Cloverdale (Book 4): Confrontation Read online

  CONFRONTATION

  Cloverdale, Book Four

  Bruno Miller

  Tough times bring hard decisions.

  The survivors of Cloverdale, Indiana band together in an effort to scratch out an existence among the charred remains of their town. With Vince Walker as their reluctant leader, the small group struggles to rebuild what they can while striving to maintaining their humanity.

  Each fresh sunrise presents them with the opportunity for redemption, along with the chance of failure. Nothing in this new world comes easy and teamwork becomes more important than ever.

  As new people begin to show up in Cloverdale their group grows in size. Some of the additions are welcome assets, but others are not. Trust is a hard won commodity.

  Vince knows there are some tough decisions ahead for him and the others due to the limited resources of the town. But none of that will matter if they can’t hold out against a gang of looters with revenge on their minds. The survivors are about to have their resolve tested in ways they haven’t even imagined.

  Confrontation: Cloverdale, Book Four

  Copyright © 2020 Bruno Miller

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  Table of Contents

  CONFRONTATION

  About the Book

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Cloverdale, Indiana, had been hit hard by the effects of the EMPs, but compared to survivors in some places, those of the once sleepy little town considered themselves fortunate, at least in that they had the basics covered when it came to survival. So far, anyway.

  Vince never thought of himself as much of a leader, and truth be told, he preferred to spend most of his time alone in the woods with a rifle or fly rod in his hand. When that wasn’t possible, a wrench and a little grease was the next best thing.

  But the survivors of Cloverdale, his son, and a few of his good friends needed him to fill that role. Being a leader certainly wasn’t his choice, but it was a position created by necessity. The EMPs had left the town in chaos, and the first couple of days had been touch-and-go for all of them. Vince was lucky, though; that was how he preferred to think of it, at least. Most of the survivors had lost their homes in the fires, and some had lost much more. Some had lost their families.

  Vince thought about his good friend and sheriff of Cloverdale, John Rice. John didn’t consider himself the sheriff anymore since there wasn’t much of a Cloverdale anymore. Vince disagreed with this, but the man hadn’t been the same since the EMPs and the loss of his family. Vince didn’t expect him to be, but he hated to see John give in. He couldn’t imagine what it felt like to lose everything you held dear in the world within a matter of hours.

  Still, Vince hoped that John would start to come around eventually, but what he saw was the opposite of that. If anything, John seemed to be pulling away from the group more and more, even with Vince and Mary’s constant attempts to make him feel needed. In the end, Vince decided to back off and give him space. As much as he felt for the guy, he understood, and honestly, he probably would have reacted in much the same way.

  John was still helpful and willing to chip in when it came to the many projects Vince had laid out for them on the large dry erase board in their meeting and dining room of the motel. It felt a little callous to think this way, but all that mattered for the time being was that everyone worked. There was no place here for those not willing to do their share. Whether it was standing a watch shift or joining in on some of the backbreaking chores that needed doing, it all mattered.

  There were mouths to feed, and that required everyone to do their part, even the newcomers. In the last few days, their group had grown significantly. Some were people Vince and the others recognized from Cloverdale, but some were strangers who had wandered in off the interstate. They were going nowhere in particular but looking for something better than where they had come from.

  Those were the people who made him nervous. After the kidnapping of Tom and Beverly’s boy, Ryan, Vince was reluctant to let any outsiders into their community. He made his feelings known, and it was put up for a vote. The others, except for a few, saw it differently, though, and felt that it was their duty to take in those less fortunate than themselves. The majority voted to let the stragglers stay. Vince wondered if they only wanted extra bodies to help with all the work and to fit into the watch rotation.

  Among the new and welcome additions to their group were Mark and Richard Meyer. The Meyer brothers ran a well-drilling company just on the outskirts of town. Mark and his wife, Amy, had two small children, Alexa and Chase. Richard and his wife, Brooke, also had a younger daughter, Andria, and their boy, Alden.

  Eight more mouths to feed was a lot, and the amount of food that it would take to sustain this family wasn’t lost on Vince. However, he still considered the addition an asset. The Meyer brothers were some twenty years younger than most of them, and they were hard workers. Not to mention the most obvious and useful asset they brought to the table: their understanding of wells and pumps. Vince couldn’t have asked for two better people to help set up the motel with running water.

