Edge of Madness: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller (Edge of Collapse Book 2) by Kyla Stone & Kyla Stone

Author:Kyla Stone & Kyla Stone [Stone, Kyla]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Paper Moon Press
Published: 2020-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

31

Quinn

Day Five

Quinn stared in dismay at the red four-wheeler parked at the side of the drive leading to the Crossway Church. Apprehension torqued through her.

Ray and Octavia were here. After she and Gran had kicked them out of Gran’s house yesterday, they must have decided a church was easier pickings.

This was not good. Not at all.

Gran had asked her to bring over a few bags of canned and boxed goods. According to Gran, you had to be careful and not let your neighbors know how much food you had, but that didn’t mean you didn’t give back to your community.

Giving through the Crossway food pantry allowed them to do good while still keeping their supplies on the down-low.

Quinn parked the Orange Julius right in the middle of the road before the church. Who was going to stop her?

She left the bags on the passenger seat. She was too worried about what Ray and Octavia might do to concern herself with canned peas.

She locked the Julius, pocketed the keys, and hurried toward the building. Quinn had been here before. Gran and Gramps had dragged her to a few services. She didn’t exactly do church.

The hard crust of snow crackled beneath her boots. The iron-gray sky hung low and ominous above the trees. The cold air stung her cheeks and ears.

The stink of exhaust still hung in the air. They must have just arrived.

A long, ragged line of about a hundred people spilled across the snow-covered parking lot. Families with kids, older couples, single folks all holding empty shopping bags or cardboard boxes waiting to be filled.

Ahead of her, she glimpsed Octavia’s tangle of dark hair and dirty yellow parka. Ray stalked beside her. They were elbowing through the crowd to get to the front of the line.

“Hey! You need to wait in line like everyone else!” a man yelled as Octavia pushed past him.

Octavia didn’t even bother to turn around. “Piss off. We’re hungry.”

“And you think we aren’t?”

Octavia ignored the man and the rumblings of complaints behind her. She reached the front of the line, reached across the counter, and ripped the bag from the volunteer’s hands.

Ray shouldered in next to her and seized his own bag. He loomed over the second volunteer—a middle-aged Korean woman—who visibly shrank back from him.

Quinn picked up her pace. She strode forward to the front of the line. “Octavia! What are you doing?”

Octavia ignored her. She glanced into the bag and sneered. “This is nothing. It’ll be gone in less than a day. Where’s the rest?”

“Only one bag per person,” the Korean lady said. She glanced nervously from Octavia to Ray. “You can come back tomorrow for more—”

“It took almost an hour just to get here!” Octavia lied. “And we’re practically out of gas. We’re not making this trek tomorrow. Hell, no. Give us more supplies.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am—”

“Get out of line!” a man yelled.

“Move on!”

“Come on! Let the next person go!”

“We’re not leaving,” Ray said through gritted teeth, “until we get what we’re due.”

He wiped shakily at his mouth with the back of his arm.

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