Forever After (Post Apocalyptic Romance Boxed Set)

by Rose Francis

  “Oh dear God,” she murmured. “That looks like a crashed jet.”

  “God no, that can’t be right.”

  “That looks like the same line of wreckage like what happened in the Pentagon in 9/11. It was something we had to study in our emergency response training. Oh God, dad, the church,” she sobbed.

  Blake took in her tearstained cheeks and wanted to hold her, to comfort her, but the weight of his realization had him dumbfounded and watching the fire march up to the highway consuming everything in its path. They were too far away to make out cars or people, but he prayed that all living folks had fled. His breath caught when part of the median caught fire, but its path stopped as it hit the water of the drainage running down the center. They sat like that for hours, waiting and watching until the air became unbearable. The smoke was getting too thick and they made their way to the ground which was only slightly better.

  “Do you think my dad is ok?”

  “I hope so,” he told her truthfully.

  They crawled down slowly and got in the truck, driving the rest of the way to the house. Both of them were too exhausted and Blake asked if Sandra wanted the mattress or the bedroom or the living room. She sat down on the floor next to where Blake was standing. Confused, he sat down next to her and she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing. They fell into an exhausted sleep like that, and awoke in the morning with stiff and sore muscles.

  Chapter 5 -

  They both stretched and used the restroom. Blake went throughout the house checking on things, and to his surprise, all the electrical stuff in the house except for his cell phone and laptop which had been upstairs didn’t work. Sandra noticed that right away and raised an eyebrow before asking.

  “How is it the lights are working?”

  “Let’s go check the basement,”

  They headed down and he showed her his room he kept the batteries and charge controller in, how it was insulated with foil backed material to ward off the damp and moisture.

  “Wow, it must have shielded everything down here. Your well is underground too, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. It was a pain but…”

  “Do you think we can go outside and look?”

  “We probably should.”

  The both of them headed outside where the smell of smoke was more noticeable. Neither of them could see any fire coming up towards Blake’s house and they both looked at the truck and looked at each other.

  “Maybe we should drive down and check,” Blake said after a moment.

  “Sure,” Sandra told him but he could tell that her soul was heavy with worry.

  The old truck started up and ran as well as it did yesterday and soon they were at the end of the lane. Blake shut off the engine and hopped out. The fire had consumed everything across the divided highway, and parts of the tall grass in the median had burned all the way down to the soil. Ash covered everything down here like white powdery snow and when the wind picked up the heat was still almost unbearable.

  “It looks like it’s out over here,” he looked to see if Sandra had heard him.

  “Do you think it’s safe? To go into town?”

  “We can try.”

  Both of them were scared of what they’d find, but with the worst of the danger gone, information and finding Pastor Duncan became their top priority. They drove for about five minutes when it became obvious that they couldn’t go any further. Waves of heat washed over them as they had driven closer to the site of impact and where the wind would blow, ashes would swirl obscuring the views. Thick columns of smoke rose into the distance and it looked as if the gates of hell had opened, consuming everything in its path.

  “I don’t think I can keep going. The fires are still burning, and its-“ He stopped when a loud sob interrupted him.

  “My dad. I hope… Blake, my dad was going to head to the late show to see the new Terminator movie. Do you know what time everything went out?”

  “It felt like we had an hour of daylight left. I’m guessing maybe eight p.m.?” He felt bad when she cried harder.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “His movie got done at six thirty. He teased me about being a good girl and me beating him home. It’s why I didn’t think of mentioning it yesterday.”

  Blake got the truck turned around, about half a mile closer to town than he made it yesterday and spoke softly.

  “Did he head into Greenville for the movies or did he go to the little one screen place by the old mall?”

  “Greenville, why?”

  “Traffic. On smooth day it’s about an hour from town to Greenville.”

  “So he might be out there?”

  “Yeah, it’s possible.”

  “I can’t think like this,” she took long deep breaths and closed her eyes a moment.

  When she opened her eyes, her personality shifted slightly and a calmer Sandra looked over at Blake.

  “Can we drive towards Greenville?”

  “Yeah, but do you think we can get past all the stalled cars? This isn’t too bad here, but it’s probably a nightmare further up the road.”

  “Only one way to check.”

  They were silent as they drove past the turn off for Blake’s homestead and headed towards Greenville. The fire hadn’t come as close to the highway here as it had where they assumed the Jet crashed back towards the smaller town. The cars started to get thicker and thicker and they saw people raising their heads above the seats as they slowly rumbled past. Some got out to stand in the road and many of them shouted questions, begging for information and rides. Blake slowed down when he saw a mother and her two daughters waving him down and he’d had to stop anyways or hit her. Her black sedan was grey with falling ash.

  “How is it your truck is running? Do you know what’s going on here?”

  “No, not really. My truck is old, so it doesn’t have electronics on the motor. I think that’s what makes the difference.

  “Hey mister, can you give me a ride into Greenville?” The voice was masculine and he turned to see about ten folks who’d slept in their cars approaching him slowly.

