I hope Selene is happy in Manchester, Elna thought. She seemed so excited to go. That girl has so much potential. Patients at the clinic will love her.
Joe Dulles rose and grabbed the carving knife, slicing into the breast of the turkey. Somehow, Norman had managed to talk Staff Sergeant Prig into joining them for dinner, and he’d brought Mac, Spence, and Golf along with him. Only Ant was missing. The injured Marine had been relocated after his long, debilitating bout with sepsis.
Elna uncorked a bottle of the new winter wine. The pop of the cork produced a round of applause. She walked around the table, filling each glass in turn: Malin, Pop, Norman, Mac, Spence, Golf, Prig, Joe, Rita, then her own glass.
“A toast,” Prig said, raising his glass. “To beautiful islands and great friends.”
Everyone cheered and raised their glasses with him. Elna took a big sip, enjoying the hint of sweetness from the new wine. Joe Dulles began doling out slices of turkey, shuffling around the table. His wild, wispy hair had been neatly combed for the occasion, and he looked quite dapper for a seventy-five-year-old who’d recently survived a war.
“Now, don’t you folks avoid that berry salad,” Rita Dulles said. “Selene left that recipe with me, and it’s very good.”
“You said it,” Norman replied, picking up the salad bowl. “I miss that girl. She could roam through a patch of grass and come back with seventeen different kinds of edible berries.” He scooped some of the mixed berry salad onto his plate.
“Those mayapples aren’t half bad,” Pop said. “I never would’ve thought to eat them if Selene hadn’t shown me. They’re nice and tart. Pass me that bowl when you’re done, Norman.”
“Will do, Pop.”
As Elna returned to her seat, she happened to glance at Spence. The Marine was scooping mashed potatoes onto his plate, but Elna spotted a familiar candy wrapper on the table beside his napkin. It was a new pack of Mentos, unopened. This struck her as funny, and she chuckled. Spence noticed, glanced at her, realized what she was looking at, and held up the pack of mints.
“Christmas present from my grandma,” he said. “Can you believe it? She paid a private courier to drive a motorcycle all the way to the new base just to deliver it to me. Had it all wrapped up in green paper and everything.”
This made everyone laugh, and it was warm and wonderful. Elna wouldn’t have minded if that laughter, that togetherness, that little moment, had gone on forever.
End of Escaping Capture
Island Refuge EMP Book Three
Escaping Conflict, August 12 2020
Escaping Chaos, September 9 2020
Escaping Capture, October 14 2020
PS: Do you love post-apocalyptic fiction? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from Survive the Chaos (Small Town EMP Book One).
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About Grace Hamilton
Grace Hamilton is the prepper pen-name for a bad-ass, survivalist momma-bear of four kids, and wife to a wonderful husband. After being stuck in a mountain cabin for six days following a flash flood, she decided she never wanted to feel so powerless or have to send her kids to bed hungry again. Now she lives the prepper lifestyle and knows that if SHTF or TEOTWAWKI happens, she’ll be ready to help protect and provide for her family.
Combine this survivalist mentality with a vivid imagination (as well as a slightly unhealthy day dreaming habit) and you get a prepper fiction author. Grace spends her days thinking about the worst possible survival situations that a person could be thrown into, then throwing her characters into these nightmares while trying to figure out "What SHOULD you do in this situation?"
You will find Grace on:
BLURB
When the lights go out, anarchy reigns supreme.
After journalist Austin Merryman’s wife died, he and his fourteen-year-old daughter left home to travel the country in an old RV. But the comfort and renewal they sought soon descends into chaos.
After a message from an old college buddy leads Austin to a bridge in the middle of nowhere, he finds his friend—now an NSA agent—waiting to give him a USB drive. Before the contents can be explained, machine gun fire strafes the bridge, killing Austin’s friend and forcing Austin into the raging river.
Rescued downstream by a beautiful veterinarian, Austin learns that EMP attacks have thrust the world into eternal darkness—and separated him from the only person he has left. Now, he’ll move heaven and earth to locate his daughter and make it to his brother’s prepper hideaway in Utah.
But the post-apocalyptic world is no longer a friendly place. Resources are growing scarce. Factions break out along ethnic and religious lines. Everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to survive in an increasingly hostile environment. And Austin’s daughter is caught right in the middle of this splintering society.
But an even deadlier foe stalks them as they struggle across the landscape. Someone who hasn’t forgotten about the USB drive Austin possesses.
And they’ll do anything to get it back.
Grab your copy of Survive the Chaos
www.GraceHamiltonBooks.com
EXCERPT
Chapter One
Austin Merryman stored the last of the dinner dishes in the small cupboard of his thirty-two-foot fifth wheel. The RV wasn’t an ideal living space for a man and his fourteen-year-old daughter, but they’d been managing to make it work. As he and Savannah constantly reminded each other, it was both easy and difficult to keep the
