Free The McClane Apocalypse Book Three by Kate Morris Page A

anything I
can do to help with him?" Simon asks with genuine care.
    "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good
idea to spend time in there with him. He is very ill, as you
probably know," Reagan explains. "We're doing all we can to help
him. He has an IV with strong meds running through him. The lady,
Jennifer, also has an IV full of medicine. The boy hasn't changed.
His condition is still extremely unstable. And if we've correctly
diagnosed him, then it's also very contagious."
    Simon is visibly distraught at the news of
Garrett still being so ill after receiving medical care for two
solid days. His features are set in a deep and melancholy
grimace.
    Cory had seemed wary of Simon at first, but
as soon as the other kid had opened his mouth and Simon's soft
voice and guarded mannerisms came out, he'd relaxed. Cory is also a
fairly good judge of character for someone so young. Of course
after the shit he'd been through to stay alive, it is no wonder. He
is extremely distrustful of the new guests, just as much as his
hard, older brother.
    "Simon, they have food. Like real food,"
Huntley exclaims with the unabashed excitement that only a child
can show.
    "That's good, kid. You should eat. You need
to eat, little buddy," Simon says.
    Reagan notices that he does not make any
attempt to beg a plate for himself.
    It used to be highly unusual for a teenager
to befriend a kid who can't possibly be much more than ten years
old. These are strange new times they are living in.
    "We've got plenty. You want some?" Cory
offers.
    Reagan is strangely proud of him. Cory is so
good-looking and just has a cool way about him that he just had to
have been popular in school, and yet, here he is being nice to this
obvious misfit. The fact that they are both orphans of this new
world is what Cory probably sees as linking them in any small way
together in it. The fact that they are also the only two of three
boys around doesn't hurt, either. Cory doesn't seem like the kind
of boy who would've been cruel to weaker, unpopular kids before the
apocalypse anyways.
    "No, thank-you," Simon rejects the offer and
shoves his hand into the pocket of his faded, baggy jeans that are
covered in rips and tears.
    The kid is skin and bones thin and looks
unhealthy. He is wearing brown leather loafers with tassels. That
was not a current teen fashion trend in any state that she knew of
anytime in the last hundred years. This kid does not at all fit in
with these people with whom he is traveling. He seems like a
congressman's kid, like he could be on the cover of a yachting
magazine or an ad for Ralph Lauren clothing, except for the dirty
gray t-shirt he wears. The dead giveaway that he doesn't fit in
with the band of hooligans is the lack of lewd tattoos and body
piercings that the group seems to have received on some sort of
bulk rate discount. John explained to her last night that some of
the tattoos the visitors sport are gang related and prison
associated. Another clue is the fact that Simon isn't eyeing up
Reagan as if he's trying to get an x-ray of her through her
clothing. Perhaps she's just being paranoid about that part,
however, since she's uncomfortable around most men. Simon doesn't
leer. He mostly looks at the ground.
    "Here, Simon. I'm done," Sam says and shoves
her plate forcefully into the boy's space.
    He has no choice but to take it because it
is either accept the plate or wear it on his shirt. He gives a
gracious nod to Sam who turns her back to him and sits again. Simon
doesn't sit, but he does inhale the second-hand plate of food like
it's the nectar of the gods.
    "Wow, this is awesome. I haven't had food
like this since… forever," Simon acknowledges.
    It pisses Reagan off that he keeps looking
over his shoulder nervously toward the camp as if he's afraid to
get caught eating.
    "Yeah, that's what I said when we first came
here," Cory remembers.
    "This place is really something. It's very
beautiful, picturesque even in this valley the way that your