Death Days: post-apocalyptic survival story (180 Days and Counting... Series Book 10)

  Death Days

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  180 Days and Counting… Series

  Death Days

  Book 10

  By

  B.R. Paulson

  Death Days

  Cady has her daughter in a safe place – she thinks – and now she’s out to make sure the last option for her family is secured.

  But her daughter is succumbing to the virus and the people Cady is after have caught wind of their whereabouts. The group of tyrannical men are closing in on Cady’s daughter.

  Margie and Scott team up and head north, but with a mortal wound-one of them won’t make it. The loss will devastate Cady.

  The death count is rising. Survival isn’t looking so great anymore

  Chapter 1

  Cady

  Cady’s heart pounded in her chest, the sound loud as she hiked quietly behind old Dusty. She turned, glancing over her shoulder for a sign of the house or the clearing or anything besides the trail twisting off into the pine boughs and bushes they had already walked by.

  Leaving Bailey and Jessica behind went against everything she’d stuck to ‘til now. But taking them with her, where they were going, went against everything inside her. She couldn’t satisfy both sides – her need to see that they were safe versus the need to keep them safe.

  As controlling as Cady was – and she could accept that she had issues with that – she could also accept the fact that she couldn’t protect a baby and her teenage daughter while trying to fight. She could accept that – she didn’t have to like it.

  She wasn’t even sure there would be a fight. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what was going on. She just knew that a group of men were out taking women which left Bailey and Cady vulnerable. That wasn’t going to work for her. Even the fact that she was exhausted and not fully recovered from the remnants of the virus wasn’t enough to slow her down. She didn’t have a choice and sitting down to rest wasn’t an option.

  At least not yet.

  Old Dusty Parks stepped gingerly over a root, his veteran’s hat barely bobbing as he walked with the agility of a teenager versus an eighty-plus-year-old man with arthritis. The dark green of his cargo pants were hard to distinguish in the shadows, forget about the brown of his boots.

  Cady focused on stepping where he stepped, squinting in the fading afternoon light. He moved silently and there was no notice when a root protruded from the ground and he stepped over it. If she didn’t watch, she’d trip over it. Experience had taught her that. She gritted her teeth as she pushed onward. If she fell, who knew if she’d be able to get back up.

  He glanced over his shoulder and then ducked under a gnarled and crusty branch. The tree might have been killed by a pine beetle or worse a root disease. Cady reached out and gripped the base of the branch for aid maneuvering around the slight twist in the trail, dried moss grazing her shoulder.

  Cady continued following, wincing as a chink of newly cut hair brushed her cheek. She’d had Bailey cut off most of the length from her head in an attempt to erase some of the femininity. She’d seen her hair as a weakness, a sign that she was someone to be taken. Cady hadn’t thought things through completely – a drawback of fatigue and constant running, constant adrenaline rushes.

  She’d heard once that the body could become desensitized to the adrenaline pulsing through one’s body. Maybe that was how thrill seekers were born. They pushed their adrenaline levels past the breaking point.

  Hers was just constantly on, not something she was seeking or enjoying. As she followed Dusty toward fighting back and gaining the safety of her parents’ place, Cady would give anything for a boring afternoon of just staring into the sky. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less.

  Well, maybe she’d want Scott by her side. They had a lot to talk about, but Cady knew she wanted her neighbor and friend with her. She wished she hadn’t let him stay. She wished she could have somehow made him come with her or thought about pushing him instead of just trying to get her daughter out.

  Maybe asking him plainly would have done it, but she doubted it. He was fighting with a lot – and seeing Jackson killed so soon after finding his nephew dead had broken something inside Scott. He probably wouldn’t be any good for Cady, except he’d be there with them now as they strove to break down the controlling powers of a group of maniacal preppers who had started taking women as their slaves.

  Dusty stopped a few feet in front of Cady and she stopped, ramping up her alert level. She looked around, close to Dusty. Why had they stopped? Was there danger nearby?

  He crooked his finger and leaned his head near hers, breathing the words more than speaking them. “Matt Perdox’s place is just ahead. We’re going to go in slow, keep your hands out by your sides. He’s good people but paranoid.” Dusty reached out and patted her upper arm, his fingers reassuring with the thump-thump-thump on her bicep.

  He had no idea how much Cady wanted to turn and go back to Bailey. But she’d committed. She had to help those girls and to be honest, it had nothing to do with the others. It had everything to do with her and Bailey.

  Cady had already run the scenarios. If there was a group taking women and using them as slaves – then Cady and Bailey would be in permanent danger. They might as well have stayed at their place outside of Athol.

  No. The Gulch would have to return to its normal purpose of helping the small community survive and thrive in a failing society. That was the original goal of The Gulch and its members. Cady had no idea the plan and mission had been perverted. She had no idea how that could happen when these people were originally good people.

  But couldn’t she? Could she really not see how something like this would happen? No, she could easily foresee it and that in itself was cause for concern. But she had nowhere else to go. They needed the Moss place. Cady had been forced to give up her home with the understanding that her parents’ place was available and ready for what they needed it to be. There was nowhere else.

