L Akers - Fight Like a Man

Jake hugged her harder. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”

Gabby turned to see Olivia chattering while Grayson looked down at his daughter in confusion, trying to hear what she was saying, as she and his wife both competed for his attention. “Dad, there’s a ma—”

The night erupted in voices all going at once, and Ozzie jumped up on Olivia’s leg to get her attention. She fell backward onto the road and the dog jumped on her chest as she fought to keep his kisses off her face.

Grayson pulled away from Graysie’s grasp. “Just a minute, sweetie.” He reached down to pull Ozzie away from Olivia and held a hand out to his wife, pulling her back up. The dog barked loudly and happily and ran in silly circles around them, ducking and diving with his tail in the air, overjoyed to see his mistress, and seemingly over the moon to have his family all together again.

Olivia cooed and chattered to her dog as he ran around her. “I missed you too…”

Jake squinted his eyes at the light and yelled over the dog barking to Gabby, “Who’s that man at the tractor with Emma?”

Grayson fought back tears as he watched Ozzie run circles around their little family, together again, and then he looked around, suddenly remembering what had brought him out here. “Where’s Puck?” he asked out loud, mostly to himself, knowing the dog couldn’t answer him.

Graysie again yelled something, her words lost in the chaos as everyone ignored her.

Elmer pulled his hat off and scratched his head at the chaos around him. It brought a smile to his old mug, until he noticed Emma standing alone, a tear rolling down her face.

He and Edith had enjoyed hearing all about Emma’s husband, Dusty, and her son, Rickey.

So, where were they?

He stepped over and pulled Emma to him, giving her a one-armed hug, sheltering her beneath his strong arm as she sadly looked around in confusion. “Where’s Dusty and Rickey?” she finally yelled over the ruckus to Grayson.

That caught Grayson’s attention. He gently pulled away from Graysie, ignoring her chatter, and swiped a hand over his face, feeling terrible for ignoring his little brother’s bride. He didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news right here and now, but she deserved an answer as she stood sad and alone. “Dusty and Rickey are—”

Graysie stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, piercing the air just the way her dad had taught her to do if she ever needed him. She had their attention now.

“Hey! Listen to me,” she shouted.

The crowd silenced and Graysie erupted in a flurry of words. “There was a man… in a barn, not far from here. He attacked me and chased me. I hurt him. Maybe broke his arm—no, wait. He wasn’t the one chasing me. There was another man. He came after me.” She paused and took a breath, then shook her head in frustration.

She looked around in confusion and saw Ozzie. “There were two men. I lost one at the barn. The other one came at Ozzie. Or maybe Ozzie attacked him. I don’t know.”

Grayson grabbed her shoulders and looked down at his daughter’s, examining her from head to toe. “Where are they now? Did they… hurt you, Graysie?”

She shook her head. “No. I fought him. Just like you taught me.” Her voice broke, and her teeth chattered. Shock was setting in. “I g-g-got away.”

She dropped her head to stare at her feet, not able to look her father in the eyes. Her shoulders sagged and her body tremored and then shook like a leaf.

Everyone watched silently as Graysie fell apart. Grayson squeezed her shoulders. He looked firmly into her eyes. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You did well. I’m proud of you.”

Graysie tried to shake off his hands, but he didn’t budge. “N-n-no. You d-d-don’t understand. I… I d-d-did something terrible. The second man… O-O-Ozzie was trying to s-s-save me from him. And he cussed him. He cussed our dog… called him a f-f-fucking pup , so I kicked him when he was down.” Her hands shook as she reached behind her and pulled out her father’s gun. She carefully handed it to him, stock first. “But before that… I didn’t just fight back, Dad. I sh..sh..shot him. I shot a man,” she finished and then collapsed in his arms.

Grayson held his daughter and looked at Jake in shock. Jake stared back with wide eyes. “Are you sure he said fucking pup ?”

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Looking for something else to read until the next L.L. Akers book is released? Join the above newsletter to see the Author’s Post-Apoc Pick each month. This month, my pick is One Man’s Opus . I don’t review other author’s work, but if I did, I’d give this book five stars. Told from the humble voice of an everyday guy, you’ll love this surreal survival and preparedness story.

In determining what sort of event this series would focus on, research led the author to a recent conclusion by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) that states cyber-attacks are eclipsing terrorism as the primary threat facing the United States.

If nothing else, the author hopes that anyone still on the fence about the need to ‘prepare,’ will do their own research, and realize the threat of cyber-attacks, EMP’s and/or natural disasters are more than fodder for fictional conspiracy and/or disaster novels. The threats are real. The danger is imminent. The need to prep and prepare in order to protect your family is essential.

To my prepping partners—you know who you are… Thanks for everything. I know I’ve bugged you guys too much with crazy questions, technical advice and brainstorming scenarios. You’ve been a huge help and your input is much appreciated!

If you want more information about preparedness, the author highly recommends this private Facebook SHTF Prepping and Survival groupor, if you want to join a smaller FB group, start HEREfor patriot-minded preparedness from an EMT’s point of view (neither group owned/affiliated by/with the author).

Thank you for reading Fight Like a Man, book one of The SHTF Series. If you enjoyed this book, please consider saying so in a review at your favorite bookseller’s website so others can discover it.

L.L. Akers is a prepper, located in the Carolinas, who enjoys marksmanship shooting, canning fruits and veggies, riding ATV’s and studying potential survival situations with eyes wide open, and head out of the sand.

If you’d like to be notified when the next book of The SHTF Series comes out, add your email addy (only) to the following list. http://eepurl.com/bMDLT1

Connect on L.L. Aker’s new FACEBOOKgroup at SHTF Book Series Group Talk. It’s brand new… so click and join. Discuss real life prepping and preparedness, or book characters and story lines—where would you like to see the story go?—and other SHTF stuff.