After The Event (Book 8): The Storm Read online

  The Storm

  After[VLM1] The Event Book 8

  By T.A. Williams

  Copyright ©2017 T.A. Williams

  All rights reserved by the author. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the written consent of the author

  Alec

  Silence hung in the air. Alec could feel the disbelief, or at least the desire for disbelief, as the things he told the Council weighed them all down, threatening to smother them. Even now Alec wasn’t sure if his brain had fully been able to accept what had just happened and all the things he had discovered.

  “They’re all dead?” Margie asked slowly. Alec could still see where her nose was slightly off center due to an assault that happened many years ago.

  “They burned it down and killed them all,” he said.

  Freddie sat beside her with a look of determination on his face. The man had fallen in with a bad group after the world went black but had chosen a different life shortly thereafter. Freddie had stuck around and his blood, sweat and tears were all over New Hope. While his face was determined, Alec could see the fear behind it.

  “He threatened us?” Jason asked. Jason was the newest member of the Council, an older man who had arrived shortly after Alec had been captured by the Chinese. Alec didn’t know him well but both Trevor and Freddie swore his planning helped them get to where they were.

  “He made it clear,” Alec said, taking in a deep breath. “He said if we refused to trade with him, he would kill everyone here.”

  Trevor was the last Council member and sat at the end of the table and rubbed at the bandage on his head. Unlike the others, Trevor had been with Alec and saw what Noah’s men had done to the town of Sturgeon. While the others were in shock and disbelief, he simply sat there with a blank look on his face.

  “How is Whitford?” Margie asked.

  “He’ll survive. He is in Centralia getting medical aid. He was there before the first shot was fired and confirmed that Noah’s men didn’t give them a chance,” Alec said.

  “They don’t know where we are,” Freddie said, sitting up straight. “That gives us an advantage.”

  “An advantage for what?” Jason asked. “To fight back?”

  “To defend ourselves,” Alec said.

  “You’ve been there, Alec,” Trevor said finally, causing everyone’s eyes to fall on him. “You’ve seen how many men they have; you’ve seen how well armed they are. We can’t defend ourselves against that.”

  Silence again.

  Alec’s head began a slow throb and the world wobbled slightly, an old wound that still hadn’t fully healed and reared its head whenever he was tired or stressed. He took in a deep breath to collect himself.

  “I apologize I haven’t been active since I returned. I did need time to heal and regroup but that time passed awhile ago, but still I stayed off to the side. I wasn’t sure where I fit in here at first. I was here at the beginning but after I left you all turned this place into something beyond my wildest dreams, and I guess I didn’t feel like I had the right to step back into that.”

  “Alec,” Margie started, “this place wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. You helped start it and you sacrificed yourself to keep it hidden from the Chinese. This place is a part of you and owes its existence to your sacrifices.”

  Freddie and Trevor both nodded and added their support.

  “Thank you,” Alec said. “I say that to apologize and to admit I’m not sure what our capabilities are. How many men do we have in the militia?”

  “Thirty-one,” Freddie said. “We have nine more who could fight if needed. They aren’t officially a part of the militia but they man the watch locations and know how to defend themselves.”

  “Those nine are no more than children,” Trevor said. “My daughter being one of them.”

  That stopped Alec in his tracks. Trevor’s daughter Jamie had helped save his life a long time ago, and he loved her like she was his own sister.

  “I understand that, but she is not a child anymore. None of them are. The youngest on the guard is thirteen, but they are trained and ready to step up if needed,” Freddie said.

  Trevor’s jaw clenched and then he winced in pain and stayed silent.

  “What about weapons and ammo?”

  Freddie opened up a folder next to him and ruffled through some papers until he finally pulled one out and began to look over it. “We have three assault rifles in working order with twenty clips between them. Eighteen rifles, including the ones we use for hunting as of yesterday…315 bullets. We also have six pistols with a little over 200 rounds and four grenades.”

  “When did we get our hands on grenades and assault rifles?” Alec asked.

  “The Chinese force left in a hurry. They didn’t leave much behind but they did leave some ammo, those assault rifles and the grenades,” Margie said.

  Alec nodded and did the math in his head. He had been to Noah’s base and the man had at least a hundred well-armed men. Even if they weren’t well trained, they had fought alongside Noah when they retook the city of Columbia, so they had experience, which was more than his people had.

  “That’s not enough,” Trevor said with his head down.

  “I don’t mean for us to attack them,” Alec said. “I only mean for us to stand up to them. Let them know we won’t be pushed around or threatened. We can make them question whether they want to lose men in order to force us to trade, because make no mistake, it won’t be long before they stop giving us something in return for the food we provide them.”

  “He’s right,” Freddie said. “They’re still trying to bring all of Columbia together and have been for a while. The last thing they need is to split their forces dealing with us. We can talk with Whitford; they have more men and ammo.”

  Margie nodded. “I think it is worth considering.”

  Jason ran a hand through his graying hair and nodded as well. “When we refuse to send them a shipment of food they will send men to Centralia. If we show them a united front it’ll cause them to decide how they want to spend their manpower and supplies.”

