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

  This was no game, and the looters had established the stakes when they shot and killed Jim at the motel and continued to fire on him and Bill. The time for thinking was over—it was time for action.

  Chapter Ten

  John sped up gradually as he closed the last couple of yards between the Jeep and the ATV. Before Vince knew it, they were nearly side by side with the four-wheeler. The rider noticed the Jeep at the last second and turned his head, but it was too late.

  Vince saw the terrified expression on the rider’s face as he pulled the trigger and flames leaped from the end of the barrel. He hit him squarely in the chest, exactly as Vince intended. He didn’t want to take any chances and have the shot deflected by the helmet, although at that short distance, it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

  The rider was blown sideways off the ATV, and the limp body rolled along the shoulder of the road before coming to a stop in the grass. The ATV swerved left, into the front fender of the Jeep, and ricocheted off in the opposite direction until it turned sideways and they passed it.

  Vince watched in the sideview mirror as the ATV flipped violently several times until it finally landed upside down and slid off the road in a shower of sparks. For a second, the man’s face flashed through Vince’s mind. Then he shook away the thought and turned his full attention to the next looter in line.

  John nodded. “Good job! Looks like nobody noticed, either.”

  Vince found that hard to believe as his ears still rung from the blast of the shotgun. Even with the Jeep’s top down, the report of the gun had echoed off the front windshield and left him reeling a little from the shockwave. He made a mental note to lean out past the body of the vehicle next time he took a shot.

  Tom must have noticed he was a little rattled; he leaned up and put his hand on Vince’s shoulder. “I got the next one. Hold her steady, John.”

  With that, Tom began to make his way to his feet. Carefully hanging on to the roll bar, he slowly pulled himself up and into position while he braced against the wind. With one arm wrapped under the roll bar, he hung on while he used the other arm to move the AR-15 into position. Standing with both feet firmly planted on the back seat, he steadied himself and lined up the shot on the next ATV.

  “A little closer,” he said, half out loud. “Just a little bit more… Steady.”

  Vince watched as they gained on the next looter in line and was caught off guard by the sharp crack of the AR. A bright yellow flash of light cut through the darkness inside the Jeep as Vince kept his eyes trained on the target. But nothing happened—at least not at first. Then the rider turned his head and glanced back in their direction. The shot had missed, and they had been spotted!

  The driver began to flash the ATV’s lights at the others in front of him and took evasive maneuvers by swerving back and forth. The rider seemed confused and panicked; he stopped swerving and slowed down as he attempted to break right, toward the shoulder of the road, with a sharp turn.

  “Again!” John barked. Not more than a few seconds passed before another sharp crack rang out, accompanied by a hot yellow muzzle flash from the AR. The rider didn’t turn around this time or seem to pay the shot any mind. Vince thought it was another miss and prepared to ready his shotgun when the rider suddenly slumped over the handlebars. The ATV slowed and veered off the road, where it continued rolling for several yards until it came to rest in the taller grass. The rider remained hunched over the gas tank as they passed by.

  Tom had succeeded in taking out another in the group, but not before the remaining invaders had seen the flashing lights of their now-dead gang member. The remaining two ATVs peeled off to the left and right while the lead car sped up. The second car in line, the black sedan Vince had shot up at the garage, slowed down a little and broke to the left. Eventfully, the black car made its way over to the grassy median and began to double back around them as it threw up large rooster tails of grass and dirt.

  Vince had lost track of the ATVs at this point, something that made him very nervous. He looked at John, who was already applying pressure to the brakes and preparing to turn.

  “Hold on!” he yelled as he cut the wheel. Vince glanced back to check on Tom, who was, last he’d seen, standing up on the rear seat and hanging on to the roll bar. But Tom had already come down from his shooting position and was clutching his gun.

  “Now what!” Tom grimaced as he held on to the seat and tried to keep from sliding to one side.

  “We have to let the others know,” Vince shouted as the force of the turn pressed him against the door. “The lead car is still headed for town.”

