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

“So, there was someone out there,” Jade said in a hushed tone.

“Yeah. We didn’t see them, but they asked us to visit them. Matthew and I fought about it—”

Jade snorted. “Figures.”

“—because he didn’t want to alarm anyone about strangers lingering around the property. He doesn’t want us to meet with them, but it’s a mistake not to take the opportunity. We need allies. So I’m doing it myself.”

“All the while keeping your promise to not tell anyone. Except for me ’cause I’m not part of the family, right?” Jade said. “Getting away on a technicality, old man?”

The girl sure knew how to keep him on his toes. “You know it,” he shot back, though his heart ached that she didn’t feel part of the group. Despite everything that had happened, Jade had proven herself to him with her hard work, grit, and determination. Even if she had shot him.

Jade walked down the porch steps to stand in front of him. “Well, where is this place, then?”

“I’m going alone,” David said, even as he pulled out the crumpled piece of dirt-stained paper he’d saved after Matthew had trampled on it. She should know, in case something happened to him and he didn’t return.

“Don’t be stupid. I’ll be your backup. Matt would hit the roof if I knew about this and a) didn’t tell him, or b) let you go off alone. So, see, you’ve kinda recruited me.”

David chuckled. “Fine. You made your point. I’ve tricked you into subterfuge.”

“Pretty much.” She took the note out of his hands and read through it quickly.

“I think it’s south of us,” David said. “I don’t know who might want to meet us, but I’m ready to find out.”

Jade nodded in agreement. “You got a gun?” she asked.

David showed her the holster on his waist.

“Great, let me get armed.” She slipped in and back out of the hotel in no time. “Let’s go,” she said.

Together, they walked out to the property line and past the fence, taking the road that led down the mountain. The night was chilly, but David found it pleasant. He eyed the stars and marveled at how much he could actually see once he’d let his night vision adjust.

Soon, a gravel road split off from the main road. Jade stopped and pointed at the road sign bearing the name Carpenter Road.

“Worth a shot,” David said under his breath. He hoped that the road had been named after Carpenter Country or vice versa. Jade didn’t say anything, but followed David closely as they turned to walk along the road. Not too far down, they came across a sign hanging from a set of poles that read Carpenter Country: Gun Club in white lettering.

Jade came to a stop next to him. David’s shoes crunched the gravel as he glanced back at her. Not only was his night vision better, he felt as though his hearing had improved as well. Crickets chirped, and an owl hooted in the distance. He heard the flutter of wings and the breeze rustling through the pines.

Jade wore a concerned look on her face as she studied the sign. “Are you sure about this?” she whispered to David. “Like, absolutely positively we-shouldn’t-rethink-this sure?”

David tried to soothe the apprehension he felt that was reflected on her face. “Absolutely,” he said. “They reached out to us first. These are exactly the kind of people we need to be allying with.”

“Gun-toting, backwoods people?” Jade flashed a grin.

“People who know how to use weaponry effectively and are probably more prepared than we are,” David corrected.

Jade chuckled. “No need to be defensive. Just joking, old man.” Yet even her attempt at humor had an underlying tone of worry. She double-checked the gun in her waistband. “Time waits for no one. Lead the way.”

David nodded in agreement and took the lead, walking past the sign and toward a log-sided rectangular building in the distance. He heard a sharp grating crunch behind him, like a boot pivoting in gravel. He halted. His heart fluttered in his chest. Jade’s shoes wouldn’t make that kind of sound.

They weren’t alone.

“David—!” Jade cried out and was abruptly cut off.

David whipped around and saw a tall, bulky man wrench Jade’s arms up and behind her back. He was clothed in all black, nearly blending in with the darkness around them. He pushed on her elbow until Jade cried out and was forced to bend over to relieve the pain.

“Let go of her!’ David yelled and lunged forward, desperate to help her.

Jade’s green eyes glittered with tears. “Behind—” Again, she was cut off with a cry of pain.

Suddenly, something hard collided with the back of David’s head, filling him with agony. He collapsed to his knees. The world tilted to the side. He felt blood rush down the nape of his neck. Blinking, he realized he was collapsing to the ground in slow motion. A man loomed over him, clothed in black, with the butt of a rifle aimed toward him. A splotch of blood coated one of the sharper edges.

David gasped. His heart thundered with adrenaline and terror. Just before unconsciousness overtook him, he cursed himself, realizing his terrible mistake.

David fought through the darkness of unconsciousness, the throbbing in his head mimicking the weak beat of his heart. Panic dumped into his bloodstream. As he rose to wakefulness, the moments of before flashed before his eyes, making him relive how he’d been unceremoniously taken out by blunt force trauma. There must have been Carpenter Country scouts defending the area, and when David and Jade had walked onto their land in the middle of the night without an announcement, they must have taken them for hostiles. And acted accordingly.

Idiot, David thought. You should’ve thought of that.

He realized he was lying on a creaky bed. He shifted and let out a groan, grateful that the pain eased as he expressed it verbally.

“I think he’s coming around,” a male voice nearby said.

“David! David, wake up!”

Jade.

He opened his