William H. Weber

SYSTEM FAILURE

Dedication

A special thanks goes out to my editor RJ, to the amazing beta team for all your valuable feedback and to the readers who make all of this possible.

Chapter 1

Day 6

It was still early morning when Nate and Dakota left Sanchez’s house. They stepped out into a gale of blowing snow. Ice pellets assaulted them, stinging their cheeks like tiny heat-seeking missiles. This was no time to go traveling. Mother Nature was making that perfectly clear. But with the exclusion zone from the Byron nuclear plant creeping ever closer, staying in Rockford wasn’t an option. A classic Catch-22—hunker down and let the approaching radiation slowly cook them from the inside or leave and risk being frozen solid by the elements. Fire or ice. For a range of reasons longer than the journey that lay ahead of them, Nate and Dakota had chosen ice.

After fighting their way to Sanchez’s garage out back, the two proceeded to saddle the horse, Wayne, and prepared to head out.

Back at the farm in Byron, Dakota had rather gleefully exposed the inadequacies of Nate’s winter gear. His cotton undergarments, heavy cotton sweater and thick parka had been conspiring against him, making him sweat during the long and arduous walk to the farm. She had suggested he layer his clothes properly, so his skin could breathe. To that end, Nate had found a light nylon windbreaker in Sanchez’s front closet, along with a pair of matching nylon leggings. The former he now wore under his parka, understanding that if push came to shove and they found themselves on foot once again, he could remove the large jacket and thus keep from overheating.

“It’s too bad we can’t use that,” Dakota said, pointing longingly at Sanchez’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

The visual of them trying to plow through the impossibly deep snow on a motorbike brought a smile to Nate’s lips. The shame in leaving it behind was just one of many. Then something on the bike caught Nate’s attention. He went over to get a better look and found a tanned leather rifle scabbard holster. Undoing the latches, he saw how he could attach it to the horse’s saddle. That way he didn’t need to keep the H&K G36 assault rifle slung over his back as they rode.

Nate touched the St. Christopher pendant around his neck and said a quiet thank you. At this stage, anything that could make their journey a little more comfortable and secure was more than welcome.

He turned to Dakota, who stood staring at him, strands of her dark hair poking out from beneath her red beanie. “All set?”

She glanced at the maelstrom just outside the open garage door. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

•••

Their first stop would be her uncle Roger’s place in town. If Rockford’s now deceased drug lord Five was to be believed, he had questioned the man at some point, determined to learn the location of his secret bunker, a place apparently filled with loads of high-powered, military-grade weapons. While by all accounts Roger was intelligent, resourceful and clearly prepared, no man could dodge a bullet. The real question was whether Five had been telling the truth and, if so, what he had done to Dakota’s uncle after Roger had refused to give them what they had wanted.

Roger lived on the eastern edge of Rockford in a place called Cherry Valley. Dakota couldn’t remember the exact address, but described a quaint white bungalow on Hogan Street.

While the punishing weather was making their lives miserable―that went for Wayne as well―on another level, Nate was thankful for the stinging snow and high winds. Now that Five and many of his cronies were gone, a fresh power struggle was set to begin in this relatively small Illinois city. For a time, it would surely add to the chaos of crime and unrest already affecting the area and no doubt the country, but that was the price he’d been willing to pay. The good news, if there was any, was that criminals didn’t like the cold. When the weather was nasty, they tended to stay home. That was fine with Nate. So long as the weather stayed crappy, he was hopeful they might make it out of town before the powder keg blew.

It was close to an hour later before they arrived at Roger’s unassuming home. The structure was precisely as Dakota had described it, white and rectangular, laid out lengthwise from the road to a yard in the back. A single large bay window consumed most of the wall facing the street.

The snow and the wind had both slackened. Now the air was completely still, as though they’d stepped from a hurricane into an enormous walk-in freezer. The crack from a rifle sounded in the distance. Less than a second later, a series of shots rang out as if in reply.

“Let it begin,” Nate mumbled as Wayne brought them up the driveway.

Dakota leaned forward. “Let what begin?”

“The battle for Rockford,” he replied matter-of-factly. “You don’t just kill the local leader of a criminal gang without expecting others might rise up to take his place. I’m sorry to say, but doing the right thing, saving you from that monster, meant exposing the city to more turmoil.”

“People will die,” Dakota said in a low voice. “I feel bad.”

“Don’t,” he admonished her, his tone unconsciously dipping to match hers. “Better now than later. Better them than you.”

“I’m sorry to say that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Don’t waste your time on guilt,” Nate said. “What I’m trying to say is that you know how to survive. Many of these people don’t. The sad truth is most of them will be lucky to last until spring.” Sure, uttering such a thing was sobering and rather macabre, but that didn’t make it morally wrong or, more importantly, inaccurate.

Nate coaxed the horse past the front door and around the back of the house. The snow was deeper here, making it a little more challenging to get through.

“What’re you doing?” Dakota asked. In the distance came the continued rattle of gunfire.

“Probably isn’t smart to advertise our presence.” He dismounted, plopping down into a mound of powder. He then tied Wayne to the pole of a nearby clothesline.

“The fighting,” she said, still sitting on the horse, her lips slightly parted, her breath a plume of white vapor. “Sounds like it’s getting closer.”

Nate nodded as he helped her down. “All the more reason to hurry.”

They stopped before a side entrance. This uncle of hers was supposedly some hardcore prepper guy, which made him ask, “The house, is it rigged at all?” He rubbed his gloved hands together, blowing warm air between his fingers.

Dakota’s brow furrowed. “Rigged?”

“You know, booby-trapped. I don’t wanna kick this door open and have a sledgehammer swing down into my soft spots.”

She grinned for less than a full second before the expression disappeared. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Her gaze was focused on a point behind him.

He spun and noticed the door behind a flimsy screen was slightly ajar. The faint imprint of a boot next to the handle was still visible. Nate’s pulse began to rise. It appeared one of Five’s henchmen had paid Roger a visit, or at least swung by with the intention of doing so. That certainly fit with what the crooked cop had told them in the last few minutes of his life. It didn’t bode well for Dakota’s uncle. Nate was beginning to worry who they might discover inside and what state they might find them in.

He drew his pistol and pushed his way inside, moving carefully through the clutter, checking his angles. To call this place a pigsty was an insult to pigs. Seeing it made the tiny hairs along the back of his neck stand on end. He stepped over a collection of empty cans. Most of the furniture in the living room had been torn up and flipped over.

“This uncle of yours,” he whispered. “Was he a real slob?”

Dakota’s hazel eyes were wide with shock and horror as they scanned the now foreign surroundings. Nate took that as a no. Which didn’t surprise him. Far from being the nutjobs they were made out to be in the media, the preppers he’d read about were thoughtful and incredibly well organized. What was the point in preparing for the worst if your survival gear was strewn haphazardly around the house?

They moved from the kitchen into the living room and that was when Nate froze. Amidst the clutter lay a chair covered in blood. Next to it were two dead bodies. In any other season the house would have been stinking to high hell. But judging by the icicles dangling from their noses and mouths, whoever was lying there was frozen stiff―no pun intended.

Dakota let out a little cry and ran over, looking to see if either of the men on the floor was Roger. Next to the dining room chair were four broken zip ties.

“Either one of them him?”

She rose to her feet, a look of distaste plastered all over her delicate features. Dakota shook her head. She’d seen dead bodies along the way, several in fact. But it seemed somehow these particular ones had struck close to home.

“What happened here?” she wondered, glancing down, searching for answers.

Without realizing it, Nate had made the seamless transition back into private detective mode. “My guess, Five sends a couple of goons to ambush your uncle. Get the location of his bunker and that cache of weapons. Somehow they manage to get the drop on him. Tie him to his chair. Judging by the blood on the chair, at least one of them was working him over while the other tore this place apart.” Nate knelt down next to one of the bodies and pulled back the dead man’s parka. A clean line bisected his throat. “Looks like at some point your uncle found a way out of his restraints and pulled a knife or a scalpel on them. Slashed this guy’s throat.” A quick search of the other revealed he’d been shot, possibly with his own gun since his holster was empty and no weapon was in sight. “Lucky for him, they underestimated their target.”

A trail of blood led from the scuffle and into a nearby bathroom. There, more blood was on the floor, along with a number of gauze pads. In the sink was a discarded thread and needle kit.

“Someone was wounded,” Nate surmised, reading the scene. “Could have been your uncle or one of Five’s men. Either way, they patched themselves up.” He tried to be careful, not wanting to get her hopes up. Chances were good Roger was lying face down somewhere else in the house.

Several minutes later, a quick search revealed the rest of the house was empty.

Relieved, Nate circled back and found Dakota in the study. The place had been torn apart, except for the bookshelf, which sat largely intact. Nate shook his head in disgust. “Maybe if these guys had actually stopped to read a book, they might be less inclined to act like savages.”

Dakota ran a finger along the cold, dusty spines, searching through the titles.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we don’t have room for more stuff.”

“Here it is,” she said. Nestled between a copy of The CIA World Factbook and a book on farming was something called Cracking Codes, Ciphers and Other Secret Communications. She pulled out the title and peeled back the cover.

“I didn’t know your uncle was into cryptography.”

Going back millennia, cryptography was the art of coding and decrypting secret messages. One of the more famous examples was the substitution cipher used by Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul. If you were to take two alphabets and lined them up so that A coincided with B and B with C, you could encrypt a letter that would read like gibberish to any enemy who intercepted it. Anyone who knew the ‘code’ could just as easily translate the message back into English―or in Julius’ case, Latin.

“Into it? Are you kidding? He was crazy about the stuff. Thought it was the only way to keep his communications from being spied on. But that isn’t why I pulled this book.” She fanned the pages until she found the spot she was looking for―a secret compartment. Inside was a single gold coin. She stuffed it into her pocket. Nate understood as well as anyone the importance of keeping portable wealth in times like these. If they were pure enough, coins could be melted down and recast into smaller denominations. Except a single gold coin wasn’t going to get them very far. He told her so.

“You never know when a little moula will come in handy. Besides, the money’s not what I’m after.” She pulled out a length of string from the hollowed-out book. Dangling at the end of it was a silver key, winking back at him in the dim light bleeding in from outside.

“What’s it open?”

“I’m not sure. I just remember him telling me if I ever ran into trouble to check his book on cryptography.” Her eyes were alight with hope. “There’s one other thing,” she said and ran past him.

Nate followed her into her uncle’s bedroom, which was mostly tidy. It seemed Five’s men never got the chance to tear it apart. Dakota dropped down next to the bed, searching beneath it.

“You don’t think he’s actually under the b―”

Dakota sprang to her feet, grasping loose scraps of duct tape. “He’s alive,” she bellowed with a howl of utter joy.

“Alive? How can you be so sure?”

“He kept a bug-out bag taped beneath his bed. And this room hasn’t been ransacked. I think after he killed those two men, he sewed himself up, grabbed his emergency bag and took off.”

“Impressive,” Nate said, leaning against the door frame. “You would have made a good detective.”

The moment was shattered by gunfire. This time, it sounded as though it was right outside.

Chapter 2

Nate rushed to the front window, hugging the wall and drawing back the white sheer curtains to peer outside. Two men stood in the middle of the street firing pistols at an unknown target. Dakota approached, planting her feet in plain view and angling to see what was going on.

“Hey, you trying to get yourself shot?” Nate asked, bewildered. Cats weren’t the only ones done in by unchecked curiosity.

The men outside whooped and hollered as they took turns firing.

“Sounds like they’re target shooting,” Dakota said, reluctantly moving out of sight.

She was right. Whoever these hooligans were shooting at wasn’t returning the favor. With purpose, Nate zipped his parka and headed outside.

“Where you going?” Dakota asked, alarmed.

His reply was terse. “Stay here.”

Nate pushed his way out the side door and into the cold, his pistol drawn. The men on the street were busy with whatever dangerous game they were playing and didn’t see him exit the house and move around back to where Wayne and his H&K G36 were waiting. Unholstering the weapon, Nate began heading back to confront the men when he saw Dakota charge out yelling at them.

Hurrying forward, he shouted for her to stop, but either she didn’t hear him or wasn’t listening. The two men turned at once, their ruddy faces twin masks of sick pleasure.

The man closest to them wore a puffy black winter coat. He raised a hand and pointed down the street. “There’s a rabid fox over there, so mind your own business if you know what’s good for you.” His words came out slurred, which was hardly a surprise given the sixteen-ounce can of Budweiser in his other hand.

“That’s not a fox, you idiot,” Dakota shouted. “It’s a wolf. Our wolf.” She raised her pistol, aiming it at them.

They laughed and went back to what they were doing.

Nate’s senses all perked up at once. Scanning down the road, he saw Shadow dart between snow drifts as the men rattled off fresh shots. The wolf appeared unharmed. Nate raised his rifle and fired two warning rounds in the air. The drunken men might not have taken Dakota seriously, but the crack of his G36 certainly got their attention.

“You like shooting at things that can’t fire back?” Nate shouted. “That’s our wolf you’re trying to kill. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll holster those pea-shooters and head home because the only ones in danger out here are you.”

Nate could see the rage building behind their glassy eyes. Could see these men wanted nothing more than to raise their pistols and gun both of them down. And yet the only thing stopping them was the high-powered rifle in Nate’s hand. He suspected that even sober, sound judgment wasn’t their strongest trait, which didn’t bode well for the present moment, nor, as a matter of fact, for the country’s rather uncertain future. But if Nate could make it to the end of the day without killing another human being, he would fall asleep a happy man.

Both groups stood less than twenty yards apart, holding weapons, glaring at one another. The man next to Puffy Jacket wore a grey hoodie, the edges of his face lost in shadow. “You don’t know who you’re messing with, old man. I should shoot you and make your daughter my new girlfriend. What do you think of that?”

These were two punky white guys who were desperately trying to be gangsters. It made them laughable, but their eagerness to prove themselves also made them incredibly dangerous. The guy in the hoodie bobbed his head and raised his free hand, shaking it at them. It looked to Nate like he was posturing in an effort to save face. But Nate would never know for sure because just then three shots rang out from Dakota’s pistol. Two of the three rounds found their mark and Hoodie collapsed into a cloud of powdery snow.

Puffy Jacket’s eyes flared to whites as he watched his friend die. He fumbled with his weapon to shoot back. This time it was Nate who put him down.

“Dammit!” Nate shouted, after the second man fell. He went over to them, eyeing both figures, now lying one on top of the other. He turned to her. “Why on earth did you pull the trigger? Couldn’t you see they were about to disengage?”

Dakota’s hands were shaking. “They were shooting at Shadow and when I saw his hand come up…” Her voice trailed off.

These weren’t good people. Nate knew that. Knew that in a society devoid of law and order, idiots like this would be free to mix two things that didn’t go well together: alcohol and firearms. It was a sure-fire way for innocent people to get hurt. Maybe it was his background in law enforcement that accentuated the sting. Regardless, every encounter, no matter how tense or charged with emotion, held the possibility of a peaceful resolution.

“He threatened to kill you and to take me,” Dakota said, still processing what had transpired.

Around the campfire on the way to Rockford, she had hesitated to act. Then later with Five Dakota had overcome that fear. And proud as he was, Nate was starting to wonder if she hadn’t overcome it a little too much. When to put someone down and when to let them walk away with a modicum of their pride intact was a difficult balance to learn. He glanced down and saw the turmoil on her face. Nate pulled her into a hug.

Maybe the girl was less to blame than he thought. The moment the lights had gone out, had the world not changed in ways both dramatic and frightening? The shift in American society had been sudden and in many ways violent, sure, but the optimist in him didn’t think it would last forever.

Still, the old rules of engagement had been drawn up for life in a civilized society, a world buttressed by the rule of law where folks went to work and mostly paid their taxes. But it was looking more and more as though the old familiar America was giving way to a new America, one where might made right and those with the most powerful weapons and greatest numbers dictated the terms. Had those thugs been wielding rifles rather than pistols, would they have hesitated to pull the trigger? Nate didn’t think so.

Maybe Dakota’s seemingly impulsive act wasn’t the problem at all. Maybe it was the solution. The new norm. The criminal court’s ability to deliver justice in any meaningful way had been shattered. And the consequences of that were becoming increasingly clear. It meant now that everyone with a firearm had suddenly become judge, jury and executioner. He’d been raised to believe that all lives were sacrosanct, worthy of preservation and salvation. Except the mechanism for punishing the guilty and enforcing the nation’s laws currently lay dormant. Would it ever wake? That was a question for which Nate still didn’t have an answer.

He led a rather somber Dakota back to Wayne and helped her climb onto the horse, feeling a little more certain he had as much to learn from this young girl as she did from him. He also knew they weren’t the only ones struggling to adjust. Out there across the state and maybe even the entire country were clusters of frightened people, fighting for survival. Fighting to make sense of a world with a new set of rules, both harsh and unforgiving.

Chapter 3

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Some seventy-five miles away, ‘harsh’ and ‘unforgiving’ were two words also on the mind of Holly Andrews as she waited in a never-ending line to use the women’s washroom. Her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, Holly was an attractive woman in her mid-thirties with dazzling coral-blue eyes and a pleasant voice. She scratched at the tiny scar on her forehead, a nearly imperceptible blemish which, for reasons unknown, always started to itch when she was annoyed. And annoyance was in no short supply at present. Especially after spending nearly a week trapped at the airport in a rapidly deteriorating situation. In that time, it had become clear that their only chance of survival rested with escaping this hellhole as soon as humanly possible.

Six days earlier, she and her twelve-year-old son, Dillon, had landed in the middle of the night only to find the rental car they had booked a week earlier had been given away to someone else. There would be a replacement in the morning, she’d been assured by the cold and rather uninterested woman behind the desk at the Budget Rent-a-Car kiosk. They would even offer her an upgrade from a compact to a midsize for her trouble. That might have helped in tackling the snow already on the ground. But the worsening weather had thwarted their attempts to find a room in any of the nearby hotels. She must have called a dozen places and gotten the same answer each and every time.

Taking one on the chin was Holly’s strong suit, and she didn’t mean that figuratively. Just ask her soon-to-be ex-husband, Travis. His slow descent into physical abuse had been one of the driving reasons she and Dillon had fled Seattle in the first place.

The other had been something completely different. She’d come to Illinois to find a man named Nate Bauer.

Snowed in, that first night they had opted to set themselves each a place on a row of bench seats inside the airport. The debacle with the car rental had already brought them out of airport security, barring them from returning to gates where spots to lie down were plentiful. She and Dillon had no sooner found a decent place to lay their heads than the lights had gone out, plunging the airport into darkness. At once, the emergency lights had come on, bathing the structure’s cavernous ticketing area with an eerie glow. But it had been the growing cacophony of nervous voices that had pulled Holly from her long and much-needed sleep.

Back in the present, still in line for the washroom, Holly shifted uncomfortably from one leg to another, recalling those early days with something approaching incredulity. How naïve she had been, watching the snow piling up against the large airport windows, wondering how long it would be before things once again returned to normal. That first night, no one had known what was going on. The lights were bound to flicker back on at any moment—eavesdrop on any of the hushed conversations going on around them and that was precisely the prediction you might have overheard.

By day two, when the power still hadn’t returned, the airport’s population had begun to thin out. Several Chicago residents who lived nearby had decided to cut their losses and return home while they still could. What Holly assumed would be a few inches of snowfall overnight had instead turned into several feet, surely a meteorological record, although hailing from Washington State, she had no way of knowing just how right she was. A quick trip back to the rental agencies on day two had made something else perfectly clear. Not only would she not get a car, all of the kiosks were now empty. In other words, she and Dillon found themselves completely and utterly stranded.

An older man with a salt and pepper beard had told her why. Credit and debit cards were no longer working. Whatever was going on, it was on a far bigger scale than she or anyone else had imagined.

It was then that the panic had threatened to seize complete and utter control of her. With her heartbeat hammering in her neck, all she could see was Dillon’s deep blue eyes staring up at her. In them had been a mix of vague concern and absolute trust. She was still a few inches taller than he was, although she suspected that wouldn’t be the case for much longer. And yet the Asperger’s he’d been born with lent his stare another quality, one of calmness and detachment. It was one of the side effects of his condition, nowadays called Autism Spectrum Disorder. People like Dillon didn’t interact with the world the same way the rest of us did. Some considered it strange and maybe even a curse. For Holly, in that very moment, she couldn’t have been more thankful. The serenity on her son’s face had helped to settle her in a way little else could have.

And yet her son’s own apparent calmness was aided by the small doses of Zoloft he’d been prescribed to regulate his moods and anxiety, a prescription which was set to soon run out.

If there was a saving grace in all this, it lay in Holly’s conviction that the lights couldn’t stay off forever. Sooner or later the government would get its act together and end this nightmare. Her belief was not a terribly unreasonable one. Over the past few decades, America had faced its fair share of trials and tribulations. The bigger the blow, the more folks had come together to set things right. Inefficient as they were, many of those efforts were organized and spearheaded by governments both local and federal.

One thing her father had always tried to instill in her was self-sufficiency. It was a muscle she’d strived to exercise throughout most of her life. After too many lousy and costly experiences at the salon, she had sworn off hairdressers. She’d also decided to take a weekend car mechanic’s course after being overcharged at her local garage. Next on her list was learning to hunt so she could put food on the table. She had already taken the shooting courses.

Somewhere along the line, our society had become inundated with middlemen. While we had benefited from the convenience, we had also lost touch with something important, perhaps even something sacred: the ability to clothe, feed and shelter ourselves under any circumstances. And although Holly had the heart and determination, by the third day of being stranded at the Chicago O’Hare airport, she was beginning to see her reeducation was far from complete.

One of the most noticeable changes was with the TSA agents. Those who remained had gone from a security arm to something closer to law enforcement. They travelled along the wide corridors in groups of threes and fours, detaining anyone who broke the law. Their new role meant the barrier between the secured and unsecured areas of the airport had disappeared. Thousands of people still remained in one of the country’s largest international travel hubs and now they could largely go wherever they wanted to. Quasi-neighborhoods began to form at each of the many gates as folks similarly trapped tried to stake out a place to sleep and protect their possessions.

The airport itself was divided into five terminals. Within each of those was anywhere from two to four concourses. For the last six days, the crowded confines of Gate 25, Concourse C had been home. But the truth was, nowhere was safe.

Holly had overheard stories of theft as early as day one. Lone travelers were the most vulnerable, especially when nature called. They could take their luggage with them to the bathroom and risk returning to find their ‘home’ occupied by someone else, or they could leave it behind and hope their possessions were still there when they got back. In a strange twist of irony, the ever-increasing baggage fees airliners were charging passengers these days meant many had arrived with two carry-ons, so during those first few days many folks had had toiletries. But it was food and water that soon became a problem. Shortly after the power had gone out, the shops inside the airport had closed and locked their doors. On day two, angry and rather hungry members of a high-school football team had smashed one of the windows. The looting of the store had been one of the reasons the TSA had been deputized to do what they could to maintain some semblance of law and order. With the snow continuing to pile up outside, it had also become clear by days two and three that escape was not an option.

The first rape had occurred on day four. A female backpacker in her early twenties had been pulled into a restricted area by two men and violated. They would have killed her too had a woman not heard her screams. One of the rapists had been caught and beaten to death, his body left on the cold floor near Gate C-16 for hours. But his accomplice had gotten away. And since then everyone in Terminal One had been on edge. It was said that airports were microcosms of a small city. Here the truth of that statement was playing out before Holly’s eyes.

Day four had marked another key turning point in two other important respects. The first was that the emergency lights finally gave out. The consequence was that once the sun set―some time around four pm―the airport was largely plunged into darkness. Sure, the snow outside helped reflect some ambient light to the folks inside, but still, the corridors were webbed with pockets of deep, impenetrable shadow. What frightened Holly most wasn’t the dark itself, but what might be lurking inside of it. The lack of any available weapons only made a bad situation worse. Airports were gun-free zones and before the power had died that might have been considered a good thing. But not now. Not when you had to go pee at three in the morning.

Holly’s answer had been to arm herself with a can of hairspray in one hand and her house keys in the other. She would slide the largest key between her middle fingers with the sharp end facing out and the base pressed tightly against the palm of her hand. It might not be as effective as a pistol or a knife, but she figured that anyone stupid enough to attack her wouldn’t dare try it again.

The other turning point on that fourth day was that the toilets stopped flushing. Before long, a nose-curling septic odor hovered thirty yards around each bathroom. Many men had taken to going outside in the snow, but not everyone had that luxury.

On day five Holly met a shuttle driver named Doug who, like many other employees, had stayed too long and been cut off from leaving. Doug had also grown up in Washington State, a fact that had helped them bond. It also didn’t hurt that he brought her and Dillon bits of food whenever he could. On day four it turned out to be two chocolate muffins.

“It’s all I could get,” he told her apologetically, as he settled down in the corner of Gate C-25 next to them.

Holly shook her head and took a large bite before she could fully thank him. It was all she could do to squelch the grumbling in her belly. Next to her, Dillon picked at the chocolate chips.

“Go on, honey,” she encouraged him. “You’ll like it.”

Dillon regarded her with uncertainty. He was hungry, she could tell, and yet that still couldn’t overcome his strange suspicion of dark spots on his food.

“Quite a setup you’ve got here,” Doug said, looking around. Gate C-25 housed fifty people, which was fairly empty by current standards.

She hadn’t known Doug long, but it was clear by the funny look on his face that he was hiding something. Several things in fact.

Holly took a break from the muffin for a second. “What is it?”

The puffy features on Doug’s ruddy face tensed. “My friends in the TSA tell me there were nearly fifteen deaths yesterday. And only two of those appear to have been from natural causes.”

“That’s a lot more than yesterday,” Holly said, feeling a hot flush of concern rise into her cheeks.

“Sixty-six point six six six six percent more,” Dillon clarified, his sky-blue eyes suddenly alight.

“It’s already dangerous enough as it is without folks killing one another,” she said, unable to fathom how little it took for people to revert to being animals.

“Right now, it’s mostly about food,” he explained. “The staff has been rationing out what’s already at the airport. But someone’s always going to want more.”

“Sure, although I can see that’s not why you’re here, is it?”

Doug’s dark brown eyes met hers. He leaned in and whispered: “The food’s nearly all gone. I mean, we’ve cleaned out every restaurant and snack shop in the place. Hell, we’ve even cracked open any vending machines that haven’t already been vandalized. In two days we’ll have nothing left.”

A silence descended between them. With the heat off, the airport was chilled, no doubt, but suddenly Holly could feel threads of ice creeping into her bones.

“A buddy who does runway maintenance for the airport thinks he can get access to a snowcat.”

Her head did a little dance. “Snowcat?”

“Yeah, they’re used to clear the runways. His plan is to drive it into the city center.”

“But aren’t the roads blocked?”

“Cats are tracked vehicles. If anything can push through it’s one of those babies. Now, there’s only four spots. He and I and maybe you two. I’m gonna see what I can do, no promises.”

Holly clenched her hands as if in prayer. “Oh, Doug, I can’t thank you enough.”

He suddenly became serious. “Don’t thank me just yet.”

That had been two days ago. True to Doug’s prediction, on day five, the food rations the remaining airport staff were handing out had been cut in half. And this morning, they hadn’t come by at all. Shortly after first light, Holly had seen the agitation building in those around her at Gate C-25 and all along the concourse. Hunger had a funny way of doing that to people. Even the gentlest of dispositions could be transformed by the gnawing pain of an empty belly. What made things worse was that there were no more stores to loot, no secret stockpile to swarm.

Here she was, six days and counting since the lights had gone out, waiting in line to use a cesspool of a washroom. Holly shifted from one leg to another, trying to ignore the older woman in front of her, intent on further polluting the space about them with a never-ending litany of complaints. She was telling anyone who would listen that her husband was a high-powered lawyer and how he was going to sue the pants off the airport and every airline within it. Holly couldn’t help but roll her eyes and do what she could to tune the woman out. The way Holly saw it, this woman should just be thankful she was still alive, a state of being she had largely taken for granted.

The shriek that came at them from down the corridor immediately snapped everyone’s attention in that direction. Then other voices joined in as two figures emerged from Gate C-25 scuffling. One was an older man in a blue tracksuit holding something in his hand and the other was smaller, younger. A boy. The man hit the boy, throwing him to the ground. That was when Holly saw who it was.

“Dillon!” she cried, breaking from the line and running toward them. Weak with hunger, her muscles were fueled by anger and adrenaline. She fumbled the keys from her pocket and stuck the largest through her two middle fingers. The man in the blue tracksuit was hovering over Dillon, his right leg pulling back to kick her son, who lay on the ground. Possessed with the rage of a mama bear, Holly lunged at the man from the side, striking him in the face with the serrated key. He recoiled, a puncture wound in his cheek which quickly began oozing blood. But rather than stop, Holly kept swinging, shouting at him to leave her son alone. The man tried to block her incoming blows, but not before his face looked like it had been dragged down the side of a cheese grater. He wound up and kicked at her, striking Holly in the stomach. She felt the wind snap out of her lungs. At last, others standing nearby finally intervened, pulling the two of them apart, the man still trying to get in a few final licks. His face bloodied, he broke free and swore at them before running away.

Holly went at once to Dillon, who was only now starting to stir. His cheek was red from where the man had hit him. She searched him for any other visible wounds. “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head, even though his cheek was already starting to swell. “I want my muffin back.”

Dillon had saved some of what Doug had brought them two days before. When he was alone, some sick predator had tried to steal his food. She hugged him, relieved it hadn’t been worse. People were being killed every day for access to food and water. Others were doing what they could to bribe or threaten the airport officials in charge of doling it out. That only meant the little there was had often been diverted to those with the best bribes. Thankfully a man like Doug had taken pity on them, a woman and her young son who had little to their names other than the suitcases they’d arrived with.

She brought Dillon back to their spot, more aware than ever that the clock was now ticking. Counting down the hours, maybe even the minutes before any semblance of civility at the Chicago O’Hare airport gave way to wholesale murder and mayhem.

Chapter 4

Back on the trail, Nate and Dakota soon found themselves in a whiteout. The blowing snow had reduced their visibility to but a few feet past Wayne’s bobbing head. The severe conditions not only slowed their pace, it was also making it difficult to navigate.

According to Dakota, her uncle Roger’s cabin was ten miles outside of Rockford nestled along the banks of South Kinnikinnick Creek. In the good old days of internal combustion engines, a trip like this would have taken no more than fifteen minutes. But much like the trek from Byron to Rockford, ten miles in wintery hell could take the better part of a day.

They would push on until three o’clock. If they hadn’t reached their destination by then, they would peel off from Highway 76 and make camp.

Seated behind him, Dakota had her arms wound tightly around his waist, her head pressed against his back to shield herself from the merciless gale. He was grateful for it in a way, since every little bit of contact helped keep in the warmth. A tiny outcropping of snow had collected along the horse’s crest and Nate began batting it away with one hand. He was sure there was something metaphorical in what he was doing. If you stopped long enough, you were likely to be buried alive. It gave a whole new meaning to ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss.’

Gradually, the blowing snow began to ease up, revealing more of the landscape they were passing through. Mostly it was made up of flat farmland dotted with small stands of trees. In the summer it was beautiful. Nate remembered as much the few times he’d driven through the area. But what had once been green, vibrant and filled with life had since been interred beneath a thick blanket of white death. The trees, rising from the frozen ground, looked more like skeletal fingers than anything living. That they were barren of leaves only helped to magnify the rather macabre impression.

It was approaching three in the afternoon when they turned onto a side road. The good news was that the number of abandoned vehicles trapped along Highway 76 was less than five. Dakota had reasoned it was probably due to the fact that 76 ran north-south, unlike Interstate 90 and Highway 14, which both ran east-west between Rockford and Chicago. Nate saw she had a point. Most of the folks trying to escape from Chicago would not be coming this way. Which meant they were currently travelling through a triangle of tranquility.

“This was a big reason why he chose this area,” Dakota had informed him, referring to Roger’s decision to buy land right outside the city. “It had to be close enough that he could hike here if need be and at the same time far enough away from the main urban arteries. At least, that was how he explained it to me.”

That did make sense, since the range of disasters Nate had spent his adult life preparing for demanded it. He’d read once that if you were going to invest in a country home―especially if you were at all into prepping―your best bet was to get something you could reach on foot in the advent of an emergency.

Already the light was beginning to fade. Now that the snow had eased, Nate was able to scan the horizon, searching for any sign of shelter. Three hundred meters to the southeast, he caught sight of a solitary structure. From here it looked like an old, rather derelict barn. So old, in fact, that wooden struts had been pressed up against the sagging walls on one side to keep it from collapsing. A heavy layer of snow was piled on the sloped roof. Nate motioned to the barn.

“It looks dangerous,” Dakota said, her nose running from the cold. She sniffed and wiped the excess off onto her glove. “But it sure beats making a new quinzhee.”

When Dakota had first reintroduced him to the Native-inspired snow hut, Nate had been incredibly impressed, but it wasn’t without its downsides. Among them was the time and energy it took to build. Not to mention the risk that the snow you spent hours piling up could fail to properly bind.

“Barn it is,” he said, steering Wayne across the open field and in that direction. There didn’t appear to be a farmhouse anywhere in the vicinity. That lowered the chances they’d be accosted by an irate farmer determined to chase them off.

As they drew closer, Nate’s confidence only began to grow. A realtor’s sign on the side of the structure indicated the land was for sale.

“Hopefully that means no one will bother us,” Dakota said. “Plus, Wayne won’t need to spend the night outside.”

But things weren’t nearly as rosy as they first anticipated. Upon reaching the barn, they realized it wasn’t a barn at all, but more of a glorified shed. Not only that, but the main door had been sealed shut by several feet of snow, requiring over thirty minutes of shoveling to get inside.

The sky had gone from light grey to charcoal by the time they were settled in.

“Give me the ax,” Dakota said, sizing up a large round log she’d found pressed against the wall.

Smaller pieces of wood were stacked nearby. “Why are you messing with that big old thing?” Nate asked her, confused. “There are smaller pieces right over there.”

“You’ll see,” she said, holding out a hand and waiting for Nate to fill it with the hatchet. The moment he did so, she got to work, splitting the top of the round log into several sections, careful to keep the bottom intact. A stone nearby probably used to hold the door open in summer became a handy hammer, helping to drive the hatchet’s blade deeper.

Nate looked on, still not grasping what the girl was up to. When she was done, Dakota found three feet of chicken wire and wrapped it around the split log. She then scooped up a number of tiny wood shavings and fed them into the opening at the top. From an inside jacket pocket, she then produced a handful of lint and continued the process.

“Where’d you get the lint?”

“From the clothes dryer at Sanchez’s place,” she told him. “The fuzz you get from dryer traps makes excellent fire starters.” When she was all done, Dakota used the flame from her lighter to ignite the lint. Smoke along with a deep red glow began to emanate from inside the split log, thin tendrils trickling out through the sides. Little by little, she continued to feed slivers of wood into the opening at the top.

Already Nate could feel the heat. He peeled off his gloves and held out his hands, relishing the tingle as the warmth danced over the lengths of his fingers.

