Bullets sprang through the thin wooden door.
The door was shaking with kicks. And body slams. They were throwing their bodies against it.
The dresser couldn’t hold out much more, and Miller couldn’t get close enough to hold it back, unless he wanted to take another bullet.
Finally, the dresser had danced back a bit from the door, from the impacts.
A heavy boot broke through the door, splintered wood going everywhere. A hand reached through, going for the doorknob. The weight of the dresser was enough to keep the door mostly in its frame.
Miller aimed carefully, squeezing the trigger.
A howl of pain. The hand retreated, bloodied. He’d shot good. But it wouldn’t be enough.
It happened so fast it was hard to register it all. The door was opened, the dresser kicked back.
One of them entered. He knew where Miller would be. His face was contorted in rage. His hand was bloodied. He had his gun in his other hand.
He and Miller shot at the same time.
The guy went down, thrown back a little.
Miller took the bullet in the chest. His breathing was going all funny. He felt the blood pooling.
These would be some of his last moments. He wasn’t going to make it.
But he was going to take out the last one.
Or were there two?
He couldn’t think straight. His mind was a mess of adrenaline and pain. Everything was confusing.
The only thing he could do to steady himself was keep the grip on his gun tight. And his finger on the trigger.
More movement.
Someone else came through the door.
Miller had his gun on him.
But the other guy was too fast.
Miller saw everything in slow motion. But his own reactions were too slow. The guy pulled the trigger.
Miller felt the bullet hit the center of his chest.
He had several seconds of consciousness before he died. Nothing but a flash of his past memories, playing in his mind’s eye. Like he was watching a film, surprisingly clear, but as if he was peering down onto everything. He felt close to the events, but far away at the same time.
His son’s first birthday party. His wife was sobbing in the kitchen, because none of their friends had even bothered to respond to the invitations. And no one had showed up. The balloons hung sadly up around the ceiling.
The first time he’d met his wife. That tight sweater she’d been wearing in the dead of winter, when the sun never seemed to rise high enough to burn off the winter doldrums.
Miller’s first day of kindergarten, when he’d been a boisterous kid full of energy, ready to cause havoc, ready to make the kindergarten teacher cry.
The little film cut off suddenly. Miller knew no more.
26
“Did you hear that?” said Mandy.
Georgia nodded.
It had been the unmistakable sound of a gun going off. A handgun, by the sound of it.
“What do we do?”
Georgia didn’t answer. She was worried about their safety and their future. Most of all, she was worried about her daughter. What Kara had described wasn’t any kind of life. It’d be a life of confinement and unparalleled misery.
They needed to get out of there.
“If only Max were here.”
“We can’t rely on Max now. We’ve got to work this out ourselves. You still have your knife, right?”
Mandy nodded, patting her cheap utility knife in its sheath.
“Good.”
Georgia took out her own knife, a Buck 110. It was big and heavy, but in reality the clip point blade wasn’t that long. The Mora blade might have been longer. It’d work, though, in a pinch. It had a solid lockup, and Georgia felt fairly confident it’d function as a weapon without the lock folding and the blade snapping closed on her fingers.
“What are we going to do, Mom?”
“We’re going to fight.”
“Without guns?”
“There aren’t any other options. We’re going to have to fight our way out. We can’t stay here.”
“What about James?”
“We’re going to try to find him. James can take care of himself.”
“Do you think he’ll come looking for us?”
“Definitely.”
Georgia didn’t want to admit it out loud, but she was worried that James was going to get himself killed trying to get them out of there. Once he got wind of the plan, there was no way he would stand for it. But he was still smaller than an adult, and weaker. He’d grow into a man one day, hopefully, but he wasn’t yet there yet. He wasn’t a match for the men here.
“Do you hear that?” whispered Mandy.
Georgia heard it. There were footsteps right outside the door. They weren’t heavy.
Georgia knew those footsteps.
“James?” she called out, hoping against hope that she wasn’t wrong.
“Mom?”
“James! Can you get the lock?”
“What’s happening, James?” said Sadie.
“There’s no time for that,” said Georgia, thinking practically. “Can you open the lock?”
“I don’t have a key.”
“What do you have?”
“A handgun. From a dead guy. They took my bullets. I don’t have much time.”
“OK, shoot the lock. Do it at an angle so that there’s no risk of it ricocheting off and hitting you.”
James said nothing.
But a moment later, there was a gunshot.
“James?”
“One second.”
She heard James pulling the busted lock off of the door.
The next thing she knew, James had thrown the door open. He stood tall in the doorway, looking more like a man than ever before. There was blood on him.
“Have you been shot? Are you injured?”
James shook his head.
There wasn’t time for him to tell them what had happened. But it was there in his eyes—something had happened, for sure.
“They’ll be coming. They’ll have heard the gunshot.”
Georgia turned to see Mandy already grabbing her gear.
“Sadie, get your stuff. Quick. James, stay outside. Shoot anyone who comes.”
“Where’s Chad?” said Mandy.
“He didn’t make it.”
No one said anything. They were rushing for their gear.
Georgia hated to keep James outside like that, exposed to anything that might come his way. She feared a bullet might lodge itself in James’s chest. The only thing that was protecting him now was the mild darkness of the compound. There were some ambient lights—powered by a battery that had been protected during the EMP—and lights from the building, that gave more background light than you’d find in the depths of the woods.
In mere moments, they had most of their stuff.
James stuck his head inside.
“We’re going to have a hard time getting out of here. I see them, off on the other side. They’re grouping up. Or waiting.”
“I know.”
“What’s the plan then, Mom?”
Georgia didn’t know. She didn’t see how they could possibly get out.
There were concrete walls they’d have to scale. And there were people on watch all over. They’d never get all of the group safely over the walls.
Getting through the front gate would be problematic, to say the least. There was a guard always there.
The real problem was that the compound wasn’t that large. And there were a lot of people in it.
There wasn’t really anywhere to hide.
They were going to have to try, though. There wasn’t anything else to do. Staying wasn’t an option. She wouldn’t let Mandy or her daughter go through that, no matter how far down the road it was. The threat was simply too serious.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Did they take your ammo too?” said James.