Vengeance: A Post-Apocalyptic, EMP-Survival Thriller (Seven Cows, Ugly and Gaunt Book 4) Read online

  “I’ll have Evan make up a stack of flapjacks with some eggs.” Ben made a call over his radio. Then, he opened the gate a little wider as Chris pulled in. Next, he closed the gate and replaced the lock.

  Chris, Jack, and Gwen got out of the vehicle. The entire group followed Ben to his office where fresh coffee was waiting. Danny took the coffee cup as Ben handed it to him. “Thanks. Was Ranger Dave able to make contact?”

  “Yes, sir.” Ben handed a cup to Gwen. “Sheriff Parnell knows you’re coming. When you get to Gastonia, take 321 north to 73. You can take 73 east all the way to Concord. That will keep you clear of Schlusser’s territory.”

  “Provided he hasn’t expanded,” Danny added.

  “I’d imagine he’s still reeling from his losses.” Ben gave coffee to Chris, Jack, and Antoine. “You’ve put a hurtin’ on that man, Danny.”

  “It was a team effort.”

  Ben smirked. “Yeah, a team effort because you put the teams together.”

  “The airport was JC’s idea. I wasn’t going to leave without at least trying to fulfill the mission.”

  “Well, you did it. I’m not sure we would have ran him out of Greenville without your help. I’m not sure we’d have ever tried.” Ben turned to Chris and Jack. “And your help. I haven’t forgotten my commitment to you boys.”

  “We appreciate that, Ben.” Chris sipped his coffee. “Jack says you’ll be assisting us with hitting the peninsula.”

  “I will.” Ben nodded then turned his attention to Danny. “Parnell will have men waiting for you at the checkpoint as soon as you cross the I-85 overpass.”

  “Good,” Danny replied.

  Ben’s radio chirped. “Ben, breakfast is ready. Make your way over to the mess tent when you can.”

  Ben keyed his mic. “Thanks, Evan.” He stood up. “Fill your cups and bring your coffee with you. What they serve in the mess tent is half chicory. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t have the kick this one has.”

  Everyone topped off their coffee and followed Ben to the mess tent. Ben made sure they all had generous portions. Once they finished eating, Ben led the group back to the vehicles. “I had Randy top off both of your fuel tanks.”

  “I’ll pay you for the gas in the Humvee.” Danny walked beside Ben.

  “Nonsense. It’s the least I can do. And bring it back by when you return.”

  “You’re very generous, Ben.”

  “Like you said, it’s a team effort.” Ben unlocked the gate as Danny and the others got in the vehicles and started the engines.

  Danny waved as he pulled out of the compound.

  “Thank God for people like Ben.” Antoine put his hand out the window as they drove away.

  Danny nodded. “So, you’re thanking God now. Does that mean you’re a believer?”

  “After what I’ve seen him get you out of, I’d be stupid not to be. I never was what you’d call an atheist.”

  “You just didn’t have time to think about all that.”

  “Right.” Antoine nodded. “Someone conveniently left Steven’s Bible in my trailer.”

  “Go figure.” Danny acted surprised. “Have you been reading it?”

  “I have. Steven must have loved that book. It has notes written in it and passages underlined on almost every page.”

  “He did. He read it every day.” Danny thought back to when he’d first met Steven; how he was different than anyone else at Lillie’s, the restaurant in Savannah where they’d worked together. “That book changed the way Steven lived his life.” Danny smiled as he fondly remembered his friend. “And I’m sure it’s having a profound effect on how he is spending eternity.”

  “Yeah, I guess it is.” Antoine grew quiet; as if he were considering the gravity of Danny’s statement.

  The two men were silent for the next hour or so. Danny followed 183 until he picked up I-85. He pressed the talk button on the radio. “We’ll be able to maintain visual contact for a longer distance. You might want to lay back a little further.”

  Jack’s voice came back. “Like a half mile?”

  “Yeah, but no more than that,” Danny replied.

  The radio chirped. “Roger that.”

  Danny kept the speed of the vehicle around sixty. Very little traffic was on the road, but he wanted to conserve fuel. The Humvee burned a lot of gas, and its consumption went up dramatically at high speeds.

