The Forge of Darkness (Darkness After Series Book 3) by Scott B. Williams Page B

that David had heard them talking of finding the house that they knew must be nearby.
    “They said they were going to come here and stay. They were talking about all the cows and how there would be enough to feed everyone for weeks when they all got here.”
    “How many of them do you think there are, David?”  
    “I don’t know. There were six of them that came down the road after the one that shot Tommy came out of the woods. But I heard them talking about some people coming with horses… and then they said something about a bunch of women and children too.”
    “It’s like there’s a whole mob of them!” Lisa said. “What are we going to do, April?”
    April’s mind was racing with this overload of bad news. Tommy was dead and now they were facing a group of killers intent on taking everything they had. Who were these people and where did they come from? Were there really as many of them as David thought? She hoped not, but in truth, she had no reason to doubt him. Since he’d been hit in the head he saw things in the simplest ways and it would not even occur to him to embellish his story for effect. He’d just witnessed his new best friend killed with a hatchet and he was both scared and angry, but he was also concerned about the rest of them, who he considered his friends too. They were the only people in his world now, and he liked them all. April had to take his warning seriously, and from what he said, they had very little time to prepare.
    If Mitch and the rest of the guys were here, they would handle this differently. But with three of them off hunting, Tommy dead, and Benny unaccounted for, they were five men short for any kind of serious resistance. Mitch and Benny had often discussed ideas for fortifying the house for just such an event, but they had not had time to get very far with it; the daily patrols being the main thing implemented since April arrived there. After the encounter with the four men who’d abducted her and Kimberly, Mitch knew they were vulnerable to desperate survivors who might be on the move looking for resources. But he acknowledged that they couldn’t prepare for everything and the most important defense was to remain vigilant, until they could become more organized. Finding enough food took up a large portion of Mitch’s time, not to mention the efforts of teaching the others the essential skills they needed, such as marksmanship, archery, tracking and hunting.  
    Mitch would be sick to find out the thing he’d feared would happen had come to pass while he was away for the night. But that was something he would have to deal with tomorrow. April had to make a decision and she knew she had to make it quick. If there were as many men as David said and indeed more on the way, there was no way they could defend the house from an attack if it came before Mitch returned. And after all the shooting that had already happened, April was sure that these men wouldn’t wait. They knew there were people living nearby and that they probably had resources they wanted. They would come tonight, she was sure of it.  
    “We can’t stay here,” she told Lisa. “We’ve got to grab as many of the things we need as we can carry and get out of the house now!”
    “But we can’t let them break into our house!” Lisa said. “This is all we have! How will we live without the house and all the stuff we need?”
    “We’re not going to let them have it, Lisa. Mitch will be back tomorrow. You know that. But if we lock ourselves inside and try to defend it with just the five of us they may take it anyway, after they kill us all. You know that kind of thing has been happening ever since the lights went out. If we’re trapped in here and surrounded, we won’t have a chance if there are enough of them. I don’t think we should risk it, Lisa. We can hide close by in the edge of the woods and wait and see. Maybe they won’t come here tonight, but if they do, at least we’ll have options.