Hell's Children: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (28 page)

* * *

O
utside in the field
, they found the bodies of five boys and two girls, Trisha among them. Carter was dead upstairs. Two boys had died in the kitchen. There were four dead in the great room, now hazy with gun smoke. The whole place smelled of blood and excrement and would for several days.

An hour later, the Rippers and Dragsters, former and ex, came together and stacked their dead in a van that hadn’t caught fire. Then they burned them. All stood in attendance, though nothing was said.

Of the dead, there were too many. Of words, there were too few.

P
aul and Miguel
didn’t wait around to be thrown out—they were gone before the morning, as were Cassie and the two surviving boys from Carter’s group.

Richard and Kyle were beside themselves with worry that Jack would reveal their part in Blaze’s murder. Jack assured them he wouldn’t, provided they escorted him back to their base—with Tony and a few Dragsters.

Jack didn’t like the idea of some kid taking his sword and stabbing someone, and wanted to retrieve it. He also wanted to make friends with the next leader. He had no interest in bringing the gang of murderous thieves into his own group. But if he could forge an alliance, they’d be a useful friendly force in the east. To that end, he’d ply them with as much grain as needed to keep them happy and healthy through the winter. He’d also meet with the group at the airport—to ensure they were really taking care of the children Blaze had brought them. Who knew, maybe they could trade a few things. Like those stun guns the Pyro’s dead leader had mentioned.

That night after the battle, Lisa pulled the bullet out of Greg’s leg with a pair of sanitized needle-nosed pliers. Over the next few months, he’d recover nicely. Steve would too, though his nose had been broken and set by unskilled hands. Pain medication was in high demand that winter, and Jack had to take them both aside to ensure it wasn’t becoming a habit.

Most of Larry’s Dragsters chose to stay at the cabins and now called themselves Rippers. They claimed the Saskatchewan, it being the biggest and coolest building there. Everyone answered to Jack, but they also deferred to Larry. Rather than worry about it like some paranoid dictator, Jack took advantage of it and passed orders through him, as well as the other leaders: Lisa, Greg, Brad, Tony, Olivia, Molly, and Steve. Each was given the official rank of “Captain” and moved into the Paul Bunyan with him. A small cabin, compared to the others, but it still had a lot of unused space.

A large group of children from Front Royal were brought to Big Timber—mostly little sisters and brothers. Molly took them under her wing and put them in the Abe Lincoln on hastily scavenged mattresses.

Somewhere along the way, Olivia and Greg became quite the item. It helped that the former Dragsters fell over themselves trying to chat him up whenever they could. He was even more popular than that one kid, Will.

Freida and Carla had livestock to take care of, and didn’t want to leave. Jack was fine with that, but asked that they keep at least two guards from the cabins with them at all times. They happily agreed.

The snow came down heavily in January, and again in February. Nobody froze, and they didn’t starve. There was still a lot to do, but there always had been. There were gun safety classes and scavenging runs and plans for farming. There were rabbit hutches to build and more cattle to find. Horses, too. And for the first time since starting out with Pete that cold day in November, Jack felt they actually had a chance to not just survive, but thrive.

The sentiment was comforting. And for the next several months, it was even true.

L
ike most independent authors
, I rely on word of mouth for nearly all of my marketing. So, if you liked
Hell’s Children
, please consider leaving a review. The more reviews it gets, the more likely people are to find it, and that would really help me out.

More books you might be interested in:

• Kick
  — A supernatural thriller with a vigilante twist. There are three books in the series.
  
• Thief’s Odyssey
  — A crime thriller about a modern day cat burglar.
  

Please consider signing up to my mailing list so you can be alerted about new books, news, and promotional giveaways. Also, you’ll get the above two books for free!

Thanks!

John