DeadEarth: Mr. 44 Magnum by Michael Anthony Read Free Book Online Page A

sister all her life.
If it wasn’t Rikka’s idea, or if she didn’t do it Rikka’s way, it
was wrong, she was stupid, or she fucked up a good thing. It never
failed.
    “We did have a good thing, Shade. Food.
Water. Protection. What more could you fucking want? We were safe,
and like all good things, you fucked that up. Bravo.” She clapped
mockingly.
    “I wanted fresh air, Rikka. I wanted freedom.
I wanted to do something other than nothing. Your problem is you’ve
got your head shoved so far up your ass that you can’t see that
survival isn’t the endgame. Whether we die now or fifty years from
now, dead is still dead.”
    “And being alive is still being alive. What
do you want me to do, Shade? Put on my cape and save the world?
Sorry, but this isn’t a Disney movie. Open your fucking eyes.”
    Shade threw her hands up and turned away from
her sister. It was just like always—a fundamental difference
between them. And from now until she was dead and buried, that was
how it would always be. But she couldn’t live like that—holed up in
a bunker, counting down the days until they ran out of food.
Counting down the days until they turned on each other so that one
of them could live another day, another hour, another minute
longer.
    “You want me to open my eyes,” Shade spat,
turning back to her sister. “Fine. Dad’s not coming back. He’s
dead, and we both know it. His plan was stupid and so is yours. I’m
not going to tuck tail and hide for the rest of my life. I’m not
going to stay holed up in a box just because you’re—”
    “You’re going to do exactly what I tell you
to do,” Rikka yelled as she stepped in Shade’s face. From her
demeanor, it was clear she was through arguing. But Shade was just
getting started. “Dad put me in charge—”
    “Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time,”
Shade said, raising her chin in defiance. “Dad’s dead.” She said
those two words slowly, enunciating each syllable to make herself
completely clear. “And I’m not going to live and die in that bunker
just because you don’t know what else to do.”
    Rikka stepped closer to her sister, her
demeanor darkening further. Despite the four-inch height
difference, she seemed to tower over Shade like a mountain next to
a pebble. Shade was tempted to step back, to put some distance
between them, but she knew that if she did, she would be backing
down from Rikka for the rest of her life. She refused to go back to
living the last two months on repeat until she died, and if she had
to fight her sister to keep that from happening, so be it.
    “I will knock you unconscious and drag your
sorry ass into that bunker,” Rikka said, her voice as dead as
everything around them. “Then I’ll handcuff you to the wall and
beat you senseless if I even think you’re thinking about leaving.
Don’t fuck with me, Shade, because you always lose.”
    Shade huffed and smiled. Not because she
found anything funny, but because she knew that was the one thing
she could do to piss Rikka off even more. “When Lou’s safe and the
house is secure…” She shook her head, dropping the smile along with
her childish antics. In that moment, she realized that the laws
that governed her life only a few moments ago no longer existed.
For the last two months, they were figments of her imagination. In
the world left for them, she was an adult, capable of making and
living with her own choices. It was stupid to argue with her sister
about what she was and wasn’t going to do. Rikka didn’t have power
over her anymore. No one did. “When the house is secure, I’m
leaving.” Shade looked away and shrugged, trying her best to stay
the tears pushing at the back of her eyes. When she felt in
control, she looked back up at her sister. “I hate you, Rikka. To
the deepest part of me, I truly hate you.”
    Shade held her glare for another moment
before turning on her heel and trotting west towards Lou. She could
feel Rikka glaring holes