SURVIVE AND ESCAPE: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Thriller (The Blue Lives Apocalypse Series Book 1) Read online

  SURVIVE AND ESCAPE

  Book One in the Blue Lives Apocalypse Series

  A novel by Lee West

  Copyright Information

  Copyright 2016 by Lee West. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact:

  [email protected]

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  About the Author

  Dedication

  To the brave men and women in blue—who proudly serve our communities.

  And to my family, for their never-ending love and support.

  Chapter One

  A wide beam of golden sunlight streamed through the tent screen, warming Jane Archer’s tanned face. She shifted in the sleeping bag, taking in the deep aromatic smell of Sam’s camp coffee. Stretching lazily in her sleeping bag, Jane called out to Sam.

  “Do you have any fresh-baked scones to go with that burnt coffee?”

  “I’m afraid the menu is limited to stale muesli and reconstituted powdered milk,” said Sam.

  “Ugh,” she groaned, and then shrugged on her trail-weary khaki shorts and equally grimy T-shirt.

  “Hey, I heard that. A little love for the chef would be appreciated.”

  Coming up behind Sam, Jane wrapped her long toned arms around his neck and nibbled on his ear.

  “A little love is all you’re looking for?” she whispered in a low sensuous voice.

  “Just a little, but I’ll take all you’re giving.” He pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled her closer.

  “I can’t believe this is our last morning out here. Back to reality.”

  “Me either. I thought after two weeks I would be more than ready for a hot shower and real food.”

  Waving a hand in front of her face, Jane said, “A shower sounds pretty good right now. I don’t think the freshwater rinses we’ve been doing have really done the trick for either of us. Although I have loved skinny-dipping in the mountain streams.”

  “Me too,” he said with a devious smirk. “No rush to get out of here. We’re roughly ten miles from the trailhead and our car. We can take our time hiking out. It’ll only take half the day to get to the car, plus an hour or so to drive home.”

  “Sounds like a plan. How do you think Lea has fared?” said Jane before gingerly sipping her coffee without a grimace.

  “Lea is a tough kid. People change. She can change back into her pre-Tank self,” said Sam.

  “I hope so. Eight weeks in rehab did her wonders. I just hope we can keep Tank away long enough to give her recovery the time needed to take root.”

  “With any luck one of your colleagues in the PD will have arrested Mr. Travis for drug trafficking, human trafficking, assault, rape or any number of other felonies I’m sure he’s guilty of.”

  The thought of Tank’s previous and potential rap sheet left her feeling pessimistic—and a little queasy.

  “Tank has a way of just narrowly escaping our grasp at every turn—but no one can remain lucky forever. We’ll catch him involved in something that will stick. Hopefully, Lea will be far away from him when that happens.”

  “Lea is twenty-four, with the whole world in front of her—and she has amazing parents, if I might say so,” said Sam, producing a wide smile.

  She nodded hopefully. “I know you’re right. I just can’t wait to see her.”

  “Well, let’s break camp and start the long hike out of here.”

  “Sounds good.”

  As Jane crawled into the tent, she felt Sam’s hands on her backside while he moved into the tent with her. With a mischievous glance at Sam, Jane decided their departure could wait a little while longer.

  Chapter Two

  The towering pines stood silent over them, watching as Jane and Sam weaved their way back through the forest to the trailhead and eventually the park entrance. The chattering of birds and insects echoed off the forest walls like voices of a choir in a great cathedral.

  Hiking out of the mountains was both a joyous and sad occasion for Jane. Their two-week backcountry trip ended with the usual melancholy that vacation endings always brought. Despite the sadness, the trip’s end was also tinged with a degree of triumph. Sam and Jane had more or less passed an important, self-administered test. They’d meticulously planned for the trip, with the intention of thoroughly assessing how they might fare in a real-life emergency situation requiring them to bug out of their neighborhood on foot.

  All of the gear and supplies assembled for the two-week backcountry hike had been carefully vetted to sustain them, without resupply, for the duration of the trip. It was a daunting proposition, but when the time came to head out, they couldn’t get into the mountains fast enough.

  Now that it was over, Jane didn’t want to leave. She’d come to enjoy the solitude and relaxation of the mountain trails. She dreaded reconnecting with a world where her cellphone never stopped chirping. Of course, they didn’t have a choice. Life in the “real” world waited eagerly for their return. Jobs. A house. Lea. All of it required their attention sooner than later.

  Sam stopped suddenly on the trail, glancing around the forest with a puzzled look.

