Before Dawn, What Dangers Lurk in the Darkness?

Posted on Aug 17, 2017 Topic : Fiction

Light of Dawn is the thrilling conclusion to Vannetta Chapman's dystopian trilogy, The Remnant. A massive solar flare has wiped out the electrical grid, resulting in unrestrained anarchy. In this gripping scene, Shelby Sparks, her son, Carter, and her high school sweetheart, Max Berkman, are ambushed during their 600-mile journey from their home in Abney, Texas, to the location of the new federal government.

***

Max’s mind flashed back over the previous three minutes, trying to make sense of what had happened. He’d thought they were going to die.

Somehow they’d survived the initial hit and the roll, but then he’d seen the monster truck trundling toward them. He’d tried to reach for his pistol, but the seat belt had locked and was pinning him to the seat. Not to mention the top of the Dodge was now mere inches from his head. At least they were sitting right side up.

“You okay?” Shelby asked.

When he turned toward her, he very nearly panicked. There was blood running down her face, glass sprinkled in her hair, and her eyes were wide with shock.

“We need our guns.” She was able to squirm out of her seat belt, reach into her pack, and pull out her knife. “What is happening?”

“Ambush.” His tongue felt swollen, and he thought a tooth might be loose. He turned his head left and spit out blood.

Shelby’s hand shook as she opened the blade, slipped it under his seat belt, and yanked up.

“Get your weapon and get down.” He had little chance of fitting into the floorboard area himself, but Shelby was small. There was a chance that crouching in front of her seat could save her.

He looked right and saw the enormous wheels of the monster truck. It was the perfect off-road vehicle—perfect for an ambush, other than the fact that it must guzzle gas worse than a Cadillac. The truck screeched to a stop, but the driver kept the engine running.

Max heard rifle shots, the scream of metal against metal, and then the engine of the Hummer.

“Get down now!”

Someone in the monster truck fired one shot down and through the front windshield. It pierced the glass, went through the back of Shelby’s seat, and lodged somewhere in the back of the Dodge. The driver of the truck threw it into reverse and sped away.

Then Shelby’s son, Carter, reached the vehicle and started wrenching open the doors.

“Are you okay? You’re bleeding.” Carter pulled Shelby from the passenger’s side, held her at arm’s length, and wiped the blood out of her eyes with the palm of his hand. “I was so scared. I thought…I thought…”

“I’m okay, Carter. It’s just a cut.”

“Max?”

“Bruised shoulder, maybe a sprained wrist. I’m fine.”

Carter had already run to the Hummer and returned with a roll of gauze. He wrapped it around Shelby’s head. “This will stop the bleeding. We’ll clean it when we’re in a safe location.”

“Let’s go then. Tight formation. We don’t stop for twenty miles for any reason.”

“Be careful.” Carter squeezed Shelby’s arms, then nodded at Max.

Max and Shelby got back into the Dodge.

They were silent the first few miles, the wind whistling through the front windshield.

“Were you scared?” Shelby asked.

“Terrified.”

“Me too.”

He almost let it slide, let her believe that he was talking about what she was talking about. But they’d had too many close calls, too many brushes with death. Something whispered to his heart, Tell her now while you can.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he brushed them away with his sleeve and forced himself to look at this precious, marvelous woman sitting next to him. “When I realized that I might lose you, that this might be the last day we spent together…I’ve never known fear like that.”

Shelby didn’t have an answer to his confession. She locked eyes with him, hers large and impossible to read, and then she reached out, pulled his hand into her lap, and interlaced her fingers with his.

***

Will Max and Shelby make it to their destination safely and will Shelby find the courage to reach out to Max?