Roark (Women Of Earth Book 1) Read Online Free

tablets for the first three nights before going to bed. Half the bottle was stored in a jar in the cupboard. The other half Wynne traded for canned goods at the market which Mira suspected was Dr. Mason’s intent.
    Those canned goods would come in handy come winter when fresh vegetables would become nonexistent, but their family’s appetites wouldn’t.
    “Where are the kids? Shouldn’t they be home by now?” She tried to make it sound like curiosity and not concern, but Wynne was too attuned to her to be fooled.
    “You weren’t asleep that long, honey. It’s still light out and there are plenty of adults on the street. They’re playing.”
    “And what about Davey? I know he’s not out playing in the street. Have you seen him since he left this morning?”
    Head bent, hair hiding her face, her sister was suddenly busy matching thread to the torn shirt lying in her lap.
    “Where is he, Wynne?”
    “I saw him going into the Buzz when I went down to see if Jeanie Troy had any extra milk today,” she said quietly and without looking up.
    “And you let him?” Mira lever herself up from the chair and went to the door.
    “I couldn’t stop him, Mira. He was with some of his friends and they were already going in the door. I know I should have, but I couldn’t make myself go in there.”
    “You shouldn’t have to. He should know better and if he’s still there, I’ll be happy to tell him so.”
    “You shouldn’t be in there either,” Wynne called after her as she grabbed her coat from the peg and went out the door.
    “I’ll be fine,” Mira called back. “It’s David you should be worried about.”
    She often wished their mother was still around to deal with the son she’d always referred to as her accidental miracle. Mira sure as hell didn’t know what to do with the boy who at sixteen, spent most of his time griping about the lousy hand he’d been dealt and lazing around with his friends, most of whom Mira no longer knew.
    The Buzz was a local hangout operating out of an old neighborhood restaurant. They no longer sold food, but the bar was open for business, though where they got their supply of liquor no one knew or more correctly, no one wanted to know. Two kinds of people frequented the Buzz; those who could no longer cope with the world around them, and those who preyed on the people who were trying to cope. More rumors flew about the Buzz and its owner than about the Godan.
    Anthony Tomaselli was a liar and a bully, and purported to be a thief. He made his money in the black market. Some said prostitution, too, though to be honest, Mira didn’t see the need unless he was setting up a stable for when the Godan troops were finally allowed into town. He was also the boyfriend from hell who raised Mira’s concern about her taste in men.
    Through the haze of smoke, not all of which came from tobacco, Mira spied a table of young people over in the corner. Hands of cards lay face down on the table, one in front of an empty chair. Red, white, and blue poker chips formed a pile in the center. Her brother wasn’t one of them, but she figured they were her surest bet of finding him.
    “Have you seen David Donazetto?” she asked without greeting.
    “Who wants to know?”
    The speaker was a boy a little older than her brother, but not by much. His shoulder length hair was clean and kept from falling in his face by a red bandanna. His clothes were clean and his jeans fairly new, the same brand and style David said he found while scavenging an abandoned apartment. He might have been a good looking young man if his face wasn’t marred by a permanent sneer. Arm slung around the neck of a blonde girl who couldn’t have been more than fourteen, he looked to his buddies for approval of his clever remark.
    There was a time when Mira loved teenagers, but at the moment, she couldn’t remember when or why. “Me,” she answered with a roll of her eyes, “and it’s a simple yes or no question. If it’s too