Sunset Rising by S.M. McEachern

Author:S.M. McEachern
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: post apocalyptic, dystopian, romance adventure fantasy young adult science fiction teen trilogy
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Jack was asleep in the chair when I got back to the apartment, but his eyes fluttered open when he heard me come in. He looked drained. The circles under his eyes were every bit as dark as the coal smudged through his hair. And the whites of his eyes were tinged red, making the blue seem even bluer.

“You had to work late again?” he inquired politely.

“I guess that’s the way of the laundry room,” I said dismissively. “Ready to go for dinner?”

He nodded and put his hat back on. I could tell he didn’t really want to go. He was exhausted and needed to sleep.

I headed toward the sixth floor common room. Not that I really wanted to see Reyes, but he would wonder where I had disappeared if I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t want him to come looking for me and create a scene on the fourth floor where we lived. It was better to let him down closer to his own home and far from ours.

The common room was already quite full when we joined the cue for food. Reyes was there with Raine and Mica. Although Raine and Mica were both married, it occurred to me I rarely saw them out with their wives. They were always hanging around Reyes. There was an empty seat next to Reyes and he patted it when he saw me in the line-up. I headed toward him once we received our food ration and Jacked followed mutely behind. I would talk to Reyes privately once we were done eating.

“So is he going to follow you everywhere now?” Reyes demanded. Jack was mid-way to sitting down and stood back up.

“I don’t mind sitting at another table,” Jack said, getting up to leave.

“Stop it Reyes! Jack sit down,” Jack hesitated a moment, then returned to his seat.

“You can’t expect me to hang out with this bourge and like it,” Reyes spat out.

“Yeah, your boy got his butt kicked again today,” Raine piped in, looking at Jack. I gave Jack a confused look. He was too good of a fighter to get his butt kicked.

“You didn’t tell me anything,” I said to him with surprise.

“You can’t blame the guards, the way he walks around down there like he owns the place,” Reyes said, never taking his eyes off Jack.

I knew what he meant; Jack reeked of authority. He had a confident demeanour about him that wasn’t common in the Pit. It was bound to get him into trouble with the guards. But I still couldn’t imagine Jack putting up with someone kicking his butt.

“What happened?” I asked Jack.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he replied in no uncertain terms.

“The guards like picking on him. He backs down pretty fast,” Reyes snickered. “Not so big down here in the Pit, are ya?”

Raine and Mica laughed too. I was suddenly overcome with pity for Jack.

“Reyes, that’s enough! You’re behaving like a child,” I blurted out.

“What? I’m the bad guy here?” Reyes demanded as he turned to look at me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.