Broken World by Kate L. Mary Read Free Book Online Page B

enough to give her to the Johnson’s. They sent
me updates for a while. Nine months, to be exact. Then they stopped. I can’t
blame them. It wasn’t an open adoption, and they never got a single response
from me. Maybe they thought I didn’t care. Truth was, it just hurt too much.
    The woman behind me coughs on the back
of my head. Hot, moist air hits my hair and brushes it forward. I start to turn
around so I can yell at her, but I freeze. She’s not the only one. Half the
people in this diner are hacking their heads off. People slump over in booths,
their breathing raspy and their faces bright red. A woman moans and shivers.
She has on two jackets, but she still shakes so hard her teeth clang together.
Her face is covered in sweat. The man next to her urges her to eat something.
But he coughs too.
    My stomach aches. I’m going to hurl.
It’s here.
    I forget the bathroom and head back to
the table. I have to pee, but I can do it on the side of the road. We need to
get out of here. Joshua is back. The three men are tense. They look up when I walk
over.
    “It’s here,” I say, but they already
know.
    “We’re gettin’ our shit to go,” Axl
says.
    He’s pale. So is Angus. His face isn’t
as hard as it was before. Death tends to do that to a person. Turn them into
spaghetti.
    Even Joshua shakes, and he knows he’s
immune.
    I sit down and wait, wringing my hands
on top of the table. My hands tremble so hard that when I pick up my glass to
take a drink, water spills everywhere. I set it back down.
    “We still need supplies.” Angus’s voice
is hollow.
    “Why don’t you and the Doc head to the
convenience store and grab us some stuff? Vivian and me’ll wait for the food,”
Axl says.
    Angus gets to his feet, and I stand to
let Joshua out. People cough on them when they go by. Angus clenches his fist
when a man sneezes on him. But the anger melts away and all the color drains
from his face. He walks faster.
    “Guess we’ll know soon,” Axl says.
    I nod, but I can’t make my mouth work to
say anything. My insides curl into a ball. They grow tighter each time I think
about it. I should be relieved. Soon the suspense will be over, and I’ll know
whether or not I’m going to die. But I’m not. I don’t want to die, and the
thought of it happening makes me want to throw up.
    Axl and I don’t speak. We just stare at
each other. The diner is amazingly quiet, considering how full it is. People
cough. There are a few quiet conversations. Otherwise it’s silent. Deathly
silent.
    “Thought the end of the world would be
more dramatic than this,” he finally says. It makes me jump.
    I look around. It is the end. It’s
written on the face of every person in the diner. I’m sure it’s on mine. “There
should be chaos or panic. Something.”
    “Probably is. In the cities.”
    He’s right. Here the people are too
disappointed. They were so close. They passed their physicals and thought they
were in the clear. That they were going to make it. Is that what’s going to
happen to me? The thought sends a shiver down my spine.
    The waitress finally brings our food.
Axl hands her a wad of money without even looking at the bills. He grabs my
elbow and pulls me toward the door. I try not to look at anyone, but I can’t
stop myself. I meet the eyes of every person who coughs in my direction.
They’re defeated and hopeless.
    I pee behind the building, and we leave.
We eat in the car. The silence is so thick and painful I wouldn’t be surprised
if it swooped in and smothered us.

 
     
     
     
    6
     
     
    I
WAKE TO THE SOUND of Angus cursing. He’s in the driver’s seat. I’m not sure
when that happened. His face is tight and red as he stares out the front
window. The car slows down.
    There’s a police car pulled off to the
side of the road with its light flashing. A cop stands in the middle of the
street. He waves his arms, trying to flag us down. Another car is pulled over
and two people stand next to it. My