Read Online What Survives of Us (Colorado Chapters Book 1) by Kathy Miner - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kathy Miner
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world for the first time in weeks. No distant rush of traffic, no sirens, nothing.
Her focus had been complete: Macy’s breath, Macy’s temperature, liquid in, waste out, bathe her, tend her, soothe her. She had hardly spared the animals a glance, aware of only one other thing: the link to Piper she felt in her chest. She felt it there now, a fullness, next to the gaping emptiness that was Scott, next to the fierce death-grip she had on Macy. She laughed a little, sadly, at the thought. Truly, she had a new understanding of that expression now. She had spent the last 21 days standing between her daughter and Death.
She closed her eyes, and felt her oldest daughter, her warrior girl, vibrating with life, there in her heart. She was alive. She would stake her own life on it. “Piper,” she whispered. “Piper, my girl, my fierce girl. I’ll find you. Somehow, I’m going to find you.”
FIVE: Piper: Walden, CO
There were times, Piper would swear, she could feel her mother’s presence. It was the strangest thing. Distracting. And given her current circumstances, being distracted was dangerous.
Piper forced her back up straighter against the wall she was leaning on and lifted her chin. Thinking about her family was not an option; homesickness knocked the wind right out of her, and looking vulnerable was dangerous as well. Cool confidence, she reminded herself, as she watched people trickle into the mess hall for lunch. You are strong and capable. Polite, but remote. Untouchable. She hadn’t figured out all the nuances of the social hierarchy here yet, but she was crystal clear on one fact: There would be no easy resolution to the problems and tensions plaguing this group.
She and Noah had arrived here three weeks ago. They had been some of the last kids to leave UNC’s campus; Piper didn’t have a concrete plan, and Noah didn’t want to leave until she did. When she lost contact with her family and it became obvious the plague was going to spread, Noah offered an option she preferred to heading to her family’s cabin alone.
“My dad and my brother, they’re, well, they’re…” He had trailed off, rubbed the back of his neck, then continued in an embarrassed rush. “They’re survivalists, okay? They have a compound in the mountains, just outside of Walden. We can go there and see what’s going to happen, wait this thing out.”
The information gave her pause, but turning down his offer under the current circumstances would be the height of stupidity. “I would appreciate that, truly,” she had said. “I can meet my folks at Carrol Lakes later, if it comes to that. And my dad’s a prepper, so I doubt your dad or your brother will seem all that strange to me.”
“Uh…” Noah’s face had pinched, then flushed dull red. “Please don’t tell either one of them that. They have some pretty strong opinions about their lifestyle. They think anyone who doesn’t live like they do, or doesn’t prepare to the extent they have, are morons. ‘Arm Chair Survivalists’ and ‘Mall Ninjas,’ they call them. It’s why I don’t go home much.”
They had packed up and headed out the day after the announcement that the plague had become a pandemic. Piper had racked her brain for a way to get a message to her folks about where she was going, and eventually just ended up leaving the information written on the mirrors in her dorm room with a permanent marker. Noah had balked at leaving the exact address – there was more survivalist in him than he wanted to admit – but had agreed to the general information “South-east of Walden.” How that would lead her folks to her, Piper had no earthly clue, but at the time it hadn’t been
Her focus had been complete: Macy’s breath, Macy’s temperature, liquid in, waste out, bathe her, tend her, soothe her. She had hardly spared the animals a glance, aware of only one other thing: the link to Piper she felt in her chest. She felt it there now, a fullness, next to the gaping emptiness that was Scott, next to the fierce death-grip she had on Macy. She laughed a little, sadly, at the thought. Truly, she had a new understanding of that expression now. She had spent the last 21 days standing between her daughter and Death.
She closed her eyes, and felt her oldest daughter, her warrior girl, vibrating with life, there in her heart. She was alive. She would stake her own life on it. “Piper,” she whispered. “Piper, my girl, my fierce girl. I’ll find you. Somehow, I’m going to find you.”
FIVE: Piper: Walden, CO
There were times, Piper would swear, she could feel her mother’s presence. It was the strangest thing. Distracting. And given her current circumstances, being distracted was dangerous.
Piper forced her back up straighter against the wall she was leaning on and lifted her chin. Thinking about her family was not an option; homesickness knocked the wind right out of her, and looking vulnerable was dangerous as well. Cool confidence, she reminded herself, as she watched people trickle into the mess hall for lunch. You are strong and capable. Polite, but remote. Untouchable. She hadn’t figured out all the nuances of the social hierarchy here yet, but she was crystal clear on one fact: There would be no easy resolution to the problems and tensions plaguing this group.
She and Noah had arrived here three weeks ago. They had been some of the last kids to leave UNC’s campus; Piper didn’t have a concrete plan, and Noah didn’t want to leave until she did. When she lost contact with her family and it became obvious the plague was going to spread, Noah offered an option she preferred to heading to her family’s cabin alone.
“My dad and my brother, they’re, well, they’re…” He had trailed off, rubbed the back of his neck, then continued in an embarrassed rush. “They’re survivalists, okay? They have a compound in the mountains, just outside of Walden. We can go there and see what’s going to happen, wait this thing out.”
The information gave her pause, but turning down his offer under the current circumstances would be the height of stupidity. “I would appreciate that, truly,” she had said. “I can meet my folks at Carrol Lakes later, if it comes to that. And my dad’s a prepper, so I doubt your dad or your brother will seem all that strange to me.”
“Uh…” Noah’s face had pinched, then flushed dull red. “Please don’t tell either one of them that. They have some pretty strong opinions about their lifestyle. They think anyone who doesn’t live like they do, or doesn’t prepare to the extent they have, are morons. ‘Arm Chair Survivalists’ and ‘Mall Ninjas,’ they call them. It’s why I don’t go home much.”
They had packed up and headed out the day after the announcement that the plague had become a pandemic. Piper had racked her brain for a way to get a message to her folks about where she was going, and eventually just ended up leaving the information written on the mirrors in her dorm room with a permanent marker. Noah had balked at leaving the exact address – there was more survivalist in him than he wanted to admit – but had agreed to the general information “South-east of Walden.” How that would lead her folks to her, Piper had no earthly clue, but at the time it hadn’t been
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