The Age of Exodus by Ryan Schow

Author:Ryan Schow [Schow, Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Survival | Thriller
Publisher: River City Publishing
Published: 2019-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Draven lit the campfire at dusk and helped prepare the scant meal, hoping to assuage some of the hunger that was now plaguing them all. Xavier had been hunting all day. He’d killed two rabbits. And Morgan? She received a hero’s welcome when she returned to camp carrying three cans of red bean chili.

The kids made faces when Draven told them they were having rabbit chili, but when it came supper time, when the food cooking over the fire started to take on this wonderful aroma, a look of profound hunger overtook them.

“That’s what I thought,” Draven mumbled with a sly grin.

After supper—which was good, but not nearly enough food—all everyone could talk about was what might have happened to Fire and Ice. Eliana said they’d be fine, that if they didn’t get back soon she’d head out looking for them. She didn’t seem worried, even though Adeline was clearly on edge.

“Do you really think your father’s okay?” Draven heard Veronica lean in and ask Orlando.

“I’m sure he is,” he said, hushing her.

This was not a conversation anyone wanted to give any more attention to. They’d already talked the subject to death earlier. But night had fallen, and the sky was ink black and speckled with stars. All around them they heard the sounds of insects, small critters, even a few frogs. It was peaceful against the crackling of the fire and the smell of the campfire smoke.

He missed his grandmother, but she was gone and now he was with these people. Further away, one of the kids started to cry. It sounded like Kamal. Nyanath got up and walked twenty yards away to where the kids had been quarantined.

No one liked that they were so far away, but no one wanted to breathe the same air as them either.

Draven closed his eyes for just a second. Sleep overtook him quickly. But then there was a commotion, sounds that made him stir, and then screams that ripped him from his slumber completely.

His eyes shot open to a massive fight between the group and what looked like a pack of wild dogs. Blinking hard, shaking off the sleep, he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. One of these dogs was dragging little Alma off, the child screaming in horror, in pain.

Adeline dove for it, catching its tail near the haunches. He started kicking his way out of his sleeping bag, eyes on the chaos, unblinking. The more his vision sharpened, the more his senses returned, the more he realized they were not merely dogs, they were coyotes.

Two of them were in a stare down with Eliana, but she was low, her hands out, her eyes shadowed in firelight. One of them lunged hard, which it shouldn’t have done because coyotes aren’t that vicious toward humans. She rolled with the hit, then grabbed and tossed the animal into the fire while shaking off the other. She clapped her hands loud and shouted at it, but it didn’t run.

Have they become rabid? Draven thought as he finally broke loose of the bag.

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