The Darkest Night: Book 7 of the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (Surviving the Fall Series - Book 7) Read online

  The Darkest

  NIGHT

  Surviving the Fall Series

  Book 7

  By

  Mike Kraus

  © 2017 Mike Kraus

  www.MikeKrausBooks.com

  [email protected]

  www.facebook.com/MikeKrausBooks

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the permission in writing from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Author’s Notes

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  The Edge of the Knife

  Special Thanks

  This book wouldn’t be possible without the help and support of my amazing beta reading team.

  Thank you to Christine, Claudia, Glenda, James, Shari & Teresa for your awesome feedback during the beta reading process!

  Preface

  Last time, on Surviving the Fall….

  Rick Waters has finally found a familiar face. Jane, the woman he helped in Las Vegas, turned out to be staying with many other civilians in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex (NORAD). She happened to meet and befriend Dr. Evans, the man who originally worked on the precursor program that became Damocles and who was on Air Force One with the President when the plane crashed. After meeting and discussing Damocles, Rick and Dr. Evans decided that they needed to get out of NORAD and try to stop the program before things got worse. After a daring escape they stole the commander’s vehicle and together with Jane fled the base, though they may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire….

  Meanwhile, back in Virginia, Dianne and Jason have gone off in search of Tina Carson, who they learned had been taken captive by a band of ne’er-do-wells, some of whom are very familiar to Dianne. After locating the people who kidnapped Tina they discovered that they were woefully outnumbered and worked to come up with a plan to rescue Tina. As they begin their assault on the group’s compound, Dianne works her way toward where Tina is being held while Jason provides overwatch. Their plan seems to be going well until Dianne is discovered and must quickly adapt to the situation….

  And now, Surviving the Fall Episode 7.

  Chapter 1

  Somewhere between Ellisville, VA and Blacksburg, VA

  “No gunfire.” That had been one of Jason’s statements before he and Dianne split up. She had gone into the compound with the full intention of making no noise whatsoever. Slip in, grab Tina, slip out. That was the plan. Unfortunately, as Dianne was learning all over again, the best laid plans do indeed often go awry.

  “Hey!” As Dianne reached up to help Tina down the steps from the shed where she was being held, a loud voice boomed from behind. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Dianne whirled around to face the source of the noise. A large man who had been charging around the corner of the gas station to avoid Jason’s gunfire was skidding to a stop, a rifle held loosely in his hands. He stared at Dianne with wide eyes, unsure whether she was a stranger to the compound or one of the people that the group at the compound had either outright kidnapped or coerced into working for them.

  Dianne’s pistol was tucked into her waistband holster and her rifle was slung over her back. Her left hand was still held out to Tina as she dropped to the ground, allowing her legs to buckle beneath her as she braced her left arm for an impact with the ground. Her right hand darted toward her holster and drew her weapon, flicking off the safety as she pulled it from its holster.

  Five shots went out in rapid succession, three of which hit home in the man’s chest and one which sliced through his neck. He dropped his rifle as he clawed at his neck, trying to scream out in pain but managing only to summon a horrible gurgling as blood poured unhindered through the jagged hole in his neck.

  Dianne turned around to help Tina down but found her friend already halfway down the steps, holding onto one of the shed doors for support. She was dressed in a dirty, torn nightgown and wearing slippers, both of which had holes in the top, sides and front. She bore a scowl that was plainly visible even in the moonlight as she shuffled over to the dying man, trying not to slip on the grass and dirt.

  “Asshole!” Tina shouted as she kicked the man in the side. He reached towards her and Dianne pulled her away before grabbing the man’s rifle and tossing it as far away from his body as she could.

  “Tina!” Dianne held her friend by the shoulders and looked her up and down. The older woman’s short form looked even shorter, her skin was filthy and she appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight. “Quiet down; this is a rescue!”

  “You could’ve been a bit quieter about it.” Tina raised an eyebrow and smiled at Dianne. “Thank you, though. I was getting tired of being here.”

  “No sweat. Let’s get out of here.” Dianne turned away and Tina took the opportunity to kick the dying man one last time before following Dianne.

  Dianne’s eyes widened in an exasperated expression at Tina’s action. “Do you have to?”

  “Yeah.” Tina nodded. “He was an asshole.”

  Dianne rolled her eyes. “Come on. We need to get out of here.” She led Tina down through the makeshift fence at the back of the compound formed by the shells of old cars. The pair crawled through the fence and made their way out behind the compound, circling around to the side as they followed the path Dianne had taken on her way in.

  The lack of artificial lighting in the compound made their getaway smoother than Dianne had anticipated though she wondered in the back of her mind why no one had investigated the gunfire behind the gas station. The thought was almost immediately followed by the sound of voices along the side fence of the compound.

