Read After: First Light (AFTER post-apocalyptic series, Book 0) for Free Online Page A

the spotlight.
    Mira pulled her cell from her blouse pocket. “Dang.”
    “What is it?”
    “Stevie was supposed to call.”
    “Getting stood up again?”
    “We’re just hanging out, not dating.”
    “What does that mean? Sex without having to say you’re sorry?”
    Mira ignored the jab. “No bars,” she said, tapping her phone.
    “That’s weird. There are towers all over the place. You have to drive half a day to find a dead spot.”
    “Maybe it’s that solar thing. I’ve still got power, just no signal.”
    “I read that communications might be interrupted,” Rachel said. “Also supposed to have some static on the radio and TV.”
    “Well, ain’t nobody got time for that.”
    “The worst is supposed to be over by tomorrow. Something about the sun rotating away from the earth so the solar flares spew out to the far side of the solar system.”
    Mira finished her tea and carried the cup to the tiny sink. “Well, you just enjoy the sunset alone. I’m going to track down Stevie.”

 
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Officer Harlan McLeod had only been on the force for nine weeks.
    As a rookie, he got the crap shift, midnight to six. That wasn’t so bad, since Taylorsville was a sleepy town in the foothills of North Carolina and the worst crimes he’d handled were a cemetery vandalism and a few domestic disputes. In all cases, alcohol was involved.
    The big excitement of the evening was that two of the department’s cruisers wouldn’t start, so both he and Stefano in Unit Seven had to switch from their usual cars. The city’s maintenance staff couldn’t figure out the cause, although it appeared electronic in nature. He’d hit the street thirty minutes late, but it had taken only an hour for boredom to set in.
    Now, as he cruised the four-block Main Street and the courthouse square, he wondered how long he’d be able to take this gig before he applied for a big-city post. He wasn’t all that romantic about police work, taking his two-year basic law-enforcement training because he didn’t want to go to college or enter the military. Sure, this was the era of “Unsung heroes,” where everyone with a uniform commanded respect whether that respect was earned or not. But Harlan was more interested in a job than a career, and he figured as long as he veered well away from politics and registered as an independent, he’d log plenty of paychecks.
    The moon was faint and fuzzy, and beyond the pale streetlights, a strange greenish glow licked at the clouds like a series of veins. The department had received a bulletin warning of possible radio interference. Something to do with the sun, Maurice from Communications had said. Harlan didn’t know what to make of that. Why should the sun be causing trouble in the middle of the night?
    Harlan decided to test out the radio. He said into the handset, “Unit Twelve here, I’m ten-twenty on Main Street. Routine patrol.”
    A little static cut in before the response. “Ten-four.”
    Routine.
    Harlan debated pulling into the service dock behind the courthouse and catching some shut-eye. He’d squeezed off a few catnaps on previous shifts and had mastered the art of sleeping lightly. He’d even learned how to prop his laptop on his steering wheel so that it would look like he was working. But he was too bored to sleep.
    His luck was in. A hunched-over figure scurried down a side street. Nothing good ever came from being out at 3 a.m., and Harlan couldn’t resist tailing the guy for a block or so. If the guy fled upon realizing he was being followed by a cop car, well, that counted as probable cause.
    The cruiser’s lights swept over the figure, pinning his silhouette against the whitewashed brick of a furniture store. Harlan wondered if he should call in the pursuit, realizing he’d mentally elevated the person to a “suspect.” But he didn’t want to be ribbed if the suspect was just some guy whose car broke down after his wife booted him out of the house. The