by A. R. Shaw
He pulled up his binoculars, viewed the snowmobiles, and his heart sank. Though he was glad to see Austin coming this way, finally, there were so few of them. He feared the worst.
“It’s them,” he said with sad enthusiasm. “A few of them, anyway. Let the others know some of the parents are here.”
As Austin’s group pulled up, many of the silo residents came out to greet them. A few desperate parents rushed to their children. A few parents looked on with questions. Alyssa and Maeve tried to answer the desperation. Many cried.
Bishop only observed and watched as Rebecca wandered into the group. “Daddy?” She looked around, her face hopeful…and then after a while, there was disappointment, realization, and sobbing.
Once they settled inside the silo, Austin could barely walk on his own.
“You’re so thin, Austin,” Alyssa said in the infirmary.
“We were running low on food. Had to leave a lot. We lost three people just due to fighting one another.”
Bishop couldn’t take it anymore. He’d tried to wait to ask, but now was the time. “Austin, where are Jax and Carl…where’s Saul? What happened?”
“Jax?” The young man seemed dazed, as though he’d lived a lifetime in the past few weeks and could barely remember who Jax was now.
Fearing the worst, Bishop waited for the answer.
“Jax and a few more are coming by horseback. We lost the buses after the avalanche. Carl’s dead. That’s how he died. I’m really sorry. I hope Jax makes it, Bishop. He said he was following us. I don’t know how that’s possible.” That’s when Austin lost it. His eyes filled with tears. Bishop held him for a time.
“It’s all right, buddy.” But it wasn’t all right and never would be again.
Bishop had turned to leave when Austin sniffed, regained his composure, and asked. “Is my dumb half brother here?”
“No. He’s dead,” Bishop replied matter-of-factly.
“Good. That’s good.”
65
Jax
Year 2042
Remembering the day that he and Saul finally arrived at the silo, Jax was not impressed with the new, improved, underground accommodations then. He chuckled now as he made his way outside to relieve the young man on guard duty.
Not many stragglers ventured their way these days. Not too many men endured traveling in the first few years of the new ice age. Those they did encounter were humbled after the die off, after the hunger, and after the disease that followed.
“How are things, Ben?”
The young man turned to him, wisps of red hair sticking out of his knit hat. “Nothing new. Same thing every day.”
“That’s a good thing. I’m getting too old for this. Things at least need to stay the same and not get worse. That’s a blessing you need to learn to appreciate.”
“Did you ask him yet?”
“Ask him what?”
“You know…when are we going back?”
“Ben, you’re seventeen now. Ask him yourself. Be a man.”
Ben looked at the snowy ground and scuffed at the icy surface with his boot.
“We can’t stay here forever. Dad said things are starting to heat up.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, kid.”
He saw the frustration in the boy. He felt as if he’d known him all his life, and at seventeen, it wasn’t unusual for Ben and the younger generation to want a little adventure. To see what had happened to the world since the ice age took over. Hell, he’d like to know too.
“You know, Ben, you’re the last generation that knows what grass feels like. These new kids…this is all they know. Just this icy world.”
“It doesn’t matter; Mom and Dad won’t agree,” Ben said, beginning to walk away.
“Oh, stop your pouting, you big baby,” Jax called after him. Then something caught his eye on the ground where Ben had scuffed the ice.
He gingerly lowered himself to a squat with his old, rickety knees. The object had a natural hue that he hadn’t seen in a long time—not in this world of black and white. He wiped away the snow that remained around the form, opening up what was lost and newly found.
What had emerged from Ben’s scuff mark was a lavender crocus, a sign of new life and of a coming spring…at long last.
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Also by A R Shaw
The Graham’s Resolution series
The China Pandemic
The Cascade Preppers
The Last Infidels
The Malefic Nation
The Bitter Earth (coming soon!)
The French Wardrobe
Surrender the Sun
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Perseid Collapse Kindle Worlds
Deception on Durham Road
Departure from Durham Road
Wayward Pines Kindle Worlds
Kate’s Redemption
Bite-Sized Offerings
An Anthology Addition
Zombie Mom
About the Author
A. R. Shaw, born in south Texas, served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1987 through 1991 as a communications radio operator, where she was stationed at the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) Station at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas.
Her first novel, The China Pandemic (2013), climbed to number 1 in the dystopian and post-apocalyptic (SHTF) genres in May 2014 and was hailed as “eerily plausible” and with characters that are “amazingly detailed.”
She currently lives in the hills of Idaho, loves her four amazing children, and travels around observing the world and coming up with new ways to end it.
AuthorARShaw.com
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