The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (34 page)

“No reason,” Cory lies smoothly. “Don’t you
recall anything?”

“I was taken captive and then hit over the
head by one of them. It’s kind of hard to remember things when you
aren’t conscious.”

“What about the one that took you? Did he say
anything that would tell you more about him? Did he have an
accent?” he asks. He tries to focus on getting information from her
and not allowing his mind to rest on the vision of her being
clubbed over the head and man-handled.

“He didn’t really have an accent. He was just
super pissed off because he accused me of shooting some of his
friends.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, I did, and I don’t care what you think
of me,” she says.

Cory chuckles softly and reminds her, “Hey,
no judgement here. I’m not exactly in a position to judge over
that.”

“He whispered what he was going to do
to
me and the rest of the women on the
farm
. Then he’d shout at Doc inside the house to come
out or he’d kill me. Then he’d go back to whispering and pawing at
me. He was creepy. I’m glad Simon shot him.”

Cory couldn’t agree more. He’s only sorry
that it wasn’t him doing the shooting instead of his friend.

“What about the others? What do you remember
about them?”

“They came in trucks, like Doc’s but a lot
newer and nicer. I don’t know where they got the gas for them, but
they must’ve got it somewhere.”

“Probably stolen. These types just take
whatever they want from people,” Cory explains softly. “Do you
remember what any of them were wearing?”

“Wearing? No, why?”

He doesn’t tell her that a football jersey or
shirt with any sort of local or out of state advertising could
alert him as to where they may have been from or from where they’d
started out.

“No reason. Were there any women with
them?”

“No, unless you count Vicky, the lady in town
who was held captive by one of their friends,” she says.

Cory is familiar with this woman. He already
knew her story and that the men rescued her from the asshole creep
in the woods. He knows she lived with the Reynolds family before
moving to town recently.

“They reminded me of you actually,”
Paige says, causing his head to whip
toward
her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks,
slightly affronted.

“They just acted like a bunch of lawless
Neanderthals.”

“Lawless, huh?”

Paige rolls away, exposing her back to him.
Cory can make out more of her figure in the dark beneath that light
blanket. She yawns.

“Right. Lawless, like they had no
respect for any laws. Like they were the types who didn’t respect
the law before everything fell apart. Like they weren’t going to
respect any new
laws
that a town
would put forth now. Just a band of scumbags.”

“So I’m a scumbag, lawless Neanderthal?”

Paige chuckles and says, “Hey, you said it,
not me.”

“I should come over there and show you what a
lawless thug I can be,” he warns with a grin.

“I’m sleeping with that knife you gave me, so
bring it on, caveman,” she warns on another yawn.

Cory laughs and lets it drop. It
doesn’t take long before she’s asleep, her breathing even and deep,
restful and peaceful. Cory, however, finds that sleep alludes him
even though he’s dead tired. He can’t seem to get her words out of
his mind. He feels like there is something in them that will
reveal
an important
detail about
the men who attacked the farm. Words that will help him find and
ultimately kill them for what they did. The clues are there; he
just has to piece it all together.

Chapter Fourteen

Sam

Paige hefts her duffle bag into the
back of the Suburban while she and Simon each carry a crate full of
food and supplies. Sam has never before stayed in the city on a
raid. They’ve always stayed
in
the cabins in the woods. Simon takes her load from
her.

“Got it, Sam,” he tells her.

“Thanks,” she says, allowing him to take her
crate and backpack. She shoots him an uneasy smile. Today’s the big
day, the day the four of them, along with Kelly and John, go to
Nashville. The nerves are kicking in. She always feels uneasy
leaving the farm, even if it’s just to go to the clinic. The farm
has become her safe haven, her sanctuary against the darkness out
there.

“No problem,” her best friend says. “Why
don’t you go in and see if Cory needs help in the armory?”

“Sure,” she agrees and jogs to the med shed.
It only takes a second to find Cory. He’s with his brother. With
the two brothers in the small back room where the weapons are
located, it feels cramped and crowded. “Hi, guys. Need help?”

