Free Arkadium Rising by Glen Krisch

could see his head tilt as he listened.
    "Delaney? She's not my girlfriend. I've known her for a long time, but I'm not her boyfriend."
    "Oh, okay. Whatever. I'm Dylan."
    "Nice to meet you, Dylan." Jason felt like a weight had fallen from his shoulders just by finally learning his name. Jason extended his hand to shake with the boy, but Dylan wrapped his arms around Jason's waist instead. Dylan's trembling lessened by the second.
    Again, someone pounded on the corrugated metal door, startling Jason. Before Marcus could respond, the door pulled wide, silhouetting Hector and about a dozen other members of the Arkadium.
    "We have trouble, sir."
    "What do you mean?"
    "Austin and Dan were scouting the nearby blocks and spotted some survivors going building-to-building. They're looking for us."
    "Survivors? Really? Well, that's fine." Marcus shifted the strap of his assault rifle so he could hold the weapon in his hands. "What's your point?"
    As if in response, a multitude of different calibers of weapons exploded one after another. Ten or more people were firing, spraying bullets wildly, close by.
    Jason instinctively shielded Dylan with his own body. He searched the confined space for a hiding place. The most secure area was the hydraulic pit, but he wasn't about to subject Dylan to that again.
    "Let's take cover," he whispered and grabbed his hand. He circled around a metal work bench that had come free from the wall during the flood.
    "Guess we'll have to fight our way out," Marcus said calmly.
    "Everyone, listen up!" Hector called out. "Fan out and take cover. Let's clear a path to the river. We'll get our cache of provisions and get the hell out of here."
    "Wait!" Marcus called out before anyone moved. "The river is on the other side of town. We can't afford to shoot our way through block by block. What's the force we're looking at?"
    "A couple dozen?" Hector said. "Maybe more."
    "God damn it," Marcus muttered.
    Jason looked out from behind the metal bench. The members of the Arkadium were all in well-covered positions, facing the open door. Marcus seemed unsure of himself as he stood alone in the middle of the shop floor.
    Marcus searched for him until he saw where Jason was hiding. "Good, you stay down until we find a good path out of here."
    "I'm not going anywhere."
    Marcus checked his AR-15's safety, lifted it to firing height and advanced to the door.
    "Who is it?" Dylan asked.
    "People hoping to teach my brother a lesson."
    Jason felt stupid for not accepting the weapons from Hector when he'd offered them to him. Even a knife might come in handy. He stepped out from the cover of the bench and looked for a weapon.
    "Don't go!" Dylan called out.
    "I'm not. I'm just looking for a…" He spotted the outline of a crowbar covered in mud and kicked at it until it crumbled free. When he picked it up, he felt only marginally safer because of it. "This."
    "What are you going to do with that?"
    The boy had a point. A crowbar wouldn't stop a bullet, and he wasn't planning on getting close enough to anyone to brain them with it.
    He noticed sunlight bleeding through the cracks between the wallboards behind Dylan.
    "I'm going to get us out of here." Jason checked to see if anyone was paying attention to them, but no one was. All of the Arkadium were firing off bursts from their weapons. Craig Miller, a man surely close to retirement age, fired from the cover of the doorway. When he moved to get a better angle, his head flew back and the back of his head exploded. His wife, Mandy, cried out and rushed to his side. Others fell as they were hit as well, their bodies peppered with grievous wounds.
    Jason wedged the crowbar between two boards and was able to pry it loose with a couple tugs. The wall was fragile, the water and mud undermining its integrity. He removed another board and now had enough room that he was able to stick his head through. The hole opened up to a service alley dominated by loading docks and dumpsters. The