Aftermath Series | Book 1 | Searching For Shelter by Mylchreest Stephanie & Zaugg Misty & Kraus Mike

Author:Mylchreest, Stephanie & Zaugg, Misty & Kraus, Mike [Mylchreest, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Survival
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2021-01-21T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Day 2 - 26 August 5:47 p.m., Western Hills area, Jackson, MS

The sky seemed to mirror her, grey and numb, drizzling tears as she stood with the small group at the edge of what had been Rita’s childhood home.

Toby leaned his warm weight against her legs, but she couldn’t summon the energy to pet him. Walter and Josh stood to either side of her, probably to grab her if she suddenly passed out or went crazy. A hysterical part of her wanted to test the theory, maybe pretend to fall or suddenly start shrieking.

But, no. She didn’t want to make things worse.

She would stay calm through this . . . this cobbled-together attempt to say goodbye to her family.

Rita blinked away tears and didn’t bother trying to bring their grave into focus. Together with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, her friends had helped bring in enough dirt with an old wheelbarrow to cover her father’s body.

They’d managed to turn her family’s last resting place into a respectable grave. Walter had even fashioned a wooden cross with their names burnt into the crosspiece. Not that it would last long in the wet, but at least for now, it was—

Her thoughts sputtered and stalled again as she stared hollow-eyed at her family’s impromptu grave.

Rita didn’t feel the damp that had seeped into her clothes, the wind that howled through the storm’s wreckage in fitful bursts. She stood enveloped by a cloak of impervious numbness.

She barely heard Mr. Johnson’s words as he finished reciting a bible verse and moved on to share a few kind words about her family.

Who cared if her mom had always been willing to help someone in need? Or her brother had been growing into a fine young man? Her father, a pillar of the community guiding children by example as the school principal?

They weren’t here now. They’d left her.

Alone.

Her mind flashed back to the only other time in life she’d felt this alone.

The end of her freshman year of college.

In New York.

She’d been huddled on the floor of Anthony’s apartment as he stormed away, throwing his few last insults at her before slamming the door and leaving.

Funny, but she remembered her surprise at how tender and swollen the inside of her cheek had felt. Wasn’t a punch supposed to hurt the outside of the face more?

And her mind had already been thinking of what make-up she had in the bathroom and how best to cover up the swelling bruise. Anthony didn’t usually hit her where others could see the damage, but she’d pushed him too far that night.

No.

Even in her grief, Rita’s mind balked at falling into her familiar victim patterns.

Anthony had been the one to go too far that night . . . and every time before that.

The memory sucked her back, her mind somehow preferring that tortuous night instead of the present.

***

She had laid on the floor, carefully sucking in shallow breaths to minimize the pain in her aching ribs.

Rock-bottom.

She’d heard the phrase before, but until that night, she’d had no inkling of the brutal hopelessness inherent in the concept.

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