The Recovery - Solar Crash Book 4: (A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series) Page 3

  “Negative,” Mathers’s voice carried across the room to him, his tone defeated and nervous.

  “Confirmed,” the fourth soldier whose name Dixon hadn’t yet gotten replied. “There’s no one left alive in here.”

  The short conversation forced Miller to let out another yelp of sorrow, his head still buried in the girl’s chest. Dixon waited a moment longer before speaking, only able to imagine the pain his fellow soldier must be feeling.

  “We need to keep moving,” his voice was strong and confident, trying to instill hope into his companions. “We’ve got to find out who did this and what they are trying to achieve.”

  “Which way?” Mathers questioned from his position on the other side of the room. He stood beside one door, while Dixon had found himself next to another.

  “Do you know where they lead?”

  “No,” Mathers shook his head. “Any ideas?”

  None of the four soldiers had anything to say and silence filled the room for a brief moment, save for the sound of Miller’s quiet sobs.

  “Check it,” Dixon said eventually. “I’ll check this one. Miller and,” he paused and turned to the fourth soldier, “sorry, I don’t know your name?”

  “Walker,” the man nodded back at Dixon. “Kyle Walker.”

  “Nice,” Dixon nodded back. “Can you two provide back up? Miller? Miller, are you okay?” Dixon was forced to wait a moment longer for the young man to pick his head up from the dead girl’s body, give her one last look and then tear his eyes away and walk toward Dixon. It was obvious he was suffering, the extent of his relationship with the girl clearly causing him a great deal of pain.

  “She was my sister,” Miller whispered as he moved to stand beside Dixon, Kyle crossing the room to assist Mathers.

  Dixon didn’t know what to say to Miller, placing a hand on his shoulder and offering him an apologetic look. It was the best he could manage at the moment. The time for comforting one another would follow eventually but right now Dixon couldn’t think of any words that would make Miller feel better. In fact, he doubted there were any. As hard as it was, as was often the case for soldiers, they just had to put the dead behind them, finish their job, and reserve time for mourning later. It was a sad process Dixon himself had been forced to deal with many times before.

  “We’re ready,” Kyle’s voice broke the silence from across the room, both he and Mathers poised by the other door.

  “Okay,” Dixon straightened up and moved into position, Miller forcing his sadness not to overcome him and copying Dixon’s movements. “On my count,” Dixon continued once they were both in position. “Three, two…”

  He signaled the final number silently, reaching forward and opening the door as soon as the hand signal was finished. Stepping into the corridor on the other side, Dixon and Miller pointed their weapons and quickly surveyed the area. Nothing. The corridor was exactly as it would have been yesterday or the day before, except for the absence of electric light. Nothing was out of place; nothing was as it shouldn’t be. There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever of the group who had already murdered close to twenty people within these walls.

  “Clear!” Dixon shouted after a moment, waiting until he heard the same word being called from Mathers and Kyle before leading Miller back into the room where his dead sister lay.

  “Anything?”

  “Nothing,” Dixon shook his head in response to Kyle’s question. “Empty corridor, what about yours?”

  “Same,” Kyle pulled the door shut that he had just returned through. “Empty corridor. No evidence anyone has traveled through it.”

  “Hmm,” Dixon holstered his pistol for a moment and thought about what to do. There wasn’t really much of a choice. The terrorists were still inside the White House and they had to have moved down one of the corridors. There were two doors and four of them. As much as Dixon didn’t like the idea, they were going to have to split up.

  “We need to split,” Mathers spoke from across the room, once again echoing Dixon’s own thoughts. “We need to find out where they are.”

  “I agree,” Dixon nodded, “let’s find out who’s in here and get it dealt with.”

  “Right,” Kyle chimed in. “We’ve got this boys. See you on the other side.”

  Dixon nodded to Kyle and Mathers as they turned and once more exited through the door on the other side of the room. He wondered which of their groups would be the one to find the enemy and if, in fact, he would ever see either of those two soldiers again. They knew what they were doing though; they were trained just as well as Dixon was and they had signed up for this life. It wasn’t his place to worry about the wellbeing of others when he had his own path to follow.

  “Ready?” Dixon turned and spoke to Miller, noticing the man’s gaze was stuck firmly on his sister once more. After they were out of the room and away from her things would be better, Dixon told himself. He knew he would need Miller on full alert if things ended badly at the end of their corridor. All he managed to receive was a short and silent nod, but that was enough for Dixon Daniels. Pulling open the door to the corridor for the second time he un-holstered his 9mm pistol and led Miller slowly and quietly away from his sister—quite possibly for the final time.

  Chapter 4

  It had been a few days since Amy and James had been forced to walk under the midday sun and both of them had forgotten exactly how hot it got. Sweat drenched them as Amy tried to lead James through the most shaded areas she could find, but the overpowering fervor of the sun was relentless. Rest breaks to drink water and catch their breath were very frequent, and Amy knew it would take them several more days to reach the lake house in Grand Haven if they didn’t increase their pace somehow.

