Daybreak Read Online Free PDF Page B

and carted it outside. He remembered feeling just that way, confronted with an adult who didn’t look piss-scared over every little thing. Mason had been his first experience with a man who didn’t scream, lash out, or drink himself stupid every night.
    The boy nodded to the skeleton. “What do you think happened to him?”
    He shot himself, kid.
    Tru recognized the damage to the front of the skull as a bullet wound, not a blunt instrument. If he had to guess, he’d say the man saw the beginning of the Change and decided he didn’t want to stick around for the closing credits. Some days that felt like the smart move.
    Instead of saying that, he merely shrugged and erred on the side of kindness. The good witch must be rubbing off on him.
    “I need you to take first watch,” he told Adrian, who straightened his shoulders at the brusque command. Tru knew how that felt. The kid was probably thinking, You trust me? Seriously? “Penelope and I need sleep in the worst way. We’ll be able to protect you better once we rest. Until then, it’s all you. Keep your gun trained on the door and shoot anything that moves. If it’s not trying to kill us, we can cook and eat it for breakfast.”
    The boy laughed but soon quieted, as if he wasn’t sure the remark was meant to be funny. Tru let himself smile, but inwardly he groaned. This was why he never stuck around. People got attached. Roots turned into chains, expectations into demands. And it hurt too much when those chains were severed. He didn’t like remembering that he’d once worn them with sheer joy.
    He revealed none of those thoughts as he cleared a space and stretched out. “Wake me in three hours.”
    Adrian nodded and settled into the doorway.
    Tru’s skin prickled from the weight of Penelope’s regard. He cocked a brow at her. “Can I help you?”
    “You were nice to him.”
    He gave her a lazy smile. “The sun rises in the east, too.”
    “I wouldn’t have thought he’d be worth the bother since you can’t sleep with him.” And then her pretty face froze, eyeing him with speculation he didn’t like. “Unless . . . no, I won’t let you.”
    He knew what she suspected, despite her garbled outrage. It shouldn’t bother him. And it didn’t. Much.
    “He’s too young for me,” he said.
    Let her make of that what she would. He didn’t begrudge people finding pleasure where they could, regardless of the labels it earned them. Just . . . not with kids, despite his prior teasing.
    He’d killed for much less.
    Ignoring the other two, because he was fucking done, he rolled onto his side, wrapped up in a blanket from his pack, and went to sleep. He woke just before dawn. Sunset to sunrise, he’d slept like an animal.
    The kid hadn’t just taken the first watch; he’d stood all of them. It was the kind of crazy-gallant thing Tru would’ve done early on, trying to earn Mason’s respect. But it also lacked foresight because now they couldn’t move until noon. Adrian needed rest or he’d keel over on the trail.
    The boy sat with glazed eyes still trained on the door, gun in hand. Tru crept over to him. “Get some sleep. You did good.” The words sounded rough to his own ears. He hadn’t provided positive reinforcement to a child in years.
    But Adrian relaxed and put down his weapon. Fighting the urge to curse, Tru handed over his own blanket. He could feel the knots tightening around his ankles; he might have to chew his own foot off to get away.
    Like the predator he was, he stole out into the pearly light, weapon in hand. They had no food, which meant it was high time he found some. In a place like this, he could count on alligators. They were tough to take down but provided a ton of meat beneath thick hides. Gator meat was lean and mild, though prone to going dry and crumbly when cooked. They needed fat to keep from starving, but the protein would keep them going.
    “Deserting us?”
    Penelope stood in the shack doorway, her short,