Afterglow: An Apocalypse Romance Read Free

dig the holes, sick himself too, weak and sweaty and shaking. But he’d done it, then resumed his position by the front window to keep watch as he rolled in and out of delirium. He was lucky nobody tried to break in. He was lucky he didn’t accidentally shoot himself. Mostly, he was damn lucky he hadn’t died from the sickness like everyone else he knew.
    He still couldn’t get his mind around how quickly things had gone south, how fast the world had gone from... well, from the world he knew to this. This place where everyone he loved was dead from the virus, and he was alone defending his sister’s house.
    And for what? What was the point? He needed a plan, he thought again. One that involved more than keeping watch over a mostly vacant street, eating beef jerky all day long, and, though he was still too weak to do them properly, forcing his body through sets of sit-ups and pushups so he could at least stay strong. For whatever happened next. It killed him, though, that he didn’t know what that was. He hated not knowing what was coming next.
    A noise. Out by the garage. The sound of wood splintering. Goddammit . He pushed himself off the chair and moved silently to the bathroom, which had a small window overlooking the side yard and the garage. A figure dressed in all black was creeping inside the garage. Small. A kid, probably, some teenager out scavenging. Well, there was nothing in the garage worth stealing, except his bike, and he’d shoot whoever tried to leave with that. His guess was the person would leave with nothing, and Creed could go back to sitting in the chair and trying to will himself to get better quicker.
    A few seconds later the person emerged from the garage, black skull cap pulled down low, and slunk around to his back door. The intruder held a gun, a revolver from the looks of it, and Creed’s heart rate accelerated. He’d known it would come to this eventually. Fights, with weapons. Death, either his or his opponent’s. But he’d hoped it would wait a bit until he was back to 100%. He supposed, though, that in an apocalypse nothing waited for you. You either had to keep moving or die, and he was planning on staying alive for a while.
    A knock sounded on the back door, and Creed crept into the kitchen, keeping watch from behind the pantry door. When a rock smashed the window next to the door, Creed thought one thing: I’m going to kill this asshole . He crouched down, muscles taut, ready to leap out at the intruder and mentally kicking himself for leaving his gun in the front room, and within seconds he had his chance.
    As soon as the person stepped into the kitchen, Creed flew from his hiding place and landed two hard kicks. The first sent the revolver flying, and the second, to the side of the asshole’s head, knocked him out and down. Creed stepped over the person on the floor and retrieved the gun—a pretty Ruger .38 snub nose. After checking that the hammer was in the safety notch, he stuck it into the waistband of his jeans, then stalked back over to his intruder.
    With his foot, he prodded the person lightly and heard a moan, unmistakably feminine. What the hell? He crouched down over the body, and now he could see it was in fact a girl, her face, despite the instant swelling where he’d kicked her, undeniably beautiful. Her eyelashes, resting on her cheeks, were long and dark, and her lips were full and perfect. He leaned over and, in one quick motion, pulled the cap off her head, releasing a cascade of dark red curls that fell onto his kitchen floor around her head.
    Well, fuck . A chuckle left his lips as he stood for a few seconds staring down at her. In what new reality was he that, in the middle of the probable end of the world, a girl like this broke into his house with a gun? And got kicked in the side of the head by him?
    He couldn’t let his guard down, though, so he quickly rolled her body to the side, grabbed the kitchen twine from one of the drawers, and tied her