  “How are you feeling, darling?”

  “I’m tired, Mom. How much farther is it?”

  “Just a little longer James,” Amy lied to her son. “We’ll be there soon.”

  “I’m hungry too.”

  “I know,” Amy sighed and looked up at the sun from beneath the branches of the tree they sheltered under. “Why don’t we stop for a little longer and have something to eat?”

  “Yeah,” the promise of food immediately put more enthusiasm into James’s tone as he shrugged off his rucksack and sat down on the ground beside it.

  “Let me have a look at your shoulder first,” Amy stopped James from starting to rummage around in the bag for supplies. “Carrying that bag isn’t hurting, is it?”

  James shook his head. He hadn’t really mentioned the gunshot wound since it happened and not only did Amy want to make sure the injury was okay, but she wanted to talk to James about what had happened as well. As a mother she needed to make sure he wasn’t having any emotional or psychological problems as a result. While the sun was at its highest point in the sky it made sense to take a break for lunch and conserve their energy. With a full meal inside them they could have a full afternoon of walking ahead of them, plus it would also be a prime opportunity for Amy to broach the subject.

  “Well, it looks fine,” Amy said with relief as she carefully pulled the bandage back down over the hole in her son’s arm. Once again she muttered a silent “thank you” to Giles for being there and for being so calm and collected throughout the whole ordeal. She hoped he was well on his way into Grand Rapids now and close to reuniting with his parents. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine, Mom,” James replied as he pulled his arm away from Amy. “It doesn’t hurt, I told you.”

  “What about the rest of you? You’re not scared or worried or anything after what happened?”

  James shot his mother a puzzled look and didn’t say anything, forcing Amy to continue.

  “You know you did nothing wrong back at the resort, right? Those were bad men and what they did has absolutely no explanation. It doesn’t make sense. But I promise you,” Amy gently took hold of both James’s arms and looked him dead in the eyes. “I promise you I will never, ever let anything like that
happen to you again. Do you understand me? I’m so sorry that it happened, darling, but I promise you, I won’t let anyone hurt you like that ever again.”

  Slowly James started to nod his head, not breaking eye contact with Amy as she poured as much love and affection into her gaze as she could. “Okay, Mom,” his voice quiet and anxious, as if James himself was uncertain of his next words. “I know it wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for James, okay? It was not your fault, you need to understand that.”

  “Okay,” James nodded again, the same puzzled look still present on his face.

  “I love you so much,” Amy sighed as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around James, trapping him in a hug as she struggled to stop tears falling from her eyes.

  “I love you too, Mom,” James mumbled into Amy’s chest, his face buried in her T-shirt.

  After a few moments Amy finally eased up, leaning away from James and blinking rapidly a few times to make certain her eyes were no longer glazed with tears. “Let’s make some food, shall we? What do you fancy today?”

  Busying herself with finding kindling for a fire, Amy pushed herself to her feet and walked off a few paces from her son to break some sticks off of a smaller tree. She kept one eye on James the entire time, watching him pick certain food items out of the bag and either put them back or place them on the ground beside him. She couldn’t be certain he was completely all right after what had happened in Dunes Resort, but she was definitely going to keep a closer eye both on him and on their surroundings from now on. Amy had meant every word she’d said to her son and she was adamant he would never be hurt like that ever again.

  Not having Giles with them anymore only made her resolve stronger. She had packed countless first aid supplies that he’d collected from around the resort and explained to her how to use, but Amy still wasn’t very confident about it. Aside from a one-day course she remembered being forced to do in school many years ago, she didn’t know the first thing about looking after people and knew it would be better if somehow she could keep them out of trouble until they reached Ellen and Maria’s lake house. Hopefully they would be safe there, and the four of them could start looking toward the future once more.

  “What are we having?” Amy asked James as she dropped the pile of kindling on the ground a few feet away from him and assessed the food he’d selected.

  “Chicken soup and canned peaches,” James smiled at Amy as she set to work building a small fire to heat the food. “Or we could have this chicken thing instead.”

  Amy squinted at the can James was holding in front of himself, trying to read the label: chicken in white wine. “No,” Amy shook her head, “let’s have the soup, that sounds nice.”

  For the next few minutes the pair busied themselves making a suitable fire, James gathering a few more small sticks from around where he sat. Amy had managed to find a trio of rocks that she placed in a triangular shape, with the sticks and other bits of kindling in the middle. Lighting them wasn’t the issue, but when James handed her the small pan filled with chicken soup Amy realized she was going to have to hold the pan over the flame in order for it to cook. Bringing any form of grill to place the pan on hadn’t been a top priority when leaving Dunes Resort.

