Undone: A Dystopian Fiction Novel by Chad Evercroft Read Free Book Online Page B

“What is this, North Korea or something?”
    “They can do it,” Tyrsa said quietly. “It happened in Detroit, remember? Human rights groups got involved. Some people didn’t have water for weeks.”
    “We gotta call Joe,” Lawrence exclaimed. “He’s the one responsible for this. Why isn’t he paying? What’s going on?”
    We searched the office for clues and found two phone numbers. One was for the office, and the other didn’t work. It just led us to a disconnected message.
    “This is super sketchy,” Lawrence said, crossing his arms.
    “I can’t believe Joe would do this to us,” Beth murmured. “Just…abandon us like this.”
    We checked in with the other tenants and told them what we had learned. Mrs. Gaither said she called her son and he was coming to pick her up that day to take her back home with him to Indianapolis.
    “Do you need anything till then?” Beth asked. “Water or anything?”
    The old woman insisted she was fine, but Beth still left a plastic bag at her door with some cans of juice and a water bottle. Jenny opened her door only after we knocked several times, and she looked upset. Her eyes were pink from crying and we could hear Darcy whining incoherently from inside the apartment.
    “The water got turned off,” Rick said. “Something to do with Joe. We called, and the lady said he didn’t pay. He’s gone. Just took off.”
    Jenny’s hand flew to her mouth in shock.
    “Do you guys need any water or anything?” Rick asked.
    Jenny shook her head, but then froze. Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded.
    “It’s okay,” Rick assured her. “We have plenty.”
    Lawrence raided Joe’s mini fridge he kept in the office.
    “It’s not like that asshole can get mad at us for it,” he said bitterly.
    He found several fun-size water bottles, some cut-up vegetables, and a half-finished six-pack. We gave what we found to Jenny, and tried to gather clues as to where those two missing students had gone.
    “Should we break in?” Lawrence asked tentatively.
    “That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” I replied.
    I put my ear against the door to listen for any movement. Silence.
    “So, no notes or anything in the office? About them taking off?”
    “Nope. And Joe didn’t know where they were before, remember?”
    We all stood looking at the door, trying to decide what to do.
    “I say we break in,” Rick announced. “They might have stored water in there. We’re going to need that for everyone, it’s an emergency. If they come back, they’ll just have to understand that.”
    That made sense. Since Rick was the strongest and it had been his idea, he was responsible for kicking the door in. We stood back while he assessed what he was up against.
    Luckily, the door was old, as was the rest of the house, so one strong kick to the frame was all Rick needed to break the latch. No one screamed or shouted from inside the apartment, so we knew for sure it was indeed unoccupied. We moved inside slowly, like cautious raccoons investigating an unfamiliar dumpster. The place looked very much like ours, except smaller. There was no couch, only two lumpy bean bag chairs, and an old TV set up on cinderblocks. Some empty chip bags and bottles littered the floor.
    I went to the kitchen and opened all the cupboards, but there was nothing there. It was like someone else had already come through and taken anything that might have been useful. Out of curiosity, I tried the faucet. Nothing. Their electricity was off, too. When I opened the fridge, there was no cool gust and only three likely very moldy yogurt cups.
    “Not much in the bedrooms,” Lawrence said, coming up behind me. “Two mattresses. Some textbooks. No clothes, either. Tyrsa says it looks like they might have bugged out.”
    I hadn’t known the students very well, but I had seen them around a few times. They looked really young, like freshmen, and not like the sort of people who would take risks. Maybe they had been involved in