Read Online After: The Echo (AFTER post-apocalyptic series, Book 2) by Scott Nicholson - Free Book Online Page A

haven’t even talked about your family.”
    “I got my reasons,” DeVontay said. He checked outside for movement. Satisfied, he folded the map and moved a little closer to the fire. “We’re making good time. We’re maybe fifty miles from the parkway.”
    “The weather’s getting cooler as we get higher in elevation. We’ll be out of these foothills soon and into the real mountains.”
    “You think there’s anything up there waiting for us?”
    “My grandfather doesn’t play games. If he’s still alive, he’s waiting for me. And if he’s not, his compound will still be the best place to regroup and figure out the next step.”
    “What is the next step? Once it looks like we’re going to make it.”
    “What comes after? My grandfather believes it’s about more than just hiding in a bunker and growing old. He’d say, ‘Ray-Ray, I only know two things for sure. One is, Doomsday will come sooner or later. The other is, we’ll all have to learn to live together after it’s over.’ He’s the most optimistic cynic I’ve ever known.”
    DeVontay took a sip of water from a plastic bottle. “How come you got so much trust in him?”
    “A mix of inspiration and desperation. He was the only one who didn’t make me feel guilty after my sister drowned. He even wondered if it had something to do with him—like she was targeted because he’d once been a prominent survivalist.”
    “Sounds a little paranoid to me.”
    “Schizophrenia runs in the family,” she said. “He has a sister who didn’t get electricity because she didn’t want the power company to know her address.”
    “How do people like that make in the world?”
    “She’s out in Texas. For all we know, she might be living happily ever after.”
    “Ain’t no happily ever afters.”
    They were silent for a moment, Rachel growing drowsy again even though she should take over the watch so DeVontay could get some sleep. “About earlier…”
    “Forget it. We got enough problems.”
    “What if it’s not a problem?”
    “It will be,” he said. “Ain’t no happily ever afters, remember?”
    The fire hissed as the wood heated. Rachel was cold, even covered by a comforter she’d found in the luggage. She drew it around her. The hissing grew louder but the embers remained dark red.
    “Hear that?” DeVontay said.
    “Is it raining?” It had been clear earlier, when they were outside and shared that awkward intimate moment when DeVontay had pointed out constellations. But weather could change fast in autumn. She glanced at the cockpit’s shattered windshield, but no drops appeared on it.
    “I thought it was crickets,” DeVontay said. “But this doesn’t sound right.”
    “Whatever it is, it’s coming from all around us.”
    Stephen stirred in his sleep. Rachel shed her comforter and went to him, hoping he wouldn’t cry out. Her pistol was on top of her backpack, within reach if needed. With DeVontay’s guidance and some target practice, she no longer felt uneasy with it.
    DeVontay put his index finger to his lips in a “shushing” gesture. He grabbed his rifle and dropped to the ground, wriggling forward on his elbows until he lay in the jagged opening of their makeshift camp. “Put out the fire,” he commanded in a hoarse whisper.
    Rachel poured the remains of a water bottle on the flames, arousing a humid steam. Then she pulled the comforter over it to suffocate the last of the embers. In the sudden darkness, Rachel was temporarily blinded, afraid she’d awaken Stephen if she moved. Then the ambient glow of the aurora settled in to cast a greenish hue as if she were looking through night-vision goggles.
    The hissing grew louder around the cockpit. Rachel wanted to ask DeVontay if he saw anything, but she was afraid to make any noise. She felt along the damaged cockpit’s shell until she came to the nose of the plane, then she ascended the sharp incline of wreckage until she could see through the cracked window.
    She was