World of Ashes II Read Online Free PDF Page A

the calm could be more eerie than the distant fighting.
    Their second week of hiding had forced them to the point where provisions were critically low. Rick even brought the sardines inside from the car shed, but he was the only one who would eat them. Early one morning while Daniel covered their progress down the street with a rifle from the second story bedroom, Rick and Greg slipped into a nearby quick-mart to take whatever other looters had left behind. Lots of canned or dry food, no alcohol or medicine, they made a second trip just before dawn and ran into another looter. Daniel had switched out with Greg for the second run, because Greg was out of shape and couldn’t move fast enough anymore. Daniel tried to reason with the desperate man, even offered him everything they’d gathered thus far, but he wasn’t listening. He wanted their guns, and to be taken back to their hideout. His rusty looking .32 hammerless revolver didn’t seem very intimidating to Daniel, and he raised his rifle. Their wouldbe assailant pulled the trigger and the revolver’s cylinder exploded in his hand. Screaming bloody murder, he didn’t notice Daniel and Greg snatch the supplies and make a run for it. The last thing heard from the parking lot was another human shitbag joining the ranks of the enemy’s army in a final blood curdling howl as they dragged him down in a grizzly swarm.
    Perhaps that very public incident was why FEMA was sending a patrol through their neighborhood today. The men escorting them weren’t Soldiers, they wore black riot gear with DHS, NSA and ATF logos. They were going door to door to search for survivors, but as the holdouts watched from the darkened windows Daniel didn’t see any refugees coming back to the trucks with the uniformed men. Lea wanted to go greet them, but the three men with her refused. They didn’t want to be loaded onto any fucking trains, or anything else the government was touching for that matter. Lea didn’t listen until they heard gunshots from a house just over the hill. Men came pouring out of a riot truck, shooting at the house in question as they went. Someone was shooting back, but they only had a double barrel shotgun. In the time it took to reload their weapon the men in black took the house in a hail of gunfire. No civilians walked out with them. Again.
    They had time before the men arrived at their house, and took that time to clean everything as best they could. They opened the doors slightly and removed as much trash as was possible. It looked like people had been there, but there was no evidence of recent habitation. Lea was the last one up as the Department of Homeland Security crept inside, guns raised. Lea got separated from the three men protecting her and was putting the TV back in the bedroom she’d found it in when two agents swept the upstairs. She slipped inside a large trunk at the end of a bed filled with itchy wool blankets and held her breath. They only did a cursory search of the house, leaving after they found no one in an obvious place. The survivors spent the rest of the night in the attic, sweltering in the heat, but safe.
     
     
     
    By morning they were able to come back downstairs. The subdivision was much quieter now, but in the distance the popping sound of helicopters and unending gunshots weren’t totally deadened by the trees. “We should move.” Greg said, packing his gear.
    “I disagree. They’ve already swept this area, they won’t do it again.” Rick countered, not making any effort to gather his belongings.
    “That does make a certain amount of sense.” Daniel agreed. “Let’s bring some food back here for a few more nights and hold out just a bit longer. When things calm down we can move. It won’t be forever before they mobilize the Army and retake this area.”
    “Things aren’t going to calm down.” Lea flopped down on the couch. “We just watched DC burn in less than a week. The news says this is all over the country