August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak (4 page)

Liam
made some awfully corny attempt at comedy for the girl with hazel eyes, and she
couldn’t have loved it any more. Jaxton managed to grin, drawing his eyes back
to the horizon, divided as it was by a massive pillar of stone stretching into
the sky. He was content. In such company, he felt invincible. In the heat of
his own intoxicating thoughts he found himself hoping for a test that would
bond his little group of friends even tighter. They could do anything. They
would never be broken apart. He hoped madly for a challenge, something to test
them, together. And as his blood cooled, he was moved to instant mental silence
by the gentle swell of growing light that grew opposite their little band.
After that, the dawn came swift and strong.

11
hours before Outbreak. Washington, D.C

Jaxton
was staring angrily at the figure getting smaller in front of him, a tight knit
group of corded back muscles shifting as he ran. Troy was not a bulky man, but
he was strong. As it stood, Troy had outpaced the whole group by a few hundred
feet, as he always did. Jaxton knew that was why he liked to run, because he
liked to win.

The
sun shone fiercely for late May, generating a heat that already had them all
slick with sweat. Elvis huffed and puffed beside him, looking rather ridiculous
without his hair product and slick outfits. His hefty pompadour of hair bounced
atop his head as he ran, already lagging behind. Jaxton glanced to his other
side, at Bennett. He knew this game. Both men would allow Troy to outpace them,
knowing him to be a superior athlete. But as they silently heaved aside one
another, each knew they would not allow the other to beat him. It became a
competition of wills. Jaxton hated the game. And he knew Adira was just behind
them both, keeping pace. He couldn’t lose in front of her.

He
knew neither he nor Bennett would suddenly push harder, driving forward to
leave the other in the dust. If one did, it would be an acknowledgement there
was a competition. Instead, they waged a silent little war, with neither
willing to outright challenge the other.

Jaxton
gritted his teeth; he could feel Bennett pushing the pace. They flew past gawking
overweight men with fanny packs and pasty women lathered with sunscreen. Jaxton
felt the sun beating down on his bare back, and willed his legs to pump a
little faster. Mildly aggravated, he glanced at Bennett’s much leaner form,
insulted such a specimen could threaten to outpace him. Through the crowds
ahead, Jaxton saw a sturdy form moving fast. Troy, shirtless for effect, dodged
baby strollers and gawking Oriental tourists taking pictures of the most
insignificant things Jaxton might see.

 
“Do you guys always go this fast?” Adira
asked him, her hair bouncing.

 
With an audible growl Jaxton kicked his
run into high gear, nearing a sprint. They raced around the back of the
rectangular temple of white marble that contained the tribute to Lincoln,
surging past massive golden statues lining the bridges to Virginia. As they
crossed the road and began the trek past the titanic State Department complex,
Jaxton felt his lungs screaming. It was unacceptable to consider the sole man
he would beat was the hung-over Elvis, who was admirably brining up the rear at
a lazy pace.
Squinting in the bright
mid-day sun, Jaxton spotted two figures doubled over in exhausted satisfaction
two blocks ahead. Jaxton opened up into a full sprint past startled students,
enraged Adira had seen Bennett beat him. Jaxton tore past Bennett and Troy
before doubling back. Adira came bounding after him gaily, and moved to marvel
at Bennett’s speed. Only Elvis was still struggling, his bouncing pompadour
visible above the crowds of tourists.

“Heart of a lion,” Troy muttered, staring. “And where the hell
is Liam anyways?”

Jaxton shook his head, exhausted. “I think he fucked Harley last
night. Don’t say anything to Elvis. He’s been taking her out on dates right?
Yeah Liam beat her to it, in one night.”

Troy shook his head in disbelief, and stepped out into the
street and began yelling loudly, for all bystanders to hear. “No shame in last
place! That’s it. Last place! There’s too much weight on top of your head, bru.”

 
Elvis jogged right
up to Troy and stumbled. As his shoe caught on the sidewalk his stomach
lurched, and a shower of poorly digested eggs covered Troy’s sneakers.

Adira lingered a bit behind, eyeing
the group as if they were boisterous rogues.

“I’ll catch up with you guys later.
I’m going to hang out with Adira for a bit,” Bennett said quickly, shooting a
glance back at her. The others raised their eyebrows and leaned in to offer
badly disguised encouragement. Jaxton shook his head; this kind of thing only
happened with Bennett, perpetually awkward.

