Survival: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival series (Cloverdale Book 2)

  SURVIVAL

  Cloverdale, Book Two

  Bruno Miller

  Would you survive?

  Vince Walker and the remaining survivors from the town of Cloverdale, Indiana continue to come to terms with their new reality. Accepting the fact that the country has been thrust into nuclear war with an unknown enemy means they must forget their former lives and forge ahead.

  The affects of the EMP blasts have left the survivors with no utilities, and no communication with the world outside of their once sleepy little town. A power surge also resulted in widespread fires, destroying most buildings and homes, leaving few resources intact.

  The challenge of living is made even tougher by a roving gang of looters that will stop at nothing short of killing Vince and his crew in order to take what few supplies remain.

  Can they outlast their enemies? Or will the fight for survival become their last stand?

  Survival: Cloverdale, Book Two

  Copyright © 2019 Bruno Miller

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  Table of Contents

  SURVIVAL

  About the Book

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Vince rubbed his eyes as he tried to come to terms with what Mary was telling him. Were the looters really back already? Why hadn’t the person on watch blown the horn? Or did he, but Vince was just sleeping too hard to hear it? The last thing he remembered was scratching Nugget’s head and waiting for Mary to come out of the bathroom. He felt like he had only been out for a few minutes, not nearly long enough to get any rest.

  “What should we do?” Mary asked, interrupting his thoughts as he struggled to shake off the sleepiness that overwhelmed him.

  “Are the others up?” Vince asked. If the looters were back, they would need everyone on deck and ready to fight.

  “Cy was going to check in on everyone and make sure they were up,” Mary answered. Nugget whined at the door as the sound of footsteps moved past the room outside. In the dim light, Vince struggled to make out the time on his watch as the beam from Mary’s flashlight bounced around the room. He was disappointed to see that it was three in the morning. Vince had hoped that the overindulgence in alcohol would eventually put the looters out of commission for the night and buy them some time. He was at least expecting his people to have the night for some much-needed rest and maybe have a chance to organize themselves in the morning before another attack.

  “Hey, you should probably turn that light off,” Vince said. Then it dawned on him that the others probably had their flashlights going as well. The looters knew their location, but that didn’t mean they needed to advertise which rooms they were in. He quickly pulled on his boots, realizing that he needed to take control of things before any more mistakes were made.

  He grabbed the shotgun leaning next to the bed and used it to push himself up to his feet. The soreness in his back and muscles was a painful reminder of what they had endured yesterday. And now it was starting all over again and much too soon.

  “Wait here while I find out what’s going on,” Vince said.

  “Be careful.” Mary pulled Nugget back from the door as Vince reattached his holster and tucked the .45 back into it.

  Vince nodded. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Make sure your shotgun is loaded and ready for action.”

  “It is,” Mary confirmed.

  Once outside the room, Vince was greeted with the strong smell of smoke and what he thought was burned rubber. Reminded of how overwhelming the thick air was, he pulled his T-shirt up over his face. He had loaned his makeshift mask to Tom but couldn’t remember what he had done with the extra hardware store masks. But there was no time to worry about that now.

  He glanced down the covered walkway that ran in front of the motel rooms, looking for any signs of activity. Sure enough, just as he had suspected, he could see traces of light bleeding through the thin curtains from inside the rooms. The large windows that faced the road would give away their location. He knocked on the first door next to his and Mary’s room and was greeted almost immediately by a clearly excited Bill. Bill stepped outside and was about to close the door, but Vince stopped him. “Tell your wife to turn off the flashlight or at least keep it down low.”

  Bill leaned back into the room and relayed the message before closing the door and joining Vince outside. “I saw headlights coming from that direction.” Bill pointed toward the interstate.

  Vince couldn’t make out anything through the thick smoke. He was disappointed to see the smoke hadn’t thinned any since he’d last been outside. Of course, he wasn’t surprised or expecting it to improve much; it had only been a few hours and there were numerous fires still raging in the distance.

  “How many?” Vince asked.

  “I only saw one set, but it’s hard to tell with all the smoke. I beeped the horn as soon as I saw them and then went door to door, waking people up.” Bill clutched his rifle in both hands.

  “You did good. I need you to take your position back in the truck and honk the horn if you see them again. I’ll go check on the others and get them into position,” Vince said.

