Apocalypse Asunder by David Rogers Read Free Book Online

eight houses they checked showed signs of activity.  Those they skipped – she wasn’t interested in opening a dialog with anyone at this point – but even allowing for the few people they did see, the area was quite depopulated.  Even by its pre-apocalypse standards.
    “Stop!” Austin said suddenly, reaching across and putting his hand on the steering wheel.  His voice was loud enough to rebound off the windshield commandingly.
    Jessica wasted almost two seconds trying to interpret the single word, then her startled thoughts got out of the way of her reflexes.  Jamming her foot on the brake, she felt her seat belt lock and hold her in place as the SUV slowed rapidly.  There was no skidding, the anti-lock brakes took care of that, but she felt the pedal vibrating under her foot as the system dragged the big, heavy vehicle to a halt.
    “What?” she demanded, looking around quickly.  The simple two-lane road looked deserted, lined with trees and scrub vegetation; all of it getting quite overgrown with no one tending to it.  No wandering corpses in view, and nothing on the road that looked like it could be a problem.  She had a last fleeting thought that maybe he’d spotted a deer or something, then his next words registered.
    “Get off the road.  Now!” Austin ordered, staring forward.  Jessica followed his gaze.  The gas station they’d been visiting the past several weeks was just in view a couple hundred yards ahead.  Then she looked closer and saw a pair of big black vehicles in the parking lot.  Black SUVs . . . exactly like the one she was driving.
    “Oh shit!” she blurted, feeling her blood ice up inside her.  She was dozens of miles west of Knoxville, at least.  In the opposite direction of Macon, where the settlements and scavenging would be much richer.  What were they doing this far out?  Fumbling for the gearshift, she hauled it upward, too hard.  The transmission clicked into park, and she had to pull it back down into reverse before she looked over her shoulder and started backing up.  “Where?”
    “Find a spot where you can fit between the trees.  I see movement up there.  I think they’re getting back in the vehicles.  They might come this way.” Austin said without taking his eyes off the barely visible gas station.
    “What’s wrong?” Candice asked, sounding scared.  The tension between the two adults was obvious, and the girl was worried.
    “Just sit tight sweetie.” Jessica said anxiously, trying to hold the heavy SUV steady as she looked for a place to pull off.  “Okay?”
    “The stop hurt me when the seatbelt tightened up.” the girl half-complained.
    “I know, I’m sorry.  Just keep it on though, and let me focus.”
    Raking her gaze across the trees to either side of the pavement, Jessica finally found a spot where they were spaced far enough apart.  There was a lot of tall scrub grass filling the area between them, but it looked good to her.  She halted just past it, put the transmission in drive, and hauled the steering wheel quickly over.
    The SUV bumped as it left the road, then bounced some more as the engine powered it over the uneven ground beneath the grass.  Jessica spun the wheel left to follow what there were of the gaps between the tree trunks, then back right to avoid still more trees and continue following the spaces she could fit through.  The vehicle tilted as one of the wheels encountered a rock or something else big enough to make it sway heavily back and forth, and she let her speed drop further.  She was running out of room; the trees were thickening up as she left the road behind.
    “There, stop there.” Austin pointed, indicating a thick stand of bushes.  “Behind those.”
    “We won’t fit.” she protested, eyeing the trees.
    “We’ll fit.” he said, looking over his shoulder.
    “It’s too tight.”
    “It’ll be fine.”
    Jessica didn’t agree, but her darting gaze didn’t spot anywhere else that she thought