Earth Zero: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Next Book 2) by Scott Nicholson Page B

under again. He kicked, thinking some aquatic creature was wrapped around his ankle, but he discovered it was just a fallen tree whose sodden branches rose and fell with the surging water.
    “Stephen!” he called when his head bobbed to the surface again. The rapids pulled him downstream, and he slapped at jagged rocks trying to stop his momentum. He only succeeded in ripping his fingers open.
    He rolled onto his ass and braced his boots before him as he slid down the mountain a jarring drop at a time. At least the water was carrying him away from the deer, but he might be getting separated from Stephen, too. He didn’t have time to look, as all his focus was on taking the next breath and avoiding the next deadly obstacle.
    Franklin was several hundred yards downstream when the river leveled off to wide, sandy shallows. He dragged himself to the riverbank and lay there breathing mud and leaves until he’d somewhat recovered. Despite the heavy canopy of hardwoods overhead, he kept an eye out for Stephen in the gloom. He expected the boy’s body to come drifting past him at any moment.
    Fifteen minutes later, he crawled into the forest and assessed his condition. No broken bones, no major contusions, just a head-to-heel throbbing as if his body was one large bruise.
    He was unarmed, shivering, and alone in a forest full of predators.
    He began walking, or at least shuffling one foot after another in what was more or less a single direction.

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    The infant Zap was named Geneva, she told them.
    “Only the small of us are allowed to have names,” Geneva said.
    “I have a name,” Rachel said.
    “You’re not one of us.”
    Rachel didn’t want to argue that point. She welcomed all such affirming evidence she could gather. Since her telepathic bond had dissolved, her glistening eyes were the only visible sign of the mutant intrusion of her body.
    After the public spectacle with the reptile, a squadron of Zaps had led Rachel and DeVontay up the incline and onto street level, where charred concrete buildings were interspersed with crumbling edifices whose origins dated back more than a century. The streets were cracked with heat and the scattered wreckage of cars was blackened from fire. Broken glass reflected light back toward the sun that had indirectly caused the destruction.
    This was a small Southern town that had died as surely as those that were torched by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman as his army marched to the sea during a war that would soon be forgotten.
    Set amidst the ruins at infrequent intervals were silver domes without visible doors. They appeared to be large enough to house dozens of Zaps and whatever activities they carried on inside. Although a few masonry structures appeared undamaged on the horizon, there was no sign of human activity or life.
    Geneva said the town was Wilkesboro, which Rachel recalled from the map as being about thirty miles east of Stonewall. The Zaps must have carried them, unconscious, after the collapse of the barn. The trip likely took a full day. Even given the nearly tireless energy of the Zaps, they would be slowed by their human burdens.
    Just when Rachel was convinced the Zaps were escorting her and DeVontay to the edge of town to kill them and leave their bodies lying out for buzzards and other scavengers, they were led down a small flight of stairs to a wooden door. It appeared to be the basement entrance of a residential unit that was now nothing but splintered wood, warped plastics, and a leaning shelf of asphalt shingles. But they were led inside the door to discover a dome constructed inside the rubble, concealing it from anyone who might search from above.
    They were placed in a concrete cell with brick walls that apparently had once served as a laundry room, because hoses and faucets protruded from the wall. Blankets were piled on the floor, along with clothes of various sizes. There was a metal bucket in one corner, and judging from