The Borrowed World: A Novel of Post-Apocalyptic Collapse by Franklin Horton Read Free Book Online Page A

control of the situation.  He yelled at everyone to cease fire but the situation was too far gone.  Gary had gripped Lois and Rebecca by the arms, rushing them toward the exit.  I stood just outside the front door, trying to avoid the onrush of people and the sporadic gunfire.  I was staring at the blocked vehicle Lois and Alice had been traveling in, wondering what the hell we were going to do about it.  When I turned to the Gary to tell him to hurry up, Lois opened her mouth to say something to me.  I knew it because she was looking me dead in the eye.  As the first word formed in her mouth, a stray round caught her in the temple, spraying Rebecca with blood, and dropping Lois dead to the ground.  Rebecca paused for a second, staring at the dead woman beside her and recoiling in horror.  She started to scream but Gary jerked her arm and they ran out the door.
    They joined me just outside the door, and we all stared at Alice sitting in the blocked vehicle.  She hadn’t seen Lois fall, but she knew that all hell had broken loose from the continuing gunfire inside and the people streaming from the door.  She looked frozen in panic.
    I waved at Alice and she opened her door.  “C'mon!” I yelled at her.  “We have to go!”
    She put one leg out the car and rose up out of her open door.  I ran over and took her by the arm.  “We have to go.  Lois is dead.  This car isn't going anywhere.”
    “My stuff is—”
    “Forget your stuff, Alice, we have to go now .”
    She looked at me, wild-eyed in fear and shock, then snatched her purse from the front seat.  We ducked and ran past the front door where shots still rang out, though they were tapering off.  Gary and Rebecca were already in the car with the engine running when we got there.  Randi had jumped in the back seat when the shooting started and still had no idea of what was going on.  I got in the front seat while Alice crammed in the back with the other two women.  They were unable to speak, except for Randi who kept asking what had happened, but she wasn't getting any answers. 
    Gary reversed the vehicle, and drove quickly around the back of the store, hoping to avoid the chaos around front.  Truck drivers were running back and forth between vehicles, some with pistols in their hands.  Others were getting their rigs moving and hoping to get out of here before things got any worse.  Gary cut around the slow moving rigs but got caught in a bottleneck trying to get out of the parking lot.  Cars were streaming out onto the road, but there were hundreds of cars still in this parking lot, with only one way in and out.
    “Come on, come on,” Gary whispered, as if he could urge a clearing in the traffic.
    Out of nowhere, a man ran up to Gary's window and began beating on it.
    “Do not lower that window,” I said urgently.
    The man was screaming at Gary.  “My car is out of gas!  I need a ride out of here.  This is a government vehicle and my damn taxes paid for it!”
    Gary held up his hands and yelled back, “We don't have room!”
    In the back, Rebecca started crying, the shock of seeing Lois killed beside her and the continuing chaos becoming too much for her. 
    “Open this damn door!” the man screamed.
    Gary tried to inch the car forward but was pinned in and couldn't go anywhere.
    The man pulled a lug wrench from his back pocket, drew back, and shattered Gary's window, showering Gary and I with glass fragments.  Gary leaned forward and was brushing them from his hair and face, trying to keep them out of his eyes.  Without thinking, I threw open my door, drew my LCP, and pointed it at the man as he drew back the lug wrench again for what I assumed was to be a fatal blow to Gary's head. 
    There was no time to say anything.  I leveled the pistol, fired twice.
    The .380 rounds went through the man's right pectoral muscle and into his chest.  He grabbed his chest and dropped from sight.  It was the first time I'd ever shot a person,