"Summer Thunder" is a horror[citation needed] short story written by American author Stephen King.

The main character in the story is Peter Robinson, a man in his late forties living in Vermont, whose wife and daughter were in Boston when everyone was suddenly killed.

Timlin says he is dying of radiation poisoning, but he doesn't want his death to be slow and painful, and hence has decided to shoot himself with the gun.

Robinson himself starts showing symptoms of terminal radiation poisoning the very next day, and he decides to end his life on his own terms as well.

He gets his favorite motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy (whose sound is described as being like summer thunder), running again.