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

I clench my jaw. I neglected to take into account the blades the kid has strapped on under his cloak.

“Stopping here wasn’t my idea.” I glance at Margo, whose eyes haven’t left the first sentry. Not the welcome any of us was expecting. But if they don’t want us, fine. “We’re late for our rendezvous with Eden anyway.”

“I won’t go back,” Margo murmurs.

“Perhaps we’ve arrived at a bad time,” Harris calls out with a twitchy smile, nodding and attempting to bow for some reason. “We’ll just be on our way, then. Sorry to bother you—”

The first sentry chuckles. “You’re not going anywhere. Not until Luther has a word with you.”

The woman with the sniper rifle steps off the ledge and drops fifty meters to the gravel below like it’s only a meter-long jump. She lands in an easy crouch, the laser sight on my chest expanding in diameter with her proximity.

“Follow me,” she says with a self-satisfied smirk, turning to lead the way up the mountain on the east side of the cliff. “Those who can, anyway.”

“Go on, Captain.” Granger nods after her. “We’ll be fine here. It’s you this Luther fellow wants to talk with, anyhow.”

I frown, turning to face Sinclair. I don’t like the idea of leaving them behind, but there’s no way either of them will be able to make the climb in their condition.

“He’s right,” she says. “We would only slow you down. The sooner you meet with this man, the sooner we can be on our way.”

“Without our chauffeur?” Harris retorts. “You heard her. She won’t return to Eden. Face it. We’re not going anywhere. This mission is a complete failure.”

Images of my family flash before my eyes yet again. I clench my fists. The mission has to be a success, and I have to return home. There’s no other option.

“We’re not through, not by a long shot. You got me?” I look each member of my team in the eye, even though Harris is the only one who can hear me, now that Sinclair’s helmet battery died. I gesture at the driver’s seat. “Tell Granger to figure out how to drive this thing.”

The good doctor reluctantly relays the message.

“How hard can it be?” The engineer shrugs with a grin. “Consider it done.”

“Good. And you—” I knock on the doctor’s chest plate. “Make sure those two are healing up all right. I’m not losing anybody else on this mission.”

Harris looks relieved that he won’t be expected to climb the mountain. “We will wait for you here, Sergeant.”

I stare him down—it’s becoming a habit. Then I turn to Margo, who will be acting as my translator of sorts. “Ready?”

She nods and glances at Lemuel.

“What about him?” I note the kid’s hesitation.

Her reply worms its way into my head: He has nowhere else to go.

Putting a brave face on the situation, Lemuel starts up the hillside after the sentry.

“See you soon, Captain.” Granger salutes. “Just promise me one thing.”

I half-turn awkwardly to face him.

“Bring us back some grub!” He winks. “And don’t go getting yourself sucked into their mutant cave cult. You already have two freaks-in-the-making right here!”

Harris doesn’t look amused. Neither does Sinclair.

“Be careful, Sergeant.” Her gaze drifts to the armed sentries. “We have no idea who we’re dealing with.”

I doubt we have from the start.

If anything, this detour from our mission might provide some answers. I can only hope. I start up the rise, already lagging behind the others. With my suit slowing me down, it becomes immediately apparent that I won’t catch up anytime soon. The other sentries jeer at me with catcalls and incessant comments.

“You afraid what we’ve got is catching, Sarge?”

“You really need to wear that clunker?”

“Don’t you want to be able to read minds like that Edenite with you? Or that kid—hey, show us what you’ve got, kid!”

Lemuel flips them off. I almost grin, sweating as I stumble along under the heat of the morning sun.

“Cool by five degrees,” I give the voice command, but of course my suit refuses to respond. No harm in trying.

“Am I moving too fast for you?” the sentry woman calls down, already more than twenty meters ahead. Margo and Lemuel aren’t far behind her. “You’re not doing the UW proud, Sarge. Aren’t you supposed to be a superior race or something?”

The other sentries guffaw. “That’s what they want us to believe. Keeping us quarantined like animals in some kind of Preserve,” says the first one. “Why are you people even here? Why’s the UW suddenly interested in us?”

“Luther told us all about it in the assembly,” says one of the others, holding his rifle in a noncommittal posture.

“Wasn’t invited.”

“Oh—right. Cuz of how you welcomed that other Edenite.”

Margo halts in her tracks. “Who was this?”

“Word is he can make himself go invisible whenever he wants.”

“He’s alive...” Margo murmurs.

“Better haul ass if you want to make it to your sweet reunion,” snaps the female sentry. “I see dust rising on the horizon. Cain will be here by midday, daemons permitting.”

“I left those flesh-eaters that invisible guy to munch on, a few days back. Guess his meat was no good.” The first sentry curses. “Now I’m pulling triple shifts. How is that fair?”

“You didn’t have to shoot him,” mutters one of his partners.

“We needed to get those two pods to the Homeplace. I had my priorities straight!”

I glance up at him. His muzzle hasn’t strayed, still trained on me. This man shot one of Margo’s friends and left him at the mercy of those deformed creatures? Is such ruthless behavior representative of Luther’s crew?

“I did what I had to do,” the sentry continues as if he’s trying to convince himself more than anybody else. “That’s what soldiers do. Ain’t that right, Sarge?”

Bits of gravel and ashen shale cascade from my boots as I forge onward. “He’s no soldier. Mercenary, maybe,” I tell Margo.

“How do you know?” she asks.

“He’s got the bearing of a soldier for hire. The way he carries himself and holds