Without Law 18 Eric Vall (reading well TXT) 📖

“What do you mean?” Bailey asked.

“We’re going to take out the Boston troops,” Tara explained. “Then we can head to Atlanta to take out the rest of them. Badda-boom-badda-bing. Easy. ”

“You make it sound so simple,” Paige laughed.

“I mean, it’s not exactly complicated.” Tara shrugged. “Difficult maybe, but not complicated.”

“I guess that’s a good point.” The brunette nodded.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Bailey said. “But Tara’s totally right. It could only be a few more months until we’re done with all this.”

“It could be longer, too,” Paige pointed out.

“That’s true,” Tara said, and she smiled. “But I don’t think it will take us too long to fuck up those Atlanta asssholes.”

“We are pretty good at our jobs,” Anna laughed.

“Right,” Tara agreed. “Then this stupid EMP will finally be over, and we can actually have TV and shit back.”

The jeep got quiet, and I glanced over at Anna. Her red eyebrows were pulled together with confusion.

Then, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Paige and Bailey looked the same way. Tara stared nonchalantly out the window, not seeming to notice how quiet everyone had gotten.

“Um, Tara,” Paige said, and her eyes narrowed in on the platinum-blonde.

“What?” Tara asked, and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at everyone staring at her. “Why are you guys staring at me? You’re freakin’ me out, stop it.”

“I’m sorry, I just...” Paige said, and she shook her head. “What do you think an EMP is?”

“It’s the thing that took out all the electronics, duh,” Tara said, and she eyed Paige curiously. “You’re being really weird. What’s your deal?”

“Okay, yes, an EMP took out the electronics,” Anna said. “But what is it?”

“What does EMP stand for?” Paige pushed.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Tara asked.

“I think what they’re getting at is that the electronic stuff won’t come back on,” Bailey explained softly.

“What do you mean?” Tara asked. “We shut off the EMP, and then the electronics work again, right?”

“No, sweetie, no,” Paige said with a shake of her head.

“Don’t patronize me,” Tara scoffed. “Are you saying nothing will work, like, ever again?”

“Yeah,” Anna laughed. “Why did you think we were fixing up stuff around campus?”

“Kimmy had to fix these walkies for us,” Paige said. “And we had to rig up generators and solar panels and stuff to get power.”

“Well, I didn’t know that meant nothing would work ever again unless we fixed it!” Tara groaned, and she pursed her lips. “What the fuck. Are you saying it’s going to be Little House on the Prairie times forever?”

“I don’t understand how you’re just now figuring this out,” Anna chuckled.

“I’m not in charge of fixing stuff.” Tara shrugged. “I knew that stuff before a certain time worked, and everything else had to be fixed, but I didn’t stop to ask questions.”

“Yeah, that checks out,” Paige laughed.

“Well, shit,” the platinum-blonde said. “I wanted to call my dad when this was all over.”

“And what, tell him you’re pregnant?” Anna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Actually, yes,” Tara sniffed.

“Really?” Bailey asked with wide eyes.

“Why is that so weird?” Tara asked.

“I don’t know,” Bailey said, and she grimaced slightly like she just smelled something gross. “I just always felt like announcing you were pregnant was weird. It’s basically just telling everyone you had sex.”

“Oh.” Paige looked at Bailey seriously. “I never thought of it like that.”

“Yeah.” Bailey nodded. “That was my first thought when my mom told me she was pregnant with my little sister, and it just kind of stuck with me, I guess.”

“Gross.” Tara said.

“She’s not wrong, though,” Anna pointed out. “You’ll basically just be telling your dad you’ve been having unprotected sex.”

“I’m not worried about it,” Tara said with a shrug. “My dad will super love Tav.”

“I would hope so,” I laughed.

As much as I loved Tara, I wasn’t sure the first thing I wanted to say when I met her father was ‘Hi, sir, how ya doin, my name’s Tav, and I knocked up your daughter’. Somehow, it didn’t feel like we’d get off on the best foot.

Still, the girls talking was a nice distraction from the stress we were under, and since we were in the car, there was nothing else to do but talk. Paige gave me instructions on where I was going every now and then, but aside from that there was nothing we could do about our current situation until we made it to the Air Force Base.

“He’ll totally love you,” Tara said confidently. “He’s always liked military guys.”

“Your dad knows military guys?” Anna asked, and she narrowed her eyes on Tara through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah,” the platinum-blonde answered. “They used to come over to the house sometimes for dinner and stuff.”

“And your dad fixes phone lines?” Paige asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I think so.” Tara shrugged.

“We gotta figure out what he does,” Anna laughed. “Because I know Tara isn’t right.”

“Guys, he’s really not that big of a deal,” Tara chuckled. “He’s not, like, the leader of the military or anything. He just has a few military friends. Chill.”

“After the EMP thing, I don’t know if I can trust a single thing you say anymore,” Anna said with a shake of her head.

“I’m with Anna,” Paige laughed. “You can’t be trusted anymore.”

“Oh, my god.” Tara rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know one thing, sue me.”

“I mean, it was a pretty big thing,” I said.

“Tav!” Tara laughed.

“I’m just teasing,” I chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to know about EMPs. Most people don’t know about them.”

“That’s true,” Anna said. “I didn’t know what happened until Paige speculated, and even then I wasn’t sure I could trust her. It was when you told me that I