The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen Read Free Page B

of my favorite things to do as a kid was?"
    Rochelle glanced at him before turning her
attention back to her hands. "What?" she mumbled.
    "I would bite the ends off." He bit the head
off the Twizzler and turned it around to bite off the other one.
"See?" She stared at the Twizzler before frowning at him. "Then I
would take it and shove it into a can of soda and use it as a
straw. It was an extra sweet sugar bonus that I'm sure my parents
loved for me to have."
    She looked at him as if he had just hopped
onboard the crazy train. " That was
your favorite thing to do as a kid?"
    " One of my
favorite things to do. My favorite was blowing up soda bottles or
jumping off the porch roof into a pile of leaves, building forts or
riding my bike, or just being free .
The Twizzler straw was a good time too. Have you ever tried
it?"
    She shook her head. "No, I've never even
heard of it."
    "We'll have to fix that when we get a
chance."
    " If we get a
chance."
    "Don't start going all Peter on me kid,
we're going to make it."
    Tears shimmered in her deep brown eyes. She
looked more fragile than he'd ever seen her with the shadows under
her eyes and her brown hair pulled into a ponytail. "I'm sure Bobby
thought the same thing."
    John took a bite of licorice. "I'm sure he
did too, but you can't think like that."
    "Look at what's going on around us, look at
all the people we've lost already. Why can't we think like that?"
    John didn't know why, not really, he just
knew that it would end up destroying the outgoing young girl he'd
come to care for a lot. He wasn't willing to lose more people,
especially not her. "Because it's not good for you."
    "Easy mom."
    John shot her a look. "Easy there
yourself."
    A small smile actually curved her mouth.
"Nice comeback."
    "I try my best."
    "That you do," she agreed.
    John continued to nibble on his Twizzler as
he studied the highway before them. "What was your favorite thing
to do before all of this?" he asked.
    "I loved to ride horses," she said
wistfully.
    " That was
your favorite thing to do as a kid," he teased and leaned playfully
against her shoulder. "There's something about being around an
animal that can bite me and kick me
through a wall that makes me a little nervous. Plus, did you know
they can also stomp on your foot? And they weigh a lot."
    The sound of her giggle was better than a
Twizzler straw he decided as she grinned at him. "I did know that.
Had it happen once," she admitted.
    "Ouch, bet it broke your foot."
    "It actually wasn't as bad as you would
think." She stretched around him and pulled a piece of licorice
from the bag. John fought to hide his smile as she bit into it.
"Only bruised my toe but it's not something I'd want to experience
again."
    "But riding them was fun?"
    "Riding them was the best," she said
wistfully. "I don't know how to explain it but when I was on
horseback I was free. I didn't have a single problem in the world.
There was no school, no homework, no boys. There was no home, no
mom and dad, none of the awful silences and even more awful…" her
voice trailed off, her eyes became distant as she held the Twizzler
before her.
    He knew Mary Ellen had tried to keep the
worst part of her marriage from Rochelle, but he also knew there
was no way to keep it from her entirely. Rochelle was too smart and
too observant to miss much. They hadn't fought a lot but he'd
always known when his parents were mad at each other, no matter how
much they tried to pretend they weren't.
    "It was that bad at home?" he asked.
    Rochelle shrugged absently and bit into the
candy. "My mom tried to hide it but yeah, it was that bad. I loved
my dad, he always treated me well, but the things he said and did
to my mom…" Her brown eyes came back to his. "No one should be
treated like that."
    John didn't know what to say to her. All the
words that ran through his mind were horribly inadequate as she
unflinchingly met his gaze. "I'm sorry." They were the lamest words
in the world but they were the