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had been thrown at it, but then the sound rang against
other parts of the vehicle. Ducking down in his seat, Ash realised that they
were being shot at.
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    Ash
found himself gripping the underside of his seat. His heart pounded, but he
held his breath to try and bring it under control. Tony steered the pick-up to
a stop, unclipped his seat belt and then opened the glove compartment in front
of Ash. He pulled out a Glock 19 and put it in the pocket of his coat. His face
was calm and his breathing was steady.  He acted as though he faced this kind
of dangerous situation every day of his life, but Ash guessed that was the
effect of being a prepper. It meant that mentally he had rehearsed the shit
hitting the fan enough times that he wasn’t scared when it actually happened.
     
    A
green jeep emerged from the horizon behind them and rolled over the rocky
plains. It looked miles away, but Ash knew that it was much closer than that.
He opened the door of the pickup and put unsteady feet onto the floor. A bullet
sped near his head and made a dinging sound as it lodged into the roof of the
vehicle.
     
    “What
the hell are they firing?” he said.
     
    “Looks
like automatics. Listen, when they stop I want you to give yourself up and then
play along.”
     
    “What?”
     
    A
bullet hit the pickup, and Tony dropped to the ground. At first Ash thought
that he had been hit, but Tony turned his head, opened his right eye and
winked. He didn’t know what Tony’s plan was, but he didn’t really have much of
a choice other than to follow it.
     
    As
the jeep got closer, Ash put his hand in the air to show that he wasn’t
carrying a weapon. It got within five metres of Ash and Tony and then stopped.
The door opened and two men in army fatigues stepped out. Another man stayed
behind the wheel of the vehicle and watched them.
     
    The
men walked toward Ash and they kept their M16’s pointed at his head. One of the
soldiers towered over the other, giving the both of them a little-and-large
look. Both of them had crew cuts, but the shorter guy had a dark beard that
spread across his cheeks and chin, before being sharply shaven away just under
his jawline. The taller one trained his weapon on Ash, but he seemed to hold it
awkwardly.
     
     Ash’s
heart raced. He had never been a fighting man at the best of times. Dad had
once made him take a martial arts class, but Ash had gotten his arm broken by a
guy three years older than him and after that his mom had banned him from
going.
     
    You
gotta learn to fight your corner, his dad used to say.  Or
even better, never get in the corner in the first place.
     
    The
two men stopped in front of him. The taller one stared with an emotionless
face. The other frowned.
     
    “We’re
from Fort Knowles,” he said. “And things have gone to shit.”
     
    “To
shit,” repeated the taller one.
     
    The
smaller guy looked at his partner and shook his head. Then he looked at Ash.
     
    “Things
have gone to hell, and everyone’s leaving the base. Pretty soon Pasture Down is
gonna get stripped bare, since it’s the only place for miles around in this
godforsaken part of the county. Man, I wish I’d never enlisted.”
     
    “No
you don’t,” said the tall one. “What else you got going for you?”
     
    The
smaller one ignored him.
     
    “Now,”
he said, and shifted the M16 in his hands. “What have you guys got for me?”
     
    The
two soldiers approached the pickup, taking cautious steps. The smaller one kept
his gun pointed at Ash, while the other walked to the driver’s side of the
vehicle. When he saw Tony’s body on the ground, he stopped.
     
    “Think
we popped this one,” he said.
     
    The
taller soldier got down to his knees. The man was so big that when he was
crouched, Ash could still see his head over the bonnet. As the soldier put his
gun on the floor and looked at Tony, Ash heard a bang. The soldier’s head
exploded in a mess of blood that spread