The Geostorm Series (Book 5): Geostorm [The Tempest] Read online

  Like a hunter stalking his prey, Levi walked heel to toe, emulating the movements he took in the woods when tracking a deer or a hog. He moved quicker as the woman cried, this time begging the shooter for mercy.

  Levi was close enough to hear the man threaten the woman, and then he heard a child begin to cry.

  He closed on the voices, relying on his instincts to walk without tripping. His rifle’s barrel was trained on the man as he got closer. Soon, the shadowy figures came into focus. A woman and two children were huddled on the tunnel floor up against a wall. A large man towered over them, wielding the weapon menacingly toward them.

  Levi had to make a decision. The man had fired two rounds already. Had he murdered someone? Or was he simply firing warning shots or errant rounds in the dark? He didn’t appear to have a rifle but, instead, was waving a handgun around.

  He stopped and took a shooter’s position. He flipped the safety on his rifle and slid his index finger down to the trigger. He had the man in his sights. It was decision time.

  Whether the shooter was drunk or firing blindly in the dark, now he was threatening a woman and her children. Next, he’d be looking for a family like Levi’s. He couldn’t let that happen.

  He gently squeezed the trigger. The loud report of the powerful hunting rifle reverberated off the walls of the tunnel, rolling like a thunderous boom in all directions. Levi was not distracted by the noise. He focused on his target, who fell in a heap on the tunnel floor.

  The woman was screaming now, and she wrapped her arms around her children.

  Levi gave her a warning. “Don’t move!”

  Then he fired an insurance shot into the already dead body of the shooter. The round found its mark, but the body didn’t flinch other than shuddering from the impact of the .308 round. It was over.

  He scanned the remaining dark recesses of the tunnel with his night vision to check for movement. He held his breath as he listened for a reaction or retreat by an accomplice. The tunnel was completely still except for the continuous flow of water coming from behind him.

  “I think we’re clear,” he announced to Carly and Kristi. “Go back to the wagon and send Tommy with the car.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “Yeah, he’s dead.”

  Levi grimaced. He’d fought for his life after trying to save a young girl from sexual predators on his way home from Canada. Now he was killing to protect the ones he loved. He couldn’t imagine it could get any worse. He was wrong.

  Chapter 21

  The Tunnel

  Louisville, Kentucky

  By the time Levi and Tommy arrived at the dead gunman’s body, the woman and her children had run in the opposite direction, guided by the headlights of the car. The man was carrying a beat-up revolver that only had two shots remaining in the cylinder. Levi shoved the revolver in his pocket and then angrily kicked the dead body for causing this situation to arise in the first place.

  “Are you okay?” asked Tommy, gently patting Levi on the back after he walked away from the dead man.

  “Yeah. Dang fool. I had to shoot him.”

  Tommy nodded. “Yes, you did. It’s the world we live in now. No regrets, okay?”

  “Had to …” Levi’s voice trailed off as he walked back to the car.

  “Hey!” began Tommy. “Are you up for driving the rest of the way? Let’s make sure the tunnel’s clear and take a look at what we’re facing on the other end.”

  Levi glanced back toward the wagon and nodded. “Good idea.”

  Tommy turned the ignition and the engine roared to life. He drove slowly at first so he didn’t startle the woman and her children, who huddled near another lateral line as the car approached. He slowed to a crawl as he spoke to them.

  “Are you guys okay?” he asked.

  “Please don’t, um, like, hurt us,” the woman replied.

  “We’re not here to hurt you,” Tommy continued, gesturing toward the dead man. “Did you know that guy?”

  “He followed us into the tunnel. I, like, tried to avoid him, but then he started shouting after us. I took the kids and ran into the dark. He was, um, like, tracking me down to …” Her voice trailed off as she hugged her kids.

  “Are you trying to leave the tunnel?”

  “We wanted to go to New Albany to my mama’s house. We, like, heard shouting, and then the man was firing that gun at me. Then he was dead.”

