Edge of Fear: An EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival Prepper Series (American Fallout Book 3) by Alex Gunwick (rooftoppers .txt) 📕

“Sounds like excuses to me.” Sandy smirked.

Derek sighed and waved a dismissive hand at them. He got up to pour himself more coffee. Liz shook her head. She sat quietly, reading through the supply notebook.

“Is he almost ready?” Derek asked.

“We about done here?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, I’m done. But what are you guys talking about? Ready for what?” Sandy asked.

Liz looked up at her husband. She raised her eyebrows, and her face was full of concern.

“Luke says we need to go back to the cabin because we didn’t complete the mission last night.” Derek raised his coffee mug toward Luke as if saluting him.

“What the hell does that mean?” Liz asked with fear in her voice.

“We couldn’t carry everything I went there to get. Derek had his pack on, plus he had to carry me. I couldn’t lift a damn thing with that arrow in my shoulder. We’ve got to go get the stuff now before the cult takes it.”

Liz looked furious. “Absolutely not! There’s no way in hell you two are going back up there. Didn’t you listen to what I said about the number of cult members out there? We’re outnumbered probably five to one. If you go out there without picking some of them off, you’re as good as dead.”

“Honey, I understand what you’re saying, but we cannot let our gear fall into the wrong hands. Do you want the cult to get their hands on the rest of our guns? They may outnumber us, but we have firepower. That’s the great equalizer. If we let them get the guns, we’ve lost our advantage.”

“It’s still too risky,” Liz said.

“Do you really want those crazy guys to get their hands on the Kevlar vests I had stashed away for you and Kyle?”

“What Kevlar vests?” Liz asked. “I don’t remember seeing those.”

“They’re in the secondary stash,” Luke said.

“Don’t forget about the grenades,” Derek chimed in. Luke shot him a dirty look, but Derek only smiled back and raised his mug in a sarcastic ‘cheers’ gesture.

“Grenades? Secondary stash?” Liz narrowed her gaze.

“I, uh, may have stashed a few emergency grenades in the shed. And I have a second stash of weapons and supplies I never told you about.” Luke glanced down sheepishly.

Liz groaned, throwing her hands up in frustration.

“Now do you see why we have to go get our stuff? The cult may have raided the cabin looking for their men, but they probably haven’t found the stuff I buried in the secondary stash location in the woods. It should be safe for now, but we can’t risk them finding it,” Luke said.

“Fine. I’m coming with you.” She crossed her arms, staring him down.

“No, you’re not.” He returned her gaze. Stubborn as she was, he refused to budge on this issue. “You’re staying here with Kyle. He needs you.”

She opened her mouth to object, but he cut her off with a whisper in case his son was nearby. “I’m worried about him. One of us needs to watch him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. He’s not thinking right. Ever since Sierra died, he’s been so angry. I’m afraid he’ll try to sneak out again.”

Liz glared at him doubtfully for a moment, but then her face softened. “Fine, but please be more careful this time. Don’t hang around. Obviously, it’s not safe out there. Just grab the stuff and come right back here, promise?”

“I promise, babe. We’ll be back before you know it.” Luke kissed her cheek before following Derek toward the entrance to the bunker.

As they headed into the forest, the wound on Luke’s abdomen burned and itched. He tried to ignore it, but the need to scratch the wound nearly overwhelmed him. He couldn’t risk it getting infected, so he shoved his hands in his pockets.

When they reached the edge of the trees overlooking Luke’s cabin, they crouched down. Luke scanned the windows, looking for movement.

“I thought we were just going to grab the stuff from the secondary location and get back,” Derek said.

“I lied. I didn’t want to worry her, but I got to see what those fuckers did to my cabin.”

“I get it. Lead the way,” Derek said.

The cabin was a mess inside. Furniture was overturned, and all the drawers had been ripped out and dumped on the ground. Anything worth taking was gone from the kitchen, including most of the pots and pans and, ominously, all the knives. The bodies of the cult people that had attacked them were also gone. Dried blood stains were the only remaining evidence of the carnage.

“Jesus, they did a number on the place, huh?” Derek whistled as they surveyed the damage.

“Well, shit!” Luke cursed when he saw the empty place in the couch where his crossbow and arrows had been.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing. I just had my crossbow stashed in there,” he said sarcastically.

“Just what we need, another crazy bastard running around with a crossbow.” Derek shook his head. “I’ve got to say, watching Sandy and Edwin take the arrow out last night didn’t look pleasant.”

“I assure you, it was not. You know how sometimes things look worse than they really are? That was definitely not one of those times. Getting shot with an arrow might sound cool, but after experiencing it, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“I’ll take your word for it. It sucks that they took your crossbow, but at least they didn’t get the grenades.”

“We don’t know that for sure yet. We have to check the stash. Let’s get out of here. If we linger too long, Liz will tear me a new one. Don’t tell her we came into the cabin.”

“I’ll do my best, but that wife of yours is tough as nails. I can’t promise I’ll hold up under interrogation.”

Luke laughed. “Fair enough. Come on, let’s go grab the stuff.”

After checking to be sure the coast was clear, they jogged back into the tree line. Luke glanced back on the cabin, wondering if