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    Taking Shelter
    Taking Shelter
    Taking Shelter
    Ebook50 pages46 minutes

    Taking Shelter

    By Lee Penney

    ()

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    About this ebook

    After the plague, Jenny's father moved their family into an old missile silo on the Great Plains. Away from population centers, protected by their shelter, they've remained safe from the marauding gangs, but it's a life requiring constant vigilance.

    When a family in need of help stumbles across them, Jenny's first instinct is to do what she can, despite all of her father's warnings that people can't be trusted.

    She's prepared to bet her home and her family's lives to prove there are still some good people left, but will it cost her everything?

    This is a novelette of ~12,500 words (41 pages)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLee Penney
    Release dateNov 5, 2013
    ISBN9781311169570
    Taking Shelter
    Author

    Lee Penney

    Lee can generally be found staring at a screen from behind a keyboard, either writing, coding or attempting to read all of the interesting parts of the internet before someone adds a new bit. He has a fascination with stories in all forms, especially film, and enjoys spending as much time as possible in a world other than this one.

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      Book preview

      Taking Shelter - Lee Penney

      Taking Shelter

      TAKING SHELTER

      Copyright © 2013 by Lee Penney

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

      Lee Penney has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

      This work is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      Cover image courtesy of Flickr user Clara S.

      Smashwords Edition

      Jenny puffed out her cheeks and exhaled a long breath. She'd been lying prone for hours and was well past being bored. Parts of her were sore from remaining still for so long and the pressure in her bladder was becoming hard to ignore.

      Shifting onto her hip relieved the immediate urge to pee, but it soon returned. Gusts of wind drifted across the plains in patches like cloud, providing similarly brief periods of respite from the heat.

      She could feel the sun's rays bombarding her back, they caused shimmering ripples of hot air to rise where they struck the ground.

      Pants and a long-sleeved shirt didn't help with the heat, but experience had taught her that insect bites and sun burn were far more painful, and long lasting, than feeling itchy and sticky for a few hours.

      The knowledge didn't comfort her as she fought the urge to scratch the sweat-wet hair under her camouflage cap. Strands of her ponytail were plastered to her neck, tickling her each time she made the smallest movement.

      She sighed and another rivulet of sweat ran down her back, causing an exasperated huff. The discomfort and boredom were making her so grouchy that she wanted to shout or throw something, perhaps even beat the ground like some tantruming child.

      Instead she tried to imagine how the cool water from their well was going to feel when she dumped a bucket of it over her head. That's what she planned to do the minute she got home. Her father would shout at her, going on about how much effort it took to draw and how precious a resource it was, but Jenny was past caring. She'd be happy to go fill the bucket again as soon as she'd cooled down.

      Pushing her cheek against the stock, Jenny peered through the telescopic sight of the rifle cradled in her arms. Gingerly she flexed her fingers, they were stiff and sore, like the rest of her, having spent so much time bent around the grip. One of her arms had started to go to sleep so she shifted to take the weight off the pressure point.

      Scanning the landscape in front of her with slow, steady arcs, she searched for prey, or anything, to alleviate boredom. She'd counted the number of flowers she could see at one point. Another tactic was to place her sight and count the number of blades of grass visible in it.

      She was lying on a slight incline overlooking a small watering hole ringed with tall grass, it was barely more than a large puddle after so long without rain. The incline circled the pool, creating a shallow amphitheater, with one side falling away to a forest of bushes.

      As with the rest of the plain, the grass and plants were several inches deep, not yet stripped bare by the herds of grazing animals. The occasional spiny bush, things the animals knew to avoid, were all that broke the uniformity.

      This was one of her favored hunting spots, the water guaranteed prey and the circular geography allowed her to find

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