  John grunted as he continued through the turn behind the black sedan. “I don’t have any choice. I have to follow this guy and the four-wheelers or they’ll come up behind us and take us out.”

  As they made the turn and approached the other side of the road, Vince spotted a burned-out wreck not too far away. It was the remains of a small passenger car, but it looked intact enough to provide him cover.

  “Drop me off, John.”

  “What? Where?” John stammered.

  “Right here. I’ll hide behind that car and you can bring them back by here. I’ll ambush them if you bring ’em by close enough.”

  “You sure you want to do this?” John looked at Vince as he slowed the Jeep down even more.

  “What choice do we have? We need to split up anyway. Tom can stay with you and keep them busy with the AR. I’ll take the radio with me and try to warn the others about the first car.”

  Before John had a chance to argue, Vince had the door open and his leg halfway through, waiting for John to slow down enough for him to bail out.

  John slammed on the brakes and Vince hopped out.

  “Go, go!” Vince slammed the door shut and headed for the wreck.

  “Be careful, Major.” Tom’s words trailed off as the Jeep peeled out in the grass and continued the chase. Vince hoped that between the darkness and the dust the vehicles had kicked up while cutting through the median, the looters wouldn’t notice his exit from the jeep.

  He sprinted the ten or fifteen yards to what was left of the burned-out car sitting in the far-right lane of the northbound side of the highway. Clutching the radio in one hand and the shotgun in the other, he took a position on the far side of the wreck and crouched down to catch his breath. He scanned his surroundings for the ATVs. He had a rough idea of where the two cars were, but he hadn’t seen where the ATVs had run off to, and they were his biggest concern right now. He listened to see if he could pick up the distinct sound of their throaty exhaust nearby, but the only thing he could hear, other than the distant sound of the cars, was his heart thumping wildly in his chest.

  Keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of the ATVs, he attempted to reach Fred on the radio.

  “Come in, Fred. Do you copy? Over.” He tried to be patient and give Fred a few seconds to answer but gave up and repeated the call. This time, as soon as he let go of the button, he was rewarded with a response, although it wasn’t the voice he expected.

  “Go ahead. Read you loud and clear. Over.” Even through the heavy static, Vince instantly recognized the voice as Mary’s. He was a little concerned that Fred hadn’t answered the call and wondered if everything was all right, but he knew there was no time to get into that now.

  “Get everybody ready. Bad guys headed your way. One car, not sure how many people. Over.”

  “Got it. Are you guys okay? Over.”

  “Were fine. Can’t talk. Get everybody ready now! Over.”

  “Will do. Over.”

  The conversation was brief, but that was all there was time for. Vince tried to put Fred’s absence out of his mind as he peered over the blackened and paint-peeled hood of the wreck. Immediately, he saw the round shape of the Jeep’s headlights headed his way. Looking back over his shoulder, he scanned for any sign of the other car or the ATVs but saw nothing.

  He heard gunshots and jerked his head in the other direction. It did
n’t sound like the AR Tom was using; Vince knew the sound of a .223, and what he heard was something else. Then he heard the familiar crack of Tom’s AR and saw the headlights of the car chasing them swerve out from behind the Jeep as it fishtailed and struggled to keep up in the rough median strip.

  The looters’ sedan looked out of control in the thick grass as it chased the Jeep. John was smart, leading them through the median like that. The Jeep and its knobby tires made easy work of the dirt and overgrown weeds, but the car wasn’t made for that type of terrain. It struggled to find traction as the sedan’s ill-equipped suspension took a beating on the rough ground, its tires spinning as they failed to find traction in the dirt.

  At about thirty yards out, John steered the chase out of the median, onto the pavement, and toward the wreck that Vince was hiding behind. Vince pulled the pump handle back on the shotgun and swapped out the birdshot with one of the double-aught buckshot shells. They’d be moving quickly when they passed by, and he wanted to make his shot count.

