Tomorrow, page 1
Tomorrow
_______________________
Nichole Severn
Tomorrow is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright© 2012 by Nichole Severn.
All rights reserved.
KDP Select Edition
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www.nicholesevern.com
Cover art and design: Yevinn Graphics.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
About the Author
1
The screams were inhuman, getting closer, and growing louder.
Paige sat with her back against the mountain wall, meticulously cleaning the shotgun in her hands by firelight.
Samantha lay beside her, snoring softly as she huddled against Paige’s leg.
They’d been on the run for two days now, two long heart-pounding days. The infection had spread. Men, women and children alike were hunting for fresh flesh. The mountains were the only place left untouched. Here, they could hide for weeks.
Paige would have to put out the small fire warming them against the Rocky Mountain winter soon. It was getting darker and the flames would be visible for all to see soon.
She nudged Samantha with her knee gently, trying to wake her for the next watch.
Samantha groaned. “Just a little bit longer.”
She acquiesced. They were exhausted. The more rest, the better in the long run. Tomorrow would be a hard day. Tomorrow they headed higher up the mountain. They needed their energy.
A few moments later, Samantha’s snores filled Paige’s ears once again, but the screams still haunted her.
The first time she’d heard them was on a night just like this two days ago, clear, chilly and beautiful. Her life had been safe such a short time ago. Hiking had been hobby instead of a necessary skill to survive. Now, their families were dead, infected with the same disease she and Samantha were hiding from, their life turned upside down overnight.
Samantha turned over, staring up into the darkened night sky as Paige looked down at her. “I’m awake.” She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Nearly seven.”
Samantha nodded. “Four hours.”
Paige would be so lucky if she could sleep that long. She handed the shotgun to her counterpart, the one who’d stood by her side for the past ten years, the one who made her laugh when she was down, her sister in arms.
“Do you want to trade places? This spot was comfortable.”
“No,” Paige answered, leaning back against the wall. “I’ll just close my eyes for a couple minutes. Then we should move on.”
“10-4.”
Paige closed her eyes, wishing the nightmares would stay away for even a few minutes as she tried to rest and forget about tomorrow.
2
“Get up! Get up! Get up!” Samantha was screaming, her hand wrapped around Paige’s upper arm, pulling her away from their campsite they’d made a home of the past few hours. Her other hand was busy with the shotgun, aimed at two of the infected bodies walking toward them. The shot rang out and one of the forms went down.
Paige bolted to her feet, immediately reaching for the handgun tucked into the back of her pants. “Leave the bags,” she told her companion. They had no chance if they went back for them. “Run!”
Samantha did what she was told, wrapping both hands around their protection as they ran further into the mountain pass. It was an easy process, one they’d been training for over the past year and a half. They could go another hour without stopping and that was exactly what they were going to do. “I didn’t hear them until it was too late.” She breathed, easily keeping pace with Paige through the branches and bushes littering the mountain pass floor.
“They’re getting more clever,” Paige answered. “There was no way to know.”
“What do we do now?” Samantha stuffed the shotgun, barrel first, down the ridge of her spine.
It was the same question Paige had been asking herself only a moment before. They’d barely escaped the ambush. They needed a safe haven, somewhere they could stay for days at a time. “We need to move to higher ground. You have the rope?”
“Yes, ma’am,” her friend answered, ducking around yet another desert bush.
“We won’t be able to see in the dark. For now, let’s get as far into the canyon as possible and in the morning, we climb.”
3
The trees scratched at their arms and legs as they climbed, clawing deep gashes into their skin. They were tired, they were hungry and they were still in shock.
The virus had killed over three million people overnight all around the globe. Those who weren’t affected physically were affected emotionally. Everybody has family. Husbands turned on their wives, their children. Grandparents were running at lightning-fast speeds, their skin falling from their bones as they moved.
At that moment, there was a small group of two or three below, their hands bloodied and blistered from trying to follow up the fifty foot cliff.
Paige led the climb, forcing her hands and feet into crevices to steady herself. Samantha had fallen behind, exhausted, but still moving. They were only twenty feet away. One wrong move would bring them crashing to the canyon floor and Paige focused all her energy in reaching the top. The rope between them was good, but would pull one to their death if the other fell.
They’d been training for years, each an expert in their own levels, but the sun was beating down on them, their stomachs empty of food and their eyes forced open with lack of sleep. And the day had only begun.
“Just a little further,” Paige called down, glancing at Samantha as she moved another foot upward.
“Tell me when it’s over.”
Paige smiled. “At least you still have a sense of humor.”
Samantha reached to her right, cupping her palm around a fairly large rock. She tested her hold before moving, then swung up as she’d practiced hundreds of times in the gym. But this wasn’t training and it wasn’t for sport. This was reality and they were going to die if they didn’t make it to the top. “You call this a sense of humor?”
Paige waited for Samantha to get further up before moving again, but suddenly the expression on her friend’s face had her frozen in place. “What?”
Samantha lifted one hand, motioning for Paige to look above. “I think we’re going to be here a while.”
Paige turned her head back toward the top of the cliff, sighing in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
There, merely twenty feet away, was another group of Infected. They snarled down at her, their drool slipping onto Paige’s jacket.
“You may want a rabies shot after this is over,” Samantha said. “Oh. I may have to get one with you. Now what? I’m not really in the mood to get eaten alive.”
Paige studied the rock beneath her body, studied how much rope they had left and if they’d be able to move. Her arms were aching, her feet had cramps from gripping the rock wall with her toes and there was infected saliva on her sweatshirt. She was almost ready to give up, but her life wasn’t the only one at stake. She glanced back to the top, then down to the group on the mountain pass floor. “Do you have anymore food on you down there?”
“You’re hungry?” Samantha asked. “Really?” Her tone was sarcastic and amused at the same time.
“It’s not for me.”
“So you’re going to give them food?” Samantha planted her feet, hugging the wall with one arm as she dug around her cargo pants’ pockets. “I have some Rolos, but you can’t have those. I will die for chocolate.” She continued searching as Paige rolled her eyes.
“Here.” Samantha threw a crushed bag of chips up to Paige. “I don’t like that kind.”
“How thoughtful of you.” Paige’s plan had to work. If it didn’t, they were going to die very slow and painful deaths. She gripped the rock above, dangling her feet in mid air.
“If you land on me, I will haunt you.” Samantha wrapped her arms around one a large piece in front of her.
“Ready?” Paige asked, ready to let go.
Samantha glanced up at her, squinting to see clearly. “Waiting for you.”
Paige let go, her stomach rocketing itself up into her chest cavity. She was getting nauseous, but after ten feet, the rope caught, Samantha’s shear strength holding them to the cliff face. Her legs slammed into one Infected who’d climbed higher than the rest, pushing him off the cliff face and twenty feet to its final death. She caught her grip, thankful to be alive and feared for Samantha as she readied herself for her friend to fall. “Kill them all,” she said, staring up to her best friend.
“Don’t I always?” Samantha let go.
ABOUT THE AUTHORNichole Severn graduated with a degree in psychology from Utah Valley University and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.
She resides with her husband in Las Vegas, NV, and can be contacted through her website www.nicholesevern.com, Facebook or Twitter.
Nichole Severn, Tomorrow
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