Blackout: Book 0 by Alexandria Clarke

Author:Alexandria Clarke
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: General Fiction
Published: 2017-11-08T22:00:00+00:00

So it was just Jacob and I that braved the twelve flights downstairs again and headed out into the cold. We left the bikes with Frank since Pippa wouldn’t be able to ride one on her own anyway. Jacob held my hand as we walked through the streets, though it was more for his comfort than mine. What Jove had said irked me, and the thought that Jacob was talking to his parents about me behind my back didn’t sit well. We were engaged, for Pete’s sake. Jove and Penny were going to be my in-laws. Penny, I didn’t mind, but I had a feeling that Christmases with the Masons were going to be really fun with Jove around.

The streets weren’t getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse. Multiple times, Jacob pulled me down behind a car or forced us to duck into an alley in order to avoid someone. People took baseball bats to car and shop windows. They fought with each other over the simplest things like hand sanitizer or a package of baby wipes. I flinched each time a punch landed against someone else’s cheek. The teenager’s pistol from the radio station pressed against my spine. I had to stop myself from instinctively reaching for it. No one else knew that I had it—Jacob didn’t know that I could shoot a gun at all—and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

We kept moving through the surreal landscape. In less than a day, Denver had disintegrated into madness. I could only imagine what it would look like in a week. At this rate, the death toll would skyrocket in a matter of days. I’d seen enough death already, bodies splayed out across the hood of their cars or slumped over the steering wheels. The stench would grow worse with each passing hour unless someone organized a removal of the corpses. I almost took my hand from Jacob’s, but silent tears streamed down his cheeks as we continued up the block toward St. Mark’s, so I let him squeeze the blood out of my fingers for as long as he needed.

A few blocks ahead, the red brick building of the prestigious private school loomed, casting a shadow on the sidewalk below. I hoped Pippa had stayed put and holed up in a safe place. Knowing her, I was sure that she had. She was the sharpest seventeen-year-old I’d ever met, with a tongue to match, and she hadn’t let the inconvenience of an accidental pregnancy stop her from getting an education. On the contrary, she’d written such a stunning personal statement on the judgement she received as a pregnant teeanager that she had already been shortlisted for interviews at Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth. She would have her pick of universities.

Unexpectedly, Jacob yanked me off the sidewalk and forced me down behind a stack of aluminum trash bins. I flatted out my left hand to steady myself, and the metal splint on my pinky finger scraped across the asphalt.

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