The Indiana Apocalypse Series Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Opening Words

  Title Page 2

  Book 1 - Lost

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Book 2 - Found

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  Chapter Eighty

  Chapter Eighty-One

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  Chapter Eighty-Six

  Chapter Eighty-Seven

  Chapter Eighty-Eight

  Chapter Eighty-Nine

  Chapter Ninety

  Chapter Ninety-One

  Chapter Ninety-Two

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  Chapter Ninety-Five

  Chapter Ninety-Six

  Chapter Ninety-Seven

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred

  Chapter One Hundred One

  Chapter One Hundred Two

  Chapter One Hundred Three

  Chapter One Hundred Four

  Chapter One Hundred Five

  Chapter One Hundred Six

  Chapter One Hundred Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Ten

  Chapter One Hundred Eleven

  Chapter One Hundred Twelve

  Chapter One Hundred Thirteen

  Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

  Chapter One Hundred Fifteen

  Chapter One Hundred Sixteen

  Chapter One Hundred Seventeen

  Chapter One Hundred Eighteen

  Chapter One Hundred Nineteen

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Forty

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-Nine

  Book 3 - Redeemed

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-One

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-One

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Nine

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-One

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Two

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Three

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Four

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Five

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sp; Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Six

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Seven

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Eight

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Nine

  Chapter Two Hundred

  Chapter Two Hundred One

  Chapter Two Hundred Two

  Chapter Two Hundred Three

  Chapter Two Hundred Four

  Chapter Two Hundred Five

  Chapter Two Hundred Six

  Chapter Two Hundred Seven

  Chapter Two Hundred Eight

  Chapter Two Hundred Nine

  Chapter Two Hundred Ten

  Chapter Two Hundred Eleven

  Chapter Two Hundred Twelve

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Fourteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Fifteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Sixteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Seventeen

  Chapter Two Hundred Eighteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Nineteen

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-One

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Two

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Three

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Four

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Five

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Six

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-One

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Two

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Three

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  THE INDIANA APOCALYPSE

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  Exclusive Kindle Edition.

  Tough times never last, but tough people do.

  —Robert H. Schuller

  THE INDIANA APOCALYPSE

  Book One - Lost

  CHAPTER ONE

  The bullet that was meant to kill me missed me by inches. I heard it zing past my left ear, close enough to feel the heat and really grab my attention. The second shot grazed my left side, stopping me just long enough for the shooter to compose his aim.

  The shot that knocked me to the ground hit me in my left thigh about six inches south of my hip bone. The instant surge of burning pain made me stumble and fall into the rich black soil of the field I’d been sprinting across moments before.

  I’d heard the man shouting at the village residents as I tried to sneak off through the brush, shortly before my mishap.

  “I told you all,” he growled. “No men. Period. They cause trouble and take you all away from your assigned tasks – the reason you’re all here, the reason I feed you and keep you alive. A lone wandering man is dangerous.”

  He didn’t sound all that sincere to me at the time, though a man crouched in the brush behind the outhouse probably had other things on his mind (which I did). Staying alive was pretty high on my list that day.

  They’d warned me when I stopped and begged them for a cup of water and a crust of bread. I had to leave, they all said. It wasn’t safe for me to be there. Not in the daylight at least. I had to come back in the dark.

  I had to make my escape now, one of them insisted, before anyone else showed up. As in someone from “the big house”, they claimed.

  I couldn’t help myself though. I was hungry and thirsty and they were all so darned pretty. Even the older ones looked damn fine to me. So, I overstayed my welcome. In hind sight, it was a mistake. Kind of.

  “Hunt him down boys,” the man continued as I listened from my hiding spot. “Hunt him down and kill him. I don’t care who he is, I want him dead. Drag his corpse back here so that they can be reminded of what happens when the rules aren’t followed precisely.”

  It took them all of thirty seconds to flush me from my spot. I had a little head start, but for some stupid reason, I decided to cross an open field. There was some brush where I might have been safer, but I’d run cross-country in school and figured I’d be better on foot. That and I hated spiders; and I’d already noticed the brush was full of spider webs.

  Three shots and I was done. I heard the rider come up from behind right before I passed out.

  “See there, boys,” he bragged. “I got him in the head. I told you I was a better shot than the rest of you. Proved myself right today.”

  Why he thought he’d hit me in the head didn’t bother me. I wasn’t even worried about him plugging me with three or four more shots. All I wondered about was why a river of some sort of sticky, metallic-tasting fluid was flowing down my face and over my closed eye into my opened mouth.

  That was the last thing I remembered. That was the only thing I remembered…for a long, long time.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Before I even opened my eyes, I knew I wasn’t in the field anymore. I was somewhere else. Perhaps I was dead; maybe I was in heaven. But that didn’t make any sense.

