Broken Lives: A Tale of Survival in a Powerless World (Broken Lines Book 4) Read Free

of Carrollton.
     
    None of them made any unnecessary trips there over the past week. It was a place consumed with death. The biker gang responsible for his daughter’s injuries was the same group that laid waste to everyone in the town that they came into contact with.
     
    The grass fields that surrounded the town were filled with the people that used to live inside it. The bodies were too burned and charred to be identified by any records, so an unmarked stone was placed for each body. The stones formed a circle around the mass grave Mike and his group had dug.
     
    The casualties of the gang’s violence were made personal when they killed Mike’s father, Ulysses, and two other members of his group. Ulysses sacrificed himself to save Mike and Kalen.
     
    When they were digging the graves Ulysses’ body wasn’t placed with the townspeople. Mike dug his father  his own grave along with four others. Two were for the mother and father of three girls that Ulysses had saved from the brutality of the biker’s violence, one was for Tom, and the other was for Jung’s wife.
     
    Mike hadn’t visited the grave since he put his father in the ground. He didn’t need to. He saw his father every time he fell asleep. In his nightmares he relieved the pain of watching his dad put a gun to his own head and squeeze the trigger.
     
    Kalen was up front taking point, gun at the ready. Mike noticed that she still hadn’t let her guard down. She always had a firearm within arm’s reach, even when she was at the cabin.
     
    Despite all of the pain Kalen went through, a part of Mike was glad she experienced it. She was sharper, more aware of everything she did.
     
    That’s how you had to be now. In a split second, everything could change and your life, or the lives of the people you love, could be over.
     
    Nelson hadn’t said much since the events. Out of the whole group, his family suffered the least. Mike figured Nelson felt guilty about it. His wife had been kept safe by Sam, who was her security escort for her vice president’s position at the engineering firm she worked at, and Mike had managed to keep Nelson and his son safe on their travels from Pittsburgh to the cabin.
     
    “How are you holding up?” Mike asked.
     
    “I should be asking you that,” Nelson said.
     
    “Everything seems to be healing all right.”
     
    “What about Kalen? How’s she doing?”
     
    “As good as she can be.”
     
    “Mike, I don’t know if this is a good time to bring it up, but when we get into town you know that Sam’s not the only person that’s going to be there, right?”
     
    “I know.”
     
    “We all know what Jung did was terrible, and we’re with you on your decision, but if you jus—”
     
    “I’m not changing my mind. And I shouldn’t have to remind you that he didn’t just put my family in danger, Nelson, he put yours as well. He let desperation and fear guide his choices, and I don’t want that anywhere near my family. I wouldn’t think you would either.”
     
    “What about Fay?”
     
    Mike paused. He didn’t agree with Fay staying with Jung. She was a valuable member of their group. He didn’t want to lose her, but he wasn’t going to budge on their disagreement with Jung’s fate.
     
    “It’s her decision. She’s still welcome to come with us, but I won’t allow her to bring Jung,” Mike said. “It’s not up for discussion.”
     
    Mike continued down the path, catching up to Kalen, who’d stopped to wait for them. Nelson was quiet the rest of the way down.
     
     

 
    ***
     
    Sam dropped the wrench to the ground and it clanged against the concrete. The barrage of bullets that flew into the engine damaged the battery and the coolant tank of the Jeep. The tank was easy enough to repair, and luckily the mechanic’s garage in town had some spare batteries.
     
    After a few other adjustments with getting new tires and knocking out the cracked, bullet-ridden windshield, the Jeep was as good