“That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” he admitted, ashamed for having doubted her.

“Roger called it a Swedish fire log, but I’m sure it goes by many names. You can even set a pot on the top and use it to cook. This particular log should burn nicely for anywhere from three to five hours.”

Nate laced his warmed fingers behind his head and laughed.

She looked over at him. “The heck’s so funny?”

“I always thought I knew a thing or two about survival,” he started to explain. “Sure, I can shoot a gun and handle myself in a fight, but what good is all that if you’re out in the cold freezing to death? When we first set out, I could see you were a young little thing, figured you had a lot to learn and that if we were lucky I’d be able to show you a thing or two before we parted ways. What a joke that turned out to be.”

“I’ve learned more from you than you know,” she replied. Then before he could say another word, she clapped her hands together. “What do you say we start dinner?”

Nate nodded. He knew when to let something go. He also had an idea what she meant by having learned a lot from him. And he suspected it hadn’t only been about how to pull a trigger or when to take someone’s life. He had met a girl with a gaping hole in her heart, born from the belief that she wasn’t any good. That she wasn’t worth loving. Nate could see how after being shunned by her parents and shipped between an endless number of foster homes she might have drawn that conclusion.

But right from the get-go, he had seen value in her and hadn’t hesitated to let her know. Nate himself hadn’t come from a particularly soft background, but he’d learned long ago the power of a kind word well placed.

Dakota removed a small pot from her knapsack―yet another gift from Sanchez’s kitchen―as well as a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli.

Nate sat up straight, grinning. “Geez, I haven’t had those since I was a kid.”

She stirred it with a metal spoon. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the B-man. When you’re my age and living on your own, you don’t exactly eat kale.”

Nate made a mock barfing sound. “Lettuce is fine, but I don’t do rabbit food.”

“Amen,” Dakota replied, scooping him out a portion into a metal cup and handing him a fork to go along with it. “I know you’re anxious to get to Chicago,” she began. “To save your wife and the rest of your family. I just want you to know I appreciate you going out of your way like this.”

Nate shook his head. “It’s not really much of a detour. Besides, it wouldn’t have been right to just walk away.”

“Never stopped my parents,” came the rather sharp reply.

Nate knew better than to step into that particular minefield. “Besides, I’m not convinced they’re there yet. The old man we found at the shelter claimed they’d left for Chicago and maybe they’ve arrived, but it’s just as likely they got held up somewhere along the way.”

Dakota finished eating and set her cup down. “I still don’t understand why you left in the first place.”

“Where? Byron?”

“No, Chicago. You said you were a cop there and you left. What did you see there that made you wanna leave?”

Nate scoffed. “How long do you have?”

She glanced around. “I’m a captive audience.”

“As my mother always said, ‘Be careful what you ask for.’ To be honest, looking back, I can see now my life’s been guided by a series of terrible events. My sister Marie’s disappearance”—and likely her death, he thought, but didn’t bother saying—“was probably the first. And I suppose the cyber-attack on the country’s power grid and the meltdowns of local nuclear power plants are only the latest in a long chain of bad mojo. But they aren’t the only ones. You might say those are the bookends, sandwiching other things that helped to make me into the person seated before you.

“After I got my degree in computer sciences and cyber-security, I realized I wasn’t built to spend my life strapped to a desk. It became part of the reason why I joined the Chicago PD. But the longer I’ve stared into life’s rearview mirror, the more I’ve begun to realize the real reason I signed up. That part of me that hoped Marie was alive never wanted to give up looking for her. Being a cop would provide me with the investigative tools and opportunity to do just that. But tempering my optimism, there was also a more realistic side, one that knew my sister was probably long dead and wanted to do everything in my power to prevent anything like this from happening to someone else’s sister, someone else’s mother, someone else’s daughter. I was still a beat cop, don’t forget, not a detective. And it meant that by day I’d make my rounds through some of Chicago’s nastier neighborhoods. Then afterward, I would scan through cold cases, missing persons and a half-dozen other resources.”

“Looking for Marie?” Dakota asked, the soft light of the fire twinkling in her eyes.

Nate tilted his head to one side in an expression of uncertainty. “Back then, I’m not sure I fully understood what I was looking for. It wasn’t like I was expecting for her picture to pop up. After it happened, the police had done everything they could. It had even been on the national news. And yet, soon enough, Marie had become a statistic, one of thousands every year who simply slipped through the cracks. My biggest fear was that she’d been kidnapped and forced into some kind of child prostitution ring.”

The suggestion made Dakota’s face squish up.

“It was a terrible thing to contemplate, I know, but that’s where I was back then. Once her case had gone cold, I started using my tech background to scour the dark web.”

“Dark web?”

“Let’s just say it’s the nastiest neighborhood you’ve ever heard of, except it only exists online. That’s where people go to buy things so illegal they can’t be mentioned in polite society. It wasn’t long before I found a site auctioning off young girls. People would sign in and bid on kids as young as eleven and as old as sixteen. There was this one particular handle I saw every night. Untouchable_JJE. Like clockwork, Untouchable would come on at ten P.M., throw out a series of high bids and then sign off. Boom, boom, boom. Real fast, like they knew what they were after and didn’t want to waste any time getting it. Once in the chat room between auctions, they described their preference for fourteen-year-olds with long, straight, dark hair and pale skin. Boasted that he’d been with many just like that. I pulled in a ton of favors getting access to the software that could put a name to Untouchable_JJE. Took nearly a week, but eventually a name popped up.”

Dakota was sitting forward, her elbows perched on the tops of her knees.

“Terrance J. Eldridge,” Nate said, as though that would mean something to her.

“He sounds old. Who was he?”

Nate crossed his arms. “Only the District Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, which I don’t need to tell you includes the city of Chicago.”

Dakota’s mouth hung open. “No way.”

Nate was nodding. “Way. Trust me, I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t feel my legs. And even more so when I figured out what JJE stood for. Judge, jury and executioner.”

“Did you tell your boss?”

“The chief of police?” Nate asked. “Sure, least I tried to. But he didn’t wanna hear anything about it. Turns out neither did anyone else.”

“How’s that possible?” Now Dakota’s shock was turning to anger.

Shaking his head, Nate said: “You take a shot at a man that powerful and you better make sure it takes him out. Otherwise they’ll drag you through so much mud you’ll start thinking you’re a worm.”

“So you’re saying they did nothing about it?”

“Well, not exactly nothing,” Nate said. “It was a lot easier to make my life hell—send me to patrol the worst areas, wear me down—than it was to challenge someone near the top. Turns out old Terrance was right. He was untouchable. After that whole mess I’d had more than enough. Decided maybe riding a desk wasn’t such a bad thing after all.”

A sound just outside the barn startled them. The H&K G36 assault rifle was leaning against the wall next to Nate. He grabbed it, aiming the barrel at the barn’s entrance. Dakota drew her pistol, holding it out with both hands.

A second later a head pushed its way into the narrow opening, widening it with a flick of its muscular neck before stepping inside. It stopped and stared back at them.

“Shadow!” Dakota shouted, elated and maybe even a little relieved.

“You nearly got your head blown off, buddy.”

The wolf shook a coating of snow from his fur and headed straight for Dakota, nuzzling her. She laughed, running her hands over his head and back. “Eww, you’re all wet.”

Nate smiled and was surprised when the wolf came over to him, the end of his black, glistening nose sampling the air between them.

Nate held out a hand. Shadow shuffled away, staring back from the corner of his eye. A moment later, the wolf returned and licked his fingers.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you, buddy?” Nate asked him. Then to Dakota: “Any more of those ravioli left?”

She produced a can and opened it. Nate held it in place while Shadow went to town. “Looks like we got ourselves another Chef Boyardee fan.”

Dakota giggled and for the briefest of moments, both of them forgot about the cold and the death and the suffering around them.

Chapter 5

Day 7

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

The following morning, Holly, Dillon and a handful of others made their way down the long, darkened corridor that connected Concourses B and C of Terminal One. To their right was the moving sidewalk, or at least one that had once been moving.

They made their way via the light from Sandra Pierson’s cellphone. She was a young sales executive from a siding company. She had just been hired as the regional sales manager. Still dressed in a grey skirt and white blouse, she might have looked like the typical corporate creature were it not for the dark stains on her shirt and the ratty state of her hair.

After a week fending for themselves, awaiting rescue from the outside world, each of them looked like they’d been through the wringer. All except for Johnny Tang, that was, who still looked fresh. He was an Asian-American banking executive on his way to Hong Kong for an important meeting. Over six feet tall with a muscular build and a set of impossibly white teeth, Johnny still wore a Westmancott suit that looked about as pressed as the man’s slicked-back hair.

Others had joined them as well, including a family of four from California―the Johnsons―on their way to New York City.

The group’s mission this morning was to find something to eat. The empty, churning sensation in their bellies had become a constant reminder of their predicament.

Over the past few days, the issue of acquiring drinking water had been a rather easy one to solve. Step one: grab a cup from one of the gift shops. There were several to choose from, a task made easier by the fact that the glass sealing the shops off had been shattered long ago. In Holly’s case, she’d grabbed a pair of large travel mugs, the ones with closable lids. Step two: open any emergency exit―you didn’t need to worry about any blaring alarms going off, not anymore―and fill whatever you brought with you. It was cold in the airport, especially in this corridor. Still, it was warm enough that the ice would eventually melt. Holly had learned long ago to avoid putting the ice in your mouth to let it melt. While tempting, doing so actually drew energy from her body she was sorely lacking. The best bet was to let it melt on its own. Holly had quickly realized filling up a coffee thermos or two before bed was the most efficient way, since much of it would melt overnight.

She glanced over at Dillon in the dim light and noticed the bruise ringing his left eye. The sight of it broke her heart and had fueled her hunt for a more formidable weapon. O’Brien’s Restaurant and Bar kitchen had provided her with a big step up from the house keys she’d been using. She had grabbed two stainless-steel chef’s knives from the restaurant. But they hadn’t been on the cooking line. No, any weapons from there had likely been coveted long ago. These she’d found in the chef’s office hidden in a case under his desk. They’d both been signed by Gordon Ramsay and Holly was happy she could put them to good use.

An added bonus was the small fridge on the opposite wall, where she had discovered three chocolate éclairs. One she’d eaten on the spot, the second she’d given to Dillon and the third she was saving for Doug, a humble thank you she would gladly give the man if she ever saw him again.

Nearby, Dillon tripped over his feet and fell to the hard floor with a smack.

“Hold up,” she called to the others as she bent down and tried to help him up. He resisted her, wrenching his hand away.

The group stopped. Concourse B was barely visible at the end of the long corridor. “We really shouldn’t be hanging around in here,” Johnny called out, his voice laced with a tinge of fear. “It isn’t safe.”

“Nowhere is safe,” Holly barked at the self-centered banker before turning back to Dillon. Her son had been acting a little strange since yesterday and she suspected it wasn’t merely the stress of the situation. That would be enough to take a toll on any of them, Asperger’s or not. However, she was beginning to suspect the attack had rattled something loose inside the very private world in which he lived.

In an effort to conserve his medication, she’d cut his daily dose of Zoloft in half not long after the lights had gone out. She was by no means a fan of giving antidepressants to children. But the difference between Dillon on Zoloft and Dillon off Zoloft was undeniable. It offered him the ability to function and to have something akin to a normal life. Without it, her son sank into bouts of depression, became snappy and exhibited difficulty focusing on even the simplest of tasks.

Holly reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and removed the last tablet, snapped it in two and gave him half. He washed it down with a swig from the thermos.

“Are we ready to go?” Johnny whined, his Saint Laurent ostrich-skin shoes tapping against the chilled floor.

Sandra threw the banker a dirty look and bent down to help lift Dillon to his feet. “Feeling better?” she asked him.

Dillon craned his head to one side where it did a little dance. For him that was about as close to a nod as anyone could expect.

Once again, they were off, pushing through the darkened corridor on their way to Concourse B.

“So, how sure are you this guy wasn’t just giving you a line to get into your pants?” Johnny asked, likely projecting his own lack of morality on those around him.

“I’m sure,” Holly replied evenly. “Doug isn’t like that. He’s had plenty of opportunity to try something if that was his goal.”

In the bag of muffins he had brought them, Doug had slipped her a paper with a map of Terminal One. On it were a series of X’s wherever he thought they had a chance of finding food. The restaurants, cafés and snack shops had been emptied long ago. The locations Doug indicated on the map were small, out-of-the-way spots others might not think to look—broom closets, employee break rooms, areas largely off the beaten path. With food running so low, she had gathered a few of the folks she’d come to know and set off to check each spot one by one.

Johnny was a friend of Sandra’s and so had joined them by default. The family from California—Eric Johnson, his wife Ann and their sixteen-year-old daughter Riley—had been camped right next to Holly and Dillon, sharing some of the burden of going on water runs. They were sweet and friendly people and if there was a stash of food out there, she wanted them to share in the spoils.

Johnny’s snide remark about Doug was still not sitting well with Holly. Two days earlier, Doug had offered her the tantalizing prospect of escaping this growing hellhole only to leave her in the lurch. That wasn’t to say he had gone and left her behind, but in an airport filled with stranded travelers, what was to say he hadn’t simply found someone else to take her spot? Perhaps someone willing to give him what he really wanted. Holly squeezed her eyes shut against the darkness, angry she’d even let a thought like that in. But she was more upset she’d allowed Johnny to plant it in the first place. Surely she was entitled to a few moments of doubt after everything she’d been through.

Just then, her stomach seized into a sudden and painful knot of hunger. She considered the éclair in her pocket, the one she’d put aside for Doug, and fought the undeniable urge to break her commitment. Women were often much stronger than they were given credit for. Childbirth tended to make up the bulk of the argument, but Holly thought menstrual cramps made a far more compelling case. Labor usually lasted a matter of hours and then it was done. Period cramps, on the other hand, could last for days and they returned, sometimes with a vengeance, once every month up until menopause. So, like many other women, Holly was no stranger to pain. Knew the terrible feeling of white-hot needles stabbing at your insides. The cramps from hunger were agonizing, yes. But they were also nothing new.

Soon, the group emerged from the incredibly long corridor and into the brightness of Concourse B. They paused, surveying this new area stretching before them in both directions. A handful of people, weak and despondent, shuffled by. They didn’t seem to be going anywhere meaningful, but merely trying to keep themselves occupied until help arrived. Shapes under layers of clothing lined the far wall, making it hard to tell if these were bodies or people who were still sleeping. One person had pillaged broom handles and busted-up restaurant chairs and tied them together with shoelaces in order to create a frame he laid over his bed. He had then draped clothing over the frame, which offered him a modicum of privacy. All in all, Concourse B looked a lot like Concourse C, a pattern Holly was willing to guess repeated itself throughout the airport. Over the last week, it had gone from desperate people lying on benches and along stretches of carpeted floor to a full-blown homeless camp. If someone had told her she was in the slums of L.A., she might have believed them.

“What’s the map say?” Sandra asked.

Johnny was beside her, his head swiveling around nervously. Familiar as it looked, they were strangers to the people of Concourse B and that meant they could be in danger.

Holly opened the map. Doug had provided her with an actual printout of the airport often handed out at information booths. Leaning over her shoulder, Eric pointed to an X by Gate B-16. That was to the left, which also led to the last gate in Concourse B, Gate 22.

“22’s a dead end,” Eric said.

In the opposite direction lay Gates 1 to 8 as well as access to Terminals Two through Five.

“We’ve checked every point on Doug’s map and haven’t found a thing,” Ann said with noticeable despair.

Eric rubbed his wife’s back. “Have faith, honey. I just know whatever it was Doug marked by Gate 16 will have something for us.”

They turned left, Eric’s words about faith echoing through her head. The ghostly figures surrounding them stared back through listless, hollow eyes. Gradually over the last few days, anger and frustration had given way to sadness and now something new: resignation. The folks in Concourse B seemed to be giving up, convinced no one, neither God nor man, was coming to save them. Holly wondered if the same level of despondency was playing out in all the other concourses and terminals.

At some point, they passed a high-end clothing store. Inside, the shelves were completely bare. Five-hundred-dollar sweaters and dresses were now being used as blankets and bedding. The ski shop they saw next was a different story. Skis and snowboards were all that remained on the shelves. Everything else was gone, especially the snow gear, which was easily spotted on people around them.

“Here it is,” Riley called out, pointing. She was trying to be helpful.

“Keep your voice down.” Johnny scolded her. “You might as well make an announcement over the intercom.”

Riley’s face filled with sadness.

“There’s no need to be mean,” Ann shot back.

“I’m not gonna get killed because someone can’t keep their mouth shut,” Johnny snapped back. He leaned in. “What do you think’s gonna happen if these people find out there might be a stash of food nearby, huh?” His eyebrows rose, flashing the whites of his eyes.

“He’s got a point,” Holly admitted, reluctantly. “Maybe we should maintain some radio silence until we find what we’re looking for.” She glanced over at Dillon, who was pretending to adjust an imaginary mic and headset.

“It’s safer when you don’t talk,” he said. That also happened to be a philosophy he lived by.

At last they came to a pair of double doors. Overhead was a sign that read ‘Airport Employees Only.’ Holly was the first to push through. She had expected them to be locked, but they gave easily. They were back in darkness, so Sandra moved ahead with the flashlight from her phone. Riley and Eric followed suit. Suddenly the narrow corridor came into full view. It was empty save for a handful of open suitcases, their contents spilled out onto the floor. Had these bags been stolen and ransacked here in private? Holly couldn’t tell, but so far this wasn’t a good sign. They passed a door on their right which read ‘Lost and Found.’

Johnny tried the handle and found it locked. “Why am I not surprised?”

Twenty feet later was another door, this time on their left. It bore another ‘Employees Only’ warning. Holly tried the knob. It turned in her hand. Would they find a pantry or food storage area on the other side of this door? She gripped one of the chef’s knives and made her way inside. Sandra, Riley and Eric swiveled their flashlights around to reveal an employee changing room. A wooden bench sat before a row of fifteen lockers. Clothing and other personal items littered the ground. In one corner were two more suitcases, both of which had been pillaged. This was what purse snatchers did, Holly thought, remembering a show she’d seen not long ago. After the theft, they tended to return to a secluded spot to take what was valuable and dump the rest.

Holly’s heart sank when she saw that all but three of the lockers had already been opened.

Eric went over and pulled at the first lock.

“There any way to pry this?” Holly asked, trying not to get her hopes up.

Eric took a moment to inspect each of the three locks. “These aren’t top grade,” he said finally. “Fact, they’re pretty cheap-looking.” He glanced down at Johnny’s feet. “Give me your shoe,” he said.

Johnny’s face became a mask of disbelief. “Bro, are you insane? These are ostrich skin. Do you have any idea how much they cost?”

Shaking her head, Holly replied for Eric. “No, but I can tell you what they’re worth now. Zero.”

“I’ll give it right back,” Eric promised.

His eyes welling with tears, Johnny removed his dress shoe and held it between them. “Not a scratch,” he insisted.

“Scout’s honor,” Eric replied, raising three fingers before he took the shoe.

A loud boom filled the small room as the heel of Johnny’s overpriced shoe impacted the body of the lock. Johnny squealed in agony, but his emotional turmoil quickly morphed into elation when the lock fell away. “Wow, I didn’t think that had a hope in hell of working.”

Eric smirked. “Let’s just say that as a teenager, I wasn’t the most law-abiding citizen around.”

Ann’s eyes went wide, flicking between her husband and their daughter. “That’s news to me.”

Holly and the others laughed. Dillon remained straight-faced, not entirely certain what was going on.

A sour dose of reality crept back in when they actually searched the locker and found a yellow airport jumpsuit and earmuffs.

After studying the jumpsuit for a brief moment, Holly tossed it back. A quick glance on the floor around them as well as the hallway right outside was proof enough that clothes were not in short supply. It was food they were after. Anything edible, no matter if it was non-organic, loaded with sugar, MSG, saturated fats, dripping with gluten. Heck, Holly was sure anyone in their group would settle for a head of cabbage right about now.

Eric repeated his little magic trick on the other two locks, both with the same result.

After a careful search, Holly held up the only item of interest.

“Looks like half a hoagie,” she said, gently spreading both halves of the sandwich, the odor of bread and meat tickling her nose. “We got pepperoni, veggies and some kind of vinaigrette. It’s probably been sitting here for a week, maybe more, but it smells okay to me.”

The others were gathered around her, eyeing the hoagie like a starving fox eyeing a hen.

On the third locker’s top shelf was a newspaper dated the day before the crash. On the wrinkled front page was a headline about rising tensions between the US and China. The following day would be the cyber-attack against the banks. Sometime in the middle of that night the power would be switched off, freezing any and maybe all future headlines.

Holly yanked out the front page and laid it on a nearby table. She then took the chef’s knife and divided the sandwich into equal parts. She handed them out one by one. Each of them, including Dillon, wolfed down their share. Licking the juice dripping from her fingers, Holly was certain this was the best hoagie she’d ever eaten.

After he was done, Dillon returned to that last locker and began poking around.

“There’s nothing else, honey,” Holly told him, saddened that he wanted more. But the truth was, they all wanted more.

He rose up on his tiptoes and then reached one hand toward the back of the locker. He came out with what looked like a large set of keys. She moved closer. “What’ve you got there?”

Dillon cupped the mass of keys in his hand, weighing them. “I don’t know.”

It was then that something occurred to her. She remembered that first door they’d passed on their way in. It had read ‘Lost and Found.’ Could one of the keys on this chain open that door? And if so, what were the chances they might find something useful inside?

Without saying another word, Holly removed her phone, turned on the flashlight and headed back into the darkened corridor.

“Hey,” Johnny said, his voice trailing after her. “Where you going?”

She reached the door and went through the ring systematically. Moments later, the others were lined up behind her, looking very much like members of Mission Control watching a rover touch down on an alien world. Eric was holding his breath. Dillon was the only one emotionally detached from the significance of the moment.

The fourteenth key slid inside the lock. Holly twisted her wrist and the locking mechanism gave way. The group let out a collective sigh. With both hands, Holly pushed open the door at precisely the same time they caught the muffled sound of raised voices emanating from Concourse B. They all paused, a tingle of alarm shivering up their spines.

“What’s going on out there?” Johnny whispered. His eyes were wide and the sudden dryness of his mouth made his tongue click.

“Why don’t you go find out?” Riley said, nudging him in that direction.

“Uh, no, thank you. Why don’t you go?”

Holly withdrew the key ring and slid it into her pocket. “Fine. Don’t head inside until I’m back.”

Ten yards later she reached the double doors and nudged the left one open a crack. From here she could see people scurrying about. Others were standing up in their makeshift beds. To a person, the fear on their faces was undeniable. They also happened to all be looking in the same direction, toward the connecting link between Terminal One and Terminal Two. Holly pushed herself out a little further and noticed a group of ten to fifteen TSA agents pressed against the glass partition. On the other side was a rabid mob, pounding against the glass with fists, improvised weapons and anything else they could get their hands on.

If Holly hadn’t known any better, she’d swear a deadly riot had broken out in Terminal Two and it was quickly heading this way.

Chapter 6

The sky was a crisp azure blue as Nate and Dakota came upon Uncle Roger’s log cabin. Nestled along a bend in the creek, now frozen over and buried by a meter of snow, the cabin was simple and rustic, likely a reflection of the man who’d built it. It featured a dormer-style roof with a generous porch out front and a stone chimney climbing the western wall. The glare from the sun made it impossible to see inside. The snow leading up to the cabin was slightly ruffled, as though someone had either come or gone several days ago. Otherwise, there was no sign of activity. Dakota glanced up at the chimney and, seeing it dormant, couldn’t hide the disappointment on her face.

“If he isn’t here, I don’t have a clue where he would be,” she said, bracing herself against the letdown that was sure to come.

Nate tugged on the horse’s reins, drawing Wayne to a stop, his thin, powerful legs swallowed by a meter of white powder. The animal made a sound and Nate patted his neck.

“Is this where he keeps the hardcore bunker Five mentioned?” he asked, dismounting and removing the G36 assault rifle. Nate stumbled, favoring the low-level throbbing in his knee that was never far away.

Dakota followed suit. “I can’t say for sure,” she admitted. “Uncle Roger never took me there. Never even told me where it was. He considered any mention of it a serious breach of security.”

“He sounds like a real hoot at a party,” Nate observed, leading Wayne to a nearby tree and tying him there. As they approached, weapons drawn and in the low ready position, Nate wasn’t sure what worried him more: finding out that Roger was gone, or finding he was home and no longer alive. He wasn’t entirely sure Dakota could handle seeing her uncle in such a state.

“Let me go in first,” she said, pushing past him.

He reached for her. “Hold up, missy. We have no idea who or what is in there.”

But the girl was no longer listening. She waded through fine, granular snow, reaching the front door a few seconds before Nate. Turning the knob, she pushed her way inside and let out a terrible gasp.

Nate leapt forward. The figure of a man in dark winter clothing lay sprawled face down mere feet from the entrance. Dakota stumbled to one side, pressing her back up against a nearby wall. A single gloved hand covered her mouth. Nate’s gaze flit between the girl and the man on the ground.

For the girl’s sake, please God, don’t let this be him.

Nate bent and turned the dead man over. The body was stiff, whether from the cold or from rigor mortis, Nate couldn’t tell. The hole through both sides of his jacket made clear he had been shot by a large-caliber bullet. A strange object hugging the far wall caught Nate’s attention. It looked like some sort of booby trap.

“Wait here,” he told her. “And don’t move.”

Nate crept forward. To his left was a kitchen and dining area. To his right was a couch and a well-worn leather recliner both facing the fireplace. He cut a wide path around the object he’d spotted earlier. Drawing up next to it, he saw that his initial suspicion had been correct. It looked as though Uncle Roger had left a little surprise for anyone dumb enough to come snooping around. Was the man on the floor one of Five’s goons, dispatched here days ago to find Dakota’s uncle? The scene they’d discovered at his home in Rockford had made clear he was in the middle of being tortured when he’d managed to break free and kill his tormentors. Afterward, this guy had apparently been dispatched to finish the job and ended up with a .30-06 through the chest and a mouthful of stained wood flooring.

“You see anything?” Dakota called out.

“Yeah, your uncle left a little surprise. I’m just glad that guy discovered it first.”

They spent the next several minutes searching the main floor for any other booby traps. The cabin looked messy. Drawers and cupboards had been left open. The sink was filled with used MRE packages and empty cans of food. Ice-cold bottles of water were stacked on the counter. It was hard to tell if Roger had stayed here a few days before moving on, or whether this had been done by someone else.

Nate was about to offer Dakota a few words of solace to mitigate the disappointment she was surely feeling when he caught the sound of someone upstairs.

Nate pressed an index finger to his lips. “You hear that?” he whispered, raising his weapon and turning to face the staircase.

The floor creaked like someone was walking around up there.

“Watch the fort down here while I go check it out,” he told her, moving slowly, deliberately toward the staircase.

“Let me come with you,” she whispered, her voice low, but straining to be heard.

He motioned with one hand to the front door and nodded, hoping she’d understand what he was asking her to do. Dakota nodded, stomping in that direction, opening and then closing the door loudly.

Meanwhile, Nate kept his G36 leveled as he reached and then began to climb the stairs. He took them slowly, one at a time, pivoting to keep his weapon trained on any threats from above. The idea was for whoever was in the cabin to think they’d left. It appeared to work because Nate heard more pronounced footsteps coming from the room at the end of the hall. The door was closed, a thin stream of sunlight visible from beneath the door sill, blinking as whoever was behind it walked back and forth.

What were they doing? Was it Roger or someone else?

Nate arrived and was reaching for the handle when the door swung open. Both men were startled, drawing in a gulp of stale, cool air.

The man before him wore heavy boots and a black and white camo-patterned one-piece snow suit. Buckled over that was a leather gun belt housing a Ruger pistol.

Nate kept the rifle trained on him. “That all you packing?”

The man’s brown eyes dropped to the weapon on his hip and he nodded. His hair was dark, almost jet black, his skin pale to the point of being translucent. This guy looked like he’d spent a long time indoors… or underground.

“Have you come to rob me?” Snowsuit asked. He had a calmness about him that Nate found disquieting.

“Who are you?”

Snowsuit snickered. “Who am I? You broke into my house. The real question is who the hell are you?” As he spoke, the knuckles of his right hand brushed against the grip of his pistol.

Nate kept the rifle trained on him. “Easy, buddy. Take the weapon out with two fingers and set it on the floor until we get this sorted out.”

The man did as he was told.

“Now that that’s out of the way, you gonna tell me your name?”

“My name’s Roger.”

Nate’s eyes grew wide and then narrowed a second later. “Have you noticed you got a dead guy in your house?”

Nate heard Dakota come back inside. He called down for her to come join them.

Snowsuit—Roger or whoever he was—remained perfectly calm. “Thanks for the newsflash, bud. I just got back myself. Was hunting deer and got back to find him dead as a doornail. Serves him right for breaking in while I was away.”

Dakota reached the top of the stairs and started down the hallway, her pace slowing as she drew nearer.

Nate shifted to one side. “This guy says he’s your uncle Roger.”

The expression on Dakota’s face ran through a kaleidoscope of emotions. “He’s lying. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

Both men locked eyes a nanosecond before the stranger swung his right hand in an arc, knocking the barrel of Nate’s rifle away. With Nate off balance, he thrust the heel of his boot into the soft part of Nate’s belly. Nate let out a deep moan as the wind was knocked from his lungs. He tried to bring the rifle back to bear, but not before Snowsuit grabbed hold of it too. Now they were staring eye to eye, each of them grasping the weapon, pushing and pulling. As they struggled over the gun, the rifle went off, firing repeatedly into the empty room beside them. Seconds later the G36 clicked empty. Ducking down, Dakota pulled her pistol, fighting for a clean shot.

This was a fight to the death and both men knew the score. Grunting and swearing, Snowsuit threw another kick, this time aimed at Nate’s left knee. Nate checked it and then let himself fall backwards, digging his boots into Snowsuit’s midsection as they both dropped. At the last moment, Nate pumped his legs, flipping Snowsuit over him. The man landed flat on his back with a loud boom.

Stunned from hitting the floor, Snowsuit still maintained his grip on the weapon. Both men scrambled to their feet. This time, Snowsuit was holding the now empty rifle. He pulled the trigger perhaps just to be sure the magazine was dry. That was when Nate punched him square in the face. Snowsuit reeled backwards, dropping the gun, but somehow managing to grab a fistful of Nate’s jacket as he stumbled over the top riser. For a brief moment, they teetered in that limbo that precedes all great falls. Snowsuit’s widening eyes signaled the shift from balance to instability as they both went tumbling down the narrow staircase, rolling over one another, holding on and punching the entire way down.

Nate heard the sound of crunching as they went, uncertain whether it was their bones or the wood giving way. At the bottom, he clambered to his feet right as Snowsuit threw a haymaker. A connection would surely have knocked Nate out and sealed his fate. Instead, his years of aikido kicked in. He caught Snowsuit’s punch, twisted his wrist and then struck the back of the man’s elbow, breaking his arm. Snowsuit howled in pain, rolling from Nate’s grip and back onto his feet. They were both breathing deeply now. Snowsuit’s left arm hung limp by his side.

“Stop it!” Dakota shouted, her pistol trained on his chest.

Snowsuit glanced at her and then over to the body on the floor.

“You’ve been waiting for us, haven’t you?” Nate said, out of breath, his arms still outstretched in a fighting stance.

“Only her,” Snowsuit said. A trail of blood ran down from a deep gash on his forehead.

“Where’s my uncle?” she demanded; her cheeks flushed with anger.

“That’s what I’d like to know. I got a score to settle with him. He killed two of my buddies in Rockford. Not to mention poor Tommy who walked into that booby trap. It didn’t start as anything personal. We just needed the girl. But now things are different.”

“That may be,” Nate said. “But there’s something you should know. Five and Jakes are dead.”

The light in Snowsuit’s brown eyes suddenly dimmed. “Bull.” His voice rose into a shout, but even Nate could tell he knew it was true.

What they hadn’t noticed was the table knife Snowsuit had secreted off the table next to him. He lunged. Nate’s eyes flashed; his body tensed. Snowsuit made it another step or two before Dakota shot him dead.

They stood in silence for a moment, their ears still ringing. Before them lay Snowsuit, blood pooling beneath his prone form. If it hadn’t been earlier, it was clear to Nate now these guys wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted—a path of death and destruction that led from Dakota to Roger.

“So what now?” she asked, putting away her Glock 19. “Will you at least help me clear these guys away before you go?”

“I promised I’d bring you to your uncle,” Nate said. “And I intend to keep my word.”

Dakota smiled and nodded quietly. He would get no argument from her.

Nate spent the next several minutes searching the dead for anything useful. First on the list was Snowsuit’s leather gunbelt. It fit his SIG and was a lot more comfortable than the concealed-carry holster he’d been using. Other useful items were .45 caliber rounds. Inside the top drawer of Roger’s bedroom dresser, Nate discovered a box of 30-06 to go along with the Remington 700 hunting rifle rigged in the booby trap.

Meanwhile, Dakota went through the cupboards, replenishing their food and water. They couldn’t afford to take everything since weight was an issue. Already Wayne—Godsend that he was—had begun showing signs of fatigue.

Nate was going back over Snowsuit when he found a set of keys in the man’s inside pocket.

“Wonder what these are for?” he asked, thinking out loud. He didn’t remember seeing a vehicle outside, although there was a shed next to the cabin.

Dakota glanced over. “Huh?”

“Oh, nothing,” Nate said before he realized there was something he wanted to show her. “You know how to use one of these?” He held up the Remington 700.

She let out a sardonic little laugh. “Of course, who doesn’t?”

“Dumb question, right?” he replied, shaking his head, the hint of a smirk on his lips. “I’m taking it. I hope your uncle Roger doesn’t mind.”

She seemed to consider this for a moment. “Well, he was pretty picky about who he let use his guns. How about I look after it?”

“Great idea,” Nate said. He set it back on the table and headed out to the shed. It was large enough to hold a car, but not a truck. Most of the snow in front of the blistered wooden door had already been cleared. Was this the vehicle Snowsuit and his friend had used to get here? He swung the door open and made an audible sound. The shed wasn’t hiding a truck, but a snowmobile. At least that explained their outfits. A large three-gallon gas can was seated at the back of the vehicle. With any luck, they might have just shaved a day or two off their journey.

Chapter 7

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

“We gotta get out of here,” Holly said, her breath coming in short, choppy gasps. She told them what she had seen. Once the mob broke through the reinforced glass barrier, it was only a question of time before they attacked the people of Concourse C. They were like rats in a cage.

“Why not hide in here and wait it out?” Johnny suggested, scanning the faces around him to see who else was in agreement.

“What do you think they’re so upset about?” Sandra wondered, ignoring Johnny’s proposal.

Holly shrugged. “Take your pick. Frustration. Desperation. But above all else, starvation.”

“It’s been a day and a half since the TSA people stopped handing out rations,” Ann said, bolstering Holly’s point.

Johnny wasn’t buying it. “That might be so, but you don’t see us rioting.”

