Read Break of the Six (The Preston Six Book 4) for Free Online

as everyone treated her.
    Adjusting the black suit Zach had made for her, she checked her hair and makeup in a small compact mirror. It had been done prior to arriving and she wished she felt as confident as she looked. The whole world would be watching this soon.
    One of the armed men moved up to the helicopter door. “All clear, Miss Samantha.”
    “You’re not going to stop with that, are you?”
    “No, ma’am.”
    It looked like she was going to have to suck it up and get used to it. The man helped her down the small steps. Her black heels stepped onto the dirt and at once she felt a connection to Preston. The playground behind the school, the dirt track they ran miles on. She saw the window to Mrs. Nires class and looked away. I’m not here for memories. She was here to save her hometown and prove to the world Zach’s cure worked. She knew it did already, they tested it on numerous people at headquarters, but the proof would be in the showing.
    Samantha walked toward the podium her people were setting up. A few of the Preston folk had already started gathering and more were coming from around the school parking lot. She tried to maintain a confident walk just like her preppers taught her. Head up, shoulders back, she looked ahead, just hoping she didn’t trip.
    Keeping her eyes on the podium, she slowed her walk. The last thing she wanted was to stand by while they finished building it. Instead, she timed her walk just right and arrived at the edge of the parking lot just as they finished setting it up. A large background was now up and displaying the ZRB logo for the company.
    Standing on the stool behind the podium, Samantha watched over the people gathering around. Two cameramen they’d brought along pointed their cameras on her. She swallowed and took in the faces gathering around. She didn’t see any of the Six or their parents. In fact, it didn’t seem like enough people for the arrival they had. She gazed down at the gym across the parking lot. A mob of people appeared to be storming into the gym.
    “What’s going on?” Samantha asked a lady standing near the podium.
    “Oh, some fool started a rumor that they had a cure in there. Please.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Wait, don’t I know you?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “What ya’ll doing here, dustin’ up the place?” An agitated man asked.
    “Yeah, and who’s ZRB?” Another man said.
    Gunfire sounded, two distinct shots from inside the gym. The armed men around her gripped their guns and spread out in formation between her and the crowd. They pushed back a few people. She felt the deep nerves coming back. If someone was in danger, or killing people, they needed to stop it. She stepped off the stool and strutted toward the gym, Hank was probably in there.
    “We can’t go into that mob, Miss Samantha.” The man stood in front of her, shielding her and also stopping her from moving forward.
    She walked around him.
    “No,” the man said and rushed back around to face her. “I am under strict orders to have you safely returned. If you think this isn’t the place to receive the first package, we have another town assigned.”
    Samantha stopped. Zach had ordered them to protect her, it was sweet but unnecessary. She gritted her teeth and watched the mob around the gym flooding out. Even with only a handful of people still lurking around her podium, it didn’t matter, it was as much for them as for the rest of the world. Once they heard what she was going to say, they’d be running to her.
    She shuffled a few blank pieces of paper on the podium and stared at the cameras pointing at her. “I’m here to report great news. Through a vast amount of effort and research, ZRB has produced a miracle—a cure for the cough and a vaccine for the unaffected.”
    The crowd around her stirred in excitement.
    “Then where is it? I’ve got a wife dying over here.”
    “We have it right here.” Samantha pointed to the nurses