The Survivors by K. M. Fawkes

Author:K. M. Fawkes [Fawkes, K. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | EMP | Survival
Published: 2018-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The sounds came first, oddly familiar although he hadn’t heard them in a long time. The sound of many different low conversations and the bustle of a busy place. Knives and forks clinked against plates all around them as the other diners cut into their meals. Busboys came by and waiters hurried over to the customers who had finished up their desserts and were waving imperiously for service.

Brad watched as their waiter approached with a dark green bottle wrapped in a bright white cloth. Without speaking to Brad, the man leaned down to fill Anna’s glass. The dark wine splashed into it like a red wave, vivid and almost lurid. Once the waiter had filled it nearly to the rim, Anna lifted the glass by its delicate stem and took a long sip. Her eyes met Brad’s as she drank. The glass was nearly empty when she put it on the table again.

“It wasn’t you, you know,” she said as she patted her lips with the white napkin. When she put it back on the table, it was crumpled and stained with her lipstick. The shade she’d chosen to wear was even darker than the wine. “It was me. It was always me.”

Brad leaned across the table. “What do you mean? It had to be me. Tell me the truth, Anna. Tell me what I did!”

She smirked and shook her head. “There were go again. What did you do? Oh, Brad. You still don’t understand.”

“No, I don’t! Anna, all did was care about you,” he said. “I would have died for you and Sammy—”

“I know, you cared about my son more than I ever dreamed anyone else could. And you made me feel safe,” she said, taking a delicate bite of the food that the waiter put down in front of her. It looked like deer chili, which made Brad blink in surprise and glance around at the other diners. He couldn't tell what they were eating, however; they were all too far away. The place had certainly seemed much too fancy for deer chili, though.

He looked around more carefully. There were crystal chandeliers overhead and carpet so plush that he felt his boots sink into it under the large wooden table. The tablecloths and napkins were spotless white linen, except for the one that was now stained with Anna’s blood-red lipstick. The waiter had left the wine on their table, but Brad didn’t even have a glass. He briefly considered lifting the bottle and drinking it down right in front of all of them, but he was distracted by Anna.

She had always been beautiful to him, but tonight, she was gorgeous. Anna was dressed to kill in a plunge-neck green satin dress. There were diamonds around her collarbones and there were some twined into her hair, too, in an elven sort of coronet.

In contrast, Brad was horrified to look down and see that he looked like he’d been working outside all day. His hands were black with dirt. His jeans and T-shirt were dingy under the ambient light of the chandeliers overhead.

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