Look Good, Book 2 - Look Out
Look Good, Book 2 - Look Out
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Synopsis
Synopsis
The worst has happened, and now Eddie's and Angel's survival is in question. They only hope to evade their enemies and take refuge in their homeland as the war escalates into the heat of wartime espionage and combat.Though Eddie is the daughter of a prominent businessman and Angel is a key political spy in Intington, their love has only increased their enemies' determination to eliminate them, even if it means murdering government assets to do so.Did they make it?
Sample - Look Out
Sample - Look Out
âI think Angel is the killer.â Karl pointed a finger dramatically in Angelâs direction, while the other rebels sat around in a circle waiting for the accusedâs reaction.Â
Angelâs expression gave nothing away.Â
They were in a large, abandoned barn that mustâve once homed cattle or sheep when the farmers still had the freedom to use their own land as they pleased. Angel and Eddie, the youngsters of the group, had no recollections of driving through the countryside as kids, and viewing herds of cattle munching lazily on grass. By the time they were born, control of livestock had been taken over by the government, the animals moved to enclosed sheds where they were treated like products rather than living creatures.Â
The only heat source in the barn was the tarpaulin sheets bundled in a corner, and bales of hay that the rebels scattered around the floor when they first arrived to take the chill off the cold, damp stone. Leon found an empty metal churn when they arrived and set a contained fire inside it by rubbing dry sticks together to create a spark. Theyâd all watched, bright-eyed and shivering, mesmerized when they saw the first frail wisps of smoke curling up towards the high ceiling. Theyâd crowded around the barrel, warming their fingers which were already turning numb with the cold.Â
It was Angel who rose and wandered around the barn, staring up at the ceiling while the other rebels enjoyed the tingling in their fingertips. Eddie watched him. She recognized the expression on his face, the lowered eyebrows, his mouth twisted to one side in concentration, sniffing like a stray dog scavenging for food.Â
When he finally returned to the flames, he said, âWe canât keep the fire going. Itâs dangerous.â
âItâs contained,â Leon said. âIt wonât spread.â Heâd attended a scout group as a kid, one where they still practiced survivalist skills. That was where heâd learned to set a fire without a match.
Angel shook his head and pointed up at the ceiling. âIt isnât that. The barn is watertight, which is great for keeping us dry. It also means there isnât an outlet for the smoke. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Itâll kill us all eventually.â
Everyone had slowly shifted away from the barrel, holding their breath.
âWe could create a hole,â Angel continued.
âBut then we risk the smoke giving us away.â Leonâs shoulders had slumped as he used water collected from an outside trough and doused the tiny crackling flames that had barely been given life.
After, they shared the tarpaulin sheets and bundles of hay between them, devising a way of cocooning themselves inside the sheet and stuffing hay around their legs and torsos, the way past generations mightâve stuffed a turkey or chicken with herby sausage meat for a roast dinner. There was more hay on the upper mezzanine level which could be reached by climbing a rickety wooden ladder. Up there, the barn smelled sweeter, untouched by any animals that were once kept inside the barn, and the rebels adapted this as their sleeping quarters, assigning themselves a spot, and creating a lumpy mattress of dried grass to lay on.Â
Angel and Eddie slept huddled together for warmth. Eddie would never have thought it possible that she could sleep with someoneâs arms wrapped around her. At home, she had a king-sized bed all to herself, and always slept in the middle, her hair fanned across the pillows, limbs taking up as much or as little space as she wanted. Now, she couldnât imagine sleeping alone. Angel had his own inner furnace going on, and she found that if she slept with her head buried against his chest, and her hands clasped together under her chin, the only part of her that remained cold was her toes.Â
This morning was the coldest since they arrived. Eddie awoke shivering, despite Angelâs arms around her, and for the first time since joining the rebels, she missed her home comforts. She missed waking up, walking downstairs to the kitchen in her short pajamas, and helping herself to a freshly brewed coffee with brown sugar and cream. She could taste it now. Maybe she felt colder because she was hungryâsomething else sheâd never experienced in her privileged life. Her hands trembled when she rubbed them together for warmth. She barely had the energy to walk outside to pee. So, when Karl removed a pack of cards from the back pocket of his jeans and suggested they play a game, sheâd agreed halfheartedly.