  The double-aught buckshot would guarantee the maximum amount of damage, even if he hit the car in a less than desirable spot. The heavy steel shot would easily tear through the sheet metal, and if he wasn’t able to take out the driver, he at least hoped to stop the car.

  Once on the pavement, the small inline six-cylinder of the Jeep was no match for the old big-block V8 sedan, and the looters began to gain ground on John and Tom. Vince brought the shotgun up to the ready position and braced himself as the vehicles approached.

  He took a few deep breaths and tried to determine the timing and how much he should lead the car for the shot. If John led them by his hiding spot at his current distance, he wouldn’t need to lead his target by much.

  Vince hoped to take out the driver and the passenger with one well-placed shot. He wasn’t sure if there were more people than that in the car, but if he took out the driver at this speed, it wouldn’t much matter.

  Vince could hear the roar of the engines now as John steered the Jeep toward the wreck. If the sedan followed his lead, both vehicles would pass him by at less than a few yards. Vince inched his way to the edge of the wreck and crouched behind the trunk. Finger on the trigger, his heart beat rapidly again, but this time it wasn’t exhaustion—it was adrenaline.

  Chapter Eleven

  Vince caught a glimpse of John’s face as the Jeep flew by. The gust of wind it generated sucked particles of ash and soot off the burned-out car and pulled them spiraling up and into the vacuum the Jeep had created. The sedan was in hot pursuit and only lagged behind by a few seconds.

  Vince could see the driver and passenger clearly now. They appeared to be the only ones in the car. The driver gripped the wheel with both hands while the passenger brandished a pistol and leaned out of his window. The passenger was focused on taking aim at the Jeep and failed to see Vince as he rose a few inches above the wreck and leaned in for the shot.

  The recoil stung Vince’s shoulder as the high-powered shell exploded, launching its payload at the speeding sedan. The driver noticed Vince at the last moment, but it was too late. A split second later, the cluster of steel balls tore into the car door, shattering the driver’s window into a thousand pieces as they delivered their wrath.

  Vince didn’t have to wonder if the shot had found its mark, as a fine mist of blood covered the inside of the remaining intact windows. He watched as the sedan continued forward and sped down the road.

  John slowed down and turned the Jeep into the median as he let the car fly by. He slowly began to circle back toward Vince as they all kept their attention on the still-speeding sedan.

  For a moment, Vince wondered if the driver had somehow survived, as the car showed no signs of slowing; if anything, the car appeared to speed up. Eventually, it began to drift left and head toward the steep embankment of the drainage ditch that ran alongside the roadway. As soon as the wheels reached the soft shoulder, the car swerved violently and disappeared into the ditch, only to reappear a moment later on the other side. Launching itself off the far side of the ditch, it turned over in the air before coming to a roof-crushing stop in the weeds.

  Vince stared as the scene seemed to unfold in slow motion. The tires were the only thing still moving when he was finally able to bring himself to look away from the carnage. John pulled up next to Vince; Tom was still in the back.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Any sign of the ATVs?” Vince asked.

  “Haven’t seen ’em,” Tom answered as he continued to stare at the overturned car.

  Vince was afraid that the ATVs had headed back toward the quarry and would intercept Cy in the loader. He was torn and didn’t know what to do. He was also concerned about the other car and the fact that Fred hadn’t answered the radio.

  Should they continue on into town and help the others at the motel, or should they go back and rejoin Cy? Vince was inclined to do the latter. After all, Cy was alone, and even though he was armed, it would be two against one if the remaining ATV riders found him.

  “I got a hold of Mary on the radio,” Vince said, climbing into the Jeep. “They know the looters are coming. I think we need to head back and cover Cy.”

  “I agree, but what happened to Fred?” John asked. “I thought he was on watch duty.”

  “He was. Maybe he had to take a leak or something. I’m going to try and reach out to them again and see if the other car showed up yet.” Vince got settled into his seat and tried the radio. “Come in, Mary. This is Vince. Have you seen the looters yet? Over.”