“I’m going in there to grab anything useful,” Holly said, motioning toward the lost and found room. “And then Dillon and I are gonna hightail it back to Concourse C.” She held the key ring aloft. “If anyone wants to stay, be my guest.”

The others were still exchanging worried glances when Holly charged in. “Someone keep watch by the double doors,” she instructed, holding out one of her knives.

“I will,” Eric said, taking the weapon and heading that way.

The others piled into the lost and found, beginning their frantic search. The room itself was ten by twenty. Against the back wall was a row of wooden shelves, each stacked with suitcases, briefcases and knapsacks.

One by one they yanked them off the shelves, removing any small pesky locks and searching the bag’s contents for anything useful. It wasn’t long before Riley found three large Italian salamis. Other cases of note contained hot sauces called El Diablo and Blow Your Head Off. Sadly, there were no takers. Most of the bags contained mounds of useless personal items.

Johnny held up a moleskin coat he’d just found, examining it with glee.

Eric’s voice came from down the hall. “You guys better hurry up,” he warned. “I’m not sure how much longer those TSA folks can hold them back.”

Next to her, Dillon was rummaging through a case of his own at a glacial pace when he held up a black case. Holly swung her light around and came face to face with two names she never thought she’d be so happy to see.

Smith and Wesson.

“Good job, Dillon,” she said, taking it from him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Johnny said, hovering over them. “That kid’s a regular bloodhound.”

Holly undid the latches and opened the case. Inside was a black Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol. Next to it were two full magazines.

“Who the heck travels with a loaded gun?” Riley said, pausing for a moment in wonder.

“Technically, it isn’t loaded,” Holly replied, although she got the girl’s point.

“Last year the TSA confiscated four thousand, four hundred and thirty-two firearms,” Dillon informed them, still digging through the suitcase before him. “Eighty-seven percent of them were loaded.”

“I take it back,” Johnny said incredulously. “The kid’s not a bloodhound, he’s a walking computer. Who the hell needs the internet when you have a Dillon?”

Holly might have smiled at Johnny’s quip had she not been more focused on the firearm.

“Give me your knife,” Ann said. Holly obliged and Ann used it to divvy up the cured meats they’d found in the suitcase.

Johnny held out his hand and tweaked his fingers at Holly in a ‘come on’ gesture. “Give me the gun.”

Holly slapped his hand away. “Not on your life,” she growled. “Do you even know how to use one of these?”

“Sure I do,” he replied. “Last year we played paintball at a corporate event. My team came in first.”

Riley arched an eyebrow at the polished salesman looming before them.

“Okay, we were last, but there’s nothing to it. Just point and shoot, right?”

“Sorry, that’s not good enough,” Holly said. “Not by a long shot. Thank goodness you didn’t cite your kill rate in a videogame as proof of experience.”

Riley and Ann got a laugh at that.

Johnny’s slapped hand was still hovering between them. Holly could see it was starting to shake, ever so slightly. “I just think if anyone should be armed, it’s one of the men.”

Holly picked up the pistol, popping the magazine and pulling back the slide. “For as long as I can remember, I had a fear of guns. No, not a fear, a terror. And for no good reason either. Which is why a few years back I decided it was time to face that fear head on. So I joined a shooting club. Turns out I had a knack for it. Who’d have thought. I might not have been the club champion, but I was somewhere in the top ten. So no, just because you’re a man doesn’t make you a better shot. Thanks for playing though.”

Eric’s frightened voice called out to them just then. “Oh, my God, they’re breaking through.”

Holly put the magazines in her right coat pocket and the chunks of salami in her left. Next, she grabbed hold of Dillon’s hand and ran for the double doors, the others following close behind.

The group pushed out of the corridor and into a scene of pure chaos. Some of the residents of Concourse B had chosen to flee from the rioters by heading in the opposite direction. But that way led to the dead end by Gate B-22. Others were running down the causeway toward Concourse C. A third group had surged forward to help the TSA agents hold back the crushing wave of raging humanity. It was food they were after, pure and simple. The meager rations the airport officials had been doling out these last few days had only delayed the hunger and the rising sense of frustration. People were also angry at the federal government for not coming to their rescue and now, collectively, that rage had mixed with hunger and created an explosive brew.

Holly and the others had just cleared the employee area when five panes of protective glass shattered. Men, women and in some cases children came surging through, many of them bleeding. Some had handkerchiefs over their faces, as though they feared being fired upon with tear gas.

The handful of TSA agents, along with those who had moved forward to help them, were now crushed under a tsunami of humanity.

The rioters ran forward, wielding an exotic array of homemade weapons: clubs, crude blades, lengths of steel pipe. But most came on with only their fists. Like a living stream, one branch of the mob diverted into a nearby Burger King, unaware that it had already been picked clean of anything even remotely edible.

The causeway between Concourses B and C was ten meters ahead, directly in the path of the oncoming swarm.

“We’re not going to make it,” Johnny yelled as they ran, ever the optimist.

Holly grabbed hold of her son with one hand and aimed the pistol at the oncoming crowd with the other. Together they ran for the causeway. She didn’t even have time to tell the others to follow. She could only hope that they would.

She reached the intersection at the same time the rioters did. The causeway itself was thirty feet wide. She made a sharp right, firing two warning shots in the air.

For a brief moment, the mob recoiled before resuming its pursuit. Even from this distance, she had seen the bloodlust in their eyes. If the impulse for their actions had once made sense, all logic and rationality had since been lost as the group mind took over.

A second later, Johnny ran past them in a wild burst of panicked speed, his terrified eyes wide and bulging. That sight was followed by a fleeting sense of relief when Holly turned and saw the others: Sandra, Eric, Ann and Riley. They had decided to take their chances, which was a good thing, except that now Ann and Riley were starting to trail behind. If the crowd got their hands on them, the two women would surely be ripped apart.

Holly slowed, allowing Ann and Riley to draw even with her and Dillon. She swung the pistol around and emptied five shots into the oncoming wall of people, spacing the bullets out as evenly as she could.

Each one struck home, delivering not necessarily a mortal wound, but enough to make them drop. The pileup it created was immediate and precisely what she had hoped for. As it happened, all Holly could think about was the Tour de France bicycle race. Sometimes the smallest of mistakes could take out dozens of riders at once.

Those in the mob who hadn’t been shot or fallen to the ground slowed, for the first time uncertain what to do. The group mind’s spell had been broken, at least for a brief moment. Holly could only hope that tiny window would be enough.

Chapter 8

The snowmobile made life infinitely easier for Nate and Dakota and certainly also for Wayne. Neither of them were prepared to abandon the horse to a certain death and so they had opted to take him along. A length of paracord they’d scavenged from Roger’s cabin offered a workable, if far from perfect, solution. One end was tied to the back of the snowmobile while the other was tied to Wayne’s reins. Dakota’s job was to make sure the line always had some slack, a process made a little easier by paracord’s inherent elasticity.

But Wayne hadn’t been rendered entirely obsolete. The animal was lugging most of their gear: food, water, clothing and extra ammunition. Any weapons remained with them, since chasing a horse spooked by gunfire and explosions was the last place anyone wanted to find themselves in a fight.

Still, cutting through the loose powder on a mechanical stallion had presented its own unique challenges. Nate’s first hard-won lesson had been a simple one. Always stand when driving through deep snow, never sit. Kneeling also worked. Otherwise the snow kicking up the front and over the visor left you with little to no visibility. He also quickly appreciated Dakota’s insistence on taking the goggles and face masks left behind by the dead men.

They must have travelled two to three miles before stopping briefly at an empty farm to gather more hay for the horse. For the most part, the landscape was windswept and barren. It wasn’t until they started moving south along Highway 23 that things changed. The first sign was the increase in the number of buried wrecks. Much like they’d seen in Byron, people seemed to be fleeing north, but from where? Back home, folks had been rushing to escape the ever-widening reach of radiation from the nuclear plant. That meant many of them were heading east towards Chicago and some north, towards what, only God knew.

Soon, the hints of buried vehicles gave way to the sight of arms and legs poking out from wintery tombs. It was a miracle many of them had gotten this far. Had this been summer, Nate might have stopped to offer aid and maybe a scrap of food. But sustenance was far less of an issue when lack of shelter was certain to do you in within a matter of hours.

They were moving steadily past a Winnebago with all of its doors open when the engine on the snowmobile cut out. Dakota lurched forward as the machine came to a sudden halt.

“Hey, why we stopping?”

The gas gauge needle was at the halfway mark. Puzzled, Nate turned the key. In response, the engine turned over several times but never caught. He’d once heard from a friend who owned a snowmobile these things were prone to breaking down. It seemed his friend had been onto something.

“It’s dead, isn’t it?” Dakota asked, a nervous edge to her voice. She had no interest in getting back on that horse if it could be avoided.

“Shouldn’t be,” Nate replied. He tried the key again and this time the engine roared to life. Relieved, they continued on for another mile before the same thing happened. Now an engine light came on.

“There’s something wrong with this thing,” he told her, feeling at a complete loss. Nate could field-strip an AK in fifty seconds flat, but besides the obvious, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do with an engine.

“Keep trying it,” Dakota pleaded.

Nate lifted his goggles, setting them over his forehead. “There’s a guy I know from my days on the force in Chicago. Jason Diggs. He was a police mechanic who worked on our patrol cars. Guy was a genius. We lost touch about a couple months back, but last I heard, he was living in Marengo.”

“Is that close?” Dakota asked.

Nate pointed ahead of them. “No more than a couple miles up this road. Highway 23 runs right through the city.”

“City?”

“More of a small town, really. Truth is it’s just a touch bigger than Byron.”

“Maybe your friend can help us.” There was hope in her voice.

Nate gave the engine another go and it worked. On they went, and with every meter, the number of cars and bodies only multiplied. They were driving through a graveyard. Under any other circumstances he might have skirted around Marengo, a city only twenty miles from the outskirts of Chicago. But given the threat posed by their final destination, avoiding a pimple of a town like Marengo was a difficult argument to make. If anything, it might provide a hint of what the Windy City had in store for them.

•••

Nate and Dakota were relieved the snowmobile cooperated long enough to get them safely into town. A few twists and turns off the highway brought them to Jay’s house, a picturesque marine-blue home with an enclosed porch and a peaked roof. Nate killed the engine and tightened Wayne’s lead so the horse wouldn’t wander into the middle of the street. Better to be safe since you never knew what might come barreling along.

In the driveway sat two vehicles interred beneath several feet of snow. That was hardly a surprise. The state of Jay’s front walkway, however, struck Nate as odd. There were tracks in the snow, but none of it had been shoveled.

He stopped, considering how unlike Jay it was to let that happen, grid down or not.

“What’s wrong?” Dakota asked, rubbing her hands together. All she wanted was to get inside as quickly as possible and warm up. A curl of smoke from the fireplace only magnified her desire.

“Never mind,” he said, shaking his head and continuing toward the front entrance. Nate knocked and waited for someone to answer. For a moment, he swore he could hear the faint sound of voices bickering inside. Sounded like a man and a woman.

Could his friend have transformed his life and abandoned his old bachelor ways? Jay had sworn up and down he’d never get married. Although barely forty years old, he hated being told what to do, how to dress and what to say. Nate supposed anyone with that dim a view of relationships and marriage would be inclined to avoid the institution altogether.

Seconds later, a woman answered, peeling the door open no more than a crack. “What do you want?”

She sounds like a real charmer, Jay, he thought sardonically.

“I’m a friend of Jason’s,” he began.

“Who?”

“Jason Diggs,” Nate said, feeling like he’d entered an old black and white episode of The Twilight Zone. “He also goes by Jay.”

Nate caught a man’s voice booming in the background. “What do they want?”

“Jay don’t live here no more.”

Nate’s only view of the woman was through the narrow slit in the door, but it was enough to see she had dark rings around her eyes and the raspy voice that came from a lifetime of self-abuse.

“When did he move?” Nate asked, not entirely sure what to make of all this. Second to Jay’s love of cars was his love for renovating his house. He always had one project or another on the go. New wood floors, refurbished stairs, a modern bathroom, the list was never-ending. Jay liked to keep busy and over the years the long list of projects he’d ticked off his list gave testament to that.

“What are you, a cop?”

“Maybe,” Nate lied.

“He sold us the house about a month ago. Moved away, but don’t start asking me where, ’cause I got no idea.”

She had lots of class, Nate thought, grimacing. Too bad it was all low.

He raised himself up on his tippy toes and peeked past her. Behind the woman stood a skinny man with a scruffy chin. His eyes were wide and nervous. He looked like a bird. But that wasn’t the main thing that caught Nate’s attention. “He sell you all his furniture as well?”

The woman invited Nate to go procreate with himself―in words infinitely more colorful―and then slammed the door.

That tingly sensation he often felt when things didn’t seem right was spiking off the chart. He left the front stoop and cut across to the driveway. Wiping the snow from the first vehicle, Nate felt his heart sink.

It was Jay’s black Ford pickup truck. His pride and joy. There was no way in hell he would have sold that, not unless he was preparing to take a step off a bridge or walk into traffic.

The loud growl of an engine drew their attention to the closest intersection. There, a massive truck with a makeshift wedged plow barreled through the snow, kicking it into the air in two even streams.

In another direction came the distinct sound of gunfire. Moments later a group of nomads, bundled against the elements, swung around the corner, fighting against the deep snow. They wore heavy backpacks and dragged a sled behind them. Nate also noticed they were armed—at least one hunting rifle, slung over the shoulder of the lead individual. It was quickly becoming apparent the situation was growing far more dangerous by the second.

“Let’s go,” he said, heading back to the snowmobile.

“Wait, what about your friend?”

Nate didn’t want to answer that just yet. At least not with what his cop instincts were telling him.

“I mean, who’s gonna fix this thing?”

“I’m not sure,” Nate admitted. The three most dreaded words in the English language for any red-blooded American male.

“We’re not leaving town, are we?”

He could see Dakota was chilled to the bone. “Not before we talk to the chief of police.”

Chapter 9

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Holly and the others reached Concourse C and didn’t feel any safer than they had in the causeway. By now the mob was regrouping from Holly’s attempt to slow them and would be out for blood. Not only that, but unlike between Terminals One and Two, Concourses B and C had no such glass partition. It might not have done the TSA agents much good, but at least it had been something.

As they arrived, fear was already surging through those in Concourse C. The shouts and cries of the rioters followed by Holly’s gunshots in the causeway all signaled that something very bad was happening.

Racing past one gate after another, Holly didn’t dare look behind her. She needed to grab what remained of their possessions and flee. The main way out of Concourse C was via the causeway. The only other option was to brave the brutal weather outside. With snow piled impossibly high―she didn’t think it had stopped snowing for more than a few hours this entire week―their odds of survival would be slim. And yet Holly preferred a gradual and somewhat peaceful death from hypothermia than to die at the hands of a rabid crowd.

Imagine that.

It didn’t help she’d already wounded and perhaps even killed a few of them.

She reached Gate C-25 only to find her and Dillon’s suitcases were missing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. A letter from her now-deceased mother sat at the bottom of the front pocket. And the words written there had been a large part of the reason she’d come to Chicago in the first place.

“The heck’s going on over there?” asked a young man in a jogging suit, looking past her. He had dark, unwashed hair and narrow features.

“Did you see someone steal our suitcases?” she asked him.

“Yeah, some guy came by and took…” the man started to say before his eyes saucered with disbelief. Holly didn’t need to turn around in order to know the angry mob was spilling into Concourse C.

Screams of terror erupted all around them. When she did turn, it was just in time to see two figures leap onto Ann. Eric moved in to save her, swinging one of the celebrity chef knives. More rioters arrived, knocking Eric to the ground and pummeling him with improvised weapons. Everything was happening so fast. Holly was in the process of swinging her pistol toward the mob when she was grabbed by the arm. Holly spun, jamming the barrel of the pistol under her aggressor’s chin.

“Don’t shoot,” the man squealed.

She blinked, not fully comprehending what was going on. He was dressed in a navy-blue winter jumpsuit. Stenciled over his left breast pocket was the American Airlines logo.

“I’m a friend of Doug’s,” the man shouted over the chaos. “Come with me if you still wanna get out of here.”

She and Dillon followed the man through the mayhem swirling all around them. Nearby, she spotted a tall guy in a dark, moleskin coat facing off against two guys in jet-black hoodies. The two men each wielded part of a clothing display rack they’d fastened into makeshift weapons. The guy in the suit dropped to his knees, his arms raised protectively. Holly raised her pistol and shot both attackers. They collapsed and the man in the coat turned to face her, his jaw hanging open in shock and horror. It was Johnny.

She hesitated for what felt like a full minute, but was probably no more than half a second. “A girl just saved your life. I hope you were worth the bullets.” She put out a hand. “Now come on.”

The three of them followed the stranger down toward Gate 31. From there they ran out an emergency exit and into thigh-deep snow. The cold wind struck them at once with shocking force. While the airport had been chilly, it hadn’t been anything like this. Even during those brief forays filling up her sealable coffee mug with snow, things hadn’t felt so glacial. And also so final.

Ten yards away was the snowcat, an enclosed airport snowplow on tracks. The yellow emergency lights were flashing but there was no one inside.

“Where’s Doug?” Holly yelled, fighting to be heard over the wind.

“He didn’t make it,” the man explained sorrowfully. “He was killed in the riots two days ago.”

When they got to the cat, they climbed onto the thick rubber tracks, Holly bending onto one knee to help Dillon scramble up. Seconds later, all of them were inside, settling into one of four seats. Tucked in a narrow space behind them were their few meager possessions.

As the stranger who’d rescued them started the snowcat’s engine, Holly and Johnny stared back at Concourse C. What they saw there was like something out of the old fire-and-brimstone sermons Holly had listened to as a teenager. When the end of the world finally arrived, this was how her pastor had imagined it would look. Man indiscriminately killing his fellow man, his heart brimming with bloodlust and evil.

The snowcat was pulling away and Holly watched as dozens of innocent people streamed out of the airport exits, trading certain death inside for possible death out here. It was a similar calculation she had made. And yet, unlike the other poor souls trundling now through the deep snow, her scenario had involved an enclosed vehicle. With the shock of what they’d just been through still lingering about her, Holly turned to thank the man who had saved their lives.

“Name’s Manny,” he said, shaking each of their hands in turn. He looked young, no more than twenty-two, maybe twenty-three years old. His skin was the color of raw almonds, his cheeks badly pockmarked from what looked like the ravages of teenage acne. He threw the cat into gear and they shook as it lumbered forward. The vehicle was in its natural habitat and yet even that didn’t stop it from fighting for every meter of forward motion. Thankfully, Manny or someone else had thought enough to remove the shovel, which would only have prevented them from moving forward.

With the chaos at O’Hare slowly receding behind them, Holly turned to Johnny. She found the banker staring at his hands in disbelief, tears streaming down his soft, moisturized cheeks. Dillon regarded him with the cool, deliberate quality of an extraterrestrial observing a strange new planetary species.

“What exactly happened to Doug?” Holly finally asked, trying her best not to replay in her mind any of the disturbing scenes they’d all just witnessed.

“A couple days back, he and a group of twenty TSA people were sent to Terminal Four in order to quell what they thought was a simple disagreement.” Manny’s voice was on the high side. He was also a fast talker, rattling out one word after another like a machine gun. “But when they arrived, the team was jumped.”

“You weren’t with them?” she asked.

“Hell, no. Look what I’m wearing. I used to plow the runways. Keep them safe for planes to land. A few of us got coopted to help the TSA guys after the situation got serious, but not me. I opted to help retrieve and parcel out rations to the folks trapped in the airport. One of the reasons I’m still here.”

“A sense of duty,” Holly said, touched by Manny’s selflessness.

“Well, by the time the snow got too high, I figured I was stuck here. Was only when the situation got desperate that Doug and I hatched the plan to book outta here on one of the cats.”

Her mind returned to Doug. “And after the ambush? What happened then?”

A dark shadow filled Manny’s face. “They killed half of them outright. The rest were kept as hostages, bargaining chips the group hoped to use in order to demand greater rations. When their demands weren’t met, they started killing the agents one by one. Doug was in the last batch and it tortured me there was nothing we could do to save him. You see, they accused us of hoarding food for ourselves. Said we’d emptied every shop and restaurant in the airport and that we were storing it inside some airplane hangar. I’m not sure how, but they’d also managed to convince themselves that Terminals One, Two and Three were somehow getting preferential treatment. Of course, I won’t lie. There were a few cases of abuse and mismanagement here or there since the lights went out. How could there not be? I will say this, in the seven days I spent there I never saw any kind of systematic abuses.”

Dillon laid his head on Holly’s shoulder. “It wasn’t really about any abuse,” she said, running the tips of her fingers through his hair, a move he loved. More importantly, one that almost always soothed him. She hoped it might help him fall asleep and forget everything that had happened.

“Let’s be real,” Johnny cut in, not shy about being crass, “those animals were out for blood. Angry the powers that be weren’t giving them any answers. Under normal circumstances when the lights go out for a few hours most people set out some candles, get a romantic mood going. Know what I mean?” He winked at Holly as if to emphasize his point. “In our case, after a day or two went by and the novelty wore off folks started to wonder how long it would last. After a week, looks like worry turned into full-blown panic and then rage.”

Manny agreed, reaching down to flip on the windshield wipers. “That about sums it up.”

“We still don’t know how far the power outage extends, do we?” Holly wondered.

“I’ve heard rumors,” Manny admitted. “Some say the whole city’s gone dark. A few have even suggested it’s state-wide. I will say I sure don’t put a lot of stock into much of what I heard. I mean, without any working communication―at least that I know of―how could anyone say for sure how big this is?”

“The entire country’s offline,” Johnny exclaimed with unwavering confidence.

The cat lumbered through a hardened snow drift, tossing them around inside the tight cab. Holly reached out to stabilize herself. “Where’d you come up with that?”

“I just know,” Johnny said.

“You think you know,” Manny corrected him, smirking. “There’s a difference.”

Johnny rested his head against the frosted doorframe and closed his eyes. “You’ll see.”

Holly turned her attention back to Manny. “Do we know where we’re headed?”

“Into the city,” he replied without an ounce of concern.

His answer made the muscles in her chest tighten painfully. “You sure that’s such a good idea?”

He glanced in her direction, rocking back and forth in his seat as the cat struggled over a patch of tough terrain. “Where else would you suggest we go? Out into the countryside? Unless you know some place that still has power, we won’t last the night. Besides, my folks live in Pacific Heights and don’t have anyone to protect them.”

“You’re an only child?” she asked.

“Nah, got two siblings. My older brother’s in the Army, stationed in South Korea. My younger sister’s going to college down in California.”

“Lucky her. Least she’s not freezing her tush off like we are,” Johnny quipped, his eyes still firmly shut.

The banker had a knack for finding silver linings and then wrapping them around someone’s neck.

“What about you and your boy?” Manny asked. “Where are you headed? Assuming it isn’t too far, maybe we can drop you off. The cat doesn’t have a huge range, which is why I strapped a bunch of gas cans to the chassis. Should be enough to get us into town.”

“Originally Dillon and I were headed for a place called Byron,” she began, her face souring.

Manny laughed, flicking his chin at the window. “Good luck with that. Byron’s more than sixty miles west of Chicago. No way you’ll get anywhere close.” It wasn’t entirely clear if his dire prediction was due to the insane weather or the never-ending power outage. Or maybe both.

“What’s in Byron, anyway?” Johnny asked, his eyes still closed.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she answered without a hint of sarcasm. “My mother had a dying wish, a letter she wanted delivered to someone I assumed was a friend of the family. A guy named Nate Bauer.”

Johnny straightened. “What’s it say?”

“The letter? I don’t know,” Holly admitted, a little embarrassed.

Manny glanced over at her with surprise. “You didn’t read it?”

“She asked me not to, but I have my suspicions on what it says.”

“Suspicions?” Johnny asked, arching one eyebrow as though he had an idea where this was going.

“I think at some point my mother might have had an affair with Nate’s father.”

Johnny snickered. “Knew it. And had you as a result?”

“Goodness, no. A child from adultery would have been too much, especially for my parents. They were very religious. I’m not sure it was consensual. Nate’s father might have done something very bad to my mother. I’m only guessing, but I suspect she wanted him to know she forgave him.”

“You saying what I think you’re saying?” Johnny asked, eager to clarify.

She grew quiet. “I hope not. Anyway, it’s just a theory.”

“You could solve the mystery right now,” Johnny told her, staring intently now. “Just pop that letter open. Something you should have done long before you got on a plane to come here.”

Holly frowned. “I didn’t come here only because of the letter. I came to get away from someone who was threatening me. This was just a stop along the way, I suppose.”

“Still,” Manny said, “if you’re right, that’s a heavy message to deliver. I don’t envy you.”

Holly nodded. “For all I know, it’s something totally benign.”

“I doubt that very much,” Johnny said, nuzzling back into his coat. “Your mom wouldn’t have sent you all the way from Seattle if it wasn’t important. But rape? Geez Louise.”

“It hardly matters anymore,” she said. “Not after all this.”

Holly went silent after that. Her mother had died more than five years ago, her father four years before that, and in all that time the letter had sat in a dresser drawer, waiting for the hand delivery her mother had insisted on. But she couldn’t deny that the others were right. The timing of Holly’s trip couldn’t have been worse. She had fled from Travis fearing for her life and the life of her son. And since then she’d spent a week living in an international airport, narrowly avoiding various forms of assault on a daily basis. She’d even been forced to take lives when that starving mob had tried to kill them. Now she found herself riding in a high-tech snow plow, praying they had enough fuel to reach somewhere safe.

Just then, a dark thought crept into her mind and she tried hard to brush it away. Were she to do it all over again, there was only one person she would have shot: Travis, the man in Seattle who had sent her running in the first place. She didn’t consider herself a violent person, but Holly was beginning to learn there was a time to flee and a time to stand your ground.

Chapter 10

“You have no idea what I’ve been up against these last few days,” Marengo Police Chief Howard McGinley was telling them. He was a fleshy man, with large beefy mitts for hands and jowls to match.

Nate listened and nodded. Setting aside what had brought him here, he couldn’t help feeling some joy in seeing a familiar face. At one time, many moons ago, McGinley had briefly been a sergeant at Nate’s precinct in Chicago. But the older his friend got, the more he’d begun to realize being a big fish in a little pond had its advantages. Big fish didn’t get flushed down the toilet nearly as often.

“I’m down from ten officers to two,” McGinley went on. His jowls trembled as he spoke, reinforcing the man’s resemblance to Droopy the cartoon dog. “I keep thanking my lucky stars that Brass and Vasquez haven’t tucked tail and run away like the others. Seems like no sooner had the lights gone out than my officers began melting away.”

Doris, who was the receptionist as well as the chief’s wife, made a tisking sound at the back of her throat. “Howard David McGinley, that’s a terrible thing to say. You’re not being fair to those boys.”

McGinley straightened.

Doris rose from her desk, which happened to be facing the front door. That was when Nate and Dakota noticed the gun belt notched about her waist. In the holster sat a Smith & Wesson. “You’re making it sound like all our officers just scampered off. I hate to set you straight like this in front of your friend here, but I’m afraid you aren’t telling Nathaniel the whole story.”

“Nathaniel?” Dakota mouthed, suppressing a giggle.

Nate shrugged.

“See, what my husband isn’t saying is that since the power’s gone out, three of our officers have been gunned down in the line of duty. A single death in a town like ours is a big deal, but three, it’s absolutely unheard of.”

“Not to mention crippling,” McGinley added.

At seven thousand souls, Marengo was about as small as cities came. It was no surprise that incidents of violent crime tended to spike during moments of civil vulnerability and unrest. Nate had seen that firsthand soon after the blackout when thugs had stolen his property. And although Byron and its people had been hit just as hard as everyone else, aside from a handful of isolated incidents―likely perpetrated by the same group of criminals―their bucolic little town hadn’t immediately descended into an orgy of violence and murder.

Nate expressed these very thoughts and when he was done he added a question. “So what is it that makes Marengo any different?”

McGinley rocked back on his heels, his thumbs cupped under his gun belt. “For starters, the locals aren’t the ones stirring up trouble,” he told them. “These last few days we seen a veritable exodus of refugees from our giant neighbor to the east.” He was talking about Chicago, even if he wasn’t willing to call it out by name. “Way I heard it, the lights hadn’t been out more than a few hours before the city went mad. Dead of winter or not, the local cops were vastly outnumbered and tumbling back ass over teakettle to contain the situation. By day two, they had completely and utterly lost control. And it wasn’t just looting and robbery either. You run your finger down a list of federal crimes and I can assure you they were occurring on a scale none of us had ever seen before. The place has gone full Darwinian, excuse my French.” The chief grinned, giant dimples forming in his cheeks. “The innocents were the first to flee, many of them heading out into the freezing cold with little more than acute fear and a torn winter jacket. Some had cars, others were on foot. Neither got very far, I’m sorry to say. As those first few days ticked off the calendar, even the career criminals refused to stay, leaving the city in the hands of the most ruthless and deranged. Seems like everyone else came our way. And with very few exceptions, they’ve done nothing but lie, cheat, steal and worse.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Nate started to explain. He proceeded to tell them about the strange encounter he’d had at Jay’s place.

McGinley plucked a hanky from his back pocket, dabbed his forehead and then stuffed it back. “In the last two years, Jay upgraded most of our cruisers. He’s one hell of a mechanic and an all-round great guy.” The chief pointed at Nate, his index and middle finger pressed together into something that resembled a gun. “If those folks you saw are squatting in Jay’s house, they aren’t the first, nor will they be the last. This last week we’ve seen the population here in Marengo balloon from seven grand to ten times that number, maybe more. I don’t have the manpower to track down the sorry sonsabitches who killed my officers, let alone property thieves. Believe me when I tell you there’s nothing more I’d like to do. But revenge isn’t part of my job description. I get I’m down to only two officers. We’re hurting, no doubt about it. And I’m sure so too is every other department that’s sitting in the dark like we are. You were a cop once, Nate, so I’m sure you understand. Right now, however, my job is to do what I can to maintain the peace.”

“He’s right,” Doris said, leaning on the desk with one hand.

“Course I am,” McGinley shouted back. “But that don’t make me happy. Every hour hundreds more pour into town. Every school we got in town is filled to the brim. High school, middle school, elementary. Heck, even that single room Elenore uses to run the pre-school’s got people camped inside. Problem is, we’re not getting in any supplies.”

Nate crossed his arms. “I spoke to a handful of folks on the West Coast via ham radio and they’re going through the same mess we are.”

That particular bit of news made Doris fall back into her seat.

Gritting his teeth, Nate was beginning to remember why he hated being the bearer of bad news. “I’m guessing by now you’ve heard we were hit with a multi-pronged cyber-attack.”

McGinley’s hanky made a sudden and much-needed reappearance. Three firm dabs and it was gone. “I can’t tell you how many different stories I’ve heard to explain the outage,” the chief said, shaking his head. “Seems the longer you keep folks in the dark, the more outlandish the rumors become. We even had some woman come in squawking about aliens and I wasn’t sure whether these aliens were of the outer space or the Mexican variety.”

Nate and McGinley shared a momentary smile before the solemnity of the moment seeped back in.

“No aliens this time, I’m afraid,” Nate said. “Whoever did this, they hit the financial institutions first.”

“That’s right,” Doris agreed. “We watched it on the news. Was the last broadcast we saw before all this started.”

“It was the opening salvo,” Dakota said, her cheeks slightly flushed.

“That’s a rather unusual word for a young person,” McGinley said. “She sounds smart as a whip, Nate. Like father, like daughter.”

Nate grinned without correcting his friend. Dakota noticed it too, the corners of her lips rising into an expression of happiness.

“I don’t want to worry you more than you already are,” Nate said, taking a deep breath. “But the nuclear plant in Byron and one or two others nearby have gone into full meltdown. My brother Evan was caught up in it and is sitting in a hospital inside the exclusion zone.”

Doris’ hand went over her mouth.

“Seems this was all part of their plan,” he went on. “To burrow their way into the most sensitive and vulnerable areas of American life and tear us apart from the inside out.”

“A few days back, a young couple from Byron came through,” McGinley said. “Woman named Jessie and her boyfriend Doogie. Told us nearly the same thing and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t believe them. Hey, what is it?”

“The woman, did she smell of vodka?”

The chief nodded. “Sure did. It’s why I didn’t believe her story. Why, you know them?”

Dakota also regarded him questioningly.

“I met her on the road,” Nate said, relieved Doogie had finally come along. “It’s a long story.” He decided to change topics. “Is there any chance you saw a convoy of school buses come through here on its way to Chicago?”

The corners of McGinley’s mouth tilted downward. “I’m not su―”

“Yes, one did,” Doris interjected. “Came by a few days ago.”

Nate’s ears perked up and for the first time in days he felt a ray of hope envelop him.

“They tried getting into the shelters around town and were shooed away on account of them places being all filled up,” Doris told him. “I noticed too they’d added some kind of wedge-shaped plow to the lead bus, to help push aside the snow. It’s what gave us the idea for our own plows.”

Hadn’t he seen such a plow tearing down the street after being chased from Jay’s front porch?

Nate felt that heavy weight settling back on top of him. If it had been physical rather than emotional weight, it surely would have buckled his trick knee. Regardless, he didn’t bother mentioning his family was on one of those buses. Slowly, Nate brought the conversation back to the reason they’d come here in the first place.

“So when was the last time you saw him?” Nate asked.

“Who, Jay?” McGinley asked. “Oh, I don’t know. Day or two before the blackout. Why?”

Nate’s gaze fell to the scuffed winter boots on McGinley’s feet. “I don’t think this is simply a case of theft. I know for a fact Jay would never have left that truck of his behind. I have a feeling the lowlifes who stole his house might have also taken his life.”

McGinley stood there, nodding slowly. “So I take it you want me to go down there and arrest them?”

Nate’s face darkened. “To be tried in what court?”

“That’s the dilemma, isn’t it? What do you want then?”

He folded his arms over his chest. “A temporary badge. Swear me in under the Illinois Emergency Act. I’ll go find out what they did with Jay.”

“And if they’re guilty, what precisely will you do with them?” That thin layer of sweat was building along McGinley’s brow again.

Nate’s reply was short and starkly to the point. “Pray to God they resist arrest.”

Chapter 11

Nate caught a lift back to Jay’s house with Ralph “Crazy Horse” Sullivan in the retrofitted snowplow. True to his name, Ralph had been the one they’d seen earlier, cutting a swath through the deep powder clogging Marengo’s streets.

As requested, Chief McGinley had made Nate an auxiliary police officer, a position that had been around in Illinois for decades. The temporary badge dangling from the chain around his neck provided a sense of legitimacy. For all intents and purposes, he had been deputized and was eager to find out what those people had done to Jay. It was a job that would take skill and precision. Like any craftsman, Nate had brought along his tools. The H&K G36 was his primary weapon. For backup he would rely on two pistols—his main pistol, a SIG Sauer P320, and his ‘when all else fails’ gun, a Glock 19 he’d grabbed from the police armory.

