The solid bulk of the rifle felt somewhat reassuring in her hands, and she gripped it tighter. Her right hand moved down to a plastic knife sheath attached to her belt with some twine. It was a Mora utility knife, cheap and practical. It was decidedly unpretentious with its plastic handle and non-threatening blade shape, but the steel, Mandy had been told, was good quality carbon steel. Whatever that meant. Mandy just knew that putting her hand around the handle gave her some comfort. Whatever that was worth.
4
The men had passed Georgia without seeing her. Georgia had waited a couple minutes, making sure there weren’t more following, and to give herself a wide enough berth.
She’d followed the three men through the forest. They were headed right towards the farmhouse, even changing their path, seemingly accidentally, to cut a more direct route.
Georgia crouched in the underbrush, not far from where the forest met the field. The men stood right at the boundary, speaking loudly.
“Looks like we’re in luck,” said one of them, speaking loudly.
“You think someone’s in there?”
“Can you even see? There’s someone up there on the roof.”
“Up on the roof? Oh yeah, I see him. What’s he doing up there?”
“You’re even dumber today for some reason.”
“Lay off me, man.”
“I don’t want to have to give you another beating. Do you want that?”
“No.”
So there was contention among the “ranks” of these three men. Georgia filed that information away for later. It might be useful. And maybe sooner than she’d hoped for. Practically all she could think about was that she wished these men had never come along, never found the farmhouse.
Max had told her about his plans for rudimentary defense systems. He’d described a trench, maybe a fence. But everything was still in the planning stages, and the projects weren’t even off the ground yet. It was almost impossible to think about spending days exhausting themselves digging a trench when there was hardly enough food to eat.
But that was the way surviving worked. You had to think clearly about your energy levels, even when you were exhausted. Calories meant something different now than before the EMP. Now, you didn’t want to waste them on anything that wasn’t crucial.
“OK, so I’ll have to spell it out for you, I guess,” the man was saying. “There are people in that house, and that man on the roof is up there to defend it. Or to keep watch. Or both. And what’s worth defending is worth stealing, am I right?”
“Damn right.”
“Hell yeah,” said the other.
“All right, we’ll move out soon.”
These guys spoke in a way that made it seem as if they imagined that they were some military unit. But Georgia knew that they weren’t. They simply didn’t use the right slang or the right expressions.
Georgia weighed her options.
Now she knew for certain that these men were intent on robbing the farmhouse. And Georgia had no reason to believe that they wouldn’t use all the force at their disposal. They had assault rifles, and could easily outgun the farmhouse inhabitants.
Sure, it was three against six. But Georgia had a realistic understanding of her companions, and her children’s, abilities with a gun. Mandy, Chad, and Sadie had hardly ever handled a gun before. James was quite a bit better, but that alone wouldn’t be enough. Max knew what he was doing with his Glock, but he was injured, and Georgia didn’t know if she could count on him now if things got tough.
Georgia had one of the men’s heads trained in the sights of her rifle. She could squeeze the trigger and kill him in an instant. But she doubted she’d be able to get off two more shots, especially if the other two men charged her.
No, that wasn’t the way to go. Georgia needed to stay alive if she wanted to protect James and Sadie, not to mention the rest.
Georgia crawled forward a little more, inching across the ground on her belly like some animal. From her new vantage point, she moved her rifle so that she could see Chad on the roof of the farmhouse through her scope.
If Chad had only been a good shot, maybe between the two of them they’d be able to take out the three men before any damage was done.
But Chad was by far the worst shot of them all. Even Sadie was better, and improving rapidly each target practice.
The best thing to do, Georgia decided, was to wait for the men to approach the farmhouse. Chad was sure to notice them, ring the bell, and alert the others. Then, Georgia could take at least one of the men out. That would give everyone else more of a chance.
She just hoped the plan worked.
“Come on, man,” one of the men was saying. “Let’s just go already.”
Georgia was thinking the same thing. She was used to waiting in silence, motionless. After all, she’d hunted for years. But this was different. When she’d hunted for deer, no human lives were at stake. Especially not those of her only children. She could feel her anxiety building, a physical sensation in her body. Her chest felt tight, and her stomach was in knots.
“Yeah,” said another. “Let’s just do it already. I’m tired of waiting. What are you looking for anyway through those binoculars?”
“I’m trying to figure out how many people we’re up against.”
“What’s the difference? We did fine on the last raids.”
“We did fine on the last raids because I scouted everything out perfectly beforehand.”
Two of the men sounded almost impossibly dumb to Georgia. Dumb, cruel people could be dangerous. But the leader sounded intelligent and cruel, which in her opinion was a much more dangerous combination.
“Well,” said the leader. “I don’t see anyone else. Maybe you two are right. Let’s make a move on it.”
“Finally.”
“Get ‘er going, that’s what.”
Georgia breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan was going to be difficult and dangerous, but at least she could finally get on with it.
All she needed was for Chad to spot them, which shouldn’t be hard for him to do, considering how the men had stomped through the forest so loudly. Even if their leader was intelligent, they weren’t the subtle types.
Georgia had been watching the men, but now she checked Chad again in her scope.
To her horror, Chad had turned around. He was facing the wrong way. She kept watching him for a few impossibly long seconds, hoping he’d turn around. But he didn’t.
Shit.
If Chad didn’t see them coming, and everyone else was inside, it would be a blood bath. The men could simply enter the house, and pepper everyone with bullets before they’d even reached their guns. And rifles certainly weren’t the best weapons for a situation like that. Even worse, the men might be able to shoot through the exterior walls before entering.
Georgia didn’t know what to do. And that was an understatement.
5
John had been holed up in his Center City apartment for the last two weeks. Currently, he was crouched in a corner, back up against the wall, arms around his knees.
The apartment had been luxurious and inviting when the electricity was running. Now, it felt like a prison cell designed by the demented.
His thoughts were drifting. He was somewhere between being awake and being asleep.
He thought of his family. He wondered what’d happened to his brother, Max.
John and Max hadn’t been close for the last decade. They’d simply drifted apart. Their family hadn’t really been a “talking” family, so John figured that he and Max simply had trouble opening up and communicating with each other.