“I’ve been like ten feet away,
literally this entire time. Just in case you weren’t aware,” Adira shouted. The
others chuckled giddily like a group of 8
^th
graders at lunchtime and
kept walking. Jaxton lingered a moment, just enough to make eye contact with
Adira, perhaps for too long. Then he too was gone.

Bennett could feel Adira drawing up
beside him. He felt immediately nervous, especially since all the guys knew
what he was planning. Why was there always pressure? “He really didn’t wanna
lose to you,” Bennett heard her say.

“Jaxton? He’s always like that. Lifts
and lifts, doesn’t do any cardio, and then throws a hissy fit when I beat him.”

“So he’s a big, ripped baby?”

“You think he’s ripped?” He groaned
inwardly; he probably shouldn’t have said that.

Adira rolled her eyes. “Try not to be
so insecure. It’s unnecessary. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

Bennett hesitated, and panicked in the
silence. “So, wanna shower and then, uh, just come over and we can do this? My
roommate is gone.”

Adira stood to face him, shoulder to
shoulder. “You realize typically that kind of question doesn’t work at all,
right? You’re supposed to at least
pretend
we’ll be doing something else, and leave the sex implied.”

Bennett felt his stomach roiling, and
stumbled over his words. Adira held up her hand. “I said typically. But you’ve
been really sweet these past few weeks, like I’m…I don’t know, some sort of fragile
doll and I always need to be protected.” She laughed. “I mean, it isn’t exactly
true and we both know it, but it tells me a little about you. Doesn’t it?”

“I didn’t mean to say it like that…”
Bennett felt his face turning red. “But I mean, yeah, you don’t need
protection. I…I don’t know, I mean I really like you. I wish we had met sooner,
honestly. I feel like I don’t have to put up this stupid façade with you. As
soon as you take that down with other girls, they’re gone. Most of them
generally start running when I can’t answer what fraternity I’m in.”

Adira smiled, her dark eyes glittering.
Bennett could see other men staring at her as they passed, and it made his
insides scream with jealously. “I could tell that wasn’t the real you within a
few minutes of meeting you. And I heard all about you, from Harley. Not too
confident with girls, are you?”

Bennett froze.

“You put too much damn emphasis on it,
you worry too much. Ok, what I meant to say is…I’m going to help you out.”

“What do you mean, help me out?”

She sighed, and compelled him to
listen with her eyes. “We’re going to go back to the dorm, and we’re going to
have sex.”

Bennett chuckled nervously, his eyes
darting around to make sure no one could hear. “Why are you being like this? I
mean, this is kinda weird, isn’t it?”

Adira smiled again. “You like to push
your luck, don’t you? I want to help you.”

“Why?”

The corners of her mouth evened out. “Despite
myself, I’ve fucked over more than a few guys, guys like you, I guess. And
we’re all leaving this place. And I don’t want pain to be the only thing I
leave behind.”

11
hours before Outbreak. Washington, D.C

“Home seems like a sad, little place.”

“It sorta does, doesn’t it, when we’re
in a city like this,” Jaxton said quietly. He stood with Liam on the balcony in
their two-bedroom apartment, gazing out across the city’s bland low-level
buildings. They had both heard that no building in the city was permitted to be
as tall as the pillar of white stone in the city’s center.

Jaxton sighed appreciatively, knowing
that while he never made friends easily or quickly, those he did befriend
stayed with him for years and years. His own circle had been forged long
before, before they were men. His own friendship with Liam was one that
sustained itself through the never-ending cycle of highs and lows. He spoke his
mind. “You know why I think we’ve been good friends for so long? Why I think we
can live together for four years without getting sick of each other?”

“Oh do tell. Come on, let’s hear it,”
Liam encouraged him.

“Because we’re not that similar.”

Liam raised his bushy eyebrows. “I
always make the brothers from another mother joke. Am I supposed to stop making
that joke, I mean tell me now-“

“No one likes that joke anyways,
Liam.” Jaxton chuckled. “No but what I mean is…we never fall into competition.
We like the same stuff, we have similar tastes. But I think when it comes to
wiring, we’re totally different. I feel like I would have gotten sick of you
and your stupid beard years ago if we had similar personalities. I mean, with
Troy, I love the kid, but there’s like a quiet antagonism between him and I
occasionally, as if we were, I don’t know, rivals or something.”

