Last Stand: Surviving America's Collapse Read Online Free PDF Page B

home.”
    “How do you know this?”
    “There’s no other reasonable explanation. These kids are better off at home with their parents.”
    “We’ve already had a few come by on foot to get kids, but keeping track of them all is becoming difficult.”
    “Well, let me take Emma and Gregory off your hands. Having to worry about two less will surely help.”
    Mrs. Walters nodded. “I won’t pretend to know where they are. The kids are supposed to be organized by class during an evacuation, but clearly that directive wasn’t followed.”
    Diane approached a group of girls who were about Emma’s age and asked them if they knew where she was. John did the same thing to a group of boys, asking about Gregory.
    John made his way through the throngs of students, who pointed to the stands, which were full of kids. Mrs. Walters followed them.
    Once they arrived, Mrs. Walters raised her megaphone and called out for Gregory and Emma. She called out a second time before a boy stood up and began making his way down. It was Gregory, but there wasn’t any sign of Emma.
    “Can you try again ?” Diane asked.
    “She’s over there,” a girl with long dark hair said , pointing.
    They all turned in the direction she had indicated. Over by the opposite goal line, two figures sat cross-legged on the grass. They were kissing.
    John ’s heart skipped a beat.
    “Gregory, run and get your sister at once,” Diane said.
    He did as he was told. Emma looked over and rose to her feet. So too did the young man she was with. All three of them headed over.
    “Hand me that for a second , please,” John said, pointing to Mrs. Walter’s megaphone. She handed it over. “Young lady, I suggest you double-time it.”
    Reluctantly, Emma broke into a jog, along with the boy she’d been kissing minutes before. Soon, they arrived, Emma looking mortified. John hadn’t intended to humiliate her in front of the entire school. The young man Emma had been kissing was thin and pink-cheeked with dark hair and fine features. John recognized him as a boy from their neighborhood.
    “Does your friend have a name?” John asked.
    Diane nudged him.
    “I think we have a right to know,” he told her in response.
    “Brandon, Mr. Mack,” the boy said, smiling weakly. “I live on the corner of Willow Creek and Pine Grove. You know my parents.”
    John nodded . “I met them at last year’s block party.” He could see the pulse in Brandon’s neck and knew it wasn’t from the jog. The kid was expecting to get a tongue-lashing. But right now, John had neither the time nor the inclination.

Chapter 8
    A few minutes after they left West High, John pulled into the parking lot at the Publix grocery store.
    “I thought we w ere heading home?” Diane asked him.
    John turned on the radio and flipped the knob. They didn’t hear a thing. It looked like not everything in the Blazer had survived the EMP.
    “There’s no telling how long this may last. I think we should get some extra supplies just in case.”
    “But we have that bunker thing in the basement with lots of food,” Emma said. “And the cabin in the mountains.”
    “You’re right,” John told her. “The pod at the house has enough supplies for a mo nth and the cabin for a year, but what if this lasts for longer than that? Besides, if you haven’t noticed already, the folks around here are stunned and confused. They’ll only really start to get dangerous when the food in their houses runs out.”
    “You still haven’t told us what’s going on,” Gregory said. “Are we at war or something?”
    John and Diane exchanged a glance. “I don’t know. I’ll explain more when we’re back at home safe and sound.”
    Just as he said that, a large group of people stream ed into the grocery store. Others were leaving, pushing carts out into the parking lot. Many kept on going, probably intent on pushing those carts all the way home.
    “You three stay here and keep the doors locked ,” John told them.