Redaction: Extinction Level Event (Part I) Read Online Free PDF

She set her hand on Aunt Mavis’s. Sunnie wanted, no, needed answers. Real answers. Like yes and no.
    “Do you think there will be war with North Korea or not?” She spoke slowly like her mom had done when she was younger and stupid. Mom. Her chest seemed to shrink and her vision wavered. She swiped away her tears. How long until her insides didn’t feel like they’d been run through a grater at the thought of her family?
    Aunt Mavis’s sigh fluttered through her auburn bangs. “It’s a complicated situation.”
    Adult speak for either I don’t know, or I don’t want to explain it to you. But Sunnie was an adult now, had been for a year and a half. Crossing her arms, she leaned back and let the leather seat cup her spine. No one stirred in the empty street. “Since Mr. Quartermain moves at the speed of a snail on fly paper, I think we have time for you to explain it to me.”
    Aunt Mavis squeezed her eyes closed and her lips slowly moved. One. Two. Three.
    Good God, didn’t adults know how irritating that was? Or did they do it on purpose, hoping the kid would just give up and go away? Cold air crept into the car. The engine ticked as the metal cooled. She eased her toes back into her sneakers.
    Twelve. Thirteen.
    A gust of wind scooped up dirt and leaves, spinning them into a cyclone that crossed the empty street. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked.
    Sixteen. Seventeen. Aunt Mavis uncurled along the bucket seat. “I think China is up to something.”
    Complicated or off-topic? Sunnie rubbed her fingers together, until the friction built-up enough heat to drive away the chill. “China? But they’re not threatening us; North Korea is.”
    Aunt Mavis’s lips pursed like she’d chomped on a rotten lemon. “If North Korea is saber-rattling, then China is up to something. They’re using the Koreans as a distraction.”
    Sunnie snorted. “Why? Why not just challenge us themselves?”
    “Why not, indeed?”
    “No, that was my question.” Sunnie tugged her ponytail free and shook the silky stands around her shoulders. God, adults could be such a pain sometimes. “I’m asking you why they’d do that?”
    “Taiwan, maybe?” Aunt Mavis jerked on the chrome handle and her door sprang open. “To test our strength and resolve. They’d never do so outright. They have too much to lose. But using a proxy is clever and hard to prove.”
    Taiwan. What did that have to do with anything? “But—”
    “Wait here.” Grabbing the keys from the ignition, her aunt slid out of the car and slammed the door shut after her.
    Frustration rumbled through Sunnie’s chest. She was so tired of being treated like a child. Clawing for the handle, she jerked on the latch and shoved at the door. Wind whistled around her and leaned against the car. She pushed out of the Civic and jumped clear before the door slammed shut.
    “Aunt Mavis?” Hair tickled the back of her throat. She finger-combed her hair into a ponytail and tucked the tresses under her jacket collar.
    A gust whipped the hair out of Aunt Mavis’s face and muted the rattle of keys in her hand. She scanned the pine trees across the street. “Mr. Quartermain should have been here by now.”
    Like it really mattered where the old geezer was. This was war they were talking about. War. There could be a draft. Women could be called to fight. She could be called to fight. “About China, Thailand and North Korea...”
    “Taiwan, not Thailand.” Aunt Mavis strode closer to the padlock connecting the two chains. “When the communists took over mainland China, the US recognized the government of Taiwan as ruling all of China. So when mainland China became recognized, they wanted Taiwan back into the fold, and the US wouldn’t let them.”
    “Yeah. Yeah.” That and a quarter would buy half a gumball. Sunnie waved her hand before holding back her bangs. Rain dotted the road, and the wind swelled with the smell of wet asphalt. “But what about war?”
    “I already