Bobby Akart - Armageddon

He didn’t.

After a couple of drinks, Hank set the glass aside and decided to rest his eyes for a moment. He listened to the water gently lapping onshore and tried to imagine the days when the inn was full and the weather wasn’t over twenty degrees below normal.

He’d dozed off completely when there was an uproar at the bridge entering the island.

For twenty-two hours, Patrick Hollister had been brutalized and raped by his three assailants. The young man in the bar had been tasked with picking up an attractive woman. His brothers, two career criminals from West Virginia, had suggested the guys head down to the keys to look for work just before the attacks.

When the bombs dropped, they found themselves in Key West with no place to stay and no money. To survive, they engaged in petty theft and burglary, stealing food and money. They’d seen Patrick, as Patricia, walk into the bar alone. Their perception of her was that she had money and was lonely. She had been targeted by the men for multiple reasons, but they had been surprised when they forced themselves into the bank building.

The attractive woman was a man. He was surrounded by money, food, booze, and a car full of gasoline. The fact that he was a man was infuriating, as they’d had plans for the woman known as Patricia.

For hours upon hours, they drank and took out their anger and frustration on Patrick. He was beaten unconscious several times, which protected him from what happened while he was incoherent. The degenerate men were merciless, thoroughly enjoying themselves as they treated Patrick as subhuman.

After they were done with him, they filled Patrick’s car with anything of value, both monetary and nutritionally. Then they loaded his limp body into the back seat with the intention of dropping him over the railing of the Seven Mile Bridge as it crossed the water toward the Middle Keys.

However, when it was time to dispose of the nearly dead Patrick, they hadn’t factored in the continuous stream of refugees walking from Key West toward the mainland on U.S. 1. Without an opportunity to dump the unconscious Patrick, they continued toward Marathon, debating what to do with him.

Then Patrick woke up. Because he’d suffered internal damage from the beating, he immediately vomited in the back seat. The three men were incensed and pulled down a side street toward the Gulf, where they dragged him out of the car. He tried to crawl away, which earned him a swift kick to the rib cage, which forced another round of retching.

The men laughed at Patrick, took turns spitting on him, and then raced up the highway, leaving him for dead.

Only, Patrick wasn’t dead. He lay there for a while and tried to open his eyes, which were swollen shut. He tried to make out the buildings around him. Northwestern Mutual’s investment office appeared to be across the street. He noticed the furniture store that was a customer of his bank.

He struggled to breathe. He could barely move. His bones weren’t broken, but his insides were so battered he was certain his organs had been rearranged. Every orifice was bleeding, causing him to be weak.

Then it came to him. If his bloody mouth didn’t hurt so bad, he would’ve smiled at the irony. He made a decision. Patrick hoisted himself up and began to drag his legs, one at a time, to get help.

Hank was jolted awake by the wail of the marine air horns that were carried anytime someone was on patrol. They had a case of them stored on their boat to be used in case of emergencies. Mike thought the airhorns would be a perfect alternative to two-way radios to sound an alarm.

He bolted out of his chair and began to race down the steps until he slid to a stop. He ran back up the steps to retrieve his rifle. He cursed himself for falling asleep and spontaneously shouted, “I’m coming!”

Hank raced through the palm trees that separated the bungalows from one another. His chest was heaving as he dashed past them and lowered his head at times to avoid low-hanging fronds. The shortcut saved him time, and he reached the crushed-shell driveway quickly.

He slowed as he approached the gate, relieved there was no shouting or gunshots. The warning might have been a false alarm or perhaps something that wasn’t life threatening.

The silhouettes of Jimmy and Sonny standing with their rifles pointing toward the gate could be seen. Their flashlights lit up the bridge, but Hank couldn’t make out any cars or people. When he arrived, he was still uncertain of why the alarm had been raised.

“Mr. Hank! Come quick!” yelled Jimmy as if Hank weren’t moving as fast as his sixty-one years would allow.

By the time he arrived, his chest was heaving as he gasped for air, and he bent over with his hands gripping the rifle across his thighs. He looked up and saw the reason for the alarm.

“Mr. Hank,” explained Sonny, “this man says he knows you.”

“Hank,” the man began just above a whisper, “it’s Patrick Hollister. I’ve been robbed and need help.”

“Patrick?” asked Hank.

“What should we do, Mr. Hank?” asked Jimmy.

Hank handed his rifle to Sonny and then responded, “Let’s help him in.”

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VISITmy feature page at Amazon.com/BobbyAkartfor more information on my other action-packed thrillers, which includes over forty Amazon #1 bestsellers in forty-plus fiction and nonfiction genres.

Author Bobby Akart has been ranked by Amazon as #25 on the Amazon Charts list of most popular, bestselling authors. He has achieved recognition as the #1 bestselling Horror Author, #1 bestselling Science Fiction Author, #5 bestselling Action & Adventure Author, #7 bestselling Historical Fiction Author and #10 on Amazon’s bestselling Thriller Author list.

Mr. Akart has delivered up-all-night thrillers to readers in 245 countries and territories worldwide. He has sold over one million books in all formats, which includes over forty international bestsellers, in nearly fifty fiction and nonfiction genres.

His novel Yellowstone: Hellfire reached the Top 25 on the Amazon bestsellers list and earned him multiple Kindle All-Star awards for most pages read in a month and most pages read as an author. The Yellowstone series vaulted him to the #25 bestselling author on Amazon Charts, and the #1 bestselling science fiction author.

Since its release in November 2020, his standalone novel, New Madrid Earthquake, has been ranked #1 on Amazon Charts in multiple countries as a natural disaster thriller.

Mr. Akart is a graduate of the University of Tennessee after pursuing a dual major in economics and political science. He went on to obtain his master’s degree in business administration and his doctorate degree in law at Tennessee.

Mr. Akart has provided his readers a diverse range of topics that are both informative and entertaining. His attention to detail and impeccable research has allowed him to capture the imagination of his readers through his fictional works and bring them valuable knowledge through his nonfiction books.