Earth's Survivors: Los Angeles: Earth's Survivors, #8

By W. G. Sweet

An apocalypse of worldwide proportions has destroyed civilized life. It has killed billions worldwide. In some places there are small groups of survivors that have managed to hang on and stay alive. Billy and Beth are with one of those groups in Los Angeles. They hope to find a place where they can begin again. They are determined to get out of the death and destruction of Los Angeles and make their way east; hopeful for better conditions and like minded survivbors...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dell Sweet
• Release date: Jun 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227914026

Book preview

EARTH'S SURVIVORS: LOS ANGELES

Copyright 2023 W. G. Sweet all rights reserved.

Cover Art © Copyright 2024 Dell Sweet

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your bookseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

LEGAL

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or incidents depicted are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual living person’s places, situations or events is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic, print, scanner or any other means and, or distributed without the author's permission. Permission is granted to use short sections of text in reviews or critiques.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

EARTH'S SURVIVORS: LOS ANGELES

ONE

March 1st 12:06 am .

L.A.

Billy Jingo & Beth

Billy knocked back the tequila and waved off Beth as she motioned to the back bar for another. She came over smiling.

A man that knows when to quit. I like that, Beth said.

Billy laughed. A recently acquired habit, I assure you. Shit will bite you if you don't set your limits, He smiled at her, hesitated and then spoke again. So it's almost over for tonight... Thought you would be singing? He raised his voice at the end to make it into a question. He knew it was what she wanted. He had heard her sing, there wasn't an act in the place that could hang with her. She was it, except something was not clicking between her and Jimmy, or maybe it went all the way up the ladder to Harry. Whatever it was Billy was curious about it.

Curiosity killed the cat, Beth said with a wide smile as if reading his thoughts.

Damn, Billy said. It's as if...

I read your thoughts? She laughed. It's been written all over your face since you came in. I saw you looking at the stage, back at me, back to the stage. It's not hard to figure it out.

Hey, it's not like I'm some wacko fan, Beth. I just think you are way too good for...

If you say it I'll smack you stupid, Beth told him. Her eyes were slitted, narrowed and focused. Her right hand had doubled into a fist. Billy had no doubt she meant what she said.

Peace, Billy said.

Not that it really matters, Beth said with a sigh. Jimmy knows, and that means Harry knows, and they don't care... That is not it. I would feel for the lame ass that came in here if I was doing a set and had anything to say about my time on the streets... We have all been there... At least the interesting ones.

Billy nodded. So what is it?

Beth shrugged. I don't know, but I'm hoping Harry will be around later on and I...

Hey... Baby, what the fuck with the drink? A big guy, belly straining at the buttons of his shirt. He smiled, but the smile was no more than a rough semblance of a smile.  Billy tried to burn him with his eyes, but Beth reached nearly into his face and said. So you're done here?

Her eyes said do not, he did not, but he would have liked to say something to the guy. Instead, he nodded a yes and picked up the change she had laid on the bar. She was talking to the fat guy before he got his change in his pocket.

See that big guy over by the door, she asked nicely.

Billy watched the fat guy turn to the door and then back to Beth. Yeah? The guy said. There was a sarcastic edge to his voice that made Billy slow down. He wanted to see the outcome.

Don, the big person on the door had that bouncer six-sense and looked over at Beth and shrugged as if to ask if there was a problem. She rolled her eyes, and Don left the door and headed for the bar.

I told you no more, Beth told the guy.

And I said I don't take no orders from no bitch, The fat guy said. He puffed up, but a line of sweat trickled from under his too black hair and streaked his forehead with whatever he had sprayed on his hair to get the color. He swiped at it angrily. And began to bluster a little more when Don's heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

And I missed my workout today, Don told him as he easily spun him around, unless you're it? Don finished.

This is a private matter, The fat guy told him, but there was a quiver in his voice that Billy heard clearly.

