Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Misinterpreting my anger, she said, “You may not like me, but you have a job to do. If I receive a single scratch, it will be your fault, and you’ll pay for it.”
“If you’re good enough to rule the realms, you shouldn’t need a quote, unquote newbie to protect you from scratches.” The words escaped before I pondered the wisdom of them.
Her eyes narrowed, and I knew I’d pay for this insubordination too.
No regrets.
We zoomed and bumped along cracked and weathered roads, our tires skidding on loose gravel, sending up tiny, stinging flecks of dust. The acrid scent of burning rubber and more rot tormented my nostrils. In the distance, hordes of feeders cloaked in thick, greasy smoke noticed us and let out guttural, wheezing shrieks before rushing our way. Their bare feet slapped wetly against the pavement, leaving behind dark, viscous smears.
Tremors settled in my hands when the horde cleared the hazy veil. They were nothing like those we’d fought at Fort Bala. Their eyes, devoid of pupils or irises, shone like crimson, radioactive marbles. Wriggling worms, slick with mucus, protruded from their scalps and noses. Even their eyelashes had been replaced with the writhing parasites. White foam bubbled and popped at the corners of their mouths. Putrid green teeth snapped, and nails sharpened to razor points clicked together, eager to tear into flesh. The stench of bile and decay joined the assault against my senses.
I tried to see these creatures as they once were—people, friends, family—and my heart ached. CURED claimed they were beyond help, but I knew better. The berries contained the cure. But right now, mass numbers of soldiers were doing their best to incinerate the field, the fruit juices sizzling and blackening in the flames.
I clenched my jaw. To CURED, feeders were better off dead than saved. Alive and well, they could reveal the mountain of lies fed to the world.
Our driver executed a swift turn, and thumps rang out. The vehicle bounced, bodies crushed under our tires. I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. The smoke rolled ever closer.
“I’d hate for you to get injured out there, Lady Roosa,” Lolli called over the noise, filling an ammo clip with glowing green bullets. “Whatever you do, stay out of my way.”
I recognized a threat when I heard one. “What are those?” I motioned to the bullets. I’d never seen anything like them.
“An experiment,” she replied with another cold grin, loading and sheathing the gun. “Respond to what I said previously.”
“I will guard your back, and I won’t get in your way.” An easy promise to give since I meant it. Stick to Lolli like glue, Domino? Very well.
“Two minutes out,” the driver hollered. Bounce, bounce, bounce.
The smoke reached us at last. I held my breath as long as possible, the burn in my lungs intensifying fast. Though I snuck an inhalation here and there, I never felt in danger of passing out, so, win.
I cobbled together a plan to help any fellow Soalians who succumbed to the sedative. My only play? Accidentally-on-purpose disrupt Lolli’s aim if she took a shot at them, then hobble any feeders who approached.
I would look incompetent, but honestly, I no longer cared.
“One minute.”
Lolli unhooked a whip from a metal loop at her waist and extracted a sword anchored to her back. Her armor, like mine, glowed in the dark thanks to a dusting of pritis stone powder, allowing fellow soldiers to more easily spot us in the gloom while repelling feeders. The emblem on her jacket proved brightest.
I counted down the seconds inside my head, my tremors worsening. The same sensation I’d encountered during the last attack gathered in the center of my chest, readying to flare. A heat that had nothing to do with the fires and everything to do with my glow. This time, I would let it happen, certain no one would notice.
“Thirty seconds.”
Eight minutes until Domino’s reinforcements arrived.
The men lurched from their seats, grabbed a large wooden box, and crouched at the edge of the vehicle, one in front of the other. Lolli got in line without a box, and I did the same.
“Five. Four. Three.”
I braced. The truck ground to a screeching, spinning halt, and the soldiers poured out. I stuck to the princess’s heels, springing into a thicker veil of smoke, which I inhaled, because I couldn’t not. And yet, still nothing bad happened. We raced forward without problem, dodging carnival rides I’d only ever seen in holograms and history books, skirting walls of flickering flames, bypassing soldiers and feeders: those engaged in combat and those who’d already fallen, all highlighted by bright beams spilling from a plethora of pritis poles.
Feeders mobbed a trio of soldiers who wobbled on their feet, doing their best to not pass out. A red-robed guy whose skin possessed a soft, golden radiance appeared unaffected by the smoke as he sliced and diced the feeders who focused on the threesome.