Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime.” Harris extends his arms as if to embrace new friends. “We have so much to learn from these people. UW Command has no idea they exist!”

“What about Eden?” Granger frowns.

“It’s not going anywhere.” Harris smiles broadly.

“Neither are you,” I seethe. “Get back here, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

“Such a violent lot.” Vincent shakes his head. He must have read my lips. “It’s no wonder you think your man is dead. Violence breeds only more violence.”

“Let us be on our way, and there will be no trouble. You have my word.” I nod. So does Granger.

Markus crosses his brawny arms. “And what good is the word of a United World soldier? Your people destroyed this continent—not to mention the rest of the world.”

Vincent pats him on the shoulder. “We’re wasting time here. Lady Victoria says Cain grows impatient. We are to act now.”

“No communications equipment, yet they receive orders from their superiors in real-time...” Harris muses aloud.

“Fire at the first one to make a move,” I order on comms.

Sinclair and Granger respond with curt nods, their rifles checked and at the ready.

Markus raises an eyebrow. “Get ready to dodge a few bullets, men!”

The circle of superhumans releases a chorus of wild shouts as Markus dashes forward, blurring out of focus with incredible speed. My gun is wrenched aside, but I hold on tight and squeeze off every round until the clip empties. Spurts of blood drift through the air; I know my shots found targets, but with the indistinct haze of motion all around me, I can’t be certain who I hit.

Assault rifles briefly spit fire on my right and left, courtesy of Sinclair and Granger before they’re disarmed and thrown to the ground.

The next thing I know, I’m on my back as well, pinned to the sand.

“Damn it!” Granger lashes out against the two superhumans who restrain him.

So he’s fine.

“Sinclair, report.”

“I’m here, Sergeant. We’re all right.”

“No thanks to you!” Harris is disgruntled. No surprise there. “Let me up, please. I am no threat. None of us are, now that you have disarmed us so spectacularly.” He does his best to placate our captors. “It was a wonder to behold, in point of fact. To see you move like that!”

Vincent no longer smiles. He holds a polished machete that gleams in the moonlight. “Get them out of those suits.”

Harris’s obsequious tone takes an about-face. “Hold on now—don’t be hasty. You have already subdued us. There is no conceivable way we would pose a problem for you, so there is no need to remove our suits. They are for our protection, you see. We are from a domed city on the Mediterranean Sea, and we breathe only air that has been purified—”

“Your suits are heavy.” Markus shrugs. “They’ll slow us down.”

“Does your Lord Cain want us brought back to him dead or alive?” Harris demands.

“He wasn’t too specific on that point,” Vincent admits, smirking at the stunned look on the doctor’s face. “Go on.” He gestures to his men. “Open them up.”

We thrash wildly, doing all we can to delay the inevitable.

“Sergeant!” Harris shrieks.

“Turbo!” Granger screams, a last-ditch attempt. “Force! Power! Thrust!”

I take a different tack. Despite my cumbersome suit, I jab a hand between the arms that restrain me and seize the hilt of a superhuman’s blade. Slipping it free of its sheath, I proceed to slice and hack away at every superhuman body part in range, aiming first for the hands that try to dislodge my helmet clamps. Blood sprays across my face shield, combining with the fog from my breath to make me just about as blind as I was after my crash-landing.

“Subdue him!” Markus roars over the screams of his men, a chorus of pain that intensifies as both Granger and Sinclair follow my lead, snatching blades and going to work. “Subdue them all!”

Shots ring out, fired into the air. I gain a little breathing room and wipe at my face shield with one gloved hand while swinging the blade in violent arcs with the other. I meet no resistance. The superhumans are wisely keeping their distance now.

Between the streaks on my face shield, I see the one named Vincent advancing on Sinclair from behind. I lunge forward with all the strength I can muster to intercept, my blood-stained blade at the ready.

“No!” Harris cries.

Vincent plunges his machete into the gap behind Sinclair’s left knee and quickly withdraws his weapon, leaving her leg to buckle. Too stunned to utter more than a harsh gasp, she topples to the sand, clutching at the blood flow with her gloved hands.

“Tell your people to lay down their weapons,” Vincent says.

“I’m unarmed!” Harris makes it known, throwing up both his hands.

I glance down at Sinclair as she struggles awkwardly to stop the bleeding. I point at Harris. “Take his suit off first.”

The good doctor turns a slack-jawed face toward me.

“You can be our guinea pig, Doc. If the air checks out, we’ve got nothing to be afraid of.” I lower my blade and look at Granger. “Tell them.”

He nods and repeats everything I said.

Markus scowls. “You will stop resisting us, or we will forcibly pacify you—as we have already done with your woman.”

Despite her wound, Sinclair is visibly chafed at being referred to that way.

“Pacify my ass,” Granger snarls, his own bloody blade gripped tight. “You want to dance? Let’s dance!”

Vincent smirks. “You wouldn’t survive my first strike.”

“Let’s all take a deep breath here and settle things like reasonable human beings—and highly evolved human beings.” Harris steps between them. The superhumans maintain a tight perimeter, ignoring the lacerations they received, now blossoming in wet patches under the moonlight. “It’s clear we are not getting anywhere like this, so why don’t I make a proposition?” He pauses, waiting for an invitation from the superhumans to continue.

“You waste your breath, old man,” Markus says. “Lord Cain has spoken, and we follow his command.” He gestures to his men, and they move