The biggest problem they faced was how to cover up the entrance to the tunnel leading to the bunker near the preacher’s old compound.
“How in the hell are we going to block the garage entrance and still make it look natural?”
Kyle’s idea of covering it with camo netting wasn’t bad, but they didn’t have any that matched the mountainside where the opening was located. They’d found forest camo, but they needed snow camo. They hadn’t found any, which wasn’t surprising, considering this mountain rarely got any snow before the bombs dropped.
Luke walked into the room.
“What’s up?” Derek asked.
“You come up with anything yet?” Luke put his booted foot up on an ATV’s tire.
“I keep thinking we should blow the tunnel, but that would attract too much attention.”
“We could seal the room off from the rest of the bunker.”
“Yeah, but if anyone from outside found it, they’d realize there was more to this place.”
“True.” Luke scratched his chin.
“If we blow it, we risk two things: someone will hear it for sure and we could cause an avalanche that seals up our other entrances. We’d be trapped.”
“I’ve considered that,” Luke said. “It’s not the best plan, but I don’t know what else we can do. The hole’s too big to board up. We could try piling up a bunch of rocks in front of it, but that would take a lot of time and energy.”
“We could booby trap it.”
“We’d have to check the traps every day. And what if someone didn’t get caught and they went back to their group and reported the traps?” Luke asked.
“There’s no good solution, is there?”
“None that I can see.”
“Blow it up!” Kyle ran into the room. “That’s the only way we’ll keep the bad guys out.”
“We killed the bad guys,” Luke said.
“We kill the cult members. There are other bad guys out there,” Derek said wryly.
“There won’t be in a few months. Once winter really sets in, it’s going to be over for anyone who doesn’t have shelter and a lot of supplies.”
“We should do one more run to the preacher’s old compound to get the rest of the stuff Liz saw. And we can check to make sure no one else is there,” Derek said.
“Can I come?” Kyle asked.
“No. You need to stay here.”
“Daaad!”
“Kyle!”
Derek stifled a laugh. He was damn glad he didn’t have any kids to have to deal with.
“You up to doing a supply run and some recon?” Luke asked Derek.
“Yeah. Let me grab my guns. I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes.”
Derek jogged through the shelter toward his quarters. He grabbed his pistols and rifle along with plenty of ammo, his knife, and his pack. He loaded up and met Luke back at the vehicle room. Kyle wasn’t there.
“Where’d the kid go?” Derek asked.
“Made him go wait with the women and Edwin.”
“Good. I’m fairly confident we got rid of everyone in the cult, but you never know. I’m glad we’re going to check it out.”
“How are the ribs holding up?”
“You knew?” Derek cocked a brow.
“You think anything gets past me?”
“Nah.”
Luke chuckled. He pulled on his pack and checked the mag for his rifle. “Let’s move out.”
Derek followed him through the tunnel. When they reached the entrance, they paused to check for hostiles. A thick layer of snow blanketed the ground. There weren’t any footprints, but they were going to leave one hell of a trail if they weren’t careful.
“We need to cover our tracks.” He grabbed a branch and used it to brush the snow until they were far enough from the compound. He tossed the branch aside.
“The building’s just up ahead,” Luke whispered.
“I see it.”
“Think we got everyone?”
“Not sure, but we’re about to find out.”
“Let’s go.”
Together they quickly closed the distance between the edge of the forest and the building. No shots were fired. Nothing moved. The snow was undisturbed around the building. Bodies still lay where they’d been shot dead.
The scent of death lingered in the air.
Luke pointed toward the broken window. Derek nodded and climbed through it, scanning for hostiles as he went.
They checked the building. As far as he could tell, no one had come back. The supply room Liz had spotted was still full. Derek opened his pack and began filling it with cans of meat. Luke opened his and did the same.
When they finished, Derek counted the remaining cans. They’d have to come back for them later, but they seemed safe for now since no one had come back.
“Let’s move out,” Luke said.
“I’ll take your six.”
Derek followed Luke out. They covered their tracks on the way back, but he doubted it mattered much. Snow constantly fell from the sky. The divots they’d left would be filled in within an hour or two.
Hours later, Luke stood in the hallway outside the vehicle room. After a heated debate with the others, they’d settled on blowing up the tunnel to seal that entrance. They had two other options for getting in and out of the bunker, and after checking the snowpack around those entrances, they’d deemed it safe enough to risk an avalanche.
Luke lit the end of the fuse. As soon as the sparking line passed through the doorway, he closed and locked it. He lifted his walkie and hit the button.
“Fire in the hole!”
He ran like hell to get away from the blast. Although they’d carefully measured out the TNT, none of them were explosive experts, so they’d been guessing on how much they needed to get the job done.
A loud boom shook the walls. The ground trembled slightly, but the blast wasn’t nearly as violent as he’d expected. He hoped it was good enough to seal the exit.
Luke waited until the dust settled before going back to the vehicle room. He opened the door. A rush of hot air whooshed past him but quickly dissipated.
Elated to see
