Tomorrow's Dawn (Book 4): Gathering Storms Read online

  A voice out of one of the burned-out buildings shocked her into stillness. “Hey there, pretty thing, I figured you’d be back.” The light of a bright flashlight almost blinded her, instantly destroying her night vision. Her hand went immediately to the hilt of her knife. An ambush in the darkness could only mean one thing, and she was prepared to defend herself.

  “Ah wouldn’t do that.” The man was still hidden in darkness behind the flashlight; no light reached his face. He tilted the light slightly to show a handgun pointed at her in his other hand. “Ah don’ wanna have ta shoot ya, but I will.”

  Analiz didn’t remove her hand from the knife, but she didn’t pull it out just yet. Her only choice was to run, and she didn’t want to take the chance of falling on the sharp blade in the darkness. “I’m only looking for food. I’m no threat to you.”

  Her response brought a sharp laugh from the man. “Oh, you not a threat. And I got plenny uh meat ferya.” The beam of the light dropped as he reached for his belt. She could see what looked like a police uniform and duty belt. The light shone on his dirty black boots as he reached behind him.

  “Ahm gonna throw you some cuffs, and yer gonna put ‘em on.” That wasn’t going to happen, she’d die first. Analiz tried to blink away the spots in her vision from the bright flashlight. She was going to have to run, and she didn’t have a flashlight. She was in what would have been the backyard of the house, about three down from the empty foundation where she’d entered the neighborhood. The man with the gun was still in what was left of the house, about twenty feet away.

  If he did decide to shoot, there wasn’t much she’d be able to do, but she was betting on the idea he wanted her alive. In an instant, she made her decision. She turned and bolted back toward the way she’d come. If she could just get to the canoe, she could get away. There’s no way he would try to swim the Savannah in the dark.

  Alerted by the sound of her movement in the dry grass, the man whipped his flashlight up to find her moving rapidly away. He didn’t even hesitate as he aimed at her leg and pulled the trigger. The thunder and flash of the shot muddled her senses as a weight hit her in the thigh. The impact knocked her leg sideways and she stumbled to the ground.

  She scrambled for her knife in the darkness as he started to walk toward her. “Ah figgered ya might make a run fer it.” Analiz gripped the knife in both hands as she pushed herself up to a standing position, trying to ignore the pain in her leg. He’d have to get close to her if he wanted to assault her, and she’d be ready. She just hoped she wouldn’t pass out from blood loss first.

  “Mex’cans ain’t good fer nuthin’ but breedin,’ girl. Ahm just givin’ ya a chance ta do what yer good at.” She had suspected his intentions, but hearing him speak them sent a shockwave through her body. She turned and hobbled toward the path back into the woods. Anything to get away.

  “Ya ain’t gonna get far wi’ dat hole in yer leg.” She saw tall weeds around her flash with light, followed immediately by the sound of another gunshot. She winced in anticipation of another wound, but she wasn’t hit. Instead another voice called out.

  “Are you okay? I killed the fucker.” Analiz paused in surprise. The voice didn’t have the thick southern accent of the man who had been chasing her. The new man spoke again, “Are you injured? I have a med kit.”

  The young woman paused in the darkness, torn between hope and doubt. Were the two men working together? Was it some sort of trap? She turned toward the sound of the voice to see a muscular man walking toward her. He shined the light on himself so she could see. She didn’t know what the first man looked like, but this man wasn’t wearing a uniform.

  He stopped and slowly set down his rifle and handgun, showing his empty hands. “You’re injured, I just want to help.”

  “I’m Dave.”

  Chapter 13

  David J. Stokov, former Marine, set the microphone down on the center console of the little Kona SUV and looked at the police scanner he’d mounted on the dash, hoping it would stop on another transmission from his friend Daniel. He turned to the young woman in the passenger seat and said “That’s them. We’re close, but I don’t know which direction to go.”

