The Lofties (The Echelon Book 2) by Ramona Finn (no david read aloud .txt) 📕

coming from me. It wasn’t anger at all, but something foreign, intrusive, a trespasser in my head. My ears rang and crackled, and I jumped back with a cry. Lock steadied me, shouting through a mouthful of static, but I could feel it, that compass-tug, jerking me to the west.

“It’s back, that signal. That feeling from the lab.”

“What?”

I spun toward it, and I saw it, a glint from the creek bed. A figure rose, then another, scrambling up the bank—two Decemites hurtling toward us, blasters drawn.

“Get back.” I struck out at Lock, urging him behind me. He strode forward instead, palms up in supplication.

“Hey—hey. You’re Jay, right? And that’s Cara with you? It’s us, Lock and Myla.”

The Decemites exchanged glances. “We’re just the advance team,” called Cara. “The rest of our squad’s on the way.”

Lock laughed. “To do what? You gonna shoot us?”

“If we have to. We know you’re traitors.” The Decemites spread out, moving to outflank us. I ground my teeth as they closed in, shook my head to clear the static. It blared louder instead, blunting all my senses. Lock’s heel bumped mine as we shifted into a defensive position, back to back.

“Lazrad wants us alive,” I said. “How do you think that’ll play, you bringing back our bodies?”

“Better than you bringing back ours.” Cara kept coming, but I saw how her shoulders tensed, how her grip tightened on her blaster. I nudged Lock in the elbow, lowered my voice to a murmur.

“We should take them down now, before their backup shows up.”

Lock didn’t answer. I realized he was shivering, trembling in the desert heat.

“Lock?”

An engine roared and backfired, past the ridge and getting closer. Cara charged and I reacted, elbowing Lock in the kidney. He went down without a sound. A bolt tore through my shoulder, where his heart had been a moment before. I bent almost double and bulled headfirst into Cara, knocking the breath from her body and the blaster from her hand. Jay fired again, missed, and I flung myself flat on my belly.

“Lock! Get inside.” I scrambled toward him. He wasn’t moving, face down in the sand. My heart stuttered in my chest. “Lock.”

Behind me, Cara stirred. I whirled on her, snarling. She went for her blaster, but I got there first. The static cleared as I dove for it, and I cried out in triumph. I snatched up my prize, and I smashed her across the jaw with it. The stock cracked, or her jaw did, and Jay roared out loud. I whirled on him, sharp now, in command of my senses. He was aiming again, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“Oh, no you don’t.” I fired a half-circle at his feet. Jay shrieked, shrill and panicked, and I went for Lock.

“Come on. Get up.”

Jay fired again. I fired back and hit him, blood spraying from his knee. He crumpled in the sand.

“Lock, please. We need to go.”

Lock twitched. Lifted his head. He’d gone pale as milk, lips blue and mottled. I got my arm around him and dragged him toward the caves. He was wheezing, breath wet, rasping a warning into my chest.

“Myla. Be... hind—”

I shoved Lock through the fissure. Jay was up on his knees, groping for his blaster. I aimed straight for it, for the glow of its plasma tube. Jay squealed in agony as it came apart in his hands, shrapnel shredding his palms. He scrambled upright, only to stumble in his haste. He spun, almost gracefully, and his legs went out from under him, spilling him flat on his ass. I followed him, blaster raised.

“No. Don’t—”

“Three.” I flexed my finger on the trigger.

Jay crabwalked backward, boots churning up sand.

“Two.”

He screamed. Covered his face. I shot out both his knees, then his feet for good measure. Jay was howling now, blubbing, clutching at his legs. I backed away, teeth bared.

“Don’t follow me.”

Jay whimpered. He drew his legs to his chest, and I saw he was young.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Just give it ten minutes. You’ll be okay, promise.”

I left him sniveling in the sand and ducked through the fissure. Lock had dragged himself to cover and was slumped in an alcove with his head hanging between his knees. I dropped down beside him and reached for his hand. He flinched as I did, and I saw he was still bleeding.

“Lock? Can you look at me?”

“Mm.” He raised his head with an effort, eyes heavy and unfocused. “I—I’m okay,” he managed. “Just need a minute. Need to catch my breath.”

“That’s right. Stay strong.” I put my hand on his shoulder and almost recoiled. He was clammy with sweat and cold to the touch, shivering so violently I thought he might fly apart.

“I’m okay,” he repeated. “It looks worse than it is. Just shock, mostly. J—just—” He gagged and dry-retched, hunched over in pain.

“Don’t try to talk.” I stood, sizing him up, gauging his weight. I could carry him, no problem, maybe down to the mine. Jam the elevator behind us—but the Decemites would only have to wait. There was no food down there, no water. Lock would get sicker. He’d need gretha, a doctor—

“They’re coming,” said Lock. “You should go. Save yourself.”

“Shut up. Don’t say that.” I edged closer to the fissure. That engine noise was louder now, bearing down on our hideout. Against two Decemites, I’d gotten lucky. A whole squad—

Brakes squealed, and I heard shouts. Blaster fire flashed, somewhere outside. Lock found my hand and crushed it to his chest.

“If you—if you get hurt... Because of me.” He gulped in a rattling breath. “Ona still needs you, so don’t you dare.”

A loud crunch set my teeth on edge, the scrape of metal on stone. I pressed my lips to Lock’s forehead and flinched at how cold he was.

“Hold on. Just hold on. I’ll be right back.”

Lock’s head lolled to one side, spit streaking down his chin. I turned and bolted for the fissure, the fight rising in my blood.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I barreled through the fissure into a storm of