Darr (Earth Resistance Book 3) by Theresa Beachman

Author:Theresa Beachman [Beachman, Theresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

23

Violet clung to Darr with as he accelerated out of Chippenham into the desolate English countryside. Speaking was pointless—the biting wind whipped the words from her mouth—so she hunkered behind the security of his broad back, tucking her hands into the wool of his sweater for meager protection. Soon, they were driving into the setting winter sun, their shadows long and thin behind them.

It didn’t take long before Violet worked out he was following a familiar route. There was no hesitation as he chose fields to cross or farms to cut through. She guessed they were heading west, toward Dorset—and further from London.

Further from Judge and his men, but also further from the Command Base where her family and friends lived. Where she lived and Darr didn’t. For the first time since the invasion, her life felt complicated. The easy rhythm of defend your loved ones, hunt, and kill aliens had been ruptured by the guarded man steering her through the deserted English landscape.

She squeezed her eyes tight and curled around him, the heat from his back warming her cheek. Time suspended, and she allowed herself a brief fantasy where it was possible to meet a man and live happily ever after.

After about forty minutes, Darr gunned the bike up a long incline. A sign, pockmarked by small-bore shots and canted at a wonky angle, indicated that it had once been a driveway. Harrington Psychiatric Hospital. The bike sped past grass verges pummeled into muddy submission by snow and hail.

Evening light slanted through the bare trees, flickering across Violet’s vision in a kaleidoscope of pink light and earthy darkness. She inhaled the dank aroma of decay as above her head tenacious leaves clung to the branches, providing a skeletal archway of aged timber that sheltered them from prying Chittrix eyes.

Finally, the tunnel of trees eased, and they swept into a large, circled driveway that ran in a loop between crumbling seventies buildings. Most of the windows were broken, dark holes framed by rotting hospital curtains. Darr steered the bike through a tangle of splintered furniture and mounds of black, rotting clothes before easing it to a stop in front of the central building.

A large semi-circle of steps led up to thick, wooden double doors. They were open, but it was impossible to see what lay beyond. When Violet took her helmet off, only the low wail of the wind whispered in her ears.

She suppressed a shiver. “Why here?”

Darr dismounted and unclipped the saddlebags from the bike. “Safety. They won’t find us here.” He dropped the bags on the bottom step then wheeled the bike to the side, where he picked up a sodden sheet from the ground and draped it over the bike, camouflaging it. He hooked the bags on his uninjured arm and took the steps three at a time, only pausing at the top to check Violet was following.

She gave the abandoned driveway once last glance before she headed indoors after him.

Inside was still and dark. The corridor was ripe with damp and rot; the stench seared her nostrils.

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