Hardstorm Ahead Ch. 02

Fairweather Estate: April 26^th, 2052. 8:20AM.

Travis turned and smiled as he heard Sarah wake up. Her hair was a mess she was groggy and he never saw her prettier. "Hey Trav." She said as she saw Travis across the room at his desk looking at maps again. She rubbed her eyes asking "How long have you been awake?"

"About 2 hours." Travis was eyeing her up and down as she sat up in bed. Her nipples were hard and showed through the same tank top she had on the night before. When Travis woke up he found her curled up against him. Deciding not to disturb her he got up carefully to not disturb her. He had been used to getting up at dawn since he moved back to Hardstorm three weeks ago, and he was already dressed, had eaten, and did his morning workout.

Sarah smiled back at him. "When were you going to leave for Laketon?"

"Around nine-ish." Travis went over and sat on the edge of the bed and Sarah wrapped her arms around him. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes relishing the moment, her sweet scent, and the feel of her body against his.

"Here, help me get up." Sarah said as she put her arms out. Travis stood from the edge of the bed and turned to grab Sarah's arms to help her up, but Sarah had other ideas. Her hands went right for Trav's jeans. Her nimble fingers quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, and she was pushing them down to his ankles. Travis gasped as her hand touched his cock. Saying to herself, "Yes, this will wake me up just fine."

Her mouth descended onto his quickly hardened cock. Her warm tongue exquisitely licked the underside of his shaft and he moaned with pleasure. Sarah had her eyes closed and hands on Trav's waist as she slowly sucked his member in and out of her mouth. She moaned with arousal and her hands strayed to her chest and she rubbed her hard nipples through the thin fabric of her top.

Travis was stunned at her boldness and he was quickly approaching release as Sarah continued her manipulations. He pulled away from her so that he wouldn't cum just yet. Sarah whimpered as his cock escaped her mouth and looked up at him pleadingly. Travis reached out to lift Sarah's shirt off but Sarah was only looking for one thing, and she attacked his cock again when her head was free.

His hands fell to her head as she expertly sucked his cock. Nearing release he grunted, "Sarah, I'm going to..." She sucked harder as his groans continued. Her fingers pinched her hardened nipples and she moaned as she felt the first taste of cum in her mouth. Travis shook as cam into Sarah's mouth, she continued sucking until she completed her work, licking his sensitive head and sucking the last of his cum.

She stood and kissed his cheek as she got out of bed in her panties. Travis couldn't help but stare at her ass as she went across the room to fetch her shirt and shorts. She turned and gave him a knowing smile as his eyes went to another part of the room acting like he wasn't staring at her. "Now that was the wake up I was looking for." She sighed and added, "I'm going to go change and eat, make sure you say bye before you leave." She said with a wink. "Oh, and by the way, you can stare at me all you like." She gave her butt a little wiggle and Sarah was out of the room.

Travis took a few minutes to recover from the fantastic blowjob and started to get ready for the trip to Laketon.

Soon

Hardstorm Mayor David Johnson, Sam Wydant, and Travis were going to meet with the mayor of Laketon to discuss defending the area from bandits and criminals. The nuclear war had spared most of the middle Appalachian Mountain area, and crime was popping up as people were trying to survive. Hardstorm was a small isolated town nestled into a valley. Laketon was on the other side of the ridge about 25 miles away to the northwest.

The economic depression that hit before the war had already forced Hardstorm into a simple barter system. Many believed that the economy would pick up again and everything would continue as it had before. That was impossible now. For all anyone knew the rest of the world was in the same boat as Hardstorm or worse.

Mayor David Johnson was a brilliant man. He was a great leader that helped keep Hardstorm together before the war (it was only 4 days long before the nuclear weapons served their purpose and the modern world was destroyed). After the attacks it took all the effort that he could give to keep the town from destroying itself as well. He had already organized a sheriffs department and a town militia for defense and had made arrangements with neighboring Laketon to do the same and work together to try and survive into the unknown future.

