After the Apocalypse

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3, Episode 19 – “Clash” ... Michael had trouble hiding his surprise and fear when the pickets radioed in that a convoy of vehicles was moving in their direction.  He thought they were about to get caught with their pants down. What had gone wrong? There were lookouts by the river crossings just for this reason, but this approaching fo...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3, Episode 18 – “Rally” … For a big dog, Bill could move very fast when he wanted to.  And, right now, he really wanted to. Paul was the first to see the furry apparition appear from around the corner of a building, ears pinned back, tongue lolling, and making a beeline for the two men on the path.  Paul simultaneously prepared to run...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3, Episode 17 – “Grind” ... Mags stood on the porch of a two-story house on a small rise.  It wasn’t her house, but it was somehow familiar.  The air was heavy with moisture. The atmosphere had the oppressive weight it gets just before a storm.  As if a ripe fruit is about to burst. A smooth, blue-green lawn sloped away to t...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story S3 E16 – “Detente” ... The college dining hall was dimly lit by the dying afternoon sun. Dust motes circled listlessly above a stack of dormant red plastic serving trays.  An awkward silence hung in the air between them like a plate of old glass, smoky, cracked and fragile to the touch. The old man looked at the tile floor and thought about...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story S3 E15 – “The Rat Nest” ... The utility truck rattled as Tasker drove over a section of rough road.  In the absence of regular traffic and maintenance weeds were beginning to heave up from the cracks and broken spots. A piece of the truck grill had broken loose and was dragging. The errant strip of chrome was tapping out an intermittent meta...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 14 – “The Kaiju” ... The Kaiju sat hunched over a laptop on a workbench staring intently at the screen. Luminous green letters and numbers played across the lenses of his glasses. He paused to push the glasses higher as the reflected characters scrolled across them like mini-versions of the computer screen.  It created...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 13 – “Loose Ends” ... It was the day after the escape.  Tasker squinted into the large mirror on the driver’s side of the work truck they had taken from the DC.  This truck was bigger than a standard pickup. But it was smaller than a dump truck. It was one of those trucks that crews of workmen might have driven out...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 12 – “The Patrol” ... Mac dismounted his ATV like a cowboy jumping off an energetic pony, and examined Zane’s abandoned mountain bike.   The handlebars were bent.  The sandy ground around the trail was scuffed up from activity. There was a confusion of animal tracks intermixed with footprints. Mac fumed.   ......

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 11 – “The Zoo” ... Bill the dog sniffed and licked Zane’s face but got no response.  He continued working his nose down the length of Zane’s form, lingering at the upturned Vans sneakers.  Satisfied for now, the big dog collapsed with a thump to watch the proceedings. A cloud of dust rose and settled onto his curly fur....

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 10 – “Panic Attack” ... A bell rang out. It was calling all residents of the Distribution Center to assembly. Like a ship’s bell, it tolled a sharp, bright clang with every crank of the handle. The citizens were starting to gather in the courtyard behind the administration building. Michael turned away from the office window and...

After the Apocalypse A Pandemic Survival Story Season 3 Episode 9 – “Exit Wounds” A warm, bright, morning sun lit up the parking lot. Becca looked at the ragged group of five that had just arrived.  There was a middle-aged man, a young woman, and three children. They were like something out of a Victorian slum – Ragged, dirty clothes, long matted hair, and faces smeared with filth. In a...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode eight – “Desecration” ... Wili parked the hybrid behind the library in a secluded spot screened by trees.  She smiled because she had an affinity for libraries.  From all the times she used the library as her refuge growing up in the city. Libraries were her safe spot.  Her sanctuary. She wanted to look inside.&nbs...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode seven – “The Chaos Outside the Walls” ... Two more suicides.   (One breath pause) The small, electric lamp cast a dull, industrial, patch of light across the desk blotter where Mags worked on paperwork.   The desk was cluttered.   She was very tired.   She lifted her hands and rubbed her ti...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode six – “Trap” (Janet thinking) “Damn that old man is a machine!” (One breath pause) Janet took a deep breath in through her nose and blew it out her mouth. She was struggling and the old man was pulling ahead. She straightened up and pushed her hips forward into the hill. She pulled another large breath in through her no...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode five – “Stealth”  ... The old man sat on the metal grating of the water tower walkway. His feet dangled over the edge. He stared out into the morning landscape, lost in thought, like a medieval gargoyle brooding over a Paris bawdy house.  ... Subscribe page on Acast -> https://plus.acast.com/s/after-the-apo...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode four – “Hoodies”  ... A rider in black stops hard on the gravel road. A well-used, flat-bottom Vans shoe slaps the ground and takes his weight. The big, knobby back tire bites and slides before grinding to a halt. Dust rises. He dismounts from the bike with the fluidity and grace of an athlete, lays it down gently on the sho...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode three – “Rabbit” ... Bill stood guard over a cowering bundle of misery. The man had greasy, shoulder-length hair that hid his face in dangling matts like a dinghy washed up on the shore by storms, buried in seaweed, forlorn and abandoned.  He wore dirty and frayed workpants that looked like they had not been changed sin...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode two – “Ossuary” ... The afternoon sun pulsed orange behind distant clouds as it sank toward the horizon like blood draining from a wound.  There was an earthy, sickly-sweet smell that lingered across the plaza, chased by a lackluster breeze.   “Yeah, we got some strange shit here,” the old man said, as he examined the b...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season three, Episode one – “Bones” The old man rolled over and brushed his head against the side of the nylon tent. It took a moment to shake off the velvet fog of a good night’s sleep and remember where he was. He shook the sleeping bag off and curled forward, grabbing clumsily at the zippered entrance. His stiff hands and knees protested...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Twenty, “Overwatch” A pair of sparrows made indignant noises in the tree overhead and a grey squirrel chittered from a low branch as Mags settled into a prone position on the hill overlooking the DC.  She leveled the rifle and squinted through the scope. According to her calculation, it was less than two hundred yards fro...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Nineteen, “Teutoburg” A cold, dry, wind swept dust and bits of trash from the parking lot.  It danced in the distribution center entrance like a tiny tornado.  Bert checked over his M4 and decided he should probably clean it at some point. As near as he could figure it had been a week since he’d done so.  He was...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Eighteen, “Crossroads” The Old Man crouched behind a parked van with Bill and surveyed the building.  It was the same van he and Brad had crouched behind only a few, short days earlier.  A wave of déjà vu passed through him and the little hairs on the nape of his neck tingled. The human mind was a funny thing. W...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Seventeen, “Change of Management” ... It was like a scene from an old western.  Close ups of scared faces.  The smell of fear pheromones thick in the air.  The momentary stillness of the confrontation was punctuated by the susurration of a dusty wind in the parking lot. Crows cried complaints from the trees. &nb...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Sixteen, “Ghosts” John tasker lifted his head to the sounds of hurried footsteps approaching the door. He was in the middle of a meeting with Karl and Michael in the improvised gym-office. They were going through the week’s schedule.   John Tasker liked to stay on top of things.  A man dashed into the room breat...

After the Apocalypse A pandemic survival story Season two, Episode Fifteen, “Breakout” Mags could see the distribution center buildings stretching off into the horizon in neat, rectangular rows of asphalt and metal.  From her perch on the hill overlooking the port authority complex it was like looking down on the map of an old board game. The mid-morning sun had chased the fog away. Its...