Free Get Out of Denver (Denver Burning Book 1) by Algor X. Dennison

knocked on the door but heard only a couple of loud snores in reply. Shauna was also dead to the world, sitting in the recliner with her shoes still on. McLean shook his head and glared at Carrie. “These two are dead weight, Carrie. We’re wasting precious time. You and I could be halfway to the mountains by now.”
    “We might as well get some rest as long as we’re here,” Carrie sighed. “In the morning we’ll be able to see things better outside.”
    “And they’ll be able to see us,” McLean objected. “We’ll probably have to travel even slower and go farther out of our way to avoid being targeted. Those gunmen are still out there. They might sleep in, or they might not.”
    Carrie took off one shoe to massage her foot. “We can argue about it later, McLean. I’m very grateful for your help in getting us out of there earlier, and keeping us safe and moving on the way here. But for now this is where we’re staying. Now are you going to be the gentleman and take first watch, or do I have to play soldier myself?”
    McLean grinned for the first time that night. “Take first watch? Now you’re catching on. We’ll make a guerrilla fighter out of you yet, Miss Alton.”
    Carrie winced and sat down to treat a blister on her foot before it become a problem. “I’ve seen the movies. I even read a couple adventure novels as a teenager. Now do I get to lie down and zonk out, or what?”
    “No.”
    She looked up at McLean, genuinely startled, to see if he was joking.
    “It’s not very gentlemanly, but I’d rather you take first watch,” he explained. “We were just out there, so we know things are fairly quiet for now. As the night wears on, we’ll have less and less of an idea how things are going outside. People will start moving as daylight approaches. I’ll take a catnap now and relieve you before first light, so that I can be awake and ready when danger is most likely to come.”
    “What if those gang-bangers come back and make trouble?”
    “I don’t think they’ll be back any time soon. Nobody likes to get shot at.”
    Carrie thought it over, and finally nodded. “Fair enough. Give me your gun. I’ll sit by the front window.”
    McLean didn’t move. “When’s the last time you fired a shotgun?”
    “Probably… nine or ten years ago.”
    “I’ll keep the gun. You use your eyes and ears, and if anything moves out there, just wake me.”
    Carrie took up her post near the window, sitting on a hard dining room chair that wouldn’t allow her enough comfort to be lulled to sleep. McLean stretched out next to his pack on the carpet, shotgun and flashlight close to hand, and closed his eyes. It took about four seconds for him to fall into a shallow, fitful sleep.
     
     

Chapter 6  :  Running Out
     
    The attack came just before dawn.
    McLean had traded places with Carrie at five o’clock, allowing her to rest for an hour as well. Just as the sun was turning the sky outside from black to gray, McLean heard footsteps from the direction of the parking lot at the corner. They were loud, and sounded like multiple sets of boots marching steadily.
    He couldn’t see past the tree outside, so he ducked down and shook Carrie awake. “Somebody coming,” he whispered. “Wake the others-- quietly .” Carrie quickly crawled over to wake Shauna.
    Someone outside gave a command to the others, a man’s voice saying “Take that side”. For a moment McLean felt a glimmer of hope that it might be police or military, someone come to restore order. Who else would be marching around at dawn, giving orders? But then the men came into view and their black cargo pants, black vests, and red face masks told him exactly who they were.
    All had guns, mostly AR-15s and AK-47s with some smaller weaponry. The one in the lead of the group of seven gestured for two of them to take David’s house, two the one across the street. They split off and the others kept marching.
    At that moment Shauna collapsed her