  The two families had shown up the day before while Vince and his small team of helpers were working at the south side of town. They were in the process of loading a few cars from the dealership when the brothers and their families rolled into town on one of the old company trucks set up for drilling.

  Vince recognized them right away—well, the truck, really. He’d worked on the old international quad-cab drilling truck more than a few times in the past. Vince had even gone to them on one occasion while they were in the middle of a job and ran into mechanical issues. He remembered asking why they didn’t go for something newer, but Mark said that for irrigation and livestock wells, it was more than adequate. Luckily, they had kept the old rig around; it was the only one of their vehicles that was still running after the EMPs.

  Mark and Richard didn’t waste any time pitching in and helping load the last few cars onto the trailer. As soon as they arrived at the motel, Mary set the families up in a couple of rooms on the backside of the motel. Vince and the others were glad to have them. The same couldn’t be said for the
crew that wandered into town later that same day, at least as far as Vince was concerned.

  Three travelers on foot had walked in from the interstate. They looked pretty rough and didn’t seem overly appreciative of the hospitality Vince and the others offered, at least not all of them. Mary said that he was being too hard on them and that they were just worn out from being on the road. But he felt there was something more going on.

  They weren’t part of the gang that had been terrorizing them at night and had kidnapped Ryan; Vince was fairly certain of that. In fact, Bill had spotted them through the binoculars when they were quite some distance off. They approached from the west and said they’d started out by car four days ago from Abilene, Texas. They looked the part and their accents confirmed it.

  Travis, who looked to be in his early thirties and was covered in tattoos, spoke for the group, it seemed. The girl, Jackie, and her friend, Dalton, looked to be a few years younger but didn’t lack for tattoos as a result. Travis explained that their car broke down a couple of days ago and they had been on foot ever since. They certainly looked the part, but Vince wondered if they had looked all that different even before the EMPs hit.

  Travis wore a battered cowboy hat that covered his face just enough to hide his eyes and make Vince suspicious. The other two didn’t say much other than to back up Travis’s story and say that they all worked at the same bar and grill in Abilene. They were trying to make it up to the border and cross over into Canada. They had heard it was better there and that the EMPs hadn’t impacted the Canadians as much.

  The story was believable, but that didn’t mean Vince had to like it. A couple of the others were unsure about the trio as well, including John, but the majority voted to let them stay for the time being.

  Vince and the others who were unsure about the newcomers agreed to let them stay on the condition that their bags be searched for weapons. If they found any, they would be confiscated until they continued on their way to Canada or were proven to be trustworthy. The three travelers agreed to the terms, and Travis begrudgingly handed over a semiautomatic 9mm from his waistband. They searched their bags but found nothing else except a pocketknife.

  Mary set them up with a room at the far front corner of the motel. Vince wanted them close enough that he could keep an eye on them but far enough away that he wouldn’t have to interact with them more than necessary. He didn’t care if he came off as mean; he wasn’t taking any chances. And as long as they were here, they would work or they wouldn’t enjoy the same benefits as the others. It was only fair.

  It would be good to have a few younger, able bodies involved with some of the projects. With the newly found help, they might even be able to finish up the wall in the next day or so. There was no denying that there was strength in numbers, but Vince knew that more people came with their own set of risks. Whether it proved to be worth the gamble or not would become clear soon enough.

  Chapter Two

  Vince eyed the dry erase board in the dining room as he sipped his second cup of coffee. It was hard to believe that almost a week had passed since the EMPs hit. He couldn’t decide if it felt like a lot longer or a lot less than that. Longer in some ways, especially when he moved and felt the aches and pains he’d acquired from the long days and hard work, but shorter when he thought about all they had accomplished.

  They still had a long way to go, and there were several items they needed to check off the to-do list, but they were making progress. The Meyer brothers were going to do what they did best and work on getting water to the motel. Vince would ask them to focus on that task while he and the others continued their efforts on the wall.

  The watch schedule hadn’t changed much, unfortunately, and they were all still functioning on inadequate sleep. The addition of the brothers and their wives helped, but the three strangers from out of town would remain excluded from the rotation, mostly because Vince didn’t trust them yet but also because they had only arrived late yesterday and he wanted to give them a chance to rest. Labor-wise, Vince had big plans for them today and hoped they would be ready to put in a good day’s work.

