Away From the Sun Read Online Free PDF Page A

my father contemplate calling us the Light-bearers if the group ever got to be big. I don’t care for names or labels, but I can see why my father made it up. He wanted to bring light to the world by depleting the shadows. Or rather, the Shadowface.  
    First in the group is my father. Then there is myself and four others. There is Lester who knows more about explosives than anyone I’ve ever met. Josh and Ryan are near-perfect shots with whatever gun they can get their hands on.
    And then there’s Ashley. She’s a shining light in this dark world, and is so far the only reason I’ve stayed with the group as long as I have. I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned to her that we could leave the group and start our own life together. But she is hesitant. With the group she feels like she has purpose. She feels like she is helping. And she is, but I just wish things were different. I don’t care to be near my father any longer, and I’m becoming less and less interested in taking down Shadowface, though I feel he needs to be destroyed.  
    An explosion to the north of me is bright and loud. I can feel the ground shake beneath me and it is very different from the feeling of the motorcycle. I can’t help but grin as I watch the ball of fire erupt into the sky. The wall directly under the cloud of dust and flame is probably crumbled rocks and ashes now. Lester has done his part. If all has gone to plan, the blast will have been loud enough to attract greyskins from the entire town of Sealy, and the hole in the wall will be large enough for many to get through.  
    I can’t tear my eyes away from the explosion. Men and women probably just died and all I can do is smile. I suppose that is because their death means that my survival is more secure than before. It is just one step closer to taking down Shadowface and ending another corrupt leadership.  
    I turn back to the traffic light and briefly wonder what could still be powering it. It’s an odd thing to see it carrying about as though the world hasn’t changed. When it turns green, I rev the engine and lift my feet from the ground as I roll forward. The engine sounds like a machine gun as I burn through the city streets. It’s like a parade has come to town and all the rotting citizens have come out to see it. The greyskins stumble out from their hiding places, groping at the air in front of them as if the source of the explosion is within reach. I pull back on the gas and speed up. I turn a few heads as I pass by, but most are focused on the cloud in front of them. Where there is sound and movement, there is life. Thus, the virus is able to feed and spread.  
    I don’t stop until I reach the other side of town and I slow to a stop in a grassy field, the smoke now behind me. My father stands in the field, leaning against a black, dusty SUV. He shakes his head at me, glancing from my face, to the bike, back to my face. When I kill the engine, he pulls a fat cigar from his mouth and sets his hands on his hips.  
    “I don’t know how you expect to survive for very long driving that thing around,” he says with a grin.  
    I ignore him as I hike my leg over the motorcycle and brush the dirt off my jeans. Out of habit I feel for the strapped knife on the back of my belt. It’s so light that I forget I’m wearing it sometimes.  
    As I near him, I study his face. He’s in his mid-forties, but he’s starting to look like he’s almost sixty. His hair is turning white and wrinkles are setting in. I try to see if there is any part of him that can look like me. His blue eyes are nothing like mine which are brown. His weathered skin is light and mine is more tan. I’ve always thought it was strange that, though he is my father, this man shares very few physical traits with me. The only trait I’ve ever noticed to be somewhat similar are our hooked noses.  
    I call him my father. It’s a lie. He was never actually a father at all. He slept with a woman. The