The Survivors: Book One

They were all glad when the men avoided the jammed-up overpass from Interstate 26, traveling below it instead. They seemed to be heading directly into to Bonneville, where desperate voices on the van's CB had been calling for help for the last few days - for American assistance.

What they had called for and what they were going to receive, Sam thought, trying to ignore the hands now roaming her sore body from both sides, were as opposite as they could be. As the last of the engine noises faded, the van began to rock. Gently at first, it soon became violent and a scream echoed. Full of pain, the sound was cut off suddenly, and a light, freezing rain began to fall over the broken land.

2

Long! So long!

A short hour later, the brothers were passed out in the back and Samantha was in the front passenger seat, as far away from them as the rawhide leash around her neck would allow. Full of cold depression, she longed for even a cup of Charbucks (6) coffee as she shivered and hurt. She wiped away a single tear at the thought of where she'd been at this time two weeks ago - at the back table with a paper cup, the car and driver idling in front. What a difference from this hell.

She had been with the abusive brothers for ten days now, had turned 28 in captivity, and for Samantha, who knew where two government compounds were, it had been beyond awful. She'd begged them repeatedly to take her to a bunker so that someone could look her name up and let her in. She had even promised to get them passes. A lie, of course - she'd hoped to get the evil men shot - but it hadn't mattered. They did not intend to give up the slave that had literally dropped from the sky into their laps.

Samantha shivered at the thought of that first night. It had been life-changing and no one had helped her. Not the convoys full of Draftee's and soldiers as they rolled by, loaded down, and certainly not the terrified citizens that were fleeing ahead of them. She'd watched unarmed men get shot in the back, women being beaten - her dreams were full of the haunting cries of the others who were now in the same situation as her.

It had taken days to stop herself from calling out to those around them for help, before she realized that even the police with all their expensive gear and years of training hadn't stood, hadn't even been able to save themselves. The uniformed dead outnumbered the civilians in most of the places she'd been dragged through. They'd lost everything. It was all gone and she was stuck out in the middle of it with men who knew she had been one of the chosen few valued by the government, and tormented her for it.