The McClane Apocalypse Book Five by Kate Morris

in combat, and they can’t
get over it. I just pray that Cory has the strength to come out of
it.”
    “Do you think he’s been gone killing people,
Kelly?” she asks as the clinic comes into view.
    He sighs on a hard frown and nods.
    “Yeah, I think so, too,” she agrees.
    Kelly unlocks the chain on the clinic door,
and they enter the empty building.
    “It might help him to be around the
other young people on the farm that are close to his age,” Reagan
adds as she scans her inventory list. Some of the supplies that
they normally keep at the farm
have been moved to the clinic since the town is now doing
twenty-four hour a day patrols. She and Grandpa still keep quite a
lot out at the farm since they
don’t want to take any chances of a raid. “I’m just gonna leave a
few bottles of this antibiotic he found and take the rest back home.”
    “Sounds good. Paul’s been on patrol with the
newbs training people this week in town. But I still think it’s
probably a pretty good idea not to leave everything here. Ya’ never
know,” he foretells.
    “Back to the subject of Cory, do you think it
will be helpful to be around the other kids at the farm like Paige
and Simon?” she asks.
    Kelly purses his lips and thinks a moment
before replying, “Maybe. He’s always been close with Simon and Sam,
but it doesn’t sound like him and Paige got off to a good start.
So, maybe.”
    Reagan laughs as they close up the clinic
again. “No shit. She didn’t look too fond of him. Of course, I
wouldn’t be either if he tackled me and scared the shit out of me
in the woods like that.”
    Kelly laughs, too. “Yes, I can see how that
might cause some tension.”
    “He’s not exactly tiny, Kelly,” Reagan
says with a chuckle. “That
would’ve been like a bulldozer hitting poor Paige, she’s so
frail.”
    “I don’t think I’d call her frail ,” he corrects. “She’s a tough
cookie. I mean, hell Reagan, that kid lived over three years mostly
on the road trying to get to Simon. She’s one tenacious badass chic
if you ask me.”
    “Yeah, no shit,” Reagan agrees. “Lot tougher
than me.”
    “I don’t know about that, little Doc,” he
says and playfully bumps his shoulder against hers.
    They head back toward the town hall to
meet up with the rest of their group. The sun has set completely,
which gives the town a spooky feeling. She’s always on edge when
they are in town after dark. There aren’t street lamps anymore
lighting the sidewalks and roads. No phosphorescent glow comes from
the windows of the stores on the main drag. No traffic lights work.
The only light in town is from the sparse illumination from inside
homes. Most of the families in town are hooked up to solar power,
thanks to the instructions of the men in her family and Paul, who’d helped them. But solar is
not as strong or consistent as
electricity, so most homes use it sparingly at night. Thus the
limited lighting in the streets.
    “Think Jay’s gonna be a problem?” she asks as
they draw near their destination.
    He doesn’t answer her, so Reagan looks up at
him. When he stares directly down at her, she wishes he would stop.
The honesty in his eyes is hard to bear.
    Kelly foretells, “Yeah. Yeah, little Doc,
they’re gonna be a problem.”

Chapter Four
    Simon

    A week later, Cory’s friends from the
armory in Ohio finally arrive in Pleasant View. The new sheriff of
their town calls over the radio to let them know of the arrival.
Since Simon doesn’t have a patient, he and Cory jog over to the new
entrance gate to greet his friends from up north. This is Cory’s
first trip to town since coming home, and they’ve been working all
day on the wall. He and Cory had gone across town to check Paige’s
drawing to study an area that could be a potential breach spot for intruders. Before they
even got to Simon’s sister, they were interrupted by the new
guests. Paige and Sam also follow along with them.
    An older man standing near the big