Survive The Fall | Book 4 | Total Collapse

her parents’ room on the other end of the home. The barrel breached the blind spot as she kept moving.
A hand materialized from the other side, grabbed the barrel, and jerked the shotgun. Sarah squeezed the trigger without thought.
Fire spat from the muzzle. The report was deafening. A loud ringing tormented her ears.
The 12-gauge left her hands and hit the floor. A tall, slender man skirted the blind corner and grabbed for Sarah’s shirt. She slugged him in the jaw, then backed away. He hit the wall with a dense thud. His hand massaged his jaw, then balled into a fist.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my parents’ house?” Sarah asked, demanding an answer from the much taller intruder.
She reached behind her back for the Glock 22 stowed in the waistband of her jeans, pulled the weapon, then trained it at his head.
He lifted his arms in the air, showing Sarah his hands. “Don’t kill me. I haven’t done anything to your parents.”
“Why the hell did you break into their house?” Sarah asked, sounding monstrous. “Tell me or I’ll shoot you dead where you stand.”
His hands shook. “My van broke down up the road. I walked here looking for help. I knocked on the door, but no one answered.”
“So, you broke into my parents’ house, then?”
“I checked around the house, and it didn’t seem like anyone was here,” he answered. “I was tired and hungry. I’m sorry for breaking in and attacking you. Since the power went out, people have lost their minds, and I panicked. I’ll leave, and you won’t see me again. I promise. Just please don’t kill me.”
Sarah kept the Glock locked on his head. She glanced at the living room and the corner of the hallway leading to her parents’ bedroom. “Is anyone else in here with you?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. It’s just me.”
“So that noise I heard earlier was you?”
“Yes. I heard you, and accidentally nudged their nightstand,” he replied.
“You don’t work for the Irish mob or any other syndicate, do you?” Sarah asked.
His face scrunched in confusion. “What? I don’t work for any mobsters or anything like that. Like I said, I was just looking for some food and a place to rest until I could figure out my next move. Please, lady. Let me grab my stuff, and I’ll leave. I just want to get back to my wife and young son in Tulsa. I don’t want any trouble.”
“Did you steal anything?”
“I just had some food that was in the cabinets is all,” he replied, voice trembling with fear. “I swear I don’t know anything about your folks or any mobsters.”
Sarah studied his sad eyes and quivering lips, unsure if he spoke the truth or if it was a ploy for her to lower her defenses. Given the panicked expression, Sarah believed what he said.
She lowered the Glock. Her finger pressed to the side of the trigger guard. She turned toward the kitchen, stared at the food sitting on top of the kitchen island, then looked back to him. “You’re not pulling my leg about the wife and kid, are you?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I’m not. I was on a business trip when the grid crashed. Since then, I’ve been trying to get back to them. That’s all I want.”
Sarah nodded at the rucksack in the living room. “Grab your pack and take what food you can carry.”
His face twisted in confusion. He didn’t move right away. “Are you serious? So, you’re not going to kill me, and you’re giving me food?”
“Yes, to both,” Sarah answered in a calm tone.
He nodded, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much. I appreciate your kindness. My wife and son thank you.”
Sarah offered a tilt of her head. “You’re welcome.”
The man grabbed his rucksack.
Sarah stowed the Glock in the waistband of her jeans and retrieved the 12-gauge shotgun from the floor. She grabbed the fore-end of the shotgun and pulled toward her, ejecting the spent shell and cycling another into the action.
The empty shell clattered off the tile.
He walked past her to the kitchen, and stuffed what food he could into his pack. “I do appreciate this, more than you know. It’s nice to see not everyone has lost their minds during all of this.” He zipped his rucksack up, secured the thick straps over his shoulders, then turned to face her.
Sarah kept her distance, training the barrel of the tactical shotgun at the floor. “Just get back to that family. That’ll be all the thanks I need.”
The man offered a warm smile, walked past her, and headed down the hallway.
She followed a few feet behind.
The broken glass from the French door crunched under his boots. He stepped out onto the sidewalk, turned, and walked down the sidewalk, then to the driveway.
Sarah stepped outside, watching him vanish beyond the blind corner of the brick home. The shotgun remained pointed at the ground. She waited a few minutes to see if he’d poke his head out from the far side of the home, but he never did.
She took a deep breath, held it, then released it slowly. Sarah stared at the back of the property one last time, turned, and walked back into her parents’ home.
The beating of her racing heart lessened. She sat the shotgun down and leaned it against the wall, then closed the door.
Sarah deflated against the glass front, sighed, then ran her hand over her face in exhaustion. Even in the country, away from the horrors and turmoil consuming the big city, danger still lurked where she least expected it, and she would have to remain ever vigilant.

CHAPTER SIX
 
 
RUSSELL
Gunfire crackled from the mob squaring off with police. People scattered