Tried to grab Jill's breast when she went past him. Jill laughed it off, said he'd been a perfect gentleman all the rest of the night. I said cool, a little fuck up, he's had too much to drink and so I cut him off.

Gentleman was a code word for a creep that had been hanging around getting excessively friendly with the dancers.

That so, Don asked. He had stepped back to give himself some room just in case things took a physical turn.

The guy noted the movement and then he set his empty glass on the bar and put his hands in front of him, palms up. No interest in trouble at all, he told Don.

Don nodded at the door. Time to go home and sleep it off, I think, Don told him.

Billy watched the guy walk to the door and leave. He looked back to see Don and Beth looking at him.

You know, this guy is becoming a pain in the ass, Beth told Don.

Ha, ha, Billy said.

Beat it Jingo. Leave the honey alone. It's off limits. In other words you ain't getting none of it. Billy watched the cloud come over Beth just that fast. She had been teasing, Don probably knew that, but Don had a thing for her and he hated Billy who sometimes did small things for Harry. He did not wait for Billy to leave, but headed back to the door, opened it quickly and looked out into the lot.

Probably making sure the guy ain't fucking up his car, Billy said under his breath.

Sorry, Billy. I keep forgetting Don isn't human, Beth told him. That made Billy laugh.

Anyway, I'll see you around. I'll be late tonight.

Billy nodded. Good luck, Beth. He turned and walked to the door at the other end of the club. The one that let out onto the front sidewalk.

THE NIGHT WAS BEAUTIFUL, Billy thought as he walked along. He knew pretty much everyone he passed. He had been here for a little over six months having made his way up from Mexico when things had gone bad for him there. Technically, he was on the run. Warrants out of New York. Somebody had derived a conclusion and dug up some prints from a crime Billy had been involved with. He had only found out about it because he had happened to be away from the house when the Feds showed up. His neighborhood had no municipal police, but even if it had, they would not have come with shotguns and armor.

He had hid out for three days until the word had trickled down to him that it was him they were looking for to hand over to some federal agents from the U.S. It had not taken much to derive a conclusion. He had managed to get a beat up old Ford pickup truck and then filled-fifty five gallon drums full of gasoline that rode on the back of it. He set off into the desert.

The rest had been easier. Despite the laws and the changes in the U.S. It was easy to disappear here. He had come with a little money, and that had helped. He had worked a series of meaningless jobs as he worked his way up the west coast. LA had looked good and so it had held him. That and Beth had come along.

Beth was out of reach and he knew it, but that did not stop the fact that he wanted her to be in reach. He had never met a woman like her. So he had stayed. He had watched her arrival from God knew where, some other place in California or Washington probably. He had watched her struggle to survive on the streets: Watched her work those same streets, doing her act in any place she could get into by day, walking the streets by night, and it was then he had seen something else in her. Something hard, some will he himself had that was hard to define, but that hardness in her pulled him to her like a magnet. It was that simple.

He had been working for Harry by then and so he had mentioned Beth to him. He did not know how the details had worked out, but a few weeks later when he had noticed she had disappeared from the avenue, he had found her tending bar at Harry's Palace.

Now, as he walked he became immune to the world around him. He never heard Don until he was on him, had spun him around and dragged him into an alley.

Hey... Hey! Don... What the fuck, Don... Hey! But it did no good. The first punch nearly shut him down. The second did. The rest he never knew about.

L.A.: 2:00 am.

Beth

The night wore on. Midnight came and went and the club shut down for another day. Beth worked at cleaning up the last little area of the bar as two of the dancers finished their drinks and hushed conversations, smiled at her and walked away. A short conversation with Don, probably some crude remark, Beth has seen how both of them had instantly stiffened their backs after he spoke. It was not just her, Don was an actual creep. Whatever he had said the two girls chose to ignore it, turning away, making eye contact with Beth, waving as if they had been at the bar talking to her, and when Don looked back to see who they had been waving at they slipped out the door. Don made his way over to the bar.

You scared my honeys away, he told her.

