After The Virus (Book 2): Homesteading by Archer Simon

Author:Archer, Simon [Archer, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Pandemic
Published: 2020-05-17T04:00:00+00:00

21

I radioed home the next morning to check-in, especially since we hadn’t reached the CDC yet. Of course, everyone but me had known at least a few details of the girls’ plan. I had no problem with this, either. It had been a hell of a surprise, and I felt better, both emotionally and physically, than I had in months.

Estelle, too, seemed happier as we secured her old home after loading in a few choice items, memorabilia, mostly. We ended up with a couple of boxes that she tucked carefully into the back seat of the truck. It amazed me how a person could pare down their life to two boxes, but then, there were lots of things we just didn’t need anymore or couldn’t use.

“Ready?” she asked, dusting off her hands.

“Almost,” I replied with a smile and walked over to her.

We shared a long kiss, then parted and climbed into the cab of the Silverado.

As I started the truck and accelerated slowly away, I glanced over to see her gazing back at the house and the neighborhood.

“Thanks,” I said quietly.

She turned to look back at me.

“For what?”

“Everything,” I chuckled. “I think you may have fixed my point of view on a lot of things.”

She had, too. With one calculated night, Doctor Estelle White had shown me that I needed to relax and slow down a bit. Otherwise, I’d be doing a lot of damage to myself both physically and mentally. Stress was good in moderation, but constantly pushing myself had actually lessened my capability, overall.

I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

A smile touched her lips, and she nodded, watching me as I returned my gaze to the road.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” she admitted. “But none of us are any good to the rest if we overwork ourselves. See how much better you feel for just one massage.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think that was the best massage with a happy ending that I’ve ever had.”

“Really,” she said. “And how many have you had to compare?”

Well, shit. I really stuck my foot in my mouth right there. I glanced aside at her and saw a sly smile on her face.

“I never really needed to, actually,” I replied honestly, and I hadn’t. Service girls had gravitated to me for some reason I couldn’t fathom, but I wasn’t about to complain. “Some of the guys from my platoon, though, practically started a chlamydia outbreak in their dorm because of a trip to an unlicensed brothel in Amsterdam.”

Estelle snorted.

“I’ll bet Uncle Sam was pissed at that,” she said.

“You’d win that bet,” I told her. “They ended up the personal gofers for all the platoon sergeants. I never saw so many guys running around looking for striped paint, bacon stretchers, and going out at night on snipe hunts. The natives thought they were insane or possessed or something and started avoiding them.”

“This was in Afghanistan?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It was a shared airfield we were based out of for a while. There were regulars from the Afghanis, along with some British, Australian, French, and others.

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