The City Burns: A Prepper's Struggle for The Truth Read Free Page B

had said to him he wasn’t happy about it. He slammed his shoulder into Jim as he walked by. “We leave in an hour,” he said while not making eye contact. The trucks pulled up as Jim, Samantha, Coyle, and Annie stood with their packs alongside Hult and his soldiers. Two soldiers jumped out of the back of the truck and Jim’s jaw dropped when he saw who it was.
     
    The soldier smacked on some gum and had a smile from ear to ear. “When they told me who I was picking up I literally told my CO to shut the fuck up,” the man said.  “He wasn’t very happy about it.” Jim laughed and stretched out his arms as the two men hugged and slapped each other on the back. Jim turned around and introduced everyone. “Sam, this is an old friend of mine, Brett Fox.” He motioned to him and then back to his sister. “Brett, this is my sister Sam, her daughter Annie, and my friend Coyle.” Brett went down and shook Samantha’s hand, gave Annie a high five, and gripped Coyle’s hand so hard that he heard it pop. Coyle made sure he didn’t show the grimace on his face until Brett turned back to Jim.
     
    “What are you doing here?” Brett asked.
    “It’s a long story, but it’s damn good to see you,” replied Jim.
    Brett introduced his partner to the group who simply called himself Twink. Annie grabbed Tigs’s cage and it rocked back and forth awkwardly as she meowed uncomfortably from inside. Jim tried to convince Annie that Tigs would be safer here, but she was insistent on bringing the cat. Coyle agreed with her. “Yeah,” he said, “if we run out of food at least we’ll have something to eat.” It took them twenty minutes to get Annie to stop crying.
     
    The truck rumbled off with Coyle in the rear truck with Hult and his soldiers while Jim, Annie, Samantha, Tigs, Brett, and Twink sat in the lead truck. Brett passed the time with old war stories of him and Jim. He kept it clean due to some of the company, but he wasn’t always successful. “So this dumbass comes running out of the bunker with a handful of grenade pins screaming his head off and just before they go off he jumps behind the barricade where I’m sitting there with the bomb switch in my hand,” Brett jeered.
     
    Brett then started to laugh. “I asked him what he was doing and he says, some redecorating.” He pulled up the sleeve on his arm and a six inch scar ran along the top of his forearm. “Twenty stitches,” he said, “Some redecorating job.”
    Jim smiled, “I got a black eye for that one.”
    “That was almost twenty years ago right after I joined. I was a little brash during my first tour,” Brett replied. Jim shook his head. “We got lucky a lot that year,” Jim said.
     

 
    Brett raised his eyebrows. “Lucky? Hell, it’s like we were protected by a legion of angels. Some of the shi—,” he stopped as his eyes flew over to Annie looking at him, “—stuff that we got ourselves into was unbelievable.” Jim leaned in with a puzzled look on his face. “I thought you got out years ago?” he asked. Brett waved him off with a scoff. “Ah, I tried,” he said. He looked down at his rifle and dusty uniform and shrugged. “I’m just not good at anything else, Jim. This is what I know. This is what I love.”
     
    Coyle looked at Brett with concern. “So you’re crazy then,” Coyle said. Twink let out a laugh and Brett stared down the two of them. Jim tried to change the subject. “How long ‘till we get there?” he asked. Brett kept his eyes on Coyle as he spoke. “A few hours,” he answered.  Samantha spoke up, “A few hours? I thought Matt was in Phoenix?”
     
    Brett shook his head. “He’s in a facility just east of the city. It’d be faster if we cut through, but the city still isn’t secure yet.” “Secure from what?” Jim asked. Brett leaned in and motioned for them to do the same. His voice was low as he spoke. “Half the city is in havoc. With all the other shit that’s been happening around