Free My Apocalypse (Book 1): The Fall by Edward J. Eaton II Page B

pale of skin and pretty. Bright freckles stood out in stark contrast to her ivory skin.
    “Um…” I began, at a loss for words once again in so little a time.
    “Don’t,” the woman said, “until I decide if I’m going to kill you or not, just don’t speak. Go up.”
    I decided the most prudent course of action would be to follow her instructions, mainly due to the rather large gun she was carrying. I turned and trudged up the stairs, my mind spinning. So much had happened in the short time that I had been awake; so much of my world was in turmoil. Now here I was, being led by gunpoint by a girl I thought was in trouble, and gods know what was going to happen next.
    My family came to mind again.
    I could see Tyler, cocky as he usually was, thinking this was like some video game, trying to be a hero and more than likely doing more damage than good. Christopher and Seth, the smallest of my kids, possibly scared, possibly excited, but no doubt both already dead. My mom, Aliyah, Jasmine, even my dog Cat. And my beloved, Crystal, what had become of her? My head started pounding thinking of them all. I was so worried that I would never see any of them again.
    We had made it up the stairs, and the woman led me through a doorway into a small apartment. Boxes and crates were stacked along the walls, and in one window, a small emergency light blinked on and off. She motioned for me to sit down at a small card table and followed suit in a chair across from me. I couldn’t help but notice that she never let the shotgun go, her finger on the trigger at all times.
    “Who are you?” she asked me.
    “My names Eddy,” I replied.
    “Abigail,” she told me. “What are you doing out there? I don’t mean to sound rude, but you are aware of what’s going on right?”
    “Well,” I began, laughing a little, “up until a few hours ago, no I did not.”
    She looked at me, confusion and incredulity on her face. When more questions failed to follow after a few seconds, I decided to continue. I told her all that I knew, from when I woke up in the hospital to that moment. Hearing myself talk, I reminded myself of some cheesy horror movie, and almost couldn’t believe it myself. After telling her, we both sat there, the girl letting my words sink in.
    “That’s a hard story to believe,” she said to me. “Yet I see no lie in your eyes.”
    “I kind of wish I was,” I told her. “I keep hoping to wake up, find out that all this is nothing but a bad dream.”
    “Wish I could tell you it was.” Abigail’s words were sincere, but held no comfort to me.
    “So why are you here?” I asked her. “Surely there are better places you could have gone, safer places.”
    “Sure,” she started, “sure there were. When the military started evacuating the civilians, I could have gone with them. I could have found other people holed up somewhere, tried to wait it out in a larger group. With that, at least I wouldn’t have died alone. That’s all that would have happened. I have been here for months now, and I have been fine.
    “Plus there is my dad.”
    I looked at her, and raised an eyebrow in question. Seeing my expression, she continued her story.
    “My father is sick, has been for some time. I think the stress of all that has happened just made it worse. He owned this place, and when everything started getting bad, I came here to help him. By the time the evacuation started, he could barely move, and I couldn’t just leave him. There was at one point twelve of us here, but some left with the soldiers, others went to look for supplies and just never came back. Now it’s just me and him here. You are the first living person I have seen in a month.”
    She fell quiet and I thought it prudent not to press her, so I changed my line of questioning.
    “Why do you have the light?”
    “I figured it was the least I could do,” she said, shaking her head, “figured it would make me feel better. Didn’t ever think anyone would ever