Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Conflict by Joshua Jared Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

outright
impassible for several months each year.”
    “How do
the people get around then?” Barbara looked at her boyfriend who shrugged.
    “Got
snowmobiles in the barn, most of the ranchers do. Plenty of specialized pickups
and trucks too. Don’t worry. Those of us living out here know what we’re
doing.”
     
    *
* *
     
    The
first few months passed by quickly. Barbara was assigned to work in the kitchen
preparing food and washing up, also canning vegetables from the gardens and
smoking meat brought in by hunters or from slaughtered livestock. There was a
single attempt to teach her how to butcher a pig, but Barbara’s stomach wasn’t
quite up to it. She’d gotten a lot of ribbing from the other women, with some
children adding to the good natured abuse.
    Kenneth,
having been a clerk at Best Buy and lacking any useful skills, was employed as
manual labor. Most of his time was spent mucking out stables, brushing horses,
oiling the gear, and so forth. It was hard, tiring, but strangely fulfilling.
Additionally, he was learning all sorts of new things. Some of the long time
ranch hands even said they’d be moving him up to range work come the following
year.
    It was
in November, shortly before Thanksgiving, that it all came apart. The people
had decided to take a break and celebrate their good fortune. A calf was
roasted, several cases of beer broken out, and a long night of drinking and
partying commenced. Eventually, Kenneth and Barbara headed to their room to
sleep it off, whereas the less fortunate went outside to begin their shifts.
What happened next might have been caused by an intoxicated individual, or
possibly it was a simple, random accident. There was no way to know.
    A
massive explosion threw Kenneth out of bed. He woke just prior to hitting the
floor, which did nothing to lessen the impact. Wincing, he lifted his head and
tried to find Barbara in the darkness, but the building suddenly and violently
shifted. Panicking, he clambered to his feet.
    “Barbara!
Are you okay?”
    He was
answered by pained coughing. “There’s something on my legs.”
    Searching
with his hands, Kenneth found the large piece of sheetrock. He slid this to the
side, allowing it to strike the floor with a dull thud.
    “We have
to get out of here.”
    Faint
orange light began to peep through, beneath the bedroom door.
    “Are we
on fire?” she asked, her voice rising.
    Kenneth
jerked it open. The far side of the hallway and the steps leading downstairs
were aflame.
    “We have
to go out the window.”
    “We’re
twenty feet up!”
    “We have
to go out the window Barbara, right now! Get your shoes on.”
    He
pulled on a pair of jeans and a lightweight sweatshirt, followed by his own
sneakers. Kenneth only managed to tie one before the house rocked a second
time. The structure was going to collapse. He frantically pulled on the window.
It wouldn’t move! Grabbing a chair, he smashed the glass, doing his best to
break off any protruding shards.
    “Hurry!”
    Barbara
staggered up beside him. The floor was buckling, and smoke poured into the
room. Grabbing her, Kenneth pushed his girlfriend out the window, holding her
wrists in order to lower Barbara as much as possible before letting go. She
tumbled down, landing in a snow bank. Rolling aside, Barbara was barely clear
before Kenneth came plummeting after her. He struck hard but was up and moving
a second later, trying to get away from the building. They were less than fifty
feet away when it collapsed.
     
    *
* *
     
    “What
happened?”
    “Don’t
know Tamara.” Kenneth looked around. “It might have been the generator blowing
up.” He pointed. “That’s the worst area, and everything around it sort of falls
outwards.”
    The
large generator, along with its drums of fuel, had been kept in a small shed,
almost smack dab in the middle of the house, barn, and stables. All three
buildings were now gone, collapsed and burned to cinders. The horses were dead
or run off, and