August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak Read Online Free Page A

be roommates. And buy dope
fitted suits, and make a lot of money.”
    Bennett sneered, “I don’t just wanna work at some business or a
bank for 60 hours a week. There’s gotta be something else, some fire, dude.
Maybe I’ll become an acclaimed erotic novelist?”
    “You could join the army,” Jaxton indicated back up the avenue
towards their university hidden among the city blocks. “Troy seems to be on the
path to seize glory.”
    “For this country? Not a chance. How many poor bastards signed
up after the Twin Towers fell and ended up dying in the desert, years after
Bush said Mission Accomplished ?” He
reached up and sub-consciously made sure his messy blond hair was indeed still
messy. “I don’t even know if I can afford New York, don’t you have any loans?”
    Jaxton shrugged. “No. I got that scholarship, and my parents
paid for the rest. Listen, we’re going to graduate. And then we’re going to
move into a swanky little joint. East village.”
    “You’ve never even been to the east village.”
    Jaxton shrugged, “So what? It’s the happenin’ spot right?”
    Bennett smiled and sighed. “Why did we choose such useless
liberal arts majors?”
    Jaxton coiffed his brown hair back. “Because this is 2015.
You’re an individual, and you’re going to save the world, and life’s an
inspirational poster, and you need to find your passion.”
    Bennett guffawed. “Some bullshit, huh. I wish I could fight with
a great general, march with Caesar, Alexander.”
    Jaxton sighed. “The college student in the capital longs to
fight with Alexander. Get the fuck outta here. Look man. Bottom line, I’m not
worried about it. I feel like everything is going to work out for us.”
    Bennett shook his head. “You remember my neighbor, Dan? He
graduated six years ago. Seven years ago, and he’s living in the same musty
bedroom from middle school. I talked to the guy last summer. He said he was so hooked
by all the things everyone told him he could be; writer, director,
entrepreneur, banker…that he never really became anything. Just grabbed lazily
at some things as they passed him by, all the while thinking he was going to be
doing great things. Now he’s twenty-nine, twenty-nine years old and the prime
of his life is slippin’ away from him. He told me they got him a new bed,
though, his parents did. What a failure. Makes me sick, man.”
    “Don’t be too judgey. You waste a lot of your own energy doing
that. And people notice it too. They might laugh with you in the moment, but
they don’t forget that you were the one to say it,” Jaxton answered.
    Bennett remained silent, as he usually did after Jaxton rebuked
him.
    Jaxton let the moment pass and drank in the damp air of late
May. There was a chill on the night wind that would disappear by June. “I feel
good.” He stood, watching how the dim streetlights cast little dancing shadows
on the neat rows of trees all across the park. There was some magic there, though
he knew its appearance was rooted in a certain fungus he had consumed hours
before. The lights seemed to dance and flicker across the softly swaying
leaves. His mind was transfixed by it, and in a series of moments the
significance of the hour drew upon him, each wave more powerful a revelation
than the last. He had, in all honesty, entered this place as a boy, and was now
a man. Here had had searched for and found friends that he knew would remain
with him for the rest of his days. Last, but certainly not least, women had
been demystified.
    “This is actually the end, huh,” Jaxton said quietly.
    “Stepping out into the unknown. We’ve had a life-plan for every
year of our life up until now. Guaranteed friends, place to live, all gone. Not
anymore.”
    “What kind of finale would this be without our unit at full
strength?” Jaxton laughed, indicating an approaching group of boisterous
youths. Troy, Liam, Elvis, and two girls appeared out from under the gloom of
the swaying trees. Their