The Survivor Chronicles: Book 1, The Upheaval (17 page)

She rolled her eyes at him, causing his frustration to grow as he tried to grab her arm. “A cop Xander. With a badge and a gun.”

He froze. Apparently Bobby wasn’t the only one that aspired to get their hands on a gun. “You seriously want to break into a cop’s house?” he asked incredulously.

“You’re the one who said the rules don’t exactly apply anymore.”

“It’s a cop’s house!” he nearly shouted.

She continued to glower at him as the others filtered onto the porch. “It is,” she confirmed unflinchingly, though she still cradled her elbow. “And I’m getting inside of it, one way or another.”

He stared at the backdoor, torn between common sense and his conscience. He was acutely aware of the fact that his continued existence was nowhere near as secure as it had been when he’d awoken this morning. “You don’t even know what to do with a gun,” he muttered as he strolled toward the door.

“This isn’t survival of the fittest, maybe not even the smartest anymore, Xander. This is survival of the most prepared right now, and I plan to be prepared.”

“Maybe the luckiest too,” Lee added.

“Yeah, and I suck at poker, so I’ll take preparation on this one. I’d rather have an unfortunate steaming hole death over some idiot shooting me, or stampeding me, because I can’t defend myself,” Riley continued.

“Here’s hoping I don’t get shot doing this.” Xander lifted his elbow and smashed it into the window. Glass shattered inward, he held his breath as he waited for a bullet in retaliation, but none was forthcoming. Reaching in, he flipped the deadlock and pushed the door open. He stood hesitatingly on the threshold, feeling completely uncomfortable with the fact that he had just broken into a house, never mind a police officer’s house.

“Hello?” he called into the house.

It was hollow, barren – cold even – despite the fact that it was filled with pictures and houseplants that normally would have been inviting. Perhaps it was the knowledge that the occupants of this house might very well be dead, but a chill began to work its way down his spine. It didn’t matter that this was a cop’s house, he felt like he was violating someone’s privacy, someone’s life, in a big way.

“Karma’s a bitch,” he murmured.

“Probably why the earth is trying to eat us right now,” Riley informed him as she elbowed her way past him into the house.

Xander followed her as she crept through the kitchen to the living room. The family photos on the fireplace mantle were a little unnerving, especially the ones with Sue’s stepdad in his Marine, and policeman uniforms. “This guy could kick our asses,” Lee said in awe. His dark blue eyes were wide as he met Xander's gaze over top of Riley's head and made the cutthroat gesture with his hand. Xander shook his head at him but he knew Lee was right.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t come back anytime soon than,” Carol whispered.

“I think he keeps his guns in the den. I came over once, in ninth grade, when Sue and I were partnered for a history report,” Riley said.

“Just once?” Bobby inquired.

Riley shrugged. “Sue’s a little weird.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Carol retorted.

“How weird?” Bobby asked.

“You know how every grade seems to have that one kid who sits in the back of class and chews on their hair?” Carol asked.

Bobby glanced around the room before answering slowly, “Yeah.”

“Well, Sue actually ate it.”

Bobby and Lee choked on laughter as Xander shook his head. “Great. A Marine and a Carrie wannabe. Awesome house to pick Ri, just awesome,” Lee told her.

“It’s not like she’s going to eat your dandruff-ridden hair,” Riley retorted.

Lee grinned at her as he pointed two fingers at his sun-kissed hair. “There’s no dandruff in this, thank you.”

Riley heaved a sigh, but she actually smiled. That smile vanished as she turned to look at Xander. From the disgruntled look she shot him, he would have thought that he was eating her hair. Riley brushed past him, leading the way to the den situated at the front of the house. She pushed open the door and poked her head inside before nodding for them to follow.

The walls of the den were littered with awards and medals. The man was a decorated war veteran. Xander forced his attention away from the walls and onto the gun cabinet in the corner of the room as his scruples started screaming at him. This was such a hideously awful house to rob. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“We have to find the key,” Carol informed him.

“Just break the glass!” His tone was pricklier than he’d anticipated, but being in this place was really starting to make his skin crawl. Carol blanched, and even super criminal Riley seemed uneasy with this suggestion as she shifted from foot to foot. “I’ll do it,” he muttered.

Grabbing the desk chair by the arms, he lifted it high in his grasp. Carol scurried to get out of the way as he swung the chair forward, smashing one of the casters off the glass front of the gun case. The biting sound of splintering glass set his teeth on edge, but he dropped the chair and strode over to the now open contents of the cabinet.

He pulled two longer guns from the cabinet. “Rifles,” Bobby informed him.

“I kinda figured that one out,” he told him.

He handed Bobby one of the rifles before reaching back in and pulling out what he assumed was a shotgun. “This will do some damage.”

“Do you know how to load it?” Carol inquired nervously.