  “Tragedy,” mumbled Levi sarcastically, not willing to take the credit for most likely saving the woman and her children from being brutalized or even killed.

  “The other side is blocked by a mudslide.” Tommy put the car in park. “We can give you a ride up the hill, if you want.”

  She pointed at his car. “Why is that workin’? Like, none of the others are.”

  “Just lucky, I guess.” Tommy didn’t want to get into an unnecessary, drawn-out explanation. “So, how about a ride? We won’t bite. I promise.”

  Tommy turned on the dome light inside the Mustang so she could see their faces.

  The woman peered over the door at Levi and lowered her eyes. “Like, what about him?”

  “He’s safe, too,” Tommy replied, growing impatient. “Now, last chance. We need to get moving.”

  She looked at her kids and then pushed them toward the car. Tommy and Levi hopped out before pulling forward the seat so she and her kids could pile in.

  Once settled in, she pointed through the windshield. “It’s not very far away. There’s, like, a metal building over the entrance. Somebody unscrewed the panels so we could sneak in.”

  Levi turned in his seat as Tommy drove toward the incline. “Are there people living in the building?”

  “No, it’s only big enough to cover the entrance. It has, like, a large door for cars and trucks, but it’s locked with a padlock and chain.”

  Levi glanced at Tommy and smiled. “No problem.”

  As they drove up the incline, which was not quite as steep as the entrance on the other side, they saw several groups of people walking along the walls of the tunnel. They stopped to gawk at the Mustang as it passed them. They all appeared to be harmless and were unknowingly safe thanks to Levi’s efforts. The guys warned them about the mudslides ahead, but several ignored them and kept going. Others stood in bewilderment, confused as to what was best for them.

  At the top of the hill, the paved surface leveled out in front of the roll-up doors. Tommy remarked how easy it was compared to the other side, but it was a longer run. Levi agreed, even commenting that the horses might be able to pull the wagons up on their own if they were empty.

  The guys took a moment to exit the building through the torn-open corrugated-steel panel. Once again, they were standing in the rain, but by this time, it was pitch black outside.

  “Whadya think?” asked Tommy.

  “Lots of trees. Seems strange to be in the middle of the city.”

  “It’s too dark to tell. I vote we get everybody up to the top and call it a day. We’ll need daylight to figure out how to get through these woods and pick up the road south.”

  “Southeast,” Levi corrected. “Tommy, it’s gonna be easier from here on. I knew the city would be bad news.”

  “The thing is, we haven’t really experienced the city yet. We were just underneath it.”

  “That’s true and all the more reason to get a good night’s sleep. Let’s gather up the troops. We still have a lot of work to do before we call it a day.”

  As they drove back to the group, Tommy propped his elbow on the door and rested his chin on his hand. They’d almost lost Chapman. Levi had to kill a man. They were exhausted. And it was only the end of day two. All they’d done was manage to cross the river.

  He muttered to himself, “It’s gotta get easier, right?”

  Chapter 22

  Louisville, Kentucky

  Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Louisville native Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali after he converted to the Muslim faith, famously used t
his phrase when describing his boxing prowess that led to multiple heavyweight boxing championship titles. In the first two days of the Boones’ journey, they’d experienced both. Chapman described his near-death experience as floating. And Levi, in order to protect his family, hadn’t hesitated to sting like a bee.

  Chapman, thankful to have a new lease on life, was the first to rise the next morning. He stretched to reduce the pain in his neck and back caused by the weight of the mud that had consumed him. He found his way to the open corrugated panel and walked outside into the early morning daylight. He looked up at the sky, a habit that’d never end for the rest of his life.

  “Same shit, different day,” he quipped as his face was pelted with rain. He stood there for a while and used the steady downpour to wash the mud off his clothes. He had been too sore and tired the night before to change out of them.

  He’d also wanted to inflict some self-punishment by sleeping in them. They were a reminder as to how stupid he had been to charge ahead toward the deluge pouring out of the lateral line. His days of storm chasing were over, although since that morning on Seattle’s waterfront, he felt like he was back in the saddle, tracking severe weather such as tornados and hurricanes.

