Wasteland: Ravaged Dawn Book 5: (A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) by Marcus Richardson & Mike Kraus

Author:Marcus Richardson & Mike Kraus [Richardson, Marcus & Kraus, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2024-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Cold Valley, Wyoming

Sean Plockton crunched forward through the snow and clenched his jaw in frustration. The situation was far from ideal—they had no cold-weather gear, let alone camouflage, Duncan didn't have any training whatsoever, and most importantly they lacked night vision gear.

"I don't know how you can see anything," Duncan, the ranch hand who'd volunteered, muttered in the darkness.

"Sssh," Plockton hissed. "It's dark, I get it. We don't have any NVG's, so we've got to do it the old-fashioned way. Keep your eyes moving, you can pick up movement better than details in low light. It's not too bad once you get used to it, actually."

They'd parked the ranch truck about a mile outside of town, behind a copse of pine trees next to the Welcome to Cold Valley sign. The concealment job didn't have to be pretty because the ranch truck was black and practically disappeared when the lights were off. Though it would've been better if the storm had still been raging.

"At least the storm stopped," Duncan commiserated.

Plockton rolled his eyes and crept forward in a crouch. They were hugging the side of a building—he didn't know which one—heading toward a street he also didn't know. But they hadn't seen a single soul after they'd spotted a Cold Valley squad car slowly, almost sullenly, patrolling the snow-clogged streets.

"Where is everybody?" Duncan whispered.

"You're determined to give us away, aren't you? Dude, you gotta stay quiet."

"Okay, but where is everybody?"

Plockton paused, gripped his rifle tight, and looked down, hoping he didn't snap the weapon in half. He took a deep breath, then continued forward again, taking one painstakingly slow step through the crunchy snow at a time. "It's like 10 below out here, and the wind is approaching gale force—if they're smart, they're inside. Now, can we stop playing 20 questions? I got us into town—you have to take us the rest of the way. Where's the doc’s office?"

"No way, I'm not walking out there in front," Duncan complained. "The cops will shoot me first."

"Not with me behind you, they won't. They won't get the chance."

Duncan sighed and worked his way next to Plockton. His breath dissipated through the scarf he wore so that they couldn't give their location away with puffs of vapor. "Okay, this is Third Street. We gotta go two more up and a block to the right," Duncan said, pointing.

"Fine, let's move out," Plockton said. He peered around the corner and looked both ways. "Coast is clear. We sprint across the street and go behind that house there on the right. Got it?"

"I—" Duncan began.

"Go, go, go," Plockton hissed, then shoved Duncan forward.

The civilian stumbled, but to his credit, caught himself and made a good showing of getting across the street as quickly as possible. Plockton raced after him, passed him as they reached the other side, and took point going around the corner of the house. Duncan stumbled after him but stopped when Plockton caught him with an outstretched arm.

"Okay, chief, slow it down. We don't need to go sprinting through the snow and get all worn out.

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