The Divide: Origins Read Online Free PDF

Zoe said.
    “What
favor?”
    “I
need you to dig two holes,” she said and grabbed a shovel.
    “I
would’ve done that for free,” Max said and took it.
    As
he dug, the temperature rose. He didn’t know exactly how hot it was getting,
but it was the hottest day he had ever experienced. By the time he was done,
Max was exhausted. They needed to move quickly, however, so there was no time
to rest. He asked Zoe to go upstairs and see if there was anything usable that
the thieves might have missed. While she did that, he grabbed her parents’
bodies and laid them in the ground. Once he started filling in the graves, she
came outside with a small backpack. Zoe immediately dropped it and walked over
to him.
    “Stop!
I’ve got to . . . I have to . . .” she said before turning away from the graves
and running back inside.
    Max
did the only thing he could and filled the graves in. By the time he was done,
they had been gone for several hours. Jerome was probably thinking they had
abandoned him. It was time to go. As he was walking inside, he spied the
backpack that Zoe left. He picked it up and went through it. It didn’t contain
anything that was useful. It was strange to think about the things that people
find valuable in a situation like this, though. Zoe had grabbed old photos and
books that were absolutely meaningless in their new reality. Then again, they were the only things she had connecting
her to the old one. Perhaps they were the most important things in a world gone
mad. They could serve as a reminder that not everything was always terrible.
    He
found Zoe waiting on him in the truck and handed her the backpack. She looked a
little confused.
    “There
isn’t anything valuable in there. You should’ve just left it,” she said.
    “I
looked through it, and I’m not sure we agree. There are quite a few links to
your past in there. That’s worth hanging onto. Can I ask you something?”
    “I
don’t see why not.”
    “Why
did you want me to stop in the backyard?”
    “I
wanted to say some last words. I don’t know. I just thought I would have
something memorable to say that would serve as a proper goodbye to my parents,
but I had nothing. I’ve lived almost fourteen years on this earth, and I still
have no idea how to express myself.”
    “I
don’t think that’s true. No one knows what to say in moments like that. I was
sitting beside my mother when she died, and I knew I was supposed to say
something to make it easier for her, but I had nothing. I was so consumed by my
grief that words just weren’t an option. I tortured myself over that for years.
I finally realized that what I said at the end didn’t matter. She knew I loved
her. I had said it many times. Nothing I forgot to say at the end could change
what she already knew. Just between us, what did you want to say?”
    “I
wanted to find a way to put into words what they meant to me. I just didn’t
realize until I tried that it was impossible to do that. Some things just can’t
be said.”
    “I
agree. So you said you were almost fourteen. I don’t know how you’re doing as
well as you are for someone so young.”
    “I’ll
be fourteen in three days. I’m not holding up well. I’m just good at hiding it.
I’m really sorry about the things I said back there. You’re not beyond
redemption or like the people who killed my parents. You’re not an asshole
either. I don’t normally curse very often. I only do it when I would rather be
mad than cry, which happens to be quite often lately.”
    “I
get it. Things are going to get better, though. We just need to . . .” Max
managed to say before he noticed something disturbing about their destination.
    A
new car was sitting in the driveway where they had left Jerome. Max had a tough
choice to make. Odds were that thieves were raiding the house, and Jerome might
already be dead. It would be so easy to leave him, especially with what Jerome
had done the night before. Still, Jerome had kept him