October 10 is almost upon us!  Hope you’re enjoying the excerpts – leave a comment, I’m still giving stuff away  and Book 1 – The Infection is still on sale for $.99 — Amazon

Excerpt 3 – Book 2

Amanda sat back on her heels and wiped her forehead. The gardens had been neglected for a while before they arrived, but there was still plenty to harvest or use as seed, and they wanted to get it in before a frost. They had been eating fresh foods the last couple of days and it was been wonderful after all of the canned food in Atlanta. Even Lorene and Becky couldn’t make that stuff taste fresh.

A couple of the plots, there was no way to refer to these gardens as fields, had been cleared and David and Joe had turned them with the small gas powered tiller kept in what they referred to as the “barn.” There were no animals at this time, but that might happen—at least rabbits. They seemed to be in abundance. She’d seen David and Joe looking at snares in the book last night. The barn was where construction materials had been housed as well as a large collection of bicycles. The majority were mountain bikes and David had admitted that while he was confident he could bike down to the village, it might take him several days to get back. Still it was nice to have a sustainable mode of transportation for nearby destinations.

They still needed to check out the closer homes to see if anyone else had survived and to scavenge what they could. There were several farms within easy biking distance.

Amanda was learning to can the vegetables they harvested. They had found the supplies and with Joe’s help in the beginning, she had done several cookings. With the pressure cooker they had picked up at the last house, there were three in use. The few left overs were being composted and David had turned that area again this morning. Her cooking skills had, of necessity, improved by leaps and bounds.

Being a farm wife hadn’t been as hard to get accustomed to as she had thought, and at least she was able to wear jeans instead of long skirts. She laughed at that image of herself and was surprised when muscular arms went around her.

“What’s so funny?” That gravelly, infinitely sexy voice whispered in her ear.

She turned enough to meet his lips. “Thinking of me in a dress doing this work.”

“Mmm, a short sexy little black dress?”

She cut her eyes at him. “No, a long pioneer skirt with lots of pantaloons and such underneath.”

He shook his head. “Nope, not my idea of sexy. Of course seeing you in a burlap sack would still turn me on, so if it’s what you want . . . ”

“A satyr. I should have realized you were really a satyr.”

“You didn’t know?” He pulled her to her feet and took one side of the basket she had filled. Laughing they carried it back toward the big house.

“Where’s Joe?” She asked as they finished emptying the basket.

“He went into town.”

She stopped dead and looked toward the front door. Of course, the van was gone. She hadn’t even noticed. “Is it safe for him to go alone? I thought we were going to check out the clinic.”

“We still haven’t seen any people around and there were things we might need down there. There aren’t enough of us to double-team all the time. I’m sure he’ll save the clinic for your expertise.”

“I would have been okay here alone.”

“I know, but neither of us was willing to take the chance. I offered to go, but he volunteered. Kind of insisted really. Maybe he needed some time alone.”

“I know.” But she looked in the direction of the entry to the compound.

“He’ll be back before dark. He doesn’t like that road any better than you do.”

“There’s a good reason for that.”

David nodded. “It gets dark quicker now, that’s why he left at first light. Come on, let me get these seeds in containers. With all this privacy we could . . .”

Amanda’s lips twitched. There weren’t many places they hadn’t christened despite the lack of privacy. “You’re not going to suggest the ice house?”

“No, even I draw the line there. Shrinkage you know.”

She laughed out loud. She did that a lot more here. There was a free feeling lacking in Atlanta. Yes, it was just the three of them, but David kept talking about other survivors and she was willing to listen.

Her lips took his as she unbuttoned his shirt.