The Final Trade by Joe Hart

Author:Joe Hart [Hart, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781503936799
Amazon: B01AJR0OLS
Barnesnoble: B01AJR0OLS
Goodreads: 28821503
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2016-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Firelight dances across the gray stone hearth. Shadows, from the simple furniture in the room, elongate on the close-set walls. Zoey sits in the closest chair to the fire, chewing the last piece of bread slathered with rich butter. She savors the taste, similar to the flavor of butter she had at the ARC, but wholly different as well. It is richer, saltier, more . . . real. She drinks cold water from a chipped glass painted with flowers on one side, their yellow petals delicate and outlined in black.

“It was part of my mother’s set.” Zoey turns to see Travis’s wife, Anniel, standing in the doorway that leads to the small kitchen beyond. “There’s only two glasses, three plates, and one bowl left. Everything else has been broken or lost over the years.”

Zoey turns the cup around in her hands. “It’s beautiful.”

Anniel smiles. “Would you like more food? There’s still some soup left.”

“No. Thank you. It was delicious.”

Footsteps approach from outside and a second later Travis enters the room followed by Merrill, Chelsea, and Ian.

“The ASV is pretty well hidden behind a stand of trees to the east. Should be fine overnight,” Merrill says.

“Are Eli and Tia still outside?” Zoey asks.

“Yeah. They’re entertaining the young ones.” Merrill smiles at Travis who shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, they’re probably bothering them.”

“No. I’m pretty sure they’re enjoying the attention.”

“They’ve led pretty sheltered lives up until now,” Travis says. “None of them have ever met a black man before. That’s probably part of the fascination.”

The baby, whose name Zoey learned is Isaac, squeals somewhere in the kitchen and Anniel leaves to tend to him while the others all find a place to sit in the cramped living room.

“On that note,” Ian says, “tell us how it is you came to live here with your family.”

Travis smiles and gazes at the fire. “Anniel and I met through our church years before the Dearth. It was a nice little congregation maybe a hundred miles west of here. I was studying to become a pastor and she worked as a consultant for a railroad. When the Dearth came we went to stay with my parents on their farm but it soon became clear it wasn’t safe. Anniel and I were terrified of what was happening, so we decided to go into hiding.”

“Smart choice,” Chelsea says.

“It turned out to be, yes. We searched for a remote area along with several other families from our church, thinking there was strength in numbers. We settled here along with our pastor at the time. There’s around forty of us, counting the kids, scattered in the area. We have a regular commune every Sunday after service, each household taking turns hosting it. We try to keep traditions close even though it’s hard to do in these times.”

“Staying alive is hard, let alone traditions,” Merrill says, glancing out a window.

“Amen to that,” Travis says. “When John, our oldest, was born, we knew God had blessed us and that we would be safe in this place.

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.