Surviving the Collapse: A Tale Of Survival In A Powerless World- Book 1 by James Hunt

Author:James Hunt [Hunt, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-16T22:00:00+00:00

It was well past dawn when Kate awoke in the auditorium. Almost everyone else was already awake, chatting amongst themselves, a few holding Styrofoam cups that piped steam. Kate stared at the sight, unsure if she was dreaming.

“Fresh off the fire.” The voice accompanied a similar piping-hot cup thrust into the path of her gawking eyes. Kate followed the arm to a smiling face of a young man with shoulder-length hair and scruff over his face.

Kate wasn’t sure how long she stared but knew that it was too long based off the man’s nervous laughter.

“It’s not poison.” He leaned closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. “At least yours isn’t.” He gestured to a couple chatting nearby. “Never really liked those two.” Kate’s expression didn’t break, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m joking, of course.”

“Right.” Kate shook her head and then took the coffee. She pressed both palms against its warmth. It was the first warm thing she’d held since the EMP went off two days ago. She lingered on that last thought. Had it really been two days?

“I’m Rick.” He extended his free hand, the smile returned to his face.

“Kate.” She took it, and his grip was firm. She examined the cup. “I forgot you could heat things up without power.”

Rick took a seat on her cot, though he kept his distance. “The military may be a drag when it comes to wanting to go where you want to go, but they did bring a lot of rations with them.” He raised the cup then sipped and grimaced. “Not very good, though. But a lot of it.”

Kate sipped, burning her tongue, but found that he was right. The black sludge was more of a distant cousin to coffee than the legitimate heir.

“Told you.”

Kate set the coffee down and then stood. “I’m sorry, but I have to go and see my son.”

“You have a kid here?”

“Yes,” Kate answered, exhausted. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” She left him with his shitty coffee on the cot. She didn’t glance behind her, afraid that he’d follow, but she eventually snuck a peek once she was outside. Thankfully, he wasn’t there.

A group of armed soldiers walked past, and Kate flagged one of them down. “Excuse me, do you know where The Commons House is?”

“No, but all of the dormitories have been escorted to the cafeteria,” he said then pointed behind her. “It’s that big grey building. You’ll see the line out front.”

“Thank you—” But when she turned, the soldiers were already up ahead, chatting amongst themselves and adjusting the rifles on their shoulders.

When she’d arrived in the night, the darkness had concealed the number of soldiers, but in the light of day she saw the place was crawling with them.

Kate walked over to the cafeteria, racking her brain for a way to convince Luke to come back with her. She longed for the days when she could just pick him up and carry him. That would have made things much simpler.

She found the line for breakfast and bypassed it.

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