Apocalypse Asunder by David Rogers Read Free Book Online Page B

vehicle, heavy with armor, but it also had a powerful engine.  If she’d put her foot down, they could have been ripping along at eighty or ninety.  The last turnoff hadn’t been that far back.  They could have been to it by now, and headed away from the ‘main’ road, such as it was.
    But . . . what if the pair of vehicles at the gas station weren’t the only ones out here?  What if there were others on the road to the east, waiting or checking cars or coming to join them or something?  She would have trapped the three of them between a bunch of, very probably, hostile groups.
    As usual, despite all she’d learned the hard way since the world turned to shit; she needed to rely on Austin’s training.  He was the tactical expert.  At least, compared to her.  If he thought trying to hide and avoid contact was the right move, that was the play.  But the waiting was . . . hard.
    She knew what he meant by treating them like zombies.  The men who’d taken over the Eagle facility in Knoxville were all like him; ex-military, and further trained as professional bodyguards.  They wore body armor, which she knew would defeat either of her pistols.  She thought about the big rifle that was tucked away in the back of the SUV, but she didn’t know how to use it very well.  At all, actually.  She wasn’t even sure she knew where all the controls – like the safety and magazine release – were.
    She’d stick with the pistols, which she was at least confident she knew how to fire properly.  But if she had to try to shoot anyone, she’d have to aim for the head.  Just like against zombies.  The rifle could punch through body armor.  It had against Austin’s.  But the pistols would be effectively useless against someone wearing a vest.
    “But zombies don’t shoot back.” she told herself.  “Zombies don’t run, or take cover, or think, or know what they’re doing in a fight.”   She’d killed once already, and didn’t want to again.  She really, really, really didn’t want to.  Zombies . . . that wasn’t killing.  They were already dead.  People weren’t.
    But she knew if it was a choice of death or killing, she’d choose the latter.  If it was a choice between Candice and herself being put through . . .
    Shaking herself, Jessica focused on taking slow, deep breaths.  Hyperventilating was not going to help.  Constantly turning over bad things in her head was not helping.  Focus on the now, focus on surviving.  She couldn’t see the road through the bushes on the right, but that was more comforting than frustrating.  If she couldn’t see the road, then hopefully anyone on the road couldn’t see her either.
    Minutes turned into ten, then a quarter hour.  Jessica kept catching herself fingering the Taurus’ safety, which she knew was a bad habit.  Not as bad as playing with the trigger if she wasn’t ready to fire, but still dangerous.  She finally put the gun back on the seat next to her and made herself put her hands on the lower curve of the steering wheel to stop herself from fiddling with the weapon.  The SUV was armored; and if something happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to pick up the pistol, it probably wouldn’t matter anyway.
    When she saw movement behind the SUV, it made her heart jump toward her throat.  Jessica stopped herself from grabbing for the pistol when she saw it was Austin returning.  Tearing her gaze away from the rear view mirror, she looked over her shoulder at him.  He was carrying the MP5 in one hand, and was walking normally.  His head was swiveling steadily around as he kept an eye on his surroundings, but nothing about his body language signaled that he was alarmed or concerned about anything.
    Waiting until he was nearly to the SUV, Jessica pressed the button to pop the locks.
    “What’s that?” Candice asked.
    “Austin’s back.  I’m opening the doors for him.” Jessica said.
    “Can I get up?”
    “Yes, get back in the