Surviving The Collapse: Book 0 by James Hunt

Author:James Hunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dystopia, dystopian, emp, dystopias, emp weapons, emp attack, emp event, emp survival, emp fiction, emp weapon
Publisher: Roger Hayden

Chapter 9

Kate kept close to Mark and Holly on their descent. Every few floors, they stopped and collected the rest of their group. Rodney checked their supplies, scanned their rooms, and they moved on. It was quick, efficient, calculated.

One personal item, that was all anyone was able to take. Whatever held the most value and could be stashed away in their pack. The rest was food, water, and medicine. The advice was met with groans, eye rolls, and pleading, but in the end, everyone listened. Partly because Kate had backed him up.

Kate’s experience on the street, combined with her career as a pilot, had given her clout with the group. Leadership had been thrust upon Rodney and Kate equally, and nothing passed without their approval. Whenever Rodney suggested something, everyone looked to Kate to confirm and vice versa.

Once the group was collected and all the gear and supplies were sorted out, they descended to the first floor. Beyond the walls of the building, the winter winds howled with a ferocity that sent a shiver down everyone’s back.

A ball of anxiety grew in Kate’s belly. It rumbled and protested with every step down, but she pushed past it.

Rodney stopped at the door at the bottom of the stairwell and then turned to the huffing and puffing crowd behind him. “All right. You keep your eyes on me.” He reached into his pack and handed out the rope that they’d all be tied to. It was a method that mountain climbers used to keep each other safe and accounted for. “And you keep at my pace. You move where I move. You run when I run. And you stop when I stop. You’re my shadows, got it?”

Everyone nodded, the group scattered in a broken line. Glen, the old man with liver spots on his head, and Laura, the girl with the blond pixie haircut, were directly behind Rodney, followed by Barry, the Eastern Europe man. Then it was an older couple from the tenth floor, Stephen and Jen, followed by a young married couple from the nineteenth, Kit and Sarah. And then Holly, Mark, and Kate brought up the caboose.

“I have a few alternate routes in case we run into trouble,” Rodney continued. “It’ll take us longer, but it’ll keep us safe.” He held up the rope once everyone was secure. “I cannot stress this enough: do not deviate from the group. You try and pull us one way when I’m going another, and we fall. And if we fall out there, we might not get back up.”

Holly sneezed and then coughed, and Kate instinctively reached up and pressed the back of her hand to her daughter’s forehead. The girl was burning up.

“Everyone ready?” Rodney asked.

Nervous nods responded in answer.

“All right then,” Rodney said, turning toward the stairwell door. “Let’s go.”

The door opened, and they passed through the lobby in a blur. A crowd was huddled inside to weather the storm, all of them people who didn’t live in their building but were seeking a place to hide.

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