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

“XM205.”

“—whatever, would you explain why it’s significant?” Liz asked.

Luke started to speak, but Derek cut him off.

“It’s a tripod mount for a heavy machine gun, usually a belt-fed monster that one person could never hold and fire at the same time, despite what you’ve seen in the action movies.”

Liz’s eyes went wide. “That sounds bad.”

“It’s not that bad. They’re damn hard to fire accurately. It takes special training. And the way these bozos have been acting during my recon, they’re more likely to kill themselves than us with a heavy assault weapon,” Derek said.

“I think I need to go in for a closer look at their compound,” Luke said.

“Why?” Derek threw up his hands in exasperation. “Didn’t you hear me? They’re total amateurs. We could take them out without breaking a sweat.”

“No.” Luke shook his head. “We’re outnumbered and possibly outgunned. I can’t risk my family without better intel.”

“What more do you want? I told you what they have. Sure, it’s a lot of guns, but we’re smarter. We don’t need more firepower if we can just pick them off one by one. But I am worried about one thing. More people are showing up at their compound every day. We must take them out now before they gather reinforcements,” Derek said.

Luke looked at his wife. He wasn’t willing to risk losing her or Kyle. He wanted to see the COB’s operation himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Derek. He did. But the younger guy seemed gung-ho about taking out the enemy. It felt careless. And that kind of attitude got people killed.

“I just don’t know.” Luke covered his mouth with his hand as he pondered. “I just don’t know.”

“What? You don’t believe me? Un-fucking-believable.” Derek stormed off.

“He seems pissed,” Liz said with a smirk.

“I should go on recon and check things out. I wanted to go before, but you—”

“Go. Don’t let me stop you. I was just worried. But we need to be able to trust his information before we attack the cult.”

“Do you trust him?” Luke asked.

“Mostly, but how much can you trust someone you don’t really know?” She sighed. “I don’t think he’s going to be a problem for us. He could have easily killed us in our sleep already. But those big guns he talked about have me worried. What if they have a bunch of ex-military in their ranks?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Until we get more info, we need to wait. Once I’m confident we know everything about the cult, we’ll make our move.”

“Thank you, honey.” Liz moved into his arms.

He held her close, pressing his lips against her hair. She meant everything to him. He’d sworn to protect her for the rest of her life. As much as he wanted to go running down the mountain to attack the COB, he knew better. His age and experience taught him never to underestimate the enemy. And he wasn’t about to start now.

Derek fumed as he stalked through the shelter toward the armory. So, the old man wanted to wait, did he? That was typical. There was a reason young men like Alexander the Great did magnificent things, while old men puttered into obscurity.

Sure, Luke had a family to protect. But why couldn’t he see that going after the Children of the Bomb now was the best way to protect them?

He yanked open the door to the armory and grabbed an AR-15. It was a little dirty, so he took out a long brush and began cleaning it.

As he bored out the barrel with the stiff wire brush, footsteps approached. Derek turned, expecting to see Luke, but it was Liz.

“Your husband is a very stubborn man.”

“Yes, he is.” Liz watched as he finished cleaning the barrel. He added a brace of automatic pistols and steel alloy survival trench knives to his growing requisition pile. “He’s also not wrong very often.”

Derek grunted as he dug through several cabinets. At last, he found what he’d been searching for: terrain maps of the area surrounding the bunker. Surely one of them detailed the site where the COB cult had set up shop.

“I’m not afraid to fight if we have to.” Something in her tone made Derek stop what he was doing and make eye contact. “I killed the cult leader the first time around, remember? But we need to do this Luke’s way.”

“No, we don’t.” Derek rifled through the maps, carefully scanning each for landmarks. “We can do this my way. Fast. I just want to get it over with. We have a ton of other things to consider. The COB is taking up too much of our mental space. If I have to go kill them all, I will.”

“By yourself?” She stood beside him, looking down at the maps. “You’re going to take on an army of cultists by yourself?”

“It’s not an army. But it will be.” Derek went back to his planning. “That is, if we wait around with our thumbs up our asses while your husband makes up his fucking mind.”

“Fine. Be an ass.” Liz stormed away.

Derek opened his mouth to apologize, but she was already gone.

Sighing, he returned to his task. He would have liked to bring Luke, and maybe even Liz, along on the assault. By himself, it would require a different, more finessed touch. He could manage it, but he’d also never turn down help.

With the terrain maps, Derek could easily find cover near the bunker. Preying on the cultists using guerrilla warfare tactics would be easy. As much as he hated to admit it, the Viet Cong sure as hell knew what they were doing. He was damn glad he’d been born late enough to avoid that conflict.

Of course, the more cultists he picked off, the more they would start hunting him. He’d have to be really careful. He had to strike fast and strike hard, but most of all, he had to strike soon. He couldn’t understand why Luke was hesitating.