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

man’s neck like a tinder twig. The dead man fell forward, and his tongue lolled out of his slack mouth. Luke caught him and quietly lowered him to the floor.

They stashed the man’s body in a nearby broom closet and then crept up the hall. At one point, they heard voices approaching. Luke led Derek and Liz into a side room. Liz started to ready her rifle, but Derek shook his head. The trio waited until two men passed. As soon as the men exited through the back door, the trio was back on the prowl, looking for the generator room.

Luke reached the door of the room Edwin had marked on the map. He turned the knob. His brow knitted with worry. Liz realized that no sounds were coming from inside the room. When Luke pulled the door open, they filed in together.

Unfortunately, the engine they spotted inside was rusted and covered with dust. Their plan hinged upon cutting the lights to the compound, and now that wasn’t going to be possible. They were in an extremely vulnerable spot in the heart of enemy territory.

“Now what?” Derek whispered.

“They must have moved the generator when they renovated the place,” Luke muttered.

Suddenly, an armed man walked past the door. He froze. As he turned toward them, Liz acted on instinct, raising her rifle and pulling the trigger. The man jerked and spasmed as bullets riddled his body. He collapsed into a bloody heap on the floor.

“Liz!” Luke’s words hung in the air even as shouting began outside.

“The shit just hit the fan,” Derek said as he put away his knife and readied his rifle. He pointed it at the door. “I hope we bought enough ammo.”

“Fuck!” Luke pointed his rifle at the door.

Booted feet thundered in the hallway. Liz calmly reloaded another magazine into her rifle. It was time to fight.

25

Derek peeked out the doorway, checking left then right. He stepped past the pile of bodies they’d cut down. Luke came next. He held Liz’s free hand so she wouldn’t trip over them as she walked into the hall.

“We only have a few seconds before more get here,” Liz said.

“We have to get out of here.” Luke swiveled his head as he searched for an exit from the long hallway. “With the lights still on, we could get pinned down.”

“Agreed.” Derek kept his AR-15 pointed down the hallway. “We passed by a window about ten paces around the corner. They could be outside already. If they are, we’ll have to fight our way out.”

“Then let’s fight.” Liz flattened herself against the wall at the next intersection in the hallway.

Boots thudded against the ground. The sound of running moved closer and closer to them. She leaned out and sent a spray of deadly lead down the hall. Judging by the agonized screams, she’d wounded at least one cultist. Liz emptied her magazine. She ducked back behind cover just as the cultists began returning fire.

“Clear!” Derek yanked a pineapple frag grenade off his belt and pulled the pin. He didn’t hesitate to step right into the bullet-riddled hallway and throw the explosive. One of the cultists stood with jaw agape as the pineapple bounced right between his legs. Before they could react, the grenade went off. Derek ducked back around the corner as shrapnel and screams flew down the hallway in equal measure.

Luke sprang into action. He dashed around the corner and sent short bursts of bullets into any cultists still moving. The grenade had taken out most of the window, but a few sharp shards remained. Luke used the barrel of his rifle to clear the path. He leaped out the window, then turned to assist Liz, grabbing her around the waist and setting her on the ground. A hail of bullets caused them to run for the meager coverage offered by a rusty jeep.

Derek leaped out of the broken window. He tucked his body into a tight roll and landed in a crouch on the other side. Derek sighted down his barrel and unleashed a series of tightly controlled bursts. Each time he leveled the weapon and squeezed the trigger, a man went down. But for each fallen man, two more eagerly replaced them.

Derek reached the end of his magazine and ran for the jeep. Bullets zipped past, but none managed to hit him. Liz and Luke covered him, concentrating their fire and scattering the attacking cultists. The bloodthirsty cult members scrambled for cover. Several hollered, and new men raced to join them.

Gun blazed. The trio was in a shootout against more than twice their number.

“This is bad.” Luke glanced over his shoulder as he slapped another magazine into his rifle. “If they circle behind us, we’ll be flanked and fucked.”

“We need to split up.” Derek swung his gaze about the battlefield. He spotted a sofa-sized boulder and pointed it out with the barrel of his rifle. “You and Liz head for that rock. I’ll cover you. That way, they can’t flank all of us.”

Luke started to protest, but another rain of bullets ricocheted off the rusted chassis, stopping him.

“All right. On three?” Luke asked.

Derek nodded curtly.

“One, two…”

On three, Derek sprang up from the ground and braced his rifle on top of the jeep’s tailgate. He shot through the empty winds using short bursts. Derek avoided the temptation to empty the mag all at once instead of spacing out the shots.

He took one man right in the chest. The enemy screamed and fell into the dirt. Blood seeped out of the body and into the ground.

The other cultists hid behind their cover. They stopped shooting temporarily, possibly to avoid becoming Derek’s next target. Liz and Luke made it to the boulder just as Derek ran out of ammunition.

“He’s reloading,” one of the cultists shouted. “Charge him!”

Three cultists dashed out and raced toward him. Luke and Liz hadn’t yet repositioned themselves to fire on the cultists. Derek reached for his hip to grab another magazine. He came up empty. He knew he’d