"Mayor, good to see you again." Travis greeted the mayor as he pulled his car into the impromptu headquarters. The world economy collapsed but cars would run forever if properly maintained thanks to a conversion to hydrogen fuel cells years earlier. The only problem now was that those cars could now never be replaced if damaged too severely.

"How many times do I have to tell you Travis, just call me Dave." The mayor said rolling his eyes. "Are we ready to go?"

"Not quite yet, let me take care of something first. Sam is over there if you want to get him, I'll be a few minutes." Travis remembered that Sarah had asked him to say goodbye before he left.

He found her in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast after everyone that stayed the night. She was in a tight pair of jeans and t-shirt and she was trying to keep her mid back length auburn hair out of the mess that was left. They had known each other since they were children but they had lost contact about ten years ago and didn't even talk to each other until two days ago when they met in town. Over those years, every time he thought of her Travis thought of what happened many years ago that made him lose his best friend. He had lost all of his friends but when Sarah had looked him in the eyes the disappointment he saw changed him as he watched her walk away.

Two days ago had been different. It was the first time they had seen let alone talked to each since then. She looked him in the eyes again and it was different then before. His memories of her over the last ten years were not forgotten, but the good memories of his best friend had returned.

Their relationship when they were younger was just friendship with lots of sexual tension. The tension had returned as their lust for each other took on a new dimension 10 years after last seeing each other. Sarah broke the ice with Travis and made the first move yesterday to be around Travis more and volunteered for the town defense that Travis was in charge of. There had been the awkward moments and awkward silences from when they were teenagers again and Sarah couldn't take it anymore. Last night they had made love, and for the first time Travis was happy. He had been torn over what he had done. Many restless nights, depression, and countless hours at the bottom of a bottle were now in his past.

"Hey there 'lil missy." Travis said with a horrible southern drawl.

Sarah looked up and half chuckled to herself. "Still trying to be funny with that terrible accent huh?"

"Well if it makes you smile it's worth it." Even though they had strong feelings for each other they were still in the beginning of a relationship that had been on hold and the awkward moments were flying free. "We were just about to leave, so I guess I will see you later." Travis started to turn to leave and Sarah had to half run up to him and grabbed his wrist to get him to stop. She pulled the larger man back around to her and hugged him.

"I'm sorry I left you when you needed me way back then, I was selfish, and stupid, and..." Sarah sobbed into his shoulder.

"Sarah, I..." Travis paused to think over how to phrase his response. Sarah looked up at him with her big blue eyes. "I hurt a lot of people back then with what I did. I pushed you away myself. It took me years to learn to cope with myself let alone other people. They still look at me for what happened, and when they do, I look at myself that way too."

Sarah stopped him as she grabbed his face and brought him down for a quick kiss. "Just get back here safe today. We have a lot of catching up to do." Sarah kissed him again, this time it lingered and she parted her lips as her tongue touched his lips. Trav's hands latched onto her back and held her tight against him as they broke their kiss and looked at each other.

"Don't worry about me, we will be back before night." Travis gave her one last squeeze and a quick peck on the forehead and left the cabin.

Most of the volunteers that went home for the night had arrived and were milling around taking amongst themselves as Travis exited. "Come on people lets get to work, the sooner you start the sooner you will be done." With that the groups started to break up with a little bit of grumbling and Dave motioned to Travis that they were ready to go.

Sam was already in the car ready to go, and Dave pulled Travis aside before they got in the car. "Travis, don't you think that was a little rough? These people are here because they want to be here. Don't drive them away. You have to get them used to what you expect before you can start riding on them or else they will stop coming."

Travis started to reply but thought better of it. He was no leader of men, and Dave had been mayor for many years so he must know how to get people to do what you wanted better than he did.

As they pulled away Sarah exited the cabin and stood on the porch. "Hey guys!" She yelled to get the attention of the people in the front yard that were still grumbling. Satisfied that she got their attention she continued. "Listen, I am sure that we all know what Travis did in the Third Iraq War, but let's be civilized about this. I know I have been guilty of it too, but stop looking at him like he is diseased. He is one of us now." Sarah turned to go back to work inside the cabin. She paused as she thought of something else and turned to continue. "And if you don't think you could do that, then you might as well leave now."