Liam scratched his beard and squinted
against the sun.
 
“How are you and
I different?”

“You love small talk, taking care of
people, you like to help, feel compassion…why are you becoming an engineer
again?”

Liam brushed him off. “I don’t even
know. Probably because it’s too late to do anything else.”

 
Jaxton felt a silence stretch between them. He sought to fill
it with a burning question. “Did you actually not sleep with Harley?”

“Enough, scoundrel. The man has no
decency. I didn’t sleep with her. It’s called willpower, and not sleeping with
everything that moves. Yes, that includes dogs…goats…”

“Bestiality? Was thinking about giving
it a spin in my later years. The eccentric, sexually adventurous Jaxton.
That’ll be my calling card. Line up ladies.” His forced humor burned out
quickly. “To be honest, I thought I’d feel more nostalgic today,” Jaxton said,
still looking down at the people moving slowly in a festive weekend haze.

“I ran out of that last night,” Liam
agreed.

“So you felt it too,” Jaxton ventured.
He paused, furrowing his brow. “Who do you think will fade away from the
group?”

 
“No one, I’d think,” Liam said, sounding uncertain.

Jaxton grunted a murmur, the sound
intentionally catching in the back of his throat when he wanted to disagree.
“Troy’s more Neanderthal than any one of us. He’ll fall in with his own kind…
in the army, I think. Some day, we’ll be no more than old friends from a
totally alien part of his life.”

“We’ve all got a little Neanderthal.
You especially. Bennett, sometimes I guess. Elvis, not so much.”

 
“Bennett’s still stuck in that awkward phase, the one you and
I left behind sophomore year. The man just needs some damn confidence. I don’t
know; I do hope him and I end up in New York though. And of course a couch for
you to visit,” Jaxton exclaimed. He turned to his burly friend.
 
“If you aren’t too busy designing the
next generation of skyscraper.”

As he always did, Liam sucked in air skeptically;
quick to be seen as one who wasn’t prone to flattery. Jaxton narrowed his eyes,
knowing he certainly was. “You always do that, even when I know you like
hearing people say shit like that.”

Liam scratched the messy mass of curls
atop his head, “We should all make sure we don’t stop dreaming.”

“So you still buy the bullshit stew, I
see.”

“I’m the biggest customer, man.
Bullshit stew for all three meals. I overdose from it. I’m going to design the
world’s tallest building one day, and you are….”

Jaxton sneered. “I have no fucking
idea what I’m going to do. What does one do with a History degree exactly?”

Liam grinned and clapped him on the
shoulder with his huge hand, far too hard for Jaxton’s liking.

“When are your parents coming down?”
Jaxton asked.

“Should be here in a few
hours…apparently there’s tons of traffic around the city. What about your mom?”

“I think soon. I actually haven’t
heard from her, which of course isn’t surprising because she probably needs to
focus all her energies on the open road.”

“Tsk tsk. Kid’s an asshole,” Liam
laughed.

“Did I mention she backed into another
car recently?”

Liam laughed heartily, “I miss home,”
he said. “I miss the woods, the fields, the rivers.”

Jaxton nodded, “It was a great place
to grow up, wasn’t it. You, me, Bennett, Elvis. Waiting till you could be in
front of a bathroom mirror to pop a festering zit, eating half your lunch cause
you knew there was a slight chance Maria Stromae would walk by and wave, shall
I go on?”

“What about the first girl you kissed?
What did she say? ‘Your tongue feels like a big wet piece of blubber in my
mouth when you don’t move it around. You need to move your tongue around Jax!”

Jaxton held his hands up.“ Don’t ruin
my nostalgic vision of the place, you jackass. I’m just glad we all get to hang
out there for the summer.”

“Back to the valley.”

Jaxton closed his eyes, and in a
second he was under the trees again, in a small town to the north.

“Be careful, Jaxton.”

Jaxton opened his eyes, and frowned to
see Liam peering at him cautiously. “What do you mean?” Adira came unbidden to
his mind, and he felt threatened. Had Liam noticed?

     
His
friend took a deep breath. “I’ve got your back, always. But stay away from that
girl.”

