Final Dawn: Season 1 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) by Mike Kraus Read Free Book Online Page A

occurred couldn't have been natural.
     
    "Nuclear," she muttered to herself, stepping carefully through the remains of her living room as she made her way back to what was left of the basement entrance.
     
    The only thing powerful enough to cause this much damage in such a brief period of time had to have been a nuclear explosion. Based on the damage levels (and the fact that she had managed to survive), it had most likely been somewhere to the south, directly over Atlanta. As Rachel began to turn over the significance of this fact in her mind, she stopped herself. No, I’ve got to stop this. There’s no time. What’s done is done. I’ve got to get to Washington and set it straight.

5:18 AM, March 29, 2038
    Marcus Warden
     
    Marcus groaned as he came to, a sudden spasm arcing through his back to his lower legs. “What the hell happened?” As he opened his eyes, he blinked several times, struggling to see through the black haze that hung over them. After a few seconds, Marcus realized it wasn’t his vision that was the source of the problem, it was the fact that it was still dark. As another spasm shot through his back, he groaned again and tried to pull himself up. Through the murky darkness he could barely make out the outline of the rows of bus seats that he had been thrown on when – Wait, what happened?
     
    His memory was murky like his gaze, but as he moved around, pulling and pushing himself off of the seats, his vision and memory both began to clear. An image of some sort of mass rushing past him sprang into focus and he gasped as he remembered what had occurred, slipping off of the seats and falling once again. This time, though, he managed to catch himself, though a sharp pain shot through his arm and he heard the sound of broken glass. Marcus cursed loudly, screaming in pain and regretting his decision to rest inside the bus.
     
    Marcus held his hand close to the window, taking advantage of what little moonlight was present. He winced as he saw the large piece of glass embedded in his hand. He held the wounded hand over his head in an attempt to stem the blood loss, then he reached into his backpack with his free hand. He pulled out some rags that he had grabbed from the convenience store and wrapped them around his hand, being careful not to shift the piece of glass that was wedged into his skin. He grabbed a bottle of off-brand vodka and gnawed on the cap, eventually twisting it off, then poured a liberal amount directly on the wound, gritting his teeth at the pain. Once the wound was sterilized as best as he could manage, he gently tugged on the glass, pulling it out slowly and deliberately.
     
    Thankfully, although the piece was large, it wasn’t very wide and it hadn’t penetrated as deeply as he first thought. Once it was out, he poured another dash of alcohol over the wound and quickly wrapped it with the rags. Though he had an emergency first aid kit with him from his camping trip, he didn’t want to risk wasting it on the wound, given how minor it now appeared to be.
     
    Marcus shuddered as he exhaled, his shoulders slumping forward and his head bowing down and resting on his chest. For the first time since waking up in the bus, he looked at his watch. Nearly sunup. Crud. Whatever had knocked him out in the bus hadn’t gifted him with a very restful sleep even though he had been unconscious for a few hours. Still, dawn was still a couple hours away, so there was a chance he could rest for a bit before continuing on.
     
    Marcus crawled to the back of the overturned bus and found an open space where a row of seats had been dislodged and flung forward, leaving enough room for him to curl into the fetal position and lay down flat. As he put his head on his arm and cradled his wounded hand, his brain finally began to churn and process what had happened. Whatever the thing in the bus was, he had never seen anything like it. The light from the lantern had given it some kind of unearthly shimmer