Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged (13 page)

            "That's why we're so keen to get home," Ralph said. "We have to go protect our families from the road warriors."

            He just scowled at Ralph.

            "He's right," I quickly added. "We've had some really nasty experiences with road warriors, too. We're lucky to be alive."

            He said nothing. We were forced to walk around the edge of the clearing, with the trees and thorn patch to our right. He stopped us next to three young oaks, all about ten inches in diameter. Handcuffs sat on the ground behind each tree. Apparently, he'd put some thought into what he wanted to do with us. He pulled out a pair of wire cutters and snipped Olivia's zip tie.

            "Sit next that tree," he commanded.

            She glanced at the handcuffs behind the tree, and then looked toward the campsite about a dozen feet away.

            "Is that a door?" Olivia asked.

            Following her line of sight, I spotted it. There was a well-hidden door in the side of the hilltop. Looking around, I noticed pipes poking out the top.

            "You have an underground house," I said. "Are you a prepper? Or one of those off the grid people?"

            He didn't answer, but it was obvious now that I was looking at everything through the right frame of reference. Firewood was stacked in craftily hidden sheds all around perimeter of the cleared area. I spotted one of those old-fashioned water pumps I remembered from cowboy movies. I didn't see an outhouse, but figured it was on the other side of the hilltop house to escape its noxious odors.

            "You have quite a setup her, mister," Ralph said.

            "Shut up," he said. Pushing the barrel of his rifle into Olivia's face, he narrowed his eyes. "I said sit down against the tree."

            She obeyed. I fidgeted, not liking where it was headed. Ralph and I shared a bleak look. He quickly pulled her arms back around the tree and snapped the cuffs on her. Then I was ordered to the next tree, just a few feet away. After I was secured, he handcuffed Ralph to the next tree in line.

            "Mister," Olivia asked rather timidly. "Can I ask what you are going to do to us?"

            He sighed, glanced at the graves, and then looked up and around. It was the first sign of uncertainty I'd noticed in him.

            "Haven't decided," he said. The man looked Olivia over with a little too much interest. "I might keep you."

            And then he looked at Ralph and me, with the most disgusted look.

Chapter 16

            "Hey!" Olivia cried.

            "You're no different than the road warriors," I said. He stiffened, turning hostile eyes on me, but said nothing. "Maybe worse. Is that what your wife would want you to do?"

            "You shut up about my wife!"

            He was bright red and shaking. We all shut up and watched him with big eyes. Losing his family might have unhinged him. His fists clenched over and over, until he turned and stomped away and straight into the house.

            "Dudes, I'm telling you," Ralph whispered. "This guy's crazy. He accused me of all kinds of shit before you got here."

            "The whole world has gone crazy," I replied. "Olivia, can you slip out of those handcuffs?"

            "No," she said, even as she struggled with them. "He put them on too tight."

            "I think it'll be impossible to escape this guy," Ralph said. "He's like a modern day Daniel Boone. He can track us down."

            "Not if we take those ATVs," I said.

            Everyone's eyes went to the two ATVs. Both were painted camouflage and covered in dried mud. The three-wheeler had two rifle cases mounted on it and another storage case behind the seat. The four-wheeler was one of the smaller ones, but it would carry two people one in front of the other like a motorcycle. It only had one rifle case, but two storage cases, front and back.

            They weren't as good as the jeep we lost, but we could get home a lot faster on them. It might cut a week off the journey at the rate we were going on foot.

            "We can be home in a couple hours on those ATVs," Olivia replied.

            By my best guess we were south of Jackson. Maybe take an hour off on an ATV drive to Plano. And I thought that was being generous.

            "You think we're that close?" I asked.

            "Oh yeah," she said rather confidently.

            I wanted to question her on why she felt that way. Maybe she'd figured something out I missed. She had to be over-estimating how fast those ATVs went. But our captor came out of the house minus his bushy camo. He was in jeans and a plain brown t-shirt. No shoes. I would've been jealous if he wasn't carrying a sawed off, double-barrel shotgun.

