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

Derek dropped to his stomach and crawled the top of the hill, partially concealing himself behind several large rocks. Using his binoculars, he studied the group.

They were mostly men, ranging in age from about sixteen to fifty. Several of them carried rifles. A few had pistols holstered on their hips. One younger man held a loaded crossbow. Derek shuddered at the memory of Sandy and Edwin pulling the arrow out of Luke’s shoulder. Luke’s eyes had rolled back in his head as he nearly passed out from the pain. It was disgusting.

During his time in the military, Derek had been shot twice, stabbed three times, had his jaw broken by a rifle butt, and he’d taken shrapnel from an IED. The shrapnel missed his spine by two inches. He’d lucked the fuck out when he’d survived that blast. He refused to add ‘shot by a crossbow’ to his list of misfortunes.

Sunlight glinted off the savage-looking broad-tips on the end of the kid’s arrows. Derek shuddered. Having seen what the relatively tame field-tip had done to Luke’s shoulder, he decided that avoiding an arrow from that crossbow was among his primary mission objectives. Sure, the semi-automatic rifles might take strategic priority, but he’d take a few bullets over one of those vicious arrows any day.

He turned his attention away from the crossbow and spotted a few women kneeling by the lake, washing clothes in the icy water. He wondered about their status within the cult. From what he’d seen, they probably weren’t treated all that well. They’d most likely joined the group for protection. Not a bad strategy in the post-bomb world.

He really didn’t care about their beliefs or their social structures. He just wanted to stop them from terrorizing others. They shouldn’t be allowed to force their beliefs on other people or use people’s fear to keep them enslaved. That was where he drew the line.

Luke was right when he’d said, “It was kill or be killed.” Derek had survived so much shit. He wasn’t going to let undisciplined, wannabe soldiers of the apocalypse taken him down.

Although he wanted to dart back to the bunker to report that he’d located their base of operations, he decided to stick around and watch them for a while. From what he could tell, they didn’t run any regularly scheduled patrols. If he and Luke were going to mount a proper assault on these disorderly amateurs, he wanted to have as much intel as possible. With some solid reconnaissance, he was confident that he and Luke could make easy work of the ragtag disciples.

He smiled as he watched them, already envisioning a night-time assault. “These bastards will never know what hit them.”

Sandy sat in the dimly lit communications room with Luke and Edwin by her side. The radio broadcasted an updated emergency message. Predictably, the news was not good. She shifted in her chair to lean closer to the radio.

“… the entire central valley of California should be avoided at all costs. The areas surrounding Los Angeles and San Francisco have descended into what can only be described as complete chaos. The government has declared martial law throughout the state of California. So far, the military presence has proven to be inadequate in stemming the rise of gang violence. Looting continues statewide.

The streets have been overrun with opportunists. Citizens are encouraged to locate the nearest safe zone. If one cannot be reached, barricade yourself in a secure location. We are no longer encouraging people to proceed to the fallout shelters serving the Greater Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay area. These facilities have been pushed far past capacity. Despite a significant police presence, numerous reports are characterizing them as epicenters of crime and violence …”

“Well, things have to get worse before they get better, right?” Edwin half-smiled. His tone was optimistic despite the dire news on the radio. His ability to look on the bright side was one of the reasons she’d married him all those years ago.

“I guess so.” Luke nodded, not sharing Edwin’s apparent optimism.

Sandy gestured for them to be quiet so she could continue listening to the radio report.

“The Pentagon has released a statement officially identifying Russia as the primary aggressors in the coordinated attacks that crippled San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. Two additional rockets were disabled before they could detonate additional bombs. Their trajectories indicated that Chicago and Washington DC were the intended targets.”

“Jesus, can you imagine what would have happened if that bomb had made it to DC? The country has already descended into chaos. Imagine what it’d be like if they’d taken out most of the federal government.” Edwin’s eyes were wide.

Sandy shushed him. There was so much static on the radio that she had to strain to hear the reporter’s words.

“Initial reports out of New York indicate total devastation. The total death toll from the attack is in the millions.”

Sandy gasped, placing her hand over her mouth in shock as she stared at the radio. She’d suspected a lot of people died but getting confirmation of it tore at her soul. So much death. Such a waste.

Luke and Edwin exchanged appalled looks.

“Unconfirmed estimates out of Los Angeles place the count there at three million dead, with another million or so missing. San Francisco has reported an estimated six hundred fifty thousand dead, with an additional two hundred thousand injured or missing. New York City reported over eight million dead, bringing the total dead to an astonishing twelve million, with an additional three point two million people injured, missing, or dead in surrounding areas.”

“Oh my God.” Tears streamed down Sandy’s face.

Edwin embraced her. She buried her face in his chest as sobs racked her body. Her husband stroked her back with one hand and reached over to turn off the radio with the other.

“That’s about enough of that for right now,” Edwin said.

“Why would they do this?” She managed to squeeze out the words between ragged breaths, sniffling as she spoke. “How can