Apocalypse Aftermath
Page 52
“How’d you manage that?” Crawford called. “Power’s been out for a while now.”
“Well ma’am, we got here before it failed and hooked us up some generators. And we managed to fill the freezers, and the coolers in the store, with stuff before the power kicked.”
Peter grinned. “What’re you looking for in trade?”
“For what?”
“Six hot meals, and six more to-go orders.”
“Gunny, you can’t be fucking serious.” Crawford said.
Peter held up a hand to the man above and turned to Crawford with a grin. “It’s getting toward noon, and we were planning on scouting most of the day. You want to eat canned food or something hot?”
“This is really weird, you know that, right?”
“Crawford, we’ve been in the middle of a zombie apocalypse for two damned weeks now. You can open a can if you want, but I’m in the mood for the kind of meal my wife – God bless her departed soul – would tear a strip off me a mile wide for even thinking about.”
“She didn’t like you eating at Waffle House?”
“She didn’t like me eating anything that wasn’t grease free and green, preferably without having been touched with salt at any point.” Peter said. “But what the hell, I’m going to live a little.”
Crawford’s face spread a smile slowly across from cheek to cheek. “You know what, fuck it. You’re right.”
“So, twelve meals, let’s talk.” Peter called up to the man.
“I guess y’all got five five six rounds?”
“Some. Depends on the deal.”
The man grinned. “The cook tells me we should be looking to move eggs since they’re going to be the first to go bad on us. Give you a pretty good deal if you’re willing to eat some for us.”
“I like mine three at a time and over easy with hash browns scattered, smothered and covered. And bacon. Double bacon. I can check with the rest of my folks, but if they’re going to say no to some good fried eggs by someone who does them right, fuck them.”
Chuckles drifted down from the top of the awning. “Guess y’all don’t need a menu.”
# # # # #
Afterword
It’s funny how a four letter word can be both amazing and terrifying at the same time.
I’ve felt it before, but never from this end. As a reader, coming to the end of a story has always been simultaneously great and disappointing; I’m happy to have seen it through, but sorry there’s not more. As curious as that can be as a reader, as a writer it’s . . . interesting. The most common thing I’ve heard, over and over since Apocalypse Atlanta came out, has been one four letter word.
No, no that one. This one: more.
Readers wanting more is fantastic, but coming up with more has been a wild ride. I wrote the first story in a vacuum, and this one knowing there are people out there who are looking for it. Waiting for it. Dare I even say demanding it. I’ve heard for years how tough the second thing you do is, and I’ll admit I never quite got it until I was slapped in the face with having to come up with more.
I had things that didn’t make it into Apocalypse Atlanta. My initial thoughts when I sat down to follow it up was to start with them. I soon found they weren’t enough, and I had to search for the story I wanted to tell with this one. The first tracks the beginning of a zombie apocalypse, something I feel is almost always skipped over. That was the heart of the story for me; looking at all the things other authors so often bypass in their eagerness to get to the teeth and terror.
With Apocalypse Aftermath, I didn’t have nearly as much of that luxury as I previously did. Yet I had no interest in a tale focused only on running and screaming and dying. Those things are part of this story, but they’re not the story. It took me longer than I’d like to admit, but I think I finally found that core I spent so long fumbling around for. I hope so anyway. I hope you think so.
Thanks to everyone who bought into Apocalypse Atlanta; you made this follow up possible. It would never have come to light without you demanding more. It’s not like there aren’t a lot of zombie apocalypse stories floating around, and somehow a lot of you found mine. So, really, thanks. Sincerely.
I hope you’ll agree it was worth the wait.
David Rogers
Atlanta, Georgia
2014
ps: the best way you can get more books from me is to help spread the word. Please take a moment to return to the e-tailer site and leave a review. This only takes you a moment, but will pay immense dividends in helping me write more stories. It really does make that much of a difference. The reviews modify how visible the book is on the site, and affect what kinds of advertising I can use. Simply put, the more, the better. Thanks again.
pps: Thanks go to my brother. While he is a very large asshole, he was also the first person to tell me face-to-face I’d written a real story that was good. That counts for something.
Also by David Rogers
Apocalypse Atlanta – We’ve all seen it on the news every year. A hurricane, a tornado, a tsunami, a flood. A BAD thing happens, and all hell breaks loose.
Some people are caught in the chaos, others are victims, some run, others wait for help, most sit at home watching for everything to be fixed for them, and a few dive in to do whatever they can.
The thing about a zombie apocalypse is whether or not you’re in that initial wave of people who get hungry and start snacking. And where you are as few turn to many. As we all know, when it’s zombies, soon many turns to most. And it’s over when most become all.
Apocalypse Atlanta follows three people as the zombies start eating and bring the world down around them a bite at a time.
One is a retired Marine. The second is a widowed single mother. And the third is a biker.
Are there right or wrong answers when zombies are involved? Do things like morality and decency matter? Is it better to be alive to feel guilty, or dead an honorable? Who decides who’s right or wrong when a single mistake can make you dinner for a ravenous horde of the undead?
The story that started it all, the preceding book to Apocalypse Aftermath.
http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Atlanta-ebook/dp/B00D538D6M/
Bite Sized Apocalypse – an anthology of five short stories set in the universe of Apocalypse Atlanta. The common thread are the zombies. Each story looks at a different little slice of the apocalypse as it gets going for those particular characters. Little bite-sized chunks of it.
Is that a dinner bell I hear?
http://www.amazon.com/Bite-Sized-Apocalypse-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DUFWNKW/
The five stories in Bite Sized Apocalypse are also available individually.
Better to be Lucky – You've thought about it. What would the first few hours of a zombie apocalypse be like? For one company of military police, it was like almost any other job in the service. Boredom with flashes of sheer, howling terror.
http://www.amazon.com/Better-be-Lucky-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DENSDNG/
Marching through the Apocalypse – Many things might be happening when a zombie apocalypse begins. For some of the most genre aware people in Atlanta, their survival wasn't so much who or where they were, but rather what they were wearing when people started getting hungry.
http://www.amazon.com/Marching-through-Apocalypse-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DEKA1IY/
There goes the Weekend – A bail bondsman's, er . . . woman's, day can be boring or interesting. Boring can be profitable, and interesting can be fun. But there is such a thing as too much fun. When Darla goes looking for a wife beater right when the zombie apocalypse kicks off, there goes the weekend.
http://www.amazon.com/There-goes-Weekend-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DSGFGBQ/
Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em – Life is about rules. Lots of rules. But when zombies start eating people, the rules change.
http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-youve-got-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DTI8S7C/
A little me time – Every year, Lloyd spends a wee
k hiking in the North Georgia mountains. This year, while he's getting away from it all, everything goes straight to hell.
http://www.amazon.com/little-me-time-David-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00DR5IPF2/
Individual short stories
You are what you eat – When a zombie apocalypse starts, everyone has problems. Well, everyone who’s not a zombie I guess. For one student in a small South Georgia town, her problem was zombies don’t respect dietary restrictions.
http://www.amazon.com/You-are-what-you-eat-ebook/dp/B00ELLZGX0/