Preppers of the Apocalypse - Part 1: Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival by Godsby Jim Read Free Book Online Page B

shoulders, and one man rode a motorcycle. Only three
people had working cars.
     
    Kenny
shook his head.
     
    “This
is goddamn pathetic. We can’t all leave in three cars. Hell, one of them is
gonna have to be our supply vehicle anyway. So here’s what’s going to happen.
I’m going to order you according to how much you contributed. The people who
came back here with nothing but jerky and a bottle of water, well guess what?
You’re gonna walk.”
     
    People
began to chatter amongst each other. Some argued over how much they had
contributed, while others looked scared. Ash wondered how many people in
Pasture Downs had simply stayed at home during the power cuts. Some folks, the
sensible ones, had probably locked their doors and kept to themselves.
     
    Kenny
turned and glared at Ash.
     
    “You,”
he said. “Wherever you’re going, you’re going to have to walk.”
     
    “But
we had a deal.”
     
    Kenny
shook his head. “I need my Chevy. You’re lucky I don’t just kill you. After
what you did to this town, the fact you can even walk in the first place is
luckier than a four leaf clover sliding down a double rainbow.”
     
    Before
Ash could even protest, Kenny turned back to the crowd.
     
    “Where’s
the sheriff?” he said.
     
    Nobody
knew where Sheriff Ellie had gone; people had seen her leaving town a few days
earlier, but they didn’t know where she was now. She would no doubt have been a
useful person to have on the road, but Kenny wasn’t going to wait for her.
     
    “If
you see the sheriff,” he said. “Tell her she missed her ride.”
     
    With
that they loaded up their cars and drove away from Pasture Down, leaving Ash,
Tony, Chad and a handful of townsfolk stood on the main street wondering what
the hell they were going to do.
     
    “Now
what?” said Chad.
     
    Ash
rubbed his forehead.
     
    “Don’t
you have a home to go to?”
     
    “Not
much out there for me, really. Mom’s in a nursing home. She went south when dad
died and she couldn’t keep the house by herself. Don’t have brothers or
sisters, never had a girlfriend. Got an uncle and aunt, but I don’t know if I
should go there.”
     
    “We
need a ride. I gotta get home,” said Ash.
     
    “The
jeep won’t be safe. If Beele or the rest of the unit catch us in it, they’ll
pull us over. Once they do that, we’re screwed.”
     
    “Before
we do anything I have to get to my family,” said Tony.  “The sheriff has a 4x4 parked
underneath the station. The keys will be in her office.”
     
    Ash
didn’t much feel like going back to the sheriff’s office after having been
locked in there for days, but there wasn’t much else they could do. If there
was transport there that they could take, then he was going to have to do it.
They could drop Tony at his ranch and then he was going to gun it across the
plains and out of Pasture.
     
    When
they opened the Sheriff’s door, they found Ellie stood above a desk. She had
cleared four desks of their belongings and connected them in the middle of the
room. A series of maps was stretched out across the surface, and she had drawn
lines through some of the sections.
     
    She
looked up toward the door. A cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, but
it wasn’t lit.
     
    “You’re
here for the 4x4, aren’t you? We’ll I’m not going anywhere.”
     
    “The
plant’s about to go toasty,” said Chad.
     
    “Who
the hell are you?”
     
    Ash
stepped in front of Chad.
     
    “Don’t
worry about him,” he said.
     
    The
sheriff stepped away from her desk. Her hair was tied back and looked greasy,
and the skin on her face sagged as though she hadn’t slept in days. Ash wasn’t
bothered if she had lost sleep, and he wanted nothing more than to rip her new
one for leaving him locked up. He clenched his jaw and held it in. He needed to
get home, and Ellie had the wheels.
     
    “My
boy has run away again,” said Ellie.  “So I’m going nowhere until I find him. I
don’t