Hope Read Free Page B

they
managed to survive. There were farmers who were doing everything they could to maintain
crops. After the M3 was produced the scale of food production had been reduced.
    Books were a good source of knowledge. Since the wars, the
survivors had all needed to learn quickly how to survive in this new world. The
essentials had been food, water, and clothing. She’d been told that many had sought
through the rubble looking for anything of use. There were plastic containers,
or glass if it wasn’t smashed. Clothing was found and used no matter what the
size or shape. Books became a huge prize as they told many things from recipes
to how to construct fires. Her mother had been determined to make her read.
Penny remembered the fight her mother had had with her father over reading. He had
felt it was a waste of time while her mother was convinced the world could
revert back to the way it was before the wars. Penny’s father always got what
he wanted. Her education had ended, and she’d been put to work in the fields.
In her spare time she’d practised reading and writing. Her thoughts drifted to
her family. They had intended to sell her out before she ran away. She
shuddered, thinking about what her family had planned for her.
    “Damon Wright.”
    Penny remembered he’d told the gang members who he was. His
name had scared them. She’d never known men to react like that.
    He pushed her onto the sofa, grabbing her bag and throwing
it to the floor. “Take a seat, Penny. You and I are going to have a little
talk.”
    Damon took a seat next to her on the sofa.
    She moved along the sofa taking a seat at the farthest end.
Penny had noticed his bruised knuckles, and she knew he was older than she.
    He kept staring at her with a strange look on his face. Then
he pulled a plastic carton out of his jacket. “Here, drink this.”
    She glanced at the murky substance. The plastic carton
didn’t surprise her. Plastic was one of the few materials that hadn’t degraded
over time.
    “What is it?”
    “ A drink that you’d better not know what went in it.”
    Penny sipped the liquid and tried not to choke on the foul
taste. What the hell was it?
    “It tastes like shit, but it is better than trying to drink
the water here.”
    She rubbed her chin when a few drops fell down.
    “What are you doing here, Penny?” he asked.
    Shrugging her shoulders, she didn’t look at him.
    He caught her face with a finger under her chin. She tried
to fight his hold.
    “Don’t even think about fighting me, Penny. Killing you
would be no hardship and save me a shit-load of worry. Look at me.”
    Biting her lip, she turned to look at him.
    “I know you’re a runaway, and I need to know if some men
will be looking for you. Are you from Don’s territory? What trouble are you
in?”
    The questions were too much, and the tears began to leak out
of her eyes. She’d kept her tears at bay for so long she couldn’t stop the ones
that started to fall.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, rubbing her eyes with the back of her
hand.
    “Don’t be sorry.”
    Then he did something she’d never thought a man was capable
of. He leaned over and pulled her in close. His arms circled her, not sexually,
but to offer her comfort.
    The tears fell thick and hard. She couldn’t stop herself. It
was like a dam had opened inside her. She was away from her family, and in her
own way, she was safe. He stroked her hair, tugging the long strands off her
face.
    She cried until it hurt her head and her stomach.
    “ Shh ,” he said.
    He rocked her in his arms. The comfort meant the world to
her. She never wanted to leave his arms, and in that moment Penny knew he would
always protect her. She didn’t know how she knew it, only that she did.
    After several minutes passed, she climbed out of his lap.
She needed to tell him something. Not all of it but enough to keep him at bay.
    “I’m from Ben Grimes’s area,” she said.
    “He’s a nasty piece of work.”
    “You’ve heard