Read Online The Forge of Darkness (Darkness After Series Book 3) by Scott B. Williams - Free Book Online Page B

it was a simple matter to rig the tarp into a makeshift A-frame. They were already wet from trailing the deer in the rain, but at least they wouldn’t have to sleep out in it all night.
    “Well, I guess this is a good opportunity for you guys to practice your wet weather fire-building skills.”  
    “Great,” Jason said. “Then we can sit around it and eat cold venison jerky. Sounds like a party to me!”
    “Well, it could be worse. At least we have the tarp… and the jerky…”
    “It could be better, too,” Corey said. “We could all be back at the house, eating a real supper and sitting by the fireplace. It’s going to get cold tonight. Wouldn’t you rather be spending it with April than the two of us?”
    “Nah, I can do that any time. This will make her miss me and it’ll be better than ever when I get back tomorrow!”
    “Well, if it was me in your shoes,” Jason said, “I wouldn’t give a girl like her the opportunity to miss me. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight! The only bad thing for you I guess is that she comes as a package deal. How’s it feel being a dad at freakin’ 17, dude? And what are you going to do if David ever gets his memory back? You see that kind of thing with amnesia in movies and stuff. Somebody gets hit in the head, loses their memory for a while, then it all comes back to them all of a sudden. Boy, when it does, I reckon he’s gonna be pissed, seeing you’ve taken up with his girl and his kid and all!”  
    “Yeah, he’s gonna realize the kid’s really his. He thinks she’s just confused about that right now and he’s going along with it because he thinks he should.”
    “I’m not worried about David. April told me it had been over between them for a long time, probably three or four months now. They broke up way before she talked him into helping her sneak out of Hattiesburg and come out here. Even back when I helped her get there, things weren’t that good between them.”  
    “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be jealous. He’s bound to be. You said he was the first time you met him. He’s not going to like it when he realizes he’s been replaced.”
    “Yeah, but it won’t matter. It’s not up to him anyway. It’s April’s choice. Besides, we don’t know that he’ll ever get his memory back.”
    “He’s sure as shit doesn’t know anything right now; he’s almost like a little kid. The way he follows Tommy around you’d think they were a couple of ten-year-old school buddies.”
    “Yeah, Tommy’s kind of simple, but he’s solid. I always feel pretty good when I’m away, knowing Tommy and Benny have got the house. They’re good people, and Benny’s a real woodsman. Both of them are. They’d have to be, living out of a canoe for nearly seven months the way they did. And you guys are bitching about one night camped out in the rain… You’ve already forgotten how good you’ve got it!”  
    Mitch knew they had not really forgotten; he was just giving them a hard time, trying to make light of their discomfort. Jason had been beaten nearly to death in the early days after the collapse, and Corey had found his parents murdered and his family home ransacked and burned. Both of them were survivors, and they were doing fine considering their total lack of experience at this kind of thing in their lives from before. Mitch was sure they would find Jason’s deer nearby in the morning, and soon after, the three of them would be packing meat back to the house, another successful hunt completed. As he imagined April’s arms around him again, he also thought back to the three gunshots they’d heard that afternoon. Tomorrow he would find out what that was about as well, although he was sure it wasn’t anything significant.

Eleven  

    L ISA AND S TACY RAN to the barn to get the travois and found it still piled high with firewood that Tommy and David had left on it that morning. The two of them quickly tossed the load of cut logs aside and