Sarah could only imagine what he could have gone through since then and wanted to help in any way possible. She was going to spend the day with another volunteer, her friend Amanda Trickle, to notify the people outside of town what to do in case of emergency. They were the two most feminine women in the group and Travis had given them this task that would take several days because they would be of little use for physical labor.

Laketon Road: 8 Miles outside of Hardstorm.

"You can see the windmills now." Dave said as he motioned with one arm and drove with the other. It sat on top of the ridge between Laketon and Hardstorm. The propellers were slowly turning in the wind.

"I thought you said they weren't working." Sam asked as he stared aimlessly towards the windmills.

"It still turns in the wind, it just needs fixed to generate the power we need." Dave continued, "That reminds me of something. Travis, we will have to check the power lines around town and take down any that would connect to the power grid. We don't want to turn these things on and have the power spread out over such a large area that you get practically nothing."

"Wait a second," Sam was scratching his head. "Why wouldn't they be working?"

"For pretty much the same reason as why we need to disconnect it from the grid." Travis spoke up knowing what Dave had referred to. "When the bombs started destroying stuff, they knocked out a lot of power systems, and the rest were so overloaded they blew out."

"Basically, I'm not sure on the details, but the Mayor of Laketon said that they have people there that know what to do to fix it." Dave slowed the car down. Up in the distance a tree was across the road.

"Well its all above me, all I know is carpentry." Sam stopped talking as he realized they had come to a stop and saw the tree. They were in a slightly wooded area but there was room to maneuver around the tree. "Just go around it." Sam waved his hand to the side where there was room to dive around.

Dave started to accelerate again as Travis grabbed his shoulder, "Hold on." Dave stopped again and looked at Travis puzzled. "That tree didn't fall over it was cut deliberately." He pointed to the clean chainsaw cut that was almost hidden from view.

"Aw shit it's a trap isn't it?" Sam shook his head.

"Sam, grab your gun and be ready." Travis opened the door and stepped out of the car leaving the door open. He took his M4 and quickly jumped into the tree line.

All hell broke loose as a large pickup truck barreled out onto the road from a well hidden location. Gun shots started to ring out near the fallen tree and hit the car.

"Holy fuck!" Sam yelled as both he and Dave jumped out of the car and into the woods on the other side of the road from Travis. The large pickup slammed on its brakes and the tires squealed to a stop about a hundred yards from their car. The gunshots from up the road stopped and four men climbed out of the pickup.

The driver shouted at the others "You guys go after those two, I'll get the third." He waved back towards the tree and another car came down the road loaded with another four guys. They stopped behind the pickup and got out. "You two stay here with the truck, you come with me and you go back up to the tree and make sure no one comes from the other direction. They couldn't have gotten far, lets go."

When Travis jumped into the woods he didn't expect the ambush to be sprung. He thought that they would be a lot smarter than that. The quickness of it did make him worry for Dave and Sam. They had to jump out onto the other side of the road because they were on the other side of the car. He had already cut half the distance off between the pickup and their car when they started to split up. The three that were going after Sam and Dave were just walking down the edge of the woods, and the apparent leader and who he took went directly into the woods on Trav's side of the road. The two guards didn't know what hit them. Travis leveled off his M4 and two shots echoed though the woods. The two men were slumped to the ground.

The three that were across the road opened fire in Trav's direction. Low to the ground he was unseen as the bullets sped past above his position. Another shot and one of the three was down.

Sam and Dave hit the tree line and then took cover. Sam was also a Third Iraq War veteran and knew what to do in a fight. "Dave, get behind me about 10 to 20 yards and watch my back." He stayed covered close to the tree line so that he could get a look as to what was going on up the road. He had no idea where Travis was when he saw the group split up. He heard Trav's first gun shots and saw the two guards take hits. The three opened fire towards the opposite side of the woods and then one of them got hit. Sam crept up the roadway and took aim at the two remaining men that were firing blindly into the woods. He shot once with the M16 relic that he owned and another went down. The last man took off towards the pickup and made it halfway there as Sam had to fire 5 more times before hitting him.

