(eng) Mike Mullin - Ashfall 03 by Sunrise

Author:Sunrise [Sunrise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 40

When I stepped out of the abandoned house where we had been talking, I saw two figures in the distance, trudging down the road toward me. I backed up, reentering the house and closing the door. “Someone’s out there. You all bring any weapons?” “Just knives,” Zik said.

I stepped over to the window. We had already taken all the glass, so the drape flapped in the wind, giving me an intermittent glimpse of the road. When the figures had halved the distance to the farmhouse, I could make out their faces: Uncle Paul and Max. I flung open the door and ran down the road toward them, with Darla hot on my heels.

“Uncle Paul! Max!” I cried.

“Alex!” he yelled and then doubled over coughing. By the time he was able to resume talking, we had reached him. “We were headed to Stockton. Figured maybe Bikezilla broke—” His breath caught in his throat, and he suddenly stopped. After a short pause, glancing back and forth between me and Darla, he said, “My God. Your hands.” “Red caught us,” I said flatly “I’ll kill that mother—”

“Get in line,” Darla said.

“I should never have let you go there,” Uncle Paul said. “No.” I grabbed his arm. “No regrets. We’re alive because of the supplies we got in our raids. If you’d told me before all this started that I’d have to trade my hand to get the homestead up and running, I would have done it.” “Me too,” Darla added.

Max was staring at my stump with grim fascination. “Did it hurt? Having your hand chopped off?”

“No, Max, it was completely painless,” I said.

“Christ,” Darla said to Uncle Paul, “what kind of idiots are you raising?”

“Sorry,” Max said.

“I think we’re both a little rattled,” Uncle Paul said. “Not as much as we were,” Darla muttered.

I looked back—Zik’s family huddled inside the still-open door. “I need to introduce you to Zik and his family. They saved our lives.”

After the introductions, we all trudged back to the homestead together. I asked Uncle Paul to get the newcomers settled in and explain the situation to everyone else. Darla and I headed for our bedrolls. It was just after lunchtime, but we were dead on our feet.

When we next woke, Dr. McCarthy was there, holding a work light on an extension cord and examining my stump in minute detail. “Satan’s teeth, Alex. Would you please quit bringing me unusual injuries to treat?”

“Last time,” I said. “I promise.”

He snorted in disbelief. “Your setup out here is unbelievable. Thought I’d never see working electricity again. I want to switch the light on and off a few dozen times just for the joy of it. Like kids do when they grow tall enough to reach the switches.”

“You’d better not,” Darla said from her bedroll beside me. “Wears out the bulbs faster.”

“I won’t. But I’m tempted to move out here.”

“You and Belinda would be welcome anytime,” I said. “But don’t tell anyone where we are, okay?” I would have preferred it if no one but Rebecca knew, but I could see why Uncle Paul had felt the need to fetch the doctor.

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