Part 1 (1/2)
THEN THERE WAS YOU.
Heather Thurmeier.
Note to Readers:.
Then There Was You originally started out as a single novella-Escape to My Arms. I've always loved dystopian landscapes and I'm a huge fan of post-apocalyptic everything. I enjoy watching or reading a new take on a future and how the world got that way. So when the idea sparked in my mind for Sara and Dane's story, I decided to go for it!
I intentionally left the ending of Escape to My Arms open so readers could decide for themselves how things continued. The characters had completed their initial goal and I felt satisfied with leaving them to figure out where their story went from there.
Well, that didn't go over so well with readers. LOL!.
It quickly became clear that readers wanted definitive answers to their questions. They didn't want to speculate what happened to Sara and Dane from that point on. They wanted me to continue the story. After some thought on the situation, I decided to give readers what they asked for and wrote Survive for My Love, which picks up two weeks later in the story.
Survive for My Love was never a story I intended to write, but once I got back to Sara and Dane, I was so happy to be with them again! I was thrilled to explore the world I'd created and honestly, I couldn't wait to answer the questions I'd left unanswered. I hadn't realized I too was curious about what was going on with the world until I was immersed in it once more.
When the opportunity presented itself to re-release these books on my own, I knew I wanted to combine them into one full-length novel instead of two separate novellas. I wanted Sara and Dane's story to be told in a single, complete sitting.
The result is Then There Was You, which I think is the perfect way to make sure readers are left satisfied. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into a future that hopefully never comes to pa.s.s. And while the world itself, Sara and Dane, and all the other characters in the book go on beyond The End, I still feel this part of the story is complete-the questions have been answered.
Of course, there is always more to tell, because sometimes the end is only the beginning...
~DEDICATION~.
To my family and friends for letting me endlessly chatter on about books.
Book One:.
ESCAPE TO MY ARMS.
Heather Thurmeier.
Chapter One.
Sara Miller eased her foot off the brake pedal, crawling her SUV forward a few more inches. She slammed her palm into the steering wheel, cursing when she had to press the brakes again. An alarm chimed as the gaslight flickered on, glowing a bright, obnoxious orange.
”No. No. No. This can't be happening,” she said, glaring at the light. ”I can't believe I'm so stupid. I know better than this.”
She always kept her truck at half a tank of gas or more. Never less. Except for this week, of course, because this week she'd been run off her feet at work and had done extra driving around to visit her clients, throwing off her routine. She hadn't stopped to fill up on Monday like she should have and now she was screwed. Royally screwed.
How far could she drive with the gaslight on? She should know this too, but if the information was in her brain, it refused to come to the surface when she needed it. Why would she even need to know that, when she'd never even seen the orange light on before?
Glancing up the highway, she couldn't see any indication of an exit ahead. Not that she could get to an exit anyway, being that she was blocked in by the double lane of b.u.mper-to- b.u.mper traffic ahead of her. She could try to take the shoulder but it looked blocked as well by other drivers having had the same thought as her. Everyone wanted to get as far away from New York City as possible. Even sixty miles north of the city, the congestion on the roads was ridiculous.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, forcing a deep, steady breath into her lungs. Focus. Don't panic. She could deal with this. She could deal with anything. There was no other option but to get through this mess and succeed in reaching her goal.
And she would succeed. She would survive.
A catastrophic event of any kind was what she'd been preparing for.
Flipping on her radio, she twisted the dial until a voice broke through the static.
”This is a message from the Emergency Broadcast System. All residents of the tri-state area are advised to stay in their homes or businesses until further notice. A state of emergency has been called into effect. Shelter in place unless absolutely necessary to leave and await further instructions. This is a message-”
The radio fell silent as she punched the dial so hard her palm ached. d.a.m.n it. That announcement didn't tell her anything about what had actually happened in the last six hours, or how anyone was going to help them.
Stay home. Not likely. Not when all h.e.l.l was breaking loose.
Nope. She knew exactly where she needed to be-her family's hidden emergency bunker. Now she just had to figure out a way to get there when the roads were impa.s.sable.
”Stay calm,” she told herself. ”Traffic will move soon and then I can get gas and be back on the road again. I'll be at the bunker by nightfall, just like I planned.”
If the gas stations still have gas. She groaned. Stupid!
If she made it to the bunker, her brother Josh would never let her live this moment down. He loved finding a reason to tease her. He'd probably bug her until her sister Sue started in on the fun, too. That'd be a blast.
She glanced at the dashboard clock. Fifteen minutes she'd been sitting there without a single budge. Maybe she should put the truck in park and turn off the engine. At least that way she'd be able to conserve her gas.
She gripped the key in the ignition but froze when she heard yelling from somewhere up ahead. What now?
She unrolled her window then popped her head out so she could see down the dotted white line. Her breath caught in her throat at the scene unfolding in front of her.
A woman screamed as she was dragged by her hair out of her truck by a large man. He threw her to the ground. She pulled herself from the pavement, grabbing his back in an attempt to stop him from getting into her vehicle, but he shook her off as if she were no more than a fly. He climbed into the front seat and slammed the door closed, narrowly missing the woman's fingers. Turning toward the left lane, he bullied his way between two cars, forcing one to move forward and the other to reverse to avoid being hit. He sped into the center ditch, then crossed the roadway and turned the other direction before cras.h.i.+ng through the brush alongside the highway and disappearing in a flurry of dust and squealing tires.
The now-carless woman collapsed on the pavement, her head in her hands.
Panic rose like bile in Sara's throat.
That woman hadn't been targeted for any reason other than her all-terrain-capable vehicle-a truck almost identical to the one Sara currently sat in. s.h.i.+t. This was getting out of hand quicker than she feared. If she didn't take action soon, she might be the next target, and she couldn't let that happen.
Her fingers abandoned the key in the ignition and gripped the steering wheel hard instead. Inching the truck in reverse, she got as close as she could to the car behind her before it honked, then put her truck into drive and twisted the wheel hard toward the ditch on the right side of the road. If she could make it into the ditch, then she could also make it into the trees beyond that.
Hopefully her compact SUV wouldn't be too big to pa.s.s between the branches.
No way to find out except to try.
Edging her way out of traffic, she breathed a sigh of relief when she crossed the ditch effortlessly. As she carefully drove into the tree cover, she didn't even bother with a glance back at the road. Those people were on their own. So was Sara. And she wasn't about to sit around waiting for someone to save her.