Taking the weapon from its shoulder holster, he checked it and put it back. He took another drink of water, then crawled out of the window. He nearly stepped on a man lying on the ground next to his car. He put a leg over the body and his foot found the ground. He eased his other leg out, hit the man by accident, and heard a groan.
Squatting down, he turned the man, who groaned again. The man had blood coming out of his ears and eyes. He jerked his hand back. The man’s face was covered with blisters.
Harley looked up and around him. Some of the store fronts around him had broken windows. What the hell happened last night?
Gingerly he stood, his shaky legs barely holding him up. The ringing in his ears and the throbbing in his head made him nauseated. He bent over and vomited again. He gripped his knees as his body spasmed. When he had finished, he stood up. Ahead of him was a woman, and he began walking toward her. His legs felt like jelly and he wanted to call out to her, but when he tried to, his throat hurt like it had been burned raw. When he reached her, he put his hand on her arm to turn her and get her attention. When she turned, he screamed, a long and soundless scream. The woman’s face was covered with yellow blisters, all filled with liquid. Her eyes were gone, blood trickling out where they had once been.
He staggered backward and fell onto the sidewalk. Landing hard, he vomited over and over between his legs, heavy ropes of saliva hanging from his mouth. His body jerked and tried to vomit more, but there was nothing left. Tears fell down his cheeks and he watched the woman wander off, whimpering.
This had been no earthquake. This was something else. A bomb. Something some other country had done to them. North Korea? He fought to stand, his legs weak. He turned, remembering his bugout bag, but when he saw his car, he realized the back end had been crushed in. There was no way he could get to it. looking around, he spotted a convenience store. He crossed the street.
By the curb lay a woman in a pool of blood and rain water. Bubbles were coming up from around her face, which was submerged in the red pool. He gently tried to turn her over so she wouldn’t drown. But when he tried, the skin and meat of her face stuck to the pavement and he saw her skull underneath. He gagged and laid her back down to drown. He figured he was doing her a favor by letting her die.
He looked at his hands and saw small blisters beginning to develop. His hands went up to his own face, where he felt the beginnings of painful blistering. Radiation sickness. I’ve got radiation sickness. Someone dropped a nuclear bomb. He staggered away from the woman and went in to the convenience store.
Looking around, he saw no one. He went to the drinks section and pulled out several bottles of water. He opened one and felt some of the skin on his fingers give. He looked down and almost screamed. Blood smeared the bottle cap. His fingers looked raw. He pulled out his shirttail and tried again. Finally the bottle opened.
He drank, then staggered over to the medicine aisle. He got a box of pain relievers and carefully opened the box and bottle, mindful of his fingers. He gulped down three tablets with water. Then he stood, panting. Looking around, he went to the register and yanked up several plastic bags. He then went over and started putting food into the bags.
Returning to the refrigerators, he picked out several sports drinks to help replace what he had vomited.
He felt his gut twist and wanted to vomit again. He went back to the medicine aisle and got a bottle of pink Pepto. He breathed heavily, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.
He had to get home. He had to get back to Christy and the boys. With several bags of food and medicine, as well as drinks, Harley left the store. His legs felt like rubber. He stopped in front of the glass window and saw his reflection. His hair wild, he had blood all down his face and his shirt. He looked like something out of a horror movie.
He saw a body up by the edge of the building. He didn’t go near it. He didn’t want to see. Tears fell down his face and he put one unsteady foot in front of the other. I have to get home, I have to get home. I can’t leave Christy and the boys. They’ll never know what happened to me. I have to be with them, I have to see my babies.
He was far from home and didn’t know how long it would take him, but he knew he had to get there. There was no question. He couldn’t let this end him. He couldn’t let this stop him from being with his family. He only prayed that they were alive and okay. Please God, let them be okay.
OTHER BOOKS BY S.A. ISON
BLACK SOUL RISING
INOCULATION ZERO: WELCOME TO THE STONE AGE
BOOK ONE
INOCULATION ZERO: WELCOME TO THE AGE OF WAR
BOOK TWO
EMP: ANTEDILUVIAN PURGE
BOOK ONE
EMP: ANTEDILUVIAN FEAR
BOOK TWO
EMP PRIMEVAL
POSEIDON: RUBBLE AND ASH
BOOK TWO
EMP: ANTEDILUVIAN COURAGE
BOOK THREE
SHATTERED MIND
THE HIVE
SMOKEHOUSE SMILES
Dragon’s Fortune
Alaskan Heat
The Butler Did it
Little White Lies
The Seeding
Copyright
POSEIDON Russian Doomsday
Copyright © 2018 by S.A. Ison All rights reserved.
Cover design by Elizabeth Mackey
Book edited by Laurel C. Kriegler of Kriegler Editing Services
All rights reserved. Except as under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without prior written permission of S.A. Ison
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the production of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons – living or dead – is entirely coincidental.