  “What’s up?” she said, turning to face him.

  “Do you notice anything?”

  “What am I noticing?”

  “The sounds? There are no sounds other than birds. I would have thought we would start hearing some
noise from civilization,” he said.

  She listened, noticing nothing beyond the same wonderful forest sounds she’d soon miss. “I guess you’re right. It’s super quiet out here. Maybe we’re further out than you originally thought? Or the trees are muffling other sounds?”

  “No, we should be hearing the airport at the very least.”

  Up ahead of them on the trail, a man walked slowly in their direction. From what they could tell, he didn’t carry a backpack or any kind of hiking rig.

  “We can’t be that far out. This guy just walked into the forest without any supplies,” she said.

  “He doesn’t look right. Something is off by the way he’s walking.”

  “Let’s give him a wide berth.”

  She shifted her weight, aiming the side of her slim body toward the oncoming potential threat. They moved slowly off the trail as the man limped toward them. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, wearing nothing but a pair of ripped and soiled suit pants and a grimy undershirt. Blood trickled down one of his bare feet from a leg wound hidden by his pants.

  Not sensing an immediate threat, Jane addressed him out of habit. “Are you okay? Do you need assistance?”

  The man stood silent for a second before vacantly looking up at Jane, as though just hearing a distant sound.

  “They’re all gone. All gone, and I couldn’t do anything for them,” he said, a wild look taking over his face.

  Jane knew the look of a person on the edge of sanity. She had seen it many times before, responding to calls over a twenty-two-year career as a local police officer. She knew something had happened to this man, and he either needed help or to be arrested—most likely both. She reached toward the man’s arm.

  “Why don’t you come with us? We can bring you out of the forest and—”

  “Don’t touch me!” screeched the man, reeling from her touch.

  “Sorry, I just wanted to—” she started.

  Without warning, he pulled a bent, bloodstained kitchen knife from behind his back and lunged halfheartedly at Jane. Light and quick on her feet, she easily deflected the man’s attempt to attack her, sidestepping out of his way. The man let out an animalistic growl and swung the knife in a wide arc before running off the trail into the woods.

  Jane started to chase him, but Sam grabbed her arm.

  “Not this time! We need to get back home. We’ll give the ranger at the station a heads-up.”

  “It doesn’t feel right to leave him out here. He could attack another hiker or die of hypothermia.”

  “He’ll be fine. The rangers can sort this out,” he said. “Plus, we haven’t seen anyone in days.”

  “Okay. Let’s speed up. The sooner the rangers get after him, the better.”

  Back on the trail, they picked up the pace toward the parking lot. Jane frequently glanced over her shoulder as they walked, half expecting to find the distraught man following them, but she never caught a glimpse of him again. As they moved further away from the location of the brief encounter, she relaxed, though she couldn’t totally shake the feeling that the man’s bizarre appearance in the woods signified a bigger problem.

  Chapter Three

  Sam walked several paces behind Jane, trying his best to keep up. She was moving at double her normal speed, no doubt fueled by their recent run-in on the trail. He began to wonder how long he could keep up the pace. The last time he’d moved this fast for a sustained period was when he was in the field with the Marines, during his time as a Fleet Marine Force corpsman.

  “Do you think we can stop to catch our breath? We’ve been moving at your Bataan Death March pace for more than an hour,” he said, struggling to get the words out.

  “Sure, I could use a short break.”

  Sam caught up, putting his hands on his knees and breathing deeply.

  “You need to join me a few times a week at the gym for spinning class.”

  “I’m not riding a stationary bike,” he said, still panting.

  “Just saying,” she added, hands on her hips, scanning the forest around them.

  He took a long sip of water from his CamelBak, savoring the pristine taste of filtered mountain-stream water. He wasn’t sure how they could go back to drinking the chemically sanitized, chlorine-tinged stuff that poured out of the tap at home. When he’d finally caught his breath, he stood upright, taking in the forest. Something was off.

  “We should be close enough for the road traffic to be within earshot. Airport, too.”

  “I know. It is odd, but there has been no shortage of people passing us,” she said.

  “Yes. But not the usual assortment of people one might expect in the mountains.”

  Resting on a rock, Sam glanced down the trail in the direction of their car, wondering what else the day would bring. He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that something was amiss. Not wanting to alarm Jane, he chose to keep this feeling to himself for now. Jane drank from her CamelBak, catching her breath in between gulps, but he knew her well enough to know she also felt something was off. After twenty-five years of marriage, he considered himself an expert at reading her signals.