  A man in Dillard Georgia had told them about armored vehicles moving north through the town. The man couldn’t describe the occupants, but he was certain it had only been three days before. Two of the vehicles sounded like the tubs Jensen and Daniel had been driving when he’d last seen them back on the mountain east of Clayton, months before.

  Those vehicles were extremely distinctive. Like the SUV he was driving, they were electric and almost silent. Unlike his SUV, the tubs were heavily armored and armed with forward-facing machine guns and a grenade launcher. Two of them together had to be Daniel and Jensen, except for one thing. He’d found one of the tubs alongside the road when he’d tried to return to the mountain. Where had they gotten another one?

  And where were they? The voice on the radio had been weak, but that could have been because of the surrounding mountains. Daniel could have been calling from a couple miles away in the mountains or many miles away further up the valley he was driving through.

  It sounded like Daniel had said what could have been “highway” over the radio, and “North Carolina.” The only road they’d passed that might have been a highway was back in Georgia, only a couple miles after they’d spoken to the old man in Dillard. “They must be up ahead somewhere.”

  According to the big yellow sign, he and Alaniz had passed near Otto. Up ahead was Franklin, which had clearly been scheduled to have a huge gun and knife show October 18th and 19th of the year before. Based on how the world fell apart right after, he hoped some people had made good buys.

  The prevalence of guns, particularly in the south, was grossly evident. The two missing windows in the Kona and bullet holes through the rear door were constant reminders. Some hillbilly out in the Georgia backcountry had taken a couple potshots at them as they drove by. Luckily, he seemed to have been hitting pappy’s moonshine a little too hard that afternoon and didn’t even get close to the occupants.

  Dave was in the driver’s seat; his friend Analiz was in the passenger seat. Dave had left Jensen’s group earlier in the year to go back to Appling, but the constant pressure of trying to stay on watch and eat without his friends to back him up had left him frayed and tired.

  He had spent the first month alone before running into Analiz on a scavenging run in the new subdivisions north of Evans. She had been hiding out in a home on the east bank of the Savannah River and scavenging where she could use a canoe to cross into Georgia.

  It was there that Dave had been drawn to the sound of a gunshot. He traced a man dressed as a police officer chasing her. He wasn’t a lawman; the name on his license, which Dave had recovered after treating Analiz’ wound, hadn’t matched the nametag on the uniform. The man, George Atkinson of McCormick, South Carolina, had clearly noticed her on a previous scavenging run and had lain in wait for her in an abandoned building.

  Dave took her back to the house where he’d been hiding out near the lake. There, she recovered from the gunshot, spending most of her time locked in a room with a gun trained on the door, waiting for Dave to show his true colors and attack her. That moment never came. Instead, she’d learned some men were still gentlemen. He was clearly interested in her, but hadn’t made her feel uncomfortable at all.

  “Did they have gun shows in Puerto Rico? I mean, it’s part of the U.S., but is it like it was here?”

  Analiz smiled. “I left when I was eleven. I didn’t pay much attention to shooting. I was more concerned with Justin Bieber.”

  “Wait, you like Justin Bieber?” Dave looked wounded. “I’m not sure I can be with a Bieber fan.”

  Analiz swept her dark hair back behind her ear and arched an eyebrow at him. “Be with? You wish. Anyway, I was eleven. I grew out of it.”

  Dave kept his eyes on the road. “Oh, I wish, all right.”

  She let her hair fall for
ward and smiled. “Maybe when we find your friends and can relax a little bit, you’ll get your chance.”

  He looked toward her with his eyes wide. “What? I can make new friends. Fast. In fact, I feel like there are many friends up in Franklin. So many friends. I don’t need the old ones.”

  “Oh no, I want to meet the friends you told me about, especially the doctor.” The seat Analiz was sitting in still bore the faint marks of the bloodstain from the night she’d been shot. “If she can help me with this limp, she’ll be my best friend, too.”

  The bullet had torn through Analiz’ quadriceps just above her left knee. It had healed without infection, but the knee felt unstable now, particularly when she got tired. With the way the world had become these days, it wasn’t good to have any sort of injury or disability. It could get you killed.

