The Last Peak (Book 2): The Darwin Collapse Read Online Free Page B

buttcheek again and a sob welled up in her chest. “I have butt fat.”
    Mason pinched his eyes shut and shook his head. He forcibly returned his attention to something less infuriating, like the fact that he was providing his family fewer calories than their bodies required, and yet, here was this person complaining about the tone of her buttcheeks.
    “Hello,” Beth’s voice said from the doorway to the dining room. “Iridia, you were supposed to be getting lunch for everyone, not showing your half-naked body to my husband.”
    Iridia whimpered and dropped the shirt which still ended mid-thigh. “This is terrible. The worst.”
    “What is—“
    “Don’t ask,” Mason said hoping to save her the grief.
    “What is terrible?” Beth asked anyway.
    “I should’ve expected it. I mean, I’ve missed my daily workout with Esteban for over a week. And I eat any old garbage you put in front of me…”
    She said a few other things but Mason’s brain had stopped listening. She was complaining about eating into his family’s dwindling resources? How could she be so clueless?
    “What are you talking about, Iridia?” Beth cut into Iridia’s ongoing complaining.
    Iridia spun around and hiked the shirt up again to show Beth her bare buttcheeks. She really needed some underwear that consisted of more than a cord up the crack. “I have butt fat.”
    Beth waved her off. “Pffft! Talk to me when you’re thirty-four and you can tell me how perfect your twenty-five-year-old butt used to be. Now, stop flashing your flesh under this roof and take those plates to the table.”
    Iridia’s full lips looked even more pouty than usual. Mason wondered which way she was going to go. Typical Iridia flameout or one of those few instances of reasonable responsibility? Iridia grabbed two plates off the counter and marched them into the dining room.
    Beth shook her head. “I swear to God. I bet you’ve seen her butt more times than mine in the last week.”
    Mason decided to poke the bear.
    “Hey, who’s counting?”
    “I am. That’s who. And the balance better leans towards my column.”
    “I’m just the cook here. I only recently realized I was working in a strip joint.”
    “Very funny… not.”
    “Grab a couple plates and I’ll get the rest,” Mason said. “We need to discuss the food and water situation with everyone.”
    Beth bit her lip and led the way back to the dining room. Together they brought enough food on each plate to ensure that, today at least, no one would starve.
    Mason wondered how long they’d be able to say that.

CHAPTER SIX

    The small round table in the breakfast nook of the kitchen wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone, so the larger rectangle dining room table had become the gathering spot where they shared food, touched base, and did their best to keep each other sane.
    That was the idea anyway.
    Everyone sat down and eyed the noticeably undersized portions. Before anyone could take a bite, Beth spoke. “We should say a blessing. Does anyone want to lead it?”
    “I do!” Iridia said before anyone else could volunteer.
    “Okay,” Beth replied through pursed lips.
    “Dear God,” Iridia began, “I know you’re, like, amazing and can do anything you want with all of your powers. And I know you see and know everything happening to everyone down here. So you can totally see the disaster.”
    Mason nodded as he stared out a window at the clear blue, summer sky. He agreed. May as well pray for heavenly help. Couldn’t hurt at this point.
    “So, I’m begging, praying I guess, for your help. Please make my butt fat go away.”
    Theresa laughed so hard she snorted. Elio did his best to suppress it, but laughter had him in choking convulsions. It was too much. Or maybe just enough.
    Beth and Mason broke into laughter as well and the entire table laughed themselves silly while Iridia looked on in confusion.
    “What? I know it sounds stupid. But if anyone can fix it, it’s got to be him,