Read Online RecruitZ (Afterworld Series) by Karice Bolton - Free Book Online

question.
    “Because, like you, I lost someone I loved after the outbreak. My sister, Sophie,” Preston stated. His eyes filled with the same sadness I recognized. “She was targeted.”
    “How can you be sure?” I found myself questioning him just as my friends doubted me.
    “I was with her when it happened, and they left me alone—completely alone,” his voice caught. “I couldn’t save her. I tried to distract them. I attempted to lure them away from her by sacrificing myself. It didn’t matter. They had their sights set on her, no matter what I tried.”
    I glanced down, attempting to shield myself from him as my eyes filled with tears. I wasn’t crazy.
    “I know it happened to you too. I saw the look in your eyes that night at the bar and then again today. It’s a different type of sorrow from others who lost loved ones from the outbreak.”
    “Others have reconciled their losses as part of the war. I haven’t,” I whispered in agreement.
    “You haven’t because our loss was not part of the war, not part of the outbreak. We both know it,” he said.
    I let out a deep breath as I thought about what he was saying. I hadn’t found anyone who’d believed me, and now that I had, I was contemplating whether or not to give him the benefit of the doubt. How ironic.
    “I’ve been following the underground movements longer than you. I think we can help one another,” he tried again.
    “When they took my husband, they didn’t just take a piece of me, they took all of me,” I said softly. “I’m nothing more than a shell of a human, so what you recognize as carelessness or a death wish on my part, I see as nothing more than trying to remind myself that I’m still alive. I walk around feeling empty every day.”
    Preston reached out for my hand and I pulled it away.
    I looked around the bar, trying to ground myself in the present, because I was feeling like I was about to be swallowed back into my past. I watched Baily flirt mindlessly with her customers as she made drinks behind the bar. I watched two couples talking and laughing amongst themselves in the middle of the bar, near the pool table.
    I looked back at Preston, this time with a deeper understanding of what created us, what drove us both.
    “I think my friends are on the verge of reporting me,” I muttered. “At least one of them.”
    I was shocked by my admission. I was already embarrassed that my friends didn’t believe me, but after the dinner with Abby, I realized there was a chance that she might report me as delusional.
    “You understand that once you go in for assessment, you won’t be coming back out?” he asked, his eyes pained.
    “Very much so. Do you know anyone who has been sent away for treatment?”
    “I know that I’ve never heard from them since.” He took another sip of his drink, this time with no expression. “My mother was one of them.”
    I glanced at Baily who gave me a quick wave. I waved back not missing the growing paradox between our two worlds.
    “Before we start working together on anything, we have to change how your friends view you. That’s the first step.”
    “How do you propose we do that?” I asked.
    “I have the sheet they use during the initial assessment. It’s always what they use to investigate initial complaints from family and friends.”
    “Isn’t that confidential?” I asked.
    “Absolutely.”
    “Then how’d you get it?” I took in a deep breath not sure I wanted the answer.
    “I used to work for the agency that oversees the program, the MHA.”
    Interesting, but I wasn’t sure I believed him.
    “I’d like to think my friends wouldn’t report me, especially since—”
    “I’m sure they’d only do it because they care about you, but they don’t understand that what they say will haunt you forever,” he interrupted.
    “And I’m not crazy, just observant.” I smiled, attempting to shift the awkwardness of the moment.
    “I know that,” his voice softened. “If we