After: Red Scare (AFTER post-apocalyptic series, Book 5) Read online

  This wasn’t the work of Zapheads. Then who…?

  “Rachel? Are you in here?”

  His shouts echoed off the masonry walls of the cell block, and a quick search showed the remaining cells were empty. Returning to the suite of law enforcement offices, he kicked open doors, leading with his rifle barrel as he probed each room.

  He was pretty sure the building was free of Zapheads, but how could anybody be sure of anything in After?

  The restrooms stank but were unoccupied, and likewise he found the offices cluttered and ravaged but otherwise empty.

  He returned to the lobby and the last remaining office and a door marked “SHERIFF.”

  He shoved his way inside.

  “Rachel?”

  The room was windowless, and the air was stagnant but carried a definite sweet stench. One he’d become all too familiar with in the last five months.

  There were indefinable heaps on the floor—small heaps.

  And one large heap.

  A Rachel-sized heap.

  He threw his rifle aside and dropped to his knees, grabbing for her hand. Her skin was cool and dry.

  He whispered Rachel’s name as he shook her, avoiding looking at the raw, wet gash in the center of her chest, although its gravity pulled at his lone eye like a massive sun sucking at a comet.

  She breathed something, her lips working together twice: “Niiii…”

  DeVontay wanted to scream, Don’t speak, just hold on, hold on, don’t leave me. Instead, he moved his ear closer as she repeated it.

  “The night?” DeVontay wondered if she already felt the oppressive black hand of permanent darkness pushing down on her and squeezing her out of this world, along with the memories of joy and beauty and love.

  He looked into her eyes and listened hard, knowing this might be her final message to the world, and to him.

  “The…ninth…,” she sighed, clearly articulating the fricative at the end of the word, despite the effort it must have taken.

  “The ninth?” DeVontay repeated, bewildered, racing to assign it some cosmic significance and only coming up with a stupid analogy to the last inning of a baseball game.

  Then he pushed all thoughts from his mind and looked into her as fully as he could, hoping she could draw one last measure of comfort to carry with her on her journey.

  Her lower lip quivered, and a soft December wind carried away her breath.

  Her eyes were open, unseeing, as the last liquid fire leaked out of them.

  Now her eyes were glass, and DeVontay’s good eye did the work of two in pouring forth his grief and desolation.

  He didn’t even hear Franklin enter the room, nor anything the man said for the next half hour, except for three words that rattled the stony husk of his heart:

  “War is over.”

  THE END

  Look for the thrilling conclusion to the After series!

  After #6: Dying Light

  After a bloody battle with mutant Zapheads, Rachel Wheeler’s life hangs in the balance as the world falls apart around her.

  To save Rachel, a small group of survivors must find a missing baby, a hyperintelligent Zaphead with mysterious healing powers. The remaining Zapheads have reverted to mindless, violent savages who want to wipe out the human race. Only Rachel holds the key to understanding them and ending the devastating war.

  But even if they succeed, a rogue military leader is determined to impose his fascist vision of the future. And Rachel and her friends will defend their freedom and humanity at any cost.

  Get it at Amazon US or Amazon UK

  Scott Nicholson is the international bestselling author of more than 20 thrillers, including The Home, McFall, Disintegration, Liquid Fear, Speed Dating with the Dead, and the After post-apocalyptic series. His books have appeared in the Kindle Top 100 more than a dozen times in five different countries. Visit his website at www.AuthorScottNicholson.com or his Amazon Author Central page

  Sign up for his Tao of Boo newsletter for giveaways and release news: http://eepurl.com/tOE89.

  VIEW OTHER KINDLE BOOKS BY SCOTT NICHOLSON:

  Novels

  After #0: First Light

  After #1: The Shock

  After #2: The Echo

  After #3: Milepost 291

  After#4: Whiteout

  After #5: Red Scare

  After #6: Dying Light

  Zapheads #1: Bone and Cinder (with Joshua Simcox)

  Zapheads #2: Scares and Ashes (with Joshua Simcox)

  The Scarecrow (Solom #1)

  The Narrow Gate (Solom #2)

  The Preacher (Solom #3)

  The Home

  McFall

  Creative Spirit

  Disintegration

  The Red Church

  Speed Dating with the Dead

  The Skull Ring

  Drummer Boy

  The Harvest

  Kiss Me or Die

  Liquid Fear

  Chronic Fear

  Cursed (with J.R. Rain)

  Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)

  Spider Web (with J.R. Rain)

  Spider Bite (with J.R. Rain)

  Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)

  The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)

  Meat Camp (with J.T. Warren)

  Playin’ Possum (with Milton Bagby)

  October Girls

  Crime Beat

  The Dead Love Longer

  Fangs In Vain

  Burial to Follow

  StoryCollections

  Curtains

  Flowers

  Ashes

  The First

  Zombie Bits

  Head Cases

  Gateway Drug

  Missing Pieces

  These Things Happened

  American Horror

  Children’s Books

  If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)

  Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)

  Ida Claire (with Lee Davis)

  Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)

  Bad Day for Balloons (with Sergio Castro)

  BOX SETS

  Ethereal Messenger

  Mystery Dance

  Horror Movies: Three Screenplays

  Ghost Box: Six Supernatural Thrillers

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 1

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4

  Box of Boo (Library, Vol. V)

  Mad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  Bad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  Odd Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  VIEW U.K. KINDLE BOOKS BY SCOTT NICHOLSON:

  After: First Light

  After: The Shock

  After: The Echo

  After: #3: Milepost 291

  After #4: Whiteout

  After #5: Red Scare

  After #6: Dying Light

  Zapheads #1: Bone and Cinder

  Zapheads #2: Scars and Ashes

  The Scarecrow (Solom #1)

  The Narrow Gate (Solom #2)

  McFall

  Liquid Fear

  Chronic Fear

  Creative Spirit

  The Home

  The Gorge

  Disintegration

  The Red Church

  Speed Dating with the Dead

  The Skull Ring

  Drummer Boy

  The Harvest

  Kiss Me or Die

  Cursed (with J.R. Rain)

  Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)

  The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)

  Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)

  Spider Web (with J.R. Rain)

  Spider Bite (with J.R. Rain)

  Meat Camp (with J.T. Warren)

  Playin’ Possum (with Milton Bagby)

  October Girls

  Crime Beat

  The Dead Love Longer

  Burial to Follow

  Fangs In Vain

  Collectio
ns

  Curtains

  Flowers

  Ashes

  The First

  Zombie Bits

  Head Cases

  Gateway Drug

  Missing Pieces

  These Things Happened

  Children’s Books

  Bad Day for Balloons (with Sergio Castro)

  If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)

  Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)

  Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)

  Ida Claire (with Lee Davis)

  Writing

  Write Good or Die

  The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success

  Omnibus editions

  Ethereal Messenger

  Mystery Dance

  Horror Movies: Three Screenplays

  Three Ghost Stories (with J.R. Rain and Aiden James)

  Ghost Box: Six Supernatural Thrillers

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 1

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3

  Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4

  Box of Boo: Library, Vol. 5

  Mad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  Bad Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  Odd Stacks: Short Stories Box Set

  Table of Contents

  Red Scare

  About the Author

  Scott’s Kindle Links

  U.K. Kindle links

  Thanks to advance readers Sharon Stogner, Carole McLaughlin, Frank Pero, and Meghan Gurley.

  Table of Contents

  Red Scare

  About the Author

  Scott’s Kindle Links

  U.K. Kindle links