  “And if they choose to fight?” Trevor said raising his head, a look of anger on his face. “How many lives are we willing to sacrifice in order to try and prove our point?”

  “What’s your alternative?” Alec asked. “Do you want us to continue to ship them food and hope they honor their arrangement? What if they decide they no longer want to trade for the food and just demand the shipments by themselves? Would you be willing to fight back then?”

  Trevor simply shook his head in disgust.

  Anger filled Alec, causing the world to shift at the sides. He closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. “It’s easy to look the other way or be the voice of dissent. It’s much harder to actually make a choice and do what needs to be done. So what do you propose?”

  “And if it was your family that was going to be put in harm’s way?” Trevor said, meeting his eyes.

  The world jilted back and forth quickly but Alec refused to look away and kept Trevor’s gaze. “You all are the closest thing to a family I have left.”

  The anger melted from Trevor’s face and he grimaced in pain again. The man sighed. “People will die.”

  “They may not have to,” Alec said.

  There was a sudden knock on the door and it swung open, revealing Trevor’s daughter Jamie on the other side. “There are people outside, lots of them,” she said as she gasped for breath.

  “What do you mean people?” Trevor asked.

  “Alert the militia,” Freddie yelled as he jumped up.

  “They’re all around us,” Jamie said as Freddie pushe
d past.

  Alec grabbed his cane and went outside as quickly as he could. The people of New Hope were all outside looking at the edges of the community. Their attention wasn’t in a single direction; it was all around. Alec glanced to the side and saw men standing over two hundred yards away facing them. The men were spaced about ten yards apart, rifles on their shoulders and easy to see. Alec followed the line of men as it wrapped around the back of New Hope out of sight. He turned to the other side and saw it continued.

  “They’ve surrounded us,” he said under his breath.

  “How many men do they have to have in order to do that?” Trevor asked beside him.

  “Everyone who isn’t in the militia inside now!” Alec shouted.

  For a second there was nothing, then the people went into action, gathering their things and running inside the nearest building. It took less than a minute before the only people outside were the thirty-plus men and women of the militia. As Alec stepped out farther he saw the line of men wrapped around the perimeter of New Hope and then turned to see his people. A look of fear was evident on their faces. Some of them weren’t even armed. They were hopelessly outgunned.

  “What’s the play here?” Freddie asked, looking around frantically.

  “Stay calm,” Alec said, more to himself than the others. “If they came here to kill us they would have opened fire long ago.”

  “What the hell are they doing then?” Freddie asked.

  A group of five men began to walk up the driveway to their settlement and Alec recognized Noah’s second in command, Landon. “They’re here to prove a point.”

  Alec, Freddie and Trevor made their way down the driveway where they met Landon and his men in the middle. Landon was a large man who barely said more than a few words each time Alec had interacted with him. He was intimidating and from what Alec saw in Sturgeon, the man was ruthless. Landon stopped a few yards from them and the look of annoyance on his face was clear.

  “I thought we had an understanding?” Alec said.

  “I thought we did too, but Noah felt you needed a reminder and wanted to make it clear we know where you live,” Landon said.

  Alec looked at the men in front of him and the men guarding the perimeter. There wasn’t anything he could do. “Well, hopefully you have been able to make whatever point you thought needed to be made. If you want our arrangement to continue, then get the hell off our land.”

  Landon smiled. “The arrangement will continue, regardless of what we do. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Landon turned to the men behind him and waved them away. For a brief second they shared a glance, then they turned and began to walk back down the driveway. He waited a moment, allowing more distance to open up between them. “I agree this is a waste of time. You know what we have, you know what we are capable of, but Noah thought you needed to be reminded.”

  “If Noah wants this to work then he can’t come here and threaten us. If my people don’t think they are safe, they will leave. If they leave our ability to farm and provide extra food goes down dramatically,” Alec said.

  “He doesn’t care if you have extra food to spare,” Landon said. “Don’t cross him. Don’t think of crossing him, for the sake of your people.”

  Alec nodded.

  Landon turned and whistled. The others returned the whistle and Alec watched the men surrounding them disappear back behind the trees. They watched as Landon and his men walked down the driveway and into the woods, leaving them alone. Alec tried to hide the shaking of his hands.

  “So they know where we live,” Freddie said.

  “Do you still think we can fight back?” Trevor asked.

  Alec fought to keep the world from shifting but failed. He put his weight into the cane and closed his eyes. “No, no, I don’t.”

  Ben

  He wiped away the dust from the mirror and stared into the eyes of a stranger. His hair was longer than it had ever been; he needed to cut it. What had started as peach fuzz was now turning into a respectable layer of hair across his face. He did his best to ignore the three-inch scar running diagonally on his forehead, a reminder of one of many battles he had fought. He didn’t remember which one it was from and didn’t really think it mattered anymore. He felt her watching him and did his best to lighten his face as he turned from the mirror, but Elly wasn’t dumb.

  “I can see past that mask of yours,” she said as she stood at the doorway of the bathroom. “There isn’t a need to put it on.”

