White Flare: Post apocalyptic survival thriller (Sky Fall Book 2) Read online

  He once again lifted Sophie from her prone, frozen spot on the bed to carry her over his shoulder and outside. Once there, he dumped her into the raft, and she pulled up her shorts, hyperventilating and beside herself, still.

  She was clearly embarrassed and hid her face afterwards.

  “Hey,” Kentucky said. “I have sisters. This is like…my years growing up all over again.”

  Everyone was in the raft and pale from their race down the side of the house. Kentucky sat back and glanced around. And then he laughed.

  It released so much tension that he let go and roared with laughter.

  Ida cracked a smile and then she started to laugh, too. Tristan also joined in until everyone, but Sophie was laughing until tears ran down their faces.

  “I don’t get what’s so funny,” she said shortly, her face beet red.

  Which only made everyone laugh harder.

  It lasted only a minute more because the wind picked up and started to howl, only this time, it brought rain, and a thunderstorm that sounded like it wanted to crack the world in half.

  Kentucky gripped the side of the raft as the waves started to grow. Sophie grabbed hold of his hand when water sloshed over the side of the raft.

  “It’s fine, I got you,” he said.

  She whispered something, and it wouldn’t dawn on him what she’d said or how important it was until later. Not before the first wave would curl over the side and wash her loose from his grip.

  Which seemed impossible because he was holding on for dear life.

  For now, his anxiety ramped up until his jaw was so tight, he’d felt he’d crack his teeth. The storm helped take his mind off his misery, it made them even more miserable. It blew into them at high gusts, forcing the raft to spin and crash into things that threatened to puncture the plastic.

  Kentucky would be too busy trying to survive to worry about losing his mind. Now that was something he was good at.

  2

  Not far from Fort Benning, Georgia

  Patty had refused to untie the man. They’d questioned him until nightfall to no avail. He could remember almost nothing, or so he’d said.

  She read the missive once more: Accompanied by pilot, Sergeant first class Terrance Davis…

  Her heart fell. So close to Corwin yet so far away. This man should be missing or dead. Corwin was with him. He had been with him when they went down, so how on earth was he here? And what are the odds that they’d run into one another during the flare?

  She gazed at her sleeping “guest” and then out the window. The wind had picked up something fierce. It was as if hell’s dry gates had opened up on Georgia. The weather would only get worse since the solar flare struck; she could tell. The clouds held an ugly green, putrid color.

  “What do you see?” Gina asked.

  “That there is tornado weather.” Patty sighed and rubbed her stomach. “The wind and the dry and the fires cutting path through everything, I’m not surprised by it, but the question is, how bad will it be?”

  Together, they’d put towels down to block every crevice of the farmhouse so that the air pollution stayed outside as much as possible. Ash and dust were kicked up by the wind, and Patty knew that perhaps the masks Corwin collected would be a life saver at some point. The house shuddered and baby May jerked inside her womb, as if in surprise. It made Patty smile, but it was a sad smile.

  “Samuel asleep?”

  “Yes.” Gina clutched her hot tea close as if it were her son. “I think he thought I’d burn and die in that fire at our apartment building. When it struck, we were three stories up. He pulled me out. He has been awake all this time, being a ‘man of the house’ as you say.”

  “He’s a brave boy.”

  “Yes.”

  Patty liked the woman with dark eyes and even darker expressions. She was a moody sort, but for some reason, Patty trusted her. Gina wasn’t boisterous like Patty, but still waters ran deep. When it came down to it, she wouldn’t underestimate the woman.

  “I have no idea how I’m going to pull this off,” Patty said, motioning towards her large, pregnant belly. “I’m guessing hospitals are out of the question.”

  Gina took a sip and nodded. “I had Samuel in my bed alone.”

  “You did?” Patty couldn’t hide the shock in her voice.

