Apokalypsis | Book 6 | Apokalypsis 6 Morris, Kate (cheapest way to read ebooks TXT) 📖

were all armed with rifles and what looked like bats or crowbars. They were talking, some laughing.

“Are they bad, Alex?” she asked.

He paused a moment and said, “Not sure. Seems suspicious. Why are they parked right there? What are they doing? I don’t know yet. It doesn’t seem right, though.”

“No,” she agreed.

“I don’t think they see us,” he said.

“What do we do?” she asked, her voice sounding breathy and scared.

“Flank and head up to the house,” he said. “Call Abraham as we go so he doesn’t shoot us. Might get lucky and he’ll answer. Finger off any triggers until you mean it.”

“’Kay,” she replied and followed him down into the ditch and back up the other side into some woods.

It was dark now, completely dark. That just made things so much worse and a million times more dangerous.

They traipsed through the woods as quietly as they could while trying to keep an eye on those men. Eventually, Alex led her into an open pasture, and she could more clearly see the barns of what was definitely the Miller farm. She didn’t even know these people and had never before been to their farm. It felt odd spying on it.

“Shit, they’re flanking the place, too,” he whispered and pointed the men out.

When he began jogging, Avery did, as well. They made it to a tall barn, a two-story bank style. Cows mooed at their invasion. A few chickens even squawked, but Alex didn’t stop. He went through a rickety old door made of what looked like leftover pieces of rustic lumber. The building was dark, but there was a tiny bit of light coming from the slats in the walls.

“Let’s get to the top floor. See if we can find a good fighting position,” he instructed.

“Alex?” a familiar voice asked in the darkness.

“Abraham?” Avery returned in the same hushed whisper.

Her brother came out of the darkness around the corner of a horse stall that was unoccupied. He rushed forward, and she hugged him.

“They’re here,” Abraham told them.

“We know, but now the odds are better now if they came for a fight,” Alex told her little brother. He looked very relieved. “Where’s the others?”

“In the house,” he answered. “I thought it was safer. Figured I’d come out here to get up high and see what they were up to.”

“Good plan,” Alex agreed. “Take Avery with you. I’m going out.”

“What? How, Alex?” she whispered. “You’re all alone.”

“I like those odds. I’ll throw a smoke grenade or flashbang. I can shoot. Don’t worry about me. If this goes sideways, get to the kids inside if you can and get outta’ here. Don’t be a hero. Neither of you. I’ll get away, too, or I’ll take a bunch of them out with me if I’m cornered. Just get the kids outta’ here.”

She nodded but felt guilty. Alex left them, and she followed Abraham to the second floor.

“I told Kaia the same thing about escaping if they could if it gets bad. Benjamin Miller is good with a rifle, used to hunt. He’s on the second floor. Kaia’s on the first with Noah. I don’t know what they want, but we’ve got them outnumbered or at least even.”

She nodded but didn’t speak because her mouth had gone dry. She couldn’t even swallow. She was breathing hard from the run. Abraham found good spots for them and pried open the wooden shutters that were in the place of glass windows.

“Here they come, Ave,” he told her, pointing. “Be ready. I don’t know what they want.”

She spotted Alex dashing between a long but low roofed barn and the house. He squatted behind what looked like a central air conditioning system. At least, she hoped it was Alex. She couldn’t forget that those things could’ve been out there, as well.

“I think there’s six of ‘em,” her brother said. “Wait, no, maybe eight?”

“Okay,” she whispered unsurely. They were very dangerously outnumbered.

One man approached the house while others hung back. The way they spread out told her they were up to no good. They weren’t coming to check on the kids. They were coming to rob them. Maybe worse.

“Hey, in there!” the man approaching the house shouted out. “We know there’s folks in there. We don’t mean no harm. We’re here to help. We’re with the government.”

“Really?” Avery questioned softly.

“Ave, no,” Abraham said as if he were disappointed. “Of course, he’s not.”

“Oh, right,” she whispered back. She felt stupid, but in her defense, they were driving a government snow plow truck.

“We been by this here place many times today. We know you’re in there. Just come on out and let us help you. We’ve got a vaccine for ya’ for the Russia Virus.”

“Lie,” Abraham interpreted.

“I hope they don’t open their door.”

“They won’t. They know not to. The kids are in the basement, and the two older ones are upstairs in the windows with hunting rifles.”

Suddenly, a loud explosion went off near the front porch, causing her to jump. Then the fake government agent was shot by, presumably, Alex. He went flying backward into the snow and landed soundlessly. Then all hell broke loose. The men who’d come with the speaker began shooting at the house, obviously thinking Alex’s round had come from there. They were peppering the house with bullet holes that Avery hoped didn’t penetrate inside.

Beside her, Abraham squeezed his trigger. Her little brother was very accurate and hit a man. He screamed in pain or fear or both and went down. Avery hated this but also pulled the trigger, probably incorrectly, because she missed her target. Beside her, Abraham squeezed again and hit the man she’d been aiming at. He slammed into the small shed beside him, leaving a black streak on the wall as he fell. She knew it wasn’t black. It was red blood but looked like black in the moonlight. Avery tried not to think about that as she zeroed in on another man who was creeping forward. Before she pulled the trigger, someone in the