EMP Catastrophe by Hamilton, Grace (best ebook reader for pc .txt) 📕

He looked back the way he’d come and noticed that the dirt was dry and hard. No wonder he hadn’t been able to see any tracks. The ground naturally made it difficult to detect tracks, and he was no expert to begin with. His heart thundered in his chest. All this time, he’d thought Kathleen was losing her senses when she was in fact correct. Now, because of his failure, the hotel was in danger.

After inspecting the area, he realized there was only one set of footprints. Whoever this person was, they’d watched the hotel alone. Could it be Samuel planning a second attack?

He didn’t know. All he could do was speculate. But one thing he knew for certain. They needed to be more careful now than they ever had before.

And they’d need Jade to do it.

13

The next day, Matthew and Jade assembled a rudimentary shooting range on the hotel’s front lawn. Matthew had rolled a few big boulders and stumps into a staggered orientation on the lawn and placed tin cans on top of them. David held the pistol and Ruth, the Glock. Matthew hadn’t brought himself to relinquish the shotgun, yet.

He glanced up into the morning sun and toward the bedroom window, hoping to see Kathleen. Her pleasure that he’d believed her allegations about someone watching the hotel had been overshadowed by his insistence that they allow Jade to teach them how to shoot. For hours, he attempted to coax her into accepting that plan and to convince her to join them, but she adamantly refused. Then she’d spent the rest of the night vigilantly staring out the window while he had a restless sleep.

Now, he hoped she would see what they were doing and decide to join them, even if he knew she was actually studying them with an air of disapproval.

Patton and Allison were unusually quiet as they watched the lawn transform into a shooting range. Patton wore an owlish look as he openly stared at Jade taking the Glock from David. She handled the gun with calm proficiency and the utmost respect. She inspected the weapon and then turned to face the Riley clan.

“The first thing you should all think about when handling a gun is that it is a weapon to be treated with respect,” Jade said. “You should always treat your gun as if it is loaded, even when it’s not. Even when the safety is on. Always keep your finger away from the trigger. You’ll naturally want to curl your finger around it, but believe me, that’s a big mistake.”

Jade popped the magazine out and showed them where the bullets would be slotted inside. With a couple of clicks and twists, the gun seemed to fall apart into basic components in her hands. Matthew marveled at how just a couple of plastic and metal pieces could be the source of so much fear and protection. It looked like the pieces of a deadly puzzle.

“Gun safety means you always have the safety on, unless you intend to fire. You never want to fire at something that you can’t clearly see. Shooting blindly is a mistake. You’ll never know what exactly you’ve shot at, and it could have dire consequences down the line.” Jade showed them the tiny notch and flipped it back and forth, revealing a small red panel that indicated the safety was off. She began to put the gun back together. “Your worst fear is an accident. Say you’re walking in the woods and you trip over a log. The trigger could be jostled. If the safety is off, the gun will go off. You could hurt yourself, someone else, or even deafen yourself depending on how close the gun goes off to your ears.”

She held the Glock out to Patton. He took it reverently in his hands.

“Get used to the feel of it,” Jade instructed, motioning him to the front. “Keep the barrel pointed away from everyone at all times, ideally pointed at the ground.”

Patton fingered the plastic grip and ran his thumb over the smooth barrel. Then he gave it to Allison. She held it with a mixture of disgust and strange fascination. Each of them had a moment to hold the weapon. When it was Matthew’s turn, he realized he felt grateful for the opportunity. Up until then, whenever he had a gun in his hands, it was a means of survival. Now, it felt like he could finally connect with the weapon on a different basis than a frantic one.

“Feel the weight?” Jade asked him. Her dark brows arched up over her green eyes. “It’s much lighter than the shotgun, right? That means the rounds will be smaller and the recoil won’t pack as much of a punch. Don’t get me wrong, though, it will still kick back at you. Anticipating recoil is somewhat of a two-edged sword. You know it’s coming so you tense up for it. That’s ineffective. Honestly, you want to be relaxed when you pull the trigger so that when the recoil does hit, it can be absorbed. Think of your arms like cushions on a chair instead of brick walls. The recoil will hit the cushions and be somewhat absorbed, instead of smacking into a wall that can’t take any of the force.”

“How do we do that?” Patton asked.

“I’ll show you,” Jade said, “but don’t feel frustrated if you can’t get it right away. A lot of times, you simply need to get used to it. If you know the recoil will happen no matter what, you can treat it the right way.”

She took the shotgun and showed them how to open it up, displaying where the bullet canisters would go. “This one will need to be balanced against your shoulder.” She lifted it up and positioned it against her armpit. “The force will go right there. First time I shot one of these, I was bruised blue, but each time I got better.” Jade put