by Harley Tate
Whatever happened next, they would face it together. Tracy glanced at all of the faces gathered around her. Four college kids, a librarian, and a fluffy orange cat. Not the most intimidating crew on the outside, but so far they had managed to survive more than she thought possible.
She smiled at Tucker and raised her water glass. “Thank you for warning Madison about the EMP. If it hadn’t been for you, we wouldn’t be sitting here with all these supplies.”
His cheeks colored and he gave her a small nod. “You’re welcome, Mrs. Sloane. I’m just glad her text went through.”
“So am I.” Madison hugged her again. “I still can’t believe we both made it home.”
“Neither can I, honey.” She squeezed her daughter closer to her side. “But I’m afraid this is just the beginning.”
Everyone around the table nodded, even Wanda.
“What do you think will happen tomorrow?” Peyton asked the question, his green eyes full of fear and hope.
Tracy smiled. “Tomorrow, I teach you all how to fry a pie on a campfire and we figure out just what food this cat will eat.”
“I vote jalapeño Doritos.” Tucker grinned as Brianna punched him in the arm.
“We’re saving those, remember!”
“Maybe he’ll be a mouser,” Wanda offered. “Without electricity, there will be a ton more mice and rats.”
Madison recoiled. “Eww.”
“Hey, don’t knock it.” Tucker tried not to laugh. “Pretty soon we might be eating them!”
Brianna raised her water glass. “To surviving the apocalypse without eating a single rodent!”
Everyone around the table raised their glasses and Tracy smiled. It might not be the world she envisioned, but the motley band assembled in her tiny home had proven themselves more than capable.
They might have witnessed the end of life as they knew it, but Tracy planned to stick around long enough to see the start of something new. This was only the beginning.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
WALTER
Somewhere near the California-Oregon Border
8:00 p.m.
Walter pulled the tiny compact over to the side of the road. The tires rumbled over the strip warning of his exit, but he ignored them, coasting to a stop in the dust and weeds. He turned the engine off and waited for the headlights to go out.
He stared, dumbstruck.
“So it’s true.”
He turned to his passenger and nodded. “I guess so.” Without another word, he opened the driver’s side door and stepped out into the semidarkness.
Instead of dark sky and stars, giant swaths of undulating blues and greens and even purples filled the air. The northern lights all the way down here. He rubbed at the back of his neck.
The sky wasn’t what bothered him. It was the worrying sight below him that had Walter praying silently for the first time in nineteen years. He had pulled over at the edge of a cliff; one of those lookout spots where tourists could stand and take a photo of themselves in front of an amazing backdrop.
Only instead of the lights of the valley opening up below him, there was nothing but darkness.
A giant, gaping maw, ready to swallow up the beauty of the night sky above it. Had the sun been out, how far could he see? A hundred miles? Two hundred?
There should be lights. Millions of little shimmering lights announcing that civilization lurked just down this mountain. But it was dark, just like he had seen from thirty-thousand feet.
For some reason, he’d kept hoping that as soon as they crested the hill, as soon as they reached California, somewhere, somehow, the lights would be on. But as far as he could see, from Oregon to Idaho and beyond, the lights just blinked out. America sat in darkness.
He thought of the terror down the hill below them. The fear and peril.
The worst was just beginning. How bad would it get? And how soon?
Walter shuddered and turned back to the car.
Hold on, Tracy. I’m coming.
Want to read more of Walter’s story? Subscribe to Harley’s mailing list for an exclusive companion short story:
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If you were hundreds of miles from home when the world ended, how would you protect your family?
Walter started his day like any other by boarding a commercial jet, ready to fly the first leg of his international journey. Halfway to Seattle, he witnesses the unthinkable: the total loss of power as far as he can see.
Hundreds of miles from home, he’ll do whatever it takes to get back to his wife and teenage daughter. Landing the plane is only the beginning.
Darkness Falls is a companion story to After the EMP, a post-apocalyptic thriller series following the Sloane family and their friends as they attempt to survive after a geomagnetic storm destroys the nation’s power grid.
Get Darkness Falls Now.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This series wouldn’t have been possible without a hefty dose of faith and support from my family. Post-apocalyptic fiction has been near to my heart for years, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to write it.
Over the past few years, my family and I have grown increasingly aware of the precarious nature of our existence. A single act of terror or a weather event outside our control could change life as we know it forever.
How many of us will be prepared if that day comes?
I hope my books not only entertain, but also inspire the survivalist inside each of us. Being prepared isn’t crazy, it’s smart.
Until next time,
Harley
ABOUT HARLEY TATE
When the world as we know it falls apart, how far will you go to survive?
Harley Tate writes edge-of-your-seat post-apocalyptic fiction exploring what happens when ordinary people are faced with impossible choices.
Harley’s first series, After the EMP, follows the Sloane family and their friends as they try to survive in a world without power. When the nation's power grid is wrecked, it doesn't take long for society to fall apart. The end of life as we know it brings out the best and worst in all of us.
The apocalypse is only the beginning.
Contact Harley directly at:
www.harleytate.com
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Darkness Begins
Day One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Day Two
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Day Three
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgments
About Harley Tate
