Read Online Contact by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant - Free Book Online Page A

always enjoyed it once he started to play — were more huddles than towns. And really, those who “got back to business” did so by living in their houses and settling into daily routines. Living and shopping, even if so many of the stores became free-for-alls. But at the time, it had seemed to Cameron that he’d found a way to stay normal. To rise above it all. To see the ships in the sky and pretend they didn’t mean what they did.  
    And as he’d continued his backwater tour during those first weeks — never playing the venues Dan had booked him into but finding a park or a garage where people wanted to hear him play acoustic — Cameron told himself he was living life on his terms, refusing to be defined by events that didn’t touch him. Then he’d realized that just because there were no ships above Shepherd’s Bend, Iowa, that didn’t mean the people there weren’t vulnerable to global events. It definitely didn’t mean that Cameron Bannister was immune.  
    He was human, same as anyone. And he had his own cross to bear — most of it back in Utah, from where he’d been diverted to come here — same as the Dempseys.
    Cameron looked around the room as the family settled. The teen girl — that would be Lila; she looked just like the photos in his mobile folio, taken at her father’s side — was covered in spatter. Piper (she looked much better than the photos Cameron had found) looked almost as bad. That was unfortunate. Even after traveling with Vincent, Dan, and Terrence, he himself was still new to gore. If he’d been painted with another man’s brains, he’d find it hard to trust, too. But he supposed he should take it easy on Christopher. The original plan had called for Cameron to kill Morgan, and he still wasn’t entirely sure he could have done it. Just too damn human, apparently.
    “Will … ” Piper swallowed, then tried again. “Will you let us go?”  
    Cameron held up a hand. “You misunderstand. You’re not captives. Not anymore.”  
    “So we can go.” She looked at the others: Lila, Meyer’s son, Trevor, and … he didn’t know who the Indian kid was, but he’d find out soon enough. And, yes, the slippery son of a bitch really had brought his ex-wife to share the bunker with his current one. There was no question that was Heather Hawthorne in the corner. And to think: he’d laughed when Benjamin had said Cameron and his crew might run into her. Apparently, Meyer had giant balls outside the boardroom, too.  
    “Of course. But there’s no need to. This is your house, not ours.”  
    Piper blinked. He may as well have been speaking Chinese.  
    Cameron sighed. “Christopher, give her a wet towel or something. Lila too.”
    Christopher, duly chastised, entered the kitchen. The faucet ran. Good news; if the water was running as hard as it sounded, that meant the pump was probably running. Maybe there really hadn ’ t been too much damage. He hadn’t been entirely comfortable with the “gasoline and cherry bomb” plan, but Terrence had assured him that any bunker worth its salt would have a door between a gas generator and its supply and the rest of the living space … and that because it was so critical, it would have a good fire suppression system that would run even with the power on reserve. Cameron hadn’t been in a position to argue. He’d been pretending to be a crazy, violent kid for Morgan’s benefit — Morgan, who’d already staked his claim on the place and made himself feared prior to Cameron’s arrival.  
    Christopher returned with two towels. He handed one to Piper and the other to Lila, who snatched hers like a nervous animal. Piper accepted hers with a smile and a grateful nod. If not for all the Morgan-gore on her face, neck, and clothes, she would have looked adorably shy.  
    “How do you know our names?” Piper asked.  
    “Have a seat. Please.” Cameron gestured toward the couch and looked around at his crew. “And you guys — put the