  Danny exited I-85 at Gastonia and took 321 north as planned. He eventually made his way to 73 and continued east toward Concord.

  Forty minutes after Danny had exited the highway, Antoine woke up from his nap. “Are we almost there?”

  “Another half hour maybe.” Danny squinted as he started over the bridge, which crossed the Catawba at Lake Norman. “A tractor trailer is stalled out blocking both lanes.”

  “That ain't right.” Antoine’s face showed his concern.

  “Fall back!” Danny called over the radio. “The road is blocked on the other side of the bridge. I’m backing out of here.”

  “Too late for that.” Antoine turned to look behind them.

  Danny looked in his rearview to see a van and an old El Camino pulling onto the road behind them. He pressed the talk key. “We’re getting ambushed! Fall back!”

  “Tell me what’s happening. How can I get to you?” Chris’s voice came over the radio.

  Danny looked around. “We’re trapped on the bridge. There’s a train bridge running parallel to the bridge we’re on, but it’s only one track; way too narrow for the Hummer.”

  “That’s okay. We can use it for the approach on foot. Force them to engage you on our side of the bridge. Act like you’re going to comply and be ready to start shooting when we get there. We’ll be coming in hot, so watch the crossfire.”

  “Roger.” Danny began backing toward the van and the El Camino, which were now parked at an angle to block the road.

  “Maybe you can just ram them and get out,” Antoine suggested.

  “I don’t know. We’d be driving into a hail of gunfire.” Danny watched as two armed men got out of the El Camino and four more rolled out of the van. He began turning the truck around. He keyed the mic again. “We’ve got six hostiles on this side. Who knows how many more on the other side of the bridge. The men on this side have shotguns, one AR-15, and an AK.”

  “Roger. If they’re stationary, try driving to the other side to see if you can get a head count, but then get right back over to this side. It’ll buy me some time to get into position.”

  “Roger that.” Danny now had the truck turned around, facing the van and the El Camino. He put his vehicle in reverse and drove backward toward the jackknifed semi-truck.

  “I see four on this side. There’s another one. Make it five. They’re all taking cover behind the wheels of the big rig.” Antoine spotted while Danny drove.

  Danny passed the radio to Antoine. “Tell Chris.”

  Antoine pressed the talk key. “Five heavily armed hostiles on the opposite side of the bridge.”

  “That’s not good.” Chris’s voice came over the radio. “They’ll come running when the shooting starts. We have to get you guys out of there fast. We’re right behind that ridge which elevates the train tracks. We’ll pop up and start shooting from behind. When we do, just ram the vehicles and try to get through. Get ready!”

  “Roger.” Antoine looked at Danny. “You got this?”

  “Yeah. I’ll rev the engine to make them tense up. That will keep their attention off of Chris’s team long enough for him to take a couple out.” Danny crept toward the El Camino and the van. He put one foot on the brakes and with the other, he pumped the accelerator.

  The man behind the hood of the El Camino leveled the AK at Danny. He yelled at the top of his lungs. “Don’t do it! Get out of the truck and walk away. We just want your vehicle. There’s no need to die for it.”

  Danny slumped down in the seat to reduce his profile and gunned the engine once more.

  The six hostiles repo
sitioned to the outer edges of the vehicles so they wouldn’t be near the center where Danny was planning to crash through.

  “This is your last chance before we open fire. Get out of the truck and walk away!” the man yelled.

  The man with the AK was suddenly and violently flung forward over the bed of the El Camino by a bullet from Chris’s team. His body molded to the edge of the bed rail like a bean bag, and his neck snapped forward like a spring-loaded screen door as his weapon went flying.

  Gunfire broke out from the direction of the train tracks. Danny watched as two more hostiles fell before they realized they were being shot from behind.

  Jack’s voice came over the radio. “Go! Go! Go!”

  Danny took his foot off the brakes and stomped the accelerator like a cockroach. The engine roared, and the truck careened toward the parked vehicles. “Hang on!”

  The van and the El Camino were nose to nose. Danny turned and aimed for the rear axle of the El Camino, figuring it would be the lightest and easiest to move. It was also the chosen fighting position of a hostile who was firing at Chris’s team and paying no attention to Danny coming up from behind.

