Read Online Through Glass: Episode Four by Rebecca Ethington - Free Book Online

the
outside world, and in turn, keep us safe as we slept.
    I followed his lead without
hesitation, pillows of dust falling off the limp fabric as I closed
each curtain. The strength of the lights we held seemed to grow as
we pulled the last of the curtains closed, leaving us standing in
the large space, surrounded by the gentle yellow glow of
security.
    Travis pulled a spotlight the size of
a dinner plate out of his backpack and placed it near a door on the
far side of the room, the beam facing toward the hall we had just
come from. The light flared in a brilliant blaze that burned
through my skull in a pleasant fire. It illuminated the hall,
turning black to white as the glow floodlit the space more than the
small LED lights we carried. While the light was enough to keep us
safe from the Tar, it wouldn’t keep Abran’s men away.
    “ Nice light,” I said
offhandedly.
    Travis’s head shot up to look at me
before going back to his work. “Yeah, it’s a Carson Light. It has a
motion sensor too, but I figure, for what we need it for, the more
light the better.”
    My body seemed to relax a bit in the
flood of light, the shadows of fear that I had grown used to
evaporating into air as I looked into the room. The shadows that I
had been so ingrained to fear were all but gone.
    “ Get the pillows off the
couch, Lex,” Travis commanded, his voice low as he fished through
his large backpack, searching for some other deterrent I was sure
he would place.
    I moved the second he asked, tucking
the gun into the small loop of fabric at my hip that I had
fashioned into a crude holster. While the strange gun sling was a
little odd, it was better than my pocket. I would probably end up
shooting myself in the leg either way, yet at least this way the
chance had been lessened.
    The dust didn’t seem to be as bad down
here; everything still had a faded memory of color, and not the
all-encompassing grey that had blanketed the upstairs.
    “ How many do we want,
Travis?” I didn’t dare talk too loud, the ingrained necessity to
stay quiet at all times making it difficult to speak to someone in
the first place.
    Travis didn’t even turn at my
question, so I shrugged and continued toward the couch, figuring
four would be enough, although I was sure I couldn’t carry all of
them at one time thanks to my petite form brought on by years of
starvation.
    A plume of dirt erupted into the air
as I grabbed the first one, the heavy dirt flavor embedding itself
in my nose and mouth. I gasped and covered my face with my hands,
trying not to let the mass of dust into my body, but it was too
late. I could already feel my lungs restrict with the disgusting
air I had just inhaled, the muscles seizing as they tried to cough
it out of me again, only to leave me with an uncomfortable burn
when I wouldn’t let it.
    I made sure to inhale before grabbing
the next one, only to freeze at the picture that looked up at me
the second I had moved the pillow, the smiling faces of a family
that had been hidden underneath the disheveled couch since the
beginning.
    It was one of those pictures that had
been taken in a photographers garden, the flowers a little too
perfect, the family a little too happy to be wearing matching
shades of salmon and denim. They sat together on a log, looking at
the camera with giant smiles on their face, the youngest boy’s eyes
crinkled in a giant grin, just like my youngest brother used to
have.
    Tyler.
    I could still hear his laugh if I
focused. I glanced toward where Travis still sat, his bulking frame
so much older than the fourteen-year-old boy he had been before the
night came, the fourteen-year-old boy that Tyler would be
now.
    I stared at the little boy in the
picture for much longer than I should have, the pillows forgotten
even though I could still hear Travis shuffling around with who
knows what near the pantry door.
    Creeeeeeak.
    I jumped when I heard it, every muscle
in my back tensing in an uncomfortable pressure that