Warfare Season: An Apocalyptic Thriller Read Free Page A

better. Real knowledge
came from painful experience, and he dreaded having to learn the hard
way.

Chapter 4

    It had been five days since
the big attack. The troops were still patrolling the streets, and the
businesses were still closed. More and more people were flooding into
the emergency camps after they ran out of options for food and water.
    The power was still off,
and the stores were still closed. Surprisingly, Eddie had not stopped
by to ask for another gallon of water. It was likely that he decided
to ask someone else, not wanting to sponge too much off of any person
in particular.
    Austin liked getting out of
the house, but every time he did, he would get harassed by the law
enforcers. They would always stop him and ask a ridiculous amount of
questions. Growing tired of it, he had been staying inside as much as
possible.
    Since it now became very
possible that this was going to be a long-term situation, he had
decided to cut down on his food and water intake, being more
conservative than he had been the previous few days.
    “ Hey!” a voice
in the street shouted. It was one of the officers.
    A twelve year old kid had
been throwing stones at the army tanks for the past couple of days,
along with several other kids that were throwing bottles. Last time
the kid had gotten caught, he had froze, before walking away. This
time, he ducked behind a parked car instead of trying to get away.
    They began opening fire.
    Austin couldn't believe it.
They were going to shoot and kill a twelve year old kid for throwing
a few stones at an armored tank.
    “ I told you three
times already to stop throwing those rocks over here!” the
officer shouted. He fired again, sending a storm of bullets in the
twelve year old's direction.
    When
they finally seized fire, Austin watched in horror as they pulled a
disfigured corpse out from behind the car.
    The
street he lived on was literally a combat zone.

    *
* *
    Later
that day, the local residents that used generators saw the news on
T.V. It was reported that the kid was a threat and that the officers
on duty responded correctly.
    Gerald
was one of the residents who had caught it on T.V. “That's the
kid that lived on the corner of the next street,” he said
unsympathetically. “Mike; that was his name. Little Mike. I
told you he'd be the first kid in this neighborhood to get himself
killed.”
    His
son Harley sat on the other couch on the opposite side of the living
room. “Didn't you say that he was a good kid, though?”
    “ Yeah,
and that's why he's dead,” Gerald scoffed. “People who
try to do the right thing always end up dead. He always talked too
much. I'm surprised he didn't get himself killed from all the trash
he talked.”
    “ But
he spoke the truth,” Harley said.
    “ Yeah,
well. . . and then he took action. Look where that got him.”

    *
* *
    Austin
caught a glimpse of the news, staring at it in disbelief. It made him
wonder who was next. Himself perhaps?
    Although
the thought of digging his bug-out bag up from the attic had crossed
his mind over the past five days, he finally decided to take action
and start packing. It had been sitting in the crawlspace for the past
eight years. He had always hoped he would never actually have to use
it, and he was still hoping that he never would.
    By
the time he had finished packing, it was early evening.
    To
get his mind off of things for a short while, he played a video game.
It was a successful escape, and we went on to play for an hour and a
half. When he was finished playing the game, he shut down the
console, but not the T.V.
    Catching
a glimpse of the local news, it was reported that residents had been
firing upon the military personnel. The motives for firing upon the
military were unclear.
    Something
didn't sound right.
    He
turned off the T.V.
    When
he tried to go online, he couldn't get a connection. He retried three
times, but he couldn't connect to the web.
    He
went into the kitchen and had a big meal. After days