Chapter Two

Alison peered through the field glasses and tried to bring the images into focus. There it was again. Movement, and a quick, bright reflection. She nudged Brad, lying next to her on the ridge, and he swung his own binoculars in the direction in which she pointed. The two of them slid backwards down the slope and quickly made their way back to the campsite.

Abby and EJ were waiting, guns ready, alert; they relaxed a bit as Brad and Alison walked into the dim light of the small fire.

“We’re close enough, in the ‘burbs anyway, that it could just be some random person out for a stroll,” Brad said. “But I don’t think so. From what we know, Chicago is even more tightly controlled than St. Louis was, and at this point …”

Abby nodded. “No way someone’s just out wandering around. Not in the daytime. And not in this area.” She gestured in a wide circle. “Every town around Chicago is deserted and nothing but rubble. We were lucky to find this place in Bolingbrook, and luckier still that whoever lived here was at least a little bit prepared.”

EJ was still cataloging the ammo store they’d discovered in the basement, buried in a concrete wall that had partially collapsed during what they assumed were many flyovers in the area. Plenty of canned goods, too, and even some “extras,” things they hadn’t run across in years, like chocolate… and tequila. Alison was ecstatic, and even fairly temperate, under the circumstances.

***

Coming July 27 from Rocking Horse Publishing!