Dark Sky Thunder: Walking in the Rain 4 by Allen William

Author:Allen, William [Allen, William]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-09-24T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

The drive into Center was surreal. I think that was the right term, anyway. Coming through the area that first time, my attention was not the best, and I knew I was experiencing tunnel vision at the idea of getting home. Now, my head was on straight and I was scanning my sector carefully. The changes I noted made my heart heavy with realization.

The winding two lane was not exactly a well-traveled thoroughfare before the lights went out. Thoroughfare. I always liked that word. It sounded sophisticated. Anyway, as I looked closely, I could make out the telltale signs of refugees having passed this way. Stripped and looted vehicles dotted the roadway, of course, but so did the abandoned detritus of countless pedestrians walking this stretch of blacktop.

Damaged shopping carts and discarded roller luggage littered the downtrodden grass shoulders. I thought I saw shapes that might have been bodies rolled off in the ditches. I had to look away from the baby strollers tossed haphazardly aside, praying they were unoccupied.

We rode in Dad’s big king cab diesel, with the old man driving and me riding shotgun with the barrel of my CETME barely sticking out of the lowered window. After the ambush two days ago, I was determined to stick with my bigger rifle whenever possible. One shot with the thing was enough to take down just about any threat I faced, and with the scope, I was good out to four or five hundred yards, even using surplus or reloaded ammunition.

The squish factor on my range was bullet placement. I could consistently hit a man-sized target at five hundred yards, but at four hundred, I was pretty comfortable with headshots. No, still no zombies, but if my target was wearing body armor, the big .308 Winchester round was likely to penetrate. If not, then a headshot. Maybe I was paranoid, but if we saw any more of those Homeland thugs, I was going for headshots all day long.

As we motored down the road, I really wished we could have brought two vehicles, and Dad shared my concern, but we simply lacked the manpower. For about the hundredth time since returning home, I wished some more of my father’s friends had made it to the ranch.

In the back seat, Lori and Beth sat flanking one of the new women, Kate Carnahan, rescued from the gang two nights ago. She was the main reason we were late in our planned visit to town. The original plan had Mike accompanying his wife, but Kate was too freaked out being that close to a strange man. Recalling Sarah Trimble’s reactions, I quietly suggested we take Lori in place of Mike.

Beth needed to go. Kate was wounded in the fight, taking a round in the upper chest that was ugly and bloody but not immediately life threatening. We didn’t know who shot her, but I suspected it was one of us. That was a sad but likely occurrence when the bullets started flying.

Regardless, she needed antibiotics and Beth was adamant about not depleting our own stocks more than necessary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.