  She had to reclaim it for her daughter’s safety. The only way to do that was to fight group holding the area in bondage. Fine. She’d do it. Whatever.

  Dusty turned forward, moving a titch slower as he moved his hands to splay at his sides. As Cady copied his movements, she glanced ahead and blinked. A rounded dome loomed before them as if from out of nowhere. The abode had a stucco underlayer with wood and moss creating a patchy camo appearance that concealed the enormity of the building. It easily reached to the treetops and spread around like a boulder dropped from heaven.

  Cady had never met Matt Perdox or heard the name. Why would they try to reach out to these neighbors when they hadn’t done anything to this point? Why did it take an old man and a woman to set things on course? There was more than a little bit of bitterness in her outlook and she didn’t feel she was out of line.

  The woods seemed to retreat in the presence of the dome, as if the forest recognized the building as other-worldly. Ferns grew
naturally around the base, soaking up the shadows. No windows or doors faced them, adding to the out-of-place ambience the building gave off.

  “Don’t go any further.” A husky voice pulled their attention to the side of the clearing where shadows mingled with the encroaching darkness.

  They stopped, Dusty in mid-step. He lowered his food and ducked his head as if to see better. After a minute, his derision came off his tone like acid dripping from a melted spoon. “Jesse Lane. I didn’t think I’d be seeing you. Ain’t you mixed up with Perry and his nonsense?”

  Cady slowly pivoted on the balls of her feet. Anyone mixed up with Perry was an enemy on her list.

  Balding with a red patchy beard and pasty skin, a man stepped into the clearing. He jerked his pack when it caught on a broken branch and mumbled something incoherent before turning back to them. Jesse grunted, narrowing his eyes. “Perry’s lost it, Dusty. A group of his… captives jumped off old Cherry Cliff to get away from him and the group. Their suicide was the last straw.”

  Captives. Suicide. Stated so calmly, the words almost had no meaning.

  Cady set her jaw and stepped forward. “That was the last straw? How many of those women did you use? You watched them and participated in their abuse until they killed themselves.” Cady reached into her side holster and pulled out her gun. Her movements were jerky and barely restrained.

  Jesse stepped back, his eyes wide as he raised his hands in the air. “Hey, now.” He glanced at Dusty. “You have a woman with you? They’re going to kill you and take her, man.” His eyes shifted over Cady’s shoulder and he shook his head. “Matt, this isn’t safe.”

  Cady took a wide sweeping step to the side, keeping her gun up and moving between Jesse and the newcomer, Matt, with his hard jaw and perceptive gaze. He had to be about Cady’s age, but his broad shoulders and muscular arms put him in a different class from that of the weaselly Jesse.

  Matt acknowledged Cady with an inclined nod and a raised eyebrow at her gun. He hoisted his rifle higher on his shoulder and spoke calmly. “Jesse, we’re all as good as dead anyway. Didn’t you hear what happened to Pete and Tanya? Pete wouldn’t let Tanya go, so Ted took their daughter Mia. She’s been with the group for almost a week now.” He shook his head sadly, something desperate in his eyes.

  Jesse glanced to the side. He cleared his throat, blinking rapidly. “She was one that jumped.” Everyone took a moment to digest his words. How old was she to still be living with her parents? She’d been unaffected by the virus or had healed from it only to be taken and used by a group of men playing who-knew-what. She’d killed herself.

  After a moment, Matt lunged forward, lifting Jesse by the gathered material at his neck. Matt’s voice was barely controlled, emotion rippling through his syllables. “You told me you didn’t see her up there. You said you…”

  Jesse’s eyes rolled side to side as he clawed at the tight grip on his shirt. “Matt, I didn’t know she was their daughter. I wouldn’t have…” He kicked his feet as Matt lifted him higher off the ground.

  He wouldn’t have… what?

  Suddenly, as if disgusted to even be touching Jesse, Matt thrust the slighter man away from him. Jesse fell backward, landing in the brush with a thud. He jerked himself upright, brushing at his pants as he minced closer to Matt.

  Matt side-eyed Jesse as he looked over Cady. “You’re outside rather recklessly, aren’t you?” He waved toward Jesse and shook his head. “It’s obvious what you’re up against, yet here you are. Why?”

  Cady huffed, adjusting her grip on the gun. “I’d be stupid not to defend myself, don’t you think?” She shifted her right foot back for more stability in case Jesse rushed her. She hadn’t taken him off her radar as dangerous. There was no such thing as a man who changed. Most likely Jesse had done something that made him scared of the group, rather than left it because of good intentions.

  “I agree. It’s just… it’s not safe out here with The Gulch running around.” Matt tilted his head to the side and watched her. He didn’t need to move to be intimidating.

  “What about you? Why aren’t you out saving those girls?” Cady furrowed her brow. She couldn’t understand people sitting on their thumbs while others were in danger. She’d done exactly that when she’d found out about the virus, believing there was nothing she could do after trying to tell her cousin, an FBI agent, what was happening. She’d been cut down; her attempts were worthless according to him.