  “Yes.” Her gaze was distant and brooding. “My husband at the time was…mean. He didn’t let me go. He said it was just going to be a false alarm again.” Her English was more broken as she tried to explain something that obviously still terrified her. “I remember I thought it was the scariest moment of my life. Turns out it wasn’t. I had him fast and held him close. I bundled him up; it was snowing. I packed my bags with a towel pinched between my knees. You would be surprised what you can do when it comes to your children, eh? Frank took me to the hospital when I said we were going. I had never seen him afraid of me until that moment. He realized I’d pushed a human out without so much as a muffled yell, and then, perhaps, that I was the strong one after all.”

  Shadows passed over Gina’s face.

  “Wasn’t it the scariest moment?”

  “No. Giving birth to them is actually not the hard part to me.”

  Patty’s jaw dropped, and Gina smiled a small, tight smile. The other woman held up a finger. “It is the first time that you think you might lose them back to from where they came.”

  Patty’s heart dropped for the second time. “Lose them?”

  “Yes. Samuel was born in the snow and before the spring came, a bad virus spread around, and our maid brought it into our house on accident, not realizing she had more than a sniffle. Sam didn’t even act sick. He merely was in my arms, playing and cooing one moment, and the next he was still. His chest stopped moving. He had pneumonia, but it crept up on us. I remember nothing about that night beyond running into the snow from house to house begging for someone to help us because our phones were down, and we didn’t have cell phones. We had a land line only because of Frank’s paranoia that I’d cheat on him, if you can believe that. I finally found a girl, five houses away, who was in nursing school. She took him from me and began CPR.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Yes.” Gina’s mouth was white and pulled into a pinch. “I thought, this is it. My son will die. The best thing to ever happen to me is only here a few months and gone.”

  “What happened then?” Patty had to sit down for the rest. Even though Samuel was in the next room, dreaming, she was horrified by the story.

  “They got him to breathe and then they rushed me to the hospital. His fever was one hundred and five, but the doctor said that me rushing him into the snow must have lowered it from even higher. It must have saved his life.” She sipped her tea, her face filled with the memory of the tragedy that turned into a miracle. “Think of that, Patty. My panic and my fear, it might have saved his life. I will forever remember that we do not always have to do anything heroic to make a difference.”

  “What about Frank?” Patty said flatly, already hating the man who fathered Samuel.

  “I left him the very next day. For years we lived only blocks away, and Frank moved here, south, when we did, but I’ve never seen him. It was the best thing I ever did.”

  Gina stood and left the room, and Patty knew the woman had gone and checked on Samuel. But she found the woman in her bedroom afterwards looking out the only window they had not yet covered.

  The world was doused in the gray ash, the distant lightning the only light in a sky that should have been bright with dawn.

  “I saw your Lord’s prayer on the wall,” Gina said. “We also have faith, my son and I. Jewish. But I have not been to temple in so long.” It was a confession and Patty listened silently. “I have not forgotten how to pray.” She touched her necklace, her gaze still miles in the distance. “Sometimes I say nice things,” she whispered, her voice fierce. Her eyes flashed to Patty’s. “Sometimes I do not.”

  “I understand. Being angry with God hap
pens.” Patty tried hard, herself, to cope with her own frustrations and loss. She completely knew what Gina meant.

  Gina nodded knowingly. “Like Isaac, who God asked for his son. And he was willing to give that.”

  Gina muttered something under her breath in Dutch, and Patty watched her gaze as it shuttered while she looked out the window once more.

  “What are you thinking?” Patty asked quietly.

  “I am thinking that it was lucky God did not ask a mother to give up her child instead. Because I think that story would have gone very differently.”

  Patty left her there and returned to the kitchen. Her thoughts grew chaotic, and she touched her stomach, and her eyes flooded. Motherhood was a gift that was unfair. She felt so tied and protective of a person she didn’t even know, but already she would die for her little blessing.

  Some called it instincts, but it was damned near divinity how she felt, as if she could call down wrath on someone who dared to harm her May.

