Book 1: At the Edge of Misery
Cristine Daya Gerrard, a young residency doctor in the apocalypse must mend the pieces with her broken and estranged family, while fighting for her place in a community that doesn't accept her. One man in particular doe...
Breakfast left a bad aftertaste in her mouth but Cristine's felt liberated after her confession. The guilt that sat on her chest and inside her brain lessened in weight. What she had done, she could not undo. but that didn't occupy her thoughts as much as her father's adamant behavior that she give everyone here a fair chance.
Good people that were only defending what's theirs from others. Cristine wasn't so sure if her old man was gullible or simply ignored the people's mindset here. The latter reason was more plausible and Cristine felt uncomfortable.
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Was her father always a closeted bigot?
Thinking back, he never talked about his life before her, her mother or San Francisco. But seeing this place, the respect people gave him as a so called founder of Broke Jaw Ranch, she understood.
"This is just great." Cristine muttered to herself and head towards the community gardens to help with harvesting the field's produce.
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"Hey sis." Cristine was so focused on her work, she hadn't noticed Hailey dropping side by side on her knees. She was dressed in a comfortable red checkered shirt, loose khaki pants and had her hair tied back into a ponytail.
"Hey." Cristine greeted her younger sister and dabbed some of the sweat from her brow. She hadn't talked to Hailey since she was shot in the leg. Her sibling either avoided her out of shame or wanted to give her space.
Flickering blue eyes briefly rested on the single crutch on the ground and then at the plucked beans inside the basket. "Looks like we're both on field duty today." Hailey smiled genuinely before she scooted closer to her sister and was amazed at the amount she'd harvested.
"Looks like it." Cristine's answer was mellow and difficult for the younger Gerrard sister to pinpoint whether her older sibling was angry or not. After a bout of silence, Hailey quietly joined her sister with the arduous task of plucking the beans.
The sisters worked in utter silence and were fully concentrated on their day's work. At first, Hailey wasn't as put off by the lack of idle conversation. But then she noticed the occasional person pass by with a curious then frowning stare directed at her and her sister. Her pink lips twisted into a frown and her face flushed red from the growing heat inside her chest.
"Don't make a scene." Started by the calm order, Hailey's head snapped in the direction of her sister. Dark brown irises meet argent blue and just as Hailey wanted to argue with her, Cristine said.
"It's not worth it. I rather not get shot at because of your impulsive reactions." The lack of silence should have been clear to Hailey. It wasn't natural that her own sister responded so mildly to her presence. Of course she was angry and the fact that Hailey hadn't even dropped by to see how her older sister faired or apologize, made it apparent that Cristine was over her entitled and spoiled attitude.
The relationship between them weakened ever since Cristine indefinitely moved after she graduated from college. Hailey didn't have the chance to start, since her mother and father wanted to move to Broke Jaw Ranch. That was a good thing, thinking back now, with the world as it was. But that decision had been another crack between the estranged sisterhood.