  “Hey, why is your truck working and ours aren’t?” Another voice shouted.

  Blake didn’t panic, but he knew he was getting boxed in and they needed to move.

  “Ma’am, you and your daughters ok here? Do you need anything?”

  “No, we slept in the car fine, I’m sure the wreckers will be coming to help us soon.”

  “Please don’t count on that. You three could come with us.”

  “What about us?” Another voice shouted.

  “No, we’ll be fine here,” she smiled at him, trusting the government to put the genie back into the bottle.

  “Ok,” Blake turned and walked past some of the folks who were starting to surround him.

  He saw Sandra lean over and unlock his door as he got close and he began to open it when somebody grabbed him by the arm and spun him around.

  “Hey, I asked you a question. Can you give me a ride to Greenville?” The irate man from earlier was red in the face.

  “No. No, I can’t,” he shrugged off the hand.

  A sudden shifting in the belligerent man’s eyes alerted Blake and he was able to shift his head quick enough to only get a glancing blow to the side of his face by the thrown punch. The stranger’s fist hit the solid side behind the door panel and left a small dent. He howled and shook his hand, Blake shoved him roughly back and jumped in the truck, locking the door.

  “You have to get us out of here quick, or we’re going to have to run some over.”

  “If they don’t move, I will,” Blake growled, feeling his ear with his left hand as he shifted the truck into reverse.

  People moved when he bumped into the first one slowly and the man’s friends had to pull him free as the truck backed out of the traffic. Hands slapped at the bed of the truck and the hood, but he ignored the angry protests until he found a large open spot and turned the truck around, speeding off.

&n
bsp; “Wow, that almost got really ugly. I’m not leaving the house without my gun next time.”

  “You would have been safe.”

  “You have a gun in that little clutch?” He asked her, realizing by the expression she gave him that he’d done it again.

  “No…” She pulled a small Beretta out of the small of her back and set it on her lap.

  “You any good with that?”

  “Just because I was mainly in the motor pool doesn’t mean I don’t know how to use one of these things. Let’s just go back to your place. I’m sorry I almost got you hurt out there.”

  “Why are you sorry?”

  “Because I think you’re right. Dad’s car is in that traffic back there somewhere. He has to be. I just panicked and now that reality is kicking in…”

  “Please don’t tell me it’s not as bad as I think?” Blake asked her.

  “No, Dad’s former military, just like me. He’s also a hardcore prepper. He’ll have his bag in his car.”

  “Bug out Bag?” Blake asked, familiar with a lot of the terminology that preppers used. It was also common in the homesteading movement.

  “Yeah. I just pray he was stuck outside of town when that blast went off. The way the fire was blazing, it looked like the whole world burns.”

  “Yeah, it looked pretty bad. I know the fires aren’t out, but I can’t make them out in the distance in this daylight. So if this is an EMP, what should we be doing? I mean, almost everything back at my place was saved somehow.”

  “Its how you did that room in the basement I think.”

  “What do you mean?”

  They turned down his lane, and he had to concentrate on the road otherwise lose his truck to the ruts again.

  “Well, you have your electrical stuff grounded to your well. The room is basically a big grounded metal box underground.

  “It’s not metal.”

  “How many layers of that foil backed insulation do you have?”

  “Three or four,” he admitted, “it was all I had leftover from a couple of jobs. I was going to use something else but it’s what I had at the time.”

  “Ok, let’s just hurry. I told my dad you lived on Holloway Lane, maybe he’s going to make his way here if he’s alive,” a single tear escaped her eye, and she looked away, into the underbrush on the passenger side of the truck.

  They drove in silence until he killed the motor, parking between the house and the barn.

  “What should we do?” Blake asked her again.

  “How are you set for food?”

  “You saw my garden. That’s about it, unless we go do some hunting. I never got a chance to pick up my supplies from town.”

  “Without those, do you think we have enough food for two weeks or more?”

  “Two weeks? Sure. Easily.”

  “I’m going to be peeling a lot of potatoes, aren’t I?” She smiled a moment looking at him.

  “We both are.”

  “Let’s get some food and we’ll take some sort of inventory.”

  “You sure are bossy,” Blake told her, but he was joking and she took it in stride.

  “All part of the job.”

  Chapter 6 -

  The next week was spent in the garden and in the barn. Sandra insisted on going through everything to inventory it and tried to hide her annoyance when she’d ask how much of something Blake had. He’d always point and say “a lot” or “running low”. Right away Sandra became the list maker and organizer as they finished unpacking the furniture into the house. They took turns on the bed or the recliner and with their evenings ending early with the daylight. Every box that they had unloaded into the barn was gone through with a fine toothed comb, and the storage unit that Blake was going to pass on except for the mattress, contained almost a full wardrobe worth of ladies clothing.

  The rest of the guns were located, along with a Ziploc bag full of documents including the rental agreement to the storage unit. They poured through it, finding out that the owner Corey was a lady who’d moved into an apartment in town according to the address. She probably never had room to store the quads and safe so she rented a unit. Blake wondered aloud what might have happened to her, but Sandra just shook her head.