  “John’s dead! Who shot him?!”

  “Is it the sniper?”

  “It couldn’t be! That was from inside the perimeter!”

  “Get to searching, you idiots! The woman’s gone!” The last voice made Dianne’s skin crawl. She pushed Tina forward into the brush, whispering at her to crouch down so that they could hide from the searching lights of the people inside the compound. As the lights and sounds of people running around started drawing closer to the area outside the compound where Dianne and Tina were walking, Dianne cringed as a gunshot rang out. The light that had been drawing closer to her and Tina suddenly vanished but before she could try and think about where the shot came from the sky erupted into fire. Light and heat poured out from the front area of the compound, accompanied by the sound of a massive explosion. Dianne, acting purely on instinctual self-preservation, threw herself to the ground, pulling Tina along with her.

  ***

  Jason cursed silently as he watched the man disappear behind the back of the gas station. A few seconds later the sound of several rapid gunshots echoed out from the compound. Fearing the worst
he debated getting up and heading down into the compound to try and save Dianne but decided to wait a moment to see if the shots had been from her.

  A wave of relief washed over Jason as he saw the outline of two figures outside the compound, moving through the trees and brush as they slowly made their way away from the fence. Hallelujah. Jason breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention back to the compound and the people therein.

  The man wearing the blue shirt—the same one who had been the leader of the group he and Dianne saw at the Carson’s house—was peeking out from inside the gas station. The man wearing the red shirt—whom Jason and Dianne had decided was the leader of the group as a whole—was standing next to “Blue Shirt” and the pair appeared to be holding a conversation. Outside the gas station in the compound several people had gotten their hands on flashlights and appeared to be searching around the front, back and sides of the building.

  “They’re going to see that Tina’s gone missing. Damn!” Jason whispered to himself as he panned across the compound with his rifle scope, trying to decide what to do next. Blue Shirt and Red Shirt ran out of the gas station and held a hasty conversation with a couple of men standing near the fence a short distance from where Dianne and Tina were walking. The man with the red shirt gesticulated wildly and the meeting was apparently disbanded as everyone who had been standing there dispersed and began running through the compound with their flashlights, presumably looking for Tina.

  As one of the searchers ran along the inside of the fence he shone his flashlight outside the compound, its beam drawing closer to where Jason could see Tina and Dianne running along. He gritted his teeth and screamed internally, wishing there was some way he could get Dianne and Tina to lay down in the brush or otherwise hide until the man passed them by. With no other options Jason let out a low growl as he zeroed in on the man, aiming for his center of mass.

  The bullet cracked as it broke the sound barrier, whizzing across the darkness and penetrating through two layers of cloth before shredding both flesh and bone. The man who had been close to discovering Dianne and Tina dropped his flashlight and screamed, though his cry for help was quickly overshadowed by what occurred a few seconds later.

  The fuel truck out in front of the gas station—the same one that Jason had punctured with his rifle with the intent of depriving the group of the valuable gasoline contained within—had been leaking throughout the events of the last several minutes. As the liquid spread along the ground through the compound the fuel evaporated, creating a cloud of explosive fumes. When the fuel finally hit the campfire near the fuel truck the flames ignited the fumes, sending a wave of fire along the ground and back to the truck.

  Considering the poor quality of care given to the fuel trucks that the group had been bringing into the compound it was a wonder that they hadn’t had an accident with them. The tops were left off of the trucks, allowing the fuel to slowly evaporate, and they hadn’t done any checks on the valves and seals. The result was a truck that was dangerously explosive and when the flames finally spread to the vehicle its explosiveness was demonstrated in spades.

  Although Jason was a significant distance from the compound he still flinched from the light and the faint heat generated by the explosion of the truck. Fire and metal wreckage rained down from the sky across the compound and the area surrounding. Several members of the group in the compound who were unfortunate enough to be close to the truck were instantly killed by the blast and the flames. Those far enough away to not be killed instantly were seriously injured and began screaming as they tried to put out the fire that clung to their clothing.

  The explosion of the fuel truck immediately diverted the attention of the group inside the compound from both Tina’s disappearance and Jason’s gunfire. He watched as Dianne and Tina slowly stood up outside the compound and continued moving, relieved that they hadn’t been injured by the explosion. As they moved off from the compound Jason turned his gaze back to the gas station, still performing overwatch for the two women until he was confident they were far enough from the compound to be relatively safe.

