Confliction: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel by Sam Winter

Author:Sam Winter [Winter, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Old Tower Press LLC
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-FIVE

Sharon Hill

Louisville, KY

Sharon awoke to blinding pain. Her dreams turned Brandon’s hands into robotic vice grips, squishing her arm into flat Jello. By the time her eyes opened, it felt more like getting stabbed with a hot poker. Disoriented, she stared up at Brandon for what felt like minutes. He knelt over her and did something to her arm while talking to someone. Others stood around them—dozens packed the room, but Sharon knew she was safe because Brandon hovered over her like a grizzly bear. Then Brandon cinched the knot of fabric tight on her wounded arm, spiking a penetrating pain that made her scream, and the world came crashing back to her.

“Is that true?” Wesley’s drawl accent came into focus.

Sharon blinked several times before realizing every set of eyes in the packed room rested on her. Instinctually, she looked for a weapon. When none was in sight that wasn’t already held by someone, she looked for Max.

“Where is she? Is she still alive?” Sharon yelled out as she twisted around and felt a fresh surge of pain in her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I got her,” Brandon said, putting a hand on her good shoulder, squeezing it harder than necessary. “She’s dead.”

The pain struck her as if Max had just been shot in front of her all over again, but that didn’t matter now because she was dead, and Sharon lay in a room full of suspicious men staring at her.

Wesley cocked his head to the side, “I said, is that true?”

“Is—is what true?” she asked, buying time to control her thoughts.

“I told them how we linked up with Alex,” Brandon said. “Was going door to door with him when we found the prisoner.”

She looked back at Brandon, allowing only a slight flash of rage to appear before she continued the story.

“Yeah… yeah… I remember the shooting started, but I don’t remember what happened after that,” she said. When she touched her face, she felt a bruise forming on her cheek over her jaw, and honestly didn’t remember how that got there.

“You took one to the arm,” Brandon said and helped her to her feet.

“And Alex took a bunch more to the chest,” Wesley added as his eyes flitted between them.

“And why weren’t you upstairs?” Baron stepped from behind Wesley. His eyes were more suspicious. “I thought we stopped lettin’ women take guard duty.”

“Yeah,” Aaron chimed in from Baron’s left. The weasel always seemed to be in Baron’s shadow.

“I wasn’t…” Sharon said, letting out an exhausted sigh to buy time for her to think. “I heard hollering downstairs. I thought it was another attack, so I went to see for myself.”

“Alex and I ran into her and figured we could use all the help we can get for the search,” Brandon added.

Baron scoffed, “You buyin’ this bullshit, pa?”

Wesley approached Max’s folded body in the corner of the room. A pool of thick blood formed around her. The AR-15 rifle Sharon had taken from Tom lay beside her, along with the scalpel. After a moment, Wesley turned his attention to Brandon.

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