  Or are they tracking me?

  He’d just about washed himself clean when Isabella stuck her head through the panel.

  “Good morning. Is this the shower?”

  Chapman laughed. “Yeah. I’d invite you in, but we’re not alone.” He pointed to an elderly man and woman who were walking down a path under an umbrella. They didn’t give Chapman a second glance as they continued along a sidewalk that led into the woods.

  Isabella gestured for him to return. “Do you want to dry off?”

  He replied with a shrug and another glance upward. “Why bother? We’re only gonna get wet again.” His attitude wasn’t dour, only realistic.

  She waved to draw him back inside. “Sarah is awake and making coffee. I thought you would want some.”

  This lifted Chapman’s spirits. He wasn’t ordinarily a coffee drinker, preferring the occasional Frappuccino to the traditional hot drink. However, there was a chill in the air as fall approached, and he could use the warmth flowing through his body. The combination of rain and the weakening atmosphere seemed to make the evenings much cooler than normal, but the sun’s rays, entering Earth’s atmosphere almost unimpeded, tended to warm the days despite the cloud cover.

  Despite his soaking wet clothing, Isabella lovingly hugged him. Their embrace lasted more than a minute without a single word being spoken. It was a reminder of their love for one another and how thankful they were that Chapman had survived.

  “Hey, lovebirds!” Kristi spoke loudly over the consistent peppering of the tin roof by the rain. “It’s time for the family favorite—oatmeal and apples.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever run out of oatmeal?” asked Chapman as he led Isabella back to the campsite set up in the middle of the wagons.

  “I hope not,” she replied. “When I was a child, my grandmother told me stories of life in France during the war. People feared starvation as much as they feared the Germans.”

  Chapman squeezed her hand and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “I’d like to hear more of your grandmother’s stories. You know, when we get settled.”

  She smiled and ran her arm through his. “We will get settled. It will be a new life for us. Do not doubt it, Chapman Boone.”

  “How are you feelin’, son?” asked Sarah as he approached.

  “Better, Mom. My throat is a little sore, and I have this cough-tickle thing, but it’s not as bad as last night.”

  She offered two bowls of oatmeal and apples to them, which were heartily accepted. Despite Chapman’s subtle complaint about the steady diet of oatmeal, it was very good when served with apples and a little cinnamon sprinkled on top. And they had lots of it. It was almost as if his mom had anticipated this very scenario.

  The group chatted as they ate, not so much about the ordeal they’d gone through yesterday but, rather, what was in store for today. Levi laid the map out in front of the fire and used his lantern to illuminate it for all to see.

  He pointed to the map with his spoon in between bites. “If there is any good news about what we went through yesterday, in addition to getting across the Ohio, we’re farther east than planned. We’ve basically taken the Green River out of the equation. I’d planned on traveling around it anyway because it was prone to flooding under normal rain conditions.”

  “What’s the next stop?” asked Tommy.

  “Well, I’m trying to take us on a direct route down to Middlesboro, here.” He pointed to some of the small towns of Kentucky as he spoke. “The Wilderness Road ran through a point just south of Crab Orchard and then turned up to the family settlement at Boonesborough. Later, they cut Logan Trace up to Harrodsburg and then finally a trail all the way to here, which they referred to as Ohio Falls.”

  Like his grandfather, Levi had studied the Boone ancestry and learned everything he could about them. To him, despite a couple of hundred years separating their lives, they were all family.

  Chapman had become adept at finding back roads and alternate routes from his storm-chasing days. He studied the map for a moment. “Whadya think? Danville first, then down to London?”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what I had in mind. We’ll stay off the interstates and look for highways and county roads.”

  Chapman leaned back and nodded. “Agreed. The major highways will be filled with stalled cars and people walking from one place to another. On the back roads, we can send Tommy ahead to scope out what we’re up against.”