Much to Dakota’s displeasure, the chief had agreed to keep an eye on the girl. He had also said he would try to find a mechanic to look at the snowmobile.

Nate watched the plow’s windshield wipers flicking back and forth at lightning speed. Outside, a cloud of snow sprayed into the air on either side of them as they pushed through. They were going a good clip. The radio wasn’t working, but that didn’t stop Ralph from singing along to the radio in his head.

“Hit me, baby, one more time,” he shouted, giving the horn a playful little honk with each lyric. “Don’t you worry, Officer Bauer,” Ralph said with a wink. “The Beast and I will get you over there in no time.”

“Beast?”

Ralph tapped the top of the steering wheel. “Just look at the way she annihilates this stuff. Doesn’t matter the consistency. Fluffy or hard, it’s all the same to her. A regular snowplow couldn’t handle stuff this deep. Made a few modifications after those school buses came roaring through town. Good ideas like that are meant to be shared, that’s what I say. Not that I wouldn’t have come up with something similar myself. I seen trains use ’em before. They call ’em snow wedges. They use ’em to keep the tracks clear after a big snowfall. Mark my words, if this weather keeps up the way it’s been, don’t be surprised if you start seeing more and more of these things. Only thing you gotta watch out for is buried cars in the middle of the road. Wasn’t for that, I’d be going a lot faster.”

Nate found that hard to imagine. “The Beast is impressive,” he said instead.

“And those wipers,” Ralph said, flashing that grin again. “Couldn’t help seeing you admiring them too.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever seen any go that fast before.”

Winking, Ralph said: “I tweaked the motor. Managed to squeeze some extra torque out of the old girl. Now flakes don’t stand a chance. But once the power comes back on, I was thinking of getting one of those spinning portholes they use on ships. It’s like a window that rotates. You can throw a bucket of water at it and it won’t block your vision one bit. Damn thing just shrugs it off.”

Nate wanted to tell Ralph not to hold his breath. That the power wasn’t coming back on any time soon. And yet he found that his lips wouldn’t let him form the words. Maybe it was because a large part of Nate agreed with the crazy snowplow driver’s optimism, however naïve it might be. It was an attitude that had helped get Nate through many challenging patches in his life. Maybe he just wasn’t willing to give up on watching for signs of a rainbow after the storm.

Swallowing his many concerns, Nate instead said: “Can’t wait to see that.”

“No kidding. When I was―” Ralph jerked the wheel. The Beast fishtailed, tossing the two men around in their seats. “You see that?” The driver’s complexion had suddenly become three shades paler.

Nate looked out the pickup’s back window. “What’d I miss?”

“A freaking wolf. That’s what you missed. Was standing right in the middle of the road. Woulda hit it too if I wasn’t such an ace driver.”

“Shadow,” Nate said, under his breath.

“Come again?”

Nate shook his head. “Never mind.” They pulled onto Jay’s street and Ralph brought the truck to a crawl. Nate checked the time on the console. “Four thirty,” he said, thankful for the approaching darkness. “Can you swing by every ten minutes? I’ll come outside if I see you.”

“How about this?” Ralph said, reaching into the back seat and producing two walkie-talkies. “I got an adaptor that plugs right into the car battery, so they’re topped up. I’m gonna keep making my rounds, and you just holler when you’re ready.”

The two shook hands and Nate stepped back into the cold.

He walked down a neighbor’s driveway, hopping over a low fence. Unlike the last time, Nate knew better than to walk up to the front door and start knocking. A move like that was an invitation for those inside to start shooting. Without a proper SWAT team, he’d get himself killed. Then he and Jay would both be dead, and the raspy-voiced woman and her rail-thin boyfriend would get away with whatever they had done. No, instead he opted to cut through the adjacent yards, making his way to the back of Jay’s house.

Arriving at the fence line, Nate stopped to scout around. The kitchen window overlooked the backyard. He spotted the flicker from a single candle inside the house. They appeared to be home, but that was hardly a surprise. It wasn’t like they’d be out for dinner and a movie. What it suggested was what part of the house they were in.

Rolling over the top of the fence, Nate landed in powder and crossed the open yard. He remembered coming over for a barbeque last summer and Jay pointing at the back of the house and outlining all the new renovations he was planning. The visual sharpened in Nate’s mind, along with the basement window close to where he was standing. He pushed his hand under the snow and ran it along the wall until he felt where the concrete gave way to glass. The next few minutes were spent clearing access to the window.

Suddenly a noise to his left made him turn, pistol drawn.

Shadow licked the barrel, staring up at him with shimmering green eyes.

“Hey, buddy, you nearly got yourself killed.”

Shadow stared back, the animal’s head bobbing as Nate spoke. If he didn’t know any better, he could swear the animal was processing his words, maybe even attempting to figure out what he was saying.

“You speak English, don’t you? Well, I hope you do because this isn’t your fight, my friend, although I appreciate the offer of help. Now you better go.”

The wolf turned to leave.

“And for heaven’s sake, stay out of the road, will you?”

This time Shadow didn’t look back. Nate watched the majestic creature round the corner, hoping he wouldn’t follow them any further. He belonged out in the wild with other wolves. Not with people and certainly not in a city like Marengo and least of all in Chicago.

Shortly, Nate returned to the task at hand, dropping to one knee and jamming an elbow into the basement window. It let out a muffled crack as the glass broke and fell to the floor. Carefully, Nate reached in and undid the latch. From there, he lifted it open and slid inside.

Prodding the ground with one boot, Nate came in on top of a washing machine, fallen glass crunching under his weight. He drew his pistol and activated the tactical light attached at the bottom, sweeping the room before him. The space was small, less than five feet in either direction. Along one wall was a washer-dryer as well as a shelf with detergent and cleaning supplies. Nate climbed off the machine and pushed through to the door into what looked like a screening room still under construction. This latest addition didn’t surprise Nate one bit. Jay sure did love him some movies. Nate stopped and listened for anyone else. The house was quiet. On the plus side, at least that meant no one had heard him break in.

A long hallway led from the movie room, curving to the left. Nate followed it, trying to remember where the door was that led upstairs. Entering in such an unusual way had left him a little disoriented. Stalking purposely down the hallway, his weapon covering the space before him, Nate caught the unmistakable odor of decomposition.

He swore under his breath, emotions of sadness and anger building up within him simultaneously. The prospect of placing the people he’d met yesterday under arrest now seemed so remote, so unnecessary. If they had killed his friend and left him down here to rot while they carried on in his house as if it was theirs, there was only one remedy for that sort of crime. Nate tightened the grip on his SIG as he came to a fork in the path. To his left was a door, to his right the staircase leading to the main floor.

He was about to head upstairs when he heard the sound of someone coughing in the other room. He paused and listened. When it came again, he was suddenly sure it was coming from the room behind him. Turning the handle, Nate flung open the door and froze, for a split second unable to process what he was seeing. Multiple sets of eyes were staring back at him from gaunt and pale faces. Then came that same odor again, a sudden and violent assault on his olfactory senses. His hand shot up to cover his nose.

The room was filled with a dozen people, all of them sitting on a cold concrete floor. The same number of chains had been looped through metal rings in the exposed ceiling beams, stretching down to each of those imprisoned here.

“What the hell is going on here?” he whispered in horror, more to himself than to the frightened figures huddled before him.

Swinging his light around, Nate saw that two of the twelve were dead, their decomposition slowed only slightly by the cold. Still, the sight was enough to make him gag.

“Help us,” a weak voice called out.

The chains from the ceiling had been wrapped around their waist below the ribcage and secured with padlocks. It also appeared they’d been cinched to prevent escape as they had lost weight.

“Who did this to you?”

A young, but haggard-looking woman stuck a finger in the air, pointing to the sound of feet now clomping around upstairs.

Breathing hard, Nate flicked his light up to the ceiling. He wasn’t going to be able to unlock these chains without finding the keys or cutting them down. Either way, that meant first going upstairs and taking out the psychos who’d kidnapped these poor souls.

“Nate?” The voice was weak, groggy, but he recognized it all the same.

“Jay?” Nate swung the light around. “The heck happened here, man?”

His friend’s normally round, jovial cheeks now hung sallow about his face like dirty sheets spilling over an unmade bed. “Those people, they’re insane,” Jay told him, drawing on all the energy he could muster. “You gotta get us outta here.”

Nate’s G36 assault rifle was too long and bulky to be used inside the house. He opted to continue with the SIG, holding it before him as he left what felt like a medieval prison and headed for the stairway leading to the main floor.

He reached the top riser and listened. There was only silence coming from the other side of the door. Gripping the handle, he turned and entered the kitchen. On a cluttered counter, a propane camping stove warmed a skillet filled with chunks of raw meat. Some of the meat still had tufts of fur. A sliding glass door off the kitchen looked out onto a wooden deck, currently covered in snow. Except lying on the snow was the carcass of a deer. Large sections of its body had been crudely carved up. These people were worse than Neanderthals. Butchering an animal like this would bring shame to anyone calling themselves a hunter. The animal should have been gutted and cleaned and hung upside down to let the blood drain. Although considering what they were hiding in the basement, this was clearly the least of their problems.

He spun on his heels and headed for the living room. The place looked trashed, as though someone had mistakenly left a door open and a family of raccoons had taken up residence. They’d clearly gone through Jay’s carefully organized and substantial pantry, tossing aside wrappers and packaging at will. Strangely, what hit him hardest seeing the house in such a state of disarray was knowing what a clean freak Jay was. His friend’s house looked and smelled like a slum. And Nate wasn’t sure whether in Jay’s weakened state, he should be allowed to see what it had become.

Nate was in the midst of pivoting from the living room toward the stairs when a door opened next to him. He had thought it was a broom closet, but it was a bathroom. A woman jerked with surprise, the same person who had answered the door earlier and shooed him away. Her eyes flared as she stepped back, clutching her chest.

In the blink of an eye, Nate had the pistol trained on her. “Scream and you’re dead.” If she doubted his warning, all she needed was to look in his eyes—dark pools of deep loathing. They deserved to die, but Nate still hadn’t lost enough of his humanity to execute them on the spot. “Where’s the man I saw earlier?”

“He’s gone,” she said, her lips pulling back from a mouth with few teeth.

Nate cold-cocked her with the pistol. It struck the side of her face with a wet slap and a crack. Her head snapped to one side and her knees went weak. He reached out with his free hand to keep her standing. She fell back against the bathroom door, pushing it closed. A trail of blood ran down the side of her face.

Nate was about to ask her again when a voice echoed down to them from the second floor. “Biscuit, you all right? Sounded like you fell.”

The woman glared at Nate with hatred so tangible he could feel it oozing out of her.

“Tell him you’re fine, that you want to show him something.”

From upstairs, worried now: “Biscuit?”

“Tell him,” Nate said, putting the barrel to her forehead.

The toothless woman drew in a deep breath, resigned to her fate. “Skinny, get your gun and come shoot this mother―”

Nate pulled the trigger. The room exploded with a deafening bang as the woman’s head snapped back, this time for good. She crumpled to the floor with a loud thud.

Then footsteps upstairs running down a hall, away from the stairs.

It sounded like Skinny was taking Biscuit’s advice and getting his gun. What that might be Nate didn’t know. If he could get upstairs quick enough, he might be able to drop this lowlife before he got a chance to throw any lead.

Nate took the risers two at a time. The top step opened onto a narrow corridor, twenty feet in length. This had been the favorite part of Jay’s many house tours as he’d recounted the trials and tribulations of knocking down walls and laying down pine floorboards.

Since then, it had gone from a conversation piece to a possible kill zone. Nate poked his head out for a quick glance. One bedroom lined either side. The master bedroom was at the end of the darkened hallway. At least that was the layout as Nate remembered it. But the lack of light wasn’t on account of the sun going down. It was still early afternoon and that wouldn’t be happening for a couple more hours. The blinds had been pulled down in nearly every room. Whatever was going on here, Skinny and Biscuit wanted to keep it hidden. Now that same criminal desire for privacy meant Nate would be forced to charge headfirst down a narrow hallway with no sense of what was waiting for him at the other end.

A second quick peek to get his bearings provided the answer he was looking for. And that came in the form of a loud boom from a pump-action shotgun. Buckshot tore into both sides of the corridor, the bulk of it punching a wide hole in the wall at the top of the stairs.

Skinny racked his weapon and waited.

He couldn’t stay there forever, Nate knew. Eventually he’d run out of food, water and maybe even ammunition. Complicating the matter were the people being held prisoner in the basement. Nate couldn’t leave and return with reinforcements or pick Skinny off outside as he tried to flee. In that case, Skinny might very well slaughter everyone downstairs to cover up his many crimes. Nate was quite sure the court system in the United States was mostly on hold right now. But judging by the looks of them, this couple appeared to have more teeth than brain cells.

“You killed my wife, you sonbitch,” Skinny yelled. The man had an accent. Sounded like he was from Georgia or South Carolina.

“You’re a long way from home,” Nate said, his voice echoing down the empty hallway. “What’s a nice boy like you doing kidnapping folks and holding them in your basement? What would your parents think of that, eh, Skinny?”

“Shut your mouth,” the man said, firing three angry salvos, striking the same patch of drywall.

“I’ll bet Biscuit was the one who led you astray,” Nate went on. “The one who suggested you steal Jay’s house and then grab those innocent people. That’s the name of the man whose place you took, in case you didn’t know. He’s a hard-working American. Built much of this place with his bare hands and now here you are tearing it apart. But I guess losers like you only know how to break the nice things smart people put together.”

“I told you to shut your stinking mouth!” Skinny shouted in a white-hot rage. He stomped down the hallway, firing three more times towards the voice he wanted nothing more than to blast apart. Nate counted in his head. Skinny turned the corner to find Nate crouched on the stairs. For a moment, the two men looked at one another, fear and curiosity all rolled into one strange, inexplicable emotion. Skinny pulled his trigger first. His shotgun clicked empty, just as Nate had known it would. Skinny’s eyes grew with a sudden dreadful understanding.

“Don’t you just hate when that happens?” Nate said, his voice dripping with satisfaction.

Squealing with terror, Skinny rotated, intending to flee back to the safety of the darkened room. But not before Nate put a bullet into each of his legs.

Skinny howled in pain, flopping to the ground.

A second later, Nate was hovering over him, patting him down for any other weapons. Finding none, Nate asked him for the keys to the locks in the basement.

Skinny only wailed in reply. Clearly, he’d never been shot before.

Nate introduced the lowlife to the same pistol-whip he’d fed Biscuit. “You want the pain to stop, don’t you? Then start talking.”

“Bedroom dresser,” Skinny bellowed through grit teeth. “Bottom drawer.”

“Good boy. Now, tell me why’ve you got people chained up in the basement.”

The man refused to look at him or answer the question. He only lay on his side, clutching at his wounded legs and rocking back and forth.

When it was clear no amount of beating was going to get Skinny into a speaking mood, Nate told him not to move and went into the bedroom. After opening one of the blinds, he started searching. It didn’t take long. A sock with twelve keys was sitting in the bottom drawer, just as Skinny had said it would be. Nate held up the sock with one hand and unclipped the walkie on his belt with the other. “Hey, Ralph, you still out there?”

A crackle of static filled the radio before Ralph’s reply. “Sure thing, bud. You ready for an extraction?”

That made Nate smile. Here the world was falling apart and a guy like Ralph was having the time of his life. There was something innocent, almost admirable about that.

“I’m ready,” Nate said. “Except I found Jay and nine others, so it may take a few trips to ferry them to safety.”

“Eleven altogether?” Ralph asked.

Nate looked down the hallway at Skinny’s tiny frame. He wasn’t moaning anymore or moving at all. Even from here, Nate could make out the lake of blood pooling around him.

He brought the walkie to his mouth to confirm and stopped. There was another sound, different from Skinny’s blubbering. Although muffled, it was steady and high-pitched. Nate rotated, fixing in on its location. Was someone else in the house, waiting to jump out at him?

“Nate, still waiting on your response,” came Ralph’s voice blaring over the walkie.

Nate twisted the volume knob down a few notches and pulled out his SIG, moving purposefully toward a door on the other side of the room.

He realized in this case it was better not to issue a warning. With a twist and a tug, he flung open the door and got the second major surprise of the day. Partially hidden under a pile of blankets was a pink-faced baby girl. For several seconds, Nate stood staring down at the child in disbelief.

Finally, he brought the walkie to his lips. “Uh, Ralph, better make that twelve.”

Chapter 12

The baby cooed as Dakota rocked the little girl in her arms. Doris had tried to calm the child for nearly half an hour with no luck. It had taken Dakota less than two minutes.

Jay and the nine others they’d rescued from the cellar were in the police station lunchroom, being examined by a local nurse. They probably needed a hospital, but the closest functioning facility was either in Chicago or Rockford. The danger of entering the city quickly nullified that option. Likewise, the encroaching aura of radiation now engulfing all of Rockford had meant for now, staying here was their only option.

“Have you spoken to Jay?” Chief McGinley asked. “And gotten to the bottom of what exactly was going on in that house?”

“Not yet,” Nate said, removing the badge he’d been wearing around his neck and setting it on the table. “Honestly, my days of playing policeman are done. If I’m gonna be honest, I half expected to find Jay’s body in the backyard, sticking out of a snowbank or something.” He looked over at Dakota and the baby. “I certainly didn’t expect to find…”

Doris approached them. “I’m sure both of you are wondering where the kid came from. When we were at the house, I took a moment to examine the woman you called Biscuit and I can confirm she recently gave birth.”

Nate nodded, somewhat surprised.

“I can also tell you she was twenty-two.”

Ralph poked his head into the conversation. “And you got all that from looking at a dead body? Modern science, ladies and gentlemen, is a marvel to behold.”

“That may be so, but her age I got from the driver’s license in her wallet,” Doris said, grinning.

“Wow,” Nate replied. “I could have sworn she was somewhere in her forties or fifties.”

“Meth’ll do that to you,” McGinley offered. “But there’s still no word on the identities of the two deceased, is there?”

Doris shook her head. “And there likely won’t be, not unless someone comes in to report a missing person. Even then, at least half the country is probably missing at this point.”

As Nate had suspected, Skinny had bled out. That meant the four who had died in the house were all brought to the station and placed temporarily in a shed out back. After removing the prisoners’ chains, Nate had gone through any documents he could find in the house. A ledger in the kitchen had painted a rather chilling vision of what Skinny and Biscuit were up to. It had become clear on the first page that the two considered themselves entrepreneurs and the extended blackout as a prime opportunity. Like anyone with some business savvy and a sick mind, they had recognized that in a world without supply trucks, food and in particular meat would soon be in high demand. Nate proceeded to fill in the others on their grisly plan. “Seems they were intent on carving people up and selling them to hungry, unsuspecting survivors, with the claim that it was deer meat. Most probably wouldn’t have known the difference. Given enough time and hunger, some might not have cared. But neither one of those lowlifes was blessed with enough brains to realize that keeping twelve people alive would require more food than they were willing to provide. So what to them started as a promising business opportunity quickly turned into something depraved and almost…”

“Demonic,” Chief McGinley threw in, his face contorted with disgust. “I’m just glad I didn’t need to book either one of them.”

“But why target your friend Jay?” Dakota asked, circling the perimeter of the conversation.

“Seems the two men knew each other,” Nate said. “Least that’s the way Jay described it on the way here. Said Skinny would do odd jobs for him. Help him with renovations here and there in exchange for a little money under the table. He and his wife were living in a tiny one-bedroom trailer. Apparently, they thought they were due for an upgrade and saw their chance when the power went out. As depraved as this plot was, I’d be willing to bet we’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s going on out there.”

The idea sent an icy chill through an already cold room.

McGinley tapped the leg of his pants. “Well, the good news is Jay’s already starting to get some color back in his cheeks. By tomorrow, I suspect he might just be able to take a look at that snowmobile of yours.”

“That’s very kind, but we shouldn’t put him under any more strain,” Nate said, meaning it, in spite of his eagerness to move on. Hearing about the buses passing through town a few days ago had only magnified his overwhelming determination to reach Amy and the others. “Jay’s already been through enough.”

“Hogwash,” Doris snapped. “Jay’s a trooper. I’m sure once he finds his strength again it’ll be the least he can do.”

“If there’s one thing Jay knows,” Ralph said, folding his arms over his chest and wearing a wide grin, “it’s snowmobiles.”

“All right,” Nate said, defeated. “You win.”

A short time later, Nate was sitting by a window, watching the snow fall and taking a moment to let it all sink in. Dakota showed up and sat next to him.

“What, no more baby?”

She grinned. “Taking a break. It’s not easy on the arms.” She flexed her left elbow, holding her biceps.

“I wouldn’t know,” Nate said. “Not yet at least.”

“Soon enough,” Dakota said. Although intended to offer a tinge of hope, the comment had left a bittersweet taste in Nate’s mouth. She noticed this and apologized.

“Nah, it’s not you. It’s just hard to see everything you’ve built over the years snatched away in the blink of an eye.”

“A home in Byron,” she said. “Was that your dream?”

He leaned back in his chair and scratched at the ample scruff growing on his chin. “Not really.”

“What then?”

“If I could have anything, it’d be a plot of land where we could raise our own food and not have to rely on anyone else.”

“There’s a word for that,” she said, smiling.

“Heaven?”

“Maybe, but that wasn’t the one I was thinking of.”

“Self-sufficient,” he said, peeking at her from the corner of his eye.

“Technically that’s two words, but I know what you mean. The more we rely on others for basics like food and shelter, the more danger we find ourselves in when things go bad.”

“And you?” he asked. “What’s your idea of heaven?”

“A family,” she said, without a moment’s hesitation. “But this is pretty nice too.”

Nate grinned and looked back outside. He couldn’t agree more.

Chapter 13

It was dark already by the time Manny pulled the snowcat up to a quaint two-story structure and killed the engine. Although they’d already made it a few miles, they were still technically on the outer edges of Chicago proper.

“‘Peaceful Grove Senior Care Facility,’” Holly said, reading the sign over the front door emblazoned in fine gold lettering.

Below the name was the home’s motto. “‘A place for living,’” Johnny said, a healthy dose of skepticism in his voice.

Despite the building’s size, the dormer windows and canopy out front added to the warm and homey feel of the place.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Manny said, undoing his seat belt. Manny’s grandmother was a resident here and since it was on the way, he had wanted to check in and make sure she was all right. He closed the door behind him, leaving Johnny, Holly and Dillon in the snowcat.

“I don’t see why this is necessary,” Johnny complained. “Didn’t he say his sister and brother-in-law probably came by already?”

“Not really,” Holly replied. “He said he hoped they had. That’s not the same thing as actually doing it.”

Dillon blew air through his closed mouth, flapping his lips.

“Honey, don’t do that. It isn’t nice.”

The boy ignored her and did it again.

Johnny sat up straight and wiped dots of Dillon’s saliva off his jacket. “Kid, this jacket cost more than you.”

“I wanna get out,” Dillon said, touching the side of his head. “Wanna get out.”

“Manny won’t be long,” Holly told her son, worried another episode was on the way. She had given him the final half tablet of Zoloft a few hours ago, but it seemed to be wearing off.

“Can you take him for a walk or something?” Johnny asked, annoyed.

“He isn’t a dog,” Holly snapped.

“Wanna get out,” Dillon cried, louder this time.

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, then maybe he needs another pill.”

She grimaced, unwilling to tell this selfish excuse for a human being she had run out. That was when she had an idea. She’d asked Manny to swing by a pharmacy on the off chance it hadn’t been completely looted.

Yeah, right.

He had agreed, but maybe that stop wouldn’t be necessary. Maybe she could find what she needed here.

“Wanna get out.”

“Okay, honey,” she said, zipping up his jacket. “Let’s give Johnny some peace and quiet.”

“That’s a great idea,” Johnny said, lacing his fingers behind his head and reclining.

They stepped out into the cold, hurrying along a rough path Manny had already carved in the deep snow. Entering the front lobby, they came to a desk where a single candle was burning. Holly leaned over the desk, half expecting to find someone there. But it was empty.

Another sign overhead listed the benefits of life at Peaceful Grove. ‘Caring staff twenty-four seven; fully licensed medical professionals on hand; daily exercise and activity.’

“Sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Holly said. “Maybe we should move in.”

Dillon’s eyes dropped to his boots. “I don’t like it.”

“I was kidding, honey. But we do need to see if we can find some medicine for you.”

With no luck at the front desk, Holly and Dillon went through a push door that led deeper into the facility. Their breath plumed before their eyes, which wasn’t all that unusual given the heat was out.

But the moment they opened that door something new greeted them, an odor that struck them like a slow-motion punch to the gut, a mix of two contrasting smells—on the one side, ammonia from festering diapers; on the other, a not-so-subtle hint of death.

They passed a room with an elderly man and a large black woman tucking a heavy quilt under his shoulders. A lone candle on a side table threw shadows against the walls.

“Excuse me,” Holly said.

The woman jumped, startled. She held onto the bed’s guard rail with one hand and clutched her heart with the other. The woman’s name tag read ‘Louise’. “Oh, Lordy, you frightened me.” Her eyes dropped to Dillon. “Miss, you shouldn’t be back here.”

“I’m after a friend who came in a few minutes ago. He was searching for his grandmother.”

A sudden flash of concern streaked across her face. Or was that fear? “What’s her name?”

Holly opened her mouth to say something before realizing she didn’t know. “He never said. Um, his name is Manny.”

“Look, we got nearly two dozen patients left and only ten percent of the staff left to care for them.”

“Patients left?” she repeated.

“I woulda run off with the others if I had any faith I’d get home in one piece,” the woman said. “There are two kids and a pretty useless husband back home probably scared out of their minds.”

Holly began to leave. “I think I’ll just look around for my friend. Sorry to have disturbed you, Louise.”

“Lady, you need to go find Mr. Earl. He’s the one in charge of this place now.”

She stopped. “Mr. Earl?”

“Francis Earl Duncan. Goes by Earl. He used to be the accountant before the head administrator, Sally Johnson, took off. Since then, nothing gets done here without Earl’s say-so. If your friend Manny wants to find his grandmother, I suggest you talk to Earl.”

Holly decided to follow that advice. It sounded as though Earl was running a tight ship here at Peaceful Grove. It followed that if anyone around here had the authority to get the Zoloft she needed, it was him.

Holly continued down a long corridor, scanning one room after another. Most of them were dark, and the few she could make out looked empty.

Manny, where the hell did you go?

Far from a chance to resupply, this place was starting to give her the creeps.

She came to a pair of swinging doors that led to the kitchen. Inside, a thin man with a white apron was wrestling a large can of tomatoes.

“Are you Earl?” she asked.

The man stopped and regarded her with a look of surprise. “How’d you get in here?” he asked, as though she’d stumbled into Fort Knox.

“There was no one at the front desk. I was told to find Earl.”

The man appeared doubtful. “Earl’s in his office. Go down the hall and hang a right. But he doesn’t want visitors.”

“Oh, did he say that?”

“Earl never wants visitors. You’re looking for a family member, aren’t you?”

“Kinda.”

“Yeah, most folks came knocking the first couple days. Soon they stopped coming altogether. With the roads blocked and the power out, we haven’t been getting any supplies either. Not sure how much longer we can keep this up.”

She was about to leave but asked on a whim, “Seems a little late for a meal, doesn’t it? I thought old folks ate dinner in the early afternoon?”

The man’s gaze fell to the giant can in his hands. “This isn’t for them. It’s for the staff.”

“Oh, they’ve already eaten, I see.”

“Nope, Earl’s got them on a strict water-only diet. Got us scooping up snow from outside in great big buckets and letting it slowly melt here in the kitchen.” He pointed to one such bucket sitting on the floor at the end of the food prep table.

Holly wondered if she’d heard him right. “Water only?”

“Uh-huh, don’t ask me why though. Residents don’t like it one bit, but anyone on the staff who disobeys is either banished out into the cold or threatened with cut rations.”

“You’re all prisoners,” she said, mortified.

He wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded. “Sure feels like it. Earl catches any of us feeding a resident, we face the same penalty. Fact, you speak to him in a tone he doesn’t like and things suddenly go real bad for you, if you know what I mean.”

“Why don’t you just leave?”

He set both hands on the table. “Leave and go where? You’ve seen what it’s like outside. Everyone who’s left to go get help hasn’t come back. I’d rather take my chances in here than face what’s waiting out there.”

Holly put her hands on her hips. “Please tell me you’re pulling my leg. That this is all some sorta joke.”

“No joke, ma’am. But I strongly suggest you keep all this to yourself. Earl finds out, it’s bound to be bad for everyone.”

Somehow, she’d managed to step from one nightmare into another. How was this possible? With Dillon by her side, she left the kitchen, proceeding down the hallway, looking for this Earl fella. If what the cook said was true, the man was one cold-hearted son of a bitch. To deny proper meals to those you’d been charged with caring for, only so you could save enough for yourself? Holly felt her face grow hot with anger at the cruelty and injustice of it all.

Up ahead, she saw a figure darting from one room to another. When she got closer, she saw that it was Manny.

“You’re still looking for your gramma, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I went to her room and she wasn’t there. But her bed was messy, like she’d gotten up to get something.”

She took Manny by the shoulders. “Listen, there’s something very sick and twisted going on here.”

“What do you mean?” A look of fear filled his young face.

“I just spoke to someone who said they stopped feeding the old folks here.”

“Stopped feeding them?”

“They’re only giving them melted snow,” she said. “Sounds like they’ve convinced themselves there are too many mouths to feed. They’re letting them die.”

Manny pressed his palms to the sides of his head, his eyes filling with tears.

“I’m not saying your grandmother’s gone,” she said, trying to reassure him. “Just that if the cops were still around, all these people would be serving life sentences.”

“I need to find her and we need to alert the authorities,” he said, breathing hard now.

Even Holly knew at least one of those two things was no longer possible.

“You keep looking for her and I’ll find this Earl guy everyone says is running this death camp.” She took Dillon by the shoulders. “I need you to do something very important for me. I need you to help Manny here search for his grandmother. Can you do that?”

He nodded.

With that she left them, pushing down the long corridor. This was where the cook had told her she would find Earl. Her hand fell to the pistol in her jacket pocket, her fingers closing around its grip, cold and reassuring. When she finally found the man, she would have a lot to say to him.

Chapter 14

Day 8

Nate, Dakota and Jay spent the night at an empty house across the road from the Marengo police station. After the nurse had assessed their health, most of those held prisoner in the mechanic’s basement had been released and headed home. It was hard not to imagine the reunion that awaited them. Nate pictured it with no small amount of envy. But of course, there was no telling what any of the folks who had survived the abduction would find when they got there. It would be months before anyone had any real sense of the final death toll.

On a brighter note, after a quick breakfast of wieners and beans, Jay had found the strength to have a look at Nate’s snowmobile.

“So, what’s the prognosis?” Nate asked following the initial inspection.

Jay shook his head, the cords of his thin neck clearly visible, another consequence of being starved for more than a week. “Not good, I’m afraid,” he said, wiping his greasy hands on a white towel. “You’re gonna need a new fuel line and a carburetor. The belt’s also wearing out. If you make it another five miles on that thing, I’ll be surprised.”

The corner of Nate’s mouth turned down.

Dakota shuffled down the stairs and entered the kitchen, yawning. She was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. “I have an idea how to find my uncle,” she said, wiping at the inside corners of her eyes. Her crow-black hair was slightly askew.

“I’m afraid we have bigger problems at the moment,” Nate said, his hands planted on his hips, his brow furrowed in thought.

“We’re getting back on that horse, aren’t we?” she asked, sounding less than enthusiastic.

“Looks that way.”

She crossed over to the cans of tuna stacked on the counter, opened one, scooped it into a bowl and opened a side door, setting it on a small patch of snow.

Jay watched her do all that with a funny look on his face. “What’s that for?”

“Shadow,” she said. “Although I’m sure he can get his own food. This just makes things easier on him.”

“And keeps him coming back for more,” Nate said. That puzzled look on Jay’s face made Nate smile. He explained they’d found the animal caged at the middle school and Shadow had followed them ever since.

“You don’t know anything else about him?” Jay asked, incredulous. “You cross paths with a wild animal and claim him as your own?”

Dakota laughed. “Heck, no. He chose us.”

“Did he have a collar on? I mean, who knows if he belonged to someone?”

Nate considered this. “He might be someone else’s, but there was no collar. We know that much.”

On a whim, Jay opened the side door and burst into raucous laughter. “The bowl’s empty.”

Dakota smiled, tiny lines forming under her eyes. “I told you.”

“You two are heading to Chicago, right?” Jay said, leaning against the kitchen counter. “What if the wolf follows you there? I can’t imagine that’ll be good for him.”

“Believe me, I’ve thought of that,” Nate said, recalling the two drunken men in Rockford who had tried using him for target practice. “First off, I’m not sure we could get rid of him even if we wanted to. If this whole insane situation has taught me anything, it’s that there’s a lot in life that defies our ability to control. Seems the more we spin our wheels planning for every possibility, the more we lose track of what’s staring us straight in the face.”

Jay smirked. “Funny hearing that from a guy who always considered himself a prepper.”

“I did,” Nate said, nodding. “Until things truly went south. It was only then”—he paused—“and when I met Dakota that I began to realize how little I actually knew.”

“What are you saying, then?” Jay asked, leaning back on the counter, his ribs pushing against the fabric of his shirt. “Prepping’s a waste of time?”

Nate’s head rolled back with laughter. “Not at all. I’m simply saying planning for every possible scenario is impossible and maybe even counterproductive. Look at me. Everything I had in place was geared toward bugging out and camping in the woods until things began to settle. I might have been able to do that too if the hackers had been kind enough to attack us in summer like they were supposed to.”

Now it was Dakota who was laughing. “Don’t you just hate when they don’t follow the script?”

“Prepping is important,” Nate went on. “But so too is adaptability. You gotta deal the hand you’re dealt the best way you know how. If the god of snowmobiles decides it’s time to get back on the horse again, then so be it. Wayne’s had some rest. I’m sure he’ll be up to it.”

Jay waited until Nate was done. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he said, after taking a sip of coffee. “While I may not have the parts to resurrect your dying snowmobile, I can offer you the next best thing.”

Nate regarded him inquisitively. “Next best thing?”

“Well, I was speaking with Ralph last night and he’s agreed to give you the Beast.”

Nate was genuinely stunned. “You’re kidding me. But I couldn’t. Marengo needs the Beast to help clear the streets.”

“Ralph’s already working on the Beast’s successor as we speak.”

Dakota was bobbing up and down, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. “Oh, please say yes. Please, please, please…”

“Doris told you yesterday to let me pay you back for saving my life and the life of everyone else trapped with me.”

“What about Wayne?” Nate asked. “We can’t very well drag him behind the truck.”

“I’ll see he’s taken care of,” Jay assured him. “The same way Doris is taking care of that baby you found.”

Nate sighed. “Okay,” he said finally, shaking Jay’s hand and yanking his friend into a hug. “When will it be ready?”

Jay stepped to the kitchen window and pushed aside the curtain. Across the street, parked in front of the police station, the Beast awaited them.