  There was a crackle followed by static before Mary’s voice broke through the hissing and popping.

  “Nothing yet, but we’re ready for them. How are you guys making out? Over.”

  “So far so good. We’ll be back ASAP. Over.”

  Mary didn’t answer, or at least it didn’t transmit if she had. Vince fooled with the knob on the two-way in an effort to cut down on the static, hoping to get a signal again and hear from Mary, but nothing came through. He had wanted to ask why Fred wasn’t manning his post or why Marry had the radio.

  “Why isn’t it working?” Tom asked.

  John shook his head. “Too much interference.”

  They were headed farther away from Cloverfield now and back toward the quarry, but the radios should have easily worked at this range. Vince wondered if it was due to the thickness of the air or some change the EMPs had caused in the atmosphere. The air quality was slowly improving, but small reflective particles were still visible in the headlights ahead of the Jeep.

  Vince couldn’t help but wonder what long-term health problems this would create for them. He regretted not bringing the masks with them now, but it was the last thing on his mind when they were preparing to get the loader. But seeing the floating particles highlighted in the Jeep’s high beams made him realize how bad it still was. Maybe they had attempted all this too soon. But there was no time to worry about that right now, and he turned his attention to the road ahead, looking for Cy.

  He glanced over as they passed the ATV that Tom had taken out. The body was still hunched over the gas tank. The light remained on, but the rifle that had been slung over the rider’s body was noticeably missing. The two ATVs that had doubled back must have stopped and taken it.

  John continued on, slowing down as they approached the spot where Vince had shot the first looter and blown him off the four-wheeler. The body lay limp and twisted on the shoulder of the road. The shotgun he had been carrying was broken and in pieces on the ground around him.

  Vince was disappointed about not being able to retrieve the weapons, but he was at least glad they were both dead and wouldn’t cause him and the others any more trouble. Hopefully the other ATV riders had seen that Vince and his crew meant business and decided to return to wherever they had come from.

  He was surprised at the lack of guilt he felt for killing the looters. They were bad people and they deserved what they got, but he thought he would feel something. Inst
ead, a feeling of numbness and a total lack of empathy for the looters overwhelmed him, and he just didn’t have the energy to care. He was willing to accept that this was the way things were now.

  They hardly noticed the loader on the other side of the highway as they flew past in the opposite direction.

  “There he is,” Vince shouted. None of the lights were working on the loader—either that or Cy had shut them off.

  John hit the brakes and drove across the median as he turned around and caught up to Cy in the southbound lane.

  The loader was already stopped, and Cy had the cab door open as they pulled up next to him.

  Cy threw up his hands. “The lights stopped working.”

  “Okay, we’ll go slow. Follow us close behind. Did you see any of the looters come back this way?” Vince asked.

  “Yeah, I saw ’em. Two of them flew by in a hurry. I don’t know if they spotted me or not, but they didn’t even slow down.”

  “We took out one of the cars and the other two ATVs,” John said, “but the other car headed into town. We need to hurry up and get back as fast as we can.”

  “Go on without me. I’ll be all right. I’ve been using my flashlight to see ahead when I need it.” Cy held up the small but bright LED light he had taken from his dad’s shop.

  “We’re not leaving you again,” Vince said. “We’ll go back together. Stay close.” He hoped John and Tom felt the same and looked at both of them after he spoke.

  They shook their heads in agreement, and he was glad. If they had wanted to head back without Cy, Vince was prepared to stay with his son and let them go on ahead.

  Cy nodded and climbed back inside the cab as John pulled ahead of the loader and headed back to town.

  “How fast do you think he can go in that thing?” John asked.

  “Thirty is probably the limit in high gear,” Vince said, “if it’s running right. Let’s hope the lights are the only thing not working.” He figured Cy had damaged some of the wiring when he hotwired the loader. Hopefully nothing else would be affected. He was certain they could fix them later at his garage; they just had to get there and fast.