town. All of his senses were on high alert as he moved. His badge shone in the sunlight. The officers had decided to go into Evansville in full uniform, believing it would help the civilians distinguish them from the New Order.
A door opened in the house behind him. He swung around and then dropped to the ground to meet the threat.
“Finally! Took you guys long enough!” said a man, stepping onto his stoop.
The heavyset, dirty and disheveled man walked toward Charlie. Prominent sweat stains could be seen on both sides of his grubby shirt. Scratching his filthy beard, he said, “We’ve been waiting for help out here. Did you bring any food or water?”
Exasperated, Charlie didn’t know how to respond. He clearly did not expect this sort of reception, but knew full well that police work was not about gratitude, it was about service.
“We’re working on it, sir. Can you tell me what’s been happening in town the last twenty-four hours?”
“Sure as shit can. Nothing. That’s all. Just a whole lotta nothing. Those New Order guys, or whatever they call themselves, just took off burning out of town last night and haven’t returned.”
“You sure? Do you know if they all left?”
“I’m guessing so. I take Lulu out every morning and didn’t see any of those assholes. Jerks thought they could scare us, huh, Lulu?” said the man, scooping up a Chihuahua.
“Anything else you can tell me?”
“Yeah, we’re starving and would appreciate some police assistance.”
Charlie couldn’t help but notice the man’s very rotund stomach and knew the lack of food and water hadn’t been too much of an imposition on the man.
“Over here!” a woman shouted. “We need help!”
“Thank you, sir, we’re working on the food and water situation.”
Charlie sprinted to the woman who was flagging him down.
“He needs to be taken to the hospital!”
Entering the quiet, dark house, Charlie took a moment to let his eyes adjust. On the bed lay Officer Fred Dale. He was unconscious but breathing; a thin layer of sweat covered his pasty white forehead.
“We watched him jump out of the church’s bell tower last night. He hit the landing, bounced off and then dropped to the ground. We figured he had to be a cop, so we went out to grab him as soon as those idiots drove out of here.”
“This is Officer Dale. He was working undercover to assist us in learning about the New Order presence in town. We feared he was dead,” said Charlie.
“Thank goodness you guys are here. We need the help. Those thugs tore through the town. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m Josh Lowe, by the way. And this is my wife, Jean,” said the man.
“Nice to meet you both. I’m Officer Charlie Stout from the Evansville Police Department. I need to call in for help. Are you sure there are no other New Order men in town?” asked Charlie.
“Oh yeah. We’re sure. We’ve been counting them and watching since they arrived,” said Jean.
“Mostly because we had nothing else to do. Spying on them helped to stave off the boredom.”
“I’ll be right back,” said Charlie.
Charlie stepped outside the home to meet up with Mark and Wheeler.
“Civilians said they watched the New Order men leave and not return. What did you guys see?” asked Charlie.
“Same where I went. In fact, I had a few civilians standing on their porches applauding me as I tried to sneak around. So much for being concealed,” said Officer Wheeler.
“I think the town is safe. I’ll call for the others to join us,” said Charlie.
Charlie radioed to the waiting officers that they could come into town. The New Order was gone for good. As the police drove into town, more and more civilians came out of their houses. Some wept with relief; others applauded or offered the officers what little supplies they had on hand. It would take time, but their towns would recover.
Chapter Forty-Four
Jane and Sam borrowed a car from the Porter police station and drove to find Lea. The people at Doris’s house knew that the New Order had been defeated, and were elated. Jane could hardly contain her excitement to see Lea.
“Do you think she’ll be okay going back home?” asked Sam.
“Let’s hope so. Tank and crew did a number on it, but it’s still our home.”
Sam turned the car slowly into Doris’s unmarked driveway. The long drive snaked through the trees until opening up into a large circular drive. He pulled the car right in front of Doris’s house.
Jane couldn’t believe everything they had been through at the house. The beautiful white farmhouse stood as an oasis in the chaos around them.
“Mom! Dad!” Lea yelled and ran down the steps toward them.
Lea slammed her body into Jane, almost knocking her over.
“I’m so happy to see you! You look amazing!” said Jane, holding Lea’s face in her hands.
“I feel great! All this country air was just what I needed. Dad, you look terrible,” she said.
“Really? And I tried to pretty myself up for you,” he said with a wink, pulling her into him.
“He was shot, but he’ll be fine.”
“My, my, aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes!” said Doris from her porch.
“Doris! Thank you for taking such great care of our baby!” said Jane.
