Free The Seventh Seal by J. Thorn

patient died in a hospital room, she would summon the
coroner’s office right away, often raising the ire of the mourning family.
    Jana stopped at the next intersection, where the traffic
lights swung in silent protest.  A BP gas station on the opposite corner
offered Jana the hope of grabbing dry goods or snacks.
    She walked past the gas pumps, which had spilled gallons onto
the ground when the world fell asleep.  The aroma overwhelmed and frightened
her.  As she got closer to the sliding doors, Jana saw shards of glass covering
the curb, and stacked pallets of windshield-washer fluid on sale for
eighty-nine cents.  More glass crunched under her feet as she placed one foot
inside the store.  The hairs came up on the back of her neck, and adrenaline
flooded Jana’s system.  Her senses tingled, and as she turned back toward the
spewing gas pumps, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.  A dark
flash knocked her to the ground.  Jana’s head bounced off the pavement with a
sick, dull thud.  Her eyes focused and then blurred on the dark fluorescent
bulbs hanging underneath the canopy.  She heard voices, low and muttered,
speaking to her and about her.  They swam in her ears and she was unable to
decipher any of it while her brain struggled to regain control.  Before passing
out, Jana heard a distinct voice.
    “Get her inside before they come back,” slid into her ears
as she succumbed to the encroaching concussion.

 
    Chapter 16
     
Route 480 fanned out in front of the truck in a ribbon of
gray.  Alex and John brushed the beads of broken glass from their clothes while
exchanging weary smiles.
    “Why are you alive?” John asked.
    “What?”
    “Why are you alive?  Why didn’t the Covenant gun you down
like the rest?”
    Alex cocked his head to one side, peering into the silvery
guardrail speeding past.
    “Because they needed me.”
    “Are you telling me they had no medical support other than a
vet?”
    John regretted the comment as soon as it left his mouth.
    “You really are an asshole,” said Alex.
    “I’m sorry, it didn’t come out right.”
    “How long until we reach State Road?”
    John looked down at his watch to calculate the time and
distance.
    “Probably twenty or twenty-five minutes, unless we hit
another roadblock.
    “That should be enough time.”
    “Enough time for what?” John asked again, already tiring of
the conversation.
    “Time for me to tell you what happened to me, provided you
want to know.”
    “You’ve got a captive audience.”
    Alex sat up and stared out of the front of the truck as he
spoke. 
    “My wife said shit was going down in Cleveland.  We live out
in Chesterland, so I didn’t pay as much attention to it as I shoulda.  She saw
something on the news about a possible order to martial law because of a
terrorist threat.  I stood in front of the tube, watching the dolts on the
local broadcast.  They had grainy cell-phone video of troops knocking doors
down in the poor neighborhoods.  No surprise to me that they started there.  I
got pissed and shut the TV off.  I get so tired of it blaring and babbling
constantly.
    “I went downstairs to help get the kids into their pajamas. 
We heard sirens off in the distance, nothing out of the ordinary.  After we had
them down for the night, I picked up a Bill Bryson novel, hoping to laugh
myself to sleep.  I think my wife was already in bed, but I can’t quite
remember.  Anyway, I heard what I thought was thunder, which was very odd for
November.  It seemed to get louder and the noise became more frequent.  Julie
came down to the living room and asked me if I had heard it.  I think at that
moment we both knew something wasn’t right.
    “She flipped the TV back on.  There was nothing but snow on
every channel.  We have satellite TV, so I thought the storm was messing with
the reception, you know?  Julie went upstairs and turned on the TV with the old
rabbit ears.  Again, nothing.
    “I started