Free Dark Days: The Long Road Home, a post apocalyptic novel by L M May

look black. Then his hands were cupping her face, his head lowering toward hers.
    “My impressionable young daughter is watching, you know,” Megan announced herself.
    Startled, Gemma automatically looked down. Becky was staring up at them through thick lashes, her eyes heavy with sleep.
    There was a big grin on Megan's face as she clambered into the corridor. “But don't let that stop you.”
    Megan threw her thin arms around Robert, her narrow shoulders trembling. “Thank you.”
    “I didn't do anything,” Robert flushed, his ruddy cheeks turning red.
    “You stayed when the others left...” Megan broke off, a single tear trailing down her pale face. “Besides, Christopher's a little tied up right now.”
    Robert chuckled, one hand coming up to pat at her back awkwardly. Then he was returning the girl's fierce hug with one of his own.
    Becky reached for her mother, and Megan finally let Robert go. Her legs were unsteady as she moved toward her daughter, a smile so full of love on her face it made Gemma's heart lurch, and her thoughts were suddenly consumed with CJ.
    It had been barely three weeks since she'd promised Caroline she'd look out for CJ. Now she had no idea where he was.
    Daphne had insisted on driving Gemma to the station at Carlisle. Forty miles from home, the small city was a popular shopping destination. When Gemma said she was happy to drive herself, Daphne said she'd already sealed the deal by promising to take CJ to watch the latest Ice Age movie.
    Gemma had no idea if they made it home before the pulse. For all she knew they were trapped in Carlisle with no way to get home.

8
     
    Christopher kneaded his shoulder muscles, applying downward pressure with his hand as he rotated the joint. Gemma was firmly ensconced under his other arm as they made their way down the corridor.
    He was still feeling shaken, and couldn't get rid of the horrible images that had plastered themselves in his mind. He'd truly thought his arm was going to fail him. Just knowing how close the child watching him over Megan's shoulder had come to plunging to her death still haunted him.
    Fear for his own life had never come into it at the time. It wasn't until he was out of the shaft that he realized his own fragile mortality, and he'd felt suddenly shaky as the effects of the adrenalin surging through his system faded.
    Megan took the news calmly when Robert told her about the pulse. “I knew something big had happened when everyone left.” She turned blue eyes on Christopher. “But when I realized the risk you were taking to save us...” Megan trailed off with a weary shrug as she stroked her daughter's head.
    The small group stayed close together, the reality of what might be facing them when they left the building weighing them down.
    The glimpses of sky through the office windows they passed showed how fast night was descending, the thick smoke in the air adding an extra layer of gloom. Dark would fall earlier than usual.
    They paused when they reached the sitting area window. In the distance the smoke was thick and heavy as a fire raged out of control in the general vicinity of Peak Mountain, visible through the gaps in the buildings.
    Christopher was beginning to feel like he was in the middle of a warzone. For all he knew, he was.
    It had taken Gordon all of ten minutes to declare that terrorists had nuked them, his little piggy eyes gleaming as he told them they wouldn't have been able to hear or see a thing if it was detonated high enough.
    It had been Gemma who assured them they weren't in danger of radiation poisoning.
    Images from the media in the wake of nine-eleven stormed his brain – news clips of missiles hurtling through the night skies of Afghanistan, putting fear into the hearts of all that World War Three had broken out.
    He hoped to God they weren't at war – that the fault belonged to mother nature.
    His need to get Gemma safely out of the city heightened as bright orange flames flickered in the