Dark Cloud_the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series by Justin Bell & Mike Kraus

Author:Justin Bell & Mike Kraus [Bell, Justin & Kraus, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2018-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

***

Brad’s fingers clenched around the contoured handle of his Ruger .380, caressing the rubber surface of the grip, index finger tracing the trigger guard.

Trigger discipline! Trigger discipline!

Standing near the entrance of Cleveland Clinic, he looked out into the rotunda outside, the makeshift cul-de-sac wrapping around a circular pavilion. Everything outside was a strange color under the early dawn light, green grass twinged by highlights of orange and pink. He looked down at his hands, both of them holding the Ruger, his mind thinking back to one of the countless hard lessons Clancy Greer had taught him. Waking him up in the pre-dawn hours, hammering him with question after question and lesson after lesson, the proper stance, arm placement, finger placement, everything he absolutely had to get right before he even tried to shoot at another human being. Turning over the pistol in his hands, he ran fingers over the smooth brushed metal, running up and down along the short barrel, only around two inches long, the perfect small pistol for his small hands.

Small in size, but not in punch.

Greer had told him that during the first lesson after they picked up the weapon at that abandoned weapons store outside St. Louis. St. Louis. A city forever ingrained in him, the buildings carved into his consciousness. Streets that he would remember as clearly as he remembered his parents’ faces would dovetail together, pieces of a single puzzle, lodged firmly in his brain for the rest of his life.

“Whatcha doing?” Max asked as he came out into the main hallway. Brad looked back at him, walking slow, rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand. Brad hadn’t slept at all last night and he wagered that Max had only gotten a couple of hours, which had grown more and more typical as the weeks wore on.

“Nothing really,” Brad replied quietly.

“What’s up with the gun?” Max asked, nodding toward the weapon Brad was holding.

Brad shrugged.

“Not thinking of doing anything stupid with it, are you?”

“Nah,” Brad replied. “I was just thinking of a few things.”

Max approached Brad, coming close and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, bro,” Max said. “I know Clancy meant a lot to you.”

“He meant a lot to all of us.”

Max nodded.

Brad looked back down at the pistol in his hands. “I never did tell him, you know.”

“Tell him what?”

“About Cavendish. That I was the one who shot him.”

“Does that matter?”

Brad shrugged. “You remember we were talking about it ahead of time? Clancy was pretty pissed. He could tell what we were discussing, told me he’d better not hear of me doing anything.”

“He was going to kill my mom,” Max said. “You saved her life.”

“He was just standing there,” Brad replied. “His back was to me. I could have done a lot of different things. I pointed my gun straight at his head and shot, no hesitation. Didn’t even think about trying to wound him.”

“That was the right move,” Max said. “Say you shoot him to wound, only you don’t hurt him as much as you think.

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