The Survivors of Bastion (Fall of Earth Book 1) by Will Hawthorne Page A

have put together,’ I started. ‘If we could give them a round of applause, that would be lovely.’
                  Thunderous, unanimous applause broke out amongst the community, while Sam and Laz’s faces took on a brighter shade of red than the one usually brought on by the heat in the Kitchen.
                  I looked out over the faces as they turned back to me – Henrietta, Leah, Carl, Rudy, Marcus, Maria, Hayley, and everybody else.
                  ‘I’ll keep this short, because I know you all want to get stuck in,’ I continued. ‘There’s only so many times that I can say the same thing a different way, but thank you to everyone for keeping this place running. People often have a way letting things get worse and worse until it’s too late, but as a community I think that we embody the opposite of that. Despite the old world running by that mantra, every single one of you works hard every day to keep each other warm, fed, comfortable and alive. So, thank you to each and every one of you. To Bastion. Cheers!’
                  A resounding cheers broke out, followed by an actual cheer and the indulgent digging in of everybody to the food. For a few moments I stood there, admiring the sight of civilisation before me.
                  I traced my eyes amongst the rows of people, eventually seeing Carl sat in his seat. I tried to catch his eye to see if he was all right, because he hadn’t even begun to make a start on any food. For the third time that day I followed his line of sight to the point where he kept occasionally glancing over, and saw that he was looking over at Maria and Marcus.
                  Maybe it was because of what the two of us had been through that morning, or maybe it was because of the fact that he just wanted to go for it, but after about ten or fifteen seconds of watching him, he stood up, walked all the way to the other end of the table before rounding to the other side, stepped up to Marcus and tapped him on the shoulder.
                  Carl was of sound mind, but in that moment I had no idea what the fuck he was going to do. My heart was pounding in my chest, when-
                  Marcus turned, and Carl stuck out his hand. Marcus looked him up and down, smiled, and returned the handshake. They spoke and laughed for a few minutes before Marcus invited him to sit with them.
                  I couldn’t help but smile once again. All was well as I looked out over what we had built together… before I realised something.
                  Robbie wasn’t there.
                  I dashed down towards Henrietta, who was already dishing up a plate of food.
                  ‘Mom. Where’s Robbie?’
                  ‘He’s still on guard duty. Got another hour on his shift.’
                  Damn it. I had completely forgotten about that. Aside from him, there were another three out there, missing out on the festivities. Problem was that we still needed somebody on lookout.
                  ‘Here,’ Henrietta said, handing me a plate. ‘Take that to your brother. I’ll get some of the others to take food to the other posts.’
                  She didn’t need to tell me. I took up the plate, grabbing up a few extra strips of veal and vegetables before heading off to the lookout post. The streets were as quiet as they had been that morning when Carl and I had gone wandering through them, and when I reached Robbie he was stood dutifully at his post, looking out over the fields.
                  ‘Hey!’ I shouted up to him, and he turned his head.
                  ‘Hey yourself. Can’t believe I’ve got guard duty while you throw the best feast this town has had in ages.’
                  ‘Come on down,’ I said. He did a double-take, looking at