Read Online The Survivors of Bastion (Fall of Earth Book 1) by Will Hawthorne - Free Book Online

haven’t had an actual conversation in ages. And seeing as talking is one of the only recreational activities in this world of ours, that seemed like a bit of a crime.’
    ***
    I hadn’t laughed like I did that night with Hayley in a long time.
                  ‘You remember when we got that old TV working for a little while?’ She laughed, running a hand through her hair, ‘Only we would end up finding that it belonged to some black and white movie aficionado. What was it that we watched? That one where the guy gets turned into a giant and goes crazy and throws the giant syringe at the doctor and it ends up impaling him?’
                  ‘ The Amazing Colossal Man ’ I laughed, ‘and Rudy had already fucking seen it!’
                  ‘Oh, God, I know…’
                  ‘It was a good day, wasn’t it? Half the town grouped around that TV with the sound turned up all the way.’
                  ‘Yeah…’
                  We both went quiet, and in the evening light we caught each other’s eyes. Hayley took a deep breath and smiled at me.
                  ‘D’you ever think…’ She started, trailing off. ‘D’you ever think anything might have happened between you and me?’
                  ‘What do you mean?’
                  ‘You know… You and me giving things a go.’
                  ‘You mean getting together?’
                  ‘Yeah.’
                  I took a deep breath too, looking about myself, anywhere but at this beautiful twenty-something woman sat across from me.
                  ‘I read one of these books my mom had in the house a few years ago. It was a recent printing but it was written in the 1800s. There was this bit where this man asked a woman to marry him after they’d known each other for like a week. Like a business deal. When I asked my mom how that worked she said that people back then had much shorter life expectancies, and they just got on with things rather than dying alone in their 30s. Things were sped up. Now… Maybe things will be similar to how they were back then. I don’t know how long we all stand a chance of living. Pretty old, I reckon, assuming nothing gets in the way…’
                  ‘That a yes?’ She asked, ‘Or are you just gonna keep spouting philosophical-historical bullshit at me?’
                  ‘I think something might still happen,’ I smiled.
                  ‘This is so weird,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Talk about this stuff like we’re looking in on ourselves from the outside, all these customs and stuff…’
                  For a moment she paused, scrunching her mouth to one side as if she was thinking about something really complex.
                  ‘Well, if you wanna muster up the balls to ask me out sometime, or you just wanna hang out, give it a go. I might say yes.’
                  I laughed again, running a hand through my hair.
                  ‘It’s funny,’ I said.
                  ‘What is?’
                  ‘Earlier today, while I was with Carl, he told me that he liked Maria. I said that going on dates in the ruins of civilisation didn’t exactly work, but tonight he just went over and shook her brother’s hand and sat down with them.’
                  ‘Guys got balls,’ Hayley said. ‘For a girl with a brother like Marcus, I’d stay the hell away.’
                  ‘I thought the same thing.’
                  A pause.
                  ‘You’re pretty sweet, Tommy. I know we’ve been friends for ages, and I wouldn’t want anything to come between that. So, on second thought, maybe we should just leave it for the time being.’