Edge of Collapse Series (Book 1): Edge of Collapse by Stone Kyla

Author:Stone, Kyla [Stone, Kyla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | EMP | Survival | Thriller
Publisher: Paper Moon Press
Published: 2020-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

33

Liam

Day Six

Liam paused at the crest of a hill and pointed. “There’s a house up ahead.”

It was late in the afternoon, only a few hours before sundown. They’d need to find shelter soon. They’d been hiking south for two days, and by Liam’s count, had traveled about twenty miles.

Using Hannah’s axe last night, he’d built a sturdy shelter with chopped branches which he covered with his reflective-side-down emergency blanket and an insulating layer of snow. Inside the shelter, he layered thick pine boughs, and used his pack and more pine branches to block the entrance.

It was barely large enough for the two of them, but their own body heat warmed the small space and made it bearable, even comfortable.

Ghost dug himself a den in the snow right outside. Liam remained alert, Glock in hand, all night.

He was tired, but he was used to going long periods of time on only three to four hours of sleep. In training, he’d lasted months. He kept a stash of caffeine pills in his go-bag for situations just like this.

Now, he studied the house below him. They were still within Manistee National Forest, but they were getting closer to the outskirts, to roads and homesteads and tiny blink-and-you’d-miss-it towns.

He’d been on the lookout for empty houses. This was the first one they’d come across, only he didn’t think it was empty.

The woman—Hannah—came up beside him. She was short, the top of her head just below his shoulder. Everything about her was small and fragile and vulnerable.

His heart beat a little harder. He couldn’t help himself. She stirred that protective instinct in him, the one he’d been sure was dead.

No matter the pain that haunted him, she deserved protecting.

“Where?” she asked, her voice muffled beneath her scarf.

“Across the meadow through the trees. There, at your nine o’clock. See the clearing?”

She nodded. “I smell smoke.”

So did he. It was faint, drifting invisibly on the cold, crisp air. “Means it’s probably occupied.”

“Good. Then we can ask for help. And maybe some food.”

“They won’t want to help us,” he warned her.

“How do you know?”

“Experience.”

Her eyes flashed. “I guess we’ll find out.”

He tucked his gun into his coat pocket, unslung his pack, and dug through it for his binoculars. He peered through the trees, trying to make out the shape of the house. A row of thick spruce still partially blocked his view.

He needed to get closer.

“You have your knife on you?”

She nodded.

“Keep it ready. I’m going to get a better look.”

She lifted her coat, unknotted her big, unwieldy kitchen knife, and gripped the handle in her right hand. It took her too long to reach it. In an emergency, it wouldn’t help her.

The blade looked like it was about to fall out of that awful knot job at any moment. She needed something better. A better knife, to start with.

One more thing to add to the list.

Ghost pushed up between them. He wasn’t just huge, he was incredibly heavy—one hundred and forty pounds, maybe more—and nearly knocked Liam off balance.

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