Preppers of the Apocalypse - Part 2: Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival (6 page)

“Get
up,” he said.

The
man blinked, but didn’t move.

“Go
ahead. You can get out of here,” said Ash.

The
man slowly got to his feet, throwing little glances around the room as though
he expected it to be a trap. He backed slowly towards the table, his footsteps
so unsure that it seemed like it was going to take him hours just to get out of
there.

“Jesus
Christ,” said Chad. “Hurry the hell up and get out of my aunt’s house.”

The
man reached behind him, picked up the crossbow from the table and pointed it at
Chad. Ash shot his pistol once again, but he was too late. The man had already
fired the bow, and just as the arrow hit Chad, Ash’s bullet tore through the
man’s neck.

Chapter 8

Ash
had never treated an arrow wound before. Sheriff Ellie had seen plenty of
gunshot injuries in her time as a police officer and she’d even seen a couple
of snake bites, but nobody had ever complained of getting shot by a crossbow.
Luckily, the arrow had hit Chad in his upper arm, which meant that he could
still walk. From the way he moaned about it though, Ash would have thought it
was life-threatening.

“So
do we just pull it out?” said Ellie.

Chad
had his arm stretched across the kitchen table. Blood trickled out of the
wound, and the veins in his arm stuck out prominently.

“No
way,” said Ash. “I’m no doctor, but I think the worst thing we can do is to
pull out the arrow head.”

“I’m
not walking around with this sticking out of my arm,” said Chad.

“Well
guess what?” Ellie said. “The hospital’s closed, and the doctors are cowering
in their own homes somewhere. So it seems like Doctor Ash is the best thing
you’ve got right now.”

Ash
stood up.

“Find
me some scissors,” he said. “We can cut the end away from the arrow, but the
head needs to stay in. For all we know it’s torn through a blood vessel, and
right now it’s acting as a plug.”

After
finding a pair of scissors and cutting away the end of the arrow, the three of
them raided the kitchen cupboards for canned food. They found a few rucksacks
in the wardrobe of the master bedroom and filled them with as much as they
could carry. Thirty minutes later they stood in the hallway. Ellie balanced
carefully, making sure not to put too much weight on her injured ankle. Chad
held his hand around his arrow wound.

“So
what now?” said Ellie.

Ash
felt himself fill up with nervous energy.

“Now,”
he said, “We go and find Georgia.”

***

As
they walked over the crest of the hill, the city came into view. It was too far
away to make out in a great deal of detail, but it was still possible to see
how screwed up things had gotten. Black smoke rose from smouldering shops and
houses, and it seemed like on every single road there were at least one or two
cars abandoned. Despite the signs of chaos, there seemed to be few people out
on the streets. He guessed that after the riots and the violence, most people
were too scared to leave their homes now. Maybe that would change once their
cupboards started to become bare.

They
followed a road that stayed far enough away from the city that they felt
relatively safe. Ash knew that if they followed it for ten miles, eventually
they would come to a cross roads. From there, his house was only a fifteen
minute walk away.

Ellie
and Chad tried to chat as they walked, but Ash couldn’t concentrate. With every
step he took, the image of Georgia grew larger in his mind until soon she
completely dominated his thoughts. He’d tried to put it to one side when they
were travelling over the mountain range because he knew it would impair his
judgement if he worried, but now that they were so close, he couldn’t help it.

Ash
was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn’t see the group of people
until they were right in front of him. Chad put his good arm across Ash’s chest
to stop him walking. Ash looked up and saw seven men and women, and two
children ahead of them on the path.

The
men carried rucksacks that looked filled to bursting, and they held weapons in
their hands ranging from knives to crowbars. The three women also gripped
weapons of their own, but two of them also held the hands of their children.
The men stopped and began to size up Ash, Ellie and Chad. For a brief second
Ash’s pulse fired and he worried he was going to have to reach for his gun
again, but he soon saw that this group of travellers didn’t look aggressive.
More than anything, they just looked scared.

Ash
raised his hand in the air.

“We
don’t mean any trouble,” he said.

One
of the men leaned in towards the man next to him and said something. Neither of
them took their eyes off Ash.

“Seriously,
fellas. We’re not gonna cause you any trouble,” said Chad.

The
two men nodded at each other, and the group slowly approached Ash. When they
were a few feet away the group stopped, and one of them stepped forward. He was
a tall man with blue eyes and a rough beard, and dirt lined his face. There was
a depth to his eyes that made it seem like he’d seen things that he didn’t want
to talk about.

“Name’s
Jack,” he said.

Ash
held out his hand and introduced himself, as did Ellie and Chad.