  Why did the place where the Almighty took us at the end smell like my Grandma’s house? There was a pungent, musty odor. Did God, or whomever he/she was, not keep up on house cleaning? Surely Saint Peter or maybe even the archangel Gabriel knew someone who could make the smell disappear.

  And why did I hear creaking floorboards? That sure didn’t make any sense. As I understood things, God’s son — Jesus — had been a carpenter while on Earth. I didn’t really buy into any of the religious mumbo jumbo while I was amongst the living. But if you believed what it said in the Bible, then it would have made sense to me that this Jesus fellow would have fixed the floors to keep them from creaking.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes and tried to take in my surroundings. My vision wasn’t clear, not one bit. It was as though I was in a fishbowl full of semi-clean water, trying to look at my new world. Maybe I didn’t have my afterlife eyes yet. Perhaps they’d give them to me once I passed a test or something like that.

  I decided someone had made a mistake, bringing me to heaven that was. Some poor angel was going to get his or her wings chewed off by the big guy when they discovered I didn’t believe. I’d have to lie, I decided. Maybe God hadn’t been watching me all that closely back on Earth.

  As my vision improved, the first thing I focused on was the peeling paint on the far wall. Okay, I probably wasn’t in heaven. I turned my head cautiously and noticed the paint on the other walls wasn’t much better. Nope, I decided. At best, I was in purgatory — limbo, as one of my Catholic friends once extolled to me for an hour.

  I noticed a fireplace but no fire. Maybe it was summer, wherever I was. Or perhaps the place was more like Arizona or Mexico than where I’d grown up in…in…in.

  “Shit,” I muttered softly.

  I couldn’t come up with where I was from. Maybe in heaven, or purgatory, or even hell they wiped your memory clean. Took away all the bad shit you’d ever done. Made it so you started with a clean slate.

  That made sense and I instantly felt relieved. Air moved in and out of my lungs easier as I realized I wasn’t in hell. In hell, I supposed, they’d replay all your bad deeds like a highlight film. They’d project it onto a big screen so everyone you ever knew could watch all the rotten stuff you ever did play out. The proprietors of hell probably even played it as a loop, just in case anyone new died and wanted to see just how awful you were back on solid ground.

  That left purgatory or heaven. Lucky break for me.

  “I see you’re awake,” a voice said from above, startling me. Was it God?

  “Don’t move too fast,” she directed as I noticed long brown hair and dark brown eyes staring at me. “Your head…you have a nasty bump. So, take it easy.”

  Holy crap; God was a woman.

  CHAPTER THREE

  When she rounded the dusty beige couch, I could see her slim form in a floor-length dress. A plain dark brown
dress. She wore bright blue flip-flops, though they made no sound. When she knelt next to me, I heard her knees crack.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked in one of the most tender voices I’d ever heard. She looked at me as if she cared; actually, truly cared.

  “A little out of it,” I answered. “Am I alive?”

  She smiled and I realized how pretty she was, in a young sort of way. A little plain, no make-up or anything like that, but still quite attractive.

  “You’re very much alive,” she replied, placing a cool hand on my forehead. “Though we weren’t sure at first. All we were told was to bury you. But Morgan felt a pulse and after they left, we hauled you inside.”

  Great, great. Thank you, Morgan. Whoever the hell Morgan was.

  “I suppose I should get moving along,” I said as she stared at me. To be honest, she was kind of creeping me out given the fact that she was a complete stranger as far as I knew. But she continued to stare.

  “If you’ll just point me in the direction of my home, or even my car, I’ll get out of your hair,” I said.

  Whatever I’d said wrong made her frown. Her thin lips turned downward and wiggled from side to side.

  “You don’t have a home,” she replied quietly. “Not that I’m aware of at all. And a working car is highly unlikely at this time.”

  She looked away and rose to her feet. “Morgan,” my confused angel of mercy called out. “He’s awake. And I think his brains are pretty scrambled still. Come see if you can make any sense of what he’s saying.”

  Within seconds, two more young females appeared at the back of the couch. One had shorter brown hair and was very pale. She looked like my angel, except for the eyes. This one’s were pale blue and hard to look away from. The other new observer, about the same age I figured — most likely mid-twenties or so — had long hair that disappeared behind the couch by her waist. Her eyes were the same color brown as the first woman’s.

  “Morgan?” I asked, receiving a grin.

  “No, I’m Sasha,” she replied merrily. “I’m Sara’s older sister.”

  That cleared things up. She was Sasha. But who was Sara?

  “Morgan?” I asked the slightly taller and much thinner second woman with the ultra-long hair.

  She looked at the other two, confused. “I’m Alivia. But you always called me Liv.”

  That left two questions: Where was Morgan and how the hell did I know Alivia/Liv?

  “I’m Morgan,” a slim but taller strawberry blonde woman answered. “How are you feeling, Quinn?”