Tomorrow Land Read Online Free PDF

the flesh- and blood-caked razors. She’d have to clean them off before retraction beneath her fingernails. So gross! But, she had to admit, they, along with her other enhancements, had just saved her life.
    “Thanks, Dad,” she muttered, at last appreciating what he’d done for her. Still, her gratitude was a bit grudging.
    A clapping noise from above startled her back to the present. The guy on the garage roof! She’d almost forgotten about him in the heat of the fight. Forget the razors; it was his warning that had truly saved her life. She looked up and waved.
    “Thanks, guy,” she said, still breathing heavily. “I owe you one.”
    He jumped off the roof and approached her. He was tall and lean, with flashing green eyes and a full mouth quirked in a half-smile. He wore leather from head to toe: jacket, pants, gloves. Her stomach twisted in an appreciation she hadn’t felt in a long time—maybe ever. After all, it had been quite a while since she’d seen anyone not in her immediate family. And even before that, well, she couldn’t remember anyone looking so good.
    “I’m Chase,” the boy said by way of introduction. He looked about her age and there was something strangely familiar about his face. He glanced down the street in the direction the creature had run. “That was… well, that was some fighting. I haven’t seen someone take on an Other like that in… well, ever.”
    She drew in a breath. “So they’re still around, eh? I was sort of hoping they’d have died out or something.” She wiped her razors on the ground, taking particular care with them as she always did. But the gore was pretty caked on. She’d need to find some actual water or at least a wet-nap to get it all off.
    “Yeah, right. I wish. They live, they thrive. They got us all scared shitless. Nothing’s changed there.” He gave Peyton a strange look. “How do you not know this, though? You been living under a rock or something?”
    “Pretty much,” she admitted. “This is the first time I’ve been outside in four years.”
    “Well then, let me be the first to greet you into our own little corner of Hell on Earth. Welcome back.”
    Peyton grimaced. “Um, thanks. I think.”
    “So, where’s this rock you’ve been hiding under? I thought I’d scouted out this neighborhood pretty good over the years.”
    She pointed down the street. “Twelve Mulberry. My dad bought this old fallout shelter before things started getting really bad. Packed it up with food and supplies. Set a timer, escorted my mom and me inside, closed the door. Home sweet home for four years. The door opened yesterday.”
    Chase stared at her, disbelieving. “Oh my God,” he said.
    “What? It’s not that weird a story, is it? If you’re out here, there must have been—”
    But Chase’s face was white. “Peyton Anderson?” he asked, as if he was half-afraid to know the answer to his question.
    She cocked her head, scanning his face. How did he know her? Had he gone to her school? Was he one of Erin’s friends? Drew’s?
    Then it hit her. With all the force of a ten-ton truck.
    “Oh my God,” she whispered. “You’re… you’re…”
    The guy bowed low. “Chris Parker. One of the last guys on earth.”

Chapter Five
     
    “Hey, tech-head, what are you doing?”
    Chris reluctantly pulled off his VR goggles at the sound of his older brother’s voice. When Trey plopped down uninvited on the couch beside him and punched him in the arm, he grunted. “What does it look like, moron?”
    “You know, too many videogames will make you sterile,” Trey volunteered. “I read that once somewhere.”
    “You also read somewhere that you won the Space Station 13 lotto,” Chris retorted. “And that you’ll die if you don’t forward the email to ten of your friends.”
    “Oh, you’re such the clever little man. If you’re so clever, though, why don’t you have a date tonight like I do?”
    “Because I’ve got better things to do.”
    Trey