SURVIVE THE LAWLESSA Powerless World Book Two
Jack Hunt
Direct Response Publishing
Copyright © 2021 by Jack Hunt
All rights reserved.
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SURVIVE THE LAWLESS: A Powerless World Book Two is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
For my Family
Contents
Also by Jack Hunt
Prologue
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
A Plea
Readers Team
About the Author
Also by Jack Hunt
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A Powerless World series
Escape the Breakdown
Survive the Lawless
Book #3 coming in March 2021
Outlaws of the Midwest series
Chaos Erupts
Panic Ensues
Havoc Endures
The Cyber Apocalypse series
As Our World Ends
As Our World Falls
As Our World Burns
The Agora Virus series
Phobia
Anxiety
Strain
The War Buds series
War Buds 1
War Buds 2
War Buds 3
Camp Zero series
State of Panic
State of Shock
State of Decay
Renegades series
The Renegades
The Renegades Book 2: Aftermath
The Renegades Book 3: Fortress
The Renegades Book 4: Colony
The Renegades Book 5: United
The Wild Ones Duology
The Wild Ones Book 1
The Wild Ones Book 2
The EMP Survival series
Days of Panic
Days of Chaos
Days of Danger
Days of Terror
Against All Odds Duology
As We Fall
As We Break
The Amygdala Syndrome Duology
Unstable
Unhinged
Survival Rules series
Rules of Survival
Rules of Conflict
Rules of Darkness
Rules of Engagement
Lone Survivor series
All That Remains
All That Survives
All That Escapes
All That Rises
Mavericks series
Mavericks: Hunters Moon
Time Agents series
Killing Time
Single Novels
Blackout
Defiant
Darkest Hour
Final Impact
The Year Without Summer
The Last Storm
The Last Magician
The Lookout
Class of 1989
Out of the Wild
Prologue
Merced County, California
Gilbert Sanchez was ready to kill the day they released him from jail. Trudging west down Sandy Mush Road, he glanced back at John Latorraca Correctional Facility, thinking any minute now they would realize they’d made a mistake.
But they hadn’t.
He’d been one hundred and fifty-two days into his sentence when the power went out. It had happened before. He didn’t think anything of it until they were forced back into the cells, and the COs turned to manual operations because the backup generators weren’t working. Five days later, as conditions got worse, rumors began to swirl that it was related to the pandemic, and that’s why he’d believed them when a guard showed up at his cell to escort him out.
“Sanchez, you’re up.”
“For what?”
“Release.”
“I still have twenty-eight days left.”
“Yeah, well, consider this your lucky day. The pandemic is your winning lotto ticket. Come on,” Marko said. Gilberto’s cellmate slipped off his bunk bed, thinking he was getting out too.
The guard pushed him back in. “Nope, not you. You’re staying here.”
“Hell no! Why’s he being let out and not me?”
“Because I’m better looking,” Sanchez said jokingly as the CO locked the door.
His cellmate banged on the door as they walked away, rage getting the better of him. “This is not right. No power for five days. The food has taken a nosedive, and now you’re letting out criminals?” A criminal. The term still hadn’t sunk in, but that’s what he was in the eyes of the law. He’d made threats to shoot up the Gustine high school, and he might have followed through if it wasn’t for his friend Gareth opening his big mouth.
He knew he shouldn’t have told him, but he figured he’d be on board and provide the firepower as his old man owned a gun store in town.
“I don’t get it.”
“You don’t need to,” Marko said. “Be grateful your name was pulled from the hat. If I had my way you’d be locked up for the next few years.”
“But there must be a reason. Is it to do with the blackout?”
“Yes and no.” He held a door open and ushered him through. He looked as if he was in a hurry. “The CDCR has been doing it since the outbreak. It’s meant to reduce population and maximize space. They think it will alleviate the impact on hospitals from those we would have had to transport there.”
“So they’re letting me out?”
“Crazy, isn’t it? I’d say look it up online but the internet is down.”
The CDCR was the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They were the arm of the government responsible for the operation of state prisons and the parole system. He came to learn that it wasn’t just California inmates released, it was happening across the country, in every state, as the outbreak spread behind bars.
“Okay, but why me?”
“Well, you’re special, Sanchez. Haven’t you heard?”
“Special?”
Marko chuckled. “I’m pulling your chain, dickwad. No one cares about you.”
“So why then?”
“Do I look like Google?” He opened another heavy door. “If you must know, the CDCR is only expediting the release of inmates who have non-violent offenses, who aren’t sex offenders and have sixty days or less to serve. You fit the bill.”
Non-violent? He had violent intentions, was that not enough?
“And before you ask. Yes. I think they made a mistake. I don’t like the idea of sending you out on the street any more than the next guy, but obviously, intent for violence isn’t the same as what some of these guys have done. So they’re letting you go.”
“Well, slap my ass and call me Norman,” he said. “I won’t argue with that.”
“I didn’t think
