The Kill Order Read Free

the situation. Pretty much everyone else she’d ever known had died; he was a scrap left over for her to take, the alternative to being forever alone. But he gladly played his part, even considered himself lucky—he didn’t know what he’d do without her.
    “This book would be so much better if I didn’t have some creepy guy stalking me while I tried to read it.” Trina spoke without the slightest hint of a smile. She flipped another page and continued to read.
    “It’s just me,” he said. Half of what he said around her still came out sounding dumb. He stepped from behind the tree.
    She laughed and finally looked up at him. “It’s about time you got here! I was just about ready to start talking to myself—I’ve been reading since before dawn.”
    He walked over and plopped down on the ground beside her. They hugged, tight and warm and full of the promise he’d made upon waking up.
    He pulled back and looked at her, not caring about the goofy grin that was most likely plastered across his face. “You know what?”
    “What?” she asked.
    “Today is going to be a perfect, perfect day.”
    Trina smiled and the waters of the stream continued to rush by, as if his words meant nothing.

CHAPTER 2
    “I haven’t had a perfect day since I turned sixteen,” Trina said as she thumbed down the corner of her page and placed the book by her side. “Three days later and you and I were running for our lives through a tunnel that was hotter than the sun.”
    “Good times,” Mark mused as he got more comfortable. He leaned up against the same boulder, crossed his legs in front of him. “Good times.”
    Trina gave him a sideways glance. “My birthday party or the sun flares?”
    “Neither. You liked that idiot John Stidham at your party. Remember?”
    A guilty look flashed across her face. “Um, yeah. Seems like that was about three thousand years ago.”
    “It took half the world being wiped out for you to finally notice me.” Mark smiled, but it felt empty. The truth was kind of depressing—even to joke about—and a dark cloud was forming over his head. “Let’s change the subject.”
    “I vote for that.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the stone. “I don’t want to think about that stuff for one more second.”
    Mark nodded even though she couldn’t see. He’d suddenly lost any desire to talk, and his plans for a perfect day washed away with the stream. The memories. They never let him go, not even for a half hour. They always had to rush back in, bringing all the horror.
    “You okay?” Trina asked. She reached out and grabbed his hand, but Mark pulled it away, knowing it was all sweaty.
    “Yeah, I’m fine. I just wish we could go one day without something taking us back. I could be perfectly happy in this place if we could just
forget
. Things are getting better. We just need to … let it go!” He almost shouted the last part, but he had no idea where his anger was directed. He just hated the things in his head. The images. The sounds. The smells.
    “We will, Mark. We will.” She reached for him again, and this time he took her hand.
    “We better get back down there.” He always did this. When the memories came, he always slipped into business mode. Take care of business and work and stop using your brain. It was the only thing that helped. “I’m sure Alec and Lana have about forty jobs for us.”
    “That have to be done
today
,” Trina added. “Today! Or the world will end!”
    She smiled, and that helped lighten things up. At least a little.
    “You can read more of your boring book later.” He climbed to his feet, pulling her up along with him. Then they set off down the mountain path, heading for the makeshift village they called home.
    The smells hit Mark first. It was always that way when going to the Central Shack. Rotting undergrowth, cooking meat, pine sap. All laced with that scent of burning that defined the world after the sun flares. Not unpleasant,