Last Stand: Book 3 in the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (The Last City - Book 3) by Kevin Partner & Mike Kraus

Author:Kevin Partner & Mike Kraus [Partner, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2020-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: Cowpoke

Paul Hickman groaned as he rolled over, hauling himself upright against the bottom of a charred post. He'd decided he would not have made a good cowboy. Not because he couldn't handle the animals—they were docile beasts who seemed content enough as long as they had someone to follow. No, it was having to live in the outdoors that Hickman found so hard.

It had been dark by the time they'd made it to the neighboring farm, but at least they'd been able to find a pen to keep the animals overnight. Now, after an incredibly uncomfortable and fitful sleep, the cows themselves had decided that it was time for him to be awake.

He looked over to where Cassie had been sleeping, then transferred his gaze when he heard a splashing sound. She was standing at a rain barrel, bent forward as she poured cold water over her upper torso. He looked away again immediately, shocked by her nakedness, and fought to keep his eyes where they should be.

"Morning, Mr. Hickman," she said. He wiped off the water drops that had showered him as she turned around, but kept his gaze firmly on the rotten straw coating the floor of the barn. "Oh, I'm sorry. I ain't decent yet."

He tried desperately to think about pink elephants as he listened to her pulling something over her head.

"There. Did you sleep alright?" She was standing in front of the rain barrel wringing the water out of her strawberry-blonde hair and looking for all the world like an extra in some pornographic version of The Little House on the Prairie as her cotton T-shirt clung in places Hickman couldn't help but notice. "Oh, Mr. Hickman, you stop your blushin'. I ain't ashamed, so you shouldn't be neither." Though what either of them should be ashamed of, she didn't explain.

She strode off across the barn, boots splashing in fetid puddles, as he got up and used the same rain barrel to wash himself. He could hear her clanking around behind him, and by the time he'd dried his face on his shirt, she'd set up the camping stove and had balanced a frying pan on it. "There's some chickens livin' loose across the yard there, so I found some eggs. Fresh as a daisy," she said as she broke two in one hand. "You reckon we should round 'em up and bring 'em back with us?"

Hick had an immediate mental image of trying to drive the Land Rover with a flock of chickens flying around and was about to dismiss the suggestion. But she was right. A few residents of Hope had chickens in their backyards and a couple of the farms had small flocks, but they could use some more and they'd breed quickly enough. "Good idea," he said, knowing he'd regret it.

But he didn't regret the eggs. Cassie slid them both onto an aluminum plate and handed them to him before cracking another two for herself. They were delicious, and he finished them quickly before going off behind the barn to dig a hole.

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