Free The Survivors of Bastion (Fall of Earth Book 1) by Will Hawthorne Page B

and as she had gotten into her 60s her manual labour skills had started to fade.
                  What hadn’t faded, though, was her organisational skills – she could numbers and information about like nothing I had ever seen. If I was in charge of the place as a figurehead or a general leader, she was unquestionably in charge of the technicalities. She ran everything from information on food supplies, to storage and resources, to designating work and making sure that everybody’s contribution to Bastion was fair.
                  Just because I was the leader didn’t mean that I didn’t have to put in the hard work too – and that was what I liked about Mary. She didn’t let anybody slide when it came to contributing properly.
                  I changed into my work clothes and grabbed my gloves, making my way through the streets while chomping away at some raw carrots and bread in the early light – breakfast of champions, I guess. I picked up the tools I needed from the supply shed by the field, greeting one of the citizens I didn’t know on an informal basis – Casey, I think – who had just taken up guard duty on the lookout post by the door. With that, I headed out into the field.
                  We had no machines, only our hands and the tools that we held, and to say it was a big-ass field was an understatement, particularly when it came to farming it. Over the next few minutes the four others who I was working with, including Hayley, trickled into the field, and we all got to work.
                  She took up the section by my side, but only after I asked her to – considering how much of an idiot I had been the day prior it was a wonder that she even wanted to speak to me like a normal person.
                  ‘Have a good night, did you?’ She asked.
                  ‘I… What?’ I said suddenly, glaring over at her.
                  ‘Lookout duty. Nice of you to take over from your brother’s shift even if you acted like a bit of a douchebag.’
                  ‘Oh… Right, yeah. Yeah, it was fine,’ I said hurriedly. I had assumed she knew something about me sneaking out, but apparently I had managed to get away with it.
                  ‘Look,’ she started, ‘I’m sorry if I made you feel awkward. I just think you’re pretty hot.’
                  ‘I thought you’d left the thought of us behind it.’
                  ‘What can I say? I had a change of heart.’
                  ‘It’s mutual,’ I laughed.
                  ‘I just see no reason why we should have to stumble around the obvious in a world where we might get killed every other day. What’s wrong with just having a little fun?’
                  ‘Wait, wait,’ I said, ‘Killed every other day? What do you mean by that?’
                  ‘Well, it’s like you were saying yesterday, when people from hundreds of years ago just used to get on with it because they had a short life expectancy. What about the most basic things for us? What if one of us got struck down with appendicitis or something sudden like that? Don’t you think you should enjoy each day as it comes?’
                  ‘You’re right,’ I said, ‘it’s just… Every other finer detail when it comes to stuff like this. I mean, it hasn’t happened yet, but what if somebody in Bastion became pregnant? We have no way of keeping them safe like they did back before the outbreak. I know it’s an ugly truth, but it’s one everybody has to face.’
                  ‘I’m not getting into a discussion with you about sex,’ Hayley laughed. ‘Speaking of which… You wanna hear a joke?’
                  This was really the way that we made it through hard days of labour and work – a wretched sense of humour.