Survivor by Mike Shepherd

Author:Mike Shepherd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-05-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 43

THE afternoon saw Vicky buried up to her eyeballs in adminutiae to the point where she found herself looking back on the near battles of that morning with fondness.

Her one break from paperwork was provided by Herbert himself.

He somehow took it in his head that he could ride out to the spaceport with two of his most trusted henchmen and carry out his own attack where his minions had failed.

He had three horses that the raid had missed because they were grazing behind the palace that night. Now he and his two biggest, baddest thugs rode them.

The drone take caught him before he was two blocks from the palace even though he was keeping to side streets.

People began gathering around him before he’d gone four blocks.

He tried to outrun them, but his horses were spent before they put spurs to their flanks.

He tried to shoot his way out, but he only had so many bullets and people would flit into view, then drop out faster than he and his panicked gunmen could react.

His horse didn’t take well to all this. It reared, and his poor horsemanship was revealed to all as Herbert slid off its hindquarters. The horse wisely bolted, leaving the scene before Herbert could pull himself off the ground and dust himself off.

He called for one of his trusty henchmen to give him his mount.

His trusty henchmen were already retreating at a gallop.

Herbert whirled in place, firing his two six-shooters at shadows.

A rock hit him, likely thrown from the upper window of a house.

More rocks flew. He went down.

Then the people closed in.

Vicky ordered the drone view moved to somewhere more important to the mission.

Later that day, two emaciated skeletons each brought a pearl-handled six-shooter to the spaceport. They offered to turn them in for jobs.

They were hired on the spot. Vicky found this out when the colonels offered her the six-shooters.

She gave one each to the colonels as trophies of this fight.

Vicky now considered her main job to be getting Kolna back to some shade of normal. She could feed people for a month, maybe two. What she needed was people to do what they’d done in better times.

She tried to jump-start the economy immediately by giving people jobs distributing food. Others were sent as a kind of town crier to shout job opportunities to those in line for rations. Vicky found some of the skills she needed among the starving people, but most of those left in town were those who had been too weak or unwise to flee.

So Vicky went hunting for Cindy. “You going to live on that horse?” she asked the young woman.

“You mean I can’t,” had a shy smile behind it.

“You’re the only one I know that knows where your dad is. I got a Ranger gun truck reserved to run you back up into the hills. I really need him back down here.”

Clearly in pain, Cindy dismounted and joined the motor Rangers.

Vicky got a call as dark was settling in that evening.

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