Shattered World (Broken World Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

they need to waste away to nothing once they become famous? She did it, and I remember a few others. They usually looked better before the weight loss. Hadley did.
    “Anyway, Joshua and Sophia convinced me he was telling the truth and then the sirens went off. We all ran up to the control room, and there they were. Zombies, right outside the fence. That bastard Mitchell just wouldn’t give in! What kind of a person leaves others to die when they have the ability to save them?”
    “You’d be surprised,” I mutter. “I grew up with a mom who abandoned me and a father who beat the shit out of me whenever things didn’t go his way. The shitty things people do doesn’t really surprise me a whole lot.”
    Hadley’s mouth pops open in surprise. She’s going to ask questions. It’s obvious by how tense her shoulders are and the way she tilts her head to the side. Not a road I want to go down right now.
    “So you had no idea about the dead coming back until we got here?” I ask.
    Hadley shakes her head, and her body relaxes. Odd how talking about the dead coming back to walk the Earth is less stressful than talking about my crappy childhood.
    “No. I was the last one here, and that was a week ago. We kept waiting for someone else to show up. All these condos, and only three of the owners were able to get here. It seemed nuts.”
    “Who else is here? We met James last night, but what about the other two people?”
    “Lila Quinton was the first one here. She’s seventeen and a spoiled rich kid who called the helicopter the second the virus got bad. She was here two weeks before me.”
    “Where are her parents?”
                  “They were in Europe and couldn’t get a flight home since all travel was suspended. The last time she talked to them, the virus had just broken out there. That was right before I got here, before the Internet went down.”
    “So she has no idea if her parents are alive or dead.” My stomach clenches yet again. Must be awful to be a teenager at the end of the world and have no idea where your parents are.
    “Nope. But she doesn’t seem all that torn up about it. She says she rarely saw them anyway.” Hadley lets out a bitter laugh. “She actually seems to be having a good time. She’s really been enjoying the bar and the pool.”
    Great, more snobby rich people.
    I take a sip of coffee before asking, “Who else?”
    “Victor Gates. He’s a doctor from Beverly Hills, only not the useful kind like Joshua. A plastic surgeon to the stars. He’s the person everyone went to when they needed a little Botox or a face lift. He’s a nice enough guy. But his wife died, and I think he’s a little depressed.”
    “Who isn’t?”
    She lets out another big sigh. “I’m glad you all showed up, to be honest. I would have let you in regardless, but the thought of being stuck down here with these people for the next five years was starting to make me depressed.”
    I laugh and shake my head in amazement. Just give her a few days with Angus and we’ll see what she has to say then. “Maybe you should get to know us before you say that. We’ve got some interesting people.”
    Hadley leans forward like she’s telling me a secret. “Like the redneck brothers? The older one offered to keep me company if I got lonely. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t even a little tempting.” I start to laugh, but it’s cut short when she says, “The younger one though…”
    My insides twist, but I try not to react to her words. I force out another laugh. Hopefully, it isn’t obvious how hot my face is, or how much I suddenly want to hurl. The laugh comes out strained and too loud, though. Hadley must have noticed, but she doesn’t even blink.
    There aren’t a lot of women who could make me feel insecure, but Hadley does. How could she not? She was famous and widely lusted after by most of the men in America. I never understood what the big deal was, but I don’t have a dick. Axl