  Safety, however, is always relative. As Jason panned over the compound again he noticed that, near the back, Red Shirt and Blue Shirt were not only still standing but were pointing in Jason’s general direction. Jason had just enough time to notice that the pair were holding rifles and squirm backwards a few inches before a burst of gunfire began hammering his position on the hill. He grabbed his rifle and his bags and rolled backwards along the hill, trying to get into cover.

  When he finally made it behind a small dip at the top of the hill he put his head back on the grass and groaned before putting on his backpack. He crawled away from the hill, keeping the tree at his back and his rifle in one hand, getting away as fast as possible while hoping that he had distracted the group long enough for Dianne and Tina to get away.

  Chapter 2

  Somewhere near the border of Colorado and Kansas

  “Of all the cars I’ve ridden in this has to be the absolute worst.” Dr. Michael Evans groaned as he shifted position yet again, trying to find a comfortable spot to sit in the back seat of the small sports car. Every swerve and bump in the road was magnified tenfold in the back of the vehicle; though up front Jane and Rick weren’t having quite as many difficulties.

  “You kept making fun of me for complaining! Now you get to see what it’s like!” Jane grinned in the rearview mirror, glancing back for a second as she drove along. Rick sat next to her and shook his head, feeling more like a father on a road trip than a man on his way to either save the world or meet his maker.

  “Quiet down, you two. We’re all taking turns riding in the torture chamber. Make the best of it and keep the complaints to a minimum.” Dr. Evans rolled his eyes but said nothing, merely grunting with each new movement of the car.

  It was late in the morning as the small sports car tore along the open Kansas highway at just under a hundred miles an hour. The sky was surprisingly clear, offering a breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountains in the background and an uninterrupted horizon of green and brown ahead. The flat, featureless plains along both sides of the road offered a somewhat comforting view on a world that seemed remarkably unchanged.

  The number of vehicles on the highway was surprisingly small and the lanes were clear of debris. This made it easy to maintain a high rate of speed without worrying about coming up on a burned-out wreck or having to somehow go off-road in a vehicle that barely had enough clearance to handle a speed bump.

  The escape from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex had been relatively easy, surprisingly enough. The guards at the main gate had it partially open at the sight of the General’s car and Rick had sped through before they realized their mistake. If the General even knew about the theft he either didn’t care or had bigger things to deal with since, as they sped along through the base and out toward the highway, they didn’t see a single vehicle coming after them in pursuit. After driving for a few hours Rick handed over the reins to Jane. She kept them going as dawn broke over the horizon and continued going along well into the late morning.

  “You know,” Rick said, “as uncomfortable as this car is we really are lucky to have gotten our hands on it.”

  “Why’s that?” Dr. Evans piped up from the back seat.

  “It’s still intact for one thing. I never thought I’d see an Edison still working after what Damocles did to all of the modern vehicles. The fact that the General had the computer systems disconnected is a minor miracle. I don’t know how we’d make it all the way across the plains in a Humvee or something.”

  “Security precautions, I’d guess. He wanted something fancy and modern but in his position he couldn’t be all connected up to everything if he’s working in the complex.”

  Rick leaned over and looked at the fuel gauge, shaking his head in amazement. “We haven’t even used a fifth of the tank so far. It’s incredible.”

  “You work—well, worked in the auto industry, right
?” Jane said. “Why do you find it so incredible?”

  Rick smiled. “For all I complained about my job and automation coming in and being a harbinger of doom—I was right by the way—stuff like this still fascinates me. I also hadn’t realized how far Edison had come in improving the efficiencies of their solar panels. Once we run out of gas we should only have to stop every few hours to let the batteries catch up. They’re almost providing enough power to fully run the car.”

  Jane glanced over at the large LCD panel embedded in the center dash of the vehicle. Rick had been tapping at the screen for the last hour and every time she or Dr. Evans asked him what he was doing his only response was ‘working.’ “Would you please just tell us what you’re doing with that thing?”

  “Yes, please!” Dr. Evans spoke up from the back seat. “Anything to break up the monotony of this dreadful ride!”

  Rick pointed at the display which was showing an overhead image of the car on the top half and a black and white command-line window and keyboard in the bottom half. “Trying to access the root administrative systems. Some of our internal developers found backdoors into Edison’s software a year or so ago when they first went to market. If I can access that then I might be able to figure out how to get more drive time out of the gasoline engine and maybe even the solar panels.”

  “Do you think some of the features were artificially locked away?” Dr. Evans leaned up, suddenly intrigued by what Rick was doing.

  “That’s something Edison and a few other manufacturers were doing with their hybrid and full electric vehicles, yes. General Black strikes me as the type who would rather spend the money on the full feature set versus skimping but you never know.” Rick shrugged. “Not that it really matters. None of the old backdoors I remember still work so I can’t get into the computer and muck around with things.”