  The F-150 plowed into the bed of the El Camino, jerking Danny and Antoine forward. The opposite side of the vehicle smacked the hip of the hostile like the flipper of a pinball machine. Danny gunned the gas wedging the F-150 in between the El Camino and the guard rail. The back tires spun and began smoking. The stench of burnt rubber overpowered the smell of gunpowder from the heavy exchange between Chris, Gwen, Jack, and the remaining hostile.

  “We’re stuck!” Danny exclaimed.

  Antoine turned to look toward the other side of the bridge. “This is a bad time to be stuck, Danny. Here come their reinforcements.”

  Danny glanced at the rearview to see five heavily armed men racing across the bridge on foot. “Get out of the truck. We’re gonna have to fight it out.”

  Antoine pulled the door lever and leaned into his door. “I can’t. The door is up against the El Camino. I’m trapped.”

  Danny tried pushing his door, but it stopped short. It was pinned against the guard rail. “Okay, I’ll back out. I’m going to come out at an angle with my side nearest the other side of the bridge. You bail out first, and I’ll crawl across and come out on your side.”

  Antoine held his AR-15, ready to roll out of the truck. “Roger.”

  Danny threw the shifter into reverse and crushed the accelerator against the floor. The truck broke free from the hang-up and sped backward. Danny quickly threw the truck in park, cut the ignition, and crawled across the seat to exit the vehicle behind Antoine.

  A volley of shots rang out from behind them. Then, all was silent.

  Danny dropped down to the pavement and began shooting from under the truck at the five approaching men.

  Antoine keyed the mic. “We couldn’t break through.”

  “That’s okay. We’ve cleared the hostiles on this side. What’s your situation look like?” Chris asked.

  “Five coming this way.” Antoine positioned himself near the truck engine and began firing alongside Danny.

  The radio chirped. “Roger. We’re coming to you.”

  Danny fired more rapidly as the men got closer. He shot one of the hostiles. The death of their comrade seemed to remind the rest of the crew of their mortality. The remaining four men began to retreat, but Danny continued to shoot. He hit another, and so did Antoine.

  Gwen, Chris, and Jack arrived with weapons ready to fire. “What have we got?” Chris asked.

  “Three down. The other two retreated to cover.” Danny rolled to one side so he could change magazines. “We can’t get the truck past the El Camino and the guard rail. Can your team try to move the van and the El Camino while we keep these guys pinned down?”

  “We could just come get you in the Humvee and abandon the Ford,” Chris replied.

  “I don’t want to lose a vehicle over this if we can help it.” Danny rolled back down to his prone shooting position.

  “Okay. Jack, you help me move the vehicles. Gwen, you stay with Danny and Antoine. You guys have to keep these guys pinned down. And watch for snipers. They’ll be trying to take out me and Jack.” Chris stayed low as he walked away from the truck.

  Danny kept watch as he listened to the sounds of the van backing up. A single shot from a rifle rang out from behind the wheels of the semi-truck.

  “That was close, you guys have to cover us!” Chris yelled from behind.

  Danny couldn’t get a visual on the man who’d fired the shot, but he knew which tire he was behind. CRACK, CRACK, CRACK! He unleashed three rounds into the tire.

  “I see a foot!” POP, POP, POP, POP, POP! Gwen fired five shots at the tire near the rear of the trailer.

  “The guy up by the cab is trying to take another shot.” Antoine sent several rounds down range.

  Jack hurried over to Danny’s position, hunched low. “The El Camino is out of the way. You can maneuver out.”

  “Great, let’s get out of here.” Danny backed up so he could get out from beneath the F-150.

  Chris walked quickly with his back bent low to where Danny was. “We should fuel up before we go.”

  Danny shook his head. “It’s not worth getting shot. Ben will be happy to fill us up when we return.”

  “The Humvee won’t make it. I left with a full 25-gallon tank and three 5-gallon Jerry cans. At eight miles to the gallon, that leaves me a range of about 20 miles to play with. It’s a 300-mile trip, and I’ve got fuel for 320. Since we can’t get around the semi to cross this bridge, we don’t know how far out of the way we’ll have to drive.”

  Danny frowned. “I see your point.”

