Lost Valley 1 Anthology by Walt Browning & Browning Walt

Author:Walt Browning & Browning, Walt
Format: epub

— 10 —

Lost Valley

“What are we holding onto, Sam?”

“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

— The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

“John, one of the women is able to talk,” Chris Reedy’s expression left no doubt that he was needed immediately.

Carver nodded and finished pressing another .30-caliber bullet into the .556 cutdown casing, creating a custom .300 Blackout round. The 110-grain, .308 diameter, polymer-tipped projectile was much lighter than his normal 220-grain, subsonic ammunition. What they lacked in weight, they made up for in speed and penetration.

Carver had wanted to try a fast, high-impact bullet after their first encounter with the armored juveniles. His shotgun had slain the two closest ones. The others had taken nearly half a magazine each to kill as both Shader and Keele emptied their rifles on the speedy creatures. That was unacceptable. Hopefully, these bullets would pierce the hard shell better than the M4 rounds did.

“Where’s Shrek?” Chris asked.

“With Kyle,” Carver replied. “One of the Freedom’s crew is with Morales and the boys, training them on the new SuperCobra. It seems that one of them is going to try and qualify as Everly’s weapons officer.”

It had been a few days since they’d recovered the women from North Island. The two adults had been malnourished and severely dehydrated. The teenage girl had been in better physical shape, but she’d spun in and out of consciousness as the IV drips and rest nurtured them back to health. They’d all been through significant mental trauma.

Carver grabbed his nearby rifle. It was never more than a few feet from him.

“Has she said anything?” Carver asked.

“She asked about the teenager and then we told her how we found them. The girl is her daughter, so we moved their beds together.”

Carver followed the camp’s medic into one of the bedrooms they’d created a few months back. The large, metal structure used to be the camp’s maintenance building. After they had been attacked by a horde of Variants, they’d converted it into a common dormitory. Metal walls gave them a much better chance of survival than the camp’s tents.

They knocked on the door and were let in by Chris’s wife, Laura. She was one of the camp females who had volunteered to sit with the survivors as they recovered.

“Hey,” Carver whispered.

Laura smiled and nodded to the conscious woman. “She’s awake and wants to thank you for saving her daughter.”

Carver walked up to the bed and gently cleared his throat. “Hi,” he said softly.

The woman was lying next to the teenager, her left hand holding the young girl’s. She turned and gave Carver a tired smile. “Do I have you to thank?”

“I was there,” Carver said.

She patted the edge of her mattress with her free right hand. “Please.”

Carver gently sat as she lifted the hand for him to take. He wrapped his large fingers around hers.

“You’re John Carver, right?”

Carver nodded.

“I’m Pam,” she began. “Thank you… For everything. For saving my daughter and rescuing us.”

Carver smiled. “You’re welcome.

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