Read Online Apocalypse Aftermath by David Rogers - Free Book Online

like she was about to burst back into tears.
    “Okay, finally.” Austin said as the seat got far enough back that he wasn’t scrunched up between it and the steering wheel.
    “It’s your fault for being so tall.” Candice told him.
    He burst out laughing.  “You’re right.  If I hadn’t eaten my Wheaties and drank so much milk I might be smaller like you.”
    “I’m not small, I’m ten.” Candice said in a matter-of-fact voice.  She looked around as everyone else chuckled.  “What?”
* * * * *
Darryl
    “DJ, I don’t think nobody’s home.” Chrome said.
    Darryl shrugged as he glanced around before pounding on the door again.  “Bobo say be sure.”   The rural neighborhood was fairly spread out, but so far everything they’d checked along this street had been empty.  Three days of zombies and apocalypse and he was still getting used to how eerie it was to go hours without seeing other people when out and about.  The Watkinsville area was the sticks, but it wasn’t Grizzly Adams territory either.  People lived here.
    Or they had.
    “There ain’t no cars in the garage.”
    “Just wait.”
    “Ain’t none of the others down this road been occupied.”
    “Chrome, just fucking relax.” Darryl said, his tone growing annoyed.
    Chrome subsided, and Darryl checked in both directions along the front of the house.  He had three Dogz with him in two of the stolen trucks they’d been using since Friday night.  Stony and Psycho were facing in opposite directions a little ways out on the front lawn, ostensibly watching for zombies.
    But Stony was a little flaky at the best of times, and Psycho had a tendency to get a little preoccupied if something caught his attention.  That’s why Darryl had Chrome designated as the outside lookout while he took the other two in with him.  Chrome he trusted to keep an eye out by himself.
    “Okay.” Darryl said after another half minute had ticked by with no response from the house.  “Taking the door out.”
    Chrome backed up further as Darryl raised the shotgun and pointed it at the door.  Aiming just to the right of the knob, he stepped back himself so he had a chance to avoid any flying splinters, then fired.  The shot pellets ripped into the wood in a tight pattern as the gun’s report echoed loudly.  Darryl worked the slide to put another shell into the chamber and fired a second time, then kicked forward with his left leg.
    He’d gotten better at it.  His foot landed right where he wanted with all the power of his thigh and weight behind it.  The weakened door burst open with a cracking of wood, bounced back against the wall behind it, and bounced again as he got his foot planted down in time to save his knee.  The first two had popped him right on the kneecap when they bounced, which fucking smarted .  He’d learned to use his boot to protect against that.
    Cautiously, Darryl waited another few seconds, listening as he held the shotgun at the ready.  Eventually he stepped back and thumbed in two shells to replace the ones he’d fired off, then raised his voice.  “Let’s go Dogz.  Chrome, give a yell if anything shows up.”
    With Stony and Psycho following, Darryl moved into the house.  The living room was a little messy with speaker wires and game controllers scattered across the floor next to DVD and video game cases, but it was vacant.  Kids had lived here, he saw from some of the toys he saw scattered around the edges of the room.
    But it was empty, as were the kitchen and dining room.  Sunlight through the windows gave him plenty to see by, even when he followed a central hallway past a bathroom to a den that looked to be set up as a man-cave.  The house was quiet except for him and the two Dogz backing him up.  It had that feeling of being empty; not abandoned, but with no one home.
    “Man, check out that screen.” Stony said admiringly when he saw the enormous flat screen television mounted on the den’s wall.
    “We