“Only what I’ve seen on TV and movies,” he admitted.

“This might have been a bad idea,” Riley said as she eyed the guns nervously. “Let me see it.”

“What, you have a better idea how to do it?” he demanded.

“Not even a little bit, but it can’t be that tough to figure out.”

“I’m sure,” he retorted sarcastically. He handed the gun over to her anyway as he bent to pull cases of bullets out of the drawer beneath, as well as three handguns. He thought he would feel reassured by the weight of the guns, but he was terrified. None of them knew how to use these things; he thought it was a fairly safe bet that one of them would accidentally shoot themselves before they ever had to use the weapons on someone else.

Riley clicked something and then tossed him a smug look. “Done.”

He took the gun from her and gave her the handguns. “Here you go, Rambo. Figure these ones out. Just don’t shoot yourself in the process.”

“I’ll keep it aimed at you, just in case.”

He dropped the gun to his side as he turned back to her. “Shit, Riley. Let it go.”

She stared unblinkingly at him for a minute. He thought she was going to bicker some more, but then her gaze flitted around the room and finally settled upon the deserted and chaotic street. She didn’t acknowledge him again as she began to fiddle with the revolver. Her fingers were nimble as they slid the bullets in and clicked the cylinder closed.

At his questioning look she shrugged her shoulders and offered a feeble smile. “I watch a lot of westerns.”

“I didn’t know that,” he admitted.

“You don’t know a lot about me.” He supposed that was true, even though he’d known her most of their lives. He sure wouldn’t have expected her to be the first one to attempt to break into a police officer’s house. He pulled a holster from the cabinet and handed it to her. She frowned at it. “You think I should keep them?”

“I don’t see any better options in this room. None of us know what we’re doing with these things either. Here’s hoping Westerns are a good teaching device.”

“Sure they are; they taught me how to take whiskey shots and ride a horse.” He laughed as she wrapped the holster around her slender waist and buckled it securely. “Feels weird.”

“I’d be worried if you said it felt right.”

“Very true.”

“We should see if they have some food,” Bobby suggested.

Xander hung back as they filed out of the room. “Riley?” She frowned at him as she looked over her shoulder from the doorway. “One day you’re really going to have to let that whole Dumbo thing go. I was a kid.”

“It really sucked being stuck with that name for the past ten years.” Her gaze drifted back to the window. “But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Not really.”

“And who knows, the way things are going you might only be around for a little bit longer anyway.” She really could melt a man's heart when she smiled like that, even if it was at the thought of his demise.

“Here’s hoping.”

She shook her head at him before leaving the room. Xander’s gaze fell back to the gun cabinet, there were still weapons inside but he left them behind. He wasn’t about to leave these people completely defenseless if they returned.

The others were gathered in the kitchen, apparently eating everything they could get their hands on. He ignored the nagging pull of his conscience as he made himself a turkey sandwich and bit eagerly in. He couldn't believe he had any kind of an appetite right now, but he was starving.

“It’s calmed down out there.” Bobby was standing by the backdoor, a bag of chips in his hand.

Xander stared past him, to the strange and suddenly very unfamiliar world beyond the door. Riley joined Bobby in the doorway, her head tilted back as she studied the sky. “The sun is coming out,” she murmured.

Xander shoved the last of his sandwich into his mouth and hurried to join them. He tilted his head back, watching as the clouds or the moon - he still couldn't decide which- finally began to slide away from the sun. Relief filled him at this small sign that perhaps things were finally beginning to return to normal. “About time.”

He was so focused on trying to see the sun that he didn’t catch the strange whining noise until the plane was over top of the trees. Bobby cursed; the bag of chips fell from his hands as he jumped back. There was a small airport in the next town, but Xander had never seen the planes fly this low before. The landing gear had dropped down; its wing nearly clipped a tall pine as the plane swayed in the air. The blast of wind created by the plane caused the trees surrounding it to bend.

It dipped from view, disappearing behind the trees. Xander held his breath, his hands clenched as he waited and prayed, but he knew it was useless. There was no way that plane was going to land safely.

The crash wasn’t as loud or as explosive as he expected. Apparently there was little fuel left in the plane to create the blast that he had anticipated. A plume of smoke shot high over the trees as the sound of twisted metal echoed through the air.

“Oh,” Riley breathed.

“There’s nowhere for them to land,” Lee muttered. “At least not near here, not anymore.”

“They’re running out of fuel.”

Xander no longer cared about the reemerging sun; he studied the sky, searching for more planes. “How many more of them do you think there are?” Carol inquired.

“Too many,” Xander muttered warily. Hundreds of airplanes were probably up there, just biding their time until there was no time left. “And they’re all going to come down sooner or later.”

CHAPTER 13

John

Somewhere in Mass.

“Where are we?”