“It was my pleasure. Ms. Lea is an excellent farmer. I’d love to have her back for the summer. Could use the company now that everyone has gone. I guess I sort of got used to having more people around. Seems kind of lonely to be here all alone.”
“Don’t you worry about that at all. We’ll be back frequently to visit you. It’ll get to the point that you get tired of seeing us,” said Sam.
“You’re part of the family now, Doris,” said Jane, hugging her.
The family drove back into Evansville; they needed to check their storage locker. Sam had put a tremendous amount of effort into planning for all sorts of disasters. Although he had some things stored at home, most of the family’s survival gear was located at a storage unit in Evansville.
“What do you think we’ll find at the storage unit?” asked Jane as they drove.
“Hard to say. Tank and his men were actively searching the units, but I put the shims in place. It would’ve been hard for them to open the door if they weren’t aware of the blocks,” said Sam.
“If all of our food is gone, I’m going back to Doris’s house,” said Lea.
“We all might do that,” said Jane.
Jane pulled into the Store-Right storage facility through the busted gate. Tank and his guys had been thorough. It seemed like they’d ripped through every unit on one side of the lot. She drove past the opened units toward the back of the facility to their locker. The door to their locker was still closed.
“That’s a good sign,” said Sam.
They got out of the car excitedly, hopeful their supplies would still be there.
“Let me pull out the shims and we should be in business,” said Sam.
He pulled out the concealed shims, which he had previously wedged on the rails to prevent anyone from opening the door. With a strong yank of the handle, Sam rolled the door up on its rails into the open position. The wall of discarded household goods stood exactly as it had been when they’d fled from the facility, trying to get away from Tank.
“Thank god!” said Jane tearfully.
“We made it. We’re going to be just fine,” said Sam, hugging her.
Chapter Forty-Five
Lea sat on the front porch of her parents’ house with a couple of the neighborhood kids. A convoy of National Guard trucks, loaded with supplies, streamed down the street, splitting up at the intersection to reach different parts of the town. Supply trucks from the Guard came every other day, like clockwork. The men and women handed out bottled water and plenty of food to the people in Evansville. They said the electricity might not come on again for a very long time. No official word had been given to the public, but members of the National Guard told them a two-punch hit had knocked out the power. All the power grids across the nation had failed simultaneously, most likely followed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) blast. They suspected the grid had been hacked shortly before the EMP strike to temporarily conceal the critical damage done by the electromagnetic pulse.
“Do you want to braid my hair, Lea?” asked Bella, one of the little girls.
“Sure, sit down here,” she said.
The other two girls watched her hands move quickly, forming a perfect French braid.
“I’m next!” squealed another one.
As the girls switched spots, Lea looked down the street toward town. A red Trans Am slowed and then turned the corner—heading straight toward their house. Tank was back.
“Get inside! Now!” she screamed at the stunned kids.
The girls scrambled to their feet and allowed her to push them inside. She quickly ran through the house, closing windows and locking the doors. Tank stomped up the wooden porch steps and banged on the door.
“Let me in, bitch! We’ve got some unfinished business!” he roared.
The girls were screaming hysterically, unsure what to do.
“Go! Hide in the basement!” she yelled, as she silently directed the girls upstairs.
Tank’s fists were replaced with swift kicks as he tried to break in the door. He kicked at the handle until the wood frame splintered, allowing him to shove in the door.
“Honey! I’m home!” he yelled through the house.
Lea knew Tank would waste no time getting to her, and she was right. He moved swiftly through the house to the basement door.
“You think you can hide from me! You dumb bitch!”
She could hear Tank running down the basement stairs, where he thought she’d be hiding.
“What the fuck!” he screamed.
She stood at the top of the steps, pointing a shotgun down into the darkness. She could hear him knocking over shelves and boxes as he searched for her. Giving up, he mounted the steps, taking two at a time in a full rage—unaware she was standing over him.
“Looking for me, Tank?”
He looked up into her eyes. Rage and hate were all she could see, and all she could feel.
“You wouldn’t dare, you dumb bitch!” he growled and lunged toward her.
The blast hit him straight on, the double-ought buckshot punching several large holes in his wide, muscular chest. Blood sprayed in every direction, hitting her face. Tank clutched his chest with one hand while grasping the railing next to him with the other. He teetered there for a moment—a moment too long for Lea. She racked the shotgun and raised the barrel until all she could see were his dumb confused eyes through the sights. The second blast removed any doubt about Tank surviving to torment her again. It also removed his head. Sam and Jane burst into the house a few seconds later.
