Earth Honor (Earthrise Book 8) by Arenson Daniel

Author:Arenson, Daniel [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2017-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lailani pounded on the cell door, screaming.

"Let me out of here, you fucking scumbag!"

Nightwish, she thought, deactivating her microchip.

Her scum side awakened, giving her strength, speed, power. She grew claws and scratched at the door. It was thick iron, but her claws were sharp. Yet when she scratched too deep, electricity pulsed across her. She fell back, hissing, shaking. She yowled in her rage, a monster trapped in flesh.

Serenity, she thought, reactivating her chip before she lost her sanity, lost her own memory in the depth of scum thought.

Deep underground on this distant world, buried beneath Schroder's lab, Lailani paced her cell. Hours passed. Maybe days. She languished.

Schroder wants to cut out my heart, Lailani thought. But first he wants me to suffer.

She curled up on the floor, drifting in and out of sleep. Her belly rumbled with hunger, and her mouth went dry with thirst. It was cold. It was so cold. She found a dispenser and nozzle in the wall; they gave her dry pellets and brackish water. She was like a hamster in a box. Going mad. She imagined herself a creature, a weird animal losing its fur, eating its young.

She found letters etched into the walls. She could barely make them out in the dim light.

I am Jasmine. Age 12. I love you, Mom and Dad. I love you.

Farther down the wall, more letters.

It has been a year now. I'm scared.

More words across the walls.

I am pregnant.

Blood stains.

He took my baby.

Words scratched with fingernails. Finally becoming mad, senseless marks. Final words.

He wants my heart. I love you.

Lailani hugged her knees, shivering. She closed her eyes.

Time flowed by.

She languished.

She scratched onto the walls.

I am Lailani. I love you, my friends. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the bad things I've done.

She took a deep breath.

"I must keep fighting," she told herself. "I am a soldier. I will not give up."

The time flowed by. She slept. She withered away in the dark.

Until finally the door opened.

He stood there at the doorway, seven feet tall and broad as a prizefighter. HOBBS. Her friend. His eyes blazed red. His memory was wiped. He was now a servant of evil.

He grabbed her arm, his grip a vise. "Come with me."

The robot dragged her out of the cell. The bright corridor burned Lailani's eyes.

"How long has it been?" she whispered, squinting. "Where's Epi?"

HOBBS ignored her, dragging her down the corridor. She stumbled after him, as small as a toddler by her father. She was so weak. How long had she been living off those animal pellets? Days? Weeks? Months, even? Time had lost meaning in the darkness. Her limbs seemed so thin to her.

"HOBBS," she said. "Hobster, it's me. Don't you remember? It's your Lailani. We traveled to Mahatek together. We saw dragons. We—"

He smacked her. Hard. His metal hand left her bloody.

"Silence."

The hulking cyborg walked on, dragging her along. Her blood dripped from her nose, leaving a trail. On the corridor walls hung framed photographs of surgeries. Victims lay bound on tables, mouths open in silent screams, as Schroder carved out their hearts.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.