Darkness Rising (Book 2): The Lost Light by Bell Justin & Kraus Mike

Author:Bell, Justin & Kraus, Mike [Bell, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2018-03-09T22:00:00+00:00

***

He couldn’t remember the name of the bar, but he could still see it in his mind—the ornate, faux-vintage interior aesthetic, the floors and walls made up like old, knotted wood. The bartender had been a thirty-something-year-old guy, gelled black hair, permanent five o’clock shadow, and eyes that drew the attention of nearly every female sitting at the stools.

The details were crisp and embossed on the mind of Brandon Liu, walking through the door with three of his friends. They were celebrating his recent completion of fifteen weeks of grueling training for the Customs and Border Patrol down in Georgia. His friends had promised to get him out of Chinatown and they’d delivered, rocking one of the college bars that attracted just the kind of audience that a law school graduate and recent inductee into the CBP wanted to hang with.

He’d danced with a blonde-haired blue-eyed woman, probably a year removed from graduation, and had actually bought a round of drinks for a trio of attractive females at the end of the bar, but he did these things for the entertainment of his wingmen, not because he was truly interested. His career was ahead of him. That had to be his focus.

But then he’d bumped into Chunhua. She’d been timid right off the bat, surrounded by her more aggressive friends, an exchange student at Boston College who was about to move into her final exams. Brandon hadn’t spoken Mandarin often in recent years, but the language remained ingrained in him and just out of reflex he apologized to her in his parent’s native tongue when they collided. She blushed and responded in the same language to him, and they’d formed an immediate bond.

He was more outgoing than her, and had more ties to Boston, while she was shy and withdrawn and had been eager to return to the country that made her more comfortable. She felt more at place in China—more in tune with her people, and less intimidated by the more outward attitude in the United States. It had never even occurred to her that she would stay.

Three years later, she was his wife. She was his rock. And he’d left her stranded in Boston while he dove headfirst into a career that kept him out of home more often than in it. He knew she was unhappy, he knew she struggled to find friends, but selfishly he loved her and wanted her to be by his side when it was convenient for him.

What kind of person did that make him? Did she deserve better?

He could see her face in his mind, the crystal-clear visage of her young, oval face, her smiling mouth and dark, swept hair that bobbed just right every time she moved. Her face was in high definition, even while the backdrop blurred and swirled around her, smearing into an amorphous blob of mottled colors, twirling into a whirlwind of confused vagaries, obscure images of a life lived, or as much life lived as possible in three short years.

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