Edge of Fear: An EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival Prepper Series (American Fallout Book 3) Alex Gunwick (free reads .txt) 📖

He made a frustrated grunt but dutifully went off in search of another staff. The second one he brought back was a better fit for the task at hand.

Once the rabbits were secure, they began the hike back to the cabin. Each bore one end of the stick over their shoulder. The rabbits hung from the middle of the stick, swaying on the ends of their respective lines, far away from skin or clothing.

“This is kind of fun,” Kyle said.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” She chuckled. “The mighty hunters returning from a successful safari.”

“Do you think anybody heard those shots?” There was trepidation in her son’s tone. “I mean, you think they’ll come looking for us?”

“I don’t know.” Liz wished she could say something more reassuring. “We’re doing the right thing in heading back home.”

“Hey, you called the cabin ‘home’.” His voice held a note of triumph. “Are you finally getting used to things now?”

She pursed her lips as she carefully chose her answer. “Well, we’re alive and we’re together, or we will be when we find Sierra. I know I should be grateful for that when so many people have died or had their loved ones die. But I miss a lot of things.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Hmm. I suppose I miss smoothies at the pier after church. And popcorn at the movies.”

“And movies.”

“Yes.” She laughed. “And movies, too.”

“You remember that time we went to one of the Star Wars movies, the one nobody liked? And you told me not to eat a whole box of candy, but I did it anyway and got really sick and puked in the car on the way home?”

“Yes, I remember. I wish I didn’t.” They enjoyed a laugh together before she continued. “What else do you miss?”

“I don’t know. Hanging out with my friends, I guess. Maybe video games. But in a way, this whole after-the-bomb world is like a game, only it’s real now.”

“Don’t ever say that.” Liz stopped and turned around. She held the staff away from her body. The rabbits dipped toward the snowy ground. “This isn’t a game. You don’t have extra lives. Just one. Understand?”

“I understand.” His face fell.

Liz hated that she’d had to hurt his feelings, but parenting was hard sometimes.

As they continued their journey back to the cabin, she stayed on heightened alert. The cultists had to have heard the gunshots. They could be headed in this direction right now. She wouldn’t feel safe until she got back home.

11

Present Day …

Luke shifted Sierra’s dead body on his shoulder, careful not to drop her. He stood next to Derek just outside the dark entrance to the fallout shelter Derek had discovered. Luke couldn’t believe it. An intact, fully functional, well-stocked fallout shelter, a relic from the Cold War, was a godsend. It was almost too good to be true. But it wasn’t worth Sierra’s life.

“How did you find this?” Luke’s voice seemed hollow, devoid of the joy he should have felt in this moment.

“I heard rumors about it during my time in the service.” Derek held a ball of snow up to his swollen face. He seemed to be favoring his shoulder. “My dad told me about it a long time ago. I wasn’t sure it existed, but I finally found it.”

“Now I know where you’ve been sneaking off to.” Luke glared at Derek. “How long have you known about this? And don’t lie to me.”

Derek opened his mouth, closed it, then shook his head as if in self-admonishment. “Days.”

“Days.” A snarl twitched at Luke’s lips. “About the same time Sierra went missing?”

Derek’s jaw worked, but he remained silent. He couldn’t quite meet Luke’s gaze, and when he happened to glance at Sierra’s shrouded form, he wilted.

Luke narrowed his gaze. Obviously, Derek still wasn’t telling him everything. He was more involved in Sierra’s disappearance than he let on. But did he kill her? Or was it the cult member?

Luke’s gut instinct said no. As far as he knew, Derek had been trustworthy up until this point. Liz was a good judge of character, and she was happy to have Derek around. Unfortunately, Luke didn’t know him well enough to trust him. Not yet.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Luke’s tone held an edge. He wasn’t about to hide his skepticism. “Right now, we need to take Sierra home. We need to get back to the cabin and get the rest of the family. We’re moving them here.”

He half expected a debate, but Derek simply sighed. He nodded grimly.

“You’re right. This is the most fortified position and far more suited to wait out the winter than a cabin,” Derek said.

“Were you planning on telling me about this place?”

“Yes. Eventually.”

“Eventually.” Luke shook his head. “I want to trust you, man, I do. But you’re sure as hell not making it easy.”

“I didn’t kill her. I swear I didn’t hurt her at all.”

“How did you end up together?”

“She followed me.”

“To the shelter?” Luke asked.

“Yeah. I didn’t know she was trailing me.” Derek laughed and shook his head. “Of all the people, I would have expected to hear her. She must have finally listened to you.”

“She didn’t listen to a damn thing I said if she ended up here with you.”

“I guess not.”

Luke turned toward the woods. How was he to tell Liz?

“Don’t you want to see the inside before we go?” Derek asked,

“No.” Luke needed to bury Sierra first. If this place was worth getting killed over, then it had to be good. He didn’t need to look to confirm it. He could always circle back later and check it out alone.

After a moment, Derek’s footsteps crunched through the snow behind him. It may have been a bad idea to turn his back on a potential enemy, but right now Luke could barely hold himself together. All he could think of was how he had failed as a parent. His child was dead.

Before the bomb, Sierra was a bit quarrelsome and