“Where
are you folks headed?” said Jack.

Chad
looked at Ash as if waiting for him to answer on their behalf.

“Lexington
Drive,” said Ash. “It’s not far from here.”

Jack
nodded. “I know the place.”

“Seen
it lately?”

“We
didn’t pass through there.”

“So
where are you going?” said Ellie.

Jack
sighed, as though the question put a weight on him.

“Rather
not say.”

“Fair’s
fair,” said Chad. “We told you where we’re going. We just want to know which
places people think are safe.”

Jack
stroked his chin. He turned and looked at his group behind him, and one of the
men in the group nodded. Jack turned back around, and cleared his throat.

“We’re
going to a town nearby. Killop Hills.”

At
hearing this, Ellie jerked her head back.

“You’re
kidding. You’re going to Killop?”

Jack
folded his arms. The sleeves of his coat were torn.

“We
heard they’ve got diesel generators linked up there. Thought we’d see how
things are. Some of the guys would murder someone for a warm bath right now.”

He
seemed to catch the way Ash, Chad and Ellie looked at him, because he then
added: “Not literally, of course.”

Ellie
stepped forward and gulped. She gave a small glance at Ash, and then spoke to
Jack.

“Listen,”
she said. “I was going to head to Killop myself. My boy’s dad lives there.
Think I could tag along with you?”

“Let
me go check with the group,” said Jack.

He
walked away to join the rest of his group. Ellie ran their hands through her
hair, and Ash saw how greasy it was. It reminded him of how long it had been
since any of them had taken an interest in their hygiene.

“You
don’t mind, do you?” said Ellie.

“I
was kind of hoping you’d help me find Georgia,” said Ash. “But your boy’s
important, and you need to find his father. Don’t worry about it.”

Ellie
looked at the floor.

“Thanks.
And I meant what I said back there. You’re not such a bad guy, Ash. You just
need to show it every once in a while.”

Ash
thought about stepping forward to hug her, but when the sheriff didn’t make a
move of her own, he stayed put. Maybe she had changed her opinion of him, but
that didn’t mean that they were best friends.

“So
this is good bye,” he said.

“Take
it easy on that ankle,” said Chad.

“Next
time I see you,” said Ellie, “Hopefully you won’t have an arrow sticking out of
your arm.”

***

Not
much later, Ash and Chad passed the cross roads and found themselves on the
start of Lexington Drive. As they walked down the street, Ash saw the familiar
suburban houses that he used to walk by every day. Just two weeks earlier it
had been a clean, friendly neighbourhood, but now the once-pristine lawns were
starting to look overgrown, and every single house had its curtains drawn.

“It
didn’t always look like this,” said Ash.

“It’s
nicer than anywhere that I ever lived,” said Chad.

With
each step they took toward his house, Ash felt his chest flutter. He got a
sinking feeling in his stomach, and he felt jittery as if his body was being
flooded with adrenaline. It was all he could do to hold himself back from
sprinting home.

Finally
they stood at the top of his drive. Georgia would be in there, he knew. He
prayed, for the fourth time, that she was okay. A big part of him didn’t want
to walk down the drive way and open his front door, because he was scared that
he’d find her hurt, or that she’d be angry with him for leaving her alone.

I
came as fast as I could,
he thought.
I walked across a damn
mountain to come back to you.

“We
going in?” said Chad.

Ash
nodded. “We better do this.”

He
walked down the driveway and opened his front door. For a second he was annoyed
that Georgia hadn’t locked it, but his annoyance was quickly flooded by worry.
The living room of his house was trashed. Ash stood in the doorway and saw chairs
shredded and tables overturned. Light bulbs were smashed on the carpet, and
books littered the floor.

“Georgia?”
he called out.

There
was no answer.

She
wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. Ash’s heart began to beat furiously
against his chest. He near enough jogged through his hall way and reached the
stairs. As he ran up them he called out for his wife.

“Come
on Georgia. It’s me.”

There
was still no answer.

When
he got to the top of the stairs he knew something was wrong. He checked through
all the bedrooms and found the same story; they had all been ransacked, as if
someone had torn through them looking for something. It didn’t look like
anything had actually been taken, though. The only thing that was missing from
the house was his wife.

Ash
knew that he had gotten here too late. He had tried his best, but his best
hadn’t been good enough. He felt like sinking to the floor in desperation, but
he knew that he was better than that. He’d survived so much up to now, and he
was starting to believe in himself again. He was going to find Georgia, and not
even an apocalyptic disaster would stop him.

Thanks
for reading Preppers of the Apocalypse Part 2. I hope you enjoyed it.

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