Fluid Shock by David Rike & Stephen Patrick

Author:David Rike & Stephen Patrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror fiction, post apocalyptic fiction, end of world plague, key west florida, pandemic, dystopian
Publisher: Evolved Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

Operation GOTHA: Get Out of this Hellhole Alive

Dredger’s Key, Roland Lane

Gayle told me the story.

They were in a house, a few days after she found Amanda, when she woke up and found the place full of smoke. She couldn’t find the girl. With a curtain of black falling from the ceiling, she had to crawl from ran from room to room, moving like a frightened cat as the fire burned all around her. Each new room meant a big breath to call out for Amanda, followed by the burning in her lungs as the smoke crept in. She finally found her hiding in a bathtub. Good girl. She picked Amanda up, ran for the nearest bedroom and crashed through the window. Her shoulder caught the worst of it. She took off her shirt and showed me. Puffy, crisscrossing lines high up on her arm and shoulder blade, a few running down her back and one across her belly.

I didn’t think it hurt her looks and I said as much.

That day, I went and told the other operators that I had a plan. We were going into the consulting business: military advisors. We were going to run the Black Shirts, behind the scenes, get them up to speed and direct their operations going forward. The next time Command gave us our orders, we’d run the Black Shirts up front, use them as the pawns and save us for the later moves. Not that I’d told Thorpe and Castaneda any of this, mind you. Didn’t matter. The lads ate it up. Even Koger flashed a smile. Maybe in a few days, the pink would come back to his face.

I gave each of them a job—nothing heavy. Inventory all remaining equipment, particularly Bell’s remaining explosives. Get the Black Shirts’ daily regimen. Map out the hotel’s external defenses. Get an update on Dortch. It was mostly busy work, to give me some time to sort this thing out. The last thing Command told me was to wait for ‘resupply.’ I did not like the sound of it.

I found Castaneda and asked for my number one resource. “I need liquor.”

“Usually, I don’t get that until the second date.”

“Knock it off. My mates are in a bad place. I got to give ‘em something. I got one that’s used to downing a fifth a day, and it probably wouldn’t hurt Koger to take the edge off either.”

His face got hard. “We’re having a hard enough time keeping your professor soused.”

“Then work harder, Mr. I-keep-them-in-gas.”

He smiled this little smile, an impish thing with the lips turned up at the edges. The look told me this was going to be the cookie van all over again. This was going to be the cookie van times ten.

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