Apocalypse Asunder Read Online Free PDF

‘noise trap’ as Austin called it; two little pyramids of drinking glasses stacked on the floor next to the bookcase in either of the directions it could be moved.  If it was shoved aside, the glasses would fall, break, and make more noise.
    As usual, she hoped it would be enough.  So far it had, but it only took one bad night for things to go terribly wrong.
    Forcing herself to shrug mentally, like everything was going to work out fine, she turned to the bedroom nearest the stairs.  It was directly adjacent to the big one, and lit with a pair of candles.  Austin was sitting on the bed, leaning back against some cushions propped up before the headboard.  He had the MP5 broken down neatly on a towel spread out next to him, with the contents of what he called his ‘travel gun kit’ at hand.  As she entered, he was using a long handled wire brush to scrub the inside of the weapon’s barrel.
    “She asleep?”
    “She will be in a few minutes, I think.” Jessica nodded as she sat down in one of the chairs.  The three of them still slept in the same bedroom, in the same bed since they’d never yet found a master bedroom that had twin beds; but she’d begun reestablishing a set routine for Candice after some cranky moments.  And others where attention and attitude wavered, when she realized the girl was still growing and needed more sleep than her mother or Austin did.
    Letting Candice out of her sight had been a big decision for Jessica, especially when the girl was going to be unconscious; but they were on the second floor of an isolated house.  It was secure.  Candice was behind a closed door, and Jessica could see and hear the hallway from where she sat.  It was that, or Jessica and Austin would keep the girl awake if they were in the same room with her when she was trying to sleep.  Or both adults would have hours of sleepless boredom while they tried to keep quiet.
    Small steps.  Everything these days was small steps.
    “You want me to clean your Taurus when I’m done with this?” he asked as he finished with the barrel and laid it aside.
    “You keep telling me I need to keep practicing everything, so I guess that means I’d better do it.”
    “I don’t mind.” he shrugged.  “I mean, I know you know how to break the gun down and put it back together.  That’s the important part, the hard part.  The actual cleaning is easy.”
    “I won’t twist your arm to make you let me do it.” she said teasingly.
    “Good, because that would hurt.” he grinned.
    “Poor little tough guy.”
    “I was shot you know.”
    “I know.” she laughed.  “I think I’m due for my every-three-hour thank you for that, so thank you.”
    “Three hours now?  It used to be a lot more often than that.” he said as he used one of the greased cleaning rags to oil some little part of the submachine gun’s innards that she couldn’t name.  The first time he’d broken the weapon down for cleaning, she’d been just short of goggle-eyed at how many bits and pieces were inside it.
    “So, I’ve been thinking.” she said, purposefully changing the subject, though she made sure to smile when he glanced up at her again.
    “One of my favorite things about you.”
    “Thinking?”
    “Yup.”
    “One of us needs to be doing the heavy lifting.”
    “That’s a little low, but I’ll take it as a joke.” he grinned.  “Okay, let’s have it.  What’s on your mind?”
    Jessica stretched her legs out and let herself slump in the chair into a disgraceful – though disgustingly comfortable – slouch.  “October is half over.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Fall is well and truly underway.  Temperatures are already down enough to be nippy at night, and even mid-afternoons are kind of cool these last few days.”
    “Yeah, I’d guess probably around seventy or so; and that’s with the sun soaking into everything all day.” Austin shrugged  “Winter’s coming.”
    “Oooh, I miss that show.” she said, her expression