3. Weight of the Road - Book 2 Teaser
Staying Human
Oops … free preview of Book 2 ….. I hate it when that happens ;-)
The miles rolled on under a sky that refused to decide between gray and gold. We stayed quiet for a long time after the gas station. Even the walkie-talkie stayed mostly silent. Every shadow along the tree line felt like it might move.
In the passenger seat of the 4Runner, Raych finally spoke. “They’re learning. That’s what scares me.”
“Yeah,” I said. “One month in the swamp and they’ve gone from stumbling and awkward to hunting in packs. Not good.”
From the F-150 behind us, Mikey’s voice came over the walkie, small and uncertain.
“I thought a quest was supposed to be… exciting. Like in the stories. Not this.”
Sarah’s voice answered him gently. “Real quests never are, kiddo. The stories just leave out the parts where everyone’s scared and tired.”
I glanced over at Raych. She gave me a small, tired smile but didn’t say anything. We both knew Mikey had just crossed one of those invisible lines.
As evening started to creep in, I keyed the walkie. “Let’s find a spot and stop before full dark. I’m not eating another cold MRE if I can help it.”
We pulled off near an old rest area that gave us decent sight lines. While Tom and I set up a hasty defensive perimeter, Raych and Sarah got the Coleman stove going. I broke out just enough beans for a proper pot of coffee and heated up rice and canned chicken. Nothing fancy, but it was hot and it only took about thirty minutes. That mattered.
We ate standing around the vehicles, rifles close at hand. Mikey picked at his food, still quiet.
Tom spoke first, voice low. “My boys… they’re tough. But they’re out there somewhere. I keep thinking about what happens if we don’t find answers at this place.”
Raych looked at me. “You still think the data center is worth the risk?”
I nodded. “Someone built a hardened AI facility designed to survive the end of the world. That wasn’t for peacetime. If there are any answers left… or even just a safe place to catch our breath… it’ll be there.”
Sarah looked toward the north. “And if it’s empty? Or worse?”
“Then we keep heading to Knoxville,” I said. “But we have to check.”
The coffee helped. So did the hot food. For twenty minutes we almost felt normal again.
We were packing up when I saw it — faint lights in the far distance, barely visible against the coming dark. Security towers. A long perimeter fence. The data center.
We all stood there staring.
“Looks like it still has power,” Raych said quietly.
“Or something does,” I replied.
Mikey stared at the distant lights for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was softer than I’d ever heard it.
“I don’t think I want to be on a quest anymore.”
I let the silence sit for a moment, then answered him quietly but clearly.
“Real quests aren’t just exciting, Mikey. They’re scary. The knights who faced dragons and the soldiers who went into battle — they were all afraid too. Courage isn’t not being scared. It’s doing what needs to be done even when you are scared. That’s what makes it real.”
Mikey didn’t say anything back. He just stared out the window toward the distant lights.
We set up camp for the night in a tight defensive formation, the glow of the data center still visible on the horizon like a promise and a warning at the same time.
The swamp felt very far away now.
And whatever waited for us tomorrow… we were going to meet it head-on.
Bougie Apocalypse
A serialized military-flavored post-apocalyptic pulp story about heirloom beans, De Buyer carbon steel skull-crackers, good coffee, and refusing to let the apocalypse win.
#BougieApocalypse #StayingHuman
Next chapter drops soon → Start Here & Full Reading Order