The Recovery - Solar Crash Book 4: (A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series) Read online

  Now the two of them waited, straining their ears to hear what was going on outside. It didn’t take long before the rattling of door handles crept closer, whoever was out in the resort working their way towards where Harrison and Len lay in wait.

  “Don’t move,” Harrison spoke as soon as the door to their lodge swung open, the men outside not expecting it to move and exerting enough force on the door for it to bang into the wall behind it. “Put your hands in the air.”

  Len could make out three men stood in the doorway, their faces unrecognizable in the darkness though they all quickly turned and looked at one another, shocked by what they had found.

  “Who’s there?” One of the men spoke, refusing to put his hands in the air and stopping the other two from doing so either, clearly the dominate one of the trio.

  “I could ask you the same question,” Harrison replied. “We have just as much right to be here as you do.”

  “Very well,” the same man spoke again after a brief pause. “Why don’t you let us in and we can discuss it?”

  “Unlikely,” Harrison replied, watching carefully and seeing the two men behind the speaker were reaching behind their backs. “Keep your hands where I can see them, please. There’s no need for this to get uncomfortable.”

  “The way we see it,” the man spoke again, taking a step forward away from his companions and physically entering the lodge. Both men behind him now had a hand behind their backs and both Len and Harrison knew that meant they were armed. Unless they could diffuse the situation, this wasn’t going to end well.

  “We were here first,” the man continued confidently, almost too confidently for someone who was unprotected with a pair of weapons trained on him. “So you guys can either pay us for our hospitality and move on, or…” he paused and took another step forward. “You can pay the price.”

  At that moment the two other men revealed their weapons, both withdrawing pistols from their waistbands and brandishing them in front of their bodies. Now that the man doing all the talking had walked further forward, more of the moonlight illuminated the doorway and Len could just about make out his face. He had a horrific cut that ran from underneath his left eye down his neck and disappeared under the collar of his shirt. As far as Len could see, it looked to have been inflicted fairly recently. Definitely after day one of the solar crash.

  “Pay you for your hospitality?” Harrison continued the dialogue, buying himself more time to assess the situation and develop a plan in his head. “And what would that involve?”

  “Well, it looks like you’ve got a nice rifle there,” the man replied with a smile on his face. “We’d certainly accept that as payment for the night.”

  Harrison laughed. “And if I don’t want to hand it over?”

  “Like I said,” the man’s smile grew, stretching the cut on his face so that it looked more painful and bloody. “You’ll have to pay the price. You may think you have the upper hand, but I can assure you, you don’t. We’ve got you surrounded and believe me, a shootout won’t end well for you.”

  Len looked at Harrison, a tendril of fear creeping into his psyche at the man’s words. Harrison didn’t look the slightest bit fazed however, and Len took strength from that. The man could be bluffing and if that was what Harrison believed, Len was willing to side with his friend.

  “Come on now,” the man continued, inching another step closer to where Harrison and Len lay. “Hand it—”

  “Take another step closer,” Harrison interrupted firmly, aiming the A3 in his hands. “And you’re dead.”

  The man grinned, lifting his front foot off the floor menacingly. “I don’t think—”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Harrison didn’t even flinch. He fired off three shots in quick succession, killing the man closest to them and the two who stood behind him before any of them even had a chance to react. No matter how many times Len had already seen Harrison in action, he was still stunned. The man was like a machine. He knew exactly when to strike and where. The three men crumpled to the floor without another sound, each of them dead where they lay.

  “Come on.” Harrison didn’t waste a second. “I doubt they have us surrounded, but I’m certain someone will have heard those shots. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Len was used to this now and despite how long he’d been awake and how exhausted his body had become throughout the day, adrenaline filled his veins and he was ready to go. The two of them moved quickly into their separate rooms and collected their rucksacks. They abandoned the few items of clothing they’d taken off in order to sleep. Time was of the essence now and neither of them was going to miss an old T-shirt or two. Len kept the bow in his hand rather than slinging that over his shoulder with the rucksack. Something told him he might be using it again very soon.

  “Come on,” Harrison urged Len once he moved back into the main room of the lodge. The prepper was in the doorway, standing between the two dead men and looking down the scope of his rifle into the resort. Len noticed the guns the two men had carried were no longer by their bodies, noticing them both instead in the waistband of Harrison’s pants.

  “Anyone out there?”

  “Not yet, but they will be,” Harrison replied as he packed the rifle back together and placed it diagonally over his back. “Let’s get back down to the road.”