  “Okay, Major.” Bill headed back to the truck as Vince moved on to the Morgans’ room. He was about to knock when Reese cracked the door open and did her best to hold Buster back. She looked tired—and understandably so. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to block the doorway with her legs. Buster managed to force his nose through the small opening and sniffed wildly at the outside air.

  “My dad’s coming. Just getting his shoes on.” Reese struggled to keep Buster from gaining any more ground.

  “Okay, tell him to meet us at the truck. You and your mom stay in the room and keep your flashlights off, okay?”

  “Okay. I’ll tell him.” She grabbed Buster’s collar and pulled him back but stopped before closing the door. “Are those same people back?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, but just to be safe, lock yourselves in after your dad leaves.”

  “Okay.” She sighed and disappeared behind the door.

  Heavy footsteps came from ahead before Cy and Tom appeared out of the smoke. They had come from the parking l
ot and were moving fast. Just then, Bill blew the truck horn twice, and Vince could hear him get out and slam the door.

  “Someone’s coming,” Cy huffed as he and Tom came to a sudden stop near Vince.

  “Looks like just one vehicle,” Tom added.

  Bill appeared and joined the group. “What do we do?”

  Vince looked at their faces as he thought about the best course of action. It seemed strange that there was only one car this time. If anything, he expected even more of the looters to show up and to bring everything they had. After the last incident, the looters wouldn’t want to take any chances. Vince was beginning to think this was someone else, but there was no way of knowing for sure and no reason to let his guard down.

  “We need to split up,” Vince said. “If there’s going to be another gunfight, we need to draw their fire away from the motel. Bill, I want you at the south corner of the property. Not too far. Find a place to hide where you can see the parking lot and the rooms.” Vince pointed to the far end of the motel.

  “What about us?” Tom asked.

  “You two, come with me.” Vince started for the opposite corner of the motel property, looking back to make sure Cy and Tom were following close behind. Now that he thought about it, he regretted not setting up some type of roadblock. Even if it didn’t stop the looters and they drove around the obstacle, it would have given Vince and his people a defensible position ahead of the motel and a chance to cut them off before they got too close. He was disappointed with himself for not thinking about that sooner, but he chalked it up to being exhausted and tried to focus on what he was going to do now.

  He stopped at the corner of the motel office and looked around. There were two large dumpsters along the side of the building, and he directed Cy to take up a position behind them. From there, he would have a clear line of sight to the road that led in from the interstate, and the AR-15 would have the range needed to make an effective shot from that distance.

  “Cy,” Vince said.

  “Yeah, Dad?”

  “Don’t hesitate to shoot. These people mean business. They’re killers. Remember that,” Vince cautioned. Cy acknowledged his warning with a quick nod before turning and heading off toward the dumpsters. Vince never imagined he’d be giving his son instructions to shoot at people, not in his wildest dreams. But here he was, doing just that.

  Vince and Tom continued to the edge of the road and made their way into the drainage ditch that ran along the edge of North Main. It wasn’t very deep, but in the darkness and if they went prone, it would conceal them—at least long enough so they could get the jump on whoever was coming. It would also get them close enough for the shotguns to be effective.

  Vince could see the headlights now as he and Tom crouched down and moved along the ditch bank. Vince stopped behind a utility box and decided it was a good place for Tom to hide.

  “You stay here. I’m going a little farther down to that telephone pole. You still have the slugs I gave you?”

  Tom pulled them out of his shirt pocket and held them out.

  “Good, load them in your gun and be ready to back me up.” Vince turned and continued forward, making sure to keep a low profile as he went. Moving like this hurt his back, but the vehicle was close now and he didn’t want to risk being seen. He crouched on the ground when he reached the pole and laid the shotgun down next to him.

  Vince glanced back down the ditch and saw that Tom was ready as well. Nothing to do now but wait and see who this was.

  Chapter Two

  As the vehicle drew closer, Vince could make out the round headlights, and for a moment, he thought it was a Jeep. But as the small SUV emerged from the dense smoke and took shape, Vince recognized the square outline of John Rice’s ’75 Ford box-top Bronco and the unmistakable baby blue paint job and white hard top.

  Vince rose from the ground as quickly as his aching body would allow and walked onto the road in front of the approaching vehicle. He waved his arms and the shotgun over his head as a sense of dread came over him. What if it wasn’t John? What if someone had taken his truck? Maybe he should have let the vehicle pass before giving up his hiding spot, just in case.

