Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

“Hey!” Paige exclaimed. “You didn’t trust me?”

“Oh, come on, we barely knew each other at that point,” Anna said with a wave of her hand.

“We had two classes together!” Paige squeaked. “And not to mention, we were living together trying to survive the frickin’ apocalypse.”

“I mean, yeah, but you kind of seemed like a know-it-all, and I wasn’t really sure if you were as smart as you said you were,” the redhead replied.

“She’s right.” Tara nodded. “You did seem like a know-it-all.”

“Bails?” Paige asked, and she looked at the blonde hippie hopefully.

“I mean…” Bailey said, and she bit her lip.

“Oh, my god!” the brunette cried. “You all hated me before Tav came along.”

“We didn’t hate you,” Anna laughed.

“Yeah, don’t be dramatic.” Tara rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t trust anything I had to say,” Paige countered. “Not until Tav came along to confirm it. What would you call that?”

“Well, yeah,” Anna said with a shrug. “But only because we weren’t smart enough to know whether or not you were right.”

“I--” Paige started, but she took pause at Anna’s words, and she pursed her lips. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“Thanks so much,” Tara laughed.

“What?” Paige shrugged. “Anna said it, not me.”

“She’s not wrong, though,” the platinum-blonde chuckled. “I didn’t know if you were right or not.”

“You guys know we have a fully-stocked library on campus, right?” Paige asked.

“Oh, is that what that building is that you’re always in?” Tara teased.

“Whatever,” Paige chuckled, and she elbowed Tara lightly.

“Hey!” Tara scoffed, and she elbowed Paige back. “No hitting, I’m pregnant, remember? I’m a fragile turtledove.”

“You’re the least fragile person I’ve ever known in my life,” Anna laughed.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Tara grinned.

“Oh, turn here,” Paige said with a point. “The Base isn’t too far.”

“Good.” I nodded.

I drove as fast as I could, but it had still taken at least twenty minutes for us to arrive, and while that wasn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, every second mattered right now.

I took the turn as Paige had instructed, and I listened to the girls continue to chat as I drove, but just as we approached the base, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The area was a disaster. There were random cars parked along the side of the road, and even a city bus on one side of the street. Like the rest of Norfolk, there was debris everywhere, and a few dead bodies as well.

I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like something was wrong.

I slowed down and scanned the area, and that was when I saw them.

There were two NK soldiers posted right outside the entrance of the Air Force Base.

“What is it?” Anna asked when she realized the jeep had slowed, and she looked around quickly. “Shit.”

“Yup,” I said. “We’ve got company.”

Chapter 9

The two soldiers were dressed in the same dark green and brown attire the others always were, and they each carried a plasma gun on their hip. They stood near the front gate of the Air Force Base and faced each other casually. They obviously hadn’t spotted us yet, since we were still a little ways back from the entrance, and they didn’t seem to even be on the lookout for anybody.

I wouldn’t be surprised if these men had been posted here before we’d even arrived. They were probably stationed in this area in case any American soldiers tried to get onto the Base for any reason.

It made sense to keep a watch on areas like this, but these soldiers seemed too casual at the moment. It wasn’t uncommon for soldiers with consistent posts like this to not have a lot of communication with the main unit. If that was the case, they probably weren’t even aware that there was anything wrong.

I doubted they had any idea that their entire squadron had been annihilated.

“What’s going on?” Tara asked from the back seat, and she pushed herself between the two front seats to get a better look.

One of the soldiers spotted us just then. He yelled something to his buddy, and they both reached for their plasma weapons.

“Shit,” I breathed, and I pressed hard on the gas and jerked the wheel to the right. “Hold on!”

The city bus parked on the other side of the road was the closest thing to us that was large enough to conceal the jeep, so I quickly pulled behind it and shut the vehicle off.

I couldn’t hear the NK soldiers shooting, but I could see the bus move slightly from the impact of their shots, and the air quickly filled with the scent of burning metal.

The girls and I hopped out of the jeep and crouched down behind the bus.

“How many are there?” Tara asked. “I didn’t see.”

“Only two that I saw,” Anna replied.

“Me, too.” I nodded. “But they got the jump on us since they were posted there already.”

“Right,” the platinum-blonde said, and she narrowed her eyes on me. “What’s our plan?”

The bus continued to move slightly from the NK soldiers’ plasma blasts, and now I could see some smoke coming from the other side. The bus was thick, but it wouldn’t last forever. We needed to figure out a plan, and fast.

“They can shoot forever with the plasma weapons,” Paige said. “They don’t even have to reload.”

“We need to get the jump on them,” Anna said with a hard nod, and she glanced around.

We were behind the bus, and there were some cars parked nearby, but not close enough to get to, especially since there was no other cover around. There weren’t even any trees in the area, just parking lots and roads.

The bus started to shake even