  Unless Mary had other plans, she was going to let the three newcomers get started on the root cellar behind the motel. She could keep an eye on them here and they would be available to help out around the motel if she needed them for something. She was still putting the finishing touches on the area they’d built for the animals. For the time being, Vince wasn’t ready to trust them with anything more than digging a hole or shoveling manure.

  It wasn’t the tattoos or the piercings but something in the way Travis talked that led Vince to believe he was being less than honest about his intentions. Maybe he was just being paranoid, and honestly, he was surprised that the others were so accepting of the travelers. He understood the logic behind taking people in and helping them, but that didn’t mean he had to be comfortable with it. Not when there was so much at stake.

  Mary, on the other hand, had a big heart. She was quick to forgive and tried to assume the best about people. That was one thing the EMPs hadn’t changed, and Vince was glad. He just hoped they weren’t setting themselves up for a big disappointment—or worse.

  The Meyer brothers would continue working on getting water to the motel, and Vince, Cy, John, and Bill would carry on with their efforts to build the wall. They still had plenty of cars from the dealership, and although it was more work to drive to the outskirts of town, load them up, and bring them back, it was the best option. They tried with little success to use some of the rubble and burnt-out cars scattered around town, but they proved hard to stack securely and they didn’t provide as much cover as the new, undamaged vehicles.

  Another benefit of the new cars was that each one came with a battery that Vince promptly removed before adding the vehicles to the wall. He had quite the collection going in the back room of the garage, and once the wall was complete, he intended on putting the batteries to good use. He still wanted to find more, though. With the number of people they had now, the demand for power would be much greater than he originally expected. He also wanted to power the lights he planned to hook up near the front entrance of the wall. The two repurposed headlights would allow them to light up a decent amount of area there. He wanted to be able to power those anytime they needed them and for as long as they needed them. The light would be a big advantage when it came to fending off any attacks by the looters. Thank God for Tom and his abilities as an electrician. Even with a wounded arm, he was proving to be a valuable asset.

  As it turned out, Tom was an electrician’s mate in the Navy, and on top of that, he was a pretty handy guy all around. Vince, Cy, and Tom had put their heads together and devised a way to use the car batteries to store additional energy reserves produced by the solar electric panels over the garage. It worked on paper, anyway. Putting their plan into action was yet to happen, but they would make it work somehow. They needed to, for the well-being of everyone here.

  They needed the electricity for the motel and the pump that the Meyer brothers were setting up to move water. But all that would come soon enough. First, they needed to finish the wall. The looters hadn’t made an appearance since yesterday—the longest they had gone without harassing Cloverdale so far—but that didn’t mean the attacks were over or that Vince and the others could let their guard down.

  Disabling their vehicles and taking out a few of the gang’s crew had definitely sent a message, but Vince knew there would be repercussions for their actions. He hadn’t lost any sleep over what they had done. It was necessary to save Ryan and let the looters know that Cloverdale wasn’t an easy target. Vince also hoped it drove home the point that the people of Cloverdale were willing to fight for what was theirs and defend themselves any way they could.

  “Mornin’, Major,” the Meyer brothers said almost in unison as they entered the dining room.

  “Morning, fellas. It’s gonna be another long one.” Vince tilted his mug at the two. They weren’t twins, but you co
uld tell they were brothers. Only a year apart in age, they were more alike than not. They had taken over the business from their dad some years ago when he fell ill. Sadly, their father passed shortly thereafter. Vince had known the man since they were kids. They weren’t super close, but he was always friendly and brought the family’s vehicles to Vince’s shop whenever they needed something. The father had a good reputation in town with his well-drilling business and was a respected member of the community.

  Vince would have liked more people like the Meyer brothers to come out of hiding as the days passed. Unfortunately, the opposite was probably true. He hoped he was wrong but wasn’t overly optimistic. It was more likely that they would end up with more people like the three who had come in on foot the other night. He didn’t like the thought of their little community being made up of strangers and people wandering in off the interstate, but how could he control that? They’d have to figure something out because they certainly couldn’t afford to feed and house everyone who came through.

  Vince would have to sit down with the original group and maybe the Meyers and figure out some rules or at least agree on a plan to deal with newcomers. They had limited resources, and unless someone brought something to the table, some valuable skill, there might not be room for them here. It sounded harsh, but what choice did they have?