•••

An hour later, after saying their goodbyes to Chief McGinley, his wife Doris, Ralph, Jay and, not least of all, their horse Wayne, they got back on the road. The stop in Marengo had not been one Nate had anticipated when they’d set out, but it was definitely one he didn’t regret. Beneath the pickup’s bed cover was the bulk of their gear as well as several full three-gallon gas cans. The weapons, however, they kept with them up front. Ralph had even installed a rifle rack behind the back row where they hung the G36 and Dakota’s Remington 700.

Once they left, the wide grin that was plastered on the young girl’s face as the wedge-shaped plow tossed loosely packed snow to either side spoke volumes. The ability to move forward without being buffeted constantly by subzero winds was indescribable. In addition, the truck’s cab offered them a mobile shelter, removing, for now at least, the need to pull off the road every night to build a quinzhee.

Unlike Ralph “Crazy Horse” Sullivan, however, Nate kept his speed at a level where he could brake before ramming into any vehicles stuck in a snow drift.

“Stop the truck,” Dakota shouted, pointing out the back window.

Nate did so. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Shadow, he can’t keep up.”

Glancing in his rearview, Nate saw the animal at least a hundred yards behind them. He sighed, got out of the truck and folded back part of the bed cover, lowering the tailgate. When Shadow arrived, he immediately bolted past Nate and hopped into the cab.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” Nate said under his breath as he closed up and headed back. He returned to find the wolf curled up on the back seat. The animal took up a large chunk of the seating area. The creature glanced up at him without moving his head, his snout nuzzled between his front paws.

“Comfortable?” Nate asked.

Shadow licked his lips as if to say yes.

“Maybe Jay was right,” Nate said. “Maybe this was somebody’s pet and when the power went off, he managed to get away.”

“I’m not so sure about that. When I first woke up in that cage next to him, the fur around his neck was all ruffled as though Marvin or one of his men had used a catch pole to grab him. He also had dried blood around his mouth and I just assumed they’d set some kind of trap to lure him in.”

They reached Interstate 90 and headed east. This was one of the major arteries that would bring them into the city center. But the subject of Shadow’s origins continued to occupy them.

“I’ll say this, he’s used to being around humans,” Nate observed.

“That’s right,” Dakota added. “Not only used to us, he doesn’t see humans as evil, least not all of us. That’s gotta mean something.”

“Another piece in an unsolvable mystery, I’m afraid,” Nate said, squinting at an ominous sight that suddenly appeared ahead of them.

Dakota saw it too at the same time. They were approaching a rest stop on the side of the highway replete with a gas station and the obligatory McDonald’s. But that didn’t explain the other thing. The one that had unnerved them both.

A snarl of vehicles blocked the part of the highway adjacent to the rest stop. The snow had been cleared from the cars and trucks. Standing on the roofs of the various vehicles were four men.

Nate slowed and then pulled to a complete stop about two hundred yards from the blockade.

“What do you suppose they want?” Dakota asked innocently. She might have a knack for winter survival, but she couldn’t escape her age.

“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” Nate replied.

From the back seat, Shadow whimpered.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Nate said, wondering how best to get around them. A three-foot-high median prevented them from bypassing the blockade. Although, in truth, none of that mattered since the westbound portion of the highway was nothing but a graveyard of abandoned vehicles.

Dakota climbed into the back, reaching over the wolf to retrieve her rifle.

“What are you doing?”

She came back and opened her door a crack, resting the weapon in the groove. She put her eye to the scope. “They don’t look like military,” Dakota said, squinting. “But they know we’re here, that’s for sure.”

Although they were quite some distance away, even Nate could see them pointing. “Are they armed?”

“Does a bear poop in the woods?”

Nate grinned, despite his growing nerves. “Yes, but let’s hope wolves do as well, rather than in the back seat of our ride. You see the on-ramp?”

She swung the weapon slightly to the right. “It’s about a hundred meters beyond their position.”

“So I’m thinking, if we backtrack, we might be able to scoot through the rest stop parking lot and sidestep these guys.”

She shut the door. “Maybe, but we still don’t know what they want.”

“I can sure as hell venture a guess or two,” Nate said. “How about our vehicle, our weapons and probably you?”

Dakota recoiled. “That’s all you men think about, isn’t it?”

“You can’t very well condemn half the world’s population because of a few bad apples,” Nate said, readying himself for an argument.

Dakota shook her head. “Yeah, watch me.”

Nate laughed as he swung the truck into reverse. Dakota braced herself while Shadow dug his paws into the upholstery, looking up, alarmed.

When they drew even with the rest stop’s entrance ramp, Nate put it into drive and punched the accelerator. Snow sprayed in all directions, flying off the snow wedge as well as the rear tires. They were about to pass before the restaurant when a handful of men began spilling out, waving weapons around and shouting.

“Hold on,” Nate shouted as he pumped the brakes and spun the wheel. The slick road conditions did the rest, swinging out the Beast’s tail out and to the left. The shots rang out right about then, kicking up puffs of loose snow around the truck. A second later they circled around behind the restaurant, Nate working the wheel to avoid any hidden obstacles. They would be safe from fire for a brief moment or two, but as they raced back onto the interstate, they would once again be exposed.

Sure enough, as the Beast plowed through about a foot of freshly fallen snow, it became clear the snow here wasn’t as deep as it should be. Come to think of it, neither had the on-ramp into the rest station been. That meant they weren’t the first vehicle through what was obviously meant to be a trap. Nate hurried as shots continued to ring out. When one of them struck the vehicle, Nate pushed the gas down even further. Dakota was perched over her seat, looking out through the back window at the scene unfolding behind them. They were pulling even with the blockade on the interstate when shots rang out from the men gathered there. Rounds were now coming in from multiple directions.

Nate accelerated further, trying desperately to exit the danger zone without crashing into the many hidden obstacles lurking just out of view.

“They’re following us,” Dakota shouted.

A pickup with abnormally large tires tore out from the parking lot, charging after them, a blizzard of white flakes swirling in their wake.

Dakota climbed into the back seat with the hunting rifle, leaving Shadow to retreat into a corner. She opened the rear window and fed the barrel out.

“Steady,” she yelled, struggling to put her eye to the scope. The enemy vehicle was coming up fast, its engine snarling.

Dakota rattled off a shot and it sailed about five feet over the roof. With practiced ease, she worked the bolt and fed another round into the chamber. Her eye returned to the scope.

With both hands gripping the wheel, Nate spotted a cluster of wrecks up ahead. Some were not buried, but many of the vehicles closest to the left lane―the only lane of traffic still open―bore nothing more than a light dusting. He grew further alarmed when he saw that in many of the wrecks the driver’s side door was open. It appeared they were being led into a dead end, one where many a previous chase victim had met their end. But there was more. The back end of a Honda hatchback jutted out onto the road, leaving a space not nearly wide enough for the Beast to pass through.

“We’re not gonna make it,” Nate said, quickly weighing his options. He could either go full out or slow down and fight. The second option was the riskiest, since the pickup chasing them would likely opt to crash into their rear and then finish off the wounded at their leisure.

Another crack from Dakota’s rifle was followed by a curse. Nate slammed the brakes, making the Beast fishtail violently.

“Didn’t I say keep her steady?”

The truck stopped and Nate reached back, retrieving the G36. He popped the door and stood on the step rail, taking careful aim at the vehicle roaring towards them. Without much conscious thought, Nate opted to go for the driver, rather than the engine. He and Dakota both fired simultaneously. Two tiny holes penetrated the windshield, kicking up a spray of blood inside the cab. The passenger, his left cheek now painted red, his mouth gaping with fear, grabbed for the wheel, tugging it toward him just a little too sharply. The pickup with the large wheels swerved to the right, climbing up the low end of a blue BMW convertible and into the air. It landed somewhere out of sight with a crash, rolling over repeatedly, ejecting men and weapons like an amusement ride gone haywire.

Dakota stared through her scope down the length of highway they’d just covered.

“You see anyone else following us?” Nate asked, his mouth dry, his heart hammering in his chest. Arctic wind buffeted his exposed face, but the burst of adrenaline surging through his body kept him from feeling it.

“None that I see,” she replied, pulling her eye up from the scope to look at him.

Nate put the truck in drive and pushed up to the hatchback, giving it gas as the Beast spun its tires in an effort to shift the obstruction out of their way. They weren’t getting enough traction. At least not at first. Slowly, it started to give as the Beast began to live up to its name.

A minute later, they had shoved the obstructing vehicle aside. Still processing what had just happened, Dakota ran an unsteady hand over Shadow’s head and across his furry back.

They got only the swiftest of glances at the enemy truck as they pulled away. It was upside down along the shoulder, steam or white smoke rising from the undercarriage, a single wobbly wheel still spinning.

“I must say, that was a great shot I made,” Nate said, one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the center console.

Dakota squealed in protest. “What are you talking about? My shot was the one that hit. Yours was like a foot to the right. I mean, at the most you skinned him.”

“Skinned? More like center mass, baby,” he shouted, pumping his fist.

She was right. His shot had gone a touch wide. He would admit it all later, of course, when things were quiet. When her ego was less prone to inflation. That was how the guys at the police academy had done it. Never let the new kid start believing his own hype. The truth was that shot of hers had likely saved their lives, no doubt one of millions of brave and noble acts the world would never know—a single flake lost in a field of snow. Dakota might not be his daughter, but that didn’t stop him from wishing she was.

Chapter 15

Back at the nursing home, Holly was marching down a long narrow hallway. She soon reached a metal door with a push bar and was about to hang a right, just as the cook had instructed her, when she felt a cool breeze brush against her face. The metal door was slightly ajar and rattling. A buildup of snow packed against the bottom part of the frame prevented it from closing. Was this where the cook would duck outside to fill his bucket with ice? Where he would get the drinking water―the only nourishment for the poor souls trapped inside.

Withdrawing her pistol, Holly pushed open the door. A powerful gust fought her, jostling it in her grasp, swinging it to and fro. At last she fought back, making her way outside, and stood looking about her.

A path had been shoveled through the snow and it led from the main complex to a smaller structure out back. The snow at her feet was packed down from repeated trips back and forth. She could see on either side of the path where chunks of snow had been scooped up by the cook’s large bucket. But the main focus of her attention was on the structure up ahead. It wasn’t larger than a one-car garage with a single door and beside that a window frosted with ice.

There was no light on inside. She tried the door handle and found it locked. Next, she rubbed her gloved hand against the pane of glass, slowly clearing away the obstruction. At last, she removed her phone, switched on the light and peered inside.

A haggard face stared back at her and she let out an involuntary squeal of fright. She returned to the window, took another look and saw at once it was not a face that belonged to the living. Her heart beating a racket in her chest, Holly swiveled the light around as far as she could. This wasn’t a garage. It was a charnel house, packed with dozens of dead bodies. The elderly faces, frozen in agonizing death, all looked much the same. Except for one. A single face among them looked different from all the rest and Holly rose on her tiptoes to get a better look. This younger person was a female wrapped in a dark blazer. Above the breast pocket was a name tag that read ‘Sally Johnson’ and below that ‘Administrator.’

Holly recalled Nurse Louise discussing how Sally had simply upped and left. It was horrifyingly obvious now that the only way anyone left Peaceful Grove was through here, stacked in the back shed like cordwood.

She caught the sound behind her less than a second before she spun, whirling out the pistol. Twenty feet away, the metal push door slammed shut with tremendous force. Whoever had done so was likely racing to the front entrance to lock her out there as well. Given the deep snow, there was no way she’d beat them to it. Instead, Holly started down the path and then climbed up and onto the embankment. She wouldn’t head around the building. She would head for the nearest window. When she came to one less than ten feet away, she used the butt of her pistol to break the glass and climb in. She suddenly found herself in the room of a patient, who began shouting.

“Help! Someone’s trying to kill me. Help!”

Holly ignored the old man, knowing attempting to reason with him would be futile. Moving out into the hallway, she swung left and right to ensure she wasn’t walking into an ambush. Charging through the darkness with her phone flashlight in one hand and her gun in the other, Holly felt her pulse jackhammering in her neck, a million thoughts running through her head all at the same time.

Within seconds she reached the push door leading to the shed and hooked a right.

She sped past a series of closed doors. There wasn’t time to give any of them more than a cursory glance. She needed to find Manny and Dillon and get them out of here as soon as possible.

A handful of twists and turns followed before the corridor spit her out at the front entrance. Standing there was a small group of people. Many of them looked like staff from the old-age home. Leaning against the wall was Manny, being comforted by a late middle-aged man in a cream-colored suit. Dillon was a foot or two away, speaking with Nurse Louise.

Holly leveled her pistol. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but all of you need to back off.”

The man in the cream suit swung around, the move perfectly controlled and almost hypnotic. “Young lady, Peaceful Grove is a gun-free facility.” His salt-and-pepper hair was dense for his age, partly slicked back over his skull.

“Too bad. You’re anti-gun, but pro-murder. Clearly you’re insane.”

“Lower the gun before an innocent person gets hurt.”

Holly’s pistol didn’t waver. “Are you Earl?” she said, the words sounding more like an accusation than a question.

“Francis Earl Duncan,” he said, his voice betraying the hint of a Southern accent. It was hard to place, somewhere in Alabama or maybe South Carolina. He wore a wide, welcoming grin, as though Holly had stepped into a funeral home rather than a nightmare. Grey hair aside, the guy could’ve been anywhere from forty to sixty. Everything he said made you feel comfortable. At home. “I see you’ve met some of my staff. I was just having a word with Emmanuel here…”

“W-who?” she said, stuttering, not sure anymore what was happening. Had all of this simply been the product of a fevered dream? Would she open her eyes only to find herself still sleeping on the hard floor of Concourse C?

“Manny’s short for Emmanuel,” he explained patiently. “I was letting him know how his beloved Granny Rivas succumbed to pneumonia. I’m sorry to say it’s claimed a number of the older folks since the power’s gone out,” he lamented, forming the sign of the cross. “For many of them, the cold is simply too much.”

“That’s bull,” she shouted. “I saw the bodies out back.”

Understanding bloomed over Earl’s smooth features. “I’m sure you have. And where would you have us put them… Holly, is it?” His gaze flit between her and Manny, who was rubbing his eyes and nodding.

A fresh surge of doubt began to creep in. “But you’re feeding them nothing but meltwater.”

Earl’s brow furrowed. “Hogwash. Who was it that told you a fib like that?”

Holly pointed to the cook, a white towel stained with tomato juice slung over his shoulder. “He did.”

The man folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. “I don’t remember saying that.”

“But…” Holly’s mind was reeling. Had she been hearing things or were these people lying to save themselves? Then a light in her mind flickered on. “What about Sally Johnson?”

The room stirred uncomfortably.

“I already told you,” Nurse Louise said, not sounding all that friendly anymore. “She went and ran off.”

“Maybe she tried to,” Holly shot back. “But she didn’t get very far.”

Earl took a step toward her and reached out a hand. “I’m afraid none of us know what you’re talking about. Now give us the gun.”

Holly blinked. “Back off, buddy, or I’ll drop you right here and now.” She shifted her gaze to a fresh face she hadn’t seen before, a frightened girl with blonde hair and bright eyes in her early twenties. “There’s a white shed out back, do you know it?” Holly asked her.

The girl made a small, almost imperceptible nod.

“Good. Run out there and take a good long look through the window and tell me if you see any faces you recognize.”

The girl stood frozen.

“Do it now!” Holly barked. She then turned to Louise. “While we’re waiting, my son Dillon suffers from Asperger’s. I need as many Zoloft pills as you can spare.”

The nurse paused before stepping away.

“Young lady, I think you’re making a terrible mistake,” Earl said, choosing his words carefully, as he always did. “If you have any concerns about the operation of this nursing home, I suggest you contact the authorities and fill out a―”

Holly scoffed. “You know perfectly well the cops have bigger fish to fry. That’s why you bumped Sally off and manipulated everyone who chose to stay. So you could enjoy a little power play at everyone else’s expense. You may look smooth and polished, but underneath, you’re nothing but a monster.”

“I suspect the patients and employees I’ve helped keep alive here would strenuously disagree.”

“I’m sure they will. They’ve been brainwashed. Just because the authorities might be too busy to bring you to justice doesn’t mean I won’t string you up myself.”

Earl’s eyes went wide.

A male nurse came forward, shielding Earl with his own body. “Leave him alone, lady. You don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s a good man.”

“I feel sorry for you,” Earl said, his gaze burrowing into Holly. “How embarrassed you’ll feel when this is all said and done.”

The black nurse returned and held out two bottles of pills. Holly reached for them. Just then, the nurse’s other hand sprang up, holding a pistol. Reacting on pure adrenaline, Holly bumped it away just as it fired, the bullet striking a male nurse who was standing by the door. He clutched at his hip and sank to one knee. Manny jumped in to wrestle the gun from her. Earl sank to the floor, shielding himself as several figures grabbed at the nurse and others came for Holly. Raising her pistol, Holly fired once in the air, the earsplitting sound stunning the crowd and forcing them back.

“Check on this guy, would you,” Holly said, waving two people over to the male nurse on the ground. “Anyone else so much as twitches and you die.” Over by the far wall, Dillon was cupping his hands over his ears. Loud noises not only frightened him, they disturbed him in a way the ordinary person couldn’t comprehend. “Manny, grab those pill bottles, will you?”

He scooped them off the floor and handed them to her. Holly glanced quickly at the name on the label and saw they were indeed the correct medication. She then turned her attention back to Earl. “Gun-free facility, eh?”

Footsteps sounded down the hall as the girl with the blonde hair came racing back. She skidded to a stop before them, panting. “She’s right. Sally’s dead, along with so many patients I couldn’t count them all.”

Those assembled in the room gasped. Everyone except for Earl and the nurse on the floor next to him.

Holly leveled the gun at Earl’s head. “Any last words?”

“Earl wasn’t the one who killed Sally,” Louise said, her hands clasped together. “It was me.”

“What?” Holly said, stunned. “But why?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

That didn’t make sense. “Did Earl order you to kill her?”

“I’ve never killed anyone,” Earl protested.

The nurse looked up as though she were replaying a conversation in her head. “Not in so many words, he didn’t.”

“But you knew Earl wanted her out of the way, didn’t you?” Holly asked.

The nurse hesitated before nodding. “Earl made it clear that without her, we’d all stand a much better chance at making it through this.”

“That’s the great thing about brainwashing, isn’t it, Earl,” Holly said, her voice filled with contempt. “Not only did you have others doing your dirty work, you had them believing the evil impulse was their own idea.”

He didn’t look so sure of himself anymore. “I didn’t d―”

“Save your denials,” she said, cutting him off and sliding her finger over the trigger.

Earl squinted his eyes shut.

“No more,” Dillon said, his hands still over his ears. “No more, no more, no more.”

As sensitive as he was to noise, Dillon was even more sensitive to executions.

She eased her finger off. “Don’t worry, Francis Earl Duncan. I have a better idea for you.”

Ten minutes later, Earl was bundled into a winter coat and wearing a backpack loaded with nothing but a sealed jug of water.

“The water’s for when you get hungry,” Holly told him, relishing the bewildered look on his face. “Besides, you said yourself the punishment for breaking the rules was banishment or death. Hardly seems to make any sense killing you ourselves when Mother Nature’s more than happy to do it for us.”

Earl looked outside with dread. Manny opened the door and shoved him out. Earl staggered and fell headfirst into a snowbank. He struggled to his feet, batted the snow from his pants and glanced back briefly before trudging off into the night.

“From now on, you are all free to stay or leave as you wish,” Holly announced. “I suggest you organize yourselves to care for the elderly residents who are still alive.”

“But what if he tries to come back?” the blonde girl asked, not willing to use Earl’s name.

“Any good con artist knows when he’s outworn his welcome,” Holly said. “But if he’s stupid enough to return, I suggest you save him a spot in the shed.”

A few of the employees thanked her. Holly had unique insight into what they’d gone through. Being captive in an unhealthy relationship was nothing new, even for her. Travis had been her Earl. In that old world, filled with what had passed for justice, she had been the one to flee. The rules, however, had changed. Bad guys might be plentiful, but they had also been put on notice. The good guys didn’t need to play nice, not anymore.

Holly, Manny and Dillon returned to the snowcat to find Johnny still leaning against the passenger door, fast asleep. They climbed in and took their seats.

The banker stirred awake and yawned, dragging his hands down the front of his face. “That took forever. Did I miss anything exciting?”

Manny started the engine and began backing away.

“Not really,” Holly said, exchanging a look with Manny.

Johnny rested his head back against the door. His brow suddenly furrowed in confusion at the sight of the nursing home employees standing in the lobby, waving goodbye. “Uh, what the―”

“Go back to bed,” Holly said. “You’re having a dream.”

Johnny thought better of arguing and instead sank back into a sound sleep.

Chapter 16

Dakota was lying in an open field next to the freeway adjusting the sights on her rifle scope.

“Eight clicks left and sixteen clicks down,” Nate estimated, eyeing the deer in the distance. “Go for a double shoulder shot.”

A bullet entering above the shoulder would hit vital organs and likely drop the deer right then and there.

She closed one eye, slowed her breathing and then gently pulled back on the trigger. The rifle barked, kicking back against her shoulder. Out in the field, a fine red mist sprayed out from the animal’s chest before it collapsed.

“Hey, not bad,” Nate said, congratulating her.

Dakota was all smiles.

“Now we’ll find out if you’re as good at skinning as you are at shooting.”

They heard a low growl from Shadow, who stood guard only a few feet away. Turning, they saw a man approaching them. He wore a heavy winter jumpsuit and a fur hat. His bushy beard, caked with icicles, partly obscured the broad smile he greeted them with. Over his shoulder and hugging his camo-patterned backpack was what looked like a hunting rifle. He appeared to be alone.

As he got closer, Nate and Dakota stood watching. All the while, the menace continued to build in the back of Shadow’s throat.

“Howdy,” the man said, his gaze fixed on the wolf. “Is he friendly?”

“For the most part,” Nate said. “Although that’ll largely depend on you.”

That made the man smile. “Good answer. I was passing through on my snowmobile and saw the tracks leading from your truck. Wanted to see if you folks were okay.”

“I just killed my first deer,” Dakota said proudly.

“Good for you, little lady.” He wiped at the icicles dangling from his facial hair in an attempt to make himself a little more presentable. “Name’s Guy Parnell. Pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind me saying you two are a sight for sore eyes.”

Nate introduced himself and Dakota did the same. “Where are you coming from, Guy?” he asked warily. This wasn’t the first time a stranger had approached them from out of nowhere. And things hadn’t turned out so well back then.

“Wheaton,” Guy replied. His voice wasn’t all that deep, but it was filled with kindness and brimming with confidence. “It’s a suburb of Chicago. I’m heading out of the city and, by the looks of it, about a week behind schedule.”

“You hungry, Guy?” Nate asked.

Guy’s chin rose as he flashed a clean row of pearly whites. “I could definitely eat. Deer’s my favorite. Lemme give you a hand.” Guy turned his attention back to Shadow, who wasn’t growling anymore. “That mean I’m gonna live?” he said, half joking.

“For now,” Nate replied.

The three of them carried the carcass to a clearing that overlooked the highway. They had pulled the Beast slightly off the road. Next to that was Guy’s snowmobile.

They strung the animal up using a length of paracord and tossed the rope over a stout tree branch. Right away, Dakota got to work, emptying the guts and offering them to Shadow, who devoured them gleefully. Next, she worked the end of her knife down the length of each back limb and pulled the hide off the body. For some reason, whenever Nate watched a deer get skinned it brought up a memory from his childhood—that time his dad had gotten stuck in his sweater and his ma had run up and pulled it up from the waist over his head. Watching her yank it past his neck and arms had looked very much like what Dakota was now doing to this deer.

“Your daughter’s got a knack for living off the grid,” Guy said, impressed. “You taught her well.”

Nate shook his head. “I wish I could take credit. Most of the time she’s the one teaching me.”

Guy gave him a knowing smile, as though Nate was just being humble. Nate realized there wasn’t enough time to explain the unusual circumstances of his relationship with the girl, so he let it go. But he wasn’t willing to let everything go.

“We haven’t had much luck with strangers lately,” Nate told him as they watched Dakota slice off another chunk for Shadow, who was happy to oblige.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Guy said thoughtfully.

“I’m sure so long as both of us behave we’ll all get along just fine.”

“I suspect we will, Nate. And I feel the same way. I had my own apprehensions about the whole situation. But I can assure you, you won’t get any trouble out of me.”

Both men shook hands.

Thirty minutes later they were sitting before a fire, enjoying the delicious smell and sounds of meat cooking over an open flame. After eating from a can for so long, Nate had forgotten what a luxury it was to eat fresh food.

Nate handed Guy a haunch. He took it in his gloved hands and sank his teeth into the warm flesh. “I must say,” Guy told them, wiping the grease from his mouth with the back of his hand, “when I spotted that plow you got on the front of your truck, I knew I had to stop. Can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it before.”

Dakota and Nate both laughed, their mouths full.

“One of a kind, I’m afraid,” Nate explained. “Was made by a friend of mine to help clear the streets in Marengo. Works like a charm too.”

“Doesn’t surprise me one bit. Is that where you were coming from, Marengo?”

Nate and Dakota both grew quiet. Neither of them were all that eager to share too much.

“Around there,” Nate offered vaguely. “But you should know, anything to the west of that is off limits now.”

“Radioactivity,” Guy said, nodding as though he knew all about it.

“You heard? Word travels fast, I suppose.”

“I got my amateur radio license a few years back,” Guy told them. “Three winters ago my car broke down on a backcountry road and I nearly froze to death. Swore to myself right then and there I’d never get caught with my pants down again. So I started filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Making up for lost time. Even went and bought myself a little place on Geneva Lake just north of here. Figured at the very least it would be a nice spot for the wife and kids. I was working on the wife and kids part when the lights went out. But I’m more than fine with my own company.”

“You manage to reach anybody on that radio of yours?” Nate asked. “Anyone who could shed some light on what’s happening?”

“No pun intended,” Dakota said, giggling as she took another bite.

“I’m hesitant to say. You seem like fine people and I’d hate to worry you any more than you already are.”

“The truth is always the best medicine,” Nate said, believing every word of it. “Even if it hurts going down.”

“Well, then,” Guy replied, tweaking one bushy eyebrow. “I suggest you brace yourselves for some pain. Seems it makes the most sense to start locally. The city of Chicago is a frozen mess.”

“Is that like a hot mess?” Dakota asked, crossing her arms.

“Sorta,” Guy replied. “Except much worse. From what I was able to learn, by the second day, any semblance of authority had completely broken down. Not even the bad weather could curb the looting. Gangs took to the streets with impunity, settling scores with rivals and taking anything they wanted, including the lives of those caught out in the open. The first few days were near-constant fighting.”

“A turf war,” Nate said. He knew these streets and had worried about what might become of them if the worst ever happened.

“That’s right. Beneath that was the predictable kind of crime wave you’d expect under these circumstances. And in the beginning, whenever the cops showed up, they’d be fired upon and either killed or driven back. Once the snow reached your thigh, they just stopped patrolling altogether.”

“Chased out of town,” Dakota said.

Nate tossed the deer bone and leaned back. “Saw the same thing in Rockford. Only there, corrupt cops were the ones leading the criminals.”

Guy laughed, steam billowing past his lips like cigarette smoke. “I haven’t heard anything about bad cops. The few who remain are holed up in the northern part of the city in what’s been called the Green Zone. Near Arlington Heights.”

“Ah, they retreated to the rich neighborhoods,” Nate said, brushing the snow off his gloves. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“It shouldn’t,” Guy said. “So, while the cops haven’t left, they’ve effectively ceded over ninety percent of the city to the criminal elements. Gangs have been banding together, forming ever larger groups. They’ve also been dipping their toes into niches that never used to exist, raiding any source of food and water and then selling it for anything of value.”

Nate shook his head in disgust. “I can’t believe the National Guard hasn’t been deployed.”

“I’ve seen them,” Guy conceded. “I’m not sure if the command and control infrastructure’s been disabled, but the few groups I’ve seen trying to regain order are attacked with even greater ferocity than the police. At first, the criminals were only using pistols and the occasional rifle. Now assault weapons are the norm along with Molotov cocktails. My neighbor was an old Russian guy. Had to be ninety years old. Told me how as a child, he’d lived through the Siege of Leningrad of 1941-44. He described how people had resorted to eating horses and when those ran out, they ate their pets. Before long, there was nothing left to eat but each other. Chicago isn’t quite there yet, but rest assured it’s on its way.”

Nate felt his guts coil into a tight spring. He was starting to wonder if the pain from hearing the truth was such a good thing after all. “My family’s there now. Bused out via Rockford.”

Guy listened and nodded. “Any idea when they might have arrived?”

“My best guess is the day before yesterday. Why?”

“Well, I’m sure you can imagine, without running water, the shelters in the city started filling up pretty fast. Just about every sports stadium, concert hall and even museum was being used to house people. Predictably, FEMA was caught completely flat-footed and proved more useless than in any other disaster―at least they have in Chicago. Maybe they’re slaying it down south.”

The skepticism on Nate’s face spoke volumes.

“Yeah, highly unlikely,” Guy said. “I couldn’t agree more. Turns out the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders have really stepped up to the plate. That is, when the gangs haven’t made their lives a living hell.”

“Wasn’t so long ago a news special spoke about how members of those charities were often targeted by terrorists and militants,” Nate said. “Hard to believe Americans are behaving the same way.”

“Well, believe it. It was one of the reasons I hesitated saying anything at all. You hear enough stories of the depravity going on there and it’s enough to neuter any faith you had left in the human race.”

“Sometimes I think they deserve what’s happening,” Dakota said, her features flickering in the waves of heat rising from the fire. “Let the most depraved among us kill each other off.”

“Have at it,” Nate agreed. “But not before I pluck my family from the meatgrinder.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” Guy said, his index finger aiming at Nate. “A meatgrinder.”

Without any real communication systems available to help coordinate the evacuees, it was hardly a surprise they’d sent innocent people into such a dangerous environment. Chicago was virtually surrounded by nuclear power plants, most of them tasked with powering the city. As a handful of those nearby had begun melting down, shelter in place had no longer been a realistic option for anyone within the exclusion zones. Were it not for that, Nate and his family would surely still be back in Byron, reinforcing their home from theft and stretching their provisions.

It hadn’t been enough to sabotage the electricity. The masterminds behind the attack had decided to strike when most of the country was bracing for a massive winter storm. Even after plunging in the knife, they couldn’t help twisting the blade by sabotaging nuclear plants across the country.

“Since you’ve already scared the crap out of us,” Dakota said, her belly full with food and raw, electrified nerves, “you might as well fill us in on what you’ve learned about the rest of the country.”

Guy’s gaze fell to the burning logs as Nate threw on a gnarled chunk of wood. “I’ll start by saying most of what I’m about to tell you is rumors that have been swirling faster than they ever did over broadband. Seems the internet’s been replaced by the good old-fashioned radio wave.”

“Oh, lovely,” Nate scoffed. “The only good thing to die in all this is already coming back from the dead.”

“Amen, brother. But with the disclaimers out of the way, all of North America’s gone dark and worst of all, no one knows why or who’s behind it.”

Nate’s back straightened. “I can venture a guess on both counts. I mean it should be simple enough to figure out who’s got the most to gain by America getting knocked off. The barbarians have breached the gates and they’re burning everything down, just like they did in Ancient Rome.”

Guy grinned. “That may be so. You see, ever since junior high, I’ve been something of a student of history. Those barbarians you mentioned, the ones often given credit for destroying the glory of Rome—well, would it surprise you to learn that most of them weren’t bloodthirsty savages wearing horned helmets? Some plundered and raped, sure. But most of them wanted one thing.”

“Food?” Dakota said, licking the grease off her fingers.

Guy shook his head. “They wanted to be Romans. Just look at all those European kings who followed. Some didn’t even try to hide it, like the Czar of Russia. Czar means Caesar.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you,” Nate said, his eyes narrowing.

“You mentioned earlier the people who attacked us were out to destroy America,” Guy said. “You might be right. But not because they hate us. They want to be us. They want all the great things we have. Want it so badly it drives them mad.” Guy pointed the deer bone at both of them. “Not that it changes a whole lot, mind you, but if we’re going to use reason to find a likely culprit, it helps to understand their potential motives.”

Dakota shook her head. “Looks like we’ll be in this mess for a while to come.”

“I’m afraid so,” Guy said, nodding.

Nate leaned forward. “At the risk of sounding out of line, I can’t help but see this as something almost providential.”

“Apart from a belly full of delicious food, I’d say there’s nothing divine about any of this.”

The corners of Nate’s mouth tensed. “Of course, it doesn’t feel that way now. But I can’t be the only one who’s felt for a long time the country and maybe even the world was heading in the wrong direction. And I’m not just talking politically here. Over the years, it seems folks have been getting crazier, deadlier, more disconnected from one another. Man versus man in a caged deathmatch that ends in mutual annihilation. I mean, that’s the way things have been heading for a while—into a garbage heap or a mushroom cloud. The only question wasn’t if, but how we’d get there. When the lights went out, it might have killed a lot of the things we loved, but it might also have removed the very things pushing us towards destruction. Look at us, sitting around a fire, enjoying a meal and a conversation. In the old world we’d all be glued to our phones.” He thumped his own chest. “And I’m a tech guy. You’d think I’d be singing its praises. I went into cyber-security because deep down, part of me knew all this wonderful tech would play a major role in leading us to our doom. But here’s my point. Maybe from all this bad something good can grow. We just need to make sure that if the lights ever do come back on we’ve done away with the rot that was killing us in the first place. That we have a new, much stronger foundation based on solid principles.”

“Something closer to what the Founding Fathers envisioned,” Guy said.

Nate nodded. “Yes, a kind of rebirth. It won’t be long before the cities empty out completely and the United States is nothing but a loose patchwork of independent communities. If one of them can be a model for the rest, then maybe some good can come of all this misery. Maybe we can claw our way out of darkness into something that’s never been done before.”

Dakota and Guy were both listening intently. Even Shadow, curled up by the fire, watched Nate through the dancing flames.

Slowly, the electricity of the moment began to fade and they returned to a quiet conversation. Nate knew he was onto something. But he also knew the transition he described wouldn’t be an easy one. The twin crucibles that had given birth to the country―once after the Revolution and again after the Civil War―had also nearly destroyed it. Although the vision was one worth fighting for, he also knew that it was always darkest before the dawn.

Chapter 17

Holly’s only friend in Chicago was an old high school buddy named Amrita Bhatt. Although from different cultures―Holly was about as white as Wonder Bread and Amrita as Indian as Bollywood―they had been nearly inseparable until college had pulled them apart. Amrita’s burning desire to be a writer had only grown stronger during her high school years. And yet that same desire had also died a violent death the minute her parents learned of her intention to pursue a degree in literature. It would be as useless as an acting degree, they had told her. And challenging their disapproval had been too much for her.

Originally, Holly and Amrita had been planning on attending the University of Washington together. But after days of badgering, the writing had been swapped for an engineering degree and UW traded in for the University of Illinois. In fact, the entire family had uprooted and resettled in order to support and perhaps supervise Amrita.