  Thankfully it didn’t take long for the soup to heat up and no more than ten minutes later the two of them were digging into the meal. Amy could almost feel more energy seeping into her legs as she ate, chicken soup always having a way of making her feel better. It went back to when she was a young girl and her mother had brought her chicken soup when she was sick. Amy’s breath hitched as she swallowed at the thought of her mother, the need to concentrate on James so constantly allowing her little time to think about anyone else.

  She wondered how her parents were doing in Florida and if things were as bad there as they were in Michigan. She hoped they weren’t. It was a strange feeling, not knowing whether the solar crash that had affected South Haven and the places Amy had traveled through had affected places as far away as Florida in the same way. There was no way to know how long things would take to return to normal which meant Amy had no way of knowing when she would be able to see her parents again. For the time being, it really was just her and James against the world.

  “That was yummy,” James said as he dragged his right index finger around the rim of his bowl, scooping up the remaining morsels of soup. “And we still have peaches.”

  Amy laughed. “Do you want them right now, or shall we wait a bit?”

  “No, now,” James begged, reaching toward Amy and the canned peaches which sat beside her.

  Amy’s laugh increased in volume as she swatted James’s hands away, playfully teasing her son. For a short second she forgot everything that was going on around them and everything that had already happened. She smiled and laughed and reached out to play with her son like they were back on the beach beside Lake Michigan. Just for a moment, all the fears and worries that Amy carried quietly inside her faded away and she was happy, the look on her son’s face reminding her that everything would, one day, be okay.

  “All right, all right,” Amy gave in to James’s pleas. “You can have the peaches now.”

  James grinned and took the can from beside Amy, peeling open the container and diving straight in with the spoon he’d just used to eat his soup. Amy giggled further as she watched the syrupy juice dribble down James’s chin and onto his T-shirt, staining the fabric.

  “Want any?” James mumbled between mouthfuls, pausing only for a moment to look up at his mother and offer to share.

  “No,” Amy smiled as she pushed herself to her feet. “You finish them darling. I’ll pack up the rest of our stuff. We need to start walking again as soon as you’re finished.”

  James didn’t need to be told twice and continued munching through the peaches quickly. Amy knew they needed to make the most of the additional calories they’d just consumed and start walking. If they could keep going until it got dark, she would feel much more confident about their journey the following day. There was still a long way to go and after all the disasters they had already encountered it was impossible to know if any more would cross their path. Surely the two of them had already had more than their fair share of bad luck.

  “Okay,” James spoke a few minutes later. “I’m finished.”

  “Good work,” Amy smiled at her son, “can you put those things away and then we’ll start walking?”

  “Yep,” James nodded, wiping his spoon on his T-shirt and packing it away in his rucksack, leaving the empty can of peaches on the ground beside the soup. Amy figured that while the world was falling apart, she didn’t need to worry too much about using trashcans or recycling. As it turned out it was more than global warming that had affected the planet—if that was the reasoning behind what had happened.

  “It’s definitely slightly cooler now,” Amy sighed once they were ready to start walking. “Do you think you’ll be all right to keep walking until nighttime?”

  “Okay,” James nodded. “Will we be at the lake house to sleep?”

  “Not tonight, I’m afraid, darling,” Amy stroked the top of James’s head as they started walking, just leaving the limited shade underneath the tree causing the temperature to rise slightly. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  James didn’t say anything but Amy felt him nod his head as they trudged along the road. The meal had helped significantly to provide more energy to them both, although Amy could still feel the aches and pains that had developed throughout her body instantly coming back as she returned to the monotonous process of putting one foot in front of the other. She had never been an out-of-shape person, but the days of walking were quickly starting to take their toll.

  She wondered exactly how many more days it would really take them to reach Grand Haven and the safety of the lake house, but even moreso Amy wondered whether it would actually be safe. The thought of Ellen and Maria not being there plagued her through the
day and haunted her dreams at night. It had been their destination from the start and now as they were getting closer, Amy was forced to weigh all the possibilities. If her friends were dead, would she and James still stay there? If the house was destroyed, would there be anyone left? If the worst had happened, where would they be forced to go next?

  Chapter 5

  As she walked, her son’s small hand in her own, Amy found her mind drifting through the other men in her life and wondering where they would be now. Giles was the first she thought of. So little time had passed since she had last seen him and yet she still had no idea where he was or what he was doing. It was ridiculous how easy it would’ve been to find that out two weeks in the past, the ease of technology making every walk of life simpler.

  That was all in the past now, which Amy was undeniably aware of. She wondered once again what Giles’s journey through the city of Grand Rapids had been like. In reality, she had only passed through fairly small towns since leaving South Haven. After everything they had witnessed though, Amy knew a city as big as Grand Rapids would be monumentally worse. With a few limited exceptions, it was clear the collapse of power had brought out the worst in most people.