August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak by Tyler Lahey Read Free Book Online Page A

shit
again?” Liam indicated the plastic bottle of whiskey with disgust, even as he
fought to keep his last shot down.
    “Nelson is a wily one,” Troy replied
happily, tapping the poor depiction of a drunken admiral on the bottle. He
leaned back happily in his chair, yawning excessively and moving his head with
the music without shame. The six of them were cramped into a small apartment
kitchen, shot glasses littering the table. The tiny air conditioning unit
hummed loyal behind.
    “Next. Next. Next.” The future-soldier
took it upon himself to dictate what music would be acceptable.
    “So needy. Here, let me,” Harley
smiled absurdly as she took the iPod, revealing just how sober she wasn’t.
Elvis wasn’t there, but she had found herself arriving with the rest of them.   Troy opened his eyes with interest,
watching her. “I think I know just your type,” she said.
    Some instantly catchy female pop song
began filling the tiny space with highly auto-tuned lyrics, to Troy’s utter
joy.
    Adira was frowning at her phone.
Bennett dropped his voice, “What’s wrong?”
    She leaned close to him, so he could
smell her sultry perfume again. It dragged him to their last encounter, and he
felt himself staring as she bit her thin lip. He didn’t care if it wasn’t very
plump. “My parents aren’t even paying for my ticket home. I have to ship
everything myself, and then take the fucking train.”
    “I’ll help you pack, don’t worry.”
Bennett forced a grin, but found himself beset by a creeping doubt. Most of
their families lived in the same town, in the mountains of Western
Pennsylvania. None had arrived save Elvis’s.
    “Another toast!” Jax roared, feeling
the energy. He loaded up the glasses and raised his own with a magisterial
effort. “A toast to your coffin, everyone. No, just bare with me. I like this
part. May it be made of 100-year-old oak. And may we plant the tree tomorrow.”
Jaxton could feel his own eyes fluttering lazily, glassing over. He was met
with a loud chorus of guffaws and jeers, a mix of loyal approval and mockery.
They drained the glasses with zeal.
    “So what’s the plan everyone? Graduate
tomorrow. What’s the plan?”   Liam
belched and leaned forward, and Jaxton thought he saw Harley move closer too.
    There was a silence as the room
decided whether to spurn the question in mockery or to entertain it solemnly.
It all depended on how much Admiral Nelson’s had been guzzled.
    Harley held up her palm, slouching on
the table. “I’ll be an explorer. And never get married. And have a shitload of
kids with names like Pemberly and Vanelopee.” She sighed and placed her
throbbing head of auburn hair on the table.
    Bennett looked to Adira, seated at his
side. “Eloquence at its finest.” Adira giggled, already feeling much closer to
him than a few hours ago. Liam looked at him sharply, through a haze of
shifting shapes. “What did you mumble over there?”
    Bennett leaned back, stretching his
long arms and scratching the poor-man’s goatee he had nourished over a few
weeks. Jaxton was already amused; trying to figure out which way his friend
Bennett would choose to answer the question. He suspected he could give an
in-depth, realistic answer born from the heart, but Liam would most certainly
reject that in his current state.
    Bennett opened his mouth. “If we were
all little kings with little kingdoms, I’d conquer you all one by one. You
first Liam.”
    Liam frowned. “You’re a weird kid, do
you know that?”
    Liam was startled slightly by Troy’s
firm hand clapping him on the back, “I know what he means Liam, allow me to
translate. He’s a prick. He would betray all of us to be the one true OG.”
    “He’d be met with steel at every
turn,” Jaxton grinned, knowing they all sounded foolish.
    “No, you guys are all a bunch of
weirdos,” Adira muttered.
    Troy slapped the table, startling
Harley out of her whiskey-induced coma. “Alright, I can feel my