…

Bennett was struggling mightily.
Adira’s roommate had left immediately, which only made him feel a bit more
awkward as they sat next to each other. Bennett felt his hands tinkering with
all her little trinkets, muttering casual comments to himself. His palms were
slick despite the window-unit that was blasting frigid air into the stuffy
room. He found himself wishing he didn’t have a runner’s body.

Adira quietly shut her bedroom door,
her long dark hair still damp from the shower. Bennett let his eyes scan the
towel that clung to a somewhat boyish frame. She turned a fraction, and he
found himself even more nervous as he saw the curve that popped out like a
bubble.

“My god. Don’t look so petrified.”
Adira was peering sideways at him, with a faint smirk across her thin lips. Her
dark, penetrating eyes startled him out his daydream. Those eyes were the first
thing Bennett had noticed about her. He suddenly realized he had been grinning
like a fool this entire time, and reached up to ruffle his own messy blond
hair.

Though he mused about delivering a
snappy one liner, Bennett knew he wasn’t the sort for that. “So what happens
now?”

She shrugged, her lithe frame shifting
under a little black shirt. “You start to relax a bit. How long have you known
your friends? It’s quite the group.”

Bennett grinned again, this time
without thinking. “I went to high school with Elvis, Liam, and Jaxton. We grew
up together, really. In this little valley in the woods. Like 6,000 people in
the town. Middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania.”

Adira’s eyes softened. “I can tell you
like it. Like thinking about it.”

Bennett rubbed his sweaty palms on his
jeans. “When are your parents coming down for graduation?”

“I don’t think they’re coming.”

“Why not?”

“That’s just how it works, I don’t
know.”

“Ok…what do you want to do after
school?”

“Probably choose something in Boston
best suited to my resume and class choices, and then get hired because the boss
thinks he might have a chance to fuck me.” Her features were stoic, for a
moment. Adira laughed lightly, with all the confidence in the world. She didn’t
quite move like a girl who knew how to control men, but Bennett had no doubt
she could if she so desired. “I mean, if we’re just being honest.”

“So you’re ok sitting in a cubicle
forty hours a week.”

“What else are we guna do?”

“You could dream a little.”

“Dreaming’s overrated.” The girl with
the dark eyes paused and moved slightly closer to his own thigh.

“How did you get convinced of that?”

She pursed her lips. “My brother
graduated with a liberal arts degree ten years ago. I watched him burn through
ten years of his life. Supposedly the best years. Not everyone is meant to
change the world, though we’ve obviously been told that.”

Bennett chuckled. “My friend Jaxton
told a similar story last night. But some of us are meant to.”

Adira peered at him, and Bennett could
smell her perfume. “I can’t tell if you’re hopelessly naïve, or you actually
believe that. I may make a cynic out of you yet.”

“Not a chance. I’ve had to deal with a
lot of bullshit, and I’m still here.”

She met his eyes and transfixed him with
an incisive gaze, the darkness in her pupils glittering. “What kind of bullshit
has Bennett had to deal with?”

“Well, for starters….”

“Go on.”

“We’re about to pity fuck. You’re
going to sleep with me because you feel bad for me.”

Adira chuckled. “No, no, no. Let’s not
get this mixed up. I’m doing this for myself, to clean my conscious a little
bit. I’m not a philanthropist.”

“Adira, the sexual philanthropist? Got
a nice ring, I guess.”

She drew back. “There’s a word for
that, ya know. Did you just call me a slut?”

Bennett stuttered, his pulse racing in
a moment of panic. But he wouldn’t be surprised if he failed here, yet again.
“I feel like, I always find a way to fuck it up.”

Adira’s indignation evaporated.
“Relax. See? You’re too uptight. It was a
joke
.”

“It wouldn’t be for some girls.
Ummm, excuse me, did you just call me a
slut?”

Adira giggled. “You have that
impersonation down pretty well? What do you call it?”

“How’s slutty Zeta-Alpha-Omega Pi Kappa
girl work for you?”

“That’s entirely too long for a
sorority name, but I accept.”

Bennett felt his heartbeat pounding,
and he could feel nausea building inside him as the dark eyed girl sat
expectantly next to him. He knew if he waited too long, he would never move. He
leaned in, and she happily reciprocated.