Free Eden Rising by Brett Battles Page B

her boots.
    “What the hell’s going on?” Matt’s voice boomed out of the radio in her jacket pocket.
    As she grabbed the coat and pulled it on, Jared Lawrence, one of the men on watch, answered. “We’ve got at least two shooters. Think they’re on the lot just south of us.”
    That would be the equipment rental place Chloe had seen next door. It was full of tractors and trucks and trailers parked around a large, central building.
    “Do you have an exact position?” Matt asked.
    “No, the snow’s too—” Jared cut himself off as another burst of bullets sailed over the motel.
    “Jesus,” Matt said. “Everyone stay down. Jared, we need to silence those guns.”
    Chloe clicked the talk button. “I’m on it.”
    __________
    B RANDON DUCKED DOWN next to the motel wall. The gunfire sounded like it was coming from somewhere beyond the parking area. Worried that he might still be in the line of fire, he darted over to the cover of one of the Humvees, and then raised his head high enough to peer through the windows of the vehicle. All he could see were darkness and snow.
    Over the radio inside the Humvee, he heard Matt’s voice. “What the hell’s going on?”
    The answer confirmed what Brandon had already figured out.
    He ducked back down as more gunfire rang out.
    When it stopped, he could hear Matt say, “Everyone stay down. Jared, we need to silence those guns.”
    The response came almost immediately. “I’m on it.” Not Lawrence’s voice. Chloe’s.
    I’m on it? Was she going after the shooters alone? Even Brandon knew that wasn’t a good idea.
    He looked through the window again, this time searching the inside of the vehicle. Lying across the floor in the back were two M16 rifles. Careful and quiet, he opened the rear door and grabbed one. After checking that the mag was full, he eased the door closed. Because of his location, he was sure he’d have heard Chloe run by if she’d decided to approach the other property from the front, but there had been no footsteps in that direction, so she must’ve been heading around back.
    He reached the rear of the motel only seconds before a shadowy form passed through the falling snow. He hesitated only long enough to convince himself it was indeed Chloe before he stepped off the walkway and disappeared into the storm.
    __________
    “G ET ON THE floor!”
    Josie’s eyelids fluttered open as she pulled herself out of a deep sleep.
    “Josie! Down!” her father yelled.
    Before she could move, she heard the smack-smack-smack of several items hitting the roof of the motel.
    Bullets.
    As she started to roll off her bed, she saw her father struggling to detangle himself from his covers. She stepped across the gap that divided their beds and yanked off the blanket.
    “Don’t worry about me!” her dad yelled. “Get down!”
    Ignoring him, she grabbed his hand and helped him scoot off the mattress onto the floor.
    “Are you okay?” Josie asked once they were lying side by side. “Did you get hit?”
    “I’m fine,” her dad said. He raised his head and looked toward the area beyond the beds. “Brandon, are you all right?”
    No response.
    “Brandon?” Josie asked. “Are you okay?”
    Still no answer.
    “Brandon!” her father yelled.
    He started to push himself up, but Josie put a hand on his arm.
    “I’ll check,” she said.
    As she crawled to the end of the beds, she prayed she wouldn’t find her brother lying in a pool of blood. No blood, but no Brandon, either. Only the blankets he’d been using for a mattress.
    “Brandon, where are you?” she asked.
    She moved out from between the beds so she could check the rest of the room.
    “Is he there?” her dad asked.
    “No. He’s not in the room.”
    “What about the bathroom?” her father asked.
    The bathroom. Why hadn’t she thought of that? He’s probably hiding in the tub.
    Getting to her feet but staying low, she sprinted across the room.
    “Brandon?” she said as she reached the