Conflicted (The Corded Saga Book 3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Author:Alyssa Rose Ivy [Ivy, Alyssa Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-13T18:30:00+00:00

Seventeen

Mason

The children spilled out from everywhere. Maybe a dozen. Maybe a dozen and a third. It was hard to tell because the shock of seeing them set me off balance. Children had become such a rarity that seeing even a few of them together seemed unnatural somehow. Like they were a mirage.

“Look at them,” Addison spoke under her breath. “How are there so many? They did find a cure.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Denver wasn’t the only clone out there. Technically that might be what they were. But they were children, and we had to find out more.

“Well, no matter what we have to engage them. Find out who they are.” Addison’s eyes were wide. “There has got to be some explanation.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Benji adjusted his gear belt. “To find out. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“I’m glad we didn’t have our guns out.” Addison clasped her hands together in front of her. “Even without them out I think we scared them.”

“We can’t train our guns on kids, no matter who they are.” Isin looked around at our group, as if making sure we all agreed.

We each nodded. No matter how awful things were, we needed to hold onto a semblance of a moral code. Kids, clones or not, were innocents.

We continued toward the kids. Slower now. Without asking, I knew I wasn’t the only one trying to process what we were seeing. How did this fit with all the dead bodies we had seen? Why were the kids living in the middle of the desert? The questions were endless.

The kids for their part just stared at us, as though they’d never seen anything like us before. Or maybe it was just Addison. But if they existed there had to be women. Unless I was right and these were more clones.

We were within a few feet of them. It was immediately apparent that these children were wearing rags for clothing, as if they were poor and had nothing. Dirt clung to their clothing and skin. It looked like they hadn’t bathed in weeks or even longer.

“Where are your parents?” Addison asked, still using a soft voice. “Or other adults?”

The kids said nothing. They only stared.

“Aren’t there any adults here?” I asked, trying to model my voice on Addison—I didn’t want to scare them any more than they already were.

The first boy nodded. “There was one.”

Was? As in past tense?

“Can we see him?” Thomas stepped forward in front of the rest of us.

The boy shook his head. “He isn’t here.”

“Where is he?”

“He left and never came back.”

“How long ago was that?” Addison asked.

“A long time.”

“And you have been here all alone since?” Addison’s voice cracked.

“Together.” He nodded and stretched out his arms to refer to the other kids.

“Do you live in there?” I pointed to the thatched roof building.

He nodded. “Yes. And others like it.”

“Okay.” I thought fast. Finding a colony of unsupervised children had been the farthest thing from my expectations when we climbed over the wall.

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