Read Online Flesh Ravenous (Book 1) by James M. Gabagat - Free Book Online Page A

“Happy Turkey Day” and “Happy Thanksgiving everyone.”
    “Happy Thanksgiving, Lawrence,” Charlene said very loudly. She lounged on the other family room couch, an old CD player on her lap and headphones over her ears, which explained her much louder than usual voice.
    Lawrence stretched out his arms. “Happy Thanksgiving, Charlene,” he said with a yawn.
    “What? What’d you say?” She lifted one side of the headphones to free an ear.
    “Happy Thanksgiving, Charlene,” he repeated louder.
    “Oh, that’s nice.” Charlene readjusted the headphones on her head. She then picked up the CD player and started slapping the bottom of it.
    “Why are you spanking that?”
    “It’s running out of batteries.”
    “Spanking it doesn’t help. Just get new batteries, we have a lot upstairs.”
    “Mind your own business.” Charlene continued to slap the device.
    Joni came out of the kitchen and went over to Charlene. “Charlene, have you seen Therese?”
    “No I haven’t, sweetie-poops.” Charlene pinched the little girl’s cheek. “She’s probably in the bathroom taking a dump.”
    Joni looked at Lawrence, as if about to ask the same question. Lawrence looked back at her and tried to make a smile out of his lips. He still felt ashamed about what he had to do to her father. He didn’t know whether to apologize to her or try to justify his actions. Joni seemed to sense his uneasiness. She turned around and went back to the kitchen. Well, she won’t be inviting me to play hide-and-seek anytime soon.
    Lawrence noticed that Tristan didn’t sleep on the other couch for the second night in a row. Lawrence hadn’t spoken to him since telling him to seppuku himself. Tristan now spent most his time in his old bedroom, either drawing or crying. It was the room previously occupied by Helena and France. The mother and daughter chose to stay in the living room with Miles, since the view of the dead horde outside the window of Tristan’s room made the two girls lose sleep.
    Lawrence decided it was time for him to see Tristan. He got up, went through the kitchen, and greeted Miles and family, Kasey, and Joni “Happy Thanksgiving.” The four greeted back with smiles and bubbly attitudes. For Lawrence, that was a good start to much anticipated day. He walked through the living room and stopped for a second, noticing the quietness outside the house. There were ticking knocks of hail pellets and no vicious poundings of undead cannibals. Maybe those things finally got bored and moved on . He made his way upstairs, then down the hall of the second floor toward Tristan’s room.
    “Tristan, you in there?” Lawrence said, knocking on the door. “You awake?”
    “Yeah, I’m up,” Tristan replied.
    “Can I come in?”
    “Yeah, you can. But I got morning wood and it’s huge, so don’t look below my waist. I don’t want you getting too excited.”
    Lawrence laughed. “No promises.” He turned the knob and entered.
    Inside, Tristan sat at his desk with pencil in hand, markers and printer papers scattered before him. He had a black eye, a fat lower lip, and bruises on his cheeks, a few small scabs dotted his face and neck. His brown mop of hair was scattered on his head, messier than normal, a look of someone who tossed and turned during sleep.
    Lawrence studied Tristan. Tristan didn’t look up from his drawing. “How have you been feeling?” Lawrence asked.
    Tristan looked at Lawrence briefly, then returned to his sketching. “Okay, I guess. Kind of bruised up as you can see. I didn’t lose any teeth. Helena said I have no broken bones or anything major.”
    Lawrence nodded and smiled slightly, pleased to hear that his friend was okay. “That’s good.”
    “How’s Ally doing?”
    “Well, Sonya had a talk with her. She told Ally not to hate you. But, Ally’s okay, considerably, she’s just been in her own thoughts lately.”
    Tristan stopped drawing and looked at Lawrence again. This time he stayed facing