Read Online August Burning (Book 2): Survival by Tyler Lahey - Free Book Online

move.”
    Jaxton grinned broadly. “We had some good times, no?”
    “The best times were at the pump-house. The pump palace.”
    “I feel like that terminology sounds so homo-erotic. But so hilarious.” Jaxton surveyed the faded paint on the concrete wall detailing the weightlifting achievements of some particularly beastly athletes in years past. The room’s faded leather pads still stank with ingrained sweat, and all the iron was rusting lightly.
    “Sometimes I feel like there’s no point to doing this, staying strong like this.”
    Liam indicated the bruise on his face. “I know why I do it now.”
    Jaxton sighed, scratching his beard again. “I should have been there at the start.”
    Liam shook his head vigorously. “No. Fuck no. I should have handled him myself. And Terrence took it to me. Do you know how that feels, man?”
    Jaxton sighed. “You know how it was when I went to school here. Shame is worse than fear. It’s more powerful than fear. At least for me. And apparently for you too.”
    “I need to get back at him. In front of the others.”
    Jaxton nodded, “That doesn’t sound like you. But I know. I remember shame. I fucking hate it. I hated carrying that fear. That I would fail in front of others, that others would see me backing down, or letting someone walk on top of me.” He ran his callused hands over the rough iron bar, and raised fierce steely eyes. “But we’re in a new world. We’re strong, you and I. Never let anyone shame us. Hit first, think later. Better to have others see you act, than freeze. Better people think you’re crazy, or think you’re stupid, than think you’re a coward.”
    Liam opened his mouth, considering his old friend’s words, when the hand-held crackled.
    Adira.
    Jaxton snatched it from the musty rubber mat. “Adira, Adira try again. I didn’t understand you.” He nodded at Liam, concerned but confident. But in an instant the confidence was gone.
    “Being chased! We need help! Th-“ The girl’s voice was broken up with static. But they had both heard it. Her voice was laced with panic. “Through the Cathedral!” More static. Jaxton was motionless. “Help me!” Jaxton’s eyes burned bright. “JAXTON!” Her voice sounded powerfully, on that single word.
    “Adira! Adira!” There was nothing. “Fuck. Oh no. No. I need to go.”
    Liam grasped his shoulder. Jaxton’s eyes were blazing and twitching with a possession. He would stop at nothing to save the girl, and until that was achieved he would heed no advice, take no precautions, and not allow anything to get in his way. Fear steered him. Liam opened his mouth, “I’m with you. Guns first.”
    “Guns.” Jaxton nodded ferociously, licking his lips. They left the musty tomb of iron to the growing darkness.
    Jaxton barreled through the double doors of the gymnasium, past a group playing badminton next to the four horses, blissfully unaware. Into the next room he charged, and past several barricaded entrances. Two men on guard duty shouted out in the hallways, but he didn’t hear them. Liam summoned them at once. Without question they followed. They had been cooped up in the school too long. And all knew Jaxton held Adira close. She was a muse to all the others, in her sultry mystique. They would fight for her, and for Jax.
    They ran past Harley helping a girl with a fever eat cubed ham for the third time today, on a soiled cot in the cafeteria. Liam motioned to her, and she came.
    The small band burst out above the fields of cold-weather vegetables and across from the dam stocked with new tiny fish. There were several ATVs still in the parking lot, and several old Jeeps and SUVs without digital chips. Jax slammed on the hood of one. “We’ll take this! Let’s move! Gas! GAS!”
    He dismounted frantically, searching the little arches of the field house for the containers of siphoned fuel. The others joined, matching his growing frenzy.
    A woman came around the corner, wiping fish guts from