The Ranch: A Legacy of Darkness (The Legacy Series Book 3)

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction by Sean Liscom
Jason Sterling had a simple life by all accounts. He had worked the same job his entire adult life, he had never married and he had no children. He was used to doing things on his own. His comfortable life was shaken to the core the day he learned of his fathers death. It set in motion life altering events and the allure of a new life that was too great to walk away from. When an Electromagnetic Pulse brings the modern world to its knees, Jason's choice proves to be the right one.

EXCERPT
“You should see yourselves,” the rough male voice said. There was something eerily familiar about it. He chuckled a little. “You see, I told you girls, didn’t I? The looks on their faces would be purely magical, priceless even!” the man said. The two women stepped farther into the light. They were identical twins. I knew one as Kari, Braden knew the other as Isabella. When the man stepped into the light. My heart stopped.
“OH….” Jill said quietly.
“MY….” I whispered.
“GOD….” Braden finished.
“Is that any way to greet your father and your sisters?” Jack Sterling asked as the trio closed to a few feet from us. I felt my knees go weak; my head was spinning. I wasn’t even sure if I was still breathing. The fine line that separates reality from imagination was suddenly gone. What had only a few minutes before been a straight, defined path, had become shrouded in a mist of skepticism and fear. Just before I’d lost sight of that path, I could swear I’d seen a “Dangerous Curves” road sign. I also knew things were travelling far too fast to even attempt negotiating those twists and turns. There are times when reacting too slowly can save your life. For instance; you have a blowout on your car at 70 MPH on the freeway. Reacting slowly can keep you from doing the opposite and rolling your car. This wasn’t one of those times. This wreck was going to happen. Just like the blowout, I was experiencing the sudden onslaught of emotions. Panic.... Surprise.... Anger.... Most of all was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. You know, the kind of fear that leaves you unable to speak or scream. The fear that leaves you unable to move, let alone run for your life. The fear that can cause time to stop along with your heart. A slight breeze picked up in the late summer night and it felt like a blast straight out of the arctic, in the dead of winter. I could feel the goosebumps on my arms and neck. Even though I was sweating profusely, my entire body was frozen. All I could do was stand there, mouth open, thoughts racing. My mind was beginning to explode with questions for the man before me, my father, Jack Sterling. Every thought stopped just short of exiting my mouth. The words prob-ably couldn’t get past the fact that my heart was jammed firmly in my throat. That’s probably the same reason I hadn’t taken a breath either. Was I dead? Was this the spirit of my father coming to take me into the light? That thought left as quickly as it had come only to be replaced by anoth-er, darker notion. Maybe he had come to take me to Hell.... I stood, unmoving, as he began to cover the last few steps between us. This was it. This is how it all ended.
He stopped less than an arm’s length away. I could smell him now. The slightest hint of body odor with just a hint of diesel fuel. The only scent of him that I could remember was his cologne. He’d always been clean shaven, wearing a pressed blue or black suit and that damned cologne. He reached for me, and as much as I wanted to, I was unable to pull away. I wanted to run away screaming like a small child. I could feel my muscles tremble as his hand came ever closer.