  “Sheila is awesome. I’m sure she can figure out a way to help. She was a general practitioner back in Grovetown. Her boyfriend got killed by some National Guard troops on our way up to that mountain we tried to get to back in Georgia.” He forgot about flirting with Analiz for a second as he grew solemn. “I hope they’re all okay. Something bad happened back there.”

  They had tried to return to the mountain cabin where Dave had left his friends, but the roads had been impassible due to downed trees. After parking on the road, they had climbed through the debris in the road far enough to find the abandoned vehicles and the dead tub. It was clear his friends had left on the run, but where they had gone was still a mystery.

  Dave would have his answers as soon as he managed to track down Daniel. He knew he was still alive because he’d heard him on the radio.

  “Why did you leave them again?”

  Dave’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Really? I wish I hadn’t told you.”

  “You must feel pretty optimistic about us if you’re going back,” she teased. She knew full well that Dave had left because he was lonely. Part of it was the death of his friend, Todd, but the real reason he’d left was because he wanted companionship his male friends couldn’t provide. They’d had a lot of time to talk back at the house. One of those conversations had led them to return to the mountains.

  Electricity, clean water, fields of food, it had all sounded so good. Having people they trusted to watch their backs sounded even better. Both of their nerves were a little bit frayed from being constantly on guard. Two people wasn’t a large enough group to keep watch 24/7.

  Dave and Analiz wanted to be part of the larger group and have access to the clean water, electricity, medical care, weapons, armor, food, and certainly the company. How much of those things were still left was now up in the air. Something had happened on the mountain, and Daniel had reported an attack of some sort over the radio.

  Dave and Analiz passed an old cinema on their left as they approached Franklin. The marquee proudly stated ‘oon Knight’ showing at 4:30, 7:15, and 9:00. The missing letters made the true title a mystery. They both grew more serious as they reached the outskirts of the town. Most of the people they had met were kind and social, but the few who weren’t could prove to be deadly. The puncture marks in their SUV were a good reminder.

  A little further up the road, they passed the Macon County Fairgrounds on their right. Someone had clearly appropriated the property for cattle. They could see cows moving around in the pens and buildings. “I want these people for my friends. Think of all the cheeseburgers we could eat.”

  Dave’s stomach grumbled in agreement. The pair had plenty of canned goods in the back seat of the little Kona, but the majority were low sodium soups of various types. The soups barely qualified as food. They had shared one called Italian wedding earlier in the day. It was a wonder anyone in Italy went to weddings if they got fed shit like that.

  A small green sign in front of a Walgreens indicated the direction to a local college. Dave didn’t want to go anywhere near one after losing his buddy Todd to a sniper at North Georgia Technical College. The glass at the front of the Walgreens had been broken out. It would have been one of the first places people looted looking for food or medicine.

  Some of them were probably druggies looking for a high, but Dave had happened upon the body of a man at a home in Appling. As Dave looked around, he’d found insulin containers and needles, but all were empty. The man had to have known he was going to die when it ran out, but he still fought until the end. The human will to live, even for another minute, another hour, another day, was incredible.

  It was tragic to know the man had probably survived the supervirus only to watch the end draw nearer every day as his insulin supply decreased. He hoped it had been easy, but based on the scene, it didn’t appear to have been the case.

  On the far side of the Walgreens, they traveled over a bridge. The road narrowed and appeared to run through a residential area. Dave drove slowly, hoping to see any sort of roadblock or ambush with enough time to stop and reverse away. He still had almost a hundred miles of range left on the batteries.

  The display wasn’t blinking yet, but it would start alerting him with around fifty miles of estimated range remaining. Dave had managed to power it up over the course of a couple days using a small generator. The generator was still in the back, luckily not filled with bullet holes, but was out of fuel. If they were going to go much further, he’d have to find some way to recharge the batteries.

