AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2)

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Authors: Darrell Maloney
his place during the night.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    -15 -
     
         Scott was up well before dawn and had already formulated his game plan. Just in case Tom’s place had been overrun during the night and was occupied by marauders, he decided not to show up in a vehicle. They’d be able to hear it coming, and would likely shoot him off of it as soon as he came into view.
         He also thought it was a bad idea to enter from the front of the yard. If marauders were expecting the cavalry to come, that’s where they’d be watching.
         No, Scott had a better idea. His property and Tom’s shared a common fence line, on the north side of Scott’s property. It was barricaded by toppled mesquite trees now to prevent intruders from sneaking up on the group, but that wasn’t a problem.
         Just before sunrise, Scott put his side arm on, threw his AR-15 over his shoulder, and kissed Joyce goodbye.
         “Please be careful,” was all she said.
         Scott walked out the front door and north of the compound. He climbed aboard the Bobcat and drove it to the fence line, where he tied a chain to the trunk of one of the mesquite trees and dragged it out of the way.
         Then he very carefully climbed over the barbed wire fence and made his way slowly toward Tom’s ranch house two hundred yards away.
         As he neared the house, he wasn’t sure what he’d find. The handgun he carried on his side was already charged and ready to fire. He carried the AR-15 at the ready, just in case.
         And he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no marauders in Tom’s yard. Instead, he saw Tom himself, working underneath the dashboard of his old Ford Galaxy 500.
         The hood was raised, and Scott assumed he was having trouble getting it started.
         “Good morning, Tom.”
         Tom crawled out of the car and offered his hand.
         “Well, good morning, good neighbor. Where in hell did you come from?”
         Scott laughed.
         “I took the scenic route, through the back door, so to speak.”
         He pointed in the direction he’d come from.
         “We heard some shooting last night, and we were afraid it may have come from here. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
         As he spoke, he cleared the rifle and put it back on safe. Then he leaned it up against the rear fender of the old Ford.
         “Well, there was a bit of trouble, Scott, but it’s all over now.”
         “What happened?”
         “I was sleeping all peaceful, and I was woke up by voices. I sleep fairly light, you see. Anyway, the voices were coming from the front yard. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I had a suspicion they were up to no good.
         “So I took my 30.06 out the back door and went around the corner of the house to get a good look at them. They had the hood of my car up, and were trying to figure out how to hotwire the son of a bitch.”
         “So, what did you do?”
         “I fired a shot over their heads and told ‘em to get the hell off of my property. Well, they took off lickity split thinking the next round was gonna get one of ‘em in the head. One of ‘em turned around and fired three or four shots on his way out, but he didn’t hit anything.”
         “Do you think they’re still around?”
         “Nope. Me and old Blue followed their scent up to the highway. They headed east from there but were nowhere in sight.”
         “You went after them in the darkness? Don’t you think that was kind of foolish?”
         “Probably, but nobody ever accused me of having any common sense. Anyway, I had the odds on my side. I had a dog and they didn’t. But they were long gone, so nothing else came of it.”
         “You know they’ll come back. Probably with reinforcements. Your car is worth more than gold to them. They won’t give up until they

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