The game had at least distracted them from their current situation. Karl had taught them all how to play the card games he remembered his grandparents teaching him as a kid. Rummy. Go Fish. Killer Ace. At first, theyâd sat around subdued, taking part to pass the time rather than from any sense of fun. But theyâd quickly gotten the hang of the rules and embraced the games which degenerated into squeals of excitement whenever someone won for the first time, accusations of cheating followed by loud laughter when some people lost, and wide smiles. The games brought them closer. Everyone joined in, including Valeria whoâd been hesitant at first, preferring to keep herself apart from the others, lost in thought.
Now, Angelâs gaze roamed the group, and he flipped over his card to reveal the killer ace. âIt was me,â he said.Â
âI thought it was Valeria,â Eddie said.Â
The aim of the game was that the âkillerââthe person dealt the ace of spadesâhad to wink at someone without anyone else in the group noticing. Whoever was on the receiving end of the wink was killed, and out of the game. Eddie hadnât managed to guess the correct killer once yet.
âWhy did you think it was me?â Valeria asked.
âItâs the twitch in your left eye,â Karl said, grinning.Â
âI donât have a twitch in my left eye.â Valeria pulled a strange face trying to keep her left eye wide open while everyone stared at her, waiting for a glimpse of movement.
âThere it is!â Karl said. âBam! Thatâs why the rest of you were confused, and I snuck in with my correct identification. Iâm too good at this.â
Everyone laughed as Karl gathered the cards into a pile ready for the next game.
A loose board in the door to the barn moved aside then, and Laurence slipped sideways through the gap, his backpack over one shoulder. âI found breakfast,â he said, shrugging the bag onto the floor in the middle of the circle.Â
Leon was closest. He unzipped the bag and began removing food which he set in a small pile on the floor. There was half a loaf of brown bread. A packet of sliced salami, the meat curling at the edges. A jar of strawberry jelly, still a third full. A packet of broken biscuits. Tiny balls of mild cheese, the kind a child might eat straight from the wrapper. Two bottles of flat Diet Coke that didnât fizz when Karl tried the lids. A packet of tomatoes. An unopened pack of Jell-O.Â
Leon hesitated with his fingers wrapped around the item at the bottom of the bag. âIs this what I think it is?â
âWhat is it?â Eddie blurted out. She was so hungry that the little stash of food already resembled the grandest feast sheâd ever seen, but she stared at the opening of the bag, itching to find out what was in the bottom.
âShow them.â Laurence grinned. He adopted his usual stance, feet spread wide, hands on his hips, but Eddie noticed the way he winced as he moved his right arm.Â
âTa-dah!â Leon pulled out a box of chocolates still wrapped in cellophane. âWhere did you find this?â he asked.
