Redaction: Extinction Level Event (Part I) by Linda Andrews Read Free Book Online

“Tonight, it is rice and beans.”
    She groaned, smacked her palm against her forehead, and collapsed against the wall. “Not again.”
    “Yes, again.” And they were lucky to get it. Manny removed the lid from the pot on the burner. Tilting the opening toward the flashlight, he peered inside. The pintos had swollen since he’d set them to soak last night. Normally, he picked out the ones that had popped out of their husk. But that waste was a luxury they couldn’t afford. “Don’t you like my beans?”
    Crossing her arm, Lucia stuck her bottom lip out further. The dot of light shone on the water-stained ceiling. “I want a Tween meal from Burgers in a Basket.”
    “Wouldn’t we all?” Manny’s stomach rumbled in agreement, and he tasted the sourness of hunger. He closed his eyes and images of juicy burgers and crisp fresh vegetables used his eyelids as screens. Setting the pot down with a clunk, he rubbed away the temptation. Damn commercials.
    “We’re going to Burgers in a Basket?”
    Manny opened his eyes in time to see his seven-year old brother, Jose, leapt into the air and punch toward the ceiling.
    “Yes!”
    “No!” Manny yelled over his shouting brother and winced. He resisted the urge to pull back the tattered curtain over the sink. With the window boarded up, he’d see nothing. But his brother’s shout would carry, making them a target to the two-legged animals prowling the darkness.
    “But…” Jose’s brown eyes shone brightly in the dim light.
    Manny ruffled his long hair. “Sorry, Little Man. Even if we had money, we can’t go outside after curfew.”
    “Soldiers?” Jose wrapped his thin arms around Manny’s thighs. “I thought they were gone?”
    “Not yet.” Manny set his hand on his brother’s head.
    “They won’t come here, will they?” Lucia chewed the pink off her thumbnail.
    Manny sighed. He didn’t quite know what had happened before he’d been released from Adobe Mountain Juvenile Correctional Facility, but he knew without a doubt that the missing portions of brick wall around their neighborhood and burned out cars had something to do with it. What had the military done?
    And why hadn’t they killed the gang-bangers while they were at it?
    The Aspero certainly deserved it.
    Jose tugged on Manny’s baggy shirt. Hope shone in his brown eyes. “Can we go tomorrow?”
    “I don’t know.” Manny’s throat tightened and his knees trembled. Flattening his palms against the chipped linoleum countertop, he propped himself up. They were his responsibility now. He’d brought home the Redaction. He’d infected his parents, his aunts, his uncles, and his older brother and sisters.
    The whole neighborhood.
    The fluorescent lights flickered overhead and the house began to hum as electricity once more flowed through its copper veins.
    Lucia clicked off the flashlight and set it on the counter.
    “Can I go to Burgers even though I wee-ed again?” Five-year old Mary Volchek spoke around the thumb in her mouth. Wetness stained the front of her pajamas and darkened an area on the pink blanket she clutched to her narrow chest.
    “Of course, you can.” Releasing the counter, Manny sank to the tiled floor. Cold seeped through his skin and settled in his bones. He eased the blanket from her dirty fingers.
    She gripped it until her hands shook and her knuckles turned white. “No,” she whimpered.
    “Here now. You know I’m only going to wash it.” He brushed her flaxen hair out of her wide hazel eyes and tucked the long strands behind her ears. God only knew what had happened to her, or how long she and her brother had been alone before he’d found them eating moldy and maggot-infested garbage. Two weeks had passed since, and still she woke up screaming and wetting the bed. He needed to add soap to his grocery list. He stopped trying to pry the blanket loose and held out his hand. “Please, Mary.”
    She bit her lower lip before nodding. “I’ll get it back before