In the years that followed, the two woman had kept in touch as much as was possible. After marrying a respectable Indian man five years ago, Amrita had settled into her new family life. The capstone was a million-dollar condo overlooking the downtown core, compliments of her husband, a renowned cardiologist.

In the handful of years since their marriage, Holly had promised time and time again that she would come visit. But life with Travis required giving him a full itinerary whenever she was out of his sight. The heartache of dealing with his drama had sapped all the fun out of a trip she’d been looking forward to. And yet Holly liked to think of herself as a woman of her word. Following a harrowing journey from Chicago O’Hare airport, trapped in a strange city that wanted nothing more than to take her life and that of her young son, Amrita’s high-rise condo was starting to look like her last hope.

Manny pulled the snowcat in front of the upscale Kensington Estates and killed the engine. “You want us to come up with you?”

The polite answer would have been to say no. To let them go on their way. But Holly wanted them to come up. Not because she was afraid. More so because she wasn’t sure what she would do if her friend wasn’t home.

“Where will you go after this?” she asked Manny.

“First I gotta find a place for Johnny and then I’ll head home to my family and hope everyone’s safe and accounted for.”

“Okay,” she said, rubbing her hands as she bucked up the courage to leave the warm cabin. She helped her son do up his jacket. “You ready, Dillon?”

He nodded without looking her directly in the eye. Another funny characteristic of those with Asperger’s.

All three of them exited with Holly and Dillon lugging their suitcases behind them. They arrived at the front entrance and entered a small reception area. On the wall was a keypad for guests to announce themselves and be buzzed in. Except none of that was working. Nor did it matter, since the second set of glass doors had been smashed.

“Not a promising start,” Johnny said.

The banker might have opted to stay in the snowcat if he wasn’t afraid of encountering members of the city’s rampant criminal community. No power also meant no elevators. By the fifth floor, the group guiding themselves with the final remnants of their cell phone flashlights, Johnny really began to whine.

“What floor did you say they lived on again?”

“Twenty,” Holly said, eyeing the walls of the staircase, which were spray-painted with all manner of vulgarities.

“Mom, what’s a johnson?” Dillon asked.

Johnny howled with laughter. Up ahead, Manny put a hand over his mouth.

“Honey, that’s not nice.”

“But isn’t it someone’s last name?”

“Not the way they meant it.”

Dillon thought about this. “If it’s bad, then why is it up there on the wall?”

“Because some people think it’s okay now for them to do whatever they like. They love that the people enforcing the rules have gone away. That’s why we have guns,” she said, tapping the pistol on her hip. “To stop them from hurting us or anyone else.”

“Like that bad man Earl?” Dillon asked.

“That’s right,” she replied, her breath wavering as she lugged her suitcase up one riser at a time. “The world has always been filled with Earls, honey. It used to be that bad people hid in the shadows. But now they don’t need to hide. Not anymore.”

“So we’ll see him again?” Dillon asked innocently.

“Not him,” she replied. “But others just like him.”

They reached the twentieth floor and started down the darkened corridor. Trash and discarded possessions littered the hallway. Children’s toys, a Diaper Genie, heaps of clothing, the list went on and on. Most of the apartments greeted them with closed doors, but some stood ajar, offering an eerie view into lives that now sat abandoned, slowly rotting.

Holly arrived at the door to Amrita’s condo. A single sheet of white paper had been taped to the surface. The message on it was chilling.

Amrita, if you make it home, I’ve taken the children to the shelter at the Field Natural History Museum. Ravi

Holly tried the door and found it locked.

“They left,” a curt voice shouted from next door.

Holly spun to see a stout woman who probably couldn’t break five feet even with heels on. Her short brown hair was curly and surprisingly well kept.

“You a friend of the Patels?”

Yes, that’s right, Holly remembered. Amrita’s husband is Ravi Patel.

“Dear old friends,” Holly said.

“Tammy Schofield,” she offered, introducing herself. “My husband and I were among the first residents in the building. What a shame when you see what it’s become.”

Right now, Holly’s mind wasn’t on the sorry state of the Kensington Estates. “I just read the note on the door. Did Amrita ever make it home?”

Tammy shook her head. “Not that I know of. She was staying at her parents’ in the suburbs when it happened.”

“Her parents?” Holly said, not understanding.

“Trouble in the marriage, I suspect,” Tammy answered, putting a hand to the side of her mouth like they were sharing a secret. “Let me tell you, these walls aren’t nearly as thick as they look. Not for the price we paid anyway. If you ask me, she hit a real speed bump. Found motherhood too taxing. Life with Ravi wasn’t much of a treat either, I’m sure. So she took a few days off, least as far as I could tell.”

Manny looked about him. “Lady, are you sure it’s still safe to be here?”

“A lot safer in here than out there,” she assured him, propping up her chin as if to accentuate her courage. “Besides, me and my husband have enough to make do until this passes.”

It sounded like to her the power outage was a fever that was bound to break sooner than later. If Holly had a drop of water for every person at the airport who had voiced a similar opinion, she’d be up to her elbows.

“What about temporary shelters?” Johnny asked, motioning to the note Ravi had left on the door. “Is the Natural History Museum the only one around?”

“From what I heard, by day two, the mayor went shelter-crazy,” Tammy said, her short arms gesticulating wildly. “Every major public building’s been taken over. But good luck getting in any of them.”

“They’re already full?” Holly asked, suddenly concerned about where they would go next.

“Packed to the rafters, all of them. I heard the museum had an outbreak of the flu,” she said, pointing to the note on the door. “When the water cut out, the hubby and I decided to head over to the convention center. An absolute zoo. We turned right around in disgust. I heard the only shelter still accepting people is the one the Red Cross is running at the Grand subway station.”

“Thank you. Hey, why don’t you join us?” Holly suggested.

Tammy waved her hands like a person stuffed from dinner and refusing dessert. “After the trouble we had getting back, we aren’t going anywhere. This is our home. If I’m about to meet my maker, I’d rather do it in my own bed than lying on some ratty old cot.”

She did have a point, although Holly’s old bed was back in Seattle with Travis. Given the virtual mountains Holly had had to climb making it here from the airport―a journey of several miles―trying to make it halfway across the country was nothing short of suicide.

“So then it’s settled,” Johnny exclaimed with glee. “We’re going to the subway shelter. Let’s go then, people. Chop, chop.”

He seemed unusually upbeat at the idea of hitting a subterranean shelter. It could only mean one thing. The discarded remnants of people’s old lives scattered about them were giving him the willies. And perhaps they should.

They headed for the stairwell. Along the way, Holly couldn’t help thinking this was how Pompeii must have looked seconds before the streets were buried in ash.

Chapter 18

The ghostly snarl of traffic along Interstate 90 only grew the closer Nate and Dakota got to Chicago. There was something eerie about weaving around vehicles trapped in the snow. In a few cases, they managed to catch a glimpse of what was inside. Sometimes the cars were empty. Sometimes they weren’t. The freezing cold had an unsettling way of locking a person in the moment of death, creating the false impression of slumber. They stopped a handful of times to lend a hand, only to discover those inside were long gone.

It was what Guy had done for them, by stopping to ensure they were all right. And Nate was sad to see their new friend go on his way.

But now, entering the outskirts of Chicago, Nate and Dakota were greeted by new sights and smells. The first was the smoke. Thick, black pillars of the stuff dotted the horizon. There was hardly a street in Chicago that didn’t seem to have a house or building on fire. For Nate, passing the burnt-out shell of a police station in Norwood Park was particularly haunting. If there was anything that summed up what Guy had told them earlier as they had shared a meal, it was the complete disintegration of law and order.

The second sight was in many ways just as heartbreaking. Dozens of refugees, many of them dragging sleds packed with children along with a few choice possessions, were trudging along the edges of the interstate. A few stopped to wave as they slowly passed. At least, that was what Nate thought they were doing. But soon, it became clear the waving hands had nothing to do with social grace.

It wasn’t a greeting. It was a warning.

Go no further. Probably the same kind of warning the residents of Louisiana might have given as they fled Katrina’s destructive wrath.

They were now only five miles from the city center.

“What will we do once we reach the shelters?” Dakota asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice, as there should be. This wasn’t a deserted city they were driving through. At one time, millions had called this home. Since the catastrophe, some of those people had fled, some had died, and some had stayed behind.

Nate was in the middle of that very thought when he spotted a man standing in the single freeway lane with a pistol in one outstretched hand. The other was gripped around the handle of a suitcase. He was screaming something at them, and it was loud enough for those moving along the outer shoulder to stop and observe.

The man was thirty feet out and once again Nate had a decision to make. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The man’s pistol had done the deciding for him. There was no way in hell Nate was going to stop. Instead, he nudged the accelerator. The Beast growled as Dakota ducked down and Shadow continued snoring from a comfy spot on the back bench.

The man kept screaming, pointing the gun as the truck drew closer.

“Move, you idiot!” Nate shouted, waving his hand.

But moving was the last thing on the man’s mind. In one rapid motion, the wedge scooped him up off his feet and sent him fifteen feet into the air, sailing over the median and into a puff of snow. Dakota clamped a hand over her mouth in shock.

A group of refugees cheered, throwing their hands up, signaling a successful field goal.

“I can’t believe you just hit that guy.”

Nate scoffed. “It wasn’t my first choice, believe me, but what the hell was I supposed to do? Stop and reason with the guy? Engage him in a vigorous debate on road safety? And didn’t you see that pistol in his hand? I see someone waving a gun and all bets are off.”

“He looked mentally ill.”

The corners of Nate’s mouth tensed in an ‘I feel really bad, but…’ kinda look. “I’m sure if anything, he just went for a little ride. When he wakes up he won’t remember a thing.”

“Guy’s warning about how bad things have become in Chicago. It keeps playing in my mind,” Dakota said. “I can deal with ambushes near rest stops and drunken idiots using Shadow for target practice. But somehow this felt different.” She was staring out the window at the unbroken line of people fleeing the city. “It’s been a week and they’re still leaving.”

“Those are the clingers,” Nate explained.

“The what?”

“The people who waited too long. The ones who thought help was on its way. That any day now the lights would turn back on. And when they didn’t, many of these folks were left without any kind of contingency other than to pack what they could carry and go. The further in we get, the more desperate the folks will be. Look at it this way. These are the lucky ones. They’re healthy and fit enough to have made it this far. Those who avoid freezing to death over the next couple days will likely make it to Marengo and dozens of other tiny cities west of here. To them it’s an exodus. To guys like Chief McGinley it’s an invasion.”

Nate glanced down at the fuel gauge and grimaced.

“We almost out?” Dakota asked.

He nodded. “I’m gonna need to pull off and find a safe, relatively secluded place to refill the tank.” The three-gallon gas cans roped down in the bed should do the job.

After passing the airport, Nate weaved through gaps in the wrecked vehicles and exited the highway. They came first to a large Greyhound bus depot. To their right was a side street that opened onto a long avenue lined with houses. Nate pulled over, the Beast coming to a stop in a sea of high snow.

He made a quick scan of his surroundings before hopping out. For the most part, the street was still and peaceful, save for the distant sound of gunfire. He climbed onto the truck bed, his G36 slung over his back. Dakota got out too, landing in snow up to her waist. She giggled.

“Wanna stretch your legs?” he asked.

Her eyes shifted to a convenience store across the street. “Let me see if they have anything left,” she said.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he protested, noting how one of the front windows had been smashed and the other spiderwebbed.

“I’m not going far.”

“All the same.”

“Stop jinxing me, I’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words,” he whispered, cutting a path around the side of the truck with one of the gas cans.

He watched her disappear inside, her pistol drawn and held out with both hands. At least she’d gone in armed, he reassured himself. As close as they might have gotten over these last few days, he had to remind himself more than once that he wasn’t the girl’s father. If she decided to head into a potentially dangerous situation, there wasn’t much he could do about it. Inside the cab, Shadow was awake and watching him through the rear window, a sight both reassuring and unnerving all at the same time.

Nate replaced the first empty gas can and unlatched the next one. In it went and still Dakota hadn’t returned.

What was taking her so long? Was she stocking up with junk food or had she encountered someone inside? Nate steadied his mind. Being out here, vulnerable, it was hard not to imagine threats closing in from every direction. He was preparing the third can when he spotted two men emerge from a house seventy-five yards away. He stood watching for a moment, the cold Chicago air stinging his cheeks. They stopped when they saw him and began heading this way. Nate returned to the driver’s seat, unslinging his rifle as he went. The men were on the left side of the street, which meant if need be, he could keep the door open and rest the barrel of his rifle in the crook.

Thirty meters. They were still coming. But neither was waving or showing any sign of friendliness. He checked his mirrors and checked his blind spots to ensure no one was trying to sneak up on him. Shadow was now glaring through the front windshield at the two approaching men. The G36 was across Nate’s lap, ready to be brought to bear at a moment’s notice.

He glanced quickly in the direction of the convenience store. The facade was dark, impenetrable, making it impossible to tell what was going on inside.

As the two men drew closer, they began shouting at him.

“Hey, man! Whatchu doing over there?” said the boldest of the two. He was scrawny and dangerous-looking and wrapped in an eight-ball jacket.

“Guy’s just sittin’ in his car,” the other said, sporting a black beanie topped with a pompom.

“Who you waitin’ on, old man?”

Nate glared at them but said nothing. If they were smart they’d keep walking.

They were maybe twenty feet from the convenience store when Dakota emerged, a large smile on her face. She was waving something around. It looked like a newspaper.

The growl coming from the back of Shadow’s throat grew louder.

Both men were now chopping the air with their hands.

“Dang, honey, you are fine.”

“I got a place down the street. What do ya say we head back there and chill out, leave Daddy behind?”

When they took a purposeful step toward her, Nate decided he had seen and heard enough. He reached over and popped open the passenger door. A grey streak pushed into the front seat and out the door. Dakota was wading through the deep snow as the men closed the distance.

“Let’s go,” Nate shouted, as one of the men unzipped his winter jacket, his hand disappearing inside. At once, Nate came up with the G36, setting the barrel in the groove of the open driver’s side door, his finger moving off the receiver and onto the trigger.

That voice in his head was back and in full force.

Always maintain trigger discipline unless you’re ready to kill.

Eight-Ball’s hand came out of his jacket holding a glass pipe and Nate shot it right out of his fingers. He recoiled, right as Shadow leapt at him, growling as he sank his teeth into fabric and flesh alike. They fell over. The wolf shook his head as Eight-Ball, now lying in a mound of snow, tried in vain to fend off the animal. Pompom shouted and pulled something from his waistband. Nate didn’t wait to see what it was and placed two clean shots directly in his chest. He fell and stopped moving.

A fresh group appeared down the road. They seemed to be coming from the same house as Eight-Ball and Pompom. Another few minutes and the entire neighborhood would be after them.

The new group was hurrying in their direction. Nate pulled the G36 back in and started the engine as Dakota hurried over, wading through the deep powder. A minute later she was in, but Shadow was still gnawing on Eight-Ball.

“We can’t just leave without him,” Dakota said, out of breath.

“He’ll catch up,” Nate assured her, throwing the truck into reverse.

The Beast shot back through an empty lane already carved by the plow. Drawing even with the street, Nate swung the truck around and honked the horn three times.

A grey, furry head popped up above the snow drifts. Moments later, Shadow was racing toward the truck. Dakota opened the door and he scrambled in over her and into the back seat. The wolf stared at them, licking his chops.

Nate threw the truck into gear and sped off.

They returned to the interstate, resuming their journey toward the center of town. They hadn’t been here more than a few minutes and already one man was dead and another seriously injured.

Let it go, Nate thought. What’s done is done. He drew in a deep breath, waiting for that sage advice to settle in.

She glanced over at him quickly before looking down at her lap. “You’re angry, aren’t you?”

“I told you not to go in there,” Nate said, losing that internal battle. “The less stupid stuff we do, the better.”

She grew quiet. He wondered if it was shame she was feeling or remorse. Then he saw her turn the front page of the newspaper she’d retrieved and realized she was feeling neither of those emotions.

“Tell me all that was for more than just a newspaper,” Nate said, his temperature rising even more. He slowed the truck to maneuver around a car blocking his path.

“I went in there looking for something to eat,” she started to explain. “But most of the shelves were completely bare. I’m guessing the people around there aren’t fond of reading because the newspaper and magazine racks were pristine, except for the X-rated mags, that is. Anyway, I figured it might take you a minute to fill the engine, so I started leafing through the paper. I was hoping to find something on the hack. The paper would have been from before then, I get that. But sometimes there are early events that signal something larger is on its way.”

“Like the attack on the banks,” Nate said, wondering where this was going.

“That’s right, just like the banks. Anyway, I was flipping through the pages when I came to a follow-up on a story posted the week before.” She held up the paper and began reading. “‘A tragic end has come for two of the three wolves that escaped from the Lincoln Park Zoo last week after a handler failed to properly seal their enclosure. Two of the animals were struck by cars and killed on the interstate, their bodies recovered by animal control. Judging from the path they were taking, experts suspect the wolves were attempting to leave the city.’” Dakota took a deep breath. “Here’s where it gets interesting. ‘At this time, there is still no sign of the last of the three escaped wolves. However, there have been recent sightings of a lone animal fitting its description south of Rockford. It has left some zoo officials wondering whether at least one of the majestic creatures made it safely out of the city after all.’”

Nate glanced in his rearview at the yellow eyes staring at him from the backseat. “Is that you, buddy? Are you an escaped felon?”

Dakota laughed. “That might explain why he’s built a bond with us. He’s used to humans. Used to seeing them around. Used to taking food from them.”

“Shadow seems more than capable of getting his own dinner,” Nate said, half in jest. “Remember that rabbit he brought us?”

But if this was all true, Nate couldn’t help feeling bad. The wolf had defied the odds and escaped the city before all hell had broken loose. And here they were dragging him back into that very same urban nightmare. Well, they weren’t exactly doing much dragging since Shadow had largely been the one following them. Still, it didn’t change the fact that at heart, he was a wild animal and had risked almost certain death to live free. Nate could relate to that. Heck, as soon as he found his family, he planned on doing the very same thing.

Chapter 19

The Grand Station entrance was little more than a set of descending steps surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. Manny squeezed the snowcat past a row of abandoned vehicles and came to a stop.

“I guess this is where we get out,” Holly said, the strain of emotion in her voice.

“We got out of the airport in one piece,” he said, grinning. “So we must have done something right.”

Even Johnny was feeling the weight of the moment. “You sure you won’t reconsider and join us?” he asked, running his fingers along the smooth surface of his Rolex.

“I wish there was a way,” Manny replied. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I simply abandoned my family.”

“Well,” Holly said, touching his forearm, “worst case, you know where to find us.”

Holly, Dillon and Johnny gathered their things and shuffled out from the snowcat and into a mass of white powder. Holly held the door a moment longer.

Manny nodded. “I’ll wait around for a few, just to make sure you get in okay.”

“What about the pistol you took off that nurse, you still have it?”

He tapped the inside pocket of his jacket. “I’m covered. And you?”

Holly motioned to the pistol she kept in her winter coat.

“I’m no expert on shelters or anything,” Manny said, offering a touch of helpful advice. “But they normally don’t take kindly to folks smuggling in guns. Especially around here.”

“Thanks for the heads up. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind.” Holly removed the pistol and shoved it to the bottom of her suitcase. “You’re a good man, Emmanuel,” she said, taking in the youthful contours of his face one final time before she shut the door.

Together, the three of them worked their way down the long, dimly lit subway stairwell. Gradually, the snow covering the risers began to clear until their boots were clomping along the wet stone surface.

Down below, the faint glow from flickering lights could be seen. Also floating up toward them was the indistinct sound of voices.

Soon, the stairwell opened into Grand Station’s modern-looking mezzanine. Against the wall nearest them was a bank of ticketing machines, now blank and lifeless. Turnstiles divided the large space in two. The ceiling ranged in height from ten to twenty feet, depending where you stood. Those two features, along with the low lighting, conspired to make the area feel much smaller than it was. The folks who were visible were all on the other side of the turnstiles, huddled together in small groups. Some were chatting, others warming food over propane camping stoves emblazoned with the Red Cross’s symbol: a red plus sign encased in a white circle. A large chalkboard stand had been taken from a local pizza shop and repurposed for instructing newcomers.

Line up here.

Single file.

Pushing or verbal abuse will not be tolerated.

A young-looking man and a woman wearing Red Cross pinnies over their jackets and holding clipboards waved them over.

Holly felt the edges of her mouth tweak northward into a smile. For the first time in days, she felt safe.

“Welcome to the Grand,” the woman said, as though she were the doorman at a fancy hotel. She was average size with walnut-colored hair and fleshy cheeks. By contrast, the man was thin, but not skinny. Pleasant, but not good-looking.

Holly wasn’t sure if it was refreshing or unnerving having the entrance guarded by these two. “The shelter, is it full?” she asked, watching figures coming up and descending two other sets of stairs on the other side.

“Not quite yet,” the woman said. The nametag on her chest read ‘Denise.’ “Below the mezzanine is the main platform. That’s where the accommodations are set up. With a little help and a lot of luck, we were able to maneuver the north and southbound trains into the station, opening the doors to provide additional space.”

“How many are here so far?” Johnny asked.

“Over a thousand,” the man replied. His own name tag read ‘Chad.’

“Must have been quite a feat,” Holly said. “Maneuvering those subway cars.”

Chad smiled. “One of the hardest things we’ve ever done, but well worth the effort. So I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you three need a place to stay.”

“Correctamundo, kid,” Johnny said, glancing over the guy’s shoulder at the people making dinner. The smell of cooking food was wafting over, making their bellies tighten with hunger.

“No problem,” Denise said, taking over. “I’ll simply need each of you to sign your names on the list and indicate your address.” She handed Holly a clipboard that housed a thick stack of paper. A cursory examination revealed that the pages were divided up alphabetically, with lined spaces dedicated to family names.

“Mind if I go first?” Johnny said, reaching for the clipboard.

“I don’t see why not.” She handed it over while he flipped to the pages under T for Tang and did as he was instructed.

When it was Holly and Dillon’s turn, she went to A for Andrews, paying only vague attention to the questions they were asking Johnny.

“Sir, are you carrying any weapons or alcohol?” Chad asked.

“I wish,” Johnny said wryly.

The two proceeded to pat him down. Johnny grinned, enjoying the process.

“What about you, ma’am?” Denise asked Holly.

Twenty feet away, a man wearing a ballistic vest and carrying an assault rifle strolled through the mezzanine. She should have known in a city like this they would need more protection than a couple of kids wearing pinnies.

“Ma’am?” Denise repeated.

Johnny nudged her. “Sorry, she hasn’t slept for three days.”

“She has so,” Dillon contradicted him, the boy’s eyes fixed on some distant and unknown focal point. “I saw her go to bed myself.”

Johnny’s jaw clenched.

“Lying down doesn’t always mean sleeping,” Holly said, smiling at the two Red Cross workers. “As for your other questions, the answer is no. I’m not carrying any alcohol or weapons.” She stared at them, amazed how easily the lie had rolled off her tongue. Holly returned to the clipboard, flipping to the end of the letter A to find an empty spot. When she did, she signed for both her and Dillon, filled in their address and then handed it back.

Denise patted both her and Dillon down. “Great. Now that that’s done, the only thing left is the matter of payment.”

Holly’s tired eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

The look of discomfort on Denise’s face was obvious. “I know you probably weren’t expecting―”

“Losing power for so long,” Holly said, her temperature rising, “that was unexpected. At a time like this, after everything we’ve been through, asking us for money… Frankly, I’m at a loss for words. You understand we can’t very well run down to an ATM. I mean, what kind of fee are we talking about?”

“There’s no set fee,” Chad tried to explain. “It’s really more collateral against any violent or disruptive behavior.”

As much as she didn’t like the idea, there had been no such checks on people at the airport and look how things had turned out there.

“Besides,” Chad was saying, “we accept most kinds of portable wealth. Gold, jewelry, precious stones…”

Johnny opened his wallet, withdrew a hundred-dollar bill, regarded it for a moment and then handed it over.

Chad’s face scrunched up with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, sir. We don’t take paper currency.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Johnny said. “It’s a US dollar.”

“I’m sorry,” both of them said at once. Their voices gave the impression they felt bad, but there was nothing they could do. That everything going on was simply beyond their control. That was also how Holly felt about the loss of power—something akin to an act of God. Now it was starting to look like they’d have to leave after all.

Johnny began to seat the money back in his wallet when something caught Chad’s eye. “Is that a real Rolex?” he asked.

A storm of emotions was brewing over the banker’s face. Holly could tell he wanted to tell them it was fake, but that his ego wouldn’t allow it.

“Damn right it’s real,” he blurted out, insulted.

“The Rolex will gain admittance for you, your wife and your son,” Chad said.

Johnny shook his head. “Oh, she isn’―” He got about three quarters of the way through the word before clamping his lips shut. Holly was standing next to him, a hopeful look in her eyes. “What I meant to say was that I can’t believe the Red Cross is charging people for access to a shelter.” Johnny’s protest continued for another minute or two as he removed, held and then finally handed over his watch all with the utmost reluctance.

Chad and Denise smiled and stood aside to let them through the turnstile.

“Thank you,” Holly mouthed silently to Johnny.

“You woulda done the same,” he replied, looking a little lighter.

They were passing through the turnstile when Holly put on the brakes. “Mind if I see that list again?” she asked.

Chad and Denise looked at one another and then handed it over.

There was something her fatigued eyes had happened upon as she’d flipped through the pages looking for the letter A. Something that hadn’t sunk in at first, but was now blooming before her eyes in large red letters. She ran her index finger down the list under B and stopped when she found what she was looking for.

Amy Bauer. Byron, Illinois.

Chapter 20

Denise led Holly, Johnny and Dillon down from the mezzanine to the northbound platform. The smell of unwashed bodies was the first thing that struck them. Candles set on the tiled floor near the wall provided a bare minimum of lighting. Cutting through the shadows, they passed dozens, maybe hundreds of refugees just like them. As Chad had mentioned, the subway train was parked in the station with its doors open. Inside, the seats had all been ripped out to provide room for rows of cots.

At last, they arrived at the final train car where only a single cot remained.

“This can’t be all that’s left,” Johnny complained, his loud voice echoing through the cavernous chamber.

“I’m afraid so,” Denise said, that look of embarrassment again. Holly suspected it was an expression she practiced throughout the day.

“That Rolex was worth ten thousand bucks,” he shouted.

A guard with a funny accent came over and asked if everything was all right.

“Not really, but what can we do?” Johnny said, clearly frustrated. “Write a firmly worded letter? Post a scathing review online?”

“Exactly,” the guard said. “So keep your mouth shut and stop disturbing the people around you.” Thankfully for Johnny, the guard turned and sauntered off before the banker could get himself into any more trouble. Denise was gone too, leaving the three of them to work out the sleeping arrangements.

“It was your watch that got us in here,” Holly said. “So it makes sense you should get the bed. Dillon and I will find a place over here on the platform.”

Johnny sighed. “No, that’s silly. The three of us can rotate. Tonight, it’s Dillon’s. Then you tomorrow and I’ll take the day after. Hardly seems fair for only one of us to be sleeping in the lap of luxury.”

This was the second time the normally self-centered Johnny had turned around and surprised her. She motioned to the cot. “I’m sure a week and a half ago none of us would ever have considered an army cot a luxury item.”

“‘The times they are a-changin’,’” Johnny replied, quoting the Bob Dylan song.

Later, Holly had removed a knit sweater from her suitcase and was laying it on the hard tile floor for bedding when she noticed the woman next to her. She was somewhere in her forties with tangled dirty hair and smears of grease on her face. Holly suspected that somewhere beneath all that was a very attractive woman. The woman was eyeing Dillon. Gradually, her attention turned to Holly.

“Brenda Duval,” she said, offering her hand.

Holly returned the gesture. “How long have you been here?”

Brenda counted on her fingers. “It’ll be a week tomorrow.” Her lips curled into something resembling a smile. “I used to be a financial planner. Worked for one of the largest firms in the country. I’ve spent the last few years worrying about capital gains and inverted yield curves. I didn’t think for a second anything like this could happen. I mean, way in the back of my mind I knew it was possible.” She stretched out that last word as if to emphasize the point. “But possible and probable are two very different beasts, especially in the world where I spent most of my adult life.”

“I was climbing that ladder too,” Holly admitted. “Looks like we landed on a snake.”

Brenda laughed when she got the snakes and ladders analogy. “Yeah. This was one hell of a snake, all right.” She paused to readjust the clothing piled into a makeshift mattress beneath her. “I couldn’t help noticing your son. He’s on the spectrum, isn’t he?”

Holly was quiet for a moment. She glanced over at Dillon, who was sitting on the cot counting shadows on the ceiling.

“I hope you don’t mind―”

“No, not at all,” Holly said. “Normally people ask if he’s special, some if he’s retarded. He has Asperger’s.”

Brenda nodded. “I see. My niece has autism, so I’m hip to the lingo, you might say. Is he taking anything?”

“I’ve been giving him Zoloft,” Holly replied, fighting back the sting of guilt. “To even out his moods and anxiety.”

“I’m sure you know, but if things don’t get better…”

“People like him aren’t made for a world like this,” Holly said, understanding what Brenda was saying, even if she didn’t like hearing it. “All we can do is hope it’s just a temporary blip. You here alone?”

Brenda hesitated, a flicker of emotion welling behind her eyes. “I arrived with my husband, but I haven’t seen him in four days.” There was an empty spot next to her where her husband had once slept.

“Four days? Where could he have gone?” It seemed to Holly they were pretty boxed in down here.

“He went along one of the subway tunnels, looking for a way out.”

The expression on Holly’s face clouded over. “Way out? Why would he do that when there’s a set of stairs past the turnstiles?”

“It’s not that simple,” Brenda said, whispering now.

Holly had been to clubs in her younger days where leaving meant you might not be allowed back in. She asked Brenda if this was what she meant.

“Not exactly.” The woman sighed. “What’d you pay to get in? Goods or services?”

“A friend gave up his Rolex watch. But that was just collateral, they said, to ensure we followed the rules.”

Brenda laughed. “That may be the line they give you, but it’s really a flat fee. If your friend thinks he’s getting his watch back, I’m sorry to say, he’s got another think coming. But you don’t just have to pay to enter. You also have to pay to leave. Problem is, most people here handed over nearly all the portable wealth they owned just to get a spot. Diamonds, wedding rings, anything that can be melted or broken down. My husband’s claustrophobic and the tight quarters around here were killing him. When the guards refused to let him head upstairs for some fresh air, he took off down the subway tunnel, with a handful of them in pursuit. I tried to follow but couldn’t keep up. I heard shots, but they came back empty-handed. Said their warning shots hadn’t made him stop and he ran off. They also brought me back, kicking and screaming. To this day, I have no idea whether or not he got out.”

“We’re in prison,” Holly said in disbelief.

“No,” Brenda corrected her. “This is less of a prison and more of an elaborate extortion scheme.”

“But how is that possible? It’s the Red Cross, one of the most trusted humanitarian organizations in the world.”

“Smoke and mirrors,” Brenda said, leaning closer. “Don’t get me wrong. Those people really are Red Cross workers. But they were brought here from the Natural History Museum shelter.”

“The one with the flu epidemic?”

Brenda winked. “Bingo. Rumor is, the people who set this place up went over and bribed as many Red Cross workers as they could to join them. Not that it was all that difficult. Who would wanna stay in an enclosed space that’s going through a viral outbreak?”

“But who’s behind it all?” Holly asked, breathless.

“A syndicate of some kind. Russian maybe. Eastern European for sure. Who knows?”

“You’re talking underworld?”

“Of course. Who else would be ready to fill the vacuum so soon after a governmental collapse? Types like these are used to working in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to enrich themselves. As my granny used to say, when the lights go out, the cockroaches have free rein. And I should know—my husband Greg worked for the district attorney’s office prosecuting guys just like this.”

Holly felt the artery in her neck thumping a wild beat. “I hate to speculate, but maybe one of them recognized your husband and decided to even a score rather than drag him back to the shelter.”

Brenda’s head fell. “I thought of that, but I sure hope you’re wrong.”

Holly reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “Listen, there’s something else I wanted to ask. You mentioned you’d been here a week or so.”

“Yeah, maybe a little longer.”

“Have you had a chance to get to know anyone?”

Brenda regarded her inquisitively. “A few. Why?”

“Have you happened to meet anyone named Nate Bauer? Not sure if he goes by Nathan or Nathaniel.”

Brenda shook her head. “No. But I did meet an Amy Bauer.”

Holly’s eyes lit up. “That happened to be my next question.”

“They arrived in a small convoy of buses a few days ago,” Brenda explained. “Came in from some small town to the west of Chicago. The name’s escaping me right now.”

“Byron?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Do you know them?”

“Uh, sort of. Let’s just say they’re friends of friends,” Holly tried to explain without going into too much detail. “I happened to see their name on the list and was surprised.”

“The way I heard it, they got off to a late start evacuating from their hometown. Something about the nuclear power plant melting down. It’s terrifying really. And I’ve heard it wasn’t the only one to go up like that.” Brenda sighed, struggling to catch her breath. “It’s part of why I’m not in a big hurry to go topside. Who knows how much radiation is floating around up there? Anyway, Amy told me they tried a few shelters and were turned away. Either they were full or, like the museum, fighting a slew of secondary problems. Like the rest of us, they ended up here. Heard they had to hand over their buses for everyone to make it in. Paid the tax just like everyone else. But it’s the exit tax that really bites you in the rear end. Always read the fine print.” The grin that bloomed on Brenda’s face wavered when she saw the serious look on Holly’s face.

“The Bauers,” Holly said. “Where can I find them?”

Chapter 21

Nate and Dakota decided the shelter at Chicago’s Grand subway station was the fourth and final one they would check today. With the sun going down, they needed to find a safe place to hunker down for the evening. If this place proved to be a bust, tomorrow the search would continue.

Already their introduction to Chicago had been less than ideal. While much of the city had emptied out in the past few days, it hadn’t been nearly enough for Nate. The good folks tended to hide at home, run for shelters or attempt to flee the city. The ones left behind to roam the streets, many of them in packs—those were the people he was most worried about. Journeying from shelter to shelter in the heart of one of America’s largest and perhaps most dangerous cities, they had crossed paths with a few such groups and on more than one occasion shots had been fired as they hurried past. Slamming on the brakes to return fire had occurred to him, although he’d also quickly understood that around here, such a tactic would have him engaging in gun battles at nearly every major intersection.

And so, as they reached the inner city, Nate and Dakota had relied on speed and brute force to push through any feeble attempt at erecting barricades in the streets. A few creative types had tried to rely on the snow itself, but none of the mounds they’d piled had been high or deep enough to stop the Beast.

But that wasn’t to say the cretins roaming the streets wouldn’t learn. While their modified pickup was fierce, even it had limits. Sooner rather than later, the hills of snow they were facing now would be piled into mountains and finally fulfill their purpose of creating a dead end, or put another way, a kill zone. All the more reason to grab his family and leave this godforsaken frozen hell.