  Ben gave her a genuine smile. “I’m learning that.”

  “You’re a slow learner,” Elly said, staring at him intently. “How is she?”

  “Better,” Ben said and hoped he was telling the truth. The battle against the rogue group the Forgotten was one of the battles he would never forget, not for the physical scars it left him with but for the emotional ones. He had lost Chavez and Dex in that battle, two soldiers he had fought beside for years. Both Ty and Crimson had been injured, Crimson worst of all. He had found her partially buried beneath the rubble of a brick wall and unconscious; she hadn’t been conscious since. The doctors said to give her time but a lot had already passed. Elly had taken a break from working as a nurse for the military base and instead was helping out one of the local civilian doctors. She seemed to be enjoying it.

  She walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Any word on the others?”

  Ben had fought beside the remnants of an old military base during the battle against the Forgotten. They had been led by a man named Banner, a man who claimed that President Johnson and General Wallace were pretenders who had usurped the American military from the true President of the United States. For that accusation they had been transferred to a POW base in Springfield, Missouri. During the war against the Chinese Ben had fought alongside men who swore their allegiance to the United States and followed the orders of President Johnson and General Wallace. They were the only command he had ever known, and he refused to believe they weren’t who they said they were. He shook his head no.

  “I’m sure it’s all just a misunderstanding,” she said, looking into his eyes.

  “I’m sure it is too,” he said, less confidently than he would have liked.

  She paused for a moment. “Have you thought at all about what we talked about?”

  Ben had. More than he had planned. “This is the only life I’ve ever been good at.”

  “Would you be willing to try something else?” she asked.

  Things had seemed so much simpler when he became a soldier. You went out and fought the bad guys--of course, it had been much clearer back then who the bad guys were. “I’m considering it.”

  “I’ll support you either way,” Elly said.

  He believed her.

  There was a knock on the door. Ben already knew who it was. Elly opened the door and the man known as Locke walked in. He wasn’t a tall man but he was well-built, with hard features and a smooth bald head. He was the leader of his own squad of soldiers, the same ones who came to their rescue in the battle against the Forgotten. The same ones who took Banner and his men prisoner.

  Locke nodded at Elly and then to Ben. “Ready?”

  “Will be soon,” Ben answered.

  “We leave in less than an hour.”

  “Understood,” Ben said.

  Locke stood there, not moving for a moment. “I can walk you over. There are some things we need to go over on the way.”

  Ben nodded. “I’ll meet you outside.”

  Locke’s jaw tightened for a moment but he nodded his head and stepped back outside.

  Elly closed the door and turned back to Ben with a worried expression. “How long will you be gone?”

  “I don’t know.” Which was the truth--Ben didn’t know. President Johnson was ordering several squads, along with a diplomatic delegate, to head to California to meet with the woman claiming to be the rightful President of the United States. As Crimson and Ty were still on the mend, Ben had been reassigned to Loc
ke’s squad. While he wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the person claiming to be President Carter, he felt uneasy about traveling across the country with a group of soldiers he barely knew. It was also becoming harder to leave Elly and her daughter behind.

  Elly ran her hand through her hair and he saw her collect herself. “You just be careful and don’t…don’t try and be a hero. Okay?”

  Ben smiled as he walked over, and this time he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Okay.” They shared a deep kiss and once again he caught a glimpse of what life could be like if he wasn’t a soldier.

  He said his goodbyes and walked outside, where Locke was waiting. The bald man didn’t hide his distaste at having to wait for him but Ben ignored it. Together they walked toward the base, with Locke a few steps ahead of him.

  “I’ve seen you work. You’re smart, you take care of your assignments and you don’t put people in jeopardy. I like that. You have any issues following my commands?”

  “No sir,” Ben said without hesitating.

  “Good,” Locke said and then was quiet for a moment. “I understand you requested to go on this mission. Can I ask why?”

  Ben chose his words carefully. “I spent a nice chunk of my life fighting in the streets of New York for this country and this President. If someone is attempting to undermine him, then I want to be there to stop it.”

  Locke slowed down a step and regarded him for a moment. “Understood,” he said simply. Ben wasn’t sure if he bought it. “Well, load your gear and get ready to go. Follow my lead, don’t put my men in danger and we’ll get along just fine.”

  “Yes sir,” Ben said as Locke pulled ahead and made his way to the base. Ben slowed his step just slightly; they weren’t going to leave without him. He glanced back at his home and somehow knew that things were about to change forever.

  Ally

  If the world was still burning she could no longer see the smoke. Ally walked through clean streets as she passed by storefronts filled with smiling, happy people. It felt strange to her. Their old refugee camp had been like a beacon of light surrounded by darkness but even there people struggled to maintain. Here they thrived. The town had sprouted around the new White House, filling with actual stores that provided actual services. Outside of the town were farms, some run by the new government, others run by normal people. Some of them only grew crops, others had every animal imaginable from cows, chickens, horses, and one even had llamas, which Ally had unfortunately discovered liked to spit.