Hunt - Lone Survivor (Book 3): All That Escapes

Click here to receive special offers, bonus content, and news about new Jack Hunts books. Sign up for the newsletter.

The Agora Virus series

Phobia

Anxiety

Strain

The War Buds series

War Buds 1

War Buds 2

War Buds 3

Camp Zero series

State of Panic

State of Shock

State of Decay

Renegades series

The Renegades

The Renegades Book 2: Aftermath

The Renegades Book 3: Fortress

The Renegades Book 4: Colony

The Renegades Book 5: United

The Wild Ones Duology

The Wild Ones Book 1

The Wild Ones Book 2

The EMP Survival series

Days of Panic

Days of Chaos

Days of Danger

Days of Terror

The Against All Odds Duology

As We Fall

As We Break

The Amygdala Syndrome series

Unstable

Unhinged

Survival Rules series

Rules of Survival

Rules of Conflict

Rules of Darkness

Rules of Engagement

Lone Survivor series

All That Remains

All That Survives

All That Escapes

Mavericks series

Mavericks: Hunters Moon

Time Agents series

Killing Time

Single Novels

Blackout

Defiant

Darkest Hour

Final Impact

The Year Without Summer

The Last Storm

The Last Magician

T he ambush was set. Camouflaged, a group of heavily armed men crawled toward the tree line either side of U.S. Route 1. Their target was a convoy of three military Humvees.

A cool morning breeze blew in off Penobscot Bay, rustling the leaves around them in Moose Point State Park. Nervousness roiled in the pit of his stomach as Ray Fergusons finger twitched near the trigger of the M16. He never wanted to kill anyone, especially military, however the odds were high that blood would be shed. The truth was it shouldnt have come to this but when word spread that martial law was in effect across all major cities, he knew it was only a matter of time before Belfast, Maine, fell under government control.

The target is approaching, Edgar Barrow said.

Ray unclipped the radio and brought it to his lips. Roger that.

Ray nudged Lee, his brother, an overbearing man in his early forties with a buzz cut and hard mileage in his eyes. Like many in their group, he was ex-military, a man whod served his country only to be spat out the other side with little to live on. It was a harsh reality that was all too familiar. Lee rose from his position and clicked on and off a small red flashlight, pointing to the other side of the road where five more of the group were waiting for the signal.

All of their camo-striped faces were a picture of concentration.

Before the blackout, the media had pegged them as extremists, no thanks to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which said they were against Muslims and immigrants and had listed them among 273 anti-government groups in the U.S., however, that wasnt the truth. Maine Militia were law-abiding patriots whose sole purpose was to protect the rights of the American people from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

And right now the rights of Belfast were being trampled upon. It was a pity. They had worked so hard over the last five years to fight against a skewed public perception by appearing in Memorial Day parades and speaking one on one with residents.

Politics, religion, racism, none of that came into the equation. And yet the term militia still caused a negative reaction in the minds of Americans.

In his mind they were no different than the militia known as the civil defense. It was back then that local militias had prepared Americans in case of military attack. They had been relied upon to protect civilians during the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars. And because everything functioned at a local level, and citizens participated in annual militia musters they were accepted, celebrated and revered as the citizens army. Thats why he believed their aim was to back up the National Guard and take care of the American people.

It had been one hurdle after another, an uphill battle that hadnt been helped by the arrests of men in connection with the recent bombing of a Minnesota mosque. The same men who had been part of a skewed Three Percent Militia group in Illinois, the same group who had encouraged people to take up arms against the government.

The SPLC had jumped all over that and as usual threw every militia group under the bus including them. It wasnt long before the term domestic terrorism was being used.

Terrorism?

They werent the threat.

And they certainly werent racist.

They were here for the people. It had always been about the American people.

As a group they focused on tradition, survival, being prepared and community service, not recruiting civilians and putting them through dangerous training scenarios to take on the government. As he had told the local news, they were all about allegiance to the Constitution, thats all.

And thats why it pained him to have to do this.

Nevertheless it had to be done.

The mission was simple: Take back the supplies the military were taking from the people of Belfast. Ray belly-crawled forward and brought up high-powered binoculars as the caravan of three armored Humvees snaked around the final bend in the road.

His eyes roamed over the telephone poles brought down to block the passage. With the high winds theyd had over the past few days it would have been easy to assume it was the work of Mother Nature. It wasnt.

Over the radio, Ray gave his team instructions to hold.

He was familiar with how the military would respond to this. It was all about timing.

The first vehicle eased off the gas and came to a stop a few feet from the poles. Four National Guardsmen leapt out, two took up offensive positions while the other two went to inspect the obstruction. Hold, Ray said in a whisper.

It would take more than two to move the poles. A hand went up from one of the military guys, and Rays eyes bounced to the two vehicles. They shut off their engines and eight more guys hopped out. They were outnumbered by two but it didnt matter, not for what he had in mind. He glanced at his men, their faces, alert, tactical and strained. Wait for it, he said into the radio.

One by one, the soldiers on the road removed their rifles and propped them up beside the Humvees as they jogged up to the telephone poles to help move them out of the way. As soon as the last one stepped away from his rifle, Ray gave the signal and his group launched the attack.