Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

I walked over to him and bumped him with my shoulder. “You see that guy over there. On the other side of the park, walking towards town?” Dalton nodded. “Can you follow him and see where he goes?”

“Will do. I’ll be in touch,” he replied and started after him without question.

“Just find out where he’s going. Give me a call and let me know.”

He gave me a thumbs-up and continued his pursuit. I made my way back to the truck to watch the progress. Little Bit was up in the back of the truck with Edie and Jace, carrying bags to those handing them out. Each child could only carry one at a time. But they were keeping up. Lee Ann and Taylor were helping to hand the bags to the people as they passed.

As I stood watching the work, Shane ambled up and leaned against the truck beside me. “How the hell did you pull this off?” He asked.

“We went to Eglin. I asked the Army to give until it hurt.”

“Looks like they did.”

I nodded and changed the subject. “Have you seen Micha around lately?”

He shrugged, “Sometimes. He doesn’t come around as much as he used to.”

“He’s not helping you guys out anymore?”

Shane snorted, “He’s never really been any help. More nosy than anything else.”

“What? Asking questions?”

Nodding, he replied, “Yeah. Always asking questions about what was going on. Where people were. That kind of thing.”

I pointed to the man with the net. He was on his feet now, piling it up. “You know that guy?”

He shook his head. “No. Can’t say I do. Who is he?”

“I was hoping you knew. Aric here thinks he worked for the DHS out at the camp.”

“I’m almost certain,” Aric replied.

Shane looked at the man who was now walking away from the park. “You want me to go roll him up?”

I shook my head. “No. Not yet. But could you go follow him, see where he’s going? Dalton is following Micha. The two were just talking, so I’m curious what’s up. I don’t trust Micha, never have. And with Aric thinking this clown was with the DHS, I’m just curious what they’re up to.”

“Sure,” Shane replied. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Take someone with you,” Aric said. “If he’s who I think he is, he’s pretty dangerous.”

“I’ll grab Shawn. He’s on that side of the park anyway.”

I saw Mitch and Michelle working their way through the crowd and made my way over to him. He smiled when he saw me and I shook his hand. “How’s it going?” I asked.

He shook my hand and replied, “Going great. Thanks for the food.”

I nodded. “You’re a big part of things now. It’s only right you get your share.”

“We really appreciate it. We ran out of flour, now I can make some bread,” Michelle said.

We hung out in the park, chatting and watching as the crowd moved through the distribution line. I found my way over to Sarge and asked if he’d seen Cecil. “He’s out at the farm. There’s still a lot of work going on out there.”

“You got his stuff set aside?”

“Yeah. We put his aside and enough for the folks working out there.” Sarge peeked over the side of the truck. He looked surprised and said, “Still quite a bit in there. We may have leftovers.”

“Good. We’ll hold onto it.”

As I was speaking, the radio crackled to life. Dalton’s voice came over it, saying, “You’re about to have incoming.”

I looked at Sarge and asked, “What’d he say?”

But Sarge was already on his radio, “Repeat that!”

“You’re about to have incoming!”

Sarge raised his carbine and fired a long continuous burst into the air. People began to run, some dove to the ground. The burst of rifle fire was interrupted by the sound of the air tearing apart, followed immediately by a thunderous explosion in the park. Dirt flew high into the air as shells exploded like a thunder clap.

I was on the ground and crawling towards Mel and the girls. They were all pressed to the ground under the truck. Another shell landed with a roaring explosion, this time closer to the truck. I made it to Mel, and she had her hands pressed tight over her ears and her eyes clenched tightly closed. I grabbed her hand and pulled it from her ear, screaming, “We need to move!”

She stared back at me, her eyes wide with fear. I ducked as another shell landed. An unidentifiable piece of pink meat slapped into the truck and fell to the ground. I grabbed Mel’s hand and jerked her out from under the truck. Little Bit was beside her and I pulled her out as well. I didn’t see Edie or Jace. Another shell landed and I saw a body fly into the air, high into the air and land in a tree. I pushed Mel, screaming for her to run towards the band shell at the opposite end of the park.

“When you hear the sound in the air, get flat on the ground!” I screamed as I pushed her again and told her to run.

I moved back to the truck and found Lee Ann and Taylor. The air wailed again and I fell on top of them as the shell slammed into the park. It landed near the gallows and sent splinters of wood flying in all directions. There were screams and wails. But they sounded far away as my ear drums felt as though they’d ruptured from the explosions. I stood up and pulled the girls to their feet and pointed at the band shell and screamed, “Run!”

They didn’t hesitate and took off as fast as their feet would carry them. I saw the Stryker moving, Mike was getting out of the strike area. The air tore apart once again and I fell to the ground. It hit the truck, sending pieces of it flying and igniting the fuel from the ruptured tanks. A person, fully engulfed in flames walked slowly away from it, hands held over