  Len nodded and followed his friend at a jog out of the lodge building and back the way they had come just a few hours before. They both kept alert, scanning their surroundings for any sign of movement or indication they were being followed. It was the shouts that gave their hunters away though, calling to one another from further back in the lodge complex and shouting which direction to go. It was stupid; Len would’ve known that even before he picked up all his knowledge from Harrison. Now the two of them knew exactly how many people were coming after them and they knew exactly where from. Harrison continued to lead the way, grabbing Len at one point to stop him and bring him under cover amongst some bushes.

  “You see him?” Harrison whispered in Len’s ear, pointing to a single man carrying a pistol running in their direction.

  Len nodded, understanding what Harrison wanted him to do. Breathing out slowly, he strung his bow and pointed it through the bushes in the direction of the man. His target was running, but Len had practiced this several times and he felt confident he could make the shot. Releasing the arrow, he watched it curve through the night sky before landing firmly in the man’s chest, bringing him instantly to the ground.

  “Nice!” Harrison exclaimed and patted Len on the shoulder before he started moving again, dragging him out of the bushes and further away from the resort. Len didn’t even spare a thought for the man he’d just shot, his mind no longer bothered by those who had to fall on their journey.

  The two of them continued jogging until they were back on the main road and then farther along it, Harrison finding a path that wove through the trees beside it and provided them with some cover. They kept moving at the same pace for about thirty minutes before Harrison allowed them to slow, pausing against some trees for a drink of water and to allow Len to position the bow across his back.

  “Good shooting back there,” Harrison smiled at Len, proud of what his friend had done.

  “Thanks,” Len nodded back. “What do you think they were doing there?”

  “I have no idea,” Harrison replied, “but it’s good you heard them when you did. They could’ve murdered us in our sleep if it wasn’t for you. Thank you, Len.”

  Len felt his cheeks heat up at the compliment, looking down at the ground to avoid his blush being seen. It felt great to be able to help Harrison out for once. So often the dynamic was the other way around between the two of them. They continued moving onward at a slower pace now, both keeping their eyes peeled for a place they could set up camp. It was almost the middle of the night now and although both were still filled with adrenaline, they knew they needed to rest before they continued walking tomorrow. Once enou
gh distance was between them and the resort, they settled down for the night and grabbed a few valuable hours of rest. They were so close now, their journey was finally almost over.

  Chapter 19

  “Through here?”

  “Yeah,” Harrison nodded, looking back down at the map in his hands. “We should be able to cut through these woods and make it to Grand Haven in about the same time. Well, it might take a little longer, but I’d quite like to avoid these towns. Especially after last night.”

  “That works for me,” Len nodded. “No more towns sounds like a good idea.”

  Harrison chuckled to himself and folded the map back up, sliding it into a side pocket of his bag. The two of them had only managed to sleep for roughly four hours overnight but had both woken up full of energy and ready to go. After a quick breakfast they were on their way, Harrison scouting out a narrow path through the woods that would help them keep off the roads and avoid any further confrontation on their journey to the lake house. They were definitely getting closer now. Len started to feel like he was recognizing the surroundings, though deep down he knew it was probably false hope. He’d only been to Ellen and Maria’s lake house once before and that was many, many years ago.

  The path they started to walk down was overgrown and wild in places. Both men had to be careful to watch their footing, roots and branches growing over the path and creating a labyrinth of trip hazards. It was much cooler under the canopy of trees though, and Len reveled in that, no longer walking with constant sweat dripping down his brow.

  The temperature had remained fairly consistent ever since the two of them had left Chicago. It was unmistakably a result of the mass ejection; this time of year was usually hot but never to the extent they had experienced. Len thought back to the very day everything had happened and how he had felt like he was being cooked alive in his car. He remembered tugging off his tie and loosening the collar of his shirt to try and find some relief, then walking into O’Riley’s and discovering exactly why it was so hot that summer day in Chicago.

  Those memories were strange to think of. It was a time when everything had been both insanely normal but also terrifyingly unusual. In a matter of seconds everything had changed, and the life Len had been so used to fell apart and became something that now almost didn’t seem real. After all of this was over, he seriously doubted whether he could go back to an office job. The thought of wearing a suit and tie almost brought an ironic smile to his face.

  “Looks like we might not be the first people to take this path after all.”

  Harrison’s voice carried back toward Len, who had fallen a few paces behind while he reminisced about his old life. He jogged forward, catching up with his friend and looking down at the ground that Harrison pointed to. There, in the dirt was a set of footprints. Slightly smaller than Len’s in size and unmistakably following the same path they were now on.

  “How old do you think they are?” Len questioned, reverting to Harrison’s superior knowledge about these sorts of things.

  His friend scratched his beard for a few seconds before answering, thinking over all the factors involved. “Well, considering we haven’t had any rain for almost as long as I can remember,” Harrison laughed slightly, “they could’ve been here for a while. But then, on the other hand, I would expect tracks to be messed up by the animals in these woods, so they could be as fresh as a week or so ago.”

