Dark Days: The Long Road Home ✪ free preview

Chapter 3.3

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Christopher was feeling a little out of his depth. He had no idea what one was supposed to do when they found themselves in this sort of situation. The fact the government knew - that there had been some sort of report - how could that be possible? Why hadn't they been better prepared if they knew this could happen?

Deciding that the only thing to do was face things as they came, Christopher got to his feet.

"I'm going to see Anne home safely – and get some supplies. I'll be back as soon as I can," he told Gemma.

"You are not leaving me here with them," Gemma hissed, casting a dubious look at Gordon and Sasha. "I'm coming with you."

Christopher shook his head. "Gemma, Anne lives at least an hour and a half away by foot. Save your energy. We've got a tough week ahead of us," he trailed off, realizing the vast understatement of what he'd just said. According to the statistics both she and Gordon had been quoting, there was a good chance none of them would get out of this alive.

He didn't have the same faith Anne had. He suspected that when people realized their biggest problem wasn't the fact that their cars and electronic gadgets no longer worked, things would get crazy pretty quickly.

They had to prepare for the worst case scenario and he believed Gordon had been far closer to the truth when he said it would be every man for himself.

The evidence was all there – when parts of the city lost power after a hurricane a few years back, people had been rioting within hours and looting had been rife.

Christopher could feel time ticking, and a deeper fear had begun to take root. Because if the EMP had been caused by a nuclear bomb detonated above the city, they were in a lot more trouble than they could possibly imagine. It was possible they were at war, and until they knew for sure, they needed to act accordingly.

As much as he'd tried to convince himself that Gemma and Gordon had things all wrong, there was too much evidence in their favor. This was like no situation any of them had ever seen before; what else could explain the fact that not only had the power gone out, but cars had stalled in the street and planes had fallen from the sky right before their very eyes.

When he'd argued that there might only be a small area affected, that maybe tomorrow help would come from another state, Gemma had knocked that idea flat out of the equation. She put up a convincing argument, saying that if the pulse was strong enough to wipe out cell phone signals and stop cars and planes dead in their tracks, that it had most likely affected most of the country. And when he suggested that maybe in a few days, or even weeks, another country would help, Gemma had scoffed, her words ringing with an alarming truth: "If another country got hit by a nuke, do you think we would be running to their aid anytime soon? Think of the repercussions. It would be like waving the proverbial red flag."

The worst thing was the not knowing, but Christopher was really starting to believe it was imperative they got out before the rest of the city caught up with what had happened.

Despite Christopher's protests, Gemma slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him over to Anne, a stubborn look on her face that he remembered all too well.

On the other side of the room Gordon was glaring at them, but he made no move to get up, not that he could even if he wanted to. Sasha had fallen asleep, her platinum blonde hair spilling over his lap. Her thumb was firmly ensconced in her mouth like a small child.

Christopher was relieved when Donavon joined them, a brief nod passing between the two of them that was louder than words could ever be.

"I'm afraid these heels will slow us down a bit," was all that Anne said as the four of them started down the corridor, but Christopher saw the relief in her eyes and realized Anne wasn't quite as optimistic as she wanted them to believe.

They moved automatically towards the lift, chuckling uneasily as they realized what they had done, and to Christopher's horror he heard a distant thumping coming from above them.

"Oh my," Anne's hand went to her throat. "There's someone stuck in the elevator."

The thin wail of a child greeted the dumbfounded silence that followed Anne's words.

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I hope you have enjoyed this sample of Dark Days: The Long Road Home.

It is now available on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords for $0.99

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Days-Long-Road-ebook/dp/B00BNZDOFE

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OR as it is newly published and I need all the help I can get to make my book stand out amongst the 12 million + titles on Amazon, I am happy to gift a copy to anyone willing to write me an honest review on Amazon. It doesn't have to be long and in depth, even a few lines would really help. If you are interested PM me and let me know what format you would like it in, and your email address. 

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