Apocalypse Asunder by David Rogers Page A

routine shifting around without incident was becoming.
    It was inexcusable.  Completely.  Utterly without excuse.  Staying had nearly gotten them . . .
    “Are you okay?” Jessica asked, glancing briefly at Austin, trying to wrench her thoughts out of the loop of recrimination and terrified anger.
    “Me?  I’m fine.”
    “Your side’s not bothering you?”
    “Hurts, but that’s nothing new, and nothing I can’t handle.” he shrugged.  “What about you?”
    “Me?”
    “Relax.  We’re fine.”
    “I’ll relax when we get far from here.” she said levelly, though it took effort to keep her voice from quavering as she thought of what could have happened if the team of scavengers had spotted them.  The SUV was very noticeable, to anyone who knew what it was.  Somehow, she didn’t think anyone who recognized it, certainly not anyone from the Knoxville Eagle facility, would be in a forgiving live-and-let-live mood.
    Not after she and Austin had left the group’s leader laying dead on the street and fled into the night.  That the asshole deserved it likely wouldn’t matter to his friends or subordinates or however they thought of themselves.  Baser emotions would be guiding their reactions if they spotted the trio that had done the deed.
    “Try.” he said softly.  “We’re fine.  As soon as we get to the first turn, I’ll know exactly where we are, and from then on I can keep us on course.”  Austin craned his head over to look at the dashboard gauges.  “We’ve still got two-thirds of a tank.  We’ll put some distance between here and us, then find a station and pull some gas out of the tanks so we can fill up.”
    “Right.” she nodded, trying to listen, to believe , him.  She still felt like panic would be a good option; even though she knew calm decisions were the right choice.
    But it had been way too close a thing.  If they’d driven up to that gas station . . .
    “There, see, that’s Maxwell.  Turn left.”
    Jessica slowed as the crossing with its dark signal rushed up.  She made the turn, heading south.
    * * * * *
    “Zombie.” Candice announced.
    “Got it.” Austin said as Jessica straightened, still holding the rope that went down into the gas station’s underground tank.  She looked around quickly.  The rural gas station was the smallest one she’d yet seen; literally two pumps, one each for 87 octane regular gas and diesel.  But it was quiet, and deserted.
    Except for the occasional zombie, apparently.
    But this was only the second one since they’d stopped.  As Jessica turned her head, looking for the problem, Austin fired past her in the direction of the gas station’s store.  He was sitting atop the roof of the SUV, where he had a good view of the area, and a clear field of fire in every direction.  Helping him climb up there took some effort, but once he was in place, he could see everything without having to move further.
    She heard him cut off a curse.  Completing the turn of her head, Jessica saw a small zombie next to the building.  It looked like it had been in its teens before it converted, maybe fifteen or so.  As she took in the tattered jeans and bare scraps of a t-shirt that still doggedly clung to its upper body, Austin fired again.  This shot took the zombie in the face, sending it to the ground.
    “Sorry.” he said, clearly embarrassed at having missed.  “It staggered at just the wrong time.”
    “It’s okay.” Jessica shrugged as she resumed hauling on the rope, pulling it up hand over hand.  He was tired.  Riding around in a car didn’t seem all that taxing, until you did it while hurt.  And while helping pay attention to the surroundings for both zombies and monitoring a map.  Then it was clearly enough to take a chunk out of even someone as fit as Austin.
    But despite his burning his candle hard on both ends, she still trusted him.  He’d let her know if he couldn’t hold his share up.
    The metal can at the end of the