An Apocalypse Family (Book 1): Family Reunion Read Free

Guard together, and right there in front of me was a post from Carla saying he’d gotten sick yesterday and died last night. She apologized for posting it, but she said she couldn’t get through to anyone on the phone. The fact that Jake was gone was like a cold anvil lying on my chest. I closed the app and went to a search engine. I had to find out more about what was happening.
    Article after article told of the devastation that the South African Flu was wreaking on the world. A story from early yesterday morning said that the vaccination the CDC had sent out all over the world was being recalled. It was apparently causing some people to become violent and attack anyone around them.
    My god! How many people had rushed to their doctors and clinics to get that damn vaccination?
    The government had actually made sure that all doctors, nurses, paramedics, and servicemen were the first ones to get it.
    Shit, oh dear! Leave it to the government to turn a pandemic into an epic horror movie.
    The nut-jobs outside my closet were apparently people who had received the vaccine and now were some kind of freaks that ate people’s faces off and gorged on their intestines.
    *****
     

Max
6:04 p.m.
SeaTac Long-Term Parking
     
    Max closed his e-mail and unplugged the air card from his laptop. His brown eyes focused on nothing as he sat for a minute trying to come up with a plan to get Lisa out of quarantine. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to break her out, the only other option was to do what he did best: bluff and bullshit his way through. Max had “the gift,” as his brother called it. With it, he’d gained entrance to places and parties where they had no right to be. It had become a running joke over the years. Of course, it didn’t always go his way, as his time spent in a Mexican jail would attest to.
    Max drove out of the parking lot and squealed to a stop in front of the troop carriers. Exiting the Land Rover he rented that day, he put on his angry face. He eyeballed the guy who appeared to be in charge and marched straight toward him. When he was about ten feet away, he could see the rank of colonel velcroed to the front of the man’s uniform.
    “Listen, you fucking idiot. You have the goddamn attorney general’s daughter in there! You might survive this flu, but your ass is going to be dead meat if you don’t get her out here immediately!” Max stated.
    The colonel looked up from a clipboard in his hand and took in the picture of Max in all his outraged glory. He didn’t bat an eyelash. He removed his M9 from its holster and pointed it right at Max’s forehead. Max halted in his tracks, held up his hands, and started apologizing before the colonel had even cleared leather.
    “Sir, I’m sorry as hell. I lost my cool! I’m the attorney general’s brother-in-law, and I was supposed to pick her up. My sister will kill me if I don’t get her home in one piece!”
    “Son, I don’t care if you are the Pope’s daddy! No one is leaving the quarantine area until I get word from the governor,” the colonel said, slowly lowering his handgun.
    Max patted his pockets as if he was trying to find his cell phone, acting as if he’d left it in the Rover. He held up a finger and turned to go back. He made it a couple of steps before the colonel fired a round off into the air. Max threw his hands up again and asked the colonel not to shoot him, his voice several octaves higher than before.
    Turning, Max observed the reaction of the soldiers to the colonel. To a person, they had their weapons aimed at Max, their expressions tense and fingers caressing their triggers. All except two of them; they were in mid-run and tackled Max, slamming him to the ground. Wrenching his hands behind his back, they proceeded to slap zip ties on his wrists and ankles.
    The colonel walked over, crouched down, and politely stated, “You do know that I have the right to shoot anyone that doesn’t comply with my orders, son?”
    “Uhhh… sir, I