The Sharpest Edge: The Breaking Point Book 7: (A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller) by Justin Bell & Mike Kraus

Author:Justin Bell & Mike Kraus [Bell, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2021-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Southeast of Trenton, New Jersey

Forty-three days after America went dark

The silent afternoon was punctuated by the regular clopping of horse hooves, sixteen of them in total, trotting slowly toward the sprawling military base that stretched across the horizon ahead. Lucas hadn’t spent any time at Fort Dix, but he’d spent time in many other military bases throughout the United States and the condition of the place he knew as Fort Dix was quite the wakeup call.

As they approached the western edge of the base, he could hear the undulating calls of birds, a mixture of crows and larger avian, and as he saw what looked to be a vulture loping its way airborne, a string of dark remnants dangling from his beak, he suspected that whatever they saw in the next few minutes, it wasn’t going to be good.

“Was that what I think it was?” Kari flattened her hand above her eyes as she looked toward the sky, squinting into the afternoon sun.

“Depends. Did you think it was a black vulture? If so, then yes.” Lucas didn’t bother looking up, he’d seen it take off, massive wings beating as it battled its way skyward, separating from a gathered flock, lurking on the ground, hovered over something he didn’t want to think of.

“Did you say— a vulture?” Sheriff Dunston was leading the fourth horse with Lyla behind her while Lizzy and Ricky were both riding the third, leaving both Kari and Lucas riding solo. “Like a scavenger?”

“Exactly like that.” Lucas kept his eyes directed straight ahead and the moving mass of vultures still gathered around something in the distance. As he braced himself for what was going to be revealed, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was another shapeless form to his left, a single, broad-winged bird perched above it. As he looked at it, the creature’s head darted forward, its beak drilling at the lifeless meat that had once been a human. With a wrench of its head, it tore away a thick strip of— something— from the body, tilting up and swallowing the scraps of tissue.

“Over there, too.” Kari’s voice was almost too low to hear, but Lucas followed the direction of it and saw, just over her shoulder, another dead body sprawled, face-down, closer and more visible. No birds lurked around that one, however, though its shape was slightly distorted by heat waves rippling from the pavement. Beyond that corpse was a black pickup truck, an old junker that was probably still running even after the EMP, though whatever grenade had struck it made sure it would never run again. Burn marks scorched the right front quarter of the vehicle and it tilted gently toward the passenger side, the unseen tire clearly flat.

A dead body hung from the flat bed, draped over the metal ridge running along its perimeter, both arms dangling down. Even from a hundred feet away, Lucas could tell that thick chunks of flesh from the

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