Aftershock: Book 4 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (Darkness Rising - Book 4) by Justin Bell & Mike Kraus

Author:Justin Bell & Mike Kraus [Bell, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2018-05-19T18:30:00+00:00

***

Rhonda knelt on the pavement outside, pressed against the wall of one of the buildings, concealed in a shroud of darkness within the narrow passage. Her foot hit a glass beer bottle and sent it rolling across the rough pavement until it clanked against the other wall, only a few feet away.

It had been fifteen minutes since the recon team had broken the glass of the front door, and she’d seen faint flashlights bobbing through the second floor hallway about three minutes after that, then they’d shifted and collected in a pair of windows on the second floor in the center of the building. They dipped down beneath the pane of glass, then shot back up, circling around within the darkened building like angry spirits. All was quiet outside as she crouched there, Winnie across the alley from her and Brad just behind. Daisuke sat on the ground behind Brad, not really sure what he was doing there or what he was supposed to be doing. They’d brought him so they could make sure they knew exactly where they were supposed to be, but now that they were there, the poor guy had little use.

“So how have you been doing?” Rhonda asked Winnie in a hushed tone.

“What do you mean?” she replied.

“We don’t talk much anymore,” Rhonda said. “About anything.”

Winnie smiled and rolled her eyes. “Mom, we never talked much.”

“I know. I hate that.”

“It’s cool, Mom, really. It’s not like I don’t think you love me, okay? Don’t get all emotional on me here.”

Rhonda looked over at Brad, who avoided her gaze, pretending as if he wasn’t listening.

“Sorry, honey,” Rhonda said. “I don’t know what’s up with me lately. I think it’s all of this stuff with Lydia and… and grandma and grandpa. It’s got me a little twisted up.”

Winnie nodded, but didn’t speak at first. She let the silence ride for a few moments. “So what’s up with grandma and grandpa, anyway? What’s the deal with you and them? You’ve never talked about it.”

Rhonda looked away, glancing across the street toward the building. “Not much to talk about, I guess,” she replied. “I… I had a tough childhood. The cabin wasn’t always the summer home, for my entire childhood it was our home. It was where we lived. Where we ate. Where I went to school.”

“Whoa, wait. What? You were home-schooled?”

Rhonda looked at her and nodded. “I was home-everything. Grandma and grandpa… they didn’t really trust people. Like, anyone. Especially not the state or town government. They believed in being self-sufficient and living off the grid.”

“Seriously?”

“You were there,” Rhonda said.

“Yeah, but, there were kind of more important things going on right then. I didn’t pay much attention.”

“Fair point,” Rhonda replied.

“So you pretty much had to fend for yourself then?”

“No pretty much about it. I totally fended for myself. My parents made me.”

Winnie didn’t reply. Rhonda realized as they were talking that she’d never shared any of this with them. Not her, not Lydia, not Max, not even Phil. Phil

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