An Unkind Winter (Alone Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

He was barely seventeen, and one of the smallest kids in his high school class. But he was strong for his size. Lugging the water for two blocks wasn’t the greatest of fun, but it wasn’t that difficult either.
         Now, though, standing at his front door, it was starting to get a bit heavy.
         He knocked on the front door a second time. Then a third, a bit irritated that no one seemed to hear him.
         He tried the knob and it was locked. No surprise there.
         Then he walked through the gate to the sliding glass door. The door hadn’t been locked for the two years they’d lived there. It didn’t need to be. They had two pit bulls who’d have made a snack out of anyone who tried to break in.
         He slid the door open and he saw the gas grill. It had run out of propane and burned itself out a couple of hours before, but not before it had done its damage. Now it was cold to the touch, in the chilly morning air.
         Mikey immediately knew the implications.
         He ran through the house, saying, “No! No!” The air seemed very thin. It was hard to catch his breath. Subconsciously, he understood why. But he wouldn’t admit it to himself.
         He went to his little sister Mary first. She had passed out in the hall, in front of her parents’ bedroom. It was as though she had realized something was wrong, and went to announce it.
         He dragged the girl outside.
         Then he went back for the others.
         His father was a big man. Over two hundred and seventy pounds. Much too large for Mikey to move.
         He grabbed his mother and dragged her out, all the while yelling at his father to wake up and help him.
         “We must get everyone out!”
         But in the end, the only two people he’d take outside were his mother and Mary. He simply couldn’t get them all. He had to start work on the ones he might be able to save.
         He’d taken health the previous two semesters, and they’d taught CPR. They showed several videos, and even had a representative from the American Red Cross come in to stress how important it was.
         She’d told the class, “Everyone should learn CPR. You never know when you’ll be called upon to use it.”
         But Mikey was like most other teenaged boys. When a classroom darkened and a video began to play, it was a time to daydream or snooze, or send text messages to his friends. It certainly wasn’t a time to listen and learn.
         Oh, he tried to save them. But it was a lost cause. They’d already been dead for several hours when he found them.
         Deep down inside, he could tell from the way their skin was cold and clammy, and their limbs had stiffened. But he tried valiantly anyway.
         Eventually he gave up, and spent most of the next three days digging graves in the back yard.
         And then dragging everyone he loved in the world into them.
         That was six months before.
         Mikey’s world had changed a lot since then.
         Now he was a child of the streets. He’d go back home occasionally, but his house held horrific memories now. He could barely stand to be there, and only went by every few days to change his clothes when they got too rank to stand. Or to visit the graves of his dead family.
         Mikey’s habit on most nights was to wait until darkness, then go find an abandoned house. He’d break in, look around to see if it might contain anything of value, then hang around until daylight. Once he had light he had plenty of time to loot it at his leisure.
         Mikey’s logic was simple. Even though the world had gone to hell and nobody knew when the power was coming back on, everything would eventually return to normal.
         Nearly all the other looters were just looking for food or water. They were leaving the good stuff behind.
         Mikey could get food and water from a 7-Eleven or a Sysco truck. What he got from the houses was