Read HOOD: A Post Apocalyptic Novel (American Rebirth Series Book 1) for Free Online

“Hey Rob, you awake?” came Taylor's melodious voice.
    “Yeah, come in. Why's it so damn hot in here?”
    “Ah, sorry, I got cold, so I started up the fireplace.” She came in the door, moving to his bed and handing him a glass of mostly-clear water.
    “Mind reader. How did you know?” Hood asked, guzzling it down despite the slight metallic taste.
    “When Whiskey showed me the supplies and I saw how much booze you guys got, I figured you'd need it.” She sat down on the bed, smiling.
    “I didn't even drink that much.” Hood put the glass down on the neglected antique nightstand beside his bed. Taylor looked like she didn't believe him. The house was quiet aside from the muted sound of cicadas in the darkness outside. “Where's Whiskey?”
    “The other guys haven't returned with the rest of the supplies. He thinks one of the trucks broke down. Y'know the blue one, that's always freakin' breaking down? So he went back out to find ‘em.”
    Hood chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
    Taylor stared at the floor, but didn’t really seem to see it. “This place gets so damn empty when you guys are gone. I can only spend so much time on watch, or on trying to teach the townspeople how to be anything other than useless with a gun in their hands. I wish I could go with you guys.”
    Hood shook his head. “Hey, I know you can take care of yourself. But Whiskey feels differently about it. He worries.”
    “ Whiskey.” Taylor mocked, in a fake deep voice. “Just call him John. You idiots and your damn nicknames.”
    Hood grinned. “I like them. There's something bromantic about it. And if you hate ‘em so much, take it up with Lucky. He came up with 'em.”
    “Oh, great. Did he give himself his own nickname?”
    Hood laughed, rubbing the back of his head. “Nah, we just call him that because he's such a spaz he has to be the luckiest motherfucker just to have made it this far.”
    Taylor laughed, nodding in agreement. Her laugh was just like Mom's. It was the only similarity they shared. Ma always said Taylor was like her grandmother. The room fell silent. Hood swung his legs out of bed, stood up and stretched, touching the ceiling with his fingertips.
    “Do you think we'll ever find Ian or Mom and Dad?” She asked, out of the blue.
    “I don't know, Tay. I wish I could say I was sure.”
    “I keep wondering if Mom and Dad went back home. Do you think we should go back again?” She asked, looking down at her hands in her lap.
    “We stayed there as long as we could. But D.C. Is no kinda place anymore. They'd have no reason to go back,” Hood said, staring at his backpack.
    “What if they returned to look for us?”
    It would be an incredibly dumb, stubborn thing to do. It also was exactly the kind of thing their parents might be exactly dumb and stubborn enough to try. They had to know that Hood and Taylor would've left home behind, but it was the one place they all had in common. The one place they all might find each other.
    “Maybe if we head back up north soon, we could check it out. It would have to be fast, and quiet. I'm not sure Whiskey would be willing to take the risk.”
    “Don't worry, I'll convince him,” Taylor said, picking up the glass from the floor.
    “Ew, gross,” Hood said, screwing up his face.
    “Not like that, you sicko! I hate you.” She punched him in the shoulder again.
    Hood laughed at her as she walked out the door. She popped her head back in for a moment.
    “It's good to have you home again, Robbie.”
    Nobody but her had called him that in a long time. “It's good to be home, sis.” Hood said, plopping back down into his bed.
     
    Daybreak came fast. Hood spent much of his time lurching in and out of sleep. Frustrated, he pried himself out of bed and plodded down into the kitchen, where he stuffed his face with handfuls of honeyed granola before washing it down with some more murky water. He was grateful he couldn't remember any of his other dreams, still