Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) by Trisha Leazier Page A

and sat down at the table. He looked at Sawyer and me.
    “I’m guessing you all know my
name how bout you tell me yours.” Aaron said and smiled at me.
    “Well we got Daisy with the
green hair. Axel is right next to her.” I told him nodding in their direction.
“Angela is holding her brother Thomas. Tone you patched up, Sydney is the woman
standing by the doorway, and Sam.”
    Aaron nodded and ate the food
Sydney put down in front of him. He was like an animal deciding what he thought
of us and how he should react. He seemed to calm down a bit when Sam took the
wheel and started driving the bus.
    Tone was asleep in the
passenger seat next to him. I think he thought we were going to leave him out
there to fend for himself. I don’t think Sam could have done that. Even if
Aaron had been involved with what his brother was doing and not just a
bystander.
    “How do you know the girls?”
Sydney asked him.
    “They were friends with my
sister Emily. I used to give them rides everywhere they wanted.” Aaron
answered.
    “You got a last name?” Sydney
asked him after he had cleared his plate.
    “Yeah, Pierce.” Aaron answered.
    “That sounds familiar. You ever
spend time in the drunk tank?” Sydney asked him.
    “No, I didn’t but Wayne was a
regular there.” Aaron answered, a shadow of pain running across his eyes.
    “I’m sorry about your brother,
we didn’t plan to hurt any of you, but he shot my partner, I reacted.” Sydney
told him.
    “I think the shock is wearing
off a bit. You have to understand, it’s not like we were buds, it was mostly he
said jump, I asked how high to avoid a beating.” Aaron admitted.
    Aaron sat at the dining room
table as the bus rumbled down the road. He seemed to be taking in his
surroundings and adapting to the new turns that had been taken.
    “Ashlyn?” He asked.
    “Yeah?” I responded.
    “I see Battleship over there.
Want to play?” he asked me and I grabbed the game. We set up on the table and
started to play.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Aaron slept on the couch and was up
before any of us, making breakfast. The smell woke me and I followed my nose
out to the kitchen and sat at the dining room table watching Aaron. He had
shrimp cooking in a skillet as he chopped up mini sweet peppers. He had
supplies sitting on the counter next to him. He had a bottle of Ranch, a bottle
of Tabasco sauce, bacon, eggs, and shredded mozzarella cheese.
    “Good morning.” He greeted me
as I watched him.
    “Morning, what are you making?”
I asked him, watching as he cracked eggs open and poured them into another
skillet.
    “I’m making Cajun eggs and
bacon. It’s a thank you for letting me stay with you guys.” Aaron answered as
he started to mix in the mozzarella, and the mini peppers into the skillet with
the eggs.
    After stirring he added in the
shrimp, some ranch, and some tabasco sauce then he covered the skillet. He
threw the bacon on to the skillet he’d used for the shrimp.
    “It smells great.” I told him
as Sawyer, Daisy, and Sydney joined us in the kitchen.
    “I’ll say it does.” Sydney
agreed.
    “It’s nothing. I just want to
be useful.” Aaron answered.
    “What if you don’t like spicy
stuff?” Axel asked from behind Sydney. Angela and Thomas were standing with him
as he eyeballed the tabasco sauce.
    “Don’t you worry; I didn’t add
enough in to make it spicy. Put in just enough to give it the flavor.” Aaron
answered as he started dishing out plates to everyone before getting his own
plate.
    He even brought Sam and Tone
plates to the front of the bus. No one spoke much as they ate which says a lot
about what everyone thought of Aaron’s cooking. He was right that the eggs were
not spicy at all but had all the flavor of being so.
    Sydney cleaned up the kitchen
when everyone was done eating. Aaron sat down on the living room floor to play
Life with Axel and Angela while Thomas watched. Sam had decided to take the
wheel since he wanted to get a move on. We