Chapter 4
Bringing Deb, Sean, and Jimmy home was going to be a tall order, but Vin knew that if anyone was going to have a chance at seeing them safely out of the city, it was him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in Sean’s ability to protect them or succeed in getting them home.
Vin knew that he alone had a good chance of success.
He also knew that Sean alone would have a good chance of success.
But the two of them together had been proven to be an unstoppable force on more than one occasion.
Sean and Vin knew each other like brothers, and their combat styles complemented one another in a way that few soldiers ever do.
They were the two special forces operatives that command would send out together when victory was absolutely necessary.
They were also the ones sent out when a situation seemed dire or impossible.
Together, Vin and Sean had found no situation impossible. This was just going to be another one of those instances.
Evaline trotted up toward the little slice of land that Vin had been calling home.
The poor animal was clearly exhausted, and Vin pulled her to a stop, jumping off of her.
He led the horse toward a trough of food and water and hitched her there.
He then turned toward the modified bomb shelter he had been using as a house.
Vin unlocked the huge steel door and pushed it open, stepping inside his Spartan accommodations and turning on several kerosene lanterns before closing the door again.
Within the shelter, there was a cot for sleeping, a composting toilet, and a card table set up with a folding chair in the center of the space.
On the wall, there were various shelves all filled with food in cans or jars, along with several guns and emergency disaster kits that Vin had been making over the years.
There were dozens of these kits lining the walls, all in various bags Vin had scrounged together over the years.
They contained some food, water, first aid supplies, and a whistle.
He pulled several bags down and placed them on the table.
He then grabbed a much larger bag from under his coat and started consolidating the kits into one.
He was going to need a lot of supplies for this journey, and it wasn’t going to be easy.
He grabbed a map of the surrounding area and spread it out over the table, poring over it for some time.
He was trying to determine the best route into the city, where he’d encounter the least amount of resistance.
He knew he had to move fast. The government would be mobilizing quickly, setting up checkpoints, and declaring martial law over the entire area before long. Once that occurred, it would be difficult to get into the city and even more impossible to get out.
Vin also knew that government agents and soldiers weren’t the only danger. Phoenix has a seedy criminal element. It slithered through the city like a massive snake, choking the life out of the thriving metropolis. And there was only one head on that snake.
His name was Chainz, and he was a notorious crime lord.
He ran a biker crew called the Chain Gang, and they had become so powerful and numerous that they had effectively taken over the entire criminal underworld.
Drug dealers, black market weapons sellers, thieves, and even contract killers all kicked up the ladder to the Chain Gang.
As the city fell, Chainz would inevitably step up and try to seize control. Vin knew the man and his tactics well enough. Most of the bounties he collected worked for Chainz, and he had made no friends within the Chain Gang.
So that covered his route into the city and the potential dangers he was sure to encounter. The only thing left to figure out was where he was going to go once he made it into the city.
Vin remembered that Sean kept a piece of property within the Phoenix limits.
To his recollection, it was a garage of some sort.
It was well protected, shielded, and likely stocked with supplies.
It made sense that he would head there before trying to leave with Deb and the baby.
If Vin was going to find them anywhere, it would be at that location.
A plan of action was starting to form in his head.
He was going to be heading into hostile territory completely alone.
But he wasn’t afraid for himself. Vin was confident in his abilities, and the powerless world that was going to form in the wake of the EMP attack was a world he had been training for all his life.
Vin stalked out of the bomb shelter and back into the morning sun.
He marched across the small plot of land he owned toward a large shed located just to the rear and left of the simple living space.
There was a massive chain and a padlock barring entry, and Vin pulled out a key that unlocked it.
Tossing the chain to the side, Vin walked into his storage unit.
There were weapons lining the walls. Everything from handguns to rifles and semi-automatic weapons covered nearly every inch of the space, with a massive mound of wooden crates lining one section of the left wall.
He pulled up the bag he had consolidated his disaster kits in and dropped it on the floor.
He then started going from wall to wall, grabbing every weapon he believed he might need and stuffing them into his bag. It was going to be a heavy load to carry, but he had carried more through worse. And there was infinitely more on the line in this operation than any he had ever undertaken.
Once he had taken all the weapons he could carry, Vin stalked out of the shed, moving up to the only other structure on the property. It was a huge storage unit, and he bent down to unlock the padlock that closed it off from the world.
Pulling the door up, sunlight poured into the dark space, illuminating a faraday cage.
This protective shielding was meant to repel the effects of an EMP, and within it sat his means of conveyance.
It was a massive hulk of a vehicle. A customized 1986 Ford Bronco, complete with armor plating and bulletproof windows.
It was a civilian war machine, and he had been working on it in secret for years.
This vehicle would get him into Phoenix, and it would protect him on the journey. However, once he was within the city, he would need to rely on his training to get him through the day.
Vin checked the holster on his belt. There were two revolvers hitched there, ready to help him carve his way into that supposedly civilized world.
He straightened the cowboy hat on his head and narrowed his eyes as he looked at his vehicle.
It was time to do this.