SWAB (A Young Adult Dystopian Novel) by Heather Choate Read Free Book Online

house was the eighth one on the left. Our family’s blue minivan was parked in the driveway.
    “Dad’s home!” Nathan cried, his voice echoing the hope and relief I felt in my own heart. My parents were there. They would know what to do. They would keep us safe from whatever was happening.
    Throwing our bikes onto the grass, we dashed to the door and threw it open.
    “Mom! Dad!” I yelled into the living room and up the stairs. My mom had been sewing when we left that morning.
    “Mom!” Nathan called.
    The sewing room upstairs was empty. So were the bedrooms. That meant they were probably in the kitchen. Mom was getting dinner ready.
    “Mom—” I burst into the room but stopped at the sight of the back door leading to the porch. The screen was shredded, the frame bent in at one corner, gaping like a hungry mouth.
    My mother’s body was lying on the floor in front of the fridge. The lilac dress she’d put on that day was damp with crimson. One of her legs was ripped open, muscles and bone showing through the mutilated skin. But that wasn’t the worst part.
    Her head was gone.
    I screamed and vomited all over the tiled floor.
    Nathan ran to her, but I stopped him. We both nearly slipped in the vomit and blood on the floor.
    “Her head!” Nathan shrieked. It lay by the pantry door, her beautiful green eyes still open and her soft brown hair falling to the ground.
    The sight was too much. We couldn’t even grieve over our mother’s body. We had to get away. The back door was closest. Nathan had gone limp in my arms. I thought he’d fainted, but I didn’t stop to check. Dragging him under the arms, I got us out of the kitchen through the broken screen door and onto the porch.
    There, I stopped and sobbed. At times, breath couldn’t come. At others, it came so fast I felt my head get woozy and light. Nathan crumpled into a ball on the wood slats. Through my tears, I saw my dad’s shirt lying in the dirt of the garden we had planted that spring. His jeans were peeking through the leaves of the rhubarb plants.
    “Mommy,” Nathan sobbed beside me.
    The sight of my father’s dead body snapped me back to the present. I realized we were on our own. There was no one to protect us. Whoever or whatever had murdered my parents could come back. They could be watching us right now.
    “Nathan, you’ve got to come with me,” I told him, but he didn’t respond. I forced him to his feet. “I’m going to take you back inside.”
    “But Mom—”
    “Don’t look,” I told him. “Just hold onto me. I’m going to keep you safe.” I probably didn’t stand much chance against whatever had killed our parents, but I had to at least try. For Nathan.
    “Wh-what about D-dad?” Nathan asked.
    I took a moment before I told him. “He’s gone, too.”
    “Wh-what?” he started looking around.
    “No,” I told him, taking his hand. “Look into my eyes and nowhere else.”I didn’t want him to see. His green eyes—bright as the summer grass, just like Mom’s, but full of tears and pain—stared back into mine. “He’s gone, and it’s just us. You need to do what I say so we stay safe. Can you do that?”
    He nodded.
    “Good.” I led him by the hand across the deck. At the sight of the broken screen, he started trembling violently. “Do you want to close your eyes?” I asked gently, wishing I could do the same. He nodded again. “Okay, I’ll lead you.”
    He closed his eyes, sobs bursting from his lips. I held back the shredded screen and we stepped through the doorway. Our flip-flops flapped against the tile. I led him around the kitchen table, away from the fridge. “We’re almost there.”
    The tile gave way to soft carpet. We went down the hall and into the living room. I sat Nathan down on the couch facing the window and the street. “Now stay here,” I told him and took a moment to try to still my racing heart and think. “I need to get some things from the house. I’ll be back in a few