Read Online August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak by Tyler Lahey - Free Book Online Page A

against the starry
horizon. Two muffled thumps halted Diane’s chatter immediately. Suddenly there
was a violent explosion of fire on the left side of the picture. The trusses of
the bridge were illuminated momentarily before the fire died to a barely
visible speck. The viewers were taken back to the studio, but no one was paying
attention anymore.
    “We need to move.” Jax clapped Bennett
and Liam on their shoulders hard, indicating the doors with a stricken set of
eyes. The crowd in the center began shouting and jostling all at once, knocking
over chairs and bustling towards the exits. “Move!” Liam cried aloud, pushing
the two girls in front of him and grabbing Bennett. Jaxton saw a tall father
holding his crying young son high above the heads of the crowd. Women yelled
and swore in shrill voices. Bennett spotted a shaved head bobbing in the crowd
ahead.
    “Troy!” He cried. The bearded man
turned with obvious fire in his blood. Bennett indicated the doors, “Meet us!
At the dorm!” Troy nodded fiercely, and turned his efforts to ensuring he
wasn’t trampled. The group shuffled outside amidst the growing panic, and
abruptly, for no reason at all they were running. Everyone in the street was
running.  
    …
    Harley was shaking as she tried to
catch her breath. Elvis moved to comfort her and she accepted his touch
gratefully, burying her sweaty face in his t-shirt.
    “What the hell were we even running
from?!” Bennett threw up his arms.
    “Nothing at all. Mob-mentality. Its
guna be like this all up and down the east coast,” Troy’s eyes swept the
starless sky above, looking for helicopters. Two of his friends in the ROTC
program had joined him.
    “They blew up those bridges,” a wiry
looking one with a symmetrical and soft face said. “They’re sealing off the
city, is what they’re doing.”
    “Sealing it from what ?!” Harley cried hysterically.
    Adira turned her pitch black eyes on
the weeping girl. They were glassed over, and almost shone in the soft yellow
streetlight. “There has to be an infection of some kind in the city. The
government is responsible for that blackout. Who else could have pulled off
something like that?”
    Harley looked incredulous, but she
couldn’t muster a response.
    “Adira’s right,” Jaxton croaked. Within
a series of few moments Jaxton felt his shell of steely confidence crumble as
he considered the safety of his mother and younger brother, trapped in some
motel off the main artery of north-south traffic. “I need to call my family,”
he mumbled, stumbling down the block to a dark alley. He felt his heart
pounding as he considered them, helpless in the mayhem that was sure to come.
His own mother was sixty now, and his brother was only sixteen- and a young
sixteen at that. As the phone rang and rang, he imagined them flustered and
panicked, watching the news and unable to use the packed highways that were
sure to have traffic jams for miles and miles. His brother would be no help at
all. Yet for all his vigor and strength, Jaxton knew he was stuck in the capital
for now, at least fifty miles from them.
    “Jax? Is that you?” His mother’s soft
voice crackled over the phone.
    “Mom! It’s me! Are you guys alright?”
    “We’re ok, we’ve been watching the TV,
it looks like something terrible is happening in New York. I don’t- the roads
are totally blocked now. We can’t get out of here,” there was desperation in
her voice. “Are you alright?”
    “I’m alright. We’re safe down here.
The president is a few blocks away, don’t forget that.” He attempted a laugh
that fell immediately flat.
    “Your brother thinks we should try and
drive through the field behind to hotel to local roads….I don’t know Jax, I
think if things get any worse we’re going to do just that and come get you.”
    “Just stay put for now, ma. Things
aren’t so bad yet here. No one really knows what’s going on.”
    “Alright, you need to stay safe for
me. Do you