  Gina returned to the kitchen and her mouth dropped when she saw Patty’s expression. “I…I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

  “You didn’t. Not anymore than I’ve been.”

  “Was Corwin a good man, Patty?”

  “The best.” Patty dried her tears and grabbed some materials. Together the women blocked out the last window in preparation for the storm.

  “I have some sandbags, too,” Patty said. “If we could trust that man, he could help. What do you think?”

  Gina shrugged. “I trusted Frank for so long. My opinion is not so good.”

  Patty thought about what Gina had said. If the woman was a Dutch Jew then her family, no doubt, had gone through the holocaust. Hidden or in captivity. They didn’t make it here earlier than that by the sound of her accent, so they’d been in Holland during a very dangerous time. Obviously before Gina had been born, but still, survival was in her blood.

  Gina didn’t know it, but she was brave, and she had conquered more things than she knew.

  “And you said that you don’t need to do things heroic.” Patty reached across and grabbed Gina’s hand. “To that little boy, you saved him in more ways than one.”

  Gina nodded and squeezed Patty’s hand.

  Patty sighed when she heard a deep cough in the other room. “Looks like Terrance is up. Let’s try again.”

  “I already told you, I don’t remember anything.” Terrance’s voice held a weariness that made Patty struggle internally with her decision to keep him tied. “I’m thirsty”, he said.

  Another dagger of guilt struck when he added, “I have to use the bathroom. Please. I won’t do anything.”

  Patty nodded at Gina. “I’ll get the shotgun. You untie him.”

  “Okay,” the other woman said.

  Once he was free, he didn’t jump and rush Patty like she thought he might. He used the restroom and then asked her what it looked like outside.

  She lowered the gun when he sat back down on the couch, showing her his hands. “Like a bad storm is going to rip through here,” she told him. “And I’m not sure how many masks I have, but if it kicks up all that ash and dust from the debris, I wonder if we’ll be able to breathe without them.”

  Gina offered, “There looks like some rain is coming, and Patty says she has some sandbags that might be useful.”

  Terrance nodded. “I can help.”

  “You can’t lift that stuff anyway,” Gina said when Patty seemed ready to argue.

  It was her subtle way of saying keep the gun. Patty nodded and they all went through the front door and then paused.

  Terrance gazed up at the sky. His mouth was wide open. The heavens raged, and the clouds danced, and the colors cast a glow on them all that was surreal to behold.

  His gaze moved to the road, and he frowned.

  “It’s a car,” Terrance said, pointing into the distance.

  “My neighbors,” Patty answered.

  “Do you know them well?” Gina asked.

  “Not really. But they’ve never been rude.”

  The car skidded into the drive and a large man got out. “Thought I’d come check on you.” His eyes slid over the house and the windows, and then lastly, they stopped on Terrance. “I guess I should be welcoming you home.”

  “No,” Patty said a little too shortly. “This is a…. not Corwin.”

  “I see,” the man said, and he gazed at Patty until she gave a slight nod that all was well.

  She couldn’t tell him the full truth, and if she sent Terrance with them, he could hurt them.

  “We’re headed west,” the neighbor said. “You might want to think about moving on.” He turned around and glanced at the sky then back at the group. “It’s gonna get rough here. Our house half-burned and last night Jenny said she heard someone creeping around our yard. You got weapons?”

  Patty nodded. “And food and water. All prepared here. Corwin made sure of that. He’d say—”

  “Prepare to be prepared,” Terrance said, and he’d gone pale.

  “Yes,” Patty said, staring at him hard. “You remember?”

  Patty nor Terrance said anymore. He gave her a deer in the headlights look and she realized what he had to share, couldn’t be done in front of her neighbor without drawing suspicion.

  She could have asked for help and perhaps the man would, but then might Terrance clam up if she did? She knew it was a risk, but she was the one with the shotgun. She kept it close and decided she’d let the neighbors go on their way.