  One other find that excited her was one of the boxes was full of books. Four of them were from the Firefox series and she did a happy dance until Blake made her calm down and explain to him what that meant. They would have tried to drive to town but had been too worried that another ugly incident would happen.

  When it became apparent to Blake that she was hell bent on sorting through everything, he left her to it so he didn’t have to slow her down. He had thoughts of venison, and although it was out of season, he couldn’t just go to the grocery store anymore so he went into the camper trailer and got out is long gun and a small box of ammunition, his backpack and knife, then set out up field on foot.

  “Is everything ok?” Sandra asked, seeing him armed for the first time, wearing a camo shirt and hat, carrying his rifle.

  “I’m going to go get some venison for the freezer.”

  “Ok, I’ll be right here-“

  “Sorting through everything.”

  They laughed and let it go. They’d only lived under one roof for a little under a week, but already understood that sometimes people need a little space and Sandra had been trying not to get under his skin with her excitement and obsessive list making. It drove her crazy that he lived every prepper’s dream lifestyle and he was so blasé about it. He had no clue how many pounds of produce he had in the root cellar and when he needed meat, he would do what he was doing right now, go hunting. He had little in the way of material possessions but he lived a simpler life. One she appreciated and was growing more and sure that she wanted to be a part of.

  That night as dark fell, Sandra started to get nervous that Blake hadn’t been back yet. She had made a sandwich and tried to wear a hole in the flooring with her pacing when she heard a shot. She got her shoes on and was out the door as quick as she could, sandwich in one hand, Beretta in the other, jogging to the area she thought she’d heard the shot come from. A figure stepped out of the shadows and she came to a skidding halt, her pistol half raised in a ready position.

  “Hey, great, you brought me dinner,” Blake smiled as he walked up to her and took it from her numb hands.

  “Dammit Blake. You didn’t tell me you were going to be gone all day and half the night.”

  “I didn’t know I was going to either. I didn’t see any deer, but I did run across some running bacon.”

  “Bacon?”

  “Look,” he pointed to the gloom.

  She approached it, irked that he’d assumed the sandwich was his but smiled when she almost tripped over a black furred shaggy creature.

  “They sure smell, in real life.”

  “Yeah, I jumped this hog heading in for dinner.”

  “I’m surprised you could see him in the dark. It looks like a spine shot.”

  “Yeah, I had to wait for him to step into some good lighting, otherwise I was going to drag you out here tomorrow and have me find their sounder.”

  “Sounder?”

  “Group of pigs. Family unit.”

  “Oh. Uh… That thing is bigger than you, how are we going to get it back?”

  “Did you ever get a chance to check those quads out?” He asked and then kicked himself at her pained expression.

  “No… I uh…”

  “Tell you what, I’ll go get the truck. Wave your arms when you see me so I can find you in the dark.”

  “Do I have to worry about any more of them coming out? I mean, aren’t they supposed to be mean?”

  “If you’d feel better, you can get the truck?”

  “Uh... You do it. I just wish I would have brought a flashlight.”

  “Naw, don’t feel bad, you brought me a sandwich.”

  “That wasn’t actually for you.”

  “I know,” he laughed at her shocked expression
and smiled. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and left before she found her voice again, jogging away into the dark gloom.

  “What was that?” She rubbed her lips, smiling.

  +++++++

  Blake butchered the hog when they got it in the barn, and hung large cuts of it from the rafters. It was cooler in the barn than the outside, but Blake wasn’t going to leave it for more than half a day.

  “I’ve had a project I was always meaning to do.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “I was going to make my own smoker and then blog pictures of it and make an eBook out of it. I just never had the time.”

  “Do you need a hand now?”

  “Sure, let’s get that dolly and go into the scrap pile.”

  Like a lot of old homesteads, folks never threw anything away, instead saving up broke appliances, jars, cans etc. until they had enough to run it to the scrap yard or the dump. Blake’s grandparent’s had done much of the same, and in his grandpa’s retirement, he decided to fix appliances. In various states of use, there were probably twenty or thirty various appliances stored in the barn. One of them was an old upright freezer with wire racks.

  “This is the one,” he said pushing the cart under it and moving it into the open doorway.

  “What is that?”

  “My smoke chamber. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  They cut two circular holes into the freezer. One was down along the bottom and about six inches in diameter and the other was a small one inch diameter hole in the very top back corner. Blake kicked through his old pile of piping and came back with two pieces of black pipe about four feet long each. They had been from the old wood stove that his grandpa had used to heat that part of the barn. The first one fit perfectly, and he left it hanging out a couple feet, the other end into the bottom side of the freezer. Next he split the pipe almost a third shorter and squeezed them into a somewhat circular shape. He pushed it in to test it for size then pulled it out and made it about eight inches long with a hacksaw. He fit it in again and smiled.

  “That’s the hardest part.”