            The shotgun was broken open when he walked through the door, but he snapped it closed about halfway to us. That was not a good sign. My heart started thundering.

            "Hey, mister," Olivia called. She sounded unconcerned, but I noticed the stress. She spoke just a little higher than normal. "I really need to go to the bathroom."

            She crossed her legs and wiggled, maybe hamming it up a little too much.

            "I ain't stopping you," he said.

            He wasn't even looking at her. His glared at Ralph and me, finger on the trigger. I had a bad feeling he was going to get rid of us, and Olivia was about to get the shotgun wedding of her nightmares.

            "I can't do that. Girls can get infections," she said. "Without modern medicine, I could die of an infection. You should know that."

            He did a double-take on her. He looked more exasperated than anything. She smiled up at him, acting sweet and unthreatening. I kept my mouth shut, and prayed she could distract him. If he could get past his anger then we had a chance.

            "I'm like this close to bursting," she said, squirming and nodding. "Please?"

            He watched her a long moment. The anger faded from his features. I'm not sure I cared for the expression that claimed his face. Olivia acted like she was oblivious to his lust.

            "You better make up your mind fast," she said, voice rising. "Oh lord."

            "Okay," he said. Pointing the shotgun at her. "No funny stuff, or else."

            "Thank you! Please hurry!"

            I started wondering if she was acting. She had me sold. He leaned the shotgun against the tree I was bound to. Our eyes met, and I saw the cruel humor in his eyes.

            He fished a key out of his pocket and moved around behind her tree. I heard a click and her arms immediately swung forward.

            "Thank you! Where's the bathroom?"

            The man lifted his hand, pointing toward the underground house's door. "Inside. I have a septic system that's – "

            Olivia rolled toward me. I was still looking at the door, so didn't see her snatch up the shotgun.

           
Boom!

            "Holy crap!" Ralph cried. "Olivia?"

            "Don't move, mister," she growled. "That warning shot was to prove we aren't here to rob or hurt you. But if you do anything stupid, I'll kill you."

            "Fucking roadies," he muttered.

            "Sorry you feel that way, mister," she continued. "But all we want to do is get out of here. We'll leave you to stew in your own misery. Promise."

            "We won't hurt you if you cooperate," I said. "Live and let live is our motto."

            He didn't look convinced. Indeed, he looked ready to take his chances and pounce on her. I had her move a little further away from him. She moved around my tree, keeping the shotgun on him.

            "Unlock Kyle's handcuffs," Olivia commanded. He didn't move. "Now!"

            "Why should I?" he said. "What are you going to do? Shoot me?"

            "Kill him," Ralph shouted. "The bastard is suicidal. He doesn't care about anything anymore. Kill him and take the key."

            I heard Olivia sigh. She must've come to the same conclusion. I felt sick for her. Just killing him like that was going to hurt her heart.

            "Okay," he said. "I'll do it."

            She took a step back. I tensed all of my muscles, afraid he was going to try to kill me out of spite. Some guys were like that. If he had to die, then take as many of the enemy as possible first. He crawled behind me, moving slowly. To my relief he inserted the key and opened the cuff around my right wrist.

            "Yes," I cried as I threw myself forward.

            "Toss the key to him," Olivia said. "Do it."

            With supreme reluctance, he complied. I caught it and removed the other cuff. Picking up the handcuffs, I hurried around behind him.

            "Hands behind your back," I said.

            He looked left, right, and then at the shotgun. His hands slowly moved back. I carefully cuffed the right wrist, and then yanked it back along with the left and finished cuffing him.

            "God damn, that scared the shit out of me," I said, moving away from him. "Keep the gun on him."