  She wanted to help, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing she could do to save anyone – even Bailey had finally gotten the virus and she’d been vaccinated.

  Rubbing her free hand down her face, Cady found it hard to accept the fact that she hadn’t done more when the virus had been released. She’d tried warning Scott. No one would have believed her, if she’d said anything. Her hands were tied against a virus no one could see.

  But these men, this community, had a group of bullies stealing the people who had survived the virus and no one tried to stop them – until it was too late.

  Matt inclined his head, considering her. After a moment, he shrugged. “What would you have us do? We can’t get into the group, they’re shooting anyone they don’t recognize and torturing those they do. Perry is paranoid and for good reason. He’s taking our wives and daughters.” His lower jaw ticked as he spoke, the movement would have been subtle on any other man, but the hard angle of his jawline made it hard to miss the sign of frustration.

  Cady snorted. “If I got caught, I’d fight from the inside.” Her statement wasn’t only bravado. She would. Situations like that weren’t something she could sit down and accept. But to be fair, she’d never been in that type of circumstance, so she couldn’t honestly say what she would or wouldn’t do. They didn’t need to know that.

  Jesse laughed, as if he were part of the conversation. “You’d survive a few minutes. The group would beat you until they grew bored. If you lived, they’d rape you. I’ve seen it.” He spit to the side, his eyes hard like he’d seen a few things.

  “Yeah, I bet you participated, too, didn’t you?” Cady stepped toward him, moving the muzzle of her gun his direction. Before she could pull the trigger, a new man’s voice rang out. She whipped her face to the side as he spoke, but didn’t turn.

  “Jesse Lane. Won’t Perry be relieved to find out you’re not dead?” The man held his rifle out, pointed at the group. He came in from the direction Dusty and Cady had entered, the direction Cady’s back faced.

  Slowly turning her head back to face Dusty, Cady’s eyes widened and she stared at him as she forced herself to take steadying breaths. She had a gun out. If the newcomer from The Gulch saw that, he might kill her.

  Dusty flicked his gaze to her face and then back to the man’s. “Ted, what brings you out this way?” He was neither friendly nor rude, trying to lower the tension of the clearing.

  Ted laughed. “Dusty Parks. I’m surprised you’re still alive.” He stepped into the semi-circle the small group had formed, making a complete circle. He didn’t lower his gun.

  Cady eased her weapon to the side where she tucked it into her jacket pocket. She didn’t smile since that enhanced her feminine features. She tried to breathe normally, but she had a feeling she wasn’t getting out of there without some effort.

  Ted scanned the group, waiting for Jesse’s reply. He glanced at Cady, then his gaze traveled to Matt but then jerked back to Cady. His rifle swung her way and he smiled, revealing darkly shaded teeth and gaps where they’d gone absent. “You have a woman. I’m going to need to take the girl. We need to protect them at our headquarters.” He caught on the word protect, his smile broadening at the prospect.

  Cady swallowed. She gripped the butt of her gun. Hadn’t she just said she would fight from the inside? Hadn’t she just promised them she wouldn’t give up? What did she have to do? Actually, prove it?

  Dusty lurched forward, bringing Ted’s gun his direction. His growl could have been from an animal. “You’re taking he
r over my dead body.” Matt shifted beside Cady and Jesse stepped back a couple inches.

  Ted laughed, his eyes hard as he raised his gun. “That’s not a problem.”

  Chapter 2

  Buck

  The ride in Buck’s Land Rover smoothed out but only because Buck didn’t have to drive over lawns, sidewalks, or other people anymore. His erratic steering became smoother and his breathing evened out.

  The girl beside him panted like she still ran from a group of men hell-bent on destroying everything about her.

  Buck still had no idea where he was going, but at least it wasn’t back where he’d been. He turned from the steering wheel, careful to keep his gaze flicking back to the road as he sporadically met the wide-eyed gaze of his passenger. “You’re okay. You can relax. We’re out.”

  Out of the gated community that was supposed to be everything there was safe in a community. Away from his home which had become less of a compound of security and more of a prison and a place to die.

  Clouds flitted across the azure blue sky as if there were no death, no destruction, no inhumanity plaguing the world. How could the leaves of trees and the flowers on stems not see how horrible the world had turned?

  Always protected from anything displeasing because of his money, Buck had forgotten what true need was and he was ashamed he hadn’t been more prepared. He couldn’t go back in time to warn himself, so what was the point in dwelling?

  He didn’t say anything to fill the silence that spread throughout the cab of the Land Rover. He wasn’t sure he wanted the young girl to talk to him either. They had nothing in common and the only thing he wanted to do was talk about the needs, the problems, and how to resolve any of the major issues in front of them – eating, protection, water, and the basic necessities.

  He took a deep breath, ready to say something, anything, when fingers appeared on the sides of the seats, this time less white-knuckled and more looking for stability.

  The adolescent girl slid gangly-legs through the space between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. She plopped onto the passenger side and gracefully clicked the seatbelt into place. The material of her shorts was torn and ragged. Reaching back, she pulled the blanket up from the rear seat and drew it carefully over her exposed skin.