The echoing of the guns stopped and for a brief moment the woods returned to their quiet charm. Sam scanned the opposite tree line for a sign of the other two men and Travis. "Dave stay here, I am going across the road."

Sam cautiously looked down the sides of the road again before he ran across the road and into the tree line. Dave stayed behind with his hunting rifle just out of site. Sam slowly made his way up to where the three men were shooting at hoping to find Travis alright. There were still two men unaccounted for but there was no sign of anyone by the time Sam made it to the bullet ridden part of the woods.

"Hold it right there!" Sam heard a pistol cocking behind him. He turned his head slowly towards the voice. It was who he assumed to be the leader of the group. "I should kill you right now for killing my men, but call your friends out for me and I will spare your life."

Sam was defenseless but knew better. The man would kill him anyways but if he could go along with him for now, he might be able to get a jump on them later. The other man came out of his hiding spot and took Sam's gun and led him out of the woods towards the pickup truck. There was another gunshot and by the time Sam looked back the leader was dead. The last man grabbed Sam and held the gun to his head.

"Get out of the woods or I'll blow his brains out!" He yelled into the woods. No response came and within seconds the man cocked the hammer.

"This is it," Sam thought. BANG. Sam cringed from the noise and slowly opened his eyes when he realized he was still standing. He saw Travis exiting the woods.

"Good thinking Sam, being the bait while I take care of them." Travis smiled as Sam turned and looked at his former capture that was shot through the forehead.

"Travis we should go see what's up at the tree and see if that last guy that drove the car back there is still around." Dave said as he caught up to the two.

"I'll take care of that," Travis said, "you two gather the weapons and ammunition get the truck off the road and I will signal you when it's clear ahead."

Fairweather Estate: 7:55PM.

It was getting dark and the three men have not returned yet. A few more of the volunteers had decided to stay at the cabin when they saw yesterday that there would be enough room. They had put together some things the night before to stay, and when Sarah and Amanda returned for the day they had looked to Sarah for direction who unknowingly stepped into second in command when she gave her short order that morning.

Not knowing what to do she just told them to call it a day and they all went inside or off to their homes. Dinner had been served and everyone was relaxing outside the cabin on a beautiful spring night. Sarah was nervous as dark approached quickly. The sun had set, the light was fading fast, and Travis was not back yet. She was pacing on the porch keeping her eye on the driveway.

"Sarah, quit it, you are making me nervous." Amanda Trickle said as she walked up the steps of the porch and plopped herself on one of the chairs. Sarah ignored her and kept pacing. Amanda and Sarah had been best friends for the last 8 years. They met in college and were inseparable for years. The raven haired green eyed Amanda, and the blue eyed redhead Sarah were quite a pair. They had taken jobs together outside of Frankfurt, but they were laid off when the economy got worse a couple years ago. With no place to turn Sarah convinced Amanda to move to Hardstorm with her. Sarah found a job at the local tavern and Amanda got a job in Laketon. Amanda had not been in Laketon since the bombs went off, especially after she heard the stories of bandits.

"You know, you cost me fifty bucks last night." Amanda broke the silence.

Sarah stopped pacing and looked at Amanda puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Well... um..." Amanda looked at the floor as she thought how to phrase it, "we kind of had this pool going, for when you and Trav would start dating, but I thought there was no way you two would hook up this soon you slut." She laughed and threw a porch chair cushion at her.

"Oh my god, why do you think we went that far?" Sarah questioned back feinting innocence.

"Other than that horrible lie just now, it was all over your face last night." Amanda said laughing out loud.

Sarah threw the cushion back at Amanda. "I can't believe you would bet on that!"

Amanda was going to respond, but saw Sarah run off the porch. She turned and looked towards the driveway and saw the headlights of two vehicles coming up the road.

Travis, Sam, and Dave had returned from Laketon with the pickup truck that the bandits had used. After making it to Laketon they had spent several hours going over details that the two militias had to work out. On their return they recovered the vehicle that they had hidden and the bodies of the bandits they killed. It was near dark and they took them to the makeshift sheriff station before returning to the cabin.