  Their warnings about suspicious characters did not fall on deaf ears. She heard it loud and clear and was prepared for the world to turn quickly to chaos as the weather increased its threat.

  The man said his goodbyes and then he and his family drove off.

  As soon as they were through the front door, Patty rounded on Terrance. “Tell me—tell me everything you know! Right now!”

  Samuel came from the back room rubbing his eyes.

  “Mommy, I had a bad dream,” he said, sounding ages younger than ten years old. His eyes widened as he looked at Terrance. “The bad man,” he whispered. “He’s free.”

  3

  Baton Rouge, Louisiana

  “This is a terrible idea,” Kai said, and Sierra frowned through coughs until she gagged.

  “I don’t have a choice,” she said in a small voice when the hacking abated.

  “I know,” Kai murmured, rubbing her shoulders. “But I don’t like it.”

  It didn’t matter that Kai didn’t want to stop in the city of Baton Rouge, which wasn’t completely flooded like New Orleans. It didn’t matter that they were afraid of what would happen once they stepped on solid ground with others who had survived, who might not be good people. It didn’t matter because the weather decided for them.

  A storm began, and the water churned until their fan boat spun out and everyone was seasick and green.

  They found street signs poking just barely above the water, and they had followed Mathew’s instructions of how to get to downtown. Jennifer, Quinn, Kai, Sierra, and Mathew gripped each other tightly to keep from falling off the boat. Relief poured in when they finally heard a gritty sound as the bottom caught and then they anchored on dry-ish ground. They had arrived at the city. What was left of it.

  It had obviously burned until the rains had come, and the buildings were half gone from the explosions and plane crashes. The city had flooded for a time because there was a water line on the still-standing walls. A lot of people must have been washed away when that had occurred because it almost seemed like a ghost town with only a few, wary stragglers daring to move amidst the rubble.

  They were reluctant to approach, which made Sierra wonder what type of things had occurred since the flare had struck.

  “How?” Sierra asked in a faded voice, tired, and strained. “How has it come to this so fast?”

  Matt shook his head. “It’s like being in a third world country right here at home. A war torn one.”

  Quinn shivere
d and hugged herself. “It’s all over,” she moaned.

  Jennifer grabbed her friend’s hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

  They had to find a pharmacy. Sierra hadn’t needed an inhaler since she was younger, but now, she needed it, or she would die. She was barely breathing as it was, and the ash and air pollutants were slowly closing her airways. Panic threatened at every step.

  The hardest part wasn’t even her starving lungs. The most difficult thing was how exhausted it made her body. Fighting to breathe was a full-time job in a world that very much needed her to be capable and have energy.

  If they let her, she’d lay on the street and sleep for a year. Maybe she’d just lay down and die if she wasn’t careful with her thoughts. Kai always seemed to sense her gloom and doom when it arrived, because he pulled on her shoulder and checked from one of her eyes to the other. “Sparky, you okay?”

  She nodded but he frowned. “We’ll get your medicine. I promise.”

  “Okay,” she wheezed.

  “Lean on me,” he said.

  As one they kept their heads on a swivel as the ominous blanket of strange silence between distant thundering booms settled. The city had been wounded. It may have limped along shortly after the flare, but now it felt like they were walking through a gutted skeleton.

  “Most of the car models don’t seem to be working,” Matt said. “Ignitions…electronics….”

  Kai chimed in. “Radios, avionic equipment, computers, phones…”

  “It’s cold,” Quinn said, sounding nearly panicked. “You are saying there won’t be any heat?”

  Sierra shared Kai’s bleak expression and said, “He’s saying there won’t be anything.”

  “Ever again?” Quinn asked, eyes round.

  Kai shrugged. “Let’s just get through today, huh?”

  She nodded, and Kai strode over and gave her his jacket. She showed a small smile and put it on before a pop-pop-pop sound had them all throwing themselves to the ground.