Aftermath – Joel Austin

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. 1kitap1.com/en Chapter One Northern Africa, 1988 Omar blinked against the harsh morning light. His dirt-smeared face glistened with perspiration, small droplets stinging as they rolled into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. The desert heat was already pushing past 95 degrees, and it was only 8:00 a.m.

Days of brutal washboards and potholes had left his kidneys feeling bruised, as if from a heavyweight boxing match. His brother, Abdullah, fared no better. Half-asleep, his head bobbed and swayed at an improbable angle. Their small Toyota pickup creaked and groaned with every dip and turn. It had seen better days, and even fewer mechanics, but it was simple.

It started. It ran. Anything more was excess. That simplicity suited the brothers, simple men as they were. Another bump jolted Abdullah awake. He cursed under his breath; his earlier patience eroded by the incessant, unpredictable movement. The road ahead was no wider than the horse cart that had made it, a beige streak amidst beige swathes of sand.

No water, no life, only the echoes of a past. The man, or men, who had sent them on this drive had explained very little, just enough to set their teeth on edge with a slow, grinding apprehension that built with each passing hour. Paranoia was good; it kept the wits sharp and the trigger finger light. The brothers habitually racked the slides on their rifles, which lay loosely across the bench seat. The reassuring glimmer of brass peeked out from the dull steel.

Abdullah figured they were only a few hours away. He carefully unfolded the small hand-drawn map the man had given them. So far, it had saved them, marking detours around military police checkpoints. Their current path was the latest and longest bypass. It had taken them the better part of the night to skirt the nearest town, and judging by the nothingness enveloping the small truck, it would be hours before they saw humanity again. Omar shuddered at the thought of capture—days of endless torture, extracted teeth, and forced confessions.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: c639e129d64174ac
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,792,749 bytes (2.663 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 308
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 459.25 minutes
• Total Words: 91,850
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