The McClane Apocalypse Book 4 Read Free Page A

things like rope, buckets, tools, books, car and tractor
parts, and building supplies are still there. His pack probably
weighs a good sixty pounds.
    “We’d better head back to Em. Saw a
band moving to our west,” he tells his friend. His stomach grumbles in
protest of keeping such late dinner hours, and Cory smirks at
him.
    “Should I have brought you a
croissant, good sir?” Cory teases with good humor.
    Simon punches his shoulder. It’s a massive
thing, Cory’s shoulder.
    “Yeah, I saw them, too,” Cory relays. “You’re
right, bro. We should move.”
    They double time it back to the site where they
left Cory’s sister of whom he is so protective. They are both
protective of Em and Samantha, as well. They are orphaned young
women who need all the protection they can get in this cruel new
world.
    They carefully make their way down the steep
hill behind the dealership and move through the dense woods behind
it to where Em awaits them. Her eyes are wide and frightened when
they get to her.
    “What is it, Em?” Simon inquires and
touches her arm lightly.
    “I saw some people a little while ago over
there,” she tells them in a rush and points to their
south.
    Her small hands shake, so Simon squeezes her
right one to give her courage.
    Cory immediately scans the area and then does
so again with the night vision scope on his rifle to get a better
gauge of their outlying surroundings. Simon does the
same.
    “I’ve got nothin’,” Cory says.
    Simon agrees with him, “Yeah, me either. We
should move.”
    “Em, mount up. Let’s get out of here,” Cory
orders and they all jump into action.
    They are twenty yards into their return trip to
the cabin when a shot rings out in the moonlit night, causing both
men to jerk their heads to their left where the sound originated.
Cory spins his stallion in a tight circle and trots to the rear of
their caravan.
    “Go!” Cory shouts. “Take her to safety, Simon.
Go!”
    Two more shots are fired. Cory takes
off at a canter to hunt down their enemy as Simon takes lead and
rushes with Em in the direction of the cabin. He’s taking a
different route, lest they are followed. John and Kelly had taught
them when they were still just teen boys how to take evasive
maneuvers, avoid the enemy and get out of a tight spot. Within
minutes, Cory is back with them, and they’re all riding at a fast
pace.
    “What happened?” Simon asks him as they climb a
short hill.
    “Shot two. Think there were more, but they got
away,” Cory answers. “Let’s just keep moving.”
    They certainly don’t want to engage the enemy
in a firefight since Em is with them.
    When they come to flat ground
again, another shot rings out, this time from ahead of them. It
whizzes past Simon, and another follows in lightning succession. They
had not anticipated the enemy circling around and flanking them.
This is the type of move they’d do. It doesn’t generally happen to them. It
pisses Simon off that they were able to do this, and he unsheathes
his pistol and quickly fires directly at two men on foot at the
crest of the hill. He hits the one in center mass, and Cory strikes
the other to the head with a round from his rifle.
    They ease over behind a copse of trees and
dense foliage to obtain better cover and to observe. Holding as
still as concrete statues, the horses also picking up on the nerves
of the situation, their group waits for more gunfire or movement.
Nothing happens, though. Apparently the threat has been
neutralized. They wait like this for another full minute before
turning back toward their trail. They start out at a slow trot.
Time to get back to camp and lock down for the night.
    A dull thud behind him alerts Simon, and he
swings around in his saddle just in time to see Em hit the ground.
She lands hard on the forest floor. He and Cory rein in tight,
skidding to stops. Em’s horse trots a few feet away from
them.
    “Em!” Cory screams.
    He swings his leg over the thick
neck of his