âYouâll be surprised what people leave in their trash in the posh suburbs.â Laurence shrugged.Â
He and Leon had explored the woods a couple of days earlier, searching for food. Theyâd returned with nothing but some containers theyâd filled with water from the spring, but Laurence had explained that, if they followed the spring, the woods backed onto the town, the massive houses guarded by high walls.Â
Theyâd debated, as a group, electing a couple of them to go into town to find food, but the majority had voted against it. The citizens of Anslo were unsettled. If they were recognized as rebels, someone would be sure to turn them into the authorities simply to save their own lives.Â
âYou went to the town?â Valeriaâs tone was accusing. âWhy would you do that? What was the point of calling a vote if youâre going to do whatever the hell you want anyway?âÂ
âI know. Iâm sorry.â Laurence raised his hands in mock surrender. âWeâre starving. We need to eat, or we may as well give up right now and turn ourselves in.â
âWe find food together. Thatâs what we all decided.âÂ
Valeria was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring up at their leader. Sheâd been quiet since the day they watched Antonâs execution on the laptop in the farmhouse where theyâd been hiding. His death had hit them all hard, but it seemed to have affected her the most. She hadnât questioned Laurence stepping into Antonâs shoesâhe was Antonâs appointed deputy, and as such expected to take the leaderâs place should anything go wrongâbut neither did she show him the same level of respect that sheâd had for Anton.Â
âI ⌠wanted to help,â Laurence said. âIâm supposed to be taking care of you all. Iâm not going to sit back and watch you all waste away in front of my eyes and do nothing about it.â
Valeria stared at him, refusing to acknowledge the breakfast piled up in the center of the ring theyâd formed while they were playing. She was the first to break eye contact. âWarn us next time,â she muttered. âWhat if you didnât come back?â
âI will.â
Leon raised the box of chocolates to his nose and inhaled. âHmmm ⌠chocolate mixed with rotten potatoesâmy favorite. Did you find this in a trashcan?âÂ
âWhere else would you find an unwanted box of chocolates?â Laurence sat in the space that Eddie had created for him by budging closer to Angel.
âA whole box though?â Eddie shook her head. âWhy?â
âLoverâs tiff,â Karl said. âA man does something wrong, he buys chocolate and flowers, and his woman refuses to eat them because that would be letting him off the hook way too easily.â
âIâm not complaining,â Eddie said. âI would kill for this right now.â
âLucky for us you donât have to.â Leon put the box down and divided the rest of the food into portions, spreading jam on slices of bread with his fingers. âWeâll save the chocolate for dessert. One each now. The rest later when weâre crashing after the sugar rush.â
They were quiet while they ate, savoring the food. Eddie nibbled her slice of bread, starting with the crusts, chewing each mouthful for as long as she could without swallowing and saving the squidgy jelly part in the middle for last.Â
âI canât believe you found all this food,â she said eventually, licking her sticky fingers.
Laurence shrugged. âIâm a pro. When youâre desperate, youâll sniff food out a mile away.â
Since theyâd been lying low in the barn, theyâd had time on their hands. It was inevitable that theyâd all begun to talk about their previous lives before they joined the Defenders, and Eddie was fascinated by their stories. So, she wasnât afraid to ask Laurence now, how heâd become a pro at scavenging for food in other peopleâs trash.
âI left home at fifteen,â he said. âMy dad ⌠he got killed. Freak accident in the factory where he worked. My mom didnât cope too well. My older sisters had already left home, got married, had kids of their own. There was only me and my mom at home, and she realized I reminded her too much of him, so she started staring into the bottom of a bottle instead. She met a guy. Moved him in a week later. I think it was three weeks before I noticed the first bruise on her cheek.â
Eddie tried to picture fifteen-year-old Leon finding out that his mom was in a toxic relationship. She didnât know how she would react in the same scenario. Would she stand up to the man beating her mom or would she run away, take her chances elsewhere? How could anyone call it unless itâd happened to them?
âI called the cops.â Laurence stared up at the ceiling. Remembering. âYou know what she did? She told them she walked into a door.â
âAnd they believed her?â Eddie asked.
âThey had no choice. You canât force someone to tell the truth. Same as you canât convince someone to leave a man whoâs eventually going to destroy them, if destruction is the way out that theyâre looking for.â
Eddie wanted to wrap her arms around him and give him a hug, but she didnât want to embarrass him in front of the group.
âSo, I stuffed some clothes into my school bag one morning and walked out.â
âDid you ever go back?â Valeria asked.Â
âNope. She didnât come looking for me, and I didnât wait around to be found. I was sixteen when I met Anton, and the rest is history.â He popped a soft-centered caramel chocolate into his mouth and closed his eyes.
What are Cozy Apocalypse Books?
- No gratuitous violence or sex scenes
- No foul language
- No weaponry lists or zombie gore
Main Tropes
- Survival After the Fall
- Forming New Family Bonds
- Thriving After the End