  “So what does it mean?” Len asked curiously, uncertain what Harrison was suggesting or why he had pointed them out. “Do we keep going?”

  “I think so,” Harrison nodded. “But just keep an eye out; we might not be the only people in these woods after all.”

  Len exhaled and paused for a moment longer, leaning down and looking at the footprints in the path. He tried to work out whom they could belong to. Not a fully grown man, but maybe a teenager, or a woman? He had no idea if these woods were used before everything happened for hunting or something similar. Before all of this happened he had never been particularly into camping, only going out on a few occasions when James had begged him to.

  Moving further into the woods, Len tried to focus less on the footprints he followed and more on what was going on within the trees. He couldn’t help but notice they were walking the same route as whoever had been there before and it made him curious for what they might find at the end.

  “Hey,” Len called forward to Harrison after several more minutes of walking. “They’ve stopped.”

  Harrison turned back over his shoulder to look at his friend, taking a swig from his water canteen as he did so. “What have stopped?”

  “The footprints,” Len continued, pointing to the ground. “They stop here. Like they just leave the path and go into the woods.”

  “So?”

  “So, what do you think it means?” Len questioned, searching for some kind of explanation. “Do you think there’s something off in that direction? Or do you think something happened to them? Whoever it was? They can’t have just stopped here for no reason.”

  “What does it matter?” Harrison replied, shaking his head. “They had their path to follow and we’ve got ours. Do you not want to make it to the lake house today?”

  “Of course I do!” Len huffed, mildly irritated that Harrison wasn’t as puzzled by the footprints as he was. “But surely they wouldn’t have just abandoned the path without an explanation!”

  “Well, I’m sure they had one,” Harrison shrugged, “but we don’t. If you want to go wandering around in the woods searching for someone who might have only been here weeks ago, be my guest. But I’m following this path.”

  Len put his hands on his hips and sighed loudly. Harrison was right, of course. There was no solid reasoning for him to follow the footprints and veer off the course they were making, but there was just something about them that he couldn’t get out of his mind. After a minute of staring at the final imprints Len eventually shook his head and took off walking again, picking up his pace to catch up with Harrison who hadn’t waited for him. He gave them one last look over his shoulder, scanning the surrounding woods for just a second before he froze. There, in the distance, in the gloomy forest that encircled them was a flickering light: a flame dancing slowly in the faint breeze.

  “Hey,” Len hissed at Harrison who was still several paces ahead of him, trying to catch his friend’s attention. “Harrison! Wait!”

  The old prepper visibly heaved his shoulders and came to a halt, turning around slowly to discipline Len once more about the footprints. When he saw Len standing stock still with a finger over his lips and an arm pointing out into the forest, Harrison knew instantly this wasn’t just about the footprints again. Adjusting his walk so he didn’t make a sound, Harrison slowly made his way back toward Len and followed his gaze into the trees.

  “Do you see it?” Len whispered once Harrison was beside him, his vision adjusting more every second so he was now able to make out what looked like a building that housed the flickering light.

  “I see it,” Harrison confirmed. “I think you’ve just worked out where your footprints lead to.”

  “What do we do? Should we check it out?”

  “I don’t think so,” Harrison shook his head. “By the look of things, there’s someone inside there. Or there was very recently. I don’t want to go knocking on a stranger’s door in the middle of the woods, do you?”

  Len was just about to answer when a low growl cut him off, silencing the words he had been about to speak. He lowered his gaze slightly in the direction of the noise, noticing a black dog baring its ferocious teeth in a threatening manner. Len didn’t know what to do and neither, it seemed, did Harrison, who remained stationary beside him. They could both see the dog wore a collar, but just because it used to belong to someone before everything happened didn’t mean it still had an owner. For all they knew this dog had been living wild in the woods for some time now and they could only guess at how that had affected it.

  Before Len could think t
o do anything though, a low whistle rang out through the trees and the dog was silenced, its ears pricking up and the growl ceasing. Len looked to Harrison, uncertain of what was about to happen, when a man stepped out from behind a tree carrying a hunting rifle. He raised it and pointed it at the two of them, continuing to exhale his low whistle as a command to the dog.

  “We don’t want any trouble,” Len surprised even himself by speaking first, unsure where the sudden confidence had come from. “We’re just passing through, on our way to Grand Haven.”

  The man stared at the two of them for a second, his eyebrows rising slightly at Len’s words while he deliberated over what to do. After a long minute he eventually lowered his rifle, clicking his teeth together in an order for the dog to sit as he walked a few more paces toward them. “Grand Haven, eh?” The man spoke once he was almost within arm’s reach of the two of them. “That’s a popular place these days.”