Read First Wave (The Travis Combs Post-Apocalypse Thrillers) for Free Online

are
you OK? Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Katy said, in a shaky voice.
    They all moved up the porch steps reluctantly.
“Sweetie, can you tell me if you’re alright?”
    The front door creaked open and the sooty face of a
young girl with blond hair emerged, backlit by the interior light.

Chapter 5
     
    Travis and Pete had made their way along a bleached,
wood fence to the right of the house, darting around bales of hay and stacks of
firewood before arriving at the back door of the house. He moved towards the
left side of the house where a large elm tree cast a shadow, obscuring the
porch from the moonlight. He paused, peering into a window. While glancing
inside, he stopped and shot a glance back into the open desert, in the
direction of the hotel, where he thought he heard movement far in the distance.
Then, he saw a figure move by the window inside the house, while the rear door
opened up and the outline of an older man in coveralls appeared. “No need for
sneaking around son, I heard ya comin’ some time ago. I may be on my last leg,
but I still got my senses about me.”
    The man had a silver beard and patches of hair on either
side of his balding head. He was leaning on a cane with his right hand while
the other was wrapped with gauze that revealed traces of blood seeping through.
“Come on in. I reckon me and my granddaughter are the last residents of our
small town to provide some morsel of hospitality.”
    Travis lowered his pistol and stepped up on the
porch. The older man had an ashen face and labored breathing. “Name’s Evan
Roscoe. I’d shake your hand but that’s a custom that faded in recent weeks, so
no disrespect.”
    “Travis, and this is my buddy Pete.”
    The man nodded then turned while they followed him
inside. They could see Katy and the others coming in through the front door,
led by the young girl.
    “Pull up a seat on the couch or by the fireplace. We
got some talking to do and not much time to do it,” the man said with a wheezy exhale.
    Everyone came in and sat down except Travis, who
stood with his back to the handmade stone fireplace, in view of both doorways.
It was a cozy interior with a small kitchen off the main living room, two side
bedrooms, and a bathroom.
    The young girl sat down next to the man. “This is my
granddaughter Becka. She’s twelve but has the good sense and experience of
someone twice her age. I’m sure glad we found someone on the radio ‘cause I wasn’t
sure what I was going to do over the next few hours,” he said wiping his shirt
sleeve over a teary eye. “She lost her folks a week ago and her cousins too” he
reached down putting his hand on her head. “And I’m afraid my time is nearly
upon me. In another reality, she would have been taken in by another ranching
family in the area. We look after our own.”
    The girl looked up at him with lips trembling,
holding his hand while he continued, “In all my seasons in the sun, I never
figured things would end like this. Now, I don’t know you folks any more than
you know me, but my Becka is going to be better of going with you than stayin’
here. This is a lot to lay on strangers but I don’t have much time,” he said
glancing down at his bandaged forearm.
    Travis stood with arms folded. “Sir, I am sorry for
your losses. My friends and I will do what we can to help you and your family.
Right now though, my head is swirling like a cement mixer. You see, we all just
came off a twenty two day river trip and could sure use your help figuring out
what’s going on.”
    The man looked down at Becka. “Darlin’, why don’t
you go in the kitchen and get these folks some food and glasses of water, while
I explain things to ‘em?”
    The girl got up and walked into the dimly lit room
next to them. Evelyn followed behind her to offer help.
    “Jim and LB, you two go on the porch and keep an eye
out,” said Travis as the two men walked out, leaving the screen door open so
they could hear the