In The End: a pre-apocalypse novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

about
preserving the food we have here, and being able to stay warm through the
winter while we wait for the power to come back on.”
    “And if the power isn’t coming back
on for years?” Jim asked, always the optimist.
    “Then we need to plan on moving
somewhere. We have plenty of food to get us through this winter, but when that
runs out, we’re going to need to be able to grow our own. And this ain’t the
place to do it. If things are even as bad as Jim hopes.”
    “Oh, god,” Angela said, burying her
face in her palms, suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that life as she
knew it might be forever lost. She had no idea how to grow food or where a good
place to do it would be. She conjured up an image of a farm in her mind, and
then an old, foot-powered sewing machine, and then visualized herself wearing a
home-made Little House on the Prairie dress.
    Terry patted her arm and said,
“Remember, we don’t know anything yet. It might not be that bad at all. Don’t
go thinking the worst just yet. For all we know, the power could be back on in
a week and things could be back to normal in no time. It’s possible that this
was just a lone jihadist who blew himself up in Denver. In that case, Denver
would be uninhabitable, but life would still be totally the same for you in Nampa
and everywhere else.”
    “Boise,” Angela said, suspended now
between fear of the worst and hope for the best.
    “Okay, Boise,” said Terry.
    “Same thing,” Jim replied.
    “The people in Boise may not even
know that anything has happened here. They could end up watching the news
tonight and hear that disaster struck in Colorado.”
    “Okay,” Jim said, “so we don’t know
anything except that we don’t have power, our cars work, and we’ve got plenty
of frozen food that is thawing right now.”
    “Right,” Terry agreed. “That’s what
we need to focus on right now.” Angela lifted her face from her hands and
carefully wiped tears from her eyes. “The first thing we need to do, no matter
what the extent of the situation may be, is to secure the food.”
    “Snow,” Jim said.
    “What?” Angela asked him.
    Terry replied, “It’s freezing
outside. We need to move the food outside to keep it cold.”
    Jim and Terry discussed the best
way to store the food that would keep it frozen but safe from animals and still
be readily accessible. As they were discussing this, they heard the sound of a
car pulling into the parking lot, and then the sound of the engine died.
    They had visitors.

Seven
     
    Terry and Jim ran to the windows facing the parking lot.
Looking through the blinds, Jim said, “It’s Josh and Hailey.”
    “Your friends?”
    “Yeah. They said they were going home to Boise.”
    “Really? Denver got nuked and they decided to drive through the blast-zone?”
    “We tried telling them they were
crazy, but you know - crazy people never listen.”
    The passenger door of the SUV opened,
but no one emerged from the vehicle.
    “What the fuck are they doing just
sitting there?”
    “Maybe it’s not them.”
    “It has to be. What are the odds of
it being another Isuzu Rodeo of the same color? And with an
Obama bumper-sticker? It’s definitely them. I have no idea how they
found us though. Maybe they were just looking for someplace to go after finding
our cabin empty. “
    “They’re getting out.”
    Angela joined the men at the
window. “The snow doesn’t look right.”
    “That isn’t snow. It’s ash,” Terry
replied.
    “You mean fall-out?” Jim asked.
    The driver-side door opened. Now
both front doors of the vehicle were wide open, but no one emerged from either
side.
    “What the fuck are they doing?”
    The three of them stood there
staring, waiting and wondering. Finally Hailey stepped out of the vehicle and
fell to the ground.
    “Oh my God. I have to help her,” Angela said as she started toward the door. Terry grabbed
her and held her back.
    “You can’t go out there!”
    “I have to!