Storm's Fury | Book 9 | The Road Home by Bell Justin & Kraus Mike

Author:Bell, Justin & Kraus, Mike [Bell, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Survival
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2020-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Just outside Limon, Colorado

Shawna was surprised that she’d actually gotten some sleep the night before, even if it had been interrupted for a short period for her to take her turn in the watch rotation. Between herself, Tristan and Selanda, they’d split the night into a trio of three-hour chunks, letting Roxie sleep, knowing that she was in a fragile emotional state due to the lost laptop.

Shawna could understand, even if she didn’t totally agree. The truth was, none of them knew if the laptop was important or how it might be important, only that Jasmine had insisted they take it with them with her dying breath. In Roxie’s defense, her father lost his life launching the satellite that the laptop was currently slaved to, so Shawna understood.

But was it worth risking their lives for? Their interaction the previous evening with that crazy group in Limon had left her on edge. They’d had their share of experiences with crazy and violent people over the past two months, but the crew from last night seemed particularly unhinged.

Not evil or aggressive, just…crazy. They’d barely slipped away with their lives and now Roxie wanted to turn around and go back, just to retrieve some ancient piece of hardware that none of them even knew how to use.

She didn’t like it, but for Roxie’s sake, she was prepared to do it. As Shawna stood, she looked around the small clearing they’d all spent the night in and was somewhat surprised to see that nobody else was there. The two other makeshift beds of leaves were empty and besides the softly falling rain, the forest was nearly silent with the exception of her steady breathing. There was a musty, wet, organic smell in the air, the scent of moist earth and old leaves and she stretched her arms high over her head, grimacing as her aching muscles strained with the motion.

She noticed the backpack was gone, as was the rifle, and figured the others were nearby somewhere.

“Breakfast time,” Tristan said, walking into the clearing, his voice startling Shawna. He held two squirrels by their bushy tails, both animals looking plump, but not especially appetizing.

“Kill those things with your bare hands, Chuck Norris?” Shawna asked and Tristan shook his head.

“During my watch I went back to the truck— scavenged some wire from the electronics and rigged up a snare. Honestly, didn’t expect to catch anything, but about an hour after I set it up, snagged us a squirrel. So I set it up again, just checked it after I woke up and we had another.”

“Breakfast of champions,” Shawna muttered, looking at the creatures with disgust.

“I’ve still got my knife, so I’ll take care of the messy stuff, though we’ll need some kindling for the campfire.” He looked around the clearing. “Where is everyone?”

“I was going to ask you that question,” Shawna said. “I woke up and the place was empty. Selanda’s on watch, so I’m hoping she’s got the rifle, wherever she is.”

“I’m on it,” Selanda said, stepping through the trees, Roxie emerging just behind her.

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