They both turn with a smile on their faces.
Kelly comes over to her and holds out a handgun.

“Here’s the .38 you like, Miss Sam,” he says
and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks, Kelly,” she returns. “Is Hannah ok?
She was pretty upset the other day about you going.”

Kelly’s dark eyes show his concern over
his wife. He swallows hard and says, “Yeah, she’ll be
fine
. Doc’s gonna keep her busy while
I’m gone. Hopefully, John and I will be back in just a few
hours.”

“Can I take anything else out?” she asks
after she’s holstered her revolver. She doesn’t like the kick of
the .45, so she’s always tried to stick with the smaller caliber
.38.

Cory steps toward her, handing over a heavy
rifle.

“Sure, kid,” he says. “Why don’t you
take Simon’s
rifle
to him? The
Professor’s gonna need his sniper rifle to watch our asses at the
oil well company. I’ve gotta get the beanpole’s rifle.”

Paige steps into the armory a second later,
which leads Sam to believe that Cory had known she was there. Sam
makes a hasty exit before they start at each other. She’s pretty
sure Kelly will call a halt to it, though since it’s a mission day
and everyone should be moving in sync and keeping their heads in
the game as Derek always puts it.

When she gets back to the SUV, John is there
with Simon, Grandpa and Reagan. Simon immediately takes the heavy
rifle from her and nods.

“Remember, if the hospital is occupied, let
it go,” Doc tells them. “We don’t want either of you to come to
harm searching for anything. We’re making strides everyday with
compounding our own medicines.”

“Right, we’re doing ok on our own
without any extra supplies. We’ll keep compounding your
hippy
herbs. If that fails, we’ll grow
pot and give that out,” Reagan quips.

Sam smiles but can tell that her mentor
is genuinely afraid
for
them.
Reagan has been out there, too. She knows the dangers. And she’s
probably worried about John most of all.

“Now, now, young lady,” Grandpa warns.

Reagan adds, “Just be careful.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Simon answers politely.

“Don’t take unnecessary risks, Simon,” John
says. “Especially not with Sam being with you instead of Cory.”

“Yes, sir,” Simon answers without pause.

A moment later, the others come out of
the shed, each carrying rifles,
shotguns
and handguns. They are taking enough
firepower with them to stay safe for a month if need be. Hannah and
Sue come onto the back porch with their children. Everyone wants to
send them off with well wishes. Derek has his head under the hood
of the SUV doing last minute checks.

The sun is just rising when they pull
away from the farm using the oil well road that will bring them out
to the Johnson’s path to the main road. Nashville isn’t far away,
but they will need to be extra cautious and go slow to ensure their
safety. John is driving with Kelly sitting shotgun. Cory and Simon
have the middle seats since they are both watching out their
windows with their weapons drawn. The late autumn air hits Sam in
the face as they pass through Pleasant View and out onto the
freeway, which they don’t
normally
take. Cory scouted it out the other day to make sure it
seemed safe.

“Are you scared?” Paige
asks beside
her.

Sam looks at her, takes in the soft
trembling of her long fingers and shakes her head to give the other
woman some encouragement. “Nah, we’ll be
okay
. Don’t worry. Don’t be scared. You’ll be with
Cory.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna help me feel better,”
she says quietly and smiles at Sam. “I still wish I could just go
with Simon.”

“Don’t worry about being with Cory.
He’s
a completely different person
when he’s out there.”

Paige doesn’t answer but frowns while
contemplating her comment.

“He’ll keep you safe. Just listen to him,”
Sam suggests.

“That’s easier said than done,” she says with
a smile.

The men are discussing the plans and
going over potential dangers. John says something that makes the
four of them laugh. It’s not a surprise. He always helps to lessen
the stress when they’re going
into
a trouble spot.

“If we can’t meet back up tonight, just take
it easy on him. He’ll be worried about Simon,” Sam says.