  Chris looked in the direction of the semi. “My best guess is that the next crossing to the south is 16, which runs right into 485.”

  “Schlusser’s territory.” Danny sighed. “What about to the north?”

  Chris shook his head. “I don’t have any idea, but it has to be on the other side of Lake Norman. And I haven’t got a clue as to how big the lake is.”

  “It’s big,” Gwen commented. “We came up here once with friends.”

  “So what’s your plan? Are you going to set up your sniper rifle?” Danny glanced over at Chris.

  “They could stay hidden over there for hours. We have to get this show on the road.” Chris peered out from around the side of the Ford. “I’m thinking that Jack and I will rush them from the train trusses.”

  “But you’ll be going in with no cover!” Danny protested.

  “You guys start shooting, making a lot of racket. They’ll be so nervous, they won’t even see us coming up on them.” Chris patted his brother on the arm. “Are you in?”

  “I’m in,” Jack agreed.

  “Good.” Chris smiled. “Once we’re across, we’ll have the gravel mound of the train tracks to hide behind. We won’t engage until we get there.”

  “I don’t like it, but I can’t think of anything better.” Danny’s forehead creased.

  Chris winked. “You just keep shooting, and we won’t have anything to worry about. Two of you shoot until you’re empty, with one shooter in reserve. When someone runs out, the reserve shooter starts firing while that person reloads. Space your shots out. Two-to-three round bursts with five seconds in between bursts. We don’t want to waste too much ammo. It’s a precious commodity.”

  “Ready when you are.” Danny looked for any tell-tale signs of the hostiles’ location.

  Chris and Jack got into position. Chris turned toward Danny. “Twenty seconds after we leave, commence firing.”

  Gwen’s eyes looked longingly at Jack. “Be safe!”

  He nodded. “I will.”

  Chris and Jack used the cover of the other vehicles to make their way toward the guard rail. Danny began counting down the seconds. “Okay. Gwen, you start shooting with me. Antoine, you’re the reserve shooter until one of us runs dry.”

  “Got it!” Antoine took aim.

/>   Danny fired three rounds then Gwen fired two. Every few seconds, they sent their projectiles toward the wheels of the big rig. POW, POW, POW.

  Danny was first to run out of ammo. “Antoine, go!” Danny reloaded and waited for Gwen’s magazine to be empty. He heard the bolt of her AR-15 lock open. “Reload. I’ll take over.”

  “Roger.” Gwen pulled her empty magazine and replaced it with a fresh mag. She slapped the bolt release and waited for her turn to re-enter the rotation.

  The cycle continued for what seemed like several minutes. Danny heard no gunshots from the other side. Finally, he heard gunfire come from the direction where Jack and Chris should be. “I think that’s them. Let’s pick up the tempo so the hostiles don’t have a chance to fire on Chris and Jack.” Danny let out five round bursts and cut the time in between to three seconds. He saw a man trying to take cover from Jack and Chris, crawl beneath the rear of the truck. He fired several shots at the man, and the hostile fell limp.

  Several more shots rang out from behind the truck. The radio sprang to life with Chris’s voice. “Cease fire. The last man is surrendering. We’re going to zip tie him then clear the cab and the trailer. If you guys want to cross over, we could use your support.”

  “Roger. Are you both okay?” Danny asked.

  “Neither one of us has sprung a leak. I’ll take it,” Chris said.

  Danny motioned for Antoine and Gwen to follow him. “Change your magazines. We gotta be ready for anything.”

  They crossed over and found Chris unscrewing the fuel cap of the old semi.

  “Does it have any diesel left?” Danny asked.

  “Yep. I’ll dump the Jerry cans into the tank of the Humvee then just pop a hole in the side of this tank and let it drain straight into the Jerry can.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Danny pointed at the cab door. “But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. I’ll feel more comfortable after we’ve cleared the truck.”

  Chris looked at the detained hostile who had zip ties on his wrists and ankles. “Am I going to find anyone else in this truck?”

  The man also had duct tape across his mouth. Shaking his head was the only way he could answer.

  “You better not lie to me.” Chris put his hand on the door handle. “Let’s do it. I’ll open the door. Jack, you and Danny cover me.” Chris pulled the door open.