With his G36 slung over his shoulder and his hand resting on the hilt of his pistol, Nate descended the final few steps, entering into Grand Station’s impressive mezzanine.

Directly ahead was the turnstile where a handful of Red Cross workers milled about. Nate and Dakota were about to step forward when two large men carrying AR-15s approached them from either side. They held their rifles in a low ready position.

“Sir, this is a weapons-free zone,” the larger of the two men said. He was wearing black and white military fatigues and sporting a hint of a foreign accent. A name patch on his chest read ‘Dimitri.’

“We’re not planning on staying,” Nate assured him.

“All the same,” Dimitri replied as he drew closer. Another guard milling about behind the turnstile touched his ear and headed over to provide support. This told Nate they were communicating with one another over the radio. They also knew how to handle their weapons. If his nephew Hunter had taught Nate anything, it was that an hour watching YouTube videos and prancing around the house with a toy gun didn’t make someone a soldier.

“Sir?”

Nate removed his hand from his pistol. “I’m looking for my family,” he started to explain, raising his hands in the air and shaking them at the wrist for emphasis. A young female Red Cross employee with a dash of purple dye in her hair was holding a clipboard. He spoke directly to her using his cop’s voice. “Amy Bauer. Please see if she’s on your list. She arrived here with my sister-in-law Lauren and Lauren’s kids Emmitt and Hunter Bauer.”

Purple Hair stood frozen for a moment before she tore her eyes away from Nate and looked at the guard.

“I just need to know whether or not they’re here.”

The guard nodded, turning back to keep a careful eye on Nate. They weren’t used to people with guns around here. Most of the folks who were packing heat had either left or were stalking the streets looking for easy prey. In one sense, if his family was here, he would be thankful for the protection. At one of the other three places they’d tried―a former museum―they had an outbreak of the flu and were not letting anyone in or out. Here, they appeared to largely be free from such problems.

“Bauer, Bauer, Bauer,” Purple Hair said, running her finger down a page before stopping. “Yes, we have them here.”

Nate sank to his knees. Dakota moved forward to help keep him upright. He cupped his face, overcome with emotion, or was it exhaustion?

“Thank you, Lord,” he whispered before something else occurred to him. “Can you also look for Carl and Elizabeth Hutchinson? They’re neighbors of mine who travelled with them.”

After a short search: “Yes, they’re here too.”

“I can’t tell you how relieved and happy I am right now,” he said, unaccustomed to any serious displays of emotion. Rising to his feet, Nate felt lighter than he had in a very long time. “Would you please send for them?”

Purple Hair looked at Dimitri again, who probably thought it was better if he delivered the bad news instead of her.

“We can release your friends and family,” the guard began, “but not before you cover the holding fee.”

Dakota was shaking her head. “Holding fee? What kind of BS is this? Is this a jail or a shelter?”

Eyeing Dimitri’s rifle, Nate wondered whether Dakota had just answered her own question.

Just then two more guards appeared on the other side of the turnstile. So far that made five against two.

“Why is the Red Cross charging a fee to see my family?” Nate asked, dumbfounded, but doing his best to keep his voice even.

“We accept any gold, precious stones and most jewelry,” Purple Hair said, although it was starting to become clear by the waver in her voice even she wasn’t completely on board with all this.

In his time on the police force and as a P.I., Nate had seen his fair share of shakedowns and this fit the bill. “We’re not paying you a single red cent, but you’re going to get my family and bring them here right now.” He spoke loud enough that several civilians gathered on the other side stopped what they were doing to watch. They looked uncomfortable and, in some cases, frightened.

Purple Hair held the clipboard to her chest, her gaze jumping between Nate and the guard. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” she said finally.

Another guard showed up. That made six.

The one closest to him was whispering to someone in an earpiece. Was he calling in more support? Or was he talking to his boss? The mastermind behind this crooked little scheme?

Now more people were gathering on the other side. Nate scanned the growing crowd for a familiar face.

“Any of you folks without money to buy your freedom aren’t getting out of here,” Dakota shouted.

The guards began closing in. Nate and Dakota stepped back. If Nate swung his rifle around, they’d be shot and killed on the spot. His pistol was the only weapon he’d have the time to draw if things went south. They were in the open here, with no cover or concealment.

“I have an idea,” Dakota whispered to him, laying it out in a short, concise burst.

He listened. “Well, it’s an idea,” he said, his eyes locked on Dimitri, barely fifteen feet away and edging ever closer. “But not a very good one.”

She reached into her pocket and produced the gold coin she’d taken from her uncle’s house in Rockford. It would be her ticket inside. She gave him a wink that surely meant trouble. “Trust me.”

Chapter 22

Far from the tension at the turnstiles, Holly and Dillon busied themselves searching for Amy Bauer. It took a while to weave past all the people camped out along the way. With the flickering candlelight, the sight reminded her of pictures she had seen of the London Underground during the Blitz. The only difference was back then, people hadn’t only slept on the platforms. They had also built makeshift beds―and hammocks for the children―between the rails themselves.

Soon, they reached the southbound platform. Holly repeated the process, stepping carefully past and in some cases over people. The sight of a boy around Dillon’s age with his arm in a sling caught her eye. He was speaking to a woman Holly assumed was his mother. He was complaining about being hungry. Holly remembered that in one of her pockets was a piece of the salami she’d taken from the airport lost and found. She removed it and sat down next to them. Dillon did the same. Undoing a pocketknife, she sliced off a small chunk and handed it to the boy. He stared at it and then up at his mother.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Holly said. “I happened to overhear you and your son talking―”

“He’s my nephew,” the woman said. She was pretty with shoulder-length blonde hair. Even seated, it was obvious she was tall for a woman. “He’s still getting used to eating one meal a day.” She took the piece and gave it to him. “What do you say, Hunter?”

The young boy with the fiery red hair popped it into his mouth, working it joyfully.

“How about you?” Holly asked, offering her a piece as well. “I’m Holly, by the way.”

“Amy,” the woman said, taking the piece and thanking her.

Another young boy and a woman arrived. The boy sat down next to Dillon. “Hey, I’m Emmitt.”

Dillon kept looking straight ahead. “Hi.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“Dillon’s a little shy,” Holly said.

“You like computer games?” Emmitt asked.

Dillon nodded vigorously.

“Me too. I managed to get my phone charged up.” Emmitt pulled out his phone and fired up a driving game. “See, you have to drive through the hoops to get points.”

Dillon moved closer, watching attentively. A moment later, Emmitt’s digital car spun out and crashed.

“It was the last thing I downloaded before we lost power,” he explained, handing it over to Dillon. “Wanna give it a try?”

Dillon took the phone, held it out before him and pressed start. At once, his hands banked left and then right as he maneuvered the car along an imaginary track, collecting tokens and sending the leaping vehicle through one ring after another.

“Hey, you’re pretty good,” Emmitt said, a tinge of excitement in his voice.

But Dillon was only just getting started. Soon he hadn’t only broken Emmitt’s high score, he’d beaten the highest score on record.

“Holy crap,” Emmitt shouted.

“Emmitt,” Lauren snapped. “Don’t you dare curse.”

“But Mom, he thrashed the game.” The red-headed boy turned back to Dillon. “Have you ever played before?”

Dillon shook his head. “No.”

Holly thought it was a good time to explain her son’s condition and his marked abilities in certain, narrow fields. Namely computer games and mathematics.

“What a shame,” Lauren said. “He might have been a programmer if most of our technology hadn’t gone bust.”

Holly noticed the bandage on Amy’s forearm and asked her about it.

“Our evacuation bus hit a parked car hidden in a snow pile and flipped.” She rubbed at her swollen belly. “Thought for sure I was going to lose the baby, but miraculously she was okay. There’s a nurse with the Red Cross who’s looked me over twice and said that everything was fine. If our pioneering ancestors could cross the country and give birth in a world without electricity, I don’t see why I can’t do the same.”

“Good point. When are you expecting?” Holly asked, genuinely interested.

“By the looks of things, another week or so. How much easier things would be if we were back home.”

“Where’s that?”

“Byron,” Amy said, her voice laced with nostalgia.

“I was friends with a Nate once who lived in Byron,” Holly fibbed. “His last name was Bauer.”

Amy’s head did a little dance. She ran a hand through her hair, her mouth slightly ajar. “Nate Bauer’s my husband.”

“No way!” Holly cried, bellowing out a laugh. Amy joined her. Soon tears of laughter were streaming down both their cheeks.

“Aunt Amy, you’re crying,” Emmitt said.

“What are the chances?” Amy exclaimed, dabbing at her eyes to protect the mascara that had faded away days ago.

“Astronomical,” Holly said, unable to stop grinning. “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

And for the first time, Holly began to worry about what might be in that letter she’d been asked to deliver. Somehow, her mind kept coming back to Johnny’s silly comment about evening a score or getting payback for some old, bygone grievance. Her mother had left Holly with the impression that a debt was owed and that she―Holly―had been tasked with following up on the repayment. But it had never been completely clear whether Holly was meant to repay a debt or collect one.

In the brief time they’d known each other, Holly had come to realize what wonderful and kind people the Bauers were. What a shame it would be to ruin this new friendship with the settling of a petty disagreement, one between two sets of parents now both deceased.

Go back, remove the letter from your suitcase and burn it.

Holly was floating on a knife’s edge when another figure approached, standing over them. Looking up, Holly saw it was a young girl with dark, knotted hair. She waved. “Amy?”

Amy nodded, suddenly worried, maybe even afraid. “Yes, can I help you?”

“My name’s Dakota. Your husband Nate sent me.”

Chapter 23

His heart brimming with doubt and despair, Nate headed back to the truck. A block and a half from here, he had found the perfect spot nestled between two snow drifts. By shoveling snow onto the bed cover and roof, he had hoped the deception would fool any passerby that the Beast was just another wreck, claimed by the ravages of winter.

A frigid wind howled between the towers of glass and steel looming above him. Otherwise, the city’s inner core―or the Loop, as it was affectionately known―was mostly quiet. One might even say peaceful, save for the occasional rattle of gunfire in the distance.

During one of his passes through this part of town, his truck had cut a path through the deep snow. Between the sounds of faraway gun battles, Nate caught feet padding down the street toward him. He turned in time to see Shadow, who skidded to a stop and licked his lips. Unlike the family dog, Shadow’s tail never wagged, but there was something in his eyes that let you know he was happy to see you.

“Hey, buddy, how the heck did you get out of the truck?” Nate asked the animal. He’d left him to watch over the vehicle.

Arriving a moment later, Nate quickly got his answer. The dice he’d rolled on camouflaging the Beast had come up snake eyes. The driver’s side window had been smashed and the door stood ajar. Lying parallel to the vandalized truck was the body of a man in full snow gear. Nate’s pistol was out at once as he scanned the area for any other threats.

The guy wasn’t wearing any gloves or scarf, which gave Nate a perfect view of the man’s throat and face, both of which looked like hamburger meat.

“Was this you?” Nate asked the wolf, who only stared back at him. It was a silly question, of course. Clearly this gangbanger had come upon what he’d assumed was easy pickings. After breaking the window, he’d probably even slid into the driver’s seat, only to see a set of vicious eyes staring at him from the back seat.

A quick search of the man’s body revealed he had nothing of value. Nate brushed the shards of tempered glass from the seat, then moved aside, allowing Shadow to jump in.

Seconds later, they were off. Clearly this wasn’t going to be a safe place to kill time before Dakota’s plan could unfold. Thinking fast, Nate quickly deduced that Grant Park, less than half a mile from here, offered a good backup location where he could lie low. A sprawling urban landscape of over three hundred acres, Grant Park was also crisscrossed with a network of roads, which meant Nate could avoid the immediate danger of the downtown core without needing to leave the Beast behind. Popping the glove compartment, he found a pair of heavy-duty garbage bags and a roll of duct tape. It wouldn’t be pretty, but once he stopped, he would need to cover the window to block the frigid wind.

But there was another problem. Judging by the abandoned cars clogging the road, his journey east on Grand and south on Michigan might prove challenging.

Undeterred, Nate pushed on, nudging the accelerator. The Beast’s engine roared as he plowed through a mishmash of soft powder and hard pack. Luckily the truck treated them all equally, tossing the remnants up and on either side of him. A quick glance in his rear view revealed a sight he hadn’t anticipated. A SUV cut across his path heading in the other direction before skidding to a halt and backing up.

Could they be gangbangers? Friends of the guy who got his face chewed off?

Any way you sliced it, this newest development wasn’t good. Nate made a sudden right, distinctly aware that if the folks in the SUV were intent on pursuing him, they had only to follow the trail he was leaving in the snow. A solitary glimmer of hope rested on a simple fact. While searching earlier for a spot to leave the truck, Nate had driven through a number of the nearby streets. If he could get back on a path already cleared, tailing him might not be so easy.

“Hold onto something,” he told Shadow as they took another hard right. The Beast lurched to one side, groaning under the strain. The back tires did their best to dig into the slick roads. “You got this, girl,” he encouraged the truck, gripping the steering wheel till his knuckles turned white.

After he took another sharp turn, he paused only long enough to see the SUV blow past in the other direction.

With any luck, it would be several minutes before they discovered the deception.

Chapter 24

Holly listened as Dakota explained to the group who she was and how she knew Nate. Tears were streaming down Amy’s face as she listened intently. Even the kids were visibly shaken.

“No one gets out of here without paying the piper,” Dakota was telling them. “We didn’t have enough to spring all of you, but we do have a plan.”

“A plan?” Lauren asked, skeptically. It seemed now it was Dakota’s turn to listen. “Don’t you think it’s better to stay here, where it’s at least safe and we have something to eat?”

Dakota didn’t seem convinced. “And what if the warden—because that’s what you are, prisoners—decides to start only feeding those who can pay? Or those willing to work or do any number of other disgusting things? What then?”

“The Red Cross would never do anything like that,” Lauren countered.

“I’m sorry to tell you, these guys aren’t the Red Cross,” Dakota said, growing frustrated at Lauren’s caution and reluctance to see the truth. “They’re using them as a front to wring all of you for as much as they can.”

“What’s the plan then?” Amy asked.

A guard was approaching, and Dakota quickly changed topics, yammering on about girly stuff.

Hunter and Emmitt’s faces squished up.

Grinning, Emmitt waited for the guard to pass before he said, “You did that so well you even had me convinced.”

Dakota glanced over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. “Tomorrow at noon, we’re going to sneak out via the southbound tunnel over there and rendezvous with Nate at Washington Station. We’ll have to do it one at a time in intervals, to avoid drawing any attention.”

“Intervals,” Holly said pensively. “Like The Great Escape.”

Hunter and Emmitt were both lost. “Huh?”

“An old movie,” Holly explained. “Well worth seeing if you ever get the chance.”

“But sneak out during the day?” Amy wondered, uncertain. “I mean, wouldn’t it be better to do so in the middle of the night, when everyone’s asleep?”

Dakota shook her head. “No way. We’ll make way too much noise.”

“But what if a guard tries to stop us?” Hunter asked, trepidation in his young voice. “They have guns.”

Dakota’s gaze fell. “I know. The only way I could get in was to hand my weapons to Nate. Otherwise, they would have found it during the patdown for sure.”

“We may not be completely out of luck,” Holly said, pulling open her jacket to reveal the pistol she was carrying.

“Hey, where’d you get that?” Emmitt asked, excited.

Lauren tapped the side of his head. “Keep your voice down, mister.”

Holly ruffled his hair playfully. “Smuggled it in my suitcase.”

“But why would you risk your life for us?” Amy asked. “We’ve only just met.”

“Dillon and I left Seattle to escape a controlling bully who was threatening our lives. We didn’t come all this way to trade one abusive relationship for another.”

Chapter 25

Nate was rolling down Michigan Street, Grant Park rapidly approaching on his left-hand side, when he spotted a pile of snow, at least three times the height of his truck, blocking the road. Warning signs in his head were all flashing with bright red neon letters.

Ambush!

He slammed the brakes, sending Shadow crashing into the back of his seat. The Beast skidded to a stop as Nate punched the truck into reverse. Figures in white improvised camo popped up on every side. Some appeared atop the mound, another group rose up from behind vehicles parked along the side of the road. A final group were behind him, pushing the shell of a burned-out bus into the street to block his exit.

This wasn’t just bad, it was terrible, and quite possibly the end of him. Shots rang out, causing the snow around him to explode in beautiful puffs of white powder. Then came the metallic ding as rounds struck the vehicle. Shadow whined. Nate grit his teeth as he backed up at high speed. A few of his assailants rushed out at the vehicle right as Nate spun the wheel to whip it around, striking them with the Beast’s front wedge. The impact made a wet, crunching sound as their bodies were shattered from the impact and flung into a heap of snow. The truck came to a stop and Nate drew his SIG, aiming it out the broken driver’s side window at the thugs closing in on his left.

Two incoming rounds pierced the front windshield and thudded into the passenger seat. Nate raised an arm to protect his face from spraying shards.

The realization quickly dawned on him that if he stayed put, he’d be torn to shreds. Grabbing his G36, he laid down some suppressing fire before bailing out. Shadow followed a second later, sprinting out of sight.

Nate ran along the side of the truck, heading for the remnants of the burned-out bus. At least that might provide him some cover. Cutting the corner on the left, he took down two guys scooting along the road toward him.

A second later, he turned to see what looked like a teenager raise a silver pistol at him. Nate drew his own and fired first, striking the kid twice in the chest before he dropped.

The sound of an approaching vehicle knocked the wind from Nate’s sails. Seeing the SUV that had been following him before barrel around the corner only made things worse. Unfortunately, he was too busy fending off the mounting pressure closing in from both sides to worry about whoever was swooping in.

A quick magazine change later and Nate shuffled to the right side of the bus, pausing only briefly to fire as he went.

The SUV skidded sideways, drawing even with the bus stretched across at least half the road. The doors away from the gunfire popped open and four men in white spilled out. Nate was about to swing his rifle around to engage them when the tallest of the squad threw him an okay sign. For a moment, he watched them go to work, covering each other with suppressing fire as their comrades charged forward. They repeated this maneuver, sweeping everyone before them. Nate followed up on the right, pushing back on the remaining thugs as he cut along a trench line in the snow.

Within minutes, the enemy broke off and ran. A member of the SUV team scaled the blockade of snow with a scoped rifle, picking them off as they fled.

When it was clear the enemy had lost the thirst for battle, all five men met near Nate’s bruised pickup.

“You gave us the slip back there,” the tall one with the slight bend in the tip of his nose said, He introduced himself as Colt.

“I guess I did,” Nate replied. “Maybe next time wave a white flag so I know you come in peace.”

This was met with raucous laughter from an older black guy. “What’d I tell you?” He bumped fists with a Marine type carrying the scoped rifle and a wiry guy with dark curly hair and a wide grin.

“This is Walker,” Colt said, pointing to the black guy. “The one with the scowl is Ash. And the guy most likely to make a joke about your mother is Brooks.”

They all nodded.

“Brooks, I dare you to make a joke about Walker’s mom,” Ash said, flashing a straight set of whites.

Brooks scoffed. “Do I look suicidal to you?”

“We’ve been trying to make contact since you left Grand Station,” Colt said. “Your vehicle, is it still functional?”

Nate looked her over. “I think so.”

“Good. Then follow us.”

Although grateful for the help, Nate was starting to wonder if the wolf had run off for good this time.

They backtracked, heading toward the Loop, when Nate spotted a gangbanger lying face down in the snow, a wolf standing over him. He pulled to a stop and leaned over to pop the passenger door. Shadow got in.

“Look at you, cutting off the retreat,” Nate said, laughing.

They resumed their trek, pulling into what had once been the glassed-in lobby to an upscale residential building. The marble floor was slick with slush, but Nate could see where the broken glass had been swept aside with a push broom. He let Shadow out and closed the door.

“Who needs a parking lot when you can make your own, right?” he said to Colt as he approached.

Colt agreed. “One of the few upsides to a crappy situation, I suppose.”

The leader of this small unit led them down a set of stairs and into the building’s common area. A library with expensive-looking bound books had been transformed into a command post.

The four men from the SUV sank into seats around an oval table. “Please,” Colt said, pointing to an empty chair.

Shadow poked his head in, sniffed at the air and then left.

Brooks jabbed a finger at the doorway. “Uh, that don’t look like no labradoodle.”

“Brooks, you’re a real moron, you know that,” Ash spat, flinging a crumpled piece of paper at Brooks’ head.

“No, but seriously. Where’d you find him? I want one.”

Nate grinned. “I wish I could tell you, but the truth is he found us.” He shifted his attention to Colt. “Given that you seem to be the one leading this motley group, you wanna explain what this is all about?”

“Reciprocity,” Colt said enigmatically. “We saw you enter the shelter and drop someone off, but our sources suggested you caused quite a scene down there.”

“Maybe I did. I’d like to think a man can pick up members of his family without paying for the privilege.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Walker said, his voice deep and soothing.

A light formed in Nate’s eyes. “Wait a minute, what did you mean by sources? You guys were following me minutes after I left.” But the words were barely out of his mouth before the pieces clicked into place. “Ah, I get it. You’re monitoring their radio chatter, aren’t you? Which one of you speaks Russian?”

“Zdravstvuyte,” Ash said, greeting him in the foreign dialect, before pushing back in his seat and flicking a hand through his tightly cropped hair.

Colt folded his hands over the walnut table. “Like you, we arrived in Chicago to locate and extricate family members trapped in the city. After a bit of searching, we discovered two such members were in the Grand Station shelter, being held captive by members of a Russian crime syndicate. Al Capone can’t hold a candle to Sergei Ivanov. The Soviets were notoriously harsh on organized crime. The weak and stupid were captured or killed, leaving only the tough and ruthless behind. The most efficient psycho factory in the world, you might say.”

Ash grinned. “He’s got a trademark on that, by the way, so be sure to give credit.”

Colt tapped the table, struggling to tell the next part. “When my wife and daughter tried to leave, they were captured and killed.” He paused, his hands now balled into fists. “For gangsters, the blackout’s just one more opportunity to do what they do best. Slavery, extortion, prostitution, you name it. I want payback. First and foremost, I want to see Sergei and every last one of his sadistic henchmen dead. But they have numbers on their side. All I could get my hands on were these guys.”

The three others glanced at one another, insulted.

“I resent that,” Brooks said.

“Where are you all from?” Nate asked. “Remnants of the US military?”

Walker’s famous laugh filled the room. “Nope. Just me.”

The color was back in Colt’s cheeks. “We live in a place we call the Citadel. Been around for a little over nine years, formed shortly after the financial crisis. It’s no Fort Knox, but it is a group of like-minded individuals working toward a common set of ideals.”

“Ideals?” Nate said, handling the word as though it were an expensive heirloom. “You’ll have to forgive me, but it’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone speak like that.”

“I know. It’s because chivalry’s dead, man,” Brooks said.

Nate felt his hand move involuntarily to the pendant of St. Christopher around his neck, the one Sanchez had given him. “Maybe not everywhere,” he said, remembering how his friend had made the ultimate sacrifice to save a girl he didn’t know.

“Then you understand?” Colt replied warmly, a twinkle in his eye.

Nate nodded. “I’m starting to.” He let the room get quiet for a moment before asking, “So, what now?”

“We were hoping you might have an idea,” Walker said.

“I had a feeling you were gonna say that.” Nate drew in a deep breath and told them about the escape plan, one he now realized was a terrible idea. “Is there any way we can call it off?”

“Not without launching a full-frontal assault, I’m afraid,” Colt replied. “And that would be disastrous. Our only hope is to lure Sergei’s men out into the open and engage them piecemeal.”

“That’s right,” Ash said, working a silver dollar over the tops of his fingers. “Guy like that’s gotta always leave men behind, to keep control over the livestock… well, you know what I mean.”

“Let’s just hope Lady Luck is on our side,” Walker said, snatching the coin from Ash and setting it on the table.

Nate folded his arms. “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

“Who’s that?” Brooks asked, intrigued. “Sun Tzu?”

“No, Dwight D. Eisenhower.”

Chapter 26

Day 9

By 11:30AM the next morning, the size of the escape group had swelled to nine. It included all four Bauers; their neighbors, Carl and Liz; Holly, Dillon and Dakota. Which left Holly in the awkward position of having to explain what was happening to Johnny. She realized discretion was key, but after everything he had done to secure them a spot here, running out without even a goodbye seemed beyond the pale.

She kept her voice low as she explained the situation.

“You’re what?” he said, sitting up. “Holly, you’ve got to be kidding me. We just got here.” He studied the empty space on his wrist.

“I’ve got my reasons,” she explained enigmatically. “But I’m sure there’s probably room for one more if you wanna join us.”

Johnny shook his head. “Go back out there into the freezing cold and the snow?” He settled back down onto his makeshift bed and rubbed at his temples. “I just can’t do it.”

“I respect that,” she said. “But you put yourself out on a limb to help Dillon and I. Someday I hope to be able to return the favor.”

“I’m staying here,” he said, crossing his arms. “Sure, I might die of boredom or go blind from the gloomy lighting, but at least I won’t be freezing my butt off.” He smiled, as if to say it was okay. “Besides, who knows. Maybe we’ll meet sometime down the road when I’m in need of a hand.”

“And I’ll be there to lend you one,” she assured him.

They shook then, a normally informal act which somehow held a powerful level of poignancy. Johnny had probably spent most of his life thinking about no one but himself. But when push came to shove, he was top-notch.

Holly was busy helping get Dillon’s things together when Dakota approached.

“Is it time?” Holly asked.

Dakota nodded. “You and Dillon go first. Five minutes later, it’ll be Amy, followed five minutes later by Lauren, the boys and the others.”

“What about you?”

“I’m last,” Dakota said. “Who do you think will be waving everyone on like a third base coach?”

Holly laughed and hugged her. “You’re wise beyond your years.”

“Wisdom comes from pain,” the girl said. “And I’ve had my fair share.”

“You and me both,” Holly replied as she watched Dakota turn and head to her designated position.

Holly gathered Dillon and headed for the southern platform.

“See you around, neighbor,” Brenda said, giving her the thumbs up. Holly returned the gesture.

After crossing from one platform to another, Holly spotted the others, sitting in their regular places. Their anxiety hung in the air about them like a fine mist, their faces wrought with tension.

Ahead was a narrow space―no more than two feet wide―at the end of the platform between the train and the wall. Beyond that point lay the subway tracks and one of the original objectives of this entire journey, Nate Bauer.

Dakota was leaning against the wall, scanning in the opposite direction for guards and anyone else who might give them away. The girl’s left hand dangled at her side. A small wiggle of her fingers there told Holly it was time to go. She climbed through first, throwing her suitcase onto the tracks below. She did the same with Dillon’s bag and then helped them both down. It was difficult and felt awkward, but they had made it. Now came the hard part, waiting around to help the others.

A few moments later, Amy was next, struggling to squeeze her swollen belly through the tight opening.

“Are you okay?” Holly asked, when Amy was down on the tracks next to her.

Amy ran her hands over her stomach. “A little scratched up, but no worse for wear.”

Lauren and the boys came next. That was when Holly heard loud voices from the platform. She went and propped herself up to see what was going on.

An older man was asking Carl and Liz where everyone was going. Dakota was telling him to mind his own business, but he didn’t seem to like being told to keep quiet by someone so young.

Holly helped Liz and Carl, who had opted to skip the drama and push on, climb down.

“That jerk’s gonna give us away,” Carl said, his cheeks flushed.

In the distance, a guard was heading toward them. Holly noticed his head perk up as he keyed in on the commotion. Dakota locked eyes with Holly and signaled for them to leave.

“She wants us to go,” Holly said.

Amy shook her head, adamant. “We aren’t leaving without her.”

Unburdened by any sense of loyalty, Lauren was already heading down the tracks. “Can’t she just catch up once the guard moves on?”

“You go,” Holly told them. “And take Dillon with you. Dakota and I will catch up.”

Emmitt removed his phone and cupped his light, giving them enough to navigate by without announcing their presence in the tunnel. Holly watched them recede into darkness as the argument above became more heated. The old guy wasn’t letting it go, while Dakota was trying to convince the guard the man was crazy and didn’t know what he was talking about. Predictably, this only infuriated the man even more.

Now the guard was playing referee, trying to untangle competing accusations. The man was pointing to the space the others had crawled through. Holly knew she had to move fast or risk being seen. The guard started heading her way, reaching into his utility belt for a flashlight.

Holly sprinted to the other side of the train, wedging herself between the wall and the wheel assembly.

The guard leaned into the tunnel, swinging his light around. In the distance, the sight of Emmitt’s flashlight was hardly visible. But hardly wasn’t good enough. The guard raised his flashlight, the beam swallowed in the tunnel’s darkness. “Hey,” he shouted in surprise and alarm as he began to raise his rifle. Holly stepped out, reaching into her jacket for her pistol. She was in the middle of pulling back the slide when the heel of Dakota’s boot struck the guard from behind, sending him pinwheeling onto the tracks below. He landed with a loud crack as his skull struck a support slab, killing him.

Holly ran over, grabbing his rifle and flashlight. Dakota slid through the opening and hopped down. From above came the harried voice of the man shouting for help. He ran to the opening and peered through. If they did nothing, he would direct every guard in the subway station after them. Holly raised her pistol and shot him in the head. His limp body fell next to the guard.

After that, pandemonium broke out on the southbound platform. Together, Holly and Dakota hurried along the tracks, aiming for the light up ahead. With her fear spiking, Holly’s mind was a flurry of frantic activity. Why had she shot the old man? To give them time to escape or had she simply lost her temper?

They ran for what felt like forever, fighting to keep their footing in this strange environment, only partially lit by the bobbing light in Holly’s hand. When at last they reached the others, the group turned toward them.

“We heard a gun go off,” Carl said, wheezing for air. “Did the guard fire at you?”

“He was about to,” Dakota said, without elaborating. She and Holly exchanged a knowing look. “Washington Station’s still a ways,” Dakota told them, pulling ahead. “We better hurry. The rest of the guards are surely close behind.”

“Perhaps closer than you think,” a strange voice said from out of the darkness. Laser pointers cut through the still air, illuminating each and every one of them. “Place your weapons on the ground or I’ll have you all killed. Do it now!”

There had to be at least ten of them. And Dakota and Holly were the only ones armed.

Slowly, they set their weapons down and raised their hands. A man in a sleek black suit stepped into the light. Apart from a missing left ear, his face was ruggedly handsome and distinctly European.

“Wise decision,” he told them, as two guards rushed forward and seized the guns they had dropped. The source of his accent was quickly becoming clear. He was probably Russian. And the expensive suit only boosted her suspicion he was an organized crime boss. “I’m afraid none of you were given permission to leave the shelter. There are rules and when rules are broken, chaos ensues.” In the distance, the faint sound of cries could be heard. “My operation was running just fine before this little stunt. I’m a businessman, which is to say, I’m very reasonable. I understand you would like to leave. I also understand you likely don’t have the fees required to purchase your freedom. That’s not a problem. If any of the women would like to pay with services, that can be deducted from what you owe. But as of now, whatever you thought you needed to pay has just tripled.”

Amy winced, holding Emmitt close to her.

“Except for the pregnant lady, of course,” he said, as if to reassure them. “Because we may be many things, but monsters we are not.” He turned to the guard standing next to him. “Dimitri, take them―”

Just then, Dimitri’s radio came to life, babbling in a foreign language none but the mobsters understood. He turned to his boss. “Sergei, Lev is dead. They found his body on the tracks.”

“Perhaps that was the shot we heard?”

Dimitri shook his head. “No, they executed an old man who was trying to report them.”

Amy’s features clouded over with a look of surprise and disapproval.

Sergei took Lev’s rifle and pulled back the charging handle. He swiveled the weapon before the group, their faces wincing whenever the barrel crossed over them.

“Don’t do it,” Lauren said, her voice a tight ball of emotion.

Sergei swung and shot her once in the chest. Lauren fell. Amy, Holly and the others gasped, clinging to those around them. Sergei then spun and shot Liz and Carl. The kids burst into tears, grasping onto Lauren’s lifeless body. The shock and horror of the situation was too much.

“Enough,” Dakota shouted, not caring if she was next. “You’ve made your point.”

Sergei centered her in his crosshairs. She didn’t flinch.

“This one has attitude,” he said, bellowing laughter, his expression slowly turning dark and frightening. “I like that. A lot. Dimitri, make sure the girl’s locked up tight with the others. I’ll save her for later.” He turned to the other guards. “The rest of you, come with me. We have an appointment to keep at Washington Station.”

Chapter 27

Nate and the members of the Citadel team had just arrived at Washington Station when Colt looked around. “Hey, where’s your dog? I thought he was right behind us?”

Shaking his head, Nate said, “First off, he’s a wolf. Second, he does his own thing. I’m just the guy who hopes he doesn’t get hurt.”

“I was the last man into the station,” Brooks said. “I called after him, but he wouldn’t come down. Took off running.”

But truth be told, Nate was far too busy checking his weapons and fretting over his family to let an idiosyncratic canine worry him.

That concern was only magnified when they heard the terrible echo of gunfire reverberating from the northbound tunnel. The series of sharp cracks that travelled through the passageway chilled the blood in Nate’s veins.

“Grand Station’s that way, isn’t it?” Colt wondered, clearly worried.

Nate didn’t bother answering. He bolted forward, the rest of the men following close behind. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go down.

Nate stomped through the dark tunnel with nothing but the light at the end of his rifle to guide him, Colt’s story of his family’s murder looping through his mind. He could only pray that Sergei hadn’t gone and done something stupid.

Bursting with adrenaline, Nate soon found himself far out front. A handful of bobbing lights in the distance signaled a group was approaching. He immediately went dark and waited.

Was this Amy, Dakota and the rest of his family approaching? Or was it someone else?

The lights were now a hundred meters away and Nate caught the muffled sound of a male voice.

Colt arrived then and dropped to one knee beside him.

“I’m guessing you don’t have any nightvision gear,” Nate said.

“It’s on our Christmas list,” Colt assured him. “We been too busy stockpiling beans and bullets.” He motioned to the earpieces they were all wearing. “I’m afraid this comm system was the most high-tech toy we had on hand.”

The others arrived a moment later, breathing hard.

“Man, Brooks, chew a mint or something, dude,” Walker said, grimacing. “Your mouth smells like a sewer.”

Brooks exhaled into the palm of his hand and brought it to his nose, wincing.

“Quiet down,” Colt said, ordering them to fan out to form a firing line.

If these happened to be the bad guys, Nate could see there wasn’t going to be much in the way of cover. The approaching group was now fifty yards out.

“We may not have NV gear,” Colt told him. “But we do have this.” He plucked a chunk of plastic off his belt that was shaped like a softball.

“The heck is that?”

“I call it ‘the disco ball’. Think of a flashbang, but with lots of flash and no bang.” He pressed a button with his thumb which turned red and started to blink.

