This wasn’t the work of Zapheads. Then who…?
“Rachel? Are you in here?”
His shouts echoed off the masonry walls of the cell block, and a quick search showed the remaining cells were empty. Returning to the suite of law enforcement offices, he kicked open doors, leading with his rifle barrel as he probed each room.
He was pretty sure the building was free of Zapheads, but how could anybody be sure of anything in After?
The restrooms stank but were unoccupied, and likewise he found the offices cluttered and ravaged but otherwise empty.
He returned to the lobby and the last remaining office and a door marked “SHERIFF.”
He shoved his way inside.
“Rachel?”
The room was windowless, and the air was stagnant but carried a definite sweet stench. One he’d become all too familiar with in the last five months.
There were indefinable heaps on the floor—small heaps.
And one large heap.
A Rachel-sized heap.
He threw his rifle aside and dropped to his knees, grabbing for her hand. Her skin was cool and dry.
He whispered Rachel’s name as he shook her, avoiding looking at the raw, wet gash in the center of her chest, although its gravity pulled at his lone eye like a massive sun sucking at a comet.
She breathed something, her lips working together twice: “Niiii…”
DeVontay wanted to scream, Don’t speak, just hold on, hold on, don’t leave me. Instead, he moved his ear closer as she repeated it.
“The night?” DeVontay wondered if she already felt the oppressive black hand of permanent darkness pushing down on her and squeezing her out of this world, along with the memories of joy and beauty and love.
He looked into her eyes and listened hard, knowing this might be her final message to the world, and to him.
“The…ninth…,” she sighed, clearly articulating the fricative at the end of the word, despite the effort it must have taken.
“The ninth?” DeVontay repeated, bewildered, racing to assign it some cosmic significance and only coming up with a stupid analogy to the last inning of a baseball game.
Then he pushed all thoughts from his mind and looked into her as fully as he could, hoping she could draw one last measure of comfort to carry with her on her journey.
Her lower lip quivered, and a soft December wind carried away her breath.
Her eyes were open, unseeing, as the last liquid fire leaked out of them.
Now her eyes were glass, and DeVontay’s good eye did the work of two in pouring forth his grief and desolation.
He didn’t even hear Franklin enter the room, nor anything the man said for the next half hour, except for three words that rattled the stony husk of his heart:
“War is over.”
THE END
Look for the thrilling conclusion to the After series!
After #6: Dying Light
After a bloody battle with mutant Zapheads, Rachel Wheeler’s life hangs in the balance as the world falls apart around her.
To save Rachel, a small group of survivors must find a missing baby, a hyperintelligent Zaphead with mysterious healing powers. The remaining Zapheads have reverted to mindless, violent savages who want to wipe out the human race. Only Rachel holds the key to understanding them and ending the devastating war.
But even if they succeed, a rogue military leader is determined to impose his fascist vision of the future. And Rachel and her friends will defend their freedom and humanity at any cost.
Get it at Amazon US or Amazon UK
Scott Nicholson is the international bestselling author of more than 20 thrillers, including The Home, McFall, Disintegration, Liquid Fear, Speed Dating with the Dead, and the After post-apocalyptic series. His books have appeared in the Kindle Top 100 more than a dozen times in five different countries. Visit his website at www.AuthorScottNicholson.com or his Amazon Author Central page
Sign up for his Tao of Boo newsletter for giveaways and release news: http://eepurl.com/tOE89.
VIEW OTHER KINDLE BOOKS BY SCOTT NICHOLSON:
Novels
After #0: First Light
After #1: The Shock
After #2: The Echo
After #3: Milepost 291
After#4: Whiteout
After #5: Red Scare
After #6: Dying Light
Zapheads #1: Bone and Cinder (with Joshua Simcox)
Zapheads #2: Scares and Ashes (with Joshua Simcox)
The Scarecrow (Solom #1)
The Narrow Gate (Solom #2)
The Home
McFall
Creative Spirit
Disintegration
The Red Church
Speed Dating with the Dead
The Skull Ring
Drummer Boy
The Harvest
Kiss Me or Die
Liquid Fear
Chronic Fear
Cursed (with J.R. Rain)
Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)
Spider Web (with J.R. Rain)
Spider Bite (with J.R. Rain)
Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)
The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)
Meat Camp (with J.T. Warren)
Playin’ Possum (with Milton Bagby)
October Girls
Crime Beat
The Dead Love Longer
Fangs In Vain
Burial to Follow
StoryCollections
Curtains
Flowers
Ashes
The First
Zombie Bits
Head Cases
Gateway Drug
Missing Pieces
These Things Happened
American Horror
Children’s Books
If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)
Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)
Ida Claire (with Lee Davis)
Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)
Bad Day for Balloons (with Sergio Castro)
BOX SETS
Ethereal Messenger
Mystery Dance
Horror Movies: Three Screenplays
Ghost Box: Six Supernatural Thrillers
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4
Box of Boo (Library, Vol. V)
Mad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
Bad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
Odd Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
VIEW U.K. KINDLE BOOKS BY SCOTT NICHOLSON:
After: First Light
After: The Shock
After: The Echo
After: #3: Milepost 291
After #4: Whiteout
After #5: Red Scare
After #6: Dying Light
Zapheads #1: Bone and Cinder
Zapheads #2: Scars and Ashes
The Scarecrow (Solom #1)
The Narrow Gate (Solom #2)
McFall
Liquid Fear
Chronic Fear
Creative Spirit
The Home
The Gorge
Disintegration
The Red Church
Speed Dating with the Dead
The Skull Ring
Drummer Boy
The Harvest
Kiss Me or Die
Cursed (with J.R. Rain)
Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)
The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)
Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)
Spider Web (with J.R. Rain)
Spider Bite (with J.R. Rain)
Meat Camp (with J.T. Warren)
Playin’ Possum (with Milton Bagby)
October Girls
Crime Beat
The Dead Love Longer
Burial to Follow
Fangs In Vain
Collectio
ns
Curtains
Flowers
Ashes
The First
Zombie Bits
Head Cases
Gateway Drug
Missing Pieces
These Things Happened
Children’s Books
Bad Day for Balloons (with Sergio Castro)
If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)
Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)
Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)
Ida Claire (with Lee Davis)
Writing
Write Good or Die
The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success
Omnibus editions
Ethereal Messenger
Mystery Dance
Horror Movies: Three Screenplays
Three Ghost Stories (with J.R. Rain and Aiden James)
Ghost Box: Six Supernatural Thrillers
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 1
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4
Box of Boo: Library, Vol. 5
Mad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
Bad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
Odd Stacks: Short Stories Box Set
Table of Contents
Red Scare
About the Author
Scott’s Kindle Links
U.K. Kindle links
Thanks to advance readers Sharon Stogner, Carole McLaughlin, Frank Pero, and Meghan Gurley.
Table of Contents
Red Scare
About the Author
Scott’s Kindle Links
U.K. Kindle links