Uprising Read Online Free PDF Page B

getting some form or variant of a long or short buzz cut. No one complained so I cut away. And cut and cut, for hours. My carpal tunnel is screaming at me to stop and my legs are cramping from swaying back and forth.
    As Cain takes his seat, my final haircut, he asks me about my shoulder. The scar and why it was glowing and red earlier during my dream.
    “It’s the Marker’s scratch, mark. Long and painful story. Ask Miguel. He was attacked by one too. He’s less reluctant to tell the story than I am,” I say as I shudder a little from the memory already popping in my mind.
    “Sorry. I’ll do that. So...everyone’s attracted to, huh? Even Crandle, the leader of all evil. You are a popular gal,” he says smiling.
    I know he’s trying joke, to make me feel better.
    I also know that Jeff hinted for the haircuts, knowing I would volunteer, to give me something to take my mind of everything, and it worked.
    “Ha ha. I’ve seen Crandle ya know. For real, at the grocery store a while back. Course, I didn’t know who he was then though. I thought he was just a Lighter,” I said as I started washing his hair in the sink.
    “Wow. I’ve never met anyone who’s seen him in real life, or very many who have seen Lighters either. Accept those idiot followers of his.”
    “Well I’ve seen both and Markers. None of them were pleasant.”
    I went on to explain about the Lighter that almost killed Marissa that day and how she compelled him to jump into the ravine. The black Marker skeleton we found. I also told him of the Marker that was here that night when the new recruits showed up.
    “Wow,” he said after a stunned pause. “My group hasn’t had any action this whole time. Sitting up in that cabin, twiddling our thumbs. Waiting to find others like us. That’s terrible, Sherry. I’m sorry. If only we’d found you sooner. Maybe we could’ve helped in some way. Pap can’t hear worth a dang but he can shoot like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
    “Well. We’re all here together, now. Hopefully, they’ll be even more of us coming. I don’t know what we’re gonna do when those need warehouses start,” I said, draping the towel around his shoulders and closing it with a hair clamp.
    “We’ll be ok. We’ll just have to learn to conserve and start eating basics. Mrs. Trudy’s lasagnas and deserts aren’t going to cut it anymore. Pap and me had a garden back at the cabin. There are some vegetables that will grow in winter temps. Carrots, beets, rutabaga, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli. Like I said. We’d have to get back to basics. Then the few of us that can go to the warehouses without suspicion can go and help supplement what we grow here. They only give you the food you need for the week for yourself so, it wouldn’t be much.” He sputtered at the end with a hair in his mouth.
    “Well, we may just have to do that. I really don’t see any other choice at this point. But ya know. If we seriously stock piled non-perishables, like rice, dried beans and can foods, from now until then, we could last a while before things got really bad.”
    “Yeah. We could, should do that. Fill up a couple empty closets with it as much as we could until the time comes. That’s a good idea, Sherry. You should tell Merrick. We can go ahead on our first run tomorrow if you want. I’ll go too.”
    “Great. Sounds good,” I murmured as I finished up with a razor on his neck.
    I thought his hair was already pretty short but he insisted he wanted it topped off and neatened up a bit. “Alright. All done. Look good?”
    “Sure does,” he said looking at me in the mirror and smiling. “Thanks, Sherry.”
    He helped me clean up the horrid amounts of hair and shaving cream. I tried to do it in between but eventually gave up and decided to deal with it all at once.
    We added it to the trash by the stairs, ready to be taken out and buried along with the rest of it. That was one job I was never privy to, and glad of it.
    We walked back