  As he steered left around a gentle corner near a tattoo parlor, Dave stabbed at the brakes. Analiz looked at him questioningly as he leaned over the console and stared down the road. Up ahead, someone had built a barricade in front of a white church, completely blocking the road. His eyes shifted up to the rearview mirror, suddenly afraid someone would be behind them.

  The road seemed clear in the direction they’d come from. He leaned back in his seat. “Have your gun ready. I’m not sure what’s going on up there.” From the passenger side, Analiz had a slightly better view of the barricade. “It looks like sandbags and maybe a military jeep of some kind. You were in the military, should we go talk to them?”

  Dave was torn. They might have full-sodium food and electricity so he could charge up the Kona, or better yet, information about his friends. He couldn’t shake the memory of the roadblock in front of the National Guard Armory back in Elberton, though. It had also been military, but resulted in the deaths of several of his friends.

  “Let’s get closer. Watch to the sides to make sure nobody tries to flank us. If you see anyone, call out, okay?”

  He didn’t explain the previous incident; no reason to get her as anxious as he was. He shifted slightly so he could reach his pistol more easily and pulled the Glock out of its holster. Seeing that, Analiz gripped her own pistol tighter and shifted it in her lap so it was facing forward.

  She had selected it from the handguns Dave had back at his cabin. The SIG P320 hadn’t left her side since the night she’d been shot in Evans. For the first few weeks, she had considered it protection against Dave. It had taken even longer for her to feel completely safe around him. The most dangerous creatures in Georgia were alligators and men. Probably the same in North Carolina.

  Dave eased the small SUV forward as the barricade came into view. Along one side of the road, tan-colored sandbags blocked the route. On the other side of the road was a Humvee with a roof-mounted turret. It didn’t appear to be manned, but someone was clearly inside the vehicle. As they approached, the door opened and a dark-skinned man stepped out.

  He was dressed in camouflage pants, boots, and a dark-colored Under Armour shirt. In his right hand was an older style M4 rifle. He kept it pointed at the ground as he waved them forward with his left hand.

  Dave turned to Analiz. “What do you think we should do? We could just turn around and head back.” She kept her eyes on the man in front of them as she responded “There are two of us and only one of him. We might as well find out what’s going on.”

  “Okay, but be ready just in case this goes to shit.” She nodded in affirmation as he rolled
forward toward the blockade. As they drew near, the cleanly shaven man raised his hand with his palm out, signaling them to stop. He walked around to the driver’s side of the vehicle, carefully watching them through the windshield.

  “How can I help you folks today?” he asked.

  Dave kept his right hand on his Glock as he answered through the open window. “Are you military? What’s going on here?”

  The man grinned, “Sort of. We’ve got a camp up ahead at the school. It’s a mix of military and refugees from some of the disaster areas. You folks looking for a place to stay?”

  Dave relaxed slightly. “We’re looking for some of our friends. We heard a radio transmission a few miles back that they’d been attacked on the highway and we’re trying to find them.” The man raised an eyebrow. “You mean Highlands? Colonel Simmons’ group?”

  It was Dave’s turn to be confused. “Colonel Simmons? I don’t know him. The man on the radio was Daniel Benton.”

  The man outside the window nodded. “Yup, he’s part of that group. Some of them have already rolled in. I think Benton is still on the way. Last I heard, they were coming through Cullasaja.”

  Satisfied that they weren’t a threat, the man slung his M4 over his shoulder and stuck out his hand. “I’m Dean. Let me move the Humvee and radio you in.” Dave released his Glock to return the handshake as Dean continued. “Stay to the left up ahead and pull in at the school. Your folks should be over there somewhere.”

  They watched as Dean returned to the Humvee and leaned in to use the radio. After a short conversation, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the big vehicle, slowly moving it out of the way so they could pass. Once he had cleared the road, the opened the door slightly and waved them through.

  Dave felt a little bit tense as they passed the barricade and he saw the Humvee returning to block the road. He didn’t like the idea of being trapped in this place. The Kona was technically an SUV, but it wasn’t made for any real off-road work. If this was a trap and he tried to flee across the grass, he’d probably get stuck.