Read Online The Hungry 5: All Hell Breaks Loose (The Sheriff Penny Miller Series) by Steven Booth, Harry Shannon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Steven Booth, Harry Shannon
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whooping and hollering. She peeked out of the cave. The sky above was indeed clear. She saw the bright sun, a carrion bird and a few wisps of cloud but no drones. Miller stepped out of the small cave.
Led by Miller, the little group went out into the light and hurriedly jogged back around the large, red rock. The sun cast long shadows on the hot sand. Miller saw people with comically startled faces lining the entrance to the main cave. She hustled Rat, Sheppard and Scratch forward. At the last moment, the waiting faces moved aside. They all slid down the slope, moving as a group, and walked down into the safe darkness of the opening, where the excited cult members were waiting. Some of them were already clapping their hands and laughing. Miller knew Scratch would seem familiar. She just hoped the ruse would work. She addressed the leaders.
“Gary, Allison, look! Terrill Lee is alive. He is here again, in the flesh.” Miller displayed Scratch and walked around his body like he was the newest car on the lot. She turned to the others. “Can you believe it? Your savior, the slayer of Abraham, is still alive!”
Miller felt a little queasy, for just saying the words hurt her to the core. That was the only reason she cared about the deception. She owed nothing to these people, who were likely planning to sell her friends for a cardboard box of food bars. In the shadowy cave, Scratch could almost pass for Terrill Lee. Once the group got going, anyone with doubts about that would be likely to get shouted down. It was their only play. This would work because it had to work.
Miller expected Gary the lawyer to question their claim, since Scratch was close to a head too tall, but he just looked up at Scratch with a wide smile and open arms. “It’s good to see you, son!”
The others began speaking all at once, thanking Terrill Lee for—as one of them put it—“pulling the holy trigger” to free their people from bondage. They all seemed to accept Scratch in the assigned part. Things had happened so quickly back then, most of them had been starving and terrified, so the fact that Scratch had shorter hair and less of a beard and seemed like someone they’d seen before had done the trick. Soon ten conversations were running at once. Miller was having trouble following any of them. Gary and Brandon seemed happy that Father Abraham was dead, but then, so did the others, though the group at large seemed to venerate Abraham as a martyred saint. Regardless, Terrill Lee, as personified by Scratch, had done the right thing in their eyes. Miller fought down a grin. For once, they’d gotten lucky.
Rat looked on with cynical smirk. Miller warned her with a glare.
“Hey,” Scratch was saying with a modest smile, “it was nothing, really. That kind of thing is all in a day’s work for a guy like me.” Then he looked at Miller, Rat, and Sheppard, who stood in a knot off to the side of the adoring crowd. “It’s too bad we have to beat feet out of here so soon, but the truth is, I think we’d best be on our way.”
“No!” a woman called. “You can’t be going so soon.”
“Going?” Gary the lawyer tuned in at once. “Oh, no, we couldn’t let you do that! Now that we’ve found you, we also can’t let you leave without at least honoring you with a dinner.”
“Sc—Terrill Lee is right,” Miller said. “We do need to be moving on.”
Gary went on as if he hadn’t heard a word. “Terrill Lee, your vehicles were blown up by the drone, so you’re on foot now. You might as well stay the night, collect some fresh supplies and rest a bit. You can leave in the morning.”
Miller thought, did we tell them that? I can’t remember…
Scratch said, “We don’t want to impose.”
The crowd mock-booed and hissed and then laughed. The mob noise echoed in the cave. As if choreographed, the happy group surrounded the four of them and slowly pressed them deeper into the underground corridor leading to the quarters down
Led by Miller, the little group went out into the light and hurriedly jogged back around the large, red rock. The sun cast long shadows on the hot sand. Miller saw people with comically startled faces lining the entrance to the main cave. She hustled Rat, Sheppard and Scratch forward. At the last moment, the waiting faces moved aside. They all slid down the slope, moving as a group, and walked down into the safe darkness of the opening, where the excited cult members were waiting. Some of them were already clapping their hands and laughing. Miller knew Scratch would seem familiar. She just hoped the ruse would work. She addressed the leaders.
“Gary, Allison, look! Terrill Lee is alive. He is here again, in the flesh.” Miller displayed Scratch and walked around his body like he was the newest car on the lot. She turned to the others. “Can you believe it? Your savior, the slayer of Abraham, is still alive!”
Miller felt a little queasy, for just saying the words hurt her to the core. That was the only reason she cared about the deception. She owed nothing to these people, who were likely planning to sell her friends for a cardboard box of food bars. In the shadowy cave, Scratch could almost pass for Terrill Lee. Once the group got going, anyone with doubts about that would be likely to get shouted down. It was their only play. This would work because it had to work.
Miller expected Gary the lawyer to question their claim, since Scratch was close to a head too tall, but he just looked up at Scratch with a wide smile and open arms. “It’s good to see you, son!”
The others began speaking all at once, thanking Terrill Lee for—as one of them put it—“pulling the holy trigger” to free their people from bondage. They all seemed to accept Scratch in the assigned part. Things had happened so quickly back then, most of them had been starving and terrified, so the fact that Scratch had shorter hair and less of a beard and seemed like someone they’d seen before had done the trick. Soon ten conversations were running at once. Miller was having trouble following any of them. Gary and Brandon seemed happy that Father Abraham was dead, but then, so did the others, though the group at large seemed to venerate Abraham as a martyred saint. Regardless, Terrill Lee, as personified by Scratch, had done the right thing in their eyes. Miller fought down a grin. For once, they’d gotten lucky.
Rat looked on with cynical smirk. Miller warned her with a glare.
“Hey,” Scratch was saying with a modest smile, “it was nothing, really. That kind of thing is all in a day’s work for a guy like me.” Then he looked at Miller, Rat, and Sheppard, who stood in a knot off to the side of the adoring crowd. “It’s too bad we have to beat feet out of here so soon, but the truth is, I think we’d best be on our way.”
“No!” a woman called. “You can’t be going so soon.”
“Going?” Gary the lawyer tuned in at once. “Oh, no, we couldn’t let you do that! Now that we’ve found you, we also can’t let you leave without at least honoring you with a dinner.”
“Sc—Terrill Lee is right,” Miller said. “We do need to be moving on.”
Gary went on as if he hadn’t heard a word. “Terrill Lee, your vehicles were blown up by the drone, so you’re on foot now. You might as well stay the night, collect some fresh supplies and rest a bit. You can leave in the morning.”
Miller thought, did we tell them that? I can’t remember…
Scratch said, “We don’t want to impose.”
The crowd mock-booed and hissed and then laughed. The mob noise echoed in the cave. As if choreographed, the happy group surrounded the four of them and slowly pressed them deeper into the underground corridor leading to the quarters down
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