            I freed Ralph. Olivia kept the shotgun on him, while Ralph and I grabbed his arms and headed for the house. Once inside, I realized it was a lot bigger and nicer than I anticipated. The ceiling was a long arch. It looked like we were inside of a giant metal culvert. Just inside the door were a couch and two chairs. Past that was a small kitchen complete with small fridge, stove, and oven. He even had a microwave. The inside was lit by LED lights.

            "How do you have electricity?" I demanded after making him sit on the couch.

            "This house is shielded against EMP," he said. "I also have five wind turbines scattered around my property, with their cables buried underground. Everything is energy efficient, so it doesn't take much."

            "This guy's like a super prepper," Ralph said. "There are four bunks past the kitchen. What's behind the door past the bedroom?"

            "Storage. Food."

            He sounded dejected and bitter. I didn't blame him. He probably thought we'd kill him and take possession of his house and everything he worked so hard to build before the apocalypse. All that work for nothing.

            "Olivia, give Ralph the shotgun," I said. "Ralph, Olivia and I are going to check the place out. Don't let him off that couch."

            "My pleasure."

            Olivia gave up the shotgun reluctantly. "I call dibs on the shotgun."

            I took her by the hand and hurried to the storage room. Once inside, I closed the door and whirled around on her.

            "Are you crazy?" I said. "Do you know the chance you took out there? He's crazy, and he wants you so bad it hurts."

            "It worked."

            "Doesn't matter. Promise me you'll never use your feminine charms on a guy again. If it goes wrong then… I can't even think about it. My brain shuts down."

            She hugged me. "Thank you for caring, but it's about time being a woman worked for me instead of against me." She smiled, before shaking her head. "Besides, I wasn't throwing myself at him. He thought I needed to go to the bathroom."

            "I saw the look on his face," I replied. "He planned to take you somewhere else after you finished."

            "I know, but it all worked out," she said. Olivia looked past me. "Is that an open gun safe?"

            To call it a gun safe didn't do it justice. Our would-be captor had an armory. I saw a pair of Uzi submachine guns, an AR15, four AK47 assault rifles, and lots of pistols. There were half a dozen other makes and models of assault rifles, none of which I'd seen before. There were hunting rifles and shotguns, too, as well as high-end compound bows. Our pack was dumped out before the gun locker, with our weapons sorted out to the side.

            "We'll leave here better armed than we arrived," I said. "And with more ammo."

            If anything, he had even more ammo than weapons. He had crates of ammo. The storage room was mostly full of "survivor food." Lots of freeze dried and other long lasting foods. He even had stacks of both C-Rations and MREs in one corner. There were shelves of neatly folded clothes, sheets, blankets, and spare kitchen utensils. Pretty much anything he'd need to survive for years.

            "Let's make sure both ATVs are running first. If they are, then we can take more with us," I said.

            "I'll check them out," she said, pausing only to give me a quick kiss before rushing through the door.

            I separated out the ammo we'd need. 12 gauge shotgun shells. Ammo for the M16A2s. We had enough for the M1911 pistols since we didn't use them much. And finally, more as an afterthought, I checked the AR15.

            "M16A1" I said. My heart skipped a beat. "I bet it's full auto." I grinned. "It's mine."

            I heard one of the ATVs start up. Olivia gunned the engine a few times, before turning it off. It was a beautiful sound. My feet were grateful.

            I returned to the kitchen and checked the fridge. The bottom shelf was filled with cans of beer. You know I was tempted. Otherwise, it was mostly empty.

            "I found something interesting," Ralph said. He held up a folded map. "State map. Olivia is right. Pla…" He glanced at the man. "Our destination isn't as far away as I thought. I think we could be there by morning if we traveled all night."

            Unfolding the map, I found Plano. Our location was marked with a red X. I got a chill seeing how close our home town was from us. I thought his estimate on time more than a little optimistic, but I was quite pleased.

            "Provided both ATVs are running," I replied. Almost on cue Olivia cranked the second ATV and gunned the engine a few times. "Hey, mister, do you have gasoline?"