  But it was too late now. He was in the headlights, and whether it was John or not, he’d been spotted for sure. The old Bronco’s brakes squealed as it came to a stop several feet in front of Vince. The door opened, and Vince was relieved to see John step out and approach him.

  “Major, is that you?” John asked.

  Vince met a dirty and tired John at the front of the truck. “It’s me all right. You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

  “The feeling is mutual.” John let out a heavy sigh, and instead of their usual stiff handshake, John embraced Vince with a hug and hung on to him for a second. It was then that Vince knew something was wrong. He could see by the expression on John’s face that he was struggling to keep it together. He thought it was strange that John was alone but initially dismissed the concern, hoping that his wife and kids were somewhere safe and that John had left them behind while he ventured out. But Vince’s gut told him something different, and he didn’t have the nerve to ask John if they were all right.

  John let go of Vince and stepped back as Tom approached them from his hiding spot behind the utility box.

  John started shaking his head, and Vince knew the answer to the question he’d been reluctant to ask.

  “It’s all gone.” John sniffed and wiped at his eyes. “Carroll, the house, my life, everything. It’s all gone. The house was engulfed in flames by the time I got there. There was nothing I could do.” He looked down at the ground as Tom walked up to where they were standing.

  “It’s good to see you, John. We thought it was the looters coming back for round two,” Tom said.

  “Looters?” John cleared his throat and struggled to regain his composure.

  “Yeah, we had a run-in with a group that came from the interstate in cars and four-wheelers. They were going to clean my place out, and we got into a gunfight with them.” Vince paused and glanced back at Tom before continuing. “They shot Jim from the motel. He didn’t make it.”

  John shook his head in disgust. “I can’t believe it’s come to this already.”

  “We managed to get a few of them. The bodies are in the field out behind my shop if you want to take a look,” Vince said.

  “No point in that. I’ve seen enough for one day and I’m exhausted. I had to drive all the way around town and come up the interstate. The streets are a mess and impassable right now. With all the buildings collapsed, there’s debris all over the roads. I didn’t want to risk it and blow the tires out on the truck.” John looked back at the Bronco, and as he faced the headlights, Vince could see just how exhausted and dirty he looked.

  “Why don’t we head over to the motel? We’re all holding up there until things settle down,” Vince said.

  “Or longer,” Tom added.

  “How many survivors?” John asked.

  Vince shook his head. “So far, there are twelve of us. We tried to look for more, but we couldn’t get through. The smoke was too thick. Mary and I nearly got trapped over on Lewis Avenue. It got pretty hairy over there in the older section of town, and on top of everything else there were a lot of gas tanks going off like bombs. It’s like a war zone in town. Maybe worse.”

  Tom shrugged. “I haven’t heard any explosions for a while now.”

  “Yeah, but there are still plenty of fires burning out there,” John said. “It probably won’t be safe to venture back into town for another day or so at least.”

  “Why don’t you come back to the motel with us and we’ll get you set up in one of the rooms,” Vince said. “You look like you could use some rest.”

  “Yeah, I could,” John agreed.

  John offered Vince and Tom a ride back to the motel in his truck, but when he saw the back seat of the Bronco, Tom said he would walk back. John had managed to salvage a few things from his squad car and the sh
ed at his house, all of which was stuffed into the back seat. Vince was glad to see a few two-way radios among the gear.

  As Vince and John made their way back to the motel, Vince tried to give John a quick rundown on their situation and who was staying at the motel. He also filled him in on his thoughts about getting the power back up and running and offered to take him over to the garage so he could clean up a little, but John seemed distant and said he’d rather just get to the motel.

  Vince was once again reminded of how lucky he was to have his son with him, safe and sound—and also how unfortunate so many others were to have lost it all. He wanted to tell John about his plans and thoughts for the coming days but restrained himself in an effort not to overwhelm him with information. There would be time for all that later. Right now, John needed rest and a chance to process all that had happened.

  When they pulled into the motel parking lot, a small group of survivors met them. Mary led the pack. She was the first one to him and had her arms open. She embraced John without hesitation and held on to him for a while. Tom had reached the motel before them by cutting through the grass and had obviously informed the others of John’s situation.

  He struggled to keep it together as Mary finally released him and stepped back so the others could say hello.