Read Beyond Armageddon: Book 02 - Empire for Free Online Page A

nightmares?”

                Trevor gently closed the door, but not quite all the way.

                “I don’t think he gets nightmares.”

                “Hmmm…” Ashley tried—unconvincingly—to sound annoyed.

                They walked along the hall toward what had once been the second-floor ‘ Command Center ‘. Now it served as Trevor’s personal office. The majority of official business and meetings took place in the basement conference room.

                “So things went well?” Ashley asked.

                  “The bad guys are on the run.”

                “You were victorious ,” she said in a funny tone.

                “Huh?”

    “Nothing. Forget it.”

                The sliding doors to the balcony stood open and a soft breeze blew in. Outside, over the lake, an Eagle patrol ship flew through the night sky with spotlights searching the waters below and its running lights flashing like big fireflies.

                He stood at the balcony and watched. The image of the ship floating over the waters with its lights flashing resembled a special effects shot from a movie; surreal.

    In truth, so much of what happened at the mansion seemed surreal any more. He and Ashley, for instance. Their relationship felt more like a stage play. They never actually went through with the wedding they had been planning before the world fell apart. All the seating chart strategies and finely planned details were now faded memories of a dream life.

    In truth, few people formally married in the post-Armageddon world. Those of strong religious beliefs went to clergy and received the blessings of their preferred church, but Trevor’s bureaucracy offered no official sanction of ‘marriage.’

                Appointed regional judges settled “legal” disputes between people but had no time to stamp marriage licenses. More important issues—from food to alien monsters—vied for ‘government’ attention.

    To Trevor, finding Ashley covered in the green goo four years before had been a surprise, but not a shock. Some how it seemed to fit. Of course. He could not be with Nina because he was supposed to be with Ashley. Why?

                She was no fighter. Ashley had been somewhat of a whiny princess in the old days. Not a survivor at all. Ah, but what better reason for her to have been chosen to ‘ride the ark’?

                Yet for her, no time had elapsed. She spoke to her fiancé in one breath, then gasped for air in the next as he pulled her from a gooey coffin.

                Not so for him. Between the moment of her disappearance and the time of her reappearance, his entire person changed from a directionless young man to a single-minded leader equipped with the knowledge and burdened with the responsibility to fight a war against alien invaders.

                His months with Nina taught him the truth about his feelings for Ashley: he never really loved her. Not the type of deep, open love he felt with Nina. With his true love stripped from his life, he did not want to return to that old-world lie.

                For the first days after her return, he comforted her, awkwardly. He explained how the world changed. He did not need to explain how he had changed, she saw that for herself.

    Then he found out why he was supposed to be with Ashley. She told him about her nausea and a missed period. Dr. Maple quickly confirmed Ashley Trump’s pregnancy.

                After JB’s birth, blood testing confirmed his paternity and his humanity. Whatever force stole her away on the ark did not manipulate the child’s development, only postponed the birth.

                Trevor understood. Jorge Benjamin Stone was the reason he had to be with Ashley.

                JB needed a father, not merely a sperm donor. A