Read Online The Divide: Origins by Mitchel Grace - Free Book Online Page A

and
very kindly allowed us to live with them as their prisoners,” Walter said
sarcastically.
    “Why
didn’t anyone try to overthrow them?”
    “Someone
did on the first day. They were killed, and no one tried anything after that.”
    “There’s
still one thing I don’t get. If they were just thieves, why did they allow
anyone to share what they took?” Rebecca asked.
    “I
think they believed we needed leaders and appointed themselves that. It’s an
age-old story. When things break down, somebody thinks the people need someone
to make the decisions. Almost all the time, that person also thinks they are the one who knows best. As far
as I can tell, they really did think they were protecting us by keeping us
here.”
    “What
are your plans now that you’re free?” Max asked.
    “I
have none. I’m a fifty-seven year old man whose wife was just killed. I don’t
have any survival skills, and I don’t know anybody. I guess from here I’ll just
be making it up as I go.”
    “What
happened to your wife?”
    “When
they came to our door, I gave her a gun and told her to go to the bedroom. I
was going to try to reason with them, and if things went badly, I figured at
least she would have a way to defend herself. They wouldn’t listen to me. They
pinned me to the floor and started taking our stuff. Helen didn’t listen to me
either. If she had stayed in the back, she would still be around. She came out
and saw me lying on the floor with one of those men on top of me. She raised
her gun to do what she probably thought was saving me. His partner saw her,
though, and he fired before she could shoot. My wife died in front of me
because I tried to reason with people in an unreasonable world.”
    “That
wasn’t your fault. That was all on them, and they’re dead now. We made sure of
that. Maybe you can come with us,” Rebecca said and looked at Max questionably.
    He didn’t like the idea of bringing
someone else along, but Walter had just saved Zoe. That meant they owed him something. The fact that he could
patch them up if need be made him valuable, too. Max shook his head in
approval.
    “Where are you headed?” Walter asked.
    “Texas. We know someone there who’s been
preparing for doomsday for quite some time. From what I’ve heard, we might be able
to live out our days peacefully if we can get there,” Max said.
    “I’m
in then. We shouldn’t go anywhere right now, though. It’s already getting late,
and it’ll be cold soon. Let’s sleep here tonight, and you guys can get your
supplies back in the morning. From there, we’ll head out.”
    “Sounds great,” Max said and started to
walk away, but Walter stopped him.
    “There’s
one more thing. I don’t know if you drink, but the little pleasures go a long way
in a world like this. The shorter policeman raided a liquor store after they
got me. He put a lot of booze under the cabinet in their room. It might not be
a bad idea to blow off some steam and set your mind right. We won’t have any
time for that after tonight.”
    Max
nodded and walked into the room to retrieve a bottle of rum. It had been over
four years since he had a drink. Right now, he needed one. The knife was inches
away from him when Tate heard the shots being fired outside. Max just knew he
was going to die, but against all odds, Zoe and Rebecca had saved him. He took
a quick swig straight from the bottle and walked into the room with Zoe.
    “How
are you feeling?” he asked.
    “How
the hell does it look like I’m feeling?”
    “I’ll
excuse that word, considering you just got shot saving me. Thank you.”
    “You
would’ve done the same for me. Besides, it’s not like getting shot was part of
the plan. You should really thank Rebecca, too. She’s the one who got the gun,
and she killed the other guy.”
    “I
will. Are you all right? I know you’ve never killed anyone.”
    “For
a second, I felt a little bad about it, but once I realized he shot me, all
that faded. If I