Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands by Brian J. Jarrett Read Free Book Online Page B

returned to Lester. “So what’s the verdict?” he asked.
    “You can come for a while,” Chloe said. “No guarantees on how long.” Sam stood beside her, smiling. He might have the boy convinced, but the girl would take a little longer. No matter. He had time.
    “Perfect,” Lester said, grinning back. “We’re going to get along great, I’m sure of it.”

Chapter Eleven

    The rest of the men blocking the roadway stood two dozen wide. All dressed in flowing robes, they appeared well-fed and groomed. They carried no conspicuous weapons and made no threatening gestures. Their faces remained stoic, looking ahead as if waiting to be told what to do next.
    Still, Ed didn’t like it at all. 
    “What’s going on, Dad?” Jeremy asked.
    “Not sure yet, buddy.”
    “Can you hear what they’re saying?” Trish asked.
    Ed shook his head. 
    “Should we bolt?” Jasper asked. Around them murmuring began. Others were clearly becoming tense. 
    Ed didn’t reply. Instead, he waited with tense anticipation while the tall and bearded leader of the group conferred with Alice. Seconds passed with no indication of whether or not this group was friend or enemy. 
    A few moments later one of the men from Alice’s truck approached Ed’s truck. He made his way to the driver’s side door, hoisting himself up to talk to John through the open driver’s side window. Despite being closer, Ed couldn’t make out the particulars of the conversation between the two men.
    A few moments later John raised his voice loud enough for Ed to hear. “Are they sure?” he asked.  Then, “I don’t care what Alice says...” He trailed off, his voice buried under the sound of the lead truck’s engine accelerating. It veered off the highway and onto the exit ramp, the rest of the group of strangers following behind on foot. 
    “That bitch!” John exclaimed from the cab, audible over the sound of the engine. A moment later Ed’s truck lurched forward, forcing those in the back to catch their balance. 
    “What the hell is going on now?” Jasper asked. “Why are we getting off the interstate?”
    Ed frowned. “I guess we know who’s really in charge now.”
    * * *
    The two large trucks exited the desolate highway, turning down a dilapidated two-lane road. The jeep carrying the group’s robed leader caught up and raced past, his bodyguards (Ed couldn’t think of them as anything else now) occupying the seats next to him. The others who’d blocked the highway earlier followed on foot behind.
    Ahead, the two-lane road leading away from the highway had at some point been cleared of derelict vehicles. Lining this side road, withering houses sat empty, their windows like gaping eye sockets in rotting skulls. Each house had a large, black X drawn on the front door. Downed power lines draped from faded utility poles like a snakes hanging from treetops. A murder of crows roosting upon the remaining suspended overhead lines took flight upon the arrival of the vehicles, cawing their annoyance at the intruders as they escaped into the sky.
    Nearly a mile away from the highway, their destination became obvious. A large stone church bearing a tall steeple loomed ahead. A tall, chain-link fence surrounded the structure, rising ten feet into the air. A second building stood behind the main church, its multi-colored exterior a patchwork quilt of repurposed building materials cobbled together after the virus, when materials, skilled labor and the luxury of time were all hard to come by.
    Ed didn’t like the look of the place. The fact that these people had set up shop in a church made him suspicious. In his experience, when dogma reigned over reason very bad things tended to happen. The robes, the beards, long hair, the creepy church…too many red flags. But now Ed was at the mercy of others.
    As the trucks rumbled toward the church, people began filtering outside through the two main front doors. Women dominated the group’s numbers, flanked