Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

he stumbled into the wall. His legs went weak and he slid down the wall; a line of blood from his shoulder wound streaked down with him. He took a few breaths. His eyes wanted to close. His mind raced. He needed to keep his eyelids open. If he closed them, he’d be toast. He knew that. “I can sleep when I’m dead.” He blinked several times and touched his shoulder. It was listless and numb.

Andrea bull-rushed the guard, knocking the phaser out of his hand. “You idiot.”

The guard pushed her away, then tapped his ear a few times. “We need assistance and now.” He looked at Andrea. “I was protecting us. That’s my job.” He crossed his arms, glaring at Drew. “More guards are on their way. So don’t think about making another move.”

“Drew?” called Megan.

Drew felt the life force seeping out of the wound in his shoulder. The ache in his shoulder was growing. Lethargy crept from the wound down into his chest. He coughed. “Yeah?”

“You’re alive.” There was a sense of relief in her voice.

For a moment, Drew lightened up. Someone in the room cared about him, and that it was someone as pretty as her was a plus. She didn’t move, though. Didn’t run to him like she had with Carl. That wasn’t such a plus.

Drew rested his head on the wall, and shook it back and forth. “Megan, go downstairs until they leave. Lock the door. Patch yourself up.”

“Do as he says,” Andrea chimed in. “Don’t die on account of someone you don’t know.”

The bar door opened and in walked a handful of guards— Andrea’s guards.

“Grab our target, and let’s jet out of here,” said Andrea. She gestured to another guard. “And you, don’t let that young woman come any closer. She’s not an asset.”

A guard grabbed Drew by the collar and twisted, bunching up his shirt. He leaned back and pulled Drew to his feet.

A sudden waive of dizziness overtook Drew and he fell into the man like a drunk.

“Grab Drew’s feet,” said the guard corralling Drew. Someone gripped Drew’s feet and lifted him. The other guard shifted his hands under Drew’s arms.

Drew yelped in pain and squeezed his eyes shut. His shoulder and arm were on fire, and every few seconds a knife-like sensation pierced his chest. This being shot “thing” felt like shit. He considered asking Megan to throw Carl’s dime bag at him so he could smoke a joint to soothe the pain, but before he could form the words, the front door opened and they hurried him outside.

It was dusk, and quiet. No alarms. No bombings. No sound except the shields, which buzzed like an incessant and insistent bee.

Andrea put her hand on Drew’s stomach, and through the lethargic fog taking over his body, he peered up at the brunette doctor. “Where are you taking me?”

“Home, Drew. We’re taking you home.”

“Charlotte?”

She shook her head, sympathy in her eyes. There was more to home than she was saying.

“Where is home?” Drew asked, his head bouncing up and down from the guards’ movement.

“To our ship, then to Callisto.”

Callisto? “The moon?” Slade was on Callisto—his bullshit, shitty-ass father.

He closed his eyes, hoping this was a nightmare, but opened them again almost immediately. He knew he couldn’t wish this away no matter how hard he tried. He had to stay awake in order to stay alive.

They turned down an alleyway and headed for a massive park near the center of the city. “Your ship’s in there?”

“We landed in the park. Yes.”

“How did you get past the shield?”

“A friend of a friend.”

A friend of a friend? What did that mean? He thought for a moment, and in his tired state, remembered a time when a portion of the shield was down for maintenance. It happened right in front of his eyes. A soldier turned off a shield battery in order to, quote unquote, fix a portion of the shield. Did they get through at that very moment?

No shit, Sherlock.

Boots clacked on metal and Drew looked around. He was being carried up a ramp and into a nice-sized ship of some type.

“Andrea, what—” Drew stopped, seeing that she was no longer by his side.

The guards set him down on a cot, then buckled him down, strapping a restraint over his chest, waist, and legs. They pulled tightly, then walked away.

“Where are you taking me?” Drew turned his head, seeing several young children also strapped on cots. They were asleep. But why were children strapped and asleep in the first place? Did their parents know their children were in here? Or, were these the guards’ kids? Two plus two was becoming five. These puzzle pieces weren’t fitting together.

“Hey, Andrea,” called Drew, screaming at the top of his lungs, then gasping in pain from his throbbing shoulder. “What is going on?”

“Drew?”

It was a young girl’s voice.

Drew lifted his head. “Yeah?” What child in Whitefish, Montana could possibly know his name? There was only one. Dear God, don’t let them have her.

All the kids he could see were still fast asleep.

“Drew, over here.”

Drew looked back toward the door, eyeing a shadow at the base of the ramp. The shadow stepped forward, coming into the light.

It was Mya. She had a strange violet halo around her. She smiled and dipped her head. “Don’t be afraid, Drew. Never be afraid.”

23

J-Quadrant, Solar System - East Rise, Callisto

Kelhoon guards burst into the room, their rifle butts pressed against the crease of their pec and shoulder, aiming at Jaxx, ready to pull the trigger.

“You tricked me.” Okbak crossed his arms, eyeing Jaxx. “I don’t like to be tricked.”

Taz smiled, his brown-stained teeth displayed against the blue tinge of light coming off of the energy bars. “Oh, how I would love to watch you die. Very slow and methodical. But I’m not here to kill you. I have other plans for you. The pyramid network runs through you, Jaxx. And,” he shot a look at Okbak, “our mind control tech is much better