Deliverance by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Author:Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2018-04-13T18:50:59+00:00

SEVENTEEN

One year and nine months earlier

X gunned the motorcycle down the highway. He didn’t bother using the night-vision optics; his eyes were accustomed to hunting in the dim blue glow of the incessant lightning.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins, and the tightness in his throat loosened. For the first time in months, he could breathe through his mouth. He sucked in air through the filter in his helmet, not daring to look over his shoulder at the high-rise he now called home. Doing so would have broken his heart, knowing that Miles was there, waiting, pacing, and probably whimpering.

Leaving the dog all alone was one of the hardest things X had ever done. It sparked a memory, just a fragment of an image that entered his mind. The moments before a dive in the launch bay of the airship. A boy with a foil hat waved at him from the crowd. He had just given X a note, but X could no longer remember the words—only that the memory made him sad.

The otherworldly calls of Sirens sucked him from his memories. His focus returned to the sky, where the monsters were flying in circles. Something had drawn them out of their nest. It was unusual to see this many in the open air, and he wasn’t going to waste this prime opportunity to sneak into ITC Communal 9 and search for the cancer drugs that could save his life.

Thunder disguised the sound of his motorcycle as he entered the city. He hoped the beasts wouldn’t see him coming. If they did, his rifle was scabbarded to the bike, and his blaster was holstered at his side, both within easy reach.

He twisted the throttle, giving the bike more juice as he shot over the raised bridge that would take him into the heart of Miami. Two massive ships were still docked in the harbor to his right. Most of the white paint had been stripped by hurricanes and wind-borne sand over the years, leaving them a grimy rust color. Black slashes like wounds from a whip marked the sides of the hulls where lightning had struck. The largest ship had broken in half, exposing its guts.

X steered the bike around a missing hunk of bridge, careful not to snag the blades protruding from his wheel hubs. The beach continued to glow as the plants fought off the Sirens. He glimpsed a Siren on the horizon, flying low over the black ocean, a squirming vine in its talons.

Easing off the throttle, he reached for the grip of his rifle with his left hand and continued watching the Siren. It flapped to the west and vanished behind a scraper, its wail fading away like a waning Klaxon after an emergency.

He navigated around several charred vehicles blocking the road ahead. The tires jolted hard over the broken concrete, threatening to twist the handlebars out of his grip. The bridge had taken a real beating over the years.

X weaved the bike carefully through a gap between two cars.

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