I think you can do that all on your own, Beth told him.

What's that supposed to mean? Don asked.

Beth frowned and shook her head. Sometimes she wondered if Don even knew what a creep he was. How he made the girls who worked here, her included, feel. It means that not everyone is always on the same page, Beth said. She had changed her mind at the last second. She had to work here. Don was the nephew of the owner. Creep or not he was part of the package.

Don looked confused.

Donny, it means that sometimes you just have to let things happen. Go slow. A girl wants to think it was her own idea to like you, she told him.

Yeah... I can see that, but when you need it, you need it. Some of these bitches need to be on point. One finger disappeared into his nose and then he seemed to suddenly remember she was there. You know, me and you need to hook up. I got ... One massive hand settled onto his shoulder and he stopped in mid sentence.

Disappear, Donny. I need to talk to Beth right now, Jimmy told him as he sat down at one of the stools.

We was just talking, Uncle Jimmy.

Right. Now you are done talking... Unless you are not? Am I interrupting you?

Don turned beet red. He laughed to hide the embarrassment. No... No, he turned and walked away.

Jimmy turned to Beth. I guess you'll have to get used to the kid. He is a pain in the ass, but he is my pain in the ass... Load to bear, He turned and watched Don step out the door to the parking lot. Donny, Jimmy yelled. Don poked his head back in the door and looked at his uncle. Take a good look around out there; make sure the lot's empty and the girls all got to their cars okay.

Okay, Uncle Jimmy, Don called back. The dopey smile that he usually wore settled back on his face as he stepped out into the darkness. Jimmy turned back to Beth.

Billy Jingo, he said.

Beth looked at him.

I think that kid is bad news for you... Not telling you how you should live your life, just distributing advice... A girl like you, a singer, don't need a distraction like that. The customers do not want to see no boyfriend hanging around. Spoils the fantasy that you're singing just to them. He held her stare.

It's not like that, Jimmy. Billy is a friend only... Lives in the same building. She had caught the fact that he had said she was a singer. Something she was not yet, unless...

Uh huh, but he wants you. The kid is like a lovesick puppy. If you could step back and look at it, you would see it clearly. Are you telling me you are smart enough to handle Donny and you can't see this Jingo kid has it bad for you?

Beth shrugged. No... I know... I know that... Nevertheless, he knows it is not going to happen. He knows what the deal is.

Good... That is all I am saying... However, you need to tell him to stay away... Can't be hanging around while you are working... See?

Beth nodded. I see.

Good, cause next week you start as my lead act. I know you... He stopped as Beth lunged across the bar and hugged him, squealing as she did. He hugged her back, laughing.

She kissed his cheek and then her smile went away a little as one of his hands cupped the side of her breast. Her eyes focused on his own. I think we'll become good friends, baby, he told her. She nodded as his hand roamed a little further and then trailed away across the flat plains of her stomach. She pulled back. Jimmy wore a crooked smile on his face. So we understand each other?

Yeah, Beth told him.

So smile then. Let's have a drink... On me... Pour us something good, baby, Jimmy told her.

3:00 am

Beth stepped out into the darkness of the parking lot. She had spent over a month trying to convince Jimmy to let her sing. The Palace had huge crowds every night. Everyone knew that scouts were constantly cruising the crowd looking for talent. More than one act had been discovered at the Palace. Harry knew that and played on the reputation. Singing here could lead to the big break she was looking for. She had gotten her wish tonight, and more than she had bargained for, a relationship with Jimmy. She was not sure how that was going to be defined in public, but in private, it was going to be defined as a sexual relationship. He had just defined it for her, she would have to wait to see what the public definition was going to be, but she had a good idea how it was going to be.

Nan, the dancer Jimmy was currently seeing, was going to be upset. Jimmy was not subtle. It had been clear that they had been seeing less and less of each other. She had no doubt that her first night he was going to make it clear she was his. Like a dog marking his territory. She sighed. Off the street, but still being fucked