Read Online INK: Red (INK Trilogy Book 1) by Al K. Line - Free Book Online

Well, maybe the egg was, but this sure as hell came in a close second.
    "I made them. We had a huge stockpile of all kinds of stuff, but this was nearly the last of it all, the last of the peanut butter, the last of everything."
    Another mouthful, fuel finally recharging his energy reserves. "But the bread, how'd you get bread?"
    Staring at him in confusion, Aiden said, "I made it."
    "You? You made bread?"
    "Sure, it's easy. We had sacks of flour; I make it all the time."
    "Well, I'll be... Good job dude, best bread ever."
    Aiden smiled like he'd won a prize and sat happily munching away on the rest of his food. Not to seem ungracious Edsel pulled two cans from his backpack and offered both hands to the boy. "Which one, Pepsi or Pepsi?"
    The kids a good sport. He's playing along. Very trusting too. I wouldn't trust me, look at me.
    Edsel looked at his outstretched arms, sleeves rolled back over tortured forearms.
    God, what a nightmare.
    With the look of a boy with a real hard decision to make, Aiden frowned deep in concentration. "Hmm, now let me see, Pepsi or Pepsi, such a difficult decision." He brightened. "I think... yes, definitely, I'll take the Pepsi."
    "Good choice my man." Edsel passed the drink and the sound of two ring-pulls giving up their fizzy delights echoed through the empty space, a tiny hint of temporary happiness amid the madness.
    They both took a deep drink.
    "Good?"
    "Good," confirmed Aiden.
    "Look, we can rest for five, but then we have to go again. They'll take a while to find us, but they will. What happened? To you I mean. To your dad? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. What about your mom?"
    "That's okay, I don't mind. I wish we still had Martha though."
    He really thought a lot of that chicken. Totally understandable, poor kid's been alone all this time. Just like I was.
    "Sorry about that, she'll be okay though. Bet she's off digging up some garden right now, eating juicy worms and slugs."
    "Ugh, gross."
    "Right?"
    "And I can warn you, you know?"
    "Warn me?"
    "About those men, the ones chasing you. I can help, told you I could. I can sense them: people. I know if someone is coming if I really concentrate and open up, go into The Noise a little bit. That's what my dad called it anyway: The Noise."
    "That's right, but you sure? Sure it's safe for you?"
    "Oh yes, totally. I could even make them do things if they got close enough, well, one anyway. I can't do more than one at a time."
    "Okay, but be careful. Now look, some of those men are Awoken too, so don't try to do anything, they could do the same to you... maybe." Edsel wasn't sure what happened if Awoken tried to control each other, but he guessed that if it was possible a grown man would be stronger than a young boy. Maybe.
    "Sure. And all clear, nobody around apart from a few people with The Lethargy. Just like my dad had. It was just me and him, I never knew my mum. He told me stories when I was little about how things used to be, but I was too young to remember anything much before The Lethargy. He was fine for years, we thought he would be okay. Maybe like me. As I got older I started being able to do things, my 'powers' I called them. He told me stuff, things he'd read, things he'd heard on the news, although I don't remember ever really watching the TV much — it didn't hardly work when I was old enough to remember it or anything. But a few years ago, I think just after I was ten, he started acting funny."
    "Slowing down? Not doing much? Just standing there?"
    "Yeah, things just got messy then. I didn't really know what to do. He'd shown me how to look after myself, that wasn't a problem, but I didn't know what to do with him. How to help."
    "I know, sorry. Horrible, right?"
    "Really horrible. Well, anyway, he got worse and worse, then he just stopped moving, wouldn't budge. Then a couple of days later he died. It was quite quick; he'd told me some people took years and years. Creeping Lethargy?"
    Edsel nodded. "That's the