“And you,” Paige adds.

She smiles at her new friend.

“Cookies?” Kelly calls over his shoulder and
passes a brown paper bag from the front seat.

Cory immediately grabs a few out of the
bag, but Simon
passes
. He doesn’t
usually indulge in sweets. Sam doesn’t know how he could possibly
pass up Hannah’s baking. Darling Hannah always sends them out with
snacks, even when times have been hard and supplies limited. Sam’s
heart swells with love for her other adopted sister. She sends up a
quick prayer to Grams to keep Hannie safe while they are
gone.

Paige takes the bag, pulls one out and says,
“Mm, what are these?”

Paige hands it to her and she opens the bag
to find the round, over-sized cookies. “Yum, these are John’s
favorites. Cinnamon and honey cookies. They’re more like a scone
than a cookie, but it’s the best we can do without sugar. Sure you
don’t want one, Simon?”

“No thanks, Sam,” he says, intently staring
out the window through his rifle scope.

“Now these are worth dyin’ for,” Cory says,
earning laughter from the men in the front.

Kelly punches his fist to John’s and extends
it as far back as he can to Cory, who also bumps it.

“My Hannah can cook,” Kelly says.

“Heck yeah she can,” Cory agrees.

“Reagan has talents, too,” John says.

Before he can add what he’s thinking, Cory
says, “What, like cursing and keeping your balls in her
pocket?”

“Yeah, but she let me take ‘em with me
today,” John says, always one to make fun of himself.

“Hey now,” Simon warns. “We’ve got women in
the car with us today, guys. Let’s keep it clean.”

The other three laugh at his distress. Simon
is always the perfect gentleman. He rarely swears in front of the
women or probably at all, and he doesn’t approve of inappropriate
discussions in front of them, either.

“Us women-folk can handle more than you
think, bro,” Paige informs him with sass.

“That’s right,” Cory says and glares
over his shoulder at Paige. “Better be careful or
Paige’ll
go into one of her man-hating
rants. Then all our balls will be in trouble.”

“Gonna shrivel up like little raisins,” Kelly
says.

“Hey,” Simon warns again, this time
with more
ire
in his
voice.

After laughing again, they adhere to his
wishes. Sam just grins at the back of his baseball hat covered
head. She hates all the ball caps he wears. They cover his dark
auburn hair. She should’ve put her sketch pad in her seat.
Unfortunately, it’s in the trunk.

John takes an off ramp to
Route
41 instead of staying on the
freeway the whole way, which can be dangerous coming into a big
city. They will try to fly in under the radar to avoid being
noticed by anyone. She only hopes that it works.

“Are you comfortable with your rifle?” Sam
asks Paige about her AR-15, which Cory selected for her as being a
good, lightweight rifle. It is one of the rifles that belonged to
Grandpa, who had bought a few of them before the fall. He doesn’t
care for them as much as his historical military rifles, though.
But Cory didn’t want Paige carrying anything too heavy. Sam always
carries an M16 and her sidearm. Simon will have his sniper rifle
and a short barrel shotgun along with his sidearm.

“I think so. I know how to load it. That’s
the most important step, right?” she jokes.

“Yeah, that would be pretty important,” Sam
says with a smile.

John slows the SUV down to a crawl as they
get closer to the city. When they come to the street he’s looking
for, John hooks a left-hand turn and pulls in behind the oil
company building. Cory, John and Kelly jump out quickly and do a
fast scan of the area, clearing it before any of them go any
further. Simon stays in the vehicle with them keeping an eye out
for dangers and covering the guys.

“All clear,” Cory reports a moment later,
letting Simon know it’s safe to get out.

She and Paige climb out of the SUV and stay
close to Simon and Cory. Kelly and John come back with a report a
few minutes later.

“I think we’ve hit pay dirt,” John says.
“There are four trucks parked in front of this building. Only three
of them have any gas in them. We’ll be taking two.”