Prepper's Apocalypse | Book 2 | Prepper's Collapse
restored but made to look like an old rusty vehicle. That rust and worn through paint on the truck is actually creative artwork done by the one who repainted the truck.”Tom lifted the hood, and underneath was an old 454 big block Chevy engine with a carburetor, coil, and distributer. “The old six-banger was scrapped, but the new engine has the old-style carburation and no electronics. This thing will run better than new.”
Tom and the other two checked out the truck for damage from the gunfire and found the steel tailgate had been peppered with bullets. Only a few had penetrated the eighth-inch steel plate. Rick slid under the truck and quickly found the bullet hole in the tank. He yelled, “Give me the hammer and a handful of those plugs we cut. One of them should fit.”
All of the plugs were too large, so Rick drew his knife, shaved the plug down to fit, and then hammered it into the hole. “You can pour the gas in now, and I’ll check for leaks.”
Tom started pouring gas from a five-gallon-can into the filler neck. “Rick?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t fall asleep under there.”
“Nothing’s leaking. Let’s go home.”
Tom started the truck, and it ran without issue. He climbed out of the cab and said, “I want to look in the bed.”
Tom climbed up the side of the bed. “Holy crap! They’re holding out on us.”
Tom climbed down. They lowered the tailgate to reveal dozens of small buckets with Wise Company 52 Serving Prepper Bucket printed on the side. A couple dozen large tubs with a Patriot Supply 184 Servings label stuck to the side were also beside the other buckets. “We’ve hit the jackpot.”
Jack stared at the mountain of food. “Ole Jerry has been holding out on us.”
Rick pointed behind the pile. “There’s a winch in the headache rack. See the cable and hook poking out of the four rollers? You can load heavy machinery with the bed on or off.”
Tom frowned. “Why would Jerry trust us or anyone with all of his food and supplies? Let’s take the truck home, but not tell Jerry and his wife. This truck will come in handy. We can use the winch and dump bed to load vehicles and farm equipment.”
Jack shouted, “Be quiet! I hear someone coming this way. Hide.”
They readied their rifles and hid behind the truck. The ATV’s sound increased until its exhaust bellowed past them. Tom snuck through the brush and saw the ATV and its rider wearing a black leather riding suit. Tom was struck by the rider’s flaming red hair. His heart raced for a minute when he noticed the rider was a rather shapely woman. He thought, No! She’s dead! He continued watching and saw the ATV’s rider stop and search the ground, then ride back towards him. He ducked back into the brush while keeping an eye on the rider. Tom groaned when he saw the machine pistol strapped to the rider’s chest. The rider was soon out of sight, so Tom went back to his friends and filled them in on what he’d seen. He didn’t mention the red hair or that the rider was a woman.
Tom told the others, they had to wait until dark to head back to the ranch even though he’d initially thought it would be safe this far from Ashland. Eight hours later, he took a different route as he drove, and Rick watched ahead with the night vision scope from the crossbow. Tom went southwest this time and then worked his way through the hills on paved and non-paved roads. He ended up on Beaver Creek Road, not far from the ranch. Then he took an old logging trail to the north of the old cabin. He drove on down to the barn and parked it inside after James stopped them with a hundred questions on what had taken them so long to get back.
Tom went down into the bowels of the bunker and fended everyone off but Kate, who’d been worried to death. With all but James listening, he told a white lie about where they ran into the ATV, and conveniently left the farm truck out of the story. He left the others with Kate clinging to him to go get some sleep. Granny B frowned when Kate followed him into his bedroom and didn’t come back out until mid-morning with her grandson.
*
Chapter 6
The Clark Ranch – The Bunker
Kate slowly cracked the door open just enough to see there wasn’t anyone in the hallway. She looked back at Tom soundly sleeping and slid out of the room. She carefully closed the door when she heard a squeak and looked behind her to see Rick slipping out of Jackie’s room. Their eyes met, and they smiled.
Kate whispered, “Busted. I never saw you here.”
Rick chuckled but had a worried look. “I see nothing. But the person behind you sees everything.”
Kate started knocking on Tom’s door. “Tom, wake up!”
Granny B walked up to Kate and gave her a pat on the back. She pointed to the ceiling by the entrance to the living area. “Dang, cameras are everywhere,” she chuckled and then walked back to the kitchen.
Jackie stuck her head out of her room. “Granny caught you, didn’t she? I’ll catch hell for this,” she said, and then kissed Rick. “I think we probably just moved the wedding day up a week. I feel sorry for my brother.”
Jackie looked at Kate. “Hmmm, you dropped that playing hard to get, didn’t you?”
Kate looked over her shoulder. “Yes, I figured out that your brother is a bit slow when it comes to women, so I slowed up a bit and let him catch me. By the way, does she always treat you two like teenagers? You’re grown adults.”
Jackie laughed. “Yes, we’re grown, but