Ground Zero by Jessica Meigs

Author:Jessica Meigs
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: bryan james, mark tufo, Action & Adventure, Horror, ar wise, permuted press, zombies, living dead, walking dead, apocalypse, Genre Fiction, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Permuted Press
Published: 2012-07-01T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

The group made fantastic time in their travel toward Atlanta. Their progress across the state was going as smoothly as they’d hoped, and Ethan even stopped the van at a reasonably safe-looking city park to let them eat their lunches in the sunshine. It was almost like a pre-war picnic, marred only by the presence of several weapons lying on the grass beside their owners. The afternoon was the very definition of pleasant, and it was a memory of happiness to which Ethan would cling for the rest of his life.

Now, though, it was late, and dusk and sheets of pounding rain from a bad thunderstorm were doing a fine job of blurring the windshield and making it difficult for Ethan to see the road ahead of him. He squinted more often than not as he struggled to see through the veritable waterfall pouring down the windshield. On top of the low visibility problems, he was dog tired. No, he was completely exhausted. With the exception of their lunch stop and, later, their brief dinner and leg-stretching rest, Ethan had driven the van for almost eight hours, a slow slog mile by mile, impeded by debris and vehicles and even fallen trees littering the roadway. He was beginning to feel each and every one of those miles. Ethan contemplated pulling the van over and letting Brandt drive, but a quick look in the rearview mirror revealed the other man sleeping on the bench seat behind him. Ethan didn’t begrudge the younger man the rest. Brandt had been awake almost nonstop since they left the safe house, and when they were in Walmart, Ethan had noticed how tired Brandt looked. If anyone needed the rest, it was Brandt.

With his thoughts so occupied, Ethan didn’t see the blockade that spanned the entire stretch of road until it was too late. His eyes widened as his brain registered what he was seeing. With a gasp, he wrenched the wheel hard to the left, instinctively attempting to avoid the concrete barricade. The van swerved and shot off the side of the road, rolling down the sharp embankment and careening toward a muddy, waterlogged ditch.

Ethan barely heard a startled shout behind him as he tried to correct and pull the van up the embankment, back onto the road. He’d already slammed on the gas and gunned the engine. The motor roared with the strain of working up the hill, tires spinning in mud and grass before gaining purchase and shooting up the incline. Ethan sucked in a breath as he saw a large truck parked on the opposite side of the barricade, right in the path of the van.

The front passenger side of the van slammed into the truck with shocking force. Ethan was jerked violently in his seat. His head slammed into the window beside him. He was just conscious enough to feel the van tilt, the ground lurching into view of the driver’s-side window. Then the van began to roll back down the embankment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.