Neighborhood Watch 5: After the EMP by EE Isherwood

Author:EE Isherwood [Isherwood, EE]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Isherwood Media
Published: 2023-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

The go-kart seemed big when it was me and Carmen, but Zen was almost as large as I was, so neither of us had enough room in the tiny cockpit. I could have taken any of the gas-powered vehicles, but the kart was the most convenient. On the way, I decided it was also the smartest vehicle to take into hostile situations. If someone stole it while we were walking around, we wouldn’t be out a full-sized vehicle.

There hadn’t been time to rig up a kill-switch system for it.

I stopped at the front gate to ask someone to find out what Andi had been doing, so she knew we had an eye on her, then we sped across Bayside.

“Dude, this reminds me of when I was a kid,” Zen said as we accelerated past his roadblock, waved to his guys, and then started in on the street with multiple muddy ruts where the go-kart and other vehicles had already traveled.

“Did you have one of these?” I asked, to keep him chatting.

“Naw, dude, my dad would have said I would break my skull on one of these, but my buddy down the street had two of them. We used to run those stupid things all over our neighborhood. We would even go up to the food store and tie carts to the back end, then we’d whip around corners and watch them go flying.”

He laughed and actually slapped his knee at the same time.

“That sounds awesome,” I said to encourage him.

“You have no idea.”

The mud was close to dry on the main road, but water and gunk filled the depression on either side of Poseidon, and the canal next to the road was uniformly brown from all the runoff. As we turned right at 40th Street, and then turned left on Pax’s street, the mud got thicker.

“It’s right up there, about five houses down.” Zen pointed to the other side of the east-west road. “The red place.”

I pulled into Pax’s driveway.

“What are we doing here?” he asked.

After hopping out, I waved him to follow me inside. There were lots of men and women standing around, as if they’d come back after whatever incident had taken place with the armed men.

The inside of Pax’s home had been gutted, same as all the other houses on the street. Water had come in, rearranged everything that wasn’t bolted to the floor, and then blew mud all over the walls and carpets as a farewell love letter.

I found Pax lying on the countertop of a huge island in the kitchen.

There was little question he didn’t make it.

“Crap,” I said as I walked into the room.

Pax had two dozen knife wounds on his chest, neck, and face. His dishwater-blond hair was matted with blood, and there were several cuts on his face and hands. Someone had ripped his neck when they’d stolen his many gold necklaces. The thief had not only taken the man’s drugs, jewelry, and money, but he’d also taken his life.

Agnes stood at the end of the counter, staring down at her hands.

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