  “You about ready?” she said.

  “Yep, just polishing off the last granola bar.”

  “I can’t even tell you how much I’m looking forward to eating real food.”

  Sam dusted off his shorts and heaved the burdensome backpack onto his weary shoulders. The weight of his pack seemed to grow the closer they got to the car.

  “This looks like a normal bunch,” said Jane, nodding toward the trail ahead of them.

  A family of four walked in their direction. The parents both carried excessively large packs. The twin children carried packs, which were smaller, but still seemed large for their tiny frames. The mother’s head snapped in their direction at the sound of a twig breaking under Jane’s foot. The couple seized their children and quickly escorted them off the trail into the dense woods away from Sam and Jane. The family stopped next to a thick tree trunk and huddled together silently, the father standing protectively in front of them. The look on his face told Jane and Sam everything they needed to know. The family was not on vacation.

  “Let’s pick up the pace,” said Jane.

  “Good idea.”

  A little further along the trail, the centuries-old towering trees parted, giving them a view of the parking lot. Cars sat scattered throughout the lot, like large tombstones in an old cemetery. A veil of violence hung over the parking lot, in quiet contrast to the serene surroundings.

  “Holy crap,” said Sam.

  “What the hell?” muttered his wife.

  All of the cars in the lot were damaged to some degree. Almost all of the side windows were shattered, the cars’ gutted bowels exposed to the elements.

  “This is not the work of bears or teenagers,” said Jane.

  “That’s an understatement. No wonder everyone looked pretty freaked out as they passed us. Must have been some sort of massive gang activity or something,” said Sam.

  “I’m leaning toward the or something category,” she said. “Our car should be on the south side. I think I see it.”

  Carefully moving through the devastated lot, Jane and Sam made their way to their car. Sam’s Camry had suffered the same fate as the other vehicles. The windshield was smashed, and its side windows were gone, leaving glass beads strewn across the front seats. The trunk had been wrenched open with a crude tool, leaving it open and awkwardly bent.

  “Wait a minute. This happened a while ago. Look at the seats. They’re covered in wet, decomposed leaves,” said Jane.

  “Yeah, who knows how long the car has been sitting like this. From the looks of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if the vandals were here just after we left, two weeks ago.”

  Looking at the crushed hood, Jane said, “Do you think it still works?”

  “Only one way to find out.” Sam dropped his pack to retrieve his car keys.

  Carefully opening the door, Sam brushed the glass
shards into the driver’s foot well. Sam had a sinking feeling that the car wasn’t going to start. The key clanged into the key slot with the usual metal-on-metal ting. When he turned the key—nothing. The engine neither groaned nor rumbled to life. It sat completely still, blending seamlessly into the natural environment.

  “Do you think the battery is dead?”

  “Not sure. It’s odd that there was absolutely no sound at all when I turned the key. If the battery was dead, we would have heard the ticking of the relays. But we heard absolutely nothing. I’ll pop the hood and see what I can do,” said Sam.

  Jane dumped her backpack on the ground. “Okay, while you do that, I think I’ll have a look around at the other vehicles to try to piece together what happened.”

  “Sounds good, just stay within earshot.”

  “Will do.”

  Sam knew he could fix almost anything. His fellow Marines had dubbed him “MacGyver,” a name he openly encouraged. Sam had every tool available for purchase or trade, and a number of custom tools he created by welding various parts together. He loved tinkering in his basement workshop, and over the years people had come to rely on Sam for the odd custom pieces he hand fabricated to solve their mechanical problems.

  Opening the hood and peering into the car’s guts, he wasn’t sure he could make a rapid diagnosis. The engine looked completely untouched. Checking connections, wiring and hoses, he could see no obvious reason for the mechanical failure, leaving him with nothing to fix. Unless he could pinpoint the problem and repair it with the limited tools in his pack, they’d have to walk home. Judging from the parking lot mess, he somehow doubted twenty-four-hour AAA roadside assistance was currently available.

  Chapter Four

  Jane walked slowly through the parking lot, watching for movement between the cars ahead of her. A dozen or so vehicles of various makes and models sat useless in the gravel field, which was bordered by dense forest. Someone clearly liked breaking glass. Random tires had been slashed and most of the trunks were pried open by the same crude hand that had visited their car. Jane had seen enough gang violence and teenage shenanigans to know that either group could have been involved in this crime scene. However, what she saw next unsettled her to the core.