Nate was still processing all this when Colt rose up and hurled the non-lethal device into the air at the oncoming group. If it was his family members, they would be startled and confused. No harm, no foul. But if it was anyone else…

The disco ball landed with a hollow plastic tink. It fell a few feet short but rolled the rest of the way in. At once the tiny thing exploded as powerful beams of light, ten million candles strong, pulsated in every direction, transforming the subway tunnel into the most intense rave Nate had ever seen. The only thing missing was the loud thump of techno music.

Ahead, the lights also illuminated eight men in black and white army fatigues, recoiling from the blinding rays. Nate quickly realized that Colt’s little gizmo was just as effective at distracting them as it was the enemy. Flashbulbs of iridescent light hampered his vision as both sides opened fire.

One of Sergei’s men kicked the disco ball back in their direction. Not that it mattered all that much since it wasn’t designed to incapacitate, but to neutralize an enemy’s numerical advantage.

The deafening sound of gunfire echoed off the arched walls of the subway tunnel as rounds split the air around them. Muzzle flashes from the rifles only added to the light show. It was by far the most chaotic gun battle Nate had ever seen.

Rolling to one side, he squeezed off a handful of rounds and watched as they impacted one of Sergei’s men, rippling the camo shirt he was wearing. The man hung in midair for a moment, his collapse reduced to a series of macabre snapshots by the pulsating light.

Rounds ricocheted off the walls and the ground around Nate. This was a knock-down drag-out fight and he was determined to prevail.

Quickly swapping magazines, Nate caught sight of a man who wasn’t dressed like the others. Instead of cammies, he was wearing a dark suit. The guy grabbed two of his men and ushered them through a side door. Two others tore off into the darkness, leaving three of their comrades dead.

Just then the disco ball shut off. Colt had a red filtered light he switched on to take a quick accounting of his men. “Anyone hit?”

“I think we’re good,” Walker said, blood running down the side of his face where a bullet had split his scalp.

“Ash, throw a quick bandage on that, will you? When you’re done, you, Brooks and Walker press down this tunnel. Nate and I will rendezvous with you at Grand Station.” Colt waved a finger. “Once there, if you encounter any more hostiles, watch your fire. That place is crawling with civilians.”

The men nodded.

By the time Colt was done addressing his men, Nate was already pulling open the side door, his pistol in hand. It looked like this was some sort of service corridor, normally a maze of narrow hallways providing repair teams access points to areas between subway stations.

With both hands on his SIG, Nate swiveled his tac light, slicing a path through the gloom as he weaved around one bend after another.

That they had encountered Sergei and not his family in the tunnel did not bode well for the execution of their escape plan. That sinking feeling only got worse when he recalled the shots they’d heard earlier.

Nate and Colt were coming up behind him when Ash’s voice came over the earpiece. “We’ve got three civvies dead over here. Looks like an execution. Two female, one male.”

Nate’s heart dropped into his knees. “Was one of them pregnant… or a teenager?” he asked, dreading the answer he feared might be coming back.

“Negative. She looks middle-aged. The other two appear to be older.”

Lauren, Carl and Liz? he wondered, sickened.

He prayed he was wrong. And prayed harder that if he was right, Amy, Dakota and the others were still among the living.

Chapter 28

“Get off of me,” Dakota yelled as the guard grabbed hold of her shirt and hauled her back onto Grand Station’s southbound platform. Holly, Amy, and the three boys were similarly yanked up.

“Be careful,” a woman said, stepping forward. “Can’t you see that woman’s pregnant?”

The guard closed his gloved hand around her face and shoved her back. The woman tumbled into the crowd gathering behind her.

Brutal as it was, the move seemed to have the desired effect. The murmur of questions and complaints coming from the stirring refugees fell silent.

Holly felt like a criminal as she and the others were perp-walked through the station.

Suddenly, from out of the tunnel came the sounds of gunfire. For a moment, everyone paused and looked back, including the guards. The staccato was incessant and went on for what felt like forever. Then just as quickly the tunnel grew quiet.

The blood drained from Amy’s face. She knew what that silence meant. That Nate, all alone and outnumbered, had likely been overwhelmed and killed by Sergei and his goons. First her sister-in-law, then her neighbors and now this. The two young red-headed boys, Hunter and Emmitt, were still in shock, their tiny faces ashen.

They were marched through the station and up to the mezzanine. A metal door along the north wall opened into another corridor and a series of administrative offices. At the end of the hallway was a staff break room. A picnic bench sat in the middle of a nondescript room. It looked and smelled like a glorified prison cell. There was a small bathroom off to one side, although without running water, it wouldn’t do them much good.

One by one they were shoved in. Amy too, who Dakota managed to catch before she hit the ground.

“Even hyenas have more compassion than you,” the girl shouted at them.

The guard sneered and was about to close the door when his mic came to life. “Vasily, what is your status?”

“We’ve got them locked down, boss,” Vasily assured Sergei. “They won’t be going anywhere.”

“Good,” came the breathless reply. It sounded to Holly as though Sergei was really hoofing it. “Get everyone into position on the double. We’re on our way, but the ambush didn’t go as planned.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re about to have company.”

Chapter 29

Nate and Colt pressed forward, wary of a potential ambush around every corner. He had seen how quickly Sergei and his men had run off. Did that make them cowards, or were they more interested in heading back for a bloody last stand on home turf?

The grey concrete walls of the corridor swallowed the glow from his tac light. Along the ceiling overhead ran thick metal pipes, the veins and arteries of a circulatory system no longer in use. The air here was dusty and filled with motes that glittered in the beam of his flashlight.

They passed through a doorway and were proceeding down a long corridor when they came to a break. Nate scanned left, checking it for enemies, and immediately came face to face with the barrel of a rifle. He ducked and made an upward blocking motion with his forearm, knocking the rifle’s muzzle off target and toward the ceiling. The guard in black and white camo grunted as he tried to bring his weapon to bear.

Behind him, Colt drew his pistol, but couldn’t get a clear shot.

If a recessed doorway hadn’t blocked him from backing up, that was precisely what the guard would have done. And chances were Nate would have eaten several incoming rounds. Already bent forward, Nate kept the guy close, coming up instead with his pistol and jabbing the barrel right under his chin. He gave him two shots, although one would have been more than enough.

Nate grasped the rifle resting against his forearm before it had a chance to hit the ground. For the guard, it was a different story. Colt regarded the man’s crumpled form before stripping him of a pistol and any additional magazines.

“Waste not, want not,” Nate said, pressing on.

The next door spit them out into a scene of sheer panic as a swirl of screaming refugees and armed guards ran through the subway station’s lower level.

This was not the way Nate had wanted this to go down. Dakota’s plan had been a simple one. Slip away from the shelter and hurry back into the snow and the cold before anyone was the wiser. Now they were facing a dire situation where more innocent people were sure to be killed. If Nate didn’t hurry, his remaining loved ones would share the same fate.

Chapter 30

Inside the breakroom, while Holly and Amy were comforting the young boys, Dakota was busy searching for something she could use as a weapon. A long umbrella hung from a hook on the bathroom door. She held it in both hands, jabbing at the air.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Amy asked skeptically.

“If Sergei comes in, I can stick this point in his eye.”

“Then he’ll be missing one eye and one ear,” Holly said, letting out a nervous laugh.

“I’ll take him apart piece by piece if I have to,” Dakota said, clenching her teeth.

Dire as their present circumstances were, Holly had begun rethinking things. Like whether she should have stayed behind. Should have skipped the escape attempt. She had nearly gotten herself and Dillon killed. Now here they were, locked in a room, awaiting a fate that couldn’t be good. Not only that, but the pistol which had served her so well was now gone. It was difficult to underestimate how vulnerable that made her feel. That growing fear was eating away at her confidence, and, she was sorry to say, making her doubt every choice she had made in the last week and a half.

Sitting nearby, Amy, still in shock, also had the look of someone who was just about ready to give up. It surely wasn’t easy trying to be a Wonder Woman when you were nine months pregnant. Dakota on the other hand, seemingly impervious to the pressures around them, hadn’t stopped since they’d been thrown in here. She was a fireball of grit and tenacity and Holly found herself admiring the young woman.

Amy let out a moan and sat up straight, pushing Emmitt’s head off her lap.

“Everything all right?” Holly asked, concerned. Had she been hurt when Vasily had so ruthlessly thrown her into the break room?

Amy’s cheeks flushed as she drew in a deep breath and clutched at her belly.

“What’s going on?” Dakota asked, dropping the umbrella and swinging around.

Holly stood, asking what she could do.

“I don’t know,” Amy finally replied, her jaw tight, her hands rolled into fists.

Looking down, Holly noticed the jeans she was wearing were wet. Amy noticed it too. “Oh, my God. I think my water just broke.”

For a second, everyone stood silent, failing to comprehend the full magnitude of the situation.

Their troubles only deepened with the sudden sound of screaming and shouting from outside. Dakota had already tried the door a few times, but did so again and found that it was still locked.

“Lauren would know what to do,” Amy said, angry and sad all at once.

“That might be true,” Holly said, giving her the benefit of the doubt. “But unfortunately, she’s not here to deliver this baby. We are.”

Dakota said to Holly, “You’ve had a kid. What should we do?”

“Do? How should I know? I didn’t deliver Dillon myself. That’s why we have hospitals.”

“Well, we gotta do something,” Dakota said, pacing back and forth.

Holly went over to Amy. “She needs to lie down and we need warm water. Boys, help me put her on the picnic table.”

Together, they helped Amy to her feet and placed her on the table. Once there, she began working on her Lamaze breathing technique.

With the taps not working, Holly and Dakota opted to search for towels instead. But all they came up with was a dirty rag beneath the bathroom sink.

Dakota grabbed the umbrella, headed for the door, and began hammering it with her fist. “Hey, we got a medical emergency in here, open up.” She turned to Holly. “Soon as he opens that door, I’m gonna jam the pointy end in his face.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Dakota was in the middle of pounding again when she heard the door handle rattle and a latch on the other side click. The door swung open just as she lunged forward.

The target of her attack let out a shrill scream and fell backwards, covering his face. Holly stood, stunned. “Johnny? What the hell are you doing here?”

Behind him, the station was a cacophony of cries and gunshots. “I saw them bring you in here and waited for the right time to break you out.” He locked eyes with Holly. “I figured I owed you one after you saved me from the riot at Chicago O’Hare. I got this off a dead guy,” he added, holding up a pistol.

Dakota traded him for the umbrella.

“The hell am I gonna do with this?” he asked.

“Stay in here and help Amy,” Dakota said.

A look of utter horror formed on Johnny’s face. “Help deliver a baby? Are you insane? I’m no doctor.”

Dakota was nearly out of the room when she skidded to a stop and spun. “Holly, you can handle a weapon, can’t you?”

Brushing away the fear rising in her throat, Holly said: “You bet I can.”

“Good, then let’s go.”

Taking a deep breath, Holly bent down and kissed Dillon’s forehead. “Mommy will be back soon,” she told him, not entirely sure how much truth her words held. And with that, she straightened and followed Dakota into battle.

Chapter 31

Nate and Colt emerged from the service corridor and onto the northbound platform only to face a barrage of bullets. Both men leapt for cover, Nate to the left behind an aluminum bench, Colt to the right behind a steel pillar. Shots ricocheted all around them, pinging off metal and cracking tiles, spraying up small clouds of dust.

Raising his head a moment, Nate could see at least two shooters were in the parked subway car. Frightened refugees attempting to flee were summarily gunned down. Soon the platform itself became slick with blood, leaving Nate to wonder if that had been part of their twisted plan. Heart hammering, Nate spoke into his walkie, laying out the situation as he saw it.

This wasn’t the typical police operation where you surrounded the suspects and then called in the negotiator. This was closer to finding Isis fighters holed up in a mud brick house and having to go in without air or artillery support.

A figure in black and white camo came charging around the corner, leveling his rifle at the center of Colt’s back. Nate took quick aim and filled him with three rounds. Down he went, only to have his weapon scooped up by a civilian huddled nearby. Emboldened, the man ran for the mezzanine staircase, scaling the steps two at a time. No sooner had he reached the top than he was shredded in a hail of gunfire.

The starkness of the situation suddenly came into sharp focus. A few guards were holed up on both subway platforms with the bulk of Sergei’s men holding the mezzanine above. But Nate could hear other shooting going on up top, which suggested some of the locals had risen up.

Colt called out to Brooks and Walker. “Status report.”

“Brooks and I are working our way along the southbound train, but these roaches keep popping out at every turn.”

“They’re shooting civvies, for God’s sake,” Brooks shouted with disgust.

“All the more reason to stop them,” Colt replied, waving Nate forward.

Catching the signal, Nate slapped in a fresh mag and jumped to his feet. Better now than never, he thought, moving quickly, dodging left and then right to stay out of their line of sight.

Colt reloaded as well, afterward dropping to one knee to engage the guards barricaded in the first train car. Shots rang out from his AR-15, drawing the shooters’ attention, but also forcing their heads down.

That meant it was Nate’s turn to leapfrog forward, just as he’d seen them do topside during the gangbanger ambush. Ducking into the first car, he slammed into the far wall behind a row of seats and waited for the first head to pop up.

Less than five seconds passed before his patience was rewarded. Eyeing the barricade through his reticule, Nate rattled off a series of shots. The top of the first guy’s head was cleaved away. His friend, seeing where the shots had come from, moved over to return fire. To the average Joe, that might have seemed like the logical play, but in reality, it was exactly what Colt had been hoping they would do. With the shooter’s attention now on Nate, Colt rose up and moved in, killing the guard with a single well-placed bullet.

From there, the two men worked their way from one train car to the next, flushing out and destroying Sergei’s men. The further along they got, the more senseless carnage they witnessed. It was as if their boss had ordered they take as many poor souls down with them as they could. The last guard on the southern platform was hunkered behind a stack of seats and suitcases. The corpses around him bore witness to additional atrocities. When a round tore through his right shoulder, he dropped his weapon and staggered out, one arm raised. Nate noticed the name patch and saw it was Dimitri, the same guard who had accosted him when he first arrived.

“I’ve had enough,” he shouted in that strange half-American, half-Russian accent. “I surrender.”

Colt slung his AR and pulled his pistol. “Get on your knees.”

Dimitri stretched his unwounded arm higher. “Didn’t you hear me? I surrender.”

“I heard you just fine. Now get on your knees.” Colt swiped his legs out from under him with a swift, powerful kick. Dimitri fell with a thud before scrambling to his knees. “Good boy. Now, what did you say when my family surrendered? When they begged for their lives?”

Dimitri didn’t answer until Colt pistol-whipped him into complying. “Please.”

“Wrong answer,” Colt said, firing point blank.

The guard fell. And though it was barbaric, Nate couldn’t help feeling the first glimmer of justice had been restored.

That feeling, however, was short-lived. Another call came over the radio.

“The good news is the southbound platform’s been cleaned of mafia grunts,” Brooks said, breathlessly. “Bad news is we got a man down over here.”

“Oh, crap. Who?” Colt asked. “Walker?”

“No, Ash. And it’s pretty bad, but we think we’ve stopped the bleeding. We got a couple civvies here looking after him while we head back toward the mezzanine.”

If Sergei and his men were still around, that was where they would find them.

“Roger that. Meet you there.”

Even though both platforms had been cleared, they could still hear a firefight raging at the mezzanine. Nate knew there wasn’t a second to lose.

Chapter 32

Dakota exited the break room, charging down the hallway toward the mezzanine. Hot on her heels was Holly, hoping to get her hands on a weapon of her own. They flung open the outer door only to see a darkened space. Frightened figures ran through a patchwork of dead and wounded, fleeing for safety. Dakota spotted something outside just to the left of the doorway and ran to grab it, returning a moment later with a rifle.

They closed the door to the mezzanine in order to figure out what to do next.

“You get this off a dead guard?”

Dakota shook her head. “No, just some regular guy. He must have picked it up and charged in at the wrong time.”

“Could you see where Sergei or any of his guards are hiding?”

“Not really,” Dakota said, biting her lip. “Although I did see one of them crouched behind a turnstile.”

That made sense since the mezzanine was mostly an open area. Except it also meant Sergei and his boys were blocking the main exits.

Dakota handed Holly the pistol while she kept the rifle. Releasing and reseating the mag, Holly saw it was nearly fully loaded.

A flurry of shots rang out on the other side of the door. Dakota had Holly pull the door handle while she took aim.

Outside, a small group of regular folks must have grabbed some weapons and were charging the mobster’s position. Dakota slid out on her stomach, firing at anything near the turnstiles that moved. Flashes from the weapons on both sides lit the room.

A refugee not five feet away took a bullet to the chest and collapsed. Firing with her pistol, Holly worked her way over to the rifle he’d been firing. She scooped it up, seated the pistol in her belt and continued firing.

The civilians who had joined the battle were likely enraged by the Russian mafia’s senseless massacre of their friends and family. Things seemed to be going well until one refugee after another was cut down. Soon, Holly and Dakota found themselves all alone.

Now the enemy’s rounds were drawing closer and closer. A searing burst of pain in Holly’s thigh brought her to one knee. She looked down and saw blood running down her leg.

But she kept firing, and so did Dakota, until both their weapons ran dry. Out came the pistol and within seconds that too was empty. There was only one other option. Retreat back to the breakroom and hope they didn’t get gunned down on the way.

Gripping her wounded leg, Holly prepared to move when four figures emerged from the mezzanine stairway, peppering the guards hunched behind the turnstiles with accurate and deadly fire.

Holly didn’t recognize any of them. But Dakota did and called out, “Give ’em hell, Nate.”

Blood oozing from between her fingers, Holly watched Nate move across the floor with the others, laying waste to the inhumane scum blocking the exits. With his smooth scalp, muscular jawline and blazing eyes, she was happy he wasn’t coming after her.

•••

The four men were working together in perfect harmony, killing the enemy and pushing them back, when Colt went down. Nate knew he couldn’t stop shooting in order to help, but the way Colt dropped so suddenly, it didn’t look good. Dakota and a woman next to her moved into the hail of bullets to drag him to safety.

This only made them push harder. Hot with rage, Walker shouted a litany of curse words as he dropped one guard after another.

Unable to withstand the withering punishment, the enemy’s line broke. Two fled up one exit while a man in a dark suit tossed aside his empty weapon and fled up the other.

“There goes Sergei,” Nate shouted. “Don’t let him get away.”

Hopping over the turnstile, Nate ran up the stairs after him with Brooks close behind. Walker ran after the other two.

A frigid wind slapped at Nate’s face as he worked his way up the stairs, the lactic acid making his muscles scream. Near the top riser, Nate saw two figures wrestling in the snow. Someone had already brought him down.

They reached the top and Nate was stunned.

Sergei screamed in pain as Shadow tore at his outstretched arm, trying for the man’s neck. Nate used the butt of his rifle to knock him out. Shadow continued chomping away until he saw his plaything had gone limp.

“Good work, buddy,” Nate said, ruffling the wolf’s ashy fur.

Shadow turned to Brooks and let out a low growl.

“It’s okay. He’s on our side.”

Nate and Brooks grabbed the semi-conscious Sergei by the collar of his Armani suit and dragged him back underground. Here he would be judged and given a full measure of righteous justice.

Chapter 33

Sergei was stripped of any weapons and unceremoniously duct-taped to a pillar in the mezzanine. The survivors wouldn’t be ready to deliberate on the mob boss’ punishment before they’d made a complete accounting of his many crimes. Besides, Nate had far more important things on his mind than retribution.

Following the battle, the entire subway station smelled of gunpowder and death. Bodies lay scattered in every direction. But for every death, there were at least two more who were wounded. Nate found Dakota tending to one of them. It was Colt, the other members of the Citadel team doing what they could to help.

She was about to start chest compressions when Walker nudged her out of the way. “Lemme do this,” he barked, lacing his fingers as he attempted to berate his friend back to life. Brooks cupped his own forehead, struggling to look.

Dakota stood and wiped her hands on her pants.

“Was she hurt?” Nate asked. He was terrified of saying Amy’s name.

The girl hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “She’s through that door. Might wanna go quickly before you miss anything.”

He paused and gave her a hug. “Thank you.”

“You shouldn’t thank me. People you loved were killed and it’s all my fault.”

“If it wasn’t for you, they might all have died.”

It seemed cold comfort given the carnage around them.

Nate rushed through the open doorway and down the corridor to the breakroom. He was nearly there when he heard the sound of a child crying.

Amy was lying on the table, a jacket draped over her. A blonde woman was holding his newborn baby.

“It’s a girl,” the woman said proudly, handing it to Amy. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Takes after her mother,” Nate said, leaning down to kiss Amy’s clammy forehead and marvel at his daughter. He was bursting with so much joy he hoped this moment would never end.

“Born during a shootout,” Amy said, her voice weak. “Makes her a real Bauer, don’t you think?”

“Little baby Roxy,” he said, covering the child with a towel someone brought.

“My daughter’s no Roxy,” Amy snapped before her face eased into a smile. “Nice try though.”

He grinned. It was good to see the old fire was still there.

“What do you think of Clementine?” Amy asked.

It had a nineteenth-century flair that seemed somehow appropriate these days. He nodded. Clementine it was.

When the initial onslaught of euphoria had worn off, Nate took Hunter and Emmitt aside to console them over the loss of their mother. “I know nothing can bring her back, but I want you boys to know I will always be there for you.” He pulled them in tight, meaning every word.

“What about my dad?” Emmitt said, his cheeks as red as the disheveled mop of hair atop his head.

“Your dad’s a fighter,” Nate said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. But there was no way he intended to tell his nephews the real likelihood they’d ever see their dad again.

He was heading back to Amy when he saw the blonde woman who had helped deliver Clementine. Standing next to her was a young, expressionless boy.

Nate extended a hand and introduced himself properly. “I wanted to thank you for everything you did in helping Amy and I.” Even as he spoke, he felt there was something unusual about this woman. She was pleasant-looking with a small scar on the upper right side of her forehead.

She took his hand. “I’m Holly and this is Dillon. I know this might sound strange, but I think our parents might have known each other. Dolly and Brian Andrews. That ring any bells?”

Nate’s forehead furrowed in thought. “Can’t say that it does. But right now, I probably wouldn’t know my own folks if they were standing in front of me.”

Holly let out a nervous little laugh and waved her hand. She was thinking about the letter. That it would explain everything. At least she hoped it would.

They both stood there smiling awkwardly for a moment before Nate excused himself. He gave Amy and the baby another kiss before heading back out to check on the others. When he arrived at the mezzanine he saw the sweater laid over Colt’s head and heard the sound of a commotion nearby.

Brooks was trying to prevent an armed Walker from shooting Sergei in the head. For his part, the Russian mobster was begging for his life, promising millions of dollars to anyone who would free him.

A crowd began to gather. Brooks stood between Walker and Sergei.

“Move outta the way, Brooks!” the old soldier bellowed. The howl of pain in his voice was unmistakable.

“Not like this,” Brooks said, his hands up.

A new voice called out from the crowd. It was Ash, a bandage covering his collar bone where the bullet had gone straight through. “Stand down, both of you. That sorry excuse for a human being doesn’t deserve a firing squad.” Two civilians helped him through the survivors, who watched the scene unfold. “Last I heard this man and his goons killed seventy innocent people, not to mention our brother in arms and members of Nate’s family. No, a single bullet’s far too good. What Sergei needs is a different kind of justice. Something more… poetic.” He used his good hand to pull out a thin-bladed hunting knife. “Sergei, you are charged and convicted in the taking of innocent lives. I hereby sentence you to death by a thousand cuts.”

The crowd grew silent, forming into a solemn line. One by one they would deliver a single, non-lethal stab wound. Those at the back could only hope he wouldn’t die too soon.

In the old world, this might have seemed barbaric and monstrous. What many of the survivors now understood was that civility was a luxury this new world could no longer enjoy.

When it was Nate’s turn, he delivered his blow for Lauren, Carl and Liz.

“My people will avenge my death,” Sergei said, grimacing, his voice reduced to little more than a whisper.

“If they dare,” Nate replied, his own voice calm and filled with assurance, “they’ll meet you in hell.”

•••

Holly was packing when she came across the letter her mother had asked her to give Nate. She had hoped he might recognize her parents’ names. But sadly, that hadn’t been the case.

“Hey, people are leaving soon,” Johnny said, not wanting to startle her.

She quickly stuffed the letter into her pocket. “Yeah, I’m just getting my things together.” She zipped up her suitcase and rose to her feet. “Listen, I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done. I won’t lie. I was convinced you were a class-one asshole, but now I’m not so sure.”

Johnny chuckled. “I’m happy I was able to plant some doubt in your mind.”

“Where will you go?” she asked.

He rested his hands on his hips and sighed. “Hard to say. For obvious reasons nobody really wants to stay. But they’re also uncertain what the alternative is.”

“There are too many bad memories here,” Holly said. “Too many ghosts.”

“All I know is somehow I need to get back home to San Francisco.”

She nodded, knowing it was the right thing to do, but feeling, in a way she’d never expected, like she might actually miss him. They hugged and wished each other well and Johnny disappeared back into the gloom.

Holly removed the letter from her pocket, staring at it for a long time. She would walk up to Nate, hand it to him and face whatever the resulting fallout might be. It had been her mother’s dying wish.

Then again, hadn’t she come all this way for a fresh start? She stood torn—no, paralyzed—her thoughts bobbing and weaving like the candle flame illuminating the space she was in.

At last she bent down and held the corner into the open flame. Quickly the letter caught, orange and yellow fingers licking up the sides. Eventually, when her fingers couldn’t take it anymore, she let it fall away.

Chapter 34

After they said a few words for those who had died, the Citadel crew told a few stories about the kind of guy John Colt had been. It seemed a terrible tragedy for the world to lose such a man, especially at a time when they needed him the most. But Nate knew no matter how bad things got, some good could always be salvaged. As Walker said in his own fumbling way, Colt had been a role model for many and would be greatly missed.

When they were done sealing most of the bodies in the last two northbound subway cars, the few who remained assembled near the turnstiles. Sergei’s body was one they would leave behind, taped to the same pillar where he had died, the blood dripping from his slack features already starting to ice over. Above him was a sign that simply read: ‘Criminal.’ For as long as it remained, it would serve as a monument to how evil would be dealt with from now on.

The other body was Colt’s, wrapped in a large American flag one of the refugees had been kind enough to offer up.

Standing a few feet from Nate was Holly, her arm around Dillon.

“So you gonna give it to him?” a voice asked her for everyone to hear.

“Johnny? I thought you left?”

“I was on my way out when I suddenly remembered the letter. The one you told me your mother wrote.” Johnny’s twinkling eyes were darting between Nate and Holly.

Those standing nearby were noticeably confused.

“Did I miss something?” Brooks asked, as he and Walker exchanged a look.

“I burnt it,” Holly said, waving him away.

“Burnt what?” Nate asked.

Holly glared at Johnny, wondering if looks really could kill. “Remember I asked you earlier if our folks knew one another?”

Nate nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, before she died, my mom wrote a letter and asked me to hand-deliver it to you. Insisted it couldn’t be mailed. She said your parents had passed away and it needed to find you. Made me swear I wouldn’t read it before I’d placed it in your hands. I held onto that letter for a few years after she died. Finally, when Dillon and I left Seattle, I decided to take it with me. I figured Chicago was as good a place as any to start a new life. Especially if it would allow me to fulfill her dying wish.”

“So, what did it say?” Nate asked, blown away by the strange twist, but also suddenly worried by what it might say.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Holly tried to explain. “I never found out. But here’s what I do know. You’re a good person, Nate. Part of a dying breed. I was gung-ho to get it to you, come hell or high water, right up until we actually met. Then I suddenly wasn’t so sure. The letter was thick enough that it couldn’t have been anything good. So it’s going to remain a mystery forever, I’m afraid.”

A heavy, stunned silence hung in the air for several seconds, broken only by the sound of Johnny clearing his throat. “Well, that last part might not be completely accurate.”

Holly stared at him.

“You see, after you told me about the letter, it kept scratching at my brain. A little bit at first, but before long it went from scratching to tearing like a full-on pair of raptor claws.”

“Oh, God, you didn’t,” Holly said, slapping a hand over her mouth.

Johnny’s face squished up like a man who’d sucked on a bad lemon. “Yeah, I did.”

“You read my mother’s letter?”

“Uh-huh, and sealed it back up so you wouldn’t notice.”

“I cannot believe you,” Holly shouted.

“So what the hell did it say?” Brooks cried out in frustration. “You’re killing us here.”

“You want the long version or the short?” Johnny asked, bracing himself for the onslaught.

“Short,” the group shouted in unison.

Holly felt her heart galloping in her chest so fast she thought it would burst through her ribcage and plop onto the floor at her feet.

Johnny cleared his throat. “For starters, your name isn’t really Holly Andrews—it’s not your birth name anyway. You were born Marie Bauer and you’ve been missing for just over nineteen years. Your mother’s dying gift was to give you back the family you never knew you had.”

Nate turned to her on a pair of wobbly legs. All the blood had drained from his face. His jaw hung open, his mind a hurricane of thoughts and emotions. He’d thought there had been something familiar about her. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Across from him, Holly—Marie—was experiencing the same torrent of emotion.

Tears were streaming down the faces of friends and strangers alike. The two of them hugged and people spontaneously burst into applause. It was perhaps the most surreal moment either of them had ever experienced in their lives.

Still overcome by the news, Holly realized she should never have burnt that letter.

“But how can that be?” Amy asked, her face red and splotchy. “How could she not remember who she was?”

All eyes turned to Johnny. This time he looked rather somber. “Apparently, there was some kind of shooting accident that Marie—uh, Holly—felt was all her fault. Filled with despair, she went into the woods to end her life and very nearly succeeded, except the branch she swung the rope over must have snapped at the last minute. Gravely hurt, she stumbled onto a nearby road and was knocked into a ditch by the Andrews’ passing Winnebago. They thought they’d killed the poor girl and scooped up the body, terrified they’d go to jail for murder. Except, a hundred miles later, they discovered she wasn’t dead at all, just really badly hurt. And with part of the rope still around her neck, no less. Mrs. Andrews wasn’t sure why the young woman had tried to kill herself, but took it as her mission in life to help rehabilitate the girl and send her home as soon as she was better. Only she woke up not remembering who she was or what had happened. And without children of their own, it only made sense in their minds to keep her for just another week, which soon became months and then years. Being deeply religious folk, the Andrewses always wrestled with what they had done, never really certain whether it had been an act of grace or a terrible sin. It was even harder after they watched it on TV once the story made it onto the national news. Especially when the Bauer family came on pleading for her return. They looked nice enough, but how could the Andrewses take the chance of sending her back there? That was why Dolly Andrews wrote the letter explaining what had happened and asked you to hand-deliver it.”

Nate held both of Holly’s hands, studying them and the old gash on her forehead he now remembered her getting after falling off the swing set in the back yard.

“Whatever happened back then at the firing range when that boy was killed,” Nate told her, drawing her into a firm hug, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“I guess that’s one of the perks of amnesia,” Holly replied. “You don’t carry around every mistake you’ve ever made. My parents told me I’d been pretty banged up in a car accident. That it was the reason I couldn’t remember anything. I just took them at their word.”

They were still reeling with the sudden and unexpected revelation when Ash spoke up. “I hate to kill the mood, but I really wish you’d reconsider our offer,” he said to Nate.

“What offer?” Amy asked, sitting in a chair nearby with Clementine. Beside her was Dakota, fawning over the child like an older sister.

“To come back with us to the Citadel,” Ash replied. “But your man already said no.”

Amy threw him a piercing look. “Nathan T. Bauer, did you really just make a decision for our whole family on your own? Don’t forget we’ve got others to look after now besides ourselves.”

Walker, Brooks and Ash snickered.

“I know now what that T stands for,” Walker said, rubbing his hands together devilishly.

Brooks joined in. “Yeah, trouble.”

“So what do you say, Nate?” Ash said, prodding him. “The offer’s still open. We always have room for folks like yourself. People with a strong set of values.”

Nate nodded and shook hands with all three of them. “You heard the wife. Sounds like we don’t have a choice.” He caught the flash of sadness filling Dakota’s face. “Young lady, you’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”

The beaming smile that took over was yet another bright spot in a day of mixed emotions.

He next turned his attention to Holly or―“What do I even call you now?”

“Holly,” she said, matter-of-factly. “That’s the name I’ve had for as far back as I can remember.”

“I understand. So what do you say?”

“About what?”

“Will you and Dillon join us?”

She glanced down at her son, who seemed to be smiling for the first time in a long while. “How could I say no when we have so much catching up to do?”

•••

Many of those heading to the Citadel were still gathering their things when Nate found Dakota still up on the mezzanine, leaning against a billboard for high-waisted jeans. She saw him coming and smiled. “So what do you suppose it’ll be like?”

“The Citadel?”

She nodded, folding her arms over her chest.

“Can’t be worse than living in a subway station.” His brow furrowed. “Why? Are you worried?”

She looked up at him, her large hazel eyes tinged with doubt. “Kinda. But I suppose I should be used to bouncing from one foster home to another.”

“This won’t be like those other times,” he said, trying to reassure her. “None of us can predict the future. Walker, Ash and Brooks may be a little rough around the edges, but they’re stand-up guys. If that’s any reflection on the rest of the folks waiting for us there, then we’ll be in good hands.”

She continued watching him and Nate could see she wanted so much to believe as he did.

Shadow appeared just then, nuzzling Dakota’s hand. She ran her fingers through his thick fur, her mind a million miles away.

Nate glanced down at the wolf. Shadow was a wild animal that hadn’t known them for much more than a week and yet he would give his life to save either of them. But Nate suspected―no, he knew―that he and Dakota would do the same. The three of them had formed the kind of unbreakable bond only pain and hardship could create. They’d been thrown into a meatgrinder, albeit a chilly one, and had come out the other end. Sure, they had plenty of bumps and bruises both inside and out, but they had survived and in a dangerous world, that was all that mattered. Nate also realized the Citadel and the folks living there might just be the country’s last chance for getting back on track.

Nate put a hand on Dakota’s shoulder. “There’s one major difference between your life in those foster homes and now.”

She glanced up without saying a word.

“You don’t need to keep searching for somewhere to call home,” he told her. “We’re family now.” Nate ruffled the fur on Shadow’s head. “And nothing out there in all that cold can ever change that.”

She hugged him, squeezing him tightly for a long time. Until finally she let go.

The others were slowly starting to assemble on the mezzanine with their things.

“You ready?” Nate asked Dakota.

She nodded.

Not long after they left the subway station, eager to find a place to settle down. A place where they could begin rebuilding the country. A place where they could fulfill the vision laid out by the Founding Fathers more than two centuries before.

Thank you for reading

America Offline: System Failure!

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The Defiance Series

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Last Stand: Surviving America’s Collapse

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Last Stand: Warlords

Last Stand: Turning the Tide

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Long Road to Survival (Book 1)

Long Road to Survival (Book 2)

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America Offline: System Failure

Copyright

Copyright © 2020 William H. Weber

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. Any material resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

eISBN: 978-1-926456-34-8

Content

William H. Weber
SYSTEM FAILURE

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

And if you enjoyed America Offline, be sure to check out these other exciting stories by William H. Weber

Books by William H. Weber

Copyright