Apocalyptica (Book 1): Ran by Guess Joshua

Author:Guess, Joshua [Guess, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Zombies
Published: 2016-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

5

We kept to the back roads, which was pretty easy since my trailer was squarely in the county’s back forty, so there wasn’t much in the way of destruction along the way. In those peaceful few minutes I had to fight the urge to let my perception slip backward. It was a defense mechanism I had worked through before; as soon as the horror is no longer in front of you, your brain wants to pretend everything is okay.

Gravel crunched under the tires of the unmarked car as we pulled in front of the double-wide. My old Jeep, a Cherokee rebuilt from the ground up, sat on its oversize tires right where I left it but with some brilliant silver lines jaggedly etched through its dark green paint.

Jem glanced at me curiously. “Think Jeff did that?”

I shrugged. “Probably. He could have parked his car on the road and walked back here without me noticing. After Nik scared him off I decided to listen to some Protest the Hero at full blast.” I took a calming breath before speaking again, because I might be comfortable cracking skulls but social convention was never not a minefield of anxiety. “You want to come in? Or, shit, you probably want to check on your family.”

“No family around here,” Jem said. “No girlfriend or anything. Got a few friends, but I…” He closed his mouth like he was trying to swallow something awful. “The rush is wearing off, you know? I just don’t think I can drive back into that right now.”

“Sure,” I said, hearing the unspoken fear with crystal clarity. He was torn because yes, he wanted to check on his friends but was terrified of what he might find. “Come on in. I’ve got plenty of food if you’re hungry, and booze if you fancy a drink.”

“Yeah, both of those things sound amazing right now,” Jem said gratefully.

Our footsteps on the deck elicited loud chuffs of excitement from inside the house, which was a good thing. I stopped before opening the door, keys in hand, and craned my neck to look at Jem.

“Nikola needs to be introduced to you before he’ll let you in,” I said. “He’s extremely well trained, so if I give you the okay it won’t be a problem.”

Jem smiled. It was thin and weak, but genuine. “What happens if you don’t?”

“I’ll have a lot of blood to clean up,” I replied evenly. Jem’s smile died a quiet little death.

Nikola sat on his haunches just inside the swing radius of the door. His tongue lolled out in a doggy grin, his tail swishing across the carpet. When Jem came into view my dog came to his feet, alert but not aggressive.

“Nik, come,” I said. He moved to the doorway, nose uplifted. I said a command in German, and Nik’s head swung toward Jem.

“Put your hand forward, palm up,” I said. “Put it about six inches from his face and keep it there.”

Some people have an instinctive, almost unreasoning fear of large dogs.

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