Woody and June versus Phantom Company: Woody and June Versus the Apocalypse, #6

By Robert J. McCarter

Desperate Times Call for Foolish Measures

When Woody Beckman meets June Medina, neither expects the adventures that will follow. Dedicated go-it-alone survivors, they've learned not to trust anyone in post-zombie-apocalypse Arizona, except each other.

When outmanned and overpowered by a trained paramilitary group, can Woody and June find a way to survive, much less stay together? Can the mercurial Dallas be trusted?

Can Woody and June survive the humans, escape the unforgiving desert, and find out if there is really anything between them?

A story of adventure and love and taking things (even the apocalypse) in stride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert J. McCarter
• Release date: Aug 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393627111

Book preview

Chapter One

Two birds land on the boulder June and I are crouched behind. They are nothing special, I couldn’t even tell you what kind of birds they are. They are small with mottled brown feathers, a white breast, and a long beak. The two of them light there and stare at us for a moment.

The sky above is an azure blue and disorganized cumulonimbus clouds squat on the western horizon, threatening to bring spring rain to the juniper-pinion forest.

I stare at the birds as their heads bob briefly and somehow they give me some hope. I see those birds as June and I flitting through the forest looking for safety, for sanctuary, for sustenance and rest.

They’re not love birds or anything romantic like that. Just two birds deep in the forest of the Kaibab Plateau trying to survive. Like June and me.

Except those two birds aren’t being hunted by a group of post zombie apocalypse survivors that live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and call themselves Phantom Company. They haven’t been on the run for the last three days with little food and little sleep and no time to say what they need to say to each other.

You good with the plan? June asks, her blue eyes hard. It’s been too long since we had even a semblance of peace or more than the most forced of laughs. Talia, June’s ex, is the head of Phantom Company and she wants her back. At any cost at this point. And any cost means whether I live or die matters not one bit.

Well, that’s not really true. Talia would much prefer me dead at this point.

No, I’m not good with this plan, I say.

She sighs and nods, her hand brushing at her short black hair, her gaze flicking to her hunting rifle. We’re not like them, Woody. I will not be aiming to kill.

One of June’s most attractive qualities, beyond her olive complexion, striking blue eyes, and athletic, petite, pixie frame, is that she’s retained her humanity through all she has been through post-A (post-apocalypse, that is. It’s a mouthful, so I’m going to shorten it from now on).

I shake my head. I don’t like that part of the plan—the shooting—but have come to accept it, but it’s not what bothers me the most. June, I…

June smiles, it’s a wistful little thing. At this point Talia or her people will kill you on sight. You know this. If it goes bad, I’m turning myself in. It’s the only way.

I nod, a knot in my stomach to make the Gordian Knot look like child’s play. Truth is, I have become extremely attached to June during our fifteen days of Woody and June versus the Apocalypse. In some perverse way, they’ve become the best fifteen days of my life and that is without us kissing… even once.

Survival is the first rule of each day, and we have been fully engaged with that, being chased by Phantom Company down these old forest service roads. Laughter is my second rule of the day, and I’ve been hard pressed to find any humor at all. My third (and very new) rule is to spend time with June. And on that count, I’ve spent a lot of time with her while we’ve been running around the forest, but it hasn’t exactly been quality time.

She takes my hand, her eyes betraying