Read Online Rescuing Liberty: Perseverance Book 1 by Amanda Washington - Free Book Online Page A

a cliff.”
    Connor chuckled and took the fish,
afraid she’d shove it down his throat if he didn’t.
     
    * * *
     
    The trio walked in silence until the
sky darkened. Connor had tried to get Ashley to hear him out for so
long that he was oddly nervous about it. He wondered what he could
say, and then questioned whether or not it would make a difference.
No amount of talking would undo what he’d done, and he didn’t want
to take the chance that the explanation would make things even
worse between them. The unsaid words hung over their heads like a
dark cloud; ominous and foreboding.
    “ Look.” Liberty stopped and stood
beside Connor. “I’m so not comfortable with this situation. We made
a deal.” She crossed her arms. “Start talking.”
    He held up his arms in surrender, and
then collapsed on the ground. “Okay, okay.”
    A bone-deep exhaustion overcame him,
liquefying his body and mind. Liberty slunk down across from him
looking just as tired. She pulled Ashley down next to her. The girl
leaned against Liberty, looking everywhere except at
Connor.
    He pulled up a handful of grass and
broke the blades into small sections as he recounted the events
that led up to the death of his brother. “Jacob was diagnosed with
type-one diabetes when he was young. Since then, he’s been insulin
dependent, but the doctors have never really been able to control
his blood sugars. His levels spiked and plummeted
often.”
    Liberty whispered to Ashley and the girl
nodded.
    “ We needed some clean clothes and
supplies, so Jacob and I decided to head to the house leaving Cathy
with Ashley in the safe. Soon after we arrived, Jacob became
disoriented and shaky. I’d seen the signs before, and knew he
needed sugar, but I thought we had more time. I went upstairs and
had just stepped into Ashley’s room when I heard several loud
thumps. I ran to the top of the stairs and found Jacob lying at the
bottom; having a seizure.”
    Liberty’s hand went to her mouth. “A
boy I played softball with had a seizure on the pitching mound
during one of our games. It was … intense.”
    Intense is right. Connor watched Liberty, anxious to see how she’d
judge him for what he’d done. He needed to win her over, but he
didn’t know how, especially since he couldn’t even win himself
over. “As if the seizure wasn’t enough, he broke his leg in the
fall.” Connor closed his eyes and remembered his brother; every
muscle contracting, jerking on the floor. His eyes had rolled back
in his head and his lips were turning blue.
    Not wanting to replay that horrific
scene, Connor’s eyes sprung open. “It was a struggle to move him to
the bed, but I did. I set the bone, but couldn’t do much else. He
came out of the seizure, but was still shaking, sweating and
unresponsive. I’d just elevated his leg when Cathy showed up. We’d
been gone too long, and she and Ashley had gotten worried. She’d
talked Ashley into staying behind, but none of us knew how long
that would last. We never should have given Ash the
code.”
    Liberty squeezed Ashley’s shoulders,
but the kid continued to stare into the distance. He wondered what
was going through her mind. It had to be difficult for her to hear,
but this was his one chance. He had to tell it.
    “ There was no food left in their
house, so Cathy insisted on running to the neighbor’s to see if she
could find any. I told her it was too dangerous, but she wouldn’t
listen.” Connor paused and recalled the sounds outside the house;
gunshots, shouts, crying. “People were already acting crazy. The
city sounded like a warzone. But once Cathy made up her mind about
something, there was no changing it. Jacob started talking to me,
finally sounding lucid, right before Cathy came stumbling back into
the room. She was holding her side, and her shirt and jeans were
soaked in blood—too much blood. I tried to get a look at the wound,
but she pushed my hands away, and staggered into bed, wrapping
herself in