Free Bone And Cinder: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Zapheads Book 1) by Scott Nicholson, Joshua Simcox

Lehman’s office both during and after Mackie’s student days.  It was a comforting piece of normalcy.
    “No, I made it here after the storms.”  Mackie gripped Lehman’s hand firmly.  “You’ve been here this whole time?”
    “I was at my place on Faculty Hill when it hit,” Lehman said.  “I came to see if I could help any of the summer students.  The only few I found alive...they wanted to kill me.  They chased me here to the library.  I discovered Rebecca upstairs, and we stayed here until these men showed up.”
    Mackie nodded.  “Did anyone else survive on Faculty Hill?”
    Lehman’s face fell.  He hesitated.  “I’m not sure.  I don’t think so.  I knocked on a few doors, but no one answered.  I was afraid to go inside any of them.”
    “We need to check out those houses later, look for food and other supplies,” Krider said.
    “Have you met Lucas yet?” Lehman asked Mackie.
    “Yeah.”
    Lehman’s eyes narrowed as if unsure how to respond.  “But why are you here, Mackie?  I thought you were still in Florida.”
    “I came here to see Allie.”
    “Allie Williams?  Is she—”
    “We’re looking after her,” Mackie said, and let it go at that.
    “But she’s alive?”
    “Yes.”
    Before Lehman could ask Mackie to elaborate, Krider said, “I think we should all head to the dining hall and have some food.”
    “You guys go ahead.  I’ll catch up in a few minutes,” Mackie said.
    He returned to check on Kara.  She was sitting where he’d left her earlier, rubbing her raw wrists gingerly.  Herrera had cut the zip tie with his knife, but Mackie wasn’t sure where he’d gone afterward.
    “Does it hurt?” Mackie asked, taking her hands in his.
    Kara nodded.
    “I can get you something if the pain’s bad enough.”
    “No, it’s fine.”
    “Everyone’s headed to the dining hall for food.”
    “Okay.”
    “You should go,” Mackie said.  “You probably haven’t eaten for awhile.”
    “I’m not breaking bread with that son of a bitch.”
    Mackie crouched next to her.  “I’m sure he won’t let me near a gun any time soon, so we’ll have to do it another way.  Overpowering Herrera or McRae or one of the guardsmen and taking one of their weapons...there’s too much risk involved.  We’ll have to be cautious, take our time with this.  Either way it rolls, you need to keep up your strength.”
    “So you’re on board with this now?”
    “I never really wasn’t on board.  But you have to understand what we’re up against here.  We have to do this in a way that minimizes risk.”
    Allie’s prone, blanket-covered form trembled slightly, but the Haldol kept her mostly calm.  Her face twitched as if she was having a particularly lucid dream.
    “I found a friend of mine here a few minutes ago,” Mackie said.  “A professor.  He survived the storms and he’s not a Zaphead.  Now it’s about more than you and me and Allie and a bunch of kids I don’t know.  I have to protect him, too.”
    Desiree appeared at the far end of the row, a thick book in her hand, one thumb inserted to mark her place.  “I’ll stay here with her,” she said, tilting her head toward Allie.  “You guys get some food.  I’ll go when you get back.”
    Mackie stepped forward and extended his hand.  Desiree shook it lightly.  “Thank you for this,” Mackie said.  “Thank you for looking after her.”
    “I don’t mind a little peace and quiet after all of that craziness,” she answered.  “Plus I need to finish up my masters thesis.”
    Mackie smiled politely at the joke.  He couldn’t tell whether Desiree was afraid of him or just freaked out by the whole doomsday scenario unfolding around her.  At least she’d found a piece of the old reality to carry along as baggage and keep her moored to sanity.
    Mackie and Kara left the stacks and headed toward the library’s front entrance.  Outside, the sun had yet to burn away the thick smears of gray from early