The Last Night: A Small Town Post Apocalypse EMP Thriller by Robert J Walker

Author:Robert J Walker [Walker, Robert J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-23T22:00:00+00:00

15

“I’m really sleepy, Mr. Suzuki,” Olivia murmured, her eyelids feeling leaden. “Can’t I just take a rest for a couple of minutes?”

“Any other time, my dear,” Kato said sympathetically, “I would tell you to go straight to bed and sleep well into the morning. Young people need rest, but tonight is unlike any other night in living memory. We must stay awake, and we must stay vigilant.”

“But surely your dogs will wake us if there’s any danger? C’mon, just a nap. I gotta sleep,” Olivia whined.

“I, too, am weary,” Kato said with a sigh, “even though an old man like me needs a lot less sleep than a young girl like you. But we must stay awake through the night. If bad people come here and catch us unaware, the consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous for not just me and the Rogers family but for your family as well. I’ll brew you another strong coffee, then we’ll go out and conduct another patrol around the perimeters of the properties, okay? The cold night air will also help to keep you awake.”

“I don’t want any more coffee,” Olivia whined, her face crumpling into an expression of weary pouting. “I can’t stand coffee! I just want to lie down for a few minutes, Mr. Suzuki! Is that really too much to ask?”

“I’m afraid it is,” Kato said, hardening his tone now. He was sympathetic to the girl’s desire to sleep, as he too was feeling exceptionally tired, but he knew that any nap that either of them took would inevitably turn into a sleep of many hours—a sleep that could well end with them waking up staring down the barrel of an invader’s gun. This was a risk he simply wasn’t willing to take.

“Just a couple minutes,” Olivia begged. “Please!”

They were sitting in Kato’s living room, with Kato on his favorite easy chair—an exceptionally comfortable if threadbare old thing—and with Olivia sprawled out on his sofa, barely able to keep her eyes open at this point, despite the numerous cups of coffee they’d had throughout the night. On Olivia’s lap was Kato’s old .38 Special revolver—which she had taken a few practice shots with earlier in the evening—while he had his Winchester Model 70 hunting rifle, which was leaned against his easy chair. The only source of illumination in the room came from a camping lantern on the coffee table, which was burning with a soft, steady hiss and giving off a warm, if relatively dim whitish light. As for Kato’s many dogs, they were all outside the house. He had locked half of them in his own yard so they could patrol his property’s extensive borders, while he had locked the other half of the pack in the Rogers’ yard, so they could patrol that property and give them advance warning of any intruders.

“Come on,” Kato said, reluctantly heaving himself out of the easy chair and hobbling over to Olivia. “I know you don’t like it, but you must have another coffee.

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