Homestead in Shadows: A Small Town Post Apocalypse EMP Thriller by Robert J Walker

Author:Robert J Walker [Walker, Robert J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

16

Jemma awoke, feeling beyond drained. It wasn’t as if she had only slept for a few minutes, and it wasn’t even as if she had just closed her eyes for a mere few seconds. It was far worse than that; it felt as if she hadn’t closed her eyes at all. The night had been all nightmares and no sleep—or, at least, that was how it felt. She took a small measure of comfort in seeing the still form of her daughter next to her, bathed in the gentle morning light filtering through the gap in the drapes. At least, Jemma reasoned, Fern had managed to get some rest.

Jemma took care to climb slowly out of bed, not wishing to wake Fern. Outside, countless birds were singing, and the morning sun, although still low in the sky, was bright and warm. Life continued as it always had for countless millennia. But Jemma knew, with a terrible sinking feeling in her gut, that the world she had just awoken in was not the same world she had awoken in a mere twenty-four hours earlier. The birds in the trees outside might be able to ignore the fresh human corpses strewn around her yard, but she certainly wasn’t able to do so.

After tiptoeing out of the room and quietly closing the door behind her, she made her way to the kitchen, where Jim, red-eyed and haggard-faced, was still keeping watch, his rifle in his tired hands. He forced a smile onto his exhausted visage.

“Morning, Jemma. Did you manage to get any sleep?”

“If I did, it definitely doesn’t feel like it,” she answered. “Tossing and turning all night, endless nightmares…”

Jim nodded grimly. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t say I’m surprised after what we went through last night.”

“Speaking of sleep, go get some yourself, Jim,” Jemma said. After slaking her thirst with a tall glass of water from a jug on the kitchen counter, she walked over to the coffee machine and got out a pod.

“I think you may still be in dreamland, Jemma,” Jim commented.

Jemma blinked, then looked down at the coffee pod in her hand and sighed. “I’m just on autopilot, I guess. I didn’t even think about the fact that my beloved coffee machine is never going to produce another drop of coffee in its life. Ah, and it was such a good machine. I guess I’ll have to make do with instant coffee,” she continued, tossing the pod aside and getting a camping stove out of one of the closets.

“Yeah, I think we’re all going to have to make do with instant coffee from now on,” Jim said with a sigh. “At least until the supply of it runs out, and then we’re all just going to wean ourselves off caffeine altogether.”

“I don’t even want to think about that,” said Jemma, an avowed coffee addict. “So, let’s change the topic, huh? C’mon, Jim, you’ve been up all night. Go get some sleep. You’ve earned it. The bed in the guest bedroom is already made up and very comfy.

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