Read Hungry Independents (Book 2) for Free Online Page B

child.”
    Hunter frowned, but conceded with a nod.
    Barbie’s hands crackled on the side of Wes’s
     head. The little boy’s eyes opened wide and he smiled when he
     noticed the ground. “Hey, how’d we get down?”
    Hunter wiggled his fingers at him. “Magic.”
     He used his best mysterious voice.
    “Don’t tease him.” Barbie punched him in the
     shoulder.
    Hunter dropped to his knees and screamed.
     “Motherfucker, don’t hit me there!”
    Barbie took Wes’s hand and dragged him away.
     “C’mon, Wes, let’s give Mr. Potty Mouth time to recoup.”
    Hunter’s face hovered an inch from the ground
     as he sucked in air, blinking back tears. Pain spiked in his
     shoulder. Half of him wanted to die and the other half wanted to
     ride home and leave freaking Cozad and crazy Barbie in the dust.
     But he couldn’t. Samuel needed information or they’d risk losing
     their food crops to a bunch of grasshoppers and starving through
     the winter.
    He stood on shaky legs, rubbing his hurt
     shoulder with the opposite hand, and staggered after Barbie and
     Wes. They were stopped in front of a sign that Wes pointed out.
    “This is the 100th Meridian sign. I’m not
     sure, but I think it’s important.”
    “Oh it’s very important, Wes,” Barbie
     said.
    “Why the…” Hunter coughed. “Uh, why is it
     important?”
    Barbie gave him a blank look. “Well, duh.
     It’s the 100th Meridian.”
    Barbie and Wes began walking again.
    Hunter waited a moment until they were safely
     away. “Stupid bitch.”
    “That’s very hurtful,” she yelled back.
     “C’mon, we got stuff to do.”
    Hunter jogged up behind them as they entered
     onto Main Street, Cozad, which looked like Independents, right down
     to the growing number of potholes. A scrawny brown dog barked at
     them from the shade of a storefront. Hunter noticed the faces
     peering at them from the windows. Then he saw recognition on one of
     the faces, and a girl tore out of the building.
    “Wesley, oh Wesley,” the girl cried. She ran
     to Wes and scooped him up, swinging him around, laughing and crying
     along with fourteen other emotions dancing across her face.
    Barbie wrapped her arm around Hunter’s waist
     and laid her head on his good shoulder. “It always feels so nice to
     do good deeds for people. This is the reward: happiness, full and
     abundant. Am I really what you said?”
    “What?” Hunter asked, distracted. “Oh. No,
     I’m sorry about that. I have a lot of pent up aggression. At least
     that’s what my girlfriend keeps telling me.”
    “She sounds smart. Are you sure things are
     working out between you two?”
    “Very.”
    “Well, we’ll see once we get you home. Won’t
     we?”
    “Guys, guys, this is my sister, Carissa.
     Carissa this is Hunter and Barbie. They brought me back.”
    “Thank you so much for saving my Wesley. I
     wish there was some way I could repay you for your kindness.”
    “Something to eat would be great. I’m
     starving. Then I need to speak to your farmers.”
    “You want something to eat?” Carissa repeated
     in a hollow voice.
    That’s when Hunter noticed her emaciated
     form, veins corded along the skin of her bony arms, her sunken
     cheeks below big round eyes. Then the rest of the kids in the
     building shambled out front onto the walkway. A couple kids
     stumbled off the curb and were assisted back to their feet. One
     chased after the dog in an attempt to do something. Hunter wasn’t
     willing to speculate.
    “Just take me to your leader,” Hunter
     said.

 
Eight
Hunter
     
    They crowded around Hunter like a pack of
     zombies and he knew his brains would not be enough to satiate their
     hunger. The clothes draped over their bodies would have fit kids
     twice their size. Their skin, drawn and grey, reminded him of all
     the dead he’d stumbled across after the plague first hit. The
     starving kids stared at Hunter with their mouths opening and
     closing like they were eating