Thunder and Acid: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller by Harley Tate

Author:Harley Tate [Tate, Harley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CALEB

Horse Creek Base, New United States

Friday, June 18th, 7:32 pm EST

Caleb stared up at the clouded sky. No rain. No ash. Clouds hung thick and low, obscuring the evening sun. Darkness coated the mountainside.

He breathed in the putrid stank of stale breath leftover from whomever previously used the respirator he’d been issued and exhaled in a rush. The filter needed changing. He sucked in another ragged breath, distracted by the lack of adequate air.

Any kind of tactical operation would be near pointless without night gear, yet here they were. Cold bit his cheeks and ears as distant thunder rumbled somewhere down the mountain. It would storm again soon. Another ominous sign.

He stood off to the side, waiting as Warren and a corporal he didn’t know checked the last bodies of the Beta unit patrol detail.

“Three rifles missing,” Warren called out. “Anyone see them?”

“Nothing here.” Derek scouted an area twenty yards south.

Another junior enlisted called from the north side. “Might have been some sort of a scuffle over here, can’t be sure. No weapons.”

Caleb confirmed the same. “Nothing in this area.” Except dead bodies.

Seven men, all dead. Caleb clenched his jaw as he surveyed the mountain. A pair of outcroppings flanked the dead, about sixty yards apart. Beta unit had likely come in from the west, circling around toward the second half of their route.

“Ideal spot for an ambush.” Warren approached Caleb with his rifle at the ready. “Wonder how they knew?”

Caleb ignored the obvious accusation. He didn’t know the terrain well enough to have leaked any information and couldn’t have made contact over the comms without someone in the base knowing about it. If he had to lay all that out for the general later, he would.

He fit details of the situation together in his mind until a picture formed. “With the storms, fires, and quakes, we haven’t seen much wildlife. But there’s no building, no foot traffic around here for a few miles. My guess is, this was executed by some locals, probably hunters, who know the mountain well enough to pick the best ambush point.”

Warren snorted out a curse. “Still think all these civvies are harmless innocents?”

Caleb never said that to Warren. He also hadn’t used those words with the general, even though he’d questioned the policy. But Warren knew his opinion all the same. Thomas and Warren must have talked. Not good.

Derek entered Caleb’s peripheral vision. “The radio’s missing, sir,” he reported to Warren. “Do we assume comms are compromised?”

The lieutenant raised an eyebrow at Caleb. “Sergeant?”

Caleb resisted the urge to correct the man. He hadn’t been an E-5 for years. “They’d need the code for the box. Unless they got the code off one of our boys, they can’t operate the radio at all.”

He glanced up at the darkening sky. Had six hours passed since he enabled the encryption? Close. The secondary encryption scheme might have triggered by now.

He hedged. “But we have no idea who these people are, what they’ve got at their disposal. Probably best to assume we’re not entirely secure.

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