Apocalypse Aftermath by David Rogers Read Free Book Online Page A

locks clicked, and she spoke without turning.  “Candice, keep your seatbelt on, but stay away from the doors.  Don’t touch them at all.”
    “Okay.”
    She didn’t know if the SUV had child locks or not, but as long as Candice didn’t try to operate the door handles everything should be fine.  “Everything’s going to be fine.  Nothing can get in.” she told herself again as she turned the steering wheel slightly to drift the SUV over to the left side of the Interstate.
    “This is going to be bumpy, so be ready.” she told Candice as the SUV neared the wreckage.  She hugged the breakdown lane next to the guardrail as they closed on what was left of the horde.  Having something to do was helping, she realized as she caught herself eyeing the trailer and trying to pick out the best line for her final approach.  A slight smile appeared, but she quickly banished it as she judged she was about where she wanted to start curving in.
    The SUV rocked as it rolled over bodies, and she winced as her injured knee protested the bumpy ride.  She was hanging onto the steering wheel as tightly as she could, trying to keep her arms locked to prevent the back and forth of the SUV from causing her to let it start meandering.  The people on the trailer were watching the vehicle as it closed in, then they vanished when she lost the angle.  Jessica turned the wheel more, then some more.
    The front end of the vehicle swung around to the right a few feet from the edge of the wrecked cars.  The trailer was right in front of her, along with the remaining zombies still on their feet.  She kept the steady pressure on the accelerator and drove right into them without pause.  Only a couple of the zombies bothered to look at the SUV as it ran them over, the front bumper knocking them down as the vehicle’s mass carried it through them.
    Two thumps came from above, and Jessica braked, a little more sharply than she felt she should’ve.  She winced, half expecting Austin to appear on the windshield and hood as she braced herself against the steering wheel, but instead she heard his feet on the roof as he stood up.
    “Come on.” he was saying, loudly enough that she could hear him.  “Can you make it down?”
    The SUV rocked as more feet thumped down on the roof.  Jessica glanced around nervously, eyeing the mirrors and looking over her shoulder to see out the windows.  Behind her she saw a pair of zombies starting to regain their feet.  She happened to be looking out the passenger window when a mottled hand smacked against it.
    “Mom . . .” Candice said warningly as a man’s head, the hair tousled and dirty and the face pale and bloodstained from the nose down past his neck pulled himself up.
    “It’s fine.  We’re okay.” Jessica said as the zombie clawed at the window.  It didn’t seem to be trying to get inside the SUV.  She realized after a couple of seconds it was focused on whatever was going on up on the vehicle’s roof.  “It can’t see in through the window tint.” Jessica said, not sure if she was trying to reassure Candice or herself.
    “Is it going to get Austin?”
    “No, Austin’s fine.” Jessica replied, though she wondered.  The SUV was a big vehicle, but it wasn’t so tall that the roof wasn’t completely out of reach.  She saw the zombie’s arms going up, then a leg wearing a black boot and black trousers appeared from above, kicking at it strongly.  The zombie collapsed back out of view, and Jessica almost laughed.  “Austin’s fine.”
    “I hope they hurry up.” Candice said.
    “I’m sure they’re going as fast as they can.” Jessica said, then a gloved hand appeared in the top middle of the windshield and knocked on it three times.  Austin was the only one she’d seen who was wearing gloves in the Georgia late summer, so she knew it had to be him.
    “Okay, here we go.”  She took her foot off the brake and reminded herself to take it easy as she shifted over to