Dead River by Brian Smith

Author:Brian Smith [Smith, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2023-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

COLIN blinked and he sat up in bed. He clutched the rumpled sheets inside of his tight, white-knuckled fists, drew a thick cloud of hot stale air deep into his lungs and exhaled. Droplets of sweat clung to the back of his tee-shirt, secreted inside of his pits and trickled down his sides.

Dust motes floated in the shafts of sunlight pouring through the blinds. Gusts of cool air spewed from the gray metal box fan sitting in the far left corner of the room and swept across the room in soft generous waves.

He sighed, rubbed the sleep grit from the corners of his eyes with the backs of his hands and yawned. The coffee they’d shared last night had intensified their fatigue. Ten minutes after their first cup he’d thanked her again for allowing them to stay the night and slept like a newborn.

He slid over to the edge of the bed, yawned again and stretched until it hurt. He licked the patch of sleep paste clinging to the roof of his mouth, pursed his lips together and grimaced. He threw his legs over the side, tied his boots and slid out of bed. He padded across the room, slipped his pullover off the three-legged metal hook fixed to the wall beside of the bedroom door, tossed it over his right shoulder and left the room.

The hallway had sea-foam green walls adorned with framed photos of various sizes of people who once lived here or were victims of circumstance. A pair of bowl lamps with glass shades the color of a smoker’s teeth hung down from the ceiling, coated with dust and cobwebs. Four antique wooden doors, four spacious rooms.

The door on the far left swung open on slow creaking hinges, pouring a second carpet of light across the hallway. Jason stepped out of his room in the same clothes he’d worn and his little sister strapped to his chest wearing the same onesie Stacey had changed her into back at the other side of town. Anger registered across his face, etching tiny parentheses around the corners of his mouth and narrow dark eyes.

Colin thought they should stop in someplace along the way and fetch them some clean clothes. They could all probably use a new wardrobe. He saw the lethargic look on Jason’s face, glanced down at the floor and smiled without trying to hide it. If they made good time, then they could reach the auto shop and get back to the boat by nightfall.

The pleasing smell of hotcakes and bacon wafted through the house. Jason closed his eyes and drew that appetizing smell deep into his lungs; his stomach gave a low growl.

Colin gave him an elated grin as the loud cough of static burst across the house, stirring them out of their food-induced reverie. In a pair of slacks and a lime-green button-down shirt, Dominic fled down the stairs, his pale chubby face jiggling with each step. He hissed, pushed past him so hard he’d nearly knocked him over and stormed off into the kitchen.

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