  Tommy spoke up. “About that. I burned up a lot of fuel yesterday. I can top off the tank with the three gas cans we have. That gives me just over two hundred miles as long as there aren’t any detours.”

  “Oh, there will be,” interjected Kristi.

  “Yup, no doubt,” added Levi. “We’ll keep our eyes open for gas. I brought my siphoning equipment—a variety of hoses.”

  The group laughed as they finished their breakfast. While Levi and Tommy worked on breaking open the roll-up door, the rest of the group readied the wagons and horses.

  The chain snapped after Tommy applied pressure with the bolt cutters, and a few seconds later, they were rolling the large door up to allow grayish daylight to flood the interior of the enclosure. As expected, rain greeted them at the exit door. However, with the next leg of their journey ahead and a new day, they ventured out into the unknown, headed to a place they couldn’t identify as of yet, but one they’d recognize when they got there.

  Chapter 23

  Near Texas, Kentucky

  And hell followed with it …

  The morning they left the tunnel, and Indiana, behind forever, excitement had once again turned to frustration. Louisville was taking on water fast. Streets were flooded because storm drains were overflowing. Water from the Ohio River was not only spilling over its banks, but was forcing its way up through the sewers. The rain continued to pour and simply had no place to go except accumulate until it spread across concrete and grass.

  It was slow going that first day, but they made their way to the outskirts of the city, making camp on the fifteenth green of the South Park Country Club, the highest point on the back nine. In between the green and the sixteenth tee was a maintenance shed containing lawn equipment and precious gasoline. After draining the tanks into several available gas cans, the group pushed the mowers and electric utility carts out of the shed and made a place for the group to sleep.

  The next day, Levi and Carly pilfered a variety of handheld equipment, including another chain saw and several gardening tools. They also took fertilizer, rolls of flexible piping, and a long stretch of half-inch nylon rope. In a world where Home Depots and Tractor Supply stores were shut down, everything became valuable.

  Day two following their departure from the tunnel was relatively uneventful. For the first time, they were able t
o make good progress as they made their way onto U.S. Highway 150 that led to Danville, Kentucky. Remarkably, once they left the city, they didn’t have any hostile encounters with their fellow man.

  Sarah described the demeanor of those they met and spoke with in a single word—depressed. The continual rainfall coupled with the lack of electricity and food had zapped the hope out of most, and the energy out of all. America had been brought to her knees, and now her citizens were beginning to give up.

  Most Kentuckians are a proud people. They’re friendly to a fault. They’re genuinely and selflessly kind, friendly, and helpful. They’d give you the shirt off their back if they could and would certainly provide a family in need shelter if asked.

  The second night, the Boones asked. The rain had increased, and strangely, the wind began to blow in gusts. This was an unexpected change in the weather that puzzled Chapman somewhat. Thus far, he and Isabella had opined that the deluge of rainfall was caused by cosmic rays bombarding the atmosphere, hence the nonstop rainfall without respite. The sudden winds were an indicator that a cold front was passing through the region. If so, there might be an end in sight to the daily downpours.

  They stopped in a small community known as Texas about twenty miles west of Danville. They had made great time on the highway and could have approached Danville around dark, but chose to stop because the gusts of wind were causing the wagons to sway.

  Chapman reminded everyone that wind speeds tend to decrease after dark because the surface of the Earth cools more rapidly than the air above it. This would also give him an opportunity to determine if a low-pressure system was moving into the area. If the winds blew all night, then his theory that a cold front was approaching was correct.

  They looked for a place to stay, and once again, Sarah suggested they turn to the church for help. On the side of the road, an elderly man and his wife watched the group in amazement as they passed. Sarah stopped her wagon and went over to say hello. As it turned out, he was the pastor of the New Beginnings Community Church situated on the hill behind them. He offered refuge, and they readily accepted. Once the group was settled in the parish house, the family moved the furniture in the living room of the one-bedroom house so they could all sleep on the floor together.