The McClane Apocalypse Book 4 Read Free

is now mostly
aimed at Simon. Great. He doesn’t like it when there is
strife between them. Even if it is rare that it happens.
    He continues on with the same
anger, “She can go with us, but she stays with the horses. We’ll
leave her at the one place near that car dealership that we stowed the horses
before.”
    “Ok, Cory. That’ll work,” Simon answers
cautiously.
    They ditch the rest of the bags and
remount to move out to the city that lies only about four miles
further east. The sun is just setting when the skyline of Nashville
breaks over the tree-lined horizon. Soon it will be dark, but they
have their night vision gear. Unlike Simon, Cory prefers to move
around in the dark and feels safest when they are doing so. They
are mindful of danger as they approach the rear of the permanently
closed car dealership where what few vehicles still remain have
been torched. They will leave Em about ten yards behind the
building still well within the cover of the surrounding forest
where she will be safe.
    “If we aren’t back in one hour, leave for the
cabin and wait there,” Cory explains as he dismounts.
    Em hops down, too, and mostly huffs and stomps
dramatically because she wants to go with them.
    Cory glares at her and continues, “I brought
you this far and should’ve left your ass back at the cabin. Stay
here. I’ll be back, ok?”
    “Fine,” Em complains. “But tomorrow I’m going
with you guys. This sucks! I’m not a baby, Cory.”
    “Then don’t act like one and wait here,” her
big brother orders.
    Simon takes his rifle from its scabbard, checks
his pistol at his hip and pulls his night vision goggles from the
sack on his horse. Cory is mimicking his movements and getting
ready to move out, as well.
    “Stay put, Em,” Simon says with a smile. “We’ll
be back quicker than this.” He snaps his fingers and gets a smile
from her. However, she goes right back to frowning at her brother,
who just shakes his head impatiently at her.
    “I’ll stay and babysit the horses,”
she laments. “Great! This is so
exciting.”
    Her sarcasm makes Cory chuckle
and tap the
tip of her upturned nose affectionately. He also snatches her into
a bear hug and then releases her.
    “We’ll be right back, kid,” Cory tells her.
“Then we can all go back to the cabin and you can make us
dinner!”
    “Hey!” Em says on a pucker, trying to hide a
grin.
    They move quickly through the city,
jogging here, sprinting there, collecting items as they go and
stuffing them into their backpacks. There are a few areas where
fires are visible in the distance that people have likely lit to
stay warm. Usually these people are harmless or just indigent persons
trying to stick together for support and sharing fires for warmth
or cooking. Mostly they are newly appointed victims of the modern
apocalypse. Some could be lawyers or professionals, former doctors
or even the mayor of this city. Many people have taken to living on
the streets of America, their homes likely raided or burned to the
ground or destroyed by natural disasters. One time a few years ago
when they were doing a neighborhood raid near Clarksville with John
and Kelly, they’d spied a small group of people who had barricaded off
their short street in the suburbs. They’d used abandoned vehicles
and tall fencing to cordon off and secure the street . None of these people
have the luxury of living somewhere like the remote, flourishing
McClane farm, however.
    It doesn’t take long to find a
small, mom-and-pop auto parts store on an obscure, side road in the
city where they locate and take the last two carburetors on one of
the back shelves in the storage overflow. Cory also grabs a few
other parts and hoses that he says may come in handy. Simon leads
the way out the back door, and they take a knee in the alley. The
pack on Simon’s back is heavy and full with contraband items. Pretty much all of
the food items in stores are gone now, but sometimes other, more
obscure