Free Ping - From the Apocalypse by Susan Lowry Page B

reason she had survived. To lose them now would be her certain end. She wanted to run and to dive into the waves — away from the threat that could pull her to pieces again, and not come out until it was gone. But he was walking from the swing in front of the white veranda through the sand toward her.
    He stopped just before the steps. “I guess I know how you feel,” he said when she didn’t face him. “Sorry if I startled you.”
    Kate turned to see his dark sunglasses, his stiff smile, and his almost black hair brushing his shoulders. She swayed against the railing and then staggered onto the bottom step. She covered her mouth, and gaped at him.
    “Are you okay?” he said.
    She nodded, but her racing heart was making her ill. She gasped. “I thought you weren’t real for a second.”
    “ You look pale,” he said. “Put your head between your legs for the blood to flow back into it.”
    She rested her head on her knees and mumbled. “I didn't expect anyone—”
    “ Sorry… I startled you.”
    She lifted her head and gazed up at him. “Where did—”
    “ I just got into town. Your fresh car tracks were out on the main road, in the sand,” he explained. “I could barely believe it.”
    “I thought …” She blinked at him. “Man! You are real.”
    His brow lifted and he extended his arm. “I'm Jack… so sorry I—”
    “Kate, ” she said, allowing him to embrace her hand in his large palm. “It’s been four months since…” she said.
    He sat down on the step beside her. “I know. Four and a half. Feeling any better?”
    S he nodded. “I’m fine now, really. It was just the initial shock but, you know… I didn’t think it would affect me like that… I mean I was hoping to find people. And not after everything else.” She supported her head in her cupped palm and gazed at him. “I’m in pretty good shape, relatively speaking, considering the plague nearly did me in. What about you?” She could already see the scars on his skin.
    He looked out at the ocean and with almost a grimace, sighed. “Nope. I didn’t expect to survive it either. Looks like a decent place you’ve found here, by the ocean.”
    She peered at his profile.
    “Where did you come from?” she said, hearing her tone of surprise.
    “ Well, I’ve been on the road about two months, weaving my way out here. Started out in Florence,” he said soberly, turning to nod at her and then gazing back at the ocean. “Colorado. Nothing but corpses out there… Everywhere you go.”
    “I —I was planning to get more supplies again tomorrow. The Publix isn’t too bad you know. Up the road,” she said. “Hardly any bodies in there.”
    “ The outskirts are the only way to go,” he agreed. “Tolerable compared to the cities. Disaster zones… every one of them.”
    “ Was there any wildlife out your way?” she asked. “I didn’t see anything at all.”
    He frowned, glanced at her briefly and drew together his dark brows. “Seems to have wiped out the entire country’s livestock, as far as I’ve seen. Cows, pigs, horses, poultry — all dead. As for the wildlife?” He covered his eyes and sighed, as if he was trying to remember. “Not many birds… a few here and there, some fish in the rivers; I did see squirrels though, now that I think of it, two of them, not far from here.”
    “ I haven’t noticed a decline in insects though,” she said. “And I seem to have three seagull comrades. Always around when I’m out on the beach.”
    H e gazed at her. “I noticed you got lucky with your pet. What is it, a parrot?”
    Kate blinked. “Oh, you mean Snowy. No he’s a cockatiel, belonged to my neighbour, Wendy. But how did you—”
    “ He’s loud. I heard him singing from down the road.”
    “When was that?” she snapped, immediately wishing that she hadn’t.
    His eyes shifted . “A few hours ago. I knocked.”
    “You did?”
    “Yeah.”
    “ I was on the beach. And then I was sitting on the swing for a